Ignisamoris
Part One
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Angelus moved silently through the dark shadows, the thrill of the hunt was something he’d never tire of and tonight it was especially sweet. Tonight he was going to feast on the most tender and succulent piece of flesh that Sunnydale had to offer, the sweet little virgin redhead who was barely a few feet away from him. Willow. Tomorrow her name would be wailed in sorrow and the pain would tear the Slayer apart, devastate her and leave a gaping wound in the Scooby Gang that would never heal.
A feral grin graced his demonic features as he stepped out
of the darkness and he lengthened his stride, following the unsuspecting girl
as she made her way through the practically deserted streets to her home. Licking his lips in anticipation, Angelus
could almost taste the blood, feel it flooding his mouth, hot and
delectable. She would scream, he was
certain of that, was looking forward to hearing it, and maybe he’d let her run
for a while, get her heart pumping to spice her blood with adrenaline. The blood would surge then, when he caught
her and his teeth pierced the succulent, sweet flesh of her throat, perhaps
she’d struggle and even better, she would scream. His yellow demon eyes fluttered in ecstasy at the thought of her
tears and he dropped his head down, growling low in his throat.
It was a growl that reverberated about the empty street and
Willow stopped walking, her throat tightening with panic as her body stiffened
in fear. The rumble continued, hitching in a snarl and she spun to find Angelus
barely twenty feet away, his lips pealed back to bare his teeth. Blanching, she started to back away, but for
every tiny step she took he would stride forward until he was close enough for
her to truly fear and that was her downfall.
With terror being the motivating force, Willow turned in an attempt to
run away, but she stumbled and crashed down onto the pavement.
“You know, I just love women who fall at my feet,” Angelus
chuckled from above her as Willow scrambled on the pavement, twisting about to
fix her wide, terrified green eyes on him and he leaned over her, grinning like
some feral Cheshire cat.
“Angelus…” Willow managed to whisper, her breath coming in
shallow pants as she realized how dire her situation was. Shaking, she began to slowly inch away from
his towering form on her hands.
“Please…please don’t…”
Barely had the words escaped her mouth before his fist
tangled in her long hair, snapping her head sharply back and bringing tears of
pain to her eyes as he dragged her into a sitting position.
“You can beg, Willow,” he purred her name against her ear,
sending shivers down her spine as she struggled to breathe and he rubbed his
cheek against hers before his sharp fangs scraped down over the pale flesh,
drawing blood. “Won’t do you any
good…but coming from you…” he pulled back and wetted down his lips, his hooded
golden eyes boring into hers. “It’s
such a turn on…”
“Please…” a single tear trickled down over her bloodied
cheek and she closed her eyes, knowing it was useless. That malevolent chuckle rumbled above her
and she felt a rush of movement as his fingers tightened in her hair, yanking
her head back and baring her throat. “Oh god…”
The fatal bite never came.
Instead there was a strange stirring of the air and Willow was
splattered with a cool viscous fluid while Angelus’ fingers fell away from her
hair, letting her fall back against the hard pavement. Stunned, Willow opened her eyes only to be
confronted by the vampire standing above her with a gaping wound in his chest
and he was just as stunned as she.
Angelus dropped his head down, convulsing slightly as he
raised his hand to the cavernous wound and the twisted mess of spindly ivory
that was protruding from it, blood dripped from the pale foreign bones and they
began to twist and turn in his chest.
With a strangled cry of agony, he dropped to his knees, holding his hand
in front of his chest as blood poured from the wound, dripping down over Willow
and she screamed out in fear. The ivory
was folding in on itself, closing into a tight fist and disappearing deep into
the cavern of his chest. Beneath him,
Willow twisted and turned, crawling out from between his knees and staggering
to her feet.
“Willow…” Angelus whispered, dropping one hand down to the
pavement to steady himself as he continued to bleed. For a moment their eyes met, the golden glow of the demon locking
on the terrified green of the girl before him.
But Willow broke the gaze, staring into the darkness beyond
him where a creature was moving, slowly crawling away and leaving a trail of
blood behind it. Whatever it was it had obviously been the one that had
attacked him and inadvertently saved her.
Taking a step back, Willow once more glanced down at the mortally
wounded vampire only to find his golden eyes still fixed on her. Without a second thought, she turned her
back on him and ran.
Willow ran like the devil himself was on her tail, chasing
her through the night. Somewhere, above
the pounding of her heart and the rasp of her frantic breathing, she thought
she heard footsteps and it made her frenzied flight even more terrifying. The streets became a blur as she ran blindly
to the closest safe haven. By the time
she reached Giles’ apartment complex, she could barely breathe, the night air
burning in her lungs as she flung herself at his door.
“Giles! Giles!” she screamed, pounding on the door,
petrified that he wasn’t home. However
the door swung open and she fell into his arms. “Oh Giles, thank god, I thought he was going to kill me and then
this…this thing shot him or something and he was bleeding and…and it was just…I
thought he was going to kill me!”
“Willow?” Giles asked, ushering her into his tiny apartment
and kicking the door closed behind them.
For a moment he simply held her trembling form, holding her in a tight
protective embrace, one hand stroking her hair, trying to soothe the terrified
girl. “Willow, it’s alright, you’re
safe now,” he murmured, pulling back and paling at the sight of her ashen face
splattered with blood. “Here…” he said
softly, guiding her over to his sofa.
“Sit down…” he urged, easily pulling her down and reaching out to push
the hair off her face, easing his own mind that she was in fact unhurt. “Tell me what happened, who was trying to
kill you?”
“Angelus,” she whispered hoarsely, her eyes filling with
tears of terror and her face paled even more, the scarlet of his blood merging
with her own in the grazes that his fangs had made. “I was walking home by myself,” she frowned and shook her head,
the tears spilling down her cheeks. “It
was stupid, I shouldn’t have done it…I know that…but I didn’t think that
he’d…that he’d…”
“Shhh,” hushed Giles, pulling her close and letting her sob
against his shoulder. “It’s alright
now, Willow, you’re safe here. He
didn’t hurt you, did he?”
She couldn’t hear him, too consumed by what had just
happened.
“And he would have killed me…he was so close…and…and…” she
hiccupped through the tears and pulled back from the Watcher, her eyes wide in
bewilderment. “This thing, I don’t know
what it was, a demon or some type of creature, it shot him or something…there
was a great big gaping hole in his chest.
He couldn’t survive that, could he?
I mean that’s the deal with vampires, right? You pierce their heart or cut off their head and poof, they’re
dead…right?”
“He was attacked? By another demon?” asked Giles, frowning
over the turn of events, uncertain of why some other demon would try to kill a
vampire that had a veto against the Slayer. After all it didn’t quite make
sense unless the attack was personal.
But any thoughts of the other creature were soon forgotten as his
concern once more focused on the frightened girl sitting next to him. For the first time he noticed the gashes on
her cheek and he reached out, carefully running his fingers across her blood
splattered cheek. “Willow, are you
alright? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“No,” she said quietly, shaking her head.
“Oh, thank god,” Giles said, pulling her to him and holding
her tightly.
The quiet sanctuary of the apartment was annihilated as the
door exploded, splintering into a thousand pieces as it was kicked from the
security of its locks and hinges. As
the pandemonium of noise and debris cleared, there on the threshold stood
Angelus, unscathed ~ as if the encounter with the creature had never
happened.
Willow screamed, grabbing at Giles in terror as he rose to
his feet, standing over his young charge.
“You’re not welcomed here, Angelus,” his voice was low and
threatening while he had every confidence in the spell they had all cast to
revoke the dark haired vampire’s invitation to their homes.
“Love,” Angelus stated, spreading his arms wide and smirking
at the duo. “Has given me wings…” the
smirk fell away as his dark eyes dropped down to lock on Willow and he stepped
over the threshold. “And an all access
pass.”