Chapter 17
The tired Slayer felt eyes on her and found Aurora awake, looking at her intently. "I had a dream about Dad. He was so far away, but I heard him. He said he loves us and misses us. He's really alive, isn't he, Mom?"
Buffy nodded, hugging her child while silent tears slipped from her eyes. "Your dad will come back to us. Nothing can stop him."
"Hey, am I going nuts or did Peaches just talk to me? This chip in my head can't get a radio signal worth shit, but from other dimensions the reception is clear as a bell. Go figure." Spike shoved a cup of sludge in Buffy's hand. "Here's some coffee."
Buffy sat down, grimacing at the foul taste of what the hospital cafeteria classified as coffee. "God, that's bad!" she said, shuddering. "I swear the coffee is the reason why half the people in this place are patients. How can you enjoy it?"
"Simple," Spike answered, folding his fingers around Aurora's warm hand. "It's not coffee."
"Spike, the bloodbank is not part of the cafeteria!" Buffy scolded. The vampire just shrugged and downed the last of the O positive in his cup, smirking at the annoyed Slayer.
Aurora couldn't help but laugh.
After she had made it through the dreaded 24 hours, the doctor insisted on keeping her in the hospital for further observation for another 2 days. Just to be sure, he had said. Aurora had argued that she really didn't need to stay any longer, but since the choice wasn't hers to make, she had to endure being waited on hand and foot by her Slayer mother and vampire boyfriend for a few more days.
In that time she had watched with great amusement at how these two people had been dancing around one another, trading jabs for barbs and smirks. She would ask questions about their history and listen with great relish at the versions of the truth they would tell. 'And of course argue about,' she grinned.
"What you grinnin' at, Slayer?" Spike asked Aurora, warming to the love he read in her eyes.
"You two. You must have been great friends," Aurora answered, laughter bubbling up in her when both Spike and Buffy started blustering denials. "Face it," she said. "You like each other. I can't wait to sit back and watch Thanksgiving holiday when all of us, Dad included, will be together. Now that should be very entertaining."
Spike snorted, "Yeah, the Buff's family holidays always were a barrel of laughs. Say, don't you have a birthday coming up soon?"
"Oh, shut up, Spike," Buffy grumbled, glowering. Aurora laughed again, even though she had no clue what this particular code meant.
"Someone's sure in a good mood today." Aurora and her guests looked at the smiling face of the young Dr Claudius.
Aurora smiled. "Hi Doc!" she said brightly. "Whatcha got for me today? More tests? I'm getting good at tests."
"Actually I have your walking papers," the doctor said, holding up his clipboard. "The nurses begged me to release you. They said they just couldn't stand another day's stress having to cope with you." He grinned at Aurora, laughing out loud when the pretty young girl poked her tongue out at him.
Still choking back the last of his laughter, the doctor said to Buffy, "I just need you for a moment to sign some papers, Mrs Liam. Then you'll be free to take your daughter home." Buffy nodded and followed the doctor out to the closest nurses' station.
"Her recovery is quite remarkable," Dr Claudius commented as he pointed to where Buffy had to sign. "I don't think I've ever seen a complete turn-around like Aurora's."
Buffy kept her eyes pinned to the papers in front of her and said non-committally, "She must get it from her father. He was always a fast healer."
"Maybe," the doctor murmured. "Has she told you more about where and now she got those strange wounds?"
Buffy handed back the curious doctor's pen, her name scrawled at the bottom of all the official documents. "Can I take my daughter home now?" she asked, ignoring the question hanging between them.
Dr Claudius sighed, "Yes, you may. The DA's office faxed through Aurora's papers authorizing us to remand her to your custody. I expect to see Aurora each morning for the next 2 or 3 days. The nurse will have the schedule for you, along with Aurora's medication prescription."
He started walking away when Buffy spoke, "Doctor, thank you. Thank you for saving my little girl's life."
He turned around briefly and smiled at Buffy, "Take care, Mrs Liam." His footsteps echoed the sterilized hallways of the hospital and he wondered if he would ever find out the mystery behind this fascinating girl and her strange family.
"Come on, kiddo," Buffy said brightly, walking back into Aurora's hospital room. She was already dressed and Spike was helping her dump all her stuff in a carry bag. The elder Slayer smiled and said, "Let's get out of here."
****************
"Let's get out of here!" the terrified man screamed, blindly starting to run in any direction his legs would carry him. He was dirty and smelled of decay. His clothes were threadbare to say the least and the way his eyes and cheeks sank into his face revealed his malnutrition to all that was paying attention.
The only one around to pay any attention to the lost, terrified man was Angel, and at that moment his attention was focussed intently on the legions of soldiers marching down on his less than ideal hiding place.
"Stay put and shut up," Angel growled low, pulling the running back to the ground. "You run and they will find us both and kill us."
Panic made the man's eyes roll around in his head. "But if we stay here and they find us, we're trapped," he shrieked, struggling against the powerful hand that barred his flight. "They'll kill us anyway!"
"They won't find us," Angel said, his eyes still tracking the soldiers' passage. "As long as you shut up and stop struggling!"
The random direction Angel had chosen nearly 2 weeks ago had led him to an encampment inhabited by humans. Women were skittish and wouldn't look him in the eye, mostly hiding in their doorways or tent flaps where no doors were available. Men were wary, but openly hostile to the newcomer, making their distrust of the stranger in their midst clear with each glance and gesture.
They refused to talk to Angel. They remained quiet in his presence, not uttering a word. Angel started to wonder if these poor out-of-place souls could even speak or if their tongues had been removed by whatever evil force had transported them to this world and had forced them into hiding and squalor.
"I won't hurt you," Angel had said, trying to sound as harmless as he could. "I just want to know where I am. Where is this place?
The locals shied away from him. When Angel took a tiny step towards them, the women raced into their homes and men scrambled for any weapons they could find. Angel felt his forehead, making sure he wasn't actually the one scaring them with an inhuman vampire face. The skin beneath his fingers was smooth and his teeth were blunt under his tongue's tip.
These people had just been terrorized into fearing everything, Angel realized.
That was when the screaming started. A shriek pierced the night sky, spurring the flight-ready strangers into action, but their scattering halted when a bellowing howl followed a bloodied and torn girl running out of the dark woods.
"HELP ME!" she begged her brethren, tears cutting paths through the grime on her face. She looked back at the creature pursuing her.
Behind her, slicing through the air, was a great flying monster that looked like it could be the snake-monster's brother, but with wings. 'And claws,' Angel reminded himself. 'Don't forget the claws.'
The beast opened up its fang-filled maw and howled again, diving at its prey. Fate had been on the girl's side. She stumbled, crashing to the ground and out of the way of the monster's mouth in the nick of time.
As the giant flying lizard swooped around for another pass, the girl clawed her way back to her feet, already running before she was even upright.
The men were pelting stones and wooden spears at the monster, but it served no purpose other than to further piss the already aggravated creature off. The men, bravely facing the invading monster, were too weak to fight something that powerful and determined.
The monster had locked his sights on the annoying humans and launched itself at them. Angel dived in, tackling a young man out of the way and saving him from becoming the beast's appetizer.
Angel took the spear the boy had clutched in his hand and charged the monster with a murderous roar. The beast took up the challenged and charged.
For the astonished mortals this looked like a chicken race between David and Goliath. The flying snake swooped and swerved, making a moving target of itself. Angel ran straight at it, tracking its every move and twitch with the deadly eye of a master predator.
Angel gauged the distance between him and the monster. Now or never, he knew. He leapt high in the air. The monster saw what the little man's plan was and tried to duck away from him, but its immense body wouldn't allow such nimble action.
Angel landed on the thing's back. With a mighty thrust he sunk his hand into the bucking creature's flesh and held on. The vampire's powerful legs clamped tightly against either sides of its neck.
The monster shrieked in frustration, bucking and swerving wildly to try and shake the two-legged creature off his back, but Angel held on. He raised the spear high over his head and with one powerful lunge stabbed the weapon into the monster's head.
The shriek of frustration became one of intense agony as the vampire pushed the spear through the creature's flesh and bone into its brain. Its flight became erratic, spinning… faltering… finally halting. The monster fell from the sky, crashing into the ground and ripping up the earth as it skidded to a dead stop.
The silence was palpable until Angel got up from where he landed. Then roaring cheers for the terrorized humans' new hero sounded out and Angel found himself being carried back to the camp; no longer a stranger or enemy, but a savior.