Part 2<\/b><\/p>\n
ANGEL (3.50 am)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n He only had an hour and half maximum of real night-time left and he had to make it count, his worry over Wesley was increasing with every minute; he needed to find were Wesley had gone and his best bet for getting that information was snoring behind the door in front of him.<\/p>\n The other address had been a dead-end; this one wouldn\u2019t be allowed to be. He knocked loudly on the door and moved to the side and out of sight, just in case the guy should recognise him like Evans had. He heard the dragging, heavy footsteps and prepared to pounce. The door opened and he heard the guy growl \u201cFuckin\u2019 kids knockin\u2019 me up at this time \u2013 kill you\u201d!<\/p>\n Angel watched and tensed further when he saw the foot step over the threshold; that was enough \u2013 he hunkered down and grasped that ankle, pulling hard and smiled in grim satisfaction at the surprised yell and the crash as the guy\u2019s ass hit the opposite corridor wall, entirely out of the safety of his \u2018home\u2019.<\/p>\n Angel stepped in front of the open doorway, blocking that escape route and stepped over to the sprawled human, picking him up by the throat to drive him up the plastered wall and vamping out. \u201cHello Danny\u201d.<\/p>\n The human squirmed and choked as Angel closed his fingers, squeezing the flesh and cutting off air, veins popped out and meaty fingers scrabbled at his, trying to pull them away; he squeezed harder as he leaned in, \u201cinvite me in\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Angel loosened his hold to let the guy speak, \u201cLet me go asswi\u2026\u201d strangled gargling finished of that sentence and made the driver think again as he felt his eyes start to bug out. \u201cargghh\u2026invite you\u2026 in\u201d, the words were almost indistinct with the pressure on his larynx but it was enough.<\/p>\n Inside the apartment the driver collapsed on to the nearest chair, both hands clutching his neck, watering red eyes watched the vampire warily as he stalked around checking out the rooms and riffling through some papers lying around.<\/p>\n Angel was finished in seconds, and reasoned that the driver would have recovered enough to talk now, \u201cTell me were Wesley is\u201d? He demanded quietly standing in front of the seated man with his hands on his hips, jaw thrust forward and fierce demonic visage still firmly in place.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d, wheezed Danny, coughing a little and then struggling up with the intent to fetch a glass of water; Angel pushed him back down. \u201cNo one said you could move\u201d. This made it twice in an hour that he\u2019d been forced to terrorise a human;<\/i>\u00a0he mentally shrugged off the discomfort that was the guilt \u2013 guilt at how much a part of him was enjoying this, This one at least had brought it on himself<\/i><\/p>\n He paced very slowly in front of the chair, his yellow eyes never leaving the scared man in the chair, fangs glinting with every pace as the lights reflected off them. Finally he stilled, having got his more vicious side under control; he kept his vamp face on though, as it tended to make people take him more seriously and, ironically; saved a lot of bloodshed.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe you \u2013 don\u2019t lie to me or I will<\/i> make sure you regret it- for a short a while at least\u201d. That demonic face towering over him coupled with the deep growling voice made Danny choke again as his throat seized up with fright.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n ANGEL (4.35 am)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n A little later Angel stood inside an empty disused garage, he could smell oil and fumes from engines both old and new, there were also spots of blood on the floor again old and new, he travelled the length and breadth of the building searching for anything to link this place to Wesleys disappearance.<\/p>\n He bent down when he caught a scent that was familiar, it was in the middle of some wheel tracks on the dirty floor and as he got closer Wesley\u2019s scent became stronger, he had lain here for some reason. He laid a hand on the spot as if he thought he could tell more by doing so and then sighed and stood up.<\/p>\n Feeling like an idiot; but fresh out of other ideas, he stood in the centre of the building where he could be seen from every angle and raised his voice, \u201cI know about you and your little scheme, it ends tonight; there will be no more shipments, ever\u201d, he waited feeling even more foolish when only the rustle of rats answered him.<\/p>\n \u201cCome out and face me, or are you cowards as well as assholes\u201d? Again nothing, his shoulders slumped and he was ready to admit defeat and go rouse the others out of bed for some research when a light appeared, just a crack in front of him but then it widened into a bigger rip and a demon stepped through it.<\/p>\n Big bastard aren\u2019t you<\/i>, Angel thought with an internal whistle, \u201cSo you don\u2019t like being called a coward huh\u201d? He smiled grimly amused at its clothes and mask, watching with cautious dark eyes, black as pitch under his slashing brows, as it walked closer fearless and arrogant.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what\u2019s with the mask \u2013 seen too many teen horror movies or are you just so butt ugly under there you can\u2019t even stand the sight yourself\u201d? He didn\u2019t move but let it walk right up to him, toe to toe. His smile became a grin, it was unarmed and he had a sword, he left it pointing at the ground, gripped with the fingers of his right hand wrapped around the chained hilt.<\/p>\n \u201cNot too talkative are you? That could be problem\u201d, he said into its face, the smile back again; now joined with a sarcastically raised brow. The demon didn\u2019t answer but gestured to the fissure behind it and Angel guessed he was being \u2018invited\u2019 to follow it.<\/p>\n Dammit Wesley, what have you gotten us into now<\/i>?<\/p>\n He followed the demon and stepped through; and ended up in some kind of antechamber. It felt like he was stepping back in time, but that wasn\u2019t the really weird part, what was weird was the fact that whatever time it was, it was way<\/i> before his.<\/p>\n Flaming torches flickered in metal brackets on the walls, the floor was some kind of stone and the walls the same; bleeding together to create a dark, grey and altogether medieval picture. Then there were the clothes, studded brown leather and \u2018leg wrappings\u2019 for god\u2019s sake!<\/p>\n It would be funny if they weren\u2019t so big, thick meaty arms, grotesquely hunched shoulders wider than his, chests as deep as they were wide -and they were tall too; at least a foot over him and he wasn\u2019t exactly small fry. Apart from the bald head though, all you could see of their faces were black eyes, no white just plain black \u2013 like a snake; and just as emotionless.<\/p>\n Several pairs of them were looking at him now \u2013 he had a welcoming committee, how nice<\/i>. Steel glinted from raised swords and axes held aloft in such a way as to make it clear they were adept at using them. He left his own weapon down across his hips and pointing to the floor.<\/p>\n When he didn\u2019t surrender it they moved closer, their weapons raised higher, almost touching his face now. He relaxed and tossed the sword upwards, catching it again by the hilt and holding it out to one of them; the one he\u2019d followed.<\/p>\n It grasped the proffered sword near the hilt and tugged; Angel held on and stepped closer until his nose was almost touching the mask, \u201cI\u2019m going to be getting this back soon\u201d, he told it in a tauntingly confident voice, one eyebrow cocked intending to provoke a reaction. It did, the demon reached up with a bunched fist and a snarl to rip his head off or something.<\/p>\n \u201cNot gonna happen big guy\u201d. Angel told it grinning in satisfaction, then grabbing the wrist and wrenching with all of his might. He twisted it sharply to the side to create tension in the elbow and shoulder and then brought down his free hand, now that he\u2019d released the sword; down in a powerful snapping blow to the arm, just above the elbow; bone cracked and the thing bellowed in pain, it\u2019s arm handing uselessly once Angel released it.<\/p>\n \u201cBravo\u201d said a deep voice filled with admiration and a tinge of amusement. Angel looked towards the voice standing just beyond his ring of opponents, \u201cBut a bit reckless don\u2019t you think, Vampire\u201d?<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I don\u2019t know; sometimes you have to get your kicks when the opportunity comes up\u201d, he replied lowering his chin and tilting his head a little, dark eyes glinting in the flickering light, full mouth curved. The picture of relaxed arrogance matched only by the creature at the door who knew that whatever Angel was capable of; the vampire was on his<\/i> territory now.<\/p>\n \u201cOh I couldn\u2019t agree more, but still you\u2019re a complication and a temptation all rolled into one\u201d.<\/p>\n Angel\u2019s brows both rose at that cryptic remark, \u201cI\u2019m a complicated person, but as for tempting\u2026.\u201d his mouth twisted and he shook his head in mockingly, \u201cI\u2019m at the top of the food chain not exactly morsel material\u201d.<\/p>\n The demon walked closer and Angel could see him better. He was as big as the others, in fact similar enough to be same the same species, the eyes all the same but this one wore no mask; the nose was flat and the lips almost nonexistent and above those obsidian eyes were ridged brows with tiny spikes along the length. The skin was almost human coloured and the head and jaw was covered with sharp tines where hair would have been on a human.<\/p>\n \u201cOh I didn\u2019t mean for food \u2013 no; a warrior like you deserves more respect than that. We serve the weak ones for food and use others like yourself for much better sport\u201d.<\/p>\n Angels brows snapped down in a frown, that sounded ominously familiar to Angel but he refrained from saying anything about that<\/i>, waiting to hear more \u201cGo on\u201d?<\/p>\n The demon smiled genially and held out a thick arm towards the doorway, \u201cWhy waste words, come and I\u2019ll show you\u201d, it was quite a courtly gesture -and coming from this one, creepy, even to the vampire! His guards stepped back and allowed him to pass freely; so this demon he was following was obviously some kind of authority figure.<\/p>\n He walked into a nightmare, even having spent time in a hell dimension, the sight that met his eyes shocked him and his entire body clenched, as he forcibly had to restrain himself from erupting into useless fury. The smooth stone of the antechamber gave way to rock-face walls and dirt packed and rocky floors as if they were in an underground series of tunnels and chambers.<\/p>\n The entire complex looked huge with a central chamber directly ahead, encircled by a tunnel with additional chambers leading off. It was the central chamber that brought bile to his mouth. Huge stone slabs were set up, hundred of them all blood spattered with entrails and body parts scattered over and around them.<\/p>\n Dismembered bodies were still lying on some and being worked on by other masked demons with meat cleavers; most of the bodies were human while some of them had once been smaller demons. Hooks were dug into the ceilings near the walls and strips of red meat were hung to drip, the stench was incredible and the he had to choke back the sharp need that suddenly tore at his guts. Oh God, please don\u2019t let one of them be Wesley<\/i><\/p>\n He didn\u2019t realise until he heard the savage growling and felt the vibration in his chest that he\u2019d vamped out; his \u2018host\u2019 noticed though, and looked at him curiously. \u201cFeeling hungry Vampire? we have plenty here\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to kill you\u201d, He felt no better for having said it, but fuck it<\/i>; it needed saying.<\/p>\n The demon just smiled in approval at him, \u201cI like you Vampire, I knew I would when I heard about you\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGet fucking real, I just threatened your life\u201d, he snarled angry at not being taken seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cThat happens all the time around here, do you think we would want tame demons? Of course not! \u2013that would never do\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll right; cut to the chase. What do you want the demons for?\u201d<\/p>\n It was pretty obvious what they wanted the humans for, and he intended to address that before he left here. But he was calmer now; the smell of the blood was still driving his intestines into spasms of need but that was something he\u2019d become accustomed to over the last century, although recently; with much less difficulty.<\/p>\n \u201cLook behind you, Angel, what do you see\u201d?<\/p>\n Still vamped out, feral topaz eyes surveyed the chamber directly behind them, next to the one he\u2019d come out of just a few minutes earlier. There were literally hundreds of shelves dug into the rock; each bore hundreds of carvings of combat and figures stretched in furious battle. Weapons littered them too, some broken some not, paintings crudely drawn showed battle scenes too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are a warrior race. In fact, we used to spend all of our very long lives either preparing for or doing battle; so much so that our attention on other things has dwindled to nothing. To satisfy our populace, we must have constant contests of strength and fighting skills, or erupt into an endless stream of wars that would eventually wipe us out\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s bad why\u201d? Sarcasm fairly dripped from the last word.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are strong, and our obsession has meant that our skills in fighting are very nearly unrivalled -but even so; our ability to reproduce is limited, and we do<\/i> die\u201d, the demon shrugged.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you kidnap other demons and force them to fight for their lives -to keep your people from killing themselves, and each other. Sorry; still failing to see the incentive here\u201d, topaz eyes glared from under ridged brows.<\/p>\n The demon turned to face the vampire, black eyes met his and Angel felt his anger escalate at the humour in them and the merciless sense of enjoyment at his predicament. He would kill this one even if it meant he died.<\/p>\n \u201cYou and they have no choice in the arena; it is kill or be killed -either way blood and dust<\/i> will be spilled; the crowd will be happy\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been here before, demon, why should we fight one another when we can fight you\u201d?<\/p>\n \u201cYou won\u2019t be fighting one another; you fight us, we are not the type to just sit and watch \u2013 so don\u2019t think refusal will do you any good. Like I said; fight and die\u201d.<\/p>\n Angel grabbed it by one upper arm, fingers clenched in a tight hold strong enough to crush; the demon didn\u2019t flinch but just eyeballed him. \u201cWhere is Wesley Wyndham Pryce\u201d?<\/p>\n \u201cAhh, your human pet! He\u2019s still alive, if that\u2019s what you want to know?\u201d The demon moved to resume walking. \u201cHe was unusual enough not to be put in there\u201d, he indicated the butchering area. Angel sighed with relief and let go; he still had a chance -although what he could do to get them out of here, was a question he could see no answer too at this point.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n THE HYPERION HOTEL<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n CORDY (6 am)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Her hands sought him out but found only the sheet, she frowned and still half asleep turned around to face the other side of the bed, hazel eyes blinked open and shut and then stayed open when she realised he wasn\u2019t there at all.<\/p>\n Confused she turned on her back and looked towards the balcony, it must be dawn as the sun was lighting the sky outside, evident even through the drapes. She sat up then, so where the hell is he<\/i>. She had to force her brain into action, did he say he was coming over after he\u2019d finished or not? She was certain he would.<\/p>\n She looked down and realised she was naked; that settled it! She had been expecting him and it wasn\u2019t a figment of her imagination; or sleep reduced brain power. She normally preferred to wear PJ\u2019s to bed, but Angel hated it when she did and always took them off her; so when she was expecting him she didn\u2019t bother putting any on.<\/p>\n Not caring about the time, she reached over to the bedside table and picked up her cell phone, dialling him and putting the phone to her ear. Boy are you in trouble buster! You\u2019d better have a good excuse!<\/i>. There was no answer; she disconnected and dropped it on the bed, and flopped back with a disgusted sigh.<\/p>\n \u201cGod I hate this! Great; now I\u2019m gonna worry all day until the dork decides to call and let me know he hasn\u2019t turned into a crispy critter!\u201d<\/p>\n She jerked her head round and stared at the digital display on her clock; snarling even more when she realised it was only 6 am. \u201cThat\u2019s it, that<\/i> is totally it \u2013 I am so buying him a leash; an electric one -and when he doesn\u2019t turn up when he\u2019s s\u2019posed to I\u2019m gonna send off an electric charge to fry his sorry ass!\u201d<\/p>\n Too wound up to go back to sleep; and still grumbling about that, she pulled her legs off the bed and put her feet into the fluffy slippers carefully placed in exactly the right position. She shivered in the early morning chill, and rushed to pull on a thick pink terry robe. Dressed now, she yawned and turned back to the bed to make it. She stopped dead when she saw the indentation on the other pillow next to hers.<\/p>\n A chill crept over her when she realised that he had<\/i> been here, but if so, where had he gone? She spun and headed for the door and the corridor, \u201cAngel\u201d she called out as soon as she cleared the doorway, there was no answer.<\/p>\n She rushed down the stairs telling herself she was panicking for nothing, he\u2019d probably got called away; but why didn\u2019t it wake me too- and why isn\u2019t he answering his cell now <\/i>?<\/p>\n A quick survey of the lobby revealed no big dark dork of a vampire, \u201cWhere the hell are you, dammit\u201d?<\/p>\n She went into the office and stopped dead again, papers were on the floor, items from the drawer scattered across the desk, a half written note on her desk. She snatched it up and nearly growled in frustration, whoever had written it, it wasn\u2019t Angel and they got no further than addressing it to \u2018whoever it may concern\u2019, Shit <\/i>.<\/p>\n Cordy had an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach; and heeding it, dashed back upstairs to get dressed and grab her phone, she needed the numbers of it to call Wes and find out what the hell was going on. Ten minutes later she was back down and pacing in frustration. Her jeans were thrown on as well as the spaghetti strapped blouse; but her impeccable sense of style saved her from fashion disasters, even when she was thinking about other things.<\/p>\n \u201cWesley, you are just as bad as Angel!\u201d her voice was high, and she forced herself to calm down, \u201cThis is ridiculous \u2013 this had better be an emergency or you guys are dead for worrying me like this\u201d.<\/p>\n She rang Gunn\u2019s number and got a busy signal, \u201cSHIT\u201d that one screamed word echoed around the lobby and almost made her miss the sound of the door from the yard opening. She whirled around, a smile of relief on her face which faded into numb shock when she recognised her visitor.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the devil are you doing here\u201d? She asked partly in bewilderment and partly in annoyance that he wasn\u2019t Angel.<\/p>\n \u201cHmph, you can tell Wesley\u2019s been influencing you Cordelia, not to mention Angel too. Hello to you too\u201d Said Rupert Giles from the doorway, he stood looking down at her with a quizzical look on his weather-beaten face, an old fashioned carpet bag in one hand and a newspaper in the other.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry, Hi\u201d replied Cordy shortly, \u201cI\u2019m having a crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIsn\u2019t that just my bloody luck\u201d sighed Giles and dropped the bag, \u201cAnother busman\u2019s holiday \u2013 wonderful\u201d<\/p>\n Part 3<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Back<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Part 2 ANGEL (3.50 am) He only had an hour and half maximum of real night-time left and he had to make it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-completed-fics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13802"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13839,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13802\/revisions\/13839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}