Buffy Summers was mad. Who the hell did they think they were, crashing her date? It was hard enough to get Angel to go on a date as it was, without some bloodsucking gatecrashers muscling in on the action when she eventually got him to agree. Angel was just as mad, and you could tell. Whenever he got angry he showed his true face, which wasn't a pretty sight.
One of the vampires was sent crashing through a window to land on a tree branch. His body vaporised on contact. The second one was not so stupid. Obviously it was a sire showing a newbie the ropes. Not a good thing to face the slayer when you're only say, a week old. This vampire had long, blonde hair. She was probably a favourite of the rest of the fang gang that hung around Sunnydale. Too bad. Buffy pulled a metal pipe from the wall and swung it menacingly around her head.
"OK, so you wanna play ball?"
The words punctuated a swing; almost like that a baseball player would when facing the pitcher. The vamp was taken unawares and was flung across the room, hitting the wall with a loud thud. Angel finished her off with a broken chair leg through the chest, and grinned as the body turned to dust.
"Now, where were we?" Asked Buffy, confidence beaming from her. "I do believe we were just about to get some coffee."
She walked over to Angel and took his hand in hers as they strolled off to an all night coffee bar.
* * *
Kait was also having troubles of her own, but not with vampires.
"Why the hell does my hair never, ever, do what I tell it to?" She was having a panic attack as the time ticked away. After trying yet again with the clips, she changed her mind and piled it all on top of her head in a style from the 1820s. The 20s were a good decade. Women's fashion was just picking up then, after the 'cover every bit of flesh you can' phase. You were actually allowed to show a bit of cleavage. But no, the 1990s were definitely cool. You could wear what the hell you wanted, as long as it didn't break any indecency regulations.
The doorbell rang, and she panicked all over again. A quick spritz of hairspray and she rushed to the door. Taking a few deep breaths she calmed herself, and slowly opened the door.
"My God Kait, what have you done to your hair?" Her face fell. "You look absolutely amazing, even more than usual."
"Liar," Was all that she could say.
He was six feet tall, with dirty blonde hair and eyes so green they sparkled like emeralds.
"K. I'm sorry, it was just a joke. Are you ready?"
She sighed, and looked in the mirror, her reflection was hardly there at all, she hoped he didn't notice. "K? What's wrong with the mirror? Apart from it doesn't really show your reflection very well." Damnit! He'd noticed. OK, so maybe he'd known anyway, but she still didn't like him to see that she wasn't exactly a normal person.
"Nothing, nothing at all Danny. I'll just grab my keys and bag." Kaithla disappeared behind the door, to reappear with all her things. As se stepped from behind the door, he gasped. Her hair was falling loose, framing her face perfectly. She wore a long, low cut dress, which accentuated her figure amazingly. It was silver, and sparkled when the light caught it just right. The body was tight fitting, but did not look uncomfortably so; while the skirt swept over her hips loosely down to her ankles. There was a split in just the right place to show a bit of leg, and leave certain things to the imagination. After knowing her for ten years, he should have known that she was beautiful, but every time he saw her he reacted the same way.
"Mademoiselle, may I escort you to your carriage?"
"Oui, bien sûr Monsieur." He took her arm and they walked to his car.
* * *
The two couples arrived at the Bronze simultaneously, and Angel did a double take of the angel-like girl. Hadn't he seen her somewhere before? Then he realised, it was only Kait.
"Hey, Buff. Remember Kait? Well, she just walked in. A few girlfriends are gonna be jealous tonight."
Kaithla had to be one of the most beautiful women there were. However, only a fool let her looks deceive them into thinking that she was helpless. Hidden behind her outer shell lay a battle hardened fighter. Her 2 years as the slayer had given her that, but her past 600 years as a half vampire had also taught her many things.
Buffy dropped her head, she hated Angel talking about this girl, everyone though that she was amazing, she even had to admit that she did herself. That wasn't the point, Kaithla was obviously attracted to Angel, who was her boyfriend. If Danny was there it was OK, because her affections were aimed at him then. It was when Angel and Kaithla were alone that worried her.
No, she was not going to get jealous of a vampire, no matter how exquisite she looked.
Kait sat down at a table by the bar, as she always did., although usually she hid herself by looking the other way. Angel came in here with Buffy, and she didn't want to be reminded about the one with the angelic face. Anyway, she had Danny now. Today, she was banned from hiding by Danny, and was instantly regretting it as almost every male in the place stared at her as she waited for Danny to return with the drinks. Buffy noticed her and dragged Angel over to sit at the same table. Instantly she regretted it, her hair was a mess and her clothes were nowhere near as nice as Kait's. Oh, well.
"Buffy, are you alright? Angel ,why don't you go tell Danny that you're here and get him to buy you two drinks?"
Buffy sighed. She had forgotten that Kait was empathic. Too late now.
"Yeah K, I'm fine. Just had a little trouble with the fang gang on the way over and I look a mess."
"No you don't. Where did you get that dress, I've been looking for one like it for ages? Although maybe with a v-neck, I don't suit straight cut ones."
Their clothes discussion was cut short by Cordelia arriving to slag off their dress sense.
"Hey, Buffy, where did you get that dress? You look like someone's coloured it in with felt pens. And as for your friend… well… that style is so 1800s."
Kait was the first to respond, "It's meant to be 1800s, but unlike you I can make carbon dated things look good. Oh, yeah. Didn't I see you wearing a dress like Buffy's yesterday. Oh, wasn't I meant to say that? What about that time I saw you looking at the knock-off rail at the market? Is that out of bounds too? Good evening to you."
Cordelia looked shocked, and stormed off to be with her Cordettes, as she called them.
"Hey, good insult K."
"Thanks Buff, I do try. Been up to much lately?" That was their code for "What's been happening on the vampire issue?"
"Well, the terrible two are back in town, according to Angel, and that can only mean trouble. Let's just hope they get the message that this Hellmouth is out of bounds, as long as I'm in charge."
"We should be so lucky. So Spikey boy's back in town? I hope Drusilla dumps him. Hey, I owe him a steak through the heart. That ought to be fun!"
* * *
The vampire watched the two girls gossiping and chuckled, he knew who they were. He was here to teach them that the slayer never wins. The blonde one may have killed the Master, but the vampires still ruled. This was the Hellmouth, their domain, and not that of those petty humans. He felt breath on his back as his accomplice slipped in next to him. He drooled as he looked at the two youngsters. Young ones tasted better.
Then he saw him. Angelus. Chatting casually to the slayer. He had heard rumours, but did not believe them. Angelus was one of the most evil vampires to ever terrorise earth, but here he was, socialising with the slayer. He would have to die too. All of them would have to die, one at a time, their blood feeding the superior race of this planet.
Angel and Kaithla could smell them. There were definitely vampires around here. As long as they didn't see Buffy it was OK to ignore them. Seeing the slayer could do strange things to vamps, they suddenly get the urge to kill her. Kait finished her pondering and turned her attention back towards the conversation.
"So then Kait, how did you become a vamp?" Angel had heard this story before, many times. Everyone wanted to know how people got turned into vampires. It could really upset some of them as well.
"Well, let me think." Angel laughed a little. "I was the slayer. I had been called when I was thirteen, my uncle was a watcher and he knew. When I was 15 we went on a holiday to a new place that I'd never been to before. My uncle told me that I was in danger, but had to go and fight the Master. He told me I was going to die. So, I put a curse on myself, witchcraft was scary in those days and set off on the night I died. A young child led the way, as was written. I fought the Master, and he killed me. Which was nice.
He fed from my blood, but I knew how to become one of them, so I tasted his blood. That way I could finish my battle. This curse though, made sure that if I'd fed off a person they couldn't kill me. So, the Master couldn't kill me. I stopped him opening the Hellmouth by stalling him. Then a rather handy earthquake got him stuck behind it. Cool or what?!?" Her enthusiasm at telling the story died, and tears formed in her eyes, "It was my fifteenth birthday. The holiday was to celebrate that. My uncle called it fate, I called it a death sentence. He booked the holiday. All he was ever bothered about was that I was the slayer, and I had to give up my life because of that." She broke down, and Danny put a caring arm around her.
Angel was shocked. He had never heard her go that deep before, even in a hundred years of telling that story to people who wanted to know. She cried. He had never, ever seen that before. Buffy, on the other hand, was relieved. This girl had been hiding that for years. The pressure of bottling things inside could overload a person, no matter how strong they were, it just took longer. She knew from personal experience how bad things could get, like when the Master had killed her. She had got a complex about not being able to do her job well, which was only broken by her smashing up his bones.
The strange, memory driven musings were shattered as a hoard of vampires crashed through the doors. It had a sobering affect on the group, who immediately sprung into action. Danny instantaneously switched into watcher mode and tried to help the innocents get out of the building.
Buffy and Kaithla had other ideas. They guessed that they were not here for a mass feeding, but for something related to them. This date was just not meant to happen for Buffy. Why couldn't she just have one evening alone with Angel, just one evening?
Angel was stood behind them, and Kait could feel him simmering with anger. Obviously having a date crashed by vamps gets him miffed. The strobe lights, left on from the disco, flickered their eerie glow throughout the club as Buffy took out the first assailant. Kait kicked off her high-heeled shoes and joined the fun. She had lost nothing over the years, and had even got stronger by learning new techniques. A spin kick threw three into the bar, smashing glasses as they went.
"What a waste of decent drinks! You really ought to watch where you're going. Didn't your mother ever tell you that?" her bad mood had been replaced with anger and contempt for the race of which she was forced to become a part. The enragement had caused her to shed her human face and join Angel in looking like members of the fang gang themselves. Buffy thought,
* * *
A broken table instantly became steak material. A tall, dark-haired vampire grabbed hold of Kait, and instantly regretted it for the last moments of his afterlife. He was thrown into the splintered table so fast he didn't know what had hit him. One of the two spies stepped from the shadows. A scar ran across one eyebrow, yet he had rugged good looks about him… somewhere past the demon face.
Angel and Kait froze on the spot. This was going to be a very bad night.
"Hiya luv. Nice dress, pity it's not gonna stay like that."
Another vampire stepped out from behind him wielding a baseball bat.
"Well, well. You still not fighting your own battles, Spikey?" Angel stepped forward to shield Kait from the after affects of her comment, but she was having none of it. "No, Angelus, I can fight my own battles so BUTT OUT will ya!?!"
Her dress caught the light as she stepped in front of Angel again.
"So then, Kaithla, you still fighting for the other side then? It's a pity, coz now I have to kill you."
"You really need to pay attention. You can't kill me, silly. I thought you might have noticed, as I'm still actually here, and not blowing around on air currents like you'll be pretty soon." That was another side affect of the curse. Once she had tasted someone's blood they could not kill her. Handy when you think of it.
As this showdown was taking place, nobody noticed that another group of vampires were encircling the slayers and Angel. Spike suddenly grabbed the bat from his comrade and swiped at Kait. It hit her so hard in the face that she ended up sprawled on the pool table. Blood poured from her nose, and Angel had to visibly control himself. She sat up, felt her nose.
"You know you really shouldn't have done that."
"Why, what are you going to do about it?"
"I happen to have the body of a 15 year old, do you know how screwed up a teenager's hormones are? I also happen to get really bad PMT. That means, in your moronic language that you are about to regret that. Comprendé?"
By the time anybody saw her move she was on her feet standing behind Spike, holding his baseball bat.
"Spike, do we honestly need weapons for this?" Buffy all of a sudden had an amazing feeling of déja-vu as she hit yet another vampire onto the broken table. Kait could look after herself, that was nothing to worry about, but she had this enormous feeling that something was wrong. Buffy searched her head for the answer as another vamp succumbed to her blows. The answer hit her with a force greater than a high-speed freight train.
"ANGEL!!"
* * *
He was gone, nowhere to be seen. This was all a stalling technique to get to him. How could they have missed it? Spike had used Angel before, so what was different now? The strobe lights flashed their icy blue glow over everyone present. Her heart shattered as she realised what was going on. What if anything happened to him? How would she ever forgive herself.
Kait once again was hit with the reclaimed bat, and again. She fell to her knees and sent a mental message to Danny to get the hell away from here. So much for having a normal night, worrying about nothing except how her hair looked. Spike was now sat on top of her, pinning her to the floor. She felt him try out her neck, then embraced the blackness as he sank his fangs deep into the flesh, draining every drop of the warm, rich liquid from her body. He had got the two things he had come for, so he left, just like that, leaving the other vampires to have their fun with the slayer. So he walked into the night with Kaithla's body over one shoulder, and went to find Angel.
* * *
Angel had at least seen the attacker as he was hit. That was a definite improvement. Man, this guy was good. Something pierced his chest, and for a moment he thought it was over, but he didn't turn into powder. It must be a metal rod then. That was comforting to know as he slipped silently into unconsciousness.
* * *
Buffy cried. There was nothing she could have done the night before. The fight at the Bronze had ended a little before sunrise, when the vampires decided it was getting a little late for them. She only made it back home in time for half an hour's restless sleep before her Mom woke her for school. All day she had sat in Xander and Willow's company, watching them laugh, hearing their voices, but not really being a part of it. They could never understand how much she had to deal with. OK, so they tried, and they were the best friends she had had since discovering that she was the slayer, but there was still something missing all the time. At the moment she knew what that something was: Angel. God only knew what Spike and his cronies had done to him.
Willow Rosenberg was the school nerd. Every school has one, but this school had a nice one. Or so Buffy thought. She was thinking of history class, the teacher was talking (or droning, whichever you prefer) about Europe in the 1300s. What was it like back then, when Kaithla was the slayer? Did she go through as many identity crises as she did? Xander broke her concentration, or lack of it,
"Hey, Buff. Do you think that he's wearing a toupee or what? Willow's betting me an ice cream that it's a rat, what do you think?"
"Xander, I don't really care right now, OK?"
"Oh, you're thinking about Angel, grave guy."
That was enough, she didn't care what anybody said, "Xander, shut up. You don't even know him, so who are you to be judging him like that? You should just leave me alone and keep out of other people's private lives."
Giles interrupted their argument before it turned into a full-scale war. "Buffy, I, I heard that there was a bit of a scuffle at the Bronze last night. Were you in the area?"
She felt tears forming again, but couldn't be bothered to hold them back any longer. Willow rushed over,
"Buffy, what's the matter?"
"A-Angel. Gone. Spike." Her voice became uncontrollable as sobs choked her body. She collapsed into Giles' arms, and the Englishman looked shocked. Comforting a crying teenager is not in a watcher's job description.
The mood was shattered as Danny burst through the doors with tear stained eyes.
"OK, where is she?" It was a fight to keep his emotions under reasonable control. "Buffy, you were with her last, did you see what happened?"
She wiped her eyes dry, took a few deep breaths and looked him square in the eyes.
"Kait's missing? So's Angel. I bet I know what the missing link is. Come with me."
She flicked her bouncy hair from her eyes and strutted from the room, head held high. "Nobody messes with my boyfriend."
* * *
Angel woke up with a splitting pain through his chest. The bar was removed, and a piece of cloth covered the wound. He had obviously stopped bleeding a while ago. He looked around, his eyes adapted for life in the dark. The chamber was lit by a few candles, slowly burning away their wick.
He looked down, and was sure his face would have turned white if it had not already been so. Laid on the floor next to him was the girl in the sparkling silver dress, all life drained from her features. She even looked beautiful then. It was extraordinary that anyone could do her any harm. Even in his days with Darla and Drusilla she had fascinated him. He didn't love her, but he cared for her deeply.
As he gazed at her inert body he saw that someone had fed off her. That made him mad. Her eyelid flickered, and one eye opened, followed by the other. She groaned and lifted her head up slowly. It hurt.
"Angel, is that you? I'm cold." Her voice was sickeningly innocent, completely opposite to her challenging nature of the previous night. It was daytime, and chinks of sunlight filtered their way through the wooden boards over the windows. One had found its way through to Kaithla's face, Angel cringed at the thought of sunlight touching his skin. She looked like a princess from a fairytale.
His thoughts were disturbed by an eerie voice filling the deserted warehouse, for that's what it was. "Now then, who's being the cocky one now?"
Kait was too weak to answer. A wave of faintness passed through her, and she ended up in Angel's arms. Angel felt sick. He was still reeling from what Spike had done to her. It was a good job that she wasn't dead, otherwise he would not be responsible for his actions.
"Angelus, I don't believe that you've actually fallen for her like all the other fools. There, there luv. Remember, I can't kill you. I don't like to brag, but…" Spike laughed, "Who am I trying to kid? I love to brag! All I'm saying is that seeing as I can't kill you, I'll just have to make your life unbearable then."
Kait just about managed a comeback, "My life cannot get any worse than what it already is, so you're going to have a hard time yourself. Do you know how bad it makes you feel when you've killed all those people and have a conscience? Of course you don't, so shut up!"
"Well, well. Who's got a fiery temper then? Look, I'd love to stay and play with you, but I've promised Dru that I'd play with Angelus, she's really looking forward to seeing you again. She does so love to see the thing that drove her insane. Come on!"
Angel was dragged away from Kait, and she collapsed again. "Angel," she cried after him, "be careful."
* * *
Buffy Summers was mad. She didn't care how hard Spike thought he was, or how many slayers he had killed. She was harder, and she was not one of those slayers. All she cared about was getting Angel back. However, there was one thing that stood in her way. Biology class.
It was one of those lessons where you don't actually do anything, but aren't allowed to talk or write either. What was the point? She watched the seconds tick slowly away as she waited for the time to come to do something. The bell rang and the class woke up, packed away their books and headed for the door. It was time to go home for another day. Time to go home for almost everyone, but Buffy had something to do. Something very dear to her heart.
* * *
The tunnels that Spike led Angel through were pitch black, and he couldn't tell where he was going until he entered a brightly lit room. The light hurt his eyes, but as long as Spike stayed around he was comfortable in the fact that it wasn't sunlight. A railroad spike hit him round the back of his head, making him lose his balance until he was shackled to a wooden beam. From this angle he could see the sky through the window, blue as his Kait's eyes. He hoped she was alright.
There was one beam of sunlight flooding into the room, landing to Angel's right. The window faced south, that he could tell, which meant that the light would steadily work its way around the room to him. "Spike, Spike! What the hell are you doing?"
The reply from somewhere else was, "Sending you there."
"Where's the fun in giving me a major case of sunburn? I thought you'd have come up with something a little more… inventive than that."
The hidden voice jumped down to reveal himself. "You really don't see it, do you Angelus? It's not you we're after, it's that bitch of a slayer. This is a sure fire way to get her here. Humans, they're so bloody emotional, I just don't believe how easy it is! And when she gets here, you'll be sorry that you ever met her."
* * *
It was getting colder, and Buffy could see her breath clouding as she ran home to change her clothes. She hadn't realised that winter was so close. Hastily she searched through her bag for her keys, but couldn't find it. So much for being like a normal person while her Mom was out of town. Her bedroom window was open, and she climbed through it with practised ease and pulled on a pair of trousers and a sweater. Her schoolbag was emptied of books and repacked with holy water and wooden steaks.
The sun was descending in the west, and now was the time to act, if she went while it was dark the vampires would be able to follow her everywhere, but while it was light above ground was out of bounds for them. Once again she entered the tunnels which led to the underground church where the Master was held prisoner for so long.
The staircase led deep underground and with each step the blackness closed in a little more. A huge cavernous chamber ended her descent. Candles around the walls flicked their eerie glow over ordinary objects that suddenly took upon a ghostly appearance. Buffy's slayer senses had taken over control of her body the instant she had begun to climb the steps, and it now told her that something was in the room with her. Her eyes slowly scanned every shadow, before setting them upon the person who was alerting her senses.
Her red hair was dishevelled and her face was covered in fresh bruises. Buffy gasped in shock, and saw that her neck had teeth marks in it. A graze over her left eye had matted a small section of her fringe.
"Kait! My God, what happened? Are you OK?"
Her voice was quiet, but as assertive as ever, "Yes, I'm OK. Where's Angel?"
Buffy's face paled, if Kait didn't know where he was, what hope did she have? "I hoped you'd know."
"Yes, I think I do. Would you give me hand up, I think I've twisted my ankle."
Buffy reached out and took Kait's hand, pulling her to her feet. Her faced crinkled up with the pain.
"Are you OK to walk?"
"Yeah, I've had worse. Are you coming or not?"
Her shoes had long been discarded, but she strolled through the darkness with a complete air of confidence, she wasn't even limping. Buffy smiled, shook her head, and set off to find her boyfriend.
* * *
Danny and Giles were sat in the library, waiting for Buffy to show. She had promised that she would meet them here half an hour ago to discuss what to do. Danny knew that Kait would do stupid stuff without permission, but thought Buffy had a little more sense. Apparently not. Kait had a little more fighting experience, and Spike couldn't kill her, but who knows what torture he would use on Buffy before killing her. Also, Spike knew that he couldn't kill Kait, but he could hurt her badly. The thought of it made him want to kill Spike. He didn't care about anything else except how much he loved her.
"Giles, do you think she might have gone without telling us?"
The older man's forehead creased as he pondered the thought, "Yes,.. yes I do believe she might have. After all, she is a teenager."
"She'll have gone after Angel. I don't think she's bothered about Kait, what if anything happens to her? What kind of life would I have? Please God, let her be OK."
* * *
Angel was starting to sweat. The sunlight had caught his jacket now. He could feel the heat through his sleeve and it burned. Was this how it was going to end, as a pile of ash on the floor of a deserted warehouse?
A female voice drifted through one of the tunnels leading into the chamber. It was angelic, almost at one with the breeze.
"How do I,
get through a night without you…"
Spike cocked his head at the sound, and felt something take over his thoughts. He knew who it was, and what they were doing, but couldn't help himself. He wanted her, again.
* * *
Drusilla stopped playing with her dolls and turned around, displaying her game face. The slow, sensual song carried on, the singer putting her every emotion into it.
"… If I had to live without you
What kind of life would that be?"
Drusilla knew who it was, and why they were doing it.
"Now, now Miss Kaithla. That isn't very nice. Leave the men alone, we can have a fight without them, can't we."
The singing abruptly halted. A voice from the doorway echoed through the room,
"I don't have an argument with you, or your dolls, so just leave it to someone who knows what they're doing for a change. Preferably someone with a little more mental stability."
Angel cried out. The sunlight had found a bare patch of skin and burned, creating smoking blisters. Buffy heard his cry and ran to find him.
"Buffy! Come back! God that girl's more like me than I am! Well then Dru, what are you going to do?"
She turned to her dresser and seemed to be in conversation with a particular doll, nodding her head and agreeing with it.
"Oh, you think that she'll taste nice. My Spike said that she did as well. What was that Miss Edith, she upsets you? We can't be having that, can we?"
* * *
Kaithla saw it too late. Drusilla pulled a bottle of holy water from her drawer and threw it over Kait. Her scram pierced the darkness of the chamber like a dagger. thought Kait, then aired her feelings "I'm sick of playing little Miss sweet and innocent." She transformed her face from one of pure beauty to one of vilest evil. Drusilla leaped in surprise. "There, there Dru. You see I'm just like you, although a lot prettier. We're even. We both love Angelus, but don't receive his affections. That hurts me, but I love him, and I want the best for him. So what if he loves a mortal? We live forever, so what's the problem with twenty years or so. Slayers never usually live longer than their mid thirties because of the nature of the job…"
Danny and Giles worked their way through the maze into the room in which Kaithla and Drusilla exchanged their views on Angel. Danny turned the corner first, to hear Kait declaring her love for Angel. It hit him like a bullet through the heart. Kait continued "…I've had to live with that for 240 odd years, and I can cope with it. I have a boyfriend, one of whom I care for with all my heart and soul. Oh, you wouldn't know about that, would you.."
"Ahem!"
Kait spun on her heel, and Dru flung a chair at her. The wooden frame splintered into thousands of pieces and Danny shrieked. A large fragment lodged in her arm, and blood began pouring from the wound produced. Drusilla's eyes lit up with the smell of fresh blood, and she leapt towards Kait.
In one swift movement Kait pulled the wood from her arm and spun to face Dru. She stopped in her tracks, knowing that one wrong move would end her time on the planet.
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