Angelus
You pause at a corner of the corridor, trying to regulate your breath. You listen intently to identify any sounds on the other side of the wall. Part of you wants to run screaming to Giles’ room and warn him of the horror you’ve just witnessed. But the saner part knows that’s the one way guaranteed to get you killed. And there’s the part that still can’t believe what you saw.
You’d come with Rupert to Los Angeles for the weekend to confer with the gang at Angel Investigations. Giles decided it was more important to have a couple days rest first and catch up with Angel and the others later on Sunday. After checking into the hotel, Giles had called and left a message at Angel’s before suggesting that the both of you get some sleep after the drive up. You had tucked him in and went down to the car to grab a bag you’d left behind. On the way back, you’d paused in the hallway off of the lobby to use a payphone to check your messages when you’d seen it. Angel, no Angelus, feeding on one of the hotel staff. Terrified, you could only stare as he drained the life from his poor victim. Then you turned and fled. You couldn’t be sure whether or not Angelus had seen you, but you weren’t about to hang around to find out.
Taking a deep breath, you turn the corner, relieved to find the corridor empty. Running toward the bank of elevators, you press the up button. You wait impatiently for the elevator to reach the floor. A noise behind you makes you turn in fright. Angelus is leaning against the corner you’d just turned.
"Well, well, well. If it isn’t Rupert’s girl." He smiles and tilts his head a little. "Did he tell you what I did to his last girlfriend?"
You hear a faint ding behind you. You decide to try and play it cool, hoping he won’t notice as you start to back toward the opening doors. "Angel. D-did you get Giles’ message? Are you looking for Buffy?"
"Yes and no. Yes, I got the message. No, I’m not looking for Buffy. At least not yet." He stands upright and begins stalking you. "I thought I’d visit all her friends first." He shrugs, almost shyly. "It’s just sort of what I do. I wasn’t going to start with you, but seeing as you’re here…" he starts running toward you as you fall backward into the elevator. You scramble to your knees, frantically pressing the close button. As he gets closer, you throw yourself to the back of the car and watch, wide-eyed and on the verge of hyperventilation, as he races the doors to decide your fate. You feel him hit the steel doors as they close upon him. Selecting Giles’ floor, you rise from the bottom of the elevator, praying it reaches its destination before Angelus can.
"Come on! Come on!" You say over and over again, your eyes never leaving the floor indicator. You realize that in all likelihood Angelus was simply feeding on the poor hotel employee out of opportunity but the idea has popped into your head that he could have found out Rupert’s room number from his victim and now the fear compelling you to find him threatens to become outright panic.
The doors open with a ding as you reach the fourth floor. You don’t bother to look around to see if Angelus is waiting for you or not. If he’s here, you’re dead. But nothing less than that is going to keep you from getting to Giles first.
When you reach his door, you fumble in your pocket for the card key. You have to slide it through the strip twice because you went too fast on the first swipe. The indicator light on the lock goes to green and you quickly dash inside and slam the door behind you.
You put on the door latch and turn into the room. You quickly scan the room for Giles, afraid for half a second that he might have gone out and could encounter Angelus on the way back. You are relieved, and somewhat amused, when your eyes sweep down and are met with the sight of Rupert’s derriere greeting you. He is crouched down on the floor, his arm probing under the nightstand. The silk of his boxers is stretched tightly over the roundness of his bottom. He looks up and smiles over his shoulder at you.
When you don’t smile back, he disengages his activity and stands, deadly serious. "What is it?"
"Angelus," you say simply.
Giles looks as though you’ve just doused him with ice cold water. "You’re sure?"
"I saw him. He asked…asked me if I knew what he did to your last girlfriend."
Rupert closes the distance between you, his arms gently gripping yours. "He will never touch you. Not ever."
You smile up at him and touch his face. "What are we going to do? He’s coming."
At that moment, the window shatters and a large garbage can hurtles into the room. You scream and Rupert grabs your arms and pulls you with him to the other side of the room. Angelus peeks his head into the entrance he’s created. "He’s here," he says, smiling.
Giles pushes you behind him as the vampire vaults into the room. "Bu-but how can he… he wasn’t…"
"Public building," Rupert explains.
"And the opportunity to kill you both was invitation enough." Angelus lunges forward and rips Rupert out of your arms.
"No!!!! Rupert!!!!"
"I’m here Love. Wake up." You hear Giles’ voice say calmly as you feel someone gently shaking you.
You blink your eyes open as the last vestiges of the nightmare leave you. "Rupert?" you ask.
"You were expecting someone else?" He smiles.
You wrap your arms around him and hold him tight. "I’m so happy you’re okay."
"Of course I am Love. Calm down now. It’s all right. It sounded like a bad nightmare." He strokes your hair, kisses your shoulder. His bare chest and arms are so warm as they enfold you.
"Call…" You’re unsure you should finish that thought.
He pulls back a little to look into your eyes. "Call who Love?"
"Call L.A." At his confused look, you take a deep breath. "It was Angelus. My dream was… Angelus."
He flinches a little at the mention of that name and you look away. Soon, his finger crooks under your chin, forcing your eyes up to his once more. "I’ll call Cordelia. She’ll understand the call. And if anything was wrong, she’d know."
You nod. He kisses you quickly then leaves the bed to make the call. You draw your knees up to your chest and encircle them with your arms.
He dials the number and then puts the phone on speaker so that you can hear for yourself. Soon the line picks up and a familiar female voice comes on the line. "Hello?"
"Yes hello? Cordelia? Yes. It’s Giles."
"Giles? Hey! It’s kinda late. Everything okay?"
"That’s um... that’s what I needed to ask you. Have you seen Angel lately?"
"Angel? Yeah, he’s right here." Giles looks to you and notices the flash of panic that washes over your face. "Did you need to talk to him?"
"No. Uh… one of the others had a nightmare that Angelus had come back and asked that I call to be sure."
"Oh okay. No, he’s fine. Promise. We’ve been working a case pretty much 24 hours straight so he hasn’t left my sight. Everything’s cool."
"Who’s on the phone Cordy?" You hear Angel ask from the background. You can’t help but to shiver.
"Giles did you hear him?" she asks.
"Y-yes I did."
"Good. Okay, well listen to this." You both can hear her put the phone down and then the sound of her footsteps moving away.
The next thing you hear is Angel’s voice. "OW!! Hey!! Stop hitting me! What’s gotten into you?!"
Giles obviously enjoys that a little too much and flashes you a huge grin. You can’t help but to smile too, feeling more than a little silly that you made him call.
Soon Cordelia’s voice comes over the line again. "Giles?"
"Yes, I’m here."
"Feel better now?"
"Indeed. Thanks for the reassurance. I’ll pass the news along."
"No prob. Goodnight."
"Night." He hangs up the phone and turns to you. The ghost of a smile still remains on your lips. He crawls back across the bed and gathers you into his arms. "All better?"
You nuzzle into the crook of his neck. "All better. Sorry for being so silly."
"Not at all. We have enough monsters to face in our waking hours. If I can banish them from your sleep with a little phone call then… oh what’s Buffy’s phrase for it? Ah yes. Yea me."
You giggle at the strangeness of those words coming out of Rupert’s mouth. You lean up a little and place a kiss on the side of his throat. You feel his breath catch. He looks down and captures your mouth in a kiss.
When you come up for air, he lays back while clutching you to his chest. He kisses your forehead and curls your hair around his fingers. "Think you can sleep now?"
"Hmm… maybe," you say it playfully, but at the thought of going back to sleep an image of Angelus with Rupert in his grasp flashes into your mind. You involuntarily shudder.
Pressed as tightly as you are to him, Rupert can’t help but feel it. "Hmm… well if you’re not sure, there’s only one thing for it."
You look into his eyes. "Which is?"
He smiles and shifts until you are laying partially beneath him. "I’ll just have to tire you out." He kisses you again, filling your mind with nothing but happy thoughts of him.
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| The character of Rupert Giles and the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer were created by Joss Whedon and are © Fox. No infringement is intended and no profits are being made. |