A Union of Souls, Chapter Fourteen
The question so took Angel by surprise that for a moment he wasn't certain he had even heard her correctly. "Excuse me?"
"I said what are you?"
"He's Angel, he's--"
"Quiet, Doyle." Angel interrupted Doyle with a simple lifting of his finger. He pulled out a chair and sat down directly across from the coed. Ami had not stopped watching him the entire time, watching him as though she already knew the answer but was waiting for his confirmation. He held her gaze for a moment, aware that every eye in the room was focused on him, aware of the underlying tension. He could hear the increase in heart rates, could smell the adrenaline that began to pump through the others at Ami's question. Most of all, he could smell the underlying fear that he would tell her the truth.
Which, he realized, probably wasn't too far from reality.
Angel poised his question carefully. "What do you think I am, Ami?"
Drusilla had known. The familiar energy coming from Ami and her friend told him -- told the demon -- that they were like Drusilla in some ways. Only they were also more than Drusilla; their energy patterns were stronger, more controlled. They were what Drusilla would have become if he hadn't made her like him. Drusilla had called him a demon, she had called him death. In her last hours, she likened him to Satan.
He wondered what Ami would see. What she would say.
"I don't know, I only know that --" Her answer came by rote even as he actually felt her brush his mind with her own. Most people were not sensitive to a mental probing, and most people were not skilled enough to perform one. Even those who claimed to read minds couldn't have probed him with the quick and devastating accuracy that Ami did. The slight pressure withdrew as quickly as it arrived, the young woman drawing a sharp breath, her eyes going wide.
Focusing on her and only her, Angel noted the increase in respiration, the elevated heart rate and the hormones that fear and surprise released into the blood stream. He knew that she had found her answer even before she said it.
"You're a vampire." It was not a question. She shook her head, closing her eyes briefly. "No, that's impossible. Vampires don't exist. It's just stories and legends."
"So are demons," Whistler called out from across the room. Angel almost turned to glare at the demon, but he saw the slight change that came over Ami as her eyes darted in Whistler's direction. She believed the demon; she knew what Whistler was and his words were the words that erased all her doubts.
"Okay, that was funny," Cordelia forced a laugh and clapped her hands together once. "Now, can we get back to reality here?"
"Cordelia, don't." Angel never took his attention from Ami. "It's all right."
"It's all right? Did I miss something here? I thought that the whole idea was that people didn't know that you're a vampire?"
"I don't understand," Ami said at last. She offered no preamble and no explanation.
"It would take a long time to explain," Angel said softly. "Let's just say that Bram Stoker and Anne Rice don't exactly have it all right. I help people -- I work with Doyle because -- I'm looking for something. I haven't found it and I don't know if I ever will, but I'm looking for it."
"Seeking redemption," the young woman breathed softly, knowledge dawning in her dark eyes. Her friend stared at her curiously, and stared at him with more than a bit of disbelief and fear; but Angel felt no fear from Ami. It was as if his words had explained something; or perhaps having her world turned upside down as it had been she was just ready to take things in stride.
Besides, they still had her dream to contend with.
And her connection to Cordovan and the Book of Isiri. A connection that Angel was convinced existed, but that they hadn't yet found.
Angel gave her a half-smile. "Seeking redemption."
For a moment neither of them spoke, a silent understanding passing between them. Whoever this young woman was, she was brought into this for a reason. Now it was simply a matter of finding out what that reason was.
"Should we leave you two alone?" Whistler called from the kitchen.
Angel growled softly. Whistler was truly beginning to grate on his nerves. If he was here to be helpful, he was doing a poor job of it. He looked away from Ami and to Whistler. "Anything else you didn't tell them that we should know about?"
"I told you, I'm here to help. I'm not here to do all the work."
"So far, you haven't done any work," Doyle accused.
"You brought up a good point, Angel," Giles approached the table and took the only remaining chair available. Angel was secretly grateful for the former Watcher. His academic mind could at times be one-track, and might lead them to the answers they were searching for. "Unless there is something to say otherwise in Ami's dream -- which we have yet to analyze -- Ami doesn't appear to be in any trouble. Yet, if what you've been telling me about Doyle's visions is true, she should be in great peril as we speak. Something is not adding up."
"There was a woman watching me," Ami spoke up after giving an unguarded glance to her friend. Angel had been watching their interaction and something about it seemed just a bit -- off. It was as if they understood one another without words; as if they shared the same mind. It was a little eerie. "On campus yesterday. And then tonight, I was at a party and she showed up again."
"Giselle." Whistler leaned forward on the counter. "I'd bet my good hat on it."
"You don't have a good hat," Doyle frowned. "And who's Giselle?"
"Exactly what I was wondering," Angel turned his full attention to the demon. "Something you're keeping from us?"
"Only until you needed to know it." Whistler shrugged. "I asked around, did a little digging. She's known as the 'Dark Witch' in circles where she's known at all. Cordovan's current lover -- and a mambo. Or she was a mambo. She's a little more than that now."
"She's a dance?" Cordelia asked in disbelief.
"No," Ami corrected her, it seemed that the response was automatic. "A mambo is a priestess of vodoun."
"Vo-dawn?"
"It's a religion, Cordelia," Giles said with a bit of exasperation. "Frequently known as voodoo."
"Oh, voodoo. Why didn't she just say that then?"
"Because voodoo is not its proper name. Voodoo is a derogatory name given to the religion by those who didn't understand it. It's used in Hollywood movies and the images that it conjures up -- such as evil magick and voodoo dolls and human sacrifice -- are not part of the religion of vodoun any more that those who follow Wicca worship the devil.
"However, there are those who once practiced the white magick of vodoun who find themselves drawn in by black magick and the darker forces." Giles stopped in his explanation and turned to look at the demon. "Are you saying that this woman, this Giselle is one of these? A bokor?"
"You got it."
"And she is involved with this man -- this Cordovan?"
"I don't like the sound of this," Angel looked up, his eyes meeting Giles'. "Black magick and the Book of Isiri. All at Cordovan's fingertips."
"Yeah, but what's the relationship with Ami?" Doyle asked.
"Excuse me?" Ami's friend, Adam interrupted their conversation. "Could you tell us what's going on here? Who is this Cordovan? And the Book of Isiri?"
A few minutes later, Ami and her friend had been brought up to speed on the true power hierarchy of Los Angeles and the missing spellbook. It was clear they remained skeptical -- but they didn't leave. If anything, Angel sensed their growing knowledge of events and what was happening was making them more and more wary.
Ami looked pointedly at Doyle. "And your vision told you that I was wrapped up in this somehow?"
"Oh, no, nothing that simple. It would be nice if my visions were that simple," Doyle replied. "My vision said that you're in trouble -- or that you're going to be in trouble."
"Well, you did see this Giselle person," Cordelia remarked. "Maybe she put a whammy on you or something."
"That could be it!" Giles sprang up from the table, hurrying across the room.
"What? I had a good idea?"
"No, but you reminded me of something I had forgotten with our new direction in conversation." The man picked up a small notebook and began flipping through it, piquing Angel's curiosity with his next words. "Remember that Wesley called with more information about the Book of Isiri, and specifically the spell of Enslavement while Whistler was speaking with our young guests.
"Once every thousand years, under certain conditions, proper moon placement and planetary alignment, etc. The Enslavement has the possibility of becoming more than a mere spell."
"More than a mere spell?" Doyle interjected. "It sounded bad enough as it was. Zombies running around LA. Makes me want to stay in doors for a year."
Cordelia smiled and batted her eyes at him, "You'd be doing us all a favor."
"The right soul, the proper vessel can give the Master a source of unlimited power that goes beyond the scope of the spell. What if this bokor, Giselle, is trying to find that source of ultimate power for the spell? What if . . . she's looking at Ami?" Giles paused, his attention on the young woman seated quietly at the kitchen table. He approached her cautiously, his words careful. "I do not mean to pry Ami, but I have good reason to believe that you may be psychic, or that you may possess some level of psychic ability. Do you? I only ask because it's important. There is a certain type of individual needed for the spell to work in the fashion that Giselle may be desiring."
Again, Angel noted the silent communication between Ami and Adam. She held the young man's gaze for a long moment, and the furrow in Adam's brow told Angel that he didn't want Ami to tell them anything. Angel's suspicion was confirmed when Ami glanced down at her hands and Adam spoke up.
"Let's say that we believe any of this," Adam chose his words carefully, "What does this spell do? What makes it so dangerous?"
Angel stared at Ami while Giles launched into an explanation of the spell of Enslavement. She never looked up from her hands, although she grew more and more pale with each of Giles words. He still hadn't figured out how she and Adam seemed to be so much on the same wavelength with one another -- and not knowing was driving him crazy.
Even more curious were Ami's reactions to Giles' words. She was deathly afraid -- not of him, even knowing that he was a vampire -- but of this woman Giselle. He caught the first hints of fear when Giles began to speak, and the smell of fear that surrounded her was becoming stronger by the moment.
"What did she do to you, Ami?" Angel spoke softly to Ami and Ami alone. He noticed that Giles stopped speaking the moment that he spoke, he felt all the attention in the room focus on him, but he was focused on Ami -- the central figure of Doyle's vision.
Her head rose slowly, tears glistening in her eyes. Her fear was very palatable now. Angel felt the demon strike and respond, and it was a bit of a challenge to fight the beast inside of him down. When she spoke, her voice quivered. "She was inside my head. It was the most horrible thing that has ever happened to me."
"Inside your head?" Giles asked quietly.
Slowly, haltingly, Ami began to tell them what happened to her at the party. When she finished an uncomfortable silence hung in the room.
It was Doyle who spoke first. "Sounds like some sort of hypnosis to me."
Giles nodded in agreement. "I was thinking the same thing. It's quite clear that she wanted to get to you, Ami. The only reason would be this spell. If she were testing you to see if you were the sort of vessel that she sought." Returning his glasses to his face, Giles flipped through a few pages and began to read, "A young soul, pure and full of light. A soul that no evil can touch, no death-blood may taint. Hands have never known a weapon, whether forged of steel or wood or stone and shall never wield such. A soul which knows the thoughts of all and sees into the hearts of men. A soul whose dreams call forth that which shall be and whose memories, ever strong tie to the past. A soul that moves like the gods, in the blinking of an eye is here no more. The ancient, god-sent ship is its mother's bosom, hidden beneath sand and sea --"
The suddenness with which Ami jumped to her feet surprised them all, including her friend Adam. He looked as pale and alarmed as she did; no, on second consideration, Angel realized that Ami was far more upset than Adam. She visibly trembled, her entire body racked with invisible sobs.
"Ami?" Adam followed her to her feet, his voice full of concern as he reached for her.
He drew her into a hug, "I know. I know."
"This means something to the two of you, I take it?" Giles looked from one to the other.
Adam nodded numbly. His mouth twisted in a grimace. Whatever he was about to say, he didn't like it. But Ami's reaction and the knowledge of Giselle made this a necessity. "That's --" He paused, giving a quick glance at Ami before continuing. "That describes us. I think you're right. Giselle wants Ami for her spell."