Author: **Heidi**

Disclaimer: Joss is the owner of all; I am just a puppet of the left over strings that he leaves dangling.

Spoilers: AU. Response to a challenge by Carol Ann called “Operation Baby.” Slayers can only be impregnated by vampires and guess who comes to Sunnydale to try it out! Set approximately during season 5.

Couples: B/Aus, X/A, C/D, W/T

Distribution: Realm BA fantasy, LoD, anywhere else and if Carol Ann wants it, you do whatever you want with it!

Author’s note: If you like my version of this challenge you should check “Teeny, Tiny, Tang…Catch a Vampire by the Fang,” by TiaLorna. She is also writing this challenge.

Feedback: (In my most sarcastic voice) I am allergic to feedback, I usually try to stay away from the stuff. Of course I want feedback. It is chocolate to the soul!

Rating: Strong R to NC-17

Part I

“Add these two volumes to your reading schedule,” Giles said as he handed two incredibly musty books to Buffy.

Taking them in her hands and almost dropping them to the floor under the weight of the ancient books. Grunting, Buffy said, “Giles, honestly, you really need to get yourself a life here.”

“I have one, thank you very much. The acquisition of the Magic Box opens a new world up to me. And with your unquenching thirst for information of the slayers’ origins keeps me on my toes,” he said rather smugly with his voice dripping with a thick British accent.

Buffy rolled her eyes at him as soon as he turned his face away from hers so he wouldn’t scold her yet again for her flippant action. “Whatever,” she sighed but then suddenly remembering something she burst, “Giles, the last set of volumes you gave me was missing an addition. Don’t tell me you don’t have that issue?”

“Which one are you talking about?” Giles asked as a furrow began to deeply imbed itself in his forehead.

“I am thinking volume 73, 1566. It was missing from the Watcher’s diaries that you gave me to read.”

“Oh that one is….” Giles paused as he contemplated on what to think next. Nervously he answered “G-Gone, someone stole it a long time ago and it has never been recovered. Sorry.”

Buffy noticed Giles nervous reaction to her question but she wouldn’t let him know that. “Oh darn, where’s a Barnes and Noble when you need one? I guess that means less homework for me, always a good thing.”

“Yes good. Shouldn’t you being going home soon? It’s getting pretty late,” Giles quickly responded.

“Why so anxious on getting me out of here?” Buffy asked while hopping down from the table that she was sitting upon. Giles just stared at her and raised his eyebrows as a sign not to ask him anymore. Getting the clue, Buffy said, “Ok fine, I didn’t want to be here too much longer anyway. Can I ask you one more question before I go?”

“What is it?” Giles said with an exasperated tone to his voice.

“I know that most, well practically, all slayers come with kind of a quick expiration date, but I read some where some slayers actually got to live relatively long lives for slayers and I was curious,” Buffy stumbled, “did any slayers have any family of their own?”

“Do you mean, brothers and sisters and whatnot?”

“No, did slayers ever have children?”

“NO,” Giles quickly responded almost before the entire question could come out of her mouth.

Buffy noticed his abrupt answer and stepped back a little to take a good look at Giles’ body language. He stood unusually erect and still. She found it really odd that as soon as he answered her question, he removed his glasses and began to abrasively clean the lenses.

“No,” he answered again a little more relaxed, “I am sorry Buffy. I didn’t ever want to have to tell you but slayers are sterile, they are not meant to have children.”

Taking a few moments to let what he just said sink into her brain; she stood there and stared at him. She couldn’t believe what he had just said. “I’m sterile?” she asked completely shocked.

“Yes, I am sorry.”

Shaking her head in defeat, Buffy turned her attention from her watcher towards the floor. “Well, just chalk this one up to the fact that slayers will never have normal lives,” she whispered as she felt tears beginning to brim her eyes. “I should probably get going, Mom is probably waiting for me.”

“I am truly sorry, Buffy,” Giles sounded sincere.

“Hey, no big. Who wants them anyway?” Buffy said while she walked through the door of the Magic Box.

Buffy walked the dark streets of Sunnydale hoping that some stupid vampire may come out so she could release some of the pain that she felt in her heart. ‘I never thought that news like that could hurt so much,’ she thought to herself. Her mind was plagued over this revelation and nothing seemed to get it out of her head. Not knowing anything else to do, Buffy let her tears fall with the rhythm of her broken heart.

Part II

After Buffy’s little talk with her Watcher last night, all time seemed to be passing by with excruciating slowness. She felt completely detached from the world like she was stuck in a black hole where nothing could move or escape. This feeling was not helped in the least bit when she forced herself to attend class that day. Sitting in the middle of her weather and climatology class she actually prayed for an apocalypse; something to get her mind off of her many thoughts of her existence as a slayer.

Buffy sat there in class and just stared at the book that was resting on the top of her desk. The words on the page didn’t make sense to her as she stared at them. They seemed to swirl into a blur of shapes and symbols; nothing that she could decipher into what would resemble English. Only in this dream-like state, did Buffy get some sort of release from reality.

Sitting next to her, Willow was not oblivious to the look that graced her friend’s face ever since she came home from the Magic Box last night. Willow reached over and whacked Buffy on the shoulder to break her out of the trance that she seemed to be stuck in. “Buffy? Are you alright?”

Lifting her head slightly, Buffy responded with an unsure, “Huh?”

“You seem a little out of it, what’s wrong?” Willow asked with concern in her voice.

Suddenly sitting erect, Buffy tried to show that nothing was wrong. “I’m just a little tired, that’s all. No problems here.”

“Then how come you are still sitting in your seat from class five minutes after class ends?” Willow asked with raised eyebrows.

“What?” Buffy asked as desperately searching for the clock that hung on the wall in front of the classroom. “I’m sorry, Wills. Just thinking about things, nothing all that important.”

Willow noticed that Buffy was trying to hide something and she didn’t want Buffy to feel uncomfortable so she decided not to push her anymore to tell her the truth. ‘I will just have to beat it out of her later,’ she thought to herself. “That’s ok,” she said then quickly changed the subject, “Are we going to head over to the Magic Box now? I hear Giles is going to have the entire gang there for a research party.” A smile spread across Willow’s face after she remembered the possibility of a research hootenanny.

Buffy smiled at Willow’s excitement. “Yep, the entire clan is going to be there. Always fun,” said Buffy with the slightest hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Standing up and walking out of the classroom, Willow and Buffy left to go to the Magic Box for more research. While walking out the doors, Willow asked, “So what is planned for us to read today?”

“I’m not sure, probably more information on slayers or something in that nature. Giles has me doing homework for him, God I hate this,” Buffy admitted with a sigh.

“Well, think about it this way. Which would you rather be doing right now—reading about previous slayers or hail?” Willow joked.

“Can I have a third option?” Buffy laughed and shook her head at her friend.

~ ~ ~

As soon as Anya heard the bell ring that announced the entrance of customers, she looked toward the door to see who just had entered his shop. Seeing that it was Willow and Buffy, Anya huffed at the two.

Coming through the doors, Buffy and Willow saw both Xander and Tara busy at work looking through the books that were laid across the tables in neat little piles that Giles had set up last night.

“Hey guys,” Buffy greeted as she approached the table. “You seem to be having fun, I can tell,” she said sarcastically.

“Always a thrill,” Xander admitted.

“You guys got here quicker than I thought you would,” Tara said while lifting her eyes from her book to look back at Willow who moved behind her and began to softly stroke the back of her hair.

“Well, you know, we can’t wait to being the research party. Gotta love the all night keggers,” Willow laughed.

Giles heard the two friends entrance and began to climb down the ladder with a couple of books in his hands that needed to be read for more information about the slayer. While walking down from his high perch, he heard Anya yell, “Giles, Buffy and Willow are here!”

Turning to look at Anya behind the cash register, Buffy quipped, “Thank you, Anya for that wonderful introduction.”

“You’re welcome,” Anya bluntly said not catching Buffy’s slight jab.

Once Giles hit the ground, he extended out books for the two girls to start reading. “Willow, I need you to start looking in the Chronicles of Tabitha.”

Nodding her head, Willow took the book from his hands and walked around the table to sit next to her girlfriend.

Placing another book in front of Xander, Giles added another book to one of his many collecting in front of him. “Xander, you read the diary of Khoccacor.”

“Giles, do you think that is a good idea?” Willow asked him as her eyes raised from her book.

“What do you mean?!” he asked with confusion painted on his face.

“Xander reading that diary. I remember that one briefly. The guy in it has a serious fetish for large bugs,” Willow said while looking over at Buffy and making her laugh.

Laughing at Willow’s comment, Buffy added, “Yeah Giles, you never know Xander could get a little aroused over there due to his thing for bug people.” Both Buffy and Willow started laughing uncontrollably while Anya stood there confused and Giles restraining himself to a soft chuckle.

“Very funny guys,” he sneered at them. Giles held the book out to Xander and he ripped it from his grasp.

Returning his attention back to the groups, “Buffy, go up on the balcony and read a little more in the Watcher’s Diaries.”

“Aye, aye captain,” Xander muttered under his breathe as Buffy started to walk up the stairs towards her assignment.

Walking out from behind the counter to join her boyfriend in his reading, Anya said, “Giles, we need more toad wart. We just sold the last of it,” as the last customer exited the shop.

Xander didn’t even acknowledge Anya’s presence as she sat next to him and pulled one of the books in front of her to alleviate some of his burdens. He was too occupied in thinking of some witty comment to throw back at his friends for the poking fun of him.

Finally thinking of something, he burst out, “Buffy, you really have room to talk about dating or people of the opposite sex. The last two guys to were with you put them in the hospital with some traumatic injuries. One had to be in a full body cast for a year after you were through with him. So don’t even talk to me about bug-people.”

“Calm down, Xander. Buffy’s just a little upset over her withdrawl from sex which we don’t have a problem with,” Anya said aloud while she placed as hand on his knee and slowly smoothed her hand towards the inside of his thigh.

Giles looked up from the book he was reading to eye Xander and Anya suspiciously. “I really didn’t need to know that,” he muttered under his breath.

Silence blanketed the room as all the Scoobies returned to their books. Willow kept her eyes on the print in front of her until she caught, out of the corner of her eye, Anya stroking Xander’s not-to-concealed erection pressing against his pants. Feeling a little nauseous, she excused herself from the table and went up the ladder to join Buffy up on the balcony.

Climbing up the ladder, Willow saw Buffy’s head inside her book while she slept soundly. Willow sat down next to her friend and gave her a little nudge to stir her from her slumber. “Learning by osmosis, I see,” Willow chuckled.

Jerking abruptly up from her sleep, she turned to look at her friend. “Os… what?” Buffy mumbled with sleep lacing her voice.

“Busy night?” Willow asked with raised eyebrows. She hoped that Buffy would tell her what has been bothering her all day.

“Not really,” Buffy admitted as her voice was no louder than a whisper. She remembered what Giles said last night and all of a sudden, she felt tears start to form in her eyes. “I’m really not in the mood to talk about it.”

“Alright, if you don’t want to talk about last night, you never told me about your date with Tony on Saturday.”

“You could probably label that one as a lack of date. It ended rather quickly.”

“Why?” Willow pressed Buffy for more information.

Looking back at her friend, Buffy continued, “Cardinal rule: never mix business with pleasure. A group of demons entered the restaurant and I got a little sidetracked with the job. After breaking one of their necks, I kinda scared him away.”

Hearing the strain in her voice, Willow wrapped her arm around Buffy’s shoulder to comfort her. “Don’t worry. It will be ok,” she assured.

“That’s just it. I scare most men away with my reputation with boyfriends. How can I tell someone I just met and am interested in, that the last guy I dated ended up in the hospital with a concussion and a broken pelvis? That’s not something that you really want to share with people,” she exasperated.

“You didn’t do that to him…” Willow wanted to disagree with her but then the look Buffy gave her quickly stopped her argument. “Oh, well then what happened with him then?”

Buffy wanted to start telling her everything but Willow stopped her. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

“Good idea,” Buffy said while nodding her head. “Just another example on the impossibility of Buffy having a normal life. Slaying is my life.”

“Don’t worry too much. I have this deep gut feeling that you will meet someone one of these days and you will love him and have a family of your own.”

Buffy heard Willow’s insinuation of the possibility of her having a family and she couldn’t keep the tears from trickling down her face. She buried her face in her friend’s shoulder and let the tears fall.

“What’s wrong, Buffy?” Willow asked as she felt Buffy’s tears soak through her shirt.

“I can’t have children,” Buffy’s words were muffled by Willow’s shirt that she talked in to. “Giles told me last night that all slayers are not meant to be mothers, we are all sterile.”

“Oh my God! I am so sorry,” Willow said sincerely as she pulled her friend tighter in her embrace. Suddenly getting angry, Willow added, “Well what do they know, you have always been the exception to the rule. He could be wrong. I mean how sterile can you be?”

“Well basically to say that slayers are more sterile than cotton balls would be an understatement is what I got from the talk last night,” Buffy admitted as more tears fell down her cheeks. “That news just crushed me.”

“I can understand. Well not really, but I can be empathetic,” Willow said while she stroked Buffy’s golden hair. “Don’t worry Buffy. We will find something to help you here.”

Lifting her head off her friend’s shoulder, Buffy returned her attention back to the drool-stained book that she was previously using as a pillow. “I will just have to call these books my babies,” she laughed.

“That could be a good idea. Maybe these babies will give you some hope,” Willow laughed along with her friend as she returned her attention to her book.

Part III

Silence blanketed the Magic Box as the whole gang kept themselves occupied by the books laid out in front of them. Not one word was said as each tore through one book after another. The only sound in the room came from Xander’s soft panting from Anya’s administrations under the table.

Feeling her like her brain was about to explode from too much concentration; Buffy broke the silence in the room to yell down to the group that was below the balcony. “Anybody find anything in the least bit interesting?” she asked.

Not taking his eyes off the book or breaking his concentration on Anya’s sexual assault, Xander responded, “On a scale of 1 to 10, on 1 being finding words that haven’t been used for hundreds of years and 10 being something that could be useful, I am thinking we are somewhere in the sub-zeros.”

“Great, wonderful, grand,” Buffy sighed sarcastically. “Giles, I really need a break, my brain is not really processing this information anymore. Can I take a break?” she said as she turned her comments towards her Watcher.

“Buffy, you have a sacred birthright that demands diligent studying. Now’s not the time,” he responded bluntly.

“Oh come on, Giles. Right now all that is going through my mind is fire bad, tree pretty,” she whined.

Giles’ only response to her whines was a loud sigh. “If you want to, we can go in the back room and do a little training if you want?” he offered.

Quick to take him up on his offer, Buffy slammed the book that she was reading shut and jumped up from where she was sitting. Buffy walked towards the ladder and started climbing down but before she reached the second step, a thought suddenly hit her mind. Turning towards Willow who was busy reading the book that was placed comfortably in her lap, Buffy asked, “Hey Wills, Giles gave me the ‘skull’ book to read, could you help me find it up here?”

“The ‘skull’ book?” Willow asked as if that wasn’t the true title of the book that she was supposed to find.

“Yeah, I can’t remember the name at the moment, all I know is that the cover has a skull on the front of it. Also it smelled kind of bad, if that helps.” Buffy shrugged her shoulders at her friend to tell her that she really didn’t have any clue what the name of the book was. “I don’t know if the stinky part is going to help you out there, all the books up here aren’t exactly normal smelling.”

Willow suddenly remembered seeing a book that had that description and said, “Ooooh, I remember that one. It’s up here somewhere, I’ll find it.”

“Thanks, Wills,” Buffy said while she began to climb down the ladder towards the ground floor.

Watching Buffy leave the room to go back to training with Giles, Tara got up to join Willow up on the balcony. Taking the book that she was reading up with her, she left Xander and Anya alone downstairs.

Willow watched the stairs as her lover’s dark blonde hair slowly crest over top of the ladder. “Hey baby,” Willow greeted with a smile on her face.

“I couldn’t stand it anymore,” Tara said bluntly.

“Couldn’t stand what?” asked Willow.

“Xander and Anya.”

“Oh, well I’m glad they gave you an excuse to come up her with me. That’s not so bad,” Willow replied sincerely.

Tara smiled back at Willow and moved to sit next to her, but she noticed something in Willow’s demeanor told her that there was something bothering her. “Willow, are you ok?” she asked lifting her hand to stroke her lover’s auburn tresses.

Willow closed the book in front of her and turned to face Tara. “It’s Buffy,” her voice barely concealed the pain that Willow was feeling for her best friend.

“What happened?” Tara pushed.

“She got some bad news yesterday from Giles. Slayers are sterile, she won’t ever be able to have children,” Willow sounded defeated.

“Oh my God, that is horrible,” Tara, said saddened by the news but then something in the back of her mind caught her attention. “Are they sure about this?”

“Buffy seems to think so. Why?”

“I’m not sure. I-I-I think I read something one day that I can’t really remember all too well but it had to do with slayers’ origins. Maybe that could help us figure this out,” Tara stumbled trying to search through her memory of the book that she had previously read.

Perking up at Tara’s comment, Willow said, “Really?”

“Yeah.” Silence spread between the two while Tara tried to remember the book in question. Hitting her like a bolt of lighting, Tara remembered. “I don’t know what it was called but I remember where it is up here.”

Standing up, Tara walked past Willow to where she believed the book to be located. Walking right behind her, Willow ended up following Tara as she rummaged through all the books. “Where did you find it last time?” Willow asked as she placed her hands on the books waiting for instructions from Tara.

Pointing to the books in front of her, Tara insisted, “Just start pulling books out in front of you. It’s around here somewhere.” Pulling one book after another from the shelf, Willow revealed each book to Tara hoping that one would spark some recognition. While searching for the illustrious book, she accidentally stumbled upon the book that Buffy mentioned earlier.

Willow removed the book from the shelf, knocking another book on the ground and laughed to herself. “Well at least I found this one,” she muttered under her breath.

“What?” Tara asked as she turned toward her lover.

“Oh nothing, it’s just…” Willow started to say but was quickly cut off by Tara as she saw the book that she knocked on the ground. Tara picked it off the ground and smoothed the hardbound cover with her hand. “Is that the book?” Willow asked with excitement in her eyes.

“Yes,” Tara whispered then lifted her voice, “this is it, the Book of Athinganoi.” Opening the pages, Tara attempted to find the page, which had what she was searching for. Flipping one page after another, her eyes skimmed the pages until they finally found their goal.

“Athinganoi, isn’t that about Gypsies?” Willow asked.

“Yes, they have an extraordinary knowledge of vampires and vampire lore. I can remember reading something in here about slayers. And here it is,” Tara said with excitement in her voice. Willow leaned over her shoulder to read what she was just about to. “’He who became forsaken, unbeknownst to him would plant the seed to both light and dark, cure and pestilence, life and death. His blood would give rise to the damned, those forced to walk the earth under the veil of darkness and the line of the Chosen One. She, one born with the strength and skill of the damned, destined to fight her blood kin.’” Tara stopped and turned to look back at Willow.

“What??” Willow asked with confusion written all over her face. “Can we get the cliffs notes versions of these things any time soon.” Removing the book from Tara’s lap, Willow searched for the passage that she just read.

“I am sure this is talking about the slayer because it talks about the Chosen One. She alone has the strength and skill to fight the vampires, those who walk at night.”

Nodding her head in agreement, Willow agreed not looking up from the book. Reading the passage and continuing down the page, a particular part caught her attention. “Oh my God,” she muttered under her breath not believing what her eyes just read.

“Baby, what is it?” Tara asked with concern in her voice.

Willow lifted the book from her lap and read a little more of that page. “’ One chosen from among all others forced to bare the world on her shoulders must endure the light and dark blood that courses through her veins. Light gives the allusion of rebirth, but only through the dark may she feel true life come from within.’”

Tara’s brows suddenly furrowed in her forehead as she began to contemplate what thoughts were running through her mind. “Willow, did Giles ever tell you the origin of the first vampire?”

“Yeah. He said something about the world originally being a place where demons roamed the world unaldultered but then something happened that caused the demons to be cast out from here. The last demon to leave earth mixed his blood with a humans and that was the first vampire,” Willow tried to remember all the information that Giles told her all those years ago when Buffy first came into the halls of Sunnydale High.

Thinking aloud, “Do you know was the first vampire a woman or a man?”

“I have no idea. I never really thought to ask,” Willow admitted with her shoulders shrugged.

“Just as a thought,” Tara continued, “what if the first vampire was female and at the time of transformation was pregnant, what would happen to the baby?”

“The baby would probably die,” Willow answered.

“But what would happen if it didn’t. The baby would then be changed a little due to the vampire’s blood that the mother drank, right?”

“Right,” Willow said a loud trying to stay on the same page as Tara. A thought suddenly hit her, “She would be as strong as a vampire, but be technically human. A mix of both the ‘parents, but this is not very likely due to the fact that the body of a vampire is dead.”

“Not by Gypsy standards. This book carries the mythology of the Gypsy religion, which states that a female vampire can actually live a normal life and get married. Would that normal life possibly include children?”

“From what I know about Gypsies they have knowledge of this world that we cannot even grasp. Would this mean that slayers are the hybrid between mortals and vampires?”

“That would make sense, Buffy is a mortal but with the strength and skill of immortals,” Tara concluded with a nod. “This would help with the slayers’ origins about being a hybrid between vampires and humans, but I don’t know if that could help with the children problem.”

Laughing lightly under her breath, Willow stared back at her lover. “Basic biology,” she chuckled.

“Biology?” Tara was confused at Willow’s comment.

“Yes, evolution sets certain rules over time that a hybrid created between two species, that hybrid is completely or largely sterile called reduced hybrid fertility.” Silence blanket over the two as they contemplated this idea.

A thought suddenly hit Tara. “You said largely?”

“Yes, it could be possible that that hybrid has the possibility to produce offspring of its own only with the parental species.” A smile crept over Willow’s face after the realization of what that term entailed. “But Buffy breaks all the guys that she has been with.”

“Then we should find someone of equal strength as her, then,” Tara nudged. “Are you thinking what I am thinking?”

“I think so,” Willow smiled as she turned back to the book that rested on her lap. “I knew that my geek stature in high school would help with something sooner or later.”

“We should wait to tell Buffy about this little finding a little bit. Maybe there something somewhere that would show that a vampire impregnated a slayer, of the past. We don’t want to get her hopes up.”

Turning toward her lover, Willow framed Tara’s face with her small hands. She leaned over and placed a quick kiss upon her soft lips, and whispered to her, “We are so good it is almost scary.”

Part IV

Willow and Tara tore through one book after another, hoping to find something, anything that could help them. Too engrossed in their research, they did not hear Anya climbing up the ladder to get one more book.

“I’m coming up, so if you two up there are having a moment, I really don’t want to see,” Anya called. When she reached the balcony, she was actually quite surprised that the two Wiccas weren’t even touching each other, they only sat there completely involved with their books not each other. “Well, I glad that that was taken care of.”

“Yeah, yeah, the coast is clear,” Tara, replied back, refusing to take her wandering eyes off her book to look at Anya.

“I’m surprised at you two? Whenever I am alone with Xander, I…” Anya started talking as she walked past the two towards the bookshelves.

“Anya, we don’t want to know,” Willow snapped bluntly while she also looked desperately through the book on her lap. “Thinking about Xander having sex gives me the wiggins.”

Not responding to Willow, Anya stood in front of the bookshelf and started rummaging through Giles’ extensive collection. As soon as she found what she was looking for, she turned around to look over Willow’s should who brought the Book of Athinganoi back onto her lap. Anya squinted her eyes to read a little of the text that Willow was reading. “Is that the Book of Athinganoi?” she asked with awe in her voice.

“Yep, we just found something interesting in here about the slayers’ origins,” Willow said finally turning around to look at the girl that stood behind her.

“You mean the theory that the first slayer was born from the first vampire?” Anya asked, not really as a question but more as a statement.

“Yes,” Tara turned to her with confusion in her eyes, “H-How’d you know about it?”

“Oh, I’ve known about that theory for a while. I read that about 400 years ago. I was sent to a Gypsy girl,” a smile spread across her face as the memory of her vengeance demon days resurfaced. “She made a wish that her lover’s penis…”

“And you never thought to tell us this, *because*?” Willow interrupted her. She couldn’t believe that Anya hadn’t said a word about this earlier

She thought for a second. “No one ever asked me and I didn’t think it was all that important. Well, not that important, unless you wanted a slayer to have a child,” Anya babbled.

“WHAT??!” Willow almost screamed not believing what she just heard.

“Yeah, the people of that Gypsy clan had an ancestor of that tribe who was a slayer in the 1560s or sometime around there. The father of her child was supposedly not particularly of the living. Because of the child that grew in her, she was worshipped even more in that clan because she proved their mythology of vampires to be correct.”

A flicker of excitement burned in Willow’s eyes as Anya kept on talking. Feeling the necessity to stop her, she asked, “You mean the father was a vampire?”

Anya nodded her head and continued, “She was known throughout the clan as being one of the most chaste citizens, then all of a sudden after a meeting with a group of vampires, she was found to be pregnant.”

“Would this be written in the Watcher’s Diaries?” Tara joined in on Willow’s excitement.

“Should be. I wouldn’t know why it wouldn’t be there,” Anya assured but then something in her memory caught her attention. “If it isn’t, it might be because that slayer suddenly disappeared one day when she was about two months along.”

‘Disappeared?’ Willow’s words were caught in her mind in fear. “What happened to her?”

“No one was sure. Most believe that she was kidnapped and taken away from the tribe by a group of strangers that came to town earlier. As soon as they left she was gone,” Anya paused for a moment to collect her thoughts but continued, “I would be shocked if this wasn’t in the Watcher’s diary.”

Both Tara and Willow stood up quickly and ran towards the section of the library that held the diaries. Their fingers skimmed hastily over volume after volume, but stopping when the volume in question was missing from the shelf.

“It’s not here,” Tara whispered to Willow. “Could it be somewhere else in here?”

“We could first look in Giles’ secret files, maybe it’s there,” Willow shrugged her shoulders. “I have the key to the drawer.”

“Where’s the key?” Anya asked as she stepped closer to where Tara and Willow stood, eavesdropping in their conversation.

“It’s down in my bag,” she pointed down to where Xander was still sitting halfway dozing while reading the book. Calling down to him, Willow yelled, “Xander!!”

Jerking awake suddenly from his sleep, he yelled back, “What??”

“I need my bag from down there, could you throw it up to me?” she asked as she stepped toward the railing on the balcony.

Grumbling, Xander got up from his seat, grabbed Willow’s bag and tossed it up so that it would hit the railing and come straight back down to where he stood.

“You know it is probably a good thing that you decided not to join the army because you aim is worth nothing,” Willow laughed down to Xander as he bent over to pick up the bag and toss it back up.

Willow easily caught it in her hands the second time and she quickly opened it to find the key that was hidden somewhere on the bottom. Finally feeling it, she removed it from the bag, as the palms of her hands got sweaty from excitement.

With the key in hand, Willow walked over to the file case, slipped the key inside, turned it and the door opened. She felt like a little child again after climbing up on the kitchen counter, reaching for your favorite cookie. Her heart beat at what felt like a mile a minute. Pulling some of the books out of the file, she turned toward the two others with them in her arms.

“How come Giles gave you a key and not me?” Anya whined. “It’s so un-American.”

“Is that your argument for everything?” Tara asked with annoyance lacing her voice.

“It’s just not fair. I work for him, make him money but I don’t have that key,” Anya whined louder as she tapped her foot on the floor.

“Anya, be quiet. I’m not supposed to have this key either. I stole it one day and had it copied,” Willow chastised Anya in a whisper.

“Oh.”

The room fell silent as Willow turned one page after another, skimming the text in the hopes to find something.

Anya grew impatient as Willow skimmed. “Can’t you cast a spell or something to make this go quicker?”

Willow lifted her eyes from the book to look at her lover. Tara caught her glance and whispered, “INTELLEGO INTELLEXI INTELLECTUM!”

Suddenly the book started to rise from Willow’s hands. The three stood in awe as an eerie glow radiated from the pages as it quickly fanned through each one. A soft breeze went through the room as the pages passed by faster and faster until the wanted entry came into view. The book suddenly stopped moving and floated motionless in the air.

Tara leaned over and started reading the passage that seemed to glow at their request. “12 June 1566, Today is a sad day for the world. The Watcher’s Council came to take Janna to a safe place so that she may carry her child, created by such darkness, in peace. Who knows what evil this poor girl must carry inside her womb. May God have mercy on her soul and her unborn child’s,” Tara read aloud.

“That must be the day that she disappeared. The Watcher’s Council must have taken her away,” Willow said as she had an epiphany. “They must have figured out that the father was a vampire and this wanted to get rid of it.”

“We should tell Buffy about this?” Anya said.

“Tell Buffy about what?”

Eyes lifted from the book and stared at the blonde haired slayer that stood on the top step of the ladder. No one was able to say anything they just stared.

Repeating herself, “Tell Buffy what?”

Willow found her voice first, “Buffy do you know anything about the slayer in 1566.”

“No, there is no information about her and the diary for her years was lost years ago,” Buffy said bluntly.

“Are you sure about that?” Anya lifting up the back of the book to show Buffy the date that was encrusted in gold on the front.

Buffy couldn’t believe her eyes when she looked at the date. “Giles told me yesterday that this volume didn’t exist anymore. Why did he lie to me?”

“This may seem hard to understand, but you have to hear me out. In that year the slayer became pregnant after she was called…” Willow whispered.

Buffy’s ears perked up at her statement, “A slayer? Pregnant? Are you sure?”

“Yes, but you are missing the best part. The father was a vampire,” Tara continued after Buffy interrupted Willow. “It seems that only slayers can be impregnated by vampires.”

“What???” Buffy stood in shock at what was just revealed to her. “So in order for me to have a child, the father must be a vampire?”

“So it seems,” Willow said.

Buffy couldn’t say anything at the moment; all she could do is turn around so that she wouldn’t be facing her friends. Her heart soared with the possibility of her able to have a child but then dark fear encased her mind as she realized that the father must he a vampire. Again her world seemed to spin in front of her eyes and she became lost in her thoughts.

“Buffy?” Tara asked but Buffy didn’t respond to her voice. She asked again, “Buffy??”

Turning suddenly to face them, Buffy answered with confidence. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

All three girls were shocked and confused by Buffy comment. “Huh?” they all said at once.

“When can we get started on this project?” she asked as a smile spread across her face.

“Buffy are you sure you want to do this?” Willow asked with concern for her best friend.

“I am going to need all of your help on this one. Anya, I need you to compile a list of potential vampires, Willow, I need you and Tara to find a spell to bring the vampires here to me,” Buffy said with a slight hint of excitement in her voice.

“Let ‘Operation Baby’ begin,” Anya said while trying to make up the list of vampires in her head.

Part V

All the girls scattered from one end of the Magic Shop to the other with Buffy’s orders on their minds. Buffy grabbed the Book of Athinganoi and started tearing through page after page trying to get some sense of how to make this plan work. For the first time in a really long time, she was excited about something. Ever since she had been called all those years ago, her entire life had revolved around her duties and now she found a new purpose. She wanted a child so badly, she would kill to feel that small life grow inside her and this was her opportunity. But she still had her doubts and was looking through that book to get some reassurance of the job that she must perform.

Willow watched her friend from across the room and couldn’t help but smile at the excitement that radiated from her friend as she read. Taking a few magic books from the shelf, she decided to walk back over and sit next to her. “Are you sure about this, Buffy?” she asked while sitting down.

“Huh?” Buffy muttered as her eyes continued to examine each line of the book.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Willow asked again. As Buffy took her eyes off the book to look at Willow, nothing could hide all the emotions that swirled in her face; all of them contradictory to each other-- anxious and calm, pain and relief, fear and courage.

Buffy dropped her voice to a low whisper, “You know, Willow, ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted a child of my own. This dream was almost destroyed when I was called. I remember that day so vividly in my mind. For everyone else, it was a very bright, sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, but for me, it was pitch black. Who would know that on those marble steps in front of my old high school, I would learn of a life that would smash everything that I had known and wanted into tiny pieces. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with slaying when I came to Sunnydale but I knew that I had to embrace my destiny.” Buffy paused for a moment to shut the book that was on her lap with her finger wedged between the pages so that she wouldn’t lose her place. “But I wouldn’t let that destiny bring me down. I would fight harder and longer hoping that I will live to see freedom from slaying.”

“The going to die fighting approach?” Willow asked with a chuckle in her voice.

Smiling back at her friend, Buffy continued, “I thought that if I would live long enough maybe my dream about having a child would come true, but what Giles told me yesterday almost broke that last dream. This plan gives me hope again.”

Silence fell between them after Buffy finished her story. “Are you scared?” Willow said breaking that silence.

“Who wouldn’t be? I am intentionally going to get myself pregnant by a vampire,” Buffy answered her quirking her eyebrow.

“But you know that you will always have us, right?” Willow said putting a hand over her friends that still lay on the book.

“Of course, and I am going to need your help now more than ever. I need your help with everything here. You guys are going to be my judges.”

“Judges?” Willow asked with confusion in her voice.

“I need your help to pick out the right one.”

“Ooooh, I’m good with the intelligence. Tara could help me with that one. I don’t know how Anya could help in this,” Willow said. Suddenly a thought hit her, “How about we use Anya as bait for all the wrong ones so that we can get rid of them when they don’t qualify? If she dies, oh darn.”

“Anya is coming up with the list of vampires that I am supposed to be on the lookout for,” Buffy laughed, “but we could still use her as bait.”

Willow’s brow contracted in contemplation as she thought more of this plan. “You know, we are missing something in here?”

“Missing? What are we missing?”

“Another judge. Someone who is exceptionally knowledgeable in over all style but I don’t know who could help us out with that one?”

Their conversation abruptly stopped as the names of different people began to swirl in their minds. But then at the same time, the two friends said, “Cordelia!”

“I’ll give her a call and try to convince her to come back from Los Angeles,” Willow said while standing up and walking towards the phone.

Taking a few seconds to remember the number, Willow starting dialing the number that she hoped that she had never had to dial for the rest of her life. After a couple of rings, a frantic voice picked up on the other end. “Willow, we will be there in a couple of hours!”

“Cordy? How did you know it was me?” Willow whispered back into the phone.

“Doyle had a vision about something going on in Sunnydale and I just knew that you would be calling here for some reason,” Cordy said still frantic.

“Who is Doyle?” Willow asked.

“When we get there, we will explain everything, ok?”

“Alright, see you then in a couple of hours,” Willow said as she placed the phone back down onto the receiver.

“That was a quick call,” Buffy said bluntly as she saw her friend turn from the phone with confusion painted on her face.

“Yeah, some friend of hers told her that there is trouble down here or something and she and her friend are coming.”

“Oh, well then we don’t have to tell her about this over the phone. It could get a little weird to explain over the phone that you need them to help you get pregnant by a vampire. Too many questions that are better answered face to face,” Buffy said with her shoulders shrugged.

“I agree with you on that one.”

“Hey everyone, I have a list of vampires ready,” Anya yelled from across the room.

“Thank you, I think you could be a little louder if you spoke from the diaphragm,” Buffy chastise her. “We can’t let Xander or Giles know what we are doing. They would both do the wacky on us.”

“Oh, ok. Well here it is,” Anya said as she raised a piece of paper, with numerous names scratched onto it, towards the blonde slayer. Buffy looked down at the names, most, well actually, all of which she hadn’t heard of.

“So, are you going to tell us a little bit about them?” Willow asked as she looked over her friend’s shoulder to look at the paper. “Like who is Luke?”

“Luke,” Anya said as her eyes moved up towards her forehead in contemplation, “Well, what can I say about Luke. He is blonde, kind of a big and burly vampire. Very strong and loyal to a cause, but he is not too bright though. He almost got killed about 50 years ago when he was tricked to believe that a streetlight was actually the sun coming up.”

Nodding their heads, Willow and Buffy continued down the list to more of the names written there. “Mr. Trick?”

“He was created by that Kakistos guy that you killed your senior year. He is a very modern vampire, always trying to get the vampire community to enter the 21st century. Has a taste for exceptionally loud suits.”

“Hmm, interesting,” Buffy, muttered. “What about this Absalom?”

“I wasn’t quite sure about putting him on this list. He has some weird fetish of threatening all his victims by grinding them into a sticky paste with a sledgehammer.”

“Sticky paste? Whatever happened to the days where they would just rip your throats out?” Willow asked confused at the latest vampire’s choice of execution. “How about this ‘William the Bloody’?”

“’William the Bloody’ also goes by the name of Spike. Spike is a relatively handsome vampire, a little on the skinny side though. Some people may find exceptionally pronounced cheekbones attractive, personally I like a little meat on my man,” Anya said as she started to get off topic.

“Getting back to the story,” Willow interrupted Anya.

“Oh, right, Spike got his nickname because he enjoyed torturing his victims with railroad spikes. Gross! Wouldn’t want to read a poem about that,” Anya said matter-of-factly.

Buffy’s eyes skimmed to the bottom of the list, reading each name to herself. The last name on the list for some reason caught her attention, and she didn’t know exactly why. “What about this Angelus?”

Anya stopped in fear for a few moments to collect her thoughts. Both Buffy and Willow could see the fear in her eyes as Buffy read that name to her. “Who is he, Anya?” Willow asked.

“Angelus?? I-I can’t really describe him,” Anya stumbled nervously. “He is one of the strongest vampires that has ever walked this earth. Angelus was known as the ‘Scourge of Europe’ until he came to America about a hundred years ago, after then he has kept a pretty low profile because he is able to hide his victims with exceptional artistry. Angelus hides his victims so that the police will pickup others for his crimes and that he won’t even be a suspect. A lot of prisoners on death row were convicted of Angelus’ crimes. I really don’t want to talk about what he likes to do with his victims,” Anya said quickly ceasing her description of him.

“Oh goody, can’t wait to meet him,” Buffy said with a nervous smile on her face.

~ ~ ~

“So, what’s your name?” a young woman turned to the man sitting next to her at the bar. She crossed her legs in front of him and took a long drag from the cigarette that hung loosely from between her fingertips.

He never answered her question just turned towards her with a half smile that appeared on his face. She was caught by the black pits that were his eyes and felt a shiver run down her back as he looked at her with no emotion in his dark pools. He was a very well built man with muscles that could be seen defining the lines of his chest through the dark silk shirt that hung rather tightly on him.

Uncrossing her legs and crossing them again in another position with nervousness, she asked again, “Are you going to tell me your name, or am I going to have to make up one for you?” Smiling seductively, she hiked up her skirt on her thigh to show a little bit more skin to the handsome, mysterious man.

The shivers of cold increased their intensity running up and down her spine as she felt his eyes grate the surface of her pale skin. This cold feeling was not helped when he reached over and placed a cool palm onto her thigh and very slowly moved it up her leg and under her short skirt. Her body trembled as his fingers crept towards her dripping wet heat under the protection of her underwear. A moan escaped her body as she moved closer to him as to not allow others at that place to see what they were doing.

The feeling that was building in her body from his touch was intoxicating and even though she didn’t even know his name, she couldn’t stop his assault on her. Much to her disappointment, he released his hands from the confinement of her skirt to stand up in front of her.

She was lost in his eyes as he stood there to stand her up in front of him. For a brief moment, he looked past her at someone and nodded his head but then returned his searing glare back down to her.

He took her hand in his and led her out of the bar. She still felt no warmth from his touch as his hand tightly gripped hers. As soon as they got outside, the man slammed the young woman against the nearest wall.

She felt completely aroused as she felt the bulge in his pants press against her stomach. He fiercely took possession of her lips and she met this action with equal ferocity. His kiss and touch completely took her breath away. All breath was caught in her throat as his hands caressed her body and moved again towards her skirt.

The young woman moved her hands up and down caressing his chiseled body. She felt every bump of muscle in his shoulders and down his back towards his firm ass. Her hands cupped his ass harshly, bringing his body closer to hers. Taking her hands from his backside towards the front, she quickly took possession of his belt and began to release his raging erection from its confinements.

The dark and mysterious man could smell her arousal as pressed her body harder against the wall and lifted her skirt to give his fingers easier access to her dripping sex. He felt her fingers diligently at work with his belt and his pants releasing his cock from them. Sensing her readiness, he lifted her skirt high on her thighs and roughly tore her panties from her body.

Feeling herself being lifted up on the wall, the great length that he possessed suddenly impaled her. For the first time since their meeting, she actually felt some heat radiating throughout her body as he completely filled her. The euphoric pleasure that spread in her body barely overcame the pain that was felt as her back abrasively scratched up and down the wall that she was pressed against.

Her climax was approaching quickly as he harshly moved in and out of her. Feeling her breath come to her again, she asked through her pants, “What’s your name?”

“Angelus,” he growled as he buried himself deeper into her muscular sheath and moved his hand to harshly massage her swollen clit.

“Who are you?” she panted again and his hands made her approach towards orgasm closer and closer.

“Your worst nightmare,” he answered her as he lifted his face towards her to show her his twisted visage. He did not allow her to process this new image in her mind before he took possession of her lips again and bit down on her lower lip allowing a small stream of blood to enter his lips.

She felt a scream come to her lips as she felt the pain that he was causing in her mouth but before she could do so, he moved his mouth down to her throat and harshly drank from her supple neck. Her body screamed with orgasm as he partook in her blood and felt his cold semen floods her insides.

Feeling completely weak after this, she slumped against his body as he moved out of her and let her fall onto the cold cement ground. Returning his cock to the confines of his leather pants, he stood in front of her as she lay there trembling on the floor.

“What did you do to me?” she whispered as she attempted to pull herself up on her hands.

He squatted down on his knees to look her straight in the eyes, as he said, “Nothing personal.” Harshly he gripped the back of her head and fiercely twisted it, snapping it like a twig. As her dead body slumped all the way to the ground, he whispered to her one more time, “Was it good for you too?”

Standing up, he started to walk out of that alley but someone came out of the bar just in time to walk along side of him. “Master, what are you going to do about her?”

“Nothing let the police find her. Maybe they will try to come after me, I need a new challenge,” Angelus replied coldly as he continued sauntering down the darkened Chicago street. “Everything is easy, I need a challenge,” he responded again with no emotion in his expression.

Part VI

“Willow, did Cordelia tell you where she was going to meet us?” Buffy asked still with the list of names in her palm.

Shaking her head, “No, I forgot to ask that. I just assumed that she knew to come to the Magic Box.”

“Does she even know that we meet here?” Anya stated quietly.

“Good point. Well, hopefully she will call and…” Willow started saying but was interrupted by the frantic ring of the phone.

Picking up the phone Buffy answered, “Hello?”

“Buffy, it’s me. Where do you want to meet?” Cordy answered overcoming the static that radiated from the cell phone in her hand.

“Um, I don’t know,” Buffy turned towards her friends in the room and shrugged her shoulders. “Why don’t you come to my house?”

“Sure, we’ll be there soon.”

Buffy almost hung up the phone but then was caught off guard by Willow whispering. “How did she get this number?” she said in confusion.

“Cordy? Are you still there?” Buffy asked into the phone.

“Yeah.”

“How did you get this phone number?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think I have this little demon either around me or inside of me that told me what number to call. When someone calls me it talks to me and tells me where to call. I call it my little “Caller ID” monster,” she mocked openly.

“Ha ha,” Buffy forced a laugh. “Still the same Cordelia. Well, we have to go now so we will see you in about an hour.”

“Bye, Buffy,” Cordy said while both hung up their phones.

“So, how did she get the Magic Box’s number?” Anya said with persistence in her voice.

Buffy answered her bluntly, “Caller ID.”

“Ohhh, never thought of that one,” Anya suddenly realized. “So when should we leave here for your house?”

“We can probably leave now, we just need to take some of these books with us,” Buffy said while collecting some of the books she was reading in her arms. The rest of the girls upstairs did the same as each started to climb down the ladder towards the bottom level of the Magic Box.

As soon as Buffy’s feet hit the hardwood floor, she was surprised to find Giles waiting for her right under the ladder. In shock all the books fell from her grasp and tumbled straight to the ground. “Giles, you startled me!” she panted breathlessly.

“Sorry,” he answered bluntly as he looked towards the ground where her books lay. “Didn’t mean to. What’s this more research?”

Buffy squatted down and quickly began to pick up the books hoping that he wasn’t able to read the titles of those books before she covered them up. “Yeah, you know, one can never have too much to read,” she said rapidly. Buffy could not hide the betrayal in her eyes as she looked up towards her watcher.

“Are you taking them home with you?” he asked with his voice dripping with its heavy English accent.

“Anya, Willow, Tara and I are going to go over some of these books at my house, I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, no, just tell me what volumes you are taking so I know what I will request from you a year from now when you forget to return them,” he smiled weakly.

“I thought Xander was the only person who had that problem,” Anya said as she came out from behind Buffy with more books scattered in her arms.

“Hey, that was only in high school and I didn’t return them a year later, it was 363 days late, ok?” Xander said as he stood up in defiance.

A soft chuckle came to all their voices as Xander tried to defend himself from the verbal bashing of the female population of the room.

“Don’t worry, Giles. If she doesn’t return them in time, just think of it as she was so enthralled with their content that she feels this overwhelming urge to read them repetitively,” Willow said trying to reassure Giles and not let him know what books they were taking, including the supposedly lost watcher’s diary of 1566.

“Well, G-man, I think I am going to get gone if these young vixens are leaving too. The male bonding between us could be too much fun for me to bear,” Xander said as he moved towards the door.

“Fine, bye Xander and I asked you not to call me that,” Giles said as he saw Xander wave his hand as he walked out the door.

“We are going to get gone now too,” Buffy said as she was followed behind by all the girls still carrying at least 5 books in their arms.

After walking about ten feet from outside the door, Anya started whining, “Ok, I never requested manual labor to help you out, Buffy. Tell me you have a car!”

“It’s right over here,” Buffy said while leading the pack towards her mother’s green jeep. “I don’t know if all of you will fit, though.”

“That’s ok, we can just make Anya walk the way to your house,” Willow grunted under the weight of the books cradled in her arms.

“WHAT??” Anya screamed.

“Don’t worry, Anya,” Tara comforted. “There is plenty of room for you in the trunk, you don’t have to walk.”

Anya stopped walking and glared evilly at her friends as they began to laugh at Tara’s comment. “You all know, the trunk will just be fine for me. You would never imagine how flexible you could be after some of the positions that Xander and I experiment with when we have sex.”

All the same time, the three others yelled back at her, “TMI!!!”

Luckily though, when they piled into her jeep, they all fit snuggly into the seats of the car without Anya having to display some of her creative positions. In relative silence, Buffy pulled the car out onto the street and started their trip back to her house.

During the drive, little went through Buffy’s mind. For some reason being out of the Magic Box and away from Giles, she felt more comfortable. She was safe in the presence of her friends because she knew that they would be there for her when she needed them and they would never betray her like Giles just did.

Her eyes kept on the road until she found herself stopped in front of a streetlight waiting for it to change to green. Looking over her shoulder, she caught sight of a quaint little furniture shop where there was a baby crib on display in the window. Buffy just stared at that crib and she could envision herself leaning over its ornate railings and watching a new baby, her baby, sleeping peacefully among the furry stuffed animals that kept her child company. Tears brimmed her eyes and she was completely entranced by the joyous image that was playing in her mind. Her vision kept her so busy that she didn’t even notice the light had changed color and she was able to move forward into the intersection.

“Buffy?” Willow said trying to bring her friend out of the trance that she was caught in. “Buffy, the light turned, you can probably go now.” But Buffy didn’t answer Willow’s voice; she just stared out of her window.

Reaching over, Willow smacked Buffy’s shoulder and only then did Buffy’s mind retreat back into this reality. “LIGHT TURNED GREEN!!” Anya yelled from the backseat.

Buffy came out of her trance and moved so that the car could lurch towards her house one more time. “Thanks, Anya. I miss something in my day when I don’t have you being annoying,” Buffy said in annoyance.

“You’re welcome,” Anya said right before the car yet again returned to silence.

Once reaching her house, the girls rolled out of the jeep and looked at all the books that were still piled inside the car. Almost at the same time, each sighed tiredly for they knew that they had to carry all of them into the house.

Trip after trip, the books were transported into Buffy’s living room making an enviable library to the old high school library. At the final trip, the girls waddled into the room with the books leaving the front door open to the world. They all felt so tired that they all crumbled onto the nearest couch and refused to move.

Suddenly after a few minutes, they heard a person enter the opened door. “You know it is not a good thing to leave doors open like this,” Cordy said bluntly. “I know this is Sunnydale and mostly you worry about vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness, but there are such things as burglars that you have to worry about.”

Buffy quickly sat up from where she was laying to look at her old classmate that was walking through her front door. “Aren’t burglars demons?” she asked as she got up to give her a hug.

In rebuttal, Cordy said, “I don’t know about that statement. Burglars, sometimes can be iffy, but if you were talking about lawyers, I would think you would be correct.”

“It’s good to see you, Cordy,” Willow said while still laying peacefully on the couch in the room.

“Nice to see you, too,” she answered over Buffy’s shoulder as they hugged. Pulling back from her embrace, she excitedly said, “Well, I hear congratulations are in order. I am the first one to take you shopping. I need to make sure you stay away from clothing that would make you look like you were wearing a muumuu.”

Tara started to join the conversation and asked in confusion, “Congratulations? On what?”

“Buffy, didn’t you tell them?” Cordy asked as she reciprocated Tara’s confusion.

“I am just as stumped as they are. What congratulations?” Buffy asked.

“You being pregnant,” Cordy stated bluntly as all the air in the room seemed to be vacuumed out.

“She’s not pregnant yet,” a voice with a soft Irish brogue was heard as a young man walked through the door after Cordy.

“Ooooh, oops. Sorry about that,” Cordy apologized to everyone in the room. Turning her attention to the man that just walked through the door, “I just thought that when you had your vision, Doyle, that she was already pregnant.”

“You must be Doyle,” Tara said as she walked toward him. The smell of alcohol permeated through his beer stained shirt.

“Aye, that’d be me,” he said with a smile spread across his face. “And you all are?”

“Doyle, this is Buffy, that’s Willow, Anya, and I am guessing you must be Tara,” Cordy said while pointing out the people in question as she said each of their names.

“Please to make all of your acquaintances,” Doyle said. “You are probably wondering how I knew of your plan, aren’t you?”

“Can you read minds too?” Anya voiced with wonderment.

“Tragically, no. I was sent here by the Powers that Be to warn you about what’s to come after your plan goes into affect. You are in grave danger, Buffy,” he said bluntly but with still a great amount of concern in his voice. Yet again all the air seemed to be sucked from the room as Buffy felt a strong sense of fear at Doyle’s warning.

Part VII

“Threat?” Willow gasped. “What kind of threat?”

“Nothing that we can’t handle,” Buffy turned to comfort her best friend. “I mean, come on, how many apocalypses have we faced and still we are here?”

“Well, that’s true. We have survived the Master’s ascension, open hell dimension portals, big snakes that like to eat entire cities, I don’t see what could come that could be so bad?” Willow stated bluntly.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Doyle said confronting the group again. “This threat will come in the form of something that will look like a friend. The Powers sent us here to tell you that and warn you.”

“Why would the powers send you?” Tara asked as she stepped away from where she stood and came closer to Willow.

“Because they absolutely love to rip his mind in half by the mind-numbing, bone-crunching, head-wrenching visions,” Cordy answered for him just before he was about to start talking.

“You get visions from the powers?” Anya asked finally joining the conversation. “They literally reach out and tell you about things to come?”

“Pretty much. They tell me about the newest nasties that come to town and this time they sent me, or I should say us, to Sunnydale,” he turned toward Cordy.

“What kind of nasties are we talking about here?” Buffy asked.

“I’m not quite sure,” he answered truthfully. “The one thing that I do know that it isn’t a vampire threat. The powers actually want this baby to be born.”

Doyle’s last comment caught everyone’s attention as they looked toward him for some answers. All types of emotions were flowing through this room, surprise, interest, and hope were only some that radiated from everyone there.

“They want me to be pregnant?” Buffy actually sounded shocked at his revelation. “Is anyone else confused here?”

Everyone’s hands rose to the sky except for Doyle and Cordy. They both just stood there side by side and continued telling the group of the information that they received from his visions.

“Buffy,” Cordy confronted the blonde slayer, “this child is going to be a bridge between light and dark. They are settling you with this responsibility of carry a child that will for once and for all save the world.”

Now their confusion was turned into surprise at Cordelia’s comment. “When did you get all noble?” Willow asked.

“I think it might be LA or it could just be the fact that I actually had to grow up a lot since Graduation, a lack of daddy’s money and all. To be forced to work for a living can really change a person, being a soon-to-be world-renowned actress can take a lot out of a person. Especially if that job would eventually have you meet a guy that gets sent visions to help people out. I got out of Sunnydale to not have to worry about world in peril stuff and yet it found me again,” Cordy babbled and shrugged her shoulders. “But can I ask you something Will?” she said changing the subject.

“Sure,” Willow responded.

“What in God’s green earth are you wearing?” she asked critiquing the wardrobe that Willow was wearing.

“’Delia,” Doyle quickly chastised and she ceased before something else flew out of her mouth.

“You’re an actress?” Tara asked reaching down to hold her lover’s hand in hers.

“Well, not exactly. I want to be one but I just haven’t found my big break yet,” she answered. “The one role that I almost got, I ended up getting passed over for the job.”

“Another person was chosen over you?” Anya asked in a really not caring fashion.

“Yep, but no big deal, I think I got the better part of the deal.”

“Why’s that?” Buffy asked.

“The girl that got the role ended up being eaten by the director,” she answered matter-of-factly. “I knew something was funky about that man.”

“Interesting,” was the only thing to come out of Willow’s mouth.

“Getting back at the topic at hand, did the powers by chance send you a message of who the father is going to be?” Buffy turned her attention to Doyle.

Doyle shook his head and said, “No, they didn’t give me that type of information. Sorry.”

“I was just hoping that they would make our job a little easier, but would they think of that ever, NO,” Buffy answered sarcastically. “Well, I am glad you guys came. I am really going to need your help here, you are kind of one of the key players in this operation.”

“What do I need to do?” Cordy asked ready for instructions.

“Do what you do best,” Buffy said.

“She has things that she does best?” Anya asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Everyone turned back to glare at Anya when Buffy spoke up, “Judge on outer appearance.”

“Oh, I thought you would give me something difficult like look stuff up in books or pick up pieces of a supposedly indestructible demon,” Cordy responded with excitement in her voice.

“That was fun,” Willow added sarcastically remembering the day the Judge emerged at Sunnydale mall and attempted to bring yet again another apocalypse.

The room fell silent as all of them started going through their memories of their adventures against the forces of darkness. They had seen so much and now they were intentionally going to bring themselves into a dangerous situation, but Buffy didn’t care. She has been in danger before and probably will be again, this is her chance to possibly have some semblance of a normal life and she wanted to take it.

“So what do we do now?” Anya asked breaking the silence.

“What we normally do,” Tara said quietly.

Having no clue as to what Tara was talking about, she asked, “And that would be?”

“Research,” Willow answered bluntly.

“Isn’t that Giles’ department?” Anya asked.

“No, we can’t let him know, Xander either,” Buffy said quickly.

“What are we going to tell them then? Buffy magically got pregnant by an unknown boyfriend?”

“Actually, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Willow agreed with Anya’s statement. “It will have to do until Buffy wants to tell them the truth, I just worry about your mother.”

“Ooooh, I didn’t think of that,” Buffy admitted. “I will think of something, we just need to work on this problem right now. We need to get these vampires to come to Sunnydale for their judgment.”

“You are actually going to bring in vampires to the Hellmouth, can I ask you what drug you are on?” Cordy asked with shock in her voice.

“How else are we going to get them to come? I can’t exactly call them up on the phone and be like, ‘hey, if you aren’t doing anything special for the next couple of weeks, why not come to Sunnydale to party with the slayer?’ They’ll really go for that one,” Anya said while rolling her eyes.

“Well, we could give them a call, but not on the phone,” Tara spoke up. “I know this spell that will bring people to a certain place if we do it right. Found it in a book some time ago and I know that it isn’t that hard to do.”

“Magic spell?” Cordy asked.

“Yes, it is kind of like a ‘Come out, come out, wherever you are’ kind of deal. It should do the trick,” Tara admitted as she reached over and took one of her Wicca books from top of the pile that lay in the middle of Buffy’s living room floor.

“What do we need?” Willow said moving towards Tara and started to read over her shoulder at the ingredients that they needed to perform this spell. Reading from the book, she said, “It says here that we need a pentagram, a couple of candles and holy water.”

“Nothing that I don’t have in my house,” Buffy exited the room and ran upstairs to get some of the supplies from her room. Not too long after, Buffy jumped down her stairs with all the things they need to do the spell.

“Ok, we need everyone to sit in a circle around the pentagram and hold hands,” Tara commanded as everyone moved to their designated positions.

Sitting down next to Doyle, Anya started whining, “Do I have to sit next to him, he smells like year old beer.”

“Just shut up, Anya,” Buffy scolded as they all sat down around the pentagram.

The room was filled with silence as the two Wiccas began to sprinkle the holy water around the four people sitting on the floor. At the same time, they both began to chant, “QUOS OPORTET AUDIO CLAMO, NOS APPELLO VOS EMINUS, EGREDIOR LUDO HIC HINC, ITA EGREDIOR, EGREDIOR, PASSIM VOS AN!”

They chanted the spell at least three times while continually sprinkling the water across them. With every word spoken, a slight glow was beginning to ignite and build up inside the room. Suddenly, the light exploded into a huge variation of colors and spread across the room and flooded outside the house.

“Well, that was fun,” Cordy said while trying to blink away the dots in her eyes from the bright flash of light that nearly blinded all of them.

“They should be on their way,” Tara said while she began to clean up a little in the room

“Come out to play,” Buffy muttered under her breath.

~ ~ ~

//Eternal the kiss I breathe
Sucked in your blood to me
Feel my wounds of your God
Forever reign immortality
I smell of death I reek of hate
I will live forever
Lost child, pain of death
Bleeding screams of silence
In my veins your eternity
I'll kill you and your dreams tonight
Begin new life
Bleed your death upon me
Let your Bloodline feed my youth
First breath 'fore I come alive
Learn to kill
Blood thirst the ways you feed your hunger
Dark shy has no rival test your faith in blood
Nighttime as hunting packs of feeding frenzy
I'll kill you and your dreams tonight
Begin new life
Bleed your death upon me
Let your Bloodline feed my youth
I am the first after last Commune by a single kiss
Betray eternally I'll rip inside your soul
Contaminating the world
Dividing Godless sun
Black art to face your death
There will be a hit for me
Lead - King Take the flesh of life itself
Prepare to reign a thousand years
I'll kill you and your dreams tonight
Begin new life
Bleed your death upon me
Let your Bloodline feed my youth
Bleed your death upon me
Bleed your death upon me
Bleed your death upon me
Let your Bloodline feed my youth//

Angelus sat on his leather throne inside a room draped in blood red curtains, staring into space with a look of boredom traveling across his face. Everything seemed boring to the 240 plus vampire. Even his obsessive love of torture didn’t bring him any satisfaction anymore. He had the world at his feet and yet this did not satisfy his thirst for dominance and power. Nothing interested him anymore.

“Master, can we go out and eat now?” one of his fledglings asked while he moved to kneel in front of the omnipresent vampire.

“Whatever,” he said as he lazily waved his hand to command him to leave the room.

Angelus was left alone in the room the only company that he had been his thought. For over 200 years, he had destroyed so many lives and boy, oh boy, did he enjoy every minute of it. To hear his victims scream their last gave him pleasure beyond anything else. A sinister smile spread across his face as he saw the tear stained faces and the bloody bodies that he left behind. “It is good to be me, but why am I so unhappy?” he whispered to himself.

For many minutes he sat there thinking up something, anything that would light his passion for the kill again. While sitting there, for some reason, he felt something run through his entire body and suddenly, a thought came to his mind. ‘Go to Sunnydale, California,’ a little voice whispered inside his head.

Standing up suddenly from his dark leather chair, he walked out of the room to meet some of his minions that were there just to give him whatever or whomever he wanted. Confidence flooded from every step he took as he came close to them.

“Come on boys, we are going to Sunnydale,” he commanded and soon all of his minions stood in attention at this orders.

“Ah, sir,” one started to say, “what’s in Sunnydale?”

Reaching over and grabbing the one that just spoke by the neck, he hissed, “The slayer.” Angelus did not release his grip that he had on the young vampire and suddenly he ripped their head off their shoulders. In a loud scream, the new vampire exploded in a cloud of dust. Brushing himself off of the remnants of the talkative vampire, he said, “I always wanted a taste of that blood, now here’s our chance. I just hope she wants to come out and play.”

Part VIII

After the Willow and Tara’s spell was performed, a wave of restlessness swept over Buffy. This feeling was produced not just because of the excitement that coursed through her veins, but also her ‘spider’ sense tingled with the increased influx of vampires into Sunnydale. They were all around, just waiting for their judgment.

For the next couple of days, Buffy waited impatiently for the right moment for the gang to begin their plan. Deciding not to wait anymore, she decided to go out hunting. Buffy assumed that the vampires that would possibly attack her tonight didn’t even deserve the effort of waiting to be judged. The only judgment that they would be receiving tonight would come at the point of her trusty stake—Mr. Pointy.

Buffy walked through the infamous, yet deserted Restfield Cemetery waiting for a vampire to jump out at her. She twirled her stake in her hand as she walked listlessly between the many gravestones that were scattered along the patchy grass. Whenever she walked through this cemetery, her spider sense was on overdrive but this particular night it was working even faster than that. The air was saturated with this feeling and Buffy had this feeling of being overpowered by its mystery and seductiveness. The night called out to her and she felt dark eyes penetrating her entire body.

“Here vampires, here vampires,” she called out whispering to the vampire that watched over her. “I know you are there, so why don’t you come out!”

Suddenly jumping out in front of her, a newly risen vampire answered her call. Growling loudly, the vampire attempted to tackle her and toss her down to the ground but Buffy easily sidestepped the charging vampire, causing him to make a head first slide into the grass.

“You know, you should really work on your entrance. The critics will not be too pleased with this performance,” Buffy openly mocked as the vampire rose to his feet as she stood in front of him in a fighter’s stance.

He charged at her again which she just sidestepped again with ease. “Ooooh, swing and a miss. Most definitely strike two,” she quipped right before the vampire’s foot shot up and met her midsection with a strong kick.

The few feet that Buffy was forced backward in, let the vampire again climb to his feet and gave him the opportunity to get in a halfway decent fight with her. While she stood upright from his connection to her stomach, her face quickly dodged the fist that was lunging towards it.

Weaving in and out of his punches and kicks, she let not one of his offensive moves touch her fight ready skin. Buffy just toyed with this new vampire, by letting him take swings at her and she not reciprocating those actions. For some reason she was getting such joy at seeing him work so hard to hit her, but couldn’t even come close because she was too quick in avoiding him.

Her avoidance of taking an offensive attack on her opponent, she was taunting him and she decided that since she was taunting him physically, she just might as well add a few some of her witty quips that enraged most vampires. “You know, I was hoping that this would be a challenge, but then that would be too much for you,” she quipped as she dodged another of his punches.

Growling under his breath, the vampire answered her, “Will you be wagging that jaw of yours while I am biting it off?”

“Oooh, is that an invitation,” she said quickly as he fist finally made contact with her small face.

Stepping back a little in shock, Buffy started to get annoyed with the game and yelled, “Ok, play time’s over!” Quickly she took the offensive and began to rapidly begin to send him blows to his face and all throughout his body.

Kicking and punching, her monotonous actions speedily enabled her to get the upper hand in this fight. All the stops were pulled as she forced him to the grass and stood over top of him in victory.

Standing there and looking down at him, she gripped Mr. Pointy tightly in the palm of her hand. Leaning down to come closer to the beaten form beneath her legs, she yelled aloud, “And the panel of judges say?” Holding her stake up in the air, she plunged it downward, piercing his still heart with its sharp end. Buffy watched the vampire move his hands to her point of entry and exploded in a scream of dust. “Too bad for the rookie. It doesn’t look like the judges awarded him with the Oscar for best villain, such a shame I might say,” she said as she began to dust the remnants of her last victim from her highly fashionable clothing.

After killing that vampire, Buffy slowly began walking away from where she was just fighting. She thought that the threat for tonight was over, but she still felt someone stare at her darkly in the shadows. Her body tingled and shivered under this particular gaze, more so than it had ever done with your average run-of-the-mill vampire.

Continuing on her way back to her house, she tried to ignore the cold shivers that tickled her skin as she walked toward Revello Drive. She walked through the streets of Sunnydale, knowing that someone was following her, she just wasn’t in the mood currently at the moment to look back to see who it was. Her lack-of-fight did not do too much to relieve the restlessness that she felt.

Buffy stepped on her front pouch of her house and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dark figure creep behind a tree across the street and fade back into the shadows. She knew that this was her stalker and she knew that he was not human, so she knew that she would be meeting him later but now was just not that time. “I will see you later,” she whispered under her breath as she stepped inside her warm house.

~ ~ ~

Angelus had been watching the blonde slayer ever since she left her house earlier that evening to make a visit to her local cemetery. He lurked in the shadows and watched her every move.

Standing behind a weathered mausoleum in the middle of the cemetery, he watched her fight that new vampire and everything she did intrigued him. Her grace in taunting her victim produced an evil smile that slithered across his face. He enjoyed the show that she performed in front of him. Her body radiated strength and seductiveness, and he felt completely pulled towards the petite blonde.

He took an unneeded breath as he felt a strong twinge growing between his legs as he watched her. There was just something about this girl that threw him. This feeling was not a threat to him in the least. No, it would only make his dominance and victory over her even more sweet than he could ever imagine. ‘This is going to be fun,’ he thought to himself as he stealthily followed her from the cemetery.

The entire way he tried to maintain an adequate distance from his potential victim but he could tell that she knew that he was following her and yet she never turned to meet him face to face.

While walking behind her, he focused on the sway of her hips with every step she took. The movement of them seemed to be calling out to him and he wanted to take them in his strong hands and put her under his pleasurable torment. Her body screamed confidence and he was dying for the taste of that scream to be manifested in her voice as he took her.

Angelus continued on watching her with interest while she stood inside her house with her friends. He wanted to catch their conversation but the thick walls denied his request but he still stood there in the shadows. He saw her leave the room and promptly climb up the stairs. Walking around the house, he saw a light turn on in the upstairs and he knew that that had to be her room.

Quietly he climbed the tree next to that window and stepped off of its sturdy branches onto the roof in front of her window. The bright light inside the room concealed his presence in the dark outside her window.

His wanting of her increased as he watched her undress in the room. She slowly drew her shirt over her head revealing her small body to his dark eyes. Her skin was milky white and Angelus felt an overwhelming urge to run his fingertips softly over her smooth skin. His arousal for her beautiful body was increasing with every second that passed and he was quite disappointed when she pulled a slinky tank top over her head to cover up some of her glowing skin. He watched as she had the top fully on and she reached under her shirt at her back and slowly unclasped the bra that held her perfectly shaped breasts. Removing it from her body, she threw the undergarment across the room where it would land softly on the pastel comforter on her bed.

Not too long after she did that, she left the room to join her friends again downstairs. Angelus climbed back down the stairs to find her and watch her yet again from outside in the shadows. It seemed to him that they were planning on going somewhere because he watched as they all drew on some coats and began to walk out the door.

“Don’t forget about me,” he whispered under his breath as he followed the crowd to their next destination.

~ ~ ~

Once arriving at the Bronze, the gang found a table that they could easily watch people who entered the main entrance of the club. The Bronze seemed to be packed that night as the undead population of the crowd has suddenly grown to impressive numbers.

“Wow, what’s with the Bronze tonight?” Anya asked in complete confusion.

“I don’t know, Anya. Maybe it could be the fact that we just did a spell that would bring vampires to Sunnydale,” Cordy answered bluntly not believing that she could ask a question like that.

“Excuse me,” Anya apologized but not really.

“So, are you guys ready tonight?” Buffy asked as she sat next to Willow and placed her elbow on the table so that her face could rest upon her hand. “More vampires will be coming in here than usual and you need to keep your eyes open for them, especially you Anya. You know the vamps that were on your list and you should point them out to everyone.”

“No problem,” Anya said as Buffy ended her request of everyone.

“I’m not sure I can do this,” Willow said nervously. “I mean, what if I don’t do as good job? What if I pick the wrong one? How will I know who to choose?” Willow rambled on before Tara leaned over and took her hand in hers to comfort her tense lover.

“Shhh, baby. Everything will be alright,” Tara assured softly in her ear.

“Don’t worry, Willow. I know you will do just fine,” Buffy said while she looked over at her friend and smiled. Quickly she changed the subject to try to not allow Willow to think too much over her duties, Buffy asked, “Does anyone know who is playing tonight?”

“I think on the board outside it says that there will be a DJ tonight. Sorry, no band,” Cordy shrugged.

“That’s ok,” Buffy said. “Do you guys mind if I dance a few before coming back to the table. Maybe I can catch the attention of a few vampires that are just dying to be evaluated.”

“How can they be dying when they are already dead?” Anya asked.

“I am not even going to justify that with an answer,” Buffy sighed as she moved off the stool that she was sitting upon and made her way to the dance floor.

Buffy parted through the dense crowd that moved slowly on the dance floor. She felt those dark eyes penetrate her as she began to seductively move her hips to the strong beat of the song that was flowing from the massive speakers that surrounded her.

//Walking
Waiting
Alone without a care
Hoping
Hating
Things I can't bear//

Buffy felt overpowered by the sultry sounds of the song that just started playing. Bodies from all around her slowly crept closer to her and she felt two strong hands grip her hips from the back and a muscular chest press against her back.

//Did you think it's cool
To walk right up
And take my life
And fuck it up
Well did you?
Well did you?//

The body that pressed up against her followed every motion of her body as it swayed to the beat. She felt his grip on her grow tighter and tighter as he pulled her body into his.

//I see hell in your eyes
Taken in by surprise (surprise)
Touching you makes me feel alive
Touching you makes me die inside//

His touch on her sent incredible shocks of electricity course through her body and she felt this heat slightly burn her insides.

//Walking, Waiting
Alone without a care
Hoping
Hating
Things I can't bear

Did you think it's cool
To walk right up
To take my life
And fuck it up
Well did you?//

Her arousal for the man that was holding onto her body was increasing so rapidly and she could feel his too as he jutted the bulge of his pants into her supple ass.

//I hate you!

I see hell in your eyes
Taken in by surprise
And touching you makes me feel alive
Touching you makes me die inside//

Buffy knew that this person behind her was not human but she tonight, she wasn’t exactly looking for human companionship. Tonight she was looking for a creature that she was supposed to despise but all rules were off.

//I've slept so long without you
It's tearing me apart too
How'd it get this far
Playing games with this old heart
I've killed a million petty souls
But I couldn't kill you

I've slept so long without you

I see hell in your eyes
Taken in by surprise
Touching you makes me feel alive
Touching you made me die inside//

The song that they danced to slowly come to an end as she turned under his touch to look deeply into his eyes. Buffy was suddenly caught off guard by the striking appearance by the man that still held onto her hips. She almost lost herself in the almost black orbs that stared back at her with dark passion.

Any girl with eyes could see the incredible sexiness that he painted himself in. The half smile that adorned his pale face sent more shivers down her spine and she could feel his presence in front of her in her toes.

“And who are you?” she asked seductively as a smile spread across her face.

“Angelus,” he answered her smoothly not taking his eyes off of her face.

Recognizing the name from Anya’s list, her eyes grew wide with surprise. “Kind of girly don’t you think?” she teased him.

Pulling her suddenly into his body where she could feel his arousal clearly under the confinements of his black leather pants. “Well, I guess that proves that you aren’t a girl,” Buffy quickly said as she found herself grinding into him. Pulling herself from his grasp, she walked a step back from him to stare at him one last time. “Maybe I will see you around?” she hissed as she turned her back to him and walked toward the table where her friends sat.

Angelus lowered his head slightly while she walked away and stared at her with an icily gaze as she moved away from him. “A lot sooner than you think, lover,” he whispered as he stealthily moved off of the dance floor and back behind some of the shadows that he knew so well.

Part IX

Buffy turned from the handsomely dark vampire and she felt his icy stare gazing at her back. But she felt none of that coldness. Every inch of her skin hummed and the areas on her body that he touched felt like they were on fire. The fire coursed through her veins and seared her soul. For a while, Buffy wanted to turn back to him to feel his touch again. Feel his gaze and hands roam across her small body, igniting her desire and passion. She wanted him. Wanted him so badly, she wanted to feel him inside her, feel him massage the sensitive spots with his strong and capable hands, she wanted him to be the father of her child.

‘The father of my child,’ she thought to herself and a large smile began to spread across her face. Receding into the abyss of her imagination, Buffy saw herself hold a small bundle in her arms and look down to see her child look back at her with a mix of their features—his mysterious, brown eyes or her soft green, his dark hair or her golden tresses, all swirled in her mind. ‘This kid is going to be a heartbreaker,’ she last thought of as she sat next to her friends.

“Ok, so who was that?” Cordelia asked breaking Buffy out of her imagination.

“Who was what?” Buffy asked innocently.

“The guy you were dancing with on the floor,” Tara said curiously.

Quickly answering for Buffy, Anya said without taking her eyes off of the list that she held in front of her, “Oh, that was Angelus.” Taking a pen in her hand, she placed a check next to his name then looked up to see her friends stare at her with all different emotions in their faces. “What?” she asked as she wondered why was she getting glared at so.

“Just Angelus, is that all you can say about him?” Cordy asked as her voice rose to a higher pitch.

“Yeah, what of it?” Willow said in confusion at Cordy’s exclamation.

“What about salty goodness, want to lick every inch of his body, SEX ON A STICK YUMMINESS!!” Cordy’s voice was now heightened to a yell.

“It’s probably a good thing that we wouldn’t let Doyle come with us tonight,” Willow stated matter-of-factly while staring at Cordy.

“He wasn’t that good looking,” Buffy said nonchalantly while trying to hide the fact that her toes curled in her shoes at the very thought of Angelus. “If you were blind,” that smirk graced her countenance again.

Smiling proudly, Cordy agreed, “That’s what I thought.”

“So what do the panel of judges say?” Buffy asked giddily. “Willow and Tara?”

“Well, from what Anya has told us, he is over 240 years old so he has to be somewhat intelligent but it is too early to have a definitive score,” Willow shrugged as she made little notes to herself on the pad of paper that was in front of her. After a few seconds she looked up to see everyone just stare at her in amazement. “What? So I like to take notes so I have accurate accounts, sue me.”

“Alright,” Buffy said then turned toward her fashion expert. “Cordy?”

“Most definitely a 9.5 from this judge,” Cordy stated. “The dark colors in his wardrobe are an excellent choice. They add to his mysterious sexiness. Deep red shirt—slight hint of passion and always a good thing to have the first two buttons undone to accentuate a muscular chest.”

“Silk,” Buffy quickly said interrupting Cordy’s evaluation. She noticed the looks that she was receiving from her random comment so she rapidly added, “His shirt was silk.”

“Ahhhh,” Cordy said with her epiphany. “Gotta love a damn fine man in silk. Oh and the leather pants, what a touch. They hug in all the right places.”

“I know,” Buffy whispered softly to herself knowing she had the closest thing to first hand experience over all those right places. “Those pants were very nice,” Buffy said accentuating the very part as her mind wandered from his pants to what was underneath those tight pants.

“Just remember, Buffy, when you help to take them off watch out for the ‘Ross’ effect,” Cordy said turning the conversation into a serious tone.

Understanding what her friend was implying, Buffy started to laugh hysterically.

“The ‘Ross’ effect?” Anya said in confusion. “What’s that?”

All turned towards Anya with shock laced in their faces. “Don’t tell me that you have never seen ‘Friends’ before?” Cordy couldn’t believe what Anya was asking.

“No, am I missing something here?” Anya said truthfully.

“Oh come on Anya, you can’t tell me that you never saw the episode of ‘Friends’ when Ross took off his leather pants at a girlfriend’s house and couldn’t get them back on,” Cordy continued but then was cut off by Buffy and Willow’s hysterical laughing.

“He tried to use lotion,” Buffy laughed.

“And baby powder,” Willow added, “but nothing would help him get them back on.” Buffy and Willow were almost rolling on the floor in laughter and were quickly joined by Cordy and Tara who started laughing because they were laughing so much.

Through her chuckles, Cordy said, “But don’t worry Buffy, I can guarantee that when you get his pants off, I don’t think you will want to get them back on for a very long time.”

“But you might want to have lotion just in case,” Anya added calmly still not understanding why the other girls in the group were laughing.

Buffy stopped her laughter for a moment to look squarely at Anya and ask, “Why?”

“Well, when Xander and I have sex, we sometimes use some type of lubricant…” Anya started saying but was suddenly stopped by everyone.

“Anya, what does Xander tell you about too much information,” Willow shook her head not trying to visualize what Anya was just about to say.

“I just thought you would want to know,” Anya added smoothly.

Deciding to change the topic, Buffy quickly asked, “Any other prospects in the crowd??”

“Not really, we couldn’t really tell if the people walking through the doors were vampires or not, plus we weren’t really watching because our eyes were kind of glued to you on the dance floor,” Tara admitted.

“That’s alright, I think we found our first candidate for the father of Buffy’s baby, so we don’t have to be all gung-ho about the evaluation tonight,” Willow said while she followed the top of her glass with the tip of her finger. “But we can keep on looking, if you want?” Willow asked her friend.

Buffy nodded to her friend and saw all their eyes turn towards the main entrance of the Bronze to see if anymore vampires might come to pay them a visit. Their conversation remained silent as all were caught up in looking for more vampires and Buffy closed her eyes and her thoughts went back to the man she just danced with. She knew he was still in there somewhere, she could still feel his gaze igniting her skin. He was there, hiding in the shadows, watching over her, she just wished that he would come out again and dance with her one more time. “Angelus, where are you?” Buffy muttered under her breath.

Suddenly opening her eyes, she saw a young man in a really tacky leisure suit escort a young woman from the club. “Did you guys see that?” Buffy asked as she sensed that he was a vampire. All her friends looked toward her and nodded.

“Yea,” they all said but Cordelia continued, “that girl needs to open her eyes, how can you possibly be willing to go to a party with a man in that outfit.”

“Well, looks like he is planning to take the party outside, I think we should probably join him,” Buffy said while rising from her seat and with the rest of the gang, they ventured outside.

Stepping outside the club, they heard the young woman begin to scream and they all ran to help her. Buffy saw the woman attempt to push away the vampire that was leaning towards her neck and rushed to pull him away from her. Harshly grabbing his shoulder, Buffy pulled him away, tossing him towards the ground and stood her ground between him and his potential victim.

“I think a judgment is in order here,” Anya said as she stood watching Buffy begin her fight with the loner vampire.

“I AGREE,” Buffy grunted while the vampire threw punches at her left and right. “Poor technique, kind of sloppy,” she commented while she moved around him and kicked his back causing him to sprawl across the ground.

“Bad landing, too,” Cordy said, “that’s 9/10 a point deduction.”

The vampire quickly got up off the ground and moved towards the side of the building where a couple of trashcans stand erect. He picked one up and tossed it at the charging slayer who managed to dodge it.

“Ooooh, trash can chucking, totally unoriginal,” Willow shook her head.

“So what do the judges say,” Buffy grunted while she was able to hold him by the throat against the neighboring wall.

The four girls huddled together and started whispering aloud. Finally deciding on a decision, they all turned towards Buffy and said, “Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars.”

“How kind,” Buffy said as she rammed her wooden stake into the vampire’s chest while he quickly disintegrated into a pile of dust on the ground. Dusting herself off, she turned towards her friends.

“I think we have done enough father hunting for Buffy’s baby enough for today, I say we head back,” Tara said as the girls began to walk away from the alley that they were standing in.

Not paying attention to anything behind them as they walked out, they weren’t able to see the tall, dark vampire in that came out of the shadows as soon as they turned the corner. “Father??” he asked himself incredulously, “how very interesting.” A sultry half smile spread across his face as he followed the blonde slayer by the light of the full moon that shone overhead.

Part X

“Remind me never again to wear these shoes when I know that I am going to have to walk from place to place,” Cordy whined as her strappy high heels began to dig painfully into the soft flesh of her feet.

“I think I did say something about that earlier,” Willow admitted as she turned her head to shake it at her. “But did you listen, I think not.”

“But they go so well with this skirt,” Cordy continued as all the girls walked through Buffy’s front door and entered into her living room that was still covered from wall to ceiling in books stolen from the Magic Box.

“Buffy, what’s going on in here?” a voice called from behind the many stacks on the floor.

“Mrs. Summers how are you?” Cordy greeted enthusiastically with a fake smile plastered on her countenance.

“Oh, hello Cordelia. Haven’t seen you in a while, how have you been?” Joyce Summers responded as she came from the living room and took the brown haired girl in her arms in a polite hug.

“Oh, I’m good, just about to make my mark on this world when I am going to be the next winner of the Oscar for best actress in a major motion picture,” she said with confidence in her voice.

“Really?” Joyce sounded surprised.

“Yeah, in her dreams,” Anya said bluntly as she pushed her way past the others into Buffy’s living room. “Are we going to keep on working tonight?” she changed the subject and began to go through the books stacked on one another.

“Buffy, what are all of these books doing in my living room?” Joyce turned her attention from Cordelia to her daughter.

“Just a little research. Giles is on hyper drive for me to learn more about slayers and I just decided to take a few books home,” Buffy responded bluntly.

“Just a few, huh? I don’t think few describes this,” Joyce scolded Buffy with her eyebrows raised to the ceiling. “I think this is a little over kill.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Summers,” Tara began to apologize. “We will take a few of these home with us so you don’t have to have all of them in your house at once.”

“Thank you, girls. After my little brain problem, cleaning up around this house has just been the biggest pain in the neck.”

“How are you doing now after your surgery?” Cordelia asked with concern in her voice.

“Much better, thanks for asking,” Joyce sighed. “I think I am going to head up to bed, so I will see everyone later.”

“Goodnight, Mom,” Buffy said and was joined by the rest of the group in wishing her goodnight.

“Buffy, we should probably get going too. It is getting kind of late,” Willow said as she grabbed Tara’s hand in hers and started to walk out the door.

“Will, wait,” Buffy called and the Wicca turned to face her friend. “Could you do me a favor and research a little on Angelus for me? I would love you forever.”

“Sure, I have some books at home that we can look through,” Willow said before she and Tara left.

“I should probably get going too. I am sure Xander is waiting for me. Tonight is our…” Anya began to comment but was stopped by Buffy.

“Anya, don’t want to know so goodnight,” she said and almost pushed her out the front door. “Where are you going to stay?” she turned towards Cordy.

“Doyle and I rented a room at a close hotel. We didn’t want to bother anyone,” Cordy said truthfully.

“You should have told me, you guys could have stayed here,” Buffy sighed.

“Oh, no big deal anyway this gives us a little bit of privacy,” Cordy shrugged with a huge smile on her face.

“Cordy, stop where you are. I think you may be hanging around with Anya a little too much, you should probably run while you still can,” Buffy returned her smile and chuckled softly as she spoke.

“I will remember that,” she laughed. “But I better get going too and I guess I will see you tomorrow then.”

“Yes, see you tomorrow. Thanks for coming again,” Buffy said while she watched her friend walk through the front door on her way out of her house.

“Oh, my pleasure. Just remember, I get first shopping experience with the expecting mother,” Cordy commanded.

“Of course,” Buffy said as she waved goodbye to her friend that hopped into her car and began to speed away from her driveway.

The house was very quiet as soon as all of her friends left. All the books still lay in the living room since everyone decided to leave and not take any. Sighing in resignation and tiredness, Buffy trudged her way up the stairs to get ready to lie in bed.

“Buffy, honey, are you getting ready for bed, too,” Joyce’s sweet voice wafted from her bedroom.

“Yeah, Mom. I have a pretty big week planned and I really could use my beauty rest,” Buffy said while making her way into her mom’s room and sitting down on her bed.

“You seem more tired than usual, is something going on?” Joyce asked as she saw her daughter slump on her bed and yawn.

Perking up suddenly from her daze, Buffy quickly lied, “No, nothing special. You know just traditional slayer stuff.”

“Well, you know if you ever want to talk, I am here to listen,” Joyce confided in her daughter as she dug herself deeper into the soft folds of her bed.

“Will do. Goodnight, Mom,” Buffy whispered as she stood up from her mother’s bed.

“Love you, Buffy,” her mom said before Buffy walked out her door.

“Love ya, too,” Buffy answered back to her and made her way to her bedroom.

Buffy walked into her dark room and switched on the light overhead so she could see everything. ‘What am I going to tell her?’ she thought to herself as she pulled her shirt over top of her head and replaced it with her nighttime tank top. ‘Does this work, Mom, guess what I am pregnant and do you know by whom—a vampire!’ she laughed to herself as she buried herself deep in her warm blankets on her bed.

“Oh, the damn light,” she exclaimed as she got up to turn off the light on her ceiling.

Walking across the room, Buffy felt this weird sense that she was being watched. She felt two eyes burrow deep into her skin but she decided to shrug it off for paranoia and turned back towards her bed in the darkness of her room.

Finally able to dig herself into her bed, Buffy lay there peacefully waiting for the abyss of deep sleep to overcome her anxious body. To preoccupied with her thoughts, she didn’t catch glimpse of the glowing amber eyes that blazed through her bedroom window as she slowly fell into a deep sleep.

~ ~ ~

Angelus waited outside of her window all night after following her home from the Bronze, just waiting for her to come to her room. A sinister smile spread across his face as he observed the beautiful blonde lay her head down on her pillow and watch her golden hair flow across it as sleep slowly overcame her strong body.

For many minutes, he just watched her sleep there, completely peaceful and content. “Not for long,” he whispered to himself as he climbed down from her roof and made his way back to the mansion of Crawford Street that he would consider home for the next couple of weeks or how ever long it would take for him to do what he planned to do her in Sunnydale.

While walking back, the blonde slayer that attracted him so much consumed his thoughts. He was drawn to her. Both the man and the demon that were embedded deep inside his cold, hard body called out for her and wanted her flesh. Both wanted to taste the sweetness that only she could produce—her soft, supple skin would give pleasure to the man while the blood would mate erotically with the demon. Angelus also knew that the different parts of the beautiful woman called out for him too. He could smell and touch her arousal as he pressed against her able body while they rubbed erotically against each other. Their desires for each other was almost palpable.

Now, after hearing the little taste of information in that dank alleyway, both parts of him screamed louder for her. Each was entranced by the possibility of a living child that would have pieces of the man and the demon. That was uncharted territory for Angelus and he was an explorer to the highest degree. He would not stop either until he conquered this new frontier. ‘And what a sweet victory it will be,’ he thought to himself as he walked through the front door of the mansion.

“You know, Mate. You need to think of different ways of living. You are just too easy to predict anymore,” a thick voice laced with a British accent wafted across the room from a man lounging across Angelus’ dark leather couch.

“Spike,” he exclaimed as he walked towards him and embraced him in his large arms. “What are you doing here?”

“Got bored. Thought that this town could use a little livening up with a party thrown by yours truly,” Spike laughed sadistically. “Plus, I hear the slayer here could use a little competition.”

When hearing his implication of his soon conquest, Angelus glared at his childe. “Let me handle her. I have some interesting things planned for our little slayer.”

“What gives you the right to have all the fun?” Spike stated with indignation.

Angelus quickly reached up and grasped Spike across the throat where he began to squeeze his pale neck in his strong hand. He promptly lifted the younger vampire off the ground and yelled, “You will do what you are told or I will see that you are small enough that you will fit inside an ashtray.”

“Got it, mate,” Spike coughed as Angelus dropped him to the floor where he crumpled into a pile. “What do you have planned for her?”

“You will just have to wait and see,” he said as an evil smirk spread across his face.

Part XI

“So, Giles, what’s the what?” Buffy asked as she entered the Magic Box.

“I was curious to know, how has patrolling gone?” Giles asked with concern deeply embedded in his voice.

Buffy moved towards the table in the center of the shop and sat down at one of the chairs to look straight at her Watcher. “Same as usual, punching, kicking, tragic endings at the tip of a pointy wooden object. Why?”

“I think something is happening here soon. I have noticed the influx of vampires into town for the past week or so and I have been here all day trying to figure out what could be soon to happen that would cause an increase of demons that decide to say hello to the Hellmouth,” Giles said as he removed his glasses from the bridge of his nose and cleaned them off with the bleached handkerchief that was found in the breast pocket of his tweed jacket.

Buffy knew why all the vampires were here in town but she would never, ever tell Giles that she had actually summoned them here. “Really?? I haven’t noticed anything different,” Buffy stated innocently.

Cocking his eyebrow at Buffy, he said, “Are you sure you haven’t noticed anything particularly bizarre lately.”

“Isn’t that Sunnydale’s motto?” Xander said as he eavesdropped into their conversation as he came through the main entrance of the shop. “Hey Buff, Giles.”

“Hey Xand. Where’s Anya?” Buffy asked as she turned her attention off the older man in the room to her best guy friend.

“At home, she wanted me to pickup something here. She tells me what to do and I run,” Xander said as he moved to the area behind the front counter where he leaned over and picked up a book that lay on one of the shelves there. “What can I say? I am whipped.”

“And you are loving every minute of it, I am sure?” Buffy shook her head and released a small giggle.

“No complaints here. It is such a shame that you don’t have a guy to do these kinds of things for you,” Xander said. “We need to work on that.”

‘Don’t worry, that is quickly being taken care of,’ Buffy thought to herself. “I really don’t need one at the moment, with all this slayer stuff, I am busy enough as is.”

“Back to the slaying, are you sure you haven’t noticed anything?” Giles asked again cutting into their conversation.

“Completely positive,” Buffy affirmed.

“You know only fools are positive,” Xander said as he pointed straight at his friend who still sat there next to the table.

“Are you sure about that?” Buffy asked.

“Positive.” Understanding then what Buffy was trying to tell him, Xander reached up and smacked his forehead for his implicating words. “Shouldn’t have said that, should I?”

“Nope, probably not,” Buffy laughed. She turned back and saw Giles, who held a small smile on his face because of Xander’s blunder.

“Oh, well, I have better be going. Anya wanted me home early for something,” Xander stated as he walked around the counter and moved towards the door.

‘I wonder why, but I will never ask because I don’t think I want to know the answer,’ she thought as he turned around to wave goodbye to the two people still in the middle of the shop. “Bye Xander. Probably see you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” Xander said as Giles and Buffy heard the bell over the doorframe chime when the door moved it forward then backward.

For a few seconds the room was filled with silence as the two just stared at each other. Buffy suddenly perked up from her sitting position and exclaimed, “What time is it??”

“I think sometime after seven,” Giles answered as he looked towards his wrist were his metal watch was kept.

Quickly standing up and removing her bag from the top of the table, Buffy stated, “My mom is going to be so mad at me. I was supposed to be home early tonight.” She almost sprinted to the door before Giles caught her.

“Do you want me to drive you?” he asked as he held onto her shoulder.

“I should really talk to mom about letting me have my own car, walking can get to be such a pain. But no thanks, I think I can handle myself,” Buffy said as she shrugged off his touch.

“Just be careful and if you see anything out of the ordinary, let me know,” Giles asked.

Laughing quietly under her breath, she said, “Don’t you find it kind of funny when I am supposed to look for things out of the ordinary when this town itself if not exactly in the ordinary.”

“I am just worried about you sometimes,” Giles said with a father’s concern in his voice.

“I know and I will let you know if anything fishy happens,” Buffy said as she turned to open the door.

“Bye Buffy,” he waved goodbye.

“See you later,” Buffy responded as she walked out into the darkened street outside of the Magic Box.

The sun had set hours ago and for some reason the streets seemed a little darker than their usual creepy nature. Buffy’s slayer sense yet again was screaming at her because all around, she felt the presence of more of the undead. The night had seemed to grow eyes that were constantly surveying her as she journeyed down the many streets towards her house.

She ignored the urge to turn her body to stare down at the beings that she felt following her and continued on moving forward. Suddenly behind her she heard a deep voice crackle, “Slayer.”

A little annoyed with their constant reference to her title and not her name, she about faced the voice and answered sternly, “Slayee.”

A low, guttural growl came from his satanic visage as he took slow steps toward the petite blonde. The vampire’s form could barely be seen through the shadows that were cast across the ground because his skin was no lighter than the color of midnight black.

“What’s with you vampires and your patience issues? You couldn’t wait for my friends could you, oh no, that would be too much to ask,” Buffy quipped before she was attacked by the raging vampire.

Buffy was caught off guard by the speed at which he began his assault. At almost lightening speed, he sprinted towards her and slammed a powerful punch into her smooth face, then her taut stomach. She responded a few milliseconds slower than he and he began to get the upper hand in their fight. Throwing all of her strength back at the robust vampire, she was able to get a few good punches and kicks in his direction and he began to swagger back from her defensive motions.

Breaking the fight momentarily, Buffy jumped backward and said, “I think you could have had me for a while there. I was quite impressed.” Reaching behind her back, she removed a newly whittled stake from the waistband of her pants and taunted the vampire by twirling it in her fingers before he made his attack again.

The dark vampire most definitely gave her a harder time than she expected after she pulled the stake out in the fight. Buffy was growing a little tired as she finally got the opportunity to thrust the stake home in his chest.

With the stake securely embedded in his heart, he swaggered backwards and glared Buffy in the eye. “Do you honestly believe that I came alone?” he growled as his body began to crumble into dust.

Staring wide-eyed around her, Buffy was surrounded by six other vampires just dying for a taste of her. “I hate to disappoint you all, but I don’t think there is enough to go around,” she shrugged as she began her defense against the new vampire clan.

Buffy was able to stake one of the vampires but they were too much for her in her tired state. She put up her best effort but being outnumbered, she was slammed up against the side of a building and became incredibly dazed when the back of her head crack against the hard surface.

She felt her eyes start to droop and begin to slowly fall into unconsciousness. Her eyes were jolted open when one of the vampires harshly grabbed the back of her hair and brutally wrenched her head to the side, exposing her limp neck to their sharp fangs.

Feeling like this is the end; she closed her eyes voluntarily and let her death come without a fight. The vampire’s cool breath froze her skin as he inched closer to whisper in her ear, “I just want you to know, I consider this an honor.” Buffy prepared herself for the painful sting of his bite but suddenly she felt him jerked away from her paralyzed body lying listlessly on the cold ground.

Opening her eyes slightly to catch glimpse of what was happening to her, she noticed her knight in shining armor coming to save her from her up and coming death. She heard the screams of the vampires that attacked her as her savior mowed through them one by one.

She blinked once as he sauntered towards her and leaned down to face her. Smiling slightly and opening her eyes, she chuckled, “Angelus, isn’t it against your nature to save a slayer.”

“If anyone kills you, it had better be me,” he snarled still in game face after the fight.

Looking deeply into his blazing amber eyes, she slowly slipped into unconsciousness. Angelus quickly grabbed the limp slayer as she slumped down against the brick surface of the building and hoisted her up into his arms. Tightly cradling her in his arms, he walked down the street towards his mansion.

Part XII

When Buffy’s eyes finally fluttered open, she found herself buried deep in a silken bed, painted blood red. Darkness filled the room, only allowing the slight rays of moonlight to filter through the black blinds that concealed the windows. The pungent aroma of masculinity clung to the walls and tantalized her body with its scent.

Her mind and heart raced with the anticipation that her body felt. Taking a deep breath of the perfume that permeated the air, Buffy tried to sit up straight in the bed but found that her actions were inhibited by the tight rope that bound her small wrists to the dark mahogany bed-posts at the head of the bed.

Laying motionless on the bed with her arms spread across in preparation for her metaphorical crucifixion, she bathed herself in the situation that she was caught in. Her body trembled with the heat that spread inside her veins and the tightness that was being prepared to rupture inside her gut. The silk against her bare arms felt delicious to the touch as she moved her body slightly to take some of the pressure that the wrists felt from being fastened to the posts.

Grunting softly, she tugged and pulled at the taut ropes in the hopes that her slayer strength would easy snap her binding and set her free from this bed. Buffy pulled on them for several minutes before she discovered that she couldn’t, or maybe, wouldn’t break from her capture.

“Trying to leave so soon,” Angelus purred as he crept out of the shadows against the walls of the room. “The party is just about to begin.”

“I came to believe that parties are supposed to be fun,” she sneered as she watched him moved towards the bed with fluid-like movements of his leather-clad body. His dark unbuttoned shirt hung loosely on his broad, muscular frame and she felt her breath caught in her throat as he moved towards her with the dim moonlight glowing across his pale, exposed skin. The defined ridges of the muscles in his abdomen cast small shadows across his pallid chest.

Angelus saw her fighting for breath and his sultry half-smile graced his chiseled countenance. Every step he moved closer to his beautiful captive, the aroma of arousal increased tenfold. He moved to the head of the bed and stood there looking down at the slayer with anticipation in his eyes. Deep, dark passion encased his body as his eyes traveled every inch of her flesh and back up to her emerald green eyes.

Kneeling on the bed to the side of her warm body and reaching his hand towards one of her bound wrists, he touched her burning palm with his cold fingertips and slowly traced the sinewy muscles down the length of her arm toward her heavily panting chest. Moving his hand across the top of her chest, he stroked the hard ridges of her collarbones through the light material of her cotton blouse and moved his fingertips up the other arm in the same fashion that preceded the other.

Her scent of arousal tantalized his senses as his administrations to her body sent shock waves of electricity to course through their limbs, into their body and centering in the apex between their strong thighs. Buffy felt herself moan softly as his fingers felt like frost tipped rose petals on her skin.

Angelus heard her soft cries and he felt the overwhelming presence of her all around and inside of him. His demon screamed in his body for the taste of her exquisite blood while the man buried deep inside wanted her flesh, evident by the growing member that jutted painfully on the inside of his tight leather pants.

He covered the top half of her body with his chest as he moved his mouth closer to her ear. “You will have fun, just you wait,” he breathily whispered in her ear as he placed light kisses across her earlobe and down her jaw line where he placed feather light kisses across her supple neck.

As he kissed her neck and face, his well-educated hands began to undo each of the buttons on her blouse one by one painstakingly slow. His demon roared inside to ravish her body until they both could no longer move, but he was able to suppress his desire to torture her by his slow, seductive touches.

Buffy felt her panties soak in her wetness as his strong hands open up her blouse, exposing her aroused skin to his passion filled eyes that grated her with their icy glare. Her chest heaved up and down with her panting as he traced the hard tips of her nipples through the lacy material of her bra. Removing his attention from her breasts for a moment to move his hands up towards her shoulders to delicately removed her unbuttoned shirt from her tanned skin, Angelus swiftly rid them of her shirt and reached behind her back to unfasten the clasp of her bra so that nothing came between his hands and talented mouth and her silky smooth skin.

Standing up for a moment to move around her body to kneel between her thighs that have gradually opened up to him through his administrations. Angelus placed his hands to either side of her body and began to crawl up her body, so that his lips settled close to her face but his weight still rested on the heels of his hands.

Buffy’s clenched fists held by the ropes, opened up as her fingers extended as he moved his talented mouth from her warm face, down her chest to the valley between her perfect breasts. Angelus moved his mouth to one of her erect nipples and began to circle the hard tip with his cool tongue. She mewled softly as the muscles constricted in her arms and began to pull unconsciously at the taut ropes. Her hips arched up towards his body and she began to grind herself against his growing bulge inside his pants.

Her grinding motion against him, forced a silent moan to escape his mouth, which turned its attention to the other breast. Angelus took his mouth from her breast and began to rain mouthy kisses down the hard ridge in the center of her abdomen as one of his hands reached up to kneed her right breast and the other began to unbutton the clasp that kept her pants tightly hugging her narrow hips. He wanted to tear away her clothing so that he could get access to her faster but yet again forced himself to be patient. Every inch that the waistline of her pants was lowered, he placed soft kisses until he reached the soft mound that was previously covered by her lacy underwear.

Buffy unconsciously lifted her hips up from the bed so that he could fully remove the unwanted clothing from her body. Along with his shirt, he threw her pants and underwear into a small pile on the floor across the room. Returning his attention to her exquisite body, Angelus moved his face between her spread thighs and swirled his tongue inside the warm lips of her tight heat and nibble gently on her highly stimulated clit. Her breathing became erratic as she felt her body climb toward her climax.

She had never felt this warm and good in her entire life. Her body sensed the muscles throughout her entire body convulse as his body sensually tortured hers. The tight muscles in her heat collapsed and expanded on the fingers that dared intrude her body.

Angelus felt her climax rapidly approach as he conquered her with his hands and mouth that gently caressed her. As she came, he heard a shrill scream escape her lips as he moved his attention back up her chest towards her supple mouth. Buffy could taste herself as his tongue intruded her mouth and their tongues began to duel fiercely with each other.

He removed his hands momentarily from her beautiful body to open the fly of his pants and release his engorged cock from its prison. The leather pants easily slid down his well-built legs and flew from his body and puddle to the floor.

Removing himself from her mouth to kneel in between her welcoming thighs, he felt his body scream in pleasure when the tip of his cock found its way to her tight, wet opening. Angelus slowly inched inside her prepared sheath as his mouth made its way back up her body. Filling her completely, he felt her gasp painfully in his mouth as their tongues dueled and he momentarily stalled his movements to allow her to adjust to his impressive size.

Angelus heard her start to moan in pleasure as he slowly began to thrust in and out of her tight heat. Her hips ground against his powerful thrusting as she kept up with his increasing pace. The power that radiated from both of their mating bodies would have crushed a normal person but to them, this was absolutely perfect. The thin layer of sweat that glistened on their hard surfaces as they intertwined deeper and deeper into each other slowly halted the friction between their rocking bodies.

Angelus reached between their slick bodies and sought out her hyper sensitized clit with the soft pads of his fingertips. Feeling it between his fingers, he first began to gently massage the swollen nub but as he felt both their climaxes coming at impressive speed, he began to rub with more ardor than ever before. Her strong legs wrapped around his waist and squeezed his hips, granting him better access to her dripping sex.

Buffy felt all of the muscle throughout her body contract as he moved inside her. Her hands would ball into fists and unclench themselves to the rhythm that he slammed her into the smooth folds of the bed they were sharing. The stress that her arms exerted on the ropes that still tied her to the bed was increasing every second. Suddenly, without warning, the tight ropes snapped as Buffy’s arms pulled them more than they could handle. Buffy was finally able to reach around the body of her lover and harshly cup his toned ass in her small hands.

Angelus was surprised by her tight grasp on his ass and by her action of pulling him more and more into her welcoming body. Buffy felt his tumescent member slam into her cervix as their bodies melted together even more than previously.

His eyes began to roll to the back of his head as her muscles pulsated against his cock as their speed increased to bruising pressure. Both their climaxes were coming rapidly as Buffy removed her hands from his firm ass to grate her fingernails against the cool skin of his back. Her nails dug into his back callously and she was able to draw blood with her touch. Buffy took her hands from his back and brought the blood-covered fingers towards both of their mouths.

She placed her fingers on his lips where his tongue quickly jutted from his mouth and began to lap the blood that she drew from him. This action was too much for his demon that he had so far successfully kept hidden but now it was time for him to come out and play.

Angelus abruptly changed into his vampire visage and moved his mouth away from hers to go towards her supple neck. His sharp teeth scratched across the surface of her skin and she moved her head away from his mouth to give him better access to her throat. Seeing her invitation, Angelus quickly sank his fangs into her warm flesh and her blood flooded into his mouth. His erotic bite sent her over her apex as her vaginal muscles squeezed him one last time before he spilt his cold seed into her open passage.

Retracting his fangs from her throat and returning to his human visage, his tongue continued to lick the wound that he punctured into her skin. This was the finest blood that he had ever tasted in all of his centuries of living. The flavor of her arousal mixed with the salt of her sweat tantalized the dead taste buds on his tongue.

Angelus covered her entire body with this own and refused to remove himself from her heat that was slowly coming down from its massive climax. Her heaving breasts scraped across his hard chest as he moved his mouth from her neck back to her mouth where he took her tongue in his mouth one last time before he ripped himself from her body.

Rolling off of her petite body, he lay on his back next to his slayer. Quickly turning to his side he grabbed her waist possessively and pulled her body to spoon against him. She ground her ass into him gently as she felt his growing erection press between her round cheeks. Angelus growled softly as she thrust against him.

Buffy never felt so tired in all her life as she felt herself start to fall asleep with his arms wrapped protectively around her waist. One of his hands made its way down to the area of her abdomen where hopefully her child, their child, would grow. Buffy placed her hand on top of his and was quietly rocked to sleep by the faint purring that rose from his chest. Her eyes fluttered closed once again and she allowed sleep to overtake her body.

Angelus lay wide-awake behind her as he felt her drift into unconsciousness. A sinister smile spread across his face as he thought, ‘You are mine.’

Part XIII

Angelus tightly gripped his slumbering lover to his chest while he kept perfectly still not trying to wake her. He loved the sound of her intoxicating ambrosia that pulsated inside her veins and spread across her skin, making it shimmer a soft pink. The faint humming of her heartbeat rapt against his chest and even though their moment of passion had passed hours before, he could not suppress the contented purr that ruptured inside his chest.

He kept his hand placed firmly on her womb, not releasing just to make further his claim of ownership of the possible child that would be brewing inside of his slayer. The idea of a child with the slayer had intrigued him, almost as much as the woman who would be carrying that child. Spreading his cold fingers across her stomach, he moved closer to her bare shoulder, close enough to tickle the backside of her neck with is unnecessary chilling breath.

“My dear do you know,
How a long time ago,
Two poor little children,
Whose names I don't know,
Were stolen away
On a fine summers day,
And left in a wood,
As I've heard people say,
Poor babes in the wood! Poor babes in the wood!
Oh! Don't you remember the babes in the wood?
And when it was night,
So sad was their plight,
The sun it went down,
And the moon gave no light!
They sobbed and they sighed,
And they bitterly cried,
And the poor little things,
They lay down and died.
Poor babes in the wood! Poor babes in the wood!
Oh! Don't you remember the babes in the wood?
And when they were dead,
The robins so red,
Brought strawberry leaves,
And over them spread;
And all the day long,
The branches among,
They mournfully whistled,
And this was their song;
Poor babes in the wood! Poor babes in the wood!
Oh! don't you remember the babes in the wood?”

He whispered softly in her ear as she slumbered there. That was the only nursery rhyme that he could remember at the moment, and for some reason he found it to be somewhat fitting.

Shifting himself to untangle his arms from her warm body, Angelus slinked away from Buffy, leaving her to rest in their bed. He slid across his silken sheets to begin his search for his missing clothing and found them, lying on the ground in a messy heap mixed with hers.

Angelus poured into his tight leather pants and slinked across the room to yet again sit on the bed next to her. His eyes could not keep off of the golden goddess that lay on his bed with her hair spread around her beautiful face like a glowing halo. Her eyes remained firmly shut as he reached out and tenderly removed one of her wayward strands of hair that covered her pale face and placed it gently behind one of her perfect ears.

Moving in closer to her peaceful face, he leaned in to whisper in her ear yet one more time. “Don’t miss me while I am gone.” Looking at her face one more time, he turned away from her, and briskly walked out of his bedroom to catch one last meal before the sun would rise.

~ ~ ~

When Buffy finally opened her eyes, she was oddly embraced by the dark colors that permeated through the room even though she knew that it was light outside. The black blinds across the windows were glowing a hazy shade gray as she moved slightly in the bed to stretch out the sore muscles in her body that seemed to be screaming her name.

Through her movements in trying to entangle herself from the binding sheets, she noticed the absence of her lover next to her. The bed seemed strangely cold without his presence even though through the night, he had radiated no heat to warm the silken material that clothed the bed.

Buffy felt so alone in this strange room without Angelus being there to hold her in his arms as he did last night after their feverish lovemaking. Abruptly sitting up to look around the room, she still saw no sign that he was there and quickly she got up from the bed with a sheet firmly covering her nakedness while she searched for her torn clothing that she had worn.

Picking up her destroyed shirt off the ground, a small smile spread across her face. “Now how in God’s green earth am I going to explain this to my mother, we just bought this last week,” she chuckled to herself as she moved towards the closet in the middle of the room to search for a shirt that she could borrow for the time being.

Searching through the shallow closet, Buffy was able to find a deep burgundy shirt that she could drape across her narrow shoulders just until she could get home and put on some of her own clothes. Drawing the velvety shirt over her head, she breathed in deeply the scent of him that still clung to its fabric. Smelling him on her skin, a tear began to flow down her milky white cheek as she thought of how he had left her in the middle of the night. She felt a faint twinge in her heart with the knowledge that she gave something of herself to him last night but he wasn’t there in the morning to greet her as she woke.

‘I would have made it worth his while if he would have stayed in the morning,’ she thought to herself as sinister thoughts began to replace her depressive ones. ‘But two can play at that game.’

Quickly sprinting out of the room, Buffy searched frantically throughout the large mansion for a simple piece of paper and a pen to leave Angelus a little note whenever he would come back. Buffy succeeded in her quest and quickly she scribbled down a little message and placed it on the pillow where her head rested last night.

“I will see you soon,” she whispered aloud, not reading from the card, as she turned and walked away to make her journey back to her house where she would call on the troops to tell them what had happened to her last night.

~ ~ ~

Walking into her house five minutes later, Buffy was grateful to find that her mother wasn’t at home at the moment. Quickly she picked up the phone and dialed Willow’s.

“Hello?” a soft voice asked on the other line.

“Tara, is Willow there,” Buffy asked with urgency in her voice.

“Sure, let me get her,” she said and turned the phone towards her lover. “It’s for you, it’s Buffy.”

“Hey Buffy,” Willow said groggily into the other end.

“Wills, could you get Cordelia and Anya, tell them that they need to get over here as soon as they can,” Buffy said.

“Sure, is something wrong?” Willow asked hearing the tone of her friend’s voice and not knowing if it was excitement or nervousness that she was speaking with.

“No, nothing is wrong,” Buffy answered quickly. “I just need to talk to you guys.”

“Sure,” Willow said as she shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh, and Willow, could you bring anything that you know about Angelus with you when you come?”

“No problem, I will get the rest of the girls and we will be over soon.”

“Thanks Will,” Buffy said as she placed the phone down on the receiver. Her body could barely hold still because the excitement that she felt and the patience factor of her waiting was really grating on her nerves.

~ ~ ~

Opening up the front door to greet the mostly smiling faces of her friends, Buffy escorted them through the doors towards her living room

“Buffy, what is going on?” Cordelia was the first to ask. “Do the Scooby meetings always have to be this early in the morning?”

“It is one o’clock in the afternoon,” Anya jabbed.

“I don’t know about you guys, but that is pretty darn early for me. Two is normally my wake-up call” Cordy admitted then quickly changed the subject back to her previous question. “No really, what’s the dire and why are you glowing… Oh,” an epiphany just hit her. “Did you find one?”

Nodding her head in agreement, Buffy’s eyes got wide with anticipation of what she may have created last night.

“Who was it?” Cordelia asked with a slight sparkle in her eye over her friend’s admittance.

“Do you remember the guy that I danced with at the Bronze a couple of days ago?” Buffy asked the group that sat in her living room.

“Angelus?” Tara said finally joining the conversation.

“The beautiful hunk of a vampire that had the body of a Greek god,” Cordy’s eyes got wide with anticipation.

“One and the same,” Buffy answered abruptly.

“Was it good?” Anya asked stoically. “Because I can almost guarantee that sex with Xander is better.”

“I find that really, really hard to believe,” Cordy zinged the ex-demon back.

Buffy turned her attention to her red haired friend and asked, “So did you find anything on Angelus?”

“Actually quite a lot,” Willow said while she shifted through the notebook on her lap that held all the information that she had discovered about the mysterious vampire that had probably just stolen her best friend’s heart. “Angelus – Sired in 1753 by the vampire Darla. You remember Darla, don’t you?”

“I remember her,” Cordelia quickly answered. “Wasn’t she that skanky blonde freak of a vampire that you killed when you first came to Sunnydale?”

“Yep, that’d be her,” Willow retorted abruptly. “After 1753, he quickly migrated from Ireland into Europe where he would come to have the reputation of being ‘The Scourge of Europe.’ He loves to drive his victims insane first by attacking their loved ones and he has a funky fetish of nailing his victim’s dogs to walls with blunt nails.”

“Remind me not to get a puppy,” Anya asked.

Continuing on with her description of him, “He came to America about 100 years ago after decimating entire towns of people where he would live in all the major cities. His movements were documented by the FBI, had to break into their database to find that tidbit of information so if anyone comes to your door asking about this, just remember you know nothing, you see nothing.”

“Sounds like a classy guy,” Anya sarcastically said.

“I will keep on looking for more stuff, if you want me too?” Willow directed her question to Buffy.

“Thanks, Will, but I think that would be enough,” Buffy shook her head.

“So, you think you are pregnant yet?” Tara said faintly.

“I’m not sure,” Buffy admitted honestly. “It is a little too early to tell at the moment.”

“But you know what they say… ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” Cordelia retorted. “And from the expression on your face, Buffy. I don’t think that would be a problem.”

“Oh, I have to do that again, it was terrible. I don’t know if I can do that again,” Buffy responded sarcastically as a smirk came across her face.

Part XIV

The faint patter of feet above him forced Spike to release himself from his drunken stupor and his entrancement of “Passions.” For the past couple of days, Angelus had him holed up in the basement doing absolutely nothing, just waiting for instructions of what he can and cannot do from his sire. He was getting antsy and wanted release from his imprisonment.

Focusing again on the sound above him, Spike sang, “Someone’s in the mansion.” He promptly removed himself from his designated spot on the floor to investigate the noises. Stealthily he climbed the basement stairs, only to slightly open up the basement door to catch the glimpse of a rush of golden hair streaming along with the body of none other than – the SLAYER.

Spike was barely able to suppress the harsh growl that was forcing itself to be noticed as he crept out from behind the door to follow her in the shadows. ‘That bitch!! I am going to kill her one of these days,’ he thought to himself as the memories of his once great glory days with Drusilla by his side were frequently smashed by the petite nothing.

Buffy was so close to him, all he needed to do was reach out and snap her neck like a twig… So what was stopping him? Spike permanently kept a distance between him and his eternal foe as she frantically searched this abandoned mansion in search of what looked like, paper? “What the bloody hell is blondey doing?” he whispered to himself as his eyes fixed themselves on Buffy as she now was exiting Angelus’ room and out of the mansion.

He did not follow her out towards the door; he only slithered his way into the bedroom that she had previously exited. Stepping through Angelus’ door, the stench of arousal and blood besieged his senses and suddenly the tightness of his pants felt like it would cut off the circulation to his legs, if he had circulation.

Sauntering over to the bed, the smell of the slayer increased tenfold along with the overpowering stench of his sire. Both mixed together in intoxicating amounts as he lightly ran over the silken sheets with cold fingertips, warmed by the heat that she had just left on the bed.

Leaning down at the head of the bed to retrieve the note that she had left for his wayward sire, Spike read what was written with her perfect penmanship. A sinister snicker flowed from his mouth as he finished reading.

“What’s so funny?” a voice boomed from behind him.

“Angelus!” Spike exclaimed as he came face to face with his angered sire. “Didn’t hear you come in.”

“I don’t believe that I need to make my presence known when I am walking into my own bedroom. Now the question of the day is, why the hell are you in here?” Angelus responded in his unique icy anger.

“Just having a stroll around the house when I randomly found myself in here. It must be something in the air,” Spike answered with his voice dripping in this strong English accent.

“Where is she?” Angelus stomped towards the younger vampire.

Playing naïve, “Where is who?”

Angelus promptly wrapped his strong hand around Spike’s throat and slowly increased the pressure he exerted on his neck. “I am not going to ask you again.”

“The blonde bitch left about five minutes ago. Left in kind of a hurry, seemed like she was a little unsatisfied with something,” Spike’s muffled cry barely came out of his strangled throat. “Read the note that she left you, maybe that would clear up a few bloody things.”

Immediately releasing Spike from his death grip, Angelus moved toward the note that lay on his pillow. The erotic smell of her permeated through that thin sheet of paper as he brought it closer to his face to read what she had written to him. While reading, anger flowed across his normally stoic features of his face and Spike could no longer suppress his laughter at he stared at the expression on his sire’s face.

“Did you like that, mate?” Spike laughed aloud.

Not paying attention to his childe’s outburst, Angelus concentrated on the paper that he held in his hand. Over and over again he read what she had written. ‘I’ve had better, see you around.’ No one had ever, ever said that to him and his intrigue of her increased more than the thrall that she had over him. She was strong and knew it.

Angelus had never embraced human emotions in all his years of being a demon but he couldn’t help but to feel something for the woman that he enjoyed so much to fuck into oblivion. The way that her warm flesh pulsated against his cold felt so right and so good, it made his entire long years with Darla seem inadequate. If he were human, Angelus thought that he would be saddened by her words but the demon in him overpowered his body and he became enraged. Throwing the paper down towards the floor, his body teemed in insanity wanting to find her and show her how much her words were wrong.

“Didn’t think the slayer had it in her to do that,” Spike still laughed. “What’s brewing in your mind, Peaches?? What are you going to do about this?”

Angelus threw a hard punch straight into one of Spike’s chiseled cheekbones, knocking him clear across the room and slam against the opposite wall. “We will just have to see about this,” he hissed as he walked out the room.

Spike saw the anger that was painted on his sire’s face. He knew that anger was not just the demon that was screaming but also the human portion of him that was angered by her cruelty. Angelus would never show that and Spike knew it. ‘She must have been a really good fuck,’ he thought to himself as his sire stormed out of the room. “I think I may have to try this for myself,” he said aloud as a smirk spread across his countenance.

~ ~ ~

“So are we still Bronzing tonight?” Willow asked as she continued to look down at her notes of Angelus in front of her.

“Why would we go now? It seems to me that Buffy has already chosen someone, there is no purpose in us going,” Anya responded bluntly.

“I say we still go. I don’t know about you guys, but I enjoyed our little judging session and no even though we don’t have to chose anyone anymore, we get to have a little fun with the members of the undead before they meet their dusty end at the point of a stake,” Buffy admitted.

“I’d have to agree with Buffy on this one,” Cordelia stated. “That was fun. I miss my ancient pastime of considering people are open for public mockery for their horrid fashion sense.”

“Also, we might find someone better than Angelus, you never know,” Tara said meekly.

“I think that is highly doubtful,” Cordelia quickly shot. “That boy was too fine for his own good. And hey, he might show up there tonight and Buffy may have another session of one-on-one with the infamous stud muffin.”

Buffy’s eyes couldn’t conceal the hope that she felt when the thought of seeing Angelus again crept into her mind. Something down in her gut was telling her that he was coming for her tonight as a smile spread from ear to ear.

“Can I bring Doyle?” Cordelia asked suddenly. “I want to show him our old hangout place.”

“Ooooh, can I bring Xander?” Anya added.

“Don’t see why not as long as long as we keep what we are doing a secret from Xander. He is not known for holding his tongue when it seems important to and he might get us in trouble,” Buffy warned the group then glanced down at her watch to read the time. “Oh, I have to check up with Giles still today, so I had better go.”

“Sure,” Willow said as she and Tara stood up to walk out Buffy’s front door. “What time are we going tonight?”

“I would say around nine-ish,” Buffy said off the top of her head.

“That works for me,” Anya admitted quickly. “That gives me and Xander some extra alone time for some fun activities.”

Everyone ignored Anya’s statement as they walked out of Buffy’s house. As soon as she locked the front door, Buffy started walking in the direction of her watcher’s shop.

~ ~ ~

Walking into the shop that was closed today, Buffy was confronted by the odd silence that clung everywhere and the fact that Giles wasn’t right behind the counter to greet her as the bell sounded when she opened up the front door.

“Giles?” Buffy called quietly while walking around the Magic Box. Suddenly she hears his voice coming from the back room where she trained and she made her way there. Placing her palm on the partially opened doorway, Buffy was abruptly stopped by the sound of Giles’ voice as he talked to someone on the phone.

“No, Buffy has assured me that nothing of importance is happening on the Hellmouth… Yes, I understand the importance of her role to play in the coming future… That is impossible, I have concealed all the information from her. She has no knowledge of that… Don’t worry, I keep her closely monitored and I find it exceptionally hard to believe that she will be willing to be impregnated by a vampire… I understand that, you don’t have to worry. Everything is under my control… Yes Quentin, I will keep the Council informed of the status of the slayer… I know it is my responsibility; you don’t have to remind me every moment… Yes, yes, goodbye Quentin.”

Buffy couldn’t believe her ears at the moment. She knew what he was talking about and the sense of betrayal yet again forced its way into her heart. The man that she had for so long admired as the one father figure in her life, was lying to her. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she watched him through the crack in the door slowly hang up the phone.

Deciding not to reveal her knowledge, Buffy’s gaze straightened as she pushed her way into the training room. “Giles’s, here for my daily checkup.”

“Oh, Buffy,” he quickly turned around in shock to look at his slayer. “I didn’t see you there. Been here long?” he asked with a slight hint of nervousness in his voice.

“Just got here,” she lied. “What’s up for today?”

Giles’ promptly removed his glasses from the bridge of his nose and began to abrasively clean the lenses with his starched white handkerchief. “Anything unusual after you left here last night?”

‘Got jumped by a vampire in the sexual sense,’ she thought but then spoke, “No, nothing out of the usual Hellmouth activities.”

“Well, that’s good,” Giles’ sighed in relief. “How’s the research going at your house?”

“The research?” Buffy asked herself. “Oh yeah, that. Fine, I guess. Lots of big demon-y words, always a thrill to read.”

“I know you don’t like to do all of this, but it is imperative to a slayer to know all that information,” Giles reproached Buffy.

“Understood. Gotta live by the slayer’s handbook,” Buffy responded sarcastically.

“Don’t worry, it will be over soon,” Giles assured.

“Thank God,” Buffy muttered under her breath.

“Are you patrolling tonight?” he quickly asked.

“For a while, then we are going to the Bronze as usual,” Buffy informed her watcher.

“Oh alright, just remember…”

“Yeah, let you know if anything is smelling fishy in the beef market. I get it,” Buffy started to turn away from the older man to walk out the door.

“Are you alright?” Giles asked noticing the coldness that radiated from her body.

“I’m fine, just a little tired. Must have not gotten a lot of sleep last night,” Buffy sighed trying to hide her true emotions.

“You should honestly get some more sleep then. Take tonight off at the Bronze,” he suggested.

“That’s ok, I am fine,” Buffy softly snapped back at him.

“If there is anything else that you need or want to talk about, I am here for you, you know that,” he assured.

“I know that. Thanks, Giles.”

“And I would never lie to you,” he added right before she exited the shop.

“I beg to differ.”

~~~

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