Disclaimer: All characters from BtVS belong to 20th Century Fox, Sandollar Television, Mutant Enemy or Joss Whedon. Only the demon Voreshla is my own creation (with heavy nods towards a certain Persian sub-deity). No copyright infringement is intended. Rating: 15
Spoilers: Aspects of "Surprise", "Innocence", "The Prom" and "Graduation Day" Part 2
Season: 2
Teaser: Angel learns something very worrying about his Slayer and their star-crossed future. Before he can come to terms a new demon with horrible tastes makes its presence felt in Sunnydale. The happiness clause isn't.
Feedback: J_BDrake@y...
Author's note: This is based entirely on a marvellous short-story by Nicola called "Be Kind, Rewind". Anything that's good or works here is due completely to her inspiration and ideas. I would never have been able even to begin a sequel without her constant support and encouragement. For too many reason to count "The Movement of Souls" is dedicated to you Nicola.

Thursday Night

I walked for hours. The three-quarter moon swung high in the sky and a profusion of winter stars spun slowly about their celestial north. I hardly noticed. I felt numb. For almost a century I'd perfected the habit of brooding and it was a hard one to break. No matter how I tried I simply couldn't come to terms with the guilt and horror I felt tonight. I didn't even know which was worse; the fact my lover had willingly ended her own life or that I'd driven her to it Buffy had killed herself to complete a spell ritual. It had shifted reality, allowing her soul to travel back in time and rejoin her body. She had escaped the future and risked so much because there, in Buffy's present I had left her. I had turned my back and walked away into the smoke.

It hit me then so hard I stopped walking. I'd been wrong; neither my betrayal nor Buffy's suicide haunted me the most. The simple fact was I felt glad she'd done what she had and I hated myself for it. Despite the risk and the pain and the death I was actually happy she'd runaway from our impossible future. Acceptance resolved few of the issues but it lifted my depression a bit.

I felt like I'd woken up but my peace was short lived. In the real world I realised I was being followed. She stalked me far back along the street, hidden in the darkness between two pools of lamplight. The sense had been nagging for a while but I'd been too wrapped in my thoughts to pay attention. I felt instantly who it was, half hoping she'd get bored and go home. I knew better though. My wandering had brought me finally to stand before Sunnydale's only park. There was something very wrong with a town that had more graveyards than gardens. At least I could wait out of the open until she decided to finish her game Buffy and I patrolled here most nights. There was something that attracted vampires to the playground like moths to a thermonuclear ignition.

Sure enough a group of five shadows emerged from the shrubbery as I entered. They surrounded me, cocky of an easy kill.

"Right. Look guys," I tried not to sound too bored, "I'm a Master Vampire. My name's Angelus and we really don't need to finish this conversation do we?" I shuddered; I was starting to talk like Buffy. A snarl of fear ran through the group of rag-tag as I was recognised. Sometimes it was nice to have my reputation...

"Oh, by the way." I called into the suddenly empty darkness. "The girl who is following me, she's a Master too and not so forgiving as me. Don't even try. She'll crush your skulls open just to see what's inside."

They wouldn't listen but it was only fair to give warning.

I slumped onto a dewy swing. She'd come when she wanted.

I still had a lot of thinking to do. Even if I could reconcile myself to the emotions I'd felt this evening my actions in the future were a different matter. How could I ever have left her? When The Whistler brought me to California and made me watch Buffy's calling I was reborn. She had seemed to me like an icon, a perfect image of glittering life and innocence and happiness, everything I had lost. I loved her instantly and without clause but knew it was hopeless. The girls who served the Council of Watcher's didn't do so for long. They died young. Straightaway I decided it was going to be different with Buffy. I refused to allow her living flame of light and shimmering beauty to be snuffed. I would be a piece of the night to stand with her against the night, a fragment of total darkness to keep her safe. All of which sounded true and noble and heroic. Yet a little over a year from now I'd left her, abandoned her and thrown her away. I didn't know why. Some Watcher once said that vampires were incapable of shedding tears. He was wrong.

"Oww, my Angel. Don't cry pet." She stood like a sculptured pillar of frozen moonlight. "Let your little girl make it all better." Her long hair fell in a wash of twilight about the pale beauty of her face.

"Go away Drusilla," my voice was empty, "stop following me around."

"Don't be like that precious." I always wondered how she managed to keep her east-end accent. "I've been watching you I have. You're not happy and it hurts."

She moved to stand in front of me, her deeply blue eyes peering into my own. "I like it when you hurt me though." She giggled and danced away, pirouetting so her ivory shift swirled around her feet.

"Dru, it's getting late. What do you want?"

"There were these funny men outside." She ignored me. "They wanted to play but they got my fingers all sticky."

Drusilla held her hands up for me to see; they were caked in drying blood with some sort of tissue sticking between her fingers. "Yuk!" She skipped to the paddling pool and sluiced the gore from her hands

"Don't blame me Dru. I told them not to bother you."

"I know." She tilted her had to one side. "You always look after me Angel."

"Yes, well, that's Spike's job now. Why don't you go home and have him torture you or something."

"He squeaks." She looked at me from under her lashes, coyly chewing a raven tress. "His wheels need oiling and it gets on my nerves. Anyway, I'm all covered in ashes." She slapped at her skirt and a cloud of gritty dust flew into the air. "He'll wonder whatever I've been up to."

"Too bad."

"Come hunting with me pet. Let's go find something nice and tender to eat." She moved to stand behind me, wrapping her arms tight around my shoulders. "You're all skin and bones dearest, you need a proper square meal." She nibbled my ear and grazed the lobe with her sharp incisors, whispering. "Doesn't the Slayer let you drink her? I'll bet she does, all sorts of ways."

"Stop this Dru." I sprang to my feet, shrugging her off with surprising difficulty. "What is it you really want? You've been my shadow all evening."

"Touchy aren't we precious? Is it the Slayer? Was she that nice?" Her eyes had changed from the colour of lapis to that of fractured high steel. "You two have gotten closer since she ruined my birthday party. I can smell her on you, taste her in you. She's soaked through right to your heart. You'll never wash her out now."

"Bye Dru." I'd had enough and turned to go. However, Drusilla wasn't finished with me yet.

"Something's changed. She's not the same is she? I can feel the difference in her thoughts. She's always whispering in my head." My psychic childe closed her eyes and started to keen. "Oh yes, she's different right enough. Poor Angel. What have you done to her?" Drusilla laughed and it wasn't pretty any more, her voice was like crushed diamonds. "Such a pity too. Something bad is coming to Sunnydale. I can feel it. Something very, very bad."

"Don't Dru." I spun on her. "Don't even start. We dealt with your Judge and we'll deal with anything else you and William the Bloody-minded can think up."

"It isn't us pet." She was actually breathing as I advanced on her, excitement making her cheeks slightly less pale. "Not this time. Spike and me are lying low till he's back on his pins. No, don't blame us when you're nice Slayer gets hurt." She smiled beautifully, her eyes dark blue again. "Mark me well Angel and be sure. She's going to get hurt, she's going to bleed and I'll be there watching."

"Leave her alone Drusilla." Without realising it I had flicked into my true, vampire form and my words were slurred by my teeth. "I've warned you before. You're the only person who'll get hurt if you try anything."

"Orww, you think so pet?" She stood on her toes and kissed my cheek. "You ask little Alison Cannard if she agrees. Just ask her my Angel."

"Who's Alison Cannard?" I reverted to human shape as the anger left me, replaced by concern "Who is she Dru?"

"I'm going home now. I'm going to fetch Spike his supper then I'm going to bed. There'll be lots of excitement the next few days. I want to be wide awake and see it all."

She turned and flounced sylphlike away. I stood and watched Drusilla go, trying to relate what she'd said. It was pointless chasing after her to demand more, it was probably what she wanted. There was nothing I could do tonight anyway. I forced myself to be calm; tomorrow I would tell Buffy and the Slayerettes, see what they thought. It was time for bed, but where?

I was tempted to go back to Buffy's place and spend the remaining hours like most nights, watching her dream. Whatever she thought my lover had rarely slept alone since we met. I couldn't though; this whole evening had left me too insecure.

I bowed to the inevitable and walked home. My concrete box of a flat shared many characteristics in common with an atomic bunker, or a boiler room. Windowless and possessing only one door I had decorated it in a multitude of styles. The best bits from ten or twenty art movements cluttered my walls or stood on antique furniture. I'd watched them all come, be modish and then vanish into the forgotten past. I caught myself brooding again and stopped it; tonight wasn't the occasion for any more. I stripped away my clothes and filled the washbasin. The only tap was marked cold but I didn't feel it; Buffy had. I smiled, remembering her shriek of surprise as she tried to have a bath after our first night together. Her perfume still lingered as I crashed on my bed, hugging the pillow close. I didn't expect to rest but was asleep almost before I closed my eyes. Asleep and dreaming.

I dreamt of Buffy. We stood upon a long beach, she a few paces nearer the sea. I recognised the setting. It was Buffy's recurring 'sunlight' dream that she'd once told me about.

My version was different however. The sea was not water but bubbling, molten iron. No slight fret blew over the sluggish swell but the vapour of boiling steel. Instead of golden sand the beach was made from broken glass, jet-black and ground finer than talcum. A massive sun the colour of a welding spark was rising to obliterate the dawn sky, actinic blue and blinding. The tide had turned fast inwards and the heat was totally unbearable. I could feel my flesh dry and begin to crisp.

Buffy didn't respond when I called out, the dull red breakers splashing inches from her feet. In a rush I grabbed her and pulled us both away from the lapping, jellied spume. Buffy turned slowly in my arms, wakening like a sleeper as her expression became one of joy.

"It worked, it really is you." The Slayer buried her head against my shoulder, weeping quietly as she ran her hands over my back. "I've been so lonely here. I daren't close my eyes in case I lose you again."

"I'm sorry." I choked; her pain was my own. "I love you Buffy."

"Angel." She stiffened in my arms. "Why can't I see you Angel?"

She pulled away and I flushed with horror. Her face was covered in blood. Her tears were not tears at all but deep, arterial fluid.

Her body froze in place, the life and reality and colour draining away. What I held in my arms was a two-dimensional image, flat and silvered like a looking glass. The shining artefact became horribly black, filled by an indistinct form. I recoiled by instinct and the mirror hit the sand. It exploded, blasting outwards in a spinning cloud of razor-sharp shards. I ducked and far away heard Buffy whisper my name. "Angel"

I woke, gasping short and needless breaths. It was two hours beyond dawn. I didn't sleep again.

Friday Afternoon

Sunnydale High sat atop not only a half-open Hellmouth but also the nexus of every sewer and access tunnel the town possessed. I hurried through the watery, rushing blackness. My eyes worked even in total dark and I knew my way.

Drusilla's warning had given me a genuine sense of unease, quite apart from Buffy's own revelations. The dream had helped not at all. I'd managed to contain myself all morning but my patience had finally snapped. The chiming of noon meant dinner for the school and I hoped to catch Buffy and Giles before lessons began again. I wanted to know what the Slayer and Watcher made of it all. I wanted even more to hold my lover in my arms and not have her break into a million pieces.

A cellar lay conveniently abandoned beneath the library, The Council of Watchers' Sunnydale field office. I entered through the stacks. It was only just past twelve but I found myself the last of the Slayerettes to arrive.

Buffy sat beside Willow as the hacker typed quickly into her Vaio Laptop. Giles, Xander and Cordelia were clustered close behind, all peering at the small LCD screen. Strangely my girlfriend was the least involved of them all. She sat pillowing her head on her arms, eyes closed.

"Hey, Angel" Willow noticed me first.

"Well, if it isn't dead and still kicking." Xander was his customary, obnoxious self.

"You really don't get this sunlight thing do you? The Day is special. Its quality time for those of us who're still alive. It's our chance to have a few hours not looking at your pale face."

Buffy swiftly extricated herself and ran upstairs, pulling me close in her arms. Images from my dream came to mind but I pushed them away. I was happy for a moment to lose myself in her kiss. She was soft and sweet to taste, her delicious warmth soaking deep into my undead frame.

"Hello honey." She tilted her head, her blue eyes almost green and half-closed. "Just ignore Xander. Cordy told him she wouldn't go to the Palace tonight."

"Not a problem." I smiled. "What's going on? I wanted to see you and Giles but if there's a situation it can wait."

"Willow found one of her Trojans was flagging when she dialled up at break. There's been a murder that's got city hall severely wigged."

"Should we be worrying too?"

"Maybe. Will's hacking the police mainframe to get us the reports and photos and stuff."

"Can she do it? Oh, sorry." It was impossible not to laugh at her exaggerated tolerance. "Have you told them, do they know about the soul transfer?" I spoke quietly.

"No. Later." She kissed me again, deeper and more intensely than before. We moulded together and I again luxuriated in the heat of her body. Even through two sets of clothing she was like a leaping flame. It felt wonderful but then I realised. Breaking the kiss I placed my hand on her forehead, ignoring her protest.

"Buffy! You've got a temperature like the worst flu." I noticed for the first time how flushed she was.

"I know." She let go of me and produced a handkerchief to blow her nose. "I felt horrible this morning. I wasn't going to bother coming in but Giles rang me about Willow's internet alarm thing."

"Is it anything to do with the spell?"

"How could it be? It's probably those freezing sprinklers at the mall." She hugged me around the waist and laid her head on my chest. "You'll just have to nurse me all weekend. Mom's driving out beyond Vegas to buy some Navaho sand paintings. We've got Saturday and Sunday to ourselves."

"Buffy." I forced myself to stay focussed. "Tell Giles at least. He'll know if the magic has any side effects."

"No Angel, please!!" The Slayer looked up at me, her beautiful face taught and drawn. "There's too much going on at present. I have, we both have things to discuss before we involve the others. If you love me then don't say anything." She worked the old trick. "Let me tell them in my own time."

"If I love you?" I was torn between concern and loyalty. "How is it anything to do with love if I let you die from a misfiring spell?"

"Trust me. I've already died once this week. Twice by the age of seventeen is enough for any girl. I'm not going to make it third time lucky." She held my gaze, the feint half-light changing her golden hair into spun silver. "Not anytime soon at least."

"Ahem !" Giles caught our attention, "Willow has, ahm, dealt with the police security "

"He means we're in." Cordelia crouched beside Willow, intent on the screen.

Buffy took my hand and led me down to the table. It was a slow process; I had to pick my way between the dusty shafts of sunlight that skewered the room.

"So, what's eating the boys in blue?" she asked "Or is that the problem?"

A raft of paper was collecting in the printer tray as Willow made a hard copy from every report she accessed.

"It seems there was a killing in a run-down part of Sunnydale." Giles spoke vaguely as he scanned the emerging text. "A woman was found…" He stopped, obviously troubled by what he read.

"Oh god, that's horrible." Willow was more committal as she recoiled from her machine. "Eew. I don't think I want that in my computer."

"What is it?" Xander was bobbing frantically, anxious to see.

"A woman was found murdered this morning." Giles spoke levelly. "Her body was in the storeroom of the magic shop she ran."

"Hate to tell you Giles," Buffy sank into a chair across from Willow, "but that's just a day in the life of Sunnydale."

I stood behind her, my hands on her shoulders. Buffy closed her eyes and leaned sideways, resting her lavender scented head against me.

"Not like this." Cordelia was unusually subdued. "The day this becomes normal is when you guys are going to need a new cheerleader to pal with. I'll be leaving town."

"Let me see!!??" Xander finally laid his head sideways on Willow's shoulder, trying to read as she scrolled up. "Oh, for the love of god!!"

"It seems she had been," Giles paused again, "tortured before she died."

"Until she died." Cordelia corrected then stood up, turning her back. "Eew!! Now I know why police take black and white photographs."

"Is this for us though? Is it vamp work or what? I mean you said it was a magic shop. Maybe some really screwed-up cultist just lost it when his American Express was bounced." The Slayer joked without opening her eyes

"It isn't funny Buffy." There was a rare edge to the Watcher's voice.

"No, not funny at all." Xander was quiet now, his head still pillowed on Willow's shoulder. "The police think…"

"…it's the work of a psychopath. It could be a first-out serial killer." The hacker finished his sentence, snuggling almost imperceptibly against her friend.

"You mean cereal like Ready-break right?" Jenny Calendar stood in the library lobby.

"What's with all the glum guys?" She sipped from a polystyrene cup and perched on the table edge.

Buffy stiffened, I could feel her already tripping heart begin to beat faster.

"There's been a killing. Quite horrible actually." Giles explained. "It's the owner of a magic shop on Greenwalt road."

"Oh god, oh dear god no." The technopagan went grey. "It wasn't the place right next to the old costumiers?" It was more of a plea than a question, her voice hollow.

"We're not sure it's a demon though." My lover tried to reassure her. "It could just be a real sicko high on PCP or crack or something."

"Like, that makes it better?" Cordelia was pacing the floor beside the caged receiving room.

"Her name." A suspicion occurred to me. "The shopkeeper was called Alison Cannard wasn't she."

"Yep." Xander replied.

Despite mine and Buffy's reactions we were neither quick enough. With a crash Jenny Calendar fainted dead away to the floor, a sheaf of crime-scene prints scattered around her. Giles got there first, supporting her in his arms while Willow dashed for the first-aid kit. Before anyone could think of smelling salts Jenny began to revive, swaying in the Watcher's grasp.

"I'm sorry." She slurred. "I'm so sorry."

"It doesn't matter Jenny, really." Giles carefully picked strands of hair from a seeping cut on her forehead.

"Anyone would feel pretty darn upset looking at those." Willow comforted the teacher while cleaning the wound with a sterile swab.

"Its not just that." Jenny's voice was thick. "I used her shop quite often. I, I," she began to weep, "I knew Alison well."

"Oh man, that's really bad." Xander stood behind Giles. "Say, will you be wanting that ChocoLux bar? If not I haven't eaten yet, so…"

"Xander!!" Cordelia slapped at her boyfriend then turned to me. "Angel, how did you know her name?"

"Drusilla mentioned the name." I shrugged. "I just put two and two together."

"That would make four." Buffy's voice was wary.

"Your 'ex did this?" Xander collected the photos up, growing progressively nauseated with each shot. "Now why aren't I surprised?"

"I didn't say that. Drusilla followed me around while I patrolled last night. She tried goading a bit then threw this name at me. That's all."

"You don't think that's a giveaway?" Willow spoke from the floor, a pained look on her face.

"No. Its obvious someone chose Alison Cannard deliberately and went to a lot of trouble. I expect her death was part of someone's fairly heavy planning. If its Spike then why would Drusilla search me out just to give the whole thing away?"

"Because," Xander drew the word out, "she's insane?"

"Maybe, but she's not stupid." The afternoon bell rang, seeming totally irrelevant to our own world.

"Well, I'm convinced." Cordelia spoke brightly. "Anyway, I've got cheerleading practice and can't waste my time with you losers. There's a big hockey game tonight. If they don't have us to pep them it's going to be a wash out."

"Pep?" Giles questioned.

"Pep." Cordelia pronounced before walking away.

Xander moved to follow but then noticed how Buffy still leant against me in the shadows. He went to stand above Willow instead, collecting their bags.

"Well, well." A cold voice echoed through the room. "Suddenly I'm asking why so many pupils are enjoying themselves when there are perfectly good lessons to attend." Principle Snyder walked into the library.

"Its Miss Calendar. We're helping her. She slipped on…" Willow trailed off."…a very educational anti-smoking pamphlet." Xander picked up. "Wasn't that your particular initiative sir?"

"It needs five people to stick on a plaster?" Snyder sneered.

"You're right. I'll see to Jenny from here." Giles agreed hastily. "Come along everyone. Lessons and fun and, ahm, whatever…"

"Come on Xand." Willow grasped her friend and pulled him toward the exit.

"There you go Dead-Boy." He slapped the sheaf of grisly photos into my hand. "Knock yourself out." Still being urged by Willow they both crashed nosily through the door.

"I'm okay." Jenny picked herself up, helped to a seat by Giles.

"Who are you?" Snyder threw his latest accusation at me. "This is school property and that includes the shadows you're lurking in."

"He's a delivery man." Buffy spoke before I could think of anything.

"Can't he talk for himself Summers?"

"He's a Paraguayan delivery man. He doesn't speak English. He brought us some Portuguese text books. We asked Miss Calendar to come and explain he'd carried them to the wrong place."

I nodded energetically.

"You speak Portuguese?"

"What can I say." Jenny said without looking up. "It's a gift."

"This is still a high school Summers, not goods inward!!" Snyder was beaten but wouldn't give in. "You have classes now."

"Actually, no I don't. I've got frees all afternoon." Buffy smiled kindly.

"Ah!!" The Principle stooped to conquer. "They're 'Study Periods', not frees!!!"

"That would be why I'm in a library," my girlfriend spoke slowly, "with books."

"I doubt you can even read." Snyder threw behind him as the doors swung closed.

"Arse." Giles muttered under his breath.

The sounds and distraction of Sunnydale High faded again, a reality separated from the Library as far as the Hell Dimension.

"If its not Spike or Drusilla then might a new master be in town?" Buffy suggested without enthusiasm

"I think I'd have heard. Anyway, no vampire wouldn't waste so much blood." I was studying the prints Xander left me. "Neither would they eat the spinal cord. They're too gristly." I looked up to see everyone staring. "Sorry."

"I hadn't noticed that." Giles became animated. "It rings a bell somewhere." The Watcher retreated to his office, returning with a particularly battered volume. He began to flick from page to page, whispering Latin translations.

"Spill Giles. What've you got?" Buffy sneezed into her handkerchief but no one noticed.

"It's a chronicle of the Council. It was written in the fifteenth century. That was a very bad time for us. We founded the Zebra groups around then." His attention was elsewhere.

"Zebra?" Buffy whispered to me.

I shrugged.

"Yes, here we are." Giles announced. "Look at this."

We clustered around the Watcher as he displayed a succession of forty pages that were absolutely blank. It appeared the velum sheets had been scrubbed clean.

"Someone really didn't want you reading those." Buffy noted. "What've you been up to?"

"Please!! This was done in antiquity." The Watcher complained. "Anyway, that's not my point. Look here at the end of the erased section. A long paragraph details the feeding habits of a very powerful demon called 'Voreshla'. That is "The Dark Eater of Women" in Aramaic."

"Great!!" The Slayer rubbed her eyes. "Does 'Dead Language' mean anything to you Giles."

"Apparently this Voreshla is a discarnate female entity whose consort spurned her around the time Troy fell." The Watcher ignored her. "In consequence she took to feeding solely upon the bodies of human women. She got rather to enjoy it I'm afraid." Giles paused for a moment, glancing at the two girls then continued. "Ahm, anyway it seems she tortures her victims to death then eats their spinal cords."

"Now she's living in Sunnydale." Jenny returned to her chair, holding her head.

"Where is Cordelia when you need a good 'Eew'" Buffy sighed. "How do we stop this Voreshla chick Giles?"

"It doesn't say I'm afraid."

"Okay. Then where does she usually hang?" The Slayer coughed into her handkerchief.

"I'll try the old sharpened steel trick; it usually works."

"I can't tell you that either Buffy." The Watcher stammered in apology. "Perhaps if the previous part hadn't been rubbed out."

"We're nowhere then." I summarised. "We just know who to blame when the next mutilated corpse shows up."

"No. Not at all." I'd caught Giles in a sore spot, his antiquarian pride. "We control the resources of the greatest occult library this side of the Atlantic!! We'll just have to look Voreshla up."

And look her up we did, all afternoon.

The Watcher dismantled his entire library, weighing us each down with a tower of arcane volumes. Two humans and one better-than-human sat at the table working through their assigned pile of books. I took my literary job-lot and sheltered beneath the steps, the passing day causing spears of killing sunlight to shift through the room.

"Done now." Buffy announced after nearly three hours, slamming her last tome shut. "Tired now. Headache now." She walked over to my corner and slumped down. "Feeling absolutely terrible now." The Slayer whispered in my ear.

"Did you find anything?" Giles called out. "Oh."

Buffy didn't reply. She had curled herself up and snuggled tightly against my side, her head pillowed on my shoulder as she closed her eyes. If anything Buffy was hotter than before. It felt nice to have her doze so warm in my arms but I was getting more worried. I had to force myself to respect her wishes.

At four Willow returned and Jenny Calendar filled her in on our discoveries. Rather than take a hand with the reading she unfolded her laptop and began to run a search online. It took half and hour at the speed of light before anything came up.

"Ah," Willow called out. "Ah, good. I've got something but its not a whole lot. The search did its thing but came up with only one reference."

"Just one?" Jenny and Giles spoke in unison.

"I checked the catalogues from the British Museum, the Library of Congress and La Biblioteque Republique. If it's not there it's not going to be anywhere."

"Mmm, all three tally." The technopagan checked Willow's findings.

"Cannon Alberic's Scrapbook," Giles was thoughtful for a moment. "but I've got that!!"

"Well you didn't give it me." I said, closing the last book on my pile.

As the hunt through the shelves began again the missing Slayerettes joined our group.

"Hey guys, what's the panic?" Xander called as he and Cordelia entered together. "Just can't cope without us huh?"

It fell to Willow to bring the stragglers to speed.

Xander attacked the card index while Cordelia pored over the racks of books that fronted the upper storey. She was still dressed in her brightly coloured cheerleading gear: a green and yellow jersey with matching pleated mini-skirt.

"I feel like I'm wearing my wedding dress to a funeral." She announced to no one in particular.

"Well CC, don't let me stop you." Xander replied. "Just feel free and take the whole lot off."

"Thank you Mr. Depravity nineteen-ninety eight. I'll take that suggestion under…Oh, what was the scrappy gun-book called. Is this it?" She held a large and loosely bound collection of rough-cut sheets.

"Cannon Alberic's Scrapbook," Giles told her with patience... "and we've already searched all those on the table."

"Not very well." The cheerleader countered, scanning the hand-written index. "Here's your book and there's Voreshla right next to the stuff on 'Vile tendrils of Scapa'. This was Buffy's pile so how come she missed it?" Cordelia noticed where the Slayer and I were huddled. "Oh, I see. Smoochies stopped play. Is it just me or is she even more clingy that usual?"

"What does it say then," Willow smiled encouragingly, "you know; on the demon Voreshla?"

"Don't ask me!! Who do you think I am, Nunnery-Girl? I can't read churchese." Cordelia stood with hands on hips, an orange pom-pom still dangling from her left wrist.

"Quite." Giles strode over and read for several minutes. "Well, that was short but illuminating."

"Short?" Jenny Calendar asked with distaste. "After five hour's looking?"

"Short but useful. It seems Voreshla can usually exist only within The Void. Her corporeal form was destroyed at the closure of the Niuoqan Conflict. However, she has the ability to take possession of those who live without The Void. It doesn't say how beyond making very clear the prior occupant is destroyed, his soul conflagrated. Her Avatar then seeks to make several sacrifices in the spine eating fashion we know about. If all goes well Voreshla will eventually Ascend through her physical form and gain entry to the material world."

"I'm guessing," Xander asked, "but 'Ascension' isn't a word we want to get better acquainted with right?"

"Just so." Giles agreed. "Our goal must be to stop her before that happens."

"What? Don't we ever get a break?" Cordelia asked with desperation. "Just three days ago I was picking up little bits of Judge. Now we're going to spend the weekend looking for something whose favourite meal is girl-tale soup? I mean, unless Voreshla is cruising wearing her 'Look out gals, I'm a demon' tee shirt just how are we going to find her anyway!!"

"For once I have to agree with Princess here, aside from that borderline-obscene misassociation gag." Xander put an arm around his girlfriend. "We'll never catch her so long as she's gone native, or should that be in native?"

"Ohh, ohh." Willow flapped her hands in excitement, pointing. "Cordelia."

"What?" The Cheerleader jumped. "No way! I'm not Voreshla!!"

"You've got a big hockey game tonight, right?" Willow was spluttering to get her idea out. "So there'll be lots of girls, right?"

"Ah, I see." The Watcher thought aloud. "Voreshla could well be drawn to the stadium by a superfluity of prey. We can pre-empt this and be waiting for her."

"Then again she might not." Jenny wasn't convinced but seemed too tired to press the issue.

"What else can we do though?" Xander leapt to Willows defence. "We can't patrol every house and street in Sunnydale!"

"Xander is right." Giles made the decision. "When does the game start?"

"Well we need to be there for half-seven." Cordelia replied. "But if you guys are all coming then your going to have to dress for it. There are people I know who're playing and I don't want you showing me up."

"We have two hours then." The Watcher ignored her. "I suggest we go home, prepare and meet at the ground."

I'd listened without speaking for what felt hours. I ran a soft finger along Buffy's jaw, waking her slowly. Willow and Giles waited for us but the other Slayerettes filed out.

"Okay, I'm up." She straightened. "Angel, this looks just like the library…oh, right; research. Have we got her yet, Voreshla I mean?"

"Willow thinks she'll be at tonight's hockey game, Giles agrees." I explained gently.

"She possesses bodies and preys on women so I suppose there's a chance. We have to go with Cordelia."

"Joy." Buffy clambered to her feet but doubled over again, her body racked with coughing.

"Hey Buff, noticed you snoozing there." Willow smiled but her concern was clear, "You okay?"

"Yeah Wills." The Slayer leant against me until she recovered. "Just doing the flu thing."

"Something's been bothering me Giles." I turned to the Watcher. "If we accept this creature is preying at random then why did she choose Alison Cannard?"

"I don't know." He'd obviously overlooked the point. "Perhaps she was randomly chosen."

"In her own shop, in her own cupboard?" I recalled my previous argument. "Alison was a chosen victim."

"If you're right the game'll be an empty bucket." Willow began to lose confidence

"What else can we do though?" Giles sighed and polished his glasses. "Her feeding habits are all we have to go on. Voreshla's obsessions make it very likely she'll be drawn to the hockey match. For now we only have logic and deduction to guide us."

"Giles is right honey." Buffy pulled my arm. "Let's go back to your place till the others show."

I resisted for a moment then allowed myself to be led outside. Darkness had fallen.

*

Friday Night

It was very early by our standards. The streets were busy with people returning late from work or heading for bars and restaurants. It was nice to simply walk out with my girlfriend, to blend with the crowd as if we were just another couple.

"Do you remember that 'Art House' flick you took me to?" Buffy giggled and squeezed my arm tighter. "Oh. No you wouldn't, we haven't been yet." Her voice became quiet and a little sad.

"Tell me about it."

"Probably be better if I show you," she laughed and the gloom evaporated, "later."

"Okay. What did you think of our dream last night?"

"Don't remember dreaming much of anything. After you left I slept like the dead," she bit her lip, "or maybe the resurrected."

"Really?" I turned to her surprised. "We usually dream together if one of us, ahm, sees the other in their, ahm dreams…" I ended lamely.

"Sorry lover." She shrugged and coughed deeply. "What happened?"

"We were on a beach and…" I found myself trailing off again. "It was complicated and far from pleasant. I'm glad you weren't there."

"Hold me." Her request was simple. "I feel cold."

For California the cloudless winter night was bitter. Buffy shivered constantly, coughing so much I doubted she would make it home. We hurried and spoke little, my girlfriend pressed close and wound tight beneath the long coat I wore. Her teeth were chattering as I fumbled with the street door. My flat gave no such trouble; I still hadn't replaced the lock since the night she hid from the Order of Taraka.

"I'll really have to put some heating in." I joked while hanging our coats. "I just haven't felt the cold this year, or the last two hundred and fifty for that matter." I returned to find Buffy had piled all my extra blankets on the bed and crawled under them. I brought up a chair and sat, stroking her hair as she lay on my pillow.

"I'm forgetting it all Angel." Her teeth still chattered but she'd stopped coughing. "Each day, each moment my old memories are getting replaced with new ones."

"You mean those you kept from the future?"

"Yes and anything that touches them. My mind is full of holes." Buffy's voice was weak. "Do you see what I mean?"

"I think so. You're living time again and exchanging your old actions with new ones, the memories too."

"They're going bit by bit. It's not just inside me either. Do you remember my diary and Slayer journal? Parts are missing from those as well, just vanished as if I'd never written…" She sobbed, quiet tears running across her face. "Its horrible. How can I make the future different if I can't remember how it went?"

"Buffy, it doesn't matter. You're the Slayer, Giles is Watcher and the Slayerettes do their best. Between us we'll manage whatever comes." I carefully dried her eyes. "I'm here as well, if that means anything."

"It means everything Angel." She smiled and slid her cheek along my hand. "We were only apart for a few weeks but it was too much. It wasn't the knife that killed me, I was dead long before I cut my own throat."

"Don't talk like that."

"Its true. All I am, all I was ended that evening in the tunnels. You told me you didn't want me anymore and everything stopped. I kept walking, kept talking and looking like me for days; but it wasn't really Buffy."

"I'm sorry." I couldn't think of anything else to say. "I can't understand and I can't explain my actions. I don't even have any excuses."

"I didn't come here for excuses Angel. I've heard them already and they sucked." An edge entered her voice, but she relented. "I came back for you. I came because I didn't want to live any longer if you weren't there with me."

"I won' t leave you again, ever."

"That's sort of what I had in mind." Buffy kneeled up and reached for me, her eyes shining. "Towards the end we were arguing, we did that a lot. I said you didn't get me anymore, but I was lying. You did even then." Her voice was small. "You do now. Come and warm me up."

We moved together and kissed, not as children or friends but lovers. Buffy was warm, terribly hot in my arms but it was nice. She tasted of honey and pineapple, intoxicatingly sweet while her hair was drenched in the heavy scent of lavender. The Slayer matched my passion, deepening the kiss and drawing me closer. I yearned for her fragile youth and life, her beauty and vibrant reality affecting me like the finest wine. She cradled me so tight her tripping heartbeat shook us both, pounding against my chest as if it were my own. Oxygen became an issue for Buffy at least and we parted slightly, gasping. She smiled against my lips, giggling as she showered a profusion of feather light kisses on my face and neck. I reached to pull the light-green slip she'd worn today over her head, clumsy with need and urgency. Her fingers were busy with the buttons of my shirt.

"Ahem. I said, AHEM." A girl coughed falsely in the room behind. "If you two are going to do…each other then you might at least lock the door first."

We leapt apart, absurdly guilty at being caught.

"Hey Cordelia." Buffy called, her voice high as she brushed at her hair. "We were just…"

"Waiting?" I suggested.

"That's it, waiting." My lover got slowly out of bed, unsteady on her feet. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah. Giles is driving Jenny and Willow; Xander's with me. You two can go with who you want."

"The Watcher's in his Citroen?"

"Afraid so."

"We'll come with you then." Buffy unhooked one of my long, double-lined coats in preference to her thin jacket.

The large car park had nearly filled when we arrived. If Voreshla was going to show she'd be getting an eight-course meal with all the seconds she could manage. Sunnydale stadium was on the far edge of the high-school grounds. An amphitheatre of wooden stands made an oblate ring around the large football, come hockey come anything else field. Changing rooms, offices and other facilities were set along either side of a long entrance tunnel that pierced the banked oval.

"We shall split into three groups." Giles took charge as we gathered by the turnstiles. "Willow, Jenny and myself will be positioned in the seats immediately above the tunnel. That way we can see everyone who comes in or out. Buffy and Angel can take placement in the stands together and keep an eye on the whole ground. If Xander wants to wait on the touchline with Cordelia they can watch for anyone stalking the players."

"What are we looking for again?" Jenny wound her silk scarf tighter, "Unless I missed something the whole point is Voreshla can hide in the crowd, she is the crowd!!"

"I guess we should look for someone who's more interested in the players or the spectators than the actual game, right?" Willow suggested.

"Just so. I think we will be able to spot Voreshla's Avatar fairly easily if she turns up." Giles was reassuring. "We just need to keep on our toes."

"Assuming we get hold of this demon," The technopagan was still unhappy, "what exactly are we going to do with her in the middle of a sports ground?"

"Voreshla will hardly try to feed here." Giles was adamant. "The demon will select a victim and stalk her until she can strike in privacy. Voreshla's habits require that some time be taken over the kill." He paused. "Whoever spots her must not be seen. We will take up a covert pursuit and waylay Voreshla in a more secluded spot."

"What about the host body though Giles?" Willow asked. "Won't we be killing a person?"

"No." Giles polished his glasses. "The previous soul is gone, utterly destroyed by the process of possession. Voreshla's Avatar can be considered a kind of very powerful vampire. Our militant wing," He gestured to the Slayer and I, "may deal with matters accordingly."

"Okay then Watcher of me." Buffy gestured towards the ticket machines. "After you."

"What do you mean?"

"This is a Council operation G-man." Xander reminded him. "You guys are the payroll."

"That's four dollars apiece. " The Watcher was astonished. "That's nearly sixteen pounds!"

"Make sure you ask for a receipt." I advised. "You can claim expenses."

"I get in free." Cordelia announced. "Anyway, its time for me to change..." She hefted her small backpack. "Oh, yeah. Remember if anyone asks you're NOT with me, and Xander… don't stand too close on the touchline. Bye then." She vanished into a side door.

Giles painfully produced the required currency and we clattered inside. His group climbed high to their vantage point. Buffy and I walked around to seats almost exactly adjacent. It seemed Xander would spend more time teasing Cordelia than keeping watch.

"Will I be able to sense Voreshla like I do you?" Buffy was almost smothered in my coat; it was hugely large for her tiny frame

"I'd forgotten you could feel us. It hurts the Slayer doesn't it, when a vampire is near?"

The cheerleaders finished their wildly acrobatic introduction of the teams and the game began.

"Yep. It's like the worst sort of cramp. That's only if I don't like them though. There are some vampires who make me feel very nice." She smiled and reached to kiss me but began to cough instead.

"You shouldn't have come." For a while I'd let myself forget how ill she was. "You're not well Buffy, whatever you say." I spoke while fastening her top button and flicking the collar up.

"You vampire, me Slayer. Let's not do that conversation again. I'll be fine." She spoke with chattering teeth. "Anyway, who else is going to take out Demon-Girl if we find her? Giles and Xander??"

"Me Master Vampire remember?" I impressed on her. "I'll mix it with Voreshla when the time comes. You certainly won't, not in your state

"You think?"

A massive roar from the crowd stalled our argument. Edenvale had made the opening goal from a short corner.

"Angel." Buffy said in a quiet voice. "I want an ice cream."

"It's winter. It's cold. You can't have one. Here," I reached into my pocket, "suck a mint imperial."

"I'd rather…"

The crowd erupted again, Cordelia and her girls leading them. Sunnydale were one-one after ten minutes.

Buffy and I settled to our slow task. She twice pointed out a likely suspect. Both were eventually eliminated when they rejoined their families in the crowd. My suspicions rested on the assistant linesman until an Edenvale player broke her stick across his shin. I doubted Voreshla would need to be stretchered away to a pressure cast.

I knew my girlfriend was feeling worse. She hardly spoke, hunched and shivering in her seat. Around two minutes before half-time her animation returned.

"Honey, look there." The words were nearly drowned by the crowd. "What do you think about that guy?" She pointed to the touchline

A figure was dressed entirely in dark clerical garments. He showed no interest in the game, his attention focused on the stands. Buffy jumped up and tried to signal Xander. However he was too busy sparring with Cordelia to notice.

"The idiot hasn't seen." I spat in frustration.

A swell of the crowd briefly obscured our view. When it cleared the eerie character had vanished. Buffy collapsed onto the bench and started to cough badly. She doubled up, unable to catch her breath between racking boughts. I held her close, soothing her until the spasm passed. She didn't shiver now but trembled instead.

"Buffy. You can't stay, you've got a fever." I shook her gently to emphasise my words.

"You have to get out of the cold."

"I'm fine." She could hardly speak with her throat so raw.

"You're not fine." I refused to let her struggle free "If you don't leave I'll tell Giles about the soul transfer. We can see if he thinks it is to blame."

"Okay." She gave in, going limp in my arms. "You're right. I know you are. If anything happens and you get hurt though I'll stake you myself."

"Voreshla might think she's hard." I smiled coldly. "I know I am."

The half-time whistle sounded.

"Come on" She said weakly. "We'll tell Giles what we saw and then I'll go." It was difficult to force a path through the milling crowd. Parents congratulated their daughters and a general melee piled up around the tunnel for refreshments. The Watcher's party met us on the touchline; Xander and Cordelia approached from the opposite direction.

"Anything?" Jenny asked

"Maybe. Buffy spotted someone who stood out." I turned to Xander. "We lost him among the group you were supposed to be watching."

"Hey, sorry man." He straightened Cordelia's slightly ruffled jersey. "I was distracted by all that free-floating cheerage."

"Get off Lecher-Boy." She laughed.

"I'm going home Giles," Buffy announced, leaning on the railing. "I don't feel well." Her eyes were red and swollen, her face flushed and pale at the same time.

"Oh Buffy, you look terrible. Why didn't you say something!!" Willow was distraught. "I'll come with you."

"No Wills. We need all the eyes we can get in here tonight." She insisted. "Keep looking for a priestish dude. I'm sure he's our man, or entity or whatever."

"I'll drive you then." The Watcher dug for his keys.

"NO Giles. I've let Angel persuade me to leave but I'll walk. I can do a quick sweep outside along the way." She was firm.

"I'll come round later," I offered, "tell you how it went."

"Actually, best not. You know mom's on an art kick this weekend. Probably shouldn't raise any suspicions before she goes." Buffy stood on her toes and kissed me, her borrowed coat still dragging on the floor. "I'll come to your place tomorrow. We'll spend Saturday in," She whispered smiling, "talking and sleeping and stuff."

"She's really not well." Willow wasn't happy as she watched her best friend go

"Look on the bright side though," Cordelia suggested, "now Giles only has to buy five lots of pop and crisps!!"

The watcher groaned and reached for his wallet.

As the second half began we were all back in position. Time passed more slowly now I was alone. I concentrated on the thin and constantly shifting sidelines. I saw no one. Every few minutes I checked on the other Slayerettes. They seemed to have no more luck than me.

Despite Cordelia's best efforts things weren't looking good for Sunnydale either. At five minutes before the final whistle they trailed Edenvale four-three. The crowd buzzed with anxiety and were on their feet. I sighed. The mounting excitement made my job a hundred times harder. Then I saw him. The dark figure was amongst the touchline crowd and making for the tunnel.

Each of the Slayerettes noticed my signal, recognising our quarry from Buffy's description. We could not allow him to escape.

I leapt from my bench at the same moment Sunnydale equalised. Moving through the crowd was like swimming quicksand now. Xander had a clear path yet further to go, sprinting along the edge of the pitch. Above the tunnel Giles and Willow skipped over benches and clambered slowly down. It wasn't only a matter of tailing the Avatar but not being spotted..

We had nearly managed it when the final whistle blew. At the same instant Sunnydale hit the net with a thirty-yard drive. The stadium exploded in celebration.

I was completely trapped amongst a mob of screaming fans. The Watcher and Willow were still three ranks above the ground. Xander was closest now but our suspect reached the tunnel first and vanished inside. Both teams jogged in behind him and their mass of congratulating supporters prevented any further pursuit.

Sunnydale had won the match. We had lost Voreshla.

It was ten minutes before the crowd cleared. It was impossible to leave; we were trapped inside while the demon held free rein. Eventually the parents and relatives dissolved away to congratulate or commiserate their children. The trail was cold and the demon long gone. Our small group climbed wearily back into the stands and began to take stock.

"Well, what conclusions may we draw from that experience?" Giles offered resignedly.

"We suck." Xander kicked moodily at the bench in front.

"No guys, we nearly had her." Willow consoled. "We would've if the game hadn't ended just then."

"I should have been quicker through the crowd." I announced to no one.

"Hey, I wasn't going to say that," Xander turned on me. "but now you mention it…"

"Well??!!" Cordelia joined us, leaving her girls as they went to get changed. "Did we get him or her or it?"

"Oh yeah Cordy, we've just hidden the carcass to keep you guessing!!"

"Well I am so sorry!! It's not my fault you're all losers. I was out there doing my bit. We won in case you hadn't noticed." She railed defensively, and then a thought struck her. "Where's Jenny?"

"She went to buy another coffee just before all the fun started." Willow spoke glumly then brightened. "Say, the refreshment stand is just outside the tunnel. The Avatar must have walked right by her. Maybe she got a lead !!"

"Lead what?" Jenny appeared before we could act, looking at out expectant faces. "No luck?"

"Yes luck!!" Willow said. "We had her, Voreshla I mean except it was a man like Buff said. He beat us to the tunnel though. Did you spot her in the crowd down there??"

"Sorry but no. All I got were kids and parents."

"Then Voreshla…" Giles spoke with dawning horror.

"…must still be here." I finished.

"Oh god." Cordelia screamed as we bolted for the tunnel. "The players and my team!!"

Willow, Jenny and Cordelia hit the girl's changing rooms, all discretely carrying knifes and stakes. Giles, Xander and I went through the ancillary rooms and offices that lay on the opposite side. Nothing.

"Nothing." Jenny echoed my thought as they emerged.

"Just a lot of soapy girls." The cheerleader qualified.

"No priest/demon guy/gal." Willow finished.

"Soapy ?" Xander questioned. "You know Wills, maybe I should just go and double check. Its really hard to miss the odd demon with all that steam and water and wet, dripping…"

"You're gross." Cordelia cut him off

"That's why you love me!"

"Excuse me? Love?"

"Stop it you two" Giles silenced their bickering.

For the second time we emerged into the stadium, slumping onto the lowest rank of seats. Our gloom was very mutual.

"What do we do now?" Willow asked quietly.

"Can Voreshla make herself invisible? Can she teleport around?" Jenny was weary. "If she can then we've had it Giles. Actually we've had it anyway."

"Well that's just the problem isn't it." The Watcher leapt to his feet, frustration lending him anger. "We are not sure what she can do. We are not sure about anything really. We have exactly two texts, both not more than a thousand words." Giles counted on his fingers. "We know a demon is among us. We know we lost her. We know she has tortured one woman to death already." He spun on us. "Oh yes; we also know she is probably doing that again right now."

As if for dramatic emphasis an arc of lightning flickered from the cloudless, star-strewn sky. It touched the ground somewhere far out in Sunnydale. Giles fell to his knees in agony while Willow collapsed in her chair, screaming in pain and clawing at her head. Jenny Calendar went white, her left hand pressed to her temple as a thin dribble of blood ran from her nose. I myself staggered; a thrill of clinging, prying agony tried to open the back of my skull.

"Okay, what wrong with this?" Cordelia watched our performances, mystified.

"Don't ask me." Xander shrugged, equally unmoved.

"It was magic." Giles voice was slurred as he picked himself up. "A spell wall or protection sigil just failed. It was very, very hard driven and held. Whoever broke it was even stronger. The repercussions will be felt for miles around like aftershocks from an earthquake. I felt similar things when the Council trained me for Watcherhood. It has been years. Not enough years actually."

"Oh god, oh god my head." Willow moaned. "Have I been drinking? I'm underage for a hangover. Oh god it hurts."

"Can we say 'huh'?" Cordelia asked still bewildered.

"'Huh'" Xander tried. "Yep, right with you Cordy."

"Take me home Rupert." Jenny spoke in an alien voice, cold and empty. "Let's just leave. We've failed."

"I think she's right." I clenched my teeth against the pain. "There's nothing more we can do tonight. Were going to have to rethink this whole thing Giles. Not now though or tomorrow, let's say Sunday? The past few days have been pretty tough on us all and Buffy most of all." I had to force my voice to stay level at this. "She won't admit it but the Slayer is really sick. A day off will do her good. I'll try and make it special for her."

"Very well Angel. My plan hasn't worked out too well whatever the case." Giles rubbed his forehead. "Yes, let's take a brief sabbatical."

We walked out to the car park. Xander and Cordelia were the only people still halfway themselves.

"So we're not Bronzing it then?"

"Yeah." Cordelia agreed sarcastically. "Like that was the only thing keeping me going."

"Not tonight Xand, " Willow wailed as she climbed into Giles car, "please!"

"Okay then." The cheerleader turned to me. "You want dropping at Buffy's?"

"No. My place if that's okay."

"Sure."

We made the drive back in silence; even Xander's spirits seemed low after our disastrous evening. They drove away and I went in.

It was rare I bothered with lights unless Buffy came round. Leaving my coat where it dropped I hurled myself into my deep leather chair. The darkness comforted me. It was barely ten but I felt crushingly tired. Without realising it I fell asleep. My dreams were of Buffy.

It was the same hellscape as before; the sea of molten steel and the black sand. Tonight however I knew evening was falling, the blue-giant sun sinking into the east. If this world had ever really existed it wasn't Earth and must have orbited in a system somewhere close to some galactic core. More stars than I had ever seen filled the heavens, so bright their myriad colours showed true. Over a quarter of the sky was lost however, obscured behind a flattened spiral of gas hundreds of millions of miles long. Astronomy had been one of the first subjects I'd taken up after regaining my soul, desperate to fill the empty hours. I knew what I saw.

The giant star was only one of a binary pair. Its invisible twin had died a billion years earlier. First came the cataclysm of supernova and then the infinite collapse to singularity. The resulting blackhole sucked star-stuff from its sibling, drawing off hydrogen and burning plasma to form a thin glowing ribbon. Coiled tight about their inner orbits an accretion disk spun between the living star and the undead one, a brilliant striated whirlpool that fell into black eternity.

"What does it feel like?" Buffy whispered to me. "To look at the sky and know you'll still be alive when all the stars have died?"

I turned to my lover. She wore the white dress from the night of the Spring-Fling. It was the same one Master Rose had killed her in.

"I'm already dead Buffy." I answered, seeing the awesome cosmic spectacle reflected in her eyes.

"So am I, I killed myself." Her voice was lilting and weak, like a dreamer's. "I couldn't go on living without you; although the worst part is that I could. I could see how my life would run. The summer would have worn away and I'd eventually have gone to university with Willow. We'd have had lots of adventures and pretended we were having fun. I might have met someone else and forced myself to imagine I loved him. The seasons would've gone on and on except it wouldn't really have been me. The future was wrong, had got twisted somewhere. Everything that made me Buffy the Vampire Slayer would have gone away." She sighed like a child. "So I killed myself. I came back to the past where you still loved me and wanted to be with me."

I was scared and sickened, not with her but myself.

"I'm sorry Buffy." Tears were running from my eyes. "I'm sorry for what I did and what I made you do. Please forgive me, please don't hate me."

"Of course I forgive you Angel." She touched my face, smiling and crying at the same time. "I can't hate you. I can't do anything but love you however much it hurts. That's why I killed myself. That's why I worked the magic." The Slayer ran her fingers over my lips and down my throat. "Except I'm not sure it did work. I've been lost for so long now. Angel, please let me wake up."

"I don't understand."

Buffy gasped, staring over my shoulder. I spun, but not quickly enough.

"That's right Angelus," Buffy stood before me, dressed in a long and clinging pink satin ball gown, "you don't understand at all."

She struck faster then I could block, her stake forcing apart and breaking my fifth and sixth ribs. The sharp wood punctured my heart's left ventricle, spearing both atriums and tearing my lung before exiting through the centre of my back.

It hurt horribly, blood spraying from my mouth as I tried to scream. My extremities began to dust even as I fell to the sand. The Slayer looked down at me, smiling kindly.

"Buffy." My throat along with the rest of me exploded into ashes.

I woke up. It was two hours after dawn.

*

Saturday Morning

I sat and brooded. All my anxieties over Buffy's suicide had been reawakened. It wasn't the start to our Saturday I'd wanted. Several hours passed and the Slayer didn't call. I found myself wondering if we'd shared the dream, whether her actions had been intentional and controlled. I could hardly blame her in either case. A gentle tapping brought me round.

"You don't have to knock." I said while opening the door.

"Hey Angel." Willow stood alone carrying a heavy serge blanket.

"What's up?" I thought how ill my lover had been. "Is Buffy worse?"

"It's not that." She assured me although her voice was subdued. "There's been another killing. Everyone's got together at the library except Jenny, we couldn't find her..."

"The stadium was a total waste then." I sighed and gestured her in.

"Looks that way. Giles and Xander went over to the new scene and took some pictures. Sounds like the whole area was a disaster zone, or a bombsite or some other really blown-up metaphor. They sent me to get the negatives printed and call for you."

"So much for mine and Buffy's day in." I splashed cold water over my head and neck.

"It's painful to admit but Cordelia's right sometimes." Willow spun as I pulled at my tee shirt. "We never get a day off."

"Oh, sorry." I reached into a cupboard for some new clothes. "I'll get myself sorted and head over to the school. Why don't you make for the chemists and I'll see you all there."

"Okay Angel." She looked a bit disappointed. "I brought a blanket in case you wanted to do the smoking dash through the sunlight thing."

"Thanks but no. I'll be quicker in the tunnels."

A heavy silence clung to the library when I arrived, the atmosphere oppressive. The Slayerettes were gathered around the new photos or reading reports. Buffy sat alone. I could tell at once she was feeling worse. My girlfriend shivered constantly despite being huddled in the leather jacket I'd given her on the night of the Gathering. I moved to sit close.

"Angel." Buffy's smile banished my earlier brooding.

"How are you?" I didn't want the others to hear.

"Pretty skanky." She grinned and touched my hand. "I'll live."

"You should…" I began.

"…go home?" Buffy finished for me, struggling not to cough "Then I'd just be skanky on my own. I'd rather have company in my hour of skankyness." She squeezed my fingers and I gave in.

"Willow told me the background." I announced to everyone. "Are we sure its Voreshla?"

"Very much so I'm afraid." Giles glanced up. "The Pathologist's findings tell the same unpleasant story. There was rather more going on however than Voreshla's usual practises. Xander and I went earlier to examine the scene ourselves."

"When Watcher guy says 'Earlier' he means it." Xander looked up from his pile of sheets. "I was awake at seven!! I'd forgotten what Saturday morning looked like."

"Will you shut up?" Cordelia flew at him. "God, haven't you got it yet? Someone was killed. They were tortured to death and their spine cut out. We could have stopped it and we didn't!!" It was closest I'd ever seen her to tears.

"Just trying to lighten things CC." Xander was surprised at the cheerleader's outburst.

"Yeah?" She abandoned the gallery of crime scene shots. "Try jumping off the clock tower then." Cordelia shouted and stalked out.

"What exactly do we know?" I'd never seen the group so on edge.

"The victim was found in an abandoned warehouse off Landau Street. Its lowest three floors and those of all the surrounding buildings were totally obliterated." Giles handed me a photograph to illustrate. "'Taken out' as Buffy might say right down to the sub-cellars. The fire service is going to demolish the lot before they collapse. Fire however was only the most obvious form of damage."

"How so?" I asked studying the print.

"The area gave off spent magical energy like a battlefield during the Shorlian War. It was so strong I could get no closer than twenty yards, the pain was intense. Xander had to take the actual pictures." The Watcher rubbed his right temple.

"Oh, oh!!" Willow made the connection. "The fork of lightning that had us rolling around last night?" She penetrated another Firewall while speaking.

"I think that was just the final blow." Giles polished his glasses. "Someone met Voreshla and engaged her in personal magical combat. I'm sorry to say she lost."

"Yeah. It could be that." Xander agreed sarcastically. "On the other hand it might just be a kitchen-sink terrorist like the police say. All I saw was a really whacked-out couple of buildings and a big old hole in the ground."

"The term is crater, " The Watcher rounded on him, "and no it was not an inept bomb-maker. Not unless he smuggled a nuclear artillery shell into Sunnydale and detonated it without anyone noticing the big funny-shaped cloud."

"Well I didn't feel any residual spellage!" Xander was sullen.

"Only a witch or someone with inherent magical talent would!!" Giles turned away. In the pained silence that followed I began sifting my share of police reports. It wasn't easy. I suspected the department was trying to hide their lack of progress behind a mountain of paperwork. Cordelia returned an hour after lunch. She ignored Xander and sat on my left, sorting the hacked printouts into something like chronological order. As a result I began to notice an odd number of coincidences. Formal identification hadn't been made but the victim was no vagrant. What had she been doing in an abandoned building then? Giles' observation of arcane involvement tallied with forensics; there were no chemical traces or explosive signatures. Had this non-tramp just happened to be a master magician or witch? There were no witnesses since the area was totally deserted at night. Why had Voreshla been hunting where the food supply was so scarce?

"I think this was a trap that went wrong." I finally voiced my suspicions.

"You mean Voreshla nearly bit off more than she could chew?" Buffy asked, her voice was weak and she coughed despite herself.

"No, the other way around." I rubbed her back gently until the fit passed. "I think this second victim was moving in on our line of work."

"She was trying to destroy the demon?" Willow stared, forgetting her computer.

"Yes." I replied and the others turned to look at me too. "I think she knew more about Voreshla than we do and decided to act."

"That would explain her body being found in so lonely a place." Giles began to consider my idea. "She understood how destructive a magical confrontation would be and picked a venue where others would not get hurt."

"Voreshla however was three grades a tougher cookie than well done." Xander concluded in his usual style. "Instead of settling demon hash our witch ended up as main course." "Why should she though, what was her take?" Cordelia rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"I mean; we have the Slayer, we have the Watcher, we even have Angel the friendly vampire. How could anyone know more about creepy things than us?"

"It might help if we knew who she was." Buffy was horribly weary. "Any luck with the ID yet Wills?"

"Working on it" Willow was concentrating again.

"Worked on it. Got it." Xander grabbed the report still warm from the printer. "The corpse was identified by her own father. NOT my choice of entertainment for a dull Saturday." His eyes scanned down the sheet. "Her name was Sapphire Cannard."

"The first one was called 'Cannard' too right?" Cordelia asked.

"Magic shop owner and Witch, both from the same family. You were right Angel," The Watcher snapped his fingers in frustration and began to pace, "we should have looked for a connection from the start. If we could just find what ties all this together we would be a lot nearer to closure."

"Could Voreshla be looking to feed only on magic users?" Buffy sounded distant, like she had in my dream. "Whoever Sapphire Cannard was must have been a real don't-mess type, just dripping with magical goodness if you like that sort of thing."

"She was a powerful witch certainly but perhaps not the most disciplined." Giles considered the slayer's idea. "A truly skilled practitioner would never have wasted so much energy nor caused that amount of collateral damage. If only we knew how Miss Cannard made the demon come to her call we could do the same. It is a shame, she could have saved us all a great deal of effort."

"Oh! I'm so sorry my family failed to do your dirty work!!" Jenny Calendar stood just inside the doors; she was wearing a long and clinging black velvet dress. "I only just heard the news on my way back from Alison's funeral. They were both killed horribly but what the hell, it was worth a try!" She spat the words, her lips drawn in fury. "You still have your own personal assassin and a tame creature of the night to command. They'll do what you want, murder whoever or whatever you ask them to. No loss really."

"Oh, very nice; you look spiffy!! Is that Ralph Lauren?" Cordelia was more interested in the clothes than the scene.

"No, don't." I caught Buffy as she sprang to her feet, hurling herself at Jenny. "She's just upset. She doesn't mean it."

Buffy struggled for a second then all strength left her and she fell into a fit of coughing again. It was far worse than before, the racking convulsions causing clear mucous and fresh blood to run from her mouth in a stream. She stared desperately into my eyes, trying to speak with a choked gurgling noise before going totally limp in my arms.

"Buffy!" Time seemed to slow. "Buffy!!" I couldn't tell if she breathed or even if her heart was still beating.

Giles and Willow appeared at my side.

"The pulse is thready but present." Nothing about the Watcher betrayed any emotion.

"She's hot, terribly hot. I knew she was ill but not this badly. Let me take her, she must get to hospital."

For a moment I refused, holding his gaze before gently passing Buffy into his arms. Everyone left and I found myself alone. The silence became loud. The transition from research to crisis could not heave been more total nor sudden.

"Aren't you coming?" Willow reappeared in the door. "Its light but you can use my blanket. Cordelia has the top up on her convertible. You should be okay."

Wound and shrouded in her heavy blanket I allowed Willow to lead me away. It was a terrible journey, my flesh searing beneath a million tiny specks of sunlight. The shopping crush had just begun and we were delayed forty-five minutes in traffic. I prayed Giles had got through quicker. The hospital by contrast was quiet when we finally arrived. Willow and Cordelia guided me into an empty corridor where I swept the blanket away, smoking like wet coal. We found the other Slayerettes gathered outside a private intensive care room.

"They won't tell us anything." Giles warned as I approached.

A short, balding intern looked me up and down. "Would you be Miss. Summer's next of kin?" He asked nervously.

"She's my girlfriend. I'm the closest she's got to family until her mother comes home." My mind was racing.

"I don't suppose you're married to her are you? No." The doctor regained some of his arrogant poise. "We've tried to contact Mrs. Joyce Summers but her mobile service provider says she's out of reception. This is very difficult."

"Make it easy then." Xander stalked up, a strange light in his eyes. "Tell us she'll be okay."

"I can tell you nothing young man. You however Mr. ?" He enquired of me.

"Angel." I replied.

"Really. Ecclesiastical no less." He led me further down the corridor. "Isn't Miss. Summers a little young to be seeing you? Does her mother know?"

"I think that's probably our affair." My voice was steady. "Now why don't you tell me what's wrong before I ask a third time?"

"Well, yes very well. We think your," He searched for the right word, "partner is suffering from a deeply contracted viral infection. It could be a form of viral pneumonia or possibly septicaemia with pneumonic complications. Either way she is running a temperature of one hundred and twenty-four degrees. Her pulmonary system has all but collapsed."

"Will she live?" I spoke each word carefully.

"Frankly Mr. Angel I don't know why she's still alive. We should just be thankful she is." The doctor looked at my face and any levity died. "Miss. Summers' organs are failing and even high doses of antipyretic agents have no effect. We've been forced to use an ice bath merely to stabilise her temperature and prevent immediate brain damage. We're replacing electrolytes and endocrine factors but her blood gases are so far from normal the machines don't register."

"Will she live?" I repeated myself. "If not then I need five minutes with her now."

"I can't tell you." He qualified quickly. "We don't know. Your girlfriend is an extremely strong young lady. If we can keep her out of Thermolyitic shock she has a chance." He concluded and scurried away.

"She's still alive for now." I realised I was shaking. "They won't say for how long." My legs folded and I found myself on the chequered PVC floor.

"Is this something to do with the Judge?" Jenny Calendar asked as she dragged up a chair. "Could it be an after effect of slaying him?"

"Yeah. Like you suddenly care!!" Xander snatched his own chair and banged it down. "So far as I'm concerned you're to blame. It was your little tantrum that flipped Buffy over the edge."

I couldn't remain quiet any longer. The antiseptic air and subliminally flickering strip lights were already grinding my nerves. The thought of Buffy lying here, her life slipping away was too much to bear. If she hated me then so be it. One had to be alive to hate.

In calm terms I explained how I'd driven Buffy to kill herself, how she worked the ritual to return her soul to the past and how she'd been ill ever since.

"You mean she's really eighteen and a half?" Willow was amazed.

"If she dies I'll kill you." It was a measure of Xander's shock that he remained sitting.

"Wow." Cordelia was stunned. "She didn't happen to tell you if I stayed brunette did she? I've been thinking about streaks for a while."

"She got the spell right?" Jenny was the least troubled of all.

"You should have told us." Giles had the Ripper look as he sprang to his feet.

"However, that helps nothing now. Willow come with me." The Watcher led her away, rattling his car keys.

Shut in the plain vanilla corridors it was hard to judge time. At least an hour must have passed. Cordelia kept peering at her watch until Jenny snapped at her to stop. She and Xander vanished to the canteen, both returning with trays of coffee and donuts. It took more and more effort to simply do nothing, to sit and wait. My mind invented scenarios for what was happening. They all ended in Buffy's death. We were left alone by the staff, shunned and kept without news.

"Any word?" Willow called while running down the corridor.

"Nope, no one wants to talk to us." Xander handed his friend a donut. "Have a sugar-frosted Will."

Giles picked a chair and settled to read. He held a book I recognised as Buffy's diary in one hand and supported a huge, skin-bound volume in the other. He divided his attention feverishly between the two for some time, muttering translations under his breath. The Slayerettes jumped as he slammed the spell tome closed.

"Well, that both opens and closes our only window of research." The Watcher was extremely downcast. "The ritual Buffy mentions clearly identifies the sigildry she used. It is an extremely powerful incantation but also straightforward. If it works it works, if it fails the caster is dead and stays dead. There is absolutely no room for any physiological side-effects."

"She can't die." I stood beside the watcher. "If you can't do anything I will." I could hardly believe I was suggesting it.

"You would turn her?" Giles expression was halfway between horror and hope. "I doubt Buffy would want that."

"I doubt she'd want to die completely either." It was impossible to merely sit anymore and I started pacing. "I don't want her to die. I can't live without her; I can't sleep without her. I couldn't exist if Buffy didn't."

"You two are lovers aren't you?" Jenny asked quietly, a strange resignation in her voice. "I mean in the proper sense."

"Yes." The narrow corridor was suddenly very quiet.

All the Slayerettes were gazing at me with forcefully blank expressions.

"Were you happy with one another? Contented together?" She insisted.

"Eew!! What is this, Doctor Ruth ?" Cordelia grimaced. "I don't want to know!!"

"The only peace I've found in a century has been in Buffy." I replied honestly, amazed at the sense of well being my admission created.

"That's it then." Jenny Calendar reclined in her plastic chair and began to laugh hysterically. "Its all been for nothing. It was permanent after all." Her amusement turned to tears and she sobbed quietly.

"What do you mean?" The Watcher's voice was like a twisted spring.

"My name isn't Jenny Calendar." She looked at each of us in turn then settled on Giles. "My true name is Janna. My tribe are the Kalderash people."

"The ones who returned my soul?" Despite myself I flicked briefly into vampire form.

"Yes." She drew a deep breath. "My elders scryed that Angelus had resurfaced after a hundred years. He seemed to be suffering very little from his soul and had even become involved with The Council of Watchers of Britain, or at least their prime field officers. My uncle, my two cousins and I were chosen to come here and keep our own tabs on the Evil One."

"You're a spy?" Willow spoke with disbelief. "You came and tricked us all."

"Why?" Xander was equally shocked.

"The elders believed if Angelus ever experienced perfect happiness the curse would be lifted. Say a young and beautiful woman who cared for him more than her own life took him as her lover. Say for instance Buffy."

"She did though, they are." Cordelia sprang from her chair and stood close, inspecting me minutely. "Angel looks just the same. My mother always says you can tell by the way a girl walks if she's lost her…well, I don't suppose it works with vampires and souls."

"Thanks for that C.C." Xander nodded to his girlfriend. "So Janna, undercover gypsy princess; you've spied on us for two years. You've made us into fools and betrayed our dumb, grinning trust. Then it turns out all your folks have read the instruction book wrong. Bet you're kinda ticked right now huh?"

"Its worse isn't it Jenny." Willow's voice was low. "Being in Sunnydale the past few days has cost you a lot."

"Of course." Giles understood immediately. "Allison and Sapphire Cannard. Despite what you told us they were really two members of your Romani cell."

"Alsana and Shafita were my cousins." Jenny nodded. "We were brought up closer than sisters. Now they're dead." Her voice was dead also.

"Tell me Jenny." I advanced on her. "Your backup are all gone. How far would you go to keep Buffy and me apart. It's too late for what you feared but still, what did you have in mind?"

I could almost hear the other's suspicions click into place.

"Oh god, no." Jenny Calendar backed away. "Buffy's illness has got nothing to do with me! I swear to you I wouldn't hurt her."

"Suffering a credibility shortage these days Jenny." Cordelia had paused in mid bite of doughnut and now brandished her strawberry sprinkle menacingly...

"Can't you see the pattern here?" She was backed against the tower of stacked chairs and could retreat no further. "First Alsana and then Shafita. Who do you think Voreshla has next on the diner list?" She appealed. "Why would I harm the person most likely to save me?"

"Unfortunately Jenny I suspect you have been keeping information about Voreshla from the very start." Giles spoke without emotion...

"I haven't, not really." The pain in her voice was obvious. "Voreshla is a demon with some sort of connection to the Romani, the Kalderash tribe specifically. We tell our children stories at bedtime about her. She walks among us. She eats three naughty girls every year. Sometimes she comes out of the shadows in her real form. That's it, that's all I know. I'm just the intelligence gatherer. My uncle Enjos would be able to tell you more, he keeps the history of our race."

"Where would we find Enjos Kalderash?" The Watcher pursued the matter.

"You've met him already." Jenny bit her lip. "He was the person at the game last night you all thought to be Voreshla's Avatar. He came looking for me to explain how Sapphire intended to meet the demon and kill her. We talked in the tunnel during all that crowd."

"Wow." Xander laughed hollowly. "There's nothing like a girl who's upfront and honest.".

"Where can we find Enjos." Giles smiled as Ripper. "I've asked nicely."

"He's keeping vigil above Alsana's grave tonight at Restfield cemetery. It's a custom amongst our people."

"Is that similar to the custom where you lie to all your friends?" Willow was hurt more than anyone.

"Come along Angel." The Watcher began to walk away. "We're going to meet Janna's Uncle."

"In case you've forgotten the woman I love is dying in that room!!" I could hardly credit the direction our conversation was taking. "Voreshla can wait."

"If you love her then you must also respect her desires." Giles turned on me. "Buffy has given away a good part of her young life to battle evil. Voreshla is part of that task. As the Slayer is incapacitated you are now the only tool we have to prevent her killing again."

"He's right Angel." Willow agreed. "Buffy would want you to stop Voreshla. Its dark out and there's nothing to do here but sit and be ignored by doctors."

I knew they were both correct but I couldn't leave.

The locked ICU security door splintered as I kicked it open. The centre of the room was shrouded, no nurses or attendants present. I walked through the darkness and pulled the curtain aside. Buffy lay naked in a large plastic tub of water, half buried beneath ice cubes. Her body's slender beauty was pale, her long golden hair fanned out upon the semi-liquid surface in a shining aureole around her exquisite face. The Slayer's eyes were closed, only the forest of suspended monitors and a pulsing respirator assured me she wasn't dead. I reached into the freezing water and placed my hand over her heart. Buffy's life beat quickly and faint beneath my fingers, her flesh burning hot even in the ice bath.

"I'm going away for a while. The others want me to kill Voreshla for you." My voice faltered. "Willow, Cordelia and Xander are staying. Please don't die."

"What are you doing?" An older Houseman rushed up to me carrying a drip.

"Saying goodbye." I turned and left.

*

Saturday Evening

The cemetery was quiet. A gentle breeze whispered coldly through the hedge of distant conifers. Regiments of headstones stood in neat ranks, huge tombs and mortuary temples towering black against the moonlit sky. The Watcher and I had hardly spoken since leaving the hospital. The atmosphere between us was strained.

"However much you hate me Giles I hate myself more." I finally broke the silence.

"Buffy's opinion is the only one that matters." He turned. "Buffy loves you far more than even she realises. Your betrayal of that love was the worst you could do to her."

"I know." The pain in my chest was reminiscent of the stake.

"Do you Angel? Do you really?" Giles pulled his glasses off. "I don't presume to lecture. The relationship you both share is entirely your own concern. Buffy is above legal age and I more than anyone realise she no longer remains a child. She is still young however and can be hurt very badly. She has been, her actions prove that."

"I'm sorry, I wish I had an excuse but I don't"

"Excuses are not the issue." The Watcher smiled sadly. "Buffy forgives you or she would hardly have embarked upon so radical a course. I think you need to forgive yourself, maybe then you will both be able to heal. Do you still love her?"

"I do."

"Then nothing else matters." Giles shook his head. "I am not your enemy Angel." I understood finally why Buffy relied on her Watcher so much. I compared his honest concern and genuine support to my own swaggering bully of a father. There was no question who had done better in the paternal stakes, surrogate or otherwise. My contemplations were interrupted when the slightest movement caught my eye. Away to our right, hidden amongst the tombs a dark figure knelt in prayer. I moved into the silvered shadows while Giles approached boldly.

"Enjos Kalderash." The Watcher called. "I must speak with you."

The Elder spun at mention of his name, rising slowly. "Why do you disturb my vigil, man of the Council?" The gypsy had a heavy east European accent although his English was superb.

"You have information I require." Giles nodded in respect to the grave.

"Why should I treat with one who consorts amongst the dead who are quick?" Enjos spoke in an antique fashion that was almost poetry.

"Had you approached me sooner your daughter may this night have known rest above the ground." The Watcher could give as good as he got. "The spy you placed within my own followers is now also threatened by the evil we both oppose."

"Never have They Who Watch and The People Of the Road stood as one." The Elder intoned. "We walk our separate paths Rupert of Britain, we fight our own wars, exact in full our own cold vengeance. Neither my Janna nor I require aid from such as you, fouled by the night. Be gone from this place."

"I must know what you know of the demon Voreshla." Giles insisted. "She has taken both your children into the long dark. You cannot stand against her, the coin of your revenge will go unpaid. I can do both."

"Ha!" Enjos barked without humour. "My Shafita, the greatest amongst us who practised the Art-Magick was bested in that art. Struck down and butchered as an ox; her life closed in pain. How will you fare better man of books, how will you alone confront the might of The Devourer? Against her you will be powerless in will and action. Of this I assure you."

"He won't be alone." I stepped from the shadows.

"Evil One!!" Enjos shrank away, reaching behind his black coat to pull free a crucifix. "You taint the very earth of Alsana's grave!!"

"You are boring me." Giles grasped the gypsy's arm and twisted the cross away. "Whatever you think of the Council our business is the destruction of demons. We can and will deal with Voreshla. All I want to know is how Shafita managed to draw her into the open. Angel and I will take matters from there."

I ground my teeth as I realised. She was following me again, sheltered amongst the tombstones. Why tonight of all nights?

"Never!!" Enjos nursed his wrist, glowering at me. "A terrible wound has been dealt the Kalderash people, the sins of our past are revisited upon us. No price is too high in order we may be avenged. If Janna must die to protect our cause and our secrets then die she must."

I groaned inwardly. We had to get this pantomime over quickly, I could tell she was getting more interested.

"Do you remember what I did to your great-great-grandaunt gypsy man?" I flicked into vampire form to aid my bluff. "Do you remember how long she took to die before I fed? When it comes to torture I assure you Voreshla can learn from me. Tell Giles what he wants to know and Angelus won't need to reminisce anymore." I towered over the frightened Elder.

"You attempt to scare me Evil One. It is useless." His words lacked conviction. "I scorn your threats, I laugh at your comfortable conceit. Whatever you did to my family is trifling compared to what your own heart will soon be made to study." Enjos laughed in my face. "The soul we gave will allow you proper appreciation for what has befallen your golden-haired courtesan."

"What do you mean?" My compunction was replaced by mixture of rage and gnawing fear. "Tell me!!"

Without effort I grasped the gypsies left forearm and folded it back against the elbow, flush to his upper arm. Enjos' scream of agony almost drowned the double crack as his Ulna and Radius shattered together.

"Sodding hell!" Giles flinched, looking grey...

"What have you done to Buffy?" I held his right arm now and began to bend it slowly.

"My Angel!! Can I play too?" A slight vampiress appeared from behind the Rollin family vault. "Can I have his eyes?"

Drusilla was beautiful in a black silk gown, almost medieval with puffed gauze sleeves and flowing skirt. The moonlight made her paler than ever and her eyes were very blue. "No. Yes." I suddenly had an idea and beckoned to her. "Come here Dru. This nasty man's relations were the ones who cursed me. Now he won't tell me something I really want to know. Will you find out for me everything he knows about a demon called Voreshla?"

"Course I will pet." She tipped her lovely head to one side, smiling. "Anything to make you happy."

I handed the now thoroughly terrified gypsy to Drusilla. She cradled him against her like she would a baby, the fingers of her right hand held above his forehead. He threshed wildly but my childe's strength was little less than my own.

"I wanted to break his arm myself." The Watcher whispered as he approached, skirting the grave. "This is a bit much though!"

"We have to know Giles." My voice was colder than liquid helium. "What did he mean about Buffy?"

I watched as my own suspicions began to be mirrored in Giles' face.

"No. Please." Enjos begged, trying one-handedly to wrench himself free. "Stop this Watcher!! Get her out of my head! She's tearing my mind apart. Oh sweet lord no!!" He screamed thinly.

"Coo, shush silly. It doesn't hurt a bit." Drusilla scolded, then blinked up at me. "My Angel always liked me tickling him inside his thoughts. Other things too."

"Ahem." Giles coughed hastily. "I think we are losing the point a little here."

"He's done now anyway." She dropped the whimpering Elder like a sack of flour. "Something's broke in his head. I felt it snap." She giggled.

"So Dru?" I asked quietly, leading her away. "What did you find about Voreshla?"

"Let me tell you a story my precious." She purred, stroking my face. "Once upon a time very long time ago all the gypsies in the world lived in the forests of a country called Romania. There were lots and lots of tribes but only one called Kalderash. They were good people really but a bit greedy. The leaders wanted more money and food than they had. Some of the lady gypsies were very good at casting spells and seeing the future and reading people's minds. Angel," The vampiress asked plaintively, "were they as good as me?"

"No way." I assured her. "Go on, I'm liking your story."

"Well, one day the most powerful witch thought of a way to make her tribe even more important. She used her pretty magic to summon an awful demon called Voreshla. They talked and talked and then they made a promise together. The demon said she'd make things happen so the Kalderash always had lots of money and lots of food and never, ever got sick. To pay her for being so nice Voreshla wanted three of the youngest and strongest witches in the tribe as sacrifices every seventeen years. She also wanted a fourth, even more special girl. This one was the most important part since Voreshla would possess her body and use it to torture the first three until they died. Then she would pull their spines out to eat. When the last had been done Voreshla could Ascend out of her possessed body and come into the world for exactly one year. Lots of wonderful things would happened then."

"Ahm, Drusilla. This is very important." Giles approached her with elaborate caution, his voice wavering. "Did the fourth girl, the one Voreshla possessed have to be a Slayer?" We'd both come to the same unwilling conclusion.

"Yes Mr. Giles." She nodded then turned back to me, whispering in my ear. "You see my Angel; when the demon took over someone it was a horrible stress for their poor body. In fact only the body of a Vampire Slayer was strong enough to hold her for long. Even then it began to burn with a terrible fever. The best only lasted a week at most and Voreshla had to be quick with her three sacrifices."

"Oh dear lord." Giles staggered backwards, propping himself against a leaning headstone. "No wonder the Council journal was blanked. They would be quick to hide any reference with a period of history during which we had no Slayer." His reserve broke. "Oh god no, this cannot be happening!!"

"There's nothing left." I was empty. "It's over then." My lover was gone, her soul was destroyed. I wanted to die. There was no purpose to anything. I wanted to sink to the grass and lie there until the sun came up.

"Voreshla must have taken possession when Buffy performed her spell ritual." Giles spoke with difficulty, struggling to remain focussed. "For a moment, until her soul completed the transference her body was empty. The demon saw her opportunity and jumped." "I caused this." I couldn't escape my guilt now. "I should have seen it. Buffy was always absent during the murders. She knew what all our plans were. I think she probably sidetracked the research quite a few times. When she hid 'Cannon Alberics Scrapbook' was probably the only attempt we found out."

"Come on pet, don't pretend to be surprised." Drusilla shook me gently, winding an arm tight around my waist. "I told you what happened when we were playing the other night. I told you she was different. I could feel both of them inside her body, Voreshla and the Slayer."

"Both?" I tried to think straight. "You're sure Buffy's soul is still there."

"Course I am." She giggled again. "Its like the Slayer's asleep. She keeps trying to wake up but Voreshla won't let her."

"Of course, the dreams!" I finally understood. "Giles. You said the soul of Voreshla's host was always destroyed. What if it wasn't? Could we get the demon out and return Buffy to her own body."

He looked at me blankly and began to pace, scuffing the wet lawn. "Maybe." The Watcher concluded finally. "Her frame is weak however and she will have to withstand powerful magic. If this fool," he weighed a heavy kick into the Elder's twitching form, "had told us earlier we could have done something. We shall now be forced to allow the hospital to stabilise Buffy's physical form before we act." The last revelation of the evening barrelled into my head. Drusilla was platting complicated patterns into her long black hair, singing quietly to herself.

"Dru. What happens when Voreshla Ascends."

"She just bursts out; bluh, yuk!!" The vampiress was graphic in distaste. "Her real form is huge. I don't know how she fits inside the poor Slayer." She walked her fingers up my arm.

"We can't wait Giles." I disentangled myself. "How many female Kalderash gypsies are there in Sunnydale? Not many. Voreshla has been tracking down her sacrifices one by one."

"Jenny!" The Watcher went white. "She knows, somehow Buffy found Janna's secret before we did. That was the reason she went for her in the library."

"Janna gave herself away remember?" I was already bundling him towards the car. "In her rage she said 'my family' when talking about Shafita and Alsana."

"My Angel, you're not going away?" Drusilla called, very disappointed. "There's enough for two." She picked Enjos up with one hand, shifting into her delicate vampire form.

"No Dru." I thought of the task ahead. "You're coming with us. It'll be fun."

"Goody!!" She threw the Elder onto his daughter's fresh grave and ran up.

"Angel?" Giles questioned.

"If Buffy wakes up I won't be able to restrain her on my own, " I held his gaze, "without killing her."

"Pretty windows!" Drusilla commented as we all piled into the Watcher's Citroen.

We raced into Sunnydale. I was amazed at the speed Giles coaxed from his rusting car. Restfield lay a good six miles from the hospital, a majority of the way through narrow town centre roads. The Watcher seemed a man possessed however and scoffed audibly at traffic lights. Thankfully there were few other drivers about and no police. I was prepared for that eventuality however. Any traffic policeman who pulled us would receive little pity. We had absolutely no time to lose, we'd wasted too much already.

A very creditable squeal of tyres accompanied Giles' hand-brake turn onto the hospital car park. We came finally to rest and I doubted the vehicle would ever move again.

"You drive like Spike." Drusilla commented. She was talking to herself however. The Watcher and I were already sprinting for the main entrance.

"Hey guys." Willow looked up as we dashed in, hiding Giles' spell book she'd been reading behind her back. "Great news! Buffy's awake."

"Oh no." I groaned.

We were too late. Willow, Xander and Cordelia sat alone with no sign of the gypsy.

"Where is Jenny?" Giles asked calmly.

"Buffy asked for her as soon as she came round." Xander picked up some of our concern.

"Don't sweat it though, she wanted to apologise for the scene in the library. They needed a few minutes alone to make nice and...what the hell is she doing here!!!" He leapt up as Drusilla appeared behind us. "So many nice people," My childe peered over the Watcher's shoulder, "so much blood."

"There's a vampire behind you Giles!" Cordelia recoiled and swept up her chair to defend him.

"There's two of us Cordelia. She's with me." I announced while treating the ICU door to its second dose of my boot this evening.

The room was empty. The chair drawn close to the articulated bed was overturned, a large patch of blood smeared on the wall beside it.

"She's got Jenny." A heavy feeling had settled in my stomach.

"How long? How long were they alone?" Giles insisted as the Slayerettes spilled into the shadowed darkness.

"Ten minutes max." Xander struggled free of the crush. "What's going on? Buffy's getting better. In case you two and Crypt-Girl don't get it that's a good thing." He drew the words out.

The handle of the door to the intensive care office was lathered in drying blood. I carefully swung it wide. The corpse of an intern was sprawled in the floor. His throat was a pulpy mess; just as if a Vampire Slayer had closed her supernaturally strong fingers around his windpipe and torn it out. Three doors led from the room. The first opened on another empty ICU, the second was marked 'Basement Access'. The Yale-lock was jammed, its key broken off in the slot and then slammed shut. Wasted effort.

The entire door collapsed inwards under Drusilla's non-too-gentle persuasion. "Ohh." A beautiful expression played over her beautiful face. "The Slayer is doing all sorts of horrible things to the Bad Teacher."

"Come on!!" I called to the others and plunged down after her.

"What's going on?" Xander's voice called down the starkly lit steps "Will everyone stop making like Christmas Eve at Sears and just tell me?"

Willow and Cordelia echoed his question with varying degrees of metaphorical content.

"Okay." I stopped and turned, Giles crashing into me. "Lets take some time here, we have so much to waste after all. Buffy isn't Buffy at all, she's not even future-Buffy. She's Voreshla and has been all along. She's a demon who wants to torture Jenny Calendar to death then eat her notochord, guzzling down all that pink cerebra-spinal fluid. Then her true demonic form will burst out of Buffy's body, then she'll ascend into the physical world and then you'll all die along with the rest of the humans in southern California. Giles, Drusilla and myself would like to stop her. If at all possible we'd like to return the real future-Buffy to her own vampire-slaying capable body. Are we all clear now?"

"Yeah, sure. Just wanted to know." Xander nodded sagely, then began to consider what I'd said. "She what!!??"

No one was listening though. He was swept in the rush as the two girls galloped after us. We ignored at least four landings. Drusilla was skipping ahead and I was content to follow her clairvoyant lead. The steps finally terminated in a dingy, red-lighted hall. My childe was waiting for us, her fingertips pressed against a tall metal door marked 'Furnace Room'. The Slayerettes pooled around us, all gasping for air and looking expectant.

"Well?" Cordelia asked. "Do not even think about telling me we've come the wrong way!!" She accused.

"Drusilla?" I questioned.

"Shush." She whispered, swaying gently from side to side and humming happily with her eyes closed. "Ahh. Listen."

A harsh succession of supple cracks echoed from the room beyond, each followed by a terrible scream. Metal clanked and rattled and someone was weeping.

"Oh god, Jenny!" Giles rushed at the door but I caught him.

"There's no sense in that. You'll die." I held the Watcher in place as a further scream was torn from Jenny's throat. "You said it was possible to extract Voreshla from Buffy's body without killing her. How?"

"I can think of a summoning that might help." Giles steadied himself, blanking his ears to the continuing sound of torture. "I'll need the book from earlier though."

"I'll go." I made to climb back upstairs.

"Wait Angel, I've got it." Willow announced apologetically. "Didn't think we should leave that sort of artillery hanging round for anyone to pick up."

"They would need to know Tuareg Arabic, but thank you anyway." Giles began flicking through the pages. "It will be best if this is done in as close physical proximity to Buf...Voreshla's Avatar as possible. I'm not sure how much control I'll have."

"We're not talking Fire-and-Forget then here?" Xander questioned, suddenly worried.

"Not exactly." Giles began to plan quickly. "The first thing is to get Jenny out. Angel and, ahm...Miss. Drusilla here will have to occupy Voreshla while you Xander, Willow and Cordelia drag her out. I'll begin to incant the spell as soon as you're all clear. If she notices what I am about it is certain Voreshla will try to stop me. I hope you realise," He looked intently at Drusilla and me, "how much trust I am placing upon two creatures of the night."

"We'll do the job Giles, it's a good plan." I reassured him. "Just remember that Buffy is somewhere in there also. She's not to be hurt anymore than necessary. We're doing this to rescue her as much as Jenny Calendar."

"That is definitely a major goal." Giles assented hesitantly. "However Angel you must remember first and foremost that Voreshla cannot be allowed to Ascend. If we have to destroy Buffy's body to prevent this from happening then so be it."

"It won't come to that." I blanked my mind to the possibility.

"I hope you're right." Giles flinched as another crack and another scream came from beyond the door. "Anytime you feel ready then."

I shook Drusilla, wakening her from the half-trance she'd sunk into and motioned to the metal portal. The lock was predictably turned and secure. My childe pushed daintily against the riveted hinges and the whole frame began to bulge inwards. I drew a rare breath and delivered a kick against the handle. The steel tore free with an iron-works clatter and we half-rushed, half-fell in.

Far larger than the boiler in Sunnydale High, the room beyond was dominated by a vast furnace. It towered two stories and cast a baleful orange light, the lower inspection plate open and the exposed grate roaring with flames. The only other door was very small, banded with steel rivets and set into the bulkhead of the boiler itself. I guessed it led to some inner working of the heating system. At the moment I hardly cared, my attention was focussed on the scene of horror being played before me.

Two figures were illuminated in the flickering glare. Jenny Calendar was hung limp by the wrists from a chain looped high over a rusty supporting girder. The angle of her arms made it clear both shoulder joints were totally dislocated. Her clothing was tattered into blood-soaked ribbons and broad criss-crossing wheals covered her naked back. Only the fact she wept constantly gave any indication the technopagan was still alive. The second occupant was Buffy/Voreshla. She stood before the exposed fire-grate holding a length of heavy duty power line. The last foot of insulation had been charred away and the Demon/Slayer held the exposed copper wire into the hottest flames she could reach. Her makeshift lash was glowing cherry-red as Drusilla and I made our entrance.

I wrenched a piece of the doorframe loose and advanced on Voreshla's Avatar. My mind had emptied for what was to come. For the next few minutes I forced myself to be Angelus, no trace of the real me could surface. Drusilla ran past laughing, already shifted into vampire form.

"No Dru!" I caught her wrist. "The Slayer is mine. See to the Bad Teacher." She growled in frustration but did as I said, reaching for the chains around Jenny's smashed hands. All the gypsy's fingers had been broken in precisely two places, each joint capsule ruptured.

"Angel?" Voreshla smiled happily then realised how totally impossible it was to bluff. "Oh, gotcha; you know. I wish you'd given me another hour though, Janna and me were just getting started. Still, I suppose you had to find out sometime."

"Leave her demon." I had to try. "Get out of my girlfriend's body and free her soul."

"Honestly, I can't believe it took you this long." She ignored me, circling away from the open flames. "The flu thing covered a lot but honey, the dreams? After all that imagery and astral discussion I was terrified you'd guess and work it all out." Voreshla pressed a finger to her temple. "You wouldn't believe how much she wants you! Even when I've got her good and screwed down tight she still reaches out." It was all a play for time and position, the whipcord was hissing for my face even as she spoke.

I moved inside the arc of its swing and blocked with my steel bar. The semi-molten tip wound twice around its width then welded in place. A heavy tug wrenched the free end from Voreshla's grasp. Using the momentary resistance I shifted my weight and put everything I had into a left scissor kick. I didn't want to hurt the Avatar badly and instead of head or neck my boot chose the abdomen. Voreshla was hurled backwards, smashing into the small metal door I'd noticed earlier. The bolt failed with a loud snap and she rolled into the darkness beyond.

Almost simultaneously a second metallic crack resounded behind me. Drusilla had broken the chain and let Jenny collapse to the floor. She was thankfully unconscious and my childe hefted her without effort. Xander and Cordelia came to carry her rather more gently away.

"Go Giles." I urged the Watcher to begin his working. "I don't know how long I'll be able to hold her off."

He quickly swept clean a patch of the concrete floor. Willow ran up despite his warning, holding the spell book open. Giles obviously debated for a moment then continued the incantation, tacitly accepting her help. The Watcher intoned syllables in a language I could only dimly recognise as Arabic while Willow carefully marked out a perfect circle on the floor.

I left them too it, my attention returning to Voreshla's Avatar.

"Dru, come with me but don't attack, we're only playing again." I shook her with each word to emphasise my point. "We just need to keep the Slayer busy. Be careful too. She's the most dangerous opponent you've ever faced."

"What?" The vampiress was unhappy. "Can't I even hurt her a little bit?"

"No." I insisted then crouched to clamber through the door. "Just stop her hurting you."

The room beyond was far smaller and more cramped than outside, the light very dim for human eyes. An automatic riddling iron shook the ashes from the huge furnace-grate onto a conveyor belt. It slowly carried the burnt residue up a steep incline and deposited into a large cast iron tank. I supposed the ash was collected and sold for agricultural use, a large vent on the bottom was obviously intended to drop the contents into some sort of transport. All together the three pieces of machinery left only a space of about twenty foot square to move in. There would be no more fighting-with-furniture, I knew it was entirely hand-to-hand from hereon.

Voreshla back peddled into the centre of the floor. I approached her slowly

"Okay, that was the free one." She seemed not at all phased by my treatment. "From now on its twenty five bucks a go."

The Avatar skipped high, lashing outwards with a forward double kick. I swayed and blocked both easily. It was only a feint. The real strike came as she landed, a left-right hammer punch. I was off balance and the blow hit me full in the left side of my chest. I dropped and rolled but a splash of pain washed my entire body as two ribs cracked wetly.

Outside Giles continued his ritual, strange and vivid bursts of lightning splashing across the floor. Voreshla couldn't be allowed to realise what was going on. I flipped to my feet, ignoring the pain

"Deary?" Drusilla called. "I'm bored."

"Oh my god, its the centuries-old flame." Voreshla advanced on the vampiress. "Is Angel hanging with you again? I thought he only stuck it in warm things these days."

We all three circled.

The Avatar swung a reverse left crescent kick at Drusilla and followed with a combination punch. She evaded both. My childe could see the future and knew the blows were coming before they fell. So long as she remained passive in defence it was almost impossible to hit her.

"Come on Voreshla, there's no way you're going to Ascend now." It was pointless to reason with a demon. "The third sacrifice has been put out of your reach." I wouldn't allow myself to fight her properly either.

Grasping the Avatar's shoulder I pivoted and hammered my left heal into the back of her knee. She staggered heavily but didn't fall, her elbow snapping my head round as she spun.

"I know but I'm just basking in the irony of our situation." She sounded so like Buffy I allowed my guard to drop and received a front kick to the stomach. "Last time around now it was you who were all evil and Buffy crying about it. Now things are switched. Who's the better psychopath?" The Avatar's favourite right crescent kick smashed into the side of my head. "Anyway there's still time, trust me." Her follow up roundhouse punch and left sweep completed my journey to the floor

Drusilla landed a heavy sidekick in the Avatar's head.

"Don't I get any fun?" Her voice was low, her sapphire eyes gleaming.

"Okay. Would..." Voreshla pretended to be thinking. "pain do you?"

"Ohh. Yes please, lots."

The girls danced a strange, fluid form. Voreshla's Avatar threw two perfect combination punches while Drusilla blocked all four strikes. The vampiress was forced to give ground however and I saw the danger first. She had backed against the huge tank of ash. Voreshla feinted wide left ad then swung away, throwing the toggle which opened the discharge vents. Drusilla vanished beneath several tons of coke, the upper layers still smouldering. She had no time even to scream.

I was amazed at the agony I felt, futile and useless. I fed from it, scrambling to my feet and finally assuming vampire form. At the same moment a particularly vivid flash of light washed from the Furnace Room proper. It was accompanied by some vast torrent of sound.

"Now what's Giles and little Willow up to?" Only the voice was the same now, nothing else of Buffy remained. "Can't have them upstaging our final moment can we darling?" She smiled and it was horrible.

"No Voreshla." I threw myself in front of her, pivoting a left scissor kick into her torso.

She smashed hard into the wall, and dropped to one knee. It was perfect but it was pointless. Again I couldn't follow up because I loved the woman inside her. Again I was open for any response she cared to make.

"Yes Voreshla." She spat out the blood.

Her flying butterfly kick spun me completely around. I barrelled corkscrewing into the metal partition and slammed to the floor. I hit the concrete so hard my vision blurred. The Avatar's reverse axe strike bounced my forehead off the rough surface a second time and blood poured into my eyes. She rained a succession of four roundhouse punches into my head, full and reversed. I couldn't block, I couldn't see. I forced myself to lever up but a final boot to the stomach hurled me over and down once more. The cracked ribs finally broke completely and tore through my left lung.

"Let her go." I wouldn't give in, trying to rise as blood gushed from my mouth.

Voreshla's possession was going to end soon whether she willed it or no. The Slayer's body was close to failure; her flesh a burning pallid grey and her eyes so bloodshot the white was nearly hidden.

"No, but here's a fun fact." She stooped to pick something from the floor. "Coal is wood. Wood makes stakes."

Voreshla's Avatar smashed the huge piece of high quality furnace coal against the wall. It shattered into fragments and she retrieved a particularly long and jagged splinter. It looked like a sliver of volcanic glass.

I was amazed to find myself on my feet. The first crescent kick that came I managed to evade. It was like fighting through treacle though and I knew I was slow. The second strike was another left-right hammer punch which I only partially blocked. The impact was still throwing me back when Voreshla's scissor kick hit the bottom of my chin, snapped my head back and hurled me to the floor.

My eyes were full of blood again and my shirt was stiff with it. I couldn't move.

"I'll always love you Buffy, whatever happens." The words were lost since my mouth was filled with blood also.

"She hears you Angel." The Avatar was genuinely surprised. "Would you believe she's crying? Don't worry, it'll be quick. First we'll finish our scene here then I'll do Willow the teenage hacker and Our Favourite Witch. Did you know a Xander is a fish that's the same as a Pike but smaller? No? Well, anyway I'll catch him and his whoreleader. Its hard work carrying an unconscious body up five flights of stairs. I'll eat the gypsies spine, I'll Ascend and afterwards if you and Buffy want to hang in some really spiritual but very dead kind of way that's entirely cool."

Voreshla swung back her splinter of coal. I tensed, wondering if it would hurt so much as in the dream. Despite myself I closed my eyes. I remembered how Buffy had looked the first time I saw her, in the sunlight on the day she was Called.

"Goodbye my love." I whispered and she seemed to hear me.

"Aye Shaitan. Cairitean fon keelr tu-oh shefrainn bes." A deep voice spoke with such resonance the floor shook to his words.

The Avatar spun and I forced myself up. The best I could manage was to kneel. A dark figure stood in the flame-washed gloom. It towered over seven feet and was completely swathed in flowing black Tuareg robes. If it had a face it was hidden behind the ornately coiled head-dress it wore and a tightly fastened silk scarf. All that could be seen was the luminous black of its flesh and a pair of glowing white eyes. I knew what Giles had done. He'd worked the hardest summoning any magician could attempt. The Watcher had called forth a Djinn.

Neither good nor bad, Djinni simply did their own thing. The consummate masters of all magic and sorcery, death workings and soul destruction were their particular speciality. The Goddess herself and maybe The First could stand against a Djinn. No one and nothing else could, in or out of hell.

We'd won. The demon might have been able to best a supremely powerful gypsy witch but this entity was in another class altogether. It was over. Voreshla just didn't know it yet.

The Avatar threw herself at the Djinn with a howl of defiant fury. It would've been hopeless even if she'd been herself and in perfect physical form. The dark creature gestured with its left hand and the possessed Slayer was caught in space, held tight and suspended slightly above the floor.

"Aye Shaitan, foletu gorish tal. Fellon pallar traver cal mit ellet foolorn toi," The Djinn wove precise and exacting patterns in the air, "Gashu por callas Shaitan anu ish het." Its voice rose in power and the gestures wider.

Bands and shimmering streamers of crimson energy lashed from the Djinn's hands, winding and platting complex force patterns around my lover's immobilised body.

"No. Not now!!" Voreshla screamed. "I've come too far to lose."

"Gorish fash toll, gorish in Shaitan." It drew its arms wide and the spell was complete. Arcs of magical force discharged in a nimbus around the Slayer's form, grounding to the metal walls and red hot machinery. As the display continued a gauzy mist began to ooze from Buffy's eyes, unfolding and expanding as it came. It grew to fill the small room, cramped by the rusty confines. Blurred and indistinct the mist took on a shape I recognised, the same form I had seen in the mirror of my first dream. Voreshla's wings and tentacles lashed immaterial, trying desperately to rip herself free. She screamed in fury both from the mouth of her Avatar and the fanged jaws of her true form.

The Djinn was unimpressed. It closed the fingers of its right hand. From all corners of the room Voreshla's spirit-form began to contract, drawn towards her magical opponent. Screaming again, this time in fear the substance of her soul coalesced into a single brilliant point of light held in the Djinn's left palm. It closed three digits in turn and the light blinked out.

Buffy settled to the floor, her legs folding as she crumpled in a heap. Every part of me ached but I ignored the pain. Dragging myself forward I pillowed Buffy's head in my lap, brushing the lank hair from her eyes. The terrible heat had left her body and she no longer shivered.

"Angel." She opened her turquoise eyes, unfocussed and soft. "Is that you?" Her voice was a broken whisper.

"Yes." I replied. "Its finished."

*

Sunday Afternoon

The small hospital room was packed, the Venetian blinds snapped tight closed over its bank of sunlit windows. Buffy lay upon a bed pressed hard against the back wall. All the Slayerettes were crowded on the left side, either sitting uncomfortably or leaning upright. I stood on the right, holding her hand as she slept. The Djinn which Giles had summoned still remained. It stood alone in the far corner and radiated a glacial cold, the dry air forming a halo of mist as it froze.

"Hey." Buffy smiled sleepily at me, her voice weak. "I like waking up to you. Where am I?" She glanced at the others.

"In hospital still." I stroked her freshly washed hair. "You're off intensive care. The only thing the staff can find wrong is heavy exhaustion and electrolytic shock. That and a lot of bruising. They're trying to rebalance your fluids." I gestured to both drips plugged into her arm.

"Yeah Buff," Willow knelt and took her other hand, "I think that's only so they have an excuse to charge your mother's medical insurance. You feeling better?"

"I'm feeling Wills," Buffy closed her eyes, "that's a big improvement on its own."

"No violent urges? No craving for nerve tissue?" Xander joked.

"Idiot!!" Cordelia elbowed him in the stomach.

"I don't know Xander, I'm starting to feel a violent urge right now!!" My girlfriend joked, then coughed shallowly.

"I think we should leave Buffy to rest." Giles ushered everyone out.

Willow leant over to kiss Buffy on the forehead. Xander squeezed her arm while Cordelia flashed a quick smile.

"I haven't eaten for an entire day!!" The cheerleader complained exiting the room. "And I had to help dig Drusilla-I'm-so-thin-its-unbelievable out of all those ashes. She never thanked me either, just stalked off!!!"

Only the Master Vampire, the Watcher and the Djinn remained.

"I have done as you bid me Rupert Giles." It spoke, a voice so low the blinds rattled. "I have made good the transference your apprentice tried. Her soul is bound now fast and forever within this current frame."

"My thanks are yours." The Watcher bowed. "The balance is level between us."

"No Rupert Giles." It slowly shook its head. "I came when you called but also I fed well this day. The debt remains. I shall appear to your summons again should you ever wish it."

"Peace be with you." Giles touched his heart and bowed.

"Shalom my brother." The Djinn copied his gesture and faded into nothing.

"I..." Buffy began to weep quietly, "I'm so sorry....".

"No Buffy." The Watcher cut her off, smiling as he squeezed her fingers. "This is not the time for anything but getting better. We can talk later, as much as you want." Giles polished his glasses. "Jenny is going to heal, physically at least. The rest may take a while but she blames you for nothing. Rest now." He nodded to us both and left.

The silence ran for minutes, a strange awkwardness heavy between us.

"I remember it all Angel." Buffy spoke at last. "She made me watch what she did to those women. She made me feel and listen and taste." My lover sobbed without tears. "How can you bare to be in the same room after what I've done."

"You've done nothing Buffy." I leant over and kissed her lips gently. "I understand that, Giles understands and the Slayerettes know it too. Even the Council accepts you were completely innocent of your actions. Giles contacted them last night and they immediately dispatched a special group to tidy things up, remove all traces of your involvement. There'll be no hassle with the police."

"You can't just erase guilt." There was no anger in her voice, just hopelessness. "It was still my hands that used the knives, my fingers that gouged out the eyes." The Slayer shuddered convulsively.

"Buffy, whatever Voreshla did with your body was not your fault. You have to believe that, you must." I looked into her blue green eyes, feeling her soul mingle with mine. "Whatever horrible things you think you're to blame for I've done far, far worse."

"How do you live with it, the pictures in your head." Her voice was small.

"Well, you see there's this Vampire Slayer." I smiled and realised I was weeping also. "She gets me through the worst days. I hope she'll let me do the same for her."

"Do you still love me then Angel, after everything?"

"Do I still love you?" I was amazed at her question. "I can't believe you still want to be with me after what I've done. If anyone's to blame its me Buffy. I drove you to suicide. My actions made you perform the ritual that opened the door to Voreshla." I couldn't think of anyway to express what I felt. "Do I still love you? Yes Buffy Anne Summers, I do still love you."

She grasped the front of my shirt, drawing me into her. We kissed until the past and the room and the world faded from concern. Her sweetness and warmth and life ran tender fire through my undead veins. The taste of her, the scent of her, the softness of her mouth was all I knew.

"Then I'll live." She whispered against my lips, smiling.

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