Chapter 31 – Checkpoint

 

 

 

The moment Giles walked into the Magic Shop, Angel noticed the change in him. No longer was he the tired, old man that had left Sunnydale two days ago. This man was vibrantly alive with a purpose. And it was that man that had called this meeting. They were all there, Buffy, Spike, him, the Scoobies, Jenny and even Faith and Wesley had been called from Los Angeles. Cordelia and Doyle had been told to wait by the phone so they could be included.

 

Giles had called before he left London, giving explicit instructions that Xander pick him up from the airport and everyone else be waiting at the shop. So, they were waiting. Mostly everyone was sitting at the tables that were set up to accommodate all of them except for Buffy and Faith. In mirror poses on opposite sides of the room they stood with arms crossed with their weight on one leg so their hip jutted out. And in their duplicate postures was Spike and Angel, standing along the back wall with their arms crossed and legs spread so their weight was evenly distributed. The four of them were trying to maintain their position in the group, to stand as the most important but Giles took one look at them and shook his head.

 

“Everyone sit,” Giles said. “There isn’t room for ego trips anymore. Everyone is needed from the mightiest of you,” he glanced at Buffy, “to the weakest of you,” his glance moved to Xander. When the younger man was going to protest, Giles held his hand up. “No comments.” He turned to the four still standing. “I said sit.”

 

Reluctantly they sat, Buffy sitting between Angel and Spike while Faith took a seat next to Wesley. There was silence as Wesley called Los Angeles and got Cordy and Doyle on the phone.

 

“Did you find out anything about Glory?” Buffy asked as soon as everyone was in position and ready.

 

“Buffy, please take those glasses off,” Giles said, gesturing toward the sunglasses Buffy wore to hide her eyes from everyone. “I know about the change. Xander filled me in on the way from the airport. And I’d like to be able to see you.”

 

The glasses hit the table while Buffy boldly looked at everyone who had yet to see the change in her. Angel squeezed her hand under the table for support. No one said anything. Not even Faith. The looks were mostly curious, a few that were wary but no one was outwardly malicious.

 

“Fine, now that we’ve looked at Buffy,” Giles said, standing in front of the group. “Let’s get down to business. First, the Council refuses to help us in anyway. Their words were, ‘The world will be sucked into hell before we’ll aid two renegade slayers and their vampire lovers’.

 

“My vampire lovers,” Buffy corrected. “And they both have souls now so what’s their deal?”

 

“Their deal is,” Giles said. “Is that they are all uptight Watchers on a power trip with no one to have power over. I did manage to get one bit of information from them though and that’s why I called this meeting.”

 

“Uh-oh, this isn’t going to be good,” Xander muttered.

 

“Glory isn’t a demon or a hell beast,” Giles informed them. “She’s a god.”

 

There was silence for a few moments as everyone absorbed the news.

 

“What are you telling us?” Faith asked, breaking through the quiet. “That we aren’t going to be able to beat her or what?”

 

“There has to be a way,” Buffy said, turning to look at Giles. “She has to have a weakness.”

 

“Unfortunately, none of the resources I have at the moment give any information on Glory,” Giles explained. “Everything that we need is inside the Council’s database.”

 

“Ooh, that’s where I come in,” Willow said, raising her hand. “I can do a little accessing…I mean if you want me to that is.”

 

“Yes, I do,” Giles said, nodding.

 

“There’s a law firm in Los Angeles,” Angel said, leaning his forearms on the table and clasping his hands together. “It’s called Wolfram and Hart. Their clients are mainly evil but their computers probably have information, too.”

 

“Well, it looks like Willow has her work cut out for her,” Xander said. “What about the rest of us?”

 

“We hit the books looking for information on vampire claims and Slayers,” Giles answered, walking around the group. “But first I want to deal with Faith.”

 

“What about me?” the brunette asked sitting up a little straighter.

 

“The ritual to link you to Angel, I want it done tonight.”

 

“Are you sure?” Wesley asked. “We still haven’t ascertained what exactly has happened to the three of them. If they are linked somehow, won’t that put her under the power of Buffy and Spike, too?”

 

“Whoa,” Faith jumped in. “I didn’t agree to that and I don’t trust Buffy, especially in her demon state, not to make me do something stupid.”

 

“What? Like make you be my slave,” Buffy said sarcastically. “You’re not worth my time.”

 

The two Slayers stared at each other in open hostility. Buffy refused to back down, her eyes darkening to deep amber and a growl broke through the tension filled air.

 

“Buffy, don’t,” Angel said, putting his hand on her shoulder to prevent her from standing. “Been this route and don’t need to go again.”

 

Buffy sat back down with obvious reluctance. Her arms crossed as she leaned back in the chair and never took her eyes from Faith.

 

“See, she wants to rip my throat out,” Faith declared. “I don’t want her to have any power over me. She’s already tried to kill me once and who says she won’t now?”

 

“We don’t have a choice,” Giles said. “We can’t have any loose ends. All of our concentration needs to be on defeating Glory. We’re probably going to need your help before this is over and Buffy isn’t going to do anything to jeopardize Dawn’s safety.”

 

For a moment it seemed the old Buffy was back as her eyes faded to green and she reached out to clutch at Angel’s hand. Angel squeezed the small appendage, reassured by the return of his girl. She was still there beneath the demon and he held out hope that she would soon fight her way back out.

 

“If the spell and ritual are done with Angel,” Jenny said, leaning forward. “There is still the chance that it is only Angel that will have the control. I can’t guarantee it because we’re still not sure how deeply they’re merged.”

 

“Fine, but if something happens to me,” Faith said, flopping dramatically back in her chair. “I’m blaming you.”

 

Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief that things between the two slayers hadn’t gone any further and they turned back to Giles to continue the meeting.

 

“Not only do we need to do the spell to assure Faith’s loyalty,” Giles started. “We also need to give her a new identity.”

 

“That’s not a problem,” Angel said. “I know some guys that can get us all the paperwork needed.”

 

“Good, get it,” Giles said. “Let her pick out a new name.”

 

Tara raised her hand. “I was going to suggest maybe doing a glamour spell…I mean it would give her a new look. And we could modify it so that she would look the same to us but to the rest of the world she would look differently.”

 

“Shit, is there going to be anything left of me by the time you guys are done?” Faith swore.

 

“The choice was yours, pet,” Spike said, sitting back in his chair and letting his legs fall open in his typical fashion. “You chose to help out instead of going to prison. If you would prefer a little cell to be your home…”

 

“Whatever,” Faith said, turning to Tara. “So, you can make me look anyway I want to?”

 

“Yes, pretty much,” Tara said. “When we get done here we can talk about what you want.”

 

“Cool,” Faith said, seeming to relax as she returned her attention to the group.

 

Angel grew wary as Giles paced across the floor a few times. He knew it was time to discuss him and his mates.  Only the briefest of explanations had been given in answer to everyone’s questions so far. Shame filled him again as he remembered how it had happened. None of the others would understand Spike’s and his need for violence and the hunger that had driven them.

 

It seemed though that Giles knew too much as he slammed his hands down on the table in front of Angel. The vampire and the others jumped at the unexpected move from the Watcher and the anger displayed on his countenance.

 

“I told you,” Giles said. “That if you ever hurt Buffy I would make sure you ended up as dust. The only thing keeping your sorry ass undead is that I’m afraid that it would hurt her or possibly destroy her if anything was done to you.”

 

“Hurt her?” Willow asked, frowning. “They said it was done in a claim. And I thought that was like voluntary.”

 

“It is done voluntarily, usually, but someone could be misled,” Giles continued, never breaking eye contact with Angel. “Or someone could be forced into a situation they didn’t anticipate. For the life of me I can’t imagine Buffy willingly participating in the violence and blood that it would take to make this kind of change.”

 

“Leave him alone, Giles,” Buffy said. “What is done is done and I happen to like this change in me.” She licked her lips and placed her hands over one of each of her mates. “Besides they understand the way things are going to be? Don’t you boys?” She practically purred the question to them, seeming to take pleasure in their discomfiture and the look of confusion from the others.

 

Angel stared ahead and tried to ignore the looks they were getting from the others. It was hard to accept that he had promised Buffy his loyalty in exchange for the luxury of staying with her. He’d been played so easily as had Spike. And it irritated him that she was enjoying this so much.

 

Giles straightened and moved away from the table to stand with his back to the group. “Tell us, exactly what happened. How you were feeling? In order to research this phenomenon we will need details.”

 

This time Angel closed his eyes in self-deprecation. He was a vampire, the scourge of Europe and he was cowering to the whims of a twenty-year-old girl who had a bad case of demonitis. He opened his eyes to look around at the group, trying to call upon Angelus to pull him through this, but was only met with scorn from these humans. Angelus, it seemed, had abandoned him.

 

Angel glanced over at Spike who was staring at his hands and looking as agonized as he felt. He wished he could comfort the blonde but knew it would only make things worse. It would make them appear weaker. It was time for him to stand up and be a man. To take responsibility for what he had done to his mates and try to find a way to fix them.

 

“It was after Spike’s chip was removed,” Angel said, straightening up and speaking without emotion. “Buffy invited Spike to bite her. From there we proceeded to the bedroom and to having sex. Buffy was on top of me and Spike was on top of her…we were both…taking her. She was fighting us…fighting it at first but then upon realizing that we weren’t going to stop, she started to participate.” He hesitated, swallowed and then continued. “We all reached…”

 

“Orgasm,” Anya finished for him. “You all had orgasms together? Wow…that must have been very pleasurable.”

 

“I don’t think that’s the point,” Tara said softly. “The point is that they…”

 

“Raped her,” Jenny said, standing. “You raped the girl that you claim to love. I can’t believe that I fell for the line that you had changed.” The small woman was shaking from a fury that was not only for Buffy but also for the gypsy girl that Angelus had murdered over a century before. “I am ashamed that I helped to free you from the curse, you murderous bastard.”

 

Xander stood, knocking back in his chair in his own anger, as the full impact of the words became clear to him. “Did you know, Spike? Did you?” He ran around the side of the table and pulled Spike up by his shirt before anyone could stop him. He shoved the unresisting vampire against the wall. “I believed you when you said you would never hurt her. I was actually beginning to think we were…”

 

Chaos was breaking out as Giles rushed to comfort Jenny, Angel went to pull Xander away from Spike, Faith hurried over to protect Xander and there were shouts of concern squealing from the phone.

 

“Stop it,” Buffy yelled, standing and overturning the table to get everyone’s attention. “Shut up, all of you, now.”  She turned to Xander. “Let go of him.” Her hands clenched in fists rested on her hips while she waited for everyone to quiet down. “No one will do anything to either Spike or Angel. They are mine. Nothing has changed the fact that we belong together and are going to stay together. Is that understood?”

 

“But Buffy,” Willow protested. “How can we just ignore what they did to you?”

 

“Any attempt to protect my virtue is a little late,” Buffy said, smirking as she looked at her friends and colleagues. “I have lived with the two of them for months now and I knew what I was getting into when I walked into that bedroom. They’re demons that thrive on violence and yes, they went too far but it is my business. If they had attacked any of you then it would be a group problem. They have given me their allegiance and Giles will tell you that things are now under control.”

 

“So, what does it mean?” Willow asked, turning to Giles.

 

“It means,” Wesley said, jumping in when the older Watcher seemed stunned into silence. “That Buffy is now the head of the trio and Spike and Angel have agreed to follow her orders. It also means that if they disobey they have to submit to whatever punishment she deems fit.”

 

“Is it true?” Giles asked, looking at Angel. “You’ve abdicated control to Buffy?”

 

“Yes,” Angel said, stepping back into the shadows. It was unheard of for an alpha male to walk away from his position. The only way in vampire families for someone else to become head of the family is for the current one to be killed.

 

There was a minimal amount of comfort as Spike came to stand beside him. Next Buffy came to stand on the other side of him and he sighed in relief. The message was clear to the others that the three were still a unit, standing beside each other, protecting one another, no matter what had happened or who was in charge. Slowly the others returned to their seats, but the air still vibrated with animosity. Once everyone else was back in their place, Buffy signaled for them to sit also. They righted their table and sat. This time they were closer than before and Angel knew they had taken a tiny step back to the closeness they once shared.

 

Giles coughed and everyone’s attention returned to him. “Other than the obvious changes of Buffy’s demon and Spike’s soul, what else have you noticed?”

 

“The demon has also brought the acute senses to Buffy,” Angel said. “The hearing, smell and sight.”

 

“Have you been craving blood?” Wesley asked.

 

“No,” Buffy said, shaking her head. “But I have been feeling more restless. It’s like I want to hunt.”

 

“Need for violence,” Spike said. “Oh, and we did this crazy thing. We can link up together. We did it the first night. It was like a burning but we could feel each other.”

 

“Almost like we were one being,” Angel explained.

 

“So, other than the soul,” Xander said, waving his hand in the air. “There haven’t been any changes in you two?”

 

“Not that we know of,” Angel said. “The only other thing I can think of is when it happened I could have sworn my heart beat for a second but then it stopped and I thought I was imagining it.”

 

“It did beat,” Buffy said. “I felt it.”

 

“You haven’t done any testing or anything?” Wesley asked. “There could be changes and you just don’t know about it yet.”

 

“Like what?” Spike asked.

 

“Maybe if the changes are because you’re linked,” Giles said, stopping in front of them. “And the three of you are sharing demons and souls then there is the possibility that you have Buffy’s human characteristics as well.”

 

“Like what?” Faith asked. “They could be sustained on food or something.”

 

“No, something more profound…” Wesley started.

 

“Like being able to be in sunlight without repercussions…” Giles finished.

 

 

to be continued…

Chapter 32
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