Chapter 9
Aurora pulled away from her mother, upset at how not upset she was acting. "Stop saying that! It's not going to be alright! Look at us! Things are as far from alright as it could possibly get!"
The young Slayer started pacing wildly, panic taking root and growing in her. "We're going to die. Oh God! They're going to come down here and rip our throats out. I can't die! Oh God! Nate would know what to do. Where's Nate? They killed him, didn't they? Oh God! Nate's dead, and it's my fault! Just like Mr Richards. If it wasn't for me, none of this would be happening!"
"Aurora, stop!" Buffy yelled, making the near-insane girl freeze in mid-stride. "Your Watcher is not dead. We are not dead, nor are we going to be dead. Your teacher's death was not your fault. None of this is your fault. Do you understand me?"
Aurora refused to listen, even though every fiber in her being desperately wanted to believe her mother. "How do you know? You can't know! You can't understand what my life is like!"
"Yes, I can!" The words slipped out of Buffy's mouth before she could stop them. "I can understand what your life is like, and I do know! More than you think!"
"The only way you could understand what it's like to be me, to be responsible for the entire fucking world and still try to have a normal life, to be a teenage girl who's a Slayer…"
"Would be to be a Slayer too," Buffy finished her daughter's tirade, stunning Aurora into silence. "I'm a Slayer, Aurora. I was called right here in Los Angeles when I was fifteen. My responsibilities got me expelled from school. My first Watcher died protecting me, and I still feel guilty over that. I had to lie to my family about who I was and what I was doing that kept me in constant trouble. I even had the police after me for murder a few times. I know your life, because it was my life too."
Aurora was shaking her head, confusion crowding in to push the panic out. "No, see, that can't be," she said, pacing again at a more sedate pace. "Nate said only one can be chosen. One Slayer dies, the next is called. If you're a Slayer, then I can't be one. That can't be. You're wrong."
"I did die, baby," Buffy answered. "When I was your age, maybe a little older. I faced a powerful vampire and he killed me. He drowned me, but I had a friend who brought me back. However, I did die and another Slayer was called. Your line runs from her."
"This is insane," Aurora muttered. "How can I not know about this? Nate! He must know about this. Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't you?"
Buffy knew her daughter wouldn't accept it, but it was the only truth Buffy had to offer. "We didn't tell you, because we wanted to protect you. We wanted your life to be normal. We never thought you would be called. The possibility never even entered our minds. The Powers had us. We simply assumed they would leave you in peace.
"As for Nathaniel, he didn't know who we were. We made sure of that. God knows what he would have done if he found out sooner who your parents were, but he knows now. I guess he figured it out when he finally met us, but I swear to you, I won't let him touch you. The Council will never get their hands on you."
Aurora's brow creased into a frown so identical to her father's, Buffy shuddered. It still amazes her how much of Angel she sees in their child, and now it only made her longing for her partner, both in life and in battle, all the more great.
The young Slayer didn't notice the shadow flitting across her mother's impossibly youthful features. She needed to understand what her mother meant by 'we', and why the Council or Nate would ever try to hurt her. Her question died before it reached her lips when the crazy raven-haired vampire danced into view, dragging a weeping Nate behind her by the hair.
"He's no fun anymore," Drusilla whined. "You made Grandmummy grumpy." Nate shrieked when Dru lifted him to meet her entrancing eyes, pulling tufts of hair out of his aching scalp.
"Dru," Riley called from the stairs. "Dump the Brit and come play with me." He leaped over the railing, landing gracefully at the foot of the stairs. Drusilla swayed to meet her approaching Childe, pulling Nate with her like a life-size whimpering doll.
Aurora gripped the bars of her cage, turning her knuckles white, and yelled furiously, "Let him go, you bitch!"
Riley jumped at Aurora, reaching for her young neck through the bars. Buffy moved with preternatural speed, grabbing his clawed hand and pulling back with more strength than was really needed for the job. The crack was deafening. The howl of pain was earsplitting.
Riley pulled his extremely broken arm back, cradling the limb tenderly against his body. He glared at Buffy with golden eyes swimming in tears. He bared his fangs at his once-upon-a–time girlfriend and snarled, "You'll pay for that, Slayer."
Drusilla hissed at the caged elder Slayer, Nate forgotten on the floor. "No tea for you, my pretty. Shadows over the moon gets punished."
"God, Drusilla," Buffy griped. "Did your brain finally hook out or are you just trying to impress me?"
A minion had appeared out of nowhere and was dragging Nate into the Slayers' prison. Aurora did a quick inventory of her Watcher's wounds, trying to ignore the wailing male vampire or the joyous giggle of his consort as she set his broken arm.
"Eyes like needles slithers with the snake," Drusilla started to coo, swaying to music drifting behind her unfocused eyes. "Blood covers the moon, making the birdies scream."
"Huh?" Aurora sighed hard. Her head ached. If she had to listen to anymore of that crazy loon's sing-song riddles, she would go crazy. And her mother was grinning like a loon. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? "Mom? You okay?"
Buffy started to smile, the gold flecks in her hazel eyes sparking with pleasure. "Yes, baby. Mommy's just fine," she whispered in her daughter's ear, helping to move the bloodied Watcher into a more comfortable position. "Daddy's coming."
Aurora gasped in surprise and hope. Did she dare hope that they might actually get out of this thing alive and in one piece?
Drusilla's wailing froze the young Slayer's racing mind. "Not Daddy! It's never Daddy. I miss Daddy."
"Oh, shut up, Dru," Riley snapped, fury and jealousy morphing his face into a nightmarish mask. "I am so fucking sick of always having to listen to your whining about that fuck! Angel doesn't want you. He hates you!"
Dru moaned, pained at her Childe's harsh words. Her hooked fingers buried themselves in her midnight hair, pulling furiously.
Riley ignored the woman's distress, grabbing her brutally and hissing into her pale face, "I am going to cut him out of your life once and for all, and then I don't want to hear another word about him ever again! Today Angel dies!"
Drusilla screamed, pushing Riley away hard. His fingers tore loose of her arms as he was lifted off his feet and flew backwards. The dark-haired beauty ran weeping from the room. Riley growlingly got to his feet and made to follow his Sire. He was going to pay for this, he knew, but that would be good too.
"Still feeling inadequate, Riley?" Buffy goaded the vampire, a knowing smirk on her face. He only glowered and followed Drusilla out of the dungeon.
Aurora tapped her mom lightly on the shoulder. "I get that you know them. You're a Slayer who grew up here, so you probably faced them before. But Dad too? Is he some kind of vampire hunter? Is that how you met? And why does that crazy vamp keep calling him 'Daddy'?"
"Your father has a …," Buffy paused, searching for the right words. "He has a history with Drusilla."
Nate snorted derisively, his voice tight from biting back the pain shooting through his chest, "History. Is that what you call it, Ms Summers?"
"Shut up, Watcher. It is none of your concern," Buffy spat.
Aurora frowned at the exchange. "Now what?" she growled, exasperated. "Tell me or I swear I will kick both your asses!"
Buffy fidgeted with her clothes, not quite ready to meet her daughter's angry stare. Nate was clearly enjoying her discomfort, because he crowed, "Yes, go on. Tell your daughter who and what her father really is. This should be good."
Buffy wanted very badly to snap the Watcher's neck, but controlled the urge. She took a deep breath, stilled her restless fingers and met those familiar dark eyes, shining with annoyance bordering on rage. How many times over the years had Angel looked at her with those same eyes? Their relationship have always been explosive, to say the least.
"Your father was Drusilla's sire."
Aurora blinked. Did she hear her mother right? She did say 'sire', didn't she? "I'm sorry, what?" she asked, her heart pounding painfully against her chest.
Buffy took over her daughter's halted pacing. "It's not like it sounds," she tried to explain hurriedly. "He wasn't the same man who drove her insane when I met him. He'd changed."
"I'm still trying to figure out in what whacked-out reality a human man could sire a vampire?" Aurora quipped sarcastically. "I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but Dad is human. Right?"
"Ah, yes, that… ummm," Buffy stumbled a little. She remembered when she first learned her husband's secret. She didn't handle it well. How would their daughter react, a Slayer in her own right, react to this?
"I knew this would be good," Nate giggled from his corner of the cage.
"SHUT UP, NATE!!!" the Slayers screamed at him in unison.
"Mom?" Aurora demanded. "Tell me who my father is. Please, no more secrets. I'm a big girl. I can handle it."
Buffy sighed. It was time for all the secrets to come out of their closet. She prayed that the fall-out wouldn't rip her family apart in the process. "Alright, baby. You're right. You have a right to know. Here's the Cliff notes version. Your father used to be a vampire until 15 years ago when he finally atoned to the Powers That Be. They made him human. I left with him, married him, had you, and we lived happily ever after until the PTBs decided to through a spanner in the works."
Aurora sat down hard. Her head was spinning trying to absorb all her mother just said. "I think I need a little more detail than that, if that's okay," she said breathlessly. "Dad was a vampire? He was evil?"
"He was evil, but only for 150 years. Then some gypsies cursed him. They returned his soul. He wasn't evil anymore. In fact, he saved my life on more occasions than I care to admit."
"Oh, good," Aurora mumbled, wishing her head would stop spinning.
Buffy didn't hear
the ashen girl. "Of course there were
times when we were less than friends, but luckily Spike was there." Confession really was good for the soul,
Buffy discovered.
"I'm not feeling so good. Wait! Spike? Where does he fit into all this?"
Buffy was so wrapped up in her complicated history and which details to spare her daughter, she caught the question in the periphery of her mind. "What? Oh! Spike, right. He was Drusilla's ….. ummmm … travel companion at the time," she answered. "She left him shortly afterwards. She didn't appreciate him helping me against her."
"By travel companion, you mean 'mate', don't you?" Aurora couldn't hide the hurt rasping her heart to shreds.
"Oh, baby, I'm sorry." Buffy wrapped her arms around Aurora's shoulders, hugging her tight. "You have to remember that Spike is well over a 100 years old. He's bound to have a few exes in his life."
Aurora pulled away suddenly, alarmed. "Oh God! You're not one of those exes, are you? Please tell me I'm not dating my mother's ex-boyfriend!"
"No, I can honestly say that I never dated Spike. We were enemies for a long time, and we were friends too, but never more than that," Buffy reassured the worried girl.
Aurora nodded, accepting. "And Spike was chipped by then?" she asked. Spike was never one to over-share when it came to his past. It was one of the few points of contention between the young Slayer and her vampire boyfriend.
"No, that happened later. He was captured by a military group called the Initiative. Riley's men collared and chipped him, but he escaped. Oh, he hated being chipped. It took him a long time to get used to the fact that he couldn't hunt humans anymore, but I think he hated being compared with your father by the rest of the demon community even more."
Aurora frowned again. "Riley? That tall vamp with Drusilla? Why would a vampire do that to another vampire?"
Buffy frowned a little too, confused. "No, Riley wasn't a vampire then. He was one of us. He was a good guy, albeit a stuffy, boring, unimaginative one, but a good guy nevertheless. He had some issues with my attachment to vampires that he couldn't get past. So we broke up and I guess he went and got himself turned. He never was one of the brightest bulbs in the packet."
"You dated him? This is getting very uncomfortable." Aurora eyed her mother warily. Was this really the woman she thought she knew so well?
Buffy dropped her head, ashamed. "Your father had just left me to move to Los Angeles. I needed someone as far removed from him as I could get. Riley was Angel's complete opposite. And I admit, I used him terribly, but it still couldn't kill the love I felt for your father."
This time it was Aurora holding and comforting her mother. "But Daddy came back to you. He didn't stop loving you either."
The elder Slayer allowed the memories of that day when her Angel returned to her as human to wash over her. She knew in her soul that if Angel had remained as he was; a vampire cursed with a soul, he would have left her again. The danger for awakening Angelus was just too great and he would never allow himself to become the brutal, soulless killer he was before. "I never doubted he loved me, but our relationship was complicated. Circumstances that used to keep us apart finally changed and allowed us to be together."
"That makes no sense," Aurora questioned. "If you loved each other then as much as you love each other now, what circumstances could be complicated enough to keep you apart? So he was a vampire. Big whoop! I'm dating a vampire and it's not that complicated."
Buffy dropped her tired brow into her hands. Reliving those horrid memories were slowly killing her all over again. "Please, Aurora, no more," she begged.
"Alright," Aurora submitted. "But I still don't understand why they want me now. I think your past has something to do with it, but I can't see it. What is it about me that's kept me alive so far, but that's going to get me killed tomorrow night?"
"It's your blood," Buffy answered simply.
Aurora fell silent. She had expected a long complicated explanation. Her mother's answer took the wind completely out of her sails. "My blood? You mean the red stuff running through my veins?"
Buffy nodded. Now to explain this without revealing too much. "Midnight is the beginning of the Night of Argonius. Only then, Acathla can be awakened by… well, I'm not sure on the exact details, but the prophecy says Acathla has to devour the light to bring forth the darkness, or something like that. I guess…"
"The vamps are going to sacrifice me to that stone thing to bring on the end of the world? Oh God! You're all insane." Aurora couldn't see how a stone carving could end the world and she found it absurd that her mother would fall for something so crazy.
"I wish to God I was, because then there wouldn't be a problem," Buffy said, starting to pace again. "But that stone thing is a very real threat. When he's awakened, he'll take a breath and swallow the world and everything in it into Hell. And your blood…"
"My blood awakens it?" Aurora felt the panic crowd in again, but fought it back. "You know a lot about this demon. You faced it before?"
Buffy came to a standstill, her back turned to her daughter. "Yes, I faced it before. And I stopped it."
"They were going to sacrifice you too?"
"No. The Night of Argonius only comes once in a millennium. Acathla had to be awakened by removing the blessed sword of the knight who defeated it and imprisoned it in stone."
"So Drusilla made you pull out the sword? I'm assuming Drusilla at least was in on this the first time. She seems very invested in her little project." Aurora didn't understand why, all of a sudden, her mother refused to share the most basic of information with her. Or maybe she didn't want to understand.
"Yes, Drusilla was involved the last time I faced Acathla, but it wasn't my blood they needed." Buffy's heart jack-hammered in her chest, her blood roaring in her ears.
"Daddy?" Aurora asked fearfully. The situation surrounding this piece of history was far more serious than her mother let on before. Her unwillingness to spill what she knew told Aurora more than she wanted to know.
"Yes, child. Your father had such vision, but he was thwarted and his dream destroyed. I'll see to it my boy's dream comes true." None of the captives had noticed Darla watching them intently until she spoke, her voice malevolent and sweet.
Buffy stepped protectively in front of her daughter, shielding her with her body. "You want her, you'll have to go through me."
"You don't get it!" Darla snarled with vicious joy and hunger. "I'm counting on it! Finally killing you is what I've been dreaming about since the day you stole him from me."
The two women bristled at each other through the bars of the cage, the air charged with repressed violence. "Soon," Darla grinned, the predator hiding behind her blue eyes gleaming.
It was six hours until midnight, the Night of Argonius.