DISCLAIMER: The characters of Buffy and company belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, WB, 20^th Century FOX, and probably some more. 

The Brightest Star

The Coming of the Shadow

Falling Stars

The Shadow Within

Burning Bright

Beautiful Death

Buffy and Angel walked through a cemetery. There was always the chance that a new vampire would be rising, and Buffy always liked to do multiple sweeps through the places, just to check on that possibility. But the night had been exceedingly quiet, and no empty graves were found on this sweep, just like the others.

Buffy looked up at the sky. The night was perfectly clear, the moon was near new, and was nowhere in sight. Which left the stars shining brightly in the sky.

She turned to the vampire at her side; "The stars sure are bright tonight. I forget sometimes how beautiful they are. Night becomes the enemy, because it allows the enemy freedom."

"But you are the Slayer. It is also your element."

"Not really. But there is beauty in the night. I guess I’ve forgotten how to look for it." Angel said nothing, and she turned to look at him curiously. "Do you know how to look for beauty in the stars?"

Angel did not look at the sky; he looked straight at her. "You are the brightest star to me."

Buffy was stunned. Not so much by the compliment, but because she could not tell if he was flirting or not. And, if she were truthful, because she was not sure if she wanted him to be or not. Her voice echoed her surprise, "What?"

"The light of the stars is cold and distant. You’re not. Your humanity is a flame, that I wish I could warm myself at. You give me hope when I have no reason to feel it. You give me back a hint of the things that I gave up so long ago, and the things that were stolen from me. And you make me believe that there is a chance for redemption.

Buffy snorted.

"You don’t believe me?"

"I don’t know what to believe. I don’t know why you’re saying these things."

"Because, they’re true. And you deserve to know."

"Why?"

For a heartbeat Angel looked away from her. When he looked back, his eyes were full of pain. "Because I always had trouble telling you how I felt. And then it was too late, and I couldn’t tell you anything. Now all I have are broken dreams."

Buffy’s mouth twisted in response to the pain of memory. It cut her almost as deeply as her own broken dreams. But then she let go of the pain, what other choice did she have? "Alright. But no flirting."

"No flirting?"

Buffy looked away. "It hurts too much when you stop."

Angel walked beside her in silence.

The two were walking close enough to a church to hear the church bells ring twelve times. Buffy yawned in response. "Midnight. I’ll patrol for another hour. Where haven’t we been?"

"We could do another sweep of the park." The two headed off in the indicated direction. "Have you finished your homework?"

Buffy threw him a dark look, "I do not need, or want, you to sound like my mother. I already have a mother who likes to say that sorta thing."

"Sorry." But Angel smiled.

Buffy was not about to have him lighten her mood. "Besides, the Slayer’s primary duty is Slaying vampires. Nothing is as important as that duty, not friends, not family, not love."

"Is that from the Handbook?"

"No. Giles still won’t let me see ‘The Handbook’ but I can make some guesses based on Kendra."

Angel half-smiled at her wry tone, but there was pain in his eyes. Like Buffy he remembered Kendra, and the different approach the two had had towards Slaying, but unlike Buffy, he was the one that had caused Kendra’s death. So many of his memories were tainted by five months of evil deeds. But he refused to let the memories dominate him.

Buffy motioned imperiously for silence. Angel instantly obeyed, he knew that she had sensed a vampire, and was willing to let her take the lead. The Slayer led the way through the park.

She came to a stop just before the brush gave way to a clearing set with picnic tables. Buffy closed her eyes and located the vampire; it was hiding behind a tree, waiting to ambush anyone who came by. The Slayer looked up at Angel, and he gave a slight nod, he had patrolled enough with her to be able to read the plan.

The pair stepped out into the open, casually walking, seeming without a care. Using herself as bait was an easy way to flush vampires out of hiding. It was also a new tactic for her, in the past the vampires had known she was the Slayer, but for the present time they were leaderless. It made them reckless.

Sure enough, the vampire burst out of hiding and attacked in one motion. It threw Angel aside and moved in to kill Buffy. But the vampire got a surprise, because its ‘helpless’ prey punched it in the face.

Angel climbed back to his feet, but made no motion to enter the fight. Unless something radically changed, his help was unnecessary. The vampire wore the form of a young man, no more than nineteen or twenty, but Angel knew that it was older, much older, than its appearance. But despite its age, it was also a weak vampire. Buffy would have no trouble killing it. Although Angel could not see much of the vampire now, he remembered its appearance, black hair and blue eyes, before it had shown its demonic nature. For some reason the memory bothered him.

The vampire exploded into dust, as the Slayer pulled her stake out of its heart. She then turned to look around the park.

Angel knelt besides the ashes of the dead vampire. Something about it had seemed familiar, although he knew that it had been a weak vampire. For a moment, as he had looked into its blue eyes he had felt a flash of something, but now it was gone. The recognition might indicate that he had created it, but he did not think so. The familiarity was something intangible, something that he was missing, or something that he was forgetting.

Buffy was scanning the immediate vicinity, searching for any other vampire traces that might indicate that the dead one had been part of a group. So far she was not finding anything. She wished that she still had her powers from this summer. Then she would have been able to feel any vampires in a two or three block area, or more. But Alec’s powers were severely hampering her own.

Angel reached out as he saw a flash of something on the ground. He picked up a silver piece of jewelry. His puzzlement faded as he recognized it. "Buffy."

She turned as Angel called her name. "What is it?"

Angel held up a silver earring. A single black stone hung in an intricate setting. Buffy looked at it in surprise, "Interesting gift choice. But I already have one." She raised a hand to indicate the clear crystal in its silver setting that dangled from her right ear. She absorbed his annoyed look, and then turned serious. Sometimes both Giles and Angel had no idea how to have fun while Slaying. She repeated her question, "What is it?"

"Trouble."

"Okay." Buffy waited for him to continue, but he did not. Eventually she prodded, "Why is it trouble?"

"Take it to Giles. If he doesn’t know what it is tell him to look up a group of vampires that worshiped the shadow. They were most prevalent in the early 1700’s, in Western Europe."

"You know about them, why?" Since, she also knew, the dates were before he was born.

Angel managed to keep the pain of his past from his voice, but Buffy sensed it, as he whispered, "I had close ties to them at one point."

"Then you should talk to Giles yourself, you know stuff."

Angel’s expression turned haunted. Buffy knew that he had avoided her friends and her Watcher, and she did not know how to convince him to face them. She knew that it was necessary, but she did not know how to accomplish it.

She gave a mental snort, and compromised. "Fine. I’ll do it." She reached out and took the earring. "But if this turns messy, you will have to face him."

Angel looked at her in pain. "I know," he whispered before he blended back into the night and vanished.

Buffy caught up with Xander and Willow in the school parking lot. The lot was full of floats for the Homecoming parade. Frantic students of various associations were putting the finishing touches on the various floats.

Willow was enthusiastically watching the float construction, keeping track of all the details. Xander was watching Cordelia move among the students.

Willow jumped a bit as Buffy said, "Hey." She had been so engrossed in watching the proceedings that she had missed her friend’s approach.

"Hi." Willow returned the greeting absently, and then she went back to observing the float construction.

Buffy was amused by her friend’s actions. "I didn’t know that you were into floats."

Willow smiled happily, "Oh yeah. This is one of my favorite mornings of the year."

"And why’s that?"

"Because they," she waved at the clusters of frantic students, "always need technical help." Willow smiled, "I’m almost as popular as I am when people need help setting up sound systems for dances."

"I see." And Buffy did see. Willow liked to help, especially when it was help in her strong areas. She did not understand how Willow could be so good to the people that tried to make her life miserable, but that was just Willow.

Before Buffy could say anything else, a large shower of white sparks spat from one of the floats. Buffy could hear the sounds of muffled cursing from the workers. Willow took one look at the scene and started to head over.

Buffy noted the waves and sea creatures that adorned the float in question. "Is that for the swim team?" Buffy called after her friend.

Willow called over her shoulder, "Yeah. At least they didn’t use a fish monster." As she reached the group, she started giving the group technical advice on the use of the lights.

Buffy turned to her other, distracted, friend. "Cordelia appears to be in fine form this morning."

"Yeah."

"What is she up to?"

"Campaigning."

"Ah yes, the joys of the hunt for the crown." A buried shard of bitterness was hidden in her words. "I remember it well."

Xander reached out to that pain. "Buffy."

Buffy painted a smile on her face. "Don’t worry about it. I have a destiny now, much better than a crown." She turned back to the animated Cordelia. "So what’s her game?"

"She says that the lack of sleep makes them more likely to agree, besides the fact that she is a distraction. The sooner they agree to everything she says, the sooner she leaves them alone."

"Wow. A sure fire way to gather votes."

"I suppose so."

Buffy’s voice turned serious. "How’s she doing?"

"Um."

"The campaign?"

"Yeah. She hides it, but I think she’s worried."

"Who would’ve thought, a demon running for Homecoming Queen." Buffy shook her head. "Only in Sunnydale."

"Alexia Winters." Xander snorted, "What kinda name is that, anyway?"

"You’re one to talk, Alexander."

"Summers."

Buffy smiled, and then turned serious. "Alexia, because she uses the nickname Alex, which is close to her favorite, Alec. Winters, well Giles can’t find anything, but I suspect you’re right."

"Opposite of you? Because you’re the Slayer?"

Buffy sighed, "I don’t think so."

"Then why?"

"Because of other things."

"What is it, Buff?"

Buffy looked straight at Xander, and her voice was emotionless as she responded. "Because she wants Angel. And Angel chose me over her."

Xander’s nostrils flared in distaste, "Great, names based on who has Dead Boy. Last time I checked she was the one that had final control for our friendly vampire."

Buffy bit back the harsh words she wanted to throw at Xander. She knew his opinions well; he never was shy about giving them. And she did not want another argument with him on this subject.

The two stood in uncomfortable silence, watching the progress on the floats.

Buffy suddenly remembered why she was at school so early. "Oops, gotta run."

Xander looked surprised at her sudden intensity. "What’s up?"

"Gotta talk to Giles before school, sorry." Buffy waved at him as she headed back into the school.

In the basement of a house on the outskirts of the city on the Hellmouth, a single woman was surrounded by a group of monsters.

Had human poets seen her, they would have spoken of her beauty, for the midnight sky crowned her hair, and her eyes seemed to capture liquid moonlight. Her pale skin glowed in the faint light, and most humans who saw her, would have considered her to be an apparition from heaven.

And they would have been wrong. Because appearances can be deceiving, and this apparition calmly waited as a portal of darkness appeared before her. And then she walked into the night, followed obediently by her minions.

The vampire, which currently went by the name Midnight, stepped through the portal into another realm. A place of shadows and demons. To mortal sight, the room had six stone surfaces and a vaulted ceiling. Midnight’s vampiric senses could feel the demonic life around her, although she could see nothing except for the greater demon before her.

Alec stood calmly waiting, as her newest, and most important, vampire minion approached. She greeted her, "Bella Morte."

Midnight stopped and bowed before the demon. Her vampires stayed behind her, and bowed their heads in respect to Alec’s power. Her voice, when she spoke, was oddly musical, and contained a hint of a French accent. "Your call has been heard, Mistress. Those who carry your blood have been doing your work."

The demon closed the gap. For a moment the contrast between them was overwhelming. One wore the mortal beauty of sun-kissed skin, blonde hair, and the youth of a teenager. The other wore the ethereal and ageless beauty of a vampire. It was as if the sun stood next to the moon. And then the differences between them vanished as the demon and the vampire smiled at each other. Both were true evil upon the world.

Alec asked, "Do you have it?"

Midnight smiled, "Yes." She reached into her dress, and pulled out a black stone. In her hands there was the faintest hint of red light pulsing in its depths. It was small, a pyramid barely an inch high. The vampire placed it in the demon’s palm.

Alec looked at the stone. In her hands it pulsed brightly with red light. And it grew. Ten seconds later, the black pyramid had edges twelve inches long. The demon turned and looked at the matching two pyramids on the ground. She walked over and set it on the ground, forming a perfect equilateral triangle.

Red light shot between the three stones and for a moment they hummed. The light, and the sound, faded a few seconds later.

The demon turned back to Midnight. "You have served me well. What do you wish for a reward?"

The vampire thought for a moment. "I wish to lead your vampires here, on the Hellmouth. And I want to know the fate of my sire."

The demon smiled. "Very well, you shall have both. Your sire still lives. If you stay with me here, you will eventually be reunited."

Midnight smiled in ecstasy. "Thank you, Mistress."

Alec pulled an earring out of her pocket. A small silver snake held a black stone in its jaws. She held the earring out to the vampire.

Midnight accepted the token, and held it up to her left ear. The snake’s tail whipped around to pierce her skin. Although it hurt, Midnight never gave any sign of pain. This was her dedication, and she would not mess it up. A moment later, Midnight, also known as Bella Morte, was the leader of the Vampires of the Shadow, on the Hellmouth.

The demon turned to other business. "The final keystone. Do you have an update?"

Midnight nodded her head. "Yes, Mistress."

"And what have you found?"

"I have traced the stone. Your bloodline has always been sensitive to its power, and thus it was possible to locate."

"And?"

"The last human who had the stone was a witch named Crystal. She moved to the Hellmouth in order to use its power just after the turning of the century. She died shortly after."

"Where is the keystone, now?"

"I believe it was buried with her. And she died in Sunnydale."

Alec smiled. "Good. You will recover the final keystone this coming night." She thought for a moment, and then chose to give a warning. "There is only one other thing you need to know. There is a Slayer in this town."

Midnight frowned in puzzlement. "I have dealt with Slayers in the past. Do you wish me to hunt her down?"

"No. The Slayer is not to be harmed. I want you and all your vampires to be perfectly clear on this point."

The vampire was incredulous. "Not to be harmed?"

"Not to be killed. If you get the chance, and you find her alone, you can hurt her, but you must not endanger her life."

"Why?"

"You will understand in time. For the moment, the important thing is that you understand my orders."

Midnight bowed in acknowledgement. "I understand. We await the setting of the sun, Mistress."

Buffy walked down the hallways of the High School, heading for the library. She was preoccupied, thinking about the strange behavior that seemed to be surrounding her recently. She nearly ran down a student.

Buffy steadied her near victim and started to apologize, before the girl turned to her. Her apology turned into a name. "Amy."

Amy regarded her without expression. "Buffy."

"I’ve been meaning to talk to you."

"Really?" Buffy wondered if she was imagining the sarcastic tone.

"Yes. Willow told me about this summer. And I owe you an explanation."

"No you don’t."

"We have something in common."

"We have nothing in common."

Buffy allowed her eyes to glow momentarily. "Are you so sure about that?"

A flash of surprise crossed Amy’s face. "Okay. We might have something in common. That doesn’t change anything."

"Can we talk about this over lunch?"

Amy looked doubtful.

"Please?"

"Alright. Lunch. That’s all."

"Fine, I’ll see you in the courtyard?" At Amy’s nod, Buffy took off. She needed to get to the library as quickly as possible. She had a lot to discuss with Giles before her first class.

Giles turned as the library doors opened. "Buffy?"

"Hey Giles." She thought about how to phrase her discoveries. "I ran into a vamp last night."

"Really? There have been so few recently."

"Yeah, well I caught a live one, last night", she paused for a moment and then elaborated, "although it’s not live anymore."

"And?"

Buffy held up the earring. "It was wearing this."

Giles took the crystal from her and studied it intently. "It’s old. Very old. There’s something about it, but I’m not quite sure."

"Early 1700’s old?"

Giles looked up at her distractedly. "Hmm? No. Older than that." And then what she asked sank in, and he looked at her hard as he asked, "Why? What do you know?"

Buffy countered with a question. "What do you think it is?"

"It’s the mark of an organized group of vampires. A symbol for them. But I’m not sure which order it represents. The earring itself is very old."

"Oh."

"What do you know, Buffy?"

"Does the phrase, Vampires of the Shadow, have any meaning to you?"

Giles’s eyes widened. He looked at the earring again. "Yes. It could be. Although they were supposed to be a dead order." And then he turned suspicious. "How did you know about them?"

"How did you?"

"Well, Buffy, there is information in all these books." And then Giles paused. He remembered why he first researched this particular dead order. "What else did Angel say?"

Buffy was startled, but she recovered quickly. After all, she did have exactly one good source of information on vampires. "Nothing, really. Just that he had ties to them a long time ago." She paused, and then asked the question. "What did he mean by that?"

"He didn’t tell you?"

"No. He didn’t. Which leaves me wondering. Come on Giles, what did he mean?"

Giles spoke clinically, careful to keep all emotions from his voice. "The vampire, Angelus, was the last leader of the order of vampires that worshiped the shadow. The order itself disappeared in the early 1800’s. There were no further mention of them. It was a very mysterious group. Their roots are lost. They simply seemed to appear in the early 1500’s. And there is no mention of a purpose to their actions."

Buffy thought about that. "Do you remember what Angel called Alec?"

Giles paused as he dragged out the memory. "Queen of Shadows."

"And Angel carries her blood, because his sire was Darla." She finished her thought. "How old was Darla?"

"No one really knows. The earliest mention of her is in the Master’s court, about four hundred years ago. But she could be older."

"So this new group of vamps could be Alec’s army, vampires descended from Darla," she sighed, "and Angel."

"It could be."

"Well, we should just hope that it’s not Spike and Drusilla, again." Buffy frowned in thought. "Speaking of, you heard anything about what that pair is up to?"

"No. Wherever they are, they’re keeping a low profile."

"Well, I guess that’s not too surprising."

"What do you mean?"

"Spike, he got Drusilla out of there just before the final fight. If Angel had won, then Acathla would have sucked the world into Hell, and Spike wouldn’t have wanted to be at ground zero when Angel realized that he had been betrayed. Since that didn’t happen, Spike must realize that I won. Which means that he is trying to stay out of my sight." Buffy’s face turned grim. "Which is a wise decision, for him."

Giles could follow her reasoning, but since he had nothing to add, he stayed quiet.

Buffy heard the warning bell ring. "Gotta run."

Giles watched as his Slayer ran off to her first class. And then he headed for the stacks. He had a lot of research to do.

Cordelia walked down the school hallway. She had just finished a pleasant chat with a pair of football players. After wheedling, coaxing, laughing, and listening, she had finally convinced them that she was a serious contender for the crown. She just hoped it would last.

He actions had not gone unnoticed from other sources, however. Her old friend Harmony had watched the proceedings avidly. And now the girl moved towards a confrontation.

Harmony sneered at her old mentor. "This is so pathetic."

Cordelia smiled sweetly. "What’s that?"

"You. Do you really think that people are just gonna forget the people you hang out with? The psychos, weirdoes and losers?"

"Who I hang out with doesn’t change who I am."

"No, but it sure shows us who you are. I can’t believe that I believed in you for so long."

Cordelia was so surprised by the real venom in the other girl’s voice, that she could say nothing as Harmony walked away from her.

Midnight sat on the floor of her new home. She was crouched over one of her Mistress’s keystones. Although she would never interfere with the demon’s possessions, she liked to listen to the power in the stones. The whisper of it against her senses was extremely pleasurable.

A half dozen vampires respectfully waited for their leader to move. All wore the forms of young, handsome men. None appeared older than eighteen. One had blonde hair, one had red, and four had various shades of brown. They had been waiting since dawn, but they had learned patience. Their leader was not a good creature to annoy.

Eventually, Midnight stood and faced the group of six vampires that were her most loyal minions. The problem with minions was that they needed detailed instructions. She preferred to give the details of the night’s plan during the day. It gave the lesser vampires a chance to absorb the details, assuming they were capable of that.

"Your first major mission is tonight." The vampires all looked at her anxiously; she was pleased that they all looked eager to serve. "You will search the large cemetery of this town for the mausoleum belonging to the witch named Crystal."

She waited to see if there would be any questions, but none of the vampires seemed lost, at least not yet. "You will then search her final resting place for the final keystone. You are looking for a stone similar to these." Midnight waved her hand at the three keystones. "It is most likely much smaller, but its power is the same."

One vampire, the blonde, asked tentatively, "Power?"

"Yes, you should be able to feel it, after all, you carry a fraction of my blood. The stone is sensitive to that blood. If you touch it you will know it for what it is."

The six vampires looked at each other. The blonde spoke for them; "We are to recover the stone for you?"

"Yes. I must prove to the demon that I am worthy of the legacy."

The vampires looked at each other again. They understood the unspoken threat: come back with the stone or do not come back at all. "What are the stones for?"

"Are you developing curiosity, Derek?"

The blonde vampire dropped its eyes immediately to the ground, "No. Of course not."

"Good. But I suppose you can know the stakes, it will be a good motivation. The stones are the anchors for the gate that she wishes to create. Without them, her plan faces serious setbacks."

The menace in the statement was not lost on the lesser vampires. They chorused together, "We understand."

Buffy walked into the courtyard, and took a quick look around. Amy was sitting alone at one of the tables in the shade. She stood up as Buffy approached. "What’s so important?"

"Willow told me what happened, this summer. And I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. I had a friend, Anna, and she shielded me from magic. I didn’t know how badly it would backlash on you."

"Fine you’ve apologized. Apology accepted. Now, I’m going."

"Wait, I want to talk to you about power."

Amy looked back at her, and cocked her head. "You didn’t have any power last time I knew you."

"True. Anna gave me hers."

"Interesting. Very well, if you let me scan you, find out how that is possible, I will talk with you."

Buffy thought furiously. "If you let me do the same, it’s a deal."

Amy smiled in response and held out her right hand, palm forward. Buffy matched the gesture. As palm touched palm, the two used the contact to scan the other.

Buffy reached out with her mind, using enough power to enable her to see energy flows. What she found surprised her. Amy seemed to be a normal human, but she also had power. Instinctively Buffy realized that the power was what separated the two of them. Rhianna shaped power from a portal to Hell for her to use, she just channeled it. Amy had real power, power generated from within. As long as she lived on the Hellmouth, Amy could tap into its power to boost her own, but she would have her magic no matter where she went. Buffy knew that if she lost the crystal earring, she would also lose all her magics. She opened her eyes, and saw that Amy was waiting for her to finish. The two dropped their hands.

Amy spoke first, "Amazing. I’ve never heard of anyone able to channel someone else’s power as well as you can. But than again, given what you are, I guess it’s possible."

"Which brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m the Slayer."

Amy interrupted, "The Slayer? I knew about the strength and the other abilities, but who knew that you’d be a channel, too."

Buffy ignored the statement, and continued, "Well, anyway, you know about vampires, and the other nasties that live on the Hellmouth?"

"Yes. Vampires, demons living in the bodies of humans, an interesting adaptation." She turned thoughtful. "Although yours is more interesting."

Buffy didn’t understand the comment, so she just continued. "Well, you’re human and you have considerable power. I was wondering if you’d help us?"

Amy’s voice was incredulous; "You want my help? Sorry, I don’t interfere."

"They kill humans. They’re trying to destroy the world."

"You’re one to talk. You’re as much a demon as any vampire."

"What!"

Amy was surprised by the shock in Buffy’s voice. "They’re your own kind. A demon is what gives you your powers. And I don’t need to get involved in a power struggle between demons."

The words cut Buffy, and she could think of nothing to say as Amy just watched her. Eventually, the witch turned and walked away from the stunned Slayer.

You are a demon. You are the same as the vampires. The words echoed in Buffy’s mind. She wanted to deny them; after all, she was a Slayer, not a demon. But a part of her whispered that they were the truth.

Buffy told herself to calm down. She had no particular reason to trust Amy’s judgement. But, her conscience told her; she had no particular reason to distrust Amy. She needed a second opinion.

The Slayer took a quick look around the courtyard. No one was around her, so she wandered over to a deserted corner and sat down. Taking a knife from her boot, she carefully sliced her left hand, and touched her blood to the crystal earring she always wore.

Buffy stood in a place of crystal and light. It was still amazing to her; she had not gotten used to her friend’s new home. Rhianna herself was intently watching the swirling red vortex that marked the second portal to Hell in Sunnydale. "Anna?"

Anna turned to her visitor in surprise. "Buffy? This is a surprise. What are you doing here?"

Buffy was not quite sure how to say it. "Do you remember when you shielded me from spells, this summer?"

"Yes. Are you having trouble with your shields?"

"No. But you remember the search spell?"

"Yes."

"Well, the witch that cast it, well her name is Amy. And I talked to her today. She had some disturbing things to say."

"And?"

"I needed to ask someone. What is the Slayer?"

"The Slayer? Buffy, the Slayer is the champion of good. You know what you are."

"Do I? Amy said that the Slayer is no different from a vampire."

Anna’s voice was incredulous, "What?" Then she paused and thought through the ramifications of Buffy’s claim. There was a way to verify the claim. "Will you let me scan you?"

Buffy bit her lip in thought, she wanted to decline, but she also wanted the truth. "Yes."

Anna walked over to her friend. She laid a hand on Buffy’s forehead and closed her eyes in concentration. When she opened them again, she smiled as she lowered her hand. "You are nothing like a vampire." Her voice turned clinical as she explained. "A vampire is a demon that possesses the body of a human. It bonds to the body, the soul is already gone."

Buffy knew that. "Okay. I’m following."

"Well, when you come here, only your soul comes. You are the same as you were this summer. Therefore, no demon is bonded to your body."

Buffy followed the reasoning, and smiled in relief. She had not realized how much Amy’s accusations had hurt her.

"However, there is also some truth to what this Amy said." Buffy’s elation faded. She started to get a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "You are not a normal human. No Slayer is. But you are born human, so something changes when you are activated."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that when one Slayer dies, something is transferred to the next Chosen One."

"So there is a Slayer demon?" Buffy was confused.

"There is a Slayer, um, spirit. And since you are a Slayer here as well as in the mortal realm, it must be a part of you." Buffy’s confusion showed clearly on her face. Anna spoke gently, "I mean, it must have bonded to your soul, not your body."

Buffy’s voice rose as she absorbed that possibility. "You’re saying that a demon is part of my soul, of me?"

"I don’t know what it is, no one that I know of has ever studied the Slayer spirit, I don’t know that it is demonic."

"I do. I’m worse than a vampire."

Anna tried to stem the flood of Buffy’s words, since she did not understand the reasoning behind them. "That’s not…"

But Buffy rolled over her. "I always pitied Angel, he has to live with the demon that has caused so much pain. He has to fight it every moment. But me, I don’t even have a chance. Because, I am my own enemy."

Buffy was laughing hysterically as she faded from the realm.

Rhianna looked at the spot that Buffy had vanished from. She wanted to reach out and help the Slayer, as she had this summer, but she had given up the mortal realm. Things were not going well. But, she reassured herself, Buffy has friends. She has her Watcher. And she has Angel. They will heal her. They have to.

Buffy opened her eyes. A quick glance around the courtyard showed that no one had noticed her distraction. Not that she really cared, but it was habit to make sure she was undisturbed.

No one had given her a choice. She had never wanted to be the Slayer, but she had learned to accept her destiny. It had been hard at times, and almost impossible once. She remembered looking into Angel’s eyes and knowing that she had to sacrifice him. She had done it, but the cost had been high. Through the long summer that had followed she had clung to being the Slayer. She had sacrificed so much for the sake of her destiny, that all she had left was that destiny. And now that she knew the truth, she could not believe how stupid she had been.

A new thought crossed her mind. Giles had been her only source of information on the Slayer. And he had never mentioned this Slayer spirit thing. He had kept the truth from her. Buffy felt betrayal become anger. A lost voice of sanity whispered to her, saying that Giles did not know everything about Slayers. After all, he had been surprised that there had been two Slayers at once. But that voice was lost. She was hurt and angry, and she was only looking for a target.

Buffy burst into the library. She was angry enough that she started speaking before she checked for bystanders. "Did you know?" Luckily for her, the Watcher was alone in the library.

Giles looked at the anger on his Slayer’s face. He spoke calmly, attempting to soothe her, "Know what?"

"What I am." Anger could no longer hide pain, she was afraid that Giles had betrayed her by keeping the truth from her. "Did you?" She demanded.

Giles picked his words carefully, since he was not sure what was upsetting her. "I don’t understand, Buffy. You’re the Chosen One, the Vampire Slayer."

"What a lie. Don’t you mean that my purpose is to destroy the demons that take human form?"

Giles confusion was total. Unfortunately that did not seem to make a difference to Buffy. "That is one way of looking at it."

"Well, news flash, I’m one of those that I should destroy."

"What!"

The genuine surprise and shock in his voice forced Buffy to wonder if he actually knew the truth. "I’m a demon in human form."

"Who told you this?"

"Amy and Anna. When a Slayer is activated, a demon takes her form. That is the source of my ‘gifts’."

"Oh." There was nothing else that Giles could think of to say.

As Buffy finally calmed down, she realized how badly she had acted. "I’m sorry."

Giles knew how much she had gone through. He tried to be comforting and understanding, "It’s alright. Why don’t you spend some time with your friends? It’s Homecoming."

"With the humans, you mean." Buffy blurted it out, but she realized how it sounded. She raised a hand in apology, but Giles just shook it off.

"It’s okay. Go, have fun."

Buffy paused for a moment or two. And then she sighed. "Alright, and Giles, thanks."

Giles smiled at his Slayer, as she walked out of the library. When she was gone he turned and walked into the depths of the stacks. He needed to research, to find out the truth. As far as he could remember no one had studied what the Slayer actually was, it was just taken for granted that the Slayer existed. It was a strange oversight, if oversight it actually was.

Buffy wandered through the school halls, slowly making her way to her next class. She was in no particular rush to get there; she had other things on her mind.

New knowledge crowded in on her, and she could not deny it. Ever since she had moved to Sunnydale she had struggled to accept her place in life. She had hated being a Slayer. Hated the changes it had brought to her life, hated the sacrifices that it required. But in the end, she had dealt with her destiny, because she was making a difference. The Slayer was a force for good in the world, and she had clung to that during the hardest of times. But now she knew that the truth that she had used to accept herself was nothing more than a lie.

The awful truth was simply this, she was everything that she had fought so hard and so long against.

Xander and Willow caught up with Buffy after school; Cordelia was already with the other cheerleaders at their float. Buffy was walking down the hallways with a depressed demeanor, but both of her friends were used to her moods.

Willow asked her cheerfully, "Are you looking forward to the parade?"

Buffy barely glanced at her friend. "I was thinking of going home."

"Why?"

But Buffy stayed silent.

Xander tried a different tact. "What’s wrong Buffy?"

Buffy sighed; her friends could be incredibly persistent. "I had some bad news today. I just don’t feel like partying."

"Oh come on, partying is good for the soul. You need some cheering up, we’ll watch the parade, go to the pre-game festivities, and watch the game. You can be depressed on patrol, but you’re gonna have fun until then."

"I’m not gonna patrol."

Willow looked at her friend in shock. Buffy had been fanatical about training and patrolling since her return. Actually she had not been that bad, she was nothing like Kendra and she still liked to do things with her friends. And she spent more time studying then she had in the past. But she also was more committed to her destiny then she had been in the previous years. "Why not?"

Buffy realized that she would have no choice but to tell them, since they would persistently wear her down until she did. She preferred to get it over with, "I’m done being the Slayer. I’m Buffy Summers the ordinary high school student." Xander and Willow looked at each other in concern. Buffy paused for a moment to think. A demon had stolen her life. If she just went home and did nothing, it would win. Buffy smiled at her friends. "Alright, let’s go to the game."

Willow and Xander carefully steered Buffy towards the parade site. They were very concerned, but not quite sure what to do about it.

The threesome of Buffy, Willow, and Xander stood on the curb by the street, watching as the first float of the parade drove slowly past. It was the football team, in their full uniforms waving and absorbing the adulation of the crowd. They guaranteed that adulation by throwing candy.

Normally Xander would have scrambling to get more than his fair share of the candy, but the circumstances were different than normal. Both Willow and Xander had been trying to get Buffy to talk about what ever was bothering her without making her too upset.

It was Willow’s turn, and she had given up on subtlety. "Buffy, what’s wrong?"

Buffy sighed, "I found out exactly what the Slayer is. And I refuse to be it. So I’m done. That’s it."

Willow threw a look at Xander. Both were having similar thoughts. Buffy had renounced her destiny when she had found out that she was prophesied to die, but she had taken back her responsibilities shortly after. She had sacrificed Angel for the world. Neither could conceive of anything that would cause Buffy to renounce her destiny again.

Xander decided that the only thing they could do was be supportive. He was sure that she would take up her destiny again. "It’s okay, Buffy. We’ll just do normal stuff."

Buffy smiled at Xander in thanks. But before she could say anything else, another voice called from behind them, "Hey guys!"

The three turned as Oz finished pushing through the crowd. Willow called delightedly, "Oz?"

"Yeah, I finished my classes. Thought I might find you here."

"Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?"

"Well it wouldn’t really be a surprise if I told you, now would it?" His reward was Willow’s charming smile. "Anyway, I’m playing at the dance, and I though I could catch the game with you."

Buffy smiled as the conversation switched into more pleasant topics for her. "Sounds like fun."

The first quarter of the game had been rather boring, but squeezed into the bleachers with her friends, and surrounded by the masses of cheering students it was easy for Buffy to forget her problems and concerns.

Buffy watched the sun sink below the horizon during the break between the first and the second quarters. The bright lights that illuminated the field hid the transition from light to dark.

A part of her warned her that she should be out patrolling. It was an itching feeling, warning her that something bad was going down. She ignored the premonition. She was done doing the Slayer’s bidding. She was Buffy Summers, a normal high school senior.

Squeezed between Willow and Xander, and holding a bag of popcorn, Buffy cheered with the rest of the crowd as the Razorbacks scored on their first play of the quarter.

The football players trotted off the field as the first half came to an end. The sidelines became the center of cheerleader and band activity. In the center of the field a stage was being rigged for the crowning of the Homecoming Queen.

Buffy wondered why the Queen was being crowned in the middle of the game, but she had long ago decided that trying to figure out the reasoning behind the customs of Sunnydale High was useless.

After the stage was assembled and the speaker system tested, the candidates separated themselves from the crowd. Three were cheerleaders, including the demon that was the current captain of the cheerleading squad. Alex was smiling at everyone as if she had already won the crown.

Suddenly, Buffy sat up straighter in her chair. Something had brushed her awareness. For a moment she was determined to ignore it, and party with her friends. But her duty screamed to her. She felt the Slayer part of her; the demonic part of her, command her to do something. Eventually, Buffy listened.

Xander tore his attention from his girlfriend as Buffy tensed and became serious, "What is it, Buffy?"

"I’m not sure."

Xander scanned the crowd. "I don’t see any monsters." His concern had attracted the other Slayerettes’ attention, and they all looked at Buffy with worry.

Buffy held up a hand to halt the incipient questions, "Hush!" The Slayer extended her senses. Alec’s presence and the hordes of mortal life that surrounded her made it difficult, but she felt the presence of a single vampire.

And then she identified it. Buffy could think of numerous reasons why Angel would show up now, unfortunately none of them were good. Actually, she could hope that he had shown up to spend time with her, but she knew better than that.

She sighed. The others heard the pain in that exhalation. "What is it, Buff?"

She could turn her back on her duty, but she could not turn her back on Angel. At least not without an explanation. So she lied to her friends, "Duty calls." She stood up. "Excuse me."

The others started to get up. "Let us go with you."

"No. You stay." Buffy smiled weakly. "Have fun. For me, please?"

Oz and Willow looked at each other for a moment before they looked back at her. Willow absorbed her determined look, and sat back down, pulling Oz with her.

Xander was not so easily deterred. "You need help."

"No I don’t."

"What’s out there?"

"I have no idea."

"Then how can you say that you don’t need help?"

Buffy sighed. "Look, you promised Cordy you would wait for her. So, wait for her. There is no need for whatever is happening to ruin your night, too."

Xander’s eyes narrowed in thought. "It’s Angel."

Buffy sighed again, "Yes. But he wouldn’t be disturbing me if something wasn’t going down."

Xander realized that the argument was serving no purpose. "Go."

Buffy looked at him quizzically, and then began to move toward the aisle.

Willow looked at Xander in disbelief. "That’s it?"

Xander smiled. "No. But the argument wasn’t helping."

"So you’re gonna follow her." It was not a question.

Xander began to move towards the aisle as Buffy made her way out of the stands.

Buffy took a quick glance around. She could hardly make her reputation any worse by weird discussion topics with strange men on Homecoming night, but she did not like to take chances.

The Slayer asked the vampire, "What’s up?"

"A group of vampires is heading towards the cemetery. I thought you would like to know."

"Well, I don’t." Angel’s eyes widened in shock. "What I want is to sit here at the game, and be a normal teenager."

"But you’re not."

"No, I’m not. I thought I could be, but the truth is, I can’t even pretend. Can I?"

The bitterness in her tone was not lost on Angel. "Buffy, what is it?"

Buffy gave a little laugh that contained absolutely no humor. "I found out what I really am today. It was a bit of a shock."

In fact, Angel doubted that he had ever heard her this close to hysterical. "And what you are?"

"You know, the Slayer. Have you ever wondered what a Slayer is?"

"Not really." Angel confessed. "The Slayer is the enemy of vampires and demons."

"Sounds great, doesn’t it? Except I know the truth now." Buffy took a breath as she faced Angel, who was clearly waiting for her to continue. It was hard to say. "I’m a demon."

Angel was stunned into silence. And then he recovered and smiled. "You’re no demon. Trust me, I would know if you were."

"Would you?"

He was utterly serious as her replied, "Yes, I would. You don’t know everything about me."

Buffy twisted his words, turning them into a weapon. "Do we ever know everything about anyone?"

Angel wondered if she had any idea how much that comment had stung him. "Were you planning on having a long psychological debate tonight? Because if you were you really should’ve warned me."

"I was planning on watching Homecoming with my friends. And then going out and partying with them. But no, three years ago a demon decided it would destroy my life."

Angel sighed. He had never seen Buffy act like this. He did not understand what was making her so fey, but he had to figure it out. Or more importantly, make her figure it out. "Old news, Buffy. Why does this change anything?"

"Don’t you get it? The Slayer is a demon. I am a demon. And my mission is to rid the world of demons." Buffy snorted. "Seems a bit hypocritical to me. Don’t you agree?"

"Actually, I always thought that your purpose, your destiny, was to stand against the forces of darkness." Angel took a chance. "How long has it been? Two months? Two months of telling me that I’m not evil just because I have a demon that is. And yet when you find out that a demon is giving you your abilities, you say that you are evil. That seems hypocritical to me."

Angel’s words cut her, and she lashed back at him. "It was all a lie. How can I build a life based on a lie?"

"What lie? I don’t believe that you were ever promised that your powers were free. You knew that something gave you your gifts. You are human still, no matter what that force is."

"It’s not that simple."

Angel finally recognized the emotion underlying her responses. "What are you afraid of, Buffy?"

Buffy just turned away from him.

Angel was not easily dissuaded. He reached out and turned her back to face him, but she still refused to look at him. With a single finger he raised her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes. He could read the depths of pain, and fear, in those eyes. "Did you think that it would matter?" Buffy just looked at him. "Did you think that your friends would care? That they would change just because they found out what was hidden behind your face?"

Buffy blindly shook her head, although she did not try to free herself from the hold that Angel had. She was fighting back tears, and she wasn’t sure what was upsetting her. Angel was forcing her to see things that she did not want to face. But this was Angel, and she could not reject his words without rejecting him. And that was the one thing she could not force herself to do.

"Then why?"

Buffy just shook her head again.

Angel had trouble believing that she would doubt him. But he had learned enough to know that many young emotions were prey to doubts. And, in some ways, love was the most fragile emotion of all. Especially when there was so little that either could do to assure the other of its existence. And especially, when they had to deny it so often to themselves. "Were you afraid that I wouldn’t love you any more? Even though you accepted me?"

Looking into Angel’s dark eyes, Buffy felt as if the world had disappeared. She knew that people surrounded her, but she had an odd feeling of privacy. She stumbled over the words of her soft confession, "My humanity. The one thing that you cling to, to give you a place in the mortal world. But I’m not really human."

Angel sighed, and dropped his hand. "And so, once again, I’m the one that’s hurt you the most."

Buffy winced at the pain and bitterness in his voice. She wanted to reach out and reassure him, but he had forced her to see the truth. And the truth was that it was his expectations that had hurt her the most. "Angel, I wasn’t sure if I was what you need, if I wasn’t human." The second truth was even harder. "I wasn’t sure you would love me, if I wasn’t perfect."

Angel willed Buffy to hear the truth of his words. "There is nothing that could make me love you any less. Nothing in my past, and nothing in yours." Angel held Buffy’s gaze, until he began to see her accept the truth of his words. And then he deliberately broke the mood. "And you’ve never been perfect."

For a moment, Buffy was stunned. And then she began to tentatively smile. It was a weak smile, but it was true. "You wanna kill some vamps?"

Angel smiled at her in response.

The two walked out of the stadium, not touching, but together.

Xander watched the two head off towards a cemetery, from his hiding place beneath the stands. He knew where they were going, and he knew that he could follow them. But he wondered if that was a good idea or not.

He did not trust Angel, and he knew that the vampire was bad for Buffy. But Angel had been able to heal the Slayer where her friends had not. Angel had a place in Buffy’s world of vampires, demons, and darkness.

Xander headed back for the stands. He would spend time with his pals, and when the game was over, he would take Cordelia out to the Bronze. If he was lucky, Buffy would join them.

For the first time, Xander wondered if he had a place in the Slaying world.

The Slayer ran through the twilight, towards the cemetery. A large group of vampires had not been seen on the Hellmouth since she had defeated the last set of vampire leaders. Buffy glanced at Angel, and amended her thought, because defeated was not quite the correct term. She had defeated Angelus only to defeat herself, and Spike and Drusilla had departed on their own.

No matter the cause, vampires had been scarce on the Hellmouth since then. A large group probably indicated that a new leader was in town. Although with Alec around, all bets were off.

Buffy and Angel reached the forest of mausoleums that was part of Sunnydale’s largest cemetery. The Slayer did not need any help to identify the one that contained the vampires. Even without her Slayer senses, the flickering light visible through the half-open door of one was a dead giveaway. A vampire party was in full swing.

The two crashed the party.

Buffy took a single moment to assess the situation from the open doorway. One vampire was attempting to pull the top off of a stone crypt, three were searching through the rubble in the niches, and two were standing guard. Buffy instinctively dove at the one to the right of the door; Angel, displaying his vampiric features, took the one on the left.

Despite its surprise, the vampire that Buffy attacked managed to recover enough to block her initial punch. The two began to trade blows, blocking most but absorbing the occasional punch. Neither gained the upper hand quickly.

Angel was slightly more successful. Perhaps it was because he was faster than Buffy, or perhaps the vampire had been taken back by the sight of another vampire attacking it. Whatever the reason, Angel managed to stake it before it could mount an adequate defense.

The other four recovered from their surprise and launched their own attack. Two moved to attack Angel, and two joined the one that Buffy was facing. Buffy saw the two approach her, and deliberately left her back to one. When it made its move, she tucked rolled past the one in front her. For a single moment the two vampires were tangled together, and she put a stake in the back of one.

Angel was facing two vampires, one with blonde hair and the other with red. Unlike Buffy, he had gotten a chance to see them turn from their searches. He had seen them without their vampiric features, and both had been uncommonly handsome. Something about that fact had bothered him, but he did not have time to think about it. The vampires had been momentarily surprised by the fact that he was a vampire, but they had recovered. By killing one of their number, he had proven himself to be the enemy, and they were not holding back. Luckily for Angel, both were lesser vampires, and he had the advantage of strength and speed. However they were remarkably good at working together, he would just have to wait for them to make a mistake.

Buffy was searching for an advantage in her fight, too. The two vampires that she was facing knew how to work together, and were using coordinated blows in an attempt to get through her defenses. The Slayer decided she needed to take a few risks, the vampires seemed to react badly to surprises. She did a twisting somersault over their heads. As she had hoped, the surprise of seeing her perform the dangerous move froze them for an instant, and she managed to stake one of her opponents. One on one, the fight became much more even. Although the vampire was good, it wasn’t good enough. And eventually it made a mistake, and a moment of overbalance from a punch allowed her to stake it.

The Slayer turned to where Angel was fighting. The battle was one sided, Angel dodged his opponents blows, and they could not dodge his. Buffy had forgotten how much quicker he was than the average vampire. Even as she prepared to enter the fight, the blonde vampire spun away from Angel’s strong face punch, and he kicked the legs out from under the other.

Angel glanced at Buffy, and moved to the final vampire, while she staked the one on the ground. The last vampire had not recovered its balance, and he did not give it a chance to. Angel grabbed it by both arms and, for a moment, studied its features.

Buffy watched in shock as Angel’s features morphed from vampire to human. It was such a strange thing for him to do that she momentarily did nothing, as the last vampire, the one with blonde hair, came face to face with Angel. For a moment it froze in surprise, Buffy saw it draw in breath and open its mouth to speak. But she never found out what it would have said, because the Slayer took advantage of its surprise to drive a stake into its heart.

Buffy looked around the wreckage in the inside of the burial ground. She pushed the hair that had escaped her hair clasp off her face as she tried to catch her breath. She ached from abused muscles and absorbed blows. She knew that some of the bruises would actually form, despite the healing that being the Slayer gave her. The vampires had been tough, stronger than most of the vamps she had fought.

Most vampires were slavering beasts. Their strength and quickness made them dangerous, but they lacked intelligence. The occasional vampire leaders tended to have the intelligence that the others lacked. They became an active threat rather than an annoying pest. These vampires had not had a leader, and had not had intelligence. But they had still managed to work as a team. They had been surprised, but they had recovered. In other words, they were not normal vampires. It was almost as if they had been trained to act as a group. Buffy did not understand the different levels of vampires. But she now had a source of information.

Buffy turned to Angel, about to ask him to explain, but his expression stopped her. He looked haunted, as if he had seen something that could not be. She changed what she was going to say; "You look like you’ve seen a ghost."

As Angel looked up, his expression flattened, returning to impassivity. "It’s nothing."

It was a blatant lie, but Buffy decided not to push. She knelt beside the nearest pile of vampire ash. As she had expected, she found a black stone in a silver earring setting. She picked it up and turned back to Angel. "It’s time to see Giles."

A flash of pain crossed Angel’s face.

"I know. But we’ve run out of time. We need his help and you have information. If we’re gonna figure out what to do, we need to pool that."

Angel could not fault her logic. Eventually he nodded his head in agreement, and the two climbed out of the mausoleum.

Giles looked up as Buffy walked into the library; she was followed by Angel. The vampire immediately drew Giles’s attention. He had known about Angel, of course. But it was another thing to come face to face. When he had first seen Angel, just after his return, Giles emotions had been focused on Buffy. Because his Slayer had just returned, he had not had the luxury to think about the vampire. That was no longer true.

The Watcher knew, better than most, that Angel was not Angelus. But facing him now, he realized that at some level he still blamed Angel for the loss of Jenny Calendar, his first love.

With effort, he turned his attention back to his Slayer. He finally noticed that Buffy was in disarray. Strands of her hair had come loose from the clasp she wore, her shirt was torn, and she had a set of developing bruises on the exposed portions of her body. In other words, it looked like she had just been in a fight for her life. "What happened to you?"

Buffy walked into the library and took a seat by the table with relief. Angel also drifted in, but he chose to stand against one wall. He was so quiet that Giles could almost forget that he was present, almost. Buffy answered his question after a moment, "Ran into a group of vamps."

"How many?"

"Six, and they were wearing these." Buffy held up the earring that she had taken from the dead.

"Same order. So we do have an organized group in town."

"Yep. They were looting a mausoleum."

Giles raised his eyebrows in surprise.

But Buffy ignored him and turned to Angel, and asked pointedly, "You know who the new leader is. Don’t you?"

Angel looked down momentarily, "I don’t know."

Buffy pressed, "But you have a good guess."

"Yes. Yes I do." Angel sighed, and turned to Giles. "Do you know of a vampire that goes by Bella Morte?"

Giles frowned in thought, and Buffy puzzled on the translation for a moment. "Beautiful Death?"

"Yes. She was born in 1842 in Paris."

Giles was still thinking.

Angel gave a little more information. "The eldest daughter of a Parisian merchant house in 1860 was named Solange. The entire family was killed by a vampire in about two days. The body of Solange was never recovered."

Giles remembered the story. "I remember. Vaguely. There was not much in the diaries. The Watcher in Paris at the time was busy training a new Slayer, Sophia, I believe the name was."

A flash of pain crossed Angel’s face at the sound of that name. But Buffy missed it because she was listening to her Watcher. Giles paused for a moment, he knew who had killed Sophia. But then he went on. "By the time they investigated, there was no sign of vampires. But…"

As his voice trailed off Buffy prodded, "But?"

"Three years later, Paris was the sight of extreme vampire activity. Many prominent families lost members. Sophia did her best, but she was killed slightly after."

Buffy hated hearing the details about the ends of previous Slayers, she decided to return the conversation to the topic of the night, "And Bella Morte?"

"She would travel for a little while, but she always returned to Paris. A powerful vampire, but she never gathered large numbers of minions. I do not believe that she ever faced a Slayer."

Angel snorted. "She’s faced at least two. One in Paris in 1863, and one in, um, Vienna, I believe. Around 1875."

Giles stared at the vampire in shock. He knew to which vampire the first kill was credited, he would have to look up the second, but at the moment he had a very good guess.

Buffy was impressed. "She killed two Slayers when she was that young?"

"I never said that she killed them."

"Then what?"

Angel looked down at his hands. When he spoke again, Buffy heard the buried pain in his voice. "Solange can capture mortals with her gaze. She was the one that stopped both Slayers, but older vampires killed them." Angel paused and then finished telling the truth, his voice full of pain. "I killed Sophia in Paris. I believe Darla killed the Slayer in Vienna. But in both cases Solange faced them first."

Buffy’s face fell, "Oh." She regrouped. "Why do you think that it is her?"

Angel sighed. "There aren’t that many candidates. And the vampires that we’ve fought recently are her type."

Buffy looked at him hard.

"Most vampires are rather picky about changing people. Especially strong ones. But Solange always had an interesting criteria."

Buffy’s eyebrows raised her eyebrows questioningly, as she realized what the vamps had in common.

Angel nodded his head.

Buffy shook her head in disbelief. Changing people because of their looks? She wondered if the vampire was insane. The thought was slightly frightening; she really did not want to deal with another insane vampire leader.

Angel correctly read her expression; "She’s not insane, not like Drusilla was. But she’s not exactly sane, either. She’s extremely vain of her appearance, and prefers to surround herself by beauty."

Buffy looked at him in surprise.

Angel half-smiled. "Don’t ask me. She was like that even as a human. She’s completely self-centered too."

Buffy didn’t quite know what to say; Angel’s last comment was a tactic admission to the fact that he had changed Solange. But she didn’t really want to force him to say it, and she couldn’t think of another conversation topic.

Luckily, her Watcher interrupted. "Well, enough of this. We have another problem."

Buffy gladly joined the new conversation. "Those vamps were after something?"

"Precisely."

"So what was it?"

"I have no idea."

"Great."

"But we should recover it before more vampires are sent."

Buffy looked around the forest of mausoleums. "I always wanted to know why we have so many crypts and mausoleums here." Buffy looked at Giles; he seemed completely interested in looking at the names and dates on the surface of their target. She continued to troll, "Another side effect of the Hellmouth?"

Giles looked up at her briefly, "Hmm?"

Buffy sighed and gave up, "Okay. Who is it?"

"Um, it appears to be someone named Crystal. Date of death is December 22, 1906. I don’t remember anything about a Crystal, but we can look into the histories of Sunnydale when we get back to the library."

Buffy grimaced to herself. What a way to spend Homecoming night, a fight with vampires, a reconnaissance mission to the cemetery, all followed by a book session. The Slayer pushed open the door, and took a quick look around before entering. Nothing seemed to have changed since she had last been there.

Giles followed Buffy into the mausoleum, shinning his flashlight around, searching for clues. Angel also entered, but he stayed by the door, assuming a guard position.

The Watcher finished his initial inspection, and turned to his Slayer. "Where were the vampires in the crypt?"

"Some were searching through those," Buffy waved at the disturbed piles of junk in the niches lining the walls of the crypt. "One was opening that." The Slayer pointed at the stone coffin in the center of the mausoleum.

"Can you open it?"

Buffy examined the heavy stone construction. "I can try." She pushed at the solid stone lid. It moved maybe an inch, but at least it was not fixed in place. Angel moved in to help her, giving up on watching the door. The two carefully slid the lid off the coffin and set it on the floor.

The Watcher peered into the opened crypt, "How odd."

"What is it Giles?"

"It looks older than the dates would imply."

Buffy looked over the edge to see what had puzzled her Watcher. The crypt contained an age-dried skeleton that looked to be hundreds of years old, not decades. The clothing had all rotted to nothing. The jewelry was all tarnished. Except for a tiara that adorned the skull. The silver tiara was set with a single black stone. It seemed to be a very unusual piece of jewelry. Why would someone mount such a boring looking stone in such an expensive looking setting?

Unless it was more than it seemed to be. Buffy reached out a hand to it. Gently she scanned around the edges of the stone. Buffy’s breath hissed out as she pulled back her hand as if it was burned.

Angel looked at her in concern, "You alright?"

Buffy smiled weakly at him. "Yeah. Let’s just say that thing is majorly magical, and I don’t wanna touch it again."

Giles looked at her in concern for a moment, and then took her at her word. "So this is what the vampires were after."

"That’d be my guess."

Giles reached out and touched the stone, tentatively. When nothing happened, he carefully picked up the tiara. Then the Watcher turned a curious eye back on his Slayer, "What did you feel, Buffy?"

Buffy shivered for a moment. "Evil. Whatever made that stone was evil. I felt malice and cruelty. And the screams of innocents." Buffy felt a gentle touch on her back, and she managed to smile up at Angel. "It’s okay. It just freaked me, I wasn’t expecting it."

Giles was carefully looking over the tiara, trying to find any distinguishing marks. But nothing seemed familiar. Eventually, he handed it to Angel, hoping that the vampire would be able to identify it.

Angel looked at the extended tiara for a moment, and then gingerly reached out to hold it. For a moment, nothing happened, and then the black stone started to glow with a faint red light and the vampire gasped and dropped it. The two humans stared at Angel in shock, but Angel could not reassure them. He was too busy fighting the darkness within himself. The darkness that had surged free in response to the power contained in the black stone.

Buffy was right, that piece of jewelry was evil. More to the point, the demon that shared his body had recognized it, and the stone had responded to his touch. Or more accurately it had responded to the touch of his blood. He knew what it was then.

Angel took a deep breath, and then faced the Slayer and her Watcher. "That’s what they were after. It’s Alec’s."

"What is it?"

Angel was worried. "I don’t know. But it’s her power, and she must want it badly to send vampires after it."

Giles bent over to pick it up, while Buffy watched in concern. "So, what do we do with it?"

The Watcher pulled out a piece of silk and wrapped up the tiara. "We keep it out of her hands."

"How?"

"I’ll deal with it."

Buffy looked at her Watcher with concern, but she trusted his judgement. He would deal with the stone as he had dealt with the other nasty legacies from her tenure on the Hellmouth. The pieces of the Judge came to mind when she thought about that long list.

Buffy was very late to the Homecoming dance. She had thought about not going; it had seemed pretty unimportant after the evening. But Angel had convinced her that it was important, if only to her friends.

She spotted Willow standing to one side of the dance floor, close to the band. As expected, Willow only had eyes for Oz. Adoration filled her eyes, and Buffy was glad. Oz was a great boyfriend for Willow, better for her than almost anyone else. Buffy knew that a part of her friend still wished that Xander had seen the light, but that seemed not meant to be. So Buffy was glad that she had found such a great boyfriend.

"Hey."

Willow turned to Buffy happily. "You made it."

"I made it. Where are Xander and Cordy?"

Willow pointed at the dance floor, where the two in question were busy checking out each other’s dance moves. As the song ended, the pair walked off the dance floor, and Xander smiled at Buffy in greeting.

Buffy turned to Cordelia; "I heard what happened."

Cordelia just shrugged.

"And how did the game turn out?"

Xander smiled, "We won, 37 to 10."

Willow added, "I think the fact that we haven’t had any football players die this year gave us the edge."

Buffy smiled. Hellmouth humor was unlike anything else.

Buffy turned to the friend that had not said anything. "Cordelia, you’re awfully quiet."

Cordelia seemed to animate, throwing off whatever was bothering her. Or, at least burying it. "Yeah, well, haven’t had much to say."

"I’m sorry things didn’t turn out."

Cordelia’s light tone did not fool her friends. "Who would’ve thought this school would elect a demon for Homecoming Queen."

Xander quipped back, "It’s Sunnydale. Home to the greatest number of weird, demonic occurrences."

Cordelia raised a hand to her hair. "Sorry, gotta check out the hair." She smiled at Xander; "I’ll be back in a moment."

Xander watched as Cordelia walked out of the room. "Should someone go after her?"

Willow looked thoughtfully at the retreating girl. "I don’t think so. She needs time to think." Willow turned to Buffy, "So how was your night?"

"Oh, just the usual. Vampires, demons, too much magic."

"Everything work out?"

"Yes and no. I averted any immediate cataclysms, but there is a new vampire leader in town."

Xander had recovered enough from Cordelia’s departure to attempt being witty. "Anyone we know?"

"She goes by the name Bella Morte."

Willow frowned at the translation. "Beautiful Death?"

"Yep. Alec seems to be gathering a following of vampires that have her blood."

"Which means that this Bella Morte is of her line?"

A flash of pain crossed Buffy’s face. "Yeah."

Xander correctly read the flash, and was not above exploiting it. "Another of Angel’s?"

"Yeah."

Just after the coming of the sun, the vampire, Midnight, faced her demonic liege. Her voice trembled a little, as she admitted, "We have failed, Mistress."

Alec’s voice was emotionless, as she asked, "Where is the keystone?"

"I believe that the Slayer has it."

"What happened?"

"I sent the vampires after the keystone as you ordered. When they failed to return, I went after it myself. There were humans in the crypt, and one was the Slayer."

"How do you know that?"

"I can feel Slayers, Mistress."

Alec thought about that. "A gift of your blood?"

"Yes. The gifts do not always run true, but those of us close to you in blood often have power."

"Did you attempt to face the Slayer?"

"No."

"That is good." The demon turned to other matters. "Was the keystone in the crypt?"

"Yes. I went back just before the dawn. An echo of its power still lingers."

"So, the Slayer has it. Well, no matter. We shall recover it when it is necessary."

Buffy tracked Amy down, the next Monday.

Amy was not thrilled to face her again, but she managed a pleasant, "You’re looking better, Buffy."

"I’m doing better. But we need to finish the discussion we were having last time."

"What else needs to be said? You leave me alone, and I leave you alone."

"I understand that you don’t wanna get involved, but you are still a major power. And I have no choice but to make sure that you stay at least neutral."

"I wanna be left alone. You’re right, I do have power, and I have enough to make sure that I am left alone."

"Alright. We have a truce. I’ll leave you alone and you’ll leave me alone. But there are two things you need to keep in mind."

"And what’s that?"

"First, if you do anything, anything at all that harms the innocent, I will destroy you."

"There are no innocents."

"There are to me."

Amy looked sullen for a moment. "And the second thing?"

Buffy’s expression softened. "Someday you’ll realize that you can’t sit this fight out. When that happens, remember that you are human. And if you need help, I’ll be around."

Amy did not relax. "Well, aren’t you a pompous fool."

Buffy bit back a cutting reply. She had added her offer because she had a strange premonition that someday Amy would come to her for help.

Amy snorted, as Buffy gave no reply to her accusation. The witch turned and walked away.

The Slayer wondered through the night, keeping her senses extended because she was on patrol. But she sensed no vampires.

A shape blended out of the shadows. For a moment, Buffy thought that it was Alec, because the demon liked to sneak up on people. But then she realized that the figure had dark hair.

Midnight walked forward to the Slayer. The vampire saw the startlement on her features and her smile turned malevolent. "Slayer," she greeted.

As the woman got close, about ten feet away from her, Buffy finally recognized what she was. "Vampire." Based on Angel’s comments and the vampire’s obvious powers, she made a guess, "Bella Morte."

Midnight bowed her head in acknowledgement of the greeting. "I wanted to see you, Slayer."

"Why?"

"I like to know my enemies, do you not?"

"Fine. We’ve been introduced." The Slayer pulled a stake from her belt. "Now it’s time to die."

Midnight smiled. "Not really."

Buffy watched in astonishment as the vampire turned and walked away. She had a clear shot at its back, but for some reason she hesitated. And then the vampire was gone.

Buffy and Angel walked through the night.

"I saw Bella Morte, earlier."

"Really?"

"She seems rather strange."

Angel was silent. When he spoke again, Buffy wondered if he was even carrying on the same conversation that she was. "There are so many mistakes that I’ve made. Things that I’ll never forgive myself for. There will always be something in past coming back to haunt me."

"That wasn’t you." But Buffy saw from his expression that she had drawn the wrong conclusion from his words. She took a chance. "Angel you’ve paid for what you’ve done."

He looked at her in surprise. "What?"

"I know that it doesn’t seem that way now, but you have."

Angel stopped and looked at her. For the first time she saw how deep his pain still ran, he had hidden it from her before. "I could spend all of eternity helping you and I would still not be able to make up for what I did to you."

As Buffy looked into Angel’s eyes, she realized several truths. The connection, the soul link, between them was as strong as ever. She had thought that it had faded when both of them had been restored to the world. When Angel had lost his soul, that soul had been still present to her, through the link. When he had suffered in Hell, she had taken part of his torment on herself, through the link. And now the link gave her insight into her only love.

Angel had been avoiding her world, but not for the reasons that she had assumed, or not only for those reasons. He did feel true regret and pain at the memories of what he had done to her friends. But she knew that he had done it because he had known that it would hurt her. And facing them brought it all back to him.

She had never found a way to tell Angel about the soul link. But she could see the effect it had on him. When he faced her, he could not see how he had hurt her. But when he faced her friends, he saw how he could hurt her through them. The soul link made it possible for him to be around her. It could not hide his memories, but it made them detached from reality. And he did not realize that it existed.

For the first time, Buffy realized that it also made it possible for her to be around him. It blunted the memories of fear and pain. The soul link made this transition possible, and she did not know how to tell him, or even if she should.

Before she could think of anything to say, Angel spoke again, "The past will always be between us. And there is no future for us."

Buffy felt a stab of sheer terror, "What are you saying?"

"There is no place for me in your world. I’ve tried it, but it’s true. And as long as I stay with you, I will be your worst danger."

Buffy breathed, "No."

But if Angel heard her, he ignored her, "I’m glad I had the chance to see you again. And I’m glad that I had the chance to tell you that what happened is not your fault. And I’m glad that you don’t hate me for what I did to you." Angel paused, but Buffy was speechless, she could not believe this was happening. "And I wanted to say, one last time, that I love you."

With those words Angel turned to leave, and as he started to take that first step into a future without her, she moved. Grabbing him by the arm Buffy turned him back to face her. "Wait…"

She saw the pain in his eyes, the pain of choice. "Buffy, this can’t ever be anything, the cost is too high. There’ll never be a time for us. I’ll never forget you, but I have to do this." He paused for a moment, "Find a way to be happy."

Buffy knew that he was right, and she knew that she should just say goodbye. But she had lived three months without him. And she could not bear to live without him again. "There is a time for us, just as there has always been, now." Buffy bit her lip before she added her soft plea, "Don’t go."

Angel closed his eyes in order to think. He knew that he was right, he had to go. But even the thought of living without her was filled with pain. He knew that everything he was, he owed to her. Could he just leave her?

Buffy took his silence as a good sign. "Angel, I can’t do this without you. I’m alone, as the Slayer. Even my friends don’t really understand what it’s like to live in darkness. Please, I need you."

Angel half-smiled at her in pain. "No, you don’t, you did just fine without me."

Buffy froze for a moment, from his knowledge his words were true. But she could think of no way to explain the whole truth to him. "No. I won’t be fine. Will you?"

As Buffy waited for him to respond, she did not know whether his silence was a good or a bad sign. Eventually Angel let out a sigh, and spoke again, "No." Buffy wondered which question he was answering, and then he pulled her close.

For a moment, they clung to each other, and then they broke apart to return to their duty.

Midnight looked at the demon to which she had pledged her loyalty. "I saw the Slayer tonight. She didn’t seem that tough. Why don’t you just kill her?"

Alec regarded her curiously, and countered with a question of her own, "Was Angel there?"

"Angel?" Midnight’s eyes grew wide. "Angel is here? Why didn’t you tell me?"

Alec was amused by the vampire’s reaction. She had known that Midnight still felt strongly for Angel, but this was going to be fun. "I just did."

"Why isn’t he with us?" Midnight thought for a moment. "No, I know. He always did like to be independent." She turned to the demon eagerly. "Let me talk to him, please. I can convince him."

Alec smiled to herself. But she played along, sounding doubtful. "I’m not so sure about that."

"I can do this. No one has ever loved him like I do. Just let me go to him. Where is he living?"

"Did you follow the Slayer to her home last night?"

Midnight frowned at the change in the conversation, but she answered the question after a moment, "No."

"Then you missed where Angel lives."

Midnight just stared at Alec as the seconds trickled past. She could not understand the words. And when she did understand them, she could not believe them. Eventually she spoke up, her voice losing all of its music, "Angel, with a Slayer?" And then her resolve firmed as she thought of another possibility. Of all the vampires she had ever known, Angel was the only one who had a chance to pull it off. But she could not believe that he would. "No. That is impossible. No matter how good Angel is, he could never convince a Slayer not to kill him."

"Not even if the Slayer in question loves him?"

Midnight struggled with the concept. Her appreciation for her sire increased. "Amazing. I do not believe that even Angel could have pulled it off." And then she turned suspicious. "Why has he not he changed her or killed her? I know Angelus, and once he has conquered, he does not continue the game."

"Not even if he loves the Slayer?"

Midnight was incredulous. "Love? Angel could never love a mortal. If he desired the girl he would change her."

"Not even if he was reformed? If he has given up killing mortals for their blood? If he now hunts his own kind? Not even if he wants to see the sun?"

Midnight laughed. She could not help herself; the suggestion was just so ridiculous. "Angelus? The vampire that was first in the Master’s court? Often considered the most evil vampire created in the last four hundred years? The vampire that has the purest blood of your line? The vampire that hated humans above all others?"

"The Slayer found a way to restore Angel’s soul."

The tone of Alec’s voice finally broke into Midnight’s consciousness. "Are you serious?" The demon nodded in response. Midnight’s face fell. "My poor Angel." Then she turned on the demon, and demanded, "Why haven’t you broken this? Taken away his soul?"

"I don’t think a creature of evil can do that."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Wait."

The vampire was incredulous, "Wait?"

But the demon was adamant. "Yes."

Back to: The Coming of the Light.