The Night Remembers - Part 24
The first thing Giles heard when he stepped into the mansion about two hours
later, were the sounds of laughter and loud noises as if someone was
fighting. Sparring, he thought. What seemed odd was that he was certain he
was hearing two female voices and Angel's was missing.
He spotted the dark-haired vampire only seconds later. Angel was leaning
against the wall in the far corner of the great hall, the slightest hint of
a smile on his lips, his eyes focused on the scene before him. Table and
sofas had been moved away to make room for sparring. Behind the vampire
everyone else was already assembled and obviously equally fascinated by the
action.
Giles felt as if he'd been kicked in his gut when he finally saw whom the
second female voice belonged to. What the bloody hell was going on? Was the
fact that he had announced his intention to join the watcher's council
enough not to inform him about what was going on anymore?
The same moment Buffy's foot connected with Faith's chest and sent the
brunette slayer flying across the room. The movement was only stopped by the
wall, which met Faith's back with a loud crashing noise. She grunted loudly,
and then moaned, "Wow, B. You've certainly improved."
Buffy was at her side in a flash, crouching down, touching her sister
slayer's thigh, "I'm sorry," she apologized. "Are you okay?"
It was such a simple question. Buffy had hit Faith and was now inquiring
about her well being, but the brunette slayer's eyes, to Giles' utter
astonishment, began to fill with tears and she was blinking rapidly. He
heard her swallow. "Uh..." she had to clear her throat, "Yes. I'll be fine.
It wasn't big. You know, slayer healing and all." She forced a wobbly grin
and the blond slayer's lips quirked in response.
"Yeah, comes in handy." Buffy stood and held out a hand for Faith who took
it after only a short hesitation. She seemed completely overwhelmed by the
blonde's new attitude. Which she probably was. After all that had happened
between the two girls, two young women now, the scene before the watcher's
eye was almost unreal. Faith and Buffy were not only civil with each other,
but almost as if they were friends or at least not enemies.
Which, if he was honest with himself, was not only an improvement, but a big
advantage regarding the current situation and probably the only good thing
coming from Buffy's amnesia at the moment. For a short moment Giles' gaze
flickered to Angel, well, maybe not the only one.
Still it didn't quite explain what Faith was doing in Sunnydale in the first
place. Last time he talked to Wesley about her, the former watcher had
assured him, she was still doing time in jail. That was the moment Giles
noticed a stranger amongst the well-known faces. A woman in her early
thirties he guessed, blond, quite attractive, and obviously familiar with at
least Gunn with whom she was whispering from time to time.
"Hello Faith," Giles said his eyes on the brunette slayer, whose head jerked
around. Her face was sweaty, her hair sticking to her forehead and neck and
she was panting heavily. But once his eyes met hers, Giles realized that for
the first time since he'd first seen her they had lost that almost haunted
look, as if life had just been invented to torture Faith.
"Giles." Her voice was more than just a little bit uncertain, her lips
twitching, as if undecided if a smile was the proper greeting, while a frown
appeared on her forehead. "Nice to see you," she added, wiping her sweaty
palms at the back of her jeans.
"Hey Giles," Buffy grinned, quickly glancing at Faith. "You missed quite a
show."
"Yes, I can guess," Giles, replied with a tight smile, changing his focus to
Angel. "I suppose this was your idea."
The vampire's brows rose slightly, but that was the only change in his
expression, when he quietly said, "Yes. And I'm not going to apologize for
my decision," he added.
"I wouldn't expect you to," the watcher said exhaling a breath he hadn't
been aware of holding. "Besides, the situation is already more than just
dangerous and we will need any help we can get." He saw everyone relax and
couldn't quite hide a grin. Then he extended his hand at the blond woman
he'd noticed before, "Hello, I'm Rupert Giles. I'm Buffy's... er... mentor."
Cordelia rolled her eyes, "That's Kate Lockley, she's a detective with the
LAPD. And you can cut the act, Giles. She knows all about vampires, slayers
and stuff. Duuh. She wouldn't be here if if she didn't."
The watcher slightly narrowed his eyes a the brunette, then smiled at Kate,
"Nice to meet you."
"The same here," Kate smiled as well. "So you're a watcher," she said, her
eyes quickly sliding towards Wesley, then back to Giles. Finally she nodded,
"I can see there's some kind of pattern."
Giles heard the others snicker at the comment, saw Wesley blush slightly,
but decided to ignore it. "Yes... er... you're a friend of Gunn's?" he
asked.
"Actually..." she began, then stopped, a thoughtful expression entering her
eyes. They were darting towards Angel for a short moment, and both smiled.
Then Kate turned her head back at Giles, "Actually I'm a friend of Angel's,"
she said finally. "Or rather, we met about two years ago. We went through...
uh... rough times, but I think we qualify as friends now."
The watcher raised a brow, sensing a story behind all this, but now wasn't
the time or place to dive further into the subject. So he just nodded and
looked towards Xander, "I could use some help carrying the books inside," he
said.
Xander rolled his eyes, "Why do I always get the carrying jobs?"
"What else would you be good for?" Buffy asked, smiling sweetly.
He shot her a nasty glare and Willow patted his back, "Take it easy, Xand.
Maybe you've just got the best muscles."
He gave his childhood friend a grateful grin, and then with a sigh walked
towards the door, muttering something about vampires, sunlight, and the
unfairness of being human, but nobody was interested.
****
It was already dark outside when Riley found himself standing in front of
the mansion. He'd never been to a vampire's home before, and to tell the
truth he never - not in his wildest fantasies - dreamt to ever do it. But
life went mysterious ways, he admitted on a sigh. Thinking about the last
two years, his certainly had.
Coming to Sunnydale had sounded so promising. He would work for an
organization protecting humans from hostiles and for Maggie Walsh, who he
admired beyond reason. To top it off, he'd met the girl of his dreams,
fallen in love with her and somehow she seemed to return his feelings.
But the Initiative turned out not to be what it seemed mostly due to the
fact that Maggie Walsh was a first class nutcase who had obviously lost all
her grip on reality. The girl Riley had fallen in love with was not some
nice blond Californian chick, but the slayer who had never stopped loving
her former boyfriend - a vampire.
Life sucked, and Riley was sure he'd experienced more than his amount of it.
So he cut his strings, joined the Initiative again, left for Belize only to
find himself back in Sunnydale just a few months later, and was now about to
step into the home of the former mentioned ex-boyfriend vampire. Who, to
make things even worse, wasn't an ex anymore.
With another inward sigh, Riley raised his fist to knock on the door, when
it suddenly opened and he was looking into a face he tried really hard to
forget, but it was only one more proof of his bad luck. "Spike," the
commando said his expression carefully blank.
"Oh, what a surprise," the bleached blond vampire had felt left out in
there. He arrived only half an hour ago, but research wasn't one of his
favorites and thanks to the darned chip he couldn't spar with the really hot
brunette slayer, who instead of researching was pacing the hall punching one
fist into the palm of the other hand. Little Bit had developed a sense for
books all of a sudden and was no fun tonight.
So Spike had actually been on his way to find something to pummel or kill,
but meeting one of his most despised people on this planet made this night
suddenly a lot brighter. "May I ask what you're looking for? It can't be the
slayer because she's found herself someone who really can keep up with her
pace, if you understand my words." He ended his sentence with a wink that
left no doubt what he was referring to.
It gave him a real kick to see Riley flinch at his words. It wasn't enough
payback for the chip or the fact that the blond commando had managed to get
into the slayer's pants, yet Spike felt better than he had for a long time.
Riley counted backward from ten and took a deep breath. No way he would let
that hostile get to him, "I need to see Mr. Giles," he said, surprising not
only Spike but himself with the way he calmly added, "and Angel."
The blond vampire narrowed his eyes, and then shrugged, "They're inside."
Stepping out into the night, he left the door open for Riley to enter.
Looking at the back of the commando, he thought about his former intention
for a while. With another shrug, he pushed the idea of killing something
aside and stepped back into the mansion. Maybe this evening wouldn't be as
boring as he'd thought.
*
Everyone was already looking into his direction when Riley stepped into the
hall. Of course, they'd heard his exchange with Spike at the door, and the
commando felt a little blush creeping up his neck. He had to clear his
throat before he was able to make his voice work properly, "Hi, everyone,"
he greeted, not able to curve his lips into a smile at the sight of his
ex-girlfriend sitting comfortably on Angel's lap.
He should've expected it after the display at Giles before, and it also
wasn't any of his business, not anymore, but that didn't mean he could
control the pang of jealousy he felt, making it very clear that his feelings
for Buffy were far from over. He was working hard to get over her the last
months, but now he knew it had been in vain.
He hadn't felt so bad when he'd seen her at Giles' apartment, maybe due to
the confusion of seeing her together with Angel and all the news about her
amnesia, but now it hurt like hell. More so to see the vampire's arm laying
possessively around her waist, his hand almost unconsciously caressing her
belly while he was reading - as Riley could see by the book at Angel's side.
"Hi, Riley," Willow chirped, waving a hand.
He flashed her a quick, grateful smile, then forced his thoughts back to
business and turned towards Giles. He just couldn't look at Buffy and Angel
any longer. "I told my superiors about Angel and... Spike," he began. "They
won't be attacked by our troupes. I talked with General Markham and he was
really open-minded about the subject."
"Listen to him, isn't he the proud soldier-boy?" Spike taunted, his back
leaning against the wall.
Giles shot him a deadly glare that made the blond vampire snicker, and then
looked at Riley, "That's good to hear. We also have to announce some
reinforcements," he informed the commando, nodding towards a spot behind
him.
Riley felt as if he'd been kicked into his gut when he recognized the person
staring at him with unconcealed hostility. With an almost audible snap, his
head jerked back to the watcher, "What is she doing here? She's a killer,
and last thing I heard she was in jail."
"And I'm going back there, after we hopefully succeed in saving your sorry
ass," she shot at him.
"Faith," Angel's voice was gentle but firm and he slightly shook his head.
Now was not the time for personal problems. They were going to face a
dangerous enemy and to overcome it they had to work together not against
each other. "We managed to get her out for a few days," he explained,
looking at Riley, "With the amount danger we're going to face, another
slayer is wasted in jail."
Pushing his personal dislike aside Riley had to admit that Angel was right.
Faith's strength and her fighting skills would be needed desperately. "Just
keep her in check," he said, holding the dark-haired vampire's gaze. "We
don't need accidental deaths on our side."
"Listen, soldier-boy," Faith made a menacing step towards him, but quickly
stopped herself, seeing Angel tense. "On a second thought, forget about it,
you're not worth the effort." With this, she turned and walked into the far
away corner of the hall. Spike tilted his head, and then followed her.
"Faith won't cause any problems," Kate spoke for the first time. "Hi," she
said then. "I'm Kate Lockley."
"She's a friend of Angel's," Cordelia smiled sweetly. "And a detective with
the LAPD," she added loving the incredulous expression on Riley's face.
Certainly, the commando hadn't expected a vampire to work together with the
police.
After a moment of silence, Riley finally said the words he'd come for in the
first place, "I need to know what you're planning. Or rather, we need to
know. The Initiative, that is."
"Maybe you should tell us what you're planning," Buffy said. "How much do
you know about... this?"
"Not as much as you, I think," he replied, focusing on her for the first
time, ignoring the hand that was still holding her, the arm still laying
around her waist, the fact that she was still sitting on the vampire's lap.
"We were just informed that the energy on the hell mouth was increasing and
that was enough to move our squad. We were chosen especially because some of
my men, including myself, have had experience around here."
"So actually you haven't the slightest idea what's going on," the blond
slayer looked at him through narrowed eyes, then threw her hands in the air,
turning her head towards Angel, "and that's the great help we're getting."
He chuckled slightly, "At least they've been trained to fight vampires," he
reminded her.
"Oh, right," her expression brightened, "and then there is Gunn's bunch."
"And there's that," he agreed with a grin. Gunn's friends had arrived in the
afternoon and were now out to - as they'd called it - get an idea of the
area. Gunn had left with them, while the slayers had stayed at the mansion
for another training session. They would patrol later, together with Angel.
"You're telling us that your squad was moved simply because of the
increasing energy of the hell mouth?" Wesley asked.
"Yes," Riley said, then amended, "And because of my experiences at Buffy's
side I knew that could only mean a serious threat." He locked his eyes with
Angel's saying this, the information holding a hidden message that said, I
had her too and I'm not through with her.
To his disappointment, the vampire just smiled, "Good for you. We'll need
every one. So far all we know is that there is a very powerful vampire
coming to Sunnydale, maybe he's already here, we can't be sure of it.
Together with some... uh... old enemies of ours he will probably try to open
the hell mouth. But that's only the beginning. If our informants are telling
the truth, and we believe they are, they will then try to open the Gate of
Hell."
"The Gate of... Hell?" Riley swallowed hard. "What does that mean?"
"The Gate of Hell," Wesley said, nodding at a book lying on the table, "is
the name for the gate that stands for the border between the outer
dimensions and the core of evil. Once opened it frees the true evil, also
called Lucifer or Satan in lack of a better term. Or in plain words, the
Devil. It's not what the bible tells us, some horse-legged creature, pushing
people into fire. No," he shook his head, leaning forward and skipping the
pages of the book, finding another picture, "it is beyond our imagination I
think."
Wesley took his cup of tea and sipped, "Angel has some experience with the
demon dimensions. First hand. He doesn't talk about it, but I gather it
wasn't pleasant. But compared to the core of Hell, the outer dimensions are
a mere afternoon stroll."
Riley stared at the former watcher dread entering his gut, the picture of
what they're going against slowly forming in his mind when the silence was
suddenly shattered by Buffy's shocked gasp, "What does he mean you
experienced the demon dimension first hand?"
... to be continued