Isabelle

Disclaimers: All BTVS and Angel characters belong to Joss and his magnificent crew.

Summary: This is the sequel series to "All that Heaven Allows". Tales place around three months after the end of ATHA. The council teams up with Wolfram and Heart to destroy the slayer, the warrior, the souled one, and the seer.

Author's Note: After much debating I decided to write the sequel. It might not be as long but another adventure doesn't hurt. :o) Please send me feedback bih80reviews@yahoo.com

Special Thanks: Ophelia and Allison for their great beta. And for all of you who begged me for a sequel here it are, enjoy :o) Trish for always encouraging me and to Tracy for her undying devotion and wonderful chats.

Pairing: S/B, A/C, X/A, W/T. But mainly it's about Spike/Buffy.

Rating: Overall series PG—15, but at times it will be R and NC—17.

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He cleaned his glasses as they all stood before him with expectant eyes.

He cleared his throat.

"So…"

He looked up at the young brunette that, at times, annoyed the bloody hell out of him.

"So, they found Faith dead early this morning. Spike and Buffy headed out about three hours ago. They should be in LA already. Angel says it’s not pretty."

Willow sat down numbly, her mouth moving but no voice coming forth.

"Wow." She said and her lover placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Xander was looking down at the floor, running his hand absently through his tousled brown hair.

"Who’s Faith?" Anya asked bluntly.

"Faith is — er, was the other slayer. Became a rogue slayer and was sent to prison after killing a man." Giles answered for all of them.

"A rogue slayer?"

Giles nodded replacing his glasses.

"The council probably killed her." Anya said good-naturedly.

"What?" Willow looked at her horrified. "How can you say that?"

"Well because it’s probably true." Anya answered back and continued to count the money in the open cash drawer.

"Well they did try to kill Buffy and Spike a few months ago." Tara suggested.

"We don’t know that, Tarait was a crazy demoness and her brother." Giles reminded them.

They all nodded, the memory of the last summer still fresh in their minds.

"So ex-Deadboy Jr. and the Buffster are in sunny LA?" Xander asked. "Bet Deadboy is loving that," he said smirking as he imagined Angel ready to pull his own soul out himself.

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Angel was about to rip his soul right out as he glared at his grand-childe turned human.

The blonde smiled back at him and Buffy gently swatted his knee. That made him shut up.

"So you’re telling me that she was an…undercover spy?" Detective Cruz asked the two couples.

"Right." Angel said smiling at her.

The young brunette clicked her tongue. "Right."

"We’re not lyin’," Spike protested.

"We haven’t implied that you’re lying…unless you feel that you’re lying, Mr. Winthrop." Detective Swaggat smiled at Spike.

Angel snickered.

"The name is Spike. You’d do good to remember it, mate." Spike spit out.

Mike’s face hardened. "Will I?"

"Ok. I have oatmeal muffins, they’re a bit…"

"Grainy." Angel helped Cordelia out.

"Grainy," she responded without thinking. "Grainy? They are so not grainy, mister." She placed her hands on her slim hips.

"Um…I would love some, Miss Chase." Carmen put in trying to prevent a lover’s quarrel.

Cordelia smiled archly at Angel. "See Angel, not everyone is on a liquid diet."

"You’re on a liquid diet?" Mike raised his eyebrow at the large dark-haired man.

"I ah…" Angel stumbled.

"Slim-Fast." Spike put in. "He used to be large…and flabby. Skin hanging out all over the place."

Angel growled quietly at the blond.

"Large and flabby — that’s Angel." Buffy smiled brightly at the detectives as she casually slid her hand behind her boyfriend’s back and pinched.

"You thought I was large and flabby?" Angel asked indignantly.

"Listen! We’re detectives not therapists. If you were chunky and are now dieting that’s not my business and that’s not why I’m here." Carmen put in and smiled at Cordelia as she brought back a large muffin and a glass of milk. "Thank you."

"Oh, no problem as long as you guys keep up your energies, fight human crime and all."

Mike perked up and leaned forward to the ex-cheerleader. "Human crime?"

"By humans, you know men and women." Buffy said, her eyes wide as saucers.

Spike glared at Cordelia, he was tired of covering for her mistakes.

Mike shook his head in annoyance. This was getting them nowhere. "So…Mr. Angel…"

"Just Angel," the vampire put in.

"Angel, right." He said looking over his notes and ignored Carmen’s choking on the muffin. "You’re a PI?"

Angel ignored the female detective’s face, as she tasted the homemade muffin. "Yes, I investigate crime."

Mike gave him a weird look. "So you’re going to investigate this one?"

Angel thought about it. "Yes, I suppose I am."

"Of course we are. We knew her." Buffy put in.

Carmen turned to Buffy. "I thought you were a college student, Miss Summers? Don’t you have school? It’s the middle of the fall term."

Buffy’s mouth opened and closed.

"I…I…"

"This is a part of our curriculum." Spike put in placing his hand on the slayer’s.

"Curriculum?" She asked back at him, her black-rimmed glasses making her look more serious. "You seem a little old to be in school…Spike."

"Yeah well…hey! I do look young enough!" Spike cried out indignantly.

"He’s sensitive about his age," Angel put it. "You know, dating a younger girl and all."

Spike glared right back at him. "You should be talking, Peach Fuzz. Mr. Statutory rape!"

"Ok!" Buffy and Cordelia put in smiling brightly at the detectives who were about to lose their patience with the foursome.

"They have issues." Cordy said, smiling brightly. "From long ago."

"They’re family. Sort of." Buffy frowned.

"How exactly?" Carmen inquired.

They all went silent.

"I think we found out cord." Mike said, smiling. "Since you all seem to have run out of lies, why don’t we start from the beginning and try something new — like the truth."

"The truth?" Buffy asked weakly.

"The truth. All of it Miss Summers, I can very well arrest you now for withholding information that might resolve this case."

They all swallowed simultaneously.

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"Send her in."

The guard by the door nodded and let in the pretty brunette dressed in the navy suit.

She stood before the three men and took out her notes.

"They’re pleased with the completion of phase one."

One of the men smiled and leaned back.

"Good work, attorney."

Lilah nodded; she knew better than to make nice with these men.

"I would like your permission to begin phase two. If the vampire is out of the way, the other three will fall like dominoes."

"When will the new slayer arrive?" Another man, seated in the corner, asked.

"In three days. Along with the others."

The three old men nodded and dismissed her.

"Miss Morgan?" the one in the middle asked.

She stopped walking, slowly turned, and looked at them.

"You understand that we do not want the souled one dead — we just need him in out side."

She nodded.

"It might be easier to simply kill him." She responded.

"That is not the plan."

"Of course. We’ll just make sure he doesn’t get in the way." She answered, a bit annoyed.

"Good. We’ll be watching you."

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"So you’re basically saying that Faith was a slayer. A chosen girl with a duty to kill vampires and…demons? And you, Miss Summers are also a slayer. Angel here is a vampire… but he has a soul and now he’s a good guy that fights evil as a private investigator in LA. Miss Chase was just a regular secretary…oh sorry, actress who turned into a…seer? Now she gets…psychic visions from…the "Powers that Be", which tells Angel where there’s trouble. Now…Spike, used to be a vampire, his grandsire is Angel, which explains how they are related, but now he’s human. He turned human about four months ago when you two were kidnapped by a demon council hired by the Council of Watchers, who Miss Summers previously worked with, and they turned you human using an old prophesy. Now everyone is human except Angel who is a vampire. The other gentleman that works with you —his name is Wesley, used to be a Watcher. He turned Rogue Demon Hunter, then joined Angel as an investigator for the forces of good." Carmen read over her list as Mike tried to control his laughter. "Did I get everything?"

Buffy bit her lip, Spike shrugged still insisting it was a bad idea to tell the detectives the truth, Angel was sulking, and Cordelia was twirling her long hair in her finger.

Losing control, Mike broke out laughing.

Carmen was annoyed and she tapped her pen impatiently against her notes.

"You wanted the truth." Cordy put in.

"What a load of shit! I’ve gotta tell you, I’ve heard plenty of crazy stories, but you win the damn cake. You guys can make a TV show out of these damn lies!" Mike burst out and continued laughing.

The other four looked at him blankly. This was their life.

Carmen looked at the faces before her. They were telling them the truth, at least what they thought to be the truth. "Oh my god. You really believe this."

Mike sobered up. "Is this like a cult? Cause you know we can get you guys professional help."

They didn’t have time to answer as Wesley burst through the door at a dead run.

"Angel!" He cried out.

All four jumped up.

They all stood back as a yellow slimy demon ran in after him.

The demon was about seven feet tall, with four arms and red eyes. Horns protruded from his skull from different angles. He roared, displaying a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth as he made his presence known.

"Weapons!" The vampire cried out.

Spike lifted the duffel bag he and Buffy had brought and threw her an axe, grabbing a sword for himself.

Cordy ran to the weapons chest, yanking it open and threw Angel a large, nasty knife.

Buffy jumped in first, her petite body swinging the large ax in the air and hitting the demon with the blunt side on the back of the neck. The demon backhanded her. Buffy flew across the room and landed on top of Wesley.

Spike charged in growling, slicing the demon’s arm. He ducked as the demon retaliated. With the demon distracted with Spike, Angel stepped in and stabbed him in the back with a jungle knife.

Yanking Angel’s arms behind him, the demon threw him on top of Cordy.

While the demon was busy attacking Angel, Spike swung his sword towards it’s neck. The demon swatted it out of his hand with ease. Wide-eyed, he went to Plan B — his fists. As his hand connected with one of the horns he cried out in pain. The demon snickered and advanced towards him.

Suddenly he cried out and looked down. A long arrow protruded from his chest. He turned to find the slayer looking exceedingly brassed off.

"Bad move, banana boy!"

The demon roared and charged at her but she ducked and rolled. Angel stood behind her with a large ax. In one swift move he chopped his head off. The body slumped to the floor, the head rolling and landing several inches from the detectives’ feet.

Buffy dropped her bow and walked over to Spike who was trying to pop the bones in his hand back into place as blood spurted out of his wound.

Cordy helped Angel up as Wesley grabbed the head with a towel.

"Great! Now look at this mess!" Cordy cried out. "I just mopped the floor. Why do they have to bleed so much!"

Angel sighed and looked over at Spike. "Cordy, get the kit."

The brunette walked off mumbling about demon guts.

Buffy made Spike sit down.

"Sit back," she told him and he leaned back and closed his eyes.

She quickly popped the bone back and place as Spike groaned.

"Bloody ‘ell," he hissed behind his breath.

"Here you go. You do it. I do enough bandaging on the one who thinks he’s a hero." Cordelia said as she handed Buffy the first aid kit that they stored in the office.

"Thanks." Buffy said and began cleaning Spike’s hand.

"Um...excuse me." They all turned to look at the two pale figures that stood before them.

"Visuals. They always work." Cordy commented.

"I didn’t know we had company," Wesley apologized as he came back from disposing of the demon head.

"It’s ok, Wes. Something tells me they believe." Angel said as he dragged the demon body to the back.

Carmen stuttered as she watched Angel drag the headless body leaving a lovely trail of blue blood behind it.

"What the hell was that?" Mike asked Buffy as she cleaned Spike’s hand gently.

"That was a demon." She answered not taking her concentration off the ex-vampire’s hand.

"A Halun demon, to be specific. They are fighters, mostly mercenaries hired by creatures who hold high positions in the demon world." Wesley explained as he cleaned the blood from the floor.

Cordy came out with two small white pills and a glass of water for Spike.

Spike took the pills gratefully with his good hand. "Thanks, pet."

"Don’t mention it." She replied.

"Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?" Carmen asked Spike.

Buffy started wrapping his hand. "Then how are you going to explain how he’ll be almost completely healed by tomorrow night?"

"Oh," the woman replied. She paused for a moment. "So that’s what you meant by a demon."

Buffy sighed and looked at her. "Why don’t you take the entire "fable" and reanalyze it?"

Mike simply nodded. "We’ll do that."

"Why don’t we start from the beginning?" Carmen suggested as she sat down again.

"I’ll get the muffins." Cordy answered.

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"Can I help you?" The man in the white lab coat asked at the seven visitors that stood before him.

"I am Detective Cruz, this is Detective Swaggat, and this is Angel Investigations, private investigators. We would like to see the body brought in this morning." Carmen said as she hid her badge once again.

The man eyed her coolly.

"That’s restricted to all visitors. Ordered by the mayor. If you want to see the body you can take it up with him. I wasn’t told anything about dicks and PI’s coming over to snoop around." He said and turned away.

A large hand grabbed him and flipped him over. He stared blankly at the yellow eyes that reflected back at him.

"Take your hand off me." He hissed.

The chilling sound of a stake being pulled out was heard.

"Who’re you working for?" The petite blonde asked him.

The man in the lab coat vamped out and hissed at Angel.

He made a dash for it, but before he could turn, the wood slid neatly into him.

The two detectives watched in fascination as the dust settled on the floor.

"That was a vampire?" Mike asked incredulously.

"Yup. Nasty ain’t it." Cordy wrinkled her nose.

"Which means there’s a dead body here somewhere." Spike put in as he jumped with Angel over the large front desk.

Spike looked underneath the desk.

"Found the stiff." He called.

"What?" Carmen asked as she jumped over the desk herself.

A lanky man in his early 30’s was crammed into the kneehole, dead.

"Call in for homicide," she informed her partner.

"How long has he been dead?" She asked to no one in particular.

"About four hours." Angel said and looked around the desk.

"How do you know that?" Mike asked.

"Vampires have an acute sense of death, fear and scent." Wesley said as he helped Cordy over the desk.

"Comes in handy on the job." Spike commented as he pocketed the keys to the back.

Cordy looked up Faith’s name in the list sitting on top of the desk.

"She’s in 156."

Buffy nodded and took the keys from Spike.

"You can’t go in there!" Mike cried after her.

"Listen Detective, if you would have come on your own that vampire would have made you his dinner. And if we discuss this theoretically, I just saved your ass, so you can at least cooperate."

Mike gaped at her as she and Spike opened the door and went inside.

"Did you call this in?" Carmen asked her partner. He nodded.

"Vampires, demons, slayers. This wasn’t in the job description."

She chuckled. "Tell me about it."

"Should we leave him here?" Angel asked them.

Carmen looked down at the body of the man who sported clear vampire marks on his neck.

"Yeah, if you guys want any information you should work quickly. They should be here any minute." She told him.

He nodded and they all walked to the back.

When they had located Faith, Spike placed his hand on Buffy’s shoulder and squeezed it gently.

Angel came up behind him and frowned.

"That’s her." He whispered.

"Dear god," Wesley murmured and Buffy quickly zipped the body bag up.

"No bites." Cordy commented and looked up at her boyfriend.

They remained silent for a moment.

"You have those pictures of the crime scene?" Spike asked the detectives.

Carmen nodded and reached inside her purse to find the items.

She handed them to Spike.

He flipped through them and finally came upon the one with the writing.

He handed it to Angel as Buffy pushed the body on the slab back inside the metal refrigeration unit.

"Attacked by vampires who didn’t want to bite, or feed, but just kill. As if taking orders." Angel said and handed Buffy the photograph.

She nodded.

"I think we should call Giles, tell him what we know."

"You two head to Sunnydale. If they’re targeting slayers you shouldn’t stay in one place." Wesley told them.

"We’ll be along in a few days. We’ll collect as much as we can then we’ll go from there." Angel told her.

"Wait a minute. This is our case." Carmen interrupted. "This is State business now. I have 11 dead bodies with vampires and demons popping up everywhere."

Buffy turned to face her.

"We’ve always done it alone. You fill out the paper work you need to but you let us handle this. We’ll guarantee that whoever did this will pay with their lives."

"You guarantee? This is not a purchase deal, little girl. This is serious stuff. You’re dealing with the adults now. Not fairytale monsters. These are dead people that I have lying around."

Buffy placed her hands on her hips and glared up at the much taller woman. "Serious stuff? You try dying once and coming back to life, killing your boyfriend to save the world, blowing up the school to save a town, and getting kidnapped, flown across the damn world and sold at an auction to the highest bidder and then you talk to me about taking things seriously and playing on the adult playground. I think it’s you who doesn’t know what she’s dealing with."

Buffy walked out and Spike smirked at Carmen. "She’s a bit…sassy, but if I were you, I’d pretend this never happened. Go back to being happy meals on legs, it’s much simpler that way."

He walked out after the slayer.

Carmen and Mike turned to face the other three.

Cordy smiled at them apologetically and shrugged. "Buffy. She was raised by wolves."

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"Buffy!"

She kept walking.

"Baby, c’mon, wait up."

She stopped walking and turned to face him.

"You know people like that really piss me off." She complained and started pacing. "They’d like to live in this little simple world where everything is Truman, and it’s because of people like that that I have to risk my hide day after day."

Spike watched her pace and said nothing; he’d grown used to her tirades and learned that the best way to calm her was not to calm her down at all. He just let her speak her mind, knowing she’d wind down eventually.

She looked at him and sighed.

"How’s your hand?" She asked, taking his bandaged hand into hers.

"Healing." He replied.

"Let’s go home, huh?" She asked, her lip pouting.

He leaned forward and kissed her.

"Yeah, home sounds good," he said and wrapped his arm around her.

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Two people sat in a dark room sizzled with energy – one a handsome man, the other a blind woman.

"Tell me what you see." Lindsay asked her.

The woman started rocking back and forth, holding her head in her hands and chanting.

He wrinkled his nose as the air around her began to stink. Vapors of impurities began to flow from her body. She started laughing and twisting in her chair.

"What is it?" He leaned forward.

The woman’s lids fluttered open and Lindsay nearly jumped back at the sight of her empty sockets.

"The slayer…is with child. The child she carries has the mark. The child is the one we’ve been waiting for."

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Good Men Fight Hard