Aurora sank into the plush couch in the living room of the newest Liam mansion in their collection. How long had her family owned this house, she wondered as she stared at the finery spread across the room.
"Aurora," Angel said, sitting down next to his daughter. He looked deep into her eyes. They were the same velvet brown as his. His daughter was radiant, he realized and not for the first time. She was the spitting image of her mother at 15, with the same golden blonde hair and the same easy smile. And Angel wanted to protect that smile and soulful glance from hurt with his entire being. "You have to tell us what happened."
Aurora sighed and dropped her gaze to the carpet. If she was going to have to lie to her father, she couldn't look him in the eye. "We were on a field trip to this archeological dig where they found this weird rock thing. I thought I heard something in the bushes and decided to check it out. I was curious. Mr Richards, my History teacher, saw me go and followed me, I guess." She paused. She desperately wanted to tell her father the truth, to confide in him the terror and confusion she's been experiencing the last 6 months, but she feared her father's unbelieving glare more. She didn't think she could survive it if her father called her delusional.
Aurora breathed out slowly and continued, "The guy jumped him from behind. He just snapped poor Mr Richards' neck like it was nothing. Then he ran away, leaving the body with me. I know how this sounds, but…" She couldn't finish the sentence. The lie twisted in her throat, blocking her voice.
Angel lifted his glance to his wife, not believing the words coming from his daughter's mouth and wanting to confirm that Buffy didn't either. Why was she lying to us, Angel's troubled eyes asked Buffy, who could only shrug in confusion.
"You didn't see his face?" Buffy asked Aurora.
Aurora's eyes were still glued to the toes of her shoes when she answered almost inaudibly, "No."
"Aurora," Buffy began, but Aurora interrupted what she knew her mother was going to say.
"Please, Mom, I'm so tired," she said, jumping up from the couch and almost running to the sanctity of her room at the top of the stairs. "Can we talk about this later? I just want to get some sleep."
She disappeared before either of her parents could say anything to stop her.
"What was that?" Angel asked aloud, taking his wife's cold hand.
Buffy looked at the empty stairs her daughter had vacated an instant before. "I have no idea," she answered. "But I want to find out. Let's go out there. See if we can't find something to shed some light on why our daughter feels the need to lie to us."
Angel nodded and grabbed his coat, the location of the crime scene tucked away in his pocket. The case files had arrived not long ago and the address was the first thing he found.
"Aurora!", he called up the stairs. "Your mother and I are going out. We'll try to be back soon. Don't leave the house."
"Okay, Dad!" Aurora's muffled answer drifted down to them.
Aurora heard the front door slam. "Sorry, Nate," she spoke into the receiver of her phone. "What did you say?"
"It's called a Raz'lah demon," Greg Nathaniel, High School Librarian and Watcher of the Vampire Slayer, repeated. "I was able to identify it from your description."
"So what does it want with me?" the young Slayer asked.
"I don't know," her Watcher said. His frustration was evident as his British accent thickened. "What did you tell your parents?"
It was Aurora's turn to sound frustrated when she answered, "Exactly what I told the police. And I hated doing it! Why can't I tell them? They are going to try and find the "guy" and clear my name. If this demon hurts them because of my lie, I'll never be able to forgive myself."
"I know you want to tell them the truth, but telling them would endanger them even more. You know this, Aurora."
"Yes, I know," she sighed. She gave her Watcher her address and phone number at the mansion, promising to check in later.
With the phone back in its cradle, Aurora curled up on her bed and cried herself to sleep.
***************
Buffy and Angel drove out of the city to the clearing where the dig and the crime scene were located. The silence in the car was deafening as their thoughts competed for dominance in the atmosphere surrounding the couple.
"I think you should talk to the people at the dig," Buffy said, breaking the silence. "I'll check out the clearing where the body was found."
Angel nodded, still deep in thought. "Do you think she's protecting anyone?" he asked, voicing the question mulling around in his head. "Do you think this "guy" could be a boyfriend or something?"
Buffy sighed, curling up under Angel's strong arm. "I don't know, but I get the feeling there's more to this than meets the eye. Aurora got very agitated when we left the police station today. It was almost like she sensed something watching us. I know you sensed it. I could see it in your eye. Do you think that's possible?"
Angel thought on his wife's question. "Maybe. She's never been exactly like other kids. Maybe she's more sensitive to the world of shadows because she's the daughter of a Slayer and a vampire."
"You did it again," Buffy commented.
"What?"
"You called yourself a vampire. Even after all these years of breathing and eating and walking in the sun. Do you miss it?"
Angel's brow furrowed. A nostalgic smile pulled at his sensual mouth. "No, I don't miss it. But when you spend more than two and a half centuries as one, it's hard to start calling yourself something else. And I don't know if I want to stop calling myself a vampire. You fell in love with a vampire, didn't you?" He stole a kiss from his wife's smiling lips.
"I fell in love with you," Buffy corrected, returning her husband's kiss. "You just happened to be a vampire at the time."
"We're here," Angel said, slowing the car to pull into the makeshift parking area.
The husband-and-wife team split up, heading off into different directions.
Angel stopped a young man and asked, "Where can I find Lindy Rothchild?"
The young man pointed over to the main tent. "She's in there, dude."
Angel nodded his thanks and made his way to the big white tent off to the side of the digging area. He swept back the tent flap and entered the cool interior. "I'm looking for Lindy Rothchild," he asked the scattered people glancing at him curiously.
"What do you want with Lindy?" a deep voice spoke up next to Angel. "Are you with the police, because she already gave a statement."
"I'm not with the police," Angel answered, facing the owner of the voice. It was an older man with grey hair and many years of hard work in the sun carved into his face. "I'm a private investigator." He handed his host his card and extended his other hand in greeting. "I'm Angel. Angel Liam. The girl they arrested is my daughter."
"Doctor Wolff. Samuel Wolff." The man accepted Angel's hand. "I'm sorry to hear about your child, Mr Liam, but I don't see what Lindy can do for you."
"I just want her to tell me what she told the police. I don't mean her any harm. I'm just looking for the truth," Angel answered honestly.
"I'll talk to him, Sam." The young feminine voice belonged to a small dark-haired woman with shocking green eyes. She had a spot of dust on her nose, which made her look younger than her actual 30 years. Lindy Rothchild raised her hand to Angel, walking up to him to greet him. "I'm Lindy Rothchild."
"Angel Liam," Angel introduced himself. Her hand was cold, but strong.
"As I told the police, I heard a noise inside the brush. I thought it was some reporter, or maybe a rival trying to steal a peek at our work, but when I stepped into the clearing…" Lindy shuddered at the memory. "For what it's worth, I don't think she did it. That man was broken in two. No normal girl her size could do that."
Angel stiffened, but kept his face expressionless. "Can you tell me exactly what you saw? The position of the body, any markings on the ground that could have indicated a struggle, anything you can think of. Please, it's important."
Lindy nodded, leading Angel past the flap that separated her work space from the rest of the tent.
The dark-haired archeologist was talking, recreating the scene she witnessed for the tall man following her, but Angel wasn't listening. His attention was locked on the giant stone filling up Lindy's small work space. The blood rushed from his head, making him feel dizzy. He had to remind himself to breathe or risk passing out.
"Acathla." The word escaped Angel's mouth on the expelled breath.
"And then I screamed…. What?" Lindy focused on her visitor, pulling herself out of her memories. She frowned confused at the vision that greeted her. 'He looks like he's just seen a ghost,' she thought, seeing all the color had leeched out of his face.
"What did you say?" she asked. "Do you know what this is?"
"Have you opened it yet?" Angel asked, dreading the answer.
Shock registered on the archeologist's face. "How did you know…? No, we haven't opened it yet."
"Good." Angel turned on his heel and pushed past the tent flap. "You shouldn't open it."
Lindy followed the exiting man, crying after him, "Wait! What is this? You have to tell me!"
Angel ignored the bewildered woman, marching to the clearing to find his wife. He broke through the brush to find Buffy scratching at something in the dirt.
She looked up at her husband, excited. "Come look at this. I think I found something."
"Buffy, we have a problem."
Buffy frowned. She knew that tone of voice. That was Angel's "The End is Nigh" voice. "What's up?"
"I think Aurora did find a demon here, but I don't think it was here for her," Angel answered.
"Yeah, see? I found these claw marks. And half this plant is dead. It had blood on it, and I'm assuming not human. Human blood don't kill the foliage. We just find the species belonging to the blood and we got our demon. Then we go kill it." Buffy was excited again. This could actually turn out to be easy.
Angel threw cold water on his wife's excitement. "It was after Acathla. The dig uncovered his stone prison. They're trying to decipher it now."
Buffy blanched. Her mouth went dry; she had trouble speaking. "Oh God," she said, but it came out as a whisper. Memories of years past and the battle they fought over the demon flooded through her, and for an instant her heart broke again. "How? How can this be? Has it been opened?"
Angel put a supporting arm around his wife. "No, it's still sealed. Why wasn't it destroyed?" Anger laced Angel's words.
"Giles said he would take care of it," Buffy snapped at the accusation. "And frankly, I didn't ask. I didn't want anything more to do with that thing after…. I was trying very hard not to loose it." Buffy let herself relax into Angel's strong chest. "But only your blood could awaken Acathla. So we're okay, right?"
The unbidden image of their daughter, beautiful and powerful like her father, passed between the couple, icing over their hearts.
"Aurora," they said simultaneously and raced for their car.