Chapter 18: Just One More Night

Present Day

Thirty-one days. Thirty-one long days since he'd lost a slayer. Twenty days since Willow had succumbed to the inevitable and returned home. Ten days since the slayer was last mentioned by anybody but him. Wesley was still researching, but progress was slowing, and it was starting to become a very real possibility that they were never going to succeed. Kathy was ingratiating herself into life in the twenty-first century perfectly, in fact, she was happier than he ever remembered seeing her. She didn't ask questions about him.

Given that she was raised by a watcher, he didn't think it was a huge leap to assume she'd figured out that her older brother was now a vampire.

And had been for a long time.

If she was here for much longer, he was going to have to think about getting her into school.

That seemed too final like he was giving up on finding Faith altogether.

It was frustrating to say the least.

Things had returned mostly to normal, and he felt worse about that than anything. The only thing which made him able to bear it was that he knew how happy Faith was. Lost in his memories, she wasn't so lost. She wasn't where she should be. Where she was needed. The whole thing was turning into a rather epic failure, and things were just getting worse and worse in Sunnydale. Angel was almost resigned to the fact that they wouldn't get Faith back, that his instincts originally had been right, and she was long dead.

"Angel?" Kathy found him as he was stepping off the bottom step into the lobby, he arched an eyebrow questioningly "there's a phone call for you." He nodded, her English was coming on wonderfully and she was almost too fluent for his liking now. She sounded like she belonged, already, the familiar sound of her accent was a welcome change. Even if it was becoming difficult to not slip back into his own. As he walked past, he ruffled her hair and enjoyed the sound of her irritation all the way to the office.

It was comfortable.

Like he finally had a family. A real one. Without all the drama that came with Conner and the heartache that came with Buffy. Just his sister. Safe and alive. He had to stop himself from hoping that maybe if he could get Faith back somehow, keep Kathy, then they could live the life they'd planned so long ago.

Free.

No chains.

Well, not quite as they used to, Angel still had his soul to cling to.

It was hard to not think about the fact that they would be even now, he wouldn't be striving to contain a slayer. She'd be able to let loose and he'd be able to—

Hurt her.

Angel's thoughts froze.

No.

There were some habits he needed to abstain from. Some temptations were simply too overwhelming, too consuming, too dangerous.

"Hullo?" He answered the phone casually, ignoring the usual greeting as obviously whoever was on the line had asked for him. There were enough other people loitering around for Kathy to hand the phone to, rarely did anybody hand off business to him. As Cordelia reminded him regularly, he just wasn't much of a people person.

"Hi, Angel?"

"Willow."

"I think I've found something."

Angel was silent for a long time, his emotions already mixed. He didn't need to ask what she was talking about. He hadn't heard from her since she left, but he knew from Wesley and Fred that she'd been keeping in touch via emails and texting. Angel didn't text. Or email if he could absolutely help it. So, he was detached from the research, which up until now had been at a brick wall. Willow wasn't deterred by his silence; "we were looking into finding a potential and I stumbled across something in a book. Or someone, I guess. A demon called Alentaih. There's a hefty price for summoning but she specialises in retrieving lost things. And people. There was a big scandal a few centuries ago as she was stealing people to then find them and charging people a fortune for her troubles, according to the books at least. And nobody has summoned her, in what I can tell, a long while. But it's worth a shot, right?" Willow was talking at breakneck speed.

"What's the price?"

"Gold. Solid gold. A lot of it. More than I could find in the entire house's worth of jewellery. And currently, I'm living with a whole lot of women, so that's saying something. A bit old school but at least it's not a human sacrifice like with some of the others..."

Gold. A little obscure and he wasn't entirely sure where they'd get their hands on solid gold in this day and age. It wasn't like he could go and pillage a pirate ship for their gold doubloons. But there was hope, actual, tangible hope.

"Just gold?"

"What're you thinking?" Willow was sceptical.

"Find out if she'll barter. I think I have something else that might work."

"Will do. But Angel – I think this will work."

"When can you get here?"

"That's the best part. I can send her to you from here. If we have the payment."

"Leave it with me." Angel hung up the phone and pondered for a moment. Wondering whether he could really do what he was about to do. Heading up to his rooms he tossed the idea back and forth for a long time. It didn't take long to find; he'd known where it was. He'd carried it with him for centuries, though for the longest time he'd not known where it came from or why he owned it. Other than it was obviously worth a fortune. Pulling it out from the old, fragile velvet bag it was in he turned it over in his hands. The gold was duller now, the diamond within the setting still shone with all the splendour it had when he'd first gotten it. He remembered acquiring it now at least. Not buying, he should have known he hadn't come by it by honest means.

It had belonged to a woman in Galway, an old family heirloom, Faye had hated it. She thought it was garish and over-the-top. They'd both noted that with something like that though, their round-the-world escapade would be paid for. Not that it mattered, Angel remembered all too well the promise he'd hinged their getaway upon. His father had always intoned that once he 'grew up' and settled down that he would sign the business over to him. The entire business. It was to be a wedding present. He hadn't told Faye, he'd wanted it to be a surprise. On their wedding day, his father would sign over the family business he had spent his whole life building.

The day after Liam would sell it and ride away, enjoying the broken horror on his father's face.

The necklace, well that had come after he had been turned. As he'd watched Darla rip the throat out of the woman it belonged to, he'd pulled it off her corpse. Darla had expected him to give it to her, she'd sulked for days when he'd pocketed it away and it never resurfaced. He'd never been quite sure why he'd felt the morbid need to keep it and not sell it.

Why did just looking at the bag made his insides tense and his mouth go dry?

Now he knew.

It had to be more than coincidence that it would be what he used to get her back.

The price to break his own heart.

To create Angelus.

1753

It was the dead of night and Faith was still brooding on Thomas' words. He couldn't send her back. He wasn't powerful enough. She'd quizzed him about the spell enough times, he didn't know what he'd done. Or he'd been a much better liar than she'd credited him for. And if Willow wasn't powerful enough to reverse it, assuming of course that they were even trying, then Thomas wouldn't stand a chance. There was still hope. Still the smallest glimmer of hope.

He couldn't do it.

He couldn't make her.

Not now.

And it wouldn't matter because tomorrow they'd be gone.

Her and Liam.

Running.

Happy.

Perfect.

For the first time in her entire life Faith knew where home was, where she belonged. It was with him.

If one little girl had to stay lost in time away from home to make that happen, then so be it.

Present

Willow was alone in her room, a place she had deliberately avoided for the longest time. There were too many memories here. Memories she didn't want. Memories that hurt. But the house was full and there was literally nowhere else to think. The constant buzzing noise was too much of a distraction and she needed to focus. This was it; it was the only thing she had come across that might work, in a months' worth of searching. Not that she'd told Angel that. This was an attempt, as far as everybody else knew she was staying positive and if this didn't work, then she'd find something else.

There was nothing else.

If this didn't work...Faith was lost.

Forever.

The witch had a whole host of ingredients in front of her, neatly catalogued and all within easy reach, all were on ready show. Even the chickens' feet which still made her stomach churn, they were disgusting things. Giles always called her an amateur when she shuddered at touching them. Tara would have understood, but Tara was gone, and she couldn't think about her right now. She needed to clear her head. Focus on Faith.

She took a few meditative breaths.

"Alentaih I summon thee, bring forth your skills to me," she threw the chicken foot into the pot of mineral water she had, and then some Kraken scales in after them, the pot bubbled forebodingly, well, as forebodingly as a pot could bubble. She was trying to focus too much to be able to come up with a better adjective in her head, so she stuck with it. It was very hard staying focused when you were looking for constant signs as to whether this would work or not. "I need you to help" some powder got thrown in and the concoction hissed, she flinched a little, "I need your skills" something gooey that she didn't want to let herself think about, "please bless me with your aid and presence." Okay so it wasn't by rote, she wasn't even entirely sure it was even half of the correct phrasing, it was debated so much. Willow was really hoping that intention and magic worked more than the words. Another deep breath and she threw some eagle talons into the mixture. "Ego vellem habere quod perierat, et redde me pretiosum."

The pot hissed and a small cloud of orange smoke erupted in a soft pop. Peering in, Willow noted that the pot was bone dry. And clean. A spell that washed up after itself was perfectly alright in her book. Willow was about to say something when something moved in her peripheral vision, turning her head she saw that she was no longer alone in the room. A girl, who could be no more than eight, was looking back at her curiously.

Willow stared silently until the girl arched an eyebrow.

"You wanted something?"

"I...yes...I do. Rather I know somebody he does. Your payment is with him. Is that okay? I couldn't quite tell if you would forego gold...but he has something else. Unless you take Mastercard these days?" Willow realised she was rambling, but she was expecting at least an adult, looking into the eerily black eyes of a child was unnerving.

"I know what he has. And where he is."

"You do?"

"I know where everything is."

"Of course,", how else would this work? Willow felt a little sheepish. "So...why did you come here?"

"You tried so hard. Most people these days find me on the internet, give me a call. It's nice to be summoned the old-fashioned way."

"The internet—wait, people hire a child to find things?"

The being shrugged,

"I get things done."

"Right...so...what happens now?"

"I'll visit your friend, make sure my payment is sufficient. Then I'll see whether I can bring back whatever it is you seek."

"It's a who."

"No matter. Though they'll have to wish to return. I retrieve the lost. I do not kidnap people. Anymore."

"She'll want to come back." Willow chuckled, why on Earth would Faith want to stay trapped in the past. "Thank you. Oh, we have something to return too...can you do that?"

"I cannot see why not." And the witch was alone again in the room.

"Well. That was easy." She felt a little like it was too easy, she had the sinking feeling that things were about to go wrong. Perhaps, to be safe, she should look into a dream spell, just to check that Faith wasn't going to be difficult. The last thing she wanted was to waste Angel's valuables on a pointless endeavour.

1753

Faith's eyes were closed, and sleep was finally almost upon her. The room was pitch black now, it was cold, there was a chill closing in on the end of the year. Nothing but open fires to warm a stone house that seemed nothing but damp all of the time. It would be nice to get away from this dismal little island and back to America where the weather was better.

"Faith," the voice was familiar and the slayer blinked. They weren't anywhere specific, she could see the blurred outline of her bedroom, but it was shifting, constantly, bleeding against another room. She assumed it was wherever Willow was. She supposed she had fallen asleep, her body felt weightless, sort of numb. Like she couldn't quite move.

"Am I dreaming?"

"Sort of. Magical dreaming." Willow explained.

"Nice of you to get in touch." Though there wasn't the bitterness in her tone that months of being lost in an entirely different year warranted. "It's been a long time."

"How long?"

"It's December. The first actually." Her wedding day.

"Oh wow. It's only been a month here!" Willow made a point of shaking off the distraction and focusing "Faith we're getting you home. I've figured it out. It's taken me a long while, but I can do it now."

Faith was quiet for a long time. Suddenly praying that this was a nightmare, not real, something she could ignore. Maybe her subconscious playing tricks on her after her conversation with Thomas, that was possible, right? She swallowed but didn't speak. "I know it's been ages, but it hasn't been easy and-"

"When?" Faith interrupted, suddenly not at all interested in excuses. She felt sick.

"I'm not sure. Angel's just working out some kinks and then a girl will come and bring you home. But you must come willingly. I did say I can't see why you wouldn't. It looks dismal there."

"Yeah," Faith agreed hollowly. Willingly. So, there was still a chance to run. To stop this. To ignore it.

To let everybody down.

"I need tomorrow. Please." Faith said firmly. Buying herself some time. "Tomorrow night. Give me until tomorrow night." Willow frowned, clearly confused, but after a moment she shrugged and then nodded. Faith couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. She needed time.

"Sure, okay, I'll let Angel know. See you soon!" Willow agreed, vanishing into the ether.

Faith shattered.