A/N: Sorry about the long wait, guys, but you know how it is. College, Finals, work, yada-yada-yada. Hope it was worth the wait! PS, I have a sinking feeling that the Angel series finale (DAMN the WB and their stupid friggin' Frog!) is gonna probably suck, since I don't see Sarah Michelle Gellar guest-starring anytime soon. There is a petition on-line to help save Angel . Go to and click on the link that will take you to the petition to save our beloved series. Help Joss and the crew give Angel and the Buffyverse the ending that it deserves.
BTW, Does anyone buy that whole 'Buffy's happy with the Immortal' crock of sht! That had to be in part due to the network's doing, I mean I know, Joss is evil at times, but even he is smart enough not to be able to write that garbage if he had more time or special guest stars (cough, Sarah, cough) to write that. It's either Angel or Spike, that's the deal! I mean, they didn't even show this fcker on film, and already I'm tempted to write a fic on how Angel and Spike bitch-slap this dude and sweep the streets of Rome with his face.
Hmmm, wait a minute… :)
And since WHEN did Andrew become spokesman for the Slayer? I'm getting a bit pissed at him for that! If I were Buffy when she found out, well…Slayer versus uber-geek. Do the math .
Anyhow, on with the story. Without further ado, I present to you…
Bring Me To Life
Part 9
Ticket to Disaster
"I can't believe the nerve of that Buffy," Kennedy fumed as she paced the floor of her room. "I mean, it's bad enough that she took away my job as trainer for the girls, let alone gave it away to that ticking STD-carrying-slut bomb…"
Willow nodded absently as she sat on her bed, tuning in and out of her girlfriend's rantings while sorting out her magick supplies in her bag. In light of the recent developments, Willow thought it'd be best if she focused on her arrangement of supplies to ready a few protection spells if things got nasty. No sense going to war against the most powerful evil alive without being prepared. Besides, in all honesty, Willow found little sense in Kennedy's arguments. It was perfectly clear that Kennedy's logical thinking was still a work in progress.
"…But now she's all 'Hey, Willow, come on up into my room, let's be gal pals, forget about your girlfriend'. I mean, I know she'd the Slayer, but seriously, where does she come off acting like such a little bi- -"
"Kennedy", Willow said sharply. "I…I think that you're trying to read into Buffy's actions a little too deeply. We're in the middle of a war. An actual, no-holds-barred, anything goes, anyone dies war, here. Buffy's just doing what she thinks we need to survive- -"
"Oh, what a surprise!", Kennedy snapped. "The infallible Buffy, never wrong in the eyes of Willow. You just love sticking up for her, don't you?"
"You don't get it", Willow sighed, patiently.
"No, I don't! And I'd like to!", Kennedy said, her arms folded across her chest. "You just let her walk all over you, over me, all of us and you just-just take it! You're the most powerful one out of all the people under this roof! She says that the Slayer is about power, right? Who's more powerful than you? No one! Not Buffy, not Spike, not that Angel guy…no one!"
"It's not all about power", Willow said. "Well, yes, to a degree, it is. But if there's one thing I've learned from my time in Sunnydale, Kennedy…power? Doesn't get you to the finish line by yourself. Power comes in groups. In numbers. You can't lose sight of that, sweetie, or you're dead."
Kennedy sighed, looking ever petulant as she did. Willow knew that the girl had been through a rough deal, her Watcher being killed and being forced to flee from her family, but she could see that Kennedy was trying to take on too much. She was like the little girl trying to wear big sister's clothes. It was admirable, cute even, but in the end, she just couldn't fit those shoes.
"Whatever", Kennedy shrugged, stopping her pace at a table, picking up her crossbow to inspect it. "So…what's the deal with this Angel guy, anyway? Everyone was making such a big deal getting here in a hurry, and all I heard from you or Buffy or Giles was how important it was to get to Angel and how he'd help us out. What, is he some sort of superhero or something?"
"Close. He's a vampire", Willow said nonchalantly.
Kennedy looked up from her crossbow at Willow, her mouth agape in shock. Then she shook her head and chuckled. "Good one, Red. Almost had me going there for a sec. Vampire, yeah, right!"
But when she saw that Willow's face remained still and quite serious, her laughter stopped. "Omigod…you're not kidding, are you?"
"Nope."
Kennedy took a moment to process this, and then her anger took over. "Buffy…man, I can't believe her! She led the whole lot of us 200 miles from shelter and home base to bunk with a vampire? And she didn't even bother to tell us about this! Who the hell does she think she is?"
"Kennedy, relax", Willow sighed. "Angel's not your average vamp."
"Yeah? Well, next time I see him, let's see if he dusts like your average vamp!", she said, holding up her crossbow menacingly.
"Whoa, down, girl. Angel has a soul, okay? He's a good guy", Willow said.
Kennedy wrinkled her brow in confusion. "A soul, huh? You mean, like Spike?"
"I wouldn't let Angel hear you say that", Willow smirked.
"This is just…it's a lot to take in", Kennedy said. "I mean, Buffy's the Slayer, right? If this Angel guy is a vampire, shouldn't he be, I don't know, dust?"
As Willow unpacked her clothing from her suitcase, she explained. "Well, Buffy and Angel have a bit of…history together. They go way back, like years back."
Kennedy was quickly able to put two and two together. "They used to go out, didn't they? Buffy and Angel?"
"Big yuh-huh", Willow smiled, thinking back to those sweet, innocent early years. "They had, like, this epic romance. Picture Romeo and Juliet, only up the angst wattage to about a bazillion and two."
"And, you know, if Romeo were a blood-thirsty, creature-of-the-night", Kennedy added, almost snidely. "Spike, Angel…huh, that girl's got a real hard-on for monsters."
"Angel's not a monster!", Willow said defensively. "He's a sweetie. He's nice and kind and he saved my life about a billion times. So, he's no monster. Well, assuming that he remains broody guy and never, ever, ever experiences a true moment of perfect happiness."
Kennedy was quite puzzled. "Okay, Red, I'm going to need you to rewind that last bit, okay?"
Willow sighed as she continued. "There's this thing with Angel's soul. It's got some fine print on it, complete with Gypsy size-one font. Angel was cursed with his soul a long time ago. But the catch was, the soul had to make him suffer. If he ever experienced a moment of pure or perfect happiness, his suffering would end and —"
"I'm guessing the frog doesn't turn into a magical prince and whisk away to the Disney Land Castle, huh?", Kennedy snorted.
"Only if you consider Prince Charming to be a psycho, mass-murdering, fish-killing demon", Willow finished, inwardly flinching at the memory of her finding her fish, stringed together, dead in an envelope, courtesy of said demon. It wasn't so much the fact that Angel killed her fish that creeped her, though she did adore her little clownfish. It was the idea that perhaps the most ruthless and evil vampire that ever lived was actually in her room, close enough to have made her share the same fate of those fish she found.
Kennedy was still in the dark. "Huh? Willow, elaboration needed here?"
"When Angel experiences a moment of perfect happiness, the curse is lifted, which means he loses his soul and he turns back into the sleazy evil vamp he used to be, Angelus", Willow explained.
"Angelus?" Realization slowly set in on the young Potential. "Wait a minute...Angelus? The Angelus?", Kennedy exclaimed, her eyes widening in bewilderment. " 'Scourge of Europe' Angelus?"
Willow was stunned. "You mean you've…what have you heard?"
"Lots of stuff! My Watcher made it a point to make me study all the noteworthy vamps, with Angelus being Public Enemy number 1!", she said, her fists balled in anger. "Puppies nailed to walls, marking victims with crosses in their skin, tearing up convents…You mean to tell me that Buffy just put our lives, the lives of the last few potentials around the world, in the hands of the most evil vampire son-of-a-bitch who ever lived?"
"He's not evil, Kennedy, not anymore", Willow tried to calm her. "He's got a soul now, he's-"
"A monster!", Kennedy snapped. "Willow, I've read about him, he's dangerous! I can't believe that you allowed Buffy to do this!"
"I'm not in the position to allow Buffy to do anything, Kennedy", Willow said. "I'm her best friend, not her keeper. I've trusted her for seven years with my life, and she's never steered me wrong. I'm not about to stop trusting her judgment, not now. Especially when it comes to Angel."
"Okay, okay, wait—you said that he goes off with this perfect happiness thing, right?", Kennedy asked, abruptly. "Does that have something to do with Buffy?"
Willow looked down, uncomfortably. She was hesitant about revealing so much of Buffy's private life to someone out of the loop, even if she was seeing that someone.
"Well? Answer me!", Kennedy demanded.
Willow looked back up. "Yeah, it does", she answered quietly.
Kennedy shook her head, disgusted. "Swell. So now our leader is the thing that can set off the ticking time bomb. That Buffy's just batting a thousand, huh?"
"I trust Buffy", Willow said. "And I trust Angel. Look, Kennedy, if it wasn't for the both of them, I'd have been dead years ago…either that, or the bride of Robo-Demon". She shivered at the distant memory of her encounter with Moloch the Corruptor, who disguised himself as a student on the internet, and lured Willow into a trap that nearly forced her to become his bride. "Look, we can trust them, okay? Besides, like you said, I've got power. If Angelus decides to come out and play…I'll just turn him into a cute, little, furry mousy", she said with a smile.
"I guess that means we should go buy a cat", Kennedy said, a tug of a smile coming across her lips. "A really big one, that likes to play with its meals before it chews them to bits."
Willow let out a small chuckle. Kennedy finally smiled and closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around the slightly smaller Willow's waist. "I like when you do that", she said.
"Do what?", Willow asked.
"Make something fun out of something serious", she smiled as she met her eyes. "It's what makes you Willow."
"Well, it is pretty cool to be one of the most powerful witches in the known world", Willow grinned.
Kennedy's eyes shifted down as she eyed Willow's lips. The stare shifted into something else. A kind of longing. Desire.
For her.
"Come here", Kennedy said in a low, husky tone.
Their mouths crushed together as they felt their mutual heat radiating against each other. Willow's approach was gentle, soft, like a feather floating on air. Neither imposing, nor demanding. But she could rapidly see that Kennedy wasn't up for any beating around the bush. Her tongue practically forked its way into Willow's mouth, rapidly searching through, what started as a sweet, soft kiss starting to become rougher, full of need, demand, want.
"Whoa, hey, slow down, huh?", Willow murmured through the kiss. But Kennedy's lust was starting to get the better of her. Willow felt her girlfriend's hands sliding down her back and down onto her backside, cradling the cheeks. But when she felt her butt being squeezed hard, her eyes widened. It was rather painful, considering Kennedy's added strength as a potential Slayer.
"Okay, then!", Willow said quickly as she jumped back from their embrace, leaving Kennedy in an unsatisfied, confused, and somewhat angry state. "Um, I-I-I think that maybe we should, uh, you know, take a break for a minute, huh?"
"What?", Kennedy asked, irritated.
"Um, I mean, uh…clothes!", Willow quickly covered. "My clothes are still unpacked. We should unpack everything. You know, set up…get the bed all clear for…later?" Willow asked hopefully. In truth, she was just stalling for time. Kennedy's approach had totally wigged her.
Kennedy looked at Willow for a beat, and then smiled. "Oh…I get it."
"You do?", Willow asked, hesitantly.
"Yeah, I do", Kennedy slyly smiled. "Want to break in the bed the old-fashioned way, huh?"
"You mean jumping up and down on it and trying to touch heaven?", Willow laughed nervously. " 'Cause me and Xander used to do that all the time when we were kids-"
"You know what I mean, silly", Kennedy said as she leaned in a pecked Willow on the lips. "Sure, I'll help you set up your stuff…and maybe later, you'll get a chance to see some of my stuff", Kennedy smiled wickedly.
The veiled implication was not lost on Willow. "Okay", she practically squeaked.
The girls went about folding and packing Willow's clothes into the drawers. Kennedy was placing two of Willow's favorite tops, a bright orange tee and a silky black one, into the drawers, when something fell underneath them. Kennedy noticed and picked up the object. The innocence of the object dumbfounded her. A little red-haired Pez witch dispenser, complete with matching black witch's hat.
"Never knew you liked Pez", Kennedy chuckled as she looked over at Willow, who was folding clothes. At Kennedy's comment, she turned and found her Witch Pez in her hands. Willow's eyes widened and she hastily grabbed it from her hands.
"Um, that was a…gift", she said, before placing it on top of her dresser.
"Someone gave you Pez for a gift?", she snorted. "What, the 99 cent store all out of those Dum-dum pops and plastic flowers?"
Willow looked up at Kennedy and frowned. "I thought this was very sweet", she said, defensively. She looked down at the toy candy machine thoughtfully, smiling to herself. "Only Oz would be able to think something up like that."
Now it was Kennedy's turn to frown. "Oz? Your old boyfriend Oz?"
Willow nodded. "Yeah. It was kind of a theme present."
"I don't suppose you gave him a little Pez werewolf to match?", Kennedy said, trying to mask the jealousy in her voice.
"Nah. No such luck, they don't make a Pez werewolf", Willow said absently, her mind wistfully traveling back to her high school days. "Believe me, I know…I looked through the entire Southern California region. I did manage to find him a Pez Scooby-Doo, though. I figured, 'Hey, if you can't find a werewolf, why not go for the wacky cartoon dog?'" She chuckled as she remembered the conversation she and Oz had once at her locker during their senior year, when he first presented her the present.
Kennedy looked down at her shoes, a strange feeling of insecurity creeping up on her. "I see…and what else of Wolf Boy's did you keep around? Some old chocolate wrappers? Love notes? Class ring? Letterman jacket?"
Willow shook her head. "Oz wasn't much into chocolate, I lost the love notes years ago, class rings are expensive, and no, no jacket. Oz was more into music and the Dingoes than into sports. Which was cool, because he was a pretty kick-ass lead guitar."
Kennedy thrust her hands into her pockets, clenching them hard. "Gee…sounds like a real, fun guy", she ground out.
"Yeah, he was", she sighed. "Yeah, he had the whole werewolf thing going on, but…I dunno, it kinda made him all the more sexy, actually."
Kennedy had about all she could take. And she knew just how to alleviate that.
"Or then again, maybe he was just giving off some extra hormones or something," Willow still mused. " Oz always was a-"
"Okay, you know what?", Kennedy said abruptly. She took one large stride towards the bed, where she unceremoniously batted away the remaining folded clothing off the covers, scattering a rainbow of shirts, blouses and pants over the carpeted floor.
"Hey! What are you-"
"I think that's enough time getting our clothes away", Kennedy said as she slid her hands down Willow's sides.
"Now it's time…", she lowered her voice, as she leaned in and gently kissed Willow.
"To get our clothes…" Another kiss.
"A little…" And another.
"Dirty," she practically whispered as she smiled seductively.
Willow gulped. "B-b-but….clothes! A-and blouses, and all those wrinkles-"
"Can wait a little bit" Kennedy smiled mischievously. "Let's see if I can teach you a few tricks Dog Boy couldn't learn…"
Willow was offended by the crass reference to Oz, but before she could protest, Kennedy had dove in and swallowed her tongue whole. Whatever protest she was about to mount were muffled by the pressure of Kennedy's lips, as she was lowered to the bed.
Willow instinctively kissed back, but the words 'Dog Boy' floated in the back of her mind. So much that she could barely enjoy her kiss with her girlfriend. She felt Kennedy move her lips to trail kisses down the side of her neck, settling on her collarbone, and taking residence there, and raising a friggin' family, as well.
Willow peaked open her eyes as Kennedy remained latched onto her neck and absently turned her head to the dresser. Her little Witch Pez dispenser stared back at her with its little dotted black eyes.
She thought back to when Oz first gave her that Pez toy, her senior year…
"What's this?", asked Willow, as Oz handed her a small bundle wrapped somewhat clumsily in old newspaper clippings.
"It's a gift", he smiled.
Willow was surprised to say the least. "What's the occasion?"
Another small smile. "Pretty much you are."
Willow opened the bundle and was blown away at what she found. "It's a little Pez Witch!", she exclaimed, thrilled.
"Kind of a theme present", Oz shrugged. "You like?"
"I like! I more than like!", Willow gushed. "Oz, this is probably the sweetest…Hey, we should find a little Pez werewolf, then little Pez Witch can have a boyfriend!"
Oz smiled at her bouncy enthusiasm. "Don't think they make a werewolf Pez. Might have to settle for a wacky cartoon dog."
Willow felt her emotion beginning to well up inside her chest. "This is just so thoughtful…", she breathed.
"Well….I think about you", Oz said, staring into her eyes. She stared back, and one glance into his soft blue eyes told her all the truth she needed to about his words.
"Oh…but I don't have anything to give you", she pouted.
He smiled as he gently put his hand on her shoulder. "Yeah you do", he said as they leaned in and kissed…
….back when Oz and her were fully dating, and, unfortunately, when Xander and her picked then of all times to start a fling that, in the long run, was fruitless and hurtful. But Oz had forgiven and forgotten. All he wanted was her, and she knew that.
Funny how one little innocent trinket can open up so many memories.
After all those years, she still held onto it. It was a little reminder of him, what they had, what they went through during her groundbreaking high school years, both individually, collectively with the original Scoobies, Buffy, Angel, Willow, Xander, Cordy, Giles and her sweet Oz, as well as what they went through as a couple. Ultimately, it appeared as though it wasn't meant to be. She lost Oz twice, to both the wolf and to Tara, and Willow lost her to a stray bullet from Warren's pistol. And though she was with Kennedy now, she never forgot him. He was the first one to love her completely and unconditionally. He helped to make her stronger and for that, she would always love him.
Oz…oh, Oz, she mused as she lay on the bed, Kennedy still Hoover-ing her neck. It's been so long…I wonder what you're up to now. Whatever it is, I'm sure you're fine, cuz, you know…you're Oz. You always land on your feet.
Oz went crashing backwards into a row of trash-cans, taking a Bringer with him to the ground. He managed to kick away the knife from the Bringer's hand, but now the drone was wrestling with him for possession of the switchblade Lindsey had tossed him.
"Uh, guys? Could use a hand right about…well, now," Oz called out to his fellow combatants.
Whistler briefly looked over his shoulder. "Be right with ya, kid. Just after I take care of these-"
He sharply kicked a Bringer in the kneecap, grabbed its arm and sent it spinning out hard against the alley wall. "Crashers."
Lindsey held off two Bringers coming at him, both from each side. The one on the left smiled wickedly as it twirled the knife in its hand, the moonlight bouncing off its silvery sickle form.
Lindsey smiled back, cockily. As was his style. If there was one thing he'd learned from his time at Wolfram & Hart, it was one golden rule of survival: never let 'em see you sweat.
"Here, Slice 'n Dice. Catch!" The ex-lawyer tossed one of his shotguns to the Bringer, who caught it on reflex. In that instant, it dropped the knife, giving Lindsey the advantage he was looking for. He brought up his other hand, resting both on the other shotgun in his left hand, and brutally smashed the butt of the gun into the Bringer's face, knocking it backwards and to the ground. Just as quickly, he lashed out his left foot and kicked the second one in the gut, giving Lindsey a brief opening of space and much needed time. Without hesitation, he pumped the shotgun once and aimed point blank at the Bringer's horribly scarred face.
"Say cheese", he grinned wickedly.
One instant later, a bright flash exploded out of his gun. As did the head of the Bringer, splattering brain matter and bright red blood all over the ground where he fell.
Lindsey grimly chuckled. "Ooh, that'll leave a mark." But no sooner than he spoke, the Harbinger he knocked down suddenly sprang to life and tackled him to the ground. Lindsey barely had enough time to recover his senses when his arms shot out, desperately clutching at the sharp blade the Bringer was attempting to force down into his chest.
Whistler leveled another Bringer he was fighting with a sharp left hook, picking up its knife before turning to see Lindsey's predicament. "Hey, uh, McDonald, you need any help over there?", he smirked slightly.
"No thanks", Lindsey grunted, as his left hand shifted under him, never taking his eyes off the Bringer. He could have sworn that the Bringer was smiling at its intentions as it continued to push at the knife, now dangerously hovering over Lindsey's heart.
But the merciless minion's smile faded when Lindsey suddenly bore a mile-wide grin. It took a moment to follow down his prey's form, stopping right at his hands…
…where a 9-mm semiautomatic pistol was staring right back into the dumbfounded Bringer's sown-shut eyes.
"I got this", Lindsey grinned.
Bang!
Blood splattered across the handsome drifter's face.
Two Bringers down. Three to go.
As he pushed off the Bringer's body from his own, Lindsey got to his feet, smirking cockily. He could feel the blood pumping through his veins, adrenaline surging through his system. God, but he missed this. It was too long since he last had a real good fight. It made him burn with a sensation long forgotten to him. A spark that made him feel alive again.
"Pretty good, wasn't I?", he said to Whistler.
Whistler smirked, playing with the knife in his hands. "Yeah, I guess you were-"
And then he hurled his knife twirling through the air—
burying itself deep in the forehead of the Bringer sneaking up behind Lindsey.
"Except for the part where you turned your back", Whistler sneered.
Lindsey sheepishly looked down at the Bringer's body, then back to Whistler. "I saw him!", Lindsey defensively retorted.
Whistler rolled his eyes. Youth really is wasted on the young, he decided.
A loud roar was heard behind them, followed by an ear-piercing wail.
They whirled around to find a graphic and disturbing scene, featuring Oz, werewolf version 1.0, snarling wildly as his jaws clamped shut around the Bringer's throat, shaking the minion much like a dog with a chew toy. From the way the blood gushed everywhere, Whistler guessed that Oz had found the jugular. Lindsey stared wide-eyed in disbelief at what he was seeing.
"Jesus…a werewolf…so that's why you stopped for this kid?", Lindsey asked, stunned.
"Part of it, anyway", Whistler said.
The Bringer's arms finally went limp, its struggles ceasing to the point where the only reason it was moving at all was because the wolf was still shaking about, its prey in mouth. Dropping the dead Bringer to the ground, the wolf managed to stand on its hind legs, oddly enough with its clothes still intact. Letting out a howl of satisfaction, the wolf's features slowly receded back into human form, as the wolf disappeared and made way for Oz to return to his birth form.
Oz shook his head, taking a moment to collect himself. "Whew…that was…a rush."
Off of both Whistler and Lindsey's stares, Oz sheepishly shrugged. "What? Do I got bad guy stuck in my teeth?"
Whistler chuckled. "I like this kid."
Lindsey stepped right up to Whistler, his blue eyes hardened like ice. "Alright, you little sneak, you've been going on with the cryptic and the mysterious rendezvous as long as I can put up with it!", Lindsey snapped. "Now I wanna know what the hell is goin' on here! Who the hell were those freaks with the robes? And why the hell were they after us?"
Oz gave Whistler a glance. "Uh…what he said."
Whistler sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Alright, I'll be honest, here. The truth is…" he paused, taking a look over Lindsey's shoulder. "There's a Bringer behind you."
No sooner then the words left his mouth, Lindsey whipped around and drilled the last approaching Bringer with a perfect shot between the eyes from his smoking pistol, dropping the minion stone cold on the ground.
Lindsey took a look back at Whistler. " A what behind me?"
"Bringers", Whistler said. "Short nickname for Harbingers. Nasty little guys, come in big numbers. They-"
"Work for the First Evil", Oz finished, his eyes lit in recognition.
"Wait, wait, wait—you know what these things are?", Lindsey asked in astonishment.
"Little bit", Oz shrugged. "A friend of mine, Buffy, once told me about them. They work for this mega big-bad."
The ex-lawyer was floored. "Buffy? Buffy Summers? The Vampire Slayer?"
"Seems you know of our favorite stake-driving superheroine, don't ya, Slick?", Whistler nodded.
"Only what I've read in the files on Angel", Lindsey said. "And a couple of stories I heard 'round some demon bars. Angel's ex-girlfriend, died saving the world twice, you know, that sort of thing."
"You know Angel?", Oz directed towards Lindsey.
The former lawyer unconsciously rubbing his right hand, which Angel had sliced off years ago. "All too well," he muttered.
Whistler cleared his throat loudly, drawing their attention back to him. "As you could probably tell by now, it's not an accident that you two are here. There's a lot goin' down right now. Mostly in Killer Kali. Major end-of-the-world stuff."
"So", Oz shrugged. "What's that got to do with me? Not that I'd like the world to go 'boom!', but…"
"Well, some of your old friends are gonna need help", Whistler said. "Some, particularly, will need your help, in particular."
Oz's eyes widened as a sense of dread crept up on him. "Willow?", he asked, a tinge of fear in his voice.
"You guessed it", Whistler nodded. "Your little Sabrina's in the middle of a major-"
"Where is she and how soon can we get there?", Oz said, his voice hardened.
Lindsey noted the spark in his eyes when his fears were confirmed about this 'Willow' whom they spoke of. There was no nonsense. No fooling around. This little spiky-haired blonde kid was making clear with his tone and his looks that he would get to this person, girl, from the sound of it, at any costs. He instantly gained a measure of respect for the kid. Because that's how he felt about getting to Darla. Nothing else in his life was important anymore, except getting to her, wherever that was.
"L.A…About another 12 hours driving time, if we speed", Lindsey said. "My pickup truck's got some good mileage on it, though."
No sooner had he said that then did Oz whip out a small black device from his pocket. Pressing the small red button, he uttered a few simple words: "Lock in on current position."
The box squawked back in mechanized voice : "Password?"
"Canus", replied Oz.
The distant roar of a vehicle amplified as a large white van pulled up out of nowhere into the alleyway. Whistler and Lindsey jumped back, startled at the sudden appearance of the van, stopping to a halt just a few feet in front of Oz himself. From the outside appearance of the van, there seemed to be nothing particularly special about it.
Except that there was no driver behind the seat of the vehicle.
"Whoa", was all a stunned Lindsey could muster.
Even Whistler seemed astounded. "Yo, check out the wheels…how'd you get a ride like that?"
"I know a guy", Oz simply explained, before talking into the black device. "Open driver and passenger doors."
The doors instantly unlocked at his command, as Oz swung around to the driver's seat.
"We can make it there in half the time it takes conventional cars in this one", he said. "Whichever one of you knows how to give directions to wherever it is we're going, hop in shotgun".
"That'd be me", Whistler piped as he eagerly sat in the side passenger seat. "You coming, Slick?"
"What about my truck?" Lindsey asked, not pleased about the prospect of leaving his beloved '57 in the streets of Seattle unattended. "I can't just take off without my truck!"
"Nice set of priorities ya got," Whistler sarcastically smirked.
"Look, you little pipsqueak," Lindsey ground out. "That truck was given to me by my father, it's the last thing he ever gave me before he died! I'm not leaving it behind in this…pisshole of a- "
"You won't have to," Oz said. "There's a grappling hook underneath. We can tow your truck behind us on the way."
Lindsey paused for a moment, giving it consideration. At last, he nodded. "Thanks, kid."
He stepped in the back of the van, the doors closing immediately upon his entrance.
Whistler took a glance at his new traveling companions. A gun-wielding ex-lawyer with a burning passion for an ex-vampire, and a short blond kid with a werewolf's blood and a supped-up van. He just hoped that the Powers That Be knew what they were doing.
"So, this is it", he said. "We're off to save the world."
"Right. Now, make with the chatter. I need to be filled in on exactly what it is we're dealing with", Lindsey said.
With that, the van roared to life, its lights piercing the darkness of the alley like a beacon.
"Okay, gentlemen. Let's get rolling", Oz said as the van rumbled down the alleyway, off to the adventure of a lifetime, off to save mankind, off to save the women they loved…
And off to the side of the road, as the van suddenly halted.
"Um…directions would be nice," Oz said.
Whistler just looked at him, sheepishly.
Meanwhile, in Wesley's study, Giles paced the floor, thumbing through an old text.
Wesley stood behind his desk, palms rested on the flat top, leaning slightly on the wood for support. Darla sat in a chair opposite him, her hands wringed tightly.
"I just don't, for the life of me, understand why something like this could've happened without a-a warning of some sort", Giles said as he perused the book quickly.
"Well, Rupert, it's not as if the forces of darkness are accustomed to giving out warning signs or caution labels in the event of an apocalypse," Wesley wryly smirked. Darla barely stifled a chuckle at his witty response, but Wesley caught her, and managed a small smile in her direction.
Giles glared, irritated at the younger man. "What I meant", he elaborated, "was why there wasn't any sort of prophecy or some written account of a vision detailing these events. Usually, the larger events, like this one, have a-a form of detail, a…something to describe the warning signs."
Wesley gave in to deep thought. "Hmm, now that you've mentioned it, it does seem rather odd that some of the more glaring signs of these events were undocumented. Between all of what transpired between our respective quadrants, the Rain of Fire, the rise of the Beast, the disappearance of the sun…"
"…the systematic murder of the Slayer line, the destruction of the Watcher's Council, the emergence of the Seal of Danthazar…", Giles continued his musings. "But these are signs that could have been, in most cases, should have been foretold."
"Maybe they were", Darla spoke up. "But what if…maybe someone, or something, more powerful kept a lid on it?"
Both men stared at the small blonde for a moment in shock. Darla squirmed a little under the attention.
"Are you suggesting that these events were…covered up, by something?", Giles asked, in astonishment.
Darla ventured, "Think about it. Events like these should have been caught through any number of seers and visionaries throughout time, but they weren't. At least, not in anything you have access to."
Wesley glanced at Darla, his brow knitted in focus. "Darla, what is it you know, exactly?"
Darla sighed. "I knew everything…maybe I still do. But whatever force the creature in Cordelia used to re-corporealize me scrambled my memory. I remember a few bits and pieces, but most of it…"
"Is gone", Giles finished for her, his features frowning.
"I'm sorry, I wish I could give you something, anything, but…" Darla trailed off, sadly.
Wesley gave Darla a soft glance. "You will, Darla. In time. For now, the most you can do is be here. Perhaps, as you said, something we find can help you recover a piece of vital information we need. Your time will come."
Darla smiled warmly at Wesley. "Thank you, Wesley."
"Don't mention it", he smiled back.
Giles was not daft. He could tell from the small looks the two were giving one another that there was more there than meets the eye. He could see the small speck of warmth in Wesley's eyes when he looked at Darla, and the softness in her eyes when she returned his gaze. So, Wesley was falling for Darla, he thought. That would explain his uncharacteristic protectiveness of her earlier.
"Ahem, getting back to the matter at hand", Giles pressed on. "You say that this pregnancy that Cordelia is experiencing will play a large part in whatever is happening?"
"Our hypothesis is that whatever this creature controlling Cordelia is planning, it is all centered around its birth", Wesley said. " It wasn't ever supposed to have happened in the first place. The child of two vampires, an anomaly of nature in and of itself, breeding with a half-demon, a Seer, such as Cordelia, somehow possibly serves as a vessel for-"
"Half-demon?", Giles interrupted, puzzled. "Cordelia was…when she become half-demon? I was never made aware of this."
Wesley sighed. "Well, a lot has occurred in the past year, to say the least, Giles. To all of us."
"Of course", Giles muttered, derisively. "That'll clear it all up."
"Cordelia became a half-demon last year to be able to bear the visions she was receiving from the Powers That Be", Wesley detailed. "Her bearing of the visions eventually led her to be made a Higher Being by the Powers themselves. Or at least, we thought at the time."
"H-Higher Being, you said?", Giles stammered, amazed. "Cordelia was chosen to ascend to the Higher Planes?"
"So they were led to believe", Darla cut in. "It turns out it was all a trap for the creature in Cordelia to be able to take over her body and descend to this dimension."
"Where it has been wreaking havoc from under our noses all along", Wesley frowned.
"I see", Giles said, taking his glasses off to clean them. "And it never occurred to you the oddity of how Cordelia, a normal girl with, albeit, a unique link, was suddenly chosen to ascend to a place where only beings of vast benevolence and wisdom could tread?"
"It seemed to...make sense at the time", was all a flustered Wesley could manage. "Cordelia has undergone so many changes since her arrival here in Los Angeles that we surmised that the Powers had greater purposes for her. Other than to become infected with the entity residing within her now."
"Well, obviously, something had a purpose for her, that much you've managed to decipher", Giles shook his head.
" I understand that this is all something of a shock for you to hear, Rupert", Wesley said, biting to control his rising hackles. "But I don't see how making derisive comments is going to be helping matters any."
"I just cannot believe that you would be so careless as to have allowed this to happen to her", Giles retorted.
"It's not as if we had a choice in the matter!", Wesley snapped. "We would've moved heaven and earth to prevent any harm from befalling her, but we were all manipulated! There was nothing we could do!"
Giles forced down his temper rising within his throat, taking a moment to compose himself. "You're right, Wesley. I apologize. It's just…" he broke off, wistfully. "Before any of you knew Cordelia, she was a member of our family years back. In some ways…she still remains a part of that…despite the distance, we all feel a bond with her in Sunnydale. And to lose her, would be very much like losing one of our own." He paused, considering. "We would be losing one of our own."
Wesley's anger faded when he saw the genuine care in Giles's eyes. In the grief and pain that the A.I. team felt over the loss of their beloved Cordelia, he had not considered how much this would affect the Sunnydale group. They had known Cordelia long before any of them did. She had fought alongside them all for three years, up until her high school graduation, loyally, as she did with Angel Investigations. To have dismissed their feelings in the matter of Cordelia was a very grievous oversight.
"I understand, too, Rupert", Wesley nodded. "We all want to get her back."
Giles smiled weakly. "And we will."
A light dawned in Darla's blue eyes at that. "And maybe…we can", she suddenly said.
Both Watchers turned to her in surprise. "What's that?" Giles asked, hope sparking in his eyes.
Darla pushed herself up from the chair, taking a few steps back and forth, her hands rubbing her temples. She could feel something coming, memories, words, flickers of light, of knowledge…
"Infected", she mused. She looked at Wesley. "You said that…Cordelia was infected, right?"
"I did", Wesley nodded, though unsure.
"That's it, that's….", she broke off , shaking her head slightly at the fragments and pieces of information stabbing at her mind, teasing a thought, an idea, a solution. "What she had is a sort of…mystical infection. It's like a possession, but different."
"Different how?", Wesley pressed.
"The being inside Cordelia has its roots, deep in the annals of darkness", she said, her eyes staring outward ,as if she were remembering some long forgotten secret. "More…More than one."
"More than one what?", Giles asked.
"There's more than one…in her", she said.
Wesley's eyes widened as he began to slowly understand what Darla was trying to explain. "Surely you're not saying that…the creature possessing Cordelia …isn't alone?"
Giles looked stunned as realization dawned on him. "There's more than one being possessing Cordelia."
Darla nodded. "Yes. I remember…the creatures inside her are old. Ancient. Two separate entities." The fog around her mind started to lift, memories slowly pacing themselves back into her. "But their relationship is a symbiotic one. They…need each other."
"What kind of relationship? Do you the…agendas of these creatures? Their purposes? What they want?", Wesley inquired.
"I don't know. But I do know that one of them is…protecting the other. Almost as if the former was taking a secondary role to the latter's."
"Almost like the parasite's…parasite?", Giles skeptically wondered.
"Perhaps", mused Wesley, his face scrunched in thought. "Unless…unless one of the entities has the specific purpose to bring forth the other one."
"You mean one of them is protecting the other?", Giles asked.
"Exactly", Darla said, turning her eyes to Wesley. "One of the entities is strictly a secondary. It's main goal isn't in its own survival, but rather to ensure the survival...or birth…of the other one."
"Yes, but is there anything you remember about…dispelling those entities?", Giles asked, taking a step towards Darla. "Anything about releasing their control over Cordelia's body?"
Darla's angelic features frowned in thought, looking briefly to the floor before returning her gaze back to the Watcher's clear grey eyes. "I think there was…something about a book. A…codex?"
"Codex?", both Watchers practically jumped at the word. Between the two of them, Giles and Wesley had acquired or had access to some of the rarest, most ancient texts in the known world. A collection that would make any mage, historian or Watcher, ex or otherwise, green with envy.
"Which codex? Do you remember a name, a color, symbol…anything?", Giles asked, his eyes infused with hope. Perhaps the answer to Cordelia's cure was in his possession right now.
"I think it was…Bisylline", Darla said.
"Bisylline?", Giles repeated. Darla watched as the hope faded from his eyes, his look of hope and the spark of enthusiasm once there now disappearing as his face fell. This didn't look good at all.
"You've….heard of it?", Darla tentatively asked.
"Yes, I have", Giles said as he took a step back, running his hand through his hair. "The Bisylline Codex. It's a…very rare book. One of the hardest to acquire. Very few have actually read it, only a description of it has been made public." His fingers ran at his chin as he recalled the intoned knowledge. "A-A golden stag, emblazoned on a cover as red as blood. Written only a few short years after the Crucifixion, by Marcus Bysylline, the head of an ancient, now extinct order of monks, whose origins date back to Saint Peter. It was, ah, r-reputed to have contained some of the rarest spells in this or any other world, as well as a very detailed description, a prophecy, of some event of…extraordinary and unprecedented magnitude. But there was only one copy of it ever written. Fortunately, the Council had the book in its possession."
"Then you have it?", Darla asked, looking hopefully at him.
Giles sighed heavily. "Ah…no. The book seems to have vanished from the Council's libraries. I looked everywhere for it, but it was nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, the possibility remains that…the explosion of the Watcher's Council claimed it. In which case…"
Darla shut her eyes in disappointment. "The only copy of it in this or any other world…"
Giles sadly nodded. "…has been lost. Forever."
Wesley raised an eyebrow at the older Watcher. "Not lost. Relocated."
Giles and Darla looked at him in surprise. "Wesley, what are you-"
But even as Giles spoke, Wesley walked over to the bookcase, pulling out one of the shelves from the unit itself, revealing a small safe box. After a few turns of the combination lock, the small metallic door opened up to reveal a small assortment of books, gems, what appeared to be various small demonic body parts and other rare treasures. From this hidden treasure case, Wesley pulled out a mid-sized, blood-red book, the cover of it bearing no title, only the small golden imprinting of a magnificent stag on it.
Giles's eyes widened in awe as he laid eyes on the book. "My God, Pryce."
Darla blinked in surprise. "Wesley, is that-"
"The Bisylline Codex", Wesley said as he walked towards them, the rare book in hand. "I've had this book in my possession for years. When the Council, ah, terminated my services years ago, I was, to put it lightly, disgruntled." He managed to suppress the urge to blush. " I snuck into the library and stole the book myself, hoping that eventually, when the Council needed it, I could barter with them."
"The book for your job back", Giles surmised.
"Or at least a nicer severance package in place of the one they didn't give me", Wesley shrugged. "Of course, it never worked out that way."
"No", Giles said as he drew himself forward, taking the book from Wesley's hands, staring at it as if it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. "But it has worked out. Good show, Wesley."
Wesley barely had time to utter a 'thank you' before Darla, unexpectedly, walked over to him, beaming. She placed a light kiss on his cheek, catching the ex-Watcher completely by surprise.
"And they say that crime doesn't pay", Darla chuckled.
"Umm…yes, I…let's, ah, h-hope it does, for our sakes, a-and Cordelia's", Wesley said, lowering his head at his surprising blush. He mentally shook himself, regaining his composure. "The answers we need are in the book. We've better get started deciphering the text."
"Oh, good", Giles said as he perused the pages of the book. "It's only written in Latinate. Between the both of us, we should be able to decipher this fairly quickly."
"Just like old times", Wesley smirked at Giles.
"Indeed", Giles returned the smirk.
"The sooner, the better", Darla said as she addressed both Watchers. "Whatever's in that book, we'd better find it fast. Time is the one thing that's not on our side."
"I know."
Anna stared back at the teens, who were staring back at the pretty blonde with wide-eyed surprise.
Dawn shook her head, trying to process what she had just heard. "Wait, wait, wait, hold the phone-you know? What do you mean you know?"
"Vampires? Demons? I know they're real...and that a lot of them are here in L.A.", Anna nodded.
Connor looked stunned. "But you didn't even know why that vampire who attacked you in the alley had his face all-"
"I knew", Anna said. "I just…wasn't sure if you guys knew...wouldn't want you to think I'm some nut." At that, her eyes ticked to Connor. An action that no one in the room missed.
"How did you know about all this?", Molly asked, ever so inquisitive.
"Well...m-my family, most of it, anyway, comes from Romania...I guess the term is gypsies, we're called", Anna explained. "My grandfather told me stories when I was little about all these wild things in the world...stories about vampires, and werewolves and sorcerers and magic. He practiced a lot of magicks, like my mom does. I was totally into it. Still am. They showed me so many things that can be done with a few words, a root of a plant, the sprinkling of powder...they've told me this stuff since I was little. It wasn't the first time I've seen a vampire in that alley, I've seen them before...just never so up close."
"That's the closest you want to get to one, believe me," Vi said.
"So, what, you guys, like, fight demons?", Anna furrowed her eyebrows.
"Basically", Dawn nodded. "Connor here is pretty strong, like...picture Spider-Man, minus the dorky red-and-blue PJ's, but leaving all the Toby Maguire cuteness." She paused a beat. "And, omigod, I just said that aloud, didn't I?"
"Dawn," Molly exclaimed scandalously.
"Um, I…," Connor awkwardly looked down, trying to hide the blush on his face. The pop culture reference was not lost on him. He'd seen the Spider-Man movie twice before during the summer with Fred and Gunn. During the time his father was, for lack of a better term, adrift.
Dawn quickly changed the subject. "And Molly, Vi and Amanda are Potential Slayers, so they've all got superhuman stuff going on-"
"Slayers?", Anna asked.
Vi shrugged. "Yeah, that's that whole 'One-girl-in-all-the-world-with-the-strength-and-speed-to-kill-vampires' bit."
"No, I know what a Slayer is", Anna said. "But...you're all Vampire Slayers? I heard there could only be one."
"Not exactly", Amanda clarified. "We're all Potential Slayers...except for Dawn."
The words stung Dawn. Since last year, Buffy had taken a great deal of time to train her younger sister in the ways of the Slayer, after realizing that she could handle herself well, even in the face of scary-veiny-Willow's apocalypse. But since the arrival of the Potentials, Buffy had refocused her energies on training the other girls and battling the First. Dawn's training had been left unfinished, pushed to the back burner. As if she wasn't important enough to merit training.
"Yeah", muttered Dawn grouchily. "Everyone but Dawn."
Amanda caught onto Dawn's displeasure, and quickly attempted to mend her words. "Dawn, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that-"
"S'okay", Dawn waved her hand. "I'm accustomed to the fact that I'll never be more than your average muggle."
"But you've still got that whole cool Key thing going for you", Amanda smiled. "That's pretty neat."
Dawn smiled a bit at that. She had filled in Amanda, Vi and Molly on her, unique, situation soon after the four became fast friends. They had been taken aback at first, especially about the part where Dawn wasn't, in her words, 'semi-technically real'. But given the chaos they had encountered since the First began its mayhem, they accepted that fact rather quickly and the girls became even closer.
Connor scrunched his brow in confusion. "What's a muggle?"
The teenage girls stared at him as if he had two heads.
"Muggles. Y'know, humans? Non-magic folk," Vi said
"From the Harry Potter book series?", Molly looked at him expectantly.
Connor looked at them blankly.
"Where've you been living for the last two and a half years," Dawn gave him a strange glance.
"Quor'toth", he answered matter-of-factly.
Now it was their turn to look at him blankly.
"Quarter-what?", Dawn asked, bewildered.
"What's a…Quor'toth?", Amanda asked.
"Is that in…like, Europe or something?", Vi asked.
Molly shook her head. "Doesn't sound like any European city I've heard of."
"That's because it's not from this world", Connor said. "The Quor' toth is another dimension, a dark world separate from this reality. I grew up there my whole life."
The girls looked at him with incredulous, wide-eyed glances. "Whoa, whoa, hold the phone—are you saying you…didn't grow up on Earth?", Dawn asked, astonished.
"I guess", Connor answered in typical shortness.
"Wow!", Molly breathed, stunned. "Are you, like, some sort of alien, then?"
"Molly, get a grip", Amanda said. "Does Connor look like he stepped off a Romulan spaceship?"
"I'm just saying, is all", Molly replied defensively.
As the girls started to talk rapidly amongst themselves, Anna's voice rung up over their increasingly loud chatter. "Excuse me?"
All the girls ceased their talking and turned towards the timid girl. "I'm sorry, I'm getting lost. So, you guys are Slayers, Dawn's a…whatever, and he's some sort of crazy alien?"
"Um, looks that way", Dawn nervously chuckled.
Anna looked at them strangely before rubbing her head slightly. "And the rabbit hole goes even further", she muttered.
"You quoting 'Alice in Wonderland' or 'The Matrix'?", Dawn wondered.
"Well, I've read the book seven times. It was a favorite of mine…but I did like the movie; Keanu Reaves was really cute", Anna smiled shyly.
"Mmm, Keanu", Vi dreamily sighed.
"Please, he is SO overrated", Amanda waved her hand. "Now, Laurence Fishburne, there's a guy who doesn't get enough play."
"Interesting comparison", Molly mused. "But there's a reason why Keanu was the lead in the movie."
"Aside from the hair, the eyes and the gorgeous dimples?", Dawn smirked. "Yeah, he's a hottie, but Morpheus was sooo the coolest. Keanu's way too much of a Ken-doll for me."
Connor could barely put up with it anymore. "I hate to break up your little movie tit-for-tat, but I think we're losing focus here", Connor pointed out. "Shouldn't we be busy trying to figure out what's going on? The world looks like it's about to end, people are dying and we're sitting around here just wasting time."
"Well, why don't you go find that weird evil lady in black and give her a good right hook?", Anna snapped. "You seem to be pretty good at hitting girls!"
Connor looked away, shame washing through him.
"Hey", Dawn said, placing a hand on Anna, who was suddenly shaking, glaring at Connor. "Look, just be cool, alright? That's over, you're safe now."
Anna slowly nodded, letting herself calm slowly.
"Well, what do we know so far?", Dawn asked the group.
"Well, we've got the First Evil", Amanda chirped up. "Can't be fought, or killed."
"And its friends, the ones with the hoodies and the crazy alphabet eyes", Molly noted.
"I think we just call them Bringers now, Moll", Vi said.
"Harbingers to be precise…ooh, and there's the Turok-han vampire", Molly added, unzipping her backpack and thumbing furiously through her treasured notepad. "We also have the…Seal of Danthazar, which was used to summon it. Only able to be opened through a ritual blood-letting."
Dawn took a peak at Molly's very well detailed notes and her eyes widened in astonishment. Diagrams, notes, and accurate descriptions of the events of recent past were presented well in her large blue-colored artist's notepad.
"Whoa, Molly, who died and made you Watcher Junior?", Dawn said with a touch of envy. Researching was usually her element, as of late. But it looked like Molly was developing a flair for it, as well.
Molly smiled proudly. "I decided it would suit us best if someone kept record of these events. Perhaps these notes may come in handy sooner or later."
"Sweet! Cliff Notes!", Amanda excitedly beamed.
Molly stiffened a little. "Hardly, 'Manda. I pride myself on extreme detail", she sniffed. "Unlike those ridiculous one-shot solutions you Yanks are so head-over-heels about."
"Well, what about L.A?", Vi chimed in. "I mean, we all came here because of some major brouhaha happening here, right?"
Dawn glanced at the boy. "Connor? What can you tell us?"
Connor scratched his head, thoughtfully, before speaking. "Well, there was a rain of fire back a few weeks ago…"
"And the sun blocked out after that", Anna piped up.
Molly scribbled down notes furiously into her notebook, while the others pried Connor for answers.
"Rain of fire…yeah, I heard about that", Vi said. "You wouldn't happen to know what caused all that, huh?"
Anna shrugged. "I—not really, no. The weather guys on TV said that it might have been falling debris from a space satellite, or small fragments of a meteor rock, or-"
"It was the work of the Beast", Connor cut her off.
For the umpteenth time, the girls looked at him with their wide-eyed stares.
"A Beast?", Dawn repeated, not-too-believingly.
Connor nodded. "This thing was…unbelievable. A good eight, maybe ten feet tall, horns on his head, body made out of rock…nearly invincible." He recalled the blows he suffered from the only creature he'd ever faced that had actually been able to break one of his bones, something that hadn't happened even when he grew up in the hellish nightmare of Quor' toth, darkest of the dark worlds.
He remembered a rough sketch drawing of the monster that Angel had drawn up, with color. Connor had stored it away in one of the drawers in the room, not giving it much thought. He stood and retrieved the sketch for the group to see, handing it to Dawn.
The girls gasped at what they saw, the hideous, horned head of the Beast, its sharp, jagged teeth, yellow eyes, and a solid strong body chiseled out of…well, stone, actually. It looked quite ferocious.
"Whoa", Vi blinked, staring at the picture. "Big whoa."
"That's…that's what caused the Rain of Fire?" Amanda gasped.
"And blocked out the sun, apparently", Molly said, studying the creature's sketch.
Even Dawn looked in dread of the creature, and it was only a sketch. She glanced at Connor.
"You're, uh, sure that this thing's what caused all the mayhem down here?", she asked. "And not something you dreamed up after one too many late-night pineapple pizzas?"
"Positive", he nodded. "Saw it with my own eyes."
"How strong is he?", she asked. As an afterthought, she added, "It is a 'he', right?"
"It's male, I think", Connor said. "It's…strong. It broke one of my ribs with one punch, it hurt Faith pretty bad, and it batted around the rest of us like we were nothing but flies." He paused, before adding. "It also stabbed my father in the throat with his own knife before tossing him off a 3-story building."
Dawn felt herself pull back in shock, Anna gasped, Vi and Amanda exchanged horrified looks with one another, and Molly looked up from her pad in surprise before scribbling down what Connor had said.
Dawn could scarcely believe what she had heard. She'd seen Angel fight before. Only a few times, granted, but she could tell he was a good, no great fighter. She'd never seen him lose a fight before; he was so strong, so fast and agile, like Buffy. So to hear that something was strong enough to have done that to Angel, of all people, er, vampires, was shocking.
A small "Oh", was all she could muster.
"Is it…is it still out there?", Vi asked nervously.
"No", Connor shook his head. "My father and Faith managed to kill it some time ago. We got the sun back when that happened."
The others breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good news", Molly nodded, scribbling down more notes. "You don't mind if I keep that sketch, do you? It would be wonderful for my archive."
"Uh, sure, go ahead", Connor shrugged, puzzled by why Molly broke out in a wide smile at his approval.
"Score one for the good guys", Amanda smiled.
"Hold on a minute, guys", Dawn said, her pretty face serious. "Obviously, that's not the end of our problems. If tall, dark and horn-headed was as bad as it got, then we wouldn't be here right now."
"She's not wrong", Connor agreed. "There's also the matter of the Beast's master. She's the one who started all of this in the first place."
"You think something was controlling this thing?", Vi asked, her eyes widening at the thought.
"Not think, I know", Connor said, his voice hardening slightly. "Cordelia…or whatever's inside her, is the one who's been pulling the strings."
"Cordelia?", Dawn gasped. "She's the Beastmaster?" And, my God, how corny does that sound?, she thought.
"Who's Cordelia?", Molly inquired.
"An old friend of ours", Dawn replied, but her eyes still fixed on Connor. "She was one of the first original Scoobies before she left for L.A."
"She was your friend", Connor deduced.
Dawn shrugged. "Depends on whose version you're getting, but yeah, we consider her one of ours."
"Who, that crazy bitch in black from the factory?", Anna asked, distrustfully.
"Yes", Connor briefly replied.
"Why would you guys want to help her? She's evil!", Anna exclaimed, her voice rising an octave or two.
"No, she isn't", Dawn said. "She's been taken over by something, right? That means whatever's in her is the one causing this, not Cordy. Which means the real Cordy's in trouble. And we have to help her."
Molly gave Dawn a skeptical look. "How? I mean, we're only just getting the hang of fighting vampires, we haven't been trained on fighting someone with other…powers."
"Besides, how do we even know where to begin?", Vi asked. "Or where to find this Cordelia person? Or what she even wants?"
"Pure blood", Connor mused quietly.
All heads turned to him. "What?", Dawn asked.
They could see the wheels turning in his head as he spoke. "She said…that for the baby to be born…she needed blood. From someone special, untainted." He looked at Anna. "Pure."
"Pure? I don't mean to play village idiot, but isn't blood mostly, I don't know, icky?", Amanda wrinkled her brow.
"I don't think he means a 'pure' kind of pure", Molly said.
"So, what, then we're looking for an 'impure' pure…er?", Amanda said, frowning as her logic train began to derail.
"Okay, is anyone else here totally lost?", Vi raised her hand.
"She needs the blood of a virgin", Anna finished softly.
All of the girls' eyes widened at her words.
"A…virgin?", Dawn swallowed. She turned to Connor. "That's why you…kidnapped Anna?"
Connor nodded, averting his gaze to the floor.
Dawn's eyes narrowed in thought. "But how did you know she-"
"Super senses", he explained. " I could smell it on her. She was pure."
Anna blushed furiously, ducking her head. "Oh, swell", she frowned. "Just what a girl needs to hear. That I smell like a prude."
"What is it with the whole 'virgin sacrifices' thing, anyway?", Vi scoffed. "The blood of a virgin, the spit of a virgin, my God, don't these occult spell-writing-guys ever get laid or what?"
"Blood signifies life", Molly explained, her hands folded neatly on her notepad, pencil tucked above her left ear. Looking ever intellectual. "It's what keeps beings alive, grants us life. And a virgin represents purity...A being as clean and many ways unchanged as when they first entered the world. My Watcher taught me this once. The offering of a virgin's blood is seen as the offering of a pure, untainted life. Tabula Rasa. A clean soul, untouched by the darkness of the world. That's why virginal fluids are so potent."
Amanda nodded, impressed by Molly's display of intellect.
"Still think it's a whole big sex crock", Vi muttered.
"So, what you're saying is", Dawn said as an idea began to swirl in her mind. "She just needs any…um, virgin sacrifice?"
"Looks like", Connor said.
Each of the girls exchanged glances, before quickly looking away, uncomfortable. Connor did not miss this action. Even if he couldn't smell it on any of them before, their body language was more than enough to let him in on their silent admission.
They were all…pure.
Suddenly, Dawn stood up. Her eyes, though sparkling with a new idea, were hard and serious, her posture straight and upright. Commanding. "No problem", she addressed the group. "She wants virgin blood? I say we give it to her."
A low mumble of 'What's could be heard among the girls. Anna's eyes widened in fear as she began to retreat from the group. "No, no! I'm not going back-"
"No", Dawn said, her voice calm, her eyes meeting Anna's. "You're not." Her next words, however, stunned them all. "But I am."
They were stunned into silence. For a whole 5 seconds.
And then, they reacted.
"What? You can't!," Connor practically roared.
"Dawn, that's crazy!", Amanda chastised.
"She'll kill you, Dawn! Without a thought!", Molly shook her head, completely opposed to the idea.
"Or", Dawn mused. "I might get lucky, and bring her down. Whichever comes first."
Molly stared at her incredulously for a moment. "Oh, good, that really inspires confidence."
"Buffy's not gonna like this", Vi warned.
"Which is why nobody's going to tell her", Dawn said, blue eyes narrowed, her voice leaving no room for argument. "Connor, do you remember where Cordelia was last time?"
The boy was quiet for a moment, before responding. "Yeah."
"So you could take me there if I needed to get there, then?"
"I could", he said, frowning. "But I won't."
"Wrong", Dawn's steely voice shot back. "You can, and you will."
"You don't even know what you're doing!", Connor said bitingly.
Her blue eyes flashed. "Don't talk to me like I'm just some stupid kid!"
"You think this is going to be easy? Just sweep in and take her down?", he snapped. "You haven't seen Cordelia, not like this. Your friends are right. She'll kill you before you can even think! And she can use your blood to finish the ritual!"
"Then, what?" Dawn retorted, irritated. "We just sit here on our asses while she finds some other poor, defenseless girl to go all Helter Skelter on? Wait until the world goes to hell in a hand basket anyway? Thanks, but I'll pass."
"She's dangerous", Connor quietly said, his anger starting to turn into dread. Not for himself, but for Dawn. The thought of putting Dawn in harm's way, let alone in the path of 'Cordelia' right now, scared him beyond belief.
"I know", she nodded. "But this might be the only way to draw her out. And the only way to save some lives. And let's face it, we don't have much time." She added. "Besides, do you have any idea how hard it is to find virgins in L.A.?"
Anna, once quiet and shy, now barely stifled a laugh, while Vi, Amanda and Molly all exchanged knowing smiles.
"But-", Connor softly began.
"Connor", she put her hand up. "I know. But I'm going, whether you like it or not. I just need to know right now…" She put a hand on his arm. Their eyes met, and something like electricity jolted through them at the contact. "Are you in or out?"
This is insane, Connor thought. She's so naive, so…vulnerable. She can't go up against something like 'Cordelia' alone.
No.
Not alone.
He took her hand in his, and he made his decision. "I'm in", he said softly.
He smiled at her, and she smiled back. "Thank you."
"Me, too", Vi said, standing up. "No way am I letting you face certain death alone. Where's the fun in that?" The redhead wrinkled her nose.
"I second that", Molly nodded, smiling as she stood up.
"So do I", Amanda said, also standing up.
Dawn was touched. She could scarcely believe that her newfound friends cared about her so much that they were willing to walk into the belly of the beast (master) to ensure her safety. She knew she had chosen her friends wisely.
"Thanks, guys", Dawn smiled warmly. "But someone's got to stay here with Anna, keep her company."
"We're probably going to need some backup", Connor suggested. "Just in case something goes wrong. 'Cordelia' is smart, she can figure things out quickly. We might need some extra muscle to make the save."
Dawn considered his words for a moment. "Strength in numbers. Alright then. Amanda, you stay with Anna. Try to stall Buffy if she comes in to check on us. Make up something, anything."
Amanda nodded. "I can do that."
"Good", she nodded. "Vi, Molly, gather your weapons. Knives and crossbows should do the trick. You're coming with us."
"On it", Molly said crisply as she moved to grab her weapons bag.
"Cool, I'm the muscle!", Vi happily chirped.
Dawn smiled at her enthusiasm. "Just be ready to move at a moment's notice. Think you can do that?"
"No sweat", Vi said, her voice unwavering and confident.
"Good", Dawn said, before sheepishly adding. " 'Cause we're kinda making this up as we go along."
"Not exactly singin' my tune", Molly smirked as she handed Dawn a small knife with a black handle.
"There's an side exit passage down the hall, third door to the right", Connor said, checking his boot knives and his stake in the back of his pants waistband. "We can be gone before anyone notices."
Dawn gave him a knowing smirk. "You've done this before, haven't you?"
He grinned wickedly back at her. "More than you know."
"Good. We better get moving", Dawn said before heading for the door, Connor at her side, Molly and Vi anchoring them, weapons in tow.
"Dawn", Anna's voice called out to the group.
The Slayer's sister paused, and turned to look at the newly found girl.
Newly found friend.
"Yeah?"
Anna gave a small smile. "Good luck."
Dawn gave her a grin. "Thanks."
"And don't get killed", Amanda added.
"We won't", Dawn sighed exasperated, before the four young warriors-in-training headed out the door.
"I'm going to hold you to that", Amanda said quietly, exchanging glances with Anna. She prayed to whoever was listening, whatever Higher Power would hear her, that her friends would come back quickly, alive and in one piece.
Because a pissed off Slayer was not good for anyone or anything to be around.
Ally or otherwise.
But then again, some lessons can only be learned the hard way.
Or in Angel's case, relearned.
For quite a bit of time since they retreated up to Angel's private study, they sat across from each other, a small bit of space the only barrier between them.
Her thoughts were cautiously measuring him. She could feel Angel's anxiety coming off of him in waves. Even if they hadn't shared the bond they did, any one could tell that, aside from his good clothes, his face was looking rather worn. Like he hadn't slept in a while. Granted, while he was always master of the brooding from what she remembered of him, he hadn't looked this stressed since the days of his recovery from returning from Hell. But Angel wasn't meeting her look, only glancing down at his hands, wringed so tightly they could've strangled a horse. He had barely spoken since they got to his room. So, she decided to catch him off guard with the one thing she knew was guaranteed to shock him into motion.
"So", Buffy cleared her throat before she spoke. "A son, huh?"
Angel's eyes flickered up to meet hers, and for a moment, he hesitated. This was a topic that he hoped wouldn't come up between them. "I, uh…how did you know about-"
"Word travels fast in the underworld", Buffy noted. "And if that wasn't enough, I found one of your letters to Willow lying around the house earlier this year. Told her all about your son, who you had with…Darla." She had to swallow hard before finishing that sentence. It was like swallowing a small rock in her throat.
He looked down for a moment, shame washing over him. He could see a faint trace of pain in her green eyes and he cursed himself for causing her pain. Again.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you", he began softly. "I just…I wasn't sure how to."
"Well, see, there's these nifty little things that were invented a little while back. They're called telephones", she sarcastically retorted.
"Would you really have wanted to hear it over the phone?"
Buffy paused for a moment, reconsidering her last comment. "No…I guess not." She stared at Angel for a moment, holding her gaze until he met her eyes. "Angel, what's happened to you down here? I mean, Cordy's gone apocalyptically evil, Wesley's sprouting chest hair, and you're…a dad." She had to stop herself for a moment before going on. "Wanna tell me what happened?"
Angel sighed, folding his hands in his lap. "It's more of a question of what hasn't happened."
"Well, then", Buffy suggested, leaning on her knee, her hand raised up to rest her chin. "How about we start at the beginning?"
"Not really sure when this all began, honestly", Angel shrugged.
"Then how about after my last visit here?", Buffy suggested. "You know, the Thanksgiving weekend about four years ago?"
Angel felt his stomach flip-flop at the memory. What Buffy probably remembered was coming to LA, yelling at Angel for his interference with the Native American demons that nearly killed the Scoobies on Thanksgiving, the Morah demon attacking them both, with Angel killing it with a single blow to the head, a flashy light show from the Morah's demise, and then her leaving after about 5 minutes. What she wouldn't remember was how they went hunting for it together in the sewers of LA, of Angel's blood mixing with the demon's during the fight, and killing it, but in the process, becoming fully and completely human.
Or how wondrous her eyes looked at him before she and Angel shared a passionate kiss in broad daylight on the Santa Monica Pier, something out of her wildest fantasies, or their all-day, all-night passionate love sessions, finally getting back together after 3 months apart. Or how they ended up battling the Morah a second time after it regenerated itself, Angel barely able to stand while Buffy fought it alone. Or the demon's ominous words about the End of Days, and its deadly prophecy : "Together you were powerful, alone you are dead." Or how Angel convinced the Oracles to swallow back the day so he could protect Buffy and prevent her death when the End of Days would arise. Or their grieving, passionate, and tearful goodbye as the final seconds of their day, of their happiness, of their one chance to finally be together ticked away to a close.
With a heavy sigh, he proceeded to unravel the story of the ongoing saga of Angel Investigations from there. He started with Doyle's noble sacrifice of himself, and his passing of the visions to Cordelia. He then got into Wesley's joining the team in the wake of Doyle's death, and later, the recruitment of Gunn from the streets of L.A, just after losing his sister to vampires. He told her how the team met Lorne, a wisecracking, but gentle empathic demon who ran the now-demised demon kareoke club Caritas. He then told her of Darla's first return from the grave, of Wolfram & Hart's sinister plans to corrupt him, of enduring the Trials to earn a dying Darla's last chance at a normal life, a gesture that ultimately proved futile. Her heart hurt for him as he recalled painfully how Wolfram & Hart rubbed his failures in his face as they forced him to watch as a helpless Darla was...violated (there was no other word for it) by a returning Drusilla...and the reign of terror the insane vampire and newly Sired Darla had unleashed. Of the rift he caused within his team when he fired his closest friends, and his descent into darkness as he went on a one-man mission to wipe out his Sire, his lunatic Childe and the evil law firm once and for all. She shook her head in sympathy as his eyes lowered recalling Holland Manners' showing him the secret of what made Wolfram & Hart thrive: humanity's own penchant for evil.
"It was…demoralizing", he sighed. "Just…for him to show that what I was fighting for, nothing I did, nothing I could do, meant anything. That what I was fighting for, goodness, decency, was something that didn't exist. That I couldn't win, because there was nothing worth winning."
"No", Buffy shook her head firmly. "That's not true. Angel, he was evil. He tried to corrupt you with lies. There are things worth fighting for, you know that. You told me that long ago, remember?" He lifted his head and couldn't help but to smile a little at the little glitter of a memory in Buffy's eyes. "You once told me, that we don't fight just to win completely, because we can't. We fight because there are things worth fighting for. Our friends, our family…children." She worked a bit to knock the wistfulness out of her voice. After their high school graveyard talk all those years ago, she never gave any thought to Angel having children. Or at least, not with her, anyway. But still, it did hurt that she knew he had a son, a joy fate decreed that she could never share with him.
"I know that now", he assured her, resisting the impulse to reach out and take her hand in his.
He shamefully lowered his head and went on to his admission of defeat, taking shape in his very harsh, physical one-night stand with Darla. Something that he initiated. He could see Buffy's jaw muscles clench hard, her eyes flashing with anger, pain, hurt, betrayal and revulsion, perhaps at Darla, perhaps at him, perhaps both.
He immediately felt the self-loathing creeping into him, angry, no, enraged at himself for putting his beloved through this, for letting her see him falter so badly. She looked away for a moment, resisting the impulses to stand up and storm out of the room, or to backhand Angel across the room and back again for his act of betrayal, of blind stupidity, or to let her tears fall like rain and cry like the girl she was when he first met her. Instead, she simply took deep cleansing breaths , a technique Giles taught her, and nodded.
"Go on", she managed in a small, strained voice.
Angel hesitated. "W-we don't have to if-"
"No", she bit out, before calming herself. "I…need to know the rest of what's happened to you. To stop all of this."
He warily continued, with how he kicked Darla out of his home just after, something that he noticed brought a faint glimmer of delight to Buffy's eyes. He told her of how he worked to mend the bridges and reconcile with his teammates, the hardest of whom was Cordelia, who only forgave Angel after buying her what amounted to over $2,000 in expensive clothes, which was painstakingly hard to find given Cordy's exquisite tastes.
He continued with their visit to Pylea, a word she recognized Lorne using from before, to rescue Cordelia, who went from slave to Queen in just one day, and how the world's different physical laws allowed him to bask in the warmth of two suns and see his reflection in the mirror. Despite her current emotions, Buffy couldn't help but to smile a little bit at the thought of seeing Angel in the sunlight. She had always wanted him to be able to feel those little human things she always took for granted, at least until she met him.
He told her then of his rescue of Fred, nearly insane after five years as a slave in a demon world, and their adoption of her into their family. She chuckled as he recalled the first words she said to him after saving her from an execution: "Handsome man. Saves me from the monsters." Oh, but how many times Buffy had known herself to have 'handsome man' save her on many an occasion. Without Angel, she never would've made it past her first year in Sunnydale. That much she (grudgingly?) accepted.
He paused for a moment, swallowing hard as he vividly recalled, to excruciating, on many levels, detail of their return to the hotel following their adventure, only to find Willow waiting for them, bearing mournful and devastating news…that Buffy was dead. She felt her own eyes start to mist as she saw the flashes of grief pass through Angel's handsome features, even at the memory of it, even as Buffy sat not a few feet from him, alive and well.
"The whole time I was away during that summer", he said, his voice heavy with long-forgotten grief. "I just…I just kept thinking the 'what if's…What if I'd been there? What if I could've stopped it, what if I could've helped her? Or at least…what if I could've died for you…or with you?"
"No!", she said suddenly, fear freezing her heart for a moment, before calming down. "No…Angel, that's exactly why…why do you think I never called you to tell you about what was happening?"
Angel's head shot up and suddenly his eyes became hard. "Why didn't you call me?", he said, frowning. "Buffy, I…I thought you knew that you could always call me if you really needed help. You died and you…you didn't call me", he finished softly.
"That was something I had to do alone, Angel", she said simply.
"What? To die alone?", Angel shook his head incredulously.
"No", she said. "Glory was…she was threatening Dawn. She was going to kill Dawn. My sister. My family. I…I had to do this alone. It was a family affair."
"Which automatically excludes me", he finished softly, a tinge of bitterness in his voice.
Buffy sighed, her patience teetering at its limits. "Not with the excluding", she insisted. "There's just some things I have to do sometimes that don't involve having my guardian angel…or at least, his tall, dark and handsome demony replicate. " He let a small chuckle loose at her words. So similar to what she had called him years ago, her '200 year-old, cradle-robbing, creature-of-the-night boyfriend'.
"Tell you what", she told him. "I'll get to that part later…just tell me what's happened to you first."
He continued with his return in the fall, of how shortly after, he received Willow's miraculous phone call that Buffy was alive, after their meeting together, of which both remembered the passionate, angst-filled and fiery moments of, and then how Darla had reappeared in the hotel…carrying his child. What was more shocking for her to hear was how Darla had human feelings, maternal instincts for the child that would be Connor. But none of that compared to the wide-eyed gaze she fixed on him when he revealed of how Darla, to save her son, their son, would make the ultimate sacrifice: her life for Connor's.
"She really did…does love him", Angel said. "I was shocked, too. 150 years with her, I knew her like the back of my hand. And not once did she ever care or love anything or anyone…not like she did Connor."
"She actually…staked herself?", Buffy asked, still in disbelief.
Angel nodded. "It was either her or Connor. When it came down to it, there was only one choice for her to make. She did what any good mother would do…she protected her child."
After the shock wore off, Buffy actually started to reconsider her opinion on Darla…slightly. She still couldn't forget the whole 'tried-to-kill-me-my-mother-friends-and-Angel' bit, but still, to hear that Darla, of all creatures, would make the ultimate sacrifice for someone other than herself, for a child, Angel's child…well, that was something to consider. Perhaps there was more to this whole 'human Darla' thing after all.
Then he threw her for a loop again when he mentioned how Cordelia, in order to bear the pain of the visions, and to keep fighting alongside Angel, allowed herself to turn into a half-demon. She could scarcely believe that Cordelia Chase, Cordy, Queen C, the Queen of Mean herself, would have willingly sacrificed a part of her humanity to help fight 'the good fight'. Clearly, her old high-school nemesis had undergone a major change since arriving in L.A, getting closer to Angel in the process. She felt oddly jealous of her for that.
He continued with the Fang Gang's attempts to raise infant Connor ( she smiled to herself picturing Angel playing the doting father, changing diapers, reading bedtime stories, fussing over a little baby boy), and of a demented Holtz's improbable return from beyond, thanks to the demon Sahjahn. She had heard about Holtz from around the demon bars in Sunnydale, rumors about a rogue, legendary vampire hunter out to destroy Angelus, but she was so overwhelmed dealing with her own emotional torment of returning from heaven that she let Angel handle it by himself. It was a decision that she had regretted now and again, especially after she heard the end result of that story: a well-meaning Wesley's stunning act of betrayal, which led to Holtz's vanishing into Quor'toth with Angel's kidnapped son in arms. She was horrified when Angel told her of how he, in a fit of grief and rage, nearly smothered a dying Wesley in the hospital with his own pillow to extract punishment.
He went on to tell her of Connor's astonishing return to Earth, as a supernaturally strong, yet emotionally troubled teenager, raised with a hatred for his true father. She felt her shock and anger rise when he revealed how Connor, tricked into believing Angel had killed Holtz, had played on his emotions as a father to lull him into a trap, an ocean prison where he spent 3 months going mad from hunger and horrifying visions. He went on to tell her of his return, thanks to Wesley and Lorne's help, and how he subsequently kicked Connor out of his home. He told her of Fred and Gunn's relationship, and how that dissolved thanks to Wesley's romantic attentions and the murder of Professor Seidel, whom Fred blamed, rightfully, for her exile into Pylea; how Wesley led his own demon-hunting operation in the wake of his exile from the team, and his twisted involvement with Wolfram & Hart's Lilah Morgan (Angel had once mentioned her to Buffy) and Lorne's return to and from Las Vegas.
She was stunned when Angel told her that Cordelia had been made a Higher Being, something she found very suspicious and highly unlikely. Granted, while Cordy's sacrifice was noble, there was no way in hell that could merit nearly enough for that kind of reward. Hell, Buffy herself had saved the world more times than she could count, dying twice in the process, and she wasn't any Higher Being, so how could this be made so easy for Cordy?
He finally revealed that this was ultimately the grand design of an unknown evil power, whom had manipulated Cordelia and possessed her in the Higher Planes, and upon her return to Earth, right under the team's noses, unleashed total havoc on L.A., beginning with the rise of the Beast, the devastating Rain of Fire, the attack on Wolfram & Hart, the blocking out of the sun, the city's horrifying conversion from buzzing metropolis into demon-run warzone, and, when the AI team was desperate for answers...the return of Angelus.
She sat frozen, her green eyes wide in shock. It took her brain a full 15 seconds to comprehend what Angel had said. She shot up quickly from her seat, pacing back and forth restlessly.
Now Angel worried. He knew that when she began pacing, she was in full anger mode. Battle mode.
"Buffy...", he began.
"I…you…I can't believe that you let them do that!", she exclaimed. "Angel, how could you let them bring him back into the world? After everything he's done, everyone he's killed, you actually let your closest friends bring back your psycho evil twin?"
"Believe me, I didn't want him back anymore than you did", he said. "It was actually Wesley's idea, really."
"Figures", she muttered. "Mr 'I've-had-Field-training' jumps on the first stupid idea off of Page One of the 'Apocalypse-for-Dummies' Handbook and you just go along with it?"
"Like I said, I never wanted him back in the first place", he sighed, growing weary of her argument. He knew she, more than anyone, was well within her rights not to want Angelus back, but L.A. was his city, therefore his responsibility. "But you didn't see what we were seeing, Buffy. People were dying, the Beast was unstoppable, the city was in ruins, every single vampire, demon, and creepy-crawly crawled out from every corner of hell and began overrunning this city with death, torment and destruction, and we didn't have a clue of where to look for answers...We didn't have a choice."
"Hel-loo? I'm the Slayer?", Buffy said incredulously. "Chosen One? Little Miss Save-the-World? Scourge of the demon underworld? Ring any bells? Why didn't you call me? Why would you have possibly thought that the better option was letting loose Sir-Stalks-Maims-and-Kills-A-Lot into, hel-lo, an apocalypse?"
"Probably because putting my ex-girlfriend smackdab in the warpath of an indestructible evil juggernaut wasn't exactly ranking high on my 'To-Do' list ", he said, his tone frank.
"You still should've called", Buffy said tautly. "Maybe we could've used Willow, or Giles or…anything but let that snake out of his can!"
"A Slayer wouldn't have made much difference", he said. He braced himself. "The others tried that."
It took Buffy a few moments before she realized what he was talking about. "Faith."
Angel nodded. He told her of how Angelus escaped his prison, how Wesley had contacted Faith, helped her break out of prison to help fight the Beast. How the sheer force and strength of the monster nearly murdered her sister Slayer until Angelus, in true-to-form fashion, stabbed the Beast from behind with a knife forged of the monster's own bones, killing it and bringing back the sun. He proceeded to tell her of how an injured Faith's fight-to-the-death with Angelus left her near death, and how Willow was called in from Sunnydale to help restore Angel's lost soul. She was miffed at her best friend for keeping such a secret from her, especially anything that concerned Angel.
Then she let out a bitter chuckle as she realized Willow's earlier deception. 'Sovereignty', she thought. Good one, Willow...I'm such an idiot.
He went on to tell of Faith's mental mind walk with Angelus through Angel's mind, and how they finally restored his soul, allowing Buffy to breath a silent sigh of relief. He then revealed Cordy's mysterious pregnancy, and their discovery of her manipulation of Connor and everyone else, and what Skip had partially told them when Connor, a mysterious girl and a white-clad, human Darla dropped into the hotel, bearing news of the End of Days drawing closer…and 'Cordelia's connection to the First Evil. Which led to their phone call to Sunnydale and the subsequent crash landing arrival of the Scoobies.
When he finished, she felt her legs begin to give way and she quickly sat back in her chair, feeling somewhat overwhelmed at hearing Angel's whole story from beginning to end. Wow, and she thought that she had problems...although she did. Major ones. And not just the impending apocalypse. But she doubted if she'd have had it any easier if she switched shoes with Angel.
"Wow", she said simply.
"Yeah", he replied.
"That's…a lot", she said, frowning.
"Feels that way, sometimes." He paused. "A lot of the time, actually."
Then, unconsciously, she reached out and grabbed hold of his hand. It never ceased to amaze him how that touch, that gesture would affect him, how his tense muscles would relax, how his tension would immediately dissipate, how his head would suddenly feel 10 pounds lighter. It was a true connection. Soulmate to soulmate.
"It's okay", she smiled simply. "I know now it's been hard for you, but…I'm here now. And if I can help you out in any way, either with the fighting, well, obviously the fighting", she chuckled. "But…if you ever want to talk to someone about this-"
"I'll let you know", he nodded, his famous lopsided grin flashing. Buffy could feel her stomach flip-flop at the sight, God, how she had missed his smile, his eyes, his…everything, really.
"Now", he said, slowly, and, to both of them, regretfully, letting go of her hand. "I believe you owe me a life story."
She looked down for a second, a corner of her mouth slightly turned up. "And boy, is it ever a tale."
Angel chuckled. "Believe me, Buffy, after all of this, I don't think anything could surprise me."
Famous last words…
As if on cue, a knocking on the door was heard. A little annoyed that someone would intrude on their private discussion, Buffy sighed as Angel stood up to open the door…
…Which revealed a bruised, slightly hunched Lorne, clutching his jaw, a small trickle of blood coming down the left side of his mouth.
"Lorne? What happened to you?", Angel asked, stunned.
"Your super-powered tyke and his Slayer junior friends, is what", he muttered, wincing painfully as he said it.
At those words, Buffy's inner alarm went off. "Dawn?"
" 'Fraid so, kitten", he said as Angel helped him over to a chair.
"Tell us what happened", Angel said.
"Well, I was coming up the stairs, just finished showing some of the girls around their rooms", Lorne began. "I mean, I would've come up sooner, but when they found out I could sing, they asked me to do a few requests. And for some strange reason, a lot of them took to either Celine Dion or Pink. Not that I mind Celine's numbers, but-"
"Lorne!", both warriors exclaimed.
"Sorry, I digress", Lorne shrugged. "Anyway, I ran into Connor, your kid sis", he pointed at Buffy, "and their friends barreling down the stairs. They were going somewhere in a hurry, with a bag load of ,my guess, weapons."
"Well, maybe they went to train", Buffy suggested, although that was her hopeful side talking, not her rational, legal guardian side, which was screaming at her that Dawn was about to do something incredibly stupid.
"That was my guess, too, Cherry Plum", Lorne sighed. "But just as soon as I ask them where they were headed to, WHAM! Your kid shoots out a wicked left hook, I'm doing a Mary Lou Rhetton tumble down the stairwell and I see them head off past me before I could stop them."
"You…you're not saying that-" Buffy started.
"Sorry, guys", Lorne said. "Your kids are gone."
Buffy and Angel exchanged worried, parental glances with each other. Neither Dawn or Connor had been renowned for their rational planning, or any kind of planning in general.
Together, this was a recipe for disaster.
To Be Continued…
