SCRIBES OF ANGEL
FanFic
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SPELLBOUND
BY: Dark Star (eternity_ds@hotmail.com)
DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon is
owner and creator of everything
TIMELINE: Buffy’s Season 4
Angel sat at his desk, engrossed in his paperwork. He was vaguely aware of someone entering the outer office, and of voices.
He looked up, recognising one voice in particular, and saw Buffy standing in his doorway.
“Buffy,” He said, getting up.
“Hi, Angel,” She grinned at him.
“What brings you to LA?” He asked.
“You do,” She replied, going round to his side of the desk, where she surprised him by going straight into his arms and kissing him. He was surprised, but nonetheless responded willingly to her.
“That was…unexpected,” He said, finally.
Buffy sat on the edge of his desk, and held his hands in hers.
“Do you love me?” She asked him abruptly.
“You know I do. Buffy, what’s going on?”
“If there was a way that we could…be together, would you take it?” She asked, looking up at him.
“Yes.” He replied with no hesitation. “Is there a way?”
Buffy nodded. “Willow’s found a spell – it’s a Binding Spell, Angel. For the soul.”
Angel was silent for a moment, trying to take in what was happening. “Is it safe? For Willow, I mean?”
“She thinks so. She says it’s likely to be very tiring for her, but she really wants to do this for us, Angel.”
“What happens now?”
“It’s going to take a while to organize. Some of the ingredients are a bit hard to track down. I just wanted to make sure you’d be willing.”
“I’m willing.” He said, hugging her.
* * *
Willow and Giles were scrabbling about on the floor, busily painting a large circle. Xander sat between them, holding the pot of paint and doing his best to offer helpful advice. Watching the final preparations stood a very nervous Angel and Buffy; doing their best to pretend that they weren’t worried.
Willow got up from the floor and sprinkled some herbs into a bowl.
“I need something of yours, Angel,” She told him. “Some personal item.”
Angel pulled off one of his rings and gave it to her. “Will that do?”
“That’s good,” She smiled. “It won’t be long, now.”
Eventually all was ready. Angel took his place in the centre of the circle; apprehension tying his insides up in knots. Willow stood in front of him, holding the bowl that contained his ring. Buffy and Xander stood to his right, Giles on the left, an ancient spell book open in front of him. Slowly he began to recite from the old text, and Willow took up the chant.
A blue mist began to form over the bowl, slowly twisting itself into a spiral shape. Without warning, the mist solidified and a flash of light shot out of the bowl and hit Angel squarely in the back. He shrieked and fell to his knees.
Buffy instinctively started forward, but Xander grabbed her, worried she would disturb the ritual.
Angel staggered to his feet, just as a second flame darted toward him, a blaze of light against his chest. With a terrible growl, he dashed to his left and hurled Giles out of his way. Before anyone could stop him, he was out of the door and gone. Buffy instantly went off in pursuit while Xander and Willow went to help Giles.
Buffy searched for Angel in the darkness, without success. Eventually she returned dejectedly to her friends.
“What happened, Giles?” She asked, anxiously.
“I think you’d better sit down, Buffy.” He told her. “Willow and I went over the spell, and we think we know what happened.”
Buffy sat, hoping she didn’t know what they were going to tell her.
“Apparently, during the spell, there’s a moment when the soul has gone – it’s only an instant – and shouldn’t affect the end result. Unless, of course, the spell remains unfinished…”
“And if that was the moment when Angel bolted…” Buffy added in horror. “But… it might not be that? It might be something else? Maybe some side effect?” She knew she was grasping at straws, but she couldn’t bear the thought that her Angel was gone. Again.
“Maybe, Giles agreed. “Buffy, if…Angelus is back, we know from experience what it is he wants.”
All eyes turned to Buffy. Willow had said to her once, that she and Angel were linked; that good or evil, she was all he thought about.
“He’ll want to hurt me,” She acknowledged. “There’s something else, though. He’s going to want to stop Willow from restoring his soul. You and Xander had better get her to safety.”
“Right.” Giles agreed. “We could take her…”
“No!” Buffy interrupted. “Don’t tell me. I can’t tell Angel where Willow is, if I don’t know. You must keep her safe, Giles. She could be his only chance.”
“What will you do?”
“I have to find him, Giles. He might be hurt. But if he has gone evil, I have to stop him hurting anyone.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Xander asked, earnestly.
Buffy smiled at him. “Thanks Xander. But I need to do this myself. We don’t want to give him the chance to use you against me. Just get Willow to safety, that’s what’s really important right now.”
Buffy left her friends to organize themselves, and went hunting for Angel. She searched all the places she could think of, but without success. Fighting a growing sense of panic, her Slayer instincts finally tuned into him as she trailed through the park. Following her senses, she felt him, as he stood concealed by the trees.
“Angel?”
“Buffy?” Came the answering call. His voice sounded unsteady.
“Are you OK?” She asked, moving toward the shadows.
“How did I get here?” He asked, stepping into sight. “I don’t remember.”
He looked so confused that Buffy couldn’t resist going to him, trying to comfort him with her presence. Almost as soon as she touched him, she knew something was wrong. Every instinct in her body screamed danger and she started to pull away. Too late, she felt a sharp pain in her arm; She looked down and saw that Angel had a needle against her skin. Her vision already blurring, she looked up at him, hurt by his betrayal of trust, and was shocked by the cold eyes that stared back. As she rapidly lost consciousness, the last thing she heard was his laugh, making her skin crawl. Angelus was back.
* * *
Buffy opened her eyes to find she was chained to the wall at Angel’s mansion. Her head and throat hurt, and she felt a little dizzy. But her senses still warned her that Angelus was close by.
“Thought you were never going to wake up.” His cheerful voice broke through her muddled senses.
“Afraid of me, Angel?” She asked. “Had to drug me to get me here?”
He laughed, and the sound chilled her. “Maybe I just like seeing you helpless.”
Buffy closed her eyes briefly, trying to gather her senses. She was no longer feeling so dizzy but her head still throbbed.
Angelus watched her, excited by the prospect of having her, helpless within his grasp. A thousand possibilities went through his mind, and he planned to keep her alive long enough to try most of them. But first, he wanted to play his favourite game and mess with her mind. Those possibilities were endless; No one knew her as well as he did. He knew her every fear, every insecurity. All were his to play with.
“Said I’d get you in chains one day.” Angelus chuckled. “Just the two of us this time,”
Another chill passed through her as she remembered the last time he’d had her in chains. Faith…
Angelus grinned at the pain that passed swiftly across her face, before she’d hidden it from him. She remained silent, not trusting herself to speak. She mentally braced herself for what she knew was coming next.
“I miss her,” Angelus sighed. “I miss the taste of her.”
Buffy blinked, trying to stop the moisture that threatened to escape. No. She wouldn’t let him get to her. She tried to take comfort from the fact that he hadn’t actually said he wanted her.
“Now there was a woman,” Angelus tormented her, enjoying her struggle to retain her composure. “Experienced. Just what a man wants.”
“You’re not a man.” Buffy pointed out.
“That’s true.” He agreed amiably. “But the desires are the same.” He shrugged. “Mostly.”
“What do you want?” She asked him, trying to steer him away from the painful topic of Faith.
“Some fun.” The tone of his voice made Buffy’s blood run cold. She forced herself to look at him, disconcerted by the naked desire on his face.
“Go to Hell.”
“Done that,” He moved closer. “Thanks to you.”
“Only the best for you.” She replied, sweetly.
For a moment, Buffy thought he was going to strike her. Instead, unexpectedly, he started to laugh.
“At last!” He squealed with glee. “I was beginning to think you’d lost your spirit. And that would be a shame.”
He stepped even closer, roughly pulling her body against his. She went rigid against his touch. His voice dropped, into the dusky tones of Angel and said silkily, “Makes the game last longer.”
Still holding her waist with one hand, he raised the other and began stroking her hair. Angel did that sometimes to comfort her and the parody of love made her shudder. Angelus moved her hair away from her shoulder and bent his head to her neck. Instinctively she jerked away from him and heard him chuckle. Buffy tried not to show her fear as he planted a kiss on the scar he found there; his gift to her at Graduation. He traced the line of the scar with his finger before stepping back to look at her.
“Where’s Willow?”
“I don’t know.” Buffy replied defiantly.
Without warning, Angelus struck her with the back of his hand. If she hadn’t been the Slayer, the blow would probably have killed her.
“Wrong answer.” Holding her by the throat, he pushed her up against the wall, making her gasp for breath. “You know how easy it would be for me to snap your neck,” He stated matter-of-factly, savouring the sudden surge of fear before releasing her.
Angelus frowned, his expression changing to one of pain. He moaned softly and dropped to his knees in front of her. As she watched, Buffy saw – something – cross behind his eyes. She had seen this once before, she guessed what had happened and silently thanked Willow for her spell.
“Angel?”
”He blinked, trying to focus. He was clearly confused as he looked at her, then
horrified as he saw the chains.
“Buffy, what happened?” He asked, getting unsteadily to his feet and moving to release her.
“I’ll tell you later,” She told him, gently.
Angel untied her in silence, unable to remember anything before the start of the spell.
“Did I…hurt you?” He asked, eventually.
“I’ll be OK.” But her voice sounded unconvincing, even to her.
* * *
Buffy and Angel stood outside Giles’s apartment, having given an abridged account of what had happened. The atmosphere was strained between them, neither wanting to discuss the recent events.
Buffy took a deep breath and said “I tried to make things right for us, but things have just got worse.”
“We were wrong to play with this, Buffy. It’s too dangerous.” He paused. “We were lucky this time. I wasn’t changed long enough to hurt anyone. Except you, that is.”
“I’m alright.”
Angel pulled Buffy gently into his arms, trying not to feel hurt that she flinched from him; He went to stroke her hair and felt her shudder. He dropped his hand.
“I’m sorry, Buffy. I really am. I wouldn’t hurt you for anything.”
“I know,” she replied softly. “It doesn’t work for us, does it?”
“No,” He agreed. “It doesn’t matter how much we-“ He swallowed. “Maybe we don’t belong together. We’re from different worlds.”
“Which is why we split in the first place.”
“Yes.” He kissed her, gently, one last time, before leaving her to go home. Alone.