A/N: Bad news, people. Unfortunately, due to all the arguments in my house over use of our new computer, I'm now only allowed FORTY MINUTES A DAY on the computer. Yep, you heard right. Forty minutes. It really, really sucks (nothing), and as this is the one with the internet on, it's really hard. However, I'm gonna try to make sure it doesn't affect my updating (which is currently a little infrequent anyways cause I'm trying to work out all the plotlines). Thanks for listening to my rant!
Disclaimer: Yeah yeah, whatever. Like I really own Buffy. If I did, I wouldn't have so much trouble saving up for a PS2. Coincidentally, if any of you guys wanna send me any donations...lol!
Dedication: To my friend, who lent me the season 6 videos I needed to catch up on missed episodes. Thanks!
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Keisha sipped at her coffee, wincing as the hot liquid burned her lips and tongue. Brushing back some loose strands of hair from her eyes, she squinted once again at the book she had 'borrowed' from Giles's collection. Finally, she seemed to be making some sort of breakthrough in finding out what was currently residing in the store closet...if she just didn't happen to be going crazy, that is.
I really have to get going, she mused. Gracia wants to have us all there to patrol, after all...
That morning, she had known that something was up with Gracia, even despite her preoccupied state. She and Luke had finally heard the story at lunchtime, catching Gracia in the middle of a vigorous training session. It had turned out that whatever new evil had moved to Sunnydale had met Gracia the night before as she patrolled with Angel. The vampire girl had recognised Angel straight away, and after a moment, he had realised who she was too. Apparently he knew her and her brother from years before, but he had said he would look into events and meet up with them at the library at sunset.
Keisha glanced up at the clock. Still an hour or so, but it would take time to get there. She looked back down at her outfit, smoothing out the low-cut vest top and jeans as she wondered whether to change again. For the fifth time since she'd got home from school.
It was unusual for her to be like this. For so many years she'd been almost tomboyish, not really caring what people thought she looked like. But then she hadn't known Angel for any of those times, had she?
Wow, she thought dryly, I could probably pass as one of Bridget's Bitch Brigade.
The sound of approaching footsteps made her jolt back into reality, and she quickly drew a school textbook over her previous reading material, pretending to be intent in study. She glanced up as her mother came into the room.
"Hi." she said conversationally. Her mother looked up sharply.
"Oh, hello Keisha. I thought you and Luke were going out?" Her mother went to make some more coffee as Keisha shifted slightly in her seat, playing with her hair almost nervously.
"Yeah, but not for a while yet." She frowned, noticing something slightly... agitated in her mother's actions. "Mom? Is everything alright?"
Her mother sighed, setting down the coffee pot and turning round. Now Keisha knew something was up. Shauna Goldsmith was usually very calm and collected- after all, you had to be to manage a career and four children like Luke and Keisha. But right now, her eyes seemed almost glazed, and she kept running her hands through her hair.
"It's just...oh, well, I had to take Charlie to the hospital today."
Charlie was Keisha's nine year old brother. "Why? What happened?"
"Nothing happened to him, it's just...oh, something horrible happened." Shauna moved to sit across from her daughter. "One of the little girls in Charlie's class was abducted and dumped back on the streets with a lot of blood lost." The woman tried to keep her voice steady, but there was a definate quiver in it.
"Oh my god." Keisha breathed, mind racing. "Well, was she OK? Is she..." She couldn't bring herself to say 'dead'.
Shauna shook her head rapidly. "No, no, thank god. The doctors say that her condition is stable, and they're allowing her friends to visit, but...she's extremely traunmatised about what happened."
"I'll bet." Keisha wondered briefly how to phrase her next question. "What...what happened to her?"
"It...well, it looked like something bit her, apparently. Of course, it's all bandaged, so I didn't see. I was talking to the doctors, but they seem so baffled..." She sighed heavily, pushed back her golden hair and stood up quickly. "Well, I'd better get on, there's so much to do..." She left the room at a quick pace, leaving Keisha deep in wonder, before she shook her head hard to clear her mind.
She'd mention it to Gracia, but for now, she had to try to sort out the problem of the haunting going on.
Or maybe she should redo her hair...?
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Well, he'd been standing here for too long without making any type of movement towards the house across the street. For at least half an hour he'd just stared at it, preparing himself to go and knock on the door, to see her and talk to her. It was lucky the sky was clouded enough to stop him bursting into flames, otherwise this little trip might have had to have been delayed, and who knows if he'd have actually gone then.
Spike sighed in frustration, slamming his fist into the tree he leaned against. He was acting like an idiot, and he knew it. He'd had enough of this.
It was only a matter of a few seconds before he found himself standing in front of the door he'd been watching for so long and banging hard on it to get the attention of whoever was in there. He sighed as the silence stretched out, knocking once more in impatientce and glancing around behind him.
The door opened abruptly and Spike turned, saying as he did, "About bloody ti-"
He stopped in mid-sentence as soon as he saw the girl who had opened the door. Not Gracia. This girl was younger, probably about eleven, with ragged dirty blonde hair and dressed in faded jeans and a grey fleece jacket. And right now, she was frowning at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes?" she asked slowly in an accent that wasn't quite fully American, looking him up and down.
Spike blinked, hesitating slightly. "I'm here to see Gracia."
Her other eyebrow went up at this, blue eyes widening slightly as she half looked over her shoulder at the staircase. "Gracia!" she yelled. "Gracia! Someone to see you!" This said, she pulled a dog lead from the hall table and whistled loudly. "C'mon Scrappy!"
There were hurried footsteps on the stairs and Spike looked up to see Gracia coming to a halt halfway down, staring at him in obvious surprise.
"Spike..." she said quietly, then raised her voice slightly to add, "What're you doing here?"
"I need a word, love." A wide grin spread itself over the little girl's face as he called her that, causing Gracia to advert her eyes briefly as her usually pale cheeks flushed slightly pink.
"Sure." she said, then looked at the other girl. "Uh, Brianna?"
The blonde called Brianna looked up from calling after 'Scrappy'. "What?"
"Where're you going?" Gracia came right down the stairs, avoiding Spike's continued gaze. Brianna rolled her eyes and motioned to the dog lead.
"Where'd you think? I'm taking Scrappy for a walk." She whistled again. "Where is he?"
Gracia was evidently not happy about this. "You be quick then. Back before sunset."
Brianna rolled her eyes again. "Sure. Whatever."
Suddenly, something bounded into the narrow hallway, jumping up at Brianna playfully as it did so. Brianna laughed, pushing it back down to calm it down, and when it was eventually still, Spike saw it was a dog. Then it looked at him, and he knew what was coming.
The little girl blinked as the Doberman growled, teeth bared, at Spike in the doorway. "Scrappy? What's up with you?" She struggled with the dog, who had begun to bark loudly, clipping the lead to his collar. "Bad dog!" She pulled an apologetic face. "Sorry. He's usually fine."
Spike shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't worry."
Gracia and Spike watched silently as Brianna dragged Scrappy out of the door and down the front drive, trying to ignore his rowdy behaviour. As soon as Brianna turned down the street, Gracia met Spike's eyes somewhat reluctantly.
"Sorry. He really isn't like that usually." she said, basically repeating what her sister had said. He shrugged again.
"The whole soulless thing." He explained. "I'm used to it."
"Oh." She wiped her palms on her jeans, then gestured towards a door on her left. "So...?"
He put his hand up against the threshold, pushing against the invisible barrier. "Kind of difficult to come in, love."
She blinked. "Oh, sorry. Come on in."
His hand passed through the doorway and he stepped in, closing the door behind him. She jerked her head to the door again, saying, "We can talk in here."
He followed her into a neat living room, looking around at the T.V., the chairs, the small coffee table. It was just an ordinary room which could have belonged to anyone, not necessarily a vampire Slayer. His eyes were drawn to a large photograph hanging over the mantlepiece. It showed Gracia, perhaps a year or so younger than now, smiling with Brianna and two people who could only have been her parents. He noticed as well that she didn't look much like any of them, suddenly remembering that she was adopted. When he looked round at her, he noticed she wasn't looking at him, instead finding the floor much more interesting.
"That was your little sister then?" he asked, just to break the silence. She nodded.
"Yeah, that was Brianna." She gestured towards the sofa. "Have a seat."
He moved over and sat down, watching as she perched on the arm of one of the chairs opposite. He smirked inwardly, knowing she was trying to put distance between them. Then she looked at him.
"So what did you want to tell me?"
For a moment looking at her, he couldn't remember. Then his mind snapped to attention again.
"It's about these newcomers. Decided to give you a little help."
Whatever reaction he had expected, her slight frown hadn't been high on the list. "This would be that girl called Laurel, right?"
He made a surprised movement. "How'd you know?"
She sighed. "Met her last night when I was patrolling. She didn't seem...too pleased to see Angel though."
He snorted. "Bit of a shock for her, I'd guess."
Gracia's tone was thoughtful. "Angel mentioned that she had a brother. Thomas, or something?"
Spike nodded in confirmation. "Laurel and Thomas. So you've heard of them."
She shrugged slightly, hugging her elbows. "Just about. Angel didn't tell me much."
Spike snorted again. "I could tell you much more than he knows."
Gracia blinked, leaning forward slightly. "You could? I mean...would you? Or did you just come here to gloat?"
His mouth twisted in a smirk. "Sure I could. Depends how much you want to hear it, pet."
She stood. "Save it, Spike. You're coming with me to the library. You're going to tell everyone what you've got."
He got up as well, stepping up close to her. Their faces were inches apart as he said, "Going to make me?"
Gracia's eyes seemed almost sad as she drew out a stake from where it had been concealed in the back pocket of her jeans. Her voice barely a whisper, she replied, "If I have to."
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Luke had been in the library for almost twenty minutes when the doors opened once more.
He and Keisha had arrived to find Angel conversing quietly with Giles, and immediately Keisha had tensed in that silent, shy way she always did with Angel in proximity. Angel had explained that once Gracia turned up he would tell them the little information he had been able to gain through 'contacts' since last night. Giles seemed to have been carrying out a full scale research operation- subtly hinted at by the huge stacks of dusty old books taking up at least three tables.
Luke looked up immediately from the volume he was boredly flicking through (mainly just checking out the disgusting yet fascinating picture of a tribe of Hasslich demons devouring their human prey)as soon as he heard the sound of the entrance working. Gracia strode in, a serious expression on her face, and Luke was about to offer a greeting when he realised who was following her. Keisha also glanced up from where she was sitting and her eyes widened in shock.
Gracia nodded to them as she stopped by the table. "Hey. Are Giles and Angel here yet?"
Luke jerked a thumb behind him. "They went back into Giles's office."
She managed a small smile for him. "Thanks." She hurried off towards the door to the office, and both twins looked at the guy in front of them, who was lighting up a cigarette. He scowled at them.
"What?"
Luke shrugged, but Gracia's next entrance prevented him from saying anything. Angel and Giles both stopped dead when they saw the bleached vampire standing there, calmly taking a drag.
"Peaches, Watcher." he said, sniggering as he nodded at them. Eyes still on Spike, Angel put a hand on his sister's shoulder.
"Gracia, why is he here?" His voice was low, but too obviously concealing a fury that only displayed itself in his tone and his eyes.
"He says he can tell us things we need to know." She sighed. "So, Spike, you've got an audience now."
He sneered as the Slayer, her brother and her Watcher all moved closer, the latter two somewhat warily. "I'm honoured." He glanced at the other two teenagers, smirking to himself when he saw the girl staring at Angel with a somewhat wistful expression, making a mental note for blackmail purposes later. "So, what do you want to know, Slayer?"
She shrugged, eyes never leaving his face. "Whatever you can tell us."
He dropped casually into a chair, kicking his feet up onto the table- much to Giles's displeasure. "You might want a seat. It's a long story."
Gracia moved into a chair opposite Spike, next to Luke, although Angel and Giles made no such move. Spike grinned. "Suit yourself then."
He lit up another cigarette, taking his time before he began.
"The first time I met Laurel and Thomas was in 1887, in a small village that didn't know there were vampires living just outside its boundaries..."
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Next chapter is a flashback! Review please!
Disclaimer: Yeah yeah, whatever. Like I really own Buffy. If I did, I wouldn't have so much trouble saving up for a PS2. Coincidentally, if any of you guys wanna send me any donations...lol!
Dedication: To my friend, who lent me the season 6 videos I needed to catch up on missed episodes. Thanks!
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Keisha sipped at her coffee, wincing as the hot liquid burned her lips and tongue. Brushing back some loose strands of hair from her eyes, she squinted once again at the book she had 'borrowed' from Giles's collection. Finally, she seemed to be making some sort of breakthrough in finding out what was currently residing in the store closet...if she just didn't happen to be going crazy, that is.
I really have to get going, she mused. Gracia wants to have us all there to patrol, after all...
That morning, she had known that something was up with Gracia, even despite her preoccupied state. She and Luke had finally heard the story at lunchtime, catching Gracia in the middle of a vigorous training session. It had turned out that whatever new evil had moved to Sunnydale had met Gracia the night before as she patrolled with Angel. The vampire girl had recognised Angel straight away, and after a moment, he had realised who she was too. Apparently he knew her and her brother from years before, but he had said he would look into events and meet up with them at the library at sunset.
Keisha glanced up at the clock. Still an hour or so, but it would take time to get there. She looked back down at her outfit, smoothing out the low-cut vest top and jeans as she wondered whether to change again. For the fifth time since she'd got home from school.
It was unusual for her to be like this. For so many years she'd been almost tomboyish, not really caring what people thought she looked like. But then she hadn't known Angel for any of those times, had she?
Wow, she thought dryly, I could probably pass as one of Bridget's Bitch Brigade.
The sound of approaching footsteps made her jolt back into reality, and she quickly drew a school textbook over her previous reading material, pretending to be intent in study. She glanced up as her mother came into the room.
"Hi." she said conversationally. Her mother looked up sharply.
"Oh, hello Keisha. I thought you and Luke were going out?" Her mother went to make some more coffee as Keisha shifted slightly in her seat, playing with her hair almost nervously.
"Yeah, but not for a while yet." She frowned, noticing something slightly... agitated in her mother's actions. "Mom? Is everything alright?"
Her mother sighed, setting down the coffee pot and turning round. Now Keisha knew something was up. Shauna Goldsmith was usually very calm and collected- after all, you had to be to manage a career and four children like Luke and Keisha. But right now, her eyes seemed almost glazed, and she kept running her hands through her hair.
"It's just...oh, well, I had to take Charlie to the hospital today."
Charlie was Keisha's nine year old brother. "Why? What happened?"
"Nothing happened to him, it's just...oh, something horrible happened." Shauna moved to sit across from her daughter. "One of the little girls in Charlie's class was abducted and dumped back on the streets with a lot of blood lost." The woman tried to keep her voice steady, but there was a definate quiver in it.
"Oh my god." Keisha breathed, mind racing. "Well, was she OK? Is she..." She couldn't bring herself to say 'dead'.
Shauna shook her head rapidly. "No, no, thank god. The doctors say that her condition is stable, and they're allowing her friends to visit, but...she's extremely traunmatised about what happened."
"I'll bet." Keisha wondered briefly how to phrase her next question. "What...what happened to her?"
"It...well, it looked like something bit her, apparently. Of course, it's all bandaged, so I didn't see. I was talking to the doctors, but they seem so baffled..." She sighed heavily, pushed back her golden hair and stood up quickly. "Well, I'd better get on, there's so much to do..." She left the room at a quick pace, leaving Keisha deep in wonder, before she shook her head hard to clear her mind.
She'd mention it to Gracia, but for now, she had to try to sort out the problem of the haunting going on.
Or maybe she should redo her hair...?
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Well, he'd been standing here for too long without making any type of movement towards the house across the street. For at least half an hour he'd just stared at it, preparing himself to go and knock on the door, to see her and talk to her. It was lucky the sky was clouded enough to stop him bursting into flames, otherwise this little trip might have had to have been delayed, and who knows if he'd have actually gone then.
Spike sighed in frustration, slamming his fist into the tree he leaned against. He was acting like an idiot, and he knew it. He'd had enough of this.
It was only a matter of a few seconds before he found himself standing in front of the door he'd been watching for so long and banging hard on it to get the attention of whoever was in there. He sighed as the silence stretched out, knocking once more in impatientce and glancing around behind him.
The door opened abruptly and Spike turned, saying as he did, "About bloody ti-"
He stopped in mid-sentence as soon as he saw the girl who had opened the door. Not Gracia. This girl was younger, probably about eleven, with ragged dirty blonde hair and dressed in faded jeans and a grey fleece jacket. And right now, she was frowning at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes?" she asked slowly in an accent that wasn't quite fully American, looking him up and down.
Spike blinked, hesitating slightly. "I'm here to see Gracia."
Her other eyebrow went up at this, blue eyes widening slightly as she half looked over her shoulder at the staircase. "Gracia!" she yelled. "Gracia! Someone to see you!" This said, she pulled a dog lead from the hall table and whistled loudly. "C'mon Scrappy!"
There were hurried footsteps on the stairs and Spike looked up to see Gracia coming to a halt halfway down, staring at him in obvious surprise.
"Spike..." she said quietly, then raised her voice slightly to add, "What're you doing here?"
"I need a word, love." A wide grin spread itself over the little girl's face as he called her that, causing Gracia to advert her eyes briefly as her usually pale cheeks flushed slightly pink.
"Sure." she said, then looked at the other girl. "Uh, Brianna?"
The blonde called Brianna looked up from calling after 'Scrappy'. "What?"
"Where're you going?" Gracia came right down the stairs, avoiding Spike's continued gaze. Brianna rolled her eyes and motioned to the dog lead.
"Where'd you think? I'm taking Scrappy for a walk." She whistled again. "Where is he?"
Gracia was evidently not happy about this. "You be quick then. Back before sunset."
Brianna rolled her eyes again. "Sure. Whatever."
Suddenly, something bounded into the narrow hallway, jumping up at Brianna playfully as it did so. Brianna laughed, pushing it back down to calm it down, and when it was eventually still, Spike saw it was a dog. Then it looked at him, and he knew what was coming.
The little girl blinked as the Doberman growled, teeth bared, at Spike in the doorway. "Scrappy? What's up with you?" She struggled with the dog, who had begun to bark loudly, clipping the lead to his collar. "Bad dog!" She pulled an apologetic face. "Sorry. He's usually fine."
Spike shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't worry."
Gracia and Spike watched silently as Brianna dragged Scrappy out of the door and down the front drive, trying to ignore his rowdy behaviour. As soon as Brianna turned down the street, Gracia met Spike's eyes somewhat reluctantly.
"Sorry. He really isn't like that usually." she said, basically repeating what her sister had said. He shrugged again.
"The whole soulless thing." He explained. "I'm used to it."
"Oh." She wiped her palms on her jeans, then gestured towards a door on her left. "So...?"
He put his hand up against the threshold, pushing against the invisible barrier. "Kind of difficult to come in, love."
She blinked. "Oh, sorry. Come on in."
His hand passed through the doorway and he stepped in, closing the door behind him. She jerked her head to the door again, saying, "We can talk in here."
He followed her into a neat living room, looking around at the T.V., the chairs, the small coffee table. It was just an ordinary room which could have belonged to anyone, not necessarily a vampire Slayer. His eyes were drawn to a large photograph hanging over the mantlepiece. It showed Gracia, perhaps a year or so younger than now, smiling with Brianna and two people who could only have been her parents. He noticed as well that she didn't look much like any of them, suddenly remembering that she was adopted. When he looked round at her, he noticed she wasn't looking at him, instead finding the floor much more interesting.
"That was your little sister then?" he asked, just to break the silence. She nodded.
"Yeah, that was Brianna." She gestured towards the sofa. "Have a seat."
He moved over and sat down, watching as she perched on the arm of one of the chairs opposite. He smirked inwardly, knowing she was trying to put distance between them. Then she looked at him.
"So what did you want to tell me?"
For a moment looking at her, he couldn't remember. Then his mind snapped to attention again.
"It's about these newcomers. Decided to give you a little help."
Whatever reaction he had expected, her slight frown hadn't been high on the list. "This would be that girl called Laurel, right?"
He made a surprised movement. "How'd you know?"
She sighed. "Met her last night when I was patrolling. She didn't seem...too pleased to see Angel though."
He snorted. "Bit of a shock for her, I'd guess."
Gracia's tone was thoughtful. "Angel mentioned that she had a brother. Thomas, or something?"
Spike nodded in confirmation. "Laurel and Thomas. So you've heard of them."
She shrugged slightly, hugging her elbows. "Just about. Angel didn't tell me much."
Spike snorted again. "I could tell you much more than he knows."
Gracia blinked, leaning forward slightly. "You could? I mean...would you? Or did you just come here to gloat?"
His mouth twisted in a smirk. "Sure I could. Depends how much you want to hear it, pet."
She stood. "Save it, Spike. You're coming with me to the library. You're going to tell everyone what you've got."
He got up as well, stepping up close to her. Their faces were inches apart as he said, "Going to make me?"
Gracia's eyes seemed almost sad as she drew out a stake from where it had been concealed in the back pocket of her jeans. Her voice barely a whisper, she replied, "If I have to."
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Luke had been in the library for almost twenty minutes when the doors opened once more.
He and Keisha had arrived to find Angel conversing quietly with Giles, and immediately Keisha had tensed in that silent, shy way she always did with Angel in proximity. Angel had explained that once Gracia turned up he would tell them the little information he had been able to gain through 'contacts' since last night. Giles seemed to have been carrying out a full scale research operation- subtly hinted at by the huge stacks of dusty old books taking up at least three tables.
Luke looked up immediately from the volume he was boredly flicking through (mainly just checking out the disgusting yet fascinating picture of a tribe of Hasslich demons devouring their human prey)as soon as he heard the sound of the entrance working. Gracia strode in, a serious expression on her face, and Luke was about to offer a greeting when he realised who was following her. Keisha also glanced up from where she was sitting and her eyes widened in shock.
Gracia nodded to them as she stopped by the table. "Hey. Are Giles and Angel here yet?"
Luke jerked a thumb behind him. "They went back into Giles's office."
She managed a small smile for him. "Thanks." She hurried off towards the door to the office, and both twins looked at the guy in front of them, who was lighting up a cigarette. He scowled at them.
"What?"
Luke shrugged, but Gracia's next entrance prevented him from saying anything. Angel and Giles both stopped dead when they saw the bleached vampire standing there, calmly taking a drag.
"Peaches, Watcher." he said, sniggering as he nodded at them. Eyes still on Spike, Angel put a hand on his sister's shoulder.
"Gracia, why is he here?" His voice was low, but too obviously concealing a fury that only displayed itself in his tone and his eyes.
"He says he can tell us things we need to know." She sighed. "So, Spike, you've got an audience now."
He sneered as the Slayer, her brother and her Watcher all moved closer, the latter two somewhat warily. "I'm honoured." He glanced at the other two teenagers, smirking to himself when he saw the girl staring at Angel with a somewhat wistful expression, making a mental note for blackmail purposes later. "So, what do you want to know, Slayer?"
She shrugged, eyes never leaving his face. "Whatever you can tell us."
He dropped casually into a chair, kicking his feet up onto the table- much to Giles's displeasure. "You might want a seat. It's a long story."
Gracia moved into a chair opposite Spike, next to Luke, although Angel and Giles made no such move. Spike grinned. "Suit yourself then."
He lit up another cigarette, taking his time before he began.
"The first time I met Laurel and Thomas was in 1887, in a small village that didn't know there were vampires living just outside its boundaries..."
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Next chapter is a flashback! Review please!