Angel stood paralysed in the centre of the room, chomping down on his cold bottom lip as the surrounding scent of Buffy enclosed him, choking him. He could feel his thirst for blood growing heavier by the minute, though he was far too aware that he would merely be an uneven pile of dust piled up on the floor if he even tried to get his teeth close enough to her neck. Instead Angel continued to chew on his lip, reminding himself of the pigs blood that hung in his fridge at his current apartment.

His interested eyes searched her apartment. Angel drank everything in, trying to piece together details about her life that still remained a mystery to him. From what he could gather from his surroundings, she lived alone and had few, if none, friends. He knew this by the absence of any photographs that usually littered walls in people's houses, decorating their homes with a warmth of memories that would be forever concealed in one simple snap of a photo. However, just as his examination came to an end, a single photo frame stood out from its place on the television stand opposite her bed. Without even asking Buffy's permission, he glided across the room and bent down to scan the picture in more detail. Angel's vampire hearing allowed him to detect the quick intake of breath taken by Buffy which made him aware that this photograph, the only photograph in her possession it seemed, was extremely important to her.

The photo was of Buffy and her mother. Thanks to his satisfying memory, Angel was able to recall upon the time of when he first met Buffy as her five year old self. Unlike today's Buffy, the seventeen year old woman, she looked quite innocent and unaware of the horrors that reality hid behind its thin layer of lies. With her beautiful blonde locks held up high in two ponytails, clutching onto her mothers hand, as she grinned with glee … Angel couldn't help the faint smile that danced across his entranced face.

And then his eyes turned to Joyce.

She had been so oblivious to the fact that her life was coming to an end. So unaware to the fact that she would be parting from her daughter, leaving her all alone with no one to care for her. In all his centuries wandering upon the Earth, Angel had never been more distraught about a humans decease before. It touched him in ways he hadn't thought possible since his new existence as a vampire. For the first time in centuries, he felt a shed of humanity burning within him.

"It was taken a few weeks before her death," Buffy spoke up from behind him, sounding as though the words were causing her a lot of difficulty to speak out loud.

Angel merely nodded in response. He gently brushed his fingertips along the photo, across Joyce's face, before straightening up, turning his full attention back to the blonde. She stood watching him a few meters away, her arms folded tightly across her chest as she scrutinized him with watchful eyes. Angel could tell from her posture that she was keeping his every single movement under surveillance, making it evident that she lacked trust in him. He didn't blame her - it was his kind after all that had drunk away the life in her Mother. He gave her a relaxed smile.

"So, what's the hubbub bub? It's not everyday I get vampires wanting to get with the chatty," Buffy said.

She leant against the wall, her arms still tightly crossed, as she examined Angel under her thick fringe of eyelashes. From what she could tell so far, he hadn't lured her back here to put an end to her existence. That was a bonus. He was in fact the first vampire to ever set foot into her apartment and this thought scared her quite a bit. Buffy couldn't understand what had possessed her to invite this mystical creature into her home, what had stopped her from kicking his ass back into the ground where he belonged. Angel was like every other vampire she had had the misfortune to stumble upon. Except, as much as she tried to fool herself with that thought, even she knew that she was wrong. Angel wasn't like the others.

"I was there that day … you know, when that vampire-"

"Yeah, I remember," Buffy cut him off before he could dive any further into that.

Angel gave a swift nod of his head. Noticing the emotion that now pooled up in her eyes, he looked away to recollect himself. Sometimes time didn't heal all wounds.

The silence between them was deafening. It clawed at them both, suffocating them with its intensity, as they stood there, unaware they were both reliving the same day through their minds. Sickness bubbled in Buffy's stomach as she scrunched her eyes shut, shaking her head from side to side in hope that she would be able to just discard the past like a piece of unwanted clothing.

"I was sent that day," Angel informed, breaking the silence.

Buffy looked up at him, her eyes searching him, waiting for him to continue. But he didn't.

"You were sent? What do you mean you were sent?" she asked.

Leaning up off the wall, her arms finally unravelled. On either side of her arms were deep marks where her fingernails had sunk into her flesh.

"To protect you. To save you from that vampire," he replied, allowing his eyes to meet hers.

Her hazel eyes turned into a whirlpool of questions. Her nose scrunched up slightly as she surveyed him, trying to get more information out of his words than he had given. Angel decided to put her out of her misery.

"The Angel of Destiny sent me."

Buffy's widened to the size of saucers as she stared at Angel in pure disbelief. She shook her head, directing her eyes away from Angel, and looked down at her shoes, fixating her eyes on them instead. Angel allowed her a moment to think before he interrupted her silence. Except she broke it before he had chance.

"So … what -"

"The Angel of Destiny knows every single creatures destiny. Sure your future might change, but you can't fight destiny," Angel interrupted, rubbing the smooth skin on the back of his neck for purely just something to do.

Buffy nodded her head slowly.

"So, this "Angel of Destiny" sent you that day to save me from that vampire?" she concluded, crossing her arms tightly once more.

Angel realised this and knew immediately that she was getting frustrated again. And he hadn't even gotten to the most frustrating part yet, he thought glumly.

"Yes," said Angel.

Another silence.

"I may not have centuries worth of knowledge here, and tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that means she saw something in my destiny that I needed to do before I could croak it," Buffy said bitterly.

She unravelled her arms and run her fingers through her hair, clutching a fistful of her blonde locks as she took a huge breath. She couldn't help but feel drained. Like suddenly everything in her life was coming too fast, hitting her head on. And, as strong as she physically was, Buffy knew that she wasn't stable enough to take it all on. The sudden smoothness of another hand on her own had her jumping forcefully out of her thoughts, flinching away from the kind gesture.

Angel bowed his head and took a step back.

"Will you be in the cemetery tonight?" he asked.

"Yes."

"We'll continue this discussion then," Angel mumbled, turning his back on her and heading for the door.

Buffy bit down on her lip as she slid to the floor with a thud. Dropping her head into her knees, she rocked herself back and forwards slightly.

The silence began to choke her.

She lives in a fairytale, somewhere too far for us to find.

Forgotten the taste and smell of the world that she's left behind…

Buffy turned off the radio, irritated.

The mere mention of the word "fairytale" had her cringing as though someone had vigorously shovelled a mixture of the world sourest sweets into her mouth. The word made a shiver run down her spine. It was usually a word that people associated with princesses and magic and wizards, however to Buffy she associated it with vampires, demons … her reality. Everything that made fairytales wonderful to young children, made it horrifying to her … because she knew that most of the enchanted creatures explored in fairytales did actually exist.

Discarding her decent looking clothes, she pulled out a pair of ripped black pants and a black tank top. These were usually the sort of clothes her patrolling consisted of. As soon as she was dressed, with a jacket thrown on and a pair of boots tied up, Buffy grabbed her wooden stake from her underwear drawer and headed towards the door.

Five minutes later, she breezed through the gates of the cemetery, her eyes searching for a vampire and one vampire only. Instantly she sensed him behind her, creeping up as quietly as he could, though she was still able to detect him. Buffy spun around to acknowledge Angel stood a few meters away from her.

"Hey," he greeted.

Buffy gave him a small nod in return.

No more words were spoken as Buffy spun on her heel and marched off further into the cemetery, her head held high. Angel merely followed, skulking behind her in the shadows. He had already patrolled around the cemetery before she had arrived and had been greeted with only the soft breeze and coldish chill that loomed in the streets of Sunnydale. However, he didn't want to interrupt her during her hunting, so he continued to stay silent.

The minutes passed slowly and painfully, no action had taken place since Buffy stepped through the gates. After realising she had wasted enough time trying to find anything to distract her from talking to Angel, she came to a halt with a loud sigh and spun on her heels to face him.

"Why did you need to save me then?" she questioned abruptly.

"It's rare for the Angel of Destiny to order someone else to intervene in situations, usually she completes the task herself-"

"So why did she send you?" Buffy said.

"I don't know," Angel replied unsurely, shrugging his shoulders.

Scanning around the empty cemetery, Buffy decided that her work was done. She looked up to find Angel already walking ahead of her, back towards the gates, as though he could read her mind. She gave a slightly angry huff before storming off after him.

"Can we just skip out all this crap and get to the important bit please. I want to know why I was saved," she demanded.

The two of them walked out of the cemetery, leaving the darkened gloom behind them, and turned to walk down the street, back towards Buffy's apartment.

"The vampire who … you know … well, he wasn't just any random vampire."

"You're saying he wasn't a vampire?" said Buffy, raising her eyebrow.

"Oh, he was a vampire … but he was part of an assassination squad called The Order of the Darkness … who are a bunch of vampires who specialise in killing people," answered Angel, gritting his teeth.

Buffy's eyes searched Angel's face. He seemed aggravated by the mere thought of them. But somewhere, deep within his brown eyes, he looked lost, pained even. And the sudden overwhelming emotion of sympathy surprised Buffy herself. She didn't care for vampires, she wanted them dead.

"So this … this assassination squad … came for me?"

"Yes."

Suddenly, Buffy burst into hysterics. Her laughter echoed down the empty street, even rattling the stars high above in the night time sky. Her laughter took Angel by surprise. He cocked his head toward her, eyeing her in interest as she threw her head back and increased the volume of her laughter. Slowly she composed herself, dried her tearful eyes, and turned to him in amusement.

"Well that's great, like, really great. Freakin' five year old with a vampire assassination squad after her. You know, I could literally write this crap up and pass it off as some wonderful novel!" Buffy spat.

All traces of humour vanished from her face, fury taking no hesitation in replacing it. She shook her head before storming off down the street, stamping her feet on the pavement. Angel followed mutely, leaving her to blow off some steam, however just as he turned the corner to follow her, he found that she had waited for him in the darkness. Buffy still looked furious, her nostrils flaring with her fists clenched tightly by her sides.

"I want you to go back to your crypt or your coffin … or whatever … and don't bother me again. I've had enough now - I don't want nothing to do with the supernatural from now on," Buffy told him.

Angel's lips parted slightly.

"No!" Buffy roared, shaking her head back and forth, "I don't care. I don't care … I just don't care no more."

And with that, she spun on her heel and darted off down the road, not once sparing a glance behind her.

"You do care," Angel whispered as he watched her figure disappear into the darkness.

WOOOOOOO!

UPDATEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :)

I am so so sorry it has taken me so long to update. My laptop broke and has only just been returned to me! So it was nice to come and write this straight away.

I really hoped you enjoyed this chapter. And I hope I'm making it interesting enough.

Thank you so much for every single review, it means the world!

By the way, the lyrics are Brick By Boring Brick by Paramore. AMAZING SONG :)

Lots of love,

Beth x