Disclaimer: All Buffy related things belond to Joss & Co., although the concept of this story and the story itself belong to me. I am making no money from this.
Rating: PG (Possible NC-17 chapters in the future).
Summary: A sorcerer with a view on gaining more power kidnaps Willow and Angel with nefarious intent. Otherwise the title says it all.
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Prologue
"Thank you for walking me home Angel," Willow said.
"No problem, I'll wait till you get inside," Angel replied.
Willow smiled and standing on tiptoe brushed her lips across his cheek.
"What was that for?" Angel asked in surprise.
"Just for being so nice, give Buffy my regards," Willow said with a wink.
Angel chuckled and Willow's eyes twinkled with amusement before she turned around and made her way to the door. Willow knew from her long phone conversations with Buffy that they had been getting closer lately.
Willow was glad; she'd been so scared that Buffy would hate her for bringing Angel back from hell.
Willow had kept her research into a way of bringing Angel back secret from everyone. Xander had yet to forgive her for not telling him. Willow vowed to take him aside and talk to him soon. Willow knew that if she explained to him why she'd done what she had that he would understand. Xander might be an idiot sometimes but he was her oldest friend and she supposed that the least he deserved was an explanation.
Willow called goodnight to her parents and closed the door of her room. She was still so exhausted all the time. The spell that had brought Angel back had taken almost all her energy and she'd been in hospital in a coma for a week afterwards. Giles had told her that they'd been scared she might never wake up at one stage. Luckily for Angel, Willow had been smart enough to bring Amy along when she'd cast the spell. Amy had taken care of the vampire until he was well enough to move around.
That had been two months ago, it'd taken a while but things were finally starting to seem somewhat normal again.
'Well, normal for a town directly on top of a Hellmouth, anyway.' Willow thought, as she flopped down on her bed in a boneless heap.
Her computer screen flashed and a voice spoke up,
#You have mail.# The computer simulated voice said.
Willow groaned and sat back up,
'Why is it, that you always get mail just when you're about to go to be.' she wondered.
Staggering towards her computer chair she sat down and double clicked on her mail icon bringing up the new message.
From: SoulCaster@hotmail.com
To: WolfWalker@opium.net.sd
Subject: Urgent, you must read this NOW
Willow, I've just received a communiqué from a wizard friend
of mine.
Seems there's a sorcerer headed your way. This guy is major
bad mojo;
you've got to stay low. He won't be looking for you so that'll
make it
easier for you to hide.
Goddess, protect you my friend. Whatever you do don't cast
any spells
unless it's life or death. He'll latch onto their signature
like a
bloodhound on a fox. I'll send you a message when we know
his out of the area.
Signed SoulCaster
Willow switched off her screen and groaned,
'I knew I spoke to soon, I suppose I should ring Giles and tell him about this.' she thought.
Willow got up and walked back over to her bed,
'On the other hand his probably already asleep by now, I'll call him first thing in the morning.'
Willow drew back the sheets and slipped into bed with a happy sigh.
Victor smiled as he followed the vampire the girl had called Angel. This was better than he'd hoped. When he'd first arrived on the Hellmouth he'd thought it might be weeks before he could find a vampire and human to meet his needs. These two would do perfectly and once he had the child, he'd have enough power on his hands to do whatever he liked.
'I'll teach them to cast me out like that. Stupid old men what do they know of true power. Call me evil, I'll show them evil.' he thought to himself as he saw the vampire meet a petite blond teenager.
'A Slayer.' he thought in surprise.
He watched as the two talked, expecting the vampire to try and attack the Slayer. He got ready to distract the two, if the vampire died it'd ruin all his plans. To his surprise, they didn't attack each other, in actuality it seemed as if the two were very friendly. Hmm, it would appear that his intervention was not needed, which was good he hadn't really been ready to reveal himself, especially not to a Slayer.
This might cause a problem though, with a Slayer in town he'd have to
be twice as careful. They always had a perchance to turn up at the
worst possible times. If this one got wind of what he was going to
do to her two buddies she might spoil it all. He'd have to think
of something that might distract her. A nice false prophecy would
do the trick, now all he had to do was find her Watcher and plant it.
Buffy entered the library and looked around for Giles, smiling as she saw him slumped over a book asleep.
"Yo Giles, wakey...wakey," she said as she gently shook him by the shoulder.
Giles muttered incoherently and flapped at Buffy's hand before opening his eyes and looking up at his Slayer.
"W-what?" he said, slightly disorientated.
"You fell asleep."
"O-oh, yes, I suppose I did. How did the patrol go?" he asked picking up his glasses from where they sat on the desk.
He cleaned them on his handkerchief before placing them back on the bridge of his nose.
"Not much in the way of vamp activity. Angel said that something big must be up for it to be this quiet but he hasn't been able to find anything out yet. He said he'd try to contact one of his more reliable sources tomorrow night and see if he can ferret anything out."
"I'll get Willow to have a look on that infernal machine tomorrow and see if she can't find some answer's as well," he said.
Outside the Library...
Victor smiled in delight; the Slayer had led him right to her Watcher, just like he knew she would. What was more, it appeared the two were getting ready to leave for the night. This gave him the perfect opportunity to lay the false prophecy before the Watcher came back in the morning. Victor loved when things went according to plan. If things kept going this way he'd have his Dhampir child and then he'd make them all pay.
Angel's place....
#You have mail.# Angel looked up at the little flashing computer icon. Willow had given him this computer last week. He smiled as he remembered her comment about him beginning to live in the nineties. Angel wondered what she would have said if he'd told her that he'd once had a job as a computer programmer in the early eighties.
Angel had followed many of the new technological advances over the years. He never lost that almost childlike wonder he had of the devices man had made. Angel wondered what the people of his youth might have thought of such things. Angel wondered what his family might have thought about Buffy, Willow and the others. Angel smiled when he thought about how his younger brother would've reacted to Willow.
It hurt to know he would never know, just as the memories of what he had done only a few months ago hurt. He couldn't believe that they could forgive him. Even Giles had forgiven him after a time, although he knew it would take a long time for the Watcher to ever trust him again. Xander was still hostile. Then again when had Xander been anything but hostile towards him? Angel often wondered whether that boy was a victim of his hormones or just plain stupid.
Angel moved his mouse pointer and clicked on the little image bringing up his mail.
To: Shadow@opium.com.sd
From: RussianRose@helix.com.org
Subject: Something you should know
Angel
There's going to be some rather funky magic currents around
you for the next couple of weeks. Not that living on a Hellmouth
doesn't give you the worst currents anyway but these are the
darkest I've seen in a long time. You might want to watch
out for
anyone who tries to use them. Believe me, these currents are
going
to create a very nice climate for anyone who wants to do some mega
bad stuff.
Thought I should warn you and Willow.
Goddess keep you safe
Natasha
P.S.: For some reason I can't get through to Willow, tell her to
not try any
spells until at least three weeks from now. With the currents
the way they are
any spell she tries might backlash on her.
Victor looked at the locked door in front of him and then shrugging, walked through it. Being a powerful wielder of arcane sorcerer gave several special benefits, one being the fact that locks posed little problem to you. That and half the price off of tickets at the movies.
He looked around; it seemed that the designer of this library had gone into the shadowy and mysterious school of decorating. All in all, it was a typical Watcher library right down to the books of prophecy stacked neatly into a returns tray waiting to be shelved.
'Now, where to put it? It can't be obvious or he'll smell a rat. Guess that means the glowing neon sign is out then.' he thought to himself.
Victor wandered around the library as he thought, picking up and flipping through several books on his trip around. It really was a rather eclectic collection, with books of ancient law jockeying for position with R.L Stein's Goosebumps paperbacks. Victor grinned as he thought about what the Watcher must of thought of that compromise. Still, if he'd wanted to keep his cover in this place he wouldn't have wanted to draw too much attention to the more archaic tomes.
'You know, it might just be easier to scrawl it across a wall in blood.' he thought.
Victor grinned evilly as he thought about what the Watcher's reaction to that would be.
'Yep, across the wall in blood it is and maybe a little book of ancient law to back it up.' Victor thought.
Reaching out his hand, he muttered a few words and a big rat appeared in his outstretched palm. Quickly snapping it's neck he went to work.
Several minutes later...
A prominent message now adorned one of the walls of the library in bright red blood. Victor had had to use several rat bodies but had finally gotten it looking right. He'd disposed of the bodies afterwards of course, better the Watcher think it was human blood.
Victor muttered another word and a suitably ancient book appeared in his hand. Laying it flat on the table he looked down at its blank pages and then smiled. Victor muttered several more guttural phrases and the book began to fill with words. He paced back and forth as the spell worked, muttering softly to himself. Hopefully this would work, if it didn't he might have to step up his plans a little. Take the girl earlier than he'd meant to. Then he'd have to do was find some way of trapping the vampire.
Finally, after several minutes the book slammed itself shut and Victor smiled down at his newly completed book of prophecy.
'Now, where to put it.'
Victor looked around and noticed the Watcher's office. Walking over he tried the doorknob and to his surprise found it locked.
'Hmm, paranoid little Watcher, isn't he?' he thought as he muttered a spell and walked through the door.
Looking around he noticed several books of law with a message attached to them. After reading the message, Victor smiled a grim smile. Perhaps he wouldn't have to leave this book here after all. Not when there was a much better source through which he could go. Whistling a jaunty tune he clicked his fingers and disappeared into thin air.
On the wall, the blood dried slowly, dripping in soft blobs onto the library floor. Its words were dire.
*A little warning Watcher, your Slayer's doom stirs in the city of New York. Better watch over her real close, the hour of darkness is almost at hand.*
Several days later...
"So, like what does it say?" Buffy asked impatiently as Giles scanned over the pages of the book of prophecy Angel had given him.
From what Angel had told him, the vampire that had given him the tome had seemed rather flighty and distracted at the time. Angel had gone on to say that it was like the vampire thought even just holding the book in his hand was a seal on his fate. The book itself wasn't all that special, indeed it's phrasing and tone was like hundreds of other prophecy books Giles had perused over the years. Also like those other books its warnings were most dire and immediate.
"It would appear that in a week hence a demon will be risen in the city of New York. This demon will spell the doom of the Slayer unless the ceremony can be stopped."
"Well that's great, Giles do you have any idea how big New York City is? Not exactly a small town, you know."
"This book includes a map of the currents and the specific place such a spell would have the most likely hood of succeeding in," Giles said, thoughtfully.
This prophecy book was strange; it was as if it was deliberately trying to steer them in a certain direction. He'd never seen a prophecy that was this specific. Giles shrugged off his foreboding as mere paranoia and looked over at Buffy who was pacing back and forth, a look of intense concentration on her face.
"So, when do we leave?" she asked after a time.
"WE, don't, I will go and deal with this. YOU will keep going to class like you normally do and act as if nothing has happened."
"Giles, if you think I'm letting you go out there to deal with these wackos alone you've got another thing coming. We'll take Xander and Cordy with us as well so I can convince my mom it's a school excursion."
Buffy said, running through her mind what she would need to take with her.
Giles sighed in resignation, when Buffy got that look in her eye it wasn't worth the trouble arguing with her.
"What about Willow?" he asked, noting that Buffy had left her out.
"She's got some computer class to teach this week, so she won't be able to get out of it without drawing suspicion. I'll have Angel stay so he can look after her."
Giles nodded, it'd taken him awhile to begin to trust Angel again but now he seemed to be relying on the vampire more and more. He hoped that nothing would happen that Angel couldn't handle while they were in New York.
That night....
Victor watched with delight as the Slayer waved good-bye to her two friends. Now all he had to do was take care of the werewolf boyfriend of the girl and his plan would be ready to put into action. Victor began humming a small victory tune as he walked back towards the little place he'd rented for the duration of his stay here. It seemed that everything was going according to plan. If he didn't know better, Victor might have said some higher force was watching over him. He snorted in disbelief, who could possibly want to see those two together enough to help him?
A vampire jumped out in front of him,
"Pay time, I helped you, now you give me what's coming to me. Else I'll have to put some nice holes in that neck of yours," it growled.
Victor looked at the vampire in annoyance and muttered one guttural word. The vampire disappeared in a flash of dust and Victor smiled down at the small pile.
"Hmm, it would appear that our 'deal' is now complete. I do so hope you enjoyed your reward."
Victor walked off down the path, whistling softly.
>
"So," Willow said after the car carrying Buffy, Giles, Xander and Cordelia had disappeared from sight.
"So," Angel said in agreement.
An uncomfortable silence stretched between the two and Willow searched frantically for something to say.
'Why is it, that you could talk someone's ear off when you didn't need to, and as soon as you needed to find a topic of conversation the power of speech deserted you?' she wondered silently.
"It's a nice night," Willow ventured, lamely.
"Yeah," Angel said.
'Oh bugger this for a lark,' Willow thought, as one of her English net friends tended to say.
"If you even venture a comment about how nice the weathers been I will slay you myself," Willow said with a grin.
Angel laughed and shook his head,
"Well that was certainly awkward. How about we vow not to mention the fact that the others might be heading into trouble and just talk?" he said.
Willow nodded in agreement, it was nice to know that Angel had been worried about Buffy and the others as well.
"Well, my parents won't be home for hours so we could go watch TV at my house," Willow said.
"Even better, we could rent a few b-grade movies and mistie the dialogue," Angel said with a grin.
"You watch MST3K?" Willow asked in surprise.
"Willow, there are many things about me that might surprise you," he said with an insufferable smirk.
Willow whapped him on the arm and grinned, "Riiight, how about we just go get those movies and leave the wondrous depths of your psyche to the professionals."
Angel's face took on a look of hurt and she wondered where he'd learned to do the puppy-dog eyes.
"Could you be implying that I? The wondrous and positively hunky Angel, could be off my rocker?"
Willow snickered and winked at him, "Hmm, I don't know, it all depends on whether you actually believed what you just said or not."
Angel chuckled, "Actually, I have an even better idea, if you trust me," he said
Willow looked up at him and raised one eyebrow.
"Angel, if I hadn't trusted you I never would've brought you back. Now, what is this better idea?"
Angel merely smiled and offered his arm to her, "It's a surprise, shall we go Milady?"
Willow shook her head and rolled her eyes before placing her arm in his, "Have I told you how much I hate surprises?"
Angel winked, "You'll like this one."
Elsewhere...
Oz checked the moon as he loaded stuff into his van. It was almost full, another three days until he'd be spending some time in chains. Oz had been feeling edgy all week; there was something not right in Sunnydale, more so then usual. Oz just hoped it was something Buffy and the others could deal with. Thoughts of Buffy moved his mind to someone else, Willow.
She'd been avoiding him lately, although he wasn't sure why. He wondered if they'd ever truly be together, together rather then just seeing each other. Oz knew he loved her but he still wasn't completely sure she felt the same thing. He sighed shaking off the thoughts; he'd just have to be patient and hope that Willow made up her mind soon.
Victor's place...
Victor popped the cork from the bottle of wine and poured a small amount into a glass. Picking up the glass, he grabbed one of the books he'd gathered and sat down in a comfy chair by the fire. He'd been researching werewolves for the past hour, trying to find some way of eliminating the girl's boyfriend. His eyes scanned each page, speed reading through the book before grabbing another one.
Finally, after another two hours he found the solution, it would be
perfect, what was more it would be fun, which was always a bonus in these
things. He smiled as he contemplated what he would need and glanced at
the moon outside. Three days and then the boyfriend would be out of his
hair long enough for him to do what he had to. Victor took a sip of his
wine and clicked his fingers, turning on the CD player he'd brought with
him. As the beat of the music surrounded him, he began to laugh.
"Where did you get it?" Willow asked in amazement as she stared at the Harley motorbike.
Angel grinned like a little kid, "I've had it for ages, I came to Sunnydale on it actually but it didn't seem appropriate to use it around here, so I stored it in this old warehouse. So would you like to go for a ride Milady?"
Willow looked from the bike to Angel and then back at the bike. He seemed so eager and it would be like kicking a puppy to refuse. Willow sighed, "Of course Mi'lord, its not as if I was doing anything else tonight," she said.
Angel grabbed a helmet from somewhere in the darkness and handed it to Willow. He didn't seem to be getting one for himself.
'Not that he has to worry about being injured,' Willow thought.
Getting onto the bike Angel turned the key and then pushed down on the starter pedal, the Harley came to life with a purring roar and Angel looked at her, a wild look in his eyes.
'I should've known he'd have something like this secreted away, it suits him,' Willow thought as she placed a foot on one of the back pedals.
Steeling herself for the ride of her life, Willow vaulted into the seat and wrapped her arms around Angel's waist.
'Hmm, this isn't bad,' she thought as she smelt Angel's scent and snuggled closer before realizing what she was doing.
'Bad Willow, badbadbad Willow, Angel is Buffy's and you've got Oz, remember cute wolf boy,' she thought to herself.
"Hang on tight," Angel shouted as he took off with a roar.
'Well, I've got permission so it's not as if anyone can call me on it.'
Willow thought as she was forced to hang on for dear life as the bike roared off into the night.
Angel felt the wind roar past his ears and the warmth of Willow's arms around his torso.
'Actually, it feels kinda nice,' he thought as he gunned the motor and went a little faster.
The Harley was only half the surprise; he couldn't wait to see Willow's face when she saw the other half. He reached down a hand and squeezed one of Willow's, trying to reassure her. Angel would never let anything happen to Willow, he owed her his life and much, much more, he owed her his soul.
A couple of minutes later...
"You know Angel? Dragging a girl through the woods might be considered a little ungentlemanly like," Willow muttered as Angel led her through the darkness.
Angel looked back at her in the darkness, the almost full moon glinting in his warm eyes.
'Damn, I hate it when he does the sexy eye thing. How is any woman supposed to resist that?' Willow thought as she sighed in resignation and walked onwards.
They walked onward, Angel gripping Willow's hand firmly in his and helping her over the snarls her merely human eyes couldn't see. Finally they emerged into a moonlit glade and Willow gasped in wonder.
"Angel, its beautiful," she said in wonder.
Angel merely grinned and let go of Willow's hand as she wandered further into the glade. She turned around in the middle and ran back to Angel, throwing her arms around him.
"Thank you Angel, I can't believe this place, how did you ever find it?" she breathed.
Angel hugged her back, enjoying the feel of her in his arms before reminding himself that she was Buffy's best friend.
"It was when I first came to Sunnydale, I just took a walk one night and here it was. Do you really like it?" he asked, not noticing the way his voice sounded almost wistful.
Willow smiled and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, "I love it, thank you for showing it to me Angel," she whispered.
Angel looked down at the petite hacker and smiled.
'Angel's happy, I made Angel happy.' Willow giggled inwardly to herself.
"I'm glad," Angel replied reaching forward to push a lock of Willow's hair behind her ear.
'Soft, she's so soft,' he thought, as he brushed his fingers across her cheek again.
'Oh,' Willow thought as she looked into his eyes.
Angel looked up suddenly and moved his hand away from Willow's face although his arm remained around her waist.
"The stars are clear tonight," he said, trying to break out of whatever it was that had just passed between them.
Willow blinked for a second and then looked up as well.
"Yeah, they are beautiful, do you know their names?" Willow asked, following Angel's example.
"A few of them."
Victor's place...
Victor chuckled; everything was going to plan. The forces he'd unleashed were already affecting the girl and the vampire. By the time he was ready to take them, they'd find it very hard to resist what he had in mind for them.
'Fight it all you like my two little breeders but in the end you'll
do as I want,' he thought.
Night of the full moon (Three days later)...
Oz snapped the last lock in place and settled back to wait. This ritual had become a routine over the days and months since he first discovered his lycanthropy. Still, sometimes he dreamed of a time when he wouldn't have to chain himself up, some day when he would be able to control the beast within.
If he could do that then, maybe he could control the change to the point that it could come at request, then he'd be able to protect Willow. After he'd found out about it, he'd searched through all of the books he could find and Giles had even helped him find some of the more obscure ones.
The books had been varied in their descriptions and laws about lycanthropy and he'd gone through several before he found one or two that Giles had informed him might be true enough to be of any help. In those books he'd found tales of werewolves that had found a means to control the change, even be able to retain their humanity within it so they could help their human companions instead of putting them in danger. The book had been old though, with several pages missing. It didn't matter, Oz had found what he was looking for, hope.
The door to the basement slammed open and a figure entered the room. Oz started and tried to get up from his sitting position but the chains held him back. The figure chuckled and came out into the light. Oz stared into the figure's face and shuddered, The purple eyes that watched him from that face were filled with darkness and evil so deep he couldn't imagine how the merely human body before him could hold it.
The change gripped Oz at that moment, causing him to cry out in pain as his bones began to move in a new pattern. Victor watched the change with an amused look and then began to chant. Oz sensed something wrong, even as his mind began to dull, becoming more bestial by the minute. This change was different somehow; it was going on too long and instead of getting bigger he seemed to be shrinking. Victor laughed as the boy finished transforming.
Instead of the humanoid wolf form that a werewolf usually takes upon transformation, he was now fully a wolf. The spell Victor had created to trap the boy in wolf form for more then the three nights of the full moon was now complete. He would stay this way now for at least a week, after that Victor's plan would have been completed and the child would be growing within the girl.
The wolf that was once Oz shook off the chains, which were now much too big to hold a normal wolf. The wolf growled low in its throat and looked at the human before it. This human was dangerous; its animal senses could sense the darkness within. Victor stepped aside and opened the basement door. The wolf looked at the human one more time before darting forward and through the door to freedom. Victor watched Oz go with a glint of amusement in his violet eyes. The last one that might have interfered with his plan was out of the way, now his plan was truly free to begin.
End Part 5