by Cynamin

And so, when she could run no farther, she rested in the midst of the ever-active nighttime city. She was exhausted. For more days than she could count she’d been fleeing them, but sooner or later she had to stop. So she stopped, breathed deeply, and waited for them to come.

No one took much notice of her. Her appearance fit right in with the others on the street this late; the homeless, the down and out. Her clothes had not been changed since she had started running, and by now they were filthy, stained with mud and her own blood. Her hair was in tangles, matted strands hanging over her face. She didn’t even bother to brush it out of her eyes as she leaned against the dirty brick wall.

For the moment, she did nothing at all. She just stood there, exhausted, listening, breathing, seeing. The air was think with the scents of car exhaust and garbage, and other less pleasant odors. A homeless man down the street looked at her briefly, before deciding she wasn’t a threat and shuffling into an alley, no doubt to sleep.

It was doubtful that she would get much sleep this night. The moment she closed her eyes they’d be there. No, she couldn’t sleep at all at night if she wanted to stay free.

Stay free.

Despite her exhaustion and her disheveled appearance, she was alert and ready to run again if need be. More than one…thing had been startled by that before. She was always more alert than she appeared. She needed to be.

This night was no exception. Even as she leaned against the wall and waited to catch her breath, she saw them. They were always after her. Not always the exact same ones, but always someone. They kept to the shadows, making their way down the street, looking carefully at each pile of rags that was a person they passed. She counted one, two…five of them. Not great odds, considering her exhaustion. It was best to avoid them and hide out until day came. They never came after her then.

With the barest whisper of rustled fabric, she stood tall again, moving slowly so as not to draw attention to herself. She kept herself stooped over, looking small and helpless. Keeping her eyes on her pursuers, she made her way down the street, until at last she ducked in between this worn out building and the next.

It was terribly dark in the tiny alley. Keeping a hand along one wall, she shuffled along, carefully avoiding refuse and hoping that she would reach the next street and freedom once again. She knocked something over with a clatter. It sounded like wood, and she flailed blindly for it. Her eyes were adjusting to the near total darkness now, enough for her to see the broom handle she’d knocked over from where it was propped against the wall. She stepped on it and grabbed the end, snapping it in two. Holding the piece of handle in one hand, she tested its splintered end. This would do fine.

Her carefully seeking hand encountered something else – metal; a chain link fence. Her way out of the alley was fully blocked. She felt along it, seeking a break. Tripping over something, she fell against it, and the metal rattled noisily. She froze.

Her own heartbeat was loud in her ears, but it did not drown out the footsteps that were approaching quickly. She’d made too much noise; they’d heard her.

Her back to the fence, not too many of them could come after her at once. They could not get her from behind, at least. A small comfort. She grasped the broken broom handle in front of her like a spear and waited for them to come.

Come they did, and she could imagine what their hideous, distorted faces looked like even in the near total darkness. She didn’t need to see them to know what they were. She didn’t need to see their faces to stake their unbeating hearts.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” one of them said, sounding almost human. Almost. “You just need to come with us.”

She grasped the handle even tighter. “Come with you, huh? Come and get me,” she said with false bravado.

They surged forward as one. The very first one was easy to kill; pushed forward by his comrades, he nearly impaled himself on the wood. But as his ashes showered around her, the others came in from the side, and a true fight began.

Close quarters, no holds bared, she met them blow for blow for the first couple of minutes. But she had been running all day while they had been hiding from the sun, and where she was already exhausted their energy was completely fresh. They weren’t trying to kill her, but that didn’t matter. It was all the same when it came down to it.

A heavy blow from one of the vampires threw her backwards against the fence. She slumped to the ground, her back aching from the impact and her head spinning. Dazed, she felt the vampire that hit her grab her and start to sling her over his shoulders. Exhausted, she did the only thing she could – she screamed.

It didn’t matter to the vampire, who carried her back out into the open. No, her scream didn’t faze him one bit. Seconds later, though, the scream of one of his gang made him pause. Even exhausted, she heard the continued sounds of fighting and smiled. She highly doubted the vampires were fighting amongst themselves, so that left only one possibility – someone was fighting them, and it wasn’t her.

The vampire that was carrying her hesitated only a moment before turning away from his friends. He ignored the battle going on behind him and continued to carry her down the street. She realized her error – nothing mattered to this vampire but returning her to her captors. He’d probably be greatly rewarded.

“Help!” she screamed as loud as she could.

Mere seconds after that she was no longer being carried, but lay on the ground nursing new bruises as the vampire’s ash settled around her. She didn’t not bother to move. She did not know how many days she’d gone with minimal food and sleep, but it had finally caught up with her. All she could do was lay there and listen as the battle continued.

After a time, the sounds of fighting faded into nonexistence. Now was the moment of truth; either the vampires had won and she’d never be free again, or her mysterious savior had won…who might not have actually been saving her at all. She didn’t even care any more.

A face leaned over her, coming into her fading vision. “You alright?”

“Yeah.”

The owner of the face – a young black man, weaponry she was too tired to recognize slung over his shoulder – knelt beside her to help her into a sitting position. She was pleased to notice that his hands were warm.

“You shouldn’t be out here this time of night,” he reprimanded her. “You have somewhere to go?”

She shook her head. “No where. They always come after me, anyway. There’s always more.”

“Vampires?” he asked in surprise.

She nodded.

“They’re after you? Why?”

“Don’t know,” she mumbled, climbing to her feet. “Thank you for helping me. I have to go before more of them come.” She took a step away from him and stumbled.

“Not like this,” he said. “You need to rest.”

“Can’t. They’ll be there.”

He sighed. “How can you be so sure there’ll be more?”

“There always are.”

He was silent for a moment. “Listen… What did you say your name was?”

She did not reply at first. Name? Did she have a name...? “Elizabeth?”

He did not notice her questioning tone. “Alright, Elizabeth. My name’s Gunn. Would you mind if I took you to some… Some people who may be able to find out why the vampires are following you?”

Elizabeth nodded. After all, she had nowhere else to go.

“That’s it,” she muttered, staring at the doors. “Five more minutes, Angel, and I’m leaving,” she said to herself. After all, Wesley had gotten the night off. Angel was just spending a routine night out looking for vampires and anything else stirring up trouble. There were no major crises brewing at the moment. There was no reason Cordelia couldn’t leave whenever she felt like it.

Okay, so maybe she wanted to make sure Angel got back all right. Anything could happen out there. There got to a certain time of night, though, that she didn’t care that much anymore. She needed sleep as much as the next human being. She wanted that rest to be at her apartment, not in one of the couple of rooms they’d cleaned up in case they needed them. “One minute, and I’m leaving,” Cordelia declared.

She sighed and leaned her head in her hands, tired. It had been a long day with very little to do. She yawned again. “Time’s up. That’s it,” she said, standing up.

The door opened.

“Well, it’s about time!” Cordelia said loudly. “Where…” She stopped when she saw not Angel there but Gunn. “You’re not who I expected,” she faltered.

“Obviously,” Gunn agreed. “Is Angel here?”

“No, he’s who I was expecting,” Cordelia pointed out. Walking around from behind the counter she spotted another figure hovering behind him. “Who’s with you?”

Gunn turned slightly, moving so that Cordelia could better see who was with him. “Cordelia, this is Elizabeth.”

The girl shuffled tiredly to stand next to Gunn. Wiping filthy strands of hair out of her face, she looked at Cordelia nervously. She looked like just a typical homeless person off the street, if a bit younger than most. Cordelia could not fathom why Gunn would have brought her here. “Umm…”

“She was being followed by a group of vampires,” Gunn explained.

“But you got rid of them, right?” Cordelia asked, still not getting why Gunn would have brought her here and not just taken her to some shelter to stay.

Gunn nodded. “She believes she’s still being followed,” he explained.

Cordelia did not hide her surprise at that. She looked at the filthy girl, who seemed to be falling asleep on her feet. “Do you know why they’re after you?” she asked the girl.

Elizabeth shook her head, then brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I got away. They want me back,” was all she said.

Cordelia nodded, still confused, and looked at Gunn.

“I thought it sounded like the sort of thing Angel would want to check out,” he said.

“Yeah, it does,” Cordelia agreed. “He’ll be back eventually. In the meantime…” she looked at the girl with a bit more sympathy, “she can stay here. Goodness knows we have plenty of vacancies.” She smiled at that.

Gunn just nodded. “I’ll go, then. Goodnight.”

He turned to leave. When he was at the door, Cordelia called out to him. “Hey, Gunn?”

He turned around.

“Thanks,” she said. “Be careful, okay?”

Gunn smiled slightly at her and left.

After a moment of silence in his wake, Cordelia stepped closer to the girl. “Elizabeth, right?” she asked.

She nodded. “Yeah.”

Cordelia frowned. “It doesn’t fit you.”

The girl shrugged.

Cordelia looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. “Liz. Do you mind if I call you Liz?”

She just shrugged again.

“You’re not very talkative, are you?”

Elizabeth yawned. “I’m sorry, I’m…”

“Oh, you must be exhausted,” Cordelia said in understanding. “Come on, we’ve got a room where you can get cleaned up and get some rest.”

Cordelia led the exhausted girl up the stairs, looking behind her every once in a while to make sure Liz was following her. Despite her initial disgust at the girl’s state, she had to admit to herself that she sympathized with her story. She wondered how long Liz had been running and just what her story was. That would have to wait for the morning, though, judging by the fact that she was barely staying awake enough to make it up the stairs.

“Here you go,” Cordelia said at last, leading Liz into one of the rooms. “I’ve crashed here a couple of times, so there’s some things you can borrow to sleep in. The shower is through there-“ Cordelia pointed. “I’ll see you in the morning.” She turned to leave the girl alone in the room.

“Cordelia?” Liz asked as she was walking away.

“Yes?”

“Thank you. For giving me a place to stay. For trying to help me.”

Cordelia couldn’t help but smile. That was the most Liz had spoken all night. “You’re welcome.” Turning in the hallway, she left Liz with one last reassurance. “Angel will do everything he can to help you.”

He made his way up the stairs in the dark easily enough – one distinct advantage to being a vampire. He only hesitated when he reached the door to his room. There was a note taped there, and Angel recognized it as Cordelia’s handwriting. He took it off the door and walked into his room, flicking on the light as he began to read.

I know you’re in one piece, because I’m sure I would have a vision if you were in trouble, so I’m going home to get some sleep while it’s still dark out. We’re not all nocturnal, mister!

Anyway, before you find out by accident, we have a guest. Her name’s Liz, and she’s in the room I sometimes stay in. Apparently she’s been on the streets being chased by vampires or demons for some time. She was really exhausted, so I don’t know any more than that. I promised you could help her, so try and be nice when you meet her tomorrow. Don’t scare her. Wear less black or something.

~C.

Angel smiled at her parting shot. If it wasn’t for Cordelia he’d probably have truly withdrawn from humanity at some point in the last year. It was nearly impossible to do that with her around, though. And Cordelia wouldn’t stop trying to get him to lighten up…both his attire and his mood.

Putting down the note, Angel decided to look in on their visitor. The door down the hall was partly open, and Angel approached it as quietly as possible. He did not touch the door; he could see the young woman sleeping from where he stood in the hallway. She appeared to be about the same age as Cordelia – twenty at the oldest. Her haggard state made her look younger. Cordelia had apparently been correct about how exhausted the girl was, for she had fallen asleep on top of the covers fully dressed.

She had the look of one who’d been running for quite a while, even in her sleep. It wasn’t her general appearance, which was dirty and underfed. It was her face, which never relaxed from its expression of fear. As Angel watched, dreams played themselves out on Liz’s face until she tossed slightly in their grip. Angel stepped forward, ready to wake her from her nightmare.

The moment Angel reached for the door, the girl stilled again. She sighed and smiled slightly. “Angel…” she whispered in her sleep.

Angel nearly jumped out of his skin. What? How… Then almost immediately he laughed at his own foolishness. He closed the door softly then went to get some rest of his own.

It was good that someone could still dream of angels when the world was so plagued with demons.

Send me feedback so I know if there's any interest in this new story, 'cause it's a long one...
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