Nightmares
With a few hours past since John and Angel showed their love once more, they lay on the bed with the black silk sheets pulled over their forms. Angel's form twitched every now and then from the scenes that filtered through her mind, past images, and then the searing pain of a red hot iron against flesh. Angel sat bolt upright with a strangled scream, cold sweat running down her form, fiery eyes dashing about the loft, glancing off into the darkness that lay beyond the sheer black curtains.
John's eyes rolled open at the scream. "Angel?!"
Angel sat beside him, trembling slightly, hands in fists, holding onto the sheets.
He sat up and looked at her. "Hey, hey, calm down...what happened?"
She leaned against him, closing her eyes tightly. "A nightmare... I guess..."
"Tell me about it?" He brushed strands of her hair from her face and held her.
"Talos..." she whispered to him, sinking into his arms more, almost as if to hide from her dreams.
He kissed the side of her neck. "It's okay, you're safe."
She nodded softly, remaining where she was in his arms, slowly opening her eyes to peer into the dark.
"Have you ever had nightmares before?"
"Of course... everyone has nightmares."
"Hey, I'm still learning on what is and isn't normal for a vampire."
"I know..."
He kissed her forehead and smiled slightly. Her form slowly relaxed against him. "I'm sorry I woke you..."
"No, no...it's nothing, really." He looked at her. "What happened in the dream?"
"The branding..." She shuddered at the memory. He watched her face carefully. A face of pain from the memory, she moved closer to him, and as she started to relax once more, a clap of thunder made her jump a bit.
"Hey, I'm here," he reassured her.
Angel separated herself from his arms to rise from the bed, then to move to the large window, carefully looking outside, because it was storming, where the sun usually was, it was hidden behind a thick wall of clouds that rained upon the city. John watched her, then got out of bed and moved behind her, wrapping his arms around her. She smiled softly, briefly noticing the nudeness of them both, but they were in a privet loft, so why not? She let the thick curtain fall over the window again as she leaned back against him. He bent his head low and kissed her neck and shoulder gently. She turned her head so that she could look up at him.
"John... how are you doing? I mean... after.." A hand rose to touch his stomach gently.
He looked down at her hand then back up at her eyes. "I'm good…really." It was a large scar trailing from his navel and about five inches upwards
A finger moved along it gently before she hugged him gently. "I love you, John."
"I love you too." He hugged her back.
With a small smile, she once more moved away from him, only to get a night shirt on. He sat back down on the bed. With the shirt winding up to be one of John's, Angel crawled back into bed, laying down, and with a small yawn, gently tugged at John's arm.
"Gonna try for more sleep…or?" He winked.
"Sleep..." She winced some as she rolled onto her left side, quickly moving onto her back, a hand over her side.
He looked at her in concern. "What did you do?"
"Rolled onto my wound."
"Ouch."
So, she rolled onto her right side, smiling up at him. "Better."
He lay back against some pillows. "You gotta be more careful."
"Oh, shut up!" She stuck her tongue out at him in the dark.
He snickered softly, reaching over to tap her on the nose gently.
"Hey!" She swatted at his hand.
"Just wait till you heal..."
"And then what? Watch me learn how to turn into things? To fly?"
He wiggled his fingers. "Besides that! Tickle war will resume."
"Oh no! You try and tickle me... and I throw the catnip!"
"You wouldn't..."
"Oh wouldn't I?" She grinned evilly at him.
"You are an evil, evil woman."
"Your point being?"
"I'm doomed." He sighed dramatically.
"Yes, yes you are."
He kissed her on the cheek, smiling slightly. She kissed him back as she pressed closer to him, yawning once more.
"Mmm. Let's get some sleep."
"Sleep is good." She pressed closer to him, resting her head against his shoulder as a hand came to lay upon his still bare chest. His hand came up to cover her hand as a sigh escaped his lips.
Soon sleep retook her once again, but it took her back into a dream of pain, pain and a laugh that echoed about the room her subconscious was in. She would toss and turn that time of sleep. It disturbed John at some moments and when he would wake, he would be concerned for her.
That laughter was unsettling as the scenery changed once more, to a banquet where she stood serving three men, two she didn't know and the middle... was an old master, who looked at her with hunger and want. Angel's eyes shot open as she sat up again.
John stretched slightly as one eye opened. "Angel...?"
She glanced over her shoulder at him, licking her lips to moisten them before speaking softly. "Its nothing love, go back to sleep."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes...." Her voice went a bit higher then normal, she coughed a bit as if it was just from waking up. "I'm fine, get some sleep."
He watched her for a few seconds longer before he closed his eyes and started to fall back to sleep.
After he had fallen into sleep once more, she rose from the bed carefully and went downstairs, pulling several books from shelves, some very old books, and with them in arm, sat down on the couch, spreading the books over the coffee table. After lighting a fire in the hearth, and lighting the candles about the downstairs of the loft, she started flipping through those books feverishly searching for something.
Through three books with little to be found, she stood and went to the kitchen, getting a heated mug of blood to drink before she returned to the couch and the books. Several stood open on the coffee table on marked pages.
Twenty minutes later, the floorboards from upstairs would creak. John walked downstairs. Angel glanced up from the book that was spread open over her lap.
"Hey.."
"Hi.." She looked back down to the book on her lap. "I thought you were getting more sleep."
He sighed. "Can't sleep. I keep seeming to have dreams of being opened up by a sword..."
"Probably the silver is having some effects..."
He rubbed his stomach gently. "Yeah."
She flipped through a few more pages in the book before setting it too on the coffee table open to a page. All of the open pages so far seemed to have relations to dreams and past.
"So...what are you up to?"
"Trying to figure out why I keep having...nothing." She cut off lightly as if it truly was nothing.
"Having nothing?"
"It's nothing... really."
"I know you better than that."
"Fine... its these...Nightmares. Containing images from my past, when I was still human."
He crossed the room to find a place to sit down.
"I'm sorry if I woke you."
"You didn't."
She stared closing the books after folding down a corner of the pages.
"Wanna talk about your dreams?"
"My sire.." She looked up at him, for all he knew, Va'Shanna was her sire.
John looked uncomfortable. "Huh? What's V doing to you?"
"Not V... Joreth.." She looked away at the fire.
"Who...was Joreth?"
"My sire."
"But V is your sire....right?"
"She is my second sire."
He looked confused. "How?"
"When I was 18... I was a slave." A brow lifted from John before Angel continued. "A slave to a group of vampires. The leader of the group was Joreth... I was his servant." He motioned for her to go on. She looked down, letting hair fall to hide the sides of her face.
"Angel?" He touched her shoulder gently.
"Finally.. Joreth decided that it was my time.. he called me to his chambers, and while trying to be... seductive in his mind, he attacked me and changed me."
John went slightly pale. "Dear god," he breathed.
"He stayed with me for about ten years... then left me to survive on my own... didn't really do very well till Va'Shanna found me."
"So that made her your sire?"
"No... she was my teacher... till at some point while we were in England...I was attacked by a demon whose blood has regenerative properties.... it got mixed with my blood... and I became human again."
"Oh." He sat down on the edge of the couch, looking at her.
"I couldn't stand being human... so I asked V to change me back into a vampire... and she did."
"Do you ever regret it?"
"Regret what? Becoming a vampire again? No... I don't regret it."
"Hmm...so you really don't wanna be human again?"
"Now... I might want to be... to see the sun, to be normal. To actually enjoy real food."
He watched her, not sure what else to say.
"For us to be together like a normal couple..."
"Normal? Heh." He looked down at himself, then her. "I can't say I'm still "normal" now."
"Well... compared to most of our world... you're normal." She smiled small at him.
"Suppose I can't argue with that!"
She crawled across the couch towards him, resting her head on his leg gently, curling up on her right side. He petted her hair gently as his eyes dropped down to look at her.
"As much as I want to be human.... I don't..."
"Living forever is pretty amazing.."
"Free of disease... stronger then normal humans... "
His fingers combed through her hair. She closed her eyes and just lay there, relaxing at his touch.
"Do you think these...dreams mean anything?" John asked.
"I hope not."
"That makes two of us."
Though her head was on his leg, she some how managed to wrap her arms around his waist, snuggling close.
"How's your side doing?"
"Fine... still tender."
"So, I guess asking you to get a tattoo with my name on that side is outta the question?" She glanced up at him, a brow raised.
He grinned at her. "What?"
"A tattoo... with your name?"
"Yeah. You know. What bikers do."
"John... I'll get one the day you break your still priesty ways and mar that beautiful skin of yours with ink imbedded in your flesh." She grinned up at him.
His eyes went wide. "Oh, no, no, not me! Tattoos aren't becoming on my…body. "
"Then I guess no heart with your name."
He frowned. She kissed his leg gently, closing her eyes again, attempting to get more sleep. He leaned his head back against the couch as he idly played with her hair. Soon she had drifted back into sleep, but thankfully a dreamless one. After a few minutes, john picked her up gently and made sure he didn't wake her. Then he carried her upstairs.
She made a few mumbled sounds as she was moved, but only sleepy rejections to being moved.
He laid her on the bed and pulled the covers up over her before he moved to the bathroom to take care of some business. After flushing the toilet and washing his hands, he returned to the bed and stared up at the ceiling.
Very sleepily and sorta incoherent she mumbled something that sounded like "I love you."
He smiled slightly, turning to look at her.
She curled up a bit more in her sleep, pulling the sheets closer as a yawn escaped her. Stretching slightly, he rolled over on his side and curled up next to her. She drew closer to his warmth before finally settling down against him. As his eyes closed, he hoped that this time he'd get some sleep. Well, if he didn't, then at least she would, she was sinking deeper into sleep, the kind of sleep you entire while in surgery, one moment awake and the next, almost like blinking, you're awake again. Though her body was healing her side, trying to heal it faster then the magic about it would allow.
John eventually did fall asleep and slept well for the most part.