Soulworld I

Pairing:

Rating:R

Summary:Ninety years ago there was the Restoration and since that day every Vampire has a soul. Vampires are a part of human society and Angel and his friends are trying to get them legal recognition.
Things are complicated by the arrival of the Slayer. For the Slayer does not care about souls or legalities. Now it is up to Angel to stop her and protect his people.
At any cost. Completed March 27, 2001

Prelude: A Light So Bright

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The Balkans
1907 AD

The two Vampires ran through the door and worked on pushing the heavy iron gates shut behind them, putting all of their supernatural muscle into it. Commotion could be heard from down the corridor, where their pursuers were coming closer.

"Put your back into it!" One Vampire yelled at the other.

"Stop running your mouth and bloody push!" The other retorted.

Something slammed against the other side as the gates were almost closed. An arm stuck through the narrow gap, blindly reaching out for something to grab. The two Vampires pushed harder and the arm was crushed as the gates finally fell shut.

Booming echoed through the chamber as supernaturally strong fists hammered against the other side.

"End of the line, mate!" The Vampire with the ruffled blonde hair said. His face was bruised from the fighting and a deep gash along his forehead had turned his face into a bloody mask.

The other just looked across the room and his eyes fell on a large book resting on an altar.

"Keep them out!" He told the blonde and started running up the steps for the altar.

"Sure, leave me to do the muscle work!" But the Vampire complied and concentrated on holding the gates shut against the increasing pressure of the blows raining against it from outside.

The dark-haired Vampire reached the altar and touched the book, running his fingers across the strange letters embedded on the cover. He needed a moment to translate the arcane language in his head, then he managed half a smile.

"The Necronomicon Nocturnum. Finally!"

"Hurry up, will ya?" The blonde yelled at him, seeing the metal gates beginning to bend and crack.

The Vampire opened the book carefully, able to feel the power these simple pages contained. The book did not contain an index, of course, so he had to skim across half the book until he finally found the page he was looking for.

"Yes!" He whispered.

"Hurry!" The door creaked and the screams outside grew louder.

He closed his eyes and his fingers touched the letters, feeling their power react to this presence. Probing fingers of magic reached into his being, the incantation preparing to judge his worthiness. He knew that a death by fire awaited him if he was found wanting.

A sigh like God Himself would utter it echoed through the room. The Vampire opened his eyes again and started speaking the words that were only now becoming decipherable.

"Let the light shine on the world of darkness!" He began.

The iron gate shattered and the blonde Vampire was thrown back. A hundred snarling faces could be seen on the other side, pushing forward through the broken doors.

"Angelus!" The blonde screamed.

"Let the dispossessed reclaim their stolen flesh! Let the monsters that prey on the children of light be caged!"

Power started pouring through the room, a bright light emanating from the pages of the book. Angelus could hardly see the words anymore, his eyes shedding bloody tears, but he continued the incantation without missing a beat.

"Stop him!" One of the approaching Vampires growled. Some of the demons were flinching back from the light.

"Chain the dark with the light! Replace the demon with the man!"

Some Vampires dared go closer, raising swords and axes to strike at the man that was about to doom them all.

"No messing with my mate, you wankers!" The Vampire called Spike tackled them before they could strike, tumbling across the floor in a tangle of arms and legs. More demons were pushing into the room, but by now the light was so bright that Angelus could no longer be seen. Only heard.

"The dark will have no power! Let the light shine now and forevermore!"

The sun itself seemed to rise inside the room, the Vampires screaming as they felt it scorch their flesh. Spike just rose, feeling the light on his skin. It didn't hurt him.

"That's showing'em, Peaches!" He smirked.

The light faded after a moment and a hundred pairs of demon eyes flashed a bright gold. Vampires sunk to their knees all over the room, overtaken by something they did not understand, feeling something inside themselves most of them hadn't felt in a long, long time.

Angelus came down from the altar and stood beside Spike.

"Good work, mate!" Spike said.

"I guess we did it!"

The Vampire closest to them looked up, confusion evident on his face.

"What ... what is going on here? Where am I? Last I remember I was in this dark alley and there was this ugly looking guy coming toward me."

Spike chuckled.

#

And so it came to pass that in the year of our Lord 1907 the Scourge known as Vampires was forever altered by the deeds of one of their own.

AND SO IT BEGINS

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1 - Scene of the Crime

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Los Angeles
1999

Angel got out of his black convertible and walked toward the yellow tape that surrounded the crime scene. A crowd of onlookers had already assembled, trying to catch a look at what had happened here. Angel flashed his badge to the policeman minding the crowd and ducked under the tape.

Inside several policemen worked on taking fingerprints, securing clues, snapping pictures. Angel walked up to the woman in charge.

"Ah, Angel," Kate Lockley said, "I hoped you'd come."

"What happened here, Kate?"

She gestured toward the room and Angel saw half a dozen heaps of dust on the floor, surrounded by chalk lines. Two wooden stakes were lying on the ground as well. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened here.

"Six of them?" He asked Kate.

"There is another pile of ashes over in the kitchen. Seven victims all together."

Angel sighed.

"Who were the victims?"

"A kiss of Vampires led by a guy called Mr. Trick, if you can believe it. As far as we can ascertain the attack took place during daylight, so none of them had much chance to flee."

Angel nodded, looking around the apartment. Most Vampires lived in apartments these days, only a few hardliners still hung out in crypts and such. There were several computers standing on desks in the other room. A TV, a kitchen with a fridge for the blood, all completely normal.

"I knew Trick. He stayed out of trouble whenever he could. Anything his kiss might have done to warrant attention?" He asked Kate.

Unfortunately the universal restoration of souls to the Vampire population had not turned all of them into good guys. Angel hadn't really expected that to happen. Humans had souls and there were more than enough criminals and worse among them.

"One of the younger ones had been arrested for petty theft, but that's the size of it. According to the people here Mr. Trick ran some kind of dot-com business. Turns out he was quite the rich bloodsucker, too."

Angel closed his eyes. So much had changed these last ninety years. He and Spike had worked hard at helping the Vampires come to terms with their new role in the world. It wasn't easy to be a vicious predator when you were burdened with a conscience, though some managed quite well. Most Vampires had stopped hunting humans, though.

Humans had not stopped hunting them.

He looked at the badges both he and Kate wore. They read Preternatural Investigation Department. The PID had been established as a special branch of the Federal Marshall Corps, employing specialists to deal with preternatural crimes.

The existence of Vampires was common knowledge these days. Angel sure hadn't planned it that way, but about five years ago a man had gone to court to get his money back from his kids. The kids had inherited the money when their father had died. Their father rose as a Vampire and demanded to be recognized as legally alive.

The case never saw a conclusion. The Vampire was killed by a lynch mob before it could come to that. The entire thing had gone through the press, though, and so everyone knew. Some didn't believe it, but most simply were scared. They saw a guy with fangs and were either running scared or assembling another lynch mob.

Vampires were in a legal limbo right now. There was no law that said to shoot them on sight, yet there was no penalty for those that did, either. There was a law currently in the works in Washington that would establish Vampires as legal citizens, subject to the same rights and laws as everyone else. Angel personally didn't think it had much of a chance to go through congress. Many members of that august body still didn't think it was a good idea to let blacks vote, after all.

Still, America was the best place to be a Vampire. Europe and Asia burned their undead wherever they found them.

Only a few among the PID knew that Angel was a Vampire. Those that did didn't talk about it. Kate knew, but did her best to ignore the fact. Angel's knowledge about the preternatural world made him indispensable to the PID and most people left it at that.

"What do you think?" Kate asked him, shaking him out of his thoughts.

"From the looks of things they were surprised. I can't see any blood or other signs that the attacker or attackers got wounded. Seven Vampires is a lot of muscle, Kate, but whoever did this got away without so much as a scratch."

Kate checked her notes.

"From what the forensic people can tell me right now, there are no finger prints. The stakes look homemade. Oh, there is something you should take a look at in the kitchen!"

They walked through the connecting door and Angel's eyes were drawn to the far wall.

"It's only red paint," Kate said, "not blood."

Angel nodded, reading the words written on the wall.

NO EVIL SHALL BE SPARED

"The slogan doesn't click with any of the known hate groups," Kate said, "but there are so many of them, it's hard to say."

Angel knew that, ever since the existence of Vampires became public knowledge, a lot of organized effort had gone into hunting them down. The police couldn't really do much about, even assuming they wanted to, it unless the groups started trashing public property. Killing Vampires was not illegal after all.

He also knew were he had seen this particular slogan before.

"Excuse me a minute, Kate!" He said and walked out, not waiting for an answer. Taking out his cell phone he dialed a number from memory and waited impatiently until someone picked up at the other end.

"Yeah?"

"Spike? It's Angel."

"Hey, Peaches! How goes, mate?"

"Not too good, I'm afraid. Are you in LA?"

"Sure. You need my help?"

"Maybe. Remember the words 'No Evil Shall Be Spared'?"

The line was silent for a moment before Spike found his voice again.

"Yeah, I remember. Where should we meet?"

"Hyperion Hotel in half an hour."

"I'll be there. Want me to bring the gang?"

"If you can get a hold of them, yes."

"Okay, see you then!"

The line clicked dead and Angel sighed, shaking his head.

"Just what we needed," he mumbled on the way to his car, "a new Slayer."

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2 - Meet the Gang

###

Angel walked into the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel and saw that the place was quite lively already. He took a moment to make a quick survey of the assembled 'gang'.

Spike had come, as promised. He still had his hair bleached within an inch of its life and wore that worn-out old leather coat with the checkered past. Angel's childe reclined on the couch in the middle of the lobby and tapped his black fingernails in impatience.

Darla sat close to him, eyes closed. Angel watched the woman who had sired him all these many years ago and still couldn't quite figure out his feelings for her. She had changed a lot after the return of her soul, becoming shy and reserved after having been a vicious killer for nearly three centuries. They had been madly in love at one time, before the souls. Now ... Angel didn't know. Over ninety years and he still didn't know.

Someone complained about the run-down state of the place and Angel recognized Cordy. Cordelia Chase was the most superficial youngster he had ever met, or so he had though at first. They had first met when Angel and Spike had tracked down Penn, one of Angel's Children, who had not given up his serial-killer ways after the return of his soul.

After Angel and Spike had saved Cordy from fanged death she had become one of the most active workers in America's Vampire lobby, pushing for the recognition of Vampires as legal citizens. It didn't hurt that she was the daughter of one of America's richest men, though her father had disowned her after his darling daughter had started running with the undead. It got her a lot of media attention.

Cordy had also decided that Angel and Spike would become her best friends and neither of them had gotten much say in the matter.

The current victim of her inexhaustible narratives about the sorry state of this hotel and the world in general was Wesley Windham-Pryce. Angel was particularly glad to see that the Englishman had made it, for this concerned him every bit as much as it did the rest of them.

Doyle, who sat in a chair next to the couch, completed the gang. Doyle was a demon-human hybrid, which made him every bit an outcast of society as if he were a Vampire. Angel had first met him a few years back while looking into another possible way to turn Vampires back into human beings. The lead had turned out to be false and Doyle had helped him escape from an angry mob.

Angel made his presence known and walked toward the others.

"Hi, Peaches!" Spike greeted him. Darla only gave him a short glance, saying nothing. Wesley and Doyle nodded his way.

"About time you turned up," Cordy said and gave him a hug, "I have an interview with the Sun tomorrow and I don't want to have bag under my eyes for lack of sleep."

Angel gave her a smile and motioned for everyone to sit down.

"I tried to reach the Witchy Girls," Spike said, "but only got their machine. Probably out doing some Wicca stuff or other."

Angel nodded. Having Willow and Tara here would have been nice, but it couldn't be helped.

"Maybe Spike already told you why I called you here. It looks like we may have a new Slayer in town."

Nobody said anything for a while. Angel could see Wesley grow uneasy, while Spike's eyes grew even harder than before. The only one who didn't have a clue was Cordy.

"What's a Slayer?" She asked when her patience finally ran out.

Wesley moved up to her, clearing his throat.

"The Slayer is ... well, she is a Chosen One. One girl in every generation chosen to protect the world from Vampires and other demons. She is preternaturally strong. Basically she has all the abilities of a Vampire, but without the weaknesses."

Cordy looked at him for a long moment.

"You're yanking my chain, Wes!"

"I wish it were so." He just said, looking down.

"But ... okay, so there is a girl with superpowers who is protecting the world from demons. That is a good thing, isn't it?"

"It was, at least until about ninety years ago." Angel said.

Cordelia was one of the few humans who knew the full details of the soul restoration. Angel hadn't really wanted to tell her, but she had whined and cried until Angel had finally given up and told her the entire story to regain his peace.

"Oh," she said, understanding, "so you're telling me that she isn't really interested in whether a demon is good or bad."

"By the standard of the Council of Watchers, all demons are bad. No exceptions."

"The Council?" Cordy asked.

"The guiding institution of the Slayer," Wesley said, "they train her, help her, guide her. They tell her who to kill."

Spike rose, brimming with impatience.

"You know where to find that new bitch?" He asked, growling under his breath.

"No, I've only seen her handwork. Remember Mr. Trick, Spike? He's dust, along with his entire kiss."

Spike growled again, beginning to pace up and down the lobby.

"We've dealt with Slayers in the past," Angel told the non-Vampires present, "by staying out of their way or killing them. Since the restoration we have mostly done the former and tried to avoid the latter."

"Tried to?" Cordy asked suspiciously.

"The Slayer is killing our people, human," Darla said in a low voice, "your laws might not consider that a crime, but we beg to differ."

"And we do what must be done!" Spike growled, still pacing.

"The problem is," Angel continued, "that every time a Slayer is killed, a new one rises. The Council trains them to see Vampires as nothing but animals that need killing."

"Can't you reason with them?" Cordy asked. "I mean, can't they see that things have changed? You're not animals anymore, you're people."

"It is hard to just discard something you have been raised to believe in as the absolute truth." Wesley muttered, a haunted quality to his voice.

"First order of business is to find this new Slayer," Angel said, "before she kills more innocent people. Once we do that, we will try to reason with her."

Spike gave him a glare, but Angel ignored him.

"If that doesn't work, then we'll do what's necessary."

Everything inside him tightened upon hearing himself say these words. He still remembered the deeds he had done as a soulless demon. Remembered them in vivid detail. He had spilled enough blood to last him a dozen lifetimes and the very thought of having to kill again disgusted him.

Yet he couldn't turn his back on this, either. He had made the Vampire race what it was today. It was his responsibility. That was why he had spent the last ninety years policing his own kind when they stepped out of line. That was why he had agreed to join the PID.

That was why he would have to kill a human girl if she threatened the safety of his people.

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3 - The Acts of Watchers and Vampire Love Songs

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"You seem to know quite a bit about this Slayer stuff." Cordy said.

Wesley looked up from his computer screen, rubbing his tired eyes. Cordelia, Doyle, and him were busily searching for a clue to where the Slayer might be hiding. Wesley was going through some of the files he had brought with him when he had first come to America.

"What did you say?" He asked.

"I said you know a whole lot about Slayers. Care to fill me in?"

Wesley sighed. It was not easy for him to talk about his past, yet he considered Cordelia a friend. Besides, if she was going to help them, she deserved to know the truth.

"I once belonged to the Council of Watchers." He told her.

"The Slayer's bosses?"

"Yes! As a matter of fact, I was the Watcher personally assigned to guide and train the Slayer of that time. A girl named Kendra. I accompanied her to America once her training was complete. We came here, seeing as ..."

"Lots of victims here?" Cordy interrupted him.

"That's about the size of it, yes. We came here and she started ... started doing her sacred duty."

"Which was killing innocent people!" Doyle remarked. Wesley knew the half-demon was not very fond of the Council or their operatives. He had been on the wrong end of lynch mobs and fanatic demon hunters a few times too often.

"It was during that time," Wesley continued, "that I first met Angel, Doyle, and Spike."

He fell silent for a moment, Cordy watching him expectantly.

"That meeting ... it changed things for me. It ... seeing them, getting to know them ... it showed me that everything I knew about Vampires was false. They weren't monsters. Not all of them, at least. They were people. We ... we had killed innocents."

Cordelia didn't press him when he took his time, seeing how painful this was for him. She sat down beside him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. After a moment Wesley looked at her again.

"I tried to talk to the Council. They wouldn't hear a word I said. They ... they threatened to remove me from my duties unless I ... rectified my attitude. When it became evident that they weren't interested in changing their ways, I tried talking to Kendra. I was hoping ..."

He paused again, taking off his glasses to clean them.

"Kendra was a good girl, Cordy. A wonderful person. But almost from birth she had been trained to see all demons as evil. Indoctrinated you might say. It was not possible to make her see them as people. I tried. God is my witness, I tried."

"What happened to Kendra?"

He looked up at her, his eyes full of sadness.

"She was going after a family. Children, whose only crime it was to be born with a demon half. Angel tried to stop her, but was wounded. She was going to kill him, too. Him and all those innocent children. I couldn't allow that."

Wesley didn't say anymore and Cordelia didn't ask.

#

Angel walked through the entrance of the Caritas and his eyes searched for the Host. If anyone knew where the Slayer might be hiding out, it was him. Spike and Darla walked behind him, also scanning the crowd.

The Caritas was a hangout for Vampires and some other forms of demons, none of them of the malevolent sort. For a moment Angel imagined what kind of carnage a Slayer, maybe accompanied by a team of Council commandos, might cause in here.

"There he is!" Spike pointed out.

The Host was moving through the rows of tables, chatting a bit here, offering a piece of advice there. The demon saw Angel and friends standing near the entrance and came over.

"Angel, my friend. It has been much too long since you graced us with your presence. And Spike! I still love the coat, man. It's all about the leathers. Darla! Every bit as ravishing as always, my dear."

"We need your help," Angel said, lowering his voice, "there is a Slayer in town."

The Host nodded. "I expected as much after hearing what happened to Trick. It's a shame. He always looked so sharp in that suit."

"Where can we find that bitch?" Spike growled.

"I am sensing a certain amount of aggressiveness here, William. Tell me the truth! You're still not over losing Drusilla, are you?"

Angel saw that Spike was about to explode. The Host was not the most tactful of demons. Angel moved between them, shoving Spike back a little.

"We need to find her before she kills more people. Can you help us?"

The Host shrugged. "You know how it goes." He motioned toward the stage.

Angel sighed deeply. He hated this, especially since he knew he had a terrible singing voice. It had to be done, though, so he started moving toward the stage.

The Host held him back.

"No, tall, dark, and brooding. This is too nice an evening to ruin it with your singing." He smiled past him at Darla. "I do not think you have ever performed here before, my dear."

Darla stared at the green-skinned demon as if he'd asked her to undress. Angel couldn't help but smile. The old Darla would have torn the Host's eyes out for even suggesting this. As it was she shook her head in disbelief and started moving towards the stage.

"Admit it," the Host whispered to Angel, "you always wanted to hear her sing!"

"Don't you dare tell her that!" Angel said, managing half a smile in the process. Spike just growled and walked toward the bar, ordering drinks.

Darla reached the stage, followed by the Host.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, a special treat here for you tonight. You will be hearing a life performance of none other than Darla Chamberlain, favored childe of the Master."

Angel could see Darla flinch as the Host mentioned the Master. The ancient Vampire had killed himself but moments after his soul returned, thousands of years of evil too much to take. Darla had gone to him, seeking her Sire's help in dealing with her newfound soul, only to find his dust.

Angel knew only too well how hard it was to figure out where the emotions of the demon ended and those of the human began.

She regained her composure and started sifting through the list of songs on the monitor. Angel settled back into a chair, taking the drink Spike brought, watching his grandchilde set down two bottles in front of himself.

"He's right, you know?" Angel said.

"Why don't you stuff it, mate?" Spike grumbled.

"The Slayer that killed Drusilla is dead, William! We killed her."

Spike slumped over the bottles and Angel could see the beginning of bloody tears begin to swell.

"It didn't bring her back." Spike whispered.

"And neither will this. You think I don't miss her? It's not the Slayers who are to blame. They are just programmed children, Spike. It's the Watchers that give the orders."

They had been trying to locate the headquarters of the Council of Watchers for decades now, but the Watchers kept themselves well-hidden. It was a source of unending frustration for all of them that they could only strike at the soldiers, never at the generals.

Angel looked up and saw that the Host had selected a song for Darla. She eyed him suspiciously, then sighed and the music started. Angel wasn't familiar with the tunes, but after the first few notes he decided that it didn't matter.

Lay a whisper on my pillow
leave the winter on the ground
I wake up lonely, there's air of silence
in the bedroom and all around

Darla's voice was hauntingly beautiful and Angel found himself looking inside him for that fire of passion the two of them had had before the souls. Looking at her, so radiantly beautiful, he was sure it had to be there somewhere.

Touch me now
I close my eyes
and dream away

His demon still wanted her. She was his Sire and there would always be a bond. But Angel, the man, simply couldn't find the fire anymore.

It must have been love
but it's over now
It must have been good
but I lost it somehow
It must have been love
but it's over now
from the moment we touched
'till the time had run out

Darla continued singing for some time, but Angel was now looking at the Host. The Host, in turn, looked at Angel. He had a feeling the anagogic demon knew exactly how fitting the song had been for him and Darla.

Darla finished to a round of thunderous applause. She stepped down from the stage and walked toward the Host and Angel. Spike was busy with one of the bottles.

"And?" She asked the Host, but kept throwing side glances at Angel.

"I guess the two of you are a little more in the clear now," the Host said, "but if you're asking me about the Slayer, well ... I have a feeling you should take a look at a certain warehouse. Wait a moment and I will write down the address."

With that he vanished behind the bar, leaving Angel and Darla to look at each other. The blonde Vampire sighed.

"The song could as well have been written for us, right?" She asked him.

"I guess so. Darla ..."

"We had a good time, Angel." She interrupted him. "You are my childe and I will always love you. But ..."

"... not like that anymore. Yes."

Both broke into a smile.

"You think working together will be a little less awkward now?" Darla asked, smiling.

"I hope so."

The Host returned and gave Angel a piece of paper.

"You will find your Slayer here."

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4 - Something Funny Happened to Me Behind the Caritas

###

By the time they were ready to leave Spike had managed to empty the two bottles and get himself more than a bit drunk. Angel sighed. Spike had always been on a first-name basis with just about every alcoholic beverage in existence, but ever since Drusilla's death he had become a borderline alcoholic.

"We shouldn't have taken him with us." Darla said as she watched Spike swaying through the exit.

"I thought the urge to find the Slayer would keep him in check." Angel said. "It appears I was wrong."

"I can kill the bloody Slayer!" Spike yelled. "I already did two. Just try and keep me away from the bitch!"

Darla and Angel looked at each other, sighing.

"Get in the car, Spike! And try not to throw up on my back seat!"

Spike complied, climbing into the open convertible in the most complicated way possible. Angel took out his cell phone and called the Hyperion.

"Doyle? Angel! We know where to find the Slayer. Meet us in half an hour at this address!"

He gave the address and told Doyle to bring the rifles. Putting away the phone, he checked his own gun, a Winchester Magnum 45. Darla eyed the weapon suspiciously.

"I still don't like those things." She said.

"Neither do I. But as experience has taught, the best way to kill a Slayer is with a bullet. Preferably from a distance, without warning, in the back."

"I thought you wanted to talk to her first."

"And I will. That's why you'll go armed, too. I'll try and make her listen to reason. If that doesn't work and she's too good to restrain, you and Spike will be there, in hiding, ready to shoot. If Spike sobers up, that is. Otherwise you'll be on your own."

He opened the trunk of his car and handed Darla another Winchester Magnum. Darla weighed the gun in hand, then checked the clip and jacked a round into the chamber. Despite her dislike for guns Angel knew she was perfectly capable of handling one. So was Spike, if he wasn't drunk, that was.

He slammed the trunk shut. "Okay, let's go!"

Vampire senses made him look up and see the shadow moving toward him at the last split second. He jumped to the side, just enough to let the body of his attacker barrel past him. He turned around and was in a fighting stance, even though he already knew who the attacker was.

The dark-haired girl, dressed in black leather pants and a skimpy top, jumped him once again, knife in hand. He caught the hand holding the blade and twisted it around her back until she dropped it, which earned him an elbow in the face. Vamping out, he scissored the legs out from under his attacker, bringing her down. Moments later he was on top of her, pinning her to the ground with his superior strength and weight.

"I almost got you this time." The girl pouted.

"In your dreams, Faith!" He smiled and stood, his face returning to human, offering her a hand.

The girl called Faith allowed him to pull her up, smiling at him. Angel was almost used to her antics by now and she was getting quite good, though he doubted that she'd ever be able to surprise him.

Faith had lost her parents to Vampires when she was twelve and had been at the mercy of America's social system ever since. When Angel first met her a little over a year ago she had been attacking a few harmless Vampires, trying to scratch their eyes out. The Vampires had been on the verge of losing patience with the little wild child when Angel arrived on the scene.

He had taken her under his wing, showing her that most Vampires these days were more or less decent folks. He became her surrogate father, or something very close to it. Faith did have foster parents, but she stayed away from them for weeks at a time and they never even noticed. She stayed at the Hyperion quite frequently and Angel let her, preferring that to having her out on the streets.

Faith was obsessed with becoming a good enough fighter to help Angel chase evil Vampires.

"You found the Slayer, right?" Faith asked, bouncing up and down before him, a bundle of teenage energy.

"You listened through the ventilation shaft again." Angel chided her.

Faith managed to look more or less chastened, yet watched him eagerly. She was only sixteen years old, soon to be seventeen, yet somehow she always seemed to alternate between a much older woman and a little child. Right now she seemed like a ten-year-old who wanted to go along to the carnival.

"Lose the brat!" Spike yelled from the car. "We're hunting Slayers!"

"The brat managed to kick your ass, Spike!" Faith yelled back.

Angel almost chuckled, remembering the scene from a few weeks ago. Angel had taught Faith a few fighting moves and she had been practicing by herself when Spike had come in. Spike had been amused that she wanted to become a fighter and a shouting match had become a sparring contest.

When Angel had walked into the gym Faith had just thrown an overconfident Spike to the ground and sat down on his chest. That, combined with the look on Spike's face, had triggered one of the few genuine laughing fits Angel had had these last hundred years.

Moments later he'd had to physically restrain Spike from spanking Faith black and blue.

"Sorry, Faith," Angel said, "but this is much too dangerous. We're not going after a few Vampires who've had a few too many. The Slayer is a killer and we're going to bring her down."

Faith gave him a pleading look, which had been known to break through Angel's stoic countenance many times before. Not this time, though.

"Faith!" He commanded with his best authority voice and the girl's shoulders slacked.

"Spoilsport!"

"Promise you will stay out of this, Faith!" Angel said, not sounding amused at all.

Faith knew very well how much Angel valued his own word and that of those he considered his friends. With a sigh she surrendered.

"Okay, okay! I promise!"

"Good! Now return to the hotel. Could be a rough night tonight and I don't want you out on the streets."

"Promise to spar with me tomorrow?" She asked.

"It's a date."

She gave him a dazzling smile and skipped away into the night. Angel shook his head, smiling despite himself.

"Sometimes I think this girl has to be superhuman. Nobody can be this lively 24-7."

He got into the car with Darla. Spike was lying across the back seat, but was not out of it as Angel feared at first. He turned around to look at him.

"You sober enough for a fight?"

"I'm never too drunk to kick tail!" He mumbled.

"Okay, let's roll!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5 - Never Bring a Stake to a Gunfight

###

Angel's black convertible came to a stop outside a large warehouse in one of Los Angeles' seedier districts. Angel knew for a fact that not many Vampires hung around here, though there was a small gang of them roaming in this neighborhood.

"Looks deserted." Darla said as she got out of the car.

"Looks can be deceiving." Angel replied, trying to sense any trace of his prey. Nothing so far.

Another car pulled up beside them, Doyle and Wesley getting out with rifles slung over their arms. Spike had helped himself to a shotgun from Angel's trunk.

"Remember!" Angel said. "I will try and talk to her first. When that does not work we will try and subdue her. You got the tranquilizer gun, Doyle?"

The half-demon patted the bulk under his jacket.

"Killing is the last resort measure, understand?" He was talking to everyone, but looking at Spike. The blonde Vampire grumbled, but nodded.

Angel started walking toward the warehouse, the others fanning out behind him. They had done this kind of thing before, unfortunately, and knew what to do. Angel took point, everyone else staying well back. The plan was for Angel to draw her out.

He was on the verge of entering the warehouse when he heard the first sounds of fighting.

"This way!" He motioned for the others, speeding down the alley. They made their way almost halfway around the warehouse when Angel skidded to a halt, motioning for everyone to take cover.

The all-too familiar sound of a Vampire exploding into dust filled the alley as Angel saw the fight happening right in front of him. A blonde girl was fighting against nearly a dozen Vampires. There had been more at the start, as was evident by the heaps of dust on the floor, but he could see she was getting tired.

The Vampires were overwhelming her through sheer numbers. He knew them, they belonged to Lenny's gang. There could be little doubt that this girl was the Slayer, she still held her own against these numbers. Still, she was hurt, taking more wounds as he watched. She still held her stake in one hand.

It occurred to him that he could just allow things to play themselves out here and the Slayer problem would be solved, at least for tonight. Another Slayer would shortly rise, of course, but ... He shook his head. If he did nothing there was a good chance more people would die before the Slayer was brought down. Besides, she was just a girl who got her head screwed on wrong. He had to put a stop to this before more people got hurt.

"Stop the fight!" He thundered, stepping from the alley. The Vampires closest to him recognized him immediately and started to back off. He had to repeat himself for those too involved in the fighting, but before long the Slayer stood alone, the remains of Lenny's gang standing several meters away.

"I will handle this!" Angel told the Vampires.

"She killed some of our friends, Angelus!" One of the gang hissed at him. "We want her blood."

"I said I will handle this. Leave! Now!"

Some of the younger Vampires hesitated, but were quickly pulled along by those that had some smarts. Angel had made sure his reputation among his people was so that he seldom needed to fight with them. The gang members vanished into the darkness of the alleys and Angel turned towards the Slayer.

She was young, no older than Faith. Long blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and she wore black jeans and a light jacket. Her green eyes were focused on him and she clutched her stake. He could see the bruises on her skin from the fight. She was slightly favoring her right leg.

"Are you all right?" He asked her.

For a moment she seemed stunned by his question, then her face closed itself off and she glared at him.

"Can we just fight now? I have school tomorrow."

A schoolgirl? Angel didn't quite believe it. Since when did the Watchers allow their charges to go to school? She started moving toward him, stake in hand.

"You do know that attacking a federal marshal is a capital offense, right?" He showed her his badge. She stopped moving forward, staring at it.

"You're a Vampire!" She said, sounding a bit uncertain.

"Certainly," he agreed, "but one doesn't preclude the other, does it?"

She looked puzzled and Angel grew a bit more optimistic. Apparently this one was not as thoroughly programmed as Kendra had been. The former Slayer would not even have waited for him to say anything or listened to his words, she would just have attacked.

"You're a Vampire!" She repeated.

"Yes, we have established that much. My name is Angel. What's yours?"

She just stared at him.

"It's common courtesy to introduce oneself to another, is it not? What's your name?"

"I'm ... Buffy. My name is Buffy."

"Pleased to meet you, Buffy!" He wasn't sure it was really her name. There were still some legends flying around about never telling magical creatures your name or they'd have power over you. He didn't know how much nonsense the Watchers had fed to this young girl.

"You're Angelus," she whispered, "the Scourge of Europe."

Angel winced, his past once again catching up with him. Some days he wondered whether he would ever be able to make amends for the things he had done back then. He shook his head; this wasn't the time to think about it.

"That was a long time ago." He told Buffy.

"You're a murderer!" She hissed at him. "It doesn't matter how long ago it was."

"That would carry a lot more sting coming from someone who did not commit murder herself earlier today. To say nothing of just a few minutes ago." He gestured toward the remains of the Vampires she had staked.

"That's not murder," she defended herself, "these weren't ... weren't people!"

"Weren't they?" Angel asked her. "Tell me, Slayer! Did they attack you? Did you see them attack innocent humans? Did they do anything to warrant being murdered?"

She shook her head and he knew that he had made some headway. Maybe just a tiny crack in the programming the Watchers had given her, but it was a start.

"You're monsters!" Buffy yelled at him, but didn't sound a hundred percent sure of it.

"Some of us, yes. But you can't judge an entire species by the deeds of a few!"

Maybe he had pushed too quickly too fast. She clutched her stake tighter and lunged at him, aiming the sharp wood at his heart. Angel jumped to the side, evading her. The Slayer rolled and was back on her feet an instant later.

A feathered projectile struck her in the shoulder.

"What the ...?" She managed before her eyes started to roll back. Moments later, with enough tranquilizer inside her to bring down two elephants, she slumped to the ground.

Doyle, Spike, Darla, and Wesley emerged from the shadows, Doyle putting the tranq gun back into his shoulder holster.

"She seemed receptive," Wesley said, "at least to a certain point."

"We should just kill her and get it over with." Spike mumbled.

Angel crouched down and hoisted the sleeping Slayer up into his arms.

"If we kill her there will be a new Slayer coming around in no time flat, one that might be more like Kendra again."

He could see Wesley wince.

"I think we have a chance to make this one see reason." Angel continued. "And anyway, as long as she lives, there won't be a new Slayer. So get over it, Spike! We're leaving!"

Spike growled below his breath, which had more to do with the sobering setting in than any actual hostility toward Angel, and followed the others back to the cars.

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6 - Of Vampires on Crack and Caged Slayers

###

Angel looked at the beautiful girl that was still lying unconscious on the floor of the specially constructed cell in the cellar of the Hyperion and felt his heart go out to her. So young, much too young to have her mind poisoned by bigoted old idiots, sent out on a killing spree that would cost innocent lives and get her dead before too long.

He had never understood what possible rationalization the Watchers had for using children to do their dirty work. What conceivable reason could their be for using innocents like this? Did the ends justify the means for them? Was that all there was to it?

"She doesn't look too tough!"

Angel started. For the first time ever Faith had managed to take him by surprise, so lost in thought had he been. He thanked the Powers that the girl was too busy staring at the Slayer to have noticed it. He would never have heard the end of it.

"Believe me, Faith! You do not want to spar with that one!"

"She can't be much older than me."

"Physically, yes. Though I'm afraid mentally is a whole different question."

They both looked through the one-way window into the cell. Kendra had died little more than a year ago, so it was a safe bet that this one had been chosen at the same time. Which meant that she had been hunting and killing for a year now.

"They programmed her, right?" Faith asked. "Like a robot?"

"Essentially, yes. She has been raised to regard all demons as evil, no matter what they do or who they are."

"And you think you can deprogram her?"

"I hope so."

The two looked on in silence for while. Silence, though, was not something Faith did well. Neither was standing still, for that matter.

"How come you have a cell down here anyway?" She asked him, pacing in front of the cell. "Can't imagine it came with the hotel."

Angel managed a smile. He had bought the Hyperion in the fifties after exorcising a paranoia demon from here. Since then it had served as the unofficial Vampire World HQ, a safe meeting place for a race that did its best to remain hidden from the world at large. Angel had lived here more or less steadily ever since, though he still did a lot of traveling around the world.

"I had the cell built in the late sixties," he explained to Faith, "after an experiment with drugs turned ugly."

"Huh?" Faith asked.

"In the sixties Spike and me often worked with a Vampire called Fred."

"Freddy the Vampire?" Faith smiled, probably thinking Angel was pulling her leg.

"Yes. Despite the name he was pretty old and powerful. During those times, well, it was a wacky time."

"Don't tell me you boogied down to the Shangri-La, Angel!"

"Okay, I won't tell you!"

The two shared a laugh.

"So, what happened to Freddy?"

"Well, Fred did have an unfortunate episode with drugs. He became addicted and, during his highs, he turned quite violent. A Vampire on crack is not something you want to experience, believe me! In the end we had no other choice but to lock him away and make him go through cold turkey withdrawal. It was not a pretty sight."

Angel remembered the many nights he had spent down here, watching his friend go through withdrawal. Fred had raged, threatened, whimpered, sometimes all at once. It had been painful for all of them.

"What happened to him?" Faith asked.

"It took the better part of a year, but he managed. After that he didn't trust himself around humans anymore. Last I heard he was in Canada, living in the wilderness."

There was a groan coming from inside the cell and both Angel and Faith looked through the one-way window to see the Slayer slowly come back to consciousness.

"Shrugged off the tranquilizer in record time," Angel mumbled, "a Vampire couldn't have done better."

"What will you do with her now?"

Angel sighed, rising from his chair. "Talk! Hope! Pray for the best!"

"You ... do you mind if I don't stick around to watch? She's ... I don't know. I'm getting the wiggins around her."

"Go, Faith! Do me a favor and tell Darla and Spike that she's awake, okay? On a second thought, scratch Spike! Just tell Darla!"

"Okay!" With that she whizzed up the stairs.

By now the Slayer was on her feet, though a bit wobbly, and looked at the bare cell walls. There was fear in her eyes, he could see as much, though it was well-hidden beneath a barrier of determination.

"Okay, anybody care to tell me where I am?" She yelled against the walls.

Angel walked around to the entrance and slid the heavy steel door back. There was a second door of steel bars and he left that one closed. The Slayer stood at the far end of the cell, back against the wall, and looked at him.

"I hope you don't suffer any ill effects from the tranquilizer," he told her, "we weren't quite sure what dose to use."

"How about letting me out? I'm sure that will cure any ill effects I might be suffering from."

He set a chair down right in front of the bars and sat down, leaning his arms on the back of it, studying her.

"I'm afraid I can't let you out just yet. Sorry about that, but letting you out at this point would mean dooming a lot of my people to an early death."

She walked a little closer to the bars, looking at him.

"Don't take this as an encouragement, but why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?"

"Two reasons," Angel said, "first one is that I don't like killing. I've done more than enough of that to last me a hundred lifetimes. I'd much rather make you understand."

"Understand what?"

"That not all Vampires are monsters.

She rolled her eyes. "I think you told me that right before you shot me, right? Pardon me if I have trouble believing."

"I don't expect you to believe right off the bat. Buffy, that was your name, right? I know that the Watchers have been feeding you their mantra probably right from birth, but ..."

"They didn't!" Buffy interrupted him.

"What?"

"I didn't know a thing about the Slayer or Watchers until about a year ago. I knew about Vampires, of course, but all that other stuff only came about twelve months ago."

Angel narrowed his eyes, studying her. If she had not been one of the Council's Slayers-in-waiting, then they'd only had a year to indoctrinate her. He had heard of this happening before, a new Slayer being chosen seemingly at random, the Council having to search for them.

"Do you like your new life?" Angel asked her.

"Like it? Are you kidding? I was happy being a nice, normal high school girl. And then they just suddenly dump this sacred duty thing in my lap and ..."

She stopped herself. "Why am I telling you all this? You're a Vampire!"

"And all Vampires are evil, right? Nothing more than animals. That's what they told you, I expect."

After a moment she nodded, looking at him with an uncertain expression in her eyes.

"Care to hear the other side of the story?" He asked her.

She went quiet for a long moment, then she sighed and squatted down on the stone cell floor.

"I don't seem to have anything better to do right now."

Angel nodded and began telling her the story of the Restoration.

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7 - The Restoration Or How I Learned to Stop Brooding and Changed the World

###

"I was turned into a Vampire in 1753," Angel began his story, "and for the next one and a half centuries I was everything the Watchers told you about and more. I left a wide trail of bodies all over Europe, killed my own family, killed whomever I met. I enjoyed it. As did all Vampires."

He sighed. "During that time the Watchers were, of course, completely right about us. We were animals, bloodthirsty beasts, nothing more. But then something changed."

"Changed?" Buffy asked.

"Yes. Me and Spike, one of my Childer, were in Romania. We came across a clan of Gypsies and, true to form, we started killing them. What we didn't count upon, though, was that the elders of the clan were skilled in the ways of magic. To exact their revenge upon us, they cursed us. Cursed us with the return of our souls."

Buffy looked puzzled. "Return of your souls? How is that a curse? Couldn't they think of something better?"

Angel shook his head. "I'm sure your Watcher told you the story. When a Vampire is turned a demon fills his flesh, nothing human remains. The soul of the human he once was is gone. And with it the conscience, the compassion, everything you'd think of as human qualities. Believe me, it makes for a very easy existence."

He looked up at her and for a moment Buffy could see the deep pain that was still in his eyes.

"When our souls returned, everything changed. Suddenly we had a conscience again. 150 years of bloody slaughter and suddenly we felt it. We remember everything the demons did as if we had done it ourselves. You can't even imagine what that feels like to have done the things we did ... and care."

He expected some kind of comment from her. Some flippant remark. How could a teenager even hope to grasp what he was telling her? When he looked at her, though, all he saw was confusion, along with the barest hint of compassion.

"It was hell, Buffy. Pure and simple. Spike and me, well, I'm sure if we hadn't had each other neither of us would be here now. I think we'd just walked into the sunrise to get rid of the pain.

"After a time, though, we came to realize that this thing that had happened to us, despite the pain that went with it, was actually a grace, not a curse. We were human again, at least inside, and that meant that two of the most vicious Vampires ever would no longer do harm to the human race.

"We found a new goal in life. Vampires were doing untold damage worldwide, killing humans in numbers too horrible to contemplate. We had to put an end to it. Unfortunately using the curse the Gypsies came up with proved to be unpractical, as it only worked on single Vampires. It would have taken us forever to curse every single Vampire on the face of the Earth.

"Then we heard of the Necronomicon Nocturnum."

"The what?" Buffy asked.

"The most complete collection of magic concerning the creatures of the night."

"Everything you ever wanted to know about Vampires and were afraid to ask?" She joked. Angel guessed she was using humor to try and get past the confusion he could feel inside her.

"Something like that. With the help of that book we achieved our goal."

He stood and leant against the bars, looking at Buffy.

"I'm still a Vampire. As are all the others. Dead flesh, animated by a demon. Yet ever since that day in 1907 the human soul is back and in control. Every Vampire in the world now has a soul, a conscience, the capacity for compassion. We are just people now."

"Except for the bursting-into-flames-during-the-day part, right? Oh, and there is still that bit about having to drink human blood, correct?"

"Most Vampires these days live of pigs' or cows' blood. One thing you have to understand, Buffy! Vampires are people. That means you have bad apples among them. People who, despite having a conscience, are every bit as monstrous as the demons ever were. Humans are more than capable of committing acts of atrocity without demon help."

"Next you're gonna be telling me that you have a dream, right? One day your poor little childer will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the length of their fangs but by the content of their character?"

Angel shook his head.

"This is not a laughing matter, Buffy. The people you have killed out there were human in every way, they only had the misfortune of being attacked and turned by a Vampire. Some Vampires are criminals, some are monsters, but most are just people trying to live their lives."

He could see that she was closing herself off. Too much in one setting, he guessed. He could see that a part of her wanted to believe him, yet that part was too small yet. Believing him would necessarily involve seeing her own deeds in a whole new light.

If she was telling the truth, if she had really been the Slayer for but a year with no training before that, it was a good guess that she was only now coming around to accepting the burden placed upon her. And here he was, telling her that most of what she had been told was wrong and that she was a murderer.

"Sleep on what I told you!" He told her. "I will be back tomorrow."

With that he turned around and started to walk away.

"Angel!" She called after him.

"Yes?"

"You said you had two reasons for keeping me here. What is the second?"

He gave her half a smile.

"Why, if I kill you another Slayer will rise. As long as you're stuck here, my people are safe. Or as safe as they'll ever be in a world like this."

With that he left.

#

Buffy sat on the cold stone floor and pondered her situation. Prisoner of a Vampire. A day ago she would have said that Vampires didn't take prisoners. Giles had told her the score on Vampires more times than she'd cared to listen. Vicious beasts, only interested in drinking blood and inflicting pain.

Angel confused the hell out of her. He was like no Vampire she'd ever seen before. There was something about him that made her want to believe him, even though she knew it couldn't be true. Vampires with souls. What a laugh, right? Right?

Nonsense, all of it! Demons with a conscience. He was lying through his too-long teeth, there was no other explanation. Giles had told her the score and she had seen the evils they could commit. Destroying them was her sacred duty. It was right.

She was not a murderer!

Only now did she notice that there was some food standing at the edge of the bars. For a moment she wanted to refuse it out of defiance, but her belly reminded her in no uncertain terms about her duty to it. She rose and took the food.

While chewing on bread and cheese she tried to figure out what this Vampire wanted to achieve here. His last comment had disturbed her greatly. As long as she was here, no new Slayer would be called. Maybe he planned to keep her prisoner here for the rest of her life. She shuddered, wondering how long it would take her to go insane in here.

Okay, step one, find a way to get out of here! Angel had left the solid door open when he left, so the only thing standing between her and freedom were the bars. She rose and tested them. No give, even at full strength. She labored at it for a few minutes, putting all her muscle into it, and achieved only some sweat and a feeling of gloom.

Okay, getting herself out didn't work. Change of tactics. If she couldn't free herself, someone else would have to open those bars. There was Angel. There was whoever had shot that tranquilizer dart at her. Maybe she could just tell them that she believed the story. Okay, Vampires were good, she wouldn't kill them anymore. Would they let her out then?

Of course she couldn't just tell him all was right with the world the next time he came around. She'd have to play it carefully so he'd buy it. Slowly come around to his point of view. Which probably meant having to listen to more of his stories, but that was okay.

He did have a nice voice. Where had that thought come from?

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8 – We Caught a Slayer, Can We Keep Her?

###

"So what do you think of our little house guest?"

Cordy and Wesley looked up as Faith came into the lobby, flush from her workout. Spike sat in the corner, reading the newspaper, not acknowledging the youngster's presence in the slightest.

"She is very different from ... what I expected." Wesley stated.

"Yeah," Cordy said, "here I expected a stake-wielding fanatic and what did we get? A California school girl in almost fashionable clothing. Who is also a stake-wielding fanatic, I guess."

Faith slouched down on the couch, thinking. Angel had given her a good a workout as always, the fact that he never even broke into a sweat still irking her. Yet she had noticed that he'd been distracted. It was not hard to figure out what the source of the distraction was.

"Think Angel can manage to screw her head on right?" Faith asked no one in particular.

"Bloody waste of time!" Spike grumbled without looking up from the paper.

"If what she told Angel is true and she has only been subject to the indoctrination of the Watchers' Council for a year," Wesley elaborated, "then there is indeed hope for her."

"What he said, only with less five-dollar-words." Cordy remarked.

"I'm not sure," Faith said, "I went down a few times to look at her and she's still giving me the wiggins. Something about her makes my skin creep."

"The fact that she killed a lot of people and is strong enough to snap your scrawny neck with one hand might have something to do with it." Spike grumbled again.

Faith gave the Vampire a severe glance.

"What's your problem anyway? It's not like she ever kicked your ass, that was me."

Spike rose from his chair and was halfway across the lobby, demon face coming out, when he caught himself. He looked down at Faith, the slight trace of fear on her face something his demon cherished. He was not a demon, though. He was a man! A man!

"You haven't got enough brains not to get yourself killed, Faith!" He growled at her. "One day you're gonna piss someone off and he or she will not hesitate to tear your vacuum-brained head off your body."

With that he stormed out of the lobby and into the night. He needed a drink or a brawl, preferably both.

"Boy, he is grumpy!" Faith commented, trying to ignore the lump in her throat.

#

"I think some of the others should talk to her as well." Angel said.

"You really think that's a good idea?"

Darla and Angel sat together in his room, listening to the soft music coming from the stereo, and enjoyed a bottle of blood. Ever since Darla's little performance in the Caritas they had been able to be together without all the awkwardness that had hung between them these last ninety years and Angel found that he cherished his Sire's presence.

"In one way or another," Angel explained, "everyone here started out with some serious issues against Vampires. Wesley was a Watcher, Cordelia was almost killed by Penn, Faith lost her parents to Vampires. Hearing their stories might help her come around. Also, so far she has only talked to me. I think she needs to see a few other faces or she'll go mad down there."

He looked at the monitor he had rigged up so he could watch the Slayer in her cell. Right now she was sleeping, though he could see her twist and turn in her sleep. A nightmare? A girl like her certainly had seen enough to make a few nightmares out of. He wished he could help her.

"I think we should also let her out for a while. Under carefully controlled conditions, of course."

"Now that is certainly not smart!" Darla said, sipping from her glass.

"Leaving her in that cell forever is not going to be much good," Angel said, "it will only make her resent us in the long run. She needs to see how we live if she's ever going to believe me."

Darla nodded, watching the girl as well.

"Okay, we'll let her make some rounds outside. But you should have Doyle and the tranquilizer gun close at all times. I'm not sure about involving the others, though. Cordelia, okay, she can probably handle it. Wesley and Faith? I'm not so sure."

"Care to explain?"

"Every time Wesley sees Buffy he really sees Kendra and remembers what he had to do. He's not over that, not by half. And Faith? There is some kind of tension in her whenever she is close to Buffy. Didn't she say something about Buffy giving her 'wiggins', whatever that might be?"

"Faith and Buffy are very similar. A year ago Faith was just where Buffy is now. Hating all Vampires, wanting to kill them all. Buffy is a bit like a mirror of what Faith was, or could have become. I hope they may do each other some good."

Darla looked at her childe and couldn't suppress a smile.

"You've taken a fancy to this girl." She said.

"I love Faith like she was my own daughter, Darla. You know that."

"I'm not talking about Faith. The blonde Slayer is the one that has caught your eye."

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"I can see it in your eyes. You care for her."

"I want to make sure she knows the truth. I want to make sure she is no longer a danger to my people."

Darla shook her head, knowing how stubborn and blind to his own feelings Angel could be.

"I think she likes you."

"Darla, she would stake me if she could. I don't think that falls under the concept of 'like'."

Darla smiled. She knew Angel better than he knew himself. He would refuse to realize it, but he liked that girl a lot. Darla didn't know if that was good or bad, she only knew that it had been much too long since Angel had had any kind of happiness in his life.

He needed some and maybe she could help things along a little.

Angel watched the blonde girl twist and turn in the throes of a nightmare and had to keep himself from going down there to comfort her. He was doing this for the safety of his people and for the sake of a young girl's soul, there was no other motivation.

He wondered what she was dreaming about.

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9 - Bondage, Slayer-style, and Girl-Talk

###

Buffy had been a prisoner of the Vampires for nearly two weeks now and she was slowly losing hope. Not because she was treated badly. Quite the opposite. The cot in the cell wasn't cozy, but neither was it a pain to sleep on it. She got regular meals that tasted quite good. She was starting to stink a little, what with no showers, but she got her clothing cleaned when she handed it to Angel and could so some washing in the small sink in the corner. As prisons went, this one was quite comfortable.

What made her feel hopeless was that Angel seemed totally immune to both her charms and whatever temper tantrums she might throw. There had been quite a few of the latter these past two weeks, as she found she didn't have enough patience to go through with her original plan. Angel on the other hand seemed possessed of infinite patience. He just kept on telling her stories about how Vampires were people and how it was wrong to kill them unless they actually did something evil.

Worse, she found that she was having a hard time thinking of Angel as a monster. There was just nothing monstrous about him. There was so much pain and regret in his dark eyes, how could that man be a remorseless killer?

Part of her was telling her that he was slowly succeeding in filling her head with his nonsense. Another part, though, made her wonder whether he might actually be telling the truth. It went against everything she had been told, everything she had seen of Vampires so far.

Yet those gang members had not harmed anyone that she knew of, that was true. The Vampires she had taken by surprise inside that apartment had not put up much of a fight. They had seemed scared of her. Could monsters be scared?

Someone was coming down the stairs, someone making too much noise to be one of the undead. Spying through the bars she could just see the bottom of the stairs and there was a dark-haired girl coming down, looking at her.

"Hi, Buffy!" The girl said. "I'm Cordy. Thought you'd like some company. I know how boring Angel can get if he starts his tortured past routine."

The girl called Cordy sat down on the same chair Angel always used and looked at her.

"You're not a Vampire!" Buffy said.

"Gosh, really? Let me check!" She touched her fingers to her wrist. "Pulse is there, check! Breathing? Check! Heartbeat? Check! You're right. I'm not a Vampire."

Buffy was a bit taken aback by the sheer energy this girl radiated. On top of that she couldn't figure out what she was doing here. For a moment she had a horrible picture in her head of Angel using this girl for his personal pleasure. It seemed like something Vampires would do. But no, she simply couldn't connect something like that with her mental image of Angel.

"You're not the most talkative of people, are you?" Cordy asked.

"Might have something to do with being stuck in a cell." Buffy mumbled.

"You want out?"

Buffy stared at her for a moment, then quickly rose and walked to the bars.

"Yes! Yes, I want out. If you could just ..."

Cordy threw something into the cell and Buffy caught it before she had time to consciously think about it. She looked at what she had caught and saw two pairs of handcuffs, one with a short length of chain between them.

"What the ...?" She began.

"Cuff your feet together and your hands behind your back. Angel said you might need a walk in the sunlight and, seeing as he is a bit handicapped in that area, he asked me to take you. Maybe figured I could slip in some girl-talk."

Buffy looked at the cuffs and knew that this was maybe her only chance to get out of here. It was probably too much to hope for, though, that Angel would have underestimated her strength when ordering these cuffs. Still, just getting out of this cell would do wonders for her peace of mind. She didn't like the thought of being tied up with Vampires around, but if they had meant to hurt her, they could have done so long since.

With a sigh she squatted down and cuffed her feet together. The chain left just enough slack for her to walk in small steps. Running was out of the question. She crossed her wrists behind her back, thinking for a minute about trying to trick Cordy. Then she decided that the girl was watching her much too closely, so she fumbled until she could feel the cuffs snap shut around her wrists.

"All set!" She told Cordy without much enthusiasm.

The other girl slid the bars back and walked in carefully, checking the cuffs. Only now did Buffy see another figure standing close to the cell. A short man in a dingy leather jacket, a gun held in one hand. She wasn't sure whether he was a Vampire. She was sure he would shoot if she tried anything.

"Okay," Cordy pronounced, "we good to go."

She turned and walked out of the cell, Buffy following her with small, awkward steps.

#

Faith stood at the top of the stairs and watched as Cordelia and Buffy came up, the latter walking very carefully, taking the steps slow and one at a time. Faith wasn't half as enthusiastic about this as she pretended to be. Angel had asked her to do this and she would do pretty much anything for him, but still ...

She couldn't figure out why this girl was disturbing her this way. Maybe it was like Spike had said. Knowing what she had done, what she was capable of doing, maybe it was just good old-fashioned stay-away-from-the-predator fear.

Buffy reached the top of the stairs and looked around the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel. The sun was shining in through the windows and one could see the barest hint of clear blue skies outside.

"God, I thought I'd never see the sun again." Buffy muttered.

"Sorry about that," Faith said, making her presence known, "but you know how it is. Can't let you go around staking people and all."

Buffy gave the other girl a dirty look.

"They're not people." She said, but by now it sounded more like mindless repetition.

"Oh, put a sock in it!" Faith grumbled. "Some of them are better people than any o'those that walk around in daylight."

"They are monsters, they kill people for their blood."

The Slayer seemed less interested in what she was saying than in holding her face into the sunlight. Faith, never one with a lot of patience, was getting irritated. Angel had warned her that it would take a lot of time to get Buffy's brain right side up, but she had somehow figured that it wouldn't take THAT long.

"Angel is a good guy," she yelled at Buffy, "one of the best. I would probably be dead by now if not for him. These last hundred years he's done nothing but good and still bigoted idiots like you run around, carrying a stake with his name on it."

#

Buffy was taken aback by the intensity of the girl's outburst. She became painfully aware of the fact that she was cuffed and helpless here, while this dark-haired teenager seemed poised to swing at her.

"Tone down on the psycho-act, Faith!" Cordelia reminded everyone of her presence. "We're trying to do some female bondage-stuff here. Bondage meaning emotional, you know? Not the cuff part. We're not that kinky."

She came to a stop in front of Buffy and looked her up and down.

"You look a lot more in need of a shower here in daylight. We'll have to get you some other clothes if you're to stay here for a while. Oh, where are my manners? The girl wonder here is Faith, I'm not sure why she is here, but she always is. My full name is Cordelia Chase, by the way. These people here would be lost without me. None of them has any sense of style. No wonder Vampires get all the bad press. They're all running around in black."

Buffy still tried to wrap her mind around the fact that living human beings seemed so very fond of a Vampire, fond to the point of vehemently defending them. And here was this Cordelia girl giving fashion tips to Vampires? She wondered if this entire thing, starting with the fight in the alley, might not have been a weird dream after too much ice cream.

"Come on, girls!" Cordelia motioned for them to follow her. "Let's step into the sun and have some girl talk!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10 - About Vampires and Life after High School

###

Just feeling the sun on her skin again was a feeling too wonderful to describe. The building she had been kept prisoner in had a large courtyard and that was where Faith & Cordelia had taken her. They all sat down on a stone bench and Buffy turned her face toward the sun.

"They tell me you got all the powers of a Vampire," Cordelia said, "only without the whole creature-of-the-night angle. That's so cool!"

"No, it's not!" Buffy said. "It's not cool that I have to hang around dark alleys and cemeteries all night. It's not cool that I'm alienating all my friends and family because I can't tell them about this. It's definitely a not cool thing."

Cordy went quiet for a moment, sensing the pain in the other girl.

"Angel told me you've only been the Slayer for a year. Before that you were all normal high school girl or what?"

Buffy didn't want to talk to these girls that hung around with Vampires. She wanted out of here, that was all. Back to her home, back to her mom, who was probably worried sick by now. She wondered what Giles was doing right now. Was he looking for her? Or had he written her off and was looking for the new Slayer that would pop up if she was dead?

"The Slayer doesn't talk to us freak-girls!" Faith mumbled, looking less than happy to be here. "Probably figures us for coffin-bait or something."

"Oh, please!" Cordy made a throwaway motion. "As if. Angel's too busy saving the world to allow himself any fun. And Spike is still moping for his Dru."

"Dru?" Buffy asked, drawn into the conversation despite herself.

"His Sire and lover. She was killed twenty years ago. By a Slayer. You're not exactly his favorite people. I'm sure you understand."

Vampires in love with each other? These creatures were capable of love? She shook her head. Next they would tell her they were donating blood for Africa or something.

"Not in receptive mood, are you?" Cordy asked. "We must do something about that, I think."

"Let me get out of here and I'll be happy-girl!"

"Sorry, no can do. Angel would go all grrrr on us and you'd probably start killing again. So it's a no-no! I will think of something else, don't worry!"

"We could lock her in a room with Spike and throw the key away." Faith proposed.

#

Wesley watched the three girls from a distance, his eyes on the Slayer. She looked nothing like Kendra, that was for sure. Still, looking at her, it was like a trip into the past for him. He remembered a time when he had been sure in what he was and what he did. Vampires were evil and had to be destroyed. He hadn't simply believed that. He had known it to be true.

He looked at this girl. She seemed nowhere near as certain as he remembered himself being, but she was still hardening herself to the truth. He tried to remember the exact moment that he himself had come around. There probably wasn't one. It had been a gradual change, something that happened in too subtle a way to be noticed.

Angel had asked him to talk to the girl, if he felt up to it. Looking at her, he simply wasn't sure.

#

Faith had moved away, not trusting herself not to swing at the helpless Slayer. Which left Cordelia and Buffy on the bench, sitting in the sunshine.

"You do realize he could've killed you long ago if he wanted to, right?"

"He doesn't want a new Slayer to be called, that's all." Buffy wasn't sure she believed it, though.

"If that was his only motivation he could just leave you to rot in that cell. He wouldn't spend so much time talking to you."

Buffy tried ignore both Cordelia and the confused voices inside her own head. There was Giles, telling her that Vampires would try every dirty trick in the book. There was Slayer-Buffy, who was going crazy with not being able to kick Vampire ass. And there was another Buffy, who wondered whether everything Angel had told her just might be true.

"He saved my life, you know?" Cordelia said. "If not for him I wouldn't be here today."

"What happened?" Buffy asked, surprised that she really wanted to know.

"There was a Vampire called Penn, a serial killer. He sort-of had this fixation on getting even with his dad, said dad having been dead for nearly two centuries. He kept killing his family over and over again and he had chosen me as his next younger sister."

That sounded more like the Vampires she knew, Buffy thought.

"Angel tracked him down before Penn could do me in. They fought and Angel staked him. God, that sounds so easy, telling it like this. Penn was Angel's childe, you know? It was like killing his own son."

"So they kill their own young, is it?" Buffy grumbled.

"You really don't want to understand, do you?" Cordy sighed. "The point is that Angel is Mr. Responsibility. He gave souls to Vampires, so he figures he is responsible for them all. These last ninety years he and a few others have been the police to their people, tracking down those that crossed the line. Penn did when he started killing again and so Angel staked him, no matter what feelings he might have had for him."

Cordy tilted her head back, feeling the sun on her face.

"Angel did more than save me, though. Before I met him I was a spoiled brat. Rich man's daughter, used to getting everything she wanted just because she wanted it. Life for me was wearing fashionable clothing and worrying about my popularity in High School. I knew about Vampires from TV, but I couldn't have cared less.

"Angel changed all that. Meeting him, getting to know him, it gave my life purpose. I figured my future was some kind of Hollywood dream, I figured myself an actress. These days I help people. Do you know how good that feels? I even went against my dad and when he took away my credit card the universe didn't collapse in on me.

"You know what Vampires are, Buffy? Not animals, not monsters, they are people. People that live without any rights, without any protection by the law, without anything. A lynch mob can just go ahead and burn a few of them and no one will do a thing about it. Is it any wonder that some of them turn out bad?"

Buffy didn't say anything, didn't know what to say. What Cordelia was telling her didn't sound right. It couldn't be right. Because if it was it would mean ...

"I would like to go back now." Buffy just said, sounding much more tired than she felt.

Cordy gave her a long look, then nodded.

Angel watched from the shadows, having heard every word the two girls had exchanged. Cordelia had certainly painted a very glorified picture of him. He looked at the Slayer's face and knew that they were making progress. Slowly, very slowly, but they were.

"There might just be hope for her yet." Angel murmured to himself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11 - Interviewed by the Vampire

###

Buffy woke with a scream, almost tumbling off the narrow cot. Her body was covered in sweat, panting like she had just been through a ten-mile run. For a moment she had no idea where she was, the bare cell walls foreign and intimidating in the darkness.

With a sigh the memories returned. She was still a prisoner, coming close to the three weeks mark now, and, in her own opinion, in a certain amount of danger of going nuts. The nightmare she had just finished being the best indicator for that.

The memories of the dream were quickly fading, but she knew that she had seen. It made her shiver.

"A bad dream?"

For a moment she thought she was still dreaming, but there he stood, in front of her cell. She could barely make him out in the darkness, but the tingling of her Slayer sense and the familiar silhouette were enough by now.

"Are you watching me sleep?" She asked him, trying to sound irked, but what came out sounded just tired and a bit frightened.

"I keep an eye on you, yes." He admitted. "Can't have you do a disappearing act without anyone noticing. You've been having a lot of bad dreams."

She sat up on her cot and drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around them. She wished he would turn on the light. Talking with him here in the dark gave the whole thing a feeling of intimacy she wasn't ready for yet. Yet? Where had that thought come from?

"Want to talk about them?" Angel asked.

"Why are you interested?"

"So far I've been the one doing all the talking. I would like to learn more about you, Buffy Summers."

She looked up.

"How do you know my last name? I never told you."

"Your wallet."

"Oh!"

She fell silent again, her eyes not looking at him, but somehow she was almost painfully aware of his presence nearby.

"I've been having nightmares since I became the Slayer." She finally said, knowing she had to break the silence or she'd go mad. "At first it was simple stuff. I was running through alleys and graveyards, chased by demons, they caught me, I woke up just before they could kill me. Don't need to be Freud to interpret those, I guess."

"You don't like your calling." Angel said.

"It destroyed my life. Or is in the process of doing so. I can't tell my mom about it, because she would freak. She's scared enough of Vampires as it is, even without knowing her little baby girl is out there hunting them down. I can't tell my friends, because they'd either label me freak for life or would think it cool and want to go along hunting, which would get them killed."

"You might not think so, but you can share the burden even without endangering others."

She looked up at him, trying to get a measure of his face in the darkness.

"You mean like you do with your little circle of friends here? Vampires and Vampire groupies? They tell me you're policing your own kind because you feel responsible for giving them souls."

"Is that so hard to understand?"

She laughed, but it didn't sound amused.

"You people are talking about stuff like souls like they were tangible things."

"They are." He rose and leaned against the bars. "I can feel it inside me, I'm aware of it every second of my existence. I don't expect you to understand it, Buffy. You never were without a soul. You always have it inside you so you are not even aware that you have it. It is different for me, for all of us."

"How so?" Buffy asked, just the tiniest bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"It's hard to describe. When you don't have a soul there is no such thing as right and wrong. It's only want, desire, passion. You don't care about the consequences of your deeds. The welfare of others is not even a consideration in your thinking. It's like the world is but a TV program, not real, and all the people in it are just cardboard cutouts. It would never even occur to you to give a damn about them. It's a very easy existence, Buffy."

He sat down again, looking at her in the darkness.

"What do you feel when you kill?" He asked her.

She was surprised that she genuinely considered the question. What did she feel when she plunged a stake into a Vampire's dead heart?

"Powerful." She finally said. "Carefree. Unburdened. I kill them and they just explode into dust."

"What if that wouldn't happen?" Angel asked. "What if you had bodies remain behind, Buffy? Dead eyes looking up at you, wondering why you decided to end their existence?"

She closed her eyes, but the images he conjured up had a life of their own and swirled through her head. A stake, rammed into a chest by her hand. Blood, not dust. A body tumbling to the ground. Blood spreading out on the floor. An empty face, features forever frozen in a look of disbelief.

"I don't want to talk about this." She whispered.

"Okay, then we'll talk about something else."

"What?"

"Your dreams. You said that at first it was you being chased by Vampires. What are you dreaming about now?"

She didn't want to answer those questions. That her unconscious mind was ready to believe him was not something she wanted him to know. Yet somehow she didn't know how to lie to him. She had the feeling he would know if she did. Or maybe she just didn't want to lie to him period.

"I dream about this. About you. About the stuff you're telling me."

"In what form?"

She hugged herself closer, feeling cold seep into her bones.

"I keep hearing your voice over and over again, telling me that the Vampires I killed were people. I see myself driving a stake through a Vampire's heart and suddenly it has your face. I expect to feel good about it, but I don't. I feel terrified and I can't figure out why."

She expected him to give some comment about how she was beginning to see the light or something. Instead she was taken completely by surprise when he slid back the cell door and walked inside, crouching down beside her cot.

She wanted to run. Wanted to use this chance to escape. Somehow her limps didn't obey her. She could do nothing but stare at him as he sat in front of her, his dark eyes locking with hers. There was so much to see in those eyes, such incredible depth. How could he be a monster?

He gently took one of her hands, guiding it toward his own chest. He placed it above his heart and Buffy felt the cold of his flesh seep into her skin. There should be a heartbeat, she realized. Something should be moving under that chest. Only it didn't.

"We are living in dead flesh," Angel said, "that is why we fall into dust when you kill us. But inside, where it counts, we are alive. We think, we feel, we love, and we hurt. Just like you."

She didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do. After a moment he let go off her hand and stood, moving out of the cell without another word. The door slid shut behind him and Buffy was left alone in the darkness, sitting on her cot with her knees hugged close to her chest.

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12 - At Night all Slayers are Gray

###

"Are you completely out of your bloody mind?" Spike yelled as Angel came up the stairs.

"Spike?"

"You opened her cell door. She could have escaped."

"She didn't, did she?"

Spike stomped down in frustration, hard enough to crack the floor boards.

"I'm really getting tired of this, Peaches! I've had it up to here with your save-all-innocent-souls attitude. This chick is a murderer and we should deal with her. Right here! Right now! Rip her head off and be done with it."

Angel could hear the alcohol in his childe's voice, as well as the pain and anger he still felt, even after twenty years. Angel grabbed the blonde Vampire by the shoulders.

"This girl down there was tricked, Spike! They told her Vampires were evil and so she killed them. She didn't know any better! It's not her fault!"

Spike pushed him away, vamping out.

"I don't care what she knew and didn't know. She killed them. Killed our people." His rage spent, Spike dropped to his knees, crying bloody tears. "Killed Dru."

Angel knelt down and hugged Spike close.

"It wasn't her, Spike. This girl down there wasn't even born then. It's not her fault. And neither was it yours."

He knew the story of that day, of course. Spike and Dru had been in New York for the bicentennial celebration. Spike had left town for a day to check up on an old acquaintance in Boston. When he came back he only found Dru's ashes.

Within the week he tracked down the Slayer in the New York subway system and killed her.

"I should have been there." Spike sobbed. "I should have stayed with her. Saved her."

Angel knew no words that would help his childe, so he just held him and let him cry for the woman he still loved more than anything else.

#

Buffy sat on the roof of the Hotel, looking out across the lights of LA. It was hard to sit comfortably with her hands cuffed behind her back, but she managed. Now and then she threw a suspicious glance towards the blonde Vampire that had brought her up here.

"I guess you want to tell me something, too." Buffy told Darla. "Why don't you just start?"

"I thought you might want to enjoy being beneath an open sky once more for a while. But if you want, we can start right now."

Buffy had missed the outdoors, that was true. The last week she had been taken outside three times by Cordelia. It had gotten so far that she was even glad to see the talkative girl arrive because it meant she would get out some more.

Being taken onto a moonlit roof by a Vampire was not something she had ever expected to happen to her.

"What do you think about Angel?" Darla asked.

"I ... I'm not sure. I know that he's a Vampire, yet ... he's so ... so intense. So completely ... there. It's hard not to be ... intrigued by him."

"Angel is the most human of us all," Darla said, "and that is what makes him so very lonely."

"Lonely?" Buffy asked. "I didn't get the impression he was lonely. I get the feeling I still haven't met all the people running around here."

"Not lonely in a physical sense, Buffy," Darla continued, "but inside. You have to understand what the last ninety years have been like for him. He is the soul of the Vampire race, Buffy. He is our conscience. Our compassion."

She sat down beside Buffy, sighing.

"The first few years after the Restoration were hell for us. Many a Vampire committed suicide, walked into the sunlight, staked himself. Many more cursed Angel for what he had done. Why should we have to suffer through all this pain, this remorse? Just so that he and Spike wouldn't be the only Vampire's with souls anymore?

"Angel gave us hope, Buffy. Hope that, despite what we are, we could live as people again. It was hard. Very much so. Back then it wasn't as easy to get a steady supply of cow's blood or to find a sun-proof shelter outside a graveyard. Electric light was just coming into vogue, the night was still a dark and scary place.

"It never stopped him. But it also cut him off from the rest of us. He was the one who had to stake the ones that stepped out of line. Some of them were his own childer, some of them people he had loved as a demon. He feels he can't allow himself to open up to anyone because he has taken it upon himself to carry the ultimate responsibility for all of us.

"The last few years were even more difficult than before. Despite the boasts some of us always yelled, about how you are the prey and we are the predators, our survival always depended upon your ignorance. There is six billion of you and less than a hundred thousand of us. When our existence became public knowledge we all despaired.

"All of us expect Angel. He is working with the human authorities. He is working to legalize Vampires through Cordelia and her lobby in Washington. He never quits, he never surrenders, and he hasn't had a moment's peace since the day of the Restoration. He is lonely, incredibly so."

Her speech seemed to have tired Darla out, she slouched back against the wall and closed her eyes.

"Before the return of the souls we were lovers, he and I. Our demons wanted each other with a passion that still makes me tingly today. But our souls never carried such fire for each other. Whatever we once had, it's gone. I can't help him fill that emptiness he carries inside himself."

She turned to look at Buffy.

"But maybe you can."

"Me? What are you talking about."

Darla laughed under her breath.

"A blind man would see that he cares for you, Buffy. Only Angel himself is too stubborn to ever let himself realize it. Part of the effort he puts into you is because he just is that kind of man. Savior of lost souls and such. But the largest part is because he cares about you. For the first time in ninety years he is on the verge of allowing himself to truly care for someone. I can see it in his eyes."

"He's a Vampire!" Buffy said, shaken by Darla's words. "I'm a Slayer. It's my job to kill Vampires. Besides, I could never ..."

"Love him?" Darla asked, cutting her off. "Love has nothing to do with Vampires and Slayers, Buffy. It doesn't care. It just is."

"This has nothing to do with love!" Buffy insisted. "I ... he kidnapped me. He's keeping me prisoner here against my will. He's filling my head with all that nonsense about souls and stuff, I ... three weeks ago the world was a place I could understand. Good guys and bad guys, Vampires being the latter. And now ..."

"Now your black and white world is tumbling away into shades of gray," Darla interrupted her again, "and you can't tell the good guys from the bad anymore. That's the way the world is, girl. Get used to it!"

"But that's ..." Buffy started.

"If all this is nonsense, then why didn't you flee last night?"

Buffy had thought about that every waking moment since it happened. Angel had opened the door, had walked up to her without a care in the world. She could have jumped him, knocked him out, fled from this place. She could have done it, only she hadn't. Why hadn't she?

"I have no idea." She admitted.

"Maybe you should figure it out then." Darla said. "If you do, I don't think we will need those much longer."

She pointed towards the cuffs. Buffy was actually a bit surprised to see herself still all tied up, she hadn't thought about it throughout the whole conversation. Then she realized that she hadn't really given much thought to planning her escape in days.

"Weird!" She mumbled to herself.

"One other thing!" Darla said.

"What?"

"I think we need to get you a shower." The blonde Vampire wrinkled her nose, smiling. "You smell!"
13 - Who Watches the Watchers?

###

"Are you sure about this?" Rupert Giles asked Quentin Travis.

"We don't make mistakes in things like this." Travis reminded him. "No new Slayer has been called. Ergo Buffy Summers is still alive."

Giles sat down on a chair, mixed emotions running through him. Relief that his charge had not been killed as he had feared these last three weeks, but at the same time a bone-chilling fear set in when he started to think about what might have happened to her instead.

"I don't suppose the Council has found a way to track her down, has it?" Giles asked, feeling tired.

"There was never a need to. A Slayer did her duty and when she vanished it meant she had died, a new Slayer was called. You know as well as I do, Rupert, that Buffy is a special case, though. She should never have become the Slayer."

Giles jumped to his feet, almost throwing down the seat.

"She has been a good Slayer these past twelve months. She has fulfilled her duty to the fullest."

"I know that. Yet it is also a fact that, unlike most Slayers, Buffy has not been trained from birth. I would have much preferred to have one of our Slayers-in-waiting be called when Kendra died instead of this American school girl."

"Some things are beyond our influence." Giles muttered, sitting down again.

"True. Well, whatever we might think about Buffy Summers, fact remains that she is the Slayer, wherever she is. We need to find her. In case she has been taken prisoner or something similar we must ..."

"What do you mean, in case? What other reason could there be for her disappearance?"

Travis sat down as well, looking at his fellow Watcher.

"Your reports stated that Buffy was less than happy with her duties as the Slayer. You mentioned several times that she felt bad about how her personal life suffered due to her responsibilities."

"While all this is true it does not mean that Buffy would just shirk her duties and run away from them. She is a responsible girl. She might not like it, but she knows how important her work is. She would never abandon it."

"Let's hope you're right. Otherwise we might be forced to have her undergo disciplinary actions. I would not want that."

Giles fumed inside, but didn't allow himself to show it. He didn't like Travis, but he was his boss. Apart from that there was a certain logic to Travis' thoughts. What if Buffy actually had run away? No, he didn't believe it. Something must have happened to her.

#

Faith had listened to most of the exchange between the two old guys and smiled to herself. It had been a good idea to come here after all. Of course her motivation hadn't exactly been pure as gold.

At first Faith had been excited about Angel having taken the Slayer prisoner. His mission to make her see the error of her ways was so typical for him. Faith had found it sweet. Just one more reason why she loved that dark-haired Vampire, who had saved and changed her life.

Truth was, though, that she was rapidly getting tired with the amount of attention the captured Slayer received from everyone. Especially Angel.

During one of their 'girl talks' Buffy had told them that she went to Hemery High School and that her Watcher doubled up as the librarian. Faith snorted. She didn't like talking to the Slayer. If it was up to her they would just leave that blonde bitch down in the cell to rot. A part of Faith realized that she herself had once been in a very similar situation, a major hatred for Vamps, and she had gotten her head screwed on right as well.

Still, it wasn't the same. She hadn't actually killed any Vampires. She wasn't a friggin' murderer like her. And, fuck, Angel shouldn't be looking at that girl the way he did!

The way Faith had always dreamed he would look at her some day.

She'd had it all planned out since very early in their relationship. She knew that Angel saw her as his little sister, or maybe a daughter, nothing more. That would soon change, though, she was certain. Soon he would stop seeing her as a kid and then he'd realize how much they meant to each other. She'd soon be seventeen, no longer a girl, but a woman. Angel would notice and things would go on from there.

Now, though, with the way he looked at that girl ...

Something had to be done and fast. For a moment she played with the thought of telling those old guys where they could find their precious Slayer. But no, that would not be a good idea. It could get Angel and her friends killed. She just wanted that girl gone, out of their lives again. She didn't want anyone to wind up dead in the process.

She thought about what she could gain from the conversation she had just overheard. So those Watcher guys were looking for their lost Slayer, wondering whether she might have been kidnapped or just had enough of the job.

Disciplinary action, eh? Faith no longer doubted that Angel would set Buffy free sooner or later. When he set his mind on something he usually succeeded, so it was only a matter of time until he got Buffy to see things his way and then he would let her go.

And if the Watchers thought she had been ditching her duty ... or better yet, fraternizing with the enemy ... it had possibilities.

Faith left the school, trying to come up with a plan what to do and dreaming of the time when she would once again be the center of Angel's attention. Maybe she'd wear an even tinier sports bra for their next workout session.

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14 - Hot Showers and the Making of Tough Choices

###

Buffy couldn't get over how good it felt to have hot water trail down her skin. Showering had always been something she had to do, like eating or sleeping, not something she looked forward to. After three weeks without one, though, this shower was a grace right from the hands of God.

Or someone far from it, actually.

Angel had arrived at her cell, together with the short man in the dingy leather jacket. He was called Doyle, as she now knew, and they had taken her to get a shower. She hadn't missed the presence of the gun under Doyle's jacket, but the fact that Angel had not told her to put on the cuffs had been a genuine surprise.

They had led her up the stairs of what Buffy had figured out to be a hotel by now and into one of the rooms. The bathroom had no windows and Angel and Doyle were waiting right outside the door, so Buffy didn't waste much time thinking about escape. She might do that after she had finished this long, long shower. Got to keep one's priorities straight.

Feeling the hot water rain down on her she almost managed to put her constant deep thinking to rest. Deep thinking wasn't something she did very often. Before she had become the Slayer one could have argued about the whole thinking thing in general, but even since then she had mostly been a girl of action.

Which might have turned her into a murderer.

She had less trouble thinking about that question now than she'd had initially, but it still disturbed her greatly. The Vampires she had killed, had they been innocents? Approaching things from a logical standpoint she had to admit that it was possible.