"The Books of Aurelius" The history of a Vampire: Thirteen
Flashes
===========================================================================
When your body does not decay one tends to lose all concepts of haste. The days in the Order were filled with a routine of work and training plus a lot of pleasures and friendship.
~ * ~
"So when you use the tip of your sword to dance around me it's not just as an defensive move but also to create a distance between us to prepare for your next counterstrike." Angelus spoke after swallowing a spoonful of the ice cream he brought.
"hmm mm," was all Buffy could answer. "This is really good pecan ice cream. Thank you so much for getting this for me. I so needed a shot of frozen sin."
Angelus regarded her for a moment almost as if he'd waited for another remark but then he shook his head and said: "Well you did win it."
"True!" Buffy smiled. "What's your favorite food?" Funny, I never asked Angel that. Why do I want to know now? Well, maybe because you two are having a civilized conversation and it's the polite question to ask. Miss 'ya momma taught you' manners The voice in her head was interrupted by Angelus.
"Good question! Ehmm, I would have to say. The still beating heart of a virgin. Yes that is probably my favorite." Great, I had to ask! Buffy thought while mentally rolling her eyes at herself.
~ * ~
Buffy was on her way to Lissane's room at the top of the Solicitor's Tower that stood proudly above the Aurelius' Headquarters. The tower held a semicircular staircase that had a small landing at every floor with doors on one side and the outer tower wall on the other.
The doors on the floor beneath her opened just as she reached Lissane's landing and she heard the laughing voice of Ramona. "Well, Angelus isn't just a gorgeous and sophisticated man but he is also nimble. You should really see the way he can bend. You might even get a chance because he has refused yet another one of Darla's numerous requests to mate her." Their laughter faded down the stairs.
Nimble? Him? Buffy thought while making a mental note to ask Charles what mating meant exactly.
~ * ~
Angelus felt more than he saw the blade headed for his neck. Buffy had almost completed a defensive twirl around her axe and was using her current momentum to swing her blade at him from behind her body. This move left him no other choice than to bend his body away from the blade trajectory. Buffy fell into a fit of laughter when she saw his body bend backwards at a very odd angle.
"Ramona didn't lie about the being nimble part." She said in between giggles.
"Lying was never the issue with Ramona. The fact that she gossips like an old spinster is why I do not converse with her anymore." Angelus said with a semi serious face.
Buffy started to laugh even harder. "Converse. Is that what they are calling it these days? And if I got my information straight. Ramona is an old spinster. She just looks like a thirty year old." She was rewarded with a roaring laugh from Angelus for her remark. "I'll try not to be that loose lipped." Buffy continued. Angelus merely arched one of his eyebrows in a suggestive look. "Even if you ask me to be." She quickly amended with a slap to his upper arm.
~ * ~
Charles and Buffy were seated in his living room for their weekly dinner. A fledgling had just served them what at face value looked like a simple tomato soup. It was actually a sophisticated brew that consisted of human blood, tomatoes, anti-coagulant and basil to add a delicate taste.
Charles finished up his explanations about the state of the clan clusters around the world.
"One can only hope that the cluster in Vienna is grossly exaggerating the numbers of Newly Borne and fledglings arising in the St. 'lynovich clusters in Poland. But enough of that! How have you been this week, my Childe?"
"I'm doing great. The trainings with Angelus are not too bad. He's actually a gentleman." She looked up at Charles who, in turn, looked at her curiously. "Well, most of the time." She said. "Lissane, Mitch and I are currently studying Sebacean. It's a very poetic language. Mitch can say the sweetest things in it."
"Can he now?" Charles smiled. "So you are enjoying his company I gather."
Buffy had finished off her plate of soup. "Yes, Mitch as well as Lissane have become close friends of mine. This reminds me, I have a question."
Charles ordered the fledgling to clear the plates and bring the main course with a flick of his wrist. "And what would that question be, my Dear?"
Suddenly Buffy felt shy. "I, ehm, heard these 2 females discuss, ehm, mating. Now I know that vampires have mates but I never really gave it much thought. The thing is that I always thought it was kind of like a vampire marriage but the way they said it made it sound like more than that."
Charles was surprised to say the least. She thinks about Mitchell and Lissane and then remembers a question about mating. This is going faster then I thought but I cannot say I'm displeased. Tread careful, old boy! You do not want to scare her of by being too joyous. He settled back into his chair and used his explanatory tone of voice.
"Well technically the mating is a magical enchantment. Because normal vampires have no notion of the concept of monogamy, the mating is meant to channel, how shall I say, 'the overactive libido' of a vampire solely towards its mate. There have been mentions of mates being joined by another but they are only found in very obscure texts. The effects of mating are different for every vampire couple but the most common effects are feeling each other's emotions like sires and childes do, or hearing the others thoughts in time of need. There have even been cases where the vampires were able to exchange power to the other in a crisis. Usually the vampires spontaneously combusts when their mate dies."
Buffy had been listening in rapture while eating her steak. "And how does one perform this mating?"
"Usually the mates choose a special time but that has no bearing on the casting of the enchantment. The vampires exchange blood and then they recite the words of the enchantment. The mark of the mate will stay permanently and is usually placed on the other side of the neck from the sire's bite to indicate that a vampire is mated. "
~ * ~
They were sweating so hard that their clothes stuck to their bodies. Today had been a really exhausting training session. In the last months Angelus had improved greatly and was slowly becoming more and more of a challenge for Buffy. A knock on the door announced a visitor. Buffy yelled for them to enter and the minion that appeared with a large butler's tray went straight for their place in the middle of the practice mat. "Great it's here!" Buffy exclaimed. "I figured that we should celebrate your first win in our little sparring sessions." She gestured to the tray for him to lift the top off. The plate inside contained one beating human heart.
Angelus was amazed. "You remembered my favorite food."
"I don't think it's a virgin but who's nitpicking. Enjoy!" she answered.
Buffy escorted the minion back to the door. "You did what I asked right?"
"Yes Miss, the young man was coughing just like you asked for and I drugged him with the chloroform like you told me, right before I harvested the heart."
"Well done." She smiled before she closed the door behind him.
~ * ~
They stood in line on the mat and started the sword forms they had been practicing this whole month. Buffy breached the silence first.
"Did you hear about Donna and Marcus?"
TWO STEPS FORWARD AND TURN LEFT, BLOCK AT FACE HEIGHT' WITH SWORD.
"You refer to that nice little fight in the courtyard yesterday?"
HACK LEFT, HACK RIGHT. TURN AND STEP FORWARD WHILE HACK FRONT.
"I hear she grouched out his eyes because he looked 'funny' at the waitress again. It should teach him."
SWING SWORD ABOVE HEAD AND STAB DOWN ALONG RIGHT PART OF THE BODY, STEP BACK.
"I'm sure it will."
BRING SWORD AROUND STAB FORWARD AND TURN OUTWARD TO THE LEFT, SWING SWORD IN FRONT.
"I just don't get why he couldn't just keep looking at his table companion. I mean how hard can it be to look at a woman as beautiful as Donna?"
PULL FEET TOGETHER AND RAISE THE SWORD TO DEFENSIVE POSITION. START AGAIN.
"Do not ask me. I have no problems keeping my eyes on my beautiful companion." Angelus said while taking another long look at Buffy's back in front of him.
~ * ~
Buffy looked at the package in her hands. It was wrapped in a soft pink colored crêpes wrapping paper. Angelus had handed it to her before the training started and she had been distracted by it doing the whole thing. Now finally she got to open it but she wasn't sure what to think of it much less whether or not she wanted to find out what was inside.
It contained a beautiful large shawl, done in a vibrant purple silk embroidered with pink flowers and soft green leaves.
Angelus wanted her to say something but she didn't so he spoke instead. "I bought it for you because something so beautiful deserves something even more gorgeous for it to wrap around."
"I love it, Angelus, But I cannot take it if you think it will lead to us being anything more than we are right now."
If at first one does not succeed. Try again later. "Then accepting the gift will not be a problem."
~ * ~
Darla turned to her other side when Angelus slipped into their bed. The training sessions with that infuriating little bitch used to start around sunset but somehow they had progressed into the early hours of the morning and Angelus hardly ever made it to their bed before dawn. She reached out and touched his chest in the way she knew he loved but he grumbled something under his breath and turned the other way. Please not again. "Angelus?" she inquired.
"Yes, what do ya want?"
What I have always wanted! She scooted over to his side of the bed and arched her leg around his hip. "How about some one on one time, my darling?" She purred into his ear. While moving her hand across his face and down to his throat.
"I'm tired, Darla. Maybe tomorrow."
She tightened her grip, clearly ready to tear his throat out and whispered into his ear. "Dust cannot train and you will be dust if you do not turn around and do what you are supposed to, right now." When she felt the muscles in his back working at moving his front towards her, she released the hold on his throat and turned to lie on her back. A sigh left her when she felt his mouth on her nipple and his hand reaching towards her vagina. "Yes, my boy. That's what I turned you for."
~ * ~
The Master stood on his podium at the end of the Ballroom. The entire Order had gathered there, including the fledglings.
"Welcome, Order of Aurelius! To the Feast of Candidatorum. Tonight those of you in line for the first position in this Order will strengthen that bond by drinking from my blood. The source of our Order's existence."
Charles rose to his feet and stood next to the Master. "I am your oldest child but I waved my rights to be your first beneficiarius a long time ago and I wave them again tonight. Darla will take my place."
The Master nodded and Darla walked in front of him. She turned around to face the room filled with vampires and the Master offered her his wrist. She took four strong pulls of his blood before releasing him and sitting down. Angelus rose from his place beside her and walked up to the Master. A voice from the crowd stopped him.
"It is not without question that you drink from him, Angelus. You are no longer the only second beneficiarius in line. With the arrival of Charles' new Childe there is another contestant." It was Charia who spoke loud enough for the entire Order to hear, while walking to the front of the podium. "It would be different if you were mated to the first beneficiarius. We all know that a mated couple holds the strongest future linage for this Order and is the best representation of the Order in foreign affairs. More importantly if Darla is unable to obtain a mate then maybe she should not be first in line for next year's Candidatorum."
Laughter rippled through the clans tables and the fledglings whispered amongst themselves. Darla's gaze alternated between vile when she looked at Charia and hopeless when she looked at Angelus.
Buffy knew she had to do something, she just wasn't sure what. If she chose to contest Angelus' place as second then he would have no other choice but to mate with Darla to keep her place as well as his own safe. Because there was no question as to whom would win that fight and even though she was not sure about her feelings towards this Angelus she did feel a pain in her chest when she thought about him mated to Darla. But if she chose not to then she would lose her own right at the Candidatorum and maybe disappoint Charles. The same Charles who was now looking at her because he felt her own inner turmoil and that whispered to her: "I would not think less of you if you chose not to participate in the Candidatorum. I think I have enough for you to do without you becoming involved in this hornets' nest, however much that would please Charia." Buffy sighed with relief. I have a lot to learn about you, Charles. But I guess we have eternity to do it.
"I wave my rights to the Candidatorum for this year and ask Angelus to take my place as beneficiarius." She spoke in a clear voice above the noise of the crowd.
Angelus turned to look at her and before his usual mask slipped on again she thought she saw something resembling gratitude. A look that not only Buffy caught.
~ * ~
Angelus blocked the oncoming fist and threw a punch to his opponent's midsection.
"I want to thank you for not challenging me last night."
Buffy turned away from the fist headed for her midsection and grabbed the head that was now behind and above her.
"Sure, no problem! I know you would make a better leader than me anyway."
He let her flip him but as his back hit the ground he pulled at her pants trying to take her with him in the rotation.
"You really think I would be a good leader?"
Buffy continued rolling until she was out of his range and then turned around on her knees to regard him. Was that insecurity she heard in his voice?
"Do you not think so yourself?"
I can trust her! She has been nothing but respectful to me and has never divulged anything we say to each other to anyone. She even defended me when those rumors about the Master's orders surfaced. Tell her! "I'm not sure you could understand." His traitorous mouth said. ya bloody chicken
"All right. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"Thank you" Angelus said relieved. He stood up to retrieve his towel assuming the fight was over.
At that Buffy launched herself from her place on her knees and straight into his chest, sending a stumbling Angelus to the ground. While Buffy rolled through the move and stood to loom over him. "Never, think the fight is over. An old…" Buffy pondered what to call him in her former life. "…lover told me that."
Somehow the mention of Buffy and lovers made him spill his guts. "My father never told me anything except what a failure I was. In his eyes I was always a lad, never a true man. I fear I will not be strong enough to be a true leader when push comes to shove."
Buffy felt her heart constrict and expand. He actually confided in me. Even Angel never told me this. But what do I tell him now? How about just telling him what's in your heart. "I'm sorry your father never saw your true potential but I'm glad you felt like you could share this with me. I can't tell you that you will be a great leader. All I can tell you is that with me you have always been kind, considerate and a gentleman." Wow, girlfriend. You, suddenly, channeling the counselor. Maybe that should have been your calling instead of slayer. Would have been a lot easier to tell Mom, that's for sure.
Angelus made use of her pondering to swing his legs around and send her to the floor butt first.
"Never think the fight is over." He laughed.
~ * ~
The trees in Hyde Park were full of luster and green. The winter had given way to a short spring and that had blossomed into a full summer. Nothing like California but somehow the winter cold and spring rains made summer an event to appreciate. 1800 had turned into 1801 and to Buffy, Sunnydale and the next 2 centuries seemed planets away. Sometimes when she missed her sister and her home too much she would walk through the park at midnight and look up at the moon. Thinking about the light reflected from the stars and how long it had taken to get there to illuminate the park, helped her so she could put her own path into perspective and remind herself that she would return home one day. All she had to do was stay alive or rather undead, as the case may be.
That was why she was in the park that evening. Strolling along its windy lanes, looking at the luster of the trees, dreaming of a time to come. The daydream had her so strongly in its claws that she failed to feel the tingle of another vampire close by. A pair of hands pulled her into the bushes before the got a chance to struggle and now those same hands were across her mouth and abdomen. The hands belonged to a large and muscled vampire and Buffy began to be afraid for her unlife until Darla stepped into her line of vision. The relief at seeing a familiar face lasted for only a few seconds, then Buffy realized that Darla would risk the enraging the Master and kill her to be done with the treat Buffy posed to Angelus' beneficiarius. In truth it was all much simpler than that.
"I am here to give you your first and final warning, little girl. So hear me and hear me well. You will stay away from Angelus. You will make it clear to him that he is nothing to you and after that you will shorten your training sessions with him and keep any contact between you as cold as possible. I think you are smart enough to understand the consequences if you do not comply. Do not fool yourself into thinking that Charles will keep you safe from my wrath. It has come to my attention that Theresa has adquired a very ambitious Childe for herself and that the both of them have also gained a great deal of respect within the warrior clan. You see, you as well as Charles are dispensable. You have until the next full moon to return Angelus to his place beside me or else."
And with that last warning Buffy was pushed by the hands through the foilage hiding the clearing from the road. When she stumbled apon it the road was deserted and by the time she even considered returning to the clearing, she knew that Darla would have been long gone. She needed to go home and think about what had just happened and how she felt about it.
===========================================================================
Flashes
===========================================================================
When your body does not decay one tends to lose all concepts of haste. The days in the Order were filled with a routine of work and training plus a lot of pleasures and friendship.
"So when you use the tip of your sword to dance around me it's not just as an defensive move but also to create a distance between us to prepare for your next counterstrike." Angelus spoke after swallowing a spoonful of the ice cream he brought.
"hmm mm," was all Buffy could answer. "This is really good pecan ice cream. Thank you so much for getting this for me. I so needed a shot of frozen sin."
Angelus regarded her for a moment almost as if he'd waited for another remark but then he shook his head and said: "Well you did win it."
"True!" Buffy smiled. "What's your favorite food?" Funny, I never asked Angel that. Why do I want to know now? Well, maybe because you two are having a civilized conversation and it's the polite question to ask. Miss 'ya momma taught you' manners The voice in her head was interrupted by Angelus.
"Good question! Ehmm, I would have to say. The still beating heart of a virgin. Yes that is probably my favorite." Great, I had to ask! Buffy thought while mentally rolling her eyes at herself.
Buffy was on her way to Lissane's room at the top of the Solicitor's Tower that stood proudly above the Aurelius' Headquarters. The tower held a semicircular staircase that had a small landing at every floor with doors on one side and the outer tower wall on the other.
The doors on the floor beneath her opened just as she reached Lissane's landing and she heard the laughing voice of Ramona. "Well, Angelus isn't just a gorgeous and sophisticated man but he is also nimble. You should really see the way he can bend. You might even get a chance because he has refused yet another one of Darla's numerous requests to mate her." Their laughter faded down the stairs.
Nimble? Him? Buffy thought while making a mental note to ask Charles what mating meant exactly.
Angelus felt more than he saw the blade headed for his neck. Buffy had almost completed a defensive twirl around her axe and was using her current momentum to swing her blade at him from behind her body. This move left him no other choice than to bend his body away from the blade trajectory. Buffy fell into a fit of laughter when she saw his body bend backwards at a very odd angle.
"Ramona didn't lie about the being nimble part." She said in between giggles.
"Lying was never the issue with Ramona. The fact that she gossips like an old spinster is why I do not converse with her anymore." Angelus said with a semi serious face.
Buffy started to laugh even harder. "Converse. Is that what they are calling it these days? And if I got my information straight. Ramona is an old spinster. She just looks like a thirty year old." She was rewarded with a roaring laugh from Angelus for her remark. "I'll try not to be that loose lipped." Buffy continued. Angelus merely arched one of his eyebrows in a suggestive look. "Even if you ask me to be." She quickly amended with a slap to his upper arm.
Charles and Buffy were seated in his living room for their weekly dinner. A fledgling had just served them what at face value looked like a simple tomato soup. It was actually a sophisticated brew that consisted of human blood, tomatoes, anti-coagulant and basil to add a delicate taste.
Charles finished up his explanations about the state of the clan clusters around the world.
"One can only hope that the cluster in Vienna is grossly exaggerating the numbers of Newly Borne and fledglings arising in the St. 'lynovich clusters in Poland. But enough of that! How have you been this week, my Childe?"
"I'm doing great. The trainings with Angelus are not too bad. He's actually a gentleman." She looked up at Charles who, in turn, looked at her curiously. "Well, most of the time." She said. "Lissane, Mitch and I are currently studying Sebacean. It's a very poetic language. Mitch can say the sweetest things in it."
"Can he now?" Charles smiled. "So you are enjoying his company I gather."
Buffy had finished off her plate of soup. "Yes, Mitch as well as Lissane have become close friends of mine. This reminds me, I have a question."
Charles ordered the fledgling to clear the plates and bring the main course with a flick of his wrist. "And what would that question be, my Dear?"
Suddenly Buffy felt shy. "I, ehm, heard these 2 females discuss, ehm, mating. Now I know that vampires have mates but I never really gave it much thought. The thing is that I always thought it was kind of like a vampire marriage but the way they said it made it sound like more than that."
Charles was surprised to say the least. She thinks about Mitchell and Lissane and then remembers a question about mating. This is going faster then I thought but I cannot say I'm displeased. Tread careful, old boy! You do not want to scare her of by being too joyous. He settled back into his chair and used his explanatory tone of voice.
"Well technically the mating is a magical enchantment. Because normal vampires have no notion of the concept of monogamy, the mating is meant to channel, how shall I say, 'the overactive libido' of a vampire solely towards its mate. There have been mentions of mates being joined by another but they are only found in very obscure texts. The effects of mating are different for every vampire couple but the most common effects are feeling each other's emotions like sires and childes do, or hearing the others thoughts in time of need. There have even been cases where the vampires were able to exchange power to the other in a crisis. Usually the vampires spontaneously combusts when their mate dies."
Buffy had been listening in rapture while eating her steak. "And how does one perform this mating?"
"Usually the mates choose a special time but that has no bearing on the casting of the enchantment. The vampires exchange blood and then they recite the words of the enchantment. The mark of the mate will stay permanently and is usually placed on the other side of the neck from the sire's bite to indicate that a vampire is mated. "
They were sweating so hard that their clothes stuck to their bodies. Today had been a really exhausting training session. In the last months Angelus had improved greatly and was slowly becoming more and more of a challenge for Buffy. A knock on the door announced a visitor. Buffy yelled for them to enter and the minion that appeared with a large butler's tray went straight for their place in the middle of the practice mat. "Great it's here!" Buffy exclaimed. "I figured that we should celebrate your first win in our little sparring sessions." She gestured to the tray for him to lift the top off. The plate inside contained one beating human heart.
Angelus was amazed. "You remembered my favorite food."
"I don't think it's a virgin but who's nitpicking. Enjoy!" she answered.
Buffy escorted the minion back to the door. "You did what I asked right?"
"Yes Miss, the young man was coughing just like you asked for and I drugged him with the chloroform like you told me, right before I harvested the heart."
"Well done." She smiled before she closed the door behind him.
They stood in line on the mat and started the sword forms they had been practicing this whole month. Buffy breached the silence first.
"Did you hear about Donna and Marcus?"
TWO STEPS FORWARD AND TURN LEFT, BLOCK AT FACE HEIGHT' WITH SWORD.
"You refer to that nice little fight in the courtyard yesterday?"
HACK LEFT, HACK RIGHT. TURN AND STEP FORWARD WHILE HACK FRONT.
"I hear she grouched out his eyes because he looked 'funny' at the waitress again. It should teach him."
SWING SWORD ABOVE HEAD AND STAB DOWN ALONG RIGHT PART OF THE BODY, STEP BACK.
"I'm sure it will."
BRING SWORD AROUND STAB FORWARD AND TURN OUTWARD TO THE LEFT, SWING SWORD IN FRONT.
"I just don't get why he couldn't just keep looking at his table companion. I mean how hard can it be to look at a woman as beautiful as Donna?"
PULL FEET TOGETHER AND RAISE THE SWORD TO DEFENSIVE POSITION. START AGAIN.
"Do not ask me. I have no problems keeping my eyes on my beautiful companion." Angelus said while taking another long look at Buffy's back in front of him.
Buffy looked at the package in her hands. It was wrapped in a soft pink colored crêpes wrapping paper. Angelus had handed it to her before the training started and she had been distracted by it doing the whole thing. Now finally she got to open it but she wasn't sure what to think of it much less whether or not she wanted to find out what was inside.
It contained a beautiful large shawl, done in a vibrant purple silk embroidered with pink flowers and soft green leaves.
Angelus wanted her to say something but she didn't so he spoke instead. "I bought it for you because something so beautiful deserves something even more gorgeous for it to wrap around."
"I love it, Angelus, But I cannot take it if you think it will lead to us being anything more than we are right now."
If at first one does not succeed. Try again later. "Then accepting the gift will not be a problem."
Darla turned to her other side when Angelus slipped into their bed. The training sessions with that infuriating little bitch used to start around sunset but somehow they had progressed into the early hours of the morning and Angelus hardly ever made it to their bed before dawn. She reached out and touched his chest in the way she knew he loved but he grumbled something under his breath and turned the other way. Please not again. "Angelus?" she inquired.
"Yes, what do ya want?"
What I have always wanted! She scooted over to his side of the bed and arched her leg around his hip. "How about some one on one time, my darling?" She purred into his ear. While moving her hand across his face and down to his throat.
"I'm tired, Darla. Maybe tomorrow."
She tightened her grip, clearly ready to tear his throat out and whispered into his ear. "Dust cannot train and you will be dust if you do not turn around and do what you are supposed to, right now." When she felt the muscles in his back working at moving his front towards her, she released the hold on his throat and turned to lie on her back. A sigh left her when she felt his mouth on her nipple and his hand reaching towards her vagina. "Yes, my boy. That's what I turned you for."
The Master stood on his podium at the end of the Ballroom. The entire Order had gathered there, including the fledglings.
"Welcome, Order of Aurelius! To the Feast of Candidatorum. Tonight those of you in line for the first position in this Order will strengthen that bond by drinking from my blood. The source of our Order's existence."
Charles rose to his feet and stood next to the Master. "I am your oldest child but I waved my rights to be your first beneficiarius a long time ago and I wave them again tonight. Darla will take my place."
The Master nodded and Darla walked in front of him. She turned around to face the room filled with vampires and the Master offered her his wrist. She took four strong pulls of his blood before releasing him and sitting down. Angelus rose from his place beside her and walked up to the Master. A voice from the crowd stopped him.
"It is not without question that you drink from him, Angelus. You are no longer the only second beneficiarius in line. With the arrival of Charles' new Childe there is another contestant." It was Charia who spoke loud enough for the entire Order to hear, while walking to the front of the podium. "It would be different if you were mated to the first beneficiarius. We all know that a mated couple holds the strongest future linage for this Order and is the best representation of the Order in foreign affairs. More importantly if Darla is unable to obtain a mate then maybe she should not be first in line for next year's Candidatorum."
Laughter rippled through the clans tables and the fledglings whispered amongst themselves. Darla's gaze alternated between vile when she looked at Charia and hopeless when she looked at Angelus.
Buffy knew she had to do something, she just wasn't sure what. If she chose to contest Angelus' place as second then he would have no other choice but to mate with Darla to keep her place as well as his own safe. Because there was no question as to whom would win that fight and even though she was not sure about her feelings towards this Angelus she did feel a pain in her chest when she thought about him mated to Darla. But if she chose not to then she would lose her own right at the Candidatorum and maybe disappoint Charles. The same Charles who was now looking at her because he felt her own inner turmoil and that whispered to her: "I would not think less of you if you chose not to participate in the Candidatorum. I think I have enough for you to do without you becoming involved in this hornets' nest, however much that would please Charia." Buffy sighed with relief. I have a lot to learn about you, Charles. But I guess we have eternity to do it.
"I wave my rights to the Candidatorum for this year and ask Angelus to take my place as beneficiarius." She spoke in a clear voice above the noise of the crowd.
Angelus turned to look at her and before his usual mask slipped on again she thought she saw something resembling gratitude. A look that not only Buffy caught.
Angelus blocked the oncoming fist and threw a punch to his opponent's midsection.
"I want to thank you for not challenging me last night."
Buffy turned away from the fist headed for her midsection and grabbed the head that was now behind and above her.
"Sure, no problem! I know you would make a better leader than me anyway."
He let her flip him but as his back hit the ground he pulled at her pants trying to take her with him in the rotation.
"You really think I would be a good leader?"
Buffy continued rolling until she was out of his range and then turned around on her knees to regard him. Was that insecurity she heard in his voice?
"Do you not think so yourself?"
I can trust her! She has been nothing but respectful to me and has never divulged anything we say to each other to anyone. She even defended me when those rumors about the Master's orders surfaced. Tell her! "I'm not sure you could understand." His traitorous mouth said. ya bloody chicken
"All right. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"Thank you" Angelus said relieved. He stood up to retrieve his towel assuming the fight was over.
At that Buffy launched herself from her place on her knees and straight into his chest, sending a stumbling Angelus to the ground. While Buffy rolled through the move and stood to loom over him. "Never, think the fight is over. An old…" Buffy pondered what to call him in her former life. "…lover told me that."
Somehow the mention of Buffy and lovers made him spill his guts. "My father never told me anything except what a failure I was. In his eyes I was always a lad, never a true man. I fear I will not be strong enough to be a true leader when push comes to shove."
Buffy felt her heart constrict and expand. He actually confided in me. Even Angel never told me this. But what do I tell him now? How about just telling him what's in your heart. "I'm sorry your father never saw your true potential but I'm glad you felt like you could share this with me. I can't tell you that you will be a great leader. All I can tell you is that with me you have always been kind, considerate and a gentleman." Wow, girlfriend. You, suddenly, channeling the counselor. Maybe that should have been your calling instead of slayer. Would have been a lot easier to tell Mom, that's for sure.
Angelus made use of her pondering to swing his legs around and send her to the floor butt first.
"Never think the fight is over." He laughed.
The trees in Hyde Park were full of luster and green. The winter had given way to a short spring and that had blossomed into a full summer. Nothing like California but somehow the winter cold and spring rains made summer an event to appreciate. 1800 had turned into 1801 and to Buffy, Sunnydale and the next 2 centuries seemed planets away. Sometimes when she missed her sister and her home too much she would walk through the park at midnight and look up at the moon. Thinking about the light reflected from the stars and how long it had taken to get there to illuminate the park, helped her so she could put her own path into perspective and remind herself that she would return home one day. All she had to do was stay alive or rather undead, as the case may be.
That was why she was in the park that evening. Strolling along its windy lanes, looking at the luster of the trees, dreaming of a time to come. The daydream had her so strongly in its claws that she failed to feel the tingle of another vampire close by. A pair of hands pulled her into the bushes before the got a chance to struggle and now those same hands were across her mouth and abdomen. The hands belonged to a large and muscled vampire and Buffy began to be afraid for her unlife until Darla stepped into her line of vision. The relief at seeing a familiar face lasted for only a few seconds, then Buffy realized that Darla would risk the enraging the Master and kill her to be done with the treat Buffy posed to Angelus' beneficiarius. In truth it was all much simpler than that.
"I am here to give you your first and final warning, little girl. So hear me and hear me well. You will stay away from Angelus. You will make it clear to him that he is nothing to you and after that you will shorten your training sessions with him and keep any contact between you as cold as possible. I think you are smart enough to understand the consequences if you do not comply. Do not fool yourself into thinking that Charles will keep you safe from my wrath. It has come to my attention that Theresa has adquired a very ambitious Childe for herself and that the both of them have also gained a great deal of respect within the warrior clan. You see, you as well as Charles are dispensable. You have until the next full moon to return Angelus to his place beside me or else."
And with that last warning Buffy was pushed by the hands through the foilage hiding the clearing from the road. When she stumbled apon it the road was deserted and by the time she even considered returning to the clearing, she knew that Darla would have been long gone. She needed to go home and think about what had just happened and how she felt about it.
===========================================================================