Eve of Change: Chapter 4
by Im An Angel
Eve of Change

Chapter Four

Buffy angrily paced her room. It wasn’t fair! The guy could have at least wanted her for herself after all she was THE Slayer, sure there was Faith, but she didn’t count. And not to get revenge on her boyfriends! Her eyes softened slightly at the thought of Angel and Spike, she just hoped they hadn’t gone back to trying to kill each other without her there to stop it. She shook her head, they wouldn’t do that sort of thing right now, and they had been getting along wonderfully when she had left. She had to believe that they would be fine until she could get back to them, she told herself then started walking around the room again.

She walked along the walls and through the rooms looking for weak spots and looked out the window, but like all the other times she had looked, there was no way that she was going to be able to get out of here unless she could find a way to distract or kill all the guards which was pretty difficult without a weapon, she thought with a sigh when she heard someone talking quietly outside her room. She crept quietly towards the door and crouching down tried to hear the conversation.

“What do you think will happen to her?” a male voice asked.

“Why do you care?” asked a female.

“Just wondering,” he said softly.

“She’ll probably be sold with all the rest of them,” the female said flippantly.

“Sold?” Buffy mouthed in shock.

“I don’t know, I heard that Nicholas has a soft spot for her,” the male said with a laugh. “He might decide to keep her as a show piece or a pet.”

“Or turn her you mean,” the female said bitterly. “I don’t think she’s that pretty.”

“Yeah but that’s because you’re jealous,” the guy said teasingly. “You’ve had your eyes on Nicholas for a while.”

“Bite your tongue,” she hissed and stormed away.



Buffy rocked back onto her heels in shock, she hadn’t thought about anything happening to her other than being held a captive, but this shed a new light on things. She shuddered at the thought of being turned and consciously forced mind to change track,

What was this about possibly selling her? How would that help Nicholas to get hold of Angel and Spike? She wondered, and then a thought occurred to her. What if he was using the sale as a way of getting them to come to him, she thought biting her lip. He could slip them the information to them and everything would go according to his plans.

She needed to try starting to escape now she decided, she had no idea when this thing was going to take place but she didn’t want to be around. She belonged to no one! Buffy took a deep breath and with a bright smile opened her door quickly, the blonde guard turned around alert.

“Hi! I was wondering if you would be able to get me some paper and some pencils,” she said cheerfully and playing dumb. “Because I’m really bored,” she said pouting, as she noticed that the guard wasn’t a vampire, though he wasn’t altogether human.

“Ah, I guess so,” the guy said with a grin. “Anything else you want while I’m at it?” he asked happy to please the pretty captive.

“Oh no thanks,” she said with a grin, inwardly grinding her teeth.

“Geoff?” the blonde called to the other guard. “Geoff!”

“What?” came the irate reply.

“The Slayer wants some paper and pens, can you get them?” he asked and she could hear muttering and cursing. Then the reply came,

“Why can’t you get them yourself?” the other grumbled. The blonde rolled his eyes in exasperation,

“Because we can’t all leave our posts and you’re not the one standing guarding the door,” and the other guard walked off muttering. Buffy took a deep breath and smiled at the guard,

“So how long do you think I’ll be stuck here?” she asked innocently.

“Why do you ask?’ he questioned suspiciously.

“Oh I’m just bored about being stuck in the same room,” she said with a fake wistful sigh. “I was wondering if there were any plans to move me.”

“Well,” he said after a moment. “I think they are talking about moving you tomorrow for the sale.” Buffy’s eyes widened in shock but other than that she gave no sign that the news had affected her. But it had, the sale was tomorrow…

“A sale?” she asked dumbly. “What sale?” After a moment the guy shrugged and decided to explain, after all she wasn’t going anywhere until tomorrow anyway.

“Nicholas has a sale every couple of years where he sells and shows off his prizes,” he said, then added with a grin, “I’m not sure if you’re for sale or for show.” She pouted and said huffily,

“Another party, well if I’m going to be on show I better get some sleep,” she said with a smile. “Night!” she called and with that she turned around and went back into her room. Moments later a knock sounded on her door, she opened it and looked out to find the blonde standing there with the paper and she noticed that there were no pencils, they had given her pens instead.

“You do still want these don’t you?” he asked wryly, aware that she had been using him for information, but the information he had given wouldn’t matter.

“Thanks,” she said and took them off him and with a smile he closed the door once more, she sat down onto the bed and looked down at the blank sheets of paper and wondered what her plan should be… how would she get out of this? She wasn’t going to be able to wait for Angel and Spike to come and help rescue her, because who knows where she would be after tomorrow and even if Nicholas asked them to come it would be a trap…



After an hour of sitting on the bed pondering she had still come up with nothing. She threw the pad at the wall in frustration. Why couldn’t she come up with one good idea? With a sigh she realised that she was going to have to just use the opportunities that presented themselves and try to get away, hopefully in one piece. And with that idea firmly planted in her mind she got into bed and hoped she could get some sleep.


****


“Oh my Gosh!” Willow cried excitedly. “I’m in!”

“I didn’t do it” Xander cried, as he jumped up from his seat, still half asleep. The others also came sleepily over to see what the fuss was all over,

“I somehow managed to get into the invite page!” she said excitedly. Angel and Spike shared a worried glance; it was obvious to them that for some reason Nicholas wanted them to go to the place. Most likely it was a trap, but whatever it was it was going to be payback.

“That’s great Willow,” Angel said. “What does it say?”

“It says:
New member, you have been invited to come to the Bella Mansion, for the sale. It will be held the day after tomorrow, Friday the 22nd, I hope that you will be able to attend and this is not too late notice for you.
N,”
Willow said, and then looked up at them her eyes shining. “Isn’t this amazing?”

“Yeah peachy,” Spike growled, Willow looked at him reproachingly her eyes filling with tears. With a sigh he apologised, “I’m sorry Red but this has all the subtlety of a trap.”

“He’s right,” Giles agreed solemnly after a moment of silence. “It does seem highly unlikely that we would have been able to get in if this Nicholas didn’t want us to. Even with your skills, Willow.”

“So the question is, what’s the trap?” Xander said curiously.

“More than likely it has something to do with Buffy,” Giles said with a sigh. “And they’re trying to lure us to the place for some reason.”

“There is no us Giles,” Angel stated. “The rest of you are not coming. This is a trap for me and Spike.”

“Now see here,” Giles started to say heatedly.

“No Giles it’s too dangerous,” Angel interrupted.

“Excuse me? Who died and made you King dead boy?” Xander bit out through clenched teeth.

“Why can’t you just shut the hell up?” Spike said angrily staring menacingly at the boy.

“Honey I don’t want you to die, who will I copulate with then?” Anya said with I pout, pulling on Xander’s arm.

“There’s no point in…” Angel continued, when suddenly a piercing whistle split the air and everyone was silent.

“Thank you Willow,” Joyce said with a smile directed solely towards Willow, then she turned serious again as she surveyed the people in front of her. Those who cared about her daughter the most were standing in front of her; they were almost like extended family. “Now then, I realise that you all love Buffy very much and you only want to do what is best for her. However there is no point in all of you getting killed,” she continued and Angel smiled smugly.

“But Joyce,” Giles said anxiously as he cleaned his glasses. “You can’t expect us to sit back and do nothing.”

“I don’t,” she said sympathetically. “But I have to agree with Angel here, there is no point in leaving us all in danger. Angel and Spike know the enemy and have a better chance at defeating him without being hurt.”

“What’s your plan Joyce?” Spike asked curiously.

“Well I think that you and Angel should go to the ‘sale’ as planned, but Willow and Oz will be going with you.”

“Hey why don’t I get to go?” Xander demanded.

“Xander, you don’t get on with Angel and Spike, and this is one of those times where we can do without internal fights,” Giles said unsympathetically, ignoring Xander’s muttering as he sat back down next to Anya. “Now I assume that the rest of us will be staying behind?” he asked.

“Yes I think it would be better, rather than us all parading over the country,” she said with a small smile. “We can keep in contact by email and telephone if we need to.”

“I suppose that’s as good a plan as any at the moment,” Willow said softly. “I hate to be the stick in the mud… but how are we going to get the money to travel to France?” They all looked from one to the other, trying to think of a solution.

“Easy I can get the money,” Spike said with a smirk.

“You can?” Giles said suspiciously. “Without killing anyone?”

“Of course I can,” he said rolling his eyes. “I’m old enough to have learned to save you know, and I have like two hundred years of savings.”

“I’m not even going to ask where the savings came from,” Giles said with a sigh.

“That would probably be a good idea,” he said with a wolfish grin. “So who’s going to go to the airport and get the tickets?”

“I can,” Oz said talking for the first time that night. “I have to see the band anyway.”

“Okay,” Spike said and took out his bankcard and handed it to the other guy. “The password’s…” he whispered with a suspicious glance at the others.

“Okay so it’s three,” Willow said with a glance at her watch. “So we’ll meet up again at six and leave for the airport then.” And with a last glance at each other, they all went off their own ways.


****


“See you later guys,” Willow said with a grin as she hugged the rest of the gang goodbye.

“Take care of yourself,” Giles and Joyce said in almost unison.

“Keep the guys in line,” Anya said with a grin.

“Now Willow you be good, and take care of yourself,” Xander said seriously. “And don’t be afraid to use a stake if they try anything,” he continued pointing at the two vampires at the van. Spike was leaning against the door and Angel was talking to Oz, the three guys had already said their goodbyes and they were waiting for her to finish up.

“Thanks Xander,” Willow said good-naturedly. “But I don’t think I’m going to be having problems with them.”

“Well…” Xander said reluctantly, and when he knew no one was listening he whispered in her ear. “I know, they aren’t so bad most of the time,” he said with a wink and a grin.

“Xander!” Willow said in shock, and then hugged him. “I knew you would get over it eventually.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said with a grin. “But don’t you tell them I said that,” he said seriously.

“Of course not,” she agreed with a smirk.

“Red! Are you coming?” Spike called from the van.

“Coming!” she called and grabbed her bags and with a wave she climbed into the back of the van.

“So we’re ready?” Oz asked, there was a murmur of agreement and off they went to save Buffy.




“Of all things to happen!” Spike said with a sigh. “Why do I have to sit next to you?” Spike complained.

“I thought you liked me now,” Angel said with a wry smile.

“I suppose I do,” Spike said sadly. “I don’t know why though. You’re a pain in the arse.”

“And I love you too Spike,” Angel said suppressing a smile. “I wouldn’t have minded talking to Willow or Oz instead of you, but they want some time together and we should be able to not kill each other in the next couple hours.”

“I suppose so,” Spike agreed and slouched down into his chair. “So do we have a plan?” He asked, changing the subject.

“Not really,” Angel said with a frown. “He didn’t leave us any time to really do anything other than turn up. Which was probably the idea.”

“We could probably get to the place and take a look around the area for hiding places,” Spike said thoughtfully. “We would have an hour or so before dawn.”

“Good enough place to start as any,” Angel said with a sigh. “Lets try get some rest.” And with that the two vampires closed their eyes, and went into a deep sleep.




“Hey Angel,” said a feminine voice and with a start Angel woke up.

“Who’s there?” he asked looking around the white room, but he couldn’t see any one.

“It’s me silly, who else?” she said with a laugh and Buffy stepped out from the shadows.

“Buffy?” he asked groggily. “But you’re…”

“Shh…it’s a dream, silly,” she said with a smile and placing a finger on his lips. “Everything will be fine now that you’re on the right track.”

“Angel who the hell are you talking to,” Spike asked with a groan and opened his eyes and his mouth dropped open when he saw Buffy standing there. “What the hell!”

“Hey Spike,” she said calmly, then added with a roll of her green eyes, “Nice of you to wake up, finally.”

“Um…Angel I think I’ve finally lost it,” he said sadly. “I’m so upset that I’m hallucinating.”

“You and me both,” Angel said with a mocking smile.

“But then again,” Spike said thoughtfully. “Why would I put you in my hallucination?” he said looking at Angel.

“You’re both fine,” she said with a laugh her eyes twinkling. “Gee anyone would think you didn’t want to see me.”

“Um…so are you doing okay?” Angel asked her seriously.

“Me?” Buffy asked with false brightness, “I’m being treated pretty well, nice prison anyway… but you both have to be careful this is all a trap especially for you…” she trailed off.

“We know luv,” Spike said. “And we’re on our way to get you out.” Buffy smiled sadly and said,

“I know. You’re almost here, but you have to be very careful.” Then added softly, “And you have to promise that you’ll leave if you’re in too much danger, after all I might be unreachable.”

“But Buffy,” Angel started. Buffy’s head shot up and she looked around worriedly.

“He knows, I have to go,” she said hurriedly.

“Who? Nicholas?” Spike asked.

“No the Sandman,” Buffy said with a faint smile. “I wont remember this dream when I wake up but you should.”

“Why Buffy?” Spike asked.

“Because you’re not supposed to be able to go through the dream world remember,” she said with a smile. “I have to go.”

“No why wont you remember?” He asked.

“Just because,” she said with a shrug. “You know I was never good at remembering all the nitty gritty.”

“No why did you want to see us again,” Angel asked.

“You have to ask?” she asked. “I wanted to see you again and for you to see me, even if I hardly remember the encounter. And I had to warn you…”

“Buffy!” they cried in unison.

“I love you both…” and she was gone.



Angel and Spike woke up with a start and looked at each other in shock.

“Did you?” Angel asked softly looking around the plane.

“Shit yeah,” Spike said with a groan. “I’m still not sure I’m not crazy,” he said softly.

“And being crazy is going to help her how?” Angel asked wryly.

“I suppose you’re right,” Spike said with a frown. “How long before we reach Paris?”

“I’d guess another two hours,” Angel said looking at his watch.

“I suppose we’d better get some more sleep,” Spike said slouching down further into the chair, twisting the ring around his finger.

“Yeah,” Angel agreed. “We probably wont get that much rest in the next day or two.”


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