TITLE: Curiosity (4/4)
AUTHOR: Dannyblue
EMAIL: dannyblue2@yahoo.com
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.
ARCHIVE/DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, just drop me a note so I'll know where.
SUMMARY: A young couple sees something they can't quite believe.
SPOILERS: None really. Story takes place between "Dad" and "Waiting In the Wings".
PAIRING: Hints of A/C.
RATING: PG.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone or anything associated with "Angel" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
"Let's look at the facts," Grant Granger said as he gave the car a little more gas. It had taken longer than he'd expected to remember where Brenner Street was. But he figured they were only 5 or 10 minutes behind Angel and Cordelia.
"Facts," Laura said with a vigorous nod. "I like facts. Facts are good."
"Okay." Grant took a deep breath. "Logic and reason say vampires aren't real. And all of the vampires in that book are fictional."
"Absolutely." Laura clutched said book to her chest.
"But, last night, we see a guy who looks like one of the vampires in the book. A vampire named Angelus."
"Yes."
"And we follow the guy who, through some amazing fluke of chance, turns out to be named Angel."
"Uh huh."
"Coincidence, right. But his date…Well, she doesn't come right out and *say* he's 270 years old."
"But it was *definitely* implied," Laura said.
"Exactly! Not only that, but she also mentioned the name Angelus."
"Not a moment *I'll* ever forget." Still sore from her fall, she shifted in her seat.
"So." Grant took another deep breath. "What does it all mean?"
"Hmmmm," Laura murmured in agreement.
For one long moment, a thoughtful silence filled the car. Then, sharing a look filled with wonder and awe, excitement and fear, they abandoned that little thing called maturity.
"I can't believe it!" Laura squealed. And she bounced a little in her seat.
"This is *unreal*!" Grant exclaimed. He shook his head from side to side. "I mean, am I dreaming or what?"
Laura reached over and pinched his side. One of those good pinches, where you grab a hunk of skin between thumb and forefinger and gave it a twist.
"Ow!" Grant yelped. "Wide awake, then."
"Back at the café," Laura began, "I was freaking. I mean, who wouldn't freak? It's a freaky situation, right? Like finding out Jack the Ripper is sitting next to you on the bus, or something. And I'm still kind of freaking. You probably won't be able to get me out of bed tomorrow morning. Not without a little Prozac. But, right now, I'm more jazzed than scared." Finally, she ran out of air, and had to pause. "You know what I mean?"
"Definitely," Grant said. The freaked part of him was a little nauseous. The jazzed part felt like it was about to overload on the adrenaline rush. "Which is probably why we're not thinking so clearly."
"You mean the whole 'trailing a brutal killer' thing?" his wife asked. She frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know why, but I just didn't get the feeling he was evil. Don't you think that, knowing what we know, I'd be able to tell?"
"Maybe," Grant said. Actually, he felt the same way. The guy didn't come off as evil.
Dangerous? Sure.
Evil? Not so much.
"Besides, that Cordelia girl seemed to know him pretty well. Including the fact that he's a creature of the night. And *she* didn't seem scared of him at all."
"Maybe because she's a vampire, too."
"Oh!" Laura exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise. "I didn't think of that." Then, she shook her head. "But no. She said she was an actress. And, since the lore says vampires don't have reflections, I'm betting they don't show up on film, either."
"Good point." Grant agreed.
"Besides, if that Cordelia girl had a vision of someone in danger, and Angel is rushing off to save that person, he can't be evil, can he. I mean, one of the rules of being evil is that you don't run off to save people you've never met from…whatever."
Grant considered this for a second. "So, what are you saying? That Angelus, once one of the baddest of the bad, had a change of heart and a change of name, and is now running around doing good?"
"Yeah."
Grant grinned. "Cool," he decided. His fingers itched to get to a typewriter. The story was almost writing itself.
"I'm just glad he doesn't look like Gary Oldman." Laura shuddered. "I'll never understand why so many woman drooled over *that* man."
"Well, he *did* bring a kind of dark, enigmatic sensuality to the part of Dracula. And those eyes…"
Eyebrows peaking towards her hairline, Laura gave him an amused glance.
Secure in his masculinity, Grant simply shrugged. "I'm just saying." Finally, he turned the car onto Brenner Street. "Keep an eye out for a jewelry store."
"Okay."
But, as it turned out, the jewelry store wasn't hard to find. Not with the black convertible sitting in front of it like an onyx beacon.
Parking their car behind Angel's, Grant started to open the driver's-side door.
"Wait!" Laura exclaimed. She grabbed his arm and gave him an anxious look. "What did Cordelia say mystery girl is hiding from? I think that part kind of got lost somewhere."
Grant gave the question some thought. "A big, ugly, leathery…thing."
And, considering they'd just found out vampires really *did* exist, the word 'thing' had all kinds of nasty implications.
"Let's keep our distance, shall we," Laura suggested.
"Good idea," her husband agreed.
The Grangers left their car and walked towards the jewelry store.
Suddenly, a young girl—about 16 or 17—came tearing out of the mouth of the alley. Eyes wide with panic, she didn't stop to notice Grant or Laura. In fact, she didn't stop. Her feet pounded against the pavement as she disappeared from sight.
Grant and Laura gave each other a worried glance. Then, they cautiously approached the mouth of the alley. First, they heard the sounds. Grunts. Snarls.
Then, they saw…everything.
Gasping in horror, Laura clung to Grant's back.
Eyes wide with disbelief—par for the course tonight—Grant stared at the…thing. And, since he couldn't begin to imagine what it could possibly be, *thing* was the best way to describe it.
It *was* big. About 7 feet tall, with the bulk of a Mr. Universe contestant.
It *was* ugly. Grant had to fight the instinct to close his eyes.
And it *was* leathery. Covered with a layer of thick, gray skin that would've filled an elephant with envy.
"What the hell *is* that…thing?" Laura demanded.
Grant just shook his head.
Angel aimed a kick at the creature's chest. But it caught his foot with little effort, and shoved the man away from itself.
The vampire's head slammed into the brick wall, and he dropped like a stone to the cement.
Eyes glowing a dull, kind of gray orange, the beast stalked towards him.
"Angel!" Cordelia exclaimed. And she ran towards *it*.
The thing heard her coming. It spun around, grabbed her by the arms. Lifted her up off of the ground, so that her feet kicked helplessly at the air.
The thing snarled in her face, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Grant shivered. The snarl looked too much like a smile—was filled with too much intelligence—for comfort.
With a growl of his own, Angel launched himself at the creature's back.
As it stumbled forward, the thing dropped Cordelia at its feet. Then, it turned to defend itself.
"Cordy, get out of here!" Angel yelled…just as the thing drove its massive fists into his chest.
The vampire fell backwards, slammed hard into the ground. But, as the thing pursued him, he rolled to his feet. And, this time, his kick found its mark.
The gigantic creature flew backwards, and hit the wall with enough force to make the building shake.
In the meantime, Cordelia staggered to her feet. Staying clear of the fight, she hurried towards the Dumpster.
Un-phased by its trip across the alley, the creature staggered towards Angel, and started to swing at the vampire with its tree trunk arms.
With speed that Grant knew would be impossible for a human, Angel managed to avoid getting hit. But he also couldn't deliver any blows of his own.
"Angel!" Cordelia exclaimed. And she threw something towards him.
He didn't even look, but caught whatever it was by instinct.
((A sword,)) Grant realized…seconds before Angel swung the weapon in a wide, powerful arc. The blade sliced through the distance between the vampire and the…thing.
The beast's severed head flew down the alley. With a wet, plopping noise, it landed uncomfortably close to the Grangers.
"Oh, yuck!" Laura whispered. Grant felt her tremble against his back.
It took the thing's body a moment or two to realize it was dead. The massive arms kept swinging for a full 30 seconds before the body toppled over.
As one, the Grangers stepped back and away from the mouth of the alley.
"Oh…my…God!" Laura gasped, taking 2 or 3 breaths to get each word out.
"Hmph!" Grant grunted in agreement. Because it was all he was capable of.
Pressing their backs against the wall, they struggled to catch their breaths.
"Who the hell are you?"
Startled, husband and wife spun around.
The object of their curiosity was standing four feet away. Glaring at them.
____________________
"Uh oh," Laura breathed. Feeling a lot more week than she was used to, she glued herself to Grant's side. And felt much better when he grabbed her hand.
"Who *are* you?" Angel demanded again. Looking fierce, he took a step forward.
Laura and Grant took a step back.
"Angel?" Cordelia frowned. Head tilted to one side, she studied Laura and Grant. "Aren't they that weird couple from…"
"The café. Yeah. They followed us from there."
"Oh, great," Cordelia sighed. She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Don't *tell* me they work for Wolfram & Hart."
Angel studied them with narrowed eyes. "They don't *smell* like lawyers. Which makes me wonder who they *do* work for.
"W-work for?" Laura stammered. "W-we don't w-work for anyone. I mean, we have jobs. Plain, old, boring nine to fivers, that's us. But if when you say 'work for', you mean did someone hire us to follow you around or something, then nope, we don't work for anyone. We're just nosy. I mean, if we see something interesting or strange or whatever, we can't leave it alone. It's like a curse. We just can't seem to…" When Grant slapped her on the back, she finally managed to shut up.
Cordelia smiled at her. "Do you happen to know a girl named Fred?"
Angel, on the other hand, didn't look amused. "I want answers," he said, his voice low and dark. And Laura could've sworn his dark eyes flashed yellow for a second.
"Okay, just everybody calm down," Grant said, using his 'let's be reasonable' voice. "Look, I have something that will explain the whole thing." And, just like that, he loped towards the car.
Laura almost gave in to the urge to run after him. But Angel didn't look all that happy as it was. And she didn't want to do anything to make him any more *not* happy.
Grant returned…with the book. Opening it to the proper page, he handed it to Angel.
"We saw you last night," Grant continued. "And…Laura noticed the resemblance."
Laura waved, just in case they didn't know who Laura was.
As Angel studied the page, his mouth set into a grim line.
Cordelia looked over his shoulder. "Uh oh," she said. "Busted." She gave the Grangers a hopeful look. "I don't suppose you'd believe this was all a big coincidence."
"We tried that already," Laura said.
"Didn't work," Grant added.
Finally, Angel looked up from the book. The intensity in his gaze was almost enough to make a person's heart stop beating all together.
"What do you want?" He asked. With the air of a man who'd been in this kind of position before.
Laura and Grant glanced at each other. After years of being best friends, then a few more years of being married, the two could communicate without words.
As they came to the same decision, they both nodded.
"We want…coffee," Grant said.
Cordelia and Angel just blink for one long second.
"Coffee?" Angel asked blankly.
"What?" Cordelia shrieked.
"It'll be our treat," Laura said. "And we'll have a chance to talk about…everything."
"Yeah," Grant agreed. He waved towards the alley. "Like what the hell *that* was."
Both wearing expressions of disbelief, Angel and Cordelia turned to stare at each other. After a moment of silent communication, they both shrugged.
"Well, the damage is already done," Cordelia said. "I guess coffee couldn't hurt."
"Yeah," Angel reluctantly agreed. "I…guess."
And the two couples—one cautiously excited, the other openly suspicious—walked to their respective cars.
"Hey, just a minute!" Laura said. She glared at Grant. "You promised me pizza, buster."
"Oh, yeah," Grant said. He turned towards Angel and Cordelia. "You guys wouldn't mind pizza instead of coffee, would you?"
Again, the two looked at each other. Again, they shrugged.
"Great!" Laura grinned at them. "You haven't had pizza until you've had Gino's pizza. And we'll tell them to hold the garlic."
THE END
AUTHOR: Dannyblue
EMAIL: dannyblue2@yahoo.com
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.
ARCHIVE/DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, just drop me a note so I'll know where.
SUMMARY: A young couple sees something they can't quite believe.
SPOILERS: None really. Story takes place between "Dad" and "Waiting In the Wings".
PAIRING: Hints of A/C.
RATING: PG.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone or anything associated with "Angel" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
"Let's look at the facts," Grant Granger said as he gave the car a little more gas. It had taken longer than he'd expected to remember where Brenner Street was. But he figured they were only 5 or 10 minutes behind Angel and Cordelia.
"Facts," Laura said with a vigorous nod. "I like facts. Facts are good."
"Okay." Grant took a deep breath. "Logic and reason say vampires aren't real. And all of the vampires in that book are fictional."
"Absolutely." Laura clutched said book to her chest.
"But, last night, we see a guy who looks like one of the vampires in the book. A vampire named Angelus."
"Yes."
"And we follow the guy who, through some amazing fluke of chance, turns out to be named Angel."
"Uh huh."
"Coincidence, right. But his date…Well, she doesn't come right out and *say* he's 270 years old."
"But it was *definitely* implied," Laura said.
"Exactly! Not only that, but she also mentioned the name Angelus."
"Not a moment *I'll* ever forget." Still sore from her fall, she shifted in her seat.
"So." Grant took another deep breath. "What does it all mean?"
"Hmmmm," Laura murmured in agreement.
For one long moment, a thoughtful silence filled the car. Then, sharing a look filled with wonder and awe, excitement and fear, they abandoned that little thing called maturity.
"I can't believe it!" Laura squealed. And she bounced a little in her seat.
"This is *unreal*!" Grant exclaimed. He shook his head from side to side. "I mean, am I dreaming or what?"
Laura reached over and pinched his side. One of those good pinches, where you grab a hunk of skin between thumb and forefinger and gave it a twist.
"Ow!" Grant yelped. "Wide awake, then."
"Back at the café," Laura began, "I was freaking. I mean, who wouldn't freak? It's a freaky situation, right? Like finding out Jack the Ripper is sitting next to you on the bus, or something. And I'm still kind of freaking. You probably won't be able to get me out of bed tomorrow morning. Not without a little Prozac. But, right now, I'm more jazzed than scared." Finally, she ran out of air, and had to pause. "You know what I mean?"
"Definitely," Grant said. The freaked part of him was a little nauseous. The jazzed part felt like it was about to overload on the adrenaline rush. "Which is probably why we're not thinking so clearly."
"You mean the whole 'trailing a brutal killer' thing?" his wife asked. She frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know why, but I just didn't get the feeling he was evil. Don't you think that, knowing what we know, I'd be able to tell?"
"Maybe," Grant said. Actually, he felt the same way. The guy didn't come off as evil.
Dangerous? Sure.
Evil? Not so much.
"Besides, that Cordelia girl seemed to know him pretty well. Including the fact that he's a creature of the night. And *she* didn't seem scared of him at all."
"Maybe because she's a vampire, too."
"Oh!" Laura exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise. "I didn't think of that." Then, she shook her head. "But no. She said she was an actress. And, since the lore says vampires don't have reflections, I'm betting they don't show up on film, either."
"Good point." Grant agreed.
"Besides, if that Cordelia girl had a vision of someone in danger, and Angel is rushing off to save that person, he can't be evil, can he. I mean, one of the rules of being evil is that you don't run off to save people you've never met from…whatever."
Grant considered this for a second. "So, what are you saying? That Angelus, once one of the baddest of the bad, had a change of heart and a change of name, and is now running around doing good?"
"Yeah."
Grant grinned. "Cool," he decided. His fingers itched to get to a typewriter. The story was almost writing itself.
"I'm just glad he doesn't look like Gary Oldman." Laura shuddered. "I'll never understand why so many woman drooled over *that* man."
"Well, he *did* bring a kind of dark, enigmatic sensuality to the part of Dracula. And those eyes…"
Eyebrows peaking towards her hairline, Laura gave him an amused glance.
Secure in his masculinity, Grant simply shrugged. "I'm just saying." Finally, he turned the car onto Brenner Street. "Keep an eye out for a jewelry store."
"Okay."
But, as it turned out, the jewelry store wasn't hard to find. Not with the black convertible sitting in front of it like an onyx beacon.
Parking their car behind Angel's, Grant started to open the driver's-side door.
"Wait!" Laura exclaimed. She grabbed his arm and gave him an anxious look. "What did Cordelia say mystery girl is hiding from? I think that part kind of got lost somewhere."
Grant gave the question some thought. "A big, ugly, leathery…thing."
And, considering they'd just found out vampires really *did* exist, the word 'thing' had all kinds of nasty implications.
"Let's keep our distance, shall we," Laura suggested.
"Good idea," her husband agreed.
The Grangers left their car and walked towards the jewelry store.
Suddenly, a young girl—about 16 or 17—came tearing out of the mouth of the alley. Eyes wide with panic, she didn't stop to notice Grant or Laura. In fact, she didn't stop. Her feet pounded against the pavement as she disappeared from sight.
Grant and Laura gave each other a worried glance. Then, they cautiously approached the mouth of the alley. First, they heard the sounds. Grunts. Snarls.
Then, they saw…everything.
Gasping in horror, Laura clung to Grant's back.
Eyes wide with disbelief—par for the course tonight—Grant stared at the…thing. And, since he couldn't begin to imagine what it could possibly be, *thing* was the best way to describe it.
It *was* big. About 7 feet tall, with the bulk of a Mr. Universe contestant.
It *was* ugly. Grant had to fight the instinct to close his eyes.
And it *was* leathery. Covered with a layer of thick, gray skin that would've filled an elephant with envy.
"What the hell *is* that…thing?" Laura demanded.
Grant just shook his head.
Angel aimed a kick at the creature's chest. But it caught his foot with little effort, and shoved the man away from itself.
The vampire's head slammed into the brick wall, and he dropped like a stone to the cement.
Eyes glowing a dull, kind of gray orange, the beast stalked towards him.
"Angel!" Cordelia exclaimed. And she ran towards *it*.
The thing heard her coming. It spun around, grabbed her by the arms. Lifted her up off of the ground, so that her feet kicked helplessly at the air.
The thing snarled in her face, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Grant shivered. The snarl looked too much like a smile—was filled with too much intelligence—for comfort.
With a growl of his own, Angel launched himself at the creature's back.
As it stumbled forward, the thing dropped Cordelia at its feet. Then, it turned to defend itself.
"Cordy, get out of here!" Angel yelled…just as the thing drove its massive fists into his chest.
The vampire fell backwards, slammed hard into the ground. But, as the thing pursued him, he rolled to his feet. And, this time, his kick found its mark.
The gigantic creature flew backwards, and hit the wall with enough force to make the building shake.
In the meantime, Cordelia staggered to her feet. Staying clear of the fight, she hurried towards the Dumpster.
Un-phased by its trip across the alley, the creature staggered towards Angel, and started to swing at the vampire with its tree trunk arms.
With speed that Grant knew would be impossible for a human, Angel managed to avoid getting hit. But he also couldn't deliver any blows of his own.
"Angel!" Cordelia exclaimed. And she threw something towards him.
He didn't even look, but caught whatever it was by instinct.
((A sword,)) Grant realized…seconds before Angel swung the weapon in a wide, powerful arc. The blade sliced through the distance between the vampire and the…thing.
The beast's severed head flew down the alley. With a wet, plopping noise, it landed uncomfortably close to the Grangers.
"Oh, yuck!" Laura whispered. Grant felt her tremble against his back.
It took the thing's body a moment or two to realize it was dead. The massive arms kept swinging for a full 30 seconds before the body toppled over.
As one, the Grangers stepped back and away from the mouth of the alley.
"Oh…my…God!" Laura gasped, taking 2 or 3 breaths to get each word out.
"Hmph!" Grant grunted in agreement. Because it was all he was capable of.
Pressing their backs against the wall, they struggled to catch their breaths.
"Who the hell are you?"
Startled, husband and wife spun around.
The object of their curiosity was standing four feet away. Glaring at them.
____________________
"Uh oh," Laura breathed. Feeling a lot more week than she was used to, she glued herself to Grant's side. And felt much better when he grabbed her hand.
"Who *are* you?" Angel demanded again. Looking fierce, he took a step forward.
Laura and Grant took a step back.
"Angel?" Cordelia frowned. Head tilted to one side, she studied Laura and Grant. "Aren't they that weird couple from…"
"The café. Yeah. They followed us from there."
"Oh, great," Cordelia sighed. She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Don't *tell* me they work for Wolfram & Hart."
Angel studied them with narrowed eyes. "They don't *smell* like lawyers. Which makes me wonder who they *do* work for.
"W-work for?" Laura stammered. "W-we don't w-work for anyone. I mean, we have jobs. Plain, old, boring nine to fivers, that's us. But if when you say 'work for', you mean did someone hire us to follow you around or something, then nope, we don't work for anyone. We're just nosy. I mean, if we see something interesting or strange or whatever, we can't leave it alone. It's like a curse. We just can't seem to…" When Grant slapped her on the back, she finally managed to shut up.
Cordelia smiled at her. "Do you happen to know a girl named Fred?"
Angel, on the other hand, didn't look amused. "I want answers," he said, his voice low and dark. And Laura could've sworn his dark eyes flashed yellow for a second.
"Okay, just everybody calm down," Grant said, using his 'let's be reasonable' voice. "Look, I have something that will explain the whole thing." And, just like that, he loped towards the car.
Laura almost gave in to the urge to run after him. But Angel didn't look all that happy as it was. And she didn't want to do anything to make him any more *not* happy.
Grant returned…with the book. Opening it to the proper page, he handed it to Angel.
"We saw you last night," Grant continued. "And…Laura noticed the resemblance."
Laura waved, just in case they didn't know who Laura was.
As Angel studied the page, his mouth set into a grim line.
Cordelia looked over his shoulder. "Uh oh," she said. "Busted." She gave the Grangers a hopeful look. "I don't suppose you'd believe this was all a big coincidence."
"We tried that already," Laura said.
"Didn't work," Grant added.
Finally, Angel looked up from the book. The intensity in his gaze was almost enough to make a person's heart stop beating all together.
"What do you want?" He asked. With the air of a man who'd been in this kind of position before.
Laura and Grant glanced at each other. After years of being best friends, then a few more years of being married, the two could communicate without words.
As they came to the same decision, they both nodded.
"We want…coffee," Grant said.
Cordelia and Angel just blink for one long second.
"Coffee?" Angel asked blankly.
"What?" Cordelia shrieked.
"It'll be our treat," Laura said. "And we'll have a chance to talk about…everything."
"Yeah," Grant agreed. He waved towards the alley. "Like what the hell *that* was."
Both wearing expressions of disbelief, Angel and Cordelia turned to stare at each other. After a moment of silent communication, they both shrugged.
"Well, the damage is already done," Cordelia said. "I guess coffee couldn't hurt."
"Yeah," Angel reluctantly agreed. "I…guess."
And the two couples—one cautiously excited, the other openly suspicious—walked to their respective cars.
"Hey, just a minute!" Laura said. She glared at Grant. "You promised me pizza, buster."
"Oh, yeah," Grant said. He turned towards Angel and Cordelia. "You guys wouldn't mind pizza instead of coffee, would you?"
Again, the two looked at each other. Again, they shrugged.
"Great!" Laura grinned at them. "You haven't had pizza until you've had Gino's pizza. And we'll tell them to hold the garlic."
THE END