Here is part 8 for you! Finally, back to the ball scene! :D Remember to
give me reviews, I adore them. (Who doesn't?)
Thanx!
***
Part 8: "A Night of Ardent Reunions"
A few nights later..
With his crisp black uniform laced with gold and impeccable black boots and slick hair, Angel knew he looked the part for the long night ahead as he stood waiting, with his hands clasped behind his back smartly, staring at the large, impressive oil painting on the wall in front of him, one eyebrow arched charmingly. He had been in the same position for coming on five minutes and in that time hadn't moved an inch, his eyes glued on the huge piece of art that sat primly in its elaborate golden frame, contrasting startlingly against the shear whiteness of the wall behind it.
A petite young maid giggled as she hurried past him in the quiet hallway, her large dark eyes peeping at him boldly from under her cap of tightly braided raven hair and she brushed his arm as she passed, her hips swaying teasingly. Without looking away from the painting, a wolfish grin leisurely appeared on the vampire's face.
When he finally heard the door tap shut behind her at the end of the hallway, Angel let his eyes drop from the expensive canvas and scan his silent surroundings in peace. He was standing in one of the more impressive corridors his current residence, Dakenva House on the Fontanka River, and he had to admit he could really get used to living in such opulence. When Mr Betran had offered them a place to stay, Angel hadn't really understood what that harmless offer really meant.
But it turned out, quite to Angel's astonishment, that Dakenva House was one of the most impressive buildings he had ever been into, and that was saying a lot. He had to admit that he jaw had literally hit the floor when the carriage they had been travelling there in had turned to drive up the Fontanka River, the exclusive part of town that housed the most important people in the capital. Grand Dukes and Duchesses had built their palaces and mansions on the banks of the Fontanka and it was one of history's treasures.
And Dakenva House was no exception. Even from where he stood now, Angel could see the wealth positively dripping from the very walls. They were a floorless white and from which hung some of art's most expensive pieces, all of which were wrapped in intricate gold frames. Greek vases filled with an array of flowers from all seasons stood still and proud on top of delicate Chinese tables while the plush cream carpets were soft and shining beneath the vampire's feet.
The house was floorless and one that Angel felt a little tentative in staying in. He had stayed in some real beauties in his time but this one had to take the cake. But even though he had tried to stop it, to hold it at bay, he still felt himself sliding into life here in St Petersburg, even though he had been here for only a few days. Both he and Cora had been pleasantly surprised to find that Betran left them to their own devises most of the time, for during the last few days he hadn't been home much during the day; his time spent mostly at the store.
They had spent their days together, just wandering around the streets of the old city, both of them knowing that there wasn't much else they could do. Buffy was well and truly out of reach until the ball and from what Mr Betran had repeatedly told them; going to Tsarskoe Selo was out of the question. Angel felt like he was going to tear in half with the tension and frustration that had filled him lately. To have her so close, yet out of their reach still, was driving him out of his mind.
But, he told himself repeatedly; at least he had other things to keep him occupied. Wondering what the hell was up with Cora and Mr Betran for starters. For the past few days Angel had been watching them, like everyone else in the household, he knew, with a mixture of bewilderment and alarm.
The two of them had been walking on eggshells every time they were in the room together. Which wasn't much, admittedly, for Cora was obviously going out of her way to distance herself from the Russian. In the few times Angel had caught her staring at the man, her eyes were misty and positively miserable. Whenever he had expressed his concern over her actions, her response was always the same. She would get alarmingly defensive and basically tell him to mind his own business.
Angel was at a loss; he didn't know what to do. Betran was almost as bad. The only difference was that the vampire could obviously tell that he was just as confused about his actions over the young woman as everybody else. Whenever her name was mentioned he would go bright red in the face and start stammering. In fact, it had gotten so bad that he was spilling his tea whenever she walked into a room. Angel could have sworn they liked each other, very much it seemed, if it hadn't been for the sound of Cora's crying he could hear through her door every night. That and the blatant emotions she wore whenever she looked at him.
She was hurting. Very badly. And it was getting worse the longer they stayed in Betran's presence.
"Angel?"
The voice sliced through the silence behind him and the vampire winced, mentally scolding himself for not paying more attention. He was getting slack, he mused, staying in such luxury. But recognising the voice instantly, he turned around to face his friend.
And stared.
It was a wholly different Cora that he was used to standing there in the hallway, gazing up at him in concern. Closing his mouth with a snap, he just continued to stare at her, lost for words.
She grinned at his predicament and struck a pose. "You like?" she asked teasingly.
Shaking his head to clear his suddenly fogged mind, Angel nodded fervently. "Very much." Then he too, grinned. "Is that what you've been hiding from me in the last few days?"
Caught up in the moment, Cora giggled and nodded her head. "A girl's got to have her secrets, Angel."
Her gown was of startling pale silver and fell around her curves like water. The split in the sleeves went right up to where the material ended, low off her shoulders, where it fell into the daringly open neckline. Looking closely, Angel saw that sown deftly into the hems of the gown were tiny golden flowers all the way around. She wore no jewellery that he could see save for a strand of thin diamonds across her forehead where it snaked into the hair around her ears, which was loose around her shoulders, a style that was unusual for woman in Russia, who usually wore their hair up on their heads.
"You look wonderful." Angel told her sincerely, for she truly did. Being the time travelling immortal that she was, Angel would bet that Cora could travel back to the Ice age and fit in as a cavewoman if she truly wanted to.
Cora beamed up at him, deeply pleased with his reaction. She held her arm out to the vampire and said primly with a grin, "Shall we go then?"
Angel took her gloved arm and playing along, slowly marched her down the hallway towards the stairs leading to the parlour of Dakenva House where the rest of the party would already be waiting for them. In fact, he could already hear the slightly raised voices of the excited men and woman who were the friends Mr Betran had invited along for the evening along with Angel and Cora. By the sounds of things, they too, couldn't wait for this evening to start. From what Betran had told them in the past few days, this would be a ball of special magnificence for the entire Imperial Family would be in attendance, a rare treat in seemed. Thousands of invitations had gone out only weeks before and everybody who was anybody had been talking about the upcoming ball for days.
For rumours were running rife about a person of great importance to the Imperial Family attending the ball. Nobody had the slightest idea who this person was of course, for invitations to Tsarskoe Selo for lunch and such were few and hard to come by. But it had been said by the Emperor himself that tonight would be night to remember.
But now, as Cora and Angel joined the ranks of the other nobles in the room, most who were staring at them openly with curious eyes, but not bold enough to enquire why they too, had joined their seemingly exclusive group for the evening, Angel didn't doubt the identity of this special invitee for a second. And he wasn't overly thrilled with the rumours that had spread around St Petersburg about Buffy in the past week. It would make leaving harder for all of them if more people had become aware of her arrival in Russia.
"Angel, for god's sake stop frowning, you're scaring away the customers." Cora hissed out the order between her smiling teeth and Angel gave a jolt. Standing up tall, he put a hand behind his back and gave his chin a proper tilt as he nodded his head respectfully at a middle-aged woman who passed them.
Beside him, Angel could feel Cora start to relax. "That's better," she muttered approvingly. Looking around the room curiously, her arm still locked in Angel's, Cora said lowly under her breath for his ears only, "So where is our host for the evening anyway? It's gotta look bad if he's late."
"According to Nadia, there was an accident at the store this afternoon, so that's probably why he's so late." Angel shrugged, "But apart from that, your guess is as good as mine."
Cora frowned and wrinkled up her nose in distaste. "Nadia?" The she sighed in displeasure. "The upstairs maid?" Her expression turned to one of disbelief. "Angel, why must you continue to associate with them? If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, that sort of thing can never look good."
Now it was Angel's turn to frown and he didn't bother turning in her direction. "And I must have told you a million times, Cora, that people like the maids are perfect sources of information. And information is exactly what we need at the moment, the kind that our good friend Betran can't possibly know." Now he did look down at her and frowned slightly. "You've gotta know better than anyone that the rumour mill in large households like this is enormous. Maids and such know everything that goes on in the household, and beyond most of the time."
Cora huffed visibly. "All I'm saying is for god's sake do it discreetly. We don't need that sort of stuff hanging over us."
Angel sighed, rolling his eyes in her direction.
It was at the moment that the sound of the front door slamming shut caught the attention of everyone in the room and it fell silent, all eyes turning toward the entranceway of the parlour, expecting to see a person walk past from the foyer. And they weren't disappointed for it was Mr Betran himself who bristly walked through the archway into the parlour and spread his arms wide to include all his guests. There was a large smile on his face as he sought out Cora and Angel in the crowd with his eyes and when he saw them, nodded in recognition in their direction. Turning back to everyone else, he said in a booming voice to include everyone,
"I'm terribly sorry, my friends, but it turns out that we shall all be a tad bit late this evening!" The sounds of good-natured groans from the enthusiastic crowd of seemingly civilized people made Angel smile as he listened to what else Betran had to say. The man himself was already working on his tie as he kicked off his boots skilfully, to the delight of the group who, watching him start to back out the door dramatically, exploded with laughter.
"I shall be back in a few minutes, hopefully more civilized!" Betran threw back as he made his way out of the room, leaving a trail of clothing in his wake. "Let's hope our Majesties don't notice us walking in the door a bit late!"
The room raised their champagne glasses in allusion and they clanking together as the group on a whole second this notion loudly. Hearing Cora laugh lightly beside him, Angel lifted the champagne glass he suddenly found in his hand in the direction of the archway that Betran had just disappeared through. His eyes trained on the empty doorway, the sound of the cheerful laughter of the wealthy people in the room with him filled his ears and he thought of Buffy, getting ready for the ball in the fairy tale village of the sovereign just outside of the city surrounded by the new family she had acquired for herself in the past week.
She would be ecstatic about attending tonight, of that Angel had no doubt.
"Lets hope indeed." He muttered idly, taking a long drink on the sweet champagne. Swallowing slowly, he closed his eyes to savour the long forgotten taste of expensive French champagne before turning back to Cora, while in the back of his mind hoping fervently that tonight went according to plan and they got home to America. Safe.and together.
****
Half an hour later..
"Do you realise, you never actually notice how long it takes to get into all your finery until you have to do it in a hurry. How is that for irony?"
Betran's sullen explanation was met by silence, neither of his fellow carriage passengers bothering to answer. Seated next to Angel, Cora was leaning back in her seat, Betran opposite them, letting her head fall back against the cushioned backrest as she gazed out the window, her face quite calm and composed. St Petersburg was flashing past them in all it's glory, all the imposing houses were lit up like Christmas trees for all to admire.
For the special evening ahead, the whole city had come out to celebrate and the city was positively awash in a sea of wine, champagne, vodka and music. A lethal combination in anyone's books. Even if the poorer classes had no hope whatever to ever see inside the ballroom, they naturally had all gathered together and were having their own parties out in the streets. Turning her head slightly, Cora smiled as she watched a large group of people gathered around a series of bonfires in the street. They were dancing and laughing gaily as they frolicked around the warmth of the fire and the group of men sitting on wine barrels playing a mixture of musically instruments Cora had never seen before.
Her eyes still glued on the dancers, watching them slowly disappear as the carriage glided away towards the Palace Square; she knew without looking up that man sitting opposite her had his own eyes glued on her face languidly. Betran had been staring at her for the best part of the 10-minute drive from Dakenva House and sorrowfully, Cora didn't have the heart to reprimand him on it, knowing that had their situations been reversed, she would be doing the exact same thing.
Life could be a real bitch sometimes.
Knowing he was watching, his chin resting in his palm as he gazed at her lazily, giving her a long searching look that he had to know she could not fail to notice, Cora closed her eyes gracefully, letting her dark eyelashes fan against her pale, creamy skin delicately. She let her mouth fall open slightly to show pearly white teeth and the overall look was that she had fallen asleep.
Betran coughed awkwardly from opposite her and shifted slightly on the seat. Cora almost grinned but schooled her expression expertly as she leisurely opened her eyes and turned to regard him with a hooded gaze that he met full on. They stared at each other silently, the top of Cora's revealed chest rising and falling slightly as she breathed. She saw his gaze drop quickly to the tops of her breasts before he flushed brightly and lifted his eyes quickly, but his eyes held no apologies.
Cora almost felt sorry for him. He had no idea why he was acting like this around her; he was probably dead confused about the whole thing. Maybe, just maybe, Cora thought, he believed he had genuine feelings for her. She sighed with regret at the idea. That would be completely cruel.
No longer in the mood for games, the Questor turned her head sharply away and continued to study the city that rolled past the windows of the carriage. But when she felt the unmistakable jerk as they turned into the Palace Square she sat up straighter on the cushioned seat and actually turned to the window and peered out, her gloved hands resting on the windowpane. Opposite her, she knew Angel was doing the same as the extraordinary Winter Palace loomed into view.
The magnificent building was flooded with every kind of light imaginable and Cora actually gave a cry of delight at the sight of the beautiful palace, which she had once loved so much, yet hadn't seen in such a very long time.
Even though Betran was once again staring at her, this time with an expression of suspicion, Cora closed her eyes again and let the sound of the singing bells that was unmistakably Russia soak through into her very bones. This was what she had been searching for in the last 80 or so years, she knew. The sounds of the old country, the country that had at one stage opened its arms to the lost and desolate Questor and returned her to her previous splendour.
The country that was once, and would always be, her home.
Taking a deep breath of the frozen Russian air, Cora tightened her grip on the windowpane as a radiant smile appeared on her face.
"Oh yes, Russia," she whispered to her adopted country zealously.
"I'm home."
****
Taking a deep breath, Angel poked his head through the small door of the carriage and took a step down into the mini set of stairs that had been placed there for his use. Ignoring the outstretched hand that was offered to help him down from the carriage, the vampire jumped briskly off the last step and landed on soft velvet carpets. Moving away from the carriage to allow Betran and Cora to descend, he looked up and found himself standing at the bottom of a huge set of marble stairs, which let up to the largest set of marble doors he had ever seen.
Turning in a slow circle, his eyes soaking in the almost impossible sights around him, the vampire found himself surrounded in a colonnade of enormous jasper and malachite columns, which from each fell rows and rows of baskets filled to the brim of every kind of flower he had ever known and more. The whole area was awash with colour as the sparkling palace released its hidden splendour for the evening. Craning his neck, the vampire gasped as he saw vast crystal chandeliers falling from the soaring ceiling, each of the chandeliers were also dripping flowers, this time huge white lilies.
Turning back towards the carriage, Angel ignored the few people who were still outside, most of them were men smoking cigars in a small group, but there were also others, like themselves, who were a bit late for the ball. Most of these were the other members of their group. The men with cigars had stopped their hushed chatter and were staring him with a mixture of curious and bewildered frowns on their faces as they obviously tried to rack their brains to give him a name. Watching out of the corner of his eye, Angel saw one young man whisper a quick question in the direction of another gentleman, who in response, only shrugged his shoulders and continued to stare openly.
Chuckling quietly to himself at their predicament, he was just making his way back towards the carriage to take Cora's arm, who was just stepping down, staring up at the palace with a bright smile on her face, when he noticed someone standing off to the side, slightly behind one of the malachite columns. Stopping, he narrowed his eyes and saw that it was a young man of perhaps 20 years with dark features and slightly shabby clothes compared to everybody else. He was standing there, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets, staring back at the vampire with raised eyebrows.
Swearing under his breath, Angel started to walk towards the young man, ignoring Cora who was watching his movements with narrowed eagle eyes of sudden displeasure; her happy mood vanished as she noticed where he was heading.
As soon as he reached the man, Angel grabbed hold of his dark grey coat and pulled him behind the column so they were out of sight, suddenly thankful that it was large enough to successfully conceal both of them. The young man immediately shrugged Angel's hand off and took a step back away from the vampire. But apart from that, he seemed to be in good spirits as he grinned up at Angel, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
"Your look'n sharp, Boss." He said jokingly in English, his strong Russian accent shining through.
"Thanks." Angel replied dryly. Pinning his gaze on the younger man, the vampire asked testily, "So?"
The Russian shrugged. "So what?" he asked back, still grinning in a way that was annoying the hell out of the vampire.
Angel sighed. "So, have you seen her?" he enquired.
"Oh!" the young man said jokingly. "That's what you meant!" He was silent for a moment, before catching sight of Angel's thunderous expression and chuckled to himself. "Yeah, sure I've seen her." He told Angel casually.
Angel's eyes flew open wide and he swallowed thickly. "You have?" He whispered the question, stunned.
When he had sort of the help of one Serko Vasilev the day after he and Cora had arrived in Russia, he never thought his plan of finding Buffy through a servant would actually work. Not that you could ever call Serko Vasilev a servant to his face, because you probably wouldn't have much of a face left after that. He was 21 years old and had been born and bread in the very heart of St Petersburg. He wasn't a peasant, that much was obvious from the first moment you set eyes on him. And if it weren't then, you sure would have gotten a shock when he opened his mouth and talked. He didn't have the voice of an autocrat, but then, he didn't have the voice of a peasant either.
His parents had both been working for the Dowager Empress - the Tsar's mother, Maria - since he was born and he had grown up listening to the rich and famous as they came and went from her home, the Anitchov Palace. Because of this, and the Empress Maria's interest in the boy, Serko had developed the strange half language of the working class children everywhere who had been brought up in the comfort of the many palaces on the Fontanka and beyond, but didn't actually belong in that world.
He was a real soul of St Petersburg and knew his way around the city better than most, and it was because of this that he had been sought out by Angel, who came bearing the very peculiar request of finding a young woman named 'Buffy' of all names, believed to be staying at Tsarskoe Selo with the Tsar himself.
Now, having his contact through the Empress Maria, he had often been sent to the Tsar's village with errands and such to give to be given to the family, parcels and such that she would have rather been sent by hand than have to wait for morning with the rest of the mail. And so Serko had been sent with these such parcels, being allowed into the world of the Tsar and his family that very little people were actually allowed in.
He knew deep down he felt rather proud to be trusted enough by the Tsar's own mother to be allowed to deliver these special gifts, but he didn't openly show it. People were always asking him questions about the world they knew they would never see, and he did his best to answer them. What was it like? Was it true that they had live Elephants and Tigers there for the children? Had he actually seen the children? Were the daughters as pretty as people said?
He had actually seen the family on many occasions, mostly when the children were outside for the morning having their breakfast. Like any other male would have done, he had found himself staring at the four beautiful daughters who would be dressed in their white lace day dresses, their hair allowed down and flowing to their waists. Most of the time he would be walking up to the front door of the palace and hear them laughing as they played, or ate, and would sneak around through the bushes to stand and watch them as many of the others of the Alexander Palace found themselves doing on many accessions. They were just so lovely, all four of them, that any male would find they couldn't help themselves. Never had they known such innocent, pure-hearted sisters in this time where it was fashionable for the noble class to be worldly and to live dangerously in a world of dancing, clubs and sex.
So that was why he had taken Angel's offer and had swapped with a friend working at Tsarskoe Selo so he would closer to the daughters, and if what Angel said was true, closer to the young woman named Buffy.
But at the end of the first day, Serko was starting to wonder if the vampire had gotten his wires crossed somewhere down the line for he had seen no trace of any young woman going by that strange name. But it had been something that the young Grand Duchess Anastasia.the boyish one, Serko mused, had said this evening as he had helped them into their expensive carriages as they left for the ball, that had caused him to pause and turn to regard the young blonde woman who had been behind him, waiting for her turn to step into the carriage.
"Buffy?" The young Grand Duchess had said teasingly. "Are you coming or not?"
His eyebrows had shot up in surprise as he quickly turned to stare at the stunning blonde woman in the gorgeous blue gown who was standing a bit away from the carriage, staring out into the Alexander Park hauntingly. She had a few drops of snow on her charming nose but she didn't bother removing them, for which Serko had been secretly pleased.
As she had turned back towards the carriage at the sound of the young girl's voice, Serko had gotten his first full glance at her face and he found he had to actually stop himself from whistling in admiration. She was magnificent and he found himself thinking that Angel was a bloody lucky guy to have whatever relationship he had with this glorious creature.
He had found that he couldn't stop grinning as he helped her into the carriage and knew that she had noticed herself. But curiously, she hadn't blushed and turned away like so many other young ladies would have done. She had just stared back at him, slightly curious herself, as to why he had been staring at her. It had only been when she suddenly remembered it would not be proper to be caught staring at a servant that she had looked away hastily, and Serko had found himself under the stern gaze of the Tsar himself, who had not missed the exchange between the two younger people.
So that was how he found himself standing here now, out in the freezing cold when he could have been at home devouring some of his mother's excellent home cooking and washing it down with vodka, staring across at his new acquaintance who, in turn, looked rather shell-shocked with the news that he had just been given.
Leaning forward, Serko said uncertainly, "Look, Boss. Didn't you hear me? I said I found your girl." Then he grinned brightly, if he thought that would make Angel feel better. "In fact, she's right inside!"
Angel's head jerked up in astonishment. "What?" he asked, dazed. Even though he had known she would be coming all along, to have someone say that she was just through a few walls was actually quite staggering.
But Serko just grinned and thumped him on the shoulder good-naturedly. "You heard me, Boss! Stop gaping like an idiot and go find your girl!"
Shaking his head, Angel cleared the fog out of his head and grabbed both of Serko's cold hands in his. Pumping them up and down strongly, Angel found he had a huge grin on his face as the two men beamed back at each other. "Thank you so much for this, Mr Vasilev. Just knowing she's okay is a huge weight off my mind. I don't know how I can ever repay you."
But Serko just laughed. "Oh, you have repaid me, remember?" Stuffing his hands back into his pockets, he started to walk backwards into the shadows. "And just remember, if you ever need anything, you know where to find me!" And with that, he turned silently and was eloped into the night.
****
"You, Mr, are skating on very thin ice."
Angel closed his eyes and winced as he slid up beside Cora and heard her frosty greeting. They were standing just outside the doorway of the Great Ball Room and they could both hear the sounds of the thousands of people in side dancing the night away. Betran had obviously gone on ahead because he was nowhere in sight and Cora was standing by herself, leaning up against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest in a very unlady- like gesture.
She didn't move when Angel came up next to her. "Yeah, yeah, I know." He said absent-mindedly, in a hurry to tell her what he had just found out. "But I have some news on Buffy!" he whispered loudly, causing Cora to finally turn in his direction and raise her eyebrows.
"What? That she's already inside?" At Angel's suddenly bewildered expression Cora chuckled. "That's pretty much common knowledge, my friend. Apparently they all got here about 10 minutes ago."
Angel looked put out. "Oh." Was all he said before turning to stare at the doorway of the ballroom. He was silent for a moment before turning back to Cora, his eyes bright. "Well? Can we go in or not?" he asked impatiently causing Cora to sigh.
"Sure, it's not like you've been waiting here for the last few minutes by yourself or anything!" she exclaimed dryly but allowed the vampire to take her arm through his and lead her in through the great mahogany doors. They stopped in awe when they caught sight of the masses of people dancing around the room to the sounds of the orchestra at the far end of the great hall.
"Wow." Was all Cora could manage, which was more than Angel for he suddenly found himself without a voice. The view was simply stunning. Ladies of all ages dressed in a rainbow of different coloured gowns glided across the floor on the arms of men dressed in similar black suits to the one Angel was wearing, many with coloured sashes draped over their shoulders to show the different Orders they had been awarded.
"Ah, there you are." A voice came from behind them and they both turned to see Betran standing there, grinning from ear to ear, and skilfully holding three champagne flutes in his hands, which is promptly gave two of to Cora and Angel gratefully.
"So what do you think?" he asked them cheerfully, coming to stand beside them as the three of them watched the scene in front of them.
"It's big." Angel said truthfully, causing Betran to laugh. Then he was discreetly touching the vampire's arm, causing Angel to look at him, curious, only to have the man point slightly to the side of them where a group of plush chairs had been placed for people to have a bit of a break.
As the masses of people suddenly parted Angel caught sight of two young women, possibly about the same age as Buffy, sitting down talking to two young gentlemen who were standing next to them, their heads bent as they listened politely to the two girls. The first thing that Angel noticed was that they were dressed in identical white gowns and were so similar in looks that they had to be sisters. Both were incredibly pretty and had their hair wrapped up on their heads with a ribbon to secure it in place.
Angel was still examining the two girls when Betran leaned forward and said quietly, "They are the two eldest daughters of the Tsar, Olga and Tatiana. Very pretty, no?" Then he chuckled. "They both should be married by now, true, but their mama and papa can not find men good enough for those two, I'm afraid!"
Angel just smiled politely, not really having an answer for that. But beside him, he heard Cora snort and turning to glance at her; he was just in time to see her roll her eyes. For the first time this evening, Betran addressed her singularly, "I take it you do not agree, miss Cora?" He sounded openly curious, but there was a hint of mocking in his tone that made Cora clench her teeth together in irritation.
Jerking her head in Olga and Tatiana's direction, she told her two companions tartly, "Oh, its got nothing to do with me not agreeing with you, but by the expression on his face, I'm not so sure their papa completely dislikes those two young men."
Both Betran and Angel turned their heads back quickly to the young girls, and sure enough; they noticed a lean, vibrant middle-aged man dressed in a black suit like the other men, but this one positively dripping medals from the breast, walk up behind the two girl's chairs. He had a bright smile on his kind face as he tenderly placed a hand on each of their laced shoulders and bend down between them to whisper something in both their ears that caused both girls to turn and start to giggle in his direction.
One of the girls, Olga, Angel decided, reached up and placed one of her own gloved hands overtop of her father's and squeezed it lovingly.
"Ah." Betran said softly, his eyes riveted on the elder man's face. "Our Tsar himself."
With everyone watching, Nicholas straightened, still holding his eldest daughter's hand in his own, and turned his attention to the two young men talking to his children. They were obviously on very good terms with the Tsar for they were completely at ease and were smiling cheerfully at him and his daughters. Nicholas said something quickly to them both that caused one of them to grin broadly and the other to roll his eyes in exasperation.
"Who are they?" Angel asked Betran in an enquiring tone, to which the man answered offhandedly,
"Oh, they are the Tsar's nephews, Fedor and Andrei. Sons of his younger sister Xenia." Then he smirked in the vampire's direction. "So don't bother thinking that there will be the sound of wedding bells anytime soon."
Angel chuckled lightly, but he wasn't really paying much attention anymore, and he knew Betran could tell. Moving closer to Cora, the vampire dipped his head and said softly to the Questor, who was already scanning the room with her excellent eyes, "Can you see her?"
Even though she knew that Betran was listening to them, curious, Cora shook her blonde head slowly. "No." Then she sighed in regret. "There are to many people in the room, Angel. We could be here all night."
"I take it you are referring to our blonde friend?" Betran asked dryly, not bothering to lower his voice. He too, started to search the faces in the room for the Slayer. "I'm afraid miss Cora is correct, she could be anywhere."
At the frustrated expression on Angel's face, he once again laid a hand on the vampire's arm reassuringly. "But your best bet is to find the youngest two Grand Duchesses for I've heard that she has become very close to the two of them." Then he smiled ironically. "A fact that doesn't surprise me in the slightest, for Mashka and Anastasia are by far the friendliest of the four."
Angel looked taken aback with this. "You know them then?" he asked, doubtful.
But Betran only grinned lazily. "You could say that, yes."
Whatever Angel was going to say was cut off by Cora grabbing hold of his forearm in a tight squeeze. The vampire tensed instantly and he felt his entire body jump immediately on alert. "Cora?" he whispered tightly, his breath coming in short breaths as he waited, for what seemed like eternity, for the Questor to answer.
"Over there, Angel. By the far door." Her voice was tense, yet soft, as she seemingly gave the vampire what he had waited the past week for. Standing up straighter, the vampire skimmed the tops of people's heads with his gaze until he met with the far wall on the other side of the hall. Narrowing his eyes, the vampire used his exceptional eyesight to land on two young girls who, by the looks of things, where in the process of slipping back through the large wooden door leading back deeper into the palace. Like the Tsar's daughters, they too, wore white lace dresses, but even though the tallest one with large blue eyes had her hair up like Olga and Tatiana, they seemed younger than the others.
Both of them wore twin anxious expressions on their pretty faces as they silently slipped through the doors and back in the mill of people. Angel was just about to look away when he caught sight of another figure coming through the doorway. The young woman was obviously older than the girls, and wore a blue gown..
"Where, Cora. I don't see anything." Angel tore his eyes away from the woman in the elaborate sea-blue gown and frowned down at the Questor who was looking right back at him, seemingly very annoyed.
"Angel, for gods sake, calm down." She hissed at him. "And I'm talking about those two girls that just came through that door. Unless my eyes have suddenly decided to fail me, I'd say they are the younger Grand Duchesses that your Buffy is meant to be so friendly with."
Sighing in frustration, the vampire looked back for the girls and saw them standing with another woman with brown hair and a cream gown with what looked like red stones scattered over her bodice and two dark haired gentlemen. The small group all looked surprisingly upset about something as they were all staring and talking hurriedly to each other in low voices. The younger girl with long, dark blonde hair was standing next to one of the gentleman, her small hand gripped tightly in his own.
The blonde woman in the blue dress was nowhere to be seen.
A sudden, extremely unpleasant thought suddenly made Angel catch his breath and jerk up straighter. His mind unexpectedly sluggish, a flash of coldness started to seep from his toes up his body until it reached his heart where it suddenly clenched painfully, causing the vampire to gasp out loud as he searched desperately through the teeming sea of unknown faces.
Stumbling forward, he remembered just in time to grab hold of a startled Cora's hand before he quickly began making his way through the masses of silk and satin gowns, pulling the Questor behind him and leaving a mystified Betran in their wake.
They had only got a few steps when Cora tugged him to a stop in the middle of the room, her eyes flashing as she stared up at him indignantly. But Angel ignored her and continued looking, getting more panicked as the seconds ticked by and he couldn't spy her face among the crowd.
It was as if his body was awakening from an eternal slumber as he searched, he could feel every nerve and cell stretching to full awareness and his body positively hummed as if it suddenly recognised that its other half was near. His eyes wide, his senses enhanced, the vampire could surely smell the mixture of vanilla and flowers that was distinctly Buffy so strongly that he mentally scolded himself for not noticing it before.
She was here. Very, very near.
..And there she was.
It was as if someone had turned his body into a block of ice and then tapped it, causing him to explode into a array of a million shards of ice as his eyes came to rest on the most wonderful sight he could ever remember seeing before.
Her tear brimmed eyes were so bright, her face so angelic as the jewels she wore around her neck and on her ears reflected in the light and set her face alight in a haunting glow, and her hair so elegant up in its elaborate design that he actually flicked over her at first, not believing, before he stiffened visibly and his eyes flew back to land on the angel that was walking towards him.
This couldn't be the Slayer.his Buffy.. it just wasn't possible.
One of her gloved hands was clasped to her heart as if she had to hold it in while the other was holding up the hem of her gown expertly as if she had been doing it her entire life as she glided across the floor, the emeralds and rubies at her neck heaving against her breasts she gasped for breath.
The vampire dimly heard Cora suddenly stop talking as she too, obviously caught sight of the golden vision nearing them. He couldn't see her reaction to the Slayer, quiet frankly, he didn't really give a damn, his eyes were glued on Buffy as she neared and he could feel a huge smile breaking out on his face. The first genuinely radiant smile in a week as the person they had all been searching so hard for finally reached him.
She stood there, her eyes filled with tears, gazing up at the vampire for a faint second before she launched herself at him and Angel felt his arms wrap their way around her satin covered waist as he crushed her to him. Not caring if people were staring, which they obviously were, he buried his nose in her golden hair and took a deep breath, sighing in relief as the smell of flowers flowed through into his body.
Her arms were tightened around his neck like snakes, unwilling to let go, as she too, sighed and whispered something faintly that he almost missed.
"Angel.."
And Angel felt his eyes fall shut in absolute relief as he continued to hold her, unprepared to release her to the world, fully craving that they were the only two people left alone in this huge hall so he could continue to hold her like this, their recent troubled history forgotten, until the end of their days.
****
Of course, it had to be Cora who interrupted their long awaited reunion.
His face still buried in Buffy's neck, Angel heard the Questor clear her throat subtlety from beside them and he closed his eyes tightly, sighing in regret. He didn't want to face the world just yet. He didn't know if the Slayer had heard Cora, hell, he didn't even know if she knew the Questor was there at all, she only had had eyes for him, as corny as that sounded.
But knowing he had to, Angel slowly slackened his arms that were wrapped around Buffy's waist and pulled himself back. Straightening, he kept one possessive hand on the Slayer's hip as he turned to face the blonde immortal, wincing when he heard Buffy give a tiny moan of regret at their parting.
Casting a quick look down at her bright face, he saw that she looked quite flushed, a pink tinge dancing faintly across the tops of her breasts. Her eyes were rather glazed, dizzy like, and the vampire could tell she was in a mild form of shock. He was in shock too, he knew. But she looked positively exquisite as she stood there, one gloved hand on her chest, her eyelashes batting on her creamy face elegantly. When a faint glimmer was noticed out of the corner of his eye, he glanced across at her golden hair, piled gracefully on top of her head, and was stunned to see the slight sparkle of tiny diamonds threaded through her fair tresses.
It was only when Cora coughed, quite anxiously, that he forced himself to glance up at the immortal in the silver gown.
And was quite startled to see a small group of people crowded around them, all staring at the Slayer and the vampire in mild forms of confusion and curiosity. But no fury, Angel decided gratefully.no anger.
Cora stood to one side of the group, looking noticeably uncomfortable as her eyes darted around the music-filled room, anywhere but the vampire's face.
When a pretty woman in a cream gown suddenly stepped forward, a panicked Angel looked up at her and with a start, abruptly recognised these people as the group that had been standing together not to far away with the two Grand Duchesses in the white dresses. Sure enough, the two said girls were standing slightly behind the brown haired woman in the cream gown, gawking at Buffy with wide eyes as if they couldn't quite believe what they were witnessing.
"Well," the woman said, her eyebrows rose humorously. "From that greeting, is it safe to guess that you know our guests, Buffy?" She asked dryly.
It took Buffy a second to get hold of herself and she gave her head a firm shake, trying to clear her mind. When she finally looked across at the woman, Angel noted that her eyes were still a bit glazed as she blinked, obviously wondering what to say.
All that the Slayer could manage was an awkward, "Ahh.."
"We are cousin, madam." Angel said breezily, cutting the Slayer off. Buffy startled, staring up at him, wide-eyed. The woman, too, stared at him, but this time with the narrowed eyes of someone knew didn't quite believe all of what he had said. Angel was instantly struck with the notion that this woman was only looking out for the welfare of Buffy. She didn't want to see her getting hurt. And by the protective slant in her startling blue eyes, Angel could tell that she regarded him as anything but safe where Buffy was concerned.
But knowing he had to say something to keep them fooled, the vampire casually shrugged and said casually, "Cora and I have different fathers."
He could tell that the shrewd woman still wasn't fooled, but by the looks of things, the others sure were. They all looked delighted at the sudden meeting with their friend's family.. Well, most of them.
It was the eldest of the two Grand Duchesses that caught his attention. She was standing slightly in front of one of the gentleman, her head cocked to the side slightly, and she was staring at him intently with suspicious blue eyes. Not in the same sense as the other woman, who obviously was just concerned about the Slayer.
This girl, she was different. The expression of her face was one of mystified bafflement as if this was the last thing she could ever imagine to happen tonight. As if it was completely against her plan of things.
Uncomfortable under her gaze, the vampire turned back towards the woman, who was still talking, just in time to catch her introducing her self as Olga Alexandrovna, the Tsar's very own baby sister. She had obviously put aside her misgivings concerning her young charge's rather peculiar family, and was trying to ease the way for smooth conversation.
"So what are you doing in Russia, Mr.ahh, sorry, I didn't catch your name." Olga said graciously, startling the vampire.
"O'Connor, madam. Angelus O'Connor."
The Grand Duchesses' aunt nodded approvingly. "Your Irish then." She asked keenly, searching his face for any obvious lies.
Angel dipped his head. "Yes, madam. And very proud of it. And to answer your previous question, my cousin Cora and I are in Russia enjoying your wonderful city." He shrugged. "When we heard Elizabeth was staying with your brother, the Tsar, we thought we would attend tonight to pay our regards."
The mention of Buffy made him want to turn his head to see how she was doing, because she was yet to utter a single word. But knowing that would be less than wise, he chose to keep his attention on the sharp woman in front of him, knowing to mess this up would ruin everything in the past week.
Again, Olga Alexandrovna nodded her head, still content to regard the vampire intently in silence, sizing him up. Suddenly, as if she remembered there was another new guest in their group, the older woman turned quickly to Cora, who, by the looks of things, was wishing the floor would open up and swallow her whole.
"And you, my girl. What is your story?" She was boarder-line polite, not bothering to hide her suspicion, and Angel noticed out of the corner of his eye both men in the group grimace at her tone, as if they knew what was coming. But they, like the two young girls, remained silent, not daring to interrupt their relation.
Cora almost jumped out of her skin when she realised the woman was talking to her. But Angel didn't hear Cora's answer, as much as he later regretted not, for it was the abrupt expression on Buffy's face that drew him like a magnet. It was as if she had suddenly woken up from a very long night's sleep. She no longer look flushed in anyway and her breathing was once again steady and normal.
But her eyes had instantly narrowed to that of a cat's when Cora had been spoken to and the vampire was quite started to see the gaze she turned on the Questor was quite positively deadly. She was staring at the fellow blonde woman like she wanted to match strengths and see who was by far the most powerful. Instantly alarmed, even if he felt the smallest pang of delight to see the Slayer returning to normal, Angel learned across swiftly and grabbed hold of the Slayer's wrist, squeezing it tightly in warning.
He could feel the Slayer jerk visibly at the contact between their two bodies and he bit back a grin just in time as Olga Alexandrovna turned back to him, clearly through with Cora.
"I would suggest the three of you have a bit of privacy for a while." she said, quite kindly, but obviously for the Slayer's sake as she raked her gaze over the young woman. Then she looked up and around the room for a second, a frown appearing on her attractive face.
"And getting you away from these vultures would do you the world of good." She was staring at the masses of people around them, not bothering to lower her voice in anyway, with frank dislike on her face. "If you don't leave now, you will be the talk of the city tomorrow, and trust me, you don't need that."
She turned to the two gentlemen beside her. "Misha, Nicholai, take Buffy and her friends to one of the small drawing rooms, let them have a while to get reunited." The order was met with no complaint from either man, both who grinned at each other in amusement at her familiar demanding tone.
Olga then turned to her two nieces and smiled kindly down at them. "And we, my loves, are going to go find your parents. Let them know what's going on." She grinned suddenly at Angel, and there was a faintly wicked glint in her eyes.
"They are going to love you, my boy. So watch out."
The bewildered vampire had just enough time to thank her before they were exchanging farewells and the two men he now knew as Misha and Nicholai, Olga Alexandrovna's brother and husband, were leading Cora and Buffy across the floor. He followed right behind them, not wanting to let the still strangely silent Slayer out of his sight. People stared at them with open curiosity as they past but the vampire ignored them all, as he knew Cora and the Slayer were also doing.
The two men led them out through the grand entranceway of the ballroom and down an unfamiliar hallway, the only sound being the faint tapping of Cora and Buffy's slippers as they walked. Finally, after what seemed to Angel as hours, they two men stopped and Michael pushed open a heavily decorated door, standing back so that the two ladies could enter first. As the vampire walked in next, he turned around to face the two dark haired men, both who were smiling sympathetically at the three time travellers.
"Take as long as you need." Michael told them kindly. "There will be someone outside to take you back when you are ready." His eyes rested on Buffy for the briefest hint of a second, and were hesitant, before turning to the two newcomers. He grinned playfully at them and said,
"It's nice to meet you." Then he chuckled. "I'm sure we shall be seeing more of each other, if my sister has anything to do with it." And with that, he gently closed the door behind him, leaving the three of them alone for the first time.
The room fell into a heavy silence, no one quite knowing what to say. Finally, not being able to take it a second longer, the vampire turned to face the Slayer who was now standing in the centre of the huge sitting room.
Feeling undeniable giddy for some reason, probably so thankful that they had found her safe and in one piece, Angel couldn't help the broad grin that flooded his face as he stared across at the beautiful blonde woman in the glorious blue gown.
But found, suddenly, that not everyone in the room was as happy as he was. For standing there, the Slayer had a hand up, clutching her neck tightly, breathing in short, shallow gasps. Looking up into her face quickly, Angel felt the first tingle of panic as he saw the expression of her angelic face.
She looked stricken. Tears were rolling down her checks as she opened her mouth suddenly and whispered in an utterly terrified tone that the vampire would remember for the rest of his life,
"Angel.what have you done?"
****
Thanx!
***
Part 8: "A Night of Ardent Reunions"
A few nights later..
With his crisp black uniform laced with gold and impeccable black boots and slick hair, Angel knew he looked the part for the long night ahead as he stood waiting, with his hands clasped behind his back smartly, staring at the large, impressive oil painting on the wall in front of him, one eyebrow arched charmingly. He had been in the same position for coming on five minutes and in that time hadn't moved an inch, his eyes glued on the huge piece of art that sat primly in its elaborate golden frame, contrasting startlingly against the shear whiteness of the wall behind it.
A petite young maid giggled as she hurried past him in the quiet hallway, her large dark eyes peeping at him boldly from under her cap of tightly braided raven hair and she brushed his arm as she passed, her hips swaying teasingly. Without looking away from the painting, a wolfish grin leisurely appeared on the vampire's face.
When he finally heard the door tap shut behind her at the end of the hallway, Angel let his eyes drop from the expensive canvas and scan his silent surroundings in peace. He was standing in one of the more impressive corridors his current residence, Dakenva House on the Fontanka River, and he had to admit he could really get used to living in such opulence. When Mr Betran had offered them a place to stay, Angel hadn't really understood what that harmless offer really meant.
But it turned out, quite to Angel's astonishment, that Dakenva House was one of the most impressive buildings he had ever been into, and that was saying a lot. He had to admit that he jaw had literally hit the floor when the carriage they had been travelling there in had turned to drive up the Fontanka River, the exclusive part of town that housed the most important people in the capital. Grand Dukes and Duchesses had built their palaces and mansions on the banks of the Fontanka and it was one of history's treasures.
And Dakenva House was no exception. Even from where he stood now, Angel could see the wealth positively dripping from the very walls. They were a floorless white and from which hung some of art's most expensive pieces, all of which were wrapped in intricate gold frames. Greek vases filled with an array of flowers from all seasons stood still and proud on top of delicate Chinese tables while the plush cream carpets were soft and shining beneath the vampire's feet.
The house was floorless and one that Angel felt a little tentative in staying in. He had stayed in some real beauties in his time but this one had to take the cake. But even though he had tried to stop it, to hold it at bay, he still felt himself sliding into life here in St Petersburg, even though he had been here for only a few days. Both he and Cora had been pleasantly surprised to find that Betran left them to their own devises most of the time, for during the last few days he hadn't been home much during the day; his time spent mostly at the store.
They had spent their days together, just wandering around the streets of the old city, both of them knowing that there wasn't much else they could do. Buffy was well and truly out of reach until the ball and from what Mr Betran had repeatedly told them; going to Tsarskoe Selo was out of the question. Angel felt like he was going to tear in half with the tension and frustration that had filled him lately. To have her so close, yet out of their reach still, was driving him out of his mind.
But, he told himself repeatedly; at least he had other things to keep him occupied. Wondering what the hell was up with Cora and Mr Betran for starters. For the past few days Angel had been watching them, like everyone else in the household, he knew, with a mixture of bewilderment and alarm.
The two of them had been walking on eggshells every time they were in the room together. Which wasn't much, admittedly, for Cora was obviously going out of her way to distance herself from the Russian. In the few times Angel had caught her staring at the man, her eyes were misty and positively miserable. Whenever he had expressed his concern over her actions, her response was always the same. She would get alarmingly defensive and basically tell him to mind his own business.
Angel was at a loss; he didn't know what to do. Betran was almost as bad. The only difference was that the vampire could obviously tell that he was just as confused about his actions over the young woman as everybody else. Whenever her name was mentioned he would go bright red in the face and start stammering. In fact, it had gotten so bad that he was spilling his tea whenever she walked into a room. Angel could have sworn they liked each other, very much it seemed, if it hadn't been for the sound of Cora's crying he could hear through her door every night. That and the blatant emotions she wore whenever she looked at him.
She was hurting. Very badly. And it was getting worse the longer they stayed in Betran's presence.
"Angel?"
The voice sliced through the silence behind him and the vampire winced, mentally scolding himself for not paying more attention. He was getting slack, he mused, staying in such luxury. But recognising the voice instantly, he turned around to face his friend.
And stared.
It was a wholly different Cora that he was used to standing there in the hallway, gazing up at him in concern. Closing his mouth with a snap, he just continued to stare at her, lost for words.
She grinned at his predicament and struck a pose. "You like?" she asked teasingly.
Shaking his head to clear his suddenly fogged mind, Angel nodded fervently. "Very much." Then he too, grinned. "Is that what you've been hiding from me in the last few days?"
Caught up in the moment, Cora giggled and nodded her head. "A girl's got to have her secrets, Angel."
Her gown was of startling pale silver and fell around her curves like water. The split in the sleeves went right up to where the material ended, low off her shoulders, where it fell into the daringly open neckline. Looking closely, Angel saw that sown deftly into the hems of the gown were tiny golden flowers all the way around. She wore no jewellery that he could see save for a strand of thin diamonds across her forehead where it snaked into the hair around her ears, which was loose around her shoulders, a style that was unusual for woman in Russia, who usually wore their hair up on their heads.
"You look wonderful." Angel told her sincerely, for she truly did. Being the time travelling immortal that she was, Angel would bet that Cora could travel back to the Ice age and fit in as a cavewoman if she truly wanted to.
Cora beamed up at him, deeply pleased with his reaction. She held her arm out to the vampire and said primly with a grin, "Shall we go then?"
Angel took her gloved arm and playing along, slowly marched her down the hallway towards the stairs leading to the parlour of Dakenva House where the rest of the party would already be waiting for them. In fact, he could already hear the slightly raised voices of the excited men and woman who were the friends Mr Betran had invited along for the evening along with Angel and Cora. By the sounds of things, they too, couldn't wait for this evening to start. From what Betran had told them in the past few days, this would be a ball of special magnificence for the entire Imperial Family would be in attendance, a rare treat in seemed. Thousands of invitations had gone out only weeks before and everybody who was anybody had been talking about the upcoming ball for days.
For rumours were running rife about a person of great importance to the Imperial Family attending the ball. Nobody had the slightest idea who this person was of course, for invitations to Tsarskoe Selo for lunch and such were few and hard to come by. But it had been said by the Emperor himself that tonight would be night to remember.
But now, as Cora and Angel joined the ranks of the other nobles in the room, most who were staring at them openly with curious eyes, but not bold enough to enquire why they too, had joined their seemingly exclusive group for the evening, Angel didn't doubt the identity of this special invitee for a second. And he wasn't overly thrilled with the rumours that had spread around St Petersburg about Buffy in the past week. It would make leaving harder for all of them if more people had become aware of her arrival in Russia.
"Angel, for god's sake stop frowning, you're scaring away the customers." Cora hissed out the order between her smiling teeth and Angel gave a jolt. Standing up tall, he put a hand behind his back and gave his chin a proper tilt as he nodded his head respectfully at a middle-aged woman who passed them.
Beside him, Angel could feel Cora start to relax. "That's better," she muttered approvingly. Looking around the room curiously, her arm still locked in Angel's, Cora said lowly under her breath for his ears only, "So where is our host for the evening anyway? It's gotta look bad if he's late."
"According to Nadia, there was an accident at the store this afternoon, so that's probably why he's so late." Angel shrugged, "But apart from that, your guess is as good as mine."
Cora frowned and wrinkled up her nose in distaste. "Nadia?" The she sighed in displeasure. "The upstairs maid?" Her expression turned to one of disbelief. "Angel, why must you continue to associate with them? If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, that sort of thing can never look good."
Now it was Angel's turn to frown and he didn't bother turning in her direction. "And I must have told you a million times, Cora, that people like the maids are perfect sources of information. And information is exactly what we need at the moment, the kind that our good friend Betran can't possibly know." Now he did look down at her and frowned slightly. "You've gotta know better than anyone that the rumour mill in large households like this is enormous. Maids and such know everything that goes on in the household, and beyond most of the time."
Cora huffed visibly. "All I'm saying is for god's sake do it discreetly. We don't need that sort of stuff hanging over us."
Angel sighed, rolling his eyes in her direction.
It was at the moment that the sound of the front door slamming shut caught the attention of everyone in the room and it fell silent, all eyes turning toward the entranceway of the parlour, expecting to see a person walk past from the foyer. And they weren't disappointed for it was Mr Betran himself who bristly walked through the archway into the parlour and spread his arms wide to include all his guests. There was a large smile on his face as he sought out Cora and Angel in the crowd with his eyes and when he saw them, nodded in recognition in their direction. Turning back to everyone else, he said in a booming voice to include everyone,
"I'm terribly sorry, my friends, but it turns out that we shall all be a tad bit late this evening!" The sounds of good-natured groans from the enthusiastic crowd of seemingly civilized people made Angel smile as he listened to what else Betran had to say. The man himself was already working on his tie as he kicked off his boots skilfully, to the delight of the group who, watching him start to back out the door dramatically, exploded with laughter.
"I shall be back in a few minutes, hopefully more civilized!" Betran threw back as he made his way out of the room, leaving a trail of clothing in his wake. "Let's hope our Majesties don't notice us walking in the door a bit late!"
The room raised their champagne glasses in allusion and they clanking together as the group on a whole second this notion loudly. Hearing Cora laugh lightly beside him, Angel lifted the champagne glass he suddenly found in his hand in the direction of the archway that Betran had just disappeared through. His eyes trained on the empty doorway, the sound of the cheerful laughter of the wealthy people in the room with him filled his ears and he thought of Buffy, getting ready for the ball in the fairy tale village of the sovereign just outside of the city surrounded by the new family she had acquired for herself in the past week.
She would be ecstatic about attending tonight, of that Angel had no doubt.
"Lets hope indeed." He muttered idly, taking a long drink on the sweet champagne. Swallowing slowly, he closed his eyes to savour the long forgotten taste of expensive French champagne before turning back to Cora, while in the back of his mind hoping fervently that tonight went according to plan and they got home to America. Safe.and together.
****
Half an hour later..
"Do you realise, you never actually notice how long it takes to get into all your finery until you have to do it in a hurry. How is that for irony?"
Betran's sullen explanation was met by silence, neither of his fellow carriage passengers bothering to answer. Seated next to Angel, Cora was leaning back in her seat, Betran opposite them, letting her head fall back against the cushioned backrest as she gazed out the window, her face quite calm and composed. St Petersburg was flashing past them in all it's glory, all the imposing houses were lit up like Christmas trees for all to admire.
For the special evening ahead, the whole city had come out to celebrate and the city was positively awash in a sea of wine, champagne, vodka and music. A lethal combination in anyone's books. Even if the poorer classes had no hope whatever to ever see inside the ballroom, they naturally had all gathered together and were having their own parties out in the streets. Turning her head slightly, Cora smiled as she watched a large group of people gathered around a series of bonfires in the street. They were dancing and laughing gaily as they frolicked around the warmth of the fire and the group of men sitting on wine barrels playing a mixture of musically instruments Cora had never seen before.
Her eyes still glued on the dancers, watching them slowly disappear as the carriage glided away towards the Palace Square; she knew without looking up that man sitting opposite her had his own eyes glued on her face languidly. Betran had been staring at her for the best part of the 10-minute drive from Dakenva House and sorrowfully, Cora didn't have the heart to reprimand him on it, knowing that had their situations been reversed, she would be doing the exact same thing.
Life could be a real bitch sometimes.
Knowing he was watching, his chin resting in his palm as he gazed at her lazily, giving her a long searching look that he had to know she could not fail to notice, Cora closed her eyes gracefully, letting her dark eyelashes fan against her pale, creamy skin delicately. She let her mouth fall open slightly to show pearly white teeth and the overall look was that she had fallen asleep.
Betran coughed awkwardly from opposite her and shifted slightly on the seat. Cora almost grinned but schooled her expression expertly as she leisurely opened her eyes and turned to regard him with a hooded gaze that he met full on. They stared at each other silently, the top of Cora's revealed chest rising and falling slightly as she breathed. She saw his gaze drop quickly to the tops of her breasts before he flushed brightly and lifted his eyes quickly, but his eyes held no apologies.
Cora almost felt sorry for him. He had no idea why he was acting like this around her; he was probably dead confused about the whole thing. Maybe, just maybe, Cora thought, he believed he had genuine feelings for her. She sighed with regret at the idea. That would be completely cruel.
No longer in the mood for games, the Questor turned her head sharply away and continued to study the city that rolled past the windows of the carriage. But when she felt the unmistakable jerk as they turned into the Palace Square she sat up straighter on the cushioned seat and actually turned to the window and peered out, her gloved hands resting on the windowpane. Opposite her, she knew Angel was doing the same as the extraordinary Winter Palace loomed into view.
The magnificent building was flooded with every kind of light imaginable and Cora actually gave a cry of delight at the sight of the beautiful palace, which she had once loved so much, yet hadn't seen in such a very long time.
Even though Betran was once again staring at her, this time with an expression of suspicion, Cora closed her eyes again and let the sound of the singing bells that was unmistakably Russia soak through into her very bones. This was what she had been searching for in the last 80 or so years, she knew. The sounds of the old country, the country that had at one stage opened its arms to the lost and desolate Questor and returned her to her previous splendour.
The country that was once, and would always be, her home.
Taking a deep breath of the frozen Russian air, Cora tightened her grip on the windowpane as a radiant smile appeared on her face.
"Oh yes, Russia," she whispered to her adopted country zealously.
"I'm home."
****
Taking a deep breath, Angel poked his head through the small door of the carriage and took a step down into the mini set of stairs that had been placed there for his use. Ignoring the outstretched hand that was offered to help him down from the carriage, the vampire jumped briskly off the last step and landed on soft velvet carpets. Moving away from the carriage to allow Betran and Cora to descend, he looked up and found himself standing at the bottom of a huge set of marble stairs, which let up to the largest set of marble doors he had ever seen.
Turning in a slow circle, his eyes soaking in the almost impossible sights around him, the vampire found himself surrounded in a colonnade of enormous jasper and malachite columns, which from each fell rows and rows of baskets filled to the brim of every kind of flower he had ever known and more. The whole area was awash with colour as the sparkling palace released its hidden splendour for the evening. Craning his neck, the vampire gasped as he saw vast crystal chandeliers falling from the soaring ceiling, each of the chandeliers were also dripping flowers, this time huge white lilies.
Turning back towards the carriage, Angel ignored the few people who were still outside, most of them were men smoking cigars in a small group, but there were also others, like themselves, who were a bit late for the ball. Most of these were the other members of their group. The men with cigars had stopped their hushed chatter and were staring him with a mixture of curious and bewildered frowns on their faces as they obviously tried to rack their brains to give him a name. Watching out of the corner of his eye, Angel saw one young man whisper a quick question in the direction of another gentleman, who in response, only shrugged his shoulders and continued to stare openly.
Chuckling quietly to himself at their predicament, he was just making his way back towards the carriage to take Cora's arm, who was just stepping down, staring up at the palace with a bright smile on her face, when he noticed someone standing off to the side, slightly behind one of the malachite columns. Stopping, he narrowed his eyes and saw that it was a young man of perhaps 20 years with dark features and slightly shabby clothes compared to everybody else. He was standing there, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets, staring back at the vampire with raised eyebrows.
Swearing under his breath, Angel started to walk towards the young man, ignoring Cora who was watching his movements with narrowed eagle eyes of sudden displeasure; her happy mood vanished as she noticed where he was heading.
As soon as he reached the man, Angel grabbed hold of his dark grey coat and pulled him behind the column so they were out of sight, suddenly thankful that it was large enough to successfully conceal both of them. The young man immediately shrugged Angel's hand off and took a step back away from the vampire. But apart from that, he seemed to be in good spirits as he grinned up at Angel, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
"Your look'n sharp, Boss." He said jokingly in English, his strong Russian accent shining through.
"Thanks." Angel replied dryly. Pinning his gaze on the younger man, the vampire asked testily, "So?"
The Russian shrugged. "So what?" he asked back, still grinning in a way that was annoying the hell out of the vampire.
Angel sighed. "So, have you seen her?" he enquired.
"Oh!" the young man said jokingly. "That's what you meant!" He was silent for a moment, before catching sight of Angel's thunderous expression and chuckled to himself. "Yeah, sure I've seen her." He told Angel casually.
Angel's eyes flew open wide and he swallowed thickly. "You have?" He whispered the question, stunned.
When he had sort of the help of one Serko Vasilev the day after he and Cora had arrived in Russia, he never thought his plan of finding Buffy through a servant would actually work. Not that you could ever call Serko Vasilev a servant to his face, because you probably wouldn't have much of a face left after that. He was 21 years old and had been born and bread in the very heart of St Petersburg. He wasn't a peasant, that much was obvious from the first moment you set eyes on him. And if it weren't then, you sure would have gotten a shock when he opened his mouth and talked. He didn't have the voice of an autocrat, but then, he didn't have the voice of a peasant either.
His parents had both been working for the Dowager Empress - the Tsar's mother, Maria - since he was born and he had grown up listening to the rich and famous as they came and went from her home, the Anitchov Palace. Because of this, and the Empress Maria's interest in the boy, Serko had developed the strange half language of the working class children everywhere who had been brought up in the comfort of the many palaces on the Fontanka and beyond, but didn't actually belong in that world.
He was a real soul of St Petersburg and knew his way around the city better than most, and it was because of this that he had been sought out by Angel, who came bearing the very peculiar request of finding a young woman named 'Buffy' of all names, believed to be staying at Tsarskoe Selo with the Tsar himself.
Now, having his contact through the Empress Maria, he had often been sent to the Tsar's village with errands and such to give to be given to the family, parcels and such that she would have rather been sent by hand than have to wait for morning with the rest of the mail. And so Serko had been sent with these such parcels, being allowed into the world of the Tsar and his family that very little people were actually allowed in.
He knew deep down he felt rather proud to be trusted enough by the Tsar's own mother to be allowed to deliver these special gifts, but he didn't openly show it. People were always asking him questions about the world they knew they would never see, and he did his best to answer them. What was it like? Was it true that they had live Elephants and Tigers there for the children? Had he actually seen the children? Were the daughters as pretty as people said?
He had actually seen the family on many occasions, mostly when the children were outside for the morning having their breakfast. Like any other male would have done, he had found himself staring at the four beautiful daughters who would be dressed in their white lace day dresses, their hair allowed down and flowing to their waists. Most of the time he would be walking up to the front door of the palace and hear them laughing as they played, or ate, and would sneak around through the bushes to stand and watch them as many of the others of the Alexander Palace found themselves doing on many accessions. They were just so lovely, all four of them, that any male would find they couldn't help themselves. Never had they known such innocent, pure-hearted sisters in this time where it was fashionable for the noble class to be worldly and to live dangerously in a world of dancing, clubs and sex.
So that was why he had taken Angel's offer and had swapped with a friend working at Tsarskoe Selo so he would closer to the daughters, and if what Angel said was true, closer to the young woman named Buffy.
But at the end of the first day, Serko was starting to wonder if the vampire had gotten his wires crossed somewhere down the line for he had seen no trace of any young woman going by that strange name. But it had been something that the young Grand Duchess Anastasia.the boyish one, Serko mused, had said this evening as he had helped them into their expensive carriages as they left for the ball, that had caused him to pause and turn to regard the young blonde woman who had been behind him, waiting for her turn to step into the carriage.
"Buffy?" The young Grand Duchess had said teasingly. "Are you coming or not?"
His eyebrows had shot up in surprise as he quickly turned to stare at the stunning blonde woman in the gorgeous blue gown who was standing a bit away from the carriage, staring out into the Alexander Park hauntingly. She had a few drops of snow on her charming nose but she didn't bother removing them, for which Serko had been secretly pleased.
As she had turned back towards the carriage at the sound of the young girl's voice, Serko had gotten his first full glance at her face and he found he had to actually stop himself from whistling in admiration. She was magnificent and he found himself thinking that Angel was a bloody lucky guy to have whatever relationship he had with this glorious creature.
He had found that he couldn't stop grinning as he helped her into the carriage and knew that she had noticed herself. But curiously, she hadn't blushed and turned away like so many other young ladies would have done. She had just stared back at him, slightly curious herself, as to why he had been staring at her. It had only been when she suddenly remembered it would not be proper to be caught staring at a servant that she had looked away hastily, and Serko had found himself under the stern gaze of the Tsar himself, who had not missed the exchange between the two younger people.
So that was how he found himself standing here now, out in the freezing cold when he could have been at home devouring some of his mother's excellent home cooking and washing it down with vodka, staring across at his new acquaintance who, in turn, looked rather shell-shocked with the news that he had just been given.
Leaning forward, Serko said uncertainly, "Look, Boss. Didn't you hear me? I said I found your girl." Then he grinned brightly, if he thought that would make Angel feel better. "In fact, she's right inside!"
Angel's head jerked up in astonishment. "What?" he asked, dazed. Even though he had known she would be coming all along, to have someone say that she was just through a few walls was actually quite staggering.
But Serko just grinned and thumped him on the shoulder good-naturedly. "You heard me, Boss! Stop gaping like an idiot and go find your girl!"
Shaking his head, Angel cleared the fog out of his head and grabbed both of Serko's cold hands in his. Pumping them up and down strongly, Angel found he had a huge grin on his face as the two men beamed back at each other. "Thank you so much for this, Mr Vasilev. Just knowing she's okay is a huge weight off my mind. I don't know how I can ever repay you."
But Serko just laughed. "Oh, you have repaid me, remember?" Stuffing his hands back into his pockets, he started to walk backwards into the shadows. "And just remember, if you ever need anything, you know where to find me!" And with that, he turned silently and was eloped into the night.
****
"You, Mr, are skating on very thin ice."
Angel closed his eyes and winced as he slid up beside Cora and heard her frosty greeting. They were standing just outside the doorway of the Great Ball Room and they could both hear the sounds of the thousands of people in side dancing the night away. Betran had obviously gone on ahead because he was nowhere in sight and Cora was standing by herself, leaning up against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest in a very unlady- like gesture.
She didn't move when Angel came up next to her. "Yeah, yeah, I know." He said absent-mindedly, in a hurry to tell her what he had just found out. "But I have some news on Buffy!" he whispered loudly, causing Cora to finally turn in his direction and raise her eyebrows.
"What? That she's already inside?" At Angel's suddenly bewildered expression Cora chuckled. "That's pretty much common knowledge, my friend. Apparently they all got here about 10 minutes ago."
Angel looked put out. "Oh." Was all he said before turning to stare at the doorway of the ballroom. He was silent for a moment before turning back to Cora, his eyes bright. "Well? Can we go in or not?" he asked impatiently causing Cora to sigh.
"Sure, it's not like you've been waiting here for the last few minutes by yourself or anything!" she exclaimed dryly but allowed the vampire to take her arm through his and lead her in through the great mahogany doors. They stopped in awe when they caught sight of the masses of people dancing around the room to the sounds of the orchestra at the far end of the great hall.
"Wow." Was all Cora could manage, which was more than Angel for he suddenly found himself without a voice. The view was simply stunning. Ladies of all ages dressed in a rainbow of different coloured gowns glided across the floor on the arms of men dressed in similar black suits to the one Angel was wearing, many with coloured sashes draped over their shoulders to show the different Orders they had been awarded.
"Ah, there you are." A voice came from behind them and they both turned to see Betran standing there, grinning from ear to ear, and skilfully holding three champagne flutes in his hands, which is promptly gave two of to Cora and Angel gratefully.
"So what do you think?" he asked them cheerfully, coming to stand beside them as the three of them watched the scene in front of them.
"It's big." Angel said truthfully, causing Betran to laugh. Then he was discreetly touching the vampire's arm, causing Angel to look at him, curious, only to have the man point slightly to the side of them where a group of plush chairs had been placed for people to have a bit of a break.
As the masses of people suddenly parted Angel caught sight of two young women, possibly about the same age as Buffy, sitting down talking to two young gentlemen who were standing next to them, their heads bent as they listened politely to the two girls. The first thing that Angel noticed was that they were dressed in identical white gowns and were so similar in looks that they had to be sisters. Both were incredibly pretty and had their hair wrapped up on their heads with a ribbon to secure it in place.
Angel was still examining the two girls when Betran leaned forward and said quietly, "They are the two eldest daughters of the Tsar, Olga and Tatiana. Very pretty, no?" Then he chuckled. "They both should be married by now, true, but their mama and papa can not find men good enough for those two, I'm afraid!"
Angel just smiled politely, not really having an answer for that. But beside him, he heard Cora snort and turning to glance at her; he was just in time to see her roll her eyes. For the first time this evening, Betran addressed her singularly, "I take it you do not agree, miss Cora?" He sounded openly curious, but there was a hint of mocking in his tone that made Cora clench her teeth together in irritation.
Jerking her head in Olga and Tatiana's direction, she told her two companions tartly, "Oh, its got nothing to do with me not agreeing with you, but by the expression on his face, I'm not so sure their papa completely dislikes those two young men."
Both Betran and Angel turned their heads back quickly to the young girls, and sure enough; they noticed a lean, vibrant middle-aged man dressed in a black suit like the other men, but this one positively dripping medals from the breast, walk up behind the two girl's chairs. He had a bright smile on his kind face as he tenderly placed a hand on each of their laced shoulders and bend down between them to whisper something in both their ears that caused both girls to turn and start to giggle in his direction.
One of the girls, Olga, Angel decided, reached up and placed one of her own gloved hands overtop of her father's and squeezed it lovingly.
"Ah." Betran said softly, his eyes riveted on the elder man's face. "Our Tsar himself."
With everyone watching, Nicholas straightened, still holding his eldest daughter's hand in his own, and turned his attention to the two young men talking to his children. They were obviously on very good terms with the Tsar for they were completely at ease and were smiling cheerfully at him and his daughters. Nicholas said something quickly to them both that caused one of them to grin broadly and the other to roll his eyes in exasperation.
"Who are they?" Angel asked Betran in an enquiring tone, to which the man answered offhandedly,
"Oh, they are the Tsar's nephews, Fedor and Andrei. Sons of his younger sister Xenia." Then he smirked in the vampire's direction. "So don't bother thinking that there will be the sound of wedding bells anytime soon."
Angel chuckled lightly, but he wasn't really paying much attention anymore, and he knew Betran could tell. Moving closer to Cora, the vampire dipped his head and said softly to the Questor, who was already scanning the room with her excellent eyes, "Can you see her?"
Even though she knew that Betran was listening to them, curious, Cora shook her blonde head slowly. "No." Then she sighed in regret. "There are to many people in the room, Angel. We could be here all night."
"I take it you are referring to our blonde friend?" Betran asked dryly, not bothering to lower his voice. He too, started to search the faces in the room for the Slayer. "I'm afraid miss Cora is correct, she could be anywhere."
At the frustrated expression on Angel's face, he once again laid a hand on the vampire's arm reassuringly. "But your best bet is to find the youngest two Grand Duchesses for I've heard that she has become very close to the two of them." Then he smiled ironically. "A fact that doesn't surprise me in the slightest, for Mashka and Anastasia are by far the friendliest of the four."
Angel looked taken aback with this. "You know them then?" he asked, doubtful.
But Betran only grinned lazily. "You could say that, yes."
Whatever Angel was going to say was cut off by Cora grabbing hold of his forearm in a tight squeeze. The vampire tensed instantly and he felt his entire body jump immediately on alert. "Cora?" he whispered tightly, his breath coming in short breaths as he waited, for what seemed like eternity, for the Questor to answer.
"Over there, Angel. By the far door." Her voice was tense, yet soft, as she seemingly gave the vampire what he had waited the past week for. Standing up straighter, the vampire skimmed the tops of people's heads with his gaze until he met with the far wall on the other side of the hall. Narrowing his eyes, the vampire used his exceptional eyesight to land on two young girls who, by the looks of things, where in the process of slipping back through the large wooden door leading back deeper into the palace. Like the Tsar's daughters, they too, wore white lace dresses, but even though the tallest one with large blue eyes had her hair up like Olga and Tatiana, they seemed younger than the others.
Both of them wore twin anxious expressions on their pretty faces as they silently slipped through the doors and back in the mill of people. Angel was just about to look away when he caught sight of another figure coming through the doorway. The young woman was obviously older than the girls, and wore a blue gown..
"Where, Cora. I don't see anything." Angel tore his eyes away from the woman in the elaborate sea-blue gown and frowned down at the Questor who was looking right back at him, seemingly very annoyed.
"Angel, for gods sake, calm down." She hissed at him. "And I'm talking about those two girls that just came through that door. Unless my eyes have suddenly decided to fail me, I'd say they are the younger Grand Duchesses that your Buffy is meant to be so friendly with."
Sighing in frustration, the vampire looked back for the girls and saw them standing with another woman with brown hair and a cream gown with what looked like red stones scattered over her bodice and two dark haired gentlemen. The small group all looked surprisingly upset about something as they were all staring and talking hurriedly to each other in low voices. The younger girl with long, dark blonde hair was standing next to one of the gentleman, her small hand gripped tightly in his own.
The blonde woman in the blue dress was nowhere to be seen.
A sudden, extremely unpleasant thought suddenly made Angel catch his breath and jerk up straighter. His mind unexpectedly sluggish, a flash of coldness started to seep from his toes up his body until it reached his heart where it suddenly clenched painfully, causing the vampire to gasp out loud as he searched desperately through the teeming sea of unknown faces.
Stumbling forward, he remembered just in time to grab hold of a startled Cora's hand before he quickly began making his way through the masses of silk and satin gowns, pulling the Questor behind him and leaving a mystified Betran in their wake.
They had only got a few steps when Cora tugged him to a stop in the middle of the room, her eyes flashing as she stared up at him indignantly. But Angel ignored her and continued looking, getting more panicked as the seconds ticked by and he couldn't spy her face among the crowd.
It was as if his body was awakening from an eternal slumber as he searched, he could feel every nerve and cell stretching to full awareness and his body positively hummed as if it suddenly recognised that its other half was near. His eyes wide, his senses enhanced, the vampire could surely smell the mixture of vanilla and flowers that was distinctly Buffy so strongly that he mentally scolded himself for not noticing it before.
She was here. Very, very near.
..And there she was.
It was as if someone had turned his body into a block of ice and then tapped it, causing him to explode into a array of a million shards of ice as his eyes came to rest on the most wonderful sight he could ever remember seeing before.
Her tear brimmed eyes were so bright, her face so angelic as the jewels she wore around her neck and on her ears reflected in the light and set her face alight in a haunting glow, and her hair so elegant up in its elaborate design that he actually flicked over her at first, not believing, before he stiffened visibly and his eyes flew back to land on the angel that was walking towards him.
This couldn't be the Slayer.his Buffy.. it just wasn't possible.
One of her gloved hands was clasped to her heart as if she had to hold it in while the other was holding up the hem of her gown expertly as if she had been doing it her entire life as she glided across the floor, the emeralds and rubies at her neck heaving against her breasts she gasped for breath.
The vampire dimly heard Cora suddenly stop talking as she too, obviously caught sight of the golden vision nearing them. He couldn't see her reaction to the Slayer, quiet frankly, he didn't really give a damn, his eyes were glued on Buffy as she neared and he could feel a huge smile breaking out on his face. The first genuinely radiant smile in a week as the person they had all been searching so hard for finally reached him.
She stood there, her eyes filled with tears, gazing up at the vampire for a faint second before she launched herself at him and Angel felt his arms wrap their way around her satin covered waist as he crushed her to him. Not caring if people were staring, which they obviously were, he buried his nose in her golden hair and took a deep breath, sighing in relief as the smell of flowers flowed through into his body.
Her arms were tightened around his neck like snakes, unwilling to let go, as she too, sighed and whispered something faintly that he almost missed.
"Angel.."
And Angel felt his eyes fall shut in absolute relief as he continued to hold her, unprepared to release her to the world, fully craving that they were the only two people left alone in this huge hall so he could continue to hold her like this, their recent troubled history forgotten, until the end of their days.
****
Of course, it had to be Cora who interrupted their long awaited reunion.
His face still buried in Buffy's neck, Angel heard the Questor clear her throat subtlety from beside them and he closed his eyes tightly, sighing in regret. He didn't want to face the world just yet. He didn't know if the Slayer had heard Cora, hell, he didn't even know if she knew the Questor was there at all, she only had had eyes for him, as corny as that sounded.
But knowing he had to, Angel slowly slackened his arms that were wrapped around Buffy's waist and pulled himself back. Straightening, he kept one possessive hand on the Slayer's hip as he turned to face the blonde immortal, wincing when he heard Buffy give a tiny moan of regret at their parting.
Casting a quick look down at her bright face, he saw that she looked quite flushed, a pink tinge dancing faintly across the tops of her breasts. Her eyes were rather glazed, dizzy like, and the vampire could tell she was in a mild form of shock. He was in shock too, he knew. But she looked positively exquisite as she stood there, one gloved hand on her chest, her eyelashes batting on her creamy face elegantly. When a faint glimmer was noticed out of the corner of his eye, he glanced across at her golden hair, piled gracefully on top of her head, and was stunned to see the slight sparkle of tiny diamonds threaded through her fair tresses.
It was only when Cora coughed, quite anxiously, that he forced himself to glance up at the immortal in the silver gown.
And was quite startled to see a small group of people crowded around them, all staring at the Slayer and the vampire in mild forms of confusion and curiosity. But no fury, Angel decided gratefully.no anger.
Cora stood to one side of the group, looking noticeably uncomfortable as her eyes darted around the music-filled room, anywhere but the vampire's face.
When a pretty woman in a cream gown suddenly stepped forward, a panicked Angel looked up at her and with a start, abruptly recognised these people as the group that had been standing together not to far away with the two Grand Duchesses in the white dresses. Sure enough, the two said girls were standing slightly behind the brown haired woman in the cream gown, gawking at Buffy with wide eyes as if they couldn't quite believe what they were witnessing.
"Well," the woman said, her eyebrows rose humorously. "From that greeting, is it safe to guess that you know our guests, Buffy?" She asked dryly.
It took Buffy a second to get hold of herself and she gave her head a firm shake, trying to clear her mind. When she finally looked across at the woman, Angel noted that her eyes were still a bit glazed as she blinked, obviously wondering what to say.
All that the Slayer could manage was an awkward, "Ahh.."
"We are cousin, madam." Angel said breezily, cutting the Slayer off. Buffy startled, staring up at him, wide-eyed. The woman, too, stared at him, but this time with the narrowed eyes of someone knew didn't quite believe all of what he had said. Angel was instantly struck with the notion that this woman was only looking out for the welfare of Buffy. She didn't want to see her getting hurt. And by the protective slant in her startling blue eyes, Angel could tell that she regarded him as anything but safe where Buffy was concerned.
But knowing he had to say something to keep them fooled, the vampire casually shrugged and said casually, "Cora and I have different fathers."
He could tell that the shrewd woman still wasn't fooled, but by the looks of things, the others sure were. They all looked delighted at the sudden meeting with their friend's family.. Well, most of them.
It was the eldest of the two Grand Duchesses that caught his attention. She was standing slightly in front of one of the gentleman, her head cocked to the side slightly, and she was staring at him intently with suspicious blue eyes. Not in the same sense as the other woman, who obviously was just concerned about the Slayer.
This girl, she was different. The expression of her face was one of mystified bafflement as if this was the last thing she could ever imagine to happen tonight. As if it was completely against her plan of things.
Uncomfortable under her gaze, the vampire turned back towards the woman, who was still talking, just in time to catch her introducing her self as Olga Alexandrovna, the Tsar's very own baby sister. She had obviously put aside her misgivings concerning her young charge's rather peculiar family, and was trying to ease the way for smooth conversation.
"So what are you doing in Russia, Mr.ahh, sorry, I didn't catch your name." Olga said graciously, startling the vampire.
"O'Connor, madam. Angelus O'Connor."
The Grand Duchesses' aunt nodded approvingly. "Your Irish then." She asked keenly, searching his face for any obvious lies.
Angel dipped his head. "Yes, madam. And very proud of it. And to answer your previous question, my cousin Cora and I are in Russia enjoying your wonderful city." He shrugged. "When we heard Elizabeth was staying with your brother, the Tsar, we thought we would attend tonight to pay our regards."
The mention of Buffy made him want to turn his head to see how she was doing, because she was yet to utter a single word. But knowing that would be less than wise, he chose to keep his attention on the sharp woman in front of him, knowing to mess this up would ruin everything in the past week.
Again, Olga Alexandrovna nodded her head, still content to regard the vampire intently in silence, sizing him up. Suddenly, as if she remembered there was another new guest in their group, the older woman turned quickly to Cora, who, by the looks of things, was wishing the floor would open up and swallow her whole.
"And you, my girl. What is your story?" She was boarder-line polite, not bothering to hide her suspicion, and Angel noticed out of the corner of his eye both men in the group grimace at her tone, as if they knew what was coming. But they, like the two young girls, remained silent, not daring to interrupt their relation.
Cora almost jumped out of her skin when she realised the woman was talking to her. But Angel didn't hear Cora's answer, as much as he later regretted not, for it was the abrupt expression on Buffy's face that drew him like a magnet. It was as if she had suddenly woken up from a very long night's sleep. She no longer look flushed in anyway and her breathing was once again steady and normal.
But her eyes had instantly narrowed to that of a cat's when Cora had been spoken to and the vampire was quite started to see the gaze she turned on the Questor was quite positively deadly. She was staring at the fellow blonde woman like she wanted to match strengths and see who was by far the most powerful. Instantly alarmed, even if he felt the smallest pang of delight to see the Slayer returning to normal, Angel learned across swiftly and grabbed hold of the Slayer's wrist, squeezing it tightly in warning.
He could feel the Slayer jerk visibly at the contact between their two bodies and he bit back a grin just in time as Olga Alexandrovna turned back to him, clearly through with Cora.
"I would suggest the three of you have a bit of privacy for a while." she said, quite kindly, but obviously for the Slayer's sake as she raked her gaze over the young woman. Then she looked up and around the room for a second, a frown appearing on her attractive face.
"And getting you away from these vultures would do you the world of good." She was staring at the masses of people around them, not bothering to lower her voice in anyway, with frank dislike on her face. "If you don't leave now, you will be the talk of the city tomorrow, and trust me, you don't need that."
She turned to the two gentlemen beside her. "Misha, Nicholai, take Buffy and her friends to one of the small drawing rooms, let them have a while to get reunited." The order was met with no complaint from either man, both who grinned at each other in amusement at her familiar demanding tone.
Olga then turned to her two nieces and smiled kindly down at them. "And we, my loves, are going to go find your parents. Let them know what's going on." She grinned suddenly at Angel, and there was a faintly wicked glint in her eyes.
"They are going to love you, my boy. So watch out."
The bewildered vampire had just enough time to thank her before they were exchanging farewells and the two men he now knew as Misha and Nicholai, Olga Alexandrovna's brother and husband, were leading Cora and Buffy across the floor. He followed right behind them, not wanting to let the still strangely silent Slayer out of his sight. People stared at them with open curiosity as they past but the vampire ignored them all, as he knew Cora and the Slayer were also doing.
The two men led them out through the grand entranceway of the ballroom and down an unfamiliar hallway, the only sound being the faint tapping of Cora and Buffy's slippers as they walked. Finally, after what seemed to Angel as hours, they two men stopped and Michael pushed open a heavily decorated door, standing back so that the two ladies could enter first. As the vampire walked in next, he turned around to face the two dark haired men, both who were smiling sympathetically at the three time travellers.
"Take as long as you need." Michael told them kindly. "There will be someone outside to take you back when you are ready." His eyes rested on Buffy for the briefest hint of a second, and were hesitant, before turning to the two newcomers. He grinned playfully at them and said,
"It's nice to meet you." Then he chuckled. "I'm sure we shall be seeing more of each other, if my sister has anything to do with it." And with that, he gently closed the door behind him, leaving the three of them alone for the first time.
The room fell into a heavy silence, no one quite knowing what to say. Finally, not being able to take it a second longer, the vampire turned to face the Slayer who was now standing in the centre of the huge sitting room.
Feeling undeniable giddy for some reason, probably so thankful that they had found her safe and in one piece, Angel couldn't help the broad grin that flooded his face as he stared across at the beautiful blonde woman in the glorious blue gown.
But found, suddenly, that not everyone in the room was as happy as he was. For standing there, the Slayer had a hand up, clutching her neck tightly, breathing in short, shallow gasps. Looking up into her face quickly, Angel felt the first tingle of panic as he saw the expression of her angelic face.
She looked stricken. Tears were rolling down her checks as she opened her mouth suddenly and whispered in an utterly terrified tone that the vampire would remember for the rest of his life,
"Angel.what have you done?"
****