DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from Buffy
the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon and the WB own all rights. And get to reap all the
benefits, lucky stiffs.
The Gift
PART 1
by bec
Prologue
The woman huddled in the far corner of the dark and damp room. It looked exactly like what it was: a dungeon. She had been here for forever, at least that is what it felt like. She shifted slowly, the chains rattling as she moved. At full strength she could have snapped those chains like toothpicks, but he kept her weak. He wanted her that way; weak, so she couldn’t escape. In the beginning-- what was it; four or five years ago? -- she had tried everything to fight him but as the weeks, then months went on, she stopped trying. When the months turned into years, she gave up. She didn’t care anymore. She just wanted to die. But he wouldn’t let her, he kept her alive. He would even force her to feed. She attempted to fight that too. But he won, he always won. She had stopped trying to defy him along time ago. It didn’t get her anywhere. Her mind wandered as she lay there, the thoughts came like they always did, she couldn’t even control her own mind anymore. The memories came flooding back, memories of when she first "became" what she was. What a joke she was, a vampire whose human half was stronger than her demon, she sneered. They had kept it hidden for a long time, kept it from the other vampires they ran with, but William knew he couldn’t keep it a secret for long, he knew that the others would figure it out. And the others would kill her and enjoy it if they ever found out. She laughed bitterly; overwhelmed with her own weakness. She wished the others had killed her. Anything would be better than this . . .
The door opened slowly, and a shadow fell across her body as she lay on the floor. She knew what was coming and was not able to stop it. He stepped into the room and stood over her. He grinned; a grin that enhanced his beauty. When she had first met Darius more than 65 years ago, she had actually thought he was handsome. He looked like a Greek statue. He had a strong square jaw; dark eyes you could sink into, long black hair that flowed over his shoulders. However she soon learned that the old human saying "you can’t judge a book by its cover" was made just for him. He was draped in evil; he was evil given flesh. She didn’t even like being in the same room with him back then, but William liked being around Darius, he always said it gave him a sense of power to be around him. She had tried to tell William how she felt, but he just waved her fears away, like he always did. He said she didn’t understand, couldn’t understand because of her "problem."
Darius stood over her, he held the wine bottle in his hands like it was ambrosia, like it was something precious. Not to her though, she would rather do without it. She prayed to God he would let her die. If he knew she prayed he would laugh, yes, he would find that a subject for ridicule; a vampire that prayed to the human God. What a joke she was.
He bent down and told her to open her mouth. She stared at him and thought about refusing, but she knew he would force her if he had to, just like he had done a thousand times in the past. She slowly raised her head and opened her mouth. He poured the blood in slowly, so she wouldn’t spill any. It was still warm. <NO> she told herself, <do not think about where it came from, you will only drive yourself insane; more insane than you already are.>
The liquid flowed down her throat, hating herself, but she drank. It tasted so good, so rich. Warming her body as it spread through her limbs. She swallowed until it was all gone. Her body always betrayed her. If she was stronger, she could fight the cravings as she had in the past, but he kept her weak and her body needed the blood he brought to her. She reached up and wiped her lips, but there was no blood on them, she had not let a drop escape from her hungry mouth. She looked up at Darius with loathing in her eyes, despising him for making her drink. His laughter when it came was cruel.
Grabbing her hair at the base of her skull, he forced her to look up into his face. "I know you hate me, but there is such a fine line between love and hate. As long as you still feel something, I think I will keep you."
She tried to pool enough saliva in her mouth to spit in his face, but failed. Knowing it was useless her mouth was dry as a bone again. The small piece of her that rebelled had to make the attempt.
"We will try again tonight, my dear. This might very well be your last chance. If it doesn’t happen this time, I will kill you. You know that don’t you?" He smiled that evil grin again. "Then again that is what you want, isn’t it?"
She didn’t answer him. He hadn’t expected her to.
"Well, we will see, won’t we? I will send Diego for you in about an hour, as you will need to bathe. The dungeon does give you an earthy smell, and we don’t want that do we? I will see you then, my dear." He turned and walked back to the door, leaving her to wait. As she had waited a thousand times before.
She could feel herself starting to withdraw into that little room in her mind, the room where she was safe from whatever Darius did to her body. There she drowned herself in her memories of William. William making love to her, over and over again. William holding her in his arms. William walking with her in the moonlight. The gentle, sweet memories kept her mind away from what was really being done to her body. She stepped into that room and quietly closed the door behind.
Chapter I -
Willow sat in the library typing away at the keyboard, she was researching something for Giles, translating a prophecy from Old English to something even Xander could read.
"Where do these people come up with this stuff" she thought out loud?
"What, did they have some kind of secret Society, write a prophecy and you’re in the club."
She had been working on this thing for hours, her arms felt like they were going to fall off and her eyes were watering.
"Well, I’m done for tonight." Hitting the save button she started to collect all her papers and prepared to head home. She looked down at her watch and was surprised to find out it was 10:45.
The hour meant another long walk home in the dark. She would need some supplies, as she had used up her supply of holy water last night helping Buffy fight off a bunch of Angelus’ henchmen at the cemetery.
"You’d think they would learn, Buffy wins every time" she chuckled to herself.
"At least I hope she does," she spoke aloud again.
She walked to the supply cage, Giles usually had extra slayer supplies on hand for when they needed them. Opening the door she found what she needed and put them into her backpack.
She slung her pack over her shoulder. She was headed toward the door when she saw a shadow pass by the round window in front of her. She froze. She should have been alone in the school at this time of night.
The door began to open. Willow saw a very feminine hand gripping the edge of the door frame. As the door pushed open Willow felt like her feet were nailed to the floor, she knew she should hide. The hand was too perfect, too pale; Willow knew it was a vampire. She prepared herself for a fight . . .
To her surprise it was not Dru or any of the other female vamps who ran with Spike and Angelus. She had never seen this vamp before. She had jet black hair that flowed down her back, just barely touching the tiled floor. She was wearing a long black dress that revealed her ankles when she moved. She heard a noise like a small rumble, and it hit her that the woman was trying to get her attention.
Willow looked up into the face of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, the flawless pale skin tone told the story: perfect and white like only a vampire could possess. But her eyes caught and held Willow’s attention, blue almost like crystal. Willow felt like she was looking into a clear stream of water, a sparkling mountain stream. On someone else these eyes would look cold and calculating but on this creature they fit with the rest of her -- a thing of beauty.
"Hello, I didn’t expect anyone to be here, I’m looking for Rupert Giles." She spoke in a lyrical voice.
Willow thought to herself; <yeah, she would have a beautiful voice to go with the rest of her.>
"Giles isn’t here right now" Willow said, waiting, waiting for the woman to spring at her. But she never moved. The woman looked down at the floor. If Willow hadn’t known better, she would have thought she looked lost.
"Can I help you with something?" Willow asks.
The woman answered her in that melodic voice; "Yes, do you know where he is, I have to find him now."
Willow spoke quickly; "I know how to get in contact with him."
"How?" the woman looked at Willow with interest for the first time.
"I know where he lives, bbbut . . . " Willow stuttered for the first time that night. Well she thought; <I did pretty well for being alone with a vamp, didn’t panic at all. Well, not much anyway.>
"Take me there."
Willow looked at the woman in front of her, this was so weird, standing in the middle of the library with a vamp and there’s no killing. <This is a good thing> Willow thought.
"Why?" Willow asked.
The woman looked through Willow as though she wasn’t even there. Then she slowly started to turn away; "I don’t have time for this little girl, take me to him NOW!"
Normally a vampire shouting orders at Willow would inspire her to reach for her cross or holy water. But something inside of Willow told her this one was different. A picture of Angel suddenly flashed thru Willows mind. <That’s it; Angel, she reminds me of Angel before he lost his soul. She has that same lost look of pain in her eyes that Angel always had. Well, before he changed back into Angelus . . . >
Willow couldn’t stem her curiosity and asked her; "Who are you?"
"I am Marissa, who are you?" The woman replied impatiently.
"W-Willow" she stammered.
"Oh, you are one of the Slayers friends."
"How do you know about the Slayer?" Willow asked.
"I do not have time to answer your questions right now. I must find the Watcher. Time is extremely important. Take me there . . . please." Marissa turned and walked out of the library, clearly expecting Willow to follow.
"Okay." Willow said to the empty room. She ran to catch up to Marissa who was already half way down the hall. As Willow walked side by side with the beautiful vamp, she watched Marissa out of the corner of her eye. Willow may have decided to take the woman to Giles but . . .
Willow couldn’t believe she was doing this. But her instinct told her to trust this woman, and her instinct’s had never let her down before. Well-- there was that time with Angel --but that didn’t count . . . did it?
The two walked out of the school, Marissa turned and started heading for the school parking lot, Willow stopped and started after her, "where are you going?"
"I have my car, would you rather walk?" Marissa asked.
Willow looked ahead and noticed a small red compact car sitting in the school parking lot all alone. "Uh, no, I just didn’t realize you drove here."
"Did you think I walked here from Vancouver?" Marissa looked at Willow like she was an idiot.
"Well, we just don’t get a lot of vampires with licenses, around here." Willow muttered. "Well, there’s Spike. He drives that big old ugly black thing."
The woman stopped dead in her tracks. "William is here?" she asked speaking so very quickly. Willow had trouble making out her words at first.
"William . . . who’s William?" Willow asked
"Tall thin guy, with bleached blonde hair" Marissa told her.
"Oh, you mean William the Bloody, we just call him Spike." Willow told her. "Do you know Spike?"
"Yes," Marissa spoke slowly this time, she had a far off look in her eyes, Willow thought she looked like she was really shocked to hear that Spike was here in Sunnydale.
Willow watched her cautiously, wondering what was going on inside Marissa’s head.
"Well, he’s been here for a while, him and Druscilla . . . oh, and Angelus. We used to call him Angel, until he, ah . . . he lost his . . . "
Marissa could hear the pain in the younger girl’s voice.
"He lost his soul, is that what you are trying to say" the woman spoke like she understood exactly what Willow was going through, trying to get the words out of her mouth.
"Yes," Marissa grimaced. "I know all about Angel and Angelus that is why I am here." She spoke with a determined look in her eyes. "That is what I am here to take care of, I am going to return Angel’s soul, if it is the last thing I do, he will be returned."
Willow couldn’t hear her mutter . . . "and it may very well be the last thing I ever do . . ."
Chapter II
Marissa started moving toward the parking lot again, Willow had to run to catch up with her. They got into the car and Marissa started the car and proceeded to pull into the driveway, she braked and looked at Willow expectedly. Willow looked back at her, wondering what she had done wrong. She had buckled her belt, what more did she want <wow a vampire who was into safe driving>.
"Which way."
"Oh, left . . . turn," <ok, big time brain freeze> Willow gave her directions to get to Giles Apartment. It was silent in the car as the two women drove through the night.
As they pulled up in front of Giles Apartment, Willow spoke again, "why do you need to see Giles?"
The vampire didn’t turn her head, she was studying the layout of the building, watching to see if there would be any surprises when they got out of the vehicle. "Let’s just say it is a matter of life and death."
"It always is" Willow spoke with a hint of sarcasm, "that’s what life is like living on top of a Hellmouth."
"It’s about a Prophecy, isn’t?" Willow asked.
"What do you know about that?" clearly the woman wasn’t expecting this statement from this young child.
"Because it’s always about a Prophecy, except when its about ghost or other scaries,"Willow said matter-of-factly. "We live on a Hellmouth, you know, there’s always something going on." <Hey, I must be getting used to this stuff>.
Marissa slowly opened the car door, watching and waiting just incase there was something out there, she didn’t feel anything, she had come to rely on her instincts over the years. It had helped save her life on more than one occasion.
The walked up to the front door of the apartment building, Willow watching Marissa, and Marissa watching the night around them. The darkness surrounded them like a shroud. Willow reached up to knock on the door. After just two brisk knocks she heard noises from inside the apartment, a few seconds later the door opened and she looked into the face of her friend, Rupert Giles. Unfortunately, Giles saw the other woman first, instinctively he reached out and grabbed the younger woman pulling her behind him. Never taking his eyes off the woman, "who are you, what do you want?" Giles eyed the female vampire with suspicion.
"But Giles," Willow tried to speak but before she could tell him what was going on, the other woman spoke.
"Are you Rupert Giles?" Marissa asks him.
"Yes, who are you?" Giles shot back at her.
"My name is Marissa. Brother Luca sent me." Marissa told him.
Giles was surprised to hear that name from her lips. "Brother Luca, but your a. . . ."
"A vampire, but I am not going to hurt you, ask your friend there, we have been together for more than 30 minutes and I have not hurt her." Marissa spoke with strength in her voice, <she had to gain this man’s trust.>
"Brother Luca sent me to help with the Angelus problem." Marissa stated. "He told me to give you this."
She held her hand out and opened her palm, inside was a small grey button, "He said you would know what it means."
Giles looked at the button, he put his glasses on with one hand and reached out with the other and took the button from the woman. "Yes, I know what it means." Seeing the button he realized whatever was happening here was of the utmost importance, he knew he could trust this woman, even if she was a vampire. Brother Luca only used the button to let Giles know that something dreadful was about to happen. Giles had been introduced to Brother Luca through Jenny Calendar. Jenny had been a teacher at Sunnydale High, or that is what the Slayer and her friends had thought at first, it turned out she was sent here by the Gypsy Tribe that had cursed Angel in the first place. She had dabbled in the pagan arts, hoping to find a restoration spell to help bring back Angel’s soul, but in the end that search had cost her her life. When Angelus had somehow found out this information, he had killed her.
After Jenny’s death Giles had stayed in contact with Brother Luca. Brother Luca and his Jesuit order had helped Giles countless times in his research of different prophecies’. The Order located in Canada; were in their own way helping in the fight against evil. Brother Luca would pass things onto Giles, things that had come in handy on more than one occasion.
Giles stepped back from the door and hesitated, it took a lot for him to do what he was about to do, after what Angelus had done in his home, he still carried the picture of Jenny, laying in his bed surrounded by rose petals. But if Brother Luca had sent this woman, there was a good reason for it.
"Come in, your welcome in my home." Giles hoped he hadn’t just made a fatal mistake.
Marissa stepped into the apartment she turned and looked at the man standing in front of her. "Brother Luca ask me to come here and help you with Angelus."
"Help how?" Willow questioned, she was tired of being ignored.
"By bringing Angel’s soul back to his body." The woman told them.
"We tried the restoration spell, but it didn’t work," Willow told her.
"And you’re still alive to talk about it" Marissa was a bit shocked. "Who tried it, who lead the chant?"
Willow spoke again "I did."
Marissa looked at the red-haired child with shock clearly expressed in her eyes. "How? You are not Romani?"
Giles answered her, "We had the original Romani spell."
"From Janna?" Marissa asked.
"Janna, who’s that?" Willow spoke again. She was getting excited, she could feel the adrenaline flowing threw her veins. Bringing Angel back would be great, well as far as she was concerned. Xander might feel differently but she was used to her friends jealousies when it came to Buffy’s former boyfriend.
Giles realized they were still standing in the doorway. He quickly shut the door and motioned for them to go into the living room. The women turned and walked in the room, Giles motioned for them to sit. Marissa sat on the chair closest to her. She didn’t even look around the room. She had to make them understand how important it was to get started as soon as possible, the clock was ticking.
"Janna was Jenny Calendar, she was sent to watch over Angel" Marissa answered.
"Yes, we used Miss Calendar’s spell," Willow told the other woman, she sat on the edge of the sofa, she thought this is how Buffy must feel, when she is brainstorming with Giles about things. <Buffy>, "Oh my gosh Giles, Buffy, we have to tell Buffy, she’s not gonna believe this. This means she won’t have to kill Angel now."
Giles could hear the excitement in Willows voice, "Well, lets find out what is happening here first, Willow then we’ll tell Buffy." He didn’t want to get the girl’s hopes up yet, not until he knew what was going on.
"The slayer, right, Buffy Summers, Brother Luca told me about her, a slayer that is in love with a vampire, and you as her watcher allowed this?" Marissa asked the man.
"Its not about allowing with Buffy, she is a very determined woman who very much has a mind of her own," Giles spoke with a hint of humor in his voice, he knew Buffy’s strengths and weaknesses. And Angel could be called both.
Marissa heard the faint touch of laughter in the watchers voice, she still couldn’t believe it, Angel was in love with a slayer. But then again, if anyone deserved love in this world, it was Angel, how many times in her life had she thought that he needed someone. Someone who could give him the love he deserved, how many times had he been there for her. Just to be her friend, to hold her in the darkness and tell her everything was going to be ok.
She thought back to that time in her life, when she had first been separated from William, she had been lost. She didn’t want to live knowing he hadn’t wanted her anymore, he had always promised her he would be there. But in the end; what she had expected to happen had happened. He had just walked away from her. He hadn’t wanted her in his life.
She was different from other vampires, she was too human, he had told her he would take care of her, keep the other vampires from hurting her, and they had tried, she knew that they felt she was a "freak." Her humanity kept her from being one of them. After Angelus had drained her life away, he had thrown her at William’s feet and taunted him with the fact that he had turned her the woman he had loved before he became one of them, a vampire. But something had gone wrong, seriously wrong. She regained consciousness but she hadn’t felt any different. A slight hunger, but nothing else, she felt blank. William had informed her of what she was, what she had become. He told her what she had to do to survive, but she wouldn’t eat when they took her out hunting with them. She tried to do what they wanted, it was like she could hear the blood calling out to her, but she couldn’t kill. She would not kill to survive, finally William had tried to feed her blood he had drained from a young girl he had found one night. But she couldn’t drink it, knowing where it had come from held her back.
Finally he promised her she didn’t have to kill her catch, she would go out hunting with them, but she always separated herself from the rest of them, she would travel alone in the night and search for the low lifes that crept along the street in the dead of night, hiding away from the world. She could feed on them, and leave them alive. Even thought they were the dregs of society, she still couldn’t kill. Not even to survive.
She was still lost in the past, when she realized both of the humans were looking at her with odd looks on their faces, she finally realized that they had spoken to her, she had been so lost in her memories she hadn’t heard them. She shook herself mentally and composed herself. She looked up into their faces, waiting for them to repeat the statement.
Giles spoke first, "Buffy not only loved Angel. Angel loved her just as much. Angel helped Buffy with her slaying duties."
"They worked really well together, they were a great team until . . . " Willow let her sentence trail off, she didn’t want to state that Angelus was now trying to kill Buffy every chance he got.
"Until Angel lost his soul, and tried to kill Buffy and all her friends," the Librarian stated. "Are you telling us you can help Angel regain his soul?"
"Yes, Brother Luca wants me to restore it using the original spell, but with a few modifications this time" Marissa told them.
"What modifications?" Giles asks her.
"Without the happiness clause, and maybe without the guilt Angel felt the first time." Marissa raised her voice with determination. "The original spell or curse as they called it was put in place to make Angel pay for all the crimes of his past. If I can make a few changes, he will not have to face the guilt he had to face for the last 100 years. At least that is what Brother Luca and I have talked about." Marissa informed them.
Marissa raised her eyes to Giles and he could see the emotion in them, "There are things you need to know. If we do not return Angel’s soul soon, he will become too powerful for the spell to work, it has to be done before the next new moon rise, that gives us less than 48 hours to work with."
Chapter III -
Joyce Summers slowly shook her daughter awake, she had no way of knowing that the reason why she couldn’t wake her was because Buffy had been patrolling until 2:00 A.M.
"Buffy" Joyce spoke quietly.
"Buffy" she tried again.
Finally she realized this tactic wasn’t going to work. So grabbed both of the girls’ arms and shook her roughly. "Buffy!"
Buffy sat up and reached up her sleeve for the stake she always kept there. It wasn’t there, neither was the sleeve. She was in bed, her mother was standing over her, "I’m up mom, I’m up" Buffy spoke groggily.
"Your teacher Mr. Giles is on the phone he says he has to speak with you before you come to school today." Her mother questioned her, "did you forget to return your library books again?"
"Yeah, mom, my library books, yeah right."
Buffy slowly got out of bed and reached for her robe, she heard her mother muttering to herself as she walked out of the room, "is it that important that he had to call you before school, it couldn’t have waited for a few hours."
"It’s a really important book mom" Buffy waited until her mother shut the door behind her before she picked up the telephone.
"Giles what’s up that you had to wake me at the crack of dawn?" Buffy rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned.
"Crack of dawn, its well past the . . . " Giles started to tell Buffy what time it was, but she was not up for another lecture at this hour of the morning.
"Give Giles, if I wanted to know the time I would look at my alarm clock, and do I need to remind you, that said alarm clock has not even gone off yet."
Giles voice came over the telephone line, "Buffy, I need you to come to the library now, and time is of the essence."
"What could possibly have you wiggins at this time of the morn . . . click?" Buffy stared at the phone in her hand. "He hung up on me, Giles Rupert the man with the manners, hung up on me."
"Well, I guess I’ll find out when I get there." Buffy turned to get dressed.
*********************
As Buffy entered the school she noticed how quiet it was, sort of like the cemetery when she patrolled at night. Would there ever be a time when she didn’t compare quietness to a cemetery, but then again if someone had told her a few short years ago that she would be spending all her time in a cemetery, she would have thought they were nuts.
The closer to the library she got she could hear the voices inside, Willow; Xander. What where they doing in the library at this hour and what where they arguing about? She pushed the doors open and saw that the whole gang was there Giles, Willow, Xander, Cordelia and Oz. Ok, the first four Buffy could understand but Oz, where did he fit in.
As she opened the double doors, she noticed the blinds were pulled tightly shut. Allowing no sun light in, what was up with that?
"So what’s up?" Buffy questioned the group. "Is this a party? Sorry it’s not my birthday. Is it?"
Could she have possibly forgotten something important, she realized with everything that was going on with Angelus her mental skills weren’t the best, but she usually remembered the special occasions?
"Buffy, your not going to believe what has happened," Willow exclaimed with excitement.
"It hasn’t happened yet, and it won’t, not if I have anything to do about it." Xander snarled to no one in particular.
Cordelia never even bothered looking at him, "Xander, shut-up, it’s not your decision to make."
"It shouldn’t be anybody’s decision. This is wrong, dead wrong." The boy was clearly agitated about something.
"We already discussed this, boy it is not anyone’s decision, I am doing it."
Buffy didn’t recognize the voice coming from Giles office. She looked at the others, waiting for the answer to her unspoken look.
"Buffy, Brother Luca has sent someone here to help us," Giles spoke up for the first time.
Buffy watched her mentor as he reached up and removed his glasses, taking his handkerchief out, he started to clean the lenses. She knew he did this whenever he was nervous about something.
"Ok. Someone tell me what is going on here?" Buffy waited for someone to answer her.
"Are you the slayer?"
Buffy looked up into a face that was unbelievably beautiful. She could easily say this was the most striking person she had ever seen. Who was she?
"And you are . . . ?" Buffy asked her.
The woman looked at her with vast interest, so this was the woman that Angel loved, Marissa could understand why Angel would be drawn to her. She had such a innocent beauty. And a strength, Marissa could feel this women’s strength from across the room. <Good> she thought, <she will need every ounce of strength she has; to deal with what will take place in the next few days.>
"I am Marissa. You are Buffy Summers" the woman stated this quietly, she already knew the answer to her question.
Buffy noticed the whiteness of her skin, the clear pure tone, <this was a vamp> this thought entered her head at the same time as another question came to her, <why wasn’t anyone staking her?>
"And what exactly do you want?" Buffy thrust the question at her.
"Buffy, Marissa is going to help us restore Angel’s soul," Willow’s excitement came pouring out of her voice.
Buffy’s voice came out coldly, "And why are willing to help us, you’re a vamp, you should be happy that Angelus has his soul back, aren’t you?"
"No, that is the last thing I what for him." Marissa was getting weary of having to play word games with these humans.
"And we should trust you because . . . ?" Buffy waited to hear her answer.
Marissa spoke with a quiet determination, for the first time she spoke with emotion, "Because he is my friend and I owe him my life."
"Dead boy had friends? Well, friends that aren’t trying to kill everything insight." Xander quipped.
Buffy ignored him, like she did most of the time when Xander used Angel as his joke punching bag. She never took her eyes off the woman in front of her. Who was this woman and what was her relationship to Angel? Buffy knew this wasn’t the time to worry about it, but the thought still crept into her brain.
"Buffy, Brother Luca sent Marissa to us, if he thinks she can help us, then she can." Giles told her.
"I can’t believe we are even discussing this, dead boy is gone and in his place is a murdering son-of-a-bi . . . " Xander saw the look in Buffy’s eye and it stopped him dead. He had never seen her look so cold and calculating.
"Do you think you can walk in here and just expect us to believe you?" Buffy couldn’t control the words that were coming out of her mouth. <What’s the matter with me, this is what I wanted, what I have been dreaming about, why am I fighting it.>
"I do not expect you to believe anything, I do not need anything from you, I am performing the restoration spell, with you or without you. It does not matter what you think or feel. But I do need your friend Willow to help me. And one other person, someone who is not going to fight me every step of the way." She said this last part to everyone in the room. She needed three people for the ritual, three people that totally believed Angel deserved to regain his soul.
The purple haired boy in the back of the room spoke up for the first time, Marissa had forgotten he was there.
"Willow is this important to you?" Oz asked.
She looked at him with a look that sent a tingling feeling to his toes.
"Yes Oz this is very important to me" Willow answered the boy.
"Ok, then that’s all I need to know, I’ll help you." The boy looked at the other people in the room, he wasn’t sure what he was waiting for, he was new to all this, but if Willow wanted this, so did he.
"I’ll help too," the brunette sitting at the table filing her fingernails spoke without looking up.
Xander looked at Cordelia as if she had grown two heads; "You will not!" he yelled at her.
"And you and what armies are going to stop me?" She never even looked up. She was fed up with his jealousy’s over Buffy. If Angel was back then maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about losing Xander to Buffy so much.
Marissa understood instantly, these people could be counted as Angel’s friends too. At least some of them could be. She walked up to Giles and started to tell him what she would need.
"Ah, excuse me Mr. Tweed, you can’t be seriously thinking about helping them can you?" Xander was still hoping to persuade them from this lunacy. "After what he did to Ms. Calendar, do you really think she would want this?"
Giles slowly turned and looked at the boy, he clearly understood where Xander’s anger was coming from, Angelus had hurt them all. But he knew that what he was about to do was right, it was the only thing he could do. For her, it’s what Jenny had wanted. Maybe he could erase some of the pain of her loss if he did this.
"Yes, I can honestly stand here and say that this is what she would want me to do. She gave up her life trying to bring Angel’s soul back. I am going to help finish what she started."
"Xander, why can’t you understand that it wasn’t Angel who did this to us, Angel would never hurt us. This is the demon that has control of his body. Angel has had no control over any of this." Willow tried one last time to make her friend understand.
"Angel is not even here, he is in the ether, his body is walking around, talking, planning, destroying everything he comes in contact with," Willow thought she saw a tear form in Marissa’s eye as the woman spoke. "But Angel’s soul, the part that makes him who he is, the part that is my friend, is lost floating in a haze, waiting for someone to come and guide him home."
Marissa turned away before Willow could be sure of the tears’ existence.
"And if we do not do this in the next 40 hours, Angel will be lost forever. Angelus is getting stronger every day, every time he feeds he becomes stronger. As he gains strength Angel loses his. The ether is only a temporary holding place. We are losing him, even as we stand her and talk about it, Angel is getting weaker and weaker. Soon he will not be strong enough to help us guide him home. We have to do this now, or he will die."
Willow turned back toward the slayer; "Buffy please. You have to help us, for Angel."
Buffy stood there; confusion clearly written on her face.
"Buffy, please" Willow tried one last time.
Angel’s face floated in front of Buffy’s eyes, <what would Angel what me to do?>
She pictured his face again, picturing it the night they had made love, their last night together. That picture is what made her mind up for her. "Ok, I’ll help, what do I have to do?"
Marissa handed Giles a list of things she would need. He read over the list, rubbing the back of his neck as if the pain there would never go away.
"I have written down the name of the shops where Brother Luca told me we could find everything we will need." Marissa spoke with determination, she would make this work, if everything went the way she planned by midnight Angelus would be gone; for good this time.
"What about this other stuff, these things at the bottom of the list?" Giles questioned her.
"Brother Luca thought that we would be better off collecting them before hand, I have them here in my bag," Marissa laid the bag she was holding onto the counter, she started pulling things out and laying them on the counter top beside the bag. A large crystal globe, a bottle of what looked like potpourri, and a box of what looked like bones.
"Ok, Oz can we use your van to run and collect these articles?" Giles waited for the boys response.
"Sure, lets go." He started walking toward the door with Giles. Giles slid the arms of his jacket around his shoulders. "You want to drive?" Oz asked him "it shouldn’t be too much different then that little car of yours, same concept." The two were still talking as they walked through the double doors.
Chapter IV
"How are we gonna get Angel here?" Buffy wanted to know everything that was going to go down tonight. She had to be prepared for anything.
"I have already taken care of that, I sent him a note that he will not be able to ignore." Marissa answered without looking up, she was laying the articles she had brought with her in different positions around the table.
"What did you say to him?" Willow asked.
Everyone in the room turned to listen to her answer.
"I told him I was here. He will not miss the chance to kill me." Marissa answered matter-of-factly. She still hadn’t looked up.
"I thought you were his friend," Xander raised his hands and made little quotation actions with his fingers as he said the word friend.
"I said Angel was my friend. Angelus wants to see me dead." Marissa answered the boy.
"Why?" Buffy questioned.
This time the vamp stopped what she was doing and looked at the girl, "because I am his greatest failure."
Xander looked at the girl and snipped; "Next you’ll be telling us he’s your Sire."
Marissa didn’t know why the boy asked this; but she didn’t stop to think before she answered; "Yes, he is the vampire who sired me."
"Man he got all the great looking women." Xander hadn’t seen Cordelia move up beside him. But he felt her elbow when she gouged it into his ribs.
"Ouch, what was that for?" He asked the brunette.
"You need to ask." She snapped.
Buffy had frozen when she had heard the women’s answer. This vampire was made by Angel, like Druscilla. Another woman from Angels past, well she had wanted to know more about him. But the more she knew the less she wanted to hear about it.
"Well, I am not helping with this, that’s for sure." Xander crossed his arms and slid his hands into his armpits as he said this to show his defiance.
Cordelia leaned up and whispered something in his ear.
Xander’s eyes widened until the others thought they were going to pop out of his head.
"But . . . you wouldn’t do that . . . would you?" Xander turned to the girl. She just stared back at him.
She reached up and whispered something else.
"Ok, What do you want me to do." Xander dropped his arms and slowly walked toward the table. The women were shocked to see this change in him, but they weren’t going to question it, they weren’t sure they wanted to know what Cordelia had used to persuade him to help.
Marissa spoke softly and slowly to the four people left in the library, they had a lot to do, and not that much time to prepare for it. She told them were to place everything. She could feel the confusion running through these humans as they worked at her side. It showed how much they cared about Angel, they were willing to help her even after everything Angelus had done to them. But in away she was not surprised, she herself would do anything for him. She owed him her life.
As they worked side by side the memories once again crowded into her mind. She remembered how she felt the last time she had seen Angel. It was 25 years ago, in San Francisco, they were only going to be separated for a few days. Angel was going to go and help Whistler with something. Whistler was another demon that had helped other demons out in their time of need. Most demons didn’t need help with anything. But there were a few like her and Angel that were lost in this world that had been thrust on them. He was there to help, help them cope, find a way in life, find an existence that they could live with. It depended on the demon. Some like her wanted his help. Some didn’t. Angel had helped him off and on over the years. Angel told her he would return in a few days. And then they would try some place else, some new place. That is how they had lived their lives, traveling around, settling here and there. Staying for a few months, sometimes years, depending on the situation. Neither one of them knew that would be the last time they would see each other. She hadn’t planned on going out that day, but she had a secret, a secret she hadn’t told anyone, not William, not even Angel.
She had discovered by accident that she could walk in the sunlight. She had been so shocked that she was afraid to tell anyone else. It would just be one more thing that they couldn’t understand about her. She had experimented with things, holy water, crosses, they didn’t burn her, she felt a tingle, but it wasn’t painful. Garlic nauseated her, but it didn’t harm her. She could eat regular food, though desserts were her favorites. She would sneak the cakes and pastries that they sold along the water front. She still needed the blood that Angel got for her, but she could eat the regular food, it didn’t sustain her like the blood did, but it gave her a satisfaction to eat it. She had also discovered that she could "see" a faint reflection of herself when she looked in a mirror, it was one of the few happy moments in her life. She had thought that with Angel gone she could explore San Francisco in the sunlight, walk through the city and exploring all the new sites. She had walked past a funhouse on the pier, not really paying any attention, she noticed that she was walking past a dozen mirrors; she glanced at the reflective glass. <No, that couldn’t be> She walked closer and looked directly into the glass. She could see "herself." She hadn’t even glanced into a mirror in more than a hundred years. But there she was, she was hazy, like she was out of focus, but she did have a reflection. She could feel the adrenaline flowing through her body. She couldn’t stop staring at herself, what she saw was breathtaking. She wasn’t the young immature woman that she had remembered, in her placed stood a beautiful woman. She giggled. It was a nervous little laugh but it was the first giggle she had experienced in a long, long time.
She turned from the mirror and walked on, feeling lighthearted, she actually had a smile on her face. She walked on until the sun went down, she was so happy. For the first time in along time, she was happy, she couldn’t wait until Angel returned, she was going to tell him everything she had found out about herself, she realized she had been foolish not telling him, he would never judge her, not like the others had.
She walked along the pier, watching the moon reflect off the water, she actually bought a cone of cotton candy, she had read about the confection but she had never tried it. It was very good. She nibbled on the sugary substance as she walked along. That is when she heard it, that laugh, she would never forget that laugh, not ever.
She slowly turned her head, she saw her in the moonlight, she was standing with a man that Marissa couldn’t see. Druscilla, she had hoped that she would never see that face again in her life. The man slowly turned toward Druscilla, my God; William. She had almost made herself believe she didn’t think about him anymore. She thought she had tucked his memories away in that small room in her mind, but now she knew that was a lie, he had always been there, right there in the front. She just didn’t want to admit it.
She just stood there, not knowing what to do. The people around them disappeared. It was just the three of them standing on that pier. The rest of the world had floated away. It hit her suddenly, they were lovers, she could tell by the way they touched each other, the way they looked at each other. They were watching a game of chance, just as William stepped up to take a chance, Druscilla turned and looked over the crowd. Marissa knew she was searching for a snack, something to feed the bloodlust inside of her.
She should have run, run as fast and as far as she could. But she just stood there frozen to the pier. Druscilla’s eyes searched the pier, then they came to rest on her. The older vampire’s eyes bored into Marissa. Those same eyes narrowed. Marissa couldn’t look away. Druscilla smiled that crazy smile of hers. Marissa turned and ran, she ran as fast as she could, she didn’t stop until she was back in the warehouse where she and Angel had been living.
She huddled in her bed. She hadn’t even realized she was crying until she noticed the red stain spreading on her dress. Marissa couldn’t believe what she had seen, after all these years, what had it been 35 or 40 years since she had seen William. Since he had brought her to Angel and ask him to take him off her hands. She had been terrified of Angel, in her mind he was Angelus, she didn’t trust him, he had hurt her, hurt her bad in ways she hadn’t even told William about. She had thought it had been the hardest thing to do in her life, stand and watch William walk out of her life. He promised he would always be there to take care of her. But he had finally gotten tired of taking care of a freak. He had dumped her on Angel’s doorstep and ran as fast as he could to get away from her.
It had taken her along time to trust Angelus or Angel as she had come to think of him. He had been very cautious with her at first, he had instinctively known that she didn’t trust him. But slowly he had won her trust and then her friendship. He had proved over and over again that he wasn’t the same person as Angelus. He had taught her how to survive, he gave her confidence about herself, helped her through the dark places and brought her back out into the light. She just wished she could have brought him out of the dark with her. But he refused, he firmly believed that he deserved to feel the pain of everything that Angelus had done. Feel it every day of his life. He had tried to take away the pain that William had caused by leaving her. He had told her that William had done it because he loved her.
But tonight if she had a beating heart it would have stopped. Seeing him with Druscilla, would have caused it to break; realizing what they had become, lovers. He had turned to Druscilla. Crazy, looney, unstable Druscilla. Why her and not me, Marissa thought, why did being crazy make it any easier for him to be with her. She had cried herself to sleep, that night her dreams were filled with the crazy laugh of the black witch.
She never heard the door opening, never saw the two vampires quietly sneak up to the bed. By the time she was fully awake they had her trussed up. She was gagged and a large bag was placed over her head. She struggled with all her might, she hurt them; she could tell by the muffled groans and moans that came from the two.
One of the vampires finally got tired of her struggles and hit her as hard as he could on the side of the head, blackness surrounded her . . .
When she regained consciousness, she was in a dark room, she could make out four stone walls with a door directly across from her. Over her head she saw chains hooked to the wall; the cold links ran along the wall and led to her wrist. She checked to see if she could struggle out of them. She pulled as hard as she could. The links never budged from the silver hoops that held them in place.
<Why?> That is the only thing that ran through her mind. <Why would anyone do this to her?> She pictured Druscilla in her head, <no, she didn’t have the resources to do something like this, did she?>
The sound of the door opening drew her out of her thoughts. The man standing in front of her was a face out of her past, one that she had thought that she would never see again. A name passed her lips. "Darius"
"I see you remember me, my dear." The man spoke in the cold calculating voice she remembered so well. He stood over her smirking down at her. "Look’s like you really angered someone little one."
"Who? Who did this to me?" she asked.
"Well let’s just say someone from your past" he looked at her like she was some delicate morsel.
Marissa drew herself up. She wondered if he was going to kill her.
As if he had read her mind he slowly shook his head, "No, I’m not going to kill you, not yet at least. I have plans for you my dear, plans that don’t include killing you just yet. We’re going to play, you and I. And you are so going to enjoy my little games, this I can promise you."
Marissa was lost in the past so deep, she at first didn’t feel Willow shaking her . . . "Marissa" . . .
The vampire looked up into the girls eyes.
"Marissa, are you ok?" Willow asked her.
"Yes, I am fine. We have a lot of work to do." She looked up at the clock on the wall. "We have about 12 hours until midnight." She turned to walk to the end of the table, she stumbled, dizziness clutching at her head, grabbing onto the edge of the table her head slumped to her chest.