Chapter 4
Angel's heart shattered when Buffy's violent thrashing finally stopped, as suddenly as a resonating finger-click in a dark room.
His eyes darted up and down the stiff body; his soul screamed in terror. He'd killed her.
Buffy's eyelids whooshed upwards and she drew a shaky breath. Only then did Angel realise that his panic had blinded him to the sounds of her shallow breath.
"Angel," she murmured, tears filling her eyes. Her voice was filled with an intense desperation Angel had only heard once before.
i Poland, 1942 i
"No! NO! Not my children! Please, anything but that!" Balweena Delinsky wailed.
She'd helped a Jew. She'd given her fellow human being a house and food when his mother had been killed. That was all. But they'd found her. The Nazis had discovered her secret, and now her children had to pay the price. Balweena could think of nothing worse.
Angelus watched from his position in the shadows nearby. There it was; that look of utter fear and desperation. He grinned at the tears of Hellish anguish rolling down the old woman's cheeks for a moment before pulling his face into a sombre expression and marching out.
"I'll deal with 'er. You take the kids," he grunted, restraining Balweena by wrapping his arms intimately around her belly. "Don't worry, hon," the vampire whispered into the mother's ear. "Give me what I want and I might just let you break free." He tossed her to the muddy ground and straddled her body.
"Do what you wan to me," the woman commanded. "You have already condemned my children. For that you will pay." Her hazel eyes flashed a dull pink. "Your beloved, your one true love, will suffer because of this. because of you. You may not care now. But you will."
Balweena's eyes flashed again, this time a blinding white. Angelus was forced to shut his eyes against it.
When he opened them, he let out a vicious roar of fury. Without him even knowing it, she had gone.
i Present day i
"Hush, honey," Angel murmured, pulling Buffy close. "It'll be okay." He kissed her hair briefly, never ceasing to hug his beloved to him.
"It's all my fault. I could've stopped it, Angel, I know it. I should've. But I just stood there, like it didn't matter. I was there, Angel, and I could've done something. It didn't have to be like this, Angel! She didn't have to die!" With that, Buffy was reduced to a sobbing heap once more.
* * * * * * "She kept moaning that he was going to be happy, that her Angel would return, Giles! We all know what that means! I've talked to Angel; I can stop him losing his soul. But I'm scared I'm not seeing the big picture. What if it's not Buffy that gives Angel a happy? What if we're already too late? Or we get there too late?" Willow rambled, panicking. "Or she wasn't even talking about Angel? I mean, where do we start then? Or"
"Willow," Giles intercepted. "Calm down. Angel would not allow that to happen. I do believe, however, that the sooner you can help, the better. This situation is getting rather. difficult for the two of them. It's so harsh, that they're so in love and yet forced apart by fate. We will help them. But we won't die trying; believe it or not, even that's not worth death."
* * * * * * Crystal sat up with a gasp. Her grandmother's astral self had shown her what Angel had tried to do to her during the Second World War. Crystal may have been asleep, but she knew it had been more than a dream. It had been real. her mother would not lie.
Something had to be done about it.
* *
* * *
Balweena watched as the vampire pulled his trembling lover to him. She grinned at the sight of his feeble attempts to comfort the crying Slayer, safe in the knowledge that there would soon be too many things coming at the girl for reassurances to mean anything to her.
Angel's heart shattered when Buffy's violent thrashing finally stopped, as suddenly as a resonating finger-click in a dark room.
His eyes darted up and down the stiff body; his soul screamed in terror. He'd killed her.
Buffy's eyelids whooshed upwards and she drew a shaky breath. Only then did Angel realise that his panic had blinded him to the sounds of her shallow breath.
"Angel," she murmured, tears filling her eyes. Her voice was filled with an intense desperation Angel had only heard once before.
i Poland, 1942 i
"No! NO! Not my children! Please, anything but that!" Balweena Delinsky wailed.
She'd helped a Jew. She'd given her fellow human being a house and food when his mother had been killed. That was all. But they'd found her. The Nazis had discovered her secret, and now her children had to pay the price. Balweena could think of nothing worse.
Angelus watched from his position in the shadows nearby. There it was; that look of utter fear and desperation. He grinned at the tears of Hellish anguish rolling down the old woman's cheeks for a moment before pulling his face into a sombre expression and marching out.
"I'll deal with 'er. You take the kids," he grunted, restraining Balweena by wrapping his arms intimately around her belly. "Don't worry, hon," the vampire whispered into the mother's ear. "Give me what I want and I might just let you break free." He tossed her to the muddy ground and straddled her body.
"Do what you wan to me," the woman commanded. "You have already condemned my children. For that you will pay." Her hazel eyes flashed a dull pink. "Your beloved, your one true love, will suffer because of this. because of you. You may not care now. But you will."
Balweena's eyes flashed again, this time a blinding white. Angelus was forced to shut his eyes against it.
When he opened them, he let out a vicious roar of fury. Without him even knowing it, she had gone.
i Present day i
"Hush, honey," Angel murmured, pulling Buffy close. "It'll be okay." He kissed her hair briefly, never ceasing to hug his beloved to him.
"It's all my fault. I could've stopped it, Angel, I know it. I should've. But I just stood there, like it didn't matter. I was there, Angel, and I could've done something. It didn't have to be like this, Angel! She didn't have to die!" With that, Buffy was reduced to a sobbing heap once more.
* * * * * * "She kept moaning that he was going to be happy, that her Angel would return, Giles! We all know what that means! I've talked to Angel; I can stop him losing his soul. But I'm scared I'm not seeing the big picture. What if it's not Buffy that gives Angel a happy? What if we're already too late? Or we get there too late?" Willow rambled, panicking. "Or she wasn't even talking about Angel? I mean, where do we start then? Or"
"Willow," Giles intercepted. "Calm down. Angel would not allow that to happen. I do believe, however, that the sooner you can help, the better. This situation is getting rather. difficult for the two of them. It's so harsh, that they're so in love and yet forced apart by fate. We will help them. But we won't die trying; believe it or not, even that's not worth death."
* * * * * * Crystal sat up with a gasp. Her grandmother's astral self had shown her what Angel had tried to do to her during the Second World War. Crystal may have been asleep, but she knew it had been more than a dream. It had been real. her mother would not lie.
Something had to be done about it.
* *
* * *
Balweena watched as the vampire pulled his trembling lover to him. She grinned at the sight of his feeble attempts to comfort the crying Slayer, safe in the knowledge that there would soon be too many things coming at the girl for reassurances to mean anything to her.