From: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com (Buffyfic-digest) To: buffyfic-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: Buffyfic-digest V1 #90 Reply-To: buffyfic@xmission.com Sender: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk Buffyfic-digest Wednesday, January 21 1998 Volume 01 : Number 090 In this issue: BUFFYFIC: Ill Met By Moonlight, Part 13 BUFFYFIC: Ill MEt By Moonlight, Part 14 BUFFYFIC: Slay or Be Slain 1/1 MASSIVE SURPRISE INNOCENCE SPOILERS BUFFYFIC: BuffyFIC: The Layers Inside BUFFYFIC: discuss: The Layers Inside (oops!) BUFFYFIC: The Layers Inside (final version - please discard other one) Re: BUFFYFIC: A Talk Between Friends (1/1) See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the buffyfic or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 23:10:08 -0600 (CST) From: perridox@enteract.com (Perri Smith) Subject: BUFFYFIC: Ill Met By Moonlight, Part 13 See standard disclaimer in part 1. Comments.compliments/flames accepted/enjoyed/ignored at perridox@enteract.com Ill Met By Moonlight (13/19) By Perri Smith Copyright 1998 Part 12 Sasha woke up exhausted, disoriented and in pain. As usual. As she shoved herself to something resembling a sitting position on the cot, she tried to keep her mind as blank as possible, putting off the inevitable moment when memory would return. But her wrist objected to being used as a lever and she made the mistake of looking at it. The sight of the swollen, angry bruises brought it all back, in vivid detail. "Oh my god." She fell backwards on the bed, pulled the pillow over her head and gave serious thought to just staying there until the end of time. But no; Giles would eventually want his office back, and it was only four weeks until finals. She was going to have to get up and face the music. Or the vampire, as the case might be. "Um... Sasha?" She considered staying in hiding, then gave it up and shoved the pillow off of her face so she could look at Willow, who hovered hesitantly in the doorway. "Hi." "Hi," the teenager responded with a quick, if tentative, smile. She didn't seem inclined to come any further into the room, though, and Sasha sighed heavily as she sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the cot and dropping her face into her hands. "You can come closer," she said without lifting her head. "I'm unarmed." Willow laughed unconvincingly and came the rest of the way through the doorway. "Oh, I... wasn't worried," she lied badly. "Not really. You kinda.. weren't yourself last night. Um..." Her voice took on an edge of worry. "How much do you remember about, um...?" "Almost skewering Fang Boy? Entirely too much, thanks." Sasha rubbed her face, ignoring the protests of her wrist, then forced herself to look up, pretty sure what she'd see. She was right; Willow hovered a good two feet away, her open face an interesting combination of worry, nervousness and determined cheer. "How's Xander?" "Oh, he's fine. He's bragging to anyone who'll listen about the three muggers he beat off. Pretty much no one believes him, even with the lump on his head." The worry part of Willow's expression got stronger when she got a good look as Sasha's wrist, swollen to twice its normal size, fingerprints very clearly marked in black and blue. "Oh, no. Did Angel do that?" Sasha shrugged. "Considering I was trying to kill him at the time, he might actually have been justified. And if you ever repeat that, I'll deny it." Willow grinned conspiratorially, looking much happier. "Your secret dies with me." Sasha chuckled slightly, surprising herself, and started the process of hauling herself to a vertical position. She was still in sweats and T-shirt she'd worn the day before, but someone (probably Willow) had taken off her shoes and socks. After a few minutes of groaning and complaining as her sore muscles and still-painful leg protested any and all movement, she made it to her feet. "Are you hungry?" Willow asked. "'Cause Giles always has tea and I think there's some bagels somewhere." "No, thanks, I'm fine," Sasha answered, putting her hands at the small of her back and attempting to stretch with no real success. "Well, I'm not fine," she amended on another groan, "but I'm not hungry." "Still, you should eat," Willow said seriously, rummaging in a bag on Giles' desk and producing a bagel. "Giles says you need to eat after you do magic stuff or you could get really sick and... um.... " Sasha raised her eyebrows as Willow's sentence trailed off, hearing the unspoken 'crazy' that ended it. "And what? Never mind," she waved off the stumbling attempts at cover. "Give me the bagel, I'll eat." Willow handed it over, looking relieved. "So, did you lose the toss?" Sasha said around a mouthful of bagel, which did taste awfully good, she admitted to herself. Maybe she was a little hungry.... "Huh?" "Babysitting detail," Sasha clarified, gesturing at herself with the bagel. "Can't see anyone volunteering to hang around a lunatic." "Well, I did," Willow blinked. "Um, volunteered, I mean, not lost the toss. And you're not a lunatic. I don't think." She stopped, visibly backtracked and recovered. "I mean, this is my free, so I was looking up hotel registries on the computer." "Oh, really?" "Yeah." Willow's face lit up. "See, we thought that maybe we could find the wolf when he's being human, and try to fight him that way, instead of waiting for the fur and the fangs and stuff." It was Sasha's turn to blink. "Oh. What a concept." A pretty good one, too; it hadn't worked when Sasha had tried it, but she'd made the mistake of appealing to Kriston's sanity. She knew better, now. "Who had that flash of insight?" "Cordelia." Willow looked faintly embarrassed. "You remember, she was here last night." Sasha frowned and searched her memory, coming up with the faint image of a stand-offish brunette, but no details. "Whatever. I'm trying to block last night out." "I, um, can understand that." Willow left the office to go back to her computer, and Sasha trailed behind at her gestured invitation, snagging another bagel as she went. "Anyway, we haven't been able to find him yet; Buffy thinks he might be using a fake name, so we're looking for anything that sounds right. You know, like wolf or something." "It's an approach." Sasha settled herself painfully into one of the hard chairs, munching bagel and watching Willow work. The redhead's face was serious and intent as she typed away quickly and supercompetently. Then she stopped, looked up at Sasha, hesitated, then looked back down at the keyboard, only to look up again a few seconds later. Sasha watched the performance with wry amusement the first three times, but had to comment after the fourth. "Something on your mind, Willow?" "No!" Willow denied instantly, then amended, "Well, something. Sasha.... why did you try to hurt Angel? I mean, the stake and the fight and all...." Sasha sighed again, and rubbed her eyes. "I went postal," she explained simply. "I was having a bitch of a nightmare, and I woke up to find one of the principal figures standing two feet away. The Romani instincts just sort of took over and..." Great; Willow's inability to finish a sentence was apparently contagious. Willow looked as if she understood, or was at least trying to. Sasha distinctly remembered seeing a similar expression on the redhead's face the night before. Which reminded her.... "I meant to thank you, by the way." "For what?" "For keeping me from losing what was left of my mind last night. That... can't have been easy. So, thank you." "Oh, it's okay," Willow smiled shyly. "Buffy can get kind of overly sometimes, too, so I get lots of practice." Sasha found herself chuckling again; she liked this kid. "I can imagine." "But you know," Willow continued, her smile fading, "Angel's really not a bad guy." "So people keep telling me." Sasha slouched further down in her chair and closed her eyes. "Forgive me if I have a hard time believing that. I know a little too much about him." "No, you don't." Sasha looked up sharply and Willow gulped, but pushed determinedly on. "You know about Angelus, about what he was *before* that curse thing your clan did. That's not Angel, not anymore. The curse made him different, made him a person again. A *good* person." "What are you, his fan club president?" It came out harsher than she'd intended, but Willow, though shaken, was undeterred. "No, but he saved my life at least once, and Buffy's a couple of times. He staked Darla, the one who made him a vampire, to keep her from killing Buffy." The teenager was leaning forward past her computer now, her eyes intent. "Even Xander admits Angel's a good guy -- well, he would if he wasn't in the habit of hating him, and that's what you're in," she concluded. "A habit. You've gotten so used to hating Angelus that you're not looking at Angel and that's not fair!" Her voice had risen to close to a shout; she seemed to realize it and stopped abruptly, sinking back into her chair as Sasha stared at her with open-mouthed shock. "It's... It's a little more complicated than that," Sasha finally managed to say. Willow nodded, biting her lip, once more the timid teenager. "I know; Giles says that curse thing is probably why you guys are always at each other's throats -- well, that and 'cause of the Gypsy/vampire thing. He says you're kind of programmed to fight. But couldn't you... change your programming, maybe?" Willow's eyes were far too big, far too pleading; Sasha looked away uncomfortably. Her worldview had been shifted too many times in the last few days, the last few weeks and she didn't know if she was up to dealing with yet another change. But Willow looked so unhappy.... "I.... Maybe," Sasha finally mumbled. "I can't make any promises, but... maybe." Willow still looked faintly unhappy, but nodded anyway. To Sasha's everlasting gratitude, the computer beeped before Willow could extract any more concessions. The girl was dangerous. "What's up?" Sasha asked, the better to distract her. Willow typed away, back in computer geek mode. "Oh, I've got the computer set to search the police and newspaper databases and flag unexplained stuff, like bodies and things. Looks like they just found another one." Sasha swallowed hard, then got up to look over Willow's shoulder. "Another... wolf one?" Willow blinked. "Oh, no, just a body. Well, not *just* a body, but not one that had been, um, eaten or anything. You know, normal. The police report just says they found a man in his car, with, um, a broken neck and no identification. They haven't figured out who he is yet." "Ah. Normal." Sasha nodded wisely, mentally shuddering. "Get a lot of those?" "Not really." Willow made a face. "We get lots of bodies, but most of them are kind of not normal. Sunnydale's like that." "I gathered." Willow downloaded the police report anyway, and then went to the coroner's office to get the preliminary autopsy report. Idly, Sasha catalogued the number of laws the hacker was breaking, but mostly she just watched the little, innocent looking girl matter-of-factly deal with murder scenes and cross-reference them to vampires. It almost gave Sasha more to think about than Willow's impassioned defense of Angelus. Almost. The bell rang as Willow finished, and she got up, collecting her books and starting to hang up the modem. "Can you leave it hooked up?" Sasha asked quickly, taking over Willow's chair. "I want to check my e-mail, see if anything important is happening back in reality." Willow looked startled. "You can use a computer?" Sasha winced. "Yes, I can use a computer. In some circles I'm actually considered a reasonably competent human being, hard as that is to believe." "No!" Willow protested hurriedly. "I mean, I believe it! It's just that everyone else is scared of computers except Ms. Calendar. You can use it." "Thanks." Sasha took over the keyboard and waited patiently for Willow to leave. Willow dawdled, sending several hesitant looks towards her computer and a not a few concerned ones towards Sasha. The latter rolled her eyes. "Willow, I'll be fine and so will your baby. Go." "Okay," Willow said finally, unconvinced. She sent several looks back over her shoulder before actually leaving the library. Sasha waited until she was sure the teenager was gone, then starting typing as quickly as she could. There was no telling when Giles would be back, and she had a feeling he'd have a lot to say about her plans if he figured them out. Sasha didn't want to hear common sense; she'd made her decision sometime in the last ten minutes and had no intention of letting anyone talk her out of it. It took only a moment to call up the police report on the murder victim and discover that his clothes had been taken as well as his wallet, but not his car. Sasha stared at the report, then nodded and, following her hunch, ran the car's license plate through the California DMV, using a backdoor one of her law school buddies had discovered while clerking the summer before. A name came back in minutes and she cross-referenced it against the hotel records Willow had left on the desktop. It took less than thirty seconds to find the match. Before she could lose her nerve, she got up and went to the phone on the main desk, dialing in the number of the hotel. "Room 664," she told the desk clerk, and waited, her heart pounding sickly. "Yeah?" It was no surprise to hear his voice when he answered; somehow, she'd known what she was doing all along. It might have been the lack of shock that kept her voice study as she said, "Kriston. This is Alexandra Lakatos." - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perri I *am* the Buffy Evangalist! NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pezhead-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ "You borrow my neurons WITHOUT asking, mind you, and then you get them all gooky with Dru-stuff. See if I let you borrow anything of mine again." - -- Lizbet - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 23:11:29 -0600 (CST) From: perridox@enteract.com (Perri Smith) Subject: BUFFYFIC: Ill MEt By Moonlight, Part 14 See standard disclaimer in part 1. Comments.compliments/flames accepted/enjoyed/ignored at perridox@enteract.com Ill Met By Moonlight (14/19) By Perri Smith Copyright 1998 Part 13 When Buffy and the other two Slayerettes finally made it to the library at four-thirty, Giles was pacing around the main table, carrying two books and attempting to read a third, while making stops to reference a fourth. His hair was rumpled and his tie had disappeared somewhere between fifth period and now. "There you are at last," he said as they came in, slamming the book he was reading shut and hustling over to them. "Where the devil *have* you been?" Buffy made a face; Xander had won the bet as to what the first words out of Giles's mouth would be. "I cut class yesterday to keep an eye on Gypsy Chick and Snyder busted me for it today. Not only did he make me spend my seventh period free in his office listening to one of his 'juvenile delinquent' speeches, he also gave me detention." "Well, couldn't you avoid it, or 'cut' again, or something?" Giles fussed. "No chance." Buffy wrinkled her nose. "Coach Galway was running D-hall. He thinks we should have to run 100 laps if we're just a little tardy." "And I was waiting for her in the computer lab," Willow volunteered, "so I could use, um, Ms. Calendar's on-line account to talk to some of her friends about werewolves." Giles perked up when Ms. Calendar's name was mentioned, started to ask something, then closed his mouth and looked depressed again. Willow and Buffy traded looks. They were going to have to do something about that situation pretty soon, Buffy resolved quietly, dropping her backpack to the table and sitting on the tabletop next to it. As soon as there was more than two consecutive days without a crisis. Giles was only distracted for a moment though. "And you?" he asked Xander, already sounding resigned. Xander looked innocent, or at least tried to. "Cheerleading practice. I found a perfect seat under the bleachers. Hey, everyone else was busy!" he defended himself at the girls' expressions. Giles sighed heavily, trying to take off his glasses before realizing his hands were full of books. "Not to interfere in your extracurricular activities," he said impatiently, with glares at Buffy and Xander, both of whom looked away guiltily, "But we do have the slight problem of a werewolf. Willow, were Jen--, ah, Ms. Calendar's friends of any assistance?" "Well I didn't exactly get to stay on-line very long," Willow said unhappily. "But lots of them were at work, so I can check my mail and see if anyone's answered." "Do that," Giles agreed, tapping Buffy on the shoulder pointedly. She rolled her eyes, but slipped off the table, taking a chair instead. Willow sat next to her, booting up the computer. The modem started making its funny noises a minute later. "Now, where has Sasha gotten to?" "She should be back in your office," Buffy shrugged, slouching a little further down. Sasha was about the *last* person she wanted to deal with. "Or did she finally come out of hiding?" Giles froze, blinking. "I had thought," he said, very deliberately, "that she had gone somewhere with the three of you. She's not in the office; in fact, I haven't actually seen her since I left for the teachers meeting right after school." The Slayerettes traded glances and Buffy straightened in her chair. "Where could she have gone?" she asked slowly. "It's not like there are a thousand things to do and see in Sunnydale." "Um, guys," Willow spoke up, frowning at her computer. "I think I might know where she is." "What?" Buffy leaned over to look at the screen. "What do you have?" "An e-mail from Sasha," Willow said seriously. "Guys...." She looked up unhappily. "She went to find the wolf -- Kriston -- by herself." ***** As she stood in the doorway of the empty warehouse, studying its shadowed depths to find her 'appointment', all Sasha Lakatos was think was what a stupid idea this was. She knew it was stupid. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind whatsoever that this was stupid, and probably suicidal. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to think of any alternatives in the last four hours; nothing that didn't involve taking three teenagers into a dangerous, bloody fight that wasn't their own. Xander had already been hurt in this; she was damned if anyone else would pay for her screw-up. "Kriston!" she called, praying her voice wouldn't crack, and took a few steps into the warehouse. The water beat against the pier out in back, and she took some amount of comfort, however illusory, in the sound of the steady waves. The next sound was less than comforting. "I'm here," an all-too-human voice answered. "Come and find me." Sasha's lips tightened. I'm not here to play games," she yelled in the direction of Kriston's voice. The sixth sense she'd finally started allowing herself to pay attention to told her he was about a hundred feet away; finding him wouldn't be a problem if he kept playing hide and seek. He didn't. Kriston stepped out from the shadows of a pile of crate, ahead of her and to the left, the dim twilight from the dirty windows barely touching him. Not for the first time, Sasha looked at Kriston, and wondered how such a... well, *twit* could have wreaked such havoc in her life. He was a few inches shorter than her own five-ten, with thinning brown hair that was normally styled to within an inch of its life, pale blue eyes, a thin body getting thick at the waist (which fact he tried to hide, unsuccessfully, with tailored suits), and a smile that normally attempted to be charming and/or seductive and generally came off smarmy as hell. Not now, though. Now, his hair fell in his face, almost hiding his eyes, and his lips twisted in a smirk that couldn't be described as anything but evil. The suit pants and white dress shirt he wore fit badly, made for someone taller and broader -- like the dead man in the car. And his eyes.... They were still blue, but something shone unpleasantly in their depths. Sasha had seen those eyes before, glowing yellow from the face of a wolf about to kill her. She didn't let Kriston see her swallow, kept her knees from shaking with a force of will. She put her chin up and walked forward, further into the warehouse. Kriston watched her come, his eyes raking over her as if he was considering picking her up in a bar. But a date for dinner took on entirely new meanings.... "I didn't think you'd have the nerve to show up," he said, smirk still in place. "You're much better at running than fighting. And no bodyguard? What happened to the little rugrats you had protecting you?" Sasha's jaw clenched; Kriston noticed and his smirk widened. Sasha deliberately relaxed, but the damage was done, and she cursed her all-too-easily pressed guilt buttons. "I found a sitter," she returned as casually as possible. "This is between you and me." Kriston shrugged. "I didn't bring them into it, remember?" "I remember." "So, why did you call this little meeting?" Kriston asked, lounging back against the stack of boxes as if he was in his own office and she'd come to apply for a loan. She'd chosen the warehouse as neutral ground, abandoned and far enough from the center of town that no one would interfere. Kriston seemed to be making himself right at home. "Seems kind of dumb, going after me face-to-face." "Don't get too cocky. You're human until moonrise." If anything, his smirk grew. Sasha tried to ignore it, as well as the screaming alarm in the back of her mind. "I'm here to offer you a deal." "Oh yeah?" He had the nerve to look surprised. "What have you got that I want? That would keep me from killing you right here?" "The power to keep you alive," she answered, with no humor whatsoever. "Do you know who those 'rugrats' helping me chase you were?" "Let me guess." He tapped his chin and stared off into space, pretending to think. "The captain of the local cheerleading squad and her football captain boyfriend? No, he looked more like track star." "What he looks like, is a vampire. One who's killed more bastards like you than even you can dream of." For the first time, Kriston was caught by surprise, and for the first time, Sasha allowed a smirk of her own to break loose. "And the girl is the Slayer; she's the one who kills bastards like him. And since you've been eating her classmates, she wants a crack at you in the worst way." Kriston shook his head slowly. "Nice try, but I don't scare that easily. Vampires don't exist." Sasha's smile widened. "Neither do werewolves." She let sink in for a minute, then continued, "They want you dead, and you can't take both of them. The only reason they let you live last night is because I stopped them from killing you." "More fool you. How is the boy I used for target practice? Didn't kill him, did I?" "No." Sasha's eyes narrowed as she fought back the desire to rip his throat out with her bare hands. "And I won't make the mistake of giving you another chance to try." Kriston had recovered, although fear had added its touch to the gleam in his eyes. "And my other option, if I believe this fairy tale?" "I break the curse," she answered simply. He stared at her for a long second. Then a something rumbled low in his throat. Sasha braced herself, but the sound that came out wasn't a growl. It was a chuckle, that built and grew until she swore she could hear it echoing in her head. Kriston threw his head back, enjoying himself enormously. "And you expect me to go along with that?" he forced out through his laughter. "Give up this -- this *power*, when you threaten me with a high school kid and a so-called vampire? Get real!" His laughter died slightly, but he still chuckled as he walked closer to her. No, he *stalked* closer. "I have power now," he said quietly, catching and holding Sasha's gaze with a strength of will she'd never seen in him before. "I hold life and death in my hands. No one can stand against me, no one can hurt me, no one can stop me. And you gave that power to me." He smiled, reaching out a hand to touch her hair. "You gave it to me. Thank you." And as she shuddered under his touch, his smile grew and widened -- and began changing. "Now," he said calmly, his voice shifting from human to not-human and back, "it's time to finish the hunt. And to make sure you can never take it back." Sasha's eyes flicked over his shoulder to the windows. With a sinking heart, she realized she'd cut it too close. They sky was dark, broken only by the light of the full moon. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perri I *am* the Buffy Evangalist! NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pezhead-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ "You borrow my neurons WITHOUT asking, mind you, and then you get them all gooky with Dru-stuff. See if I let you borrow anything of mine again." - -- Lizbet - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 00:59:37 -0800 From: Angel's Lover Subject: BUFFYFIC: Slay or Be Slain 1/1 MASSIVE SURPRISE INNOCENCE SPOILERS MASSIVE SURPRISE and INNOCENCE SPOILERS!!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE TOTALLY SPOILED!!! FAIR WARNING!!!!! Well.. this is my attempt to pull together all my negative emotions from the last few nights! LOL! The characters don't belong to me.. they're the property of Joss and Mutant Enemy, et al. I'm not making any money, and no copy wright infringement was intended. Please forgive the spelling errors, it's late and I don't feel like proofreading right now. Please direct all comments to Lea at either lfox@continuum.org or angels_lover@hotmail.com . Thanks.. and happy slaying! Slay or Be Slain ~ By Lea Her heart ached painfully pretty much 24/7 these days. How all of this could have happened she really didn't know. One minute she was happily in love, offering herself to the man who owned her heart. Slowly she twisted the claddagh ring on her finger; she still couldn't bring herself to permanently take it off. The next minute the evil part of him that he once was rose again, destroying every shred of love she had left for him. Buffy sighed. It wasn't fair. One moment of total happiness and serenity had cancelled Angel's soul, and in the process destroyed his humanity. What's worse.. she had lost a good friend and aly at the same time. Her eyes tracked the progress of Jenni Calendar as the computer teacher by day, meddling gypsy by night crossed the halls. She looked very lonely, especially when she caught sight of Giles across the way. Giles took one look at Jenni, turned on his heel, and disappeared back into the library. Jenni's head dropped, and she continued on to her class. Buffy's rage towards Ms. Calendar was slowly fading away, at least that's what she liked to tell herself. She wondered if perhaps she should talk to Giles about laying off Ms. Calendar.. after all, she was probably his one and only chance at a decent romance. However, a line from an old Margaret Laurence book came to mind: "There's no forgiveness in this bloody world. None at all." She hardened her expression; Jenni was no longer her friend, if, in looking back, she ever could be considered anything of the sort. She had been a part of what had happened to Angel, she refused to help reinstate the curse, and that wasn't easily forgiven. Buffy headed out the door towards home. Nothing was right these days, even Willow and Xander were at odds over something Willow wouldn't say. Buffy found herself wishing that dark would fall. Angel... Angelus was out there, and the only chance she had of stopping his bloody murders was to catch him on the hunt. She doubted Drusilla would be with him... she rarely if ever hunted her own food. But Angel... The numbers of drained bodies had been increasing of late.. viscious bloody killings for which Buffy knew Angelus was responsible. He was the most brutal, cruel of all vampires, where only weeks previously he had been the one exception to the demonic rule of evil. Her mother had gone away on a business trip for a few days... which was a good thing. After Angel's attempt on Willow's life, the slayer feared that he would go after those closest to herself. He was on a mission to destroy her, just as he had destroyed Drusilla so many years previously. Buffy sighed; he was close to winning, she was slowly losing her grip on her sanity. She hadn't slept in weeks, the nightmares kept coming every time she closed her eyes. Each night she slew Angel, having no choice... it was her duty. Now she had to put her mind at rest and do what the dreams foreshadowed. Tonight was the night. It had to be. This reign of terror could go on no longer. She sat on her kitchen counter, slowly building herself up to do what she must. Her mind ran over all that he said to her the last few times she had seen him. "You know what the hardest part was, huh? Pretending that I loved you. If I'd known how easily you'd give it up, I wouldn't have bothered." She clenched her fists. "The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty, and the heart... well... you know. Wear it with the heart pointing towards you, it means you belong to somebody. Like this." Her resolve faded. "You've got a lot to learn about men, kiddo. Well, I guess you proved that last night." She gritted her teeth. "I'll be back... I will." Her heart broke. "I love ya, too! Oh, I'll call ya!" She grasped the stake in a death grip. "I love you.. I try not to, but I can't stop." The stake clattered to the floor, and she drew her knees up to her chest, choking sobs wracking her body. How could she slay him, when in the end she still loved him with every breath she took? Time had passed swiftly as she sat contemplating her fate and that of Angel. Dark had fallen, and the time would come for her to go out on the hunt. The door to her kitchen slid open, and she glanced up in surprise. Angel stood before her with the body of a small, teenaged girl lying limp in his arms. He slowly licked the sticky blood from his fingers, and then licked his lips. "Mmmm, juicy!" His fangs shone in the faint light eminating from the streets. He dropped the girl to the floor. "Mrs. Summers?! Can Buffy come out to play?!" His cruel voice echoed through the house. "She's not here, so don't bother trying to use her to scare me." Buffy's gaze darkened as she glared at him. He smiled, "That just makes it all the more interesting... my love." His gaze travelled the length of her body, his tongue darted out once more to whet his parted lips. "Are you coming to play, little girl? Play with the big boys?" He grinned and darted back out the door, down the streets towards the graveyard. Buffy sighed as she slid off the counter, and slowly stepped out the door. Her cross and stakes were held firmly to her body. Yes. Tonight would be the night. The End! - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 14:12:46 From: "Dawn" Subject: BUFFYFIC: BuffyFIC: The Layers Inside TITLE: TYPE: TIME: DISCLAIMER: None of the characters are mine, nobody is (or would) pay me I feel foolish doing this. Haven't seen Surprise/Innocence, or even Bad Eggs yet, but... argh! I think this is my first real piece of Buffy fanfic. I couldn't go to bed until this was written down. Weird, eh? Apologies for errors. Apologies for oder of events getting mixed up. etc. Don't know if I should post this to the buffyfic list. Any comments, corrections or suggestions would be appreciated. ************ The Layers Inside By: Dawn Steele (steele@lillonet.org) I never thought it would happen like this. She looked so beautiful. Her hair was like fine silk between my fingers, and her skin was smooth and soft. I could feel little imperfections in the skin, and the warmth of it was a lure almost impossible to resist. ~ the blood had rushed through her veins, and i could smell it. ~ All I could think of now was how foolish I'd been; how foolish we'd both been. At least she could blame it on her youth, now barely seventeen, but that same excuse could not be applied to me. Still my time as a human being was scant years abover hers, and half my time on this earth had been as a malicious beast. Should I count my time since the Gypsies curse... or rather gift? Time spent brooding on the memories trapped in this body, years full of regret and sorrow and pain. ~ but now the world was different and i saw her eyes dim as i spoke. ~ I remember what Drusilla had been like before I turned her into the mad demon she is now. She had been soft, a bit flightly at times, and used to charming the young men around her fingers. In too many ways, she hadn't changed at all. I remember going over all my memories again and again and again for , trying to figure out if the pictures I had were what happened or if the demon was only remembering its side of the story. ~ the rush of ground beneath my feet, and the presence of a familiar door. ~ That was the worst part. Trying to figure out if the reason I had been so successful as a vampire had come from personality traits within myself. And I had been successful. I had loved being a vampire with reputation. Loved the acts that created that reputation with a passion. The killing and feeding had always meant something more than the next meal. I . . . ~ a fall of black hair that delights me, and the glimmer in spike's eyes is so delightful. ~ I killed four humans in the first years after the Gypsies ... curse. The first three as both a test of my control and a punishment to myself. Killing others to make sure that I would be dammed to Hell for my actions. So very, very stupid. The last had been... I had tried to break up a fight between a man and wife. By the time I ended it, his body was in pieces. She never lived to make it to the hospital, and I couldn't forget that their blood tasted equally as wonderful. ~ the books in the library were familiar. i knew just where to go. ~ So I brooded, and I remembered, and I avoided other vampires as much as I could. Still, I overheard them speaking and I knew that the rumours abounded. It only made me withdraw even more. Too afraid of the Hell I felt I deserved to die, and too ashamed to truly live. ~ the feel of warm blood was in my mouth. i was going to take my time with this one. ~ Buffy was not the first Slayer I had met, but she... So unlike the women I'd grown up with, and so unlike the seemingly endless barrage of dead women in my memories. Young, vibrant and alive; even when she complained about her school or her life, it was like I was connected to the world again. ~ i felt like howling at the moon. victorious. ~ I remember the care in which she took care of me after the fire in the church. Changing my bandages, and picking up blood for me. The feel of her in my arms as I chased away her worries. Her lips, her arms, her warmth, her... strength. I had felt so free because of that strength. ~ i recognized them all. the fool had known all about them. i would use that. ~ She had suprised me with her gift. It wasn't a quick tumble in the hay. It had meant more than that. She had trusted me, loved me... despite knowing who and what I was, and what I had done in the past. There was so much blood in my past, and in the end, very little blood on the bedsheets. Her trust had meant so much to me. For a moment, I had been so . ~ i taunted her with what i would do. it was only a matter of time until they would all be dead at my feet. ~ All that was over now. My fears and hopes and ridiculous dreams. They had taken it away from me and left... this in its place. This wasn't like the last time I had died. I was still here, watching, listening, feeling.... ~ i felt the fool squirm inside me. perhaps i would tell her he was there before i killed her. ~ This was worse. - ----- Forwarded Message Ends Here ----- - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 14:15:14 From: "Dawn" Subject: BUFFYFIC: discuss: The Layers Inside (oops!) I think my email program might've sent the story. I tried to cancel when the program started to send it spontaneously but I'm not sure if it worked. :( Dawn ps. Obviously, I'm gonna send it later today when it's ready. - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 14:28:30 From: "Dawn" Subject: BUFFYFIC: The Layers Inside (final version - please discard other one) TITLE: The Layers Inside TYPE: Angst. :) SUMMARY: Angelus/Angel in the midst of Surprise/Innocence TIME: Set during Surprise/Innocence DISCLAIMER: They all belong to Joss & Co. Not me. :( DISTRIBUTION: The SunS page & Anya. All others please ask. ps. Not my first fanfic, but my first realy Buffy fanfic. Any comments would be appreciated. ************ The Layers Inside By: Dawn Steele (steele@lillonet.org) I never thought it would happen like this. She looked so beautiful. Her hair was like fine silk between my fingers, and her skin was smooth and soft. I could feel the tiny imperfections in the skin, and the warmth of it was a lure almost impossible to resist. ~ the blood had rushed through her veins, and i could smell it. ~ All I could think of now was how foolish I'd been; how foolish we'd both been. At least she could blame it on her youth, now barely seventeen, but that same excuse could not be applied to me. Still my time as a human being was scant years above hers, and half my time on this earth had been as a malicious beast. Should I count my time since the Gypsies curse... or rather gift? Time spent brooding on the memories trapped in this body, years full of regret and sorrow and pain. ~ but now the world was different and i saw her eyes dim as i spoke. ~ I remember what Drusilla had been like before I turned her into the mad demon she is now. She had been soft, a bit flightly at times, and used to charming the young men around her fingers. In too many ways, she hadn't changed at all. I remember going over all my memories again and again and again for , trying to figure out if the pictures I had were what happened or if the demon was only remembering its side of the story. ~the rush of ground beneath my feet, and the presence of a familiar door.~ That was the worst part. Trying to figure out if the reason I had been so successful as a vampire had come from personality traits within myself. And I been successful. I had loved being a vampire with reputation. Loved the acts that created that reputation with a passion. The killing and feeding had always meant something more to me than the next meal. I . . . ~ a fall of black hair that delights me, and the glimmer in spike's eyes is so delightful. ~ I killed four humans in the first years after the Gypsies ... curse. The first three as both a test of my control and a punishment to myself. Killing others to make sure that I would be dammed to Hell for my actions. So very, very stupid. The last had been... I had tried to break up a fight between a man and wife. By the time I ended it, his body was in pieces. She never lived to make it to the hospital, and I couldn't forget that their blood tasted equally as wonderful. ~ the books in the library were familiar. i knew just where to go. ~ So I brooded, and I remembered, and I avoided other vampires as much as I could. Still, I overheard them speaking and I knew that the rumours abounded. It only made me withdraw even more. Too afraid of the Hell I felt I deserved to die, and too ashamed to truly live. ~ the feel of warm blood was in my mouth. i was going to take my time with this one. ~ Buffy was not the first Slayer I had met, but she... So unlike the women I'd grown up with, and so unlike the seemingly endless barrage of dead women in my memories. Young, vibrant and alive; even when she complained about her school or her life, it was like I was connected to the world again. ~ i felt like howling at the moon. victorious. ~ I remember the care in which she took care of me after Spike joined me to Drusilla in the church with a knife, and stole my energy to feed hers. Buffy changing my bandages, and picking up blood for me. The feel of her in my arms as I chased away her worries. Her lips, her arms, her warmth, her... strength. I had felt so free because of that strength. ~ i recognized them all. the fool had known all about them. i would use that. ~ She had suprised me with her gift. It wasn't a quick tumble in the hay. It had meant more than that. She had trusted me, loved me... despite knowing who and what I was, and what I had done in the past. There was so much blood in my past, and in the end, very little blood on the bedsheets. Her trust had meant so much to me. For a moment, I had been so . ~ i taunted her with what i would do. it was only a matter of time until they would all be dead at my feet. ~ All that was over now. My fears and hopes and ridiculous dreams. They had taken it away from me and left... this in its place. This wasn't like the last time I had died. I was still here, watching, listening, feeling.... ~ i felt the fool squirm inside me. perhaps i would tell her he was there before i killed her. ~ This was worse. - ----- Forwarded Message Ends Here ----- - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 21:16:42 From: Eliz Subject: Re: BUFFYFIC: A Talk Between Friends (1/1) Hey, loved the story! I have always loved the scenes with Angel and Willow together and they make very interesting friends. You did a great job! Eliz ======================================================================= Eliz Palmer Child:"I'm tired of walking w6bu@unb.ca in circles." epalmer@nbnet.nb.ca Therapist:"Shut up or I'll nail www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/9627/ your other foot to the floor." - - ------------------------------ End of Buffyfic-digest V1 #90 ***************************** To subscribe to buffyfic or buffyfic-digest, send the command subscribe buffyfic-digest or subscribe buffyfic to majordomo@xmission.com. You will need to go through a confirmation process, and the listowners have to manually approve your subscription request, so it may take some time. Back issues of this digest can be found at: ftp://ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/buffyfic/archive/ Dalton Spence has also provided an index of the buffyfic archive at: http://www.hwcn.org/~ag775/BUFFYFIC.HTM For help, contact Jill Kirby (jtkirby@mcs.com) or sah (romana@mindspring.com)