AN: I'm really, really sorry about how long it has taken me for this part to get out, but RL has sucked as of late. I regret to say it but I can't promise it won't happen again… however it should definitely be a shorter time before part five comes out. I had a sort of phobia about writing Angelus, and now I've done some hopefully it won't be so bad.
Anyway, I hope this is worth the wait!!
Part Four-
//You stand like a stone, alone in your zone//
An incessant ringing woke Wesley from his dreams, he stretched massaging his muscles, twisted from the few hours of uncomfortable sleep he had managed to snatch in the sofa. The book on his lap fell to the floor with a resonating thud, that echoed in his sleep muddled brain, and he absently swept it up before answering the phone.
"Hello?"
"Wes? Buffy's gone!" Giles voice came full throttle down the phone.
"Gone where exactly?" Wesley replied aware that Giles was concerned, but also safe in the knowledge that teenagers went missing. After the first few times Faith had gone walkabout he'd come to understand she needed it. If she didn't have the opportunity to take a break he'd have lost her long ago.
"I don't know." Giles replied in a long hiss. "We were patrolling last night, I got a call and she went ahead. I searched the whole area and there is not a trace of her anywhere." Wes' sympathy toward him grew, there had always been a slight animosity between the two, Wesley having been less inclined to give up council doctrine than Giles. "Is she there?"
"No. Faith tried to get hold of her, uh, yesterday, but couldn't get through." Wesley flipped the book he was still holding back shut and went to put it back on the bookshelf when he remembered why he'd taken it down. He sat down at the desk and flicked the book open and rifled through the pages until he came across what he was looking for. It was a portrait of a man, mid twenties perhaps, whose tailored clothes and lightly defined cheekbones, screamed aristocracy. But the wry expression that crossed his lips and the danger that danced in his eyes, masked any gentleman like manners the man had once had, brow furrowed in the mask of vampire he was an astute and animalistic warrior. In curled script at the bottom of the page was penned 'Angelus, Scourge of Europe'.
"Wesley?" Giles' voice woke Wesley from his reverie. "You know I hate to admit it, but in this situation you know more than I and-"
"Have you every heard of Angelus?"
There was a pregnant pause. "No." Giles paused again. "Why?"
Wesley voiced his fears.
The rain was falling in sheets now, and Faith couldn't see into the dark through the window of the dingy diner that sat resolutely on the corner, between the cemeteries and Willy's. It had managed to stay open since the fifties, although Faith could only guess at how, the vampire population had slowly picked off nearly all of its regulars. Even the brave few that would battle the daytime hazards of going any where near Willy's, would always find themselves ready to leave at quarter to sun down. The diner filled up with demons after that, though the managers couldn't know it.
Faith went there sometimes to think, when she was a kid she had had a job washing dishes in a diner just like this. Though the money had gone straight to her mom, standing on a tub arms shoulder deep in bubbles had always made her feel like she was helping somehow, it made her feel… needed. Now all she had to do was to be in a diner where the workers told jokes across the fryers and sang to the radio, the noisy clink of plates and the low buzz of chatter. It was fake she supposed places like it weren't supposed to exist, there wasn't a bar where you could leave your troubles at the door. But while she was there picking at French fries and watching the rain, she could pretend they weren't hers for a while.
She sat there for another half-hour then paid her check, and walked out into the rain.
It was an hour later when Faith was finally ushered into the great hall of the Crawford Street Mansion, it had mostly been fear that had kept her on the street outside for so long. Before she'd taken the final step to plunge herself into the darkness of the house she'd seen the first pink rays of dawn arriving, and was shamefully comforted that at last this night was over, even in her activities weren't.
She saw Spike first, stretched out on a chaise lounge, cocky grin ever-present. Angelus was facing the fire, the flickering light from the flames emphasised the imposing structure of his height and build, and his black ensemble reflected into everything around him, so that even the warm dancing tongues of the fire seemed menacing behind him.
"Angelus." He waited for a minute before he replied to Faith's guide, an infuriating bone-crunching minute that made her skin crawl with fear and her eyes burn with anger. He was so arrogant, to keep a slayer waiting when she should be death incarnate in his eyes. When he did turn she saw his face for the first time, and he was beautiful, pale alabaster skin and lightly spiked hair so dark it was almost black. He would have been stunningly attractive but for his eyes What she supposed were normally chocolate brown irises were streaked with black and dark shadows hung under his eyes. He looked so angry… and worried.
"Where is she?" He growled, his vampire face flashed into vision then his human mask returned in such quick succession she wasn't sure if she'd really seen it or not. She backed away as he paved toward her, there was none of the calm sophistication she'd expected, he was really angry about something, and that something appeared to be Buffy. She shot a quick glance at Spike on the chaise lounge, he'd sat up at least, but didn't seen in any particular hurry to save her.
"I don't know."
The vampire mask flickered in and out of her view again, and he made as though to pounce on her. The move was sloppy though, and she dealt him a snap kick to the jaw, for a split second she thought of pursuing the fight but as soon as Angelus hit the ground he span back up and started raining blows on Spike instead. She ran.
Her flushed skin was pushed up against the brick wall, and cool breath played with the senses at the nape of her neck.
"Angelus…" Buffy shifted in her sleep and one hand trailed a path down the cool wall beside her, her head lolled to one side and then with sudden urgency slammed back into the cot below her. As the pain ricochet around her sleep addled brain she murmured "Angelus".
"The drugs are wearing off." A voice bellowed around her, it was too loud, so very loud… the thought trailed off before she could work out what it meant and she rolled again in the bed. The dreams were gone now, but she didn't know what the hell was going on, who the voices around her belonged to, and where importantly where she was. Maybe she was in hospital. The thought made every muscle in her body tense, her spine contracting so fast it hurt. She forced her muscles to relax to be into a better defensive position. She opened her eyes slowly letting her eyes get used to the harsh sterile light before fully opening them.
The vision the greeted her was not pleasant, the walls were the same sterile white as the hospitals she frequented and the floors was cool linoleum. Across from her stood a tall man in army fatigues.
"Hey baby." He began to saunter towards her and she jumped up instantly stumbling slightly against her confused brain, her reflexes were dulled and reaction's slowed. But not that slow. She stood still, her stature the picture of loose guardedness, ready to defend herself. He was in front of her now and she could see he wasn't really a man, more of a boy only a few years older than herself with dirty blonde hair that hung in a style which had so graciously left the fashion scene a few years before. Apparently he hadn't got the memo. He kept walking towards her until she her calves were pressed against the cool metal of the cot behind her, she could feel his heavy breath on her hair and she felt a freezing shiver rattle up her spine. His hand came up and stroked her cheek in rough circles. Lowering his head to her ear he whispered "C'mon baby, time to tango." Buffy snapped.
She slammed her knee upward and dealt him a crushing blow to the knee that sent him sprawling backward to the floor. She rushed to the door and four more khaki green men barrelled into the room. Buffy gave a whip-kick to the first stomach and he stumbled into the one behind sending them both tumbling down. The other two men grabbed her by each arm and she executed a perfect manoeuvre kicking both at the same time and twisting out of their grip before landing in a crouching position on the floor. As she stretched out to sprint out of the still open door the hand of the first soldier gripped her ankle pulling her to the ground. She fell, and as she felt the cool steel of a needle entering her arm she surrendered again to the darkness.
TBC
AN2: If you want to ask me a question I'll send the reply from halfevilkids@yahoo.com because my hotmail account doesn't seem to want me to compose emails, but please send the replies to weasyannagirlfriend@hotmail.com, or post a review on fanfiction.net as usual if you want to contact me. Which would be nice… though I don't deserve it for taking so long to write this!