Part One

"Insomnia bites," Angel muttered as he lay awake in his bed.

Not being able to sleep made Angel angry, and not being able to figure why he couldn’t sleep made him angrier. Nothing had happened lately, so there wasn’t any real reason he should be thinking about something and not sleeping.

Nothing had really happened lately, of course, if you didn’t count the facts that he routinely killed blood-sucking demons from beyond the grave, was one himself, and was in love with a girl who should, in fact, be his mortal enemy. Not that he was mortal.

Angel rolled over and tried again to loose himself to unconsciousness. He closed his eyes, and tried to imagine himself doing something pleasant and normal: tending a garden perhaps, going to a movie with Buffy, or sharing a meal with his family.

His family...

Everyone in his family was dead, and it was his fault. All his fault...

"Angelus! Angelus?"

"Hmmm? Wha’ is i', Kathleen?" Angelus replied, coming around from the side of the barn.

Kathleen smiled: her real name was Cyranainia, but she hated that name. Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to love it and always called her that. Everyone, that is, except her big brother Angelus.

"It’s time fer dinner, are ye comin’?"

Angelus grinned, nodded, and followed Kathleen across the field and back towards their house.

"Ah, there ye are, Angelus! Where’d ye find ‘im, Cyranainia?" asked Tobin: Angelus and Kathleen’s father.

Kathleen rolled her eyes at the use of her full name and glanced at her brother, who tossed her a sympathetic look.

"He wa’ out by the barn, Da, tendin’ the animals."

"Ah, good," Tobin nodded in satisfaction, "but now it be time fer yer dinner so get in to the dinin’ room afore it be cold!"

Tobin ducked back into the room he’d immerged from, closely followed by his son and daughter.

As Angelus, Kathleen, and Tobin entered the dining room, all heads looked up from their places.

At the head of the table was an empty chair, presumably to be filled when Tobin sat down. To the right of the empty seat was a beautiful middle-aged woman with nearly white skin and hair so black it had blue highlights. She was Tobin’s wife, Anna. To her right was another empty chair, followed by a stocky teenage boy, yet another empty chair, an average-looking girl, a very young, very frail-looking girl, and a toddler who was wiggling impatiently in his seat.

Angelus smiled at his beloved family and sat himself down next to his mother. Tobin went to the chair at the table’s head, and Kathleen took her place in the remaining chair.

The family’s sole servant, Jeremy, then brought in dinner. Once everyone had a plate of food and a mug of drink in front of them, the family joined hands and Tobin’s bass voice announced grace.

With that done, the family started to eat, merrily discussing the day’s activities.

Perhaps, if this family had known that this was to nearly be the last meal they ate together, this dining ritual may have had more to it. But, they didn’t know. They didn’t know that everyone in the room, save one, would be dead within the next two days.

Do you want to read part two? Go here.

FEEDBACK! PLEASE! If you don't give me feedback, I'll get very nasty...

Go here or here for more of Salatina's stories.