Oncoming Train

Friday night.

Xander and Spike had gone out on patrol with Buffybot. The girls had disappeared somewhere, taking a perplexed Gunn with them. It took Angel some time to realize he was alone with Riley in the house, focused on doing his forms, pretending to breathe so his motions bled flawless, one after the other into another. The exercise was treasured, capable of balancing soul and demon in the slow sweep of an arm, the careful spacing and slide of his feet. It was a finite grace of perfection.

Finishing a set, he opened his eyes, becoming aware of a heartbeat a few feet from him. Caught staring, Riley blushed and looked to his feet, straightening from his slouch against the wall. The vampire breathed in the youth’s scent through his mouth and smiled at the slight flavoring of arousal. Riley Finn didn’t stand a chance; his own body was betraying him.

“Join me?” Angel asked. Riley’s head jerked up, confusion and old familiar anger rising in those guileless hazel eyes. Before he could open his mouth to voice the refusal he loudly broadcasted with his stiffening body posture, Angel pressed on. “Do they teach this in the Marines or is it all sit-ups and push-ups?”

Indignation brought a flush to the youth’s tanned flesh and he wiggled out of his shoes as he snapped, “I know what a kata is.”

“Then join me.” And prove it hung unspoken in the warm air between them. He positioned for the first set and Riley joined him, unhesitating in his mirroring of Angel’s placement. With Riley’s heartbeat to mark time, the vampire settled into a flowing rhythm, his mind once more blanking out as he worked through each sequence, every gesture reflected in near perfect time by the human across from him. Quickly calming from his brief flare of anger, Riley’s heart rate slowed, lengthening their movements. They coordinated easily, unlike when Angel exercised with Wesley, his only other friend who knew the exercises. Their sizes were comparable so that he wondered if Buffy had had a thing for taller men.

They exercised for nearly an hour and seeing that Riley still moved without effort, sweat barely sheening his skin, Angel decided to push his luck. “Up for something more?” His voice sounded odd, intruding into the silence that had settled over the mansion in the absence of nearly all its recent guests. They finished the set, bowing briefly to each other before Riley responded.

“Like what?” The tone was wary, but carried an undercurrent of answering challenge.

“No weapons, hand to hand.” Memories of that beautiful body spread out before him, muscles clenching around exploring fingers, mouth opening beneath his, and any excuse was justified to let him touch his boy again, to innocently slake his thirst. Moving this slow was killing him, but Angelus gloried in the hunt, in luring their unsuspecting prey ever closer. It should have frightened him, that he and the demon wanted the same thing, Riley Finn a permanent fixture in their bed, but he was too deep in to care. The garden last night had firmed his resolve, haunted eyes stealing his heart.

Unaware of his fate mapping itself out behind hooded brown eyes, the blond took several steps away from him, cocky grin answering his slight smile. “Sure.” Then he attacked.

It took a hard right hook, followed by an impossibly maneuvered size twelve tennis shoe for Angel to realize he was fighting an equal opponent. Riley matched him blow for blow, style to style, proving he was as strong as the others claimed and had obviously been conditioned into a weapon of combat. And he was fast. The vampire barely ducked a jab to his neck, only to be tripped by a back swing into his solar plexus. Thankful he didn’t need to breathe, he grinned at Riley’s almost pout as the youth came to same realization. Using his shift in balance, he kicked out, knocking the ex-Marine back several steps.

The first and last time they had fought, Riley had been injured and pissed, and came out on the losing end of their confrontation. Healthy as a draft horse and with a ‘fuck me’ grin, he forced Angel to abandon his usual tactics of brute force and focus instead on skill and technique. A match that relied as heavily on the temper of the mind as it did the body, Angel felt a brief stab of melancholy to realize not even Buffy had so sorely tested him as this youth did. She had fought with her fists and her heart, but rarely with her head. Looking into Riley’s eyes, he could see him moving steps ahead of his body, acting and reacting, playing it like a chess game, gaze focused inward as he mapped Angel’s skill, tried to predict and ultimately outmaneuver. The shock of understanding went straight to the vampire’s groin.

The dueled for what felt like hours, though Angel knew only a tenth of the time had elapsed. Feeling the burn in his own limbs, he listened to the youth’s ragged pants and shook his head at the stubborn glint in those intoxicating hazel eyes. They were nearing the end with both of them refusing to relinquish the match. Riley through simple pride and himself because it wasn’t in his nature to submit. He wasn’t so arrogant or weak to expect Riley’s surrender; he didn’t want a submissive lover, at least not in this. For all of his raging needs, he was reluctant to move the friendly sparring into a bid for dominance. Hunter’s instincts warned him away from such rashness, but there had to be a concession.

The Powers That Be must have been pleased with his efforts lately because, stepping back out of a high kick that would have neatly clipped his chin, hands reaching for the rigid ankle, he tripped over a plastic wrapped tube that rolled from beneath the couch. He’d puzzle over it later, since the couch had been shoved against the wall, and nothing had revealed itself in the moving, but at the moment he felt himself falling backwards, his only thought was of the foot he’d manager to capture. Worried he’d injure Riley if he took the youth with him in his fall, he let go. Unfortunately, Riley moved to protect himself at the same time, twisting and bending closer with the grace of a ballet dancer. Tension released, they fell in a tangle of limbs, rolling from the couch to collapse across the floor.

Breathing hard, limbs splayed out in boneless sprawl, Riley grinned over at Angel, eyes burning with the exhilaration of exhaustion. Body aching from the intense work-out, Angel returned the grin, never feeling better. “Thanks,” he croaked, surprising himself with the hoarseness of his voice. “I don’t often get to let go like that.”

The ex-Marine blinked, then tiredly nodded his head. “Yeah, not without a heavy body count, eh?”

The vampire snorted. “Or an insane amount of dust. I train with Gunn and Wesley, sometimes even Cordelia when I’m feeling masochistic, but it’s more sessions in restraint than anything.”

“Guess I should be glad I have the Big Bad to beat on,” Riley chuckled, “but yeah, I have to be careful on Harris and the girls.”

“Will’s too whiny about getting his ass kicked.”

“Oh yeah,” Riley laughed, a breathy, pleasing sound. “You nearly decapitate a guy one time, and it’s ‘No Pointed Weapons Allowed’.”

“I can’t even get within ten feet of him with a spatula. Goes completely spastic.” The dark blond head fell to the side to stare at him for a full minute, till Angel began to worry he’d sounded too psycho, but then there was a trickle of sound, a small giggle that exploded into full laughter. Riley’s whole body shook, arms wrapped about himself, and Angel’s gut clenched to witness such unrestrained mirth. So strong and vulnerable, so fucking beautiful for every flaw of weakness, of strength, and he remembered Tara telling him that they tried not to assume who Riley Finn was, because no one really knew anymore. Truth came in unguarded moments, unexpected and desperately searched for.

Their enjoyment ended abruptly as Riley suddenly sat up, eyes widening in shock. “Xander!” The vampire was instantly on his feet at the cry of alarm, looking to the doorway for sign of an attack. When nothing materialized, teenager, demon or otherwise, he turned back to the youth still on the floor, perplexed.

“Finn, what’s wrong?”

Rubbing at his temples, Riley folded his legs up. “I don’t know. I just saw Xander getting killed in the cemetery by some hairy demon. It just looked so much realer than the other times.”

Shaking the chill that rattled through him, Angel knelt beside the frowning young man. “Riley, did you kiss Cordelia?” he growled.

The dark blond head shot up. “No! Are you implying that was a vision? All I did was,” his words trailed off, gaze redirecting inward, “and there was this blue light.”

Not again. Not to his Riley. “When?”

“Yesterday. We shook hands.”

“That’s it?” Angel frowned.

“Yeah. Willow was hugging me and I shook Cordelia’s hand. That’s it. Does she share her visions like this all the time? If so, I recommend gloves. Maybe even a HazMat suit.”

“No, this has never happened before.” Angel grimly answered, thinking of who could be responsible and coming up with a very short list. “Do you need any aspirin? Cordy should have a carry-all full of them.”

“I’m fine. Just surprised me is all.”

Having seen how Doyle, then Cordelia, reacted to the visions, Angel could not believe the youth escaped unscathed. Reaching out, he gripped the strong chin and tilted Riley’s eyes up to meet his own. A little shaken and scared, but pain free. “No pain at all?”

A philosophical shrug accompanied a quirk that didn’t even try for a smile. “I’ve got a pretty high threshold for pain. So if that was a vision, are we going to go save Harris?”

Angel’s gripped tightened. “I don’t think-“

Eyes darkening to green, Riley wrenched himself free and rolled to his feet. “Don’t say it. I’m not hiding in this house with my friends in danger.”

The vampire rose to match him glare for glare. “You’d rather risk the Initiative finding your trail again? I can rescue the whelp on my own.”

“No, you can hope to try, and I’m not risking lives because of your ego.” Angel smiled to hear the commanding officer in the youth’s words and stepped closer.

“I can make you stay.”

A deep flush stained quickly across the high cheekbones, but he didn’t give ground. “No, but you can try.”

Immensely proud of his boy, Angel suddenly spun around and headed for the stairs. “Very well. I’ll get the gear. Meet me at the car.” He didn’t need to look to know he’d left a dumbfounded, off-balanced Riley Finn behind him. The hunt was picking up pace.
***
TBC.