Chapter 15
*Disclaimer: See previous chapters.*
Buffy came back to the library and saw that all of her friends were still there researching this new threat that they had been presented with.
" Buffy, did Angel get off okay?" Giles asked when he heard the library doors swing open and he looked up from his book to see Buffy walking into the library.
" He, umm didn't leave." Buffy said softly.
" What do you mean he didn't leave? You know how important it is to get that box out of Sunnydale, how could you have been so irresponsible?" Giles asked practically shouting at his slayer.
" Chill Giles, we were attacked at the docks by Spike and Dru's men that's why he didn't leave." Buffy said feeling extremely agitated that Giles didn't trust her and Angel enough to do something without getting sidetracked.
" I'm so sorry, you and Angel are all right I assume? And the box Angel still has it?" Giles asked flushing at the fact that he had became angry at Buffy so easily.
" We're fine, but they got the box." Buffy said bracing herself for Giles' anger.
" Where's Angel now B?" Faith asked jumping in before Giles could lay into Buffy yet again.
" Umm, Jenny took him to get clothing. I had some clothes here." Buffy told her sister secretly thanking Faith for jumping before Giles could start yelling at her again.
" And the clothes changing would be because?" Xander asked raising an eyebrow skeptically at the thought of what Buffy and Angel could have been doing that could involve them changing clothes.
" We got wet." Buffy stated simply completely oblivious to the looks that Xander and Faith exchanged.
" Uh-huh and this would be before or after you got attacked?" Xander asked trying to goad Buffy for more information, but Faith smacked him lightly and shot him a glare.
" Shut up Xander." Buffy said rolling her eyes and sitting down at the table with her friends, picking up a book and looking at it half-heartedly, no more discussion being raised about why they had to change clothes, " So Giles what do we know?"
" The more I study the Judge, the less I like him. His touch can literally burn the humanity out of you. A true creature of evil can survive the process. No human ever has. " Giles told her.
" So what's the problem? We send Cordy to fight this guy and we get pizza." Xander said, and Cordelia glared at him, while Buffy and Faith ignored him completely.
" If only it were that simple, Xander." Dominick said.
" So can we stop this guy? Without an army?" Buffy asked.
" No weapon forged can kill him. Not very encouraging, if only we could stop them from assembling him." Giles said thoughtfully.
" We need to find him, right?" Faith asked, " Find out all his strengths and weakness and where they would be keeping him.
" That could take time." Dominick told his slayer.
" Looks like its gonna be an all-nighter guys." Buffy told her friends.
" I think its time to do a round robin." Xander suggested and the other teens nodded, " I'll go first."
" A round-who?" Giles asked him and Dominick clearly confused by what they were doing.
" Its where everyone calls there parents and tells them they are staying at someone else's house, thus freeing us up for all-night slayage or research." Buffy explained.
" Yeah or keggers and raves." Willow quipped, expecting her friends to at least smile or laugh a little, something to ease the tense nervousness in the room, instead all she got were blank looks and confused stares, " What Xander's the only one who can make stupid jokes?"
" Hey my jokes are not stupid." Xander defended himself, hanging up the phone and was met with a chorus of " Yes the are" or " Well sometimes". He grumbled a little to himself and took his seat back at the table, the library falling quiet as everyone went back to researching.
This cozy little scene was what greeted Angel when he came into the library an hour later. Willow was sitting at a computer in the library, her eyes focused intently on whatever it was that she was studying, Dominick sitting next to her studying one of Giles' tomes. Xander and Faith were on the steps that led to the stacks of books, a book open next to them, which Xander was hunched over, Faith's head cradled in his lap, and one of Xander's hands was absentmindedly playing with Faith's long dark tresses. At closer inspection Angel could see that Faith's eyes were closed and she seemed to be sleeping quite peacefully. Angel felt fear grip his unbeating heart when he didn't see Buffy in the library with the rest of the gang and his mind started racing at what could have happened to her, had she been attacked on her way to the school, was she lying dead somewhere.
" Xander where's Buffy?" Angel asked gruffly, and Xander jumped startled, jostling Faith and causing her to sit up wild-eyed looking for danger.
" Jesus, Dead boy, I'm getting you a collar with a little bell." Xander said trying to calm his racing heart.
" Xander." Angel warned not wanting to deal with Xander's little quips and barbs not if something could have happened to Buffy.
" Calm down, she went into Giles' office with him like an hour ago or something." Xander told the menacing vampire, as Faith snuggled up to him. Angel got up and quickly strode to the Giles' office nearly running into Giles' himself as he walked out of his office, his nose buried in a book. Giles let out a little unmanly yelp but quickly regained his composure.
" Where's Buffy? Is she alright?" Angel asked frantically and Giles raised a finger to his lips hushing Angel as he shut his office door softly. As he shut the door Angel looked around him into the office and saw Buffy sitting at Giles' desk her head resting on her folded arms, her eyes shut and he felt better that she was safe and relieved that she seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Giles' motioned Angel away from the door and over to the checkout desk, and Angel followed him after one last look at Buffy.
" Seems Buffy needed some rest." Giles said.
" Yeah, she hasn't been sleeping well. Tossing and turning." Angel said, and everyone looked at him a little shocked, and Angel knew that if he could blush he would right now since what he had just said didn't exactly place him in the best light, and he knew how Buffy's friends minds worked, " She told me. Because of her dreams?" And after that pronouncement everyone went back to what they were doing but not before shooting him a few disbelieving looks.
" Umm, yes, of course," Giles said a little flustered, " Angel, do you have any idea of how Buffy and Faith can defeat the Judge?"
" Nothing short of an army." Angel said shrugging and sitting down at the table, picking up a book as Giles let out a frustrated sigh going behind the checkout counter, as Angel began to study the book in front of him intently.
" Angel!" Buffy shouted waking up from yet another nightmare, her body drenched in sweat shaking, this last dream had been more vivid and detailed than before. She had barely woken from the sleep induced haze when she felt two strong arms wrap around her trembling body.
" Shh," Angel soothed the trembling little blonde in his arms, " Its okay, I got you." He wanted anything to stop her from shaking, to take away the nightmares she had been having. He felt Buffy pull him tightly against her, and he just held her, stroking her sweat-soaked hair with one hand and with the other rubbing comforting circles in the small of her back, as some of her shaking started to subsided as she began to relax in his embrace. They sat like that for a few more moments before Buffy pulled away from Angel, taking his hand and leading him into the library where she was met with her friends concerned faces.
" You alright B?" Faith asked, and Buffy nodded.
" I know where Spike and Drusilla are." Buffy told her friends, when she came back into the library.
"That's very good, however, you, you do need a plan. I-I know you're concerned, Buffy, but you can't just go off half-cocked." Giles told her.
" I do have a plan, me, Angel and Faith go to the warehouse and do recon see how close they are to assembling the judge. You guys check any places the boxes could be coming into town. Shipping yards, airports, anything. We need to stop them from getting all the boxes in one place." Buffy told him.
" Yes, yes actually that's quite a good plan." Giles said.
" Giles, this thing is real, and we can't just sit around and wait for it to come to us." Buffy told him.
" Of course." Giles said.
" You ready, Faith?" Buffy asked her twin and Faith nodded getting up from the spot she had taken on Xander's lap, following Buffy and Angel out of the library. Angel led the girls to the warehouse he had confronted Drusilla and Spike at last time they were in town. When they reached the building, they climbed up the ladder on the side of the warehouse, and climbed into a broken window that lead them onto the catwalk which surrounded the ground floor of the warehouse. As the walked to the edge of the catwalk, they were confronted by the sight of Spike in a wheelchair, Drusilla next to him and about eight or ten vampires flanking them, but their was a new face in the mix, a tall, lumbering blue armor clad demon with horns on either side of his head who was standing behind Spike and Drusilla.
" Holy shit!" Faith exclaimed, " Check out big blue."
" I'm guessing the Judge is up and running." Buffy affirmed and Angel nodded, and Buffy gripped the railing of the catwalk tighter unable to take her eyes off of the demon in front of her.
" Guess we should go tell Giles that the Judge has been assembled." Angel told the girls and they nodded but before they could move an inch Buffy saw the Judge's gaze shift up to them, locking eyes with her.
" Uh-oh, I think we've been spotted." Buffy hissed out of the corner of her mouth and Angel and Faith followed her gaze to the demon that was now looking up at them.
" Uh guys we better get outta here." Faith told her two friends and they turned to run but they're path was blocked by three vampires, and when they turned to run the other way they were blocked by yet more vampires. Angel and Buffy quickly got into battle stance their eyes sweeping along the vampires seeing which ones would be the easiest to take out, it was only then that they noticed Faith was no longer with them but being dragged down the stairs by two vampires screaming and struggling the whole way.
" Angel get Faith!" Buffy shouted to her boyfriend as a vampire rushed her and she gave him a swift uppercut to his jaw sending him flying backwards a few feet, and Buffy didn't even pause as she swung into a roundhouse knocking over a vampire who was trying to rush her from behind. But while she was in the air a vampire ran at her and tackled her to the ground, causing all the air to be expelled from her lungs as she hit the hard metal grating floor of the catwalk. The two vampires she had taken down rushed forward and grabbed her roughly by her upper arms pulling her to her feet as Buffy struggled fruitlessly against them, their grip on her arms was just to strong and she could already feel the beginnings of bruises forming not only on her arms where the vampires were holding her but also on her back where she had hit the floor. She could do nothing but allow herself to be dragged down to the ground floor and she cast a look at Angel and saw that he was still holding his own against the three remaining vampires.
"Buffy!" Angel shouted when he saw his girlfriend being dragged away by two vampires and in the split second he was distracted a vampire kicked him in the chest causing him to stumble and nearly lose his balance, and two more vampires grabbed his arms, dragging him with them to the ground floor where they had taken both Buffy and Faith. Angel stopped struggling with the vampires when they came to a stop beside Buffy and Faith, and in front of Spike, Drusilla and the Judge. He glanced sideways at Buffy and Faith and saw that both of them appeared rather unharmed and were still struggling fiercely against their captors.
" Look wha' we have here Dru, Angelus and his two whores come to crash our lovely party." Spike said glibly smirking when he heard Angel growl at the use of the word whore in describing Buffy and Faith.
" I'm sure our invitations were just lost in the mail." Buffy managed between gritted teeth.
" Well at leas' we will be able ta test out our new toy won't we pet?" Spike asked Drusilla taking her hand in his own, turning to the Judge, " Alright big blue your up, do whatever it is that ya do, make sure you do the blonde one first thoug'."
"NO!" Angel shouted struggling harder against the vampires that were holding him, " Take me instead of them!"
" You don't get it Angelus, there is no instead of just first, second and third." Spike said chuckling cruelly and the Judge walked around him advancing on Buffy, his hands out in front of him. Everything in Buffy's body was telling her to struggle against the vampires that were holding her, that she couldn't let this demon touch her but it was as if just looking at the Judge had frozen her place and she couldn't do anything but stand their and watch her eyes growing wide with fear and anticipation.
" Buffy don't let him touch you!" Angel shouted fear in his voice as he saw his girlfriend standing there not moving as the Judge got closer to her, feeling helpless to do anything but struggle against the vampires holding him.
Kick him B! Buffy heard someone who sounded very much like Faith scream inside her head knocking away some of the haze that had clouded her mind since the Judge had begun to advance on her.
Faith, what are you doing in my head? Buffy though back but screamed it at the same time, causing the Judge to stop moving and all the vampires to look at her as if she was going crazy. Buffy then did as Faith commanded using her legs to jump up and kick the Judge square in the chest and she felt something like electricity jolt her body, her kick didn't even cause the Judge to stumble, but the momentum caused the vampires holding her to fall backwards and lose their grip on her arms and at the same moment Faith and Angel managed to break their captors grips and they all began to run through the factory.
" What are you wankers standin' around for? Get them!" They heard Spike bellow but they were already near the sewer entrance Angel knew was in the warehouse. He quickly pulled the door open and they dropped down into the sewers beginning to run as soon as their feet hit the ground. They had only gotten a few feet when they heard the pounding footfalls behind them and knew the vampires were chasing them. They soon reached a fork in the sewers and the stopped.
" We can't stay together, we're too easy to catch this way. Faith go back to the library and see if anyone is there, tell them what we found out, me and Buffy will keep going straight and let the vampires follow us." Angel commanded and Faith just nodded dumbly as the vampire's footfalls began to echo all around them as they got closer. Buffy and Angel began to run again, and they noticed that their pursuers hadn't stopped or paused at all and Buffy knew that Faith had gotten away okay, that they probably still thought she was with them. Buffy knew she couldn't continue running much longer, her limbs were beginning to ache from the continued exertion, her lungs burning with the need for oxygen, the adrenaline coursing through her body not enough to keep her going any more. She felt Angel grab her hand and pull her into an even darker corridor and heard him slam a heavy metal door behind them and Buffy was glad that they were able to stop for a minute as she gulped in the stale sewer air like it was the best thing she had ever had in her whole entire life.
" Alright, I bought us some time, but we can't stop moving they will be here in a second." Angel told her and she nodded still panting and gulping in air, as they began to run again. They heard the door burst open but were already to the ladder that lead up to the streets, and Angel had Buffy go first and using her exceptional strength she managed to push of the manhole cover and crawl out of the sewers, only to be pelted by cold hard rain that was falling. Angel followed her out a few seconds later, and recovered the manhole, grabbing Buffy's hand and pulling her with him towards his mansion. They were only running for a few minutes but their clothes were soaked and sticking to their bodies, by the time Angel pushed open the door to the mansion, and pulled Buffy inside closing the door behind them.
" Its okay Buffy, we're safe now." Angel reassured her placing his hands on her shoulder and felt the small blond slayer shaking fiercely, " You're shaking like a leaf."
" Cold." Buffy murmured through her chattering teeth.
" Let me get you something. Angel said , reaching into his dresser drawer and pulling out a white tee shirt and a pair of gray sweat pants, handing them to Buffy. " Put these on and get under the covers, just to warm up." Buffy sat on the bed looking at him expectantly, and Angel couldn't tell for the life of him what she wanted.
" Umm could you turn around?" Buffy asked softly feeling her cheeks grow warm as a flush crept up her cheeks.
" Right, right." Angel stammered turning his back to Buffy. Buffy began to pull of the over shirt she had on over the tank top she had found in her locker, and hissed in pain when she felt the shirt tear away from a cut on her shoulder that she didn't even know was there, " What's wrong?" Angel asked concerned.
" It's n-nothing, just a cut or something." Buffy said softly, cursing Angel's vampiric hearing.
"Can I... Let me see." Angel said turning and walking to Buffy sitting on the bed next to her.
" Okay." Buffy whispered suddenly feeling very naked in her soaking wet spaghetti strapped tank top and pulled her overskirt against her chest, turning her back to Angel. Angel saw the small cut on Buffy's shoulder blade and moved her tank top strap, running his finger gently over the small cut, feeling Buffy shiver under his soft touch.
" It's already closed, your fine." Angel told her and Buffy nodded, but Angel didn't move instead he ran his finger up and down Buffy's arm gently and he felt her shoulders start to shake as she began to sob when the tears that she had been holding back all night came bursting out.
" You almost went away tonight." She murmured through her tears. Angel didn't say anything just pulled Buffy to his chest and wrapped his arms around her trying to calm her down.
" We both did." Angel told her running his fingers through her wet tangled hair, Buffy turned her face towards him leaning her forehead against him. Her tears dampening his cheeks. Angel loved the feel of her warm body against him, loved how perfectly she fit inside his arms, loved how she smelled and the way she made him feel when she looked at him, smiled him, touched him and kissed him. She was the only person who could make him feel alive like a human, not the vampire that he was and he realized that he was in love with the girl and had been since he had first seen her no matter how hard he had tried to stop himself.
" Angel..." Buffy said her voice breaking, " I feel like if I lost you....You're right though we can't be sure of anything."
" Shh, I..." Angel began but it seemed as if the words got stuck in his throat.
" You what?" Buffy asked turning to face him.
" I love you and I try not to but I can't stop." Angel murmured a few tears of his own slipping down his cheeks and mixing with Buffy's.
" Me, me too, I can't either." Buffy said, lifting her face from his and kissing him passionately. This kiss was deeper and longer and it cut straight to Angel's soul. Buffy's hand was on the nape of Angel's neck now, her small fingers playing with stroking his neck, and he felt himself stiffening at her touch, he wanted her so badly but his conscience was screaming at him to stop and it took every fiber of his being to pull away from the kiss.
" M-maybe we shouldn't." Angel said trying to turn his head so Buffy wouldn't see the longing in his eyes.
" Don't. Just kiss me." Buffy said grabbing his face pressing her lips to his again, pushing him back onto the bed. They rolled over and he got on top of her, desire filling their kisses now, as Buffy's small warm hands slid under his shirt, he began to kiss down her neck, placing feather-light kisses on her collarbone and then making his way slowly up to his mouth devouring her as their tongues battled for dominance. Buffy pulled him closer locking her legs around his hips as Angel plunged his tongue deeper into her mouth hearing a little moan escape Buffy's lips as he slid his hand under her shirt, teasing her flesh before he cupping her breast running his fingers softly over the lace covered mound. Buffy began to pull his shirt off, wriggling under Angel in such a way that he felt his dick began to throb at her movements. It was now his turn to pull Buffy's soaking wet tank top over her head before fumbling with the clasp of her bra and exposing her breasts. Angel then began to kiss down Buffy's neck descending down her chest, placing light kisses on her stomach before hooking his thumbs underneath her pants and sliding them down her legs, and then kissing his way back up to her mouth, devouring his mouth hungrily.
" Oh god Angel," Buffy murmured breathlessly, " I need you." She said and then reached between their aching bodies, fumbling with the button and zipper on his jeans as he wriggled out of them. Buffy gasped as she felt his hardened flesh probing her delicate center.
" Buffy, we don't have to do this." Angel said between kisses, not knowing what he would do if she decided she didn't want to continue with what they were doing.
" Angel, I want to." Buffy said panting pulling him back down to her, as he thrust himself into her slowly. Buffy expected to feel pain since it was her first time and everyone always said that your first time was supposed to hurt, but Angel was so gentle and so loving with each touch and caress that none of the pain was there. Buffy couldn't believe how incredible it felt to be held by Angel, as he thrust himself deeper inside of her. Buffy moaned in pleasure, her entire body tingling as she tightened her legs around his waist trapping him against her as the settled into a rhythm. Angel's bedroom was filled with pants and moans, as they rocked faster and faster together. Buffy felt an indescribable warm sensation over take her body as she hit her peak and cried out quaking beneath Angel as he caught her screams with his mouth, pumping fast and harder now. Buffy heard Angel groan and began to shudder as he stopped moving above her spilling himself into her. He slid out of her rolling over onto his back laying next to Buffy on the bed, both of them staying intertwined, panting for air, only one of them needing the oxygen.
" Wow." Buffy said through her pants, a small half-smile playing on her lips as she rolled over resting her head under Angel's chin and wrapping an arm around Angel's chest as she began to came down from the high she had just felt.
" Yeah wow is right." Angel said softly kissing the top of Buffy's golden blonde head, " I love you."
" I love you too." Buffy said lifting her head up and kissing him softly on the lips before snuggling up against Angel yet again as Angel pulled the up around her shoulders. His mind swimming with thoughts of Buffy and the act they had just done moments before as he stroke Buffy's hair listening to her breathing slow and become deeper as she drifted off to sleep in his arms. Angel kiss the top of her head one last time, wrapping his arms tighter around her as he shut his own eyes and drifted off to sleep a satisfied smile on his face.
A/N: Some lines may have been taking from Surprise/Innocence. I know I'm not to good at writing these erotic scenes but I think this will be the only one in this story. Sorry if it isn't too great, please please review.