Chapter 3
They call themselves the Society Against Bloodloss, and they're housed here? Do they even realize the irony in this?
Angel stood outside an old abandoned meat factory. The windows were boarded up, layers of handbills and election posters peeled from the bricks. A trail cut through the weeds that surrounded the place like a yellowish moat, and an old rusted wire gate sagged in the single streetlight. Angel glanced around, then stepped toward the building, disappearing inside a shadow. Inside the building, near the entrance, Angel reappeared from the shadows.
Shadow Walking sure comes in handy on occasion.
Angel stood, unmoving, leaving aside all pretenses of life. He listened, and heard voices.
A gruff, male voice grumbled, "I say we go back to Blood-Hunter Enterprises, and finish what we started."
A voice that was constantly changing octaves said, "You know we can't, Jarod. You heard what that woman said. I have no doubt that if we go back, that we will be signing our death warrants."
Angel moved. Quietly, he went toward the voices. When he arrived at his destination, he saw twenty people, all ages, sitting in a circle. Each person had a wooden stake at hand, or a loaded crossbow at his or her feet.
What have we here?
A man strode into the middle of the circle, clearly the leader by his bearing. He said, with a slightly British accent, "I know that a good portion of you want to go back and finish what we started, but we cannot, at least not in the way that we did.
"Now, we have about three different options. One: we find some other way to give a surprise attack on Blood-Hunter Enterprises. Two--"
"You really think you can take Tala Bloodmoon by surprise," Angel quietly asked from the shadows, his voice softly echoing around the building.
The group was instantly on their feet, gazing about warily. The leader called out, "Who's there?"
Angel stepped out of the shadows that he had stood in. Instantly, eight crossbows were trained on him, the rest held their stakes, ready to throw or stab at a moment's notice.
Good reflexes. Someone's been training them.
"I am not here to harm you," Angel said. "I would just like you to answer some questions for me. Like---"
Angel suddenly leapt back, away from a wooden cross that had magically appeared in front of him. His face transformed into that of a demon, as he snarled in anger.
The group of humans, as one, gasped. One man whispered, "His face is almost human. He is not like the others!"
"Be quiet!" The leader snapped at the man, then moved forward, his hand outstretched to Angel. He said, his voice booming, "Begone, creature of darkness! We do not tolerate your kind here!"
Angel hissed, then suddenly straightened, and stepped towards the cross. He took another step, then touched the cross. Smoke rose from his hands as he broke it, the sound of its breaking was loud in the silence of the factory. The pieces of the cross clattered to the ground, as Angel turned away. After a moment, Angel turned back to the leader, his face once more human, and said softly, darkly: "The pain of touching that cross was nothing, compared to the pain and torment I underwent when I was in Hell for five hundred years. And even that was nothing compared to the pain and grief of loving a Slayer . . . and losing her to a curse, and to death."
The leader trembled, his face gone pale with fear, and whispered, "Angelus!"
Angel bowed in acknowledgement, a faint smile of irony upon his lips. He said, "Yes, I am Angelus, or was anyway. You must be connected to the Watchers. Only they would know that name, besides one vampire that I know of, since I have spent most of the last one thousand years removing that name from history's memory.
"Usually, I am known as the Angel of Lost Souls, or Slayer's Guardian; since I help the Slayers take out renegade souled vampires, from time to time. Those that know me, and that are considered my friends, call me Angel. But you are not any of these, therefore, you will only call me the Souled One."
The leader made a strangled, indrawn, breathing sound, then said, "You are the one spoken of in the prophecy of the Eternal Soulmates!"
Angel stared at the leader, closed his eyes, raised his right hand, and placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose. He said, his voice strained, "That is the second time this day that I have been told about that prophecy! Why not before this, when my soulmate was still alive one thousand years ago!"
Angel dropped his hand, trembling, as he tried to control his emotions. His face was filled with the pain, grief, and rage he felt at the unjust way his life had gone. "Why," he whispered, his voice an echo of his emotions.
The leader gazed at Angel, and murmured, "The vampire with a soul is known to go into moments of great depression, and become very emotional, over the loss of his love: the Slayer, Buffy Anne Summers." With a nod, he stepped up to Angel's side, and asked quietly, "Why are you here?"
The question jarred Angel out of the black mood that he had fallen into. He looked at the leader, blinked, then said, "I am here to find out what I can about the person that told you about Blood-Hunter Enterprises. Humans are very close to finding out that that company is not exactly what is seems to be, and if that happens, nothing is safe."
"What do you mean," asked the leader.
"A full-fledged war between humans and vampires," Angel said grimly.
Silence settled inside the factory, as the humans began to understand the extent of what was just said.
"May God protect us from such a thing happening," whispered a woman.
"God, indeed," Angel said quietly. "May whatever higher power there is protect us."
"How dare you," hissed another. "How dare you ask protection for the likes of you: a demon! What gives you the right!"
"My right as protector of you sorry excuses for humans," Angel snarled in sudden anger. "For over one thousand years I have aided and helped humans find their way in life. I gave my heart to a Slayer. I was shunned and hated by my kind until the restoration of their souls, and was then despised and hated for that restoration! I have kept peace between humans and the 'demons' as you call them, so that there will be no war! That is what gives me the right to ask for such protection, mortal."
"Wait," the leader of the humans said, his hands raised palms up. "Peace. With your words and actions you have shown me that you mean us no harm. Ask, Souled One, what you will. We will answer what we can."
Angel closed his eyes, nodded, and whispered, "Thank you."
Alarms blared loudly, as Angel fell against the glass entry doors of Blood-Hunter Enterprises, smoke rising from his back.
The doors hissed open, and Angel thudded onto the blood-red carpet, flames rising from his jacket.
"He's flaming! Get him out of the sunlight!"
Hands reached out to drag him in, as a tablecloth was thrown over his body. The chief of security triggered a link and said, "Put me through to Ms. Bloodmoon! Emergency!"
The security chief was kneeling beside Angel, when Tala ran into the entry. She asked, breathlessly, "How is he?"
"Not good, Ms. Bloodmoon. He's badly burned."
Tala nodded curtly, then said, "I'll take it from here."
He stood then moved away. Tala knelt beside Angel, and gasped as she saw the burns on his face. She reached out, and gently brushed her fingers over Angel's left cheek. He stirred, moaned, and opened his eyes halfway.
"Great stars," Tala whispered, wide-eyed. "How can you be awake, when in such pain?"
"Hell was worse," Angel said in a rasping voice. He closed his eyes. "Help me get out of here, and into your office."
Tala nodded, and placed Angel's right arm over her shoulders. She supported Angel with her left arm around his waist, as she helped him stand.
Once standing, Angel murmured, "I don't think I'm going to make it."
"Try," was all Tala said.
Angel dragged his feet, trembling with pain.
Only ten feet away from Tala's office, he staggered, fainting. Humans and vampires moved out of their way, as Tala crumpled to her knees with the abrupt weight.
Mark ran out of Tala's office, in the sudden commotion. Tala said, quietly, calmly, "Mark, get over here and help me."
Mark crouched down, next to Angel, and helped Tala lift the unconscious vampire.
Tala said, as they walked to her office, "Let's get him onto the desk. Then, I'll need the Bloodstone."
Inside the office, Mark held Angel as Tala swept several mini CDs off her desk. She helped Mark place Angel onto it.
Tala tore the front of Angel's ruined black silk shirt, to reveal his chest. She and Mark gasped, as they saw the extent of the damage.
"Get the Bloodstone," Tala whispered. "NOW," she shouted.
Mark went to the cabinet by the door, and opened a side compartment. Reverently he pulled out a blood-red egg-shaped gem, the size of a human heart. It was carved with the image of a winged-lion, and connected to a silver chain. Mark closed the cabinet, went over to Tala, and gave her the Bloodstone.
Tala carefully placed the silver chain around Angel's neck, and the stone over his heart. She leaned over Angel, placed her hand over his heart on the stone, gazed at his closed eyes, then closed her own. A moment later, she opened her eyes (now silver), and whispered in a voice not her own, "Be healed, Prince and Guardian of the Night, and awaken."
Tala moved away from Angel, as the Bloodstone began to hum. A red glow surrounded Angel, and then was gone. Angel stirred, opened his eyes, and sat up on the desk, no longer burned.
At a gasp, Tala whirled around to face the doorway. It was filled with a good portion of her workforce, gazing in fear at Angel.
"Mark," Tala said, her voice back to normal, "take everyone into the meeting room. I've changed the meeting to half an hour from now."
In the first floor-level of five in the basement of Blood-Hunter Enterprises, the last of the vampire employees arrived. Tala Bloodmoon stood beside Angel in the back of the room.
Angel asked, "Ready to explain what has been happening around here?"
"No," replied Tala, "but I don't think I have the choice. Wish me luck."
"You mean wish us both luck. I have to talk to them too, and they don't know me enough to trust me."
Tala shook her head, chuckling, as she walked to the front of the room, which quieted with her passing. Tala turned to face the vampires in the room, and said, "I know you are wondering why I have asked you all here. Well, to put it simply: with the attacks that have been happening to this company, humans are becoming suspicious, and will soon realize that there are actual vampires working here.
"As most of you are aware, I have had to call for some outside help in this matter. Everyone, I would like you to meet Angel." Tala gestured to the back of the room where Angel stood in the shadows. The vampires turned around to look where Tala pointed, and a low murmur of voices followed. "Angel, come to the front and explain more fully what has been happening please."
Angel moved away from the shadows, his face now clearly seen. The murmurs turned to startled exclamations, as they recognized him. Vampires moved away from Angel as he walked to the front. When he turned around, he noticed many of the vampires were in their demonic visages, due to their anger and fear.
Their faces! Angel thought. Has it been so long since vampires made others of our kind? Am I the only one left that retains some of my human qualities when I take on the demon's face?
"I know that you do not trust me, and I understand why. The thing, though, is this: the Soul Restoration was a complete accident. I had no control over what happened. Please, quit blaming me for something that I couldn't stop from happening.
"Now, let me explain more thoroughly what has been going on. There have been four separate attacks on this company, directed solely at destroying vampires.
"These attacks have happened because someone, or something, has been telling various 'vampire hunters' to come here to destroy you. We are not sure who this person is, or why this person is doing this, and that is the true reason you are all here.
"Tala and I hope that you may help us with this problem. If any of you have information about something you might have seen or heard, please, tell us."
Silence filled the room, as vampire looked at vampire. Tala gazed at Angel, an eyebrow raised, as if asking: "What now?" Angel just shook his head.
When five minutes had passed in silence, Angel sighed, and was just about to begin speaking, when the door in the back of the room suddenly opened. Mark walked in, a small CD in his hand, and said, "Ms. Bloodmoon, this just arrived. It is addressed to both you and Angel!"
Tala gestured for him to play the disk. Mark went to a panel of mechanical nature that was set into the wall by the door, and placed the disk in it. The room darkened, as a hologram appeared in the center of the room.
The image of a man stood within the hologram. He wore a black robe with blood-red markings on it. His face was hideous: bone-white, with enormous ridges on the brow, red-gold eyes, and fangs that were at least three inches long.
Angel hissed suddenly, his face in demon form, he snarled, "Talon!"
The image moved then, and turned to Angel, as if it had heard him. It spoke, "Indeed, I am Talon. So nice to see you again…Angelus." The image's voice was a cross between a snake and a bear. "Now, where is the lovely Tala? Ah! There you are, my Elven Princess."
Tala stood, her face one of rage. "You! You were the one that changed me!"
The image smiled, more like snarled, and said, "Yes. I am. So good of you to recognize me. Now that the formalities are over, there is something I wish to say. Please, do not interrupt."
The hologram grew. Another image, shrouded in shadow, appeared. The image sat in a chair, clearly tied to it.
"Angelus, I believe I have someone you might like to see."
The shadows disappeared from the second image. It was a woman in her mid-twenties, with long curly blonde hair. The woman raised her head. Tears fell down her face, as golden emerald green eyes gazed at Angel. She said, her voice a pleading whisper, "Angel, help me."
Angel fell to his knees, as a sob escaped his lips. "Buffy," he cried out in agony, one arm outstretched to Buffy, and the other with his hand clenched over his heart. "No!"
A laugh of such cruelty rang through the room. "Well done! It seems your love for the Slayer has grown since her death. Good. It will make the bargaining all the more sweeter!"
Angel rose slowly to his feet, his face human, and deadly with rage. "I will hunt you down, Talon. And when I am through with you, you will plead with me for your true death!"
"Not if I get to him first, Angel," Tala whispered fiercely.
"Now, now, there's more than enough to go around. Sadly, I must leave you, but I will send more information soon. Until then, Souled One, Elven Princess."
The hologram dissolved, but not before Buffy cried out in fear.
"ANGEL!"