Chapter Seven

Angel walked into Willy's bar. Demons of all kinds were scattered around talking and drinking. He ignored the stares he received as he approached the wooden bar. Behind it, Willy was vigorously cleaning a beer mug with a towel.

Willy looked up as soon as he approached. "Angel. Hi! Been a while," he said as he threw the dirty towel over his shoulder. "Thought you might have forgotten about us or something. What can I do for ya?"

"I'm here for some information," Angel replied and threw a few hundred dollar bills down.

"Well, you came to the right place," Willy said and put a coaster down before him. He leaned his elbows on the counter and whispered, "What information are you looking for?"

"Spike is in town," Angel said, watching Willy's face for any recognition. "And I think he needs the Slayer for some ritual. Have you heard of anything?"

"Nah, I can't say that I have," Willy replied, shaking his head.

Angel was over two hundred years old. He could detect a liar from across the room, and Willy wasn't particularly good at lying.

"I don't believe you."

"Look," Willy said, raising his hands in defense. "I know about your boy Spike being here in town. I don't know anything about a ritual, especially one involving the Slayer. And if I did, wouldn't you think I'd do the morally right thing by telling ya?"

"No," Angel replied curtly.

"Hey now," Willy said, "I treat you vamps good. I don't hassle you. You don't hassle me. We all enjoy the patronage of this establishment. Everybody's happy. I don't know why you come in here trying to start an argument. I already said I don't have any information for ya."

"You have to know something," Angel pressed. Willy always knew something, and if he had to force it out of him a different way that wasn't so pleasant, he'd do that too.

"I don't want to have to turn this conversation physical," Angel threatened.

Willy sighed in defeat. "Okay, look, All I know is Spike is up to something big. He's been looking for this book."

Angel frowned. A book? Did he come to Sunnydale for a book? That couldn't be right. He must be using it for something else. A ritual, maybe?

"Why does he need this book?"

Willy shrugged. "There's a manuscript in it for some cure. I don't know what he's trying to cure, though."

Not what he's trying to cure, but who he's trying to cure.

"What's the name of this book?" Angel asked.

"I don't know," Willy said.

Angel looked at Willy's face to see if he was lying. He wasn't. Knowing that Angel had gotten everything that he could out of Willy, he stood and thanked him for the little information he did supply and left the bar. He had been right all along. Spike was in Sunnydale to cure Drusilla, and he was looking for a book that could tell him how to do that. If he could get to that book first, he could save Buffy from the fate she would suffer at the hands of Spike and Drusilla.

Ford was here, in Sunnydale. And he was staying here permanently. Buffy didn't know whether she was happy or not. Sure, she was glad to see her childhood crush of seven years, but Sunnydale wasn't exactly a safe place to live. She didn't have to worry about Willow and Xander as much since they knew the dangers and were extra cautious, but Ford was coming here clueless of what lurked in the shadows of this town. The last thing Buffy wanted was something terrible to happen to him, and she couldn't protect him all the time. She'd thought about telling him the truth for a brief moment, but then Giles' voice popped in her head, reminding her of the importance of keeping her identity a secret. It was bad enough Willow and Xander knew. Even Cordelia knew she was the Slayer, and surprisingly enough, she hadn't gone and told the entire town. If Cordelia could keep a secret, Buffy was sure Ford could too. It couldn't hurt to at the very least tell him about vampires. She didn't have to tell him she was the Slayer, but he had the right to know the truth, even if it meant telling him half of it.

Buffy pondered that as she walked into the Bronze. She quickly spotted Ford playing pool with Xander and Willow.

"Ford! You made it."

"Wasn't hard to find," Ford replied.

"Ford was just telling us about the ninth-grade beauty contest and the, uh, swimsuit competition," Willow joked.

Blood rushed to her cheeks as she looked at Ford in embarrassment. "Oh, my God, Ford, stop that! The more people you tell, the more people I have to kill."

"You can't touch me, Summers," he joked. "I know all your darkest secrets."

"Care to make a small wager on that?" Xander asked cheekily.

Buffy gave Xander a cautioning glare and turned back to Ford. "I'm going to get a drink. Ford, try not to talk."

Buffy headed for the bar and ordered a diet coke. To her surprise, she felt the presence of a familiar vampire to her right. She turned towards him and smiled. "Hi," she said, surprised.

"Hey! I was hoping you'd show," Angel replied.

She looked down at the cup on the counter before him. "You drink! I mean, drinks. Non-blood things."

Angel looked down. "Oh, that's not mine."

Buffy nodded her head slowly, silently cursing herself for thinking that Angel would ever consume anything other than blood. Vampires didn't indulge in human food or drinks. It'd be a cold day in Hell before she met one that did.

It occurred to her that this was the first time she'd seen Angel since she caught him talking to Spike's girlfriend. It'd be a perfect opportunity to get him to spill the tea. Angel knew more than he was letting on, that Buffy was sure of.

"So," she asked. "What'd you do last night?"

Angel shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing."

"Nothing at all," she replied, skeptical. "You ceased to exist?"

It wasn't new for Angel not to be incredibly open about, well, anything. But she'd never really caught him outright lying to her since before she'd found out he was a vampire. She couldn't deny the hurt she felt that he was hiding something from her. Even if it was something of the evil nature, this was his time, to be honest with her as she had been with him, sans the whole Spike situation.

"No, I mean I stayed in, read."

"Oh," she said, disappointed. She shouldn't have expected anything more from him. He was a vampire; it was in their nature to lie, even one's with a soul. She just didn't expect him to do it so effortlessly. It'd made her wonder how many other lies he'd told her without her knowing. She didn't even want to stand there and listen to any more of his lies. Without another word, she went back to the pool table.

"Didn't want that soda after all?" Ford asked.

"Not thirsty," she replied.

"Hey, Angel," Willow said.

Buffy turned, and to her surprise, Angel followed her over. She tried to ignore her rising annoyance and made with the pleasantries.

She turned to Angel and introduced her childhood friend. "This is Ford. We went to school together in L.A."

"Nice to meet you," Angel said, shaking Ford's hand.

"Whoa! Cold hands!" Ford said, shocked.

"You're not wrong," Xander said.

Buffy gave Xander a look. He was so not being helpful tonight. She quickly grabbed Ford's arm and moved him away from Angel.

"It's getting kinda hot in here. Why don't we take a walk?"

"Sure," Ford said, then turned back to Angel. "It was nice meeting you."

Buffy didn't bother giving Angel another glance as she quickly made her way outside with Ford beside her, but she could feel his eyes watching her as she left.

The following days came and went quickly. Buffy hadn't seen Angel since the night at the Bronze and was surprisingly grateful. She couldn't stand to be around him and listen to any more of his lies, which is all he seemed to do lately, and any trust she had for him slowly went away.

She was curious about why he kept his encounter with Drusilla a secret and even more about how they knew each other. Angel must've known Spike as well; Buffy recalled the night in the library, right after she'd left the Bronze, and was with the gang searching for information on Spike. Angel came in momentarily and told them who the Master Vampire was before quickly going. At the time, Buffy just assumed that they had crossed paths at some point in the past, but now she wasn't so sure.

She wondered if Spike knew Angel had been talking to his girlfriend? Buffy wasn't entirely sure what kind of relationship Spike and Drusilla had, but thought it was made up of mostly lust since they had no souls. Vampires couldn't feel regular human emotions without one. Buffy had never met a vampire capable of it, besides Angel and the alternate version of Spike she'd met after death. Her mysterious stranger. Giles had told her plenty of times that vampires knew nothing but hate, anger, and jealousy. They were incapable of anything else.

Buffy sat down next to Willow and Xander at the lunch table, grimacing at the choice of food for today: dry, unseasoned chicken and peas.

"There's a lot of evil things about Sunnydale High, but I think the lunch ladies are the evilest," Buffy said, poking at her rock-hard chicken before deciding to push the food away from her entirely. She refused to die of food poisoning.

"I don't think it's that bad," Xander replied with a mouth full of food.

"How can you eat that stuff?" Buffy asked. "I'd rather starve."

"Xander can eat pretty much anything," Willow said. "One time in fourth grade, I dared him to eat a family of baby red ants, and he did it without hesitation."

Xander gave a proud smile while Buffy shuddered. As much as she loved her friend, she understood why he had trouble in the lady's department.

"So," Willow said, changing the topic. "Have you talked to Ford today?"

Buffy shook her head but couldn't stop the slight smile that graced her face. She hadn't seen Ford since the night she'd seen Angel. After they had left the Bronze, two vampires had attacked them in the alleyway, Buffy managed to stake the one, and to her surprise, Ford staked the other blonde vampire. He'd explained to her his knowledge of vampires and her being the Slayer. And she was honestly glad that he knew. It was one less thing she had to worry about. She didn't like keeping secrets, and ironically enough, every week felt like she had increasingly more to hide. She hid the truth of her non-existent relationship with Spike from Giles, Xander, and Angel. She constantly hid her identity from her mother. Sometimes she wasn't even frank with Willow about certain things.

It was nice to have another friend who knew who she was and didn't judge her or think of her as a freak, someone she could trust. Ford would fit nicely in Sunnydale, but she was starting to worry. She hadn't seen him in days. She called his house only to have his mother pick up, and after pleasantries and some catching up, she had informed Buffy he hadn't been feeling well lately. Buffy first thought was that something demonic had gotten to him but had to remind herself that not everything bad that happened in Sunnydale meant something of an evil nature.

Buffy cleared her thoughts when she realized she'd been silent for a while, but when she looked up, to her surprise, she caught Willow and Xander exchanging worried looks.

"What is it?" Buffy asked, concerned.

"Don't be mad," Willow said, a frown on her face. "But Xander and I met up with Angel last night."

"Okay," Buffy said, confused as to why they would've been with Angel. For one, Xander and Angel didn't get along, and the only time the three of them were together was when they were fighting a baddie of some kind.

"Why were you with Angel?"

"Well, you see, it's a long story and-" Willow began but was interrupted by Xander.

"We followed Ford because Angel was getting a weird vibe from him," Xander blurted out. "And for once, the blood-sucking menace was right because we caught Ford hanging out with this cult that worships vampires."

"Oh," was all Buffy could say. Whatever she'd been expecting them to say, it hadn't been that.

"What are you going to do?" Willow asked.

There was only one thing she could do; no matter how much she didn't want to, she had to get to the bottom of not just the Ford situation but Drusilla as well. She had to talk to Angel.