TITLE: Welcome the Unexpected (1/1)
AUTHOR: Winter
EMAIL ADDRESS: winter242@hotmail.com
DISTRIBUTION: Just ask.
SPOILERS: "Innocence"
RATING: PG-13?
SUMMARY: Willow gets re-introduced. Angelus' POV.
DISCLAIMER: All Buffy related things are owned by Joss
Whedon, etc, etc. I own nothing except the idea for this story.
FEEDBACK: Highly appreciated.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is Part 4 of my "Prelude to Darkness" series. (Previous
parts: "Interlude into Innocence," "The Dying of the Light," and "The
Strengthening of the Shadow.")

Welcome the Unexpected

I smiled in anticipation as Willow and I approached the library. The
following moments would be ones neither I nor my Queen would soon forget.

Stealing a quick glance into the library through the windows in the doors, I
smiled in satisfaction at seeing the entire "scooby gang" assembled there.

"They're all here," I informed Willow eagerly, "you ready?"

Willow turned to me with a mischievous grin illuminating her face, and
replied, "Ready."

I smiled in return and took her hand in my own. Bringing it up to my lips,
I kissed the palm and spoke, "And action."

With my right arm encircled around her waist, keeping her back pressed
against me, and my left hand gripping her throat, I barged into the library,
visibly startling all its occupants.

"Hello, Slayer," I called her attention, pretending to squeeze harder on
Willow's throat, an action extremely reminiscent of that night in the school
just days ago. "I told you things would get interesting. But you have yet
to see *how* interesting."

Buffy paled instantly, and I smelled victory right around the corner. I
grinned, purposely showing a little fang.

Fighting to retain her calm, the Slayer spoke, "Let her go." As if she
could order me around. I wasn't her pathetic little lapdog anymore.

"Come and get her," I taunted, stealing a quick glance down at my lover.
She was certainly commendable. The terrified expression on her face was no
doubt having a terrible impact on the Slayer.

Oddly, it was startlingly realistic.

Without wasting an instant, the Slayer launched herself at me, and I
released Willow, shoving her gently away.

Now it was her turn to shine.

Becoming quickly immersed in a fight with Buffy, I kept my eye on my redhead
as she made her way to the back of the library, standing next to the
brunette brat. Excellent choice. Even in my soul-plagued days, I couldn't
remember liking her.

Then Willow made her move. Stepping behind Cordelia, she grabbed her by the
throat, letting her true face finally show. The face I had given her.

Cordelia screamed, causing everyone, but Buffy, who was in the middle of an
attack, to turn.

Emitting a low growl, Willow called out in her rich voice, "Oh, Buffy!"

Whirling around, the Slayer's eyes widened in shock and terror as she beheld
the sight in front of her. "Willow…" she whispered softly.

I snickered.

Coming up behind her, I whispered, "She isn't your Willow anymore, Slayer.
She's mine."

"You bastard!" she yelled out, unleashing her anger on me, bringing her
stake up and positioning it over my heart.

I wasn't worried.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Willow called out, biting off the ends
of her words in obvious anger and tightening her grip on her victim's
throat. I noticed Xander approaching from behind, and I was about to call
out to warn her, but she was already 2 steps ahead.

Turning slightly, she lashed out with her leg, planting a solid sidekick
into his gut.

Utterly magnificent.

"You *would* protect the bitch, wouldn't you?" she hissed, digging her nails
into the cheerleader's skin, who could only whimper pathetically.

I had to wonder what that was all about, but I wasn't much in the mood to
ponder over it. After all, in this moment, I had never been more proud.

"Don't do this, Willow!" Xander yelled from the floor, still clutching his
stomach, "we're friends. Don't you remember?"

"Correction. We *were* friends. But let's just say…I don't need friends
like you anymore," Willow answered him angrily, giving him another swift
kick into his side, which caused him to writhe in pain.

"Willow!" Buffy called out in desperation, "you don't know what you're
doing! This isn't you!"

Just like the Slayer, still in denial. She would have to learn sooner or
later to just accept things--though sooner would probably be best,
considering she didn't have much time left.

"Oh, come on, Buffy," I continued taunting her, "what's your next line gonna
be? Willow, 'there must be some part of you inside that still remembers who
you are!' Give me a break. You are so predictable."

Doing her best to ignore me, the Slayer turned back to her "friend" and
continued, "Willow, listen to me! You can't do this!"

"Like hell I can't!" Willow snapped, "that is so like you, Buffy, you know
that? Always telling people what they can and can't do, always ordering
them around. Well, you can't order me around. Not anymore. Thanks to
Angelus, I finally *like* who I am. I'm strong."

"You can't mean that, Willow," Buffy sobbed, "he's a monster! And he's made
you into one, too!"

"Well if I'm such a monster, why don't you kill me? Oh, that's right, you
can't, can you?" Willow asked, grinning, and tightening her grip on Cordelia
fiercely, "because you're *weak.*"

"Willow," the voice of a young man came through. Oz, I think his name was,
though I couldn't be sure. The boyfriend of her human counterpart.

I growled in warning as he approached her, and felt a sudden sense of panic
at the expression on Willow's face.

It wasn't hate.

"Oz," she stated, staring at the man.

"Willow, Buffy's right. This isn't you. But you do remember who you are,
don't you? Who I am? How I feel about you?"

I could hear my growls escalate into snarls. How dare he talk to *my* lover
like that? I'd break his little neck.

I was suddenly distracted when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the
librarian approaching with a crossbow aimed at my heart, his girlfriend
standing on the other side with a bottle of holy water.

"I think you should leave, Angelus," he spoke, readying the crossbow, "now."

"And if we're not ready to leave?" I asked threateningly.

Willow suddenly snarled loudly and threw Cordelia across the room, making
sure she impacted roughly with Giles, causing them both to fall to the
ground in a heap. I used the confusion to my advantage and grabbed the
bottle of holy water away from the teacher, flinging it to the ground, then
throwing her into Buffy, who was just about to attack.

The following moments seemed to play out in slow motion as Willow ran up and
grabbed Buffy from behind, locking the Slayer in her grasp.

"Have I told you that I haven't had my first kill yet?" Willow whispered to
her, "and I'm really hungry."

"Willow," Buffy pleaded, obviously not wanting to hurt the form that was
once her friend and confidant, "don't do this."

Definitely weak.

"I think you've said that before, Buffy, and to be quite honest, it's
getting a bit tiresome," Willow informed her bluntly. Jerking the Slayer's
head harshly to the side, Willow lowered her fangs over her pulse point.

I waited in anticipation. Finally, the death of the Slayer, and at the
hands of her best friend, too. And to top it all off, my childe's first
kill would be a Slayer. Things couldn't get much better.

"Willow, no!" her ex-boyfriend called out again, racing forward to try and
stop her. I grabbed him before he got too close and held him back, telling
Willow, "Go ahead. Drink. There's nothing like the blood of a Slayer. And
it's all yours."

Willow smiled at me and lowered her head once again to drink, this time
sinking her fangs into the Slayer's neck. I could see the blood droplets
trickling from her mouth, smell the intoxicating scent of a Slayer's blood,
feel the excitement and power rushing through my childe, and, best of all,
know that the Slayer was, at that moment, suffering the worst kind of pain.

I waited eagerly for that final, telltale moment when the Slayer's body
would jerk convulsively, indicating the last of her blood flowing into my
childe, the last beat of her heart, and the departure of her soul from her
body.

It didn't come.

Willow suddenly pulled away, dropping the still very much living form of the
Slayer to the ground.

"I've had enough," she stated simply, looking around at the still forms of
all her old friends scattered about the library, "I'm full. And I want to
go."

Her words hit me like a jolt. I had never even anticipated the fact that
she wouldn't kill the Slayer. Stunned into silence, I could only watch as
Willow came up to me and said again, "We're finished here. Let's go home."

Rage erupted inside of me, and I could feel my demon visage slip back into
place. But it was suddenly replaced by shock.

As my Queen left my side and headed towards the doors, I shook my head
slightly and blinked in an effort to remove the vision of what I had just
seen: when Willow walked passed me, the look in her eye was one I had never
expected to see again.

It was a look that was almost...mortal.

END