Foreword: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and/or David Greenwalt. Also, I think I've gone crazy, because this is not something that I normally write. Anyway. This takes place in Buffy's seventh season, and Angel's fourth, up through both's third episode, (except for where Cordelia comes back and Angel's in love with her, because I don't like her) which is as far as I've seen. Old characters will be returning. The pairing situation is complicated, so I'll leave it a surprise. Enjoy. Shouldn't be too many spoilers, if any at all. Also, events from the Buffy books do factor in.
The Darkest Hour before Dawn
Prologue
Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer, strode along the sidewalks in the Docktown section of Sunnydale. It was nearing the fairly early hours of the morning, and she was ready to go home. Mostly, she just wanted to wash the dust from her hair. A shakedown at Willy's had riled up a couple of vampires.
Willy wouldn't be having any business from those two again.
A rumble overhead prompted her to pick up her pace. She looked up briefly, wondering at the sound of thunder in the cloudless sky, the stars still shining as brightly as they'd been when the night had begun, though the moon had sunk beyond the horizon.
The darkest hour is before the dawn.
The thought came unbidden to Buffy's mind as another rumble of thunder shook the ground beneath her. The Slayer was beginning to feel seriously wigged out.
Buffy suddenly felt cold, as though her body had been plunged into a vat of ice. She slowed her pace, then came to a stop. Took a deep breath, and turned.
Nothing.
Something slammed into her and she fell to the ground, her hands sliding on the concrete and scraping. They stung as she got to her feet, spinning around at the same time.
"Gross," she said as she saw her attacker.
It was about her height, slimy and a sickening green in the pale streetlamp lights. Slime dripped from its mouth, which was filled with teeth. Sharp teeth. Buffy wondered if her stake would be effective against the slime demon of the hour. She pulled it out and held it tightly in her hand anyway.
The thing shifted, changing itself. It grew taller, broader. It grew skin with a sickening sucking noise. Buffy watched in morbid fascination.
Then stepped back.
The thing had shifted its shape. It had become Angel.
"Hello Buffy," it said, and it was Angel's voice.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran.
~`~
Lindsey McDonald lay in bed, the fingers of one hand tapping erratically on his stomach. He frowned at the hand and tried to force it to lie still. No such luck.
He stood and walked to the window, looking out at the lights of the city. He yawned and wished that he could go back to sleep. The sun was barely breaking over the horizon.
Thunder rumbled and the window shattered inward. Lindsey instinctively brought his hands up to cover his face and turned away. Something cold, wet, and gooey slammed into him and he flew backward and hit the bed. Suddenly, cold-wet-and-gooey was soft, warm and feminine.
Lindsey moved his hands.
"Hello Lindsey," the vampire Darla said, tilting her head and smiling at him.
Lindsey scrambled to his feet and ran. He was going back to LA and the people who would know what the hell was going on.
~`~
The phone on the counter inside the Hyperion Hotel was ringing. Angel tried a little harder to work the key into the lock, the slime coating his hands impeding his progress severely. Finally it opened and he rushed for the phone, only to have it neatly caught up by Fred.
"Hello, Angel Investigations," she said perkily. Angel gave her the why-didn't-you-do-that-sooner-I'm-covered-with-slime look of death. She smiled at him. He started to go to look for a towel.
"Oh, hold on he's right here," Fred said. "It's Buffy," she whispered, holding out the phone.
Angel reached out and grabbed it, the plastic almost sliding out of his slick hands. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"And hello Angel, how are you? Do you ever just say hello? Are you ever JUST conversational?" Buffy demanded.
"Hello Buffy," Angel said, none too enthusiastic.
"There's weird stuff going on," she said, getting down to business. "And since you happen to have a nice, trained, Watcher-type guy handy, we thought if we called you, we might get some answers, because frankly, we've got nothing."
"Buffy, slow down. Relax," Angel said. "Wes isn't here, but maybe we can help. If you'll explain what's—"
The front door of the Hyperion clicked shut. Angel looked up sharply, knowing that he had forgotten to close the door behind him.
"Lindsey?" he said.
"Who's Lindsey?" Buffy asked.
"Hold on a second, Buffy," Angel said. He covered the receiver with his hand. "What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded of the former Wolfram and Hart lawyer.
"Something attacked me," Lindsey said. "Something large and slimy that exploded though my window and landed on me. Then turned into Darla."
Angel lifted the phone up to his ear. "What happened, now?" he asked.
"This thing attacked me," Buffy said. "Big, slimy, gross. Shifted shapes. Into you."
A startled look crossed Angel's face and he looked up at Lindsey.
Something was very, very wrong.