"Have you spoken to anyone in the Slayer's group recently?" The demon who called himself Whistler asked.
"No, but I haven't seen any of them for awhile." Angel answered. "I tried to find Buffy on Halloween when that mess was going on out there." He told him, as he poured himself a glass of pig's blood. "I went to her house but she never came back."
"She didn't even know it was her house, bud." Whistler told him. "People were turned into their costumes, so why would you assume she'd go somewhere her costume persona would never recognize as her own?"
"I didn't think about that." Angel admitted.
"Yeah well, you never do think things through, Rat Breath." Whistler grumbled. "Or you'd never have considered chasing after that bit of jailbait in the first place."
"Buffy's and my relationship is not a topic of discussion. Why are you here, Whistler?"
"Your relationship may not be a topic for discussion, but the Slayer in general is. Your boy Spike killed her on Halloween while she was all helpless and had no idea who she was or what she could do."
The glass Angel was holding snapped as he crushed it in shock. "She's dead?! I'll kill Spike!"
"He's already dead." Whistler pointed out.
"You know what I mean!"
"Yeah and you don't know what I mean. I mean Harris put paid to both him and your darling little girl, that nutcase Drusilla. Always knew that kid had more balls than you did."
Ignoring Whistler's commentary on his balls or lack there of, Angel said incredulously. "Xander Harris killed two Master vampires? By himself? How?!" He demanded to know.
"Kid's been touched by a Higher Power. Beyond the Powers I serve. I have no clue why, although it seems to have been the Power called on for that little costume drama on Halloween and he doesn't register on any magical radar, so it's not with a Magic boost of any sort. He's organizing the rest and changing things. Things are off the projected path now and I have no idea how that's going to affect the future."
"Can't your bosses do something about it?"
"There's this little thing called free will. We can't interfere in the free exercise of it and Harris is very good at exercising his free will. It's how he got around that prophecy in the first place, after all. You're no longer needed here, Angel. Not that you were following your script anyway. Do what you want to do and be aware, just because we no longer have a use you, doesn't mean others don't."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Angel demanded to know.
"It means the Powers I serve, aren't the only Powers in existence and the only known vampire with a soul is a prize others might value. Watch your back, Rat Breath, some might want you as a pawn and others might just want you out of the way. And don't forget, Harris knows exactly what you are, he always has."
"A vampire."
"Oh, you're more than just a vampire, but none of it makes him think very highly of you."
"When's Buffy's funeral?"
"I didn't bother to find out. Her continued existance wasn't something we planned on anyway. Those plans I mentioned were never meant to include her and Harris has found a way to block some of them and some of our opponents plans as well. Not to mention the new plans that some had, to make her as dead as she's meant to be."
"Why do you make plans if you can't interfere in free will? Don't your plans interfere with free will?"
"No, interfering with free will would be influencing them directly, like with thrall. What we do is study their response to the situations we present. No one is allowed to directly interfere. Like sending you, you are back up in case they can't handle something themselves."
"But aside from Buffy, they're all normal humans, what could they possibly do that a Slayer couldn't?"
"You have the gall to ask that after Harris stuck a cross in your face and both threatened and shamed you into action? An individual human can force the world to conform to his will. You've seen how much history unfold around you? We and all the other Powers out there had nothing to do with Hitler, for instance and he nearly exterminated entire races. Don't underestimate what humans can do, especially motivated ones. And Harris is as motivated as they come."
Between one breath and the next, Whistler was gone and Angel was left to ponder his words. And to wonder about all those so called Powers out there that might think he was a prize worth having. Having for what and how could he make it work for him? And when was Buffy's funeral anyway? And was her dying on Halloween one of those plans some had to 'make her as dead as she was suppose to be?'