~*The Sunnydale Revamped Series*~
~*LA Bound*~
A/N: Yes I realize Angel would have been in it’s sixth season by the time the girls got to L.A. but at the time I wrote this Angel hadn’t even started it’s fifth season yet. I don’t want to go through and change everything so here is the gist.
Connor is still around. There is still some hard feelings but the whole Cordy and him never happened. (sorry if this messes you up, but I hated that story line anyway…it doesn’t matter either way, cause I don’t dwell on it)
Cordy is still part of the Powers that Be and she isn’t around much.
They do work at Wolfram and Hart, but remain at the Hyperion Hotel (cause I loved the hotel)
Pretty much everything else is the same. That is why this story is AU/AR, so I can get away with that. *haha*
Enjoy!
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It was a dark and miserable night. It was the kind of night where you’d hope to be inside, warm in your bed without a care in the world and far from the cold drizzling rain. Some were not so lucky.
Having escaped into the real world, Izzie, Ellie and Lyla were huddled under their respective scratchy blankets they had been offered from the bus driver that was taking them, along with a bus full of strangers, to LA.
Until now, how to get to LA and when was the only force driving them. And now in the dark and quiet of the bus, with only the sounds of the rain beating against the glass and the quiet snores of the sleeping passengers, each of the girls could only think of what had happened to them.
Each had a history, a family and a life that hadn’t really existed. That was a hard pill to swallow for anyone. Everything they knew had been a lie. So where had they come from? Did they have a family out there somewhere missing them? Or were they really the Three and had chosen for themselves this painful period in their lives?
Together they were supposed to be either a threat, or everything good and powerful to the bad guys and yet they didn’t know how. Lyla knew of the supposed past with a connection to the gypsies but until her possession she’d never thought of it or used magick. It was hard enough accepting that the world was not what she thought it was with vampires and demons. However it was much harder accepting that her world was not what she thought concerning herself. She was connected to one of the most powerful clan of gypsies in Romania...wherever the hell that was. Had her parents known? Had they even been her parents? Soon the thought began to make her head hurt. Willing herself to forget the torturous thoughts for now, she drifted off to sleep.
Lyla’s head rested on Ellie’s shoulder as she drifted off. Ellie opened her eyes, awakened from a light sleep. She had just about managed to fall asleep and now she felt more awake then ever in her mind, but her body felt completely exhausted.
A few weeks ago she’d been the school brain with what she assumed was a very mundane life aside from the occasional vampire. Vampires! Something she thought was more of Anne Rice’s fantasy world, than her own life. Vampires had existed in books and movies before Izzie had arrived.
Izzie was sitting in the seat beside them across the aisle. Lyla had insisted that she got the window seat and that she didn’t want to sit next to some stranger. Izzie, ever the leader, passed up the seat and agreed to sit alone as seating arrangements weren’t exactly important to her right now.
Ellie couldn’t see much of Izzie’s face, as it was hidden in the darkness of the bus, but from the silhouette of her face she saw that Izzie was still awake. Sleep wasn’t even on her mind. Izzie’s mind was far too awake to contemplate sleep.
She couldn’t help but feel responsible for ruining Ellie and Lyla’s lives. She was the slayer and it was her responsibility to keep people safe. Considering that where she came from the only real people were Lyla and Ellie, she never really had much of a chore. Now they were on the run.........going to a place that she’d got from a vision.
Izzie thought of her mother and all the memories that went with it. The way her mother’s hair smelt, the way she would have cookies waiting for her after school and the many talks they would have about life. Her mother was the most important person in her life and to think that her memories might be false made her feel incredibly lost and alone.
Izzie could only hope that her vision had been right and something or someone was waiting on the other end for them. Hopefully someone good. The last thing she needed to add to her guilt trip was walking them into a trap. Lyla had been reluctant to believe Izzie, which wasn’t really a surprise considering they weren’t exactly friends.
The bus was freezing cold and because the blanket was providing more irritation than warmth, she’d given it to an elderly woman beside her who was now snoring loudly. Izzie tightened her knee length coat around her and pulled her legs under her. Soon her mind was exhausted from thinking the same thing over and over again and she let the steady rocking rhythm of the bus lull her to a troubled sleep.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
If it was possible, Izzie woke up more uncomfortable then she had been before falling asleep. She wiped her eyes to clear her vision and saw that the sun hadn’t come up yet but the sky was lighter. Morning was soon.
Izzie stretched as she tried to relax the kinks in her tired muscles, but only realized just how bruised her body was. Her hands were covered in dark bruises still, but the swelling had gone down considerably. Yeah, kick ass slayer healing! She looked over and saw that Lyla and Ellie were still asleep, huddled together for warmth and comfort. Izzie wished she had a watch, as she was growing anxious. Izzie was torn actually, she wanted her old life back sans fakeness, and yet she wanted to just begin her new life if that’s what she had to do. It was this waiting period and uncertainty that was making her crazy.
The bus was beginning to slow and the scenery of LA was all around her. However, because the bus stations seemed to be located in the worst parts of town...she wasn’t exactly encouraged by what she saw.
The bus station came into view much to the relief of Izzie’s aching body. She longed to stretch her legs and feel the ground beneath her feet. As the bus came to a stop, Lyla was roused from her sleep. She shook Ellie, not so gently, to tell her that they’d arrived. Ellie opened her eyes slowly, blinking rapidly to clear her vision. For a split second she forgot where she was, and then it all came rushing back.
“Have we arrived?” Ellie asked between yawns.
Lyla reached into her coat pockets and pulled her compact out, something she’d managed to salvage. “What does it look like?” she answered sarcastically. The rough sleep didn’t exactly help her mood.
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bus,” Ellie snapped back.
Lyla worked on covering the dark circles under her hazel eyes. “Well, wouldn’t you? It’s not exactly the most luxurious of sleeping arrangement. If it weren’t for Izzie I’d be in my own bed right now.”
“If it weren’t for Izzie,” Ellie began,” you’d be dead.”
The finality behind that remark sent chills down Lyla’s back. She’d come close to losing her life, very close. Without losing her cool facade she shrugged her shoulders as if to say “whatever.”
Ellie wasn’t in the mood to go into a lecture and the passengers were already off the bus. They didn’t have any luggage besides the bags they had with them, so they pushed right through the crowd.
“Looks like we’ll sleep out the rest of the night in the station.” Izzie said.
Lyla, who was walking slightly behind them, heard this and wasn’t pleased. “Whoa!” She said loudly, coming to a complete stop. “No way!!!”
Ellie and Izzie turned and waited for yet another of Lyla’s opinions. “What’s wrong now?” Izzie sighed.
Lyla let her bag rest on the ground. “I have left my home, traveled on a dirty, smelly bus that has two seat positions; uncomfortable and very uncomfortable, and now you want me to sleep on the floor of a bus station?!”
Izzie didn’t waver in her decision. “I’m sure they have benches,” she said sarcastically. Lyla, who’d always been pretty adamant about what she wanted, stood firm. “I’m going to a hotel.”
“Gee, what a wonderful idea Lyla! How silly of me. Let me just reach into my pocket and get all the money I brought,” Izzie pulled the pockets of her jeans inside out, to show she had nothing. “We don’t have money,” Izzie said, “Or I would have suggested a hotel!”
“Wrong.” Lyla pulled a credit card from her back pocket. “I figured mom and dad would be upset but then I remembered that they don’t seem to really exist, do they?”
“But how do we know if that is real?” Ellie said, logically. Lyla frowned, as she studied the piece of plastic in her hand. Looked real enough. But then again, so did a lot of things. “I’m tired and sore and very hungry, I say we at least try it.”
Ellie looked at Izzie for an answer. Izzie ran her hand over her matted hair. A hot shower sounded good. “It couldn’t hurt,” Izzie agreed. Lyla smiled. She’d won.
“Well there should be one around here somewhere. They’re always by bus stations,” Izzie said. “Would you like a specific hotel? Something four starish? ” She shot back at Lyla. Lyla shot her a dirty look back.
“No reason to be rude.” Lyla turned and began to walk to the alleyway leading to the opposite street. “Shall we follow?” Ellie said, as both girls turned to do just that.
Lyla entered the alleyway. “Ah, Lyla,” Ellie said nervously. “ A dark alleyway isn’t the best route.”
Lyla waved her hand in dismissal. “It’s quicker and not that long. Come on.” She said, disappearing inside the shadows. “Famous last words,” Izzie muttered.
Just then a scream filled the air. “See?” Izzie said. “Seems like my works never done.” she said, at the same time she dropped her bag and bolted after Lyla.
In the small amount of light that filtered in from the street, Izzie saw a vampire holding Lyla against the wall. Lyla’s eyes were wide in terror as she struggled against her attacker. Izzie grabbed him by the collar and hauled him off. “Now, now, is this how you treat tourists,” she said between clenched teeth. She had him pinned against the wall. “A stake would be nice,” she said loudly to Ellie, who was searching frantically through the bag.
“Here,” said a male’s voice to the side of her. Izzie didn’t ask questions; instead she grabbed the stake and staked the vamp. Izzie wiped the dust from her jacket before tossing the stake back to its owner. “Thanks.”
“So you’re the slayer?” he asked. Izzie couldn’t tell if he was actually curious or he was being sarcastic. “That’s what they keep telling me,” she finally said, with a smile. Izzie turned to Lyla who was standing by herself watching the interaction between Izzie and the young male. “You ok?”
Lyla rubbed her neck, where the vampire had just grazed her with his teeth. It was then that the man looked at Lyla as if noticing her for the first time. Lyla stared at his eyes. What was it about them? They penetrated into hers with...self assurance, or lack of. She couldn’t tell. “I’m fine,” she said, tearing her eyes away from him. “So what’s your name?” Izzie asked him finally.
The man looked back at Izzie, an unreadable expression on his face. Why did he look surprised that she wanted to know his name, Izzie wondered. Maybe the light was playing tricks on her. There was something weird.... or different about this guy.
“My name is Connor,” he finally said.
“Well, Connor,” Izzie said, liking the sound of his name. “I’m Izzie.”
“I know,” he said. Lyla frowned. Izzie smiled. “Oh? Should I be freaked out or flattered?”
This brought a hint of a smile to his face.... very distant, but it was there. “I came to pick you up. I was a little late.”
“Right,” Izzie said cautiously. “Because we were wondering where the guy was that held the sign with our names on it went.”
“Are you coming?” He was serious now.
“We’re actually looking for a hotel,” Lyla said, getting a chance to speak to him.
Connor smiled. “I know a place.”
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
A long while later, Connor lead them to a large hotel as promised. “It looks.... abandoned,” Lyla stated, realizing that there were no lights on inside or even around the building. “How many people are here?” Lyla asked. She looked at awe in the massive hotel. :”I mean it’s really nice and is probably booked.”
Connor shook his head, though no one was looking at him to see it. “It’s my father’s.” He said the word father as if it were just a title, not something he was proud of. Lyla’s attention came back to him and she smiled coyly. “Your father owns a hotel? “ Maybe this guy was a little rough around the edges, but he seemed to be loaded.
Connor was not usually hit on...if that’s what she was doing, and he became a little uncomfortable. “Yes. He lives here.”
“Do YOU live here?” Lyla asked, now closer to him than he would have liked.
Izzie rolled her eyes. “It’s 5 in the morning Ly, gimme a break. Could we go in please?” She said the last bit to Connor, who looked a little relived.
Connor nodded and led them through the gate opening and up the stairs to the front doors. Ellie tightened her coat around herself as she shuffled along behind. The hotel was already giving her the creeps for some reason and she didn’t know what could be waiting inside.
When they stepped through the front doors there was a young girl standing behind the counter. She looked up as they entered and a wide smile stretched across her pretty face. If Izzie was correct, she would have thought this girl was expecting them by the way she looked. “Hiya,” the young girl called cheerfully. A little too cheerfully for this early in the morning, according to the tired travelers.
She practically jogged over to them. “I’m Fred,” she said, offering her hand to Izzie first. Izzie shook her head. Manly name for such a mouse of a girl, Izzie observed. “I’m Izzie. This is Ellie and this is Lyla.”
The name Lyla raised some eyebrows from Connor and Fred, but Izzie was too tried to question it. Fred shook each of there hands. “I’m sure you’re really tired. We can get you something to eat if you want of you can go to sleep.” She said in her thick southern accent.
Izzie’s stomach rumbled at the mention of food. “I wouldn’t mind a little something to eat. “ Hell, she could eat an eight-course meal the way she was feeling.
Lyla, who thought herself starving up until this point, turned the offer down. She was too tired to eat frankly and all she wanted to do was lie down on a comfortable bed and sleep for months. Ellie opted for bed as well and both of them followed Fred up the staircase. Lyla didn’t even say goodnight as she entered one of the rooms and closed the door behind her. Fred turned to Ellie, figuring she’d done something to offend her. Ellie recognized that same shyness in herself and smiled. “She’s always like that. Don’t mind her.”
Fred smiled back. “If you need anything - ask. Just make yourself at home.”
“Thanks, that’s really nice of you, but we’ll probably be leaving tomorrow. Izzie said we had somewhere to be.” Ellie wasn’t about to go on about their past.... they would be thrown out if they thought their lodgers were insane.
Fred just smiled knowingly. She didn’t want to go into the fact that the three girls were exactly were they should be.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Connor had lead Izzie to the kitchen and then left her to her own devices. Izzie stood for a minute in the middle of the large kitchen. Surely a kitchen this size had something good to eat. Izzie crossed the room to the large fridge and began to scour it for food. “Ewwwww....” she said aloud, as she pulled out a container of...it looked like blood and....ew, it smelled like blood. Then it hit her- there had been a guy waiting for them and brought them to a place that had blood as the special? What had she got them into now? Just then she heard a noise behind her. She turned to find nothing there, but it was coming from the hall. She set the container on the counter and then grabbed a butcher knife. Silently she crept along the counter towards the doorway.
Someone was coming, she wasn’t wrong about that. Someone from the hotel probably? But then, there was this distinct feeling that something was off. Something not human. She came to a stop by the doorway, waiting for whatever or whomever it was, to come through. Her chest rose and fell quickly, her pulse racing like it always did when she was about to fight. Not now, she prayed, I’m too tired for this.
Just then someone came through the doorway. Izzie jumped at it from the side, and wrapped her arm around its neck from behind. He (she came to realize quickly it was male) was taller than her, making it very hard for her to get a good grip. He grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back. Izzie sucked in her breath hard as the pain bolted up her arm. Reacting on instinct she snapped her head back into his face, releasing his hold on her. Before he could react, Izzie pushed him against the wall and pinned him there by putting her forearm across the width of his shoulders, applying force to his larynx. With the other hand that held the knife, she raised it and placed it against his chest.
The kitchen didn’t have any lights on; the only light was coming from the hallway to the side of them. And although she was blanketed in darkness, she could see him clearly. He didn’t appear scared or mad...instead he looked amused. Cocky bastard then, she thought. She leaned forward, sensing something. She pulled the tip of the knife to where his heart was. “Vampire,” she said disgusted. “Who might you be?”
“Angel,” he answered simply and without worry that a knife was pointed right at his heart.
Izzie’s eyes widened. She knew the name well. “I have been waiting for you. If you wouldn’t mind letting me go I...”Angel began.
“I’ve heard of you,” she said, tightening her hold. “Angelus, right? You’re the one with the soul. You lost it though and returned to your old ways. I’ve read the Watcher Diaries.” She sounded a little proud at having read a little history.
Angel didn’t falter. “Did you also read the part that told of how I got it back?”
Izzie held her chin high. “I did in fact....”defeat won out and she admitted sheepishly. “Not read that part,” she finished as she lowered the knife and her arm. “Sorry bout that chief.” She tossed the knife onto the counter and turned back to the fridge.
Angel didn’t move except to rub at his neck. “I could have been lying,” he warned.
Izzie turned around, her hands up in the air. “Yeah, well my arm was starting to ache.”
“I guess you’re Izzie,” he said, seeing her in the light for the first time. He looked over her shoulder length hair that was so black it looked almost bluish in the light. Her eyes were the most stunning however. They were the lightest blue he’d ever seen, made bluer by the fact they were rimmed with long, thick black lashes. Izzie caught the look and her small, full bow mouth tilted at the side in a half smile. “Here,” she said, handing him the container of blood, “stare at this for awhile.”
Angel took the blood from her and watched her as she began to fix herself something to eat. “So,” she said over her shoulder, “what’s with the big mystery? People know who I am, someone is waiting for us when we arrive,” she paused to look at him, “big hotels that have an amazing number of vacancies for LA.”
“You noticed that?” he asked lightly.
“I notice a lot,” Izzie answered honestly. She carried the plate with her sandwich on it, to the island in the middle of the kitchen. “So there’s one thing I don’t know.”
Angel sat across from her, the container of blood left untouched for her sake. She gestured to the container. “Feel free.”
“I didn’t want to make you loose your appetite,” he replied, looking a little embarrassed about his food of choice.
“Two things you may want to know about me; one, I don’t get grossed out easily--chalk it up to the slaying and two, it’s very rare that I ever lose my appetite.”
Angel smiled as he swept the container in front of him. “So what was your question?” He asked his hand rested on the top of the container.
“My question is why,” Izzie, said, now a little more serious in tone. “Why did this happen? Why are you aware of why we’re here and how do you know who I am? I mean, I only found out a couple of days ago.”
“We were told about you through the powers that be. You and your friends. You were a threat, or are a threat and that makes you.... special,” he said, for lack of a better word.
“Special?” she said, as though the word left a bad taste in her mouth. “So we’re basically here for you to baby-sit us. Keep the evil nasties away sorta thing?”
“Not exactly. Keep you safe sure, but not to baby-sit. We need to figure out what kind of threat you are to the evil side, and to whom in particular. We need to know what powers your friends possess so that we can help you prepare for the day.”
“How very dramatic,” Izzie muttered into her sandwich. She finished the last bite before realizing she’d eaten it so fast her stomach hurt. She grinned sheepishly at Angel. “Sorry...hungry.”
Angel shrugged. “Not like I eat the stuff.”
Izzie smiled. “Right, how could I forget?” She sucked the last crumbs off her fingers and then carried her plate to the sink. “Well, it was really nice meeting you and thanks for letting us stay here...for however long. But if we could get into all the hard questions tomorrow...or rather, later today, that would be great. I’m wiped.”
“Of course,” was all he said.
Izzie walked over to Angel, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry for trying to kill you.” she said, with a hint of humor, as she turned for the door.
“That’s ok, it happens a lot,” came a reply.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Fred was in the lobby when Izzie came through and directed her to her room. Once upstairs Izzie went into a vacant room at the end of the hall nearest the window. Inside she discovered a fair sized room that obviously hadn’t seen a paint job in awhile. The room resembled the old building with faded wallpaper and large dark furniture. As she took in her surroundings she thought about the history this place must have. Considering Angel’s age, the building might have been around as long as he was.... well, not really. If the walls could talk, Izzie thought. Though considering the world they lived in, that was most likely possible.
There were French doors leading out to a balcony overlooking the city of LA. Directly below them was a garden that belonged the hotel.
The sun was beginning to rise, which created a red glow over the horizon. She rested her hand on the wrought iron railing and closed her eyes. There was slight breeze in the air that felt so refreshing on her tired bones. Her mind went blank, allowing all the questions to drift away and concentrated only on the feel of the wind against her skin and in her hair. They say if it’s really quiet you could hear the sun rise. Izzie listened, but she could only hear Angel’s words. Suddenly his face came to mind. He was the legendary Angel, the one she’d read about. The one with the angelic face, which she’d pictured as a young man with feminine features or something. He was neither young nor feminine. Angel looked like a man with harder features than most and yet there was softness behind his words and vulnerability behind his dark eyes that made her understand the name.
Thinking of the way he’d looked at her, made her wander how he’d looked at Buffy. He’d talked to her with such calmness that she couldn’t imagine him as a ruthless killer, whom Buffy had to kill. But he had been a ruthless, cold hearted killer without a soul once before, and she must never forget that part. If he was a way to help them, so be it, but he also was still a vampire and always would be.
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I got a lot of hits on the story yet no one besides my freakey and Tim are commenting. If you could comment before moving onto another story it would be appreciated a lot.
I have to work a lot this week, so I don’t know when I can update.