Broken, part 4
Nov. 30th, 2005 01:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
girlpireokay, so, it's all planned out now. thank goodness. :) and i'm graduating on the 9th, so afterwards i'll probably update faster. probably.
Title: Broken (part four)
Author: girlpire
Rating: I'm calling it NC17, but so far it's pretty tame.
Pairing: Fred/Angelus
Disclaimer: This story is based on the "Angel" series, with which I am not affiliated in any way. Joss Whedon is my master, etc.
Distribution: Please no. kthnxbye. :)
Summary: Fred deals with the consequences of her decision to release Angelus.
Warnings: Well, it's kind of dark. There's some hitting.
Author's Notes: This is the fourth part of my series Broken. The first part is here. Broken is the sequel to Breakable, picking up soon after that left off. I recommend reading Breakable first, but don't worry, it's short. :) This is set during season four, AU after the episode "Calvary." No beta, so all mistakes are mine.
banner by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
frimfram because she is the coolest ever! EVER!
*
"Ready to go?" Angelus didn't even look at her as he entered their hotel room.
For once, she was glad he ignored her. She probably looked scary, as though she'd been crying. He'd only been gone for about an hour, but she'd spent almost the entire time sitting on the bed trying to make herself think rationally. Yes, there was a body in the closet. But is it really his fault? Vampires have to eat. It's just the food chain. Biology asserting itself. Is it fair to think of it as murder? Animals kill and eat each other all the time. It's what they do. He can't help it that he's an animal. And animals have the right to exist, same as people. Does the fact that his natural food is humans counteract that right?
The removal of a top predator from an ecosystem throws the entire food web out of whack. The population of secondary consumers grows too large. Primary consumers are virtually wiped out. Secondary consumers must out-compete each other or starve. Top predators are necessary for the stabilization of a community.
He was counting money from a small brown wallet.
"Ready," she said quietly. She thought about the Bible in the nightstand.
He sat on the edge of the other bed, still counting. Finally, he looked up at her. "Why do humans in this town always carry so much cash with them? Don't they know it's dangerous?"
She shrugged.
"I hate stupid people." He stuffed the bills back into the wallet, then pulled something out of his pocket. He held it up for her to see and then tossed it at her.
She caught the small plastic compact and looked at it. It was the same kind of makeup she usually used to cover up the small bruises and scratches she sometimes got from working with Angel. She opened it up. "It's my color," she said.
"Use it." He lay back on the bed and put his hands behind his head to wait. As an afterthought, he asked, "Do you need food?"
She stood and walked slowly to the mirror, giving the closet a wide berth. "I ate my leftover tacos," she said. "I... was that okay?"
"Well I didn't get them for me," he replied. Then he chuckled. "You know, we both had Mexican for dinner."
She closed her eyes and swallowed briefly before starting to work on her face.
*
She covered the bruise as well as she could. It was barely noticeable with the makeup, just a faint shadow. The fingerprint bruises on her arm were easier to cover. She examined them closely. Yes, those were okay. Very light, probably be gone tomorrow. She turned away from the mirror and jumped at the sight of Angelus standing close behind her.
He reached out and tilted her head to one side, squinting a little as he studied her cheek. "It'll do," he judged. "Too bad you're not a vampire; that would have healed already by now." He frowned thoughtfully, his eyes flicking down to her neck. "You know, that would actually be more convenient..." He seemed to be contemplating the idea for a few moments, then finally let go of her face. "Let's go," he said.
She followed him out the front door, immediately putting her arms around herself as they stepped outside into the cool air. She'd always been a bit warm-natured, but then she never went out wearing so little in cold weather. The tank top and skirt offered little warmth, and the fact that she wasn't wearing panties just seemed to add to the chill. She shivered.
Angelus was already heading towards the stairs, not looking to see if she were still following him. She caught up and walked just behind him, watching his coat flap softly around his legs. In the parking lot, she automatically headed toward Angel's black Plymouth, arms still clasped around her body, but he suddenly stopped.
He halted so abruptly that she bumped into him with a little "oof." A murmured apology, and she took a big step backward, glancing up at his face to see why he'd stopped. He just looked back at her with an eyebrow raised, then nodded left, walking off in that direction rather than towards the car. She followed him.
Fred had always had the impression that Sunnydale was a small town. She pictured somewhere like Gilmer, where she'd grown up. Just one public high school, one main drag, one cool club to hang out at. To hear Angel and Cordy tell it, Sunnydale barely had two stop signs and post office - just a regular Smalltown, USA. Everyone knows everyone and their brother. As they walked along though, she decided to amend her idea of the place.
It's not that it was large, exactly - obviously nowhere near the size of L.A. - but there were plenty of shops lining the street, and there seemed to be a lot of people out even though it was after dark. She saw several cute little boutiques, and even a few art galleries. They passed a lot of restaurants, too, and two movie theaters. One played new releases, while the other was more of an artsy place. Didn't Cordelia once tell her that there was a big mall here too? And a branch of the University of California. The town was actually shaping up to be several times bigger in real life than it was in her head. She bumped into Angelus again.
He turned to her with an annoyed expression. "What are you, blind all of a sudden?"
"Sorry, I was just -"
"Just walking on me?" He put both hands on her shoulders and pushed her back a few awkward steps.
"I didn't mean to; I was just looking around, you know, at all the... all the..." Her voice trailed off as she realized he wasn't letting go of her. She looked down at his hands on her body. "All the... stuff... the..."
His hands slid down her arms, pulling her fingers away from her body to squeeze them in his hands.
"...the shops... I've never been here, so... I was..." She stared at his big hands holding her thin fingers.
"You're cold," he said flatly. Like she was doing it on purpose.
She just nodded.
He dropped her hands. "You should have said so."
His irritated tone was so incongruous with the action of shrugging out of his long coat and offering it to her that Fred just stared at him for a few moments.
He was holding the coat open. He shook it at her. "Well?"
Her mouth was open a little. She closed it. She looked down at the coat. It looked like he was really trying to give it to her.
Suddenly he took a step forward, leaned down close to her ear. His voice was very quiet when he spoke. "Fred," he murmured. "If you don't put on this coat right now, I will peel the skin from your arms in strips. Do you think I'm joking?"
She wasn't quite sure whether or not she was supposed to answer out loud. She just shook her head.
He pulled back and offered the coat again. She immediately slipped into it, allowing him to gather her hair and pull it out from the collar for her. The coat hung down nearly to the ground and smelled of Angel. It was the first time she'd ever been offered a coat that was colder than the air around her, but she knew her body heat would warm it soon enough. She wrapped her arms around herself again.
"I didn't think you'd care if I was cold," she said quietly.
"I don't," he replied, beginning to walk again. "I care if I have to share a hotel room with a sick human."
"Oh," she said, turning to follow him again. She reminded herself that she had no reason to be disappointed. He was evil; of course he didn't care if she was cold. But she was disappointed all the same. Nothing was turning out the way she'd imagined. But she supposed nothing ever did.
She tried to remember the last time she'd been really happy about something. When her research paper was published? That was only a few weeks ago. God, it felt like forever. And that doesn't really even count because then she and Charles had... no, she wasn't going to think about Charles again. Before that? She was drawing a blank when Angelus finally stopped walking. She bumped into him.
Without even looking at her, he shoved her backward and entered the shop they were standing in front of.
She stumbled a little but didn't fall. A quick glance around indicated that no one had noticed, and then she looked to see what kind of place they were at. There was a music store on the left and a shoe shop on the right, but Angelus had entered an unmarked door between the two. There was no sign.
She debated about whether or not she ought to just wait for him outside, but she had to admit that she was a little curious about where he'd gone. She pulled open the door and looked... up. Stairs. If he didn't want her to come in, he'd have said so, right? She walked in, let the door close softly behind her, and began climbing. She could see her breath. She hugged the coat tightly to her body.
Her first thought as she glanced around the shop at the top of the stairs was that it was an antique store. There were several kinds of intricately carved wooden boxes and very old-looking ornamental shelves, statues, and a lot of mirrors. A second look, though, and Fred saw that the items on the shelves were definitely not antiques. In fact, some of them looked very... fresh. She turned away from a large jar of amphibian eyes and was confronted with a display case full of scarab beetles, crawling and writhing on top of each other. A magic shop, then.
As she made her way towards the back of the store, she could hear two men's voices. She was pretty sure one of them was Angelus. Not wanting to interrupt, she paused at a bookshelf and pretended to read the titles, straining to hear the quiet conversation going on at the counter. She could only make out a few words: where, don't, street, and something that may or may not have been rat. After a few moments, the voices paused, and she heard the sound of a till being opened and closed, followed by the shopkeeper's less-than-cheerful "Have a nice day." Then Angelus had her by the arm and was dragging her back down the stairs and outside.
"I told you to wait out here!" he snapped once they were out.
"No, you didn't," she argued, trying to squirm out of his grip. He was easily holding her one-handed, the other hand carrying a heavy bag. She could hear things clinking around inside it as he moved.
He let go and watched her rub her arm. "I didn't?"
She shook her head.
"Yes I did!" He looked doubtful for a moment, then added, "I meant to." He glared at her. "Stay outside from now on, unless I say you can come in. Is that clear?"
"Yes," she said, still rubbing her arm.
He nodded and began to walk off again. She followed him, a pace behind.
"So... what is it?" she asked.
He kept walking. "What is what?"
"That. In the bag. What did you get?"
"None of your business."
They turned a corner and walked another block or so. Finally, she said, "I think it's my business if you're making me come with you."
He didn't reply. They turned another corner and kept walking. Then Angelus stopped suddenly in front of a different unmarked door. Fred bumped into him. He scowled and began to say something, then just shook his head, opened the door, and stepped inside. Before the door closed, he turned back to her and said, very deliberately, "Stay. Here." Then he was gone.
Fred sighed and leaned against the brick wall beside the doorway. He may be an animal, but he acted like a child. She glanced down the street to the right, then to the left. It was still fairly early. There were people around. She could just walk away right now, blend in with them. Find a way back to L.A.? He wouldn't even miss her. Probably be more upset about the coat.
She couldn't go back now, though. Not after... not now. She rolled her head to the side and pressed her bruised cheek against a brick. This was... what she'd wanted. Funny how it seemed like such a different thing, now that she had it.
But this wasn't really what she'd wanted, was it? Yes, she'd wanted Angelus. She'd wanted him to... to hurt her. But she'd also wanted him to make her feel good. Or to make her feel something. She'd wanted him to take her life and make it something other than what it had been for so long - empty. And if he couldn't do that, then she'd wanted him to... just take her life. Yet here she was, alive, and still numb.
She pressed her bruise harder against the corner of a brick. The sharp pain and the dull pain together made her dizzy, but she kept pressing. There. That was something. She could feel that.
The sudden opening of the unmarked door startled her, and she jerked away from the wall, accidentally scratching her cheek hard enough to draw blood. Her hand flew to the side of her face as the door closed behind Angelus. He gave her a cursory glance, then carefully placed another small bag inside the bigger bag he'd gotten from the other magic shop. Then he looked back up at her sharply, his eyes narrowed. She saw him sniff.
"What did you do?" he asked her. She just blinked mutely at him, her hand pressed to her cheek. He carefully set down his bag and took a step toward her. She took a step back. "What did you do, Fred?" he demanded again. He grabbed her hand and pulled it away from her face. She felt a drop of blood slide down her chin.
"I didn't mean to," she told him.
"Christ," he muttered angrily, roughly tilting her head back so she wouldn't drip on his coat. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and caught the blood on it, wiping away the trail and then pressing it to the cut. "What are you trying to do, make it look like I beat you? Fuck." He held the cloth there a little longer, then moved it to look underneath.
Then he licked her.
She was so surprised that at first she thought she'd just imagined it, but then his tongue was there again, cool and wet and sliding gently against the scratch, over and over, his hands holding her head slightly tilted back for better access. She closed her eyes. She'd never had her face licked before, but it felt really good. Kind of... tingly.
When he pulled away, the tiny wound on her cheek still tingled, like her skin was more alive than usual. She opened her eyes with a little sigh. Just in time to see Angelus spit on the sidewalk.
"Taste like fucking makeup," she heard him say under his breath. She watched him gather up his bag and turn back to her. "That should be cleared up in a couple of hours," he said. "And if you bleed again, it will be because of me, do you understand that? I am the only one who gets to make you bleed."
She nodded, her hand up to her face again. The cut was still tingling.
"Say it, Fred. So you'll remember. I won't tell you this again."
"You're the only one who gets to make me bleed," she said softly.
He nodded once, satisfied, then turned and began walking again. She followed him.
*
They went to two more magic shops, Angelus disappearing inside and then coming out with a bag of clinking things at both places. Fred waited by the door.
"I'm getting hungry," she commented after the second one. "Must be all the walking."
"I could eat again, too," he agreed. She flinched, but he wasn't looking at her. "The problem here is that there's not many good places to hide a body, you know? Always get found. End up in the newspaper. I don't really need that kind of publicity right now." He settled his new bag of clinking things inside of the biggest bag and started walking again.
"You... aren't planning to leave that one in the closet are you?" she asked, following.
"That one what?"
"Dead body. In the closet. I... found it." She swallowed. It was one thing to think about him killing her. It was another to know that he killed other people.
He stopped and looked at her. "Dead body?"
"You know, in the closet." She suddenly felt very cold. "You mean you didn't put it there?"
He shook his head. "Are you sure he's dead?"
"Well he was just lying there and there were bite marks..."
He waved that information away. "Of course I bit him. I didn't think I killed him though. In fact, I was pretty sure he'd live through it... did you check his pulse?"
"No, I... didn't touch him. So you did put him there?"
"Yes, I did put him there."
She felt relieved, and that almost made her laugh. "So he's alive?"
"Last time I checked. But it's been a couple days." He shrugged. "I took a lot of blood. Figured he'd be out for a while." He started walking again. "You want to stop for a taco or something?"
"Yeah. Thanks." They walked in silence for a while. Then she asked, "So why did you leave the boy alive? Are you going to... like, use him for something?"
There was another long pause. Finally Angelus said, "He smelled like her."
She didn't ask who. She didn't need to. They were in Sunnydale, and she'd heard the big romance story from Cordelia enough times to know they were there for the girl with the funny name. She just nodded, feeling numb.
Angelus went on, "Anyway I think I recognized him." They turned a corner, heading toward an all-night take-out place.
"Do you know his name?" she asked.
"Nah, can't remember..." he said. "But I think he's Tucker's brother."
*
next part here.
Title: Broken (part four)
Author: girlpire
Rating: I'm calling it NC17, but so far it's pretty tame.
Pairing: Fred/Angelus
Disclaimer: This story is based on the "Angel" series, with which I am not affiliated in any way. Joss Whedon is my master, etc.
Distribution: Please no. kthnxbye. :)
Summary: Fred deals with the consequences of her decision to release Angelus.
Warnings: Well, it's kind of dark. There's some hitting.
Author's Notes: This is the fourth part of my series Broken. The first part is here. Broken is the sequel to Breakable, picking up soon after that left off. I recommend reading Breakable first, but don't worry, it's short. :) This is set during season four, AU after the episode "Calvary." No beta, so all mistakes are mine.
banner by
frimfram because she is the coolest ever! EVER!*
"Ready to go?" Angelus didn't even look at her as he entered their hotel room.
For once, she was glad he ignored her. She probably looked scary, as though she'd been crying. He'd only been gone for about an hour, but she'd spent almost the entire time sitting on the bed trying to make herself think rationally. Yes, there was a body in the closet. But is it really his fault? Vampires have to eat. It's just the food chain. Biology asserting itself. Is it fair to think of it as murder? Animals kill and eat each other all the time. It's what they do. He can't help it that he's an animal. And animals have the right to exist, same as people. Does the fact that his natural food is humans counteract that right?
The removal of a top predator from an ecosystem throws the entire food web out of whack. The population of secondary consumers grows too large. Primary consumers are virtually wiped out. Secondary consumers must out-compete each other or starve. Top predators are necessary for the stabilization of a community.
He was counting money from a small brown wallet.
"Ready," she said quietly. She thought about the Bible in the nightstand.
He sat on the edge of the other bed, still counting. Finally, he looked up at her. "Why do humans in this town always carry so much cash with them? Don't they know it's dangerous?"
She shrugged.
"I hate stupid people." He stuffed the bills back into the wallet, then pulled something out of his pocket. He held it up for her to see and then tossed it at her.
She caught the small plastic compact and looked at it. It was the same kind of makeup she usually used to cover up the small bruises and scratches she sometimes got from working with Angel. She opened it up. "It's my color," she said.
"Use it." He lay back on the bed and put his hands behind his head to wait. As an afterthought, he asked, "Do you need food?"
She stood and walked slowly to the mirror, giving the closet a wide berth. "I ate my leftover tacos," she said. "I... was that okay?"
"Well I didn't get them for me," he replied. Then he chuckled. "You know, we both had Mexican for dinner."
She closed her eyes and swallowed briefly before starting to work on her face.
*
She covered the bruise as well as she could. It was barely noticeable with the makeup, just a faint shadow. The fingerprint bruises on her arm were easier to cover. She examined them closely. Yes, those were okay. Very light, probably be gone tomorrow. She turned away from the mirror and jumped at the sight of Angelus standing close behind her.
He reached out and tilted her head to one side, squinting a little as he studied her cheek. "It'll do," he judged. "Too bad you're not a vampire; that would have healed already by now." He frowned thoughtfully, his eyes flicking down to her neck. "You know, that would actually be more convenient..." He seemed to be contemplating the idea for a few moments, then finally let go of her face. "Let's go," he said.
She followed him out the front door, immediately putting her arms around herself as they stepped outside into the cool air. She'd always been a bit warm-natured, but then she never went out wearing so little in cold weather. The tank top and skirt offered little warmth, and the fact that she wasn't wearing panties just seemed to add to the chill. She shivered.
Angelus was already heading towards the stairs, not looking to see if she were still following him. She caught up and walked just behind him, watching his coat flap softly around his legs. In the parking lot, she automatically headed toward Angel's black Plymouth, arms still clasped around her body, but he suddenly stopped.
He halted so abruptly that she bumped into him with a little "oof." A murmured apology, and she took a big step backward, glancing up at his face to see why he'd stopped. He just looked back at her with an eyebrow raised, then nodded left, walking off in that direction rather than towards the car. She followed him.
Fred had always had the impression that Sunnydale was a small town. She pictured somewhere like Gilmer, where she'd grown up. Just one public high school, one main drag, one cool club to hang out at. To hear Angel and Cordy tell it, Sunnydale barely had two stop signs and post office - just a regular Smalltown, USA. Everyone knows everyone and their brother. As they walked along though, she decided to amend her idea of the place.
It's not that it was large, exactly - obviously nowhere near the size of L.A. - but there were plenty of shops lining the street, and there seemed to be a lot of people out even though it was after dark. She saw several cute little boutiques, and even a few art galleries. They passed a lot of restaurants, too, and two movie theaters. One played new releases, while the other was more of an artsy place. Didn't Cordelia once tell her that there was a big mall here too? And a branch of the University of California. The town was actually shaping up to be several times bigger in real life than it was in her head. She bumped into Angelus again.
He turned to her with an annoyed expression. "What are you, blind all of a sudden?"
"Sorry, I was just -"
"Just walking on me?" He put both hands on her shoulders and pushed her back a few awkward steps.
"I didn't mean to; I was just looking around, you know, at all the... all the..." Her voice trailed off as she realized he wasn't letting go of her. She looked down at his hands on her body. "All the... stuff... the..."
His hands slid down her arms, pulling her fingers away from her body to squeeze them in his hands.
"...the shops... I've never been here, so... I was..." She stared at his big hands holding her thin fingers.
"You're cold," he said flatly. Like she was doing it on purpose.
She just nodded.
He dropped her hands. "You should have said so."
His irritated tone was so incongruous with the action of shrugging out of his long coat and offering it to her that Fred just stared at him for a few moments.
He was holding the coat open. He shook it at her. "Well?"
Her mouth was open a little. She closed it. She looked down at the coat. It looked like he was really trying to give it to her.
Suddenly he took a step forward, leaned down close to her ear. His voice was very quiet when he spoke. "Fred," he murmured. "If you don't put on this coat right now, I will peel the skin from your arms in strips. Do you think I'm joking?"
She wasn't quite sure whether or not she was supposed to answer out loud. She just shook her head.
He pulled back and offered the coat again. She immediately slipped into it, allowing him to gather her hair and pull it out from the collar for her. The coat hung down nearly to the ground and smelled of Angel. It was the first time she'd ever been offered a coat that was colder than the air around her, but she knew her body heat would warm it soon enough. She wrapped her arms around herself again.
"I didn't think you'd care if I was cold," she said quietly.
"I don't," he replied, beginning to walk again. "I care if I have to share a hotel room with a sick human."
"Oh," she said, turning to follow him again. She reminded herself that she had no reason to be disappointed. He was evil; of course he didn't care if she was cold. But she was disappointed all the same. Nothing was turning out the way she'd imagined. But she supposed nothing ever did.
She tried to remember the last time she'd been really happy about something. When her research paper was published? That was only a few weeks ago. God, it felt like forever. And that doesn't really even count because then she and Charles had... no, she wasn't going to think about Charles again. Before that? She was drawing a blank when Angelus finally stopped walking. She bumped into him.
Without even looking at her, he shoved her backward and entered the shop they were standing in front of.
She stumbled a little but didn't fall. A quick glance around indicated that no one had noticed, and then she looked to see what kind of place they were at. There was a music store on the left and a shoe shop on the right, but Angelus had entered an unmarked door between the two. There was no sign.
She debated about whether or not she ought to just wait for him outside, but she had to admit that she was a little curious about where he'd gone. She pulled open the door and looked... up. Stairs. If he didn't want her to come in, he'd have said so, right? She walked in, let the door close softly behind her, and began climbing. She could see her breath. She hugged the coat tightly to her body.
Her first thought as she glanced around the shop at the top of the stairs was that it was an antique store. There were several kinds of intricately carved wooden boxes and very old-looking ornamental shelves, statues, and a lot of mirrors. A second look, though, and Fred saw that the items on the shelves were definitely not antiques. In fact, some of them looked very... fresh. She turned away from a large jar of amphibian eyes and was confronted with a display case full of scarab beetles, crawling and writhing on top of each other. A magic shop, then.
As she made her way towards the back of the store, she could hear two men's voices. She was pretty sure one of them was Angelus. Not wanting to interrupt, she paused at a bookshelf and pretended to read the titles, straining to hear the quiet conversation going on at the counter. She could only make out a few words: where, don't, street, and something that may or may not have been rat. After a few moments, the voices paused, and she heard the sound of a till being opened and closed, followed by the shopkeeper's less-than-cheerful "Have a nice day." Then Angelus had her by the arm and was dragging her back down the stairs and outside.
"I told you to wait out here!" he snapped once they were out.
"No, you didn't," she argued, trying to squirm out of his grip. He was easily holding her one-handed, the other hand carrying a heavy bag. She could hear things clinking around inside it as he moved.
He let go and watched her rub her arm. "I didn't?"
She shook her head.
"Yes I did!" He looked doubtful for a moment, then added, "I meant to." He glared at her. "Stay outside from now on, unless I say you can come in. Is that clear?"
"Yes," she said, still rubbing her arm.
He nodded and began to walk off again. She followed him, a pace behind.
"So... what is it?" she asked.
He kept walking. "What is what?"
"That. In the bag. What did you get?"
"None of your business."
They turned a corner and walked another block or so. Finally, she said, "I think it's my business if you're making me come with you."
He didn't reply. They turned another corner and kept walking. Then Angelus stopped suddenly in front of a different unmarked door. Fred bumped into him. He scowled and began to say something, then just shook his head, opened the door, and stepped inside. Before the door closed, he turned back to her and said, very deliberately, "Stay. Here." Then he was gone.
Fred sighed and leaned against the brick wall beside the doorway. He may be an animal, but he acted like a child. She glanced down the street to the right, then to the left. It was still fairly early. There were people around. She could just walk away right now, blend in with them. Find a way back to L.A.? He wouldn't even miss her. Probably be more upset about the coat.
She couldn't go back now, though. Not after... not now. She rolled her head to the side and pressed her bruised cheek against a brick. This was... what she'd wanted. Funny how it seemed like such a different thing, now that she had it.
But this wasn't really what she'd wanted, was it? Yes, she'd wanted Angelus. She'd wanted him to... to hurt her. But she'd also wanted him to make her feel good. Or to make her feel something. She'd wanted him to take her life and make it something other than what it had been for so long - empty. And if he couldn't do that, then she'd wanted him to... just take her life. Yet here she was, alive, and still numb.
She pressed her bruise harder against the corner of a brick. The sharp pain and the dull pain together made her dizzy, but she kept pressing. There. That was something. She could feel that.
The sudden opening of the unmarked door startled her, and she jerked away from the wall, accidentally scratching her cheek hard enough to draw blood. Her hand flew to the side of her face as the door closed behind Angelus. He gave her a cursory glance, then carefully placed another small bag inside the bigger bag he'd gotten from the other magic shop. Then he looked back up at her sharply, his eyes narrowed. She saw him sniff.
"What did you do?" he asked her. She just blinked mutely at him, her hand pressed to her cheek. He carefully set down his bag and took a step toward her. She took a step back. "What did you do, Fred?" he demanded again. He grabbed her hand and pulled it away from her face. She felt a drop of blood slide down her chin.
"I didn't mean to," she told him.
"Christ," he muttered angrily, roughly tilting her head back so she wouldn't drip on his coat. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and caught the blood on it, wiping away the trail and then pressing it to the cut. "What are you trying to do, make it look like I beat you? Fuck." He held the cloth there a little longer, then moved it to look underneath.
Then he licked her.
She was so surprised that at first she thought she'd just imagined it, but then his tongue was there again, cool and wet and sliding gently against the scratch, over and over, his hands holding her head slightly tilted back for better access. She closed her eyes. She'd never had her face licked before, but it felt really good. Kind of... tingly.
When he pulled away, the tiny wound on her cheek still tingled, like her skin was more alive than usual. She opened her eyes with a little sigh. Just in time to see Angelus spit on the sidewalk.
"Taste like fucking makeup," she heard him say under his breath. She watched him gather up his bag and turn back to her. "That should be cleared up in a couple of hours," he said. "And if you bleed again, it will be because of me, do you understand that? I am the only one who gets to make you bleed."
She nodded, her hand up to her face again. The cut was still tingling.
"Say it, Fred. So you'll remember. I won't tell you this again."
"You're the only one who gets to make me bleed," she said softly.
He nodded once, satisfied, then turned and began walking again. She followed him.
*
They went to two more magic shops, Angelus disappearing inside and then coming out with a bag of clinking things at both places. Fred waited by the door.
"I'm getting hungry," she commented after the second one. "Must be all the walking."
"I could eat again, too," he agreed. She flinched, but he wasn't looking at her. "The problem here is that there's not many good places to hide a body, you know? Always get found. End up in the newspaper. I don't really need that kind of publicity right now." He settled his new bag of clinking things inside of the biggest bag and started walking again.
"You... aren't planning to leave that one in the closet are you?" she asked, following.
"That one what?"
"Dead body. In the closet. I... found it." She swallowed. It was one thing to think about him killing her. It was another to know that he killed other people.
He stopped and looked at her. "Dead body?"
"You know, in the closet." She suddenly felt very cold. "You mean you didn't put it there?"
He shook his head. "Are you sure he's dead?"
"Well he was just lying there and there were bite marks..."
He waved that information away. "Of course I bit him. I didn't think I killed him though. In fact, I was pretty sure he'd live through it... did you check his pulse?"
"No, I... didn't touch him. So you did put him there?"
"Yes, I did put him there."
She felt relieved, and that almost made her laugh. "So he's alive?"
"Last time I checked. But it's been a couple days." He shrugged. "I took a lot of blood. Figured he'd be out for a while." He started walking again. "You want to stop for a taco or something?"
"Yeah. Thanks." They walked in silence for a while. Then she asked, "So why did you leave the boy alive? Are you going to... like, use him for something?"
There was another long pause. Finally Angelus said, "He smelled like her."
She didn't ask who. She didn't need to. They were in Sunnydale, and she'd heard the big romance story from Cordelia enough times to know they were there for the girl with the funny name. She just nodded, feeling numb.
Angelus went on, "Anyway I think I recognized him." They turned a corner, heading toward an all-night take-out place.
"Do you know his name?" she asked.
"Nah, can't remember..." he said. "But I think he's Tucker's brother."
*
next part here.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-11-30 07:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-30 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-30 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-30 12:29 pm (UTC)*does happy dance*
Yay!
no subject
Date: 2005-11-30 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-30 03:47 pm (UTC)That was another deeply creepy chapter - as much for Fred's thoughts about herself as for anything that Angelus does. Next to her, he's a simple creature, all about the feeding and the pain. I can't understand Fred at all but the story is so compelling and so well-written that I have to keep reading anyway in the hope that I will understand her.
Terrific stuff.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-30 08:31 pm (UTC)i won't give away andrew's fate, but i will say that i knew i needed him to say one line in an upcoming scene. yes, i introduced a whole character just for one line. *sigh* one day i will get the hang of this writing thing.
i'm so glad you're enjoying this story! i really hope andrew doesn't put you off. maybe i'll keep him unconscious most of the time...?
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Date: 2005-12-02 09:43 am (UTC)yes, i introduced a whole character just for one line. *sigh* one day i will get the hang of this writing thing.
Oh, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that. After all, he serves a purpose by just being the corpse in the closet too, because it's incredibly creepy. I do wonder, though, why Angelus didn't kill him. Looking forward to finding out.
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Date: 2005-12-02 04:01 pm (UTC)i really appreciate the feedback you've left on this story. i'm glad someone is reading. :)
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Date: 2005-12-04 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-01 01:35 am (UTC)terrific chapter; glad to see the update.
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Date: 2005-12-01 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-01 02:55 am (UTC)*scampers off to find the rest*
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Date: 2005-12-01 04:22 am (UTC)*scolds* :)
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Date: 2005-12-31 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 03:19 am (UTC)She stood and walked slowly to the mirror, giving the closet a wide berth. "I ate my leftover tacos," she said. "I... was that okay?"
"Well I didn't get them for me," he replied. Then he chuckled. "You know, we both had Mexican for dinner."
*snickers* Wow that was fun!
Suddenly he took a step forward, leaned down close to her ear. His voice was very quiet when he spoke. "Fred," he murmured. "If you don't put on this coat right now, I will peel the skin from your arms in strips. Do you think I'm joking?"
Awww that was sweet… well sweet for Angelus
Well was not an Angelus/Fred fan when I started but its totally growing on me.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 11:23 am (UTC)was not an Angelus/Fred fan when I started but its totally growing on me.
yay! a convert!
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Date: 2007-06-01 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-04 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-22 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-08 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-08 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 06:54 pm (UTC)Great chapter, hun!
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Date: 2009-05-20 03:59 pm (UTC)The German mum from Wye, England
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Date: 2009-07-13 06:18 am (UTC)