Starring:
Summary: Angel returns to Los Angeles and, first things first, he takes a look around the City. In doing so, he just so happens to meet a fiery demon hunter.
Date It Happened: 30th January, 2002
Cookies and Demons
Harborside, Los Angeles
It has been a long however-long since he went off to be by himself, but now he's back in Los Angeles. And his first order of business? Give the City a thorough examination to make sure nothing particularly vile is ready to bubble to the surface and plunge everyone in a five mile radius into the nearest Hell dimension. Friends and associates can wait until after his once over - they won't miss him.
Angel is back.
He lurks down by the docks in the harbor area, moving through the shadows between cargo crates as he follows a pair of suspicious-looking individuals in what appear to be robes. Has he been following them for long? Hard to say. But they haven't noticed him yet. Wherever they're headed, they're headed there in one big hurry.
Angel isn't the only one who keeps an eye out on the city. A dark figure looks at the hooded figures from an alleyway not too far. "Ah ah ah.." says a light female voice and footsteps ring out as the woman reveals herself to be Lilith. Dressed in a black shirt and black jeans with combat boots, the woman holds a dagger in one hand and her other hand is flexed at her side. "Now where do you guys think your going.. huh?" the pyro tilts her head at the hooded figures and grins. She hasn't hunted by herself in awhile.
Just as Angel opens his mouth to say something and call out the demonic, robed guys he spots Lilith stepping out to confront them and instead decides to remain ensconced in shadow. He’d caught her sent and even heard her a couple of times during this stealthy chase but it was such a long time he’d figured she was just watching them. But now it appears to be a showdown.
“Which ones that?” asks the first man in robes, his voice much too hissy to be a human without a speech impediment.
“Doesn’t look familiar to me,” replies the second, drawing what appears to be a long and wickedly-curved sword from the depths of his coat, “No witnesses!”
“Oh!” says the other, fumbling around in his own robes for a weapon but failing to immediately produce it, “Right, no witnesses.”
"Nice blade you got there." Lilith says with a grin and after cracking her neck from side to side the demonslayer rushes the hooded figures. Striking out with a kick to the head for one of them and stabbing out with her dagger to the one with the wicked sword. Her hair is luckily in a ponytail or it would have all been in her face. Her movements are light and graceful.
Okay, so the other hunter-type has some moves. Angel tilts his head to one side as he emerges slightly from the shadows to get a better look at what is going on around the shipping crate, contemplating jumping in himself. But the woman looks like she has it all tied up - the City was in good hands after all.
The unarmed one is kicked square in the face and he goes staggering back a few feet before he trips up on his own robes and lands on his back. The one with the sword, however, is a little more suited for fighting and he manages to knock the dagger aside with the sword and offer a vicious boot of his own - this one aimed at Lilith's stomach.
When the demon kicks Lilith in the stomach she grunts and stumbles back a few paces before righting herself and glaring at the demon with the sword. "Now look what you've done.." she says with a growl and her empty hand flexes and she holds it up as flames spring to life in around her palm and up her arm. The flames burn bright and powerful as she curls her fist and throws two fireballs, one at the hooded figure on the ground and the other with the sword. The second one isn't forgotten but Lilith will get him in a moment.
Angel is already springing out of his hiding place when the kick lands on Lilith, unwilling to let the demon types gain any sort of upper-hand in this situation. He's through the air in a flash, coat billowing out behind him as he lifts both fists above his head and prepares to bring them down on the sword-wielding demon's head.
But then there is a sudden burst of flame. It is all Angel can do to follow vampiric instinct and keep on rolling rather than striking the demon. And so it appears, to the casual observer, that he just sort of dives out of the shadows in time to narrowly avoid gouts of flame. Both demons go up quite swiftly; apparently they're both not fans of fire. There isn't even a peep. Just fwoosh and then some a couple clouds of bad-smelling smoke.
Angel leaps to his feet all of a sudden and holds up his hands in the universal sign of 'I am not here to eat you'.
A grin of satisfaction crosses Lilith's lips as the demons go up in flames but she blinks as Angel goes flying over. "What the hell?" she mutters to herself. Angel gets a once over before her dagger is thrown at the last remaining demon. If it hits home she would have looked at Angel more closely, "And just who are you?" with a hand on her hip.
“I could ask you the same question,” Angel says, falling into mysterious mode quite swiftly once it is clear she won’t immediately try to roast him, “It’s not every day you see someone who can shoot fire without the … you know.” He makes an effort to remain mysterious while also miming the copious ugly one usually finds in demons, mostly just by baring his teeth and furrowing his brow.
He sniffs the air almost imperceptibly.
“And you’re a human as far as I can tell.”
"Human yes, and as far as I can tell, /you/ are not." Lilith tilts her head a puts a hand on her hip. "Thanks for the uhh, attempt at helping." Lilith holds up fire hand for Angel to see and then the flames go out, smoke rising from her palm. "I'm a freak." She says with a grin.
“Join the club,” Angel says in reply, leaning back a fraction of an inch in response to the flames as he gestures to himself, “Angel.”
He weighs it all up in his head. He’s pretty sure he can move fast enough to avoid any bursts of flame and he’s of the hope that dropping his name will have the good ‘oh hey’ response rather than the bad ‘did you say Angelus?!’ one.
Lilith blinks, "So you're the vamp that doesn't bite people." Lilith grins and walks closer to Angel as if she is studying him. "Name's Lilith. Gunn told me about you." Lili places a hand in her pocket.
“That’s a way to put it.”
Angel nods his head, hearing the name Gunn and therefore experiencing that familiar feeling of all the pieces falling into place. Well, most of the pieces.
“You’re one of Gunn’s hunters, then?”
"Yeah you one of them" Lilith stretches and looks at Angel again. "Been hunting for a while now. How long have you been doing it?" Lilith already suspects the answer.
“A while,” Angel answers, not going into detail about the exact number of years nor the fact that before he was hunting demons and other vampires he was hunting things with a pulse and families and innocence.
"Fair enough." Lilith begins to walk, hopefully Angel walks with her. "Can I ask you a question?" she says and looks back at Angel as she walks. "You are a creature of the night ruled by the thirst.. how did you stop attacking humans? How did you gain the self control?"
"The pulp novel description aside," Angel begins, following alongside Lilith with his hands in his pockets, "I do okay. It's pretty much the whole soul thing. If you know you're going to feel bad about doing something then you don't do it."
"Sounds easy enough." Lilith grins at Angel and places one hand in a pocket. "Supernaturals on the street fear you Angel, you've done a hell of a job keeping this city in check." The young woman stares up at the sky as they walk.
“I keep telling people that but they still won’t give me the ten-gallon hat and the shiny badge.”
Angel lifts his shoulders in something of a half-hearted shrug, walking along. Despite appearing to be partially relaxed, he keeps glancing into the shadows and off into the distance every now and then.
Good hunters think alike because Lilith is doing the same as Angel. "Well we could always go knock on City Hall's door and demand it from them." Lilith teases and winks in Angel's direction.
"Ah, it's all too much of a hassle," Angel answers with a wave of his hand, "I'd have to ride everywhere on a horse and I prefer my car."
He catches the wink and raises an eyebrow slightly, although there is nothing else in terms of a reaction.
"Hm guess you're right." Lilith says and looks around more openly, "Where are the other demons? Damn, I thought tonight was gonna be /filled/ with action. Though I have had an interesting night. Meeting a vampire with a soul and all." Lili looks at Angel and she runs a short distance and once she gets far enough she does a back flip and after she lands it she grins. "I'm such a kid sometimes." She admits and scratches her head. The woman is /very/ active and has to be doing something usually or she goes nuts.
Angel maintains his slow, walking pace despite Lilith’s jumping and flipping about – he’s not one for needless usage of energy, after all. If walking will serve his purposes then walking is what he’ll do. He doesn’t seem particularly taken back by the whole display, though, taking it in stride like he does most things.
“Want an autograph? I’ve got great penmanship.”
The woman puts a finger on her chin and shrugs. "Sure why not? Then I bet in like a century it'll be worth tons of money.. now if only I would live that long." Lilith is teasing as she falls back to Angel's side. "Because if I don't have your autograph, absolutely nobody would believe me."
“I, uh, I was kidding.”
Angel shrugs his shoulders in an apologetic fashion, patting the pockets of his coat for a moment before shaking his head.
“I don’t usually carry a pen with me.”
Angel is given a dubious look. "Is my sarcasm that bad now that it can't be recognized." Lilith chuckles and looks to Angel.
“I get it,” Angel answers, nodding his head, “Well; I’ll try not to let it show how offended I am that you didn’t really want my autograph after all.”
"Aw did I hurt a vampire's feelings?" Lilith grins at Angel, "If you want, I can make you a batch of the most awesome cookies to make you feel better.. even though you couldn't eat them. You could.. ya know. Smell them."
“I’ll keep the offer in mind,” says Angel in turn, not quite returning the grin but curling his lips slightly in something that may resemble a quarter of a smile. After a moment he looks at his watch and clicks his tongue, “I guess I don’t have to tell you why I should be getting out of here.”
"Good, I'll bring them by one day." Lilith looks down at her watch and nods her head. "Yes shoo don't want the only good vamp out there to burn up from the sun." Lilith begins to walk away. "See ya soon." She calls out and then the pyro is walking away without a backward glance.
Angel is quite gone once the goodbyes are given, however. Off into the shadows for parts unknown.
