TITLE: Chapter Four ~ Who Can You Trust?
SERIES: The Reunions Series
AUTHOR: LJSAngel
EMAIL: [email protected]
DISCLAIMER:  Yeah right.  If I owned them, the world would be a happier place with an Angel that's human and kicks ass.  Also he would be locked in my house.  And chains.  Scantily clad.  With a filthy grin on his face.
TIMELINE: Past "Eternity" on AtS and Faith is still comatose so it's before "This Years Girl"
SPOILERS: Timeline
SYNOPSIS: Despite Angel giving into Buffy's pleas for a second chance at their relationship, Xander does his best to keep them apart.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Some nice indulgent B/A fluff- picture of domesticity and all.  *grin*
FEEDBACK: "Never has something so simple be so obvious."  "So you want feedback?"  "Once again you've managed to boil a complex thought down to it's simplest possible form."  "So that's a yes?"
RATING: PG-13 aka 12
RELATIONSHIP: Buffy and Angel; Anya/Xander
CONTENT: Little bit of violence.. yada yada yada

“We were going to talk,” Buffy said quietly.  The graveyard was deserted.  Angel and Buffy had patrolled together many times here when they were together.  Sometimes they patrolled, sometimes not.

“I’ve been trying to think of what to say,” Angel admitted.

“Me too.  Here goes,” Buffy drew a breath.  “I meant what I said.  At the Bronze and in front of the museum, and I think Cordy’s right.  We are more miserable apart.  Or I am.”

“Me too.” Angel put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.  “You know I am.”

“Am I supposed to feel bad or happy?” She asked.

“I’m happy.  Not totally happy, because of the thing.”

“The soul thing,” Buffy said slowly.  “What was it like for us, on the Day That Never Was?”

Angel touched her cheek.  “It was perfect.  You were so happy,” he whispered.  “So was I.”

“What did I say?”

“There was one thing you said falling asleep.  You said that you had felt the way that you had always wanted to feel. ‘ Like a normal girl falling asleep in the arms of her normal boyfriend.’ “

“I still haven’t felt like that.  Except, then.  Y’know when I did but didn’t.”

“Not even with the soldier guy?” He said awkwardly, deliberately not saying his name.

“Riley?” Buffy shook her head.  “I don’t know why.  I mean he’s normal but then I’m not.  We’re two people.  With you,” she said with difficulty. “With you, I feel as though I’m not me.  Nothing else around us is happening.  I’m not the Slayer, I’m just Buffy, with you, Angel.  With Riley I’m always aware a demon could jump out.  I’m tensed and ready for it but it never comes, the demon, I mean.  I’m always waiting.  Nothing’s finished because that’s the way that life works.  When it’s you and I, us, the human world and the demon world just slip away.”

Tears rolled down her cheek. She looked down.  Angel lifted her chin and wiped away the tears.  “I have wanted to tell you that since you left.”

“I feel the same way.”

“So can’t we?  Just see each other often.  I’ll come to LA, you can come to Sunnydale.  We can make this work.  We have to make this work,” she insisted, nearly begging.

“I want to...”

“Can’t we just be together?”

Angel drew a breath, not that he needed it, and kissed Buffy.  Surprised at first, then she melted away into his arms.  Buffy kissed him back passionately back.

“Angel,” she murmured.

In the background, there was the sound of a coffin snapping and a new vampire pushed back the dirt and soil on top of him.  He sat up and looked around.  He was awake with a new sense of being.  His senses were enhanced greatly from when he was a mortal.  He climbed out of his grave with no difficulty although he wasn’t used to what this body could do.  He knew what this new body needed.

Blood, he thought to himself.

He saw two lovers and advanced towards them.  He stopped.  He could sense one of them was a vampire.  An older one.  He looked at the piece of wood cleverly concealed in the girls sleeve.  She knew of vampires but yet she was kissing one in a graveyard at night.  Could it be the Slayer and the vampire Angelus or Angel ?  His sire had whispered to another demon after he turned him, vowing to kill them both.  He could do it for him but his vampire being was just starting.  It was too early to face the Slayer.  The vampire turned to walk away then he stopped himself.  He was hungry, so what the hell?

He rushed towards the Slayer and the man she was with, growling viciously like an untamed animal.

Angel held Buffy in his arms at last.  He turned her round and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a vampire coming towards them.

“Buffy,” he warned, forcing himself to pull away from her.  Buffy spun round.  As an instant reaction, Buffy punched the right side of the vampires face, then the left.  She roundhoused him at the side of his head.  The vampire stumbled back to where Angel was waiting and he continued where Buffy had left off.  Buffy took a brief moment to smile at the resurrection of the Buffy-Angel tag team.  She looked over her shoulder and four Initiative guys were running towards the new vampire.  Riley was one of them.  They were all in full camo gear and sporting heavy weaponry.  Was there an extra dangerous demon on the loose?

“Bag it!” Riley ordered.  He was head of the team.  He saw Buffy and she was with the ‘good’ vampire.

“What one Sir?  Monitors show both are cold,” a soldier asked.

Riley stared at Buffy.  Her eyes burned through him, telling him what to say.  Riley then looked at the vampire Buffy had named Angel.  He was doing some major damage on the new HST.  His military training told him to capture all Sub Terrestrials, regardless of present nature and appearance.  Buffy’s stare told him otherwise.  His heart, which was broken, wanted revenge on the ‘good’ vampire.

“Take the new one,” he decided.  He knew things may never go back to the way they were between him and Buffy once this Angel guy was out of the way if he killed the vampire now.  Looking to long term.  This demon lover thing won't take.

“But, Sir.  Orders?”

“Special case.  Apparently, he means no harm,” he said in a low voice.

“Sir,” the Private said obeying Agent Finns orders.

Riley looked at Buffy who wasn’t looking at him now.

Angel kicked the vampire into a tree.  Two of the military soldiers charged up their blasters and shot them at the vampire.  It looked like the vampire was having involuntary spasms all over his body.  He fell to the ground unconscious.

“Where are they taking the vampire?” Angel whispered to Buffy who was now standing beside him.

“Their big underground lab,” she replied.

“Couldn’t he escape?”Angel half-protested.

“Spike did.”

Two commando guys gagged it and tied a bag over it’s head.  They then lifted the HST under the armpits.

“Do you always let these guys take away vampires when your on patrol?”

“No,” Buffy said as she slid her stake down her sleeve and threw it like it was a dagger.  The stake tore into the vampires flesh, split apart his rib cage and pierced his heart.  The soldiers dropped their grip of the vampire and it exploded into dust as it hit the ground.

“Who the hell do you think you are, interfering in a military operation?” Forrest barked.

Buffy blinked.

“Me?  I’m Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.  Mission statement check. ‘Stake vampires.  Save the world.’  Your mission statement?  ‘Capture vampires.  Use bits of him to create a super monster which has yet to be caught.  Or let him escape never to be see again.’ ” Buffy smiled innocently at him. “Who are the good guys here?  Raise your hand.” Buffy lifted her hand into mid air and nobody else did.  “We’re agreed.”

“We use HST’s for scientific means,” Forrest growled.

“Let’s recap what we learned in first year of training, shall we?  Vampires are bad, they should be staked so they can’t cause any more harm to us, humans.” Buffy looked over her shoulder.  “Except from him,” she corrected quickly.  “Special case.”

“And how is it a special case?  When it comes to sub-terrestrials, there’s no line,” Forrest argued.

“There’s not?  You’re obviously not looking hard enough.” Buffy drew a line separating her and Angel from the Initiative with her foot.  “Good guys, bad guys.  For future reference, Angel has a soul.  Read up on it.”

“A soul?  That changes him?  He’s still an animal,” Forrest pointed his blaster at Angel.

“You’re not going to do that,” Buffy told Forrest.

“Oh yeah?” Forrest charged up his gun, ready to fire.

“You do that, I will break every bone in your body, including the little ones.  You are not going to do that.”

“She’s right.  Stand down,” Riley ordered.  Forrest refused to budge. “Stand down!” Forrest lowered his weapon.

“Back to base team,” Riley ordered.  All of the team, except from Riley and Forrest, headed back towards campus.

“You want a war with the Initiative Slayer, you’re way out of your depth,” he threatened.

“Ever stopped a ascension before?  Or killed a really old vampire called the Master?  How many times have you saved the world from the Judge or Acathla or any other demon that tries to mess with me?  None.  Thought so,” she growled in a low voice.

“Forrest, back to base.” Riley ordered.  Forrest ran to catch up with the rest of the Beta team.  Riley took one look at Buffy and did the same.  Buffy turned round to Angel and half-smiled.

“Tense,” Angel remarked.

“I don’t think he likes me,” she said.

“That would be my guess too,” he said in a low voice, almost whispering.

He tilted her chin up and kissed her softly.  They both heard a church bell ringing three times.

“We should maybe get back to Giles and the others.  I could sleep and you could do whatever else you do,” Buffy said chewing her lip.  “Before that,” she said as she kissed him.  Buffy took his hand and they turned to go out of the cemetery the opposite way that the Initiative had went.

“The patrol went better than it used to, from a non-demon friendly perspective.  We got 30% slayage and confrontation, 20% talking and the rest in nicer stuff,” Buffy smiled.

“It used to be 90% nicer stuff,” Angel commented.  He felt happy inside.

Not too happy though, he thought.

Buffy opened Giles door quietly and shut it after Angel.  She saw Anya and Xander lying in an armchair sleeping on each other.  She then saw Willow asleep at her I-Book.  Cordy was sprawled out on the couch and Wesley was talking with Giles in the kitchen.  Buffy thought the Watchers council must devote a whole section of the Watcher training course to staying awake at night.  She stopped gestured to Angel to stay out of sight of Wesley and Giles so she could hear what they were saying.

“We’re both agreed, ” Wesley said.  “There are some certain signs that Matrus may rise again.”

“Yes, agreed,” Giles said taking off his glasses.  “I don’t quite know how to tell Buffy the seriousness of it.  It would be helpful if you, Angel and Cordelia helped us on this matter.”

“We couldn’t leave Sunnydale.  We came here to help Buffy after the vision Cordelia had.  We wouldn’t leave until we’ve done so.”

“Giles, do you think Buffy could defeat Matrus?  Honestly.”

“I’m not sure.  I fear for her Wesley.  You know I always will, but this is different.”

“Yes, it is.”

Buffy had enough of the listening gig and silently walked over to the door.  She opened it and then shut it again, like her and Angel were just coming in.

“Hey,” Buffy said brightly.  “You two still up?  I came back here to check in then I’ll go to my house for some sleep.”

“Buffy, I’m glad you’re all right.  How was patrol?”

“We were fighting a new vampire and the Initiative showed up.”

“Angel, is he..” Wesley started.

“Present,”  Angel said moving into Giles and Wesley eyesight range.

“Was, Riley with them?” Giles asked, pausing in the middle of the sentence.

“Yes,” Buffy said.

“Giles has been informing me of your relations to this Initiative.  Any friction, between him and Angel?” Wesley asked Buffy.

“Hey, I’m right here.” Angel spoke up.

“There was major hostility in the air.  Maybe that was because I threatened to break every bone in Forests body,” Buffy mused.  “Riley wasn’t excessively wiggy, but kind of withdrawn.  Although, he did stop them from taking Angel so he isn’t out for revenge.  At the moment.”

“Why would he want revenge?” Giles asked, feeling that he wasn’t up to speed.

“He would probably be feeling a little revengy because I broke up with him at the Bronze earlier,” she said with difficulty.

There was silence.

“Because of Angel?” Wesley asked.

“Wesley that’s Buffy’s business.  It doesn’t concern anything we should know,” Giles said as he made a cup of coffee.

"Again standing right here," Angel reminded them.

“It’s OK Giles.  The reasons are pretty obvious to everyone,” Buffy said smiling slightly.

“You’re back together?” Giles asked.

“We’re trying to work something out,” Buffy said, looking at Angel.  “Maybe a long distance relationship would be good.”

“Are you sure that’s wise just now?” Giles said, concerned. “The last thing I want is for you to be hurt again.”

“I won’t.  If you don’t take the chance then you don’t know what might have happened.”

There was another moment of silence, this time it was more awkward.

“Did you find anything out about Matrus?” Angel said breaking the silence.

“Yes, we did,” Wesley said picking up a book and leafing through it.  “Basically, it says that on the anniversary of the Slayer defeating Matrus, the Hellmouth will open, provided the preparations have been successful, and let through the vampire and his demon.  He will be constricted to under the surface of the earth.  If he goes above ground, the entire cosmic scale of power will shift and the universe will collapse.  That includes demon dimensions.  Nothing will exist.”

“If he gets into this world, he’ll literally be a walking time bomb.  It’s not like the Master, who had no choice but to stay underground.  Although vampires being as selfish as they are, he’s not likely to end the world that way if he can’t stay around and boast about it afterwards.” Giles glanced at Angel. “No offence.”

“None taken.”

“So we stop him getting into this world,” Buffy suggested.  “What if he does get through passport control at the Hellmouth, what happens then?”

“Matrus and the Brethren will try to do what they failed to do thousands of  millions of years ago.  Pull us into their demon dimension,” Wesley explained.  "He Sired the Blessed Three on his last night on earth.  The first three vampires to walk the earth."

Angel was interested and chewed his lip.  The Master was his Grand Sire after all.

“So we try not let it get to phase two of the ‘Destroy the World’ plan.  How?” Buffy asked.

“That’s easier said than done.  While the Brethren complete their rituals, the Ring will keep anyone that stands in their way, you, occupied.  We know where, the library, but it would be helpful if we knew when this was happening.  Willow was trying to calculate the date using one of Jenny’s programs,” Giles said, lowering his voice when he said Ms Calendars name.

“It’s a week on Saturday,” Angel said also glaring down at the carpet on the mention of Jenny.  He replayed it for the millioneth and seventh time.  The stalking, the terrorising, then the final snap.  The break he loved to hear.  He shuddered.

“How do you know?  It’s not in any of the volumes,” Giles asked putting his glasses back on.

“At the museum, Serhaf said that it was a week this Saturday.”

“How do you know he’s not screwing you over?  He knew you weren’t Angelus and dropped a bookcase on you.” Buffy asked.

“Serhaf’s too bright and far too cocky.  He thought it wouldn’t matter if he told me because he was sure he was going to kill me,” Angel explained.  “He also said it had to be on a full moon.”

“Which could be true,” Wesley mused.

“Like in the movies,” Buffy realised out loud.

“Excuse me?” Wesley said.

“Y’know, the James Bond complex.  If the bad guy has a gun to the good guys head, he thinks it’s OK to tell him the entire plan.  When he’s doing this the good guy picks his handcuffs and wrestles the gun off the bad guy.  The police show up and he’s headed for a lengthy stretch cracking rocks.  The solid kind, not the drug kind,” Buffy said.  When she looked up Giles and Wesley were staring at her.

“Never mind,” she said in a small voice.

“I believe we were talking about saving the world from a vampire before Buffy went and spoiled the ending to every Scooby Doo episode made,” Giles said.

“Little light with the funny there Giles, but 10 out of 10 for the pop culture reference.  There’s hope for you yet,” Buffy said smiling sarcastically.

“It’s maybe best you go home and rest.  There isn’t much room here.  There could be fierce battles ahead.” Giles reasoned.

“There's always fierce battles ahead.  And I don’t have any lectures tomorrow, so I can be full Slay Buffy.”

Buffy turned to go out the door and home to her bed for some sleep.

“I’ll walk you home,” Angel offered.

“That’d be good,” she said smiling.

Angel followed her out of the door and took her hand.

Buffy took her keys out of her pocket and put the silver one into her front door lock.  She pushed the door open and held it for Angel.

“You not coming in?  You’ve been invited.” Buffy teased.

Angel just smiled in return and followed her inside.

“Are you hungry, like thirsty hungry?” Buffy asked.  “I don’t usually keep any blood around although there might be some left from my moms book club.” She joked thinking back to a friend her mom met in the book club, Pam, who ended up as a super zombie.

“I brought some.  It’s in Cordelia’s bag in the kitchen.”

“Be prepared.  You weren’t any chance a boy scout?”

“They didn’t have the scouts in 18th century Ireland,” Angel reminded her.

“Right,” Buffy said.  “So are you going back to Giles’s for the research party that goes into the small hours of the morning or are you staying here?”

“I was thinking I might stay here.  I’m a little tired.  I’ve been doing the day shifts at work lately,” he added jokingly.

“Well, I’m not sure if my mom has turned my room into a storage room for the gallery yet.  If she hasn’t you can sleep in my room, if you promise to behave yourself.”

“I promise,” he laughed.

Buffy looked at Angel.

“I feel better with you in the room.”

There was a silence between them.  They understood what each other was thinking.  Every feeling, every emotion was coming flooding back to them.  Buffy studied Angels face for what seemed like forever.  She turned round and went up the stairs.  Angel ran his hand along the rail as he followed her upstairs.

Buffy opened the door to her room.  It looked like a packing crate factory.  There were boxes and crates in piles and her bed looked like an island in the middle of it.  There was no room for Angel to sleep on the floor.

“Oh,” she said.  Angel joined her in the doorway.

“I can sleep on the couch, if you want.”

“No, it’s all right  We’re adults,” she reasoned. “We can sleep together in the same bed and not do anything.  Right?”

“Technically, you’re a young adult and I’m way past pension age.”

“You’re getting good at the joke stuff,” Buffy told him.  She took the answer to her question to be a yes.

Buffy squeezed past the crates on the floor to her wardrobe.  Hidden by the door and the boxes, Buffy changed into her ‘yummy sushi’ pyjamas.  She took down her hair from a bun and brushed it.  Buffy shut the cupboard door and climbed round the crates next to her window, onto her bed.  The Slayer reached over and set her alarm clock.  She looked over to the door where Angel was draping his duster, sweater and trousers over a nearby crate.  He took off his boots and sat them at the side.  He was only wearing his white vest and a pair of black boxers.  He took off his watch and put it in his duster pocket, but kept his chain and rings on.  He climbed effortlessly through the crates to Buffy’s bed.

“Right or left side,” he offered.

“Right,” Buffy said.  Angel lifted up the duvet on the left side and lay down.  Buffy started laughing.  Angel turned round to face her.

“What?” Angel asked curiously.

“Nothing,” she said trying to stifle her giggles.

“What?” He insisted.

“Your boxers,” Buffy said before she started to laugh again.

Angel lifted up the duvet and looked down at them.

“What about them?”

“They’re black.”

“Shouldn’t they be ?” Angel asked puzzled.  He raised his head off the pillow.

“No, they should be.  That's the point.  Nearly everything you own is black.  We have got to get you some nice, cute boxers.  Like Snoopy or Winnie the Pooh.  We can go to The Disney Store in a mall so it won’t be a pile of dust wearing some cute Tigger underwear instead of you.”

“Disney boxers?”

“It’s not as if anyone will see them.  It won’t damage your ‘Dark Avenger’ rep. in LA.”

Angel laughed and lay back on the pillow.  He turned to face Buffy.

“It’s weird,” Buffy said.  “But nice.”

“I know.  Us sharing a bed again, hopefully without my soul going walkabout.”

“I was talking about the thought of your new boxers.”

Buffy woke up to her old alarm clock buzzing.  She tried to lean over Angel to switch it off.  Unbalanced, she fell on him awkwardly.

“Morning,” Angel said.

“Did I wake you?“ Buffy asked pulling herself off him.

“The alarm did.”

“Oh.  You want breakfast?  Since going to college I can cook french toast, badly.  But it’s progress from not being able to cook anything at all.” Buffy remembered Angel wasn’t one for solids.  “Not that you could taste it.  Which is a plus for you.  Probably,” she finished lamely.

“I’ll make you breakfast, if you get the milk,” Angel offered.

“That would be nice,” Buffy said smiling.

“I’m just gonna go for a shower,” Angel said.

“OK,” Buffy said as she sat up.

“In a minute.  Once the feeling returns to my arms and chest,” Angel said smiling at Buffy.

Willow stirred in Giles’s armchair and opened her eyes.

“Will, you awake?” A voice said.

“I’ll be a minute Mom,” she replied groggily not knowing where she was.

“Will.” The voice said again.  “Will, do you know there’s a big, green, giant frog on your shoulder ?”

Willow opened her eyes and jumped up at the word ‘frog.’

“Where?  Where?” She said in a panicky voice, frantically brushing invisible frogs off her legs and shoulders.

“Willow, I was kidding,” Xander said laughing.  “I just love to make you jump.”

“Alexander Lavelle Harris!” Willow said furiously as she hit his arm.  She also knew that he hated his middle name and decided to ridicule him.

“Ow,” he yelped.  The he confirmed it with a series of ‘Ows’ as he walked to the kitchen.

“Lavelle?” Anya said screwing up her face.  “That’s your middle name?”

“It’s one of these thing you have no control over.  Like the weather or the stock market,” he said still wincing in pain. “Will, have you been working out?  Or taking steroids because we talked about that.”

“No, you’re just a wuss.” Willow retaliated.  Xander shot her a look.

“Where’s Buff?” Xander asked noticing she hadn’t taken up an excellent opportunity to make jokes about him and his embarrassing middle name.

“She went back to her house last night after patrol.” Giles explained, he was in his bathrobe and waiting for Cordelia to get out the bathroom.

“Where’s Angel?  Please tell me he’s hanging upside down from the rafters above me, sleeping,” Xander said to Giles.  Xander looked up.  “No Angel.  That would mean he’s with Buffy.  He’s been with Buffy - all night.  In her house.  Alone.  Last time that happened, he went all I wanna destroy the world on us.  Who’s for going over there and dragging his un-tanned, demon ass out into the sunlight?” Xander said anxiously, making lots of hand gestures and pacing nervously.

“Can you say overreaction?“ Cordelia said coming out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped round her head.  She sat down on the couch where she had slept.  “Angel wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that again.  There’s also no way you’re going to incinerate my boss.  It’s like when we were dating, that’s also known as temporary insanity, you were always rushing off to protect Buffy.  Boy, all this weirdness in Sunnydale and you never change.”

“Maybe we should call her,” Willow suggested to keep Xander cool.

“That is what I’m gonna do,” he confirmed.  He went over to Giles desk to use the phone.  He pressed speed dial 1.  As it rang a couple of times, Xander began to get impatient.

“Hello Summers residence,” Angel’s voice said answering the phone.

“Angel?  I need to speak to Buffy,” Xander said.  There was a short silence as Angel passed the phone to Buffy.

“Xander, hi.  What’s up?” Buffy said on the other side of the line.

“That was quick.  You both in the kitchen or something,” he said anxiously.

“I’m in my room,” Buffy said, not sure where the conversation was going.

“Angel’s in your room?  Couch too good for the undead,” Xander said in a worried, panicky voice.

“There’s boxes everywhere.  Mini storage warehouse in my room and there’s no floor space. Xander, we’re adults.  We can sleep in the same bed and not do anything.  Maybe not possible for you and Anya,“ Buffy reasoned trying to pacify Xander.  She knew that he was only worried about her but it was like having another parent.

“Angel is in your bed?” Xander said in an unmanly high pitched shriek.  Everyone in Giles living room turned round and looked at Xander.  “You slept together?  Buffy, stake, now,” he ordered.

“We slept beside each other.  Don’t wig Xander.  We didn’t do anything.  It was a full clothes on event,” she reassured him.  “Yummy sushi pyjamas with boxers and vest.”

“Boxers and vest?  Has the man no immortal shame?  We’re talking duster, shirt, jumper, jeans-stiff ones so he can’t move, then under that boxers and vest.”

“Xander,”  Buffy said in her I know your worried but don’t wig anymore tone.

“Sorry.”

“We’ll be over as soon as we’ve had a shower.”

“Separately?”

“Yes.”

“You taking the scenic route?  From the end of your street to here you get a great view of the sun.”

“No, we’re taking the sewage route.  Very unscenic but not fatal.”

“Remember and lock the bathroom door.”

“Bye Xander,” she said as she hung up.

Xander put the phone down and turned to face everyone else who was listening in.

“She’s fine,” he said sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders and folding his arms.

“What was Xander saying?” Angel asked.

“Nothing much,” Buffy said shrugging her shoulders, but she knew vampires have heightened senses so Angel probably heard every word.  “There’s a entrance to the sewers beside the sidewalk outside my house.  Could you make it if I left it open and you pulled your duster over your head?”  Buffy asked trying to change the subject.

“Probably,” Angel smiled.

“OK, we have a plan.”

“So does our plan include me having a shower ?”

Buffy felt a little rush of excitement when Angel used the word ‘our’.

“Sure,” she said.  “Go ahead.”

Angel lent over and kissed her softly, brushing her lips.  He got out of bed and manoeuvred himself around the crates to Buffy’s bedroom door.  He took his clothes off of the crate and went into the bathroom.

Buffy sat for a minute, thinking about what just happened.  It seemed so weird, so surreal and most of all, so very much what she wanted.  She got up and scanned the selection of clothes in her cupboard.  Her choices were limited because nearly all her clothes were in her dorm room.  She chose a pair of black leather pants and a red halter top.  She took the black leather jacket that Angel gave her a couple of years ago, before she knew he was a vampire, and put it on.  She purposely left it here because she was trying to forget about Angel.  Buffy felt it belonged in her closet, where she tried to keep her memories of her first and now only true love.

Buffy would have a shower when she got back to college.  Buffy also needed to go back there for weapons.  She fixed her collar and went down the stairs to the kitchen.  Buffy opened the fridge door to get some orange juice.  She saw Cordelia’s bag on the work top and took out the paper bag with the packets of blood in it.  Buffy took out one and tore the corner.  She reached for a mug in the cupboard above her.  Buffy poured the animal blood into a mug.  Angel came up behind her.

“Didn’t realise you were a closet vampire,” he said.

“Angel.  Didn’t hear you.  Hot or cold?” Buffy offered.

“Cold’ll do me.”

“OK,” Buffy said handing him the mug of cold blood.  As she passed it to him, Angel put his hand over hers.  Buffy looked up at Angel and he was looking back at her.  They both moved their hands to the right and placed the mug back on the counter.  They put their fingers through each others and kissed passionately.  Angel became overwhelmed with the feeling of guilt.

This is wrong, I can’t, he thought.   If I love her so much then why do I keep on hurting her?

Angel broke away and covered his mouth with his hand.  He turned away from Buffy.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.  “I, just...”

Love you, Angel wanted to say but he couldn’t finish the sentence.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, he knew he shouldn’t because when he did he felt a rush of excitement and happiness. Just saying the words to Buffy knowing that they were true, made him whole.  Sheer contentment, perfect happiness, bliss.  That brought back the demon within and it hurt Buffy more than any other demon or vampire.

“We should go.  The sun’s quite low just now.” Angel took his coat of the stand and put it on, still not facing Buffy.

Buffy understood Angel’s actions.  For months she had to live with the guilt of killing her boyfriend when she had made Angel truly happy and he lost his soul.  Then she had to send him to hell.  No matter how good a Slayer she was, Buffy thought she could never manage to go through that again.

“I’ll go and open the, uh, sewer entrance.  You have your breakfast,” Buffy said gesturing to the mug sitting on the counter.  “You don’t, you won’t grow up into a big strong vampire.”

Angel walked back into the kitchen where he and Buffy had been in an embrace only minutes earlier.  Buffy opened the door slightly so as to not let alot of light in and went outside.  Angel picked the mug and drank it slowly at first then he gulped it down hungrily.  He heard Buffy close the front door as he finished.  Angel looked up at her.  He didn’t realise he had his vamp face on until he felt his fangs with his tongue.  He stared down at the mug ashamed and hungry for more.

“Sorry,” he apologised softly.  Buffy took a Kleenex form the kitchen table and wiped the blood from the corners of Angels mouth.  From Buffy’s tender touch, Angel morphed back into back into his human appearance.

“It’s open for the Angel 50ft dash,” Buffy said.

“You getting something to eat?” Angel asked, concerned in case she ran herself down.

“Giles has food.  A English choice of food, but food still.  My Mom doesn’t usually leave alot when she goes away to conference things.  I’ll pig out there.”

Angel briefly smiled at her and the pulled his duster over his head.  He threw the door open and sprinted towards the man hole.  Angel jumped down into it without letting off much steam.  Buffy locked the door behind her and leapt into the manhole behind Angel.

“Toast much?”  She asked.

“Don’t think so.  The house across the street blocked the sun.”

“You know, I think you’d be the only person in Springfield who wouldn’t have shot Mr Burns,” Buffy commented.

“Who’s Mr Burns?” Angel asked.

“You didn’t see ‘Who shot Mr Burns?' In The Simpsons?”

Angel shook his head.

“You have so not lived.  Mr Burns had this big freaky sun blocker thing put up in Springfield.  Then someone shot him.”

“Sun blocker?  So who shot him?”

“I think it was the baby.”

Buffy gently pushed her hand into Angel’s.  Angel looked down and softly squeezed Buffys hand as they walked.

“Hi guys,” Buffy said coming through the door of Giles house.  The scooby gang past and present greeted her with a series of hand waves and a couple of ‘heys’.  “I need to borrow your duvet,” Buffy told Giles as she ran upstairs.

“All right.  May I ask what for?”  Giles said pouring out tea.

“It’s a long run from the sewer to your door.  Angel’s duster might not be enough,” Buffy shouted from Giles’s bedroom.  Seconds later she came downstairs with Giles red duvet rolled up under her arm.

“Won’t be a minute.  Leave the door open,” Buffy called to them as she ran out the door.  Buffy ran across the street and jumped down the man hole.

“Here,” Buffy said as she gave Angel the red duvet.  Angel draped it round his shoulders and pulled it over his head.

“This how they used to wear it back in the day?” Buffy joked.  Angel jumped and landed on the concrete in front of the sewer entrance.  He sprinted again towards Giles door.  Buffy pulled herself up out the man hole and sprinted after him.

Angel ran through Giles’s open front door and braced himself on a wall.  Buffy came through the door seconds later and shut it.

“You all right?” Buffy asked Angel.  He was bent over trying to recover.

“I’ll be fine in a minute,” he gasped.  Because of the pain, Angel had on his feral face.  He was willing himself to return to his human appearance.  When the pain subsided it did.  He looked up and hoped nobody noticed.

“Angel, out in the sun again?  Pass me my brush.  It’s on the table beside you,” Cordelia said.  Angel picked up the brown brush on Giles table and gave it to Cordelia.  “Thanks.”

“Have you found out anything new?” Angel asked Wesley.

“Only that your suspicions of the Hellmouth opening a week today are confirmed.  There is both a full moon and Willows calculations seem to suggest that it’s on that day too.”

“We also found out that they Brethren have to occupy the area around the Hellmouth for the week prior to the ceremony and make sacrifices.  It doesn’t how the sacrifices are made.” Willow said referring to the Apocalypse Chronicles For The Future book that she was holding.

“Don’t you have any classes, I mean lectures, today Will?  Gotta get out of the High school theme,” Buffy said, muttering the last part.

“Nope.  Free day to help save the world,” she replied with a pencil in her mouth while she was busy typing.

“Me too.  I’m gonna put my mortgage on this and say that they’re throwing people down there for this Matty guy to eat.  That means that they’re already at the Hellmouth,” Buffy said.

"You don't have a mortgage Buff," Xander reminded her.  He grinned at her.  "That's for people in the real world."  She mouthed something at him and he feigned shock and disgust.

“They probably used the ‘sacrifice’ at the Bronze to distract you while they were moving in.  That’s more important than wanting to kill you.  Demon rule number one : Kill and hurt lots of people.” Anya said.

“And how is that relevant to what we’re talking about?” Giles snapped.  He was irritable in the morning when he hadn’t had his tea to soothe him.

“You never let me finish.  Rule number two : Don’t take un-necessary risks with demon killers when you are trying to destroy the world,” Anya said annoyed.

“That means they’ve already set up shop in Sunnydale High,” Buffy said.  “I’m gonna do some re-con.  Then at night fall, we’ll try work something out,” Buffy said, part thinking outloud and part ordering herself what to do.

“Work something out?  You planning to sit down at a table and negotiate who gets the sofa and the cat?  I’m thinking stakings all around,” Xander said.

“I meant that.”

“I’ll come with you, watch your back,” Xander offered.  He nodded to Angel who was running a burn on his hand that hadn’t been covered by the duvet under cold water.  “Y’know, since they don’t make vamp sun block.”

“For watching only.  Might be boring,” Buffy warned.  She thought Xander might be looking for action.

“Please, boring?  Watching vampires argue over whether the TV goes next to hole in the wall that looks into my old Biology class couldn’t be a more a fulfilling way to spend the day,” Xander said putting on his jacket and opening the door.

“Or you could stay here and have sex with me?” Anya offered.  She wanted to tempt Xander out of danger.  Xander stopped and turned around.

“Watching vampires - sex with Anya.  On any other day you’d win hands down but this is important.  Can you understand?” Xander asked cautiously.  Even though she wasn’t a vengeance demon anymore, Anya could strike him down with a look.

“Yes, just be careful,” Anya said reluctantly.  “I wasn’t in the mood anyway.”

“You weren’t?” Xander said with a hint of disappointment in his voice.  "That's just not Anya."

"Well i am but i didn't want to make you feel bad."

"That's my ex-demon," he grinned kissing her.

“Yes, be careful,” Giles repeated.  Buffy and Xander gave the innocent glances and then went back to High School.

“Here we are.  Sunnydale High.  Feel kinda sentimental, don’t you?” Xander said as he and Buffy stood back to look at their old school.

“No room for sentimentality in vampire Slayage Xand,” Buffy said.

Xander adjusted the backpack of weapons on his shoulders.  They got the weapons out of Buffys chest at college where they stopped.  Partly for the weapons and partly so Buffy could get a shower and changed.  The weapons included stakes, crosses, holy water, a mace and a very large and very heavy axe.

“Why do I have to carry the weapons?” He complained.  “You’re the one with superhuman strength and the birthright.  The Chosen One et all.”

“I wasn’t chosen to carry weapons.  Don’t be a wuss,” Buffy argued.

“Weird.  It looks kind of more burnt than the last time I saw it,” Xander remarked on the walls.

“What do you mean, it looks the same?  Last time you saw it was when we stopped those demons from jumping in the Hellmouth and killing us all,” Buffy said in a low voice, nearly whispering.

“Really?  When?  I gotta keep a journal of these things.”

Buffy and Xander walked half crouched along what used to be the school corridor.  Buffy could hear chanting coming from the library.  She climbed up onto a mound of bricks where the library wall used to be.  Xander followed suit, keeping low.  They both scanned the situation in front of them.

There were seven Brethren vampires gathered around the Hellmouth.  They were chanting something in Latin and sprinkling water down the hole in the floor also known as the Hellmouth.  There was a young girl lying on the ground not moving  She was the sacrifice.

“The girl,” Xander whispered.  “What do we do?”

“I don’t know Nighthawk.  We can’t let the vampires know we know where they are, but we can’t just let her die.” Buffy was torn.  A vampire walked over to the girl and turned her over.  Her head rolled into Buffy and Xanders view.

“Isn’t that....”Xander started.

“Michelle Blake.  The bitch bet me at Homecoming.  Then she cried.  Ooh, wittle baby was upset by the big bad balloons.  Idiot.” Xander looked at Buffy. “I’m done,” she insisted.

“So do let her get thrown down to sleep with the demons or do we do the heroic, stupid thing?” Xander asked.

“Neither.  Look,” Buffy said.  The former Homecoming Queen stirred but stood up in a vampire face.  She looked round, becoming accustomed to her new bodies strengths and weaknesses.

“Wow, is there anyone in our graduating class who isn’t one of the undead or not turned to the dark forces?” Xander asked referring to Harmony, Tucker Wells and Jonathons Bell Tower incident.

“Well this changes our game plan,” Buffy said.  She noticed two really old vampires that were standing by a table.  They were talking to another vampire who was younger but his face and head was masked.  The younger vampire adjusted the collar to his long, black, leather jacket.  She recognised one of the older vampires to the right of the leather vampire from the Bronze, Dredus.  He had no right arm like the one at the Bronze and he wore glasses.

“I think that’s one of the Blessed Three,” Buffy suggested. “Not the young one or the one on his right hand side, but the other one.  He looks really old.”

“Come again?  What to do with lefty?”

“The three vampires sired by Matrus.  I wonder if they can open the Hellmouth without The Master.”

“If they can’t, no more apocalypse?”

“That’s the theory.” Buffy looked at what was on the table.  There was three jars of blood, a staff, three knives and three brown robes.

“We should go before someone sees us,” Xander whispered.  “I mean now that Michelle’s a vampire, she doesn’t qualify for the ‘Must Save’ list.  She qualifies for the ‘Must Stake’ category.”

“All right.  I mean this was a no touching gig.”

Buffy and Xander slid down the pile of bricks, the weapons bag with them.  There was a guard vampire patrolling the hall behind Buffy and Xander but hadn’t noticed them yet. Buffy grabbed it off Xander and reached inside.  She pulled out a stake and half turned.  Buffy threw it like a dart and it pierced the vampires back, drove through the ribs and hit the heart.  The vampire exploded into dust, without realising anyone was behind him.

“Not bad,” Xander remarked.

“Thanks.”

“The Slayer, she can be trouble.  Don’t wait to take her out.  Do it now,” the leather clad vampire advised in an English accent.  He held a cigarette in his right hand.

“If you believe this so strongly, why don’t you do it?” Dredus asked.

“Recently, I’ve had a little trouble in that area.  Doesn’t stop you.  But she will if she doesn’t end up dead.” The English vampire gestured to the old vampire to his left.

“What’s wrong with him?  Doesn’t say much does he?  A mannequin or something like that?”

“Do not be so disrespectful of Mortus.  He is just back from a long trip from Hell to consort with other demons and the devil himself.”

“So how is big red?  Enjoy the party?  How do you get into hell these days?  The bus service can be a bloody nightmare.”

Mortus snarled at no-one in particular and said nothing.

“Mortus will recover in days.  He can only return unscathed because he is one of the Blessed Three,” Dredus explained.

“Like I give a damn what that means.  I’m just helping you lot with the local folk for money and I’m bored.  I’m actually not bothered about destroying the world now.  I’ve told you most things about the Slayer.  You want more like where she hangs out and stuff, then I want more money.  Tell the Blessed Solo that once he comes out of his standing coma.” The English vampire threw his cigarette down and crushed it with the heel of his boot.  He walked away.  “If I were you I wouldn’t waste time.  The Slayer and her gang probably already know about your little rendezvous with Hell by now.”

“Gang?  I had come to understand Slayers work alone.” Dredus asked.  The vampire turned round.

“No, this girl has friends.  So far she’s had two Watchers, a werewolf, a vampire with a soul, a witch, an ex-demon and two other kids.  That makes her especially dangerous and unpredictable.  You’d do well to get rid of them too.  Got to go.  People to see, places to go,” the English Vampire said as he walked out of the crumbling library.

“Hey guys.  We got the scoop on the Brethren hideout,” Buffy said as soon as she and Xander opened Giles door.  Buffy went into Giles kitchen to tell him what she’d seen.  Wesley and Angel were in there talking to Giles also.

“Guess who’s a vampire?” Xander said in an unmanly sing-song voice.  He threw himself on the couch next to Cordelia.

“Surprise me,” Cordelia said.  Since Buffy and Xander left, Cordelia sent Wesley to Buffy’s mom’s house to get her bag.  She was now dressed and she was tweezing her eyebrows while looking in her compact mirror.

“Michelle Blake,” Xander said triumphantly.

“The bitch who bet me at Homecoming?  You’re kidding.  She cried at the crowning.  Itty, bitty baby upset by the big bad balloons and the big bad crown.  Stupid freak,” Cordelia growled.

“Woah, woah, deja vu,” Xander announced. “It’s like you two were never apart.”

“What two?” Cordelia asked.

“You and Buff,” Xander said.  Cordelia stared at Xander blankly.  “Never mind.  The moment’s gone.”

“..and you seen seven of the Brethren around the Hellmouth saying a Latin incantation.  That fits in with the description given here,” Wesley said handing Buffy a book and pointing to an illustration.

“That looks about right,” she said.  “What is it?”

“It’s the Circle of the Resurrection.  It must be formed every dawn and every sunset.  At sunset each day of the week, ‘the numbers shall decrease by one,’ ” Wesley said quoting from the book.

“You mean one of the circle’s gonna do a bungee jump down the Hellmouth.  Only without the bungee rope and the coming back up part,” Buffy said slowly.  “So if I go back tomorrow, only six guys will be singing around the Hellmouth?”

“I think so.  With each day they would become weaker in numbers when they should be trying to get stronger,” Giles said.

“Which explains Michelle Blake,” Buffy said.

“They’re more likely to over compensate when it becomes nearer to next Saturday.  Replacing the loss of a vampire with two, three or even four more,” Giles said.  He looked down at the volumes sitting next to his microwave.  “I need to go to the magic shop.  I recall seeing a book there that may be of some help.”

“So it’s big business for Sunnydale Funeral Home.  Man, those guys must make a packet as it is,” Buffy said.

“Hey, how come you guys are talking the end of the world without us?” Xander shouted through.  “Got a plan yet?”

Giles, Buffy, Angel and Wesley walked out of the kitchen and explained the situation.

The sun had just set over Memorial Hill cemetery when a crypt door opened.  The English vampire lit another cigarette and closed the door.  He waited.

About ten minutes later, Dredus, cloaked in a brown robe walked up in front of him and stopped.

“Do you have it?” Dredus asked.

“Do you have the money?” The English vampire asked in answer to the cloaked vampires question.

“10 grand,” Dredus said handing over a manila envelope stuffed with notes.  “It’s all there.  Count it if you must.”

“I will,” he said leafing through the 10 and 20 dollar bills.  He looked up.  “There’s blood on them.”

“Acquiring the money was,” he paused, searching for the right word. “Messy.  To say the least.”

“It all right.  Gives it a nice smell.  I like it.  Just as long as I can use it,” the English vampire growled.  He put the cigarette between his lips as he continued to count the money.  “If it is thrown back in me face in places where they accept bleedin’ Mastercard and Switch, you're the second person I’m killing.”

He finished counting the money and it appeared to be all there.  He reached inside his long black leather coat and pulled out his own manila envelope.  He gave it to Dredus.  The old vampire took out the documents and leafed through them.

“This will be very useful.  Name, address, places she can be found...” Dredus murmured.

“Dredus, mate.  Have you changed your gear since 500 BC ?  Cloaks, robes and sandal shoes.  What message does this send out to other vampires and the Slayer even?  She’ll have you in the new spring wardrobe before she stakes you. Look at me.  I’ve got the black leather jacket, the black jeans and the boots.  It says ‘ I’m hard and I’m up for it !’  To me, your outfit says ‘ I have not accepted that the Romans lost yet’ and ‘please do feel free to come and cut my head off.’ “

“Are you quite finished?” Dredus said annoyed.

“Too much free time on my hands since my problem.  If I can’t sleep in the day, I watch Oprah and stuff like that.  If I can’t do the part, then at least I can look the part,” the English vampire conceded.

“You never told me the problem that you have which renders you incapable of killing the Slayer, William.”

“I told you not to call me that, potato head,” he said pushing back Dredus’s shoulder with his finger.

“Potato head ?” Dredus repeated quizically, not looking up from leafing through the pages.

“Toy Story was on prime time.  If you’re the brains of the operation, then I can see it collapsing half way through the season when you’ve got so much promise.  Like Leeds United.  I had a grand on them to win this year, y’know cheer me up if Manchester United lost, but they didn’t.  I had the urge to bite David O’ L.. ”

“Where’s the battle profile?” Dredus interupted.  “That was going to be a very useful piece of information, yet you left it out.”

“That’s because it’s a bloody waste of paper!  All you need to know is that this girl is the best Slayer yet.  Not only can she kick any vampires ass, she has friends,” he said in a disgusted voice.  “They’re one of her biggest strengths, but her biggest weakness.  You play a game of Hide and Seek by hiding one of the Slayerettes, she’s gonna come seeking-and staking.”

“No weak punches or leaving her back open?” Dredus asked puzzled.  “Every Slayer has a weakness.  They’re not perfect.”

“Trust me, this one’s as near to perfect as they come.”  He glanced at his watch.  “Got to go.  See you around Hell,” the English vampire said throwing his cigarette butt into the bushes.  He headed for the cemetery gates.

“Giles, just the man I wanted to see,” a voice said from the shadows of the alleyway.  Giles looked round and drew a cross out of his brown paper bag.  He edged towards the darkness where the voice was coming from.  He held the cross up and quickly turned round the corner, hoping to shock whoever, or whatever, knew his name.  A blond figure jumped back in pain as the cross was held up against his chest Giles still couldn’t see his face.

“Whoa, Giles.  No need to be nasty.”

“Spike,” Giles said, half annoyed and half relieved that it wasn’t a dangerous vampire.  “What do you want?”

“Why do you always assume that I want something?” Spike looked at Giles impatient face.  He cleared his throat. “Because I do.  I’ve got some information for you and your Slayerettes.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  I know what’s going down in town.  I got the inside track.  Let’s go to your house and talk this through,” he said putting arm around Giles shoulder.  He looked inside the bag Giles was carrying.  “What is that?”

“They’re books Spike.  You read from them.  Wonderful words and sometimes illustrations.”

“No I mean this one,” he said picking up a red leather bound book with gold lettering on the front.  “I’ve heard about this one.”

“What about it?”

“That’s gonna cost you Rupert mate,” Spike said dropping the book back into the bag on top of the other books.

“Giles,” Willow called to him as he opened the door.  “We found more prophecies and stuff.  What’s he..” Willow started as Spike followed Giles over the threshold.  He was reading a book that Giles had just bought.  Angel leapt and grabbed Spike’s shoulders.  Angel threw Spike against the door and as he did so, it slammed shut.

“Whoa Angel mate.  Not happy to see me?” Spike said surprised.  He usually got all the information on the demon world, but news of Angel’s arrival had crept past him.

“What do you think when the last time I saw you, you were torturing me.  Stabbing me with hot pokers, ripping my nose apart with pliers, threatening to kill my friends.  Figure it out,” he snarled.

“Ah, those were the good old days of murder, blood and torture.  That was living, but I’m fixed now.”

“Fixed?” Angel said loosening his grip slightly.

“Big chip in my nut, oh great Sire,” Spike said tapping his head.  Angel dropped his grip.  Spike turned his head away and then without warning, swung his right arm to punch Angel, when he got a mind splitting, tearing headache.

“Bloody hell!” Spike shouted to the ceiling.  “He’s a vampire with a soul, can’t I even kill him?”  Spike angrily stalked to the kitchen and grabbed Giles’s scotch

“...Having a vision,” Cordelia said.

“No, it’s just Spike can’t hurt anyone,” Wesley explained, not looking at her.

“No, I’m having a vision,” Cordelia practically screamed.  Angel ran over to Cordelia and held her up.

Cordelia saw flashes of a girl and guy lying on the grass, looking up at the sky.  Then the ground shook and split, separating the couple.  They were screaming and Cordelia felt their terror.  An ugly, red demon rose out of the gap and grabbed the guy.  The girl tried to escape.  She was clawing the ground to pull herself away.  She reached for a hand before the demon snatched her. The demon and couple were being forced back down by a powerful entity.

The vision stopped and Cordelia focused on Angel.

“Cordelia, what did you see?” Wesley said almost immediately

“It was like another Hellmouth.  The ground shook, cracked and big red demon exploded out of it.  He took a guy and then it was like something powerful pulled it back down.” Willow handed her some painkillers and some ice cubes wrapped in a towel

“Could it be?  Cordelia’s long lost twin brother, Satan?  Big Red himself, how’s he keeping? Say ‘hi’ for me.” Xander joked.

“Say it again, I’ll kick your ass and be Cordy... the... Xander Slayer,” she threatened, still wincing.

“Wow, those visions make you crankier than when you have a little bit of PMS.”

“Xander,” she said menacingly.  “It wasn’t the Devil.  It was more of a snakey thing.”

“Was it like this?” Giles asked handing her a book.

“Yeah, only in colour.  You should really get some kids so they can colour it in for you.  Make it interesting.  What is it?” Cordelia asked in a digusted voice for the last three words as she studied the picture closely.  She dabbed her temple with the ice.

“It’s Matrus’s Demon.  It’s forcing it’s way through the barrier.  Soon it will pass easily, and everything else in that dimension will follow.”

“I need air,” she announced.  “What I don’t get is that it’s already happened so what can we do?”

“There must be someone there the Powers want us to talk to,” Angel mused.  He put on his leather jacket and fixed the collar.

“No offence Angel but you ain’t much of a talker.  I feel like a little paranormal activity.  I’ll be Mulder if you’re Scully,” Xander offered.

“OK,” Angel said slowly, thinking why Xander of all people would offer to go with him.  Angel came to the conclusion that Xander was wanting to keep Buffy and him apart.

“Good,” Xander said kissing Anya and following Angel out the door.

Cordelia followed Angel and Xander but only went as far as the steps over Giles’s door where Spike was sitting.  She sat beside him.  Spike regularly took swigs of the bottle of Scotch in his hand.  Cordelia held the ice against her head.

“What’s wrong with you?” Spike asked.

“Visions.  Like a hammer in your head, rattling around trying to hurt you as much as possible.”

“Sounds familiar,” Spike said, drinking from Giles’s bottle again.  “Bloody chip.  If I try to hurt anyone, I get these migraines.  I’ve had people clubbing me with axes and maces, but this is much worse.  Drink?” Spike offered Cordelia.  Cordelia shook her head.  Once she started, she probably wouldn’t stop and the last thing she needed was a hangover to wake up to.

“Painkiller?” She said holding out the bottle for him.

“Hell yes.”

There were several ambulances, fire trucks and police cars on the scene as Angel and Xander drove up in Angel’s classic black T-Bird.

“Think they’ll mind us crashing the mortuary party?” Xander quipped.  Angel ignored him.  He watched a young blonde policewoman wrap a blanket around a small brown haired woman.

“She seen something,” Angel said to Xander who was riding shotgun beside him.  He got out the car, not taking his eyes of the young woman.

“Got your back Scully,” Xander joked as heslamed Angel’s passenger car door .  When he got no response from Angel, Xander breathed out, “Tough crowd.”

The girl sat down on an unburnt park bench with a blanket round her and held a plastic cup of coffee that one of the ambulace drivers offered her.  She stared down into it and watched a cloud of steam rise up out of it.  As she followed it, her eyes travelled over the dark figure in front of her.  She jumped.

“I never heard you,” she said, explaining her jitteryness to the stranger.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people say that to him.  I’m looking into mansize collar and bells,” a boy around her own age that was standing next to the dark man said to her.  It was quite a shocking contrast.  Here was a man, clothed in black, including the long duster, with a 20 year old who was waring a t-shirt that sported the phrase- ‘25 cents porn star.’

“Hi,” the man started unevenly.  “I’m Angel and this is Xander. We just wanted to see if you were OK, you look quite shaken up.” Angel and Xander sat on either side of the girl.  “You might just want to talk about what just happened.  Even if it seem’s a little..”

“Weird, freaky, out of the ordinary, out of the blue, big ferocious hell beast kinda thing,” the man called Xander said.  “For example.”

“I was gonna go with ‘different’,” Angel said smiling slightly at the woman.  She laughed and warmed her hands on the coffee.

“Xander,” she said, as if asking for confirmation that she got the name right.  Xander understood and nodded.  “Got it pretty much in the bag with his description.  I’m Sarah.”

“Do you remember anything else Sarah?” Xander asked.

“Just that the park rumbled and cracked.  Then it engulfed in flames.  I could only hear Josh and Annette screaming.”

“Josh and Annette?” Xander asked.

“My friends.  We were going to see a movie with my boyfriend Thomas Scott.  He didn’t show so I tried to phone him.  I couldn’t get reception so I went across the road.  Josh took Sarah onto the grass and was showing her the stars and the names.  He’s studying astrology UCS,” Sarah explained with difficulty.  “He was studying astrology,” she corrected weakly.  She sat her coffee down on the ground.

“When you heard screaming, what did you do?” Angel asked.

“I looked round and saw this, big red snake with hands coming out of the ground.  It took Josh.  I ran over onto the park.  It felt weird, like the ground was electrically charged.  I reached for Sarah’s hand but she slipped and it got her too.  When the big, thing, went down the hole again, the ground pulled back into place.  Like elastic.  I got thrown back and the everyone arrived.  They never saw it so they wouldn’t believe me.  I’m suffering from ‘post traumatic stress’,” Sarah put her head down and then lifted it back up with tears in her eyes.

“Hey, hey,” Xander said softly.  “We believe you, OK?  We do.  It really happened, you’re not going postal.”

“To make the day a whole lot better, I think my boyfriend Thomas is going to break up with me.”  Sarah buried herself in Xander’s shoulder.  Xander was quite shocked that an attractive woman would rather take comfort in him than in handsome brooding deadboy.  Hesitantly, he put his hand on her head and stroked her hair.

“Why would he want to do that?” Xander said comfortingly.  “I’ve known you for two minutes and I can see that you’re bright, intelligent, funny, cute, beautiful, attractive, sexy..” Xander drifted off.  Sarah lifted her head off Xanders shoulder.

“Maybe you and I could, y’know..” Sarah said.

“Ooh, I’m kind of...attached.  If I wasn’t then, yeah I would jump at the chance.  But being attached and all.  She’s not one you want to mess with.  Big on revenge.  Very vengeful and scary.  You could even say she used to make a living out of it,” Xander laughed nervously.  “First date would be in the morgue,” he explained.  He then remembered that Buffy and Owen had a date in Sunnydale morgue once and he and Willow had a pretend date there too.  “Dead,” he added.  Angel smiled mischeviously while watching Xander’s face.  When Sarah turned to face him, it was seroius and straight.

“What about you?  We would be good together,” she propositioned him.

“As long as you aren’t expecting sunny walks in the daisies and days on the beach,” Xander sniggered.  Sarah looked at him funnily.  “He, uh, has a skin condition.”

“Night’s OK for me,” Sarah said biting her lip seductively.

“Thing is, I’m sort of in attaching mode with someone.  Like Xander’s girlfriend, you don’t want to mess with her,” Angel joked.  Sarah sighed and put her head in her heads.

“Sarah?” Xander asked.

Sarah’s head flung backwards against the bench.  It was ugly and contorted.  Her eyes blazed a fiery, angry red.  She started speaking quickly in latin.  Angel was having trouble keeping up.

“What the hell?” Xander said, moving back from her.  “What she saying ?”

Over Sarah’s chanting voice Angel translated.

“We summon the Blessed Three to the valley of the sun in this year.  Mortus - death- from the underworld. Remana- bloodlust- from Italys dormant volcanoes.  The Master-Leadership and power- from the other dimension.  We call this triangle to bring Matrus back to being.  We summon you!  We summon you!  We summon you!”

Sarah dropped to the ground, powerless.  Angel and Xander looked at her lying on the ground unconcious.  Angel stooped to help her.

“Angel, what are...” Xander started

“It wasn’t her.  She was channeling the Brethren.  Now we know who the Blessed Three are,” Angel said putting one of Sarah’s arms round his neck.  Xander put the other round his.

“Was it just me or did she mention bringing the Master from another dimension?  I wasn’t a big fan of that part.  I mean, Sunnydale, especially the Buffster, don’t want a encore of the Master’s Hell raising exploits,“ Xander said as he and Angel dragged Sarah to Angel’s T-Bird.  Xander opened the passenger door and slid her onto the seat.

“In another dimension, the Master rose and Buffy, Buffy didn’t come back,” Angel said with difficulty.  Xander jumped into the backseat and Angel put his keys in the ignition.

“They want to bring this Master here.  To bring back this other guy?  I may be stating the obvious here, but we got work to do.”

“Hey guys,” Xander greeted.  “Is it OK if we brought a friend home for dinner?”

Angel and Xander carried Sarah longways with Angel holding her shoulders and Xander holding her feet into Giles’s house.  The rolled her onto the couch.

“Who is she?” Giles asked biting into a doughnut.

“She seen Cordelia’s vision happen,” Angel said.

“Then did this freaky channeling thing,” Xander added.

“It told us who the Blessed Three are.  We brought her here in case she does it again it could be useful.”

“What do we know so far viewers?  Let’s sum up.  A week today, the very first blood- sucking fiend is going to rise and then bring back Mr. Snake who’s going to kill us all.  To bring back Mr. Snakes friend, The Blessed Three have to be present and correct.  The lucky guys are The Master, some chick who’s a big fan of blood hiding in a volcano and a dead guy Morti from Hell.  Come on down and collect your prize!” Xander said.

“Very concise Xander,” Giles said approvingly.  Xander beamed.  “Without the cheesy 80’s game show host bit.  What do you mean by The Master?  He’s dead.  Buffy, eh, smushed his bones.”

“Another dimension's Master G-Man.  We’re gonna borrow him to destroy the world.  Talk about free trade,” Xander said.  Where’s Buff?”

“Patrolling.  Two vampires have to come from different worlds.  We couldn’t stop them.  We could kill the Italian vampire.  The triangle wouldn’t function without her,” Giles said.

“We can’t send...” Xander started then he turned in time to see the Slayer shutting the door.  He opened his arms wide. “Buffy!  She is in the middle of her mid termy thingy's and can’t go gallivanting off to Italy.”

“What about Italy?” Buffy asked, oblivious to what was going on.

“We found out who the Blessed Three are.  If they all get together and chant then our boy Matrus will get out of jail free,” Xander said.

“It’s Remana, an Italian vampire who is bound to a volcano.  She represents bloodlust.  Then there’s Mortus, one of the lords of Hell, he represents death.  The last one is the Master.  He calls the triangle of power.”  Angel explained.  He expected Buffy to react to his name but she ever even flinched.

“That’s a good, ‘cause the Master’s dead and gone.  So, end of bad prophecy, right?” Buffy said.  Angel walked up to her slowly and took her hand.

“They’re bringing back the Master from another dimension to perform the ritual,” Angel said softly.  He could see the shock and fear in her eyes.

“No big.  I can kick his ass again.  No big,” she said calmly.  Buffy went Giles fridge and took out an apple juice carton.  Angel, Giles and Xander looked on concerned.  “Really, it’s no big,” the Slayer insisted.  “Honestly.  Where’s Will, Anya, Cordy and Wes?” Buffy asked, changing the subject.

“Wesley’s seeing an old friend who might help us, Cordelia’s visiting her parents and Anya went home,” Giles answered.

“Will?” Buffy asked.

“Weekend lecture, I think,” Giles said.

“She doesn’t have any lectures today.  She told me this morning,” Buffy said slowly.  There must have been for a good reason for Willow to lie because she felt guiltier than the average human being.  “I’m gonna go to our room,” Buffy told the others, putting on her jacket.

“Want some company?” Angel offered.  He was worried because she was more wigged by the Master making a guest appearance than she was letting on.

“I’ll be fine,” Buffy declined.  As much as she wanted to be near Angel at the moment, she wanted to see Willow alone.  On her way to the door, she stopped and looked at them.  “What were you saying about Italy?”

Xander looked awkwardly at Giles and Angel as if to say help me!

“We’ll talk about it when you get back.  Now run along and tell Willow that her tea’s been on the table for 20 minutes now and she’s in big trouble,” Xander joked.  Buffy knew something was wrong because he usually did those kind of jokes under pressure when he was hiding something.  She decided to leave it for now and interrogate him later because she was more worried about Willow.

 **END OF CHAPTER FOUR**
 
 

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