Buffy, Giles, Willow, Oz and the rest of the Slayerettes walked up the beaten track to Amara's doorway that evening. Her house was small and hidden in rather dense forest so much so that Willow had never even noticed it before during her adventures around Sunnydale.
She had been shocked when Buffy had described it to her.
The outside of the small cottage was red brick and for the home of a demon, there was a surprising amount of large glass windows. Of course, with Angel around they were all boarded up
The garden was overgrown and seemed to enclose the house. It appeared that there had once been an outdoor setting sitting on the porch, but the thick green vines had strangled it and it seemed now like a white skeleton.
The large oak front door was unlocked, as if Amara knew that company was coming. From the outside Buffy could hear the voices of Angel and Whistler.
The group walked in. Cautiously looking around, they saw that the house was huge on the inside.
The front room was filled with old furniture; a tall, fancily decorated lamp stood in one corner, while a white dressing shade stood in another. A large wrought iron bed sat in another corner and a pair of sleeping bags next to it
Looking at the contents of the room suggested that it was the only one in the house that ever got used. A large, very old looking cupboard stood in the final corner with the door slightly ajar, revealing tonnes of clothes and shoes. Which, presumably, belonged to Amara. Cordelia stepped forward and examined the exposed contents of the closet and nodded in satisfaction, as if she were approving of Amara's clothes.
From the next room, Amara could smell and hear her company.
Oz was the first to notice her standing in the doorway. She walked across the room and stopped in front of the Slayer and her Watcher.
She smiled warmly, as if glad to see them.
"I'm glad you have decided to come back, Buffy. We cannot hope to fully succeed without your help." Amara smiled.
She escorted the group into the dinning room. Cordelia was dumbfounded when she noticed the food that littered the huge oak table while Willow had to turn away to stop herself from vomiting and Oz winced at the sight that lay before them.
Hot dogs sat at one end, that was all right, but as their gaze inched down, the foods became less and less cooked and more and more bloody.
Angel sat at the head of the table. He was in full vamp face, although he wasn't eating or drinking anything and Amara had been sitting next to him from the looks of things. The plate that sat in front of her chair was filled with partially cooked foods.
Whistler seemed stunned when he noticed the large party that was staring at him as he shovelled a fully cooked hot dog into his mouth.
At this Amara came forward again.
"We were just finishing our dinner. If the sight of the blood is making you squeamish, you can wait for us outside." Everyone that stood there had seen tonnes of blood since they had been part of the whole slaying game but still the sight of demons eating was way too much for any of them to handle. They all turned and showed themselves out.
Giles took a deep breath of fresh air when he reached the outside of the cottage but Buffy was not as bothered by the whole scene as she had let on. She had seen Angel in his vampire face a hundred times.
She had brought him things from the butcher's shop to eat; she had seen him at his worst. The whole scene had been nothing new to her.
But for reasons unclear to her, she had left with the others. It was as if even the slightest things, even bad things, made her remember what she and Angel had once had, but sadly could never have again.
And while the others fought back nausea, she fought back tears.
Within minutes, Angel and Amara had joined the group outdoors.
Whistler took a bit longer coming out but when he finally emerged, he had changed clothes. He looked appalling and Cordy had to bite her tongue before a nasty comment could escape her mouth
Angel even cringed at the sight of the neon pink shirt and blue leather pants Whistler was sporting and in the back of his mind he couldn't help but wonder, after spending so much time with Amara, how he could still have no fashion sense? Amara seemed to be the only one who didn't feel sick from looking at Whistler's attire so she quickly took the head of the line and began leading the group towards Angel's mansion.
Xander lagged sadly at the back of the line. He hated feeling like he did. He had let Buffy talk him into tagging along. She had promised him that if they survived he wouldn't have to tag along with her and Angel again. Of course, he knew he had been tricked.
Buffy just had a way of saying things to him; deep down he knew he'd never be able to miss a good fight where the bad guys got their asses kicked by Buffy. Angel or no Angel, Xander always liked to be part of things.
Amara led the group back to the cemetery where Anastasia's tomb was located. She disappeared inside it for a moment and when she finally emerged, she was armed to the max with stakes, holy water, crucifixes, a sword and two brand-spanking new crossbows.
"Isn't this a little bit of overkill?" Oz asked with confusion.
"Why don't you let Buffy answer that question?" Was Amara's reply.
Oz turned to face a smiling Buffy.
"I'm with Amara. Anastasia's going down and if Spike and Drusilla want to go with her, than that's fine with me."
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