Busy time of the Year.

Author: Ares

A drabble? Half a rose bud? You choose.

Written for Dark Star’s 2006 Christmas Advent Calendar.

*

It was the busiest time of the year for everyone. Well, almost everyone. Then again, his kind were busy too, eating, drinking, and being merry. And yet, even though he was kin to them, he wasn’t like them at all. Oh, he could be out, feasting, tasting and being merry with the torture. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, because…he left that all behind him, right? He could ignore the craving, the temptation, and the urge to maim and kill. He was a good boy now. He could walk amongst people, pretend he was one of them, pretend he couldn’t hear the cacophony of their beating hearts so discordant in his ears. Like an angel he passed them by, seeming to float and glide with inordinate grace. They would have wondered, if they had noticed. It was a gift he had, to seemingly appear and disappear, it was the predator in him.

His senses jangled. Another predator approached. He had to be wary. He slid into the darker shadows, cautious, and ever guarded. He scented the air. The other drew near. His fingers curled about his secret weapon. It wouldn’t do to be caught out. He hid it within the folds of his coat.

There, it was here!

“Angel? What are you doing there?”

The Slayer squinted up at him, her arms full of gaily wrapped parcels and packages, and not a stake in sight.

The vampire stepped out of the shadows and helped take some of her load.

“Lurking,” he said, ducking his head to hide his smile.

“Avoiding the horrors of Christmas shopping, I bet. I don’t blame you, it’s murder in there. Come on, I’m all done. There’s a tree that needs an Angel back home.”

So saying, Buffy led him away, and Angel happily followed, his secret weapon, her gift, safe in his pocket. Maybe he wasn’t pretending anymore. He did have something – someone – better in his life now. The other, that was all in the past…wasn’t it?

Merry Christmas.

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