Yellow Roses, part 1: The Slayer Sleeps Tonight

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy. Wahh! Joss Whendon, the nice man who
created her, does. I wish I did, but he thought her and her friends up
first. Hence, I only own any characters that you don't recognize, like
that girl who's Angel's friend (I don't own Angel, either). I'm not getting paid for this, so please don't sue me.

Thanks: Thanks to Christine Ode for the creation of the idea. Thanks to Laur and Anya for posting it at their sites.

Note: I use '*' to indicate thoughts and '_' to indicate stressed words.

*****

The night was old, and Buffy felt that way, too. It was around 5:30 in the
morning, way too early to be out looking for vampires. Since it wasn't sunup
for about 3 more hours, it was her job to get up *before* the crack of dawn,
even though all *sensible* vampires were all ready inbed. Hearing something,
she whirled around... nothing. Buffy started to get nervous. "Here,
vampires. Where are you? Show your ugly faces." A thought occured to her. "Angel? Is that you?" Getting no response, she changed her mind on that thought. "I know somebody'shere. Come out,come--" A metal bar swung from
behind her and hit her soundly in the head. She fell to the ground,
unconcious.

The next night at an abandoned warehouse, Angel struck a cease-fire truce
with Spike and Druscilla. Actually, he called the Tranpards Cue, an ancient
vow between vampires and their Sires where they cannot attack one another.
It is rarely invoked, and Angel was worried that it wouldn't be binding
enough to keep them from killing him. However, Buffy had been missing ever
since this morning, and Angel was desprate enough to try this. He brought
Xander along because... well, because Xander had insisted.

Dru was reading from her diary to her visitors, who were getting a little
annoyed. "My 'friend' Angel and I are having a little a little disagreement
and I was wondering if you could talk some sense into him. I didn't MEAN to
kill Buffy... it just happened. The Slayer was in the way of Spike's plans,
and he had a booboo, so I killed the naughty Slayer." She giggled. "Bad
Slayer. Bad. Angelous wants to kill me now. Aren't you proud of Daddy's
girl? No one wants to play. They don't like daisies. Do you like daisies?
Pretty flowers... They die so quickly. Everything I take care of dies."

Xander interrupted her. "Gosh, is anyone else sensing a pattern here?"

Angel wanted answers, however. "Stop joking around, Dru. This is serious.
What did you do with Buffy?"

Drucilla didn't seem to remember... or maybe she was just acting. "I killed
her. She's dead... or maybe I lost her. Why is my birdy not singing? Sing,
little birdy. Where's your pretty music?" She turned to her boyfriend,
bewildered. "Spike, everything I tend dies.

Spike was sympathetic--and frustrated. He didn't forget his visitors,
however. "Everything but that bloody slayer. She's been a pain in myside
for far too long."

Xander wasn't impressed. "Oh, is the big vampire scared of a girl?"

Angel wasn't impressed either. "I'm warning you for the last time: Where's
Buffy?" He decided to put a little muscle into it.

Spike remained aloof. "If I knew where the Bloody Slayer was, she'd be dead
already!"

Angel paused, not sure of whether or not to believe him. "Xander, come on.
Let's go look for Buffy." He and Xander turned to go.

Drucilla wasn't done with them yet, though. "I've got a secret..."

Spike didn't know what she was talking about, but it sounded good to him.
"What is it, love?"

Dru giggled. "I've got a secret..."

Xander was annoyed yet again. "Point taken. Angel, I thought you wanted to
go."

Angel walked up to Drucilla and stared her down. "Where is she?"

Dru giggled
again. "It's a secret. Slayer tastes good."

Spike was still confused, but was starting to get a glimmering of what was
going on. "Love?"

Angel finally yelled at her. "Where is she?"

Dru smiled sadly and lifted a blanket. Buffy was lying on the ground,
supposedly dead or close to it. "She didn't want to play..."

"Buffy!" Angel cried, lifting her limp body. Buffy managed a weak whisper
before she stopped moving and breathing. "Angel..."

Angel felt like crying. "Buffy!" He hugged her, and after a few seconds of
trying to wake her, he gave up and carried her into the darkness. In an
instant, they were both gone.

Xander gasped and turned to Spike and Drucilla. "Is she-- you killed her,
didn't you?"

Spike turned to his girl. "He's good."

Xander felt his duty to protect his protector. "You-- you-- You better be
glad that Buffy isn't here... well, in a sense, I guess she is... but, hey,
don't change the subject or anything." He suddenly realized that Angel was
gone. "Angel? Man, I'm gonna put a bell on that guy someday." He looked at
Spike, and realized the vamp was smiling maliciously. "Hmm... well, it's
been fun, but Ithink I'll just leave." He raced off after Angel.

Dru watched them go, pouting. "I want a snack."

Spike grinned. "Tonight, darling, tonight."

*****

In the library, Giles, Willow, and Cordelia were sitting around doing
research. Willow was imagining all the bad things that could've happened to
Buffy, and freaking everyone else out while doing it. Willow panicked out
loud. "And then, there could have been the return of the insect man. Or
maybe a cult! Ooo, scary... cults make people do bad things, like, uh,
y'know, uh... stuff. Oh, what if Angel can't get there in time? I'll shut
up now."

Giles wasn't listening and decided to darken the mood some more. "Yes,
yes, that would be appreciated. Oh, look, here in this book... it says that
The Order Of Terak cannot be permanently killed." He turned the page. "It
takes them about three months to revive."

Cordelia was enthusiasic. "Oh, goody. Has anyone seen Xander lately? Not
that I care or anything."

Xander burst in, worried out of his mind. "Where's Angel?"

Giles was allowed to be slightly upset. "Wasn't he with you?"

Cordelia sighed. "See, he can't even keep track of a simple man. Geez,what
a moron."

Xander panted. "We found Buffy--"

"Oh, yea! Why don't you seem happy?" Willow asked.

"Willow..." Xander tried to control himself. "Buffy... she's... oh,god."

Willow was being very naive. "She's what? Happy to be found?"

Giles, unfortunately though, was not. "Oh, no." He buried his head in his
arms.

Cordelia wasn't either. "Gosh..."

Willow still didn't get it. "What's going on?"

Giles wiped a tear from his eye. "Willow, call Kendra. Tell her... tell her
it's her turn. She's the Slayer now."

Willow cried out in confusion. "Why? For it to be her turn, Buffy would
have to be d--d-- oh. Oh, no! Buffy's-- she can't--but--I'm going to faint
now. Somebody catch me."

Giles panicked inside. His Slayer was dead? "No, Willow, this is no time
for this. We need to know who killed her. Are, uh, are you sure she's, uh,
dead?"

Xander was also panicking, though not just on the inside. "She wasn't
breathing, and it looked like all the CPR in the world couldn't have saved
her... not to mention Angel spiriting her off like that. Oh, God, what are
we gonna do?"

Giles took off his glasses, trying to calm himself as well as the slayerettes.
"Just... breathe. I know it's hard, but if someone killed her, they're more
powerful than the Master."

Xander felt a sense of dread come over him. "It was Dru."

Giles felt same. "Oh, dear."

Willow was in shock. "Poor Buffy."

Angel silently entered wearing his vampire face and laid Buffy on the table.
Grieving, he mumered something only the comatose girl could hear. "Buffy..."

Willow was the first to notice their entrance. "Woah, um, Buffy's here."

Cordelia screamed. "AHHHHH!"

Xander looked at her grimly. "I know. Dead Buffy is kinda hard to swallow."

"No! He's-- He's... AHHHHH!"

Xander rolled his eyes. "What? Are the big, scary dead couple scaring you?"

Cordelia pointed to Angel. "He's a vampire!"

Giles was confused. "Well, yes."

Willow tore her eyes off Buffy long enough to look at her. "Didn't you know
that?"

Cordelia looked at them like they were talking rocks. "No!"

Willow turned to Angel. "I'm sorry about your loss... I mean... Buffy's
dead... I mean... I'll shut up now."

Angel looked at the living crowd. "I could use some help, here." His game
face went away.

Xander raised his eyebrows. "What's with the face? Those nasty fleas biting
again?"
Angel spoke slowly, obviously in pain. "I had to fight my way here...they've
surrounded the library... Wasn't taking Buffy enough?" He sat heavily in a
chair, holding Buffy's hand.

Giles looked painful and patted him on the shoulder uncomfortably. "Yes, I
know." He patted him uncomfortably on the shoulder. "She is... was our
freind, too. She was my Slayer... Well, uh, what do you need help with?"

Angel looked up, surprised. "She still is your friend."

Xander looked at the vampire. "She's dead. 'Was' tends to be the operative
term in such cases."

Angel begged to differ. "She's alive."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Okay, Angel's gone bye-bye. How's everyone else
holding up?"

Willow leaned over and checked Buffy's neck for a pulse. She looked up,
suprised. "No, he's right! She has a pulse!"

"That's impossible," Xander argued.

Cordelia sat down, looking at the losers around her. "Ohmigod, this is just
too wierd."

Xander kept talking, even though it was obvious that no one was paying
attention. "She's dead."

Someone had to take action, so Giles finally decided to. "Willow," he said,
more calmly than he felt, "go get a blanket from the third drawer in my desk
in my office. And the first aid kit." Willow, glad for the athority, ran to
get the blanket and kit.

Xander noisily still demanded attention. "Crazy vampire lady killed her."

Willow yelled from the office, "Is that the left or the right side?"

"I was there. She died."

Giles went to help Willow. "Here, let me look..."

"She's dead." Xander felt for a pulse. "I don't feel anything."

Angel gently moved Xander's fingers to the correct spot on Buffy's neck, more
for Buffy's sake than sympathy for Xander's feelings. "You saw what they
wanted you to see."

Xander wasn't to be led astray. "She should be dead. She is dead. This is
just some wierd dream."

Giles came back with Willow carrying a first aid kit. Willow was carrying
the blanket. "Xander, do you know anything at all about first aid?"

Xander looked at the librarian. "I know enough."

Giles took that at face value. "Oh, uh, How much is that?"

Xander took a deep breath, knowing that he was the only sane person in the
room. "That we should dial 911 and start mourning, because this girl's dead."

Angel covered Buffy with blanket. "Hold on, Buffy."

Giles tried to get rid of the hysterical Cordelia and Xander, who was hurting
more than helping. "Why don't you take Cordelia and um... go get some...
more blankets?"

Cordelia looked at Angel. "But, he's a vampire!"

Xander pulled her out of there. "Come on, lets leave the dead with the dead."

Willow was confused. "What's he mean by that? Oh... oh. But Buffy's not
dead."

"Technically," the librarian sighed, "that's not true."

Angel lifted a stray whisp of hair from Buffy's cheek. "Her soul is gone."

Willow frowned. "But... wouldn't that make her... you know, sick... or
something? Gosh, what would it be like to not have a soul? Probably empty
and all gross and yucky and..." she trailed off when she noticed Angel's
pained glance. "...I'll shut up now."

Giles looked around for something for Willow to do. "If you want to be
helpful, why don't you call Buffy's mother and tell her that she's staying
over at your house. Then look up the Tos'keniv Legion in The Brown Book.
This sounds like their handiwork."

Willow got excited and slightly sarcastic when she found that she was allowed
to touch Giles' precious Brown Book. "Oo, this is serious... we're getting
out The Brown Book." She went into Gile's office again to make the phone
call.

Giles looked towards the window. "It's going to be sunrise in a few hours,"
he commented.

Angel stared down at Buffy's shadowy form. "I can't just leave her like
this. I need to stay."

Giles sighed. "I expected as much." There was a pause as they bandaged the
cuts on Buffy's arms, face, neck, and legs. "You are going to need a place
to stay."

Angel nodded. "Yes. Out of the sun."

"Where you won't be seen."

"Where Spike and Dru won't look for me."

Giles thought for a moment. "Hmm... You know, it IS a Saturday..." he looked
at watch, "...techinically."

Angel nodded again. "Yes..."

"You could stay at the school... I guess. If you don't get caught by the
janitor. I've always been curious... how much, you know, do you... sleep?"

Angel sighed. "As long as I can."

Willow came back with The Book. "I found it. And made the call."

Giles rubbed his head. "Wonderful. Now, look up the Tes'kinov Legion. It
should be in the 'Soul' section."

Willow thumbed through the thin pages, making sure not to crease or tear
them. "Soul... soul... soul... that should be under the 'S's."

Giles went over to the shelves, looking for some book. "Try the index."

"Oh, yeah."


Xander and Cordelia walked quickly down the street. Cordelia was panicked.

"He's a vampire! That's distgusting!"

Xander felt the small urge to stick up for his best-friend's boyfriend,
however dead he might be. "Hey, it's not that bad... was that me?"

Cordelia waved her arms wildly. "I mean, he's a vampire, she's the Slayer...
does anyone else see a problem with this?"

Xander grimaced. "Every day."

Cordelia growled angrily, "Why do I even talk to you? There's no intelligent
conversation that you can deal with. Everything's a joke to you."

Xander stopped walking, suddenly angry, too. "I'll have you know that not
everything" is a joke with me!"

Cordelia stopped also. "Oh, yeah? Like what?"

"I happen to take my pizza bagels very seriously."

"You're such a jerk!"

"I can't believe I ever kissed you!" They stood there for a few seconds,
nose to nose. Their lips met, hard and fast, and they kissed passionately.

Cordelia opened her eyes to find Spike standing behind Xander. "AHHHH!"

Xander pulled away. Gee, thanks. That was not the reaction I was looking
for."

Spike chirped in his cockney, "Well, if it isn't one of the slayer's very
special friends."

Xander whirled around. "Ugh, it's Mr. tall, white, and ugly."

Cordelia rubbed her forehead. "Oh, this has got to be the worst night of my
life."

Xander looked at her, mad again. "Yeah, and it's been great for Buffy, too.
In case you hadn't heard, she's dead."

Spike smiled. "Pity."

*****

In the library, Giles and Willow were looking in books and Angel was daubbing
his wounded side with rubbing alcohol.

Willow closed her book. "This is my third book, down the drain. My eyes are
starting to hurt."

Giles sighed, looking up from his testiment. "Well, there's good news and
bad news. The good news is that there is only one more book to look in."

Willow practically jumped for joy. "And the bad news?"

Giles sighed again. "That is the bad news."

Willow looked at the single book left. "Oh. It sounds pretty good, right
about now."

Angel looked at Buffy, who was still still. "We better hurry. Buffy doesn't
have much time left."

Giles skimmed the texts for anything of value. "Oh, look, here's something.
It says here that the Tes'kinov Legion is a group of people steal souls.
There is a complicated method of putting souls into objects such as bottles,
flasks... anything that can hold somthing liquid without spilling it when
shook.

Angel continued for him. "They are without mercy. They hire out, but are
hard to find. Supposedly, they were all killed in the Crusades. My...
Sire... taught me that. A long time ago. They were... heartless. I don't
know much more, only that the separation of the soul from the body can only
be performed once on a single person." He frowned. "But their prey doesn't
usually survive long enough to find this out."

There was a pause, broken by Giles. "Well. That was informative. It says
here that to put the soul back in the body, the bottle must be opened within
24 hours of the separation. Any crack in the bottle will let the soul
escape... so the bottle has to be airtight."

Willow frowned. "So... someone has to go find a bottle."

Cordelia ran in, wide-eyed. "They took Xander!"

Angel stood up in worry. "Who?"

Cordelia noticed him for the first time. "What's HE doing here?"

Willow looked at the vamp. "Oh, Angel? He's uh... uh... what ARE you
doing?"

Cordelia pointed a finger at him accusingly. "He's a vampire! He's going to
bite me, I know it."

Angel rolled his eyes, uncharacteristically immature. "Don't flatter
yourself."

Giles tried to explain it in terms that Cordelia would understand. "Cordelia,
Angel is a good vampire."

Cordelia pouted angrily. "There's no such thing. He's in on it!"

Giles gave up trying to explain. "In on what?"

Willow looked around, noticing for the first time that Xander wasn't there.
"Hey, where's Xander?"

Cordelia sat down, tossing her head and crossing her arms. "Why don't you
ask the vampire?"

Willow shrugged. "Okay, uh, Angel, where's Xander? Angel? Angel?" They
looked around, but he'd already left. "Okay. Angel's gone. Great."

Giles looked around nervously. "Buffy doesn't have very much time left.
Where's Xander?"

Cordelia paced back and forth. "Spike took him."

Willow's brow furrowed. "Why would he want to do that?"

"I don't know! Why would I know? Ask Mr. Science over there!" She pointed
at Giles. Both the girls looked at the Watcher.

Giles looked around, as if there were another Mr. Science in the room. "Well,
it would be my guess that they need to preform some kind of ceremony or, or
something. He was there when Buffy died... twice, actually. Though, the
first time, she died with the Master, and he just brought her back to life,
but still... that has to mean something.

Cordelia sat on a chair with a thump. "Great. Just great." She started to
cry.

Willow wasn't sure about what to do. "Oh, it'll be okay. Just... think
about something else. Um, have you seen that new movie that just came out?
It's the classic 'guy meets girl, guy loses girl, guy gets girl back' romance
with a really cute guy."

"Cute..." she sobbed. "Xander..."

Willow tried to make sense of what Cordelia was 'saying'. "Um, excuse me...
but what were you doing when Spike came?"

"Nothing." She wiped her eyes. "Nothing." Willow and Giles exchanged a
glance. "What?"

*****

Spike and Dru were in the warehouse. Xander was unconcious in a cage hanging
from the ceiling. "So, when do you think our houseguest is going to wake
up?" He poked Xander with a long, metal stick. "Wakey, wakey."

Drucilla gazed up at Xander with a dazed expression on her face. "Rise and
shine." There was a pause. "Why doesn't he wake up? I'm hungry, Spike.
Can I have a snack?"

Spike patted her hand. "Not now, darling. We need him. The ceremony cannot
go on without him."

"Just a little bite?"

Spike smiled indulgently. "Later, honey, later." He swooped her up in a
crazy waltz. She laughed with hysterical delight.


Angel crouched behind some boxes, watching the exchange. A teenager, about
15 years old, dressed in bluejeans and a t-shirt was crouched beside him.

Angel glanced at her. "Thanks for helping me out. I'm going to need all the
help I can get."

The girl shifted slightly on the cold floor. "Hey, anything for an old
friend." She smiled warmly. "After 5,000 years, I think I can get a little
time off work. Heaven's okay." She paused. "You're all right. You know
that? For a vamp you're an okay guy. I missed you those years."

Angel smiled back. "Thanks, Diab. That means a lot, coming from you."

She studied him. "You really love her, don't you?"

Angel looked her right in the eye. "Yes. A lot."

She giggled, wrinkling her nose in immature glee. "Imagine, you, in love...
that's actually a pretty funny picture. You... in love... the loner... gosh,
if she wasn't in trouble right now, I'd laugh." There was another pause, and
they both turn back to Spike and Dru.

Dru sniffed the air. "There's someone here. Very strong. She gives me the
shivers."

Spike groaned. "ANOTHER blasted slayer? How may of the damned girls are
there?"

Dru frowned. "No, not exactly a Slayer..."

Xander slowly, dizzily woke up. "Hey..." He felt his temple. "Oh, yeah,
that's gonna hurt later."

Spike's attention turned back to Xander. "Well, well, well, if it isn't our
friend!"

Xander looked down, shifting uncomfortably on the bars. "Are you talking to
me? 'Cause I'm no friend of yours."

Spike wasn't impressed. "Very nice. Just hang there for a while while my
Dru and I set up the sacrifice." He turned to Dru. "Come on, darling."

Xander called after them, "Sacrifice? For me? Gosh, you shouldn't have."
He grumbled, muttering to himself, "How do I get out of here?"

Spike called back, "And don't bother escaping. I've set it up so that the
vampire gaurds here will kill any of your friends that try to rescue you.
Tough break, huh?"

"Yee-ha. Buffy! Help! Buffy! Help...somebody...anybody... oh, shoot."

The girl reached for her bag of stakes. "This should be fun. I haven't done
anything like this since... since... oh, gosh, the Crusades, maybe."

Angel focused on his goal. "Okay, on the count of three... one, two...three!"

Diabolique jumped up on a box with her bag full of stakes. "Are you guys
ready for this? I know I am. It's what I've been waiting for all my life."
She looked up at Xander. "Hey! Need some help?"

Xander gulped. "Uh, those are not your everyday hitmen/kidnappers."

Diabolique gave a cocky smile. "I know. They're smaller." A vampire
charged her and she threw a stake right in his heart. "They fall eaisier,
too." The vamp disinegrated.

Xander sighed sarcastically. "Well, okay, as long as you know what you're
doing."

Angel stood up and smiled at the girl. "You always were one for the direct
approach."

"You want sublty, go find Teresa."

Xander suddenly saw Angel. "Angel! Buddy! Pal!" He pointed to his cage
door. "Open the door! Open the door! Please, before they sacrifice me
to... shut me up."

Diabolique turned to Angel. "Cute friend." The vampires attacked.
Diabolique and Angel killed them all, with Diabolique killing most. She was
a better fighter than Angel with a different style than Buffy. Her style
seemed to work better.

Angel communicated quickly with Diabolique. "You get Xander out of there.
I'll worry about the bottle."

Diabolique groaned. "Sure, give me the fun job." She grabbed a rope from
the floor and tied a heavy weight to it as she looked up. "Hey! Flyboy! Up
in the clouds!"

Xander looked down. "Who are you?"

"Angel's friend. Move!"

Xander raised his eyebrows. "As you can see, I'm stuck in here, sadly."

"To the corner. If you get hit by this, I'm not carrying you."

Xander moved to the corner of the cage. "What type of friend, souled or
not?"

She grunted, swinging the weighted rope experimentally. "Depends when you
ask me." She threw up the weighted end of the rope. It hooked around a bar
and Xander tied it down. She climbed up the rope quickly and quietly. When
she got to the top, she climbed onto the cage and started to pick the lock of
the door, grunting a little.

Xander looked at her, concerned. "Are you okay?"

Diabolique grimaced. "Just don't tickle me." The door swung open, and
Diabolique re-fastened the rope so it was possible to climb down without
climbing across the cage bottom. She scurried down. "You can thank me
later."

Xander looked down the swaying rope. "Oh, no, I'm not climbing down that!"

"Guys!" Diabolique muttered, and gave him a Look. "Climb down or fall down,
whichever makes you happy. Don't look at ME for help; I don't have enough
upper body strength."

Xander put up his hands in surrender. "Don't worry about me, the ground'll
break my fall." He slid down the rope and got rope burns. "Oww! Ouch!"

Diabolique shushed him and went to Angel, who was rifling through all the
stuff looking for a bottle. "Find it?"

Xander looked at them. "So, this isn't about me? Okay, I can take a hint."

Angel looked around, panicking. "It's not here!"

Xander took a small glass bottle out of his pocket. "Okay, it's not here,
now let's go!"

Angel frowned. "But, it has to be here!"

Diabolique searched the boxes and tables quickly. "How about this?" She
held up a bottle marked 'holy water'.

Angel shivered. "You try it! I can't."

Xander twirled the bottle in his hands. "What? What are we looking for?"

Diabolique popped the cork and sniffed the contents of the 'holy water'
bottle. "No, this really is holy water." She looked at her watch and sighed.
"We have five minutes."

Angel grew frantic. "It has to be here!"

Xander played with his bottle, drumming it in his hand. "What? What?"

Angel noticed his bottle. "Where did you get that?"

Xander looked at it. "Oh, this old thing? When we first came, it was sitting
on a box."

Diabolique counted off on her watch. "One minute."

Angel held out his hand for the bottle. "Give it to me!"

Xander held it close to his body in a possessive manner. "Hey, finders
keepers. Why do you want it?"

Diabolique kept her eyes on the clock. "Just give the bottle to him."

Angel made a wild grab at the precious glass object. "That's the one that
holds Buffy's soul!" Angel and Xander struggled for the bottle, and Angel
finally got it. He threw it on the ground to break it. Nothing happened.

Diabolique jumped on the bottle over and over while counting down the seconds.
"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2--" The glass cracked the tiniest bit and
the bottle shattered, freed of its load.

Angel grined and picked up Diabolique in a spinning bear hug. "Yea!"

Xander looked at them. "Did I just miss somthing, here?"

Diabolique checked her watch again. "Half an hour to sunrise. Can you make
it back to the library in time?"

Angel smiled a toothy smile. "I'll make it."


In the library, Giles, Cordelia, Xander, and Willow were sitting around doing
nothing. Buffy opened her eyes and looked around. "What's going on?" She
held her head. "Ouch."

Angel came out from the shadows. "Buffy!" He kissed her.

Buffy pulled back in suprise. "I should wake up more often. What was that
for?"

Xander looked around, frustrated. "I wish someone would tell me what's going
on!"

Willow sighed. "Xander, you're impossible! Gosh, and I thought I was
clueless."

Buffy looked at Willow wryly. "Willow, you are."

Xander looked around again. "Hey, where'd supergirl go?"

Buffy raised her eyebrows. "Supergirl?"

Xander nodded. "Yeah, the girl who rescued me from the cage."

"Xander was in a cage? Wait a minute, explain just how much I missed."

Angel grabbed Xander's arm and dragged him outside the library into the hall.
"Excuse me."

Xander shook free of Angel's grip and rubbed his arm. "Ow, ow, easy on the
merchandise! What? What?"

Angel gave him an intense look. "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't
mention Diabolique to anyone."

"Okay! Why not?"

"She's an old friend... and none of your buisness."

Xander raised his arms in a surrender. "Hey, just curious? Is she... you
know, a vamp?"

Angel gave an un-Angelish snort. "Hardly. Let's just say that she's older
than me, okay?"

Xander cocked his head, curious. "How much older?"

"Old enough. Drop the subject."

"Okay. Now, why can't I mention her?"

Angel glared at him. "It's none of your buisness." He started to go back
into the library.

Xander caught the vampire's shoulder in his hand, restraining him. "Hey,
man... I won't. And thanks for saving my hide back there."

Angel smiled. "I didn't, she did. But I'll tell her you're greatful."

Xander patted him on the back as they walked back into the library. "You're
okay... for a vampire."

"Thanks."