Disclaimer: I do not own/am not affiliated with Angel.
Hey guys, sorry it's taken me so long to update. Things have been crazy with school lately. I'm nearing the end so enjoy.
Chapter 6: Unveiling of Secrets
"Buffy we have a problem," Faith announced, cutting through the tension. The group had been with Drusilla for all of the night and now it was dawn, and the rest of the patrol groups had returned. "There's something in the park."
"What do you mean 'something in the park?" Buffy asked, tearing her eyes away from Dru.
"I don't exactly know. The team and I were fighting off a pack of vampires, and then within moments this thing appeared and killed them all."
"Then this 'something' is on our side?" Angel asked, not completely understanding the issue.
"I don't know. The thing is, the vampires didn't turn to dust. Not right away. This creature bit them and it was like their essence was being drained from their bodies. Then, the wounded vampire kind of stood up for a second, confused, and then turned to dust."
"I've never heard of anything like that," Buffy admitted. Spike and Angel merely glanced at each other, some sort of dark cloud passing over their faces. "We'll ask Giles. Eliza watch Drusilla. The rest of you come with me."
"Giles?" Buffy asked, coming into the room where her former watcher sat, piles of books surrounding him. "We have a question."
"Yes, I know," he said, taking off his glasses and looking at the group. "One of the slayers talked to me a few minutes ago."
"So you know what this thing was?" Faith asked, sitting down at the table, and fixing Giles with a piercing stare. "Well?"
"I think I do," he said, hesitating. "You must understand that most scholars believed that these creatures died out over a hundred years ago, but what you saw tonight fits the description perfectly."
"And what did they see?" Buffy probed, sitting and motioning the rest to do the same.
"A solarian vampire," Angel said, looking at Giles.
"Yes, or vampire of the light. Of course there were many of them when you first became a vampire, but one hasn't been made in over two hundred years," Giles mumbled, more to himself than the others. He looked up, and noting the quizzical stares, began to tell the tale. "Many years ago, when Vampires first began to grow in number, there was a man named Stanislovsky. This particular man married a witch, and the two were reasonably happy together. That is until, one night he was turned by a vampire, right in front of his dear wife's eyes. She never forgave herself for letting it happen. Soon terrible stories began to spring up. You see Stanislovsky was the first truly brutal Vampire. Before him, Vampires killed to eat. He killed for fun. His widow, Maria, believed that all of this, his death, his sins, everything, were her fault, so she vowed to stop him. She delved into the occult. Doing spell after spell on herself, until she became immortal, like her husband, but the spells came at a terrible cost. She found herself needing to suck the essence from vampires to survive. Her heart still beat, and she could be in the light, but she was a cursed woman. Night after night she was forced to drain Vampires of their life force."
"If that didn't give you indigestion what would," joked Faith.
"No, she didn't get indigestion. Instead she was forced to relieve the sins of the vampires that she consumed. She felt the guilt that the monsters could not," Giles stated poetically, pausing for a moment. "Year after year she hunted her former lover, until one night she realized that if she was killed, her cause would die with her. There were already more Vampires than one slayer could handle, so she decided to pass on her gift and curse. She met another woman, bereaved by the turning of a loved one, and infected her. Together they roamed for years, until finally Maria killed Stanislovsky, but by then, she had made countless others to be just like her. They called themselves solarian vampires, because they could be in the sun. They were a very interesting group of creatures. They had better than normal strength, as well as hearing and sight, and yet they were still alive in every respect. As the spell was passed on, they no longer became immortals. Instead, they age, but much slower than most humans. Generally the ratio is one year of theirs to every eight of ours."
"You mean there's such a thing?" Willow asked. No one had seen her come in the room in the middle of the tale. "That means we're in real trouble."
"What do you mean?" Giles asked worriedly.
"I finally found the spell to reopen the hell mouth, and guess what was on the ingredients list? I was just coming to ask you what it was." The room was silent, as everyone looked around at one another, knowing that they needed to find that creature.
"Where's Spike?" Angel asked suddenly.
Upstairs, Spike still stood in the room with Eliza and Drusilla.
"I thought you went downstairs?" Eliza asked nervously.
"You got sober very quickly," Spike noted darkly.
"So did you," she challenged, but seeing the look in his eyes, added, "I've always been able to hold my liquor well. What are you trying to say?"
"When we first saw each other, you called me William and Angel Angelus. We haven't gone by those names for a long time," Spike said, advancing slowly on Eliza, taking no notice of Drusilla who seemed to be gazing at imaginary butterflies. "This confused me at first. I could tell that you weren't a vampire, because your heart was beating and you were breathing. I thought you must have heard those names from a watcher. Then, tonight, Faith mentioned that creature killing vampires. I suppose that was you then?"
Eliza stood stock-still for a moment, trying to decide what to say.
"What's going on?" Connor asked, entering into the room, and standing protectively between Eliza and Spike. "I just came to see if you were ready to go home and get some sleep?" Spike stepped backwards, his way of signifying that the encounter was over, for the time being.
"Let's go," Eliza announced, never taking her eyes off of Spike.
"You seem a little distracted," Connor observed, noting the far-off expression on Eliza's face. The ride back had been very quiet, and she seemed to not really be there. The two were sitting on the couch in Connor's apartment. It had become their nightly ritual that Connor would drive her to his apartment and the two would talk until too tired to stay awake any longer. Then, Eliza would leave. She never told him where she went, and after a while he stopped asking.
"I need to tell you something?" she pleaded, jerking out of her trance. After three hours alone together, she finally turned and looked him in the eye. It took him by surprise to see the vulnerability there.
"Of course," he agreed, a little off guard.
She rose tentatively from the couch, and standing in front of him. "It's time I told you everything." She knelt down in front of him and explained everything that Giles had just explained to the others. When she finished the story, she stood up again and slowly raised her shirt, exposing her stomach to him, but never taking her eyes off of his face. She could tell the moment realization struck. He extended his arm, running his fingers over her numerous scars. It looked as if she had large chicken pocks canvassing her entire stomach. There were about twenty raised, red bumps. Among the many scars there was a "w" written in the angry red tissue. The center peak of the letter fell right over her belly button. There the hole seemed like it had at one time been wider and deeper. He traced the letter with his finger, and then looked up at her face.
"Railroad spike," Connor breathed, absorbing all of the information he had just acquired. His voice was hoarse, and his eyes narrowed in anger. He rose, as if he was ready to exact revenge that very moment, but then, realizing she needed him to be with her instead, he sat again.
"You're taking this well," Eliza said cautiously, waiting for some sort of an outburst.
"I always knew you were different," began. "Why else wouldn't you have aged when we came back from the hell dimension. You look almost exactly the same age, while I aged sixteen years."
"I never knew how to tell you," she said, looking down at her hands in shame.
"Why now?" he asked, suddenly aware at what an odd time she had chosen.
"Earlier tonight I went out to feed, and I had had too much to drink. I wasn't cautious enough, and one of the groups of slayers saw me. Now William," she paused, slightly pained, "Spike, has figured it out. I wanted to make sure that I was the one to tell you. Not someone else."
"Well, now I know, and there is no longer anything between us," Connor said, holding both of her hands in his, but she pulled away slightly.
"There's something else," she said, backing away from him, not daring to look in his eyes. I've been around for almost three hundred years, and I've done a good job at keeping my distance from other people, until now. I fell in love with you, and I'm sorry."
"There's no need to be sorry," Connor consoled, beginning to stand up, but he sat again when she motioned for him to.
"I'm not finished. I explained to you that I age at about 1/8th the speed that you do. We can't be together, because I can't stand to watch you die. Connor, this is over." Her last words hit him like a knife through the heart. He sat there stunned for a moment, and she took advantage of that to walk out the door. By the time Connor knew what was happening, she was gone.
He tried to chase after her, but there was no sign of her in the building or on the street. He was surprised to see that the sun was already high in the sky. Apparently he and Eliza had talked for a long time. Connor resolved to get some rest and be at headquarters by nightfall.