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XII

Angel's life became a steady pattern. She woke up every morning, ate breakfast with Jaden, and then went to school with him. They rehearsed their play and then went to lunch. Once lunch was over, Jaden went to work at Starbucks, and Angel stayed at the police station with Forrest and Crystal, or she went shopping with Crystal. She then ate dinner with whomever she was with and then went to the theater and performed.

The endless schedule was wearing on her, as were the constant shadows she saw looming about, watching her. She began to work with the police again every night, for quite suddenly, New York City was a shelter for vampires. There were so many of them, Angel couldn't keep count. In reality, there were twenty-one vampires. Ghost and his seven followers, and Val and his twelve. Several of these vampires tried to catch Angel alone, so they could harm her, but she was never alone, and they remained quiet, sulking in the darkness.

She knew it was only a matter of time, though, before things turned for the worse, and she was right.

Ghost and his men seemed as nothing compared to what began to happen in her life. Ghost's followers had never really harmed her. They had simply fought the police when threatened. But Val's group…they were vicious. And they were schemers. They could outthink the police, hence the success of their first true attack against Angel.

The last performance of the week had been given, and Angel returned to her dressing room that she shared with the other girls. She quickly got changed into her regular clothes, but she spent some time cleaning up the room afterwards. The others were always throwing their things about, and they left it to Angel to clean everything up. Of course, they knew where everything was all the time, but Angel had difficulty keeping up with her things in the mess, so to satisfy her, they let her clean.

The other women left, and Angel was also about to leave, to meet up with Jaden in the auditorium, when the dressing room door slammed shut. She turned violently to face the door and found a man standing there, his arms folded across his chest, his dark gray eyes boring into hers. She hadn't seen this one's face before, and because of that, she knew he wasn't one of Ghost's men. Ghost's group hadn't tried to attack her ever since she started giving them dinner, but they had threatened her. These new vampires, however, had no respect for her as a person or as a woman. They knew she was their darkest threat, and they wanted her dead because of that. There was no self-control on their parts. These had been the ones going about every night finding some new prey to kill and keeping Angel and the police extremely busy.

Angel didn't say a word; she simply gazed at the vampire and let him get a good, long look at her. After a few long seconds, she turned suddenly and rushed towards the side door, letting out a scream for help as she did so. She slid to a stop and screamed again when she nearly collided against another vampire, who had somehow managed to drop down from the ceiling. She turned her head viciously back and forth, searching for any other escape routes. There was the door behind the first vampire she had seen, now moving stealthily towards her, and perhaps she could rush around him. There was also the closer door, now blocked by another adversary.

Angel had seen enough of these creatures to know that she couldn't possibly outrun them. And if she had thought long and hard enough at the moment, she would have remembered that there really weren't too many ways of outsmarting them. But her adrenaline was rushing within her, with every step closer her enemies came to her, and she decided to act on impulse. There was no time for long thinking. She had to save her life, and she had to do it now.

She let out a cry and then rushed at the vampire guarding the side door. She let her body slam hard into him, not hurting him in the faintest, but catching him greatly off-guard, and then grabbed hold of the doorknob behind him, turning it violently. In so doing, she exposed her neck, and she heard him take in a deep, long breath. The side door swung open, and snow rushed into the room, brushing over Angel and the vampire. Just as she was about to pull away from her attacker, she felt a hand grab her roughly by the back of her neck and pull her towards the body of the other man, the one who had been there first.

"We've waited a long time to catch you so unprepared," he hissed against her ear, letting his fingertips brush against her throat.

"Why did you wait so long?" Angel gasped, sucking in great gulps of air as her head was pulled back against the man's shoulder, her eyes wide with terror.

"Complications. It seems the Ghost didn't want you touched," the man hissed, nuzzling his mouth against the area just below her ear.

"That's strangely thoughtful of him," Angel said, letting her hand sneak to his side where she knew, according to her experiences with the police, they kept daggers or blades of some sort. "Serving Val, are you? I thought he would have come to kill me himself?"

"Oh, he wanted the pleasure," her captor smiled against her skin. "But we want to get it over with. Besides, now that we have you, you'd make an absolutely delightful entrée."

"He sent you. I'm sure he wanted you to bring me to him. I wouldn't mind seeing him again to give him a piece of my mind," Angel said, feeling the dagger handle beneath her fingertips and taking a gentle hold on it, so the vampire wouldn't know she had it.

"We were told, once we got you, to kill you. Now stop moving about," the man smirked, moving his lips to her neck.

"I'm so tired of all of you touching me there," Angel sighed and then drew his dagger and spun violently, bringing the blade to bear against his neck and drawing a heavy stream of blood. He choked and then stumbled back, his blood getting on her jacket. She then lunged at his companion, raising the dagger to stab him also, but he grabbed her upraised hand and then violently brought his mouth down towards her neck.

Before his teeth could touch her, he let out an agonized howl and then spun around to see a cloaked figure standing out in the snow, his hand still raised from when he had flung his dagger at Angel's attacker. Her attacker drew the dagger out of his shoulder and then turned, crouched low, and charged the cloaked figure.

Angel screamed as both men collapsed in the snow, fighting viciously, and the vampire she had wounded grabbed her from behind, moving quickly to shove her hair away from her neck. He picked her up off the ground, holding her tightly against him as she screamed and struggled, always watching her rescuer. She knew, from his build and the way he fought, that he wasn't Ghost, and she was scared for him and for herself. He was so occupied with fighting off one man, that he didn't seem to see her struggling with the other one.

His hands were hard against her stomach, holding her up, and her shirt slipped slightly so that she felt his icy hands on her stomach. She panicked then, trying to turn and see him, kicking back and getting him in the legs. It didn't bother him in the slightest, and he drew back, away from the open door, and then smiled when he saw her would-be rescuer collapse, limply, into the snow.

"No!" Angel screamed, terror flowing through her as her hands rummaged for her necklace. "No!"

"A new battle has begun. The battle with you is about to end, but the war against Ghost and his men has only just started," the vampire hissed, letting his lips move torturously against her throat.

"You would kill one of your own?" she cried, watching the enemy vampire get away from the fallen one and disappear into the cold night air, believing that his companion was going to finish Angel off.

"We hate Ghost and all his followers," the man snarled, letting his mouth open wider to bite her.

"And that's really such a shame," a voice spoke from behind him, and he dropped Angel, hard, and turned to see three other vampires in the shadows of the room.

Angel immediately recognized them as Dorian, Adrian, and Bartholomew, and she let out a long sob.

"Care to leave now, or would you like us to kill you?" Dorian asked, his dark brown eyes glowing as he twirled what appeared to be a cane, but most definitely had some sort of deadliness to it.

"I'll leave, but be sure, Val will hear about this. Tell your master he's as good as destroyed," the vampire hissed and then sprang out into the snow.

"My goodness. Wasn't that close?" Bartholomew said, walking over to Angel and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Why are you here?" she asked, her eyes bloodshot as she gazed up at him. "You're after me too! Or didn't you know that?"

"Why do you think you haven't been attacked for awhile?" Adrian asked, a faint smile on his face. "We've been protecting you."

"Why, though?"

"Because, while Ghost acts as though he wants you killed, he really wants you to destroy us. And we aren't sharing the reason with you right now," Bartholomew explained. "We won't be able to hold Val off forever, though, as this night clearly shows."

"Oh, one of you was hurt!" Angel cried, suddenly remembering the still form in the snow.

She clambered to her feet and then raced out into the night and dropped down next to the still form of a man in a cloak. Quickly, she grabbed his hood and pulled it back, revealing the face of Whisper.

"Oh no! He isn't dead, is he?" she gasped, grabbing his wrist and searching for a pulse.

"We don't have too much of a pulse, unfortunately," Adrian frowned, kneeling next to Whisper and moving his fingers to the man's throat. "Nothing here."

"He was stabbed," Bartholomew said, pulling Whisper's shirt away to reveal a dagger right next to where the man's heart would be if he had one. Blood was seeping from the wound, and Angel panicked and turned away, suddenly feeling sick.

"It could be stitched up, and he'd be fine," Dorian said, grabbing the dagger and pulling it out of Whisper's chest.

Angel heard the sound of metal pulling through flesh, and she turned her head and hurled.

"This is really bad," Adrian said, inspecting the wound. "And…" He stood up abruptly, sniffing and turning his body away from Whisper. "We can't help him, Angel. If you want that wound to get closed up, you're going to have to take care of it."

"What?" she gasped. "I'll get sick and throw up my insides, and I can't stand the sight of…"

"Angel, please do us a favor and cover up that blood!" Bartholomew pleaded, backing away from Whisper.

"Angel!" Jaden's voice called, and Angel turned to see him rushing towards her, having forced the dressing room door open. "What happened? I heard you screaming and I came as soon as I could, but…"

He slammed into Adrian and would have fallen, but Dorian caught him and helped him stand up.

"Who are these?" Jaden asked worriedly, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Ghost's vampires," Angel said. "A couple of Val's men tried to kill me, and they protected me. Whisper was stabbed in the chest."

"Oh no! Can anything be done for him?" Jaden asked worriedly, grabbing hold of Angel and pulling her tightly to him, to reassure himself that she was safe.

"I…I can stitch up his wound and he should be all right," Angel gulped. "Jay, I can't stand the sight of blood. You know that."

"But it could save a man's life, one of your rescuers," Jaden said quietly, rubbing her back.

"I know," she whispered, trembling, the full force of how much danger she had been in finally hitting her.

"Please do something," Adrian pleaded. "We can't, not without killing him ourselves, and we don't want him to die."

"I'll make a deal with you. I'll help Whisper if you'll tell me why Ghost wants you destroyed, why he won't let anyone kill me," Angel said firmly.

"Fine," Dorian said shortly. "Just close that wound up."

"Get him in here," Angel said quickly and then rushed over to one of the vanities and grabbed a sewing kit.

Dorian had a cigarette lighter that he added to her supplies, and she quickly grabbed a needle, sterilized the end of it, and put some black thread through it. She then knelt down next to Whisper and gulped back the liquid that was coming up her throat.

"There's so much blood. Can any of you clean it up a bit?" she asked weakly, sick to her stomach.

"We'd end up killing him," Adrian said, stepping back more.

"I'll get it," Jaden said, grabbing some loose fabric and kneeling down next to Angel. "Help me get to the wound."

Angel took his hand in hers and then guided it to the great gash in Whisper's chest. Jaden then began to wipe at the blood, flinching when it got on his hands.

"You better take care of him soon," he said. "He's really bleeding."

"Tell me why Ghost wants me alive," Angel said, biting her lip viciously as she moved her quaking hands to Whisper's chest.

"He wants us all dead, as do we," Dorian said, keeping his back turned to Whisper, trying not to think of all the blood.

"But why?" Angel asked, and then threw up again as she inserted the needle in Whisper's skin.

"Because we're evil. We're doomed to a horrific fate. We're all tired of killing people, because we know it's wrong, but we can't stop. We'd be better off dead, and the world would be far better off if we were," Adrian answered. "You have the key to killing us off. We want you to kill us, and quickly. Yes, we'll still be condemned to the same fate, but the world will be a whole lot safer without us. We're nothing but cannibals."

"That's the only reason you aren't killing her?" Jaden asked, putting his hand on Angel's shoulder when he heard her sucking down more throw up as she put in the first stitch, knotted it against Whisper's skin, drawing a great deal more blood, and then cutting the thread.

"We think there's another reason for him personally wanting to kill you," Bartholomew said. "He loves you. He would never admit it, but he does. There's something about your resistance and beauty that he finds intriguing. He wants to know all he can about you, and he wants you to come to him, of your own free will. We're helplessly romantic creatures sometimes, I'm afraid."

"Jaden, more cloth, quickly!" Angel exclaimed as blood began to seep onto her fingers. "Ohhhh!" She choked, her stomach churning.

Jaden immediately cleaned up the cut more.

Thirteen stitches later, Whisper's cut was sewn up and as clean as it could possibly get. He began to move just as Angel was finishing with the last stitch, and then his eyes opened wide and he sat up, his head slamming into Angel's face.

She groaned and fell back, holding her bruised forehead.

"What happened?" Whisper demanded, hissing between his teeth from the pain.

"You were stabbed by Davin," Dorian said, grabbing Whisper's hand and helping him stand. "Angel sewed you up. She went through quite a bit of trouble. She threw up a total of ten times along the way."

"Thank you," Whisper said, turning to her. "Are you all right? You weren't hurt, were you?"

"No. You saved me, Whisper. All of you did. Thank you so much," Angel said, turning to the men.

"Angel, there is something you need to understand," Adrian said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You are in grave danger. As soon as you can get away from the city, I suggest you leave. Ghost may have some sort of feelings for you. He may want us to die to end all the wickedness, but one thing you absolutely must remember is that he's the lord over all of us, even Val. He has to look strong and powerful to the others, or he will be considered a mockery. That may even mean hurting you. We can fight off Val and his boys, but Ghost, we can't. He's our leader and he is stronger than the rest of us. You haven't been given much of a chance to see him fight. He is very powerful and very, very alluring when he wants to be."

"Thank you for the warning," Angel said quietly. "I intend to leave the city as soon as the play is finished. Dad wants me out of here."

"And he has every right in the world to want that," Bartholomew nodded. "We're leaving. You be careful."

Angel nodded and then watched the vampires disappear. Jaden got off the floor and walked over to the side door, the cold breeze blowing against him as he did so. He slammed the door shut, letting it immediately lock, and then turned to Angel, rubbing his eyes.

"You know, your dad isn't the only one concerned. I know I haven't been here for you as much as I wish I could be," he said, walking over to her slowly, trying to avoid falling over anything. "And I know I'm blind, so I'm not much help, but I worry about you. You mean the world to me, and if the vampires should shatter that world, I would die."

"Jay, you've always been there for me, and I appreciate you so much," Angel smiled, taking his hand. "Let's get back home before it gets much darker."