Chapter 27

That night Dawn did not dream of Connor, instead she dreamed of bright green eyes and words spoken in a soft english accent.

When she awoke, she remembered nothing.

"Hey Dawnie. Long time no see. Hop in the car and we'll catch up."

"You want me to get in your car?"

"Well, I can't exactly get out can I ?"

"um.. I guess not.."

"So, how's Connor and Liam?"

"Connor?.. he's fine.. but..liam??"

"yeaahh.. liam? You know, your.."

Dawn cut him off, "who are you!?"

there was a pause, "You don't remember me?"

"no…"

"oh."

Dawn saw a blur dash past her, leather jacket pulled over his head. Buffy called out, "Dawn! Comm'on!

Let's go!"

Dawn waved, "Coming."

She looked at the blacked out window of the car for a minute, "um. Bye I guess."

*****

She sang her baby to sleep with her own special lullabies, (a bizarre medley of her favourite songs sung softly and quite often very off-key)

and went to sleep almost as soon as her own head hit her mangy excuse for a pillow.

For once she did not drift to sleep in the early hours despondent and longing for Connor, because she new she would be home soon.

She awoke a little after what passed for 'dawn' in the shitty little hell-hole that passed for the 'Lord's' personal 'realm'.

The baby had not woken her with his screams for the first time that she could remember.

Her heart began to race, and in the 3 or so seconds it took for her to locate her child, he mind had already mapped all the possible ways

he could be dead or gone, 'have they taken him?! Was Jared just a diversion to make me easier to get by?!

Oh my god! What if he died in the night?!?! Did he get SIDS?'

He was however, sleeping on his back, drooling peacefully onto her sheets.

"I'm such a fricking moron sometimes.."

She smiled at herself and walked over to her barred window, with its lovely vista of a rocky seaside.

Unfortunately, the water shone blood red in the weak morning light, and the cliffs were stained black with a particularly pungent breed of moss.

Below her on a balcony hewn roughly from the living rock, the monks were gathering for their morning mass.

Their Lord had not arrived yet, the amassed monks shifted around, muttering to each other,

some glancing nervously at the crucified bodies of their more badly behaved brethren.

She watched their orderly brown lines with no particular interest, after all she'd been here nearly a year, it was getting a tad repetitive.

As usual the demon took position on the very edge of the cliff and began his 'sermon'.

She knew he would babble on for at least an hour before he let his pitiful brainwashed monks leave.

Dawn's eyes narrowed and she scoffed, "Loser.."

Ignoring the goings-on below her, she instead daydreamed about Connor's reaction to her imminent return.

There was only one thing she was certain of and that was that Connor somehow knew what was going on,

was keeping an eye on her, and no matter how everyone else treated her, he would welcome her and his son home with open arms and love.

She was still lost in such sappy thoughts when she heard the locks on her door click open one after the other.

*****

After he had spoken to the Lady Dawn Jared had left her door guarded by his usual replacement and made his way through the winding

halls and passages of the great dank castle to his own small room up in the upper most level.

For the first time since he had set foot in the place some 4 1/2 years earlier, his eyes where open.

He saw the damp rough hewn rock for what it really was, comparable to an old sewer.

The solitary line of candles that lit the halls, (only ever on one side, to save the precious tapers)

gave of a thick sickening odor of animal fat, and the uneven floor was slick and hid puddles in its shadows.

Even his own room, which had always seemed comfortable, despite its sparseness looked and felt completely alien to him.

The slimy walls of the room closed in on him like a prison cell, his bed hard and musty.

His evening meal sat waiting for him on his bare table. It was not, however the simple roasted meat and bread he was accustomed to,

but a rank hunk of raw meat and a mouldy wedge of stone-like bread.

He could not bring himself to so much as poke it, let alone put it into his mouth.

how have I have been so blind? I chose to waste my eternity here!? In this prison serving the very thing I hate?…

what is the point of living on tasteless flesh,

denying myself the blood I long for in the name of all that is good, so as to be privy to an even greater evil?…

I am a pathetic excuse for a human.

The vampire sighed and threw himself onto his bunk, which released a small cloud of dust in retaliation.

A mood of utter depression, comparable only to the way he had felt at the exact moment he realised he had been bitten by a vampire,

settled upon him.

He lay motionless for the next 5 hours, too exhausted, too hungry to move.

He would wait till the dawn sermon.

*****

The hyperion was eerily quiet.

It was 4am.

Angel and Gunn were out hunting something or rather,

Cordelia, Lorne and Fred were asleep, and well, Connor was doing what he always did these days, being catatonic.

Downstairs in the lobby, the phone rang.

No-one picked up.

Eventually it went to the machine.

A man's voice radiated quietly from it.

"hello. I know I'm probably the last person you'd want to hear from right now, Angel. But I have some information… something you need to know. …."

*****

Hours later Jared. forced his eyes open and stared across the room at the single shelf that lined his room.

On it sat his worldly belongings.

A black leather wallet and chain, containing some money, his bankcards, pizza vouchers his drivers license …all the remainders of his old life.

The outfit he had been wearing the last time he left his own house sat neatly folded beside it.

A watch with a flat battery lay on top of those.

And his car keys next to that.

A silver necklace of some sort lay coiled at the far end.

Yep, that's all I'm gonna need to get started I guess.. no real need for much else.. I suppose I should just get this over and down with..

Standing, he moved to pick up his grandmother's silver pendant.

For a moment he studied the plain silver chain looped over his fingers. Then his attention turned to the plain silver disc that hung from it.

Normally it would take months of preparation, 8 sacrifices and hours of chanting to activate the portal.

Now, all he needed was her blood. The blood of the key.

Dawn

His heart sand at the very thought of her.

*****

Startled from her reverie, Dawn looked expectantly at the door.

No one ever comes during the mass.. Everyone must attend. Who is this?

The girl unconsciously lifted her sleeping son and protectively wrapped him in her arms.

To her infinite relief, Jared appeared in her doorway.

To her infinite surprise, he was dressed like someone from a goth-bondage club.

She raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Jared.. you know I think you're a great guy, but if you think I'm gonna repay your kindness with weird kinky S&M shit.. You're sadly mistaken."

The vampire pursed his lips. "Well. These are the only clothes I have. This was what I was wearing when I was turned."

Dawn frowned slightly, her voice dying down,

opps.. he's probably a tad sensitive about how he died.. nice one Dawn..

"oh. Well.. um.. you look nice.. in a … kinky.. bondage.. sort of way…"

Jared's expression remained stony for a minute before breaking into a smile, "Thank you. I think."

Dawn blushed and busied herself attending to her son.

"Right. Well. I've made contact with someone on earth. They have prepared things for us on the other side.

Now, we should leave while the castle is deserted for the dawn mass. Our scent will be cold and they will be unable to follow us directly."

Dawn nodded, "Right, sure. But one question,"

The vampire looked at her.

"Um, how exactly are we going back?"

Jared took a few steps towards her, noticing the way she stepped backwards slightly in response,

and showed her the necklace he was wearing, "This. And your blood."

"My blood? You know how to do that without killing me?"

"No. Not really. I just know how to activate the pendant I wear. Usually it take months to open a portal.

I just happen to recall from something my brother told me that your blood would cause the pendant to activate instantaneously."

Seeing Dawn's confusion he added, "He was a watcher, read a lot of musty old magic books"

"Okaayy.. " Dawn paused,

the way he talks.. it's as if this brother of his knew me personally…and he said his grandmother was the slayer.. and that his brother was a watcher…..wait a minute.

"Did you say your brother was a watcher?"

Jared nodded.

Realisation dawned on the girl's face.

"Oh my god! Your're Wesley's little brother!!"

Jared's green eye's widened.

*****

AN: oh my god! How many months was that? A year even.. god…

okay.. I really intend to finish this bastard of a story soon!

Really! I swear!

It's almost wrapped up anyway…

Anywayz, I would like to that to special readers who reviewed recently.. I can't remember you're names..

Sorry.. I know I suck.. anyway, they inspired me to actually finish!

Yey! Go them! =^x^= *meow*