Darcy leant her bantam frame against the harbour wall staring at the calm sea. Basil sat next to her on the wall. His ears twitched and he meowed warningly.
"It's okay Bas, I heard them." Darcy stroked him reassuringly.
"I wish you wouldn't call me that. My name is Basil, not Bas." The small cat's tail twitched irritably.
"Sorry," Darcy apologised. "It slipped out." She turned and faced the trio behind her. Angelus stood in the middle; Cordelia and Doyle were half a pace behind him.
"Hi," Darcy looked pointedly at her watch. "Glad you could make it."
""Sorry," The vampire said. "We ran into a little trouble."
"Yeah!" Said Cordelia, brushing dust off her black top. "Three of them." Angelus and Doyle looked at her. "What?"
"Well, we were going for the downplay." Explained Doyle.
"Well someone should have told me." Cordelia put a hand on her hip and prepared to go into the subject.
"Enough of the chat." Darcy cut across her, fixing her eyes on Angelus. "What are you doing here? I don't believe that you've come to help me and even if you have what makes you think I need helping? Especially from a vampire!"
"Well, see, Doyle had this vision and Angel said that I just had to come so…"
"Cordelia." Said Angelus, in a warning tone of voice.
Cordelia held her hands up. "Only trying to help."
"Look," The vampire continued speaking to Darcy. "Maybe it's not you who needs help. Maybe you're what we're supposed to stop."
"How dare you?" Darcy exclaimed "I'll have you know that I have never hurt an innocent being in my life!"
"Good." Angelus said quietly.
Darcy continued as if she hadn't heard him. "I may kill vampires and demons, but never anything with a soul!"
"Good!" Said Cordelia, "Then you can't kill Angel."
"What do you mean?" Darcy asked warily.
"He has a soul." She answered simply.
He's a vampire, vampires can't have souls." Darcy recited. "It's axiom." She rolled her eyes at the blank look of incomprehension on their faces. "Axiom meaning an established rule, principle, or law?" She prompted.
Cordelia frowned. "Did you swallow a dictionary or something?"
Darcy laughed. "No, but I do read the dictionary when I'm bored." She shook her head, trying to get back on track. "Look," she said, "Either the soul merges with the demon after about fifty years, the vampire goes insane or the soul is somehow lost, usually due to an ommitence in the spell that reinstated the soul. Like what happened to Angel a few years ago. You're working for a monster. A clever monster, but still a monster. Somehow he got out of hell and has tricked you all!"
"How do you know what happened?" Angel asked.
"I read!" Darcy said defensively, emphasising the word, 'read'.
"Then you must have read that his soul was restored a while after he lost it." Said Cordelia.
"Prove it."
Basil spoke up. "They're telling the truth Darcy." Angelus, Doyle and Cordelia stared the small cat. "What?" He asked them. "I'm sure you've seen stranger things in your time."
"Actually no," Cordelia said. "Despite previously going to school on top of a Hellmouth, no."
"Same here," Said Doyle, "Except for the whole Hellmouth bit."
Basil stared at Cordelia, fascinated. "You lived in Sunnydale?" He asked.
"You know about Sunnydale?" Cordelia looked surprised that a cat actually knew about the Hellmouth that resided underneath the small town of Sunnydale, California.
"Well," Basil tried to look modest and failed. "Living with someone who reads as much as Darcy does, you're bound to pick up a few things."
"How?" Darcy asked Angelus harshly. She clarified herself. "How come you have a soul? I mean, the rites were lost centuries ago."
"Just under a century." Angelus explained. "I was first cursed with my soul about ninety nine years ago. I was cursed again almost three months after I lost my soul."
"Yeah, and ever since then he's been on a major guilt trip. Worse than the first time!" Cordelia said, turning to face Darcy.
Darcy ignored her, her face lit up like a Christmas tree on top a bonfire. "Do you have a copy of the curse?" She asked Angelus.
"No," He said, clearly puzzled. "Why?"
"Oh," Darcy sounded as if she didn't have a care in the world. "I can think of a few vampires I wouldn't mind cursing." She laughed hollowly.
"Like who?" Angelus asked gently.
"Her sister. Or maybe her mother, perhaps her father." Said Basil, watching the scene with his brilliant blue eyes.
"They turned your whole family?" Asked Doyle incredulously.
"Man that's harsh! And they didn't turn you? Wow. That must really suck." Cordelia paused. "What? What! I'm only saying what you're thinking." She told Doyle.
"Not exactly." Darcy told them.
"What do you mean?" Angelus' eyes narrowed assessingly.
Cordelia stepped back a pace. "Are you a vampire?" She asked.
"If I was a vampire, would I be wearing this?" Darcy touched the amethyst cross around her neck.
"Then what are you?" Asked Doyle.
Darcy dropped her hand back down to her side, straightened her posture and lifted her head proudly. "I'm a dhampir." She said. There was a moment's pause, then.
"A what?" Doyle said.
"A dhampir."
"Which is what?" Asked Cordelia.
Angelus looked thoughtful. "There's a text which claims, a vampire can impregnate a mortal, the resulting offspring were called dhampirs. But that's impossible."
"How would you know? You, you, illiberal eejit." Darcy accused, her voice rising. "I bet you've never…" She broke off as a vampire jumped over the harbour wall and grabbed her by the throat.
Cordelia screamed as Darcy twisted her head, trying to look at her attacker but she couldn't. She dug her heels in as she was pulled backwards.
Basil hissed and darted forward, sinking his teeth into the vampire's ankle. The vampire kicked out, sending Basil flying into the nearby harbour wall.
Angelus advanced steadily. "Let her go." He said, looking lethal.
"Make me." The vampire replied, his fangs bared, as he smelt the blood pounding in Darcy's neck.
Darcy reached into her bag and pulled out an extra-long stake. She waited until the vampire's still heart was directly behind her beating one and plunged it straight through her own heart and into the vampire's.
"No!" Angel shouted, running to her.
Darcy heard the vampire behind her explode in a sigh of non-sound and she fell back onto the tarmac of the road. Shivering, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Slowly, she breathed out and died.
Angel crouched beside her and felt for her pulse. Shouting, he wrenched the stake out of her punctured heart and threw it as far away as possible. Basil sat next to him.
"She won't be happy that you did that." He remarked. "That's one of her best stakes."
"She's dead. Right?" Said Cordelia standing behind Angel. Angel nodded bitterly in confirmation. "I don't think she cares cat."
"She'll be back." The tiny cat said confidently as he lay down next Darcy's cooling corpse. "And the name's Basil if you don't mind." He began to groom himself, then stopped to look at Cordelia. "Her body is merely healing, but we do need to get her to safety. I'm amazed we weren't attacked before now, given the recent increase in the vampire population." He tipped his head to one side. "On the other hand, you need to go. Now." He warned. "There was another vampire watching us and you will be attacked if you remain. He is coming, and so are his companions. You need to leave."
"What about you?" Angel asked.
"And the body?" Doyle added.
Basil looked as smug as a cat can. "We'll be fine." He assured them. "Now go!"
Against Angel's better judgement, he, Cordelia and Doyle left.