The eyes of every straight male in the Bronze turned to watch as she made her way slowly through the crowd. Dressed in the flimsiest scarlet silk, her black hair falling in curls past the very short hem of her mini-dress, she radiated sex with every look--and she was looking. They all hoped she was looking for them.
But...she stopped before a rather average young man who stood just off the dance floor watching the teenagers gyrate. He stared at her rather defensively and said, "What do you want?" in a harsh tone.
"You."
One word and he was her's--she could tell--and a smirk crossed her red lips at how easy men were.
"What's your name?" she asked in a low, seductive voice with just the hint of an English accent.
"Um...Tom."
"Well, um...Tom. I'm new in town...and very lonely. Can you think of anything we can do to alleviate my problems?"
He looked as if the world had just been handed to him and a huge grin crossed his face. "Yeah, lots of things," he said, turning and sliding his arm around his waist. "Do you have a place we can go?"
"I have a room not far from here," she replied as he guided them towards the door.
"Oh, by the way, what's your name?" he asked as they stepped into the cool night.
"Lily."
*****
Fifteen minutes later in a seedy motel room on the outskirts of Sunnydale's bad part of town, things had heated up considerably. Tom and Lily were kissing passionately, all tongues and teeth, as Tom slid the red dress down over her hips. As it fell to the floor, Lily stepped out of it and pushed Tom onto his back on the bed. He grinned appreciatively at her pale, nude body, her only remaining articles of clothing, red spike heels and a black, silk choker around her throat. As she slowly walked towards him, Tom sat up to pull his t-shirt over his head, then kicked off his sneakers. When his hand reached for the buttons on his jeans, she grabbed it and pushed him back again.
"So, you like to be the aggressor...," he murmured, obviously not minding as he moved to the middle of the bed, still on his back.
"Tom, I'm always on top." From the bottom of the bed, Lily slithered up his legs and reached for the buttons of his jeans. Her nimble fingers had them undone in a few seconds and delved inside the now open fly. "Hmmm," she murmured appreciatively and smiled as her fingers elicited a strangled gasp from Tom.
"Baby, I have to have you now," Tom babbled and reached for her hips, lifting her over his straining erection. Lily positioned herself and with one thrust he was deep inside her, working her with his hands on her buttocks. Lily moaned and watched the changes on his face as she moved quickly on him. His eyes were closed so he didn't see her look of concentration.
With a shuddering gasp from Tom, it was over and Lily felt him withdraw from her. Slowly, carefully, still straddling him, she leaned forward and watched his eyes flutter open. Tom leaned up to kiss her and as their hungry mouths met, Lily slid her hand under the pillow beneath his head. With a sudden movement, she pulled back, rising again to a sitting position and brought her arm down. The look of surprise on the males' faces always amazed her.
"Bye, Tom."
As he disintegrated in shock into a pile of dust, Lily scrambled off the bed, dropping the wooden stake on the floor.
"Men...they're always so damn easy."
Piling her long hair onto her head to keep it dry, Lily took a quick shower to wash away the remains of Tom, then wearing a terry cloth robe and whistling Meredith Brooks' "Bitch", currently her theme song of the month, she went back into the bedroom and opened her suitcase. From it she took a dustbuster and efficiently vacuumed the bed clean, then stored it back in the case. Her hands went to her throat and she untied the black choker, turned it over and retied it. At the hollow of her throat now nestled a small gold cross.
*****
Two nights later with two more male vampires filling up her dustbuster, Lily decided to take a break. She sat at a table in the Bronze idly stirring an espresso and watching the crowd. They were all so young...and so bloody clueless. How many of these bouncing teenagers would make it to their twenty-first birthdays? Lily guessed that most wouldn't, not in this town. She had avoided the Hellmouth for a long time, but finally had given up and allowed herself to be drawn here. At first glance, Sunnydale had looked like any other American town--too new and bright for her tastes--but underneath...?
Suddenly, Lily felt a chill cross her and all her senses came alive. She hadn't gone looking for them tonight, but one of them had found her. When she glanced casually over her shoulder, she started in shock. He was alive!
Their eyes met across the crowded room and he looked equally startled. Lily knew there was no escape. Her one failure had come back to haunt her. Would dying hurt?
Suddenly he was standing over her.
"I won't come without a fight," she exclaimed boldly.
He smiled at her words and sat down across from her, looking very civilized and extremely gorgeous. "Now, why would I want to fight you, Lily?," he asked with a hint of sarcasm. His words baffled her. At their last meeting he had sworn that he would rip her apart the next time they met. She had fled Paris after that dreadful night and had never looked back. "You're looking as beautiful as ever."
"Cut the crap," she spat harshly.
"And what a mouth--a very hungry one, if I remember correctly. Crap? I would have sworn you wouldn't even know such a word."
His teasing manner was driving her insane and she wondered if she could make a break for the door, but as his hand snaked out to grab her arm, she knew escape was impossible.
Trying to pull away from him, Lily gave him her most righteous glare. "One must try to keep up with the times."
"You always were cutting edge....and so beautiful. You drove men insane..., but then, that was the point, wasn't it? You certainly made me reckless that night...but then, who would have suspected the truth."
Their eyes met and held--his dark and mysterious--her's cool violet that were slowly hardening to ice. The long nails of her other hand dug into his fingers, trying to free her wrist from his grip, but he drew them from his skin, raising them hand to his lips. Lily shuddered in fear as his teeth grazed the back of her hand.
"You think I still want to kill you," he said softly, "but you're wrong. I've changed."
Lily trembled at the intensity of his look. "No one in our world changes, Angelus."
"I go by Angel now."
Lily finally managed to jerk both her hands away from him. "Angel?" she exclaimed, the hysteria rising in her voice. "How can you be so brazen?
"I told you I've changed, Lily." He lowered his voice. "I no longer kill humans."
"Yeah, sure," she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "and I want to be a nun!"
"Didn't you?"
"What?"
"Weren't you destined for a convent before..other things took precedence?"
Lily looked more shocked than she had at any other point of the evening. "How do you know that?" she demanded.
"I read it. I was very surprised to learn all about you."
"But, but, John swore no vampire had access to the journals and that's the only place my past is recorded!"
Angel smiled slowly at the confusion that wiped away the control on her face. "I told you I changed. I have access to a lot of sources; it helps if you aren't constantly killing them. You're quite a legend and a mystery."
"I was a failure. They killed John." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm damned."
"Aren't we all," he replied and his voice swept aside the centuries.
*****
Lily had first heard of Angelus in 1788. She had been living in Paris for nearly a decade, quietly killing the vampires who called the catacombs home. Angelus arrived from Ireland and set the vampire community astir. One glimpse of him across a crowded salon and Lily understood why. Not only was he smolderingly handsome, he reeked with power. He had been turned by a very old vampire and, though still young, would only grow stronger as the years passed. He was also very cocky, a quality that had always attracted her.
There were a few other vampires in the crowd, all the females fawning over the newcomer, which Lily found very interesting. The Paris vampire community was like all others she had seen--very close-knit families, usually created of the same blood and ruled by the same "master" for centuries. Outsiders were not welcomed with open arms. Too many challenges to a master's rule came from outside his or her own family, and as often happened, lazy from having everything handed to them on a silver platter, the masters lost the inevitable battles. Yet, here was this newcomer surrounded by three female vampires who were reacting to him like bitches in heat.
Lily didn't even realize that she had risen to her feet and left the group of men who were nearly drooling over her until she was standing before the stranger and the females were backing off. He was dressed in black breeches and cutaway coat, with a snowy white shirt and hose. The only color was his scarlet waistcoat, on which gleamed the gold of a watch fob. As he looked her over, Lily was glad that she hadn't worn her cross on the outside of the black velvet band around her throat. She wore a white brocade gown over a silver silk underskirt and she smiled as his eyes were drawn to her low decolletage. He spoke in French with a charming Irish accent and raised her hand to his lips as he bowed.
"My name is Angelus. I have been searching all my life for you."
Chuckling, Lily replied in cultured French, "I doubt that, but I am flattered. I am Lily. Welcome to Paris."
*****
"Lily, where did you go?" Angel's voice brought her back from the distant past and she winced as the cacophony of sound surrounding her only grew as the band took the stage.
"I was remembering our first meeting. You were so bold. I wanted you dead."
"An hour after we met, you nearly got your wish."
*****
Again, time dissolved. The two of them had talked for nearly an hour and when the party broke up, they retired to her carriage. Once inside Angelus kissed her, working his way quickly down her face to her throat, always a sensitive spot for her. Lily's moans were real and when they arrived at her town house, she was just as aroused as he. Angelus swept her into his arms and carried her into her home, following her moaned directions up two flights of stairs to her lavish bedroom.
Decorated in pink and gold, all delicate furniture and lace, the only thing that looked out of place were the heavy, gold brocade curtains, already pulled across the windows.
Angelus set Lily on her feet and while kissing her and caressing her managed efficiently to remove her gown and petticoats, leaving her in a white silk chemise that fell to just above her knees where her white stockings ended in black velvet garters. Lily's impatient hands removed his coat and waistcoat, flinging them across the room as their tongues ravished each other's mouth. Desperate, she tore open his shirt and smothered hungry kisses over his smooth chest, as his hands slid under her chemise to pull her firmly against him.
Lily had not felt so aroused in years. Over time, it had become a duty to her; this would be a pleasure.
As one of Angelus' hands wrapped into her unpowdered hair, pulling the pins out and dragging her lips back to his, Lily's arms slid around his neck and she tumbled them onto the bed. Still kissing him with a hunger long denied, Lily straddled him, rubbing her lower body against his erection, eliciting a gasp from him, then a growl. Angelus rolled them and, as he leaned over her, one hand tore the bodice of her chemise, while the other delved between her legs.
Lily cried out in pleasure and bucked against his hand, her nails clawing into his back, leaving long, red scratches. His mouth latched onto one of her swollen nipples and when he bit, drawing blood, Lily spasmed in orgasm--the first in a very long time.
The hand between her legs regretfully withdrew and as her eyes struggled open, she saw Angelus hurriedly yanking his breeches and undergarments off. Naked, he came over her, parting her legs with his. Lily tried to reach up for him, to bring his lips back to her's, his body into her's, but Angelus pinned her shoulders down. With a grin, he bent back to her breast and erotically licked the blood that ran from the puncture wounds on either side of her nipple.
Lily moaned, feeling the pleasure rise again. "Please," she whimpered brokenly, "Now!"
Angelus chuckled at the demanding tone in her voice and released her shoulders. As she raised up, reaching blindly for his mouth, his hands slid beneath her buttocks and he thrust inside her. Lily's long legs wrapped around his hips and she met each thrust eagerly. They kissed again and Lily felt his elongated teeth scraping her lips and tongue. It set her on fire. She clawed at him, keening, as another climax hit her, better than the first. He was so deep inside her. She could feel him in every part of her body. As her body began to relax from the last orgasm, she felt him reach his pleasure, spilling his seed inside her. For once, it felt wonderful.
As they collapsed together, Angelus rolled off of Lily and gathered her into his arms. She could feel his heart pounding with borrowed blood and heard his raspy breathing, obviously still a habit. It felt and sounded like music.
Slowly, Lily licked her suddenly bereft lips....and tasted her own blood. Rationality flooded back into her and she felt herself freezing. She had acted like a whore!
Slowly, desperate not to arouse his suspicions, Lily pulled away from him, murmuring that she would be back. Holding the remnants of her chemise around herself, she walked into her dressing room. As she closed the door behind her, she felt her knees start to buckle and angrily got herself under control. She could still do this. It was, after all, her duty.
When Lily returned to the bedroom wearing a silk robe, her hands in the deep pockets, she saw that Angelus was asleep. He looked so innocent, lying on his back, all pale and beautiful. Like an angel. Lily shook herself angrily. He was not an angel; he was a demon.
As she neared the bed, Lily drew the stake from her pocket and raised it over her head. Refusing to acknowledge the regret she felt, she thrust down and ... HE MOVED! The stake dug into his shoulder and he immediately came awake, his features contorting into his true face. Lily jumped back in shock as he pulled the stake out and looked at her in bewilderment. Her guilt must have shown all over her face, for rage quickly replaced his confusion.
"You bitch!" he roared in pain and fury. "How can you try to kill your own kind?"
Lily started to shake in fear and clasped her white hands together. "I am not your kind."
Angelus rose from the bed and shook his head in disbelief as he reached for her, "You are as much a vampire as I!"
*****
Lily returned to the present to see Angelus watching her closely.
"Our first meeting was certainly memorable," he said with a smile. "Too bad it had to end as it did."
"Yes, it would have been much better if you had simply stayed still and died."
Angel gave her a look. "Well, things are different now... I'm different."
Lily shifted uneasily in her chair, wishing he'd just tell her. "So you've said. How?"
"It's a long story."
Frustrated, Lily filled him in on what she already knew. "For over a century after our meeting, I received reports of you rampaging through Europe, making playmates and murdering thousands. Then you disappeared. Some said you were dead--some even claimed they ended your existence--but here you are."
"I was cursed by a gypsy."
"Sure, why not," She replied sarcastically. Not the old "cursed by a gypsy" story!
"No, it's true." Angelus' passionate tone put the start of belief in her mind. "I killed a gypsy girl and her people cursed me with the return of my soul. I haven't fed off a human since."
Lily stared at him. The return of a soul? It could be done; she had read enough mystical texts to know it was possible, but she had never heard of it happening to a vampire. Suddenly, a revelation hit her. "Without a soul you were a monster, feeling no guilt..."
Angelus continued her line of thought, "And with one, I remember every person I killed like it happened yesterday. Not only do I feel guilt, I feel remorse to such an extent that I've turned on my own people."
"You slay vampires?"
"I need to stop them, especially the ones I made." Silence reigned for a minute as Lily pondered all he had told her. "How can I get you to believe me?"
"Why do you need me to believe you?" she countered.
"Because of what you are."
*****
You are as much a vampire as I, he had flung at her. The words more than the angry tone made Lily cringe. She despised being reminded of what she was.
"Please, just leave. I will not bother you again," she pleaded, hating the weakness in her voice.
Her very angry victim was pulling on his clothes and had his breeches half-way buttoned when he turned on her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Oh no. You are not going to get away with trying to kill me!"
Before Lily could begin to pull away from him, one of his hands lashed out and knocked her onto the bed. Her trembling hand went to her lips and came away bloody. For the first time in a very long time she feared for her life. Angelus was working himself into a furious state.
Lily struggled into a sitting position and watched in horror as he tore her room apart, flinging furniture against the walls and smashing her delicate porcelain pieces. She prayed her servants would heed her mandate and stay away. In his fury, he would rip any mortals to shreds.
Furtively, Lily reached beneath the other pillow on the bed, keeping her eyes on Angelus as he tore her favorite portrait of herself off her wall. Wincing as his clawed hand punched through the delicate canvas painted by Peter Lely when she had still been alive, Lily drew another stake from under the pillow and rose to her feet. She quickly slipped the stake into her pocket and walked softly over to him. Angelus turned and glared at her.
"Please, I am sorry," she whispered. "Please let me explain." He allowed her to approach, but crossed his arms over his chest, blocking her target. Chagrined, she bowed her head in false remorse. "Please do not kill me."
"Why should I let you live?" he questioned harshly.
Lily was stumped for a moment then inspiration hit. "I have only been a vampire for a short time. I was frightened by your power and feared you would harm me. I am only a weak female."
Angelus lashed out and hit her again, knocking her to the floor. "It does not really matter why you tried, but I suppose that mercy, to you, would be to end your life." As he spoke he reached down and yanked her back to her feet. Allowing Angelus to drag her towards him, Lily took the opportunity to pull the stake from her pocket and thrust it towards his chest.
Only a quick movement of his arm blocked the thrust. To her amazement, Angelus laughed as he pinned her hands behind her back and jerked her against him. "You are determined..." The humor left his face and his lips parted in a wide-toothed snarl. "I like that in a female. I will not kill you this time, but at our next meeting...I will tear you apart."
With those words, his mouth fell to her throat and Lily felt his fangs pierce her skin. She screamed at the agony as he forced the blood from her body.
When Angelus had taken enough to leave her too weak to move, he let her drop to the floor and stepped over her to finish dressing. Lily watched in misery and pain as he left her bedroom, then slipped unconscious.
*****
That had been the last time she had seen Angelus. She had awakened the next night and been forced to feed on her own maid, barely stopping before she drained too much blood. She had then fired all her servants and closed her house. Packing only a few sentimental items and her jewels, she had fled Paris, taking a ship to the new world.
And, here she had remained, moving west as the humans moved west. Now she was about as far as she could go geographically in the continental United States and Angelus had found her. He wanted her to believe him and a part of her did, but she had been around too long to take anything at face value.
"You want me to believe you, then let me walk away and leave me alone."
Angelus persisted, "We're on the same side. We want the same things. It doesn't make sense for you be out of the loop."
"What loop?"
Angelus sighed, obviously not wanting to go into much detail. "I know the current Slayer. She's here in Sunnydale. We fight on the same side."
Lily was stunned. How could a Slayer be so stupid as to trust a vampire? "Then she is fool," she retorted coldly. "The Watchers are obviously falling down on the job!"
"I have earned their trust. They could trust you as well, Lily. It took me a long time to figure out who and what you were. There aren't very many records about vampires who were once Slayers."
End Chapter 1