FIC: Tiger by the Tail (1/?)

["Shadowlander" <Shadowlander1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Tiger by the Tail (1/?)
Author: Shadowlander
Email: Shadowlander1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx - or - Tankesly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters commonly associated
with Buffy the Vampire Slayer; they are used without permission. No
copyright infringement is intended.
Pairing: Buffy/Willow
Rating: PG-17
Archive: The usual places; all others ask first.
Summary: Four years after being kidnapped Willow returns home and
nothing will ever be the same again.
Spoilers: Nothing major that I'm aware of, mostly general
information.
Note: This is for Rod, who recently reminded me of all the fanfics he's
conned out of me, as well as the fact that I haven't started them all.
Honestly, the man won't be happy until I give up eating and sleeping
all together. <bg>

TIGER BY THE TAIL (1/?)

Prologue:

Spring 1998 -

{Do you know where your little witch is?}

The mocking voice replayed itself in the dark-haired vampire's mind as
he turned the corner leading to the Rosenberg home in a dead run.
He had received a phone call shortly after sunset, the voice on the
other end arrogant and smug as it taunted him with that one sentence
before hanging up. It had taken a moment for him to place the voice
and the meaning behind the eight little words. Once he had Angel felt
a wave of cold dread settle itself in the pit of his stomach as he tore
out of his apartment in near panic.

The voice on the other end of the phone belonged to a demon he had
known back in his soulless days. During a time he had been cutting a
path of death and destruction through the heart of Europe on what had
became known as Angelus's infamous "Summer of Blood" in the
Watcher's Diaries. The two had formed a brief friendship all of two
days before Angelus was feeding his "partner" to a much larger and
hungrier demon.

'He's dead! I saw him die,' Angel thought jumping a low shrub as he
cut across a yard. 'Or did I?' He questioned recalling more of the
terrible events of the night long ago in Rome. Angelus had betrayed
his supposed "friend" to a fire demon and as such didn't get too close
to watch the littler demon get tore apart.

A car screeching to a halt in front of the Rosenberg home brought
Angel back to the present as he cleared the final obstacle separating
him and his destination. Then he smelled it, the scent overwhelming
him in its intensity. 'Blood!' His game face slipped on subconsciously
as he noticed for the first time that the front door was wide open.

With one final leap he found himself standing just inside of the
threshold his forward momentum effectively stopped by the sight that
greeted him. The living room was a wreck, there was just no other
way to describe it. Furniture overturned and shredded, broken glass
and porcelain littering the floor. But it wasn't the site of the ransacked
room that had stopped him. It was the site of a body laying twisted in
the floor in the middle of the room, a bloody sword effectively pinning
the person into place.

A startled intake of breath beside him, reminded Angel that he was not
alone. Giles and Buffy, who had arrived just ahead of him in a car
from the opposite direction, had followed him into the house. A
similar phone call to the one Angel had received alerting them to
trouble at the Rosenberg house.

Pulling himself together Angel moved over to the body on the floor.
"Its Oz," he said in a grim voice leaning over the battered unmoving
form. "He's alive." He added in disbelief, his enhanced hearing
picking up a faint heartbeat. Oz had been badly beaten, his face
nearly unrecognizable in a mess of blood and torn flesh.

"I'll call for ambulance," Giles said absently already moving over to the
phone that lay off the hook on the floor.

"Giles," Buffy's voice cut through the unnatural stillness that seemed
to hang over the room. The young Slayer had not moved from the
front entrance, her gaze seemed to be focused on something behind
the kneeling vampire.

Something in her voice caused Angle to look up from Oz's still form,
noting where she eyes were focused he glanced over his shoulder his
eyes widening in shock. Slowly raising to his full height, Angel felt the
weight of the world settling itself on his shoulders at what he found
scrolled across the wall written in blood was a terrifying message.

<THE LITTLE WITCH IS MINE>

"Rodelus!" He growled, yellow eyes flashing in rage. 'That little
bastard didn't die after all,' his demon fumed. His anger growing as he
recognized just whose blood was used to write the message. One that
was directed toward Angel and had already burned itself into his
mind.

"Rodelus?" Giles questioned trying to place the name. Then he placed
it, in a small entry - barely more then a paragraph - in one of the
Diaries concerning the souled vampire, mentioned a demon by the
name. A demon that Angelus had betrayed in exchange for two
virgins and access to the unlucky demon's vast fortune.

End Part One.


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