Disclaimer: I don't own BTVS, Angel, or Kindred the Embraced. If I did, I wouldn't be freaking out over my light bill every month. I promise to return all recognizable characters to their rightful owners when I am done, though they will be a bit scuffed. Any characters you do not readily recognize are of my creation and I can abuse them as I feel fit.

Warning: Potty language, violence, and bad attitudes


Chapter 7

Angel grabbed Cordelia and yanked her behind him. "Back off Xander!" he warned the Gangrel.

"I'm hungry," he stated, his eyes shifting predator-like from Cordelia to Gunn. He wondered if he could get to one of them before the Primordial would get in his way, not that he was too worried about that happening.

"You can't have them," Angel said, allowing his face to morph from human to demonic, readying him-self for a fight.

"Would you end up killing the human? If you fed off them I mean," Cordelia asked suddenly.

"You are not offering yourself Cordelia," Angel barked at her.

"Duh," she said, rolling her eyes. "Like I'm really going to allow myself to be turned into a human juice box. What about the hooligans?" she asked, jerking her thumb over at the two they managed to pull out of the building before Xander blew the poop demon up; the others didn't make it.

Wesley was standing over them, holding a nine mil that he had retrieved from the car. In hindsight, he was mentally kicking himself for leaving it in the car at the beginning of their deplorable night, not that it would have made a big difference against a bunch of lame magic-wielding hooligans and a demonic pile of shit. Despite that, Wes could understand Xander's earlier comment about going into a situation underprepared and lacking serious fire power.

"I know they aren't choir boys, and we shouldn't sacrifice them despite their status as the ass-jerks of the century. But if he doesn't kill them, then I don't see the problem," she said, being pragmatic about it. While she didn't totally understand what had driven Xander into voluntarily allowing himself to turn into a vampire, he was still her friend, but didn't want to see him kill someone. However, he did help save their lives from her completely screwed up vision interpretation and now he needed help. It wasn't right to deny the guy that had saved their butts from the lightening-throwing lump of crap a chance to save himself.

A small, but wicked grin crept across Alex's face. "No. I don't have to kill when I feed. It would serve them right if I did kill them though."

Angel looked briefly at the others who only shrugged. "Fine," he said, letting his features return to their human guise. "Don't kill them or else," he growled at the Gangrel. "You might have saved our lives tonight, but that doesn't mean I'll let you kill people."

Alex snorted in derision of Angel's threats to end his undead life. "Unless you want to watch, you might want to take a walk," he said and quickly strode over to the two humans on the ground.

Cordelia made an ick-like noise and quickly excused herself from the alleyway. The others followed suit. Angel however, lingered for a minute, looking at the Gangrel with a look that said several things all at once, but nothing was articulated out loud.

Alex yanked the humans to their feet, ignoring their gasps and girly screams of protest. Holding each in an iron strong grip, he bit down at their necks, ignoring any niceties or attempts to make this a better experience for them. He was hungry, pissed, half naked, and still covered in Vaseline. He wasn't in the mood for niceties.

While he was careful to make sure that he didn't drain them, Alex wasn't too concerned if they were a bit roughed up. By the time he was finished with them, their memories were wiped and his hunger was abated; both survivors of the cult of hooligans were unconscious. He let them go, allowing them to hit the ground with a solid thump.

"By the way, I hope Liverpool gets their asses kicked," Alex hissed and kicked both humans in their stomachs. While he was careful to not drive his booted foot through their bodies and out their backs, he was satisfied to hear them gasp in pain. It was petty, but he had had a pretty shitty (no pun intended) night. He deserved some sort of payback.

XanderXanderXander

Once he was done, Alex calmly walked out of the alley, wiping his mouth, careful to make sure that no traces of blood were visible. While they knew that he wasn't sweet, gentle Xander anymore, he didn't want them to see how inhuman he had become. He didn't want to deal with the silent accusations and Angel's smug looks of superiority and satisfaction. After all, he had done nothing but deride Angel for being a vampire back in high school, and at this point it would definitely be a case of the pot rightfully calling the kettle black.

"Hey," Alex said, feeling a bit awkward.

"Xander," Cordelia said as she lounged against the front bumper of Angel's car which was parked down the deserted street where they had left it earlier that night. She looked dirty and tired, but relatively okay. "Are you done with the grrr," she said, making a face and using hooked fingers to represent fangs.

Alex just stood there and looked at her, completely taken aback by what she had just said. Never had he expected anyone ask him about his feeding habits like that. Despite everything that he had seen and done in the past year, plus his time on the Hellmouth helping the Slayer out in her fight against the things that go bump in the night, that was something that left him a bit stunned.

Alex sighed. "Yeah. I'm done."

"Good, because I don't know about you all, but I need a shower and I think the only way I'm ever going to get the smell out of my clothes is to burn them. Xander, are you up for a little bonfire later? God, this is so foul and I just bought this shirt!" she griped. "Am I going to get compensated for my shirt being ruined like this? This is so unfair."

"No," Wesley called out, looking a might bit disturbed by the night's events.

"What about the humans? Are they alive?" Angel asked busy wiping the Vaseline his torso off with an old towel that he had found in the trunk of his car.

"They're fine. I might have scrambled their brains just a bit when I made them forget tonight, but they're relatively okay. We might want to get out of here though. I can hear the fire engines coming," Alex suggested to the others.

Angel threw the towel at the Gangrel. "Don't get that slime on the upholstery please. I like to keep the car clean."

Alex snatched the now dirty material out of the air and did his best to wipe the jelly off his chest and back as he climbed into the car with the others.

Not long after their escape from the area, the fire department arrived to find the building in flames. Once they were able to get the blaze under control, the fire fighters found the remains of several humans in the burnt out building, along with the two survivors out in the alleyway. The one thing that puzzled the firefighters was the odd lumps of carbon that were scattered among the charred remains of the humans. It was almost as if something like a large cow had blown up and the remains had been splattered across the room before they had been completely scorched by the fire. Then there was the smell – it smelled like an outhouse located in the seventh of hell, which lingered and overwhelmed any other sort of smell possible.

XanderXanderXander

Back at the hotel, Alex grabbed his bag out of his rental car and joined the gang inside. Angel pointed him towards a room with a working shower and tossed him a bar of soap.

"Can I expect room service and a mint on my pillow afterwards, a turn down maybe?" Alex asked.

Angel's response was to throw a clean towel at Alex's head.

After forty minutes of intense scrubbing and lots of hot water (unaware that the others heard his rendition of The Rocky Horror Picture Show's "Sweet Transvestite" much to their amusement – though Cordelia threatened everyone's live if they were to mention it to him – she said that they owed Xander big time and making fun of his singing was not the way to pay back the debt they owed him), Alex came down the stairs, dressed in a clean pair of jeans and t-shirt. He stood there on the landing, watching the others interact with each other. Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley sat there on a couch, with Angel hovering near-by. They all were relaxed, joking and laughing with each other. Also, he noted, they were all cleaned up, no longer looking like refuges from the garbage dump.

Looking at them, using an ability that Daedelus was helping him to develop, Alex was able to see how their auras, even Angel (he had a soul after all) had one, were all intertwined with one another. While their own auras were twisted around others, Alex was able to see which aura belong to which person. Cordelia's was primarily orange and red, indicating that despite her social, outgoing nature she was experiencing great pain. He made a mental note to ask her about it when they got some private time. With Wesley, his was a deep blue, indicating a sense of deeply felt loneliness. Gunn's aura was a muddy yellow, but since he didn't know the man at all, Alex didn't even begin to try to understand why his aura was the way it was.

Finally he looked at Angel's aura. Predictably it was black, but with holes in it. Usually one associated a black or grey aura with the idea of death. Granted the Primordial was actually dead, Alex didn't think the black halo he saw was due to Angel's status among the living. Rather, he quietly analyzed, it came from the emotional imbalance caused by the war created by the presence of a demon and a human soul. The holes were an indication of great pain and suffering and that there was a need for healing.

What he also noted, through the twining and twisting of the energy clouds that tied everyone together, that there was a place between Gunn and Wesley that seemed empty, as if the person that was supposed to be there was missing or not yet arrived. Alex wondered who it was that was absent from the group, knowing instinctively that it was not him. He also noted that because the group was so joined on a spiritual and emotional level that if one of them were to fall, the others would soon follow.

While he stood there, mussing over the ins and outs of how the group was connected, watching from afar, Angel finally looked up, noticing the young Gangrel standing there watching them.

The Primordial vampire said something to the group who in turn turned to look at him, watching him carefully.

Finally, after a long pause of everyone watching everyone else Cordelia spoke up. "Get down here already. Quit being such a dork."

Alex gave a half-hearted grin and ambled down the stairs and joined the others in the foyer area.

Wes offered him a bottle of Fat Tire beer as he passed by. "Or would you prefer something else?" the ex-Watcher asked, his voice slightly unsteady as he said that last bit, clearly uncomfortable with the idea that Xander now drank blood.

"Nope, I'm good," Alex said. The jackass hooligans filled me up just fine, he thought to himself, a wicked smile playing across his face. Despite how retarded the mega fans had been; they had sated his Hunger and then some.

He dropped on to a vacant couch across from the three humans and let his head loll back slightly, occasionally taking a sip out of his bottle of beer. It had been a bizarre and exhausting night and he was a bit tuckered out.

"So do you guys do this kind of thing every day?" he asked, staring up at the art deco ceiling.

"Only on days that end in y it seems," Gunn replied, looking at the youthful looking vampire across from him. He didn't know much about the guy, save for a few stray comments that Cordelia had made about her life in Sunnydale. What little he knew about Xander Harris made him expect some dork of a white dude that could debate who would win in a fight between Thor and Superman and not do much else. Instead, this was a guy, vampire, whatever he wanted to call himself, that could kick some serious ass and had some powerful mojo in his possession. Apparently the guy also had a soul and was not like Angel's kind. A part of him wondered what it would take to convince the guy to stay on and help out.

"No," Alex said, not bothering to look at the human.

"No what?" Gunn asked, hostility in his voice, not liking the idea that this stranger was reading his mind.

"I wasn't reading your thoughts. You asked out loud if I would want to stay here in LA and I said no. I have a life in San Francisco, a girlfriend, a job, I hunt Angel's soulless kind on the side, and if I were to stay down here, I'd have to present myself to the Prince of the city and I couldn't help you guys. I'm down here kind of illegally," he said, recalling the traditions that he had been forced to memorize. "Seriously, you need to keep the internal monologue internal."

"But you could get a job down here and your girlfriend could come too. We wouldn't tell anyone if you were here," Cordelia pressed.

"It's not that simple. Someone would eventually notice an unauthorized Gangrel living here in LA. Unwanted attention towards you guys would happen and there would be nothing I could do about it since I would probably be dead too. Also, I am an enforcer for the Prince in San Francisco. The Prince in LA does not like Luna for many reasons and Cyrus' dislike is extended to those that have proclaimed their allegiance to Luna. Enforcers enforce the rules of the Masquerade, hence the word enforcer. How would it look if I blatantly broke the rules? I would have some splanin' to do as they ordered a Blood Hunt on my ass. Being with you guys and actively helping your cause would get me in massive trouble with my kind, not to mention that it would get us both killed. Besides, I don't belong here. This is your guys' gig. I have mine and it makes me pretty happy," Alex explained.

"Your kind," Wesley picked up on that phrase. "You really aren't human are you?"

"No I'm not Wes. I'm Kindred, but I like to think that I still have a hold on my humanity. Besides, you don't need me. As long as you guys stay on track and a certain Dead Boy keeps it in his pants, you belong fighting the good fight," he finished, smiling slightly.

"So how cool is it that you can do magic now?" Cordelia asked. "Can you change into mist and walk through time?"

The others just looked at her.

"What," she asked shrugging her shoulders. "I'm fishing for answers I know you all are dying to hear."

Alex laughed. "Can't do the mist thing and no to the time travel Cordy."

"I ran into some Kindred years before I got my soul back. I don't know what kind they were, but I remember that they could turn into animals."

The Gangrel gave the Primordial a tight smile. "Some can do that some can't. Not all Kindred have the same disciplines."

"Well, can you do that?" Cordelia pressed, her dark eyes sparkling with excitement.

Alex sighed. "Yes."

"Can we see?" the seer asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said no," Alex said with finality. He didn't want to be a trick pony for others' amusement.

They talked further into the night, mostly rehashing the good old days of Sunnydale and what the LA gang had been up to lately. Alex pretty much refused to go into too much detail about his new life. They knew the basics; they didn't need the unabridged version. It was better for them, better for their safety.

Eventually the humans fell asleep, passed out on the couch, leaving Angel and Alex to themselves.

Angel jerked his head to the side, indicating that they should go out to the courtyard so they wouldn't disturb the exhausted people on the couch.

Alex shrugged, picked up his bottle and followed the Primordial out the door.

Once outside, Alex sat down on one of the concrete benches while Angel lounged by the inoperative fountain. "What's up Angel," he asked, dropping all spiteful jibes and name calling.

"Are you okay?" he asked the young man.

"I'm okay," Alex shrugged. "Once I fed, the Hunger was sated. That fire took a lot out of me."

"Do you have any idea how ironic it is for a vampire to be able to control fire? Even though I don't know much about your kind, I am sure fire is just as deadly for you as it is for me," Angel said with exasperation in his voice.

"Yeah, it's been pointed out to me several times by others. I don't like to use it too much because it drains me and I get Hungry. Also, I don't like relying on magic. If I can do it with my two hands, so much the better," the Gangrel explained, talking to the demonic vampire with a soul as if they were old friends. "However, this time we needed a little extra firepower – no pun intended."

"I never would have thought that you of all people would do this to themselves," Angel said.

"I hated being in Sunnydale. I was so sick of the others and their attitude issues. Plus, every time I thought about my future in Sunnydale, it was just one big black hole. I couldn't see a future for me there," he clarified. "I went to San Francisco and met this girl by chance. I was able to see a future with her and then I found out about Kindred. I knew that I had found a home."

"This girl, Emily, she's like you isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is. Thanks to her, I've made some really good friends, got away from a soul sucking gateway to hell, and I have my own life. I have a few regrets, but over-all, I am happy with how my life is going. If I had stayed on the Hellmouth, I would have ended up dead – thanks to either one of Buffy's stupid plans or some fuck that wanted to use me to get to the Slayer and don't look at me like that. Buffy's no saint and you know that. Her plans got us into more trouble than not."

Angel shrugged, mentally agreeing with the Gangrel but refused to admit out loud that his true love was a flawed being. He had put the blonde slayer up on a high pedestal and could not bear the thought of having to take her down from her majestic perch.

"I hope you find all what you are looking for Xander and you don't become what you hate the most about my kind – soulless, animalistic, killers," Angel said, sighing.

"Thank you," Alex said, dropping the pissy, sarcastic act. It wasn't necessary anymore.

"You know," Angel began. "When I was a kid we had this maid who was as Irish as they came. She would always entertain us kids with stories about the sidhe and give us her daily dosage of wisdom through Irish blessings and proverbs. There is one I think is appropriate for you: May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields and, until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand. I wish you the best of luck Xander."

"Same to you," Alex said and extended his hand, offering it in friendship and understanding. While they might be two very separate and different types of vampires, they understood each other – finally.

"Oh, by the way," Angel suddenly said, a shit-eating grin spread across his face. "I never heard such a horrible rendition of "Sweet Transvestite." You really can't sing for shit, but your choice was classic. You can be assured that you've managed to put a big ole smile on my face that will last well into the next two centuries," the Primordial laughed.

"Fuck," Alex said, his face going red.


A/N: Well, what do you think? Crap or not? Hit the shiny review button and let me know what you think.

I will admit to listening to The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack lately. I do the Time Warp with absolutely no shame and you are jealous. Admit it.

I think there is one more chapter in this story. Its a short story, but it was never meant to be a long one.