Death Travels Fast

(based sometime after Sanctuary (w/Buffy)

Angel sat alone in his office, his back to the door. He had permitted himself a usually forbidden glance at the photograph of Buffy that he kept in a book on the shelf, but that glance had turned into an hour-long stare now, flooded with memories.

"Hello, Angel."

Angel whipped around.

The dead silence echoed for a long moment before Angel answered in a quiet but commanding voice. "Who are you?"

A woman's voice came from the darkness beyond the doorway, but all he could see of her was a silhouette.

"Oh, surely you remember."

She walked slowly, slowly out of the shadows until he could see her in the sliver of moonlight coming in through the window. He was staring at a young woman dressed in a flowing skirt with multiple bracelets around her wrists, dangling earrings, and a lot of necklaces. Her dark, curly hair hung loose about her shoulders, which were covered with a shawl.

She gave him what might have been a mischievous smile, had it not been contorted into a menacing sneer by the presence of fangs, and he gathered that she might be pretty, were it not for the hideous features that made her what she was.

"Is this an attempt to shock me? I hate to break it to you, ma'am, but I know a similar face a little too well for that. So how about we cut to the chase and you just tell me why you're here and what you want. Sound good?"

The woman just laughed.

"Oh, you would be familiar with my…plight, fate, whatever you wish to call it. After all, it's plagued you longer than it's plagued me, but the difference, dear Angel, is that it really isn't a plague for me…or maybe the word is curse. Now that is a word you know well, is it not…Angelus?"

Angel said nothing, watching her, waiting for her to get to her point.

She stared at him. "But still you don't know me?"

She transformed her face back to its human form, smiling at Angel.

"Recognize me now, Angel?"

*****

"Okay, who left the old coffee grinds in the coffeemaker??"

"Cordelia, nobody drinks that stuff anyway," Angel informed her as he walked by.

"Um…all the LIVING people around here do."

"Not when you make it."

"It's COFFEE, Angel. You can't mess it up."

It was a good thing that Angel had the good sense to know it really wasn't worth retaliating because his retaliation would have been interrupted a moment later, when Wesley came barging in the door, talking a mile a minute, formal as ever. "It's absolutely incredible to me the number of people who insist upon using foul language on the road. Road rage truly is a terrible thing. I don't drive that slowly, and I really don't think "old woman" is an accurate comparison."

"So walk. You live two blocks away," Cordelia told him.

"Well, yes, I…I suppose I could do that—"

"Good morning, Wesley."

"Good morning, Angel."

"Okay, so, first order of business for the day," Cordelia began, handing Angel a sticky note. "She called first thing this morning." She stared at Angel as if expecting him to respond to that. "You know, when I was here and you weren't." Still he said nothing. "Where WERE you? You never come up this late."

"Uh…yeah, sorry. I had a late night visitor last night."

Cordelia and Wesley exchanged a look.

"Late night…Angel! You didn't…? You remember the moment of true happiness thing? Remember that?!"

"Calm down, Cordelia. I didn't have a girl over. Well, I mean technically, I—"

Wesley and Cordelia looked at him expectantly.

"Technically you what?" Cordelia prodded.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. This note. Sarah Martin. What did she want?"

"Psh. Like I know. She got on and started babbling in this annoying, high-pitched voice about some 'big problem' that really didn't sound important. I hate people who talk like that. And I really don't think she planned on paying."

"Uh…Cordelia? That's kind of what we're here for? Remember?" Angel said, and he would have said it incredulously had he not known Cordelia so well.

"Look, it was early, okay? Nobody ever calls before eight. And I didn't get my coffee because somebody didn't go to the effort to buy more coffee after they drank the last of it. AND they didn't clean out the coffeemaker! Come on, people, we run a business here. Can we please show some sense of responsibility?"

"Cordelia." Angel tried to get her to focus again. "What did Sarah Martin say?"

Cordelia sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes. "She said something about being afraid to leave her house or something."

"And you told her…"

"Uh, that she should go back to sleep and that I hadn't had my coffee yet?"

Angel gave her one of those looks that he does so well. Which is pretty much any look.

"Hey, me, remember?" She pointed to herself. "Say what I think?"

" That you do, Cordelia, that you do…" Angel sighed.

Cordelia suddenly collapsed backwards onto the desk, yelling and clutching her head in pain.

"Cordelia!" Angel and Wesley yelled at the same time.

They rushed toward her and set her gently on the floor.

"What is it?" Angel asked in a voice filled with a sense of urgency.

"What did you see?" Wesley added.

"OW! Blinding pain. Please don't talk."

Angel and Wesley sat quietly for a moment, looking both uncomfortable and impatient.

"Pen. Paper." Cordelia held out her hand expectantly.

Welsey grabbed a pad of paper and a pen off the desk and handed it to her. With her palm still smashed against her forehead, Cordelia scribbled down an address.

" That's where she lives."

"What did you see?" Angel pressed.

"Vampire. Outside her window. That's what I like to see when I wake up in the middle of the night. Ew. Almost as appealing as looking in a mirror when you wake up in the morning after drinking—all right, I'm coming! Could you guys not wait two seconds? Seriously, I'm recovering from serious head trauma here…"

*****

"Can I help you?"

A small, timid-looking woman in her early thirties answered the door. She only opened it partially, and looked out through the space as if expecting the caller to attack.

"Hi, Ms. Martin? I'm Cordelia Chase. I work for Angel. You called our office this morning?"

"Oh, yes. Right. I'm glad you came. Please come in." She opened the door just enough to let them in.

Cordelia smiled at the woman, who looked terrified. "Angel will be here in a moment. He, uh…he might use the back door, just to give you a heads up. How can we help?"

"Would you like some coffee?"

Ten minutes later, Angel had arrived from his detour through the sewers, and the four sat around the kitchen table, steaming mugs in hand. Ms. Martin had barely said a word.

"Can you tell me what's wrong, Ms. Martin…what happened?" Angel asked.

"Please, it's Sarah."

Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley kept silent.

Sarah Martin fidgeted for a minute, looking down at her coffee cup and rubbing her thumb absentmindedly along the handle. Finally she spoke.

"Last night, the wind was howling, and I'm a pretty light sleeper. My husband used to say if a leaf dropped off the tree on the other side of the yard, I would wake up…"

"And your husband?"

"He died last year.

"Oh. I'm terribly sorry."

"It's all right. I manage."

"So you live alone now?"

"Yes."

Angel nodded. "Please. Continue."

" So last night, I heard the wind and woke up, and my curtains were open…I never leave the curtains open, but for some reason I did last night, and when I woke up…"

"Yes, Sarah?" Angel prompted.

"Well, when I looked outside my window, I saw a…"

"It's all right. Don't be afraid to tell us," Wesley chimed in.

"Well, there was a…"

"There was a vampire outside your window, right?"

"Cordelia." Wesley and Angel reprimanded her in unison.

"What? It's not like we didn't already know. Just trying to speed up the process a bit."

Angel turned back to Sarah Martin. "Is that what you think you saw outside your window last night?"

"Well, I—" Sarah looked completely taken aback. "I mean, I concede, he didn't quite look human, but...do you really believe there could have been a vampire outside my window last night?"

"Well. It's a possibility. Could you describe him to us?"

"Oh, come on. We already know what the guy looks like! Well, I already know what the guy looks like, anyway." She turned to Sarah. "Let me guess, big ugly guy, kinda grayish skin, squished-in face, creepy eyes, looked like he could really use a facial now and then?"

"Uh, well…yes, I guess you could put it that way."

Angel looked slightly embarrassed. "Uh—please forgive my colleague's abrasiveness—Cordelia."

"What? I'm trying to help."

"Stop helping," Angel ordered.

He turned back to Sarah Martin. "Ms. Martin, the…creature…you saw last night won't come back now, not during the day. We'll come back tonight.

She looked panicked. "You're leaving?'

"We'll be back before the sun goes down, I promise. Well, Wesley and Cordelia will be back before sundown. I'll be a few minutes late, regrettably. But I'll be here. There's not much we can do now."

Wesley and Cordelia got up to leave, and Angel pointed hesitantly towards the back of the house.

"We like to...take a different route. Do you mind if we use your back door again?"

Sarah Martin didn't look very surprised. There was a lifelessness to her face as a result of fear and exhaustion that left no room for surprise.

"Go ahead."

She walked them to the door. "Angel?" she said softly just before they reached the door. All three turned.

"Before sundown?"

Angel nodded. "I promise."

In the shadows outside the window, a woman smiled, pulling her shawl tighter around her lifeless shoulders.

*****

"So what are we going to do?" Cordelia asked, back at the office.

"Well, Cordelia, it must be obvious. You did see where the poor woman lives, didn't you?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah, cute house, I don't see what that has to do with—"

"She lives next to a graveyard, Cordelia, ideal territory for vampires. He'll attack tonight," Angel clarified.

"Well, why didn't he attack last night? I mean, especially after she saw him. It's not like a vampire to run away just because its prey knows it's there."

"No, it isn't. I've thought about that. I'm not sure why he didn't attack her last night, but whatever the reason, she's still alive. And I'm going to make sure she stays that way."

*****

As promised, Wesley and Cordelia were on Sarah Martin's doorstep when the sky was a radiant shade of orange.

Sarah Martin smiled with relief when she opened the doors.

"You came back."

"Just like Angel said. May we come in?"

"Of course. Thank you so much for coming…again."

They walked into her living room, and Sarah shut the door behind them. The three stood there in awkward silence, no one knowing what to say. "Please, sit down." They sat, but the silence persisted. "So, I assume Angel is…on his way?"

"He'll be here in no time," Cordelia assured her.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Sarah Martin jumped, but recovered and went to answer it. She looked incredibly relieved to see Angel standing there, long black coat, heartbreaking eyes, and all.

"So…what happens now?" Sarah asked, when he had joined them in the living room.

A flicker of movement caught Angel's eye. Turning his head, he could see the graveyard out the living room window.

"Do you mind if I…take a look around in the backyard?"

"No. Of course not. Go right ahead."

"Thanks." Angel got up and headed toward the back door.

"Should…we come with you?" Sarah asked uncertainly. "No, all three of you, stay inside."

*****

Angel walked swiftly through the backyard over to the graveyard. He was ready to get this over with. It was only one vampire, after all.

In the graveyard, he wandered through the tombstones, tense, eyes searching—ready for a fight.

"Come on," Angel called in an irritated voice after he'd wandered for a few minutes, seeing nothing but tombstones and flowers. "I know you're here. You know I'm here. I'd really like to get this over with and go home, if that's all right with you."

Silence greeted his short soliloquy, but it was soon followed by a low chuckle.

"They call you Angel, isn't that right?" Angel spun around.

"Do you think they'd still call you that if they knew what you were? All of these 'innocent people' you're trying so hard, so pointlessly, to protect? And what if they knew, Angel, what would they call you then? Monster? Murderer, perhaps? Doesn't quite portray the innocent celestial being image you're going for, now does it?"

"As far as I'm concerned, they could call me the devil himself, it still wouldn't turn me into you. And at least I have that knowledge."

"Right. That comfort, that you may be evil, but hey, you're one of the good guys, right?"

The vampire laughed and shook his head. "Wrong. You don't get to take both paths when the road forks in two. And you don't get to choose either. You are what you are, Angel, whatever your name. And it's time you stopped protecting your food and started eating it. But really, I don't care what you do with your food. Just as long as you stay out of my way and let me have mine.

"Can't do that. Sorry."

The vampire sighed in mock-exasperation. "Why is it always the hard way with you "good guys," hm? Hard for you, of course. But it is a little draining for me, and one human isn't really enough to satisfy my hunger after winning a fight. Takes energy, you know. Although…you brought dinner with you, didn't you? An entrée and a side, if I'm not mistaken. Three for me, how thoughtful of you. Well, as long as there's extra food, I guess I'm good!"

With this last sentence, he bashed Angel across the face. Angel hit back, and the fight escalated in no time. Angel punched the vampire in the face hard enough to lay him out on the ground for a moment. He used that time to break off the majority of a marble headstone and hit the vampire over the head with it as soon as he stood up again. But this vampire was strong, and had clearly been trained well. He wasn't going to let Angel off too easily. With an angry cry, he bashed Angel across the face again, picked up a shard of marble from the block that Angel had broken over his head, and jabbed it into Angel's chest. Angel yelled, pulled out the piece of marble, and flung it on the ground, lunging at the vampire. They rolled in the grass, punching, kicking, trying to hold the other down. They rolled until they were on the outskirts of the cemetery, which was surrounded by dark woods. Angel slammed the other vampire up against the trunk of a tree, pinned him there with one arm, and with the other, ripped a piece of bark off the tree, making a roughly hewn stake.

"I'll never be you, do you understand me? I'll never again do what you do. I'm here for the people in this city, I'm here for Sarah Martin, and that means not letting you and the evil that drives you stand in the way of their safety."

Angel didn't give him a chance to reply.

When it was over, Angel got up off the ground, dusted himself off, and threw the stake into the trees. He turned and headed back towards the house, but a voice stopped him.

"Well done, Angelus. Very well done. Somehow, I'm not surprised. The vampire who sired you must have taught you well."

(to be continued :) )

A/N: I have not watched all the episodes of Angel or Buffy, so I'm sorry if there are any inaccuracies. Please let me know if there are any. And please review! Thanks! :)