Taken By the Night
Part Twelve

Shortly after Buffy and Angelus renewed their link, he became a vampire again. It had happened as the Oracles had said--right around midnight. The Mohras had finished their annual reunion and gone back to their salty homes around the world. Doyle and Cordelia had gone to their honeymoon in Venice, Italy. And people in W&H had gone back to their routines. Sunnydale had survived another threat and Faith had found an ally in Riley Finn and help in the Initiative. Life had gone by for several weeks without our careful regard. people had changed, loyalties had been turned, right behind the eyes of our heroes and into the faithful predictions that marked the end of the beginning. Thus the twin flames of our slayers had begun to flicker…

December 12th, Sunnydale-Rome

“When are you going to call her?” said Janna as she held Logan in her arms. Currently speaking they had a problem that required more people than just Faith and Giles. She was the slayer and all that, but since she had started seeing Riley Finn she had become absent more and more often. Apparently, the Initiative had lured her into their quarters and decided she was ‘working for them’ rather than the Council.

“Now seems like a good time. Doesn’t it?” Giles had gone patrolling and instead of the regular vampire he had found a demon. One so strong he had had to run away to save himself from it. Which had unavertedly pointed the way to his home. Therefore he was now barricading all his doors and windows to keep them away from his house.

“That crazy slayer is archaic. How on earth could she not have a cellphone? Even I have a cellphone, and I’m not a slayer.” Giles reached for the phone and managed to dial Angelus' private number.

The line rang once, twice, and at the third time he answered.

“I thought we had agreed on the fact that this was only for emergencies, Giles.” Angelus had been in Rome. He had flown there for the Master’s council. Buffy had been giving a speech at that same moment.

“I know, but I’m in serious trouble. I need help right now! Or we are all going to die!” Angelus rose from his chair and walked down to the exit door. Many of the attendants noticed him walking out of his mate’s introduction, but Buffy kept on talking, raising her voice and taking off her jacket to show her top and heightened breasts to the audience, so they wouldn’t speculate about her mate.

“I’m going to send you Oz and a team of rescue, but you must never call me again in public. If anybody realized about my methods they could kill both Buffy and I …and you!” Giles was listening intently while the mad demons tried to tear his home apart.

“I shan’t master, but please give us a hand and I will repay you anyway you want me to.” Angelus thought about Buffy’s predicament and managed to make a quick dash out of the situation.

“Keep working on the Aurelia’s manuscript, and we’ll see later how you could repay me your debts.” He sounded treacherous to the extreme, and he probably meant to overcharge Giles in an unimaginable way. We could hardly envision the things Angelus would want from the Ripper.

“Thank you!” He hung up and walked inside the conference room. Buffy was still talking and to his surprise they were all listening, and most assuredly they were ogling her scarlet top and ruby necklace and perfect breasts. Perhaps most of them were wondering why Angelus had brought her there, and worse even given her voice.

Some of them knew she had been a slayer, and she was still a slayer nowadays. Most of them feared her powers, few of them could avoid lusting for her, but something Angelus was sure of was that all of them wonder why she had remained human all the way.

He had the answer to that question, and it puzzled him too. It had been the will of the universe for her to become human again but what worried him was the purpose. He was awed of the pulse beating strong and constant in her neck and he was sure others had noticed it too. But the situation was too volatile to let his guard down and just gaze at her. He had to stay focused, at least until the conference would end.

“Let’s recapitulate, Sires. Humans throughout time had managed to kill themselves fairly easily without our help. Wars, sicknesses, crime, and more lately pollution, had decimated them from their cores."

"And we have been blamed. We did not help them when these things happen. Neither did we rush them into this. It was simply not our responsibility."

"But now their callous actions had reached us. Now they have decided to turn their evil governments into destroying us. Their sicknesses and machines into killing us. Their stupidity is beyond limit, Sires. And we cannot turn our backs and walk away--since this is our world too."

"Yes, I must accept that humans are evil, as mean and heartless as they come. They are also filthy and contaminating. They kill their kind and destroy their habitat, kill their babies and kneel to the God of Annihilation and Prejudice. They simply cannot live in peace. So you wonder why must we stop them from destroying all there is? Plainly, because we are a part of all that gray area they cannot distinguish. They denied our existence because their minds were as closed as their hearts to the idea of diversity.

And we…we are simply here, whether they wanted us or not. So…I must ask you, as one of your own—in both army and kind—to stop them, not for the Powers that Be, not for the First, not even for the themselves, but for us."

"For the children of the night and their offspring, may we live to see the day when humans learn to live in peace…as we have learn to do.”

Angelus didn’t have to say a word about the fear coming through him. He saw it on the vampires in that room. They had fallen into her web gracefully. Many of them had clapped their hands, and even the most reluctant ones had taken her speech to heart.

Suddenly he was very much worried for his mate. Most of her speech had seem rather hypocrital coming from a human, and slayer for that matter, but in truth they were in a big danger with the whole Initiative/Big Apocalypse coming. The worries that seemed inexistent previously had now reached the biggest sphere of vampires on earth.

And Buffy was preaching in the very heart of it. Angelus thought fear didn’t quite grasp it, terror or panic were more likely, but they were together and hiding her would have only arouse suspicion and gossip and they didn’t need that. They craved respect and support and his mate was wining them from the inside.

+++

“So what was it Giles wanted?” Angelus took a sip of his Merlot and considered telling Buffy. She looked truly ravishing in that red top.

“Rome suits you, lover. You look like you are blooming.” The blonde took another spoonful of her pasta and the cellphone rang once again.

“Hello, Giles. Como stai? Tutto bene? I supposed you are out of danger already?” Buffy managed to swallow before the situation Giles spoke of registered into her brain.

“You want me to what?” Angelus rose and took the phone from Buffy’s hand. He appeared rather angry at the Watcher’s suggestion.

“That is not an emergency, Giles. I do not care about the problems you might be having with Faith, and I am not going to send you my mate over just because your slayer and her stupid British-good-for-nothing Watcher have gone missing. Good bye!” He slammed the phone against the floor with his boot and pulled Buffy out of her seat roughly before leaving the restaurant.

“I haven’t finished! …I was eating that!” Doyle and Cordelia who were sitting a few tables away caught up with them and followed suit after the raging vampire.

“I can’t believe his nerve! I’m not his bloody savior! I couldn’t care less about the bitch and her watcher! After all we are doing to get rid of the Initiative. They should lay of our backs just for that! Help me with this, help me with that, do me this shit and I’ll do that. I am sick of it! To hell with all of them!” Several innocent customers and pedestrians were savagely pushed out of his way as he vociferated his way into the limousine that awaited in the lobby of the restaurant.

“Sire, I think we should…” Buffy was about to say ‘calm down’ but he snarled at her thoughts and showed her his teeth.

“You should keep quiet and walk faster. I have a mind for bloodplay now and it could not hold on for long.” Cordelia who was walking behind Buffy whispered something to Doyle about a ‘dangerous situation’ and Buffy immediately turned her ear into it.

“Adam is getting more followers and our sources tell a frightening forecast if we don’t stop him.” Doyle remained quiet for a long time, and Buffy thought he didn’t believe Cordelia’s sources, but he just didn’t want to talk in front of Angelus.

“We should ask Lorne. He would be able to tell us if this is so, and how we could stop him. We really mustn’t linger too long, not with the other slayer gone. God only knows what the Council has in mind about the chosen ones,” said Cordelia. Immediately after hearing this, Buffy decided she had to go to Sunnyhell once again. She wouldn’t let her hometown perish beneath the hands of the Council of Whoever it was that had kidnapped Faith and Wesley.

“What you could do, Cordy, is shut your mouth!” Angelus didn’t have to say another word before Doyle pushed her out of his friend’s way.

“Come, Buffy and Angelus need to be left alone. I’ll see you at the Colliseum, Master.” Doyle took his wife by the hand and got inside a taxi before Angelus could vent his anger on them.

“Let’s go to our room. I need some rest.” Buffy did her best to woo him into her arms but her Sire was angry and it would take a while before he could let down his frustration.

“I won’t let you go, no matter what. Not now and not with Faith gone rogue and the Council getting creative. There’s too much risk, and you are not expendable, you understand that?” Buffy nodded as they walked to their suite but she knew in her heart she would have to go home sooner or later.

+++

“Nice to see you again, cupcake. You look very well, all sunshine and flowers. What brings you here?” Lorne had been very cordial to the Slayer until he noticed Angelus walking after her.

“Your fine gift of conversation, my green friend,” said angelus in a most cynical manner. The vampire Master who looked more grim than usual walked straight by the bar and poured himself a glass of blood and a shot of scotch.

“We gotta go to Sunnyhell and we want forecast and … you better make it pronto Angelus looks like it’s about to drink that whole tank of O+” said Buffy from the outside of the bar.

“Jeez, he’s acting very American psycho. I guess he was starved. Anyway, you two don’t need singing. You are giving out so high I’m considering sending you to American Idol!” Neither one of them laughed at his joke and he just proceeded to get himself a sea breeze.

“We really are in a hurry, Lorny dear.” He shrugged and finally just proceeded to the future reading.

“Fine, here it is. They are saying…‘expect the unexpected’…just that.” Inside the bar there were other demons singing and most clients were happily drowning their sorrows in alcohol, but they turned around their heads at the sound of Buffy’s pitched voice.

“You kidding me?! They are so cryptic! It’s like the Chinese cookies, ‘you will do well in life’ what the hell does that mean?! …Anyway, we have to get going. Little miss has miles to go and lots places to see before we can sleep.”

“Good luck with that then.” Having finished his drink, Angelus extracted an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Lorne.

“I forgot, I brought you something from Italy. I hope you like it.” Lorne opened the envelope and inside there was a round-trip ticket to Sicily and a room key plus a thousand euros and a fake passport.

“Well thank you! This means I get to take a vacation?” Angelus smiled. He hadn’t smiled in several days and Buffy felt caught up in the unexpected surprise.

“This means California is going to be a war zone for a few weeks and we want you away. We’ll make it but the rest probably won’t. So, get to a safe place and stay there until further notice, my friend.” Lorne smiled too. Even though the situation was admittedly dire, they were unperturbed. Apparently they had it all under control.

“Sure thing. Thank you, cupcakes. I’ll get going too then. Be careful. Your life is worth more than you think. And you, little missy, must be extra careful. We want no harm coming your way.” Angelus wrapped his arm around Buffy’s waist and drew her into his embrace.

“I know. We’ll take care of each other.” Buffy and Angelus walked as the green demon got packing with a smile on his face.

+++
December 18th, Sunnydale, CA

“I didn’t expect you to come too.” Angelus had decided to take his whole posse, Willow, Oz, Dru, Spike, Cordelia, Doyle and of course Buffy. All of them were sitting in the living room of Ripper. The tension so high you could cut it with a knife.

“Tough, let me just clarify this. We are here only to get rid of the Initiative, and Adam, in that order. While we are here, nor you, nor Faith will try to kill us, harm us or deceive us in any form. Should you break the truce all of you would die slowly and painfully. Are we clear?” Angelus had rose from his chair and deliberately walked to Logan’s crib. The gesture poignant enough for both vampires and humans.

“Perfectly clear, Angelus, but, the same rules apply to us. One of us dies, one of you dies. Are we clear?” Giles walked to the crib and stood right in front of the master.

“Listen, Ripper, I don’t think you are in a position to negotiate with us. Outnumbered, cornered and visibly weak you basically are running on pure symbiosis. We need your ability and when that it’s done we plan on having ‘fun’ with your body so, you may want to refrain from trying your chances.” Sensing the challenge, Spike rose and came nose to nose with Giles.

“Specially with all those innocents at stake.” Drusilla and Willow rose also and they were surrounding in a sinister way around the watcher.

“Children, I think it’s about dinner time. Care to join me? This place is suddenly too gray for my taste.” Angelus lured them into a hunt and they happily followed.

“Smell that, daddy? They reek fear…yummy, very yummy.” Drusilla walked around Janna and leaned in the witch’s shoulder for a second. Sure of the unpredictability of the crazy vampiress, Buffy quickly walked to her and put a hand around her waist.

“Come, darling. We have party flavors specially for you.” The vampiress slaked her tongue out across Janna’s neck and the witch shivered as the cold wet hit her senses.

“I’ll be back soon.” She shivered anew when the cold fathomless gray eyes settled on her. She was sure of the promises in her voice and for a second she hadn’t been able to move away from the brunette vampiress. She had immediately realized what ‘mesmerized’ meant.

“Giles, I think I’d like to take Logan to visit my mother.” Considering Janna’s mother lived in Rumania that meant she wanted to get as far from Sunnydale as she could.

“That sounds like a good idea. I’ll help you pack.”

+++

After a while Buffy returned alone, having left the vampires alone to their feeding games. Giles promptly urged her to come inside and discuss the situation approaching.

“I finished a section of the translation and I thought it was important to tell you about it.” Buffy sat down comfortably in the plush sofa and sipped a tall glass of hot chocolate.

“It is. I’m sorry about what happened earlier. They shouldn’t have come, but I assumed we would have more safety in numbers this way.” Buffy noticed that Giles had come back running from somewhere, and after several minutes she also noticed Janna and Logan had gone away. She thought that had been a very good idea considering the danger looming all them.

“That’s true, risky move but overall intelligent. I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me. Now lets get to business. This is Aurelia’s second revelation."

As the prize of life sometimes got higher than divinity I realize truth was only a side of the world, white and black ceased to be colors and became shades of the flesh. I no longer made a difference of friend and foe and in the heart of hearts I realize I would rather starve than kill the innocent again. Soon with this awareness came peace. I realize if I could live without killing I could find happiness in the bleakness of hell.

After that it continues about her life beyond this revelation but I haven’t translated that yet. What do you think?” Buffy placed the mug in the coffee table and took a deep breath before answering.

“No biggie. So, she found out a way to keep her conscience at bay. How does that affect me?” Giles made that very British gesture of taking of his glasses to cleanse them with a handkerchief before speaking again.

“Not you, Buffy, your mate. Is he not restless? Is he not angry about everything? Is he not in constant need of violence? Does he not kill every night? Most vampire are just crazy about the kill. It’s called ‘bloodlust’ and the thing Aurelia is telling us is that she found out that if vampires stop killing they will find balance, cease being mad about the kill. That way slayers will no longer have to eliminate them. Don’t you agree that it’s an improvement?”

Buffy agreed but the kill was the heart of the matter for vampires. It was the power of taking someone else’s life that gave them a rush, not the blood itself.

“How did she come to this ‘awareness’?” Buffy was interested but she internally knew it would never happen.

“It doesn’t say. As I said, I haven’t finished the translation.” So much for bursting a bubble.

“Fine then, I guess we will hold that piece of advice for a while. By the way, have you talked to mom?” Buffy thought taking the conversation to a safer topic would remove the heat, but it just made Giles worried about his slayer. He thought she looked pale and out of shape, as if she was stressed out about something else that wasn’t of his knowledge.

“No, not really. Why don’t you pay her a visit?” Buffy took another sip of her hot chocolate and the breath seemed suddenly knocked out of her.

“I will, first thing tomorrow. Need to go now. Thanks for the info.” Without further explanations, Buffy just left Giles speaking alone, the bond making her rush out to find her mate.

+++

“You shouldn’t have come. You’re tense and tired.” Angelus and Buffy had decided to take a room in his old mansion. They would need their rest before the long day ahead of them.

“That makes no sense. It’s my hometown, and my ex watcher, and my family who are in danger. I had to come. Besides I had to visit mom and my godchild…isn’t he just cute?” The master massaged his mate’s back as they soaked together in the tub. The water was sizzling and the mist had covered the mirrors. The slayer was flushed from head to toe from the heat and Angelus had an almost natural complexion.

“We have to be careful. The vamps are restless and they get stupid when they don’t have something to do.” Buffy leaned her head against his shoulder and he took the opportunity to grasp her breasts and soak them up with bubbles of soap and hot water.

Slippery as they both were, Angelus pushed his right hand towards her navel an she laughed as the tickles made her squirm.

“I know we will solve this very soon. We just need to find an the location and …get into action.” Buffy’s giggles worked to make him even more aroused and he promptly delved beneath the water to fondle her clit.

“You need to find your bed soon. You’re practically sleepwalking.” Buffy moaned and sighed loudly as he made circles around her pleasure spot, her heart speeding up as the impeding orgasm lured her.

“Maybe you could help me.” The slayer snaked her tongue into the vampire’s ear and he purred in pleasure. As he pushed two fingers inside her, she rubbed her ass against his upturned penis, feeling it jolt with each hard breath she took.

“Maybe I would…come now, Buff.” She used her small hand to grab his manhood and roughly caressed him until he was ready to explode.

With just a little bit of conscience left, she let her head fall against his shoulder as he bit down and she collapsed in wave after wave of powerful orgasm, Angelus falling right along with her into the decadent pleasure.

Feeling almost boneless after the earthquake, the lovers pushed each other into bed before falling on top of silken covers and promptly reengaging the previous action.

+++

“I’m sorry it took me so long to come.” The dawn had come earlier that day for the slayer and right after she had had her breakfast she had came face to face with her fears.

“Don’t worry, Baby. A mother knows no such thing as a timeframe.” Buffy hugged her mother that morning with a dire sense of karma. It was as if she would never see her again after that day.

“I brought you a present. It’s really nothing but I thought you’d like it.” As she stepped into her old home, the memory train took over her. She saw herself as a child and all the things that had happened in the past. The steps she had yet to take seemed more difficult with each breath she took in that house of pain and Joyce.

“I would love anything that comes from you. Please sit down and tell me all about your new life. I heard you married a powerful man, by the way, would you like something to drink?” Buffy said no with her head as she removed her jacket and sat down in her old couch. She realized then it was lumpy and splotchy, but it still brought her memories of staying late studying or just watching tv with Willow.

“He is very powerful. His name is Liam O’Quinn, but everybody calls him Angelus. He’s very good-looking. He’s Irish and we live in west LA. He has a company called Wolfram and Heart…I work there too, you know.” Buffy was sorry she had never fully explain the reality to her mother, but she feared that giving into it would only cause her more pain, and living in her perennial denial seemed much more merciful to her.

“Are you happy then, Buffy?”

Buffy thought it was a tricky question, but it wasn’t. Her mother only meant to ask innocently how she was truly doing, but Buffy sighed before publicly acknowledging happiness did not exist. That it was just a word to describe the state brought by chocolates and multiple orgasms.

“Yes, I’m very happy. We have lots of friends—Cordelia and Harmony work there too—Willow is my assistant and Cordelia is the Head of Protocol. Her husband is the Head of Security. We all live in the same building…like one big happy family.” One twisted, dysfunctional family brought together by evil and money. I work with the worst combination of demons and power hungry people in the world, thought buffy.

“It sounds great, dear. When are you planning to invite me there? I’d like to see your office and meet all your new friends.” How naïve of Mom, thought Buffy. Joyce hadn’t yet accepted her daughter was something tainted and otherworldly. Logically, to her, Buffy was just her daughter. The Slayer was afraid the blinds would never truly come off her eyes.

“Someday—now tell me all about your life—you look like you dropped at least ten pounds.” Once again heading a conversation out of the fire, Buffy reached for a change of heart that she knew would never come.

“It’s all very dull…except doctors told me I have to get a little procedure done, nothing of importance, but I wish you could be there with me.” Both mother and daughter sized each other up before coming to the point where true honesty was required.

“What kind of procedure?” Buffy’s heart sped up on the thought of mortality and specially of her future life without her mother.

“Just minor surgery, they say I have a very small brain tumor—benign of course—but they would like to get it out.” Buffy’s heart skipped a beat and the bile rose in her throat to remind her of her own mortality.

“A brain tumor! And you haven’t said a word about this to me?! Mom this is serious! When were you planning on telling me?” Furious and irritated, Buffy smashed her fist against the pillow beside her before roughly grabbing her mother by the shoulders.

“Soon! You know I never see you! I was just waiting for the right time…don’t be angry, it’s just for safety!” Buffy let go of her mother because she had started crying and she just couldn’t handle that level of emotionality right then and there.

“I’m going to talk to this doctor of yours and then I’m going to find you a better one. If you are sick, we’ll get you help!” After the wave of nausea wore off from her system, Buffy sat down again and clasped her mother hands with her to inspire Joyce some safety. After all, Buffy did have a lot of power through Angelus.

“Thank you dear. That’s not necessary. Just be here on the 28th of December. I’ll have the surgery then.” Still locked in denial, Buffy could not accept the idea of her mother having a brain tumor.

“Ten days, ten days away and you hadn’t said a thing! Good this is…I have no words to describe this, …I’ll be there, yes, Mom I’ll be there alright. And you better do well, you better.”

Joyce had faith in her doctors. She trusted she would live to see a better place, perhaps even a grandchild, or even a new husband. Death was simply not a contemplation in her mind.

“Thank you, baby. I knew I could count on you.” Responsibility had reached Buffy’s heart and she had promised herself and her mother she would not let her mother down. No matter what.

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