Le Bella

By Gidgetgirl

Chapter Four

Anni walked fearlessly toward the slayer’s house. She had known on some level that it would come to this, that she wouldn’t be able to count on Wesley when it really mattered. She knocked on the door.

A brunette who looked only a few years older than she did answered the door. “Hi,” she said. Anni waited for something else to come out of the girl’s mouth, but nothing did.

“Is Buffy here?” Anni didn’t even bother to mask her accent anymore, and the crisp British lilt had Dawn immediately suspicious, seeing as how England tended to be Watcher Central.

“Sure,” Dawn said. “Come on in.”

Buffy’s first impression of the girl was that she was trying valiantly not to be scared. Her head was held defiantly high, and she looked a little something like… Buffy couldn’t place who she looked like exactly. She tried to shake the feeling of familiarity.

Anni didn’t bother with introductions, shaking off years of good breeding and the manners she had been reared in. “I need your help. You’re the only one left, you see, who can keep the Council from me.”

“The Council?” Buffy wrinkled her forehead.

“Bunch of old guys, tweed suits. Some women who wear business suits and pull their hair back so tightly that it pulls their faces at odd places. They wear glasses and clean them a lot. Sound familiar?” Anni tried to keep the tension out of her voice.

Buffy nodded. “So,” she said slowly, “you have a problem with the Council.”

“My problem is simply that they want me,” she said, “to be a slayer-in-training. I have no intention of signing my life over to them. My brother, my parents, everyone else would just assume I give up any semblance of a normal life. They’re thrilled that I’ve been identified as your possible successor. I don’t want it, and I won’t give up my life for a destiny that may not even be mine.”

Buffy nodded thoughtfully. “What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“Just be here,” Anni said. “If I need someone to help, if they do find me here and come for me, you can stop them. They listen to you.”

“Only because they have no choice.” Buffy wasn’t Council Fan Number One, or even number twenty-nine for that matter, and she nodded consent. Before she could say anything else, Anni was out the front door. She needed Buffy’s promise of help, but she wasn’t about to stick around, waiting for some sort of bizarre coincidence to give her away to someone in LA.

Somewhere in LA, Lilah Morgan was thinking dirty thoughts about Wesley. Of course, when it came to Wes, she rarely had thoughts of the not-dirty persuasion. She picked up the phone, hoping that somehow the little problem (as she had begun referring to Anni in her mind) had taken care of itself. Wes answered on the first ring.

“Anni?” It never even crossed his mind that his sister didn’t have his cell number to begin with.

“It’s me,” Lilah said. “I was thinking, well, I probably shouldn’t articulate that thought, but anyway…”

Wes cut her off. “Anni’s gone,” he said. Lilah felt a little disappointed: how anticlimactic. “She magicked her way out of a dressing room. I have to find her, Lilah. She’s just twelve years old.”

Magic? What kind of secret was that kid hiding? A minion, also known as a legal clerk, handed Lilah a set of papers. Her eyes opened wider. An identified slayer-in-waiting. She made the executive decision that Anni was someone she would love to get her hands on. To turn a slayer to their side before she was even called… the possibilities were endless, and if returning the girl to her brother bought her some bonus points with her lover, all the better.

She tried to think of Wes as nothing but a toy, but she couldn’t help the way her heart raced as she thought about him, or the small smile that crept onto her face, an innocent smile that clashed with every aspect of the non-person she had worked so hard to become.

“I’ll see if anyone knows anything,” Lilah replied.

“That’s decent of you.” Lilah could picture Wesley’s eyes narrowing as he spoke the words. He didn’t trust her, and perhaps he never would. Maybe she could buy his trust with his younger sister, even if she was planning on using the girl. “To get her back here safe, I’d take help from the devil himself.” Lilah hit the end button, hanging up on Wesley.

Immediately, she started giving orders. “I want to know where Annabella Wyndham-Price is, and I want to know it five minutes ago. Get the psychics on it, the empaths, anyone who can sense magic or essences.” The clerk scurried away to do her bidding. Lilah’d always known that she was born to have minions.

Lilah wasn’t the only one with minions. Hopie was quickly becoming the kindergarten queen. She fascinated the little girls, terrified the little boys, and made every use of her adorability to gain the teacher’s favor. Hopie decided that she was going to like kindergarten after all. It was just a game. There were good guys (the girls), bad guys (the boys), and lots of little ways to trick people. It was like waging a war, except with snack time and crayons and happy singing.

The little girl to Hopie’s left was the loudest singer in the room, and by far the worst. Hopie was glad that Lorne wasn’t there to hear it. The fashionably green demon would probably have been bored stiff and holding his ears. Hopie decided she would sing the song for him when she got home.

Two little boys started fighting. Hopie rolled her eyes. They didn’t even kick right. The teacher pulled them apart.

“What do the rules say about fighting?” the teacher asked them, hauling them apart.

“Not to do it,” one of the little boys suggested.

“Use our words,” the other one mumbled.

“Know your enemy and your own limitations,” Hopie sang in a cheerful, sing-songy voice. “And never let yourself get backed into a corner.” The teacher stared at her. Hopie shrugged and smiled.

Cordelia, Wesley and Connor in tow, came in the front door of the Hyperion like a whirlwind. Angel quickly switched off the television, trying to look natural and inconspicuous. His eyes narrowed when he saw Wesley, but he decided to be fair and give him a chance to explain the situation. Talking out problems was the way that Ernie and Bert had sorted out their problems. Angel was willing to give it a try.

“What’s going on?” he asked. Cordelia looked at him strangely. He was being reasonable. He wasn’t reasonable where Wesley was concerned. She tried not to laugh. He’d obviously been watching Sesame Street again, and he was too smug to believe that she knew about his growing obsession with children’s television. She put the thought to the back of her mind. Now was not the time to be making fun of Angel, no matter how tempting the circumstances.

“My sister is missing,” Wesley said. “She ran away, first from England and then from me. She has some knowledge of magic, but she’s still just a little girl.” He was talking in the same voice that Angel used when he was in Worried Papa mode.

“Bella,” Cordelia put in. Angel remembered the girl from that morning. She had been really good with Hopie. He smiled at the memory.

“Oh no,” he said suddenly. Everyone looked at him. “Hopie,” he reminded Cordelia. “School ended five minutes ago.” Cordelia gasped. What kind of mother was she anyway? She’d forgotten all about Hopie. She made a beeline for the door.

“Sorry, Wes,” she said. “I gotta go pick up the kiddo.” They heard the engine rev as the seer sped off. Wesley shot a confused look at Angel.

“Hopie?” he asked, momentarily distracted.

“Our daughter,” Angel explained. His voice stiffened, “You could ask Lilah about her.”

When the phone rang, Connor ran to answer it. Dawn was out of school for the day, and he was expecting her call.

“Sunnydale?” Lilah asked. “Great. Just great.” She stuffed the papers in her brief case, and left the office. She was not in a good mood. Sunnydale, California was not a favorite place of Wolfram & Hart. She stalked towards her car, a woman on a mission.

An hour later, Cordelia had returned to the hotel with a very hyper Hopie. The child was quite literally bouncing off the walls. “Uh, Hopie sweetie, if you’re going to put your feet on the walls, take off your shoes.”

Lilah had made her way to Sunnydale, and was finding her way to the exact location where Anni had last been sensed. Connor was still speaking about absolutely nothing on the phone with Dawn.

“Yeah,” he said dreamily, while Lorne was reading Wesley. “Colored straws are great.” To Connor, anything Dawn thought was great was just peachy with him.

“Well, Wes-Wes,” Lorne started, “your little sister has so-ome issues there, buddy, and I think we both know you do too.”

“Get to the point, Lorne,” Wes growled, “and don’t call me Wes-Wes.”

Lorne bristled. “You want the cliffs notes? How’s this: Sunnydale.”

“Sunnydale?” everyone in the room asked. Connor’s ears perked up at the mention. Lorne nodded.

“Hey Dawn,” Connor said, trying to sound not too excited in that I’m-cool kind of way. “Guess what? I’m on my way to Sunnydale. Now. See you.” He lowered his voice. “Iluvyoutoo,” he mumbled, hanging up the phone.

“Buffy?” Hopie asked excitedly. “Mr. Spike?” Cordelia nodded. “Will Mr. Giles wear tweed?”

“Yes,” everyone in the room responded at once.

“You’re all coming?” Wes asked, surprised. Cordy nodded.

“You’ve got yourself a preteen time bomb, Wes, and whether or not it’s magical, you’re going to need some back up.” Cordelia patted his shoulder.

“Back up, back up,” Hopie sang, jumping excitedly from foot to foot. “Can I bring my crossbow? I gotta show Mr. Spike how I can fire it with my eyes closed.”

“You’ve been playing with weapons with your eyes closed?” Angel asked, raising his eyebrow. Hopie shrugged.

“Only when the bad guys are real wimps,” Hopie replied. Everyone groaned.

“Eyes closed in battle?” Cordelia asked. “Don’t scare Momma like that, Hopie.” Hopie just grinned and continued her rendition of “back up, back up” until a thought occurred to her.

“Aunt Faith!” she bellowed. “Uncle Lindsey!” Lindsey and Faith stuck their heads into the entryway. Hopie was used to their fluffy eyes by now.

“Did I interrupt special grown up time again?” she asked. Faith groaned. She and Lindsey weren’t having the same kind of “special time” as the other couples in the hotel. What they had was beyond that, beyond physical. Faith wasn’t ready for that yet, not when she was just getting used to being a new person, having personal connections to other people. Hopie couldn’t tell the difference between special time and special time yet.

“Sunnydale,” Angel said. Faith shrugged. Lindsey smiled.

“Anni?” he asked. Everyone nodded. The entire entourage left for Sunnydale.

“Well, hello there, Anni,” Lilah said, approaching the girl from behind. “Imagine seeing you here.”

Anni looked behind the woman, expecting to see an irate Wesley. To her surprise, Lilah was alone. Anni caught sight of a W&H logo on a piece of paper sticking out of the briefcase.

“You’re coming back with me,” Lilah commanded.

“So you can give me to your lover-boy or so you can give me to your boss?” Anni asked, letting Lilah know that she knew the score.

Lilah decided it was time to quit playing with kid gloves. “You know who I work for, so you should know that I can make you come with me, that nowhere on this earth is out of my reach. You really should give in and just come home. What? Are you afraid big brother is going to be angry with you? You’re right. He’s furious.”

Anni stood up to face the older woman. “I’m not going anywhere, and you know as well as I do that Wolfram and Hart has an agreement with the Watcher’s Council to stay out of Sunnydale. The rest of the world is up for grabs, but here in Sunnydale, you’re powerless. Why do you think I chose to come here in the first place? Here the slayer rules, and the slayer alone, and last time I checked, you weren’t the slayer.”

Lilah narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you play games with me, little girl,” she said dangerously.

Anni smiled at her. “I’m not playing with you Lilah. In fact, you quite simply don’t have a hand, so don’t expect me to deal you in.”

“I’ll call your brother,” Lilah threatened, feeling lame.

“Okay,” Anni said, “so you do have part of a hand, but considering what it amounts to is the two of clubs, you still can’t play at the high stakes table. I’m sorry.” Anni forced her mind to go through the relocation spell. When she landed in the street a mile away, her body was shaking. Magic took so much out of her.

Lilah picked up the phone and dialed Wesley. “Anni’s in Sunny…” Lilah trailed off when she realized that Wesley was well aware of the fact. She heard voices in the background. One in particular stood out to her.

“Do you want to see my crossbow?” Wesley smiled at the child in the seat next to him, a little mystified. He nodded, thoroughly charmed by the small warrior. Lilah dropped the phone. If the Shanshu child was with Wesley, that meant that Angel and his entourage were as well. She wondered how the vampire was surviving the sunlight.

Angel was currently hiding under a blanket. Unfortunately, the full moon was still two days away, so his sunlight “allergy” still held. The others heard his muffled voice underneath the blanket as he talked to himself quietly.

“Rubber Ducky, you’re the one…” The car erupted into laughter, and Angel quickly shut his mouth.

 

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