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

AN: I'm a bit so-so about this chapter, but I think the end result works; hope you all agree

The Love of a Vampire

As they reappeared inside the museum, Angel didn't need long to identify where their target was located. The woman was walking along one wall, looking patiently at the other visitors as though waiting for her cue, while Angel and Paige tried to keep a careful eye on her without being observed themselves (Angel reflected that it was probably a good thing that he hadn't followed her in the car; right now she had no reason to think that there was anyone after her). When she finally walked through a door at the back of the museum, the two of them hurried over to follow her through the door, where they found her standing among a selection of artwork out of its frames, arms outstretched as though waiting for something to fall into them.

"You?" the woman said, turning to look indignantly at the two of them. "How did you come to be here so quickly? A human would have been unconscious for hours."

"We're not exactly normal," Paige retorted, glaring at the demon woman.

"Question for a question," Angel said, looking firmly at the woman. "Who's Tay?"

"You're a… vampire?" the woman said, ignoring Angel's question as she walked towards him, before glancing over at Paige. "And you?"

"Witch," Paige said briefly; this woman might know that they weren't human, but that didn't meant that she had to know everything. "You didn't answer our question; who's this 'Tay' guy, and what does he want?"

"I don't have time for this-" the woman began impatiently.

"Make time," Paige interjected, glaring at her. "If you didn't kill that man, who did?"

"Why do you think I would speak to you and not hurt you?" the woman asked.

"Gotta risk it," Angel said, glaring back at her. "Call me old-fashioned, but I can't allow tourists to go around torching locals."

"Leave- now!" the woman said, looking anxiously back at the area where she'd been standing. "I'm warning you!"

"Why?" Angel asked. "What's going to happen?"

Instead of answering, the woman turned to look at the area where she'd been standing just as something began to glow in front of a nearby window. As the three of them watched, the air in front of the window shimmered and blurred, like a reflection on the water, accompanied by a loud noise that sounded like wind being sucked back into itself. Stuck for anything else to do, Angel and Paige stayed close to the woman as she walked towards the portal, the demon woman holding out her hands before a naked girl fell out of the portal, collapsing on the ground before them.

"Stay back!" the original woman said, glaring at the vampire and the witch as she bent over to examine the girl. "We must go!"

Stuck for anything else to do, Angel grabbed a nearby wall-hanging and threw it over the girl as the woman helped her up, the new arrival clearly confused at what was happening around her,

"What are you running from?" Paige asked, looking uncertainly between the two women.

"It is not your concern," the woman said, pointing firmly at Paige. "You're not one of us."

Paige was saved from coming up with an answer when the door opened and Tay stepped in, followed by additional members of his species.

"No, but I think we'll stick around anyway," Angel said, exchanging a glance with Paige to confirm that they were in agreement.

"It's right," Tay said, his manner making it clear that 'it' was the woman. "This is not your concern. The traitor it and the other are ours. If you know what's good for you, you won't…"

Paige cut Tay off by kicking him in the face, glaring at the demon warrior in frustration at his sexist manner.

"Do that?" Angel asked.

As two of Tay's men grabbed the new arrival and forced her out of the room, Angel and Paige were forced to focus on helping the warrior woman fight off the rest of them; they might not know who was responsible for what right now, but the manner in which Tay referred to the women as 'it' didn't exactly suggest that he was the good guy here.

With Paige forced to focus on evading the sharp blades of one of Tay's men, Angel parried and struck out at another attacker, leaving the original woman to throw her first attacker into a nearby wall before turning to face the next one with immobilising strikes to the chest. Paige was about to ask the woman what had been behind those blows- she'd definitely heard something charging before the attacks struck- but the sound of a car pulling away from outside brought them back to the immediate crisis.

"They got her," Angel said, looking anxiously at Paige. "Can you-?"

"She's too far away and I don't know what to call for," Paige said, shaking her head apologetically as she looked over at the woman. "What'll happen to her?"

"She'll be unmade," the woman said grimly.

"OK, that doesn't sound good," Paige said, before turning to look at Angel. "Anyway, let's just get to safety before things go completely wrong…"

Making a decision, Angel grabbed the woman's arm as Paige took hold of both of them, the witch-whitelighter concentrating for a moment before she orbed away…


"What-?" the woman asked, stepping away from Paige as they reappeared in Angel's currently-empty apartment, the demon warrior glaring at the other two. "What did you do?"

"Got you somewhere safe," Angel said, indicating the wound on their mysterious new associate's arm. "You should really attend to that."

"Why are you doing this?" the woman said, shrugging off her jacket as Angel pulled out a first-aid kit from a nearby cupboard, revealing a sleeveless black top that left her back exposed and leather gauntlets wrapped around her forearms. "I thought vampires were killers."

"They are," Angel said. "I was cursed by gypsies."

"Cursed to… help people?" the woman said, looking inquiringly at him.

"It's a long and complicated story," Paige said, waving a dismissive hand at the question before she focused on the woman. "Now, care to explain what's going on here?"

"The girl is a runaway," the woman explained, as she took the offered supplies and began to clean her wound. "I was trying to help her escape from our homeland. If you hadn't distract-"

"If we hadn't been there to help, you'd both have been captured," Paige said firmly. "You were outnumbered and the fact that we were there was the only reason you're not with them right now."

"Perhaps," the woman said, walking away from Angel with a non-committed edge to her tone.

"Why was the girl running?" Angel asked.

"She was going to be unmade," the woman responded.

"They're going to kill her?" Paige asked anxiously; the term might be unusual, but the implications weren't exactly positive.

"After a fashion," the woman said. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try us," Paige said firmly.

The woman looked at them both in silent contemplation for a moment, until she turned around to reveal a set of ridges running along her back, putting Paige in mind of a small dinosaur.

"In Oden Tal," she explained, her hands on her shoulders to better indicate the relevant area, "what you call personality- our passions, those impulses- sit in an area of the body we call the Ko."

"And your pursuers…" Angel asked, leaning in slightly to examine the ridged area. "They want to take this from you?"

"From the women, yes," the woman explained, turning back to face them. "When the females come of age, Ko controls our physical and sexual power; it even signals when we are… aroused and have met desirable mates. But when it's removed…"

"You're more easily controlled," Paige said, contempt at the idea of what the woman was discussing clear in her voice; she might be jealous of Angel's reaction to the woman, but what she was describing was just twisted on so many levels. "That's just sick."

"For them, it ensures our loyalty," the woman explained. "Without the Ko, we leave behind dreaming, marry who they command, serve without questioning…"

"And you escaped here?" Paige asked, curiosity piqued by everything they were learning.

"I was the first," the woman confirmed. "I am Jhiera, of Oden Tal; my family rules the dimension."

"You're royalty?" Paige said, looking at the now-named Jhiera in surprise.

"And I'm guessing that the royal family doesn't approve of the portal-jumping, refugee-saving duties you've assigned yourself?" Angel asked.

"They tell people that I'm dead," Jhiera said, only the haunted expression on her face showing how difficult she found that topic. "But the women know. Here we have a name. We have a chance to become, but it is difficult. When the Ko first matures the girls can't manage it; our physical energy. We come to your world in a fever."

"Hence the ice?" Paige asked.

"Yes," Jhiera said, moving towards Angel as she spoke, her breathing increasing as the ridges on her back began to glow in a manner that Paige didn't like, particularly not when Angel's own breathing increased. "When I first arrived, alone, I thought I would die from the heat under my skin… And your people; the men? Some respond to the Ko involuntarily. They tried to force themselves… it wasn't safe for me, until I found the frozen water."

Paige was saved from having to decide how she should respond to Jhiera's actions when the demon woman moved away from Angel to sit down in a chair, even as she reminded herself not to over-react to Angel's own obvious attraction (Everyone was entitled to look, so long as they never thought about touching…)

"As long as I could stay cool..." Jhiera continued, now apparently in control of herself. "The worst of it passed in a few months' time, and then I started to learn to control my power."

"Like when you burned me earlier?" Angel asked, an edge to his tone as though he was trying to remind himself of what the woman had done to him earlier.

"I intended to hurt you," Jhiera said, standing up with a slight smirk on her face. "I thought you were my enemy."

"What about the guard?" Paige asked. "Who did that to him?"

"He tried to touch one of my girls," Jhiera said. "It was his own fault."

"OK, normally I'd be all in favour of women defending themselves, but from what you've said, it didn't sound like he meant to do that-" Paige began to protest.

"And the girl couldn't help killing him!" Jhiera countered. "It was an accident!"

"And that excuses it?" Angel said, looking grimly at her. "Paige and I can sympathise with what you're trying to do here, and we'll help if we can, but you can't go around hurting men in our world."

"I am the daughter to a King, sir," Jhiera said firmly. "A king who promised happiness and a better life for everyone. I didn't denounce him and escape for my good alone. I did it to see his promise come true for all the women of Oden Tal. If a few have to die to protect my people-"

"These are our people who are dying," Angel said firmly, Paige standing beside in a show of unstated support. "And it's our promise to protect them."

"Then tell them to stay out of my way," Jhiera said, before she turned around and walked out of the office, pausing in the door only to glare at them. "I don't need your help."

With that said, she left the office, moving in such a firm manner that Angel and Paige both realised that following her would just result in them being attacked again, standing in silence to give her a few moments to depart before Paige broke the silence.

"So… would you like it if I dressed like that?" the half-Whitelighter asked, looking over at Angel in a particularly pointed manner.

"What-?" Angel began, looking at Paige in confusion for a moment before he realised what she meant. "Oh, come on; I just meant-"

"That the demon was hot in every sense of the word?" Paige interjected. "Seriously, that top was-"

"Look, you heard what she said about how people react to her; are you really going to blame me for being a guy?" Angel asked, looking at Paige in frustration. "I love you, Paige; I'm not going to leave you for some demon who's passing through just because I… well…"

"You admire her central mission?" Paige asked, dropping her pointed glare with a teasing smile before assuming a more serious expression as she looked at the door that Jhiera had left by. "Yeah, I know what you mean; I don't approve of her attitude towards collateral damage, but you have to admire her nerve in going up against even her own father to save her people…"

Her voice trailed off as she looked around the office and registered a note lying on her desk, prompting her to walk over and pick it up.

"What is it?" Angel asked, noting her anxious analysis of the words scrawled on the small piece of paper.

"Wesley," Paige explained. "He tried to call us, but couldn't reach our phones; he and Leo worked out what Tay was and Wes apparently identified that his people eat some kind of thick stew made of plants, so they're investigating somewhere where there's likely to be lots of compost…"

"Oh boy…" Angel said, recalling the various men who'd been accompanying Tay during their earlier confrontation with him. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That they're going to be in trouble?" Paige replied. "It's our lives; when do things ever go completely our way?"

"If they orbed, they should be there already; think you can sense them?" Angel asked.

"So long as the Vigories aren't more prepared than they've appeared to be so far…" Paige said, smiling slightly as she closed her eyes and concentrated before looking at Angel with a smile. "Got 'em; let' go."

Nodding in agreement, Angel placed a hand on Paige's arm as the two of them orbed away once more…


Emerging in what looked like the rear area of a garden centre, Angel and Paige immediately found themselves looking at a fight, as Tay's men confronted their friends and family. Piper was clearly in the worst shape- she couldn't get far enough away from her foes to use her powers, and she wasn't exactly the most experienced hand-to-hand combatant- but the others were at least holding their own, ranging from Phoebe's aerial combat to Leo, Doyle and Wesley's more inexperienced but still efficient counter-attacks.

Only pausing long enough to confirm that there was no sunlight in their area, Angel and Paige leapt into action themselves, Angel quickly taking out a Vigory that was attempting to escape the warehouse while Paige tackled Piper's opponent for her. The Vigories were still powerful, but it soon became clear that their hand-to-hand experience was relatively limited- Angel guessed that most of the women of Odel Tal would have even less experience while the Vigories' strength would be enough to give them the edge-; once Angel and Paige's appearance made the numbers more even, it didn't take long for the San Francisco natives to turn the tide against their opponents.

A quick moment of conference between Angel and Piper regarding the threat they faced was all that Piper needed to start freely using her powers, quickly taking out two Vigories once she had retreated to a safer distance to use her powers without hitting an ally by accident, and then the remaining combatants were able to quickly knock down those left standing. Tay was shortly the only one left conscious, and Angel's position practically on top of the other man made it clear that he wasn't going to let their opponent off that easily.

"OK," Angel said, once again staring at Tay with the demon at the business end of Angel's sword, "now that we've got that out of the way, how about we cut to the chase?"

"The chase, in this case," Paige added, looking firmly at Tay, "is that you get out of our city, leave Jhiera and her women alone, and never come back here."

"The creature cannot be trusted-" Tay began.

"I may not like her much more than you right now, but at least she's not the one lobotomising her own people," Paige interjected, still glaring at the Vigory. "What's important right now is that you're going to let her take those girls of hers to safety, and you're going to get out of our city now, or we're going to see just how much damage we can do if we try crossing dimensions."

"You wouldn't," Tay said.

"Try us," Paige said resolutely.

She and Angel might both know that they were bluffing- they really didn't have the resources to help Jhiera even try and stage a coup of her home dimension, and they equally couldn't afford to shelter her women here and endanger the innocent residents of the city any more than they had already- but there was no reason for Tay to know that. If they could just make him think they were more confident about their chances than they were…

"I have no choice!" Tay protested, clearly unwilling to listen to veiled threats. "If this enemy persists our whole society crumbles!"

"And if it persists on our turf, you're going to have another enemy!" Angel countered.

"You don't understand our ways, human-" Tay began.

"No, I don't," Angel said, as his face shifted into its vampire form. "And I'm not human."

"Me neither," Doyle added, stepping up to stand beside Angel as he assumed his Brachen features.

"And we're… well, we're human, but we're not exactly conventional humans," Piper added, raising one hand in a threatening gesture as she looked at Tay in a firm manner. "Believe me, you do not want to test us."

"Or did you miss the part where we kicked your asses?" Phoebe added, grinning confidently at their downed foe.

"Now," Angel said, still in vamp face as he looked at Tay, "if I were you, I'd grab the next portal out of here. Got it?"

Looking at the assembled forces standing before him, Tay nodded in resignation and stepped away from Angel.

"Prepare to depart," he said, looking grimly at the remaining Vigories still standing. After receiving confirming nods from all of them, he simply walked out of the warehouse, followed by the others.

"I'll… keep an eye on them," Leo said, indicating the departing demons. "Make sure they leave, you know…"

"Good call," Angel said, nodding at the Whitelighter before he turned to Paige. "Think you can help me find Jhiera?"


An hour later, Angel and Paige had returned to the warehouse with Jhiera- finding her had been fairly quick, but after hearing their story, she had expressed a preference for walking to ensure that she knew where they were taking her- to find the place mostly deserted apart from the remnants of the Vigories' weapons. The Halliwells and the rest of the team had clearly up most of the obvious signs of Vigory presence after their allies had left to ensure that the more obviously demonic aspects of this fight remained secret, but they'd also left enough traces for Jhiera to be sure that they weren't lying about what had happened here.

After she had spent a few minutes studying the warehouse as the other two watched, Jhiera turned to look at Angel and Paige with a brief nod.

"The Vigories have gone, and I can sense trace of the portal they used to depart," she said, smiling slightly at the two of them. "Thank you."

"You can sense portals?" Paige asked.

"Only those created from my realm, and it is most effective at tracing those used by my women," Jhiera explained. "I can make arrangements for when they will open the portals and provide an approximate location, but I have undergone great trial and error to confirm where the portals open in the rooms that have been chosen."

"Makes… sense," Paige said, nodding in acknowledgement before she glared pointed at Jhiera. "That said, you do realise that we'd prefer you not stick around here much longer, right?"

"I am already making arrangements to move my women out of this city," Jhiera confirmed.

"Good," Angel said, giving Jhiera a firm glare of his own. "Because like we said earlier, if you're going to endanger our people, we're going to have consider you our problem too."

"It is not always that simple-" Jhiera said.

"Only if you make it that difficult," Paige said firmly. "If you want to protect people, it shouldn't matter what dimension they're from; the innocents of our world deserve consideration too."

"An easy sentiment when your people are free-" Jhiera began.

"We're not trying to stop you fighting," Angel interjected. "We just want you to know that we will be there to stop you… if you cross the line."

"I don't need an extra conscience," Jhiera said, walking over to glare directly at Angel. "I'll do what I think is right."

"And we'll do the same," Paige said, making sure that Jhiera remembered that she was still there. "Now then… get out of our city."

With that statement, Jhiera glared at the two for a moment before she turned and walked away, the ridges on her black glowing red as they watched before she walked out of the building.

"Huh," Angel said, blinking awkwardly after Jhiera before he looked over at Paige. "That was… uh…"

"Angel," Paige said, walking forward so that she was standing directly in front of her boyfriend, "considering everything that Jhiera told us about her physiology, I am going to ignore the fact that you were staring at another woman like that, so long as you spend the rest of the night showing me everything you even briefly thought of doing to her with me. Clear?"

"Clear," Angel said, just as Paige practically grabbed his head and pulled him down for a deep, passionate kiss, before she orbed them away from the warehouse, heading directly for Angel's apartment, where she intended to make sure he couldn't even remember Jhiera's name before the night was out…

Paige was fine with people looking so long as they didn't touch, but when her boyfriend was a vampire who was arousing a female demon with an interesting effect on men, she felt it was only fair to want to stake her territory…