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“Isn’t this charming?” Leonna asked as she spun around the quaint room. Spike raised his eyebrows, surprised that Leonna knew someone this close to her old hometown. The old farmhouse had been redone, accommodating the vampires it now housed. Drusilla stood at his side, her petticoat and doll making her seem like a young, lost child. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and glanced back at their host.
She was beautiful--what the hell was it with all these gypsies being gorgeous?--long blond hair flowing over her shoulders in a sparkly sea. She seemed quiet, reserved, standing in a long creamy yellow gown from the late nineteenth century. She reminded Spike of Darla, the long blond hair and full lips. She also looked a bit like Leonna, which slightly puzzled Spike. He didn’t know anymore of the gypsies had been turned.
“Lovely,” he said as he glanced around. It was beautiful, even if it was a tad old fashioned. Old oak chests and cushiony couches sat around the room, several vampires sitting leisurely around. They glanced up at the new arrivals then went back to doing whatever they had been doing. Their host, who’s name Spike hadn’t caught, led them to their rooms.
“You should have seen her face, love, it was absolutely priceless. And then she said my name and I could taste her fear,” Leonna was saying, snapping Spike out of his thoughts. She had disappeared from the airport, only to return a short time later with the information of where the Slayer and her annoying friends were staying.
“She thought I disappeared totally then, but I was there. When she told her Watcher, I was there. She kissed Angelus...” she trailed off, craning her head to the side in a gesture he had come to associate with Drusilla’s madness. “I wanted to rip her heart out, hold it in front of her and make her watch it beat.”
“Isn’t that a lovely visual,” Spike said dryly.
“Angel got me a heart once...of a little shop girl. It was still warm...” Drusilla cooed, lost in the past. Spike’s chest tightened slightly at the name of his sire.
“I didn’t, needless to say. The daylight would have stopped me. But the sun has gone to sleep,” she said maliciously, pointing to the stream of vampires exiting into the black night. “It’s time to play, my dears.”
“And where exactly are we going to play? I’m hungry and I need a smoke,” Spike complained, dropping his bags next to the door of the room he and Drusilla would share. Leonna’s eyes flickered briefly over his door and her door, a small smile creeping lazily onto her lips. Drusilla was talking quietly to the blond and didn’t catch the meaning.
But Spike did. He groaned softly, almost inaudibly. But Leonna, with her heightened vampire hearing, heard it. And her evil smile grew.
Spike would be hers.
Sooner than later, if she had anything to say about it.
“We’ll go eat after I go see what this little meeting of theirs is. I want to check on the little Slayer, see what she’s up to,” Leonna replied, the smile leaving her lips as Drusilla looked up, staring intently at her. Leonna shifted, slightly uneasy as she looked at her, knowing her ability to read minds was powerful.
But so was Leonna and she could block Drusilla’s probes. Which she did. Dru shook her head lightly, but looked warily at Leonna. She knew that Dru wasn’t so completely mad that she wouldn’t realize Leonna was coming onto Spike. She’d just have to be more careful, that was all.
A small price to pay for the pleasure she was sure he would bring her.
Willow stood nervously outside the meeting room with the others, waiting for Ireena to come get them. She wasn’t exactly sure why she was nervous. <Maybe it’s because these people have major vengeance kicks and don’t like us> she said to herself bitterly. She glanced around at her friends, all quiet for once. Buffy and Angel stood next to her, foreheads touching, whispering. She smiled slightly, glad that she had given them this. This opportunity to lead a normal life, like they were meant to. She involuntarily tightened her hand around Oz’s, and he looked at her questioningly. She gave him a half smile and he gave her cheek a quick peck. She blushed a rosy pink, looking around to see if anyone had witnessed it.
Xander and Cordelia were leaning against the opposite wall, Xander hugging Cordelia to his chest. She had her arms wrapped around his waist and seemed content to stay there for a very long time. She looked up to see Willow looking at her and gave her a small smile, snuggling closer to Xander. Willow was still amazed at Cordelia’s character change, after their talk they had become closer. Cordelia had even confided in Willow something no one else knew.
Giles stood next to Willow, cleaning his glasses and staring off into space. Space that Katrina occupied, that is. When Katrina looked up, Giles quickly turned his gaze down towards his glasses. She gazed for a moment then looked back at the door, almost willing someone to walk through it and end the torture.
Willow flickered her eyes down to the floor. From the corner of her eye she saw Buffy and Angel kissing lightly, lovingly. They seemed to take advantage of every second they had together, they never took their time for granted. A good lesson could be learned from those two--cherish what you have while it’s around. It could be gone in an instant.
<Okay, enough with the unhappy thoughts> Willow scolded herself.
“You’re being summoned,” she said sarcastically, giving Buffy a
particularly dirty look. The Slayer was so wrapped up in Angel she
didn’t even notice, which Willow decided was a good thing.
Buffy knew they could be seen by all the people in the room, so she let
the kiss linger a few seconds longer. Willow shot her a raised eyebrow,
but Buffy just smiled and shrugged. She grabbed Angel’s hand and held
onto it as they all filed into the room.
“Does anyone else feel like we’re heading to our execution?” Xander
muttered under his breath. Cordelia smacked him playfully on the arm
and he gave her a pained look, clutching his arm as if she had actually hurt
him. The others smiled, thankful for his distraction.
They entered the room, surveying the scene. A group of about twenty
people, old and young alike, were seated around a large table. Ireena
stood at its head, with Arianna joining her. The gypsies looked rather
coldly at the group as the Scooby Gang eyed them back. Tension was
thick.
The gypsies immediately scowled when they gazed at Buffy and Angel.
Buffy was holding Angel’s hand in her own, the Claddagh ring she wore on her
finger clearly visible.
“Wow, who turned on the air conditioning?” Xander joked, attempting once
again to break tension.
“Silence, young one,” an older man said in heavy-accented English.
Xander looked startled, but shut his mouth. Giles moved to speak, but
Buffy beat him to it.
“Chill. It was a joke. You guys know what we want...I hope,”
she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Giles groaned and took
over before Buffy could do any damage.
“Please excuse them,” Giles said. “I assume Ms. Ireena has...briefed
you on our current situation. We gained the information that you could
help from an old Watcher’s diary, written by a member of your clan by the
name of Torah. It seems her sister, Leonna, was turned into a vampire
and killed her. Leonna retained her power and is a huge threat to us.”
“We were told of your troubles, Watcher,” that same man said as he leaned
forward, resting his elbows on the table. “And I must admit that many
of us are rather reluctant to help you.”
“And why is that?” Giles asked, suddenly becoming defensive.
“Down boy,” Buffy muttered under her breath.
“Because of your past. Not yours in particular, but two certain
people that you travel with are not among our favorites,” he replied.
All eyes, including her friends, turned towards Buffy and Angel. She
stared back at them and quirked an eyebrow.
“What did *I* do? I didn’t kill your precious Jenny,” she snapped.
“You gave Angelus true happiness,” a woman sitting in the back said.
Buffy turned her eyes to her.
“Will you people give it a rest? So what? *We were in
love.* God, you act like that’s such a horrible thing,” she said,
pulling Angel closer to her. He draped his arm over her shoulder in a
protective gesture.
“How could you fall in love with a monster?” Arianna asked quietly.
“A monster? You think he’s a monster? I’ve seen plenty of
monsters and Angel is definitely not one of them. Angelus is. I’m
not gonna deny that. And I should know, he did some not so pleasant
things to me. But I fell in love with Angel. I don’t see what the
crime is for that,” Buffy said, trying to make them see the error to their
thoughts. They had always assumed Angel and Angelus were the same, when
they were complete opposites.
“He’s a killer--”
“No, he’s not!! The demon that was in his body was. Angel is
not a killer. He’d never hurt anyone. You punished the soul--the
soul that is beautiful and pure and perfect--when you should have punished
the demon! I wish you people would realize that and stop thinking
they’re the same,” Buffy cried, not caring what the consequences could be for
her actions, not caring what impressions she might be making. She was
angry and needed to vent, and since she didn’t think they’d like it to much
if she beat the hell out of all of them, yelling would have to do.
“It is his own fault he was turned,” the young woman from the garden
said. Buffy looked at her, confused. “Or did you not share that
with your precious girlfriend, Angelus? His past, before he was
changed, was quite shady. He was a drunk who slept with anyone he could
get his hands on--”
“Enough!” Giles cried, trying to stop this before it got any worse.
No one listened to him.
“No, Giles, we have major issues that obviously can’t be put on the back
burner for the time being, so we have to deal. And as for you gypsies
who think you’re God’s gift to mankind or whatever,” she said, fuming.
“I don’t care about Angel’s past. It was two hundred and forty years
ago!! He never told me anything because it was painful and I respected
that. You obviously can’t.”
No one spoke for a long moment. Anger and hatred filled the air,
taunting them. Laughing at them. Buffy’s friends stood on one
side, watching the confrontation unfold. Some of the gypsies shifted
uneasily in their chairs. Ireena stood still at the head of the table,
making no effort to stop it. She knew that this had to be worked out
now before any progress could be made.
“How can you let him touch you, knowing what those hands have done?
How can you kiss his lips, knowing that they’ve sucked people’s lives out of
their bodies?” the older man asked. Buffy smirked, suddenly remembering
what she had done when Ireena had asked the same question. She took
Angel’s hand off her shoulder while taking the other one in her hand.
She brought them up to her face and placed them there. He looked at her
questioningly, but she just gave him a look. He took her face in his
hands obediently and stroked her cheeks.
“These hands?” she asked, then stepped on tiptoe to kiss him
softly. “These lips? It’s not hard.”
“Bu-but...how can you...knowing...” the man sputtered, trying to get a
sentence out. Buffy could tell they were furious with her actions, but
at this point she could care less.
“Okay,” she said after the guy had shut his mouth. “Any more
questions?”
“You show very little fear, young Slayer. You seem to forget that we
do not need to offer our help,” an old woman spoke up from the back.
Buffy made a slight face.
“Lady, I’ve fought vampires, demons, one of the most powerful vamps to
ever walk, invisible people, man-eating snakes, my own boyfriend, and I’ve
*died.* Talking to a bunch of self-absorbed gypsies hardly qualifies as
causing me to freak,” Buffy retorted. “And you will.”
Everyone noticed the change in Buffy’s voice. She went from snotty
teenager to serious Slayer in about two seconds flat.
“How can you be so sure?” Arianna challenged.
“What is your problem? You’ve got a huge holier-than-thou attitude
going on. You make Cordelia seem like Mother Theresa or something--no
offense, Cor,” Buffy said.
“None taken,” Cordelia replied.
“And to get back to your question, Arianna, when she comes here and starts
killing you people, you’ll want to help real quick.”
“She’s already here,” a voice said from the shadows. The gang
tensed, knowing it was Leonna. The gypsies had no clue what was going
on.
“Well, well. If it isn’t Leonna. I don’t believe we’ve been
formally introduced. I’m Buffy, the one who’s going to kill you,” Buffy
said coolly as Leonna stepped out from the shadows. She knew she stuck
fear into the hearts of her kin, she could taste it.
“Having a secret meeting. How sweet. Let me guess, am I the
topic?” Leonna asked.
“She’s got powers and she’s smart. This girl is definitely going
places,” Buffy retorted, edging closer to Angel as Leonna’s eyes fell on him.
“Hello, Angelus. Long time, no see. Human again. Too
bad, we didn’t get to have any fun. But we will,” she said, stepping
closer to him. Angel and Buffy held their ground, but the gypsies
seemed to shrink into their chairs. “After I kill your little bitch of
a girlfriend, I’ll change you and we’ll finally be together. For
eternity, my darling,” she whispered, tossing her jet black hair over her
shoulder.
“Yeah, when hell freezes over. And since that’s not in the five day
forecast, think of a new plan. And quick, cause there’s someone I want
to introduce you to,” Buffy said, suddenly moving fast. She raced up to
Leonna as she pulled a stake out of her back pocket. Leonna just looked
at her with a smirk and as Buffy moved in to plunge the stake into her heart,
she disappeared. Buffy stood with her stake poised, looking around
frantically.
“Damnit! I hate it when they vanish like that,” she said as
Leonna appeared behind her.
“Nice try, Slayer. You seem to have forgotten one tiny thing--I have
powers and you don’t,” Leonna said as she swept her eyes around the room once
more. Her brown pupils pierced every member of the clan she had once
belonged to. With a smirk, she was gone. “See you soon.”
Buffy relaxed slightly, dropping the stake to her side. She turned
back to the gypsies. “Any questions?”