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Visions of You
Prologue
by Tami
There was heavy, growling breathing in the dark. The target was seen through iridescent eyes, the eyes of a predator, something that had been stalking its prey for weeks. There wasn’t an established pattern. It would find a target and get to know the victim’s routine. It would toy with the poor human for weeks until the person went mad or was killed.
Now, it was following its third victim in as many months. The first one was an up-and-coming district attorney. The second one was a pretty, young preschool teacher. This one was an FBI agent.
The predator quickly closed in on the victim. Its breathing was heavier and quicker as if it were running a marathon. The agent continued to walk at an even pace, unaware that he was being hunted. The growling breaths got louder. Only when the agent felt something breathing down his neck did he turn around to face his assailant. A split second before the predator jumped at him, snarling.
**************************
Las Vegas, Angel’s Apartment
“Seeley!” Drusilla screamed as she sat upright from a sound sleep.
Drusilla was in bed alone. Angel and Spike had left her there to sleep while they went out on a case. She tossed the covers aside and grabbed a big, warm full-length robe from the bottom of the bed and put it on. She went into the kitchen and fixed a mug of blood, grimacing when the taste of animal hit her tongue. She would never understand how Angel could stomach drinking the foul stuff. It was an insult to her palette.
Taking the mug into what passed as a living room, she sat on the couch with her legs curled under her. She located the remote and turned the TV on. Spike had annoyed Angel so much when he returned from taking Seeley to the airport that Angel took the TV away . . . literally. When Spike realized this, he took Angel’s cell phone apart, piece by piece. Spike was bored for two months with no TV. He pestered Angel even more until it was returned under protest.
She’d been having vision-dreams for those two months. They were dreams of stalking prey in strange places. All of the dreams were seen from the predator’s point of view. The stalking, the killing, but it wasn’t her memories or her kills. It was like she was inside the marauder. They ended the same, no matter who the predator went after, that person always turned the instant before they were attacked and had Seeley’s face. She knew it was Seeley, because while she was inside the killer, she could hear his heartbeat.
That brought to mind the times that the four of them were together. Sure, she wanted to turn Booth, but since Angel wouldn’t let her, she found other delights with him. Whenever he was inside her or wrapped around her, she felt warm. Something she hadn’t felt since she was human. She liked to feel his body heat. She’d never been able to do that before. She’d always killed her prey first and felt their body cool down while she drained them.
She forgot the rules once already and tried to bite a human in a casino. Angel was not pleased in the least. He caught her just as she had bitten down. She only got to savor a few splashes of blood before Angel pulled her away and the victim ran. There was delicious punishment to be had that night. He spanked her with a wide leather belt for breaking the one rule he set. He made her beg for forgiveness, like he used to when he first turned her, using her human devotion to God as a ploy. Then, he used his open hand on her ass, which was a lovely red color from the belt.
That set off an argument between Angel and Spike over Angel’s treatment of her. Spike’s side being that he wasn’t that much different from Angelus after all. Angel insisted he was different, that he had only set one rule and that like any normal person who broke the rules, Drusilla was sufficiently punished. To which Spike reminded him that they weren’t normal even by vampire standards, let alone human, and pummeling ensued.
After the fight, they both went off to different corners to sulk and lick their wounds. Then, one of Angel’s pets called down for help with a job and they both left. She never got the chance to tell them about her vision-dreams of Seeley and the thing stalking him.
She looked over at the end table and saw Angel’s new cell phone there. He’d forgotten to take it with him again. She picked it up, flipped it open and looked confused at the many buttons.
I wonder what the button with the circle in it does, she thought and pressed it.
The LED light came on and the display screen confirmed: PHONE IN SERVICE. Then the message changed to WELCOME TO SPRINT. YOU HAVE 3000 MINUTES. PRESS THE DOWN ARROW FOR THE ADDRESS BOOK.
Drusilla pressed the down arrow and a list of names popped up. Cassidy, Buffy, Chase, Connor, Denise, Frankie, Giles, Lorne, Seeley, Spike. She growled when she saw Buffy’s name on the list. She scrolled down to Seeley’s name and pressed the little button labeled ‘SEND’.
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FBI Headquarters, J. Edgar Hoover Building, Washington, D.C.
“Tell Sully that I’ll put twenty-five on Sunday’s game,” Seeley told an agent as he walked into his office with a cup of coffee in one hand and a case file in the other.
He knew he wasn’t supposed to gamble, but what was the harm in putting some money in the office-wide betting pool? It was his own money, he hadn’t dared touch Angel’s gift. That was for his son. Besides, it was a measly twenty-five dollars on one game that he was sure to win because the team was looking good this year.
His cell phone rang just as he was about to sit down and go over the file on his latest case. He looked at the caller ID and saw Angel’s number. They had talked last night. Why would Angel be calling? He sat back in the chair and answered it.
“Hey, Angel,” he answered.
“Seeley?” a small feminine voice whispered.
‘Yes?” he prompted. “Who is this?”
“Drusilla,” she replied and then became annoyed. “You don’t recognize my voice?”
“Dru?” he inquired. Seeley was surprised to hear from her. He didn’t know that she knew how to work a cell phone.
There was a big sigh heaved on the other end. “Bad dog for not remembering me. You’ve been around me and inside me and don’t remember my voice?”
“I’m sorry, Drusilla. Really, I am, I didn’t even realize you knew how to--”
“The pixies say that you shall be punished when we meet again. They are very cross with you,” she said gravely.
Seeley couldn’t keep the smile off his face at how serious she sounded about punishing him.
“Now, Dru, you don’t mean that,” Seeley smirked.
“Crack-crack-crack. Just like Daddy,” Drusilla said.
Seeley shifted uncomfortably in his chair as he listened to her. His mind flashed to Angel, then to the toys he’d bought that were sitting on the top shelf of his bedroom closet, then to an image of Angel using them. He refused to acknowledge that he had an erection while at work. He did not have a hard-on. He did not have a hard-on. He did not have a hard-on.
“Dru,” Seeley squeaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Was there a reason you called?”
“I had a bad dream,” she replied.
“How bad, sweetheart?”
“Awful. There was growling and snarling and blood.”
“Dru, I thought Angel told you not to hunt?” Seeley said with a tone of concern.
“I wasn’t hunting. I haven’t hunted since he punished me for nibbling on someone a couple of months ago,” she assured him.
Seeley’s eyes rolled back in his head at the image those words conjured up. Please God, give me strength to resist temptation. She called to corrupt him at work, didn’t she? Angel left her alone with his phone to torture him.
“Where’s Angel?” Seeley croaked. He really had to stop doing that with her. He’d been around women before. So, why did Drusilla always make him act like an untried schoolboy? That wasn’t exactly true either. He’d lost his virginity in his early teens like every normal kid in America.
“He and Spike are out,” Drusilla said.
“They went out and left you alone? They weren’t knocked in the head were they? The last time you were left alone, you were kidnapped! What the hell are they thinking?” Seeley panicked.
Booth fumed over the situation. He got up from the chair and paced the room like a caged animal. Vampires be damned, Angel and Spike were a couple of brainless cadavers
was what they were. Leaving Drusilla by herself! Even he knew how dangerous that was. Sure, she was a vampire and could kill anything. But, she was also a 145-year-old, mentally unstable demon in the body of a young woman.
“Don’t you want to hear about the vision I had?” Drusilla’s tone sounded like she was pouting.
“What? Oh, sure sweetheart,” he stopped pacing and sat in the chair in front of his desk.
“You don’t want to hear about the visions?” she sounded genuinely hurt by his tone.
“No, sweetheart, I do! I’m just angry that they . . . never mind about that,” he said, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. The last thing he wanted was her crying. “What did you dream about?”
“You,” she started to say.
“And that was bad?” he smirked.
“No,” she said and then seemed to think it over. “Well, yes. Something is hunting you.”
“Something is hunting me?” he repeated. “Do you know what it is?”
“If I did, I would have told you so instead of ‘something is hunting you’,” she said. The irritated tone made Seeley smile as he imagined the expression that went with it. “I don’t know what it is. I got the vision from the predator’s point of view.”
“Can you give me anything else?” he asked.
“It’s killed two people already,” she said.
What Drusilla described sounded familiar. Seeley reached over and grabbed the case folder off his desk. He sat back in the chair and put his feet on the edge of desk, using the incline of his legs to prop up the folder and looked through it.
“Do you know who the victims were and how they were killed?” he asked, all trace of teasing was gone from his voice.
“The first one was a lawyer, I think. He was dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase,” she said.
Seeley flipped through the pages, scanning the information for details on the deaths. Aidan Mills, age 26, worked as a rookie lawyer in the district attorney’s office.
“Did your vision show him being murdered?” Seeley asked anxiously as he skimmed the report.
“All I saw through the killer’s eyes was following him, then when he got closer, the person turned around and the killer pounced on him, like a great big lion with growling and snapping teeth and claws,” she said.
The excited tone in her voice reminded him of how excited Parker got when he described the big fight scene in a Disney classic. Only it wasn’t a fairytale. What she described was staring at him in black and white. Aidan Mills was what can only be portrayed as mauled to death.
“Dru, what was the second victim like?” Seeley asked anxiously as he located the report on the second body.
“A pretty, young governess,” Drusilla said wistfully.
It took Seeley a moment to realize that ‘governess’ and ‘teacher’ was the same thing. It gave him an idea of how old 145 years really was. Back in Drusilla’s time, governesses were employed by wealthy families to instruct their children in their studies and proper decorum if need be.
He scanned the file and, sure enough, there was a pretty, dark haired teacher in her mid-twenties who taught preschool-aged children. The way she was killed was similar to the lawyer. She was barely recognizable when they found her.
“Drusilla, honey?” Seeley inquired in a faraway voice.
“Seeley-Daddy?” Drusilla teased.
Booth rolled his eyes as he shifted uncomfortably upon hearing that. He cleared his throat and went on. “How accurate are your visions?”
There was a silence as Drusilla thought it over. “They come true eventually.”
Now the silence was on Booth’s side. He rubbed his forehead as he looked at the two cases before him. Drusilla had described both of them almost to a T. How did she get visions in Las Vegas of two seemingly unconnected murders in Washington D.C.? And, if she saw them in a vision, did that mean that they were connected?
“You just described two of the cases I’ve been assigned,” Seeley said frustrated.
“I saw it in my vision. The pixies always show me what’s important. Every time the victim turned around to face their attacker, it was you,” she said.
“Drusilla, I can assure you that I’m fine. I’ll be on the lookout for anyone hunting me, but I’m fine,” Seeley said, hoping to put her at ease.
Just then, he heard muffled sounds in the background on her end. The noises were getting closer. Then, he heard Angel ask what Drusilla was doing on the phone.
“Uh-oh, Daddy caught me,” she said conspiratorially.
Seeley smiled at her childish tone. “It’ll be okay, Dru. Give the phone to Angel and I’ll explain. You won’t get into trouble,” Seeley assured her. Then prayed that whatever he said was the right thing.
He heard the phone being passed over and Angel’s voice, “Seeley?”
“Yes, it’s me,” Booth said.
“I’m sorry that she called you. I left the phone here when Spike and I were called on a job. I didn’t think she would use it,” Angel apologized.
“It’s fine, Angel. She called to check on me. It seems that she had a vision about me, but I told her I was fine,” Seeley said.
“She had a vision about you? Are you okay?” Angel asked reflexively.
“Yes, Angel. I’m fine,” Booth repeated in an annoyed tone. “I’m a big boy. I carry a gun. Who’s going to hurt me in D.C.?”
**************************
Las Vegas, Angel’s Apartment
Angel was standing behind the couch with the phone and a broodier expression than usual. Drusilla had a vision about Seeley? The agent said he was okay. Still, a sense of foreboding fell over Angel when he found out about the vision. Drusilla’s sight, though full of riddles and nonsense, had rarely been wrong. If she had a vision of Seeley, who was roughly 2,500 miles away, then something was definitely not fine. He’d deal with it after he hung up.
“Seeley, just be careful,” Angel warned.
“I always am,” Seeley said. “Angel?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t get mad at her or anything. She was only worried about me,” Seeley beseeched. “If you think about it, it’s strange for a soulless vampire. I thought you weren’t supposed to care when you were soulless?”
Angel shrugged as if Seeley was there to see it. “What can I say, we’re strange. I’m not mad at her, by the way. I’m just surprised that she knew how to use the cell phone. I fumble with the damn thing.”
“Okay,” Seeley said skeptically.
“Anything else?”
“Yeah, you and I are going to discuss the fact that you left her by herself after all she’s been through!” Seeley stated.
“She was sleeping when we left. She’s a vampire, Booth. She can take care of herself for a few hours!” Angel said defensively.
“She’s also an unstable demon who was kidnapped and drugged the last time she was by herself!” Booth reprimanded.
“I don’t tell you how to raise your son, you don’t tell me how to handle my childer,” Angel growled.
“She woke up alone from a nightmare vision, Angel!” Seeley said louder.
“She wasn’t alone! Denise, Cassidy and Frankie were upstairs in the office!” Angel said defensively.
“You expect them to know how to handle her?” Seeley challenged.
He heard Spike’s muffled comment and Angel saying, “Stay the fuck out of this, Spike. I don’t need you and him telling me what the hell I did wrong in raising Drusilla!”
“Don’t yell at him, Angel!” Seeley shouted into the receiver.
“What are you going to do to stop me? You’re 2,000 miles away!” Angel growled.
“Damn you, Angel! I care about Drusilla and she called me to tell me about her dream which was about me. She was alone and the only comfort she could get was calling me, because you and Spike weren’t there!” Seeley said angrily.
“When did you become an expert in what she needs?” Angel disputed. “She’s a century old vampire and managed to survive just fine!”
“Don’t you dare pull that ‘I’m the Sire’ card with me! I’m not one of your childer! I may be human,” Seeley was ranting.
“That’s right, you’re human,” Angel pointed out.
“I’ll remind you that she nearly wasted away before we found her! She needs her Sire, and because you weren’t there she called me! So, what does that say about your absentminded childe-rearing skills! I’m not a vampire, but I am a father, Angel. I don’t want to even think about life without my son,” Seeley finished the tirade.
“Why are we yelling about Drusilla’s welfare,” Angel shouted into the phone.
“Because, the brainless, animated corpse that you are, you left her alone!” Seeley yelled back. He must have remembered where he was and lowered his voice. “The last thing I want to do is argue with you, Angel.”
“She’s perfectly safe here, Seeley. I’ll deal with the vision she had and get back to you,” Angel said. He said his goodbyes and hung up.
Angel tossed the cell phone on the end table and went around the couch, sitting next to Drusilla. He leaned back and pulled her against his side.
“How long have you been having the vision of Seeley?” he asked.
“For a while,” Drusilla said tentatively, not sure what to make of her Sire’s mood.
“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Angel asked. He felt her shoulders shrug. “What do you see? Was Seeley in danger?”
“So far, two people were being stalked by something that growls and snarls. When they turn around, it’s Seeley,” she explained.
“But, they weren’t him, right?” Spike asked as he sat down on the other side of her.
She looked over at him and shook her head. “No. Not yet. The two people were killed, mauled to death. I saw it from inside the killer.”
“Has that happened before, that you can see the person’s point of view from inside?” Angel asked.
“Sometimes.” She shuddered at the memory of the dream. “There was blood everywhere and it’s stalking Seeley.”
Angel looked at Spike who raised a scarred brow. “Sound like a vampire or werewolf to you?”
“Whatever it is, it’s more than Booth can handle. If Dru’s having visions this far away from him . . .” Spike trailed off.
Angel looked at Drusilla closely and raised an inquisitive brow. “Exactly how much blood did you take when you bit him, princess?”
Drusilla ducked her head guiltily. She didn’t mean to bite Seeley at all. But, he smelled so much like her Sire that she had done it on instinct. Now, she was tied to him so much so that he was clear across the country and she was seeing him with her Sight.
She looked up at Angel and then at Spike. “What are we going to do?”
“Looks like we’re going for a trip again,” Angel said.
“We’re going to D.C.? Are you sure he’d appreciate the help?” Spike raised a curious brow.
“We’ll see about that when we find out what’s stalking him, won’t we?” Angel said as he got up and went to the bedroom to pack.
“I didn’t mean to cause trouble, Spike,” she apologized, thinking of the argument between Angel and Seeley.
“You’re fine, pet. Angel’s never been good with someone challenging his authority is all,” Spike assured her. She kissed him and followed Angel into the bedroom, leaving him to make flight arrangements.
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