A/N: Story is in AU where Connor never existed. Hey this is my first fic and it's not BETA'd so if you have any comments or critiques let me know. R&R!!
"He's just another john. He's just another john. I can get through this. I can do this. He won't hurt me. He never hurts me. He's just another john, you can do this Grey," a young girl repeated silently. Wearing bright bubble-gum lipstick, too much eyeliner and eye shadow, fishnets and heels, and a dress entirely too tight, she climbed into the back of a car and placed her bag on the floor beside her feet. She'd been working these same streets for up to three years now. In those past three years she had been witness to things most fifteen-year old girls have nightmares about and things they could never imagine. She knew all about vampires and the supernatural and how dangerous the two could be. But the particular vampire she was sitting with now paid so well that she put all her cautions aside. By participating in a little blood play she could make in an hour or so what she would usually make all week. But even with this monetary assurance, something still made he hair stand on end whenever he came around.
"Pull over here," the vampire spoke to the human driver. They walked over to a park bench and sat down.
Enjoys the public eye a bit too much for a vampire, thought Grey what a prick.
"Grey," the vampire purred interrupting her thoughts and pinning her against the bench, "I missed you Grey; your scent, your taste, your blood. I need you Grey. My Grey." The vampire nuzzled her neck, then, changing into his demonic form, bit into her fiercely and suckled the wound; nursing blood from her veins. It was a shallow cut but the sudden sting of pain caused her to cry out and whimper. A cruel smile played on the vampire's blood stained lips as he continued to lap up the last traces of blood. But his smile vanished as he crumbled to dust.
"What the hell-!?" Grey exclaimed jumping up and automatically covering the bite mark with her hand. "What the hell just happened?"
A tall figure stepped out from the shadows. Misunderstanding her alarm, he explained, " I know you must be frightened but everything will be fine. Let me explain-"
"The hell it will be!" Grey interrupted clearly upset. "You fucking dusted my john, you prick!"
Surprised at the outburst of what appeared to be a girl of twenty, the man believed her to be in shock and tried again to explain. "Uh, I know this must sound a little strange but your "john" was actually a vampire. It might be hard for you to believe me but-"
"No shit Sherlock, really?" she said sarcastically. "Of course he was a vampire! You had to be a jackass and dust him before he could pay me. You think I'm out whorin'' around for the fun of it? Who the hell do you think you are anyway? Actin' like a vigilante out here, probably going to get yourself killed you dumb-ass." She muttered the last part, not entirely sure of this man's intentions.
Stunned by her language and the fact that she didn't care that he had just told her about vampires, he tried to reply. "Uh, my name is Angel. I uh- I help the hopeless. I had heard you scream and I thought-"
"Wait. Angel?" A glimmer of recognition flashed in her eyes. "You're Angel? From the Order of Aureilus? Formerly known as Angelus, Childe of Darla, Sire of Penn, Drusilla and William the Bloody? The former Scourge of Europe? I'm speaking to the Angelus? No shit…" she said with a sense of awe.
"Its just Angel now." He said taken aback by her knowledge of him. "How do you know who I am?"
"What self respecting teenager who knows about vampires doesn't know about Angel- the only vampire with a soul?"
"Uh, okay…wait, teenager? Just how old are you exactly?"
"Fifteen."
Shocked he asked, "How long have you been out here?"
"Long enough, don't worry your pretty little gelled head over it."
"Not acceptable. You're coming home with me until we can figure out something better."
"What? Why?"
"I can't let you just stay out here on the street."
"Why the hell not? I've been doin' fine so far."
"Cause you're a kid letting vampires get too close to your neck. I'm sorry if I'm a bit concerned." He said tersely, her cockiness grating on his last nerve and at the same time seeming too familiar.
"I'm not a kid okay?"
"I'm over 250 years old; everyone's a kid to me." Pause. "What's your name?"
"Grey"
"Just Grey?"
"Just Angel?"
"Point taken. But your still coming home with me."
"Look Angel, I appreciate the concern but since a select few will be rather angry if I don't come back with a certain amount of money in the morning, after you've dusted my best paying customer, I'll be on my way"
"What if I pay you to come to my hotel with me?"
Considering the proposition, she asked warily "How much?"
"Double whatever he was going to pay," he said referring to the pile of dust.
"Done."
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"Look all I'm saying is that it's possible that's all," a brunette said as she incorrectly filed away papers at a receptionist desk.
"Cordelia, I highly doubt that Gucci is ran by demons." A man said with a crisp British accent.
"Wes, in Cordy's world, brand names no money pure evil."
"Shut up Gunn!" Cordy said
"Actually there is approximately a one in 7 chance that one of the chairmen of Gucci are involved with demons or have a demonic past. In fact it's highly possible, based on my research, that most fashion industries are ran by demonic entities," a mousy woman babbled mostly to herself.
"In English Fred?" Cordy asked
"You're probably right." she replied.
"Only one of them is a demon the rest are just evil." said the vampire who just walked in.
"Angel! Cordy exclaimed, "You're back! Finally!"
"And apparently he brought a friend." Gunn said noticing the wide-eyed young woman who was currently preoccupied staring at the lush interior of the hotel.
"Everyone this is Grey. Grey this is Wesley, Cordelia, Gunn, and Fred." Angel said pointing out each individual as he introduced everyone.
"You hang around with humans? And they're not food? I knew you had your soul but your slumming it with humans? For shame Angelus." she said with mock disapproval.
"And who or what the hell are you to say we should just be food? And if he's "slumming it" with us then I don't know what the hell he's doing with you. 'Cause let's face it- you are definitely not a step up." Cordy finished, letting her inner Queen C reign free. She was pissed that this- this tramp, had the nerve to come in here and insult her in her own territory. Who the hell did she think she was anyway? And why the hell would Angel bring her here? When she turned to glare at him for this trespass she was met with a look of hurt and disappointment. Confused, she looked back to the young woman in front of her, but was only met with a look of calm acceptance.
"Don't worry," the girl said as if nothing was said at all "I'm human too and yea, I guess you're probably wondering 'Why would Angel bring this tramp into my home?' and I can't say I blame you really. I guess my appearance doesn't scream "worth saving" exactly. Whores aren't thought of that way I guess. But you can't get johns dressed all that nicely. Like in what you're wearing or something. Is that Gucci?" She asked cheerily
Cordelia nodded dumbly.
"It's nice, looks good on you. And since I'm babbling away here anyway, Angel you got somewhere I can change my clothes? This blood is starting to stick to my neck, not very pleasant if you didn't know."
"Yea, right up the stairs. All the rooms have bathrooms, pick anyone you want."
"Thanks, I'll be back in fifteen. Try not to miss me too much Liam." she said going up the stairs, pausing to blow the vampire a kiss, then skipping out of sight.
As soon as she was out of sight, and thankfully out of hearing range, all of the living looked to the dead for answers. Cordy was the first to speak.
"Angel, did she just call herself that?" she asked softly
"Yes, Cordelia. Unfortunately she thinks that's all she's meant for in life."
"Angel?" Wesley interrupted as delicately as possible, "Can I inquire as to why you brought a prostitute here. I do not mean to sound callus but a young woman such as herself should not be immersed into the supernatural and I am sure there are others who are more able to-"
"She's only fifteen Wes, I couldn't leave her there. Besides this girl knows more about me than almost anyone in this room. I know I never told her my name was Liam. She's been into the supernatural way before I even found her."
"She got bit tonight?" Gunn asked
"Yea, apparently her best paying costumer before I dusted him."
"But why would she do that?" Fred asked "Doesn't she know how dangerous that can be?"
"Of course she knows it's dangerous. She's just doing what she thinks she has to to keep going." Gunn explained. "Girl has to have some mojo going for her. Hanging around vampires for that long; something besides luck is keeping her alive."
"That's what I was thinking." Angel added. "But for tonight let's just keep Grey entertained and we'll see how we can sort this out tomorrow morning."
"Hey look, I'm back!" The highly energetic girl said as she and her black, red streaked, shoulder length hair bounced down the stairs. She was wearing black and red DC sneakers, black hip huggers and a long sleeved black shirt with a gray skull and cross bones on the front. All the makeup she was wearing was gone and now was replaced with black eyeliner and two, small, upside down, triangles under each eye. Her well-worn leather jacket that hung to the middle of her calves completed the ensemble. "So what are we gonna do now?"
"Uh, are you hungry? 'Cause you know we could go and eat tacos. When I first came back from Pylea that's all I wanted but I guess you wouldn't need to eat all that many tacos seeing as you've been in this dimension this whole time but just in case you ever do get trapped in another dimension where you're a slave for five years I think you might want tacos too."
Silence.
"You know, food sounds pretty good Fred," Grey smiled. "You know anywhere we could go get a bite to eat?"
" I know the perfect place," Cordelia offered. And with little trouble they all left the Hyperlion heading out for dinner.
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Grey spent the entire evening hanging out with the Angel crew. After they returned to the hotel they prepared for the next day of demon slaying and prostitute saving. As they were about to head off to their respective homes, Grey spoke up saying "You guys I was wondering what you guys do. I mean you work with Sanshu Man over here so you guys have to have some sort of cool powers."
"Well actually," Wes said, "Cordelia receives messages from "The Powers That Be", Fred is a physicist who was transported to another dimension, Gunn is the former leader of a crew that exterminates vampires, and I am an ex-watcher turned rouge demon hunter."
"The Brit, the mouse, the seer, and the cute guy. Very nice Angel." Grey smiled.
"Uh, thanks?" Angel faltered. "Well anyway, its pretty late so I think everyone should head to bed."
"Yeah, visions to have, people to save, demons to slay, yadda yadda yadda." Cordelia yawned.
"Good night y'all," Gunn said while leaving.
"Yes, I do think it's best that we retire for the evening. Good evening all." Wesley bid.
"Does he always talk like that?" Grey said in a stage whisper to Angel.
"Unfortunately yes," Angel said giving one of his rarely seen smiles.
"I choose not to dignify that statement with a response." Wes harrumphed as he left the building.
"Well, night everybody," Fred said climbing the stairs to bed. Finally only the vampire and the girl were in the lobby.
"Well Angel it was great hanging out with you this evening but I think I'll take my money and go."
"What are you talking about? I thought you were staying here."
"Nope, sorry. Our agreement was that I would come to the hotel with you, nothing else. Now if you want anything else," she said with a suggestive smirk, "It'll cost you extra. So Angel, is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?"
"Yes. I mean No! I mean -" Sigh. "I want you to live here with me until you can find somewhere better?"
"Nope. No way."
"Why the hell not?" The vampire said becoming exasperated.
"Because I don't need you or anyone else to take care of me."
"I'm not asking you to become my charity case. I take care of you, you take care of me. That's all."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, uh, you could answer the phones and uh, file away the cases and sorta help out wherever you can."
"Isn't that Cordy's job?"
"Yeah but she's not that good at it is she?"
"Maybe not," Grey smiled "How much do you pay?"
"Well I can only afford to give you room and board, food and some new clothes."
"Okay, I can live with that."
"Great. Room 211 is all ready for you."
"Thanks," as she was climbing the stairs to her room she stopped, "You had this all planned out didn't you?"
"Of course not," Angel said trying to hide the self-satisfied look on his face.
"Whatever, I'm going to head to bed. Tomorrow's a brand new day." Grey said while leaving the vampire's sight. "A brand new day."