"Val! Val! Wake up!" Mat uttered in a worried tone as he was shaking her awake.
While wearing one of Mat's shirts for a nightgown, Valerie abruptly shot up into a sitting position while wildly looking around and demanding to know, "Where am I?!"
"You're at my place. Were you having…" Mat was only able to get out before Valerie hugged him tight around the neck. "A bad dream?"
"A weird dream," Valerie said as she continued to hold Mat tightly around the neck.
As if Mat was having difficulty breathing, he slightly struggled to say, "Slayer strength."
"Oh! Sorry," Valerie said as she ended the hug. "Anyway, I had a weird dream about Melaka Fray."
"You had gone to her through astral projection, so it would make sense that you would dream about her," Mat said. "And did you know that you talk in your sleep?"
Valerie amusingly grinned before saying, "I've been told that before. Sorry if I woke you."
"It's fine, but I was about ready to call Buffy," Mat said.
Valerie gave Mat a confused look before saying, "Since I don't sleep with Buffy I really doubt that she would care that I talk in my sleep."
"I was about to call Buffy because it took me almost thirty minutes to wake you," Mat pointed out. "You had me worried that something… that something mystical was going on."
"That's weird that you couldn't wake me," Valerie said with a confused expression across her face. "Normally I'm easy to wake up." Valerie then turned towards the clock, which read 3:58 A.M.
When Valerie's confused expression deepened, Mat asked. "Anything wrong?"
"It's been barely an hour since we laid down to sleep," Valerie said.
"And you began talking in your sleep about thirty minutes after you drifted off," Mat said.
"But my dream…" Valerie said before stopping herself.
"What about it?" Mat prompted.
"Okay, I feel as though I've been dreaming for hours."
"Not at all uncommon to feel that way after waking up," Mat assured her.
"I guess," Valerie said as Mat saw that she was pondering her thoughts.
Mat leaned closer to Valerie as if to kiss her before whispering, "I would like to hear all about your dream, after I dream a few of my own."
Valerie grinned before saying, "There's a good chance that I won't remember much of the details by then."
"I'll take my chances," Mat said before giving her a quick kiss. "Sweet dreams."
Valerie again grinned before echoing, "Sweet dreams."
Once Valerie and Mat were lying down again, Valerie pondered her thoughts for a brief moment before shutting her eyes.
It took Valerie several minutes longer than Mat to get back to sleep, and when she reached a deep sleep, her astral projecting spirit once again traveled to Melaka's time and place.
Two hours before sunrise in Melaka's time, Melaka and her four-armed monkey were making their way through the 'Orion Galaxy' science building.
Valerie's spirit joined Melaka and the monkey as Melaka scolded, "Gates, I saw that! We're not here to grab, so put it back!"
"Eep! Eap!" Gates squawked as he held it tight with all four hands.
"Don't Eep-eap me!" Melaka uttered. "We're here to find the information that Buffy told me to find… at least I think she was Buffy; according to those watcher diaries that you led me to, the woman was Buffy. So gimme!"
"Mek," Gates squawked before turning over what he had taken to Melaka.
Once Melaka put the item back in its proper place, she continued on. Gates and Valerie's spirit followed.
Valerie's spirit followed Melaka and Gates through the science building from floor to floor. After a thorough search of the upper floors, Valerie followed Melaka and Gates into the basement.
Melaka was in the basement for a short time when she came upon the constellation-illustration that created a shape of a scythe on one of the large bricks.
Although Melaka had the scythe in her hands, she looked around for something else to smash the wall with. She was only looking around for a short time when she located an emergency ax not too far.
The ax was behind a locked glass box and it didn't take much for Melaka to break the lock and open the box. Once Melaka grabbed the ax she went back to the wall.
The brick with the illustration on it was a fake brick, and once Melaka hit it once it crumbled quickly. After brushing away the dust and the broken pieces of the fake brick, she took out a good size strong box, and the first thing that caught Melaka's eye were the cartoon images of herself while holding a scythe decaled all over the six sides of the box.
Valerie's spirit immediately saw that too and said, "That's cute. It reminds me of that old Garfield lunchbox that my mom bought from a yard sale."
Melaka put the box on the ground and opened it. Inside, Melaka found a collection of photographs of Buffy, the scoobies, several potentials and several other people of interest along with a makeshift slayer's manual made up of comic book panels. Melaka's cartoon image was the icon character to the slayer's manual.
The first thing that Melaka did was thumb through the slayer's manual without really reading any of its pages. She then put the slayer's manual down, picked up the photos and slowly flipped through them.
When Melaka flipped to the seventh photo, Valerie saw a picture of herself while wearing her P-Express uniform.
"Hey! That's me!" Valerie uttered as things suddenly went from being normal to being a strange cartoon-like outline without color. "Ooh, déjà vu." Things then went from being a strange cartoon-like outline without color to all white.
Valerie abruptly shot up into a sitting position while wildly looking around.
Mat was awake and was dressed in his P-Express uniform. When he saw Valerie's abrupt movements, he said, "Okay; I'm officially worried about you. Twice… within three hours, you wouldn't wake up."
"I had a sequel to that weird dream," Valerie said as she looked towards the clock, which read 6:15 A.M. "Did I talk in my sleep again?"
"You said a few words that I couldn't make out," Mat said. "I called Buffy's house. Giles picked up and I told him about your deep sleep issue."
"Mat, it's sweet that you worry about me, and I don't know why I'm sleeping as deeply as I suddenly am, but I don't think it's anything to be worried about," Valerie said as she went to get up.
"Not exactly word for word, but that was pretty much what Giles had said," Mat told her. "However, he does recommend that we monitor how often it happens."
"I'm sure my dreams and my deep sleep are a side effect of me astral projecting last night to Melaka Fray's time and place, and that they'll subside," Valerie assured Mat. "Right now though… since I'm finally awake, I want to take a shower."
Mat nervously laughed before saying, "Okay, well, we're supposed to be at work in forty-five minutes."
"I'll hurry," Valerie said as she grabbed her clothes from the floor.
"Please do," Mat slightly begged.
Valerie shot Mat an amused grin before she walked towards the bathroom.
In the kitchen at the Summers' home, Jocelyn did five separate locator spells to locate each of the five magic ingredients that she needed. Once the fifth spell was complete, Jocelyn learned that the five ingredients were all in a three-mile radius of the house.
As Jocelyn was cleaning up her mess, Giles stepped in, and after sniffing the air, he questioned, "Isn't it a little early in the morning for spells?"
"I was doing locator spells to locate the magic supplies that I need," Jocelyn said.
"Wouldn't you need a modicum of the particular ingredient before that spell can work?" Giles asked.
"As a rule, yes, but by me drawing life from the Earth and plant life, I don't need a modicum of any plant to find it," Jocelyn explained.
"Being a witch, that's a good ability to have," Giles pointed out.
"It is," Jocelyn agreed in a mournful tone. "One of the few good things that came out of my crime against the Earth."
"You fell in the right crowed when you found us," Giles assured her.
"What do you mean?" Jocelyn asked.
"When you talk about that immortal spell or its effects on you, your words are filled with remorse and regret," Giles began. "You want redemption it's clear and Buffy is the person who will give you a shot at it."
Jocelyn nodded with a pleasant grin before saying, "Yes; I like it here. All of you are good people." Giles just grinned. "Anyway, I have my map marked and now I need to go find them."
"Jocelyn, you are still new to this century, and I would feel more comfortable if you would take one or two of the older girls with you," Giles told her.
Jocelyn nodded before saying, "Alright. Since Wendy and Carrie are charmed slayers, I'll invite them to accompany me."
"Good," Giles said as Jenny was entering the kitchen.
"I don't know where Wendy and Carrie are accompanying you to, but can I come?" Jenny asked.
"Christopher will be here in an hour or so for your lesson," Giles pointed out.
Jenny shrugged before saying, "I can always get the assignment from Eleanor or Hallie."
"That won't be necessary as you will be staying here," Giles told her.
"My grades are excellent… in fact, I'm a grade ahead of others my age so why can't I go with Jocelyn?" Jenny questioned.
"Your grades might be above average, but that doesn't give you a free pass to goof off," Giles retorted. "So you'll stay here and study with the others, and that's final."
Jenny slightly huffed before saying, "Fine."
"Anyway, are the others up?" Giles said.
"Teresa and Nick are making their rounds now to get everyone up. I was up already though." Before anything else got said, the doorbell rang. Jenny glanced towards the door as she continued to say, "I really hope that's Willow or Xander with something other than cereal to eat for breakfast. Oh, don't get me wrong; I like cereal, but I'm in the mood for… for anything else today."
Giles grinned as he walked passed Jenny.
Katrina was opening the door as Giles and Jenny stepped into the anteroom. Jocelyn looked into the anteroom from the kitchen doorway. A few of the younger potentials were making their way down the steps.
Before Giles had a chance to ask, Katrina uttered delightfully, "How're you doing, little cutie-pie."
"Okay, now I'm really hoping it isn't Willow or Xander with breakfast food," Jenny said loud enough for Katrina to hear.
"It's Dawn and Hunter," Katrina said as she went to pick up Hunter.
Dawn stepped in while carrying a few white boxes while saying, "I do have breakfast food though… donuts or a potential bribe; depending on how you want to look at it."
"Bribe for what?" Giles asked as he stopped up.
"Hunter has an immunization appointment this afternoon," Dawn began. "Brody has a meeting and I couldn't get the day off either, and so Hunter needs a cool aunt or a cool uncle-like friend to take him."
"Buffy was out late last night…" Giles was only able to get out.
"Passed three in the morning," Jenny interrupted with.
"And how would you know that when you were supposed to have been sleeping?" Giles quickly asked.
"One of my dreams woke me up around 2:50 A.M. and I couldn't get back to sleep," Jenny said.
"So you've been up for over three hours?" Giles asked.
"I've been awake for that long," Jenny said. "I stayed in bed though and read one of my Harry Potter books."
Giles shook it off, before saying, "Anyway, Hunter will stay here with us and we'll make sure that he gets to his doctor's appointment."
"And I'll take the donuts, which I'm very grateful for," Jenny said as she moved towards Dawn.
"You're welcome," Dawn said with a grin as Jenny took the boxes of donuts. "And thanks, Giles, for caring for Hunter today,"
"You're also welcome," Giles said.
"I'm taking these to the kitchen," Jenny said.
When Giles nodded, Jenny walked towards the kitchen. Except for Katrina while holding Hunter, the potentials who were in the anteroom followed Jenny. As Jenny and the others approached the kitchen, Jocelyn moved to let them pass.
"So when's Hunter's appointment and where?" Giles asked.
"I have an appointment card with that information," Dawn said as she went to her purse. It took a few seconds for Dawn to locate the card, and once she had the card, she held it out for Giles to take. "Here it is."
"Very good," Giles said as he took the card.
As Giles looked at the card, Dawn said, "Okay, well, I need to get to work."
"No problem," Giles said.
"Give me a kiss, sweetie," Dawn told Hunter.
Hunter abruptly leaned towards Dawn while upsetting Katrina's hold on him.
"Careful, Hunter," Katrina quickly told him as she moved quickly to keep from dropping him.
"Careful, sweetie," Dawn echoed as she also grabbed Hunter to keep him from falling. She then gave hunter a quick kiss. "Bye, sweetie."
"Bye," Hunter said while slightly waving.
Dawn grinned and waved back before she turned and walked out while shutting the door behind her.
"Well, Katrina, if you want a donut, you need to get in there before they're all gone," Giles said.
Katrina grinned before saying, "Let's go get a donut, Hunter." She then carried Hunter towards the kitchen.
Seconds after Giles and Katrina entered the kitchen Wendy entered and spotted what everyone was eating. "Ooh, donuts."
"Compliments of Dawn," Katrina said as Wendy went for a donut.
"For baby sitting Hunter no doubt," Wendy said as she glanced at Hunter.
"Hunter has a doctor's appointment as well that Buffy or I will take him to," Giles added as Wendy picked up a donut.
"Wendy, when you get done eating, would you mind going with me to pick up a few magic ingredients?" Jocelyn asked.
"Sure," Wendy began as Carrie was stepping in. "I'll go with you."
As Wendy took a bite of her donut, Carrie asked, "Where's everyone going?"
"Wendy agreed to come with me as I pick up some magic ingredients," Jocelyn said as Carrie went to give Hunter some attention. "You're welcome to join us."
"Sure," Carrie said before focusing on Hunter. "So, Cutie? How did we get lucky to have you today?"
As Hunter bashfully grinned against Katrina, Giles repeated, "Hunter has a doctor's appointment that Buffy or I will take him to."
"He's sick?" Carrie quickly asked in a concerned tone.
"It an immunization appointment," Giles assured her.
"Ooh!" Carrie uttered with a slight cringe. "I still have a vague memory what it's like to get those." Carrie then turned towards the donuts.
In Twin Falls, Idaho, after driving more than a hundred miles per hour most of the way from Los Angeles, Faith parked her SUV in a motel's parking lot.
Benjamin (Ben) Alistair, a former Time Enforcement Commission agent, but now, one of Angel's fulltime employees sat in the front passenger seat. Angel sat in one of the back seats where he was protected from the pending sunrise by the tinted side-windows.
Once Faith shut off the engine she turned to look at Angel before saying, "See, I knew I could get us here before the sunrise."
"Okay, well, let's get a room and get inside," Angel urged.
"According to the information that Buffy had emailed us, we are six miles from the hiking trails," Ben said as Faith and Angel opened their doors.
"You and I will check it out once we get a room," Faith told Ben as Ben was opening his door.
"And I'll join you guys after sunset," Angel added as he and Faith shut their doors behind them.
Seconds later, Angel opened the door to the guest reception area, which sounded a buzzer. As he, Faith and Ben were stepping into the vacant reception area they quickly noticed a crucifix on each of the four walls.
Before Angel could comment on the crucifix Ben jokingly said, "The manager knew you were coming, Angel."
"At least not me per se," Angel added in a more serious tone.
"What do you mean?" Ben asked as the motel receptionist, a twenty-year-old woman, was approaching the reception area.
"The manager is very religious or superstitions about the occults or he's trying to keep out…" Angel was only able to get out before hearing the woman and turning to look. When he saw the receptionist he continued to say with only a momentary pause, "a certain type of crowd all together."
"He's religious," the woman said. Angel gave her a curious look before noticing her name tag that read 'Kayla'. "I have good hearing and this room has one of those acoustic anomalies. You can whisper as low as you want within this room and I could still hear it." Angel just nodded with a polite grin. "And as for the superstition on the occults part goes, I only knew one person who was superstitious. She ruined her life over it and then she disappeared for a few months last Halloween. I found out last night from a friend that she's part of a support group in Washington, D.C. known as the… as the 'slayers'."
"You're referring to Valerie Blackstone, and she didn't ruin her life," Faith said.
Kayla slightly chuckled before commenting," So you'd heard of her."
"I more than heard of her," Faith said. "I know her and I consider her a friend. Anyway, we're here to get a room."
"Of course," Kayla said. "Before I do that though, how much do you know about Valerie?"
"More than you," Faith told her.
"Since Valerie and I were friends from first grade to our second year of high school I doubt that," Kayla retorted. "I… and a few others of our friends had stopped having anything to do with her when she involved herself with the occults."
"So when she needed her friends the most, you and the others bailed," Faith accused.
"It wasn't like that," Kayla insisted.
"Just give us a room," Faith impatiently urged.
Kayla slightly sighed before saying, "Of course."
"With the entrance door facing north," Angel added.
"An unusual request, but sure," Kayla said as she went to assign a room for Angel, Faith and Ben. "Can I see one of your IDs?"
"You can use mine," Faith said as she pulled it out of her back pocket along with a credit card. She then held out the items for Kayla to take. "I'm handing you my credit card too to pay for the room." Kayla nodded as she took the items.
"We'll need three beds too," Angel added. "Rollaway beds will be fine."
"Okay," Kayla said as she began typing on the computer. Then, as if out of the blue, Kayla continued with, "She believes in demons… actual demons."
Faith just showed the expression as if to say, "So."
When it became clear that Faith or Angel weren't going to respond, Ben asked, "Valerie told you that she believed in demons?"
"She didn't have to," Kayla said. "I saw it in her eyes during my 'Sweet Sixteen' party."
"What happened at that party?" Ben prompted.
"Well to begin with, my birthday happens to fall on Halloween and my mom had thrown me a surprise birthday-slash-Halloween costume party," Kayla began. "The theme of the party was come-as-your-favorite-or-your-most-feared-horror-character, so needless to say that more than half of my guests had showed up wearing ghoul and demon costumes. Val's reaction to some of the costumes was unsettling to say the least.
"Then at some point Brittany's dad came in while dressed like a gargoyle, and had stepped up to and stood next to Val for a second before she had a chance to notice his attendance. And when she did notice him, she quickly jumped back as if the devil himself was beside her. She then quickly grabbed the nearest threatening object… which so happened to have been a prop Grim Reaper's scythe that was made out of wood from another guest. When Val reared back to swing the scythe, the guest who had his prop snatched away the second before and two others grabbed Val and the scythe before Val had a chance to swing it. Brittany's dad quickly identified himself to Val and then Val apologized before going outside to calm herself.
"Heather, Angela and I followed Val out to find out what the… H-E-double hockey sticks her ominous actions were about, and once we asked, she told us about the dreams, dreams of demons… dreams of her fighting demons… and her reoccurring dream of her being killed by a gargoyle-like demon. She told us that she would dream of these demons each and every night and these dreams started around her fifteenth birthday.
"Angela was the first to tell her that demons aren't real, and that her dreams were just that. Once Heather and I agreed with Angela, Val reluctantly agreed, and although she did agree, I knew Val well enough to know that she didn't really agree with us. That was when I saw in her eyes that she believed in demons. And I was right. Six months later—a month and a half after Val's sixteenth birthday—she took a job at the 'Rare Books' Source' bookstore and began buying books on witchcraft and demons."
"And that was when you and your friends stopped having anything to do with Val," Ben accused.
"Not at that point," Kayla quickly corrected. "Nine… ten months after that, Tommy, Val's boyfriend at the time, catches her doing spells from one of the books and breaks up with her on the spot. Two days later, Tommy dies mysteriously, and that was when we stopped having anything to do with Val."
"So you blame Valerie for Tommy's death," Angel accused.
"Valerie was messing with the Black Arts," Kayla pointed out.
"Let me get this straight," Faith began. "You believe in witches, but not demons?"
"I don't believe in either one, actually," Kayla quickly said.
"You don't believe in witches, but you believe Valerie had killed Tommy though witchcraft," Faith pointed out. "That's a bit contradictory in belief."
"Valerie is a psychic," Kayla began. "Her ability is like Counselor Deanna Troy's ability from 'Star Trek, Next Generation… in fact, that was her nickname. Anyway, because of her being a psychic, I think Valerie had willed Tommy's death. The witchcraft that she performed was just the focal point that she needed to stretch out her psychic mind."
"So, you think that Valerie had psychically killed Tommy?" Angel questioned as he pulled out one of his business cards.
"That sounds more likely than Valerie putting the hex on him," Kayla said.
"Yeah, well, Valerie didn't kill Tommy psychically or with witchcraft," Angel said as he held out his card for Kayla to take. "In fact, we're here to investigate Tommy's death as well as the deaths of others."
"Others? What others?" Kayla quickly asked as she took Angel's card.
As Kayla looked at Angel's card, Angel said, "Trust me, there's been others."
"You're a private investigator?" Kayla questioned incredulously. "Based out of Los Angeles?"
"We're private investigators, based out of Los Angeles," Angel corrected as he indicated to Faith and Ben.
"It says here that you investigate the normal and the…paranormal?" Kayla questioned.
"In spite of what you believe, Valerie was right to believe in demons; they're out there," Angel said.
"And you three investigate the possibility of… of demon presence?" Kayla asked in an incredulous tone.
"We investigate pretty much of anything… no matter how bizarre the case sounds," Angel assured her. "Now about that room?"
"Oh, yes, sorry," Kayla said before she finalized the check-in process. "You three will be in room eleven… and the entrance to that room has a northern exposure." She then grabbed the key and held it out—along with Faith's ID and credit card—for Faith to take. As Faith was taking the items, Kayla continued with, "Oh, and the extra beds will be delivered to your room within the next hour."
"Thank you, Kayla," Angel said. When Kayla nodded with a polite grin, Angel, Faith and Ben turned to walk away.
Kayla watched the three as they left the reception area. Once the door had closed behind them, she got on the work computer and done a google search of Angel Investigations.
Some information had popped up about Angel Investigations, but nothing out of the ordinary. After looking at all the humdrum web-pages, she picked up the phone and dialed it.
After the phone rang over six times, a man's voice came on the line while saying, "This had better be an emergency."
"Did I wake you?" Kayla asked while sounding shocked.
"Yes, you woke me," the man quickly confirmed. "It's not even five… okay maybe it's close to five, but still."
"I'm sorry, David, I thought you would be up and dressed in your BDU's by now."
"No, and since I'm now station at a recruiting station, I work in my formals these days," David said. "Anyway, Cous, why did you wake me?"
"Since you're in L.A, I was hoping that you could get the intel on some people who are from the L.A. area for me."
"You had called me to ask me to spy for you?" David quickly questioned.
"I wouldn't put it that way," Kayla quickly said.
"Then in what way would you put it?"
"There are these motel guests who are from L.A., and I just want to know if I need to alert the authorities of possible nut-jobs in the area that's all."
"Okay, fine, I'll check them out from my end," David agreed.
"Thank you," Kayla said.
"So who are they?"
"Angel and company from…" Kayla was only able to get out.
"From Angel Investigation," David interrupted with. "'We investigate the normal and the paranormal' is their slogan."
"You heard of them?" Kayla quickly questioned while again sounding shock.
"They helped me out two months back with… with something," David said in a tone as if he didn't want to go into details.
"You're telling me that they aren't nut-jobs?" Kayla quickly questioned.
"Far from it," David said. "If they're in town, something… unusual must being going on there."
"They're here to investigate Tommy's death," Kayla quickly said.
"And I'm sure that you would've pointed them in Valerie's direction if you knew where she was," David accused.
"Didn't have to," Kayla shot back. "They knew who Valerie was, and Val's in D.C. while with a support group known as the 'slayers'."
"Val's with the slayers," David said while sounding surprised. "Wait! She's a slayer?"
"She's with the support group known as the 'slayers'," Kayla corrected. "She talked to Heather last night, and apparently there are other girls who dream of demons besides her."
"Val dreams of demons?" David quickly questioned.
"Since she was fifteen, and I thought you knew that."
"I just knew that she was reading books on witchcraft."
"Well, by her dreaming of demons was why she turned to the books on witchcraft—she was looking to understand them, and she thought that she could find the answer in those books. And then she comes across a support group, and that group tells her all the answers that she was looking for."
"I'll be damned," David uttered in proud voice. "Val's a vampire slayer."
"What are you carrying on about?" Kayla demanded.
"I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but Angel and his agency save my life two months ago from… from some kind of body-snatching demon…."
"I didn't hear you correctly, because I just thought I heard you say that Angel had saved you from a body-snatching demon," Kayla interrupted with.
"I did say that," David confirmed. "My captain was killed during his leave and this demon had assumed his body and memories…"
"Okay, I now realize that you have gone nuts as well," Kayla quickly interrupted with.
"Alright, I can see that you need proof," David began. "Angel is one of the good guys, so don't freak out when I tell you something about him."
"Tell me what?"
"First of all, you should know that vampires exist. They are soulless demons and they kill viciously, strategically and without remorse. Angel on the other hand is a vampire with a soul…"
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Kayla quickly interrupted with. "Angel's a vampire?!"
"Yes, but because he has a soul he feels remorse, and he fights against other vampires and the forces of darkness."
"Oh, man, you actually believe what you are saying to be true," Kayla pointed out.
"Go talk to Angel. Tell him that you're my cousin and tell him what I had just told you. He'll show you proof."
"Okay, fine," Kayla said. "I'll call you back when I'm done. Bye."
"Bye," David said before hanging up.
TBC
