Dear Mom,
Hi from London! I'll probably be home before you get this postcard, but I wanted to write anyway. That's Big Ben on the front. Isn't it pretty?
Anyway, London is great, but not as great as New York. I'm looking forward to coming home and seeing you again. Maybe we could go shopping when I get back!
Love,
Stacey
I tried to put on a brave front in my post card home, but the truth is, I couldn't wait to leave. This trip had turned into a disaster. A disaster! I had spent more than a week flirting with Angel, wearing my cutest outfits, trying to impress him by helping Kristy and sitting in on library meetings, and what do I learn? That he has a girlfriend, and nobody even bothered to mention it to me.
I bet he wasn't even diabetic either. I felt so betrayed.
When I heard, I burst into tears and ran straight from the library. I hate it when that happens – I always try to be mature and sophisticated (as my upbringing taught me), but this time I just couldn't control myself. I LUVed him!
I ran blindly through the corridors looking for a quiet place to hide. Angel's apartment was out, obviously, and I wanted to avoid the Academy section too. I couldn't stand all those preppy little Slayers and their leather coats. I couldn't go to the daycare center either, for obvious reasons (typical Kristy).
I heard Claudia call me name and froze. I didn't have much hope if I wanted to get away, so I ducked into a hall closet. It wasn't very dignified, but I didn't feel like talking to Claudia right now. Not after the fight we had had that morning. The worst part of it was, she had been right. Those red sequins were much more suited to open sores than they were to Valentines.
I started crying again.
I sat down on the closet floor, and I think I must have cried myself to sleep, only to be woken up with a jolt when I heard my closet door open. The pretty blonde girl who had been at the library meeting stood in the doorway. I noticed her leather coat and crossbow and groaned inwardly. Not a Slayer!
"Aren't you one of those girls who lives with Angel?" she asked. The mention of his name brought tears to my eyes. "What's wrong?" she continued, alert, "Is it Angelus? Did he do something?"
Angelus? "No, it's Angel," I cried, "He has someone else."
She cocked her crossbow. "Where?"
"How would I know? She comes to visit. And stays in his cage," I sobbed.
"Oh," she said, suddenly enlighted, and lowered her crossbow. "You're talking about werewolf girl!"
Werewolf girl? Well, at least she was ugly. Maybe I had a chance after all. "Do you know her?"
"I've met her. Listen," she entered the closet and sat on an overturned bucket, "Angel and dating are like . . . two things that are very unmixy. He's, umm, special."
"But I'm special too! That's why we're soulmates!"
"Honey, at the moment you should be worrying about being lack-of-soul-mates." I looked at her blankly. Why did everyone talk so strangely here? It was totally stale.
The girl seemed to sense she wasn't getting through to me. "I need to go get our perimeter guards set up. You," she said firmly, pointing at me, "need to go to the auditorium with the others. Angel's locked up in his quarters, so you won't see him there. And when this is over, you two can have a heart-to-heart. I think there's some things he hasn't told you."
As she walked away, my mind raced. Clearly something major was going on. I tried to remember what everyone had been talking about in the library, but the girlfriend trauma had wiped it from my mind. Something about one of Claudia's new designs, I think. Well, I can certainly see why that might have created an emergency. Ick.
The last thing I wanted to do was go to the auditorium with everyone else. I could just imagine the BSC sleepover atmosphere, and it wasn't what I was in the mood for. I thought back to what Buffy had said. Angel was locked in a cage in his apartment.
Maybe we should have that heart-to-heart now, while everyone else was occupied. Yes, that was perfect! There's nothing like crisis to bring people together.
Whistling to myself, I set off down the hall away from the auditorium and towards Angel's apartment.
The door was locked but fortunately Spike had had keys made for all of us right after we moved in. I walked in and looked around at the empty apartment. The cage must be in Angel's room; I knew the rest of the apartment pretty well.
That door was locked too, but thankfully, when Spike was making keys he had done a complete set. I shoved open the door and was disappointed to find the room empty and cageless. I stood there for a minute, and then realized the sound of voices was coming from the closet.
That was annoying. Angel was supposed to be alone. But I had steeled my courage for a heart-to-heart talk, and a heart-to-heart talk we were going to have, alone or not. I walked across the room, and then paused with my hand on the doorknob. I did hope it wasn't the ugly werewolf girl in there with him. That could be awkward.
This door wasn't locked, and when I opened it, I was relieved to find that it was only Angel and Spike. They smiled when they saw me, and Angel laughed softly.
Hey, I don't think I had ever seen Angel laugh before. Maybe I had misheard the whole girlfriend thing – I mean, if I'm the only one who can make him smile, that must mean something, right?
"Hey, look," Spike told Angel when he saw me, "lunch!"
Spike's so funny. He always has a joke handy.
Angel shushed him. "Stacey, I'm so glad to see you! You have no idea how worried I was when you ran out of the library upset."
"Yeah, he was just broken up," Spike said, rolling his eyes. I liked Spike, but he really needed to learn how to be more romantic. Maybe Angel and I could set him up with someone, like that blonde Slayer. She had seemed bitter and in need of love.
"I think there's been a horrible misunderstanding," Angel said, his dreamy eyes meeting mine. "You see, this cage is really just for my friend that's a girl. She's a werewolf."
I was so silly. There was no way Angel would date a werewolf; he's far too attractive to date a girl with facial hair.
"So you really do like me?" I asked, just to make sure.
"Of course I do, schmoopsie!" replied Angel, with a silly grin on his face. "All I need is for you to take that key hanging up over there and unlock this cage, and I'll prove it to you!"
As glad as I was to hear this, that reminded me of something. "Why are you locked in a cage, Angel?" I asked him.
"It's the Slayers," he said earnestly. "They've gone rogue. You know Faith? She killed a Volcanologist, and that blonde girl is nothing but trouble."
Spike nodded. "Even burned down her high school gymnasium." Of course! That's why she was warning me away from Angel. He and Spike were the only people who could stop her! And I was going to free them and save the day!
I was in heaven. I had just known this trip wouldn't end without me finding a boyfriend. That's just not the way my vacations work. I skipped over to the wall hook and took down the key he had pointed to. It was large and heavy and ornate.
I heard a snickering coming from the cage and turned around. Spike was sitting quietly in the corner and Angel was looking at me soulfully. I must have been imagining things.
Carefully, I inserted the key in the lock and turned. The door swung open, and Spike and Angel walked towards it.
"Angelus, think it's time for a snack?" Spike asked him, grinning. I was feeling a bit peckish, now that he mentioned it. I hope they had something sugar-free.
Angel smiled, baring his teeth, and I backed up a step, involuntarily. There was something in that smile I couldn't place.
I looked into his eyes, and then found myself screaming. There were ridges on his forehead, and from his mouth were protruding two long fangs. This couldn't be happening! Angel used to be a total hottie!
"Don't be afraid, little one," he said, as he moved towards me. "You're so cute I could just eat you up."
He grabbed hold of me, and I felt something sharp sink into my neck. The room spun around me and I screamed as loudly as I could, somehow knowing it wasn't likely to help.
Then, everything went dark.