Chapter Three – Desperate Measures
"Willow, can I talk with you"
Giles had been sitting just out side the distraught witch's bedroom door and sighed heavily as he got no response. Damn that girl.
"Buffy called... she, umm had something to tell me that I think you should know"
Still there was silence.
"Oh bloody hell Willow; it would take a rope to drag you out! Buffy is pregnant!"
Seconds later the door creaked open and Willow's forlorn face poked out. She still looked terrible, but from what he had just said, a new light had come to her eyes – something to be happy about. Timidly she stepped out into the sitting room of her apartment. She sat down in an armchair and motioned for the watcher to take the other not too far away.
As Giles sat, he was suddenly surprised that she didn't feel Closter phobic. This apartment was the smallest that the Coven had, and she had chosen it. The light green walls shimmered as the little light that did filter in through the windows cast shadows. She didn't even have much.
"So... so Buffy...?" she whispered.
"I got a call from Buffy last night" he smiled lightly. "Among the fact that she is glad that you are doing alright, she told me that she was pregnant. Also, to what I find rather alarming, is that the child is also Spike's"
"Oh" she simply replied and retreated back into her chair further. That caused Giles to become uncomfortable.
"Well, I'll leave you know. I have a favor to ask of the Coven – a favor for Buffy, she wants me to locate Spike for her. Goodbye Willow"
And he had left before she could have said anything, even though she didn't want to. As he walked down the halls Coven, it came to Giles that there might just be more going on in this world that involved them all then he realized. A slayer and a vampire had conceived a child – extraordinary. Upon arriving at their great hall, he went strait up to ask the Coven Mistress.
Asking the Coven for this simple task was easy, they agreed right away and started with the locator spell. Then he also asked if they would be able to see if there was any other case of a vampire having a vampire having a child.
"Well Mr. Giles" one of the younger coven members said after the two spells were complete. "We have good news and bad news. Which would you like first?"
"The good please"
"Well the good news is that we have found only one other case of a vampire having a child less then three mouths ago – two vampires actually, and both you know"
"Who?" know Giles was really interested.
"The souled vampire Angel and his once resurrected, but now dusted once again sire Darla"
Giles was flabbergasted. Angel had a child!
"His offspring was a boy by the name of Connor, pure human but with acquired traits of a vampire like senses, seed and strength," she paused to let the rest sink in for the man in which she was speaking to. "But unfortunately, not that long ago though the boy was taken. He is now about eighteen in age, having spent his life Quor-toth"
"Good god" he whispered. "A child had survived that?"
"And we also know where the vampire you are in search of lies. He is be tended by a clan near the Dark Heart – the soul of Kenya. Now for the bad news, we cannot help you any further. Our magic is limited to the any place with evil energies such as the area, we must never go near"
"Th – thank you" Giles smiled and then bowed low to the Coven.
As Giles left and began to return home to his own flat, he knew that Buffy was going to have mixed feelings to the information that he had to give her. He was not feeling too good.
"Calm down friend" the boy sighed and tried to get Spike to sit patiently.
"Okay, it's been two weeks kid; call me by my name – its either Spike or William. Pick one and use it" Spike growled weakly.
"Very well then William, I am Roho" he smiled. "But I just wish that you won't give yourself aneurism, it could take centuries before you are reborn"
Spike groaned inwardly. He should never have told that boy his real name. Still... the boy had told him his name – Roho, which was African for soul. The boy could be trusted, but he was right pain in the ass too.
"Is this all so bloody necessary?"
"Of course it is. We must prepare you for your destiny. You have been a dream for most of us, to see the legend fulfilled. You see, the First Slayer was one of this clan so many, many centuries ago"
The ex-vampire whipped his head around to stare at Roho in shock, and then suddenly regretted it when a wave of pain washed over him.
"Yes we have our champions and our demons, friend. The First Slayer was taken by the Shadow Men and they made her what she was. Sadly, they could not see to fixing their own horrors. They cursed a race of demons long ago, ones that were majestic and neutral – those that would become the vampires and yet they did not fix it after they saw what disasters it caused" Roho said and then turned to face the sun and all the sweltering heat that could choke out the smallest breeze.
"Instead they created the Slayer. The saw fit that they had damned the vampires and so to add to that, they cursed the slayers too. Forever they were being lead to believe that vampires were the enemy. She had been given the heart and spirit of a demon"
All of this shocked Spike even more.
"So, why is it that I have to go find your fabled stone? If you haven't already noticed, I'm human now and I'm slowly dying"
Roho just smiled at the ex-vampire's confusion and shock as he ran a weathered hand through his own unruly mop of short coffee bean brown.
"Well, you are not entirely human. The Fabunni demon that granted your wish was able to make your body human, but was not able to remove the demon. It is this that is killing you – trapped between the living and the dead. There will always be that curse on you unless you find the Stone of Blood and brake the curse"
"You know what? You talk too much"
"I am always told that" Roho sighed and turned to leave. "The spell in which to delay the dying of your body will be complete soon and then we will be ready for the journey a head."
Dawn Summer's groaned as she listened to Buffy and Xander going at it. Their argument from the previous night had spawned over into today, ruining her mood completely. While Anya tried to stop the two feuding friends in her shop, that little black lighting cloud inched right back over the youngest Summers girl's head.
There was just no end to it. The grinding of her teeth didn't work and she knew that it might just go on forever. But then Buffy's cell rang. With the slayer far too distracted, Dawn took it upon herself to answer the call in the training room.
Low and behold when she answered it, it was Giles...
"Buffy?"
"Umm no sorry, it's Dawn. Buffy's sorta indisposed at the moment"
There was the sound of a loud crash that shocked both the teen and the watcher, but it was only Dawn that knew what had really happened.
"She's fighting demons?"
"Actually the stupidity of our one and only Alexander Harris"
"Oh... I should have know" Giles sighed dryly.
"So what's cook'n? Got any news that I can give to Buffy for you?"
There was a sort pause as the watcher contemplated what he would tell the girl. Dawn would message on to Buffy and that was what really mattered, so he began to tell her what he had found out from the Coven.
"Well Dawn, Buffy asked me if there was anyway I could find Spike for her and also if there was vampire to ever have a child before. I know where Spike is, but the Coven was unable to use their powers to bring him back – he's in the African region known as the Dark Heart"
"Yah, I remember stuff about that" Dawn agreed. "They call Africa the 'Heart of Darkness'... this place the real heart?"
"So it appears. She would have to travel to Africa herself in order to get him back... and the only person that I believe that help her with that is Angel – and that is were the rest of what I have to tell her comes in"
"Angel!? Oh you have got to be crazy Giles! Once he gets wind that Buffy's expecting that that the child's Spike's... well it'll be a nasty sight"
"Yes I understand all that Dawn, but he is the only one that can help Buffy. You see, I just found out that he that the only other vampire to have a child"
"Angel has a kid? Who'd a thunk? But sure, what about slayers having kids?" she asked, slightly confused now"
"There is only one record of a slayer with a child and that was from the seventies. Her name was Nikki Wood, but she had her own son a year and a half before she was called as the Slayer. But you have to tell all of this to Buffy – please Dawn" Giles asked and cleared some none existing dust off his glasses.
"I will Giles, don't worry. But I have to go help Anya in her struggle to separate those two before Buffy hurts Xander. Bye"
"Goodbye Dawn"
With the connection ended, Dawn rushed back out into the store. Apparently Anya had given up long ago and now Buffy and Xander seemed to be getting to the end of their verbal banter, so she cleared her throat to get their attentions.
"Giles just called"
Buffy's head whipped up around to face her.
"Giles called and you didn't tell me!?"
"Well with the banter going on, I didn't want to get in the way. Oh and don't worry, I got a message for you from him"
"Oh?"
"God Buffy" Dawn grossed. "Giles told me to tell you, that no matter what, you are going to need Angel's help"
"What? What does she need Deadboy for?" Xander asked, but shut up when he received a glare from the three female occupants of the room he shared.
"He said that only Angel can help you get Spike out of Africa... something about the 'Dark Heart' or something"
"Well then" Buffy smiled grimly. "Pack your bags Dawn; it looks like we are going to L.A."
Dawn squealed excitedly as she realized that Buffy was actually taking her alone and not leaving her alone in Sunnydale to be babysat by either Xander or Anya. It was in her excitement that she completely forgot to tell her sister that that Angel had a son. The teen rushed out of the Magic Shop and all the way home, thankful that she had finally 'grown up' enough to be allowed to have an adventure.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Angel and his friends were having a field day. Connor had been acting up on them again and refused to be talked with. The boy hadn't been back long, but there was always the fact that he wanted to kill Angel more then anything he ever wanted – it was the lust to get the kill and have everything over with.
Angel himself was wishing desperately that something would happen to ease all this tension, but nothing came. With Cordelia's resent visions that showed the desert, they had no clue as what to expect. They would take it, when it came after all.
But then Cordelia fell to the floor in the spasms of a vision. Her words as she cried barely illegible.
"Buffy... coming – Spike... dying – Pain... love – child"
Angel held the fallen seer close as the others gathered around them.
"Cordelia, what's wrong? What happened? What did you see?" he whispered softly to her.
She opened her tear stained eyes, looking red and bloodshot.
"I saw Buffy coming... along with a brunette girl. Then there was Spike – he was in so much pain and he was in the desert, like in my other visions. I saw a stone that was pure red - a ruby, still among the darkness. There was also something about a baby... and the 'lives' of millions, then it ended"
"So we'll have a partial answer soon – Buffy's coming"
Well it all comes down. I hope I answered all questions that anyone wanted. Just for clarification – the part with Angel; I will have them added into the story pre- episode Benediction. That means that the final of Angel season three hasn't happen. Hope you liked. Later!
"Willow, can I talk with you"
Giles had been sitting just out side the distraught witch's bedroom door and sighed heavily as he got no response. Damn that girl.
"Buffy called... she, umm had something to tell me that I think you should know"
Still there was silence.
"Oh bloody hell Willow; it would take a rope to drag you out! Buffy is pregnant!"
Seconds later the door creaked open and Willow's forlorn face poked out. She still looked terrible, but from what he had just said, a new light had come to her eyes – something to be happy about. Timidly she stepped out into the sitting room of her apartment. She sat down in an armchair and motioned for the watcher to take the other not too far away.
As Giles sat, he was suddenly surprised that she didn't feel Closter phobic. This apartment was the smallest that the Coven had, and she had chosen it. The light green walls shimmered as the little light that did filter in through the windows cast shadows. She didn't even have much.
"So... so Buffy...?" she whispered.
"I got a call from Buffy last night" he smiled lightly. "Among the fact that she is glad that you are doing alright, she told me that she was pregnant. Also, to what I find rather alarming, is that the child is also Spike's"
"Oh" she simply replied and retreated back into her chair further. That caused Giles to become uncomfortable.
"Well, I'll leave you know. I have a favor to ask of the Coven – a favor for Buffy, she wants me to locate Spike for her. Goodbye Willow"
And he had left before she could have said anything, even though she didn't want to. As he walked down the halls Coven, it came to Giles that there might just be more going on in this world that involved them all then he realized. A slayer and a vampire had conceived a child – extraordinary. Upon arriving at their great hall, he went strait up to ask the Coven Mistress.
Asking the Coven for this simple task was easy, they agreed right away and started with the locator spell. Then he also asked if they would be able to see if there was any other case of a vampire having a vampire having a child.
"Well Mr. Giles" one of the younger coven members said after the two spells were complete. "We have good news and bad news. Which would you like first?"
"The good please"
"Well the good news is that we have found only one other case of a vampire having a child less then three mouths ago – two vampires actually, and both you know"
"Who?" know Giles was really interested.
"The souled vampire Angel and his once resurrected, but now dusted once again sire Darla"
Giles was flabbergasted. Angel had a child!
"His offspring was a boy by the name of Connor, pure human but with acquired traits of a vampire like senses, seed and strength," she paused to let the rest sink in for the man in which she was speaking to. "But unfortunately, not that long ago though the boy was taken. He is now about eighteen in age, having spent his life Quor-toth"
"Good god" he whispered. "A child had survived that?"
"And we also know where the vampire you are in search of lies. He is be tended by a clan near the Dark Heart – the soul of Kenya. Now for the bad news, we cannot help you any further. Our magic is limited to the any place with evil energies such as the area, we must never go near"
"Th – thank you" Giles smiled and then bowed low to the Coven.
As Giles left and began to return home to his own flat, he knew that Buffy was going to have mixed feelings to the information that he had to give her. He was not feeling too good.
"Calm down friend" the boy sighed and tried to get Spike to sit patiently.
"Okay, it's been two weeks kid; call me by my name – its either Spike or William. Pick one and use it" Spike growled weakly.
"Very well then William, I am Roho" he smiled. "But I just wish that you won't give yourself aneurism, it could take centuries before you are reborn"
Spike groaned inwardly. He should never have told that boy his real name. Still... the boy had told him his name – Roho, which was African for soul. The boy could be trusted, but he was right pain in the ass too.
"Is this all so bloody necessary?"
"Of course it is. We must prepare you for your destiny. You have been a dream for most of us, to see the legend fulfilled. You see, the First Slayer was one of this clan so many, many centuries ago"
The ex-vampire whipped his head around to stare at Roho in shock, and then suddenly regretted it when a wave of pain washed over him.
"Yes we have our champions and our demons, friend. The First Slayer was taken by the Shadow Men and they made her what she was. Sadly, they could not see to fixing their own horrors. They cursed a race of demons long ago, ones that were majestic and neutral – those that would become the vampires and yet they did not fix it after they saw what disasters it caused" Roho said and then turned to face the sun and all the sweltering heat that could choke out the smallest breeze.
"Instead they created the Slayer. The saw fit that they had damned the vampires and so to add to that, they cursed the slayers too. Forever they were being lead to believe that vampires were the enemy. She had been given the heart and spirit of a demon"
All of this shocked Spike even more.
"So, why is it that I have to go find your fabled stone? If you haven't already noticed, I'm human now and I'm slowly dying"
Roho just smiled at the ex-vampire's confusion and shock as he ran a weathered hand through his own unruly mop of short coffee bean brown.
"Well, you are not entirely human. The Fabunni demon that granted your wish was able to make your body human, but was not able to remove the demon. It is this that is killing you – trapped between the living and the dead. There will always be that curse on you unless you find the Stone of Blood and brake the curse"
"You know what? You talk too much"
"I am always told that" Roho sighed and turned to leave. "The spell in which to delay the dying of your body will be complete soon and then we will be ready for the journey a head."
Dawn Summer's groaned as she listened to Buffy and Xander going at it. Their argument from the previous night had spawned over into today, ruining her mood completely. While Anya tried to stop the two feuding friends in her shop, that little black lighting cloud inched right back over the youngest Summers girl's head.
There was just no end to it. The grinding of her teeth didn't work and she knew that it might just go on forever. But then Buffy's cell rang. With the slayer far too distracted, Dawn took it upon herself to answer the call in the training room.
Low and behold when she answered it, it was Giles...
"Buffy?"
"Umm no sorry, it's Dawn. Buffy's sorta indisposed at the moment"
There was the sound of a loud crash that shocked both the teen and the watcher, but it was only Dawn that knew what had really happened.
"She's fighting demons?"
"Actually the stupidity of our one and only Alexander Harris"
"Oh... I should have know" Giles sighed dryly.
"So what's cook'n? Got any news that I can give to Buffy for you?"
There was a sort pause as the watcher contemplated what he would tell the girl. Dawn would message on to Buffy and that was what really mattered, so he began to tell her what he had found out from the Coven.
"Well Dawn, Buffy asked me if there was anyway I could find Spike for her and also if there was vampire to ever have a child before. I know where Spike is, but the Coven was unable to use their powers to bring him back – he's in the African region known as the Dark Heart"
"Yah, I remember stuff about that" Dawn agreed. "They call Africa the 'Heart of Darkness'... this place the real heart?"
"So it appears. She would have to travel to Africa herself in order to get him back... and the only person that I believe that help her with that is Angel – and that is were the rest of what I have to tell her comes in"
"Angel!? Oh you have got to be crazy Giles! Once he gets wind that Buffy's expecting that that the child's Spike's... well it'll be a nasty sight"
"Yes I understand all that Dawn, but he is the only one that can help Buffy. You see, I just found out that he that the only other vampire to have a child"
"Angel has a kid? Who'd a thunk? But sure, what about slayers having kids?" she asked, slightly confused now"
"There is only one record of a slayer with a child and that was from the seventies. Her name was Nikki Wood, but she had her own son a year and a half before she was called as the Slayer. But you have to tell all of this to Buffy – please Dawn" Giles asked and cleared some none existing dust off his glasses.
"I will Giles, don't worry. But I have to go help Anya in her struggle to separate those two before Buffy hurts Xander. Bye"
"Goodbye Dawn"
With the connection ended, Dawn rushed back out into the store. Apparently Anya had given up long ago and now Buffy and Xander seemed to be getting to the end of their verbal banter, so she cleared her throat to get their attentions.
"Giles just called"
Buffy's head whipped up around to face her.
"Giles called and you didn't tell me!?"
"Well with the banter going on, I didn't want to get in the way. Oh and don't worry, I got a message for you from him"
"Oh?"
"God Buffy" Dawn grossed. "Giles told me to tell you, that no matter what, you are going to need Angel's help"
"What? What does she need Deadboy for?" Xander asked, but shut up when he received a glare from the three female occupants of the room he shared.
"He said that only Angel can help you get Spike out of Africa... something about the 'Dark Heart' or something"
"Well then" Buffy smiled grimly. "Pack your bags Dawn; it looks like we are going to L.A."
Dawn squealed excitedly as she realized that Buffy was actually taking her alone and not leaving her alone in Sunnydale to be babysat by either Xander or Anya. It was in her excitement that she completely forgot to tell her sister that that Angel had a son. The teen rushed out of the Magic Shop and all the way home, thankful that she had finally 'grown up' enough to be allowed to have an adventure.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Angel and his friends were having a field day. Connor had been acting up on them again and refused to be talked with. The boy hadn't been back long, but there was always the fact that he wanted to kill Angel more then anything he ever wanted – it was the lust to get the kill and have everything over with.
Angel himself was wishing desperately that something would happen to ease all this tension, but nothing came. With Cordelia's resent visions that showed the desert, they had no clue as what to expect. They would take it, when it came after all.
But then Cordelia fell to the floor in the spasms of a vision. Her words as she cried barely illegible.
"Buffy... coming – Spike... dying – Pain... love – child"
Angel held the fallen seer close as the others gathered around them.
"Cordelia, what's wrong? What happened? What did you see?" he whispered softly to her.
She opened her tear stained eyes, looking red and bloodshot.
"I saw Buffy coming... along with a brunette girl. Then there was Spike – he was in so much pain and he was in the desert, like in my other visions. I saw a stone that was pure red - a ruby, still among the darkness. There was also something about a baby... and the 'lives' of millions, then it ended"
"So we'll have a partial answer soon – Buffy's coming"
Well it all comes down. I hope I answered all questions that anyone wanted. Just for clarification – the part with Angel; I will have them added into the story pre- episode Benediction. That means that the final of Angel season three hasn't happen. Hope you liked. Later!