Eve of Change: Chapter 1
by Im An Angel
Eve of Change
Chapter One
Tonight had been quiet and uneventful evening, just the way she liked it. For once there were no apocalypses or unusual demon activity, just a dozen or so vamps that were just out of the grave and no real trouble at all for her.
For that she was thankful, it meant that she could leave early and not be covered in muck from head to toe for once! She thought with a slight smile, wincing at the slight pain in her leg from where she had got hurt yesterday. She’d fought some Zaaberlic demons and they had been a major pain in the behind, with razor-sharp claws and teeth… Not to mention the fact that you had to dissect these giants, which they seemed more adapt to doing to her she thought as another twinge caught her unaware. Even with Slayer healing abilities it was going to be a day or so until they were completely healed.
She turned for the exit with a faint smile on her face as she thought of two of her toughest opponents and know her friends and loves. The brunette Master vampire; known throughout time for his angelic face and love of torture. And the blonde Master vampire; known throughout time for his artistic use of railroad spikes and having killed two slayers.
They should both be at home by now waiting for her. She loved them both dearly with all her heart and was loved back equally by both. They were also very protective of her, she thought wryly. Quite a laugh if you thought about it, two vampire masters in love and protective of the Slayer. The one girl in the world… well now it was one of the two girls in the world, whose job it was to destroy them.
A flash of colour and the overwhelming sense of danger brought her swiftly out of her reverie. She dropped into fighting stance waiting for the attack, until she saw a glimpse of white blonde hair and black leather coat.
“Spike! You almost made me stake you!” she exclaimed then stood back up, thoroughly exasperated with the vampire. Obviously he hadn’t been able to wait another half hour for her to come back home and had decided to come see what was taking so long!
That is until she caught sight of his face, and went back into her stance. “You’re not…” she started and was abruptly cut off by a crack against her skull, from a branch and she fell to the ground slightly dizzy, surprised she hadn’t heard the attack coming.
“I’m not?” the blonde vampire replied with a grin, looking down at the fallen Slayer.
The Slayer regained her footing, ignoring the throbbing and the pain in her head. And shake off the dizziness rolling through her. She started circling with the blonde guy in front of her but the other vampire seemed to have vanished again. She stated throwing out punches and kicks at him, but she had been caught unaware and her advances were being blocked infuriatingly effortlessly, except for a few good strikes that got past his defences, but those where few and far between.
“So who aren’t I?” the blonde vampire drawled, she just glared coldly at him as she fought, not even taking the time to use her usual jibes and jokes. But he was strong and after the blood loss and injury of last night she didn’t seem to be in best form.
There was just enough time for her to realise that they must be trained for this kind of thing…and wish that Angel and Spike really would come looking for her, regretting all the times she’d yelled at them for coming looking for her, especially her pig-headedness this afternoon; wanting to go alone even though she was hurt. When she was once more cut off by the vampire behind her and slumped to the ground almost unconscious. Her last words slipping past her lips in a whisper, “Spike…Angel…please find me…”
The blonde turned to the redhead standing behind the fallen Slayer, and asked grumpily, “Now what’d you have to do that for?”
“We have orders,” she answered impassively.
“Well yeah, but you could have let me have a little more fun,” he sulked.
“Oh stop being such a baby and lets get going,” she scorned.
He looked down impassively at the little blonde lying on the ground; he could tell why his master wanted her. She was quite beautiful. He then picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
Walking off into the night.
****
The blonde vampire paced the lounge room impatiently and angrily. Buffy was missing; she should have arrived back hours ago. He had known something was coming, felt it in his blood… he should have gone patrolling with her instead of letting the stubborn girl go all by herself.
Sure she was the Slayer and had super-human powers, she was quicker, stronger, good fighting skills and excellent healing abilities. But she was still human and humans were not by any means indestructible. She could still get bitten, bleed to death, get shot or be ripped apart by some demon…not to mention she wasn’t at full strength since the last fight.
“Spike calm down. You’re going to wear a hole in that floor,” the brunette vampire told his Childe gently, as he turned from the window he was watching.
“I should have been with her! You should have gone with her!” he raged, glaring at the other vampire. “We shouldn’t have let her go out alone.”
“Let her?” the brunette rebuked, with a small smile at his Childe’s display and the utter uselessness of it.
No one ever told Buffy what to do, not her watcher or even her two vampire loves.
Spike turned on the other vampire, ready to tell him where to go when he saw the pain and anguish flash momentarily in the older vampire’s eyes and underlying the smile, showing for once a vulnerably.
After all Angel loved her too. “Bloody hell,” he cried as he slumped down into a chair, covering his face with his hands.
“I do know how you’re feeling, you know.” Angel said softly and put a hand on the blonde’s shoulder. Spike looked up in mild shock, ice blue eyes looking into warm brown. He hadn’t heard his Sire move from the window where he had been standing, the sun was just setting. “Buffy’s strong and we’ll find her,” Angel continued.
“What if she…” Spike trailed off looking away from the understanding brown eyes of his Sire, tears glistening in his eyes. Not wanting to even put his thought into words, in case it jinxed the possibility of her coming home safely.
“We would know if she was dead,” Angel stated softly, almost to himself as he stared at the darkened evening.
****
Willow walked into the house and put her books on the table then she noticed just how quiet it was. Joyce must still be at the art gallery and Dawn was probably at a friend’s house, but where was Buffy? She wondered and decided to give the house a once over for her friend, she hadn’t gone to school today. She walked through the kitchen and into the lounge room stopping abruptly in alarm as she saw the brunette and blonde.
“Oh, hi guys,” she laughed tucking aside a piece of red hair as she realised it was only Angel and Spike. “What are you doing here?” Angel lifted his head abruptly at the sound, his eyes flashing gold for a moment then turning back to brown.
“Oh, hi Willow,” he said finally with a small smile. Noticing the redhead’s hesitation and small step backwards from the initial welcome. “I didn’t hear you come in,” he said in silent apology and nudged the blonde in front of him.
“What?” he snapped at Angel with a frosty glare, as he looked up. “Oh, hi Red,” he said as he spotted her, with a faintly apologetic grin.
“What is it with you two? You’re both all sad and mopey today, did someone die or something?” she teased, looking from one vampire to the other. When the two vampires didn’t smile and started sending each other silent looks she started to get worried. “What? Tell me!” she demanded, her voice becoming very shrill.
“Well, um…” Spike whispered, running a hand through his hair.
“Buffy’s missing,” Angel said overriding his Childe.
“Oh, that’s all,” Willow exclaimed with a sigh of relief. Buffy was probably just at Giles’ or something, and she told them so.
“I don’t think so,” Angel said despondently and Spike restarted his pacing once again.
“Why not?” Willow demanded, forcing her voice to remain calm as Angel turned back to the window, his face closed.
“I knew something was going to happen,” Spike muttered to himself and Willow felt her patience slipping away from her.
“Well, why didn’t you go with her?” she asked exasperated.
“Buffy wouldn’t let us go with her,” Angel said unpredictably as he turned from his spot at the window. “And the reason I know that Buffy isn’t at Giles’ is because we rang him to check, and when she didn’t return we looked for her until the sun came up.”
“Also we could smell her blood when I found this in the cemetery,” Spike said softly staring at his palm.
Willow walked over to see what was so important and a small cry escaped her as she stared into his palm. Lying there against his white palm was a snapped gold chain, and on the chain were two gold rings.
The rings had been a combined birthday present from Spike and Angel for her birthday. Willow didn’t know exactly what their meanings were, but she knew they were very important to Buffy and there was no way that she would have lost them on purpose.
****
As Spike stared at the rings, he remembered that he and Angel had ended up giving almost identical rings to her, since the meaning of the rings was what both of them felt. And it had been a lot easier to do that than for them than fighting over it all the time, both verbally and physically. Which was what they had been doing when they first bought them months ago…He could remember the whole day.
Buffy had been very nervous about her eighteenth birthday. Especially since her last few birthdays hadn’t been filled with “Smiles and puppies” as Willow would say. They usually involved danger, killing and saving the world… Angel and I tried to convince her that nothing would happen this time but we could still see the dread and anxiety underlying in her eyes, which we tried to drive away.
Red had dressed up as vampire wearing fake teeth, red and black clothes and leather jacket. Think she was taking off my dress sense and I have to admit she makes a kinda cute vampire. Oz decided to come in his normal band clothes, as Red’s pet, which I thought, was kinda funny at the time. Though how the girl even knew about those sorts of things I’ll never know…probably asked the watcher or read it in one of them books.
Joyce and Giles dressed up as teenagers, in denim and jeans. Though why they want to be teenagers again I’ll never know, hated my own teenage years with a bloody vengeance.
Xander dressed as an army man and his monotone voice and expression even fitted the mould for a while, didn’t bring back any fond memories though, stupid military operatives… Anya on the other hand, now she’s a strange girl, she decided to come as a striper and couldn’t understand why Xander didn’t like the idea. The only condition was no stripping. Funny piece of work that girl, scared of fluffy rabbits.
Dawn was an angel, complete with glitter; white flowing dress, halo and white-feathered wings. Angel and I even talked Buffy into dressing up as a princess, complete with long green flowing dress and cape, crystals on her forehead and around her neck.
Angel and I had decided to dress up as knights in shinning armour to go with her theme…but it’s so difficult to find armour these days. So we just dressed as princes instead…I wore a blue and silver outfit with boots and a sword at my hip and Angel wore a matching outfit in black and gold…I wanted the black one but Buffy and Angel told me that I looked better in the blue…not to mention the fact that the Angel looks like shit in blue…
Spike knew that what had made Buffy the most happy that night was the fact that him and Angel were talking again, not fighting as normal. And the fact that they had both given in to the fact that Buffy loved and needed both of them, he and Angel had found a deep lying love for each other, though they’d never admit it to anyone else. It made it easier for the three of them to have a relationship that way.
But her face had lit up when they had given her, the rings that day. Her eyes had misted and her hands trembled and she had promised never to take them off…
Spike stood up abruptly as he came out of the past, clenching his hand into a fist over the rings and wishing fervently that no harm would come to his blonde Slayer and that he would hold her in his arms again soon.
“So what should we do?” Willow asked shrilly, breaking into Spike’s thoughts and looking from one vampire to the other. “I know! I’m going to call Giles!” and with that the redhead turned and left the room leaving the two vampires to stand there reminiscing about the past, together. Spike unclenched his fist and looked down at the delicate rings lying against his white skin, and with a sigh he recognised his through the artist symbol of a spike engraved on it. With a sigh he slipped it onto his pinkie, since it was the only finger it would fit on and handed the other over to Angel,
“Thanks,” Angel said softly as he looked down at the ring with the symbol of an angel on it and put his on his pinkie too. After all this wasn’t the end, they would find Buffy and return the rings to her, but until then they were safe and visible.
****
“They should have been back by now,” the vampire growled softly to himself. He would not tolerate delay and incompetence in his underlings. They had left weeks ago and never had been this long, though the Slayer might have been more difficult to find then the rest of his…guests.
“Sire…” the brunette whispered warily as he walked up to the auburn haired vampire, knowing how much his Sire hated being disturbed. Especially when he was thinking about something important. The auburn haired vampire was sitting on a golden throne in the middle of the room deep in thought, staring at the dark blue ceiling. Contemplating something unbeknownst to his mere followers.
“What?” he growled, his eyes flashing gold at his minion’s intrusion into his space and quiet.
“Uh…two of the retrievers have arrived Sire,” he replied meekly backing away slightly from his unhappy Sire.
“Which ones?” he asked irritably, glaring at the minion in front of him. “Well?”
“A blonde and a redhead, Sire,” he said softly wishing he’d thought to ask their names, they all looked the same to him. The Master vampire thought for a moment,
“Let them in…” he commanded with a wave and the other vampire scurried out of the room; letting the blonde and redhead into the room without a word or a backward glance.
“My lord?” the redhead purred softly as she and the blonde walked into the room. Coming to a stop in front of the Master Vampire with a bow and curtsey. The auburn haired vampire looked up at his two fledglings standing in front of him with hard green eyes,
“I trust that your mission was successful?” he asked curtly of the two standing before him.
“It was indeed Sire,” she soothed with a smile. “The Slayer was caught unaware and quite disarmed by our appearance. And consequently captured quite easily.”
“Good job then, I knew you wouldn’t fail me. I will reward you both handsomely for this Reena and Dylan” the vampire declared with a purr, finally bestowing a smile on the two vampires before him.
Then rubbing his hands together added with a raised eyebrow, “I trust she is still in good condition though?”
“Of course my lord. A few scratches and knocked out with a branch and then tied up,” Dylan said laughingly, now that his Master was smiling and happy.
“And she has been put into her room to sleep it off?” he asked lightly, though there was a slight edge to his voice.
“Yes my Sire, she was put in room 14, when we arrived back,” Reena replied calmly.
“Well then I will be ready to meet our…uh, guest when she wakes up,” he said quietly, his eyes sparkling with an unknown merriment. A merriment hat did not bode entirely well for the blonde guest that they were speaking of.
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