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(This is original creative material copyright Chris Kenworthy, based on characters that he has no right to owned by someone else blah blah biddy blah...) |
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With a flash of desperate inspiration, Buffy jumped away from Jasper towards the still-stunned Darla, kneeling beside her and putting the stake up to her chest. "Stop!" she called out.
The other vampires reluctantly stood still. "Any of you vampires want Blondie dead," Buffy continued in a hoarse cry, "all that you have to do is move. Anyone? Anyone??"
Nobody moved.
"Xander, Jim, come towards me. Remember, Luke, one move is all it takes." Luke and the vampire next to him seemed uncertain, but allowed the human boys to pass by them and come near to Buffy.
"It doesn't matter, Buffy," Jasper said. "I'm not about to let you go for the sake of someone I hardly know - even if you are my grand-sire, Darla." Darla scowled back at Jasper.
"Okay, if that's the way you wanna play it, I just stake her now and we get on to the main event," Buffy said. "But I staked you once, Jasper. Are you sure I wouldn't be able to do it again? I'll put my life up against all of yours, with these guys watching my back - I know I'll at least take some of you with me." She glared at Jasper. "On the other hand, if you want to call the whole thing off, I let Darla up and we all walk away."
"One condition," Darla groaned. "That we talk."
"Talk? You didn't seem much interested in talking before," Buffy pointed out.
"Well, it's a question of priorities. Priority one is killing you. Failing that, priority two is to talk."
Buffy considered, and shrugged. "No problem with me. Are we all agreed?"
Everyone nodded, and Buffy let Darla back up. "Okay, so talk."
"So..." the vampires gathered together again as Darla considered. "Are we really in a dimensional limbo?"
"That's what it looks like," Buffy confirmed.
"The one who calls herself Queen Kaliya," Luke asked gruffly. "She brought us here?"
"Hmm," Buffy thought about that. "I'd call it more of an accident, to do with her spell, but close enough."
"Anything else?" Darla asked her companions. Nobody had any more to contribute, and the five vampires turned and left.
"Not even a thank-you," Buffy complained. "Typical. Come on, guys, let's get back to base camp. I'm sure the watchers will be interested in knowing we got a case of old enemies never dying."
* * * *
"So," Willow said as she, Angel, Vanessa, and Giles headed into a spare room, "Samael is behind Angel's pregnancy?"
"He may be behind it, Willow," Giles corrected her. "Wahrthier may be unaligned with the other demon powers against humanity, but he is far from reliable. We cannot afford to take what he told us as a certain truth."
"Then why were we talking to him?" Willow asked plaintively.
"Because I thought it might give us a good clue of where to look next," Vanessa said. "But I didn't expect him to be saying anything like that."
"Still, why would he lie about something like that?" Willow asked. "And what does it really matter?"
"Because if he told the truth," Angel said quietly, "If my release from Hell and the conception of this child was a plan of Samael's... I'll kill myself."
"What??" Willow noticed suddenly that Angel was holding a wooden stake in his hands, playing with it idly. "You... you wouldn't. You couldn't!"
"Why not?" Angel raised his face to her, and there was fearful determination in his eyes. "I've done it a hundred times before. It wouldn't, um," and he swallowed with effort. T'wouldn't be much different just because it was my own heart, now would it?"
Willow was absolutely dumbstruck for a second. "But Angel - why?"
"Why?" The word came out in a sudden cry as anger flooded Angel's face. "You need to ask me why after you looked up Samael to stop Kaliya's spell? I've... that is, Angelus knew vampires who worshipped Samael - who could actually contact him in Hell. He is the purest incarnation of evil I could ever think of. He wants nothing other than a return to the old times - the ancient demons ruling over the Earth with supreme indifference, the lesser fiends free to run amok through humanity, hunting and killing wherever they please."
Angel stood up, possibly so as to diatribe more effectively. "Witches prostituting themselves at the feet of the Old ones for the sake of power and magic, and EVERYBODY else either enslaved, in torture, or dying!! That's the 'after' picture for all of his schemes, and I don't think I need to tell you, it goes against everything that any of us stand for. There's no sacrifice too great to stop him!"
Willow stood up herself and grabbed Angel's wrists in her hands. "Yeah, yeah, I know that," she told him soothingly. "But let's look at the cases, Angel. Worst-case, yeah, this child really is some sort of hellspawn destined to bring the apocalypse. Then, can you be sure that killing yourself will really kill it, here in Limbo where were we can hardly tell up from down some days and everything seems to be stacked in favor of the demons and vampires?"
She looked piercingly into Angel's eyes. "And what if it's not, if Wahrthier was just selling us a load of brimstone? You'd die, Angel. And all you'd take with you is an innocent child who deserves a chance to make a life for itself. It's a stupid risk, Angel."
Angel looked inscrutably back at her. "I know that," he finally admitted. "And I wouldn't do it - not unless I were sure."
"Well," Willow said, "I think I can happily speak for all of us when I say we're not sure." She sat back down in quiet triumph.
Angel looked down at his own hands and dropped the stake.
"I had better go speak with Darrell," Vanessa said. "Giles?"
"Hmm?" Giles looked up at her. "What?"
"I think they need a moment, Mister Giles."
"Oh, yes. Quite right." He followed Vanessa out of the room.
Willow and Angel looked at each other for a long moment. "I didn't want to do it - you know that," Angel told her once the moment was done. "I just needed to be sure that I wasn't blinding myself to the truth out of cowardice."
"Cowardice?" Willow repeated disbelievingly, standing up again. "Do you think it's cowardice to make a choice for life? You're not afraid of death, Angel; if I know anything about you I know that. But do you know what really takes courage? To choose the long and lonely road, like you just did, and to stay on it."
"It can't be that lonely," Angel said, giving her a tentative smile. "Not if you've got friends who will walk it with you."
"Yeah," Willow replied, a faint blush coming to her face. "So, are you feeling better now?"
"A bit," Angel said, sighing.
"Need a hug?" Angel looked over at Willow in surpise, then grinned and nodded. "You really are a good friend, Angel," Willow whispered as she put her arms around his chest in a comforting embrace. "Really." Rising to her tiptoes, she kissed the vampire on the cheek.
Angel froze in surprise for a second, then moved his mouth over and kissed Willow gently on her lips. He broke it off after a second, but Willow suddenly wrapped her arms around Angel's neck and kissed him back with more passion.
The door opened behind him. "Hey guys, what's..." Oz broke off as he realized what was going on. He stared at them, wide-eyed, for a few seconds. Willow looked from Angel over to her boyfriend, for some reason unable to break off the forbidden smoochie. Until Oz swept back out of the room and slammed the door closed. Willow and Angel disentangled themselves and Willow hurried out after Oz.
She caught up with him in the front hall, as he was about to walk out the front door. "Wait, Oz..."
The wereboy turned around. "Do you like him?" he asked Willow challengingly.
"What?" Willow shook her head in confusion. "Do I like Angel? Well, sure, he's a great friend..."
"No," Oz corrected her. "Do you like him... like you like me?"
"Huh?" Willow had to stop a moment and think about that one. "Uh, well, yeah, I guess... a little," she admitted reluctantly. Oz opened the front door to the Chase estate and left without a word. Before the door had even swung closed, it was caught by another hand, and Buffy, Xander, and Jim walked in. "Hey, Willow," Xander said. "What's with Oz?"
Willow burst into tears.
* * * *
The ringing knock on the security door of the hideout brought Kaliya striding quickly out of her study. After a rapid exchange of gestures with the vamps on guard, she nodded, and the door was opened and the five reborn vampires came into the hideout. "Well?" she asked.
Darla looked at the others for confirmation, then nodded. "Yeah. We'll work with you."
Kaliya smiled broadly. "Good. Let's get you acquainted with the details of our tactical situation. This way please." She pointed the way back into the rear corridors of the hideout.
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