***
as The group detoured toward the hospital wing Willow asked. "Shouldn't we be having a big pow-wow and discussing everything that has happened." She had been expecting a big meeting in a boardroom setting maybe with fun slides and PowerPoint presentation materials.
"Stuff's been happening that you don't know about." Angel explained. "Xander got hurt trying to save the doctor and his vampire love."
"What, Danm It, I'll kill them when we catch Up With Them " She faltered " whoever they are."
"That will be soon. Michael has been at Xander's side since they brought him in. fact is, he saved Xander's life."
"Michael, who is Michael?"
"Michael is the reason Xander hit the panic button. Apparently, Michael fell for a Death Dealer they both went on the run. The Dealer got herself kidnapped, Xander tried to help get her back and got a shaft of metal shoved through his guts for the trouble. I plan to do some hurt to the vampire that was responsible for that so you'll have to stand in line for your piece of his ass. "
The group arrived at the hospital wing to find Michael indeed still looking after his patient Xander brightened on seeing Willow.
"Willis you came to visit." He said. "Did you bring treats? And who is the stiff?" he asked finally noticing the older woman standing beside Willow and Kennedy.
"The stiff, is one of the most powerful wiccans currently practicing, Reverend Mother Abigail St.Claire." Wes supplied
Willow took one look at Xander and insisted that all business could wait until she had done a small spell to aid in his healing.
"If you guys are done could we get to the whole why are you here and when will she…" Angel pointed at the wiccan high priestess " …be leaving."
Willow paled, "I apologize for Angel."
"Why is everyone apologizing for me " he snapped, his bad temper pliable to all
"Indeed there is no need child." She turned and fixed angel with a matronly gaze. "Angel has good cause to distrust and dislike me I abandoned him during a past crisis "
Willow was shocked "I'm sure there was just cause."
"No dear I was being vindictive and petty. I won't say that I'm ashamed of what happened but it was base of me."
"Great another enemy from the past" Xander sighed "and just when I was getting to like this one."
"We aren't enemies Mr. Harris, Angelus used to perform certain … tasks for the Wiccan council. One of those jobs led him to Gypsy country. I'm sure you, his comrades, need not be reminded of the events that befell him there. Or of the gypsy's response to his violations."
Angel seethed "In the days just after my being cursed I went to the Wiccan council looking for a cure, but they had already made the peace with the Gypsys and helping me was right out of the question."
"Soul Restoration as a curse, It was a brilliant move and I wish I had thought of it." Abby deadpanned resolutely
"I wished you had remembered the little errands I had been doing." Angel muttered darkly
"You knew the risks, and as I recall, I never ordered you to defile the little gypsy princess." Abby reminded him.
"Hello uncomfortable moment" Xander muttered
"It happened Angel, frankly after all this time I'd have thought you'd have got over it." Wesley snapped diplomatically
"Oh yeah I'm all healed and better about crap, can we get her out of here now."
"Angel" Eve entered the room "Why didn't you tell me we had guests. "
"And this is whom?" The High Wiccian asked imperiously
"Eve, Angel's liaison to the Senior Partners." Eve stuck out her hand "It's an honor to meet the second most powerful Wiccan in this part of the world."
"Well you can tell The Senior Partners Angelus' conscription to their service will not fool those of us who remember their machinations in the past."
"Could you stop that, my name isn't…."
"Your birth name, Liam, was abandoned when your sire re-dubbed you Angelus. A sobriquet that still fills some with dread even now."
"See that's why The Senior Partners wanted him, Instant brand recognition. " Eve joked playfully
Abigail looked coldly at her. " Making him the head of Wolfram and Hart's operations here is an interesting gambit but it is a gambit nonetheless and once its nature has been discerned; there will be a final accounting."
"Accounting can be a tricky thing. " A dangerous tone crept into the normally playfully vampish Eve "You can never tell who is long over due to get what's coming to them."
Angel ignored the cold looks the women were shooting each other. The other's were trying to find a distraction for the unpleasant moment when Michael spoke up from his post by Xander's bed
"So is there normally this much drama in a room." the mystified medic asked.
"Oh wait till Buffy shows up. Then you'll get some wailing and gnashing of teeth." Xander noted he winced when his giggles caused him pain.
Willow doted over him leaving Kennedy to introduce herself to Michael. Kennedy flinched as her slayer- senses piqued at the powerful vibes he gave off.
"That's Willow Rosenberg, Call me Kennedy so you are the doctor, Xander says you are nice. "
"I helped save his life so he's inclined to be bias but yes, I'm very nice"
"I'm not," Snapped Kennedy "not when Willow or her friends are risking their lives or being threatened. I don't know who you are…"
"I'm Michael Corvin, a doctor, and until recently the only thing i was ever threatened with was being failed on my psyche final. Now I'm being hunted by insane ex-regents and vampire clans from all over the world. The werewolves who don't want to kill me because I fell in love with vampire and a death Dealer want to kill me because I am like this brand spanking new species that they are scared of. So, if you are going to threaten me you are going to have to take a number."
"Who in this room can actually claim to have taken down a Master Class vampire with all the trimmings." Xander asked seriously
Angel and the Reverend Mother held up their hands
"Fine, new rule, Only the those guys can threaten him from now on." Xander announced as if that ended the debate
"I'm down with that." Michael smiled
"Well Michael Corvin,. you can call me Abby. I must congratulate you Doctor. You have survived longer then most in your situation. I suspect that your paramour has been very helpful in this regard."
"She has taught me everything she knows."
"You have skills and instinct of your own, these have also served you well. Rely on them they may prove your only salvation in the coming tumult "
"Is that why you appeared in the ladies bathroom." Angel asked
"Transiting between two points is accomplished by homing on common points of reference and ladies bathrooms in corporate America are the same everywhere "
Angel nodded "So I know how you got here would you mind telling me why you are here."
Willow blushed as she supplied the explanation. "It was Xander's report and then the stuff we were hearing from Europe and The Rest of the world. We had to come and Abby felt our help would be needed. "
"I was for her staying behind but Willow insisted that this was good idea " Kennedy muttered. Obviously she had felt that Abby wasn't the only one that should stay behind but had been overridden.
"It was necessary child. Many wrongs have been done in the last seven years. It is time for those wrongs to be redressed.. But for the conservative voices of the council you might have received much needed help long ago. It shames me to admit mine was one arguing for a hands off approach."
"I imagine there had to be a few dissenting voices." Wesley pointed out
"There were some Mr. Windham-Price, who would have seen Sunnydale a smoking Crater in the earth Seven years ago. They would not have been concerned at the potential body count. Only that the threat presented by the Hellmouth was ended once and for all."
"OK so we avoided the mystical version of a scorched earth Policy. " Xander concluded, "what's got everyone buzzing now."
"The new Slayer Class has changed the balance of power. Many search for the means to grab power for themselves in this crisis moment. Hence the affair that lead to Mr. Corvin's unfortunate incident."
"Why do they want me; I don't want to hurt anyone."
"Laudable but you have already done great harm."
"I wasn't the one who killed Victor or Lucien.."
"I refer to the fact that you are a power unto yourself. Your only concern is your ladylove and through Her, the clan who has cast her out. Your allegiance could shift the delicate balance of power depending on where your loyalty finally falls.
Eve chimed in "the vampires are divided. Some see his arrival as nature's why of putting them back on even footing. Since he is harder to kill then either vampire or werewolf alone and should he be fruitful and multiply…the war just between his kind and The Slayers would be awesome to behold. "
"What war I just want Selene back and maybe my life. Although Xander has pointed out that maybe unrealistic of me."
"What is going on anyway do the witches know."
"There is a war coming and each and every side is preparing for that war by mustering the stingiest troops it can find…or create. Mr. Corvin is the result of one such gambit. Many believe the destruction of the Hellmouth was another. Everyone wants an advantage and they believe that will come by the creation or discovery of a super being. One whose powers and abilities grant them an advantage."
"So you think this has something to do with why Selene was taken " Michael asked skeptically
"Almost certainly. None have more actively searched for a super being then the many clans. A super vampire stronger then any Slayer but owing loyalty to the old order."
"I've heard of some super vamp in England" Xander remembered
Abby shook her head "It would be the height of foolishness if the Clans were to seek out the Abomination controlled by the Hellsing organization."
"So the images I'm seeing are them trying to find this Super Vampire that will make them all powerful"
" Victor bequeathed her many secrets when he embraced her. Secrets carried in the blood to be accessed when need arises.. "
"I thought Vampire elders were scared of being screwed over by their young-ins. " Xander asked skeptically
"Selene told me that Victor was really tight lipped about the secrets of the elders and his secrets in particular." Michael said thoughtfully
"Understandable," Abby agreed " he would have wanted to keep many things from her. A sire is never completely certain of the loyalty of its childer. There is always the chance that the pupil will surpass and become more powerful. All vampires learn quickly to fear each other, young fear old, old fear the young. And all of them fear the reawakening of the antediluvians."
"Anti-dilla-what now? " Xander asked
"Antediluvians, after the time of the turok han and the very beginning of the "Modern Era"
"Well then, they can't be that bad I mean Buffy is the most powerful slayer since the first and she beat the turok-han"
"The turok-han are beasts. Old yes, but essentially more animals then anything else. The Antediluvians were the first of what you know as modern vampires. They were old yet possessed an intellect that became all the keener for having to survive the plots of hunters, Slayers, the council and their own childer wanting to steal the power they had accumulated. Few would even attempt to confront one. fewer still would survive if they did so. "
"And Kravan is trying to get Selene to help him get a hold of one. Why not just dig one up."
"Most antediluvians are in deep coma-like sleep. Either because they grew bored by centuries of life or because the years spent, trying to survive drove them insane and they were forced into torpor by groups of their childer. "
Angel took up the story since Willow and Xander seemed mystified as well. "All vampires are taught to fear a time called Gahanna or The Winnowing. It's when all The Antediluvians will rise from their deep sleep and essentially snack-pack the world starting with the vampires and working their way down the food chain. "
"Why would anyone turn something like that loose on the world? " Willow asked
"Because this Kravan is stupid." Abby snapped. "He must believe that one antediluvian can be controlled and will give him the power he seeks."
Angel shook his head. "More like he'll be first on the menu. These vampires are thousands of years old. When any of them wake, they are hungry like you don't understand. Their feeding frenzy would make any massacre I perpetrated seem tame in comparison. "
Michael was digesting that thought when a blast of memory hit him. Images and sounds all slammed into his head forcing him to his knees in agony.
"What do we do?" Xander asked hopping off his bed To cradle the groaning youth at his side.
"Willow this is a perfect time." Abby turned to the young witch. "You have the power to help him control what he sees. "
Willow nodded and knelt beside the twitching youth. "How do I do it?"
"Just focus and harmonize your minds. Attune your thoughts to his "
For Willow Rosenberg, child of the nineties there was but one mantra that would do the trick and she used it now. "My mind to your mind your thoughts to my thoughts. I see what you see I know what you know. "
The two began speaking in unison. Michael drawing on Willow's mental strength to interpret what he saw and Willow drawing on the power of his psychic and emotional connection to the Selene to probe deeper still then even Michael could have imagined. The wind swept plain; Last resting-place of an Antediluvian. They sought protection for themselves from its power just as The Antediluvians had sought protection from the schemes of their childer millennia ago. The essence of the old ones placed in the tools of their last battle for control. Thus, their power would never truly pass out of the world. In this place rested the Sword Of Antipas once a king among the Old Ones, eventually a slave to the madness that forced his children to lock him into the forever sleep of torpor. His sword would call to the old blood and only the old blood will answer. When it is time the old blood will …will…Oh God no Michael, Stay Back leave us alone leave us ALONE." They collapsed to the floor; tears flowed down Willow's face and Michael was heaving as if he had run long distance. Somehow, during the exchange he had torn savage gouges in the floor.
"What was that about?" Eve asked
"We are in deep, deep trouble. I know what they want and Selene does too. She has been broadcasting her pain to Michael along with images of what they are trying to pull out of her mind. "
"Which of the antediluvians are they trying to release? "
"It's not the Old Ones they're trying to unleash, just their power. The antediluvians deposited their essences into weapons including a huge sword. Kravan is trying to get the location so he can steal the sword and transfer the power to himself "
"Who would do such a thing and where did they get the idea " Abigail asked
"They got the idea from me, from the spell I preformed to grant the power of the slayer to anyone and every one who had the right to it. " Willow admitted.
"But you are the only one who has ever tried that spell." Xander reminded her.
Abigail was more to the point. "Who would attempt such an enterprise especially with the aid of a vampire?"
"That's the bad part Selene heard a conversation with Kravan's ally over the phone she didn't recognize the voice but I did. It's Amy Madison, Amy is the only witch powerful enough to do the spell who might have known about it and would have a motive for doing so."
"Why help Kravan " Angel wondered
Willow answered. "Because I abandoned her, in her mind I deserve to be punished. By aiding the vampires to increase their power she hurts The Slayers."
"And by extension you." Kennedy concluded
"This is payback for not cleaning out her cage more." Xander noted
"You kept her in a cage." Michael asked in a shocked voice.
"Long story." Xander and Willow chorused together.
"Harmony, get Buffy on the telephone and tell her what we know. We have to find them and find them now".
***