Chapter 35: Promise to a Slayer
Angel had been brooding all morning and most of the afternoon – he could admit that, to himself at least – when he decided to go back to Sunnydale. Things were quiet in LA again, which left him too much time to think, and to worry.
It had been a few very difficult days for Angel, and even worst nights. Often, too often, he would reach to his neck and touch the healed scars there. Payback, he could have called it, if he had been able to find any humor in it. He had graced Buffy’s skin with a similar mark. She had returned the favor. But while he had been too far gone to realize that he was so close to killing her, Buffy had known exactly what she was doing, what she wanted to do. What some part of him wanted, too, even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself.
Oh, he didn’t want to be Angelus, no doubt there. He didn’t miss the hunt, the blood, the demon or its strength. No, he needed none of that. But that wasn’t all she had offered. She had offered a family. One that would last forever, or as close to forever as it came. She had offered freedom. Freedom from too many constraints, too many duties, too many responsibilities. But above all, in exchange for his humanity and his soul, she had offered love. And not only hers.
It had taken him a long time, too long, to start getting used to her being a vamp. And he doubted he would ever be able to get used to her soulless state if it endured. But if he had been himself soulless, he wouldn’t have cared. Wouldn’t have cared about much at all, actually. Which was just why he couldn’t even let himself think of giving in.
“Dad? Driving the car off the road isn’t going to make us arrive in Sunnyhell any sooner, you know?”
And this was another reason he would remain human.
As he slowed down a little, he gave an apologetic glance to his son in the rearview mirror, and received a tight smile in return. It was still a shock every time he realized he did have a reflection, and he didn’t know whether he would get used to it ever again.
Steven had calmed down from his initial shock and rage, mostly thanks to the promise Dawn had extorted from him that he wouldn’t hurt Buffy – at least, not unless he was in immediate danger and didn’t have any other choice. What Dawn herself thought of her sister’s state was a mystery to Angel, and he certainly wasn’t going to ask, he knew her enough to know he wouldn’t get an answer. Both teens had insisted on coming along when he had decided that, whatever Buffy had said, he just had to go to Sunnydale. Even if he had no way to find Spike, he felt like he had to be there. Because Spike was his Childe. Because Buffy, even if she had come too close for comfort to draining him, was his Grandchilde. He wasn’t a vampire anymore, that didn’t mean he had to abandon his vampire family. He had made that mistake once, and didn’t plan on making it again. Not being able to do anything was driving him crazy, just as was Cordelia’s lack of reply to his calls for help, but at least he would be close if his help was needed.
It was the end of the afternoon when at last they passed by the sign at the limit of the town, and Angel continued straight toward the Magic Box. First, he wanted to talk to the Scoobies, or Giles, and see how things had evolved. As he entered the shop with the two teens, he found an almost complete Scooby Gang there. Almost complete, because the two resident vampires were absent. His throat tightened as he took in the somber looks everyone gave to the newcomers.
“Are they alright?” he heard Dawn ask, her voice as tense as he himself felt.
“Buffy’s fine,” Giles said with a quiet sigh. “As fine as she can be given the circumstances. We haven’t found Spike yet. You know he disappeared, right?”
Angel replied with a short nod, and asked: “Where is Buffy?”
The answer deeply surprised him. He had expected to hear she was chained up somewhere, courtesy of the Council, but instead he was told that she was home. By herself. Without anyone looking over her shoulder to see whether she was draining someone. Not that her chances to do that during the day were very high, but still.
What Giles said next was just as troubling, about an ex-Watcher, and even worse, the former Head Watcher, being the cause of the disappearance of Buffy’s soul. And the last bit was depressingly ironic. Buffy wanting her soul back? Doubtful. Very, very doubtful.
There was more information shared, but Angel wasn’t paying much attention anymore, and he only caught tidbits, just enough to know that before 24 hours the globe in which Buffy’s soul was trapped would be taken from its owner, said owner would be neutralized and presented to a Watchers’ trial, and the globe would be brought to Sunnydale, as well as some books that might help them locate Spike with more powerful spells.
The gang broke up just before nightfall, and Angel drove to Revello Drive, along with Giles, Dawn, and Steven. He had heard that Buffy spent her nights out, with the kid Slayer, looking for Spike, and he had decided to accompany them, whether she liked it or not.
When they arrived at her house, they found the door unlocked. In the living room, the heavy wood chest was open and weapons were scattered around it as if someone had been looking for something in particular. Buffy was already gone.
*****
In the shady alley, Buffy waited, pacing nervously, for Manon to return. Her thoughts kept leaping from subject to subject, but came back, always, to her Sire.
Riley. She felt so stupid for not having thought of him. It was just that he was so… insignificant. Barely worth a second thought. But now that she knew, it was so logical. Hiding his location with a spell was the unexpected thing, it wasn’t something the Initiative would have done. But other than that detail, the method of kidnapping a vampire was all too familiar. Twice they had taken Spike now. And how long had the Initiative actually pursued him before it was dismantled? They just didn’t seem to let go. She would have to show them it wasn’t worth dying for.
The Council. She had an agreement with them, and she might even have tried– tried, sure, but she couldn’t force herself to want something, could she? – to respect it if they had found Spike first. But now it looked like she wouldn’t need their help. Before morning, she would have her Mate with her again, she was just sure of it. And she would get her vengeance too.
Manon. If only the kid had told her sooner… All this time lost because she hadn’t mentioned her dreams! But then, she didn’t know Riley. Buffy could grudgingly admit that she had no way to know who he was until she saw him. And she could also admit that she had dreamed of Spike too, and that he was in pain in her dream also, but she hadn’t seen Riley, just demons. She had chalked up the nightmare to her worry over Spike, and Manon had probably done exactly the same. The kid hadn’t had enough Slayer dreams yet to see the difference. And why in hell was Buffy finding excuses for her? And where was she, anyway? She was taking an awful lot of time to return. Surely, Riley’s hiding hole couldn’t be that far, could it? She had been gone for what felt like hours. She wasn’t stupid enough to try to get Spike back by herself, was she? Buffy ground her teeth at the thought, almost vamping out in discontentment. She wanted to be there when Spike was freed. She had to be there. It was her right and duty. Just as it was to bring punishment to her Sire’s tormentors. And especially Riley.
None too soon, she felt familiar tingles down her spine – the Slayer induced kind, though, and not the ones that announced her Sire. She almost stepped into the sunlight again in her haste to reach the kid sooner. Manon remained in the sun, just out of reach of Buffy, arms crossed in a slightly defensive manner.
“Did you find him?” Buffy asked immediately. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know if I found him, I didn’t get in,” Manon replied with a small headshake. “I followed your ex all the way to a big building by the edge of town. It looks abandoned, but I’ve observed it for a while and I’ve seen six persons come in or out of it.”
So, that was why she had taken so long to return. She had been scouting the terrain. Good girl.
“Let me get some weapons and you can show me the way.”
“Not so quick,” Manon said in a stronger voice than Buffy had ever heard her use so far. “We have something to discuss first.”
“Discuss?” Buffy hissed, coming as close to the edge of the shadows as she dared. “We discuss nothing. They could be hurting him right this minute!”
“And right this minute, the sun will burn you to ashes before you’re even halfway there,” Manon replied evenly. “Will you listen to me?”
Clenching her fists repeatedly, Buffy glared at the girl but did not reply.
“As far as I can tell,” Manon continued calmly, “they are all humans.”
“What’s your point?” Buffy demanded, her annoyance turning slowly to anger.
“You have to promise not to kill anyone.”
Buffy’s eyes widened in surprise, and by the half step Manon took back, she knew they had to be gold by now. It was all she could do not to vamp out in the middle of the alley, where any passerby could see her.
“That’s a joke, right?” she growled, very low. “It has to be a bloody joke.”
She saw Manon swallow with difficulty, and suddenly the kid didn’t seem too sure of herself anymore. And yet, she persisted.
“It’s not a joke. I can’t let you kill people right in front of me. I won’t let you do it.”
Buffy laughed, a dry, cruel laugh, that echoed in the alley.
“And you will stop me how?” she asked, mocking.
“I’ll just go without you,” Manon said, her voice getting some of its firmness back. “I’ll get Giles and Andrea and the Scoobies and Chloe even and we will go now while you can’t follow us. It will be over before the sun sets, and you won’t have been there to help him.”
Buffy was fuming. The kid dared blackmail her! Over the lives of some pathetic humans!
“They are hurting Spike,” she said, reigning in her ire. “You said it yourself. They deserve…”
“Whatever they deserve”, Manon interrupted her, “I can’t just watch you kill and do nothing. I can’t, Buffy.”
“Even for Spike?”
There was some hesitation in the girl’s eyes, just a little light of doubt, and Buffy started to think she had found the way to convince her, until she shook her head, her gaze dropping to the ground, and whispered:
“Even for him. I can’t.”
Buffy could have screamed in rage and frustration, but she managed to contain herself. Now was not the time. She considered the Slayer for a while, the key to finding her Mate.
“Alright,” she said coldly. “I won’t kill anyone.”
The girl’s eyes were back up, a small smile slowly tugging at her lips. “Promise?”
Buffy rolled her eyes at her. “Promised. Satisfied? Can we go now?”
“We still need to wait for sunset,” Manon said with a nod. “I don’t know how to get there through the sewers.”
“Let’s go home and grab some weapons,” Buffy said, more an order than a suggestion. At Manon’s frown, she added: “Non lethal weapons. We don’t know how many people will be in there. We’ll have to neutralize them at least temporarily until we can free Spike.”
A very weird look, almost scared, passed through the Slayer’s face. “What if he’s not there?” she asked softly, and a small shudder ran through her.
The legitimate question renewed in Buffy a fear she had tried to destroy, the fear that she would never find Spike and would only search fruitlessly, alone, with the knowledge that he was alive but out of her reach.
“If he’s not there,” she said as strongly as she could, “Riley will know where he is. He is alive. And I will find him.”
They separated, Manon going to Revello through the streets, Buffy through the sewers. She would find him, Buffy kept repeating to herself on the way. She would, and as soon as she did, Riley and whoever else had hurt her lover was going to pay dearly. The Slayer had made her promise, but who was naïve enough to believe the word of a soulless vampire?