Chapter 23
Angel stood behind the glass partition, hands pressed to the glass
watching. It seemed as if he was forever waiting at this point.
His son was in that room. Clad in similar garb to Damon, Jade
and Wesley… dressed similarly to all the Warriors that were present in that
room.
Black tank top, black pants, combat boots on his feet. He was
currently listening avidly to whatever Wesley was saying to him. Damon and Jade standing on either side of him.
“How long?” Cordy asked quietly from beside
him.
“How long what?” he glanced down at her for only a
millisecond before returning his attention to the room. To
his son.
“How long have you known that Connor was Buffy’s child not
Darla’s?” Cordy muttered in her haughtiest voice.
“After Buffy and Xander died,” Angel murmured. “Dawn and
Connor figured it out first, then Giles…”
“And you didn’t think it was important enough to share with
the rest of us? I mean we’re supposed to be your family Angel.”
“Things were awkward enough between us then Cor, you were just starting to get
back on your feet, getting back into the swing of things…”
“So you told everyone else but Gunn and I? We’re supposed to
be your friends not them.”
“Cordy,” Angel shook his head returning his gaze.
“Does Buffy know?”
“I told her that first night we were here…”
“And what did little miss Buffy think of the fact that Darla,
your former lover and sire was the one that gave birth to her one and only
child?”
“Are you trying to
start a fight?” he asked glaring down at her with narrowed eyes.
“Just curious, it’s not like you’re volunteering any of this
information.”
“She’s fine with it,” Angel muttered angling another glare at
her when she snorted in disbelief.
“Of course she is, because Darla would be the one I’d choose to have our child if we were
still together,” she smirked sarcastically. “You can’t tell me you believe that
she’s fine with that, I’m not even with
you and I wouldn’t be fine with that.”
“Well Darla’s dust, Buffy’s back… so are you finished yet?”
“Whatever… what are they doing down there?” Cordy shrugged
turning her attention to the next room.
“They’re setting up the spell or whatever to welcome Connor
to their circle in Buffy’s place.”
“How can they do that without Colin? I thought that was the
whole problem with his being dead and Buffy being MIA
that they didn’t have a complete circle.”
“I guess since Connor and Buffy share the same blood, the
same genes they don’t need the full circle to do it, they didn’t really get
into it.”
“So when this is done it’s your turn then right? You rub some
Mohra blood on your skin, get to be transformed human
again and then have the honor of being called as a Warrior so you can die
young?”
“We have to wait two days after the ceremony binding Connor
before they can do it.”
“So… sunglasses, sunscreen… Polaroid camera
so we can take embarrassing photos of your extremely
white legs and blackmail you with them later?”
“What the hell are you talking about now Cordy?”
“You’re not even close to being ready to be human… are you?”
she muttered in exasperation.
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Connor listened intently to Wesley in front of him. At least
part of him was, the other part was impatiently muttering for them to just get
on with it.
That other part of him was also wondering just what he’d
gotten himself into as he listened to Wesley ramble on and on about bonds and
shield and safety words and all the things he should expect once the bond with
the rest of the Indaran’s was complete.
And then a thought occurred to him and he frowned. If he was
being bound to the group in his mothers place where would Buffy’s bond with the
same group go?
“Hey Wes,” he waited for the Watcher to take a breath and
interrupted. “What happens to Buffy’s bond with the group?”
“What do you mean?” Wesley glanced at him quizzically as
withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and began cleaning his glasses.
Connor found his lips curving into a smirk despite the tiny edge
of panic he was feeling. That was a classic Watcher avoidance technique. He was
almost positive that the Council of Watchers, of which he’d had the dubious
distinction of meeting several members of, taught all their Watchers that
particular move.
Plus he was quite familiar with that very same maneuver from
Giles when he or Dawn asked the older man something that he didn’t want to.
Like something about sex.
“Well this whole ceremony is to bind me into the group in
Buffy’s place…”
“Yes.”
“Well won’t it take away the groups ability to determine
Buffy’s state of health?”
The smile of relief that crossed and then vanished from
Wesley’s face surprised him. Because that was obviously not the question that
Wesley had anticipated avoiding… which made him wonder what the Watcher wasn’t
telling them.
“It’ll remove her presence from the majority of Indaran but
not from your group. Damon, Jade, you and Angel once all the ceremonies are
completed will still be able to sense her within your web. You don’t need to
worry that we’ll not have any idea what’s going on with her.”
“Oh… good…” Connor studied the Watcher who was pushing his
glasses back onto his face. Trying to determine what was being hidden from him,
and by extent the rest of his group. With a barely imperceptible sigh he let it
drop… for now.
“So when are we going to do this?”
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Xander shifted the pillow behind his back and looked
expectantly at the door.
He knew Spike was
out there. One of the grand things about his new found Hunter status was the
whole demon sensing thing.
And he didn’t know how Buffy had stood it.
The never-ending ache that cramped all the muscles in the body
must have been agony for her when she had been with Angel, and then again for
the short time when she had been with Spike.
Of course she was female, with the feminine thing going on so
she was probably used to the muscle cramps.
He on the other hand…
Part of him was really, really glad that he hadn’t had the
whole demon-sensing thing and that Anya hadn’t still been a vengeance demon
when they were together. Because he would have to break up
with her over the pain alone.
He’d never thought he’d had a fairly low tolerance for pain
but it seemed he did.
At least for the moment. He’d
talked to several Warriors, a few Hunters and they all said the same thing.
That eventually he would be so used to the pain that it would be virtually
unnoticeable unless he wanted to use it.
Hopefully he wouldn’t need to.
But that tightening in his gut signaled the presence of a
demon and since he knew that there were only two demons within the compound at
the moment and that Angel would be hovering over Connor’s shoulder until the
ceremony was done it could only mean that Spike had finally come to visit.
But instead of coming into the room the vampire continued to
loiter in the hall, as he had been for about ten minutes. Maybe he was never
going to come in and would instead skulk off into a corner.
He and Spike hadn’t been friend
friends at the time of Anya’s assault, but they had come to an understanding and
they had been getting along fairly well.
Most likely because while he knew that Spike wasn’t sleeping
with Buffy any longer, he also knew that he himself wasn’t in love with the
Slayer any longer. Knew that the crush that had caused him to
despise Angel with everything that he was and ever would be had all but
vanished as they settled into a comfortable brother-sister relationship
finally.
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t still highly overprotective of
the tiny Slayer. And that he wouldn’t cause severe bodily damage to anyone that
dared to hurt her.
Buffy was after all
one of his best friends.
She’d become an even closer friend than Wills because of
their bonding over their exes. Both of them so madly in love
with Angel and Cordy, both so angry that the vampire and the seer had begun a
romantic relationship with each other instead of coming home where they
belonged.
Buffy had asked him once, right before their ‘deaths’ if he
thought Angel had ever loved her, or if it had all been some act to get into
her pants.
He’d wanted to tell her that it had been act, it had been
right on the tip of his tongue to do it. To shatter the illusions she still
clung to, to crush what little bit of faith she still had in her soul mate;
like his had been crushed and shattered.
But instead, for once in his life in an undoubtedly rare
moment of maturity he’d instead drawn a deep breath and told her the truth as
he saw it.
That Angel had loved her, would probably love her forever…
that whatever Angel and Cordy were sharing it would never be anything like what
the Slayer and her vampire had shared.
Buffy had looked at him with gratitude and told him the same.
That whatever their two loves were doing together it
would never surpass what they had shared with the two of them.
So both had clung to the dream that one day, someday Angel
and Cordy would come home.
They hadn’t until it was to late… but the fact that they had
come back at all had only proved them right.
When the door slowly pushed open his eyes once more focused
on the door and with arched brows he watched Spike slowly walk into the room.
Letting the door close gently behind him the vampire glanced
around at the numerous cards, balloons and stuffed critters that now adorned
his room.
He had no idea when the Warriors complex had opened a gift
shop on the premises, could have sworn there wasn’t one, but that could be the
only explanation as to where all the stuff that was currently on all available
surfaces of his room had come from.
Really… because he knew that no one was being allowed out of
the compound as they waited. Cordy had complained about it just that morning.
“So…” Spike started his fingers fidgeting nervously.
“Yeah…” Xander shifted in the bed once more. He was getting
really tired of laying in it but his bursts of strength while growing, still
petered out after about an hour up.
“Hunter huh? How’d that happen?”
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Connor paced the room that he’d been left in restlessly. Jade
had shoved him in, turned on a light and told him pointedly that he needed to
prepare. Then she’d left before he’d had a chance to ask how exactly he was supposed to do that.
Was there some ritual that they’d told him about that he’d
missed? He didn’t think so; he’d been listening fairly intently so he thought
he would have caught something that important.
So he paced, all the while fuming as he waited to be taken
back to the room where the ritual was going to be taking place. Wesley hadn’t
been able to tell him very much about the actual ritual, although they had
covered small portions of it. The gist
of his part was to stand there, offer his hand when asked and be bound to the
circle in his mothers place.
Easy right? Somehow he thought it would be
more intricate than that.
Lacing his hands behind his head he drew a deep breath and
then turned in surprise when he heard the door open behind him.
“It’s time,” Brendan nodded at him.
Oh god, his eyes
widened as the realization that this was it
hit him forcefully. For a moment he thought there might be a quite real
possibility of him losing all control and hyperventilating. Instead he paused
for a moment, picturing Buffy’s face in his mind. The smile she’d had on it the
last time he’d talked to her and followed the Warrior from the room.
Led into the room where Wesley had been preparing him
earlier. Led past his father, his friends, his family that
stood on the outskirts of the circle. Through a small opening in the
circle of Warriors, a spot that Brendan stepped into, effectively sealing the
circle as Connor proceeded into its center.
On the floor he could see four points and as Wesley had
directed him earlier he moved to stand on the outside of the tip of the point
that would normally be Buffy’s, the one across from Damon who he directed a
discreet nod to before returning his attention to Wesley who was at the center
of the circle.
Connor pointedly tried to ignore the other empty spot, the
one across from Jade that should be filled by Colin and he felt a sharp pang at
the thought that he hadn’t even given the fallen male a single thought as they
had prepared.
“We are Indaran,” Wesley began, his voice ringing clear
through the room. Connor felt a tingle along his skin and he realized abruptly
that the witches in the outer circle had sealed that circle. “We fight in the
name of light, we are fifty strong although one has fallen and one is taken. We
implore the powers to grant us access to that which may bind blood to blood.”
“He is blood of our own, blood of she who is Warrior, of she
who is bondmate, sister, daughter, friend,” the
Watcher continued, as Connor watched his eyes flicked between those who held
positions of honor within his Warriors life. Angel, Dawn, Xander,
“The powers hear your request and grant you access to
continue,” Whistler stated from his position behind Jade, Connor almost turned
in surprise at the sound of his voice, the half-demon had not been there when
he had entered the room… he was sure of that. But Wesley’s eyes were still
fastened on him, and as the teen watched, unable to draw his eyes from the
Watcher, they took on an almost iridescent glow of pure white light.
“He who wishes to take this honor step forward, and take your
place among us,” Wesley’s voice rumbled, a resonance that he’d never heard from
the other man and Connor knew, knew
that whoever was speaking now it was certainly not the Watcher.
But still he stepped forward, as he stepped into position,
his feet settling on the point where his mother had once stood he felt power
race through him, around him and he almost fell to his knees… to those outside
the circle he looked peaceful though and through no thought of his own he felt
his eyes raise to the ceiling as emotions that were not his own raced through
his mind.
Joy, sorrow, pain… his mother was in agony, his eyes flew to
Damon’s unable to understand why the others weren’t on their knees screaming
with her in her agony.
Block it
out, Jade’s voice rang through his head and he drew a deep
shuddering breath as he remembered that which Jade had taught him and slammed a
wall, thin at the moment because he hadn’t had much time to construct it and he
felt the pain fade away… although if he reached for it he knew it would be
there.
With a flash of brilliant light, the white light that had
infused Wesley vanished and the Watcher sank drained to his knees. Across from
him Damon’s eyes were still locked on Connor’s.
“It’s done.”
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The pain was gone.
He knew he hadn’t healed all the way through, knew that if he
lifted the blood stained shirt that he was currently wearing he would still see
open wounds and he had figured out nearly two weeks earlier why his captors put
him back in his blood stained clothing when they were finished ‘operating’ on
him.
He knew they hoped that the smell of blood would entice his
wolf self to break through his control.
But he had control over the wolf now, they had come to an
understanding and the wolf only came forward when it knew that Oz couldn’t
handle what was happening… and even then he didn’t fully shift, just a
semi-shift to show that they were one, that they were the same.
He and the wolf were both furious right now, plus the wolf
was nearly howling in frustration as they hovered over the body of their still
companion. The wolf could smell the blood staining the small blonde’s clothing;
the blood that should be enticing the wolf to attack, to devour, to strike the killing blow.
The female was injured, unconscious… even though her wounds
were healing the horror that she had been through was extreme and it would take
at least a day for them all to heal.
It would be a mercy to put her out of her misery the wolf
thought.
But the wolf also knew he couldn’t do that, hence the frustration.
They both shared the same memories of home… that of the Hellmouth
where the wolf had been born, where they had been loved and cherished until
their mistake.
And both knew now that Veruca had been a mistake, although
the wolf had only had the best of intentions.
It was in his nature to seek out one of his own, to mate, to
hunt with someone who wouldn’t fear him. Oz had been scared of hurting the
little Witch, the one that he’d chosen as mate so the Wolf had offered him
someone else. And they’d lost both.
The Wolf had howled in fury as his human counterpart had
walked away. Veruca was dead, they had killed her to save
The control that they had found had them rejoicing… until
they had returned home and lost it again.
In reality he’d not needed to leave, he had control over the
wolf, but he knew that control would waver whenever he saw her in the others
arms… so he’d left once more. Gone to
But he hadn’t been able to. He wondered how it had been so
easy for her to find someone to replace him and he couldn’t find anyone to
replace her.
Kneeling over the fallen female as he heard the door open he
allowed the wolf to rise to surface within him, his
features shifting as the wolf pushed to dominate fully and Oz refused it… not
with Buffy injured.
Snarling he saw the familiar brunette vampiress
enter the room. Neither the Wolf nor Oz understood what Druscilla’s game was.
They’d heard her ranting in fury when Buffy had been brought into the cell he’d
been occupying.
“None of that now my little wolf,” Dru
shook her finger at him as if he was in insolent child as she floated into the
room. The door shut behind her and she stood there for a moment nostrils
flaring as she scented the blood within the room. Kneeling lower he prepared to
leap at her, to attack… she could only be here to hurt him, to hurt Buffy.
His shock registered on his features as instead of attacking
her face distorted into one of anger.
“Wha…?” he started as the brunette
snarled turning to glare at the door.
“They hurt her… that wasn’t part of our agreement,” Dru muttered her eyes narrowing as she moved closer.
“Don’t…” Oz warned her as he stood between the two women. “I
won’t let you take her.”
“Take her? Silly boy,” Dru smiled
suddenly her expression changing from anger to one of humor in a split second.
“Why would I want to take mummy? I’m the one who’s going to save her after all…
and you if you want to be saved.”
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