Disclaimer:  I don't own Angel or any of the characters from the show. I am just taking them off the shelf, dusting them off, and letting them play with some of the people from my shelf. I promise to put everything back where I found it when I am done.

Author's Note:  Thank you so much to Encarta from MSN, they let me know that it can be spelled Bast or Bastet.  It is hard to tell because Egyptian is such a dead language.  Actually I knew that but it Bastlian looks better than Bastetlian.  But please note even though this is just for fun I do try to do my research.  Join the update list!  Chapter 7 is already done and just has to be edited, we are coming to the close of this story.

Thank Yous:  To my beta MeriBeth who told me that I was doing the right thing and that it really could be spelt Bast or Bastet.  To my substitute beta ShuisFanatic for stepping in for Hanna’s Mom, since HM was doing the holiday thing.

Update Notification:  There has been a list created to let people know about updates, if you have not received e-mail about it here is the link to get on it.  Or you can just give a shout out in feedback form and I can sign you up directly to the list. To Subscribe: FFIF_updates-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Prequel and Sequel News:  If you haven’t joined the e-mail list you will want to.  The Prequel, titled English Demons will be coming out and it deals with Giles and Evie’s relationship and gives more hints to the connection between Evie and Fred.  Also the Sequel is in the works.  It will be called That Christmas Thing.  It is a direct sequel to this story.

Yellow – Chapter 6: Present Participle
by Annabelle

Her feet did not hurt but her body ached.  The need to release the tension increased when she came upon what she had been seeking.  She stood in front of a building for a moment then slowly walked down the stairs and tried push the door open.  It was locked and the rules of course prevented her from just walking in, so she pounded on the door loudly.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” she heard a male voice call from the other side and her sense registered that he was a demon.

He opened the door and took one look at the demon girl standing in front of him and knew that she was trouble.  “We don’t open till next week,” he said.

“I need help,” she told him pleadingly.  “Please.  This is a sanctuary I can feel it.  Let me in.”

“Why?  You are trouble,” his words were a little ragged and he could feel sweat start to form on his body.

Evie reached her hand up to touch his check, “Not trouble.  I promise.  Let me in.”

“What are you,” he found that he could not move to stop her.  His will was starting to become hers.

“I don’t recognize your kind,” she was starting to get desperate now.  The burning inside was hurting her to no end.  She had to choose a mate.  “Powerful though.  What is your name?”

“Lorne… Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan,” said Lorne then he shook his head.  “I mean, Lorne the host of Caritas.”

“Lorne,” Evie started to run her hands through what she thought was his hair.  “I am Evelyn a Bastlian, I want to come inside now.”

“Okay,” Lorne stepped aside and let her in.

Evie smiled at him and sauntered in with her tail swaying behind her.  Once inside she glanced over the room she was standing in.  She walked over to the bar and ran her finger over the counter.  Sitting down on a bar stool she turned her eyes back on Lorne.  “What are your powers,” she demanded of him.

“I can read people’s auras,” he said.

“Where do you come from?”

“Plyea, an alternate dimension.”

“Alternate dimension,” Evie stood from the stool.  She crossed to where he was standing and started to run her hands along his chest under the rob he was wearing.  She took in his scent once again.  “You would yield strong offspring.”

“What are you doing to me,” Lorne tried to push her hands away but she stopped him.

Evie growled at him.  “What is this magic?  How can you still put up a fight?”  Her eyes became angry but then she laughed.  “It is no matter.  It only means that my offspring will be strong.”  She let out her claws and quickly ran them over his bath rob cutting slightly into his chest.

“Stop,” he looked right into her eyes.  Something was there that he did not understand.  She was powerful and she doing something to him.  He barely had strength to fight it but now he found that his was losing his battle.  “I don’t want to-”

Evie hissed at him and pushed him against the wall.  She started to recite the words of Bast and in a moment she felt his body start to relax.  “How do you feel now?”

Lorne did not answer her.  Instead he flipped their bodies so that she was the one pressed into the wall.  Then he kissed her.  He could feel her giggle against his mouth.  She used her tail to pull him closer to her almost crushing them together.  Their minds started to become one and it became impossible to tell where one of them started and the other finished.  They made their way to Lorne’s bedroom leaving the club looking like someone had ransacked it.

Gavin watched the demon pace back and forth.  The creature was tall and well built.  He could have easily left of his own accord but the demon cat stayed there.  His tail was held in a rigid position behind him.  Then he let out a furious roar.

“She has chosen a mate!” the male Bastlian yelled at Gavin and Lilah.  “It is too late now.”

“No,” Lilah tried to rush to him but he glared at him.  “It is not to late.”

“I will go find her now,” he told them.  “She is at the sanctuary.  Meet me there.  I should be able to stop her before she starts to mate with him.  If I can do that then she will be mine.”

“But why don’t you just stay here,” Lilah reasoned with the beast.  “We have others here who would be willing to be your mate.”

The creature let out a deep laughter that matched his voice.  Handsome was not a word that could fully describe this cross between cat and man.  The fur that covered him was a sandy color, which looked like a loin’s coat, but his eyes were a light blue.  “I do not mate with non-Bastlians human female,” he brushed past her and opened the door of the boardroom.  “It is even below someone of my status to mate with the halfling, but she is the only Bastlian around for miles and I will not let my race to be inflected any further with foreign blood.”

“Wait,” Lilah tried to stop him again but the Bastlian had already left and was making his way to Caritas.  “You don’t have to…”

Gavin laughed at her.  This was truly the best assignment that he had ever been given.  He was thoroughly enjoying seeing her get all flustered over this demon that she did not even have a chance with.  He on the other hand had enough sense to take the anti-pheromone agent that the company had recommended before meeting with their new comrade.

The Bastlian male was a recent hire as an assassin.  The fact that he would be causing a certain death to a friend of Angel’s was just a bonus, even if the death was delayed.  Besides then afterward they would have a brand new Bastlian to work from them.  They will finally get a message sent to Angel and they would no longer have to wait to take the child.

“Really Lilah,” Gavin sneered at her.  “Did you honestly think that you had a chance with him?  He is the first born and only son from one of the oldest Bastlian families.”

“Shut up!” Lilah hissed at him.  Her head was starting to spin and her mind was becoming clearer.

“You know there is something I don’t understand.  He could be a very powerful member of his race, take charge and what not.  Yet here he is working for us and almost having to mate with someone who is beneath him,” mocked Gavin.

Lilah ignored his remark about her, “Bastlians have always been loyal to Bast, the senior partners said so.  But when Bast left they had no one to tell them what to do.  Some of them turned to the so-called powers that be.   Those that didn’t died mostly.  Killed by their own sometimes.”

“But this girl, well half girl,” Gavin started.

“Works for the powers,” Lilah finished for him.  “Yes, which is why our friend is not to happy about having her as a mate.”

“Well given the alterative,” Gavin eyed her.  “I don’t see as he had much of a choice.”

“Go to hell,” Lilah pushed past him and walked out the door.

Giles started to fidget in the back of Angel’s car.  They had managed to cram into the car somehow, although he was not really sure he wanted to know how.  “Ouch,” Giles yelped as the baby-seat that was placed next to him crushed into his side.

“Sorry,” Fred shifted her weight a little as she sat on Wesley’s lap.

“It’s okay Fred,” Giles reassured her.  “I know that it is a bit cramped.”  He looked out the window and thought, ‘at least I hope that’s the reason why I was just assaulted by a car seat those herbs only work on Bastlians and do I really want to be thinking about this too carefully?’  Giles shook his head to push away the thoughts that were starting to cloud his mind and focus on the more important things that were going on.  “Are we nearly there?,” Giles leaned foreword and asked Angel who was sitting with Cordy and Gunn in the front.

Cordy nodded her head but did not dare looking to the backseat.  “Just a few more minutes,” she said.

They slowly pulled into a side street next to the club and everyone started to get out of the car.  Everyone but Fred and Wesley.  Fred had started to open the door to the car but something was pulling at her and preventing her from getting up.  She tried to again but instead she fell back into Wesley’s lap.

“Your shirt is caught,” Wesley whispered in her ear.

Fred gave him a fearful look.  “Oh no,” she gasped.  Again she tried to pull away from him and this time she nearly tumbled out of the car and landed on the ground but he grabbed her arm and she was able to steady herself.

“Fred are you okay,” Angel gave her a look of concern.

Fred nodded, “Fine.  Everything’s fine.  Nothing’s the matter.  Just have to get Connor out of his car seat.”

Angel would have believed her except he noticed that part of her shirt was torn.  Then when Wesley handed him his son he say that the missing part of Fred’s shirt was caught on his button.  He took Connor and gave Wesley a glare.

Wesley pretended ignore him and put his hand on the small of Fred’s back.  “Shall we get going then?”

They moved to Caritas but as the came to the stairs they heard a two toned roar.  The next minute a large cat demon with sandy colored fur seemed to be running up the stairs backward but it also looked like some one had tried to thrown him in the direction of the alley.  There was blood coming from his arm.

“What the hell is going on,” Cordy fell back a little but Angel helped her balance herself.  “What happened to him?”

“Evie,” Giles and Fred said at the same time.

“She must be with Lorne,” Fred gave Giles a worried looked.

“She wouldn’t,” Angel frowned a little at the Watcher.  “Would she?”

“Lorne is a demon, isn’t he?” Giles looked at the angry male Bastlian and tried not to picture what his daughter did make him so mad.

“Yes but-” Cordy started with a slightly disgusted look.

“She will not mate with him!” a deep voice roared over all of them.  The large cat was panting and looking at the stairs as if he was waiting for someone to come up them.  “I will not allow it!”

“Haven’t you heard that no means no!” Wesley almost fell over when Fred grabbed a hold him and pulled him to her.  He could feel the fear coming from her body in waves.

“What happened to freedom of choice man,” Gunn glared at the beast.

“There is no choice for her,” the beast stood in the center of the club.  “She will become mine.  Bastlians will mate with Bastlians!”

“Well that is closed-minded isn’t,” Cordy snorted.

Giles shook his head at the male Bastlian.  “She will mate with no one.  Having a child will kill her.  You must realize that!”

“The weak shall perish and the strong will rise,” the male stood to his full height, which towered over them.  “This is the way of our people.”  He turned to toward the stairwell, which lead to the club.  “Come to me little one,” he howled.

“Evie no!” Giles screamed and started to rush toward the beast but Angel held him back.

Up the stairs came Evie with Lorne following close behind her.  She stood in a way so that her body was protecting his.  Evie gave the Bastlian male a nasty look.  “I smell evil on you,” Evie hissed at him in ancient Egyptian.

“Evil or not you will mate me,” he held his hand out to her speaking in the same language.

Evie did not move to him though.  She stood her ground, “I have chosen a mate.  You are too late.”

“You have not mated,” he yelled at her furiously still in the dead language.  “The rules of our people allow me to fight for you if I must.  Do you not see that this foreign blood will be poison to your child?  If you mate with me our offspring will be strong.  In the name of Bast and our race make your choice me.  It will be the best thing.”

“Okay will someone please tell me what they are saying,” Cordy shouted.  Neither Bastlian turned to explain to her though.

“I will mate with him if I chose to,” Evie’s eyes were glowing bright yellow.  “His sires will be strong, if not stronger than yours.  The old ways are all but dead.  The choice is mine.”

“I will kill him!” he yelled back at her.  “You know we will fight and he will lose.”

“What is going on,” Cordy whispered to Fred.

Fred was shaking like a leaf holding on to Wesley for dear life.  He had his arms wrapped around her tightly.  It gave her enough courage to shake her head and let Cordy know that she no idea what either of the Bastlians were saying.

Cordy did not give up though.  She turned to Giles and asked him the same question.

“He is threatening to kill Lorne if she does not mate with him,” Giles summed up for Cordy.  “Well that is what I can make out.”

“This does not sound very good for me,” Lorne had moved away from Evie and was now standing with the others.  He was dressed in a different bathrobe then before and was shaking a bit.

Giles looked fiercely at him, “Well if you didn’t try to have sex with my daughter you would not be in this position.”

“Hey she came to me,” Lorne held his hands up in defense.  Giles was about to attack him but a look from Angel had Gunn stopping him.

“Giles calm down.  We have to find a way to help Evie so she does not mate with either of them,” Angel moved stand between the father and the demon.

“Right then,” Giles nodded.  “Gunn use the lighter in the bag and start to burn the herbs.”

“I will take that,” Gavin snatched the bag from Gunn’s hand and give them an evil grin.  “No one will be helping her.  She will take a mate.”

“Sorry to break up this little party,” Lilah had a few other men standing behind her.  “But you see we have to protect our clients.”

Angel looked at her with hatred, “I should have known that you were a part this.  Giles do the spell.”  Then he quickly handed Connor to Fred.

Evie was hissing at the male in the background.  It was clear that he was trying to make his move to claim her but she was avoiding him.  She ran he claws over his abdomen and gave him a large cut that spilled out blood.  He howled at her and swung his claws at her head but she jumped out of the way in time.

At the same time Giles, Lorne, and Fred with Connor were huddled behind a over turned trashcan that the male Bastlian had tried to launch at Evie.  Angel, Gunn, Wesley, and Cordelia were fighting off the goons from Wolfram and Hart.  But in the middle of all the chaos Evie had stopped fight the male.  She circled around him panting a little weaker then before.  It almost looked as if she trying to decide what to do with him.

“Amitto tuus oculi appareo,” Evie heard her father’s voice ring in her head.  She fell to the ground for a moment when her head started to spin.  Then she looked around her and saw her new acquaintances fighting mean looking men.  At first she did not understand.  Then memories started to hit her and she felt like she was going to vomit.  Visions of some of the things she had done to these people that she barely knew flew in her mind.  Yet here they were fighting to help her.  She had to do something.

“Look we’ll finish this in a minute,” Evie spoke in English and stood to look at the male beast.  Then she patted him on his chest.  “I’ve got something I have to take care of first.”  Then in a flash she stuck her paw deep into the wound she had given to his stomach.  She let her claws out and twisted them around inside his skin.  He snarled at her and fell back to the ground.  She used her tail to hit is head and watched him black out.  The loss of blood had gotten to him.

“Duck,” she called to Angel and his friends.  Once they moved Evie used her tail and whipped it at the Wolfram and Hart men.  Then she used her hindquarters claws to scratch them as she kicked at their backs.

Angel and the others took the men up of the ground and kicked them around some more.  The men started to retreat not listening to the shouts of Lilah and Gavin to hold their ground.  Evie turned on Gavin but he started to run as soon as he saw her teeth and claws barred.  Lilah looked as if she wanted to face Evie but thought better of it when she saw Angel looming behind the female demon.  She turned to follow the rest of her team

“How do you feel,” Angel asked Evie while he watched Wolfram and Hart in retreat.

“Like someone hit me with a load of bricks and then dunked me in cold ice water,” She looked at one of the wounds on her arm.  “Not to mention that I had to fight off a full male Bastlian.”

“Is he gonna wake up,” Fred asked timidly clutching Connor to her.

Evie nodded, “Soon now doubt.”

“Anyone have something sharp and big,” Angel looked around at everyone

“Axe,” Giles tossed the weapon to Angel.

“You were going to take off my head?” Evie yelped at her father.

“Of course not, I just-” Giles started.

Cordy backed away, “He is awake.”

The watched as the male Bastlian stood on his feet and let out a horrible of roar.  “I will kill you all!”  He spoke in Egyptian.

“What did he say?” Angel asked Evie.

Evie shrugged, “I have no idea!”

“You were speaking it earlier,” Wesley took a fighting stance.

“Clarity spells work funny sometimes,” Evie waited another half second and then started to charge him with Gunn and Wesley close behind.  They kicked at him and made his wounds bleed more.  Then Evie managed to get behind him and slice his back open.  “Well cut of his head!” she shouted to Angel.

Angel moved to swing the axe but Bastlian man tripped him and then kicked out his hind paw to knock Evie to the ground.  “That hurt,” moaned Angel.

Wesley tried to get in a few punches and Gunn helped but the cat demon just swung his big arms and tossed them across the room.  They lay in a heap a few feet away from Fred and Giles.  She handed the baby to Lorne and ran to Wesley.  “Wesley,” she gasped as she fell to the ground near him.

“You monster,” Evie cried punching and kicking the male.  “Your fight is not with them.  You are breaking the rules!”  He fought back with equal strength.  Wounding her ribs and back but she kept going.

Angel watched Evie pound the male who was two heads taller than her.  He heard Giles calling to him to help her.  Angel raised the axe in his hands.  Then when the male demon fell to the pavement he brought the axe down and the cat’s head rolled to the ground.

Evie fell on her knees and let out a howl.  The adrenaline started to leave her and the pain started to set in.  She could feel the blood run down her fur.

“Evie,” Giles rushed to her to help her to her feet.  “How do you feel?”

“Like every vein in my body is letting out blood,” Evie winced in pain a bit unsteady on her feet.

Around them everyone started to recover.  Cordy went help Angel up and wiped away the blood that had splattered on his face.  “Are you okay?” she asked even though she knew he wasn’t.

“I could be better,” he pushed a strand of her back behind her ear.

Lorne came foreword, holding Connor, “Don’t tell me.  I don’t want to know.”  He gave them a strange smile and then handed the baby to Angel.

Wesley and Fred joined the others and Gunn followed them.  Evie smiled at her friend and held out her hand.  Fred took it and gave it a squeeze.

“Evie what did you mean when you said that he was breaking the rules,” Angel asked her but he stayed close to Cordy and it looked to Evie that he had his hand wrapped around her back, no one else seemed to notice.

“I don’t know,” Evie slumped against her father and she felt someone else come to her right side to help her.  It was Gunn.  She gave him a half smile and a worried look.  “I really only remember bits and pieces of everything.  I do remember some nonsense about rules of the game.  I was hoping that involving humans was against the rules.”

Everyone was silent.  Evelyn looked at all of them.  She saw how changed they were from when she first met them.  She thought that they were all spoiled and too soft to fight, like the Watchers that she lived with.  Now though she could see that they were made from strength that she did know it was possible for humans to have.  They also looked at her in a different way but she was not really sure if she was just hoping for that.

Then her eyes fell on Lorne.  She remembered the mess from downstairs.  Chairs and tables smashed.  Broken bits of furniture laying around everywhere.  And that was before that male demon came and started tearing up the place.

“Umm,” Lorne said when he noticed her looking at him.

She winced a little because more of what she had done came back to her.  “The Council will take care of your club,” she looked away from him and at her father.

“Yes,” he agreed.  “I’ll give you an address to send the bill.”

“Well now that everything is taken care of,” Angel spoke up and Connor started to whimper.  “I really do think that was enough excitement for tonight.  How about we all head home?”

“And get you into a bath,” Giles bushed some of the blood off of Evie’s fur.  “Cold bath, with ice cubes.”

Evie grunted at him.  She hated the cold.  Then she looked at Lorne and realized in horror that he was wearing a bathrobe.  “Lots of ice cubes,” she pleaded with her father and tried to pull away from Gunn but her vision was starting to cloud.  Evelyn did not see the look of dismay from Lorne.  Nor did she hear Angel tell him that she meant nothing by her comment.   She did feel her body being moved somewhere.  Then she noticed that cold water was surrounding her and soaking her fur.  She opened one eye and saw her father pacing a washcloth on her forehead.  That was when she blacked out and all that was left to do was wait for her to wake up again.