Chapter 5
Angel woke up just before sundown and checked on Buffy. She was still fast asleep.
As soon as the sunset he dived outside to collect the bag he'd left under a bush. Inside were some bottles of blood. He figured she'd need some. Escaping the bloodlust the previous night had been difficult; she'd be very weak afterwards.
Angel sat down on the edge of the large stone coffin and waited for his love to wake up.
A few minutes later Buffy did so. She was surprised to see Angel there, but it was only just after sunset, so he couldn't have been there long she thought.
"Good Night Buffy," he said cheerfully.
"Don't you mean morning?" she asked groggily sitting up.
"No, I mean night. You are running on our time now, remember? Feeling hungry?" he asked as he offered Buffy a bottle of blood.
She looked round and noticed that Angel had brought five or six bottles with him. "I remember," she answered in a whisper and took the bottle from him.
Angel watched and she stood up and stretched. When she was finished he asked "What do you intend to do now?"
"I have no idea Angel. My friends don't trust me. Why the hell should they after what I did! I became their greatest enemy! How could I have done this? How could I allow myself to be turned? Turn into this, the thing I have had nightmares about ever since I learned who I am. I can't even remember why I did this!" Buffy shouted.
Angel felt sorry for her, he wished that there was a way to change what had happened. He could never wish the afterlife of vampires on his worst enemy, let alone the girl he loved!
Buffy pulled the cork stopper out of the bottle and stared at it. "Its sure different to a burger and fries," she muttered.
"Want some?" she asked offering the bottle back to Angel, who shrugged and took it.
She uncorked another and held it up to her lips ready to drink. But she couldn't. Buffy lowered and re-corked the bottle.
"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.
"I can't drink this, its blood not food. Its totally yucky!" Buffy exclaimed, she put the bottle on the floor and ignored it.
Angel sighed. "It IS your food now, Buffy. You are a vampire. I thought the yellow eyes; no reflection and nose ridges might have given you a slight clue. The fangs and blood craving an even bigger one!" Angel told her, "All you have to decide is good or bad. I don't see your problem, you drank before!"
"Only to make sure I had the strength not to rip out the throats of my closest friends! Do you have any idea how hard that was? I could never have forgiven myself if I'd hurt them!" Buffy shouted.
She picked up the bottle and played with it, trying to pluck up the courage to drink.
"Buffy?" a male voice called from the entranceway.
She sprang to her feet. Her body coiled and ready for action like the Slayer she used to be. Glanced at the shadowy entrance, the figure standing there looked vaguely familiar. Buffy looked a little closer and easily recognized him, even though it was so dark.
"Remembered your cross and stake Giles? Don't forget the cross is to burn my face when I attack you. The stake goes cleanly through my heart and dustifies me," she taunted.
There was no reply.
"Or give me the stake and I'll do it," Buffy said holding out her hand.
Giles stepped out into the Mausoleum. He was holding the necklace cross, but loosely by his side. Showing that he was willing to trust. He figured that at the moment Buffy needed someone to trust, more than he needed a reason to trust her.
He walked forward slowly and carefully until he was face to face with Buffy. (Or as close as they can, Giles being nearly a foot taller than she is!)
Giles was relieved that she was not wearing her 'party' face, it made it so much easier for him to think of her as Buffy still, not a bloodsucker.
She sat down, with her back firmly turned away from him. She was very angry and didn't want her Watcher anywhere near her. Anger was too dangerous for her now. She didn't want to be with in a million miles of her Watcher, not being what she was.
"Come to see the Slayer freak show Giles?" Buffy asked, "Why don't you just leave me alone. Its not as if I have the desperate need for a Watcher any more, do I!" she finished bitterly.
Giles had seen her 'paler than pale, even for a vampire' tone. That and what he'd overheard of Buffy's conversation with Angel, he knew that she wasn't feeding and not planning to. He also knew that this would make her weaker and weaker until one of two things happened:
She bloodlusted.
Or she died.
He couldn't let her die and if she bloodlusted, no one in Sunnydale would be safe. Bloodlust turns vampires mad.
Giles picked up the bottle (Buffy had dropped it when she'd jumped up to see who was there). He knew what he had to do and he was prepared to do it. No matter what the consequences to himself.
He waved the bottle in front of her face. "Not feeding?" he asked.
Buffy glared at him, but didn't answer.
Giles uncorked the bottle and poured a large amount over her lips.
Her 'party' face instantly appeared, but she would not drink.
"Come on Buffy, drink. If you do not feed you will die as surely as if I staked you now!" he exclaimed, getting very angry.
He pulled at his shirt collar until his neck was exposed. "If you prefer live food, take me!" he exclaimed.
Buffy stood slowly, her eyes following every contour of his neck. She was very hungry, and it showed. Her 'party' face was on full strength, her lips drawn back to reveal tiny, razor sharp fangs. It made Giles feel very nervous.
Buffy took a step forward.
And then another.
Then she stopped and covered her eyes with her own hands. "Angel, help me" she said in a pathetic sounding whisper. No matter how she tried, she just couldn't get Giles' neck, Giles' blood out of her mind.
Angel quickly grabbed Buffy by her shoulders. He dug his fingers into her flesh tightly to stop her from advancing any further. "It is not safe for you to do such things, Watcher," he warned.
"Giles, you are my friend. But I can't promise that you are safe from me. Get away from this place, please" she whispered.
"For Gods sake, Buffy. DRINK!" Giles shouted, "I am still responsible for your safety and health. I will not allow you to do this to yourself!"
He thrust the bottle at her once more. "You are Buffy the vampire now, not the Slayer. Act like it!" he ordered.
"No!" Buffy screamed, ripping the bottle from his hands and in the same movement, hurled it against the wall. She watched the bottle smash into a million pieces and the contents drip down the wall, slowly.
Angel released her shoulders, knowing her mentor was safe. At least for now.
She moved quickly, shoved passed Giles and ran to the passageway at the back of the Mausoleum. She ran through the passage, down the stairwell and into the tunnels before they could stop her:
Giles reached the top of the stairwell as she hit the tunnels. "Buffy stop. Come back, we can help you!" he shouted down.
She ignored him, escaping down into the Master's realm of evil. Leaving Angel, Giles and all her problems (if only temporarily) behind her.
He went to follow, but Angel stopped him. "The Master and all his kind are down there. It would be very dangerous for you and for Buffy, if I allowed you down there. She is confused enough already. Give her some time," Angel told him gently.
Giles stared down the stairwell looking for any signs of his Slayer, but didn't follow. "I have to do something. I can't just leave her!" he said.
"I know, don't you think that if I could, I'd be down there by now! The Master would have me killed on slight, possibly even make Buffy be the one to kill me. She needs both of us to help her through this!"
"How on earth does she need me? I am her failed Watcher. There is nothing I can do for her now."
"You care for her don't you?" Angel asked.
"As if she was my daughter," Giles answered, "I'd do anything to help her."
"That's enough for her to need you. She's told me that she cares for you. I think the exact words were best friend a Slayer could have, even if he is a bit of a fuddy duddy.
"We are each a link to the two worlds Buffy is a part of. I am the link that will help her except her vampire future, if need be. You are a link to her past life. You are also the one who will find her a way back, if there is such a thing.
"I don't believe Buffy is a vampire yet. She has a lot of vampire blood in her, but if she doesn't take the first big feed, the one that finalizes her turning, one of two things will happen," Angel
said.
"What two things?" Giles demanded. His mind had finally been distracted from following Buffy
"Well, one: she will die. And we will be unable to stop that happening," Angel told him.
"Then we must make her feed some how" Giles said.
"No" he answered, "The other thing that might happen is she may revert to being human again".
"How can she? She's dead" Giles asked.
"Not yet. She won't die. I mean have mortal death until her big feed. You are the Watcher, you should know this!"
"There are no books on the subject of how vampires are made, or their lives, only the stories of their deeds and how to kill them. After this (when Buffy is safe), I may well have to write one. It's unusual to find vampires who fight against evil. No one has written their accounts yet."
"Do you think Interview with the Vampire is pure fiction? Dreamt up one night by Anne Rice? I knew some of those vampires personally!" Angel exclaimed.
Giles was stunned.
"Try reading it Watcher, you'll learn plenty about good vampires. Unlucky almost as much about evil ones though. Anyway, that isn't important now, Buffy is. Search your books. There must some ritual, some spell, that may tip the tables to our favour and help her return before mortal death."
"I'll try," the Watcher promised. "How can we leave her down there, alone?" he asked.
"Because we have to. Buffy will come out when she's ready. We'd never find her in that maze of tunnels. I just hope she isn't forced into taking the big feed before we can get to her," Angel sighed.
They walked out side together and went their separate ways: Giles to his library, Angel to his flat.
A girl appeared from behind the Mausoleum. Her hair was long and slashing around her face in the wind. Her clothes were ones that Cordelia would be jealous of.
The girl collected her bag and started to follow Giles, she had to learn what was going on. The Watcher would be the best source of the information she needed. A little spell and he'd tell her everything she needed! Wasn't really Council allowed, but she didn't have time for anything else. Her report hadn't briefed her for half of these happenings.