by Cynamin

Running.

Her breath is screaming in her lungs, her heartbeat is pounding in her chest. Her legs ache from the strain. She tries to ignore her body’s demand to slow and pushes herself a little bit faster.

She might not be fast enough.

Behind her, she can hear it. Enraged, it chases after her, gaining quickly. It is huge, and that alone is something in its favor. Well, that and the fact that it is really pissed off.

She feels a tiny shred of satisfaction at that. She hadn’t expected to succeed so well.

Still, it comes, crashing directly through obstacles she had to act to avoid. Its huge bulk tears through walls and doors indiscriminately. Closer. Faster.

She feels a tiny shred of relief as her goal comes in sight. She does not slow for the swinging doors ahead. Instead she pushes herself even harder, barreling right through them. She doesn’t know if the hinges can take it, but in moments it wouldn’t matter – it is right behind her.

She doesn’t see it go through the doors after her, but she hears the walls crash down around them. Even as she takes in the sound with an odd shred of regret she climbs the stairs two at a time and finally dives out the back window.

As she rolls to a stop outside, she hears it hesitate before following her. There is just one last thing to do. All is going as they’d planned.

The explosion is larger and hotter than she’d expected it to be. But then, overkill was better than…no kill.

The first clue that things were different this time was that Liz was fully rested when she awoke. She never let herself sleep long when she was on the run. She only slept exactly as much as necessary to keep herself going for another night. Sometimes she’d break up her day with multiple short naps, running in between. Last night she’d obviously felt safe enough to sleep long and soundly.

Which wasn’t to say the comfortable bed had nothing to do with her night’s rest. She hadn’t had a bed since she’d started running. Even the last bed she could remember had not been nearly as comfortable as this one; it had just been a cot in a very dark room. This room was dark, too, she saw as she opened her eyes, with heavy drapes that blocked the sunlight. Still, the edges of the curtains glowed, promising a bright day just beyond them.

Liz smiled slightly and stretched. Maybe she should trust this subconscious sense of safety. After all, this was the first time that she’d ever had a hope that she could stop running. She knew she couldn’t run forever. She also couldn’t live without hope forever. So, whether these people could help her or not, she would let them try. What did she have to loose?

All she had was her freedom. If it seemed she was going to loose that she could always run again. Right now, though, she had a comfortable bed and someone who was going to try and help her.

Oh! And she had a shower!

It had been way too long since she’d felt clean.

So, fifteen minutes later she was sitting on the bed, wrapped in a big, fluffy towel, attempting to run her hands through her horribly tangled hair. When that didn’t work so well, she used her hands to try to brush her hair away from her face. Her hair a lost cause, she reached for her clothes and frowned at their appearance. It was doubtful that even washing them would help; they were better suited for the trash bin than the washing machine. Still they were all she had.

Rested, clean, and feeling a good deal more human than the night before, Liz finally emerged from the hotel room. The hallway was dark as well, and very quiet. Liz stood there in the hallway, trying to match her current location with her exhausted trip into the hotel the night before. She’d been so tired that her basic sense of direction had been shot. She looked at the identical doors in confusion.

She could see what looked like the end of the hallway in one direction, so she couldn’t have come from that way. With no other option, Liz began to walk the other way. When she at last found the stairs, she could faintly hear voices from down them. Nodding slightly to herself, Liz headed down the stairs.

She was halfway down the stairs before they noticed her. One of them, male, was standing with his back to the stairs. “Still,” he was saying, “this is not a boarding house, Cordelia. I don’t think…”

Cordelia – who Liz recognized from the night before – cleared her throat loudly. “Good morning, Liz,” she said with a huge – and slightly false – grin.

Liz’s positive outlook on the morning faltered slightly. She was feeling very much like an intruder all of a sudden. “Uh, hi.”

“We were just talking about you,” Cordelia said, flashing her grin on her companion, who had turned at Liz’s descent.

“I…noticed.”

The older man looked a bit embarrassed. Still, he covered well. “Good morning…Liz, is it?” When Liz didn’t reply, he glanced at Cordelia, who nodded at him. “I am Wesley.”

Cordelia coming closer and looking at Liz critically saved Liz from having to say anything else. “What in the world are you wearing?” she asked.

“Um…it’s all I have.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “I told you that you could borrow any of my stuff that’s in there.”

“I didn’t want to impose,” Liz said weakly.

“Ridiculous!” Cordelia declared. She looked at Wesley firmly. “If Angel wakes up any time soon, tell him that I’m taking our guest to buy some essentials. Until then…” she faced Liz again, “let’s see if we can’t find you something to wear.” Cordelia began walking towards the stairs, sure that Liz would follow.

“If it’s too much trouble…” Liz tried, walking quickly to catch up.

Cordelia just smiled. “I haven’t been to the mall in too long. Probably has something to do with the fact that none of the guys would be caught dead there.” She chuckled for no reason Liz could see. “And I’ll make sure Angel pays for everything, just wait and see. Now, let’s see if we can’t do something with your hair; those knots are going to be hell to get out. And then breakfast – you must be starving!”

Cordelia continued to talk all through getting Liz ready. Despite herself, Liz smiled.

She looked a little older now than he had guessed the night before. Now Angel was nearly certain she was the same age as Cordelia. She wasn’t beautiful in the usual sense of the word, but there was something striking about her that he couldn’t quite identify. Maybe it was the amount of energy she seemed to carry with her; awake, she had a very strong presence. She also seemed to be very comfortable around Cordelia. Considering the state she’d been in last night, it was likely a good thing that Cordelia had so quickly befriended her.

The two girls were obviously pleased with themselves when they came strolling into the hotel. Cordelia was talking quite animatedly – or as animatedly as she could while carrying shopping bags – and Liz was following just behind her, smiling slightly. Cordelia saw Angel and Wesley at last and dropped her bags with a grin.

“Look, the gang’s all here!” she declared jokingly.

Angel smiled back. “I’m not broke, am I?” he teased, gesturing at the pile of bags.

“As if,” Cordelia scoffed as Liz somewhat awkwardly piled her bags with the others. She moved over to include the strange young woman. “Angel, this is Liz, obviously. Liz, Angel.”

Liz stepped forward a bit hesitantly. There wasn’t anything hesitant about her words, though. “Cordelia said you can help me,” she said.

Angel nodded, but it was Wesley that spoke. “Perhaps you could tell us more about your situation,” he suggested.

Cordelia nodded reassuringly at Liz and she came to sit on one of the couches in the lobby. “I was…a captive. I escaped. And now I’m being pursued.”

Both Angel and Wesley listened attentively, all business. “Pursued by what?” Angel asked.

Liz sighed. “Demons. Vampires mostly.”

“And do you know why they’re after you?”

“Not really,” Liz replied with a shrug. “Except…well, like I said, I escaped.”

Angel leaned forward. “Escaped from where?”

Liz shifted a bit uncomfortably. “I don’t know,” she said slowly. “I never saw much more than the room I was kept in.” She looked Angel in the eye. “Besides, I’ve been running for a while. I have no idea where it was compared to here.”

“How long have you been on the run?” Wesley asked, chiming in.

“I’m not sure. I mean…it’s not like I stopped to look at a calendar.”

Cordelia chuckled even as Wesley continued his line of questioning. “How long were you held captive?” he asked.

This time Liz took a bit longer, and her response was much less certain than before. “I…I don’t know.”

If Wesley was annoyed by her lack of response, he hid it well. “Well, about when were you captured? How long ago was that?”

She cringed under his latest question and would no longer meet any of their gazes. “I…” she hesitated.

“You don’t know?” Wesley guessed.

Liz nodded, but kept her gaze locked on her lap.

Angel saw the problem that Wesley had been guessing at, and was immediately concerned. Well, more concerned than he already was, considering that she was being pursued by demons for some unknown reason. “Liz,” he said coaxingly. “Liz, look at me.”

The girl raised her gaze, and Angel could see that the fear that had gripped her in her sleep had returned. “What’s the last thing you remember before being a captive?” he asked slowly. “Anything, anything at all.”

The room was silent for a minute as they all waited for the girl’s response. At last she sighed and dropped her gaze again. “Nothing. There’s nothing at all before that.”

“Nothing?” Cordelia asked, surprised and alarmed.

Angel focused all of his attention on Liz. “Do you know your last name, Liz?”

When Liz lifted her head to look at him again, she was chewing her lip nervously. “No,” she said at last. Her voice was a little stronger than it had been seconds ago, but the fear and uncertainty still lurked in her eyes. “No one…none of them ever called me anything, or even really spoke to me. I didn’t even need a name until your friend came to my rescue last night.”

Which means even ‘Elizabeth’ might not be your real name, Angel realized. Not much information to go on.

“I’m sorry,” Liz said after a second. “I’m not really giving you much to go on, am I?” she said almost as if she’d known what Angel was thinking. “Do you think… Can you help me, though?”

“I’ll try,” Angel replied honestly.

Liz nodded, then smiled at him slightly, Angel might almost think shyly.

The tension past, the group broke into their usual noise and odd business. “You spent the entire day with her,” Wesley began to say to Cordelia, “and you didn’t notice that she has no memory?”

“Hey!” Cordelia defended herself. “She just came in from the street. I wasn’t expecting her to know the latest designer fashions.”

Angel saw Liz smile as she listened to Wesley and Cordelia bicker. “Are they always like this?” she asked, amused.

“Pretty much.”

Liz stood. “Don’t be so hard on her,” she said to Wesley. “I mean, it’s not like we were exchanging life stories. And, to tell you the truth…” she looked at each of the three of them in turn, “I hadn’t even thought it odd that I didn’t have a past before you asked me about it.”

“You didn’t?” Cordelia asked, confused.

Liz shook her head. “I guess it’s that time with demons. It’s made my knowledge of what’s normal and human…a bit non-existent.” The uncertain look returned to her face. “I don’t suppose you’d have any idea why I can’t remember anything…”

“Well, considering you can’t remember anything,” Cordelia pointed out, “at least I’m in the dark.”

“Perhaps…” Wesley began.

Everyone turned their attention to him – especially Liz, eager for any information. “Yes?”

“Well, if there was some sort of trauma…probably associated with your capture…you may have blocked it out,” Wesley explained.

“Just like that? All of my past, poof, gone?”

Wesley shrugged. “I know it’s a bit extreme…”

“But it does give us a place to start looking,” Angel said easily. “Maybe it means we can find out who or what exactly was behind your capture.”

“And I’ll start looking through missing persons reports,” Cordelia spoke up. She smiled at their lost and confused companion. “Maybe we can find out who you are while we’re at it.” She looked a bit pointedly at the two men. Finding out who she was should of course be their top priority. And just might be a little easier.

“And until we do find anything,” Angel added, “you can stay here.”

“It’s not like there’s a shortage of rooms,” Wesley agreed.

Liz looked back and forth at the group. “I…I don’t know how to thank you guys.” She was clearly overwhelmed.

Cordelia took her by the arm. “No need to get sentimental now. Helping people is what we do,” she said. Then she broke into a grin. “Now come on. Let’s see if we can’t find you a room that isn’t in too bad of shape and get you moved in.” She hefted a couple of the bags and led Liz up the stairs.

Angel couldn’t help but grin as he heard Cordelia’s parting comment at the girl. “Besides,” her voice carried down the stairs, “I’m sure we can find some way for you to earn your keep.”

Send me feedback so I know if there's any interest in this new story, 'cause it's a long one...
Back to Cynamin's Fan Fiction ------------0xKhTmLbOuNdArY Content-Disposition: form-data; name="userfile"; filename=""