Part 4: Light and Dark Paladins

Half an hour after sunset, Angel arrived at the high school library.

The first thing said by anyone within the library was said by Xander, saying, "Hey Deadboy, where did the cat come from?"

As Angel went to stand by the checkout counter, said cat leapt onto the counter and sat down, gazing at everyone with an unusual intelligence in his eyes. It was Buffy who spoke next.

"Angel, is that the same cat we saw in that graveyard yesterday night?"

Angel nodded, then said, "Remember what you said about a medallion on his collar?" At Buffy's nod of agreement, he continued, saying, "Why don't you come over here, and tell me if you recognize it."

As Buffy did as Angel asked, Darkmoon thought snidely to the souled vampire, "And this is the almighty Slayer?"

Angel's eyes narrowed, as he focused his attention on the cat. "You'll regret that, Familiar."

The vampire's attention returned to Buffy, as she gasped and gazed at Angel with wide eyes. She said in shock, "That's your tattoo!"

Angel nodded, and said, "Strange as it may seem, this cat is my familiar."

"You're Wiccan, Angel?" Willow asked in confusion.

Angel shook his head, and looked at Willow as he replied, "No. Druid." Angel winced. "Well, was anyway."

"You are a druid. Otherwise I wouldn't be here," Darkmoon corrected.

"You sure about that," Angel asked uncertainly, gazing down at his familiar.

"Hell, yes!"

Angel froze, all pretenses of breathing stopped. A fine shudder swept down his body, as his eyes glazed.

"Angel?" Buffy asked. Getting no response, she slowly reached up a hand, and placed it against the souled vampire's heart. "Angel, I'm right here." She said, slowly, soothingly. "Come one. Break free of the memories."

Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy watched as Darkmoon slowly stood, and made his way over to Angel. Once beside Angel, the black cat pressed himself against the vampire, purring hypnotically. Five minutes later -- under Buffy and Darkmoon's combined efforts -- Angel began to "breathe" again. Shortly after that, he shuddered, and wrapped his arms around Buffy, trembling.

In a ragged voice, Angel said to Darkmoon, "Don't you ever say that word around me, Cat. Ever!"

All watched as Darkmoon shrank back from Angel. Willow made a faint sound, went over to the familiar, and began stroking him. She asked, carefully ignoring the shaken state of the vampire, "Angel, how can this cat be your familiar? I've never seen you do any magic."

"Because you haven't seen him doing it, doesn't mean he hasn't, Willow," Buffy said grimly, pulling out of Angel's embrace. "How else did he get to...you-know-where."

By this time, Angel had calmed down enough to pay attention to what was going on around him. He said, explaining, "When I was...human, I was a druid. A very powerful druid. Not long after when I was Turned by Darla, I would've been given a higher rank...and been given Darkmoon there. But since I was Turned, that was not possible."

"Angel," Giles said, for the first time speaking up.

Angel looked over at the Watcher, and asked quietly, "Yes, Giles?"

"Can you explain how Darkmoon -- as you called him -- is here now?"

Silence, then Angel said, "A spell was placed on him not long after they realized that I was Turned. This spell makes it impossible for him to die...unless I die."

"So he'll die only when you die," Oz said from where he sat. At Angel's nod, he commented, "Huh."

"What a minute!" Xander said suddenly, as he realized something. When everyone was looking at him, he said, "Angel, you said that when you were changed into a vamp, that your familiar couldn't be your familiar. Why is he with you now, as your familiar then?"

"I like him!" Darkmoon said to Angel.

"I don't!" Angel replied in kind, before answering Xander's question. "Apparently, what I saw last night is part of why Darkmoon is here."

"What did you see, Angel?" Buffy asked, then said, "I've never seen you so scared in my life,"

In the expectant silence that fell, Angel shivered, then said, "A Harpy."

"And how does your familiar play into this?" asked Giles into the stunned silence.

Angel looked down at Darkmoon, and said, "One of the reasons the druids were giving me a higher rank -- besides the fact that I could handle it -- was that a harpy had been brought to our dimension from another. Only those of high rank could go through the tests needed to be accepted as one of the two...'champions' needed to defeat the harpy. I was considered the only one capable of passing the tests for the champion I would be."

"But you never got the chance 'cause you were turned into a vamp, right?" Buffy said and asked.

Quietly, Angel answered, "Yeah."

"What type of champions, Angel," Giles asked, heading towards the stacks in the upper-level of the library.

A long silence fell, in which Giles was about to reach the first bookcase, when Angel said, "Paladin."

Giles froze, then said, his voice catching, "Paladin!" He turned around and faced Angel. "Are you sure? What type of paladin?"

"Light and Dark. I was to be the Dark, and another was to be the Light."

"Why both kinds, not just one?"

"Because this particular harpy is neither Light nor Dark, but neutral," Angel explained to Giles. "Both are needed to destroy it."

"Light and Dark have never co-existed!" Giles exclaimed.

With irony in his eyes, Angel said dryly, "Oh, they can co-exist alright. Me and Buffy are a fine example."

"Unless you loss your soul," Xander contributed blithely.

"Thank you so much for that unnecessary reminder!" Buffy snapped.

Giles said loudly and sternly, but not exactly shouting, "Children!"

Immediately, all arguing -- even those about to argue -- stopped. Everyone turned to look at Giles. Once he knew he had everyone's attention, he said in a calmer tone to the souled vampire, "Angel, why were you considered for the position as a Dark Paladin?"

"I don't know, they were going to tell me when I went for the tests."

In the silence that followed, Darkmoon leapt onto Angel's shoulders, startling the vampire. Purring loudly, he said to Angel, "You were the only one with the strength to withstand the power of the darkness you would wield against the harpy."

Angel glanced at the cat out of the corner of his eye, and asked, while raising a hand to support the cat where he perched, "What do you mean?"

"Your soul. As a child, they saw the strength of your soul, and knew you were destined for great things. How else do you explain your soul's resistance to the demon's demands to be freed? It isn't just the curse keeping it bound."

Angel's brow furrowed in concentration, as he thought about what his familiar had said. Only Buffy placing her hand on his arm brought him out of his musings.

"Angel," she said, then asked, "what are you thinking."

Silently, Angel took Darkmoon off of his shoulders, and held the cat in front of him. He said casually -- too casually, "Tell me, Darkmoon. Did anyone pass the tests to be chosen for the Light Paladin?"

Squirming, Darkmoon said, "Yeah. A woman by the name of Maeve Summers I think."

"Would the call of that chosen Light Paladin continue down that specific lineage until the Dark Paladin was found and chosen?"

Darkmoon froze as he caught the gist of what Angel was implying. He turned his head, and looked directly at Buffy. "Yes," he answered. "It would."

With that, Angel carefully put Darkmoon on the ground, and said in a whisper, while he crouched above the cat, "Then use your sight, Familiar, and tell me if what I think is true."

Darkmoon moved towards Buffy, until he was only a foot away. Once there, he purred in a chant-like manner, and said, "Sacred Moon, I call upon you to aid me. Let me see if this woman is descended from the chosen Light Paladin."

In Darkmoon's sight, a blinding glow suddenly surrounded the Slayer, as a female voice said within his mind and Angel's, "Well done, my sons. She is indeed descended of that line. She is the chosen Paladin. For she possesses the soul of she who was chosen first."

With those words, the light disappeared from Darkmoon's vision.