One minute Angel was in London listening to Giles' Aunts fuss at him and Alistair trying to figure out the effects of the "Magic Plague" that Whistler, Pearl and Nash let loose upon the city. He had been getting a headache from it- after all those two women nagged like it was no one's business. Alistair was an okay sort, the man knew his lore, but he didn't have the keen edge that Wes had. Not to mention Lavinia and Sophronia Fairweather definitely weren't Cordy or Fred. Without Faith there, admittedly, he was feeling like an outsider again.
Like he had when he had been with Buffy's friends.
Then the next he was in a city fighting some giant lizard man with a scimitar that had been attacking a group of teenagers. Ozone was crackling along the air and up ahead he saw a group of mages working on a summoning circle where more lizardmen and some were-tigers or something were pouring out. Seeing that this wasn't a benevolent scene by any means, Angel drew his broadsword and charged into the fray.
Luckily, these lizardmen were sort of idiots, but the endless fodder of them would get to him soon. He needed to get to those wizards and stop them from conjuring. Cold blood poured down his hand as he cleaved his blade through the thick neck of the lizardman he'd been fighting. His sword ground against bone before he finished the cleave. Keep this up, and I'm going to have to have Sophie sharpen it again for me, he thought to himself as the air started to literally reek.
Suddenly appearing there was this hideous thing crafted out of dead flesh. It was large, rambling, and the smell of rotting flesh stung Angel's sensitive nose. He spun out of the way of another lizardman's attack and said, "Well, that's disgusting."
Then he saw the figure standing in front of the rotting monstrosity. Dressed all in black, but Angel saw pointed ears rising from the pure black of the man's hair. Ears that were the color of alabaster and glowing ever so slightly.
Watching, the man bowed his head at the creature right as it lifted its arm to attack before stepping into sudden liquid darkness before the blow hit.
******
Godmother would box my ears if she found out I was doing this, he thought to himself as he looked at the rambling, rotting monstrosity before him. In the corner of his eye he could see someone about his size and dressed similar to him - black duster, black pants, and dark shirt - fighting some lizardmen with a broad sword. He ground his teeth as the swordsman cleaved through the neck of one of the lizardmen he was fighting.
Gabriel was slightly impressed by the man's skill, but he didn't have time to create a pact with this potential ally before stopping Downy Reed in his tracks.
Besides, there was the undead golem that wanted to grind his bones to make his bread.
He bowed his head at the creature with a smirk before stepping into the Shadows again. The quiet roar rushed through his ears as he stood within the violets, blues, greys, and black. The outline of the wizards keeping the circle up showed up as a dull red within the shadows. He pulled out the 1911 he had since Her Majesty had enlisted him to help stop Hitler and checked it.
Gabriel hated to kill. Life was precious, but this was beyond the natural order and Downy Reed was planning genocide on a global scale. If anything, the necromancer was planning an extinction event. That meant Gabriel had to take off the kid gloves, steel himself, and show that he was indeed Law Unto Herself's son.
He ran into the center of the summoning circle and stepped out of the shadows. The pistol was slid back into his holster before he pulled out a small knife from a sheath on his belt. It had been a gift from Mommy Dearest, his birth mother, and the alloy it was crafted from contained no iron. The blade was bright, gleaming, and more importantly, razor sharp.
With a smooth movement he cut it vertically down his wrist. It was so sharp that he barely felt it and hot blood flowed from the wound. His skin was glowing at the presence of so much magic, and around where he was standing the summoning itself was starting to die.
Then to completely wreck it, he poured his blood upon the ground, letting it seep there to make this area a magical null as well.
******
Lancer held up his hands at Tom's words. His eyes were still narrowed as he said, "I'd thank you if you didn't share your thoughts with me. You keep them in my head and I ask that you don't peek at mine."
Then he shrugged and said, "Well, Ryoko's around. What happened though was that All the World's Evil came in, tried to start a fuss, but the Faerie wards guarding this place made her melt. Then I burned her muck because Forest told me to- fire's a purifying agent. As for Ryoko, lass is fine, I assure you. If you want to have words with my Landlady, then you're going to have to wait because the idiots here are trying her patience."
******
"You should leave your hair down," Archer said as he rested his hands on Rin's shoulder, "I did mine." He gestured to the fact it wasn't spiked but falling into his face.
He grinned and said, "Besides, you can flaunt your hair off to those other girls. I'm sure they'll be jealous of it."
******
"They just have to be willing, Jack," Forest said as she folded her arms across her admittedly small chest, "If you're a vampire here and want to stay, then you have to play by my rules. And that rule is that you feed by consent. Unless its during battle, then that's self defense, but if you wanna drink off of someone who lives here, then they have to give you permission to do so."
She knew what it was like to have her blood taken against her will. She hadn't wanted to become a vampire; it had been one of the many things that had been forced upon her by that Roman Bastard that night. She repressed the thought as she looked at Jack.
"Come on, let's go to the kitchen. There are people there and I'm willing to bet that one of them will donate for you."
She tilted her head and said, "And replenishing fluids after donating blood is better than eating just a cookie."
