The following day Kat slowly plodded though the hallways of Sunnydale High, head bowed as if she were on her way to the gallows. The rim of her sunglasses slipped a notch down her nose, forcing the young woman to push them back into place with one dainty finger. Behind the nearly black lenses, bloodshot emerald eyes scanned the empty halls as she made her way to the library.
"WHAT????" The tired brunette's head jerked up as the cry of outrage reverberated down the hallway. Her lips twisted into a mockery of a smile as she recognized the voice behind the frustrated yell: only Xander could yell like that. 'Someone just found out about the vamp's return,' Kat thought dryly as she came to a stop before the closed wooden doors of the library. Cocking her head to the side, she listened as the voices within grew in intensity. 'Can't say I blame him for being mad though.' Recalling the few things Giles had mentioned regarding Angel's actions when he lost his soul, Kat wasn't surprised by the teenager's behaviour. It isn't a pleasant surprise, finding the guy who terrorized your friends has returned…and by the very hand of your best friend.
"Are you nuts? The guy is a vampire; he killed Jenny, and he nearly killed both you and Giles!" Xander's feelings of betrayal could be heard in his voice as he shouted at the redhead. As Willow's voice cut in, Kat detected the note of growing ire that thickened the petite hacker's words.
"I know very well what Angelus did," the emphasis Willow placed on the vampire's demonic version of his name did not escape Kat, "but as I have told you five times already, Angel isn't Angelus! I restored his soul, and he won't hurt any of us!"
"How can you trust him? Christ, he almost killed you when you were doing the spell the first time…if he is evil he'll kill you before you even have a chance to figure out if he is Soul Boy or not!" A desperate pitch lent itself to the young man's voice as he continued, seeming to search for a way to get through to his best friend. "How can you just forget everything he's done to us…to Buffy! She never would have left if it wasn't for him!"
Kat felt pity for the girl, and a strange sense of protectiveness for the young redhead rose inside her as Xander brought up the Slayer's name. "That was low," she murmured, moving forward and pushing the doors open to let herself into the library. Her eyes widened slightly behind her sunglasses as she watched Willow's hand move, smacking Xander across the face. The sound of the slap echoed in the sudden silence in the library like the crack of a whip. For moments afterwards the silence hung over the room like a tomb.
It was Willow who spoke up first; her voice soft with barely repressed rage. "Don't," she began; her voice hoarse with the effort it took to control her emotions, "Don't you dare use Angel to excuse what Buffy did Alexander Harris." The jealousy driven boy flinched as Willow addressed him by his full name, but otherwise did not move as she continued, shaking like a leaf. "Angel can be forgiven for his actions because he couldn't stop the demon; but there is no excuse for what Buffy did. She left us; she abandoned her friends, and her duty…and she never told us!" Tears brimmed in the redhead's eyes, and her breath became shaky as she went on. "She never even told us Xander; she just left. I didn't figure it out until days later, when I began having nightmares about Angel's torment in hell, the reason she ran away."
Xander's eyes widened; her lack of sleep was due to Angel's pain? "Wills I…" he began, only to be cut off as the redhead shook her finger at him. "DON'T! Don't tell me you're sorry, you never even asked me what was wrong. You knew I wasn't sleeping well, but neither you or Giles thought to ask me about it." Tears slid down the redhead's cheeks as she felt her anger slip away, the helpless feelings of despair she had been dealing with for months washing over her. "His pain was my pain Xander; I felt everything he was going through. I couldn't let a friend stay in that place, I just couldn't." Heavily sobbing now, Willow bowed her head, hands coming up to cover her face as her shoulders shook violently.
Watching his friend break down, Xander felt a pang of guilt at causing her fresh pain. His anger dissipating in the face of her tears, he stepped forward, awkwardly putting his arms around the redhead and drawing her to his chest. As Willow latched onto him, her tears soaking his shirt, he rubbed her back silently. It wasn't until he heard the soft sound of someone clearing their throat that he managed to look up…his eyes coming to rest on the dark-haired young woman who leaned against the counter, watching the two of them from behind the rim of darkly-tinted sunglasses.
Her expression void, Kat watched Xander comfort Willow, a thousand questions running through her mind. Not for the first time, she wondered what could have driven a Slayer to abandon her sacred duty, not to mention her friends. A part of her sensed there was more to the whole 'Angel went to hell, so Slayer took a hike' scenario, but she refused to draw any conclusions until she had a chance to wrangle some answers out of the group of people she had come to know in the past few days.
As Xander looked in her direction, she offered him a small smile of sympathy, nodding her head once to indicate she wouldn't interrupt. She sensed the turmoil raging inside the teenager; his need to help his friend versus his desire to see the treacherous vampire pay for everything he had done to them. He was having a tough time accepting everything that was happening; she didn't want to know what would happen if Angel decided to show up…
Suddenly the young woman stiffened, senses on full alert as a familiar scent assailed her nostrils. Her eyes widened behind the dark lenses of her sunglasses, and she swore inwardly at the accursed timing of this unholy place called Sunnydale.
'Guess Xander is going to have a chance to confront his fears sooner than expected,' Kat thought darkly, her gaze travelling to the back of the room. One of the shadows detached itself from the others, slinking along the bookcases silently, hunched over as though keeping as small as possible to avoid detection. As soon as it heard Willow's sniffling it paused, then stepped out of the darkness. A subdued vampire watched the two teenagers in the middle of the room, clearing his throat softly. As Xander and Willow pulled apart, gasping in surprise, he glanced at the redhead's tear-stained face, concern etched into his features.
"What is going on here little one?" While his words were directed at Willow, his eyes shifted over to Xander, irritation over the source of the petite hacker's sobs warring with the anxiety he felt at seeing the young man once more. There was no love lost between the two of them, and if Xander's face was any indication, he hadn't yet forgiven the vampire for his actions as Angelus.
Silently Kat watched as Xander moved in front of Willow, shielding her body from Angel as he confronted the vampire. Curiosity aroused, the young woman watched with one eyebrow raised as Angel stood still, his whole body slumped as if he held the guilt of the world on his shoulders.
"What do you think you're doing here?!" Xander spat out, moving forward before Willow could recover from her shock. Ignoring Willow's cry behind him, the young man rushed the vampire, pushing Angel hard enough to cause the vampire to stumble backwards. "No one invited you Dead Boy!"
Kat started forward, her mouth parted to say something, when a voice rang out from behind her. "That's enough!" All eyes turned and regarded Giles' solemn face as he stormed into the library. Spying Xander with his hands on the front of Angel's shirt, his face distorted by rage, Giles sighed and wiped his face with one hand. "Xander, kindly release him; I invited Angel here today so that we might discuss certain…events…that have occurred in the past few days," Giles trailed off, his eyes skimming over Willow and Kat briefly before returning to the irate teenager.
With great difficulty Xander managed to release Angel, who glanced at the young man briefly before lowering his gaze, seeking out Willow's. As the redhead came forward he reached for her hand, seeking comfort in her tiny presence. Squeezing his hand slightly, the tiny young woman pulled him towards the table, ignoring the glares Xander sent their way. Mutely Kat followed, seating herself beside the angry brunette and leaning back, her arms crossed over her chest as she regarded the rest of the occupants from behind her shades.
As the group settled down at the table Angel, with a prompting squeeze of his hand from Willow, spoke first. "Hey guys. Giles…Xander…," he nodded his head at both men, noting how one stiffened slightly, while the other one continued to glare openly at him. Nervously he moved on, his eyes settling on the still silent brunette who sat beside Xander. A slight smile touched his lips as he tilted his head at Kat, "Hellcat…good to see you again." His smile widened as the young woman's lips pursed together in a frown, stopping only when Willow shot him a warning glance. He couldn't resist antagonizing her however; her punches still fresh in his mind…and on his body. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?"
Bristling, Kat struggled inwardly to keep her temper under control. Outwardly she smirked, sticking her dainty tongue out at Angel. "Bite me Dead Boy," she taunted, her voice dripping with sweetness.
"With pleasure," he nearly purred in response, a hint of fangs glinting as he half-leered at her.
"Enough!" Giles exhaled loudly, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Would you two stop acting like children for just one moment? We have more important things to discuss here, or have you forgotten about Willow's little spell? Or the other matter, regarding Kat's timely arrival in Sunnydale?" When neither Angel nor Kat spoke for several moments, Giles continued. "Now…" Pausing, the librarian gestured to the dark-haired girl sitting beside Xander, who was still hiding behind a pair of sunglasses. "Do take those silly things off…this room is already dreadfully dark, and I hate talking to those bloody things almost as much as I hate computers."
Frowning, the young woman nodded and reluctantly took the sunglasses off, placing them in front of her on the table. "Better?" She glanced up at the librarian for a moment before returning her gaze to the tabletop, staring at the pair of sunglasses in order to avoid looking directly at anyone.
"Uh yes, quite," the British man murmured, readjusting his glasses on his nose as he glanced at each of the table's occupants. "Now…are there any questions regarding certain…recent events?" Seeing Xander open his mouth, he quickly added, "any questions not of a malicious nature?" As the young man scowled and shook his head, Giles sighed. "Then allow me to start. Kat, you mentioned something about not believing in coincidences. I too find the connection between your arrival here in Sunnydale and Willow's foray into Hell to be more than a little suspect. Can you tell us anything of the dreams you've been having lately?"
Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, eyes firmly fixed on the sunglasses on the table, Kat replied reluctantly, "All I can remember are two of them." Carefully she omitted one of her nightmares from the list. "The first one, the one that brought me to Sunnydale, I think pretty much already came true…" Frowning, she paused, lost in thought as she pondered the dream. "I could see a full moon, dripping with blood. Hair floated in the blood, hair so red that at first the blood obscured it from view." Glancing up quickly, her eyes sought the petite hacker, noting that her pallor had become alarmingly white. She was fairly certain it had been a warning, a warning that she hadn't been able to stop in time. Now all she had to go from was her second dream, and that one made her insides clench painfully.
Willow clutched Angel's hand for support and spoke up, "How did you know your dream meant me? I remember the look you gave me that first night at the bronze, you knew then didn't you? That I was the red-haired person from your dream." Trying to calm herself, the young witch took several deep breaths. She'd known bringing Angel back was going to cause a ruckus, but she didn't think there would be this much trouble. "I didn't know per say that you were the person in my dream, but you have to admit your hair color does kind of stand out." Twisting her lips into a wry smile, the dark-haired young woman sighed, then shrugged. "I had to find out."
"And your second dream?" The redheaded hacker shivered, the back of her neck prickling with unease as she continued to watch the brunette sitting across from her. She had a sudden feeling she didn't want to know the answer to her own question. Even the comforting feeling of Angel's hand squeezing hers did little to quell the rising anxiety inside.
For many long minutes Kat didn't speak; she just stared off into space, her face void of any emotion. When she spoke, her voice seemed detached, distant, "A horrible battle, some dark lab or room. I'm fighting off a vampire, and I hear this clicking sound behind me…" her words fell from her lips with little effort, surprisingly full of detail. "There's a crossbow leveled in my direction. I can't hear anything…it's as if all time has stopped. The crossbow fires and I move to try and get out of its path. Only I'm moving to get directly in front of the arrow. The next thing I know, I feel a burning sensation, and I'm falling backwards. It gets so dark…"
A shudder rippled over her body, her hands clutching the chair as she fought to control her emotions. "Combined with the dream for the full moon, that led me to Sunnydale." Blinking rapidly, she raised her head, and for a moment everyone could see her eyes: they were bloodshot as if from a lack of sleep. Chuckling softly, she shook her head. "Somehow, I doubt that dream will be of any use to you Giles."
Giles leaned back in his seat, contemplating the situation. Kats' dreams sounded suspiciously like Buffy's prophetic dreams. From his experience as a watcher he knew that it was extremely rare for anyone other than a slayer to receive dreams such as these. There were of course people who had been born with second sight, who received visions of things yet to come. Angels own childe Drusilla was such a person. But the watcher thought that the brunettes' dreams were likely a connection with the goddess who'd cursed her family.
He was about to ask the girl if perhaps, her mother had had such dreams when Xander, who'd been quiet up until now, interrupted as usual, at the most inappropriate time. The boy had been sitting quietly, glaring across the table at Angel, but now his focus was directed on the watcher and Giles knew he'd bear the brunt of the young mans anger.
"Giles how the hell can you be taking this so well?" Xander asked, rather loudly. "I don't understand how you can sit here calmly discussing dreams of all things, when the monster that killed your girlfriend, tortured you, and tried to kill all of us is sitting right there!" Xander was ranting, full of righteous anger and indignation. The boy firmly believed Angel was responsible for everything that wasn't right with his world and he didn't have the maturity to handle the emotional storm raging inside him.
Surprisingly, it was Angel that calmed the teen down. The vampire stood up and walked a few steps around the table towards Xander, saying "Control yourself boy! Stop yelling at Giles. It's me you're angry with, not him so if you have to take it out on anyone, take it out on me. God knows I deserve it." The souled vampire now stood directly in front of the irate boy, looking him straight in the eye, fully prepared to accept his wrath.
Confronted with the source of his fury, looking deep into those gold-flecked orbs, Xander deflated. Angel's eyes truly were the windows to his soul, and the boy could see every emotion the vampire had in them. The mahogany depths showed a maelstrom of emotions tightly controlled. Sorrow, grief, and guilt swirled at the forefront. Xander realized that Angel was allowing him to see this, and was prepared to take the blame for anything Xander wanted to push off on him. But the boy couldn't do it. He knew that, while Angel was responsible for some of the grief he felt, most of his anger was directed at himself.
The vampire must have seen the play of emotions flicker across Xander's face, because he leaned closer, whispering so only the boy could hear, "you couldn't have changed anything Xander, don't feel guilty for not trying."
Angel backed away, and Xander fell back into his seat. Quietly he spoke up, directing his words at the stunned librarian. "I'm sorry for yelling at you Giles. Deadboy's right, you're not the one I'm mad at." He lowered his gaze to the table, unable to look anyone in the eye after his outburst.
"Yes uh…" Giles stuttered, amazement etched in his features as he watched Angel walk away from a more subdued Xander. It wasn't until the vampire sat down beside Willow again that the watcher managed to recover his wits. "Kat, did your mother by any chance have prophetic dreams?" As the young woman shook her head, he pressed, "Are you sure?"
Exhaustion fueled the brunette's frustration at Giles's in inquiry into her dreams. Jaw set, her eyes darkened to near black as she ground out, "If she did, it sure didn't help her much now did it?" Watching the hurt look that crossed the librarian's features, Kat sighed heavily. One hand came up to rub at her face tiredly before she began again. "I'm sorry Giles, I must be even more tired than I thought." Her statement caused him to look closer at the poor girl in front of him: she was on the verge of collapse. It wasn't just her bloodshot eyes that alarmed him, she seemed on the verge of losing her cool. From his initial impressions of the girl, she wasn't the sort to easily 'wig out' as Xander liked to say. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, and the wear and tear was getting to her.
Moving around the table, Giles touched Kat on the shoulder, causing her to look up at him in question. "We don't have to figure this all out right now. Why don't you get some rest?"
Softly the young woman smiled, her lips curving ever so slightly. "Thanks. I'm going to need it for tonight," her words recalling the terrible family curse she suffered to the minds of at least three of the other people in the room. Giles and Willow looked at the quiet young woman, sympathy obvious on their faces.
"If you wouldn't mind cramped spaces, you can lay down in my office, or I have a cot in the back that might be more to your liking." As Kat glanced at Giles, a questioning look in her eyes, he added, "I'd just as soon you stayed here for a bit Kat. We could discuss your…problem…and perhaps a temporary solution for tonight." The thought of a rogue panther running loose on the streets of Sunnydale made Giles as uneasy as the thought of Angelus reappearing.
After agreeing, Kat chose to sleep in Giles' office, preferring the idea of some measure of privacy with a closed door as opposed to some cot in back. Softly mumbling her goodnights, the young woman walked away from the table, missing the looks of sympathy from Giles and Willow.
The watcher and girl weren't the only ones who felt for the catlike young woman. Angel stared after her as she left the room, his eyes noting how tired and strained her movements were. Seeing the fierce woman so disheartened softened the vampires' heart to her, though he was still smarting from their earlier altercation. He couldn't find it in him to hate the girl, if he'd been in her position he probably would've done the same. Angel still didn't like the brunette, her guarded attitude put him off, but a small voice inside him said that given time he might just like her quite a bit.
As the door shut on the office, Xander stirred out of his quiet trance. A frown of puzzlement slipping into place, the young teenager glanced at the office door, then across the table at the other three people. When he spoke up, his voice was tinged with confusion, "What's going to happen tonight?"
Willow glanced between Giles and Xander, indicating to the watcher that he should fill the boy in on Kat's circumstances. Willow sat down behind her computer and booted it up. The redhead had found some interesting stuff on Egypt during her searches that she hadn't had a chance to fully examine yet, and she figured now would be as good a time as any to have a look at the bookmarked pages.
Angel remained sitting quietly at the research table while Giles explained to Xander about Kats condition. Both the vampire and the librarian were surprised when the boy's only reaction was to lick his index finger and make a motion like drawing a line on a chalkboard. The vampire couldn't resist asking the meaning of the motion. "Just tallying up my score Deadboy. So far I'm five and oh on the women I'm attracted to. Every single one has had something strange about her. Just call me Xander…weirdness detector." But the boy was smiling as he said this, and when he thought back Angel had to agree with the teen, he did tend to attract the strange ones.
Willow called Giles over to look at something she'd found on one of the sites she was browsing, it seemed to the redhead to be part of a prophecy. "Giles my latin isn't very good, what does this say?" the petite girl asked, looking over her shoulder at the watcher.
Giles leaned in closer and translated the three lines on the screen. "I believe it says 'Fang and talon, devil and daemon, summoned near by witch's power, shall meet under full moon's light.' Willow is there any more to this?" The lines sounded like prophecy to him, and it sounded suspiciously close to what was happening to them now.
"Sorry Giles, those three lines are all that's listed." The young witch responded, shaking her head. Willows' thoughts were running the same course as her mentors. "I'll see if I can find anything else, if you want?"
As his little friend and the librarian continued their conversation Angel turned his attention to the strange noises coming from Giles office where the hellcat was sleeping. His sensitive hearing picked up soft whimpering and restless shifting noises. Curiosity piqued, the vampire rose and walked quietly to the office to check on the girl. He opened the door silently and peeked in. Seeing the brunette was asleep, the vampire entered.
Kat was sleeping curled up on her side facing him. Most people look peaceful in slumber, but the woman on the couch looked anything but. Her sweet face was drawn, and worry lines marred her forehead. Her lush, full lips were drawn tightly in a frown. 'Poor girl.' Angel thought, 'What secrets are you keeping, and why are your dreams so troubled.' The souled vampire left the room as quietly as he had entered, missing the young woman's lip as they began to move, trembling as if pleading with some unseen foe. He also failed to notice her head roll about, hair falling away from her neck to reveal an ugly pale scar…the kind of scar made by a vampire bite.
"WHAT????" The tired brunette's head jerked up as the cry of outrage reverberated down the hallway. Her lips twisted into a mockery of a smile as she recognized the voice behind the frustrated yell: only Xander could yell like that. 'Someone just found out about the vamp's return,' Kat thought dryly as she came to a stop before the closed wooden doors of the library. Cocking her head to the side, she listened as the voices within grew in intensity. 'Can't say I blame him for being mad though.' Recalling the few things Giles had mentioned regarding Angel's actions when he lost his soul, Kat wasn't surprised by the teenager's behaviour. It isn't a pleasant surprise, finding the guy who terrorized your friends has returned…and by the very hand of your best friend.
"Are you nuts? The guy is a vampire; he killed Jenny, and he nearly killed both you and Giles!" Xander's feelings of betrayal could be heard in his voice as he shouted at the redhead. As Willow's voice cut in, Kat detected the note of growing ire that thickened the petite hacker's words.
"I know very well what Angelus did," the emphasis Willow placed on the vampire's demonic version of his name did not escape Kat, "but as I have told you five times already, Angel isn't Angelus! I restored his soul, and he won't hurt any of us!"
"How can you trust him? Christ, he almost killed you when you were doing the spell the first time…if he is evil he'll kill you before you even have a chance to figure out if he is Soul Boy or not!" A desperate pitch lent itself to the young man's voice as he continued, seeming to search for a way to get through to his best friend. "How can you just forget everything he's done to us…to Buffy! She never would have left if it wasn't for him!"
Kat felt pity for the girl, and a strange sense of protectiveness for the young redhead rose inside her as Xander brought up the Slayer's name. "That was low," she murmured, moving forward and pushing the doors open to let herself into the library. Her eyes widened slightly behind her sunglasses as she watched Willow's hand move, smacking Xander across the face. The sound of the slap echoed in the sudden silence in the library like the crack of a whip. For moments afterwards the silence hung over the room like a tomb.
It was Willow who spoke up first; her voice soft with barely repressed rage. "Don't," she began; her voice hoarse with the effort it took to control her emotions, "Don't you dare use Angel to excuse what Buffy did Alexander Harris." The jealousy driven boy flinched as Willow addressed him by his full name, but otherwise did not move as she continued, shaking like a leaf. "Angel can be forgiven for his actions because he couldn't stop the demon; but there is no excuse for what Buffy did. She left us; she abandoned her friends, and her duty…and she never told us!" Tears brimmed in the redhead's eyes, and her breath became shaky as she went on. "She never even told us Xander; she just left. I didn't figure it out until days later, when I began having nightmares about Angel's torment in hell, the reason she ran away."
Xander's eyes widened; her lack of sleep was due to Angel's pain? "Wills I…" he began, only to be cut off as the redhead shook her finger at him. "DON'T! Don't tell me you're sorry, you never even asked me what was wrong. You knew I wasn't sleeping well, but neither you or Giles thought to ask me about it." Tears slid down the redhead's cheeks as she felt her anger slip away, the helpless feelings of despair she had been dealing with for months washing over her. "His pain was my pain Xander; I felt everything he was going through. I couldn't let a friend stay in that place, I just couldn't." Heavily sobbing now, Willow bowed her head, hands coming up to cover her face as her shoulders shook violently.
Watching his friend break down, Xander felt a pang of guilt at causing her fresh pain. His anger dissipating in the face of her tears, he stepped forward, awkwardly putting his arms around the redhead and drawing her to his chest. As Willow latched onto him, her tears soaking his shirt, he rubbed her back silently. It wasn't until he heard the soft sound of someone clearing their throat that he managed to look up…his eyes coming to rest on the dark-haired young woman who leaned against the counter, watching the two of them from behind the rim of darkly-tinted sunglasses.
Her expression void, Kat watched Xander comfort Willow, a thousand questions running through her mind. Not for the first time, she wondered what could have driven a Slayer to abandon her sacred duty, not to mention her friends. A part of her sensed there was more to the whole 'Angel went to hell, so Slayer took a hike' scenario, but she refused to draw any conclusions until she had a chance to wrangle some answers out of the group of people she had come to know in the past few days.
As Xander looked in her direction, she offered him a small smile of sympathy, nodding her head once to indicate she wouldn't interrupt. She sensed the turmoil raging inside the teenager; his need to help his friend versus his desire to see the treacherous vampire pay for everything he had done to them. He was having a tough time accepting everything that was happening; she didn't want to know what would happen if Angel decided to show up…
Suddenly the young woman stiffened, senses on full alert as a familiar scent assailed her nostrils. Her eyes widened behind the dark lenses of her sunglasses, and she swore inwardly at the accursed timing of this unholy place called Sunnydale.
'Guess Xander is going to have a chance to confront his fears sooner than expected,' Kat thought darkly, her gaze travelling to the back of the room. One of the shadows detached itself from the others, slinking along the bookcases silently, hunched over as though keeping as small as possible to avoid detection. As soon as it heard Willow's sniffling it paused, then stepped out of the darkness. A subdued vampire watched the two teenagers in the middle of the room, clearing his throat softly. As Xander and Willow pulled apart, gasping in surprise, he glanced at the redhead's tear-stained face, concern etched into his features.
"What is going on here little one?" While his words were directed at Willow, his eyes shifted over to Xander, irritation over the source of the petite hacker's sobs warring with the anxiety he felt at seeing the young man once more. There was no love lost between the two of them, and if Xander's face was any indication, he hadn't yet forgiven the vampire for his actions as Angelus.
Silently Kat watched as Xander moved in front of Willow, shielding her body from Angel as he confronted the vampire. Curiosity aroused, the young woman watched with one eyebrow raised as Angel stood still, his whole body slumped as if he held the guilt of the world on his shoulders.
"What do you think you're doing here?!" Xander spat out, moving forward before Willow could recover from her shock. Ignoring Willow's cry behind him, the young man rushed the vampire, pushing Angel hard enough to cause the vampire to stumble backwards. "No one invited you Dead Boy!"
Kat started forward, her mouth parted to say something, when a voice rang out from behind her. "That's enough!" All eyes turned and regarded Giles' solemn face as he stormed into the library. Spying Xander with his hands on the front of Angel's shirt, his face distorted by rage, Giles sighed and wiped his face with one hand. "Xander, kindly release him; I invited Angel here today so that we might discuss certain…events…that have occurred in the past few days," Giles trailed off, his eyes skimming over Willow and Kat briefly before returning to the irate teenager.
With great difficulty Xander managed to release Angel, who glanced at the young man briefly before lowering his gaze, seeking out Willow's. As the redhead came forward he reached for her hand, seeking comfort in her tiny presence. Squeezing his hand slightly, the tiny young woman pulled him towards the table, ignoring the glares Xander sent their way. Mutely Kat followed, seating herself beside the angry brunette and leaning back, her arms crossed over her chest as she regarded the rest of the occupants from behind her shades.
As the group settled down at the table Angel, with a prompting squeeze of his hand from Willow, spoke first. "Hey guys. Giles…Xander…," he nodded his head at both men, noting how one stiffened slightly, while the other one continued to glare openly at him. Nervously he moved on, his eyes settling on the still silent brunette who sat beside Xander. A slight smile touched his lips as he tilted his head at Kat, "Hellcat…good to see you again." His smile widened as the young woman's lips pursed together in a frown, stopping only when Willow shot him a warning glance. He couldn't resist antagonizing her however; her punches still fresh in his mind…and on his body. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?"
Bristling, Kat struggled inwardly to keep her temper under control. Outwardly she smirked, sticking her dainty tongue out at Angel. "Bite me Dead Boy," she taunted, her voice dripping with sweetness.
"With pleasure," he nearly purred in response, a hint of fangs glinting as he half-leered at her.
"Enough!" Giles exhaled loudly, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Would you two stop acting like children for just one moment? We have more important things to discuss here, or have you forgotten about Willow's little spell? Or the other matter, regarding Kat's timely arrival in Sunnydale?" When neither Angel nor Kat spoke for several moments, Giles continued. "Now…" Pausing, the librarian gestured to the dark-haired girl sitting beside Xander, who was still hiding behind a pair of sunglasses. "Do take those silly things off…this room is already dreadfully dark, and I hate talking to those bloody things almost as much as I hate computers."
Frowning, the young woman nodded and reluctantly took the sunglasses off, placing them in front of her on the table. "Better?" She glanced up at the librarian for a moment before returning her gaze to the tabletop, staring at the pair of sunglasses in order to avoid looking directly at anyone.
"Uh yes, quite," the British man murmured, readjusting his glasses on his nose as he glanced at each of the table's occupants. "Now…are there any questions regarding certain…recent events?" Seeing Xander open his mouth, he quickly added, "any questions not of a malicious nature?" As the young man scowled and shook his head, Giles sighed. "Then allow me to start. Kat, you mentioned something about not believing in coincidences. I too find the connection between your arrival here in Sunnydale and Willow's foray into Hell to be more than a little suspect. Can you tell us anything of the dreams you've been having lately?"
Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, eyes firmly fixed on the sunglasses on the table, Kat replied reluctantly, "All I can remember are two of them." Carefully she omitted one of her nightmares from the list. "The first one, the one that brought me to Sunnydale, I think pretty much already came true…" Frowning, she paused, lost in thought as she pondered the dream. "I could see a full moon, dripping with blood. Hair floated in the blood, hair so red that at first the blood obscured it from view." Glancing up quickly, her eyes sought the petite hacker, noting that her pallor had become alarmingly white. She was fairly certain it had been a warning, a warning that she hadn't been able to stop in time. Now all she had to go from was her second dream, and that one made her insides clench painfully.
Willow clutched Angel's hand for support and spoke up, "How did you know your dream meant me? I remember the look you gave me that first night at the bronze, you knew then didn't you? That I was the red-haired person from your dream." Trying to calm herself, the young witch took several deep breaths. She'd known bringing Angel back was going to cause a ruckus, but she didn't think there would be this much trouble. "I didn't know per say that you were the person in my dream, but you have to admit your hair color does kind of stand out." Twisting her lips into a wry smile, the dark-haired young woman sighed, then shrugged. "I had to find out."
"And your second dream?" The redheaded hacker shivered, the back of her neck prickling with unease as she continued to watch the brunette sitting across from her. She had a sudden feeling she didn't want to know the answer to her own question. Even the comforting feeling of Angel's hand squeezing hers did little to quell the rising anxiety inside.
For many long minutes Kat didn't speak; she just stared off into space, her face void of any emotion. When she spoke, her voice seemed detached, distant, "A horrible battle, some dark lab or room. I'm fighting off a vampire, and I hear this clicking sound behind me…" her words fell from her lips with little effort, surprisingly full of detail. "There's a crossbow leveled in my direction. I can't hear anything…it's as if all time has stopped. The crossbow fires and I move to try and get out of its path. Only I'm moving to get directly in front of the arrow. The next thing I know, I feel a burning sensation, and I'm falling backwards. It gets so dark…"
A shudder rippled over her body, her hands clutching the chair as she fought to control her emotions. "Combined with the dream for the full moon, that led me to Sunnydale." Blinking rapidly, she raised her head, and for a moment everyone could see her eyes: they were bloodshot as if from a lack of sleep. Chuckling softly, she shook her head. "Somehow, I doubt that dream will be of any use to you Giles."
Giles leaned back in his seat, contemplating the situation. Kats' dreams sounded suspiciously like Buffy's prophetic dreams. From his experience as a watcher he knew that it was extremely rare for anyone other than a slayer to receive dreams such as these. There were of course people who had been born with second sight, who received visions of things yet to come. Angels own childe Drusilla was such a person. But the watcher thought that the brunettes' dreams were likely a connection with the goddess who'd cursed her family.
He was about to ask the girl if perhaps, her mother had had such dreams when Xander, who'd been quiet up until now, interrupted as usual, at the most inappropriate time. The boy had been sitting quietly, glaring across the table at Angel, but now his focus was directed on the watcher and Giles knew he'd bear the brunt of the young mans anger.
"Giles how the hell can you be taking this so well?" Xander asked, rather loudly. "I don't understand how you can sit here calmly discussing dreams of all things, when the monster that killed your girlfriend, tortured you, and tried to kill all of us is sitting right there!" Xander was ranting, full of righteous anger and indignation. The boy firmly believed Angel was responsible for everything that wasn't right with his world and he didn't have the maturity to handle the emotional storm raging inside him.
Surprisingly, it was Angel that calmed the teen down. The vampire stood up and walked a few steps around the table towards Xander, saying "Control yourself boy! Stop yelling at Giles. It's me you're angry with, not him so if you have to take it out on anyone, take it out on me. God knows I deserve it." The souled vampire now stood directly in front of the irate boy, looking him straight in the eye, fully prepared to accept his wrath.
Confronted with the source of his fury, looking deep into those gold-flecked orbs, Xander deflated. Angel's eyes truly were the windows to his soul, and the boy could see every emotion the vampire had in them. The mahogany depths showed a maelstrom of emotions tightly controlled. Sorrow, grief, and guilt swirled at the forefront. Xander realized that Angel was allowing him to see this, and was prepared to take the blame for anything Xander wanted to push off on him. But the boy couldn't do it. He knew that, while Angel was responsible for some of the grief he felt, most of his anger was directed at himself.
The vampire must have seen the play of emotions flicker across Xander's face, because he leaned closer, whispering so only the boy could hear, "you couldn't have changed anything Xander, don't feel guilty for not trying."
Angel backed away, and Xander fell back into his seat. Quietly he spoke up, directing his words at the stunned librarian. "I'm sorry for yelling at you Giles. Deadboy's right, you're not the one I'm mad at." He lowered his gaze to the table, unable to look anyone in the eye after his outburst.
"Yes uh…" Giles stuttered, amazement etched in his features as he watched Angel walk away from a more subdued Xander. It wasn't until the vampire sat down beside Willow again that the watcher managed to recover his wits. "Kat, did your mother by any chance have prophetic dreams?" As the young woman shook her head, he pressed, "Are you sure?"
Exhaustion fueled the brunette's frustration at Giles's in inquiry into her dreams. Jaw set, her eyes darkened to near black as she ground out, "If she did, it sure didn't help her much now did it?" Watching the hurt look that crossed the librarian's features, Kat sighed heavily. One hand came up to rub at her face tiredly before she began again. "I'm sorry Giles, I must be even more tired than I thought." Her statement caused him to look closer at the poor girl in front of him: she was on the verge of collapse. It wasn't just her bloodshot eyes that alarmed him, she seemed on the verge of losing her cool. From his initial impressions of the girl, she wasn't the sort to easily 'wig out' as Xander liked to say. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, and the wear and tear was getting to her.
Moving around the table, Giles touched Kat on the shoulder, causing her to look up at him in question. "We don't have to figure this all out right now. Why don't you get some rest?"
Softly the young woman smiled, her lips curving ever so slightly. "Thanks. I'm going to need it for tonight," her words recalling the terrible family curse she suffered to the minds of at least three of the other people in the room. Giles and Willow looked at the quiet young woman, sympathy obvious on their faces.
"If you wouldn't mind cramped spaces, you can lay down in my office, or I have a cot in the back that might be more to your liking." As Kat glanced at Giles, a questioning look in her eyes, he added, "I'd just as soon you stayed here for a bit Kat. We could discuss your…problem…and perhaps a temporary solution for tonight." The thought of a rogue panther running loose on the streets of Sunnydale made Giles as uneasy as the thought of Angelus reappearing.
After agreeing, Kat chose to sleep in Giles' office, preferring the idea of some measure of privacy with a closed door as opposed to some cot in back. Softly mumbling her goodnights, the young woman walked away from the table, missing the looks of sympathy from Giles and Willow.
The watcher and girl weren't the only ones who felt for the catlike young woman. Angel stared after her as she left the room, his eyes noting how tired and strained her movements were. Seeing the fierce woman so disheartened softened the vampires' heart to her, though he was still smarting from their earlier altercation. He couldn't find it in him to hate the girl, if he'd been in her position he probably would've done the same. Angel still didn't like the brunette, her guarded attitude put him off, but a small voice inside him said that given time he might just like her quite a bit.
As the door shut on the office, Xander stirred out of his quiet trance. A frown of puzzlement slipping into place, the young teenager glanced at the office door, then across the table at the other three people. When he spoke up, his voice was tinged with confusion, "What's going to happen tonight?"
Willow glanced between Giles and Xander, indicating to the watcher that he should fill the boy in on Kat's circumstances. Willow sat down behind her computer and booted it up. The redhead had found some interesting stuff on Egypt during her searches that she hadn't had a chance to fully examine yet, and she figured now would be as good a time as any to have a look at the bookmarked pages.
Angel remained sitting quietly at the research table while Giles explained to Xander about Kats condition. Both the vampire and the librarian were surprised when the boy's only reaction was to lick his index finger and make a motion like drawing a line on a chalkboard. The vampire couldn't resist asking the meaning of the motion. "Just tallying up my score Deadboy. So far I'm five and oh on the women I'm attracted to. Every single one has had something strange about her. Just call me Xander…weirdness detector." But the boy was smiling as he said this, and when he thought back Angel had to agree with the teen, he did tend to attract the strange ones.
Willow called Giles over to look at something she'd found on one of the sites she was browsing, it seemed to the redhead to be part of a prophecy. "Giles my latin isn't very good, what does this say?" the petite girl asked, looking over her shoulder at the watcher.
Giles leaned in closer and translated the three lines on the screen. "I believe it says 'Fang and talon, devil and daemon, summoned near by witch's power, shall meet under full moon's light.' Willow is there any more to this?" The lines sounded like prophecy to him, and it sounded suspiciously close to what was happening to them now.
"Sorry Giles, those three lines are all that's listed." The young witch responded, shaking her head. Willows' thoughts were running the same course as her mentors. "I'll see if I can find anything else, if you want?"
As his little friend and the librarian continued their conversation Angel turned his attention to the strange noises coming from Giles office where the hellcat was sleeping. His sensitive hearing picked up soft whimpering and restless shifting noises. Curiosity piqued, the vampire rose and walked quietly to the office to check on the girl. He opened the door silently and peeked in. Seeing the brunette was asleep, the vampire entered.
Kat was sleeping curled up on her side facing him. Most people look peaceful in slumber, but the woman on the couch looked anything but. Her sweet face was drawn, and worry lines marred her forehead. Her lush, full lips were drawn tightly in a frown. 'Poor girl.' Angel thought, 'What secrets are you keeping, and why are your dreams so troubled.' The souled vampire left the room as quietly as he had entered, missing the young woman's lip as they began to move, trembling as if pleading with some unseen foe. He also failed to notice her head roll about, hair falling away from her neck to reveal an ugly pale scar…the kind of scar made by a vampire bite.