Creative Works   

Sanctum (Part 4)
By Cryptic

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

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"Great, not only was I forced into a date with Riley, but he has the guts not to show up..I’ll kill him" *and do the world a favor*. Buffy sighed impatiently, fidgeting with her necklace – a silver cross, she had received long ago from someone really, really special. "Gggrr, and no sign of Angel either.."

"Hi Buff" Xander patted her shoulder twice to get her attention. "Where’s your date ?"

"Do not remind me! I must have been crazy to ever start going out with that loser. I’ll snap his little neck." Buffy was furious.

"Whoa, Buffy, calm down, although that’ll be a neat little spectacle, when I come to think of it, too bad Vamp boy won’t get to do it first."

"Speaking of Angel- where is he? You two seem unnaturally close lately!" Buffy eyed him up closely.

"Oww, Buff," he tickled her playfully. "do I sense jealousy vibes in here or what? You must be pretty desperate for that love *wink* thing, aren’t ya?"

She simply snorted disgustedly. "Let’s go before I reconsider my non-violence strategy and release all that pent up sexual energy on you, Xander! Only it won’t be sexual in your case."

"Giles, I am really worried, he hasn’t shown up to lecture and no one has seen him since yesterday." Buffy gave her watcher an imploring look, he had to make it better, he just had to find him, or she would break.

"It isn’t like him, really. He was supposed to come back after patrol and report to me. But he didn’t , I thought it as odd, but then.." Giles trailed off, it was his fault, he should have guessed something was wrong, Angel would never neglect his duties on purpose, if it wasn’t for Buffy’s sake. And for her sake Giles was worried, deeply disturbed to be exact – she looked so fragile, so lost, like a little girl. The fearless slayer reduced to a crying and shaken teenager – what would any of the creatures she hunted say to this, would they ever recognize in this scared woman the mighty Slayer – the protector of the innocent and weak. He doubted that.

"Yeah, we all really thought Angel wouldn’t take the pressure and show up at Buffy’s date with Riley" Xander added, seeking the approval of the others who in turn nodded their confirmation – Willow, Oz, Cordelia. "Hey, speaking of Riley, where is he? He didn’t show up today either? Doesn’t that seem strange, maybe he had something to do with Angel’s disappearance?"

"Like he could do something on his *pathetic* own" Buffy reasoned. "He left me ten dozens of messages saying he was attacked last night *like I care*. They didn’t break anything, unfortunately" she sighed unhappily, "I guess I’d have to do the breaking up part as soon as I see him, but that’s not really the priority right now. We need to find Angel, fast. Something terrible has happened, Giles, I just know it!"

Just at that the library doors opened and Riley semi-crawled in, looking like he’d had the worse night of his no doubt pathetic excuse for existence.

"Buffy, baby, I left you thousands of messages, why didn’t you come to take care of your man, your one and only true love?" He almost cried out, sobbing in between the words, causing the gang to revert their gazes in amusement and disgust.

"Not now, Riley," Buffy didn’t even acknowledge him with a glance in his direction.

"It’s all because of that Angel guy isn’t it? I am soooo disappointed with you Buffy. A vampire – disgusting" He spat angrily. "But I, being so generous, am prepared to forgive you and take you back." He looked down at her, feeling all noble and gentleman-ish, looking anything but.

"A vampire" Her hand was on his throat as soon as the words came out. "I’ll wipe that smug expression off your face, you moron. I never said anything about Angel being a vampire. Did you, guys?"

A chorus of no-s followed. All eyes were on Riley now, who squirmed in sweat, realizing that his slip up was a real hammer.

"Now, how about telling me what you know about Angel’s disappearance before I get really, really mad" She tightened her hold on his throat. "I am waiting, Riley, and you don’t want to make me mad, believe me!"

What was going on here? Where was his sweet, gentle girlfriend, his nice attentive girlfriend? She was acting psychotic, over a vampire, the things she was supposed to kill!

"Sweetie-p" he was cut off by her almost deadly grip on his throat. "O..k.I’ll..tell..you..aw" he managed to croak.

"I am listening" She crossed her arms, removing them from his throat, nevertheless looking as if she wouldn’t hesitate to place them back if he made one wrong move.

"Well, I don’t know how it happened really. I, uh, decided I needed some practice, since you weren’t so attentive lately.."

"Practice?" She quirked a brow still not getting it.

"Means he wasn’t getting any, or are you dense?" Cordelia remarked. "Was he? Because I absolutely do not need those mental pictures..Aww, disgusting!"

"HE WASN’T, ok!" Buffy was fuming now, not only Angel’s strange disappearing act, but they were now invading her sex life*not that she had any as it was* "And what does that have to do with Angel?"

"Well, I needed practice because I haven’t ,..you know" He gave her a sheepish look.

"You’re a virgin" Xander burst off laughing. "oh, boy..I bet Buffy could teach you some stuff?"

"Xander!" Buffy was clearly annoyed.

"Come on! It’s not I that had steamy hot sex with a vampire with considerable, and you can say that again, experience in that area.."

"You had sex with HIM?" Riley was devastated, what kind of sick person was she. "Isn’t that like necromancy? Have you ever thought about psychological treatment, because I know this really great shrink, he used to treat all the cows at home, when they got depression and stuff.."

"Save it for someone who cares" She shrugged off.*I guess my life is open for discussions*."Angel! I won’t ask twice!"

"Well, as I said I needed some,uhh, but I couldn’t you know, because that would be cheating, so I…" he rushed the words. "Resurrected a dead chick, but it didn’t go as planned."

"How considerate of you" she said mockingly. "What happened, she wasn’t interested?"

"As a matter of fact, yes" he replied somewhat hurt. "She wasn’t interested in me, but.."

"Angel" Buffy’s eyes widened.

"I don’t understand what is it about that guy and the girls, what does he trigger in them" Riley shrugged.

"Their eyes" Cordelia suggested jokingly.

"What did she look like?" Buffy had just about enough. She could take no more of this fear that was slowly creeping up her spine, threatening to consume her.

"Uhh, dunno, pretty, blond..I have this tape.."

"By Jove" Giles stared at the boy incredulously, *what a moron* "You taped it! And how did you ever find a resurrection spell in the first place?" Oh, he sure recognized a guilty look when he saw one. "The Diaries, you used the Diaries" Giles looked about ready to beat the living shit out of Riley. "That ain’t the bloody yellow pages, you mindless fool"

"Careful, Ripper" Buffy couldn’t help the smirk, although the situation was pretty serious, Giles did look strange showing off his antics. He was usually so into the whole boring librarian image. "The tape, Riley, now!"

"Well, it’s not.."

"Get it" She enunciated the words clearly pausing at every syllable. There was something about her eyes telling him she wasn’t joking and that it wasn’t in his best interest to piss her off right now.

Their eyes were glued to the tape. Too bad Riley wasn’t as good at filming as he was at resurrection spells – the picture was unfocused and the angle was constantly changing. They all saw Angel, patrolling with Xander, Xander leaving, Angel being threatened with a gun, but couldn’t make out the attacker, as it was pretty dark. Buffy was the first to recognize her, even before Angel’s lips formed the name, the feeling struck her.*Darla*

"Darla," She snorted, her hand hitting the stop button by accident, while jamming the remote so that the nuts and bolts flew around. "Why" he approached Riley with a grim expression that promised violence, carnage, or better evisceration "why, of all the undead bimbos you had to choose her!"

"Well, it’s obvious." Giles interfered, getting weird looks. "She had certain talents, in which I can imagine Riley was particularly interested." The guy’s shameful expression confirmed all.

"What talents?" Buffy as at a loss.

"Well, she, at her time, even before she was turned, was a very famous and rather elite concubine, one of the best?"

"Con-what?"

"Hooker" Oz clarified.

"Oh, my God." Cordelia exclaimed. "Angel spent a hundred and plus years in bed with a pro. Trust me when I say, go Buffy."

"Hey, they didn’t spent all the time in bed *did they*, there was always the usual time-consuming demolition here and there, coupled with the occasional blood feasts, wreaking havoc and stuff."Who are you trying to convince, Buffy sighed unhappily. Not that it mattered anyway, the only thing that mattered was getting him back to where he belonged – namely her bed. "Can you get that thing rolling, Xand?"

"Sure thing, I’ll just do it manually." He said, glancing at the remote or rather at what was left of him. "But there’s only a few seconds here." He squirmed at Darla kissing Angel, wondering it this wasn’t the last shred that could drive a crazed slayer to the edge.

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