Disclaimer: A Sequel to Anya's Gone. The Characters mentioned and named in this story are the property of J. Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Warner Bros..etc, etc. No infringement is intended.
If grief for grief can touch thee,
If answering woe for woe,
If anything can melt thee,
Come to me now!
I cannot be more lonely,
More drear I cannot be!
My worn heart throbs so wildly
'Twill break for thee.
And when the world despises,
When heaven repels my prayer,
Will not mine angel comfort?
Mine idol hear?
Yes, by the tears I've poured thee,
By all my hours of pain,
O I shall surely win thee,
Beloved, again.
- Emily Bronte
Willow was curled up in a chair in front of a fire reading a book. Or rather she was trying to read a book. What she was actually doing at the moment was staring blankly at the page in front of her, the words not registering in her mind because her mind was on something else. Someone else.
< Angel. >
Willow sighed heavily. He was constantly in her thoughts. It had been over a month since she left Rome and she couldn't find peace, it eluded her. Any sense of contentment she had found when she destroyed her demon was erased by her longing for Angel. Angel's friendship had been the bulwark against all the feelings that plagued her now. She had thought that when she left Sunnydale she was exiling herself, but now she knew what true exile was. The future stretched out in front of her and it seemed awfully bleak.
But she had had to leave Angel. Just as she had had to leave Sunnydale. Not only was she thinking about Angel's happiness, she had been thinking of his safety. The Anointed One, it seemed, would continue to haunt her. She couldn't let Angel become a target, not if she could help it.
When Willow had left Rome she knew that she had to do it in a way that would make it almost impossible for the minions of the Anointed One to track her. She had quickly planned everything before leaving. She made out a ticket under an assumed name and rented a small, cozy cottage in a remote part of Ireland. And remote it was. There was a village about an hour from her which she went to for supplies every now and then. The villagers were interested in the American girl with sad eyes and a mystery that seemed to surround her. But she ignored the gestures that came more out of curiosity than goodwill. She kept to herself and tried to keep busy. She had her garden, her books, her computer. And her memories.
The problem was that too many of her memories seemed to include Angel. The very littlest things reminded her of him. Even now she was thinking of one of her favorite memories, of nights they had spent over a keyboard as she tried to teach him about computers, his face alternating between concentration and adorable confusion. When he got a handle on some difficult programming point, his face would light up with a sense of achievement. But he would always immediately acknowledge her patient tutorage with a characteristic humbleness. The fact that he had never took her for granted was only one of many that made her fall in love with him. For he was one of the kindest men she had ever known. He was gentle, fiercely loyal, considerate, and had a sense of humor that matched her own in subtlety. His sly observations had more than once made her laugh out loud. Willow could go on and on about his good qualities. And it certainly didn't hurt that as Buffy once said he did indeed have an Angelic face.
< And body. >
Even alone Willow blushed at the waywardness of her thoughts. Then she put her book away and stared into the fire. It was going to be one of those nights when she couldn't even pretend to be anything other than she was - lonely. And missing him so much. She hadn't even considered the idea that it was possible to miss him more than when she had first left, but as the days and weeks passed she realized that it wasn't getting any better. The months that she had spent with him had forged a love within her that wouldn't lessen.
A knock at the door to her cottage broke her revelry. < Who on earth can that be? > Willow thought grabbing a weapon. She cautiously opened the door and then let it swing back as she gaped in amazement.
"Angel" she breathed.
"Did you think I'd never find you?" Angel's expression revealing nothing of his churning emotions.
"I…I-I don't know what to say," she stuttered still not believing her eyes. It was as if she had just wished him here.
"How about come in?" he said lightly, but all the while drinking in the sight of her.
"Oh, of course. Yes. Come in." Willow stepped back allowing him entrance.
Angel crossed the threshold and immediately swept Willow into a huge hug. His arms around her felt like they would never let go. Smelling his own particular 'Angel' scent, Willow's face buried itself against his shoulder and she felt like she'd come home.
"I've missed you Willow," Angel murmured into her hair. "This last month without you has been hell."
Willow felt a burst of happiness go through her. She had to throttle the excitement caused by his words.
"Why Willow? Why did you leave?" Angel demanded. < Why did you leave ME? >
Willow suddenly lost some of the warm, fuzzy feelings as she fumbled for a clear explanation. "You did get my letter, didn't you?"
Angel took a step back at that point and Willow felt bereft. "Don't tell me that what you said in the letter was the only motivation you had. I've thought about it endlessly while I've been searching for you. Something had to have sparked your leaving."
"You spent all this time looking for me?" Willow asked a little thrilled and impressed by his persistence.
"Yah. You did a really good job in covering your tracks. I didn't even have a clue until yesterday where you went."
"So how did you find me?" she asked curiously.
"First, I want to know why you left," Angel insisted. "Was it me? Did I do something…."
"No, of course not!" She interrupted him almost indignantly.
"It's just that before you left you were so distant," he explained insecurely.
"I am sorry about that." Willow said softly. "I tried to apologize to you that night before Dante showed up and I never finished. I was really self-absorbed, but it was just that I was-was trying to work some things out."
"What things?" he pressed.
"It's not even important now. They had nothing to do with you," she lied. But Willow knew she owed him more of an explanation. Taking his hand she lead him to the couch in front of the fire. Settling down she told him tentatively, "I didn't want to leave you. I decided that it was for the best though. The night Dante attacked us, he told me some things while we were fighting. The Anointed One is still after me and you were in danger just being with me."
< Her motivation had been for my safety, > Angel thought as things began to make greater sense to him. "But you know that I can take of myself," he argued.
"I couldn't put you in that situation. And besides I also wanted you to be happy." Willow's eyes were looking everywhere except at his face.
"You never gave me the chance to make my own decision," Angel said frustrated.
"No. I didn't. Because I know you. You would have stayed with me no matter what, because you are one of the most loyal, self-sacrificing people I know," Willow asserted. "It wouldn't have even seemed an option for you to leave to go back to Sunnydale."
"So instead you decided to leave and make the decision for me," he concluded.
"It was the only way. At least one of us would be able to have what they really want," Willow said wistfully. < Even though what I really want is you. >
Looking down at her hands which were clasped tightly together, bravely she continued, "Now that you've found me and seen that I've been o.k. here, there's no reason that you can't go home to Sunnydale."
Angel tensed. < Is she trying to get rid of me? I didn't think that…No. I have to convince her, because I-I can't be without her again! > He was going to have to convince her of that. So he began purposefully, "Things change, Willow. I didn't expect things not too. There's nothing there for me anymore."
Willow's head snapped up. The implications of his words whirling around in her mind. "What are you talking about? Isn't Buffy there?" she asked.
"She's still there and she's fine. I-I saw her when I went back to Sunnydale. I went back though because after searching all over Europe for weeks, I didn't have any idea where to look for you next. I would never have been able to find you without Ms. Calendar's help. She's the one who traced you. While I was there I saw Buffy. We talked but it wasn't the same. Like I said before, I didn't expect it to be."
Angel paused for a moment, afraid of what he was about to tell her and how she would react. He didn't dare look at her as he continued. "I know how you feel about Xander, Willow, so this might be hard for you to hear. I suppose that my coming back made Buffy realize that she was holding onto her feelings for me even after she moved on. Buffy isn't in love with me anymore because she…she's in love with Xander. They had fallen in love this last year without realizing it. But they realize it now."
He looked up then to see her face. Her eyes expressed such sorrow.
< He left Buffy to help me and now he's lost her. How could she do that to him? How much more is Angel supposed to lose? > Willow thought compassionately and her eyes became glassy with tears.
Seeing those tears and mistaking their cause, Angel was shattered. He couldn't even look at her at that moment without revealing all in his eyes. He leapt up from the couch and stood leaning against the fireplace mantle, his back to her so that she couldn't see his pain. "Do you still love Xander that much?" he asked.
"I suppose I'll always love him," Willow replied truthfully.
Although anticipating it, nevertheless, Angel felt like he had been delivered a blow. His hopes for Willow reciprocating his feelings dimmed and sputtered like a guttered candle. < At least I haven't made a total fool of myself by confessing my undying immortal love. > He could almost groan at himself for the picture that would have made.
The dejection that showed in the posture of his body made Willow want to reach out to him. She wanted to confess that while Buffy may not love him anymore, she certainly did. But there was very little consolation in that she supposed.
Quiet stretched between them, during which Willow heard a noise outside. Becoming more distinct, Angel turned around and they looked at each other.
< Two visits in one night? I'm a popular girl. > Willow thought uneasily hurrying to a window. What she saw outside turned that uneasiness into fear. For there were vampires surrounding the cottage.
Behind her Angel tried to assess the danger. "How many of them are there?"
"I don't know. Too many! It looks like at least half a dozen." Willow was terrified now.
"At least they can't get in," he pointed out reassuringly
"No." Willow said smelling the kindling of fire. "But they can burn us out."
It wasn't long before smoke started to fill the interior of the cottage. Since neither of them had to breath, the smoke wasn't a problem but the flames that were engulfing the house would be.
"We have to take our chances out there or we'll die in here!" Angel shouted above the roar of the fire. Taking Willow by the hand, Angel charged out of the burning building.
The vampires outside were waiting for them. Before Willow was even fully out the door, she was hit forcibly in the head. She fell headlong and turning back Angel fought her attacker. But there were too many of them. As Angel was occupied by two of the vampires, three others were already seizing a dazed and hurt Willow. Quickly they hauled her into an awaiting van.
Angel struggled to contain the panic as he realized Willow was being taken away. He fought his way toward her, but he was attacked by yet another vampire.
"Kill him. We have the girl," the leader called out to the remaining vampires before the van drove quickly off.
"Willow!!!!!" Angel cried out desperately.
"You're too late," one of the vampire said arrogantly. "She's gone. And you're next."
The four remaining vampires circled Angel like a pack of wolves and attacked. But Angel was beyond angry. The taunting words snapped him into a frenzied wrath and he let loose his demon with all the ferociousness of an avenging fury.
"Welcome, come on IN!" Angel said throwing two of the vampires bodily across the threshold and into the burning building behind him. Screaming the vampires writhed burning and joining the ashy remains of Willow's cottage. Angel instantly turned on another of the vampires and literally rent him limb from limb. His savagery made the last remaining vampire back away about to flee, but Angel caught him as well.
The demon in Angel begged to give this one the same treatment as the last, but he curbed the impulse and instead snarled, "Where did they take her?"
The vampire wasn't quick enough with an answer and Angel punched him, hissing "If I were you, I'd answer the questions. If you don't, I promise you that you'll be begging me to stake you when I'm through with you."
Angel shook the vampire like a rag doll. "Now again, where is she?" he yelled.
Seeing what had just happened to his companions, the vampire was sufficiently aware of just what Angel was capable of and he was scared enough to babble quickly, "They're taking her back to the Hellmouth, to the Anointed One."
"The Anointed One sent you?" Angel said this more as a statement than a question, but the vampire wisely answered anyway.
"Yes."
A gnawing suspicion flared in Angel's mind and he asked, "How did you find her?"
"We-we followed you here from the Hellmouth."
Angel's eyes went wide as his guts seemed to twist inside him. He was responsible for this. They had Willow and it was his fault. < How could I be so stupid! I lead them straight to her. >
"Why does the Anointed One want her so badly?" Angel nearly screamed in bewildered anger.
"I don't know." The vampire cowered as Angel motioned menacingly toward him and babbled, "Truly, I don't know! All I know is that he wants the Unslayable One at the Hellmouth. I was only told that it had to be before tomorrow, before the 21st of July."
Angel nearly let go of the vampire in his shock as he realized what that day was. July 21st, the day after tomorrow, was the day the Anointed One had made Willow into a vampire. It would be her first anniversary as a vampire.
< Dear god, don't let him be planning what I think he's planning! > Angel prayed.
Part 12
Buffy burst into the library. "What's going on Giles? Is there a vamp convention in town I don't know about?"
It was after 10 p.m. and Giles was pouring over a stack of books. Ms. Calendar was on the computer typing away madly. And even Xander was struggling to decode some texts. Buffy realized suddenly that research mode was already underway.
Giles looked up right, "Buffy, I'm glad you're here. It looks like we have a problem on our hands."
"Isn't that what I've just said? So is the world going to end again or what?" Buffy sighed gustily. The number of vampires crawling around Sunnydale had dramatically risen almost overnight. Therefore, she wasn't at all surprised that something major was occurring. Without Xander, whose shoulder was not at all healed yet, Buffy was exhausted just trying to keep havoc from breaking out.
"This is quite serious," Giles chided.
"It doesn't look good," Xander agreed soberly, getting up to be by Buffy's side.
"I don't know if you realize, but tomorrow there is going to be a full solar eclipse." Giles informed her.
"And that's a bad thing, I'm guessing," Buffy said.
"Actually it's not normally. An eclipse of the sun is a powerful mystical time. If this mystical energy were able to be used by one such as the master, it would prove to be quite dangerous. But no vampire has ever been able to harness its power. Their, err, aversion to sunlight has made it usually a quite harmless event."
"I sense a big but coming," Buffy muttered loudly to Xander.
"Yes, well, I translated a prophesy from the Codex and all the signs point to this eclipse becoming an event that is quite worrisome." Giles adjusted his glasses and picked up the Codex to read aloud the prophesy. "Here's what it says -
'When the Unslayable One is brought to the Anointed, when the sun and moon are one; the earth shall stand still as light battles darkness. And with the Slayer's blood as an offering, all shall be dust who oppose the Unslayable One and the very mouth of Hell itself shall be breached.'
As you can see it's a very dire warning." Giles took off his glasses and wiped them furiously as if stalling for time. "Yet there are far too many unanswered questions about who, what and how."
Buffy rattled off the summary, "So let me see if I have this right. Basically we have to be on the look out for some guy I won't be able to slay, and keep him and Annoying One from killing me and opening the Hellmouth, thus destroying the world in less than twelve hours from now."
Ms. Calendar and Xander exchanged worried glances.
"Well, uhm, I - Yes, I suppose that's about it." Giles agreed lamely. "But I don't understand how the vampires would be able to do that! They just don't have that kind of power, that ability," he protested in confusion.
"Somehow they've gotten a new weapon on the war against good. When is the eclipse set for exactly?" Buffy asked.
"At about 10 am. You should see the weather channel! They go nuts with this kind of thing," Xander told her.
"Look, you guys have to keep researching and give me something I can work with. I have to go back out there and keep up the slaying. The place is crawling with vamps. But I'll look for anything out of the ordinary." < Which would be just about everything I run into tonight. > Buffy thought with more than a bit of anxiety.
"That sounds like a decent plan. It's all we can do for now, until we figure this out," Giles said. "Come back here after your patrol and God-willing we'll have more information on this event."
Buffy nodded and kissed Xander for luck before quickly leaving the library.
*~*~*~*
Willow had awoken not long ago to the awareness that she was fettered to the wall of a cave. She hadn't seen her captors or anyone since she got there. She felt as if they must have some how drugged her, for she had awoken with unnatural woozy feeling in her head. All she could remember were images of the vampires who had taken her at the cottage.
Angel wasn't in the room with her, so she assumed that he was being held somewhere else. At least she hoped so because the alternative was that he'd been killed and that was an alternative that she wouldn't acknowledge to herself.
< I must be back in Sunnydale. This is just like the cave in which the Anointed One had first taken me. > Willow thought, her heart squeezed by the cold hand of fear as she concluded she must have been transported all the way back to Sunnydale. Back to the Anointed One.
As if on cue, the door of her prison was opened and the little monster appeared. "So I see you're finally awake," Colin, the Anointed One noted.
< Oh god, this can't be happening, > Willow thought fearfully. "Where am I?" she asked, awaiting to hear the validation of her own conclusions.
Colin admonished her. "In Sunnydale of course. I'm surprised that you don't remember this place. It holds *such* memories for me."
Willow trembled. "Why are you doing this? Wasn't it enough that you changed me? What more can you possibly do to me?"
"Oh, you really don't want to know," he retorted with smug arrogance.
"Where's Angel?" she demanded tremulously.
"From what I understand he's returned to the land of his birth permanently. He's dead," Colin stated gleefully.
The anguish that ripped through Willow was terrible. She wanted to scream and wail, but ruthlessly she bottled it in. She didn't want to give him any satisfaction in watching her grieve. Colin's cruel little smile instilled outrage in Willow's heart. If it was the last thing she'd ever do, it would be to destroy the Anointed One and avenge Angel. She desperately wanted to have just one arm free so that she could wipe the floor with Colin's hateful face. Straining against her chains she tried to lung at him. Her bloodthirsty reaction didn't go unnoticed. He only gave an amused look of approval.
With her anger to erase her fear, Willow was able to ask coldly, "What do you want with me?"
"I want what I created you for. To be the Unslayable One. To have you kill the Slayer and make my rule eternal!" he announced.
"You failed in making a real vampire out of me. I would never help you, or hurt my friends," she ground out defiantly.
"Ah yes! That little matter of your soul. Well that's why you're here now. Do you know what day it is?" Willow shook her head warily.
"I'm crushed you don't remember. It's been a year now but its usually the most memorable thing you'll ever experience. Death has that effect. It's the day of your rebirth. The day you became one of us," he told her.
"I was never one of you!" Willow shouted forcefully.
Colin continued casually as if not hearing her angry denial. "The tie between a vampire and their sire is an important one. And on the first anniversary of a vampire's birth, there is ritual that strengthens that tie. In your case, it will allow your demon to come forth, getting your pitiful soul out of the way."
"It won't work!" Willow said confidently.
"Won't work? Do you really think that I didn't know what I was doing when I chose you? I planned this. All of it!" Colin began to boast. "When I first made you, I knew that you would have the powers that are uniquely yours. The only thing that I didn't plan is that that meddling Angelus would find you and hide you away for so long. It took some time before my henchmen found you in Rome. After that was botched, it was as if you had dropped off the face of the earth. But we found you just in time, for I needed you to be here today, to do the Ritual of Binding. This ritual will be one of the final steps in those plans. It's very simple really. All you need to do is cooperate," he said this last part as if relishing in her inevitable submission.
"Cooperate. I told you once before that I'd rather die than become a vampire," she spat contemptuously.
He pointed out, "You're already a vampire."
"I won't ever help you," Willow vowed.
"Yes, well you know, I thought about that too. That you might have some misgivings and you see I don't underestimate your strength or will. It's part of what makes you so unique. That's why I brought your friend here, to see if perhaps HE could make you more willing." Colin's voice carried a venomous threat as he motioned for someone outside the room to enter.
They brought Xander in looking beaten and bloody.
Xander had decided to take a break after hours of research in the library. His eyes burned and words were no longer making sense. He was going out for the obligatory snack run, and as Buffy was still out slaying and Giles was not leaving the library for anything, Ms. Calendar offered him a ride since it was too dangerous for him to go out alone. They were stopped at a light when their car was attacked by seemingly scores of vampires. The last thing that Xander remembered was a hand smashing through the car window.
Xander came to awareness that there was an enormous headache pounding against his brain and that he was being carried through some tunnels. < What?? I'm not dead? Why aren't I dead? Not that I'm not happy I'm not dead, but what's going on? > Xander didn't even want to think about what might have happened to Ms. Calendar.
"Where are you taking me," Xander yelled, struggling futilely with the vampires holding him. They didn't answer, merely dragging him through the labyrinth of caves that led him to a chamber where Willow was chained to a wall.
"Oh God! Xander!" Willow strained helplessly against her chains, her dread mounting.
"Willow!" Xander cried out in astonishment and horror.
< It is out of my worst nightmares, > she realized as a tear slid helplessly down her cheek. "Xander," she choked back a sob.
"You know the last time you were here you were whimpering his name then too." The child-demon seemed to give great pleasure in telling this to them both.
"You bastard!" Xander shouted out. One of the vampires holding him, punched him in the gut and he doubled over gasping and trying to hold back from retching at the power of the blow.
Willow screamed out, "No, don't!"
"You see, Willow. You either help me or your beloved Xander becomes one of us. Right before your eyes." Colin said inexorably, "You see, its up to you."
Willow sized up the situation. Xander stood between two very hungry looking vamps just waiting to carry out any order that the Anointed One might give. It truly was out of her worst nightmare. She closed her eyes. She knew there was no way out of this. The Anointed One had planned this all out so carefully. He knew her weaknesses and played them out to perfection. Willow bowed her head as if in defeat, hoping beyond hope that if she would do this, she might be able to save Xander.
"I'll do whatever you want. Just don't hurt him," Willow pleaded.
"No! Willow, you know that if you do I'm dead anyway," Xander argued desperately. < She can't give in! Not for me! > he thought, utterly distraught.
She looked away from him and then nodded her assent to Colin.
Colin approached her then and began the Ritual of Binding immediately by cutting his left wrist and making a similar cut on Willow's. The blood flowed for a moment before he motioned her to raise her wrist to his so that their blood co-mingled. Then Anointed One spoke the ritual words that Willow repeated, reading it from a parchment that another vampire had brought before her.
"You are the seed," Colin intoned.
Willow read aloud, "You are the sire." Her voice was devoid of any expression.
"Your being to my being."
"Your being to my being."
"I bind myself to you."
"I bind myself to you."
"We are one."
"We are one."
With the uncomplicated words of Binding performed, there was only one more thing to complete the ritual. Colin cut open his other wrist and put it to Willow's mouth. She hesitated for a moment and then began to drink his blood. She drank until the Anointed had to pry his wrist away, his face grimacing in pain. Willow's hair covered her own face from Xander, who had watched all this with a sick heart.
Looking at the remaining blood on her wrist, Willow stood perfectly still. Bringing her own wrist to her lips she licked the blood away with her tongue. Then she straightened with an arrogant flip of her head and daintily wiped the blood from the corners of her mouth.
The Anointed One looked intently at her. And something in her face must have satisfied him, for smiling broadly he asked her, "How do you feel?"
"Unslayable." Willow purred.