OOC – Just so there is no confusing, I haven't read the Queen of the Slayers book yet, so I took the title and put it into the mythos as I saw fit. The truth be told…I wanted Faith and Buffy to be the only Slayers…as far as I'm concerned, more is not better. I mucked with Dawn and Willow also, with more mucking to come with Gunn and Spike. Anyhow, thanks for the comments…keep them coming. This was not exactly my best writing, but it was the best I could do while writing between hands of internet poker. This is my way of getting paid while I write…it's not like anyone is ever going to pay me for what I write.
Anyhow, back to the story:
Turning over to face the small clock on his nightstand, Angel checked the time.
For what had seemed an eternity, proved to be only seven minutes later than when he had last checked.
Where are they? He thought, Shouldn't they be back by now?
Angel flipped back the covers and got out of bed. Grabbing a pair of red flannel pajama bottoms, he headed out the door of his bedroom and into the long hallway that led to the center commons of Vanguard.
The hallway was dark, though small panel lights blinked on as Angel walked further down the hall and then faded as he passed, leaving him blanketed in light as he continued. Vanguard, which they had moved into just over a month earlier, was a sprawling estate that was a mix of new world technology and old world magic, blended to provide them not only a secure base of operations, but a home as well.
Vanguard, which taken literally meant "a forward guard" now served as home for the remnant of Angel's crew from Los Angeles and Buffy's entourage from Italy, plus a few others who had found their way into their lives over the last six months. Here they did their best to handle what the Hellmouth spit out at them; which of late was a lot.
As if the fallout of what had happened with the Black Thorn and the eruption of the Hellmouth in Sunnydale hadn't been enough, they had just come up with another life altering battle with a woman who called herself the "Queen of the Slayers."
When Willow had focused her magic through the Scythe and allowed all the "potential" Slayer's to gain the full power that only Buffy and Faith had formerly held, so that they could do battle with the First in the Hellmouth, she had also set a power struggle in place.
The Queen, a woman named Annoula, learned that by killing other Slayers, she could draw a fraction of their power into herself; so she set out on a calculated killing spree, which finally found it's way to Buffy in Italy. Unable to defeat Buffy and Faith, Annoula stole the Scythe and tried to find a way to draw all the existing Slayer essence back into it and then transfer it back to herself, thus saving her the trouble to tracking down the remaining Slayers and killing them.
Hot on her trail, Buffy, along with help from Angel's group, found Annoula and managed to retake the Scythe. It was then that Buffy decided to try to reverse what Willow had done, protecting the other Slayers from being hunted down and stopping Annoula in the process. Willow was successful in the spell casting, but there was a price; she lost a great deal of her power. Also, in the process of recovering the Scythe, Willow was bitten by a werewolf that Annoula had sent to hunt them. Willow found that the little magical power she had left allowed her to overcome the monthly were-transformations and that she could also transform at will, though while in that form, she had no magical prowess whatsoever.
In the end, it was as if the power transference hadn't happened, which left only Buffy and Faith with the abilities of the Slayer.
Though he was happy that the threat of the Queen was gone, Angel had to admit that having a backup contingent of Slayer would help them immensely.
Where was Connor?
Angel thought that now he better understood what he had put his father through when he was Connor's age. Where Connor was now out facing literal demons, Angel, when he was still Liam, was out facing the demons that his father feared – drunkenness, slothfulness, and lust. The only difference between the two was that the demons Connor faced could physically, while Angel's father feared the destruction of his respectible family name.
What a bastard. Angel thought. Angel forced the hateful thoughts that he held for his father back down, deep inside himself.
I won't ever do that to Connor. No matter what happens, I will let him know I am proud of him.
The sound of voices caught Angel's attention. Connor?
Picking up his pace, Angel came to a sitting room in the main building that was central to Vanguard. He didn't find Connor, but he did find three adult men who were screaming at the top of their lungs as they played they played the old standup arcade game Gauntlet Legends.
The first was the former Watcher, Andrew and next to him was Xander Harris. Both were in charge of Vanguard's defenses, Andrew handling the magical while Xander covered the hardware.
The final man was an old acquaintance from L.A. named David Nabbitt. David, much like Xander and Andrew, seemed to a young boy trapped in a man's body, yet unlike Xander and Andrew, who were lucky to have five dollars in their wallets, David was rich; a billion dollars rich and it was David who had financed the building of Vanguard.
It was also David who noticed Angel first.
"Ah…um… we didn't wake you up did we Angel?" David stammered.
Xander and Andrew stopped and turned towards the vampire for a moment before returning to their game.
"Don't stop now David the Valkyrie, we only have two more levels to go." Andrew said, referring to the character than David had been playing.
"Shut up and get the chest Andrew! And if there are any healing potions in there make sure you share…" Xander was saying when Angel tuned him out.
"Have you heard from Connor?" Angel asked David.
The computer mogul just shrugged his shoulders, "Umm…no."
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a palm-sized pad, which he tapped with his finger.
"They haven't checked back in…"He said, sliding his finger over the surface the display. "And they signed out just after 7:00 p.m, which means they should have been back, or at least called us…an hour ago."
David must have realized Angel was worried because he quickly added, "But they said that they were going to patrol from Long Street to the downtown. That could take awhile, even if they didn't find anything. I'm sure they're fine."
Dammit Connor, where are you?