Angel slowly came to as he felt a cold cloth pressed to his forehead. He moaned as he became aware of his body, and the fact that he felt like he was being burned 'alive.' Instinctively, Angel leaned into the cool hand that was suddenly touching his sweat-soaked face.
"Come on Angel," whispered Faith in a quiet voice, "open your eyes. I know you're awake. I can feel it."
With great effort, Angel opened his eyes, looked up at the Slayer, and asked, "What happened to me? Why do I feel like I'm on fire?"
With a weak grin, Faith said lightly -- too lightly, "Seems a number of your descendants work here, and took it upon themselves to kill ya to 'take back the family honor.' They slipped some holy water in the blood you were given to help you get your strength back while you were unconscious."
She removed her hand and laid it in her lap, as she said seriously, "Luckily, our connection is strong enough that I could feel what was happening, and was able to stop them before they gave you too much."
She stopped, looked directly into the souled vampire's eyes, then said, "You've been delirious for the past five days because of that. Also, add onto that the three days you've been unconscious from that quest..." the Slayer trailed off.
She studied Angel, smiled faintly, genuinely, and whispered, "It's good to see you awake. I was getting tired of talking to someone who wouldn't give me a response."
Angel nodded, closed his eyes, and asked, "The scroll I took from the chamber?"
"Being translated as we speak. Seems the really important parts are a form of Gaelic that is not known around here, or anywhere for that matter... And those are the parts that the Watchers have nothing on. Maeve's not even saying anything, and I know she has an idea of what it might say, too."
"It's not Gaelic," Angel whispered wearily, once Faith had stopped speaking, "but Elven, and only I will be able to read it. Since only those directly of their blood by first generation descent can read, write, or speak the language."
A commotion at the front of the archival library made those in the back -- Scooby Gang and Watchers alike -- look up from what they were doing. What they saw startled them, as Angel -- leaning heavily on Faith -- came towards them.
They were followed by a librarian exclaiming angrily, "This is a forbidden area for him to enter! His kind is not allowed here!"
Maeve's heels clicked from the opposite side of the room. There was power in her stride, as each librarian moved aside as she approached the dispute. Without words, she looked at the angry librarian out of the corner of her eye. He went back to his desk.
The Head of the Watchers turned her gaze to Angel, and said, "It is good to see you awake. Perhaps now we will be able to understand the scroll. If you will..." Maeve trailed off as a Watcher approached her, then started to whisper into her ear.
Faith -- feeling the strain of keeping Angel on his feet -- saw a chair that was nearby, and began to help Angel over to it, when he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She turned to gaze at the vampire, letting him go, and asked, "What is it Angel?"
The souled vampire did not respond, as he heard a voice so familiar call softly yet fearfully within his mind, "Angel?"
Brow drawn down in concentration, Angel whispered questioningly, "Buffy?"
Maeve, catching what Faith and Angel had said, turned her gaze to the vampire and Slayer. She watched as Angel stiffened. As he drew in breath sharply, Maeve shouted, "Everyone! Get down on the ground, NOW!"
As everyone dropped to the ground but Angel, the souled vampire suddenly doubled over as if powerfully hit in the stomach. As he fell to the ground, he exhaled swiftly, as a sensation like ice came over him. He was vaguely aware of voices, as the demon within him wreathed in agony, his soul stunned.
"Angel! What's happening to him," Faith shouted as she knelt down beside Angel's shuddering, curled up form, as a wind blew fiercely around the library, scattering papers and books everywhere.
As she placed a hand on Angel, Faith heard him gasp out, "Beloved, I can feel you. But why are you so cold?"
Angel's vision narrowed onto Faith, as she came into his sight. A dark force unlike any other he had felt rushed through him, and flew towards the Slayer. As Faith flew into the air, Angel suddenly understood what was happening with terrifying clarity.
Those who had kidnapped Buffy had taken her to the tomb of St. Vigeous, and that St. Vigeous was aware that those who had the power to destroy him where beginning to gather.
Lost within himself, Angel could not see nor sense what was happening around him, as Faith was pinned to the ceiling of the library, and that in her fear, the Slayer had connected to him...and thus, to Buffy.
Faith -- through Buffy's eyes -- could see the tomb of St Vigeous, and could feel the chains that bound the other Slayer from breaking free from her captors. She could see a stone laid before her, a Celtic triangle carved upon it. Through the design, eyes as red as blood glowed with rage.
As Faith felt the eyes focus on her -- not Buffy --, a power so dark and cold overwhelmed her, as a voice filled with death thundered within her mind, "YOU WILL NOT WIN!"
Faith screamed in agony, as she felt herself being crushed by the dark power and the wind. When she thought that she could take no more, the wind stopped, dropping her like a stone to the floor.
Complete and utter silence fell, only to be shattered by Faith saying brokenly, "Chained... Eyes of Blood..."
Willow and Xander, having taken cover at the first sign of trouble -- even before Maeve had called out her warning --, got out from under the table where they had hidden. They gazed around, stunned, at the destruction before them.
Papers and books lay torn and irreparable on the ground, while the Watchers lay in various states of disarray about the library. Willow clutched the Scroll of St. Vigeous tighter to her chest, as she spotted Angel.
"Xander," Willow whispered wide-eyed, "that shouldn't be possible!"
"Huh?" Xander said, then looked where his best friend was gazing transfixed. He said numbly in shock, "Whoa."
Where Angel lay, not one paper, book, or scroll lay within a seven foot circumference around him, like the eye of a storm.
Angel slowly made his way from his room several hours later to the study where the Watchers had set up the scroll for viewing, away from any other books or manuscripts. He heard a loud commotion going on as he neared the room.
As he entered, he saw many Watchers were around the scroll and Maeve. Heated words were being exchanged between them that Angel just couldn't really allow himself to comprehend just yet. His heart and body felt so cold. Maeve and the others looked up as he sat down at the only table in the room.
Maeve nodded to him, as she said, "You're up. Good. Lets get to work."
Lifting an eyebrow, Angel asked, "What's all the commotion all about?"
Maeve glanced down at the scroll, as she said casually, "It seems that your childe Drusilla has arrived and is demanding to come to here to meet with us. Why? No one knows."
"Huh," Angel said, then shook his head. "It doesn't matter now. What matters is this scroll."
Maeve silently passed the scroll to Angel. As he took the scroll and looked at it, a faint shiver of power went up his back. "How much have you been able to decipher," he asked.
"The last three paragraphs."
The souled vampire nodded, as he gazed down at the scroll. As he looked, the first sentence seemed to shimmer and change.
The undead Seer shall aid her father
"Dru," Angel whispered as he looked up at Maeve. He then said quietly in command, "She must be brought here."
Maeve looked at Angel and then moved towards a Watcher near by and whispered a few words. He politely bowed and left the room. She came back to the table and looked at Angel. "She will be here within in the hour."
Maeve and Angel took a deep breath and looked at each other as the giant oak doors opened in front of them. There, Drusilla stood, in a long black velvet gown that made her seem like an empress. She looked at Angel and Maeve and waited for the invitation.
"Welcome, Drusilla. You may come in," said the Head of the Watchers quietly and firmly.
Dru looked in and immediately noticed her surroundings as she stepped gingerly into the doorway with a slight grin on her face. With a quick lunge to the left she grabbed the Watcher at the door and began drinking his blood.
Angel instinctively leaped towards her with his game face on. As he reached her, Dru dropped the Watcher, and snarled as her Sire grabbed her. In a moment of infinite stillness, the two vampires gazed at each other, rage unlike anything the humans had ever seen in their eyes.
Into the silence, Angel hissed, "Dru, while you are here, you will follow my rules!"
Seemingly out of nowhere, Maeve placed her hands on both Angel and Dru's shoulders. In a firm voice, she said, "Here, you both will follow my rules!"
Silently and slowly, both vampires turned to face Maeve. Dru's game face was gone as quickly as it came. She took her index finger to clean the last of the blood that ran down the side of her lips, and cocked her head to the side. She murmured quietly, "I have a sister, but Daddy...she's different."
Angel's game face disappeared, as a faint growl of frustration escaped him. His jaw moved slightly, before he said in barely a whisper, "Why are you here?"
In a far-off gaze she began walking towards the study as if led there, the others following. Her legs swayed back and forth as she open the doors to the room.
Several Watchers looked up from the scroll and quickly exited the room. Dru stood in the room and smelled the ancient history that was held within the walls. Across the room she saw a window, and began to walk towards it.
Angel began to grow more and more impatient with her. Maeve could hear the sigh of his breath as he tried to control his emotions. Maeve put a hand on his shoulder hoping to calm him.
Dru's fingertips danced across the table where the scroll lay. She did not look at, her eyes were only transfixed on the moon that was beginning to phase with a red hue of blood. It was as she was hypnotized by its color. Then she turned and looked at Angel with her exotic eyes that had held him many centuries ago.
"I smell the blood, he is coming isn't he Daddy? I feel sooo hungry."
"Why are you here?"
"It is time for the prophecy... The Undead Seer shall aide her Father..."
Angel eyes opened wide, as he stepped back suddenly, gasping out "No!"
Maeve was caught off guard by Angel stepping back, and by what Dru had said. Before she could regain her balance Angel was gone. She stood there facing Dru and the vampiress' cold eyes upon her.
"It seems that I have upset my Daddy. But that is ok. He will be back and he will bring me a present. I hope it will be Dolly, I really need a new one."
Dru turned towards the moon and grinned, as the hue of blood seemed to swirl around the nearly full moon.