Chapter 9

Angel appeared from behind a tree and grabbed Buffy's arm.

"You are not going to die. Now come on!" he ordered, dragging her away.

"I thought you were never coming out!" he complained.

"I got held up by Giles. I thought you were keeping him away! He knows what I'm doing, Angel. I had to punch him to escape!" Buffy gasped as they ran.

He lead her through short cuts towards his home near the Bronze, she'd never seen before. They only just made it into his flat before the sun came up.

"That was close," he muttered as he shut the door.

"Too close!" she moaned as she flopped on his sofa, worn out.

Angel fetched a blanket and tried to drape it over her.

"No, I'm not sleepy," she lied, pushing the blanket away. She was exhausted, but had work to do before Giles turned up, as he was bound to do.

She slid down off the sofa onto the floor and curled up with Giles's books, flipping through them until she found the pages she needed. Then she laid them on the floor in front of her to study.

Angel sat down by her. "Is this what I kept Giles out of the way for?" he asked.

Buffy nodded and showed him the page with the cure. He took the book off her to look at it properly. "This is too dangerous," he told her.

"You think I don't know that!"

Angel checked the page again, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Buffy gave him one of her best glares. "No, I want to stay a blood sucker for the rest of my existence. That's why I asked you to keep Giles way from the library while I snatched his books!"

"I've become the thing I feared most of all. I've lost all of my friends, I have to try. Even being dead is better than being like this."

"Its not too late for is still a chance that you could revert, but you could also die. We need to find some castings to tip the balance in our favour. This one alone is too risky."

"Its not too risky. It'll purge my system of all the vampire DNA it carries I can't get back to the library, so I'll have to work with what I've got. I can't live like this."

"Sorry, for a moment I forgot you are a vampire too" Buffy said looking at his face.

"Not by choice" he muttered bitterly.

"Neither was I" she muttered

"If you fear being a vampire so much, why did you agree to be turned?"

Buffy looked away from him and shifted nervously. She wouldn't, couldn't answer.

" Please tell me."

"Because I wanted my friends to be safe. Because I'm always scared that I will make a dumb mistake and get them killed,or worse. Just like with Merrick, Pike and Jessie. For some stupid reason I can't remember, I thought that as a vampire, I could. I can't even remember why. Angel, why

can't I remember?" she asked getting tearful.

"It wasn't your fault, you were hypnotised. I hid and saw the Master programming you to kill Giles. That's why I followed you. Hoping I could prevent your mission."

"I was hypnotised?" Buffy asked. Angel nodded, so she kissed him. "You wouldn't believe how much better that makes me feel!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a sports bag laying on the floor next to them. "Is this yours?"

"Never seen it before" he answered.

Buffy picked the bag up and dumped its contents on the floor between them. She studied the items and laughed, "Its Giles' bag of tricks!".

They carefully sorted the things out listing them as they went along. "Assorted stakes, loads of bottles of Holy Water, a bottle of garlic tablets (God,you were desperate Giles!), coloured chalks, a small kitchen knife and several crosses," she finished with a shudder. "Must be the only Slayer to fear a cross."

"Some of those things are what is listed in the book for your cure, right?"

There was a loud knock on the door.

"Giles!" she muttered, shoving all the items and the books under the sofa, out of his sight.

"Do you want me to ignore your Watcher?" Angel asked.

"You'd better go see what he wants,otherwise he'll knock the door down. Giles is extremely persistent, stubborn and bloody minded!"

"Just like his Slayer then!"

Buffy glared at him.

"I can try to keep him away from you, if you want" Angel offered as he reached the door.

"No, I should talk to him. If you get in his way, I don't know what he'd do!"

He nodded and opened his front door. "Can I help you,Mr. Giles?" he asked politely.

"Is she here?" Giles demanded breathlessly.

"I'm here," she said, stepping into view.

Angel stepped back and allowed him in.

"You look pale," Giles observed.

"That's because its daytime. I'm tired, if annoying Watchers weren't here, I'd be sleeping!"

"I will not allow you to use that cure. If you give me a few days, I can come up with something better. Something which is less likely to kill you!" he begged.

"I may not have a few days left in which I'm still partly human. Besides I know nothing about a cure, why can't you just leave me alone!"

"Then why did you take those books? And why are you hiding here with Angel?" he demanded.

"I told you in the library. Now I'm a vampire, I want to know my vampy history. And I'm not hiding here. Angel offered his sofa for me to sleep on until I can find a sun free resting place of my very own. To be honest its nothing to do with you. I'm not your Slayer any more, you and the Council have no claim on me."

"I do not believe you," Giles said.

"Fine, that's your choice," she said,"Look this whole undead thing has come as a bit of a shock to me. Leave me alone for 48 hours, I need some time to get myself together. You can study all these 'safe' cures and then we'll talk,okay?"

Giles shook his head.

"Look, I'm very tired and I'm very hungry and I have asked you to leave very nicely. If I have to ask again, it won't be pretty. Do you understand?"

"I am not leaving this apartment until I get those books. I will not allow you to endanger your life!"

Buffy shugged. "I did warn you," she said and allowed her vamp face to appear. Moving swiftly she grabbed her Watcher by his shirt front, lifting him high above the ground.

"Angel, door please."

He quickly opened the door and watched as Buffy threw him through it. She stayed on the threshold and glared at Giles as he stood up.

"I am telling you one last time Watcher, leave me alone. You come anywhere near this flat for 48 hours and I will kill you!" she threatened and slammed the door in his face.

"Are you willing to carry out that threat?" Angel asked quietly.

"No, I couldn't possibly, but Giles doesn't know that. Hopefully he'll stay away long enough for me to start off this cure thing."

She settled down on the sofa to study the books. After a few minutes she yawned, the words seemed to swim in front of her eyes. She tried to make herself concentrate harder,but she couldn't.

Suddenly Buffy realised that Angel was watching her. "Are you tired?" he asked.

"A little, I guess."

"You should rest, its daytime now. You can study tonight, when you can think straight," he said coming over with the blanket again.

"I think you are right, I'm so tired I can hardly see this book let alone read it!" she answered. She allowed Angel to take the book away and tuck her up.

"Good morning, sleep tight," he said and went off towards his bed.

"Night, you too," she said, still not used to the new time scale. And instantly fell asleep.