Disclaimer: I don't own the Btvs characters or the Angel ones
-Sorry it's been so long but there were huge computer problems and I wasn't able to post like I wanted to. So here is two chapter to make up for the huge delay and the next chapter should be out in about four days. Italics still mean flashbacks.
Relive
Chapter 2 'Prophetic Dreams and Reluctant Heroes'
Willow knew there was something happening. The air was filled with the mystical energy and it pulled at her, demanding the dark magics that resided in her body to surface and make themselves known. She wasn't the only one who sensed the change in the air though. Buffy could feel and it and she claimed she felt as if someone was watching her all the time. She jumped at the slightest shadows. Spike claimed he could smell it in the air. He said he was quite pleasant, but assumed that whatever it was wasn't good. In fact the most shocking occurrence was Angel. He had come back after so many years claiming Cordelia had a vision. It involved Buffy, him, and incredulously he'd said Spike fighting off some sort of hell demon. Explaining that to Angle had taken a while, though she smiled when Buffy left out some not so choice pieces about her little fling with the bleached vampire. Willow guessed she was just trying to quell Angel's temper but she assumed part of it was a deep rooted shame and perhaps a little disappointment that she had let it end.
She and Spike were friends, though it seemed more of an reluctant expectancy on Spikes end of the deal. She had told him how she felt, what their relationship, if it could be called one was doing to her and he'd backed off in a fashion she was even impressed with. Despite their constant bickering and snide remarks Willow could sense more than hostility between them. She smiled as she thought of the two. Spike trying to hide those longing looks at Buffy and Buffy trying to ignore the fact that she worried about him. They were a fighting team through and through and Willow wondered if it would ever be more between them. Given Spike wasn't her first choice for her best friend, but she had to admit whatever it was between them, it was strong.
"Any luck Will."
Willow glanced up from her book and scribbled paper of calculations and looked at Buffy blinking slightly. She really shouldn't have let her thoughts runaway with her like that. They were obviously working against a clock. "Sorry um. I'm almost done. I think I might have a bead on what's happening. I think I caught a prediction and I'm trying to figure out when it's going to take place."
Buffy looked nervously over her shoulder and toward the living-room of her house. "Well try to hurry. I honestly don't know how long those two will go without killing each other. Angel keeps glaring at Spike, not that I can blame him considered their last real encounter, and Spike can't keep his mouth shut." Buffy lowered her voice significantly. "I think he suspects something."
Willow looked up from her paper for a moment and then back down again. Buffy hadn't been this reluctant about her little 'fling' with Spike since she'd admitted having it to them almost a year ago. "Don't worry Buffy after I figure this out they won't have anything to fight but...um...whatever it is that's coming."
"Right." Buffy said trying to sound confident but her tone of voice betraying her completely. Just as she was about to say more a loud crash resounded from the next room followed by a hoarse chuckle, Spike. "Damn." Buffy said throwing a glowering look at Willow before dashing out of the kitchen to find what all the commotion was about, even though she already had a pretty good idea.
~~~~~~~~~~~``
"I can smell her all over you!" Angel snarled and slammed Spike against the wall his eyes flashing dangerously. "What have you done?" He hadn't smelled it until just that moment, or more as if he hadn't really recognized it until then. It was her he was smelling all over his 'childe' . It was more than just normal everyday contact. His eyes flashed yellow as he thought of what it might be and it pushed harder on Spike
"Nothing you wouldn't do Peaches." Spike said smiling cockily, "wait never mind it is something you wouldn't do, or more like couldn't do." Spike grinned at the anger that passed over his sire's face with a silent victory. He had promised Buffy he wouldn't say anything but one look at his sire's arrogant face and shameless doting over Buffy and he'd known that the deal was worthless. Buffy wasn't Angel's any more she was his.
Angel was unable to speak but growled louder and wound his fist into Spikes shirt almost ripping it as he pulled. He pulled Spike toward him again and smashed they younger vampire's back into the wall. This time Spike wasn't too tolerant of the abuse and twisted out of the bigger man's grasp. He shoved his sire backwards.
"Back off poofster. I don't have time to fight with you right now." Spike warned and shoved him again unable to resist. 'A little taunting never hurt.' he reasoned with himself.
Angel grunted under his breath and pulled his arm back to take a swing at the smaller vampire. His fist never made it's mark though. Something grabbed it mid swing and spun him around. Buffy was standing behind him visibly annoyed.
"We don't have time for this testosterone fit." Buffy said lowering Angel arm to his side. She didn't know why she was stopping Angel from rearranging Spike's smug little face. She had heard the comment that sent Angel over the edge and she secretly wanted to punch the blond pest for it. He'd promised. She sent a descended look on Spike who look slightly shameful and turned away before she turned back to Angel. She guessed he really didn't have a right to ask any how. He hadn't been around but she wasn't going to open that wound. So instead she got back to business. "The world is kinda coming to an end, or it will if you two don't suck it up and help me. Whenever Willow figures out what we're going up against I'm going to need you both." Before she could say more Willow rushed around the corner clutching her piece of paper her eyes wide.
"I found it." She gasped breathlessly. "I found it. God it's not good."
"What's happening." Buffy asked calmly a little used to the whole apocalypse thing.
"It turns out the hell beast, Ternin, had been trying for centuries to worm his way out of his hell dimension in order to get here." She paused. "I found the prediction just an hour ago and began working on the factors. I figured that was the mystical energy we felt in the air, you know the weakening between their dimension and ours."
"You're rambling red." Spike said sighing. "Just get to the point. As Buffy put it the world is ending."
"Right, um," Willow started. "Well it turns out it's already opened." She gulped. "Um about an hour ago."
"What?" Buffy asked incredulously. "Where?"
"Sunnydale Public Library, I think." Willow said slowly glancing at a map between her fingers.
"You think?" Angel asked slowly.
"No, I mean I know. That's where it is." She swallowed. "As soon as you kill the demon the portal closes, but until then demons of all kinds are pouring out and into our world."
"Great." Buffy chortled slowly. "The perfect time for Xander and Anya to be on vacation. I mean a hell mouth just opened...she trailed off. Willow you look after Dawn. Get Tara down here and get her to put a hex or something on the house to keep away the nasties. Spike, Angel, and I will kill the beastie." With that she reached behind her and grabbed an ax off the table. Without a word she tossed it to Spike who caught it promptly. Next she pulled a broadsword off the table and thrust it into Angel's arms. "Let's go."
"Right behind you Slayer." Spike said unable to keep the grin off his face. He'd just been saved from the Angel by Buffy, his supposed love of his life, and now he was about to have a hell of a good fight to boot. It was a good day. Even the end of the world wouldn't dampen his mood. He heard Angel fall into step behind him and the grin widened. Who would have ever thought it would turn out this way.
Buffy hopped into Angel black convertible and Spike hopped into the back seat admiring the leather. "Nice wheels Peaches. Didn't think you had any taste." He smiled lazily and leaned back in the seat and settled his ax on the chair. "Comfy."
Buffy heard Angel growl as he started the engine and they headed for the Library. The ride was mostly driven in silence each of them preparing for the battle they were about to have. No words were spoken until Buffy pulled open the double doors breaking the lock that secured them shut and ducked as a chair flew through the opening and almost smashed her face in. "Watch out for flying objects." Buffy mumbled as he crouched and went through the doorway.
The inside was littered with demon of all shapes and sizes. Most were hurrying for an exit perhaps afraid they would be sucked back inside. They didn't care much for doorways they mostly crashed through the walls and out the windows. "They just have no manners." Buffy said and cocked her head to the side. "Don't they know the Library is a quiet place."
"Whatever, luv." Spike commented coming to crouch by her side Angel behind him.
"Yeah well I'm trying to keep the mood light." Buffy said finally as she darted through the room trying to avoid exposure and ended up behind a table. Looking over her shoulder she noticed Angel and Spike were right behind her. "You know keep our spirits up." She frowned as another chair sailed overhead followed by a knife that wedged itself in the wall above her head.
"I think our cover is blown." Angel said. Just as the words left his mouth a demon jumped over the table and landed in front of the three rebels.
"Now this doesn't seem too fair." Buffy said grinning a little. "I mean don't you want some friends. It's three against little old you." Buffy mocked and pulled a knife out of her thigh sheath and charged. Angel plunged in to fight with her. Spike knew she would be okay, she could take care of herself. What she really needed was for someone to get close enough to inflict some damage to the hell beast. Some how or another it had worked up enough power to push it's way through the hell dimension and into theirs. Now that it was out though it was letting whoever else wanted a free ticket to a new world. If they killed the hell beast the rest of them would be sent back, but otherwise the demons would keep pouring in through the portal.
Spike settled the heavy battle ax on his shoulder and gave one last meaningful glance at the Slayer. It was one of the looks he knew he shouldn't be sending her. She rarely if ever caught him doing it, but he couldn't help it, he still loved her. He mouthed a short 'I love you' at the back of the Slayer's head when he couldn't catch her eye and let out his battle cry as he plunged into the hoards of milling demons. Most of them where ones Spike had never seen before, but there were a few species that he recognized. Most of them were scrambling for exits but a few were looking for a fight. As he rounded the tables a group of three attacked him right taking him from every side and trying to pry the ax from his hands. He caught a brutal slap across the face by one of the beast's clawed hands and growled lowly his demon begging to surface. Spike swung his ax sideways catching the demon in the head and kicked to his left while he pulled the ax out of the body of the first throwing the second demon backwards. The third demon found a mark and slashed his arm with a sharp black clawed fist ripping through his flesh and sending a sharp pain racing up and down the length of his arm. Spike yelled angrily as the pain hit him his face immediately morphing to vampire. He turned around swiftly and swung the ax still clutched in his good hand and sliced cleanly through the demon's neck. Before the demon's severed head hit the ground or the other two demons could stand again he rushed forward toward the flashing lights of the demon portal.
Buffy plunged her knife into the chest of the demon and cringed with a thick yellow blood ran from the wound and onto her hand. She pulled the knife out swiftly and looked to Angel who was finishing off a similar demon and smiled at him for the help. It was good fighting with him again, she had missed him, but somehow she knew that there was something missing between them. Briefly she looked around her wondering where her usual right hand man had gone. Spike was no where in sight. She knew he couldn't have gotten wounded, he was better than that and they had fought tougher before. Groaning she looked over the table knowing full well he had pushed his way forward trying to take out the beast alone. He was going to get killed. Buffy didn't want to dwell on the mixed feelings that thought brought. She caught sight of him briefly from behind a bookshelf. He was fighting off a few creatures with only his ax making his way for the center of the room. She saw him get slashed across the face and winced. He needed her help. Buffy wiped the sweat from her brow and grabbed hold of Angel's arm pulling him after her.
"That idiot!" Buffy yelled at Angel. "He just couldn't wait. He had to go all by himself. Now the moron is going to get dusted and I'm going to be stuck cleaning up his ashes." Buffy couldn't seem to hide her fear in her sarcasm because Angel gave her a funny look before they were attacked again.
"What is it with hellmouths and libraries?" Buffy yelled at a demon as she threw a stack of books at it and picked up a chair smashing it over the beast's head. She picked up a thick sliver of wood from the remains and jabbed the demon through the chest with it. It fell over backwards and didn't move. Buffy dropped the piece of wood breathing deeply and looked to her side to see Angel covered in some sort of purple soup, pulling his sword out of the stomach of a similar creature.
Angel shrugged as he came to stand beside her. He could just see Spike's bleached blond head through the throng of books and demons. "Is he planning on fighting that thing by himself?" Angel asked disbelief clouding his words. "Why?"
"Because he's stupid." Buffy said firmly. "Thinks he can save the world all by himself."
"Since when does Spike care?" Angel asked as they made their way through the library surprisingly avoiding confrontation.
"It's long story." Buffy told him, "and right now I don't think we have time for it." She left him standing there shock written on his face and plunged into the fight Spike had already initiated. Angel watched as Buffy came to her former mortal enemy's aid and jumped on to the back of the demon pummeling the slightly bloody Spike. Buffy shoved her knife in it's back. She kept it there until the creature stopped moving and she pulled it out and threw the demon off of Spike's slightly weakened body. "Are you all right?" She asked shortly and took his hand helping him to his feet when he nodded.
"Just peachy, pet, but I'll be better when that hell beast is well...back in hell." He recovered his lost weapon and stalked foreword. "Let's end this."
"With you all the way." Buffy said and together they made their way for the beast. It was stuck half way in and half way out of the hell portal probably why so many demon's were escaping.
It screeched when the two of them came near it and shot a long spike covered arm out trying to catch one of them. Both Buffy and Spike dodged and rolled out of the way. Angel took that moment to charge his sword drawn and shoved it into the stomach of the caught off guard beast. Angel twisted it viciously and before he could pull it back out the beast caught hold of his leg and picked up. The spikes on the tentacle like arm dug into his skin scraping the bone before he tossed Angel's body backwards and into a table.
"Supposed to hold on to the weapon." Spike called over Angel's crumpled form and helped him to his feet. "Let's go get it back."
Angel shook his head trying to clear it before he could even register the oddness of Spike helping him to his feet. Angel nodded and Spike grinned wickedly and charged jumping appendages and dodging streams of yellow spit.
"You think that stuff will melt off your skin?" Buffy asked as she fell into step beside the two vampires and a stream whizzed particularly close by her head. "You know like acid."
"Maybe." Spike said. "Let's not find out though."
All three of them managed to make it though and each struck. Angel latched onto the sword still sticking out of the beast's stomach and yanked it out. He pulled it backward and hacked at the same wound again. Buffy was hacking away at it as best she could from the other side. The beast screamed and tried frantically to pull them away, but Spike was busy cleaving off the blade covered arms. The floor was covered in a thick yellow-orange blood and it splattered over all three hero's as they continued to hack. Spike spun to the side taking his eyes off Buffy for a moment to slice through an arm snaking toward Angel. He was spinning back around when Buffy let out a scream. Spike almost froze as he saw as the beast lowered it's jaws and pick up Buffy around the middle. It shook her back and forth and it's teeth sinking into her muscles tearing them.
Angel screamed and tried to get to her but he was flung backwards by an arm Spike failed to get and skidded across the library the yellow goo covering his entire body. Spike snapped out of his fear induced daze quickly and changed trajectory. He plunged forward again cleaving arms as he went until he was at the beast's head. He roared and embedded his ax in what looked like the beast's chest. The blade sunk into the flesh to the handle and the beast released Buffy to roar it's pain. Spike pulled the blade out and hit the beast in the head as it tried to lower it's jaws on him. The beast let out one final yelp before it slumped unceremoniously to the library floor. Before Spike could think to remove it. A deep whirling sound started to whine and Spike backed away his hands in front of his face. The beast was being sucked backwards the limbs he'd cut off included being sucked back into the portal. The still live demons screeched as they were pulled back into the portal. It didn't take long and before they knew it was over and there was nothing left but puddles of blood and a few dead demon bodies. Not to mentions the remains of the Sunnydale Library.
Spike stumbled backwards taking deep breaths he didn't need to and rubbed his hand over his forehead. He wiped the blood spilling for a particularly large wound away and looked around realization suddenly dawning on him. "Buffy." He whispered in a panic and looked around the room. He caught sight of her crumbled body laying halfway on a broken table. "Buffy?" He asked not caring that his voice was cracking.
Angel was making his way to her side and as he stood there unable. The other vampire's arm was bent at an odd angle and he had a gash on his forehead. "Buffy?" he asked as he reached her side and tried to lift her up. "Are you all right? Buffy?"
Spike couldn't move as he watched. Not again. He wouldn't be able to take it, not again. His feet refused to move as he watched Angel shake her seemingly lifeless body. If she was dead he wouldn't
be able to take it. She'd already left him once. He couldn't loose her again. He tried to focus his senses to pick up her heartbeat or possible her breathing, but he couldn't. He didn't know whether it was the fear of finding nothing the stopped it or if he was just too jostled. Either way he couldn't move.
"Uh...he had sharp teeth." Buffy said slowly as she was roused. "And bad breath." She added waving her hand and sat up slowly with Angel's help.
Spike was relieved a slow sigh escaped his mouth, and he fell to his knees buckling he was suddenly feeling exhausted. She was alive. She was all right, they had won. He kneeled there for a minute trying to compose himself. He let his head rest in the palm of his hands as the pain that his body was in began to register.
Buffy seemed to remember Spike suddenly and she looked sharply at Angel. "Spike? Where's Spike?" She gripped Angel's arms almost as if she were afraid he was gone. Her eyes were desperate as she waited for an answer.
Angel sputtered on his answer unable to understand her concern. When had this happened? "He's fine." Angel pointed across the Library to where Spike kneeled his head still in his hands. "He killed it."
Buffy swallowed and looked down at her stomach. The beast hadn't done as much damage with it's teeth as she'd feared. She could still breath and she wasn't bleeding too badly. Even though she knew she'd have to go to a hospital at least she wasn't going to die, because of Spike. "Help me up." She demanded ignoring the odd look Angel was giving her and pulled herself to her feet and limped toward her injured friend.
Spike looked up when he heard them coming toward him. Buffy was giving him a look he'd never seen before. It was almost as if she were afraid for him. He had never seen her look like that before. She slipped out of Angel's arms to kneel in front of him. "Are you all right?" She asked tentatively.
"Yeah." Spike mumbled. "Head bloody hurts like hell though." He said grinning a little and wiping the blood off with his fingers and my arm's stinging like bleedin' crazy." Before he could say anything else he felt her in his arms. Her hands where around his neck and she was hugging him to death, well more to death than he already was. Spike didn't know what to do for a second he just let her hug him. Her breath tickling his ear.
"I can't loose you Spike. Not you. Don't you ever leave me." She hugged him furiously for a moment and Spike finally had enough sense to hug her back his arms sneaking around her waist like he had always wanted to. A contented little grin settled across his face and he forget that Angel was standing not two feet away from them.
Buffy pulled back and smiled at him briefly and brushed some yellow gore off his cheek and flicked it away. "Now, don't ever pull something dumb like that again!" She said angrily and punched him in the arm initiating a growl from Spike. "You just ran off, no back up, and expect to face hell alone! Next time I'm going to leave you to fight alone."
Angel was confused, no he was beyond confused. When had Spike become mister all noble and when had Buffy started to care? First she was hugging him like he was her only link to life and then she was cursing him and punching his already wounded body.
"Jeez slayer. If you had been quicker on your feet I wouldn't had to go off and leave you. Maybe you should brush up on your skills." Spike quipped steadily and pulled himself to his feet. He wrapped his arm around Buffy's waist and pulled her up with him. "Now let's get you to the hospital and stitch up those holes. You're starting to look like a human pin cushion."
"Very funny Spike." Buffy mumbled under her breath and winced when she took a step forward. "Let's just get out of her. Come on Angel." She glanced over her shoulder and lifted her arm for him to walk under and he did. Together all three left the Library.
"You think we can kidnap Giles and make him come back here and predict all this stuff. If we had know it was going to happen 'this' wouldn't have happened." Buffy complained.
"Hmmm I might be able to get him for you pet, but he'd have to fly back in cargo." Spike told her.
"Don't think he'd like that." Buffy added. "Maybe we'll just have to get Willow some watcher training."
"Yeah send her to good old watcher school. She come back wearing tweed and packing her library book as an arsenal." Spike quipped and laughed which ended in a moan as he found out a few of his ribs must be cracked. "Ow."
Angel couldn't' think of anything to say as they made their way for the hospital. Somewhere along the way he had lost his place in the Buffy's heart. He knew she still loved him, but it was different. She didn't long for him. She longed for someone else and somehow it had become his eternal rival. He seemed to have obtained what Angel had always wanted. He had Buffy. That's why he had smelled her all over him. Even though it hurt that she would love Spike, a soulless vampire, the ache wasn't as bad as he'd expected. There was a reason for that he guessed and he'd have to figure it out eventually.
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Angel sat beside Buffy's bed waiting for her to wake up. It wasn't as if she was in danger of dying or anything. She was at home, she was safe and all her holes stitched up, as Spike had put it. She had told them both to leave that she would be fine as soon as she got some rest. Angel had watched the way her hands lingered on Spikes arm her fingers caressing his skin even if she didn't notice to the subtle gesture he did. He needed to know what it was. So sneaking in like he had in the old days he'd climbed through her window and sat by her bed watching her sleep. He didn't know how long he would wait, or even if he would really wake her up. Angel frowned as he fingered a lock of her hair and she stirred slightly under his ministrations.
"Hmmm..." She mumbled her eyes fluttering open as Angel pulled his hand back. She blinked in the darkness. He guessed to adjust her eyes and gave him a brief smile. "What are you doing here?"
Angel looked forlorn as he gazed at her sleep filled face. If only things had been different. "Do you love him?" He blurted suddenly not even asking how she was.
Buffy sat up wincing as she grabbed her stomach and leaned against the headboard and groaned. When she was in a comfortable enough position she sighed and looked at him intently. "Love who?"
"Spike." Angel said unable to keep the contempt out of his voice. Instead of the immediate look of disgust he was hoping for there was only a blank expression staring back at him. It did nothing to calm his fears.
"What kind of question is that?" Buffy snorted at a whisper. "We fight together. I'd even go as far as to say we're friends, but I...you came all the way here to ask me that?"
"He loves you." Angel said urgently. He was grasping at falling straws.
"So he's told me." She said slowly her face falling away from his eyes to her lap.
Angel watched keeping his hurt bottled on the inside. He could see it in her eyes. "He's in you Buffy." Angel swallowed almost not able to believe it. Why, of anybody, everybody, why him? "Deeper than I ever was."
Buffy looked up immediately shock written over her features. "Are you telling me...to go after Spike?"
"No," Angel recovered, "I'm not telling you anything. I don't like Spike, never really have. I just want to know what I see." He remembered the desperate look in her eyes when she asked about Spike and turned away from her gaze again.
"I guarantee you it's not love." Buffy said quickly and after a moment reached her arm out to stoke his hand.
Angel hid the hurt he felt with her hesitation. It wasn't right, not anymore. She may not love Spike, maybe she did, but she no longer loved him. Not anymore and surprisingly he knew he didn't either. Why did life work out like that. Was it fair that Spike, with no soul, no humanity had a shot with his love. "Then what is it?" He asked bitterly and pulled his arm out of her grasp. It hurt even more when she didn't protest. Growling under his breath Angel turned away from her and back to the window. Right before he jumped out he caught one last look at her. Her blond hair framing her perfect face and pert red lips. The beauty was still there, but his Buffy was gone. "I'm leaving, going back to LA tomorrow. I just want to tell you bye." He whispered before he stuck one leg out the window and started down the tree.
"Goodbye Angel."
Her dismissal held so much more than just bye and Angel could tell by the way her voice cracked slightly that she knew it too. They were through, forever.
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Alisa was shaking as the sweat dripped off her brow and into her eyes impairing her vision even more than it already was in the darkness. Everything was blurred and she couldn't make out her surroundings, but she knew something was close. It was a empty feeling in the pit of her stomach that screamed danger. Alisa wrapped her hand tighter around her stake and shook as a chill rose up her spine and through her body.
"Alisa! Alisa, turn around!"
Alisa whirled around quickly blinking and trying to focus on the blurred image in front of her. It sounded like Kirk. He was waving his arms frantically at her. "Kirk?" She asked and took a shaking step foreword her legs weak and unwilling to support her.
"Alisa we have to get out of here!" He yelled again and jumped.
"I can't see Kirk. Something's wrong. I don't know where I'm going." Alisa pleaded with him and placed her stake free hand on the wall and inched foreword slightly. "Help me."
"Come on Alisa. Hurry! We have to get out of here." Kirk called again, but he hadn't moved an inch.
Alisa could feel the tears building behind her eyes. Why wouldn't he help her? What wouldn't' he come and help? "Kirk?" Alisa called again. She stumbled foreword a wave of nausea washing over her. It seemed to take forever but eventually she reached the blurred form that sounded like her watcher. "Kirk, help me I can't see. I'm sick." Alisa reached her arm out and grabbed hold of his shoulder to steady herself as blackness swept across her vision threatening to pull her in.
"Hold on to me." Kirk whispered his voice almost rasping in the darkness.
"Kirk?" Alisa asked as she gripped his shoulder tighter. "What..." Her voice trailed off when and snaked around her waist and held her close and almost violently to his chest.
"Everything's all right now." His voice whispered to her hollowly. "Don't worry."
Alisa knew there was something wrong. His voice was all wrong and his touch was leaving her feeling filthy. "Let me go." She pleaded slowly as his arm tightened and the stake dropped from her now lifeless fingers and came crashing to the ground with a clatter. "Why can't I see you who are you?"
"I'm Kirk." The figure said happily.
"I...I..." Alisa trailed off as Kirk pulled her closer and somehow her power was drained and she couldn't pull away from him.
"Don't worry. Everything will be over soon, slayer." Kirk said and pulled her closer to him.
"I can't. I can't see you." Alisa whispered as Kirk pulled her closer something cold pressing against her stomach. Before she could get another word out he shoved it in her stomach stealing her breath as her mouth opened wide, but no sound came out.
Alisa felt his hands leave her side and she was falling. She didn't even feel herself hit the ground, only the fire that radiated from the wound in her stomach. She couldn't breathe everything was going back. She blinked her eyes on the blurred world around her as she slowly. Her eyes shut and opened one more time and through the blur she caught sight of another figure standing in front of her. He was tall, dressed in leather with almost white hair.
"Told you to watch your back Slayer." His face became clear in the darkness and he smirked at her lazily. "Things aren't always what they seem." He reached down toward her stomach and pressed his hand on the wound. "Trust only what you can see."
Alisa woke with a start her breath hitching as her hands flew to her stomach searching for the wound that should have been there. She was almost shocked to find her hand blood free and the pain gone. Sweat poured off her body making her tanktop and shorts stick to her clammy skin. Shaking slightly Alisa realized it had been a dream. Not only that but a prophetic one. It was like the dreams she'd had before she came to Sunnydale. All of them involved her death and each time it was by some shadow claiming to be her watcher. She'd never told Kirk about that aspect of the dream. Kirk would never hurt her. Never.
Alisa pushed the thick covers off her over heated body and set her barefeet on the carpet floor. She needed something to drink. Keeping her steps light so as not to wake Kirk Alisa pushed past his door and toward the kitchen. The only thing that had been different about this dream was the appearance of the bleached vampire. She'd recognize his face anywhere and that hair. It baffled her why he was there. Was it to help, or had he been the one who stabbed her? As she was contemplating the possibility she stepped around the corner to the small kitchen and was met with a low snoring.
Snuggled among his books and a thin lap top was Kirk. His hair was bedraggled and falling into his eyes and over his glasses that had gone askew on his nose. His fist was wrapped around a pencil and the papers surrounded him like a blanket of white. A small smile quirked her lips as she gazed at him. He was impossibly cute. Sneaking to his side Alisa was unable to resist the urge to brush a few of his locks out of his face. He only stirred slightly his fist unclenching and the pencil slipped from his fingers. She ran her fingers down his cheeks and back away from him leaving him to rest for a moment longer. She'd wake him up before she went back to her room.
Grabbing a glass out of the cabinet Alisa made it to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of orange juice. She had the glass halfway full when she heard Kirk stir and the other room and his almost inaudible grunt as she came awake.
"What...who..." he started and looked around for a moment rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses and turned to where Alisa was busy downing the remains of her orange juice. "What time is it?" He asked slowly trying to focus on his watch with his sleep laden eyes.
"A little past two." Alisa said putting the glass on the counter and replacing the cap on the orange juice.
"What are you doing up?" He asked as he rolled his neck trying to get the crick out and winced when he was hit with the stiffness.
"I couldn't sleep." Alisa said mostly truthfully. "That's all." She turned away from his knowing eyes and walked back to replace the orange juice. "I was going to wake up before I went back to bed. I didn't think you'd want to spend the night sleeping on a table. It didn't look too comfortable."
"No, it isn't." Kirk said agreed. "I was uh...looking for stuff on that vampire you ran into."
"Did you find anything?" Alisa asked casually and vaulted herself onto the kitchen counter and crossed her legs.
"I found a little. He didn't tell you his name right." Alisa nodded. "Yeah, well I decided to start with Buffy Summers. It turns out she was a slayer."
Alisa swallowed. "Did he kill her. Was she was one of his victims?"
"No actually it reports in Buffy's twentieth year she was confronted with a hell god by the name of glory, according to her watcher's diary, and the vampire, Spike, same blond hair and leather duster from England helped her. It turns out that he had a chip of some kind placed in his brain that didn't allow him to hurt humans." Kirk said scanning over a couple of printed papers he had been sleeping on.
"Wait. This vampire hurt me though. I mean I didn't really fight with him, but he pushed me and twisted my arm." Alisa rolled her wrist slightly remembering the pain.
"I don't know for sure, it could have stopped working. Maybe it did and he killed her in the end." Kirk whispered. "I don't really know everything. It was hard to find. I just started to dive into this vampire's past. I might add that that's pretty colorful."
"Why would he help in the first place. Vampire's are evil, they have no soul, no feelings, no compassion. What would he have to benefit from helping. If a hell god was in charge havoc ruled. He would have been in heaven, well demon heaven anyway." Alisa added shortly. "It doesn't make any sense. If this is the same vampire."
"Well that's the only reason I could guess he would be hanging around the grave of Buffy Summers. According to the Watcher, his name was um...Rupert Giles... "...surprising me the most is the emotional display by Spike. As the sunlight poured over the wreckage of the fight with a hell god he crouched in the shadows his eyes trained on her lifeless body. Even I can't deny the hurt he is obviously feeling. Even if I don't really know what to make of it there where tears streaming from his eyes. He feels bad about her death, a vampire with no soul morning the death of a slayer. Buffy jumped to save her sister and Spike almost died to protect her. I continue to be shocked by everything that has to do with Buffy Summers..." Kirk trailed off and turned away from the papers. "I'm looking for the rest of his diary. It seems as if the Watcher's council is having a hard time locating it. He was disowned by the council for a good while and they didn't ask for his diaries until much later."
"She fought a hell god." Alisa asked. "I hope I don't have to do that. So she died when she was twenty, only three years older than me."
Kirk frowned as he caught the worry crossing her face. He knew that she feared death. She was only seventeen it wasn't fair that she had to think about her impending end all that time, but it was a price. She was a slayer and death was something she had to face. "Actually the grave stone that resides in Sunnydale cemetery right now states the occupant died at the age of thirty. Some ten years later."
"How's that possible?" Alisa asked as she yawned shortly. The late night was catching up to her.
"Like I said still researching. Maybe you should get back to sleep. You still have to figure out about your dreams not to mention the arrival of a new vampire." Kirk said checking over her weary appearance and frowning.
"I'm not going to deny that I'm tired, but you should get some sleep too." Alisa said and jumped off the counter. She rounded the corner and stood by Kirk's side. Alisa cupped his cheek lightly and placed a chaste kiss on his face before sliding around the corner and back to her room.
Kirk shoved his hands in his pockets as he watched her leave and sighed. His slayer. He was her watcher sworn to protect her and to guide her against the forces of evil and he wanted nothing more than to take her away from all of it. He loved everything about her. The way she moved her voice her eyes. She was perfect in his eyes and he was supposed to send her to her death. He couldn't tell her he loved her then send her to her to fight a creature that would kill if given the chance and if the council ever found out he would be stripped of his duties and released. He couldn't risk that. Kirk looked back at the computer and multiple print outs. He really wouldn't' get the rest of the diaries until tomorrow. Deciding sleep could do him some good Kirk left the livingroom and retired to his room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~```````
"Did you see him?" Cordelia asked as she dropped the book in her lap and gazed at Angel for a moment. He was hanging his head, brooding, something she had thought she'd broken him of, but apparently one angst filled conversation brought it back in full swing. "I'm going to take that 'don't-even ask-look' to mean that it didn't." She got off the couch walked toward the man she loved and wrapped her arms around his neck pressing a reassuring kiss on his cheek.
Angel feel into her familiar hold. He had gotten used to her comfort over these years. She had been there through it all. When his son died she was beside him as slowly each of them lost the people and friends that were important to them she was there. She never got scared she never left him. She was his rock. The once ditsy cheerleader had died a long time ago. In the wake of what she'd been stood a stunning woman whose compassion rivaled even that of the ever giving slayer that had once held his heart in her hands.
"He's being stubborn." Angel ground out and pulled her closer to his body pressing her against him. "Says saving the world isn't his 'gig'." Angel said the last bit sarcastically.
"You can only do so much." Cordelia said slowly and pulled back just enough to look into his eyes. "I have the visions we try to stop the impending doom. It's what we do, what we've always done." Despite her best efforts to hide it a deep sigh escaped her throat.
"What is it." Angel asked not letting the sigh escape him. He was the king of sadness he knew when someone was depressed.
"Nothing." Cordelia lied and pulled away from him so he couldn't feel her blood pumping, an automatic lie detector and sat back on the medium sized hotel bed and picked up her book again. "I just thought that for once things would be easy." She scanned over the pages for a moment before settling back to reading.
Angel watched under the dim light of the hotel lamp and shrugged his way out of his trenchcoat. He pulled off the sweater he was wearing over his T-shirt next and laid them both on the floor before crawling up the bed to set his head in Cordelia's lap. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him ignoring the way she shifted trying to pull away from him. He didn't want to move.
"Angel come on I'm trying to read." She said in half annoyance and brushed his head off her lap. "Go find a pillow."
"I guess we go see the new slayer." Angel said slowly as he settled against her skin still refusing to move. "I mean they shouldn't be too hard to find. Maybe if we warn them whatever you saw what come to pass."
"Maybe." Cordy said in slight distraction and flipped the page. "I don't interpret the visions honey I just have them." She sighed again and reached to her side dropping her book on the floor. "I can't read with you doing that." She ground at him and sunk into the pillows piled on the headboard her hand coming to run calmly through his hair.
"Doing what." Angel asked innocently and continued to purr semi growl making his chest vibrate as he settled himself on her stomach.
Cordelia giggled. "That. I still can't believe you do that."
"I've been doing it for years." Angel said seriously and propped himself on his palms and placed a passionate kiss on her lips.
Cordelia smiled as he slipped back down and lay again. She loved him, god she loved him with every fiber of her being, but lately she had been restless. She didn't know Angel had done it living for so many years, never aging, never seeing what a future would hold. She actually wanted to know what it would be like to get old. That was enough to frighten her. She had never wanted to get old, but lately she wondered what it was like for normal people to grow old with the ones they loved, to see their children grow up and get married. She had watched Connor grow up just like Angel had, but that had been different. They watched Conner grow up and they slowly watched him die in the end. Sure he still had family alive as it was. Connor had gotten married had a family. Angel saw them often. They were his only link to the past and they were the freaky great, great, great, something or another aunt and uncle who never aged. Was it wrong to want an end?
"Mmmm." Angel mumbled under her ministrations her fingers massaging his scalp slowly.
Cordelia was pulled from her thoughts by that sound. She had heard him use it often. It always made his adam's apple bob vibrate slowly. Her eyes focused on the golden ring encircling her finger and gazed at it fondly as he love slipped into a contented sleep. He had been so nervous asking her. He wanted her to understand that it was okay to say no. He would never be able to give her children, he couldn't really, not really, with her. It sounded lame, but they never had. Not in over a hundred years they never had. Angel was afraid of losing his soul and Cordelia was keen on having him kill her. So they never went that far, even though she was never left unsatisfied she wondering when the powers that be would cut them a break. Angel had suffered enough, the both had. As far as she was concerned Angel was well over do for a miracle.
"He looked depressed."
Cordelia almost jumped at the sound of his voice. She'd thought he'd drifted off to sleep. "What?" She asked and ran her hand down his back scratching it with her nails.
"Spike, he looked really depressed. I wonder if he's seen any of Dawn's, or Xander and Anya's family recently. He has a tendency to become disconnected." Angel said and rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling. "Maybe we should make him come back to LA with us."
"I don't think that would be too good for mister English king of the depressed. Last time he lived with us I think seeing you with me almost threw him over the edge. Buffy had been dead for almost forty years and he still missed her. I don't know if you saw it between the glares of vampiric dominance you through at each other but he was hurting a lot back then."
"He still is." Angel said slowly. "I can tell. He doesn't quite have the fire to the insults like he used to. I'm sorry to say I miss the old Spike sometimes." Angel said distantly. "We were never friends, probably never will be but we understood each other."
"Yeah, you and your children." Cordy said suppressing a snort. "Everyone of them crazy."
"If he doesn't help us I don't know what's going to happen." Angel said after a long pause. "I don't know how to convince him of something he should already know. He's not evil. He hasn't fed off a human in a long time. He's performed more than one act of selfless heroism. I think I even remember him sending Dawn's great, great granddaughters Christmas cards."
"Maybe it's just the fact that this involves a slayer." Cordelia said slowly. "It could bring up bad memories. I don't know how long vampires brood over their loved ones, but it looks like Spike has taken mourning to an intense extreme."
"He wasn't ready for her to die yet." Angel said his hands reaching for her's and intertwining their fingers. "When she died for real it shattered him."
"You weren't their." Cordelia said slowly knowing it was a sore spot for Angel. She understood his feelings for the girl. She had been his first love. He would always love her even if their paths would never cross again. "You don't know everything that happened."
"I felt it though. I felt his pain when he found her. His insides were screaming and without knowing it he contacted me. He told me that she was dead. It was like when I knew Drusilla had died. Even if I never like the nutcase I didn't want her to die. He linked to me because he was in trouble, because he didn't know what to do."
"Does he know he did that?"
"No. He just figured someone told me. I never told him that." Angel sighed and kissed the back of her hand. "We could spend a century talking about Spike's problems."
"Jeez you go from ultra sensitive to ultra insensitive in like two seconds." Cordelia snorted. "Typical man."
"Well, I'm tired and I want to sleep. We have to talk to a slayer tomorrow and possibly fight off an over active watcher, and eventually I'll have to talk to him again. We have to keep trying." Angel trailed off into silence as he lifted himself up and shed his shoes. He dropped them on the floor along with his pants and pulled Cordelia under the covers with him and held her close as sleep washed over the both of them.
Tell me how you likes….