The Watcher took a menacing step toward the larger, stronger vampire, his eyes narrowed in a cold, dangerous expression that sent a chill up Tara's spine. As she watched him approach Angel, she was reminded of what Willow had once told her about Giles' youth. She thought perhaps this was how he had appeared then – exuding a cool, deadly calm, deceptive in its appearance.
She had only met Angel once before, at Buffy's funeral. She understood well the bitterness her lover held toward the one he viewed as his sire. Though he had never said as much, she got the feeling that there was a long, painful history shared by the two master vampires. And at Buffy's funeral, Angel had attempted to make Spike leave the proceedings, declaring that Buffy would not have wanted him there. Spike had of course refused, and they would have come to physical blows, if Dawn had not stepped in. She had declared tearfully that what her sister would not have wanted was this, a fight at her graveside over her memory, and that Spike was welcome to stay, because she needed him there, for her.
Tara was not at all surprised that Spike was not the least bit pleased to see Angel.
"Spike is right," Giles said, then paused suddenly as if surprised by his own words. Then he shook it off and went on, advancing on the tall, dark vampire until he stood only a few feet from him in the foyer. "You are not welcome here, Angel. Buffy's invitation may have been open to you, but as I'm sure you know, or you would not be here now of all times, Buffy is no longer a living inhabitant of this home."
"No?" Angel's tone was still mild, but challenging. "Then why is the invitation she gave me still good?"
There was silence for a moment as they considered his words. Tara recalled having heard Giles say before that if a person had invited a vampire into their home, and that person died, the vampire would require an invitation from another inhabitant of that home in order to enter it again. Her eyes widened slowly as she processed the implications of this new development.
Beside her, Dawn stood up suddenly, her eyes lighting up as she stepped toward the stand-off in the foyer. "Then it's true! Somewhere in there, she's still Buffy!" she exclaimed, her almost fierce gaze defying anyone to deny what she desperately wanted to be true.
Spike slowly closed the door, too caught up in trying to process what they had just learned to put any energy into objecting to Angel's presence – at least for the moment.
Giles was not. "You still have not explained why you are here, Angel," he said softly, his eyes never leaving those of the vampire.
So far Angel's demeanor had been calm, but now a hint of annoyance showed in his voice as he said, "You know, I love Buffy, okay? I have a right to be concerned. I'm here to try to help her in any way I can."
"How did you even know what happened?" Spike asked, suspicion in his eyes.
"As hard as it is to believe, after the falling-out they had, Wesley still has some connections in the Council. He told me as soon as he heard that the new Slayer had been called." He paused before going on. "If she is still Buffy, she's going to need a lot of help dealing with what's happened to her, and I can't think of anyone better than a souled vampire to do that. There's no way a human could possibly understand the evil that she's dealing with – the nature that's a part of her now – and how to learn to control it." He gave Spike a pointed look. "And I'm going to help her." There was a challenge in his eyes.
Spike muttered, "Be my bloody guest, mate," as he sat down beside Tara, very deliberately putting his arm around her. He smiled coldly, triumphantly at his sire. Then the smile faded as he added softly, "Don't think I'm the right vamp for this particular job, anyway."
Angel looked confused for a moment, as he had obviously expected Spike to protest, to throw a jealous fit, demanding that he be the one to help Buffy. The last time he had seen Spike, the pretty blonde Slayer had consumed his every thought and desire.
"A lot has happened, Angel," Tara said softly, taking the initiative, as no one else seemed to know what to say or do. "I know you love Buffy. If you think you can help her, I think, by all means, do whatever you can."
Surprisingly, Giles gave a slow, reluctant nod, as an idea occurred to him. "Perhaps you're right, Tara. We have to try to get her back to herself again, so that we can find out how much of what's happening to her she understands. Right now the demon is in control, we've obviously seen that much. But if we can somehow get Buffy to the surface, maybe we can help her stay there somehow." He paused before adding grudgingly, "And only a master vampire would have the physical strength to even attempt to control her long enough to accomplish that."
Angel nodded slowly, obviously relieved. "Where is she?"
"We don't know. She left right after she attacked Dawnie."
Angel looked curiously at the three sitting on the couch. "How did you stop her? If I figure right she'd be too strong for any of you – no offense."
Tara opened her mouth to reply, but Spike's gentle squeeze on her arm silenced her as he answered with a shrug, "Not sure why really, but she didn't seem to want to fight. Ran off."
To their credit, no one but Xander even gave him an odd look at his lie. The others all either trusted him or distrusted Angel enough to not reveal the truth in their reactions. And although Xander was staring at Spike incredulously, Angel was not paying any attention to him anyway; his focus was split between the hostile watcher and his own childe.
"Well, I'm going to go see if I can't find her," Angel replied. "I just wanted to check and see if you'd seen any sign of her first."
"Well if you find her, let us know, ok?" Tara said, speaking for the group. "We want to do everything we can to help her."
Angel nodded silently and turned to go.
The door was not even shut behind him completely when Spike said quietly, "You need to do a disinvite spell right away. On both of them." Dawn, Xander, and Giles had already begun talking about what had just happened, and Spike kept his voice low, so none of the others heard the quiet exchange on the couch.
"What's wrong?" Tara whispered, a worried from creasing her brow.
"How'd he know she'd been turned? The Council didn't even know that. When the Watcher showed up, he thought she was dead," he pointed out.
Tara frowned. "Good question," she said softly.
"So we know the ponce is hiding something from us, love," Spike concluded, deep blue eye boring into hers. "I'd very much like to know what."
"I can do the disinvite on Angel," Tara said. "But I'm not sure if it will even work on Buffy. Her invitation was still good for Angel, which means in some sense she's still alive. So – so she probably doesn't need an invitation."
Spike felt suddenly very sick. He could feel the panic rising in him as he realized the truth of her words. Buffy was free to come and go as she pleased from this house – from any house, really, if she was still cosmically considered alive and human – without an invitation.
He tried to remind himself that even as a vampire, this Buffy was not the same one who had brutalized him for months. Although she was obviously dangerous, there was no reason to believe that she would be the same sadistic, utterly psychotic abuser she had been for the past few months – was there? No! Just a vampire. A super-strong, incredibly powerful vampire, but nothing he couldn't handle…right?
Tara easily sensed his fear, because suddenly he felt her soft, warm hand at the back of his neck, gently massaging the taut muscles there, trying to relieve some of his physical tension, as she earnestly sought his eyes.
When his wide, panicked blue eyes finally met hers, he heard her gentle voice in his head, It's okay, Baby. It's gonna be all right.
He felt a surge of love for her at the realization that she was deliberately speaking where there was no chance of anyone overhearing, protectively keeping his vulnerability private from the ears of the others. Feeling completely safe in that knowledge, he admitted, Oh, God, love, I'm so bloody scared! His mental voice sounded almost panicked, though his outward expression remained calm.
I'm here, Sweetheart. I'm here. And somehow the simple reassurance was calming to him. After a moment she added, There's one thing we know Angel didn't lie about, and he proved it when he walked through the door. There's at least some small part of Buffy's humanity left. And we're gonna find it, and bring it out.
The vampire walked quickly along the sidewalk, impervious to the chill winter wind that whipped his long black coat around his knees. The visit to Buffy's house had been troubling. So he had been able to enter; it was as he expected, she was still at least partially human and alive. Yet she had attacked her sister, so the vampiric nature had to have a great measure of control over her at the moment. He had to find her – had to help her before it was too late.
When his once-beloved childe, his Dark Princess, had shown up suddenly at the Hyperion in L.A., he had been hard-pressed to keep his friends from staking her outright on sight. It had been obvious to him, however, knowing her as he did, that she had something important to say to him. The problem with Dru, though, as always, was figuring out just what it was she was saying.
He had taken her into his office, where he had attempted to soothe her from her highly agitated state. After a few minutes alone with her "daddy", she had calmed down enough for him to gather that her ramblings about "sunlight swallowed up in the darkness of the mouth of hell, yet still shining" were referring to Buffy. As he had coaxed his childe along, bit by bit he came to understand the details of the vision she had received,and when Wesley had told him about the new Slayer, it had all clicked.
He had known in that moment what it was that he had to do.
After a few necessary preparations were made to put his plan into motion, he had set off for Sunnydale to find his troubled ex-lover and help her to rediscover herself, her place in the balance of good and evil.
He headed toward the old mansion first, to ensure that everything was ready. A host of memories assailed him as he surveyed the wreckage of the place he had lived so long ago, some pleasant – some not so pleasant.
He thought again with annoyance of his difficult, rebellious childe. The way he spoke to him sometimes still rankled with him, regardless of that fact that Spike was a hundred years from being the pathetic fledgling he had once been. Still pathetic, he sneered to himself. Just not a fledgling. Somehow, the reckless boy had managed to become a vampire master.
At least his obsession with Buffy seemed to have faded, he noted with satisfaction. The boy had moved on to the witch. That would make things somewhat simpler. He put his resentful feelings toward his childe out of his mind; once his plan was set in motion, neither he nor Buffy would have to worry about his insolent spawn, or anyone else, ever again.
He made his way across town to the place he had figured that she would be, based on Drusilla's ramblings. He hated to admit it, but Dru's visions were never wrong, and this one had indicated that while Spike's devotion had obviously shifted in its focus, Buffy's had not. As he approached the door to the crypt where Spike had once lived, he grimaced in distaste, thinking of his ex-lover and his childe, and how they had been together in this place. But the odd tingling feeling that coursed through him alerted him to her unique presence in the crypt; he had to go in.
He paused outside the door, his determination rising in him. His visit to Buffy's house had proved beyond all doubt that the Slayer still had at least a part of her humanity left. And no matter what it took, he was going to find it – and drive it out of her.
As he opened the door he saw her, standing across the room from him, looking lost, confused and forlorn. She looked up, startled, with a little gasp when she saw him in the doorway.
"Hello, lover," Angelus said with a cruel smile.