Puppy
Prologue
Images flashed through Willow's mind as
she felt the spell flow through her. When it broke, she was
breathing heavily. "What was that?"
"It's not here," Anya said,
looking around the floor. "It's not here!"
"Ok," Willow said, standing.
"That's a little blacker than I like my arts."
"Don't be such a wimp," Anya
said.
"That-that-that wasn't some
temporal fold, that was some weird hell place. I don't think
you're telling me everything," Willow replied.
"I swear I am just trying to find
my necklace."
"Well did you try looking inside
the sofa in Hell?"
Anya gave her a smile. "We'll just
try it again and.."
"I think emphatically not,"
Willow told her.
"I can't do this by myself,"
Anya said.
"That's a relief," she
replied, picking up her books and backpack.
"Fine! Go!" Anya snapped.
"Idiot child."
"I believe these chicken feet are
mine," Willow responded, picking up her magickal items.
"Look, magick is dangerous, Anya. It's not to be toyed with.
Now, if you'll excuse me I have someone else's homework to
do." With that, she turned and quickly left the classroom.
Across town, in an old factory, someone
expected to feel the bolt he jumped in front of pierce his heart.
Instead, he found himself falling backwards onto the hard floor,
the room empty.
Slowly, Puppy raised his head, looking
around the room in pain and confusion. "What the..." He
winced as he pushed himself to his feet. His whole body was on
fire from the exertion of the fight. Having been chained up and
tortured for as long as he had, he was anything but physically
fit. He was lucky he could walk at all, but the Master had kept
him fed, giving him the leftovers' so he wouldn't die. His
demon wouldn't allow him to pass up the meal, even though his
soul screamed with each life he ended. Not that they wouldn't
have died anyway, there was barely enough blood left in their
bodies to allow his to heal. Heal only to be tortured again.
Carefully, he made his way out of the
factory and found himself in a whole other world.
Part One
Humans. Walking down the street. At
night. Their blood singing to him, calling him. Puppy could feel
his bloodlust rising, not having been fed recently as he made his
way down the street. His eyes were wide with wonder. This was how
Sunnydale had been when he first arrived over two years ago,
before the Harvest, before the Master rose.
Stumbling, he ducked into an alley and
waited, the demon overcoming his soul, wanting to feed. He saw an
old woman come towards him. "Excuse me," she said.
Puppy grabbed her and yanked her into
the alley, sinking his fangs into the delicate skin of her neck.
His soul let out an agonizing scream as she slumped in his arms,
lifeless. He gently set her to the ground and checked her pulse.
Thready, but still there.
Putting on his human mask, he left the
alley quickly and got the attention of some passer byers.
"There's someone hurt in the alley," he said.
"She's bleeding..." When they hurried away, he quickly
left the area, heading for the one place that would tell him if
this was all a dream.
The Bronze.
Music, loud and throbbing came out of
the club. Puppy followed a group of teens in and stopped suddenly
at the number of people in the place, dancing, playing pool or
video games, lounging around at tables or on the couches talking
with each other. Everywhere there were humans - living, breathing
and free.
Slowly, he walked further into the
club, his disheveled, beaten appearance in sharp contrast to the
healthy youth around him. His semi-tattered blue shirt and dirty
pants clashed with the perfectly coiffed teens as his eyes
flitted from person to person. He bumped into someone and was
suddenly grabbed by the arm. Panicking, he brought his arms up
and shoved away from the person.
"Angel? Oh my god, are you
ok?"
He looked down at the blond woman and
did a double take. "You. It's you," he whispered,
backing away from her. "But-but..."
"Angel," Buffy said with
worry, reaching out to touch him again. He looked down at her
hand on his arm, then back to her face. "What
happened?"
"I...Buffy?" Puppy asked,
confusion etched on his face. "But you..."
"Buffster, Deadboy, what's
shakin'?" Xander asked, practically bouncing up to Buffy's
side.
Puppy looked at the newcomer, his eyes
going wild. Spinning, he charged towards the exit as fast as he
could. He looked back over he shoulder at the boy and promptly
crashed into wall next to the door, banging his head. He heard
muffled laughter as he fell to the floor, then all went dark.
*****
"Ok, is it me, or did Angel just
wig for no reason?" Xander asked as he helped lift the
unconscious vampire off the floor.
"Xander, not now," Buffy
said, managing to get him over her shoulder in a fireman's carry.
"What's going on?" Oz asked
as he ambled over, having just arrived.
"Deadboy kissed the wall,"
Xander informed him. "The wall didn't like it and hit
him."
"Ouch," Oz said.
"Oz, can you give us a ride to the
library?" Buffy asked, glaring at Xander.
"Sure, I don't need to set up just
yet," Oz replied, leading the way out the door and to his
van. Once there, Buffy laid Puppy gently down next to the music
equipment, then climbed in. The short ride to the high school was
punctuated by Xander's running commentary on nothing in
particular while the Slayer gently stroked the vampire's hair, a
worried frown marring her face.
Oz pulled up as close to the doors as
possible, then helped Buffy shoulder Puppy again. Xander hurried
ahead to hold open the doors. "Giles!" Buffy called out
as the trio entered the library.
Willow looked up from the computer
behind the check out counter and gasped. "What
happened?" she asked, jumping down from her stool and
running around to the main portion of the library, Giles right
behind her.
Oz and Xander cleared off the table and
Buffy laid Puppy down. "He ran into a wall," Buffy
answered, unbuttoning her coat and dropping it on a chair.
"It was really not very Deadboy,
G-man," Xander said as Giles came closer to examine the
vampire. "He freaked."
"Freaked?" Willow said,
moving to the other side of the table by her boyfriend. "Hi,
Oz."
"Hey," Oz greeted. "I
need to get back to the Bronze."
"Thank you, Oz," Buffy said
to the guitarist. Oz nodded, half smiled at Willow, then left.
"What did you mean by freaked,
Xander?" Willow repeated.
"Just that. He was standing with
Buffy, I came over, and he freaked then got personal with a
wall," Xander explained.
"Well, I do not see anything wrong
with him other than this cut on his head," Giles said, then
turned to go retrieve the first aid kit.
Buffy took Giles' place and began to
unbutton the shirt. "I think he hit the fire alarm thingy,
too. There's some blood on hi-." She stopped speaking with a
gasp, her hand moving to her mouth in horror.
"Oh, man, that doesn't look
pretty," Xander commented, looking at the burns, cuts and
bruises marring his chest, some of which were slightly bleeding.
"Giles, get over here!" Buffy
said in a panicked voice. "Xander, help me get this shirt
off."
The two lifted the unconscious vampire
to a sitting position and Willow pulled the shirt off his arms.
She gasped as well when she saw his back. "Oh, Angel,"
she said in sympathy.
Buffy looked at his back and flinched,
her face showing a mixture of anger and tears. Gently, the two
laid him back down as Giles returned with the first aid kit.
"Oh dear," Giles said when he saw the injuries. His
eyes traced one wicked cut that led from his navel down below his
pants. "Do you know wh-what happened?"
"No," Buffy whispered.
"But whoever did this is going to pay."
Giles opened the kit and took out the
gauze and iodine, then began to dab at the wounds. "Willow,
would you mind getting me some water? There is a bowl in my
office."
"Sure," Willow said, leaving
to do as asked.
"Xander, would you please get Oz's
towel," Giles instructed. "Buffy, we are going to have
to remove h-his...er, pants."
"Ok," Buffy said without
hesitation. She carefully removed the pants as Xander draped the
towel over him. "Did anyone see his shoes?"
"Weren't they on his feet?"
Xander asked.
"No," Buffy answered. She
returned to the side of the table, near Puppy's head and gently
rubbed her thumb over his cheek as Giles worked. The injuries ran
down both legs, some healed over, some fresh.
"Here's the water," Willow
said, walking carefully over to the table and setting it down.
She started blushing when she saw the vampire sans clothing save
for a strategically placed towel.
"Thank you, Willow," Giles
said, taking a fresh piece of gauze and dipping it in the water
to cleanse some of the cuts.
"I thinks he's coming
around," Buffy said as Puppy's eyelids starting fluttering.
He let out a quiet groan before his eyes opened and met hers.
"Hi."
His features softened when he saw her,
his heart expanding. He had fallen in love with her the moment he
saw her, in winter of 1996. But then she never came to Sunnydale
like he was told she would, and then the Master had risen, and
then... "This is how I pictured you would be like," he
whispered, seeing the concern and worry in her eyes. She seemed
so different than the hard woman that let him out of the cage,
and if this was a dream, he didn't want to wake up. He needed to
tell her how he felt before the horror returned. "I don't
care if you're not real. I love you, Buffy. I have since the
moment I saw you in that ugly orange jacket when you were called.
I'm sorry. I was trained to watch over and help you, but then you
didn't come and I had to do it on my own and I failed..."
"Shh," Buffy said, brushing
her fingers over his lips. "You're hurt and not making any
sense, but I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
Puppy's lips barely tilted at the
corners, his version of a smile. He slowly became aware of
someone tending him and he moved his gaze to see an older
gentleman with glasses.
"Angel? Can you tell us what
happened?" Willow asked, hovering near his head on the
opposite side of the table.
Puppy turned his head to the voice and
froze. Standing beside him were his two tormentors, the female
vampiress who was more cruel than he had ever been and her
consort. He suddenly rolled off the table, knocking into the
Slayer before scrambling to his feet in an attempts to get away.
He became tangled with Buffy and he went down hard, smashing into
a wooden chair, upending it. New pain shot through him as he
started pulling himself across the floor, trying to get free. He
was whimpering by now, but he didn't care. All his thoughts were
centered on getting away.
"Angel!" Buffy yelled,
getting to her own knees and capturing him by wrapping her arms
around his waist. "Angel!" She held on tighter as he
began to struggle against her, but he was no match for her
strength, his being sapped from years of being locked up. His
whimpering had turned into a combined sob and scream as he clawed
against her fingers. "Giles, help me!"
Giles got in front of the vampire and
slapped him across the face. Puppy stopped moving suddenly with
the contact and Buffy used that distraction to flip him on his
back then straddle his waist, holding his arms pinned above his
head. "Angel, look at me," she commanded, bending
closer to his face.
Puppy's eyes were wild and unseeing as
he writhed futilely under her. Buffy clamped her thighs tightly
around his hips, wrapping her feet over his legs and pulling them
apart. "Angel!" she yelled in his face, her voice
cracking with emotion. "Angel, it's me."
He slowly stopped struggling as he
realized that he was caught. Tears streaming down his face, he
stared up towards the ceiling, not making eye contact with his
captor. Buffy wanted to give him back to the vampires, send him
back to the nightmare that was his life. He knew it had to only
be a dream.
"Angel?" Buffy asked softly.
"Angel, look at me. Please?"
Puppy brought his gaze to hers and saw
the tears in her eyes. He wondered why she was crying. He was the
one who was caught.
"Nod your head if you recognize
me," Buffy said. He nodded imperceptibly. "Do you know
who he is?" She gestured with her head to Giles, who was
crouched near them. Puppy shook his head no. "What about
Willow and Xander?" She turned her head to look over at the
two hovering on the other side of the table still. "Guys,
come here so he can see you."
They both walked over into Puppy's line
of sight and he whimpered, his lower lip trembling in
uncontrollable fear. His eyes returned to Buffy's and pleaded
with her silently to let him go.
"Angel, do you recognize
them?" Buffy asked. He slowly nodded in affirmation.
"But you're afraid of them." Nod.
"Why would Angel be afraid of
us?" Willow queried, frowning. She crouched down next to
Giles, pulling her skirt over her knees. Puppy hissed in fear and
turned his head away, holding back another sob.
"Angel, Willow is not going to
hurt you. She's your friend," Buffy explained quietly. She
looked up at Giles. "Giles, what's wrong with him?"
"I don't know, Buffy," Giles
replied. "When was the last time you saw him?"
"Just last night," she told
him. "He was fine."
"Willow, why don't you and Xander
wait in my office," Giles said. Willow nodded and stood,
heading for the office with Xander right behind her. "Buffy,
I'm going to give you a-a-a few moments with him."
"Ok," Buffy said. Giles stood
and joined the other two in the office, closing the door behind
him. She looked back down at Puppy. "Sweety? Look at
me."
Puppy turned his head so he was looking
back up at her. His eyes flicked around the room, searching for
the others. When he did not see anyone, he concentrated on
listening for them. He was completely surprised when he heard
four distinct heartbeats, one right above him and three close
together further away from him.
"Angel, I need you to tell me what
happened," Buffy said, shifting to release her feet from
over his legs.
Puppy's eyes widened when he felt her
rub against him. He mentally cursed himself as he started to
become aroused. Despite the fear he was feeling, having the woman
of his dreams pressing herself to him like this was
rather...nice.
"Angel, are you going to answer
me-oh!" Buffy's eyes widened, as well, when she felt his
hardness. She looked down and saw the top of his shaft peeking
out from between her legs. She started to flush, her breathing
increasing as her heart rate did. "Um..."
Part Two
Oz lifted the amp, setting it into the
correct place on the stage. Leaning over the back, he grabbed the
cords and started to unravel them, his thoughts focused on what
they were always focused on - Willow.
"Hey Oz," he heard a quiet
greeting coming from his left.
He looked up. "Hey Angel," he
replied when he saw the vampire. "You're looking
conscious."
Angel gave the werewolf a questioning
look. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Last time I saw you, the wall
won," Oz said.
"I'm going to sound like Buffy
when I say huh'?" Angel said, confused.
"You don't remember running into
that wall over there," he gestured. "Knocking yourself
out? It was only half and hour ago, maybe a little more."
"No, I just got here," Angel
replied. "I was checking up on Faith and the new
Watcher."
"Well, then your double is at the
library getting fixed up by Buffy," Oz told him. He shrugged
at Angel's yeah right' look. "This is the
Hellmouth."
Angel's eyes widened slightly.
"Thanks," he said in lieu of goodbye, then hurriedly
left the club. He made good time running there, then slowed when
he got by the library doors. He could hear Buffy speaking in low
tones to someone. He looked through the round window and saw her
on the ground on top of someone, an overturned chair blocking his
view of the person. Silently, he went through the swinging door.
"If I get up, do you promise not
to run?" Buffy was saying as Angel entered the room,
sticking to the shadows. He didn't hear an answer, but whoever it
was must have nodded because she stood, then bent to help whoever
it was up. The dim light from the lamps set on the bookshelves
illuminated the naked and very aroused man who was assisted to
his feet, then led back over to the table where he took a seat.
Buffy draped a pinkish towel over his lap, then giggled.
"Sorry. It's been awhile since I created that problem with
you. That I know of, that is."
"Buffy?" Angel said, coming
out of the shadows slowly so as not to startle her.
"Oh, hey Angel," Buffy said
offhandedly, barely glancing at him. Then her head shot up, her
eyes huge. She looked back and forth between the man on the table
and the one standing halfway across the library. Then she did as
any Slayer would do in a time like this - she fainted.
Angel leapt across the room as she went
down, catching her before she hit the leg of the chair. He heard
the door to the office open and glanced up from his love to see
Giles come out of the room and stop suddenly, Willow and Xander
running into his back. It would have been comical at the omphs
they made if it weren't for the pale look on the former Watcher's
face.
Giles removed his glasses and stared at
the vampire holding Buffy, then up at the vampire sitting on the
table, the latter vampire was looking nervously between Buffy and
the office.
"Next time, put on the break
lights, Giles," Xander said as he managed to get past the
man blocking the doorway. "Rear ending librarian is not top
on my list of-of-of..." He trailed off when he took in the
scene.
"Xander, move," Willow piped
up from behind him. Xander stepped out of the way in a slight
daze and she squeezed out of the office. "I need to go to
the... eep!" The hacker's eyes grew large, her head moving
back and forth rapidly.
"Is this giving anyone else the
wiggins?" Xander asked. Willow nodded and raised her hand.
"Er...A-Angel?" Giles said
questioningly. Both men looked at him. "Oh dear."
"Giles, do you have any smelling
salts?" Angel asked as he shifted Buffy in his arms. He
didn't understand the reason for their actions, but he knew it
had something to do with why the Slayer fainted.
"What? Oh...y-yes," Giles
replied, walking over to the table where the kit had miraculously
not fallen from the table, nor had the water. The vampire on the
table looked at him curiously and with slight fear as he
retrieved the smelling salts and handed them to the vampire on
the floor. He looked between the two again. "This is most
remarkable."
Angel uncapped the smelling salts and
held the bottle under Buffy's nose. "Nyagh," she said,
her eyes blinking rapidly before she opened them. She saw Angel's
worried face staring down at her. "What happened?"
"You fainted," Angel told
her, helping her sit up on her own on the floor.
Her head shot up and her head flew back
and forth as she remembered why she fainted. "Angel, this is
going to sound like a really strange question, but why are there
two of you?"
"What?" Angel asked, looking
up at the other vampire. A sense of deja vu washed over him and
he frowned.
"You know, one Deadboy was quite
enough to handle," Xander said, still over by the office
with Willow. "But two? How unfair is that?"
Puppy watched and listened to the
goings on with trepidation. The two he was most afraid of hadn't
tried to come near him or attack in any way. The new person who'd
come into the room and caught Buffy as she fainted seemed very
familiar to him, but he didn't know why. The one highlight of all
the activity was that his erection went away.
"Ok, whoever is named Angel, raise
their hand," Buffy said as she stood.
Angel looked at the other vampire in
surprise when his hand went up as well. Then a feeling of dread
washed over him and he moved to look at the other's back. He saw
the same tattoo that had adorned his back for well over two
hundred years, when he was still human. He walked slowly to stand
directly in front of the other man on the table, next to Giles.
"This is me?"
"It w-w-would appear so,"
Giles stammered, putting his glasses back on. "I, uh, take
it you're the real Angel?"
"I don't know," Angel frowned
again. He looked over at Buffy. "How would we be able to
tell?"
"I know," Willow said.
"We ask a question that all of us know the answer to. Well,
not all of us, because the not-real Angel wouldn't know the
answer. Unless both Angels did. Then it wouldn't work. But I
think it will work."
"When did you lose your
soul?" Buffy asked the second Willow stopped talking, her
eyes on both of them. She saw the Angel who was standing wince
with the question. The Angel sitting on the table looked at her
in confusion. "That answers that question," she said,
coming over to stand next to her Angel to ask the sitting Angel,
"Who are you?"
Puppy was totally confused.
"Pup...uh, A-Angel. I thought...I..." He looked at
Buffy's frowning face, to the men standing on either side of her.
"Will you please tell me what's going on?"
"You started to say something
else," Buffy said, her voice hardening. "Another name.
What was it?"
He bent his head as her tone struck
him. "Puppy," he answered in barely a whisper. He
raised his eyes to Willow, then back down quickly. "That's
what she calls me."
"What?" Willow squeaked.
"I call you a puppy?"
"Is anyone else as lost as I
am?" Xander asked. "We have two Angels, one of who is
all scarred up and thinks Wills calls him puppy. Why am I
thinking Hellmouth?"
"Ang-Pup-Ang," Buffy growled.
"What the hell do I call you? Angel number two?"
Puppy winced at her words, thinking
that she hated him once again. If he wasn't so confused and
afraid, he'd run out of there. "Just call me Puppy, like
her. That's what I've been called for over two and a half years
now," he replied, not raising his head. He shifted on the
table and groaned as pain shot through him. He must have broken
his ribs falling on the chair.
"Why don't we let Giles finish
fixing you up, then we can figure out what's going on," she
said, her voice softening once again. She reached forward and
tilted Puppy's chin up to look in his eyes. "Is that
ok?"
"Yes," Puppy answered.
Buffy let go and turned to Angel.
"Why don't you go back to the mansion and get him some
clothes. He's a lot skinnier than you, but they should fit
enough."
"Alright," Angel said,
turning to go. When he got to the door he called Buffy over.
"Giles, do your thing," Buffy
instructed as she walked over to Angel. "What's up?"
"Is that what I look like?"
Angel asked quietly, his eyes flicking to the other vampire.
"Minus the injuries," Buffy
answered. She turned her head to look at Puppy. "That's you.
Now you can see why girls fawn all over you."
Angel chuckled, then kissed her on the
forehead. "I'll be back," he said, then disappeared out
the door.
Part Three
"I think he's terrified of you
two," Buffy said a few minutes later in the bathroom with
Willow.
"From his reaction when he first
saw me, I'd say that was a yes," Willow replied. "I
don't know why, though. I mean, he's not Angel. Well, he is, but
he's not our Angel...I mean your Angel. He's a different
Angel."
"I think we better start referring
to him as Puppy' before I get a headache," Buffy told
her as they made their way back to the library. "I had no
Angel for months, now I have two. Some girls would call me
lucky."
"Yeah, but you can't touch
him...er, them. Either of them. The curse, remember?" Willow
said. "Unless this Ang- uh, Puppy doesn't have it. But the
only way to find out if he has a happiness clause would be to
sleep with him, and I don't think I'm helping matters, am
I?"
"No, Will, but I love you
anyway," Buffy replied. She gave her friend a smile. When
they entered the library, they both noted that Angel had returned
and Xander was sitting up on the check out counter, his eyes
continuously jumping between the two vampires. Willow hopped up
next to him as Buffy continued over to Giles. "How's it
going?"
"I'm finished," Giles
answered, taping the last bandage to Puppy's chest. The vampire
had put on the loose running pants that Angel had brought and was
watching Giles' fingers as he worked.
Buffy sent a reassuring smile to Angel,
then took the other vampire's hand. "Puppy? I'm going to
introduce you to everyone, ok?"
"Ok," Puppy replied, sliding
the borrowed white T-shirt over his head.
"The guy who fixed you up is
Giles," Buffy started, gesturing to the man. "He
is...was...is....ugh...my Watcher."
"Hello," Giles said, giving
Puppy a small smile.
"The vampire behind you is...well,
you," Buffy continued. "But since we're calling you
Puppy, we'll keep his name as Angel."
"Is that what I look like?"
Puppy asked.
Buffy laughed, sharing a look with
Angel. "Yeah. That's what you look like."
"I have good taste," he
commented, sliding off the table as Buffy pulled on his hand.
"I'm glad to see that this me doesn't dress like
Whistler."
"You know Whistler?" Angel
asked.
"I did," Puppy answered
slowly. "I haven't heard from him since he brought me to
Sunnydale to wait for Buffy." His lips curled up in a sneer.
"Then again, no one would be caught alive in
Sunnydale."
"Isn't the saying no one
would be caught dead'?" Xander asked from his perch.
Puppy's head shot to the teen with a
combination of a fearful and angry glare. "Everyone is dead
in Sunnydale."
"Wow, I'm sensing hostility,"
Xander said, putting up his hands.
"That is Xander. Ignore him, we
do," she said, practically dragging Puppy towards them.
"And this is Willow."
"Buffy, no, don't. They're
vampires," Puppy said frantically, trying to break her grip
on his hand.
Buffy stopped and looked at him, as did
the others in the room, in confusion. "They're what?"
"Me? A vampire?" Willow said.
"No, no, no. I'm definitely not a vampire. Unless someone
didn't tell me?"
Puppy's eyes flicked back and forth
between the two on the counter and he concentrated. Sure enough,
he could hear their hearts beating and the blood rushing beneath
their skin. He felt his canines elongating and he forced himself
to look at the blond Slayer. "They're alive."
"Yes, they are," Buffy
reaffirmed. "And they're not going to hurt you."
"Much," Xander said under his
breath. Buffy glared at him and he gave her an innocent look.
Puppy reached out a hand and touched
Willow's pink covered knee. She grinned shyly at him. "Hi,
I'm Willow, the not-a-vampire."
"I think we should find out
from...er, Puppy where he came from," Giles said, cleaning
up the first aid kit. "Especially before Wesley
arrives," he muttered with a sneer. Angel covered his grin
at the librarians words.
Buffy led Puppy back to the table and
had him sit in a chair. She motioned to Willow and Xander to join
them, then settled herself between the two vampires, with her
friends across the table from her. Giles stood off to one side,
going into his Watcher mode, even if he was no longer one.
"First we must discover how much of Puppy is-is Angel, and I
think we may be able to ascertain that by comparing memories by
picking a date at random and ask both what they remember."
"What did he say?" Puppy
asked Buffy quietly. She snickered.
"Angel, why don't we start with
you," Giles continued. "When did you first see
Buffy?"
"When she was called," Angel
answered. "She was sucking on a lollipop, wearing this
bright orange jacket."
"Then she sat on the steps and her
first Watcher came up to her," Puppy continued, looking at
Angel. "Then later, I saw her first slaying, then watched as
she cried..."
"...and I told Whistler that I
wanted to help," Angel finished. "Then he trained me
and brought me to Sunnydale." Puppy nodded.
"What happened then, Angel?"
Giles prompted.
"I followed Buffy that first night
she came to town and she knocked me flat," Angel said with a
smile to the Slayer. "I told her she was short."
"Well, you were annoying,"
Buffy shot back, but a smile on her face as well.
Puppy was looking at both of them in
confusion. "Er...Puppy, is something wrong?" Giles
asked the vampire.
"Buffy never showed up,"
Puppy answered. "I waited, but she never came."
"Why didn't I show up?" Buffy
asked.
"I don't know," Puppy
replied. "But you didn't come, and the Master rose."
All eyes widened with that statement.
"You mean...the Harvest occurred?" Giles said.
"Yes," Puppy said. "I
tried to stop it, but I was only one person."
"Jeez," Willow said. "Is
that when we...died?"
Puppy shrugged. "I don't know. You
were both vampires when I was captured. Even before I was cursed,
I wasn't as vicious or sadistic as Willow and her consort,
Xander."
Willow paled and Xander swallowed
nervously, looking first at each other, then over at Angel who
was staring at them in surprise, then back at Puppy. "I
don't think I like the sound of that," Xander said.
"Are they the ones who hurt
you?" Buffy asked quietly. He nodded. "What happened
next?"
"You finally came," Puppy
said to her. "But you didn't look like this. You had two
cuts, across your mouth." He rubbed his thumb over her lips
where the cuts had been, much to her surprise. "And you were
not as nice as you are now. You were going to leave me chained up
because I was a vampire. The only reason you let me out was
because I could lead you to the factory where the Master's
invention was set up."
"In-invention?" Giles said.
"He made a machine to draw all the
blood out of humans," Puppy replied. "Like a soda
fountain, only for vampires." Giles removed his glasses and
the others shivered in revulsion. Even Angel looked slightly ill.
"I led you there, then tried to do what I was trained by
Whistler to do - help you. We got into a fight with the other
vampires and I suddenly ended up in an empty warehouse."
Willow's mind suddenly flickered over
the images that had run through her when she was preforming the
spell with Anya. "Oh my god, I think I brought you
here," she said, covering her mouth with her hand. She shot
her gaze to Giles. "I was helping with a spell and I saw a
big fight and this machine, but the spell screwed up somehow and
the necklace Anya was trying to retrieve didn't come back. I
think Puppy did, instead."
"Willow, how many times have I
warned you against using black magick?" Giles scolded,
replacing his glasses to glare at her.
"Sorry," she said meekly,
ducking her head.
"If what you say is true, I think
we're talking about an alternate time line," Angel spoke up.
"Like in Back to the Future, part
two?" Xander asked. "Where Marty's copy of all the
sports scores is stolen by Cliff and he brings it back to the
1950's and gives it to young Cliff who uses it to become the most
powerful and richest man in the United States, corrupting the
time line. Then Marty has to go back to the 1950's without
running into his other self, who is also there from the first
movie, and steal the book back to make things right again?"
"What did he say?" Puppy
asked Buffy, just as he asked her about Giles earlier. She burst
out laughing, as did Willow.
"Oh, look, if it isn't a meeting
of the losers club," Cordelia sneered as she came into the
library, dressed to the nines, carrying a couple of books.
"Wow, Cordy," Xander said,
looking her over. "Are you on call?"
"At least some of us have better
things to do than hang around a library all night," Cordelia
shot back.
"Then why are you here?"
Xander asked sweetly.
Cordelia narrowed her eyes at him, then
looked at Giles. "I left these in my car and figured while I
was picking it up, I'd return them," she said, holding out
the books. She returned her gaze to the people sitting around the
table, then did a double take. "Ok, does everyone know that
there are two Angels sitting there?"
"Where?" Xander said, looking
around like she was nuts. "I only see one Deadboy."
"Xander," Buffy said. She
turned to Cordelia. "Cordelia, this is Puppy."
Cordelia arched a brow at this.
"Puppy? Is he housebroken?"
Puppy gave her a scathing look and
stood. "I'll be back," he told Buffy, then left the
library, his bare feet making no noise as he crossed the floor.
"Angel, you forgot shoes,"
Willow said as she watched the door swing shut.
"He didn't have shoes?" Angel
asked with a frown.
"No shoes," Buffy replied.
"Only with you people can there be
two identical hotties who are both blood sucking vampires,"
Cordelia said as she turned on her expensive heels. "What a
waste of male." With that, she left the library.
"Anybody else wondering why she
was really in the library dressed like that?" Willow asked
after the cheerleader left.
*****
Cordelia walked down the hallway, her
heels clicking on the tile floor in an even pattern. She was
trying to convince herself that she had really gone to the
library to return the books, not to see if a certain young
Watcher was there.
"Cordelia."
She heard her name being called softly
and she shivered. *Ignore it. Keep going,* she thought, picking
up her pace.
"Cordelia, I want to talk to
you."
A shadow detached itself from the wall
near the exit and she realized it was Angel. "Angel! You
scared me."
Puppy smirked. "Sorry." He
could hear her blood pounding under her skin from fear and he
licked his lips.
"What did you want?" Cordelia
asked. "By the way, was that Puppy your brother or is
something weird going on again?"
"Oh, it's definitely weird,"
Puppy replied. He leaned forward slightly, the demon just under
the surface. He was hungry again, his body wanting blood to heal
itself, and this insulting girl would do fine. "Can I ask
you something?"
"Sure," she said. "But I
really need to get going. I'm suppose to be at the Country Club
by ten."
"Do you taste as good as you
look?" Puppy asked.
"What?"
His lips curled up slightly as her face
paled and her heartbeat picked up. He felt his face change and he
grabbed her, pulling her snug against him. "By the way, I'm
not housebroken," he sneered.
Cordelia let out a loud, ear piercing
scream, and she kicked at his shins. She managed to get a hand
between them and clawed at his chest under the T-shirt he wore.
Breaking away, she turned and started running towards the
library, still screaming.
Puppy chuckled humorlessly, then took
off after her. Her heels were making it difficult to run, and he
managed to cut her off. She was slowly backing away from him
towards a dead end. "No where to run?"
"Puppy, I'm sorry. I talk like
that all the time, it doesn't mean anything," Cordelia
pleaded.
"I don't care," Puppy
replied. "I'm hungry, you're here." He took a predatory
step towards her...and flinched back when a cross was suddenly
shoved in his face.
"Get back, demon of the
night!" Wesley said, holding a large, white cross at him.
Puppy flinched and took a step back. Wesley grabbed a bottle of
holy water from his pocket and held it as if he was going to
throw it at him.
Puppy snarled, then turned and jogged
away.
Cordelia touched Wesley's shoulder and
he jumped around with a shriek, holding out the cross. "Oh,
Miss Chase. I do apologize. Heat of battle and all. Grr."
"You saved me," Cordelia
gushed, throwing her arms around the Watcher.
"Well," he said, hugging her
back. "Well." Cordelia let go and smiled up at him.
"Um...was that Angel?"
"No. It was Puppy," she
replied.
"Who?"
Part Four
Buffy ran around the corner and saw
Cordelia talking with Wesley. "Did either of you
scream?" she asked, having just covered the back half of the
school.
"Took you long enough,"
Cordelia snapped. "I would have been Puppy chow if it wasn't
for Wesley."
"What?" Buffy said, confused.
"You're Angel look alike turned
Angelus on me," Cordelia said.
Buffy's eyes widened. "Did you see
which way he went?"
"That way," she pointed back
the way the Slayer came.
"Um...are you going to be
ok?" Buffy asked.
"I am because Wesley is
here," Cordelia said, latching her arm and smiling up at the
man.
Wesley adjusted his collar and cleared
his throat. "Er...yes. I shall escort Miss Chase. You go
slay this vampire."
Buffy rolled her eyes and took off. She
ran into Angel in the hall. "Hey, have you seen Puppy?"
"No," Angel replied. She
frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Cordelia said it was him who
attacked her, looking for a little snack," Buffy explained.
It was Angel's turn to frown. "How
is that possible? My soul should prevent that from
happening."
"I think maybe he's a lot more
different than you than we think," she said. "Come on,
let's go find him."
*****
After a fruitless search, Buffy and
Angel returned to the library to see the object of their hunt
sitting calmly at the library table, their friends talking with
him. The Slayer met Giles' eye and went right into his office,
grabbing Wesley's arm and hauling him behind her. "Did you
tell Giles?" Buffy asked Wesley.
"Yes, I informed him," Wesley
said. "He insisted we do nothing until you returned."
"Good," Buffy said with a nod
of her head. She turned and left the office, noting that Angel
was crouched next to Puppy's chair, talking quietly with him.
"Angel? Why don't we take Puppy to the mansion, get him
settled in for the night. Willow, Xander, I guess I'll see you
tomorrow."
"Bye, Buffy," Willow said.
"Bye, Buff, Deadboy,
Deadboy," Xander said.
Buffy sighed, then turned and walked
out, followed by the two vampires. They headed towards the old
mansion where Angel made his home silently, enjoying the
peacefulness of the night. When they arrived, Angel showed Puppy
to the room Spike had used, then rejoined Buffy out by the fire
that was always burning.
"Will you find out why he tried to
eat Cordelia?" Buffy asked him, looking worriedly towards
the back of the mansion.
"Of course," Angel replied.
"But Buffy, if he turns out to be a killer..."
"I know," she said sadly.
"You'd have to do it, though. I couldn't do it when you were
him."
Angel pulled Buffy into his embrace.
"I know, sweety," he said. "I'll take care of it
if we have no other choice."
Buffy smiled weakly up at him.
"I'd better get home."
"Yeah," he replied, giving
her a brief kiss on the lips.
She stood, her hand holding onto his
for as long as possible. "Goodnight. Say goodnight to Puppy
for me."
"I will," Angel said. He
watched as she headed out of the mansion. "I love you,
Buffy," he said before she got out the door.
Buffy turned, her smile a little
brighter. "I love you, too."
"You are lucky," Puppy said,
emerging from the shadows after the Slayer had left the garden.
Angel looked at the vampire identical
to him and sighed. "I know."
Puppy came and sat on the edge of the
fireplace. "What's she like?"
"Sunshine," Angel answered
simply.
He smiled the only way he knew how.
"I wish I got to know her," Puppy said. "Well, you
know I loved her the instant I saw her."
"Yeah," Angel replied.
"I know."
"Yeah," Puppy repeated with
the same inflection.
"About what happened
tonight...with Cordelia," Angel began. Puppy shifted
nervously. "What was that about? You know with your soul you
can't kill anyone."
"Tell that to all those humans
over the past two and a half years," Puppy said. "The
Master only fed meleftovers.' When they remembered."
"I'm sorry."
He shrugged. "Don't be. You got
the better deal. But a vampire's got to eat."
"In this time line, you don't need
to feed off humans," Angel told him. "There's plenty of
other options, like Whistler explained. Remember?"
"Butcher's shop, blood bags,"
Puppy replied. "Anyone from 90210."
Angel laughed. "Now I'm certain we
had the same past."
*****
"Giles wants to send Puppy
back," Willow said the next morning as they walked to their
first class.
"What? Why?" Buffy asked.
"He thinks that by bringing Puppy
here we're cheating fate," she explained. "That he may
have had something important to do in that time line."
"Like dying?" Buffy said.
"That's what you told me was happening when you did that
spell with Anya."
"We don't know that, Buffy,"
Willow said. "Maybe he was crucial in stopping that Buffy
from dying."
"But this is the real time
line," Buffy replied. "I did come to Sunnydale, the
Harvest did not occur, I killed the Master. I even sent Angel to
hell to save humanity. If I've done all this for nothing, I'm
going to be really pissed."
"Are you sure you just don't want
to keep two Angel's around?" Willow asked slyly.
"Think about it, Will. Two guys
that I can't touch with a ten foot pole," she answered.
"Now instead of surround sound smoochies, it's surround
sound celibacy."
*****
"No. I'm not going," Puppy
said firmly. "I'd rather you kill me now then send me back
to that Hell."
Buffy gave Giles an I told you
so' look. "But-but what if by coming here, you disrupted
something important in the fabric of-of-of time?"
"Giles, I was about to get a bolt
in the heart when I appeared here. By sending me back, you seal
my death," Puppy said. "I'm finally free in what the
world should have been like. I can do what I was suppose to do -
help Buffy."
Giles removed his glasses and began to
clean them. "But what about the attack on Cordelia?"
"He's not use to being able to get
blood like he use to," Buffy spoke up, looking over at Angel
standing unobtrusively by the check out counter. "But now he
knows how easy it is, and he won't feed on anyone, right?"
"Right," Puppy agreed.
"My soul hated it, anyway. I had no choice, now I do."
"I am no longer your Watcher,
Buffy," Giles sighed, sliding the glasses back in place.
"Therefore, it is not my ultimate decision."
"You mean, I have to ask Sir
Wesley?" Buffy asked. "Thrill."
"No, it is your choice. You are
the Slayer that is effected by Puppy being here instead of the
time line he came from," Giles said. With that, the former
Watcher retreated to his office.
"Pressure much?" Buffy said
to the two vampires.
"Buffy, I don't want to go,"
Puppy said, looking at her with the same soul-filled eyes of her
Angel.
"Tell me the truth, do you
honestly think something bad would happen if you don't take that
bolt?"
"You would die," Puppy
answered. "Xander shot it at you."
Buffy looked at him with surprise.
"But I thought you told us that me in that time line didn't
like you, didn't even know you. Why did you jump in front of that
bolt?"
"It's what I was suppose to
do," he said. "Plus, I loved you. Or at least, the
image I held of you in my head. I had no choice. But now I'm not
too sure. You're nothing like that Buffy, the differences are
tremendous, even though I only knew her for a half hour. I am
betting she would have died that night by the Master's hand.
Xander's bolt would have just made it happen sooner."
"So you're basically saying that
because I didn't come to Sunnydale in that time line, I was a
sucky Slayer?"
Puppy nodded. "I heard about you
from the Master sometimes, when I was brought out to be
played with.' He said that you relied only on your
strength, and that would be your downfall. No ingenuity."
"But I have lots of nuity
here," Buffy said. "I improvise all the time. In fact,
that's what I excel at."
"Different worlds, different
Slayers," he said with a shrug.
"Angel, what's your opinion?"
"I don't think he should have to
go back," Angel said quietly.
That answer surprised Buffy. She
thought for sure he'd be on the side of saving that Buffy.
"Why?"
"One, this is the time line where
humanity has been saved on many occasions. Two, he's right in
saying that you would be defeated by the Master. You were before,
and it was only with the help of your friends that you killed
him. In that line, it sounds as though you have no friends. And
three, I think we can use him on our side," Angel said.
"And that last reason was in no
way selfish," Buffy replied with a smile. "Admit it,
you always wanted a twin brother."
"At least, now I'll be able to
look in a mirror," he joked back.
"So I don't have to go?"
Puppy asked with hope in his voice.
"Nope, you don't have to go
back," Buffy said. "Welcome to the Hellmouth,
Puppy."
"I've lived on the Hellmouth
before," he replied.
"Yeah, but this one is way
better," Buffy told him. "It's home of Buffy, the
Vampire Slayer."
End
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