Creative Works   

The Past Can Haunt You (Part 3)
By Dreamer

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the BtVS characters or Angel or Cordelia.  They are the creation of Joss Whedon. They belong to the WB, Fox, Mutant Enemies, etc.  Angel and Cordelia probably belong to the same people.  I don't know who Pike belongs to, but he's not mine.  Basically I don't own any of these people.  I do own Harmony though (not the mean one). Please don't sue, I'm just a poor fanfic author.

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Part 3

Pike awoke to find himself lying on his back.  When he sat up, he saw that he was sitting on a table in a library.  As he slid off the table, he heard a loud growl behind him.  He turned around just in time to see a large animal hit the inside of a cage.  Lying beside the cage, was a teenage girl with short red hair.  She was lying on a camping mat, complete with blanket and pillow.  She had been asleep, although she was now stirring into some form of wakefulness.  Pike was so busy staring at this spectacle of the sleeping girl beside the cage of some sort of ferocious beast, he didn’t notice Giles come up behind him.

“Hello,” he said.  Pike practically jumped out of his skin as he turned around to face Giles.  “I’m Rupert Giles, Buffy’s watcher,” Giles said holding out his hand.  Pike took the proffered hand.

“Pike,” Pike replied, “How’d I get here?”

“Xander and Cordelia brought you in her car, after you were knocked out.  They’re friends,” Giles said.

“How long have I been out?  And who knocked me out?” Pike asked.

“That was me,” Willow said, coming to a sitting position and rubbing her eyes, “Sorry about that, I thought you were a vamp.”

“Who are you?”

“Willow,” Willow yawned, “Rosenberg.”

“Okay, still confused.  How long have I been out?” Pike asked.

“You’ve been out for about an hour,” Giles said, “Willow is one of the friends who help Buffy.”

“You know about the … vampires?” Pike asked Willow hesitantly.

“Yeah.  I research and have even done a little slaying in my time,” Willow said proudly.  Oz growled from inside the cage.  “Shhh,” Willow chided the werewolf, “sit down.  Don’t be jealous.”

“Your shift doesn’t start for another hour and half, Willow.  Why don’t you try to get some more sleep,” Giles said.

“Shift?” Pike queried.

“Yeah, we take shifts for werewolf sitting.”

“That’s a werewolf?” Oz growled, as if to say he certainly was.  “Wow.”

“Why don’t we go into my office,” Giles said, leading Pike by the arm.  Pike watched the girl, Willow, talk to the werewolf before lying down again.  The werewolf seemed much calmer now that they were out of the room and laid down to sleep beside the girl.  He wondered if the girl could go into the cage with the beast, he seemed docile enough when it was just her.  “Why did you come to Sunnydale?” Giles asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“I came to kill Angelus,” Pike said bluntly.  Giles almost choked on his tea at this straight answer.

“Why?”

“He’s a vampire.  Vampires should be slain.  Shouldn’t you know this?”

“I mean why you?  And why Angel?” Giles replied.

“I’m a vampire hunter,” Pike said darkly, “I take on jobs of killing vampires.  When I don’t have to work, I’ve been tracking down the worst vampires in history and killing them.  Angelus is one of the worst vampires in history.  Did you know your slayer was friends with one of the worst vampires in history?”

“Perhaps Angelus is, but Angel is not Angelus,” Giles said, “And yes, I know what Angelus has done.”

“What do you mean?  Are there two of them?” Pike asked.

“No.  Angelus was cursed by a gypsy clan about 80 years ago.  They returned his soul.  Now he fights against evil instead of with them.”

“There are such things as double agents you know.  He could just be trying to trick you.  How do you know he’s telling the truth?”

“Because we improved upon the spell a few weeks ago.  Casting another one to be sure the spell never breaks.  It also had some interesting side effects,” Giles said dryly.

Pike sat down heavily in a chair.  “Oh. … so he has a soul?” Giles nodded.  “And I can’t kill him?”

“Definitely not.”

Pike was silent for a moment.  “You’re positive he’s on our side.”

“Yes.”

Pike let out a long low whistle.  “This is going to take some thinking.“

“Yes well, there is still work to do you know.  You said you were a vampire hunter, what is-“

“Let him sleep, Rupert,” a female voice said.  Pike jumped, startled, and turned around looking for the owner of the voice.

“Who?  What?”

“That was Jenny,” Giles said, “She’s- she’s … well perhaps it would be better to let you get some sleep and we can finish explaining everything in the morning.”

“Yeah, maybe I should get some sleep.  I’ll-“

“Stay right here.  You can sleep here tonight, unless of course you have a hotel room somewhere.  Everyone’s coming by in the morning, so you can meet them then.  I’m sure Buffy will be happy to see you now that you won’t try to kill Angel again.”

“I don’t know, she might not be too happy to see me,” Pike said.

“Either way, There are a few things that need to be straightened out, so I will need to see you tomorrow morning,” Giles said firmly, “Until then, goodnight.”  Giles picked up his things along with a glass ball, which he carefully put into a padded box and left.  Pike sighed and settled down on the couch.  He wasn’t looking forward to the morning, but after a night like this he needed his sleep.

. . .

Oz woke up, as the sun streamed in the window.  He found himself covered by a blanket and in the cage, now unlocked.  Most people would be quite surprised to find themselves in this position, but it was normal after a “were”-night.  His clothes were in a neat pile beside him.  He sat up and looked around, pulling his clothes over to him.  Willow was sitting at table with her back to him reading a book.  “Morning,” he mumbled.

“Good morning,” came her cheery reply.  “Something came up last night … or rather, someone,” Willow said, as Oz started getting dressed, “He tried to kill Angel last night.  It was a mix-up though, he thought Angel was still a bad guy.  Giles tried to explain everything last night, but he looked a little confused, so he slept in Giles office last night.  I hope he’s not too mad at me.”

“Why would he be mad at you,” Oz said coming and sitting down beside her (fully dressed).

“Oh well, I … um … well, when we first saw him, he was attacking Angel, so Buffy went and attacked him.  So while Angel and Buffy were fighting him I came up behind him and … well, I had that bottle of holy water and …”

“Did you pour it over his head or hit him with it?” Oz asked.

“Hit him,” Willow said meekly.

“And good,” Pike said emerging from Giles office, “knocked me out cold.”

“I’m sorry about that.  I figured you were another vampire.”

“Well, I’m just glad you didn’t decide to come after me with a stake,” Pike said laughing.  “Hey,” Pike said eyeing the cage, “What happened to the … a …”

“The name’s Oz,” Oz said holding out his hand.  Pike shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Giles is back in the stacks somewhere looking something up.  He said he’d tried to explain everything once everyone got here,” Willow told them both.

“Everyone?”

“Xander and Cordelia should be here soon.”

“I knew we were missing someone.  It seemed far too quiet,” Oz commented

“So there are two more people coming?” Willow nodded.  “Do you *all* help Buffy with the slaying?” Pike asked.

“Yup.  Mostly we research, you know for apocalypses, and end of the world stuff, but we help slay sometimes.”

“End of the world?” Pike asked confused.  Willow nodded, brightly and was about to explain when shouting erupted from the halls outside the library.

“What are you talking about?!  You were late getting to my house!” a male voice shouted.

“And you weren’t even ready yet!”

“There’s the happy couple now,” Oz said, as Pike stared at the library doors.

“So?  That’s not my fault!  I’m never up at this time of the morning.”

“You’d usually be in first period by this time in the morning!”

“My point exactly,” Xander replied.  Cordelia rolled her eyes as she strode through the library doors.  She stopped, getting a good look at Pike, as Xander came in behind her.  She took one quick look at Xander, before walking up to Pike.

“Hi, I’m Cordelia.  I hadn’t realized I was helping someone so handsome last night.”

“Oh … Thanks,” Pike said confused.

“I’m Xander,” Xander said coming up beside Cordelia and putting his arm possessively around her waist, “Cordelia’s boyfriend.”

“Nice to meet you,” Pike said, offering Xander his hand.  Xander shook it, while Cordelia stormed off to sit on the stairs.  Xander threw a good morning in the direction of Oz and Willow, before sitting down next to Cordelia with an impish grin.

“Now that we’re all here,” Giles said, walking down the stairs with a book in hand, “Perhaps I should finish explaining.”

“What’s to explain?” Cordelia asked, “Angel has a soul.  He’s human during the day, and we, luckily, don’t have to worry about him getting a happy and going souless again.”  Pike stared at her while the rest of the Slayerettes shook their heads.

“You never did look up tact, did you?” Willow asked.

“What?  You can explain that spell ‘till doomsday, and there’s still no simpler way to say it.”

“It’s okay Cordelia,” Xander said, putting his arm around her shoulders.

“What?”

“Wait a minute,” Pike said, “How can he be human?  I could see he was a vampire last night.  When they go into vampire mode it is a little easy to tell, you know.  And what do you mean a *happy*?”

“The spell we performed to give Angel his soul back, was in two parts.  The first part gave him his soul and the second part strengthened the first spell to the point where Angel seems human during the day.”

“Like doesn’t drink blood human, or walks in the day human?”

“Walks in the daylight human,” Angel said, walking in with Buffy, each carrying a box.  Pike’s mouth practically dropped open as he watched the vampire walk into the sun-lit room.

“Knowing Giles probably wouldn’t have given anyone time to eat, we brought breakfast,” Buffy said setting the book down and opening it to reveal a box full of assorted doughnuts.

“Doughnuts!” Xander cried rushing over to the table.

“Whoa,” Buffy said laughing, as she got out of Xander’s way.

“Thank you most illustrious ones for saving us from the evil bookish one,” Xander said with a smile and bow.  Buffy and Willow laughed at the joke, while Cordelia merely rolled her eyes, fondly.  Giles looked rather perturbed at Xander, although he was also pleased to see the doughnuts.

“Thanks,” Oz said taking two doughnuts and handing one to Willow.  Buffy grabbed a doughnut before sitting down in a chair across from Willow and Oz.  Pike still looked dumbfound, while Angel took a doughnut and sat down in a corner seat next to Buffy.

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