Le Bella

By Gidgetgirl

Chapter Eight

Dawn didn’t like Anni for the obvious reasons. (1) She was a slayer-in-training, meaning that she shared something with Dawn’s sister that Dawn never would. (2) She looked at Connor like he was a piece of prime rib. (3) Anni’s brother was so obviously into Willow, and wasn’t Willow supposed to be gay and mourning Tara?

Buffy noticed her sister’s dark mood, but figured it had a little something to do with the fact that Connor was in L.A. and not attached to her at the lips any more, so she said nothing to Dawn and instead picked up the phone to call Giles. She figured that it was just about time to clue him in on the whole Anni situation.

Anni herself was being clued into the situation at that very moment by her brother. The night before, everyone had just gone to sleep, and Anni had been more than happy to settle for sleeping on the couch as long as it meant she didn’t have to talk to Wes right away. She had a sinking suspicion that he was still angry with her, and the last thing she wanted to do was get into another screaming match with her older brother. She didn’t want to trust him, not when she knew that he would let her down again, and more than that, she didn’t want to need him. On some level, she knew she did.

“Anni,” Wes said softly, trying to regain her attention. As clever as she was with hiding her emotions, Wes was beginning to be able to read his sister like an open book, and the distrust that flew across her face, and the pain, made him take in a quick breath.

Anni met his eyes, banishing the hurt as far out of hers as she could. “I assume you’ve taken care of the situation? I’ll be allowed out of the Council’s training program?”

Wes nodded. “To some extent.”

Immediately, Anni was on her feet. Only the look in her brother’s eyes kept her from bolting toward the door. “To an extent? I won’t do that again. I won’t go back there. You can’t make me.”

“Easy,” Wes said softly, carefully maneuvering his sister back into a sitting position. “You aren’t going anywhere. Any training you do, you’ll do here. Buffy has agreed to take you on as a student.” Anni let the information sink in. She didn’t want to be a slayer, but then again, no one particularly ever did. If training with the older blonde was the only condition of her stay in Sunnydale, then she would do it.

Wes was hardly finished. “You’ll also be training with Willow in Magic and Magical Ethics. This is my condition, not the Council’s. You’re obviously magically gifted, and the last thing we need is for you to kill yourself because you haven’t learned your own limits.” Anni rolled her eyes a bit. “You do have limits, Anni-girl. You’ve almost killed yourself twice in the past twenty-four hours because you’ve taken more energy out of your body than you can safely give. Magical ethics, is, of course, another story. It is a story that has a little something to do with not abusing magic in order to run away from an older brother who cares about you into a world where you could be hurt. Magical or not, slayer or not, you’re still a little girl, Anni, and you have to be careful. It’s not safe.”

“It’s never been safe,” Anni replied softly, “and I stopped being a little girl a long time ago. I left because I had to, Wes. I couldn’t risk your calling Mother and Father, and having them drag me back to England. You can understand that, can’t you? I wasn’t about to let the Council get their hands on me again.” Anni realized what she had just let slip, and she hoped her brother wouldn’t catch her mistake.

Faith grimaced at the sound the guitar made when she hit the wrong chord. Lindsey echoed her grimace and laughed.

“Now do you see why I don’t want anyone to know about the guitar lessons?” she asked. “They’d get enough of a kick out of me trying to learn in the first place. Just imagine it: the rogue slayer gets in touch with her artistic side.”

“You’re not a rogue any more,” Lindsey reminded her. “You’re a champion now.” And a woman, he reminded himself. An amazing woman.

“I’ll always be a rogue,” Faith admitted.

“My rogue,” Lindsey said. Faith tried the chord again, but even the pleasant sound it made and the way Lindsey looked at her didn’t dismiss the tiny microvoices in her heart that always let her know that she wasn’t good enough to deserve any of it. She started playing the song, stumbling but managing.

“Did you find Lilah?” she asked over the music, looking carefully at her hands.

“Yes,” he said, “and no. I found her, but I couldn’t get any information out of her, and she seemed different somehow. Not any more human or humane, but more vulnerable. It’s a wonder she came to Sunnydale in the first place. Wolfram and Hart avoids the Hellmouth like the plague.”

“Don’t you mean Heckmouth?” Faith asked, jokingly. More and more, the Shanshu child was lightening her heart. For some reason, Faith had been given the task of guarding the innocence and power and laughter that was Hopie. That task alone made her feel as if she might someday be worthy of having children of her own.

“I guess I better start practicing with the whole proper language thing,” Lindsey said gruffly. “Who knows? Someday, maybe we’ll have a little slayer of our own.”

“The Slayer,” Hopie explained to the group of girls that surrounded her on the playground. “Is very, very important. She’s really strong and wears pretty clothes and makes all the vampires go poof. Except for Daddy and Mr. Spike, ‘cause they have souls.”

“I wanna be the Slayer!” One of the other little girls shrieked.

Hopie nodded benevolently. “You can be the slayer this time, Lizzy,” she said. “Now, who wants to be the really powerful Witch?”

The boys on the other end of the playground were beginning to get a little suspicious. None of the girls had talked to them all day. They were definitely planning something.

The teacher looked at the children and laughed. Every year, the girls and boys split off like this, and every year, one of the girls took exception to it. Obviously this year, the girl was the adorable little Chase Angel girl, who the teacher was already counting among her favorites. Sure, she was a little bit high strung, but what harm could possibly come of that?

Hopie organized her troops.

Not too far away, another battle was being waged. Their leader glanced down at the data in his hand. There were only a few options left, and of the slayers-in-waiting, only one had the magical capacity to hold the precious gift they would bestow upon her. There hadn’t been an archslayer in millennia, not since before written records. Annabella Wyndham-Price was the perfect candidate. Their trip to Sunnydale had not been for naught.

“Get me the next vessel,” he said calmly. Another young vampire, not more than thirteen at the time she had been sired entered the room. It was a shame, as he had no taste for young blood, but only a girl under eighteen could hold the essence. He took off his ring and dipped it carefully in holy water, making sure to avoid splashing himself. He pressed the ring into her bared shoulder. The child vampire cried out, but silenced herself at her leader’s look.

This was what she had been sired for. She had lived for years waiting until it was her turn to house the essence. The branding was a small price to pay. The amethyst light seized the girl, and her eyes glowed a fierce blue.

“Excuse me,” Wesley said, completely dismissing the innocent look in his sister’s blue eyes. “Did you say again? The Council had you before? I thought you left before Mother and Father could send you to training?”

“I wasn’t trained,” she explained. “I was tested.” No matter how he tried, he couldn’t get more information out of her than that. He decided to save his battles for those issues he considered most important. “Anni, I’ll have your word that you won’t leave again, no matter the circumstances. Something’s after you now. We both saw it.”

“It was probably just attracted to me because I was closest,” Anni said, hoping it was true.

“I want your word, Annabella.” Anni took honor very seriously, and she didn’t know if she could give her word on that. She didn’t know if she could stay, not forever.

Willow knocked on the door. Seeing the identical expressions of stubborn seriousness on the two siblings’ faces, she guessed that it was very fortunate for Anni that she had knocked when she did. The girl was dead set on getting into with Wes, and Willow had no doubt that Wesley would win. She only hoped that Anni wasn’t shattered in the conflict. She felt protective of the girl, as if she was meant to help her, teach her, the way that no one had ever done for her.

“Giles is downstairs,” Willow said. “I think he’s wanting to make with the research, but he wants to meet Anni first.”

“And no doubt put me to work on the research as well,” Wesley sighed. “We’ll be down in a moment. We have something to settle first.”

“Okay, ominous sounding enough, Wes?” Willow asked, managing to draw some of the tension out of his face. She hated to leave the room. This was a new Wesley, not the man who had left Sunnydale. Why was she feeling this way? She wasn’t supposed to be feeling this way.

“I’m not leaving until Anni says it’s okay,” Willow said, surprising herself. What was she doing in the middle of a brother-sister argument.

“It’s all right,” Anni said softly. “We’ll be down in a moment.” Willow left the room. Anni cursed herself and the way she had been brought up. Family matters stayed inside the family. She had flouted the mantra many times over the past few days, but when she really wanted to tell Willow to stay, other words came out of her mouth.

“Anni,” Wes said. “Do I need to tell you how worried I was? How many awful things could happen to you out there alone?”

“No,” Anni said, “I’m aware of the possibilities.”

Wesley sighed. “You don’t trust me,” he said. Anni opened her mouth to argue, but Wes waved away the argument. “I don’t blame you for that,” he continued. “You have no reason to trust me. Just know that I will always have your best interest in mind, and if you feel like I don’t, there are so many other people here you can go to: Buffy, Willow, Angel, although I hate to say it, even Spike would help you. You have options Anni, even if you won’t trust me. The only option you don’t have is leaving.”

His words hung in the air.

“Anni-Anni, tell me that I don’t need to thrash you soundly this time in order for you to take me at my word here. Don’t put yourself in jeopardy. Do you understand how serious I am about this?”

“I understand, but I wish you’d stop it with the thrashing talk. It’s most unbecoming of you.” Anni stared at him, trying to get her point across.

“Don’t do it again, and I won’t have to unbecome, now will I?” he asked. Breaking the solemness in the room, he reached across and tweaked her hair. She hugged him, the stone over her heart cracking enough for a little trust and love to leak out.

“Faith,” Lindsey said, pleased with her performance on the guitar and with her as a person in general. “I have something to ask you.”

Faith’s hands paused over the strings.

“Okay,” Hopie said. “Let’s go get those boys, I mean vampires.” She let out a healthy war cry, and the kindergarten teacher gasped as the girls launched their offensive on the boys.

Giles looked very much so to Anni as a Watcher should look, except there was an easiness in his gait and a look of pride and emotion in the expression he shot his slayer that made Anni curb her desire to spit on him because of his association with the Council. Of course, the gentle hand that Wesley had laid on her shoulder might have had a bit to do with that as well.

Faith stared at Lindsey as he carefully stood up from his place beside her and knelt down on one knee.

The little girls were merciless. The boys were shrieking with indignant laughter. The tickle war campaign was starting to succeed, until the first boy threw a punch. Hopie couldn’t allow that to continue.

The little boy in question was easily twice the size of the tiny girl he had punched. If there was one thing Hopie despised, it was someone who would willingly hurt someone weaker than themselves. It wasn’t to be abided. While the war was waged around her, she walked slowly to the little boy, staring directly at him. He was the same one who had refused to let her play the day before.

Effortlessly, she picked him up off the ground, holding onto his shirt and raising him high above her head. “It’s not nice to hit people,” Hopie clarified, giving him a good shake. The boy tried to kick her, but Hopie was much too swift to fall for it. He was on the ground before he knew it.

The boy struggled manfully not to cry. What was with this girl? She was strong. Little girls weren’t supposed to be strong, his daddy said so. Hopie looked at him and offered him a hand. He didn’t take it. Instead he stared at her. She was awful pretty.

The teacher, as soon as she came to her senses, blew her whistle, and the children guiltily let go of each other.

“What’s going on?” she asked them.

“Tickle war,” replied one of the little girl, “and the vampires are losing.”

“Vampires?” the teacher questioned, completely mystified.

All of the little girls nodded and gestured to the boys.

“If the boys are vampires, who are you?” the teacher asked, stunned at the creativity.

“I’m the slayer,” Lizzy said proudly.

“I’m a Witch,” several other little girls replied.

“I’m a thousand year old vengeance demon.”

“I’m a seer.”

The teacher looked at Hopie, who was looking as innocent as could possibly be. “And who are you?” she asked wryly.

“Oh,” Hopie said seriously. “I’m just me.” The teacher sighed. It was going to be a very long year.

“No more wars,” she said, shooting looks at each of the children. They all mumbled their agreements.

“You all know this is pretend, right?” the teacher clarified.

“Of course,” Hopie said. The teacher let out a sigh of relief. Hopie was obviously just a very imaginative child. “You can’t really slay a vampire with tickling, unless you tickle with a wooden stake.” All the other children nodded, taking Hopie’s words as truth.

The teacher thought that perhaps she’d have a talk with Hopie’s mother when she came to pick the daughter up at school. The child was extraordinary, but so peculiar.

“Hello, Mr. Giles,” Anni said, and Giles smiled at her pleasant British accent.

“Hello, Anni,” Giles replied, staring speculatively at Wesley. He noticed the change that Buffy had spoken of. Wes was a new man.

“Down to business?” Wes asked. Giles nodded.

“What can you tell me about this light Willow spoke of? Or these vampires?” Giles had obviously put on his scholarly hat.

“One of the vampires was remarkably small, almost child like,” Wes recalled, “and the…”

Anni cut him off, cursing herself for not remembering sooner. “The ring,” she gasped. Everyone looked at her. “One of the other vampires was wearing a ring. I recognized it, at least it looked familiar.”

“What did it look like?” Giles asked.

Anni looked directly at him. “It looked like the seal of Anari. Inverted.” Both Giles and Wesley stared at each other.

“The seal of whatsit?” Buffy asked.

“Anari,” Giles replied, stunned. “The founder of the Watcher’s Council. It’s the official insignia.”

“But if the symbol was inverted,” Wes said…

“We’re in a world of trouble,” Anni finished.

“The Dark Council,” Giles said. “I thought it was a myth.”

Everyone stared, dumbfounded at the three Brits. They might as well have been speaking in a different language.

“This Dark Council, bad huh?” Dawn asked, always ready to put her two cents in. The answer, already apparent hung blithely in the air.

“Very bad.”

He made his plans carefully, more than pleased at the anger he had felt from the girl. There was hurt, too, and that was important, but the anger pleased him the most. In a short time, she would be ready. She would be his slayer. A dark slayer. The Archslayer.

Wes put his arm around Anni protectively. “And what,” he questioned angrily, “Does the Dark Council want with my younger sister?” No one had an answer for him, Anni least of all. She knew she was in the midst of friends, but she couldn’t help the shiver that ran slowly up her spine.

Somewhere, someone was thinking of her.

Cordelia was talking, exasperated to her daughter. “Hopie, we don’t talk about Momma and Daddy’s work, remember?”

“Yeah huh, I remember. Hey Momma. Show and Tell next week. Can I bring Bella?” Hopie batted her eyelashes at her mother.

Cordelia sighed. “Why would you want to bring Anni?” she asked, thinking that there were worse things Hopie could ask to bring. From her conversation with the teacher, Cordy had inferred that Bob the flamethrower and Crossbow would not be welcome additions to the classroom.

“Because,” Hopie replied decisively “Bella’s special.”

Faith’s mouth dropped open as Lindsey said the words.

“Hey Momma,” Hopie said after a moment, “how about we don’t tell Daddy or Connor or Aunt Faith about the tickle war?” Cordelia let out an exasperated sigh and then held back a giggle. She loved this little girl so much.

Connor had joined Angel next to the television, and both were firmly engrossed in the antics of Big Bird, completely unaware that the world around them was coming to a stop as they knew it.

 

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