Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel belong to their copyright holders, I own nothing.
Chapter 19: Special Treatment
Harmony followed the orders.
While Buffy was away doing whatever it was she had to do, Harmony was left in the captivity of a few of Buffy's best minions. And by "best minions," that meant loyal to Buffy, and of course loyalty to Buffy at this point was mainly fear. At least, that was what Harmony was noticing. Since they feared Buffy, they'd follow what she said. She had told them to make Harmony as loyal as possible, no matter what it takes.
Harmony got tortured some more. All that torture really got to her head, making her agree to anything the vampires said she should do to prove loyalty to Buffy. Obviously, the torture was too painful to endure much longer. The only way to not get tortured was to listen to these vampires, and then to Buffy.
They ordered her around. Forced her to torture an apparent non-loyal vampire. Then at night they went out and she was to drink someone dry.
Working for Wolfram & Hart under Angel, Harmony wasn't allowed to drink human blood, and it'd been a long time since she had it. A part of her didn't even want it anymore. Okay, maybe a little part of her did, but she'd been so strong and sober for a long time. She didn't need it anymore, and she knew she'd feel guilty drinking anyone dry at this point. It didn't really seem like an option to these vampires, though. She was to either drink of be tortured.
It wasn't as bad as Harmony thought. In fact, the blood was delicious. She wanted more. Before she knew what was happening, the vampires weren't forcing her to do anything anymore.
Fear still followed Harmony. She still knew that if she were to disobey, there would be torturous results. Only now, it was easier, because a part of her enjoyed the drinking of human blood. When Buffy came back, though, she didn't know what she was going to do. Buffy would make her actually do evil work rather than just go around and drink blood.
So, Harmony followed the orders, because what else was she going to do? And what could she ever do? Buffy had a hold over her now, one that would never be let go until she wanted it to be. It scared Harmony that Buffy could be that powerful. But as much as she wished she could stop her, she knew there couldn't be much hope. Even Angel and Spike had failed to stop her. If they couldn't have the strength to take her out, then who could?
Slayers gathered around the main training center in England, where Giles had asked them too. They were talking to each other loudly, quickly, spreading the many rumors there were surrounding Buffy's so-called death. There were rumors that Buffy wasn't really undead and this was all a hoax. There were rumors that since Rona and Vi were missing also, Buffy had turned them. Rumors that Buffy had her soul but was choosing to remain evil anyway. Even rumors that Giles and co. were now working with Buffy.
The biggest rumor with the Slayers, though, was that now that Buffy was undead, she was out living wildly with both of her ex vampire lovers.
Where the rumors had begun, no one could know. If they were true or false, no one could know either. All they knew for sure was that Buffy was undead, and they needed to kill her. Hopefully Giles would have more information, seeing as he was the one that gathered them all here.
Faith and Kennedy followed Giles here. Originally, even though Kennedy didn't want to go, her slight interaction with Willow changed her mind. Giles just hoped that it wasn't enough for her to be confused about still wanting to do magic.
Wesley was around here somewhere, as well, since he'd helped bring the Slayers here. He didn't really want to be here, but a part of him had to admit he was curious about what Giles would have to say.
It took many minutes to get the Slayers all quieted. Some Slayers were holding up video cameras so they could take a video and send it to all the Slayers around the world.
"Thank you all for coming," Giles started off. "As many of you are well aware, there are claims about Buffy no longer being…alive. These claims have caused madness around with every one of you. I wish I could know how these allegations began spreading in the first place, but unfortunately that will remain unknown to me." He paused. "These claims are true. Buffy is undead."
An eruption happened throughout the center. They already pretty much knew it was the truth, but hearing it being officially confirmed was new. And it freaked them out.
Again, Giles was forced to quite them all down. After a few minutes, Giles was able to continue.
"I know this news is not good, but we must remain calm. There is other news that must be shared. We all know that Rona and Vi are missing. I do believe that it is safe to conclude that Buffy has done something with them. That would mean she is no longer in England. Where she is, I do not know." Giles didn't express it, but it was true how much he hated that he didn't know where she was. If he didn't know where she was, then they couldn't find her and end her. And now, in order to find her, he'd have to put every Slayer on the lookout for her. Which was fine, but it put a waste to all his efforts in bringing Faith and Kennedy out here to search for her on their own.
"Let me make something very clear," Giles continued, "no matter what you may hear from other so-called trusted authorities, Buffy is a danger to everyone. She will threaten and kill without remorse. That is why we need to end her. I'm officially stating that every Slayer in the world needs to focus on the sole purpose of finding Buffy and killing her. I have nothing else to say for now. Thank you."
He left, leaving the Slayers to stew in what was just said. He went to a room alone with Faith and Kennedy.
"Nice speech, Watcher," Faith said. "Hopefully now someone will find her."
"I just feel bad," Kennedy spoke hesitantly. "I-I mean, I started learning magic because we were the only ones who knew about her and we might not have been strong enough to take her. Now that we have enough strength, I guess my magic's useless." There was a hint of hopefulness in her voice. What Willow had said earlier really got to her, apparently.
"No," Giles shook his head. "Kennedy, you're still the only one with magic we know that will help. We might not need you as urgently, but it's still useful. You must keep practicing. Please."
Kennedy nodded, but didn't speak. The truth was she didn't like that Willow disapproved of her learning magic. Still, maybe Giles was right, and they did need her.
This was all they could do for now. The word about Buffy was officially out to the Slayers. Now, all they had to do was wait until someone found her.
Everyone always left. Just when Illyria felt like she was learning about humans and the world, Wesley got up and left. Apparently seeing her face was too much, and she didn't understand why she felt so…depleted when he was gone.
The only one she had left after that was her pet Spike. And now even he had disappeared.
What was this? Where had everyone gone? Could they truly be weak enough to look at her and see her for what she was: not Fred Burkle?
She wanted them back. And she couldn't help this emotion that was running through the shell she wore—and that emotion was anger. The only way to get that emotion out of her was to fight.
She knocked an entire building down in her fit of rage. People may have died, but it was no matter to her.
Once back from her rampage, calmer, she overheard Gunn and Lorne speaking of how Angel, Spike, and Harmony were missing without a trace. Well, if she could get her pet back, Illyria figured she should try searching. She did not know where to begin without guidance, though, and she felt lost. She knew she couldn't go around knocking down every building she wanted to find the vampires.
So if she could do nothing, that was unacceptable.
What could she possibly do to retrieve the missing people she wanted to see?
Wesley wasn't missing, he was just away. Illyria needed to find him. She could bring him back. She could get back one person who'd left.
Buffy landed in Washington. From there, it didn't take long for her to get to the destination. A military base where Riley's group of soldiers were located, preparing to take care of whatever demon they were here to take care of. She got in touch with the boss and convinced him to tell her where Riley and the ole' ball-and-chain were. As it turned out, they were in a hotel not far away from here.
The hotel was generally nice. So nice, in fact, that Buffy was left to wonder why they were getting such special treatment by not having to stay at the military base. With more convincing, she found out what floor Riley and Sam were on.
Buffy took a deep, unnecessary breath once she was in front of their door. Habit, she supposed. She wasn't nervous about seeing Riley. She knew she would be able to take him in a fight, so there'd be no problem there. She was just anxious about what would actually happen once he found out what she was.
She knocked on the door.
"Give me a second!" Riley shouted through the door. After a few seconds, the door creaked open and Riley appeared. "Sorry, I… Buffy."
Clearly, he was shocked. He wasn't expecting to see her now, maybe ever again. Plus, with her new hair, everyone who knew her before always looked at her like she was insane when they saw the new look.
"What-what are you doing here?" he stuttered nervously. He really wasn't sure what else to say.
"Same thing you are," Buffy tried to speak as chipper as possible. "Giles thought it'd be a good idea if I tried to help you guys with the situation you have going on here."
"Oh, sure," Riley nodded. "I just meant…here. At the hotel."
"I just…thought it'd be good to see you."
"Riley, who is it?" Sam called from inside the room.
At the sound of her voice, Buffy noticed something irregular. Things didn't…sound right. She could hear Riley's heartbeat, and Sam's, but it sounded like there was someone else's in the room.
"Who's in there?" Buffy questioned.
"Just Sam," Riley answered, ignoring his wife.
Buffy didn't believe him. Someone else was in there. Call it paranoia, but Buffy couldn't be too careful. It could be an ambush of sorts. What if Giles or someone else had anticipated her coming to Riley? It seemed like a long shot, but not impossible. Well, she wasn't willing to risk it.
She pushed Riley inwards, surprising him with her strength in spite of him knowing that as the Slayer she's always been stronger. Buffy made her way into the room, and when she saw Sam, she knew she'd made a mistake.
Giles wasn't here, nor was anyone else. It really was just Sam. And she was pregnant.
Not too far along, but far along enough to be noticeable. No wonder they were getting the special treatment of a hotel room.
"Buffy, what are you doing?" Riley asked angrily, following behind her.
"Oh, Buffy!" Sam said cheerily. "Wow, it's good to see you. What are you doing here?"
Buffy ignored her question. "Sam, congratulations."
She smiled shyly. "Thanks. It was really a surprise. It was the funniest thing, we-"
Then suddenly in a flash, Buffy was upon Sam, grabbing her from behind. Riley yelled, surprised and confused. Sam began shaking. Buffy didn't bother with anymore theatrics; she morphed into her vampire face.
Riley stopped yelling, his mouth fell open. "Buffy…what happened to you?"
"I think it's obvious enough," Buffy commented snidely. "Now look. If you want your wife and baby to survive, you'll do whatever I say."
Riley started grinding his teeth, unsure if he should take a chance or listen to what Buffy has to say. "What do you want?" he finally asked, knowing that running and attempting to attack wouldn't do anything. He couldn't take Buffy when she was the Slayer; there was no reason to believe he would be able to take her as a vampire.
"You're coming with me," she said.
He listened willingly. Once outside of their room, Buffy let go of Sam and told her to act as natural as possible. She threatened to kill both of them if they did anything stupid. They complied.
Getting them to the plane was easy enough. Before they knew it, they were taking off, headed back to L.A.
That went smoothly enough, Buffy considered. The whole baby-on-the-way thing actually worked to her advantage. Now, she just had to figure out what she would do to present these gifts to Spike.