Disclaimer: "Angel", along with all related characters and concepts, was created by Joss Whedon and Co., so they don't belong to me, while "Charmed" characters and concepts belong to Constance M Burge. Anyway, enjoy
Feedback: As always, I'd appreciate it
The Love of a Vampire
As the 'AngelBeast'- for lack of a better term to describe this thing, calling it that after its status as the beast version of Angel seemed like her best bet- charged towards her, Paige barely stopped to think; acting on instinct- human rather than Whitelighter; the last thing she wanted was to wear out her magic by trying to evade this thing by orbing, particularly since she doubted that whoever was behind this would make it that easy for her to escape-, she ducked to the side as the creature raced past her, launching a quick kick to the back of the 'AngelBeast's' head to try and disorientate it.
The blow itself didn't seem to do much damage, with the creature swiftly regaining its balance and turning around to face her once again, but it at least gave Paige some idea of what it was capable of in a fight.
The AngelBeast might be displaying a lower level of combat intelligence than Angel might have demonstrated normally, but it was definitely more durable than Angel was; Angel would have normally shown some reaction to that kind of attack if he'd taken a kick like that in his usual form.
It wasn't the most comforting thought Paige had ever had, of course, but she'd learned long ago that when engaging in a fight with any kind of enemy, it was important to get an idea of its strengths before you started trying to identify their weaknesses.
"Look, Angel," she began, deciding that the most direct approach was probably her best chance at this point, "this is me, OK; I know you don't want to do this-"
The AngelBeast's subsequent lunge towards her- Paige this time evading him by ducking and rolling under his leap; he seemed to be fairly direct in his attacks so far, which at least left the possibility of outsmarting him open- made it clear to Paige that this wasn't going to be as simple as she'd hoped; evidently the witch had regressed Angel to a feral mentality rather than just making him look unpleasant.
Paige knew that Angel had to still be in there, of course; the problem was figuring out how to get him out before he killed her...
Piper couldn't believe how rapidly things were escalating out of control; she'd started this day with her only major priority being to figure out how to be a good mother to her unborn child, and now she was trying to figure out how to stop her sisters from being killed when she had no way of knowing where or what Paige was dealing with at the moment, and her only clue was a red cloak that made it pretty clear she was meant to play the part of Little Red Riding Hood with no idea where the wolf was or when it might be showing up...
"OK, first things first; what tale features a rose in a prominent role?" she asked- she'd worry about her tale when the time came to worry about it; the lack of a wolf to eat her right now at least suggested she wasn't in any immediate danger-, holding up the rose while taking care not to prick herself on the thorns; the last thing they needed was for whatever had happened to Paige to happen to her.
"Well..." Leo said, looking at Piper with that uncomfortable expression he always assumed when he was about to say something she wouldn't like, "the obvious option is... Beauty and the Beast."
Piper blinked, taking a brief moment to think over Leo's theory to confirm it- the Disney movie did feature the Beast's curse being 'linked' to that rose in his tower, although she vaguely recalled that the original tale simply featured the girl's father taking a rose from the Beast's garden to give to her- before she allowed the horror at the implications of that statement to settle in.
"Oh, crap..." she muttered (She'd need to remember to start working on editing her language now that she was going to be a mother; just because the kid was too young to hear at the moment didn't mean that would stay the case forever). "I mean, no offence to Angel, but he's already a bit feral when he's all vamped-out on us; stick him in something like that situation..."
"Yes, it's definitely a dangerous tale for him," Grams said, pausing from apparently adjusting her hair- the slight shift of her hand suggested that something else had been occupying her attention before Piper looked, but now wasn't the time to wonder about that- to look at her granddaughter and grandson-in-law. "Still, that's what happens when you bring vampires in-"
"OK, can you lay off the whole 'he's a vampire' thing already?" Piper said, as she glared in frustration at her grandmother. "We've got enough problems-!"
The sudden sound of someone running towards them prompted Piper to cut off her earlier comments as she spun around to face the door, her hands raised in preparation to launch an attack, only to lower them when Doyle charged into the room, panting and looking anxiously around at the others.
"Where's Paige?" he asked, before his eyes settled in confusion on the old woman. "And who're you?"
"OK, introductions; Doyle, this is our grandmother, and Grams, this is Doyle, a seer who's helping Angel set up his detective agency," Piper said briefly, waving her hand briefly before she turned back to Doyle. "And to answer your question, Paige and Angel have apparently been abducted by some loopy witch to re-enact her take on Beauty and the Beast so that she can corrupt all fairy tales-"
"Hold on; Angel's with her?" Doyle said, looking at Piper with renewed panic in his eyes. "Relivin' Beauty an' the Beast?!"
"Uh... yeah, I just said that," Piper said, growing increasingly uneasy at the anxiety on Doyle's face; she might not know the guy that well yet, but so far he hadn't given the impression that he panicked to this extent that easily. "Is that a problem?"
"It is if the big green horned thing I saw Paige going up against is Angel, yeah," Doyle replied, looking anxiously at Piper. "Witch musta... brought out his inner demon or something like that-"
"His what?" Piper repeated, waving a hand to try and prompt Doyle to slow down. "Look, I've seen Angel when he's Angelus, and he really didn't look that different; he acted a bit more psycho, but-"
"Even Angelus still has some kind of humanity in him," Leo put in, looking over at Piper, a slightly apprehensive expression making it clear that he didn't like the implications of what he was about to say. "But the vampire demon that makes Angel's class of vampire what they are... the pure demon that can only exist in a diluted form in our dimension in the form of the magic that keeps Angel's body active..."
"That's what I saw?" Doyle asked. "What the vampire really looks like?"
"Probably," Leo replied with an uncertain nod. "It's not like it's a certainty, of course- nobody's ever actually seen what one of those demons would look like if it was allowed to manifest on our plane of existence like that-, but it's as good a guess as any."
"Ah, crap..." Doyle muttered, sighing slightly as he took a deep breath to try and steady himself, fingers briefly rubbing against his temples to try and relieve his ever-mounting headache.
"Look," Leo said, trying to look reassuring as he glanced over at Piper, "I'll head over and update Phoebe on the situation; maybe another point of view could help."
A brief exchange of nods was all Leo needed to know that it was all right as he orbed away, leaving Doyle, Piper and Grams alone in the attic.
"So," Piper said, turning to look at her grandmother with a slightly apprehensive expression, "I don't suppose you've finished that vanquishing potion you mentioned earlier?"
"Uh... no, unfortunately," Grams replied, picking up the pot she'd been using to brew the potion earlier and tipping it down the sink with an apologetic shrug. "Bad batch; you know how it-"
"Hold on a minute..." Doyle muttered, a suddenly suspicious look on his face as he stared with renewed intensity at Grams. "What the...?"
"Is something wrong?" Grams asked, looking at him with a pointed glare.
"Uh... no offence, Mrs Halliwell, but... are you... feelin' OK?" Doyle asked, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck as he tried to avoid looking directly at her while still addressing her. "Just... well, I'm gettin' some... odd vibes..."
"OK, look, she's temporarily come back from the afterlife to help us deal with a few issues; can you just-?" Piper began.
"That's not it..." Doyle muttered, almost appearing to sniff slightly as he studied the older woman, a suspicious expression spreading across his face. "There's somethin' else... somethin'..."
Before Doyle could finish his sentence, Grams had raised one hand and struck him with a powerful back-handed blow, sending him staggering backwards as she turned to look at Piper with a low growl.
"So much for biding my time," she said grimly, before her mouth spread out into a sadistic grin that Piper had never seen on her grandmother's face before. "Still, it's been a while since I last had anything that I was so sure was going to taste this good..."
"Oh God..." Piper whispered, her eyes widening in horror as the woman she'd believed to be her grandmother suddenly began to change....
"Angel, snap out of it!" Paige yelled as she ducked around another attack from her temporarily-transformed boyfriend, unsure whether to be more frustrated at her opponent's sheer ferocity or her own lack of weapons; a decent dagger or something from Angel's collection might be able to hold him back more effectively than her current strategy of dodging and ducking, but a more rational opponent might have been convinced to slow down if she could talk to him...
If there'd ever been a time that she wished she possessed Piper's power, this was it; if she could just freeze Angel's body while leaving his head mobile enough to listen to her-
Paige could have almost hit herself as the solution to their current dilemma hit her; she'd been so focused on just trying to avoid this guy that the obvious means of slowing him down had never occurred to her. Ducking under his latest attack, Paige quickly hurried over to the nearest corner she could find- she might be in a sealed corridor, but it at least included a couple of side-corridors, even if they led to sealed door- before turning around to stare at the AngelBeast, praying that her on-the-fly strategy would work...
After a few moments of sniffing, the creature- Paige was finding it increasingly difficult to think of the thing before her as Angel; it was basically just Angel with everything that made him him taken out- turned around to charge towards her, its claws bared and its mouth open in a feral roar...
At almost the last minute- with enough distance between her and the AngelBeast for her to try something different if this didn't work-, Paige closed her eyes, focused, willed herself to orb...
....And subsequently found herself standing over the dazed form of the AngelBeast as it lay on the ground, clutching its wounded head as it glared up at her, faint traces of what looked like burns on its 'scales'.
Just as Paige had hoped, while the Witch had put charms on the corridor to prevent Paige from simply orbing out, it hadn't been enough to stop her from at least attempting to orb, causing the AngelBeast to run into the wall behind her while she was mid-orb, the holiness of the orbs having also caused the creature slight burns.
"Angel, come on, snap out of this!" Paige yelled, crouching down to glare at the creature that her boyfriend had become while it was still too dazed to strike at her. "This isn't you; you're not a monster, remember? You're Angel, remember? Angel."
Crouching down beside her boyfriend- and hoping he wouldn't take her current attitude too personally if he remembered any of this when he returned to normal; she was talking to him like a pet rather than a sentient being-, Paige placed a tender hand on the AngelBeast's cheek, trying to focus on his eyes and the Angel within him rather than the demon that was currently showing on the outside.
"You're not the beast, Angel," she said, praying desperately that her current strategy would work; she wasn't sure how much long she could last against this creature on her own if she had to keep fighting him for much longer. "You're Angel, remember? You're Angel... I love you... come back to me..."
For a moment there was no response from the AngelBeast, the monstrous form that Angel had become simply staring silently back at Paige with an almost quizzical expression, as though trying to place a face that it had long forgotten about, before it finally looked directly at her with an expression that- despite the creature's demonic appearance- looked almost like a small child trying to recognise a face.
"That's it, Angel..." Paige said, reaching out to slowly take his hand and help him back to his feet, keeping her voice low and soothing as she spoke to him, even as she studied the door before her in preparation for the next stage of her plan; orbing out definitely wasn't an option after the effort she'd needed just to orb in the first place, but a more physical approach could do the trick...
"Why won't you answer my question?" the Witch asked, looking in ever-increasing frustration at the apprentice in the mirror; how was it she could go to this much effort to get what she wanted and still not get the mirror working the right way? "Why won't you tell me what I want to hear?"
"You know as well as I that I cannot tell a lie," the apprentice-mirror replied, his calm expression only further aggravating her; she had done everything she could think of, but the fact remained that he could only tell her that she'd failed if she had failed.
"Damn it..." she muttered, turning away from the mirror in frustration, only for her train of thought to be cut off by a loud roar from the door behind her. Turning to face the source of the roar, her eyes widened in fear at the sight before her; the monstrous Beast that the vampire had become, glaring at her with evident hatred in its eyes, claws and fanged bared, the youngest witch standing behind it with a slight smirk on her face.
"Tell me about it," the youngest of the three retorted, staring at her with a cold smile. "Things never quite go the way you want them to, do they?"
"What?" the Witch yelled, staring incredulously at the two figures before her. "How can you still be alive?"
"Funny thing about cursing a demon with a soul," the witch replied, shrugging slightly as she smiled at her, one hand reaching up to lightly stroke the horns of the vampire's beastly form as it turned to look at her with a low growl. "He tends to have good control."
"And can I say, amen to that?" another voice said, prompting the witch to turn around and stare in shock at another figure who had no right to be there; the eldest witch, dressed in Red Riding Hood's cloak, leaning casually against one of the tables in the room. " 'Cause seriously, Angel, not exactly loving the new look..."
"You?" the Witch yelled in shock. "That's not possible! The wolf ate you; I saw it!"
"Yeah, well, I didn't agree with him," the eldest witch said, as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small glass phial. "See if this agrees with you."
With that, the witch threw the phial at her feet, filling her world with nothing but pain and disbelief as she began to fall apart...
"Damn..." Piper muttered, staring at the place where the last remnants of the puddle that had been the witch had been- if she hadn't nearly been digested because of the woman she might have felt sorry for her; as it was, having to blow a wolf apart from the inside after it ate her was not an experience she was particularly keen to repeat any time soon- before she turned to look at where Paige was standing beside a creature that could only be Angel. "You two OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Paige said, stepping forward slightly to give Piper a better view of her undamaged skin- she clearly hadn't sustained more than a few bruises-, before she turned back to look at the green dinosaur-esque creature that her boyfriend had become. "Angel, on the other hand..."
Even as they watched, however, a brilliant white light surrounded the overly-demonic-looking vampire, before it faded away to reveal his usual human appearance, Angel staring slightly shakily at Paige as he reached up with one hand to examine his features.
"Oh my God..." he whispered, feeling his normal face before he turned to look at Paige with a broad smile. "Paige... I..."
Apparently unable to express his joy and relief at being back to normal in words, Angel gathered Paige up in his arms and gave her a deep, passionate kiss of gratitude, prompting Piper to turn away to give them some degree of privacy.
Glancing around, Piper noted that the other items she and her family had been dealing with over the last few hours- the axe, the rose and the pumpkin- were all back on the various tables around them, culminating in a young man with curly black hair dressed in a loose white shirt, a light green waistcoat and light brown trousers appearing out of a mirror in a glow of white light.
"You saved me," the young man said, smiling gratefully at her.
"Are you the Keeper?" Piper asked, removing the red hood while still keeping a hold of it until she found the right place to put it; she was vaguely aware of Angel and Paige having parted behind her to look at the Keeper, but didn't think it would be appropriate to glance behind just to check that.
"No, his apprentice," the young man replied, his grin fading as he glanced over towards a corner of the room. "Or at least... I was."
Following his gaze, Piper could only stare in sorrow at the sight of an old man dressed in brown robes lying on the ground, everything about him making his currently-deceased status obvious.
"Sorry 'bout that..." Paige said, moving over to place an awkward comforting hand on the young man's shoulder.
"Hold on..." Piper muttered, looking apprehensively over at the former apprentice. "Our sister was trapped in the pumpkin; if he didn't come back to life, does that mean she won't either?"
"No, no, they were victims of fairy tale magic," the apprentice said, indicating Angel as he spoke. "She'll just revert to normal like he did; she'll be fine."
He smiled slightly as he noticed something else still missing. "Besides, given the absence of the second glass slipper, I think there's still a story out there that needs a happy ending..."
"Huh," Piper said briefly, before she shrugged and held out the red cloak she'd worn to get to the castle. "I guess this makes you the new keeper."
"I guess so," the now-former apprentice replied, taking the cloak from Piper with a slightly apprehensive stare, clearly uncomfortable about the suddenness of his new responsibility but nevertheless willing to face it.
"So, now that that's dealt with, how do we get out of here?" Angel asked, before he glanced backwards at the door he and Paige had come in by before returning his gaze to the new keeper. "By the way, sorry about the damage; I... wasn't really myself-"
"Compared to what could have happened, a few doors are a minor sacrifice," the young man said, nodding reassuringly at the vampire before he turned around to pick something up off another pedestal. "As for getting you all back..."
He turned around with a casual smile to present Piper with a pair of shining ruby-red slippers.
"Wizard of Oz?" Paige said, looking uncertainly at the keeper. "Putting aside the fact that only one of us can wear those, is that even a fairy story?"
"It gets 'honorary status', really; it made quite an impact when it came out," the keeper said with a dismissive shrug. "Anyway, only one of you really needs to wear them to get back; Dorothy had to carry Toto in order to get back to Kansas, and she was technically going a lot further than you're going, so as long as you all keep a tight grip of each other- shouldn't be too hard with his strength- and you'll all be fine."
"So... you're sure you're feeling OK?" Leo asked, looking uncertainly at Doyle as he lay slumped in a chair, his hand clutching the bruise where the wolf had struck him earlier.
"Trust me," Doyle replied, glancing at Leo with a brief smile, "compared to the migraines I get from the visions, this is kid's stuff."
"On the topic of those visions," Cole put in where he was standing slightly off to the side of the main group, clearly slightly uncomfortable (Whether because of the tuxedo or his currently cool relationships with the group at this point Leo didn't know), "given that Phoebe not being a pumpkin any more means that the witch is vanquished, where's-?"
Before Cole could finish that sentence, there was a sudden brief swirl of red magic light in the middle of the hall, and Piper appeared, one of Angel's arms around her shoulders as the other arm held Paige in position while her arms were around Angel's neck. Leo just had enough time to note the ruby slippers Piper was wearing before they vanished, leaving Piper standing barefoot as Angel and Paige stepped away from her.
"Everyone OK here?" she asked.
"Thanks to you, they are," Grams said, smiling reassuringly at Piper before she glanced over at Paige and Angel. "And... you two?"
"We're fine," Paige confirmed, smiling briefly at Angel before she turned back to Grams. "He had a few issues after what the witch did to him at first-really bad temper, among other things-, but I managed to help him past the worst of it."
"Really?" Grams said, looking at Angel with the most neutral expression she'd given him to date. "So... you got past the instincts of the... 'Beast' the witch turned you into?"
"With Paige's help," Angel said, nodding slightly at her.
"True, but the fact that you got past it in the first place is still very impressive..." Grams said, looking him over briefly before she turned back to Paige. "You really got through to him in a state like that?"
"Once I got the chance to talk to him he was smashing through doors for me like it was going out of fashion," Paige replied with a confirming smile.
"Quite..." Grams said, nodding slightly before she smiled briefly at the vampire. "Well, if you're that determined to stay around, just..."
She paused for a moment, waving a hand as she tried to find the right word for what she wanted to say, before she finally continued with, "Don't do anything stupid, will you?"
"Count on it," Angel replied with a brief nod.
"Good," Grams said, nodding briefly at Paige and Angel before she turned back to Leo. "Well, that seems to be me no longer needed here; mind giving me a lift back?"
"Hold on; why do you have to go at all?" Piper asked.
"Because I don't belong here any more," Grams replied, walking over to place a comforting arm around Piper's shoulders. "See, you thought you needed me, but I was only here to remind you that you don't. Not even," she added, looking briefly down at Piper's stomach, "for her."
"OK, but what about me?" Phoebe asked, practically hopping over to her grandmother as she slung her arms over her and Piper's shoulders. "I feel like I didn't get to spend any time with you."
"That's OK," Grams replied, smiling briefly back at her second-youngest granddaughter. "I don't stay dead long."
"Good point," Phoebe said, nodding slightly as she gave her grandmother a brief peck on the cheek before the three parted company, Grams turning to face Paige.
"Well, do I at least get a hug goodbye?" she asked.
"You're going to go easier on my boyfriend in the future, right?" Paige said, even as the slight smile on her face made it clear that the comment wasn't entirely serious.
"After he fought off a curse like that one?" Grams replied, smiling slightly at Angel as she spoke. "Well... he's definitely got some potential, I'll give him that."
"Thanks," Paige said, walking over to give the older woman a brief hug. "Good to meet you... Grams."
As she stepped back from Paige and moved over to stand beside Leo, Grams gave the three sisters a brief smile before the two of them orbed out, leaving the Halliwells, Angel, Cole and Doyle standing around the hall looking around at each other.
"Well," Angel said at last, glancing over at Phoebe and Cole- Cole clearly waiting for Phoebe to say something that she was definitely not entirely comfortable voicing in public, he thought it best to wait a bit before trying to talk with his friend- before he turned to Doyle, "now that that's sorted, Doyle, maybe you and I should... get back to the office; I think there's still a few forms we need to sort out..."
"What- oh, forms, right," Doyle said, noting the slight stares Phoebe was uncomfortably shooting at Cole, standing up and shooting an apologetic glance at the other sisters. "We'll finish the paperwork; see you girls later."
"Yeah, you do that," Paige said, walking over to give Angel a brief kiss before she indicated the stairs. "I need to catch up a bit on my fairy stories anyway..."
"Uh... I'm gonna just get some sleep," Piper said, evidently picking up on the mood and heading up after Paige as Doyle and Angel walked out the door, leaving Cole to talk with Phoebe.
It might not be anything like the conversation those two needed to have to straighten out their current relationship, but Angel had to hope that Cole's innocence despite Phoebe's suspicions would go some way towards improving her relationship with the man he couldn't help but still regard as a friend...
AN: OK, next chapter we move on to another "Angel" rewrite- this time of "I Fall to Pieces"; one of my favourite episodes given the general creep-factor of the bad guy-, skipping over the events of "Siren Song" and "Witches in Tights"; barring the fact that Angel was able to convince Cole to simply erase Ed Miller's memory rather than killing him- the implications of which I will explore in the next chapter-, the events of those episodes were essentially the same as they were originally, with any differences caused by Angel's presence being too minor to bother with rewriting them (Particularly with some of the events I've got planned for the episodes I am going to rewrite taken into account; Angel VS Barbas, anyone?)