Creative Works   

Sanctum (Part 3)
By Cryptic

Disclaimer: Yada, yada…Why Joss, why??

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"So what? It’s been like almost a week since he returned and you two still haven’t sorted things out?" Willow was incredulous.

"Well, he’s been sort of avoiding me," Buffy replied. "not exactly but close enough…As I tried to talk things out, he just shut me out, saying that our lives have changed and that he doesn’t want to stand in the way of my happiness."

"Typical…but are you really happy with Riley?"

"Oh, Wills," Buffy sighed. "I don’t know what to do anymore. It’s like the past I’ve been trying to forget won’t go away and suddenly even I don’t want it to go anymore. I still need him, but I am not sure if he needs me, he hasn’t even told me where he was all that time. He just shows up when I need him, patrols with me and helps out with Giles but nothing more. When I try to speak to him he shuts me off, as if he’s afraid of me.."

"Well, Buffy, maybe he needs time. Maybe he needed time to think things through, I mean he used to live (metaphorically speaking) for you, you were the sole thing in his universe. But dependency is not a very healthy form of relationship. He needs to start living for himself. Find his own path.."

"I understand, I only wish I were on that path… I wish I could capture his attention, make him lose this breath, fascinate him just as he fascinates me. I wish I could be worshipped, loved, desired.."

"How do you know you’re not?" Willow smiled knowingly, it was obvious those two pined for each other. They just needed a gentle push.. "Maybe you just need to remind him what he’s missing?"

"You mean make him jealous?" Buffy stared at her friend in disbelief, now that was something she hadn’t expected from little Willow.

"Oh, come on, Buffy, don’t play the innocent. That’s about the only reason you’re still keeping Riley around."

"Actually you’ve got a point there…"

"Ok, this is not working out" Angel reasoned leaning over Xander. "You’re trying too hard. Paining is not P.E. Xander, don’t try to capture it exactly as it appears; you have cameras for that. You need to focus and portray it like you see it, its unique reflection on you, the beauty underneath, what it does to you, how it affects you. Now think about something you love, the first thing that comes to mind, close your eyes and draw.."

"Uhh, what?" Xander looked totally puzzled. Others seemed to also be in the dark.

"I’ll show you" Angel reconciled, taking the pencil and closing his eyes.

After a few moments of concentration, during which Buffy felt the mad rush to go over there and kiss him, he started drawing quickly and without opening his eyes. They all stared in awe as a woman’s face showed up beneath, obvious resemblance to the model, but he continued oblivious to all and gradually the face got clearer and more familiar contours.

"Hmm, that’s quite good. Actually… kind of looks like Buffy." Xander stated the obvious, a smirk on his face. Those two were crystal clear to him.

"What?" Angel’s eyelids fluttered open and he stared in shock at what was definitely Buffy’s face looking at him from the sheet, eyes full of longing and tenderness. He gasped. "Not quite what I was aiming at." He muttered under his breath.

"You know I think I finally got it." Xander gave him a wink. "Draw something close to you.."he trailed off expressively.

Angel blushed and turned his gaze away, missing Buffy’s radiant smile. *great, stupid, stupid, stupid. Who are you trying to convince. This isn’t working out. You can’t even be in the same room with her without thinking about her non-stop.*

"Anyway, your assignment for tomorrow is to draw something close to you, of emotional value. Doesn’t matter what. Just let go and draw; don’t try too hard."

On the next day…

"Now let me see what you’ve got?" Angel started walking in the isle looking at the drawings. Some of them were quite good, except the ones with food and football, one boy had even drawn his favorite sock.

He reached Oz. "That’s a nice…*hmm, what the hell is this* cartoon character?" He raised a brow.

"It’s a wicca." Oz clarified, clutching tightly Willow’s hand. Angel smiled at them warmly.

"Xander," Angel looked at him in surprise. "This is really good." The drawing was rough, obviously done impromptu and it depicted a decrepit pizza-place used to be little Xander’s most favorite spot in the world.

"You, you ..like it? Really?" Xander didn’t think it was that good, especially since he drew it during lunch break.

"Yes, it’s somewhat abstract, but it shows a unique perspective and personal style, rather unusual in such a young man as you. But in the future keep your lunch far from it." He stared at his ketchup-smeared finger. "You should really consider taking drawing lessons to perfect your style. I know a very talented painter who I think would be interested, do you mind if I take that?" He gestured towards the drawing.

"Not at all." Xander was stunned. He had never been good at anything in his life. Until this moment none of his teachers had praised him. It was a nice feeling, though. He mused on as he felt Cordelia’s hand in his.

"It was really nice, Xander" She smiled at him affectionately. Maybe if he became a famous painter he could buy her that adorable necklace she saw at Tiffany’s. Plus, he was so cute when he faked thoughtfulness.

"Hey, what’s that" Xander pointed towards Buffy’s paper, drawing everyone’s attention to it.

Angel felt it his duty to also take a look, after all he was checking homework and she was in his class.

She had spent hours trying to get it right, drawing from memory and it turned out quite good. It was a griffin – half lion, half eagle; its sharp talons circling the letter A.

The others just stared in misapprehension but she knew that the one it was meant for knew just right what it was…

Angel sure knew what that was, and where exactly it was currently residing. He wondered what she meant by this, what she was trying to prove.

"It’s cool" Oz commented.

"yeah, Buffy it’s beautiful." Riley gazed at his "girlfriend" proudly.

"Like the man wearing it." She whispered, her gaze fixed on Angel’s face. He suddenly gave her a strange look and was about to say something when the door swung open, in time to save him.

Father Tuck stormed in, Snyder on his heels.

"God bless you childe. Do stop following me.I can manage on me own" He pushed the principal out, inundating him with benedictions.

"What a dope!" he sighed, wiping his brow. "Angel, lad" He rushed towards him, giving him a firm clasp, despite his protests. "I came to see how’re ya doin"

He scanned the room, his gaze resting on Buffy before giving her a playful wink.

"Uhh, class, this is Father Tuck, from the Mission of St. Ives. What you probably don’t know about the place, is that it has one of the largest libraries in the state and some of the fathers are keeping a close observation on the arts."

"When they’re not busying themselves with food." Father Tuck remarked, laughing wholeheartedly.

Buffy immediately liked the friar. From the affectionate look in Angel’s eyes she knew he must be very important to him. Now it suddenly became crystal clear to her where Angel had spent the last few months. She tried to suppress the giggles that ensued once she tried to picture his amazing body clothed in rough cotton. Well, at least that eliminated any female competition. Though from the look on Brenda’s face she wasn’t so sure.

Father Tuck stayed for a while, and seeing that Angel was coping fine and that he couldn’t "get it into that thick skull of his" to talk to the girl, he returned to the mission, on the condition to stay in touch and help whenever some prophecy was needed. Because you could find a lot of those in the mission’s library, St. Ives was once the meeting place of the watchers council. It was considered a holy spot, as vampires and demons didn’t dare go near it, for fear of crucifixes and holy water.

Anyway, Buffy was getting desolate as Angel was completely ignoring her, paying more attention to Xander, of all people. Actually he was giving Xander free art lessons, until his friend returned to Sunnydale and started teaching him properly. As a matter of fact, it was Xander that asked for help, surprising the others as well as himself.

Now the gang was assembled in the library, Angel explaining something to Xander about a painting; Cordelia admiring her reflection in her pocket mirror; Willow trying to appease a slayer, almost fuming with repressed longing and desperation. And Riley, well, he had doubts of his own.* my little Buffy’s been neglecting her one and only love – me, she’s been drooling over this Angel-guy. Maybe I should start training to get some muscle, she’ll drool over me then. Nahh, mama always told me I was the most attractive man in the world. I should find another way – yeah, I’ll just ask Bessie, my cow. I should go phone her..* and with that he left to find a phone booth.

"Should he be here." Angel asked Giles when Riley left.

"Well, Buffy kind of saved his *pathetic* life, and then we had to explain all the…"

"big bad things that go bite in the night." Buffy finished for him. "in that order of though, Giles, I need a free night. Riley is taking me to the Bronze." She chirped, making Giles drop his glasses and Angel pale even more if that were possible.

"Buffy, you should patrol, it’s your duty as the slayer to protect innocent people." *plus I am doing you a favour* "Go train. Use Riley" *don’t return him*

After an hour or so of Riley pretending to be Super Man and Buffy holding in and trying not to hurt him, Angel decided to take over the training. He removed his red shirt, causing Buffy to glue her eyes to his gorgeous body, as well as every female within a radius of 10 miles. By that time it was pretty obvious who the owner of the tattoo was, much to Riley’s dismay.

They started moving in perfect unison, each kick countered before it was delivered, like a bizarre, heated mating ritual, that left them gasping and gleaming with a light sheen of perspiration. Angel frowned.

"Don’t hold back, Buffy"

She raised a brow. And gave it to him, and gave and gave but in the end it was still him pinning her down to the floor.

"Well, Giles, "she sighed after Angel helped her up and much to her disappointment, dressed up. "I still need that free night."

"The Slayer.."

"No, Giles. I’ll partol instead of her, it’s been low on vampiric activity lately anyway." Angel offered, his heart breaking with every word.

Buffy gust gaped. He was supposed to be acting insanely jealous not supportively nice. He was supposed to go there and snap Riley’s neck, for God’s sake. She sighed, now she really had to go out with Riley.

Who, by the way did come up with a plan to win Buffy’s heart. He just had to practice his enchanting capacities on some nice willing subject. So he figured out, the dead ones would be dying for a rendezvous with the handsomest man alive (him). He stole a curse from Giles’ books while the others were occupied in watching the fight,in order to resurrect himself a dead chick. What a mistake!

Later that night Angel was patrolling with Xander. And being tortured by him.

"Come on man, I’m sure you still having lots of strong feelings for Buffy."

"I can’t believe I am hearing this..from you, Xander.*of all people* Please, I’m having enough doubts as it is. Don’t add more. Anyway, she’s with Riley, her boyfriend." He cast a surreptitious glance around..Something was weird. Definitely weird. But what exactly?

"Oh, come on. You’re not serious. You think she really likes the guy. You have to be brain dead not to notice that she’s trying to make you jealous. She doesn’t love Riley, never has. You should go there and take what’s yours." With that he left for the Bronze to check on Buffy’s date or rather laugh at the spectacle.

Angel seemed deep in thought. Maybe Xander was right, maybe she did love him. No, it couldn’t be. He was bad, she deserved something better. He had work to do, he should go check the old Farmer Plaza, now used as a storage place. He passed by it earlier and noticed something suspicious, but he couldn’t quite place a finger on it. Just a feeling…He pushed it away, maybe he should go check on Buffy.

Just as he seemed to have made up his mind, he felt the barrel of a gun pressed to his back. He slowly turned around to face his worst nightmare.

"Darla.." He stared at her petrified. She was supposed to be dead, he could very vividly recall the stake plunging into her non-beating heart.

"Angelus.. I can’t believe what the boy told me is true…You are human.." The last she spat disgustedly.

He gazed at her undaunted.

"What do you want, Darla?"

"What I’ve always wanted, my love..You, all mine"

He had to fight the urge to lounge at her, having in mind the gun that was still pointed at him, which in his present state could prove very risky.

"I’ve never been yours." He noticed the camera pointed straight at him. *the boy had more serious problems than I thought*. Maybe he could use that to his advantage… Yes, that’s it… Keep it here..YES.

"We’ll see.." she approached him, claiming his mouth in a vicious kiss. "Hey, that wasn’t in the deal!" Riley squeaked, dropping the camera. "You were supposed to scare him off, not kiss him. You didn’t kiss me"

She faced him with a cruel smirk. "Change of plan. I don’t need you anymore." She morphed.."How do you feel about dinner?" He screamed like a sissy, running away from the vampiress. She caught up with him quickly and hit him with the gun, all the while not letting Angel out of her sight.

"He was such a dope anyway.. Thought he could use my body in exchange for blood..Apparently your Buffy has been dissatisfied with his performance in bed lately." The sting of her words made him flinch, flooding his mind with images of Buffy and Riley in a heated kiss, Buffy and Riley making love in the shower. He closed his eyes in pain, trying to block it out. "I can’t blame her though, it’s quite different fucking a vampire – cold, hard body, no need for breathing… I bet she enjoyed it more with you. What happened – you got tired of her, too little experience?" She laughed – a cruel and cold sound that ringed in his ears. "Maybe we should leave her this little present?" She pointed towards Riley and the camera. "Say DEATH" She kissed him hungrily, pressing the gun into his chest with one hand and ripping his shirt off his body with the other. She trailed her hand down his muscular chest, and grinned menacingly..

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