In Another World

Author: Scifispice80

Rating: PG for this part, future parts, who knows?

Summary/Author's notes: This takes place in the dopplegangland first seen in the Buffy episode "The Wish." I'm going on the assumption there's a constant reality that is dopplegangland in existence that coincides with ours. So it still exists, it's just not our reality. This is a look into the LA corner of dopplegangland.

In Another World

by Scifispice80

"Ow! Shit!" Pain jolted into Lilah's palms as they made contact with the sidewalk. /Good job, Lilah. Do the classic white chick thing and fall while getting away./ She picked herself up off the pavement, as well as the book she had been carrying.

/Why in the hell did I agree to do this in the first place? Because, you know, running through alleyways from evil minions is so me./

Her goal had always been to help people. That was what had interested in her in law in the first place, even if she was only an assistant. An assistant to the firm's top lawyer, granted, but still an assistant. But how could you do good when evil owned the firm. Hell, when evil WAS the firm. For a while she had tried to ignore it but that hadn't worked for very long. After a while, the things she saw, the things she knew started to get to her. She should have known. Most of the businesses the flourished in LA had ties to evil. Why should the biggest law firm in the city be any different?

Plus law was a man's world. As clichéd and backwards and old fashioned as it sounded, that's the way it was. Having to spar with and outdo your colleagues on a daily basis to simply keep your status and try to climb the damn corporate ladder had taken its toll on her more and more every day.

So she had sought them out. White hats, she heard the people at work call them. Technically their enemies. The underground. The irony of it made her laugh even now: the good guys were the underground.

Who had she been kidding, she wasn't cut out for it, and she never had been. And now she was so in over her head. All for this damn book. No, it wasn't just a book; it was the final book of the Books of Ascension. One of her boss's personal clients was planning to go through an ascension ceremony, and had made it very beneficial for the firm to provide him with the books. But they needed the final volume in order to finish the ceremony. Coincidently, it was also that final volume that would be needed in order to figure out what he was trying to ascend to and how to stop him. Her part of it had been simple enough. Get the book; make sure it gets to the White Hats so they can do their thing. That was it, and her little heroic act would be over. Plain and simple. /Yeah, simple as trying to get a dove out of a scorpion pit./

Lilah gave a hiss of pain as she pulled a pebble out of her still stinging hand. She paused, thinking she had heard a noise, gazing warily towards the corner ahead of her. Nothing. Just her own breathing. Halting her breath for a moment, she listened again. All quiet. She let out the breath as she started forward again. /Thank God./ Suddenly a sharp pain shot through the back of her head as it made contact with the wall. The cry of pain as well as the scream that came after it was muffled as a crushing hand closed around her windpipe. As the dots cleared from her vision, she found herself looking into familiar blue eyes.

Of course she knew who it was. He was hard to miss, as he was almost always in the company of the firm's top lawyers, usually her own boss. A bodyguard of sorts, she supposed. A few times she swore she had caught him staring at her across the lobby. He could sneak up in that silent way that came naturally for vampires. It was unsettling. Quite creepy to tell the truth. To feel like someone's watching you and then look to find that not only had someone been watching you, an undead parasitic shell had been watching you. Gave you chills right down to your bones, it did. And that damn creepy smile that was on his face sometimes, usually after he had just done something particularly violent. Lilah supposed it had probably looked out of place on him even when he was human.

"There you are, Lilah. There are a lot of people looking for you, you know."

The constricting hand released and Lilah collapsed to the ground, choking in air. As her breathing returned to normal, the vampire squatted down, face to face with her, the smile firmly set in place.

"Well, aren't you even going to say anything for yourself?"

Lilah shifted into a slight sitting position. "Nothing to say, WP," she said with a slight cough as she focused on the pavement in front of her.

A second later, a foot made contact with her ribs, making her collapse back to the pavement.

"You knew better than that, now didn't you," came the coldly malicious voice. "I allow very few people to call me that. And you aren't one of them."

Wesley had seen Lilah around Wolfram and Hart, and there was something about her. Most people wouldn't have even remembered her, a single face among the hordes at Wolfram and Hart. Cattle, most of them were. Just mindless sheep doing their jobs. But something about her had caught his attention. Caught it and kept it. And for some reason, that bothered Wesley to no end. Bothered him to the point that he knew he was going to have to do something about it.

"Did you really think you were going to get away with it? It's not as if you were that difficult to catch. Personally I can't see why they'd even bother sending me out for such and insignificant task. Pretty much took it upon myself. All I know is that this book," he paused as he flipped through its pages briefly, " must be extremely important."

"And exactly what are you getting in exchange for performing this ever valiant feat for them?" Lilah said as she managed to stand up again, feeling suddenly bold.

"My usual fee, with a bit off the top," he answered, knowing it would peak her interest.

"And why-why is that?" she said, her speech faltering slightly as Wesley pressed his body against hers, pinning her to the wall.

Still smiling, he leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Because they're letting me keep you."

Before she could even build up anything resembling a scream, she felt the fangs sink into her throat. She finally tried to scream, only to discover that she couldn't. Silent tears began streaming down her face as she felt the life ebbing out of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

END PART 1

Ok, this is a random plot bunny that jumped on me last night and wouldn't let go. My first attempt at fic from the Buffy/Angel genre. Hoping to continue, but not sure yet. So if it sucks and I shouldn't bother, please tell me. ;-)