*DISCLAIMER* I do not own any of the characters in this story, although they have been twisted for my own use. I apologize profusely to Joss Whedon for my butchering of his creation. Buffy The Vampire Slayer is owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the WB Television Network. Wow, that's a mouthful!
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Part Two
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The Bronze is the place to be in Sunnydale. Of course there isn't any where else to really be. Still, it's the place to go for fun, music, and information. And for the undead, it's an excellent carry out place. Though not if I could help it.
Seemed as if I had my own entourage. I entered the Bronze with Miss Chase behind me, though she pushed her way ahead once we passed the doorway. Xander followed Miss Chase and mystery boy came last.
Like most nights, the music was loud and the crowd was dancing. At the far end of the room, there's a stage, and one of my informants was up on it at the moment. Her name's Willow, and boy can she sing. She's part owner of the Bronze and makes sure that means she gets time on stage. Normally she's a bit shy, but since she started dating a member of the K-9 police force, she's come out of her shell.
Since Willow seemed busy, I headed straight to the bar and my most trusted information source. Rupert Giles was the bartender, but that's just a day job. He's really the best Watcher a Slayer could have. He didn't seem too surprised to see me as I came up to the bar.
"Summers, what brings you to the Bronze tonight?" he asked in his no nonsense British accent. Always made me think of one of those Bond movies, the ones with Sean Connery though, not any of the other guys.
"Giles, what do you know about the Orb of Krakerax?"
I swear his face paled more than the usual somewhat sickly pallor that is always associated with spending too much time inside. That was not a good sign.
"Hey Giles, can I get something to drink? You know, maybe a nice cold beer or something?" Leave it to Xander to go oblivious on me. Giles just stared at him a minute before shaking his head.
"Buffy, we need to speak about this Orb. Come with me."
Giles led the way to a secluded corner of the Bronze where someone was already seated. There was no real worry though. This was one of Willow's private tables, and the guy already seated was in fact her boyfriend. Simply known as Oz, he was one of the best K-9 cops I knew.
"Hey," he said in his simple way, and completely without taking his eyes off stage. Yup, he had it bad.
We all sat down before Giles spoke, and the suspense was killing me.
"The Orb of Krakerax," Giles repeated. "It's been quite awhile since I've heard that name. Krakerax was a vampire long ago, in fact he may have been one of the firsts. However, he was not one of the brightest of the bunch. Not that most vampires are rather intelligent to begin with, but this one had even less brains to speak of."
"Actually," Angel said, speaking up for the first time since we entered the club. "There are a lot of intelligent vampires. Unless I'm wrong, one of the smarter ones has the Orb."
"I see, well that would not be good. As I was saying, this particular vampire was not very smart. He got himself caught by a group of people called the Order of the Light. They took it upon themselves to rid the Earth of vampires. They weren't exactly Slayers, but they did their job. However, they were unaware that Krakerax had an ancient knowledge of a magic and was able to conceal his power in an Orb. The legends say that if a vampire wears the Orb and recites an ancient spell that this vampire will gain true immortality. You see, certain vampires have different powers. Some can shape shift, some can fly, and so on. Although those that can do that are among the Masters and are not your normal run of the mill vampire. Krakerax had true immortality. A stake would not kill him. However, as I said, he was not very bright and he was afraid of the Order. He thought they could truly destroy him, and while they were able to, this was only because he had already placed his power in the Orb."
The silence following the words was almost deafening. Giles can tend to be a bit long winded, but he knows his stuff.
"Whoa," Xander moaned. "Brain overload."
I agreed with Xander, but I kept my mouth shut. That was a lot of information, and none of it good.
At that moment Willow came over, her song finished. Oz's face lit up as soon as she sat down, and with good reason. Since she got over her low self esteem, she's been dressing in a more flattering manner, and Oz isn't the only guy who's noticed.
"Hey guys," Willow said with a brilliant smile. "What are we talking about?"
"The Orb of Krakerax," I answered. "Oh, by the by, Willow, Oz, Giles, this is Angel. He's only one of my clients on this case. The other one is over there. You can tell which girl it is by the circle of drooling males surrounding her."
They all followed my gaze to Miss Chase. Xander got that vacant stare on his face that let me know he had it bad. Too bad for him, but I think that the little princess is out of his league.
"That's Cordelia Chase," Oz said. I looked at him. "The force gets more calls to go out to her estate than any other place."
"She's not pulling my leg with all of this is she?"
"Don't know. Most of the time it's a crank."
"On account of all the built guys on the force," Willow said.
"Natch. I've only met her today, and I can say without a doubt that sounds like Miss Chase."
"Not to interrupt your important gossip," Giles said. "But if what...Angel is it?.... Says is true, and the Orb is in the hands of a formidable vampire, then you must get it back."
"Got it. Immortal vampire bad. No problem."
"And you must get it back before he has a chance to use the spell. If you're lucky, he'll have to decipher it."
"Luck," Xander said. "There's something we don't usually have a lot of. But I do have this!"
He pulled out a purple rabbit's foot dangling on a chain.
"A rabbit's foot?" I said.
"Yup, guaranteed to bring us luck. Since usually we're a bit on the minus side."
"You don't buy that do you Xander?"
"We live on the Hellmouth Buff. I'm supposed to believe in vampires, werewolves, demons, and your generic monsters, but not that a rabbit's foot will bring me luck?"
"Wasn't lucky for the rabbit." Oz put in.
"Well, no but. Look, I'm keeping it."
"Fine. Okay, so Angel, who do you think has the Orb?"
"A vampire named Spike and his lover Drusilla. It makes sense especially since he'll probably use it on Dru."
"Why not on himself?"
"Dru's been sick."
"A sick vampire? What's next?"
"He'll use it on her to make her better. It won't be the first thing he's tried. They've been together for a long time, and she's been sick for most of that time. She's a bit...crazy."
"How come you know so much, mystery boy?" Xander asked with suspicion in his voice.
Angel just glared at Xander. You could practically feel the temperature drop in the room. As much as I would love having that guy's attention on me, I wouldn't want him to look at me like that. I turned away just to escape the leakage, and I saw Miss Chase starting to leave the club with someone I knew at a glance was living impaired.
"Excuse me," I said. "I gotta keep someone from necking with my client."
I jumped out of my seat, a stake at the ready. I knew both Xander and Angel were right behind me. That was good. If Miss Chase's new friend wasn't alone, I just might need back-up.
Once outside I saw that it was a good thing I had the back-up. Fang-face indeed had friends. Miss Chase had her hands on her hips.
"I don't do group things," she said in an angry voice. "You didn't mention friends."
"They're vampires," I shouted.
"They're what?!? I am so out of here!"
I watched her run back into the Bronze. I hoped she'd have enough sense to hide.
"Xander catch!" I threw one of my stakes to him, and was about to do the same for my mysterious stranger, but it suddenly seemed as if he didn't need my help. Angel had already lunged at one of the vamps, and he was fighting like someone who knew how to fight. That was good, that meant I didn't have to worry about him.
I turned my attention to the vampire who had led Miss Chase out of the club.
"You know," I said, not able to resist a witty rejoinder. "I gotta applaud you on your taste. She's got the look. But then vampires are all alike. They're always thinking with their teeth."
Not wasting any more words, I kicked the vamp in the face. Xander was having a bit of difficulty with his vamp, but I couldn't worry about that at the moment. After kicking my vamp in the stomach, he grabbed my leg and slammed me to the ground. Of course, I'm the Slayer and I can't let a little thing like pain get me down. I kicked the vamp in the face again, and got to my face. I looked over in time to see Angel's back as he slammed a stake into his vamp. Good, that meant one less blood sucker. I turned my attention back to my vamp. Unfortunately, Xander was having quite a bit of trouble, and I had to help him out. Now I had two vamps to deal with. I finally was able to stake the one, but the original vamp was not easy. He kept fighting back with a passion. I was on my back furiously trying to figure out a way to stop him, not that I thought I'd lose, just sometimes it takes longer, when the vamp got a surprised look on his face before bursting into dust. I was all set to thank whoever staked him when I saw that I still had one more vamp to deal with.
For a moment I wondered where Angel had disappeared to, but only for a moment. I jumped to my feet and struck a fighting pose.
"Buffy," the vampire said in a familiar voice. "Wait."
To my complete surprise, the vampire's face melted back into a human face, and it was Angel. I couldn't believe it. I had been tricked by a blood sucker. And I had fallen for him too. Life can be so cruel.
"You-you're a vampire?" Xander asked with shock in his voice.
"I never said I wasn't."
"But-but vampires are our enemies. Right Buffy? The rules haven't changed on me have they?"
"No."
I was having a little bit of trouble believing this. I admit it. How could someone who was so good looking turn out to be an enemy? It just wasn't fair.
"You don't understand," Angel said.
"No, I think I do understand. You just want the Orb of Krakerax so you can become truly immortal. Doesn't take any real talent to figure that out. Give it up, I'm a Private Eye and the Slayer, I make it my business to figure things out."
"No, I'm telling you. You don't understand."
"Sure, you're a vampire, but a good vampires. You're like a care bear with fangs."
He looked at me almost sheepishly. Even after what I found out, he could still make me melt. Way past not fair.
"Not exactly," Angel said softly. "You're right that most vampires are evil. That's because they don't have souls. I didn't either until about a hundred years ago. That was when I killed the favorite daughter of a Romany tribe. Little tip, don't mess with humans that have magic. As a punishment, they gave me my soul back. You have no idea what it's like to have killed for over a century and then later regret it."
"So we're supposed to feel sorry for you dead-boy?" Xander said.
"Don't call me that. I'm telling the truth."
Something about him made me want to believe him. But what was I thinking? Angel may be good looking, but he's also a vampire, and I'm the Slayer. What would my mom say? Oh god, I think I'm going to regret this
"Alright. I'm probably going to hate myself in the morning, but okay."
"What are you saying boss?" Xander asked.
"I'm saying that we're going to keep him as a client. At the very least, he knows who has the Orb, and we can stake him if necessary after we get it back."
Xander looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Maybe I had, but it was my mind to lose.
"Come on," I said. "Let's go get Miss Chase and then find this Orb."
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