PART FIVE:
The three vampires sat around the table, researching, and not looking at each other. Or, rather, Spike and Angel were not looking at each other. Nareia was silently grinding her teeth at the animosity in the room. Finally, she put her book down none too gently and stood up, causing them to jump.
"Right, I've had enough. Will you two let whatever it is out of your systems, so we can get on with researching?"
The two male vampires just stared at her. "Oh, bloody hell. I swear I'll stake you both if you don't talk!" Then she went silent. She was catching images from Spike, and they were coming hard and fast. Nareia groaned, "Angel, could you please tell this poor excuse for a demon what happened between us all those years ago?"
Spike growled, and stood up to stand behind Nareia, his hands on her shoulders, waiting for Angel's answer.
His reaction was to sigh, and stand up. "Pretty much nothing," he admitted as he stood in front of Nareia and Spike.
Spike's eyes narrowed, "Pretty much? As in the same 'pretty much' that happened between you and Buffy, and brought Angelus back?"
Angel, ignoring the jibe, shrugged, and looked down at Nareia, "We flirted, she seduced me, but nothing happened."
Spike spun Nareia round, "You seduced that poof?"
"Well, yeah, kind of," Nareia admitted. "But," she continued before Spike could add anything, "I was only playing him at his own game. I needed to get into his confidence, and he wasn't exactly the easiest vampire to do that with. He's smarter than most. I guess I intrigued him, because I wasn't like any other female vampire he'd met. But, nothing happened. He didn't even bite me. You were the first," she added softly.
"I was?" Spike asked, looking down at her. His grip shifted from her shoulders to her waist.
"Yeah, and Angelus and I never had anything going for us, unlike you and me when we were together."
"Wait a minute, when were you two together?" Angel, who had walked away, turned quickly. "Apart from the whole biting incident, which I don't want to go into."
"We sort of sneaked around a bit behind your back, but nothing happened until that evening when you made her angry," Spike said with pleasure.
"You sneaked around behind my back, with him?" Angel asked, incredulous.
Nareia nodded, "Well, yeah. It's not like you were the faithful dog either, Angel! Besides, there was something about William that puzzled me. Now I know it was our bond, but I didn't then."
The two male vampires stared at each over the top of Nareia's head, both faces set firm.
"Right, well, that was bracing. Are we done now, can we get back to business with a lighter heart?" Nareia said, with somewhat forced cheer, trying to break the tension still between them.
Angel sighed, and drew a hand through his hair. "I will never understand women."
Spike laughed, and let Nareia go. He walked over to Angel, and slapped him companionably, albeit hard, on his back. "You and me both."
They grinned slightly at each other, and sat back down to read the books, the air having been relieved of a considerable amount of tension.
Nareia shook her head slightly, and sat down to join them, her knee touching Spike's comfortably. She would never understand men!
~*~*~*~*~*~
Willow, Xander and Anya walked cautiously into Giles's apartment, already carrying their clothes and food supplies, having visited their homes. "Come on, we have to hurry," Willow urged the other two on. "Xander, weapons. Anya, come and help me look for books."
The two girls scoured the ex-Watcher's bookshelves. Soon, they were drawing books off the shelves, and a pile was rising on the sofa. Xander was busy, too, gathering a selection of weapons from Giles's weapon closet.
"By the way, just thought it deserved a mention, but half of the closet's contents are missing. You don't suppose a passing burglar could have taken them?" Xander said hopefully.
Willow grimaced, and Xander looked mournful, "No, I didn't think so."
"Right, we're done here. There's nothing else here that could be of any use," Anya said brusquely.
Willow looked back at the shelves, "It doesn't look as though any of the books are missing. I hope that's a good sign."
"Right, I've got all the weapons all of us can cope with. Let's go," Xander picked up his bag, and handed another to Anya. The three teenagers left the apartment loaded with books, weapons, clothes, and food.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Nareia sat between Angel and Spike silently, reading. Suddenly, she looked up from her book. "Spike, what did you mean when you said that Angelus had come back? And what was the big deal with Buffy?" she turned to the dark vampire.
Spike's eyebrows rose, "You mean, you don't know?"
Nareia looked between the two, "Know what?"
"That Angel and the Slayer were in love and when they shagged, Angel lost his soul, and became sadistic again," Spike supplied.
Angel growled at Spike's lack of delicacy, but said nothing to deny the blond vampire's words.
"You lost your soul? What was the deal with that?" Nareia asked, curious.
"One moment of perfect happiness, and poof, all gone," Spike answered with a grin.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Angel didn't look amused. He turned to Nareia, who was still looking confused, "I fed from a gypsy girl, whose family cursed me with my soul. But there was a clause; if I ever experienced total happiness, I would lose my soul again." He looked at the brunette closely, "I guess that never applied to you?"
Nareia shook her head, "My family didn't want me to suffer, for a start. And, I'm not evil yet, and I would say that I've experienced a few moments of true happiness," Underneath the table, Spike squeezed her knee with his hand. "I wonder…" Nareia trailed off, a faraway look in her eyes. Then she shook her head, "No, never mind, it can wait."
Before she had a chance to explain what she meant, they heard the humans returning. "Here you are, books galore!" Xander said as he dumped a pile on the table next to the ones the vampires had been studying. Anya and Willow added to the pile, and Xander stacked weapons beside one of the sofas.
Angel and Spike got up to investigate the weapons. Spike lifted up a particularly vicious-looking knife. "Hmm, this looks like it could do some lovely damage. Maybe rip out some intestines, and then move up to the lungs and heart." While he was describing the route he would take, he was illustrating on Xander, waving the knife a few inches away from Xander's body. Xander's eyes were wide, and he swallowed in fright. Anya stood beside him, shaking in fear that something would happen to her dear Xander.
Nareia rolled her eyes, but said nothing. She knew what Spike was doing, and approved. It was essential that these humans didn't take him for granted. He was still soulless.
Angel, too, ignored Spike, and eventually, Spike ended his game with Xander with a grin, and threw the knife down with the other weapons. "Quite a collection here."
"Yeah, well, there would have been more, but a lot were missing," Xander said, having recovered from his fright.
Angel looked up from the crossbow he was perusing, "Do you know what was missing?"
Xander shook his head, "Buffy and Giles were the only ones that really knew what was in that cupboard."
"Is there anyone else that either of them would attack, besides you lot?" Nareia asked, from where she and Willow were arranging the books on the table for easier accessibility.
Anya frowned, and shook her head, but Willow looked worried, "Oh, Riley! Buffy might go after him."
"And her mother," Xander put in.
Willow shook her head, "Mrs. Summers is out of town on an art gallery thing."
"Who's Riley?" Nareia asked, puzzled.
"Uh, he's, uh, sort of her boyfriend, in a non-physical sense," Willow explained, all the time eying Angel.
Nareia looked from Willow to Angel, and understood, "Right, well, does he know about Buffy being the Slayer? I mean, if someone tries to explain to him what has happened, will he believe them?"
Xander nodded vigorously, "Oh yeah."
Willow added, "Riley is a member of what is called "The Initiative." It's a military operation that captures vampires, demons of any sort, and experiments on them."
Nareia shook her head in wonder, "Is no-one in this town normal?"
"Not really," Anya shrugged.
"I think we should just leave GI-Joe to Buffy," Spike offered with venom in his voice.
Nareia frowned at him. "I was captured by them, and it was only by my cunning that I managed to escape," Spike answered her unspoken query.
Nareia repressed a smile, although she knew that Spike was probably right in explaining his escape. When he tried hard enough, and thought it through, Spike was a slippery customer. Also, she was getting images from him regarding the Initiative, and his escape, so she got the gist. "We should still tell him," Nareia decided.
"But what if he wants the Initiative to capture Buffy and Giles, and kills them before we find the reversing spell?" Xander pointed out.
Angel barked out a short laugh, "Good luck to them, I say. They'd never be able to capture those two."
Willow nodded in agreement, "Buffy and Giles would outsmart them. They know what they would be up against, whereas the Initiative haven't got a clue."
"So what are we going to do?" Anya asked impatiently.
Everybody looked at everyone else, unable to make a decision. "Wait a minute," Anya said suddenly. "Didn't Buffy say that Riley was going home early for Christmas?"
Willow suddenly smiled her crooked smile, "So he won't be here."
"And we won't have to worry about telling the Initiative anything!" Xander grinned.
"Right, I guess that's that," Nareia sat down again on the table edge, suddenly weary. "Back to work, guys." They all moved to various places around the table, gathering books in front of them. Spike stood in front of Nareia, and placed his hands in her shoulders. She looked up into his deep, blue-grey, concerned eyes. She shook her head silently. Something was wrong, and she couldn't define what it was.
Then, she was struck by a flash of pain scouring through her head. She groaned loudly, and fell forwards into Spike's arms, who was also falling to the floor as he caught her. Nareia caught a glimpse of Angel falling sideways off his chair through the pain in her head.
Xander jumped up, "What's going on?"
"I think they're having another foretelling vision!" Willow stood up and went to squat next to Angel, who was writhing on the floor. She looked up, worried. "If they're having them while they're awake, this demon is getting closer to breaking out."
Xander, Willow, and Anya stared at each other in dismay, while Angel, under Willow's arms, continued to start fretfully, and Spike and Nareia lay, curled up in each other's arms, expressions of pain apparent on their faces.
A flash of an amphitheatre. Underground. Vampires everywhere. Except they weren't vampires. Something was wrong.
Flash to the centre of the arena. Loud noises banging against their heads.
Vampires fighting each other in the sand. A tall, middle-aged one. Giles! A fat policeman, oozing power and confidence – a Chief of Police perhaps.
Fighting, to the death. Stake, through the heart of the fat vampire.
They felt the pain of the stake, and knew they were going to die. Except, they didn't. He didn't. Just stood there, looking mad.
Giles standing, arms up in victory. Crowd cheering, sound smashing against their brains.
Flash to blonde, standing, evil look in eye. Buffy!
As soon as it had started, it stopped. The three vampires sat up quickly, looking around them, and feeling their chests. Spike stood up slowly, helping Nareia up as he did so. Angel stood up with the help of Willow. The three clutched their heads as they sat down cautiously. "What the bloody hell was that?" Spike whispered loudly, and groaning as the pain hit his head again.
"Another vision," Nareia answered softly. "Anya, could you get some alcohol, please? I think there's some by the bed."
"It was so real," Angel said softly, holding his hand to his chest in wonder.
"What was it?" Anya asked, as she poured out the alcohol into three glasses and handed them to the recovering vampires.
Nareia frowned, "We got staked. It…I felt the stake sliding through my body, but, there isn't any damage."
"They're bloody immortal," Spike growled.
"In the true sense of the word," Angel added.
Xander's eyes widened, "You mean, they can't be killed?"
"Well, at least not by staking. There's so much we don't know about this demon, and this specific curse," Nareia shook her head.
"We already know that they can't be staked. That's more than we knew a few minutes ago," Willow pointed out optimistically.
"Great," Spike grunted, and downed his drink. Angel and Nareia quickly followed suit.
"What now?" Xander asked cautiously.
"I say you get off your butts and start looking for curses that could render a Slayer a vampire without killing her, and also causing everybody under the curse to be bloody immortal," Spike suggested softly, his head buried in his hands.
"Right, let's look," Anya led her boyfriend to the table, and they both began to scour through the books they had collected from Giles's apartment.
Willow stood watching the vampires recover from their ordeal. "Perhaps you three should get some sleep. I mean, we won't be going out tonight, and you'll have to, I guess, so rest, and sleep would be a good idea. It might help you as well," she stammered under their intense attention. Silently, she wondered why vampires always had such intense eyes when they were in their human form.
Finally, Nareia nodded slowly, "You're right, Willow, again," and she smiled warmly at the Wiccan. "We'll do just that." Nareia attempted to get up, and managed, sort of. She stood very unsteadily on her feet, and did not look like she was going anywhere, until Spike stood beside her, supporting her.
They made their way to the bed, and Angel collapsed on the larger sofa, asleep immediately, exhausted from the mental activity. Willow pulled a blanket over the dark vampire, and then watched Spike tend to Nareia tenderly. They slowly crawled underneath the covers, and huddled together for comfort, rather than warmth. Willow smiled softly, and returned to the table to help with the research.
