Will woke suddenly. Everything around him was shaking. His bed, his small desk, the whole room was shaking. Earthquake! He thought suddenly. His whole body constricted with fear and he gripped the bed tightly. This was his first earthquake. Damn Italy, why did Angelus have to come here? He’d heard all kinds of horror stories about earthquakes, and they’d given him nightmares as a human. He could hear the building falling apart and cursed Angelus for bringing him here. He himself was shaking with fear now and he shut his eyes tight praying for it to stop. Instead the shaking seemed to get more and more violent and Will felt an arm slip round his shoulders.
His Sire pulled him close into his large chest and stroked his back soothingly. “It’s ok, Will, it’s ok, Shh.” Will whimpered pathetically and nuzzled deeper into Angelus’ shirt.
Suddenly the wall next to them caved in and Will buried himself against Angelus in shock trying to get as close as possible to the older vampire. Then the whole room started to collapse and the floor fell through. Will felt himself falling, then hitting something hard and then blackness.

He came to hazily, blinking a couple of times then focusing on where he was. There was rubble all around him. He choked a couple of times on the dust before a voice somewhere near said,
“Stop breathing, Will, and you won’t choke.”
Will turned and coughed the rest of the dust out before he stopped breathing. As he moved, he dislodged a large beam which fell to the ground with a crash, falling on his leg.
“Ow!”
Angelus sighed and moved to help his childe. He lifted Will up carefully and supported him. There were large angry cuts all over his head and rips in his shirt with yet more blood seeping through. Angelus himself looked a right state too. He sat down again and mentally cursed himself for taking them to this place. He’d thought it would be a treat for the girls, and it had been, until now.
Will was clear of his little rubble trap now. They seemed to be in a sort of little cave, almost a room. There was rubble everywhere, and Will noticed with surprise that the carpet was still visible. The green colour that he remembered had been in Darla’s sitting room. Darla...
“Angelus?” he said hoarsely, sitting down beside his Sire. Angelus lifted his head in acknowledgement. “What’s going to happen to Dru?”
“She’ll be ok. She and Darla have been in earthquakes before. They can handle themselves.”
Will shivered slightly and took a large breath, regretting it when he started to sneeze the dust out. Angelus rolled his eyes silently.
They sat in silence for a while, Will glancing restlessly at Angelus every few seconds and playing with bits of rubble he found. Angelus sat perfectly still, so still that it was scaring Will.
“Sire?” he whispered. “What are we going to do?”
“Wait for rescue services to dig us out of course.”
“What if they don’t?”
“Then I’ll feed off you and dig my own way out,” Angelus replied and Will was scared that he was deadly serious. He took a another breath and froze. He was surprised Angelus hadn’t smelt it already, but then Angelus wasn’t breathing, so how could he.
“Angelus?” he croaked, his voice edged with fear, “Smell the air.”
Angelus took one look at his childe’s terrified face and took a deep breath in. Understanding crossed his face and his eyes set. “We need to get out, Will,” he said firmly.
And Will didn’t question anything, just started moving rubble. Because what he could smell on the air was another thing he’d had nightmares about. Often, in an earthquake, a fire is started, and no one can get to it to put it out. The fire can rage for days and days, incinerating everything in it’s path. A fire storm. That was what Will and Angelus could smell on the air and they were not about to wait and get themselves burned away.
They worked together in silence for about half an hour. Angelus moved a large rock and suddenly there was a huge crash and tons more rubble fell down on them. Will dived for cover under Angelus’ body and felt the strong arms close around him into a ball. He stayed as still as possible, not wanting to move, not daring to move, even after it had settled.
Angelus was curled around him, and Will’s head was buried in Angelus’ chest. He screwed his eyes shut and willed for it all to be a dream. He could smell the fire on the air strongly now and he felt a tear in his eye. Angry that he would cry in front of Angelus, he blinked it away.
Angelus stroked Will’s hair soothingly. “Ok, Will, you can move now.”
Will muttered something into Angelus’ body and shook his head.
“What was that?”
“I don’t want to. I feel safer like this.”
Angelus gave a small chuckle in spite of himself. “Very well.” He shifted slightly and sank so the two of them were lying down, Angelus pressed against Will’s back, his strong arms holding him.
After a while, Angelus spoke. “I’m sorry Will.”
“What for?”
“I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get us out of here,” he said, his voice heavy.
Will turned so that his blue eyes looked into Angelus’ brown ones. “I trust you,” he said hoarsely. “If you can’t get us out then nobody can.”
Angelus saw everything in those eyes. Hope, held back by fear and love. He set his jaw. There was no way he was letting those beautiful eyes die now.
“Lets go, Will.” He got up and began to dig again. Will tried to help, but he had broken three fingers of his right hand in the last cave in.
They made quite a bit of progress within the next hour and a half. A couple of times Angelus had to stop and survey the rubble, working out what would fall if he moved something else. But soon, Will felt the hunger catching up with him. His hand was throbbing and he felt weak. Angelus noticed and called him over.
“Here.” He held out his arm for Will to drink from. Will shook his head. Angelus’ voice became sterner. “Will, drink.”
“No. You need it more than I do, you’re doing more lifting.” Angelus shrugged resignedly. It was a fair point.
They went back to work. About another hour later, Angelus stopped. Will looked at him.
“What’s wrong?”
“The girls are near. Can’t you smell them?”
Will sniffed the air and shuddered. “All I smell is...”
“Oh. Sorry. Come on, they’re this way somewhere,” he said, pointing to the left side of where they’d been digging. They’d been going sideways and upwards at the same time, and Will could see the short tunnel they had made. It was like digging through earth, just more uneven. Angelus sniffed the air again and smiled. “They’re just up there, that must be where the surface is,” he pointed.
He sank to the floor, exhausted. Will frowned. “What are you doing, let’s dig ourselves out then!”
Angelus shook his head and patted the rubble beside him. “Are you seriously telling me you can’t smell them? They’re just up there, digging us out.”
Will glanced up and sure enough, he could detect the traces of Drusilla. He sat beside Angelus, relieved, and rested his head on his Sire’s shoulder.
“I was so scared,” he said quietly, remembering how he had felt just an hour ago. Now he was safe, Angelus was here and looking after him. Everything was gonna be ok.
“Me too, Will. Me too.” Angelus replied, stroking William’s hair as they waited for Darla and Drusilla to dig them out. It was nearly over.