"What are we doing?" He asked, as they crossed the street to City Hall.
Several lights still burned bright in the building and they went in. Buffy
already knew the way to the Mayor's office and went straight there.
Knocking softly, she heard a familiar arrogant voice call out cheerily.
"Come in!" She went in, closely followed by Angel. Richard Wilkins sat behind his desk, looking exactly as he had just before he became a big snake.
"Mr. Mayor. I'm looking for someone." She said without preamble. He looked up at the two people standing in his office and smiled.
"Who are you?"
"I'm looking for someone." Buffy repeated with a pleasant smile.
"Who might that be, young lady? Usually people don't just barge into my office at all hours of the night." He said, with the same bland smile she knew already.
"Johanna." She said. He visibly blanched, before pushing the smile back onto his face.
"Who are you?" He demanded, his voice becoming harsher.
"I'm... a friend." She said.
"I don't need any friends, young lady."
"I didn't say I was yours." She told him. She held up her crossbow and pointed it directly at his heart.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know any Johanna." He said.
"I don't believe you. The rest of this town doesn't know who you are, what you are, but I do. And I don't believe for a second that you don't know where she is." Surprisingly, the Mayor laughed.
"Who am I?" He asked.
"You're an evil son of a bitch who built this town for demons to feed on. And I'll put money on you being a damn sight older than you look." She responded. He nodded.
"You show initiative little girl. What's your name?" Realising he wouldn't give any information without receiving any, she spoke.
"I'm Norma Jeane Baker." She said, trying to think of a name.
"Where are you from?"
"What is this, twenty questions?"
"Information for information. A fair trade, especially as you have me at a disadvantage." He pointed to the crossbow. Well, one more lie wouldn't hurt.
"I'm from Iowa. I'm in town visiting a friend."
"A friend called Johanna?"
"You've got my drift." She said.
"Would this friend have an allergy to sunlight?" He asked. Buffy nodded.
"Where is she?" She asked. "I'm only going to ask so many more times before I put this bolt through your heart."
"Well... You seem to have me over a barrel." He laughed. "Well, she's probably at the school right now, bringing Hell to Earth."
"What?"
"I assume you know of her purpose. It's tonight." He laughed. Buffy looked at Angel quickly, knowing that Wilkins wasn't lying. She turned back and let the bolt fly. It embedded itself in the wall just above Wilkins' head.
"Thanks for your time, Mr. Mayor." She said, clearly not meaning it.
They ran back to the school. The dance was still in full swing, but a cursory inspection of the exits of the building showed them to be guarded by vampires. Taking the first two out easily, Buffy and Angel ran inside towards the library.
"How do you know where it is?" Angel asked.
"Research." She said cryptically. At least fourteen vampires were stood in a circle in the library. Buffy and Angel were stood outside, watching through the window.
"They figured it was easier to open it from here than underground, huh?"
"From what I know, she doesn't like to get dirty." Angel said of the vampire in the middle of the circle, a tall, thin female vampire with long red hair.
"How do you know her?"
"By reputation. Never met her." He said. "Can we take all of them?"
"I don't know. I have a bunch of weapons in my locker." Buffy said. "Wait here."
"No. I'm coming with you. We shouldn't be separated." Angel said. She nodded and they ran down the corridor towards her locker. Once there, she ripped the door off, having forgotten her combination. She gave him half the weapons, taking the rest for herself.
"We need to work quickly. Once the vampires outside realise something's gone wrong, they might start snacking on the kids at the dance." Buffy said, as they rushed back to the library.
"Count of three?" She asked.
"Nah." He said with a smile.
"Sure." They burst in through the doors, distracting the vampires. Angel and Buffy worked together as they always had done, instinctively, covering for each other as if they'd been doing this forever. One by one, the numbers of the vampires were depleted until only Johanna, still chanting, remained.
"Angel, go out and find the other vampires. We can't let them attack the gym."
"I..."
"Do it." She said.
"Who the Hell are you?" Johanna looked up from her chanting.
"I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, who the Hell are you?"
"As regards you, little girl, I'm the Grim Reaper."
"Oh. That's disappointing. There was me hoping for a good fight, and you tell me we're going to play chess instead." Buffy shot back. Johanna's face filled with rage. Buffy approached. Johanna threw down the book she was reading from, and more importantly, her amulet. The ground shook a little, but stopped after only a second.
"I'm going to kill you." Johanna said.
"They all say that." Buffy said. "What makes you different?"
"I'm actually going to do it." Johanna lunged at Buffy, and they traded blows.
"That's a pretty good answer. Most of these guys, they try to out-pun me. You go for the simple. I like it." Buffy slammed her fist into Johanna's face. She pulled out her stake.
"It's still going to open. Unless you destroy my amulet, you die anyway."
"Thanks for the tip." Buffy said, as she thrust her stake into Johanna's heart. The vampire looked utterly surprised, before exploding into dust. Buffy looked for the amulet. The ground shook again. She saw the book on the ground, and picked it up. Underneath was the amulet.
"What the Hell do I do with this?"
"Well trying burning it." Peggy-Sue had appeared at the door.
"Peggy-Sue?"
"I felt the tremors. I came here."
"You shouldn't have."
"I know how to destroy it. But Rory has the powder for the Living Flame." Peggy-Sue said.
"We should find him."
"I'm here! I'm here!" Rory came in, wheezing from running so fast. He pulled out a bag.
"Where can we do this?"
"In the centre of the circle." Peggy-Sue said, taking the bag. "Rory, I need your Zippo lighter."
"Sure." He tossed it to her. She poured the powder onto the floor, igniting it with the lighter.
"The amulet?" She asked, surprising Buffy with her level-headed calmness. Buffy handed it to her. The powder was now a green flame, and she put the amulet into it, and stood back. The flamer shot up several feet, before dying out. All that was left on the floor was a sooty mark. The tremors stopped immediately.
"Is that it?"
"Yeah."
"Vampires, outside." Buffy said. "We need to stop them."
"All done." Angel appeared at the door. "Not very clever vampires either."
"We're done? That's it?"
"Yeah."
"Oh." Excitement filled her voice, but it was tinged with sadness. This meant she had to go home. Home to her Angel-less future. Angel seemed to realise much the same.
"You can go home." He said, his eyes betraying his sadness.
"Yeah." She repeated. "Great." He put his arm around her.
"Don't worry Buffy. I can always, I don't know, visit or something."
"No. No you can't. That's not possible." She laughed harshly, sadly.
"Why?"
"Because... Where I go, you can't follow." She said.
"Oh."
"I wish you could. But you can't."
"We should... Go back to the dance." Peggy-Sue said, pulling Rory out of the room. Neither Buffy nor Angel noticed their exit.
"I wish you could," She said, her voice cracking slightly.
"But I can't. I understand."
"Thank you. You always do."
"When will you go back?"
"I guess right away." She said. He put his arms tightly around her. Suddenly, the floodgates burst open and tears streamed down Buffy's cheeks.
"I... I don't want to go... I want to stay here with you... I...." She sobbed.
"Shh, shh, don't worry Buffy. It's OK."
"No, it's really not. If you knew..." She stopped. She couldn't say anything to him. Nothing. Much as she wanted to. Giles had been firm on that one. No mentioning curses or anything. And she knew that was the way it had to be. She forced herself to stop crying.
"Where did Peggy-Sue and Rory go?" She asked.
"They probably wanted to give us a moment alone." He said, brushing his lips against her forehead.
"We should find them. I want to say goodbye." She said, wiping her eyes. She took his hand and they walked together, away from the library.
Peggy-Sue and Rory had accompanied them back to Charlton's house after the four spent a little longer at the dance. Buffy had danced with Rory, Peggy- Sue had danced with Angel and Barbara-Ann tried once more to snag Angel. They were now doing what Riley would have called de-briefing. Buffy shuddered involuntarily at the thought of Riley. She looked up at Angel and felt better. De-briefing in this case meant drinking tea and talking about the dance.
"Everything is well?" Charlton asked for what seemed like the fiftieth time.
"Absolutely. Although it could have been bad if it weren't for Peggy-Sue and Rory." Buffy smiled gratefully at the two.
"It's nothing. We wanted to help." Rory said. She smiled.
"Thank you. It definitely comes under the heading of Above And Beyond." Buffy smiled. The two students stood up.
"We should get home now." Peggy-Sue said. Buffy rose and hugged the girl warmly.
"Bye." She said.
"It was great to meet you Buffy." The girl said.
"You too. And you Rory," Buffy said, giving him a hug too. He grinned.
"See you around maybe?"
"Stranger things have happened." She said. If she happened to go visiting with Xander, you never knew. Then, they were gone. Charlton excused himself and Buffy and Angel were alone.
"I... I'm going to miss you." She said.
"I'm going to miss you too." He said.
"The sun will be coming up in a while." She told him.
"Yeah."
"Angel..." She was going to say it. Yes, she was. "I love you." She told him. He smiled, a tear forming in his eye.
"I love you too." He said with much more ease than he would in forty years.
"Take care of yourself, OK?" She said.
"Sure."
"Promise?" She demanded.
"Yes." He nodded. She kissed him once, softly.
"Bye, Angel." She said, trying so hard not to cry. He stood up and went to the door.
"Goodbye Buffy." He left, not daring to look back at the girl he loved. She composed herself, and stood. Charlton came back in.
"Are you ready, Buffy?"
"Yeah. Can I take all my new clothes home? Vintage is so in right now."
"I'm sure you can." He smiled warmly at her. "Why don't you pack while I get the car ready to go to the magic shop."
"Sure." She nodded. This was harder than she'd expected. But for once, it was her walking away from Angel. Not that it was much comfort to know, but still.... She'd recover. She always did, didn't she?
"Come in!" She went in, closely followed by Angel. Richard Wilkins sat behind his desk, looking exactly as he had just before he became a big snake.
"Mr. Mayor. I'm looking for someone." She said without preamble. He looked up at the two people standing in his office and smiled.
"Who are you?"
"I'm looking for someone." Buffy repeated with a pleasant smile.
"Who might that be, young lady? Usually people don't just barge into my office at all hours of the night." He said, with the same bland smile she knew already.
"Johanna." She said. He visibly blanched, before pushing the smile back onto his face.
"Who are you?" He demanded, his voice becoming harsher.
"I'm... a friend." She said.
"I don't need any friends, young lady."
"I didn't say I was yours." She told him. She held up her crossbow and pointed it directly at his heart.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know any Johanna." He said.
"I don't believe you. The rest of this town doesn't know who you are, what you are, but I do. And I don't believe for a second that you don't know where she is." Surprisingly, the Mayor laughed.
"Who am I?" He asked.
"You're an evil son of a bitch who built this town for demons to feed on. And I'll put money on you being a damn sight older than you look." She responded. He nodded.
"You show initiative little girl. What's your name?" Realising he wouldn't give any information without receiving any, she spoke.
"I'm Norma Jeane Baker." She said, trying to think of a name.
"Where are you from?"
"What is this, twenty questions?"
"Information for information. A fair trade, especially as you have me at a disadvantage." He pointed to the crossbow. Well, one more lie wouldn't hurt.
"I'm from Iowa. I'm in town visiting a friend."
"A friend called Johanna?"
"You've got my drift." She said.
"Would this friend have an allergy to sunlight?" He asked. Buffy nodded.
"Where is she?" She asked. "I'm only going to ask so many more times before I put this bolt through your heart."
"Well... You seem to have me over a barrel." He laughed. "Well, she's probably at the school right now, bringing Hell to Earth."
"What?"
"I assume you know of her purpose. It's tonight." He laughed. Buffy looked at Angel quickly, knowing that Wilkins wasn't lying. She turned back and let the bolt fly. It embedded itself in the wall just above Wilkins' head.
"Thanks for your time, Mr. Mayor." She said, clearly not meaning it.
They ran back to the school. The dance was still in full swing, but a cursory inspection of the exits of the building showed them to be guarded by vampires. Taking the first two out easily, Buffy and Angel ran inside towards the library.
"How do you know where it is?" Angel asked.
"Research." She said cryptically. At least fourteen vampires were stood in a circle in the library. Buffy and Angel were stood outside, watching through the window.
"They figured it was easier to open it from here than underground, huh?"
"From what I know, she doesn't like to get dirty." Angel said of the vampire in the middle of the circle, a tall, thin female vampire with long red hair.
"How do you know her?"
"By reputation. Never met her." He said. "Can we take all of them?"
"I don't know. I have a bunch of weapons in my locker." Buffy said. "Wait here."
"No. I'm coming with you. We shouldn't be separated." Angel said. She nodded and they ran down the corridor towards her locker. Once there, she ripped the door off, having forgotten her combination. She gave him half the weapons, taking the rest for herself.
"We need to work quickly. Once the vampires outside realise something's gone wrong, they might start snacking on the kids at the dance." Buffy said, as they rushed back to the library.
"Count of three?" She asked.
"Nah." He said with a smile.
"Sure." They burst in through the doors, distracting the vampires. Angel and Buffy worked together as they always had done, instinctively, covering for each other as if they'd been doing this forever. One by one, the numbers of the vampires were depleted until only Johanna, still chanting, remained.
"Angel, go out and find the other vampires. We can't let them attack the gym."
"I..."
"Do it." She said.
"Who the Hell are you?" Johanna looked up from her chanting.
"I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, who the Hell are you?"
"As regards you, little girl, I'm the Grim Reaper."
"Oh. That's disappointing. There was me hoping for a good fight, and you tell me we're going to play chess instead." Buffy shot back. Johanna's face filled with rage. Buffy approached. Johanna threw down the book she was reading from, and more importantly, her amulet. The ground shook a little, but stopped after only a second.
"I'm going to kill you." Johanna said.
"They all say that." Buffy said. "What makes you different?"
"I'm actually going to do it." Johanna lunged at Buffy, and they traded blows.
"That's a pretty good answer. Most of these guys, they try to out-pun me. You go for the simple. I like it." Buffy slammed her fist into Johanna's face. She pulled out her stake.
"It's still going to open. Unless you destroy my amulet, you die anyway."
"Thanks for the tip." Buffy said, as she thrust her stake into Johanna's heart. The vampire looked utterly surprised, before exploding into dust. Buffy looked for the amulet. The ground shook again. She saw the book on the ground, and picked it up. Underneath was the amulet.
"What the Hell do I do with this?"
"Well trying burning it." Peggy-Sue had appeared at the door.
"Peggy-Sue?"
"I felt the tremors. I came here."
"You shouldn't have."
"I know how to destroy it. But Rory has the powder for the Living Flame." Peggy-Sue said.
"We should find him."
"I'm here! I'm here!" Rory came in, wheezing from running so fast. He pulled out a bag.
"Where can we do this?"
"In the centre of the circle." Peggy-Sue said, taking the bag. "Rory, I need your Zippo lighter."
"Sure." He tossed it to her. She poured the powder onto the floor, igniting it with the lighter.
"The amulet?" She asked, surprising Buffy with her level-headed calmness. Buffy handed it to her. The powder was now a green flame, and she put the amulet into it, and stood back. The flamer shot up several feet, before dying out. All that was left on the floor was a sooty mark. The tremors stopped immediately.
"Is that it?"
"Yeah."
"Vampires, outside." Buffy said. "We need to stop them."
"All done." Angel appeared at the door. "Not very clever vampires either."
"We're done? That's it?"
"Yeah."
"Oh." Excitement filled her voice, but it was tinged with sadness. This meant she had to go home. Home to her Angel-less future. Angel seemed to realise much the same.
"You can go home." He said, his eyes betraying his sadness.
"Yeah." She repeated. "Great." He put his arm around her.
"Don't worry Buffy. I can always, I don't know, visit or something."
"No. No you can't. That's not possible." She laughed harshly, sadly.
"Why?"
"Because... Where I go, you can't follow." She said.
"Oh."
"I wish you could. But you can't."
"We should... Go back to the dance." Peggy-Sue said, pulling Rory out of the room. Neither Buffy nor Angel noticed their exit.
"I wish you could," She said, her voice cracking slightly.
"But I can't. I understand."
"Thank you. You always do."
"When will you go back?"
"I guess right away." She said. He put his arms tightly around her. Suddenly, the floodgates burst open and tears streamed down Buffy's cheeks.
"I... I don't want to go... I want to stay here with you... I...." She sobbed.
"Shh, shh, don't worry Buffy. It's OK."
"No, it's really not. If you knew..." She stopped. She couldn't say anything to him. Nothing. Much as she wanted to. Giles had been firm on that one. No mentioning curses or anything. And she knew that was the way it had to be. She forced herself to stop crying.
"Where did Peggy-Sue and Rory go?" She asked.
"They probably wanted to give us a moment alone." He said, brushing his lips against her forehead.
"We should find them. I want to say goodbye." She said, wiping her eyes. She took his hand and they walked together, away from the library.
Peggy-Sue and Rory had accompanied them back to Charlton's house after the four spent a little longer at the dance. Buffy had danced with Rory, Peggy- Sue had danced with Angel and Barbara-Ann tried once more to snag Angel. They were now doing what Riley would have called de-briefing. Buffy shuddered involuntarily at the thought of Riley. She looked up at Angel and felt better. De-briefing in this case meant drinking tea and talking about the dance.
"Everything is well?" Charlton asked for what seemed like the fiftieth time.
"Absolutely. Although it could have been bad if it weren't for Peggy-Sue and Rory." Buffy smiled gratefully at the two.
"It's nothing. We wanted to help." Rory said. She smiled.
"Thank you. It definitely comes under the heading of Above And Beyond." Buffy smiled. The two students stood up.
"We should get home now." Peggy-Sue said. Buffy rose and hugged the girl warmly.
"Bye." She said.
"It was great to meet you Buffy." The girl said.
"You too. And you Rory," Buffy said, giving him a hug too. He grinned.
"See you around maybe?"
"Stranger things have happened." She said. If she happened to go visiting with Xander, you never knew. Then, they were gone. Charlton excused himself and Buffy and Angel were alone.
"I... I'm going to miss you." She said.
"I'm going to miss you too." He said.
"The sun will be coming up in a while." She told him.
"Yeah."
"Angel..." She was going to say it. Yes, she was. "I love you." She told him. He smiled, a tear forming in his eye.
"I love you too." He said with much more ease than he would in forty years.
"Take care of yourself, OK?" She said.
"Sure."
"Promise?" She demanded.
"Yes." He nodded. She kissed him once, softly.
"Bye, Angel." She said, trying so hard not to cry. He stood up and went to the door.
"Goodbye Buffy." He left, not daring to look back at the girl he loved. She composed herself, and stood. Charlton came back in.
"Are you ready, Buffy?"
"Yeah. Can I take all my new clothes home? Vintage is so in right now."
"I'm sure you can." He smiled warmly at her. "Why don't you pack while I get the car ready to go to the magic shop."
"Sure." She nodded. This was harder than she'd expected. But for once, it was her walking away from Angel. Not that it was much comfort to know, but still.... She'd recover. She always did, didn't she?
