Hi, everyone :) As said in the summary, this AU takes place after season 3; exactly where season 4 takes off. But I've made a couple of changes.
1) Angel and Cordelia stay in Sunnydale.
2) Dawn will be in this story because she is just a normal girl in this, not the key.
Other than that, not much has changed in seasons 1-3. So read and enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot of this story.
P.S. Thanks to nurjen08 for being my beta.
It was a beautiful day in Sunnydale. Pleasant temperatures and a clear, blue sky. It had been that way all summer. Even the slayer and her friends got to take a few breaks due to an apparent drop in the town's demon population. It had Giles a bit worried but he didn't voice his fears very much. He figured the team could use the time off after last year's stressful events with the Mayor and Faith.
But, summer was coming to an end. And Buffy expected that with her luck, the demons would come back just as she had to focus on school. That's right; Buffy, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia would be attending their first year of college at UC Sunnydale.
Much certainly had changed over the summer. Xander had gone on a cross country road trip. Giles had bought the magic shop and gave Cordelia a job, so she had a much better sense of responsibility now (though she was still very self centered). Also, Angel had been kind enough to let her stay at the mansion until she could find an apartment so she could keep her college cost to a bare minimum. She was barely scraping by on loans as it was.
And after a long heart to heart, Angel and Buffy got back together. She told him that she was perfectly happy with how their relationship had been, so they decided that, should she want something their relationship can't give her, they'd just sit down and talk to each other about when and if the time came.
It was after the two lovebirds made up that some summer peace came for the group. But with the college school year just around the bend, the team, or more specifically, Buffy and Cordelia, were becoming very nervous. For Buffy it was a matter of feeling alone again. She was nervous that Angel would try to leave again and as for Giles, there just wasn't much for them to connect with on a friend level. He was more of a father to her anyway.
As for the rest of the group, college and work would lead them on to their own lives. But the same couldn't necessarily be said for Buffy. As the slayer, she couldn't move on from slaying and it was hard to make new friends because of it. She had been alone before because of the slaying and it terrified her to think that she might be again.
Cordelia was just nervous because she needed to do well in college. She wanted to be a very successful, well known woman one day. And for Cordelia, that meant either catching a break in Hollywood or getting a college degree.
Both had voiced there fears and the group had reassured them that they would do great in college and, no matter what, they would stay a team. But it was a big day for the group. Xander would be coming home and the others would be getting their textbooks and moving into their dorms.
Buffy was in her room packing. She was going quite slow, though, as she was still nervous about college. She was looking at a picture of her and her family, considering whether or not to take it since she had already packed one, when Dawn came in with that morning's paper.
Buffy became extremely irritated at this; she had been telling Dawn since they were both little to not just walk into her room. It felt like she had been talking to a wall for years!
"Dawn, what have I told you about just waltzing into my room?" Buffy asked in exasperation.
Dawn looked up from the floor to look at her sister. Buffy noticed that her face was really pale and that her eyes were quite wide. But before Buffy could ask her what was wrong, Dawn shoved the news paper in her face.
"Yell at me later; read the front page now," was her only attempt at an explanation.
Buffy huffed, slightly annoyed at having a paper shoved in her face, but she took the newspaper without any further complaint. The slayer's face was soon as pale as her sister's.
Taking up half of the front page was a picture of an alley; it looked like it was just outside of The Bronze. There was a pool of blood that was almost big enough for Buffy to lay her entire body in. The walls were covered in blood spatter and there were smaller puddles of blood near the first. What looked to be scraps of clothing also littered the alley. But what shocked the slayer the most was the dumpster that was in the shot, not far from the pool of blood.
There were five claw marks in the dumpster and the owner of the claws seemed to have torn through the heavy metal like paper. After making sure she didn't miss anything in the picture, Buffy moved onto the story.
The headline read: LOCAL GIRL FOUND SLAUGHTERED OUTSIDE THE BRONZE!
The poor victim in this tragedy was seventeen year old Alisha Carter. She had been have a bit of last minute summer fun at The Bronze with some of her friends. But when her friends went to get some drinks, Alisha stayed on the dance floor. About ten minutes later, two young men were walking by the club when they heard a scream. It was Alisha. The boys, Randy Adams and Charles Lutwic, ran to help. They found Alisha bleeding profusely on the ground and barely conscious. They promptly called 9-1-1, but by the time the ambulance got there it was too late. Alisha had died on the scene.
We contacted the medical examiner and were told that he's only seen wounds similar to Alisha's on victims of a rabid animal attack, but Alisha's wounds were far worse than anything he's ever seen before. He also says that he doesn't know of any animal in the Sunnydale area that would be strong enough to tear through a dumpster like paper. And to top it all off, Randy and Charles have said that they saw someone, or more specifically, their shadow, fleeing the scene. And they said that they're ready to testify to that shadow belonging to a person, not an animal.
The article didn't say much else except that the case was ongoing and that Alisha's folks were holding a memorial service in a few days. The paper even provided a picture of Alisha.
She had had the same blonde hair and hazel eyes that Buffy had. But that was where the similarities ended. Alisha had had a very round face and was quite tall. For someone who didn't know much about either girl, it would have been an easy mistake.
Without so much as a word to Dawn, Buffy headed down the stairs and to the door. "Where are you going?" Dawn yelled after her. "To find Angel and Giles. You stay here until we know for sure what's going on," Buffy replied in a rush.
At the mansion, Angel was still sleeping. It had started out as a dreamless sleep, but it was quickly becoming very strange.
Images started to flash through his mind: a young girl no older than seven walking down the streets of a city that Angel recognized as L.A., a group of four people traveling, and repeated flashes of a cave, lit by candles and filled to the brim with demons, vampires, witches, every kind of supernatural being imaginable. There was so many of them that they couldn't move. They were all facing the back of the cave. Angel could feel an intense power coming from that direction; just the sense of the being's power nearly brought him to his knees.
Curious as to what could hold such power, Angel looked to the back of the cave. There was a woman- no, not exactly a woman; more like her spirit. She was wearing a form fitting, black, Roman stola and Roman sandals. She looked a lot like Willow; they had the same facial features, the same green eyes and the same small build. Her long, dark brown hair even had natural highlights that were the same shade as Willow's hair. But her form kept fading out and coming back into view, as if her spirit was barely clinging to this world.
"It's almost time. Soon you will play your part in my revenge," she said in a soft, silky voice. Then Angel noticed what was behind her- ritual ingredients. The kind used in a ritual used to sacrifice one being to bring forth something much more powerful.
'That's what all of these demons are for,' Angel thought. 'They're the sacrifices.'
But something still seemed off. The eyes of everyone but the spirit at the back of the cave were completely glazed over. 'Explains why their so calm; they're under the influence of her power and she's using that to control them. They probably aren't able to tell what's happening half the time,' Angel realized. He also knew that if he were here in real life instead of a dream then he would be in the same position as everyone else here. He could feel the demon in him wanting to bow down to the spirit, and Angelus never bowed to anyone.
He was jarred from his thoughts by a small hand touching his arm. He whirled around to see who in this dream could see him.
But when he turned around, he realized that he wasn't in the cave anymore. He was in his father's house, facing his little sister, Kathy.
"Kathy?" he gasped in disbelief. She just gave him a soft smile and replied "Hello, Liam."
Angel stood there in shock for a few seconds before he stepped forward and wrapped her in a gentle, secure hug. "I am so, so sorry," he kept apologizing while trying to keep from crying. He was convinced that if, somehow, he ever saw his family again they would hate him and even though he knew this was a dream, he somehow knew that this really was Kathy, or at least her spirit. And that contacting him with a dream was the only way she could communicate with him.
"It's okay. I know it wasn't you," she replied in a soft voice. When Angel pulled back and gave her a confused look she just giggled. "Buffy's not the only one who can see the difference between you and Angelus," she explained with a smile. "And don't worry," she added. "Mother and Father can see the difference as well. And they're very proud of how you've turned out."
"What, that I'm a vampire?" he asked sarcastically. "I killed a lot of people Kathy."
"Not you; Angelus," she insisted. "And Mother and Father are proud that you now help the slayer; and even if you weren't with her, you would use your strength and skill to protect those who can't protect themselves. Unfortunately, I can't stay here and play catch up. I was sent here to give you a message."
Before Angel could even ask, their father's house faded away; the scene that replaced it was much more disturbing. The sun was blotted out by storm clouds, lightning was touching down every few seconds and hurricane force winds were blowing. Suddenly there was a beam of pure white light shooting up into the sky. It was out of sight for about five seconds before I came back down with such speed that you wouldn't have seen it if you had blinked.
As soon as it hit the ground, an earthquake, bad enough to add five new levels to the Richter scale, was triggered. A crack that was deep enough to hold two empire state buildings and wide enough to swallow a football field started to form in the earth.
Angel went to more before the crack reached him but Kathy merely grabbed his sleeve to grab his attention and shook her head. The fissure reached them but they didn't fall into the dark depths; they stayed suspended in the air.
"We're not really here, remember?" Kathy reminded him. "This is just a vision." "So what am I supposed to be seeing here?"
Again she didn't say anything; she merely pointed at the spot where the beam touched down. What Angel saw there made the demon in him want to run and hide for the next hundred years.
A demon was pulling itself out of the fissure; but it wasn't a normal demon. It's hand alone was the size of a bear and had five fingers that had short, blade sharp, jet black claws in the place of fingernails. When it had finally pulled itself out of the fissure, Angel had to crane his back to the point he nearly fell just to see it. He would have fallen if the earthquake hadn't stopped as soon as the demon was free.
It was at least thirty-five feet tall. It's skin was blood- red and it had long, oily, jet black hair. It's face looked human except for it's mouth; the area around it's mouth protruded a little, making it look like it had a small muzzle. It's top canines made a saber-tooth's fangs look like baby teeth. It's bottom front teeth were also protruding, but they weren't anywhere near as big as the top canines.
It's first action after taking in it's surroundings was to aim it's hand at the building where the most screams had come from during the quake. Angel quickly recognized it as The Bronze. It's eyes flashed a flaming red before his claws sprouted flames. The flames then shot out from his claws and ignited the building. From what Angel could see, there wasn't anyway for anyone to get out. They were doomed to burn alive.
At the sound of the terrified, pain filled screams that were pleading for help, the demon laughed in a voice that was so loud and deep, it nearly caused the ground to shake again. Before it had finished laughing, the spirit woman from the cave took form right beside Angel. She caught the demon's attention when she stepped towards it.
"The spirit of a witch... you're the one who released me?" the demon rumbled. "Yes," was her simple reply.
"Why? It was witches who sealed me away in the first place. They called on God to help them seal me away so that I couldn't reek havoc upon the world," the, apparently male, demon pointed out.
"I'm not like the witches of your day. I want this world to suffer for what was done to me, and you're the best candidate to help me take my revenge,"the spirit replied with a sick, twisted smile.
"That depends on what you want as revenge. I will gladly torture anyone you want me to but I won't kill them. Humans are no fun dead; after all, bodies don't scream. I will, however, torture them until they're bodies give out," he set the conditions.
"Fine with me. I didn't want you to kill anyone right off the bat anyway. I just want to see the world, and everyone in it, burn," the witch agreed.
"That I can do," he promised with a sick smile of his own.
Angel had seen enough. "Kathy, what the hell is that thing? How can we kill it? How can we stop this from happening at all?" he asked her in a rushed tone.
"It's the beginning and I'm not sure if it can be killed. You must keep it from rising at all," Kathy replied.
"How and what do you mean by 'It's the beginning'?" he pressed, hoping that she would just give him a straight answer. But if he had learned anything from Whistler, it was that the Powers That Be love to be cryptic.
"I'm not sure if you and your friends can stop it at your present number. You and Buffy are great champions, that's true; but you will need the help of even more champions if the world is to survive that beast along with the spirit of the ancient witch and her curse," she promptly answered. Angel noticed that she never did answer the second part of his question.
But before he could call her out on that, or ask her anything else, everything around him, including Kathy, started to fade away, leaving a dark emptiness. "Your friends need you and it's time for me to go," was the last thing Angel heard before he woke up to Cordelia shaking him.
"Angel, are you okay? You were acting like you were having a nightmare," Cordelia asked in a concerned tone.
"Yeah," he replied. But then he realized something. "Why were you in my room?"
"Oh, Buffy and Giles are here. Apparently, the girl who was slaughtered outside The Bronze may have been the victim of a new big bad in town and they're wanting to hear your opinion on it before they call everyone else," she said in a tone that made it clear that she couldn't care less if she tried. She then left to her room while mumbling something about demons interrupting what's left of her summer.
Dismissing the slightly disturbing fact that Cordelia didn't care that there was possibly a killer demon in town, Angel quickly got dressed and headed downstairs.
After the destruction of the high school, the group decided that the mansion was the only place big enough for the team to comfortably hold a meeting. So Angel made sure that there were plenty of places to sit and that the kitchen had actual food in it. Giles impressive book collection now stayed at the mansion in a room specifically designed for the group's research needs. They had also turned the last room on the bottom floor into a training room for Buffy and Angel. Well it was meant for Buffy and Angel, but the rest of the group decided to train with various weapons as well just in case something like the Mayor happened again or if they simply needed to protect themselves.
The living was pretty bare, actually. Angel had originally only had three black leather, king sized sofas, a huge coffee table between the sofas, and a small end table with a phone. Angel would have just left it at that, but Cordelia had insisted on getting adding a huge t.v. and several mirrors.
"What makes us think that this is a demon?" Angel asked as he came down the stairs.
"Well, a girl was slaughtered and the authorities are saying it was a rabid animal attack. However, the boys who found the girl said they saw a shadow fleeing the scene and that the shadow was very much human," Giles quickly replied from where he stood in the living room. Buffy was there with him, sitting on the couch.
"Well, if it is a demon then we could be in trouble; I mean, I can't even make a dumpster look like paper," Buffy added while passing that day's paper to Angel.
"Definitely a demon,"Angel said after skimming the article. "Not one I recognize, though."
"Alright then. You two go ahead and start researching; I'll help after I call the others," Buffy directed.
Angel and Giles just nodded before heading to the study while Buffy pulled out her cell phone.
Buffy had, surprisingly, been able to reach Xander. He was back in town early and said that he'd come to the meeting. Unsurprisingly, Dawn had not listened to Buffy and walked to the mansion. She was going to help, whether the others wanted her to or not.
But as of now the group was waiting for Xander so that they could actually start the meeting.
"Where is he?" Angel muttered as he paced in the study. Everyone else was researching; Angel had been to for about five minutes but then it was like he just couldn't stay still.
Buffy looked extremely annoyed. She slammed her book shut and moved to stand in front of Angel, effectively stopping his pacing.
"What's going on? I don't think I've ever seen you this rattled,"she asked him.
"I saw my little sister last night. She came to me as a messenger from the Powers," the way he said that made it obvious that Kathy's message had really scared him.
"Well what did she say?" Giles asked with a look of curiosity.
"I'll tell you when Xander gets here. I don't want to repeat this anymore than I have to," he replied, obviously impatient with Xander for taking so long.
'What the hell did she tell him?' Buffy wondered.
Finally, after twenty more minutes of waiting, Xander arrived; but he wasn't alone. With him Anya, the former vengeance demon.
After Xander and Anya walked in the study, there was about fifteen seconds of confused silence before Buffy asked the question they were all wondering.
"Xander, why did you bring a former vengeance demon to the meeting?" Buffy asked in very confused tone.
"Uh, well," he stammered, suddenly feeling very nervous. "Well I, uh, we,um, y-you s-"
"We're boyfriend and girlfriend now. And as such I will be attending meetings like this from now on since I want to help. For some reason I don't understand yet, I quite like Xander and I don't want to see him hurt," Anya briskly explained since Xander was having trouble talking.
"How and when did this happen?" Willow piped up.
"Well, I was about two hours into my road trip when my car broke down. I got a bar tending job so I could save up for the repairs and Anya turned out to be a regular. Since neither of us really had friends in that town, we'd talk whenever she came in. She eventually offered to let me stay at her place instead of sleeping in my car."
"I had originally planned for him to sleep on my couch, but most nights he would sleep with me in my room after we had sex,"Anya threw in.
"Is she always that open about private stuff?"Oz asked.
"Yeah,"Xander quickly replied. He looked extremely uncomfortable at having the intimate details of their love life thrown out into the open.
"If we could move on to a more important topic," Giles said while taking out his discomfort by rapidly cleaning his glasses. "Angel, you said that the Powers sent you a prophetic dream last night?"
The tense looking vampire simply nodded before going through every detail of his dream that he could think of. By the time he finished, everyone was staring at him in shock and a little bit of fear; well, everyone but Anya. Anya just looked confused.
"Ancient witch and her curse..." Anya trailed off.
"That ring a bell with you?" Buffy asked her.
"Maybe. I wouldn't know who she is; if she was wearing Roman clothing then she's way older than me. I'm only eleven-hundred, she's going on fifteen-hundred years old, at least. But the part I'm thinking about is the part about the curse. When I was made a vengeance demon, I saw humans all over the planet being tortured and devoured by vampires, demons- you name it, I saw it. But it just felt wrong; like all of that carnage wasn't supposed to be happening. So I asked D'Hoffryn about it and he said that the carnage wasn't supposed to be happening; that it was all because of the curse. So I said 'Curse; what curse?' and he said that he wasn't entirely sure. He'd only heard about it from some hell god; and even she was fuzzy on the details. Apparently only the Powers That Be really know what that damned curse is all about," the former vengeance demon explained.
"Well, I agree that we need to figure this out, but there's already a demon on the loose and it seems to be looking for a slaughter," Giles said to direct the group towards the other reason for the meeting.
"Right. Giles, you stay here and do research on the witch and this mystery demon with Anya and Dawn; and, Dawn, the only reason that I'm letting you help with this witch problem is because we need all hands on deck to stop this thing before it start. Xander, you're coming with me to the alley where Alisha was killed. Angel, you get as much rest as possible; Kathy may have more to tell you. Willow, you, Oz, and Cordy go and get your dorms set up. When your done, come back here and help Giles. And Will, do you mind taking my stuff to our dorm?" Buffy told everyone their jobs before asking her best friend for a favor.
Willow just nodded and said "Oh, yeah. Sure."
Five minutes later, everyone was already working on the task set before them. Dawn had just decided which of the many books seemed like a good place to research a spirit witch. It was an old, leather-bound book with yellowed pages.
Giles looked up just as Dawn was opening the book and his face immediately paled. "Dawn, don't!" he yelled.
But his warning came to late. As Dawn was opening the book, a jet black sphere spread out from the center of the book and surrounded it and Dawn's hands. Immediately after this, the sphere started crackling with a dark energy. It spread from Dawn's hands and up her arms until it covered her entire body. The young teen started screaming bloody murder.
Angel came running back in at the sound of Dawn screaming; but he had no clue how to help her. It seemed that if someone touched Dawn or the book right now, they'd be in the same position as she was. Giles and Anya, also at a loss on how to help, could only stare in shock.
This continued for about five more seconds before the sphere and the energy were reabsorbed by the book. Dawn collapsed to the floor and her body continued to twitch and jerk, as though the dark energy was still racing through her body. Her hands were burnt like they'd been put in the middle of a flame. All she was able to register was pain. Her entire body felt like it had been set on fire; her hands still felt like they were on fire.
"Dawn!" Anya yelled as she ran towards the fallen teen. Giles ran to call an ambulance while Angel cautiously approached the book. Every one of his senses, even his gut instincts, were telling him that this was an ordinary book even though he had just seen otherwise.
"M-m-m-my b-body's-s-s bur-burning," Dawn tried to tell them what her injuries felt like, but she was still trying to gain control of her body spasms.
"What the hell was that?" Anya asked. Her shaking voice was the only indicator at just how much the sight of Dawn basically being attacked by a book frightened her.
Angel didn't answer her; he didn't know anymore than she did. But he couldn't help but think that this had something to do with his dream.
"We need to get that book open," he decided.
Well, how was it? Do you like it? If so, leave a review and let me know what you think Kathy meant.