Chapter Four

Discoveries and Explanations

"It all started about two hundred and fifty years ago. A vampire by the name of Leon came to LA. For years before that he had been trying to reform the Order of Arelius, a big vamp family that once pillaged our lands in the 1800."

"Yeah, I've heard of them." Something about the name had struck me but I wasn't quite sure how, so I let him continue.

"Somehow Leon had found the last remaining vamps of the Order and convince all but one to join him. Once the elders were formed it was only a matter of time before word got around that a new vamp pack was in town."

"So the rest of the demons out there decided they wanted a piece of the action." Demons were so predictable.

"Not right away." He answered me. "First they were skeptical. Many gangs like that had been formed before, but they were mostly all hype. It wasn't 'till they blocked out the sun that they really got the demons attention."

"Blocked out the sun? As in...?"

"No more light." Connor said seriously.

"How the hell did they manage that?" Disbelief colored my voice.

Sighing, he rubbed his head with the back of his hand. Somehow I had missed three hundred years of life, putting Connor in way over his head in his teaching duties.

"Deep in the caves of Azareth there's a scepter made entirely of light. It's the key to the sun. This thing controlled when and where the sun rose and set, without the scepter the sky becomes eternal darkness."

"So you're telling me that these vamp guys obtained the power of the sun by going to some cave out in the boonies and just taking it?"

"After fighting hoards of guardians, getting past the mystical forces and finding the cave that is invisible to everyone but the maker, yes."

"Nice to know we're making it so easy for them." I never really understood why demons and humans alike always went through so much trouble just to obtain one little thing.

Ignoring me he continued. "Once they gained the scepter they soaked it in the blood of a virgin for ten days and ten nights, offering it a ritual sacrifice every night. Then... no more sun."

"What? Just like that? Poof it's gone?"

"It took them three years to do it."

"Don't defend them!"

"I'm not." He said incredulously

"It sure sounds like you are."

"Buffy," He said warningly, a lot like someone else I used to know.

"Sorry," a sheepish expression formed my face. "Continue."

"After the sun was blocked out it was all pretty much down hill from there. Vamps could roam freely, and the Order of Arelius grew stronger every day until they took over the city and eventually everywhere else. They're still in control today, treating us humans like slaves, doing whatever they please with us. They set boarders up all around the city making sure they're guarded by magic, vampires, anything they can get a hold of. Even if you do manage to escape, there's nothing out there to run to. The world now consists of cities like this, ran by vampires and demons alike. We're no longer the dominate species."

"Wow." It wasn't the most intelligent word to say at the moment but it was all I could come up with after all that.

"Exactly. You think it's bad by just hearing about it, try living it. After two hundred years you get sick of being treated like a slave, but now the last hundred years have been nothing more then repetitive."

Laughing slightly to myself I was thankful for the first time that I couldn't remember my past. That's when it registered.

"Wait a minute. How do you know all this? You just said it yourself, living it and hearing it is a little bit different."

"I did live it."

Raising an eyebrow at him I just laughed. The thought that this kid was over three hundred years old was absurd. "Okay, still needing a back-story here."

"I'm not what you call normal." He said slowly.

"That didn't answer my question."

"Okay, umm... In brief? I'm immortal, but I'm not a vampire. When I hit about eighteen, I noticed that I wasn't changing in appearances anymore. It was like I grew like everyone else, but stopped after I hit seventeen. In short, it's like I'm a vampire but without the fangs and blood lust."

"What did your family think about this?"

"My family isn't exactly the definition of normal."

"Whose is?" I stood up pacing the small area, trying to take everything in.

"You okay?"

"Fine."

"You just seem a little... freaked." Giving him a short laugh I continued my pacing. "Is it because I'm immortal?"

"Seeing how I used to date a vampire, no." Knowing it was too late to take back what I had just said I closed my eyes, biting my lip to keep from screaming at myself.

"You what?"

Turning I gave him a false smile. "Nothing. I didn't say anything."

"You said you dated a vampire."

Throwing my hands up in the air I yelled. "Yes. I dated a vampire."

"But you're a slayer."

"I think I know who I am Connor." I sat at the edge of the bed. "Look, I don't want to talk about it. It's kind of a touchy subject. Tell me more about this Leon guy."

Connor looked at me a beat, trying to figure out if he could trust someone who had willingly kissed the enemy, begrudgingly he continued. "He lives in the center of the city where he can control everything. There's a building right next to his that houses the rest of the Order, it's called the Emerald City."

"Like the Wizard of Oz?" All I got was a confused stare. "Sorry, pop culture reference... long time ago pops cultural reference. Would that be considered history or... Sorry. Continue." Well lookie there, one week back on my feet and I was already rambling.

"The Emerald City is severely guarded. Spells, demons, everything. Anyone who has tried to get in, never got back out. Some didn't even make it past the gates. Leon's smart. He's not going to take any chances.

"Since its permanent midnight outside, everyone has to be on their guard. Vampires roam the streets constantly and if you're not marked your fair game."

"Marked?"

"If you work for Leon then you're marked. That's only if you work for him though. You do his bidding, the things he asks, then you're in the clear. If you refuse to work for him, or you're too young then you're..."

"A happy meal with legs." I interrupted.

"I'm just going to say yes to that."

"Sorry, a friend... or enemy really, told me that once. So, when you say work? What does that mean?"

"Guess." He looked at me in all seriousness. The other night I had almost been raped, I shudder to think what went on in other areas.

"Oh."

"Exactly. Once a week the vampires will go through the offices ran by the Leon and mark you if you're an employee. Employees have to freely offer up their blood once a week or they're killed, in return for this though they don't get hunted if they're out on the street. Vampires need us, they need them. Once a vampire bites you, you're marked until that scar fades away."

"And these people, do they get paid for there... services?"

"No. They're slaves. Money is rare around here. Only the upper-class men have it."

"What's considered upper-class?"

"Vampires."

"Why do I even ask these things?" I shook my head at my stupidity. "So if humans don't have money, how do they get food?"

"Rations. Once a month everyone lines up in the local courtyard and is given just enough food to survive on for the remainder of the month. People that go there and aren't marked take risks. Sometimes they can get passed the guards without them noticing it, but most of the time you're arrested and then raped and stoned in public to set an example for others."

"So what you're telling me is that if you don't work for the Order your screwed?"

"Yup, a lot of the time literally."

Bouncing off the bed I hit the wall, a thin crack appearing in its wake. "This is insanity! Isn't there anyone out there who's fighting against this?"

"Yes, but it's not that simple."

"I'm making it that simple! Hit, kick, stake. That's all you need to do to kill a vamp, so why isn't anyone doing it?"

"Buffy there's people out there fighting. People who are out there every night trying to protect those who refuse to give in to the Orders demands! But it's not enough. I've been fighting this fight for three hundred years and it rarely ever favored in our side. I'm not fighting for the hope that things will get better one day anymore."

"Then why fight?"

"Because I can. Because of me a little girl gets to go home and live one more day with her mother and father. Just because the world won't get better doesn't mean someone's life can't."

"You have an awful lot of faith for a kid." I mumbled sinking down in a chair to my right. "How do you do it? How can you go out there day after day... or in your case, night after night, and not go insane?"

"Years of practice." There it was again, that sexy little half smile that always made me go weak at the knees when I was younger.

Just thinking that brought tears to my eyes. Never again would I see him. Knowing Angel he had gone out in battle. That was him alright, always saving others before even thinking about himself. In a world like this, he had to be long dead. Leon and his little group of rejects probably went after him first. A vampire with a soul was probably not something they wanted around. Especially one that was descendent of The Master.

My eyes went wide. "What did you say the Order was?"

"What?"

"The Order! What's there name?" I shouted.

"The Order of Arelius."

The first tear slipped out from under my lashes. "And only one vampire didn't join huh?"

"Yeah."

Beads of salty water left tracks as they rolled down my cheek at the thought of the one person who hadn't joined dying. "Good for him. He died with a cause."

"He didn't die."

My head snapped up. Tears clogged my throat so bad that I could hardly even get the words past my lips. "What?"

"He didn't die. He lives right here in LA."

My heart felt as if it was about to jump out of my chest. "Angel."