The First Link
Chapter 2 of “Connections”
By
Chani
Angel sighed.
“It’s been a long time, Rena.”
“Yes it has.”
There was no smile accompanying her
words, not even a forced one. In fact,
her expression was unreadable to him.
He couldn’t really expect her to be overjoyed at seeing him considering
their past. Though he had only met her
a few days before Darla turned him—and she was just one of the many women he
had bedded—something had drawn him back to her. After he and his new mate had killed his family and close
friends, he had gone after Rena. For
some reason, however, it wasn’t good enough to simply rip her neck open and
drain her until he felt the life leave her body. He had wanted to do more, and that’s exactly what he did. He spent three days at her house, tormenting
her—physically, emotionally, and mentally.
It was his first foray into breaking someone, and he honestly believed
he had done just that. Only when he
went in for the kill did he discover she wasn’t as broken as she had seemed.
She was lying under him, eyes closed,
body shaking. He had just used her body
for release; there was really no other way to describe it. He had taken her without giving her the
opportunity to object. Much to his
chagrin, her eyes stayed closed as he moved his head closer to her, his face
morphing. He had really wanted to see
the terror on her face before he killed her, but he had caused her so much pain
in the three days he had been there, it didn’t really matter.
Just as he was about to sink his fangs in her neck, he felt the air rushing past him as he flew across the room, hit the wall, and fell to the floor. He hopped up from the floor and saw her sitting up on the bed—smiling. “What the—” Her laughter cut him off. Anger made him lunge at her, but she just grabbed him by the throat and threw him effortlessly back against the wall yet again.
“Bloody hell!” she yelled at him. “We were having so much fun and you had to go ruin it all. I had planned on letting you play the tortured love slave for a few days.” She shrugged. “Ah, well, guess it’s not meant to be.” When she stood up, he went after her again only to end up right where he started. “Come at me again and I’ll tear your eyes from their sockets and wear them on a chain around my neck.” She smiled at him now, her eyes twinkling. “Get dressed and come into the front room.” She grabbed her dressing gown from the chair beside the bed and departed the room, leaving him completely baffled.
He pulled himself up and dressed quickly, still shocked at her strength. As soon as he stepped foot in the other room, he asked, “You’re a vampire as well?”
“Partially,” she replied.
“How can you partially be—”
She rolled her eyes and interrupted him. “My father’s a vampire. He turned my mother, who’s a witch. Thanks to magic, children became a possibility for them. Hence, here I am. I was born with the ability to use magic, but I didn’t discover my vampire abilities until I was about twenty-five. Amazing what a taste of blood will do to you.” She paused, watching his face for a reaction. “Would you like to know where you fit in or shall I continue giving you my life story?”
“The quicker you finish, the quicker I can kill you.”
She laughed out loud at this. “I see becoming a vampire has made you even more arrogant than you were as a human. The whole reason I sought you out to begin with was to stop this from happening.”
“You mean you bedded me before to stop
me from becoming a vampire?”
“I had hoped to distract you long enough
to—”
“So that’s what the three day, two
night, non-stop—”
“What?
You thought I was actually attracted to your spoiled little rich boy
drunken charm?” She sighed. “All I
needed to do was keep you here one more night and—”
“You were good, Katarena, but not that good,” he interrupted, laughing. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “How did you know I—?” He stopped, shaking his head. “You know what? I don’t really care. Becoming a vampire is the best thing that could’ve happened to me. In fact, I’ll kill you for even trying to stop it.” He smiled sadistically. “Then again, I’m gonna kill you anyway.”
“You can try.”
Without comment he leapt from the chair, his hands reaching for her neck. With the wave of one small feminine hand, he fell backwards onto the floor. He stood immediately, towering over her small form. “I don’t think I’ll kill you after all,” he said menacingly. “Instead, I’ll hunt down everyone you love and rip their hearts out. Maybe I’ll send their parts to you as a reminder of our time together.”
In an instant he found himself on the floor with her on top of him, hands around his throat. She spoke in a whisper, “Go near anyone I know and I will show you what suffering really is. Stay away from them, and me, and you’ll live. Do not cross me, angelface, you don’t want to feel my wrath.” She stood up, getting in a well-placed kick between his legs as she moved away. “Now get out, before I change my mind and put a stake through your heart.”
He walked slowly to the door and reached for the knob. He paused a moment, considering his chances against her. In time, he would be able to destroy her, one way or another. Until that time, he would leave her alone. He opened the door and walked into the darkness.
Years after that incident, he had stayed true to his word. He had managed to find a way to cause her more pain than she could endure. Emotionally, he had destroyed her. The last time he had seen her, he had rubbed salt in the wound, and it was like icing on the cake. Actually, it was a wonder she didn’t kill him on sight. “You still look the same.”
She snorted, a semblance of a smile forming on her face. “Well, duh.”
“You don’t look surprised to see me.”
“The girl who called here said a broody
fellow named Angel would be stopping by to pick up the supplies she needed. And
even though it’s conceivable there are other guys out there named Angel…the
broody thing kinda gave it away.”
He didn’t really feel like pointing out
to her that he wasn’t the one who was broody the last time they had seen each
other. “Rena…”
“I know. About you having a soul now, I mean.”
“About what happened…what I did to
you…what I did to…I…well…”
“Don’t.” Her eyes dropped momentarily
and she took a deep breath. “Look, I’m
glad you aren’t all evil…nasty…abusive…psycho killer guy anymore. But you can’t take back the things you did,
so just leave it alone.”
Angel nodded. “So the supplies Willow needed…”
“Yeah, to banish the Neuennymagh demon,”
she finished. “Translates into
‘nameless’. Gaelic, I believe. Anyway, do the slayer and her friends have
any knowledge of the demon they’re conjuring to get rid of it?”
He didn’t ask how she knew the supplies
were for ‘the slayer’. “Well,
yeah. It’s the—”
“The Cristaliphous demon. It’s the only demon that can destroy the
Neuennymagh demon. Blah, blah,
blah. If you want to know more, check
your local library.” She grinned.
“Anyway, our nameless one had to be summoned and he’s one big bad ass.
Only Cristaliphous can destroy him—or drive him back to his own dimension. Either way, it’ll get rid of him.”
“I know she said conjuring this demon
may be hard…”
“Hard?” She laughed. “No one’s ever done it before. Granted, not many people would want to
try. Since no one’s ever managed to
summon the Neuennymagh demon before, it’s never been necessary, but I heard
tell of a couple of witches who tried it, pretty powerful witches, and they
couldn’t do it. What’s more, conjuring
him isn’t the hard part. The hard
part’s controlling him.”
“Could you do it?”
“Maybe. Probably.” She shrugged.
“Look, if you don’t think Willow would mind the help, I could go do the
spell. Or at least help her do it. If she manages to conjure this thing and
can’t control it, it’ll make the Neuennymagh demon seem like Santa Claus.”
A worried look found its way on the vampire’s face. “When you put it that way…Cordelia was going to take this stuff to them, you could ride with her.”
“Got the stuff right here.” She grabbed a bag off
the floor and walked around the counter.
“Cordelia your girlfriend?”
“No,” he said.
“You apparently don’t know about the whole happiness clause of my
curse.”
“I knew about it,” she told him. “I just figured you wouldn’t lose it every
time you…” She wriggled her eyebrows and smiled suggestively.
“Well, I think that’s the case and I don’t really
want to test the theory again.” He opened the door for her and waited for her
to walk through. He couldn’t help
noticing her shoulders shaking as she used her key to lock the door. “What’s so funny?”
She turned toward him, giggling. “Only men would experience perfect happiness
every time they got laid.”
Giles placed the phone back on the receiver and
sighed. “That was Angel. He said Cordelia left about half an hour
ago.”
“Great,” Willow replied nervously. “She should be here around midnight then, I
guess. She’s got the ingredients for
the spell?”
The watcher nodded.
“It seems she did one better, she’s bringing the owner of the magic shop
to help with the spell.”
She gave him a skeptical look. “She’s a witch?”
“Apparently so,” he answered. “Angel knows her, and said he thinks she’s
quite powerful.”
“Thinks.” Her eyes narrowed. “It’s not Drusilla, is it?”
He chuckled.
“I didn’t ask, but I’m quite certain he wouldn’t send someone…umm…”
“Insane?”
“I was thinking along the lines of dangerous, but
now that you mention it…” His voice drifted off and he pulled his glasses
off. “Angel wouldn’t do that.”
“Of course not.”