AN: I know, some of my updates have taken longer, but hey, here it is. This is essentially the last chapter, though I think I will write an epilogue. Just for reference for non-Buffy fans, in case this isn't clear- Vampires have a human face, and then a demon face, which is kinda distorted, that comes out when they feed or get really angry, etc. Anyway, disclaimers du jour: I don't own Bruce Lee, Girls Gone Wild (Thank the gods),
If I'm lucky, I'll puke on him, Rogue started to think, but then she realized something: she didn't feel cold, or sick, or clammy inside. And the vampire who'd presumed to stick his tongue in her mouth was twitching slightly. In addition, she was feeling distinctly stronger and more predatory. She opened her eyes and realized: she was draining the strength out of Xander.
As quick as she could, she ripped her gloves off and grabbed his face, pushing it away from hers but still hanging on. I don't get it, Rogue thought. I oughta be retching my spleen out by now. Xander finally went limp and slipped out of her grasp. Rogue shuddered- her face became animalistic and distorted as the vampire's had, and she found herself sporting a set of really sharp canines. She shook her head, running her tongue along the edge.
"Goddamn. A year ago, I woulda thought that this was the coolest thing ever," she muttered to herself, running as fast as she could towards Lance and Willow.
Lance had been playing a defensive game with the red-headed vampire chick. Every time she got less than six feet away from him, he'd send a short, sharp tremor her way and knock her down, then move back while she was collecting herself. The more times he knocked her down, the more pissed of she got, and the more pissed off she got, the more sloppy her fighting got. However, Lance was also getting damned tired, and the more pissed off Willow got, the more she seemed like she could go all night. He was about to raise his hands to slam her again when Willow went flying backwards about twenty feet. Lance blinked twice, then started laughing: Rogue stood where the red-headed vampire had been, looking smug as she lowered her left arm, her face distorted as Willow's had been.
"Nothing like a clothesline at eighty miles an hour, is there Rogue?" Lance asked.
"Sure ain't."
"Okay, I'm guessing you're sporting demon face cause you slipped vamp-boy some skin. Why aren't you puking?" he asked looking at her lack of gloves and the unconscious Xander and sorting out what had gone on, leaning down with his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. She shrugged.
"My only guess is that whatever shots evil vampire scientist boy gave me did somethin' weird to my metabolism, made it so I absorb their strength and not their… clamminess."
Willow got up and glared over at Xander.
"That's what you get for kissing strange girls, baby," she said in a low angry voice. Rogue thought the redhead was going to attack her, but instead she ran past, over to Xander's body and picked something up. When she turned around, she was pulling on the black evening gloves that Rogue had abandoned. Rogue smiled appreciatively.
"You did the math, red, I'm impressed." Willow narrowed her eyes, still speaking in the low, flat tone that sent chills up Lance's spine.
"Smarter than him," Willow replied, flexing her fingers in the gloves. "Always have been."
You know, if I had a movie camera, I could make a fortune off this footage. Hot goth girl, hot, incredibly skanky red-haired vampire in a chick fight. It's like Bruce Lee meets Girls Gone Wild. Lance thought, before taking several steps back to get out of the way of this particular fight.
The fight didn't last long. With the advantage of Xander's strength and her own speed, it wasn't long before Rogue wrapped her hands around Willow's throat and drained the red-head's strength until she also fell unconscious.
"You're not gonna try and bite me now, are you?" Lance asked, only half kidding. Rogue turned and looked at him with a sharp toothed smile.
"You're not my type. Come on, I know where they're keeping Pietro."
"What about those two?" Lance said. Rogue pouted in a slightly Willow-esque way that made Lance want to run screaming for his life.
"No fun staking them when there's not gonna be any screaming," Rogue said, looking over at them. "Let's let the morning take care of 'em."
Rogue took her gloves back from Willow's unconscious body and, using her stolen strength, picked up Lance like a sack of potatoes and ran off at top speed.
"Brother, you are heavy," Rogue said as they reached the Bronze, unceremoniously dropping Lance.
"Ow," Lance replied. "Yeah, I'd like to thank you for that view of your ass the whole trip that I could've totally lived without," he grumbled. Rogue rolled her eyes as she kicked in the door to the Bronze.
"The trip only took thirty seconds, Rocky, don't whine."
Lance got up and dusted himself off, following Rogue into the building. There was blood all over the floor, rusty colored dust which had been there for years. It took them a while to find the stairs, heading down into the dark basement.
"We gotta go after them!" Pietro's voice floated up.
"They're fine, Pietro, I would feel it if they weren't," Jean said. Rogue stopped before she reached the bottom of the stairs. She could see Jean sitting and bandaging up Pietro, Tara attending to the man they'd called Angel, and Spike sulking in the corner, being attended to by no one. Pietro, she thought… he looked exhausted and cranky and inviting, and more than anything he looked like he was itching to find her. She brought her hand up to her face, feeling the demonic mask that she'd stolen along with the vampires' strength.
"Rogue?" Lance asked quietly.
"The things that they wanted to do to him… it was horrible…" Rogue whispered. "I can't let him see me like this." She turned and pushed past Lance, running up the stairs and out of sight. Lance was about to run after her when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, expecting Pietro or Jean, but instead saw the dark haired vampire, Angel.
"Do you mind if I talk to her? Kinda my area of expertise."
Rogue sat crouched on the roof of the Bronze. It had been an easy leap for her to get up there, but she was too afraid to be seen by Pietro looking like the thing that had hurt him.
"Nice night," someone said. Rogue looked up to see the dark haired man that Willow had called her puppy. Angel. "Of course, it's been a while since I got out of the house. I hear I have you to thank for that."
"Not really. More like Tara and Jean," Rogue muttered. Angel sat down on the roof next to her.
"That's not what they say," he said. Rogue didn't say anything. "That's not what the white haired kid said either. What's his name? Pedro?"
"Pietro," Rogue replied. "Pietro Maximoff."
"He said a lot about you. He never seemed scared or worried at all, even when they were hurting him. I asked him about it actually."
Rogue remained silent. This chick's even more prone to brooding than I am, Angel thought, continuing. "He just said that his girl would be there to get him any minute. Which begs the question: Any particular reason that he's down there and you're up here?"
Rogue raised her face, still vamped-out.
"How can I go down there looking like the things that hurt him?" she asked. Angel looked at her gravely.
"Because you're not the things that hurt him. I'm a vampire, you know."
"You sure don't act like one."
"Gypsies cursed me with a soul. I have a conscience."
"Swell," Rogue replied flatly.
"Worst thing that ever happened to me," Angel replied, almost too quietly to hear. "What did you do with Willow and Xander?"
"They're unconscious. I doubt they'll wake up before dawn."
"Just in case, let's go get them," Angel said. "Wouldn't want them coming back pissed. Besides. It'll give you time to work off your… aggressions."
Rogue nodded. Maybe by the time she got back, Willow and Xander's powers would have worn off. Maybe.
"I'm fine, I'm fine I'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfine!!" Pietro roared as Jean kept holding him down telekinetically.
"Would you calm down?" Jean snapped irritably.
"I want to see Rogue. Why isn't she here?" Pietro asked, eyes darting suspiciously from Jean to Lance to Tara.
"She went to take care of something," Jean said.
"Bullshit, goddamn it," he snapped. Lance looked away guiltily. "Lance?" Pietro said, and the older boy looked back at him. "Where is she?"
"She didn't want you to see her."
Pietro's eyes widened.
"That's not possible."
"Look, she absorbed Xander and Willow's powers," Lance said. "And her face went all…"
"Like this?" Spike said helpfully, vamping out. Tara smacked him lightly.
"Thanks," Lance growled. "She didn't want to come in looking like them."
"That's ridiculous," Pietro said.
"Well, you're not the only shallow one, bro. She just didn't want you to see her looking like the thing that hurt you. You know?"
"I guess I get it," Pietro said. "I just want to see her."
"You're going to have to wait for her to get back," Jean said, continuing to psychically sit on him.
"Dammit, Gray-"
"Do not test me, Pietro!" Jean growled. Pietro sighed and shut up, as three mutants, a human, and a vampire all waited for Rogue to return.
"Whaddaya wanna do with them?" Rogue asked as she and Angel stood over the unconscious vampires.
"Got any stakes?" he asked.
"Left 'em on the roof."
"That's okay," he said, picking up Xander's limp body and holding it in a fireman's carry. "I've got a better idea anyway. Would you?" Angel nodded towards Willow. Rogue picked her up and ran at a pace to match Angel's back towards the Bronze.
Rogue's hair obscured her face as she and Angel walked back into the dungeon under the Bronze carrying Willow and Xander. They dumped the two vampires into separate cells and shut the iron gates. Pietro struggled against Jean's hold again, trying to get up.
"GOD DAMN IT, GRAY!" Pietro shouted, but Jean remained impassive, arms crossed and eyes shut. Angel touched her lightly on the shoulder.
"It's okay. Let him up."
Jean arched an eyebrow, but did so. Pietro was in front of Rogue instantly.
"God,babyImissedyousomuch, Iknewyouwerecomingeven before Gray told-" he said quickly, cutting off as Rogue flinched away from the hand he raised to push the hair out of her face.
"Don't look at me…" she whimpered. Pietro raised both hands and pushed the hair back from her face. He looked her in her eyes, looked at her demonic face, and kissed her fanged mouth, winding his arms around her. All fear left her, and as she relaxed into Pietro's arms, the vampire face slipped away, leaving only Rogue's soft, pale face behind.
Tara smiled. Kissed the demon right out of her, she thought. Out loud she said,
"I'll set up the circle for our return." Jean was about to offer to help when Angel touched her shoulder again.
"Could you do me a favor?" he asked. Jean's heart broke in her chest, just to look at him. There was sorrow and pain in his eyes, and there were many scars in his carefully guarded thoughts.
"Anything," Jean said.
"I'm led to believe you're a telepath. Right when you leave, not a moment before, can you… project a thought into my head, a memory?"
"Of what?" Jean asked.
"True happiness," Angel replied. "Have you ever had a moment of pure, untainted happiness?"
Jean thought back to the moment that Scott had finally, after a week of reticence, told her in a shaking voice that he loved her and cared for her, and had since the very day they met.
"I have. And I'd gladly share it with you."
"Jean? Spike?" Tara said quietly. "We're ready."
Jean and Spike joined Tara, Lance, Pietro and Rogue in the circle, while Angel seated himself in a chair against the wall between the two cells.
"You could come with us," Rogue said to Angel.
"Oh god no," muttered Spike, only to be telekinetically hit very hard in the back of the head. "Ow."
"You're lucky we don't leave you behind," Lance muttered. Angel sighed at Rogue's invitation and shook his head.
"I couldn't. I belong here. With them," Angel replied, glancing at Xander and Willow, who were beginning to stir. "Leave now."
Tara began the spell, reaching out to Willow's shining power from across the boundaries of a different universe, just as Jean reached out to Angel's. As the circle was filled with light, Jean shared with Angel her most perfect moment of happiness and joy. When the light faded, the four mutants, the vampire, and the witch were gone.
Pain rocked through Angel's body as he saw Jean's memory. Every curse comes with a way to lift it, even curses on vampires. The gypsies who cursed Angel had shared something with him: the curse would end when he experienced a moment of true happiness. There had been no happiness for him, not since the day he was born. He shuddered on the floor, his eyes glowing eerily as, in that moment of happiness, his soul left his body. All conscience, all pity, all remorse were gone. In that moment, the tormented Angel returned to his former self, the brutal, the unholy, Angelus. He pushed himself off the floor, feeling terribly light without the weight of a soul to hinder him, and relaxed into his chair in the shadows as Xander and Willow began to rouse from their slumber.
"Wakey wakey, children," the monster Angelus intoned from the darkness as the two regained consciousness. "Story time."
"Puppy got out," Willow moaned as she opened her eyes. Xander gave her a furious look from behind the bars of his own cell.
"So did your damned kitty," he snarled, hissing at the pain in his limbs.
"Xand, Wills, how long have we known each other… Two, three years? It's so hard to keep track of time down here…" Angelus mused. "During that time, we've been through a lot together. Fire. Crosses. Rusty knives. Holy water. You remember, you were there. But you know, all that time, through all your fun and games, only one word ever crossed my mind."
Willow and Xander felt a sinking feeling as the older vampire rose from his seat, his eyes shining darkly, the rest of his face obscured by shadows. This was not the Angel they remembered.
"What word is that?" Xander asked. Angelus smiled.
"Amateurs."
And that's pretty much the end of that. I think there's gonna be an epilogue, reunion of X-Men, etc. Thanks to everyone who's read, reviewed, given it a second look.