Parker was flying high as he walked with Buffy into the party. Another conquest, ripe for his smooth charm, and so sure he found her special. He grinned down at her, anticipating the pleasure he would be getting later in the evening. Freshmen girls were so fresh and innocent, so easy to fool. And Buffy was shy and eager to fall in with his suggestions, so he was positive that he would be able to talk her into whatever he wanted to do.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked, wanting to get a good feel for the package he would be unwrapping in his room in a few short hours.
"Sure!" Buffy replied, adding, "Talking is not an option, is it?" The music in the room, combined with the dozens of conversations swirling around them, made for an almost unbearable din.
Buffy smiled as Parker grabbed her hand and plunged into the crowd, forging a path toward the dance floor. She thought it was sweet the way he tried to protect her, assuming she was delicate. So many people relied on her strength; it was nice to be coddled.
They began dancing, Parker pulling her close to him, gently stroking up and down her back, cupping the back of her neck as he turned her away from a drunken couple who was trying to dance and make-out at the same time. Buffy closed her eyes and smiled a little at his gallant behavior. Maybe it was time to give someone besides Angel a chance to gain a foothold in her heart. She moved closer to him, rubbing her body lightly against his, and laid her head on his shoulder.
Parker rested his chin on Buffy's head. He closed his eyes, triumphant. She had fallen for the white knight routine, and he could almost feel her last defenses against him crumbling away.
Buffy was cocooned in a soft, dreamy haze as one song ended and the next began, merging seamlessly into a stream of melody. For a while, she simply drifted, allowing Parker to pull her closer, not noticing the increasingly bold, stroking hands that were now under her shirt, stroking along her ribcage, knuckles brushing the underside of her breasts. Without realizing, she began imagining it was Angel's hands that were touching her, the warmth of Parker's skin cooling to the marble smoothness of Angel's caresses. Parker's shoulder became Angel's much stronger one, his longer, coarser hair becoming Angel's spiky yet silky strands.
"Angel..." she sighed into his neck, and Parker nuzzled her hair, smiling. It was time.
Buffy's dream world shattered as the music ended, and Parker pulled away to stare down into her eyes. "Would you like to leave?" he asked seductively, and Buffy, brought back to painful reality, nodded without really hearing the insinuation in his voice. Her heart ached with the knowledge that her dreams would never be real again.
Parker began drawing Buffy through the smoky, dim room, heading for the exit. Ten minutes, tops, and he would have her in his bed, giving him the conquest he had been working for since meeting her. So intent was he on his goal, he failed to notice Buffy's slowing steps.
She could...feel...something, resonating through the room like a beacon in the night. Her feet faltered, her head swiveling left, then right, as she searched the dimness for the source of the siren call. Warmth was seeping into her soul, her heart quickening as it came back to life.
Parker suddenly realized that he was dragging on Buffy's hand, but they were no longer moving. Looking back, he saw Buffy stopped, her eyes looking almost blindly around the room. Her fingers slipped from his grasp as she spun around, suddenly freezing with her back to him.
"Buffy...what?" Parker reached out and touched her gently on the shoulder, though inside he longed to grab and shake her, make her pay attention to him, focus on...him!
He was here! Buffy shrugged away from Parker's hand and began walking slowly toward the shadowy figure standing in the bend of the staircase. A flick of coat, a momentary gleam from the silver ring on his finger, and she had found him.
Parker watched in disbelief as Buffy simply walked away from him, heading for a seemingly empty corner near the stairs. He paused, then began pushing after her, shoving people out of the way, pursuing his quarry.
"You're here..." Buffy breathed, stopping a few feet from Angel. He looked so...tired, his skin paler than normal, his eyes shadowed with pain. She knew the same look of longing she saw in the planes of his face was reflected in hers as well.
"Yes." One word, and her eyes closed, her heart leaping at the deep rumbling sound of her beloved's voice.
"Buffy? Buffy!" Parker tried to get her attention as she closed her eyes and swayed. She ignored him and stepped forward again, and finally Parker realized there was a man in the darkness before them.
"Why?"
"I can't let you go, I've tried, but..." Angel stopped and swallowed heavily, the words caught in his throat. Looking away from her beloved face, he noticed a young man behind Buffy, trying to get her attention. He glanced swiftly at Buffy, wondering if she had moved on to someone else.
"No." Buffy replied to the question in his eyes, able, as always, to read Angel's soul, the questions struggling to escape him.
"Buffy, who is this? Weren't we going to leave?" Parker was desperate to regain control of the situation. He could almost see the thread between Buffy and this stranger being drawn tighter, pulling them together, luring Buffy away from his web of influence.
"Parker, go away." Just that, and Buffy dismissed him from her life. She walked forward, and reaching out, drew Angel from the shadows and into her light.
"The curse...?" she whispered, and Angel reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her eyes before pulling her into the safety of his embrace. Buffy leaned into his shoulder, her arms reaching under his long coat to wrap around his waist.
"Gone," he replied, shuddering and closing his eyes, burying his face in her hair. "I helped a gypsy clan, they repaid me in the only coin I valued."
Parker realized they had forgotten him. His anger rose as the couple in front of him melted into each other. What he had thought was an unbreakable hold on Buffy was being shown as a cheap and tawdry imitation of the reality in front of him.
"Buffy, you came with me tonight. What are you doing!" Parker reached out and tried to pry Buffy from the grasp of the older, larger man. His mistake.
A rumbling growl emanated from the man, and fierce yellow eyes above a fanged mouth glared at him. "Go...away...!" it growled at him, brow wrinkled and twisted into a terrifying visage that turned Parker's bowels to water. His bladder let go without his noticing, and he scrambled backwards, fleeing through the crowd into the night.
A soft voice drew Angel back from the edge of madness. "Let's go home," she invited, the warmth of her love cooling his bloodlust and heating his passion.
"It's been so long..."
Their voices faded as they walked into the night, their shadows merging into a whole. And the tear in the fabric of Buffy's life was sealed, as her lover healed her wounded heart.
The End