Disclaimer: see prologue
Chapter 10
They arrived in Leicester Square early and settled to wait on the benches in the middle. Some night-time revellers were still out, laughing as they wandered past, and Darla went off to find a late snack.
Luc laid Katie, who was fast asleep, down on the bench by his side and glanced across at his sire. Angelus seemed perfectly relaxed, his head back and his eyes closed with a small smile on his face. Watching him, Luc found himself smiling too, and wondering how the evening would turn out.
Buffy and her group from the Council appeared bang on time, even as a nearby clock struck three. The Slayer had Spike by her, his hands bound behind his back, and she was accompanied not only by Giles, Mike Fletcher and his brother-in-law, but by two other tough-looking men who Luc guessed were probably colleagues of Mike's.
The Council members stopped a good distance away from Luc and Angelus, and Buffy called across the gap. "Okay, we're here."
Angelus stood up smoothly, and Luc picked up Katie and came to stand beside his sire. At the sight of the little girl, Daniel Hansen took an impulsive step forwards.
"Katie!" His face grew dark as he looked at the two vampires, and he called, "if you've hurt one hair of her head ..."
Angelus laughed. "You must be Mr Hansen. I don't believe we've met. I'm Angelus."
"I've heard about you," Daniel returned, his voice full of venom mixed with longing for his daughter.
"None of it good, I hope," Angelus said. "Did you like my gift? She was a beautiful woman. Had some fire. I always like that in my food."
Daniel looked as if he were about to move forwards, but Mike hissed, "Don't! Try not to let him get to you."
"Not let him get to me?" Daniel turned his head to Mike. "How can I not?"
"I know." Mike swallowed. "For Katie's sake. Just shut up and let Buffy do her job."
"Mr Fletcher - Mike," said Angelus. "Can I call you Mike? We should, after all, be on first-name terms. How are the arms?"
"I'll be holding a crossbow any day now," Mike said. "The first bolt's for you."
"Hey, Angel," Buffy broke in. "You don't want to talk to them. Talk to me. You'll be pleased to know Spiky here has not breathed a word about your current hiding-place."
"I knew he wouldn't," Angelus said, turning his attention to the Slayer, and taking a step forwards. "Enjoying England, Buff?"
"It's lovely. Just like home, with all you vamps around. How could I go away without seeing you?"
He laughed. "Such devotion. It's kind of poetic. Don't you agree, Luc?"
"Beautiful," Luc agreed. He grinned. "All this way, only to die."
"Look," Spike broke in, "not that I'm anxious to get away or anything here, but a bit of actual negotiation would be nice."
Angelus took another step forwards, and Buffy tightened her hold on Spike. "Not till we have Katie back," she said, teeth gritted. Giles lifted a crossbow, and aimed it at Spike.
"Oh, Rupert," Angelus sighed, with a brief glance at Luc, "you still don't understand me, do you?"
Luc met his sire's eyes, and nodded, before changing the direction of his gaze and smiling at Spike. The blond vampire's own eyes narrowed.
"I know that smile, Luc," he said.
"I rather thought you might," Luc replied. Beside him, Angelus slipped a hand inside his leather jacket. "It was fun, Will," Luc went on, softly. "Chicago, London - it was fun."
"Bleedin' heck," Spike said, and started to struggle. "Slayer, let me go! Slayer ..."
Angelus' hand came out of his jacket holding a crossbow, and the bolt was already winging its way across the space between sire and grandchilde before Buffy registered why her prisoner was suddenly fighting. She let go of Spike at the same moment the bolt hit.
"I'll tell Dru you said goodbye," Angelus commented, watching the dust fly into the air.
Buffy stared aghast at the space where her bargaining chip had been standing. Cradling Katie in his arms, Luc watched the remains of Spike float to the ground, and murmured, "Adieu."
Raising the crossbow once more, Angelus smiled at the Slayer. "Now where do you stand, Buff?"
She pulled a stake out of a pocket. "Well, it helps not to have him to look after. I guess I'll just have to fight you for Katie. Four against two."
"Good odds," Angelus said. "It's been a while. Oh, and I don't think you've ever seen my boy fight, have you?"
Giles, still holding his own crossbow, said slowly, "where's Darla?"
Luc stepped backwards with Katie, and laid her down on a bench, sensing that something was going to happen and it was going to happen soon. Facing him and his sire were six humans, one of them injured. At this point he knew that the little girl had stopped being a part of the equation. Angelus wanted the Slayer, and Luc felt fairly sure he would get her.
He left Katie on her bench and moved forwards again to stand beside Angelus.
"T'es prêt?" his sire asked softly.
"Toujours," Luc replied.
There was another moment of stillness, and then Giles fired his crossbow. Angelus stopped the bolt inches from his chest, throwing it to the ground contemptuously.
The two Council agents, receiving a nod from Buffy, pulled out weapons - one a stake, the other a sword - and attacked.
Luc went sideways to put a space between him and his sire, and met them face on. He had never been one to choose to fight, but long ago, in the small town where he had grown up, scuffles and brawls were common. As one of the smaller boys, Luc had soon learned to defend himself adequately, and he had never forgotten. Over these two burly men he had the advantage of flexibility and agility as well as vampiric strength and speed, and he used his advantages well. The agent with the stake attacked front on, and Luc swung and kicked at the man's wrist to get the weapon out of his way even as he ducked to avoid a sweeping blow of the longsword. A short distance away he knew that his sire had engaged the Slayer, and there was a concentrated barrage of blows coming from their direction.
He rammed the side of his hand into the first agent's neck and the man fell to the ground. Turning, Luc went to defend himself against the second Council worker, but even as he did so a flash of red caught his eye, and he stepped back. His opponent raised the sword with a shout of triumph, and then his eyes rolled back into his head and he toppled over.
Darla stood over the corpse twirling a stake, her eyes shining.
"Okay?" she said.
"Absolutely," Luc said, returning her smile. "Do you want the Watcher or the Slayer?"
"You help Angelus," Darla said, "and I'll deal with the Watcher."
Bending, Luc picked up the discarded sword and weighed it experimentally in his hand before turning and glancing towards the fight between Angelus and Buffy. Both of them were looking somewhat the worse for wear, battered and bruised and bleeding. Luc could sense the powerful tang of Slayer's blood on the air and he breathed in deeply before getting closer and circling around her back.
"You've improved," Buffy panted, landing a kick in Angelus' chest. "You weren't this good in Sunnydale."
"You haven't," Angelus said. "You're looking tired, Buff. Too many years of Slaying - well, I can help you out there. I'd give a lot for another taste of you." He hit her shoulder.
"Maybe if you told your Frenchman to move away from me," Buffy said, "we'd get along better."
"Breton," Luc said, throwing the sword to his sire who caught it neatly, "not French."
Buffy moved backwards out of the range of the sword, keeping Luc in her peripheral vision. "Whatever," she said.
Angelus advanced, the sword held ready to strike. "No witches to help you here, Buffy. No Xander. No Riley."
She kicked out sideways at Luc, and he sidestepped it.
At that moment a scream rang out, and Luc turned in horror to the source. Giles was just bringing his arm back, holding the stake which he had just succeeded in driving into Darla's chest. With an imploring look towards Angelus, Darla disappeared. Giles sank to his knees, breathing heavily.
"You were saying?" Buffy said, turning to Angelus. Luc wrenched his attention back to his sire and the Slayer, and attacked.
The three of them danced around each other, Angelus and Luc moving in alternately to aim blows or kicks at the Slayer. In her turn, she ducked and weaved and punched, her movements fluid but her breath starting to come in short bursts. She was tiring, Luc realised, even as he leaned sideways to miss being drop kicked in the stomach.
And then it happened. Behind him, Luc heard a footstep that was quiet but not quiet enough, and the thudding of a terrified heart. He spun around to the source of the noise.
Mike had watched the fighting with increasing irritation and fear. He had seen the Breton take down his fellow agents - Fratelli and Jenkins, their names were - with horrible ease. As soon as the fighting had started, Daniel had run to his daughter and was sheltering her on the bench. When Darla had arrived, Mike had gritted his teeth and forced himself not to run to Giles's aid, and his relief when his friend had succeeded in staking the vampire had been great. And now, for the last five minutes of agonisingly slow time, he had watched Angelus and his childe darting around Buffy. She had held her own, but Mike could see that slowly but surely she was flagging.
Back at Headquarters, before they had left, Mike had asked Daniel to find him a stake and he had concealed it inside the sling of his left arm, the one which was more flexible than the right. Now he felt for the stake, his shoulder crying out in pain, and gripped it tightly, before slowly and agonisingly pulling his arm out of its sling. Clutching the stake, which seemed now stupidly small, he crept around the edge of the battle, and round, and then in. Angelus' attention was focused on the slim figure of the Slayer, and Mike was almost within striking distance when the Breton turned around.
Mike had no time to think. Even as Luc lunged towards him, he lunged the other way, and plunged the stake into Angelus' back, praying he had got close enough to the heart.
Time stood still.
---
"T'es prêt?" / "Toujours." = "You're ready?" / "Always."
Author's note: Aren't I evil? A cliffhanger.
Actually, the cliffhanger has occurred because I'm too attached to all the characters. Somehow I don't want to kill any of them off - not Buffy or Giles, or Angelus, not Mike, and definitely not Luc. However I think I'm at an impasse here and one of them has to go. So some reader input, if anyone's still reading, would be most welcome - be bloodthirsty. Does Angelus die, or does Buffy? About all that's settled is that Luc won't.
Thank you!
Chapter 10
They arrived in Leicester Square early and settled to wait on the benches in the middle. Some night-time revellers were still out, laughing as they wandered past, and Darla went off to find a late snack.
Luc laid Katie, who was fast asleep, down on the bench by his side and glanced across at his sire. Angelus seemed perfectly relaxed, his head back and his eyes closed with a small smile on his face. Watching him, Luc found himself smiling too, and wondering how the evening would turn out.
Buffy and her group from the Council appeared bang on time, even as a nearby clock struck three. The Slayer had Spike by her, his hands bound behind his back, and she was accompanied not only by Giles, Mike Fletcher and his brother-in-law, but by two other tough-looking men who Luc guessed were probably colleagues of Mike's.
The Council members stopped a good distance away from Luc and Angelus, and Buffy called across the gap. "Okay, we're here."
Angelus stood up smoothly, and Luc picked up Katie and came to stand beside his sire. At the sight of the little girl, Daniel Hansen took an impulsive step forwards.
"Katie!" His face grew dark as he looked at the two vampires, and he called, "if you've hurt one hair of her head ..."
Angelus laughed. "You must be Mr Hansen. I don't believe we've met. I'm Angelus."
"I've heard about you," Daniel returned, his voice full of venom mixed with longing for his daughter.
"None of it good, I hope," Angelus said. "Did you like my gift? She was a beautiful woman. Had some fire. I always like that in my food."
Daniel looked as if he were about to move forwards, but Mike hissed, "Don't! Try not to let him get to you."
"Not let him get to me?" Daniel turned his head to Mike. "How can I not?"
"I know." Mike swallowed. "For Katie's sake. Just shut up and let Buffy do her job."
"Mr Fletcher - Mike," said Angelus. "Can I call you Mike? We should, after all, be on first-name terms. How are the arms?"
"I'll be holding a crossbow any day now," Mike said. "The first bolt's for you."
"Hey, Angel," Buffy broke in. "You don't want to talk to them. Talk to me. You'll be pleased to know Spiky here has not breathed a word about your current hiding-place."
"I knew he wouldn't," Angelus said, turning his attention to the Slayer, and taking a step forwards. "Enjoying England, Buff?"
"It's lovely. Just like home, with all you vamps around. How could I go away without seeing you?"
He laughed. "Such devotion. It's kind of poetic. Don't you agree, Luc?"
"Beautiful," Luc agreed. He grinned. "All this way, only to die."
"Look," Spike broke in, "not that I'm anxious to get away or anything here, but a bit of actual negotiation would be nice."
Angelus took another step forwards, and Buffy tightened her hold on Spike. "Not till we have Katie back," she said, teeth gritted. Giles lifted a crossbow, and aimed it at Spike.
"Oh, Rupert," Angelus sighed, with a brief glance at Luc, "you still don't understand me, do you?"
Luc met his sire's eyes, and nodded, before changing the direction of his gaze and smiling at Spike. The blond vampire's own eyes narrowed.
"I know that smile, Luc," he said.
"I rather thought you might," Luc replied. Beside him, Angelus slipped a hand inside his leather jacket. "It was fun, Will," Luc went on, softly. "Chicago, London - it was fun."
"Bleedin' heck," Spike said, and started to struggle. "Slayer, let me go! Slayer ..."
Angelus' hand came out of his jacket holding a crossbow, and the bolt was already winging its way across the space between sire and grandchilde before Buffy registered why her prisoner was suddenly fighting. She let go of Spike at the same moment the bolt hit.
"I'll tell Dru you said goodbye," Angelus commented, watching the dust fly into the air.
Buffy stared aghast at the space where her bargaining chip had been standing. Cradling Katie in his arms, Luc watched the remains of Spike float to the ground, and murmured, "Adieu."
Raising the crossbow once more, Angelus smiled at the Slayer. "Now where do you stand, Buff?"
She pulled a stake out of a pocket. "Well, it helps not to have him to look after. I guess I'll just have to fight you for Katie. Four against two."
"Good odds," Angelus said. "It's been a while. Oh, and I don't think you've ever seen my boy fight, have you?"
Giles, still holding his own crossbow, said slowly, "where's Darla?"
Luc stepped backwards with Katie, and laid her down on a bench, sensing that something was going to happen and it was going to happen soon. Facing him and his sire were six humans, one of them injured. At this point he knew that the little girl had stopped being a part of the equation. Angelus wanted the Slayer, and Luc felt fairly sure he would get her.
He left Katie on her bench and moved forwards again to stand beside Angelus.
"T'es prêt?" his sire asked softly.
"Toujours," Luc replied.
There was another moment of stillness, and then Giles fired his crossbow. Angelus stopped the bolt inches from his chest, throwing it to the ground contemptuously.
The two Council agents, receiving a nod from Buffy, pulled out weapons - one a stake, the other a sword - and attacked.
Luc went sideways to put a space between him and his sire, and met them face on. He had never been one to choose to fight, but long ago, in the small town where he had grown up, scuffles and brawls were common. As one of the smaller boys, Luc had soon learned to defend himself adequately, and he had never forgotten. Over these two burly men he had the advantage of flexibility and agility as well as vampiric strength and speed, and he used his advantages well. The agent with the stake attacked front on, and Luc swung and kicked at the man's wrist to get the weapon out of his way even as he ducked to avoid a sweeping blow of the longsword. A short distance away he knew that his sire had engaged the Slayer, and there was a concentrated barrage of blows coming from their direction.
He rammed the side of his hand into the first agent's neck and the man fell to the ground. Turning, Luc went to defend himself against the second Council worker, but even as he did so a flash of red caught his eye, and he stepped back. His opponent raised the sword with a shout of triumph, and then his eyes rolled back into his head and he toppled over.
Darla stood over the corpse twirling a stake, her eyes shining.
"Okay?" she said.
"Absolutely," Luc said, returning her smile. "Do you want the Watcher or the Slayer?"
"You help Angelus," Darla said, "and I'll deal with the Watcher."
Bending, Luc picked up the discarded sword and weighed it experimentally in his hand before turning and glancing towards the fight between Angelus and Buffy. Both of them were looking somewhat the worse for wear, battered and bruised and bleeding. Luc could sense the powerful tang of Slayer's blood on the air and he breathed in deeply before getting closer and circling around her back.
"You've improved," Buffy panted, landing a kick in Angelus' chest. "You weren't this good in Sunnydale."
"You haven't," Angelus said. "You're looking tired, Buff. Too many years of Slaying - well, I can help you out there. I'd give a lot for another taste of you." He hit her shoulder.
"Maybe if you told your Frenchman to move away from me," Buffy said, "we'd get along better."
"Breton," Luc said, throwing the sword to his sire who caught it neatly, "not French."
Buffy moved backwards out of the range of the sword, keeping Luc in her peripheral vision. "Whatever," she said.
Angelus advanced, the sword held ready to strike. "No witches to help you here, Buffy. No Xander. No Riley."
She kicked out sideways at Luc, and he sidestepped it.
At that moment a scream rang out, and Luc turned in horror to the source. Giles was just bringing his arm back, holding the stake which he had just succeeded in driving into Darla's chest. With an imploring look towards Angelus, Darla disappeared. Giles sank to his knees, breathing heavily.
"You were saying?" Buffy said, turning to Angelus. Luc wrenched his attention back to his sire and the Slayer, and attacked.
The three of them danced around each other, Angelus and Luc moving in alternately to aim blows or kicks at the Slayer. In her turn, she ducked and weaved and punched, her movements fluid but her breath starting to come in short bursts. She was tiring, Luc realised, even as he leaned sideways to miss being drop kicked in the stomach.
And then it happened. Behind him, Luc heard a footstep that was quiet but not quiet enough, and the thudding of a terrified heart. He spun around to the source of the noise.
Mike had watched the fighting with increasing irritation and fear. He had seen the Breton take down his fellow agents - Fratelli and Jenkins, their names were - with horrible ease. As soon as the fighting had started, Daniel had run to his daughter and was sheltering her on the bench. When Darla had arrived, Mike had gritted his teeth and forced himself not to run to Giles's aid, and his relief when his friend had succeeded in staking the vampire had been great. And now, for the last five minutes of agonisingly slow time, he had watched Angelus and his childe darting around Buffy. She had held her own, but Mike could see that slowly but surely she was flagging.
Back at Headquarters, before they had left, Mike had asked Daniel to find him a stake and he had concealed it inside the sling of his left arm, the one which was more flexible than the right. Now he felt for the stake, his shoulder crying out in pain, and gripped it tightly, before slowly and agonisingly pulling his arm out of its sling. Clutching the stake, which seemed now stupidly small, he crept around the edge of the battle, and round, and then in. Angelus' attention was focused on the slim figure of the Slayer, and Mike was almost within striking distance when the Breton turned around.
Mike had no time to think. Even as Luc lunged towards him, he lunged the other way, and plunged the stake into Angelus' back, praying he had got close enough to the heart.
Time stood still.
---
"T'es prêt?" / "Toujours." = "You're ready?" / "Always."
Author's note: Aren't I evil? A cliffhanger.
Actually, the cliffhanger has occurred because I'm too attached to all the characters. Somehow I don't want to kill any of them off - not Buffy or Giles, or Angelus, not Mike, and definitely not Luc. However I think I'm at an impasse here and one of them has to go. So some reader input, if anyone's still reading, would be most welcome - be bloodthirsty. Does Angelus die, or does Buffy? About all that's settled is that Luc won't.
Thank you!