New York June 2008
William gave up trying to sleep somewhere around midnight.
Repressing the urge to run naked and screaming out into the night, he swung his legs over the bedside and grimaced as his feet hit cold floor.
Stretching his sore muscles (from the exercise with Ana) he walked over to the closet and pulled out grey cargos and a white shirt.
William tiptoed down the hallway so that he wouldn’t wake Ana up and ran down the stairs without almost a sound, heading towards the kitchen.
The chocolate powder in the cabinet didn’t stand a chance…
Happily sipping on his mug of hot chocolate (with marshmallows of course) he rested his head against the palm of his hand and stared out into the dark kitchen. That the clock was about three in the morning and that he really should try to get some sleep didn’t bother him at all. This was after all not the first night that he had had trouble sleeping, now was it?
Pondering on why he continued having those elusive nightmares, he gave a deep sigh. You would really think that something would have come to him by now – but no. No such luck – or unluck depending how you saw it.
He hadn’t had any more flashes of memory since that morning in May and after a while he’d given up trying to decipher what it had really been about.
What kind of name was ‘Angel’ anyway?
Beats me.
Best to leave it be.
Yeah.
Whoever it was he/she had a very bad taste in music.
Concur.
Although he liked your poems…
William shut up to an upright position and with widened eyes.
He’d remembered another thing!!
Given it was a highly unlikely correct memory.
Poems?
Yeah, right…
William blinked. Then blinked again.
My soul is wrapped in harsh repose
Midnight descends in raven-colored clothes
But soft. Behold! A sunlight beam
Cutting a swath of glimmering gleam
My heart expands, 'tis grown a bulge in it
Inspired by your beauty... effulgent.
Poofter.
Hey!!
What? ‘m just saying…
That poofter could very well be me!!
So?
Oh, shut up!
Fine.
Sulking.
Twit.
William shook his head at his inner ramblings and wisely decided that it was time to hit the sack and at least try and get some well needed sleep.
After all, it seemed as things would solve themselves eventually.
All that’s needed was time.
Time and patience.
~ ~ ~ ~
William stared at the drawing that he’d sketched and ran a hand through his already tousled hair. He couldn’t really get past the fact that he could draw the beautiful face of his dream girl – when he couldn’t remember her name.
Her carefully outlines eyes stared back at him, silently condemning him for his failure.
‘I’m waiting for you’ she told him with earnest eyes. ‘I will always wait for you.’
He shuddered and closed his eyes briefly as her husky voice invaded his senses.
He knew that voice.
‘I love you’ she whispered.
“No, you don’t. But thanks for saying it.”
William blinked when he suddenly uttered those words, recognizing them from his dreams. Even tough he did his best to handle these sudden flashes of memory; it still vexed him when they popped up; causing him to experience rather severe headaches.
And why the hell did his hand sting?!
’cause you’re a moron!
This is a bad combination; me confused and you being a pain in the ass.
You’re always confused.
And you’re always a pain in the ass.
Well, thank you.
William growled.
His inner self snarled.
William cursed.
His inner self cursed even better.
“William?”
He turned around as Ana entered the kitchen. Giving her a quick smile he laid the picture down on the desk and took a sip of the chocolate.
“What’s that?” Ana pointed at the drawing and joined him at the kitchen island. “Can I see it?”
William nodded and handed her the paper, carefully studying her face to see what her reaction would be.
Ana studied the picture with strange intensity.
For a moment William was almost sure that she would say that she knew who the girl was – then all hope of that faded away as she gave him a distracted smile.
“She’s beautiful,” Ana said and handed back the drawing. “Who is she?”
“I don’t know,” he confessed depressed. “I dream about her.” Pause. “That’s all.”
Ana stood silent for a while, before she suddenly turned her back against him and began leaving the kitchen.
“Where are you going?” he asked after her, alert to her strange behaviour.
“Out,” she simply said and left the apartment.
William stared after her, shook his head and then returned to gaze down at the elusive girl on the paper.
“Who are you? Really?”
~ ~ ~ ~
Ana walked into the park, avoiding the masses of people as she headed towards a secluded section under some trees.
When she reached her destination, she carefully looked around to see if there could be anyone in the close range that could overhear her – and when she found the cost clear, she picked up her cell and quickly dialled in a number.
“The Institution of 1500’s art,” a business like voice answered on the other end.
“This is agent Calder,” Ana told in a stern voice. “Put me though to G.”
“Certainly,” responded the voice a little bit warmer. “Nice to hear from you, miss Calder.”
Tapping her fingers against the plastic, Ana eagerly waited for the call to go through.
She was rewarded just seconds after when the one she had called for answered.
“This is the head Watcher speaking. How can I help you?”
Ana drew in a shaky breath.
“Giles? We need to talk…”
~ ~ ~ ~
William crumpled the paper and tossed it into the trashcan, then quickly fished it up again.
It may be that the face of his dream girl drove him utterly insane, but he couldn’t stand throwing it away. Not even so that he could find some peace.
Who was she?
As William laid the paper down on the desk and straightened out the wrinkles, he came to a sudden realization; Ana had recognized the face!
That’s why she had left the apartment in such haste.
That’s why she had had that strange look in her face.
William traced the unknown woman’s face with his thumb and felt an ache in his chest.
It was like some huge part of him was missing and that he could only be whole again if he found this dream girl.
There’s ashes were my heart should be. I can’t feel anything real…
William sighed.
His inner self sighed even deeper.
William rolled his eyes.
His inner demon rolled them even more.
William cursed.
His inner demon cursed way better.
William gave up.
Wow – you must be some fucking genius.
Yeah, as a matter of fact… Wait… You never think that! Why did you go and say something like that now?
Well, there’s gotta be a reason to why I still keep you around.
Bloody ha ha. Screw ya!
William made a rah-rah motion with his fist over his little victory over the irritating voice that always tried to outdo him.
Then he realized how stupid that was and he found himself sulking instead.
Bloody fool.
What can I tell ya? I’ve always been bad.
William started nibbling at his lower lip.
The door into the apartment suddenly opened and Ana walked in with an unreadable expression in her beautiful face.
“We need to talk,” she said with a doom voice.
“Okay.”
He followed her with curious eyes as she crossed the floor and sat down opposite of him. She appeared to be very concerned about how he would react to her words.
That fact had him almost jumping off his chair in anticipation.
“What I have to day to you might sound a little odd…” Ana began and cleared her throat. “But I just found out who you are.” Pause. “Really are.”
“And that would be…?”
“You used to be a vampire known as ‘Spike’.” She watched him closely for any reaction but got none. He simply stared at her without blinking. “And you died…”
“I died.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Twice.”
William blinked. Then blinked again.
Would that be a world record?
Beats me.
Told ya that I died.
Not the time to get all self-righteous, pal.
Oh, let me bask for once.
Whatever.
“William?”
He returned his focus to Ana who was watching him closely. Studying him like some god damned bug.
“Yeah?”
“If you want to know more about your past you need to go to London,” Ana declared. “There’s a man there that can tell you everything that you need to know.”
“A man?”
“His name is Rupert Giles.”
It didn’t take long for William to decide that he wanted to see this mysterious man that could tell him about his past.
“Okay,” he said and drew in a deep breath. “I guess that I’m going to London.”
“There’s just one more thing…” Ana exclaimed as he was about to get up from the chair. “Something really important.”
“What?”
“Mister Giles mentioned a prophecy concerning you.”
William coughed and stared at her with wide eyes.
She gotta be kiddin’.
“What?!”
“It’s true,” she said with a nod. “Apparently you play a big role in some apocalypse.”
William drew in a deep breath and buried his head in the palm of his hands.
After a while, when he mustered up the little strength that he had left, he raised his eyes to look at the anxious woman sitting in front of him.
He pressed out a ghost of a smile.
“Then let’s go to London and deal with this apocalypse…”
His inner self didn’t like that at all.
Right. First off, I'm not wearing any amulets. No bracelets, brooches, beads, pendants, pins or rings.
Tbc…