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Chapter 9- Spike's decision
Spike could feel the warmth of the rising sun on his flesh, as though his skin had suddenly begun to tighten. The dawn's light would hurt him, he would begin to smolder, but he knew from experience that he would not begin to truly burn until he was out in direct sunlight, unprotected.
The sun was only a sliver on the horizon, above the Los Angeles skyline off to the east. If he was really going to do this, he had seconds to make an attempt at it or it would be too late and they would both burn.
The vampire narrowed his gaze and glanced around at these people, his companions, perhaps even his comrades, though they all hated him. Well, possibly not all, he thought. Gunn, Wesley, Sam, Dean and Bobby for sure.
The demon lounge singer he didn't know.
The sisters hadn't really said anything wrong to him, but he couldn't tell.
Willow and Tara were always infuriatingly polite, and, they didn't actually seem to judge him. Especially after he'd helped care for Dawn, they seemed to appreciate him more than most.
Buffy, though? The Slayer did not hate him. Spike was almost sure of that. He had seen something in her eyes when she looked at him, a kind of understanding; there was a connection between them that he was certain she felt as well. Especially after he'd not given up Dawn to Glory.
Truth was ... no. He did not want to think about that. Not right now. What he wanted wasn't going to happen in Los Angeles, not with Angel around. He knew the two had a last talk, and were trying to move on, but there was a small fear inside him.
But if Angel were not around, things might be different. How could anyone blame Spike, after all, for not risking his skin for the big, broody ponce? Once upon a time Angelus had shown him what it was to be a vampire, yet there had always been a bitter shadow over Spike's heart.
He had always known that Drusilla fancied Angelus, that he himself was a substitute. Then after Angel went soft, got his soul back and all, Drusilla had come round at last. What she had felt for Spike was as true as she knew how to be, he was convinced of that. But then the bastard had to come between them, had to muck it all up, drive a wedge between Spike and Dru that was never going to be fixed.
Spike was over it. Mostly. His passionate interest was being spent elsewhere these days.
But his hatred for Angel was profound. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was save his life. His face felt scalded by the brightening sky. He blinked away the morning light and found himself looking at Buffy again.
None of them had said anything to him, despite the urgency of the moment. They stared at him, holding their breath, and he liked that. There was power in it. It was up to him whether Angel lived or died. Spike was thinking died.
But then he saw the look in Buffy's eyes, a silent plea and a flash of bitter spite. His heart ached to see that expression on her face.
"Bloody hell," he muttered, dropping his cigarette and raising his long coat up over the top of his head.
He shot the demon, Lorne, a hard look. "I get trapped in there, I'll haunt you the rest of your days."
"What?" Lorne replied, cocking an eyebrow. "From an ashtray?"
Spike scowled, glanced at the sun again, but then looked away, his eyes seared by the brightness. He could not afford another moment's hesitation. With the coat pulled over his head he ran across the roof, the image of Buffy's pleading eyes stuck in his head.
The circle of scrawled symbols had created an invisible barrier, but when he reached those runes that had been painted on the roof, he tensed. He struck the barrier and for a moment he was caught there like an insect in a spider's web, suspended in that magickal field as pain raced through his bones. Then he was through.
"Oh, now that hurt!" he shouted. His face was momentarily exposed. The sunlight scorched his flesh. He heard it crackle like oil in a frying pain and he covered up again. His hands were smoldering, smoke beginning to rise from them.
When he had glanced at it, the sun had risen slightly farther and the city was quickly shedding the lingering night, dawn's rays reaching toward the building upon which they stood. This was a bad idea, he thought.
But it was too late to turn back, and he could feel the weight of Buffy's expectant gaze on him, her fear for Angel. Spike tried to tell himself that in the midst of her overwhelming concern for her ex, the Slayer might spare just a fraction of that worry for him. But he did not let the hope linger.
Angel was still unconscious. Not even the searing heat of the morning light had woken him, though his skin had begun to char and to smolder. On Angel's left cheek, which faced the east, a patch of flesh the size of a quarter had begun to glow red like the embers of a fire. He was not going to be any help at all.
Covering himself as best he could with the jacket—which slid and slipped so that he had to grasp it and let it hang over him—he knelt and crouched over Angel's supine form. He could smell the other vampire's blood, but that scent was overridden completely by another—the aroma of his own flesh beginning to burn.
Spike swore under his breath, snarling as he reached out and tore out the heavy nails that pinned Angel's legs to the roof. The flesh had begun to heal around the nails, and when Spike ripped them free it tore open the wounds again. Angel's eyes snapped open, and he roared in pain, his face changing, becoming the feral countenance of the vampire.
There was recognition in his eyes when he glanced at Spike, but it was blurred instantly by pain. Angel's eyes began to smoke. He cried out again and closed them, tried to turn his head away from the lightening sky as best he could. Spike saw that his eyelids had started to burn. Angel's face was charring badly.
Tempted as he was, Spike dared not turn to check the sun's progress on the horizon. Seconds. No more than ten. Then they were both done. Spike let the coat fall away from his face. Keeping it in place—protecting himself—was too awkward for him to be able to hurry. He felt the flesh of his face begin to bubble and blister, the back of his neck to burn.
His right arm caught on fire as he reached down to tear out the nails that held Angel's hands in place. He had to dig his fingers into the wounds at Angel's palms, and this time the other vampire did not even open his eyes. Without warning the dawn broke full upon them, there on the roof.
The wave of sunlight that had marched across the cityscape had finally reached them. Morning was here. The sun set upon them like napalm, and Spike felt his hair begin to burn, his body catching on fire, burning his clothes from the inside out. Panic surged through him.
Burning. I'm burning! His every instinct was to run, but he would not. Now that he'd started this, there was no way he was going to run away.
"Let's go, then, you big git," Spike snarled. With supernatural strength he hauled Angel up off the ground and threw him over his shoulder.
Spike could hear Buffy shouting at him, could hear Willow and Paige yelling that Angel was on fire. Did they think he was an idiot? That he couldn't see it? Couldn't smell it? Couldn't feel it? They were both burning. His mind shut down.
He did not even notice the circle of magickal runes as he lunged across the roof, barely registering the pain as he passed through the sorcerous barrier again.
Spike heard a voice screaming in agony, and it took him a moment to realize that the voice was his own. Then the others were grabbing at him, covering Spike and Angel up with their jackets, hustling them through the door that led down into the blessed, cool shadows of the abandoned building, beating at the flames that had erupted from the flesh of the two vampires.
Spike looked up and saw Buffy staring at him, eyes moist with relief and gratitude, and he drifted into unconsciousness in a haze of pain and satisfaction.
As the others crowded over the Vampires, Paige knelt near them, her hands glowing as she tried to heal Angel and Spike.
To her shock, nothing happened. "What the…..?"
"Why can't you heal them?" Buffy asked desperately. "You're supposed to do that, aren't you?"
"I know, but its not working!" Paige snapped, trying again and failing.
"Any idea why?" Tara inquired.
"No!"
"The Elders", Piper suddenly said with a scoff. "They too stopped Leo from doing the right thing at times, supposedly for the greater good."
"How is not letting these guys be healed helping the greater good?" Dean asked in a growl.
"They are idiots who lack self-awareness", Piper said with a roll of the eyes.
"So, idjits", Bobby snarled. "Well, if they can't be healed like this, its gonna take a while."
"Yeah", Willow sighed. "And the old-fashioned magic way."
Later, Hyperion Hotel
Buffy stood in the open doorway of a large suite on the second floor of Angel's building, watching as Willow and Tara prepared herbal poultices to apply to the worst of the burns Angel and Spike had sustained. Meanwhile, Piper, Paige and Phoebe were preparing potions that they'd have to force down the throats of the two Vampires, as they didn't taste very good, and the two weren't even in the condition to drink them properly.
They were terrible to look at, their flesh blackened and scorched, areas of skin burned away with only crisp edges remaining. The hair of both vampires had been on fire and partially destroyed by the flames. It would grow back, Buffy knew. That was the simplest thing, the least painful, she knew. But somehow it unnerved her deeply.
They did not even look human, these two old friends, these two old enemies. More like mummies rescued from a museum fire. In places their clothes had been burned into their flesh, so that it was hard to tell where leather and denim ended and where skin began.
"They'll be all right," a soft voice said behind her. Buffy turned to find Fred in the hallway carrying a tray laden with more herbs and bandages, as well as several sharp knives.
The slim, mousy brunette had been quietly aiding Willow, Tara, Piper, Paige and Phoebe, finding all the ingredients they needed for their poultices and potions, and generally worrying over Angel as much or more than any of the others.
Buffy wondered if Fred was in love with Angel, or if— given what she had been told about his rescue of her from slavery in a terrible alternate dimension—she was simply devoted.
"Excuse me," Fred said timidly, eyes downcast. The Slayer did not move from the doorway. She stared at the knives.
"What are those for?"
A flash of surprising impatience crossed Fred's features as she glanced up. "I have to cut their clothes away or they'll never heal right."
A shudder went through Buffy. It was an unpleasant job. "Are you sure you don't want someone else to do that? I could—"
"I'll do it," Fred said, eyes downcast once more. "I took care of Angel before when he was really hurt. I can do it again."
Buffy hesitated, but only for a moment. When she stepped aside to let Fred enter the room, the other girl gave her a grateful glance and went in. For several moments longer Buffy watched Fred and the witches at work, then, finally able to admit to herself that there was nothing more she could do for Angel or for Spike... at the moment, she turned and traced her steps back through the second floor of the hotel.
Buffy admired the place, the huge sprawl of rooms, and wondered what Angel would ever do with all that space. Downstairs in the lobby she found that everyone was still awake. They had all been up the entire night and the morning hours were passing quickly, but nobody seemed in a great rush to go to sleep except for the kid, Calvin, who had crashed on a sofa in the lobby.
Xander and Gunn were sitting on the steps that led up to the front doors. Lorne sat on an antique chair, legs crossed, reading a magazine nearly as old as the chair, Bobby sitting next to him. He reached up and scratched behind one of his horns, apparently not even noticing Buffy's descent of the stairs. Behind the reception desk, Cordelia, Wesley and Leo pored over stacks of dusty old books that made Buffy wonder if Giles wasn't merely bragging when he claimed some of his own volumes were one of a kind. While Dean and Sam were pacing around impatiently.
Cordelia looked up, worry on her face. While Buffy had been watching the two, Cordy had seemed very frantic on looking at Angel's condition, and even covered her mouth in horror.
"How is he?" She asked, Buffy noting a hint of fear in Cordelia's voice.
"Still unconscious, and gonna be in a lot of pain when they wake up", Buffy replied. "But Willow and Paige say they're out of danger now. They will recover, in spite of these Elders being jerks, but we don't know how long it will take."
"Burns like that?" Lorne piped up. "Humans would be dead. Vampires as old as those? Give 'em a day, or a day and a half. Should be right as rain."
"At least Angel should be", Bobby muttered. "Spike's a twisted fellow. No fixing that."
"He still did help though, in spite of everything else", Sam pointed out to Bobby. "Not saying we should cuddle him or anything, but he's not the worst out there."
"Well then", Xander clapped his hands. "What's our next move?"
"I'd say sleep", Buffy said, looking at everyone. "We all need a few hours. Then, Angel and Spike heal, we research and try to find out about General Axtius, Satanel, Addwaitya and Hex. Then, we hit the streets, and try to find the people who did this to Angel. We will tear them all down."
She looked around again. "So, what do we know?"
Gunn frowned, holding up a hand. "Hold up, who made you boss here? This is our city, and if we're supposed to take orders from you, I didn't get the memo."
"Whoa wait!" Xander now stepped in, looking at Gunn. "Your boss is upstairs playing dead for a while, and Buffy is the Slayer. Its her mission. Maybe you did miss the memo."
Buffy could not believe this. She started. "Now listen-"
"Actually Buffy, I agree with Gunn", Cordelia folded her arms and defiantly thrust out one hip. "In spite of what your ghost-busting ego thinks, this isn't your show. This is our territory, and contrary to what Xander thinks, Angel is not our boss, Wesley is in-charge of Angel Investigations. He was a Watcher too, your Watcher I might add, and he knows LA. You don't."
Buffy was taken aback. She wished Giles had come along now, as he was the one she preferred to listen to.
"Ya know what?" Bobby now stood up, looking between Buffy, and then Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn. "I think I'm gonna agree with them. It is their turf, and I saw the Watcher be a good leader a while ago. I say we all follow him."
"Plus, really, does being the Slayer really mean you get to lead us?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Excuse me?" Buffy asked in a slight growl.
"Being the Slayer only means you can punch and kick the Demons much better than the rest of us", Dean pointed out. "Don't think a leadership ability comes with the package."
Buffy started. "Now look, I have faced a Hell Goddess last year who would have destroyed the world just to get back to her home dimension!"
"And we faced Lucifer himself, and an Apocalypse he was going to cause to end Creation", Dean replied, the jaws of Buffy and everyone else dropping, as they realized the Winchesters had everyone trumped on the scale of what they'd all faced. "Doesn't mean we think we can be leaders. I'd personally support Bobby but-"
"Like he said, this is the turf of Angel Investigations, and Wesley is the leader, plus we saw him lead well a while ago", Sam added. "So it'd be best if he is leader and we work as a unit under him."
"Don't want to get into the argument", Leo spoke up. "But personally, yeah, I'd be more comfortable following the person who knows this place well."
Buffy looked around, wanting some support, but except Xander, it seemed no one was really on her side. And since Xander was one of her best friends, his perspective would be seen as clouded pretty much.
She realized if this was Sunnydale, she could have been leader, but here, there was no chance.
So, finally, she gave in.
"Fine."
Wesley had been silent so far, and then replied. "Now, I appreciate everyone's confidence in me, and I will do my best to make sure it is not misplaced. However, a leader does need his seconds." He looked at Bobby. "Bobby, you will be one."
"No issues there", Bobby did not mind.
Wesley turned to Buffy. "Buffy, you are the leader of your team, so you shall be another second."
Buffy still did not like the idea of not being leader, but there was no way she could be made leader here, and just nodded.
Wesley turned to Leo. "Piper is the eldest of the sisters and the most powerful Witch, so she shall be a second of mine too, alongside Angel when he wakes up."
And with that, this decision was final.
"Well then, that's settled", Xander said awkwardly. "Shall we sleep?"
Lorne put the magazine down, yawning. "Now that we're all a proper dysfunctional family, think the kid has the right idea. I'll be leaving."
"You know, I don't think that's such a good idea", Sam shook his head. "Even if you're pure-blood, you helped Angel, don't think Axtius and the others would like that."
"On no, my temporary Caritas has all the mojo to prevent violence inside", Lorne assured him.
"I believe he is more worried about what could happen between Hyperion and Caritas", Wesley pointed out to the Host. "Take a room upstairs, Lorne."
"Yeah, and I'll help you find some sheets", Cordelia added helpfully.
"Thanks doll", Lorne glanced nervously at the front doors. "I'll take you up on that."
That was when Willow, Tara, Piper, Paige and Phoebe walked down, Cordelia looking up at them worriedly. "What's the verdict? Angel, he's good? And Spike-"
People were shocked she'd shown any concern for Spike, including Cordelia herself, but it was quickly ignored.
"We did all we could", Willow said with a weak smile.
"They have to rest and heal now", Tara added. "Angel regained consciousness for a minute but is out again."
"He said anything important?" Leo asked.
"Well, there was lots of mumbling", Piper commented. "Most of it was rubbish, but better than nothing."
Cordelia asked the big question. "What did Angel say exactly?"
"Right", Paige remembered. "Something about someone killing Harry. Think this Harry is in trouble, we should warn him."
"Actually, it's a her", Cordelia revealed. "And she was in trouble, but she's in the hospital now. Axtius sent some goons to kill her as she used to be married to Doyle."
"Doyle", Gunn noted, looking at Cordelia. "The guy who you used to help you and Angel before I and Wes came along, right?"
Buffy and the rest saw a shadow of pain cross Cordelia's features, some strong emotions she didn't want to share.
"That's him", Cordelia finally said.
"Yes, I think he was mentioned too", Phoebe told the rest. "So its Harry, Axtius, Doyle."
"And Axtius blaming him. For Doyle dying I guess", Willow sighed. "But couldn't make much sense of it except-"
"What would Axtius want with the ex-wife of Angel's dead comrade?" Lorne inquired.
Xander looked to Cordelia. "Tell 'em." He looked to the rest. "They're gonna love this one."
Cordelia shot him a dark look that passed. "Axtius is Doyle's father."
And then she explained about the phone call that had been received from Harry, Axtius having tried to kill her as he believed she'd further tainted his son. He hadn't known Doyle was dead then, but Angel's ramblings and the vengeance attempt made it clear he did now.
"A bit fuzzy on the logic, pardon the interruption", Lorne spoke up. "Wasn't Doyle a half-Demon?"
"Yes, half-human and half-Brachen Demon", Cordelia nodded.
"Why would he care if his disappointment of a spawn is dead then, considering he joined Demon Gestapo?" Lorne asked.
Willow frowned. "Maybe he thought he could 'fix' Doyle, and make him 'normal' by Demon standards."
"That possible?" Xander asked no one in particular, looking at Lorne.
"Don't look at me sugar, I'm a 100% me, never wanted to be anything else, found my corner of the sky."
"Twisted stuff here", Gunn sat down next to the sleeping Calvin. "This kid's pops was a sleaze even before becoming a Vamp. Would have been better if he never found out. Now, he's gonna wonder if he has bad in his genes too."
Xander laughed humorlessly, Buffy and Willow knowing he was actually bitter.
"If I thought I'd end up like my father, I'd just let myself be Vamp food", Xander told the rest. "Bad enough living with that. No way I'll become it."
Lorne yawned. "Trust me, amigo. No controlling this. My home life was nothing to write home about, an Auntie Em couldn't give a damn if I didn't return from over the rainbow. Still, how I grew up has a lot to do with who I am now."
"Thanks", Xander said, somehow getting along with Lorne even though he was a Demon, before sarcasm oozed in his voice. "I feel so much better now."
"Hey", Tara butted in. "My father was an abusive hick who made me and mom believe we were secretly Demons for years to control us."
Buffy listened with a heavy heart, then spoke herself. "We don't get to choose who our parents are. My father, he doesn't even seem to remember he has any kids."
"Talk about messed-up fathers", Cordelia said with a scoff, and it sounded personal.
Buffy looked at her, curious.
Cordelia noticed and rolled her eyes. "Not a big deal or anything, not high on the trauma scale either, still, when one requires support, the emotional kind, you get money thrown at you instead."
Wesley spoke next. "There are worst options." His voice was grave, and his eyes haunted.
"Our dad, well, he changed after mom…." Dean trailed off, though the implications were clear, Sam looking especially pained.
"We're sorry", Tara said in sympathy.
"That's what made him start hunting. He was away a lot. Then eventually, we ended up joining up", Sam sighed. "Me and him had a huge argument, and I left." Sam rubbed his head. "And then, he died to save my brother." He wiped a tear, Dean putting a hand on his brother's shoulder, his face an emotionless mask, though it was clear how he was truly feeling.
"Mom was good, but we lost her to a Demon too", Piper said, a haunted look in her eyes. "Prue took it worst. And dad, well, he couldn't take it, he left."
"Took years for us to reconnect with him", Phoebe had to say.
"I'd some experiences there too", Paige said, thinking of both, her foster parents for whose deaths she'd blamed herself for a long time, and then Sam.
"Not as bad as all of you, but me not existing would be the same as me existing to my parents", Willow said sadly.
"Well", Buffy looked around. "Guess we're all messed up in the parent regards, in the 'parents are not so good' or 'tragedy struck' kind of way."
"Actually", Cordelia spoke again. "Fred's parents are really sweet."
"Somehow, I could have guessed that", Buffy observed.
"Well, the rest of us probably won't be able to escape shadows of the past then", Xander said with cynicism.
No one spoke for a while.
Then Tara bought their attention to something important. "Angel also mentioned some island, and that Axtius was going to destroy it."
Wesley glanced at Cordelia. "Could he be talking about-"
"Monster Island", she interrupted.
"Wait, now what's that?" Bobby asked.
"For some reason, I think it is what the title says", Piper quipped.
"That's what I call it", Cordelia began to explain. "An island magickally hidden from the human eyes, off the coast. It's a sanctuary for Demons who want to escape the human world's persecution. We were helping a clan of Demons get to the island. They were trying to get to this other….never mind, but that's when Doyle was killed. He died saving them."
"The good fight, right?"
"Too bad we'll never know, if this is a face you could learn to love."
She wiped a tear, remembering that moment.
Phoebe's eyes widened. "I'd a vision of a great battle somewhere." She turned to Cordy. "And I think-"
"That's where it was taking place", Cordelia finished. "That's Axtius' and his buddies' target."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the front door, and a Demon with thick red hair and beard slightly darker staggered in, yellow eyes peering out, fear on his face.
"Help me", he rasped shrilly, sounding pitiful. "Hide me. They're going to…..kill me."
With a wail, he sank to his knees, with Cordelia, Tara and Paige running to comfort the thing and find out more about its plight.
"More refugees", Buffy noted, turning to Wesley. "This is getting worse, fast."
"And they won't be safe here", Wesley replied.
"Oh no way! And when Axtius finds out Angel's alive, this will be his first stop", Gunn pointed out.
"If he finds out", Xander added. "I don't like Angel, but I'm not gonna tell Axtius he is alive. Is anyone else?"
"They need to be kept somewhere protected", Willow noted.
All eyes fell on Lorne.
"Hold on, gang. This Caritas is temporary, and the protective capacity isn't limitless. And even if it were, the space isn't."
"We have one half-Demon still back at our manor", Piper raised a hand. "We could hide them all there."
"We appreciate the offer", Wesley said. "But I'd prefer if the hiding place is still in this city, would be easier to coordinate, and we'd all be here to protect them too, as they'd be closer to us."
"Right", Piper nodded. "Makes sense."
Cordelia strode back to them, leaving the weeping Demon behind with Tara and Paige to comfort him. "I have a thought. How about Elijah Carnegie?"
"Like the old magician?" Willow asked brightly, Buffy glancing at her. "Its all the old stage magic acts. Elijah came after the classic ones, but was just as talented."
"Not 'like the old magician'", Wesley revealed. "This is the same old magician. He's an old friend of Angel, long since retired. He owns a bookstore in town. Angel got a lot of the books in our collection from him."
Willow's eyes widened. "So cool."
"Elijah had a nasty visit the past Christmas", Cordelia added. "So he put a spell on the shop to hide it and anything else from supernatural detection."
"Well, we have a start here", Buffy said, looking down.
That was when Fred walked down. "I've done my work, now-"
Dean and Sam looked at her with wide eyes. "Andrea?"
Fred's face scrunched up in confusion. "Who's Andrea? I'm Fred."
"Another doppelganger?" Willow turned to the brothers, remembering their mention of Lenore, her Tara's good Vampire doppelganger.
Dean now asked. "What is with all the doppelgangers?"
"Feels like God is playing a joke on us", Sam said.
"I ain't laughing", Dean shook his head.
"So I've a doppelganger", Fred had a funny look. "Weird."
"Anyways, Elijah's place can be used to hide the refugees for now", Wesley noted.
"We shall bring Barney here too", Phoebe added, Piper nodding in approval.
"Still, think this island is the sanctuary we should be looking for", Bobby told Wesley and the rest.
"And Axtius and his pals are looking for it too. Think we're the ones who'll have to keep him from destroying it", Buffy commented.
"Especially if my vision is anything to go by", Phoebe said.
Cordelia yawned. "Wonderful. How come all of my island adventures involve some demon's idea of paradise and not Barbados or the Virgin Islands?" As if having second thoughts about that last bit, she shot a dark look at Xander. "Not a word from you. It was a rhetorical question."
"One last thing of interest", Wesley said again. "Zeke, whom we were searching for earlier, is the only part-time resident of that island I know of. We want to know more about it and warn the Demons there, we'll have to find him."
He looked at all of them. "But right now, it is best to go to sleep. It will be a busy day tomorrow."
A short time later, after all of them had retired to the rooms they had taken in the hotel—not one of them sleeping soundly save Calvin, who had not moved from his snoring sprawl in the lobby—a grunt of pain came from the room where Spike and Angel had been left to heal.
Inside that room, Angel's eyes flickered open. He gritted his teeth against the pain in his charred flesh and his now-knitting broken bones. And across from him, he saw a blackened corpse.
The sight startled him at first, but then he recognized the familiar facial structure despite the burned skin, saw the tufts of white-blond hair growing anew on the seared scalp.
Spike, Angel thought. His nostrils flared and he let his eyes close again, jaw set angrily.
Son of a—
And that's one more done.
Spike saving Angel was my favorite part of the entire book, and so I kept it mostly similar here.
Frankly, I've never found Buffy a good leader. She is decent with short-term strategies she can come up with on the field, but long-term strategy and thinking is not her thing.
Angel and Wesley are not perfect, but their leadership has impressed me far more. And since Angel is working under Wesley right now, and its Angel Investigations' turf, Wesley is the best choice to be leader.
Buffy is only followed by the Scoobies because they're her friends and she is the Slayer. Take those away and they won't follow her. I do think she has potential to be a better leader once she grows up a bit and learns some more stuff, but as of right now, she is not a good leader.
So its Wesley as leader with Angel, Buffy, Bobby and Piper as his seconds.
Elijah Carnegie is a character I've seen only in the 'Monster Island' novel, and he is in some other non-canonical material, he wasn't in the show, but I liked him in the book so he's gonna be in the story too.
As everyone who is familiar with me and my Buffyverse works knows, I'm a huge Cangel shipper, hence Cordelia also worrying about Spike as he saved Angel.
The plotline with Giles dusting the Vamps in Sunnydale with Dawn and Anya backing him up had its sweet moments but is not important in the long run so its gonna happen off-screen here.
And, as you can see, all had messed up lives with their parents (in the 'parents are scum' or 'tragedy struck us all' types of ways) except Fred!
Hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter.