Fury of the Beast

Feedback: Please, I need it to get the motivation to continue this fic.

Disclaimer: I'm not making any money off of this, so suing would be pointless. All you'd do is make some lawyers richer..

Nicholas was driving towards his base of operations in L.A.

He was tired, a side effect of the ring he used.

The benefits were superior to the side effects, though. Even if he did go through hell every time he slipped it on.

If it wasn't for that ring, he would have been dead several times over by now, instead of gaining the title of 'Immortal.

Hah. 'Immortal'. He was anything but. He felt old, worn, faded beyond his twenty-seven years.

His bones ached, so many had been broken in his battles. Every time he went to kill some more vampires, he was sure something in his frail, mortal body would give, and he would finally lose his title.

He wondered what vampire would get the honor of killing of killing him.

No matter. Until he died, he'd take out a lot of vampires.

He was lucky this night, he took out the Giovanni vamps without a scratch. Most of the time, he had some wounds, and no matter what that ring did, it didn't help him heal up.

He glanced to the suitcase in the seat beside him, which was full of twenty dollar bills.

He loved hunting Giovanni. They always had lots of cash lying around for him to pick up after the hunt was done. Not often he managed to make a profit hunting bloodsuckers. The stash he'd taken would last him a while. Special ammo wasn't that easy to make, do it wrong and it blows up in your face.

Do it right, and creatures of the night will fall like flies.

He pulled into an old apartment building, it was condemned quite some time ago, so he wouldn't be bothered.

He stepped out of his car, gathering the arsenal in his trunk in several trips.

His katana, a pair of shotguns, an M-79 'Blooper' grenade launcher, machine pistols, a retired stakegun, twelve packs of C4, and his personal favorite, a rocket launcher.

For the really big nasty. Like a Vozhd, or just to have some fun on a war ghoul.

He had to take five trips to the room he'd selected to his car to get all the weapons inside.

Once that was done, he sat back and relaxed in an old rocking chair.

He noticed his left arm was shaking.

He concentrated, and got his arm back under control.

Guess his body wasn't designed to do what he forced it to do, thanks to that ring.

Clenching and unclenching his hands, he went to an old matted bed, and slept the day away.

Tomorrow, was another hunt.

Lindsey McDonald, was pissed.

This was the last thing he needed, a hunter of great skill, disrupting the work of the Giovanni, and the interests of the firm. The weapons smuggling would have been sent to Japan, and used in the retrieval of a legendary book of necromancy.

Now, a hunter's luck had disrupted the firm's interests. At least it wasn't at the hands of Angel, but it still sucked.

The senior partners were going to terminate some more people, and that was never pleasant.

He sat back further in his chair, turning to look out at the sunrise.

He loved his new office and position of junior partner, but he still had to deal with far too much crap.

Sure, the book wasn't lost yet, but until the Giovanni got back on top of things, they couldn't launch the search party, as the book was guarded by some nasty guardians, and they'd need a lot of weapons to take it out.

Sighing, he went back over the file on his desk.

2335- All quiet, no problems, weapons being packed.

0100- Hunter's arrival.

0103- All Giovanni within the warehouse killed.

0125- Warehouse in flames, gasoline thought to be used, chain reaction with gunpowder amplified damage.

0140- Nothing left of the building but ash.

This guy was good. He lit the building on fire to ensure that all the Giovanni inside were dead.

Lindsey was thinking the hunter was a Ghoul or a Revenant, ordered to take out the Giovanni by a rival clan.

That damn Jhyad of the Kindred was quite annoying. Not as annoying as the demonic vampire's habits, or the manners of so many assassins and demons he'd met, but still annoying. You never knew what the other vampire clans would do.

Or the other lawyers in the building. They were just as bad, trying to climb their way up the corporate ladder.

In any case, the hunter had to be eliminated, and then the book might be retrieved.

Nobody messed with Wolfram & Hart.

Nobody.

Xander had spent the night talking to Lily at Caritas, and now he was stewing about in his haven.

Funny the stuff he'd learned that night. Things like half-demons were good people. That many demons had integrated into the human world, being all nice.

Weird.

He looked around his haven again, looking for something to do.

He wished he had thought of taking a place with a TV set, or even, god forbid, thought to take a few books.

It sucked not being able to go out in the daylight. Now he had to whittle away long periods of time just staring at the walls.

Sure, sleeping helped kill time, but he was still left with staring at the wall for a few hours.

Xander never was that much of a patient guy.

He sighed, and checked his watch.

Another four hours to sundown.

He'd have to drill out a sewer access, or something, so he could move around more.

He looked at the clock he'd hung on his wall.
6:35 PM

Damn.

If he tried to go outside now, he'd be a crispy critter in two seconds.

Sometimes, being a vampire rocked.

The rest of the time, well, it sucked. Pun intended.

He sat back on his old couch, so he could just daydream the next few hours away.

He'd pick up a book or something during the night.

If talking to Lily didn't take up all his time.

Nicholas wandered through the city, at once standing out in the crowd, and being unnoticeable.

Funny how that worked in L.A. You could be big and menacing, and nobody will take note, until you actually do something.

Come to think of it, it was the same for New York.

The slums were a prime vampire breeding and hunting ground, but the really bad ones tend to live in a better part of town.

The ones behind the scenes were the ones he was most interested in.

Those that manipulated the human world, concealing themselves from the world by hiding, passing as humans, killing whomever got in the way.

The ones who led them, that's who he wanted.

Though, the occasional bloodsucker he crossed were good exercise.

Or an occasional demon. They were always fun.

A small twitch ran through his left arm again.

Not as bad, maybe he was healing.

Hah, and if he had wheels he'd be a wagon.

Anyway, it was only a couple of hours to nightfall.

He had to stake out the area he was going to hunt, interrogate a few fledglings, find out who's boss round here.

Then he'd do what he always did.

Take it was busy going through the files of previous cases. Long, boring tedious work.

The only reason she was doing it at all is because Angel insisted she learn how, or she'd take a pay cut.

Not wanting to lose any money at all, she'd agreed, after talking his left ear off.

No matter what she went through, she was still Cordelia.

She sighed, and continued filing.

Until that now-familiar pain came along, with those blurry images.

A katana, slicing towards something.

A man dressed in black, the sword gripped in his right hand, shooting at a form with his left.

The man slicing at somebody unbelievably fast, and the other barely avoiding the sword.

The ring on the hunter's hand in startling detail.

Xander.

Finally, the vison ended.

She opened her eyes to see Wesley standing above her, concern on his face.

"Are you okay, Cordelia?" He asked.

"I'm fine Wesley, get me some aspirin and a phone, I gotta call Angel."

He went and picked up both items, and handed them to her wordlessly.

She sighed in relief, popped two pills in her mouth, and quickly picked up the phone.

Angel hung up his cell phone, getting Cordy's call.

He stepped on the gas pedal, driving recklessly to the place Cordy had pointed him to.

Xander was walking along, towards Caritas where he'd meet up with Lily and spend the night.

Damn, but he could just spend so much time with her and not notice.

Heh, not like time was an issue anymore, as long as he stayed out of the sun.

As he walked, he passed a tall, menacing looking guy in black leather, complete with sunglasses, near a dark and quiet alleyway.

Ye gods, he looked like the Terminator in a trenchcoat.

He ignored the man, and continued walking.

"Hey." Xander heard from behind him.

He turned around, seeing the man looking at him.

"Would you mind telling me where I am? I'm lost." The man said.

"Yeah, sure. You're in the wrong part of town, head back to get onto safer ground." Xander said, beginning to turn back.

"Thanks. By the way, I need you to show you something." The man said, slight humor on his voice.

Xander turned back.

"Yeah? What is it?"

The man threw a bottle at him, which broke when it hit him.

The contents began to burn.

Xander screamed, and staggered.

"Holy water, bloodsucker. Looks like an easy kill tonight." The man laughed out.

"Who are you?" Xander said through gritted teeth.

The burns were starting to heal, but they wouldn't heal completely for a few hours.

"Nicholas, the Immortal." He said.

Then he reached into his trenchcoat, and pulled out a shotgun.

As fast as his fledgling Brujah legs would move, Xander ran into the nearby alley.

The shotgun went off, and the wall sparked.

Xander ran, and jumped up to grab the end of a fire escape ladder.

He leaped onto a landing, as the shotgun went off again, the ladder sparking with the pellets hitting it.

He jumped onto the next level, and pulled his way up to the third, hearing the hunter pull himself onto the first level.

He took a running jump, and gripped the edge of the next building's roof with his fingernails.

If he was human, he'd be dead right now.

Struggling, Xander pulled himself up, turning to look at the hunter climbing up to the fourth floor fire escape.

The hunter glared at him through the sunglasses.

He reached into his pocket, and pulled something out.

The hunter then slipped it onto his finger.

He then collapsed, howling in pain.

A few moments later, the man rose with a smile on his face.

He took a running leap, and landed about twenty feet away from Xander's spot.

The distance, was twenty feet from the fire escape to the rooftop.

No human should have been able to make it. Even vampires had trouble doing it.

This human did it with ease.

Panicking, Xander turned and ran as fast as he could, leaping from roof to roof.

Still, he heard the hunter following him. The shotgun went off again, the pellets narrowly missing him Changing tactics, Xander leapt down the next gap, letting himself fall onto a pile of conveniently placed cardboard boxes that crumpled beneath his weight.

He took off towards the end of the alley, hoping to get away.

The ground next to his feet sparked, and the hunter cursed.

He rounded a corner, and the wall next to him chipped and sparked.

Then he realized his mistake.

It was a dead end.

Pressing his body against the wall, he waited for the hunter to round the corner.

The man came around, the shotgun in both hands.

"Quite a chase you've given me. Not often I get a challenge anymore. Oh well. Now, who's your boss?" Nicholas said.

"I don't have a boss, I'm just trying to get by." Xander replied.

"Too bad for you, then. Goodbye." Nicholas said.

He rose the shotgun to Xander's chest, and pulled the trigger.

Angel drove into the alley Cordelia pointed out, jumped out of the convertible, and ran as fast as he could.

He prayed he wasn't too late.

Click.

The shotgun's chamber was empty.

Taking advantage, Xander kicked the barrel into the hunter's face, and ran past him.

Then he was flung onto the ground by several blows that could have come from a sledgehammer.

The Beast within him howled in fury, and tried to take control.

He barely held it back.

Painfully, he rolled onto his back, seeing the hunter stroll into view, a machine pistol smoking in his left hand.

Nicholas reached into his coat with his right hand, slowly pulling a long katana out.

"Time to die, blooddrinking scum. May your victims torture you forever in the pit of hell."

He rose the sword, and swung.

Painfully, Xander twisted out of the sword's path.

The sharp blade sparked as it hit the pavement.

The hunter swung again.

Xander couldn't avoid it this time.

He shut his eyes.

Clang!

The katana was stopped, six inches from Xander's throat.

By another sword. A one handed broadsword with a long hilt.

"You'd better leave, or I'll have to kill you." A familiar voice said.

Angel.

The swords moved away from Xander, who was feeling the wrath and fury of the Beast.

With all his might, he repressed it.

With that, he blacked out.

Xander woke up, marveling at the fact his head was still firmly attached.

Then he noticed another problem.

He was wrapped, neck to toe, in chains, and he couldn't move an inch.

The pillow his head was resting on was real comfortable, though.

He rose his head as much as he could, and looked around.

Cordelia was leaning back in an easy chair, apparently napping. Must have been a hectic night for her.

"Cordelia." He said, softly.

She woke.

"Xander." She said, a little panic on her face.

Then in her tired mind she realized he was still wrapped up in his chains.

She chuckled at herself.

"Thank god, I thought you'd escaped for a minute there." She said, smiling.

He smiled a little bit.

"I could make a crack about you being kinky right now, Cor, but I won't bother. What happened?" Xander asked.

"I had a vison, Angel ran in to save the day, he had a swordfight with the hunter and scared him off, found you both unconscious and undead, brought you here and tied you up." She said, barely taking a breath.

"Why didn't he stake me on the spot? I thought he'd have put me out of my misery." Xander asked.

"He almost did, if your face was all 'Grrrr', he would have." Cordelia said.

He thought over that for a few minutes.

"Looks like I've gotta explain what I am to you guys." He mused.

Cordelia nodded.

Yay, part 6. Onto part 7!