Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel belong to their copyright holders, I own nothing.

Chapter 17: Truth and Harmony

The spell was long but, as Giles had reassured her, not very dangerous. Even if it did take a long time to complete, there weren't any immediate signs pointing to dark magic. Kennedy wouldn't call it safe, good magic, but maybe "dark magic" was too harsh a term for what they were doing.

But anyway. They had finished before Faith and Wesley got back from patrolling for Buffy. There was a lot of chanting on Giles's part while Kenney seemed to just be surrounded by a kind of mystical energy. Then came the little sting. It wasn't too painful, not dangerous. But the sting was surely enough for her to notice. It was just in her head, and Giles told her not to panic, it was just the magic making its way inside her brain. Kennedy could tell that was true. After a few minutes she could feel the power radiating inside of her, all of the knowledge of the magic. The feeling was…amazing.

When they finished, Kennedy could certainly say she felt different. Not odd or overly weird or powerful, just different.

Giles suggested that she look for a spell. The spell was ancient, almost unheard of, as far as Kennedy was concerned. She racked her brain, though, and in less than a few seconds, she found it and she knew it. Her brain was now like a bookshelf full of hundreds and hundreds of spell books that she could find in an instant.

Of course, also just as Giles had reassured her, she couldn't perform the spell. She just wasn't powerful enough yet. Right now, all she had was the knowledge of the spell, and maybe that was enough.

Faith and Wesley came back, eventually. Kennedy told them what she and Giles had done.

Wesley wasn't sure how to react. From what Kennedy said, it was entirely her choice. Still, Wesley hadn't heard of any spell like that before, and he couldn't wonder if maybe there would later be some kind of repercussions.

In retrospect, Wes was realizing he didn't necessarily agree with anything they were doing here. This whole hunting Buffy, using questionable magic, and more act was too much for even him. And he felt guilty thinking that if he could, he would leave. But he couldn't go back home, not yet, and where else was there to go? Even if he didn't agree with Giles on some stuff that didn't mean he had to just get up and leave. Besides, maybe Kennedy could still use his help in some way.

Harmony's throat felt like it was on fire. It burned and hurt and Harmony wanted to complain that it hurt but no words would come up because of the terrible pain. She was crying now because of the pain, almost wishing that Buffy had actually just killed her rather than pour holy water down her throat. Buffy knew what she was doing, though, and she didn't use enough holy water to kill Harmony.

Harmony's wrists were tied together, and her ankles too. She was being carried somewhere, and she didn't really care to see where. Honestly, all she wanted to do was get away from Buffy, this monster.

What was wrong with Buffy? Why was she acting like this? And why was her hair like that?

Being preoccupied with other thoughts of worry, Harmony never took the second to hear that Buffy was missing a heartbeat. Harmony didn't know Buffy was a vampire. Still, Harmony didn't really think that Buffy the Slayer would ever do something like this, because what she'd done to Harmony earlier was like pure torture. So what did Buffy want? There had to be something seriously wrong for her to be acting like this.

Buffy was stronger and faster than most vampires, so it didn't take her too long to carry/drag Harmony all the way to the mansion. Once they arrived, she threw Harmony to the ground.

"Wha…? Wha…?" Harmony tried to speak, but was failing.

Buffy didn't bother trying to decode what Harmony wanted to say.

She ordered two of her minions to pick Harmony up and drag her to where Angel was being kept. Buffy, of course, followed right behind.

Angel had no idea how long he'd been chained in this room. It could've been hours, it could've been days, and he wouldn't have been surprised either way. The only reason he couldn't keep track was because of all the guilt and stress he was feeling. This whole thing with Buffy… And now he was her prisoner. This was all his fault.

Well, his and Spike's. They'd both been lied to and accepted the lie so easily. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Angel swore that if he ever got out of here, he'd have to take care of Giles. He couldn't kill Giles, obviously, but Angel would make sure they set things straight. Angel wasn't evil, and he needed Giles to see that. Spike wasn't evil either, Angel had to admit. Spike was annoying, but not evil. It was incredibly stupid for Giles to think he needed to protect Buffy, who could've protected herself.

The only thing worse than this confinement was when he was locked in a box at the bottom of the ocean at the hands of his own son. Then, he was trapped for months and could do nothing put think about Connor and what this meant and how everyone was doing without him and were they even looking for him?

This time, all he could think about was Buffy and his mistakes and ways to save her.

She had a soul. At least, that was what she told him and Spike, but who knew if she was really telling the truth? Angel supposed it was possible, but he didn't want to admit that this vampire Buffy had a soul. He needed to believe that there was some way to save her.

The door to the room opened, surprising him. A few lights flickered on, enveloping the room in a dim light.

Two male vampires walked in, each holding the arm of someone else, dragging her between them. Angel immediately recognized the person they were holding as his assistant.

"Harmony," he whispered, shaking his head. No, no, no, Buffy can't do this! I mean, it's just Harmony, but still, she's been good, one of the best acting vampires without a soul I've ever seen, and despite everything, she doesn't deserve to be hurt. Please, Buffy, no, no, no.

Buffy stepped in front of the two men and Harmony. She kept her eyes on Angel, though.

"Hey, Angel. How you holdin' up?"

"Buffy, please, don't do this," Angel started pleading. He knew it was a mistake. Buffy's malicious grin told him that him begging was exactly what she wanted.

"Do what, Angel? What do you not want me to do, exactly?"

"Harmony hasn't don't anything wrong. She doesn't deserve whatever you're planning."

"She does, though, Angel. I mean, she was such a bitch as a human, and she's been even worse as a vampire. When I was a human, she kidnapped Dawn and tried to kill me multiple times. She deserves some pain, I think, for her entire life being pretty much a waste."

"No," Harmony managed to mutter.

"Plus," Buffy stepped forward, reached out her hand, grabbed Harmony's hair, and yanked her head back, "she is my competition, after all. For some unfathomable reason, Spike just loves to keep coming back for her."

Angel wanted to throw up in disgust. Buffy couldn't do this. He had to keep her talking, had to buy some time or something, because he didn't know what else to do.

"If you dislike her because of Spike, why are you showing me? Why not go show her to him?"

"Well, Spike doesn't really love her. Her pain has a bigger affect on you. Besides," she grinned, "I have a totally different gift for Spike later on."

"Buffy, just let her go."

She wouldn't listen. She let go of Harmony's head and pulled a stake out of her pocket. Like she was playing some sort of sick game, Buffy swung the stake around like it was a wand, picking a place on Harmony's body where she should stab. Angel wasn't sure if he wished she would attack Harmony's heart right away so she didn't have to go through much pain or if he wished Buffy wouldn't kill Harmony at all.

Suddenly, Buffy stabbed the stake into Harmony's chest and she let out a silent scream. Angel managed to keep his mouth shut, to pretend he was remaining calm when deep inside he was burning up.

The stake wasn't to Harmony's heart, but it was close enough to be painful. Buffy pulled the stake out, and Harmony nearly collapsed.

"Stand up straight," Buffy ordered. "Don't make me get the holy water again."

For the first time, Harmony noticed the missing heartbeat. "You're…vampire."

"Good job, Harmony!" Buffy squealed sarcastically. "Now, why did everyone think you were so stupid?"

"If you're gonna kill her just do it," Angel said. "What's the point of this?"

"Oh, I'm not going to kill her, Angel. No, I want her alive. She won't be very useful, but every minion counts. I want her to be mine. It'll take some training, but oh well. This way, Angel, you'll know that because of me a perfectly good vampire was turned evil. Take her away." At her last words, the two guys dragged Harmony out of the room. Buffy turned back towards Angel.

Angel was angry. Obviously, this wasn't what he wanted from Harmony. She didn't deserve to be a slave to Buffy. But what could Angel do? He was chained up.

"Don't try to pretend you don't want to save Harmony right now. Just know that you can't."

"Buffy, go away. I like being in here alone better than conversing with you."

"Fine, fine," Buffy smiled. "Just know I'll be back Angel. For you, I always will be." She turned and left the room.

Dawn knew.

Okay, so she didn't know for sure, but she had her suspicions. She, Willow, Xander, and Oz had obviously heard about both the disappearances of Rona and Vi that everyone else knew of. And now, the other Slayers were catching on to the fact that Buffy was missing as well. If the Slayers hadn't started connecting the dots already, they would soon.

Dawn admitted that she was tired of this. They needed to save Buffy. Yet, so far, they hadn't taken any steps to get further to their goal. Instead, they'd been ignoring phone calls from the other Slayers and wondering what they could do about this whole situation. This was pissing Dawn off.

If the Slayers knew about Buffy, they'd want to kill her, no doubt. But Dawn knew that the Slayers would be no match for Buffy. And once the Slayers were too busy searching for Buffy and not trying to talk to Willow to know what was going on, they could get back to their goal of saving Buffy, or so Dawn hoped. So Dawn decided to take matters into her own hands.

She snuck into the bathroom with the phone. There was a Slayer by the name of Jessica. All Dawn had to do was make one simple call and the news would spread.

The phone was ringing.

"Hello?" Jessica picked up.

"Buffy's dead," Dawn stated sternly, not wasting any time.

"Excuse me?"

"Buffy's a vampire. She kidnapped or killed Rona and Vi, I don't know. But Buffy is evil. Spread the word. You have to."

Then she hung up. She felt good. She'd taken matters into her own hands. She'd helped. Hopefully the others would see it that way.

With that said and done, the Slayer Jessica definitely didn't waste any time. She told the Slayers around her what just happened, and then called other Slayers around the world to spread the word. Buffy was dead, a vampire. Rona and Vi were gone, possibly dead.

The Slayers were frightened. But that didn't matter. They were also determined. And with this being the biggest issue they'd ever had, they were prepared to search for Buffy and kill her before she did any more damage.