Chapter 2: The Dark Prince
Buffy was worried.
Not because she might be in danger. She was in danger all the time. No big.
But because Angel was part of the equation. There was no end to the terrible things her mind could conjure up when it came to her and Angel. Was someone trying to turn him evil again? Would she have to kill him again?
She remembered her dream, so suddenly and so vividly that she gasped aloud. Angel, in her bed, bleeding, a sword thrust through his chest.
Her dreams had a very bad habit of coming true, and it terrified her to think they had been trying to warn her and she hadn't gotten the message.
She needed to stay calm. Vi was sleeping soundly in the next bed, and she tried for a while to match her deep breathing. But eventually she realized that she really, really needed to hit something.
†††
The hotel had a small gym in its dingy basement. It was still early, but not too early for normal, didn't-spend-the-night-tracking-demons types to be getting in a morning workout. She hoped the place would still be deserted. There wasn't much hope of finding a punching bag, but she could at least run hard on the treadmill to burn her anxious energy.
She heard no sound from inside as she pushed the door open, and she felt a little thrill of victory. But what she saw when she stepped over the threshold stopped her in her tracks.
Angel, shirtless and glistening, was moving gracefully as ever through one of the tai chi forms he had taught her a million years ago.
The combination of sense and memory threatened to overload her. She almost turned around and fled, but he spotted her and tilted his head in invitation. She wanted to tell him that she didn't remember, that she couldn't possibly, but her feet moved toward him anyway. She stopped where she could watch him and began mirroring his movements.
She was incredibly rusty, but some of it came back to her in muscle memory. She had to pay close attention to the lines of his body, which allowed her racing thoughts to slow but sent her pulse zooming. Gradually, though, she felt calmer, more centered, until she surprised herself by yawning hugely when they finished the last sequence.
"Trouble sleeping?" he asked gently.
She nodded. "Giles has a theory that we're in vague danger."
His brow creased. "Serious enough to lose sleep over?"
"It wouldn't be," she answered, "except the jeebies I'm getting are extra heebie, too."
"Then we'll be extra careful," he said reassuringly. "Though knowing more details would help."
She summed up what Giles had said on the phone and felt the worry start to steal back through her as the concern on Angel's face deepened.
"OK. We'll let everyone get a few more hours of sleep, and then we'll come up with a plan," he said.
The part of her that was head of that international network of superheroes bristled at his take-charge instinct. "I guess that sounds reasonable," she allowed.
He gave her his patented little half-smile and started to walk away. She wanted to break through this wall of reserve between them, to tell him that it was her dreams that were the source of her concern, but she just couldn't. So she bit her lip and remained silent.
At the door, he turned back to her. "We should...talk later," he said awkwardly. "You know, catch up."
"Sure," she said, trying to smile. This didn't sound good. What kind of crazy bombshell was he going to drop on her this time?
His face, as usual, gave nothing away. "Try to get some rest."
†††
She was almost back to her room, where she expected a hot shower and a few more hours of staring at the walls while Vi slept, when she saw Xander's door open and his head poke out into the hall.
"Is there news?" she asked quietly, dreading the answer.
"Nothing from the Department of Mutilated Corpses, if that's what you're asking," he said.
She felt a little better, but not much. Xander gestured for her to enter his room and she sat down on the bed as he closed the door behind them.
"I just talked to Giles," he said. "How're you holding up?"
"As well as can be expected when facing a bad of unidentified origin. We'll figure it out. We'll slay. We'll go home."
"So you're not weirded by Angel showing up?"
"Why would I be?"
"Oh, I don't know, just almost a decade of very complex history, including him turning bad, you killing him, him coming back to life and breaking your heart into itty-bitty pieces. And let's not forget, him giving you an amulet that killed your other vamptastic beau, who then also came back to life...Am I ringing any bells here?"
"Loudly and very annoyingly, thanks. I remember it all. And I also remember that he's not exactly your favoritest person."
"This is not about me and my completely justified prejudices. This is about you."
"I'm fine, Xan. Really."
"Did they recently change the meaning of the words 'fine' or 'really' in some way I am not aware of?"
She sighed. "OK, I'm not really fine. It's...uncomfortable. Things didn't go well the last time I saw him. But we're both just focusing on the mission. That's what we all should be doing."
"In other words, 'I am Boss Woman, now shut the hell up'?"
His tone was teasing, but she caught the bite to it. Xander never minded taking orders, but she thought he might be getting a little tired of schlepping around the world as her supernatural travel agent. She didn't know what he wanted instead. They didn't talk much about stuff like that anymore.
"Sorry." She smiled sheepishly. "I didn't mean to high-horse you like that. I'm just a little...on edge."
"No, no, your wish is my command, master. I'll—" Xander went through several changes of expression before he landed on his "aha" face. "Master!" he exclaimed, pointing his finger into the air. "Master...bater!"
"Well, that's a twist I wasn't expecting."
"Giles said we might be looking for a conjurer, right? Someone who does fancy magic tricks to scare people? And we're in Bucharest, which is not that far from—"
"Transylvania. You think we're dealing with..."
"Dracula! The Dark Prince himself!"
Buffy put her head in her hands. The last thing she needed was to have to explain her run-in with Dracula to Angel of all vampires.
"Have you felt...funny at all?" she asked Xander.
"You mean, have I been craving a nice spider burger with a side of flies? Not so much."
"We can put that in the plus column at least," she said, standing up. "I hate to say it, but it's a good theory. Why don't you call Giles back so they can start looking into it. Maybe we should send a team to go knock on Drac's coffin."
†††
"Dracula? There's no way he's real," Gunn said later, when they had all squeezed into Buffy and Vi's hotel room to brainstorm. "He's literally on kids' cereal boxes."
"That's Count Chocula, pal, and make no mistake: The Unholy Master is as real as you and me," Xander countered, vehemently enough that Buffy looked at him sharply. "Sorry, force of habit."
As Xander launched into the story of his unfortunate stint as butt monkey to the Dark One, Buffy again felt glad that Angel hadn't joined the group yet.
"Buffy managed to run Drac out of Sunnydale, but he's pretty much unkillable," Xander finished.
A knock sounded at the door, and Vi went to open it.
"I still don't understand why some famous ancient vampire would be bothering with all this," Gunn said.
"He's not," Angel said from the doorway. At the sound of his voice, Buffy realized she had been rubbing the side of her neck, and she quickly snatched her hand away.
"How do you know?" she asked. "He did seem to be impressed by the slayer thing. And you know how celebrities are. He needs the attention."
"He's been out of the country for weeks," Angel explained. "I, uh, actually had the same idea, so I checked with some mostly reliable contacts. He's not the kind of guy to travel lightly, so it's pretty easy to keep track of his comings and goings."
"Well, that's a bust," Gwen piped up from her corner.
"Not entirely," Angel said. "I did get this." He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Buffy. "It's a list of places around town that have had unusual magical activity in the last few weeks. Buffy and I will check these out tonight while the rest of you patrol the area around the park."
"I'm not sure that's the best idea," Buffy said firmly. "Wouldn't it make sense to bring more backup?"
"Not until we have more information. If we come charging in with the whole team, we'll probably scare off whoever is doing this."
"Fine," she said, an edge to her voice. "Vi will lead the team patrolling around the park. Xander, call Sofia and have her meet you there as well. If anyone spots anything, let the rest of us know immediately."
"Ay, ay, capitan," Xander said, with a little mocking smile. Angel's black coat was already receding down the hallway, so Buffy only had time to shoot Xander the briefest of glares before following.
She caught up to him near the elevators. "Angel."
He looked back at her questioningly.
"If this is gonna work, you need to stop doing that."
"Doing what?" he asked. "If what's going to work?"
"If we're going to work together like this, then you need to stop making decisions for me."
He held her gaze for long enough that she started to feel heat rise in her cheeks.
"What are you saying? You're the one in charge here?"
"Well, I do have a slightly better track record." She bit her lip, but it was too late. The words were out. He didn't move a muscle, but she could feel his guard hitch higher.
She missed the easy rapport they used to have, the days when she could run to him and tell him all her problems and let him smooth her out like a wrinkled sheet. Even years after he left Sunnydale, she was still spilling her guts to him like no one else in her life. But now her hands were clenched at her sides and her words tripped over themselves and it was all wrong.
She looked away from him for a beat, just long enough to breathe, then met his eyes again. "I'm not saying I have to be the boss. You have your own team and I respect that. But can we agree to discuss our plans before announcing them to the group? I don't want to fight in front of them."
"I don't want to fight at all," Angel said. "I just want to help."
"Well, it would help if we figured this out together."
He nodded, once. "We will. I'll see you tonight, Buffy."