Disclaimer: All characters from BtVS belong to Joss Whedon and the world of Kindred the Embrace belongs to FOX, Spelling Television Inc, White Wolf or the copyright individual...

Chapter 11

Questions and Answers

Tuesday: 9:00 p.m.

Since the fight with Julian, Buffy had been experiencing conflicting emotions, so much so that she could barely concentrate on the job. It's affect had been noticed by Victor, who suggested that she and Julian needed to talk. And she had to agree, especially since she felt him trying to contact her earlier through their link. Everywhere she had went, she could feel him. About a hundred years ago, she and Julian perform a blood bond. This bond was to ensure that both of them knew where each other was at all times. It was more to protect themselves than to check up on each other. Buffy had felt Julian's anger and disappointment with her, but she wasn't in a happy mood to begin with. Finally, she thought. Everything is coming to a head. Maybe Julian would understand if she explained what had been going on in the last few days. She sighed.

It was nine p.m. on the dot when Buffy entered the mansion on the hill. She hesitated at the door to the living room when she spied Drusilla playing on the carpeted floor with Sasha and her children.

"Lissa," Julian said, his face closed. He was standing in the doorway to his office.

She turned towards him and said testily, "We need to talk."

Julian nodded and, with a gesture, ushered Buffy into his office.

Buffy chewed on her lower lip and stole a look at him. She chose her words carefully. "I'm sorry about the fight," she said, taking note of the healing scratches on his face.

Julian sighed as he took a seat behind his desk.

"You are not saying anything," she demanded, hands akimbo.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked with an incredulous air.

"Something," she muttered.

He stifled an oath. "Why are you always running?" he said abruptly.

Her mouth dropped open. "Running?" she said, clearly surprised.

"Yes, running," he said gruffly. "I have felt your pain and confusion all day, and all I wanted to do was gather you up in my arms, but you were closed to me."

"I wanted to be alone," she said defiantly.

"Alone?" he questioned. "You are a part of me; you are never alone. But, I'm tired of you running. Whenever the situation gets too hard, you run."

"I never run from a fight," she denied hotly.

Julian sighed. "It's never about the 'fight' but more about your emotions. I've noticed that if anything emotional happens that you don't understand, you retreat internally."

"I–I," she said with a frown.

"I know you are afraid," Julian said softy.

"Afraid, of course not," she denied.

"Afraid, yes," Julian nodded. "Afraid of giving yourself totally, but we have been together for five hundred years – I'll never leave you. Don't you think it is time for you to stop running?" Julian said with a frown.

Buffy avoided his gaze. "I didn't know I was running," she said softly.

"Well, if you didn't know then, you know now," he said.

"Sometimes it is hard to let go; part of me is afraid that if I give all of me, you would hurt me."

"Hurt you?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, hurt me."

"Lissa, you cannot keep punishing me for the actions of Angelus."

"I'm not," she denied startled.

"Yes, you are," said Julian. "I'm not Angelus. I will not turn on you."

Is he right? she wondered with a frown. "But you are always keeping secrets from me?" Buffy said puzzled.

"That doesn't mean I will turn on you. I am trying to protect you," he said in a low, composed voice.

"I don't need protecting," she said stiffening as she haughtily tossed her long hair.

"I m your husband; I will always protect you," he said pushing himself to a standing position. He walked around the desk and took Buffy into his arms. "I love you."

She stiffened for a moment, then she relaxed. "I love you too," she said, her heart light. "I really didn't mean to hurt you," she said with a sigh, burrowing deeply into his arms.

"You didn't hurt me," he said, misunderstanding her. "Its only a couple of scratches," Julian said, his voice a deep rumble.

Buffy sighed, wondering if she should correct him, but decided he was giving her an out. "If you say so," Buffy said with a wry smile, her hand caressing his face. "But I'm tired of you keeping secrets from me. Case in point Drusilla."

He opened his mouth.

She pushed away from him and put her hands up into stopped gesture. "Don't give me any bullshit about not being Kindred. Where did Drusilla come from? Is she my Drusilla?"

"Yours?" he said archly.

She blushed. "You know what I mean," she said walking over to the couch with her arms crossed.

He sighed. "From what I could gather, she's from the same dimension as you. She was caught in one of those dimensional pockets and entered this world. Even crazy as she is, she had figured out that she wasn't in her right place."

"How did she get here?" she asked stiffly.

Julian gave her a look.

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "How did you and her become so cozy?" she said, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

"She was found feeding on the street," he said quietly.

"What?" she said, gazing at him in disbelief.

"Sasha found her on the street feeding. Thinking that she was a fledgling, she brought her to my notice. You know we have to protect the masquerade at all times."

"Yes," she said nodding. "What happened?"

"She was brought to me, then I had to ascertain how she came to be here," he admitted.

"She told you all that," Buffy asked.

"Yes, sometimes she is lucid, more times than not," he admitted with a wry smile.

"How long has she been in our world?" Buffy asked with a puzzled frown.

"Why?" Julian questioned cautiously.

"Because I'm wondering when she got into town," Buffy said. "The killings started six weeks ago."

Julian hesitated; he didn't want to say the wrong thing.

Buffy eyed him thoughtfully. "I guess that answers my question," she said dryly. "Do you think Drusilla did it?" she asked abruptly.

"No," he said.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure as I'm standing here," he said with watchful eyes.

"Why are you sure?" Buffy demanded, irked by his manner.

Julian gave a huge sigh. How can he say this, so that she could understand?

"You chose her over me," she said with gritted teeth.

Blinking in disbelief, Julian said, "Uhh. I would never choose Drusilla over you."

"What do you call it?" she said, her arms crossed.

Julian gave a deep sigh and walked over to sit beside her on the sofa. He took her hands in his and looked her in the eyes. "It wasn't about choice, Lissa."

"If it wasn't about choice, what then?" she demanded.

Julian thought about what he and Buffy had done for the past several years. They had been through a lot, but for her to think that he would choose someone else after all this time, she must be crazy. "Baby, how many ways can I prove my love? I would die for you. You are my heart and my soul. Without you I have no reason to live. And if you don't know that by now, then you are a fool. Nothing," he said letting go of her hands to take her chin in his palm. He gazed intently into her eyes. "Nothing will ever come between us," he said speaking with quiet firmness. "If it comes down to between us and Drusilla, I will always choose us."

"But you did choose her," Buffy tone hardened, moving her chin out of his grasp.

Julian sighed in exasperation. "You were being unreasonable," he said sharply, jumping up from the chair to pace up and down in front of her.

"Unreasonable?" Buffy queried with a sneer.

"Yeah," he snapped, fixing her with a level stare.

Buffy could feel an unwelcome blush creeping into her cheeks. She sat up in the chair, twisting her shirt nervously in her hands, while avoiding Julian's gaze. She gave an anxious cough, then said, "Is there anything I need to know? Any more secrets?"

"At least one," Julian admitted apologetically.

"What?" she demanded eying him cautiously. Did she want to hear this, she thought.

"The Toreadors have a new Primogen," Julian said, cutting into her thoughts. "Her name is Sabine Petit-Raine."

Buffy could feel the shock to her system. For years, the Toreadors had been operating in San Francisco without a leader; now they had one. She smiled thinly. "Ooh, pretentious name," she said mockingly.

Julian shrugged. "Apparently, she has been in town for awhile and was voted in as Primogen."

Buffy's brow furrowed. "Let me get this straight – She has been in town for awhile, but you just met? I've never heard of her, have you?"

"No," he said shaking his head. "Today was the very first time that I had met her. I didn't know she existed until she introduced herself this afternoon."

She frowned. "Did the Toreadors?" Buffy asked lightly.

"Apparently so," Julian said tersely. "Peter didn't seem surprised to see her."

"So the Toreadors have their own agenda?"

Julian nodded, his lips twisted into a cynical smile.

"I guess you do know," Buffy said, studying his face. "Did she have any explanation of why she didn't introduce herself to you as the prince?"

"She said she was afraid," he said with a mocking smile.

"Afraid?!" Buffy exclaimed, looking at Julian in astonishment. She knew Julian could be ruthless and scary sometimes, but to her, he's a pussy cat; she thought it was inconceivable for someone to be afraid of him. But then, Buffy had a rose-colored view of Julian. "Why was she afraid?"

"She's Lillie's daughter."

She stiffened in shock. "What?" She hadn't heard that name for at least five hundred years. She knew the others talked about her, and she didn't mind. Lillie was a part of Julian's life before Buffy had entered it; however, Lillie couldn't live with the fact that Julian had found someone new, so she tried to erase Buffy out of Julian's life.

"You heard me."

"What! How?" she asked dazed.

Julian looked at his wife in concern. "Apparently, Lillie had a natural child before she was embraced. After Lillie was embraced, she embraced her own child." Julian shook his head in dismay. "I could never do that," he muttered, "no matter how much I wanted to, especially after watching my children die."

"Are you sure?"

"Daedalus confirmed that Lillie had had a natural child. If indeed this Petit-Raine is the daughter, the only thing we can do right now is to welcome her."

"How about you? Do you think that she's Lillie's daughter?"

"I don't know. She doesn't look like her, but we don't always look like our parents."

"What are you going to do?"

"About what?" he asked.

"They are snubbing your authority as the prince in your face."

"Isn't that what you've been doing?" he asked archly.

"What?" she said in shocked and disbelief-filled voice. "No! Do you actually think I have been doing that?" she questioned, waiting anxiously for his answer.

Julian shrugged. "Yes."

"Oh my God," she cried. "I never thought I was doing that. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Little one, I know you are a natural born leader and I respect that, but when you attack Drusilla in a place that is Kindred owned, people are bound to talk. Especially after one of the council meetings."

"Oh God, the council meeting?" she cried. "I never did ask what was going on, and I never meant to attack you," she said. "I have been under a lot of stress lately. It's been six weeks, and I haven't found a hint of the killer as of yet."

"Yeah, that is strange," Julian said with a frown. "Not even the Gangrels could find any information. And we have been working on this for the same amount of time as you," he said with bewilderment. "I have been noticing other things as well."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said, with a shake of his head.

"Julian? What did I tell you about keeping secrets?" she drawled.

"Honey, this is not a secret," he said. "I must keep some things close to my vest."

"Alright," she said with a pout, "I guess you don't want to know that we are close to finding the killer."

"Really?" he asked surprised. "How? Who is it?"

"I really don't know who yet," she admitted. "But maybe in a few hours we'll know. But I do know that it has to be a female. How many women…?" Suddenly something in her mind clicked. "Perfume!" she shouted.

"What?"

Buffy grabbed Julian by the lapels of his jacket. "Do you truly believe that Drusilla doesn't have anything to do with the murders?" she asked. This was important. Her eyes bore sharply into his.

"Yes," he said adamantly, shaking her off.

She stumbled, but she managed to catch herself before she could fall. She gave him a sharp look.

"Sorry," he mouthed.

"Then it has to be some other woman that is new to the area," she said speculatively. "Remember, you always said that it wasn't one of your Kindred, so it must be a rogue. Then I remembered that perfume."

"What perfume?" he asked, his eyes narrowed.

"When I was in your office, there was this interesting smell. At the time you had distracted me, but that scent reminded me of the same scent that I smell at each crime scene. It was almost sickly sweet. Who was the only female in that meeting today?"

Julian closed his eyes with a wince. "Sabine, the new Toreador Primogen," he said, his face hardening.

Yes," Buffy cried, her eyes alit with excitement. Everything made sense now. "Oh shit," she muttered. She closed her eyes; she suddenly saw the holes in the situation. "I'm sorry Julian," she said, her brows furrowed. "Lillie's daughter. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know at this moment," Julian said, his voice edged with tension. "I had asked Cash to watch her. He hasn't checked in as of yet."

"I want to know when he does," Buffy insisted.

"Why?" asked Julian smoothly. "It's Kindred business, I will deal with it."

"Kindred!" she scoffed. "Stop using that as an excuse," she snapped. "There is only one thing we have to bring to the table, and that is justice. This Toreador made a mistake when she brought me into it," Buffy said as she walked towards the door.

"How do you figure that?" Julian asked dumbfounded, as he watched her walk through the door.

"Ms. Catherine Dunmore," Buffy said, and the door closed gently behind her.

Tuesday 10: 00 p.m.

When Burke left the office, it was after 10: 00 p.m. on Tuesday. Since it was a beautiful night, he decided to walk home. Normally, he would not have attempted the walk, but when he left the office, he found that a rear tire on his car was flat, and the spare wasn't full up from his flat a couple of weeks ago.

After the other night, he had made it a practice to keep an eye on his coworkers. The more info he had, the better it would be. At first, he had tried to get information about Buffy Summers from his parents, but they were close-mouthed. What they had told him was, 'If Ms. Summers wanted you to know about her, she would tell you.' But Burke couldn't take no for an answer. He loved puzzles, and there was not a puzzle he hasn't solved yet. He was elated. What he had just witnessed earlier with his parents was great. He still hadn't found any info on Buffy, but now he knew what was going on with A.D.A.P., although he had been kicking himself for not sensing that something was wrong. Especially since, he had been practicing magic since age sixteen. But after witnessing Connor's unbelief of magic, he now understood Buffy's and his parent's caution.

As he walked confidently down the street, his mind wasn't on the fact that he fit the profile of all the men that had been killed so far. They were young men, aged eighteen to twenty-four, and they were what you would term beauty challenged, but most of all, the men were loners more interested in mental pursuits than physical ones. And because his mind wasn't on the deaths, he never noticed when a shadow walked up behind him. Before he could utter a spell of protection, darkness descended.

Julian sighed as he watched the door close behind Buffy. He looked longingly at his desk. He had so much work to do. Earlier in the day after that scene with Buffy, he couldn't concentrate because his mind wasn't on the job. Although some things were resolved, there were plenty of other things they needed to talk about. She was right in the aspect that they needed to communicate more. After a lifetime of being secretive, it was hard opening up to someone. To be vulnerable. Some people may say, 'it has been five hundred years since they had met.' But what's five hundred, when you're immortal. And being immortal doesn't preclude someone from having doubts and issues. Even though, they are in each other's mind, they know when and how to put up barriers. The idea of completely opening himself up to another person scared him because it changes you. He had to ask himself this question: 'Did he want to change?'

He walked over to his desk and dropped heavily onto the chair. He picked up a pen and absently twirled it in his fingers as the door to the office opened and Drusilla bound in.

"Where's Mommy going?" she asked.

"She's going to catch a killer," Julian said absentmindedly.

"Killer will get her," she said, twirling around the room.

"What do you mean?" he asked startled, leaping up from the desk and rounding the table. In a lightening-fast move, he grabbed her tightly.

"Daddy!" Drusilla squealed in fright, eying him incredulously.

"Tell me now," Julian demanded as he shook her.

"Uncle Julian!" Sasha yelled, rushing to grabbed Julian's arm. Sasha was a beautiful woman with shoulder length curly red hair and a heart-shaped face with a wide mouth and slanted emerald green eyes. "Let her go," she demanded, mutinously, pushing him away from Drusilla. "What's going on here," she asked, eying both of them in concern.

"She said something's going to happen to Lissa," Julian snapped, his eyes crazed. "I need to know what," he said shoving Sasha aside.

"Well you know you cannot handle her like that," she said with a scowl. "You have more finesse than that."

"I cannot wait that long," he said defensively.

"Well you have to," she snapped. She turned towards Drusilla who was massaging her sore throat. "Dru," she said with a forced smile. "Drusilla can you tell me what is going to happen to Lissa."

"Cold, darkness, pain," she said moaned, swaying back and forth.

"What does that mean?" Julian demanded in exasperation. What a time for her to become crazy, he snorted derisively.

"I don't know," Sasha said with a frown. "Dru what does that mean?"

"Cold, darkness, pain," she repeated.

"Yes," she said impatiently. "What does it mean?" Sasha asked, resisting the urge to shake her.

Julian shook his head. "We cannot get anything sensible out of her, right now," he insisted, eying her with a grimace. "I will try to contact Lissa myself," Julian said dismissing them.

"Cold, darkness, pain," Drusilla continued to repeat as Sasha guided her through the door.