16- One Last Farewell to Absent Friends

###

Angel didn't take Buffy back to her cell after the shower. Instead he waited until she had dressed and then took her down into the Hotel's basement garage and opened the door of his black convertible for her.

Buffy gave him a curious look, but got in and waited until he had climbed into the driver's seat. They were underway before Buffy noticed that Doyle, their armed shadow, had not gotten into the car with them.

"Where are we going?" She asked him, surprised at her own lack of worry. Could it be that she felt ... safe with him?

He just gave her that half-smile he sometimes showed and continued driving. Buffy only gave the barest of thoughts to just jumping out of the car and escaping. Her mother knew she was safe, even though Buffy had not been able to say when she'd get back. She had promised to be home soon and explain everything, then hung up before her mother could ask more questions.

Angel drove out of town and a few miles down the coast. After about half an hour he parked the car directly by the beach, close to a bundle of other cars. The full moon hung high overhead and Buffy tried to figure out exactly where they were. The stretch of beach before them had a large sign that said "PRIVATE".

"Will you tell me where we are now?" She asked Angel, who had started walking down to the beach. Buffy fell into step beside him.

"I want to show you one last thing," Angel said, "and then I'll drive you home."

Buffy's mouth fell open at his statement and she was about to say something, probably incoherent babbling, when he motioned for her to be quiet. Looking ahead she saw a large group of people gathered down near the ocean. A bonfire was burning close by, the only source of light except for the moon.

As they got closer to the gathering Buffy's Slayer sense started tingling. Vampires. Many of them. She tensed, every instinct urging her to either run away or attack them. Angel just walked on and she stayed by his side, trying to make out the faces of the people ahead of them.

"Welcome, brothers and sisters!" Buffy could see a man in priest's garb stand close to the fire, addressing the gathering. His demonic features showed on his face, his amber eyes reflecting the flames. Several urns stood close to this feet, wedged into the sand.

"Angel, what ...?" She whispered to him, but he motioned for her to stay quiet.

"We are gathered here tonight to say goodbye to our absent friends."

Buffy now saw that, though many of those present were Vampires, there was also a good percentage of humans present. They all stood close to the fire, looking at the priest. How could a Vampire dress up like a priest?

"Our friends have gone into the darkness ahead of us," he continued, "and we hope and pray that their sins will be forgiven, so their souls can walk as one into the light."

"Into the light!" The crowd repeated in unison, causing Buffy to jump.

"Let us remember them! We will speak their names and know them for the people they were. As the Restoration has returned their souls, let those souls be what we remember, not the demons that have now been banished to the pits forever and all times. Let us give them our blessing for their final journey. To death, true death, in peace!"

"True death in peace!" The crowd repeated again.

The priest picked up one of the urns and handed them to a Vampire that had come forward from the crowd. The Vampire opened the urn and held it before him.

"James Madison. Born in 1881. A painter in life, an artist through and through. After the Restoration he returned to his abandoned passion. He lived for his paintings, his sole regret that he was no longer able to paint a landscape lush with daylight. Later, these last few years, he lived for the images he could conjure from computers. He loved beauty. He loved his life."

With that the Vampire began pouring the contents of the urn into the bonfire.

"May you find all the beauty in the light, my friend." The Vampire said.

Buffy saw the ashes as they were picked up by the breeze, the heat of the fire flinging them upwards into the night sky. For a moment the air above the fire sparkled as if filled with a million tiny stars, then darkness returned.

The empty urn was put down and another Vampire stepped up to take the next one.

Buffy could only listen as the lives of dead Vampires were summed up in a few short sentences and their remains given to the fire. They had been artists and soldiers, workers and businessmen, fathers and mothers, friends and loved ones. Now they were gone.

And the more Buffy listened to the tales of these people, the more certain she was that she knew why they were gone.

One urn remained and Angel stepped out of the crowd, taking it from the priest's hands. His human face faded as he changed and Buffy felt his demon eyes resting on her.

"Thomas Jefferson Edwards. Born in 1842. Born into slavery, freed by war, he did not hesitate to grasp his newfound freedom and make the most of it. A businessman in life, he found himself drowned in darkness by a night's chance encounter. After the Restoration he was a shattered man, like so many of us, but time healed his wounds. When the age of technology dawned he was ready, willing, and able to once again use this newfound freedom. Within a few years he built one of the most successful Internet companies in the world and became known by his newly adopted name."

Angel paused a moment and Buffy had to force herself to remain still as he looked at her, feeling everything inside her tighten.

"Mr. Trick. Like all the others we remember here today, he was taken from this life by the ignorance and fear of those not willing to learn. Those that fear what is different, what they do not understand. But maybe, just maybe, their deaths have not been in vain."

Buffy felt tears trail down her cheeks. She had done this? These people, these lives that had been snuffed ... she looked up and found that everyone present was looking at her, demon and human eyes watching her.

"Let us hope," Angel said, beckoning her forward, "that people can change and learn."

Buffy walked up to him and he handed her the urn. For a long moment Buffy just stared at this pitiful small thing that contained all that remained of a long and rich life. The polished surface reflected the flickering light of the flames, blurred by the tears in her eyes.

Her trembling fingers opened the urn and she poured the ashes of Thomas Jefferson Edwards, born in 1842, killed for the final time in 1999, into the flames. A million tiny stars sparkled in the air above her.

"Godspeed, friends!" The priest said, watching her. "May we one day meet again on our way into the light."

"Into the light!" The crowd repeated and Buffy found her own lips whispering the words along with the others.

16 - To Find Peace in an Angel's Arms

###

Buffy sat in the passenger seat of Angel's car and just stared straight ahead as Angel drove them back towards Los Angeles. Neither of them had said a word since the end of the ceremony and Buffy found herself pleasantly numb at the moment, like someone had turned off everything but the most basic functions of her brain.

The lights of the city were coming into view when Buffy finally spoke.

"You knew them?" She asked.

"The people we just said our farewells to?"

"Yes."

Angel stared onto the street and Buffy wished that there would be a reflection of him in the windshield so she could see his face better.

"I knew Mr. Trick, we met several times during our lives. I knew some of the others, but not very well."

He paused for a while, then briefly turned toward her.

"I'm sorry I had to put you through this, but ..."

"I understand." She cut him off. "I ... I think I understand now. They ... they were people. They had names. They had lives. And I ... I just ..."

She drew her knees up and rested her forehead on them, feeling incredibly hollow inside. They had been people and she had killed them for no better reason than the orders of some old guys she'd never met. What did that make her?

Angel placed one hand on Buffy's shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. The lights of LA were coming closer, but except for their distant gleam and the beams of the headlights on the street there was only darkness surrounding them.

"You didn't know any better." He told her. "The important thing is that you know the truth now."

Buffy looked up at stared at the dark street ahead of them.

"I don't know what to do, Angel. It's like ... like my whole world has changed overnight. It's suddenly become a strange and frightening place. I ... I don't know what my place is in this world anymore."

"You are still the Slayer, Buffy." Angel said. "You do have a place in this world. The Slayer is to protect the world from evil. There is evil out there, Buffy. It's just that you can't always tell it by the amber eyes and glistening fangs."

She realized that his hand was still resting on her shoulder and moved her own on top of it.

"Whatever else happens, Angel, I ... I am grateful. You opened my eyes. ... It's not something I wanted to see, but ... but I think I needed to."

He gave her shoulder another squeeze. "You're welcome."

#

Angel stopped the car in front of the Summers' house and they both got out. Buffy looked at her home, the lights were on, and suddenly she was afraid.

"What am I going to tell her?"

"Maybe you should tell her the truth."

She turned around to look at Angel.

"Are you nuts? She would freak, she would ..."

"Does your mother love you, Buffy?"

"What? I ... yes, she does. I think so. What has that ..."

"And do you love her?" He interrupted her again.

"Yes, but ..."

"Then you owe her the truth!"

Buffy just looked at him, still hoping that he was joking, but his face was serious. She sighed.

"I guess you're right. Again. I just ... I have no idea how to tell her this."

"You will find a way, I'm sure."

She shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Angel, I ... I will have to talk to Giles, too. My Watcher. ... I can't believe that he knew this and still told me to ... I have to talk to him. Maybe he's like Mr. Pryce, just didn't know the truth. Maybe he ... I have to talk to him."

Angel nodded.

"Do that. I hope that you are right about him."

He started to turn away, heading back to his car.

"Angel?"

He stopped, looking at her.

"I ... when I have talked with my mom and Giles, I ... I would really like to see you again. I hope ... maybe you can, you know, help me actually do some of that fighting evil stuff. That is ... if you want to. Maybe you're just glad to finally get rid of me, so if you don't want to, I would understand. I ..."

He walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes.

"I would be glad to see you again, Buffy."

Buffy smiled at him.

"Really?"

She looked up at this strange and complex man she had spent so much time with over the last three weeks and Darla's words rang in her ears. He was the soul of the Vampire race. Their conscience and compassion. Now she knew those words to be true. It was all right there in his all too human eyes.

She also knew that something else Darla had said was true.

His big hands still rested on her shoulders when she moved closer to him. He regarded her with wonder in his dark eyes as she tilted her head back, her lips slightly parting. Almost without conscious effort he bent down to meet her halfway.

Their lips touched in a soft and tender kiss, bodies molding themselves against each other, his arms sliding down her side to encircle her waist. Buffy's arms went around his neck, pulling him closer into the kiss.
 
Neither of them aware that, several blocks away, someone was watching them through a pair of binoculars. Someone who almost exploded as she saw Angel and the Slayer kiss.

"You won't get away with this, you bitch!" Faith cursed under her breath.

17 - The Evils That Men Do

###

Buffy was on her way toward the school and tried to come up with something to say to Giles. When she had come home just a few short hours ago her mother had burst into tears and gathered her into a hug that made Buffy suspect she had a few broken ribs.

Angel had been right, her mother deserved to know the truth. So Buffy had told her everything from start to finish, pausing just long enough to lift the living room couch into the air with one arm to show that she wasn't making things up.

Her mother had taken it more or less in stride, or maybe it was just a case of shock. Her daughter had been missing for three weeks and then, just minutes after coming home, tells a story that seemed right out of a comic book. Buffy wasn't sure what would happen next. She was quite certain that her mother would not have let her leave today. Fortunately Joyce had fallen asleep in the arms of her daughter and had yet to wake.

School was a problem as well, of course. She had missed three weeks and Buffy didn't know what her mother had told them. She suspected that her mother had called the police, another problem to deal with, and odds were the principle and some of the teachers knew she had gone missing.

Buffy entered the school through the back entrance and walked directly into the library, sighing in relief when nobody stopped her to learn of her whereabouts these last three weeks. She could just imagine meeting Xander right now. He wouldn't leave her alone until he knew everything.

The library was empty, as usual. Sometimes she wondered if even one in ten students here knew what it looked like from the inside. There was a sound from the small office and Giles came out, rubbing his eyes.

"Yes? What can I ..." He looked up and saw her, his mouth hanging open.

"Hi, Giles." She smiled at him. "I'm uuungh!"

Her words were cut off as she was gathered into yet another bone-crushing hug. Giles held her as if he never wanted to let go again. Buffy began to fear for her air supply when he finally let her go again, holding her at arm's length.

"Buffy, my God! I was so afraid that ... are you all right?"

"I'm not hurt, Giles. But I ... can we talk? I ... I need to talk to you about what happened these last three weeks."

Giles nodded, wiping a stray tear from his eye that he insisted was due to dust, and motioned her toward the big table in the middle of the library. They both sat down and Giles looked at her expectantly.

"Giles ...," she hesitated, not sure how he would react, "have you ever heard of something called the Restoration?"

Giles brow furrowed. "Yes, that sounds familiar. Restoration, Restoration. Ah, yes. I read something about that. Some kind of mystical event at the beginning of the century. According to lore someone unleashed a spell that decimated a large part of the world's Vampire population, resulting in a severe decline of Vampire activity."

Buffy shook her head. "It didn't decimate them, Giles. It ... it did something different."

"What? What do you know about this? And what has that got to do with your being missing for three weeks?"

Buffy sighed, searching for the right words.

"Remember when you gave me that lecture about famous Vampires? One of them was Angelus, the Scourge of Europe."

"Yes, one of the most vicious Vampires of all time."

"I met him."

Giles was speechless for a long moment, just staring at her.

"He calls himself Angel these days." Buffy added.

"The Scourge of Europe!" Giles whispered. "Did you kill him?"

"Not exactly."

Buffy then told him the entire story. About her capture in the alley, her waking up in the cell, the long talks she had with Angel and his friends. She told him Angel's story of the Restoration and what it did to the Vampire race. She told him of Darla and, after a moment's hesitation, of Wesley Windham-Pryce. Then she told him about the Vampire ceremony she had attended and she had tears in her eyes once more.

"After that he drove me home." She concluded, deciding to leave out the part about the kissing, wiping her tears away with her sleeve.

Giles sat still, not saying a word for a long time. Buffy could almost see the wheels turning inside his head as he slowly assimilated the information she had given him. She pleaded with whatever gods there might be that he would understand.

"This is extraordinary." Giles whispered.

"Tell me about it!" Buffy said, managing a lopsided smile. "Here I thought I was protecting the world from evil, when all I really did ..." Her voice trailed off.

"I ...  can't believe this. I mean, there were always some discrepancies, but ... I mean, I wondered why would Vampires expose themselves to get legal status and ... and why was there such a drop in Vampire victims when all our studies indicated their numbers hadn't dropped. But I never ... I can't believe that ... God!"

He looked up at her.

"Buffy, are you a hundred percent certain? I mean ... Angelus is known for his games and sadistic tricks. Maybe he is trying to, to deceive you. Maybe he ..."

"Giles, he could have killed me a dozen times. He could have left me in that cell for the rest of my life and there wouldn't have been another Slayer for decades. He set me free, Giles. God, if you had met him you wouldn't doubt it. He's so ... I can't even explain it. But believe me, Giles! He's not trying to trick me! This is real!"

Her Watcher shook his head, polishing his glasses.

"This ... this can't be true, Buffy! It must be some kind of trick! Vampires are demons, they don't have souls. I don't know what Angelus wants to accomplish with this, but ..."

"Giles, please! Believe me! I didn't want to believe it, either. But all he showed me, all he did ... Giles, you should meet him. He's a good man."

"Buffy ...!"

"Mr. Pryce was a Watcher, Giles! And he saw the truth as well! I'm telling you right now, my eyes are open! I will not go around killing innocent people anymore, no matter what the Council says. It's wrong and you have to see that!"

Giles was taken aback by the intensity he could see in the eyes of his Slayer.

"Buffy! For thousands of years the Council has guided the Slayer and ..."

"I don't care!" She interrupted him. "I don't care what they did back in the powdered wig days! Giles, I'm seventeen years old and they turned me into a murderer! I killed innocent people."

Her eyes were wide and shimmering with tears, a pleading look in them. Why couldn't he see? Why couldn't he understand?

"Vampires are not people, Buffy! I ..."

She jumped to her feet, causing the chair to fly backwards.

"How many Vampires did you meet, Giles? You only read about them in your dusty books, read about things they did way back when. Things have changed. Angel restored their souls, turned them back into people."

She gathered herself, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I thought you would understand, Giles! Maybe I was wrong. Just one more thing I was wrong about."

She turned to leave, walking towards the doors. Giles rose from his chair.

"Buffy! Wait, you have to ..."

"Your services as Watcher are no longer required!" She told him in a cold voice. "And you can tell your precious Council that this is one Slayer who will not go murdering for them anymore! I'm out!"

She slammed the door behind her and Giles sat down again, shaking his head. What had just happened here? What had happened to his Slayer? The things she had told him ... they couldn't possibly be true, could they?

"We need to do something quickly!"

Giles looked up and saw Travis walk into the library.

"You heard ...?"

"I heard enough. It seems Angelus has managed to fill our little Slayer's head with his lies. We can't allow the Slayer to be drawn into the enemy's camp."

"This Restoration she talked about ..." Giles began.

"Don't you start on me, too, Rupert! Vampires are demons! It is our sacred duty to destroy them. Never forget that!"

Rupert Giles knew. He knew that Vampires were evil. He knew that they had to be destroyed in order to keep the world safe. He knew his Slayer was making a terrible mistake and that extreme measures might be called for.

He knew all that. So why was there a tiny voice inside his head telling him that maybe, just maybe, he was making a terrible mistake?

18 - Great Anger and Furious Vengeance

###
 

"I can't believe he just let her go!" Faith said as she was pacing up and down the lobby of the Hyperion. Cordelia was busy typing a newsleaf for the upcoming Vampire Legalization Ralley, completely ignoring the angry teenager. Spike sat in a chair and read the newspaper, trying to do the same.

"Spike!" Faith yelled at him. "I can't believe you're taking it this calmly. If I remember right you were the one who wanted to kill her and be done with it."

The Vampire looked up from his paper and gave Faith a look that could have melted stones.

"Faith! Go away and play somewhere else, will you?"

The girl screamed in frustration and took off down the hall. Spike sighed in relief when he heard the door slam behind her.

"I'm curious, too, actually." Cordelia said. "A few days ago you were screaming for Buffy's head and now you seem to have developed a policy of disinterest to the matter."

Spike put the paper away and looked at Cordy. He liked her almost despite himself. Sometimes she could be as irritating as Faith, but unlike Faith she was able to not be irritating for extended periods of time. Besides, Cordy was here because she believed in doing what she did. Spike knew exactly why Faith was here.

"I had a long talk with Peaches." Spike said after a moment. "I got drunk again. I don't remember everything but I think I got into his face because he went into the Slayer's cage without having her tied up first."

He sighed, trying to gather the memories of that night.

"I wanted to kill her. I looked at her and all I saw was that girl back in New York."

Cordy knew the story, or at least the gist of it. Spike's lady love Drusilla had been killed by a Slayer back in the seventies and the Vampire had then tracked down that Slayer and killed her with his bare hands.

"We talked all night long," Spike continued, "and by the time I sobered up he'd actually managed to beat some sense back into my head. Though I'm not sure whether that was before or after he threw me into the pool."

They shared a laugh.

"So you think he did the right thing?" Cordy asked.

"I trust Angel's judgement." Spike said. "I find it hard to believe that a Slayer might ... I don't know. But if he thinks it can be done, well, who am I to argue with the guy that turned an entire race of evil demons into mostly decent folk? If anyone can do it, he can!"

They went quiet for a moment, the Spike looked at Cordelia again.

"You know that Faith will be a problem, right?"

"I guess so." Cordy said.

"She doesn't have the bloody brains to leave well enough alone, and I'm not just talking about the way she constantly tries to get on my case."

Cordelia had not missed the way the younger girl always looked at Angel. She had figured it for a teenage crush Faith would grow out of sooner or later. With Angel completely ignorant to all things romantic she had never feared that anything drastic might happen in that department.

But if Darla was right and Angel was on his merry way to falling in love with the Slayer ...

"Hi!"

Spike and Cordelia both looked up to see Buffy walking into the lobby. Spike was on his feet in a second, unable to suppress the reaction to her presence. She was the Slayer and a large part of him would always remember Drusilla and what had happened to her.

He managed to unclench his fists and keep his face from vamping out.

"Hi, Buffy!" Cordelia greeted the Slayer with some wariness in her voice. "We ... we didn't really expect you back anytime soon."

"What? You've given my cell away?" She asked, her voice a strained sort of happy. "How could you?"

For a moment Cordy was stumped, then she chuckled. "We'll always have one free for you."

Both girls shared a laugh, then Buffy's face grew serious.

"Is ... is Angel in? I need to talk to him."

Cordy smiled. "I'll ring him up. Will take just a second."

She went to what had once been the receptionist desk and phoned Angel's room, telling him to come down. When she turned around Buffy stood close, giving her a hesitant look.

"Cordelia, I ...," she began, "I  wanted to thank you, all of you. Well, not in the sense of 'thanks that you shot, drugged, and kidnapped me', but for opening my eyes. I don't know why you went to all that effort when you could just as easily have left me to rot down there, but ... thanks!"

Angel had been right yet again, it seemed, Cordy thought. She could see the change in the other girl's eyes. There was a lot of guilt there, the guilt that came with knowing what she had done, but also something else. Something that had been lacking from the cuffed and depressed girl Cordelia had taken out of her cell little more than a week ago.

Hope.

"You're welcome!" She told Buffy.

Buffy gave her a gratefull smile, then threw a glance at Spike.

"Oops, my bad!" Cordelia berated herself. "I forgot you haven't actually met Spike yet. Buffy, this is Spike. He is Angel's childe and it was the two of them that did the Restoration."

"I only did the muscle work!" Spike said as Buffy walked over to him. She extended her hand in a very awkward gesture that he knew must have cost her. Shaking hands with a Slayer? The thought repulsed him and yet ... he looked at this girl and forced himself to face the truth.

This wasn't Dru's killer. And while she had killed some of his people he could see that she was trying to change.

Who was William the Bloody to deny anyone a second chance?

He took her hand with a sigh and shook it, seeing her face relax a bit. Bloody hell, he thought, the soul thing would turn him into a complete softy yet.

#

Angel came down the stairs and saw Cordy and Spike talking with Buffy. She had come back. Somehow that fact made him want to grin like an idiot. He remembered their shared kiss two nights before and most of the time in-between had been spent dreaming of her.

Darla had said he was falling for her and, like so many times, his Sire had been right. He could no longer deny it to himself. These last ninety years he had not allowed himself any time for romantic involvement except for the occasional attempt to figure out his feelings for Darla.

The irony was delicious, of course. A Slayer of all people, the natural enemy of his people. Who would believe it?

She looked up to see him walk down the stairs and he saw her eyes light up.

"Angel!" The way she said his name sent a shiver up his spine. Three weeks, he remembered. Three weeks ago this girl had done her best to stake him. How had things changed so very quickly?

"Buffy!" He greeted her. "How did things go?"

She walked up to him, seeming uncertain how close she could go, remaining at arm's length. The shy smile on her lips made his knees weak.

"About average, I guess." She said. "My mom was very worried, of course. I told her the truth and she freaked, but all in all she handled it rather well, I think. She even called the police and told them to stop searching for me as I'd turned up again."

She sighed, looking down.

"Giles, though, my Watcher, he ..." Her voice trailed off and Angel could sense the pain inside her. Without thinking he took her into a gentle embrace. He wanted to keep the pain away from this girl, no matter how.

"I thought he would understand." She whispered, sounding so very young and fragile.

"I don't know him, but changing a life-long conviction is never easy. He might just need some time."

"He didn't know about the Restoration," she told him, "but he is still convinced that all Vampires are evil. I was so sure he would believe me. Why doesn't he believe me?"

Angel was searching for the words to soothe the pain her Watcher had left her in when he suddenly tensed. Something was not right. Vampire senses strained and there was a smell in the air that shouldn't be here.

Gun oil.

He pushed away from Buffy's embrace in time to see a dozen heavily armed men storm into the lobby of the Hyperion. Two more men followed them, dressed in suits and carrying crosses.

"You have betrayed the human race, Buffy Summers!" One of them yelled as he saw them. "For that you will die along with these unholy creatures!"

The next moment they started shooting.

19 - If You Shoot Us, Do We Not Get Pissed?

###

Faith was sitting in her room, sulking, her thoughts whirling around, trying to come up with a plan to get rid of the Slayer. There had to be something she could do. She knew the Watcher guys would not be happy with Buffy. In some way she had to make use of that information.

She heard the first gunshots. For a moment the sound didn't register. Shooting inside the Hyperion? Impossible. Couldn't be.

More shots! From the lobby! Faith was on her feet and into the corridor before she had time to think about it. Angel was down there. And the others, some of whom she considered something close to friends. Okay, Spike was an asshole, but Darla was pretty cool and Cordy could ...

Someone screamed and Faith took off down the stairs. She was about to round the corner that lead to the big stairway down into the lobby when something whizzed past her and struck the wall. Bullets! It brought her to a crashing stop.

Part of her wanted to run away right then and there. Then she thought of Angel and the others and forced her feet to move forward, despite their complete unwillingness to do so. Icy fear crept up her spine,  but she inched around the corner until she could see down into the lobby.

About a dozen or more men with large guns were standing or crouching close the entrance, filling the room with gunfire. Faith could spot one of the two old guys she had seen in the school, apparently directing the attack while carefully keeping his own head down.

Several figures were pinned down close to the big stairs. She could see Spike behind an overturned couch, occasionally capping off a few shots from the two guns he held in his hands. She thought he was bleeding from the shoulder, but she wasn't sure.

Angel and Cordelia were behind the receptionist desk, along with another figure. Buffy! The Slayer! Fury shot through Faith's veins. What was she doing here? Had she led them here? Oh, she would pay for that. Faith was too enraged to remember that she had though about doing just that herself.

Angel had a single gun, but neither Cordy nor Buffy were armed. They were seriously outnumbered and outgunned. Faith could see ugly-looking machine guns in the hands of some of the attackers. She knew that, while impervious to bullets in general, a Vampire could very well die when a machine gun burst sawed his head off.

She had to do something. Even as she thought that she realized how ridiculous she sounded. She was just a single teenager, not armed, no superpowers. What the fuck could she do in a situation like this?

Inspiration struck and she ran to the nearest room, grabbing the phone. She thanked God that Angel had had her memorize some of the more important numbers and dialed, waiting breathlessly for someone to pick up at the other end.

"Kate?" She yelled into the phone. "There's trouble at the Hotel!"

#

Only inhuman reflexes had saved them. Spike had thrown himself behind the couch, toppling it over in the same motion, and drawn the two guns he always wore underneath his leather duster even before he hit the ground.

Angel had grabbed Cordy and Buffy, both frozen in shock, and managed to get them both behind the receptionist desk before any bullets could hit them. Angel felt a sharp pain as a shot grazed his leg, but it was only a scratch. He drew the gun from his shoulder holster and started shooting back.

"That was Giles!" Buffy whispered, her voice layered with shock. "I can't believe Giles would do this."

As much as Angel would like to, he couldn't spare any attention to her right now. The Watcher commandos had them pinned down and neither the desk nor Spike's couch would hold out very long under this hailstorm of bullets. They needed to do something and fast.

Spying out through a crack in the desk he saw that the nearest commando was at least ten meters away. Even at Vampire speed he would expose himself for several potentially painful moments before he could reach him. They needed some kind of distraction and fast.

Something trickled into his awareness and a moment later he saw Darla sneak through the shadows along the balconies of the first floor. No bullets were flying her way yet and she was nearly on top of the commandos. Sire and Childe needed no words to communicate.

Angel looked at Spike and the younger Vampire understood what he had to do immediately. He nodded, slipping fresh clips into his guns. Angel had always thought him paranoid to carry this much hardware with him at all times. Not today.

Darla reached the balcony closest to the entrance and leaped off into the air, vamping out and growling along the way. All eyes turned toward her as she arced down right into the middle of the commandos, touching the ground only meters away from two very surprised Watchers.

Spike leapt over the couch and fired with both guns while he was still in the air, taking out two commandos that had carelessly abandoned their cover when suddenly hearing a growling Vampire come up behind them. The slugs tore through the gaps in their armor and they collapsed to the floor, screaming.

Angel was moving at the same time, clearing the desk and crossing the open space within moments. No bullets tore into him and he was only two steps away from the nearest commando when the first of them started turning toward him again.

Darla was right in the middle of them, lashing out with full Vampire strength, the sound of breaking bones and screams filling the air. Angel barreled right past the first commando without slowing down, the force of his charge throwing the man into the wall with enough force to crack the plaster. Spike kept coming closer as well, guns blazing.

What had started as an orderly attack quickly descended into chaos. The commandos couldn't open up with their heavy weapons with all three Vampires now close to their own men and individual bullets could do them little harm. Angel saw Darla take a shot to the belly and it barely slowed her down. Several grazing shots left him bleeding, but he hardly felt it. Around them the commandos were in panic.

Angel turned around and looked directly into the muzzle of a machine gun. He knew that, at point blank range, the thing would tear off his head and kill him. The world around him seemed to freeze as he tried to get his body moving fast enough to prevent the ugly death coming toward him.

Something barreled into the shooter and the burst went wild. Angel had half a second to see that Buffy had joined the fight and was busy pounding the commando into the floor, then he found another commando close by and had to fight once more.

With time slowed down by his reflexes the fight seemed to take hours, but it was actually only a few minutes until the floor was covered in unconscious or dead bodies and the shooting had stopped. Angel allowed himself to slow down long enough to assess the situation.

All the commandos were down, some of them permanently. Spike was leaning against the wall, hands clutching the torn remains of his belly where several bullets had crossed his path. The wound was horrible, but nowhere near lethal. Darla seemed okay except for a few minor wounds. All of them would need to have bullets peeled out of their bodies, but none was seriously hurt.

Buffy stood knee-deep in downed commandos, fists clenched, breathing heavily, a wild look on her face. There was a bleeding wound on her thigh, probably a graze, but otherwise she seemed unhurt. Physically.

"Are you okay?" Angel asked, walking closer.

#

Faith had watched the short, but furious battle from her hiding place. It seemed that calling Kate to bring the cavalry had been unnecessary. The commandos were down and none of the Vampires was seriously hurt. Okay, Spike looked like he would have to collect his guts from the floor, but that was okay with her. She knew it wouldn't kill him and a little hurting would do him good.

She hated to admit it, but the way Buffy had torn into the commandos after recovering from her initial shock had impressed the hell out of her. A Vampire couldn't have moved faster or struck more viciously. Doubts began to creep into Faith's mind. She would never be able to fight like that, no matter how much she trained. She would never be Angel's equal. Could it be that ...

A movement caught her eye and she saw the two Watcher guys, who had hidden behind a coffee table for most of the fight. One of them was rising and pulling a gun from inside his jacket. Faith had a moment to realize that everybody was busy looking at something else. Darla was checking on Spike. Angel was looking at Buffy.

The Watcher was aiming the gun at the Slayer's head and Faith's mouth opened to shout a warning.

Then she closed it again without uttering a sound.

#

Giles had watched the entire battle with horror. They had been the attackers. They had had surprise on their side. They had had the Vampires outnumbered and outgunned. None of it had meant a thing. All the commandos were down or dead and Giles was even more horrified to see that Buffy, his Slayer, had joined the fight on the side of the monsters.

"Are you okay?"

He saw the Vampire, Angelus, turn toward Buffy and for a moment Giles couldn't believe it. There was concern in his voice, fear and compassion. He looked at Buffy and his eyes were filled with something Giles had never thought to see in a Vampire's eyes.

Could it be? Could it really be true after all?

"I'm gonna end this!" Travis whispered and drew his gun. For a moment Giles was too confused to do anything, then he saw that the Watcher was aiming his weapon at Buffy's head.

"NO!" Giles screamed, jumping to his feet.

#

Angel heard the voices and turned to see one of the Watchers aiming a gun at Buffy. Even before this information fully reached his brain he started to move. Buffy started to turn around. He saw the other Watcher jump to his feet. Everyone was shouting.

A single shot echoed through the lobby.
 

<20 - When You Breathe, I Want to be the Air For You

###

Everything was happening in slow motion. Angel could see the Watcher's finger tighten around the trigger. He could see the muzzle flash bloom like a flower, could almost see the shadow of the bullet as it exploded out of the gun and cut through the air toward its target.

The second Watcher tackled the other man a second after the shot and both men tumbled to the floor, but Angel had eyes only for the bullet. Buffy had turned around just in time to see death coming her way.

The world around came to a crashing halt, the only movement Buffy's head snapping back in a spray of blood, filling the air with little red droplets like summer rain. Angel had stopped moving toward the Watcher and was now struggling to change direction even as Buffy began to fall backwards.

He caught her before she fell the ground, going to his knees and propping her up against himself. Blood was flowing from the gaping wound on her temple and he could feel her pulse flutter where he touched her skin.

Then it stopped.

For a moment Angel was frozen. He waited for another beat of her pulse to free him from his trance, but it didn't come. It just didn't come. He found himself shaking her, screaming at her, but nothing worked.

A bit of logic penetrated into his brain. The wound was deep and there was lots of blood, but his sharp eyes could see that it hadn't penetrated into the brain. The bullet must have grazed along her skull. At worst there was a concussion, but the shock of impact must have stopped her heart.

Gently he laid her down on the floor and filled her lungs with air,then pumping down on her chest to get her heart beating. He leant down again, pumping air into her body, massaging the heart, pumping air, massaging the heart.

He was barely aware of someone kneeling down beside him, whimpering something about how sorry he was. Angel paid him no heed. Lungs, heart, lungs, heart, nothing existed but this mindless rhythm.

There was a commotion at the door and Angel was drawn out of his trance just enough to realize that Buffy was breathing on her own again. Relief flooded through him like a cold shower and he sagged back, strength draining out of him.

"What is going on here?" He knew that voice. Kate? What was Kate doing here?

He looked up to see a small army of cops rush into the building, weapons at the ready. Kate was walking up to him.

"Angel?" She asked. He didn't have any strength to answer her.

"Thank God you came!" Cordy jumped into the breach. "These creeps just attacked us and started shooting. It was terrible, terrible I tell you! We would have been killed if not for Angel and his friend here. Can't you see that she's hurt? Get an ambulance! Quickly!"

Angel almost managed a smile. Cordelia had things well in hand, it seemed. Buffy was unconscious, but her pulse was steady, if weak. Cordy had brought the first aid kit with her from the receptionist desk and was pressing a bandage to the wound.

Only now did he notice the man kneeling beside him. It was the second Watcher, the one who had tried to keep the first one from shooting. He was looking at Buffy, his eyes full of horror, mumbling over and over again that he was sorry, that he had been wrong.

That brought his eyes to the other Watcher, who was lying against the wall, dazed. The gun was nowhere in sight.

Angel moved.

"Angel! Stop!" Kate yelled, lifting her gun.

Without any clear idea how he had gotten there Angel had the Watcher to the wall, lifting him one-handed by his throat, the demon coming to the surface without any conscious effort. He heard a few gasps from some of the cops, PID officers who hadn't known about his nature, but he couldn't have cared less.

"Is that what your holy crusade is all about?" He growled into the other man's face. "Killing young girls? Turning them into murderers and then shooting them when they dare develop a mind of their own? Is that the depth of your virtue, old man? Are you proud of the work you're doing in God's name?"

Angel felt the cold pressure of a gun barrel against his neck, hearing Kate's voice at the edge of his perception, telling him to back off, and none of it meant a thing.

For the first time in over ninety years he wanted to let the demon come out to play. He wanted to kill this man in the worst possible way, wanted to kill for the cold satisfaction it would bring him. He had killed often since the return of his soul. In self-defense, to save innocents, to protect his people. Now, though, for the first time since the Restoration, he just wanted to sink his fangs into soft human flesh and hear the screams.

Darla was by his side suddenly, her cold hand touching the arm which held the choking Watcher to the wall. He heard her voice in his ear, murmuring some words that did not penetrate past the crimson haze that had fallen over his mind, but he knew what she was doing. She was his Sire and a bond existed between them. She was pouring every erg of power and will she had into this bond, the Sire commanding the Childe to obey.

Angel hovered on the verge of shrugging her off and killing this man, to hell with the consequences. Then Darla whispered into his ear.

"She needs you, Angel! Don't leave her alone!"

The cold gun barrel was still pressing into his neck and he knew that Kate would have to shoot him if he killed this man. The shot would not kill him, but everybody had seen what he was. They would finish the job. And he would never see Buffy again.

He opened his hand and let the Watcher fall to the floor. His face returned to normal and he hurried back to Buffy's side, forgetting about the man behind him. He simply wasn't worth it. The Watcher was about to get back to his feet when Kate pinned him down again and started taking out her cuffs.

"You have the right to remain silent." She told him, flipping him over to chain his wrists behind his back. "Everything you say will be used against you in a court of law."

"What are you doing?" The Watcher spoke, hoarse from nearly being strangled. "He is the monster! They're all monsters! Kill them!"

"They were not the one who stormed into a private home with guns blazing!" Cordelia screamed at him. "They were not the ones who shot a girl, a human girl, from behind. You call yourself human, you bastard? I'm ashamed we're of the same species, you piece of scum! The lowest Vampire is ten times the human you will ever be!"

Some of the cops seemed uncertain what to about the three Vampires present, but Kate told them in no uncertain terms what to do. How to handle Vampires might still not be certain in terms of law, but the law held a clear opinion on what to do about people who shot innocent humans. Cordelia was more than willing to tell them all the details of the unprovoked attack.

The first ambulances arrived several minutes later and paramedics started treating the wounded. There were few of those among the commandos. Coroners were called in as well.

Buffy was loaded onto a stretcher and it was all the paramedics could do to get the two men hovering around her to back off far enough to do their work. Angel and Giles both climbed with her into the ambulance, both of them wearing expressions that nobody in his right mind wanted to argue with.

The drive to the hospital seemed to take an eternity. When they finally wheeled Buffy into the emergency room Angel managed to breathe just a little easier. After some prodding by the doctors he and Giles backed away, watching as Buffy was rushed into the nearest operating room.

Both of them sat down in the waiting area, eyes firmly fixed to the door of the operating room.

21 - Truths, Feelings, and the Art of Breathing When You Don't Need to.

###

"I ... may I ask you something?"

Angel looked up and saw that Giles was talking to him. They had sat here for over an hour and not exchanged a single word, both just waiting for the doctors to tell them about Buffy's condition.

Angel felt anger growing inside him. This was the man who had accompanied the attack on the Hyperion that had left Buffy in his state. Yet he was also the man who had tried to keep the other Watcher from shooting, who had disarmed him and wrestled him to the ground. Angel's anger evaporated and he was just feeling tired.

"Sure!" He said.

"How did you ... how did you manage to bring her back?"

"CPR!" Angel said.

"Yes, I know, but ... I was always under the impression that Vampire's don't breathe."

"We don't need to," Angel said, "but how do you suppose I can be talking to you without air streaming past my vocal chords?"

"Ah, I see."

Both fell silent again. After a while Angel looked up again and stared at the Watcher.

"May I ask you something in return?"

"Certainly."

"Why did you try and stop him?" Angel asked. "You're a Watcher. Buffy 'betrayed' her duty. Isn't it the Council's way to kill Slayers if they diverge from the 'right' path?"

"Yes, that is the Council's way." Giles said, sighing. "I guess it just occurred to me that, that their way is not necessarily the right way."

Angel could see how much that single sentence had cost the other man.

"Buffy was sure you would understand. When you refused to believe her she was devastated."

Giles put his face in his hands, looking very old and tired.

"A year ago I came to America, somehow expecting that the new Slayer would be a girl that would listen to my orders, do her duty, and behave well. I knew that Buffy had not been raised to become the Slayer, but I did not realize what that meant until I first met her."

He smiled a little. "She is a typical teenager in that she is infuriating, sometimes superficial, seemingly more interested in what shoes are fashionable right now than in saving the world. After the first few weeks with her I was ready to scream in frustration."

He looked at Angel. "Then something strange happened. I realized that I cared about her. Not just in the way that a Watcher cares about his charge, but more than that. I hated that her duty as the Slayer was destroying her life. I hated that she was always so lonely, not able to confide in anyone. And the thought that she would probably die before she was twenty filled me with dread.

"When I ... when I saw Travis aim that gun at her, that was when I realized that nothing, absolutely nothing, could possibly warrant this. I knew Buffy was a good person. I knew that she was devoted to doing the right thing. And I think somewhere in my heart I knew that, when she told me about you and what you taught her, she was telling me the truth."

Giles looked up, the slightest glimmer of tears in his eyes.

"I ... I should have believed her. If ... if she were to ... I never told her ..."

Angel put a hand on the other man's shoulder.

"She knew, Mr. Giles. She knew."

Two things happened at once. The door to the emergency room opened and a doctor came out, just as a woman of about mid-forty strode into the waiting room, looking frantic and worried.

Angel was on his feet in a second, closely followed by Giles.

"How is she?" Angel almost ran into him

"Are you the family of Buffy Summers?" The doctor asked them.

"I'm her mother!" The woman who had just come in hurried toward them. "What happened to her? They just told me she was brought here? What happened?"

"Mrs. Summers, your daughter sustained a head wound due to a gunshot and ..."

"Gunshot? Gunshot? How did she get shot? What happened to my baby?"

Angel took her aside a bit, showing her his badge. "Mrs. Summers, I am Federal Marshal Angel O'Connor. I will explain everything to you in a moment, I promise." He turned back toward the doctor. "How is she?"

"She has lost a lot of blood and we can't exclude the possibility of a concussion yet, but there is but minimal skull fracture and her system seems to be recovering from the shock now. If no further complications arise she'll be just fine."

A sigh of relief went through all three of them.

"Can I see her?" Angel, Joyce, and Giles asked at the same moment.

"Only the family!" The doctor said.

Joyce looked at the other two and could see the deep concern in both their eyes. Just a few days ago Buffy had told her the complete truth about her life, about the Slayer, about what she had learned about Vampires. Joyce still wasn't exactly sure she believed it all, but somehow she knew that these two men were part of the weirdness that was her daughter's life. It was also evident that they both cared deeply.

"I'm sure we can make an exception in this case." She told the doctor. "I am sure the good policemen want to make sure my daughter is all right."

The doctor looked unhappy, but nodded. Angel gave Joyce a thankful smile and followed her into the emergency room.

They found Buffy in one of the beds, a drip in her arm, half her head and face covered with thick bandages. She looked incredibly pale and Angel could sense the loss of blood inside her. The drip was slowly replacing that lost blood and he could almost see the color slowly returning to her cheeks.

Joyce sat down in the chair beside her daughter's bed and immediately clutched her limb hand, pressing it to her face. Angel and Giles found some chairs out in the corridor and sat down as well, eyes fixed to the unconscious girl in front of them.

"What happened, Mr. O'Connor?" Joyce asked after a while, never taking her eyes away from her daughter.

"Your daughter told you the whole story, Mrs. Summers?" Angel asked her. "About what she is and what she does? What she has learned these past weeks?"

"Yes!" Joyce nodded. "I ... I have a hard time believing some of it, but ..."

"I don't know whether she mentioned me by name, but ... I am the Vampire that kidnapped her."

For a long moment Joyce just stared at him.

"You ... you're a Vampire?"

"Since 1746, actually. Your daughter ... we met under unfortunate circumstances. I kidnapped her and ..."

"She told me about that." Joyce interrupted him. "She also told me that ... God, this is all too strange for me. She told me that you opened her eyes to some things. She ... she spoke quite fondly of you, actually."

Angel gave her a shy half-smile.

"Well, she left a lasting impression with me as well. What happened today, though, ... she came to see me in order to ... talk to me about certain things." He threw a side glance at Giles. "Unfortunately the Council, which is the guiding institution of the Slayer, was not very happy with her ... new attitude toward Vampires. They followed her and tried to kill us all. We managed to beat them, but during the fighting ..."

Joyce closed her eyes, shaking her head. Angel guessed she was hoping to wake up and find it all a bad dream. After a moment she opened her eyes again and there was a surprising edge in them.

"The people who did this," she asked with a voice trembling with anger, "are they ..."

"Most of them are dead." Angel said. "The others are in police custody. They will get their just punishment, I assure you."

"Good!" She muttered, the rage draining out of her voice as she looked back at her daughter.

Angel and Giles settled back into their chairs to wait.

Go to Part 22