Prologue
Prologue
Sunnydale
was a quaint town with quiet law abiding people. From an outsider's point of a
view, it was a curiosity with its small airport and university - a mini-city
without proper status. Everyone basked in beautiful sunshine and life could be
very, very good there.
But
if you happened to dig a little deeper, you eventually saw things from a more
frightening perspective. People went missing as people often have a tendency to
do in most towns, though in Sunnydale most of them got found within in a few
days. And found dead.
If
you went further you could kiss goodbye to your sanity. Richard Wilkins the
First had christened his town 'Sunnydale'. Spanish settlers however, had a
rather different name for the place: Boca
del Infierno – the mouth of Hell. The town had been built directly on top
of a gateway. A gateway between the Earth - and in preacher's terms -
hellfire, brimstone, and little demons with nasty sharp pitchforks.
To
make things worse, the Hellmouth radiated mystical energies that caused certain things to gravitate towards Sunnydale. Witches & warlocks,
incubi, succubi and of course vampires. The monsters man rationalised as myth
were all too real in the town; killing, destroying life after life, family after
family, night after night, after night.
Tonight
would be the same as the last and the one before that. Another Marcie Ross would
disappear without a trace. No matter how many vampires he managed to stop on his
hunt, more would always be taken.
And nobody cares, Angel thought darkly.
The
docks were always deathly quiet compared to the rest of the town come night,
constituting as they did its "bad part." The Fish Tank on the other hand,
was a different story. Drunken brawlers sprawled out of its doors to beat the
living daylights out of each other if only for the sake of recreation.
Angel smiled wryly. He really had no business in the area if
he was to be honest with himself. Vampires fed on the young and whilst some
enjoyed a perfectly good scrap, they generally just wanted to drink blood rather
than dirty their hands with dried droplets of it.
Still,
it paid to be cautious in his experience.
He
studied all of them carefully on his patrol. Couples crossing the road, loners…
the retiring, the confident… there was no telling who was what. Technically he
knew that his kind were not in any way human, they were demons who assimilated a
person's identity, but they still behaved as human predators. They could be
anyone.
"Hi."
Turning
around, Angel's first thought was how remarkably attractive the girl was. With
her short leather skirt, dyed blonde hair and frankly see-through white top, she
was obviously a hooker. But the purity of her dark hazel eyes… She couldn't
be much more than twenty… curiously for women of her profession, her age
actually showed nicely.
"Hi,"
He replied, deadpan.
"Nice
night, huh?" She continued invitingly.
Angel
looked up at the crescent moon. "Nice night."
The
woman smiled. "You know it's funny. You don't seem like the type…"
"Type?"
"To
hang out at the Tank. Too handsome," She nodded directly at the bar a few
yards away.
"I…
I'm just taking a walk," Angel said awkwardly. "Not really my scene."
The
woman's smile broadened, she was going to make her sales pitch any minute now.
"You look like you could use a little company," she said. "I happen to
make good company…."
"Thanks,"
Angel shook his head. "I mean you're attractive and all but… I'm not and
I'm not looking for a good time right now either."
The
woman looked him up and down. "Shame."
Angel
started to walk off. "'Night."
Clinging
to the shadows as he moved, Angel waited until he could hear the young
prostitute speak again. He smiled as he watched her talk with a greasy, obese
docker. She was giving him the same lines.
One more time with feeling.
Briefly
he tried to imagine the woman's life, why she was selling herself, how she
managed to keep going and what she would have to do to earn tonight's crust.
Maybe tonight would be her last night. He'd seen it happen often enough: a
call girl, a pissed off client. She walked a dangerous tightrope. Sooner or
later she'd fall off.
Life
was like that.
You
could live in a city, you could live in poverty, you could have wealth, and you
could go to church on Sunday and call yourself a saint. But at the end of the
day you had to take a beating from life and you had to get on with it or else
commit suicide.
Life
would always be unfair.
Life
was a bitch.
The
beer in his hands was probably warm by now. Angel didn't care. Most of the
kids around him didn't have the right ID to drink the stuff. He wasn't going
to look out of place.
He
had work to do.
He
sat at the bar oblivious to the din the band were making, and focused instead on
those who somehow managed to dance to it. The place was like a buffet for those
of his kind. If he lost track of the humans here
then there was little point in bothering to hunt.
The
Bronze lay on the border between the good and bad parts of Sunnydale. The small
club seemed like the only place to be if you were a teen living on the Hellmouth.
As long as you were fifteen you could get in and enjoy the frequent live music
acts or just hang out with your friends. Sadly, it was also one of the easiest
places to die. Loveless adolescents were always good targets if you happened to
need a little human blood to tide you over.
Of
course no one realised the truth of what was happening right under their noses.
The barman had just served Angelus, former scourge of Europe, a vampire once
feared for his sadism and brutality. Though why should he have done? Aside from
being a little pale, he looked a living, breathing human being.
Why
should the barman have known that the young man who sat at his bar was an
outcast - the only vampire in history to have been cursed with his human soul?
Why should he care that his customer was fighting for him and all the teenagers
in the joint?
Angel
sighed.
"I
can see you," he muttered. "Don't be shy now…."
The
vampire on the dance floor stood out like a sore thumb. Though flares and spaz
dance moves did not necessarily a demon make, the girl he was hitting on was too
much of a give-away. Whoever the vampire's body had once belonged to he was
clearly the sort of guy who should be able to have anybody he wanted, his dance
partner on the other hand was just plain average, not to mention a little plump.
A 'looker' she was not. Yet he was leading her out of the club…
Placing
his bottle back on the bar, he got up and started towards them.
"Well
hi," said a meek voice.
The
girl who stood in front of him seemed a little familiar, long red hair, slightly
pale…pretty, in a take her home to mother sort of way. She had a male friend.
He remembered saving them both in his first week in town…
"Hi,"
Angel knew he was being a touch abrupt but he didn't have time for a chat.
"Batman,"
the boy friend said as he approached. "Beaten up any freaks lately?
"Yeah.
Excuse me," Angel gritted his teeth as he brushed past him.
"Ooookay"
Xander murmured. "Lone ranger's not much of a talker, Will?"
Willow
blinked. "Talker… huh? Uh huh."
Something
was wrong and it wasn't just the fact that a vampire was going to feed on an
innocent young girl either. Most of the time, victims were taken into a back
alley. This guy seemed to be walking forever.
Thankfully,
for all its heightened senses the demon hadn't caught onto the fact that he
was being stalked and wasn't simply leading him into a trap.
Or
at least Angel hoped that this was the case.
Finally
the vampire had reached his destination - Sunnydale High School.
As
the two figures crept around the back of the building, Angel noted an open
window. The vampire and 'guest' climbed on through it. Angel waited about a
minute or so before he did the same. If the girl was going to live he was going
to have to be careful.
Walking
down the corridor he felt uneasy. The vampire had a reason for coming here and
he didn't know what it was….
The
girl's scream was shrill. Swearing, Angel ran in its direction.
"Oh
Pete!" Look at them!" Marcie said with motherly pride.
"They're
very hungry," Peter said. "Sorry about the screaming."
Marcie
smiled with pleasure at the newborns that she had sired. Once the initial
bloodlust subsided they would bring her Cordelia and all her slutty
good-for-nothing friends. And then she would hurt them. The very thought of it
thrilled her to the bone.
"Please!"
the girl pleaded.
The
newborns were in frenzy, drawing blood from wherever they could. It almost made
her pity the mortal child. Almost.
"That's
it," Marcie encouraged.
Very
suddenly, the classroom door came crashing down.
***
For
all he had done in his life as a vampire, Angel still felt sick at the sight he
beheld as he walked into the classroom. Three new vampires feeding off one
human. It didn't matter now if the girl was dead or not. He would still kill
them, if only to vent his anger.
The
vampire he'd followed and his female companion simply stared at him with their
human faces.
"Party's
over kids," Angel said coldly.
The
female smiled. "For you maybe,"
Her face morphed into that of a fanged, yellow-eyed demon as did the face of her
companion.
The
dancing spaz rushed at him first, forcing him up against the wall. Angel threw
his head forward, breaking the vampire's nose before sending an elbow into its
stomach.
Next
came the girl, roaring with tears. Angel spun into a kick and knocked her onto
her back.
"Marcie!"
the dancing spaz growled, smashing a chair into his head. The vampire punched
him hard in the jaw and threw him onto a desk.
"I'll
kill you!" he continued, leaning over the interloper. "I'll kill you!"
Angel
gave no answer as he too vamped-out and kicked his opponent back with both feet.
Following in quickly, he punched him in the gut and forced his head straight
through a window; finally pulling his head back and staking him in the chest.
The
vampire exploded into ash.
One
of the newborns sprang at him, clearly frightened, but Angel managed to catch
him in mid air and toss him into the chalkboard, knocking him unconscious.
Marcie
got back to her feet. "Pete? You?
No!" She screamed.
Angel
staked the other two newborns as they blindly continued to feed.
"You
bastard!" the Marcie continued angrily.
Angel
turned slowly. "Marcie? Marcie Ross?" He kept his voice a low growl.
The
vampire's eyes widened with confused fear at the sight of his
vampiric face. "Who are you?" She demanded.
"Angel."
Marcie
charged. Angel grabbed one of her wildly swinging arms and broke it. The vampire
howled in anguish as he followed through with his stake.
You can
rest in peace now Marcie. Wherever you are,
Angel said silently.
Moving
forward a few paces Angel crouched down and ran the third newborn through. He
stared sadly at the body of the human girl. He was meant to have saved her.
Yet
he'd failed.
Walking
over to her torn body, he closed her petrified eyes before leaving the room. He'd
seen far too many people die at the hand of a vampire.
Far
too many…
Angel
felt his face morph back into its human form as the cold air caressed him.
Tomorrow would bring another day of hoping that the Slayer would come…And with
it another night of fighting for her cause…
For
his cause…
For
humanity…
Observing
Angelus from afar, she grinned. Though he was blissfully unaware of it, he'd
done her something of a favour in killing Peter and his young wretch of a girl.
The newborns were something of a pity, still, for some inexplicable reason she
failed to care due to… pride?
Angelus
had clearly begun to turn on his own brethren and yet her heart persisted in
feeling proud of him. He was strong, possibly stronger than he had ever been in
their time together. Her Angel, her beautiful child of depravity, was now a
warrior. If only she could convince him of his true role in the world, he could
become one of her master's most favoured children as he had so clearly
promised to be.
If
only her Angel could be freed from the human heart in which he was so cruelly
incarcerated….
If
she could have him in her arms again…perhaps she could help him.
Help
him to become the man that she'd 'turned'
The
vampire that she'd sired…
Angelus,
The One With The Angelic Face.