DISCLAIMER: Angel the Series/Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy etc. Elizabeth Blaine and attendant characters belong to Wes Craven etc. I'm just playing. If, herein, other characters bear a certain resemblance to familiar faces, it's intentional and they, of course, belong to their various creators as well.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a follow-up to the musically based meme piece, Ticket to Heaven. I attempted to go for another ten songs, and some of the pieces ran away with me. Rather than corral them, I gave them reign and let them find their way home. Hope you enjoy the journey! The title is a mashup of the two songs that played on repeat. The artist is Heart.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Desire: Black On Black
By sHaYcH
Sweat trickled down Kate's back as she tried to control the impulse to fire. Wait for it… not yet… wait for it… No use in further fucking up an already pooch-screwed night. After a nasty argument had driven her lover out into the rain, being smacked upside the head with an empathic burst of fear and need had been the last thing Kate had expected to feel. Thankfully Willow was able to quickly nail down the trouble, putting the team on the trail of a vampiric would-be sorceress bent on discovering Elizabeth's secrets.
Candlelight flickered off the fear-inducing tableau before her. Lying spread eagle, naked, and covered with dozens of wounds, her lover Elizabeth Blaine looked up at her captor. Even in the dim light, Kate could see that Liz's gaze was fearless, almost challenging the sorceress to strike.
"Put down the gun, Miss Lockley. I assure you, it is quite useless." The sorceress' tone was calm, almost hypnotic and the muscles in Kate's arm began to relax. Smiling in victory, the sorceress began to lower her blade once more, cutting a shallow furrow in the flesh above Elizabeth's left collarbone. "Bleed for me, my darling," crooned the sorceress even as she moved to capture the vampath's blood in a crimson stained bowl. "That's it. Give me the secret of your life, Elizabeth Blaine. I wish to walk in the sun once more." Ignoring the woman only paces away, the sorceress turned to her collection of vials and unguents to retrieve something.
From a great distance, the static crackle of her earpiece flickering to life caused Kate to shiver. "Boss! Fire now, Boss!" Dersk's sharp command startled the investigator into squeezing the trigger. Three shots in quick succession raced across the chamber, each blessed bullet impacting its target with precision.
Hand. Head. Heart. Blood sprayed everywhere, raining down on the helpless vampath still bound to the altar of wood and stone. A low, bone-numbing wail began to fill the room. Even as the sound grew, Kate raced over to her lover, holstered the weapon, and found a knife to cut the ropes binding Elizabeth to the altar.
"How the Hell do you get into these things?" Kate grumbled even as she worked to free her lover. The sorceress was still dying, her death knell raising the hairs on Kate's arms as she sawed at the ropes.
Weakly, Elizabeth murmured, "I was just out getting you something for Valentine's Day."
Kate's expression softened, but she shook her head and sighed. "You didn't have to do that."
"I didn't want you to be mad at me anymore."
As she helped her lover to sit up, Kate said, "I wasn't mad, just … oh, I don't know. Valentine's was always one of those 'not for me' holidays." She sighed again then pulled Elizabeth into a fierce embrace. "Then you came along and holidays make me want to be all traditional."
Voice muffled by Kate's jacket, Elizabeth said, "Did you find my heart?"
"What?" Somehow, Dersk must have heard what the vampath said because his voice joined Kate's in the shrill query.
Pulling away from Kate, Elizabeth looked around until she spotted her clothes. "Over there. Look in the pocket of my jeans." The vampath's tos symbiote was already working to heal the wounds inflicted by the sorceress. Turning her head just in time to see the last of the sorceress turn to dust, Elizabeth grinned and then said, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if you fuck with my girlfriend, you're gonna get mussed."
Kate smirked and tossed a brightly colored box at the vampath. "This what you're looking for? Oh, and Willow says, 'On the Slayer Scale of Quips, that rates about a three. Try harder, dear'."
Thrusting her tongue out at the absent witch, Elizabeth said, "Bite me, it's what I got after six hours of being a vampathic cutting board for Deaduless over there." She wrestled with the packaging for a moment and then, with a soft, "Aha!" of achievement, she pulled out a slightly crushed bit of plastic. Frowning, she held it out to Kate. "Well, it's a little battered, but it's all yours."
The detective looked down to see a small, somewhat anatomically correct version of a heart. Only this one had several scratches, a large chunk missing, and half a dozen cracks marring its surface. Still, the winder was firmly affixed, and Elizabeth's expression was so hopeful that Kate could do nothing but accept the trinket. Delicately, she scooped it up, gave the winder a twist, and waited to see what happened.
Red plastic shivered slightly, and then crumbled into bits, leaving behind a tiny golden key on a chain. Even Kate was not so dense as to miss the symbolism. Closing her fingers around the pendant, she said, "Battered or not, it's all mine and I intend to hang onto it."
Grinning happily, Elizabeth said, "Good. Now, gimme my pants, I'm freezing my ass off over here."
"She's naked? Damn. How come I never get to see anything more interesting than blood rituals and slime?" said Dersk.
Kate opened her mouth to respond, but laughed when Elizabeth said, "Tell Snake Boy that he's lucky he doesn't have to experience the blinding whiteness of my butt." Tugging her clothes firmly in place, the vampath linked her arm through Kate's and said, "Now, let's get out of here and go find something to eat. I'm starved."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" said Kate softly, disengaging from the vampath and moving to stand in front of her.
Puzzled and alarmed, Elizabeth said, "Please tell me I didn't forget your birthday, too!"
Kate grinned. "Nope. Just this." Reaching up, she grabbed the collar of Elizabeth's shirt and pulled her down for a long, toe curling kiss. "Happy Valentine's Day," she murmured when they separated.
The End