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staringiscaringTitle: The Lost Mistress
Author: Sami
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series
Rating: NC-17 overall for violence, sexual situations, torture, and character death.
Characters: Willow, Angel, Spike, Drusilla, Buffy, Sheila & Ira Rosenberg, Jenny Calender, Doyle, Xander, and original characters.
Word Count: 60K+ and unfinished but two thirds done.
Setting: Three months after the events of Porphyria's Lover, roughly Becoming 1 & 2 in the storyline which has been dramatically altered from canon.
Summary: Willow might be home but she's not out of danger even after her family moves to LA. Its up to Angel and Wllow to clean up after the aftermath of Angelus' reign of terror as Aurelian intrigues threaten to ensnare them again. Sequel to Porphyria's Lover.
Series Notes: This story probably wouldn't make much sense or have the same punch without reading Porphyria's Lover. Of course, this fic wouldn't be possible (or as readable) without my magnificent beta, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
olansamuelle ! Thank you for all your criticism, suggestions, and cheerleading and allowing me to drag you into the Buffy fandom. :)
Chapter Seven: Favors Owed
Willow screamed for help when she was finally able to move. Her feet were asleep and she stumbled. She had never felt human magic that strong. The Mayor was more than your average mage. She knew that from hard experience now. Chilled and shaking, she hobbled to the phone and picked it up to report the emergency.
Jenny threw herself at Giles and yelled at him to wake up. She touched his face. Her usually sleek black hair was mussed from her struggles. A light stream of blood trickled down her chin from where she had bit her lip. Her voice grew hoarse.
Giles didn't respond.
The next twenty minutes seemed to blur together as Willow and Jenny followed the ambulance to the hospital. Willow walked behind the stretcher into the painfully familiar waiting room before she glimpsed her mother sitting in one of the plastic gray chairs with a bandage over her forehead.
Jenny stopped by the nurses and questioned them about what going to happen to Giles.
Willow walked over to her mother. "Mom, what happened?"
"We were attacked!" Her mother touched her bandage and winced. “At the meeting, after it was over, some men with deformed faces ganged up on us in the parking lot. Your friend Buffy helped chase them away. She was going to go get you at the library."
Willow nodded, forcing herself to keep it together when she just wanted to fall apart. "Mom, give me a moment and I'll drive us home, okay?"
Her mother nodded, features strained, as she rubbed the back of her neck.
Willow walked over to Jenny and asked to use her blocky cellphone. "My mom's group was attacked and Buffy saved them. She's gone back to the library, my mom said. I'll leave her a message before I take my mother home."
Jenny handed over the phone. "We'll let you know his condition when we can."
"Thank you." Willow picked up the phone and called Buffy's pager before leaving a message on the library answering machine about Giles. "Tell her that I say thanks for saving my mom, too." She gave Jenny a hug before collecting her mother and getting her into the car. All she could think about, as she raced out of town, was how were they going to defeat the Mayor. It had seemed impossible even with all the Scoobies in commission, now Willow could only think of one thing that might balance the odds.
Maybe that was why Angel didn't want to let her know about that one side effect of the Lingering Kiss.
* * *
Willow got home two hours later and collapsed, still in her shoes, face first on her bed. Hugging her pink pillow, she closed her eyes and yawned. It had been a longer than long day. Her whole body seemed to be limp with exhaustion even as her mind couldn't stop repeating the traumas of the night. Giles kept convulsing behind her eyes. Sighing, she rolled over when the phone rang. Of course, when she wanted to sleep, everyone wanted to talk. "Hello?" She picked up the cordless handset on her bedside stand.
"Willow, its your ghost busting buddy, Doyle. Could you do a bit of a look up on Lawson? My search engine is more like a search abacus tonight. We think he is working with Wolfram and Hart right about where your spell found him."
"Sure." Willow stood up, went to her desk, and picked up a pen. "What's the area again?" She wrote it down on a post-it note. "I'll get the info, but tell Angel he needs to met me outside...” Her stomach growled. “...the Spudnuts two streets from my house in an hour to get it. Tell him it's trouble back home."
"Spudnuts?"
"These potato doughnuts that are made of awesome and processed sugar." Willow's stomach growled at that thought of one with maple icing on top. All the magic tonight had given her an appetite once she had gotten out of the danger zone.
"Sounds tasty. I'll let the big vamp in charge know. Thank you. Hey, do you mind that when you talk to him, you try to make it sound more like you called me? I'm handy with a keyboard but I got nothing in the face of Wolfram & Hart's firewall."
“I will. Good luck getting the bad guy. Night.” Willow set down the phone and opened up her laptop with only one longing look at her pillow. Setting her sights on the internet browser, she rolled up her metaphoric sleeves and got to work. The hardest part would not be hacking through the law firm's firewalls. It was the talking to Angel part that gave her the wiggins because she knew he wouldn't like a word of what she said. A seed of a bad idea had taken root and Willow knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep until she told Angel. Seeing her mother in the hospital waiting room had brought it home that it wasn't just herself that was in danger. Her whole family was a target now.
* * *
Willow was brushing the doughnut crumbs off her lap when she felt Angel appear out of the gloom from the cracked parking lot of the small strip mall. She looked up at him and knew that she'd be able to find him even if it was pitch black. Her breath caught as the hunger rose. Willow had hoped that the uber-tempting sugars and fats of the doughnut would tame the craving. No joy. Trying to resist the Mayor's spell had taken so much out of her that it took all her willpower not to ask the first question that came to mind. Could she have more blood?
"Hello, Angel. Nice out, huh?" She rocked on her toes and wane smile on her lips, internally berating her choice of small talk before blurting out, "Still having problems with Lawson?"
"How did you know?" Angel tilted his head back into the shadows.
"I called Doyle.” She paused. “Because I had to talk to you about what happened in Sunnydale. He let it drop that you needed a clue where Lawson might be living. I found three houses that have been sold by Wolfram and Hart in the area." She reached in her pocket and fished out a folded paper with three addresses printed on it.
Angel's eyes narrowed in recognition before he slipped the piece of paper into his jacket. "Thank you. Doyle was actually supposed to find this out himself."
“Hey, he did!” Willow squeaked out. “In his own way.”
He arched an eyebrow as a corner of his mouth almost lifted up at the transparency of her lie. “What happened in Sunnydale?”
Only blunt words or useless filler came through to her despite practicing her speech about do-gooding, friendship, civic duty, responsibility, and above all else blood while in front of the mirror. Willow drew a blank as only varying sounds of hesitation escaped her. She didn't know how to broach the subject so she raised the a small box of donuts in her hands. "Want one?"
"No." Angel looked at the box in surprise. "What's going on, Willow?"
"Let's walk. Maybe walking might help and make this less awkward." Willow took a deep breath and nodded in the direction of her apartment building. "I went to Sunnydale today. The Mayor isn't just smiling on the television and scheming in the background anymore. He's up to something big and Buffy has been trying to keep up with him, but he attacked Giles in the library today. I was there.” She wanted to rub the chill away from her arms that felt so exposed under her sheer pink sweater.
"Are you okay?" Angel asked, concern in his voice even if it wasn't in his expression.
“I'm fine, but I still haven't heard from Jenny about how Giles is." She thought back to how still he was on the stretcher. What would Buffy do without her watcher? What chance did they have without his strength against the Mayor?
“The Mayor attacked you with magic?” Shadows lingered on half of his face.
“The Mayor was so powerful that I felt the energy wafting off him. He only forced me to sit in a chair but I couldn't move an inch.” She thought about the tears that were compelled not to fall until he left the room. “All I could do was watch. Then what he did to Giles..." Willow wiped her eyes. "That isn't even all of it. I think he hired vampires to attack this support group that my mom goes too. They seem to be the only ones besides us Scoobies that know about the hellmouth and I think the Mayor wants to take them out."
"It must have been very frightening," Angel stated unruffled as usual.
Willow nodded yet his blasé attitude was beginning to rub her the wrong way. It made her stop trying to remember the practiced diplomatic words and just spit it out. "Jenny has found a spell to drain the Mayor but it would have required all three of us to perform it to even try to equal the Mayor's strength. Now with Giles in the hospital, I don't know anyway around asking you this."
"What?" A thread of emotion came into his voice and worry grew in his brown eyes.
Willow stopped at the red light on a corner before she turned to Angel. "I know we all agreed that I needed to cut back on it, but I'm going to need you to let me drink if I'm going to be able to do this spell with Jenny. The Mayor has to be stopped. Giles believed he had a larger goal, we haven't figured it out, but I know it can't be good."
"No, I can't do that." Angel shook his head stepping back from her. "I'm sorry but it's for your own sake."
"My sake doesn't matter when lives are on the line, when my mother could be hurt, when there is a crazy wizard on the loose." Willow kept her voice down but she wanted to scream at him. Did he think that just because he broke up with Buffy and moved to another city that he didn't have to care anymore? He had left her in the dark and she was willing to forgive him if he did this for her, for her loved ones. She knew that she was putting him in a situation that he had never wanted to be in but what other choice did she have?
"Willow, I know that the Burning is hard, but you know, that if you can muscle through the pain then you will be free." Angel said. “There will always be evil around the corner.”
"I can start over the treatments after we defeat him." Willow thought that sounded reasonable. Far more reasonable that the thoughts that screamed through her brain. A secret fear wound around her heart. What if Angel hadn't forgotten what he had seen during that spell to defeat those reptilian demons who had wanted to consume every soul in town. He had looked into her soul. What if he hadn't liked what he had seen?
Angel put his hands in his pockets and looked into her eyes. "You shouldn't throw away all that you've gained. Why do you think that you aren't powerful enough?"
"Because I felt the Mayor's power." Willow gripped the box of donuts tighter as she felt like turning them up over his head. "Buffy needs my help and I'm afraid that my mom could be next on the Mayor's hit list. If he's fine with killing his staff then what chance does my mom have?"
"Sleep on this. Don't be rash." Angel started to walk at the green light.
"Fine." She followed him, making herself be the sensible girl that everyone thought she was, even if it make her stomach churn. "Maybe you're right. I haven't even heard back from Jenny yet. Giles could be waking up now and I'm just worrying for nothing." She looked down and steeled her resolve to show that she meant business despite being Little Miss Reasonable. "How about we both sleep on it, but expect a phone call in the morning." Willow turned once they reached the corner. He had his stubborn vampire pants on and there would be no budging him tonight. "Bye, Angel."
"I'm sorry, Willow." He said, hands in his pockets, soulful angst in the dark depths of his unfathomable gaze.
Willow couldn't stop her sigh as she shook her head. "You always are." She turned onto her street and returned home without a goodbye. Sensibility never felt so hard. After kicking the door closed and setting the donuts down in the kitchen, Willow found a note pinned up by the wall phone.
'Ms. Calendar called. Mr. Giles is in a coma. What is going on? -Mom'
It made her heart sink even as her determination hardened. The Mayor had taken out their most experienced and powerful magic user. He had hobbled Buffy. All he had to do was take out the support group and he would have cleared the town of those who knew the truth about him.
Willow heard her heartbeat in her ears as she walked into her room. Kneeling by her bed, she reached under her bed stand for her diary and pulled out a business card from the back pages. Angel wasn't the only vampire who promised her a favor.
* * *
Willow looked everywhere in the high rise penthouse to avoid the vampire bringing her tea. Where another person would have a living room, a spacious office sprawled under the high ceiling instead. The minimalist furniture was sparse- only a couch and coffee table towards the door and a long black metal desk by the window. White walls adorned by bare canvases splattered with cool hues of blues and grays completed the spare look. The room seemed designed to draw the eye towards a magnificent nighttime view of Los Angeles away from a darkened hall by the window that led to other rooms.
It surprised her not see any wood paneling or high backed chairs in front of an ominously crackling fireplace. It looked so modern despite being the personal abode of Franz Pieterzoon, who had once introduced himself so formally as 'in the service of Angelus, sired by Darla, of the Order of Aurelius' with a bow. She hadn't forgotten their first meeting, how scared she had been and how he had seemed like a relic from a courtly age yet still put her at ease with his civility. The key difference was that now he was no longer in the service of Angelus. He was free range evil, she reminded herself with a frown.
Naturally, she had lied to her parents to come here. For all they knew she was watching the newest Ben Affleck movie and trying to get her mind off of her mentor's hospitalization. She and her mother had gotten closer but how could she explain this to her parents? She couldn't even explain it to Franz over the phone.
"I never expected you to call." Franz said as he poured her some tea into a boxy metal tea set. He seemed far more relaxed without a suit jacket on and with his green sleeves rolled up. Even his hair was mussed and he looked as if he could use a nap but he seemed jazzed to see her. "You were evasive on the phone. What is it that you need require?"
It felt like her lips didn't want to spit it out. Asking once to Angel had put her through an emotional roller coaster, to put herself out again took more courage than she thought she had. It took enough just to call. Willow lowered her eyes to her hands and then to the red tulips in geometric glassware on the coffee table. She tugged down the long sheer sleeves of her pink blouse, wishing that she had worn something more substantial than a thin-strapped black shirt under it, and smoothed down her gray pencil-cut skirt as she collected her thoughts. Thinking back to Angel under the street light and their tense discussion, Willow still felt like fuming over Angel's refusal after he had kept her in the dark for months. What else had he not told her? She tried not to let that color what she told Franz. Willow wanted to keep the story neutral but it was hard to explain delicately about being a blood junkie. "I-"
"You're biting your lip. Don't be afraid." Franz gazed at her, intent and curious, as he raised his cup for a sip. “You're under the protection of my hospitality. No one shall harm you this night, you have my word.”
"I'm not... Not about you, but me is another story." Willow looked into Franz' gray eyes. "It's funny, being more scared of little old me than you, but Angel did something to me." She grabbed her tea and blew softly on it before taking a hot sip to stall. She hoped it would settle the fanged butterflies in her belly because her 'vamp sense' had already homed in on him. "The Lingering Kiss."
Franz nodded, surprise vivid on his features before he quelled it as he set down his cup.
"Angelus fed on me before he was cursed again. Too deeply. So Angel had to give his blood to save me. Neither of us knew what I was... Am. What I am." She sighed and shrugged. "That's why I came. I've been on this mageroyal regimen, but..." She looked away and stood up. "I shouldn't ask this of you. "
Franz' expression was inscrutable except for a tinge of anticipation in his body language as he leaned closer. "I informed you once that I would assist you any way that I was able."
"My mother is in danger and I need to perform a spell against the wizard who wants to kill her. He is a powerful man in Sunnydale who has so much experience that it was going to take three of us to take him down, but Giles is in a coma. I know that it's wrong to tempt the darkness but I can't let her be harmed and I know that he won't stop with her." She babbled, feeling herself react to his vampiric presence, more like an addict than she liked. Her mouth watered and she made herself back up while her gaze zeroed in on his jugular.
"This is about blood." Franz's face was in full shadow, his back to the window, in the dim light. "'Tis all it comes down to in the end."
"We all, Angel and the gang, agreed that I couldn't have it more than one a week," Willow nodded, ignored the beast howling within her, and sat down to appear less like a crazy person. "And now we're shooting for-"
Franz' eyes narrowed as he interrupted, leaned back and crossed his arms. "How do you tolerate it?"
"I don't think I can anymore. This has been a nightmare and I want to get off this crazy blood train, but it can be a tool - a naughty, bad, wrong tool - but I'm willing to risk it to fight alongside Buffy. I know that if I drank that I might just have the strength, if I combined it with a friend, to defeat this wizard. I'll understand if you say no." Willow ended the sentence looking at her hands folded in her lap while she wondered why he would even say yes to handing more power to a untried and probably nutty-seeming teenager. Willow couldn't face him as the hunger churned in her stomach. She concentrated on her breathing. Her skin already started to warm up as a blush raced across her face.
Franz stared at her, deep contemplation, with his eyebrows raised before the surprise faded and the slightest hint, repressed but present, of a smile. The professional facade that he used while in Angelus' employ seemed to be hanging on by a thread. Actual emotions could be seen on his face. A twinkle shone in his eyes. The Franz who watched over her in the mansion had been different from the one before her. Like the veneer of decorum was peeled away like the frosting of a choco-dile. He wasn't Jekyll and Hyde but he was definitely off the clock now. "What about biting? You must have had the dreams by now.”
Willow gasped. "How did you-?" She shook her head. "I could never tell Angel. He looks at me like I'm..." Willow looked away, before standing up, remembering the disquiet on Angel's face when he told her not to be rash. "I shouldn't bother you with this."
Franz had her by the shoulders, facing him, in a blink. "No, I can help you, one might say that I am uniquely suited to the task." A mutual intensity reflected in his eyes. "You know that you have my assistance in this matter." He let go as if shocked to be touching her before walking to his desk and pushing a button on his telephone. "Cancel all my appointments tonight."
"Oh, no, I don't want to be a bother." Willow held her hands up, unnerved by his touch, mouth becoming dry. All those fables about spiders and flies, scorpions and frogs, broke through the yearning. Why did she think that being alone with a vampire was a good idea again? She bit her lip at the next craving. Hot like a fever, Willow felt light headed. She had felt the Burning before, but it was like an echo to what she felt now. "I can come back when you're not busy."
"No, Willow, nothing on my schedule is as important as this right now. Your mother is in danger, you said." He didn't look at her for a moment, eyes lowered, shoulders tensed, until he relaxed as if understanding his next move.
Willow nodded. She remembered their goodbye when Franz's contract with Angelus expired. There had been something in his expression when his mask fell for that second revealing the vampire behind the suit and tie. Willow wasn't what you'd call a dater, she mostly lived through Buffy's breathless boy talk about Angel, but there was something in his expression that made her wonder. So much had been going on that she didn't dwell on it, she figured he had jetted off to high-flying vampire business after she had gotten home. She hadn't expected him to still be in California. The tightening in her stomach made her take a tiny step towards him.
Franz walked towards her, smile earnest, before raising his arm. "Come, it has been a fortnight, has it not?"
Willow nodded and met him halfway at the couch. "I apologize for my actions in advance." Her world narrowed to his nail as he cut his wrist.
"Never apologize." He titled his head as he offered his arm. The blood dripped thickly.
"Sorry," she breathed before grasping his wrist and pressing her lips to his skin with bruising force. The blood seemed to set her ablaze. She pulled his arm closer.
Franz grunted before saying, "Easy. I'm not taking it away from you."
"Don't." She mumbled between sucking and biting at his wrist. Willow moved closer for better access without even thinking. Lost in the blood rush, it was like an earthquake to her system. She didn't even notice sitting down on the couch and pressing against him.
"Never." Franz leaned back and laid one arm over her shoulders as the other bled.
Willow opened her eyes for the first time and realized what she was doing and she jumped off the couch, licking her lips.
"You need more." Franz opened his eyes and stood.
She backed away at his first movement but paused at his words. Willow wiped the blood off her chin with her thumb and stared at the crimson on her skin before licking it off and eyes widening at Franz's words as if he had told her that there was a left when she had always gone right. "I've never had more."
Franz loosened his black tie and then unbuttoned the first few buttons of his green shirt. "You must if you want the power to save your mother."
Willow felt mesmerized by the blood and forced herself to turn around towards the door, but she couldn't take the first step away.
He was in front of her in a second, expression solemn, defiant jut to his cleft chin. "You have been starved for months by the vampire who kidnapped you. All of your will being used to fight a craving with only a few hedgewitch tricks to dull the hunger and all your magic being focused into burning the compulsion away. Angel tied a hand behind your back. Stop letting him decide what is and is not in your best interest." He wiped the blood from his already healed wrist with his fingers and raised them. "This is what's going to save your mother and unlock the power inside you..”
"Angel hasn't-" She bit her lip and looked away.
"Don't make excuses for him, Willow." Franz said. "You need to hear what I have to say." He cupped her face with his hands and stroked her cheek with his bloody thumb. "You were a lonely child and then you grew up to be a shy girl who made herself blend into the background. You blossomed in secret. While no one was looking, you became an intelligent, brave, strong beautiful woman. You deserve more and I intend to give you more if you let me." He sounded so serious and there was so much in his tone and blood that called to her despite the alarms in the back of her mind. "The wizard you face in Sunnydale, he wouldn't happen to be Richard Wilkins?"
Willow nodded feeling overwhelmed by the sincerity in his voice. Sometimes she had wondered what had been on his mind during their time in the Crawford Mansion, but she never would have guessed this. She knew her depth and she was definitely out of it. Willow could handle the deep end but she was the Mariana trench.
"In his century of life, Richard Wilkins has committed deeds that you cannot even conceive to hang onto power. Ruthless to the deepest core of him He shan’t give you a second opportunity to assassinate him if you fail the first." Franz lowered his hands to her neck and stroked along her artery. "If you wish to defeat him, you can't be distracted by the cravings. He'll exploit your weaknesses and crush you without mercy. Even with my help, perhaps he still will." He furrowed his brow at the thought as his lips dipped into a slight frown.
“It doesn't matter that I might fail. Just that I try.” Willow shrugged before she tilted her head to the left. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and pushed away the her fears about the Mayor. She could hear her heart in her ears as she opened her eyes. "You've already healed."
"I'm older than Angelus. My blood is stronger than his." Franz moved closer. "To defeat Wilkins, we must complete the ritual."
"What ritual?" Willow licked her lips, knowing the answer, as memories of nightmares about the blood and the bite came to mind.
"The one that haunts your dreams." Franz twirled a strand of her dark hair. “Rest assured that I wouldn't dare weaken you before the spell in any way.” He pushed the lock of hair behind her ear. "I haven't mentioned it, but its a very becoming color."
Willow felt her resolve crumble, her stomach twist itself into knots, and sweat break out on her skin, as she murmured, "Make it not hurt. Angelus only did it once, but I know its possible."
Franz brushed her hair over her shoulder. His voice grew softer. "I don't relish your pain."
Willow nodded, unbuttoning her sheer blouse and let it drop to the floor, as she watched the guarded yet satisfied play of expressions on his face when he realized that she accepted.
Franz bent his head to her neck and placed a kiss on her skin. He shifted into game face, his fangs scratched at her skin, before he licked the cuts.
The pain from the cuts disappeared and she gasped when he sunk his teeth into her. Trying to ignore her riotous emotions, she soon gave in. Willow clutched onto his back and her knees buckled as he controlled their drop to the floor. Seeing the door out of the corner of her eye, the sensible Willow told herself to run, but she couldn't focus on anything except the sensations that radiated from the bite. Her knees rose up, skirt sliding down to reveal her legs, as she clung to him and arched her back.
Franz licked before pulling himself away. He panted, an unusual humanism for him, as he stared into her eyes.
Her locked fingers rested on the back of his neck. She licked her bottom lip before biting it. Sparks flew in her vision.
“Any pain?"
"No." Willow felt like all the tension had drained from her body. This is what she had been craving, what had kept her up at night, she could have cried from the joy and shame of giving into it.
He cut at his throat viciously and said, huskily, "Then take what you need."
Willow took a deep breath before she fixed herself on his neck. Pressing him closer to her, she moaned and couldn't even find the will to be ashamed as she flipped Franz over. Her body pressed flat against his.
He held his hands against her lower back. "I'll tell you when to stop but please not now."
Franz and his blood. Franz and his skin. It filled her thoughts until nothing was left and she lost herself. Willow hadn't meant to run her hands through his hair or cling to him yet she didn't stop. She had never had this much before and she could feel the energy vibrating in the air. It awoke and thrashed like an unchained beast.
The magic within seemed to bubble up and escape. In the corner of her eye, she saw the coffee table fall back against a wall and the tulips fall to the floor along with the tea set. It distracted her enough that it fully sink in that she was straddling Franz, thigh to thigh, chest to chest, as she fed off his blood. Willow panted to catch her breath, pulling away to look around and then down at him, hands resting on his shoulders.
"Never mind it. Just the coffee table." Franz leaned up to kiss her quickly, lips soft against her bloody mouth, hands on her hips, before she knew what to think, and then bared his wounded throat. “You're getting your power back.”
She let herself be pulled back under. More crashes sounded in the distance but she ignored it as she rocked against Franz, licking and sucking, at his neck.
Franz caressed up and down her back, murmuring low.
Willow felt lost yet never wanted to be found. A bang of a door sounded so far in the distance as her heartbeat raced in her ears. When she nipped at his neck, he shivered and held onto her hips tighter. Then abrupt ly, Willow found herself practically vertical again. She sighed when Franz sat up and eased her away from him with gentle hands and a satisfied smile. She collapsed against his chest, panting, still straddling his lap, and looked over at the view of glittering Los Angeles.
"Willow!"
She turned her head toward the door, the direction that Franz stared in and her heart jumped into her throat. Goosebumps spread on her skin.
Angel strode in the empty threshold on top of the kicked in door. Surprise lit up on his face yet it dimmed by the second. His gaze narrowed as his expression darkened.
Before she could process the situation, Franz had her on her feet and behind him. His face a demonic mask as he hissed at Angel. Franz's words were polite to a fault but the tone dripped with acid mockery as he reverted back to his human face. "Angel, we've never had the pleasure of introduction, but as you can rightly see, this isn't the time for visitors."
Angel vamped out, shoulders shaking with rage under his leather jacket, fists clenched. "What have you done?"
Willow shrank back, still confused as to how they all had gotten here, wondering where Angel had come from. She shook, watching the guards stream in, this was exactly what she didn't want to happen. How did he know where to find her? Worry and shame crowded out the lingering euphoria of the blood. She might have had Franz's promise of protection but she could tell that Angel was a different story. "You refused."
Angel looked around at the six men in generic black suits who surrounded him. In the dim light, the ridges of this demonic visage looked even more menacing when he flashed his fangs. He didn't look concerned about the stakes in their hands or guns on their belts. When he turned back to Willow, there was fear in his yellow eyes and it wasn't for himself.
"Begone with dignity, Angel. I'd rather this not get messy." Franz smirked. Blood dried in drips leading under his open collar. His tie hung askew. He looked like he had been ravaged.
"You need to leave, Willow." Angel ignored Franz's words despite his razor-sharp glare cutting the other vampire to ribbons. The stakes at his back didn't draw a glance from him. His tone was strained as he seemed to struggle to appear calm.
"I'm helping her when you refuse." Franz turned to take Willow's hand, clasping it rather than entwining their fingers, his voice mellowed into a warmth that she had often heard when he had brushed her hair.
She started at his touch, but didn't pull away, and her gaze darted between the two vampires. Willow winced as Angel snapped his jaws shut and stilled himself.
"Perhaps we should inquire as to what Willow prefers?" Franz looked at her, his face calm and his hair mussed and sticking up.
Willow bit her bottom lip. She thought knew what Franz wanted her to say and what Angel did, but honestly, she only wanted to be out of this tense room because exactly what she wanted was the million dollar question of the day and she couldn't figure that out with them staring at her.
Angel shook with the effort of reining himself in. "Willow. Get out of here."
"Angel, you need to calm down." She held up her hands but didn't step towards him. There was more Angelus in his expression than she liked to see, but there was still a part of her that wanted to run to him and say she was sorry that he might get killed and that he wasn't wrong about sleeping on her idea. Though, Willow knew that she might have just called Franz in the morning anyway. Then there was the feeling that scared her the most. Willow had never felt this kind of power before. Forget lifting pebbles, she was ready to move mountains.
"This is madness."
“How about I leave first so everyone knows that I'm not with the other and then Angel can go. Please.”
Franz nodded. “But of course.”
Willow picked up her blouse and purse off the floor, ignoring the looks from the guards, and fled. Without a single look back at the vampires, she strode out and pulled her blouse back on. Even as she wondered what would happen after she left, she gained speed walking down Franz's private hallway. Her breath grew ragged. The tears came as she reached for some towelettes in her bag. Pushing the button to the mirrored elevator, she flinched to see the blood dripping down her neck and scrubbed at her healed skin before tossing the towelette in an ornate trash can. Willow couldn't help but think back to how spooked Jenny Calendar had been more than three months ago as she dropped Willow off at home after an intense ritual. Jenny, Giles and Willow had aligned their souls together in a sacred circle to defeat the Chloriani demons who had tried to sacrifice Oz. Was this what Jenny had seen in her soul?
Willow adjusted her tousled dark hair and wiped at her eyes before she pressed the button for the lobby. The elevator doors opened to reveal a mirrored interior and she was left face to face with herself.
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Date: 2011-05-11 05:55 am (UTC)Gabrielle
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Date: 2011-05-12 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-12 05:33 pm (UTC)Gabrielle
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Date: 2011-05-16 01:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-11 07:54 am (UTC)I so love this, the way you write has me gasping!
Can't wait for the next update!
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Date: 2011-05-12 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-11 08:53 am (UTC)I'm beyond words!
Willow ell from the pan to the fry, still I think it's Angel fault if happened.
For a moment I thought she was going to ask Spike to help her with blood since he wants to help because Drusilla too.
Looking foward for more!
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Date: 2011-05-12 05:37 pm (UTC)You know, Spike might have helped but I think he'd be hesitant considering that the last time that he touched Willow, Angelus had beaten him bloody.
I hope you like chapter eight. Its a doozy!
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Date: 2011-05-16 12:22 pm (UTC)She acted too rush and I think there are going to be huuuge! consequences to her actions. However, I liked her intimate moment with Franz and would love to see them together again *sigh* they were magnificent... Also I really want to know what exactly they didn't tell her about the ritual..? I kind of want to smack Angel up the head! Angelus wouldn't have been that stupid!!
And the ending was simply breathtaking!
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Date: 2011-05-17 12:02 am (UTC)There certainly will be consequences. I've posted the next chapter (http://staringiscaring.livejournal.com/96676.html) which really kicks the plot up another notch.
I'm glad that you liked Franz and Willow together here. I had worried that some might not like it since Angel/Willow is the endgame pairing. He was really an enigma in the beginning for me since I had planned for him to be a more background character yet he revealed himself to be much more than that. Their scene was the very first one that I had imagined for this story back when I was finishing up Porphyria's Lover.
Oh, the last time Willow was at Angel Investigations, Spike had wanted Angel to give Willow some blood to make her strong (which Willow already knew). Willow had protested it since she had been misled to believe that if she had more blood then allowed by Angel she would be ~forever addicted~. Spike had a mocking comment and shattered that illusion. It made her wonder what else he had kept from her especially since he avoided her for months after the events in Porphyria's Lover.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting!