COLLATERAL DAMAGE

By D. M. Evans

Spoilers - zero. This is set BtVS S2 Between Lie to Me and What's My Line

Rating - R for violence

Summary - Children are being murdered in Sunnydale and Buffy thinks Angel knows who's behind it

Author's Note #1 - This was written for the Buffy fica thon.

Pairing - B/A, Requests: Would love to see a pre-season 3 BtVS with Dawn involved.

Restrictions: No Angelus. Written for S.J. Smith

Author's Note#2 - This story contains dark subjects and graphic crime scene descriptions.

Thanks to Leni for editing this thing. I appreciate it!

CHAPTER THREE

Saturday, she should be home with her history books so she didn't fail her exam on Monday. Instead she was on the way to the library to meet with Giles, Willow and Xander. Cordelia had cheerleading practice which was just as well. Buffy wasn't in the mood for the Queen of Mean.

This morning Dawn had been very subdued over their frosted mini-wheats. Joyce took her to the mall to help ease Dawn's mind, thinking the loss of two classmates was what had turned Dawn blue. She had no idea her youngest had seen her friend turn up as a vampire covered in grave dirt only to end up as dust. True to her word, Buffy hadn't told their mom what Dawn had done and luckily Amanda hadn't seemed to tell her mom either so no one was going to call and rat her out.

Buffy felt a little numb still. She had been hiding from that feeling for a long time. She had hid all summer in L.A. with her dad after the Master's death, trying to feel something other than numb. She had killed vampires there, too, thought once about seeing Pike for old times sake but couldn't. It felt like cheating on Angel, even though she and Angel weren't exactly a couple, so the numbness grew. She came back to Sunnydale and it got worse. She pasted on a smile for her friends and family until the whole thing with the Master's bones happened. Even Cordy was calling her a bitch. She hadn't felt like one. She would have liked to. It would have been better than the unrelenting numbness. Pounding the Master into dust helped. Exploring her heart with Angel helped more.

She was no longer numb. Angel made her feel alive, feel love, feel pain, feel like dying. All of that was better than the emptiness inside her. She knew the dangers Angel represented, that he was still only a stop gap in the loneliness. So long as she was the Slayer the hollowness would always be part of her life, like a shadow. And it was getting harder to let the sunlight in to drive the shadows back to the corners of her soul. Still, three bits of sunlight waited to brighten her.

It was convenient to tell her Mom she was going to the library to study with Xander and Willow under Mr. Giles' watchful eye. Buffy never failed to be amazed that in a country-wide school environment of near fascism, metal detectors, passes to merely walk down a hall and needing escorts to go to the principal's office, that Principal Synder had no form of discipline when it came to after hours and weekend. Anyone could stroll on or off campus. It surprised her, given Synder's otherwise Nazi tendencies, almost as if he was under orders to leave the school vulnerable to attack. Buffy wanted to believe she was being paranoid about Synder. Sunnydale had that effect on her.

"Hi, guys," she said with more enthusiasm than she felt as she walked into the library. Her friends looked glum, even Giles, which made her nervous.

"How are you doing, Buffy?" Willow's eyes were wide with sympathy. "Giles told us about last night."

Buffy flopped in a seat. "I'm fine. It gave me a wiggins though. I mean Ashley's slept over with Dawn I can't tell you how many times. It was majorly creepy seeing her as a vampire."

"Trust me, I know." Xander tilted back on his chair. "When I saw Jesse with that bumpy face..."

Willow reached over and patted his hand. "Buffy, we found something else."

Buffy gritted her teeth. "I'm afraid to know."

"Two more kids were murdered in Shoreville," Giles said.

"That's just a few miles from here," Buffy said.

Giles nodded. "I went to the graveyard there early this morning. Both graves looked like they might have been disturbed but it's hard to tell with fresh plots."

"Why would anyone want to make a bunch of kid vampires?" Buffy felt like she had a bad taste in her mouth. She couldn't keep the welling of disgust down.

"Maybe you can ask Angel. Giles said he took off on you last night," Xander said.

Buffy didn't like his tone. She knew he was trying to look out for her but he was also jealous and that colored everything he said. "He didn't take off, Xander. He took Dawn home and went to check on things for me because I couldn't just leave her."

"Guess we'll have to wait until night to find out if he knows anything," Xander said, turning down the heat of his tone.

"Not necessarily," Angel said, coming through the swinging doors, startling Xander so badly he and his titling chair nearly tumbled over backwards.

"Angel." Buffy looked surprised, knowing she shouldn't be. She knew how he could come up through the basement. She just wasn't expecting him because part of her was with Xander. Angel had cut out on her last night. She had needed him to comfort her and he just left her.

Angel skirted patches of sunlight and took refuge in the shadows of the stacks behind Giles' chair. The Watcher turned so his back wasn't to the vampire.

"You found something," Giles said.

Angel's countenance went darker. Buffy knew she wasn't going to like this. "I think so."

"I could tell last night you knew who did this." Buffy's voice was soft, sad, almost a whisper.

"Is this another of your wacky kids like Drusilla?" Xander's eyes hardened.

"If it were, I would have known in time to save the second girl." Angel's voice didn't raise above his normal tone but the threat was there in every word.

"Please, just tell me who it is." Buffy dragged a hand through her hair. "It's not another Master, is it?"

"Not exactly. He's old though, one of the Master's children. He's just a little older than Darla but not by much. Darla hated him."

"What's his name?" Giles headed for his stash of Watcher's diaries to double-check whatever Angel was about to reveal.

"Ilya Borzilova. He's Russian and he was a monster long before he was ever made a vampire." Angel settled back against the shelving. "He came to the States with the Master, was with him when Darla was made." Angel paused and Buffy could see pain in his eyes, wondering what was causing it. She could see the conflict in him, watching him intently as she listened to Giles paging through his books to find the name Borzilova. "Darla was a prostitute, a very wealthy one. She was one hell of a business woman, holding land and money in a time were that just wasn't done by women."

Buffy hated the almost reverent tone in Angel's voice, jealous of the respect he was giving Darla's achievements. He should be hating her for trying to turn him back to evil, for making Buffy think he was out to kill her family. "So what's this got to do with Borzilova?" She broke in, not wanting to hear more about Darla.

Angel gave her an irritated look. "It has to do with why he might be in Sunnydale. Borzilova has had it in for me, Darla and Dru for over three centuries...well, for Darla. Add me and Dru in later. I'm not sure he knows Darla is gone."

"Why does he hate you?" Willow asked.

"Darla's...career came with a lot of hazards. Venereal diseases for one. She was dying of something when the Master turned her," Angel said. "Babies were another hazard. I don't know how many she had. Once in a fit of...I don't know, remorse maybe, Darla told me about some of them. She was only eleven when she had her first child."

"Eleven!" Willow's fingers flew over her mouth.

Angel nodded distractedly. "A set of twins went to live with one of her rich clients in the place of the stillborn twins his wife had. It was a very good placement for those children."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Xander asked. "You're as bad as Giles."

"I'm getting to it." Angel glowered. "Ilya disliked Darla from the time she was made. The Master doted on her."

"She became the favorite and he was jealous," Buffy said.

"Exactly."

"I don't like where this is going," Willow said.

"You shouldn't." Angel shoved his hands into his pockets. "Ilya found out from the Master who Darla's daughter was. He raped and killed the girl."

"Darla still had feelings for her child...I can see why she'd hate him," Buffy said.

Angel took a few steps back as the sun, now slightly higher in the sky, was tossing rays into his shadows. "Buffy, it's easy to forget your family when you're a vampire, easy to kill them yourself. It's a training step for a lot of fledgling vampires. It was for me." Angel's shoulders slumped. "Darla might not have had feelings left for this daughter, if she ever had them in the first place. Ilya took something from her and that's what mattered."

"Glad you're here to explain creepy vamp motives," Xander grumbled.

"But his victims are kids...I don't..." Willow looked at her hands. "How does anyone have...you know...how can you do that to a kid?"

"Back then, Willow, it was common for girls to be married by the time they were thirteen," Angel said. "Not that I'm excusing anything Borzilova did. Having sex with children didn't have the same meaning back then but rape did. Of course, they were just as likely to blame the girl....at any rate, Borzilova savaged any child he got his hands on before killing them. He was doing this before he was a vampire. It's what brought him to the Master's attention."

"So that's what it takes. And he brings the kids back as vampires why? Just more normal vampire hijinks?" Xander asked.

"Xander!" Buffy hissed, wishing her friend had an off button for his hostility dispenser. "Angel's never converted a kid, right?" Her eyes fastened onto him, begging for him to back her up.

Angel carefully met no one's gaze as he replied, "No, I haven't."

Buffy felt winter roiling into her heart, knowing he was lying. A quick glance at her

friends told her they seemed to be buying it, except for maybe Giles. He had that look he got in his eyes when he knew she was telling him a whopper. She kept her suspicions to herself. She would never let herself say that she knew Angel just as guilty of the horrible crime as Borzilova. If she said it, it would make it true and she didn't know how she could love him if it were true. She reminded herself that Angel wasn't responsible for anything he had done without his soul. She had to think on that. It eased the pain.

"I don't know why he converts his victims other than to get into people's homes where he can get his hands on an easy meal, their money and property," Angel said.

"That makes perfect sense," Giles said, not looking up from his books. "The child goes missing and when she comes home again the parents welcome her in and she kills them. Only he's getting careless in his old age or he no longer cares otherwise, he would have hidden his victims better here in Sunnydale."

"Or he wants me to know he's here," Angel said.

"So he's taunting you...all these kids died just to draw you out." Buffy hated that her temper lashed him because it wasn't his fault.

Angel bore it without flinching. "I'm afraid so. The children could be collateral damage in this war with he's waging against me and Dru."

"So what does he have against you?" Xander asked. "I can see why your ex hated him."

"Darla and Dru caught hold of Borzilova once and paid him back for things he had done to them by burning off his testicles with holy water," Angel said, bluntly.

Xander shuddered, crossing his legs involuntarily. Even Giles looked up from his books.

"Ouch, okay vendetta explained." Buffy made a face. "So um...how's he raping the girls now if Darla and Dru burnt off his nasties?"

Angel smiled thinly. "Vampires have remarkable healing powers, Buffy, given time parts can even regrow, especially with a little magical help. He's whole."

"So, the question is, now what? He's just a normal vamp right?" Buffy asked. "I killed the Master, I can kill him." She didn't have to ask if Angel would help her. Now that the Master was gone, Angel was like a changed man, braver, more confident. She wondered about it. When she first met Angel, he hadn't wanted to get involved but now things were different. She didn't want to be so vain as to think it was because of her that he changed but she knew deep down that had to be the reason for Angel's about-face on the whole getting down and dirty policy.

"He's smart. Ilya won't be easy to kill. You can't exploit his weaknesses without putting children at risk," Angel said.

"What about Drusilla?" Willow asked. "Couldn't we use her as bait somehow?"

Buffy saw pain flicker across Angel's face. She knew he had some kind of feelings for Drusilla, knew he ached over what he had done to make her the way she was. She wondered if he could kill her since he had let her go at least once Buffy knew about.

"Dru is weak, weaker than I've ever seen her. Rumor about town is she's dying," Angel said, a hint of regret in his voice. "It could be Borzilova knows this and that's why he's here. And if it were just Dru, you might have a chance at making her bait, but where she is, there's Spike."

"And we know he's killed two Slayers," Giles said, handing the book to Angel. "Has Borzilova?"

"Not that I know of." Angel looked down at the reproduced portrait in the book. "That's him."

Buffy took a peek at the picture and made a face. "Yeah him a million years ago," she said, seeing the seventeenth century hairstyle, beard and clothing.

"It's the best I can do," Giles said, taking the book back from Angel and giving it to Willow so she and Xander could get a look.

"It's a place to start," Angel said. "Buffy, I'll see what I can find out about where he's living. Your best plan of attack would be to catch him in the day when he can't run."

"School kinda gets in the way of that," she said, knowing he made sense but she hated it. She didn't want to drop out of school to hunt vampires by day. She wanted a normal life as best she could.

"Hopefully I can get a lead on him then you can worry about when to attack," Angel conceded.

"Buffy, Emily's family is Catholic. They won't be burying her until Monday," Giles said. "We can't risk waiting until then to deal with her. She might rise before then."

Buffy shuddered. "Guess that means I'm staking out the funeral home tonight."

"I'll meet you there," Angel said, heading for the door and Buffy knew it was a quick trip to the basement then into the sewers for him.

"This is so wrong," Willow whispered.

"Vampires are always wrong, Wills," Xander said.

Buffy resisted the urge to pop him one in the mouth. She looked at Giles, finding comfort in his warm blue eyes. He was worried. That should have scared her. Instead, it made her feel good there was an adult male who actually was caring about her, looking out for her when her own father had decided it was just something he didn't want to do any more. Yeah, she spent time with Dad a few weeks out of the year but even that felt strained, like he resented her and Dawn being around. She wished Giles would say something to make her feel better. Instead he just started outlining a plan of attack for tonight. She kept her disappointment to herself and tried to put her mind on the task at hand. At least it was better than thinking about Angel killing children and making little vampires out of them. That was going to give her nightmares, she just knew it.