Blood and Bones - Bones, Buffy, Angel
Christmas rush was a special form of hellish torture. Of that, he was sure. And he would know, after all, he was rather intimately familiar with hell and torture. With a sigh of relief he finally parked the car and headed into the Smithsonian. Maybe Bones and her squints had managed to free the body from the concrete. So far all they knew was that it had a bullet hole in it's skull.
The lab was in chaos. What the hell was going on? In the middle of the raised platform he could see the concrete slab, free of the body. All the stuff around the lab was in disarray, much of it also in various states of destruction. Where was everyone?
He took a deep breath. Blood!
"Bones?" he called out. If anything had happened to her…
No reply. Don't panic. Bones was brilliant, she'd figure out what to do, no matter the situation. It was unlikely she'd been in the lab when whatever had happened went down.
Carefully he made his way farther into the room, approaching the platform. He was right, no body. But also no squints. Blood, but not enough for anyone to be dead… unless… If he'd still pray, he'd do so now.
When he stepped onto the platform, he had to correct himself. One body. No-one he knew. He examined the body quickly. Bite marks. Damn . At least that cleared up what had happened. But where was Bones?
A loud crash turned his head around. Someone - their body , most likely - was trying to get into Bones' office. Well, that wouldn't do. In a heartbeat, he was up there, right next to the intruder.
"I would advise against that, you know" his tone was nonchalant but if this intruder made just one wrong move, he'd kill him.
"Fuck off. This is my food. Get your own" Wrong answer. The intruder finally looked at him and promptly did a double take. " Angelus ?"
He smiled grimly. "Seems some people really don't learn until you make them feel." Dispatching the other vampire was a matter of moments.
Now to do damage control.
He almost, almost hesitated before he entered Bones' office. But there was no getting around it. He'd done harder things, hadn't he? He'd been to hell. And yet… the idea Temperance Brennan could be afraid of him was somehow more frightening than any time spent in a hell dimension.
Time to face the music.
"Booth? What the hell was that? What did just happen? How did you do that?" Bones asked as soon as she saw him. Then she startled. "Your face…"
Was his face still that demonic visage? He quickly smoothed out his expression. Then he sighed.
"That was a vampire. Yes, I know. Doesn't sound very believable. It turns out our concrete body wasn't dead. He was a vampire. An undead blood-suckling creature of myth. As for how I did that and my face… I killed the vampire. I could do that because I am one, too." He resisted the urge to hold his breath.
Bones seemed to take it rather well… so far at least.
"Vampires exist" It wasn't a question but he answered anyway.
"Yes"
"And you are one"
"Yes"
Something seemed to switch and her questions were less incredulous and more inquisitive.
"Are vampires immortal?"
"Yes"
"And you take your nourishment from blood?"
"Exclusively. Well, normal vampires do. I'm a bit of a… special case."
"Most legends say vampires burn in the sun…"
"It's less burning and more poof, your dust. Again, I'm a bit of a special case."
"Are vampires dead?"
"Undead, technically. Corpses animated by slivers of demonic energy but in full possession of the body's memories and core personality traits… No soul though. Again, special case notwithstanding"
"How old are you? And how are you an exception?" Bones asked.
He smiled at her curiosity. He should have known. Leave it to Bones to be intrigued about the novelty instead of afraid.
"Maybe we should sit down. It's a long story"
And so he told her his story in all its gory details. From being born as Liam O'Brien as Gaillimh in 1727 to getting cursed with the return of his soul to meeting Buffy to Shanshu (which had turned out to be different from what he expected). And Bones listened attentively, occasionally asked questions about the times he had lived through, the things he had seen.
"So because of this Shanshu you can walk in the sun and are not reliant on blood, but you are still a vampire?" she asked when he was done.
"Yes. And my soul can no longer be released because it's not anchored by a curse anymore. It can however, in theory, still be suppressed or torn from my body by spells as any mortal's can."
"And are you still immortal?"
"Honestly? I don't know, Bones. I don't seem to have aged much in the last 30ish years but I truly cannot say. I am no longer undead, at least not in a… reproductive way, but that's about all I know."
Temperance smiled. "So… You're from Ireland. Could you say something in Gaelic?"
Angel couldn't help but laugh. "Tá grá fíor síoraí. Is mise mise, a ghrá. Le mo chroí agus m'anam go léir."
"What does that mean?"
"I'll tell you tonight. Any other questions?"
And then, Bones asked the one question that banished all lingering doubts and worries.
"Can I examine your other face? The morphological changes are fascinating."