Revenge Is Sweet

                 Part 24

                         It had been three weeks since the botched spell and, while Xander had not
                 been seen nor heard from since that night, Buffy and Oz continued in their
                 dogged pursuit of their lost loves.  Every time Willow turned around in
                 school, she would see Oz watching her.  She found herself taking longer
                 routes to her classes. She hated the way he was making her react.  Often
                 times, Cordelia found herself intercepting him as he would approach Willow.
                         Angel was having the same problem with Buffy.  She had followed Faith to
                 the house one night, after patrol, and had taken it upon herself to enter it
                 as often as she could.  The fact that the house was also home to Spike
                 didn’t bother her.  She was sure that she could dust him if he presented too
                 much of a problem, but so far, Spike had stayed out of sight at his sire’s
                 request.  Angel was hoping that eventually the slayer would realize that she
                 wasn’t wanted.  But Buffy was determined to make Angel realize that the two
                 of them were meant to be, no matter what anyone else said.
                         Angel and Willow had decided that they were no longer going to let Buffy
                 and Oz prevent them from having fun.  They wanted to go out and decided that
                 they would make it like a triple date, having invited Cordelia, Spike, Giles
                 and Faith.  The six people had grown very close since that dinner party
                 almost a month ago.  They had researched the prophecy, but didn’t have much
                 luck in deciphering much more of it.  The research parties soon turned into
                 movie nights, as they would often sit around watching some movie that the
                 girls had chosen.  Or they would just sit around and talk.  The guys about
                 history and weapons and other things, while the girls would often talk about
                 magick, slaying and their respective loves.  Cordelia and Willow often loved
                 to tease Faith about her fondness for her watcher and they enjoyed seeing
                 how that fondness was being returned by Giles.
                         "So, what do we want to see anyway?" Willow asked as the three couples made
                 their way to the movie theatre.  They had all decided to actually see a
                 movie on the big screen, hoping that they wouldn’t run into Oz or Buffy, but
                 sure that the two of them wouldn’t cause too much of a public scene.
                         "How about Thin Red Line," Angel offered.  The women all groaned at his
                 suggestion.  "What I heard it was a good movie."
                         "Yeah, if you’re into the whole war thing," Cordelia replied.  "But I see
                 enough horror here in Sunnydale.  The whole purpose of going to the movies
                 to forget reality, if only for a little while."
                         "Fine, then what other movie can we go see?"
                         "I’m thinking ‘Something About Mary’ looks funny," Spike said.
                         "Oh yeah, real funny.  If you like the whole sick twisted kind of …" Faith
                 stopped as she looked over at Spike.  "Oh never mind, I forgot who I was
                 talking to."
                         "Fine then.  The three of you have completely shot down our ideas, what do
                 you want to see?"
                         The three girls looked at each other and replied together.  "Notting Hill."
                         "Notting Hill?" Spike almost shouted.  "You expect me to sit through a
                 movie with that wanker Hugh Grant.  I don’t think so."  Cordelia wrapped her
                 arm around Spike, pulling his ear close to her mouth, whispering something
                 into it, actually causing the vampire to blush.  "Notting Hill it is.  I’ll
                 go get is the tickets."
                         "Cordelia what did you say to that man?" Faith asked, a huge grin on her
                 face as she watched Spike, Giles and Angel wait in line for the tickets.
                         "Nothing," she replied innocently.  Faith and Willow just looked at her.
                 "Well, I might have mentioned that Hugh Grant reminded me a bit of Spike,
                 with that accent and all."
                         "And.." Willow encouraged.
                         "And I might have mentioned something about what watching Hugh Grant  does
                 to me.  Especially in a darkened theatre in the back row," Cordelia added.
                 Faith and Willow both laughed at the brunette.
                         "You are so evil."
                         "I know," Cordelia stated proudly. Her smile faded as she saw the men
                 approach them, their faces serious.
                         "We’ve got trouble," Angel said, as they rejoined the women.
                         "What kind of trouble," Willow asked, although she had a pretty good idea
                 of what Angel was going to say.
                         "Vampire trouble."
                         "Where?" Faith asked, switching into her slayer mode.  She scanned the
                 area, looking for the vampires in question and spotted them across the
                 street.  She was surprised to see them looking directly at her group,
                 ignoring the other people in the area.  She did not think that was a good
                 thing.  SHe saw the others prepare themselves for what looked like a nasty
                 battle about to come.
                         "Let’s try and lead them as far away from other people as possible," Angel
                 said.  The three couples started to walk away from the theatre, the movie
                 completely forgotten, and headed towards the park, knowing that it would be
                 dark and deserted even on a Friday night.  Angel, Faith and Spike took up
                 positions that would enable them to protect Giles, Willow and Cordelia,
                 without actually letting the other three know that they were trying to
                 protect them.  They had enough experience to know that the three regular
                 humans would not appreciate it.  The group stopped as soon as they figured
                 they were in as good as place as any to battle the vampires following them.
                 And it wasn’t long until the vampires attacked.
                         There were 8 of them, mostly fledglings who didn’t really know how to
                 fight.  Spike, Angel and Faith each took on two, leaving two more for the
                 other three members of their group.  Each person took care of their
                 opponents in quick order, except for one vampire who had the unpleasant task
                 assigned to him of being made into the informer by Angel.
                         "Okay, little boy, I want to know why you just attacked a group of six
                 people, when you only had eight vampires who couldn’t fight their way out of
                 a wet paper bag?"  The vampire hissed at the man holding him, not realizing
                 that he was facing a master vampire because Angel had yet to show his game
                 face.
                         "Why should I tell you anything, mortal?" The vampire growled, disgusted
                 with how quickly the fight had ended. He had argued with his mistress,
                 telling her that he would need more allies with him for the attack, but she
                 had been adament, saying that there should be that much trouble.  But she
                 was wrong, again.
                         "Who said anything about me being mortal,’ Angel replied, morphing into his
                 vampiric face.  The other man’s eyes grew wide at the realization that  at
                 least one of the people that he was assigned to kill was just like him.  But
                 if that was the case, why was he with these others.  Then he saw Spike, who
                 was also in game face.
                         "Who are you," the vampire stammered, suddenly afraid.  He knew that no
                 matter he said he was going to die at the hands of the man holding him.
                         "The name is Angel and that is my childe Spike," Angel told him, calmly.
                 "Now, tell me why you attacked us.  Who sent you?"
                         "My mistress," the vampire told him, knowing exactly who was holding him
                 and what he was capable off.  The stories that talked about Angelus and
                 Spike were what legends were made of and the fledgling vampire hope that by
                 giving the two of them whatever information they asked for, he would be
                 allowed a quick death.
                         "Why?"
                         "She wanted to four of you out of the way," he explained.  "Said that you
                 had to be destroyed.  SHe didn’t tell us that it was you.  We wouldn’t have
                 attacked had we known."
                         "What is she planning that required us to killed?"
                         "I don’t know," the vampire admitted, wincing as Angel dug his hands into
                 the vampires neck.  "I really don’t.  She won’t tell any of us.  All I know
                 is, that it involves some kind of spell or something."
                         Angel looked over and saw realization creeping onto everyone’s faces.  "The
                 prophecy," he said to no one in particular.  Five heads nodded their
                 agreement.  He turned his attention back to the vampire he held.  "I want a
                 name.  Who do you answer to?  Who is your mistress?"
                         "She goes by the name of Harmony," the vampire said, right before turning
                 to a pile of dust.

Next