TITLE: Slayers And Other Animals
AUTHOR: Anat
DISCLAIMER: Angel belongs to Joss and Co. He comes to me at free will
for fun and I try to treat him fairly ;)
RATING: R
SUMMARY: Angel wandering in the streets of New York, 1996.
 

The rat felt the predator behind it. When the shadow covered it, the big
furry rodent squeaked and wagged its long tail, running to safety behind
a trash can.
The predator was still looking for the rat, throwing away the trash cans
in a big loud noise. The rat, exposed again, rushed away from its pursuer
and disappeared into a small hole in the wall.
"Dammit!" Angel kicked the trash can furiously.
He's been losing his meals for days now, and the weakness was starting
to show.
Angel never thought what can happen to vampires that don't feed.
Now he wondered - maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he died starving.

He walked slowly in the quiet alley. When he saw the sleeping homeless,
he stopped dragging his feet and gazed down at the opportunity of a fine
dinner, that he's been missing for years now.
Perhaps 10 minutes have passed until Angel kneeled beside the homeless
and grabbed his shoulder. The homeless didn't even flinch or wake up and it
suddenly occurred to Angel that he was holding a dead man in his hands.
His senses must have been fogged by the hunger if he couldn't tell the man
was dead.
His weary human face transformed to the famished beast he tried to hide
and he sank his fangs in the dead man's neck.
Angel let go of the man and started spitting the blood. He growled
holding his stomach and walked away, nearly falling, still spitting the bad
blood.

He wrapped himself in the ragged coat as he walked down the street. He
needed to eat soon to get warm, even though the hard snowy times have
passed.
He remembered last year in the heavy snow days, the freeze caused his
senses to weaken gradually until he could barely move.
He became an easy target to demon hunters - and worse, the slayer.
He encountered a few slayers before, but he was never standing against
one so weak and vulnerable. He nearly got staked that night.

Slayers. He hated the word. He hated the species. How could one dedicate
his life for violence and destruction of others, without making any
distinction to what they were.
True, vampires were evil. Some demons were too, but not all of them. And
he didn't even have a chance to prove he did not need to meet the edge of
the stake.
Angel sneered bitterly. It was funny - or rather pathetic that he wished
he was dead for so many years and then when he nearly gets his wish
fulfilled he's too scared to just die.
Coward... If it weren't for  that vampire attacking the slayer, he would
have been dust by now.

His stomach growled and shifted inside him, he thought it was starting
to digest itself.
He hated that feeling. It's not that he wanted to be a strong vampire,
feed on people, and walk proudly again. No, he wanted to be miserable and
think about all the bad things he did and torture himself. But the hunger was
unbearable and he didn't know if he could hold it any longer before the
demon will gain control over the starving body and kill to feed. And why
not? Animals kill to feed and that's what he was- a hungry animal.
He wasn't going to play with his victim, or torture him, like he did
when he had no soul.
Just feed to survive.

When he followed another rat to another dark alley, he smelled the blood
of a wounded animal.  It was a man. Young black man who seemed paralyzed,
gripping tight his wounded stomach. He breathed heavily and irregularly.
The man looked up at Angel, trying to speak but he couldn't get a word out
of his mouth.
Angel knew he was dying. He struggled with himself. This man was worth
as dead, and right now his blood was still warm... he haven't had warm blood in
years now. He craved for it, and he knew his features changed because of the
sudden horror in the man's eyes, who realized he won't be getting any
chance.
Angel removed the man's hands from the wound. He smeared his finger in
the blood and put it in his mouth. There were traces of gunpowder in the
blood, but it was still good and made Angel hunger for more. He sucked on the man's
wound, until he felt the warmth of the blood fill his body, and the power
returns.
He sucked the man dry and when he got up the man was dead.

"What have I done?" Angel whispered to himself horrified.
With his renewed strength he sensed someone behind him and turned around
sharply. A stake missed him by an inch.
A vampire slayer. Again. Angel snarled, and she kicked him to the wall.
It wasn't the same slayer from the previous year. The last one was sent
to a Hellmouth that threatened to open in California, at least according to
knowing sources down in the New Yorker sewers.  Rumors had it she was
killed while trying to get inside the Master's lair. Stupid, stupid thing to
do.
Angel thought at the time. He remembered his days at the Master's side
all too clearly, they were rivals, but it only made them more deadly when
they were hunting together. All Angel knew was that the Master tried to open
the hellmouth in Sunnydale and got caught in an earthquake  in 1937, getting
himself stuck between the two dimensions, unable to walk the earth again. And it
was better that way.

So why was he fighting this slayer here in New York, in early 1996?
Shouldn't she be going to the Hellmouth?
He was still weak and he knew the slayer will kill him in a few more
minutes. He couldn't hold up in a fight with her.
So he did the only thing he could think of. He ran.
She caught up with him pretty quickly, he tried holding the stake away
from his heart. The slayer seemed eager to kill him. And there were so many
other demons around that needed to be killed.
They were still struggling and the slayer was about to stake him when
they were blinded by headlights of a speeding car. Shootings were heard
behind.
The car hit them with full power and they both flew in the air,
landing hard a few feet away.
The police car that was chasing the runaway car, didn't stop to check on
the people that were hit. Angel slowly got up, looking around for the
slayer.
He saw her body on the other side of the street.
He didn't know if she was dead or alive and he didn't care. Slayers. He
hated them.
Angel wrapped his coat around him again and ran away to the safety of
the sewers.

THE END