Disclaimer: I do own Angel. Even though he is hot... but anyway, yes I do NOT own the series, books, or movies, anything that has to do with it. Too bad...
Chapter 1- Tarli
"You hear that?" Angel asked, thrusting his arm out to halt Spike. "What the hell was that for?" Spike gritted his teeth. "Shush, listen." "Oh, Angel, you really outdid yourself this time! Homeless guys snoring and the wind blowing. I've gotta hand it to you this time. Scary. Really dangorus Demon." Spike cocked his head. "Ohhhhhhh... that sound. The sound of teenage girls in trouble?"
Angel didn't answer. Someone tapped Spike on the shoulder. He jumped. "Angel. Would you stop doing that?" "Come on, we can get to them faster by rooftop!" Angel disappeared. Spike hoisted himself onto the first roof. He approached the second he muttered, "Spike do this. Spike do that. Go here, go there. Follow me. What if I wasn't around whenever your Angelsenses started tingling?"
At that he lost his footing on the ledge and tumbled back onto the first roof. "Well that hurt" he said, sitting up brushing himself off and running a hand through his hair. "Spike, hurry!" Angel called from faraway. "I'm coming! Don't test me!" Spike smirked to himself. He rushed onto the second, third, fourth and fifth building with ease now.
Finally, catching up with Angel, he breathed, "Does running roof tops make me look fat?" Angel gave him a confused one- over and then averted his glance to the trash-can-lit alley where three girls were fighting for their lives. "Now, why doesn't this surprise me?" they said unison.
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"Lara, duck!" the one with red streaks in her hair commanded. The other ducked just in time as a razor-sharp claw sliced the air her head should have been. Lara brought a knee up to the things stomach. "Take that bastard!" she told it as her elbows came down on it's back, knocking it to the ground.
"Look out!" a third voice called, a ways down the alley. "More follow that one!" The first two girls looked up. "Where?" the one that had spoken first shouted. Lara whipped her head in the direction right of the voice. Her hyperhearing had picked up a sound of dragging flesh. "Nyria! Go with Ilyss—"she was temporarily cut off by a scream. "sa" she finished.
Nyria took off. "She had better not be hurt!" Ilyssa was lying on the ground, another thing with a twisted red skull, lurked over her. "Lys!" Nyria yelled. "Move it!" "How?" Ilyssa shot back. The thing looked up at Nyria. "Now!"
As Ilyssa rolled and back flipped up into a standing position, Nyria flipped her long black hair in front of her face, muttering words no one else could hear. Seconds later, ice flowed from her out stretched palms, freezing all six things were they stood.
"Can you get a read?" she asked, Ilyssa, watching the impact of ice blow her friend's blue streaks back. "No" came the answer.
Nearby, Lara knocked another pair of heads together and watched them fall to ground. Then the echo came into her mind. "Can you get a read-read-read?" "No-o-o-No" The girl kicked one still moving on the ground and rushed to her friends.
Lara, Ilyssa, and Nyria stood there watching Nyria's ice power slowly crack. "Why isn't this working?" she croaked. "I dunno" Lara pondered the situation. They were out- numbered even with their powers. They needed help. Her hair showered her face, and she too spoke the words no one could hear. A gust of wind began to circulate above her and around the ground near her. Still, Nyria's ice cracked. "I can't hold much longer!" she whined. "Their too strong!"
Ilyssa had been concentrating on reaching into the Leaders mind. She wasn't getting anywhere. 'They must have known they would be battling us... knew that they would up against witches with ultra powers.' She thought. "Does anyone hear me?" Nyria bellowed above the roar of Lara's wind.
Ilyssa smiled. Their weakness was simple. They were afraid of their own powers. She would take care of that. "Lara, do not let your wind go until I say so!" she commanded. "WHAT?" the other girl questioned in disbelief. "Trust me! Nyria, let your ice go, now before you drain yourself!" Nyria's hair flew in front of her again. "Return to me, sister!" she commanded her power. The ice shield lessened, flowing into water and rushing back to Nyria. As it hit her, it seemed to lose its life and evaporate.
The things free again, turned to pounce. "Lara, steady, wait, not yet..." Ilyssa muttered. The leader snorted and sneezed out a huge fireball. The wind from Lara thrust Ilyssa's hair away from her face. "Want me to freeze that?" Nyria asked. "No, fire and water. Opposite elements, they will fall into each other." Lara spoke for Ilyssa who was concentrating on the Leader's fire. "What is she doing?" Nyria asked, her own hair flying out behind her. "Hurry!" Lara complained. "Or this wind will become a tornado" Behind the curtain of hair Ilyssa's eyes flashed. The fireball was gaining on them. She locked her eyes on it. "That's what we want" she whispered but Lara heard her. Ilyssa narrowed her eyes, looking only at the fire rush toward them. "Reflect!" she screamed.
A shot of clear magic rushed from her eyes, hit the fireball and evaporated. "Nothing happened" Lara sighed. They were dead now. "Wait" Ilyssa commanded, she knew what would come of her power. Inches from the girls, the fireball stopped, rotated and flew back to its owner, burning him into dust. "Now!" Nyria guessed at Lara's wind. Unable to hold it any longer, with or without her friends 'go' she released her winds.
Ilyssa smiled as the demons were knocked from their claws from the F5 winds and as Nyria rushed into the blast, using her ability of speed to give them all a finally punch before they were blown into another country. When the wind died, a lone black figure stood in the alley-fire-light, cloaked in shadows. It held a bloody knife, fresh from a kill. He dropped the knife, after looking at each girl. His gaze was locked on Nyria. Then he walked back into the shadows.
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"Why did we let them fight their own battle?" Spike whined to Angel when they had gotten back to the office building. "Because, they did not my help" Angel spoke. Then after watching Spike react said, "or us" Spike smirked and walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a bag of blood.
"Want a swallow?" Angel shook his head, and sighed, sitting at his desk. "No, not yet" "More for me!" Spike threw the bag into the air, caught it again and squeezed a bit into this mouth. He spat it out adding, "Bloody hell, that's cold!"
Angel's head flew up. Not paying any attention to Spike he walked into the lobby. The moon made eerie shadows on the carpet through the closed blinds. In another room, he knocked before entering.
"Jade?" he called. A blast of green light almost blinded him and the heat of it was extreme. "Jade?" he called again, rubbing his face. A women who appeared to be in her early thirties walked out from behind a curtain. Her shoulder- length white hair still had a green tinge to it as the light faded. "You rang?" she asked, smiling. Angel rolled his eyes.
"Sorry, spell practicing, its contagious. I can't help it. So, what can I do for Mr. Vampire this evening?" she continued. Angel, hands still on his face, led Jade into his office and motioned for her to sit down at the computer. "I want you to look up something for me" he admitted. "Let me guess!" Jade laughed. "Seeker Demon, truth spell, Past finder?" "Nope, Witches" Angel held his head in his hands. He knew what would come next. Jade would become sullen and quite. She would stop sleeping and eating, forever worried that one of her kind was passing over to the dark side.
"I'm not battling them, I'm trying to help them but I need background info for that to happen." Angel explained though his hands. "Oh" Jade sighed with relief and pushed the ON button. The computer beeped and flashed to a black screen.
"Type in black hair" Angel said, moments later, when the search bar had come up. "Length?" Jade asked, knowing that the search would fall over the millions. Almost every witch in the world had black hair now a days. She fingered her own white strands. That's why she had gone white, so many years back, to be different. "Waist length, even" Angel was saying. "Once again, special markings?" Jade rolled her eyes. That REALLY helped. "Green, blue and red streaks" Jade's fingers flew over the keyboard.
The results plowed over her worst fears... making them become true. "Tarli" she grunted. "Tarli?" Angel turned his head. That name sounded familiar. Why? Jade read: "The most power witch clan in history. The founders of the first and only Witch School... the family keeps the line between good and evil balanced... blah blah blah... Ah! Here we go! Lara, daughter of Lyn, Nyria, daughter of Alanna and Ilyssa, daughter of Kennya. It says here that you knew Alanna once. Is that true?" Jade's eyes flashed. Her rage was boiling. Angel was stunned. "Alanna..." he repeated. The name sliced threw him like a stake. "Alanna?" Suddenly a loud 'pop' made them both turn their attention to the basement. "BLOODY HELL!" Spike called up. The smell burnt blood filled the stairway. "Sorry, Angel, didn't mean to make your blood boil!"
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Lara Tarli slammed her locker shut. "What is it with teachers and homework? Are they like one-in-same?" Ilyssa and Ny' were waiting for her down the hall. Throwing the bulging bag over her shoulder she rushed to catch up with them.
After only 48 hours in the new school, the girls were beginning to feel left out. Right way, kids had sensed a difference about them. It wasn't just that they almost hated to talk on the phone but they had a look about them that not many girls had. A look of intelligence. The teachers had sensed that too. They didn't even have to ask the question before the girls knew the answer.
Yet, 2 days ago they had moved from Florida and also 2 days ago came face to face with L.A's night demons and had won. Have any normal high school girl top that! Life was great, right? Woopie.
Lara and her cousin's walked to Bus 110 in silence. Each was engaged in her own private thoughts and Ilyssa did anything she could to stay out of their minds even though just by looking at them you could tell what they had on the mind. One: Why had they been attacked? Two: Who was that guy in the black trench coat? Three: Was he a friend or evil?
At home they lay across their beds, doing Mr. Tizu's double math assignment. "I can't stand it! We need to do something! Was Sunday night our biggest fun in this city?" Lara asked, leaping up from her spot on the bed. "We need to find adventure! We need to- "
She was cut off by the sound of breaking glass. They turned to see a vampire leaning on an invisible barrier to their bedroom. "You are going to pay for that, right?" Nyria asked, sitting up. The vampire looked at her grinned, if you could call it that. "Name's Angel" he reassured them.
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"How can we trust you?" Ilyssa demanded. Her cousins were breathing hard from struggling. "Its not everyday you get taken from your home by home by vampires and" "Get your blood brutally sucked from your body?" a blond vampire asked, changing back into his human form. Nyria grabbed her neck. "You wouldn't dare!" she said. Spike laughed. "Witches! They never had humor!" Lara eyed him for a second and then flicked him off. "We don't play!" she breathed. Spike held up his hands. "Meant nothing of it... uncle" he confessed and then walked to the door proclaiming, "I'm going" "Where?" another voice called. "Out" he called while slamming the door.
Lara laughed. "Let me guess... He's always like this?" Angel and the girl nodded. "Spike... he comes and goes but mostly he stays and helps out." Angel began summing the loose ends to the equation up.
The girls let the words sink in. The girl next to Angel was studying them. Nyria looked into her eyes, a battle between black and violet eyes. The girl looked away first.
"You" Nyria stuttered. She took a step forward. "You are an Enre'!" The girl nodded. "Her name is Jade." Ilyssa informed them. "How?" Jade asked. "Mind reader, you get used to it" Lara explained. 'You get used to it' the words tumbled over again in her mind. She never had told anyone about their powers even if that anyone knew about them. She hadn't told the kids, whom Ilyssa had told them who they liked even before they themselves knew they like the other, not to the teachers who sought to come up with why she always knew the answers to their questions even before they were asked. Why was she explaining it to a possible enemy? That could spell damage. Why hadn't she seen it?
Ilyssa took a seat finally, on the lush green seats across from Angel. "Why did you bring us here? You still haven't answered THAT question." "Hey! You're the mind reader... why don't you just... I dunno, read our minds?" Jade pounced on her kill.
Angel was standing, quick to sense the uneasiness between them. "Easy Killer!" he casually said to Jade. That wasn't about to work. He decided to cut right to the point. "We need your help" There was no reason to hide the truth any longer. "We- Spike and I- saw you in the alley the other night. We saw everything, your moves, your mind work, your powers... we could really use you to help us" He looked at the clock. It was almost 6:00 am.
The girls' hands flew to their necklaces. Tingles and sparks flew up their arms, almost viable to the human eye. "Angel, you aren't the first vamp to try to do away with our powers! What made you think we could handle ourselves so well in that alley?" Nyria was bubbling now, her anger and fear was mixing. You never make an Ice queen mad! "Yeah! Just because we came from Florida doesn't mean this is our first sight of your kind or even demons! We have had our practice!" Lara tucked a piece of outgrown bang behind her ear. This was habit to keep her from blowing from rage.
Jade stepped in. "We are asking for your help, not your powers themselves... only the witch the power was given to can wield it." She was quoting from the Witch Power/Spell Book Rule #10. The girls jumped to their feet. "Our family has hated the Enre's since the Dawn of the Witches Time!" Ilyssa's voice grew stern. "We have the right to blast you sky high!" Lara warned. "For trying to take over the family school!" Nyria added.
3 faces were covered with black hair. A wind started up above Lara. She held it steady, letting it become stronger with each rotation. Ice crackled from Nyria's hands, melting and then forming slowly into ice, she too held her power. Extreme heat filled the room, bit by bit, for Ilyssa's coal black eyes were now rimmed with fire, ready to aim at Jade.
Angel and Jade stood, un moving, watching, and waiting. "Want us to release, Jade Enre'?" Lara called. "Ready to accept your own downfall?" Ilyssa asked, bearly blinking. "Put your powers away, we don't have time, right girls!" Angel spoke softly but he was heard over the roar of the wind. Nyria's ice melted into water and flowed back into her amulet. Lara's wind was swept around her body from the dropping of her hands. Ilyssa's power shot from her eyes, stopped and came back, knocking her to the ground.
When she came to, Jade was doubled over in pain. Ilyssa held her head as the pain sliced through her brain. Doubles and triples of everything flashed before her as the images turned gray. Suddenly the colors came back, making her briefly shield herself by closing her eyes and falling into blackness.
"Jade?" she sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you I- " "You didn't Lys!" Lara was at Jade's side, holding her up, keeping her from falling. "I never had to take my lasers back" she said to anyone caring enough to listen. Nyria was shivering uncontrollably, a symptom of stopping of her ice attack. The only sound in the thick silence was her teeth chattering. A blast of wind threw the door open and Spike rushed back in tossing his head out of vampire form. "We have a bit of a problem!" he informed them. "Tell me about it!" Jade breathed.
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The shadows came from everywhere, creeping up on them. The girls had witnessed the darkness before the gray of the dawn before but it had been years. A far down fear was being awoken unlike any they could remember was filling their stomachs again. As if by some unwritten law, Lara, Nyria and Ilyssa walked two or so steps behind the others into the alley. They stuck close yet walked far enough away so they could talk in peace. They had a strange feeling something was going to happen.
In front of them, Angel glanced back at them; forever worried one of them would turn up missing. "What did you see?" he asked Jade, hand on her shoulder. "Red demon with four fangs and twisted skulls are going to attack us... here." The last word flowed with such force in the eerie quietness Spike thought the windows would crack. They didn't.
As if in slow motion, demons from all angles and buildings jumped to the ground. Angel and Spike looked at each other quickly before dodging a claw. "This is great!" Spike muttered. "Did you bring the sires?" Angel asked, grabbing the claw and twisting it behind the owner's back. "Way ahead of you, mate" Spike grinned, tossing a pair to Angel. The vampire caught them in mid-air and eliminating the first demon before it even realized it was free.
"What about me?" Jade whined. "You" Spike stuck his left sire into the heart of one coming up behind him. "Have your" he slashed another across the neck that had ensnared Angel. "Powers" he finished, his voice rising above the death cry of the first one.
A few feet away the witches were watching the commotion, intensively. "Those are the same type demons that attacked us two days ago!" Nyria confirmed. Lara rolled her eyes. "You could win a Grammy, Ny!" she teased. "For your obvious observations!" "Shut up!" Nyria smiled. Lara took another glance at the fight, and took off running. "Don't!" Ilyssa warned. "Not yet! Don't move, or use your powers yet!" Her friends gave her quizzical glances before obeying. She was the one could read minds, even demons.
As if on cue, an electrical green shock blasted down the alleyway. Jade watched another demon fall. The other three witches called their swords. Three voices blending as one. "Firya! Diya! Lail!" A red, green and blue light floated from the heavens becoming firm swords in their owners' hands. "Bring it on!" Lara screamed and rushed into the battle. Ilyssa and Nyria followed in pursuit and made mad dashes to their first victim. He died instantly. The power of The Swift (Firya), The Quick (Diya) and The Powerful One (Lail) killed instantly.
Breathing from adrenaline the girls continued to slash about, hitting, striking, and killing any foul beast to get in her way, careful to avoid the green or white blast flowing from Jade to shield them whenever needed. The more demons that died, it seemed, more filled the alley. For every one down, two or three more would jump from the buildings or come out of trashcans. This continued for the longest of times.
Spike and Angel were picked up at the same time by the same demon and thrown against the brick wall. This made them mad and they stood back up with a face only a mother could love. The demon blinked. "You are human" he growled. "Guess again" Angel's strength proved him well as it was the demons turn to get thrown against the wall, only he did not rise again. "We're vampires!" He finished to the dying evil.
Lara threw her sword into the air. "Return to the heavens!" she commanded Diya. The sword disappeared in the night sky. Ilyssa and Nyria stood there, frozen. "Why in the hell-?" Ilyssa managed. "Can't deal with a sword right now!" Lara shot back. Nyria rolled her eyes. Lara, barehanded, fought her way over to Spike. "You need a weapon!" his voice was almost lost as the demons still alive, chorused a death roar. "The hell I don't!" Lara spun into a demon, knocking a fang out his mouth. "Bloody Hell!" Spike smiled in astonishment.
"We fight better with our hands!" Nyria countered. Lara turned to see two things. One: Her cousins had followed her and had also sent their swords away. Two: the sun was a peak on the city. "Sun" she mouthed. Ilyssa's mind raced. 'Angel!'
"Shield!" Jade's voice shot through the gray dawn. She had spoken too late. The girls knocked against the brick wall as their amulets were torn form their necks. Their magic supply drained from them faster then the turn of a page in a book. The vicious demon cackled and rose to leave with his prize only to be 'waped' on the head by a garbage can lid from Gunn and a tranquilizer bullet from Wes who had jumped into the scene only minutes before. The silver, black, and amber jewels clattered to the ground beside their wearers.
"No!" Jade screamed. "My Shield never misses! Are they okay?" The words were sluggish in the minds of the young black haired witches as a peculiar want filled their senses. The taste was new, yet they remembered the taste before. They lay there, against the wall, struggling with an unseen foe. As they fought, the one cloaked in black stepped from the shadows once again, finishing off the fanged demons with that same bloody knife.
Only Nyria, using the last drop of her powers, could feel his emotions of love, gratitude and anger before he faded back into the darkness he had come from. As the knife touched the ground, they knew that taste. The taste many had in this city. The taste for blood. Then they remembered. Remembered something they had blocked from their mind for ten long years.