Angel/Lindsey, post NFA, PG-13
Despair
Angel had seen so many weird things, in the last few weeks, that
even the sight of the last man he would have expected to ever see again
wasn’t enough to surprise him. And after fighting the armies of hell
and a couple of dragons, a human armed simply with a pointy stick
wasn’t exactly frightening either.
“Lindsey. Care for a drink?”
The inviting gesture toward the empty seat at the table didn’t receive
any reply. Angel shrugged and took another sip of whiskey, wondering
tiredly if he needed to add Lorne’s name to the list of people who had
died while following him. Wasn’t the list long enough already? Didn’t
he have enough friends to mourn…
With a shake of his head, he dismissed the thought. Lorne was fine, he
had opened a new karaoke bar in a trendy capital of Europe. That was
Angel’s story and he would stick to it. Better to imagine him alive and
happy than…
Lost in his thoughts, he never saw coming the fist that caught him
under the jaw. The movement made him spill the glass he still held. A
pity, that. It was a fine alcohol. Good thing he still had most of the
bottle left.
“I’m not important enough that you’d kill me yourself,” Lindsey spat
bitterly, “but you could at least pretend to worry a little, couldn’t
you?”
Again, Angel shrugged. He had stopped worrying about death right about
the time he had realized he was the last one left standing. He had
searched for them for so long, but never found… Burning the thought out
of his mind, he refilled his glass, concentrating on the lovely amber
color, the flavorful scent, dismissing everything else. He wasn’t
drunk, far from it, but already he felt numb. Cold.
“Angel!”
Startled, he looked up; he had forgotten for an instant that Lindsey was right there.
“I believe we have unfinished business,” the human growled with a pointed look at his stake.
“We do?” Angel replied calmly. “And here I thought you’d never ask.”
In one long gulp, he finished his drink, and then stood. Lindsey took a
step back, certainly expecting an attack, but Angel simply walked past
him toward the bar’s exit. When he reached the door, he turned back,
looked at the human questioningly. Lindsey frowned, confused, before
finally dropping the stake on the table and following Angel out.