Title: The Promised One

Author: ElvenNight

Summary: It's getting close to the anniversary of Doyle's death. Cordelia gets a vision of a woman in Sunnydale, so Angel, Wesley, and Cordy go on a little trip. When they get to Sunnydale, they find that the woman is tied to Spike and Angels pasts. And a prophecy about a battle involving Doyle gets everyone confused. Also, an old enemy of Spike and Angel returns...

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from Angel and Buffy. They belong to Joss Wheden and David Greenwalt. Don't sue. You wouldn't get much anyway....

Authors Note: Here is the next part. This has to be the longest chapter I've written so far. Go me! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Reviews are like chocolate, can't live without 'em!

Enjoy!

Thoughts are between these //thought // For some reason italics doesn't go from my computer to the site.

Dedication: This is for Glenn Quinn. Rest in Peace. You won't be forgotten.



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Giles had gone back to his house a few hours ago. Xander and Anya fell asleep on the couch, so they were staying. Spike, Kaya, and Angel were asleep on the floor next to Cordelia. Wesley was asleep in the arm chair by the couch. Tara, Willow, Dawn, and Buffy were asleep in their respective rooms. Except for the occasional grunt and shift from Wesley trying to get comfortable in his sleep, all was quiet. There was only one person awake in the entire house, and that was Cordelia. She was willing herself not to go to sleep, because she knew if she did, the dreams would start. And Cordelia didn't think she could handle them. She knew she couldn't handle them.

//Don't close your eyes// Cordy told herself. But as each second ticked away her eyelids became heavier and heavier, feeling like lead. Cordy struggled to keep them open, but it was a losing battle, and soon she was asleep. Then, the dreams came.

*Flash* Doyle and her shooting the commercial *Flash* The Scourge *Flash* The half demons *Flash* Doyle is half demon *Flash* The beacon, the catwalk *Flash* "The good fight, yeah? You never know until you've been tested? I get that now." Doyle's voice *Flash* Doyle, punching Angel off the catwalk. Cordy, rooted to the spot in fear *Flash* Doyle kissing her *Flash* "Too bad we'll never know-" Demon face "-if this is a face you could learn to love." *Flash* Doyle jumping onto the beacon. Flesh melting away. His painful scream-*Flash*

"Ahhhh!" Cordelia woke up with a blood curdling scream. It echoed in her mind in a thick, Irish brogue. Everyone in the house snapped awake, turned various lights on, and was gathered near Cordy in seconds. Angel was holding her and rocking her back and forth as she cried into his chest.

"Shh," Angel soothed. "It's okay, Cordy. It's okay."

"What's wrong?" Wesley asked.

"I don't know," Angel replied. "She just woke up screaming." He looked down at Cordy's head. "Was it a vision?" he asked her.

"No," she choked out.

"A dream?"

She nodded. Angel hugged her tight. "Was it about what I think it was about?" She nodded again. Angel grimaced and Cordy finally stopped crying. "Try not to think about it, Cordy. I know it hurts, but try."

"Think about what?" Anya asked.

Angel sighed. "A few years ago, when I first arrived in LA, Angel Investigations was just Cordy, me, and a guy named Doyle." Angel's voice caught on the name, and he felt Cordy tighten in his arms, but he kept going. "Basically, evil turned up and Doyle sacrificed his life to save us and a group of half demons."

"Demons?" Xander echoed. "Why on earth would he do that?"

Angel narrowed his eyes and was about to say something that was definitely not gentlemanly, but was cut off by Anya.

"You know Xander, not all demons are evil. Just because you haven't personally seen one that wasn't, doesn't mean there aren't any out there. I mean, I was a demon once, yet you don't seem to have a problem with me, even though I've killed people in the past!" Xander opened his mouth to say something, but Anya wasn't finished. "What if, by some strange turn of events, I became a demon again, would that make me not worth saving? I am so sick of your black and white attitude Xander! All of you! There are shades of grey in this world you know!"

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment after Anya's outburst. Then Xander said in a small voice, "I'm sorry. But you know I'd love you no matter what!"

Anya glared at him for a few seconds before softening her gaze. She smiled at him and he knew he was forgiven. Thank God. The last thing he wanted was Anya mad at him.

"Doyle was half demon," Cordy whispered. Her broken tone made Xander feel much worse.

"I'm sorry, Cordy. I didn't know. I didn't mean to-" he stopped. "I'm sorry."

"S'okay," she told him. Then she sniffed. "It's horrible, Angel. I keep seeing it happen, over and over again. I keep hearing his scream..." she trailed off and shuddered, trying not to cry again. Angel shut his eyes tightly, then opened them again with a tired sigh.

Spike looked around at everyone, his eyes finding Dawn as she fought off a yawn. "I think we should go back to sleep," he suggested with a pointed look at the teen who was struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Yeah," Angel said tiredly.

"I'll see it again," Cordy said.

"No you won't, just don't think about it." Angel let go of her and she reluctantly laid back down and closed her eyes.

"He must have meant a lot to her," Buffy commented.

"He did," Angel affirmed, "but she didn't realize just how much until he was gone."

"That's normally always how it is," Kaya said.

"Yeah," Angel said softly. He sighed again. "Come on. We need to sleep." Everyone said goodnight and went back to bed. After a minute or two, Cordelia opened her eyes. //Can't go to sleep// she told herself. //Don't close your eyes. Don't close your eyes//

* * *

Buffy awoke to the smell of something good in the kitchen. She put on a robe and glanced at her clock. 8:00am. She padded downstairs to notice that Spike, Angel, and Kaya were the only ones awake.

She heard Angel's voice coming from the kitchen. "When did you learn how to cook, Spike?"

"The summer Buffy- went away. Sometimes I'd come over here to cook Dawn breakfast and make her lunch for school," was the reply. Buffy smiled softly. He had kept his promise, and very well. The others had told her how he had helped out with Dawn and the slaying while she was gone.

Buffy looked into the kitchen and had to stifle a laugh at what she saw. Kaya, Angel, and Spike were moving around her kitchen cooking what looked like eggs, bacon, biscuits, coffee, and tea(for Giles). The irony of it all struck Buffy, and brought a smile to her face. Three vampires turned good, each for different reasons, in the Slayer's kitchen, making breakfast. Two of the vampires were in love with her. Finally, she had to giggle.

The three vampires turned at her giggle. "Mornin', luv. How'd you sleep?" Spike asked smiling slightly.

"Fine." She smiled back at him warmly. Then, she surveyed the kitchen and came to the conclusion that she would never let them alone in her kitchen again, as it was a complete mess. But at least the food looked good. "I'm going to clean up this tornado disaster while you guys set the table in the dining room, okay?"

"Sure," Kaya said. She dumped the last batch of eggs onto an already overflowing plate and proceeded to the dining room. Spike and Angel followed with the bacon and biscuits. When

they were all done, everyone else had woken up- except Cordelia.

As they all settled down to eat, Willow asked, "So Angel, if you don't mind talking about it, who was this Doyle guy exactly?"

"Yes, I would love to hear about him," Anya stated. The others agreed.

"Wait, isn't he that Irish bloke I saw during that whole Gem of Amara fiasco?" Spike asked. Angel's eyes narrowed as he recalled that particular incident. Spike smiled innocently. It was all Angel could do to not throttle the younger vampire. Kaya looked between the both of them, certain that she was missing something.

"Yes," Angel answered. He took a sip from his mug of pigs blood to try and quiet Angelus' voice saying that it wouldn't be wrong to beat Spike into the ground. Spike and Kaya also had pigs blood, as well as eating eggs with ketchup.

"I liked him," Spike said thoughtfully. Angel stared at him in amazement. "He had.... spine." Spike grinned in memory. "I'm sorry to hear he died." Spike frowned as he took a sip of blood.

"Thanks, Spike," Angel said, surprised. Spike shrugged and shoved a fork full of eggs into his mouth. After a moment of gathering his thoughts, Angel continued. "Well, when I first went to LA, I met a guy. His name was Alan Francis Doyle, but we called him Doyle." Everyone stopped eating to listen. Just then Cordelia walked in.

Her eyes were red and she looked tired. "Hey guys. Who made the feast?"

"Our resident vampires," Xander said flippantly, reaching for his third biscuit of the morning. Cordy walked over and sat down to the right of Angel. She filled her plate as everyone said good morning. Then, Giles walked in.

"Mmm. Breakfast. Who made it?" he asked, taking a seat at the head of the table, opposite Buffy at the other end.

"Spike, Angel, and I," Kaya said impatiently. "Now, can Angel get back to his story?"

"Story?" Cordelia asked.

"About Doyle," Angel replied. "You don't have to hear it you don't want to."

"No, I want to," she stated firmly.

"Who's Doyle?" Giles asked, sipping his tea.

"That's what we're going to find out," Willow told him. Giles nodded.

"Okay," Angel started again. "His name was Alan Francis Doyle, just Doyle to us. He was 100% human on his mother's side, but was Brachen demon on his father's side. He was the one that got the visions before Cordy..." And so the story unfolded, with a little help from Cordelia. When he got to the part when Spike came to town and tortured him, Kaya shot a nasty glare at her brother, and then had to physically restrain her Sire when Spike said, "All in good fun!" Needless to say, Angel was not happy. Then, after calming down, he told them all about everything else they'd done with Doyle, including his death. Angel and Cordelia were quiet when they told the others about the Listers and the Scourge. And misty eyed and choked up when they told of him sacrificing himself to save everyone. When they were done, everyone was quiet, except for the few occasional sniffs from Cordelia.

Deciding that everyone needed to be cheered up, Spike thought for a moment, then smiled wickedly and said, "Hey, anyone remember the time when Willow cast that My Will Be Done spell?" Buffy looked at him, eyes wide with fear. Dawn burst out laughing, Giles covered his eyes and said, "God, I wish I didn't," Xander, Anya, and Willow tried quite unsuccessfully to hide smiles.

The gang from LA, plus Tara, looked at the Scoobies in confusion. "What happened?" Wesley ventured to ask. Buffy turned horrified eyes to the ex- watcher and let out a little squeak. Spike started laughing and almost fell off his chair.

"Well," he began. "Willow cast this spell, but it went sort of wonky you see? So she sort of accidently made Buffy and mpff-" Buffy slapped her hand over Spike's mouth in an attempt to get him to shut up and yelled, "Spike! Don't you dare!" The vampire's eyes were sparkling and he easily got Buffy's hand away. "What, luv? Didn't you just love it?" Buffy glared at him.

"Spike..." she warned.

"Okay, now I'm both confused and deeply curious," Cordelia said. "What happened?"

Willow opened her mouth and, though Buffy protested greatly, the story came out. Even Angel had to laugh at what happened, though he wasn't very happy.

And then Wesley remembered something equally as funny that happened to them, and just had to tell everyone. So that was how their morning went, telling stories about funny or exciting things that had happened. They didn't relate everything that had happened to them, but there was a great deal of stories. Through it all Kaya sat, listening in wonder about their lives. When everyone was finally done, it was almost 1:00pm.

"So Kaya," Tara said after a bit, "you've been quiet. Do you have any funny stories?"

"Yeah," Buffy added. "Maybe about when you were with Spike and Angel..." Spike and Angel groaned, but everyone else looked at Kaya with renewed interest.

Kaya smiled. "Well, I wasn't really with them all that long. I went out on my own a lot." She thought for a minute. Then grinned. "It was probably only a few years after William was turned. Drusilla, being the insane vampire she was, decided that Angelus and Will needed to bond. So they..." she trailed off when she saw Angel. //If looks could dust...// she shivered. "Actually, that isn't such a good story after all."

Buffy pouted. "Come on, Kaya," she pleaded. "Tell us."

"Actually," Angel suggested. "Maybe we should just clean up." His tone left no room for argument. The others looked disappointed, but got up with their plates and filed to the kitchen anyway.

When everyone was done they went to the living room. Willow, Tara, and Dawn took the couch, Angel took the armchair, and everyone else sat on the floor. "So what do we do now?" Dawn asked, looking around at everyone.

They were silent for a moment. And again they were faced with the fact that they had no idea what on earth the Powers That Be needed from them. "Perhaps we should go to the Magic Box and research," Wesley suggested.

"Research what?" Spike asked. Kaya thought for a minute.

"Maybe Cordy should go back over the vision she had. Maybe there's something she missed?" Kaya shifted on the floor, then finally got up with a sigh. "Okay, I can't sit there." She looked at Angel hopefully. "Switch?" she asked pleadingly.

"Nope."

"Oh, c'mon! Please?"

"Get your own chair!" Angel told her.

"Fine." Kaya walked over, and sat on Angel's lap. "There. My own comfy, cosy, chair." She leaned back and put her head on her Sire's shoulder. Angel rolled his eyes, but made no move push her off.

"I guess I could do that," Cordy said, referring to Kaya's idea. Buffy shifted uncomfortably and shot Kaya and Angel a glance.

"Well, go ahead," Giles prompted.

Cordy shut her eyes and concentrated. She tried to call up the image in her mind. When she did she looked for anything she could have missed, like a feeling maybe. After a little bit of concentrating, she thought she felt something. Was that.... pain? Cordelia frowned. Not physical, emotional. Loss. That was it! She opened her eyes and regarded Kaya carefully. "Loss," she finally said. "I felt the pain of loss. But it was so faint, I missed it the first time around." She thought carefully. "It wasn't strong, and felt more like a dull ache. Like something that had happened a long time ago."

Everyone digested her words. "What have you lost in the past Kaya?" Dawn asked. "Maybe Cordy was feeling that."

Kaya smiled sadly. "I'm afraid that there's too much that I've lost in the past, Dawn. I don't know what Cordy was feeling, and it would be very hard to find out."

"Still, it's the best we've got," Giles commented. "What do you think are the most likely possibilities?"

The vampiress thought for a moment, shifting so that her legs went over the arm of the chair, her head still on Angel's shoulder. "Well, I think probably the worst thing to happen to me was-" she stopped, glancing at Spike, "-Rayna," she finished quietly. Spike stiffened, but Wesley nodded.

"Yes, we heard about that."

Angel frowned. "But I snapped his neck. He's dead. Why would he have anything to with this?"

Willow hesitated for a second before voicing her opinion. "Didn't you also snap Doyle's neck?" she asked quietly. Angel turned to look at her.

"When you wanted to try and fool the Scourge," Tara added. "He was okay then."

"But he was half demon. His particular type of demon was able to put bones back in place like that. Rayna was human." Angel shook his head. "It doesn't add up."

"Maybe Rayna did something to himself, like cast a spell or something. To make himself immortal." Anya shrugged. "I mean, if this guy was out for revenge on all vampires, it would certainly help to be immortal."

"Well," Spike said carefully. "I think we have our starting point."

"Research all the ways he could do it?" Wesley nodded. "Sounds like our best bet."

"It can't hurt," Buffy said.

"Says who?" Xander grumbled. It was no secret that he hated research. Everyone grinned and got up from their seats.

"Magic Box?" Angel confirmed, lifting Kaya off his lap and onto the floor.

Giles nodded. "The only place really."

"What's the Magic Box?" Kaya asked as they all filed to the door.

"A shop that Anya and I run," Giles answered.

"Ooh!" Anya said excited. "You could buy things there!" She looked at Kaya hopefully.

Kaya laughed. "Maybe."

"Umm... guys?" Dawn said. They turned to her. "It's still sunny out, so unless we want three very dusty friends on our hands, we might have to find another way than walking."

"We can take the sewers," Spike assured her. Buffy nodded.

"Good idea."

"See you there?"

"Absolutely."

Then they were gone, splitting up as Kaya, Spike, and Angel ran for the sewers.

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TBC...

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