Authors Note: After re-reading the episode transcripts I just realised Wesley wasn't in the Zeppo and appeared after, so sorry and I hope you enjoy the story.
"Hey." Buffy turned around to see Angel standing just outside her window.
"Hi," she replied with a small smile. Dropping her smile she looked at him for a few seconds before saying, "You know how I usually complain about all those cryptic warnings you keep giving, if there was something that you knew now you would tell me wouldn't you?" She was not expecting the surprised "Oh" from Angel in response to her statement and looked at him expecting more.
"Well something happened on Samhain."
"What sort of Something? All Wesley was able to tell me today is that Something is going to happen. How am I supposed to prepare for that?"
"No-one knows. It was some sort of mystical energy being drawn into a powerful spell." Sensing that Angel was holding something back Buffy motioned for him to continue.
"In Ireland, when I was human, it was said that Samhain was charged with the energy of the spirit world. Life became death and the gateways between the worlds were opened. Spirits, divine creatures and even humans could pass from one world to the next. I think that someone tried to harness that energy and draw the powers of one of the otherworld dwellers to themselves."
"I guess it's to much to hope that they wanted to promote world peace with their new powers, huh?" The flippant remark held a deeper question and unfortunately Angel knew the answer.
"If the spell succeeded then the person who cast it will now be more powerful than anything you have faced before. They may be immortal and if the were here when the Hellmouth opened then closed they could have absorbed that energy."
"So any good news?
"It could be nothing, all this is only my opinion. It's possible that someone used a spell for something good."
"But this is the Hellmouth," said Buffy finishing the sentence. "We, we'll deal with it, if it exists," said Buffy trying to sound confident. "I should probably tell Giles so he can look in some of his books then tell me the world is about to end and I have to stop it."
"Don't you mean Wesley, he's your new watcher."
"I do not mean Wesley, he's a pain. I mean he expects me to take orders from him. Who's been fighting vampires for the last three years? He just waltzes into the library, while I was having a private conversation with my friends, tried to order them to get out and announced that he was my new Watcher and I was going to meet him tomorrow morning half an hour before school. Who does he think he is?"
Angel smiled, remembering the first meeting between Buffy and her new Watcher. By the time he had finished introduced himself both Buffy and Faith had been staring, open mouthed at him for at least twenty minuets. Angel had seriously thought that Faith was going to hit the man.
While neither of the Slayers were model material for a Watcher both knew what they were doing. Even when Merrick first told Buffy of her destiny he was not patronising as Wesley had been. His suggestion that both learn a section of their Slayer handbooks a night had been met with disbelief and when he suggested that Buffy cut off all contact with Giles she told him that maybe he should go and find a vampire to play with. It would have been funny apart from the fact that Buffy needed a Watcher and Giles just didn't have the resources anymore. It was going to make her life very difficult if she couldn't learn to get on with her new Watcher.
Aira drove along singing to the radio. It had been a long drive but that was necessary for her purposes. Things were going better than even the most ambitious of their little group could have dreamt. She had been accepted into the Slayers group of friends and she knew that she could make them trust her.
It might work better if she had an apartment in the area but she couldn’t be to far from her base. If things went wrong here she didn’t want anything that could be used to trace her. Years of experience had taught her that with enough violence most humans could be persuaded to reveal any secrets they knew. When it came to protecting their short lives, they could draw upon amazing resources. No matter how careful she was, if she rented an apartment of someone and they saw her just once they would remember her if they were pushed hard enough. Maybe she could get someone else to buy an apartment for her, money wasn't exactly an issue.
Oh well she'd have to consider the idea another time. Now it was time for the show.
