A/N: OMG thank you SO much for the support and encouragement! I was so nervous with chapter one, since it was my first attempt at writing this universe, so it really means a lot to know that this story is well received!
I want to say a big thank you to my new friend, Stefania (SpuffyETERNALFLAME84)! She is has been so supportive, and even made a lovely video based of this story! Check it out on youtube!
And of course, Julie, whom I love and am very appreciative of!!
Chapter 2: Pictures and Plans
"You have got to be kidding me! How can you even say that?!"
"It's obviously true."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"It's okay, buddy. I'm right and you're wrong. There's no shame in that."
"You're the wrong one! It's clear as day. Timothy Dalton is a way better Bond than Pierce Brosnan!"
The sounds of Xander and Andrew's bickering echoed into the room that had been filled with a tense silence since Angel had revealed Exmaunigan's intentions of annihilating the human race. The moment Xander's remaining eye got a glimpse of the occupants of the room, it widened in shock, but being the witty man he was, it wasn't long before he came up with his perfect opening line.
"Oh look, it's the dead guys we ordered!" He couldn't help but smirk at the annoyance that was evident on both Angel and Spike's faces.
"Actually vampires are undead." No one paid any attention to Andrew's correction.
"Ah it's the brilliantly poetic musings of the Cyclops. Very witty!" The bleached vampire jabbed.
"Well, I hear you would know a thing or two about lame poetic musings, William the Bloody." Xander snapped.
Angel smiled widely at the insult as Spike sneered and began to retort, before someone interceded.
"Alright, that's enough!" Buffy ordered stepping between Spike and Xander.
"He started it." The vampire muttered with a pout.
She rolled her eyes just as Andrew knocked her aside in pursuit of one thing.
"Spike!" he cheered as he pounced on him, hugging him tightly. "I thought you were dead…again."
Spike frowned slightly, at first standing awkwardly while the enthusiastic man squeezed him tightly, before he finally hugged him back, patting him on the back a couple times.
"Okay Andrew, I get it" The other three in the room couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that Andrew showed no intention of letting go.
"Really Andrew, you can let go now…" Still nothing, "Okay, get off me." Spike finally pried him off, before patting his shoulder again, "It's good to see you too. At least some one around here knows how to give a proper hello." he pointed his words at Buffy, who's eyes rolled again.
"What are you two rays of sunshine doing here anyway?" Xander asked curiously.
"End of the world and mankind, you know, the usual." Buffy responded.
"Hey, that's why your boy, Captain Forehead, is here. I just came for the food."
"Why, do Italian people taste good, or something?" Buffy's longtime friend asked through his sardonicism.
Spike grimaced in irritation "I'm talking about the pasta."
Xander nodded "Sure you are…"
Buffy sighed "Will you two seriously knock it off, and let Angel finish his story about the little old army of demons that wants to wipe out the entire human population…" Greeted with silence, she smiled "Thank you."
Angel cleared his throat "So the head demon, Exmaunigan, has created an army of Orkanus demons to be his personal guard and servants and to fight of the slayers if you attempt to stand in his way."
"You know, Tolkein based the Orks in Lord of the Rings on the legend of Orkanus demons." Once again Andrew was ignored as Spike spoke to Angel.
"How is it you know all this, mate? You sit down for afternoon tea with this Exmaunigan bloak?" Buffy would have told Spike to shut his mouth if she hadn't also been extremely curious as to how Angel seemed to know the demon's entire plan.
"He told me his plans. He wanted to use me to fight against Buffy. He knew he could get to her through me if I was Angelus." He felt weak from the past months of being held captive, but he knew he could not rest just yet.
"So what, he held you prisoner and as your punishment, he tried to force hookers on you? You poor baby." Spike's sarcasm was enough to earn him a kick in the shin from Buffy.
"I forgot how much you babble." The dark haired vampire quipped to the light haired one.
Getting back to the matter at hand, Buffy spoke "So he wanted to get you soulless to use you against me, but then what?"
"Hold the phone! How do we know this is soulful Angel and not soulless Angel?!" Xander pointed an accusing finger at the vampire.
"Well, you're not dead." Angel responded.
"Though I could arrange for that." Spike added.
"That doesn't prove anything. You could be trying to trick us." Xander didn't back down.
The blonde woman approached her friend, "It's him, Xander. Trust me, I know. I can feel it."
"Oh isn't that bloody sweet!"
"Will you shut up?!" All but Andrew shouted toward Spike.
Sighing, the slayer turned to face her first boyfriend, "Finish telling us."
He complied "Exmaunigan figured out a way of wiping out all humans. There is a porthole to Hell right here in Rome. In a little under two weeks there will be an eclipse. If the porthole is opened during the eclipse and even an ounce of human blood is dropped in, then every human being on the planet will be catapulted to a different dimension, in all likelihood, dimensions of Hell."
"I can't believe this!" Xander screeched out.
Angel nodded sadly "I know, it's horrible."
"No, I can't believe that first we live on a hellmouth, then we move to city with a porthole to Hell…I think we have some serious psychological problems."
"No arguments there." The look he received from the slayer would probably have killed a lesser vampire "I know, I'm shutting up."
Buffy was on edge now "How do we stop it?"
Angel sighed "You just have to fight them off until the eclipse is over, or…" He drifted.
"Or what?"
"If the blood of a demon is dropped into the porthole, then instead of every human getting sent to different dimensions, every demon would be." He concluded.
Her eyes widened "Oh. Well, that's not an option."
"Uh Buff, why not? I mean, think about it, no more demons in the world. That sounds pretty sweet." Xander's words made her stomach lurch.
"Xander, there are two demons in this room, and I'm not willing to force them to fight for us only to send them to hell."
Both vampires were moved by her words, but apparently her friend wasn't.
"Buffy, I know I give you a hard time about these two, but really, you need to think about this."
She shook her head "Okay Xander, would you want me to think about this if Anya were here?"
His body tensed up immediately "That's different.."
"No it's not. If Anya were alive and standing right here, would you be telling me to do something that would send every demon to another dimension?"
He sighed as his eye met the floor "No, I guess not."
"So then don't ask me to do that when people I love are at stake."
At the word love, both vampires looked up. Spike couldn't help the twinge of hope in his unbeating heart. Could she have really meant the words she uttered to him on that day at the hellmouth? A moment later he stopped himself from hoping, when it occurred to him that she was probably just referring to her precious Angel.
Angel coughed, and a slight moan escaped his lips. He was clearly exhausted. Noticing this, Buffy sighed.
"Okay, this has been a crazy night. I think we all need to get some rest. Spike, Angel, you two can stay here. Andrew can you please set Spike up in a room? Xander, help Angel. I have to call Giles, Willow, and Faith. Whatever plan we come up with, we need to all be together."
"You got it, Buff." Xander helped Angel up and helped him out of the room while Andrew put his arm around Spike.
"let's get you to your bedroom!" He chirped
Spike frowned "Oh god."
Buffy laughed slightly before walking out another door. She was greeted with a long, tall corridor. She was still getting used to this enormous new place she called home now. The past months had all been so overwhelming, and this night was the cherry on the cake. Not only did it mark the return of her ex-boyfriends, both of which she presumed dead, but one of them brought some truly terrifying news with him. They were facing another apocalypse. After all she had been through in nearly a decade, she should be used to these situations by now, but she couldn't help but feel thrown. Perhaps because it had been a pretty uneventful year, at least in the negative capacity. Well, except for the fact that she thought she lost the only two men she had ever loved, both for the second damn time, no less. But she was the slayer, the original slayer, that is. So she had to press on. That is what Buffy Ann Summers had been doing since she was fifteen, pressing on, fighting through her pain and sorrow, through all the sadness and tragedy. She could never give up. It was her duty to lead the fight against evil. Yet she couldn't help but wish that for once in her life she could know what it feels like to be normal, to not have to fight demons and vampires on a nightly basis, but some wishes never come true. That's just the way it is.
After making a few crucial international calls, Buffy made her way to a certain vampire's room. She knocked momentarily before peeking her head in. She could hear the shower running, so she made her way in. Scanning the room, her eyes met his long black coat, thrown on the floor. She picked it up as she heard a slight clanking sound. Something small and gold had dropped from the inside pocket. She lifted it from the ground. It was a small picture frame. In it was a picture of a very beautiful woman, with long dark hair. This was a woman Buffy had known quite well. Just then the bathroom door opened to reveal Angel, covered in a terry cloth robe. His eyes drifted to the picture in her hand. She smiled awkwardly.
"I was just going to hang your coat up, and Cordy's picture fell out."
He made his way over to her, taking his coat and the picture, "Thanks."
She nodded, "So, you must miss her, hah?"
Angel's eyes scanned the bubbly, smiling face of Cordelia Chase, as he felt an ache in his chest "Yeah I do."
"She was really something. I have to say, the world is definitely less interesting without her in it." Buffy observed sincerely. She hadn't always gotten along with Cordy, but she knew she was a good person, and she really loved Angel. The thought of that used to bother Buffy, but over the years it had become a comfort to know that a good woman loved him.
He smiled "Yeah it is." He tucked the picture into his coat pocket, and hung it up, "So what's up?"
She cleared her throat "I called Giles, Willow, and Faith, and told them they need to get here pronto. They should all be here by tomorrow afternoon."
Angel nodded "Great."
"Well, you're tired. I'll just let you get some sleep." She made her way to the door.
"Buffy?" he called out. She turned to face him again. He wanted to tell her about the serum that rested in his other coat pocket, but he changed his mind. Now wasn't the time.
"Thank you." Was all he spoke. She smiled and nodded before exiting his room.
Exhausted from the night's events, Buffy made her way to her own room, where she was startled to find…
"Spike! What are you doing in here?"
He looked up from the drawer he was digging in to smile at her "Hello, love. I was just looking for you."
"Well, I'm not in my underwear drawer, you creep." She stormed over and shut the drawer forcefully.
He simply smirked at her "Nothing I haven't seen before, pet. In fact, I can picture you in some of that stuff right now." He looked her up and down as she smacked his arm.
"Do not picture me in my underwear!"
He nodded "You're right. It's better with you naked."
"Ugh Spike, I forgot what a pig you could be."
He sighed "I'm just having some fun with you, is all. I missed you, Buffy."
The sincerity in his voice struck her as always. She smiled and took a seat on the bed.
"So where have you been the past few months?"
"I've spent the past three months all over the place looking for your boyfriend. Didn't get to South America though."
"Don't call him my boyfriend, or Captain Forehead, or wanker, or sod, or any other weirdo British term. He has a name." She insisted with confidence.
"I'm sorry, love. I can't help it if he's a bloody wanker."
Her green eyes rolled as he continued to survey her room. Picture of Dawn, Xander, Willow, and Giles littered the place. He was stunned beyond belief when he reached her desk. On it was a picture he remembered being taken. It was a photo of himself, Dawn, Giles, Andrew, Willow, Xander, Anya, and Buffy, taken just before Xander lost his eye. In the photo, he stood next to Buffy with his arm draped over her. At the time, he hadn't noticed, but looking at the picture now, he realized that everyone was looking at the camera, except Buffy. Her eyes were on him. He had never seen her look at him that way, at least not that he could remember. She had a smile on her face as she looked up at him. Her face seemed filled with happiness, and dare he say…love?
"The whole town was destroyed. How did you salvage this?" His words broke as he handed the silver framed picture to her.
She smiled "I had it with me that day. I knew we might be facing the end, and I just wanted the people I loved to be close to me the whole time."
Sea green eyes locked with deep blues. For a moment they stayed like that, silent, simply bathing in the infinite pools of each others' eyes. They finally broke their stare as Spike placed the frame back on Buffy's desk, where he spotted something else.
"What's this, then?" He asked curiously as he picked up the sketchpad, and flipped it open.
She jumped up "Oh that's nothing!"
He held her back as she tried to take it away. He flipped through it, amazed at what he saw. There were beautiful drawings of many Roman landmarks.
"These are good, Slayer. I never knew you could draw."
She bit her lip nervously "I can't really. They're just scribbling."
He looked her directly in the eye "No they're not. They're art, Buffy. I've been around long enough to know."
She looked away almost bashfully "Well, thanks."
Spike continued to flip through the book when he came upon something that hit him like a ton of bricks. It was him. Every curve of the face, every single detail of him was captured fully in this one sketch. If his heart still beat, it would have been racing.
"It's me." Was all he said, his voice shaky.
She grabbed the sketchbook quickly "Uh yeah…I was going to draw everyone." It was a lie, and they both knew it.
There was a moment of awkward silence before Buffy cleared her throat "We should go to bed."
Spike smiled devilishly. Buffy, noticing her slip up, tried to cover it "I mean, we should go to sleep. Alone. In our separate rooms."
He laughed "It's okay, Slayer. I can resist jumping your bones…for now."
As he left the room, Buffy sighed. How did he always make her feel like a nervous school girl, yet make her feel like a passionate woman all the same time?
"Stupid Vampire."
"Master, everything is in play. We have our new prisoner."
"Excellent! Bring her to me."
Two large demons dragged a woman into the huge tent upon their master's orders. They dropped the chained prisoner at his feet.
"Hello there." Exmaunigan spoke with a breeziness.
"Whatever you're trying to do won't work." She spoke with conviction as her large brown eyes scanned the tent.
"Oh I assure you, it will. Molden, bring me the potion."
A gray demon with pointy ears handed over a blue vile to his boss.
"I hope you don't expect me to drink that." The prisoner said with attitude.
"No, I expect you to bathe in it." Was all he said as he opened the lid and doused her in the illuminated sapphire liquid.
At the feel of it on her skin, she screamed out in pain. It burned her down to her very soul. After a few moments of squirming, her body slowed its movements, finally stopping all together.
"Did it work?" Molden, the gray demon inquired.
The prisoner lifted her head and smiled up at Exmaunigan, her brown eyes flashing yellow momentarily.
The horned demon smiled widely "It has worked. We now have the ultimate weapon against the slayer…our very own slayer."
To be continued…
A/N: Thanks for reading! My birthday is on Thursday, and it would be an awesome gift to receive some reviews! I hope you liked it!!
