~~~Part 1~~~ The hotel was deadly silent. Shadows darkened corners of the Hyperian making the mammoth building just plain creepy. Cobwebs clung to the light fixtures above, occasionally swaying in the unnoticeable breeze, pieces of broken glass littered the marble floor reminding Wesley of the fateful day that he had come to confront Angel about his erratic behavior. Wesley loathed admitting it but in a small way he wished he could have that day back. He felt horrible because Douglass had been so close to death's door but she had pulled through hadn't she? And if they knew then what they knew now...Oh Lord how things would be different! They would have pursued Darla with a vengeance, showing the bitch no mercy but they hadn't known and there was no way of going back. So here he was, stuck waiting at the hotel with Aria and Dawn. The two girls were huddled on one of the couches gripping one another's hands, the longer they had to wait the more worried they became. "Why haven't they called?" Dawn's frightened voice bounced off the walls breaking the concentration of Aria and Wesley who were thinking the very same thing. Looking at one another over Dawn's head they shared a look of worry, it was well after midnight with no word from the others. "I'm sure every thing is fine." Wesley answered unable to look the young girl in the eye. "Wesley's right." Aria tried to support the ex-Watcher's words that weren't too heartening. "I'm sure that any second now they'll call letting us know everything is all right." As if by just saying the words the phone on the counter started to ring. Aria and Wesley jumped at the same time, by the third ring Wesley had leapt off the couch and reached the phone. "Hello?" He answered breathlessly. "It's about bloody time." His voice dropped. "I don't understand...Dear Lord..." Wesley's face paled and his hand started to shake. "I...I don't understand...not that. I understand why you did it but the part about finding an unbinding spell. I'd think that at a time like this we'd be searching for an Orb of Thesulah..." Aria found it difficult to breathe, good news never had the words Orb or Thesulah in it, something had happened. Hearing a sob coming from the teen sitting next to her Aria tried to pull herself together. It wasn't as if Dawn didn't have enough going on in her life. Now it seemed that they had hit yet another bump in the road, only thing was, in their lives bumps were more like huge man eating holes. Aria gave Dawn's hand a hearty squeeze of reassurance. "Dawn, what ever it is we can fix it." "Yeah." Dawn answered numbly. "Angel, don't worry we'll make sure everything is ready." Wesley held the phone to his ear as the other end went dead. It had happened. He knew eventually something like this would, they all lived on borrowed time and unfortunately for Willow, hers had run out. Now she was a vampire and thank the gods it was Angel that was now her sire. Funny, he knew that he should feel more upset than he did, should be appalled that instead of allowing the girl eternal rest she was given eternity to walk the earth. "Which one?" Dawn's voice cracked and Wesley was reminded of the two females who were waiting for some kind of news. Hanging up the phone he turned slowly in their direction. "W-Wesley?" Aria felt sick. She was trying hard to remain calm for Dawn's sake when all she wanted to do was drop to the ground in a hysterical fit. "It's Willow." The silence was ear shattering as the two females tried to grasp the meaning of his words. "She's d-dead?" Dawn paled and started to tremble. "In technical terms? Yes." Not knowing how to explain any further Wesley stayed silent for a moment. "What do you mean 'In technical terms.' Dead is dead right?" Aria approached Wesley who looked uneasy for a moment. "Darla turned her." Dawn answered, her tone was flat, eyes unfocused. "Good God no!" Wesley sputtered. Making his way slowly to Dawn's side he wrapped the girl into a warm embrace. "Angel did." "Angel!?" Dawn pushed out of Wesley's arms to get a look into his eyes. "You're lying!" Wesley knew that Dawn was still in many ways a child, and would find this hard to grasp. She had been raised knowing that vampires, all vampires were bad. Heck many of them had been raised that way, it wasn't until the last few years that their lines were blurred. Curses introduced, chips surgically planted. "Darla stabbed Willow, she was dying." Wesley had no idea how to explain this to Dawn, he was never really all that great with teens even when he was a teen. "So what, he just decided to turn her? That he'd rather have her all evil like than lose her." Dawn's voice was rising, as she looked back and forth at the two adults in front of her frantically. Aria and Wesley exchanged a look with one another, "Dawn we're going to curse her, then anchor her soul." Wesley tried to make it sound like a walk in the park. "Really?" Dawn voice was still hysterical. "I may be a child to you all and maybe the memories I have aren't real but I can remember when Willow re-cursed Angelus. She was drained for days and that had nothing to do with the coma she had been in and don't you need *Two* powerful spell casters to perform the anchoring spell. Tell me if I'm wrong but isn't one of them dead right now?" "Dawn calm down, Douglass remember. We're going to unbind her second set of powers." Wesley wished he knew the right words to say to calm the teen down. "But I thought you tried to unbind her powers?" It was Aria who asked this time. "It's complicated but the best way I can explain is that Douglass has two power sources. Her mother bound the first one, the power that comes from her bloodline, when Douglass was just a child. The second was bound by Max last fall, when Willow tried to unbind Douglass's powers the spell was successful but it just unbound her first ones, the ones that no one knew she had." "What about the baby?" Dawn shot back trying to find the holes in the plan. "Will the unbinding spell hurt Lindsey and Douglass's baby?" "No." Wesley quickly reassured. "Douglass's powers are natural, she didn't obtain them from another source." Dawn had noticeably calmed down. "And W-Willow. She'll be our Willow. Not some weird person we know." Wesley looked Dawn right in the eye and answered. "She'll be our Willow, I promise." Wesley held the eye contact wondering when he had gotten so good at lying. He didn't know if Willow would be the same and had no right to make that promise but he had to believe it himself and just by hearing the words it made him feel better. ~~~*~~~ "Spike!" Angel growled from the backseat as Spike took another sharp corner. "What! I'm doing the best I can. Or do you want sleeping beauty to wake up before we get there? Personally I don't want to be stuck in the car when she pops open those emerald greens hungry and confused. Angel looked down at the pale girl cradled in his lap. Why was the only thing that he could repetitively ask himself. Why would the powers give him someone as perfect as Willow? Not just as a friend but as someone who was able to love him entirely. Someone who accepted the demon that was housed in his body, that knew his many faults but yet loved him or them. Why would they allow something like Darla to endanger that? "You did the right thing." Spike looked over at Angel thinking that his Grandsire was beating himself up about having to turn Willow. "I know." Angel ran his hand through her hair. "Then why the long face? You have her for eternity. No worries about her growing old and dying." Though Spike's words were laced with a slight jealousy. "Spike, you can't turn her." Angel knew how his grand childe's mind worked. "Willow was dying." "I know that Peaches, I'm not stupid. But I'm telling you this, situation reversed and Aria was dying there isn't a bloody thing you or anyone else could do to stop me from keeping her by my side." Spike made another turn looking in his rearview mirror to make sure the others were following from behind in the car Slutty had arrived in. "I don't know if I would stop you." Angel answered softly. "But with the chip in your head, I may have to help." Spike took his eyes off the road to stare at Angel. Was this the same vampire that was supposed to be so self-righteous? The one that pranced around speaking the words of the annoying? Did he just say that he'd help turn Aria if the time were at hand, and the chip interfered? "Spike the road!" Angel snapped. Spike shook his head. Boy how death could change things. ~~~*~~~ Lindsey held onto Douglass being careful to avoid the cuts and bruises as much as possible. Because of the situation, they had all decided that it would be safer if Spike, Angel and Willow took one car while the rest followed in the other. Though it was tight fitting no one complained. "How come I don't feel bad?" Cordelia whispered. No one asked her what she had meant by that because they were all thinking it. "I told him to turn her, would've begged Spike if Angel refused. And I don't feel guilty about it." "I wish I could answer your question but frankly I'm wondering the same of myself." Giles barely whispered. "But everything's gonna be cool right. We'll curse her then anchor her soul just like Angel's right?" Gunn asked, just wanting to hear that everything was going to turn out all right. Just as long as red got back her soul he was fine with this. "Yes. Though we'll have to wait a few days to anchor the soul. We first need to unbind Douglass's powers but she needs a few days of rest. "I'm fine." Douglass started to protest but she felt Lindsey's hold on her tighten. "No, you're going to rest. You may not be tired but our baby inside you needs all the TLC we can give it right now." Lindsey didn't leave any room for argument. His points were just and he was positive that the others would back him in this. "Lindsey's right Douglass. Right now we just need to worry about cursing her." Giles backed Lindsey. "Fine." Douglass bit back a groan as the car hit another pothole causing Lindsey's arm to brush up a long cut on her arm. Buffy had remained quiet listening to the others and knew it was either she accepted now that Angel and Willow were meant to be or go on living in denial. "He loved her so much that he changed her." The whisper registered with everyone in the car, no one knowing what to say. "He didn't do that for me when the Master drowned me. I guess it's time I stop lying to myself. Angel and I have been over for a long time." Giles reached out to hold her hand. He knew that it was hard for the young blonde to accept that her first love had moved on but harder yet for her was to admit she was wrong. Home |
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