AN: All dialog in Italics and '' are thoughts.
Chapter 2: Portent
Sunnydale High School.
Buffy sighed and watched as the bell for her next class rang, "Late again." and the last stray students disappeared behind class doors. She looked at her baby-blue halter top, black skirt and three inch heels. "Maybe a different shirt." She mused aloud. As she walked the only sound heard was the rhythmic tapping of her heels on the linoleum. Feeling the emptiness of the halls, she decided she was late enough and hurried to class.
Turning the corner to her hallway, Buffy stopped short. She backed up and peered around the corner. 'Angel!' He was standing by a door wearing all black— a long-sleeved sweater, baggy jeans and boots. It really did make him look mysterious. She look closely, 'What is he doing?' Buffy watched as he walked by her class very slowly. He was looking in through the small window on the door. When he was clear of the door he paused.
Buffy froze, nervous. 'Does he know I'm here?' Angel turned around facing her. Her heart stopped then raced as she ducked behind the wall. 'He saw me. He saw me! What am I gonna do? What am I gonna say? What is HE gonna say?' Buffy sank against the wall anxious and waiting. 'What's going on with him? First I only see him stalking around school in that little gang of his, then he's standing around alone watching me, and now he's peeking in my CLASS ROOM!'
Buffy's fear had immediately turned to anger. 'I need to do something about this.' She came from around the wall, ready to go face to face with him.
Again she froze. He was still looking through her window! Angel shrugged— apparently disappointed— turned and walked away.
'What the HELL!?!' Frustrated Buffy decided to find out as much as she could about Angel and his growing interest in her. As Buffy grew deeper in thought her anger came back. 'Willow didn't know shit. She's right maybe I should ask Oz. They're all seniors he's bound to know something more.
Buffy walked in the opposite direction completely forgetting about her need to go to class, "I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
Angel walked down the steps into the musty, dimly lit room. He hated the dank feel of the basement. The floors were sticky, the walls water stained and thick dust visibly covered the molding boxes. He looked up at the flickering fluorescent light hanging over his head.
"I hate this place." He sighed to himself.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Angel jumped at the sharp loud voice. He quickly scanned the room, and then stopped, gazing into the shadows of the far corner.
"Well?" The voice was smoother now with feminine qualities and it seemed to echo off the walls.
Angel stammered still trying to pinpoint her direction. "I needed—uh—I was just taking my time."
"Well, you took too long." She sighed. "Angel, how am I supposed to trust you when you go off missing for half an hour?"
Angel mumbled an apology and watched carefully as she emerged form the darkness. The small amount of light shinned off of her shoulder-length blond hair and made her skin glow. She had a slight smile on her face but he couldn't see her eyes. He watched as her slender body swayed and he was almost hypnotized by the movements. "I'm sorry Darla it won't happen again."
"Damn, right it won't. You have a job to do Angel and I want it done tonight." Darla took a deep breath, "The three of you need to get in line or I'll have to straighten you out myself." She walked slowly up to him and placed her cool hand on his cheek. "Their late too, ya know. Drusilla trotted off about an hour ago and I haven't seen Spike all day."
She leaned into him and locked her eyes on his. Angel shivered, "I'll go look for them if you want." Darla smiled. They turned hearing the door shut behind them.
"There's no need for that. I'm here and Dru's on her way." Spike was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "So what's new what'd I miss?" She ignored his question. Spike shrugged off his jacket and tossed it onto a near by box. The weak cardboard gave in under the weight of his long leather coat and it sank in while dust rose into the air. Spike looked at his friends. "Oops."
Darla rolled her eyes. She walked away from Angel to Spike, and let her hand run up the silk of his red shirt, along his chest and arm. "Pleas be careful Spike. I'm tired of cleaning up your messes." Her voice had a sharp tone that only Spike caught. Angel shot him a dirty look of jealousy and watched as Darla walked away.
The boys hear the door shut but stood in silence until it was broken by a small chuckle.
Spike eyed Angel suspiciously, "What are you laughing at?"
Angel looked down at what Spike was holding in his hand. He smiled and pointed to the small withered old doll. "That." he smiled.
Spike held the doll so it was out of Angel's view. "She just asked me to keep it for her. You know what Miss Edith means to her."
Angel's smile faded and he hesitated to speak.
Spike eyed him again. "What?"
"Nothing."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"What is it?!"
"Um…"
"Out with it!"
"Tonight!" Angel looked uneasy. "Do you want to go with me to Justyn's Cabin? I have to--"
"Justyn's Cabin!" Spike backed up. "Why the hell are you going there?!"
"Darla needs me to 'run an errand'." His eyes became dark. "It won't take long."
"But Justyn's Cabin?! That place is funckin' scary."
"It's not that bad."
He scoffed at Angel. "Try saying that after almost loosing an arm to some crazy with an axe."
"I know, but it needs to be done. Are you in?"
He looked off into the distance not really seeing anything. "Yeah, I guess, but I don't really have a choice do I?"
"Since when has that bothered you?"
He sighed heavily. "I don't know. I guess I'm just getting tired of this whole thing." Spike put Miss Edith on his coat and sat in a near by chair.
"We've only been at this for…" Angel thought for a moment. "Four years."
"And yet there's still so much more to do".
Angel looked at Spike questioningly, "Why the sudden change of heart?" He shrugged in response. "You willing to tell Darla what's on you mind?"
Spike threw his hands up. "NO! No. I've just had a lot on my mind lately, that's all."
"It's that girl isn't it?"
Spike got defensive at Angel's tone. "So what if it is?"
"Humph. I don't see what's so special about her."
Spike got in his face. "Then you obviously haven't got any eyes!"
Angel stood his ground. "She's just like every other girl in this school,--"
"Strong, smart, beautiful?"
"Stupid, shallow, and self-absorbed." Angel kept his cool tone and saw Spike's anger dissipate.
Spike nudged a dead rat on the floor with his foot and spoke under his breath. "How would you know?"
"Spike you're just interested in this girl--"
"Buffy!"
"Fine, Buffy!" He said in a mocking voice. "Because you're trying to get your mind off what you know is coming."
He stood up straight. "It's more than that."
"We'll see." Angel waved a hand, heading for the stairs. "C'mon they're expecting us."
"Wait. We can't leave Miss Edith now can we?" He carried his jacket and the doll.
This brought a back smile to Angel's face. "Do you enjoy being Dru's lap dog?"
"Not as much as you enjoy being Darla's little whipping boy."
The boy's laughed together as the trudged up the stairs.
Giles walked in through the library doors with his nose in a book and three others in his arm.
"Hey Giles."
Giles dropped his book. His slayer was sitting at a table thumbing through a magazine. "Buffy you startled me. What are you doing here?"
Buffy continued flipping through the magazine mocking Giles' British accent. "Good afternoon, Buffy. How are you? So lovely to have your company today."
"Sorry." Giles placed his books on the counter. "What are you doing here?"
She sighed at her failed attempt for some humor. "I was looking for Oz." She placed her magazine down. "Searched everywhere until I realized he was in class."
"As you should be." He walked to the table.
"OH! That's what I was doing. I knew I had too much free time."
The watcher looked at her expectantly. She didn't move. "Well, aren't you going back?"
"I don't want to intrude. She is trying to teach students—most of whom want to learn." He gave her a look. "I'd just take up room."
Giles sat down. "Seeing as I'm not up to arguing and I have some work to do, I can put your 'free time' to good use."
Buffy looked at the thick books already stacked on the table, and began to stand, "Ya know Giles, school is an excellent institution for students to 'learn and grow' and the best place for a 'troubled teen' like me to do that is in a class room full of peers." She smiled nervously. "So I'm just gonna—"
"Sit down." She sat. "I could really use your help Buffy—as small a fraction as that may be. Besides, I'm sure the little rat of a man is scouring about the school just waiting to find an out of place student. That damn Snyder can smell truancy from a mile away."
Buffy smiled. "Giles! Where you aiming them sticks and stones?"
"I'm sorry Buffy, I've just had my hands full." He removed his glasses and gently massaged the bridge of his nose. "You know that demon you killed the other night? The Had'rei?" She nodded. "We haven't seen the last of them. He was the Guardian of the Huberius clan, there are other's like him— brothers if you will— I believe they all stem from the Bachel demon. You should know they are ruthless and relentless."
"What do they want?"
"To put it simply? Your blood."
Buffy looked worried. "Where did they came from and why are they after me?"
"I don't know yet, but I won't send you out until we have more facts."
"Ok. Thanks, Giles."
He handed her one of his thick, dusty, black volumes with brown fading letters on the cover. "Start looking in this book for more about these demons." Buffy read the title. 'Vi Skan Tue'. The slayer flipped the book open to a random page and started trying to decipher the cryptic text.
Willow, Xander, Oz, and Anya walked into the library seeing Giles and Buffy, hunched over a table covered with books, reading through page after page.
The four teenagers walked in slowly unsure if they should interrupt.
Willow leaned in close to Oz. "What do you think happened that's got them studying so hard?"
Oz looked to her. "I'm sure it's nothing. They're just… in the zone."
"The Twilight Zone," Xander whispered.
"Why are we just standing here whispering?" Anya's loud voice broke through.
"We were whispering." Willow rolled her eyes.
"Shouldn't we be helping?" All eyes in the room turned to Anya. She pointed at Xander, Oz, and Willow, "What? They were the ones being all secretive." Xander put his arm around her and lead her to the table.
Xander sat down first. "We missed you in class Buff." She shrugged.
Everyone else took a chair and a book, and then waited for instruction.
Giles stood in front of the kids he was so fond of making sure he had their full attention. "You all know of the demon Buffy slayed the other night?"
Willow raised a hand. "The Had'rei?"
"Yes!" They nodded. "Well I've found that its root is from the Bachel demon. We don't know much about them except that there will be more and they want Buffy dead."
Xander laughed. "C'mon. We don't have anything to worry about. The first one hurt Buffy pretty bad but now she knows what to expect. This is no problem for the slayer." He smiled confident in his words.
"Xander, I appreciate your confidence in me, but you didn't fight this thing. You have no idea how hard it was. I'm still healing from a fight almost a week ago! I know you think I'm invincible, but I'm not." She looked away from her friends. "I might have thought that I was invincible, until now." Buffy made eye contact with each one of them to stress her point. "I want to know as much as I can about these guys. I have a feeling that next time," She looked at Xander, "I won't be as lucky."
Giles picked up from there. "We know the demons are from separate clans. This one was from the Hubris clan but--"
"Hubris?!" Again all eyes were on Anya.
Xander moved closer to her. "I don't know what it means either, if we just wait he'll explain it."
She pushed him away. "I know what it means Xander!" Anya looked at the slayer, "We're dealing with the Blood Seven." She then looked at Giles. "They're assassins. Someone hired them."
"Who do you think wants Buffy dead?"
"The Order."
He stopped, mouth hanging open. "The Order? Who are they?"
"Powerful men. The Scorned Order of Five are the only ones I can think of, who have the power to get the Blood Seven." She looked a Buffy, "Who did you piss off?"
"This is good, very good. I haven't heard anything about this. How do you know so much?"
She smiled with growing pride. "Ya know, demon inner circles. I picked up some important stuff from the old days."
Giles chose four books off the table and stood. "I need everything you know about this Blood Seven and The Order."
"Our resident demon expert strikes again." Xander laid his hand on Anya's
Giles cleared his throat. "Well, she certainly does know a lot about this particular group, but I'd say I'm the expert."
Anya laughed. "Listen old man, no one in this room knows more about demons than I do. I was one!"
"I don't believe that's true. You may have lived among them but I have spent many years of my life--"
"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah--" She rolled her eyes and everyone else looked on.
Giles was getting frustrated at her attitude, "Anya please, I am trying to make a—"
"You older humans ALL think--"
"You're thousands of years older than me!"
"At least I still look good."
Oz intervened. "YA KNOW," He looked between the Watcher and the ex-demon, "Giles I'm gonna have to agree with Anya. It seems to me, you're more overall occult." Willow looked at him. "Which…is… better in some cases." His girlfriend smiled approvingly.
"Well enough of this, let's get back to work."
Buffy spoke to her friends. "Guys , I think I know what our first move should be. I want to try and find Pin again." She thought for a second. "My other contacts either don't know anything or they disappear before I can reach them." She stood up taking charge. "Willow work on his location."
Willow moved to a computer and got started.
"Anya, you're helping Giles right?"
The Watcher waved a hand. "She is. Come Anya, lets discus this Blood Seven." She went to his side and followed him into his office.
The Slayer looked at Oz. "I need to talk to you."
"Sure"
Buffy looked at her friends. "Let's get to work." She and Oz walked out into the hall, Giles and Anya already started to argue in the office and Willow fully concentrated on the computer.
Xander looked around. "What about me?"
Willow looked up briefly to the almost empty room. "Xander you can get me a map of Sunnydale's first town."
"Yay! Something easy."
Xander went to a shelf and skimmed the book covers. He returned with a book and a satisfied smile on his face. 'That was too easy.'
Willow sighed and gave it back. He looked at her blankly. "Xander," She pointed at the book, "this is a book about maps. I need a book of maps."
"Oh." He went in search of the right book.
Buffy paced the hallway looking distressed.
Oz watched her turn back and forth in front of him. "Sorry but that's all I know. As for Angel following you—he might like you but don't take my word for it. Although he does seem to likes blonds."
"What do you think I should do?"
"If you want to confront him, I suggest you look in the basement. That's where they hang out."
"EWWWWW!"
"I know." Oz looked around. "Sorry I'm not much help. No one really knows anything about them."
"It's fine." She smiled. "You can go back to Will now."
"Thanks." Oz returned to the library while Buffy decided he next goal would be to sneak into the basement.
Walking back into the library Buffy paused and looked over her shoulder. She felt a presence around her but she didn't have the time to check it out. Whatever it was it made her feel uneasy.
The dark female figure shaped her hand into a gun. Her crimson nail polish gleamed in the light and contrasted against her skin. She took aim at the retreating slayer and fired. "Bang." The black haired woman laughed to herself and began humming a slow and haunting tune.
Spike and Angel walked side by side down the empty streets, weapons in hand. They were fatigued from the few demons and vampires they had already encountered. The boys stopped at a withered bridge leading to a lone warehouse on the pier.
Spike smiled, "Through the monsters, over the bridge, to Justyn's Cabin we go."
Angel rolled his eyes and walked ahead. At the side of the warehouse he lifted a hidden door the lead underground. He thought of Darla. "It's at times like this that I hate her."
"Let's just get it done." Spike's voice had a slight hint of regret in it.
"Let's" They jumped down into the first tunnel of the maze, weapons at the ready.
Back at Scooby H.Q. Buffy sat alone, away from her friends thinking. She watched Willow and Oz sitting side by side in front of a computer, Giles pacing his office and Xander hopelessly flipping through books.
Buffy found herself wondering how her life was going to end. These thoughts had occurred to her many times before since finding out she was the slayer, but now that seemed to her all she was fixated on. Her mind left the view of her friends and suddenly images she didn't quite understand started to flash.
Her mom, Giles, Willow, Angel. Darla, a vampire she killed last week and his partner that got away. Drusilla, the member of the Blood Seven she killed and the demon contacts that she had found dead. These myriad faces appeared over and over again; faster and faster until it was almost a blur. Then, just as quickly as they had come they ceased and all she could see was black. She started to make out a tall male figure in the dark but she couldn't tell who it was.
Her vision flashed and every thing was stark white. There was only one face she could see now, as clear as day. She wondered, 'Why him?' She felt a pull, a connection so she gently reached out and touched his check. He smiled and closed his eyes. Buffy removed her hand and looked at him in wonderment. Starring into his icy blue eyes she spoke his name in barely a whisper. "Spike."
Buffy was jolted out of her reverie by an excited scream. "Buffy, here!" She quickly stood up, shaking off the unusual dream. The slayer went to the hacker's side to see what she had found.
Willow pointed at the map Xander had given her. "There seems to be a network of tunnels under the pier near the warehouses. With the research I did on parts of the first town," She ran her finger along the map, "this should be the best rout to take." She studied the map for a second longer.
Buffy looked over her shoulder, worried something might be wrong. Willow drew an X on the map. "Our guy should be right here." Buffy laughed with delight and called for her watcher.
"Giles!" She began walking to his office. "Giles!" She got no response.
"Buffy," Xander said, "Giles and Anya left. They went to get more books and pick up some food."
"Really?" She looked in the dark office.
"Yeah." Willow and Oz nodded along with him.
"Oh, well I'm gonna go do some recon on this place. If I'm lucky maybe I'll find Pin right off."
"Maybe." She could hear the worry in Willow's voice.
"Willow I'll be fine." She still looked unsure. "Look how about I call you when I get home?"
This brought on a smile. "Don't forget. Ok?"
"Ok. MOM!"
"Be safe."
"I will." She went up to her best friend and gave her a hug. "Thanks Will. You're a life saver."
"No prob."
Buffy gathered her things and Xander stood by, "Hey don't I get a hug too? I found the map." Buffy didn't appear to hear him.
"Tell Giles I left and that I'll check in later."
"Will do." Xander said smiling.
With that Buffy was off.
Well that's the end of this chapter. It took a while to write the next one will be shorter. I think it's okay but tell me what you think and what I should improve. I hope you enjoyed!
Dedicated to: M.P. G.G. & F.N. We miss you all. R.I.P.
