~*Eight*~
"There's just no rhyme or reason,
Only a sense of completion,
And in your eyes,
I see the missing pieces,
And searching for,
I think I found my way home…"
-- Savage Garden
Buffy sighed as she entered the hotel, adjusting the strap of her weapons bag on her shoulder. She could feel Angel following closely behind her, which made her feel somehow reassured. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the bright, welcoming light of the hotel lobby. She stopped, her gaze searching for someone she would know.
"Anne!" Matt's voice grabbed her attention.
She looked over to see the young man standing next to a conference room. He motioned with his arm for her to join him. She nodded, throwing a quick glance to Angel to communicate her message.
An almost imperceptible nod from him assured her that he would go with her. With a heavy sigh, she followed the young man into the conference room. Once inside, she saw the two civilians they had rescued from the alley.
"Miss Summers." The older man got up to greet her. He spoke with a heavy British accent. He wore a three-piece suit, and a pair of immaculate spectacles atop his nose. "I am very honored to meet you." He extended his hand towards her.
She nodded, letting the weapons bag slide from her shoulder and fall to the floor. She took the man's hand in her own and shook it firmly, "I'm not sure why you'd be honored… but thank you." She replied.
He smiled, "My name is Alfred Sheffield. I am a former member of the Watcher's Council. I was contacted by Mr. Travers from England about your stay in our city…"
Buffy winced slightly at the sound of the Head of the Watcher's Council's name. She forced a tight smile, "It's nice to meet you Mr. Sheffield." She said, forcing herself to be polite.
He cleared his throat, wiping his face with a handkerchief from his coat pocket. "I have to say, Lily and I are grateful for your timely arrival in the alley…"
"Oh," She grinned, "no problem. Matt said you needed some help… 'sides, it's sorta my job. You know, slaying vampires."
He nodded, "Even so, we are deeply indebted to you and to..." He looked at her quizzically, his eyes traveling from her face to the man standing silently, almost protectively, behind her.
She raised an eyebrow, as she turned to look around. "Oh…" She said, feeling a slight bit foolish, "Um… this is Angel." She said, indicating her companion.
Angel stepped forward slightly, his expression ever serious and somber. He nodded slightly but said nothing.
Alfred acknowledged the other man with a warm smile before returning his attention to Buffy. "I was informed by Mr. Travers that you are here on a mission… he said something about a gang of vampires. I believe they are known as the Journeyers?"
Buffy nodded, leaning against the table's edge. "Yeah. They also go by the Klak. I'm still trying to collect all the info on them."
The former Watcher looked over at the girl standing next to him. The young woman, whom he had referred to as Lily, quickly held out a large book towards him. He took it, flipping through its dusty pages. Finally he stopped and set it down in front of Buffy. He looked meaningfully at her for a moment.
Buffy raised an eyebrow, leaning over the tome to get a better look. Angel stepped in next to her, craning his neck to get a good view of the book. His body brushed ever so slightly against her own. She held back a shiver, trying not to take delight in this small amount of contact. She forced her mind to concentrate on the words that strew the pages before her. The text was written in curly, old script. The language was equally archaic and it took her a moment to adjust. Her eyes scanned over the page quickly, finally coming to a rest at a few lines that stood out from the rest of the text. They were written in red ink and were heavily slanted, as if in italics. They were captured within a set of quotation marks, and grabbed her attention the moment she saw them.
"…only by Tith shall it be deceived. Wielded by the Slayer, her Warrior by her side, with the strength of Both the Klak shall be defied. Through the torment, the Warrior must stay strong, fight for the Justice and not for the Wrong. Else the Earth and her Children shall be lit aflame, Elevation attained shall Humanity maim." Angel read the lines out loud, his voice low and full of weight. The moment he finished the last line, Buffy looked up at him, her eyes immediately finding his. She saw determination mixed with only a small amount of fear in his gaze. His hand had found its way to her arm and was now holding it gently but firmly.
"The Prophecy…" She whispered, suddenly unaware of the others in the room. "It's the rest of the Prophecy…"
Angel nodded slowly, swallowing.
"You mean there's more to this?" Matt piped up, his eyes going wide. "We searched through practically every book in the whole hotel, but we didn't find any other references to this vampire gang."
Buffy blinked, forcing her mind back to the present. She looked over at Matt. "Yeah." She finally said, "There are a few lines that come before this. We found them in some of our own books…"
"We were unsure of what to make of all of this." Alfred admitted, nudging the book towards Buffy, "But we saw mention of the Slayer in it. We thought it would be wise to give it to you."
"Thank you." She said, running her fingers over the worn page. She forced a tight smile, "This is a ton of help… hopefully, with this, we'll be able to stop the Klak when the time comes."
Lily yawned tiredly, one of her hands brushing over her battered face.
As if on cue, Alfred closed the book and handed it to Buffy, "Anything we can do to help the Slayer." He said warmly, "Especially one who has so generously saved our lives today."
"We'll get on this right away." Buffy took the book in her arms, hugging its heavy weight to her chest, "and we'll keep you updated on anything that comes up." She looked towards Angel.
He nodded and began to walk towards the door. Buffy quickly followed, nodding her goodbye to the three in the room, "It was nice meeting you." She said quickly, "Thank you again for the help!"
She waited until the door closed behind her before she looked towards Angel. He was watching her with an intent gaze. Neither said anything as they made their way towards the elevators. For the moment, Buffy was glad that she didn't have to talk. She wasn't quite sure what would have come out of her mouth if she had been forced to speak. The elevator ride was short and silent. Somehow, without even discussing it, they both had decided to go to Buffy's room on the 12th floor. It wasn't until they had reached the safety of the room did someone finally break the silence.
"I should probably call Giles and tell him about this." Buffy said, taking her coat off and throwing it on the recliner while setting the book down on the coffee table. She walked into her own room, leaving Angel in the living room.
"Yeah, and Wesley too." Angel's voice was slightly muffled by the wall that separated them.
Buffy sighed, gently working her fingers into the taunt muscles of her neck as she looked at the clock. It was only eleven, still very early by Slayer standards. She had the sinking feeling that it was going to be a long night. She took off the heavy sweater she was wearing, trading it for a lighter cream-colored turtleneck. As she walked back out towards the living room, she picked up her brush off the nightstand.
Angel had settled himself on the couch. His coat had been discarded on the recliner next to her own. She stopped in the doorway just to observe him. He was carefully massaging the muscles in his right shoulder and upper arm. He was sitting at one end of the couch; his back leaned comfortably against the cushions. She watched him for a few moments before making her way silently towards him.
As if sensing her presence, he looked up at her as she approached.
"You should change the bandage." She said, already picking up the med kit from where she had discarded it the previous night.
He shrugged, his hand sliding away from his injury. "It's pretty much healed. Just a little sore."
"You can never be too cautious." She replied, sitting down next to him on the couch, "Besides… I'm getting the feeling we're going to need you at full strength soon."
He nodded his agreement. His expression became darker as he thought of the coming battle.
She opened the med kit, already taking out fresh bandages, tape, and rubbing alcohol. Without even a second thought, she reached over towards him and began unbuttoning his shirt.
"We're going to have to figure out how to decrypt this Prophecy." His voice was soft and close to her ear as she carefully pulled the silky material from his injured shoulder.
"Yeah," She replied, reaching for the scissors with one hand and the book with the other. "I know." She laid the book down on his lap and then proceeded to work on removing the old bandage with the scissors.
With his free hand, he began to flip through the large volume. He opened the book to the page they had read before. His eyes skimmed over the lines again, trying to memorize them.
She snuck a glance at the page open on his lap as she worked to redress the wound. "Boy, they really knew how to be concise back in the day." She commented, her fingers working diligently, "who knew you could pack that much info into fourteen lines?"
"Yeah," His voice was soft as his fingers brushed over the words in red ink. He sighed. With his free hand, he retrieved the notepad they had been working on from the coffee table. On the first page, the first couple lines of the Prophecy had already been written out. Now, he picked up a pen and proceeded to copy the rest of the words onto the page. When he was finished, he held the pad away from him, as if assessing what he saw there.
Buffy quickly finished taping the new bandage into place. She ran her fingers along his shoulder, making sure it was tight enough. She felt his muscles relax under her touch and she allowed a small smile to creep over her lips. Carefully, she pulled his shirt back over the wound. She let her hand drop into her lap when she was done. She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes, reveling in the harmony that the silence had brought. Even with the world in danger, somehow she felt safe and content to be just sitting on the couch next to Angel.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself staring into two dark pools of chocolate. The notepad had been forgotten and now lay on his lap, next to the book. He was only an inch away from her. His nose almost brushing her own. She felt her heartbeat begin to quicken and her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes wandered slowly from his gaze down to his lips. A part of her was screaming to back away, before she could give into temptation. But the rest of her was telling her to just lean in that one more inch to close the schism that two and a half years had created. She was torn by the decision she knew she'd have to make.
But, instead, he made it for her. Slowly, as if not to scare her, he withdrew from her. He leaned away, widening the gap between their lips and their hopes. She watched him, ignoring the twinge of pain that had begun to rise in her chest. No matter how much they wanted it, they knew they couldn't go back. They couldn't just forget the past two and a half years… because eventually, it would catch up with them.
She suddenly began to feel very light-headed, and she finally realized that she had forgotten to breath. Shakily, she took in a large breath of air, letting it flow into her chest and remind her where she was. He, too, took in a breath of unneeded oxygen, his eyes averting her face.
"So…" She said shakily, picking up the notepad from his lap, "What've we got?"
"Um…" He blinked a few times, refocusing his attention on the words before him. "Not quite sure yet. There are some things that just don't seem to make sense."
She nodded, forcing her heart to forget the moment they had just shared. She began to read the words aloud, as if hearing the words might reveal something more than just reading them.
"The Klak will assemble and the Guardian will rise,
Fire joins Water, which Nature defies.
Stars from the Heavens will bring the Frost,
And a Life twice mislaid must then be thrice lost.
By this, Elevation shall be achieved,
Only by Tith shall it be deceived.
Wielded by the Slayer, her Warrior by her side,
With the strength of Both the Klak shall be defied.
Through the torment, the Warrior must stay strong,
Fight for the Justice and not for the Wrong.
Else the Earth and her Children shall be lit aflame,
Elevation attained shall Humanity maim."
"Well," He commented after she had finished reading the Prophecy. "We know one thing for sure." He pointed to the middle of the passage, "You and I are definitely key ingredients in this recipe."
She nodded, "The Slayer and her Warrior…" She said, looking up at him, "That's us."
He grinned lopsidedly, leaning back against the cushions of the couch. "I can't say they're very original with the titles… always the same ones."
She chuckled, rolling her head slowly from one side to the other to stretch her neck muscles. "I say it's time to put on our Giles caps and get researching." She looked at him, "This calls for coffee and doughnuts!" She stopped in mid-thought, cocking her head to one side, "Do you think they have doughnuts on the room service menu?"
He laughed, "Not sure… but you'll probably be able to find a fitting replacement if they don't."
Satisfied by that thought, she got off the couch and retrieved the room service menu from the table; she looked over at him, "Anything to drink for you?" She asked.
He shook his head, "No, I'm good. I'm already jittery as it is, I don't think caffeine is a good idea tonight."
"Suit yourself." She said with shrug, already having seized the cordless phone from its base stand.
* * *
Angel looked wearily over at the analog clock that sat atop the fireplace mantle. He sighed, it was almost 3:00 in the morning. He looked back down at the large book that lay out before him, the words on the page not making any more sense than they had four hours ago. After room service had arrived with pastries galore, they had gotten down to doing some serious research. They had pushed back the couches and the coffee table to make a lot of empty research space in the middle of the living room floor. Now, Buffy lay sprawled out on the large oriental rug with a laptop in front of her, scrolling randomly down the page. Off to one side were several empty mugs that had at one point been filled to the brim with coffee. A few forgotten doughnuts still lay atop the room service cart, Angel had no doubt that given time, they would be gone too.
A resigned groan from the direction of the computer assured him that he wasn't the only one who wasn't getting anywhere.
Buffy peaked her head up from over the laptop. She yawned, stretching for a moment, "So… have you found anything?"
He shook his head, shifting his position so that he was leaning up against the wall. He flipped another page in the book in front of him, to prove his point, "Nada. I can't find any mention of this Tith thing at all… and nowhere does it give a clue where this is supposed to take place." He rubbed a tired hand over the ridge of his eyebrow, letting his spine relax against the wall behind him. "Where Fire joins Water… what do you suppose that means?"
She sat up, giving the laptop another cursory glance, "I don't know. I don't know this city well enough. Maybe it's talking about some special effects show… you know, where they light the water on fire? I've seen them do it before… well, not seen them, seen them, but I saw them do it on a Christmas special in Vegas on TV."
He nodded, "Yeah, I wonder if they ever have shows like that in Chicago." He looked at her, "But that would mean there would be a lot of people around."
"Oh, boy." She closed her eyes for a moment, "Don't you just love the big gatherings where there are all those innocents standing by, just waiting to get mauled and killed?" Her tone was sarcastic.
"He shrugged, "If that's what it is… I don't think we have a choice. It seems to me that everything has already been predetermined."
She groaned, making a face at him, "I'm really getting tired of this own predestination thing. It gets really old after a few armageddons."
He smiled, edging his way towards where she had situated herself on the floor. "Again… I don't think we have a choice."
She looked at him ruefully, stifling a yawn. "And what the heck is Tith?" She asked, looking back down at the Prophecy they had both copied over a dozen times already. "I mean… 'Elevation shall be achieved, only by Tith shall it be deceived.' OK, so we know that this Tith is what's going to stop the Elevation. But is it a person? A thing? Maybe a demon?" She looked at him, "How are we supposed to use it or him or whatever it is, if we don't know what it is?"
He watched the frustration overcome her features. Inwardly, he chuckled, Buffy had never been one to sit around and do research… that had always been Giles' department. He took the page that she was currently brandishing at him from her fingers. He flattened it out on the ground, drawing her attention back to the words, "Well, that line is immediately followed by 'wielded by the Slayer.' I'll bet you anything that this Tith is a weapon of some sort… something that you have to wield."
"Yeah," She agreed grudgingly, "And I'll bet you it's a sword." She stuck her tongue out, "It's always a sword. You'd think they'd get a little more original once in a while. I mean… I wouldn't mind using an axe sometime, or maybe a quarterstaff. But no, it's always a sword." She waved her hands around, "I guess it just doesn't look menacing enough if I go in wielding a mace or something."
Her words immediately brought the image to his head. He could imagine her barging into a warehouse, a large mace in hand and determination in her eyes. He looked at her, "Actually… that would probably look pretty menacing…"
She rolled her eyes, nudging his good shoulder lightly, "You know what I mean." She yawned again, blinking her eyes a few times to refocus.
He leaned over her, looking at the document she had pulled up on the computer. He sighed, and shook his head. "I don't think we're going to get much further tonight… Our best bet is to get in touch with Giles and Wesley, see if they can find anything more about this. Their collections will definitely be bigger than this." He motioned to the one book that lay abandoned on the floor.
She sighed defiantly, looking back forlornly at her laptop. She yawned tiredly, her eyes beginning to droop with fatigue. "I dunno… I feel like we're not getting anywhere. I'll bet the Klak are just sitting around, already having this thing figured out, and just waiting for us to come along…"
He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "They're probably just as lost as we are." He said, getting up off the floor. He picked up the discarded mugs that lay strewn on the rug and set them back on the room service cart. "We still have time. The Prophecy will still be there in the morning." He turned around to look at her meaningfully.
She had lain back down on the rug, her body curled comfortably into a ball. She had her arms folded beneath her, and used them as a pillow for her head. Her eyes were shut, and she only let out a small mumble to acknowledge his comment.
He smiled gently, watching as she nuzzled her head against her arms to be more comfortable. He hadn't realized how tired she must have been. For him, the nighttime was when he was most active and at work, but it was bedtime for her and the past few nights had not been gentle with her. The vampire's expression melted into one of silent awe as he watched her small form fall asleep.
She looked so innocent and vulnerable like that. He knew that very few people ever got to see her with her defenses totally down. The past two and half years had taken their toll on her. She was older now, and more mature. She had scars both internal and external that could attest to too many battles fought. But she still looked so beautiful when she was asleep. She looked like nothing could touch her; she was a being from heaven… literally. He reminded himself. He waited until her breathing became shallow and even before he moved from his position next to the room service cart. He walked next to her and knelt down over her. Carefully, he eased her into his arms. On instinct, she moved her head into the crook of his neck. Each breath she breathed tickled his long-dead senses. He gently picked her up and slowly walked into her room. Carefully, he lay her down in her bed. He sat down on it next to her, marveling at her silent elegance.
With a trembling hand, he brushed the hair from her face. Her skin felt like silk beneath his fingers. Feelings that he had long buried now resurfaced, as they always did when she was around. A sharp tug at his heart reminded him that this was his soulmate; this was his reason to live… his ticket to happiness. A smile spread over lips, though he had to fight to keep it from turning into a frown. He had known this girl for only six years, and yet it felt like an eternity. He had had a soul for century now, but it wasn't until he had met her that he had realized why. She looked like a young girl when she was asleep. A girl that shouldn't have to face the monsters and demons. She deserved more than that. She deserved to be a fairy tale princess…
Slowly and quietly, he leaned over her, his lips longing for just a touch of her skin. He paused over her mouth, his eyes examining the beautiful curves and full flesh of her lips. He fought the temptation to feel them against his own. He knew that it wouldn't be fair to her. He closed his eyes, leaning over her and planting a firm but gentle kiss on her forehead. A small, content sigh escaped her own lips as she shifted in her sleep.
He drew back from her, his lips on fire with her touch. Carefully, he got up and pulled the covers around her to keep her warm. He backed away towards the door, his eyes never leaving her face, trying to make sure that she didn't wake up. He stopped in the doorway, leaning against its sturdy frame. He studied her for one more moment.
"Good night, love." He finally whispered quietly as he turned around and left her to her dreams.
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