A/N: Yes, I know. It's been forever. My apologies. For those of you who don't know, you can find out what the hold up is on my author's page. You guys got lucky with this one. The school I'm student-teaching in just had a four day weekend so I thought what the heck. And typed this out. I hope it's up to your expectations.

Please let me know what you think, specifically about characterization. There was some stuff in here I wasn't sure about so let me know. Thanks for reading.

A/N 2: WARNING: Some of this is VERY DARK. We're talking Angelus-Dark. So those of you with squeamish stomachs might just want to read the first and last parts of this. This chapter definitely diverts from the tone I've been using. You have been warned.

Chapter 11

The first thing Buffy Summers became aware of as she regained consciousness was the smell. It screamed 'hospital.' It didn't say anything good. Past experience had taught her that nothing good ever happened in hospitals and she was forced to suppress her flight instincts which were begging her to get herself out of there as fast as possible.

Her soft sigh was the only warning given before green eyes opened.

The she remained motionless while taking in her surroundings, hoping for an out before the others caught on to the tiny fact that she was awake. She was alone for now but the others weren't far. There were raised voices outside her door and knew she was safe. Until they came back and decided to make her stay there for the next month or until the big evil that was residing in the hospital killed her. Hospitals always contained a big evil.

Slowly she went through the mental checklist to make sure everything was still in place.

Name: Buffy Summers

Age: 21

Location: Hospital. Duh! LA. Lives in Sunnydale CA. Hellmouth. Oh to forget that fact.

How the Hell I got here: Ugly, trigger-happy cop with gun. Oh yeah, bullet wound. Well, there's a first time for everything. Wonder if that's in the handbook.

Status: Pain

Her senses stretched out as she flexed her fingers, slowly waking from the lethargy that enveloped her. There was definite pain but she pushed it aside for the moment. They were talking about her. About her situation because apparently things weren't looking good for her survival. That made her smile.

She sat up, and immediately decided that it wasn't a good idea. She tried to ignore the painful pulling from the hole in her stomach, but sitting up had sapped her strength. Should have used the bed controller. She examined the injury. It wasn't a pretty sight. Red and angry looking. It itched, but that was a good thing in her experience. It meant it was healing. Good. That meant that she could get out of this hell hole even quicker. Although the more she looked at it the more painful it became.

She quickly decided the best course of action was to stop looking at it and get the hell out of Doge before her friends caught wind of what she was doing, namely: escape.

She gathered her strength and hauled herself out of the bed, gingerly testing her walking capacity. It wasn't looking good. The world tilted and she was forced to grab onto the railing of the bed to stop from falling to the floor. She froze, trying to stamp down the nausea that swamped her when she tried to move.

A gentle hand pushed her back into the bed before she disgraced herself by vomiting all over the place. She opened her eyes as she regained her balance and the world stopped spinning to look blearily into the face of her namesake.

"Hey," she whispered weakly.

"Buffy, what are you trying to do? You just got shot. Lay down and rest, I'll get the others."

She turned to leave but was stopped when the tiny slayer grabbed her arm, "Give it a sec. Things… how are they?"

Anne settled down into the chair nest to the hospital bed, "The guys are outside waiting for you to wake up. Wes called your friend Willow and she told your mom what was going on."

The injured blond groaned and slumped back into the uncomfortable mattress, "Mom knows. Yeah, that's real conducive for a relaxing weekend."

"Your mom was still asleep, I think the drugs really knocked her out, so Willow decided to stay with her and your sister. Cordelia is at the agency on the off chance that a costumer actually calls. And Gunn and Wesley are outside arguing with the Doctor."

She looked away at the far wall and her voice got even quieter as she continued, "Things were pretty shaky there for a while. We thought we were going to lose you. The doctor didn't hold out much hope."

Buffy shrugged and then winced as pain shot through her body, "Oww. Alright, no more of that. So the doc didn't have hope, huh? That's alright. I guess I can forgive him this once."

"Buffy, this is serious." Anne's eyes held unshed tears and she shrank into herself in a protective gesture. "You almost died."

"Anne, I'm fine. It'll take more than a few bullets to take me out. Sure there's pain. But it's nothing I can't handle."

But Anne wouldn't meet her eyes, "What's this about? Anne, I promise. I'm fine."

"I'm so sorry." Buffy could barely hear her whispered confession.

"What?"

"It's my fault you got hurt. If I hadn't-"

But Buffy broke her off, "Are you kidding me? Anne, I'm the Slayer. The title alone should let you in on the big secret that it's not the most conducive job to staying safe." She reached over and rubbed the taller girl's hand. "Trust me. I don't blame you for anything. You have no idea how grateful I am that you called. Getting away from Sunnydale has been an enormous help."

"But-"

"No," she said in a tone that booked no arguments. "It's not your fault."

Anne finally lifted her head from behind the curtain of blond hair, "Thanks Buffy." She gave a small, relieved laugh, "I better stop keeping you all to myself and let the others know that you're awake."

Buffy sent her a pleading look, "Are you sure you don't want to just let them wonder while we sneak out the back?"

Anne laughed at her blatant escape attempt and shook her head no. "Let me go and get the others."

"Don't bother," she muttered. "They're on their way."

The voices from the hallway came closer before she could do much more that pull the blanket up to her chin to retain what little modesty the gown afforded her. They were made by voyeurs. She was sure of it.

She had no time to make herself seem healthier than she actually was before the room was crowded with visitors.

"Have a nice nap?"

xoxox

Unlike many, Darla knew herself. She had a long time to become acquainted with the many advantages she had over the rest of the population as well as the disadvantages. She knew where her strengths lay and it wasn't in full frontal attacks.

She was a seductress. She had been in life and nothing had changed with her deaths. Except, perhaps, a much darker edge to her desires. She knew that she only held onto Angelus by a thread. Her tenuous hold on him could snap at any moment and while part of her would love to see what she would release, the wiser part remembered an arrow in the heart and unforgivable eyes.

It was with this in mind that she decided to seduce and secure. The apartment she brought him to was hers. A place with a view.

They didn't even make it to the bedroom before she decided to begin.

She prowled around his non responsive body and trailed her fingers across his shoulders. "You always had such good… form, Angelus. It was one of the more appealing aspects of your turning." She circled back around to his front and flicked his top button of his shirt open, hungrily eyeing the exposed flesh.

"Seeing you like this makes me regret years," another button flicked open, "that we could have been amusing ourselves," another, "in more," another, "interesting ways."

She pulled the edges of his shirt open with relish and licked her lips, anticipation in every action. His perfectly smooth, unblemished skin was before her in all its pale glory and she could barely resist the urge to change that.

It would be beautiful. He was a blank canvas and she was the artist. Nothing had ever been clean between them. How could it? They were creatures of the night. It could be interesting to see how the soul would affect his darker appetites. She was sure she could show him how good it could be, squeamishness aside. And judging the fury radiating from him she wouldn't have to try hard.

"You have no idea how much it aroused my interests after seeing the bloodshed our little test caused. If Dru and I had known what would have been the result, I'm sure we would have done it much quicker."

She had been worried that it took so much coaxing on her part to get him into her apartment. It almost made her hesitate but then he turned those dark, anger-filled eyes on her and her breath caught.

Anger she could use, and use it she would. It was the coldness that she couldn't transform into passion. But this… this she could use. Her memory was long, and she knew what he could do to her when he was in this mood. The very idea had her lower body clenching in anticipation, a shiver of desire running through her.

Eager hands pushed at his shirt until it was a discarded heap on the floor. "Seeing you like that brought back memories of our better days. The days I want to get back to as soon as possible." She leaned upwards and fully rubbed herself against his body, her breasts crushed to his chest, "Do you remember the girl who… entertained us the first time we went back to Ireland?"

"There were many."

"Don't be coy, my Angel. You know the girl. This one was special. This one thought she was special anyways. She thought dressed as a man we couldn't smell her bleed." Her catlike eyes closed shut in remembered ecstasy and she swayed back slightly, "Oh, how you made that one bleed even more. Her screams rang in my ears for days."

Her hand trailed along the smooth plains of his chest, her nails catching on his exposed nipples. That memory had entertained her beyond what they had done to the gypsy girl. A little blonde girl who thought she would be safe from the shadows in the night. She was wrong. Oh how she was wrong.

The tips of her fingers continued their journey across his chest, "She was a pretty little slip of a girl, wasn't she? I always wondered what it was about that one that inspired you so. She was no different than so many others, and yet, for her, your methods changed."

Her fingers danced across the edge of his pants and then moved away, "I have a theory. Would you like to hear it?" But she didn't wait for an answer as she moved even closer to him to whisper in his ear, "I think she made you angry. I've never seen you disfigure a woman before in your games but this time," she moved away and finally opened her eyes to meet his, "this time you did."

The smell of blood hit her and she looked down to realize her nails had dug into his sides in her excitement while she was lost in memory. Her gaze returned to his and she allowed a hint of mischief to shine through as she raised the blood stained digits to her mouth and slowly sucked them clean. "Her face, when you were finished, was a work of art. But that was just the ending of a glorious night."

In an elegant move that most wouldn't be able to pull off without looking clumsy she slid down his body until she was kneeling before him and gripped his hips in her powerful hands. "Do you remember, Angelus? You crushed her pelvis before taking her. Scarcely any force with your foot and it collapsed under the pressure. Your every thrust into her sweet, innocent, virginal body made her scream all the more for the grinding of her bones."

Her eyes closed as she leaned forward and slowly licked the blood from his skin reveling in the taste of him once again. It had been so long. "And you," she sighed in pleasure, "you held out longer than I thought you would, wringing out her every cry of pain. Music to the ears. We had a symphony that night."

Her words whispered across the skin of his stomach as she moved to the other side to taste the remaining blood. She moaned as it hit her tongue, a purely sexual sound, her mouth sucking at the small wounds to get every drop available. It was almost a disappointment when she was finished, but only a small one. This night promised to hold much more bloodshed before it was finished.

Still kneeling before him, she gazed up at him through lowered eyelashes, "Then there was that frozen look of horrified acceptance on her face as you forced her to her stomach and violated her again, taking what little purity remained. The shock was a beautiful thing. Her ignorance of what we could do to her untried body. Sodomy was a thing she had only heard preached of as a great evil."

She leaned back on her heels and spread her thighs, opening her still clothed body to him, "Do you remember Angelus? It was while you were still inside her, with the crushed bones of her pelvis pressing into the floorboards causing that exquisite agony and the blood of her virginity staining the floor when you took the knife, the one I had given to you, and began your art."

She leaned forward and reached for his belt buckle, her patience almost gone. But she understood anticipation. She could draw this out until he was tortured with it. Until he snapped. She slowly began to undo his belt as she continued, "You hold too much value in art to only desire pain, and what you did to her was most definitely art."

A low laugh from deep in her throat emerged as she licked his stomach, "It was a stroke of genius, actually. Do you remember Angelus? You were still within her as you began carving her sins onto her exposed back. You listed them one by one for the world to see. The cuts were deep enough to scar, you made sure. And the girl, poor pitiful creature she was, discovered she wasn't nearly done screaming."

After releasing the ends of the unbuckled belt, she opened the top button of his slacks and slowly rose to her feet making sure that she never lost contact with his body, "Who knew you could fit so many sins on one small girl's back. And you made sure that she wouldn't forget one thing we did to her that night as you carved each deed into her skin."

"It was definitely one of the more… enjoyable nights in existence. Especially when we threw her unconscious naked body out into the street and we watched as she was found. Letting her live, now that was a nice touch. Making her live with the shame of what had happened, never to escape. I don't think she ever recovered."

She was done waiting. It was time, she decided as she reached for his zipper. But he was quicker. The bones in her wrist ground together and she hissed in pleasure as he squeezed, almost breaking the fragile bones. Had she been human her wrist would have been crushed. But then, that was one of the advantages of being dead.

His face could have been carved marble, "Glad I could be of service."

"Decide to join in the fun, Angelus? It's about time." A shameless smile crossed her face, "I knew when you gave me that wonderful gift of the lawyers it had begun. My Angelus, come back to me. What a beautiful sight."

"I'm not in the mood, Darla," he stated through gritted teeth as his hand clenched tighter on her wrist.

She gave a soft snort and pressed her lower body into his, "You can't fool me, lover. You can't even fool yourself. What is it you really want? Tell me."

"I want to kill something."

xoxox

Gunn finally got the opportunity to speak with Buffy after the others had left them alone in favor of getting some actual sleep, and that was just fine with him. He needed to talk to her and it was easier when no one else was there to interrupt.

Slowly he sank down into the uncomfortable chair next to her bed and gathered his thoughts.

All in all he wasn't quite sure what to think. Sure he got that Angel was the big hurt, but that was about it. He was having trouble realigning his notions about the people he knew.

First there was Buffy Summers. A girl he knew for little more than a summer, but it was hard to bleed with someone the way they had for those months and not form an unbreakable bond. And it wasn't just him, his entire crew had gotten close to the girl and the situation had worked out fairly well. She was able to help them with the physical and they were able to help her with the emotional. And her emotional had definitely needed work. Everyone living on the streets was inevitably screwed to begin with but it went deeper with her. And everyone knew it. Not hard facts. But they knew that something was wrong with her. She was carrying a deep pain.

He knew that with the exception of Anne, he was her closest confidant when she was with them. Most of what she shared was her war stories, but every now and again something would leak through. Her tone would go wistful and she would get that far away look in her eyes he soon learned to associate with the big hurt. It didn't take a genius to figure out it was a guy.

Which led him to Angel. The vampire who he worked for. The big hurt.

"So he was the guy, huh?"

"Gunn-" she started.

"Listen Buffy, I get that you couldn't talk about it. Some things… I get it. But you gotta cut me some slack. I been workin' for this vamp for the past year. And to suddenly find out that he's the one… well, lets just say I didn't see it comin'."

"It wasn't just his fault." She gave a small, hopeless shrug, "Although I never agreed with it, there were circumstances. And those circumstances haven't changed in the past couple of years."

"So that summer?"

She cringed, "Did he ever tell you about his stint in Hell?"

"And later?"

"You ever seen Cordy's extra crispy high school diploma?"

"Sounds to me like this has been boiled about as far down as it can go."

"Trust me, while the long version seems to be a source of great entertainment for most people, you really don't want to sit the weeks it would take to tell it."

"How much do I hate him?"

"Gunn. Don't be like that." She reached over and patted his hand, "I know that right now you guys have your own set of Angel issues. You really don't need to add mine to that list. I get the whole white knight routine-" he shot her a look "-black knight routine. But I already have one of those. The job of hating Angel full time has been filled."

He smirked, "Is this the hyena-boy you told me about?"

She couldn't stop the snicker that escaped, "Yeah. That's our Xander."

"If you're not going to let me do my job in puttin' the hurt on Angel for what he did, you can at least entertain me with war stories. After all, we've got at least five more hours before we can bust outta here, and it's fallen to me to keep you distracted until then."

She glared at him, "Just for that I don't think you're going to get to hear about the real Dracula."

Tbc…