All I own is Carma
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know."
The three vampires were sitting on the stares, Carma on Angelus's lap with her legs spread over William. They were all looking at the young man asleep on the cot by the wall. He looked like any normal young man you would see at a university or walking down a street. All that distinguished him from those men were the red tear tracks running down his face from the heavily scarred eyes. Eyes which despite the skin covering them still managed to release tears.
"This should never have happened. It shouldn't even be possible."
"But apparently it is."
"What are we going to do sire?"
That threw him, it had been a long time since either of his childer had called him sire, but he didn't know how to answer them. He had done a lot of things in his long life, most of them painful, though not for himself, he had even hurt these two, although now he would gladly be drowned in holy water and then crucified for them.
"We have to look after him, sire."
"He's like another childe, isn't he? But instead of going from human to demon, he went from demon to human. He's another member of the family."
"She's right 'Gelus, he's our childe if you think about it, mine and Carma's."
Oh fuck. Hic childer were growing up, there was a time when if this happened they wouldn't have considered the possibility of the lad being their childe. But now they did.
"He's your childe, and my grandchilde, I have no intention of deserting him. I'm not sure what we're going to do, but it won't be that."
"That lot upstairs aren't going to be happy."
"That's one way of putting it."
There was silence again as they all watched the sleeping figure.
"Angelus, I think you should probably explain it to them, you too Will. I'll sort him out then bring him up."
"Why do we have to do it?"
You wouldn't have thought that the Scourge of Europe would whine, but he did. It took Carma a few seconds and a couple of swallows before she could answer him, and her face as twisted into a grimace as she spoke.
"Because Buffy," there was a derisive inflection in her voice as she said the blonde's name, "has a thing for Angel and Spike. And from what I've seen they've both got it bad for her. So I think she'll take it better coming from you two than from someone they've never told her about, and who's taking their attention away from her. Both sets of you."
The two men had expressions of disgust on their faces. They had talked about it the previous night…day rather, and neither could see why they would ever fall for a slayer, soul or no soul. Never mind actually getting a soul because of a slayer. And especially not this slayer, a whining, selfish, stupid little kid who hid behind her friends while making it seem as though they were hiding behind her. At least that was their first impression of her.
Schooling their faces into blank masks they headed up the stairs, shoulders squared, ready to face the masses.
"Welcome back to the living. Literally."
The young man started at the soft voice and swivelled his head around, even though all he could see was blackness. Panicked he tried to flatten him self against a wall but was stopped by a soft, cold hand pressed against his chest.
"Sshhh. Stay there for a minute, I'm just trying to find some clothes for you. Somehow I doubt that much of this is suitable for you."
He could hear her (it had to be a her from the voice) rummaging around wherever he was, light footsteps, humming, and material rustling. But he had the uneasy feeling that she was purposefully making that noise so that he would know he was there.
He knew he should feel…something, awful wasn't strong enough a word. He could remember his 'life' as a bringer. He could practically feel his fingers as they tightened around a knife and drove forward, layers of skin, nets of veins and arteries causing only a minute obstruction. If that.
But instead he felt…clean…for the first time in a long time. He knew he wasn't, knew that he'd done terrible things and would have to atone for them for the rest of his natural or unnatural life, however long or short that may be. But he'd always been a pragmatist, except for the aftermath of his family's murder, which he wasn't even going to think about. And he knew that he hadn't been him for the past century or so. He'd been a Bringer, a Harbinger of the First Evil, and although he would probably spend several days crying after it all sank in, that wasn't going to be for another few days, so right now he could afford to be rational.
He hauled himself to a more comfortable sitting position with his back against the wall and focused, reaching into his mind and trying to find the key. With a flicker, like a grey shutter falling across his black vision and then he could see again. Not like other people could, but there were black sparkly shapes where inanimate objects were, walls and other constructions were grey, there were green glittery blobs for things like plants, and blue wavy shapes for animals, dark purple for humans and all kinds of colours for the different demons.
In front of him, rummaging through a box was an ice blue, very feminine figure, she turned around and he could see two pure golden eyes. Definitely a vampire, and very powerful judging from the waves of colour radiating away from her. The rest of the room was all black with grey surrounding, nothing alive, except possibly him, he wasn't sure if he could be qualified as alive.
"Here you go."
"Thank you."
He felt his hand being placed on top of a pile of material, it felt like cotton, and there was denim there too. His robes were large and bulky and he wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to change them for the other clothes when a musical voice broke in.
"Would you like a hand?"
She was smirking he could tell, but he appreciated the original thought of letting him cope by himself.
"Thanks."
He tried not to feel embarrassed as she pulled his robes off over his head and replaced them with a cotton t-shirt and denim jeans. She was talking all the time, explaining what had happened. He knew he should feel more shocked, but he couldn't. It was kind of nice actually, hearing her explain about how she was her childe now, hers and William's. He'd heard a lot about vampires over the years, one of the facts that most people didn't know was that the older and more powerful ones took family, sires and childer, very seriously. And if he'd been taken on as two of the most powerful vampires in history's childe, maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.
"That's a much better look for you."
"Thanks."
"Can you say anything apart from 'thanks' or 'thank you'?"
"Yes."
He was a bit indignant at that, what else was he supposed to say at the moment?
"Good. Now come on. Lets get you upstairs. We have things to do tonight you know."
Upstairs
"What do you mean he's human!"
Buffy looked positively apoplectic, her face was red and bulging, eyes wild and she was pacing all over the place.
"How many ways are there for that relatively simple sentence to be mistaken."
Spike and William both smirked, Spike trying to hide it, Will not bothering, Angel just looked embarrassed, this was Angelus at his best, caustic, calumniating and cannibalistic. Will loved it, so did Spike, Angel was trying very hard to remember why he hadn't done this to Buffy one of the hundred times that she'd acted like an idiot.
"He's a Bringer. Bringer's don't just become human. And even if it did? So what, you should still kill him."
That was Kennedy, her voice ringing out, and while William cut her confidence into strips the size of a single strand of hair, Angelus was looking at the redhead beside her. The brunettes' scent was all over the witch, but so was the smell of disappointment, and he would wager that it was because her girlfriend was so dismissive of human life.
"Kennedy don't say that. I went evil and was given a second chance, this guy deserves new too."
Then the slayer broke in,
"That was completely different Wills. You were mad with grief, this guy's just a psycho."
"Weren't you listening pet? Humans become Bringers when they're taken over by evil. It was possibly grief for this bloke as well."
Buffy opened her mouth again but was interrupted.
"Buffy don't. Give him a second chance, you gave me one, and Willow."
It made Angelus physically sick, and a low growl erupted from his throat. Seeing himself plead to a slayer, and have her cuddle up to him was disgusting.
"All right Angel. Angelus call that skank and you're new pet up and…"
She couldn't finish the sentence; being thrown into a wall does cause problems in the speaking department. William and Angelus stalked over to her and hauled her to her feet and slammed her against the wall, three feet off the ground. She couldn't move, couldn't breath, all she could see was two sets of golden eyes, brow ridges and fangs. Over the growls se could hear Spike's voice, he was telling the other's not to interfere, why wasn't he helping her. What about Angel, where was he? Smack. Her head slammed against a wall and she was brought back to reality.
"If you ever say anything like that again. Insult Carma in any way, shape or form. We'll make you wish you were in the deepest pits of hell for the rest of eternity. And your boyfriends will help us."
She was pulled away from the wall and flung around to see Spike in full vamp face, snarling quietly. And Angel, her Angel, stalked towards her and backhanded her, Angelus released her at the same time so she flew back into the already demolished wall. The two sets of doubles were talking in another language, something demony, when through hazy vision she saw Spike pull Angel into a hug, followed by Angelus, then William. If anyone had been able to understand anything they'd said they'd have known that Angel was being welcomed back into the family. But the reunion was cut short when Carma and Colin walked through the crowd of astonished bystanders.
"We missed the fun part of the evening then?"
Please update everyone. No one reviewed the last chapter and I love getting reviews. And I know that the thing with the Bringer's weird, but I'd finished the chapter before I realised what I'd written. Again, I'm begging, please review:)
