Uncursed
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6 & Angel Season 3 A.U.
Author's Note: Yay, Buffy's awake!
Chapter Seven:
"Angel?" Buffy's voice was still groggy. She hadn't slept that hard since before she left Sunnydale. Actually, since before she died.
"It's okay, you're okay," Angel was still holding her in his arms.
"I'm fine," She found control of her limbs, trying to push him away, but the chains kinda made that hard.
"Right," Angel cleared his throat, standing up. He backed away from the bed.
She looked down. "Um, Angel . . ."
He looked down as well, "Oh yeah." He pulled a key out of his pocket, sitting beside her on the bed. She held out her arms, Lexie cooing softly in her sleep.
The moment their skin touched there was a spark, an electrical current that shot through her entire body. As Angel opened the locks on the chains on her hands and feet, images filled Buffy's head and she knew what the Oracles had meant. She didn't let Angel know anything was different though. She needed time to sort this all through.
"There you go," The chains dropped to the floor with a clank. "Sorry about that. We had to. Thought you might hurt yourself."
"Thanks," Buffy's voice was small.
"For what?" Angel stood up again.
"Pretty much everything," Buffy shrugged, "I-" She stopped unsure how to phrase this.
"What happened?" Angel's voice turned from comfort to slight accusation, "How did you get involved with Wolfram & Hart?"
Her slayer senses recognized the change, backing her child away from him, "You did not just say that."
He rolled his eyes, "Buffy, calm down. I just want to know what happened. The last time I talked to you everything was fine. You were still in Sunnydale."
She relaxed a little, like a snake ready to pounce at a second's notice. Her voice was soft, but still strong. "They want my daughter."
"Wolfram & Hart wants your daughter," Angel said.
"Yes," Buffy took a deep breath, "I've been fighting them since before Lexi was born, trying to stay out of their custody long enough to get somewhere safe." She paused, wincing at the memories. "But they always find me."
"Until now," Angel observed.
"Yeah, well," Buffy stroked Lexi's hair.
And then the question she knew was coming. "Why didn't you come to me earlier?"
She thought about what she could tell him. The truth? What even was the truth? She didn't remember any more.
"Angel!" A voice shouted from downstairs.
Angel turned to Buffy. "I'll be right back. Just stay there, you still need your rest." With that he left the room.
Two seconds later Buffy's maternal slayer senses kicked in, just like the night in the hotel when Lexie was born.
She could hear voices from downstairs; Angel, that girl Fred from before, Cordelia, Wesley? . . . and three others she didn't recognize. They all sounded panicked, unsure of what to do.
Bang!
Her attention was drawn to another noise heard downstairs. The sound repeated over and over again. She jumped out of the bed, Lexi close, and followed the noises downstairs. People matching the voices she's heard—including a boy, a man, and a green-looking demon—scattered around the lobby she'd first stepped into when she got there.
She didn't wait for them to say anything. "What the hell is going on?"
"Buffy, what are you doing out of bed?" Cordelia came up to her, checking to see that she was okay. "Do you want me to take Lexi?"
Buffy held Lexi closer, a little freaked out by a very different acting Cordelia Chase than the one she knew. "No, I'm fine. Just tell me what's going on."
"We'd love to," the demon said, "As soon as we know ourselves."
"Birds," Fred said softly, "Birds against the windows." Buffy raised her eyebrows.
The boy Buffy didn't know nodded, "They just came out of nowhere."
Phones started ringing. Buffy jumped. Angel looked around. "Guys?" They all—minus Fred and the boy—nodded, rushing behind the large counter. Buffy started breathing heavily. The slayer in her told her to go on the offensive and find out what was wrong. The mother in her wanted to crawl into a ball with Lexi and become a human shield. The conflict was just too much and her legs turned to jelly. "Whoa . . ." Angel was by her side in a second and guided her to the couch. She sat down.
"Angel Investigations, we help the helpless . . ." Angel's people were talking on the phones.
"Rats?" The man she didn't know was saying into the phone, "Coming out of the sewer pipes?"
"Yes, we've seen the birds," Cordelia nodded as she talked into her phone.
"No, we didn't feel any earthquakes," Wesley shook his head, "Where did you say you were again? West Hollywood?" He wrote something down on a piece of paper.
"Calm down, sugarplum," The demon said into the phone, "We'll do everything we can, okay? Just hold tight."
Another phone rang and Angel went to go answer it. "Angel Inv-You're inside Wolfram & Hart?" Everyone in room focused on him. "Whoa, slow down. Just tell me what's happening. A big rock demon—got it. We're on our way." He put down the phone. "Wes, Gunn, weapons. The Beast is at Wolfram & Hart." Wesley and the man Buffy guessed to be Gunn nodded. They were at a cabinet grabbing large weapons within moments.
"I'm coming too," The boy announced, making his way to the cabinet as well.
"No," Angel immediately shot down. "Too dangerous."
"I can help," The boy said.
"No, Connor. Stay here and help," Moments later Angel, Gunn, and Wesley were out the door. The boy—Connor—watched them leave. Buffy could see pain and anger on his face. She watched him sulk upstairs like a child. She stared back and forth between the stairs and the door.
"Wait a minute . . ." She said aloud. Didn't Angel have a son named Connor? B-But he was only supposed to be like a year old . . .
What the . . .
"So what's the plan?" Gunn whispered as the three followed a sewer tunnel around a corner.
"We fight," Angel spoke. "Maybe make sense out of all of this."
"Whatever we do, let's do it fast," Wesley said.
"Agreed," Angel turned another corner, climbing up a metal ladder.
"You okay Buffy?"
Cordelia's words shocked Buffy out of her trance. She shook her head. Angel and the others had been gone for over an hour and she still hadn't really reacted to everything that was going on. The boy hadn't even come down at all since Angel and the others left and the green demon went upstairs too—claiming he needed some kind of alcoholic drink called a sea breeze. He hadn't been down either. "I'm fine." She told Cordelia even though she wasn't any where near it.
"Okay," Buffy could tell by the tone in Cordelia's voice that the brunnette didn't believe that she was okay. Neither pressed the issue and Buffy was glad for that.
"They've been gone for a really long time," Fred said from the floor where she was playing with Lexi. "I sure hope they're okay."
"I'm sure they're fine," Cordelia said. "Or actually I'm hoping their fine but trying to hide this horrible feeling of dread in my gut."
Buffy knew how Cordelia felt. There really hadn't been a moment since she'd crawled her way out of her own grave that she hadn't had that same feeling; the feeling that everything was about to fall apart and would stay that way forever.
She still had that feeling. The Oracles said that Angel would be the sanctuary she was searching for and it seems they were right. If she were by herself right now things would be seriously worse. Lexi would be in danger—and not just from Lilah and Wolfram & Hart.
"We've got a problem."
The three women turned to the door where Angel, Wesley, and Gunn stumbled in. All three were covered in cuts, bruises, and blood. Gunn had a slight limp and was held up by Angel as they walked in. Wesley too looked worse for the wear and was helping someone in—Lilah Morgan. The evil lawyer held her stomach, blood visibly soaking through her clothes. It had been Angel who spoke.
"Damn right we've got a problem," Cordelia stepped forward in front of Buffy, Fred, and Lexi. "What's that bitch doing here?"
"I'm the only bitch left," Lilah, always with a sarcastic comeback, answered.
"She's right," Wesley helped her sit down on the couch. "Wolfram & Hart is no more."
"The Beast?" Fred stood up. As soon as Lilah had walked in Buffy's instincts took over and she now held Lexi closer to her chest and gradually backed up.
"It took everyone out," Gunn said. "We wouldn't have made it out except for Lilah knowing a secret tunnel."
"You should have left her there," Anger, resentment, and payback dripped from Buffy's words, covering Lexi's head with her hands.
"She has information we need," Angel dropped a stack of files on the counter.
"Otherwise we woulda left her ass there," Gunn said.
"So what exactly happened," Cordelia put her hands on her hips.
"The Beast already started when we got there," Wesley said.
"We believe it was looking for the files," Angel said.
"The rock demon has a brain?" Cordelia scoffed.
"Worse; the Beast has a plan," Angel said.
"Not to mention an an accomplice," Lilah said.
"What!" Cordelia and Buffy shouted at the same time. Lexi started to fuss and Buffy rocked her up and down.
"We heard the Beast communicating telepathically with someone," Wesley told them, "They were talking about a ritual. No specifics. But it did mention something else."
Buffy, Cordelia, and Fred waited for him to finish.
Angel picked it up instead. "Whoever or whatever the Beast was communicating with—it knows us. They said something about 'the answer is among you'."
"What does that mean?" Cordelia said. Fred shrugged. Wesley, Gunn, and Lilah didn't seem to have any idea either.
"Wait a minute," Buffy said.
"What?" They all said.
"When I went to the Oracles after your green demon friend attacked me they told me to come here. They said I would find sanctuary here, and to follow my heart." Buffy told them. She rocked Lexi up and down. "They also said 'beware, the answer is among you.'"
"I don't get it," Cordelia said. "Does that mean what I think it means?"
"It means that one of us knows more than they're letting on," Gunn said.
Everyone looked around at the other, suspicion in their eyes.
"You're back," Lorne came down the stairs, his words slightly slurred from one to many sea breezes. His dialated eyes fixed on Lilah and widened. Not long after Connor slumped down the stairs. He saw Lilah and sneered, immediately going on the defensive.
Everyone else was still reeling from the fact that one of them was a traitor. They too were extremely suspicious of Lilah but glances were exchanged between all of them, the same words going through their minds:
The answer is among you.
To Be Contined . . .
A.N. Hmmm...who's the bad guy? Think you know? Careful, we're not completely following the episodes so don't look there for answers. Still think you know? Well...you'll just have to wait and see.