In watching Angelus I saw some of the most gruesome things, including the death of slayers. I also saw how he worked on Drusilla, and drove her mad. I wish I hadn't seen that, but I kept in mind that he had a greater purpose and that it was the demon that did this. After a hundred years of tracking the demon and by association Darla, Spike, and Dru, and I saw all of the horrible things they did. I choose not to scare you by telling about all of the atrocities that the demons committed during this time, just that Liam's hostility toward his father didn't go away. I think that was the worst crime, him killing his family. The reign of the demon came to an end after about a century and a half of killing, when Darla fed him a gypsy. Darla always was trouble, she made him, she fed him that girl, she taught him everything he knew. But with that gypsy girl came the beginning of his destiny. He got his soul. I saw that night now he staggered to the house that he and Darla had made their shelter and I saw her walk in, and I saw him stagger out. Whistler had to hold me back, physically and magically restrain me from going to him, he needed comfort so bad and my heart broke to see the man that I loved in pain.
I watched for nearly a century while guilt consumed him. Finally Whistler interceded, I had figured out by then that Whistler had made his own choices and he had his own destiny to complete. He told me that I was to go to Los Angeles and wait for him there. He didn't tell me how long I was to wait. Me being the stubborn girl I have always been argued that I could not and would not leave him unattended. I remember standing there in the apartment that I was staying in overlooking the park, arguing with the annoying demon that I hadn't needed in almost a century.
****
"I will not leave him alone. What if he decides to take a walk at noon? You can't be serious about me leaving him here." I shouted at him in utter disbelief. I was pacing furiously in the apartment that had been my sanctuary for the past several years since I had come to New York. I kept watching a waiting, seeing him in such pain killed me inside, and now this demon, even though he was my trainer and confidant wanted me to not only leave the vampire I had been trained and groomed to protect, but also the man I loved. I continued my pacing and throwing him glares that would have left a greater man shaking in his boots. My apartment always seemed huge and now it was too small, almost as if the walls were closing in on me and I was a caged animal. I just knew he was out of his mind, to think that I would just leave after more than 200 years of waiting and watching. I finally got tired of pacing and decided that my next course of action would be to sit and just glare at him. I thought that maybe if he explained why I had to leave then maybe I could counter that argument. I haven't gotten along for the past 200 years by being stupid.
After I sat down and gave Whistler the look that after 100 years he learned meant this better be the most brilliant discovery since plastic, he sighed and started telling me this new twist in my life. "You see Renee this is the turning point, the fork in his road. You chose your path a long time ago, but he hasn't even begun to see his. This is the part where you let me take over and you prepare yourself, because this is the beginning of the end. This is where he becomes someone and something. I am going to take him to make him someone. As he is, he is not worthy of you or anyone else. When all is said and done it is his choice, but like you I know he will make the right one. When you get to LA you will get set up in your new apartment. We can't have that much direct contact, so you will need to get me a place and make it vampire ready. He will also need nourishment, and lots of it. As it is, you know that he has only been feeding minimally and on rats no less. He needs to build strength and confidence before he can even fathom what it is like to face the things that you both will face. This is going to be your final preparation." I sat there astonished that after all this time things were finally going to happen, that I was finally going to do what I had been training and waiting for since that night that Whistler came to me.
****
So I started packing. I packed all of my things and saw the appropriate people about my apartment that I was sorely going to miss and took a flight to LA. After I had arrived and found two apartments, in separate buildings as Whistler requested, I had one of them made vampire friendly and had all of the things that they would need for physical training as well emotional healing set up. I even had clothing ready for him. This would be his home and I would protect and comfort him even if I was supposed to be taking a preparatory break from my duties.
They arrived not long after I had everything ready for them. I got a phone call from Whistler about where to leave the keys and he asked me questions about the place that I had chosen for them.
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