Part 5

 Riley entered the room adjourning Willow’s and saw Professor Walsh staring in fascination at the scene in front of her. Riley turned to look and was surprised to see Hostile 13 holding and kissing Willow. (What the hell is going on here?) Walsh had a look that combined confusion, fascination and revulsion at the sight in front of her.

 "This is most interesting, don’t you think Riley?" She asked the man.

 "Very, ummm, unusual," Riley replied, not quite sure what he should say. He had never heard of a hostile caring for a mortal and he was worried that maybe the information that they had was not as accurate as they had originally though. "Is this why you had decided to let the two of them see each other?"

 Walsh nodded her dead in the affirmative, "I knew that there was going to be some kind of bond between the two of them, but I had no idea that it would be one like this. I wonder if this is why she had allowed him to get so close to her."

 "It would explain things, but from what I was made to believe she had only recently broken up with some musician who had left town" Riley noted. "He was in her class."

 Walsh took that information in. She continued to watch Angel and Willow holding each other, no sound coming from the other room as the two just held on to each other. She wasn’t sure what she really thought about the possibility of a hostile taking on a human for their consort. It didn’t make any sense to her.

 "How old do you think he was before he was turned?" Riley asked.

 "I would say by his appearance that he was around twenty-six or so," Walsh stated. "That would put him quite a few years older than young Miss Rosenberg. Have her friends said anything about her missing yet?" Walsh turned to Riley to gage his reaction to his question. She noticed as he flinched a bit at the thought of the girl who had been occupying his time lately and his part in the disappearance if her roommate and best friend.

 "No," Riley finally answered. "They believe that she has decided to leave town for a bit to get over her break up with her boyfriend, just as we had hoped. All but the girl Anya."

"Will she be a problem?" Walsh questioned, on the alert for any possible complications that may need to be taken care of.

 "I don’t think so," Riley explained. "I don’t believe that she and Willow were all that close so they others are not taking her too seriously whenever she voices her concerns about Willow being gone."

 "Good. You will let me know if there are any further developments, correct?"

 "Yes ma’am." Riley thought about something for a moment before saying what was on his mind. "Ma’am, if I may ask, what are your plans for the hostile and Willow?"

 "That is none of your concern, commander" Walsh reprimanded Riley. Your concern is with keeping the slayer and her friends occupied so that they do not discover that Willow had never left town. I already do not like the fact that she knows about us. We don’t need her finding out about our having her friend."

 Riley didn’t bother replying knowing that Walsh would not appreciate anything that he said. Noises coming from the room holding Willow and Angel interrupted whatever else might have been said as the two occupants listened in.

 "Oh Angel, I was so scared that I wouldn’t see you again," Willow said as Angel continued to hold her tight, just giving her enough room to take in the necessary air she needed to breath.

 "It’s okay, sweetling, I’m here now," Angel told her, gently picking her up and carrying her over to the bed that was set in the middle of the room. He noticed the mirror on the one wall and had come to the same conclusion as Willow, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was the red headed witch that was in his arms, crying. "Shhhh, everything will be okay, little one."

 "Angel, what’s going on? Why are they doing this?" Willow cried into Angel’s shirt as she clung to him like he was her personal lifeline.

 "I don’t know who they are Willow or why they are doing this," Angel replied as he sat down on the bed, sitting Willow in his lap. She instinctively curled up against him like a little kitten, and he found himself stroking her back, trying to calm her. "I know that I’m not the only vampire that they’ve captured. I saw quite a few vamps, as well as a few other demons in the holding area that they had me."

 Willow was worried that Riley and Professor Walsh were going to do something to Angel and the thought scared her more than she thought possible. "Angel, what are they going to do with us?"

 "I don’t know, little one. I don’t know. I’m just happy that you’re all right. I don’t think I could have taken it if anything had happened to you." Angel’s hold on the red head grew tighter as the thought of any harm coming to her presented itself front and center in his mind. He knew he wouldn’t be able to survive if anything happened to her.

 "I feel the same way," Willow agreed. "I feel safe now that you’re here with me."

 "I’m not going anywhere, Willow. Not without one hell of a fight." Willow snuggled further into Angel’s lap, comforted in the knowledge that he was there with her. That he loved her. That thought made her raise her head so that she could look at him.

 "Angel, I want you to know that I meant it when I said I loved you. It’s always been you."

 Angel couldn’t help but smile at the girl in his arms. He placed a light kiss on her lips. "And I love you too, sweetling."

 "What do we do now?" Angel wasn’t sure if Willow was talking about their feelings or about the situation they had found themselves in.

 "I’m not sure, Willow," Angel admitted. "First thing we have to do is find out where we’re being held and how we get out of here. I think that’s the most important thing." Angel then heard something that made him laugh, while making Willow blush. "Also, get some food into you."

 "Yeah, well, food that isn’t drugged would be a good thing," Willow grinned. "But, what about you? You need blood or you won’t be able to control the demon inside you."

 "It will be hard, I’ll admit that, but it will be all right for now." Willow then did something that took Angel completely by surprise. She brushed her hair to one, baring her neck to him. She looked up at him and he saw unconditional love and acceptance in them. "Willow are you sure?"

 "You need to eat Angel and I trust you," she told the handsome vampire.

Angel looked at her once more before lowering his head so that his mouth was against her neck. She moaned as he began to kiss and suckle on her neck before morphing into his game face. Willow prepared herself for his bite and was surprised when Angel suddenly screamed in pain, almost causing her to fall to the floor. Angel was holding his head in obvious pain and she reached up to help give him comfort.

 "Angel, what’s wrong?" Willow asked concerned for him. "What happened?"

 "I don’t know," he answered, the pain finally lessening. "I was fine until I went to bite and then this blinding pain hit me."

 "Has it ever happened before?" Angel nodded his head.

"Yeah, when Riley and a few of his buddies came to get me and bring me here," Angel explained. "I went to attack them and I was hit by the same pain. I think they must have done something to me when I was unconscious."

 Willow was angry. Angry that someone had done something to her friend. She stood up and stomped over to the mirror. She knew that someone had to be there, watching and listening to everything that was being said. She knew that was why they had allowed Angel and Willow to be together.

 "You bitch." Willow spat, "What the hell do you think you are doing by hurting Angel? He hasn’t done anything but help people and yet you’ve made it so he can’t hurt anyone. He can’t do his job if he’s like this. What the hell gave you the right to do anything to him? To us? Is this how you get your sick jollies?"

 Angel walked over and took Willow into his arms as she broke down and cried. He ran his hand over her back, comforting her. He knew that the girl was at her breaking point and that she needed to let out her emotions before it was too late. He looked into the mirror, picturing Riley and his buddies back there, watching them.

 "Let Willow go," Angel said quietly. "Do anything you want with me, but just leave her out of it. She isn’t a demon, she’s human and she doesn’t deserve this. Let her leave and I will answer whatever questions that you have." Willow’s grip on Angel tighten.

 "I won’t go anywhere without you so don’t even think about it." Willow told him.

 "No one will be going anywhere, not just yet," came the voice that Willow had figured out as to belong to her psychology professor. "You will both be our guests for an indefinite amount of time."

 "Why are you doing this?" Willow asked.

 "Because he is an aberration. His kind would be happy if the entire human race was destroyed."

 "So why did you capture me instead of kill me instantly?" Angel wanted to know what the people that held them captive had planned for him and Willow so that he could protect her as best he could.

 "Because, we were curious as to why you were acting the way you were with Miss Rosenberg. It was against everything that is known about your type."

 "That’s because there is no other like Angel, Professor Walsh," Willow decided to finally address her captor by her name. "You should have figured that out by now."

Walsh didn’t acknowledge Willow’s use of her name. "We have seen that he is different from the other hostiles that we have seen, but that doesn’t make him any less savage."

 "Is that why you drugged our food," Angel asked, "so that you could experiment on us. And what exactly have you done to me?"

 "We’ve implanted you with something that will cause you pain anytime you try to attack a human, whether it be in a fight or for food."

 "I don’t eat humans," Angel stated simply. "I haven’t for awhile now."

 "Oh. And when exactly was the last time you had a human for dinner."

 Angel and Willow looked at each, remembering exactly when and why Angel had last drank from someone. Willow gave Angel a slight hug as she saw the pain in his eyes and decided to answer for him.

 "Last year," she said, her eyes focused on the vampire by her side. "He was poisoned and he needed the blood of someone to make him well. It was given to him freely, out of love. Just like this time."

Angel watched as Willow walked over to her purse that had been thrown into the room with her. She searched for something purposefully and her face was determined. Finally she spied what she was looking for and pulling out a small pocket knife, she walked back over to Angel.

 "Willow," Angel said, almost reverently.

 "Shhh, Angel, you need to feed." With that said, Willow opened the knife and cut into her wrist, wincing at the pain. She held it up to Angel and he looked at her with love in his eyes. "Drink, Angel. For me."

 Maggie Walsh and Riley Finn watched in astonishment as Willow cut her wrist. They couldn’t believe that the girl was willing to feed the vampire and wanted to see what would happen. They watched in fascination as Angel gently took Willow’s offered wrist and brought it to his mouth, suckling it. Their shock turned to amazement as they saw Angel morph into his game face, sinking his fangs into Willow’s wrist. Willow’s head fell back and her mouth opened slightly as she felt the suction on her wrist. Walsh and Riley watched as Angel stopped drinking, licking at the already healing wound and kissed Willow passionately.

 "I’ll be damned. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it," Riley observed. "Why didn’t the implant work? He should be rolling on the floor in pain after doing that."

 "I don’t know," Walsh said, worriedly. She had never seen a hostile like Hostile 13 before and it worried her. The fact that the implant had apparently not stopped him from taking the offered blood bothered her more than she cared to admit. "This is definitely something that was not expected. I have never seen the implant fail before. There is no record of that ever happening."

 Riley and Professor Walsh continued to stare at the couple in the small room, who had yet to stop kissing, If anything, the kiss seemed to have intensified and the two were surprised at the amount of affection and tenderness that seemed to radiate between the pair. They had never seen anything like it in all of their research and were curious as to what else they would find out before it was time to get rid of the hostile and his consort. In the bare room, the two people, who were the object of Riley and Professor Walsh’s speculation, were too involved in the aftermath of his drinking from her to care what happened outside of them.
 
 
 

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