Title: In the Service of the Queen
Author: Victoria P. [victoria_p@att.net]
Summary: Angel gets kidnapped, and the AI crew must rescue him before he's lost for all eternity.
Rating: PG - nothing you wouldn't see on the show.
Disclaimer: All Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, Greenwolf Productions, etc. etc.; this piece of fan-written fiction intends no infringement on any copyrights.
Archive: If you've already got my stuff, yes. If not, please just let me know you're taking it.
Feedback: Feed me! Or I might send my EVIL HAND after you!
Notes: Thanks to Dot, Meg, Jen, and Pete. I've totally made up the Silver Gala and Hollywood Fights AIDS. More notes at the end. Don't wanna spoil.
In the Service of the Queen
Cordelia dove for the phone the second it rang. "Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless," she said brightly, hoping it was Angel on the other end.
"Hi! I'm calling from the _Los Angeles Times_. We'd like to offer you a free trial subscription--"
"We already get the _Times_, thanks." She slammed the phone down.
Wesley looked up from his reading. "What's wrong, Cordelia?"
"It's not like him not to call, Wesley. You know that."
"Perhaps he was unable to access the tunnels, and he's stuck where he is," Wesley suggested, trying to alleviate her obvious distress.
"He has a cell phone, and he damned well knows how to use it!" she snapped. "And before you say anything, yes, I tried to call him. All I got was 'This user has left the calling region.'" She stood and began pacing. "And it's dark by five o'clock this time of year. I'm worried."
"You know how he is -- he turns the phone off and forgets to put it back on. Anyway, he's made the trip to Sunnydale and back before, Cordelia. He's perfectly capable of taking care of himself."
She sighed. "I know. It's just--" she paused, unsure of how much she should reveal to Wesley. "We were supposed to hang out tonight. Just him and me. Watch movies at my apartment, with Dennis."
Wesley's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Since when do you and Angel have movie night without me?" he asked, affronted.
She made a frustrated, grunting noise. "I *knew* you'd react like this. I told him we should invite you, but he said -- AAAAHHH!" She broke off, clutching her head in pain. Wesley jumped up to catch her before she fell to the floor. He eased her into a chair and held out a glass of water and some aspirin, concern etched upon his face.
She looked up at him, tears glistening in her dark eyes. "It's Angel. And, and he's someplace that's -- else."
***
Gunn, Cordelia and Wesley sat in the office, researching. The two men skimmed through dusty old tomes, while Cordy surfed the Internet, looking for the bright, beautiful place she'd seen in her vision.
"Describe it again, Cordelia," Wesley said, removing his glasses and rubbing his tired eyes. He couldn't believe Angel was where Cordy was describing. He'd never really believed it existed at all, though he'd seen far stranger things in the years since he'd taken up the fight against evil.
"It was very -- green. And old. Full of lots of power -- and not a happy kind, either. There were people -- they were having a party. But they weren't people." She took a sip from the mocha frappaccino Gunn had brought and looked at her companions. "They weren't *human.*"
"Demons? Vampires?" Gunn asked.
"She."
"She? She who? Ursula Andress? Like in that movie?" Gunn persisted. "'Cause She was hot."
"No." Cordelia shook her head. Her eyes widened as she took in the image that had just loaded on her computer. "Not 'she' like 'her'. Sidhe. S-I-D-H-E. As in Ban Sidhe," she said excitedly. She smiled brightly at the two men -- hopeful for the first time since her vision. "Here! It's her! I've found her!"
Wesley put his glasses back on. "You're sure?"
She rolled her eyes at him and pointed at the screen. "That's her."
Both men jumped up and rushed to look over her shoulder at the monitor. She put a finger on a picture of a beautiful woman with silvery-blonde hair and cruel blue eyes.
"The Faerie Queen," Wesley breathed. "Oh, my."
"Angel got taken out by demons in drag?" Gunn cracked.
Wesley pinned him with a steely glare. "The Faerie Queen is one of the oldest of the Old Ones. She is extremely powerful and has no qualms about killing anything that gets in her way. I just-- You don't hear much about the Sidhe in the New World. I'm surprised she's operating so far from her power base..." He trailed off, struck by an insight, and grabbed one of the heavy books piled on his desk.
"So, how do we track her down?" Gunn asked, cutting to the heart of the matter, as usual.
"Normally, by riding widdershins around the sacred hill," Wesley answered absently.
"You really cleared that up for me, English."
The two men continued bantering, trying to lessen the tension they all felt. Cordelia typed furiously, searching for something that would give them a clue as to where Angel had entered the realm of Faerie and how they could bring him back.
After two more hours of relentless researching, they'd gotten no closer to tracking Angel down, and their spirits were low.
"Why don't we call it a night?" Wesley said softly. "It's two am. We can rest and regroup in the morning."
Cordelia sighed. "I suppose." She shivered, and hugged herself against the chill that seemed to have settled in her bones since the vision. "I'm going to stay here tonight. Maybe he'll find his way back without our help."
"Page me if you need me," Gunn said, hopping off the couch and heading out. "I'm gonna see if I can't stake me some vamps on the way home."
"Be careful," Cordelia advised.
"You, too."
Cordy and Wesley were silent for a while after Gunn left, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Yes, well, I'll keep researching then," the ex-Watcher said at last. "You do -- whatever it is you do to get ready for bed."
She smiled wistfully at him. "I'll be upstairs if you need me." She gathered her things and headed up the elaborate staircase.
Wesley made himself a cup of tea, scouring his memory for anything useful about the Elf Queen as he did so.
He choked on the steaming liquid in his mouth when he heard Cordelia shriek. She came bolting down the stairs, waving a copy of the day's newspaper.
"The Silver Gala!" she yelled excitedly.
"Must you be so-- shrieky?" Wesley asked. "And really, we've got to concentrate on finding Angel. Your social life will have to take the back seat for once."
She sobered immediately and he felt terrible. "Yeah, like my social life is ever in the front seat, Wesley." He knew how much she'd given up, and how much pain she endured, since coming to LA.
"I'm so sorry," he began, but she cut him off.
"The Silver Gala is *the* big Hollywood Halloween charity ball," she said. "And guess who is making her Hollywood debut that night?"
She tossed the paper at him, folded open to a quarter-page picture of "Regina Fairchilde?" he asked in disbelief. She was a dead ringer for the picture of the Elf Queen Cordy had found earlier. "But of course!" he exclaimed, slapping a hand against his forehead. "How utterly unimaginative of her." He read from the accompanying column. "'Heiress to the Fairchilde family fortunes, Ms. Fairchilde arrived from the Emerald Isle recently and is staying at Chateau Marmont with her entourage of young, handsome men. She's the honoree at this year's Annual Silver Gala, the Hollywood Fights AIDS Halloween Ball tomorrow night. A fitting night for this Fairy Queen to shine.'" He looked up, his eyes meeting Cordelia's. "Thank God for the gossip columns, eh?"
"Yeah." She folded herself into a chair and watched him. "So, what do we do?"
Wesley sat facing her; he reached out and took her hand. "We rescue him." He paused, then, "There's no easy way to say this, Cordelia. The Faerie Queen can steal his soul on All Hallow's Eve." She gasped, but he continued speaking, "It's the night her power is at its apex -- she will draw strength from the old forces of magic still left on earth." He smiled, and Cordelia couldn't help but smile back, it was so rare and so infectious. "But we *can* save him."
"What do we have to do?"
"Love him, and hold onto him for dear life."
Cordy dropped his hand. "What?"
He stood and began pacing. Rubbing his chin, now shadowed in stubble after the long day, he said, "According to legend, if you meet the Faerie Court at the Crossroads at midnight on All Hallow's Eve, you can rescue your true love from the Elf Queen."
"Hey, I think I saw that in a Danny Kaye movie."
"Hans Christian Andersen, and that was the 'Snow Queen' -- similar but not the same," he corrected punctiliously.
"Whatever. Shouldn't we get Buffy here to do this? I mean, if we need the princess to Angel's Vamp Charming. Though I think she's got her hands full back in good old Sunnyhell." She muttered something under her breath about killing the Brothers Grimm.
"It *is*a fairy tale, Cordelia. And in the fairy tale, true love wins out." He whirled around to face her. "Do you love Angel?"
"He's my best friend," Cordelia hedged, unwilling to admit to platonic feelings of love, even when pressed seriously.
Wesley sighed. "I hope that's good enough. Now get some rest, Cordelia. You have to outshine the Faerie Queen at the Silver Gala tomorrow night."
***
"I can't believe you made me rent a tux," Gunn muttered, pulling at the collar of his dress shirt.
"Quit your whining," Cordelia responded, adjusting the silver-spangled shawl that draped elegantly over her elbows. "We had to dress up to fit in. Thank God they were desperate for volunteers. If Missy hadn't called me back, I don't know how we'd have gotten in."
"Do you see her?" Wesley asked, interrupting the bickering that had been going on all evening.
"I'm guessing she'd make an early appearance, since she has things to do and people to kill," Gunn quipped.
"She'd still want to be fashionably late and make an entrance," Cordelia replied. "That's what beautiful socialites with evil powers always do."
Wesley sighed. Now he knew what Angel felt like whenever he and Cordelia argued. "Just please keep your eyes open for them, will you?" he said, walking back to the registration area, where he'd been assigned to work.
Two hours into the gala, the volunteers were released from their duties and allowed to sit at the table in back set aside for their dinner. The crew of Angel Investigations ate their dinner without much energy, too tense to enjoy the event.
"I need a drink," Cordelia said morosely. They'd seen no sign of Regina Fairchilde or her Faerie court.
"I'll have a beer," Gunn piped up.
"Me, too," Wesley added.
"What am I, the tavern wench? It's the twenty-first century. I don't see any crutches, guys. You're capable of getting your own damn drinks," Cordelia responded acidly. She ran a hand across her forehead. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm just -- I'm worried. I'll be right back."
She made her way over to one of the bars on the edge of the dance floor. She was waiting for her tonic with a twist and the two beers when a hand touched her elbow.
"Cordelia."
She whirled, her eyes widening. "Angel! Are you all right? We're so worried. Let's get you out of here."
He smiled, but there was no joy in it -- his eyes were tired and pained. "Listen to me, Cordy. You have to save me." The desperation in his voice made Cordelia's heart ache in her chest. "The Faerie Court rides tonight. If you don't help me, the Elf Queen--"
"Will steal your soul. Yeah, Wesley told me." She put a hand on his arm, her grip almost painfully tight. "Dance with me, Angel, and tell me what we need to do."
He glanced over her shoulder. "I can't. She's looking for me." He furtively fingered the sapphire and silver lapel pin on his tuxedo jacket that marked him as one of her minions. It bound him to her and he didn't have the strength to resist for long. "The Court will be at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine at midnight. Be there. Please.
"I'll be at Her right hand. You need to bring holy water and create a circle with it. *Don't* leave the circle. When we pass by, grab my right hand and hold on as though it were the last pair of Prada shoes in your size on sale for fifty percent off." She smiled weakly at the joke. "No matter what I do or say, or what you see, just hold on," he repeated. "They'll use all their magic to make you let go. Just when it appears you've lost -- when I put my game face on -- sprinkle me with holy water and cover me with your shawl--"
"You'll burn," she interrupted. "I don't want to hurt you--"
"I'd rather be burned than turn into Angelus again," he said urgently. "She's coming over. I have to go. Don't forget. Please." He squeezed her hand for a moment and once more the desperation in his voice struck her. He was the one who helped others, and now he needed help. She would be there for him, and she knew Wesley and Gunn would be, as well.
And then Regina Fairchilde was at his side. She was tall, with pearlescent skin and silvery-blonde hair. Her eyes were the color of the sky at twilight and her features were perfectly sculpted, and cold as frost. She looked like one of the ice carvings adorning the tables come to life, draped in midnight blue silk dusted with diamante beads that glittered like stars in the soft light of the ballroom.
"Angel, dearest, come dance with me," she said, and her voice was the sound of silver chimes on an evening breeze.
Angel raised her hand to his lips gallantly and smiled. "As you wish, my lady," he replied with the semblance of happiness, tossing a last desperate look over his shoulder at Cordelia as the Elf Queen led him onto the dance floor and wrapped her arms around him.
***
"You sure about this?" Gunn asked for what seemed like the millionth time. They had parked Angel's car on Vine and were waiting for the Elf Queen to arrive.
"It's what he told me," Cordy hissed.
"And it does follow the legend," Wesley added. "Janet had to meet the Faerie Court at Miles Cross and take Tamlane's bare hand--"
"You know," Cordelia interrupted, "you'd think the Elf Queen would get a new shtick, because this one's gotten old."
"It generally works for her, Cordelia," Wesley answered patiently.
"I still think it sounds stupid. I mean, the Faerie Court is going to come riding down Hollywood Boulevard on white horses? And Cordelia has to knock Angel off his horse and hold onto him while he turns into stuff?" Gunn shook his head. "Y'all are weird."
Cordelia smiled ruefully. "You'd know, Mr. Vampire Hunter." She turned to look at Wesley, who sat in the back seat of the convertible. "What about that pin, Wesley? Have you turned anything up?"
"No. But it wouldn't surprise me if it were the source of her control over Angel. He seemed happy in her company tonight."
"But not perfectly happy, right?" Gunn asked, loading a crossbow to emphasize his point.
Wesley gave a small grin. "No, not perfectly happy. With any luck, we should have him back safe and sound, soul and all. As long as you hold onto him, Cordelia, and remember how much you care for him, we'll be fine. Destroying that pin couldn't hurt, either." He looked down at his watch. "It's striking midnight now. They should be here shortly."
No sooner had the words left his mouth, than they heard the roar of motorcycle engines approaching. "Damn," Gunn said, speaking for all of them. "Guess they upgraded, huh?"
Cordelia jumped out of the car and poured the holy water in a circle around the spot where she stood, as close to the center of the intersection as possible. Luck was with them; the light turned red as the Queen and her entourage approached. Angel rode behind the woman who called herself Regina Fairchilde, clinging to her hips, a feral grimace on his face.
They stopped beside Cordelia, and the Faerie Queen laughed. "Look at the little girl, come to get her lover back," she taunted.
Cordelia ignored her, yanking at Angel and pulling him off the bike. She was careful not to step outside the circle she'd drawn, though Angel stood outside its circumference. "You may be the Faerie Queen, but you messed with the wrong vampire," she snapped, holding tightly to Angel's hand. "I'm a Queen too, and don't you forget it."
Wesley rolled his eyes and Cordy shrugged. She was under a lot of pressure. She couldn't always be witty.
The Elf Queen raised her hand and suddenly, Angel -- still in Cordy's grasp -- was encased in ice. It was so cold it hurt her hand, but she held on. Fire was next, and she thought she would die from the pain and the smell of burnt flesh, but still, she held on. And then he wasn't Angel any more. She shrieked -- he'd turned into a giant snake, and he tried to slither away from her, but still, she held on. She knew her love for him was stronger than the Faerie Queen's magic, because it was pure and true, even if it wasn't romantic.
She leaned forward to get a better grip and Wesley called out, "Cordelia, do *not* break the circle."
"Okay, Wesley," she shot back, "but you guys *so* owe me for this."
He was Angel again, and for a second, she thought they'd won, since everything seemed normal. Then, she remembered his words. She stared him in the eye as his face morphed into its true shape.
"Oh, Cordy," he sneered, "I didn't know you cared." And he bent toward her neck.
She splashed him with a vial of holy water, shouting, "You said to do it!" as she wrapped her silver-spangled shawl around him.
"Destroy the pin," Angel whispered hoarsely; she reached up and pulled the pin out of his lapel. She dropped it and crushed it beneath her heel, as Regina Fairchilde howled in angry defeat. He huddled on the ground for a moment, regaining his strength as the Faerie magic faded from his system.
Wesley and Gunn came forward then, armed for bear. "We played by your rules, m'Lady," Wesley said coldly. "He's free of you now."
"I may have lost him," she spat back, "but that doesn't mean you've won."
Angel stood and glared at her. "You stand to lose far more than me tonight if you take us on," he warned, and the menace in his tone sent chills down Cordy's spine.
The Elf Queen sighed. She knew the rules as well as anyone. "I've only lost two in a thousand years," she said with a shrug. "We could have had such fun, darling, but you didn't want to play."
And she led her Court down the boulevard at full speed.
Cordelia hugged Angel tightly. "Don't you *ever* take up with any Faerie Queen again, d'you hear me?" she said, sniffing and punching him in the chest.
"Oof." He gave her a genuine smile and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You're the only queen in my life, Cordelia."
"Okay, then." She linked her arm through his and the four of them walked back to the car. "I say we go for pancakes."
"Sounds good to me," Wesley said.
"I could eat," Gunn added.
"Wonderful," Angel replied, turning the key in the ignition and driving them off into the night.
~Fin~
A/N: You can find various versions of the Tamlane story at: http://www.tam-lin.org/index.html
http://www.belinus.co.uk/fairytales/JJMFTamlane.htm is the one I used for this fic.
Author: Victoria P. [victoria_p@att.net]
Summary: Angel gets kidnapped, and the AI crew must rescue him before he's lost for all eternity.
Rating: PG - nothing you wouldn't see on the show.
Disclaimer: All Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, Greenwolf Productions, etc. etc.; this piece of fan-written fiction intends no infringement on any copyrights.
Archive: If you've already got my stuff, yes. If not, please just let me know you're taking it.
Feedback: Feed me! Or I might send my EVIL HAND after you!
Notes: Thanks to Dot, Meg, Jen, and Pete. I've totally made up the Silver Gala and Hollywood Fights AIDS. More notes at the end. Don't wanna spoil.
In the Service of the Queen
Cordelia dove for the phone the second it rang. "Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless," she said brightly, hoping it was Angel on the other end.
"Hi! I'm calling from the _Los Angeles Times_. We'd like to offer you a free trial subscription--"
"We already get the _Times_, thanks." She slammed the phone down.
Wesley looked up from his reading. "What's wrong, Cordelia?"
"It's not like him not to call, Wesley. You know that."
"Perhaps he was unable to access the tunnels, and he's stuck where he is," Wesley suggested, trying to alleviate her obvious distress.
"He has a cell phone, and he damned well knows how to use it!" she snapped. "And before you say anything, yes, I tried to call him. All I got was 'This user has left the calling region.'" She stood and began pacing. "And it's dark by five o'clock this time of year. I'm worried."
"You know how he is -- he turns the phone off and forgets to put it back on. Anyway, he's made the trip to Sunnydale and back before, Cordelia. He's perfectly capable of taking care of himself."
She sighed. "I know. It's just--" she paused, unsure of how much she should reveal to Wesley. "We were supposed to hang out tonight. Just him and me. Watch movies at my apartment, with Dennis."
Wesley's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Since when do you and Angel have movie night without me?" he asked, affronted.
She made a frustrated, grunting noise. "I *knew* you'd react like this. I told him we should invite you, but he said -- AAAAHHH!" She broke off, clutching her head in pain. Wesley jumped up to catch her before she fell to the floor. He eased her into a chair and held out a glass of water and some aspirin, concern etched upon his face.
She looked up at him, tears glistening in her dark eyes. "It's Angel. And, and he's someplace that's -- else."
***
Gunn, Cordelia and Wesley sat in the office, researching. The two men skimmed through dusty old tomes, while Cordy surfed the Internet, looking for the bright, beautiful place she'd seen in her vision.
"Describe it again, Cordelia," Wesley said, removing his glasses and rubbing his tired eyes. He couldn't believe Angel was where Cordy was describing. He'd never really believed it existed at all, though he'd seen far stranger things in the years since he'd taken up the fight against evil.
"It was very -- green. And old. Full of lots of power -- and not a happy kind, either. There were people -- they were having a party. But they weren't people." She took a sip from the mocha frappaccino Gunn had brought and looked at her companions. "They weren't *human.*"
"Demons? Vampires?" Gunn asked.
"She."
"She? She who? Ursula Andress? Like in that movie?" Gunn persisted. "'Cause She was hot."
"No." Cordelia shook her head. Her eyes widened as she took in the image that had just loaded on her computer. "Not 'she' like 'her'. Sidhe. S-I-D-H-E. As in Ban Sidhe," she said excitedly. She smiled brightly at the two men -- hopeful for the first time since her vision. "Here! It's her! I've found her!"
Wesley put his glasses back on. "You're sure?"
She rolled her eyes at him and pointed at the screen. "That's her."
Both men jumped up and rushed to look over her shoulder at the monitor. She put a finger on a picture of a beautiful woman with silvery-blonde hair and cruel blue eyes.
"The Faerie Queen," Wesley breathed. "Oh, my."
"Angel got taken out by demons in drag?" Gunn cracked.
Wesley pinned him with a steely glare. "The Faerie Queen is one of the oldest of the Old Ones. She is extremely powerful and has no qualms about killing anything that gets in her way. I just-- You don't hear much about the Sidhe in the New World. I'm surprised she's operating so far from her power base..." He trailed off, struck by an insight, and grabbed one of the heavy books piled on his desk.
"So, how do we track her down?" Gunn asked, cutting to the heart of the matter, as usual.
"Normally, by riding widdershins around the sacred hill," Wesley answered absently.
"You really cleared that up for me, English."
The two men continued bantering, trying to lessen the tension they all felt. Cordelia typed furiously, searching for something that would give them a clue as to where Angel had entered the realm of Faerie and how they could bring him back.
After two more hours of relentless researching, they'd gotten no closer to tracking Angel down, and their spirits were low.
"Why don't we call it a night?" Wesley said softly. "It's two am. We can rest and regroup in the morning."
Cordelia sighed. "I suppose." She shivered, and hugged herself against the chill that seemed to have settled in her bones since the vision. "I'm going to stay here tonight. Maybe he'll find his way back without our help."
"Page me if you need me," Gunn said, hopping off the couch and heading out. "I'm gonna see if I can't stake me some vamps on the way home."
"Be careful," Cordelia advised.
"You, too."
Cordy and Wesley were silent for a while after Gunn left, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Yes, well, I'll keep researching then," the ex-Watcher said at last. "You do -- whatever it is you do to get ready for bed."
She smiled wistfully at him. "I'll be upstairs if you need me." She gathered her things and headed up the elaborate staircase.
Wesley made himself a cup of tea, scouring his memory for anything useful about the Elf Queen as he did so.
He choked on the steaming liquid in his mouth when he heard Cordelia shriek. She came bolting down the stairs, waving a copy of the day's newspaper.
"The Silver Gala!" she yelled excitedly.
"Must you be so-- shrieky?" Wesley asked. "And really, we've got to concentrate on finding Angel. Your social life will have to take the back seat for once."
She sobered immediately and he felt terrible. "Yeah, like my social life is ever in the front seat, Wesley." He knew how much she'd given up, and how much pain she endured, since coming to LA.
"I'm so sorry," he began, but she cut him off.
"The Silver Gala is *the* big Hollywood Halloween charity ball," she said. "And guess who is making her Hollywood debut that night?"
She tossed the paper at him, folded open to a quarter-page picture of "Regina Fairchilde?" he asked in disbelief. She was a dead ringer for the picture of the Elf Queen Cordy had found earlier. "But of course!" he exclaimed, slapping a hand against his forehead. "How utterly unimaginative of her." He read from the accompanying column. "'Heiress to the Fairchilde family fortunes, Ms. Fairchilde arrived from the Emerald Isle recently and is staying at Chateau Marmont with her entourage of young, handsome men. She's the honoree at this year's Annual Silver Gala, the Hollywood Fights AIDS Halloween Ball tomorrow night. A fitting night for this Fairy Queen to shine.'" He looked up, his eyes meeting Cordelia's. "Thank God for the gossip columns, eh?"
"Yeah." She folded herself into a chair and watched him. "So, what do we do?"
Wesley sat facing her; he reached out and took her hand. "We rescue him." He paused, then, "There's no easy way to say this, Cordelia. The Faerie Queen can steal his soul on All Hallow's Eve." She gasped, but he continued speaking, "It's the night her power is at its apex -- she will draw strength from the old forces of magic still left on earth." He smiled, and Cordelia couldn't help but smile back, it was so rare and so infectious. "But we *can* save him."
"What do we have to do?"
"Love him, and hold onto him for dear life."
Cordy dropped his hand. "What?"
He stood and began pacing. Rubbing his chin, now shadowed in stubble after the long day, he said, "According to legend, if you meet the Faerie Court at the Crossroads at midnight on All Hallow's Eve, you can rescue your true love from the Elf Queen."
"Hey, I think I saw that in a Danny Kaye movie."
"Hans Christian Andersen, and that was the 'Snow Queen' -- similar but not the same," he corrected punctiliously.
"Whatever. Shouldn't we get Buffy here to do this? I mean, if we need the princess to Angel's Vamp Charming. Though I think she's got her hands full back in good old Sunnyhell." She muttered something under her breath about killing the Brothers Grimm.
"It *is*a fairy tale, Cordelia. And in the fairy tale, true love wins out." He whirled around to face her. "Do you love Angel?"
"He's my best friend," Cordelia hedged, unwilling to admit to platonic feelings of love, even when pressed seriously.
Wesley sighed. "I hope that's good enough. Now get some rest, Cordelia. You have to outshine the Faerie Queen at the Silver Gala tomorrow night."
***
"I can't believe you made me rent a tux," Gunn muttered, pulling at the collar of his dress shirt.
"Quit your whining," Cordelia responded, adjusting the silver-spangled shawl that draped elegantly over her elbows. "We had to dress up to fit in. Thank God they were desperate for volunteers. If Missy hadn't called me back, I don't know how we'd have gotten in."
"Do you see her?" Wesley asked, interrupting the bickering that had been going on all evening.
"I'm guessing she'd make an early appearance, since she has things to do and people to kill," Gunn quipped.
"She'd still want to be fashionably late and make an entrance," Cordelia replied. "That's what beautiful socialites with evil powers always do."
Wesley sighed. Now he knew what Angel felt like whenever he and Cordelia argued. "Just please keep your eyes open for them, will you?" he said, walking back to the registration area, where he'd been assigned to work.
Two hours into the gala, the volunteers were released from their duties and allowed to sit at the table in back set aside for their dinner. The crew of Angel Investigations ate their dinner without much energy, too tense to enjoy the event.
"I need a drink," Cordelia said morosely. They'd seen no sign of Regina Fairchilde or her Faerie court.
"I'll have a beer," Gunn piped up.
"Me, too," Wesley added.
"What am I, the tavern wench? It's the twenty-first century. I don't see any crutches, guys. You're capable of getting your own damn drinks," Cordelia responded acidly. She ran a hand across her forehead. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm just -- I'm worried. I'll be right back."
She made her way over to one of the bars on the edge of the dance floor. She was waiting for her tonic with a twist and the two beers when a hand touched her elbow.
"Cordelia."
She whirled, her eyes widening. "Angel! Are you all right? We're so worried. Let's get you out of here."
He smiled, but there was no joy in it -- his eyes were tired and pained. "Listen to me, Cordy. You have to save me." The desperation in his voice made Cordelia's heart ache in her chest. "The Faerie Court rides tonight. If you don't help me, the Elf Queen--"
"Will steal your soul. Yeah, Wesley told me." She put a hand on his arm, her grip almost painfully tight. "Dance with me, Angel, and tell me what we need to do."
He glanced over her shoulder. "I can't. She's looking for me." He furtively fingered the sapphire and silver lapel pin on his tuxedo jacket that marked him as one of her minions. It bound him to her and he didn't have the strength to resist for long. "The Court will be at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine at midnight. Be there. Please.
"I'll be at Her right hand. You need to bring holy water and create a circle with it. *Don't* leave the circle. When we pass by, grab my right hand and hold on as though it were the last pair of Prada shoes in your size on sale for fifty percent off." She smiled weakly at the joke. "No matter what I do or say, or what you see, just hold on," he repeated. "They'll use all their magic to make you let go. Just when it appears you've lost -- when I put my game face on -- sprinkle me with holy water and cover me with your shawl--"
"You'll burn," she interrupted. "I don't want to hurt you--"
"I'd rather be burned than turn into Angelus again," he said urgently. "She's coming over. I have to go. Don't forget. Please." He squeezed her hand for a moment and once more the desperation in his voice struck her. He was the one who helped others, and now he needed help. She would be there for him, and she knew Wesley and Gunn would be, as well.
And then Regina Fairchilde was at his side. She was tall, with pearlescent skin and silvery-blonde hair. Her eyes were the color of the sky at twilight and her features were perfectly sculpted, and cold as frost. She looked like one of the ice carvings adorning the tables come to life, draped in midnight blue silk dusted with diamante beads that glittered like stars in the soft light of the ballroom.
"Angel, dearest, come dance with me," she said, and her voice was the sound of silver chimes on an evening breeze.
Angel raised her hand to his lips gallantly and smiled. "As you wish, my lady," he replied with the semblance of happiness, tossing a last desperate look over his shoulder at Cordelia as the Elf Queen led him onto the dance floor and wrapped her arms around him.
***
"You sure about this?" Gunn asked for what seemed like the millionth time. They had parked Angel's car on Vine and were waiting for the Elf Queen to arrive.
"It's what he told me," Cordy hissed.
"And it does follow the legend," Wesley added. "Janet had to meet the Faerie Court at Miles Cross and take Tamlane's bare hand--"
"You know," Cordelia interrupted, "you'd think the Elf Queen would get a new shtick, because this one's gotten old."
"It generally works for her, Cordelia," Wesley answered patiently.
"I still think it sounds stupid. I mean, the Faerie Court is going to come riding down Hollywood Boulevard on white horses? And Cordelia has to knock Angel off his horse and hold onto him while he turns into stuff?" Gunn shook his head. "Y'all are weird."
Cordelia smiled ruefully. "You'd know, Mr. Vampire Hunter." She turned to look at Wesley, who sat in the back seat of the convertible. "What about that pin, Wesley? Have you turned anything up?"
"No. But it wouldn't surprise me if it were the source of her control over Angel. He seemed happy in her company tonight."
"But not perfectly happy, right?" Gunn asked, loading a crossbow to emphasize his point.
Wesley gave a small grin. "No, not perfectly happy. With any luck, we should have him back safe and sound, soul and all. As long as you hold onto him, Cordelia, and remember how much you care for him, we'll be fine. Destroying that pin couldn't hurt, either." He looked down at his watch. "It's striking midnight now. They should be here shortly."
No sooner had the words left his mouth, than they heard the roar of motorcycle engines approaching. "Damn," Gunn said, speaking for all of them. "Guess they upgraded, huh?"
Cordelia jumped out of the car and poured the holy water in a circle around the spot where she stood, as close to the center of the intersection as possible. Luck was with them; the light turned red as the Queen and her entourage approached. Angel rode behind the woman who called herself Regina Fairchilde, clinging to her hips, a feral grimace on his face.
They stopped beside Cordelia, and the Faerie Queen laughed. "Look at the little girl, come to get her lover back," she taunted.
Cordelia ignored her, yanking at Angel and pulling him off the bike. She was careful not to step outside the circle she'd drawn, though Angel stood outside its circumference. "You may be the Faerie Queen, but you messed with the wrong vampire," she snapped, holding tightly to Angel's hand. "I'm a Queen too, and don't you forget it."
Wesley rolled his eyes and Cordy shrugged. She was under a lot of pressure. She couldn't always be witty.
The Elf Queen raised her hand and suddenly, Angel -- still in Cordy's grasp -- was encased in ice. It was so cold it hurt her hand, but she held on. Fire was next, and she thought she would die from the pain and the smell of burnt flesh, but still, she held on. And then he wasn't Angel any more. She shrieked -- he'd turned into a giant snake, and he tried to slither away from her, but still, she held on. She knew her love for him was stronger than the Faerie Queen's magic, because it was pure and true, even if it wasn't romantic.
She leaned forward to get a better grip and Wesley called out, "Cordelia, do *not* break the circle."
"Okay, Wesley," she shot back, "but you guys *so* owe me for this."
He was Angel again, and for a second, she thought they'd won, since everything seemed normal. Then, she remembered his words. She stared him in the eye as his face morphed into its true shape.
"Oh, Cordy," he sneered, "I didn't know you cared." And he bent toward her neck.
She splashed him with a vial of holy water, shouting, "You said to do it!" as she wrapped her silver-spangled shawl around him.
"Destroy the pin," Angel whispered hoarsely; she reached up and pulled the pin out of his lapel. She dropped it and crushed it beneath her heel, as Regina Fairchilde howled in angry defeat. He huddled on the ground for a moment, regaining his strength as the Faerie magic faded from his system.
Wesley and Gunn came forward then, armed for bear. "We played by your rules, m'Lady," Wesley said coldly. "He's free of you now."
"I may have lost him," she spat back, "but that doesn't mean you've won."
Angel stood and glared at her. "You stand to lose far more than me tonight if you take us on," he warned, and the menace in his tone sent chills down Cordy's spine.
The Elf Queen sighed. She knew the rules as well as anyone. "I've only lost two in a thousand years," she said with a shrug. "We could have had such fun, darling, but you didn't want to play."
And she led her Court down the boulevard at full speed.
Cordelia hugged Angel tightly. "Don't you *ever* take up with any Faerie Queen again, d'you hear me?" she said, sniffing and punching him in the chest.
"Oof." He gave her a genuine smile and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You're the only queen in my life, Cordelia."
"Okay, then." She linked her arm through his and the four of them walked back to the car. "I say we go for pancakes."
"Sounds good to me," Wesley said.
"I could eat," Gunn added.
"Wonderful," Angel replied, turning the key in the ignition and driving them off into the night.
~Fin~
A/N: You can find various versions of the Tamlane story at: http://www.tam-lin.org/index.html
http://www.belinus.co.uk/fairytales/JJMFTamlane.htm is the one I used for this fic.