TITLE: Curiosity (1/?)
AUTHOR: Dannyblue
EMAIL: [email protected]
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.
ARCHIVE/DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, just drop me a note so I'll know where.
SUMMARY: A young couple sees something they can't quite believe.
SPOILERS: None really. Story takes place between "Dad" and "Waiting In the Wings".
PAIRING: A/C.
RATING: PG.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone or anything associated with "Angel" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
"You can't be serious!" Laura Granger gasped. She said it like he'd committed an unspeakable crime. Somewhere up there with dog kicking. "You *liked* that piece of dreck?"
"Um, yeah," Grant Granger admitted. Stopping the car at the red light, he turned to grin at his wife. "I thought it was pretty good."
"I don't believe it." Laura folded her arms and leaned back in her seat. "And I keep telling my mother I married a man with taste. Hmmph!"
When the light turned green, Grant drove out into the intersection. "Oh, come on, Laurie. You have to admit it was entertaining."
"No, I don't." His wife shook her head from side to side. "I love you so much, I sometimes forget you have the *guy* gene."
Grant just smiled. She'd hit him with that one before. Like when he chose a championship basketball game over an all night Monster-Thon given by a fellow horror buff.
"The vampires in that movie could've been anything," Laura continued, eyes narrowed in anger. "Zombies. Or aliens. Or a motorcycle gang. I mean, all they did was look scary and get shot. And get their asses karate chopped to hell and back. *Any* halfway decent villain could've done that!"
"Yes, dear," Grant said.
"But vampires are *hot*." She spit the word out, like it was an obscenity. "And always popular. So the producers just threw them in to attract an audience!"
"The bastards."
"They didn't even bother to pay attention to the lore! I mean, if crosses don't bother them, if they can swim in holy water and walk around in broad daylight, are they even vampires? No, dammit!"
"You're absolutely right," Grant agreed. Then, he let his lips form into a smirk. "I still liked it."
"Arrrg!" Laura exclaimed, throwing up her hands.
"As an action flick," Grant continued. "Not a vampire movie."
As his words sank in, Laura graced him with a beatific smile. "That's my guy," she said. All forgiven, she reached over to rub his shoulder. "You had me worried for a second."
Their minor disagreement put to rest, the Grangers continued to discuss BLOOD WISH as they drove through the LA night.
((I'm a lucky guy,)) Grant thought, as he glanced over at his wife. Not only had he married his best friend, he'd married his best friend who was obsessed with the same thing he was obsessed with.
Vampires.
Hell, they met in a club for horror movie fans. Not only were they the biggest vamp-philes in the club, they both preferred NESPHERATU over DRACULA.
Was it any wonder they'd become best buds?
"Just don't get any ideas," Laura warned. "You aren't putting a lot of well- choreographed fight scenes in my book."
"*Our* book," he reminded her.
"*Our* book," Laura agreed, just a hint of wistfulness in her voice.
It was a dream they'd shared since they were juniors in high school. They both had great jobs that paid excellent money. But they'd quit in a heartbeat to collaborate on a vampire novel.
Well, a vampire novel good enough to make Anne Rice sit up and take notice.
They just needed an idea.
"Not even one little, itty bitty fight scene?" Grant asked. He let himself pout just a little.
Laura sighed. "Okay, Granger. I guess we can…"
But she stopped mid-sentence. And, if she'd seen what he'd just seen, Grant couldn't blame her.
Up ahead, a man seemed to just…*appear*. Out of nowhere. To glide out of the shadows.
Dressed all in black, the stranger could've been a shadow himself.
Hands buried in the pockets of a long, black duster, he walked down the sidewalk with the smooth grace of a jungle cat.
"Whoa," Laura muttered. "That was…weird."
Beside her, Grant nodded.
As the car cruised down the street, ever closer to the stranger, husband and wife found it difficult to take their eyes off of him. There was something mesmerizing about him. Something dark and…magnetic.
The stranger was looking down at the sidewalk, like he had no interest in the world around him. But, when the glare of headlights fell on him, he glanced up.
And Laura gasped.
Grant couldn't make a sound. Not while he looked at the stranger's intensely drawn face. Predatory eyes that seemed to cut through the darkness.
It was over in a second. The man looked away. The car cruised past him.
"That face," Laura muttered. "I've seen that face before. I know it."
Grant barely heard her. Instead, foot easing off the gas pedal, he turned to watch as the stranger continued down the street.
The stranger turned towards an old hotel. One Grant thought was abandoned. But he could see signs that the fading, but still dignified building was now occupied.
"Oh, my God!" Laura exclaimed.
Grant was so startled by her outburst, the car swerved a little. "What?" he snapped. "What is it?"
Laura's eyes were wide. With a combination of disbelief…and fear. "I know where I've seen that face!"
____________________
"This is ridiculous," Grant said as he unlocked the door to their apartment. "You know that, right?"
"Yep." Laura nodded. Feeling a little spooked by the darkness that greeted them, she reached inside and hit the light switch. "I totally agree with you."
Laura made a beeline for the bookcase. Their own personal vampire library. It was crammed with vampire novels in hardback *and* paperback. Encyclopedias of vampire myths and lore. Books about vampires on stage, screen, and television.
Laura was looking for one volume in particular. A dusty, leather-bound tome they bought from a man who said it was old when *he* bought it 50 years earlier.
She and Grant had been both impressed and amused by the book. The author didn't write about vampires like they were myths. More like they were…historical figures or something.
Remembering that grim, pale face, the intense eyes, Laura didn't feel amused anymore.
"It has to be a coincidence," Grant insisted. He closed and locked the front door. "Or the fertile imagination I love so much has gone into overdrive."
"Of course I imagined it," Laura whole-heartedly agreed. She dropped the book on the dining room table. Opening it, she began to flip through the stiff, aged pages. "I mean, even if I *didn't* imagine it, everyone has a double, right? Who says it has to be in the same century?"
Finally, she came to the page she wanted. A page dominated by a picture drawn with such detail, it could've been a photograph.
A shiver raced down her back. Her heart started to pound in her chest.
"It's him," she gasped. Without realizing she even meant to do it, she sat down. Hard enough to make her teeth snap together. "His hair is shorter now, but it's him."
"Of course, it *can't* be," Grant reminded her. "Sure, it looks like him. But, since this picture was drawn in the 19th century, and is probably the figment of the artist's imagination, it can't really *be* him."
Laura nodded at her husband's reasoning. She knew he was right. Of course he was.
But goose bumps continued to do a happy dance up and down her arms.
Leaning forward, Grant read the name under the picture. "Angelus?"
"The demon with the face of an angel," Laura whispered. When she first read the book, that phrase had grabbed her attention. It was so dark, but poetic at the same time.
"Yeah, I remember," Grant said. He sat down next to her. "The writer made him sound like de Sade to the nth degree." Grant frowned. "I wish I could write stuff like that."
"Yeah," Laura said. But she couldn't take her eyes off of the picture.
She'd never quite bought those movies where vampires were just handsomely evil gentlemen with funny teeth. Every time some lovely damsel in distress looked deep into Christopher Lee's eyes and fell under his seductive spell, Laura rolled her own eyes in disgust. Sorry, but she didn't think someone who bit you on the neck and called it dinner was sexy.
But, if a vampire could look like *this* guy…
Which it couldn't. Vampires being not real and all.
Laura's throat was so dry, she found it hard to swallow. She knew she was overreacting to something that didn't *mean* anything. But she figured she had every right. After all, she'd never traveled this far into the Twilight Zone before.
Grant reach over to massage her shoulder. "It's not him," he said yet for the hundredth. "But it *is* pretty interesting." And he tilted his head in that thoughtful way that said he had an idea.
"What's interesting?" Laura asked, filled with sudden anticipation. Grant always had the best ideas. It was one of the things that attracted her to him in the first place.
"What if this was a movie?" her husband asked. "There's a vampire walking around, looking pretty human, you know. But the hero has spotted him, and suspects what he really is."
Laura felt a slow smile forming. Her fear and disbelief were joined by another emotion.
Curiosity.
"If this was a movie," Laura said, "I'd be desperate to see what the hero did next."
(TO BE CONTINUED)
AUTHOR: Dannyblue
EMAIL: [email protected]
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.
ARCHIVE/DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, just drop me a note so I'll know where.
SUMMARY: A young couple sees something they can't quite believe.
SPOILERS: None really. Story takes place between "Dad" and "Waiting In the Wings".
PAIRING: A/C.
RATING: PG.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone or anything associated with "Angel" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
"You can't be serious!" Laura Granger gasped. She said it like he'd committed an unspeakable crime. Somewhere up there with dog kicking. "You *liked* that piece of dreck?"
"Um, yeah," Grant Granger admitted. Stopping the car at the red light, he turned to grin at his wife. "I thought it was pretty good."
"I don't believe it." Laura folded her arms and leaned back in her seat. "And I keep telling my mother I married a man with taste. Hmmph!"
When the light turned green, Grant drove out into the intersection. "Oh, come on, Laurie. You have to admit it was entertaining."
"No, I don't." His wife shook her head from side to side. "I love you so much, I sometimes forget you have the *guy* gene."
Grant just smiled. She'd hit him with that one before. Like when he chose a championship basketball game over an all night Monster-Thon given by a fellow horror buff.
"The vampires in that movie could've been anything," Laura continued, eyes narrowed in anger. "Zombies. Or aliens. Or a motorcycle gang. I mean, all they did was look scary and get shot. And get their asses karate chopped to hell and back. *Any* halfway decent villain could've done that!"
"Yes, dear," Grant said.
"But vampires are *hot*." She spit the word out, like it was an obscenity. "And always popular. So the producers just threw them in to attract an audience!"
"The bastards."
"They didn't even bother to pay attention to the lore! I mean, if crosses don't bother them, if they can swim in holy water and walk around in broad daylight, are they even vampires? No, dammit!"
"You're absolutely right," Grant agreed. Then, he let his lips form into a smirk. "I still liked it."
"Arrrg!" Laura exclaimed, throwing up her hands.
"As an action flick," Grant continued. "Not a vampire movie."
As his words sank in, Laura graced him with a beatific smile. "That's my guy," she said. All forgiven, she reached over to rub his shoulder. "You had me worried for a second."
Their minor disagreement put to rest, the Grangers continued to discuss BLOOD WISH as they drove through the LA night.
((I'm a lucky guy,)) Grant thought, as he glanced over at his wife. Not only had he married his best friend, he'd married his best friend who was obsessed with the same thing he was obsessed with.
Vampires.
Hell, they met in a club for horror movie fans. Not only were they the biggest vamp-philes in the club, they both preferred NESPHERATU over DRACULA.
Was it any wonder they'd become best buds?
"Just don't get any ideas," Laura warned. "You aren't putting a lot of well- choreographed fight scenes in my book."
"*Our* book," he reminded her.
"*Our* book," Laura agreed, just a hint of wistfulness in her voice.
It was a dream they'd shared since they were juniors in high school. They both had great jobs that paid excellent money. But they'd quit in a heartbeat to collaborate on a vampire novel.
Well, a vampire novel good enough to make Anne Rice sit up and take notice.
They just needed an idea.
"Not even one little, itty bitty fight scene?" Grant asked. He let himself pout just a little.
Laura sighed. "Okay, Granger. I guess we can…"
But she stopped mid-sentence. And, if she'd seen what he'd just seen, Grant couldn't blame her.
Up ahead, a man seemed to just…*appear*. Out of nowhere. To glide out of the shadows.
Dressed all in black, the stranger could've been a shadow himself.
Hands buried in the pockets of a long, black duster, he walked down the sidewalk with the smooth grace of a jungle cat.
"Whoa," Laura muttered. "That was…weird."
Beside her, Grant nodded.
As the car cruised down the street, ever closer to the stranger, husband and wife found it difficult to take their eyes off of him. There was something mesmerizing about him. Something dark and…magnetic.
The stranger was looking down at the sidewalk, like he had no interest in the world around him. But, when the glare of headlights fell on him, he glanced up.
And Laura gasped.
Grant couldn't make a sound. Not while he looked at the stranger's intensely drawn face. Predatory eyes that seemed to cut through the darkness.
It was over in a second. The man looked away. The car cruised past him.
"That face," Laura muttered. "I've seen that face before. I know it."
Grant barely heard her. Instead, foot easing off the gas pedal, he turned to watch as the stranger continued down the street.
The stranger turned towards an old hotel. One Grant thought was abandoned. But he could see signs that the fading, but still dignified building was now occupied.
"Oh, my God!" Laura exclaimed.
Grant was so startled by her outburst, the car swerved a little. "What?" he snapped. "What is it?"
Laura's eyes were wide. With a combination of disbelief…and fear. "I know where I've seen that face!"
____________________
"This is ridiculous," Grant said as he unlocked the door to their apartment. "You know that, right?"
"Yep." Laura nodded. Feeling a little spooked by the darkness that greeted them, she reached inside and hit the light switch. "I totally agree with you."
Laura made a beeline for the bookcase. Their own personal vampire library. It was crammed with vampire novels in hardback *and* paperback. Encyclopedias of vampire myths and lore. Books about vampires on stage, screen, and television.
Laura was looking for one volume in particular. A dusty, leather-bound tome they bought from a man who said it was old when *he* bought it 50 years earlier.
She and Grant had been both impressed and amused by the book. The author didn't write about vampires like they were myths. More like they were…historical figures or something.
Remembering that grim, pale face, the intense eyes, Laura didn't feel amused anymore.
"It has to be a coincidence," Grant insisted. He closed and locked the front door. "Or the fertile imagination I love so much has gone into overdrive."
"Of course I imagined it," Laura whole-heartedly agreed. She dropped the book on the dining room table. Opening it, she began to flip through the stiff, aged pages. "I mean, even if I *didn't* imagine it, everyone has a double, right? Who says it has to be in the same century?"
Finally, she came to the page she wanted. A page dominated by a picture drawn with such detail, it could've been a photograph.
A shiver raced down her back. Her heart started to pound in her chest.
"It's him," she gasped. Without realizing she even meant to do it, she sat down. Hard enough to make her teeth snap together. "His hair is shorter now, but it's him."
"Of course, it *can't* be," Grant reminded her. "Sure, it looks like him. But, since this picture was drawn in the 19th century, and is probably the figment of the artist's imagination, it can't really *be* him."
Laura nodded at her husband's reasoning. She knew he was right. Of course he was.
But goose bumps continued to do a happy dance up and down her arms.
Leaning forward, Grant read the name under the picture. "Angelus?"
"The demon with the face of an angel," Laura whispered. When she first read the book, that phrase had grabbed her attention. It was so dark, but poetic at the same time.
"Yeah, I remember," Grant said. He sat down next to her. "The writer made him sound like de Sade to the nth degree." Grant frowned. "I wish I could write stuff like that."
"Yeah," Laura said. But she couldn't take her eyes off of the picture.
She'd never quite bought those movies where vampires were just handsomely evil gentlemen with funny teeth. Every time some lovely damsel in distress looked deep into Christopher Lee's eyes and fell under his seductive spell, Laura rolled her own eyes in disgust. Sorry, but she didn't think someone who bit you on the neck and called it dinner was sexy.
But, if a vampire could look like *this* guy…
Which it couldn't. Vampires being not real and all.
Laura's throat was so dry, she found it hard to swallow. She knew she was overreacting to something that didn't *mean* anything. But she figured she had every right. After all, she'd never traveled this far into the Twilight Zone before.
Grant reach over to massage her shoulder. "It's not him," he said yet for the hundredth. "But it *is* pretty interesting." And he tilted his head in that thoughtful way that said he had an idea.
"What's interesting?" Laura asked, filled with sudden anticipation. Grant always had the best ideas. It was one of the things that attracted her to him in the first place.
"What if this was a movie?" her husband asked. "There's a vampire walking around, looking pretty human, you know. But the hero has spotted him, and suspects what he really is."
Laura felt a slow smile forming. Her fear and disbelief were joined by another emotion.
Curiosity.
"If this was a movie," Laura said, "I'd be desperate to see what the hero did next."
(TO BE CONTINUED)