Note:I do not own Angel or any of the other characters except for Maljandra.
Harmony knew something in Wolfram and Hart had changed. Her nocturnal boss had began to venture out of his cave more and more often. Wesley seemed to be getting over Fred's death and continued to tell Illyria about the ways of the 21st century. Gunn began to return to his old self from when they first met. She could go on and on, but it bored her terribly.
Angel had come out of his room to retrieve his blood. As usual he did not have a smile upon his white face, but his aura was not bad. In fact it was rather good. She found something...very strange about it. "Here you go, boss," she said brightly holding out the cup that read, '#1 boss' on it's side.
"Thanks, Harm'," he said bluntly, taking a large swig. He looked around the offices at the people busily moving around. Things sure had changed from when he first came to the place. He could see Lorne chatting away on his cell phone, a bright grin on his face. He waved to the vampire before continuing on his way. Sitting on the stairs was Spike smirking mischievously at a woman coming towards him. She gave him a smile and continued on his way. He saw a girl staring right at him.
That black hair, those green eyes...they were familiar. Angel couldn't believe his eyes, what was he seeing?. Suddenly he spit out the last gulp of blood he had drunk and began to move forward, also dropping the mug, shattering it. "Boss?" Harmony asked, surprised by his actions.
He saw the girl slowly turn around and walk away. Again Harmony's voice came to him, "What's going on?"
"Maljandra," was all he could stutter, continuing to follow her as she headed to the elevator.
"That dead girl?" She asked. Angel had told her about how he was too late to save her. Maljandra was dead by the time he got to her. That didn't make any sense, did it? Had she become a vampire?
Angel picked up his pace, almost running after her. But Maljandra was too far ahead, she stared straight into his dead cold eyes as the elevator doors closed. What was going on, what was happening? She was dead!
Quickly, he stole the next elevator, going down to the ground floor. And there was Maljandra, strolling calmly to the exit doors. She had not a scratch upon her alabaster skin. "Maljandra!" he cried out in a desperate attempt to slow her down. This was unsuccessful. Without pausing, the seemingly dead girl strolled right outside and into the daylight. She was not a vampire.
And he couldn't follow her any longer. He spotted Spike as he casually walked around, still following the woman from before. "Spike," he said, stopping him in his tracks.
The platinum blond vampire walked up to him, "What do you what this time?"
"See that girl?" He pointed to Maljandra as she continued to saunter around outside Wolfram and Hart, almost taunting him.
"Which one?" Spike asked, not even looking.
"The one that's staring right at me!!" He shouted angrily, "Go get her!"
"Is this a new way of tricking me?" Spike asked, glaring at the daylight in disgust. "And I was beginning to think you liked me!"
"Oh." No duh. If he couldn't go out in the daylight, Spike couldn't either. Again he searched for someone to retrieve her for him. He saw Wesley with a large book. The Englishman had a confused look upon his face and Angel knew he was having trouble with deciphering some text. He didn't care.
"Wesley, come here!" The vampire shouted to his friend. Wesley shot up a quick look at the caller, before closing the book and obeying the command.
"Yes?" He asked.
"Can you go get that girl?" He pointed straight at Maljandra who smiled slimly at him. Then it was proved; she was mocking him. He had tried to save her life and she was teasing him. God was that annoying!
"What girl?" Wesley's eyes followed his employer's finger, but saw no one. He looked around the surrounding the area, but no one seemed to stick out.
"That one..." Angel began to shout, but Maljandra was gone. "She..." She was there just two seconds ago but know where was no sight of her. His eyes scanned the area, but she wasn't there. She seemed to have disappeared.
Wesley looked at Angel with confusion. "There was no one there," he told him.
"Yes, there was a girl. Spike saw her, right?" He turned to his grandson, who shook his head.
"No, sorry. I wasn't payin' attention." And he walked away.
Angel scowled at him as he left. "Are you feeling alright?" Wesley asked, peering into his eyes.
But his eyes were on Illyria as she looked out from the stairwell. Ignoring Wesley's words Angel walked up to meet the daemon. "Illyria?" He asked, trying to capture her attention. The blue Ancient disregarded him and still held her hand over the plants.
Wesley had taken away much of her powers, including the ability to speak to the plants. She missed their song; the green did not speak true words. There were much like whales, their songs are not communicating ones, they say what's in their hearts. Wesley had taken that away from her.
"Illyria?" She heard the vampire named Angel calling out her name. But she continued slowly down the rows of foliage, trying to communicate with one of the greens.
After many calls, Angel grabbed her by her shoulders, twirling her around to face him. "Illyria!!" She did not respond well.
Although Wesley had taken most of her powers, she still had incredible strength. This she used against him, "Never touch me, half-breed." She said distastefully, throwing him in a wall, without effort.
"Illyria," Angel hadn't been hurt by this. Sure it was not comfortable, but he did not travel through the wall, nor break any bones. "All I want to do is ask you a favor."
"I care not what you want," she spat. She twisted back around to the pots, again closing her eyes and trying to listen to the song of the green, in which the plants no longer knew the melody.
"Please just listen," he said, almost pleading. He needed her help; Spike couldn't, nor did he want to. And Wesley probably thought he was crazy. It wasn't that large of a task, he even doubted she'd return.
"Was is it you desire from me?" she asked, locking her cool ice eyes with his. If making him go away meant listening to his dull and boring suggestion, she'd do it. Angel meant nothing to him, nor his needs.
"There's a girl, her name is Maljandra, I want you to watch out for..."
"Is she dangerous?"
"No, she's dead." This caught her attention.
"Is she is dead, why do you wish for me to watch out for her. She cannot harm you any longer."
Angel's voice got angry, "She wasn't harming me." Did she really look upon him as that weak? He shook his thoughts away; that wasn't the point. "And that's why you need to watch out for her. She's got long black hair and green eyes." He tried to remember her features, "She's about your height, a little shorter..."
Again the ancient daemon cut him off. She tilted her head sharply and said, "You are implying Fred's height?"
Yes, that's what he had meant. Why had he said her height? That wasn't her body, it was Fred's. "Yes," he corrected himself, "She's about Fred's height and Fred's build. She's wearing all black. Can you contact me if you see her?"
"I will," she told him, turning away. She heard Angel retreat to the elevator. She heard the bing as it went up. Again she tried to contact the plants, but could not concentrate. In anger, she flicked open her eyes and twirled to the place where her uneasiness was coming from.
There, a girl with black hair locked eyes with her. Her deep green orbs holding the powerful daemon in place. That was Maljandra. That was the girl Angel wanted to see. Illyria saw her give her a very slim smile before turning away to walk out the door. Somehow Illyria found herself following her. She did not know the reasons. She cared not about Angel's desires or that she girl was claimed to be dead. But she discovered her body following Maljandra down the stairs, across the room, and outside.
Suddenly, someone fiercely grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back inside. At first she was grateful to be out of that trance, the next, furious and the mortal who touched her. It was Wesley. "Illyria, what were you doing?"
"That girl," she pointed to Maljandra who stood just outside the exit, smirking evilly at her. "That girl," she said again. She was utterly speechless. What had just happened? What was going on?
Wesley looked at her, brow drew downward. He looked past her to the exit, but saw no one, "What girl?" Angel had said the same thing, and Wesley hadn't seen anything.
"That girl," Illyria was staring straight into her eyes, "That black-haired girl standing in front of us. She's staring at me."
What was happening around here? What was happening to Angel and Illyria? "I don't see anyone," he told her, making her snap away eye contact for only a mere second. Illyria then again looked back at Maljandra, but the girl was not there. There was no sign of her, in fact. It was like she never even there at all.