The Quickening

Notes: Sorry for the rather lengthy delay in updates, but I've been rather ill, and haven't left my bed until yesterday practically. The updates should be a bit more regular now. Again, sorry to keep you guys waiting.

Previously:

"However, the plan might work in another way," Giles said brightly, an idea suddenly dawning on him. "If we sent someone else. Someone that the Mayor would never suspect was playing both sides."

"Like who?"

Giles smiled a little, knowing the reaction that his next statement would receive. "Cordelia."

Chapter Fifty-Nine:

Cordelia had found herself in many precarious situations since she fell in with the Scooby Gang several years ago. She had fought off foul and dangerous monsters, averted a few apocalypses, and saved a few lives. But she had never walked into the heart of darkness, knowing in explicit detail what that darkness was, without the intent of walking out again. Cordelia sighed and closed her eyes. She had never been the reliable one in the Scooby Gang. Why her name had popped up in Giles's mind for this particular covert mission, she would never know, but it had to have been a big inside joke for the Powers that Be.

She could hear her heart pounding in her chest. She wondered if the Mayor would be able to hear it beating so loudly as well, when she went into his office for the first day of her internship. Everything had fallen into place. The Scooby Gang decided that they needed a person on the inside, even in a menial capacity, who could snoop around to try to figure out what the Mayor had in store for Sunnydale. The next day, the Mayor's office announced that the Mayor would be sponsoring an internship for one lucky Sunnydale High School student, in order to foster political awareness and activism amongst the youth. It had been fate. Cordelia applied and Willow had hacked into the internship program's computer files in order to manipulate Cordelia's acceptance.

Cordelia knew that she never would have been accepted legitimately otherwise. There were far more qualified people who had applied. However, she also knew that if the Mayor had seen her name in the stack of applicants, he might have been intrigued on his own. The Mayor seemed to have an ear to the ground, so to speak, and knew much of what went on in town. Particularly, he knew a great deal about the slayers. Part of that information surely included who they spent their time with, Cordelia being one of those individuals. The Mayor could have seen her application as a chance to infiltrate his way into the inner core of the Scooby Gang. On the other hand, he may not have recognized her name at all. Either way, Cordelia was in and she had a job to do.

It had been several days since the disappearance of Alan Finch. The town had been in an uproar over it, as the Mayor was convinced that foul play had been involved. The police had been searching every dark corner in Sunnydale looking for a body. Thus far, they had not turned up anything useful in the way of evidence. As a precaution, Giles had disposed of the safe she, Faith, and Xander stole from Alan Finch's apartment. In addition, they had destroyed the stake used in the accidental killing. The most incriminating evidence would come if the police did find a body. Giles had reinforced Cordelia's notion that the wound on the body would contain splinters from the stake used in the killing.

Buffy had quite a record at Sunnydale High. The most notable blemish on her record, other than the burning down of the Hemory High gym in Los Angeles, had been her implication in the murder of a girl in the Sunnydale High library. The girl had been in possession of a wooden weapon – a stake – at the time of her death. Wooden splinters in Alan Finch's heart would bring all of that to mind for the Sunnydale police department. If Buffy were implicated in Alan's murder, it would only be a matter of time before Faith was as well. Cordelia knew that Faith could be strong, but if the police applied the right kind of pressure, she also knew that Faith would crack.

Cordelia looked down at the glowing, neon blue numbers of her dashboard clock and sighed. It was time for her to go in and meet the Mayor for her first day of her internship. She was incredibly nervous. She knew that the Mayor was planning to ascend into a powerful demon. But other than that, she and the others had been left in the dark. Alan must have known more than he kept on paper. But whatever he had known, it had died with him. They needed to know when he planned to ascend, into what, and how that would affect Sunnydale. Most importantly, they needed to know how to kill him when he did ascend. Cordelia thought that they should simply find the Mayor in a dark alley one night and slice his head off. It would save them countless hours of research and investigative work and it would ensure that the Mayor never ascended. But, she imagined that Giles would have a problem with them assassinating a public figure without more information. As far as they knew, the Mayor had not hurt anyone yet.

Stepping out of her car, she locked it behind her and moved forward onto the sidewalk. The Mayor's office loomed in front of her, a rather depressing building constructed out of gray stone. The palm trees swaying gently before it seemed out of place, too happy and bright to stand in front of the office of an evil politician. The sun was just sinking below the horizon as Cordelia walked. She repressed a shudder and moved forward, absently smoothing her skirt. She had dressed to kill for her first day, hoping to impress the people she would be working with and, thus, solidify her position there. She had to admit that her usual confidence was lacking. She did not know what to expect out of her duties as an intern in a politician's office. She imagined that she would be chained to the copy machine nearly the entire time. However, she was not accustomed to doing office work and she felt like a fish flailing out of water.

Pulling open the front doors, she stepped inside. Smiling brightly at the receptionist, she introduced herself. The woman at the desk seemed nice enough and Cordelia wondered if anyone that worked there really knew what the Mayor was, or if they all thought he was a harmless, middle-aged man. The receptionist buzzed the Mayor's office and told Cordelia to wait a few moments until someone came down for her. Cordelia nodded politely and moved over to a bank of chairs lining the wall. Crossing her legs, she folded her hands in her lap and waited. Time seemed to creep by slowly, people coming in and out, before someone finally walked up to her.

Cordelia watched as a young, black man stopped in front of her. His head was shaven and he was dressed immaculately in a professionally tailored suit. The colors were a bit wild for a conventional office; the man seemed perfectly capable of pulling the combination off without looking ridiculous, however. Cordelia quickly stood and smiled warmly as the man looked her over. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Chase," he said in a slight Southern drawl and extended his hand. "My name's Mr. Trick. I'll be taking you up to meet the Mayor."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, as well," Cordelia said, gripping his extended hand. She instantly noted that his skin felt like ice. Looking into his eyes, she realized that she was staring into the eyes of a soulless creature of the night. Trying not to let the knowledge show on her face, she smiled easily and let Mr. Trick lead the way. The Mayor had a vampire working directly for him. Any thoughts of the Mayor as an unwitting participant in some larger plan faded from Cordelia's mind. The man was evil, pure and simple, and she was about to meet him face to face.

…………………………

"You've got a lot of books, big guy," Faith said as she absently wandered through Angel's living room. He watched her from the sofa, as if he was calculating her every move. When she had agreed to speak with Angel about Alan's death, she had not imagined that she would be trying to force a conversation.

"I've got a lot of time on my hands," Angel replied.

"Right, with the not being able to go out in the day thing," Faith said, spinning around to look at him. "That must suck."

"It has its moments," Angel replied dryly. "But we're not really here to talk about me, are we?"

"No, we're not," Faith said sighing. Angel had finally gotten to the point and, suddenly, she did not feel quite so eager to talk anymore.

"You want to sit down or just keep pacing in front of the fire place?" Angel asked jokingly. Faith glared over at him. "Fine, do whatever works."

"Look, the only reason I'm here is because Giles thinks I'm going to go all dark slayer and start mass murdering people or something," Faith replied.

"Are you?" Angel asked abruptly.

"Am I what?" Faith asked.

"Going to start mass murdering people?"

"No," Faith said angrily. "That's the point, he's way off base."

"But you could. If you wanted to, you could," Angel said offhandedly.

"Yeah, I could," Faith replied, unsure of where he was heading with that line of thought.

"And not simply because you're more powerful than everyone else. You could kill people because you have something in you that would allow you to," Angel said. "We all have it. Once that thing gets a taste of the power that comes with killing your first person, it wants more. It always wants more, constantly."

"So what you're saying is that I've fed the beast and now it wants to come out to play?" Faith asked, as she sat across from Angel on another sofa.

"Generally speaking, yes. It's different with vampires because we have to kill in order to survive. We need more blood than the body will allow us to take. But humans kill out of a pleasure that it gives them – a sense of power over everyone else. Yes, you may be stronger than every person alive in the world today, but you still feel helpless sometimes. There are still those people who make you feel like you're nothing. But once you know that you have the power to kill those people, to make them the unworthy ones, than it's that much harder to resist the urge. Alan, he was an accident. No one is saying otherwise. But what if someone pisses you off? What if someone hurts you more than you can handle? Can you guarantee without a doubt that you wouldn't try to hurt them back?" Angel asked.

Faith looked down at her hands. "No," she said lowly. "I can't." Angel nodded.

"Then you understand why you're here," he said. "You can't fly off the handle. You're too strong. If you try to hurt someone, you will, badly. That can't happen."

"I know that," Faith responded.

Angel smiled a little, knowing that he was starting to piss her off. "Giles only sent you here because he cares about you. He knows that you're hurting. He knows that Alan's death has affected you far more than you're letting on. Faith, I just want to help you too. I mean, honestly, what have I got better to do all day anyway?" He asked, smiling more when he saw Faith's lips curl up into the tiniest of smiles. "I have all of these books, but it's been like two hundred years. I've read them all by now, several times."

Faith laughed a little and nodded her head. "I get it," she said.

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. I'm just here for you is all. I think you'll find that if you open up to me, I can help you. I know a lot about what it's like to battle with something dark inside of you. I have that darkness in me all of the time. So do you. I can see it in your eyes. You have to constantly fight it off to keep it from taking control. But really, control is all we have. Control over ourselves. Everything else in the world can spiral into utter destruction and darkness and we can't stop it from happening, not really. But we can stop ourselves," Angel said, noting the shining light of understanding in Faith's eyes. "I think I've talked at you enough for today. Just remember, my door's always open."