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"Was the name Ellomiran?" Riyan asked, looking up from his current book.
"Y-yes," Giles replied, at the same time Ms. Kingsley asked, "What did you find?" He glanced from one Watcher to the other.
"There’s a reference here to her, over a page," he said, showing the younger Watcher as she came to look over his shoulder.
"Ah," she said, smiling slightly and taking the book. "Exactly what we’ve been looking for."
"What book is it?" Giles asked, joining Ms. Kingsley.
"The Book of Dimorias," Riyan replied, passing a hand over his eyes. Kailyn yawned and Eli shook himself out of a doze.
"Very interesting," Ms. Kingsley murmured.
"What?" Buffy asked. She’d come after patrolling and stayed when she heard about the research night.
"I didn’t realize—" Giles began.
"No, neither did I . . ." the younger woman murmured.
"Realize what exactly?" Tristan asked, closing his book and standing up to take it to it’s shelf.
"Oh my," Ms. Kingsley said.
"Oh my what?" Kailyn demanded. The Watchers startled and looked up to the Slayer.
"Hmm?" Giles asked. Kailyn and Buffy exchanged looks and sighed together.
"What exactly are you finding in that book?" Buffy asked.
"Cause I’m not getting a happy feeling from your little comments," Kailyn put in.
"No, no you shouldn’t be," Giles said.
"It’s not happy?" Buffy hazarded.
"Rather . . . rather not, I’m afraid."
"Oh. Great."
"Kailyn," Ms. Kingsley said warningly. The Slayer rolled her eyes. At least Giles didn’t care how insolent you were, if you did the job. Meredith Kingsley got all annoyed whenever she complained or even made jokes.
"Sorry," Kailyn muttered. "Can we get back to the subject?"
"Of course," Ms. Kingsley snapped, annoyed at the implied barb that she’d gotten them off topic. "We did not realize that as well as being rather old, Ellomiran has . . ."
"A rather extensive and infamous record," Giles finished. "She . . . suffice it to say she is quite strong and will stop at nothing she get what she wants."
"Which would be me dead," Buffy said.
"Something like that."
"Well what are we waiting for? We give her Mom and she’ll leave us alone!" Kailyn joked. Tristan and Buffy laughed, but Kailyn’s friends looked at her in horror. "It was a joke!" she exclaimed. Their expressions didn’t change.
"I think it takes a little getting used to," Tristan said. "We grew up with it," he told his friends. "If you can’t joke about it, everything gets kinda depressing."
"In a major way," Kailyn added.
"So we joke. Don’t worry, I know she loves me," Buffy said. "Right?" Kailyn regarded her mother with wide-eyed innocence.
"Of course Mommy! More than anything!" Buffy smiled and kissed her daughter’s forehead, then turned to her Watcher.
"Well, I’m not really in the habit of giving vampires their heart’s desires and I see no reason to start now. Let’s figure out where she’s holed up and me and Kailyn will take her on," she said.
"Sounds like a plan," Eli put in, because, being Eli, he had to say something or he’d pass his ten minute time limit and stop being Eli . . . or something like that . . .
"Right," Kailyn said, glancing at her friend with a smile. "Glad we have your approval. So we’re on to hideouts now?"
"Yes. Raven? Will you look up the city plans and try and find any large underground spaces or large uninhabited buildings? Factories, warehouses and so on?" Ms. Kingsley asked the dark haired girl.
"Happy to," Raven said, stifling a yawn and turning to the computer.
"We’ll look through all the lists of abandoned or recently sold houses," Kailyn volunteered, sitting beside Riyan. "That’s okay right?" she asked her chosen partner. He shrugged and smiled.
"Whatever you say, oh Great Slayer."
"Good. Tristan, will you help Raven?" Giles asked. "Sarah, have you ever done a scrying spell?"
"Once or twice," the girl answered.
"Well I’ll guide you through it in a moment. Does everyone have a task?"
"Hello!" Eli exclaimed. "What am I supposed to do?"
"And me!" Viviane cried, putting away her compact mirror.
"How about snacks?" Kailyn suggested. "All this work makes me mighty hungry!" The two looked at each other and both shook their heads adamantly.
"Well, I’ve passed the days of snack-getter and I’m not gonna be much help here since I’m about ready to fall over, so I’ll do a few sweeps and retire," Buffy said.
"Good idea," Giles agreed.
"Good night everyone. Don’t stay too late, kids," she admonished her children.
"Weekend Mom," Kailyn reminded her.
"I know, but you don’t want to set your internal clock off too drastically. And I worry."
"Good night Mom," Tristan said, a smile in his voice.
"Good night."
"Night Mom. Sleep well," Kailyn said, blowing her mother a kiss and then bending her head to look at the printouts. Buffy bid Giles good night, waved to everyone and pushed open the door, letting it swing shut behind her as she left the library.
"I need to be going . . . my curfew’s one and it’s almost twelve thirty," Sarah said, glancing at her watch. Tristan looked at his own. 12:27. He hadn’t thought it was that late.
"I’ll walk you home," he volunteered. "It would be a pity if the vamps got you your first week in Sunnydale. And again." The brunette smiled shyly and glanced down.
"Thanks," she said, standing up and going to pick up her purse and jacket. "I hope I helped Mr. Giles."
"Oh, yes, you were a great help," the Watcher assured her. Sarah, with a little instruction, had narrowed the search to a storage locker. Which wasn’t perfect, because there were several storage lockers in Sunnydale, but it was a lot better than where they’d started. Sarah smiled at him shyly and pulled on her coat, glancing at Tristan, who motioned for her to go first out the door.
"I’ll come right back and help or give other people walks home," he told Giles. Ms. Kingsley was up in the stacks somewhere, looking for more information on Ellomiran.
"Th-thank you. That would be much appreciated," the Watcher said. Tristan waved good bye to his sister and his friends and followed Sarah out the door. She glanced around the halls as they walked toward the front door.
"This seems like a nice school," she said.
"Yeah, it’s pretty cool. The principal, Snyder, is an evil gnome, but it’s not like there are other choices around here," Tristan said. Sarah frowned.
"He’s not really a gnome, right? That was a figure of speech, wasn’t it?" Tristan laughed.
"Yeah, sorry. Definitely a figure of speech. Well, as far as I know anyway. Though it would make a lot of sense if he really was non-human . . . He was principal when my mom and her friends went here and they say he was exactly the same then . . . he hated my mom and he hates us. Except we play sports and he likes that." Especially since they both excelled in them. Their unique genes gave them an extra boost, as did all the years of working out and Kailyn’s Slayer status. Tristan was a running back for football in the fall, and played basketball in the winter. He was involved in track at the moment—no one could figure out how he could run as fast as he did, and his high jumps were always something to watch. Kailyn had been a cheerleader—how she’d gotten to know Viviane—but real sports appealed to her more, and she’d made varsity basketball despite her diminutive height—her ability to jump was almost supernatural . . . literally. Ms. Kingsley had insisted on nixing the sports, making Kailyn concentrate more on Slaying, but she still had preferred status at Sunnydale High.
They were outside by this time, in the warm spring night. Tristan glanced up at the stars, then over at his companion.
"What sports do you play?" she asked. Tristan listed them off and she looked admiring.
"I was never really a sports person," she admitted. "I always preferred a good book."
"Yeah, I like those too. Though Kailyn’s not quite as enthusiastic . . . So tell me more about you," Tristan said, changing the subject. "Were you unhappy about moving here?"
"Miserable," Sarah admitted. "I loved New York, and my friends, and I didn’t want to stop my magic lessons. Plus moving from the biggest city in the U.S. to a little nothi—oh, sorry." Tristan smiled good naturedly and shrugged.
"It’s okay. I moved from L.A. at the beginning of high school. I had Kailyn but still . . . it’s kind of a shock to the senses to find yourself in a tiny town like this. And then y’ know, there’s the whole vampire, Hellmouth thing . . ." Sarah laughed softly and looked up to Tristan. He met her eyes, a strange feeling building in the pit of his stomach.
"Does your father know about the Slaying and everything?" she asked after a moment.
"He died before we were born," Tristan said, the "we" coming naturally to his tongue. Kailyn and he, he and Kailyn.
"I’m sorry," Sarah said. Tristan felt a pang of sorrow—not for his father, who had needed to die, but for his mother who had loved him, and Kailyn and himself, who had never known him at all. "Vampires?" she asked.
"Something like that." Buffy had told them the whole truth when they were nine—how he’s loved her and she him, and how he’d lost his soul, changed, how he would have hurt them if she hadn’t killed him. How he would have loved them if he hadn’t lost his soul. She left out the device of his losing his soul, but they figured it out eventually.
There was a long silence; Sarah obviously didn’t know what to say. Neither did Tristan. "It’s okay," he said finally. "It’s not like I miss him. I never knew him at all."
"I think that’s worse," she replied. "At least the other way you’d have memories. Now you don’t have anything."
"Well my mom says I look just like he did, only with her eyes and Kailyn has his. It’s strange, we’re not a mix between our parents—I look just like Angel and Kailyn looks just like our mother."
"Angel? Was that your father?"
"Mhmm. He was kind of unorthodox."
"It is strange . . . I would never have guessed you two were twins. I thought you were dating or something," Sarah said.
"When?" Tristan asked.
"Oh . . . I saw your around school and then at the Bronze earlier. You two were whispering and you looked . . . together. But I guess it was sibling togetherness. When you were fighting the vampires I realized you must be related. You looked alike then—your expressions were identical." She lapsed into silence suddenly.
"We were whispering about you at the Bronze," Tristan said, not sure why he was telling her this.
"You were?" she sounded genuinely suprised. "Why?"
"We don’t get many new people," Tristan answered with a smile. She smiled back, then stopped. He looked to see if there was anything wrong, but she motioned toward the house they stood in front of.
"This is my stop. Thank you for walking me home," she said softly.
"You’re welcome," Tristan answered, taking a step towards her. She tilted her head back to look at him and the moonlight made her eyes glow.
"Good night," she whispered.
"Good night," he replied, suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to kiss her. But they had just met! She stood there for a long moment, looking up at him then suddenly turned away and walked up the stairs tot he porch.
"I’ll see you," she said.
"Yeah. Sleep well. And don’t invite any strangers in, okay?"
"I won’t. Thank you. Good night." And with that she disappeared in the house and left Tristan alone in the dark night. He turned back towards the library, a sudden feeling of urgency and fear clenching in his chest.
Buffy whistled a few notes of some random song, turning the corner into yet another alley. She should probably just go home, but her Slayer’s nerves were jangling, so she might as well investigate. Who ever heard of vampires in storage lockers anyway?
She thought she heard something and went around another corner, walking up to a door. There was a rusty padlock, but one pull broke it easily and she turned the handle warily, stepping inside the building carefully. The door creaked, but Buffy kept going anyway, pulling a flashlight from her bag and flipping it on. She shone it around the dark room, full of boxes and furniture. Nothing.
There was a noise.
Buffy started and half turned, flashing the light around. Nothing. Something. She took a step closer. It was a metal door handle. No lock. Buffy walked over . There was definitely something—or somebody—in the next room. Taking a deep breath, Buffy opened the door and stepped inside the well lit room.
"Whatever took you so long?" the woman asked, turning to her. She was beautiful—they always were. Why was it that vampires were always gorgeous? What was up with that? Buffy opened her mouth to ask, but the woman was talking again. "I waited." She was pouting now, her full lips looking twenty three rather than three hundred and forty two. She brushed her long dark hair back.
"I’m so sorry, I just had a few things to do, but I’m here now, so should we get started?" Buffy asked, dropping the flashlight and her bag and stepping closer to the center of the room. The woman flashed a brilliant smiled and turned for a moment, pulling two things out and turning back. She threw one and Buffy caught it easily, moving it to catch the light on the shining edge.
"Want to play? Ellomarin asked. Buffy smiled and put her sword into the ready position, beckoning the vampire closer.
Kailyn stifled a yawn, leaning her head against Riyan’s shoulder absently as they pored over lists. Had she been more awake she would have realized how her friend’s body tensed at the simple gesture, but she was half asleep and she didn’t notice.
And then she heard the voice and she wasn’t tired at all.
"I think I’m gonna bail," she said, sitting up abruptly. "If that’s okay. I’m too tired to help around here." Giles opened his mouth to reply, but Ms. Kingsley gave him a look and spoke first.
"It’s all right. But I expect you back tomorrow by ten." Kailyn groaned, pushing herself up.
"Fine," she muttered. "Bye Riy. Hey that rhymed. Wow I’m getting loopy. Bye Raven, bye Eli. I’m gonna go for a few sweeps in case Mom’s still out there before I go home."
"Be careful. You’re tired," Giles warned.
"I know!" Kailyn exclaimed. "Believe me, I know. I’ll see you guys." Raven turned to wave, Riyan smiled at her and Eli lifted a hand from his half-dozing/half-reading position. Giles gave her a vague half-wave and Ms. Kingsley only eyed her. Kailyn rolled her eyes and left the library, trying to suppress the waves of uneasiness rolling over her.
"Go to her Kailyn. She needs you," a voice whispered. Kailyn stiffened and looked around, standing in an automatic defense posture. There was no one else in the hall.
"Don’t stop Kailyn. Go," the voice said. Kailyn felt a tightening in her chest—fear, anxiety, hurt, and as the voice whispered again, she began to run out of the school, out into the dark night, full of dangers.
"You’re not doing quite as well as might be expected from the oldest living Slayer in history," Ellomiran murmured. "Or maybe that’s why you’re failing?" Buffy gritted her teeth and attacked, blades clashing sharply. She had a cut on her arm, and one on her leg. It hurt. Oh God it hurt.
"A Slayer of any age is more than a match for you," Buffy said, determined not to let despair overwhelm her. That would be the same as losing.
"That’s funny, since I’ve killed several before," Ellomarin said sweetly. Her sword flashed and Buffy barely blocked it in time. She was tiring, and bleeding, and it hurt so much . . .
"Where’s Kailyn?" Tristan asked immediately after entering the library. His uneasiness had been building since he’d started back from Sarah’s house. It was the same kind of feeling he got when his twin was sick or wounded or frightened . . . there was something wrong with Kailyn. And she wasn’t in the library.
"She left about five minutes ago," Riyan said.
"She was going home," Ms. Kingsley said.
"Home?" Tristan asked.
"Yeah. For a few sweeps and then home," Riyan said, a worried frown on his face. "What’s wrong?"
"Kailyn’s in trouble," Tristan said. "I have to go!" And with that he was leaving the library, following his sister’s footsteps wherever they might lead . . .
Kailyn was almost there. She could feel it. It was like a pull . . . a tug on her heart, urging her onwards. And she was almost there.
She was afraid of what she would find.
There were storage lockers, hundreds of them. And she had to find the right one. She had to. He was telling her so, and she knew who he was in some dim recess of her mind. Angel, her heart whispered. Dad. And it didn’t matter that she’d remember by herself, because she had to find her mother. She had to find her soon.
Kailyn searched, and prayed and looked for broken locks.
Buffy blinked the sweat out of her eyes, but it clouded her vision. She circled warily, waiting for the next lunge, dreading it. Her arms were becoming weaker, and the cuts were more numerous now. She felt weak and dizzy and so very tired.
For the first time in her life, Buffy Summers had met her equal. And Ellomarin knew it.
"We’re almost there, aren’t we?" she taunted. "How much longer will you be able to hold out? A minute? Five? Poor little Slayer . . . you’ve lived too long." The vampire wasn’t unscathed by the battle, but the wounds didn’t hinder her nearly as much. Losing blood, after all, was not a problem, and this was Ellomarin’s time—she wasn’t tired.
"No," Buffy managed. "Not like this."
"I’m afraid so," the vampire purred. "In truth, I would have preferred another way as well. I’m sure your blood is very sweet. But this is simpler, and sometimes simplicity is the best thing, don’t you agree?" Buffy didn’t reply, for the vampire was attacking, and it took everything she had just to ward off the blows. And then it seemed that everything wasn’t enough. She felt the sword go in, felt it pierce her chest, her lung. Heard her own cry as if from a distance. The vampire was smiling triumphantly. Behind Buffy a door burst open.
"Mom!" a voice cried. Her daughter’s voice. Kailyn. For the first time the vampire looked afraid. She pulled out the sword and fled. Buffy fell to the ground. She was vaguely aware of Kailyn running after Ellomarin, but she didn’t have much time left and she needed to talk to her.
"Kailyn," Buffy managed, reaching out. Her daughter stopped and turned, coming to kneel beside her and take her hand. Buffy smiled at the sweet young face, washed with tears.
"It’ll be okay Mom. I’ll take you to the hospital and they’ll fix you and—" Buffy cut her off with a shake of the head.
"It’s too late for that. They can’t save me now. And I need to—to talk to you. Sweet. Oh Kai, I love you so much. You mean more than anything to me. I’ve lived longer than any Slayer and all these years I’ve lived for you and Tristan. I—I would have died a long time ago if I hadn’t known you needed me."
"I still need you," Kailyn sobbed. "We both need you." Buffy shook her head infinitesimally.
"No, you don’t. You’re adults now. The Slayer. You’re all grown up. I—" She stopped, turning her head to see Tristan burst in. His face crumpled when he saw her, and a moment later he was on her other side.
"We need to take you to the hospital," he said.
"She won’t let me," Kailyn said. Buffy nodded.
"Need to-to tell you. Both of you. You’re so precious. So precious to me and-and your father. Would have loved you. I love you. More than anything," Buffy said, looking from one child to another. They were so beautiful. Her children. Her twins. Light and dark, Buffy and Angel. Two halves of a whole.
"Don’t talk like this Mom. You’ll be okay," Kailyn sobbed. Buffy shook her head.
"It’s time," she whispered. "It’s finally time. Kai—someone told me, long ago, that you’ll have it hard. Find yourself. Your true self. Don’t let go of that, ever. Slayer vampires, but-but do it quickly. If you have to do it, do it quickly. Always. Do it quickly. Don’t let the dark entice you. Find yourself." Buffy turned her head to look at Tristan. He looked so like Angel, his green eyes dark with tears. So like the man she loved, and yet he wasn’t him. He wasn’t at all.
"You have to remember how strong you are Tristan," she said softly. "Remember how good you are and how strong. Don’t let anyone take that away from you. Live your own life. Don’t let other people live it for you. Feel what you feel and deal with it. Don’t hold it inside you, don’t trap it. Stay with the light, but know the dark too. You have to know it to defeat it."
"I will Mom," he whispered. "I will." She managed a tiny, tearful smile.
"Oh my sweet babies. You’re so grown up. You have to have your own lives now. It’s time for me to go. I only stayed for you. I’m so glad I did though. I never regretted you for one second. Ever. I love you both so much and nothing ever made me as happy as you have. You were worth everything.
"Tell Xander and Willow and Cordy and Oz that I love them. Tell Xander not to grow up and tell Willow to go on without me, live her life and raise her children. I want you two to go live with her and Oz until you graduate. Tell Cordy I know she’s got a heart in there, and not to neglect it. And Oz . . . tell Oz I think he got the chord. You got all that?"
"We’ll tell them, I promise," Tristan said, tears coursing down his cheeks.
"Tell my parents that I love them and thank you for everything." Kailyn nodded, biting back a sob that somehow escaped anyway. "Giles . . . tell Giles thank you. Tell him thank you for not giving up on me, and thank you for giving me a second chance, and thank you for saving me so many times. Tell him thank you and I love him. Tell them all I love them."
"Mommy," Kailyn whimpered. Buffy put a hand up to her daughter’s face, started to cough up blood.
"Kai. I love you. Be good. Live a long happy life and fall in love and have children. Both of you. Kai, if you have to do it, do it quickly. Promise me."
"I will. I promise," Kailyn sobbed.
"Tristan. I love you. Live your own life."
"I promise," he said softly.
"I love you both. Good bye." Buffy coughed again, long, harsh coughs, and there was blood on all their clothing. But when she stopped coughing an angelic smile lit her face, and she was looking past them, at something or someone they couldn’t see.
"It’s finally time?" she whispered to whomever she could see that they could not. There was a pause and then her smile grew even broader. Neither of her children could remember her ever looking so beautiful . . . or so happy. "Angel," she whispered, and slowly her eyes drifted closed and her breathing stopped.
"No!" Kailyn cried, wanting to shake her, to bring her back.
"She’s gone," Tristan said. "She’s gone."
"She can’t be gone. Mom! Mommy! Don’t leave me! I need you! Mommy!"
Kailyn sobbed. Tristan reached over and took his sister’s hands and
moments later they were in each other’s arms, sobbing because the world
had lost a Slayer, but they had lost their mother.