"It should only have taken an hour or two..."
Flashback, previous day.
Angel pulled up in front of Angel Investigations, Amanda and Stacey eagerly waiting outside, a golf-bag hiding their arsenal of long pointed weapons.
"Do we really need ALL these just for one demon?" Amanda asked as she tossed the heavy bag loaded with items Angel had called earlier to tell them to pack into the now open trunk.
"Better over prepared than under." He commented, impatient to get back home but also a little eager for some action. Being a father and husband was the best job of his life, but he still appreciated a little slaying on the side to keep him on his toes.
"In that case, why don't you carry the bag." Stacey muttered under her breath.
At Angel's glare from the rear-view mirror, she quickly realized he'd heard every word and looked away from those staring eyes, "Sorry Sir." She muttered quickly, feeling like a student caught talking back to her teacher…which when she thought about it, was exactly what she'd done.
Amanda fastened her seat-belt from the passenger side beside Angel as he pulled out into the road, aiming the large black convertible for Akron, Ohio.
The Hellmouth was located in Cleveland, about an hour from their home and the location of AI in Doylestown. (The second he'd seen the name, he'd known it was where he and Buffy would find their dream house, and they had.) Akron was a known stopping point for demons heading north for Cleveland, the large city with ample clubs and an attractive nightlife acted as a pit-stop for hungry demons.
Angel hadn't been surprised when the name had come up as the location of the call, it was a well known town at Angel Investigations, many first time out slayers were trained there before they graduated to Hellmouth duty. It was a similar hot-spot like LA was to Sunnydale's Hellmouth.
It was only a 20 or so minute drive, so Angel was calculating for about 40 minutes of combined driving time, a quick 15 minutes of slay-time, stopping for a bite at a fast-food restaurant on the way back for him and the girls…so maybe an hour and a half to two hours max before he was back at home again.
On the short trip there, Amanda gave him the full details of the AI call earlier than day. "A Senih'd demon was seen prowling around downtown Akron late last night."
"Who reported it?" Angel asked, knowing more calls they received coming from distressed residents involved descriptions like 'monster, alien, gangs-with-messed-up-faces-on-meth' not the actual names of specific demons.
"Ahh?" Amanda paused, paging though the printed report, "John Harkner."
Angel nodded, he knew the man, not in person but in name. He was one of the newly recruited watchers-in-training Giles had been in contact with stationed in Akron. He trusted the name enough to nod at her to continue.
"Ok, said the same Senih'd was seen two nights before in a similar area. When he checked out the scene during the day, he found no evidence of it having friends." She summarized off the page.
"How did he know it was the same one?" Angel countered, knowing other than size, they all looked nearly identical.
"Report says the one he saw had a broken spike on the right side of its face." She supplied.
"Ok, we'll check the last known location and hopefully get lucky." Angel told them as the black GTX passed the "Welcome to Akron" sign.
Ten minutes later Angel stood clutching his sword loosely in his hand, eyes skimming the landscape for any signs of the demon in question.
Amanda held her ax ready as she nudged open an ajar door in the narrow alley they stood in. Stacey looked around bored, toeing a rock off to the side as she huffed out a sigh.
Angel ignored the second teen, highly disappointed in her attitude and demeanor. She was an excellent slayer when it came to fighting and innovative moves, but in personality he thought there was a lot of room for improvement. Amanda was just the opposite; she was a very pleasant young woman to be around and was almost OCD when it came to learning not only fighting moves, but book related skills as well. She had a strong thirst for knowledge in all aspects of life.
Amanda nudged her partner when she came back from checking the doorway, sending her a scolding look.
Stacy just rolled her eyes, "It's not here, so why waste time looking?"
Amanda was about to reply when Angel yelled to look out.
Both girls jumped apart as the Senih'd landed between them, having jumped down from the rooftop above.
Instantly Stacey pulled the trigger on her crossbow, sinking an arrow into the demon's right arm. Amanda jumped in with her ax, swiping at the distracted demon's legs.
In less than 5 seconds, it was dead.
Angel walked up and sliced the head off as the two girls stood looking proud of their kill.
"Why did you do that?" Stacey asked, "It was dead."
"Always be sure." He informed her, "Sometimes things you kill don't stay dead."
The two young woman nodded, and as Angel dragged the headless demon over to the garbage dump, Stacey leaned over and whispered into Amanda's ear, "He would know, huh?"
Every slayer housed at AI knew about Angel's past, and all were well aware of the demon within him. Most could feel it.
Amanda shook her head in annoyance at her sister slayer and walked away, scooping up the head and joining Angel with tossing the slain demon into the dumpster.
"Umm, guys?" Stacey called as she stopped short on her way back to the car.
"What?" Angel asked as he carefully rolled the spiked demon into the dumpster, trying to avoid a pin-cushion effect against his shoulder.
"I thought there was only one." The young women said nervously as she watched a dozen or so of the same demons materialize out of the shadows in front of her.
Angel smelled the scent a second before she'd replied, his demon senses suddenly going wild. He looked left and right, realizing Senih'd were closing in from either side.
'Why the hell didn't I notice that before!?' He chastised himself.
He cursed and took a battle stance, realizing they were already terribly outnumbered.
"Amanda, Stacey, stay close." He advised, the three getting back to back to face the twenty or so spiked creatures approaching from either side.
With a scream, the first rushed forwards, not giving Angel time to pull out his phone and call for backup.
The two slayers behind him joined the battle as a Sehih'd rushed towards both of them.
Angel ducked the first swing, bringing his sword around to dismember the demon trying to gut him. As the first collapsed in screams of pain from its missing arm, two more rushed in to take its place. The living vampire vamped, fangs pulled back in a grimace as he countered blows and dealt damage, his yellow demon eyes easily picking out targets in the murky darkness of the alley.
Behind him, Stacey and Amanda fought in perfect sync, tossing demons around like kids playing ball.
Than was until one caught Amanda off guard and he sank a long spike into her side.
The slayer screamed in pain and whipped her ax around, beheading the demon.
Angel turned at the yell of pain and took a blow across the stomach from the distraction.
Kicking the demon off of him, he turned and attacked the next one charging after the wounded slayer. As he yanked the writhing demon off, spikes dug mercilessly into his arms, but he refused to let go until he heard the satisfying snap of the demon's neck.
Before the one he'd killed fell from his bleeding arms, he felt a blow impact his turned back, knocking him to the ground.
Stacey launched a bolt at the demon facing her, its left eye exploding as the arrow hit its mark.
She turned in time to watch her mentor drop to the ground, a Sehih'd pulling back its long spiked arm, ready to plunge it into Angel's unprotected back as he tried to reclaim his feet.
"No!" She cried, jumping and knocking Angel away from the deadly blow.
Shaking the daze out of his head, Angel stood and looked at the demon grinning behind him, it pushing an impaled Stacey off his spiked arm.
Angel's amber eyes flashed in anger as he charged forwards, letting his demon out fully as he ripped apart anything close enough to reach.
To avoid a lethal blow to the chest, the living vampire dropped and rolled, dirt and rocks from the alley floor sticking to his bleeding wounds, and popped back to his feet. His eyes scanned the battleground as he fought his way towards Amanda, who was rapidly weakening from her injury.
Amanda had stood her ground bravely, dispatching as many as she could, but untimely her wound slowed her down just enough.
She spun to deflect a blow intended for her head, but failed to block the demon behind her.
The blond slayer fell dead as a spike burrowed into her throat.
Stacey rolled onto her side, clutching the wound in her belly with her left as she pulled the crossbow into her right.
One of the demon's behind Angel fell dead from her bolt, another two yelped in pain as her arrows sank into their flesh.
One of the remaining 5 demons launched after her, but fell dead before he could reach her.
Angel lashed out with ferocious attacks, rapidly bringing the count from four, to three, to one…to none left to fight.
As the last demon fell to his sword, Angel's attention turned towards his charges.
His eyes turned back to brown as he looked down at Amanda's wide staring blue eyes looking blankly up at nothing.
The demon melted away as his wound's drained his blood and energy.
He turned to Stacey, her slowing heartbeat thundering in his ears.
"Don't move." He said softly as he put pressure on the wound, grimacing as he realized this was one that would never get the chance to heal.
"Why? Still gunna die." She retorted, already feeling her body shutting down.
"Don't say that." He insisted.
They were both silent a moment, but absorbing the reality of the moment.
"Why?" His trembling voice broke the silence, "Why did you push me?" He asked, realizing the wound inflicted on her was meant for him.
She shrugged, painfully, then decided since she was dying, why avoid the question. "You're Buffy's husband…you got those two cute kids…you're the big boss…I'm just a girl from a nowhere town…you do the math." She forced out.
"My life isn't anymore valuable that yours." He counted quickly, horrified she could think that.
"But it is" she replied though glazing brown eyes, "so much more…than anyone knows."
He would have asked what she meant, but her heart had already stopped beating.
Grief and adrenalin got him back to his feet.
Reaching into his coat he found only pieces of his phone.
Anger adding to his energy, he pulled the two young girls into his arms and staggered towards the GTX parked down the street. Laying his burdens in the back seat, he climbed in and started the car, determined to get the two slayers back to AI.
During the drive, his still oozing wounds started robbing him of his resolve.
As he entered Doylestown, his thoughts short circuited.
With steadily worsening vision he pulled into his driveway, missed, and parked the car with a dull thud against the Oak tree beside the driveway. He stumbled out of the car and up the walkway, remembering he needed to get home but unable to remember why.
He opened the front door, and then everything went black.
…
Now:
Buffy stood staring at him, eyes wet with emotions.
"Stacey died to save your life, that's what's haunting you." She said quietly.
He turned away, hiding the flair of pain that statement caused. "She had no right."
"She had every right!" Buffy countered, defending the slayer who was forever silent now.
Buffy hated to admit it, but she was forever grateful to the girl for her decision.
"She was 18!" Angel yelled back, horrified that young woman would give her life for his. He had been a demon for centuries, killed thousands of people…she was innocent.
"It was her choice, don't rob her of that." Buffy said back, refusing to yell again.
He turned away, his own eyes streaming moisture. "I was there to keep them safe…" He said barely above a whisper, "Now there're dead."
"If you hadn't have gone, they would still be dead." She shot back at him, "And those demon's would still be alive, killing more innocent people."
She could practically feel the tension pouring off him, his stance stiff, fists clenched.
"Angel." She called, moving forwards.
When she grasped his arm, he turned like lightning, his hands grasping her arms and slamming her against the bedroom wall.
"They were only 18!" He almost yelled again, him mind unable to let go of the fact they died so very young.
She understood immediately he wasn't angry at her, his demon side was raging at itself.
He failed to save two girls...and it was killing him.
His grip loosened immediately when he realized what he just done, his feet moving him away from her out of fear he would strike out again as his emotions supercharged his reflexes and strength.
She grabbed his arm again, unfearful of his overtired and emotional overload reactions. "Angel."
"I'm sorry." He apologized, a lost look in his eyes as he moved back.
"Angel please, don't pull away from me." She begged.
"I can't even protect two trained slayers...then what good am I?" He asked, still looking away. He turned sad brown eyes on her, "If I couldn't protect someone else's little girls, how can I expect to protect my own children?"
His self image was crumbling, pride and worth evaporating at an alarming rate.
"What about the hundreds you saved? One incident out of your control doesn't erase all the good you've done. It's doesn't mean you're any less the man you were."
"Doesn't it?" He asked.
"You didn't kill them." Her tone radiated emphasis on that statement.
He was silent a moment, then his thoughts slid out from his mouth. "But I did. They were my responsibility. I went into this mission just waiting for it to be over. I didn't notice the demons approaching, I wasn't fast enough to stop Amanda from getting stabbed, I was too weak to save myself and that got Stacey killed. This is all my fault."
She'd never seen him withdraw this bad before, and frankly, it scared her. "Angel stop it, you did nothing wrong! You were outnumbered, ambushed. It's a miracle you made it home at all. You brought the girls back so they can be properly buried…you did everything right."
"I brought them home dead, how is that right?" He eyes flickered to hers, pain flashing in them.
"How is surviving wrong?" She countered, her own eyes prickled with tears.
"I shouldn't have." He whispered, his gaze falling away from her.
"Don't say that!" She jumped in alarmed.
He shook his head, his hand brushing at his forehead as if he was a headache. "I…can't do this anymore…"
"Do what?" she asked, fear building in her gut, "Angel, what are you talking about?"
He glanced at her, something unreadable in his eyes.
"Angel?" She asked again, moving closer so she could grab him if he tried anything stupid.
Instead of bolting as she suspected he'd do, he sat down heavily onto the bed.
When she sat beside him, he turned his eyes towards her. "Make me forget?" he asked in a low voice.
She still didn't like the look she couldn't read in his eyes, but she nodded her consent, she leaned in and brushed her lips against his.
Before she knew it, clothes were gone and she was forgetting too.
...
Buffy slowly opened her eyes, feeling more tired than she thought she should.
After a minute, she realized what had woken her was Liam's morning cry for attention.
She rolled over to tell Angel it was time to be daddy, but the space on the bed he should be occupying was empty. She realized a moment later she was hugging his pillow, which gave off enough of his scent to trick her senses for a short while into thinking he was beside her.
She immediately didn't like the drop her gut fell down.
"Angel?" She called out, rising from the bed and stretching. 'God, why am I so tired?' She wondered, knowing sex, no matter how epic, never drained her this much.
'Drained.' The word caused her fingers to probe at her neck, and she found rather fast the healed over scar was once again tender from recent fangs.
'Angel drank from me?'
Her gut fell a few more stories.
Looking around the room confirmed her sudden fear. His coat was gone, along with a few choice clothes and personal items, including his duffel bag.
"He used me." She said quietly to herself, angry and horrified in the same moment.
He had drank from her while she was riding her waves of ecstasy, weakening her so she would sleep deep enough for him to make his escape during the night without waking her.
'That son of a bitch...I'm going to stake him.'
The anger was shelved for a moment as she wrapped herself in her robe and went to attend to her screaming son.
When she entered the kitchen, she found a note sitting guiltily on the counter where Angel had known she'd see it first thing.
She purposefully ignored it until Liam was sitting in his booster seat and wolfing down his morning oatmeal.
Unable to avoid it anymore, she picked it up and read Angel's handwriting.
'I'm sorry Buffy,
There is no forgiving what I did to you last night.
I know you wouldn't have let me leave, so I did what I had to do.
I just, I need some time alone right now.'
She crumpled the paper and hocked it across the room, tears already rushing down her cheeks.
Liam looked up from his oatmeal at her, a pout already forming on his lips.
A moment later his tears joined hers.
"Shh" She soothed, picking him up and rocking him. "Shh, it's ok, everything is ok."
When his tears didn't stop, she figured he knew she was lying too.
...
Angel sat on the hard stool feeling like more of a piece of crap than he ever had in his whole life and unlife before.
Taking a deep breath, he lifted the glass to his lips and washed his pain down with another shot of whiskey.
He figured now that he basically abandoned his family and quit his job, why not get piss drunk too.
It wasn't like he had anything to look forward to anymore.
Nodding to the bartender to leave the second bottle, he grabbed the neck and lifted the bottle to his lips.
...
Buffy spent the entire day making calls and asking everyone she knew if they had seen Angel. Hours were spent walking the street and checking bars, motels, hotels, any place he might be.
At the end of the day, she knew he wasn't anywhere in Doylestown.
"I still can't believe he just up and left." Willow said for the hundredth time that day.
Buffy looked away, still not believing he did what he did to leave.
"I don't get it, what is he thinking? Angel couldn't have known John Harkner was killed a week ago and his name was used as part of the setup to kill Spike. Those demons were expecting a vampire that night, they wore scent blocking perfumes and had enchanted talismans to mask their demon auras until they were in position to strike."
"They what now?" Buffy asked, shocked to hear all this.
"Oh, you mean you didn't know?" The red head asked, confused.
"How would I know that?" The blond slayer demanded.
"Ah, well, they were discussing it all day in the meeting hall. AI sent out a team to recover the demon bodies. An off duty slayer reported Faith and Spike's place was hit last night too, it was burned to the ground. A suspect was brought in and they discovered this guy from Spike's past had a major mad on for him."
"Oh." Buffy replied sheepishly, not having paid much attention to anything going on around her today that hadn't been specifically about Angel. "Wait, are they ok?" She asked, concerned for Spike and Faith's safety.
"Oh, they're fine. Got married in Vegas. Didn't even know what was going on until I called them." The Wicca supplied.
"I'm surprised they brought their cell phones." Buffy muttered, still stuck on the 'Spike and Faith got married' idea.
"They didn't, I used magic to dial their motel room." Willow replied as if where a typical thing.
Buffy looked back at her friend, a steak of hope in her eyes.
Willow cut her off before she could ask her to try that on Angel. "I already tried. He masked himself really good, must be using some kind of cloaking device."
The blond slayer's shoulders fell, "Oh."
...
Angel knew he was drunk.
It wasn't just the Irish brogue that slurred from his lips when he spoke that gave it away, but the fact he'd let some pretty blond sit in his lap for the last ten minutes or so and feel him up.
Those long red tipped fingers running over his back and through his hair only sent a chill up his spine, and not a good chill either.
Drink had made him pretty numb by now, numb enough where he'd barely realized the woman was even in his lap in the crowded bar.
Finding his glass empty made him look up from the cup and that's when he finally noticed her.
"Hi ya, Handsome." She smiled at him, bashing her baby blues.
He just looked back at her a moment, wishing those eyes were hazel-green instead.
"Why don't we get out of here?" She suggested, running her digits over his arm and tugging gently at him.
"That's a mighty fine idea, Lass." He agreed, suddenly uncomfortable around so many unfamiliar bodies. It was getting too crowded in the small hole in the wall bar then he liked.
He let her guide him out to a back entrance, her slightly more soberness giving her the maneuverability advantage to weave though the sea of people.
Once outside, the stale back alley air hit him hard, the odor of garbage, urine and cigarettes mixed into a warm stagnant reek he knew all too well from his old hunting days.
This wasn't a place he wanted to be.
"Where you staying, Good Looking?" The pretty woman beside him asked, all too eager to get behind closed doors...or a back alley wall, or bathroom stall, or a car...she wasn't the fussy type.
He looked blankly at her a moment, unable to recall the motel name in his fuzzy state.
He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a single key on a keyring.
She slipped it from his fingers and read the name on the plastic logo, 'The Weary Traveler.'
"That's right down the road, Honey." She grinned and took his hand, leading him off towards the motel. 'Finally, a guy with enough sense to rent a room first.' She thought to herself as they walked.
Angel was swerving as he followed after her, her hand holding his helping keep him from falling over.
They were in the parking lot of the dimly lit shanty that passed off as a place of business when Angel smelt the pungent stench of demons nearby rush up his nose.
Drunken senses sharpened slightly as his own demon stirred in response.
"Something wrong?" The blond beside him asked when he stopped short and looked around.
"Get inside." He slurred out, giving her a slightly stronger push towards the motel door than he intended.
The door would offer no protection to her if a vampire chose to follow, since the laws protecting a threshold of a house didn't extent to temporary accommodations such as a hotel, but he would feel somewhat better if she didn't see what was about to happen.
"Someone's eager to get me into their room." She retorted, lightly flirting as she though he was joking.
When the first vampire melted into view from the shadows, she seemed to rethink his order into what he'd really meant. "What is that?" She asked, holding tightly to Angel's arm.
"Vampire." He muttered, his eyes glued to the twisted face of the creature moving to stand across from him.
He felt others closing in too, systematically surrounding him.
"Hello Angelus." The leader address him as he stepped forward, a male vampire much older than Angel but one who would never look a day over 21.
Angel's eyes narrowed as he struggled to recall the name that went with the face. He'd met so many over the years it was hard keeping track.
"Don't remember me do you Angelus?" The vampire asked with a cold grin, his eyes never moving from Angel's hard gaze.
"Braggs." Angel growled the name as it came to him, the 150 year old memories slowly filtering back.
There had been an altercation during a game of poker between him, Braggs and Spike back in the day. The stakes then hadn't been kittens, but young woman. Braggs lost a girl he'd been very fond of, Angelus and Spike had made a show of torturing her before killing her, just to spite him.
They'd made Braggs look like a weak love-struck fool at the time.
Apparently he still carried the grudge.
"Ah, so you do remember." The handsome vampire remarked, standing a little straighter. "And here I thought you'd forgotten me."
"I'd have been better off." Angel retorted, not in the mood for a fight but knowing he was going to get one regardless how he felt about it.
Braggs frowned, "Tisk, tisk. I guess regaining your heartbeat has done nothing for that prickly attitude of yours."
Angel shrugged, "Some people just rub me the wrong way I guess."
For the first time since Braggs addressed him, the villain turned his eyes towards the pretty blond gripping Angel's arm in a death-grip. "And this must be the legendary Slayer then? Pity, I expected something more than an ordinary bar wench."
"She's not part of this." Angel stated as he stood protectively in front of the now trembling woman.
"Call the cops." She whispered to him while cowering behind his broad back, "There's something wrong with their faces."
"Oh but she is very much part of this Angelus." Braggs smiled again, his fangs glistening in the dim motel sign light.
"Get me something long and made of wood." Angel ordered and pushed the woman back as the first of the vampire rushed towards them.
"Like what?" she shrieked and ran towards the motel door.
Angel swung at the first vampire, and missed. His aim wasn't quiet right yet.
A blow to the gut helped clear some of that pesky air from his lungs.
Another two blows landed before he was able to swing back, this time knocking the vampires into one another and buying himself a moment to draw the breath back into his aching lungs.
The alcohol was rapidly burning off as his demon push towards the surface, by the 5th vampire he was vamped and almost fully sober.
A sting of pain laced up his arm as one of the vampire dug his claws into the flesh of his bicep.
"I'll turn you, make you one of us again." It growled as it tried for Angel's throat.
The former undead vampire spun, slamming his elbow into the demon's face and kicked its legs out from under it. "Been there, done that, didn't take." He muttered, remembering Drusilla's failed attempt to re-sire him.
By now, the vampires he'd dropped were rising again.
Angel hadn't gotten his hands on anything wooden to finish them off with.
The eight demon's rose, re-circling around him. Braggs stepped forwards from watching the show on the sidelines, the blond that had been with Angel was held tightly under his arm, his hand covering her mouth to keep her from screaming.
"Still feisty as ever Angelus, but it's time to end this. I've got your girl now, an even exchange if you will." The older demon turned to his minions and muttered, "Kill him."
Sitting in a bar all day soaking his liver in whisky hadn't done Angel much good, he was getting tired. Fast.
He knew he wasn't going to be able to win another round without staking his opponents. Of course he hadn't thought to stick a stake in his pocket and the motel was in a parking lot, no trees to be found. Neither was there any handy picket fences or yard signs.
'What I'd give for a broom right about now.' He though as the first vampire came at him again.
...
"Can you track his car?"
Willow turned to her friend. Buffy had been scanning over a slayer report from the previous night when she'd suddenly blurted the question.
The red headed witch blinked a moment in thought, "I dunno, never tried a tracking spell on a car." After a second she added, "I'd need a piece of it though, something to use to create the link."
Buffy jumped from her chair and hurried across the room to her bag hanging on the coat rack. She dug around for a few seconds and pulled out her key-chain, the spare key to the GTX dangled from it. "Can you use this?"
Willow brightened, "I might. Let's find out."
Ten minutes later the spell was in motion. A pinprick of light glowed over a map of Ohio, slowly drifted back and forth as Willow's words weaved the spell to life.
Towards the end of the incantation, the pin of light floated over a small town an hour or so out of Doylestown. Slowly the pin prick expanded out, opening into a window. Though the shimmering image, Buffy could see the dark outline of Angel's car. "Can you turn the camera?" She asked, trying to get a view of exactly where it was parked and give her a hint where the owner was hiding.
"It's not a camera, but I can try." The Wicca replied, trying to move the image via magic.
A moment later, her efforts were rewarded when the view changed enough to see half of a motel sign. "raveler?" Buffy asked, already grabbing a phone book to try and find the name and address.
Motion caught both of their attention as a blur moved across the picture.
The wavering image rippled as Willow focused her concentration.
A second later the picture cleared and Buffy watched in fear as Angel's head was slammed against the door of his car.
"Volume!" Buffy demanded as she crouched closer, trying to see what was going on.
"There isn't any." Willow replied, trying to keep the image clear.
"Teleport me." Buffy insisted as Angel staggered from the blow, obviously not doing very well.
"I can't." The witch denied helplessly, "I don't even know where that is."
"Will, Angel's in trouble!" The blond yelped, horrified she could do nothing but watch her husband take a beating.
"Get me coordinates and I can send you." The redhead insisted, trying to keep her focus so the image remained open.
Buffy doubled her efforts to look up the name, but wasn't making much progress.
...
Angel grinned to himself as his head bounced off the side of the GTX, he made it look a lot worse that it was. Mostly since he didn't want the vampire that threw him to know this was his car, and a stake was hidden in a compartment under the driver's side door.
Living with a slayer meant one hell of a supply of crafty stake hiding places.
He slipped the wooden shaft in his sleeve as he faked staggering back to his feet using the side of the car for support.
"Time to taste that blood of yours." One of the vampires remarked as he came forwards, his tongue licking at his fangs.
"Come over 'ere and say that." Angel slurred out to look as if he had a concussion.
The vampire grinned and came at him.
He let the vampire grab him, allowing himself to be pulled in close.
He felt the demon's cold dead breath on his neck, then the pick of fangs before he thrust the stake up into the creature's chest.
With a yelp, he faked a fall to the ground as the vampire crumbled to dust.
"What the?" One of the others asked confused, none had seen the stake yet.
"Guess 'e didn't like me blood." The Irishman grinned out, letting the others see the twin pricks on his neck.
The vampires exchanged looks a moment, deciding among themselves who would go next.
A big dark skinned vampire stepped forwards, "It was a trick, your blood is harmless."
Angel just grinned.
A moment later the demon was pinning Angel to the cracked pavement in the mostly empty lot, a feral gleam in his yellow eyes. "You die now."
"You first." Angel grunted out as he smashed his forehead into the demon's, brow ridge to brow ridge.
The impact was just enough to loosen the vampire's grip enough for Angel to slam the stake home.
"He's got a stake!" One of the other vampires announced from his vantage point, giving away the game.
Angel rolled to his feet, facing the 6 other creatures of the night.
Braggs stood back still, watching with interest as he held onto the woman. "I thought I said to kill him." He bellowed annoyed to his minions.
The remaining vampires rushed forwards, figuring all together Angel didn't stand a chance.
The living vampire tucked into a ball and rolled, bowling over the too closely positioned demons like a group of pins and used his stake to take out two before they had the chance to recover.
'4 to 1, my odds are improving.' Angel grinned to himself as the remaining vamps staggered to their feet and growled at him.
...
Buffy watched at the edge of her seat as the four remaining vampires prepared to attack her husband, and just before they reached him, the magic screen projecting the battle taking place in a town an hour away disappeared.
"Willow!" Buffy alarmed, not being able to see how he was fairing.
The witch shook her head, "I'm sorry Buffy, that spell wasn't meant to hold that long. It wasn't designed to be a TV."
"Can you get it back?" She urged, needing to know Angel was OK.
"Give me a few minutes, I need to set everything back up again." Willow assured, grabbing fresh candles and adding more herbs to the salts.
Buffy browsed though the phone books as Willow worked, unable to link the motel name to any listings. "It's not here." She grumbled, irritated, annoyed and worried at the same time. Even if she knew the motel was called 'The Weary Traveler' it wouldn't have helped much. The place wasn't listed in the phone book anyways.
After what felt like forever, Willow got the little pinprick of light gliding over the map again. Several seconds later the light expanded back out into a picture, giving them a birds-eye view of the dusty parking lot and the three beings staged on it.
Buffy couldn't hear what was being said, nor could she read lips from the angle the 'camera' was pointed in. But she could figure out the jest pretty quick.
The remaining vampire leader was threatening to kill a blond woman clutched in his arms if Angel didn't cooperate.
It looked as if Angel was going to drop the stake, when at the last second he threw it towards the screaming woman.
It sailed past her, just barely, and sank into the chest of the angry and now surprised vampire.
As soon as the demon dusted, the now free woman ran into Angel's arms.
Buffy's fears were alleviated as the woman cried out her relief to her hero.
The calm Buffy felt for a second vanished and was pretty quickly converted into crazy homicidal anger as the blond woman suddenly locked her lips over her husband's mouth.
...
TBC