bThis I Promise You /b
IBy Jules/i


IbChapter 5/I/b
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

b** Two days later **/b


Adam ran in the Chase mansion getting hit with a major buzz, "Cordelia?!"

He didn't really wait for an answer, then ran up the stairs and threw her bedroom door open, "Cordelia?"


She was back at the window, she heard his voice and turned her head, "Adam!" she ran over to him and threw her arms around his neck. Adam hugged her tightly.

"I came home as soon as I heard darling. How are you doing?" He asked.

"I just can't believe their gone . . . they were murdered by another immortal."

"What? Who?"

"Mac told me, Jonathan Damians. The police think it's a copycat, but Mac says that he's an immortal, a very evil one." She tells him sniffing.

"He is."

"Have you met him?" Cordelia asks, walking downstairs with him.

Adam sighs, then nods his head, "I used to be his trainer, I taught him when he first found out he was an immortal, then about 200 years ago, he snapped. Jon became obsessed with being the last immortal, and believing that everyone else was below him. He started going after newbies, immies, and mortals. Literally leaving a path of slaughtered bodies behind him. It became a new game to him; killing more and then he started killing important people, seeing whom he could murder with out getting caught. He kills prominent citizen, then goes after even more people in the same town, then he moves on. I'm sorry to say, your parents are just the latest in a long line of murders."

"But he's still here right? He hasn't killed his other victims yet." Cordelia tells him, the wheels turning in her head.

"Cordelia, don't even think about it. Mac and I will take care of it." Adam tells her.

"But . . ." Cordelia tries to protest, but is interrupted.

"Cordelia, darling, you must understand, Jon is a very powerful and experience immortal. You are still new to this, and you've never even taken anyone's head. Now please, promise me, if you hear anything, you'll tell Dunc or me."

"I . . ."

"Promise me." Adam demanded.

Cordelia nodded her head, "Alright, I promise." What Adam didn't see however, was Cordelia's hands, which had her fingers crossed behind her back.


~*~


b** Angel's apartment **/b


Angel paced before his fireplace, his mind torn. He wanted to go help Cordelia, it was killing him to think she was in pain.

She hadn't been to school all week, and no one had seen her, so he had no idea whether or not she was ok.

Another part of him demanded to know why he was so concerned about her wellbeing. It wasn't like they were friends or anything, acquaintances at best . . . he wasn't supposed to worry about her so much . . . he wasn't allowed to.

Angel growled in frustrations, then left the mansion slamming the door behind him, to pick up Buffy for another night of patrol.


b** The graveyard **
** Hours later **/b

Angel and Buffy had dusted six vamps and they were about to move on, when they heard a struggle in the bushes.

They nodded to each other, and one snuck up on both sides. Buffy jumped in and punched a guy holding some woman. The woman immediately ran off.

The man fought back with Buffy with surprising strength. Angel came to the rescue, pulling the dude off Buffy.

Punches, kicks, and insults were thrown between the three, it was obvious that the guy had been trying to do something. He pulled a knife and started expertly slashing at the slayer and the handsome vampire. He got Angel on the arm, and Buffy on the leg.

Buffy grabbed him by his neck, and suddenly, there was a snap from his neck, and the man stopped struggling, and went limp. She dropped the body in shock.


She backed away, looking at her hand, "Oh God . . . I killed someone! I killed somebody! Oh God, oh God, oh God . . ."

Angel snapped out of his shock of seeing her kill someone, then shook Buffy's shoulders, "Buffy, it's ok, you did what you had to do."

"Angel, I killed someone. I broke someone's neck! What kind of person snaps a guy's neck? I knew I was stronger then him, no matter how bad the guy was, he had no chance against me . . ."

Angel took a look at the body and noticed something long under his trench coat. Carefully he opened it and pulled out a sword.

"What's that?" Buffy asked, noticing Angel's find.

"It appears to be a Katana, a Japanese sword."

"Why would he be carrying a sword in this day in age." Buffy asks calming down.

"That is a good question."

"To Giles?" Buffy asks, still wringing her hands.

"Yeah . . ."

Buffy turns and starts to the high school, Angel took one last look around, a quick glance at the body, then followed her.


~*~


b** The library **/b


Giles was writing in his watcher's journal when Angel and Buffy came in, carrying a very old sword, and Buffy looking quite agitated.

"Oh dear, what's happened?"

"I killed someone." Buffy blurted out, then quickly ran through what had happened.


Giles listened carefully, then gave his opinion, "Buffy, he obviously gave you no choice in the matter, you did what had to be done . . . Now where did that beautiful sword come from."

"I found it in his coat." Angel answered.

Giles takes the sword and examines it, "Oh my, I'm no expert, but this is at least a century old, and by the looks of it, it's used often, and recently . . . but that's all I can tell. I'll give this to Richie, his boss is a swords expert, he will be able to tell us more."

"Ok, can I go home then? It's been a long night . . ." Buffy sighs.

"Of course, Angel, see her home would you?"

"Of course." Agrees Angel.


~*~


b** The graveyard **/b


Jonathan Damians lungs filled with air once more. He stood up, cracks his stiff neck, and then shakes himself out.

"That bitch killed me! And she let my pray get away. She will pay for this." Jon reached for his sword, only to find it missing, "One of them stole my katana! I love that sword! I stole it from a victim 150 years ago! Damn it! For this, I will kill you both twice." Then he stalks off into the night, pissed as hell.


~*~


b** A few days later ** /b


Buffy was walking down the street, on her way home from patrol, when she saw him . . . She stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh my . . ." She gasped, whispering to herself, "How is that possible, I snapped his neck, how the hell is he alive . . . of course that would explain why he was so strong. But what is he?"


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~