It didn't take Buffy and Angel very long to track down the next bar; surprisingly it wasn't difficult at all. It was a small place on the edge of the city, the near-abandoned street and little lighting made the small building easy to spot. Buffy looked at Angel and nodded, slowly she crept inside.
The room was small; there was a bar at the far side with stools lining it, and a few tables scattered through the space. The lights were muted, that combined with the dark violet, red and black colour scheme made it hard to make out specific faces. There were only a few people inside, three or four sitting at the bar and maybe seven or eight more scattered at the tables. Quiet music played in the background, sad, melodious songs, mostly.
Buffy stepped to the side of the room, enfolding herself in the shadows. As she looked closely at some of the people at the bar she was surprised to see a lot of them weren't human; a yellow-skinned demon with red horns sat with his back to her, drinking a shot of whiskey. She was thankful when no one bothered to look her way, warriors weren't usually welcomed in bars like this (with or without people who were obviously demons) and although she suspected Angel might draw some attention, most of them (the demons anyway) would have recognized he wasn't human immediately, not considering him a threat. As she walked to the far side of the bar she spotted a man in the dark corner, only visible by his glass and the golden-ringed finger that held it. Buffy looked back at Angel momentarily before heading to the table.
Slowly she drew closer to the table and stopped a few inches from the edge.
"You know where I can find some paper?" she asked, her voice even.
Angel looked at her puzzled, but held back his objections. The man at the table sat up.
"What kind are you looking for?" the stranger asked.
"Grey."
The man stood up, his face coming into view. He was fairly tall; his piercing blue eyes stared at the two. He had long, dark hair that hung to his shoulders, and was dressed in black paints, with a dark grey shirt, matched with a red blouse underneath. He blended into the room well, almost impossible to spot unless you knew where to look. The stranger surveyed the two before he nodded, and led them across the bar into a back room. It was decorated in the same way as the front, instead of a bar there were a few tables and it was free of other costumers. The dark-haired man sat down and looked up at them expectantly.
"Linds. Good to see you again." Buffy said, smiling slightly.
Lindsay nodded, a smirk crossed his face.
"Good to see you too. Wish I could say you look taller than the last time we met. Who's your friend?"
"Angel." The vampire replied simply.
Lindsay just nodded, understanding why most people didn't say much. This wasn't a personal visit; it was business.
"You're not entirely human." It wasn't a question: it was a statement.
Angel smirked,
"Neither are you."
"Touché." He said, before turning to Buffy, "What do you need to know?"
Buffy sat down; reluctantly, Angel did the same.
"I hear there's a new group in town, demons. What are they and whose side are they on?" Buffy asked, keeping her voice strong.
Angel was amazed at her change in demeanour, gone was the fun, teasing, energetic woman he knew, instead she was serious and to the point, not showing any emotion. Her voice was stern and forceful, not quite commanding but still, it held a certain threat to it, the confidence she held in her power seeming much larger than what Angel had witnessed earlier. He suppressed a smile, this woman never ceased to amaze him.
Lindsay took a sip of his drink,
"A group of seven, all of them are demons but to the naked eye they look human. They came in last week; four of them are peaceful, just looking for a place to lie low. Two of them are more violent, they figure they can get some easy victims here, you'll wanna look out for them but they're gonna be more minor. Stirring up bar fights and mugging the odd person. One of them though, the tallest of the group, he's in line with one of the generals of the demon forces based in San Francisco. He's the one you're gonna have to get."
Buffy nodded, absorbing the information.
"It's only the beginning." Lindsay said, pulling Buffy from her thoughts.
"What do you mean?"
"There's something coming. Something Big. Nobody knows what it is but it's gonna change the face of the planet, the war, society, everything. Every being on earth can feel it on some level; some are ignoring it, others are trying to escape, but most of all everyone is afraid. No one can stop this thing from happening, and it's sending a lot of people into panic. We don't know any specifics, we don't even know what exactly it's gonna be, all anyone can figure out is that it's soon… and it's coming whether we're ready for it or not."
Both Buffy and Angel were silent, they gave each other a quick glance, doing there best to keep their emotions concealed.
Buffy turned to Lindsay,
"Is there anything else?"
Lindsay shook his head.
"No, like I said it's all a big question mark at this point. That's why the demons are sending in spies, they want to know what the council knows, but not even they have much info yet. It's gonna be one hell of a ride, that's for sure." He said, giving Buffy a smirk.
Buffy nodded. She and Lindsay didn't know each other very well, they weren't exactly friends, but they respected each other. She knew what he said was the truth; after all, he didn't need to lie. Standing up, she looked to Angel then back at Lindsay.
"We'll see you around. Stay clear." She said, and exited the bar with Angel closely behind her.
The two chose to walk down the back streets, knowing that there would be fewer soldiers there. Angel turned to Buffy.
"Stay clear of what?" he asked.
"The radar. Both the council and the demons are after him, they'd rip him apart to get answers. He's just smart enough to evade them."
"And the paper thing is some code?"
Buffy smiled,
"Kind of. Anything really works, it's just in case council people are around. The colours are just what side you're on at that time. Black is the demons, white is the council, and grey is neutral. It's used all around the not-supposed-to-be-there part of the colony. Kinda cheesy when you think about it." Her brow furrowed in thought.
Angel nodded. He was torn between going into serious-mode over the possible apocalypse (semi- productive thinking), or smiling over how unbelievably cute Buffy looked right now. Banishing the thoughts from his mind (or trying to), he decided to change the subject from Buffy-cuteness.
"Do you think he was lying?"
"Nope." Buffy said lightly.
Angel gave her an incredulous look.
"Why not?"
"He doesn't have to." At Angel's glare, Buffy continued, "He doesn't work for anyone, he plays by his own rules and made sure he has more than enough protection for himself. Lindsay does things for one simple reason: he wants to. He won't do anything for anyone unless he feels like it. He has no reason to lie to us, nothing would be gained, and nothing would be lost. And since I'm such a cute little blonde he tells me what I need to know without argument."
Angel nodded, somehow making sense of that. Lindsay seemed like an interesting man, it was obvious he would have one hell of a story to tell. Although he couldn't stop the small bit of annoyance he felt for Buffy knowing him so long (and obviously encountering him before), Angel didn't think he was lying. As unfortunate as the truth seemed.
"We'd better get to Giles', I'm sure he'll want to hear all about the nice shiny apocalypse." Buffy said, only half-joking.
Angel laughed a bit, leave it to Buffy to bring humour out of a doom-and-gloom situation. He noticed that she yawned and was beginning to lean on him slightly; he looked down at her blonde head.
"Tired?" he asked softly.
"Mmhm," Buffy said wearily, "Giles woke me up too early. Didn't sleep enough."
"Come on, the faster we get to Giles', the faster you can get some sleep… or if you wanted I could go tell him on my own, you could go home."
Buffy smiled,
"And let you have all the gossiping fun? No way, besides we were there for like five minutes, explaining it to Giles won't take that long."
"And you absolutely are certain that's what he said? You didn't hear him wrong?" Giles asked.
Buffy and Angel had arrived at his house over an hour ago; they were both sitting in chairs in the library, doing their best to stay awake.
Buffy sighed,
"Yes Giles for the zillionth time we're sure. We did not hear him wrong, the music was not too loud, demons did not attack us, he was not lying or controlled by a spirit, I did not hit my head, neither of us are drugged, I don't have short term memory loss, we're positive that's what he said now can I please go home!"
Giles gave her an annoyed look.
"Buffy I don't care for your attitude. We are talking about what could very well be the end of the world here and you're worried about a few extra hours sleep!"
"Well at least my way I'd be able to die HAPPY!" Buffy retorted, banging her head on the table.
Giles sighed in frustration. Angel, after remaining mostly silent for the evening, decided to intervene.
"Mr. Giles, we're all tired. It's obvious that something is going to happen but if Lindsay's right it won't be around for a while. An extra few hours sleep isn't going to hurt at this point, and that way we can look over it again tomorrow when we're not all at each other's throats."
Buffy looked at him thankfully, before giving Giles a pleading look.
The trainer sighed,
"Yes, you're right. Go home and rest, come back tomorrow sometime and we'll look over it again."
Buffy smiled weakly.
"Thanks Giles. 'Night."
"Goodnight Buffy, and you as well Angel."
Angel nodded and led Buffy out the door; they walked to the street before turning to each other.
"So, I guess this is where I get off." Buffy said, almost visibly wincing at the words.
"I guess, I could walk you home if you wanted."
"No, it's fine. I know you're tired too and your place is in the other direction. I'll be fine."
Angel nodded,
"Are you coming over tomorrow? For training."
"I'd love to, but I think Giles has us book bound. How about I meet you here sometime tomorrow and if he lets us out of the cell early we can go to your place. After all, I owe you a butt kicking." She said, smiling slightly.
"We'll see." With that, Angel turned and walked away. "Goodnight Buffy, sweet dreams."
"Goodnight!" Buffy said.
She stared at the empty space where he had stood for several moments, before slowly heading to her place.
Over an hour later, Buffy was lying in her bed, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. She was beyond tired and needed her sleep for tomorrow, but no matter how hard she tried she could not drift off. A part of her wished she didn't know why, but it was all too obvious. Angel wasn't there. She almost laughed, it had only been a couple days yet even now she felt strange… like a part of her was missing without him by her side. When he put his arms around her she felt so safe and protected, one thing that she hadn't ever had before. Now she felt uncomfortable in her darkened room.
Her apartment didn't seem like home to her. It wasn't personal or decorated, it was merely a place that she ate, showered, slept and so on, she hadn't ever realised how little she had settled in. She groaned, and buried her face in her (very un-Angely) pillow and closed her eyes. Wishing that her handsome companion were there with her.
Across town, Angel wasn't having any more luck than Buffy. He'd given up trying to sleep a couple hours ago and pulled out his sketchpad. So far, he had several drawings of Buffy, yet even one of his most relaxing hobbies wouldn't put him to sleep. Looking at the clock, he realised it was only ten minutes later than the last time he checked. He groaned and got up to make some coffee. Maybe if he drank enough, he could knock himself out for a couple hours.
End of Chapter Thirteen.