Chapter Five- A Presence is Made
Paige saw the scene in front of her folding out. Two women, one who looked about her age, stood in front of a vampire. Dark fear clenched her heart as she saw the dark haired man. There was something about him, something that Paige just couldn't quite touch. Even though the vamp had yet to even make a move on the two girls, Paige knew it was only a matter of time.
"Get back," she yelled to the woman who was closest to the vampire. Xander and Willow started running almost the instant Paige had. She could feel the fear of the two of them rise several notches. But since she didn't have time to go into it, she instead pointed her crossbow at all three of the people, not yet quite knowing if the two women could be trusted. After all, they were talking to a vampire.
A low mumble came from the youngest of the three. The girl quickly took up a fighting position, falling into it almost naturally.
"What's going on here?" The older woman asked of the three newcomers.
"Ms. French, get behind me." The other girl said.
Ms. French slowly moved behind her slayer, tossing the girl a confused look. "We were just asking for directions."
"From a vampire no doubt."
"Xander." Willow hissed while elbowing her friend. It was common knowledge that most residents of Sunnydale either chose to ignore the darker side of their town, or were too ignorant to even see it.
Ms. French looked a little taken aback. The man in front of her didn't look like a vampire; he didn't even act like one.
"Out for a midnight snack Angel?" Xander once again piped up.
"Angel?" Paige glanced back at the two teenagers behind her, the two that were slowly becoming her friends. "As in...?"
"As in the murdering fiend that killed our best friend." He replied slowly. Angel just looked down at the ground, not even attempting to defend himself against the harsh words.
Paige looked at him strangely. "So you're the reason why I'm here."
Anna looked back and fourth between the vampire and the girl that she now guessed had to be the other slayer. "This is all very nice and all, but shouldn't we be killing him now?"
Paige starred at Angel for a moment longer, then ticked her head towards the girl. "I'm guessing you're Anna."
"In the flesh."
Paige nodded, keeping one eye on Angel, who hadn't even attempted to make a move yet. This struck Paige as odd. Most vampires would be feeding her witty comments on how they were going to tear her to pieces, or they'd at least try to run for it if they were smart enough. But this one, he just stayed put, his hands shoved deeply in his pockets.
"Aren't you going to at least try and fight?" Paige directed towards the vampire. Xander, who was standing directly behind her, was starting to get a little impatient.
"Why should I?" His voice came back to her.
"Because you're evil."
"Xander will you shut up for just a moment please?" Paige snapped.
"This isn't a difficult situation here Paige. You have a crossbow in your hands, use it."
Paige ignored Xander's comment and continued to look at the vampire, trying to judge his next move. "No." She said slowly.
"What?" Every one of the surrounding people, including Angel questioned her action.
"You heard me. I said no."
Anna shrugged. "Fine, then let me." She pulled a stake out from her sleeve and started advancing towards the vampire.
Paige was set in action in a second flat. Grabbing Anna she pulled her around to face her. Looking into her sister slayers eyes she silently begged her to follow her lead. With much hesitation, Anna dropped her arm down, letting the stake hang loose at her side.
"I'd suggest you go now, before she changes her mind." Paige said.
Angel looked at her, scrutinizing her actions. He could tell that Xander's blood was boiling in rage at the slayers words. But he was just as confused as Xander was.
"Now's your chance." A voice whispered from behind him. Angel flinched as he heard her voice drift to his ears. "Xander's only a few feet away. Take him."
Angel shook his head.
"Yes. You know you want to. Do it. Set me free. Please." She begged him, tears filling her voice.
He put his hands over his ears, pressing hard, trying to drown out the haunting voice of his past love. "No." He whispered.
"Please Angel." Her voice started becoming more like her own, more like the Buffy he loved. The Buffy he killed. "Don't condemn me to eternal damnation. Please. Do it quickly, it'll all be over with soon."
He scrunched his eyes shut. "Angel?" Willow's voice called out to him. The one person that still seemed to see some good in his heart. She started walking towards him but Xander quickly pulled her away before she could go any further. Everyone stood stalk still, watching the vampire play out his inner struggle with what ever it was he was hearing. If only they could have seen the spirit of Buffy standing behind him, begging him to help her.
"Please," she begged, silver tears falling from her lashes. "Help me."
Angel looked up, his eyes becoming yellow. A brief thought of guilt passed Paige's mind right before he rushed Xander. Sending him to the ground.
"Xander!" Willow yelled, not quite sure of what she should do.
"Damn it." Paige muttered as she ran towards the two figures fighting on the ground. Anna was only a step behind her.
Quickly the two girls were on the vamp, trying to pull him off of Xander before he did more harm then he already had.
"No!" He yelled as he felt the hands on his jacket, yanking him away from what he needed to do. He knew this was wrong. Knew that he would regret this for the rest of his life. But it was Buffy. He would walk through fire for her, do anything for her, and if it meant that he had to kill again, then so be it. "I have to do this." He cried out.
The two slayers finally pulled him off of Xander and pinned him to a tree. Anna had a stake poised at his heart, ready to send it home and get rid of the reason why her and Paige were here. But right as the tip was about to penetrate the skin, she stopped. His eyes were flashing now to almost a deep amber color, the color of a severely pissed off demon. But she couldn't do it. She couldn't kill him. It was almost like there was a presence surrounding him, stopping her from completing her duty.
Quickly she let him go, watching as he bolted, disappearing into the darkness.
"Why didn't you kill him?" Xander yelled, holding a hand to his throat where deep bruises were starting to form. Despite that, and a couple of scratches, he was okay. "Hello, earth to slay girl. Why didn't you kill him?"
"I don't know." She whispered confused.
Paige had the same look on her face as Anna did. "I think we need to go to the library."
"Yes, we really should." Ms. French piped up, looking at Anna strangely. She had never once seen her hesitate before. Never had she froze and thought about what she was doing. Anna took her job very seriously, and to let a vampire go... that just didn't happen.
Tired, and dejectedly, the gang started heading to the library. Walking there in complete silence, not quite sure what they could say. Everyone just left the others to their own thoughts.
Angel sat in the corner of the graveyard, his head bowed to his knees, rocking back and fourth.
"You failed me." Buffy's voice came from above.
"I'm sorry." He said desperately.
"Don't be sorry. Just get it right next time. I can't bare to be hear any longer Angel. It's eating me up inside. You have to help me."
"I will. I promise you I will. I promise... I promise... I promise..." He muttered continuously.
"So you felt it too huh?" Paige said later that night. They were sitting alone behind the stacks together. For the past couple hours Giles had questioned the two of them on what exactly had happened out there, after all the introductions were made of course. Neither girl really spoke of it though, because in truth, they didn't know what had happened.
"The presence you mean?" Anna said quietly. They had just finally gotten away from the hated glares of disapproval of the rest of the gang.
"I don't know what it was. It just... I couldn't kill him. It felt as if I would be doing more harm then good if I did."
"He's a demon though. They're what we're supposed to kill."
"I know that. But..."
"Something stopped you." Anna stated, knowing exactly how the girl felt.
"Yeah. Something powerful."
The girls were quiet for a moment, not really knowing what they should say. They had only just met each other a few hours ago and already they had felt some sort of connection. Connection's with each other and with the things surrounding them.
"Do you think we should tell Mr. Giles?" Anna broke the silence after a moment.
"I don't know. Maybe not right away. Maybe we should wait and see if we can figure this out ourselves."
"Yeah, I mean, for all we know, it could just be the pull of the Hellmouth that's making us get the weird feelings. Right?"
"Yeah... that's probably it." Both girls didn't sound to reassuring to each other though. But it was something they were going to have to take at the moment. How else were they supposed to explain everything? "Maybe we should go home and get some sleep. I mean, we do have school tomorrow."
"It's not fair. We're the chosen ones; you would think that we would at least get out of high school for all that we do." They both stood up and started to walk towards the libraries exits.
"What can I say? Life's a bitch." They both laughed slightly and continued on.
"Girls?" Giles called from his office. Xander and Willow had already headed home for the night. "Can we talk to you?"
"Sure." Paige said shrugging as she walked into the office. Ms. French sat in the desk chair, sipping some tea, as Giles leaned against the wall.
"Have a seat." He said, motioning to the couch in the corner. They both sat down and looked at their watchers expectantly.
"Due to recent... circumstances, Ms French and I believe that we should up your training."
"Giles, we didn't get hurt tonight. Stop worrying."
Ms French looked at the two of them. "The fact of the matter is girls, that two slayers have recently died. The vampires out there are feeling untouchable at the moment, giving you two more problems then you'll probably be able to deal with."
"We're slayers, we can deal just fine." Anna said.
"Yes, we know you're quite capable of protecting yourself, but still, we'd both feel better if we'd up your training a little bit more."
"Giles, I can hardly handle the two hours of training, patrolling, plus all my school work as it is! How are we supposed to cope with even more training on our hands?"
"I'm sure you'll find a way Paige."
"Look, training isn't going to even help us in a real situation. First hand experience is what's going to help us in a real fight."
"Girls, our decision is final." Ms. French said. "Now, I expect the both of you here after school tomorrow to start. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes Ma'am." Both of the teenagers mumbled.
"Good, now go home and get some rest. You're going to need it."
Anna and Paige stood up and walked outside. "This is stupid." Paige complained.
"Right there with ya."
They walked about thirty feet when Paige stopped and threw her arms up in the air. "I'm too keyed up for sleep. Do you wanna go kill something?"
Anna smiled. "I'm game.