Summary: There's a magickal force in the Hyperion.
Disclaimer: The characters and sole property of Joss and Co. I only use them for my wicked ways. =0)
Distribution: If I post to you, take it. Otherwise ask.
Feedback: That would be lovely! ghoztstarz@yahoo.com
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I am awakened by the sensation of something being forcibly pulled from my body. It's almost physically painful. I focus on what it is…Angel, our bond. I rush up out of bed, running to his room. There is a wall in front of his door. Not a physical one, but a magickal one. I pound on the force yelling for Angel. Something is very wrong. Tears sting my eyes. I'm crying? Focus. Angel, trapped, possibly hurt, he needs my help.
I gather my magick. The natural magick that lives inside of me. I visualize the wall being torn down imaginary brick by imaginary brick. My efforts are not going unnoticed by the person who erected it. The `bricks' are being replaced as fast as I take them down.
I ready myself to jump through the small whole I've opened. I don't have much time. Gunn and Fred come running up the stairs. They must have heard me yelling Angel's name. I don't have time to stay and explain. The whole is closing quickly. I jump; my momentum throws me into the door breaking it.
"Go get Wesley," I say to them once I've recovered, which is pretty quickly. Gotta love vampire constitution.
"What's going on?" Fred asks.
"I don't know. Just go get Wes."
Something drops me to my knees. If I was human it would have knocked the air out of me or knocked me unconscious. As it is, it's just a shock to my system. A magickal shock. I can barely feel my connection to Angel. What the hell is going on? Can we just have one day where nothing happens? I guess not. The trials and tribulations of being `good'.
Wesley comes running up the stairs followed by Lorne and Fred. Gunn had stayed. I don't know why but I'm glad it's him that stayed and not Fred. Gunn seemed to go with the flow and know when to keep quiet. I don't know Fred well enough to know if she would have done the same, but I doubt it. I really don't know any of them that well. Now is not the time. I just have to trust them I guess. Why does that give me reservations?
"Willow," Wesley asks splaying his hands on the field. "What is this?"
"I don't know. A magickal wall I think. I need you to do a spell. Can you do spells?"
"Um, yes if I have the incantation and the ingredients," he says slightly miffed that I thought he might not be able to.
"Good. I need you to locate where the source of power is coming from. Like a location spell for demons just modified."
"Yes, I know which one you are talking about. I'll go right away," Wesley says and heads for his office.
"I think I'll go help him," Fred says. I think she may be slightly afraid of me. It's ok. I would be too.
I finally look up. I scan the room and see Angel in bed, sitting up and panting with sweat covering him. I think I know what this means. I groan out loud. Dear Goddess please don't let it be what I think it is.
"Angel-cakes?" Lorne asks.
"Stay back," I say. I know they are blocked by the field but I don't know how much longer it would hold up .I walk slowly over to the bed. Angel is looking around wildly like he doesn't know where he is.
"Angel?" I ask and move to touch his shoulder. He jerks away and looks at me with those wild eyes. I can see the fragments of thought running around behind his eyes. They are slowly forming into something more coherent. Eventually the wild look fades and I'm no longer looking into the soulful eyes of Angel. I gasp and take a step back.
"Shit," I say under my breath. This is not good. Really not good. How did this happen? Why did this happen? He gets out of the bed, dressed only in his boxers and walks towards me. I backup each step he takes forward. I feel like prey. I don't like feeling like prey.
"You didn't back away from me earlier. Why the sudden change of heart, Childe?" he asks.
"I'm not your Childe, Angelus," I say. I know that for sure. The bond shows me that much. The faintest feeling of fear comes through and panic. Angel is still there. Trapped. Well, at least they didn't throw his soul to the ether. I don't know if I can find another Orb of Thesula. They tend to break easily, and honestly, how many had been made?
"But, it's our blood that runs through you. Therefore, you're mine," he says making a grab for me. I duck out of his way, but just barely. Normally I would have used magick by now to hold him off, but I didn't want to. Not yet. I wanted to see if maybe it was just temporary, like it would wear off after a bit. I doubted it. But a girl can hope right?
"So, this is Angelus?" Gunn says. He's sizing him up and making an obvious show of not being impressed. That ruffles Angelus a bit. Damn it. Don't they know better then to egg him on? Oh, wait they've never met him.
"Could you not insult him while I'm in the room please?" I say not looking at them. If I take my eyes off of Angelus for one second then that's one second closer to my torture and/or death. Not something I'm all thrilled about. Thankfully Gunn shut up. Angelus stops following me and turns to face the two outside the room. I hope the field is still up.
"You don't know the pain I could put you through, boy," Angelus says smiling at Gunn. Gunn doesn't flinch. Good for him. I know I flinched the last time I saw him. I'm actually holding up fairly well considering what I know he can do. I had gotten into Giles' `Forbidden Books' and looked Angelus up when Angel lost his soul. Some of the things I read left me with nightmares for years. They didn't call him `Scourge of Europe' for nothing.
"I would enjoy hearing your cries of pain, your pleading to be released or die. It's like music to my ears," Angelus says closing his eyes. He's probably reminiscing. Gunn was doing a good job at keeping a straight face but I could smell the fear coming off of him. It was calling to my demon. I can't be distracted. I force my demon down.
"Gunn, either control the fear or leave. You're distracting me," I say keeping my eyes locked on Angelus. I heard Gunn mutter something, but thankfully he left. That left Lorne by the door. For some reason I get the feeling Lorne isn't a hands on type of demon.
"You ok in there, Pumpkin?" Lorne asks. I nod. I can feel the field breaking down. I have to subdue Angelus. I can't let him out of this room. There are too many humans around.
"Can you smell it, Chile? The blood, the fear, the food? Did our poor tortured Angel give you a soul too?" he asked turning back to me. I guess he can't tell the field. Or, maybe I'm a better prize to him. I'm not going to worry about it, just as long as his attention stays on me and not on the humans.
"I can't believe he actually made you. That had to cost him something dear. He loves you, you know. Wants you, but hates you at the same time. Hates what he made you. He would have taken you in the bathroom and not lost his soul. He has too much guilt from making you. He would never be able to find `perfect happiness' with another vampire. Especially not his Childe."
Ok, he's really starting to get on my nerves. I know he is saying all this to hurt me, somewhere I know. That doesn't make it any easier to hear. A single tear slides down my face.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. Angelus looks at me confused.
I use my magick to send a white bolt of energy directly into his chest. I watch him lift up off the ground and land in the wall next to the door, almost as if in slow motion. I hit him with enough energy to knock him unconscious. I hope. I walk tentatively over to him. I kneel down and look hard at him. I never knew how hard it was to tell if a vampire was unconscious until I tried. There's no pulse to check, no breathing. I sigh.
"Lorne, go get some shackles please," I say.
"Sure thing Sweet Cheeks," he says high tailing it out of here. I don't blame him. I really don't want to be here either. The field is weak. I don't think it will hold anything anymore.
I grab Angel…no Angelus. Angel may be in there somewhere but he's not in charge of the body. I take him over to the chairs and set him down in one. He groans but doesn't open his eyes. A few minutes later Lorne comes back up with shackles and chains. More then I asked for but I'm grateful. I say thank you and reach through the field to grab the chains. I pull my hand back and the chains stop at the field. Hmm, it's one way. Wish I'd known that sooner. I wouldn't have tried to tear it down earlier, but now, it seems pointless to leave it up. I remove enough of it to get the shackles through.
I do a small incantation to magickally bind the chains. We don't need him breaking out of them. That would be of the bad. Angelus groans again. Shit. I thought I'd hit him with enough. Better hurry. Everyone was standing at the door just looking on solemnly. I don't know what to say so I don't say anything at all.
I have to hurry. It wouldn't be good if Angelus came to while I was chaining him up. I don't think he'd be a happy camper. I get the last chain in place and step back. Even chained up I'm leery. I walk back to the broken door and push it to the side.
"Ok, that should hold him. Did Wes find anything?" I ask.
"Are you sure that's gonna hold him?" Gunn asks. There is still fear in him. I can't blame him really.
"As sure as I can be."
"Well that makes it all better then," he says. I don't think he trusts me yet. I sigh. I really don't need this right now.
"Can someone go ask Wes or Fred—" I start to say.
"Ask us what?" Wesley says coming up the stairs.
"Oh, I just wanted to know if you had found anything with the spell."
"As a matter of fact we did. There was a large surge of magickal energy coming from a few miles away," he says proud of himself. Well goody for him.
"I mapped out a three block radius. The spell wasn't very specific," Fred said frowning.
"No they aren't, but they do give you a place to search," I say. I want to go find out who or what did this but I didn't want to leave Angelus here by himself. Plus, it's daylight out for at least another hour or so. We don't have time to waste.
"Well, we need someone to go check it out. I would go but I seem to have developed an allergy to the sun. I don't want to waste time. The person or demon that did this may be high tailing it out of town by now," I say.
"You're not our boss," Gunn says indignantly. Great. Now we are going to fight over who gets to lead.
"Fine," I say. "Do you have an idea?"
"Yeah, why don't we just stake him?"
"No! I will not lose him! Angel is still in there. I will not stake him, and neither will anyone else!" I yell. What the hell? They are awfully quick with the staking. Someone has vampire issues. I sigh and close my eyes. Bad idea. I barely felt the wind rush as Gunn went running by me stake in hand.
"No!"