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Chapter 10: Sounds of Silence
Professor Walsh was giving a lecture about human behavior in front of the class but Buffy's mind was drifting to Angel who had suddenly appeared to the door.
“... It's about thoughts and experiences that we don't have a word for. A demonstration. Buffy Summers”, professor Walsh continued and Buffy turned to her in surprise but rose from her seat anyway.
”Typical college girl, one assumes. Lie down on my desk”, Walsh continued and Buffy looked at her like she had lost her mind. ”Go ahead.” Reluctantly Buffy laid on the desk, keeping herself up on her forearms so she could see what was going on.
”You mister, who interrupted my class, come forward, you are volunteering for this demonstration”, Walsh said and signed Angel to come in. He walked to the desk looking at Buffy.
”A kiss is just a kiss, I believe the line goes. The rest comes from you.” Angel bend down closer to Buffy who smiled nervously.
”This is weird”, she whispered but Angel smiled reassuringly. ”Don't worry. If I kiss you, it'll make the sun go down”, he whispered to her ear and claimed her lips in a sensual kiss. Slowly the lights dimmed and when they broke the kiss, sun had set and the class room was empty.
Buffy jumped down from the table and looked around herself, she could here a tuneless humming. She looked at Angel and he nodded confirming that he could hear it also. They walked down the hall and stopped when they saw a little girl singing to herself:
“Can't even shout. Can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by. Looking in windows, knocking on doors... They need to take seven and they might take yours...” She saw a little wooden box on the girls hands. ”Can't call to mom. Can't say a word. You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard”, the girl continued singing.
Angel stepped closer to her and took her hand into his. She turned but there was no Angel. At the doorway stood Riley holding a stake in his hand and suddenly a white wickedly grinning face appeared in front of her. She was startled awake and she looked frantically around her, she was still at the psych class.
Buffy and Willow headed out of the class. Willow teased her of sleeping and assured her she didn't drool.
”Hey!” Riley hollered as he ran to Buffy and Willow. ”Hey”, was their answer. ”I'm going to the wicca group meeting, I'll see you at home”, Willow said with a smile and left them alone. Buffy and Riley started along the hall.
“So, you looked like you were having fun during the class”, he said smiling. Buffy looked around herself feeling a bit embarrassed. “Not all that great. It was... intense.” “Oh? But you looked so peaceful. And you were smiling at first”, he said. A small smile rose to her lips as she remembered the start of her dream. “Oh, I had a good start at it.” Riley looked at her closely, they had been talking a lot lately and they had some spark, so he just decided to go for it.
“So, what are you doing now? Would you like to go have coffee?” Buffy was surprised by the question and she turned quickly to him. “Coffee?” she asked confused and Riley smiled, she looked real cute.
“Yeah, it's this hot drink.” “Oh, that's what it is, now I know what all those kids are talking about”, she joked but her mind was racing, had Riley just asked her for coffee. Maybe it was just school business and her mind was drifting into the gutter. Riley smiled and gave a small laughter.
“So how 'bout it? You and me with some coffee?” Buffy shifted nervously, she hadn't heard wrong and it didn't sound like school business. “I don't know, I have to do the homework thing right now”, she tried to dodge.
“Well, we could reschedule. I can't tonight, I'm having fun at rating papers.” “I heard that is great fun. If you pass mine, could you give me full points?” she smiled and earned one from Riley. “We'll see about that”, he promised.
Buffy called Giles about the dream and he promised to look into the matter. After that she headed to the mansion, it was a habbit that she went to Angel's to do her homework, he would never help her but she got rewarded afterwards.
Buffy closed the psych book with a loud thump and got up from her seat. She glanced at Angel who was reading on the couch. She went to him and pulled the book out of his hands. He looked at her in question but she just smirked and placed the book on the coffee table.
After that she sat on his lap straddling him and said with a breathy voice: “I finished my homework, made my brain work real hard. And I think I deserve a reward.” She was leaning close to his face, her lips hovering closely to his but not touching. He stared at her lips, they were just begging to be kissed and he could feel her every puff of breathe.
“I guess nothing in life is free”, he said and pulled her into a sensual kiss. He deepened the kiss, his hands circled around her body and he pulled her more closer to his. When they broke apart, she was out of breathe and it felt like her mind had stopped working. She let out a satisfied sigh and placed her head against his shoulder.
“Wow. But now it's time for the shop talk. I think I had a prophetic dream”, she said regretfully and played with the hem of his shirt.
“Tell me”, he encouraged and took hold of her hand, bringing it to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. Her demonstration was making him very distracted. Buffy told him the short version of the dream and he decided to ignore the fact that she had fell asleep during class. It was probably his fault cause he was keeping her up all night. He was pulled away from his thoughts by a soft slap and he turned to look at her.
“Don't go there. It wasn't your fault I fell asleep. Not everything is about you, you know”, she said. “Old habits”, he defended and turned back to the topic in question: “I don't think I've heard about the Gentlemen, and I've been around for some time.”
“Yeah. Well, I already called to Giles and he's looking into it. But what ever they are, I don't like it. They were really creepy”, she said and leaned more closely into him. “We'll beat them like we always do”, he assured her and she turned to look him with a small smirk playing on her lips.
“Ooh... Aren't we feeling positive. That's a whole new look for you.” “I'm full of surprises”, he answered deadpanned.
Buffy woke up with a start, she had overslept and not crept back to the dorm room. She rolled around and glanced at Angel, he was still sleeping. She resisted the urge to kiss him but she didn't want to wake him up and she had to get back to the dorm room.
She started to get up but was pulled back to the bed. She let out a startled yelp and turned to look into Angels sleepy eyes. They stared into each others both knowing that there hadn't left a sound from her.
“Angel?” she asked but again there was no sound. “Buffy?” he asked but there was no voice either. “So I'm not deaf”, she mouthed when she saw the surprised but still brooding look on Angels face. The more he thought, the more his face went more serious.
Then he turned to look at Buffy expression of recognition on his face and quickly he rolled over to the night table. He took a paper pad and wrote to it. 'Can't even shout. Can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by' he wrote to the pad and Buffy understood what he meant.
“The gentlemen did this?” she mouthed and he nodded. 'I think so', he wrote to the pad. Buffy nodded and got out of bed looking for her clothes. Angel got up after her and turned her around.
“Are you okay?” he mouthed and Buffy nodded with a sad smile. He pulled her into a comforting hug and placed a soft kiss to the top of her head. She turned to look at him and mouthed: “I love you.” She pressed a kiss to his lips and took the pad from him. 'I need to go, tell the gang what's happening', she wrote to it and he nodded in understanding. She turned to leave but he grabbed her hand spinning her around.
“Be careful.” She smiled and answered: “You too.” She kissed him quickly and left.
Buffy went to the dorm room where Willow was slowly panicking. After she had calmed down, they went to Giles' but he told them there wasn't any information about the Gentlemen in his books. The day went on but there wasn't much that they could do without any information.
Buffy visited Angel and told him she couldn't spend the night cause she couldn't leave Willow alone and as always, Angel understood it completely. They parted ways and the next morning Buffy found a college student, murdered and missing a heart. Giles made them a presentation of what he had found about the Gentlemen but it wasn't all that much help since they still didn't have a way to kill the Gentlemen since they didn't have their voices which seemed to be the only thing that could kill them.
Buffy was sitting on the couch snuggled into Angel and they were both staring at the fire in front of them. The only sound in the room was the cracking of the fire. Buffy sighed deeply and pressed her face against his neck. He turned to look at her, stroking her back soothingly. He pressed a soft kiss to her hair and she pulled to look at him.
“I think we need to patrol”, she mouthed and he nodded but neither of them made a move to get up. “I don't know how to beat this”, she mouthed fearfully and turned to look away. He took hold of her chin and turned her to face him. “You will. And I will help you”, he mouthed and pressed a kiss to her lips. She immediately felt more calm and gave him a small smile. She grabbed his hand and pulled him up with her. They grabbed weapons and left the mansion.
After a quick sweep to the cemetery they ended up to the campus. Buffy turned to face Angel and touched his hand to grab his attention. “We better split up”, she mouthed but he didn't look happy about it. He shook his head and mouthed a no.
“We can be more help if we split, we'll meet here in 45 minutes”, she suggested and he understood she was right but he didn't like. He nodded clearly not liking it. He took hold of her arms and focused her gaze to his. “Be careful. I mean it”, he said and she nodded. “You too”, she answered before they went on their own paths.
Not long after they split, Buffy saw the Gentlemen heading towards the clock tower. She turned to look if Angel was still in sight but she was attacked by two of the henchmen in straitjackets. The fight wasn't all that long, she needed to go after the main prize. She snapped the others neck and it fell to the ground lifeless. The other fled the scene running towards the clock tower and Buffy ran after it.
The henchman ran to a room that had boards in its windows and Buffy jumped through the boards into the room knocking down the henchman she was chasing. She hit it hard and reached for her crossbow. She turned around and came face to face with Riley in his commando gear a riffle pointed at her. They stared surprised at each other but they didn't have time for questions when a henchmen attacked them.
Buffy kicked one of the henchmen and send it flying across the room. She immediately started fighting another, throwing punches and kicks at it. The henchman scrambled up from the ground and started to run up the stairs. Buffy glanced at Riley and since he seemed to be managing on his own, she went after the demon.
She ran up the stairs and saw the shrine, five jars on it. She didn't have time for anything when bunch of henchmen tackled her to the floor and pinned her down. She tried to struggle but it didn't seem to be working. Her eyes widened as she saw two gentlemen approaching with scalpel in hand.
Suddenly the gentleman was knocked down and Buffy turned to see Angel beating it with rage. “Angel”, she said in relief but no one heard her. Buffy knocked the henchmen off of her while Angel grabbed the scalpel and sunk it into the gentleman. It did nothing to it and then he was grabbed by two henchmen from behind. They started fighting and Riley joined the fight also.
Buffy was thrown to the ground and that's when she saw the box. She remembered her dream and knew she had to get to the box. Angel had managed to fight off the henchmen when she saw Buffy being grabbed. She was hit hard making the blood surface and that made him full of rage. When a henchman slashed him, he couldn't keep the rage in check and his vamp face surfaced. Riley saw him change into a vampire and fired his gun at him, making Angel fall down from the electric shock running through his body.
“Angel!” Buffy screamed automatically still no voice coming from her. She was grabbed and laid against the table, gentleman with a scalpel approaching her. She tried to signal Riley to mash the box but he hit a jar with a heart in it with his gun. Buffy rolled her eyes even though she was one step away from being dis-hearted.
Angel knocked Riley out of the way and smashed the box. Mist filled the room and Buffy knocked the henchmen off of her. She rolled away from them and took a deep breathe letting out a deafening scream. The gentlemen froze and soon their heads exploded spilling the green goo all over the place.
After the demons had fell to the floor, headless, Buffy turned to look at Angel grinning, not even noticing that he had his vamp face on. Angel walked to her and pulled her into a comforting hug.
“I haven't heard you screaming in so long time”, he whispered to her ear grinning. Buffy turned to look at him, a small smile rising to her lips. “Yeah? I haven't had a reason to scream like a girl in a long time. By the way, I like your voice”, she answered and pulled him into a kiss without even remembering that Riley was still in the room. He was looking at the couple kissing and he felt disgusted by the fact that the girl he had a crush was kissing a vampire like he was the love of her life. Slowly Angel's game face shifted away and he pulled away from her lips.
“I like hearing your voice too”, he whispered to her ear like he was confessing his love for her and he pressed a soft kiss next to her ear. But their moment was interrupted by Riley clearing his throat and looking at them expectantly while playing with the wooden chair leg in his hand. Instinctively Buffy stepped in front of him and looked sternly at Riley.
“Don't even think about it”, she said with her authority voice. “What are you? I know what that is, but what are you?” Riley asked stepping one step closer. “Capricorn. On the cusp of Aquarius. You?” Buffy asked and placed hands on her hips.
”Sorry. Came out a little blunter than I intended. It's just... You're amazing. Your speed, your strength...” Riley started apologizing forgetting Angels presence. “Also passionate, artistic And inquisitive. But who are you?” Buffy answered getting tired of the conversation. “You know who I am. The rest... What I do... I can't tell you.” Buffy glanced at Angel who was glaring at the commando, then she shifted her gaze back to him.
“Then, let me. You're part of some military monster squad that rounds up demons, vampires. You probably have official sounding euphemisms for them like 'Unfriendlies' or 'Non-sapiens...'”, she started hitting a little too close to home. “It's Hostile Sub-Terrestrials”, Riley clarified.
“There you go. So you deliver these... 'HSTs' to a bunch of lab coats who perform experiments which, among other things, turn some into harmless bunnies. How am I doing so far?” she asked sarcastically. “A little too well. But you didn't tell me what... who you are?”
“I'd have thought a professional demon chaser like you would've figured it out by now”, she answered and waited for him to say something. But when there was nothing, she stated the obvious: “I'm the Slayer.” He just looked at her dumbly.
“Slay-er. Chosen one? She who hangs out a lot in cemeteries?” she continued like she was talking to a child but there was no recognition. “You're kidding”, she sighed, for once there was someone who didn't know that she was a slayer.
“What kind of demon hunter are you when you don't even know what the Slayer is?” Angel scoffed.
“You shut your mouth, demon”, Riley snapped at Angel. “Don't test me, boy! You almost got her killed!” Angel growled back at him and Buffy placed a calming hand on his. Riley's face darkened.
“Be quiet before I'll stake you, demon.” “You could try, boy”, Angel answered and Buffy rolled her eyes. “Could you two please stop the pissing contest. I just made demon heads explode and all I want to do is go to bed.” Riley glanced at Angels hand resting on Buffy's arm and grimaced.
“If you are a demon hunter. Why haven't you killed this vampire? I saw his face and you must have seen that too.” “I don't even notice it anymore. I know he's a vampire. But he has a soul. This whole thing about curse and all that. So basically he's the only vampire that has a soul.”
“Vampires can't have a soul”, Riley insisted and Buffy tried to control herself from rolling her eyes. “Didn't you listen. There was a curse, he has a soul, end of story”, Buffy said again like talking to a small child.
“He's still a vampire.” “He's also a man. And I love him.” “You're under his thrall”, Riley accused and Buffy giggled. “Come on. There is no thrall. You have watched too many movies. And I'm tired of this conversation. I'm going home and we'll talk about this later, like tomorrow.” She grabbed Angels hand and lead him away before Riley could even protest.
Buffy and Angel went back to the mansion. Angel set a fire and they curled up to the couch. He wrapped his arms around her and took a book from the table. She pressed a kiss to his neck and placed her head against his shoulder. He started to read poetry of John Keats with a soft voice close to her ear.
When her breathing changed, he stopped reading and turned to look at her. A small smile rose to his lips and he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. She wrinkled her nose but didn't wake up. Soundlessly he placed the book to the table and lifted her in his arms. He carried her to the bed and laid next to her circling his arms protectively around her. She turned in her sleep snuggling closer against his chest. She looked so peaceful, unknowing of what would soon come like it always would.
