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~Part: 1~

Willow could now admit it to herself, she has absolutely no idea why she's doing what she's doing. First she goes and has an actual conversation with an actual guy. Then she leaves the safety of the bronze with him. Now here she is, prancing through the graveyard, like and idiot and scared to death. She used to pride herself on her intelligence. However she seems to have none now. It's all Xanders fault she thought crossly. *Oh, Willow, we're high schoolers now, we need to get out and party more. Yeah, right, if I end up dead I am so going to come and kick his ass.* She suddenly looked up as the guy she was with put a vice like grip on her arm. "Hey that hurts, let go," she pleaded with him.

"We are here," the man rasped and turned to her, but instead of the handsome face from before, he wore a grotesque mask of ridges and had yellow glowing eyes that filled her with foreboding. She wanted to scream, she really did, but couldn't. Suddenly she heard thrashing behind her and yelling. She turned around and saw another person come through the trees with the same face as the man that held her. Kicking and screaming behind her was a person she knew all to well. "Xander!!!"

"Let go of me you stupid bitch, no means no, and I said...Willow, oh my God what are you doing here?" he asked, finally managing to raise to his feet as the woman stopped suddenly.

"Thomas, this is all you brought for the Master, she is barely enough to share." Darla said laughing at the petite girl before her.

"She is better than that thing you call a human, listen to him, his mouth will make the Master angry." Thomas was angry that she would question his judgment. The girl was plenty.

Now Xander was mad. He had no idea who, or what, these things were, but he didn't like to be ignored. "Hello, we are right here, no need to talk in the third person."

Behind him a new voice joined in the conversation. "Oh, but that is one of the things she's best at. She hasn't mastered the concept of manners yet, have you Darla."

Everyone turned to face the newcomer. Xander saw the most gorgeous man that he has ever seen crouching on a head stone watching them with a sexy smirk on his face. Yes, Xander was gay, he knew it, and Willow knew, that was as far as his secret went, but he really wouldn't mind him finding out.

The blonde vampire, Darla, turned and faced him. "My Angel, you never seemed to mind my lack of manners before, in fact if I remember correctly, you were quite fond of them."

"Yeah, well things change."

"Not us, not demons."

"Look around you Darla, it's a whole new world, and I am a whole new person."

"Ah, but your not are you? Your not really a person, haven't been in quite some time if I remember correctly."

All of a sudden the death like grip the strange man had on Willow loosened and she turned to see what caused it. The man who called himself Thomas had a piece of wood sticking out of his chest. He growled and Willow watched him turn to dust. Behind him stood a new man who made her heart skip a beat. While the man on the tombstone was dark, dark hair and dark eyes, this one was light. His white bleached hair and his blue eyes that held their piercing gaze on her, making a heat she never felt rush through her body, and she knew her body was turning an embarrassing shade of pink.

William gazed at the red headed goddess before him and was struck with feelings he hadn't felt in years. Not since the spell and he realized what an insane bitch his sire, his dark princess, Drusilla had been. He mentally shook himself. *Concentrate on the task at hand and save her so that you can maybe concentrate on her later.* "Hey, you stupid poof. You talk to much. If you don't hurry up, I'll finish it myself, the stupid bint means nothing to me."

"William" Angel warned at the same time that Darla said "Spike."

"Spike, I haven't been called that in years, makes me almost nostalgic. Almost." William said.

"You too, huh? Well, like father like son. However, I never liked you so killing you won't be that hard." Darla growled and leapt at him.

Willow stepped in front of William for a reason she didn't know, just that she didn't want this mysterious man to be hurt. Darla crashed into her and they both hit the ground hard. Willow had wind knocked out of her, but looked over just in time to see Darla reach for her having had recovered already. She picked Willow up throwing her into Xander making them both collapse in a heap of arms and legs.

Darla turned to William in time to receive a roundhouse to the face. She turned with the blow, she then swept her feet out from under her and knock William to the ground. Before he could recover fully, Angel tackled Darla and two more minions came out of nowhere and attacked William.

Willow and Xander watched the fight with wonderment and awe. Never once did the idea of why or how they knew what these creatures were cross their. They watched as Darla pushed Angel into the vampires William were fighting. Darla then proceeded to turn and run into the woods and disappear. Angel and William then made the two fledgling turn to dust.

William and Angel turned to the two human that still were sprawled on the ground and they looked into the distorted faces of their saviors and the fear that left when they arrived reappeared stronger than before.
 

~Part: 2~

Willow and Xander backed away from the two men that had just saved their lives. They hit a headstone and were unable to go any farther. Willow started making those vowel sounds she was so good at as Xander finally found his voice, “what are you guys?”

William and Angel looked confused for a minute but then realized they had their game faces on. Their faces melted back to their human disguises and the two actual human before them visibly relaxed. “Look we didn’t mean to scare you. Don’t worry, we’re the good guys,” Angel said looking at Xander.

“Yes, but what are you?” Willow repeated Xander question.

“Well,” William said nervously, and switched from foot to foot, “we’re vampires.”

“Vampires? As in fangy ‘I vant to suck your blood,’ turn into bats, vampires? Xander asked with a look of amusement and disbelief on his face.

“We don’t turn into bats, just that bloody poof Dracula does. Ruins the image for the rest of us he does. He went and turned to the gypsies to learn their show tricks. Damn gypsies provide us with nothing but torment.”

“So you guys can’t fly, that sucks.”

“Not really, I have a bloody brilliant Firebird.”

“Oh,” Xander said suddenly realizing that he was having a conversation with a blood sucking fiend from beyond the grave. “So are you guys going to kill us now, because that would suck.” He paused, “that pun wasn’t intended.”

Angel laughed at Xanders worries. “No, like we said, we’re the good guys.” He walked forward and extended his hand to help Xander up.

William moved forward to help Willow up. He grabbed her hand and pulled her flush against him, “Hey, the name’s William. And you are?”

Willow felt her whole body blush at his words. “Wi..Willow, my names Willow, like the tree. My parents were nature freaks when I was born and we had willow tree in our yard, they named me after the tree, sort of like the Indians, though now it’s politically correct to call them native Americans and…I’m sorry, I have a tendency to babble.”

William was laughing at her as Willow glowed an even brighter red than she previously was. Xander raised his eyebrows at the couple. *So, Willow has a thing for blondy. He’s not half bad, not as cute as this brunette god in front of me.*

Xander turned to said brunette god. “He’s William, she’s Willow, I’m Xander, Alexander Lavelle Harris actually, but don’t tell anyone please. So, who are you?”

Angel chuckled again, “My names Angel, and I think I’m going to walk you, Alexander Lavelle Harris, to your house.” He took his arm, “just to keep you safe. There’s more than vampires that go bump in the night. William, I’ll meet you back at the mansion.”

“So, Angel, only one name, isn’t that awfully 80’s of you?” Xander asked as they walked off.

“Bloody poof,” William muttered. He turned back to Willow. “Shall I walk you home Lady Willow?” he asked bowing.

Willow smiled and bowed as well, “it would be my honor Sir William.”

They turned and walked towards her house and Willow asked him, “what does ‘bloody poof’ mean?”

William smiled at her innocence. “Angel has a thing for your friend Xander.”

“How can you tell?”

“He laughed.”

“Oh, good.”
 

~Part: 3~

Willow and Xander met in the library before school the next day, each eager to discuss their evenings and the events that happened after their separation. They walked in and said hello to Giles, the weird new librarian from England. He greeted them with a proper English nod and greeting. Willow couldn’t help herself and squealed in a very childish way. He sounded like William. She couldn’t help it, she now found a British accent quite sexy. Not that Giles is sexy, he’s old. *Great,* Willow thought, *I even babble in my thoughts.*

Xander had a silly grin on his face. He had met the man that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Angel had been perfect. He laughed at all of Xanders jokes, even the lame ones, and he even made a few rather funny ones himself. He was cute, had a sense of humor, and seemed to like Xander as well. If he could get the courage to do something like kiss Angel, he would die a happy man. Xander’s minds now began to wander to all the dirty things that he and Angel could do. “God Wills, I just realized how much our life has changed in the past twenty four hours.”

“I know what you mean,” Willow said. “Yesterday we were all like oooh, pop quiz, today day we are like, oh my gosh, Vampires.” Willow looked up as the librarian seemed to make a strange coughing like noise. He had a weird expression on his face, but before she could ask what was wrong the phone in his office began ringing. She shrugged it off and turned to Xander.

All of a sudden loud yelling came from the office, “she’s not coming, what do you mean she’s not coming….I bloody well don’t care if you feel she’s needed in Cleveland… oh don’t give me that, Cleveland is not settled on top of the Hellmouth as Sunnydale has proven to be…the Master is lying in wait somewhere around here, what if he manages to escape… no I am not returning to England, without the Slayer here, this town needs all the help it can get.”

The two children heard the phone slam and a string of very British swear words. Xander and Willow as one stood and walked to the office door as one and prepared themselves for what they knew was going to be an intense confrontation.

Giles walked out of his office after he felt he composed himself enough, as he stepped back in the library he came face to face with the two students he had just heard talking about vampires. The young man looked at him expectantly, “what was that about?” Giles began to silently curse himself again, he hadn’t realized he left the door open.

“It was nothing, simply…part of a play I’m working on, yes that’s it, a play,” Giles said nervously cleaning his glasses. These children were innocents and couldn’t be pulled into his world, wouldn’t be if he help it.

Willow looked at him sharply and said with a courage that she didn’t seem to have the day before. “You’re lying, you mentioned the master, and those vampires that captured us last night said that we were going to be fed to the master.”

Giles looked with shock at the two tenth graders before him. *They were gifts for the Master and they are standing before me now? How is that possible?* “What vampires would that be?”

“I don’t know,” Xander said, “getting to know people who try to kill me isn’t on the top of my priority list. Angel called that one girl Darla, I don’t remember the others name. He took you, do you remember Willow?”

Willow shook her head, “no, they said it, I know, but I was beyond scared at the time so it slips my mind.” She then turned to Xander and grinned, “you however seem to remember everything that Angel said.”

Xander blushed but decided to turn the tables on her, “really, and you weren’t captivated by a certain bleached vampire, as well.”

Willow now blushed and muttered to him to be quite. Willow, eager to get the attention off of her turned back to Giles, “so what do you know?”

Giles had been following their conversation with a mixture of interest and confusion both of which showed on his face. Giles proceeded to clean his glasses again, “I’m sorry, exactly how many vampires last night were there?” Giles paused finally realizing that he had all but admitted that there are vampires. He mentally kicked himself, and since he couldn’t do it physically, he settled for cleaning his glasses again.

Xander and Willow launched into their description of the night before, “there were four,” “no there were six, remember two more came later,” “oh, yeah, Darla had me and some guy had Willow,” “then Angel and William came and saved us…”

They were interrupted by Giles exclamation of “bloody hell, I just realized who they are. How could I forget?”

Willow and Xander were confused, to say the least, at his outburst, “who?”

“Darla, is the Master right hand man, she was sired by him in the 1600’s and is ruthless, in the mid 1700’s, she sired a man, he was named Angelus, the one with the angelic face.”

He was interrupted by Xander saying, “God, yes he was.”

Giles raised his eyebrows and moved on, “together they were a force to be reckoned with, but then in the 1800’s Angelus was joined by a new vampire, William the Bloody, his sire is unknown but is told to be of the same line, those three and the fourth who isn’t as well known, were known as the scourge of Europe they wrecked havoc and destruction wherever they went, then about a hundred years ago they disappeared off the face of the world, Darla has been around since, but no Angelus and no William the Bloody. You are lucky to have gotten away with your lives.”

Willow and Xander were shocked with the fact that they men they became attracted to last night weren’t the same. Willow sat down hard and leaned her head forward so that her hair was covering her face. Xander looked crestfallen, “but that’s not right, they saved us, and they killed three vampires. They walked us home to keep us safe. This isn’t right, it can’t be.”

Giles looked at them sharply, “they walked you home? You didn’t invite them into your houses did you?”

Xander looked back at him and said, “no, what type of hussies do you think we are? They didn’t even take us out on a date.”

Giles shook his head at the young mans antics “promise you two won’t invite them into your house until we know that their intentions are right. Vampires don’t just wake up on day and decide to be good. I want to know why they suddenly changed sides.”

Willow stood suddenly and looked at the librarian with a ferocity that no one knew she had, “we’ll ask them what happened, but don’t tell us to stay away, I trust them and will not have you telling me I shouldn’t.” She turned on her heel and stormed out.

Xander looked at Giles, “yeah, what she said.” He turned and followed her out of the library.
 

~Part: 4~

“Wow Wills, you have some claws on you. I’ve never seen you react that way to anyone.” Xander said as he caught up with Willow in the hallway after the big production in the library. “You really like that bleached superman don’t you?”

“I…yeah, I don’t know why or how to explain it, but I really want to see if maybe one day…I want him to like me, as a guy likes a girl and maybe do couply things, like smoochies, and dating.” Her head hung as she realized where she was in life. “I’m almost seventeen and have never really been liked or kissed or…anything.”

Xander was worried about her, he had known her all of his life and she never seemed to get upset about a guy or even care about a guy other than herself. His thoughts were interrupted as behind him he heard the voice of the one person he couldn’t stand. Cordelia Chase. “Willow, you found your self an actual guy, and what bizzaro world is he from? What about you Xander, did you finally find yourself a man?”

Xander was fuming, “What are you talking about Cordy? I haven’t found a woman, but other than that, we have such a hard time finding a date because we’re not into you cast offs.”

“Please loser, you are a straight as a bent arrow, I have to go now, I’m getting hives from being around you two.” Cordelia turned on her heel and walked away with her posse of fawning chicks.

Xander wasn’t ashamed of being gay, he really wasn’t. The thing was he was in high school, where he would be ridiculed and no doubt beat up beyond recognition. Cordelia knowing was worse than the rest of the school put together. However he could probably shut her up if he showed up with Angel on his arm. Oh, he was pathetic, now he was thinking of Angel as arm candy. He was almost as bad as Cordelia.

Willow turned and grabbed Xanders arm and began to pull him towards the front doors of the school. “Come on Xander, it’s time we had a talk with those two vampires friends of ours.”

Xander followed as she pulled him letting her lead the way to her destination, “and we are going to talk to them how, we don’t know were they are. And what if they don’t want to be found and cornered by us?” Xander’s insecurities began to set in as he realized that like Willow, in his seventeen years he had never known anyone in a romantic way, these new found feelings scared the shit out of him and what scared him even more is, what if Angel didn’t want him?

Willow stopped in her tracks, she wasn’t stupid or a novice at Xander speech, she knew what was bothering him, because the same thing was bothering her when it came to William. Willow hugged Xander hard and looked at him, “don’t worry, Angel likes you, I promise, William told me so, and he’s known him for over a hundred years. He knows Angel, and Angel likes you.”

Xander smiled at his best friend, he hugged her back and motioned for her to proceed on their way to wherever their destination was. Willow dragged him into the computer lab and said hello to Miss Calendar. The other new teacher, Willow couldn’t help but wonder if there was some secret life she was leading that had to do with vampires and, what was it that Mr. Giles called it? The Hellmouth. Willow wouldn’t put it past her.

Willow and Xander took a computer in the back of the room and Willow hacked onto the net. Xanders curiosity got the better of him and he asked her how she was going to find them on the net. “Last night they said that they would meet back at the mansion, Sunnydale is middle class suburbia and there are only a few mansions in the city limits. All of them are registered under the city planning department. Find the mansion that has recently been moved into or if there is none, because I’m not sure if they legally bought it, then whichever ones are vacant according to their records. If there are more than one, we’ll check each one.”

Xander looked at her, more than mildly impressed. “So, getting into these city plans is perfectly legal right?”

Willow ducked her head and blushed with guilt. “Um, yeah?”

Xander laughed at her and said “naughty Willow, what would William say? Well, he could be into that whole bad girl thing, so he may like it.” His comment caused Willow to blush even deeper and type even faster, in hope to change the subject.

A few minutes passed before Willow finally exclaimed that she found it. There was an old mansion on Crawford street, that had just recently been bought by a William Braden. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on the two because that was their hideaway and playhouse when they were little. The attic was even headquarters to their ‘We Hate Cordelia Club.’ “Well we found them, I guess it’s time to go visit our two potential hotties.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow and Xander stood outside of the setting of so many of their childhood memories. Back when everything was simple, when the opposite sex was yucky and had cooties, back when vampires was just another one of the boogiemen that existed under their beds that would never harm them. They knew that when they walked into the mansion that their entire perspective on life would extremely altered. “Well, lets go!” Xander exclaimed way to cheerfully.

They walked up to the door and knocked listening to the hallow echo on the other side of the door. A few seconds later the door was opened and they entered slowly. As soon as they were in the door slammed and they turned to see Angel standing there. He had a crossbow in his hands and wasn’t wearing a shirt. Xander immediately turned into a slobbering fool having to many hormones run through his system all at once. Willow wasn’t as obvious as Xander was, but she was enjoying the view. “Xander, Willow, what are you doing here? How did you find us?”

Behind them William entered the room also sans shirt. It was Willows turn to act the blushing virgin, which she was, but maybe he would fix it soon, and it was Xanders turn to appreciate the masterpiece before him. “Bloody hell, peaches, think you can slam the door any harder?” He then finally noticed the two mortals in the room, “Willow? What are you two doing here?”

Willow finally regained the ability to make complete sentences, “We want answers, why are you the good guys, what is the Hellmouth, who is the Slayer, who is the Master, and who the hell our librarian is?”
 

~Part: 5~

The three men in the room stood stunned at the redheads outburst. Xander was the most shocked out of them all, he didn’t know Willow had courage to say things like that. She had two outbursts like that in one day, two more than he heard her have in the past seventeen years put together. Not only did she have the two outbursts but one was to an adult and the other was to two people who could kill her with a flick of their wrists. *Blondey over there is having a real affect on her and I can’t decide if it’s good or bad.*

Willow watched as the two vampires seem to have a conversation between themselves. She was growing more irritated by the second and was about to yell again when Angel spoke up. “Okay, we’ll answer your questions to the best of our abilities, no promises though. Lets move to the living room. This may take a bit.” He let out a sigh he shouldn’t have been able to and led them to the living room.

When they entered the room the two humans saw all the mats lying on the floor and their shirts thrown carelessly on the couch. “What were you guys doing?” Xander asked and the two vampires answered simultaneously “Tai Chi.”

Willow watched as William pulled his shirt on, his abs rippled, flaunting most of his assets. Willow felt herself flush and grow warm in places she didn’t even know she had. *God, how can his body do that? It can’t be humanly possible…and he’s not. Human that is. Which is why I’m here, so back on top, I mean topic. Yeah back to the reason we’re here…oh, look at his butt…no, no more looking. They are vampires and I want answers.* Willow looked at Xander, he was just as captivated by Angel as she had been by William only seconds before. However, judging by the look on his face it was going to be harder to get him to focus. Then Angel bent over to pick something up and she knew all hope was lost *Oh, no, I’ve lost Xander to the dark side, and is he…yep, he’s drooling.*

Xander’s thoughts weren’t as complete as Willow’s at this point *Angel, butt, Angel, nice butt, Angel bending over, mmmmmmm. Wow, William bending over, William butt, mmmmmmm…oh, shit, I’m drooling, act cool.*

Angel and William sat opposite of the humans and looked at them, unsure of where to start. That was when they first noticed their expressions, Willow was alternating, between looking embarrassed and irritated, depending on who she was looking at. Xander just looked embarrassed and was looking anywhere but at the two vampires. He was shifting nervously in his seat, that was when Angel noticed the bulge in Xanders pants and was so glad that vampires couldn’t blush, because then he would be the shade of Willows hair. Also, he noticed he was aroused now as well. He was in deep shit, there was no telling how long this conversation would last. He tried unsuccessfully to will his erection away, but he knew as long as Xander was across from him, he was stuck.

William could feel the tension that was cracking in the room. Not to mention he could smell the arousals of all three of them and knew his scent was slowly but surely joining the air. He stopped sniffing the delectable scents and focused on what they were here for. What they hunted them down for. *Damn, they are either really stupid or really smart, I can’t decide yet.*

No one seemed to be focusing on the point here so Willow decided to bring it back to attention. “Okay, lets start these questions one at a time, first, what is a slayer?”

Angel relaxed a little, “the slayer is one girl in the world chosen to fight vampires and the other demons that inhabit the planet. The current slayer is a girl named Buffy Summers, she is supposed to be on her way here as we speak, or she could already be here, I’m not sure yet.”

Xander perked up, “wait, did you say Buffy. That’s what, or who Giles was yelling about, Buffy’s not coming, she’s going somewhere else, Columbia or Cincinnati, no, it was Cleveland.”

William stood abruptly and began pacing, “shit, she’s not coming, I told you not to count on her peaches. Damn it do you know what this means? The harvest is tomorrow night, without her we have to stop her, if not we are all screwed. Fuck!” William lit a cigarette and began to puff away like a locomotive. Willow and Xander watched his actions with shock and a little bit of fear.

Angel looked at the human, “Giles, I’m guessing he’s your librarian huh? He’s the watcher then, are you sure he said she wasn’t coming?”

Xander nodded, “Yeah, he was yelling in the phone, lost all of his famous British cool, very scary. Wait, what’s a watcher?”

“Bloody hell, a Watcher is part of the bloody council, they are the bloody arses that train the bloody slayers that we have to put up with.” William yelled still pacing and smoking his second, or was it third, cigarette. Both human seemed shocked at his outburst, Angel seemed angry.

“Damn it, Spike sit down now and be quiet, I don’t want to hear you say bloody one more time. I know you are upset, but we can’t deal with your temper tantrums right now.” Both vampires eyes glowed amber and William let a growl out. However he did sit down and put out his cigarette, Angel called him Spike, he only did that when he was angry.

“What’s the harvest and why do you have to stop it? Oh, and what‘s a hell mouth?” Willow asked, she felt scared for the first time since she had first seen their faces. William had been so sweet and gentle up till then, and when he wasn’t she reverted to her formerly shy disguise.

William looked at her and seemed to visibly calm, which amazed Angel to no end. They could both sense her fear and it upset William. He never wanted this female to be afraid of him for any reason what so ever. “You live on the Hellmouth, Sunnydale is the Hellmouth. Now, the harvest is a ritual that when completed will let the Master escape his prison. Tomorrow night, a chosen vessel will be let out to feed and build the Masters strength so he can escape his prison that he was trapped in over 60 years ago. If he walks free, it will be hell on earth, quite literally.”

Willow nodded, this brought up the real question that she had wanted to ask since she arrived, “so, you go guys are vampires, shouldn’t you like that type of stuff. Why are you so different than the rest?”

William and Angel looked at each other and seemed to have a conversation between each other with their eyes. William signaled for Angel to start. “Over two hundred years ago I was turned by a vampire named Darla. I was ruthless and vicious, I was known as Angelus. I sired a girl named Drusilla, however before I turned her I drove her insane. Not to much longer after that, she sired this young man sitting next to me, William Braden, known at that time as William the bloody.”

Xander interrupted at this point. “I’m probably going to regret this, but why were you called William the bloody, and please, no gruesome details.”

William mumbled something looking at the ground his embarrassment clearly written on his face. Angel however broke out into a large grin. “My boy here was a poet, and he was ‘bloody awful’” he said adding the accent on the last two words, “hence the nickname. He still writes it too, of course he doesn’t know I know do you buddy.” William started stuttering his disbelief and pronouncing many loud and fake disclaimers of it all being lies. Xander and Angel were laughing outright at him. Willow smiled and looked at him, “can I read some of it sometime?” William threw his hands in the air sat back and did a manly job of pouting.

Angel and Xander both finally calmed down and wiped the tears from the face. Willow indicated that Angel should continue which immediately sobered him up. “Anyway, the three of us and my sire, Darla, traveled Europe creating chaos and destruction, the usual bit of hell on earth. Them one day about 80 years ago, Darla gave me a gift of a beautiful gypsy. I drained her and left her for her clan to find. Gypsies, in my experience, are heavily into vengeance. They cursed me. Gave me back my soul. I have to live with everything I’ve done and I have to live forever. You don’t know what it’s like to have done what I’ve done and care.”

Angel quieted and got a blank look on his face which William could tell he entered one of his brooding sessions and he knew he had to take over from here. “Angel came back to our lair that night, broken, scared and guilt ridden. Darla wanted nothing to do with him and walked out. We hadn’t seen or heard of her until last night. Drusilla, well she’s another story. She’s an insane bitch, but she was my dark goddess and my demon loved her with every once of humanity it lacked. She was a seer and experienced in black magic. She cursed me with my soul that night as well. She went on and on about her Daddy would need me in the years to come. She walked out the next night and I, we, haven’t seen hide nor hair of the stupid bint since then.”

William joined Angel in his brooding, and both Willow and Xander didn’t feel right interrupting them so they sat there in silence each lost in his or her own thoughts.

After almost an hour past Willow cleared her throat, “look, guys, it’s dark, we need to get home, it’s dangerous out there you know.”

William and Angel shook themselves out of their self induced dazed and realized Willow was right. “Yeah, we’ll walk you guys home,” Angel said, his voice husky with emotion and guilt. “Come on Xander, I’ll take you home and keep you safe.” The two men left the house and headed for Xander’s .

William and Willow looked at each other and began to walk towards her house, not really talking, just enjoying each others company. When they reached her house, she turned to him, “thank you for telling me all of that tonight, I know it was hard and, well, I just want to say I appreciate it.”

William smiled softly, “Thank you for listening Red.” He leaned forward and kissed her chastely on her mouth. He turned and his duster billowed out behind him. Willow touched her lips that tingled softly, she just received her first kiss from a master vampire with a soul, how much weirder could her life get?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel walked Xander to his door and as Xander opened the door Angel spoke up for the first time since they left the mansion. “Will you go to the Watcher tomorrow and talk to him, tell him to find all the information he can on the harvest. Bring it to us as soon as possible, we need all the information we can to stop the Hellmouth from opening.”

Xander nodded his consent. As Angel turned to leave, he reached out and grabbed his arm. “This Darla, did she mean a lot to you?”

Angel looked at him with a blank stare, “she’s my sire.” He said it as if it explained everything, which it did in a weird, complex way. Angel leaned forward suddenly and kissed Xander. This kiss had a sense a desperation and a deep feeling of passion behind it. Angel pulled away to soon for Xander’s wishes. He walked away, fighting every instinct that his body had, both to fuck the human senseless or to run from the feelings that no mortal should be able to inflict on him. Feeling he shouldn’t be aloud to feel. Instead he was trying not to hurt the mortal boys feelings with his desperation to escape.

Xander touched his lips that tingled softly, he just received his first kiss from a master vampire with a soul, how much weirder could his life get?
 

~Part: 6~

The two vampires and the three mortals stood outside of the Bronze, knowing that tonight was going to change everything. The vampires were unsure why they let the humans with them. The watcher guy, they could care less about, it was his job and they never liked the damn council anyway, they always staked before they looked. However their two human, fascinations, as they liked to call them, shouldn’t be there. They were innocents and they destroyed to many of those in their past to want to do it to these two. They knew that they couldn’t stop the humans though, they would have snuck in after them, of that they were sure. At least this way they could keep an eye on them.

The vampires had already taken siege of the Bronze. The vampires who were ironically their brothers, in the vampire world that is, and now it was time to play a deadly game of family feud.

William had searched the outside of the Bronze and found only one way in that they could access without setting off alarms and their death bells. A window on the second floor that was open and unguarded. He just prayed that the four of them, five, he kept forgetting the watcher, survived, if anything happened to Willow, he didn’t know what he would do. He smiled, what the hell had he turned into? A great big wanker is what, but she was worth it, he could feel it. Of course he wasn’t as bad as his sire.

Angel was scared. How Darla would laugh if she knew, the Scourge of Europe was terrified. Not of the fight, or that he would win of lose, but because he was dragging a mortal that he was sure he loved into a battle that could end his life. When the hell did he start caring about others? When he received his soul he felt guilt for what he did, then he felt an obligation to humanity for his mistakes, but he never cared, until two days ago. Yeah, Darla would be laughing her ass off.

Willow reached out and grabbed Williams arm. She knew that by helping them she was giving up her childhood innocence and as much as she wanted to be a grown up, she wanted to hide in her room and wait for the bad men to disappear. She knew though that the bad men weren’t figments of her imagination and no matter where she hid, they would find her. It was a dark world that she merely existed in, and the shadows that held the monsters were even darker. Life was different now, the monsters were really after her and she was in love with one of them.

Xander was in full panic mode. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He had trouble matching his wardrobe, a point which Cordelia loved to fixate on, now he was going to save the world. He just hoped the world wasn’t to disappointed when he screwed up. Honestly though, he didn’t care anymore, the entire world could think he was trash and beat him into submission, as long as he had Angel and Willow, and yes even William on his side. Two days ago, his life was a whirlwind of trivial details, and his main concern was keeping his gayness a secret, now the world could know for all he cared, as long as the world didn’t end two minutes later.

Giles mind was torn. He wanted to concentrate on the nights events about to take place, but he couldn’t focus on it. Not while the two humans that he felt he dragged into a world they didn’t belong in. They were fraternizing with the enemy, so to speak. He had heard of they soul restorations, weather he wanted to believe it or not was unclear. He nervously cleaned his glasses, scared that he was actually walking into a trap. He knew that the vampires had given him no reason to believe they had evil intentions and they seemed rather protective of the two teenagers, but they were 200 plus, there is no telling if it is actually a great charade. If it was, he was as good as dead already. He sighed and put his glasses back on, “let’s go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow and Xander walk through campus the next day listening to the gossip of the ‘evil gang’ that attacked everyone at the bronze the night before. They listened in on Cordelia’s account of the story both trying to keep their faces straight at her inaccuracies. They listened as she told how traumatized she was, but she was so sure that she was going to hook up with those two fine men that rescued her.

What really happened was Xander rescued her from Darla, then Luke, the vessel as he was called grabbed him trying to make him the next meal. Right before that Luke had thrown Willow into a wall after she jumped on his back. Angel and William went all evil vamp, and between them managed to tear Luke apart, literally. This shocked the two humans to no end, not because their evil vampires showed, but because of the way they reacted to them being hurt.

Yeah, last night changed their lives forever, they knew it and accepted it. But this new twist to their lives was something they didn’t want to miss.
 

~Part: 7~

Willow and Xander sat in the corner of the gym watching the cheerleader tryouts. They really weren’t interested in it, but neither wanted to go to their so called homes and be either alone or yelled at. Going to the library was out until Giles got of his rant about them “going out” with vampires, souled or not. They had already sat there for two hours, at least, on this day alone, watching him clean his glasses and say how they couldn’t see William or Angel because they were evil. *Evil salty goodness,* Xander thought with a grin.

Willow watched the girl Amber Grove take her turn at trying out, “What’s the point of cheerleading? Honestly? I mean, it’s degrading to woman, saying that we are just here to provide men with an excuse to drool. It says that we are brainless trolls living in a male dominant world and trained, like dogs I may add, to wear short skirts and jump around. No offense, Xander.”

Xander laughed at Willows rambling. In the past week she had progressed so much from this shy computer nerd, to a girl with confidence and grace, but there would always be part of the little girl with pig tales beneath the cool demeanor. Part of him wished that she would just slow down and give him a chance to catch up.

“No offense taken, I have no interest in the cheerleaders if that makes you feel better. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing Angel jumping up and down in front of me, though not in a short skirt, that’s just…I think disturbing a good word.”

It was Willows turn to laugh, but it was cut short by the new visual entertainment Amber was providing. She had caught on fire. *Fire pretty* Willow thought before jumping up and running with Xander where the screaming crowd was gathered. She thought it was amazing that with about 50 people here none were trying to help, they were either staring or running away screaming. She couldn’t help but notice Cordelia was one of the ones running and screaming, *there goes some of her coolness points.*

Willow stopped and stood by Amy Madison, one of her childhood friends, while Xander grabbed a banner that was waiting to be hung and tackled Amber the ground. He smothered the flames on the girl, then tried to comfort her without physically harming her. Amber sobs destroyed the silence that had rolled through the gym. Willow looked at Amy just in time to see her smug grin right before she had turned and walked out of the gym

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So you are saying that she was caught on fire.” Giles asked the two teenagers before him.

Xander let out a loud sigh of frustration causing Angel to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “No, it wasn’t like she was playing with matches, she was standing there, by no one, being perky, then suddenly she was fire, poof. It’s all supernatural. You are supposed to know this stuff. What the hell happened?”

“I wasn’t there, so I couldn’t tell you, exactly. I may be trained in this type of stuff, but I am not a mind reader.”

Angels eyes glowed yellow and he growled at the watcher, making him step back even farther from the vampire than he already was. “He told you everything that happened at least ten times since I’ve been here. It’s your job to do the rest. Don’t you dare blame my Xander if you are to incompetent to do your own job.” He took a few steps towards the watcher but was stopped by both Xanders and Williams hands on his arms. Looking at the two of them plus the worried red head calmed him considerably.

Xander inwardly sighed a breath of relief when Angel sat down and took his hand. He was still tense and Xander could feel it in the way that he held his hand so rough, but he wasn’t going to say anything until he felt that he was doing serious harm to his hand.

“Giles, we’ll help you with anything you need to figure this out. But we need you to try and actually figure it out. Also, I know you don’t like nor trust William and Angel, but we need their help. Without this slayer coming, we all need to work together, especially if this is the Hellmouth. You don’t have to like them, but try and trust them.” Willow said all of this with a weary tone in her voice while watching William unconsciously drawing designs on her hand with his fingers.

Giles looked at the four of them, Angels pist off look, Willows tired look, Xanders worried and pained look. William, well he just looked amused, and Giles could see the look of adoration he had each time he looked at Willow, it was the same that Angel had when looking at Xander. Giles felt his insides twist each time he saw that look, but so far he was able to keep his lunch down. “Very well, I’ll be civil, as long as they do the same. I shall also begin researching the fire. I would appreciate it if you and Xander would help me research. William, why don’t you and your sire do a patrol?”

William grinned at the watchers skip of saying Angels name, “sure thing mate.” He gave Willow a peck on the check then grab his sires hand and began to drag him out the door. “Come on daddy, we have a world to save. There is evil afoot, and you are almost out of that nancy boy hair gel you like so much.” Williams comment was followed by a string of curses from Angel that made Giles wince.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow sat in her bed later that night after five hours of research her and Xander had managed to escape. Not that Xander had done much research, he ate and talked for the first three then slept the last two. They still got nothing accomplished. They found a list of at least 8 demons that can set. Plus there was the whole possibility of witchcraft. Apparently, it’s not just for the movies.

Something was bugging Willow in the back of her mind. She didn’t know what it was, but it was there. Like she was half way to work and trying to remember if she left her hair dryer on. Her focus kept coming back to Amy. It was that smile that was causing her mind to do this. But Amy had smiled lots of times, not liked it was something new. Just, what was it?

It suddenly clicked in Willows mind. A couple of months ago, Amy did a complete about face in her actions. Her sudden urgency to lose weight, to be popular and athletic, but most of all to be a cheerleader like her mother. *Why though, why the sudden change?*

Willows musings were interrupted by a knock on her balcony doors. She went and opened them, coming face to face with William. She grinned and any dark or depressing thoughts about Amy fled. Hell, all thoughts about Amy fled. William had that power over her. When he was around, the lights everywhere else dimmed.

“Hello, my fair lady, I have heard that there is a lady in distress here and hoped that I could be of service.”

Willow giggled, this was a game they played often. “I am sorry kind sir. There is no damsel in distress here. If you wish you may try the next door over.”

“I’m not a sure Red, those looked like dark thoughts you were having. No one a bright as yourself should have to deal with thoughts such as those.”

“They’re not dark, just deep.”

Willow moved to the side to let William into her room. He sat at her desk as she resumed her position on her bed. “Seriously, though, you just left an hour ago, why are you back so soon? Not that I don’t want you here. Just…why?”

“My bloody sire won’t shut up. I’m glad he’s happy, just, it’s always Xander this and Xander that. Xander is great, but there is only so many times that I can hear how great he is before I want to rip his tongue out.”

“Actually, I was about to start talking about Xanders many wonderful attributes, maybe you can tell me any I missed,” Willow teased.

William growled playfully at her. “You are just trying to change the subject, what were you thinking about before?”

“I think I may have a theory on the fire, maybe, I want to check it out before we act on it.”

“Will you get hurt, cause you bloody well tell me now before you go and get yourself killed.”

“No, daddy I won’t get hurt. Promise.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow yawned as she leaned against the lockers. William had left her house at 3:00 that morning. She loved the fact that they could sit for hours, comfortably, and talk to him. About nothing, everything, it didn’t matter.

However, there was a down side, she had to make it through the school day on only four hours of sleep. That was no way to live. But she did it, because the concept of staying home from school was downright blasphemous. Also there was no way she was giving up any time with William. She’d have to suffer.

Willow straightened up as she saw Amy turn the corner and approach her locker. The one that Willow happened to be leaning against. “Willow! Hey, what are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“What about?”

“Witchcraft.” At that word Willow saw Amy’s body tense up. She saw Amy’s fingernails dig into her palm. Rage was emanating off of her body but she forced a smile onto her face and simply replied, “Witchcraft? What about it?”

“I know you’re not Amy. I don’t know how or why you changed her, or even who you are, but I will figure it out and stop you.”

At this statement Willow saw Amy’s eyes turn solid black then human again. Her anger was radiating of her body in waves to the point where the other students in the hallway were steering away from the two girls. Then as suddenly as her anger started, it disappeared. Amy smiled a sugary sweet fake smile. She leaned forward, placing a hand on her shoulder, then muttered a Latin, or some other dead language, phrase in her ear.

“What was that?”

“You’ll see,” Amy answer grinning maliciously at Willow. She closed her locker and turned leaving Willow in the middle of the hallway, slightly dazed and extremely confused.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow walked into the library where Giles, Xander, and the two vampires were researching. She was muttering to herself. All day long she had been forgetting stuff. She even fell asleep in two of her classes. She never fell asleep in class. It was against her guidebook.

“Hey Wills,” Xander called excitedly. Willow looked at her long time friend and gave him a weak smile in return.

“Something wrong Willow?” Giles asked as William began walking towards her.

“I don’t feel so good” she answered as the world before her became a blur, then darkness. William barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

William grabbed Willow before she hit the ground and carried her over to the table and laying her down as if she was fine china. He began petting her face gently and cooing at her. “ Come on luv, wake up. You have to wake up.” Giles, Angel, and Xander crowded around the table watching the scene and waiting for Willow to wake up.

Willow stirred on the table and her eyes began to open. “That’s it, baby, open your eyes.” Willow looked at William leaning over her and pulled away from his grasp. She looked around the room, her eyes finally coming to rest on Xander.

“Xander, hey, what’s going on? Why are we in the library, since when do you even know where the library is? Oh, my god, look at the time! My Napoleon paper is due tomorrow and I haven’t edited it yet.”

She began to gather her stuff when Xander spoke up. “Willow, the Napoleon paper was turned in about a month ago.” The worry and fear was evident in his voice. Angel walked to him and put his arm around his shoulder in a silent form of comfort.

Willow looked confused, “What do you mean a month ago? And, why didn’t you tell me you got a boyfriend?”

“Pet, what’s wrong with you? Don’t you remember anything? Anything from the last month?” William grabbed onto her arm, which she gently, but not to subtly removed from his grasp.

“Evidently not. And you are?” William turned so she wouldn’t see the hurt that passed over his face. “Apparently I’m no one important, at least no important enough to remember.” At that he walked out of the library. Trying, but not succeeding in hiding his hurt.

Angel turned to Xander, “I’d better go after him before he does something stupid. I’ll bring him back and we’ll figure this all out.” He gave Xander a kiss on the forehead and gave Willow an awkward and unsure smile before leaving to go after his childe.

Willow looked at the two remaining people. “So I already did my Napoleon paper? Did I get an A?”

“Will, you honestly don’t remember anything from the past month? William? The Harvest?” Xander questioned.

“William who? And the harvest? I didn’t know that we already had planting season.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel caught of with William about a block from the school where he was sprawled on the ground staring at the stars. That’s when Angel began to worry, William hadn’t looked at the stars since Drusilla left. He said he was over Drusilla, and Angel had no doubt he was. But there would always be a part of him that would love Drusilla. Same as Angel would always love Darla even though she deserted him when he needed her the most.

William spoke from the ground when he sensed his sire. “Remember how Drusilla had entire conversations with the stars? I hated those conversations, not because she was crazy, but because I felt that was a part of her world that I didn’t exist in. I blamed the stars when she left, just because I needed something to blame, I suppose. It’s not their fault though is it? Stars are beautiful. Almost as beautiful as Red.” Angel cringed at that. He knew that William was detaching himself from feeling for Willow by not saying her name. “It hurt when she cursed me you know. So much. Not the fact that I got my soul back, I can live, well, unlive, with that. But the fact that she could and would put me through so much pain. What happened back there, that was worse, so much worse.”

William finally turned to Angel. “Bloody hell, sire. She accomplished in five minutes what is took several lifetimes for Drusilla to accomplish. And it hurts worse now. It’s always going to be fucking humans that do me in isn’t it?” Angel noticed for the first time that William was crying. He didn’t think that ever happened before. “You know Angel, It’s a good thing we don’t need or hearts anymore because mine was just torn apart.” With that William stood and walked away.

Xander walked up to Angel and grasped his hand. Angel turned and kissed him firmly but gently. “Don’t you ever do anything like that to me.”

“Never.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next night they were all gathered in the library. William was in the far corner. Willow was sitting next to Xander looking uncomfortable. Xander and Angel wanted to end the discomfort between the two, but didn’t know how. William hadn’t said a word since he entered the library. Giles was just plain unsure of what to feel. A part of him was glad that Willow wasn’t with the vampire. However, the tension and the sadness was coming of the other people in the room in waves.

“So, to sum it up, we have a young lady who to caught fire, and Willow who had her memory altered. Anything I’m forgetting?” Giles asked the group.

“Someone caught on fire? Who?” Willow asked as Xander said “oh, yeah, Cordelia lost her eyesight today.”

“Miss Chase? Pity. Is there anything else?”

Willow sigh and realized they were ignoring her question so she designed to help them, even thought she didn’t know what was going on. “There was a rumor going around that one of the cheerleaders lost the ability to speak today.”

“Of course, cheerleaders!” Xander exclaimed. “Someone’s going after the cheerleaders.”

“But why would anyone want to go after the cheerleaders?” Angel asked. William scoffed in his corner. “Yes, Spike, was there something you wanted to say?” The only response he got was a raised eyebrow that quickly returned to it’s stationary position.

“Again the question is not why, but who, is going after the cheerleaders?” Giles sighed and wiped his glasses.

Willow shrugged, “people like Amy.”

“Amy?”

“Amy Madison?”

“Who?”

And another raised eyebrow was the responses she got. She looked around at all the startled expression. Her eyes settled on the man in the corner. Everyone said that they were together. And she couldn’t deny the fact that he was a hottie. But she didn’t want to get into a relationship she didn’t remember. She could feel the twist of guilt when she saw him. He was abnormally pale, even for a vampire *Although, I don’t remember seeing any other vampire, besides Angel, Angel could just be darker than normal. And I wonder if William realizes he twists the buttons of his shirt? Can vampires be obsessive compulsive?* Willow finally realized she was staring at a person, well, vampire that was ignoring her. She ripped her eyes from him, guilt forming again.

“Yes, Amy. I may not remember the last month, but for a couple months before hand she was all obsessed with losing weight and becoming a cheerleader. She wanted to be as great as her mother. It was a complete 180 from this past school year, where me and her would have brownie pig outs to escape our parents. Well, she was escaping her mother, I was escaping the fact that I don’t seem to have any parents.”

“Amy? She’s using witchcraft to blind Cordelia? She couldn’t have done the mouth sealing spell on her? I thought Amy would know better.” Xander joked. Amy was his friend, and he really did not want to believe his friends were evil. *Nothings sacred anymore.*

“Xander, please, I assure you this is no joking matter. Is there anyone else that you two can think of that is as desperate to get on the team?” Giles reprimanded all of them with a glare.

“Nah, just Cordelia, but she’s blind.”

“Okay, you say it’s her mother that is pushing her into cheerleading. We, however, cannot approach them without being sure, I propose a stakeout of sorts at the Madison house. We need to know what we are dealing with. It could very well be her mother that is casting the spells.”

Xander spoke up at this point, “William and Willow should take the first watch.”

“What?” Willow exclaimed as William let out his first words of the evening. A nice long, multicolored string of curses, that would want to make any rap singer blush.

“Okay. Now that is settled. Angel you promised to take me to the movies, and it starts soon. Let’s go.” Angel and Xander exited the library with Angel muttering about him being over two hundred years old and going on dates to the movies.

William stood and walked towards the door. “Let’s go Red.”

Willow let out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. She followed the vampire knowing this was going to be a very long and uncomfortable night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel and Xander sat in the back of the theater not really watching the movie. They spent the first half kissing and having a little make out session. Angel wanted it to go farther, but he knew that Xander may be comfortable with being gay, and really like him, but he wasn’t ready for what Angel wanted.

They spent the second half talking about Willow and William. And as they left, they hoped that one or the either wasn’t dead. And they really hoped that they could get Willows memory back because seeing them both in pain wasn’t what they wanted for their friends. They decided to go and take over their shift at Amy’s house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

William and Willow sat in the Firebird watching the house. Well, William was watch the house. Willow was watching him. Willow felt guilty that she could bring this hurt to a person. She wanted to make it up to him but she didn’t know how. She couldn’t pretend to love him when she didn’t know him. Could she? No, that was wrong

“Someone arrived, is that her?” William asked.

Willow looked at the door in time to see Amy enter her house. “Yeah, it’s her. Let’s get a closer look.” With that she was out of the car and heading towards the house. William got out quickly and went after her.

They went over to the window that looked in the living room, which as luck had it, was open. They heard screaming coming from inside the house. They heard and saw Amy yelling at her mother. “You’re a disgrace, you can’t take care of anything, you should be glad that I took over your body. I can prevent you from becoming the trash you were sure to become. I’m on the team now, and no one can stop me. Not you, not the other cheerleaders, and sure as hell not Willow Rosenberg. Also, you may have escaped last night, but me and you are going to have a talk about your friends.”

Both William and Willow didn’t hear the rest of the one sided fight. They were in shock. William honestly hadn’t believed that anything had happened to Willow, that she just didn’t want to be with him. Now he knew for sure and was regretting the temper tantrum he had thrown for the past two days. It still hurt like hell, but at least he knew it wasn’t completely his fault.

Willow was dumbfounded. Someone messed with her mind. Went somewhere no one should ever go and took away a month’s worth of memories. Memories that she really needed and wanted. She couldn’t help herself and she began crying. And she was crying as all of her memories began returning to her. William turned to her and saw her tears. He reached out to hold her but hesitated. She fell into his arms.

“I’m so sorry William, I should have remembered you.”

“Shh, luv, it’s not your fault. It’s that stupid bints and I’m going to kill her for making you hurt.”

They both looked up when they heard the laughter. Amy, well the person in Amy’s body was hanging out of the window. “Well, isn’t this a cozy little scene. I thought I took care of you Willow, looks like I’ll have try harder next time. And, vampire, it‘s time for you to come in for the night.” With those words they felt themselves being lifted off the ground and in turn thrown through the glass window.

William got in front of Willow trying to protect her, even if it meant her life. Willow looked around. She saw Amy in her mom’s body crouching in a corner and Amy’s mother in Amy’s body in a face off with William. *Well, we’re in some deep shit.*

Of course at this point, the plot thickened. The front door crashed down and Xander ran in, leaving Angel snarling behind the invisible barrier. Xander leapt at Amy who threw her hand up towards him. He fell to the ground mid-leap and was suddenly unable to breathe.

“Vampire, I have your brethren in here, you may as well join him.” Angel ran through the doors toward Xanders fallen body. Before he could reach him, Amy waved her hands and Angel and William flew through the air into the corner that Amy was in. She managed to dive out of the way before they hit her. They tried to go back out and fight, but they were frozen in place.

Amy’s mother then turned towards Willow, her eyes were solid black. “Looks like it’s back to me and you Willow. I should have known it would be.”

Willow backed up from the demon woman before her. She backed up until she hit the wall, or rather the large mirror on the wall. She watched as Mrs. Madison was chanting and the energy around her grew. She threw the spell at Willow, who fell to the ground quickly. They spell’s energy reflected off the mirror and return full force to Amy’s body.

Once the energy hit her body and she flew backwards into the opposite wall. Another tidal wave of energy flew off of her and hit everyone in the room. All of the spells reversed. Every insane act committed was set right. Angel ran to Xander who was coughing and gasping for air. William ran to Willow and pulled her into his arms.

Amy’s mom, who was now back in her rightful body stood and faced the two couples. “You thing because I messed up one spell, that’s it?” She started another spell, yelling loudly in Latin. However she stopped halfway through the spell. “My power, you took away my power.” She fell to the ground crying and screaming about how she was just trying to improve her daughters life. Amy walked over to her fallen mother and took in her arms trying to comfort her.

Willow extracted herself from Williams arms and walked over to Amy. “Are you guys going to be okay?”

Amy nodded, “Thank you Willow, thank you so much.”

Willow stood and walked back to William and kissed him deeply. “I really am sorry, I can’t believe I forgot this.”

William smiled, “It’s okay, I’ll make sure it never happens again.”

“Promise?”

“Of course.”

Willow smiled. She got to save the day and she got her prince. It may be awhile before she got to live happily ever after, but her life was great right now.
 

~Part: 8~

Xander screamed. He wasn’t afraid to admit it, he was screaming like a girl. A sissy, pansy, scared shitless girl. He couldn’t help it. Any guy would be screaming like a girl at this. The body swept out of the freezer and fell at his feet. *Figures, I get in a little trouble, get detention, get assigned to cafeteria duty. Next thing you know there is a dead body. *  That was the last thought that went through his mind before he fainted and landed next to the body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xander woke about twenty minutes later in the nurse’s office. Willow was sitting next to him, concern etched so clearly on her face. He sat up trying to make her less concerned for him. It was very stupid move as all the blood raced to his head. He fell back with a groan. Willow couldn’t help it and giggled at him.

“Thank you very much, glad I’m here for you to laugh at my misfortune.” Xander grumbled at her while trying again to sit up, slowly this time.

“Misfortune? You sound like a pirate who lost his treasure, you only fainted.” Willow laughed at him either ignoring or actually didn’t see the dirty look he sent her.

“Just call me Blackbeard. Damn, my head hurts. Other than you, how many people are mocking me?”

“Well, you want the good news or the bad first?”

“Good.”

“William knows, I called him, well Angel actually but he was asleep, so he promised to pass the news to Angel when he woke up.”

“Oh God, William knows, that’s a good week of teasing from him. I don’t think I want to know what the bad news is.”

“Well, look at it this way, Angel knows, that’s a good few hours of doting from him. And, are you sure you don’t want to know the bad, you’re going to need to know this if you are going to go out and face your public, well ever again.”

“Lay it on me.” Xander replied with a bit of fear in his voice. *Or it could be pain from the bump on his head.* Willow thought.

“Cordelia saw the whole thing. Once she stopped the screaming of her own, she went to her posse and started telling them everything that happened.”

“Damn, I hate Cordelia. Are you sure I can’t use Angel as arm candy, even for a night. Make her out as the jealous bitch we all know she is. Please, please, pretty please?”

Willow just laughed at his pleading. “Maybe later, as for now, we have to go find our arm candies, quick before they go to the library and have to face Giles alone.”

“Nope, we wouldn’t want that. They might forget about their souls for a few minutes and accidentally rip out his throat. We wouldn’t want that. Right?”

“Right. Ripping out of throats is bad. Lets go, whelp.” Xander scowled at her use of Williams nickname for him, but followed her out of the nurse’s office, slowly but surely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow and Xander entered the library to, surprise, surprise, see Giles sitting behind a pile of books reading, researching. Whatever struck his fancy at that time. It wasn’t that they didn’t like Giles, they did. And they respected him. A lot. Even if they didn’t show it. It was just that they were tired of his Watcher knows best act. They were sixteen years old and they felt that they were responsible enough to decide who they could and couldn’t be in a relationship with. They knew what Angel and William were. Primal, destructive, evil, vampires. But they loved them and they entered the relationship with complete trust and faith in the two. What were they supposed to say, ‘sorry, we love you and trust you with our lives, but there is a demon that lives in there with your soul, and that just makes you unacceptable.’ Nope, wasn’t going to happen.

Xander wander behind Giles and looked over his shoulder at the book he was reading. It was written in some foreign, dead language that Xander wouldn’t be able to understand if his life depended on it. *Besides there are no color photos, what is the point in even looking at it.* “Watch ya reading, G-man?” Xander asked.

Giles jumped at the question, obviously not seeing the two until Xander had spoken. Xander laughed at the startled look on Giles face. “What a watcher, can’t even watch your own back.”

At that comment Giles scowled at Xander. “Yes, well I was engrossed in this book, it contains prophecies pertaining to the hellmouth that may come in handy in saving our lives. And must I ask you again not to call me that?”

“Sure thing G-man.” Xander replied while Willow tried to stifle her laughter.

Giles refused to get pulled into this child like banter with the young man. He felt responsible for the children yes, he felt a fatherly protection of them, but he was not their friend. There was no time for friendship. He did not need nor want any friends, he had tried all to often to make friends. He had lost nearly all of them, either to life or death.

It was at this time the doors of the library burst open. Angel and William entered. Blood was all over Angel, so much that you were unable to where it was coming from. Xander immediately ran to Angel. Willow went to William to make sure that he was alright and with his assurance that he was in fact fine, she too turned her attention to Angel.

Xander was hovering over Angel acting very much like a mother hen caring for her chicks. “Oh my God, Angel, what happened are you okay, what happened why is there so much blood, should there be this much blood?” Angel was unsure whether to laugh at Xanders concern, to wince in pain, or comfort Xander. He chose the latter, not wanting to see his pet so worried.

“It’s okay Xander, it’s a few small cuts, not all this blood is mine, I got a good chunk out of the other guy, vampire,” he corrected seeing the look of disdain Giles threw at him. Other than that look, Giles made no movement to help or even acknowledge the vampire. Willow however went behind the counter to get the first aid kit she now knew presided there.

Xander took it from her when she came over and began to clean where most of the blood was, his right arm. When most of the blood was cleaned he saw three long slashed that crossed his arm. “What the hell! What where you attacked by, a giant fork?”

Angel smiled at him, “No, not a fork, a vampire, he had a blade in the place of one of his arms. I got to close. I learned never to corner him in a dark alley again.”

Xander got up and walked over to William. He then proceeded to smack him upside his head. “Why the hell weren’t you watching his back. Making him fight something like that on his own?”

“Bloody hell,” William yelled, rubbing the back of his head. “For your information, I was fighting the three minions at the time, trying to keep them of you lover boy. Don’t treat me like that again.”

“Or what?” Xander asked with a hint of menace in his voice.

The near fight was broken up by laughter. Namely Angel’s and Willow’s. Both the vampire and human turned to the laughing pair. “Hey!” “What the bloody hell?”

“You guys look so funny, like you would actually fight or something. You look so cute.” Willow said between her laughs.

“Cute?” William spit out. “I am not cute. What happened last time you called me cute?”

Willows eyes widened at this point. “No, you wouldn’t. Not again. Please.”

William grinned evilly and began stalking towards her, every move, the definition of predator. And at these actions, Giles stood. “Stop, I forbid you to harm one of my charges. You will not lay a hand on her.”

William proceeded to ignore Giles’ threat. He leapt and tackled Willow to the ground, then proceeded to tickle her to the point where she couldn’t breathe.

“Please…stop…I take it…back. I promise…I won’t…call you…that…again…Please…William.” Willow was somehow choking these words out through her laughter. Her face was turning as red as her hair from the exertion.

Suddenly, a voice rang out over the noise being made by the couple. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?”

Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice. A woman in her mid to late twenties was standing in the door way. Giles started to clean his glasses vigorously. Xander raised his eyebrow at her and returned to cleaning Angel’s wound. William turned to help Willow up, she was still trying to catch her breath and William realized it was up to him to be the talker.

“No, you weren’t interrupting, how can we help you?”

“Well,” she began, “I was just hired as the new substitute biology teacher. I was looking for someone who could help me get settled in and started on a project I have planned for the class. I’m Miss French by the way.”

Miss French looked around the room. Sizing them all up, all but Willow that was, until Willow spoke. “I would be glad to help you with the project. What do you need me to do?”

Miss French sent a disgusted look her way, which quickly dissolved into a smile. “That’s okay, thank you though. I need someone with a little more muscle.” She walked up to Xander, and placed her hand suggestively on his arm. “How about you? Xander, right? You have plenty of muscle.”

Angel didn’t waste a second. He pulled Xander out of her grasp with his injured arm. He ignored the wince of pain. Xander smiled at her politely, but with a sharp, disgusted look in his eyes. “I would but I am very busy. With school and taking care of my injured boyfriend here, I just won’t have time.”

Miss French looked taken aback. “Oh, ok, I understand. If you change your mind I could really use your assistance.”

“If I change my mind, but I doubt I will.”

She smiled fiercely, a smile that all, well almost all, could see was forced. She evidently wasn’t used to rejection. She then straightened her posture and turned to Giles. He actually began to blush.

At the blush, Miss French’s smile became real. “And you Mr. Giles, would you care to help me. You seem strong and able.” And with that statement came a snort from one of the other people in the room.

“Pl…please call me Rupert, Miss French. And I would lo…be happy to aid you in anyway possible.” Someone then muttered, “I’m sure.”

The comment earned a scowl from Giles, but, though it didn’t seem possible, Miss French’s smile grew wider. “Well, if I am to call you Rupert then you must call me Natalie. I talk to you later, in private about the project.” With that she spun on her heels and left the library.

As soon as she was gone, all four attendees burst into laughter. Giles’ blush returned full force and asked them if they had somewhere else to be.

“Why would we be somewhere else when you provide enough entertainment for the week,” Xander asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

William and Angel were walking through the park. They were on their way home after taking their humans home. After leaving the library, they took them to the bronze. They personally found being their uncomfortable. However, Willow and Xander found it fun, and after the events of the day, they felt that they deserved some fun. Now, though it was time to make one final sweep of the park and go home to sleep the day away.

They were almost done when they came across Miss French, walking home they guessed. “Is it just me or does she smell, I don’t know, off?” William asked Angel as they stayed out of her view.

“Yeah, she does, don’t know what it is though. Must not be that big cause Angelus isn’t going off.”

“Neither is Spike, you must be right.” They heard a noise a little down the path. “You hear that?” William asked his sire.

Angel just silently nodded as he appeared to produce a stake out of thin air.

“Shit, we have to protect her don’t we?” William produced his own stake.

The same clawed man that they attacked earlier jumped out of the bushes and set after Miss French.

Angel and William set forward to protect her. Miss French just turned around and looked at the vampire. And with one glare the vampire froze and turned on his heel and ran off.

Angel and William stopped in their tracks. “Well, fuck me,” William summed up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xander and Willow walked through the  halls of beautiful Sunnyhell high school the next morning. Their topic of conversation, of course, was the new weirdness that hit the high school. In other words Miss French.

They were so caught up in their conversation that they didn’t realize they were late for their biology class with said teacher. They hurried to get to the class, well, Willow hurried, she just happened to drag Xander along the way. They stood outside the door and caught their breath.

“Damn, a pop quiz.” Willow said looking through the window in the door.

Xander looked in as well, “are you sure we have to go in there, we could always fake being sick. You know I did have a very tragic thing happen to me last night and I don’t know how I can even stand…”

His voice cut off after seeing the new scene in the room. Miss French turned to look at them at the door. The problem was that her body was facing completely away and her face was looking straight at them.”

“Well, fuck me,” Xander summed up. At they both turned to run.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow and Xander ran into the library when school had ended that day and burst through the door. Xander then efficiently ran over Giles both stumbling to the floor.

“Oh, thank god you’re here” Willow started, “We need to talk to you about Miss French.”

At that sentence, the expression that had been on Giles face, had shown anger and disgruntleness, turned into a sappy grin. “Yes, she is something,” he said.

“No, you don’t get it, do you? She’s not human, she…she’s some sort of demon. You can’t be interested in her. She’ll kill you.”

Giles expression turned sour once again. “Honestly, Willow, I expected something like this from Xander, but I thought you had more sense than this. I must say I am rather disappointed. I am working with her to construct a project that she is trying so hard to make perfect to teach your class about the praying mantis. I don’t know what you two have against her, but I’d prefer it if you got over it quickly. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date…an appointment with Miss French at her house and I fear it will take me a while to find it.” Giles left the library then with a definite air of superiority.

Willow turned to Xander, “there is something up with her and it may kill him. As much as you don’t like Giles, it’s up to us to save him.”

“Yeah, I know, I don’t suppose we could let her torture him for a little bit? Teach him a lesson for being such a dick head.”

Willow just smiled, “teacher’s pet.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel and William found the two human bent over volumes of dusty books that evening when they arrived. “What are you two doing researching, without the watcher, I thought that was his repertoire.” William asked as he sat beside Willow.

She looked up at him wearily. “Miss French is some sort of demon that is after Giles. He is to blinded by her beauty that he doesn’t see her for the demon she is.”

William looked at Angel, a conversation quickly followed involving looks only. “Willow, why do you say she’s a demon, do you have proof?”

Willow looked at him sharply. “I thought so, you have a crush on her, you asshole, leading me on.” She jumped up and started storming out of the library.

William jumped up and grabbed her arm. “Willow it’s not like that…”

“You’re saying that you don’t find her the least bit attractive?”

“Well, yeah, she’s attractive…”

“I knew it. You, you vampire you.”

“Willow, sweetie, pet, listen to me. It’s not like that. She’s attractive, but everything that you are, everything that is inside you and outside you is more beautiful than she could ever be if she spent the rest of her life trying to be like you. The only reason I asked if you had proof was because I don’t want to chop her into a million pieces if she is human. Okay?”

Willow sighed and leaned against his chest. “yeah, I’m sorry, I’m just worried about Giles, believe it or not. He may have the British flag stuck so far up his ass that he’s spitting up stripes, but he’s still kind of our friend.”

The three males in the room started laughing. They all were able to see Giles and his flag in their mind. Finally Angel calmed down enough to speak, “don’t worry Willow, we’ll save him. Are you going to tell us what you suspect, and your proof, or what?”

“Well Xander and I were late to class this morning and as we were standing outside the door she did this full on exorcist twist to look at us. It was just like a…oh…my…God. Why didn’t I see if before!”

Willow jumped back from him and ran for her book bag. She pulled out her biology book and began flipping through it. She stopped on a page about half way through. She read the page carefully. Then she squealed and threw herself back in William’s arms kissing him on the mouth.

Xander’s curiosity was peaked, “What is it Will?”

“She’s a praying mantis.”

“A what?” Angel asked, the disbelief evident in his voice.

“A praying mantis, the bug, only bigger. It was all there from the beginning. Her lectures were on praying mantis. The praying mantis can turn it’s head completely around. Her project is about the praying mantis…”

“And that would explain why the claw was afraid of her last night,” Angel finished.

“The thing is, the praying mantis only attracts men when it is looking to mate. It uses them to fertilize their eggs, then…chop their heads off.” Willow said, then she browsed through her biology book again.  “But, this can’t be right. The mantis only goes after uncontaminated men, virgins.”

The entire room fell to silence for a few seconds, each looking at the others.

“But, Giles, he couldn’t be a virgin, he had to have done it at some point.” Xander said, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“I always thought he was a poof,” William spoke up before falling to the floor laughing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow searched the school records for Miss French’s address and with that in tow the four of them set off to find her. As they approached the given address, Angel and William’s ears perked at a sound coming from Miss French’s front yard.

In the front yard, was the claw, pacing back and forth, looking at the house and growling. Angel and William once again proved their silent ability to talk. As one the two attacked the vampire. A series of growls and howls later, the claw was lying at their feet, then blowing in the wind.

“This must be the place,” Angel said.

They walked up to the doorway just in time to see Miss French open the door, “Xander, and his friends, come in, it’s so nice to see you.”

The four walked in looking for any sign of Giles. None were forthcoming. She ushered them into the living room by grabbing Xander’s arm and dragging. “Xander, can I get you something to drink?”

Xander extracted himself from her grip and backed into Angel’s waiting arms. “No, thank you, we’re looking for Giles, where is he?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t seen him. Are you sure you don’t want a drink?” Miss French’s fake smile returned to her face. And with the smile came faint screams of help.

“What’s that?” Willow asked the substitute.

“It’s nothing, just my television.”

“Bullshit,” William yelled, “that’s Giles.”

Miss French glared at them, then her features began to distort. She grew almost twice in size and had officially become the largest bug, praying mantis, in the world. Xander looked at her with awe and fear *Wait till Ripley’s gets a hold of her.*

Miss French took advantage of all their distraction and grabbed Xander. They disappeared through a door in the hallway. Angel took off after them at full vampire speed with Willow and William close at his heels.

They dove through the basement door in time to see Miss French tying Xander to the wall. He was between a cage with a screaming Giles and a large nest of eggs, each about the size a toddler.

Angel growled and leapt at the large bug producing a machete in mid air and cleanly sliced the head off the beast. He yanked Xander’s restraints out of the wall and pulled him into a strong passionate kiss. Xander pulled back breathless after a couple of minutes. Angel took off his coat and put it around the boy and they walked out of the basement holding each other.

Giles cleared his throat. “If it wouldn’t be to much of a bother, could you get me out of here?”

Willow walked over to the door of the cage, then looked over at William, “Can you open this?”

“Of course I can, but are you sure you want to?” William responded.

“Yes.”

William sighed and pulled the door open. They walked out of the basement when Willow spoke up. “Giles, why did Miss French go after you?”

“What do you mean?” He replied.

“Well, see, the praying mantis only went after virgins.” Willow said barely hiding a grin.

Gile promptly turned red and began to walk off quickly to the sounds of William and Willow laughing loudly.

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