Part 7
#
"Ladies, gentlemen, and ... whatever the hell you are, thank you for coming here."
Mr. Trick surveyed the small group of assembled demons, assassins, and creatures he did not know what to make of. There were six of them, all of them renowned for their hunting skills, and eager to make a name for themselves by hunting down two Slayers. Trick found that rather stupid himself, but as it would not be him who risked his skin in this endeavor, well ...
When the Mayor had asked him for the telephone numbers of a few good assassins, Trick's first thought had been the Order of Taraka. They were the most infamous bounty hunters around and he had made good business with them before. Then, though, he had found out that they had been after the blonde Slayer before and failed. Well, failed in the sense that they had not managed to kill her before she took care of the vampire who had put out the bounty. The moment the bounty was gone the bounty hunters had lost interest.
Seeing no good sense in trying a scheme that had failed once before Trick had decided to go with some other talent he knew. They had all assembled at one of his safe houses in Los Angeles and would head for Sunnydale before nightfall.
"As I told you during our initial talks," Trick continued, "my client has put out a considerable bounty for the elimination of these three individuals."
He motioned for one of his assistants (the word 'minion' was so outdated) to turn off the lights and activate the beamer. Clicking on the infrared mouse he held in his hand Trick called up the first Powerpoint slide. An image of Buffy Summers appeared on the wall.
"This is target number one. Some of you know her as the Slayer."
One of the two vampires among the six assassins growled under his breath. That was Lyle Gorch, Trick knew, who had lost his brother in battle with this particular Slayer not one year ago. Gave him added motivation.
"Now, for those of you who are familiar with this beautiful young thing, you should know there have been some changes. Our lovely Slayer is not just a Slayer anymore, she is also a blood junkie."
Gorch and the other vampire, who happened to be his wife, both seemed puzzled, while the other four just seemed confused.
"If you are not familiar with the term," Trick went on, "it means she has ingested the blood of a powerful vampire regularly for some time. This gives her some vampiric characteristics, such as enhanced senses and a demon's temper, yet also some added weaknesses. She is dependent upon her master's blood and ... well, let's just say it won't be pleasant for her should she not get her fix when she needs it."
"She is still human, though?" The question came from one of the human assassins, one of the Gruensthaler brothers. "Or do we need a stake to kill her?"
"No, my friend, she's still human, at least as far as ways to kill her are concerned. Bullets will do fine."
He clicked on the mouse and the next slide came up.
"This is the vampire in question, the one on whose blood our little Slayer depends. I am sure many of you have heard of Angelus, formerly the Scourge of Europe, formerly the only vampire in the whole wide world who happens to have a soul. We are not a hundred percent sure about the soul thing these days, given that he returned to his old ways about half a year ago, but soul or not, he is dangerous. Angelus is a direct descendant from Master Nest, meaning he is a tough one. According to our information he and the blonde Slayer also have something of a romantic involvement."
"It's disgusting," Gorch said. "I've seen them together the last time I was in that dive of a town. They were smooching all the time."
"So use that to your advantage," Trick advised him. "People who are concerned about others make mistakes, my brother. Now, let us get to the last of our three targets."
The next slide appeared, showing the picture of a dark-haired girl.
"Now, even though we all know there is supposed to be but one Slayer at a time, there are currently two. This is the second, a girl called Faith. She has only been the Slayer for about four months now, but she is quite the wildcat. I know from personal experience."
He motioned for the lights to be turned back on.
"Now, my client wishes all three of these people dead as soon as possible. The bounty will only be paid when all targets have been eliminated. A certain amount of ... discretion is also expected. We do not want the beautiful town of Sunnydale to be turned into a war zone in the process."
Looking around the gathered group, Trick went through the names once again. Lyle Gorch and his wife (whose name he had not bothered to remember) were highly motivated, though Trick did not think they would be the ones to take the Slayers down. The Gruenthalers had a better chance, as the Slayers were not used to going up against humans, especially humans using guns.
He did not know much about the yellow, spiky demon sitting next to the German brothers, but an associate of his had assured him that the fellow could dish out a lot of damage. Finally, the last member of the half dozen had not said much so far. Robert Bearclaw was a half-demon whose hunting experiences reached back to the buffalo herds of the old west and he had killed people for money for the last three centuries.
Trick nodded, more or less satisfied. They were not prime material, but they would do nicely.
"Any other questions?" He looked around again. "None? Good. I will let my client know that the hunt will begin tonight. I trust you will see to your own transportation to Sunnydale and handle this matter professionally. Ladies, gentlemen, and spiky-headed looking creatures, good day and happy hunting."
Having finished the preparations, Trick resolved not to answer any more calls from the Mayor of Sunnydale. This little bit of consulting, together with his other Sunnydale revenues, had put him in the black for the foreseeable future and he was looking forward to doing a lot of business far, far away from that town.
Unless of course the assassins succeeded and killed the two Slayers and Angelus. Then he might just be convinced to work there again.
#
After managing to drag his feet for most of the day Xander finally found himself standing in front of Angel's apartment door about half an hour before sunset. He thought of the one and only time he had been here before, more than a year ago. Back then he had come to get Angel's help in saving Buffy from the Master and together they had managed to do just that. They had brought her back and Buffy had prevailed against the bat-faced wonder.
He still remembered the words he had used back then. About not liking him, but seeing as Buffy was thinking of him as a real person he would give Angel the chance to prove her right. And had he not? Had Angel not done everything possible to prove that? Not to him personally, no, but to Buffy and, by extension, all of her friends.
Xander shook his head. This was all so incredibly fucked up. Here he was, standing in front of Angel's door, trying to work up the courage to go in and finding himself scared to death. Interestingly enough it was not because of Angel, or rather not because he feared that the vampire might actually do him bodily harm. No, he was quite sure Angel would never do that, though considering the pain Xander had caused him and Buffy maybe he should not be so sure about that, either.
No, what he really feared was the upcoming talk. Maybe Angel would not even be interested in listening. And what if he was? What if he did want to listen? What could Xander possibly say? Sorry I got you sent to hell? Sorry I did everything to make your life hell even before that? Sorry I did my best to drive you and Buffy apart even though I know I never had a chance with her?
He had spent the entire day looking for words and now realized that he had not found any. Maybe he should turn around. Go back home and come back later when he had thought of something to say. Yeah, right, what were the chances of actually thinking of something to say anyway? Were there even words that would fit?
No, he resolved. Maybe all he could do was stutter around, but he would pull this off. Now, before he lost his nerve again. Before he managed to do something else that would only alienate his friends further, maybe cause more people to be ... to be ... killed.
Gathering all the courage he could possibly find Xander raised his hand and knocked on the door.
Only to take a step back when said door was opened by an amber-eyed Buffy, who looked at him with pure disgust on her face.
"Xander," she snarled. "What are you doing here?"
Excellent question, Xander thought. Excellent question.
#
Part 8
#
The only reason why Xander did not pray for the ground to open up and swallow him on the spot was the fact that he had lived in Sunnydale too long, so he knew better than to wish for such things this close to the Hellmouth. Still, the prospect of being swallowed by Hell itself did not seem all that bad right now in comparison.
Buffy was looking at him with hatred in her eyes. Suddenly it did not matter that she was looking at him with eyes that would have been more at home in the face of a cat rather than a human being. The only thing that did matter was that this girl (who was really a fifty year old woman, some part of him added) had once been his friend and now ... now she looked ready to strangle him.
Xander had to swallow a few times before he managed to speak. "Can I come in?"
He almost bolted when Buffy's eyes flashed with even more anger, her fingers curling into claws. He could not help but remember their first meeting after her return from Hell, where she had lost her temper and almost killed him. Then she visibly forced herself to relax, though, and stepped aside, motioning for him to come in. Xander gulped and stepped inside.
The last and only time he had been in Angel's apartment he had not taken the time to look around much. Things had been much too hectic then and the only thing on his mind had been getting Angel to help him save Buffy. Even so he could not miss the fact that the apartment had changed a lot.
With a start he realized that Buffy was living here now. He probably should not have been surprised at that fact, not after Willow had told them that they had been in Hell together for thirty years, together nonstop and without break. Was it any wonder that they were unwilling to part company now?
Some dark part of him raged at the fact that Buffy had moved in with that undead bastard, but he quickly clamped down on that thought.
Angel was sitting on the couch, buttoning up a black shirt, his dark brown eyes resting on Xander. The vampire said nothing, just looked at him, and there was nothing to be read on his face. Somehow Xander preferred the anger and hatred he saw on Buffy's face. At least that did not leave him totally in the dark as to what might be going on behind it.
Buffy walked past him and settled down on the couch beside Angel. They did not exactly snuggle against each other, but the lengths of their bodies were touching and one of Angel's hands rested on Buffy's thigh. Seeing them like this sent a flash of jealousy through Xander, but again he clamped down on it.
Angel finally gestured at a chair, on which Xander settled down in as complicated a way as he could think of, hoping to buy a few more seconds. Once he sat he fidgeted, his hands with a nervous life of their own, and looked for a place to start.
"Sunset is in twenty minutes," Buffy finally said. "We're on a schedule, so make it snappy!"
Twenty minutes, Xander groaned inwardly. How the hell was he supposed to explain everything to them in twenty minutes? Then again, he could probably try for hours and not get anywhere. What did he have to explain to them anyway? Were they even interested in hearing his explanations? Would he be if the situation was reversed? Probably not.
He finally looked at Angel and said the only thing he could think of. "I came to tell you I'm sorry."
For a moment no one said anything, then Buffy gave a dry laugh. "You're sorry," she said mockingly. "Whatever are you sorry for, Xander?"
Buffy would not make this easy for him, he realized. No reason why she should, really.
"For being a stupid idiot," he continued. "I guess I ... no, I know that I made a lot of mistakes and ..."
"Mistakes?" Buffy interrupted him again. "Oh, you mean like that 'mistake' of not telling me about Angel's soul and causing me to send him to Hell?"
She was starting to rise, inflamed by the hurt Xander could hear all too clearly in her voice, but Angel gently restrained her, pulling her back against him. The vampire still did not say anything, just kept looking at Xander with a completely neutral expression.
"Yes," Xander nodded. "I ... look, I know sorry doesn't cut it, Angel, but I really don't know what else to say. I wasn't thinking on that day, okay? I only knew that Buffy was going out to kill you and that she would hold back if she knew you'd be getting your soul back. I wanted you dead for all you had done to us."
He sank back into the chair, sighing. "I didn't want to see you and Angelus as two different guys, I really didn't want to. Because if I did then ... well, then I'd have to admit to myself that it wasn't an evil monster who had ... who I thought had ruined my every chance of ever getting Buffy to love me."
Getting the words out had been hard, but Xander felt oddly relieved. He turned to look at Buffy.
"I crushed on you the moment I saw you," he told her. "I know you never returned my feelings and I ... I thought I could get over that after we cleared the air at Spring Fling. I even thought I could get over the fact that you and deadb... Angel were getting closer and closer. I was starting to fall for Cordy and then ..."
He turned back to look at Angel. "Then you turned evil. Suddenly it all made sense to me. You were a monster and somehow you had caused Buffy to fall in love with you, which was the only reason she never fell for me. I mean ... God, I don't even know whether I was still in love with Buffy at that time, but it didn't make a difference. I only knew that you were evil, had always been evil, and I wanted you gone, no matter what it took."
He hesitated a moment, holding a furious internal debate whether he should actually say the next thing on his mind, but then decided that honesty was really the only way to go here, no matter where it might take him.
"I don't know whether it was wrong not to tell Buffy about you getting your soul back," Xander looked at Angel. "I only know I did it for the wrong reasons."
Buffy opened her mouth to say something, but Angel was faster.
"It was the right thing," he simply said. Buffy stared at him, but he continued, "Angelus was ready to kill her that day. Had Buffy held back in any way he would have done it."
Putting a comforting hand on Buffy to calm her down, he still looked at Xander. "Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, though, is a good way to go to Hell fast."
Xander nodded. "I thought I had figured that out during the summer. I thought you were gone, both of you, and it was my fault."
"Too bad your little epiphany didn't hold up," Buffy spat, clearly not impressed by his words so far.
"It didn't," Xander agreed. "When you came back and ... looked like this ...," he gestured at her eyes, her fangs, "... I only knew that Angel had done this to you. Willow tried to explain to me that he had done it to save you, but I ... the only thing I could think of was that he had stolen your humanity from you. Made you a monster just like him."
He looked down, muttering "I was wrong. I'm sorry."
"You said so before," Buffy growled at him. "You think that makes up for everything you did to us?"
"It doesn't," Angel said when Xander did not answer immediately. "But it's a start."
"Angel ...," Buffy started.
"You have a lot to make up for, Xander," Angel told him. "Believe me, I know what that is like. It won't be easy and it will take a lot of time. Saying you're sorry is only a start, nothing more. You won't regain your friends' trust overnight."
Xander looked up, meeting Angel's eyes. "I hurt you the worst," he whispered. "I'm ..."
"... sorry, yes, you said so," Angel interrupted him. "Now what are you going to do about it?"
What was he going to do about it? What kind of question was that? What could he possibly do to make up for what he had done to Angel? Not just on that fateful day and later, but also the whole year before that. The jokes, the insults, the constant attempts to get between him and Buffy in any way possible.
Looking into Angel's eyes Xander realized that he could not. There was no way to change the past, no way to undo what he had done.
He could only try to do better in the future.
"I want to help find Amy's killer," he finally said. "I want ... I want to help the Scooby Gang again."
#
Once the sun went down they were heading for the library, Buffy and Angel a few steps behind Xander. Angel knew that she was anything but happy with him right now, he could feel her tension from where their hands interlaced.
"I can't believe you're doing this," she mumbled, too quiet for Xander to hear. "I can't believe that you're just forgiving him."
"I'm not," Angel told her.
"Then why ...?"
"I'm giving him a chance to earn forgiveness, Buffy, there's a difference."
"And how do you figure he deserves even that much after what he did?"
"I have to believe that everyone does."
Buffy tensed, habit almost making her reprimand him for what she thought to be the start of another brooding session. They had almost ceased to happen during their trip through Hell, but had returned here on Earth. Buffy and Angel had long ago forgiven each other for all real and imagined wrongs, but she knew that he still held a lot of guilt toward her friends and family.
Was this his way of working through that? Was he trying to redeem himself in their eyes by helping to redeem Xander? He did not need to do this, she knew. It had taken time, but Giles, Willow, even her mother knew that Angel and Angelus were two different people. He had had no control over the things the demon had done to them.
Unlike Xander.
"Don't expect me to forgive him," Buffy finally said. "I don't think I can ever forgive him for what he did to the both of us."
Angel said nothing to that, just held her close as they continued walking. He knew that Buffy was slow to let people into her heart, but once they were in they stayed there for life. Unless they betrayed her trust, of course, like Xander had done. Betrayal by people she trusted was not something she easily forgave and he knew that, arrogant as it might sound, the fact that Xander had hurt the man she loved only made it worse.
Angel was quite sure that Xander's remorse was genuine. He also believed that everyone deserved a chance to try and redeem himself. Whether Xander could actually make use of that chance, whether he could rise above his own pettiness and small-mindedness, well ...
It remained to be seen.
#
Part 9
#
There was an icy silence when they entered the library, all eyes turning to Xander. Even though none of the looks he got made him as uncomfortable as the looks Buffy and Angel had given him earlier, the mere fact that everyone was looking at him with emotions ranging from anger to barely polite disinterest was making him want to bolt all over again.
"Xander," Willow finally said, but made no move to come toward him from where she sat at the table. Oz was by her side, not saying a word, but with just the tiniest bit of anger in his eyes. Cordelia was looking at him with open distain, while the girl by her side just looked, period.
That left Giles, who was just emerging from his office and stopped in mid- stride.
"Now this is a surprise," he mumbled, adjusting his glasses.
"Xander came by our apartment earlier," Angel explained to the others. "We talked an he wants to help find Amy's killer."
He did not say anything about the other things they had talked about, for which Xander was rather thankful. The mere fact that the three of them had come in together - though Buffy was keeping quite a bit of distance and gave him the occasional glare - told the others all they needed to know about tonight's talk as far as Xander was concerned.
"Good," Giles said when no one else seemed inclined to comment. "Good."
The brunette girl standing next to Cordelia came toward him, the smile on her face making Xander very uneasy. He had seen her twice before, once on the night he had been arrested, once the night when the spell had spread chaos throughout Sunnydale. The fact that she had had glowing silver eyes then tipped him off that she was probably not as human as she appeared to be. A witch maybe?
"So you're Xander," she said, stopping just out of reach, looking him up and down. "I don't know, after all I heard about you I'd imagined you'd at least look a little more buff."
Her words made it clear that the things she had heard about him had been anything but flattering. Which was no surprise, actually.
"Xander, this is Faith," Giles made the introductions, "she was called as the Slayer after Kendra died. Faith, this is Xander."
Another Slayer? Xander stared at her, took in how comfortable she seemed with the rest of the gang already. How long had she been here? How much had he missed?
"Any news on Amy?" Angel steered the conversation towards a new topic and again Xander found himself grateful. Twice in five minutes he found himself grateful towards Angel? God, things were definitely changing. He had to believe it was for the better, though, because he could not really imagine things getting worse. Which did not mean that it could not, of course. This was Sunnydale, after all.
Faith gave him another look, but seemed to accept the change of topic for the moment.
"What about Faith's slime demon?"
Buffy walked past Xander, doing her best to pretend he was not there, and sat down on the table. Lots of books were spread there, most of them showing drawings of demons of various sorts. Willow's computer was up and running, displaying several files on loan from the Sunnydale police.
"Nothing much on either, I fear," Giles sighed. "The police did not take fingerprints at the site, so even if our vampire was kind enough to leave any ..."
"A vampire killed Amy?" Xander looked at him, wide-eyed.
"It appears so, yes," Giles said, seeming none too fond of the distraction. "I attempted to put our clues together today, but all I came up with are a lot of theories, nothing concrete. Unless we find Amy's killer or the person behind it ..."
Giles spread his hands.
"Great," Buffy mumbled. "All dressed up with nowhere to go."
"Don't fret, B," Faith said, dropping into the chair next to Buffy and draping her arm around the other Slayer. "We'll go and patrol for some ghoulies later on. Maybe we'll ..."
The rest of Faith's statement was cut off when one of the library windows exploded inward. Several black objects came flying in and hit the library floor, immediately starting to spew forth smoke like crazy.
"Gas grenades," Giles yelled, putting his handkerchief in front of his mouth. "Don't breathe in!"
Buffy, Angel, and Faith had started moving the moment the first window shattered, fanning out to try and spot whatever was attacking them. The gas quickly spread through the room, but they managed to avoid the brunt of it, their superhuman constitution handling what little they could not. Not so the others, who were quickly reduced to coughing, teary-eyed wrecks.
"We have to get them out of here," Buffy said, diving into the gas to drag out Willow. Angel, not needing to breathe, just closed his eyes and navigated by hearing alone, finding Oz and Xander, leading them toward the doors. Faith grabbed Cordelia, while Giles had managed to find the door on his own.
Faith was the first to peek out into the corridor, but instinct caused her to draw back immediately. Something brushed past so close to her face that she felt the air move against her skin. The bullet narrowly missed her and struck the far wall.
"Okay, who the fuck is shooting at us?"
They heard the crash of yet another window and a very non-human growl. It came from somewhere behind them, among the stacks of the library.
"More company."
Angel made a quick leap out the door and across the corridor, not particularly worried about bullets. The tail of his coat was torn by several shots, but no direct hits. He ducked behind the corner and looked back to the library entrance.
"Muzzle shot is about twenty feet away," he told the others, "located behind the lockers. I could probably reach him, but it would put me out of the fight for a while."
Buffy flinched at the image of Angel riddled with bullets, but she knew it would only hurt him, not kill him.
"Let's try something else first," Faith proposed, quickly diving back into the smoke behind them. There was a loud growl again, getting closer, but moments later Faith emerged once more, holding one of the still smoking gas grenades and throwing it out into the corridor.
"Good thinking, Faith," Giles complimented as the corridor filled with smoke. Angel darted forward when visibility dropped to zero. "Okay, let's get going!"
There was a crunch outside, Buffy recognizing the sound of someone's head being bashed into something hard and metallic, then they heard Angel's voice. "Coast is clear!"
Supporting the others they quickly made their way down the corridor, catching up with Angel even as Buffy saw something big with yellow skin appear in the library door. Whatever it was, it was ugly.
"The shooter was human," Angel said, taking part of Oz' weight off Buffy's shoulders. "He won't bother us for a while."
"What's an armed human doing working with a yellow-skinned demon?"
Said demon was catching up with them a moment later, swinging some kind of organic-looking blade. Faith ducked just in time to save her neck, losing a few strands of hair instead. Buffy surged forward, kicking the creature into the chest, but it barely staggered, now swinging at her.
"We need to get the others to safety before we can fight them," Angel said, shoving the demon back into the smoke.
"In here!" Faith pointed toward the door to a storage room. They quickly helped the others inside, Giles entering last.
"Barricade yourself," Buffy told him. "We'll deal with these things."
"Be careful, Buffy," Giles pushed the door closed, leaving Faith, Buffy, and Angel standing in the corridor. The yellow demon was getting back to his feet and charged them again, even as they saw other shapes appear from the smoke inside the library.
"Why did I ever drop out of school," Buffy sighed. "All the fun happens right here."
Faith just smirked and jumped into battle.
TO BE CONTINUED
#
"Ladies, gentlemen, and ... whatever the hell you are, thank you for coming here."
Mr. Trick surveyed the small group of assembled demons, assassins, and creatures he did not know what to make of. There were six of them, all of them renowned for their hunting skills, and eager to make a name for themselves by hunting down two Slayers. Trick found that rather stupid himself, but as it would not be him who risked his skin in this endeavor, well ...
When the Mayor had asked him for the telephone numbers of a few good assassins, Trick's first thought had been the Order of Taraka. They were the most infamous bounty hunters around and he had made good business with them before. Then, though, he had found out that they had been after the blonde Slayer before and failed. Well, failed in the sense that they had not managed to kill her before she took care of the vampire who had put out the bounty. The moment the bounty was gone the bounty hunters had lost interest.
Seeing no good sense in trying a scheme that had failed once before Trick had decided to go with some other talent he knew. They had all assembled at one of his safe houses in Los Angeles and would head for Sunnydale before nightfall.
"As I told you during our initial talks," Trick continued, "my client has put out a considerable bounty for the elimination of these three individuals."
He motioned for one of his assistants (the word 'minion' was so outdated) to turn off the lights and activate the beamer. Clicking on the infrared mouse he held in his hand Trick called up the first Powerpoint slide. An image of Buffy Summers appeared on the wall.
"This is target number one. Some of you know her as the Slayer."
One of the two vampires among the six assassins growled under his breath. That was Lyle Gorch, Trick knew, who had lost his brother in battle with this particular Slayer not one year ago. Gave him added motivation.
"Now, for those of you who are familiar with this beautiful young thing, you should know there have been some changes. Our lovely Slayer is not just a Slayer anymore, she is also a blood junkie."
Gorch and the other vampire, who happened to be his wife, both seemed puzzled, while the other four just seemed confused.
"If you are not familiar with the term," Trick went on, "it means she has ingested the blood of a powerful vampire regularly for some time. This gives her some vampiric characteristics, such as enhanced senses and a demon's temper, yet also some added weaknesses. She is dependent upon her master's blood and ... well, let's just say it won't be pleasant for her should she not get her fix when she needs it."
"She is still human, though?" The question came from one of the human assassins, one of the Gruensthaler brothers. "Or do we need a stake to kill her?"
"No, my friend, she's still human, at least as far as ways to kill her are concerned. Bullets will do fine."
He clicked on the mouse and the next slide came up.
"This is the vampire in question, the one on whose blood our little Slayer depends. I am sure many of you have heard of Angelus, formerly the Scourge of Europe, formerly the only vampire in the whole wide world who happens to have a soul. We are not a hundred percent sure about the soul thing these days, given that he returned to his old ways about half a year ago, but soul or not, he is dangerous. Angelus is a direct descendant from Master Nest, meaning he is a tough one. According to our information he and the blonde Slayer also have something of a romantic involvement."
"It's disgusting," Gorch said. "I've seen them together the last time I was in that dive of a town. They were smooching all the time."
"So use that to your advantage," Trick advised him. "People who are concerned about others make mistakes, my brother. Now, let us get to the last of our three targets."
The next slide appeared, showing the picture of a dark-haired girl.
"Now, even though we all know there is supposed to be but one Slayer at a time, there are currently two. This is the second, a girl called Faith. She has only been the Slayer for about four months now, but she is quite the wildcat. I know from personal experience."
He motioned for the lights to be turned back on.
"Now, my client wishes all three of these people dead as soon as possible. The bounty will only be paid when all targets have been eliminated. A certain amount of ... discretion is also expected. We do not want the beautiful town of Sunnydale to be turned into a war zone in the process."
Looking around the gathered group, Trick went through the names once again. Lyle Gorch and his wife (whose name he had not bothered to remember) were highly motivated, though Trick did not think they would be the ones to take the Slayers down. The Gruenthalers had a better chance, as the Slayers were not used to going up against humans, especially humans using guns.
He did not know much about the yellow, spiky demon sitting next to the German brothers, but an associate of his had assured him that the fellow could dish out a lot of damage. Finally, the last member of the half dozen had not said much so far. Robert Bearclaw was a half-demon whose hunting experiences reached back to the buffalo herds of the old west and he had killed people for money for the last three centuries.
Trick nodded, more or less satisfied. They were not prime material, but they would do nicely.
"Any other questions?" He looked around again. "None? Good. I will let my client know that the hunt will begin tonight. I trust you will see to your own transportation to Sunnydale and handle this matter professionally. Ladies, gentlemen, and spiky-headed looking creatures, good day and happy hunting."
Having finished the preparations, Trick resolved not to answer any more calls from the Mayor of Sunnydale. This little bit of consulting, together with his other Sunnydale revenues, had put him in the black for the foreseeable future and he was looking forward to doing a lot of business far, far away from that town.
Unless of course the assassins succeeded and killed the two Slayers and Angelus. Then he might just be convinced to work there again.
#
After managing to drag his feet for most of the day Xander finally found himself standing in front of Angel's apartment door about half an hour before sunset. He thought of the one and only time he had been here before, more than a year ago. Back then he had come to get Angel's help in saving Buffy from the Master and together they had managed to do just that. They had brought her back and Buffy had prevailed against the bat-faced wonder.
He still remembered the words he had used back then. About not liking him, but seeing as Buffy was thinking of him as a real person he would give Angel the chance to prove her right. And had he not? Had Angel not done everything possible to prove that? Not to him personally, no, but to Buffy and, by extension, all of her friends.
Xander shook his head. This was all so incredibly fucked up. Here he was, standing in front of Angel's door, trying to work up the courage to go in and finding himself scared to death. Interestingly enough it was not because of Angel, or rather not because he feared that the vampire might actually do him bodily harm. No, he was quite sure Angel would never do that, though considering the pain Xander had caused him and Buffy maybe he should not be so sure about that, either.
No, what he really feared was the upcoming talk. Maybe Angel would not even be interested in listening. And what if he was? What if he did want to listen? What could Xander possibly say? Sorry I got you sent to hell? Sorry I did everything to make your life hell even before that? Sorry I did my best to drive you and Buffy apart even though I know I never had a chance with her?
He had spent the entire day looking for words and now realized that he had not found any. Maybe he should turn around. Go back home and come back later when he had thought of something to say. Yeah, right, what were the chances of actually thinking of something to say anyway? Were there even words that would fit?
No, he resolved. Maybe all he could do was stutter around, but he would pull this off. Now, before he lost his nerve again. Before he managed to do something else that would only alienate his friends further, maybe cause more people to be ... to be ... killed.
Gathering all the courage he could possibly find Xander raised his hand and knocked on the door.
Only to take a step back when said door was opened by an amber-eyed Buffy, who looked at him with pure disgust on her face.
"Xander," she snarled. "What are you doing here?"
Excellent question, Xander thought. Excellent question.
#
Part 8
#
The only reason why Xander did not pray for the ground to open up and swallow him on the spot was the fact that he had lived in Sunnydale too long, so he knew better than to wish for such things this close to the Hellmouth. Still, the prospect of being swallowed by Hell itself did not seem all that bad right now in comparison.
Buffy was looking at him with hatred in her eyes. Suddenly it did not matter that she was looking at him with eyes that would have been more at home in the face of a cat rather than a human being. The only thing that did matter was that this girl (who was really a fifty year old woman, some part of him added) had once been his friend and now ... now she looked ready to strangle him.
Xander had to swallow a few times before he managed to speak. "Can I come in?"
He almost bolted when Buffy's eyes flashed with even more anger, her fingers curling into claws. He could not help but remember their first meeting after her return from Hell, where she had lost her temper and almost killed him. Then she visibly forced herself to relax, though, and stepped aside, motioning for him to come in. Xander gulped and stepped inside.
The last and only time he had been in Angel's apartment he had not taken the time to look around much. Things had been much too hectic then and the only thing on his mind had been getting Angel to help him save Buffy. Even so he could not miss the fact that the apartment had changed a lot.
With a start he realized that Buffy was living here now. He probably should not have been surprised at that fact, not after Willow had told them that they had been in Hell together for thirty years, together nonstop and without break. Was it any wonder that they were unwilling to part company now?
Some dark part of him raged at the fact that Buffy had moved in with that undead bastard, but he quickly clamped down on that thought.
Angel was sitting on the couch, buttoning up a black shirt, his dark brown eyes resting on Xander. The vampire said nothing, just looked at him, and there was nothing to be read on his face. Somehow Xander preferred the anger and hatred he saw on Buffy's face. At least that did not leave him totally in the dark as to what might be going on behind it.
Buffy walked past him and settled down on the couch beside Angel. They did not exactly snuggle against each other, but the lengths of their bodies were touching and one of Angel's hands rested on Buffy's thigh. Seeing them like this sent a flash of jealousy through Xander, but again he clamped down on it.
Angel finally gestured at a chair, on which Xander settled down in as complicated a way as he could think of, hoping to buy a few more seconds. Once he sat he fidgeted, his hands with a nervous life of their own, and looked for a place to start.
"Sunset is in twenty minutes," Buffy finally said. "We're on a schedule, so make it snappy!"
Twenty minutes, Xander groaned inwardly. How the hell was he supposed to explain everything to them in twenty minutes? Then again, he could probably try for hours and not get anywhere. What did he have to explain to them anyway? Were they even interested in hearing his explanations? Would he be if the situation was reversed? Probably not.
He finally looked at Angel and said the only thing he could think of. "I came to tell you I'm sorry."
For a moment no one said anything, then Buffy gave a dry laugh. "You're sorry," she said mockingly. "Whatever are you sorry for, Xander?"
Buffy would not make this easy for him, he realized. No reason why she should, really.
"For being a stupid idiot," he continued. "I guess I ... no, I know that I made a lot of mistakes and ..."
"Mistakes?" Buffy interrupted him again. "Oh, you mean like that 'mistake' of not telling me about Angel's soul and causing me to send him to Hell?"
She was starting to rise, inflamed by the hurt Xander could hear all too clearly in her voice, but Angel gently restrained her, pulling her back against him. The vampire still did not say anything, just kept looking at Xander with a completely neutral expression.
"Yes," Xander nodded. "I ... look, I know sorry doesn't cut it, Angel, but I really don't know what else to say. I wasn't thinking on that day, okay? I only knew that Buffy was going out to kill you and that she would hold back if she knew you'd be getting your soul back. I wanted you dead for all you had done to us."
He sank back into the chair, sighing. "I didn't want to see you and Angelus as two different guys, I really didn't want to. Because if I did then ... well, then I'd have to admit to myself that it wasn't an evil monster who had ... who I thought had ruined my every chance of ever getting Buffy to love me."
Getting the words out had been hard, but Xander felt oddly relieved. He turned to look at Buffy.
"I crushed on you the moment I saw you," he told her. "I know you never returned my feelings and I ... I thought I could get over that after we cleared the air at Spring Fling. I even thought I could get over the fact that you and deadb... Angel were getting closer and closer. I was starting to fall for Cordy and then ..."
He turned back to look at Angel. "Then you turned evil. Suddenly it all made sense to me. You were a monster and somehow you had caused Buffy to fall in love with you, which was the only reason she never fell for me. I mean ... God, I don't even know whether I was still in love with Buffy at that time, but it didn't make a difference. I only knew that you were evil, had always been evil, and I wanted you gone, no matter what it took."
He hesitated a moment, holding a furious internal debate whether he should actually say the next thing on his mind, but then decided that honesty was really the only way to go here, no matter where it might take him.
"I don't know whether it was wrong not to tell Buffy about you getting your soul back," Xander looked at Angel. "I only know I did it for the wrong reasons."
Buffy opened her mouth to say something, but Angel was faster.
"It was the right thing," he simply said. Buffy stared at him, but he continued, "Angelus was ready to kill her that day. Had Buffy held back in any way he would have done it."
Putting a comforting hand on Buffy to calm her down, he still looked at Xander. "Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, though, is a good way to go to Hell fast."
Xander nodded. "I thought I had figured that out during the summer. I thought you were gone, both of you, and it was my fault."
"Too bad your little epiphany didn't hold up," Buffy spat, clearly not impressed by his words so far.
"It didn't," Xander agreed. "When you came back and ... looked like this ...," he gestured at her eyes, her fangs, "... I only knew that Angel had done this to you. Willow tried to explain to me that he had done it to save you, but I ... the only thing I could think of was that he had stolen your humanity from you. Made you a monster just like him."
He looked down, muttering "I was wrong. I'm sorry."
"You said so before," Buffy growled at him. "You think that makes up for everything you did to us?"
"It doesn't," Angel said when Xander did not answer immediately. "But it's a start."
"Angel ...," Buffy started.
"You have a lot to make up for, Xander," Angel told him. "Believe me, I know what that is like. It won't be easy and it will take a lot of time. Saying you're sorry is only a start, nothing more. You won't regain your friends' trust overnight."
Xander looked up, meeting Angel's eyes. "I hurt you the worst," he whispered. "I'm ..."
"... sorry, yes, you said so," Angel interrupted him. "Now what are you going to do about it?"
What was he going to do about it? What kind of question was that? What could he possibly do to make up for what he had done to Angel? Not just on that fateful day and later, but also the whole year before that. The jokes, the insults, the constant attempts to get between him and Buffy in any way possible.
Looking into Angel's eyes Xander realized that he could not. There was no way to change the past, no way to undo what he had done.
He could only try to do better in the future.
"I want to help find Amy's killer," he finally said. "I want ... I want to help the Scooby Gang again."
#
Once the sun went down they were heading for the library, Buffy and Angel a few steps behind Xander. Angel knew that she was anything but happy with him right now, he could feel her tension from where their hands interlaced.
"I can't believe you're doing this," she mumbled, too quiet for Xander to hear. "I can't believe that you're just forgiving him."
"I'm not," Angel told her.
"Then why ...?"
"I'm giving him a chance to earn forgiveness, Buffy, there's a difference."
"And how do you figure he deserves even that much after what he did?"
"I have to believe that everyone does."
Buffy tensed, habit almost making her reprimand him for what she thought to be the start of another brooding session. They had almost ceased to happen during their trip through Hell, but had returned here on Earth. Buffy and Angel had long ago forgiven each other for all real and imagined wrongs, but she knew that he still held a lot of guilt toward her friends and family.
Was this his way of working through that? Was he trying to redeem himself in their eyes by helping to redeem Xander? He did not need to do this, she knew. It had taken time, but Giles, Willow, even her mother knew that Angel and Angelus were two different people. He had had no control over the things the demon had done to them.
Unlike Xander.
"Don't expect me to forgive him," Buffy finally said. "I don't think I can ever forgive him for what he did to the both of us."
Angel said nothing to that, just held her close as they continued walking. He knew that Buffy was slow to let people into her heart, but once they were in they stayed there for life. Unless they betrayed her trust, of course, like Xander had done. Betrayal by people she trusted was not something she easily forgave and he knew that, arrogant as it might sound, the fact that Xander had hurt the man she loved only made it worse.
Angel was quite sure that Xander's remorse was genuine. He also believed that everyone deserved a chance to try and redeem himself. Whether Xander could actually make use of that chance, whether he could rise above his own pettiness and small-mindedness, well ...
It remained to be seen.
#
Part 9
#
There was an icy silence when they entered the library, all eyes turning to Xander. Even though none of the looks he got made him as uncomfortable as the looks Buffy and Angel had given him earlier, the mere fact that everyone was looking at him with emotions ranging from anger to barely polite disinterest was making him want to bolt all over again.
"Xander," Willow finally said, but made no move to come toward him from where she sat at the table. Oz was by her side, not saying a word, but with just the tiniest bit of anger in his eyes. Cordelia was looking at him with open distain, while the girl by her side just looked, period.
That left Giles, who was just emerging from his office and stopped in mid- stride.
"Now this is a surprise," he mumbled, adjusting his glasses.
"Xander came by our apartment earlier," Angel explained to the others. "We talked an he wants to help find Amy's killer."
He did not say anything about the other things they had talked about, for which Xander was rather thankful. The mere fact that the three of them had come in together - though Buffy was keeping quite a bit of distance and gave him the occasional glare - told the others all they needed to know about tonight's talk as far as Xander was concerned.
"Good," Giles said when no one else seemed inclined to comment. "Good."
The brunette girl standing next to Cordelia came toward him, the smile on her face making Xander very uneasy. He had seen her twice before, once on the night he had been arrested, once the night when the spell had spread chaos throughout Sunnydale. The fact that she had had glowing silver eyes then tipped him off that she was probably not as human as she appeared to be. A witch maybe?
"So you're Xander," she said, stopping just out of reach, looking him up and down. "I don't know, after all I heard about you I'd imagined you'd at least look a little more buff."
Her words made it clear that the things she had heard about him had been anything but flattering. Which was no surprise, actually.
"Xander, this is Faith," Giles made the introductions, "she was called as the Slayer after Kendra died. Faith, this is Xander."
Another Slayer? Xander stared at her, took in how comfortable she seemed with the rest of the gang already. How long had she been here? How much had he missed?
"Any news on Amy?" Angel steered the conversation towards a new topic and again Xander found himself grateful. Twice in five minutes he found himself grateful towards Angel? God, things were definitely changing. He had to believe it was for the better, though, because he could not really imagine things getting worse. Which did not mean that it could not, of course. This was Sunnydale, after all.
Faith gave him another look, but seemed to accept the change of topic for the moment.
"What about Faith's slime demon?"
Buffy walked past Xander, doing her best to pretend he was not there, and sat down on the table. Lots of books were spread there, most of them showing drawings of demons of various sorts. Willow's computer was up and running, displaying several files on loan from the Sunnydale police.
"Nothing much on either, I fear," Giles sighed. "The police did not take fingerprints at the site, so even if our vampire was kind enough to leave any ..."
"A vampire killed Amy?" Xander looked at him, wide-eyed.
"It appears so, yes," Giles said, seeming none too fond of the distraction. "I attempted to put our clues together today, but all I came up with are a lot of theories, nothing concrete. Unless we find Amy's killer or the person behind it ..."
Giles spread his hands.
"Great," Buffy mumbled. "All dressed up with nowhere to go."
"Don't fret, B," Faith said, dropping into the chair next to Buffy and draping her arm around the other Slayer. "We'll go and patrol for some ghoulies later on. Maybe we'll ..."
The rest of Faith's statement was cut off when one of the library windows exploded inward. Several black objects came flying in and hit the library floor, immediately starting to spew forth smoke like crazy.
"Gas grenades," Giles yelled, putting his handkerchief in front of his mouth. "Don't breathe in!"
Buffy, Angel, and Faith had started moving the moment the first window shattered, fanning out to try and spot whatever was attacking them. The gas quickly spread through the room, but they managed to avoid the brunt of it, their superhuman constitution handling what little they could not. Not so the others, who were quickly reduced to coughing, teary-eyed wrecks.
"We have to get them out of here," Buffy said, diving into the gas to drag out Willow. Angel, not needing to breathe, just closed his eyes and navigated by hearing alone, finding Oz and Xander, leading them toward the doors. Faith grabbed Cordelia, while Giles had managed to find the door on his own.
Faith was the first to peek out into the corridor, but instinct caused her to draw back immediately. Something brushed past so close to her face that she felt the air move against her skin. The bullet narrowly missed her and struck the far wall.
"Okay, who the fuck is shooting at us?"
They heard the crash of yet another window and a very non-human growl. It came from somewhere behind them, among the stacks of the library.
"More company."
Angel made a quick leap out the door and across the corridor, not particularly worried about bullets. The tail of his coat was torn by several shots, but no direct hits. He ducked behind the corner and looked back to the library entrance.
"Muzzle shot is about twenty feet away," he told the others, "located behind the lockers. I could probably reach him, but it would put me out of the fight for a while."
Buffy flinched at the image of Angel riddled with bullets, but she knew it would only hurt him, not kill him.
"Let's try something else first," Faith proposed, quickly diving back into the smoke behind them. There was a loud growl again, getting closer, but moments later Faith emerged once more, holding one of the still smoking gas grenades and throwing it out into the corridor.
"Good thinking, Faith," Giles complimented as the corridor filled with smoke. Angel darted forward when visibility dropped to zero. "Okay, let's get going!"
There was a crunch outside, Buffy recognizing the sound of someone's head being bashed into something hard and metallic, then they heard Angel's voice. "Coast is clear!"
Supporting the others they quickly made their way down the corridor, catching up with Angel even as Buffy saw something big with yellow skin appear in the library door. Whatever it was, it was ugly.
"The shooter was human," Angel said, taking part of Oz' weight off Buffy's shoulders. "He won't bother us for a while."
"What's an armed human doing working with a yellow-skinned demon?"
Said demon was catching up with them a moment later, swinging some kind of organic-looking blade. Faith ducked just in time to save her neck, losing a few strands of hair instead. Buffy surged forward, kicking the creature into the chest, but it barely staggered, now swinging at her.
"We need to get the others to safety before we can fight them," Angel said, shoving the demon back into the smoke.
"In here!" Faith pointed toward the door to a storage room. They quickly helped the others inside, Giles entering last.
"Barricade yourself," Buffy told him. "We'll deal with these things."
"Be careful, Buffy," Giles pushed the door closed, leaving Faith, Buffy, and Angel standing in the corridor. The yellow demon was getting back to his feet and charged them again, even as they saw other shapes appear from the smoke inside the library.
"Why did I ever drop out of school," Buffy sighed. "All the fun happens right here."
Faith just smirked and jumped into battle.
TO BE CONTINUED