Silver Cloud, Bitter Lining (8/?)

Author- Midnight Faith

Spoilers- 'Tabula Rasa.' 'Older and far away.'

Distribution- FF.net, AOH anyone else just ask :)

Pairing- Lilah/Lindsey, Lilah/Gunn undertones

Rating- R

Summary- Lilah and Cordy get a shock

Disclaimer- not mine… yadda, yadda

Notes- sequel to 'Southern Comfort.' You'll probably want to read that first…

"Country patrol is so different to city…" Lilah mused aloud, as her, Cordy and Buffy walked through the Sunnydale cemetery gates, "There's so much grass here."

"You know us Northern Californians… always with the grass," Buffy said, twirling a stake, between her fingers, in her left hand.

"So much many places for them to hide…" Lilah observed, looking around at the wide expanse of grassland and the multitude of foliage, crumbling headstones and marble crypts, "In LA it's so open… so… urban. There's nowhere for them to hide… all it comes down to is you, them and the chase."

"So you patrolled a lot in LA?" Buffy asked Lilah.

"I patrolled… some. A few times. Nothing really special though…"

"You're kidding right?" Cordy broke in, "That time I went patrolling with you and… she throws a stake and hits the target like you do, Buffy."

"I really don't… I'm not slayer standard. I like it though… I like the adrenaline buzz. And it feels like you're doing some good… that you could be saving someone's life… I guess it's one of the best feelings in the world."

"It's got to beat the feeling of having your arse kicked right?" Cordy asked teasingly.

"Are you on the LA vamp tag team?" Buffy asked Cordy.

"Not yet," Cordy told her, "But I've trained some. I'm no natural but I think I'm getting there. I wouldn’t mind kicking some undead booty though…"

Lilah rolled her eyes.

"And other girls get to bond over lipstick and Romy and Michele…"

"I love that film…" Cordy said with a smile.

"I've never seen it… just snatching pop culture out of thin air… I'm learning right?" Lilah asked.

"We should stop by the video store on the way home…" Buffy said, "It's a classic movie. A must see introduction to pop culture 101 with professors Buffy and Cordelia."

"We can pick up dips too…" Cordy said, "And tortilla chips. You like mild or hot?"

"Neither right now," Lilah grimaced at the thought of food.

"You still feeling all crappy?" Buffy asked.

"A little…" Lilah told her, "But I feel better… I guess I just needed a little fresh air."

"So a no on the chips 'n' dip but Evian right? And some unsalted non-buttered popcorn? And we can eat that, watch the movie and braid each other's hair like when we were twelve…" Cordy said.

"It was Buffy's turn to roll her eyes.

"Lame. But the good kind of lame… Disneyworld lame. We could call Tara and Anya and get them to come over too. It'll be a nice chill out night before the big day on Saturday."

"Won’t that be awkward?" Cordy asked, "I mean Tara is Willow's ex right?"

"Yeah, I mean when we left LA I couldn’t even be in the same room as my ex…" Lilah said, a hint of pensiveness in her voice which promoted a sympathetic smile from Cordy.

"Yeah but they were fine at my birthday last week…" Buffy told them.

"Oh no!" Cordy said in mock horror, "Not another Buffy birthday. All of Buffy's parties are a certified disaster. We really should be skipping that holiday altogether right about now. Seventeenth… demon parts in a box… near apocalypse. Eighteenth… weird slayer rituals Buffy almost died…" she explained to Lilah.

"Sounds about as fun as my birthdays…" Lilah told Buffy. "It's turning into the yearly ritual that is me, alone in my old apartment in the dark with a bottle of single malt and a box of matches… but I quit smoking out of needing something to fill the time and my apartment was burnt to a crisp."

"Not this year it won’t be…" Cordy told Lilah, "I promise a huge party… with cake…"

"Oooohhh… Cake!" Buffy said to Lilah, "do you feel like cake? Cause if you did we could stop by the seven eleven and pick some up possibly some with pink frosting…"

Lilah shook her head.

"I don't really feel like food of any kind right now…" Lilah told them.

"Anyway… no more talk of food…" Buffy said, "I wanna hear all about these dresses you got for the wedding…"

"Pink, not hot pink but not salmon, little beads on it… halter neck… and the most to die for boraccis… but I have to be careful not to get grass stains on them if I want to return them on Sunday…"

"You're returning your outfit? Buffy asked in disbelief.

"If we want to eat for the next two years we are…" Cordy told her, "Not a lot of money for people like us in a big city like LA…"

"So anyway what colour's your still tagged dress?" Buffy asked Lilah.

"Purple… ruffles rather than frills… I'm not really sure about it…"

"You look totally hot in it…" Cordy reassured her.

"I think I should've got something… darker. A little more slimming…"

"You’re kidding right?" Buffy asked her, "I'm the slayer, I work out almost seven days a week and you're still thinner than me…"

"I went up a dress size…" Lilah told Buffy, "So I feel kind of like I need to go on a serious diet right now…"

"You’re fine as you are… you look great…" Cordy told her a little poignantly, "And you're depressed because you went from a six to an eight… I'd be happy with an eight…"

"You look fantastic…" Buffy told Lilah, "You're not in LA now. You don't have to be a size four to get into the bars. Actually we only have the one bar…"

"We should go to the Bronze…" Cordy said, "A little dancing, small amounts of lukewarm beer… could be fun."

"Right now I'm trouble gathering the energy to walk anywhere let alone dance…" Lilah told Cordy, "But if it sells mochachinnos I'm there…"

"It doesn’t but the Espresso Pump right down the block does…" Buffy told her, "Are you craving LA coffee?"

"Something like that…"

"Caramel or white chocolate?" Cordy asked her.

"Caramel mostly…"

"OK Espresso pump then video store…" Buffy said, "So are you guys gonna call anyone from LA to drive down here as dates for the wedding?"

"I'm living strictly date free for now…" Cordy told Buffy.

"And I just came out of this horribly suffocating, clingy thing…" Lilah told Buffy, "It was complicated… actually it was more my fault… there was someone else…"

"Hey honey."

It sounded like Gunn's voice. On the surface. As the sound echoed and carried though it seemed more malevolent somehow… further away and darker, lacking all intent and innocence.

Cordy and Lilah exchanged a terrified glance and whirled around sharply.

He stood behind them about ten feet away but Cordy figured Gunn could cover the distance between them in less than a second.

It didn’t connect for Lilah for a few seconds. The man standing opposite them looked and sounded exactly like Gunn had before… but that's where the similarity ended.

His yellowed, cat like eyes glistened with evil. His face was contorted into bumpy fragments of bone and skin, drawn back so his sharp, white prominent fangs were visible beneath his lips.

The word danced at the corners of Lilah's mind not willing to surface.

Then suddenly it hit her with cold dread. Vampire. Gunn was a vampire. He's become the embodiment of everything she feared. And it was all her fault. It hit her in a series of powerful waves. The familiar nauseated feeling returned and struck with sickening force.

She stood stock-still and didn't let the fear show in her eyes. Just like they had taught her to do at Wolfram and Hart.

She realised that time seemed to be standing still all around her. Everything seemed to move at a jaded, slow speed. Buffy pounded Gunn hard and Lilah felt Cordy's hands on her shoulders but she knew Cordy was just as speechless as she was.

She saw Gunn on the ground and Buffy about to punch a stake into his chest but both her and Cordy screamed 'No!' instinctively.

Buffy suddenly stopped, overpowered by Gunn who knocked the stake out of her hand and pushed her to the ground.

He took one look at Lilah; a cold grin set on his face.

"Soon," he told her before running off at lightning speed.

Lilah sunk to the ground and out of Cordy's grip. Cordy dropped to her knees next to Lilah.

"Lilah," she told her gently touching her shoulder, "Lilah. Come on."

Arms around Lilah's shoulder she managed to haul her to a standing position.

"Are you guys OK?" Buffy asked, rubbing her own bruised shoulder.

"Yeah…" Cordy told her, "I'm OK."

"Is that the other guy?" Buffy asked.

"That's Gunn," Cordy informed her, "But he really didn’t have fangs back then."

"You should take her home…" Buffy told Cordy, "She looks kinda shell shocked…"