Prologue

The sun had set long ago, but it was so hot that
night that it felt as if it still shone
brightly above. The heat was so intense one could
almost see it in the air.
That was something she didn't like about California,
and she missed the sweeping
fields of her homeland. It had been over 60 years
since she had visited that place, the
place she had been born. 
over, I could go back, spend the next
decade or so in that small cottage by the stream. It
would be nice to spend some time
alone at last.
The sound of footsteps stirred her from her thoughts.
She watched, unnoticed,
from the shadows as two teenaged girls; one blonde,
the other brunette, and a slightly
older looking man walked down the street and headed
towards the out-skirts of town.

coincidence. Watching them round a
corner, she headed in the opposite direction; towards
the local high school.

As she approached the library, she took the
opportunity to listen to the voices
coming from the other side of the double doors. She
could hear two distinctly female
voices, and four male ones. The timber of two
suggested distiguished men of thirty or so,
while the other two bore the evidence of youth,
probably around seventeen years. Taking
a deep breath she pushed opened to doors and made her
way into the library.
 
 

Part 1

Wesley was about to respond to Xander's comment on
Faith's alleged relationship
with the newly reverted Angelus when the library doors
swung open abruptly and a young
woman entered. She looked to be in her mid-to late
teens, sixtenn or seventeen, most
likely, eighteen at the oldest; with long auburn hair
that fell in gentle waves down past her
shoulder blades. She was tall, thin, and muscular,
with soft features. She was wearing
army green cargo pants and black, steel toed combat
boots with a tight, long sleeve black
Guns'N'Roses T-shirt. She was a complete
contradiction; utter feminism combined with
stunning strength. Standing with her feet slightly
apart, shoulders back, and jaw set, she
looked as if she was about to fight someone.
"Can I help you?" Wesley asked, clearing her throat.

When she spoke her voice was clear and confident.
"I'm looking for Wesley
Wyndom Price."
"I am he," the watcher answered, slightly puzzeled st
the girl's obvious knowledge.
"Then you are the current watcher, or have I been
misinformed?" The young
woman said; her voice somewhat sarcastic, as if
darring him to contradict her.
"Why, yes, um, how, how did you... who are you?"
Wesley stumbled over his
words, taken aback.
"You can call me Arduinna." Wesley's draw dropped in
astonishment, and Giles
paled slightly; both wore shocked expressions on their
faces apon hearing the name.
"Arduinna?" Giles repeated with awe and confusion in
his voice. Both watchers
exchanged a glance and then returned their attention
to the girl before them. "But how
can that be? She, uh, you... you're... you look..."
"Looks can be deceiving." She replied, with a shrug,
the sides of her mouth
twitching with the slightest hint of a smile.
"Um, I think I speak for everyone when I say, huh?"
Xander said, reminding the
watchers of the teens' presence.
"Oh, Xander. I am sorry, I forgot you were there."
Giles apologized. "This is
Xander, Cordelia, Oz, and Willow," Giles motioned to
each teen in turn as he introduced
them. "And this," he said, gesturing to the new
arrival, "is Arduinna." The way he said
her name suggested that their guest was someone of
importance.
"I think we got that one, Giles," Cordelia said,
slightly annoyed that she had been
forgotten.
"Arduinna?" Willow asked, ignoring the May Queen.
"Isn't that the name of a
Celtic deity? The Goddess of war, and patroness of
hunting I think."
A very small smile appeared on the mysterious young
woman's face as she looked
at Willow. "Yes, it is. She was very similar to the
Greek Goddess, Diana actually."
"So you're named after a Goddess? What does that
have to do with us, or how
you knew Wesley was a watcher?" Cordelia asked with
her usual tact.
"Yeah, and the way the G-man and Wes acted earlier
you'd think you _were_ a
Goddess." Xander snorted in disbelief, "So I'm
pretty much guessing there's something
I'm missing here," he added.
"Arduinna is what you could call an ally of the
counsel." Giles answered.
"Yes, according to the watcher diaries I have read,
you appeared in the early 1900s
in New York. I believe you aided the slayer at that
time, am I right?" Wesley questioned,
looking at Arduinna.
"Arabella Gish was the slayer then. And yes, we
worked together for a few years."
"You were also said to have helped with the Chicago,
Union Station murders in
the late 1920s. However there weren't any more
accounts after that. It was believed you
had been killed." It was obvious this puzzled him as
Wesley looked at Arduinna.
"Wait a second, early 1900s, late 1920s? but that
would make you like, over 100
years old." Cordelia stated.
"Actually, I'm 256, including the years before I
became immortal. " Even Oz's
normally stoic face showed surprise at Arduinna's
statement.
"You're not a vampire are you? Cause that would be
bad." Cordelia asked.
"No, I'm not a vampire. I'm an immortal." Just as
Xander was about to ask
exactly what the difference was, the library doors
where once again shoved open, but this
time they revealed a peroxide blonde vampire.
Spike's voice rang loudly through out the library as
he started to yell. "Hey,
watcher, are you in..." However his question was cut
short as he caught sight of the
previous topic of conversation. "You!!" Spike
practically snarled.
"Spike!" Arduinna exclaimed in an icy voice. If
asked about it later no one would
have been able to say how a stake suddenly appeared in
the girl's hand. Both Spike and
Arduinna instantly fell into fighting stance as they
stared at each other with surprise and
obvious distaste.
 

Part 2a:

"I take it you two know each other?" Xander asked as
he eyed the vampire
wearily.
"What are you doing here Spike?" Arduinna asked as
they circled, each with their
fists clenched and raised, ready and waiting for the
other to strike.
"Me?! What am I doing here?! What the 'ell are you
doing here? You're
supposed to be dead! They killed you, I saw them kill
you, I saw you die!" Spike yelled,
his voice edged with hysterics.
"Yeah, well, it takes a hell of a lot more than a
couple bullets to get rid of me."
There was no pride in her voice; she wasn't bragging,
she was stating a fact. "Now, why
are you here?"
The two watchers and four students watched as Spike
almost imperceptibly
glanced at the doors.
Cordelia recognized the look in the master vampire's
eyes as the same many of her
sheep used to give her when she confronted them. It
was one of fear and intimidation.

Buffy. This Arduinna chick must be
pretty bad if he's scared of her. The former 'May
Queen' was beginning to think she
underestimated the immortal.
"I came to talk to the watcher if you must know."
His tone was sarcastic but there
was also a touch of nervousness as well.
"Really? I didn't know that master vampires made it
a habit to consort with
watchers."
"We don't. But sometimes exceptions need to be made.
And this is one of those
times."
"You care to elaborate on that, or are you gonna
leave us hanging?"
"Sorry pet, not unless you put that bloody stake
away."
Arduinna put the stake back into some hidden recess
of her pants, but only subtly
relaxed her fighting stance. Spike appeared to
slightly relax when he could no longer see
the stake, but was still perceptively nervous around
the immortal.
"Anyway, I assume you know that Angelus is back."
"Yes, we were just discussing that before Arduinna
arrived." Wesley added.
"Well, that's not the only thing you need to be
worried about. As we speak,
Drusilla is on her way here. She had a vision a
couple days ago, saw the poof's return and
headed straight here."
"Drusilla. Now, how is she doing, Spike? I take it
she's feeling better now-a-
days?" Spike lunged at Arduinna, but before he could
lay a hand on her, the immortal
sidestepped, kicked his feet out from under him, put
her foot on his neck, and held the
stake to his heart, still perfectly calm and focused.
The other occupants of the library
watched, amazed at how fast she moved, and didn't miss
the fact that despite his struggles,
Spike was unable to break her hold. "Spike, that
wasn't very smart. I would have thought
that you'd know by now not to do something like that.
It'll only get you into trouble." As
she said this she applied more pressure with her
booted foot, closing his windpipe, which
although he didn't breath, was quite uncomfortable for
the vampire. "So, are you going to
be good?" He nodded his head and she released her
hold on him.
He stood slowly, backing up away from her as he
rubbed his neck. Conflicting
emotions flashed across his face; fear, anger,
resentment, and respect, before he quickly
covered them with a stony expression that revealed
nothing.
"So basically, you want our help to get Dru back?
Again?" Xander wasn't
normally very cautious when it came to what he said,
and this moment was no exception.
A low warning growl escaped the blonde vampire's
throat at the teen's words but
at Arduinna's glare he refrained from doing anything
else. "I thought we could have an
exchange of sorts. I warn you Dru's in town, help you
with your Angelus problem, and
me and Dru will leave."
"Didn't we do this already?" Cordelia asked as she
looked up at Wesley and Giles.
"Ms. Chase does have a point," Wesley commented.
"You made a similar
exchange with Buffy, and yet you returned several
months later. What guarantee do we
have that you will keep your word this time?"
"Bloody 'ell. I don't know. I guess you'll just
have to trust me won't you?"
Wesley, Giles, Willow, Oz, Xander, and Cordelia looked
at the vampire as if he had
suddenly proposed they all run up and down the streets
in tutus. "Look, do you want my
'elp or not?" Spike never possessed much patience and
it could be heard in his voice.
"All right then. We should probably figure out how
we will deal with Angelus and
Faith, and Drusilla when she gets here." Giles said.
"Um, shouldn't we wait 'til Buffy gets here?" Oz
asked, speaking for the first time
since the arrival of the two unexpected guests.
"Wasn't she supposed to be on patrol?" Willow
wondered out loud.
"What does this, Buffy look like exactly?" Arduinna
questioned, an uneasiness
coming over her as she recalled the three figures she
had seen before coming to the library.
When Willow and Xander described the slayer that
unease turned to dread; which she
covered completely with the confident look and
attitude it had taken her almost 50 years
to master. "I don't think she'll be arriving any time
soon. I saw her walking towards the
out-skirts of town earlier with Angelus and another
young brunette; which I'm guessing
would be Faith."
Stunned and frightened silence descended upon the
library as everyone
contemplated the repercussion of Buffy being with the
vampire and newly reverted slayer.
"Oh dear." It was Giles who finally broke the
deafening quiet. "That would make things
quite difficult."
"Not necessarily. Neither Angelus, nor Faith will be
expecting Spike or I to be
helping you, and will not be adequately prepared. And
if, on the chance Drusilla has
already arrived, or will soon, and informs them that
Spike may be coming, a daylight strike
will through them further off guard," Arduinna said,
explaining her reasoning.
"And how exactly are we supposed to do that pet? In
case you forget, I happen to
have a slight adverse reaction to sunlight."
The immortal gave the blonde an amused smirk as she
answered cryptically, "You
learn a lot of interesting things in two and a half
centuries, *pet.*"
 
 
 

Part 2b

After discussing Arduinna's plan it was decided that
the next morning Spike and
Arduinna would attack, and while they fought Angelus,
Faith, and possibly Drusilla, Giles,
Willow, and Xander, with Oz driving, would get Buffy
out. Wesley and Cordelia would
stay at the library with medical supplies and anything
else they might need afterwards.
Once that was resolved Arduinna did a quick spell
that would ware off in 24 hours,
enabling Spike to be in the sunlight without the
normal burning.

Everyone remained in the library, nervously awaiting
sunrise to make their move.
The four teenagers were restless and heavily
caffenated by 12:30, and were unsuccessfully
trying to occupy themselves when Giles suggested
Arduinna fill them in on how she had
become an immortal, and what she had done for the last
250 plus years.
"That sounds like an excellent idea Mr. Giles. It
would be interesting to hear, and
I am sure the council would be glad to learn more
about their allusive aide."
At this idea, Willow leaned forward in her chair, her
attention peaked by the
opportunity to learn about Arduinna and her past.
Cordelia, Xander, and Oz were also
interested in hearing what the immortal had
experienced through out her life time.
Arduinna waited until everyone was seated around the
table before beginning her
tale of how she had first learned of her immortal
status.
 
 
 

London, 1759

Since her mother died from a scarlet fever epidemic
when she was five, and her
father spent most of his time in the local tavern,
Sarah had been raised by her older brother.
They were very close, so both Sarah and her brother
were upset when the time came that she
had to go to school in town and he joined the military
to earn money.
While attending school in London, Sarah became very
good friends with Emma
O'Conner, who had recently moved to London with her
sister from their home in Ireland.
Emma's dad was basically a drunken lay-a-bout, so she
was raised by her older sister, Katie,
since their mother was always preoccupied with
obtaining her social status, leaving Katie in
charge of the household until she married a young
Englishman, James Thomas. Emma had
moved in with Katie and James. Sarah also began
staying with them in their cottage on the
out-skirts of London while her and Emma attended
school nearby. The two younger girls,
both 9 years old, helped Katie take care of the house,
while Katie, 16, took care of the girls.
It was a cool evening in April and Katie was
preparing dinner as usual. "Em, Sarah,
come on in, it's gettin' dark and I need ya to set the
table fer me." Katie called from the
doorway. The two girls came inside and started
placing cups and bowls on the small
wooden table in the middle of the cottage. "Where is
uncle James? Shouldn't he be home by
naiw?" Emma asked her sister, a hint of concern
marring her thick Irish accent.
"He's at t' Willaims', helpin' them mend their fence
dear. He shall be back in a little
while." Katie reassured her. As Katie stirred the
pot over the stove and Sarah light a lamp,
there was a soft knock on the door. "That must be
uncle James." Sarah said cheerfully.
"Come on in darlin', supper is 'bout ready." Katie
called out. The door opened and a gust of
cold air entered the cottage followed by a tall figure
shrouded in black.
"I hope ya made ye famous apple pie fer dessert. I
always did love ye pies." Said a
deep male voice with an Irish accent. Katie froze at
the all too familiar voice. She stood up
and slowly turned around. As she looked at the man
standing in front of her in complete
shock she looked over to Emma and Sarah. Emma was
looking at her as well.
"Is it really you?" Emma asked in a small voice.
"It sure is, naiw come 'ere an' give me a hug." Emma
ran over to him, jumped into his
arms, and he spun her around.
"Put 'er down!" Katie said, her voice shaking
slightly.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Naiw that's no way to talk to ye big
brother, is it?" The man said
lightly. "Me Emma don't mind, do ya?" Emma shock her
head happily.
"Please put 'er down." Katie asked, her voice
shaking more noticeably this time. He
placed Emma on the ground saying, "Naiw that's more
like it." Katie called both girls over to
her and told them to stand behind her.
Both Emma and Sarah were confused, but they did what
they were told. "What do ya
want Angelus?" Katie questioned nervously.
 

Part 4a
"What do ya want, Angelus?"
"I came to see me sisters. I haven't seen ya since
ya got ye self a husband." Angelus
said, a strange, disturbing grin spreading across his
face. "What, ye don't believe me?" The
mocking tone in his voice sent shivers down Katie's
spine.
"Ahh. Drusilla, me sweet. Come see what ye Da'
found." Angelus said as a young
woman entered the cottage; his eyes never leaving
Katie. She was tall and thin with jet black
hair that reached just past her shoulders.
"Oh Angel! They are so young and pretty, and weak."
The woman said, a smile
twisting her lips. "You always pick out the best
gifts." Her voice was cheery and quite
contradictory to her apparent age. "I want that one
Angel. Can I have her?" She asked as she
pointed a long red fingernail at Sarah. Her voice
still sounded heavy with child-like
innocence, but her face shown with a maturity and
knowledge far beyond Katie's
comprehension. Her eyes were dark and empty, as if
she had experienced a pain so deep it
caused her to lose something she could never regain.
"Of course Dru. But the others are mine." Angelus
responded, his voice hard and
cold, holding no resemblance to the brother Katie had
once known. Although he was always
getting in trouble, especially at the local pubs, he
was never like this. Never cold, or
frightening. Her father was right; Angelus had
changed. This change in her older brother's
behavior was one of the reasons Emma had come to stay
with Katie in England. She felt it
was safer to have her little sister with her in
England, even though she had never thought
Angelus would follow through with the threats he had
made.
As Angelus and Drusilla began approaching them Katie
slowly backed up, Emma and
Sarah clinging tightly to her waist. Unfortunately
that only succeeded in getting them pinned
against the back wall of the cottage.
As she looked into the faces of her brother and the
raven haired woman Katie's mind
shifted to her husband James. He was probably
spending the night at the Willams' since it
was so late and he wouldn't be home until after work
tomorrow. "Are ye' thinkin' about ye'
pathetic husband? He can't save ya', or the
youngins'; and neither can you. Angelus said as if
reading her mind. She knew he was right, James
wouldn't be home till it was too late, and
how could she, a mere woman, and a young one at that,
fight Angelus?
"So, are ya ready for some fun Dru?" Angelus asked.

"Yes my Angel, lets have some fun, lots of fun." She
said with growing excitement.
"Then let's get to it! Gentlemen..." With a slight
motion of his hand, the four men that
had been standing just inside the door began
approaching Katie, Sarah, and Emma. Realizing
his intentions Katie told the girls to run as fast as
they could. However before they could get
to the door two of the 'men' grabbed Katie, and two
more took hold of Emma and Sarah.
Katie tried to get out of the grasp of her captors
but they only held tighter. She
watched as the other two vampires pulled the younger
girls to Angelus and Dru. Emma and
Sarah twisted and turned, trying the best they could
to brake free of the vampires that held
them; but were unsuccessful. Both girls were thrown
at Drusilla's feet and the vampress
gazed down at the small, frail, trembling bodies and
grinned maliciously. She reached down
and roughly pulled Sarah to her feet, and held the
girl's tear stained face in her hands.
Sarah knew as she looked into Dru's face that she
would be granted no mercy; there
was no chance for her, no survival. As she thought
about this, she pictured her brother's face.
He had always been there for her, giving her strength
and courage; but where was he now,
when she needed him the most? And what about Katie?
And Emma? What would happen to
them? With one last look at the face of the woman
that held her, as it became distorted in it's
natural demonic state ; she knew. She knew what would
happen, to herself, to Emma, and
Katie. Drusilla leaned over Sarah, and as she bit
into the girl's neck, Sarah had but one
thought, one wish: that she could see her brother
again.

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