A/N: Yay, another chapter! Go me! But I'm angry at the moment, 'cause guess what? SOMEBODY **multiple death glares at younger siblings** decided to take down my computer wallpaper (which wuz the cast of Angel) and replace it with something about the water cycle (??!!). Grr, I'll get them! Oh yeah, and the first bit is a flashback from Luke, 'K? Tell me in your reviews how much you love it, lol.

Disclaimer:Not being a millionaire, I can't buy what I don't own, but I will when I become one, OK?

Dedication: To the Queen Mother- rest in peace.

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The blonde nine-year old sat slouched glumly at the back of Mrs. Meeching's fourth grade English class, the words about Japanese Haikus flying straight over his head.

There were several reasons for Luke Goldsmith not to listen. One was that he was sitting in between Todd Deayton and David Carlisle, two idiotic bullies who took great delight in making his every day existence a misery. He had had, back on the third day of kindergarten, the chance to be friends with them and their whole little gang...IF he shunned his twin sister Keisha, who had been his best friend since they were born. He didn't understand why they told him to push her over into the water trough. They said it was because she was a girl, and girls were stupid. But when Luke looked at Keisha's watchful turquoise eyes, her untidy bunches, her little smile when he came to do the deed, he knew he couldn't. And he told them that. And they began the torment.

It made his parents angry to see him come home with split lips, cuts, black eyes and bruised legs and grazed hands. The school offered no help in stopping the bullying, prompting more rows between his parents. Now his dad simply yelled at him to fight back. That was fine for him to say. At just over six foot, he was the tallest man Luke knew. But Luke was short, too short to throw back a decent punch at them. And six to one aren't good odds. Todd and David didn't fight fair.

He wasn't alone when he was with Keisha though. The other girls had never wanted to mix with the slightly tomboyish Keisha, and their 'brainless' chatter bored her stiff. Their familiar jokes, conversations and arguments helped to block out the pain at school and the pain at home. And so they stuck together, inseperable, The Twins...

Until they had started the fourth grade.

Mrs. Meeching, their new teacher, had tutted when she saw them at a pair of desks at the back of the room and had ordered Keisha to the front row. Both of them had stopped working in protest. Their parents were called in after two weeks to see the teacher, and their mom had asked why she had split them up in the first place.

"I think it is important for Keisha and Luke to develop as individuals," Mrs. Meeching replied, flashing them all a sickeningly patronizing smile. "They've been led to believe that they have to be completely identical."

That had sparked even more arguments between their divorced parents, and they knew they'd have to start working again.

So they did. Identical maps, identical sketches, identical answers. Just to achieve their revenge against the hated teacher. And then Luke had come up with another idea as well.

It was simple really. Keisha, being at the front, would make the signals. When she cocked her head to the left, they'd tip the books off their deaks. Wriggling in her seat meant simultaneous sneezes, and they had to start laughing if she dropped her pen.

Keisha, at this moment, scratched her right cheek. There was a scraping of chairs as they both stood up, gaining an audience as usual.

"Please miss," they said in one voice. "May I be excused?"

Mrs. Meeching frowned as always, secretely wondering how they did it. Eventually, she pursed her lips and said, "Very well. Hurry up."

Totally in step, they walked out of the room. Left, right, left, right, until they were safely out of earshot in the corridor and began to laugh.

It was a tiresome process, but Luke was prepared to go to any lengths to show them all that Keisha was his best friend and that nothing could alter that.

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Keisha hadn't meant to fall asleep.

It wasn't really her fault. Straight after classes ended, the three of them had returned to the library to start on all the possible trendrils of information off of the one word 'Anointed'. As if that wasn't bad enough, she'd put up with the most boring classes ever today and had been woken up, unable to get back to sleep, at three in the morning when her little brother Charlie had 'accidentally' reset her alarm clock. Sitting alone in the stacks of books, with nothing but silence and ancient books around her, her concentration had dropped and she had drifted off.

Unfortunately, it wasn't 'Anointed' that she was researching. She felt terrible about not helping Gracia like she said she would, but she wanted to research the possibility of Second Sight as well, and as the opportunity of being alone with the books had presented itself...still, she slept now, still sitting, book propped on her lap.

And it was then that she began to dream.

Just like in the others, it felt like she was floating. This time, she found herself hovering nearby what seemed to be a full-scale fight in an old house. Vampires in full brutality and game faces fought hard against...them. Keisha could see herself, Luke, Spike, two women who she didn't know and (her heart beginning to beat faster) Angel, all fighting against the vampires. At the far end of the room, with Angel heading to help her, Gracia was kicking vampires back from her as she dueled with what was probably the leader- a tall and broad male with black hair and a terrifying vampiric visage on his face.

Then she noticed a cloaked figure, fighting with the vampires. It was chanting against the two strange women, some kind of force field building up. Then the scene dissolved into another one.

Gracia stood on a large balcony with the shrouded person, but there was no fighting going on. Instead they seemed to be...talking? She couldn't hear the words, but the cloaked one was obviously sneering, right before they moved...

"Keisha?"

The sound of her name spoken in a low and quite concerned voice snapped her from the dream and she started awake. She swung her gaze around guiltily to find herself face to face with Angel, crouching beside her, a hand on her shoulder.

"Angel! God, you scared me. What're you doing here?" Even as she said it, she could feel herself getting lost in his dark eyes, and her cheeks began to flush red.

"I just got here. Are you OK?"

She blinked. "Sure, I'm fine. Just...sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep. Does Luke know you're here?" Just to change the topic.

He gestured to a nearby window, which was quite low and half open. "I came in by that, so no."

Keisha smiled. "You ever heard of using a door once in a while?"

Angel stared at her blankly for a second then gave her his gorgeous half-smile that made her stomach flip over. "I figured that Cecelia wouldn't be too pleased to see me."

"You don't have to worry. Cecelia's..." Keisha frowned when she suddenly realised that she didn't actually know WHERE Cecelia was. "Not here, at any rate. So you're alright."

She noticed then that Angel's eyes had moved onto the book in her lap, of which the title was showing. She hurriedly tried to cover it up, but knew she was too late, especially when Angel met her gaze again. There was concern in his eyes.

"Is everything alright, Keisha?" he asked, voice lower than before. Keisha closed her eyes briefly before opening them and forcing a smile.

"Yeah, sure." It sounded lame and unconvincing even to herself. She didn't object when he took the book from her and studied it for a few seconds. She sighed as he met her eyes once more.

"No. I just...have dreams sometimes that don't make much sense. I figured reading that might help." Keisha bit her lower lip, looking ashamedly down at the floor, unable to hold Angel's stare. "I know now isn't a good time, but..." She trailed off despairingly.

"You were asleep just now." Angel's voice was low and sounded worried about her. "Did you have another dream?"

She hesitated for a second then nodded. When she looked up at him, she noticed he hadn't looked away from her.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

Any other time she would have jumped at the chance. But not right now. Her guilt at not helping out was growing by the minute.

"Alright, but I'd better start looking for this thing we're researching anyway. We can talk whilst we try to look, can't we?"

"If you're sure." He stood up and helped her to her feet. Together they walked out to the main part of the library where Luke was flipping somewhat boredly through a large dusty book. He looked up when he heard them coming.

"Hi." He said, not even fazed by Angel's very sudden appearance. "Found anything?"

Keisha and Angel enchanged a quick glance and she shook her head. "No. You?"

He shook his head as well. "Nothing." Slamming the book shut, he put it aside on the table and picked up another.

"What're you looking for?" Angel questioned.

Together, the twins explained what had happened that morning with their ex-friend Tanya and how they had gotten one word from her when Cecelia interrupted and the vampire girl had staked herself.

"What was it she said?"

"Anointed." Luke said grimly. "And that was it."

Realisation and horror showed up on Angel's face just then. The twins simultaneously asked, "What?"

"I think I know what's happening." Angel said slowly. "I know what she was about to say. Where's Gracey? She should hear this as well."

"She went out about fifteen minutes ago." Keisha said. "She's looking for Spike, she was going to ask him what it was."

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Gracia absently twisted the stake around her fingers as she wandered through the graveyard, humming quietly to herself but keeping herself alert all the time. Eventually she put the stake back into the bag over her shoulder and stopped, just looking and listening for any vampires.

Actually, just one vampire. Spike.

As if her thought was some kind of summons, she heard the familiar Cockney-accented voice from behind her.

"Looking for me, pet?"

She spun around, meeting his cocky grin with a look of seriousness. She sighed and asked, "Do you have to keep doing that?"

His grin widened slightly as he took a drag on the lit cigarette in his hand, exhaled the smoke when it started to burn the back of his throat and cast the cigarette aside carelessly. Gracia pulled a slight face when it landed in the jar of water containing flowers on a nearby grave.

"What can I say, Slayer? It's amusing to see your reaction. I thought you were supposed to know if vampires came up behind you?"

"Give me a break, I've only been employed for three months." She wrapped her jacket tighter around herself and leaned her back against a grave stone so that she was still facing him. "So, are you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Spike knew perfectly well what she meant, but it was fun to try to annoy her. Didn't always work, but it was fun to try.

Gracia rolled her eyes. "You know what. You seemed to know what Tanna was talking about, so why don't you tell me as well?"

"Why don't you go ask your nancy-boy of a brother?"

"And why don't you just tell me what I need to know?" She was just starting to get angry now. Her eyes flashed with it when her hand when for her bag, which contained her stakes and holy water. She wouldn't hurt him though; she couldn't. Unfortunately, he seemed to know that too.

"Ask nicely." He sounded like a parent reproaching their child. Her eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance and he laughed.

"This isn't a time to laugh, Spike." Gracia decided to be honest. "If they're intent on killing Angel as much as they've implied, chances are you'll be right up the top of their hit list as well."

His manner changed to indignance. "Hey, I can look after myself in a fight. I've done two Slayers in my time." He stopped when he realised she had said the last six words simultaneously with him.

"I know. Read it." she said, gazing around briefly before looking back at him. "Come on, please. Just tell me."

Why he did as she asked, he didn't know. But something in those brown eyes, something about her honesty and openess, made him tell her. And he wanted to kick himself for it.

"There was a vampire leader once. Known to some as The Annoying One." He grinned at the memory of the nickname and the child-like leader's demise at his own hands. "Given name, however, was The Anointed One."

"Of course!" Gracia sighed irratably, talking half to herself. "Why didn't I remember?"

"The Watcher had you researching all those really fascinating books of prophecies?" Spike questioned sarcastically. Gracia shook her head, mouth set grimly.

"No. Before...well, when I first lived, back in Galway, I was very religious. Everyone...mostly, was. We didn't have the answers to the workings of the world then so it all made sense. But anyway. It must have been in the Old Testament of the Bible, but somewhere there's a prophecy concerning the birth of Jesus. They call him the Anointed One." She gave a small, slightly humourless, laugh. "Obviously though, it was meant differently."

He told her about the evil of the demon child, the way he had been risen and killed. And all throughout the story, she remained unfazed and rapt, listening so very carefully as if some detail should escape her hearing. Eventually, when Spike finished his story, she straightened up, pulling herself away from the gravestone, and adjusted the bag over her shoulder.

"And now they want to bring him back," she said in a low voice, then frowned. "Why now, why after ten years or whatever? Why didn't they do it sooner?"

Pushing away memories of Buffy, Spike shrugged, keeping his tone nonchalant and uninterested. "They wanted to make sure that there were no more Slayers in Sunnydale, I guess. Then you came along, obviously something they didn't expect."

She shook her head, managing a small smile. "What an inconvenience."

There was silence for a moment as he studied her and she him. Then she shrugged.

"Ah, guess I'd better head back to the school. Even if Cecelia had to leave early 'cause of book orders or whatever, the others are there. I should tell them.Not like there's any fights to be had here." Gracia paused, chewing her lip briefly. "You wanna come with me?"

Spike snorted. "As if, schoolgirl."

Gracia grinned at him, laughing despite the fact that he had just insulted her. "See you, Spike." She began to move away with all the stealth of the Chosen One.

Spike's blue eyes watched her leave, silently slightly troubled until he told himself to stop being so stupid. Brooding about the Slayer's safety was Angelus's problem.

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The lair of the sunken church had long ago been abandoned. Neither human nor demon- vampire or otherwise- had set foot within the place for years.

And now it was swarming once more.

Zachary stood on a wide platform-like ledge, a perverse grin of evil anticipation splitting his vampiric countenance, surveying over the activities of his large gang. Ambulo Mortuus stood nearby, seeming to listen and watch from beneath the hood, an air of cold disdain radiating from the figure within the cloak.

"Old place hasn't changed a bit," he remarked, half to himself and half to Ambulo Mortuus. "It's that identical I can just see the Master strolling around, ugly old git that he was. But straight in and out, once we have our trinket we can all leave this place to the dust again."

"This is no mere trinket, Zachary." Ambulo Mortuus replied sharply. "You underestimate the sheer power it conceals in each letter, let alone spell. This is one of the most powerful assets of dark Magick in this existence and many, many others."

Zachary sneered. "You've been spending too much time with those books of yours. Tell me- will there be enough distraction for our leader's Resurrection to be carried out sucessfully?"

"There will, Zachary, do not doubt that." The leading vampire could almost see a smirk under that hood, playing on the unknown face. "The spell that I completed before we came here to retrieve the book should provide enough worry to have the Slayer's friends worrying about someone other than her. She will come to you like a lamb to the slaughter and her friends will be eliminated."

"And why are you doing this for us?" Zachary could not conceal his infinite curiosity. "Why would you, a human, offer to help us so that you could become a vampire?"

Ambulo Mortuus held up a thin, feminine pale hand to cease the questioning. "Enough. You, yourself, was Sired by the Master. However disrespectfully you may speak of him now, you now that he was of a very old and powerful line. You should know of the thirst most hold for power. But to gain, you must also be willing to give, as long as you, too, advantage. I offer my services in the Anointed One's rightful rising because, not only do I recognise that he should be here to rule the Hellmouth, but also because I wish to be a vampire- one of the elite."

Zachary sneered again. "Whatever you say, Ambulo Mortuus." He dragged out the witch's self-appointed name mockingly.

"Zachary! Leader! We have found it!"

The calling voice made the place fall silent and cut Zachary off at the beginning of another tirade of ridicule. The leader looked up, golden eyes glowing, and he jumped down from the ledge. He stalked quickly in the direction of the voice, vampires parting to allow him, and Ambulo Mortuus in his wake, through.

The caller was a vampiress with a tightly bound knot of greasy dark hair high on her head. In her hands, she held what they had been looking for, and dropped to her knees as Zachary came closer, offering it up to him. He took it with a widening of his wicked grin and ignored her yellow eyes imploring him for some sort of reward- even a word of thanks. None came though.

Cradling the book as though it were an infant, carefully, tenderly, he wiped the dust from its whorled leather cover and the metal letters emblazoned on it. He read them over and over eagerly.

THE BOOK OF AMORA.

For this was what held the key to the Anointed One's return.

"Home we go!" he hissed delightedly. "To prepare for tomorrow!"

As they left, he considered fleetingly if the Slayer was prepared for her imminent death.

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So sorry it took so long to get this up! I should be able to write more after my exams- I have, like, two weeks to go! Argh!

Oh, and the thing about Jesus being referred to as the Anointed One in the Bible...that IS TRUE! I found it out in my R.S. lesson. Freaky!

And please review! Thank you!