The screaming was loud and-she had to admit-it was annoying as hell. She reached down, pulling her weapon from the holster and cocking it, smiling when the ready light shone that familiar shade of green. She ignored the sudden static buzz from her communicator and headed into the deserted factory.
It was as they'd been warned, a factory full of vampires and their victims. Blood and bodies were everywhere. Usually this wouldn't bother her in the least and she would go in and take out all of them, but this time, some of those bodies were the targets and she had to check each one out carefully. That made this different.
Buffy took careful aim and squeezed the trigger, watching the green ray slam against the blacked out windows. It made them glow for a quick instant and then the glass exploded outward, allowing the beautiful golden rays of the sun to come right on inside.
There was screaming and then a swift poof as one of the Vampires caught on fire. She watched as the panicked running began and the Vampires searched frantically for somewhere that the sun wouldn't be able to touch them. She switched out her choice of weapon and began to clean out the survivors.
There was a loud scream from right behind her and she turned, leading with her wooden weapon. The girl was hideous, her skin was falling right off her body, huge pustules growing and then bursting and the sun shimmered on her skin. She reached for Buffy who just smiled, letting the horrid beast touch her skin. The buzz of the madness sounded loudly in her ears despite the horror going on around her. She tried to ignore it as the monster next to her dropped her arm as if it were on fire. She began to jabber, her words making no sense, and her fingers dug into what little skin was left, tearing at it. She turned to run and stepped right into one of the rays of sunshine, standing there as the power of the sun finally finished her off.
Buffy shook her head of blonde hair. "Stupid blood sucker. Don't you know? No one can touch me and stay sane." She knocked off some more of the undead bodies then turned when the door of the factory burst open. Seeing the rest of her team standing there, she shrugged her slender shoulders, shaking her head. "Just like you, Angelus. Always running late for the party."
"You ever thought that maybe you need to get laid?" He asked her. He stepped inside, lifting his own weapon to go at another of the vampires who was trying to sneak out. "Do you think just for once, you could clean up your own mess?"
"And wreck your chance at proving you're the master of the hunters?" She smirked over at him, her green eyes sparkling even as she pushed her hand through her blonde hair. Her current outfit was far from the team's uniform but Buffy tended to do what she wanted most of the time. She would listen to few-mostly just their team leader, Giles and worked with the other members. She had gotten a reputation of not playing well with others, not sharing her toys. She was kept around despite this because she had also had a reputation of getting the job done and not whining about the crap ones.
Buffy had an entire file of complaints that had been filed about her and against her. She'd been busted from team leader more than once and had to go up in front of the council more than any other hunter. But at the end of the day, she'd always been reinstated because she got the job done and she didn't bitch. At least not much.
A tug on her hair had her head coming up to glare at Angelus. He got closer to her than any being had a right to, than any being should with the curse that the gods had left on her. An enduring sadness shone in her beautiful eyes for just a second before she shrugged it off. "What the hell, Angelus? Are you trying to spend the rest of your life walking into walls or something?"
He tugged on her hair again, just to watch her wheel around and glare at him. With a wide grin, he followed Rupert further into the building, sending a wink back in her direction. She scowled at him, her fingers twitching on her weapon.
Riley growled in her direction, cocking his head to indicate she should follow them and then headed that way himself. He went after another vampire. He laughed when the body turned to ash.
"Quit bragging," Giles called back the words as he opened another door that led deeper into the factory. "Buffy! Get in here!"
Buffy glanced around the room, staking one last vampire before heading into the interior. She could hear the sounds from just outside the door and she smiled, hurrying now that there was more "clean-up" to be done.
Giles and Finn were back to back, Angelus off to the side. The vampires were beginning to pile up, until one would burst into flame, taking the others with it. And they all found their own targets, going after everything in that room until finally the factory was cleared, the vampires little more than soot in the breeze.
Buffy stood, her hand on the butt of her favorite stake where it rested against her side. She glared at Angelus as he walked up to her. "You're lucky. Rupert's finally calmed down Maggie so it looks like she's not going to suspend you yet. She doesn't take it so well when you walk into a factory full of vampire with no back-up."
"You three got here quick enough. I was in no danger." She smirked. "As if I'd be in any danger anyway. They can't touch me, you know that."
"One of these days, Buffy, you're going to find someone who will be able to touch you and I plan on paying them to kick your ass for me." Angelus reached out and twirled a lock of her silky hair around his finger. "Then I might watch to see what else he does. Could get interesting."
"Trust me, no man can touch me, Angelus. Just getting close enough to touch me would have them turning into drooling fools." She snarled the words before closing her gorgeous green eyes and hiding the pain that filled them. He didn't know much of the curse or of the reason it was put on her. He didn't know about the ancient gods and the horrid things that they would do when they thought they were being slighted or made fun of.
"Then it sure as hell is time." Angelus stepped even closer and she felt the heat of his breath against her skin. She growled and took a step back, her hand going to the butt of her closest weapon. He only grinned, raising his hands in defeat. "I give, okay? Don't shoot me."
The anger in her eyes would have killed him dead if possible and she turned without saying a word, heading for the door and her ride back to headquarters.
Angelus grinned as Rupert walked up to him, then flinched as he smacked him across the back of his head. "Hey, what the hell was that for?"
"You know better than pushing her like that. You're lucky she managed to hang on to her temper."
"She needs to get shaken up a bit. She takes far too many chances. I mean, we're all on the same team, aren't we?" He ducked again when he saw Giles' eyes but instead of smacking him, he reached out and tugged on his dark hair.
"Have you ever wondered why she takes those chances? Or why it irritates you so badly that she does?" Rupert glanced up as Riley came over to lean against the wall next to Angelus. He opened his mouth, letting out a loud sigh, as if he were agreeing with whatever Rupert was going to say next.
"And what the hell would you know about it?" Angelus growled.
Riley glanced at Rupert and then back at Angelus, shrugging his shoulders.
"He knows more than you might think, Angelus. We both do. I know first of all, that you bad mouth her because you're afraid she's going to get hurt. You get on her case like you do because you're afraid what it would do to you if anything happened to her." Rupert grinned up and into Angelus' stunned features. "Don't even try to deny it."
"I won't deny it. I'll just say one thing. You and Finn here need to quit putting meaning into things that have no meaning." He nodded once and then headed toward the door and the SUV that was waiting for them outside.
The other two men chuckled as they watched him walk out. "He'll learn."
Buffy was settled into the back seat of the car and then there was Angelus with his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the back end of the SUV. As soon as he saw them, he went to the front seat and climbed in behind the steering wheel. "Are you two done? Or did you have some other kind of nonsense you felt like spouting on about?"
Riley snorted but Rupert just glanced at him, climbing into the passenger seat beside him. "It's not nonsense. But I'll wait for you to come to that conclusion on your own."
"What are you all talking about?" Buffy asked.
Before anyone could spin any stories for her, Angelus spoke up. "They think that I'm in love with you."
Buffy met his dark brown eyes in the rearview mirror then threw her head back and burst out laughing. "I hope you explained to them that we only work together and reminded them both know that you being in love with me would be nothing more than a damn waste of time. For two major reasons: One, we can't even touch each other. Two, we all know that you're too damn in love with yourself."
Riley snorted and Angelus glared at him before turning those heated eyes back to her. "I think you've got that wrong," he said with a glare. "You're the one that does everything but strip down and wave your arms in front of me to get my attention. I'm just a bit more into self-preservation than that."
"So now you're what...?" She met his eyes then shook her head sadly. "You're actually implying that I'm in love with you now?" She laughed, sinking back into the seat and wrapping the seat belt more tightly around her waist as he swerved the big SUV. "You want to watch the driving there, huh. I don't think Riley here would like to be a drooling idiot for the rest of his life if you make me bump into him."
"Not much different than he is now," Angelus grunted. "And before you somehow come up with the insane idea that I want to have crazy babies with you or something, don't worry that pretty little head of your none. You're cute but you have a big mouth, Buf. I like my women with a little bit of tact."
"Oh, so you don't want them laughing at you when they get to see the size of your ... package?" She whispered the last word but everyone in the cab had no problems in hearing her voice. Buffy grinned when she saw the tell tale ruddy hue of Angelus' chiseled cheeks. She had heard stories of the size of his ... well, equipment. Not a single one of them was about how little he was as she had implied, in fact Angelus was rumored not only to be well endowed but also in knowing how to use what he had to please a woman. But she had him on the run now and she wasn't about to let him go without the kill shot. "Of course, we both heard what happened with that last ...umm, thing ... that you dated. What the hell was she anyways? I don't think I could have fucked that, little dick and all or not. Anyway," she said with a heavy sigh, sitting forward in her seat. "You really need to teach those dogs the little trick of keeping their fucking yaps shut. She was spouting all over the locker rooms about you and how you failed in the relationship."
Oh, she had spouted. Buffy remembered because she had threatened to tear her throat out if she didn't shut the fuck up about Angelus. She'd cried and she'd whined that Angelus was a no good player, that he had fucked her until she could barely stand up and then left her without a backward glance. Even now, some of the things the girl had said still sent tingles through her entire body. It had been one of the first times she'd ever really missed that intimate act between two people. And it hadn't been the first time that dreams of Angelus had woken her in the middle of the night. But she'd never tell him or let anyone else know about that little weakness.
She had learned the hard way that feelings and emotions were wastes, that caring meant the opportunity for pain. It was easier not to learn to care or to love, because it kept the hurt factor out of a relationship, even a working one.
"Did anyone ever tell you what a bitch you are, Buf?" Angelus asked callously, his hands tightening on the steering wheel as if to keep them there and not flying into the back seat to cold-cock her one.
"Better beings than you," she said with a sassy toss of her head.
"Did they ever tell you that you need to learn when to shut the fuck up?"
Buffy chuckled. "Numerous times. So I guess you can tell that it didn't work for them and damn well won't work for you either."
"Maybe you two need to work it out on the mats?" Giles offered. "We got some down time coming after the job we pulled today."
"Last time I offered to settle something on the mats, you fucking yelled at me because he had to be stitched back together," Angelus complained.
"What, did he laugh himself to pieces?"
Angelus glared back at her, noting the thick leather gloves she was smoothing onto her slender arms. "Okay. Fine. You're on."
"It's about fucking time you said something worth listening too," she retorted with a snort.
"Maybe if you'd shut your own constant bitching up, you'd be able to really hear what others are saying." Riley relaxed in his seat.
"You two will keep this fight fair and it's over at first blood." When neither of them answered, Rupert sat up. "Do you understand?"
"Sure. And I might even leave some of him left to let him have his couple days down time somewhere besides the clinic."
"Want to make a bet to see who wins this?" Riley threw out.
"You'd bet against me?"
Riley chuckled. "Nine times out of ten, no. But this time, I just don't think you can win this one. One way or another, I think this time you're going down."
At the gate, Angelus rolled down his window and fixed the guard in the stand with a look. He handed the man an identification tag for the truck and took the slips that he was given. Handing them over to Rupert, Angelus rolled up his window and headed down and into the parking structure, following the steep curve around and around until they reached the bottom floor. Then he turned down the far yellow lines and pulled up to a solid wall.
Rupert reached into his pack and pulled out something that looked like a garage door opener, except this one had a number pad instead of a plain button. He keyed in the code and the wall in front of them began to shift, sliding slowly along an almost indistinguishable track.
Angelus pulled through and then waited while Riley closed up the doorway before pulling up to what amounted to a building inside of a building. It was some fifteen stories of offices, gyms, cafeterias, and one of the best computer systems around. It also had a garage and living quarters for some of the more diverse of their kind of hunters. The bottom five floors were used for housing the criminals that weren't slated to die. Death sentences were carried out rather quickly in the supernatural world. The building was rather non-descript. Cinderblock seemed the preferred building choice which had then been painted white to distinguish it from the rest of the parking structure.
Angelus pulled into the small parking lot that held the other twenty-some SUVs. He grunted when Rupert reached over and slid the keys out of the ignition, before dropping them down into his pack. "If you two plan to take care of this today, you might want to go and reserve the gym." He slid easily out of the SUV, closing the door and waiting for his team to disembark. Then he pressed a button on the keyfob that locked the doors.
Just inside the front doors was a large waiting room. As per almost everyday of the week, it was filled to bursting, the sound of tears, the screaming of young children and the cursing of teenage boys was almost deafening. Giles didn't even slow. He waved to the front desk and went through the door in the back of the room.
It closed behind the group, cutting out at least half the insane racket. Buffy sighed and then dropped behind the rest of her team, slapping a button on a small console in the wall. There was a "bing" and then the sliding doors of the elevator opened. Slipping into the sanity of the elevator, she hit the button for the gym.
"You know, Angelus. I'm not trying to hurt you here with telling you these things about her. She'll never admit to how she feels about you either." Giles grinned up at the taller man watching as he disgustedly shoved his fingers through his hair.
"Maybe because she doesn't have any feelings about me," he said slowly. "I don't really need to go and kick the shit out of her for this. We both know you're full of it this time."
"Sure you do. Has Buffy ever even told you about how she came to have her curse? Or of how she lived before that?"
"Nope. I've never asked. I always figured if she wanted me to know, she'd tell me." He shrugged his wide shoulders before moving to the chair that sat in front of his desk. The office was a small room and one that seemed even smaller with him in it. He nodded at Rupert as he fixed a cup of coffee then one for himself as well, before sinking down into the big chair behind the desk. "I think you need to know," Giles said after sipping the warm brew. "She hasn't had it easy."
"None of us has. I mean look at Finn. You would never have known that he'd been just a regular man with a family and a job before. If the poison of that bite hadn't reacted strangely in his blood, he could still be out there, living life with the human race. But he's had to run and to hide for so long, he doesn't know of any other way of life anymore."
"Yes, for someone like Riley, living here is perfect. But Buffy is different, Angelus. She had a life once, a family, a long, long time ago. She'd been happy, living her life. Then a rumor was spread about her, a vicious lie made up by a woman who was jealous of Buffy and of her life. That rumor caught the ears of the gods."
"Which ones?" Angelus felt his own interest perk. He'd often wondered about what had happened to Buffy to make her the hard, almost calloused woman he'd come to know. He'd seen the hurt in her beautiful green eyes; he'd even seen the regret, though he hadn't understood it.
"Greek," Rupert answered. "I don't think anyone else would have gotten so bent out of shape for what was really no more than wasted breath. Anyway, they decided that she needed to be punished. The Greek gods are good for almost nothing, except they know how to take things too far and how to be complete asses." Rupert shook her head and took another sip of coffee.
"So ... what did they do?" Angelus asked.