Footsteps
Project Paranormal
Season 4
Part 8
Author: Ares
**
Summary: Angel disappears while on a case. Buffy and
Giles go investigate.
**
Footsteps
It is absurd to try to follow in a vampire's footsteps
when they appear to glide rather than walk, their feet barely touching the
ground. And if they aren't stalking the streets they fly from rooftop to
rooftop, or slink safe underground. How
does one do that, anyway, track a vampire through a city or countryside? Does
one do it by smell? Do vampires have a scent? And if they do, is it of death,
being dead and all, or is it a unique smell, one that smacks of the
supernatural? Is it magic that keeps the body animated and that is what one can
detect? One would think, being a predator, there was no trace of a scent at
all. Then how does a vampire slayer do it? What power does she possess that
enables her to sense when one of her prey is near? And how does she manage,
when the vampire she is searching for has disappeared?
+++
Buffy was wearing the carpeting thin with her pacing.
Back and forth, back and forth she went, with Zillah, Aristotle, and Giles
watching her. Giles, helpless to do anything other than offer platitudes. Angel
had been out of touch for twenty four hours, and it wasn't like him to do so.
They had both tried calling his phone: to no avail. Of course, that wasn't
unusual in itself. The vampire was notoriously lacking in telephone skills.
That wasn't true, really, Giles knew. Angel inevitably lost track of his phone,
or forgot to charge it, or was too busy to remember to turn it on. Giles
suspected the vampire had something against the innocuous piece of technology.
However, of late, Angel had been readily contactable by the device. Giles knew
it was because of Buffy. Angel didn't want her worrying about him
unnecessarily.
"I think we have to go to Bristol."
Buffy had stopped her pacing and was staring at Giles.
He agreed with her. They had no choice but to follow
in Angel's footsteps. Buffy and Giles had been in Truro
investigating what had seemed to be a ghost in a closet. Normally, Buffy
wouldn't have needed to go, it was such a minor thing, and Giles could have
handled it on his own. However, the morning had burned bright, and, after a
week of grey clouds and cold winds, Buffy had decided she would enjoy the sunny
drive down to Cornwall.
The ghost had turned out to be mice in the walls. It had been a waste of time,
and while they were thusly occupied, Angel had taken a call from a young man
that had sent him off to Bristol
at the setting of the sun. Buffy and Giles had arrived home, missing Angel by a
couple of hours.
Giles pocketed the note that contained Mr. Watts'
address that Angel had left on his desk, and followed Buffy out of the study.
Martha met them at the door. She had a packet of date scones and a thermos of
tea ready for them to take.
"For your journey, wherever it takes you" she said at
their surprised looks. "Bring him home safe."
Buffy gave her a hug. "We will, Martha. Thank you."
Martha watched them go. She hadn't been in the house
when Angel had left the night before but she had been around that afternoon to
have been the last person to see him. The young man - and she thought of him as
such, despite her knowing he was well into his third century and he wasn't
really a man - had been checking the team's website to see if they had had any
enquiries. Martha had brought him a cup of tea when she went to bid him
farewell for the day.
His smile and gratitude had warmed the cockles of her
heart, as did his softly asked questions about their daughter Marylyn and her
unborn child. She had left him sitting in Giles' chair with the cup of tea
steaming beside the keyboard.
+++
Buffy stared through the window of Giles' car and out
into the evening with worry. If Angel had been trapped by daylight, unable to
get to a phone, then the fall of the evening should have given him the
opportunity to do so. The long awaited call hadn't come. Giles had called Chris
Watts' number during the day, several times at Buffy's insistence, and hadn't
been able to contact him. Angel had briefed her on the nature of the case by
telephone the previous day, and wasn't that typical of Angel to have gone to
investigate an interesting one while theirs had been a bust?
Buffy heard the volume of the radio rise. Giles was
listening to the news. The top of the news that morning, and all day, had been
the explosion in the town of Hitchin.
Gas, the authorities thought. So far, there were no reports of anyone having
been hurt or killed, although the search was still ongoing. The blast had
demolished one building and had taken half of its neighbour with it. Buffy
tuned out. She had enough to worry about without the woes of the normal world
intruding.
Arriving outside Watts'
flat they were surprised to see the lights on. They hadn't expected him to be
home. Buffy had thought he had disappeared along with her boyfriend.
When the man answered the door, Buffy blurted out,
"Where have you been? And why haven't you been answering your phone?"
"Excuse me?" the young man asked, his tone both
surprised and annoyed. He glared at the two strangers on his doorstep. "Just
who are you?"
"Forgive us, Mr Watts. I'm Rupert Giles and this is my
associate Buffy Summers. We're from Project Paranormal. I believe you have had
dealings with our other partner, Angel." Giles handed over his business card
while Buffy tried to look apologetic. She didn't think it was working. She was
more worried about Angel than a total stranger's feelings.
Card in hand, and without really looking at it, Watts
invited them in, leading them down a short hall and into a small living area.
His light hair and light eyes gave him a boyish look, but Buffy figured Watts
was at least her age.
"Is there a problem? Did the skull start screaming
again?"
"Yes...sorry? Did you say...?" Giles didn't know if he had
heard him correctly.
"Skull," the man confirmed.
"I thought the house had a haunt?" Buffy asked,
intrigued, despite her fears for Angel's safety.
"That's what I thought, too. Until your man Angel
found my skull." Watts motioned for them to
take a seat.
Buffy looked about. There were cardboard boxes, empty,
and full, scattered about the flat. It looked like Mr. Watts was either moving
in, or moving out. Buffy moved a few items off the couch, and sat.
"Would you be so good as to tell us what happened with
this skull, Mr Watts?" Giles asked, sitting down beside her.
"Would you like a drink? I've only just got back in.
I've got beer, and wine, if you'd like Miss...?"
"Buffy. Nothing for me, thank you, but you go ahead
and have a beer."
At Giles' shake of his head, Watts
disappeared into the kitchenette. From behind the fridge door they heard, "I
have a friend, Cole, he's Australian, and he's convinced me to keep my ale
cold. It's an acquired taste, and one I've grown to like."
Watts wandered back
into the living area with his beer in hand. He sat in the one brown leather arm
chair.
"I've only been in the flat four days, and when I
first heard the scream the first night, I thought that someone was being
murdered out in the street. Was thinking that maybe this wasn't the best of
neighbourhoods I had moved into. When I
looked through the curtains I could see the road was deserted. I thought it was
kids, you know...playing pranks in the street." He took a swallow of beer. Buffy
noticed the bottle was labelled Newcastle Brown Ale.
"Was there more than the one scream?" Giles was
leaning forward, interested.
"No. That was it, just the one. It was pretty
unnerving all the same. I went to bed,
read a book, trying to get it out of my mind."
Another swallow of beer. Buffy wanted to give him a
shake to hurry him along.
"On the second night, with the scream echoing in my
head, I ran out into the road looking for the cheeky buggers. I scared the old
man across the street. Apparently, he doesn't sleep well and he was taking a
stroll...not that I think that that is a safe thing to do late at night, but,
each to their own."
Giles cleared his throat.
"Sorry...other than the old man, the street was empty.
That was when I decided that I needed help."
"How did you find us?" Buffy asked him.
Watts pointed to the
computer set up on the kitchen table. "The internet."
He continued, "I asked the old man if he had heard
anything unusual, like a person in trouble, but he looked at me as if I was
mad. He hadn't heard a thing, and even if he was a little deaf there was no way
he couldn't have heard the sound. I came to the conclusion the noise must be
coming from inside the flat. I thought maybe the place was haunted."
"Angel arrived last night?" Giles prompted.
"Yes...there was a knock on the door..."
Chris opened
the door to find the man from the Paranormal team was much younger than he had
thought he would be. He was about his own age, he guessed, and better looking
when, after inviting him in, Angel stepped inside and into the light.
Chris looked at
his watch. It was nine thirty. He had made the call hours ago. "You made good time."
He thought
Angel looked uncomfortable when he said, "I had other business. Sorry."
"Never mind.
The show doesn't start till ten." Chris looked about his small flat. "Where do
you want to begin?"
Angel surveyed
the room. "I'll move about and get a feel for the place..."
"Sure. Anything
you want. Can I make you a coffee, or would you like a beer?"
Without
understanding why, but when the man's intense gaze swung round to meet his own,
Chris felt himself tense. He felt as if he was caught up in the stare of a
large animal, one that had teeth and claws and wasn't above using them. He relaxed a moment later when Angel showed
his teeth in a smile.
"A coffee will
be fine."
When Chris left
Angel he could almost swear the man was sniffing the walls. He puttered about
in his kitchenette, filling the kettle and spooning coffee.
"Milk and
sugar?" he called, and when the answer came back "black only" he dared to peer
into the living area. He was in time to see Angel's black coat disappear out
the door and into the hall. Listening intently, he didn't hear the creak of the
stairs, and went to see what held the man's interest in the hall. Were there
signs of a ghost out there? Did he pass it by every day without a clue? The
hall was deserted.
"Angel?" he
called.
"Upstairs,"
came back the reply.
Chris craned
his neck to look up the stairs. His bedroom and bathroom lay up that way. How
on earth did a big man like Angel climb those stairs without making a sound?
Chris wished he knew the answer to that. He was rather tired of the squeaky
boards on his stairs and floor, and he hadn't been there a week.
Chris went back
to the kitchen and finished making the coffee. He had wanted a beer but had
decided he might need a cool and sober head for what lay ahead. Turning around
with the mugs in his hands, he started, and would have spilled the hot liquid if
not for two steadying hands reaching for the cups. Angel was right there and he
hadn't heard him arrive.
Angel smiled in
apology. "Sorry."
Chris released
one of the mugs into Angel's care and, with shaky steps and a hammering heart,
led the way to the seating in the living area.
"Did you find
anything? I mean...if one can find a ghost, that is?" he asked, trying to find
his equilibrium.
Angel took a
sip of his coffee. "No, there's nothing upstairs."
Chris felt his
shoulder's slump. He wondered if this had been a waste of time, and was
thinking maybe he had called the wrong people. He swallowed a large portion of
his coffee, and it was hot, he realised, when he burned his tongue. He placed
his mug on the floor beside his chair to let it cool.
"There's
something..."
Chris leaned
forward in his seat, his scald put aside for the moment. "Yes?"
"...Not quite
right down here," Angel finished.
The young man
stared about the room trying to see whatever it was that Angel saw.
"It's a
feeling," Angel said, as if he could read his mind.
"A feeling?"
Chris' mood plummeted. Feelings? What use was that?
The other man
stood and wandered over to the window.
"Do you have
anything unusual in the house?"
"Like...?"
"The skull?" Buffy snickered.
Chris had the grace to blush. "Yeah, only I had
forgotten all about it."
"I presume Angel found it," Giles stated.
Watts' nodded.
Chris saw
black-clad shoulders shrug. He racked his brains.
"The place was
pretty bare when I moved in."
Angel stepped
away from the window and wandered over to the boxes on the floor.
"What do you
have in here?"
"Just bits and
bobs. Books and magazines."
Angel's toe
touched another box.
"I think that
has cleaning stuff in it. Rags..."
"And here?"
Angel indicated a forgotten box in the corner.
"I...don't know.
Rubbish, I think. Just the last of my things I hadn't sorted through. It was
stuffed in the bottom of my wardrobe."
Angel picked up
the box and, placing it on the couch, started rummaging through it. Several
items were revealed when Angel set them aside on the seat. An old journal, a
well-thumbed text book, letters, and a tattered shoe. Chris had been missing
the shoe. He had had to throw out its mate when he thought it had been lost.
The pair had been his favourite. They had been worn in and comfortable. An old
tee shirt with Rammstein emblazoned on its back came next. Another favourite of
his. Chris was beginning to think the box had enticed and imprisoned articles
that had lived in his old wardrobe. Bringing his hand out of the box again,
Angel held a cloth bag, inside which something bulged.
"Here!"
He threw it at
Chris.
"The skull?" Buffy quirked an eyebrow at him, a smile
pulling at her lips.
Chris nodded with a grin. "It wasn't so funny at the
time."
"What happened?" Giles asked with a frown. He didn't
think the matter was a laughing one at all.
"When I caught the bag I remembered what it was, but
as I pulled it free from the cloth..."
A piercing
scream shivered through the room, raising the hairs on the back of the young
man's head. He dropped the skull and scrambled out of his chair, backing away
from the gruesome object. The sound died away, leaving Watts'
heart pounding in his ears.
He watched as
Angel casually picked the skull up off the floor. The man examined the bone
matter-of-factly, he thought. Had the man nerves of steel? Angel's large hands
were as steady as a rock. Chris' own nerves were shot.
"Where did you
get this?" Angel asked him.
Eyeing the
skull, Chris remembered where he had found it.
"It was years
ago. When I was a student up at Cambridge.
I was living in a small flat in an old building up there. In fact, that is
where I have moved from. There had been a party...you know how it is...?"
Angel stared at
him.
"Well...the next
morning I woke up to find the skull next to me in bed. It gave me a hell of a
fright, too."
"How did it get
there?"
"It was one of
my friends playing a prank. We were all drunk. I passed out and..."
"Did you find
out who it was," Angel waggled the skull, "that put this in your bed?"
"I thought it
had to have been Cameron. He was studying medicine. He would have had access to
old bones. When I confronted him he said Brian had found it in the flat."
"Did he say
where?"
"There was a
crumbling piece of wall behind a cupboard in the kitchen. I looked and there
was a hole big enough. I put my hand inside and I couldn't feel anything else.
Cameron and my friends were big on practical jokes. I don't know how on earth
they discovered the hole or that the skull was there. But it doesn't surprise
me that they decided to use it to their advantage. You should have seen this
one time..." He fell silent. Angel didn't appear to be amused.
"Did you tell anyone
about this? Did you inform the landlord?"
"No. As I said,
I didn't believe him. I put it in a pillowcase and threw it into the box. I
forgot about it. It's been years sitting there."
The look on
Angel's face informed Chris that perhaps he should have investigated the matter
further. He hadn't been thinking that there could have been anything sinister
about the appearance of a skull in his rooms.
Licking his
suddenly dry lips, he decided he needed the coffee after all, and, picking up
his mug, swallowed several large gulps of the now cool liquid.
Angel studied
the fleshless head he held in his hand. "The skull needs to be put back in your
flat. This isn't the first time a skull has objected when displaced from its
resting place. Tunstead Farm in Derbyshire, among others, has had its share of
troubles from a relic such as this."
"So it's quite
common, then?" Chris asked, relieved.
"Not really."
"How old would
you say is...?" Chris pointed to the thing in Angel's hand.
"It's old."
"We left right away for Cambridge."
The young man looked Giles in the eye. "That partner of yours is fearless on
the roads."
Giles nodded. Angel may drive fast but his reflexes
were superhuman. Buffy always said she felt safe when he was behind the wheel.
He did too, now that he thought about it.
"He's a demon on the roads," he agreed, with a look at
his slayer. Buffy's attempt at keeping her face straight made his lips twitch.
"Angel insisted that I put the skull back in the hole.
I still have a spare set of keys to the flat. He didn't want any trouble with
the law if he got caught breaking and entering. He thought I had a better
excuse for being there."
Both Buffy and Giles knew that that hadn't been the
reason. Angel couldn't enter a dwelling without an invitation.
"Did you run into any trouble? What about the
occupants of your old flat?" Giles asked the young man.
Chris Watts shivered at the memory.
"They had moved in, and like here, there were boxes
everywhere."
Wishing the
larger and more capable man was the one tiptoeing about his old rooms, Chris
crept on anxious feet to the kitchen. Once, he cracked his shins on a wooden
crate, and he had to put a hand over his mouth to muffle his cry. Although he
was relieved to see the new occupants of the flat weren't staying the night,
Chris felt he needed to be as quiet as he possibly could. The kitchen was in
disarray. The remains of pizza sat upon the small table in the alcove. He could
smell it, not needing the borrowed torch to illuminate the leftovers. With
shaking hands he had pushed aside the box standing before the kitchen cupboard
and, kneeling, found the hole. Removing the skull carefully from the bag he
carried, he inserted the head into the crumbling wall. As best he could, he
filled the opening with pieces of the wall, and set about squeezing the tube of
tile glue they had bought on their journey, to coat his handiwork. Next, he
carefully pressed several large tiles in place, also having coated their backs
with the glue, holding them there for a few seconds, hoping they would stick.
They did. Chris placed items he found in the box on the floor inside the
cupboard to hide his work, and was relieved when once again he stood outside
with the waiting Angel.
"Why couldn't
we have called and explained the situation?" he asked the dark figure.
"Would you
believe your story?"
"I suppose not,
but if we presented the evidence..."
"Do you think
that would work? And if they did accept our story, would they tear down the
walls looking for the rest of the skeleton, or would they want to throw the
head as far away as possible and leave the problem for someone else to solve? I
think the bones need to stay where they are. Undisturbed, at rest, and quiet."
It was the
longest speech he had heard the taller man utter. He thought about it as they
walked back to Angel's car.
"Are you sure
the skull is old? It may belong to the remains of a murder victim."
"I'm sure, and
if the victim was murdered, the killer is long dead."
"Did we do the right thing?"
"Angel does know his bones," Buffy assured him.
Giles was quiet. He trusted Angel's instincts but
wasn't sure if the new owners of the flat shouldn't be informed of a hidden
guest in their kitchen. He decided to keep his silence on the matter. He would
think on it and would discuss it with Angel when they found him.
Buffy shifted in her seat. This hadn't explained why
Angel wasn't here with Chris Watts. "So where is he?"
"We were on the way home when he spotted something
near the road. I couldn't see what it was he saw. Angel must have pretty keen
eyesight." Watts stared at Buffy as if looking
for an answer to a question. When none was forthcoming, he continued, "It was
pretty dark where we were. Angel stopped the car, we got out, he apologised,
told me to find my own way home, and took off. He can move pretty fast. One
minute he was there, and poof..."
Giles coughed. "Yes...well! Where was this, exactly?"
"It was near the railway station. Parkside and Tenison
Road. It
looked like Angel was headed for Station
Road."
"How did you get home?" Giles asked.
"I knew there was a train to Bristol,
so I headed for the station myself. I
had to go in to work, you see. I've only just started my new job and I didn't
want to be sacked in my first week."
"And you didn't see any sign of Angel when you arrived
at the station?"
"No. The place was deserted. My train pulled out just before five. I think I slept till then.
Sorry."
Buffy was on her feet. Giles stood, knowing how eager Buffy was to head out for Cambridge.
"Thank you, Mr Watts. You've been most helpful. Did
Angel tell you there would be a charge for his services?" Giles ignored Buffy's
glare. "I'll take into consideration your train fare. We'll be in touch."
As they made their way to the street, Chris Watts
called out to them.
"I hope you find him."
+++
The drive to Cambridge
seemed an eternity. Both were quiet, mulling over Watts'
tale. It was Buffy who finally broke out the refreshments, and the silence.
"Screaming skulls, eh?" she said as she handed Giles a
scone.
Giles bit off a piece and placed the remains on his
lap, his eyes never leaving the road. "Yes. They're peculiar to Britain,
I believe."
"It sounds like the countryside is littered with bones
that wail." She chewed on her own scone.
"Not really. But I concede that there are a few
documented cases."
"Did Angel do the right thing?"
"Putting the skull back? His reasoning is sound. What
would happen if the new tenants were told? Would they move out with fear? Would
they want to have the bones removed?"
"Wouldn't the screams start anew?"
"Yes they would, Buffy. That is why skulls that cry
out have been interred behind walls. That way the bones can never be removed
accidentally. People were a superstitious lot back then."
"They still are."
Buffy was quiet again, before saying, "I think, let
sleeping bones lie."
"I tend to agree. Perhaps I will do a little digging and
see what I can find out about Watts' old
address, just out of curiosity..."
Buffy filled a cup half way of tea and carefully
passed it to Giles. She waited until he finished his drink before pouring her
own.
Conversation faltered once more and, after the warming
drink, Buffy felt her lids grow heavy. She fell asleep, despite her ongoing
worry for Angel.
+++
Buffy jolted awake when the engine of the car fell
silent. Blinking rapidly, and straightening from her slouch, Buffy stared at a
familiar sight. Giles had pulled in behind Angel's car. The Porsche sat silent
and sleek. Jerking open her door, Buffy ran across to the car. The door was
locked when she tried the handle. Scrabbling about in her coat pocket, she
found the Porsche's spare keys and, sliding into Angel's seat, she searched the
glove box and found his phone.
"Great!" A glowing message declared the number of
missed calls. Her calls.
A voice by her ear mumbled, "Let's head in the general
direction of the station. You may pick up his trail..."
Leveraging herself out of the seat, Buffy pocketed the
phone, locked the car door and headed back to the Discovery.
"On foot, Buffy," Giles started to say, when he
noticed his young friend had something else on her mind. A sliver of steel was
caught by the dull light of the street light when she rescued it from the back
of his car.
Buffy thrust the point of her sword in a stabbing
motion. "Whatever has taken Angel can look forward to this."
The Slayer's senses didn't find anything unusual as
they made their way through the sleepy streets of Cambridge.
Buffy wanted nothing more than to pick up a vibe that a demon was near, or feel
that special tingle when vampires were about. Her senses were quiescent and for
once she wasn't happy about it. Giles kept his silence, too, she noted, letting
her work.
The station came into view. A long large building with
high arched windows stared back at them in the gloom of the night. The building
was lit for security, Buffy assumed, noticing the soft glow of lights from
within. It was late, early morning. The station was deserted when they entered.
Not quite, Buffy found. Out on the platform, against a wall, a large bundle of
rags caught her eye. On closer inspection, the rags were wrapped about a human
being: a homeless man sheltering from the night. Homeless people were easy
targets, Buffy knew. No one bothered when the homeless disappeared. It's what
they did well. Disappear.
Gently, she shook the rags.
"Excuse me, please?"
"Gerroff!"
Two red-rimmed eyes stared up at her from a fringe of
wild, greying hair. When Giles moved into view, there was a growl. "Leave me
alone." The figure huddled closer to the wall.
"I'm sorry to disturb you," Buffy continued as if he
hadn't spoken, "were you here last night?"
"What's it to you?" the man barked.
"We're looking for our friend," Giles said from behind
her. "We're wondering if you saw him last night."
When he didn't answer, Buffy tried again. "My
boyfriend is missing. We know he was in Cambridge
last night, and heading for the station. I'm worried about him."
The eyes regarded her for a moment. The mouth beneath
the eyes, asked, "What's it worth to you?"
"Um..." Flustered, Buffy scrabbled about for her purse.
Giles beat her to it. He handed a note across to her. Buffy proffered it to the
bundle of rags at her feet. A hand shot out fast, latched onto the note, and
whipped it from her fingers. Buffy almost felt the paper light up, the movement
was that quick. After a moment, the man raised himself to a sitting position.
Buffy couldn't tell what age he was, but she guessed by the hair he was old.
His face was filthy in the shadows, and she thought he hadn't had a bath in a
while. She moved back a step when the smell hit her, confirming her suspicion
of his lack of bathing. She felt Giles move with her. The odour was overwhelming.
"What's he look like?"
"Tall, dark...he was wearing a long black coat..."
The dirty face stared at her. "Lots of people answer
to that description."
"He's good-looking and rather pale."
Wiry hair bobbed "I think I seen him. He was running
for the train."
Giles frowned. "Train? Which train?"
"The one to London."
Wondering why Angel was trying to catch a train to London,
Buffy asked, "Why was he running?"
Shrewd eyes narrowed at her. "He was chasing
some...thing."
"Thing?" Giles thrust his head forward, the smell
forgotten, as he stared hard at the craggy face.
"You been on the streets as long as I have, you notice
things. Not-so-human things. Keep your head down, stay invisible, and they
leave you alone. Been a few on the street that weren't so lucky."
"Thing?" Buffy asked again, insistent.
"I couldn't see what sort of thing it was, but it moved oddly. It had on a long coat, sort of
like your fellow's only not so nice, but even I could see its knees didn't work
properly. They bent at an odd angle."
"What happened?"
The homeless man stared at Giles. "The thing got on
the train and your friend followed."
"Which train to London,
do you know?"
"The one to Kings Cross."
The slayer and the watcher moved back a pace, relieved
to get away from the smell. The stench could peel paint from a wall.
Buffy smiled at the ragged man all the same. "Thank
you."
As they headed back the way they came, they heard the
man call.
"I hope your man has a good sense of balance. He
didn't make it before the doors closed. The last time I saw him he was on the
roof of the train."
Buffy set a quick pace back to the cars. "Shall I
follow you to London
in Angel's car?"
Knowing that Buffy wasn't at all comfortable driving
about a city as large as London,
albeit it was the middle of the night and traffic would be light, Giles said,
"We'll leave it here for the time being. We'll worry about getting it home once
we've found Angel."
Giles smiled at Buffy's sigh of relief, before it
became a voice full of concern.
"London
is a megalopolis. Is that the word? Even when we get to Kings Cross, we'll
never pick up his trail. This is going to be impossible." Buffy kicked at the
curbing as she stalked by. "I'll kill him if he is sitting in a night club
somewhere, safe and sound."
Giles hid his smile when she turned her head. "It's a
start, Buffy."
The hourly news was on when Giles turned the key of
his Discovery.
"The body of a
young man has been pulled from under the ruins of the collapsed buildings in
Hitchin. The body of the man, yet to be identified, has been sent to Lister
Hospital. Police and fire
crew are continuing the search for more victims in the hope that there may be
someone left alive..." The radio went silent when Giles switched it off.
Buffy's and Giles' heads turned to look at one
another.
"That may be him," Buffy said, her eyes alight with
excitement.
Giles nodded his agreement. "Hitchin is on the route
to London.
Angel may have got off there. It's somewhere to start, and as we're headed that
way..."
"He must be hurt if he couldn't pull himself free of
the blast." Buffy bit her lip. She had already decided the body was that of her
boyfriend. "Do you think we need to call in Nick? Angel may need his
expertise."
Giles didn't have the heart to say no to her. Besides,
he trusted Buffy's instincts, and he knew that Nick would jump at the chance to
lend a hand. Giles handed her his phone. "His number is on speed dial. Give him
a call and tell him to meet us at the hospital."
+++
An hour, a day, a decade later Angel swam out of the
dark and into a white light. Wait. White
light? He was never destined for Heaven; he knew for sure Hell's eternal
fires were waiting for him. Unable to move, all he managed was to crack open an
eye. Peering past lashes clumped together with stickiness he knew to be blood,
the white light trembled into focus. Okay, he was seeing three of everything,
but focus it was. The light was just a light. It trickled like water around
brick and stone, illuminating very little. But it was proof that he wasn't
dead. Well...deader than he already was. A faint thump thump reached his ears. He
knew from the sound a helicopter flew overhead. Where was he? How did he get
here? He didn't know. He couldn't recall the last few minutes before he ended
up here, wherever that was.
The ground shivered and groaned. The crushing
sensation on his head intensified, and he knew no more.
When next he opened his eyes, there was no white
light. There was no light at all. There was no sound, either. Had he gone deaf? Usually his hearing
was exceptional, but all was silent. He tried opening his mouth, tried to make
a sound, and failed. With his head held tight and his body wedged in and around
tons of debris, he could do no more than blink. If he had been a mortal man his
lungs wouldn't be able to inflate. He would be as he was now, a dead man. Still,
the dead man attempted to move fingers and toes and found that those, too, were
denied him. The pain of his efforts sent him spinning away into the void.
His hearing was returned when he came to. There were
muted sounds, voices, coming from afar. His nose caught the scent of wet fur.
It was canine. Whoever it was he could
hear were using dogs to find him. To locate bodies, he knew. Whatever disaster
he had walked into, he was one of the victims. He hoped the only victim.
Another thing he hoped for was that he was found before the sun rose. He didn't
want to leave this mortal coil caught in an impossible position. To dust
without saying goodbye to Buffy, to die the final death without a sword in his
hand, would be the biggest irony. The Powers, he had learned, were cruel. They
used up their champions and spit them out when they were no longer of use. He
wouldn't put it past them to end his life like this.
Oblivion caught him again, and when he regained
consciousness he found himself being released from his rocky prison. A warm
hand felt for his pulse, and he heard a voice declare him dead. His rescuers
were gentle with him anyway. They pulled him clear from the rubble, and his
sense of smell told him they had a digging machine nearby. They had used the
machine to clear away most of the heavy debris before a chain of men had hauled
away the rest of the rock to free him. Gentle fingers pulled at an eyelid. His
dead man's stare caught sight of a bearded man in a hard hat, a penlight in his
fingers. Angel kept his pupil from reacting to the light as it swept across his
eye. His eyelid was released as he was carried away.
A deep voice, the same that had declared him dead,
lingered in his ears.
"There's no rigor mortis. I think he may have been
alive all these long hours. It's a crying shame we didn't find him sooner, poor
bugger."
Angel was placed on a stretcher and put into an
ambulance. A blanket was laid over him, and he felt the vehicle sway as one of
the attendants sat in a seat next to him. He tried wriggling his toes and to
his great relief they responded. So, too, did his fingers. He ignored the pain
the small actions caused him. He wasn't paralysed and for that he was grateful.
Angel dared not attempt to move his limbs. He had to play dead until he arrived
at the hospital. He didn't know if, when he tried to get away, his legs would
carry him.
Angel endured the long wait on the gurney as the
situation was explained to whoever was in charge of receiving the dead. Finally, he was trundled off to whatever the
hospital used as a morgue. The smell of death hit his senses as he was wheeled
in. Despite the disinfectant, overpowering as it was, the scent lingered.
Warm, feminine fingers touched his face. He suffered
the indignity of being stripped of his clothes, lying very still when his pants
were removed. He listened as the young doctor read out his vitals, or lack of.
His head was gently pushed from one side to another as she described his
injuries, to a tape, he thought. It was a cursory examination. The post mortem
proper would take place later that morning when the pathologist was on duty.
His injuries were severe, he learned. He was glad he didn't try to make a dash
for it, but already he could feel his preternatural healing kicking in. He was
going to be placed in a cabinet until later in the morning. Oh joy, he thought, but at least it
would give him more time to heal. He would be long gone before the pathologist
arrived for work in the morning. A sheet was placed over his corpse. And as he
was rolled into the cabinet, he heard the young doctor mutter, "What a waste."
Once again Angel was in the dark, and this time he was
grateful. His thoughts drifted, his memory finally kicking in, filling in the
gaps of the missing moments from his eventful evening.
He had waited
atop the speeding train, the wind buffeting fiercely, threatening to dislodge
him if not for his supernatural strength, and climbing through the doors only
when the engine had stopped at its next call. He waited to see if his quarry
disembarked, and when it didn't, he entered the train just as it left the
station. Quietly, he walked through the cars, scanning the people he passed. A
few were demons passing for human, keeping their heads down all the same. He
could smell them: demon sweat had its own tang, different from human sweat, and
the rhythm of demon hearts told their own story
The one he was
hunting was a carnivore, an eater of flesh, specifically of the human variety.
He found it in the last car, huddled beneath a coat, a hat covering its lack of
ears. Angel recognised the demon. It had holes in the side of its skull, no
lobes, which didn't prevent it from hearing well, and snake eyes with their
orange slits and excellent vision. The vampire sat down beside the creature and
leaned back, his posture belying his coiled muscles ready for any sign of
trouble.
Ruddy skin,
flaking and peeling as if sunburned that was in reality fine scales of a rosy
hue, clothed the head of the Rotlich. Angel stared at its mouth. His nostrils
flared. The demon had eaten recently.
"Leave me
alone," the demon hissed, thin-lipped.
Angel draped
his arm over the demon's shoulders.
"Is that any
way to talk to your travelling companion?"
"What do you
want, vampire?"
"I want you to
get off this train."
"Or you'll kill
me?" Snake eyes flickered in his direction and then past him to look out the
window. Angel saw hope come to life in its eyes.
"I'll kill you.
It can be quick, or...excruciatingly slow. Your choice."
Angel could see
its mind working. Using the other passengers as hostages wouldn't gain it any
time. Vampires were killers. They welcomed bloodshed.
"What did I do
to you, vampire, that you want to kill me? I haven't dusted any vamps lately."
"Your last
meal...young was it? A student?"
"Did I steal
your dinner?"
Angel bared his
teeth. "I can smell her on you." His arm curled about the demon's neck.
"The sun will
be up soon, vampire," it spat at him, attempting to shrink against the side of
the car. The arm was like a vice, and a cold hand wrapped itself about the
Rotlich's throat.
"Not as soon as
you'd like."
Angel stared at
the window beside them. The reflection he saw there echoed the Rotlich's
comment. The car offered no shelter from the coming sun. The walls were all
window, and chrome gleamed around nylon covered seats. The train sped through
an ever lightening landscape, and the two demons sat locked together in
apparent camaraderie. Angel felt the other tense, ready for a bid for freedom.
When it came, Angel was ready. The Rotlich still surprised him, though. A blade
sliced upwards, tearing through cloth, skin, and heart muscle as Angel's hand crushed
the demon's throat, his other hand reaching for the knife that was in his ribs.
He ignored the pain, intent on keeping the demon still. Its body twitched
against his side in its death throes, desperately trying to escape the
vampire's embrace. He stayed that way, watching passengers embark and settle
into vacant seats. The train was headed to London.
It was the beginning of a work day for most. A disembodied voice announced the
station of Hitchin and Angel rose, hugging the corpse. He didn't want to leave
the body sitting in place, to be found at the end of the line. He would dispose
of it and find shelter in Hitchin.
He passed by
with hardly a glance from his fellow passengers, alighted from the carriage,
and found a large drain nearby to dump the body. With hurried steps he headed
away in search of an empty building, or a dark safe hole he could crawl into.
The sewers would be his last option.
Angel blinked. The last thing he remembered was
passing a building...a house?...and waking up under tons of rubble. An explosion of
some sort? He lifted a hand and felt for the stab wound. He found the closing
wound among the scrapes and tears blanketing his torso. His other arm was
healing too, as were his legs. The broken bones were knitting, and the ogre of
a headache reminded him his skull had been fractured, along with his cheek.
With tentative fingers he felt around in his hair. There weren't any obvious
holes or dents in his skull, just the blood and dirt. And he was ravenous.
Preternatural healing used up valuable energy, and to replenish his dwindling
reserves, he needed to feed. With his feet up against the back of the cabinet
he tested his legs. It was painful but he felt he could stand. Pushing hard
against the wall and reaching for the door, he was surprised when it opened on
its own accord. The smell of blood, human, reached his nose before his eyes
caught sight of blonde hair and a wry smile.
"Guess what I found?"
Buffy was holding a bag of blood, straight from the
hospital's bank, he supposed, and behind her two faces peered.
"Are you alright?" Giles asked, concerned, as they
pulled the slab forth.
Nick was there, doctor's bag in hand.
"This is beginning to be a habit," Nick said, smiling
down at him.
"Buffy...How did you?" Angel asked as Buffy and Giles
helped him to sit up. Grabbing hold of the sheet, the only thing covering his
modesty, he swung his legs over the side and let them dangle a moment. It would
be soon enough when he had to stand on his own two feet.
Buffy handed him the bag of blood. She had snipped an
opening for him and, not caring if Nick was repulsed - the man had seen him
drink straight from a vein - Angel drank.
"You're on the news, bub." Buffy procured a cloth, wet
it, and gently began to clean his face and hair, not before kissing the top of
his head.
"How did you know it was me?"
"After the night we had, it could only be you."
Giles filled Angel in on their evening of
follow-the-vampire while the others worked on him.
Nick concentrated on giving Angel the professional
once over. He hissed at the knife wound, at the bruises and cuts and rents he
found. His fingers probed Angel's abdomen. The spleen and a couple of other
organs had been mangled. If Angel wasn't dead already, he would be dead. The
legs he had put back together had suffered injury, but not enough to warrant
more surgery, Nick was relieved to find. Angel's cheek was smashed, his face
misshapen, but no missing teeth. Nick wondered at that. Wondered if and when a vampire
lost a tooth, would it grow back?
"Anything I can do?" he asked, fascinated by this
walking, talking, dead man.
"Broken bones are knitting. The wounds are closing..."
Buffy interrupted Angel. "Dressings, please, Nick."
Cutting off Angel's protest, she added, "I know that disinfectant and bandages
aren't really necessary, but for my peace of mind, could you?" She gave her
boyfriend the look that has worked on men for millennia. He acquiesced
immediately.
Giles, hovering by, wanted to know what had transpired
on the train.
When Angel mentioned the Rotlich, he was surprised. "I
didn't know there were any this far north. They don't like the colder climes."
Buffy's cloth hesitated over Angel's damaged cheek.
"What's a Rotlich?"
Giles' eyes went distant behind his glasses as he
recalled the facts about the Rotlich. "Cold blooded creatures. Reptilian. They
devour their young, if the female isn't careful, and it seems as if they have a
penchant for human flesh. They live in groups. Clans, I believe. They usually
hibernate if caught in a chilly climate."
"Perhaps this one woke early and was hungry," Buffy
suggested.
Nick shuddered inwardly. Vampires, he was getting used
to, and now there were other type of demons to worry about. Nasty types.
Buffy stared at her boyfriend. "Did you find out if he
had cousins nearby? Do we need to go and kill them?"
Angel managed to look sheepish despite his bruising.
"Uh..."
"Too busy killing the demon, ask questions later kind
of guy," she snorted. "Never mind. When you're better we'll have a look around Cambridge.
You may be able to sniff out their scent."
Angel winced when Nick applied an astringent to a
wound. "There's no need for you to come, Buffy. It's my..."
A sly look entered Buffy's eyes. "You'll need me to
drive you to Cambridge.
Your car, remember?"
Angel groaned inwardly. Buffy was right. She would
have to drive him to Cambridge.
He knew that Buffy was delighted with her new car. The Peugeot fitted her
perfectly, and he knew that there was no way Buffy would let him drive. She was
too enamoured of it. He would have to
suffer the journey with a smile, and try and not let Buffy's driving rattle him
too much. If his head hadn't felt like it was going to fall off with a nod, he
would have done so. Instead he gave her a smile that said yes.
Giles had retreated to the other side of the room but
Angel could still hear his quiet chuckle. He narrowed his eyes at the man. A
rustle of plastic and an "ah" preceded Giles' return with Angel's mutilated clothing
in hand.
"I think these are rather ruined. But the trousers and
the coat will suffice if one doesn't look too carefully." He held up Angel's
boots. "The socks are too bloody but at least you won't go barefoot." Over his
arm was draped a hospital gown. "You can wear this if you prefer."
Angel could swear that Giles was enjoying himself at
his expense. "My clothes will do."
Angel looked down at his feet. His left foot was in
Nick's hands. The toes didn't look like toes. They were flat spatulas of flesh.
But he could wriggle them. They would be as good as new come a day or two.
Nick looked up at him. "I think a wheel chair is in
order." He let go of the foot and rose to his full height. "It's best you don't
wobble about on your pins and draw attention to yourself. No one looks at a
person in a wheel chair."
Buffy shooed the men out of the morgue, and as they
left in search of an available chair, Buffy helped Angel dress.
"I was worried about you," she said, her tone subdued.
She held out his coat and helped him into it. Buffy was grateful to see the
bandages disappear beneath black cloth.
"I'm sorry. I left the phone in the car, didn't I?" he
said as he struggled with his pants. She kneeled and gently pulled the material
over his bloody legs. Her heart lurched at how often Angel's body got battered
and bruised. It was the nature of the job but she didn't have to like it. He
may be virtually indestructible but he still felt pain.
"We'll give you a proper bath," she said, "when we get
home." Blinking back her suddenly wet eyes, she managed to put a smile on her
face as she helped him with his boots. Looking up at him, she said, "Now sit
like a good little invalid and let nurse Buffy take care of you."
She laughed when she saw his eyes light up. Battered,
bruised, wounded and mangled, Angel had that look in his eyes that told her,
despite everything, he was up for it. She was still laughing when Nick and
Giles arrived with the wheelchair.
The End.
ANs.
As always, a huge thank you is due to Jo for her
excellent advice and beta.
For more information on skulls that wail follow the
link.
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/hauntings/screaming_skulls.html
Cambridge
railway station.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_railway_station
The train to Kings Cross leaves about the same time as
the train to Bristol, just before 5 a.m., but
for the purpose of my story I had the London
train leave a little earlier. The sun rises just after 5 a.m. in May.
More about the town of Hitchin,
little enough that Angel saw of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchin