Disclaimer: All characters and things from ANGEL and BUFFY belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. If they aren't on the show they belong to me.
Summary: Angel and Spike get a chance to get back the people that meant the most to them after the battle against Wolfram and Hart. But can they keep the real past a secret from the only people they want to share it with? A/C S/B
CHAPTER 11
Angel marched down the stairs of the Hyperion Hotel to the lobby with Cordelia trailing behind him. He knew it wasn't his place to investigate or fight vampires anymore, after all, he was human now, but he also knew vampires were not supposed to exist anymore. Things weren't making sense.
"So, what? You're just going to go over and check her body?" Cordelia asked Angel.
Angel sighed, reaching the bottom of the stairs. "I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Cordelia passed him on the stairs, turning and facing him so she blocked his way out the door. "You should know."
Angel moved passed her and toward his weapon cabinet, glad that it and all his weapons were still in the Hyperion in this reality. He couldn't help but smile as he opened the cabinet; the Cordelia behind him was starting to sound a lot like his Cordelia. "I'll figure it out."
"Well, I doubt the morgue is going to let you just walk in there…" Cordelia started.
"I'm not going to the morgue." He searched the cabinet, looking for what weapon he wanted, but blocking Cordelia's view from what was inside the cabinet. "It happened two nights ago. I'm not looking for a body."
"What are you talking about?"
"She would have been turned already, if she drank, which I have a feeling she did. I'm looking for a vampire."
"You said they don't exist anymore!"
"I lied, I guess."
"I think you're crazy." Cordelia folded her arms across her chest. "And even if you're right, and it's a vampire, what are you going to do?"
Angel found the weapon he had been looking for, his favorite long-sword. He smiled and pulled it out, facing Cordelia. "I'll take care of it."
"What the hell is that?" The weapon shocked Cordelia.
"A sword." Angel said simply.
"I can see that." Cordelia's eyes were wide. "But why do you have one?"
Angel shrugged. He didn't know exactly how to explain that to Cordelia without confusing her even more.
"So you're just going to go swing a sword around?" Cordelia asked.
"I'll cut her head off, actually. If she is a vampire." Angel said matter-of-factly.
"So you're just going to kill some vampire and that is that?" Cordelia asked rhetorically. "You don't even know how to kill a vampire."
Angel was getting sick of Cordelia's attitude toward the whole situation, and her last comment had really gotten to him. He wanted to tell her that he, in fact, did know how to kill a vampire because he had killed many in his time, and he knew their weaknesses considering he was once one. He also wanted to remind her that she had killed a few in her day too, but he knew he couldn't. She didn't remember. "I know what I am doing."
"Why? Because Buffy explained it to you? Did she draw you a diagram?" Cordelia asked.
Angel turned to look at her, but said nothing, and then continued to make his way toward the counter where his duster lay. It was night and he felt he could wear the coat now without anyone saying anything to him.
"Buffy never killed any vampires, Angel." Cordelia continued. "You said so yourself. And she is that slayer thing you explained earlier. She is like super-strong or something, right?"
Angel nodded, fixing the collar of his duster. "Right."
"So, if Buffy doesn't really know how to fight them, how do you know you can?" Cordelia asked.
Angel could tell she was only worried, and sighed. He knew how to fight vampires. He had done it for so long it was like second nature to him. He also knew it would be harder to fight as a human, but he would manage. "Just trust me. I know what I am doing." He moved to the door.
"Let me come with you." Cordelia told him.
"No." Angel said quickly.
"Angel…" Cordelia tried.
"Cordelia, stay here." Angel instructed her. He didn't want her to get hurt ever again. "I'll be fine. Stay and make sure Gunn and Wesley are okay."
Cordelia went to argue, but Angel was already out the door. She sighed, and went to make her way back up the stairs when she saw Wesley and Gunn both standing at the top of them. She smiled awkwardly at the two men. She did not know either of them well at all, and yet she felt comfortable around them, and that made her feel awkward.
"We heard yelling." Wesley told her. "Is everything alright?"
Cordelia nodded. "Yeah?"
"Where'd he run off too?" Gunn nodded toward the door Angel had exited through.
"Oh, he thinks he is going to kill a vampire." Cordelia said simply.
Gunn laughed, but Wesley's face was like stone.
"What?" Wesley asked.
"Exactly." Gunn was still laughing. "Vampires? Please, that's like saying there are monsters under the bed."
Wesley turned to Gunn. "There very well could be." This caused Gunn to stop laughing. Wesley turned back to Cordelia. "What do you mean?"
"Look. I know all about the vampires and demons, and I know you do some kind of watching." Cordelia told Wesley. "Angel explained it all."
"Did he?" Wesley cleared his throat, fixing his glasses. "He shouldn't have."
"Doesn't matter." Cordelia told him. "What matters is that earlier he told me that vampires don't exist anymore."
"They don't." Wesley told her.
"Well, he thinks they do now." Cordelia said, and then motioned to Gunn. "He said that your sister was not attacked by an animal, it was a vampire."
"What?" Gunn raised an eyebrow. "Is he insane? Vampires aren't real."
"I assure you, they are." Wesley told Gunn. "Well they were. They no longer exist." He looked at Cordelia. "Was Angel positive?"
"He seemed to be." Cordelia told him.
"Wait, hold up!" Gunn broke in. "You're gonna tell me vampires and monsters are real?"
Wesley nodded. "It's a long story, I'll explain it." He turned back to Cordelia. "Will Angel be alright?"
"He seemed to know what he was doing." Cordelia thought for a moment. "And, for some reason, I have a feeling he will be okay." She didn't know why, but she wasn't worried about Angel. She felt as though she had watched him go after vampires every day of her life. She shook her head, shaking the feeling away as well.
Wesley nodded, turning to Gunn. "Very well. Let me explain everything to you." He led Gunn down the stairs, where he, Cordelia, and Gunn sat down at the counter. Wesley then went into his briefcase, pulling out some books he had from the Watcher's Council on vampires and demons, and opening them, ready to explain the demon world to Gunn as well as let Cordelia in on anything Angel had left out when he had explained it all to her.
Spike had pulled the body of the man into Giles' living room, checking to make sure no one outside had seen him do such a thing. He then stood over the body, turning the man's head, and examining his neck. Giles had gone into the kitchen to get something, and Buffy stood a few feet behind Spike, clearly taken back by the body on the floor.
"Come on, Slayer." Spike looked at Buffy. "You're going to have to get used to this."
"Yeah right!" Buffy wrapped her own arms around herself. "Not me."
"It is your job to kill vampires." Spike reminded her.
"We don't even know if that is a vampire bite, yet." Buffy shot back. "Vampires don't exist anymore."
"Here we are." Giles entered, shining a flashlight over Spike's shoulder and onto the victim's neck.
"What in the bloody hell are you doing?" Spike pushed the flashlight away. "You don't need to bloody blind me."
"I just want to make sure it is, in fact, a vampire bite." Giles told him.
"It is. Trust me." Spike said. He knew vampire bites. He had bitten quite a few people in his time.
"How do you know?" Buffy asked him.
Spike sighed. He couldn't explain that to her, not without revealing the past he remembered, the past everyone else but Angel had forgotten. "I just do."
"Well, in spit of what I would like to believe." Giles examined the bite mark. "This does look like a vampire bite."
"Vampires don't exist anymore!" Buffy was whining and it was started to bother Spike.
"Well, they obviously do now!" Spike turned back to her. "So stop whining. We've got to get rid of this body."
"And I need to call the Watcher's Council." Giles said. "Someone knew to drop that body here. They knew either that I was the watcher or Buffy was the Slayer and was here."
Spike nodded. "Go call the Council. I'll take care of the body." He picked the victim up and moved to the back door of Giles' house to make sure they body would not rise. Before he left, he turned back to Buffy. "You want to come? This is you're line of duty."
Buffy shook her head. "I'll wait for Giles to get off the phone."
Spike smiled to himself. Buffy was not the Slayer he remember her to be at all. She seemed afraid of the idea that vampires were real. His smile then faded. Vampires were back, they were real, and they weren't supposed to be. He knew he had to somehow get in touch with Angel and tell the other ex-vampire what was going on. It seemed like the new reality was starting to lose everything good about it to the darkness of the world that only Angel and Spike could remember.
Angel made his way down toward the alley he had first met Gunn and his sister in the new reality. He held the sword close to his side and was cautious; after all, he was human now and not as strong as he had been in the former reality. He wasn't sure how well his human form would hold up to a vampire. Sure, Gunn and Wesley had been fine in the old reality, not as strong or fast as Angel, but they had always been good in a fight. He hoped his human form could match the skills of his friends, the friends who didn't remember fighting vampires.
Angel turned and found that the alley was empty. He wasn't sure if he was relieved by that or worried. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that he would find Gunn's sister there, although, if she was a vampire, she could be anywhere in the city.
"Angel…" A voice hissed from behind the ex-vampire.
Angel turned to find himself facing Gunn's sister, or the shell of what had once been his sister. Angel had been right, she was a vampire now.
"I had a feeling you'd be here." Angel told the vampire version of Alonna.
"I bet." Alonna smirked back at him, revealing her sharp teeth. She took a step closer to him.
Angel felt his heartbeat pick up in spite of himself as the vampire circled him, gently tracing her fingertips along his neck.
Alonna could sense Angel's heartbeat and gave a devilish laugh at it. "You're heart races regardless of what you want it to do." She stopped moving, standing in front of him and studying him for a second. "You're also very different from any human I've encountered so far."
"How so?" Angel tried to relax. He knew vampires, and Alonna was as predictable as the next. If she were going to bite him she would have done so already.
Alonna narrowed her eyes, as if accusing him of something. "You're not afraid of me. You stand here while others would have run already."
Angel nodded but said nothing.
"Why?" Alonna asked
"Because, I've dealt with your kind before." Angel said. It was simple, and it was the truth.
Alonna was intrigued. "Really?"
Angel nodded. "Although I was told your kind didn't exist anymore."
Alonna smirked at Angel. "Who told you such lies?"
"The Powers." Angel said simply.
Alonna was taken back by a moment. "You know the Powers That Be?"
Angel nodded again. "You could say that."
"Then you understand that the balance has been interrupted." Alonna said.
Angel narrowed his eyes. "What balance?"
Alonna smirked at him, baring her teeth. "It would take long to explain." She took a step closer to Angel. "And humans have such short lives." She took another step toward Angel. "If you want to know, let me make sure you stick around a little longer."
Angel knew Alonna was done speaking and was ready to turn him now. He had gotten all the information out of her that he could. She would tell him nothing more, so he swung his sword high, slicing through her before she could bite him. She turned to dust in front of him and Angel sighed. He didn't understand what balance Alonna was talking about. He decided he would think it over as he made his way back to the hotel.
Wesley and Cordelia leaned against the counter as Gunn sat between them. Both the watcher and ex-cheerleader were waiting for the man in between them to say something. Wesley had explained the world of demons to Gunn and still hadn't gotten a reaction from him.
Finally Gunn nodded his head, looking back and forth between Cordelia and Wesley. "So demons are real and vampires are extinct?"
"As far as we know, yes." Wesley told him.
Gunn stood, still nodding. "I should be freaked out."
"It might take some time to get used to…" Cordelia started.
"I should be freaking out." Gunn cut in. "But I'm not." He ran his hand over his face, trying to sort his thoughts. "For some reason this all makes sense to me."
"That's what it was like for me too." Cordelia said honestly. "Like I already knew all of this."
"But I just don't get it." Gunn said. "If vampires are extinct then why the hell did Angel go out there saying my sister was one?"
"Because vampire's aren't extinct." Angel said as he entered the lobby.
Cordelia was relieved to see Angel. "You're okay?"
Angel nodded, putting his sword back in the cabinet. "I'm fine." He smiled at Cordelia.
"What do you mean they aren't extinct?" Wesley asked Angel. "Vampires most certainly are."
"I just killed one." Angel said.
"My sister?" Gunn looked at his feet.
"Yeah." Angel said, remorsefully. He was sorry that Gunn had lost his sister again, although he did not remember losing her the first time.
"So you staked her?" Wesley raised an eyebrow.
"Cut her in half." Angel corrected Wesley. "But the point is that she was a vampire, and they shouldn't be here."
"Right." Wesley nodded. "I should call the Council."
Angel nodded. "Go do that."
"Anything else I should know?" Wesley asked.
"Alonna was saying something about a balance being disrupted before I killed her." Angel said.
"I'll let them know." Wesley moved to the phone.
"Is there anything we can do?" Gunn asked.
"I wish we knew what balance she was talking about." Angel sighed.
"Is there anyway to find out?" Cordelia asked. "Besides Wes over there making his call?"
Angel thought for a moment, and then looked back at Cordelia and it hit him like a ton of bricks. He knew exactly who they could go to for help. "I know someone who might be able to help."
"Really?" Gunn asked. "Who?"
"An old friend." Angel wasn't lying. The person he was talking about was an old friend, not only to him but to the rest of the group as well, although he would not remember Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, or Gunn. Angel hoped he could get his friend to remember them, however.
Giles hung his phone up and made his way into his living room to find Buffy and Spike both sitting on his couch. Spike looked all right, but Buffy looked disheveled from what had happened earlier.
"What did the Council say?" Spike asked Giles.
Giles shook his head. "They were not sure of anything, but as I was on the phone with them another member of the Council called in. He was at a convention in L.A. and he said that one of his friends had also encountered a vampire and killed it."
"A human killed a vampire?" Buffy asked. "How would they even know how to? It's not like there are other slayers out there, or that people really believe in vampires."
Everything hit Spike like a train, a Council member in L.A. who had a friend who had just killed a vampire. Spike had a feeling he knew who the Council member and friend were. It had to be Wesley and Angel, who else could it have been in L.A.? Who else, besides Angel, would know how to track and kill vampires? What other member of the Council would have ended up in L.A. besides Wesley?
"This just isn't making any sense. The Council even was confused about how vampires are suddenly walking this earth again. They haven't for centuries." Giles seemed confused.
"Well, they are back." Spike stood. "We've got to get in touch with Angel."
"I thought we said that was a bad idea a few minutes ago?" Buffy asked.
"It is." Spike said. "But we have to let Angel know about this."
"Why?" Buffy asked.
"Because, he and Cordelia are in danger if vampires do exist." Spike said. That was true, but he really just wanted to call Angel and see what the other ex-vampire thought of the whole situation that had just fallen into the new reality.
"You can't call them." Giles told them.
"Well, what should we do then?" Spike asked. "We can't just bloody sit around here. They could be in real danger."
"You're correct about that." Giles said. "But they aren't in danger tonight. The Council is aware of the situation, they will handle everything."
"How? They are across the bloody ocean in England. How will they handle things in California?" Spike questioned.
"Just give the Council some time. If the situation gets worse, you and Buffy will go to Los Angeles to warn both Angel and Cordelia." Giles said.
"And let them know about Xander." Buffy added. "It makes sense, but how long should we wait?"
"Give the council a week or so. If they can't figure things out then you two will go." Giles said. "It's probably better off anyway, so Xander doesn't grow suspicious. Maybe in a week he will have forgotten about Cordelia."
"Alright." Spike nodded. "Sounds like a damn plan." He turned to Buffy. "We should get going, in case anyone saw us here, not to mention the fact that we should take a walk around town, see if anymore vampires turned up."
"What? Like hunt for them?" Buffy seemed appalled by the idea of patrolling, which struck Spike as odd. In the old reality patrolling had been one of Buffy's favorite things to do when she wanted a break from everything. She had enjoyed the hunt, now she was disgusted by the idea.
Spike nodded.
"It's actually a good idea." Giles commented. "Maybe if you find any vampires it will answer a few questions. There are a few stakes in the closet."
"Okay." Spike moved toward the closet and grabbed two stakes from it. "Come on, Buffy."
Buffy followed Spike to the door but was clearly reluctant about going out to look for vampires. Spike didn't like the fact that Buffy was uneasy about patrolling with him. He was only human now, and he knew he would need Buffy to use her slayer strength if they did run into a vampire. He wasn't sure how his human reactions would work in a fight against any demon.
Angel had gotten Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley in his car shortly after Wesley had called to tell the Watcher's Council about the vampire situation in L.A., to Wesley's surprise, a similar call had come into the Council only moments before his. Angel pulled up to the familiar club, hoping that inside of it he could find the answers he was looking for.
"Caritas?" Cordelia read the name of the club they had just arrived at. "What are we doing here? I thought you said you had a friend who could help us with the vampire situation?"
Angel smiled at her. "I do. He owns this place." Angel thought for a moment, he wasn't even sure if Lorne existed in this reality. "Well, I think he does anyway."
"And he is gonna help us how?" Gunn asked.
"Just get out of the car and lets go." Angel opened the door, and then moved to help Cordelia out of the back of his convertible. He then linked his hand with hers, and moved toward the door with Wesley and Gunn following them. "If everything works out, I'll explain it all."