Buffy was somewhat confused and angered by what she was seeing.
Angel was standing in the foyer of the library locked in an embrace with a stranger that had walked into the room only moments earlier.
"Okay! What have I missed this time?" Cordelia asked, breaking the silence.
"I think we've all been left out of the loop on this one." Replied, a slightly pissed off, Buffy.
"Yeah! Looks like Dead Boy's got some explaining to do." Xander remarked, taking this opportunity to try and get Buffy worked up at Angel.
Angel, realising what he was doing, broke away from the stranger that only he knew as Amara. He turned to face the befuddled group but before he could speak, Amara sat down and encouraged the rest of the group to do the same, not fully understanding why they all obliged.
Amara took this opportunity to introduce herself. Buffy and Giles paid particular attention as she launched into the story of her life, explaining who and what she was and what powers she possessed.
After a few minutes of telling her story, Amara reached the part concerning Anastasia. As the group sat in silence, Amara set the scene.
England-1800 After fleeing from Angelus, Amara had returned to England. She was determined to seek her revenge on an unsuspecting victim; to share the pain of eternal loss and hopelessness with someone else.
After a few weeks of travelling between towns, Amara had come across the rather large home of a young couple named Elliott and Anastasia Flannery.
The Flannery family, she had found out, were very well to do. Their youngest son, Elliott, was also very kind and had a history of taking into his home, lost and tired travellers, until they were back on their feet.
However, it had been none of these things that had made the Flannery's the perfect target for Amara's revengeful plot. But rather Elliott's innocent wife.
She was young and beautiful and best of all, she had an undying love for her new husband; a love that Amara suspected even eternal damnation would never be able to destroy.
After being taken into their home, Amara began to plan her revenge, first plotting to kill Elliott. And the night before the young couple's first wedding anniversary, she had put her plan into action.
They had all turned in early that night and Amara had waited, for the couple to go to sleep. After she was sure they were resting soundly, she had snuck up the stairs and into their master bedroom
After putting a sleeping spell over every living member of the house, she had lifted Elliott from his bed, for she was incredibly strong for her size. Then, she had taken him down to the cellar of the house and ripped out his throat, before cutting out his heart and putting it on a silver platter in the kitchen.
She had then laid Elliott's body back in bed next to Anastasia and lifted the spell from the house.
The next morning, Anastasia's screams of terror had shaken the house to their foundations
Amara had been the first one to enter the bedroom and after seeing Elliott's pale, stiff corpse, she had momentarily left the room to congratulate herself on a job well done.
After the funeral of her beloved husband, Anastasia had no one to turn to except the stranger that had been living with them. And on the night Anastasia finally admitted to Amara that all the hope she had in the world, had died with Elliott, Amara had made her a vampire.
Buffy was somewhat confused.
"If you're not a vampire, how could you make Anastasia one?" She asked. Amara was quick to explain that if the full moon wasn't out, then the werewolf inside of her wasn't completely active and therefore she could only create a vampire. With Buffy's mind at ease, Amara continued her story.
Only months after she had made her new companion, Amara had regretted it. It seemed that Anastasia was a quick learner and in her short life as a demon, she had picked up on quite a few Gypsy and Pagan rituals.
However, it was when Anastasia had started to senselessly slaughter children and young men, that resembled her beloved Elliott, that Amara had realised the full extent of the mistake she had made. She also knew how she could reverse it.
It had been pouring down rain on the night Amara had gone to Anastasia's coffin with a wooden stake in her hand. She quietly lifted the lid and gazed at the sleeping body that lay inside. Tears streamed down her face as she raised the stake and plunged it into the heart of the one she had created
Instead of turning to dust though, Anastasia had opened her eyes and whispered a few words in Latin. She had then fallen into a death- like state and the stake that protruded from her chest had dissolved.
Even though the spell had been barely louder than a whisper, Amara had known immediately what she had said. Anastasia was not dead but sleeping, dormant. She would remain in that state for twenty-five years, after which she would wake and be free to walk the earth again. Unless, of course, somebody killed her. Though she still would not die an immortal death
Tears started to freshen in Amara's eyes as she realised that Anastasia was unkillable. Unless she died an immortal death three times during the time in which she would rise from the dead, every twenty-five years.
"That," Amara said in a rather slow and placid voice, "brings us to the problem at hand." "How so?" Xander asked, in a quizzical tone.
"Let me guess. This is the week that she will rise, right?" Buffy remarked, answering Xander's question before anyone else had a chance to respond.
Angel squirmed uncomfortably at the lack of concern in her voice, as did Amara and Giles
"This is certainly no matter to joke about." Giles assured Buffy and the others. He then insisted on some research and an excursion.
A few hours and a lot of research later, Buffy, Oz, Angel and Amara went for a walk through an old section of one of Sunnydale's many graveyards. They walked through graves stones that dated back hundreds of years and as they approached a rather odd-looking tomb, Buffy felt a familiar sense of dread wash over her.
She noticed a rusty plaque hanging near the door. It said something about 'unspeakable evil' and she would have read it, but Amara was anxious to get inside the tomb.
The large stone door swung open with suspicious ease and the party got the feeling that they weren't the only ones who had been there recently. The still, musty air hit them in a wave and all but Angel and Amara were fazed.
Inside, Amara lit an old lantern that she had left last time she was there. As light filled the whole room, Amara gasped when she saw the altar that Anastasia had been lying on...was empty.
Angel was equally as shocked. He was just about to ask Amara what they would need to do, when a glint of gold caught his eye. Quickly bending down, he retrieved the object. But it was only when he held it under the light that he realised what it was.
This time it was Angel who felt the sense of dread pass through him.
The gold object was a necklace. The same necklace that Spike had given Drusilla last Valentines day
Angel had been bad then and as he stood there outside the tomb, he remembered what he had given Dru. It had been a still-warm heart that he had gotten from the chest of a 'quaint little shop girl'.
Even now, the very thought of the acts he had committed as Angelus, made him sick to the stomach. He also knew that Buffy was not going to be pleased when he told her Spike and Drusilla were involved.
Angel jumped when he felt Amara's hand on his shoulder. He turned quickly and was quite surprised at the look on Amara's face.
"It's William and Drusilla...Isn't it?" She asked with no real surprise.
"I should have known. Months ago I was told that they had come back from overseas and I, being the fool that I am, didn't put the two together. I guess your friend isn't going to be happy with this outcome is she?" "No. I can't see her throwing them a welcome back party, if that's what your asking." Angel replied rather gravely.
The pair decided to keep their new found knowledge a secret and when Buffy came over and asked them if they had any idea who was responsible for this, they both remained tight lipped.
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