Time is Running Out
by Aurelia Carlisle
Buffy wrung her hands in her lap, nervously biting her lip. She stared out the window as the scenery of the city passed in a blur, wondering when her life had started going to hell.
Orphaned twelve years ago, at age four, when her parents had stepped out to gather some food and never returned.
Instead, the tall, dark and brooding man currently driving found her two nights later, frightened and nearly starved to death. Since then, Liam Angelus (or Angel, as she liked to call him) was the closest thing to family she had. Well, him and his minions -erm- employees.
Although he was a very intimidating man, Angel, in all her nearly thirteen years in his company, had never been anything but the loving father-figure he was to her.
She, however, was under no delusion that he was a normal warm-blooded male. Mostly due to the fact that the only warm blood in his possession was delivered once weekly from the butcher's shop.
In fact, Buffy was fairly certain that hers was the only heart beating in all of New York City. Possibly the world.
For nearly half a century the earth has been full to the brim with every kind of evil imaginable. From succubi to your everyday, run of the mill Chaos demon.
As much as he tried to make her feel special, she still longed to find another of her kind. Her loneliness never really bothered her until one day when she fell and cut her leg open. At first she thought Angel was pissed at her for bleeding all over his carpet. But no: this was much worse.
He'd said after he patched up her wound, that her blood smelled... different.
She'd tried to lighten the mood by saying, "Do I smell less delicious or something?"
"Or something," he growled, sounding more frustrated with himself than with Buffy. "I think...you...it seems..." he trailed off. Angel hung his head in his hands, ruining his nancy-boy hair gel. "You're sick, Buffy."
At that moment she could feel the full weight of her loneliness crash down upon her.
Ever since that day, a few months ago, Angel spent all of his waking hours phoning anyone with an M.D. and all but begging them to see her.
This morning, when she tip-toed down the main staircase of the hotel to the lobby, his tone had changed.
"Drusilla," she'd heard him say into the receiver. "It's time."
Buffy didn't think he'd noticed her presence until he hung up the phone and told her to pack her things. They were going on a little trip.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
And so there she sat, her shoulder length blonde hair blowing in the wind, from her position in the passenger seat of Angel's Plymouth.
They were headed to JFK, then a 1:10 to London to visit Drusilla (whoever the hell she was).
She tried to goad it out of him, but Angel's resolve was unrelenting when it came to his past. But what did he have to hide? She couldn't care less who he dated in the dark ages.
Sure, Angel was a hunk and you could get lost in his deep brown eyes, but he was like her dad. He'd seen and raised her through all of the awkward stages of her life. Not to mention, ew.
She didn't get why he was trying to protect her from his 'deep, dark past'. She knew that he had maimed and mangled countless people, but she also knew that he was good now. Ever since he'd seen her all curled up with that little stuffed pig, so afraid, he had never had a drop of blood pass over his lips.
So if all the horror was behind him, why was he keeping it such a secret?
Buffy was jerked out of her reverie? when Angel braked in the parking space, rolling up the windows and rolling the top back on.
Coming back to the present, she unhooked her seatbelt and hopped out of the car, heading for the trunk. He intercepted her.
"That's okay, kiddo. I've got it," he said, oblivious to his patronizing.
Just because she was sick didn't mean she couldn't carry her own goddamn bags!
Rolling her eyes, she grabbed Mr.Gordo, her stuffed pig, from the backseat, and decided to play nice. He was just trying to help her, as overbearing as it was.
Getting through security was a total bitch considering her heartbeat messed with the machines. Although it was amusing, just to see the expression on Angel's face when the officer suggested a cavity search with an unsettling leer. Angel, well, let's just say he made sure the guy couldn't look at anybody like that again. She would have been mad at him for being so uber-protective, had it not been so funny. No one dared to bother them after that.
As he took her hand and lead her to their terminal, she couldn't help thinking she was the luckiest girl in the world.
They boarded the plane and Angel took her straight to first class.
Buffy gave him a questioning glance and he flashed her a deceivingly innocent smile. Angel had connections, this she knew, but a first class international flight, scheduled five hours before the take-off no less? There was no doubt. He had some 'splainin' to do.
For the duration of the flight, she did what any teen in her position would do: she ordered as much food and jewelry (on flight magazine special) as she could before Angel noticed. Oh yeah: life was good.
She hadn't even noticed that she'd drifted off to sleep until she felt him gently shake her awake and whisper, "We're here, Buffy."
He turned away before his face could betray him. She was going to hate him when she
found out.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Ok, so my beta just told me, when she sent her editted copy back, that there was a book flaoting around out there with a very similar plot, I had no idea. Any similarities between by story and the book are purely accidental, I only take credit for what flows from my brain to my fingertips. Consider this my official disclaimer.
The idea for this story came from yet an other insomniatic (?) episode about two weeks ago. I couldn't go to sleep unless I wrote it. I'm starting to think my muse is a vampire cause it's got the nocturnal thing down. Two stories ideas coming to me in the night, coincedence? Je pense que no. (I think not)
This is gonna be 15 for now, but will eventually be R or NC-17. You've been warned
The title is that is the song by Muse. I think I might name the chapters with songs that fit. Hmm.
What are you reading my ramblings for? go read the STORY!
The idea for this story came from yet an other insomniatic (?) episode about two weeks ago. I couldn't go to sleep unless I wrote it. I'm starting to think my muse is a vampire cause it's got the nocturnal thing down. Two stories ideas coming to me in the night, coincedence? Je pense que no. (I think not)
This is gonna be 15 for now, but will eventually be R or NC-17. You've been warned
The title is that is the song by Muse. I think I might name the chapters with songs that fit. Hmm.
What are you reading my ramblings for? go read the STORY!
Chapter End Notes:
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Hate it?
Gonna name your firstborn after me?
Tell me in a review.