Pathways Ch. 03-04

Chapter 3

(Nearly a month has passed since the events of NFA and the first two chapters.)

"Clang!" Steel rang on steel. One sword twisted and spun blindingly to one side and thrust again. The other blade hesitated and only a leap backwards by its wielder allowed it to interpose itself in time.

"You have to be faster, Nina. Don't think, react. Let your training take over."

The woman nodded. She took a second to rake the blonde locks that had escaped from her pony-tail away from her face and then assumed the low guard position, holding her sword in both hands.

"Okay, let's try again." Shinning steel feinted then dipped to the other side. This time it was met as it first lashed forward. Avoiding the attempt to pin her blade, Nina riposted with a thrust towards Angel's stomach.

"Good!" applauded Angel. "You're getting there Nina. But you are going to have to keep practicing. You moves have to immediate, automatic. In a real fight you won't have time to stop and think. You'll have to react."

"Angel," the girl replied hesitantly, "What exactly is the purpose of this? Sword-fighting I mean. It's great exercise but why do we need it?"

Angel shook his head and then relented. Crossing to Nina he took her chin in his hand and tilted her head up until their eyes met. "For ages a sword has been the best weapon to deal with a lot of the adversaries that we might meet in the times ahead of us. Other vampires, many demons and other creatures are proof against our greater than human strength and even your claws and teeth when you are in your werewolf form. Decapitation works like a charm."

He suddenly got, to Nina's astonishment, an impish look on his face. "Now if you had used a sword the other night instead of shifting and..." he let the words trail off.

"Ugh." His blonde's partner's face twisted. "Well, yeah. I'll never make THAT mistake again."

Three nights previous the duo had solved a case concerning a gated community that had suffered several mysterious deaths in recent times. The community's board of directors had found and hired them, paying a good fee in advance to solve those murders. The victims had been found crushed as though by a giant snake but with expressions of fascination and even sexual arousal on their faces.

As it turned out, the killer was a lamia, a creature from ancient mythology. Half woman and half snake, she was able to take human form. She had been masquerading as the wife of one of the wealthy members of the community, having seduced him and murdered his previous wife. Sometimes she had stalked young men on her own. Occasionally he had lured young women back to their house, which explained why the victims had been from both sexes.

Angel and Nina had posed as newcomers to the community. The man had attempted to seduce Nina, who had played the wide-eyed innocent blonde and followed him back to his house, with Angel discreetly trailing them. The transformation of the man's "Wife" had caught them both off guard and Nina had shape-shifted into her werewolf form when the lamia threw its coils around her. Angel had rushed forward but had first been forced to deal with the mad man the husband had become. While that struggle was brief, before he could separate the lamia's head from her body, Nina had bitten the snake-woman repeatedly during the struggle of the two females.

The lamia's blood had not been poisonous, at least to Nina. But the TASTE. Seventy-two hours later she had brushed her teeth nearly two dozen times and emptied three full bottles of mouthwash. And she still had a terrible taste in her mouth. And judging from the twinkle in Angel's eyes he was well aware of it.

"Point taken," she admitted. "Let's go through it again."

Angel checked the clock on the wall. "Let's not. We've been at it for two hours now and we're both tiring. I think a shower and a meal and then we'll take a bit of a tour of the city." His face darkened. "I want to check on what's left of Gunn's people."

"Didn't they try to kill you last time you crossed paths with them?"

"Yes, but after all, they thought they were doing the right thing. They thought Gunn had abandoned them and that I was responsible. Perhaps in some way I was. Anyway, I owe it to Gunn."

The pair cleaned their swords and replaced them in the weapons cabinet. Going up stairs to their room, Angel strewed his clothes on the floor as he disrobed, leaving a trail from the bedroom door to the bathroom. Nina sighed and picked them up as the water started. Then she dumped them in the clothes hamper and added her own sweat soaked workout outfit.

She paused for a moment, studying Angel's powerfully built form through the translucent shower door. There was no doubt that he was an extraordinarily handsome man. But although that had caught her attention on their first meeting, the morning after she had experienced the change into her werewolf form, it wasn't what kept her around. It was his determination to make a vey unsafe world a better place. He had come to her rescue when he had no idea who she was. She shudder when she thought of what she might have done to Amanda had he not doggedly pursued the clues to her identify and found her. He was her hero. An impsih smile tugged at her lips. And a hero needed a hero's reward.

BY now the bathroom was filled with steam. A quick peek through the partially open shower door let her see Angel was shampooing his hair. Silently she slipped into the shower. The vampire's razor-sharp senses were dulled by the hot water pounding on his face as well as the general relaxation that came after their workout. He wasn't aware of her presence until she slipped to her knees and engulfed his cock in her mouth.

"Nina!" he sputtered. She of course made no reply, since her mouth was full.

"Oh damn, I've got shampoo in my eyes."

Nina would have giggled if she could have. Angel bounced back and forth from one foot to the other as he attempted to flush his eyes. Unplanned though they were, those gyrations worked just as well as if he had been deliberately plunging his rapidly stiffening member in and out of Nina's lips. First he drew back as his weight shifted to his back foot, allowing her to tease the slit on the bulbous head with her tongue tip. Then he danced forward and she nearly chocked as he shoved the entire length of his cock down her throat. She grabbed on to his hips and held on.

Caught off guard only for a moment Angel recovered his equilibrium. Waiting until Nina relaxed the grip her lips had on him in order to take another lick or two at his cock head the souled vampire reached down. He grabbed the slender girl under her arms and effortlessly lifted her until her laughing face was even with her. She kicked her feet, dangling a foot off the ground.

"Put me down," she mock commanded.

"You little sneak. I have an even better idea that that."

"What would that... Oh myyyyyyyy," the blonde woman gasped as Angel pushed forward with his hips and lowered her, right down on to his jutting cock. Already lubed from her lips it slid right up inside her equally slick channel.

"Angel," Nina moaned. His mouth sought hers and the rest of their conversation was wordless. Her athletic body bucked and lifted, her legs wrapping around his waist. He pushed her against the wall of the shower as her ankles locked behind him.

Perhaps a normal human would have been injured by the force of Angel's thrusts. Somehow the strength of Nina's werewolf side infused her. She matched her lover's frantic energy and added to it, squeezing his impaling cock with her internal muscles. Their mouths devoured each other, kissing frantically as he slammed in and out of her.

Angel's head tipped back, a near growl coming from him as he felt himself building. A matching sound resounded deep in the throat of the slender blonde girl, her eyes flashing with passion and hidden power. Then she cried out as he emptied himself inside of her and she shuddered to a matching orgasm.

With one thing following another, it was once again a "very long moment without a single coherent thought". After a long nap Nina had to load the washing machine with sheets again as well as a load of towels and their work-out clothing. She thought it was a very small price to pay.

The meeting with Gunn's former gang was an eye-opener for Nina. Regardless of the experiences she had undergone in the last few months, nothing had prepared her for what she found in the inner-city neighborhood. The tall canyons of concrete and steel seemed to hem her in and surround her. She felt like unseen eyes were on her every moment. The bleakness and poverty of the area frightened her, and yet made her even more determined to help Angel to make a difference.

The negotiations with the group started out extremely tentative. Angel indeed remembered what had nearly happened to him last time and the group was not willing to trust any vampire anymore than they could throw him. Nina made the difference. Once they realized that she was not a vampire but a normal woman they relaxed enough to at least engage in a discussion. Of course the duo did not bring up the fact she was a werewolf. Angel had brought important news. It seemed Gunn had laid aside money from his Wolfram and Hart salary and expense account. Half went to the group. That would buy them greater security and an assortment of weaponry that would allow them a much larger degree of safety in the times ahead.

"Where does the other half go?" inquired Nina as they drove back to the hotel.

"To a shelter for street kids that Gunn loved. We'll take it there tomorrow. You can meet the woman who runs it. You'll like her."

The sun was beginning to brighten the sky so they hastily parked the Plymouth and scampered into the building. They crossed the lobby heading for the stairs up to their room when Nina remembered she had stripped the bed and made an abrupt turn towards the linen closet.

That turn saved her. A figure sprang right through the space her body had just been in and caromed off the wall. His face twisted and he hissed, even as three more figures, all obviously also vampires, leaped at Angel. The one who had attacked Nina lunged at her again.

Nina reacted. Along with swordplay Angel had been teaching her martial arts. Already athletically inclined, she had taken to that much faster than she had weapons training. The vampire's attack was clumsy, relying more on brute strength than anything else. Nina rolled backwards as she grasped his outstretched hands, jammed a shapely foot into his stomach and used his momentum to throw him over her. He landed on his head and slid across the marble floor. He slid so fast he hit the front doors, burst them open and sailed right outside. Since the sun was up he burst into flames.

Nina sprang back to her feet. Angel was barely holding his own but it was obvious that he couldn't win against three to one odds. The weapons locker was downstairs. Her memory flashed and she leaped through the door into Angel's office. Wrenching open a drawer she came up with a pair of stakes. She bounded back out and leaped at the trio around her man.

Angel backhanded one of his attackers across the face and sent him staggering away. He leaped through the air and delivered a snap kick that snapped back rattled the second one's head and rattled his teeth. But the third was behind him and before he could turn her was wrapped up in a pair of arms as strong as his own.

"Hold him," panted the first vampire as he got to his feet. "We'll take care of him and then finishing off the girl will be easy."

The second one nodded just before he exploded into dust, revealing Nina behind him with the stake in her right hand thrust forward. "I don't think I'd count on that," she said.

The remaining two vampires looked at each other and bolted. Nina tripped one as he rushed past her and then finished him off. She flipped Angel the other stake and he flipped the amazed vampire over his shoulder and staked him. The duo was alone again in the hotel.

"Nice throw Nina," complimented Angel as she crossed the lobby and secured the still standing open doors. "You did great and you didn't even have to shift."

"You're just disappointed because I didn't and then turn back with my clothes all torn to pieces," she teased him.

"It IS a perk lover," Angel grinned.

Nina's heart did a flip. He didn't use words like "lover" very often but each time he did she just melted. She was in love with him, she acknowledged to herself but she didn't want to smother him or push him. She knew he felt strongly about her but he had quite a history, rarely good, with women and was reluctant to commit himself. That was okay. He opened a bit more each day and one day...

A thought struck her. "How did they get in here? I thought the hotel was warded."

Angel frowned. "It is and they shouldn't have been able to waltz right in." He searched the dust. As usual, everything had disintegrated when the vampire bodies exploded. Looking over where Nina had flipped her attacker he caught sight of something.

"This is how."

Nina's nose wrinkled as she examined the green stone in his hand, its center bored through to accept a rawhide string. "It certainly is ugly. What is it?"

"It's a Yawish Amulet. It allows the wearer to pass some magical barriers."

"Including ours," Nina replied in understanding. "Can we do anything about it?"

"The wards need to be made stronger," said Angel. His frown deepened. "Willow could certainly do it but after the events of last year, well, I don't know. The whole Scooby gang seems to think I've crossed back to the bad guys."

He sighed. "Well, sufficient to the day is the evil and all that. Let's clean up and go to bed. We'll just have to lock up tightly until we figure out what to do."

Normally Nina fell right off in Angel's arms. Today it was her turn to be restless. Once she was sure Angel was sound asleep she slipped from the bed and went downstairs. She paced back and forth thinking.

She had riffled through the card index and found the phone number she wanted. Three times she picked up the phone and set it back down. It wasn't fair, she told herself. She was building a life with Angel and making this call would bring his old one right back. She was scared. She knew the connection between Angel and Buffy was something incredible. This could mean she might lose him.

"Don't be a sissy, Nina Ash," she scolded herself. "This needs to be done. You can't risk Angel's life, and your own, because you're afraid of the other woman."

With that she picked up the hand set and punched in the numbers. A voice answered.

"Willow?" When the voice replied "Yes," Nina plunged on.

"Willow my name is Nina and I'm," she struggled for the words, "I'm an associate of Angel's. Please let me talk before you hang up. Things are not what you all think they are and we need your help."

"Go ahead," answered the red-headed witch.

Pathways - Chapter 4

Willow carefully hung up the phone and sat there thinking. She didn't stir until Kennedy's arms slipped around her. Even then she merely covered her girlfriend's hands with her own and continued to stare off into space.

"That must have been some phone call."

"It was." willow shook her head and began to recount what Nina had told her. When she was finished Kennedy summarized for her.

"So we have a female that none of us has ever heard of before. She claims that Angel had never turned back to evil; that he, Spike, Wesley and someone else we don't know killed a bunch of high ranking bad guys; that Angel was the only survivor and now he and this girl are back in the Hyperion and have restarted Angel Investigations. Angel's soul has been permanently fixed by a representative of the Powers that be. Oh and yes, the wards that you placed around the hotel are being breached and they need help."

"That pretty much does seem to cover it," admitted Willow.

"Sounds like bull to me." snorted Kennedy. "I bet it's a trap."

"I don't think so."

"Oh? Did you use a truth spell?"

"They don't work like that. Not over the phone. But I believe her. Among other things if this was a trap of some kind she would have been more polished. Oh, she's not telling everything, I know that for certain. But I think the basic facts are true. The timing she gave me matches with the two psychic disturbances I felt."

"Okay then," Kennedy shrugged. "You get your stuff together and I'll throw some clothes in a suitcase."

"What?"

"Well you don't think I'm letting you go to Los Angeles and meet some strange female by yourself do you?" Kennedy grinned and kissed her lover.

The red-headed witch smiled herself and kissed Kennedy back. "Hmmm, well, she DID sound awfully cute. And Angel usually does have pretty good taste in women."

Any thing more Willow wanted to say was smothered as Kennedy rolled her onto her back and covered her with her taller body. The younger girl showered Willow with kisses, her hands roaming over the other girl's curves.

"Two things," Kennedy whispered as she ran her tongue along Willow's neck, sliding her body down as she did.

"What?" gasped Willow as Kennedy's thigh parted her legs, contacting the wetness of her pussy.

"First, I'm the only girl you're ever going to need," continued Kennedy as she first kissed Willow's throat and then drug her tongue down to the waiting breasts. She flicked one hardening nipple and then the other. Looking up she grinned as her teeth nipped one pink nubbin, then closed gently on it.

"And the other thing?" Willow asked as her fingers ran through her lover's hair, her body tensing from the light bites and the pressure of the firm thigh against her pussy.

"I'm so happy we sleep nude," Kennedy said, a bit indistinctly as her teeth released the nipple it had held prisoner. Before Willow could protest that action Kennedy engulfed the same breast in her mouth, suckling deeply on its smoothness. At the same time her thigh rocked back and forth. Willow's legs spread and her lover shifted her body against her. Now the two women were locked shapely body to shapely body.

Willow arched under her lover, her hips lifting to meet the pressure of Kennedy's wetness against her own. The other girl ground herself around and around, one hard clit meeting another. She let Willow's breast out until she could seize the rock hard nipple in her lips and tug it with jerks and shakes of her head.

Willow's power made the two women glow as she trembled at the ministrations of her lover. Kennedy's hips were rising and falling now, slapping herself harder and harder. Then the slayerette was bracing herself on her hands, her face twisted in passion as he went wild on top of the witch. Willow bent her knees, planting her feet on the bed and jabbing herself up to meet each of Kennedy's down strokes.

The glow filled the room, pulsating with the spasms running through both women. Kennedy broke first, crying out in passion as her body released. Almost as though triggered by that Willow's orgasm followed immediately. The light flared to eye-closing brilliance, then faded as the two women collapsed together.

Kennedy snuggled with Willow, laying her head on the witch's shoulder. "I love you so much Willow."

"I love you too," Willow said as she stroked the slayerette's hair.

"Next time can we do the levitation spell?" asked a hopeful Kennedy. "Making love in the air was incredible."

"Oh, I think you can persuade me," Willow replied. "But for now we need to get going to Los Angeles."

Back in LA Nina had been attempting to hold her breath while she talked. While she couldn't accomplish that, she found that every time there was the slightest pause before Willow answered a choking lump had risen in her throat. What if Willow refused to help? What would they do? If there had been one attack there would most likely be others. She had looked up Yawish Amulets and while they weren't extremely rare, they couldn't be found on street corners either. Someone who had gone to that much trouble to strike at them would do so again.