A/N: I'm sorry it's been over 6 months since I last posted a chapter. My life has been hectic and I'm in the middle of my senior year. As of right now, I'm in a play and our first show is tonight. Since, I had a day off of school today, I decided to take some initiative and write in order to relax today. It might be a little boring, but there is some action and you see more in depth to the villain's plan. So please enjoy and of course, REVIEW! My number 1 thing I always beg!
Chapter 7
The first few days of building the former law firm went by fairly smooth. It was about halfway complete by Day 3. Buffy was shocked that the building was this close after only 2 days of actual construction. The only thing that worried her was the weather report declaring that rain would be arriving within the next couple of days. The roof was not complete yet because they were building the extra floors.
Angel had been watching for any sign of Christoph, but he hadn't shown up. Buffy was helping Ty during the day, and then during the night, Buffy would go out on patrol and Ty would follow her to regain the idea of patrol again.
On Day 3 during the night, Buffy and Angel went out on patrol and Ty was following behind them. They were all in a chatty mood. "So, what do think of patrolling with a real slayer?" asked Buffy.
"It's actually different compared to humans ganging up to kill a couple of vampires," Ty stated.
"Why? Because I hunt them instead of accidently running into them."
Ty grinned. "You could say that's part of it I guess. I never purposefully went looking for vampires unless I was bored, but for you it's a nightly thing to patrol for them. That's different and cool. The other part of it is, I guess you could say, as a human with the knowledge of vampires, you can have this very unnerving feeling that, 'Tonight, I'm going to die.' With a slayer, that instinctual feeling to run is there, but it is lessened. Do you understand?"
"I guess." Buffy thought back to her own experience without her slayer enhancements. "When I lost my powers, I was at a complete loss about life. I wasn't sure if I could deal with not being the slayer anymore. I always dreamed about having a normal life, but I guess being the slayer had to be part of it. I guess fighting the good fight would always be within yourself after being the slayer for three years. However, fighting without powers was frightening. I couldn't even fend off a fruit fly. It was most definitely scary not having a slayer around."
"The day I became human the first time comes to mind," Angel butted in.
"First time?" asked Ty.
"One story you haven't heard," Buffy noted. She arched an eyebrow, then signaled Angel to continue his story.
Angel started to retell his story. "It was a few years ago when I first moved to LA. I started a detective agency and everything was pretty good. Then, around Thanksgiving, my friend Doyle had a vision. You see, he was sent messages from the Powers That Be to tell me who the people were that needed to be saved."
Buffy decided to take over from here. "Apparently I was the next one on the PTB's list to be saved."
"PTB?" Ty was confused.
"Powers That Be," Buffy spoke quickly in an even tone.
"I really need to catch up on abbreviations." Ty shook his head. "Sorry Angel. Continue."
"There's not much to tell really. I visited Buffy without her knowledge, which went against everything I had done to try to separate myself from her. To prevent any heart break from either party, I just skulked around Sunnydale doing what I could to assist her. Buffy's friends were the only ones who knew I was there. I had gone the whole trip without detection." A smile touched the corners of Angel's mouth. "It was after I left that Xander spilled the beans."
Buffy decided it was time for her point of view. She snuggled in next Angel, forgetting Ty was there for a moment. "I was furious with you when I first found out. I felt… betrayed. I remember thinking to myself, 'Why would he be here and not tell me? Does he really consider me that unimportant in his plans?' So I was on the next bus to LA within the hour to him and give him a piece of my mind. My intentions were, 'How dare he protect me like I'm some damsel in distress. I'm the slayer after all, not some eleven year old school girl.' I told him off," Buffy declared proudly.
Angel snickered, "Yeah right." He turned his head to face her. "Told me off. She tried, but she could never do that to me." Buffy was about to intervene, but Angel cut her off. "Either way, there was no chance to get into physical blows because we were attacked by that Mohra demon."
"Right. We defended ourselves and then split up to find it. Angel found the demon first and fought it. Apparently Angel absorbed some of the demon's blood through a wound. It had to have been coursing through his veins because the next thing you knew he was human."
"Human," Ty spoke astounded.
"I checked this fact out with the Oracles and they confirmed it to be true. So Buffy and I," Angel paused. He couldn't help the need to brag about his and Buffy's success. He told the story with the excitement he remembered feeling that day he found out he could have Buffy again without consequence, "decided to test our relationship again. Unfortunately by the end of the day, we realized that me being human was going to be impossible if she were going to continue saving the world."
Buffy was fired up again. "Nuh-uh! That was your decision. I didn't care if you were still fighting; I just wanted to be with you. I didn't want to lose you, but Mr. Noble here did the exact thing he does best; be noble."
He shook his head. "I had the oracles turn back the day because I didn't want to be the reason you died because I couldn't do anything to save you. There was no other choice." Angel hugged her in order to comfort her now that she started to see the relief on her face.
Buffy took a shallow breath. "The clock tolled nine and everything was returned to normal, except I wasn't supposed to be able to remember anything from the missing day while Angel had to be stuck with it for the rest of his days…" Buffy paused, "Or so he thought."
Ty asked, "Okay, so how do you remember it?"
Buffy flashed back into reality remembering Ty was still there. Angel had his arm around her waist now. "Later that year, the Oracles were killed, so I guess their 'turning the clock' trick undid itself which then returned the memories to me. Angel had no idea. After all he was told that he would solely carry the burden of remembering that day and he told his co-workers. That should have been it. At first I thought I was dreaming, but why of Angel? At the time I had a steady boyfriend who I really liked. After the dream, the next time I saw Angel, I had this feeling in my gut. It was almost like everything really did happen; that it wasn't a dream. I was going to bring up the dreams when I saw Angel, but it never came out with the fact the next time we talked to each other in person was at my mom's funeral. I decided not to mention it in case he thought I was insane or majorly depressed from losing Mom. No big, I just didn't touch the subject." She turned to face Angel. "It wasn't until later I learned her knew about the day the whole time."
"Well, I assumed you didn't know. It's not like I could tell you," defended Angel.
"I wasn't yelling at you, I was just saying-" Buffy was interrupted by a gagging sound. She turned towards the other end of the alley.
"All this lovey-dovey bullshit is making me sick. I can't even surprise attack now."
Buffy saw a figure. It was tall, broad, and very masculine. The vampire stepped into the light casted from a street lamp. He was dressed in an all black ensemble, completely opposite to his almost transparent white skin and his platinum blond hair that put Spike to shame when saying his hair was "platinum." "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to interrupt someone's conversation? And also whoever said black is the right look for the albino crowd would be completely disturbed if they ever laid eyes on you."
The vampire ran at her. She pushed Ty down and out of the way and then jumped up onto the closest fire escape. The vampire suddenly landed above her on the next level fire escape. He slid the ladder down towards her and then attempted a high kick for her head. She ducked to her knees and yanked the vampire by his calf. Why does making fun of their outfits always lead to violence? Buffy thought. She shoved the vamp against the railing. Then, she kicked him off the fire escape from a handstand position. She flipped off the escape and landed gracefully to the ground. The vampire hit the ground like a skydiver without a parachute. She then performed a handspring and then somersaulted through midair, grabbing a stake from her pocket. She landed in a crouch and staked the vampire in the heart. "Dusted," she said as the vampire disappeared in the breeze.
Angel lifted Buffy up by her arms. He looked into her face and asked, "Are you okay?"
She touched the side of his face and lovingly looked into his eyes. "I'm fine, not even a scratch." She brought her hand down and noticed blood on the side of his face. She looked at her palm and saw a gash running up her palm. "Sorry, I didn't even feel that. I didn't get any glass on your face, did I?"
She was trying to examine it for scratches, but he grabbed her wrists. "I'm fine, but we should get you to a hospital. There still might be some glass in your hand and it would be bad if it healed over."
Ty had taken his shirt off and threw his jacket on over his bare chest. "Here," he offered the shirt, "use this to control the bleeding until we're there."
"Thanks," Buffy said dully. "Does this really require a hospital visit?"
Angel answered, "It does unless you want the glass stuck in your skin and then break through when you least expect it."
She gave an angered expression, but she gave in. She knew Angel would never let her get away without going to the hospital. He said he would never force her, but this is a case when the rule wouldn't apply. "Fine," she huffed and stomped away towards the hospital.
Angel and Ty looked at each other as they started to leave the alley. "What was that about?" Ty asked.
Angel smiled to himself. "She just doesn't like hospitals."
As both men turned the corner, Christoph walked into the alley where the broken glass bottle Buffy sliced her hand on remained. He picked up a piece with her blood on it and took a sniff. He was shocked by the power that went through his system with only one smell.
"Master," interrupted one of his minions.
"What is it now," Christoph responded grumpily. He never liked having to stop mid-thought in order to listen to his minions.
"Christoph, sir, the slayer is still in close proximity to us. She may try to attack. You must come back-"
"I am well aware about the slayer and where she is. Believe me, she's not going to find us at this moment."
"As you say, Master."
Christoph sneered. He always heard that slayer blood was powerful and the taste of it… there was no description, it was that good. He put the bloody side of the glass to his tongue. He felt another shock as he felt a tingling sensation of power up his spine. She had to be part of his crew. He wouldn't accept this any other way. She had to be his, but how… "I've got it," he whispered with a grin. He snuck back into the portal to his home. The underworld was never really friendly, but a good place for a low profile vampire. He was the only vampire in history to be allowed to live in the underworld.
He walked to his main room where his minions stayed. The table in the middle was set up for his convenience. He quickly glanced over the faces of his minions. He took up the front of the table and spoke, "Friday evening, we are taking action. Miss Buffy Summers will be one of us, beside me forever more."
