From: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com (buffyfic-digest) To: buffyfic-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: buffyfic-digest V2 #174 Reply-To: $SENDER Sender: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk buffyfic-digest Sunday, May 10 1998 Volume 02 : Number 174 In this issue: BUFFYFIC: Charlotte Sometimes (part 12) BUFFYFIC: "Reunion" Interlude #7: "Sun Bathing" BUFFYFIC: Cloaked in Darkness 4/? BUFFYFIC: "Counterthrust" (1/3) See the end of the digest for information on (un)subscribing to the buffyfic or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 12:12:53 -0700 From: LadySun Subject: BUFFYFIC: Charlotte Sometimes (part 12) okay, I made it all long and pretty, meaning it's the last part of the day. Have a good Mommies day! Charlotte Sometimes (part 12) Angelus could hear her slowly approaching carriage. One of the many gifts he loved about being a vampire. Keen hearing. He began to pace back and forth. He was doing it again, moving to quickly. His timing was being set off by his desire to be with her. Angelus cursed his weakness. He would move slower. As soon as he saw her. As soon as he had her heart, he wanted her love. He needed her to love him before he could do anything, before he could go on... ~ Drusilla saw him, standing in the rain, waiting for her. He looked a bit worried at first, until he saw her carriage pull up. The light in his eyes amazed her, as she waited patiently for the coachman to open the door and help her out. She wanted to run to him, soaked in the rain, and twirl in circles wrapped in his arms, but refused to portray herself as some crazed lady. He rapidly approached her, taking his hand in hers, kissing the top of her small hand as it lay in his. "Drusilla," he smiled, instead of saying hello. "I'm so very glad you've come" Drusilla nodded "Thank you for inviting me." Drusilla motioned for the coachman to leave, and they waited in silence until the horse's footstep could not be heard. There gaze met each others, and they stared into each other, neither noticing the rain. Angelus squeezed Drusilla's hand ~ Death! He reeked of it! Murder, Lust, torture. Blood! So much blood! It was everywhere dripping around him. Drusilla grabbed her hand back, shaking her head at him. She stumbled backwards trying to escape what she saw. It was Angelus that caught her as she went falling backwards. "Are you okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned as she looked at him with fear widened eyes. This struck a cord within him. He almost lost himself as he gazed at her fearing face, as though he had just tried to kill her, or hurt her in someway. He wasn't sure if her should pout or moan, so he stood still, looking at her with worried eyes. Drusilla pulled away from him. The Angel! The Angel she had seen just days before! This was him, she was sure, but now he was drenched in blood. The angel, it look like an angel of death now, with sharp, sharp teeth like those of Reggies. Drusilla looked at him, but she couldn't hardly see, everything was red. ~ "Shhhh" she heard his voice whisper in her ear, and she felt her body as it stopped shaking. "What's wrong Dru? Tell me. What's wrong?" He asked looking at his victim with shocked eyes. The vision had stopped as suddenly as it had started, and Drusilla found her self leaning against Angelus' well muscled chest, tears in her eyes, running down her cheeks. "Oh God! Angel." She whispered into his clothing her chest heaving as she panted with exhaustion from the vision Angelus stopped and smiled down at her. 'Angel' he thought, if anything he was, it defiantly was not an angel. It took Drusilla a moment to pull herself together, her tears stopped, and slowly she caught her ragged breath. "I-I.." Drusilla started as she stuttered to her feet. She turned to look into Angelus' eyes, still leaning against him a bit. "I'm sorry." She said, rain drops pouring down her face, camouflaging her tears. Angelus shook his head. "No need for an apology." He said softly "What was it the shook you up so much?" Drusilla couldn't separate her eyes from his. But she couldn't tell him the truth. That she saw him, in a vision. That she saw him as a demon. "Nothing... I'm just feeling ill tonight" ~ He didn't buy it for a minute. Whatever I was that had his Dru so scared, had come from him. Though, she didn't look like she wanted to talk of it... Oh well, he'd find out soon or later. "Well then, lets get you out of the cold." He smiled looking down towards her. Drusilla allowed him to led her through the forest to a small house less than a mile from the church. Drusilla looked around the small cottage for a minute before wisked away inside the house. It was small, it had a beautiful garden in the front. She thought for a minute. Unless Angelus was a gardener.. he might be married.. There was a small windmill over a creek and large overgrown grass. Angelus led her inside the open house and sat her on a nearby sofa, covering her feet with an oversized and fluffy afghan. Dru looked towards the ground frowning. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to - back there, I didn't want to--" "Shhhh" Angelus told her again "It doesn't matter." Drusilla knew it did matter. She had made a complete freak of herself in front of him. He surely must be regretting inviting her here. Dru looked around the house. It was completely furnished, and looked very lovely, cozy. "I, asked you here, because I wanted to talk" Angelus said slowly, almost shyly. Dru was glad she wasn't the only one feeling timid about being in a strangers house. He was modest to have her here. Drusilla smiled up at him. "That sounds wonderful." ~ He had meant to ease her fears. She looked so timid, hiding in her cloak, like he might harm her. Not tonight. He vowed. No harm would come to his fair Drusilla tonight. He wanted her trust. He valued it amongst all things at this point. Her complete trust that he would... Will be there for her, should she need him. "Tell me about yourself. You said you had a sister? - -- ~ ` ~ LadySun ~ ` ~ ~ ` ~ Spikette ` Mercenary ~ ` ~ SD - http://home.earthlink.net/~kbleyle/SD/index.html FK - http://home.earthlink.net/~kbleyle/FK/index.html We look before and After, and pine for what is not; our sincerest laughter with some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell the saddest thought...' The Cure Wish) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 16:01:21 -0400 From: ingrid29@juno.com (Ingrid E Stanton) Subject: BUFFYFIC: "Reunion" Interlude #7: "Sun Bathing" DISCLAIMER: The characters of Buffy, Giles, Cordelia, Spike, Xander, Drusilla, Willow, Angel & co. are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Productions, and The Warner Brothers Network, and are used without permission. The author claims no rights to these characters. SUMMARY: I’ve decided to help explain the past through a series of interludes that will be interspersed throughout the story as it goes on. This series is meant as a companion to "Reunion." (The flashbacks take place about 9 years beforehand.) If you haven’t read "Reunion," this won’t make much sense to you. If you don’t have parts 1-13 of it, you can write to me and request them. DEDICATED to all the Xander/Cordy junkies out there- Please tell me I’m not the only one! "Reunion" Interlude # 7: "Sun Bathing" by Ingrid He woke up with that placid lazy feeling, his muscles itching to stretch themselves. Something had happened. Willow had died. His eyes, and his lungs felt tired and refreshed, as if he’d been crying. And Cordelia was curled against him like a cat in the sun, her head tucked up under his chin, resting at his neck. He looked at the clock for grounded- something that wasn’t moving in warm golden waves like the scene before him was; unreal. Eleven o’clock. She was holding him tightly, one hand clutching at his T-shirt near his side, the other arm resting behind his neck. Relaxed and unconscious, she lost that hint of malice she carried with her during her waking hours. She needed to evaluate so she could defend herself. He’d never seen her asleep. He wanted to wake her. He wanted to see what she looked like in the morning when she first opened her eyes- the light there before consciousness dawned and reality solidified. He wanted to see pools of feeling, exposed and deep, and quiet and calm. He whispered her name. She was blank sheet of paper now, he thought, as he watched her respond to the stimulus, stirring gradually. The eyelids lifted, and the eyes dilated. The warmth from outside was soaking them, pleasantly baking the bed in heat. And then he saw the sun rise in her. She woke up. Looking pleasantly puzzled at first. Then consciousness returned. "Xander," she acknowledged, that look of uncertainty returning. He didn’t really know what he wanted to say to her. He wanted to do something she didn’t expect. He wanted to make her see how different things were now. He wanted her to love him. He smiled and brushed her cheek with his fingers. She returned it, her eyes tearing slightly. He kissed her and pulled her closer. She wrapped her silk arms around him and kissed him back. Her breath was light and airy on his face. She was his. He was hers. "I love you." The words slipped out between kisses, soft and breathy. Those burning eyes were running now, pools of something flooding, filling, and leaking out. Her brow creased in pain and she lay her head on the pillow. "I love you," she returned, choking on the words. He pulled her to his chest. *** END, part 7. "I have no doubt in my mind that there is a circle of hell dedicated solely to forcing its inhabitants to write research papers." _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 16:41:42 PDT From: "Aurelia Destiny" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Cloaked in Darkness 4/? TITLE: Cloaked In Darkness AUTHOR: Princess Destiny (princessdestiny@hotmail.com) SUMMARY: Things are not exactly what they seem when Giles finds an ancient diary, with news of the death of the Slayer. A new girl comes to Sunnydale and things start to go crazy, Angel is jealous because Buffy has a boyfriend and The Master gets a nasty surprise... It is naturally a Buffy/Angel Romance story, cause I'm a hopeless romantic! Although it starts off a bit rocky, but I assure you they will end up together in this one! RATING: PG. TIME PERIOD: Hmm, well since we have only seen up till 'Prophesy Girl' here in AustraliaBut I HAVE read the scripts for the rest of them...Okay, say just after the 'Angel' episode and we'll leave it at that! THANK-YOUS: FEEDBACK: PLEASE! I love to hear from people! DISTRIBUTION: Ask me first, I'll say yes anyway, but I want to know where it is going. DISCLAIMER: Buffy, Angel and the others are the property of Joss Whedon. Gabriella and any others I add later on are Mine, Mine, Mine! This is my first try at a Buffy fic so don't be too harsh, comments and suggestions or even praise for my lovely story are very welcome! ************************ CLOAKED IN DARKNESS ************************ Chapter 4: Of A Jealous Nature "Come back here you...!" Buffy shouted, trying to keep up and someone was suddenly running beside her, she knew it was Angel without looking and was unreasonably annoyed. "I don’t need your help Angel" she panted, glaring at his form as he gracefully ran beside her, reminding her sharply of a panther on the hunt. "Sure you don’t, but there are two of them. Don’t be stupid Buffy and let me help" Angel growled as he assumed his vampire face, Buffy had opened her mouth to retort but then thought better of it as they caught up to the vampires. They had stopped near a tree and Buffy flung a stake at the closest reflexively, it almost got him but the vampire ducked and she swore softly as she and Angel went into battle. Buffy could hear Angel fighting next to her as she repeatedly punched the young vampire, he couldn’t have been more than a week old. Buffy didn’t feel at all sorry for him though and knocked him backwards, straight onto the stake that was planted into the tree. The vampire exploded into dust and Buffy turned to see how Angel was faring, her eyes widened when she saw that he was fighting THREE vampires and they had gotten pretty far away from her as he had fought them. "Where’d they come from, Arrgggggh!" she screamed as someone tackled her from behind and she hit the ground hard. "Buffy!" Angel called, even as busy as he was, he was still worried about her and Buffy’s heart melted. The vampire hit her while she was thinking and her face thumped hard into the dirt. He rubbed it in and she thrashed around, trying to get dirt and grass out of her mouth, she kicked backwards and connected. The vampire grunted with pain and fell off of her, Buffy rolled to her feet and pulled out another stake, thrusting it angrily into his chest and watching with satisfaction as he was dusted. She brushed the dirt out of her face and spat the grass out, turning to help Angel. He had finished all but one and didn’t see yet another sneaking up behind him, Buffy screamed as the vampire reached Angel’s unprotected back and Buffy was too far away to help. "Angel!" she called despairingly, he tossed the vampire before him towards Buffy but it clung to one of his arms, pulling Angel to his knee’s. The other vampire had the stake that Buffy had used on the first vampire in his hands, raised over Angel’s back and ready to thrust home. Buffy ran fast than she ever had and tried but she knew she wouldn’t reach him in time. As she went to leap at the vampire the bright moonlight went out and Buffy heard thunder crash loudly in the suddenly stormy sky. It was enough to stop all three vampires and Buffy and she gaped as a vicious wind howled through the park and beat at them, Buffy saw everything clearly as if through a dream. The first vampire was laying at Angel’s feet, digging sharp claws into his arm so that Angel couldn’t rise from his half crouch. The second was leaning over Angel’s unprotected back with the stake raised but the sudden unpredictable weather had momentarily shocked them all. A huge thunderclap shook the earth and Buffy stumbled, looking up in time to see twin bolts of lightning shoot down from the sky and land squarely on both vampires. Angel was still attached by the vampires grip and Buffy screamed in horror as the vampire’s smoked, consumed by the lightning that raced through every part of their bodies. Her vision was obscured for a moment until their hideous wailing’s of agony had finally stopped and they turned to dust. Angel was lying on the ground and Buffy reached his side in record time, pulling him up and babbling hysterically. "Angel? Angel speak to me, are you hurt? Oh god!" Buffy shrieked over the wind, Angel moaned and put a hand to his head, standing with Buffy’s help and they both looked up when the wind died away abruptly. The Thunder faded as did the clouds and they were staring at an again calm night, the moon shining brightly down upon their stunned faces. "That was not a normal storm" Angel grunted and Buffy ran her hands over him, looking anxiously for wounds. She finally gave up and stared at his intent eyes, watching her as she worried over him and a slight smile was on his face. "No, it wasn’t. You should talk to Giles. See you around Buffy" Angel said almost absently, his eyes distant. He walked swiftly away and Buffy just stared after him, finally following at a distance to see where he went. Angel had been distant all of a sudden and she wanted to know why the sudden change, he had seemed so jealous that she had hoped... Who the hell was that? She glared viciously as she peered around a tree and saw Angel approaching a girl who was sitting on a bench. Her back was to them both but she turned as she seemed to hear Angel, Buffy was mildly surprised at that seeing as she had very good hearing and Angel ALWAYS seemed to sneak up on HER. She couldn’t hear what was being said but Buffy’s heart faltered as she saw the girl’s face, it was the girl she had snubbed at the ‘Bronze’. The one that Dwayne had been smitten with and Buffy admitted reluctantly that the girl was beautiful. Her eyes as they had met Buffy’s had been a deep emerald and her long hair was incredible, her clothes were great too and Buffy could tell the girl was rich. But what was Angel doing with her? *************************************** "Gabriella, I’m sorry. That was a friend and those guys..." she interrupted him with a faint smile and he laughed ruefully at her words. "Vampires" she suggested with a straight face and he almost laughed till she asked the next question. "Why was your friend chasing the vampires, don’t people usually run away?" she said coolly and Angel was taken aback, now realizing she was right and not sure what to say. "Umm, they took her purse and she, Uh" Angel stumbled to a halt, unable to go on with the lame story he had been telling this girl. Gabriella nodded however and Angel was surprised when she accepted the lie easily, they got to their feet and began walking again. She said nothing more though and they walked in silence, though for Angel it was uncomfortable as he thought of how to explain the night’s events to her. "Angel is there a hotel around here? I really have to get a room before sun up" she asked and Angel looked around thinking, then remembered there was one close by the ‘Bronze’. "Uh, yeah, it’s back a few streets from the nightclub" he told her faintly embarrassed that they had walked all that way and he had not thought about finding her a hotel, even when she had said she didn’t have one. He dropped her off at the hotel and walked home in a pensive mood, he really liked Gabriella but the fight tonight had told him that Buffy really DID care more than she was letting on. Angel reached home an hour before sunrise and sat on his bed, pulling off his shirt before going to the fridge for a blood pack. Someone thumped insistently on his door and he opened it, the blood pack still in his hands. Buffy stood there and he was surprised when she pushed past him and into the room angrily. "Okay, I told Giles about tonight and he wants to see you at the Library when the sun goes down. There really were too many vampires to be a normal staking" Buffy told him in a muffled voice, still not facing him, Angel left the door open and walked over to her. "Tell him I’ll be there. Buffy..." she spun around and he could see she was very angry, yet tears were in her eyes. "Did you do it to make me jealous, is that it? Well it didn’t work Angel, not at all, I have Dwayne now!" she yelled furiously and Angel was taken aback and then furious also. "In case you didn’t notice, I had already left the ‘Bronze’ when you went chasing the vampires. I didn’t follow you and I had no idea that you would come along, so how could I have used Gabriella to make you jealous!" Angel shouted and Buffy went pale, he regretted his words almost immediately but she had slipped past him to the door and her face was cold as she faced him again. "Fine, just stay away from me Angel...just stay away" she almost whispered and then turned and ran, Angel followed involuntarily, but closed the door and leaned against it when he felt the sun was near. She had run into the sunlight, where he could not go and he smashed a priceless vase in rage. "Damn her!" he roared going vamp. He bit viciously into the blood bag he still held, reveling in the taste of the blood. ****************************************** ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 20:02:15 EDT From: JMHnoodles Subject: BUFFYFIC: "Counterthrust" (1/3) I wanted to send this out as a whole, but it was too long. Title: Counterthrust (1/3) Author: Noodlebrain Disclaimer: "Grr...Arg," not mine, no money, s'all good; I own nothing but some minor brain damage. Distribution: Just tell me first. Spoilers: Everything that's aired is up for grabs. Feedback: Please!!!! Even if you hate it, tell me. If you think it can be improved, please tell me how! Notes: I should have technically been doing 10 chapters of AP work, but I *had* to finish this tonight. Warning: This is mildly violent and has one strong vulgarism. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Swing, duck, parry, thrust. Every few seconds a series of loud cracks rent the otherwise still air of the school library. It was a sharp, deliberate sound, the sound of wood solidly connecting with hard, heavy wood. Swing, block, *CRACK*. The only other noises as Buffy and Giles battled in the dimly lit room were grunts, heavy breathing, and the occasional whiz of air when one of the quarterstaves missed its intended target. Thrust, evade, counter, block. ***** Giles distanced himself from the simulated combat, letting his instincts take over as he studied Buffy. Counter, *SMACK*, spin, thrust. Her face was expressionless. Giles initially wanted to call it "stony," but even that implies an emotional connotation, one of anger or hate. Buffy's countenance was apathetic; simply...blank. *THWAP*, evade, swing. She was fighting mechanically, not really paying attention. She'd turned inside herself. *It probably has to do with our exchange ten minutes ago,* Giles thought. Buffy had shown up for training that evening late. When Giles had chastised her, she had grabbed a quarterstaff and stood in a sloppy ready stance, as if practice was insignificant. Noting her apparent half- heartedness, Giles had suggested that perhaps she might put some protective gear on; at least a helmet. "That's okay, I don't plan on taking any hits," she had replied, arrogance distorting her normally pretty face. When Giles had opened his mouth to protest, she had lanced him with an ice blue stare. Scowling, but realizing he wasn't going to get anywhere when her mind was set like that, he brought his staff up and initiated the attack. Swipe, jump, thrust. Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Giles frowned. *I never have time for such introspection. She should have scored about seven hits on me in that time.* "Wait." Buffy's mind snapped out of autopilot as Giles stopped fighting. She looked up to see him removing his padding. "What are you doing?" she queried, her face creasing in confusion as he pulled off his gear. "These are becoming rather cumbersome," he answered, then paused to look her in the eyes. "And with the way you're fighting, I don't need them anyway." They resumed their stances, Buffy looking decidedly annoyed. Swing, *CRACK*, parry. "What," she demanded between strikes, "is that supposed to mean?" Duck, thrust, swing, block. "What," he replied, uncharacteristic sarcasm wrenching his voice, "do you _think_ it means?" Anger flowed into to Buffy's attack, but any good the newfound intensity could have done was slashed by her proportional loss of rationality. *CRACK*, swipe, *CRACK*, thrust, *CRACK*, *CRACK* Giles matched her, swing for swing, thrust for thrust. "Tell me something," he asked, his voice mock- conversational, his tone clipped. "How do you expect to defeat Angelus?" Buffy ceased swinging, bright blue eyes flashing with rage. Something feral escaped from her throat. Face tight, she opened her mouth and yelled, "How DARE you-" "HOW DARE _YOU_?" he shot back with equal volume. Each word burned his heart and soul horribly as it left him, but he had to get his point across to her. She'd reached a stage where he could not touch her, couldn't get past her barrier of self-assurance and see her emotions. Giles was angry. Not at the young woman standing in front of him, the girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders, but at himself. He thought they had gotten past all these hideous emotional complications; thought that their relationship had proceeded beyond any awkwardness and inability to communicate. He cursed himself. *I behaved like a complete jackass when Buffy was telling us about that boy. The one who tried to molest her. I brushed her off, just as if it had been Cordelia whining about a broken nail. Damn.* The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his actions had been completely antagonistic to any progress they'd made the night... The night Jenny died. Giles swallowed hard, not remembering Angelus' surprise when he hurled the Molotov cocktail, or the painful beating that followed; but remembering Buffy telling him "I can't do this alone." After that, Giles realized, he had screwed up. Now, he had to make up for it. He had to punch his way back through all the walls and get to her before anything happened to her. He continued his verbal assault. end part 1 ------------------------------ End of buffyfic-digest V2 #174 ****************************** To subscribe to buffyfic or buffyfic-digest, send the command subscribe buffyfic-digest or subscribe buffy 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. To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@xmission.com with unsubscribe buffyfic-digest or unsubscribe buffyfic in the body. 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)