Title: Homecoming
Author: Elisabeth
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: BtVS/Heroes crossover
Pairing/Characters: Angelus, Claire Bennet
Word Count: 1411
Summary: What if it wasn't Sylar that the Cheerleader needed saving from?
Warnings: violence
Spoilers: BtVS - nothing specific, just know that Angelus is loose; Heroes: Homecoming.
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Tim Kring et al and/or Joss Whedon et al.
Feedback: Yes please! It makes me happy and keeps me writing.
Betas: Gabrielle & KallieRose
Author's Note: Written for winter_of_angel
He strolled down the corridor of the high school. The building was mostly empty; nearly everyone was in the football stadium behind the school. A trophy case caught his eye and he allowed himself the distraction. He only vaguely knew who he was looking for, after all.
Rumors. That's what brought him to this small Texas high school. Rumors of a cheerleader who couldn't be harmed; who couldn't die. A toy that couldn't be broken. Well, at least not permanently.
Angelus grinned as he read a recent article. There… a blonde cheerleader saved a man from a burning train and emerged without a scratch on her. That must be her: Jackie Wilcox.
He easily located the girls' locker room and waited until the majority of the giggling cheerleaders left the room. All that remained were Jackie and another blonde girl.
Angelus killed the lights, inhaling deeply as the scent of fear began to fill the room. He rattled a locker, then silently moved ahead a few aisles. He didn't want to end the game quickly, after all.
He could hear the girls moving around, arguing.
Oblivious, Jackie moved down the aisle closest to him, saying, "Believe me, if you don't want to go out there and get that Homecoming crown, I'm more than happy –"
Angelus swiftly came around the corner and grabbed Jackie by the throat, pressing her against the locker. He ignored her scream, as well as her flailing arms and legs. She'd be still soon enough.
The other girl - Claire, he thought Jackie called her - jumped on his back, trying to pull him away from her friend.
Angelus reached behind him and tossed Claire away from him, ignoring the crunch of bones as she smashed into the wall behind them and fell to the floor.
Jackie whimpered, crying now. "Claire, no. Please, let me go. She's not moving. Oh, God."
Angelus changed, allowing the demon out. Jackie screamed and renewed her struggles.
"I've been looking forward to meeting you, Jackie," he growled against her ear before sinking his fangs into her neck.
Jackie's screams were music to his ears. It had been too long since he'd killed someone so resistant. Only, with this girl, he'd get to kill her again and again, as often as he wanted in any way that he wanted.
As he drained Jackie, he heard a gasp behind him. He turned his head to the other girl, whom he'd nearly forgotten about. She was standing, leaning against the wall, her jaw reconstructing itself before his eyes. Damn, he'd grabbed the wrong girl.
"Run," Jackie called out with her last dying breath.
Claire met his eyes for a moment and then bolted for the door.
Angelus snapped Jackie's neck, dropping her to the ground before giving chase. He hated running on a full stomach. Claire was going to pay.
When he got to the hallway, there was another man there who was pushing Claire out the door, seemingly determined to fight him. Angelus smirked, slowly walking towards the fool. He snarled, showing off his fangs and the man turned on his heels and ran.
He chased the pair to the top of the amphitheatre, making note of where the cheerleader ran off to as he worked on dispatching her would-be savior. As the boy pulled him over the edge, Angelus twisted their bodies so he'd be on top when they hit the ground.
The impact hurt, but didn't stop him for long. He was soon on his feet and sped in the direction the cheerleader had gone.
He caught up with her just outside the stadium. She was running, calling for her dad. He could hear a man calling out for Claire.
Angelus grabbed her from behind, a hand over her mouth and an arm around her waist. He pulled her backwards and out of the crowd.
"I'm your daddy now," he told her before snapping her neck. He knew that she was the one and would wake up from this. And if she wasn't, oh well.
Part 2
Angelus watched Claire's motionless body from the shadows. She was still as a corpse. Which, technically speaking, she was.
Without warning, she gasped and arched her back. Angelus could hear her bones snapping back into place, watching with morbid fascination as her body put itself back together.
Claire sat up quickly and looked around the cage she was being held in. She moved to the door and rattled it, but Angelus wasn't worried. He knew the cage was solid.
"Is anybody there?" Claire called out. "Help me, please!"
Stepping into the light, Angelus said, "Oh, somebody's here, but no one who will help you."
"Y-you," Claire gasped, staggering away from the cage door. "You killed Jackie."
"Aye, that was me," Angelus purred. "She rather deserved to die for taking credit for your actions, wouldn't you say?"
"No," Claire said, shaking her head to emphasize her point. "She didn't. I didn't mind. I didn't want anyone to know about me. I'm a freak."
"I can't disagree with you there," Angelus said, causing Claire to glare at him. "After all, one hardly comes across an all-you-can-eat buffet every day."
Claire shivered at the look of hunger in his eyes. Wrapping her arms around herself, she whispered, "Who are you?"
"I go by Angelus, but you will call me Master."
"Master?" Claire balked. "I'm not some kind of slave."
"Slave, prisoner, captive; it's all the same. You are here for my pleasure. I will do what I want with you. Whenever I want."
"You're a monster," Claire spat.
Angelus laughed. "You have no idea." He shifted to his game face and licked a fang.
He unlocked the door and stepped into the cage. Claire tried to run for the door, but he caught her by the hair and slammed her into the bars.
"Uh, uh, uh," he chided her. "Weren't you listening? You are mine. Which means that you stay in this cage."
"I don't belong to anyone," Claire insisted, glaring at her captor. "My father will find me and he is going to make you pay."
Angelus' hand swung out and slapped Claire. "No one will find you here, least of all your daddy." He watched in fascination as a bruise rose on her cheek, and then faded in seconds. It gave him a wonderful idea.
"Take off your shirt," he demanded as he began to remove his belt.
"No way," Claire said.
"You do it or I do," Angelus threatened, snapping the ends of his leather belt together.
With shaking hands, Claire turned away from Angelus and pulled the top of her cheerleading uniform over her head. She was still shaking her hair out when the first crack of the belt landed across her back. She cried out in pain and surprise.
"What the fuck?" she blurted out.
"We'll get to that," Angelus promised. The welt was already fading. "Now stay still, or it'll hurt more."
That was the last warning he gave before raining down lashes with his belt. He discovered that if he repeatedly hit the same spot, it took longer for the wound to heal.
At first, Claire tried to step away from the blows, but she had no way of knowing which direction he was going to come from. Angelus made sure not to whip her in any kind of predictable pattern.
"If you make me go find something to tie you up with, it's only going to be worse," he threatened.
Claire whimpered and wrapped her hands around the bars tightly, but stopped trying to avoid the lashes. Tears streaked down her dirty cheeks.
When his arm began to tire, Angelus finally stopped. Besides, Claire's crying was starting to get on his nerves. As she realized that there was no next blow coming, she slid to the floor, curling into a ball in the corner of the cage, her arms crossed over her naked breasts.
"You see what you did," Angelus casually said, walking over to her. He reveled in the way she flinched when he brushed the hair away from her neck. "Now I've worked up an appetite."
"Then go eat," she said, trying to dry her tears.
"Don't mind if I do," he said, sinking his fangs into her neck. He drank until she passed out.
Angelus ran a hand over Claire's perfectly unblemished back as he stood. "Welcome home, Claire," he said, locking the cage behind him.
The End
Copyright© February 2009