Part Eleven –
//In a cold month, in that room, I found reason for the things we had to do//
Angelus woke up to find his bed empty and cold next to him. His eyes quickly adjusting to the dim light in the room he spotted her sitting at the far end of the room staring at herself in the mirror. Silently he slipped out of their bed his feet gently padding to the floor and leading him over to her. He sent behind her enclosing her in a hug.
"What are you looking at baby?" he asked her dropping a quick kiss to her shoulder, before returning his eyes to the reflection of hers in front of them.
"It's weird, I can't see you. But I know you're there." She ran one hand experimentally down his arm and in the mirror her hand balanced on thin air. "It's kind of like this bond between us. When I was inside that place I could feel your anger and I knew when you were coming to get me." Twisting in his arms she stared straight into his eyes, her soft green eyes meeting with his chocolate brown eyes. "Will I always have this scar?" She asked abruptly changing the topic as she was want to do.
"Yes." He replied, kissing the rippled skin at the juncture of her neck and shoulders. "It's my Mark, it means that you belong to me and I belong to you."
"It's beautiful then." She returned quietly.
"Are you okay?" his voice was soft, gentle, concerned. So different from the way he talked to the others.
"Yes. I was just thinking. My mother's supposed to be visiting me in Los Angeles in a few days."
"Well your father can hold her off for a few days." He told her, unaware of what he'd said.
"I don't have a father." She shot back venomously, then sighed running a hand through her blond hair. "I may as well not anyway, he left me in that apartment two years ago and never came back." Though Buffy was reluctant to tell Angelus more, he prodded and poked at her until the whole story came out, about her brother and the Watchers council and how being the Slayer had stopped her returning to her mother in Florida. He left her an hour later, curled up on the bed having cried herself to sleep.
Giles and Wesley sat in the parlour on the ground floor of Angelus' mansion, Angelus had called them a few hours earlier and told them they needed to talk. Neither were intimidated by the dark vampire anymore, if Giles had ever been. His love for Buffy was apparent – even if it did manifest itself in an entirely overprotective streak. And he wanted to know exactly what this bond entailed. Today. Angelus stalked into the room a few minutes later and immediately settled into a plush arm chair across from the two watchers.
"Where's Buffy?" Giles immediately demanded.
"She's sleeping." He replied surely, and refused to expand on his answer though it seemed clear Giles wanted to know more. "I wanted to ask if you, as Watchers would be prepared to do some research for me."
"About what?"
"Our bond. There's something… not right about it." Angelus brow furrowed in thought for a moment and then he slightly shook his head and continued "Since we bonded, I've been… off. I mean to say. I don't really want to kill people anymore." The scene was hilarious. Angelus, Master Vampire of the Aurelius Order was admitting his impotency. Giles restrained himself from laughing, he had no doubt that if Angelus realised what he was thinking he'd have no qualms about killing him.
"It's Buffy's soul." Angelus looked up shocked, his yellow eyes round. "It's very strong, and it's seeping into you through the link."
"Oh." Looking a bit happier about that Angelus turned to the next thing on his mental list. "There's something else too. There's someone inside, in the link. And when Buffy is… out of it… it's like she's possessed, I can't feel her at all. Like there is something else in her body for a while."
"I have a theory about that too… while I was London looking for Buffy a few days ago, I came across a young witch, she worked for the council. She has something to do with all this though I don't quite know what. And - "
"Um hi." A voice came from the doorway. Looking up Giles found himself confronted by the small red head he'd seen in London.
"Willow." He gaped surprised.
"Yeah." She shuffled slightly. "I guess I've got some explaining to do."
Buffy was glad Angelus had come to wake her before Willow told her story, she'd be glad to know where the witch got off messing with her head. But she was still sleepy and hadn't managed to do much more than glare at the girl before curling up on her lover's lap and leaning into his chest. Someone had brought Willow a cup of tea and she sat stiffly on one corner of the couch fiddling with its handle.
"Willow, is your name right?" Giles prompted. Willow nodded. "Your accent doesn't sound English."
"No. I'm American I'm from right here in Sunnyhell actually, on Rose Crescent." She offered them a wry smile, but withdrew it quickly when she met the hostile gaze of those around her, she quickly continued her story. "I went to London when the Watchers Council offered me a job. They were a bit vague about what I was supposed to be doing, but it involved magic and I could bring Xander, he's my best friend. So I jumped at the chance." Willow's eyes clearly showed the regret she felt, and Buffy felt her heart strings tug a little at the girl's constant fiddling. Maybe she didn't know… She was probably the same age as Buffy and she had clearly all ready been through a lot. She could almost feel Angelus sending her give her a chance vibes through their link though he said nothing.
"It's okay." Buffy whispered, it was quiet though all heard her. And they were all surprised at her reaction, she'd been so angry before.
"You don't…" Willow sighed, regretfully. "New Slayers were being called all over the place, they're not living as long. Not anymore. And more than that, you and Faith aren't the only rebels – the other Slayers have heard of you too and they weren't abiding by the Council anymore. They got scared I suppose, all their power was just gone. They thought the world-wide battle was going to be lost because we couldn't possibly work together on our own." Willow rolled her eyes and Buffy found herself liking her, true so far all they had in common so far was a hatred for the Watcher's council. But so what?
"I was supposed to bind myself to each Slayer." Willow looked around at the confused faced before her. "Magically… I mean." They nodded. "Anyway, the point was if any of the Slayer's had a prophecy dream, I'd have it too. So then if they didn't tell the Council about it they'd know anyway. It didn't seem a bad idea. I mean I felt kind bad about the Slayers not knowing about it, but it kept the Council abreast of what was going on and I got paid so I didn't really think much of it."
"Except?" Wesley prodded, and Willow smiled gratefully.
"Except that whenever one of the Slayer's had been hiding something from the Council they suddenly died. I mean I didn't think anything of it at first Slayer's die all the time." Buffy tensed. "I mean…"
"It's okay. I'm not going to die anymore anyhow."
"Why Miss Summers, does this mean you are bound to me, just to achieve immortality?" Angelus whispered into Buffy's ear before thoroughly nuzzling her neck. Buffy couldn't help it, she giggled and wrapping one arm around his neck gave him a sweet kiss… and another. The kiss had been going on strong for a good two minutes, and Angelus hand was very purposefully sliding under Buffy's top when Giles harrumphed loudly. Pouting Buffy turned back to Willow, who smiled knowingly. "You're lucky Giles, you don't have to share their dreams." Buffy blushed sheer scarlet and buried her face in Angelus' shirt.
"Go on with your story." Giles sighed, determined to ignore Buffy and Angelus' touchy-feely-ness.
"Um. Well, these Slayers that I told the Council about kept dying so I just stopped telling them when they had Slayer dreams. Which was fine for a while because no one died and the Council thought that they were the heroes again." She sighed. "Then it all went kaploohy." She shook her head slightly.
"When you two bonded, I got stuck in the middle. I tried to get out of the bond because the Vampire magic mixing with Wicca magic – it wasn't a good thing. I mean I'm powerful but this is much, much more powerful. There's power and then this was way over somewhere else-"
"Willow. Point here?"
"Oh. Sorry, Buffy. I tapped into something really dangerous, when I was doing a simple reading spell. It's neat, I can read books real fast – like Superman." Buffy looked pointedly at her. "It makes me go all funny. I don't really remember what happens but afterwards Xander says my hair goes all black, and I glow a bit… and I say weird stuff. About someone called the death-bringer." Every mind in the room was on Buffy's insane ravings when they had found her in the Initiative, it was in them both now.