“So you’re keeping both houses?” Anya asked. “That seems like a little overkill.”

Buffy shrugged. “Angel says he can afford it…we, we can afford it. The insurance paid for my house years ago and Angel has money…from whatever vampires accumulate money from.”

“So where are you going to live?” Willow asked as they walked up to the magic shop.

“I think we’ll stay in our house,” she told her roomie. “It’s more homey than the mansion…but the mansion has so many memories for me, I begged him not to give it up if we didn’t have to.”

“See?” Anya cut in. “Angel’s smart. Invest in real estate. Now he owns the house, the mansion and the hotel in LA. It’s good sense…especially when retirement comes around.”

“Retirement,” Buffy snorted. “Retirement from what?”

“Well, you know…someday when you two settle down with your little Angels and Buffys,” Anya said, striding up to the counter.

Angel looked up as they walked in. “Little Angels and Buffys?” he asked.

Buffy walked up and kissed him. “Don’t panic. We’re not ready to subscribe to Parenting.”

He looked somewhat relieved and kissed her back.

“That seems like as good an opening as any,” Xander said, walking up to greet his friends. “What is the deal with you guys and the offspring? Any news on the Triumphant’s arrival?”

Buffy and Angel shared a glance. “Um, no. We’ve only been back two days…no new prophecies…no new mystical occurrences.”

“Don’t!” Willow cried.

Everyone turned to the red head. “What?” Xander asked.

“Don’t say that! The minute you do, you know what happens!” she cried.

Buffy moved to her side. “It’ll be okay, Will,” she said, putting an arm around her friend. She gave a worried glance to Angel. “Right guys?”

He smiled at her. “Of course it will. I mean, honestly. What else can we face that we haven’t already?”

Willow’s eyes flew open. “Don’t say that either!” she moaned, pointing a finger at him.

“Will…think about it! We’ve faced the apocalypse more times than I can count, and that’s not because I repeated algebra three times,” Xander clarified, “we’ve sent hellbeasts to the pound, we’ve killed Masters and snakes, that’s two snakes now, mind you, and hellgods and everything else the Hellmouth has thrown at us. And we’re fine.”

“We’re doomed,” Willow wailed, hanging her head.

Buffy gave her a squeeze. “I, for one, would like to know more about the Triumphant. I mean…that’s something pretty big. When is all this going to happen?”

Angel’s face turned serious at the mention of his future child. “Some things we just have to leave up to fate.”

“Screw fate,” Buffy said easily. “Fate’s has this trick of disguising itself as heartache and near death experiences. We’ve been given a leg up, I’d like to know more. Wouldn’t you?” she asked him.

He looked into her sincere green eyes, tinged with the tiniest bit of hope, and his heart melted. “Of course I do, Buffy,” he told her. “I’m just as excited about the possibility of a child as you are. Someday.”

She snuggled into his large frame. “Good. Someday.”

Giles walked in from the back. “Ah, hello everyone. So glad to see you once again loitering in my shop.”

Everyone exchanged a glance. “Rough morning Giles?” she asked walking up to the counter that he now stood behind.

Giles looked up absently then gave her a small smile. “Sorry. I, uh, received a phone call this morning and I’m afraid it’s left me a bit out of sorts.”

“’Out of sorts?’” Xander quipped. “You’re being even more British than normal. What’s up?”

Giles ignored him. “I received a call from the Watcher’s Council.”

Everyone groaned. “Bad mood explained,” Buffy said, pouring herself a cup of coffee and sitting at the large round table in the middle of the shop. “What’s up with the Tweed Breed…? Sorry,” she apologized off his look.

“Watcher’s Council…it’s never good…see! See!” Willow cried. “Not five minutes after you say all that stuff about being safe and…doom,” she said sadly.

“Relax,” Xander told her. “What’s up with the Council boys?” he asked Giles.

Giles cleared his throat. “It seems that a rather powerful vampiress has made her presence known in London,” he began. “She’s strong, very old, and quite intelligent.”

“What does this have to do with us? Do they want me to go to London?” Buffy asked.

“No, sorry,” Giles shook his head. “It seems she’s decided she wants to challenge Angelus.”

There was a pause of stunned silence before Buffy spoke. “Well…she’s a day late and a whole bunch of dollars short,” she said, shakily.

“Who is this vampire?” Angel asked calmly, placing a hand over Buffy’s.

His eyes locked with Angels. “Her name is Laren,” he said after a moments pause.

Angel sat back and said nothing.

“Laren?” Buffy asked. “Well…what does Laren want with Angel?” she asked Giles, then turned to Angel. “Do you know her?”

Angel stared at the table uncomfortably.

“Angel?” Buffy asked softly.

He sighed and looked up, only to be made more uncomfortable by the eyes of his friends staring at him. His gaze shifted back to the table. “Yes, I knew her,” he said, tracing the wood pattern with a long finger.

“When?” Buffy asked.

Angel shifted in his seat. “Years ago…before I got my soul back.”

“Did you…did you turn her?” came from Willow.

Angel’s eyes met hers and he nodded.

“So, you turned her. I don’t see what her grudge is,” Anya stated. “Never met a vampire, without a soul, who regretted it. I mean, she’s a whole lot more powerful now than she was as a human.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Dish,” she ordered Angel.

Angel sighed and began the tale. “Darla and I were trying to escape from a vampire hunter. Holtz. He was everywhere we went, we couldn’t get away from him. The villagers had us trapped in a barn and set it on fire. Darla hit me over the head with a shovel and rode off on our horse, leaving me for dead.”

“Nice,” Buffy muttered under her breath. Her distaste for Darla hadn’t diminished over the years.

Angel ignored her and continued. “I escaped, barely, but she was already gone. I made my way to London, then on to Scotland. It was the closest I’d been to Ireland since I’d been sired.”

Buffy listened the story trying not to notice the way his long abandoned accent became prominent as he spoke of his homeland. She tried harder not to feel warm all over. //Stop it. This is serious.//

“In Scotland I came across a beautiful girl in a field…the wind was blowing her skirts all around her as she worked the fields…her long black hair sailing in the breezes…” he glanced at Buffy who was cocking an eyebrow impatiently. “Anyway,” he hurried, “when she stood up I realized that she was pregnant. Prominently.”

“So what happened?” Xander asked, his eyes round.

“I learned through village gossip that her family were rumored to be witches and warlocks. It was irresistible to Angelus,” Angel said bitterly. “Witches blood.”

Willow shifted in her seat and wrapped her arms around her sides.

“I came upon her in that very field when she was on her way home from her days work, laden down with bushels of greens. She begged for her life, for the life of her child…Angelus drank her anyway, knowing the child would die because of it. In the last moments of her life she began to chant, words I didn’t know. Just as her heart was about to stop beating she seized my wrist and bit, drinking deeply. And she was turned.” Angel hung his head in shame, hating how even though the demon no longer occupied his body, disgust for it still raged on.

Buffy, though sickened, took his hand and squeezed it. “It wasn’t you,” she reminded him for the millionth time.

Xander swallowed hard. “So…she turned and now…she wants to kill you?”

Angel nodded but it was Giles who spoke. “As it seems, the chanting the girl began as she was dying was a spell…to remember one aspect of her life. She remembers the love for and the desire to have her child. She carries it with her, though for all other things she feels nothing. It’s a vow, of sorts, to avenge the life of her child.”

Angel continued. “She found me…a year or so after she turned. In Rome. Surprised me, actually,” he almost smiled at the memory. “I was in a bathhouse and…” Buffy was giving him that look again and he moved on, “she almost took me out. It was then that I realized what her goal was. But I escaped and haven’t seen her again.”

“So she’s hunting you down because she wants to kill you for killing her…and her baby,” Willow concluded slowly.

The others nodded.

“Well then, I guess you’ve got your stupid answer to your stupid “Oh, nothing’s going to happen that we can’t handle!” the witch cried, mocking Buffy’s voice.

Buffy’s eyes flew open. “What are you talking about? She’s just one vampire! I can take her out easy.”

Willow sat down next to her friend and took Buffy’s hand. “Buffy, what were we just talking about? You and Angel…having a baby…the prophesized child…the Triumphant. Don’t tell me that you think this is just coincidence, that she’s coming here now, and she’s got this particular issue with Angel.”

Buffy’s eyes, along with every one elses, flew open.

“Oh my God…” Buffy whispered and looked desperately at Angel who took her hand out of Willows to place it in his own.

“No,” he told her sternly. “No. Don’t even think it. We don’t even have a child yet.”

“Angel, it all makes sense! She knows! She knows about us having a baby someday, that he’ll be a mystical force…” she cried, tears springing to her eyes.

Angel growled. “She’s just a vampire, Buffy. She’s just a regular vampire. Like the ones we take out every night. She’s nothing special. No different.”

“Right, Buff…we can handle this,” Xander told her comfortingly.

Buffy’s head snapped up. “Don’t say that! Willow’s right. We say that and …badness ensues.” She wiped angrily at her eyes. “She’s not touching me or any of us. When do they think she’ll be here?” the Slayer asked turning to Giles.

He looked grim. “She bested a Council marital arts expert last week. They haven’t seen her since. The message she left…scrawled on the man’s back, carved with his own knife, suggests that she’s learned a few new skills since you last saw her, Angel.”

“What was the message?” Buffy asked.

“The Triumphant will not be.”

Buffy’s fingers went to her lips and she forced herself not to gasp. Instead she sighed. “Why did you have to kill so many people?” she said lightly to Angel. The small smile that accompanied her words helped soften them.

“So…if this Laren left a week ago…when does that put her here?” Xander asked.

“She would have had to take a ship…vamps don’t travel well by air…the sunlight can be tricky and too many things can happen unexpectedly. She would have come by boat. And modern ships…a cruise can get you across the ocean in a week. Give her another couple days to travel across the country…” Angel said thoughtfully, pacing.

“So we’re can expect mommy dearest here any day now,” Xander concluded.

Angel nodded.

“Well…like Angel said. She’s just a vamp. We can handle one vampire.” Buffy told them. “But, let’s get the word out. Spike, Willy…any of our regular contacts. We’ll pay big to know when she gets here.”

The others nodded and began to gather their things. “Buffy,” Angel said, pulling her to him. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She snuggled into his embrace for a moment. “I know. Same goes for me.” She remained in his arms for only a moment, wishing she could curl up there forever. //But I can’t. There’s always a disaster.// “We’d better go. Got a vamp to track,” she reminded him, and they headed out the door.

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Chapter Two: Helpless