Hello.
Here is another version of what might have happened in "the Wish" or really
after. I didn't like the way it ended. A dead Angel in any Universe to me
is unacceptable.
A tortured, suffering one is a totally different concept. Hope you don't
think this is too sick.
My friend Ginger helped me edit, herself a writer for several Vampire role-
playing boards since English is not really my first language. If we
overlooked something please don't judge too harshly.
Of course Angel or any of the Characters in this little ditty are not of my
own creation, but are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I'm
just borrowing from the genius. What? We can't all be geniuses. Please
don't sue I have nothing.
This is how I wished the fight scene might have ended, at the end of "The
whish," Instead of everyone turning to dust. Here is part one of my little
Wish Universe. Like I said before. A dusted Angel is a bad Angel.
Wish Verse Chapter 1
The Getaway
People ran in a wild panic from the factory, dozens of them running blindly. "Run towards the sunlight," a male voice yelled, as the last few exited the building fighting. A small group of people armed with wooden stakes and swords struggled to keep the vampires inside the building. The sun was not quite up yet. There was so much shadow yet, so many places for the demons to hide, which to attack from.
A petite blond and a tall young man had positioned themselves at the doors, slashing and hacking at anything that attempted to escape through those doors. Three more men stood back a little further, keeping what made it through the first barricade from getting very far. While a fourth person, a tall girl ran to retrieve the getaway car.
The Master stood still on the platform inside his factory pointing at Buffy. He did not speak loud, but loud enough that everyone could hear him. "We will meet again, then you shall die. So it is written. So it shall be." He said dramatically. The Master was old, older than anything any of them had encountered so far. This was probably one of his tricks. The young man at her side turned towards her yelling for her to go. "Leave! The sun is coming up. They can't follow." She turned, then hesitated. Unaccustomed to taking orders, she backed up slowly, facing the melee at all times. She didn't even know his name. All she knew was that he was a vampire, and that he had been a prisoner, and had been tortured.
She became aware of a car horn honking, as she continued to back up towards the rising sun. While he, the strange vampire guarded the door. He fought as though seized by frenzy, dusting many of them in mere moments. He would hold them. The sun was coming up; they could not get very far now. She turned to run towards the van. As if it were a signal, the three men also turned and ran towards the waiting van. The incessant honking finally stopped. The shadows where getting smaller. Soon the building would be enveloped by sunlight. Any vamp who dared to step outside that building would become a living (undead) torch.
All four of them crowded into the van, save for Buffy who chanced a look back to the still raging battle at the factory gate. Captivated by his effortless movements, not realizing that she was not out of the vampires reach yet, she watched still engulfed in shadow. He, It, the tall handsome vampire made no attempt to run for safety, neither towards the van nor the welcoming darkness of the factory. 'The sun', she suddenly realized, ' it will kill him.' She shrugged her shoulders. He, It is a vamp after all, she thought to herself, but still she could not make herself leave. She stood frozen in morbid fascination, watching him fight so that she may escape. Though he seemed to fully understand that she would not lift a finger to save him, and would not think twice about dusting him, he was certainly an interesting specimen.
The girl at the wheel began to honk the horn again. The young male vampire turned around, only for a moment, yelling a very annoyed, "Get out of here!" Or would have, had he not been attacked from inside the factory. Two of the vamps had taken advantage of this brief distraction and grabbed him from behind as he faced Buffy. A beautiful redhead jumped onto his back, her arms slug about his neck, and pushed her face to his. Holding a vicious looking curved dagger in one hand, pressed to his throat, another vamp, a blond in vampire visage had grabbed his shirt collar pointing a gun at him. Then she smiled and changed her mind, pointing it instead at Buffy. Declaring sweetly, "Give it up lover, or she'll die."
The little redhead on his back smiled provocatively. In a gesture that was sexual and domineering, she licked the side of his face. "Willow wants to play. Don't you want to play puppy?" She asked, mocking the vampire and Buffy. Even at a distance, Buffy was able to see him swallow hard. For a moment, she thought she saw something in his face; revulsion mixed with fear, then his face became a blank mask as he ordered her to leave. "You, got me Darla, let her go," Buffy would not move, alternately looking between him and the blond with the gun.
"You over estimate your importance Angelus," the blond laughed brilliantly. "I want both of you. It'll be so much fun making you watch as I torture her."
"Let her go Darla," he pleaded. "I'll do whatever you want." Both of the women laughed.
"You don't have a choice in this," Willow crooned; closely hugging Angelus' side, pressing her leather clad body against him. She slid her hand between the buttons of his shirt slowly caressing his chest. "You will do as I say, sooner or later. I'll make you bark." Angelus closed his eyes for a moment as though to regain his equilibrium.
"Or." The voice of the English librarian came from the van, quite smug, as he spoke over Buffy's head to the blond, "We will take you out as well." First he, then the other two boys pointed crossbows in her direction.
"You wouldn't!" The blond sneered. "I'll kill her, or you might hit your precious slayer."
"Oh yes I would." Giles reassured her calmly. "As a matter of principal, Slayers come and go. She dies; another one will take her place. So yes, I would."
The two boys in the van chanced anxious fleeting looks to each other at this prospect; they did not want to hurt the slayer. Both boys turned around and discarded the crossbows for another weapon, super soaker water guns. These guns had quite a range, and filled with holy water, potentially just as deadly to a vampire with the build in benefit that it would not hurt the humans. Though the bright colors of the toys made them look rather silly.
"Call back your dogs," the blond ordered Buffy. "We'll let you go. But he." She pointed at the young man. "Angelus belongs to us."
"I don't think he wants to stay." Buffy observed coldly. "But he's all yours."
"He is mine." Willow whined pointlessly. She grabbed his hair and began pulling him back towards the factory doors. Angelus had different ideas; he twisted out from her grip and rammed Darla, causing her to loose one of her guns, before anyone realized what had happened.
Buffy took advantage of the confusion and also jumped the blond with the guns. For seconds the four where a tangle of flesh. Larry and Oz went into action hosing the two vampires down with holy water thinking the two humans would be safe from this type of attack. Though the two humans would get wet as well, the force of it was concentrated on the women, and after all, it was just water to humans.
The two female vampires howled and hissed at the boys, but it is hard for a vampire to endure holy water, they had to retreat. The water acted like acid on their skin. The women stripped off their clothing on the way back to the factory, uncaring of the onlookers. Angelus also clawed at his shirt. Though Willow had taken most of the holy water damage, his left side had taken some dousing as well. As soon as the red headed vamp backed up, he too went down on his knees tearing at his shirt as though it were on fire. It took moments for the boys to realize that Angelus had taken damage like a vampire, that his pale skin under the shirt was red and blistering, like a vampire's. Only Buffy running towards the van kept them from soaking the vampire again.
The sun, just then crested over the mountain drenching the van and everyone around it in golden light. The two female vampires from the factory door went wild with anger and shot at the humans as they scrambled into the van. Oz lost his super soaker as it was ripped from his hand by a bullet. Again it was young Angelus who surprised everyone, by blocking any clear shot at the slayer, even running into the sun shielding her with his body. Two bullets that might have hit the little slayer grazed his back, the last one slammed into his back. The bullets however painful are not nearly as devastating to a vampire as the sunlight, which just then hit his shoulders.
The impact of the bullet threw him forward, believing himself to be dieing, as he felt the sun sear his bare back, he used the momentum to push the slayer into the van. Seeing her safe, he collapsed. He had reached the van, though it seemed now he could not muster the strength to hoist himself in, away from sunlight and flying bullets. The van began to move as arms reached for him pulling him into safety. Just a moment later and he would have burst into flames.
When asked later, neither Giles nor Larry would have been able to explain what had possessed to pull a vampire into safety. Yet, here he was, in the van smoldering. No one could ever accuse Larry of over thinking a situation, seeing the smoke rise from the vampire's back, he doused him with another healthy dose of holy water. Angelus thinking himself under attack again, let out a frustrated gasp from his throat and quickly scrambled to a far corner in the van, away from the humans, away from the pain.
Propelled suddenly into a higher gear, the van lurched forward, throwing everyone towards the back. Larry, Oz and Giles landed undignified atop the half naked cowering vampire. They cussed at Nancy's driving, while they all scrambled franticly away from the monster. As if ordered to do so, they grabbed for the nearest weapon. Larry his water gun, Giles a sturdy crossbow, Oz a wooden cross, and all three pointed their weapons at the vampire, while glaring at him in hostility.
"What where you thinking?" Asked Oz, never elaborating on what he meant. But everyone knew that he asked what had possessed them to save this vampire. A question neither Giles nor Larry could sufficiently answer. Buffy sat on a seat, the only member who looked calm in this very strange situation, while she played with a wooden stake in one hand. She presented a picture of fresh innocence, though she was as dangerous as any vampire, if not more so.
The vampire meanwhile was huddled into a corner, with his back turned towards the humans. His right shoulder pressed into the wall of the vehicle, while his arms wrapped around his legs, pulling his knees up to his chest. For someone as tall as he was, he made himself appear amazingly small and insignificant. He rested his forehead on his knees, never looking up to meet the human's hostile eyes upon him. None of them had ever been this close to a vampire without fighting. It was hard not to lash out at the hostage, and let him have it for all those horrible years they had all spent fighting his kind as they watching their numbers get smaller, while the vampires only gained in numbers and strength.
The ride was a silent one; concealing the inner turmoil they all went through, each caught up in their own nightmares, questions, and fears. How the vampire survived that ride home, no one could say for sure. All of them played with the thought of just putting the miserable creature out of their misery. No one would really care; lord knows no one would miss him. The vamp himself seemed less interested in his own survival, than he was in Buffy's. And that was just it. Why was he so interested in her survival? Why risk his life and hide from his archenemy? At the very least there was a story here, one Giles meant to explore. He was a watcher after all.
Angelus was what the blond vampire had called him. It was a name Giles had heard before, or perhaps read about. He scrupulously inspected what he could see of the vampires back. Taking special note of the tattoo on his right shoulder, which seemed to be a griffin straddling an A. He was sure he had seen this design before. Giles seemed to drift off in deep contemplation, while the others kept a sharp eye on any movement the vampire might make.
Oz, a young man fighting his own demons, found himself oddly sympathetic towards the vampire. Oz was a Werewolf after all. Lycanthrope were considered a disease, while it made him dangerous at times and contagious at times, it left him a human 97% of the time, a normal human, subject to most if not all human ills and joys. Sometimes he wondered what made his condition acceptable, while the vampires were not. Who among them would have ever asked to be made into a soulless killer? Did they really have a choice? Could they change given the right circumstances? Was Angelus proving that they could indeed change?
Larry had lost so many of his friends to vamps, that all he really wanted was a reason to attack this vamp. But the vampire just sat there, arms wrapped about himself, muscles playing enticingly under alabaster skin. The body of a Greek God, immortalized in flesh, dead yes, but still alive. Close enough, he wondered what it would be like to touch him. Horrified with his own thoughts Larry looked at the slayer. She was beautiful, so was Nancy, why did he never wonder about touching women? Larry was confused, and it was this charismatic beautiful man who was confusing him. It was probably a vampire trick making people horny for them. The others probably felt the same way. That was why they all kept staring at him.
Buffy looked calm, even bored, while she watched Angelus from hooded eyes. The fact that he had helped her, took bullets for her confused her. If he was only out for vengeance why did he not bale, the moment she set him free? Why endanger his own agenda by helping her save a bunch of humans?
Even Nancy driving at breakneck speeds through Sunnydale chanced a look back into the rear view mirror hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious handsome young vampire. Nancy sped through several stop signs and ran a red light on her way to Giles' mansion. It was full daylight out by now, and vampires could not follow, but she could not bring herself to slow down. She wanted to be someplace safe. The only place she felt safe anymore was in Giles' mansion. Strangely enough this mansion had been a vampire nest at one point. Its remote location, and vast rooms lent themselves perfectly to vampire activity. As it turned out it was also a good location to launch a war from. There where plenty of rooms to house all the slayer potentials.
Giles used to live in a lovely little apartment, but when it became clear that the slayer was not showing up in Sunnydale, he decided to wage war against the powers of darkness himself. The council of course did not approve, but he was able to recruit from the population most at risk to become vampire snacks; high school and collage kids. Oz of course was a special case. Nancy too was somewhat special as her parents were dead, and Giles had taken over guardianship of her. Larry had been with the struggle from the beginning. Larry would have been a football player, if enough kids had survived to form a team. There seemed to be a constant need to prove how macho he was. The boy was a relentless and formidable fighter, although more often than not a loose cannon. He too spent most of time at the mansion. It was easier for him to be here with Giles than face his red neck father. These four had taken up permanent residence in the old Crawford mansion, making the former vampire Nest their home. Giles felt there was a kind of ironic beauty in this fact.
Now at least one of the vamps he helped evict from the mansion was back in town, he had recognized her at the factory. The blond Vampire Darla and he knew how cunning and dangerous she was. With her here, her two constant companions, Drusilla and Spike could not be far off either. Some of the most dangerous and unpredictable vampires ever created in the Masters bloodline were right here in Sunnydale, things where truly bad for Sunnydale.
Nancy brought the van to a more or less screeching halt in front of the mansion. Larry slid the door open to jump out, realizing too late that the suns rays might reach and kill the Vampire. It was Giles' presents of mind that kept the vampire from potentially going up in smoke and possibly taking the van with him. Giles had almost expected Larry to act careless, as the door slip open, he managed to throw his own jacked over the vampire. As it turned out, the sun did not quite reach that far back into the vehicle. For a moment the watcher and the vampire exchanged some anxious glances, as both realized that the watcher had just attempted to save a demons life.
"Do be careful with the demonic hostage, Larry. I would like to interrogate him before we dust him." Larry looked sufficiently guilty as Giles explained. "We'll take him to the Panic room. He'll he safe in there."
"More like we'll be safe with him in there." Oz corrected.
"Yes, quite right." Giles was pulling out a blanket from under one of the seats and threw it unceremoniously at the vampire. " Cover up." He ordered. Angelus obeyed, draping the blanket over his head and shoulders.
"You gonna bring a Vampire into your home Jeeves?"
"Quite right Miss Summers. He may have some information we can use. And its Giles if your don't mind"
Buffy shrugged and jumped out of the van into the sunshine. "Your plan is to bring him to the house right?" She spoke in a mocked tone looking at the sun. The slayer, for all her experience of "dusting" vampires knew very little about the species, nearly nothing beyond how to kill, or find them.
Giles and Larry opened the back doors to the van, grabbed the vampire's arms and ran with him to the house. The blankets where smoldering when they reached the mansion door, but nothing had caught fire. The two men hustled the vampire along through the front rooms, down a corridor in which the tiles on the walls and floor where decorated with crosses. The door at the end of the Corridor had several crosses engraved on it and the handle was in the shape of a cross. Giles unlocked it carefully and led the Vampire in. The room beyond the door was quite large; there were chairs, a table and a water source, also a refrigerator. It looked like a room where people could hold out for a while if need be. Interestingly enough this rooms walls where also engraved and painted with crosses. One could not touch the wall without touching a cross. No doubt that was the point behind this slightly bizarre decoration choice. There where shelves along the walls on which wooden stakes where stacked in bins, and gallon jugs marked with crosses identifying the contends as holy water, also lined these shelves. At the far end of the room there was a cage set up. Its bars were anchored securely into the wall and again the spaces between the rungs where filled with crosses. The walls in the cage where bare brick, and the floor unmarked tile. A set of shackles anchored to the far wall was the only decoration in there. The room was, even to the casual observer, extremely vampire unfriendly. The only thing the room had going for it, where the hostage was concerned was darkness. There was only one window facing north, too small for a grown human to get through and covered by iron bars.
Once in the room, Giles took the blanket and the jacket from Angelus, he also ordered him to remove his shoes and socks. All of which Angelus gave up without argument. He looked a bit anxious at the walls, Giles could have sworn that he turned a bit paler, if that was at all possible. Larry ordered the vampire into the cage, faced with crossbows and the slayer he reluctantly obliged, and watched anxiously as the door was closed and then locked. Now Giles came closer to the bars and chanced a better look at his prisoner. The vampire had his gaze fixed demurely to the floor, his arms crossed across his chest, hugging himself. His stance spoke of fear, defensiveness, and hopelessness, very un-vampire like. Even in this dim light Giles was able to make out countless bruises and cuts underlying the more recent holy water burns. It looked like he had been tortured. Tell tale red vein lines where he should have blue ones told Giles that this creature was starving.
Giles knew that starvation caused a vampire's veins to become inflamed, with the effort to move the little blood available through the body. As with humans who suffered severe blood loss the body attempted to supply the most vital organs, and again as with humans that would be the brain. Since none of the other organs were needed for anything at all really, but storing blood the rest of the body would fall into a state of disrepair. Until the vampire was allowed to feed he would most likely not heal.
He stepped carefully forward to the cage, and clasped each hand around a bar. He realized he was issuing a challenge, he challenged Angelus to step up to the bars and face him, a challenge Angelus was not at all prepared to face. He was hungry, exhausted, and in pain, he had no inclination as to what Giles wanted from him, having no idea why he was here, other than to be tortured. There were no defenses at his disposal. And even if he had, he would not, could not hurt humans. His range of experience was somewhat limited at the time. The last time he had interacted with humans, it had gone badly; with him being strung up by his neck in a hotel. Then there was Willow who ended up a vicious vampire. To make matters worse he could smell a male's arousal. Hungry and weak as he was he did not have the energy to sniff out which one. He knew he should not be here.
Though physically stronger than Giles, even in this retched condition, Angelus backed off, his gaze averted to take on subordinate position to Giles' dominance. Giles was quite surprised by this. The watcher had expected a lot of things, aggressive alpha male behavior, cockiness, snide arrogance, none of which was forthcoming from the Vampire. "He'll be all right in here for a while." Giles reasoned. "We have some work to do, everyone out to the kitchen." Larry trying desperately to hide his hardening cock stomped out of the room angrily ahead everyone else. Oz was not as easily dismissed as the others who had all left the room, "So we are just gonna leave him in here by himself?" He asked, his tone even as usual with very little inflection.
"Do you expect me to let a Vampire run loose in my home?"
Oz was undeterred. "I'm just glad I know we are the good guys, else I might think we are trying to torture this guy." His voice still conversational, it was impossible to tell if he approved or disapproved.
"We don't really know who he is Oz," Giles explained. " We don't know what his motives are. And more to the point, he is injured and starving. Like most animals a vampire is most dangerous when injured and starving. Like a trapped tiger, or wolf if you like, he is a danger to us and to himself. Till I figure out what to do with him, he will stay in there."
"How long will he stay in there? We do need that cage once a month." "I don't really know just yet." Giles admitted. He put a friendly arm about Oz's shoulders and led the small red headed boy out into the corridor. "Tell you what Oz, you and Nancy go to the school library and fetch my watchers chronicles, and on the way back bring him some blood."
"Blood?"
"Yes animal blood will do I think. Stop at the butcher's and bring a couple of gallons. I wager, he is so hungry he does not care much what he eats right now."
"Cool." Oz said and headed out
They did leave Angelus in the room by himself. The vampire crouched in a corner, as far from the iron bars as he could get, making himself very small once again. It was hard to stay calm surrounded by all the crosses and holy water. In all his years spent in tiny holes and cages, he had never felt claustrophobic. Yet, he felt claustrophobic now. It was the presents of the crosses that weighed heavy on him. The only thing that kept the frightened vampire from snapping was his recent past. He needed to be quite, not draw attention to himself. Attention was bad and painful. He was exhausted and he wanted nothing more than to let exhaustion claim him and rest.
He was experienced at tuning out his surroundings. The only way he had been able to cope at times was to just not be there, not in his body between the silences, when he was alone. Times when no one came to "play" or "talk" or "have fun" with him, Angelus' mind would go blank. He did it so well now, he did not know whether he slept during those periods, whether his eyes where closed, or even if he breathed at all. Sometimes afterwards, it felt as though he had rested a bit. To an onlooker though, Angelus would have been a frightening sight; Pale, unmoving, not breathing and a sad expression on his young face, with eyes staring blankly into space, he gave a great impression of a corps. It was the world that brought him back. Always they brought him back, the noise the words the pain, always brought him back.
Giles joined Larry and Buffy in the kitchen. The two of them where raiding the refrigerator when he walked in; looking a bit guilt stricken, at what he could not say. Having dealt with teen-age angst and insanity for years now, he chose to ignore their strange behavior, there where more pressing matters on his mind just now. "Once Oz comes back with the books and the blood we are going to find out who this Angelus is." He explained the two young people.
"We are feeding the demon?" Larry asked incredulous.
"He is starving, Larry." Giles observed calmly.
"How is that our problem?"
Giles pulled a white kerchief from his jacket pocket and cleaned his glasses before he continued talking to Larry. "I believe he might have some information about the Master we can use."
"We can torture it out of him."
Putting the glasses back on his nose and looking rather annoyed Giles took a deep breath and continues. " Does is appear as though he would respond well to torture? Do you believe that in order to fight legions of the underworld, one must act like the evil monsters we are trying to rid from this world? Well do you Larry?"
"I just m."
"What would you have me do to him, hum? Burn him with holy water, crosses, or perhaps sunlight?"
"Giles enough." The slayer spoke up. Wedging herself between the two men, she spoke to Larry first pointing at him with her half eaten sandwich. "I'm not big on the torture thing. Besides he. it seemed more than happy to talk to me before. "She explained emphasizing how she felt about this vampire by calling him it, "we'll just ask it. If it turns out, it does not want to talk, I'll let you have a go at it." At Giles sharp intake of air she turned to face the watcher. " And you, you invited it here, it is a vampire. None of us are likely to develop any warm fuzzy feelings for it."
"Actually, Miss Summers you are the one who brought him to us. Where did you find him if you don't mind my asking?"
"Oh that." She took a bite out of her sandwich before proceeding. " I found it chained to the wall at that club, the Bronze. I thought it was human at first. Then it started talking bout destiny and stuff, and that it could show me where the Master is hiding. Looked like they were torturing it. I figured it was some kind of vengeance gig."
"He offered to help you? You did not ask him to?" "Eh, no! Since when can a vamp be trusted?"
"But he did help you. Now the question remains, why?"
"Told you, vengeance gig."
"Maybe."
It did not take Oz and Nancy very long to retrieve the books and come back with some blood. It was mid morning by the time they had returned. How strange things were now in Sunnydale. It became pretty clear when the butcher did not even raise an eyebrow at the request for two gallons of blood, and only asked casually if Oz preferred pigs or cow's blood. Giles thought now was as good a time as any to confront the vampire. "Larry and Buffy, you are with me. Lets see what information we can extract from our undead houseguest."
The vampire still sat crouched in the far corner of the cage when they entered, he was careful not to let his back touch the walls, pretending to be dead from the look of things. 'It does look rather miserable', even Buffy had to admit. 'But then, it looked miserable when I first saw it in the cellar of that club. And really, its situation had not improved by much. It was still in enemy territory; still locked up, and still facing death.' She could also feel the hostility come off Larry in waves. The boy seemed hardly able to restrain himself from staking the vampire on sight. Buffy would have loved to oblige, it was after all her holy mission to stake vamps wherever she encountered them. The Watcher in charge, however, had wanted information from the vamp. Buffy, being a good well- trained slayer, would follow his rule, whether she agreed with it or not. Until such time as she found a good enough excuse to do as she pleased, and she would have been pleased to stake the thing.
Mr. Giles set a gallon jug of blood on the table and a glass next to it, he then stepped up to the cage once again, rather boldly, the only thing moving inside that cage were the vampire's eyes. Training his gaze on the Watcher, the Vampire glared from under hooded eyes. The fact that he was still not breathing only made the encounter more unnerving. "You have a choice." Giles began, and if the vampire made him nervous he was not showing it. Buffy was quite impressed with his performance. "You can cooperate and help us, in which case we will help you." His voice rose a little, which made the statement sound like a question. "Or we can end your miserable existence right now."
The vampire appeared to actually think about his options, then took a breath to speak. His voice low and soft, like someone who did not often speak. "I'll help."
"Good choice." Giles nodded satisfied. He handed a pair of handcuffs to Larry and unlocked the door. "We will have to take precautions, you understand?" Again only the Vampires eyes moved to take in Larry now as he entered the cell, cuffs in hand. "Of course." The vampire answered quietly.
"I would advise that you don't make any sudden moves. The slayer here can and will turn you to dust, if we feel threatened in any way." Now the Vampires glare fell onto the slayer, his eyes brown, sad and intense.
"Let Larry cuff your hands to the back and come out slowly." Giles spoke with a reasonable tone to his voice. The vampire turned his back to Larry, to let himself be cuffed. As his gaze broke with Buffy's she let out her breath, she only now realizing she was holding. Larry, after cuffing the vampire grabbed his arms and pulled him to his feet with a sudden jerk. Larry had been looking for an excuse to touch the creature. There was something erotic about him, something that made Larry want to feel him, which brought strange thoughts to his mind. This creature looked so human, yet it was not. The predator was just beneath the surface of this beautiful exterior of a young man, making it, "him", all the more alluring. 'Dam it, this has to be a vamp mesmerizing thing.' Larry half cursed half prayed as he bullied Angelus. Larry was surprised at the coldness of the vampire's skin, which made his own skin tingle with excitement.
Angelus stumbled as he was pushed roughly through the cell doors. Larry was just a touch more aggressive than was needed for the situation, since the vampire did not seem to be putting up a fight. There was no real need to be manhandling him, but neither Buffy nor Giles where inclined to pity such a creature. Larry was likely just letting of a little penned up aggression, towards the species. They had never had a live, undead, prisoner before. Not in the mansion anyway, and never for this long. Larry led Angelus to a chair and roughly pushed him down to sit. With his hands cuffed in the back, the vampire leaned forward, hunching his shoulders obviously in pain, but he would not complain. He simply looked demurely to the floor awaiting imminent mistreatment, patiently and anxiously.
Giles filled the glass with blood and held it to the vampire's mouth. "Looks like you could use a drink." Dead panned, but was surprised to see the Vampire turn his head rejecting the blood. "I know it's only animal blood but you are not likely to get anything else here. I know you are starving. How long do you think you can hold out?" It took a few more seconds before Angelus gave in and drank from the offered glass. Drank it? He gulped it down in three swallows as though suddenly afraid Giles would take it away. Buffy and Larry looked on in morbid fascination.
"Now." Giles put the glass out of reach and leaned up against table facing his prisoner. "Why don't we talk about the Master?" He suggested. " And maybe I should add, if this interview goes well I'll let you have another drink."
"You don't have to bribe me," the vampire answered softly. "I am supposed to help the slayer; I'll tell you what I know." Buffy snorted contemptibly. "Here we go again with the destiny crop. Am I supposed to trust this thing?"
"Of course not." The vampire spoke loudly, his voice sharp, in stark contrast to what it had been so far. Catching all the humans off guard, their heads snapped up in attention as he continued forcefully. "You are the Slayer! And you.!" He then looked at Giles. "A Watcher. You live on a hell-mouth, and you are asking a vampire whom you should trust? How did you people survive so far?" Larry stepped forward hammering both fists to the side of the vampire's face, with enough force to knock Angelus and chair over. The vampire hit the floor hard next to the chair. Larry was on him again quickly dealing out kicks, not once, but twice. His foot connected with the vampire's midsection before Giles could pull him back. "That is how." Larry shouted as Giles pushed him away from the prisoner. "Don't let him antagonize you!" He told his charge and then turned to Angelus. "That was not very smart vampire." He grabbed the demon be the arm and yanked him back up. Once the chair was up righted again he pushed Angelus back onto it, who curled up as much as he could wincing. Giles leaned in close, definitely invading the demons personal space. "Now tell me about the Master!"
As it turned out Angelus did not need any coaxing. He told his captures what he knew about the Master, as promised. He told of the day he rose from his underground prison, and of his long term plans for Sunnydale. The gang already knew about his principal hang out and the factory. What was new to them was that the Master Planned to keep everyone in Sonnydale, trapped in town as fresh fast food. He went on to say that there would much less killing, but all citizens in town would be forced to become vampire snacks. They were also told that the Master did not live under the Bronze, as they had suspected. Angelus had been to his lair but had been blindfolded each time and was not sure if he could find the way back there. It seemed, he claimed, that a different rout was taken each time, and he was not sure if he was conscious during the whole trip.
Satisfied so far, Giles let him drink another glass of blood. After this Angelus told them that the Master's primary henchmen where two very young Sunnydale vampires named Xander and Willow. "You should remember them; they used to be part of the White Hats, in the beginning when we still thought the slayer was coming to Sunnydale."
Now this revelation did catch Giles and Larry of guard. "White Hats?" asked Larry "How do you know about Willow and Xander? And how did you know the slayer was expected to come to Sunndale?" asked Giles.
"The Vampires around the Master call your group the White Hats, they know you are the leader. They know where you live." The Vampire's voice was nearly inaudible. "Willow used to be my connection to you. I gave her information she gave it to you. Till the Master turned her the night he rose."
Giles sat down hard. Suddenly many things he did not understand about Willow began to make sense.
"Willow, who is Willow?"
"Willow used to be our intelligence department. I could never quite figure out how she got all that information on the 'Internet'. I presumed vampires liked chat rooms."
"So this Willow is very young." Buffy surmised, " That should make her easy to kill."
Angelus shook his head. " "She is vicious, she is the Masters line, he is the one who turned her. And she is smart."
"What abut Xander?"
"She turned him." Angelus answered quietly.
Suddenly Giles remembered what the Vampire had said about the slayer. "How did you know we were expecting the slayer in Sunnydale?"
"Ahem, I- it's a long story." Angelus answered evasively.
"Bore me." Buffy demanded. She shuddered as the Demons dark sad eyes settled on her for a moment.
"A balance-demon told me to come here and wait for you; I was supposed to help you."
"Balance demon?" Giles scratched the back of his head.
"And you came here, to help me do what?" "To stop the Master from rising, but you never."
"Why would you, being the vampire that you are, be interested in stopping the Master in the first place? Isn't that kind of like making the Cat the guard in the hen house?"
"The Fox." Giles corrected. "But I see your point. Why you?"
Angelus shrugged his shoulders. The only answer he had was the one Buffy was not ready to accept. "Oh of course, the destiny thing," Buffy nodded in mock understanding. Angelus took her scorn silently.
"I just don't understand why you, why would you kill you own kind?" Giles was frustrated; something was missing from his story. But Angelus had not good answer for him. Buffy had the distinct feeling the vamp would say destiny again, if It was going to say anything. The Demon remained silent however, not meeting anyone's gaze. Maybe afraid of what they would see, or maybe just afraid. Finally Giles took charge once again.
"Okay, that's enough for today. We all need to rest. And I have some research to do. And I still have a bullet to dig out of his back." The vampire looked up in surprise, his surprise changed to worry when Giles began to order surgical supplies to be brought into the room. The watcher asked for tweezers, scalpels, bandages, and needle-nose-pliers the ones with the long prongs. Mr. Giles had Angelus lean forward so he could reach the hole burrowed in the vampire's back by the bullet. The thing had dug itself in under his left shoulder blade and would not be easily removed. Giles finally ordered the vampire un-cuffed, under the proper threats of course, and with the slayers weapons trained on him, he ordered the vampire to be stretched out on the table. It took a bit more sweating on the watchers part before he was able to dig that bullet out. He wrapped a bandage around the Vampires torso to secure the wound. Tape, he deduced would be too irritating on his burned skin. Though the blood he had drank, already made some improvement.
Both watcher and vampire where utterly worn out by the ordeal. Giles gave him one last glass of blood before he had Larry drag him back into his cell where Angelus once again hunkered down in his corner. The humans left him alone in a room that was strangely reminiscent of the cell he occupied below the Bronze. Angelus however was content to be left alone for now, to just be able to close his eyes.
He at last had found his slayer, soon his destiny would be fulfilled and he would truly be free.
Wish Verse Chapter 1
The Getaway
People ran in a wild panic from the factory, dozens of them running blindly. "Run towards the sunlight," a male voice yelled, as the last few exited the building fighting. A small group of people armed with wooden stakes and swords struggled to keep the vampires inside the building. The sun was not quite up yet. There was so much shadow yet, so many places for the demons to hide, which to attack from.
A petite blond and a tall young man had positioned themselves at the doors, slashing and hacking at anything that attempted to escape through those doors. Three more men stood back a little further, keeping what made it through the first barricade from getting very far. While a fourth person, a tall girl ran to retrieve the getaway car.
The Master stood still on the platform inside his factory pointing at Buffy. He did not speak loud, but loud enough that everyone could hear him. "We will meet again, then you shall die. So it is written. So it shall be." He said dramatically. The Master was old, older than anything any of them had encountered so far. This was probably one of his tricks. The young man at her side turned towards her yelling for her to go. "Leave! The sun is coming up. They can't follow." She turned, then hesitated. Unaccustomed to taking orders, she backed up slowly, facing the melee at all times. She didn't even know his name. All she knew was that he was a vampire, and that he had been a prisoner, and had been tortured.
She became aware of a car horn honking, as she continued to back up towards the rising sun. While he, the strange vampire guarded the door. He fought as though seized by frenzy, dusting many of them in mere moments. He would hold them. The sun was coming up; they could not get very far now. She turned to run towards the van. As if it were a signal, the three men also turned and ran towards the waiting van. The incessant honking finally stopped. The shadows where getting smaller. Soon the building would be enveloped by sunlight. Any vamp who dared to step outside that building would become a living (undead) torch.
All four of them crowded into the van, save for Buffy who chanced a look back to the still raging battle at the factory gate. Captivated by his effortless movements, not realizing that she was not out of the vampires reach yet, she watched still engulfed in shadow. He, It, the tall handsome vampire made no attempt to run for safety, neither towards the van nor the welcoming darkness of the factory. 'The sun', she suddenly realized, ' it will kill him.' She shrugged her shoulders. He, It is a vamp after all, she thought to herself, but still she could not make herself leave. She stood frozen in morbid fascination, watching him fight so that she may escape. Though he seemed to fully understand that she would not lift a finger to save him, and would not think twice about dusting him, he was certainly an interesting specimen.
The girl at the wheel began to honk the horn again. The young male vampire turned around, only for a moment, yelling a very annoyed, "Get out of here!" Or would have, had he not been attacked from inside the factory. Two of the vamps had taken advantage of this brief distraction and grabbed him from behind as he faced Buffy. A beautiful redhead jumped onto his back, her arms slug about his neck, and pushed her face to his. Holding a vicious looking curved dagger in one hand, pressed to his throat, another vamp, a blond in vampire visage had grabbed his shirt collar pointing a gun at him. Then she smiled and changed her mind, pointing it instead at Buffy. Declaring sweetly, "Give it up lover, or she'll die."
The little redhead on his back smiled provocatively. In a gesture that was sexual and domineering, she licked the side of his face. "Willow wants to play. Don't you want to play puppy?" She asked, mocking the vampire and Buffy. Even at a distance, Buffy was able to see him swallow hard. For a moment, she thought she saw something in his face; revulsion mixed with fear, then his face became a blank mask as he ordered her to leave. "You, got me Darla, let her go," Buffy would not move, alternately looking between him and the blond with the gun.
"You over estimate your importance Angelus," the blond laughed brilliantly. "I want both of you. It'll be so much fun making you watch as I torture her."
"Let her go Darla," he pleaded. "I'll do whatever you want." Both of the women laughed.
"You don't have a choice in this," Willow crooned; closely hugging Angelus' side, pressing her leather clad body against him. She slid her hand between the buttons of his shirt slowly caressing his chest. "You will do as I say, sooner or later. I'll make you bark." Angelus closed his eyes for a moment as though to regain his equilibrium.
"Or." The voice of the English librarian came from the van, quite smug, as he spoke over Buffy's head to the blond, "We will take you out as well." First he, then the other two boys pointed crossbows in her direction.
"You wouldn't!" The blond sneered. "I'll kill her, or you might hit your precious slayer."
"Oh yes I would." Giles reassured her calmly. "As a matter of principal, Slayers come and go. She dies; another one will take her place. So yes, I would."
The two boys in the van chanced anxious fleeting looks to each other at this prospect; they did not want to hurt the slayer. Both boys turned around and discarded the crossbows for another weapon, super soaker water guns. These guns had quite a range, and filled with holy water, potentially just as deadly to a vampire with the build in benefit that it would not hurt the humans. Though the bright colors of the toys made them look rather silly.
"Call back your dogs," the blond ordered Buffy. "We'll let you go. But he." She pointed at the young man. "Angelus belongs to us."
"I don't think he wants to stay." Buffy observed coldly. "But he's all yours."
"He is mine." Willow whined pointlessly. She grabbed his hair and began pulling him back towards the factory doors. Angelus had different ideas; he twisted out from her grip and rammed Darla, causing her to loose one of her guns, before anyone realized what had happened.
Buffy took advantage of the confusion and also jumped the blond with the guns. For seconds the four where a tangle of flesh. Larry and Oz went into action hosing the two vampires down with holy water thinking the two humans would be safe from this type of attack. Though the two humans would get wet as well, the force of it was concentrated on the women, and after all, it was just water to humans.
The two female vampires howled and hissed at the boys, but it is hard for a vampire to endure holy water, they had to retreat. The water acted like acid on their skin. The women stripped off their clothing on the way back to the factory, uncaring of the onlookers. Angelus also clawed at his shirt. Though Willow had taken most of the holy water damage, his left side had taken some dousing as well. As soon as the red headed vamp backed up, he too went down on his knees tearing at his shirt as though it were on fire. It took moments for the boys to realize that Angelus had taken damage like a vampire, that his pale skin under the shirt was red and blistering, like a vampire's. Only Buffy running towards the van kept them from soaking the vampire again.
The sun, just then crested over the mountain drenching the van and everyone around it in golden light. The two female vampires from the factory door went wild with anger and shot at the humans as they scrambled into the van. Oz lost his super soaker as it was ripped from his hand by a bullet. Again it was young Angelus who surprised everyone, by blocking any clear shot at the slayer, even running into the sun shielding her with his body. Two bullets that might have hit the little slayer grazed his back, the last one slammed into his back. The bullets however painful are not nearly as devastating to a vampire as the sunlight, which just then hit his shoulders.
The impact of the bullet threw him forward, believing himself to be dieing, as he felt the sun sear his bare back, he used the momentum to push the slayer into the van. Seeing her safe, he collapsed. He had reached the van, though it seemed now he could not muster the strength to hoist himself in, away from sunlight and flying bullets. The van began to move as arms reached for him pulling him into safety. Just a moment later and he would have burst into flames.
When asked later, neither Giles nor Larry would have been able to explain what had possessed to pull a vampire into safety. Yet, here he was, in the van smoldering. No one could ever accuse Larry of over thinking a situation, seeing the smoke rise from the vampire's back, he doused him with another healthy dose of holy water. Angelus thinking himself under attack again, let out a frustrated gasp from his throat and quickly scrambled to a far corner in the van, away from the humans, away from the pain.
Propelled suddenly into a higher gear, the van lurched forward, throwing everyone towards the back. Larry, Oz and Giles landed undignified atop the half naked cowering vampire. They cussed at Nancy's driving, while they all scrambled franticly away from the monster. As if ordered to do so, they grabbed for the nearest weapon. Larry his water gun, Giles a sturdy crossbow, Oz a wooden cross, and all three pointed their weapons at the vampire, while glaring at him in hostility.
"What where you thinking?" Asked Oz, never elaborating on what he meant. But everyone knew that he asked what had possessed them to save this vampire. A question neither Giles nor Larry could sufficiently answer. Buffy sat on a seat, the only member who looked calm in this very strange situation, while she played with a wooden stake in one hand. She presented a picture of fresh innocence, though she was as dangerous as any vampire, if not more so.
The vampire meanwhile was huddled into a corner, with his back turned towards the humans. His right shoulder pressed into the wall of the vehicle, while his arms wrapped around his legs, pulling his knees up to his chest. For someone as tall as he was, he made himself appear amazingly small and insignificant. He rested his forehead on his knees, never looking up to meet the human's hostile eyes upon him. None of them had ever been this close to a vampire without fighting. It was hard not to lash out at the hostage, and let him have it for all those horrible years they had all spent fighting his kind as they watching their numbers get smaller, while the vampires only gained in numbers and strength.
The ride was a silent one; concealing the inner turmoil they all went through, each caught up in their own nightmares, questions, and fears. How the vampire survived that ride home, no one could say for sure. All of them played with the thought of just putting the miserable creature out of their misery. No one would really care; lord knows no one would miss him. The vamp himself seemed less interested in his own survival, than he was in Buffy's. And that was just it. Why was he so interested in her survival? Why risk his life and hide from his archenemy? At the very least there was a story here, one Giles meant to explore. He was a watcher after all.
Angelus was what the blond vampire had called him. It was a name Giles had heard before, or perhaps read about. He scrupulously inspected what he could see of the vampires back. Taking special note of the tattoo on his right shoulder, which seemed to be a griffin straddling an A. He was sure he had seen this design before. Giles seemed to drift off in deep contemplation, while the others kept a sharp eye on any movement the vampire might make.
Oz, a young man fighting his own demons, found himself oddly sympathetic towards the vampire. Oz was a Werewolf after all. Lycanthrope were considered a disease, while it made him dangerous at times and contagious at times, it left him a human 97% of the time, a normal human, subject to most if not all human ills and joys. Sometimes he wondered what made his condition acceptable, while the vampires were not. Who among them would have ever asked to be made into a soulless killer? Did they really have a choice? Could they change given the right circumstances? Was Angelus proving that they could indeed change?
Larry had lost so many of his friends to vamps, that all he really wanted was a reason to attack this vamp. But the vampire just sat there, arms wrapped about himself, muscles playing enticingly under alabaster skin. The body of a Greek God, immortalized in flesh, dead yes, but still alive. Close enough, he wondered what it would be like to touch him. Horrified with his own thoughts Larry looked at the slayer. She was beautiful, so was Nancy, why did he never wonder about touching women? Larry was confused, and it was this charismatic beautiful man who was confusing him. It was probably a vampire trick making people horny for them. The others probably felt the same way. That was why they all kept staring at him.
Buffy looked calm, even bored, while she watched Angelus from hooded eyes. The fact that he had helped her, took bullets for her confused her. If he was only out for vengeance why did he not bale, the moment she set him free? Why endanger his own agenda by helping her save a bunch of humans?
Even Nancy driving at breakneck speeds through Sunnydale chanced a look back into the rear view mirror hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious handsome young vampire. Nancy sped through several stop signs and ran a red light on her way to Giles' mansion. It was full daylight out by now, and vampires could not follow, but she could not bring herself to slow down. She wanted to be someplace safe. The only place she felt safe anymore was in Giles' mansion. Strangely enough this mansion had been a vampire nest at one point. Its remote location, and vast rooms lent themselves perfectly to vampire activity. As it turned out it was also a good location to launch a war from. There where plenty of rooms to house all the slayer potentials.
Giles used to live in a lovely little apartment, but when it became clear that the slayer was not showing up in Sunnydale, he decided to wage war against the powers of darkness himself. The council of course did not approve, but he was able to recruit from the population most at risk to become vampire snacks; high school and collage kids. Oz of course was a special case. Nancy too was somewhat special as her parents were dead, and Giles had taken over guardianship of her. Larry had been with the struggle from the beginning. Larry would have been a football player, if enough kids had survived to form a team. There seemed to be a constant need to prove how macho he was. The boy was a relentless and formidable fighter, although more often than not a loose cannon. He too spent most of time at the mansion. It was easier for him to be here with Giles than face his red neck father. These four had taken up permanent residence in the old Crawford mansion, making the former vampire Nest their home. Giles felt there was a kind of ironic beauty in this fact.
Now at least one of the vamps he helped evict from the mansion was back in town, he had recognized her at the factory. The blond Vampire Darla and he knew how cunning and dangerous she was. With her here, her two constant companions, Drusilla and Spike could not be far off either. Some of the most dangerous and unpredictable vampires ever created in the Masters bloodline were right here in Sunnydale, things where truly bad for Sunnydale.
Nancy brought the van to a more or less screeching halt in front of the mansion. Larry slid the door open to jump out, realizing too late that the suns rays might reach and kill the Vampire. It was Giles' presents of mind that kept the vampire from potentially going up in smoke and possibly taking the van with him. Giles had almost expected Larry to act careless, as the door slip open, he managed to throw his own jacked over the vampire. As it turned out, the sun did not quite reach that far back into the vehicle. For a moment the watcher and the vampire exchanged some anxious glances, as both realized that the watcher had just attempted to save a demons life.
"Do be careful with the demonic hostage, Larry. I would like to interrogate him before we dust him." Larry looked sufficiently guilty as Giles explained. "We'll take him to the Panic room. He'll he safe in there."
"More like we'll be safe with him in there." Oz corrected.
"Yes, quite right." Giles was pulling out a blanket from under one of the seats and threw it unceremoniously at the vampire. " Cover up." He ordered. Angelus obeyed, draping the blanket over his head and shoulders.
"You gonna bring a Vampire into your home Jeeves?"
"Quite right Miss Summers. He may have some information we can use. And its Giles if your don't mind"
Buffy shrugged and jumped out of the van into the sunshine. "Your plan is to bring him to the house right?" She spoke in a mocked tone looking at the sun. The slayer, for all her experience of "dusting" vampires knew very little about the species, nearly nothing beyond how to kill, or find them.
Giles and Larry opened the back doors to the van, grabbed the vampire's arms and ran with him to the house. The blankets where smoldering when they reached the mansion door, but nothing had caught fire. The two men hustled the vampire along through the front rooms, down a corridor in which the tiles on the walls and floor where decorated with crosses. The door at the end of the Corridor had several crosses engraved on it and the handle was in the shape of a cross. Giles unlocked it carefully and led the Vampire in. The room beyond the door was quite large; there were chairs, a table and a water source, also a refrigerator. It looked like a room where people could hold out for a while if need be. Interestingly enough this rooms walls where also engraved and painted with crosses. One could not touch the wall without touching a cross. No doubt that was the point behind this slightly bizarre decoration choice. There where shelves along the walls on which wooden stakes where stacked in bins, and gallon jugs marked with crosses identifying the contends as holy water, also lined these shelves. At the far end of the room there was a cage set up. Its bars were anchored securely into the wall and again the spaces between the rungs where filled with crosses. The walls in the cage where bare brick, and the floor unmarked tile. A set of shackles anchored to the far wall was the only decoration in there. The room was, even to the casual observer, extremely vampire unfriendly. The only thing the room had going for it, where the hostage was concerned was darkness. There was only one window facing north, too small for a grown human to get through and covered by iron bars.
Once in the room, Giles took the blanket and the jacket from Angelus, he also ordered him to remove his shoes and socks. All of which Angelus gave up without argument. He looked a bit anxious at the walls, Giles could have sworn that he turned a bit paler, if that was at all possible. Larry ordered the vampire into the cage, faced with crossbows and the slayer he reluctantly obliged, and watched anxiously as the door was closed and then locked. Now Giles came closer to the bars and chanced a better look at his prisoner. The vampire had his gaze fixed demurely to the floor, his arms crossed across his chest, hugging himself. His stance spoke of fear, defensiveness, and hopelessness, very un-vampire like. Even in this dim light Giles was able to make out countless bruises and cuts underlying the more recent holy water burns. It looked like he had been tortured. Tell tale red vein lines where he should have blue ones told Giles that this creature was starving.
Giles knew that starvation caused a vampire's veins to become inflamed, with the effort to move the little blood available through the body. As with humans who suffered severe blood loss the body attempted to supply the most vital organs, and again as with humans that would be the brain. Since none of the other organs were needed for anything at all really, but storing blood the rest of the body would fall into a state of disrepair. Until the vampire was allowed to feed he would most likely not heal.
He stepped carefully forward to the cage, and clasped each hand around a bar. He realized he was issuing a challenge, he challenged Angelus to step up to the bars and face him, a challenge Angelus was not at all prepared to face. He was hungry, exhausted, and in pain, he had no inclination as to what Giles wanted from him, having no idea why he was here, other than to be tortured. There were no defenses at his disposal. And even if he had, he would not, could not hurt humans. His range of experience was somewhat limited at the time. The last time he had interacted with humans, it had gone badly; with him being strung up by his neck in a hotel. Then there was Willow who ended up a vicious vampire. To make matters worse he could smell a male's arousal. Hungry and weak as he was he did not have the energy to sniff out which one. He knew he should not be here.
Though physically stronger than Giles, even in this retched condition, Angelus backed off, his gaze averted to take on subordinate position to Giles' dominance. Giles was quite surprised by this. The watcher had expected a lot of things, aggressive alpha male behavior, cockiness, snide arrogance, none of which was forthcoming from the Vampire. "He'll be all right in here for a while." Giles reasoned. "We have some work to do, everyone out to the kitchen." Larry trying desperately to hide his hardening cock stomped out of the room angrily ahead everyone else. Oz was not as easily dismissed as the others who had all left the room, "So we are just gonna leave him in here by himself?" He asked, his tone even as usual with very little inflection.
"Do you expect me to let a Vampire run loose in my home?"
Oz was undeterred. "I'm just glad I know we are the good guys, else I might think we are trying to torture this guy." His voice still conversational, it was impossible to tell if he approved or disapproved.
"We don't really know who he is Oz," Giles explained. " We don't know what his motives are. And more to the point, he is injured and starving. Like most animals a vampire is most dangerous when injured and starving. Like a trapped tiger, or wolf if you like, he is a danger to us and to himself. Till I figure out what to do with him, he will stay in there."
"How long will he stay in there? We do need that cage once a month." "I don't really know just yet." Giles admitted. He put a friendly arm about Oz's shoulders and led the small red headed boy out into the corridor. "Tell you what Oz, you and Nancy go to the school library and fetch my watchers chronicles, and on the way back bring him some blood."
"Blood?"
"Yes animal blood will do I think. Stop at the butcher's and bring a couple of gallons. I wager, he is so hungry he does not care much what he eats right now."
"Cool." Oz said and headed out
They did leave Angelus in the room by himself. The vampire crouched in a corner, as far from the iron bars as he could get, making himself very small once again. It was hard to stay calm surrounded by all the crosses and holy water. In all his years spent in tiny holes and cages, he had never felt claustrophobic. Yet, he felt claustrophobic now. It was the presents of the crosses that weighed heavy on him. The only thing that kept the frightened vampire from snapping was his recent past. He needed to be quite, not draw attention to himself. Attention was bad and painful. He was exhausted and he wanted nothing more than to let exhaustion claim him and rest.
He was experienced at tuning out his surroundings. The only way he had been able to cope at times was to just not be there, not in his body between the silences, when he was alone. Times when no one came to "play" or "talk" or "have fun" with him, Angelus' mind would go blank. He did it so well now, he did not know whether he slept during those periods, whether his eyes where closed, or even if he breathed at all. Sometimes afterwards, it felt as though he had rested a bit. To an onlooker though, Angelus would have been a frightening sight; Pale, unmoving, not breathing and a sad expression on his young face, with eyes staring blankly into space, he gave a great impression of a corps. It was the world that brought him back. Always they brought him back, the noise the words the pain, always brought him back.
Giles joined Larry and Buffy in the kitchen. The two of them where raiding the refrigerator when he walked in; looking a bit guilt stricken, at what he could not say. Having dealt with teen-age angst and insanity for years now, he chose to ignore their strange behavior, there where more pressing matters on his mind just now. "Once Oz comes back with the books and the blood we are going to find out who this Angelus is." He explained the two young people.
"We are feeding the demon?" Larry asked incredulous.
"He is starving, Larry." Giles observed calmly.
"How is that our problem?"
Giles pulled a white kerchief from his jacket pocket and cleaned his glasses before he continued talking to Larry. "I believe he might have some information about the Master we can use."
"We can torture it out of him."
Putting the glasses back on his nose and looking rather annoyed Giles took a deep breath and continues. " Does is appear as though he would respond well to torture? Do you believe that in order to fight legions of the underworld, one must act like the evil monsters we are trying to rid from this world? Well do you Larry?"
"I just m."
"What would you have me do to him, hum? Burn him with holy water, crosses, or perhaps sunlight?"
"Giles enough." The slayer spoke up. Wedging herself between the two men, she spoke to Larry first pointing at him with her half eaten sandwich. "I'm not big on the torture thing. Besides he. it seemed more than happy to talk to me before. "She explained emphasizing how she felt about this vampire by calling him it, "we'll just ask it. If it turns out, it does not want to talk, I'll let you have a go at it." At Giles sharp intake of air she turned to face the watcher. " And you, you invited it here, it is a vampire. None of us are likely to develop any warm fuzzy feelings for it."
"Actually, Miss Summers you are the one who brought him to us. Where did you find him if you don't mind my asking?"
"Oh that." She took a bite out of her sandwich before proceeding. " I found it chained to the wall at that club, the Bronze. I thought it was human at first. Then it started talking bout destiny and stuff, and that it could show me where the Master is hiding. Looked like they were torturing it. I figured it was some kind of vengeance gig."
"He offered to help you? You did not ask him to?" "Eh, no! Since when can a vamp be trusted?"
"But he did help you. Now the question remains, why?"
"Told you, vengeance gig."
"Maybe."
It did not take Oz and Nancy very long to retrieve the books and come back with some blood. It was mid morning by the time they had returned. How strange things were now in Sunnydale. It became pretty clear when the butcher did not even raise an eyebrow at the request for two gallons of blood, and only asked casually if Oz preferred pigs or cow's blood. Giles thought now was as good a time as any to confront the vampire. "Larry and Buffy, you are with me. Lets see what information we can extract from our undead houseguest."
The vampire still sat crouched in the far corner of the cage when they entered, he was careful not to let his back touch the walls, pretending to be dead from the look of things. 'It does look rather miserable', even Buffy had to admit. 'But then, it looked miserable when I first saw it in the cellar of that club. And really, its situation had not improved by much. It was still in enemy territory; still locked up, and still facing death.' She could also feel the hostility come off Larry in waves. The boy seemed hardly able to restrain himself from staking the vampire on sight. Buffy would have loved to oblige, it was after all her holy mission to stake vamps wherever she encountered them. The Watcher in charge, however, had wanted information from the vamp. Buffy, being a good well- trained slayer, would follow his rule, whether she agreed with it or not. Until such time as she found a good enough excuse to do as she pleased, and she would have been pleased to stake the thing.
Mr. Giles set a gallon jug of blood on the table and a glass next to it, he then stepped up to the cage once again, rather boldly, the only thing moving inside that cage were the vampire's eyes. Training his gaze on the Watcher, the Vampire glared from under hooded eyes. The fact that he was still not breathing only made the encounter more unnerving. "You have a choice." Giles began, and if the vampire made him nervous he was not showing it. Buffy was quite impressed with his performance. "You can cooperate and help us, in which case we will help you." His voice rose a little, which made the statement sound like a question. "Or we can end your miserable existence right now."
The vampire appeared to actually think about his options, then took a breath to speak. His voice low and soft, like someone who did not often speak. "I'll help."
"Good choice." Giles nodded satisfied. He handed a pair of handcuffs to Larry and unlocked the door. "We will have to take precautions, you understand?" Again only the Vampires eyes moved to take in Larry now as he entered the cell, cuffs in hand. "Of course." The vampire answered quietly.
"I would advise that you don't make any sudden moves. The slayer here can and will turn you to dust, if we feel threatened in any way." Now the Vampires glare fell onto the slayer, his eyes brown, sad and intense.
"Let Larry cuff your hands to the back and come out slowly." Giles spoke with a reasonable tone to his voice. The vampire turned his back to Larry, to let himself be cuffed. As his gaze broke with Buffy's she let out her breath, she only now realizing she was holding. Larry, after cuffing the vampire grabbed his arms and pulled him to his feet with a sudden jerk. Larry had been looking for an excuse to touch the creature. There was something erotic about him, something that made Larry want to feel him, which brought strange thoughts to his mind. This creature looked so human, yet it was not. The predator was just beneath the surface of this beautiful exterior of a young man, making it, "him", all the more alluring. 'Dam it, this has to be a vamp mesmerizing thing.' Larry half cursed half prayed as he bullied Angelus. Larry was surprised at the coldness of the vampire's skin, which made his own skin tingle with excitement.
Angelus stumbled as he was pushed roughly through the cell doors. Larry was just a touch more aggressive than was needed for the situation, since the vampire did not seem to be putting up a fight. There was no real need to be manhandling him, but neither Buffy nor Giles where inclined to pity such a creature. Larry was likely just letting of a little penned up aggression, towards the species. They had never had a live, undead, prisoner before. Not in the mansion anyway, and never for this long. Larry led Angelus to a chair and roughly pushed him down to sit. With his hands cuffed in the back, the vampire leaned forward, hunching his shoulders obviously in pain, but he would not complain. He simply looked demurely to the floor awaiting imminent mistreatment, patiently and anxiously.
Giles filled the glass with blood and held it to the vampire's mouth. "Looks like you could use a drink." Dead panned, but was surprised to see the Vampire turn his head rejecting the blood. "I know it's only animal blood but you are not likely to get anything else here. I know you are starving. How long do you think you can hold out?" It took a few more seconds before Angelus gave in and drank from the offered glass. Drank it? He gulped it down in three swallows as though suddenly afraid Giles would take it away. Buffy and Larry looked on in morbid fascination.
"Now." Giles put the glass out of reach and leaned up against table facing his prisoner. "Why don't we talk about the Master?" He suggested. " And maybe I should add, if this interview goes well I'll let you have another drink."
"You don't have to bribe me," the vampire answered softly. "I am supposed to help the slayer; I'll tell you what I know." Buffy snorted contemptibly. "Here we go again with the destiny crop. Am I supposed to trust this thing?"
"Of course not." The vampire spoke loudly, his voice sharp, in stark contrast to what it had been so far. Catching all the humans off guard, their heads snapped up in attention as he continued forcefully. "You are the Slayer! And you.!" He then looked at Giles. "A Watcher. You live on a hell-mouth, and you are asking a vampire whom you should trust? How did you people survive so far?" Larry stepped forward hammering both fists to the side of the vampire's face, with enough force to knock Angelus and chair over. The vampire hit the floor hard next to the chair. Larry was on him again quickly dealing out kicks, not once, but twice. His foot connected with the vampire's midsection before Giles could pull him back. "That is how." Larry shouted as Giles pushed him away from the prisoner. "Don't let him antagonize you!" He told his charge and then turned to Angelus. "That was not very smart vampire." He grabbed the demon be the arm and yanked him back up. Once the chair was up righted again he pushed Angelus back onto it, who curled up as much as he could wincing. Giles leaned in close, definitely invading the demons personal space. "Now tell me about the Master!"
As it turned out Angelus did not need any coaxing. He told his captures what he knew about the Master, as promised. He told of the day he rose from his underground prison, and of his long term plans for Sunnydale. The gang already knew about his principal hang out and the factory. What was new to them was that the Master Planned to keep everyone in Sonnydale, trapped in town as fresh fast food. He went on to say that there would much less killing, but all citizens in town would be forced to become vampire snacks. They were also told that the Master did not live under the Bronze, as they had suspected. Angelus had been to his lair but had been blindfolded each time and was not sure if he could find the way back there. It seemed, he claimed, that a different rout was taken each time, and he was not sure if he was conscious during the whole trip.
Satisfied so far, Giles let him drink another glass of blood. After this Angelus told them that the Master's primary henchmen where two very young Sunnydale vampires named Xander and Willow. "You should remember them; they used to be part of the White Hats, in the beginning when we still thought the slayer was coming to Sunnydale."
Now this revelation did catch Giles and Larry of guard. "White Hats?" asked Larry "How do you know about Willow and Xander? And how did you know the slayer was expected to come to Sunndale?" asked Giles.
"The Vampires around the Master call your group the White Hats, they know you are the leader. They know where you live." The Vampire's voice was nearly inaudible. "Willow used to be my connection to you. I gave her information she gave it to you. Till the Master turned her the night he rose."
Giles sat down hard. Suddenly many things he did not understand about Willow began to make sense.
"Willow, who is Willow?"
"Willow used to be our intelligence department. I could never quite figure out how she got all that information on the 'Internet'. I presumed vampires liked chat rooms."
"So this Willow is very young." Buffy surmised, " That should make her easy to kill."
Angelus shook his head. " "She is vicious, she is the Masters line, he is the one who turned her. And she is smart."
"What abut Xander?"
"She turned him." Angelus answered quietly.
Suddenly Giles remembered what the Vampire had said about the slayer. "How did you know we were expecting the slayer in Sunnydale?"
"Ahem, I- it's a long story." Angelus answered evasively.
"Bore me." Buffy demanded. She shuddered as the Demons dark sad eyes settled on her for a moment.
"A balance-demon told me to come here and wait for you; I was supposed to help you."
"Balance demon?" Giles scratched the back of his head.
"And you came here, to help me do what?" "To stop the Master from rising, but you never."
"Why would you, being the vampire that you are, be interested in stopping the Master in the first place? Isn't that kind of like making the Cat the guard in the hen house?"
"The Fox." Giles corrected. "But I see your point. Why you?"
Angelus shrugged his shoulders. The only answer he had was the one Buffy was not ready to accept. "Oh of course, the destiny thing," Buffy nodded in mock understanding. Angelus took her scorn silently.
"I just don't understand why you, why would you kill you own kind?" Giles was frustrated; something was missing from his story. But Angelus had not good answer for him. Buffy had the distinct feeling the vamp would say destiny again, if It was going to say anything. The Demon remained silent however, not meeting anyone's gaze. Maybe afraid of what they would see, or maybe just afraid. Finally Giles took charge once again.
"Okay, that's enough for today. We all need to rest. And I have some research to do. And I still have a bullet to dig out of his back." The vampire looked up in surprise, his surprise changed to worry when Giles began to order surgical supplies to be brought into the room. The watcher asked for tweezers, scalpels, bandages, and needle-nose-pliers the ones with the long prongs. Mr. Giles had Angelus lean forward so he could reach the hole burrowed in the vampire's back by the bullet. The thing had dug itself in under his left shoulder blade and would not be easily removed. Giles finally ordered the vampire un-cuffed, under the proper threats of course, and with the slayers weapons trained on him, he ordered the vampire to be stretched out on the table. It took a bit more sweating on the watchers part before he was able to dig that bullet out. He wrapped a bandage around the Vampires torso to secure the wound. Tape, he deduced would be too irritating on his burned skin. Though the blood he had drank, already made some improvement.
Both watcher and vampire where utterly worn out by the ordeal. Giles gave him one last glass of blood before he had Larry drag him back into his cell where Angelus once again hunkered down in his corner. The humans left him alone in a room that was strangely reminiscent of the cell he occupied below the Bronze. Angelus however was content to be left alone for now, to just be able to close his eyes.
He at last had found his slayer, soon his destiny would be fulfilled and he would truly be free.