Messenger:
The shop is locked up when I get back. It's almost never locked up. I bang on the door as hard as I can, and shout for someone to hear me. It's important that I tell them what I know soon, because they may need to take action fast.
Eventually, I heard the myriad locks on the door being undone and it opens just far enough for someone to make himself visible.
"Help you?" he asks. I wrack my brains for a moment before I recognise him as Thomas, one of the many people here that fights evil because they have nothing else to do. Like so many others, his family was probably killed by demons long ago, and the authorities did nothing about it.
"Would you let me in?" I say quickly, practically tripping over my words. "I've got news for Mr Giles." He steps back and opens the door, letting me in. As usual, I see the tiny storefront and am awestruck by the massive operation that runs from its back rooms.
Thomas locks up behind me.
"Why's the place closed up?" I query, nodding to him as he fastens the final bolt.
"There was some commotion a while ago. Crazy shit, I'm telling you." He walks off to the back room, now that the doorway is secure, and I fall in step beside him.
"What happened?"
"What didn't? Jackie showed up and made a scene."
"Isn't she dead?"
"She's a vampire."
"Shit."
"Yeah. And not long after, Kass tried to kill Jericho as they returned his soul."
"Kass is back? When did she get back? I thought Jericho already had a soul."
"Kass got back about the time Jackie made her appearance. And Jericho didn't have a soul, but now he does." I nod.
"Oh." There is an extended pause. Thomas nods too.
"So what's your news?" he asks after a while. I look over to him.
"More of the same, I'm afraid."
"Shit." I nod. He nods. "They're through there," he tells me eventually, motioning to a door.
"Thanks." He smiles wanly and shrugs.
"No problem." Then he wanders off into the labyrinth of corridors and disappears.
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Jackie:
Another ancient demon crumbles to dust in my hands. They are all pitiful weaklings. In a few hours I have crushed and destroyed dozens of nests - hundreds of vampires lie as ash in my wake!
The smartest of them tried to run, but I chased them down and slew them without mercy, along with anyone else that happened to see me in action. Some of them even kept humans as pets or hostages. They made sweet snacks. My belly is warm and full of fresh human blood.
And still I am not satisfied!
I have fed until bloated! I have killed and murdered the contemptuous demon spawn until I can find no more! And yet there is something within me that will not let me rest! I despise this vampire body and this Slayer instinct. What must I do to have peace?
I am going to fix it. With a few supplies that I liberated from BC&N, I will see to it that all demons suffer as I suffer.
Soon, there will be nothing on Earth left to kill.
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Angel:
I don't envy Jericho for what he's going through at the moment. He'll cope, and from what I've seen of him without a soul I think that he'll have an easier time than I did. I hope so, because right now we need all the help we can get. Currently he's cloistered away in a tiny room at the back of the building. Despite what everyone seems to be saying, he just needs time to come to terms with things.
Meanwhile, I'm spending some precious time catching up with Buffy. We talk about nothing particular for a long while, and it's so good to just be with her that the pointlessness of the conversation doesn't bother me at all. Eventually though, I realise that if Jackie is truly as deadly as everyone believes, this may be the last chance I have to open up about everything. I don't want to live with her, or, worse, live without her, knowing that she never knew the truth.
"Honey? Are you okay?" It seems I've stopped talking. That wasn't intentional, but now that she knows I've got something on my mind I've got no excuse to avoid this further. I shift in my seat and turn to face her.
"Buffy, there's something I haven't told you."
"What is it?" Where to start…?
"Before I died all those years ago… there was… Darla… Darla was brought back to life…" Buffy just regards me expectantly with those gorgeous eyes, waiting on my every word. "It was a low point in my life," I continue, only slightly more confidently. "I did terrible things then… and one of them…" I pause again. Her gaze isn't making it easy, but I guess it's better than the alternative. "We slept together." She hardly even blinks. "It was horrible," I add quickly. "No risk of me losing my soul over that, but… She got pregnant from it, and we had a son together." There. It's in the open now, and I have no control over it.
Buffy's still looking at me. Please say something.
"Is that it?" Huh?
"Uh… yes…" Suddenly her face lights up and she chuckles. I am very confused.
"Oh, Angel. I already know." What? How?
"How?"
"You seem to be forgetting that you died before I did." In any other situation that sentence might seem odd, and yet it doesn't. "My memory of that life might be slightly fragmented here and there, especially towards the end, but one of the things I do remember is meeting Connor. Your friends introduced us when he appeared out of nowhere for your funeral."
"I had a funeral?"
"Just a small one. They explained who he was and how he came to be who he was. It took me some time, but eventually I accepted it. He got on so well with Dawn, and I kinda stared treating him like a part of the family. The last I saw of him, he was leaving to start his own life. You would have been so proud of him." I can feel a small smile on my face. Connor grew up to be a good man after all. "Angel, I could never stop loving you for bringing someone like him into the world."
I envelop her in a hug. All my guilt is finally lifted, after so long suffering, and I am free to enjoy my life. I can enjoy my life as a human.
Unfortunately, there's no time to reflect right now, because the door opens and someone walks in.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he mumbles, averting his eyes and taking a step back. Buffy and I separate, and she runs a hand over her ear, moving the hair out of the way. I don't recognise him, whoever it is, but I'm new here so that's not too surprising.
"That's okay. What did you want?"
"Um… Mr Giles wants to see you both. Uh… yeah." Still averting his eyes, he backs out and pulls the door closed behind him. It's not as if either of us was naked, but he did look very young.
Buffy looks me in the eyes and sighs.
"Back to work, I guess."
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Edward:
Just for once in my life, I would like the chance to deal with one thing at a time. Is that too much to ask for? I suppose it is. I'm too old for this. I didn't think I was until recently, but now it's painfully clear to me.
Kass is not feeling good. I can't blame her, but there's nothing I could do or say that might make it any better for her either. I stayed with her while she cried out her tears. Neither of us said anything, and eventually she fell asleep. I would have loved to stay there with her longer, but I had other matters to attend to. As usual. Matt seemed to think it was his fault she felt like that, and it was. But I don't blame him, and I doubt she does either. She would have had to find out sooner or later. I know I couldn't have lied to her if she'd asked me about it.
Then the reports started coming in. Then the messenger arrived with more bad news. My head hurts, but I can't stop to do anything about that. So while I've sent him to notify E… Buffy and Angel, I'm sitting here in the small meeting room, rubbing my temples. Matt's here too, and thankfully he's being quiet. It's a shock for him too, I know.
There's a hesitant knock on the door, and as I look the messenger boy puts his head round.
"They're here, Mr Giles." I wave him in, too tired to speak. Angel and Buffy walk in behind him.
"What's up?"
"Sit down," I tell them. Buffy and Angel do so, in two of the available seats. The kid remains standing, obviously torn between sitting himself and leaving. It's too much hassle to do anything about it, so I try to ignore him.
"Guys," I tell them, placing both hands face down on the table and looking them with lidded eyes. "We have a problem."
"What is it?"
"For the last couple of hours, we've been getting sporadic reports that several notable demons and demon nests have been destroyed."
"Destroyed how?"
"Blown up, burned down, punched in, gouged out, you name it."
"Eew." That's Buffy. Eve would have taken that in her stride and said nothing, but it seems once someone has started talking they tend to carry on doing so.
"Do we know what's causing it?"
"No, but I think it's too much of a coincidence to hope that it might be someone new when there's already a powerful creature out there that likes killing demons."
"Jackie."
"Exactly."
"Isn't this a good thing?" Matt asks, finally leaning forward. "At the very least it shows that there's something left of Jackie in there." I know Matt knows better than this, but he is emotionally involved. That's something new for him. I take a deep breath, but nobody cares to fill the silence.
"It's true she is taking out the demon population remarkably quickly, taking down nests we've never been able to infiltrate, and some we didn't even know existed. If circumstances were different, I might even condone it. However, a number of human bystanders have been caught in the crossfire. Too many, in fact. The price is too high to let it continue." Matt sits back, seemingly convinced but not happy about it. "It gets worse."
"How?" I look up at the kid by the door. He's still waiting there.
"This is… um…"
"Ken."
"Ken, right. Sorry, I knew that. Tell them what you told me."
"I just came from the BC&N building. Rick's been killed." Buffy gasps and her hands fly to her mouth. She's known Rick for years, even if they weren't close.
"What else?" I prompt.
"Oh yeah. She's emptied the BC&N vaults."