Darla sighed. It had been three days since she accepted her duties here with Angel. And ever since then, things had been slow. Slower than slow. She could have sworn the time was moving backwards. They had no cases, no one to help, no paying clients, and no money. She couldn't remember a time when she was so bored. Actually that wasn't quite true…

She couldn't remember the date exactly, but it was after Angelus had been cursed with a soul, and before he came looking for her. Spike and Dru were completely wrapped up in their selves, and Darla had no one. No one to hold onto in the long cold night, no one to court her as she walked down the streets. No one to enjoy the massacres with her. She was completely and totally…bored. She had never realized how lost she was without Angelus. He was what kept her going on. Without him, she'd still be one of the many minions of the Master. She needed him. She hated to admit it to herself, but it was true. She needed him, just as she had always needed him…

Angel's arrival into the room snapped Darla out of her reverie. Even without her vampire powers, she could still feel his aura as he moved; smell him as he got closer. You spend one hundred and fifty years with someone; they get engraved in your head.

Angel sat down next to Darla. " How are you doing?"

Darla looked at him and replied with a sarcastic remark. " If I had known this was going to be how I was going to spend my last days, I might have gone with Lindsey."

Angel at first thought she was serious.

Darla looked at him. " Hey, kidding."

He rolled his eyes and got up, walking over to the fridge and pulled out a container of blood. He pulled out a glass and poured it in, discarding the plastic container in the garbage. He sipped the crimson liquid. Darla watched him, remember exactly how pig's blood tasted. She could taste it in her mouth and winced. How could he put up with that?

" Angelus, how can you put up with that? The vampire that you were, and now you're reduced to pigs blood?"

Angel looked at her, then to the container in his hand. He didn't like thinking about it. If he thought about all of the tastes would come flooding back to his memory again.

Luckily, he didn't have to answer be cause just then; the door to the hotel opened and a man stumbled in.

Angel quickly but his glass down and ran out to the man. But Cordelia beat him to it.

" Hello." She said kindly.

" I-is this…Angel Investigations?" the man asked, nervous.

" Why yes it is sir, we help the helpless, how can we help you?" Cordelia asked.

" I'm the owner of a pier. There's a carnival there and lots of people come to it, but recently…oh god this is gonna sound crazy…. I think it's infested with…."

" Vampires?" Angel finished.

The man nodded furiously. " I'll pay you, just get them out of there!"

At this, Cordelia brightened and led the man into the office area. She gestured for him to look at some papers and as he did she looked up to Angel and gave him the thumbs up sign.

Later on, Wesley and Gunn were there, and the man was just leaving.

" So, will be there tonight, after the sun sets." Angel said to the man.

" Okay. Thank you so much!" And with that, he left.

It was about eight 'o' clock at night, and the gang was loading up, axes, stakes, holy water, the whole nine yards.

Darla looked at the weapons cabinet and chose a simple stake.

" What are you doing?" Angel asked her.

" What does it look like? You want me to go there unarmed?"

" I don't want you to go there at all." Angel said firmly.

" Angelus, I've been bored out of my mind for the last three days, and I'm dying. You seriously think I'm just going to lay back and whine while you do all the fun stuff?"

Cordelia sent a look Darla's way about calling him Angelus, but others wise did nothing.

" Darla, you're human. If you get hurt in this you're most likely going to die even faster."

Darla glared at him, and then picked up a hurling axe from the cabinet. She turned back to him. " Lucky me," she said and then walked past him up to the door.

The gang arrived at the pier and piled out of Angel's car. They cautiously approached the carnival area.

" Be sure not to give our presence away." Said Wesley.

" I don't see how that matters much…" Angel said.

" Why?" came Cordelia.

" They already know we're here." Replied Darla, echoing Angel's thoughts.

They stepped cautiously into an old warehouse. Angel could smell them. They had been nesting here for some time. There was also the smell of death, and the coppery smell of fresh blood. Angel became stony faced, not letting himself give in to temptation.

Suddenly there was a loud clattering sound. Everyone whipped around to find that Wesley had tripped over some spare pipes.

When they all had turned back around, a group of about thirty of forty vampires surrounded them. To every one of them, there were about eight vampires.

" I got the eight on the left," said Gunn, and they all launched themselves into battle.

Darla had never really been a fighter. She had always let Angelus take care of that. Not to say that she couldn't hold her own in a battle, but she had never really done it that much.

You would know that looking at her now. Sure she didn't have her vampire strength, which she wasn't used to, but she did do well.

Two vampires launched themselves at her. In one quick, fluid motion, she moved around in a circle, staking each one. Another vampire came at her. She dropped to her feet and kicked the vampire's legs out from under him, staking him. Another vampire came at her from behind. His fist came down and wailed her in the back of the head. A multicolor rainbow of dots danced along her vision and her head throbbed madly, but she did the best she could to get to her feet.

She blocked the vampire's punches, but then she saw another one coming at her. She thrust her palm in an upward motion into the vampire's nose. While he was busy, she threw the axe at the other vampire, decapitating him. Then she turned back to the vampire in front of her, who had recovered, and beat his fist into her gut. She used all of her might to plunge the stake in his chest before he could bite her neck.

Suddenly her feet got knocked out from under her and she was on her knees as three more vampires surrounded her. She got punched in the face a few times and on the third, she hit her head on a jagged piece of metal. Her vision was getting blurrier by the second. She picked up her axe and started hacking blindly into the air. She heard two vampires get dusted. But then she felt her body get picked up and hurled into the air, hitting a wall.

She was bleeding and she was bruised. She had just enough vision to watch the vampire come at her. He was just about to make the final blow when he fell to dust. Behind him stood Angel.

" Angel…." Was all she managed to choke out, before she fell into the darkness, unconscious.

Angel had carried her back to the car. They were victorious in their battle, but he didn't feel that way. He was beating himself up over how he let Darla get hurt that badly. Just by looking her over he could see how bad her injuries were.

Once they arrived at the hotel, he took her up to his room, not saying a word to anyone. He laid her out on his bed and took care of her, like he had always done…

Angelus carefully laid Darla down on the hay. They were being chased by Holtz and were driven into a barn. Darla had been wounded in the fray. He had done the best he could to protect her, but he couldn't save her from all of the arrows. She was awake and in pain, an arrow in her right shoulder, and three more in her stomach area. Luckily none had pierced the heart. She gritted her teeth as he pulled the arrows out, one by one. She cried out to him in pain, and he tore off pieces of his shirt to bandage her wounds the best he could. When he was done they held each other in a tight embrace, neither on of them letting go as they both drifted off into the death-like sleep of vampires.

Darla slowly opened her eyes. Where was she? What happened? Where's Angel? She tried to sit up but was hit with a wave of pain. She laid back down.. She breathed hard, waiting for the pain to pass.

When it did she looked over and saw Angel, asleep. He had pulled up a chair close to the bed, and she didn't doubt for a second that he had ever left her side. She gave a week smile.

" Angel…"

She had whispered his name, but his eyes snapped open and he looked at her, jumping to the edge of his seat.

" You're awake." He stated the obvious.

" I thought I was dead for a second there…"

" You're not dead."

Darla looked into his deep, dark, and devastating brown eyes. " I'm not so sure how I feel about that…"