Title: The Beginning of a New Age

Author: Kristin Hulett

Summary: The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

Time Period: 2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

Author's note:This part introduces the villain, Deirdre. She wasn't mentioned in the prologue because I hadn't come up with her yet.

Part Seven

Meanwhile, across town in an abandoned building, another fairly new arrival to Sunnydale is listening in on the gang's conversation. Using magical means, she had heard of the prophecies, specifically the one involving Megan.

However, this being is not going to be of any help to our stalwart group of fighters for good. She is a vampire, and her only interest in the prophecy is to gain the power to, basically, end the world. Her name is Deirdre, although most of her followers, except a select few, knew her as the Queen. She had been around since before the Master came into power, and remained "alive" by keeping an extremely low profile.

Before she was sired, she had been a sorceress for the Druids. Therefore, she was at least 1700 years old. She had developed too much power for the Druids' liking, and so she was banished from her village. It was during this exile that she was found by a vampire and sired into darkness. Deirdre did not look very threatening, since she was petite, with light brown curly hair that in certain kinds of light showed silvery-blond highlights, ice blue eyes, and delicate features. Nonetheless, she was a force to be reckoned with, because, along with her vampiric abilities, she had continued refining her magic, so she was almost invincible. Almost.

She had stayed "alive" for as long as she had because she never went out to hunt. She sent her followers out to bring people back for her. Since most of them didn't actually know her name, if they got caught they couldn't give her away. Because of this, the Watcher's Council had almost no information on her.

At present, Deirdre is sitting in what she considered to be her throne room. She is lounging on her throne, wearing a low-cut sleeveless black silk dress. Around her waist is a swathe of ice blue silk embroidered in silver. She always had something on that matched the color of her eyes. She is looking into a mirror, using a scrying technique to spy on Buffy and the others.

Then she is interrupted by a knock on the door. Deirdre puts the mirror down and irritably speaks. "Yes?"

A vampire named Brendan sticks his head politely in. He felt comfortable doing this, since he was her right-hand man. Deirdre delicately arches one eyebrow and looks at him questioningly.

Brendan enters the room and slightly bows his head in respect before speaking. "My lady Deirdre. Your followers wish to know if you have any orders for them."

"Actually, I do. Tell them to go out once the sun sets and see if they can discover what they," indicating the mirror which still shows Buffy and the gang, "were talking about that was so important they needed to call the Slayer. This spell does not allow me to hear them."

"My lady, what if they do find something?"

Deirdre starts getting annoyed. "They tell it to you and you report to me! Oh, and Brendan?"

"Yes, my lady?"

"Have some men watch that traitor Spike's lair. Someone will probably tell him what is going on. It may be our best shot at finding something out."

"Yes, my lady." Brendan bows his head once more and leaves the room. Deirdre resumes watching the gang. She notices the pages containing the prophecies on the table.

She gives a command to the mirror. "Go closer to those pages." The spell complies, and zooms in. The prophecy about Megan is on top. Deirdre reads it quickly and then stops the spell. She puts the mirror down. "So the daughter of the ex-Slayer will hold power. If I can access it, I could use it to bring the Old Ones back." She gets up and goes to the spell books she has and starts looking.

Back at the Summers residence, the unofficial meeting is pretty much over. Willow and Tara stand up.

"We're going to go. I'll research to find if spells exist for what we want to do, and if I find anything, I'll call."

"OK. Thanks, Will."

"Buffy, are you sure you will be alright?"

"Yes, Willow. Go. Find the stuff we need. I have other people here and you know Angel will take care of me."

"Yeah. I guess you do have a point there. So, I'll call if I find anything."

"If? Willow, you will find something. I know you."

Willow laughs. "Yes, you do. I'll see you later." She and Tara leave.

Minutes later, Angel returns upstairs. "Where are Nicholas and Vicky? Did they leave?"

Cordelia answers. "Yes. So did Willow and Tara. How's it going with the Council guys?"

"OK. They're downstairs looking at some of our books. I don't think they realized how much Buffy and I actually have."

Buffy laughs. "How much we have? I almost never look at those books. They're more yours than mine."

Riley and Gabriella speak up. Riley says, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I think we're going to head out, too."

Gaby looks apologetic. "I have a case I need to look over. But we'll come back tomorrow, if you need us to."

Buffy responds. "Yeah. Come over tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have something more by then. In any case, we should probably do some training. Most likely there will be some fighting ahead."

Riley answers, "OK. We'll see you tomorrow." They head out the door.

Wesley finally speaks. "I think I'll go as well. Maybe I can assist Willow in looking for some information. Give my regards to the Council representatives." He gets up, aware of his awkward comment, and leaves.

Buffy's hostess skills kick in. "Is anyone hungry? I mean, we should probably eat something. Xander, do you guys want to stay here for a while?"

Angel walks over and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hon, you're babbling. Although we should probably think about dinner."

Buffy looks up at him. "Sorry."

Chris speaks. "We could order something out. It would be the easiest with the amount of people that are here."

Oz agrees with him. "We could get a couple pizzas or something. Why don't we ask the Council guys downstairs if they're hungry?"

Buffy stands up. "I'll go." She heads down to the basement. After a few minutes, she returns. "They said they weren't really hungry but we were welcome to eat."

Gunn speaks up. "Then why don't we order a few pizzas?"

Xander agrees and after silently asking permission, goes to the phone and orders.