~*Nine*~

"I need you tonight,

I need you right now,

I know deep inside my heart,

Doesn't matter if it's wrong or right…

I really need you tonight."

--Backstreet Boys

            The phone rang loudly close to her ear. Buffy's eyes shot open, as she was jolted out of her sleep. She groaned, retreating even further into the comfort of her warm blankets. She closed her eyes again, hoping that if she wished hard enough, the ringing would stop.

            Her hopes were dashed when the phone continued to ring persistently, despite all of her efforts to make it stop without actually picking up the receiver. She peeked open one eye long enough to assess that it was nearing eleven in the morning. She hugged her pillow closely to her chest, trying to figure out when exactly she had fallen asleep the previous night. Groggily, she realized that she had fallen asleep in the living room while researching with Angel. How she had ended up in her bed, she didn't know, but she suspected from how warm and rested she felt, Angel had something to do with it. Despite all of her scolding to herself, she couldn't help but let a little smile light her lips at the thought of him. Immediately, she forced the smile off of her face, though the warmth continued to spread in her chest. She couldn't think about Angel like that anymore… she had to get over him… or at least come to enough terms with the situation so that she would be able to work comfortably with him. Like last night…a voice in her head reminded her. She let a little satisfaction creep into her troubled thoughts, and she felt somewhat reassured. Last night, they had been able to research together into the wee hours of the mornings without anything rash happening… who's to say they couldn't keep it up? You can never keep it up, Buffy. Another voice reminded her, Remember when he came back from Hell? You lasted about a month and then all semblance of control went out the window…She internally told herself to shut up.

            Another short staccato of a ring finally managed to outdo the last of her patience. Mumbling angrily she picked up the cordless and turned it on.

            "Hello?" She asked, not even attempting to hide the fatigue in her tone.

            "Buffy?" Her Watcher's voice came through.

            "Giles, why are you calling so early in the morning?" She complained, burying herself and the phone back into her comforters.

            There was a pause before he answered in a very British tone, "Buffy… it's almost eleven in Chicago time…"

            She groaned, "I keep Slayer hours, remember? Day – sleep, night – work."

            A small chuckle resounded over the phone line, and she could just see Giles' eyes lighting up with amusement.

            "So, now that you've been able to thoroughly kill my sleep…" She said, "you wanna tell me why you called?"

            "Well," His tone suddenly became very serious, "I've been flipping through some old Watcher's diaries. I searched through the ones that were kept around the time the Klak disappeared…"

            "…And?" She prodded him, "Come on, Giles… let's cut the suspense."

            There was a deep sigh that immediately prompted Buffy's ears to perk a little more. She knew that sigh. It was a sigh that Giles never used unless something was up. "I came across the whole Prophecy… you are not the first Slayer to have dealt with the Klak…"

            "Gee…" She said, uncovering her head and wriggling out of the blankets a little so that she could breathe, "Do I even wanna ask what happened to the last one that tried to stop the Journeyers?"

            "She was able to disband the Journeyers before they could summon the Guardian, thereby avoiding the rest of the Prophecy… I have the rest of it here, if you'd like me to read it to you."

            "No." She shook her head even though she knew he couldn't see her, "It's OK. I know the rest of the Prophecy, Angel and I found it last night with the help of this guy, Alfred, who works in the hotel. We were up researching all last night and found absolutely nothing."

            "Oh…" He sounded a little disappointed. Buffy grinned, knowing that Giles was feeling a little left out. "Anyways," he continued, "The last Slayer who dealt with the Journeyers, killed the leaders of the Klak before the Guardian was summoned."

            "You mean these vampires actually have some semblance of leadership?" She asked, "I'm shocked."

            "This is no joking matter, Buffy." His tone became fatherly, "The Klak are not like ordinary vampires. They… they… do not feed off of humans."

            She rolled her eyes, "What do they feed off of then? Poor defenseless farm animals? Gee—that's sounds really menacing now…"

            "Vampires." He cut her off. "They feed off of other vampires."

            Her eyes went wide as she tried to digest the information. She found herself wincing a bit at his words. Just the thought of it disgusted her. "…Whoa…"

            "Whoa is right." He picked up before she could say anything else, "That's what makes the Klak so strong. They have servants – vampires — who go and collect the blood of humans for them… and then they feed off of these servants… thereby increasing their power. It's almost a hierarchy of blood. This way, they don't have to feed off of so many victims to gain the strength of thousands of humans…"

            "… cause they get their little minions to gather the strength for them." She completed his phrase. "I can't believe this…"

            "There's more." Giles continued, "After the Klak have fed off of the servants… the Mistress and Master of the Journeyers then feed off of the others in the Klak… thereby concentrating all of the strength and power collected from humans and vampires alike into only two beings."

            "Ewwww…" Buffy sighed into the phone, "Just of the thought of vampires feeding off of vampires is disturbing…it's like… vampire incest or something."

            "Buffy, this is very serious." Giles' voice became louder and firmer, "The last Slayer… she killed the Mistress and Master of the Klak before they could carry out the ritual that would bring forth the Guardian. According to what her Watcher has recorded in his diary, had she not been able to kill the Mistress and the Master… all hope would have been lost. She would not have been able stop the Prophecy…"

            "How come?" Buffy asked, "The Prophecy says that even if the Guardian is raised, the Slayer and her Warrior can stop the Elevation with the help of Tith… whatever that is."

            "Exactly." Giles replied, "The Prophecy calls for two players. Not just the Slayer. It is the Slayer and her Warrior. That is why the past Slayer would not have been able to stop the Elevation… she did not have a Warrior…"

            "But I do." Her voice was firm and she sat up in her bed. "I have Angel."

            "How can you be sure that Angel is the one the Prophecy speaks of?" Giles asked, his voice becoming more compassionate, "I mean… I understand that you trust Angel. And he has proven many times to be a skilled fighter and will do all he can to defend the world against evil… but what if that's not enough?"

            "It's him, Giles." She said the words without any doubt, "I know it is. He is my Warrior. I bet my life on it."

            "… you'll have to." His reply was soft, "Because if you are wrong, and he is not the Warrior… all of Humanity will die for it."

            She sighed, rubbing her temples slowly with her fingers, "Trust me, Giles. Angel is the Warrior. We don't have to worry about that part. I need your help on the rest though, to find what Tith is."

            "In the diaries, the Watcher speaks of Tith… He says that it is an ancient weapon, forged millennia ago. It was wielded by the first Slayer against the first Vampire. He does not go into detail as to what kind of weapon it is… but he did say that his Slayer used it to destroy the Master and Mistress." Giles replied, his tone a little worried.

            "What happened to it after that?" Buffy asked.

            "The members of the Klak realized what danger Tith could pose for them… as their last effort before they disbanded, they used all of their strength and cast it into a magical dimension. The Watcher does not know where it is… I doubt even the Klak know in which dimension they have cast it to… there are far too many."

            "Too bad." She replied, "Cause we're gonna hafta find it."

            "…Buffy." His sighed that sigh of his again, "Our best bet right now, is not to find Tith. You must do what the former Slayer did… destroy the new Master and Mistress of the Klak before they can summon the Guardian. The Day of Elevation is a predetermined time and date that only comes around every few centuries… if that day comes and all of the pieces of the Prophecy are not in place, the Elevation can be avoided."

            "Yeah," Buffy said, "Sure… it can be avoided…but until when, Giles?" She asked, "Until a new Master and Mistress rise? Or until the next Day of Elevation rolls around?" She sighed heavily, "No. I wanna finish this. I don't just want to avoid Elevation. I want to stop it. Forever."

            "That's a tall order, Buffy."

            "Then we're going to need a tall solution." She replied, her voice flat, "Please, Giles, I have to do this. You said so yourself… not every Slayer has a Warrior… what if the next time the Day of Elevation comes around, there's no Warrior? Then the world really would be screwed. I have to stop it now, when I have the chance."

            "I see your point." Giles sighed dejectedly, his tone showing that he was going to cooperate with her plans, "But I can't help but think this is suicide."

            "Maybe it is." She replied, "But I'll never know 'til I try."

            There was a long silence on the line. Finally, her Watcher gave his reply, "All right. I'll call back as soon as I find anything about a way to summon Tith… meanwhile, be careful."

            "I will, Giles." She said, breathing in deeply, "I promise."

            "Take care, Buffy."

            She sighed, turning off the phone. She stared at it for a few minutes and finally threw it onto her nightstand. She breathed deeply, crawling out of the warmth of the bed. She shivered, already missing its comfort as she walked towards the closet. She took one look at herself in the full-length mirror, and decided that she was in desperate need of a shower. She was still wearing her clothes from the previous night; she had been too tired to change into her pajamas. Her hair was a mess, sitting atop her head like a crown of fur. She groaned, picking out a pair of comfortable jeans and a black turtleneck sweater and bringing them with her into the bathroom.

            The water was hot and soothing as it pounded her tired muscles and massaged her dry skin. She took a deep breath of the warm, damp mist that had accumulated in the shower. She closed her eyes, turning her face up towards the showerhead. The water streamed over her head and slipped soothingly down her neck. It trickled over her eyelids, down her nose, and on her lips. For a moment, she allowed herself an interval of reflection and contemplation. She felt strangely detached.

            She knew that the Klak was a large threat, and possibly the biggest danger she's faced… and yet, she didn't care. A part of her was disturbed by this. She should be scared or anxious. She was supposed to be running around, making preparations and training for the battle that was to come. She was supposed to feel… something…

            But she felt nothing. She was going to give her all in the battle, and fight her best fight… but she didn't care what happened after that. She didn't care if she died, she didn't care if she lived, she didn't care if the world came to an end… and that's what frightened her the most. How was she supposed to protect the world from demons, if she didn't care what happened to it?

            She was the Slayer. But she had fought too many battles, seen too many deaths, and lost too many people. Her heart yearned back for the peace Heaven had brought her. Now, she truly knew why Slayers never lived very long… they just couldn't last. Even if they could physically survive… their emotions and their mind would just cease to function at some point… and then, they would just become mindless fighting machines. Like me… the voice slipped into her mind.

            She shook the thought out of her head, scrubbing furiously at her skin with soap until it had become red. She stared at her arms, watching the blood pulsing through her veins, reminding herself that she was truly alive… and that people depended on her. She couldn't give up. Not yet. She still had one more battle to fight, one more demon to kill…

            Her fingers were becoming wrinkly and pink from the shower, and she decided that she was as clean as she was going to get. With a sigh, she turned off the water. For a few moments, she just stood in the hot misty fog that had accumulated during her long shower. Finally, she rolled the sliding door back and grabbed the nearest towel.

            She just needed to concentrate on what was important. The Klak would rise, and the Day of Elevation would come… and she would be ready. Because she was always ready. She had six years of slaying experience behind her, and hours of training stacked up behind that. The determination inside of her finally surfaced and she felt a sense of conviction… the world needed her. Again. And she would be there to save it. Again. If she could face a god, then she certainly could take on a few vampires and a demon…

            … And this time, she didn't have to do it alone. This time, she had Angel to help her. Again, her thoughts wandered back to him. She wanted to deny that the last three years had happened… she wanted to just pretend that everything was still the same. That he didn't leave. But she knew he had. And she knew he would again. That was the way it worked. They were doomed from the beginning, and they would always be doomed no matter what the circumstances. She couldn't have him and he couldn't have her.

            But that didn't stop her heart from hurting whenever he was near. And it didn't stop the blood from rushing to her head whenever he touched her. And it didn't stop her lips from wanting the feel of his skin whenever she looked at him. It wasn't fair. But then again, nothing was ever fair. She couldn't let herself get attached again. She couldn't let him get to her. She couldn't fall in love with him…

            Of course not, that persistent voice told her matter-of-factly, you can't fall in love with him… cause you never fell out of love with him. You know it, you idiot, you're still head over heels for him and you can't do anything about it. You need him. He completes you… he is your soulmate. He's the only thing that's keeping you from taking that stake of yours and plunging it into your own damn heart right now. And he needs you too…

            With that thought, she quickly dressed herself in the clothes she had picked out earlier. She walked back out into her bedroom, picking up her brush and slipping on her black leather boots.

            She grabbed two key cards off of her nightstand. One was her own; the other was the one Angel had given her the previous night in exchange for a copy of her own key. At the time, they had convinced themselves they were doing it strictly for safety reasons… to make sure either one of them could access both rooms at all times. But deep down inside, she knew why she had really given him a copy of her key… because she wanted to show him that she still trusted him. That he still had every access to her no matter what… that she would always be there for him…

            She didn't even bother with the elevator and instead took the stairs. In a matter of seconds, she had descended one flight and come out on the eleventh floor. With a sigh, she walked towards 1140, hoping that Angel would be in his room. She wasn't sure why she was going to see him… she just knew that she needed him at that moment. There was an emptiness inside of her that she knew only he could fill.

*          *          *

            A familiar weight on the mattress and the feel of a small hand gently shaking his arm brought Angel out of his sleep. He slowly opened his eyelids, squinting in the darkness to make out the figure that sat on his bed. He blinked a few times, pressing his lips together to try to fight through the grogginess that muddled his mind. He took in a deep unneeded breath, letting the air wake his dead sense.

            "Wake up, sleepyhead." The light, playful tone in her voice was a little strained, almost forced.

            He looked up at her, finding her eyes in the darkness. "Buffy…" He breathed. Immediately, he forced the restraints in his mind to take over so that he didn't sound too needy when he spoke again. "Is it nighttime already?"

            She shook her head, crossing her legs and shifting her position on the mattress, "No. It's still day… almost noon."

            Mentally, he did the calculations and decided that he had gotten four hours of sleep… he'd done worse before. "What's up?" He asked. He propped himself up with this elbows.

            "Giles called… he's been reading through those old diaries of his again." She rolled her eyes, sticking out her tongue, "Anyways. He gave me the 411 on the Journeyers."

            He raised an eyebrow, using his arms to pull himself up into a sitting position. He leaned his back against the headboard, willing her to keep going.

            "They're really one sick group of vamps…" She sighed, playing with the fabric of his sheets with her fingers. "They feed off of other vampires…"

            Angel swallowed, fighting back the metallic taste that immediately came to his mouth. He winced back slightly, trying to not to feel reviled. He'd only ever tasted vampire blood once, and that was when he was turned… it hadn't been a pleasant experience.

            Buffy was watching his facial expression and she chuckled, "Yeah, I had the same reaction." She reassured him. "Anyways, it turns out you were right about Tith. It is a weapon… but the Klak threw it into some magical dimension a couple centuries ago… they knew that it was dangerous to them."

            "A magical dimension?" He asked, looking at her, "Wow… that's going to be a hard. Any idea how we can find it?"

            She shook her head, "Nope. No clue." She replied, "Giles is on it. I think we should maybe ask for Alfred's help too. He's got a lot of books here. I was thinking we need to go out and patrol, see if we can figure out where the Klak is holed up."

            He nodded. Nervously, he looked over at the window, seeing the little bit of sunlight that was still penetrating through the curtains. "What did you have in mind…" He asked, indicating the window, "It's still light out… that sorta poses a problem for those of us who are undead…"

            She looked over at the window, staring a few moments. She blinked a few times, and then returned her gaze to him, "Oh… right…"

            He furrowed his eyebrows, sensing that she had an ulterior motive. It wasn't like her to get sloppy and forget simple things like vampires couldn't go out in the sunlight… she had come for a different reason. He just needed to figure out what it was.

            "Well…" She recovered from her lapse quickly, "I—I wanted train. There's supposed to be an old hidden room somewhere in the hotel… it was where the old Slayer used to train… when there was a Slayer in Chicago. Anyways, it's supposed to be majorly well-equipped. I thought I'd go check it out… and I sorta need someone to spot me."

            That was a legitimate answer…He told himself. He nodded, running a hand through his hair. "All right." He replied, "As long as there aren't any big windows in this training room of yours… I'll go with you."

            Her smile showed a mixture of relief, excitement, and content. "OK then." She got up off the mattress and began to pace around his small hotel room.

            He watched her jittery figure for a few moments, "Buffy…" He finally said.

            She stopped immediately, her head jerking up to meet his gaze. For a few seconds, he saw a mixture of confusion and fear before it was masked by a wall of indifference.

            "Are you all right?" He asked. He got up, unraveling himself from the sheets. "You seem a little distracted…"

            "Hmmm?" She asked, running her fingers through her still damp hair. His keen senses could smell her shampoo and he guessed that she had just finished showering. "I'm fine… just… you know… raring to go. I wanna train."

            "No." He said, shaking his head, "That's not it…"

            She breathed in deeply and then met his gaze squarely, "No… it's not." She finally admitted. She folded her hands demurely in front of her. "It's… not. But… it's something that I can't - that I don't want to- talk about right now." Her eyes became pleading, "Please, Angel… just understand. Just… train with me?"

            He blinked a few times, shocked at her confession. It had been so long since they had ever been straight to each other about their problems. The walls had come down and he could see into her soul. Her eyes were so full of pleading and fatigue… and pain. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, make her tell him so that he could fix it… but that look in her eyes stopped him. She didn't want to talk… not yet. There was a deep need and yearning in her eyes. A yearning that he found was also mirrored in his own soul. She needed him at that moment. Not to listen, or to comfort her, or to protect her… she needed just him.

            "Yeah…" He finally said, gently clasping her hand in his, "All right." He smiled down at her, "Let's train…"

*          *          *

            "You look happier, my sweet." He purred into her ear, his breath cold and dead against her neck, "I assume Fiore came back with good news…"

            She grinned maliciously, turning around slowly in his arms to face him. "He has found the One for us…" She replied, "The rest of our Klak will arrive within the next few days… with their strength, we will summon the Guardian. From there, it will only be a matter of time before our Elevation arrives."

            He smiled, nibbling viciously at her earlobe, then moving down her neck. "Good." His voice was little more than a whisper, "The day of our Elevation draws near, we must make sure everything is in place when it is time." He ran a cool finger slowly over her cheeks and towards her thin, drawn lips, "This time, my dear Celeste… nothing will stop us."

            She let a small moan that was half-sigh and half-giggle. "Oh, it will be interesting…" She raised an eyebrow, "The Slayer and her Warrior are both here… they must have been summoned here by Them." She pointed a finger towards the sky and smiled demurely.

            "They cannot stop us." He countered her, letting his hand drop from her face. He walked slowly away from her, tracing a circle around her as he spoke. "They have neither the strength, nor the power to summon Tith…"

            "… and without Tith, they are useless." She finished his sentence for him. "This time, we will not be stopped. We are stronger than those that came before us… we will not fail this time."

            He stopped in mid-step, watching her through hooded eyes, "My sweet Mistress Celesta, we will truly rule the World."

            She giggled, walking towards him. She ran her fingers down his chest, tempting him with a small wink, "My dearest Master Seth, I do believe you are right."

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