DISCLAIMER: Okay, obviously anything you recognize, I don't own. Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and all related characters, etc. don’t belong to me.
DISTRIBUTION: If you have any of my stories, fine. Otherwise, just ask, please. All of my stories can be found at http://www.ficgoddess.com/fanfic/cynamin
CONTENT: B/A, angst, mentions of past character deaths
AUTHOR'S NOTES: A huge thank you to everyone who commented on “On Ancient Wings.” The call for a sequel was nearly unanimous, and I think I got far more feedback on that than I did on any other story...so here it is! I have done my best to fulfill numerous requests, so I hope this meets or exceeds all expectations.
SPOILERS: Big ones for my previous story, “On Ancient Wings.” I doubt this will make much sense without reading that one. If you haven’t, it can be found at http://www.ficgoddess.com/fanfic/cynamin/AncientWings.html Aside from that, anything and everything through seasons 5/2 is fair game.
FEEDBACK: As my elementary school P.E. teacher said, “Questions, comments, criticisms or snide remarks?”
They did not walk the streets hand in hand as young lovers might. Not that description fit them very well, anyway. Lovers they certainly were – it was the young part that could be easily contested. She was relatively young in years, barely twenty-one in fact, but she was mature beyond her age. Necessity had made her so, darkness fought nightly and months spent making her way alone in a strange world. A strange time, actually, so distant from the one of her birth. Had she remained in her own time she would be long dead by now. Her friends were, and the thought depressed her terribly when she allowed herself to think of them. So many friends dead and gone. All except one.
He’d been her lover once – and only once – in that time long past, and he held that title once again. Her love, her friend, her only companion in the darkness. He was a vampire, and that was the only reason he still existed after the uncounted centuries. Still, time had marked him in ways that it marked none but the most elderly of vampires. His strength was tremendous, practically radiating off of him to those who could feel such things. His face had taken on the appearance of the demon that dwelled within him, fangs always present and the harsh features of a vampire consumed by blood lust. Still, it was better than when she had first encountered him. His eyes were a warm and human brown. His hands were nearly human now, instead of the clawed form they had been in. Recently his facial features had begun to soften as well. They rejoiced in every change that brought him nearer to his human appearance.
They weren’t rejoicing at the moment. And though they walked side by side, acutely aware of each other’s presence, they did not hold hands.
Buffy looked warily along the shaded streets, ready at any moment to go for the sword strapped to her back. “How far?” she whispered so that only the demon accompanying her could hear.
A clatter farther in the darkness.
“Close,” Angel whispered back. His preternatural vision scanned the darkness, seeing better and farther than Buffy ever could.
Buffy drew her weapon, shifting the sword hilt as she prepared to fight. Beside her, Angel already held a battle-axe in front of him. They continued forward in silence and utter darkness.
“Stay away from me!”
The voice – out of sight ahead – was male, young and shrill. Buffy and Angel hurried as one, ready to come to the rescue as need be.
Rounding the corner, they found the sounds of scuffle they had been following. The young man was backed into a corner by two much larger opponents. To Buffy’s surprise, they both appeared to be human. They were uniformly dressed in black jumpsuits, an unfamiliar insignia on the chest. Each was similarly armed with a weapon Buffy did not recognize – ‘modern’ technology took a long time to filter down to the lower levels – but they resembled nothing as much as an oddly adorned metal rod. They weren’t police; whatever served for police nowadays didn’t usually bother with the bottom dwellers. Besides, no one who traumatized a young man for blocks could have honorable intentions.
The boy was little younger than Buffy herself, she realized. A street kid by the looks of his clothing, fear and defiance warred for dominance in his expression. For the most part, fear won out. He clutched one arm tight against his chest, and blood was soaking through the shoulder of his shirt. Another wound ran along his cheek, a shallow gash that nonetheless bled significantly.
Buffy swung her sword in her hands and cleared her throat. “Aren’t you out past your bedtime, boys?” she mocked when the two men turned to look at her.
“This is none of your affair,” one of them said. He was blond and slightly taller than the other.
“Wrong,” Buffy retorted. “You’re on our level now. That makes it our affair.”
Next to her, she felt Angel tense for battle.
The slightest of motions – or maybe it was Buffy’s use of the word ‘our’ – brought attention to the vampire. The dark haired one of the pair cursed. In this instance, that sort of reaction to Angel’s appearance was a good thing.
“Vampire,” the man said in surprise.
Angel growled at him, and the battle was joined.
For some reason, the men seemed reluctant to use their weapons on Buffy, at least not in the way they were designed. The smaller man used his like a club when he could, and otherwise parried Buffy’s blows with it. The fight Angel was engaged in continued in a similar manner. The boy just stood with his back to the wall, wide eyed.
Buffy did not really want to harm her opponent. He was human after all. Unfortunately, he had no such compunction. Buffy’s sword was getting in the way of a non-lethal battle, and the man was eager for hand to hand. She stumbled, then froze, the hollow end of the man’s weapon pointed at her.
“No!”
It wasn’t Angel that screamed, but rather the young man they were attempting to rescue. At his scream, Buffy’s opponent stumbled and his weapon went flying from his hand and across the alley. Shocked as she was by this development, Buffy used her sudden advantage to hit the side of her opponent’s head with her sword hilt, sending him immediately into unconsciousness.
She didn’t stop there. Seeing Angel still fighting the blond man, she came upon them from behind. The man froze when her sword point pressed slightly into his back.
Angel stopped as well, his axe still held threateningly. “You’re done here,” he stated.
The man glared defiantly. “The Watchers will not let you get away with this, vampire,” he said. “If I die, they’ll come for you. No matter what, they’ll come back for him.”
Buffy nearly groaned out loud. This is what had become of the Watchers organization? The same ones that had tried to control her as the Slayer now sent thugs after children? Assuming it was the same organization... “I don’t take orders from Watchers,” Buffy said loudly. “Now take your friend and leave. If you show up around here again, we won’t be so...nice.”
The man scowled but silently did as he was told, dragging his companion away into the darkness.
They stood there for a moment without a word. The boy was still braced against the wall, his good arm straight in front of him as if to hold everyone away. Considering how he’s apparently distracted Buffy’s opponent, she was more than willing to stay at arm’s length.
“Hey,” she said easily, sheathing her sword, “we’re on your side.”
He looked at them, looked a bit harder at Angel, looked down the passage where his attackers had disappeared, then nodded slightly. “I noticed,” he said, and relaxed slightly. He lowered his arm and relaxed, favoring his right leg slightly.
“Alright,” Buffy said calmly. “I’m Buffy, and this is Angel. What’s your name?”
He swallowed visibly. “Tomas,” he said. Then, with a self-confident grin, “But my friends call me Tom.” He was obviously trying to look suave, but his wounds ruined the effect. Buffy tried not to laugh.
“Look,” she said, walking towards him, “let’s take you to get patched up.”
“No!” Tom cried abruptly, even as Buffy and Angel came to stand next to him. “No doctors. They’ll find me at a hospital.”
Buffy and Angel exchanged equally puzzled expressions. Buffy braced her arm around the young man. “We won’t let anyone find you,” she promised.
Tom chuckled. “Well, if it means I get to be this close to a lovely lady....”
Angel growled on the other side of him.
Tom nearly jumped in surprise, and Buffy laughed. “I love it when you’re possessive,” she said over his head to Angel.
“Uh...” Tom stuttered, flustered and disconcerted.
Buffy smiled at him reassuringly. “Why don’t you tell me who they were and why they were after you?” she suggested as she helped him hobble down the street.
“They’re after me because of what I am,” he admitted.
“What are you?”
“Telekenetic,” Angel spoke up.
Both Buffy and Tom looked at him in surprise.
“Um...yeah,” Tom acknowledged.
“Okay,” Buffy said, “explain to me of lesser vocabulary.”
“He possesses the ability to move things with his mind,” Angel clarified.
“Oh. And that’s why they’re after you?”
Tom nodded.
“How did they find you?” Buffy asked. “And what do they want with you?”
“I don’t know,” he replied, a trace of his fear returning. “I don’t know.”
The clinic was actually quiet this evening, and Doctor Hasna took the moment to relax in her office. She frowned at her computer screen, tapping her fingers on her desk. She kept detailed records on her most supernatural cases, a fascination from her youth. There’d been more supernatural cases than usual of late: demon attacks, neutral and good demons in profusion.... It was overwhelming. She was quite behind on her records, but at the moment she just couldn’t quite bring herself to work on them.
A soft knock on her door interrupted her thoughts. Hasna switched her screen off quickly and leaned back in her chair. “Yes?”
“Visitors,” a nurse said in the doorway.
“Who...?”
The nurse stepped aside, revealing a young, small blond woman and her dark-haired tall male shadow. “Hey!” the girl greeted pleasantly.
Hasna couldn’t help but smile. When it came to her recent influx of supernatural visitors, these two were both her most frequent and some of her favorites. She nodded at the nurse, then smiled at the pair.
“Got a moment?” the small blond Slayer asked.
“Of course,” Hasna replied. “What’s up?”
Buffy entered the room the rest of the way, her vampire companion closing the door behind them for privacy. Yes, the pair of them were quite a fascinating enigma. First there was Buffy, who Hasna still couldn’t figure out how she was a Slayer considering that Hasna knew someone else was the current Slayer. There was only supposed to be one Slayer at a time. And then there was her partner: a master vampire of uncertain but certainly elderly age, Angel did not fit any of what Hasna knew about his kind. Despite his fearsome appearance, his position as a ‘good guy’ was not debatable. The two of them made a strange pair, even without their romantic involvement. And romantically involved they were; Hasna had rarely seen pairs whose demeanor so clearly radiated ‘couple.’
“We ran into...an interesting situation tonight,” Buffy began.
“Interesting as in demonic?”
Buffy shook her head. “No, and that’s part of why it was weird. The patient we brought you tonight was being terrorized by humans, not demons.”
Hasna looked at her oddly. “As unfortunate as that is, it’s not exactly odd.”
“It is when the humans were both very official looking, uniforms and weapons and all.”
“Police?”
“Watchers, or so they said,” Buffy contradicted her.
Hasna felt herself go pale and her stomach drop. Not good. Not good at all. It was an understatement, but it was all her shocked mind could come up with.
“Are you alright?”
Angel’s soft voice broke through her startled fear. “Uh, yes. I’m fine.”
“Do you know something?” he continued.
Hasna faltered, then did something she never thought she’d have to do with these two. She lied. “Uh, just rumors, really.”
“Well, what do they say?” Buffy asked impatiently.
In this, at least, she could tell the truth. “That they’re a semi-government approved agency that regulates psychics and destroys the supernatural. Basically, those with...special abilities that don’t work for them are considered outlaw, and a non-human – good, bad, or neutral – faces an automatic death sentence.”
Buffy looked quite...dismayed, with an inexplicable hint of recognition. “I hoped I wasn’t right,” she muttered. Neither Hasna nor Angel said anything and after a moment Buffy continued. “Well, we brought in a terrified...what was that?”
“Telekenetic,” Angel supplied.
“Yeah, that...who’s certain the world is out to get him now. I don’t suppose you...?”
“I know some people that can keep him out of the Watchers’ way,” Hasna said. She would have done that without being asked. It wouldn’t be the first time. “You know, if the Watchers’ attention is on you now...”
“We’ll be careful,” Buffy said easily.
Hasna frowned. It wasn’t likely to be that simple.
“There isn’t much Angel and I together can’t face,” Buffy said off of her look. She smiled. “We’d better be going. See you soon, okay?”
“I look forward to it,” she replied. She felt Angel’s eyes upon her, suspicious and weighing. She smiled at him. “Angel...you look...better,” she said with a vague gesture at his face.
Angel smiled...which was still a bit disconcerting with his mouthful of fangs. “Every day,” he said, pleased. “It was...nice seeing you.”
With that the two of them left the room. Hasna sank in her chair with a sigh, worry boiling in her gut. She flipped on her computer screen once again and began the arduous task of composing one peculiar letter to people she’d sworn she’d never talk to again.
The voices in my head get
cranky when I don't get feedback.
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