Disclaimer: There are no characters in this story that are mine. They belong to their creators who didn't do what I wanted. I can barely claim the plot b/c that's also not original. Besides borrowing/stealing these characters, I am once again blatantly borrowing/stealing lines from episodes of BTVS.
Author's Note: Thank you to people who reviewed. I now have some idea as to where I am going with this. Hopefully I will remember that idea.
-Chapter 2-
"You're the what?"
Angel winced at her scream. As the Slayer, his hearing was slightly better than most humans and the volume of her voice was a little grating. "I'm the Angel the Vampire Slayer."
"Let's start again. You're the who?"
Rolling his eyes, Angel repeated himself, "I'm the Slayer. Of Vampires. It's this weird sort of thing where into each generation a Slayer is born, one person in all the world..."
"The Chosen One, and you can't be that one because I am." Buffy glared at him.
"Impossible. There's only one." Angel argued, wondering whether or not she was crazy.
"Um, guys?" Willow stepped between the two nervously. Buffy still held her stake and both had unconsciously taken up fighting stances. "Is there anybody who can verify if you both are Slayers?"
"Yeah, my Watcher who will tell you that I'm the Slayer." Buffy replied quickly.
"Who's your Watcher?" Angel was asked mystified, wondering how there could be two Slayers.
"Giles, the school librarian." Buffy looked at him curiously. "Who's yours?"
----
"Well, it's not possible." Giles took off his glasses for the third time and cleaned them. Standing opposite him, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce mimicked his actions.
Annoyed at their respective Watchers, Buffy and Angel exchanged a frustrated glance. This had been going on for the last half hour, ever since Wesley had arrived at the library. Both Watchers seemed set on the fact that there could not be two Slayers and both Watchers were positive that they were the Watcher of the Slayer. No explanations had been offered to the just as perplexed Slayers sitting at the table.
"There's been an error." Wesley sighed, wondering which of his books might contain the proper material to research this problem. He paced in front of the oak table for a moment. "Somehow, another Slayer has been sent to Sunnydale."
Willow, sitting on the steps the library, raised her hand and waved it around for a moment. Giles frowned, wondering again why she was here, then pointed at her signaling that she could speak. "Is that even possible? I mean, two Slayers at the same time?"
She was still a little fuzzy on the details but according to that statement that each of them kept reciting, it was pretty clear that there was only one Chosen One.
"Not that I know of." Giles answered. "The new Slayer is only called after the previous Slayer has died..." He paused suddenly realizing the implications of his statement, "Unless one of you has died and somehow come back to life, I don't see how that's possible."
Sitting in the hard wooden chair, Angel started to squirm a little. He had a feeling that he knew what had happened. And it was a valid if uncomfortable explanation. Wesley looked at him stunned. "Good lord, Angel, you were dead."
"I was only out for a minute." Angel snapped defensively. This was what he needed, another reminder that he wasn't always up to his duty.
"Well, it obviously doesn't matter how long you were dead." Buffy said sarcastically.
"Look." Angel leaned towards her annoyed by her attitude. "I may have died..."
"She's right." Wesley interrupted what was clearly going to be a tirade from his charge. He stood in front of the table and looked sternly at his Slayer. "You were physically dead, causing the activation of the next Slayer."
"It doesn't matter!" Angel shouted. He took a deep breath before continuing. "It's a mistake. She isn't supposed to be here. She goes home. I'm not dead, I can still do my job, and I don't need her around."
But even as he spoke, he remembered what had happened only the night before. If someone else had been there... It didn't matter though. The Slayers before him had fought alone and so could he. The help he got from his friends didn't really count. And there was a very loud, if small, part of him that didn't want to see her in harms way.
"I can't just leave. My mother just moved here. What am I supposed to say? Hey, Mom, we don't need to stay here because I'm not needed as the Slayer." She shook her head at his stupidity.
"Will the two of you be quiet?" Both Watchers scolded in unison.
----
Buffy glanced out of the corner of her eye at the guy who was walking her home. "I'd be okay walking myself home, you know."
He didn't respond.
"Of course, I don't think it counts as walking me home if all I get is mute icicle."
"I'm not mute." Angel snapped. She was starting to get on his nerves and no matter how cute she was; he couldn't stand being annoyed for very long.
"Well, that's nice to know." She really was trying to not be so sarcastic but he was being difficult. "Are you an icicle?'
"At least I know the difference between a vampire and a living person." He muttered under his breath, perfectly aware that she would hear him and really not caring.
"Look, a vampire attacked my friend and when I got to where the vampire had been, you were there." She rolled her eyes again. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt my friend."
"Then why did you have her come back with you?" He asked incredulously.
"Um, hi? You guys, I'm still sort of here." Willow poked Buffy in the back, wishing that they'd acknowledge her existence, instead of just arguing with each other. It was obviously something they both enjoyed. "And she didn't let me come back with her. I just got scared and followed her. I didn't want to be left alone after finding that vampires are real. Would you?"
"I'm sorry, Willow." Buffy smiled apologetically at her friend. "I shouldn't have left you at the Bronze, if I'd been there the vamp wouldn't have come up to you. It's sort of my fault."
"It's okay." The red head smiled back. "I'm just glad that I have a super hero friend to keep me safe now. Wait 'til Fred and Xander hear about this."
As Angel rolled his eyes at her na•ve enthusiasm, Buffy winced slightly. "Um, Willow, you sort of can't tell anyone. See, this whole Slayer thing is kind of a secret."
"Oh. I can't even tell Fred?" She understood it was a secret but she never kept secrets from Fred. And this seemed really big; the kind of secret Fred could always tell when she was keeping them.
"No, not really." Buffy said softly, wondering if this was a good thing, after all from what she had heard, Willow and Fred didn't keep much from each other. Kind of like her and Faith, only she'd had enough trouble trying to keep Faith from telling everyone.
"Not even to keep her safe?"
"I'll keep an eye out for her, okay?" Something in Willow's eyes made it clear to Buffy that she was scared of losing her friend. It was another reminder of the strength of the friendship between the two girls.
----
They stopped by Willow's house first, making sure that she got home safely, before continuing to Buffy's house. Neither of the Slayers spoke to each other, both unable to think of anything to say that would be appropriate and wouldn't start another exchange of sarcastic remarks. But as they turned onto Revello Drive, Buffy decided to speak up. "Thanks."
Not expecting that from the blonde, Angel turned to look at her confused. "For what?"
"For saving Willow." Buffy answered honestly, silently continuing in her head, And for walking me home. Not that she'd ever tell the guy that. He didn't deserve it.
"I'm the Slayer, it's my duty." He answered. "And why are you so worried about her anyway, you've only known her one day."
"Yeah, but she's been really nice to me and I think she could be a really good friend to me and my sister." Buffy shrugged. "I like to have friends. Don't you?"
There was a moment of silence as Angel thought about how difficult having friends who knew who you were could be. Buffy waited a moment before speaking up again. "That wasn't supposed to be a stumper."
"I have friends." He snapped at her for what felt like the millionth time that day. "I just don't know if people like us should have friends."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Buffy stopped walking and turned to look at him.
He shook his head unsure of how to answer. "It's dangerous. You get worried about them, that they might get hurt or that they'll want to help."
"Don't you think that having someone to worry about might make us that much better?" Buffy watched as his eyes darkened as he thought this over. She turned away from him, seeing her house just across the street. "That's my house. I'll see you tomorrow."
She didn't turn back as she quietly entered her new home, so she didn't see Angel standing across the street, watching her until she turned her light off to go to bed.
----
"So?"
"So what?" Picking up the glass of orange juice her mother placed in front of her, Buffy scowled. She did not like the little bits of pulp floating around in the cup. They were icky.
"How was your night last night?" Faith gulped down the glass of juice while her sister still eyed the pulp. "Just drink it, it's not going to kill you, right Mom?"
"Buffy, I'm sorry I got the carton with pulp in it. It was all that was left by the time I got to the store. The gallery is keeping me more busy than I expected." Joyce Summers was moving briskly around the kitchen trying to find something to eat for breakfast while her only daughters ate Lucky Charms out of the box. "And while we're at it, what time did you get in last night?"
"Um, right after Faith." Not as skilled at lying as her sister, Buffy could tell from her mother's glance that she didn't believe her. "And I had a good time last night. I really like Willow, she's nice."
"Well, I really like Spike." Faith smirked, remembering what she'd done with the blond boy. "And he's got some cute friends, Gunn and Angel."
"Spike, Gunn, and Angel?" Joyce turned around staring incredulously at her daughter. "What sort of names are those?"
"Said the mother of Buffy?" teased Faith. "And I don't know how they got them, it's just what they're called."
Joyce shook her head, "I named my daughter Elizabeth. It was her twin sister who couldn't pronounce that name who came up with Buffy."
"Hey! Buffy is still here. And I happen to like my name."
----
Buffy entered first period alone. She'd abandoned Faith quickly once they'd been dropped off at school, hoping to get some time to think before class started. The room wasn't empty though. The computer teacher, Ms. Calendar was sitting at her desk typing furiously on the computer. And Angel was slumped at the same desk he'd been in the day before. He didn't seem aware of anything going on around him, though Buffy knew that as the Slayer he was.
She sat down at the same desk she'd taken yesterday. Her first day at Sunnydale High already felt like it had been a long time ago. Not that anything special had happened over the course of twenty-four hours. No, just a dead guy in a locker, her new friend nearly killed, and the discovery that she had a destiny that was actually a mistake because somebody hadn't really stayed dead. Yeah, not a lot had happened. She leaned back remembering when life had been a lot simpler and tried to ignore the feeling that someone was staring at her.
----
He didn't mean to stare but it was odd seeing her. She looked so normal but she was a reminder of yet another one of his failures and his biggest one at that. He'd died and now she was here. Well, she was around before he had died but she certainly hadn't been the Slayer before that, just a potential one. Not that it mattered anymore because here she was in all her glory with the same miserable destiny he had. Life was unfair. Someone like her didn't deserve this. He watched her sit there, barely aware as other students entered the room wondering who she had been before.
----
"Where's Faith?" Xander asked around his mouthful of hot dog. Willow had dragged Buffy to where she usually met her friends for lunch but Buffy's twin was nowhere to be found.
Buffy shrugged at Xander's question. She didn't have any idea where Faith was except that she was somewhere around the school. Faith had come in late to first period, trailed by Angel's friend Spike, and after that Buffy hadn't seen her as they didn't share any other classed beside fifth period biology which was after lunch.
"So Willow said she spilled all the dirt about us to you last night." Jesse waved his spoon around before jabbing it in his green Jell-O. "Now, I only figure that you should give us something in exchange."
"Yeah, like what kind of funny stuff did you do when you were little?" Xander had thankfully swallowed. "Did you ever eat paste?"
Laughing at their eagerness, Buffy shook her head. "Nope, I think Faith did once though. I only ate paper, which was probably just as bad."
"Aw, did itty bitty Buffy eat wittle wads of waper when she was wittle?" Xander giggled as he teased the pretty blonde. He grinned as he saw her eyes light up at his tone.
"Yup, I did and I'm not ashamed." Buffy declared laughing. She was amazed at how easily the tight knit group of friends had accepted her. And they even welcomed her. "Of course, since I only ate paper instead of paper and paste, I don't think you should be making that much fun of me."
"You told her I ate paper and paste?" Xander whipped around to mock glare at Willow and Fred who were laughing hard at the entire scene. "I thought that was our deepest and most precious secret."
"I thought that was the fact that you only wore pink socks for a year." Fred giggled as Xander's jaw dropped and Buffy's eyes widened.
"Pink socks?" Buffy felt tears forming as she kept laughing. As she wiped her eyes a dark wind swept across the lawn they were all sitting on. Every muscle in her body tightening she glanced around but nothing seemed any different. The same students were still all sprawled about the front lawn of the school and the sun was still beating down on them. No one else seemed to have noticed anything.
"Earth to Buffy. Earth to Buffy." Jesse waved his Jell-O filled spoon in front of her face. "Are you there?"
"Yeah," she answered a slight frown on her face, "I have to go. I'll see you guys in class."
As the group watched her leave, Xander put their thoughts into words. "She's weird."
----
Angel watched as Faith entertained Gunn and Spike. She had the same sarcastic streak as her sister only her little comments tended to be a little cruder and a little less personal. He kept glancing across the courtyard in hope of seeing Buffy but she wasn't there. It bothered him that he was developing this desire to see her again. He couldn't afford to be so distracted.
"Earth to Angel. Earth to Angel." Faith laughed waving a hand wildly in front of the dark eyed boy's face. "You're worse than my sister at zoning out."
The three of them laughed even harder as Angel noticeably shook himself out of his thoughts at the mention of Faith's twin. He looked around the large courtyard again and went back to just watching his friends. He was glad that Faith easily reverted their attention back to her and her body as she writhed gracefully across the table as she told her stories. He didn't need his friends lecturing him on his lack of a life again. He just needed a break.
Faith watched Angel out of the corner of her eye as she excitedly told Spike and Gunn the story of when Buffy had gotten in a car accident. She had seen him and her sister last night. And she had seen him stare at the window she knew was Buffy's. But Buffy wasn't saying anything and he despite all of his apparent distraction wasn't saying much either. Taking a route atypical of her, she decided that she'd just keep watching and giving gentle nudges to push the two in the direction that they were obviously heading in.
"Blood hell. It's getting cold." Spike interrupted Faith as a blast of wind hit the group in the courtyard. It didn't last long but as a group the four of them shivered.
Sitting still for a moment, Angel fought the impulse to break something. As soon as he was able to he leapt up and walked back into the school building. Something felt wrong.
----
"Ok. What is going on now?" Buffy stomped back into the library. She couldn't see anybody in the large room again. "Hello?"
Startled, Giles dropped the book he was carrying off the shelves. Shaken he walked out from the stalls. "Hello. How are you?"
Buffy stared at him, incredulous he could be so polite when something bad was so obviously about to happen. "I'm great! Just great. There's this all evil-ly feeling on campus and you're asking how I feel. This is great. The world could end tomorrow and you'd ask if I wanted sugar in my tea."
"Are you sure you're okay?" The librarian frowned, confused at the ranting of the young girl standing in front of him glaring.
"I'm fine. The world isn't! Aren't you supposed to all watch-y and know what's going on?"
"Something's going on?"
At his unconcerned tone, Buffy groaned and flopped down into the nearest chair. "Yes! Why do you think I came here?"
Giles glanced down at the book he was holding before looking back at her. "Well, this is a school library and you are a student. There is a chance that you are here to get a book like you did yesterday. Which, might I add, was the same day you informed me you wanted nothing to do with being the Slayer."
"Oh, so now you know stuff." Buffy rolled her eyes at his statement. "That was yesterday. This is today. And today I've decided that I have to do something."
"You are aware that it isn't necessary. There is another Slayer." He reminded her calmly, unwilling to get worked up about this crisis she had yet to explain to him."
"I know that." Buffy dragged the sentence out for emphasis. "But that doesn't mean I can't do anything. And what are you doing here? Don't you know it's rude to listen to other people's private conversations? Oh, it's just you."
Angel stared at her oddly as he walked past the librarian to sit in the chair opposite her. "You know this is a school library right? Students can walk in at any time."
"Why does everyone keep telling me that? I see the books. I know it's a library. I have library guy for a watcher."
Ignoring the blonde's continued ranting, Giles turned to the other Slayer. "Why are you here?"
"I felt something odd outside." Angel explained. He shrugged, "I thought I should tell you about it since I can't exactly walk to where Wesley works without getting in trouble."
"What exactly was wrong?"
"You believe him but not me?" Buffy interjected before Angel could answer. "What's up with that?"
Both of them ignored her again. Angel just answered Giles. "There an evil feeling in the wind. With the Hellmouth here and all, I feel evil a lot but this was different. Stronger."
"In the wind?" Giles frowned trying to recall anything he'd heard of that would affect the wind. "Could you be more specific?"
"The wind felt evil?" Angel stared at Buffy's Watcher wondering how he could possibly be more precise about what he had felt.
"Oh." There was a lot of doubt in Giles' tone but he didn't press for more details. "I guess I shall have to research this further. Perhaps, while you two patrol, Wesley and I can look through our books."
----
"Do you think they're going to find anything?" Buffy asked as she and Angel walked through the graveyard. The moon was just bright enough to create a dull light on the tombstones making everything in the shadows appear even darker.
"I don't know."
"Well, how long do you think it will take them to find something?" The two reached a newly dug grave where the victim of a vampire had recently been buried. Buffy pushed herself up onto the tombstone to sit and wait for the fledgling to rise.
"I don't know."
"What do you think it was?"
"I don't know."
"Do you say anything else?" Buffy snapped out at Angel. "Sheesh, all you say is 'I don't know" or something with even less syllables. Would it hurt you to use a few more words when you talk?"
Angel stepped away to avoid being hit with the stake she was waving about to emphasize her point. He really was having a hard time right now accepting the fact that she was the Slayer. Nothing about her seemed even remotely intimidating. "I don't usually talk on patrol. And don't wave that thing around."
"Why not?" Buffy swung her stake about, coming close to hitting Angel's face. "Are you scared I'm going to hit you?"
"Not really. I just don't think we need questions about why you have a pointy stick."
"And who's going to be in the graveyard at night walking around to see me?"
"Well, this graveyard is the quickest short cut from the Bronze to the main part of town, in case you forgot why that vampire was taking your friend through it last night." Angel shook his head at how quickly she seemed to forget things. "And will you please stop swinging it around!"
"No." Buffy answered shortly, quickly bringing the stake up and then throwing past Angel's head right into the heart of the vampire that had snuck up on them while they had been talking. "But I will now."
Staring in disbelief at the dust settling at his feet, Angel groaned. He hadn't had any idea that there had been a vampire right behind him and he was the more experienced Slayer. "Thanks. I guess he was here to collect this guy."
Buffy nodded, calmly slipping into her Slayer sensibility. Her senses became more alert as she allowed herself to be taken over by the power within her. She stood up and went to stand by the edge of the grave. "He probably won't take too long to take out as long as no one else comes to have a big welcome party."
"Yeah." Angel stared at her, amazed at how she had changed. It wasn't obvious but he could tell she was more alert, more prepared than she'd been just a few moments before. He'd never been able to drop that alertness, something that made his days harder when he felt the creatures of the night lurking in the shadows.
They stood silently over the grave, waiting for the first hint of motion. It didn't take too long and soon a hand rose up out of the dirt, piercing through the newly laid grass. It groped around trying to take find leverage to drag the rest of the body up. Another hand joined it, the two creating a wider hole large enough for a head and body to follow, which they did. There was a short second of confusion on the part of all three present as the vampire became aware of the two Slayers and the Slayers were yet again forced to face a monster that few people believed existed. It didn't last long though.
The vampire quickly lashed out at Buffy who was closer, knocking her over with its demon strength. She fell backwards, quickly rolling aside as it came down to punch her in the face. Behind the vampire, Angel swiftly pulled out his stake and moved towards the vampire. Sensing the second Slayer behind him the vampire kicked out, barely missing Angel who darted to his left and moved forward bringing the stake down through the vampire's heart.
From where she lay on the grass, Buffy stared at the dust of her nightmares, wondering for a moment how this could have ended differently had Angel not been there.
----
It rapidly became a daily routine. Angel stared at Buffy during homeroom and she pretended not to notice. Buffy hung out with Willow, Fred, and their group, while Faith became the fourth member of the Trio. Angel and Buffy went out on patrol at night, argued, fought vampires, and tried not to let the other see anything resembling respect for the other. Meanwhile their Watchers would research any new monsters they ran across and continue to look for what could cause the wind to feel evil. Then Angel would walk Buffy home and watch her again as she got ready for bed and while she pretended to not notice him again.
After three weeks of this though, Buffy was beginning to get annoyed at Angel's obvious unwillingness to do anything but this and Faith had decided that something needed to happen. Being patient had never been her strong point.
----
"So, Angel, why don't you have a girlfriend or something?" Faith drawled during lunch one day from her very comfortable position on Spike's lap. She stared at the dark haired guy who was her friend and who watched her sister.
"Why do you ask that?' Angel turned to her calmly. He knew Buffy hadn't told her twin about his being the Slayer, much like he hadn't told his friends about the second Slayer. The only people who knew that both of them were Slayers were Willow and their Watchers. He wasn't sure why he hesitated in telling anyone else but he wasn't able to bring himself to do so.
"Because you're a good looking guy, surely someone wants to date you." Faith answered bluntly. She wasn't blind to the way other girls looked at him, even if the Trio was. All three of them were fairly handsome. However, until she had claimed Spike, it didn't seem like any of them had any serious girlfriends.
"Oh, don't worry about him." Spike laughed, knowing perfectly well why she wanted to know. "He's got plenty of gals lining up. But you see, he only dates blondes and I think he's taking a break from them right now after what happened with Darla."
"Darla?" Faith had no idea who Darla was since she hadn't been socializing with too many people around the school.
"Cordelia Chase's best friend, Darla. Darla's the blonde who's only half stupid. Harmony is the blonde who is completely stupid. And you can't tell me you don't know who Cordelia is." Spike poked her, "Remember, she's the one who told you to not breathe close to her."
"Yeah, I remember that bitch." She turned back to Angel. "So, what happened with Darla?"
Nobody answered. The truth was that Angel had missed several dates with Darla because of his Slayer duties. They'd gone out for a grand total of two months. She'd broken up with him at the junior Final Fling after he'd arrived late and rumpled because of a huge fight. That had been the year before. Angel didn't really feel like explaining this to Faith and his friends couldn't think of a way that wouldn't lead her to asking questions.
Luckily, Faith was quickly sidetracked as she remembered exactly who Darla was. "Hey, isn't Darla the one who is always glaring at Buffy?"
"Yeah, she is." Gunn grinned. "I guess she's worried about losing her title as the only girl at Sunnydale High who has ever gone out with Angel."
"I'm not going out with Buffy." Angel huffed. There was no way that he was going to date a Slayer. That kind of relationship just called for trouble.
And refusing that kind of relationship in front of the sister of the Slayer wasn't much safer he realized as Faith punched his shoulder. "Why not? Worried she'll beat you up?"
As Spike started laughing, Faith smacked him on the side of the head. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing, luv, I just don't see Buffy beating up Angel any time soon." Both Spike and Gunn couldn't hold their laughter at the idea of seeing little blonde Buffy taking on Angel.
"Well, then why won't you go out with her?" Faith asked openly. "I don't see any reason you shouldn't."
"She's nice but," Angel paused, knowing perfectly well that this information would get back to Buffy, "I don't like her that way"
Calmly staring at him, Faith smiled coldly, "Bullshit."
----
"Aha"
The three other people in the library jumped at Giles' exclamation. Buffy dropped the book she was reading and glared at her Watcher. The librarian looked up from the large tome he had been reading to three angry expressions. Perplexed, he decided that his discovery was more important.
"And in the dark of the day when all are out the sweeper will come over all and all will not stand alone. Messages of clouds will flow down to all as darkness rises with the light. And on this after day all will fight for the sun against darkness' light."
"That's it!" Wesley exclaimed, causing the two Slayers to jump again. "That's what we've been looking for!"
Bending down to pick up her biology book, Buffy looked at Angel who was, she was relived to see, wearing a confused expression. "What's that? It's all cryptic and stuff."
"It's the explanation of what that wind was that you two brought up two months ago. It tells us what it is and now we'll be able to prepare better." Giles turned back to the book. He read a little more before speaking again. "Oh dear, I don't quite understand this part. I think we'll have to research this a lot more before we can completely grasp the situation at hand."
"What don't you understand? And could you try explaining that a little better because I don't think that little cryptic note you read us even mentioned the wind. Or evil. Or anything that resembles what we felt."
Giles looked at the blonde who was glaring at him with her large eyes. The annoyance was plain in her green-gray eyes and he could see anger hiding behind that.
"What it's saying is that..."
The doors of the library flew open as Willow, Fred, Xander, and Jesse burst in.
"Vampires!" Willow screamed.
Buffy and Angel leapt up as their four classmates scrambled into the library. Buffy noticed briefly that Jesse was bleeding from the neck before the vampires attracted her attention. There were eight of them, all fledglings but clearly prepared to fight. Without hesitation she and Angel moved forward to meet them.
"Slayer." The leader of the group hissed staring creepily at Angel, his yellow eyes focusing on the male Slayer. "My Master wishes to give you his greetings and tells you to be prepared to spend some time in Hell."
Buffy glanced at Angel, whose face became mask-like in its blankness. It was the scariest thing she had ever seen. She looked back at the vampire who was smirking in his demonic form.
The demon looked at her and grinned evilly. "I think I'll start making your life hell by killing her first."
It was the only warning the two Slayers got before the thirteen vampires attacked.
----
Any reviews at all are greatly appreciated. Again, I have an idea of where I'm going with this- it just may take me a while to get there.
-Kastia