Act 1 Wings of Change

© 2003 by Chris Regan

Adriane Diary

As I stood, look out the window of my study at the rain, I though it had been five hundred years ago since I was human. I thought of Aiden my mentor and my friend in my youth I had no idea that he was a vampire. I suspected he might be different than, other humans for one day in frustration he told me "He had been searching the Watchers old archives for half a century looking for anything that spoke of the League but have found nothing."

I asked him "Why?"

He looked at me "There are secrets that the Watchers should not have."

I said, "You are a Watcher and I am a Watcher that means we should not see them either."

"That maybe so but some one has to protect them from themselves."

I said to him "Aiden you don't make much sense,"

"I suppose I don't he get the next stack of diaries Alden" I nodded and walked into the next room to get a pile of diaries when I got back, my curiosity got the better of me but he would not talk about the subject further.

I was down in the vault one evening not long before the death of Adriane. She was very old by this time and it amazed me that she could move thought the old tunnels. This night I was in the vault very late when I was when I saw her bringing a box of old diaries to Aiden's office the top diary had an envelope stuck between the pages.

She was found three days later dead in an alley. Her eyes were gone and so was her tongue, in my research she was not the only one that had been killed that same way over the centuries. Guillaume had been killed in the same way so had Hashim. Sybil and her husband David and their oldest son Joseph. Their other three children were with David's brother his family it was reported that the brother his wife and all the kids disappeared. Over the years the watchers had been looking for them and there descendents but never found them.

It was a long time after I had seen Adriane that I was bit and wandered the streets looking for a warm meal. It was a dark night the moon was showing a sliver of it round surface to earth. When first I saw them, they were young beautiful women in their twenties, at the time I did not know they were not your typical girls you understand.

I though they were whores selling themselves for money which made them easy prey. I had a mind to eat them but after watching them, I saw that at lease one was a Slayer.

I sat on the tile rooftop watching them as they worked, they in-chanted me. This one night I stop at the local butcher as he was cleaning out the blood table getting ready to make Blood sausage an asked him "You what to make some extra money with less work?"

He looked at me "Sure what do I have to do?"

"Save me some of the warm blood every night."

He looked at me as if I was nuts "Right" until my face changed then his face changed to terror. "Don't kill me, please don't!"

I remember smiling at his terror-stricken face, "I won't hurt you or yours if you do as I have asked." That was better that four hundred years ago now and the man and his family have all died and his descendent Josh run the business now, he is a good lad gives blood to our blood bank every week. Tells us of new vampires and demons that are in the area that is how we found out about Angel's friend that is roaming the docks, haven't found her yet but we will.

I got my blood every night from then on and would sit on a roof top sipping blood and watch them for hour, the one know as Crystal fascinated me.

Then the fatal night came when a group of vampires ganged up on them. I thought to myself "I could let them get killed" but something in me wouldn't let them stand alone, so like a fool I jumped in and kicked butt. After the fight, we found that Katie had been hurt, I carried Katie to what I thought was her watchers home it was a red brick building with green flower boxes at the windows.

After carrying her into the house and laying her on the sofa, turning I found it was a trap for me. After fighting with two big strong men, they usher me into a basement. I felt something was watching me as I sat on the bed talking to myself.

"Thoughts guy were to strong for humans."

"They where vampires!"

I stared at the darkness in shock at the sound of the voice I knew that voice"

He stepped into the light I stared at him thinking he is dead I killed him for the second time in my life Aiden was standing before me.

In fear I said, "Aiden you were old when I bit you, you're dead I remember killing you. You're, you're a ghost!"

He took a breath of air as a human would, laughed then said, "Calm down Alden I'm not a ghost, you did not kill me. I was dead long before we met. I was bit in 1213 and have been a working member of the Cats Eye League since 1415. I asked them to find you, something is coming, and I needed your assistants to copy diaries, books and papers from the archives.

In shock, I looked at him "Do you know when this thing is to happen?"

"No, but the time is close, I feel it, something is coming Alden if I leave the master works at the directorate they will be destroyed."

"Then How…"

"I re-found most of Guillaume and Adriane diaries after you were bit, if they are correct we will only have a few hundred years to copy and remove the originals from the Watchers vault before evil come…"

Aiden just looked at me with a desperate look on his face pleading that I help him; I had seen him in many moods over the years. However, he never appeared to act desparate he sat down on one of the two single beds in the room and put his head in his hands.

I looked at him remembering all the piles of papers, diaries and books. I had carried to his office; there were just a few of us back then that he trusted. We were called The Literary Warriors by the rest of the WD, I smiled to myself it was an honor.

I sat down on the other bunk, as I thought we were the ones that knew the library the best at that time and wanted to be out there standing shoulder to shoulder by our slayer; we were the ones that went out with our slayer as she learned her craft. Where others let there slayer die to save their own skin. We fought like beasts from hell along side our slayer that is how I was turned.

"It's okay Aiden I will help you."

Aiden smile as red tears streamed down his face "I knew I could count on you my boy."

The door to the dark room opened, light streamed in and a sweet voice like listening to water gently flow over smooth river rocks said to us "Come up stairs please." We went up, as the one known as Crystal came in the kitchen with a tray of cups.

"How are the girls?"

A man standing in a shadowy corner said, "Ask her yourself she is standing there!"

Therefore, I did "How is your sister?"

She smiled "She will be fine in a week or two."

"Alden told me why he needs me"

"Yes well we need thoughts that know the tunnels and have the skill at duplicating manuscripts."

Another man walked in the kitchen and Aiden said, "White Wolf went did you get back in town?" as he gave him a hug.

"Late last night"

"Alden this is my old friend White Wolf" I nodded to the man with a wide brim hat that had feathers sticking out of the hatband, long white hair flowed down from under it in two long braids to either side of his face. He was Handsome for an Indian tall with a large chest my guess is he was around six foot tall. He wore white shirt, black three-piece suit, Black socks and boots.

"Pleasure"

"I remember you; you're the one that killed the vampires that attacked me."

"You were a lot cleaner then."

"Yes well it has been twelve years."

He said to the woman "After the meeting Crystal takes him to the pool…"

"Sure White Wolf."

Aiden introduced me to the other two people that were watching the exchange "This is Altair and Gwenwyfar."

Both were very pretty, Altair had a non-sense look about him.

"Well you going to help us or not?"

She smiled "You must excuse him he has had a ruff week so he is a little testy."

"Gwen not in front of strangers"

"Altair he is not a stranger to me I have watched him since before he was change."

She was beautiful with dark hair and olive skin I felt I couldn't say no to her, I felt my mouth moving before I said a word then it finally came out "I, I will do what I can to help you."

"You see dear we didn't need to do all out face change."

As she said that I saw this change come across his face his eyes changed to thoughts of a green-eyed cat and his hair was swept back, with it, his ear became pointed, his eyebrows changed to deep bone like ridges with long up swept eye brows.

"Dear your scaring him stops that!"

"But it's fun!"

"Enough you made your point."

He gave her a pout then said "I guess your right" as he changed his face back to its human form.

As I walked out with Aiden that night, I thought these people are strange they looked and smell human. However, I saw they were not human or vampire the other thing was Gwen and the man Altair seamed older than they looked which made them exceptionally scary to me at the time. Now I rarely think about that just that I have a job to do.

As I came out of my thoughts and back to my study, I looked around the room then I saw it the camera. I guess you're wondering what that has to do with Buffy, Spike and Angel. By its self, not a blasted thing until Aiden showed me the diaries that he had hid for Guillaume and Adriane. These were the last diaries that ether of them had wrote they had been hand delivered to him on the morning before there death. Afterwards several others and I copied them; we started taking the originals to a secret location for their safety.

Jana and I had been worried about Aiden he had been acting very strange of late, he was paler and worked twenty out of twenty-four hours, drank just enough blood to keep going, we knew that Aiden had been searching for the last diary among the books and diaries down on the lowest levels of the WD Building.

In his search Aiden found older diary, books, and parchments, he wanted them out of the building I copied them Jana, Uilliam and I took the master for safe keeping, I felt like an evil was hanging over us it was like Mr. Murphy the one that wrote Murphy's Law was waiting to drop a bomb on us.

It was the fall of year 2000; we set up a watching post in Sunnydale through the help of an old childhood friend of Uilliam's. We thought there might be three of the people spoken about in the old writings there. In the fallowing year's I knew of all the battles in Sunnydale and thought the News services about the demons that were trying to take over Los Angeles.

It was a late fall seven years later, I was sitting in my study opening the mail when the bell rang and Crystal carried in a package from the Watchers I figured it was from Aiden he had been sending me many packages of late. I was sits in my study opening it when an envelope fell out I picked it up and took out the parchment unfolded it and started to read with a look of disbelief.

11 May 2003

Alden,

I found Adriane's Secret diary, she placed it in my hands after the other ones the day before her death. I read it please do not think me mad everything must go as it is in the diary, but do guard it with your life or we are all doomed.

Sincerely You're Friend,

Aiden Berry

I got this shiver up my spine, I started read her Diary:

October 31, 1680

In my mind, I saw what might be a handsome man if it were not for the dirt that caked his face and stringy ebony hair. He is chained in a cell; the sense of it was that of dirty dog. I saw the eyes of an animal and his actions scream kills me. A dark haired female came into the room, she smelled of sweet flowers.

He reacted as if he saw a ghost, he was wailing like a frightened child and shaking his head saying, "No you're dead I tried to save you, tried to do everything in my power."

She puts a finger to his dirty lips, and said, "Shh… it's all right Angel it was my time." She touched his dirty face and stroked his hair.

She left and came back in wheeling a cart with bowls of rose petals, towels, soap and men's clothing. Two men came in with a screen and then a large round tub; they set them up and return with steaming and cold pitchers of water. I see them pouring it into a copper tub, then she taking from the lower shelf of the cart the bowls of petals throwing them on the water.

I hear her say "lock the door" both turn and look at her and nod they are a mirror of each other. They lock the door then leave as she wets the rag and starts to wipe the caked on dirt, off the face of the man in an instant, I see that he is not a man but changes into a creature not vampire or werewolf but something else.

He fights the chains and growls as if he is a wild beast. She takes a few steps back and picks up a cup from the cart and sits down in an over stuffed chair to watch him. "You might as well calm down you won't be getting out of this room" then she takes a sip of what is in the cup.

He yells, "I will kill you when I get out of these chains."

She smiles "Perhaps but that day won't be today Angel"

"Bitch, I am not Angel."

"Then who are you Angelus perhaps?"

"No, I'm Ruairl'! Who are you?"

"I am Cordella. Why have you been killing women with hair that is blond?"

"Blond?"

"Hair of sun light."

"OH! We need healed our blood has been tainted with Henbanes it makes us insane but he still drinks it. She has the power to cure us as she did before."

She looked at him "I need a blood sample from you, let me clean you up and speak to Angel."

He looked at her with the look of a hungry beast then said, "As you wish but we could have such a good time together"

"Yes I'm sure we could."

"His body went limp as the chains held him from clasping on the floor; she was washing his face as he came around. Thinking this was a dream or exhaustion he plead with her "Cordella stop tormenting me you're dead I couldn't save you."

She smiled and continued to wipe his face she then said "Angel it's me" she kissed him.

AS I watched her clean him up it struck me the demon looked like Guillaume a watcher from my youth but how could that be he has been dead for twenty years. His wife had no children, so perhaps I am seeing a future time were a branch of his family had his reincarnation."

She smiled and put a finger to his dirty lips "It is my turn to save you, hush now everything will be fine Angel trust me."

As I watched there shadow behind the screen she unlock the cuffs and remove his clothing and threw them into a pile, you could hear the water being rung out of the washcloth as she washes him. It was like in the old writing from before my time, in a way it was very romantic and sensual. I thought, "What is this? This is indecent behavior for a young single woman! She is a whore! How could a whore save him? But at the same time the whole scene fascinates me I must be getting old to think such evil thinks, God for Give me for my evil thoughts."

I heard him ask her as she bring out and odd small device.

"What is that for?"

"Angel I need a blood sample."

"You know that won't go in my skin."

"I know that is why I want to cut you and get the sample that way."

"OK you can try."

I saw her cut him then draw a tube of red liquid from the cut, the cut close as fast as it opened, she left with her prize, and he lay on the bed and went to sleep.

I sat at my desk thinking then poured tea for both of us, I watched Crystal she was sitting doing needlework. As I sipped tea, then I stared out the window at the rain. "My mind wonder could it be the time for the transformation?"

I returned to the diary:

November 25, 1680

"They, the two men with hair that looked like it had skunk strips left the room where the ebony haired demon was, they go into another room were there are magic boxes that show every angle of the other room and the hall in both directions. I hear them talking they talked such a strange langue but I could understand most of it.

"If Angel is inside of that body she will be the one to bring him back."

"She will need to clean him up first"

"Yes he is a mess."

"I'm sure if any one can bring him back to the present it is her."

"Look she has got closer than any of us; he is letting her wash him."

"That is a miracle."

"She is locked in there with him I hope this wasn't a mistake."

"I don't think so it is her blood that he needs to flush all the poison out of his system.

"How do you know he has been poisoned?"

"Combination of thinks, his action and the old writings tell of this event."

They went quiet as they watch her shadow unlock the cuffs and remove his clothing. "It was like in the old writing from before my time."

"If you say so Uilliam."

I saw the two go into a library one gets a book down opens it to a passage and hands it to the other the other he reads it and asked, "Can I keep this for a while?"

"Sure Grandpa Spike" Pulling another off a shelf "You might want to read this one too!

"OK thanks"

As he took, it then looks at it; it was this very diary that I write in tonight. That was hand to him the others Watchers would think I am crazy if I tell them what I have seen.

They turn it is like looking in a mirror they look a like! I saw that face together with Guillaume twenty years ago. "They where comrades he said" when I asked as a child, I met them when I was ten and we saw many creatures together he was the one that introduced me to the League. I sunk down and spoke to the old vault keeper he let me see Guillaume diaries that had been confiscated and hide deep in the vaults after Guillaume death. They where diaries of strange visions that told of a time when the disowned would come to save slayers.

She and Guillaume were seers I could see the pain that she felt. I got up opened the door to the secret room got the first of Guillaume diaries started to read. I had known idea how long I had been there when Crystal came in.

Crystal looked at me with concern on her face "Alden, Alden! What are you doing in here with the door closed?"

I looked up with sleepy glazed eyes, into those beautiful blue eyes then at the table where all Guillaume diaries were stacked on there side. I got up rubbed my face I stood and stretched. I walked into my study trying to figure out how to say what was on his mind as my mate fallow me, I sat looking out at the garden through the French doors then made the statement.

"I needed to study Guillaume's diaries again."

"Why?"

"Clues, they had clues which I didn't see before I read Adriane's diaries."

"Oh! What did you find?"

"Crystal, I think this is the century for the transformation?"

"Everything is falling into alignment then?"

"Yes it appears to be the time."

"Then why are you troubled"

"I keep getting this nagging feeling that it is just the beginning."

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