Chapter 8

All That Power

Why did Angel leave like that? Hasn't he realized in the past years that he needs us, and he needs to focus on his upcoming struggles? Of course not, or else he wouldn't be off in all those blasted countries, scouring the world for any source of information on his beloved Slayer. Dammit! How could he just up and leave us, his group, his comrades, to search for a lost love? This is just like the Darla incident, and here I thought we were long past it.  Some things never end. Take me, for instance, seems I'm still hunting demons, just like in my rogue demon hunting days.

Angel shook in his sleep. He woke up, but his eyelids remained closed, trying to remember each moment he had spent with Buffy to its fullest. When he mind refused to recall any more memories, he finally opened his eyes. The stained glass on the windows of the mausoleum shed a few droplets of light into the dank crypt, in several arrays of color. The light faded as he watched, letting him know that the sun was sinking.

Angel glanced around; checking his surroundings as he normally did when away from home. He saw Sarah's blue hair covering her face as she lay on her back on the ground. Taking a look to his right he saw Mark curled into the fetal position on top of a coffin. Not seeing Billowa, he swiveled his neck to turn and look behind him. She was standing against the wall, directly behind Angel, one foot helping her rest against the wall, arms crossed, eyes opened wide-glaring at Angel. He gulped.

Angel was so focused on Billowa's tensed muscles that he didn't notice Mark roll over and get to his feet in seconds. Mark stalked over to Angel and clasped his shoulder, causing Angel to jump and throw a fist at Mark's neck, which was blocked.

"Those vampire instincts'll get you every time, huh?" asked Mark with a chuckle. Then he continued with a strange sparkle in his eye, "maybe we could spar some time, I'd like to see how well you do."

"Ugh, boys," said Sarah, trying to blow wisps of hair out of her eyes; having failed she finally just used her hands to pull her hair behind her ears as she sat up. She flashed a grin at Angel as she wrapped her arms around Mark, giving him a gentle kiss on the lips. Angel's heart ached at that moment, remembering all the gentle kisses he and Buffy had shared.

Mark saw Angel's discomfort and pulled out of Sarah's grasp, reaching for Angel's hand.

"Anything you want to know?" asked Mark, trying to put Angel at ease.

"Well first thing is, where'd you get your souls from?" questioned Angel. He had known it since he saw them attacking Buffy. They weren't just vampires protecting territory, they had a mission, they had tracked Buffy down just as he had. He assumed it was somewhat an idea of Billowa's to go on the hunt, only reinforcing his idea that they had been given souls somehow.

"Ah, should have known you'd ask sooner or later," replied Mark.

"It's a long story not worth telling right now," said Sarah quickly.

"All right," said Angel. He knew something was up, but figured pressing the question wasn't going to work. All he really needed to know was that they had those souls, how they got them wasn't much of a big deal.

However, Angel was a bit surprised that hey had souls, he wasn't used to seeing more of his kind. They seemed to be dealing with it well too, unlike when Angel had first received his soul.

"Another question?" pondered Angel.

"Go ahead," answered Sarah.

"Is she pissed at me or something?" asked Angel, directing the subject towards Billowa.

"Why would you think that? Is it the angered face, the deranged look, or possibly the tensed muscles and glaring eyes? Nah, she's not angry at you," said Sarah.

"Then what is she doing? And why is she glaring at me?" Angel continued with the questions.

"You really wanna know?" Sarah asked a question of her own.

* * *

A single tear; emerged from the corner of a soft, caring eyelid. An eyelid furrowed with pain and hurt, yet understanding. It slid down a pale, white cheek and slowly continued, rounding the edge of a young face, making its way towards a centered, crumpled chin, shaking with grief. It silently dripped off the edge, falling down to meet with the dirt, and the hands digging it up.

Buffy continued to cry as she dug with her hands (getting blisters and cuts), a new grave. When it was finally big enough for the teenage boy she lowered his body into it, along with his sister's on top. Her hands fumbled and she let out a shriek as she tried to pile the new dirt on top. She slammed her head into the ground, trying to calm the voices in her head. The pain and sorrow she felt.

She blinked a couple of times and sat back up on her knees, finishing what she had started. When the dirt had been piled and the grave finished, she searched for some wood. She finally found two long sticks of wood, and a third piece, which she ripped into shreds. Using the shreds, she held the two pieces of wood together and tied them to each other, as her hand began to burn from the newly-created cross. She gulped down the pain and stood up to slam the wood into the ground, deep enough to keep the wind from knocking it over.

When she finished she pulled her hands back and gazed at the red scar marks on her hands. She didn't feel the pain of the burns, and only glared at the symbols of her deep-rooted sin that would be around as long as she was. She cried. Not for the burns, not for the pain, not for the little boy, but for the symbols.

* * *

"Why are we here?" asked Connor as the black convertible pulled to a stop outside the Sunnydale cemetery.

"Do you know a better place to search for a vampire?" asked Cordelia with a smile.

"I suppose," retorted Connor.

"Now then, everyone ready? I suppose we'll just split up into different groups or individually, as there are only five of us, and search the cemetery," said Wesley, already out of the car and unlocking the trunk.

"Five of us? Excuse me? You don't expect me to actually get out of this convertible do you? The ground is wet. And muddy. Puh-lease," said Cordelia sincerely.

"Cordy. Get out of the car, grab your bag, and search," said Wesley in a commanding tone.

Cordelia stepped from the car with a snarl and snatched her bag, mumbling about high heels and pay. Wesley ignored the complaining and turned to enter the cemetery.

* * *

"Angel!" cried Willow, welcoming Angel with a hug, "Come in!"

"Uh, Willow? I have some friends who are gonna play a little role in this fight too. They kinda need an invite," said Angel.

"Oh, well, sure. I guess. Come on in," said Willow to Mark and Sarah.

Billowa followed last, and made sure to shut the door. Willow, who was waiting to follow everyone into the living room, gave a shudder as Billowa walked by, feeling an immense amount of power. Billowa noticed out of the corner of her eye and gave a smile, which Willow noticed oddly reminded her of Tara's.

Dawn cleared from the couch to go sit on the floor, where Isobel immediately ran up and began to play with Dawn's hair, a gleeful smile occupying her face. Anya sat in the chair, Xander sitting next to it with his head resting on her leg, as she played with his hair. Tara got moved to the edge of the couch closest to the doorway, allowing the three guests to sit on the couch. Angel remained standing in the doorway with Willow.

"Ha-Have you found anything else?" asked Willow.

"I found Buffy. Then I let her go. Actually, I helped her get away from these guys," said Angel, his eyes starting to redden from holding back the tears.

"Maybe I should speak on our behalf," said Billowa, standing up. Another wave of energy shot was felt by Willow, coming from Billowa. Willow glanced at Tara and could tell she felt it to. "Where we came from, our past, it holds no relevance to what stands before your group, your tiny army. You hold power, and power is what is going to be key to this battle.

"Your friend, Buffy, as you all should know by now, is a vampire. From what I've been told, she was sired by a vampire named William the Bloody, with whom you have some familiarity with. I believe you know him as Spike.

"After approximately three years of running the world, she returned to Sunnydale to paint it red, starting with you. Recently she's been going through some very emotional pain.."

"Yeah, if you count killing a defenseless girl and a little boy pain," said Xander.

"Not to mention the little girl and teenage boy she just killed last night," added Sarah.

"What?" asked Dawn.

"Not important right now," started Billowa.

"Not important? How could you say that? You act like this is some mission, like you must report to your commander soon. But people out there are dieing, because of my sister. Because of what Spike made her. How could you act like it's nothing?" demanded Dawn.

"Ah. I see. You feel betrayed; I can sense the pain emanating from you. You trusted this Spike. Almost as much as you trusted your sister herself. And here he has turned on her and you. Well child, have no fear, lighten up, Spike's dead," responded Billowa.

Dawn gasped and gave a shudder. After hearing the news that Spike had changed her, after hearing it stated as fact rather than suspecting, she had wanted him there. She had wanted to kill him. To cut his head off. To slam a stake into his heart. To light him on fire. It was true though, she had trusted Spike, and it wasn't going to simply go away in a matter of seconds.

Dawn felt resentment towards this new lady. She wanted her gone. This Billowa felt no emotion, she cared for nothing but the objective; to reach her goal.

"Get out," said Dawn, getting to her feet. Isobel fell over from the sudden movement. "Get out. Get out," she continued, her voice rising.

"Hush. Sit," commanded Billowa. Dawn kneeled to the floor, and feel back on her bottom. She struggled to part her lips and scream at this lady, to stand up and scream in her face, but she couldn't.

Willow saw the struggle in Dawn's eyes. She knew what Billowa was doing, but she could feel no energy being given off from the strange woman. That kind of power takes skill and energy, to be able to confine someone's movements like that-she's not even giving off the slightest bit of discomfort or loss of energy, noted Willow.

"Hey!" shouted Xander, standing up, "Don't you come in to our house and start playing the voodoo on us!"

"Your house? Excuse me, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this house belong to a Buffy Summers? And isn't the vampire I am here to deal with, without causing death, without causing pain to the 'Scooby Gang,' the same Buffy Summers?" questioned Billowa.

"Without death or pain?" asked Xander, sitting back down.

"That is correct. And Dawn, I feel these emotions, but I don't let them control me. If I worried about every human that was killed by a vampire, do you realize how many tears would be shed? Do you understand how much power would be lost in wasting the time to cry for these poor individuals? No, these masses? Take these two for example, if I let the anguish control me on how many people they killed before I helped them…" said Billowa.

"Wait," said Tara, standing up with a sudden thud, causing everyone to jump. "What do you mean, before you helped."

"That's why they're here," said Angel. "One thing you've probably realized about these two is that they have souls. And Billowa's here to do the same to Buffy. To give her back her soul."