Ok, guys! Two months later and here I am! I'm getting better! This chapter is frickin' huge so I broke it into two parts for symmetry! This first part is 11A and B is being reviewed and will be published in a few minutes! Forgive any errors, please. And I've made a correction that I did not mean to include in the last chapter. Tara is NOT going to the banquet with them.
I hope you enjoy!
"Did he make it?" Ethan asked hurriedly and quietly into the phone.
"Yes, he was here." Quentin replied slightly reluctantly. The manic sound in his partners voice was increasing with each passing moment.
"And?" Ethan urged on impatiently.
"He bought it. Although, it took some time to convince him. He is still suspicious, but his apparent love for the Awakener is strong enough to overcome that." Quentin checked behind him, careful to not disturb his wife, who was cooking in the kitchen.
"Perfect. If he were to suspect anything, it would make things rather...unpredictable. We must keep him fooled." The other Englishman mused, "What of the Awakener? Is she unharmed?"
"Yes, I suppose she's perfectly fine. I questioned Angelus in our Meeting today. He did not appreciate it. And judging from his mannerisms we must act soon."
Ethan drew an irritated scowl across his face, "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that Angelus has been known to fuck anything with legs. I fear he may even be falling for this one. And as you know, that would ruin all of our plans."
"Yes, I know. She must remain pure for implantation!" Ethan began pacing the floor with the base of his old fashioned phone in his hand.
"If we risk Angelus ruining her, before it's time, it could change the course of the mission. The child would be his." Quentin mused. "We cannot allow him this opportunity!"
Ethan got a dark, dangerous look in his eyes. There would be no way that he would allow the Master, or Giles, or Angelus, or any other creature to steal power from him again. He had learned of the Awakeners ability to have offspring with the previous one. However, his plans had been ruined by the petty jealousies of the Council and they executed the previous Awakener.
"He will not take this from me. He will beg at my feet, once he realizes the power that I have obtained. What I have created!"
Quentin was unimpressed. "Yes, well...you'd better hurry that along, oh powerful one, before Angelus wants to hang onto this girl for his."
Ethan smiled dimly, "I will take her while he watches. She will beg and scream for me to stop and I will spill my seed deep inside of her, creating OUR child."
Quentin stood uncomfortably, listening to him. He heard his wife begin to call his name for dinner and used it to leave the disturbing conversation, "I must go. The wife is calling. You understand."
Ethan snapped out of his reverie, "Yes, rather. You'd best be on your way to figuring this madness out."
Quentin often wondered whether he should have gotten involved with Ethan's mad plan. The allure of power, though, was more than enough to convince him. However, Ethan was beginning to become more and more off balanced than usual. "I suppose I could say the same for you."
"Stay next to me and don't say a word to anyone." Angelus muttered to her as they neared the banquet hall.
They had all been mostly quiet on their way to the banquet. Xander kept his eyes firmly away from Buffy, knowing that Angelus did not make any idle threats. Willow did the same, although it was only because she couldn't keep the amused smile off of her face.
The driver slowly pulled to a stop and parked the limo. He glanced in his mirror, "We're here, Master."
The driver came around and opened the door. First Xander and Willow got out to survey the surroundings. Once the coast was clear, Angelus and Buffy followed after.
The amount of vampires in attendance was startling. Looking at all of the amazing, beautiful gowns on the women there, Buffy was starting to second guess her choice of dress. Regardless, she was sticking to making her own choices. She was done being toyed with and planned for. She raised her head high, ignored all of the curious looks she was already receiving, and followed Angelus toward the entrance.
"Angelus, so nice to see you." A man with a flesh colored pentagram on his forehead stepped up to them. She recognized that as the symbol of the Strega's, the Wiccan Vampire clan. The finely dressed vampire bowed slightly to Angelus and then directed his attention to her, "Such a beautiful creature you are with this evening."
Angelus smiled slightly, mainly out of being polite. "Jack, always a pleasure, my friend. This is Elizabeth. She is my new pet."
Buffy attempted to smile, but it came out more of a grimace. Still, she hid her distaste at being labeled as someone's pet and stayed silent. She curtseyed politely.
"You always have been the master at finding the most beautiful women in the galaxy. I commend you on this one, though. Hopefully she lasts." Jack laughed heartily, not noticing Angelus was not amused by his words.
"She will. I plan on keeping this one around for a very long time." Angelus swooped an arm around her waist, emphasizing his point.
"Ah, yes. You'd better. Else someone might sweep her away. I must bid you adieu, my own pet awaits. I shall see you at our annual meeting tomorrow!" Jack walked away with a knowing nod of his head.
Buffy glanced up at him and gave a phony smile, "Can we go now? Before I start throwing tree bark and leaves?"
Angelus smirked at her reference to what she had done to his guards in the previous week. "I'm sorry, dear girl. I have appearances to make. I don't want to disappoint the ladies."
She glared at him at being reminded of his reputation and his teasing. She gripped his arm tightly, digging her nails into his flesh. At his look of slight shock, she smiled sweetly at him.
A tall, thin brunette sauntered up to the group. She was beautiful. Her makeup was perfectly applied and her dress was seamless. If Buffy wasn't unbelievably irritated at that point, she would have been intimidated. But, the way her eyes connected to Angelus' left her feeling more than a little jealous. And that was something she wasn't used to feeling.
"Angelus," The beautiful woman purred out in a thick British accent, "How lovely to see you again."
"Drusilla… I didn't think that I would see you here." Angelus hid his irritation flawlessly. Drusilla had been one of his lovers previous to Buffy's sudden arrival. He hadn't actually paid her much mind since the striking blonde attacked him.
"Of course you didn't. Frankly, you haven't thought of me in weeks." Drusilla turned her intense brown eyes toward Buffy. "And I think I realize why."
He didn't appreciate how she was looking at his girl. His girl? "This is Elizabeth. She is my pet."
"A pet! You bring a pet to a banquet? Why, she must be something special. Like Miss Edith." Her focus then shifted from Buffy to straight ahead. She whimpered and clutched her torso. "No…"
"What is it, Dru?" Angelus recognized one of her many visions. He also knew to not dismiss them as she had a powerful gift.
"They're here my Angel. They're coming for her. Don't let them take her…" All of a sudden she switched to game face and growled.
That's when Angelus felt the danger in the air. He gripped a confused and still slightly jealous Buffy close to him, "Someone knows you're here. They'll be taken out quickly, but I have to make sure you're safe."
All of a sudden an arrow pierced the flesh of the vampire Jack had moved toward. As the vampire exploded into dust a figure dressed in black appeared on top of a decorative stone, holding a bow and arrow.
"Return our Awakener and no more will die this night."
"Stop!" Angelus bellowed as he saw his people advance toward the assassin. He turned his attention toward him, "You have no place here, Azilot. Your actions are ones of war and peace is only what we want."
"You kidnapped our Awakener and murdered the Royals. Your actions are that beyond war. Give her to us or die!" The Azilot Assassin prepped his bow again.
"We have not kidnapped her! She is not being held prisoner here!" Angelus told a half truth. She was definitely there, but not by force. He relied on the fact that most of the Azilot clan had never seen Buffy face to face. And with her dressed as she was, he highly doubted they would recognize her.
"Lies!" The assassin hissed out before releasing his bow.
Buffy saw the arrow fly toward Angelus and growled. She quickly grabbed the arrow before Angelus could and snapped it in half. With blinding speed she ran to the assassin, pulled him down by his legs, and had him by the throat before anyone realized what happened.
Her eyes glowed threateningly in his face, "Leave from here!"
The black clad figures eyes grew large and he let out a loud growl. Soon after, dozens and dozens of Azilots joined the fight. It was too late for Buffy to notice, before one was behind her striking her in the back.
Angelus was already on his way into the fight when he saw her get hit. He grabbed the offending vampire and quickly twisted his neck. He scooped Buffy up and ran back toward the limo.
"Let me go! We can't allow them to fight alone! I'm fine Angelus, I swear!" She kicked and reached for her attackers.
"No!" He gripped her tighter, "Not in this condition." He quickly got to the limo and put her in the back seat.
Xander quickly piled in after them and immediately got on his phone. Willow stood outside putting up a force field in front of the car, preventing anyone from approaching it.
Barely before the door had closed the driver sped off, burning rubber down the street.
"Why didn't we fight? We can't just leave them to fight our battles!" Buffy demanded angrily, looking out the back window toward the scene they left behind.
"This isn't your fight yet! This is an ancient war without cause and I will not have you fighting your own people, no matter how justified it seems." Angelus sternly said to her.
They caught eyes and B was suddenly filled with a realization, "You… you really aren't who I thought you were."
Angelus said nothing, but kept her gaze for a moment before turning and looking out the window.
Xander ended his conversation and hung up the phone, "I just got off the phone with The Guard. They will call once everything calms down. I told them to not take any causalities if not necessary."
"Good… I should have known it wouldn't have been this easy." The ancient vampire turned his gaze to Willow who was still buzzing with magic. "Willow, are you ok?"
"I am not, Angelus." Her white eyes turned to him, "This proves that we have a traitor in our camp. Someone knows that she is with us and that she was attending the banquet tonight. We're being tricked right in our own faces."
His gaze drew dark as he realized she was right. Someone close to him was betraying him right in his face.
And now, he knew exactly who it was.
"Call Spike. Tell him to meet me in my office. Xander, you take care of The Guard. I want to know how many attacked us, how many causalities, and if we've captured any alive. Willow, I need you to place another confusion spell over our compound. After both of you are done with that I would like for you to meet with Spike and I."
"What should I do?"
Buffy's eager question caught him off guard and he glanced toward her. "Buffy…"
"Oh, no. You are not going to tell me that I am not a part of this. These are my people. We should just tell them that I am here voluntarily. You haven't kidnapped me and you are pushing for peace!" She said naively, yet honestly.
"This feud is much too old for us to just casually bring that up, Buffy. I've already told you. I will not risk any harm coming to you." Angelus knew that she had been kept from the true nature of her clan.
"I'm their Awakener, Angelus. They'll listen to me." B said almost pleadingly. She did want to stay and fight, as she was taught to do, but she definitely didn't want anyone killed on either side.
"Buffy, don't you know what they do to rebellious Awakeners?" Xander asked incredulously.
"Xander! Enough." He turned to face Buffy again. He lifted a hand to her cheek to caress her gently, "We will figure this out. Until, I am making sure that no harm comes to you. I will not lose you, Buffy."
She knew he was telling the truth. She would figure out what exactly Xander was talking about later. Now, all she wanted was to be in his arms. She collapsed into him and closed her eyes. Maybe she could pretend that everything was ok, even just for a moment.
Ok, that was the end of part 1. Part 2 is up next and muuuuch longer! Also, there is a very dark scene in the next one. PLEASE if you are not comfortable with the mention of or a scene of rape, do not read. Hope you like it so far!
Chyna
Keep B/A(us) alive, write more fiction!