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Leonna sat on the small plane, growing more and more frustrated and bored by the minute. They had only been flying for about an hour and she was already about to kill Drusilla. She would not shut up about her stupid dolls and she was driving Leonna insane. She sighed, glancing out of the small window. The sun had just set in Sunnydale a mere two hours ago, and they would be flying in darkness for a while.
She closed her eyes, concentrating on finding the Slayer. She did not think she would be that successful, she was not that powerful, but it was still worth a try. She caught a glimpse of them in her peoples’ village, walking along the old street. She had played on that street as a child, she and her sister Torah both had. She felt no emotions, no choked up feeling when she thought of her sister, dead for hundreds of years Leonna’s hand had been the one to do it.
She was a creature of darkness now, those memories from long ago were another’s. She settled back into her seat as the picture faded and she came back to the present. Spike was reading the paper and Dru was counting all the fish in the sea, or so she was saying. Leonna sighed, closing her eyes again and allowing evil thoughts to take over once again.
They walked down the main street of the village, passing a few shops. They were searching for a particular shop, a place they where supposed to look for Ireena in. Buffy noticed the people staring as the foreigners walked down the street, and she shifted, slightly uncomfortable under their scrutiny. Angel squeezed her hand encouragingly and she smiled at him. She looked back and saw Willow and Oz walking in comfortable silence and Xander and Cordelia talking quietly for a change. Katrina and Giles were ahead of them all, a small space separating the two.
Buffy frowned, trying to figure out what was up with the two of them. They were obviously attracted to each other, yet they made no move to get closer. Buffy knew Giles was still heartbroken from losing Jenny and could sense there was more to Katrina than met the eye. She wanted so badly for Giles to be happy again, she felt guilty that she had Angel and he had no one. But there was nothing she could do.
Up ahead, Katrina pointed something out to Giles and he nodded. They crossed the street and walked up to a clothing shop. The things inside were rather plain looking and not up to Cordelia’s standards. Giles took a quick look at Buffy, who nodded slightly, before opening the door.
A tiny bell rang as they stepped inside. A bored young woman sat on a stool behind the counter, flipping idly through a magazine. The girl was beautiful, long dark hair pulled up in a pony tail and very little makeup on. Her features were flawless and Buffy felt a wave of jealousy hit as she remembered her own state.
“You must be Buffy. The Slayer,” the girl said without glancing up from her magazine. She spoke with a vague accent and had an aura of confidence surrounding her. Buffy looked hard at her, trying to see if there was a hidden meaning to the question.
“Yeah, that’s be me. What’s it to you?” she asked coolly, stepping over to the counter.
“We spoke on the phone. My name is Arianna and as I explained already we are not interested in helping you,” she said with ice, glancing up for the first time. She looked over the group, her eyes resting on Angel. Arianna raised her eyebrows slightly, looking him up and down. Buffy rolled her eyes and stepped closer to him.
“Well, see, the thing is I *don’t care* if you aren’t interested in helping. You’re gonna have to whether you want to or not,” Buffy said, a smirk on her face. The two were squaring off and Giles decided to step in before Buffy did any permanent damage.
“Excuse me, miss. Please disregard all Buffy has said. We need your help, your clan is the only thing that can help us. We must at least be able to speak to Ireena,” Giles said diplomatically. Arianna stiffened at the mention of the name and sighed slightly. Her attitude seemed to evaporate and she motioned for them to stay where they were.
“For heaven’s sake, Buffy, could you try to be civilized?” Giles growled. Buffy gave him a look.
“She started it!” she whined. Giles returned her look with one of his own.
“Let me do the talking,” he said.
Arianna reappeared with an older woman at her side. Her beauty was
evident and Buffy secretly wondered why all the gypsies were beautiful.
“Arianna has told me of your request. I’m afraid we cannot help
you,” she said in a soft voice. Giles frowned.
“Have you heard of the vampire Leonna?” Giles asked. Ireena bowed
her head slightly. “I’m assuming you have. She was a gypsy who
was turned nearly four hundred years ago. She had the ability to...to
disappear and reappear wherever she liked. In the Watcher Diary from
one of your own it is stated that the only way to defeat her is to block her
powers and we haven’t the faintest idea how to do that.”
Ireena regarded him calmly, choosing for the time to ignore his
statements. She looked over the group and everyone shifted
uncomfortably under her gaze. Like Arianna before her, her eyes fell
upon Angel. He was just waiting for someone to bring up his past and it
looked like she was about to.
“Why should we help a killer?” she asked, scrutinizing Angel. Buffy
took a
“It’s okay, Buff. I knew it would come up,” he replied
quietly. Buffy relaxed, but just barely. She was getting more and
more fed up with these people by the second.
“Answer me, Angelus,” she commanded, soft voice dripping with
authority. He looked up at her, self-hatred and sadness clouding his
eyes. She softened slightly.
“It’s Angel,” he said in a low tone. “I didn’t commit any of those
crimes. I’m not a killer, the demon who possessed my body was.”
“You killed our Janna. You’re a monster who deserves nothing,”
Ireena said fiercely, hatred burning in her voice. Angel hung his head
low, memories once again plaguing him. He knew in his soul it wasn’t
his fault, he could have done nothing to prevent any of it. But the
stirrings of self-hatred and doubt began to swirl inside of him. Maybe
there had been something he could have done...it didn’t matter. He had
snapped Jenny’s neck with these hands, the hands that were now gripping onto
Buffy tightly. He released her instantly and she whirled around,
looking at him with concern in her hazel eyes. His guilt and sadness
took him back into the past, spiraling him away from the others, haunting
him. He felt like he was about to go insane, he was about to snap...
Buffy grabbed onto him wildly, forcing him to look her in the eye.
Love was evident there, love for him. Angel suddenly remembered the
thing he had promised himself on that morning he had first seen the sun in
over two hundred years. For Buffy, he would not dwell on what had
happened. Nothing could change the past. It was done. He was
here to make amends for his sins. He would not let some gypsy ruin him.
Angel glanced over at Buffy, who was staring at him fearfully. He
gave her a small smile and she relaxed, jumping into his arms and kissing
him. She touched her forehead to his.
“Don’t do that to me again! Stress will kill me by the time I’m
twenty!” she said quietly, cracking a smile. Angel grinned back.
“Sorry, bad memories,” he replied. Giles cleared his throat and they
reluctantly parted. Buffy didn’t go far, just turned around and leaned
into Angel’s arms, glaring at Ireena with fire in her gaze. The older
woman held her ground, but she was wary of this Slayer, this girl who had
fallen in love with a murderer.
“How can you let him touch you? He used those hands to kill Janna,”
Ireena said accusingly.
“These hands?” Buffy smirked, bringing Angel’s hands up to her lips.
She kissed them both and gazed steadily at Ireena, her eyebrows raised and a
cocky grin on her face.
“Okay, first off, will you get over it? He didn’t kill Jenny,” she
said, rolling her eyes. “And second, how dare you judge him? In
case you forgot or something, umm...vampires *don’t have souls.* You
made Angel suffer for something that wasn’t his fault. I’m sorry that
your little gypsy princess was stupid and that she was killed by Angelus, but
don’t take it out on Angel. He did nothing to harm Jenny and if he had
had his soul he would never have killed her,” she said, her voice rising with
each word. She was finally getting the chance to pour out all her anger
and hurt and sadness and rip into the people who had taken Angel from her.
“Which brings up something else, it’s all your fault that she’s
dead. That happiness clause sure was stupid,” she spat.
“Well, we never expected it to be broken by a Slayer. A Slayer who
is supposed to kill demons, not love them. It’s your own fault, you
let him feel like a human and made him unworthy of having a soul,” Ireena
cried back. Buffy fumed, daggers shooting from her eyes in the
direction of Ireena and Arianna.
“God, you gypsies think so highly of yourselves or something. You
don’t get to make other people suffer. You don’t control their
lives. You’re not higher than anyone else, so get that little thought
out of your head. News flash. Jenny’s dead because of your need
for revenge for someone who’s been dead for *90 years.* Deal and move
on.”
“Yes, and we all know you were so good at that. Deal and move
on. Tell me, Buffy, why didn’t you kill Angelus when you found out what
had happened to him?” Arianna spoke up, giving Buffy an even look.
Buffy turned to her, shocked.
“Excuse me, have you ever been in love?” Buffy asked, leaning back into
Angel’s arms. Arianna looked away for a moment and Buffy smirked.
“I didn’t think so. Okay, so just pretend with me here. Say you
fall for the perfect guy. And you love him and against odds can be with
him. Are you with me so far, or do you need a visual?” Buffy asked,
attitude in full swing. She hadn’t had a good verbal fight since before
she left Hemery. Arianna glared at her. Giles looked as if he was
about to cut in and for a split second Buffy wondered why he hadn’t
already. “And then you make love and he changes. Becomes evil. And you
still love him. Can you kill him? Can you kill your soul mate?”
she waited. Arianna didn’t answer. “Didn’t think so.”
“Are you guys gonna chick fight anytime soon?” Xander asked suddenly.
“Look, I know we all have our little problems with each other, but can we
focus on the problem at hand? Leonna is on her way here with Spike and
Drusilla as we speak. We need to figure out how to stop her,” Katrina
said. Buffy, Arianna, and Ireena grumbled but agreed.
Yeah, she isn’t exactly coming for a family reunion,” Xander said,
desperately trying to break the thick tension in the air.
“I think we should all go back and sleep for a while and then after we’re
refreshed we can meet. Do you have any cucumbers?” Cordelia asked,
checking her eyes in the mirror in the shop. “Ugh. Bags.
Just peachy.”
“We don’t have time for that. Leonna is coming. She is
powerful and she wants revenge. You took Angel away from her, Buffy,
don’t forget that,” Giles warned. “We need to plan out what exactly we
will do.”
He turned to Ireena, his full authority as Watcher showing through.
He looked evenly at her, trying to make her understand the true danger of the
situation. He was amazed at how spiteful and reluctant these people
were to help. “We need your help. You owe it to us to help.”
“You owe it to Jenny to help,” Buffy said softly. All eyes turned to
her. She looked at them with a sad expression on her face. “You
owe it to her. She loved Giles. Help him for her sake.”
There was a deafening silence for a long time. Ireena stared at
Buffy, empathy crawling through her anger. This girl had to put her
life on the line every night to save people from demons. Maybe they did
deserve assistance in return.
“All right,” Ireena croaked, looking back at Giles. “All right,
Watcher, we shall give you assistance. But this is your fight. We
will only do what is needed of us.”
Giles stared back at her, relief flowing through him. He bowed his
head slightly. “Thank you.”
The others breathed out sighs of relief. Arianna looked upset and
Cordelia smiled inwardly. She had never known Buffy could be so
straightforward and blunt. She hadn’t know Buffy would be that good at
verbal bashing.
“Can I just say one thing?” Arianna spoke up. Ireena looked at
her. “Buffy, what is going on with the pants? Couldn’t buy them
long enough? Or are you just waiting for a flood?” she asked, smirking
the whole time. Buffy turned crimson for a moment, glancing at her
capris.
“If you paid any attention to fashion--which I’m sure you don’t,
considering what you’re wearing--you’d know that capris are totally in,”
Cordelia said, not about to let anyone criticize Buffy’s pants. That
was her job.
“Giles, I say we go get some rest. We have a lot ahead of us and I
really don’t want to fight with the flu or anything,” Buffy said, feeling
drained from the entire afternoon. She looked outside and noticed it
was dusk. Her internal clock was so screwed up she didn’t have the
faintest idea of what time it was.
Giles was about to protest when he looked around to see the other members
of the Scooby Gang yawning and rubbing their eyes. He could see her
point, now was definitely not the time to get sick. He nodded.
“Good idea. Let us go get some rest and meet tomorrow. Where
is the best place for you?” he questioned, shifting his gaze back to
Ireena. He saw her hesitate and wondered briefly at it.
“We will come to you. Noon time,” Ireena said after a short pause
that got everyone concerned. They were too tired to think more about
it, though.
“Until tomorrow, then,” Giles said as they turned and left the shop.
Arianna stared after them before looking back at Ireena.
“What have you done?” she demanded.
“Hush, child. We will call a clan gathering. There is much we
must do,” Ireena replied, staring out after the group She wondered at
the trials ahead.