CHAPTER 5
"How much does her Watcher know about us?" Buffy was busy putting supplies in her bag, but held Spike's gaze nonetheless.
Spike was testing the weight and balance of a battle ax in his hand, swinging it around. He nodded, pleased with the weapon and answered, "Nothing. The Council did a full background check on Aurora. Guess they were worried of ending up with another Faith, but they didn't find much. Only what Peaches over there wanted them to know."
"Are you sure?" Angel asked, looking up from the sword he's been sharpening, annoyance at the old nickname written on his frowning brow.
Spike smirked at the frown, pleased to see the annoyance. "Yeah, I sneaked a peek at Nate's files. They had a whole lot of nothing, not even your names. They had you down as Anne and John Liam, no middle name available. Liam Corp was a damn press release. No real detail. I tell you, peaches, you really know how to disappear."
Angel merely nodded and returned to his sharpening, his mind worrying over the possibility that a Raz'lah with familial ties to his old enemy Mah'lak was stalking his daughter.
Spike must have been thinking the same thing. "Say, hadn't you faced a Raz'lah before?" the blonde vampire asked, frowning at the foggy memory.
"Yeah, I did," Angel said simply. "He's dead now."
"Family member?" Buffy wondered.
Angel shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't know. Mah'lak didn't really feel like sharing his family tree with me. He was too busy trying to open the Hellmouth at the time. But it's possible."
"But how does Acathla fit into this? After I …. um… after our fight, wasn't Acathla shut down permanently?" Buffy frowned, checking the edge of a lethal-looking dagger before depositing it to a hidden sheath behind her back.
Angel's hand stilled on the blade of his sword, remembering. "There was a prophecy regarding the awakening of Acathla that concerned a ritual performed on the Night of Argonius. It was pretty vague. Something about devouring the light to bring forth the dark. I never really paid much attention to it. I had enough trouble figuring out my own prophecy to worry about something that wouldn't happen in some 20-odd years."
"It's 20-odd years later now," Spike reminded them. "And the Night of Argonius is nearly upon us."
"So let's get going then," Buffy said, slinging the loaded bag over her shoulder, eager to pound some evil into the ground. Angel's sword disappeared into the folds of his long coat billowing out behind him as he followed his Slayer wife out the door. Spike let his gaze appreciate the view of the powerful couple walking into battle before swinging the ax over his shoulder and exiting the well-equipped room.
"There's a gentleman waiting for Master Spike in the foyer." The butler stood at attention, barring the party's way to the door.
'I have no idea,' Spike shrugged at the questioning glances her received, making his way to follow the butler and carelessly tossing the battle ax in Angel's general direction. Angel caught the flying weapon deftly, issuing an annoyed growl at the smirking vampire.
"Where's Aurora?" Greg Nathaniel, better known as Nate to the Slayer under his care, was frantic. She was upset when he talked to her on the phone. And now she's missing. He was praying the girl was still here with Spike and her parents, but something deep down told him otherwise.
Spike frowned. What was the Watcher doing here? Why wasn't he with Aurora on patrol? "She's not with you?" he asked, dread crawling up his spine.
Nate's heartbeat picked up speed. "When did she leave?" Maybe there was nothing to worry about. The girl wasn't known for her punctuality, hope whispered in his ear.
"About an hour ago." Maybe she had a far walk, Spike hoped, but that hope was dashed at the sight of the Watcher's paling face. "Oh God! She's missing?"
"I'm sure she's fine. The girl is quite capable of looking after herself." Nate didn't sound so sure of his words and saying them didn't ease the apprehension squeezing his heart.
"The 'girl' isn't even supposed to be out there now! I told you this yesterday, but you Watchers always think you know better!" Spike bellowed, fear for his Slayer putting an edge to his fury.
"Spike, gotta go. Now!" Angel ordered, shoving the battle ax back into the furious vampire's hands. Buffy glared at the stranger shuffling his feet in her foyer. She could smell the stink of the Watchers' Council all over the man. "I got a call. The dig was attacked."
Searing pain knifed through Spike's brain as the chip punished him for his murderous thoughts. He hadn't wanted to bury an ax in somebody's skull so badly as he did with the tired-looking Watcher right now.
"Right," he growled through clenched teeth, following the dark-haired man and petite blonde out the door, leaving Nate standing alone and miserable in the foyer. "You were having the dig watched?"
"One of my people were in the States," Angel answered simply.
Spike nodded. "At least if our demon was busy ripping off the dig site, he couldn't be out stalking Aurora."
"The dig was taken by two vamps. Females. Unidentified. Seems our demon has some partners." Angel opened the trunk of the car waiting for him, checking on the supplies in the back. "If we're quick and lucky, we'll be able to track them back to their lair."
Nate followed Spike and the two people he established as Aurora's parents out of the enormous house. It needled at him why they looked so familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. That they knew of the existence of the darker creatures stalking humanity was clear, and also an interesting mystery.
But all the pieces fell into place when the mother said, "Angel…"
Angel found Buffy's anxious gaze, reading the plea there. He reached her in two quick strides. "I need to find her, Angel," Buffy said, the subject not open for discussion.
"Okay," Angel agreed. They could cover more ground if they split up. And speed was of the essence, he knew. "Spike and I will go to the dig and try to pick up the trail there. You follow Aurora. Take the Watcher with you."
Buffy opened her mouth to argue, but her husband cut her off. "Buffy, don't argue. He knows her patrolling routes. It'll go faster. When we get Aurora back, we'll deal with him and his. Right now, he can be of use to us."
"Fine," the elder Slayer agreed grudgingly. "Be careful." She kissed Angel urgently, his arms snaking around her waist. They clung to each other for a moment before separating for the hunt.
"I'll call if I find anything. Be careful, Buffy. I love you." Angel's arms felt empty when he let his wife free from the prison of his embrace. He shivered at her fingers brushing his cheek and the declaration of love written in her eyes.
"Come on, ya bloody poof!" Spike called impatiently from the car. "Time's a–wastin'!"
"Impatient Childe," Angel grumbled under his breath, automatically falling back to his old manner of address for the blonde demon. This elicited a smile from Buffy who pushed him in the waiting vampire's direction.
The car pulled away with a screech of tires, leaving Buffy alone with her daughter's Watcher. She started walking, cutting across the expansive gardens to the wall surrounding the property. "You coming?" she called over her shoulder, spurring Nate into a stiff jog to catch up.
***************
"Look at the pretty bird in her pretty cage."
Aurora jumped at the sing-song voice echoing around her. She searched the shadows, her keen Slayer vision picking up the subtlest movements in the darkness.
"Can I play with the pretty bird?"
The owner of the voice was unknown to Aurora. She identified the dark-haired woman as a vampire. 'Vampire guards?' she wondered, but dismissed that idea. This one wasn't a minion. She had the air of a Master.
"No, Drusilla. We don't want to damage the girl before the ritual."
Aurora watched a second vampire, also a Master, step up to the tall brunette. This one was blonde and deceptively small. One of the first things Aurora learned as the Slayer was to never judge a vampire's ability on their appearance.
"And don't pout. I'm not in the mood."
The vampire the blonde called Drusilla slid gracefully up to Aurora's cage, an elegantly menacing smile enhancing her beauty even more. "Daddy would have let me play with her, Darla."
"Well, Daddy's not here, is he?" Darla snapped, her eyes flashing. "Be careful with that!" A loud crash reverberated through the chamber under the falling weight of an immense stone. Darla roared furiously and pounced on a hapless minion, ripping his head clean off and reducing him to dust.
Drusilla grabbed her head and mewled, "He's screaming. Freedom… he's screaming for freedom, for blood." She spun to face Aurora, who was watching all this unfold in awe and confusion. "You stopped us once! You won't stop us again."
"Huh?" Aurora wondered aloud, frowning.
"Eyes of the Angel-beast! They burn! They burn!" Drusilla keened, as if in real physical pain. "All alone, my family against me! You stole them from me. All alone… All alone… Faces dancing in the stars… they confuse."
Aurora blinked. "I hope you realize your partner is a raging loony," she quipped at Darla.
Darla just laughed, ignoring the whimpering vampire cowering on the floor. "Drusilla is eccentric. But she's still one of the most creatively vicious creatures I know. Her daddy taught her well. How fitting that it would be you to finish his work."
"I'm sorry," the young Slayer said flippantly. "My dad taught me that you should always finish yourself what you've started. I guess you'll just have to get Vamp Daddy to finish his own dirty work."
At Aurora's mention of 'Vamp Daddy', Drusilla started moaning and keening again. "No Daddy… no Daddy… the Angel-beast wears his face."
"Shut up, Drusilla!" Darla ordered, agitated. "Enjoy your last hours, Slayer. Come tomorrow midnight, you'll die and everything you hold dear will be destroyed!"
The blonde vampire grabbed her companion by the arm, dragging the wailing brunette up the stairs into whatever structure waited above.
"Okay," Aurora said to the near-empty chamber and the stone package that caused the trouble. "That was clear as mud. Psycho nutcase. Oh, Spike… where are you?"
Lying down on the cage floor, cerulean eyes danced in the Slayer's mind's eye, her heart crying out desperately for her beloved to find her, to carry her away from this insanity.