Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Mercedes and Audrey.
CHAPTER 20-HATCHING A PLAN
The Immortal stood silent as he watched Buffy and Xander talk quietly for a bit before they both left the room. Giles stayed for several more moments, making soft comments about whoever attacked Kristine was a monster. The Immortal did his best to keep the worried and sad look on his face as he nodded his head in silent agreement with Giles and softly asked him if he thought that she would come out of it. Giles wasn't sure and said that he'd have to talk to the doctor's first. He took another look at Kristine's chart before marking a few things down in a folder and then excused himself. Kennedy had kept staring at The Immortal with a wary look on her face until she grew more worried about Kristine and her gaze drifted back to her.
The Immortal relished in the pain and suffering that he saw in Kennedy's eyes and body posture as the once overly proud slayer had been reduced to a quivering mass of nerves and confusion. He knew that if she ever found out the truth that she'd want his head, but if he could play his cards right he could procure himself a new lieutenant to replace Mercedes once Buffy and the others had found and staked her. His only hesitation on furthering his plan was the thought that perhaps Mercedes had actually found Angel and his band and convinced them of the truth. The Immortal was just about to excuse himself when Kennedy stood up and walked out of the room, doing all that she could to keep from breaking down in front of anyone lest they uncover what was really going on. After she had left he moved on to phase two, pulling a small vial out of his pocket. While humming a chipper tune softly to himself he injected the liquid into Kristine's iv drip. Within ten minutes she would crash from a massive heart attack and die, with absolutely no trace of the liquid to be found. Slipping the vial back into his pocket to be planted on Mercedes for evidence against her later on The Immortal wiped the smug look off of his face and joined Buffy and Xander outside.
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"So then you're a vampire right," Dawn asked with a slightly nervous look on her face as she poked her head into a room where Mercedes had retreated to after Faith and Illyria had scouted out and made sure that no one was following them.
"Right on the first try, gee you slayers sure are smart ones," Mercedes shot back with a zealous grin on her face as she looked up from the bed that she had been lounging on for a few moments.
"Hey…well uh, actually I'm not a slayer, but my sister is," Dawn started to exclaim with a combative tone to her voice before she grew a bit embarrassed and explained her situation.
"Good for me then, I'd hate to get staked now, I have to be there for Kristine when she wakes up, so that I can swear to her that I'm going rip the Immortal's black heart right out of his chest for what he did to her," Mercedes stated with at first a half chuckle before her eyes and face grew cold and furious as her hands were tightly clenched into fists.
"He hurt her, Giles got the info earlier today, he was going to go to the hospital to see her today, they left just before we did," Dawn replied with a nervous look on her face as she was still a bit scared of Mercedes.
"And The Immortal," Mercedes asked quickly with a very pointed look on her face as she whipped her head around and stared a hole straight through Dawn.
"Beats me, but I bet that he'll want to see Buffy, he barely gives her any peace," Dawn replied with a bored pout on her face as she thought back on how the Immortal always seemed to be around.
"So he's there…with Kristine, and they don't have a clue, they'll let him get close…they'll let him touch her," Mercedes started to say with a look of sudden realization on her face as all of the pieces started to fit together in her head. As she spoke a chill spread throughout her body and her fists began to slowly shake at the end. Dawn immediately grew concerned as she took a couple of quick steps back out of the room before Mercedes glanced up and noticed her hesitation. "We can't let him near her, they have to be warned," Mercedes snapped with a very determined and serious look on her face as she turned and started to head for the door before Dawn became bold and stopped her.
"And just where do you think that you're going, the sun is up, you can't help Kristine if you're a pile of dust," Dawn stated with a very firm but also honest tone to her voice so that she hoped that Mercedes would understand that she wasn't trying to mock her.
"But I have to go, I can't let that bastard get close to her, he'll try to finish her off," Mercedes shot back with a skittish and anxious look on her face as she was acting more like a junkie in need of a fix than a vampiress that was usually totally in control.
"Sorry luv but she's right, besides Red got in touch with Buffy, something happened at the hospital, Kristine," Spike interrupted with a very somber and serious look on his face as he stepped around the corner and slid in between Dawn and Mercedes as he pulled the latter back into the room with him.
"She…no," Mercedes started to plead with a broken hearted expression on her face before the realization of what Spike was trying to tell her hit and she turned and took a couple of awkward steps back towards the far wall before she dropped to her knees and covered her face. Dawn started to nervously step forward with a sad look on her face and tears threatening to form in her eyes before Spike glanced back at her over his shoulder as he knelt down beside Mercedes. Spike shook his head subtly to ward her off but it was the look in his eyes that gave Dawn the message. With a scared smiled she did a mock bow, shut the door, and then headed off down the hallway to look for a place to cry.
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"Do you think that he knows," Nina asked with a concerned look on her face as she walked past Wesley and Faith, who were seated beside each other on the couch, before she stopped just in front of Angel.
"I don't think," Willow started to reply with a very deep in thought frown on her face as she half lifted her head before Angel stepped in.
"He might, if he's killed this Kristine to shut her up for disobeying him then there's no telling what he'll do to those that he considers to be his enemies," Angel said softly with a very stern and unwavering tone to his voice as he stared straight ahead, but did relax a bit when he felt Nina's hand on his arm.
"B sure can pick em can't she," Faith quipped with a devilishly sarcastic and grim smirk on her face as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned back in her seat a bit, liking immensely that Wesley did not shrink away from her touch.
"Hey…she didn't know, if she had then she would never have," Willow started to state with a defensive look on her face as she tried to stand up for her best friend.
"She knew perfectly well who and what Spike and Angel were when she began dating them, I'm sorry to say that I'm not convinced that she wouldn't have started to date him if she had known the truth about him" Wesley said with a worried but to the point tone of voice as he took great care in bending his elbow enough to scratch an itch on his chin.
"But," Willow piped up again with a nervous look on her face as she scrambled to come up with something to say but couldn't before Illyria walked back into the room.
"I do not know this one who dares to call himself immortal, there is none immortal but me," Illyria stated with a very matter of fact tone to her voice before she half turned and saw the discontented expression on Wesley's face and she held back from continuing.
"Who cares if he's really Immortal, we've dealt with people like that before haven't we," Nina grumbled with an unhappy scowl on her face before she looked innocently optimistic at the end, hoping that she hadn't spoken to soon.
"All to often I'm afraid, the only problem with proving that he is not in fact actually Immortal is that there are very few demons that could live as long as we know that he has and be able to alter his appearance so that no one would notice that he was a demon, it's a pretty short list," Wesley replied with a somber and slightly dejected expression on his face as he slumped down in his seat a bit. After making sure that no one was looking Faith slid her right hand over until it was resting on top of his knee and then gave it a supportive squeeze. She snatched her hand back just as Angel turned around and looked their way.
"Maybe he's not altering his appearance, back at Wolfram and Hart we took down a necromancer that could put a demon into a human's body, could it be something like that," Angel asked with an interested look on his face as he explained more than he normally would have needed to for those in the room that hadn't known about that particular mission.
"It's possible, if he is a demon that can possess someone or replace their essence with his own then it would make him appear to be Immortal," Wesley replied with a serious look on his face as he contemplated Angel's idea while deftly sliding his left hand behind Faith's back and rather pointedly tugging sliding his colder fingers first up the small of her back and then back down under her jeans until finding her thong and giving it a tug with one finger. Faith fought hard to not outwardly react to Wesley's actions but inwardly she quickly glanced around to see if there was someplace that they could go to let off a little steam. She was shaken out of her fantasy idea by Dawn who unceremoniously plopped down onto the couch beside her, her eyes a little red from crying.
"If I could get close enough to him without his knowledge maybe I could do a spell that'd tell us if he's using a shimmer spell of some kind or it he's possessing someone," Willow offered softly with a sympathetic look Dawn's way before she began to mull the idea over in her own mind.
"Won't work, he'll never let you get close enough to cast it, besides he's probably already thought of that, we have to look at this another way," Angel quickly stated with a distant scowl on his face as he began to pace back and forth with determination in his steps.
"Okay…what if we trick him then, make the spell different, like how some parents give their children their medication by putting it in ice cream," Dawn replied with a slightly excited smile on her face as she felt that she was on the verge of a great idea but couldn't quite put all of the pieces together just yet.
"I doubt that he likes ice cream Dawn, it's probably a little to simple for him," Wesley added with a serious frown on his face before he gave Faith's thong another yank.
"True, but he does like his wine," Willow said softly with a deep in thought expression on her face as she turned away slightly and began to walk away from the couch and towards the window.
"Meaning," Angel asked with a slowly growing look of interest on his face as he stopped pacing and turned to face Willow.
"What if we got the spell down into like a powder or something, then we could slip it into his drink when he wasn't looking," Nina interjected with a helpful look on her face as she perked up and walked to Angel.
"That could work, though he leaves his wine locked up until he drinks it, I could get into it if I had a little bit of time, but we'd need a big enough distraction to get him out of his office for awhile," Willow replied with a somewhat somber and worried tone to her voice as she turned back into the room and looked straight at Nina.
"Don't worry about the distraction Willow, we can handle that," Wesley started to say with an optimistic but tired and pained look on his face before Faith broke in, shifting just enough in her seat so that he had to pull his hand back.
"What's with the we Wes, you're still to weak to do any good in a distraction, I'll go, you stay here and rest," Faith snapped back with a sharp tone of anger to her voice though Wesley could see the honest concern and worry in her eyes and so disregarded her tone.
"Neither one of you is going anywhere, I'll be the distraction, with Spike and Illyria backing me up, we'll create a big enough distraction that'll give you enough time to slip in and get to work," Angel declared with a very authoritative look on his face as Faith wanted to argue but when she felt Wesley's left hand close overtop of her right hand and squeeze softly that it was pointless.
"If this is going to work I'm going to need the time to sift through all of my books, I'll find the answer in one of them I know it, I just need time," Willow stated with a concentrating frown on her face as a plan started to come together in her mind.
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"I…I'm sorry, about Kristine," Buffy stammered out with a confused look on her face as she finally found Kennedy hunched down, her knees pulled up tightly underneath her chin, in a janitor's closet.
"It doesn't make sense, sure she was bad…but the doctor didn't act like," Kennedy mumbled back softly in reply with a defeated and sick expression on her face as she tried to keep it together and not break down in tears.
"These things can happen, she was already pretty bad off, maybe if she," Buffy started to say back softly with a worried look on her face as she shut the door behind her and pushed a mop bucket out of the way before sitting down beside Kennedy.
"Mercedes…I…I have to tell her, she has to hear it from me, she can't," Kennedy spat out with an almost frantic look on her face as she slid her feet forward across the floor until her legs were straight.
"Xander already called Willow and told her about it, don't worry Kennedy, we'll find Mercedes and make her pay for what she did to Kristine," Buffy started to say back with a very determined look on her face as she started to slide a comforting arm nervously around Kennedy's shoulders.
"What…no, she'd never, Mercedes would never hurt Kristine," Kennedy exclaimed with a very fervent and honest tone to her voice as she balled up her fists and lightly pounded them on the ground at her sides.
"But she's a vampire, she doesn't have a soul," Buffy started to point out with an anxious half smile on her face as she pulled her arm back and brushed a piece of lint off of her jeans.
"Neither did Spike, that certainly didn't stop you…I meant what I said, Mercedes would rather die than do that to Kristine, sure she's wild and crazy but…she doesn't hurt those that she cares about," Kennedy reiterated with a very serious look on her face as she slowly shook her head back and forth and stared straight over at Buffy.
"You mean someone like you," Buffy replied softly after letting out a small nervous breath and guessing that she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.
"No I…well yeah…maybe, I don't know," Kennedy stuttered out with a confused and awkward frown on her face before she knew that she had lost and hung her head down in towards her chest.
"You want to tell me what's really going on between the two of you," Buffy started to ask with a perplexed and surprised look on her face before Kennedy one-upped her.
"Three, what's going on between the three of us," Kennedy interjected softly with a skittish tone to her voice as the usually stoic new slayer looked to be almost on the verge of tears.
"Three…okay, that's more than I was expecting but," Buffy stammered out with a look of total surprise on her face before Kennedy sucked it up and began her story, keeping her gaze aimed straight ahead at the door the entire time, never once wavering to look over and see Buffy's reaction.
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Bright pink bubble gum colored braids bobbed up and down and were flipped around from side to side as she ran through the sewers. After having lead a somewhat privileged life, in which she would have died rather than be caught anywhere near the sewers, her life had taken an unexpected turn and now she considered herself an outcast. Her hair had once been a source of pride for her, lording it over her friends as a symbol of her achievement and beauty. After the accident most of it had been cut off. She had never been happy with what grew back and during the slow and arduous physical therapy that followed to teach her how to do everything again she had dyed it one day as a joke. After that she had just continued to die it one bright color after another, anything to keep her mind off of her situation. By the end of her physical therapy she had settled on the current bright pink color.
But all of that seemed well behind her as she literally ran for her life. Somewhere behind her in the sewers a pack of magically enhanced hounds were on her trail. She had been spelunking her way around peacefully mapping out the sewers for further explanation when the animals had picked up her scent. Only her keen knowledge of the sewers and general health had kept her alive this long as even as she leapt over a gap in the floor of the sewer she could hear their barks and howls. In a panic she frantically thought back to the happy days before the accident, when a middle-aged man had approached her parents and told them that their daughter was special, that she was something called a slayer. The man had filled her head with all sorts of wondrous hopes and dreams for the future. But the accident had ended all of those dreams. Left an orphan and abandoned by the man that had called her a slayer good surgeons and a good fight had been the only things that had kept her going through the long hours of grueling physical therapy and the stares of those she had once knew, who now seemed more like ghosts to her. Her old friends had quickly drifted away, not wanting to associate with her. When she had become well enough she had visited every antique book dealer in Rome that she could find, desperately searching for information on the slayer.
She had found out a great deal about the legend of the slayer and as she read about it she was mixed with emotions. Part of her was ecstatic because of how exciting it all sounded and the feeling of the good that she could accomplish with her new abilities. But that was all tempered mightily by the fact that after the accident she had been alone. She guessed wrongly that they no longer thought her worthy of being the slayer and had moved on to another candidate. Secretly she had sworn to get to the bottom of the reason behind her being passed over. The only words that went through her mind was the name of the man that the middle-aged man had told her parents to contact if they wanted more answers, Rupert Giles.
END OF CHAPTER 20
Author's Note: Audrey is the pink haired girl, she's a slayer, but will stay on the outskirts of the story. Sad ending to Kristine's life I know but I needed something to shake things up and it will affect everyone. What should I do with the ships other than Wes/Faith, Angel/Nina, and in the end Spike/Buffy, the rest are wide open as far as I'm concerned. Willow/Kennedy could still end up together, or not…and then there's Mercedes, who's shown an interest…the surprise characters could be paired up…maybe then a little Vi and Andrew perhaps…
As for any of my other Buffy, Angel, Harry Potter, Kim Possible, Popular, X-men, and Mighty Ducks fanfics, feel free to read and review them at your leisure and ask any question that you might have, I also won't be offended upon receiving any story ideas, I've often used people's suggestions in my stories. I won't be replying directly to anyone's reviews anymore as it's no longer allowed by this site, just a bit of fyi for everyone.
So in closing I thank everyone that's read any chapter or this entire story and hope that you continue to read the upcoming chapters. As always reviews are appreciated, plus they help me write chapters faster.