With the wind screaming through her hair, and the sounds of sirens coming
for every where, she ran to the bus station as fast as her feet could carry
her. With bleeding feet and knuckles, all she could think about was Angel.
Everything will be okay when I see him, when he tells me it will be all
right and I fear Hell and its creatures no more. Will I be welcomed? What
if he turns me away? Oh, how I long to see his face, for him to tell me
that his missed me and moving to L.A was a mistake. Then, the unwelcome
memory of the day he left Sunnydale haunted her vision. She could see him
walking away into the smoke, out of her life for years. She only saw him in
her dreams, in every dream, she couldn't stop him from leaving. Riley was
sweet, but not matter how much she tried to ignore it, she knew that she
only had one true love, the one that left.
"One ticket for L.A please." Talking seemed so hard, for all she had done was talk in her head. The lady looked at her strangely, but who could blame her. She had managed to get some money out of the house and a few pieces of clothes while everyone was out getting food. FOOD! How could they just leave her like that, all alone to get pizza, after coming from hell? She knew that she was being unfair, but she didn't care. It was hard to leave, but she knew that she could not rest till Angel comforted her. Till he told her how he managed to get over Hell, how he managed to get over her.
The ride was long and seemed endless, but she finally stood in front of the old rundown hotel. As her hand touched the doorknob, she felt frightened. What would he say? There was only one way to find out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As she walked in, the room became silent. All eyes were on her and she knew that they must have been expecting her. She recognized two faces. One was Angel's and the other was Cordellia. Cordy hadn't changed too much, but her gorgeous long brown hair was now short and blonde. Buffy loved Cordy's hair in High School, though she didn't dare tell her that.
"Willow called and said that you left, she thought you might show up here". Angel said with unbelieving eyes.
His Buffy was there, frightened in front of them. She was bruised and look exhausted, but she was here. When Willow told him she was on her way, he didn't know weather to laugh or cry. He had missed her so much and often dreamed about the happy days they had together. He almost fell in love with Cordy, but his love for Buffy was too strong. She used to date that Rambo guy, but he was long gone. Of course, he didn't like him, the guy thought he was so cool and didn't even want Buffy to see him. Looking at Buffy in front of him made him wonder what he was thinking when he left her to face the miserable world on her own. He tried to give her excuses for leaving, but sometimes he thought she knew the real reason why he left. His love for her was too much. It hurt to be around her, so like a coward, he left.
He couldn't hold back any longer, ever since he found out she was back, he wanted to hold her and tell her he was sorry for leaving her. He ran to her and enveloped her in a hug with all the love he could. She collapsed in his arms and began to cry.
"Can you guys, um. You can all leave, I'll call you if I need you." It was the only thing he could think of to get the wide-eyed audience to leave them alone.
It felt so good to have her in his arms and the way she clung to him he knew she felt the same way.
" Angel, it was so horrible. It felt like forever, and the way they treated me. It was so, so." Then she broke down. How could she possibly tell him the terrible things that happened, in, in, in Hell?
"Buffy, it's okay. You don't have to say anything yet. I still can't talk about it and it has been years. I can't imagine what you went through, I wish I could have been there, the day you.." As his voice trailed off he thought of how he wish he could have been there when she came to that awful fate. If only, he could have saved her, then she would know his love for her was still strong.
As if she was reading his mind she said, "Angel, you couldn't have stopped what happened that night. Don't blame yourself for not being there, you didn't even know!"
"But I did know Buffy! I knew about that night and about Glory, and I didn't come. I thought you could handle it and that you would be mad if I came. I was so stupid."
It was like a knife through her heart. She could feel the blood draining out of her face and felt lightheaded. She ran over to the couch to sit down, leaving Angel's embrace. He knew. Angel knew about everything and yet he left her to fight on her own. She could feel old wounds opening. Remembering all they had been through and then, he left her.
"I need to rest Angel. I have to think. Do you have a place where I could stay?" She couldn't face him tonight. It was just too hard.
He saw the pain in her eyes and knew it was his fault. He blamed himself every day for it and he knew that he couldn't make amends for it, not this time.
As he led her into her room, he just wanted to kiss and make up, but he knew it would take more than a kiss. Somehow, he had to show his love for her, and it would take time.
"Sleep well. I will be right here if you need me." It was a silly line to say, but it was all he had.
Right before she walked away he said, "Buffy, I do love you, I really do."
"I love you too, but what don't know is, do you remember what love is? Do you know how to love me?" The door closed behind her, and Angel felt broken.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As she was sleeping, he thought about what she had said. Of course, he still knew how to love. Couldn't she see that he had loved her since the day they met, and even when she was gone? He was overwhelmed. What if she never knew that he truly loved her? He left her, so does that make her think that his love for her wasn't strong. He remembered on Christmas morning that he almost took his life. Buffy had pleaded with him to get inside before the sun came. She confessed her love to him, and he said nothing. He was weak, and he had just come back from Hell himself. The First was trying to make him kill Buffy and he didn't know if he could restrain himself. Then it started to snow and he felt it was a sign to keep going. It was a smart decision. He had had his miracle, now she needed hers.
Then, all of a sunned he heard her scream in terror. He bolted up the stair and flew open the door. There he saw her on the bed scream and tears rolling down her cheek. She was having a nightmare.
"Buffy, Buffy! Wake up. It's just a dream, wake up." Her eyes opened slowly and he had never seen her so frightened. He held her as she trembled and cried. He tried to coo her and tell her it was okay.
"Angel, I don't know if I can do this. The dreams are so vivid. What if I never stop dreaming this? Please, Angel, help me. Help me and make it stop. I'm sorry for doubting your love, I know you love me. I was just, its just really hard."
He looked so sad and yet pleased. After she questioned his love for her, she wanted to take it back. He had always been kind and gave her all the love he had. He even lost his soul because he loved her so much.
"Buffy, you are the strongest person I know. You can and will over come this. I will help you and the dreams will stop. As for what you said before." It was hard to think about it but it made him so happy to know that she knows he loves her. He held her tighter as he spoke softly. " I'm sorry if you don't know how much I love you. I can't even tell you how much I love you. When I heard what happen, I hated myself. I went away and it still didn't help me. Seeing you makes me feel unbelievable. God Buffy, I wish I never left you. I wish I could have saved you."
It was hard to tell her all of his love because it made him want to keep her there forever, and he knew that he couldn't. Or could he? May be he could move back to Sunnydale with her. But the Curse would come up, then she would find out. Should he tell her that he is no longer under the Curse? Maybe later, maybe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Being in Angel's arms last night felt so familiar and comforting. Even though Angel does actually eat, she still thought it would be fun to play girlfriend and make a nice breakfast. Girlfriend, had she really said that! Maybe that is what she was, and what she needed. It felt right to call herself Angel's girlfriend. After what they had been through, she figured that was the necessary word to describe their relationship.
"Buffy, where are you! Buffy, answer me, are you okay?!" god, what if something happened to her, not now! Please, let her be okay.
"I'm in here silly. Its okay, I was just making us breakfast, can't a girlfriend do that?"
Breakfast? I hope she remembers I'm a vampire. Wait, did she say girlfriend. Gosh, girlfriend sounded so right, Buffy was his Girlfriend. As he entered the room, he saw her in her familiar jamies and looking adorable. As he gave her a good morning hug and kiss he noticed the table. It was set for two; eggs, bacon, toast, and juice (one glass of juice and one of a red substance, which he recognized).
"Buffy this is great, but, never mind. This is great." He knew that she just wanted to make something special, so he would eat it all and complement her greatly.
"I know this isn't really your type of breakfast, but I felt I cooking. That doesn't happen much, so feel privileged." She smiled at him and noticed how much she had missed this. Just seeing him again helped her. Then she saw that look in his eyes. The look that was a warning before he told her something that would change her life in, most likely a bad way. She couldn't help what happened next. Tears started flooding and she rambled about how he couldn't do "this" again and what was he thinking. The next thing she knew she was on the floor crying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As he went to help her she said, "Angel, stop. I'm just kidding myself here. I need time to be strong and stand on my feet. I can't be a girlfriend. Look how silly I'm acting, making breakfast! This is just a way for me to hide my problems. I need to fight, kick, and kill.."
It was a flash back to reality. Buffy and him didn't have the luxury to cuddle and talk about stupid things. It was hard to think this way, but maybe she was right.
"Angel, I think I'm going to say somewhere else, like a hotel, that's not owned by you. I need to be at least somewhat independent. I'm, I'm sorry."
With that, she ran out of the house and took Angel's heart with her. He couldn't let her go again, but maybe it was for the best. He hated letting her go out into this dangerous city by herself, even though she was the Slayer.
She hadn't even been out of Sunnydale for a few days and she was running again. Leaving Angel was hard but she knew she had to. Her heart was heavy and she was holding back her tears. As she checked into an old looking hotel, she thought of her friends back home. Why hadn't they come for her? Maybe they too thought being here was the best thing. It felt good to make an intelligent decision.
The room was small, with a pale pink paint that look like it had been there since the beginning of time. The worst part was the smell, it was like sour milk and burnt flesh (she didn't know why she thought it smelled like burnt flesh but if she had ever smelled that, this it was it would smell like). The bed was low to the ground, like a cot, and the springs were totally gone. Angel's hotel was like Heaven compared to this horrible place. As she slumped onto the bed, she hoped to get some well-deserved sleep. Then she realized how late it was. The clock (the only decent thing in the room) said it was 11:00PM. She need to get up and be active, so she decided to patrol and she if she could get her anger out on a few vampires.
The streets were old and dark. There was action with-in the first minute. Three scrawny vampires attacked her and she easily defeated them. Then there was another vampire, but he was different then the other three. He must have been the leader (her instincts told her so).
"Slayer, I was looking for you. I could smell you when you first entered my city."
"Your city, wow so it's now call 'L.A Home of The Big Bad Vampire', cool. You know, I'm not in the mood for rhyming games, can I kill you can get it over with. I'm a bit sleepy. One question though, how come the 'owner of the city' has such pathetic minions."
That really got him mad. He started growling and saying something in a different language. That was enough for her, she didn't feel like being under a stupid spell, so she decide to make him talk a bit.
"So, whatcha' doing in L.A, some big thing going down I should know about?" He smiled this evil smirk and it mad her blood run cold.
"I am Orhyai, the vampire many fear. Your little boyfriend Angel is in a bit of a predicament isn't he?" By her facile expression, he could tell that Angel hadn't told her yet, more fun for him.
"He didn't tell you? Well, that doesn't sound like eternal love now does it? Yea see Angel got a little visit from a gypsy a week ago. He told him that Angel had paid his dept to the world and he could keep his soul and be allowed to love. Meaning, you and Angel could do whatever he wanted with out him loosing his soul as a consequence."
She could even describe how she felt right now. All of her hopes and dreams were coming true. Angel and her could finally have a life together. But what if this guy was lying, after all he was a vampire. But then why would he even say that, to trick her or get her steamed? Something didn't add up.
"But you see", he continued, "that is a problem for me and my buddies. If Angel gets everything he wants, then we get jealous. So, we are going give him a little surprise. Angel is going to lose his soul. At 12:30AM tomorrow, Angel will lose his soul if he doesn't confess his love to you. Now we both know that he loves you, but he has to tell you, face to face."
Her heart dropped and all of her blood drained. She needed to find Angel. Even if this Orhyai were lying, it would make her feel better if she talked to Angel. As she tried to run, a group of ten or so vampires surround her and threw her into a large black van. The next thing she knows, one of them injects something into her and she feels tired, then she is thrown into a large cage and it was locked. Where were they taking her?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where was Buffy? He shouldn't have let her run out like that, she could get hurt. What really worried him was that the manager of the hotel she was staying at said she never came home. It was now 3:00PM and he was scaried. He couldn't go and look for her cause of the sun, he would have to wait till night. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself, for the second time.
Everything was working better than he had expected. By 12:00 tonight, Angel would be himself again. The best part was, that he was tricking the Slayer. She thinks that at 12:30 Angel has to say he loves her, but it was really at 12.
"Boss, I still don't know why we are going to release the Slayer at 12:15. If the curse starts at 12:30, then she could find him in time." Some of his minions weren't too bright.
"No, you imbecile! The curse begins at 12:00. The Slayer thinks it is at 12:30 so when we release her, Angel will have already lost his soul. Then she will go and find him, and if I know Angel, he will play along and pretend like he is fine, untill he kills her."
"Great idea boss! Can I please taste her? It will only be a little bit!"
"No! No one touches her till I say so, got it?"
"Yea, sorry Boss."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where ever she was, it was under the ground, and under a busy road. She could here cars horns and the sound of them driving over her. They tried to feed her, but she wouldn't eat it, who knows what was in it and where it came from. Something about the curse didn't add up. Where would they find a curse like this, they must have some strong connections. The thing that puzzled her the most was, what did they have against Angel? He used to be pretty powerful and the fact that he was working for the good guys made a lot of people mad. But he must have done something to make someone go this far.She didn't know what time it was, but her senses told her that it was dark outside. Then, all of a sudden Orhyai walked in and when he turned on the light she felt blinded by it.
"Slayer, were going to play a little game. Right now, it is 12:14. Your boyfriend has 16, no now 15 minutes till he turns on you. We are going to let you go. If you can find your boyfriend before time is up, you win, Angel keeps his soul. You don't and, you will probably die."
"Why are you doing this? Why let me go at all?" Something was right here, but she didn't know what.
"It's more fun this way, I like to see a slayer run. Besides you probably wont find him anyway."
"And why is that," she asked as one of the guards began to untie her.
"Because he is most likely looking for you, and he could be anywhere. 14 minutes isn't along time to search L.A. Good luck!"
She was free and she ran. There were so many streets and she didn't know where to look. This "game" made her remember when she had to battle The Slayer Fest. Some rich guy thought it would be fun to have all sorts of people attack her on prom night and she barely made it out alive. As she turned the corner she heard a scream, she needed to make a decision: save Angel, or someone else. She fingured it was L.A and it might only be a mugging so she passed it, besides, it Angel lost his soul, a lot more people would die.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Right as he was about to go looking for Buffy, he felt himself change and he knew what it was, some how he was loosing he soul. His chest burned and he felt the urge to kill, to feed. His face began to change into his "game face". How was this possible, had the gypsy lied to him? No, why would they take away his soul, they wanted him to have it. Then it happened, his soul was gone and only one thing was on his mind, Buffy.
"One ticket for L.A please." Talking seemed so hard, for all she had done was talk in her head. The lady looked at her strangely, but who could blame her. She had managed to get some money out of the house and a few pieces of clothes while everyone was out getting food. FOOD! How could they just leave her like that, all alone to get pizza, after coming from hell? She knew that she was being unfair, but she didn't care. It was hard to leave, but she knew that she could not rest till Angel comforted her. Till he told her how he managed to get over Hell, how he managed to get over her.
The ride was long and seemed endless, but she finally stood in front of the old rundown hotel. As her hand touched the doorknob, she felt frightened. What would he say? There was only one way to find out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As she walked in, the room became silent. All eyes were on her and she knew that they must have been expecting her. She recognized two faces. One was Angel's and the other was Cordellia. Cordy hadn't changed too much, but her gorgeous long brown hair was now short and blonde. Buffy loved Cordy's hair in High School, though she didn't dare tell her that.
"Willow called and said that you left, she thought you might show up here". Angel said with unbelieving eyes.
His Buffy was there, frightened in front of them. She was bruised and look exhausted, but she was here. When Willow told him she was on her way, he didn't know weather to laugh or cry. He had missed her so much and often dreamed about the happy days they had together. He almost fell in love with Cordy, but his love for Buffy was too strong. She used to date that Rambo guy, but he was long gone. Of course, he didn't like him, the guy thought he was so cool and didn't even want Buffy to see him. Looking at Buffy in front of him made him wonder what he was thinking when he left her to face the miserable world on her own. He tried to give her excuses for leaving, but sometimes he thought she knew the real reason why he left. His love for her was too much. It hurt to be around her, so like a coward, he left.
He couldn't hold back any longer, ever since he found out she was back, he wanted to hold her and tell her he was sorry for leaving her. He ran to her and enveloped her in a hug with all the love he could. She collapsed in his arms and began to cry.
"Can you guys, um. You can all leave, I'll call you if I need you." It was the only thing he could think of to get the wide-eyed audience to leave them alone.
It felt so good to have her in his arms and the way she clung to him he knew she felt the same way.
" Angel, it was so horrible. It felt like forever, and the way they treated me. It was so, so." Then she broke down. How could she possibly tell him the terrible things that happened, in, in, in Hell?
"Buffy, it's okay. You don't have to say anything yet. I still can't talk about it and it has been years. I can't imagine what you went through, I wish I could have been there, the day you.." As his voice trailed off he thought of how he wish he could have been there when she came to that awful fate. If only, he could have saved her, then she would know his love for her was still strong.
As if she was reading his mind she said, "Angel, you couldn't have stopped what happened that night. Don't blame yourself for not being there, you didn't even know!"
"But I did know Buffy! I knew about that night and about Glory, and I didn't come. I thought you could handle it and that you would be mad if I came. I was so stupid."
It was like a knife through her heart. She could feel the blood draining out of her face and felt lightheaded. She ran over to the couch to sit down, leaving Angel's embrace. He knew. Angel knew about everything and yet he left her to fight on her own. She could feel old wounds opening. Remembering all they had been through and then, he left her.
"I need to rest Angel. I have to think. Do you have a place where I could stay?" She couldn't face him tonight. It was just too hard.
He saw the pain in her eyes and knew it was his fault. He blamed himself every day for it and he knew that he couldn't make amends for it, not this time.
As he led her into her room, he just wanted to kiss and make up, but he knew it would take more than a kiss. Somehow, he had to show his love for her, and it would take time.
"Sleep well. I will be right here if you need me." It was a silly line to say, but it was all he had.
Right before she walked away he said, "Buffy, I do love you, I really do."
"I love you too, but what don't know is, do you remember what love is? Do you know how to love me?" The door closed behind her, and Angel felt broken.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As she was sleeping, he thought about what she had said. Of course, he still knew how to love. Couldn't she see that he had loved her since the day they met, and even when she was gone? He was overwhelmed. What if she never knew that he truly loved her? He left her, so does that make her think that his love for her wasn't strong. He remembered on Christmas morning that he almost took his life. Buffy had pleaded with him to get inside before the sun came. She confessed her love to him, and he said nothing. He was weak, and he had just come back from Hell himself. The First was trying to make him kill Buffy and he didn't know if he could restrain himself. Then it started to snow and he felt it was a sign to keep going. It was a smart decision. He had had his miracle, now she needed hers.
Then, all of a sunned he heard her scream in terror. He bolted up the stair and flew open the door. There he saw her on the bed scream and tears rolling down her cheek. She was having a nightmare.
"Buffy, Buffy! Wake up. It's just a dream, wake up." Her eyes opened slowly and he had never seen her so frightened. He held her as she trembled and cried. He tried to coo her and tell her it was okay.
"Angel, I don't know if I can do this. The dreams are so vivid. What if I never stop dreaming this? Please, Angel, help me. Help me and make it stop. I'm sorry for doubting your love, I know you love me. I was just, its just really hard."
He looked so sad and yet pleased. After she questioned his love for her, she wanted to take it back. He had always been kind and gave her all the love he had. He even lost his soul because he loved her so much.
"Buffy, you are the strongest person I know. You can and will over come this. I will help you and the dreams will stop. As for what you said before." It was hard to think about it but it made him so happy to know that she knows he loves her. He held her tighter as he spoke softly. " I'm sorry if you don't know how much I love you. I can't even tell you how much I love you. When I heard what happen, I hated myself. I went away and it still didn't help me. Seeing you makes me feel unbelievable. God Buffy, I wish I never left you. I wish I could have saved you."
It was hard to tell her all of his love because it made him want to keep her there forever, and he knew that he couldn't. Or could he? May be he could move back to Sunnydale with her. But the Curse would come up, then she would find out. Should he tell her that he is no longer under the Curse? Maybe later, maybe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Being in Angel's arms last night felt so familiar and comforting. Even though Angel does actually eat, she still thought it would be fun to play girlfriend and make a nice breakfast. Girlfriend, had she really said that! Maybe that is what she was, and what she needed. It felt right to call herself Angel's girlfriend. After what they had been through, she figured that was the necessary word to describe their relationship.
"Buffy, where are you! Buffy, answer me, are you okay?!" god, what if something happened to her, not now! Please, let her be okay.
"I'm in here silly. Its okay, I was just making us breakfast, can't a girlfriend do that?"
Breakfast? I hope she remembers I'm a vampire. Wait, did she say girlfriend. Gosh, girlfriend sounded so right, Buffy was his Girlfriend. As he entered the room, he saw her in her familiar jamies and looking adorable. As he gave her a good morning hug and kiss he noticed the table. It was set for two; eggs, bacon, toast, and juice (one glass of juice and one of a red substance, which he recognized).
"Buffy this is great, but, never mind. This is great." He knew that she just wanted to make something special, so he would eat it all and complement her greatly.
"I know this isn't really your type of breakfast, but I felt I cooking. That doesn't happen much, so feel privileged." She smiled at him and noticed how much she had missed this. Just seeing him again helped her. Then she saw that look in his eyes. The look that was a warning before he told her something that would change her life in, most likely a bad way. She couldn't help what happened next. Tears started flooding and she rambled about how he couldn't do "this" again and what was he thinking. The next thing she knew she was on the floor crying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As he went to help her she said, "Angel, stop. I'm just kidding myself here. I need time to be strong and stand on my feet. I can't be a girlfriend. Look how silly I'm acting, making breakfast! This is just a way for me to hide my problems. I need to fight, kick, and kill.."
It was a flash back to reality. Buffy and him didn't have the luxury to cuddle and talk about stupid things. It was hard to think this way, but maybe she was right.
"Angel, I think I'm going to say somewhere else, like a hotel, that's not owned by you. I need to be at least somewhat independent. I'm, I'm sorry."
With that, she ran out of the house and took Angel's heart with her. He couldn't let her go again, but maybe it was for the best. He hated letting her go out into this dangerous city by herself, even though she was the Slayer.
She hadn't even been out of Sunnydale for a few days and she was running again. Leaving Angel was hard but she knew she had to. Her heart was heavy and she was holding back her tears. As she checked into an old looking hotel, she thought of her friends back home. Why hadn't they come for her? Maybe they too thought being here was the best thing. It felt good to make an intelligent decision.
The room was small, with a pale pink paint that look like it had been there since the beginning of time. The worst part was the smell, it was like sour milk and burnt flesh (she didn't know why she thought it smelled like burnt flesh but if she had ever smelled that, this it was it would smell like). The bed was low to the ground, like a cot, and the springs were totally gone. Angel's hotel was like Heaven compared to this horrible place. As she slumped onto the bed, she hoped to get some well-deserved sleep. Then she realized how late it was. The clock (the only decent thing in the room) said it was 11:00PM. She need to get up and be active, so she decided to patrol and she if she could get her anger out on a few vampires.
The streets were old and dark. There was action with-in the first minute. Three scrawny vampires attacked her and she easily defeated them. Then there was another vampire, but he was different then the other three. He must have been the leader (her instincts told her so).
"Slayer, I was looking for you. I could smell you when you first entered my city."
"Your city, wow so it's now call 'L.A Home of The Big Bad Vampire', cool. You know, I'm not in the mood for rhyming games, can I kill you can get it over with. I'm a bit sleepy. One question though, how come the 'owner of the city' has such pathetic minions."
That really got him mad. He started growling and saying something in a different language. That was enough for her, she didn't feel like being under a stupid spell, so she decide to make him talk a bit.
"So, whatcha' doing in L.A, some big thing going down I should know about?" He smiled this evil smirk and it mad her blood run cold.
"I am Orhyai, the vampire many fear. Your little boyfriend Angel is in a bit of a predicament isn't he?" By her facile expression, he could tell that Angel hadn't told her yet, more fun for him.
"He didn't tell you? Well, that doesn't sound like eternal love now does it? Yea see Angel got a little visit from a gypsy a week ago. He told him that Angel had paid his dept to the world and he could keep his soul and be allowed to love. Meaning, you and Angel could do whatever he wanted with out him loosing his soul as a consequence."
She could even describe how she felt right now. All of her hopes and dreams were coming true. Angel and her could finally have a life together. But what if this guy was lying, after all he was a vampire. But then why would he even say that, to trick her or get her steamed? Something didn't add up.
"But you see", he continued, "that is a problem for me and my buddies. If Angel gets everything he wants, then we get jealous. So, we are going give him a little surprise. Angel is going to lose his soul. At 12:30AM tomorrow, Angel will lose his soul if he doesn't confess his love to you. Now we both know that he loves you, but he has to tell you, face to face."
Her heart dropped and all of her blood drained. She needed to find Angel. Even if this Orhyai were lying, it would make her feel better if she talked to Angel. As she tried to run, a group of ten or so vampires surround her and threw her into a large black van. The next thing she knows, one of them injects something into her and she feels tired, then she is thrown into a large cage and it was locked. Where were they taking her?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where was Buffy? He shouldn't have let her run out like that, she could get hurt. What really worried him was that the manager of the hotel she was staying at said she never came home. It was now 3:00PM and he was scaried. He couldn't go and look for her cause of the sun, he would have to wait till night. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself, for the second time.
Everything was working better than he had expected. By 12:00 tonight, Angel would be himself again. The best part was, that he was tricking the Slayer. She thinks that at 12:30 Angel has to say he loves her, but it was really at 12.
"Boss, I still don't know why we are going to release the Slayer at 12:15. If the curse starts at 12:30, then she could find him in time." Some of his minions weren't too bright.
"No, you imbecile! The curse begins at 12:00. The Slayer thinks it is at 12:30 so when we release her, Angel will have already lost his soul. Then she will go and find him, and if I know Angel, he will play along and pretend like he is fine, untill he kills her."
"Great idea boss! Can I please taste her? It will only be a little bit!"
"No! No one touches her till I say so, got it?"
"Yea, sorry Boss."
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Where ever she was, it was under the ground, and under a busy road. She could here cars horns and the sound of them driving over her. They tried to feed her, but she wouldn't eat it, who knows what was in it and where it came from. Something about the curse didn't add up. Where would they find a curse like this, they must have some strong connections. The thing that puzzled her the most was, what did they have against Angel? He used to be pretty powerful and the fact that he was working for the good guys made a lot of people mad. But he must have done something to make someone go this far.She didn't know what time it was, but her senses told her that it was dark outside. Then, all of a sudden Orhyai walked in and when he turned on the light she felt blinded by it.
"Slayer, were going to play a little game. Right now, it is 12:14. Your boyfriend has 16, no now 15 minutes till he turns on you. We are going to let you go. If you can find your boyfriend before time is up, you win, Angel keeps his soul. You don't and, you will probably die."
"Why are you doing this? Why let me go at all?" Something was right here, but she didn't know what.
"It's more fun this way, I like to see a slayer run. Besides you probably wont find him anyway."
"And why is that," she asked as one of the guards began to untie her.
"Because he is most likely looking for you, and he could be anywhere. 14 minutes isn't along time to search L.A. Good luck!"
She was free and she ran. There were so many streets and she didn't know where to look. This "game" made her remember when she had to battle The Slayer Fest. Some rich guy thought it would be fun to have all sorts of people attack her on prom night and she barely made it out alive. As she turned the corner she heard a scream, she needed to make a decision: save Angel, or someone else. She fingured it was L.A and it might only be a mugging so she passed it, besides, it Angel lost his soul, a lot more people would die.
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Right as he was about to go looking for Buffy, he felt himself change and he knew what it was, some how he was loosing he soul. His chest burned and he felt the urge to kill, to feed. His face began to change into his "game face". How was this possible, had the gypsy lied to him? No, why would they take away his soul, they wanted him to have it. Then it happened, his soul was gone and only one thing was on his mind, Buffy.