| Title: Bad Things Always Happen Here (Reply to the Pylea Challenge) Author: VisionGirl Disclaimer: Do I have to say it? Rating: R "I've never been to the palace before. I've seen it up there, on that hill, watching me." "We just gotta find my friends." Angel looked to Fred, the small, timid woman that he had saved. She was treated horribly in Pylea. Treated as a slave and fugitive. He looked up and saw two bucket head soilders, coming towards them. "Get down." He warned as he pushed her to the ground and tried to shield her with his own body. One of the guards charged at them, and tried to swipe at them with his sword. Angel turned back to Fred. "Look, you may see something that might frighten you, but I'm your friend, okay?" Angel jumped up as the guards came at them again. He ducked under one sword, only to find the other guard right on top of him. He morphed into game face, getting ready to attack once more. But as soon as his fangs began to form, he felt something go terribly wrong. Angel growled as he grabbed his head and fell to the ground. "Angel!" Fred yelled as she started to run to him. "Are you ok?" Before she could reach him, he jumped to his feet and turned to face her. "Never been better." Angel jumped onto one of the guards, and bit fiercly into his neck. Growling to himself, he drank every bit of the blood inside the unconscious guard. Upon seeing this, the other guard turned his horse around and ran off, as fast as possible. Once the guard was drained, Angel turned to face Fred. She was shaking and cowering against a large boulder. "You're afraid." Angel said simply. "It smells delicious." He purred softly as he took another step closer. "How about this? You run, and I'll chase you. Gets the blood moving. Always tastes better like that." "A-Angel?" Fred stuttered, trying to regain composure. Angel smirked. "Angel? Naw he's gone. Me? I'm Angelus. Run along, now. Before I change my mind and eat you now." Fred jumped to her feet and started to pump her legs, trying to run from the demon. "Bad things always happen here." ***** Fred could feel her energy draining. But she couldn't stop. Angel would get her. Her mind worked over time. Was he always evil? Did he have multiple personalities? She tried to shake any thoughts from her head. The only important thing now was to get away from him. She could hear him, running and jumping behind her. She wasn't dumb though. He could catch her. He was just letting her get away. If she could catch her breath, she would have sighed when she saw the castle. Fred would rather be locked up than eaten. She made her way to the castle wall and attempted to jump it. "God, please help." She muttered as she tried to scale the wall. It wasn't working. The wall was too slick, and her lack of shoes didn't make it easier. "Hey!" She jumped when she heard a voice. "I'm sorry." She apologized as she turned around. She was face to face with Cordelia. "Hey, I know you. You're that fugitive I met." Fred nodded. "What are you doing here? Why are you trying to break into my castle!" Cordelia demanded. "I swear, you people. I can't even take a walk without being disturbed." "A demon. He's after me." She panted. "He ate a guard and now he's trying to eat me." Cordelia looked around her. "I don't see anything." "He was right behind me!" Fred protested. "I swear!" "You should listen to her." Cordelia turned and saw Angel. "Angel!" She squealed. "There you are! How did it go? With the Host, I mean. And WHAT, may I ask, is with the game face? Lose it. Its creepy." A smile played on Angel's lips. "All went well." He said cooly. "Don't listen to him!" Fred interjected. "He's evil! He's a demon and he's evil!" "Oh. No." Cordelia turned back to Fred. "He's a good vampire." "Once again, I would listen to her if I were you." Angel purred as he placed his sharp fangs in the crook of Cordelia's neck. "She's right, you know." ***** Cordelia shuddered as she felt his cold breath on her neck. "Angelus." She said simply. She swivled on her heel and looked him in the eye. She tried to swallow her fear, but it made no difference. He could taste it anyways. "What are you doing here?" She spit out. Angelus sighed. "Just enjoying the fine warmth of sunshine." "Fred, leave." Cordelia warned. "No, please stay." Fred turned and began to run, and Angelus started after her. Cordelia stuck out her foot and watched as he tumbled to the ground. "Run!" She yelled again and she grabbed Fred's hand and the girls began to run through the forest, ducking and weaving. "Is he always like this?" Fred panted. "No." Cordelia replied. "Only on really, REALLY good days." Cordelia felt herself get tackled from nehind. "Keep running! Go to the castle!" She yelled to Fred. She felt herself get flipped over, and she was face to face Angelus. He straddled her stomach, and was only inches from her neck. "You should have known you couldn't get away." "I did. I also knew you'd be dumb enough to let her go while you ate me." "I'll deal with her later. And I'm not going to just eat you. I'll do so many more marvelous things. Things that will make you bleed and scream and wish you were dead." "I would never give you the satisfaction of screaming." "You can give me satisfaction with or without your lungs. In an hour, you won't need them anymore anyways. Or your limbs, or brain, ar kidneys... or heart. I can rip you to shreds and leave bloody pieces all over for the wonderful folks of Pylea to eat." Cordelia tried to squirm out from under him, but he held fast. "If you're going to wiggle like that, at least switch places with me. I like it when you're on top." Cordelia said nothing but spat in his face. He didn't flinch. He reached down and with one swift movement, grabbed and ripped her shirt off. "Let's see what it takes to make that pretty mouth of yours scream. Ever since Dru, I've always wanted to have another seer. The greatest thing about them, you can see me hurting you before it's ever done. And no, you can't stop me." As he reached down to pull off her bra, Cordelia brought her leg up and kneed him in the stomach. Stunned momentarily, it gave her time to slide out from under him and jump to her feet. "No. I may not be able to stop you." She panted. Angelus began rising to his feet, and she swung around and kicked him square in the jaw. "But at least I can kick your ass until I'm dead." Angelsu jumped to his feet and tackled her once more. "I was going to ravage you, THEN kill you. But I think I'll make it the other way around." Cordelia punched him once, twice in the jaw, then attempted to knee him again. He was ready this time, and defended her knee easily. "That won't work again." He growled as he pinned her down. "But it's really making me hot." Angelus punched her multiple times, untril she was swollen and bloody. Then he brought his face down to her neck and bit. Cordelia swallowed her scream and let out a gasp. After a minute, he took his face away from her neck and looked her in the eye. "I've always dreamed about taking you. About killing you and draining you dry. And leaving Angel alone. But I never imagined it would be this great." He leaned back down, and his sharp fangs sliced her skin easily, and he began to suck her life out of her once more. Cordelia felt her body draining of all energy. Too weak to fight him off, Cordelia closed her eyes, and welcomed death. "HEY!" Angelus took his mouth away from her neck once more, and looked up to see Wesley and Gunn running towards him. Knowning he was out of time, he leaned down, and quickly finished the job. Once fed and done, he struggled to contain himself. He wanted to grab the Seer's dead body and take what he wanted. Do what he wanted. Make her his. But time was short, so instead, he leaned down and licked the blood off of her face. "If it's any consolation, you tasted great." With that said, he jumped up, and ran off into the woods. ***** Wes was the first to reach Cordelia's side. "Yo, man, how did this happen?" Gunn asked. Wes shook his head. "Angelus must be out." He reached down and felt Cordelia's body. She slightly stirred under his touch. "She's alive. We got here just in time." "Where is he?" Cordelia whispered. "Where is that bastard?" Wes gently stroked her hand. "He's gone now. It's over." Cordelia stood up, brushing off Gunn and Wes's complaints. "I'm going to get him. I'm going to kill that son of a bitch, even if I die trying." She began limping towards the castle. "Let's go stock up on weapons." She called behind her. "We'll need them." ***** Cordelia stocked herself with crosses before heading out of the castle again. With no protests from Gunn or Wes, she made her way out of the gate, and into the forest. "Looking for me?" She spun around and faced Angelus. "You could say that." "Come to finish what you started?" He looked at the dried blood on her hands and face. "Not a good idea, if you ask me." "Yeah. It's about time we quit playing and I dusted you already." "Well. Do it." Angelus walked towards her until he was inches from her face. "Stake me." Cordelia made no move. "You can't. You can't stake the face that saved you so many times." "No. I can't. But I can stake the face that killed Jenny. Tortured my friends. Tortured me." "Ah. What a grudge. C'mon. I killed Jenny Calender years ago. Get over it." Cordelia pushed the stake closer into his skin. "Do it. Stake me, Cordy. Stake me." "Don't call me that! You can never utter those words to me." Angelus's vamp face began to soften, but he pushed it back. "I hear him knocking, but he can't come out." "Looks like you're losing your grip." Angelus's face started to soften again. "Come on out, Angel." Cordelia whispered in a sing song voice. "Come and play with me." "Shut up!" Angelus yelled as he lunged towards her. He tackled her and straddled her again. "Let's finish this stupid game." "Angel!" Cordelia screamed as his lips touched her skin. And as soon as he arrived, Angelus was gone. All it had taken was persuasion. Angel looked Cordelia in the eyes. "Cordy?" He scrambled to climb off of her. "What...what's going on?" Cordelia stood to her feet. "Good to have you back, Angel. If I had known it would have been this easy, I could have avoided all this." She walked to him and took his hand in hers. "I want to show you something." She kissed the top of his hand and led him to the castle. ***** Angel felt sick. Utterly and completely sick. Corpses were stacked everywhere within the castle. Wes and Gunn lay tied to each other, both drained dry, and the burns and slices showed they were tortured. Winnifred Burkle, innocent slave, lay dead and crumpled in a heap. her left arm was missing. "I... did all of this?" Angel asked, forcing himself to not throw up. "No." Cordelia reassured. "You only killed once." Angel turned to face Cordelia and felt sticky, burning stomach acid burn his throat. Her once beautiful features were now ruined but the large and swollen bumps that lined her eyebrows. Sharp fangs protruded from her upper gums, and her beatiful hazel eyes now flashed yellow. "All these people?" Cordelia motioned to the 20 or so people tortured and dead. "I'll killed them." She purred and took a step closer. "I killed them all, and wanna know what? It was great." She looked down at her hands. "I didn't bring you here to torture you though. I just...wanted to see you. The real you." Angel looked away from her, to the floor. A piece of broken wood lay just yards from his foot. Cordelia followed his gaze. "I knew you would have to stake me. But I wanted you to do it. Not Angelus." Angel walked to the stake and picked it up. Without a word, he walked back to Cordelia and stared into her eyes. Finally breaking down, Angel began to sob, and fell to his knees. Cordelia enveloped him in a hug and went to the ground with him. Moments passed, and he finally met her eyes once more. "I want you to know..." He choked out, "That I do love you. I always will. And I will do anything for you." Cordelia nodded. "I always knew." Angel looked at the stake once more... then tossed it aside. "I will do anything for you." He repeated. "Anything to be with you. And I can't be with you like this. I have a soul. You don't." Cordelia nodded again. Then, he leaned over and kissed her a final time, before slipping into game face. Allowing Angelus to return to the surface, and Angel slip into the shadows of his mind, never to return again. THE END Archive |