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Part 10
The first thing Angel noticed as he came to was his head was pounding. He groaned and rolled over, burying his head into the pillow. He rode out the dizzy spell and looked up when it was over, taking in his surroundings. He was in a small, dark room that had two queen-sized beds in it. The windows were boarded up and there was an over-stuffed chair in the corner and a TV on the dresser.
“It’s not much, I know, but it’s good enough.”
Angel started at the sound of Leonna’s voice. Wincing as he turned his head, he saw her sitting in a rocking chair. She used her red crushed-velvet platforms to rock her body. He noticed she was wearing a blood-red crushed velvet tank top that went perfectly with her shoes and very short black skirt. The outfit reminded him of something that Buffy would wear, and his heart ached for her. He yearned to hold her in his arms.
“What do you want?” he asked, his voice hoarse. Leonna just smiled. She stood and walked toward him, taking a seat next to him on the bed.
“I want you. We never got to have any fun because of Darla. But she’s gone,” Leonna said and smiled her evil smile. “So now there’s nothing stopping us.”
“Sorry, Leonna, but I’m not interested,” Angel said as he made an attempt to stand, his head throbbing as he did. Leonna pulled him back down by the arms and dug her nails into his skin.
“Oh, that’s right, I forgot. You’ve got a thing for Slayers now. Last time we were together, you took great pleasure in hurting them, not loving them,” Leonna said, her voice deadly. Angel glared at her.
“I’m not like you anymore, Leonna.”
“That’ll change soon,” she grinned, taking Angel’s hand and placing it on her leg. He shuddered, repulsed that she wanted him.
Suddenly she disappeared and reappeared in Angel’s lap, pushing him back into the bed. She crushed her lips to his, trying to invade his mouth with her tongue, but he resisted her. Shocked that he would not want her, she looked in his eyes with anger.
“Angel--no wait, Angelus. We can do this the easy way--during the moment of passion, when it will feel good, or we can do it the hard way--now, with lots of pain. But you will be my new lover,” she smirked, then added, “My new, demonic lover.”
Angel just stared at her in despair.
“Buffy? Can you hear me?” Willow asked, cradling Buffy’s head in her lap.
“Ow,” Buffy groaned as she opened her eyes. “Are you guys okay? And ow.”
“Well, everyone who’s here is okay,” Xander said, trying to joke.
“What do you mean ‘everyone that’s here?’ Who isn’t here?” Buffy demanded, slowly sitting up and rubbing her head. Spike was going to pay.
“Buffy, drink this,” Cordelia said, handing her a glass of cold water. Buffy took the glass and gulped the water down greedily. She kept her hand on her head, gently massaging the sore part. She glanced around and saw Xander, Willow, Oz, Giles, Cordelia, Angel...Angel was missing.
“They took him, Buffy,” Giles said, seeing the look on her face, the look of longing. Realization dawned on her face, which was quickly replace by horror and rage.
“I can’t believe them. What the hell are they trying to pull? Do they really want to fight me when I know they’ve taken him? How stupid are they?!?!” Buffy cried, standing and beginning to pace the room.
“Buffy, ple-please sit down. We need to figure out where he might be,” Giles reasoned. Buffy continued her pacing.
“A factory. That’s probably where they are. I just wish we knew where. Great,” she said, tossing her blond hair out of her face. “This is just peachy. Some loser demons kidnapped my boyfriend, my head is killing me, and we have to figure out how to stop Leonna.”
“So what should we do? I mean, we all know what they’re going to do to Angel. Now what?” Oz asked. Buffy suddenly gasped.
“Oh God. I forgot. No. No, they can’t do that to me. They can’t!!” Buffy cried as her eyes welled up in tears. “I just got him back. Why would they do that to me?”
“So it’ll be easier to kill you,” Cordelia said simply.
“That’s their plan,” Buffy said slowly, absorbing everything. “Take away Angel...make me weak...kill me.” Buffy raised her head and dried the tears from her eyes, which changed from frail and vulnerable to cold and hard before her friends’ eyes. “Too bad it won’t work. Instead of one helpless little Slayer, they’re gonna get one mightily pissed off Slayer who’s in a bitchy mood and out for revenge. Will, I need that number. I have to make a call.”
“Sure Buffy, here. Just...be nice. I mean, I know you’re really piss--mad, but we kinda need their help,” Willow said, taking a folded up piece of paper out of her pocket and handing it to the Slayer. Buffy just stared at it for a long moment.
“Buff? What’re you gonna say, exactly?” Xander asked.
“Hi, this is Buffy Summers calling...What?...California...Sunnydale...I need to talk to an ‘Arianna Prince.’...No, don’t put me on hold...I need to talk to her now...What?...I’ll give you orders if I want...I’m the damn Slayer...Now put me through!” Buffy ordered, silencing the girl who had answered the phone. She stood tapping her foot, her hand on her hip, very impatient. “Hey, these calls aren’t cheap...I don’t care what she’s doing, I need to talk to her, so dammit put her on!”
“Buffy, ma..maybe you should--”
“Not now, Giles.”
“But--” Buffy silenced him with a hand motion. Frustrated, he took off his glasses and cleaned them before beginning to pace the room.
“Hello? Arianna? Good, this is Buffy--what? Hang on, I’m gonna put you on speaker phone,” Buffy said, pressing the button and then hanging up the phone. A young woman’s voice filled the room.
“Who am I talking to and what the hell do you want?” Arianna asked, clearly very upset at Buffy.
“Don’t get an attitude with me, Arianna. I’ve had a really bad day and I don’t need any lip from you. Now listen to me. A girl from your clan was killed in the 1600s. Her name was Leonna.”
“Leonna? We don’t have any Leonnas among us.”
“Um, hello? Did you hear me when I said she died in the 1600s? I wouldn’t have expected you to have childhood memories of the girl. She’s a vampire, and she’s here, and we need your help.”
“You need our help? You’ve got to be kidding. You throw this huge attitude at me--” <
“You haven’t even seen my attitude yet, honey,” Buffy retorted. Giles move to interrupt, but Buffy just looked at him. He sighed.
“Whatever. The point is, you’re not getting any help from us. Go bother someone else with your little story. Good one, though. A vampire named Leonna,” the other girl laughed.
“Is there a superior we can talk to?” Giles asked, cutting in.
“Sorry,” Arianna said snottily. “She’s too busy to listen to your lies.” And with that, the line went dead. Buffy just stood facing the phone, hands on her hips and murder in her eyes.
“What a bitch! I can’t believe it!”
“Buff, you weren’t exactly Miss Niceness there,” Xander said. Buffy just snorted and laughed.
“Xand, what the hell do you expect? Huh? My boyfriend’s probably having a great old time with Drusilla right now, there’s a vampire that I can’t kill by myself, and the people who should help us are being stupid and won’t help at all. I think I’m entitled to be a little bit of a bitch.” Buffy began to pace around the room, thinking. Everyone else remained silent, letting her blow off steam. “God, I would kill for a french vanilla cappuccino right about now.”
“Buffy...we need to concentrate on--”
“Giles, don’t start today. I have a plan,” Buffy said, being very dramatic as she said it. She even threw in a hand sweep and a pose. She giggled, and everyone just looked at her, as if they were waiting for her to snap.
“Don’t look at me like that, you guys. I seriously have, like, a kick-ass plan. I’m so brilliant!”
“Oh? And what would this oh-so-brilliant plan be?” Cordelia challenged, crossing her arms over her chest. Buffy imitated her and began laughing hysterically.
“Buffy, we must be serious about this, we...we must focus--”
“Giles, do you want me to have a nervous breakdown or do you want me to make a complete idiot of myself?” Buffy asked, then sighed and composed herself. “Okay, I’m sorry, I’m just doing this so I don’t cry. This is what I’m thinking. Angel told me that Leonna had wanted him really badly when she had been with him and Darla. So she’s probably with him right now. I don’t even want to think about that now. Giles, you have a pilot license, right?”
“Why, yes...I do. Why do you ask?” Giles asked, suddenly suspicious.
“Perfect. Okay, we grab Angel and fly to Romania. I’m sure Leonna will follow, I mean she kinda does want to kill me. We convince those dim-wits to help us kill Leonna and change Angel back human. If they won’t help with Angel, you know those crazy gypsies and their vengeance kicks, we can always do it. What do you think?” Buffy asked, cringing slightly. She had a feeling they hated it.
“You know, it’s a pretty damn good plan,” Willow said.
“Well, it must’ve been, because you just said a bad word. Where’s the soap?” Buffy teased, relaxing.
“I think it’s a good place to start...but what about school? You all can’t very well miss it,” Giles said.
“On the contrary, G-man. We’re actually quite good at missing it,” Xander quipped. Giles gave him a slight smile.
“We could pretend our grandparents died,” Buffy suggested. “Snyd-man would probably want a note from them saying we were there, though, the little troll.”
“Hey, isn’t next week Spring Break? You know, the time where we get 2 weeks off in the middle of March?” Cordelia said.
“That’s right!” Buffy exclaimed. “But we can’t wait that long. Giles, time to think of a really good excuse to tell the president of the Hair Club for Men, otherwise known as Principal Snyder.”
Giles began to pace the room. Everyone fell into deep thought mode.
“I’ve got it!” Willow said, causing everyone to jump as the quiet was shattered. “We can say we’re going on some educational trip with Giles to Romania because we’re such good students.”
“Um...Will? Besides you, we’re not good students,” Xander said.
“Why don’t we just all say we’re sick or something?” Cordelia suggested.
“I think Giles should call the school board and say we’re going on some weird library filing seminar in Romania and he can say he just found out about it and we need to leave ASAP,” Buffy said.
“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Xander said. Buffy smiled. “It’s a horrible idea!! Filing? In Romania? Please. Who’d buy that?”
“Okay, okay, so it was a crappy idea. Why don’t you think of something?”
“Okay, I will. Um...hmm. Huh. Drawing a blank here.”
“Why not just tell them we’re taking an early vacation?” Oz said. “I mean, come on. Are our parents really gonna care where we go? Will, you just say it’s school-related. Xander, your parents won’t care, and Buffy’s mom knows. My parents couldn’t exactly stop me from going, and Cordelia...will your parents care?”
“Probably not. I can just say it’s school-related too. I doubt they’ll care...in fact, I don’t even think they’ll be here. They’re leaving for the Bahamas tomorrow,” Cordelia replied.
“And Giles can say his aunt died or something, and we’re good to go,” Buffy said.
“I think we’re forgetting one tiny thing, guys,” Willow said. “How exactly are we going to get there?”
“Giles is going to call the Watcher’s Council and have them fly a plane here for us to use. They’re also going to bring Kendra so she can keep an eye on the place while we’re gone,” Buffy said simply.
“Oh, okay. Will they do that?”
“They’d better. Giles, get calling,” Buffy said, pushing him over to his office. He nodded and walked over to the phone on his desk, punching in a number and waiting. He began to speak, and Buffy sank slowly into a chair. She put her head in her hands and went over what had just happened in her mind. They had taken her Angel away from her. Again.
He was probably Angelus by now, getting ready for his first meal. A silent tear fell from her eye, and they started coming. She began to sob, shaking. Willow placed a hand on her back, giving her silent support. It wasn’t fair. Buffy had been through so much, yet she wasn’t allowed to have the one thing that meant the most to her. It was as if fate hated her, hated what she was, hated how good she was.
“Never again,” Buffy said, slowly raising her head out of her hands. She had mascara running down her face, and she smudged it even more when she wiped the tears away and sniffled. “This is never going to happen again. None of my friends are going to be turned into vampires. None. Those gypsies are going to make sure of it. They owe it to me. I’ve saved the world about thirty billion times. That’s all I ask.”
“How exactly will they be able to do that, Buff?” Xander asked. Before she could answer, Giles walked out of his office and took off his glasses. He rubbed the bridge of his nose before he spoke.
“What’s the what, Giles? Are they gonna send a plane or do I have to go steal one?” Buffy asked.
“They’ve just sent someone now. They should be here at about,” he paused looking at his watch and calculating how long it would take. “6:30 in the morning, give or take a half hour. Kendra and her Watcher will be arriving by a different plane at around 2:45 to watch the place. The Council has agreed that this is most important and they say we must leave as quickly as possible.”
“Yeah, we got that part. So now what?” Cordelia asked, examining her nails.
Buffy stood and smoothed her clothes. “We need to go get Angel--I mean Angelus. He’s coming along for the ride. We’ll take him back to my house and keep him there until the morning. What time should we leave?”
Giles leaned up against the counter and thought for a moment. “We-we should probably leave early. We’ll have a very long flight ahead of us. How does eight sound?”
The Slayerettes all nodded and began to plan how they would lure Angelus to them.
“Well, I certainly didn’t expect you to be up this soon, love. It usually takes a few days,” Leonna said as Angelus stirred. He opened his eyes and smiled.
“Probably has something to do with the fact that I’ve already been changed once. Where are roller-boy and Dru?” he asked as he sat up and stretched.
“Outside, waiting. You must be hungry, my sweet. Come,” she said, standing and extending her hand. Angelus just looked at it and got up on his own. “Let’s go get something to eat, hmm?”
“I think I’ll go by myself. There’s someone I need to go see,” he replied, strolling to the door and opening it partially. Leonna appeared in his way, closing the door with her back and pulling him close.
“Let me make something clear. You’re mine,” she said with an icy edge. “Don’t go running back to your little Slayer, darling, or I’ll stake you myself. Got it?”
“Whatever,” Angelus growled, pushing her out of the way and opening the door. He strode out into the main room and saw Spike sitting in a chair by the table with Drusilla perched in his lap, cooing to him. He smiled as he walked up to them, but Dru just ignored him and continued with Spike.
“Angelus. I didn’t think you’d be back this soon. How’s the Slayer?” Spike asked, an arrogant smile on his face. Drusilla looked up at her sire and smiled. Angelus frowned. He’d expected a better reaction from Dru, like jumping on him and forgetting Spike.
“Angel...I missed you. Will you come for tea and cakes later?” Drusilla purred.
“Of course. Right now,” he said, rubbing his neck and cracking his knuckles, trying to look tough. “I need to go find my dear Slayer. We have to have a little chat about what she did to me.”
“Which one will you hurt first?” Drusilla asked. Angelus smiled.
“I was thinking of dear Cordelia. She always turned me on, maybe I’ll find another use for her before I kill her.”
Spike smiled. “Have fun, mate.”
Angelus moved to the door and looked over his shoulder before he left. “Oh, I will.”
“That didn’t go the way I planned, Spike. Why didn’t it go as I planned?” Leonna asked, causing Spike to shift his gaze from the door to Leonna’s bedroom. She stood leaning on the doorframe, her arms crossed and she looked very angry. Spike could feel her anger as if it was right in front of him.
“Whatever do you mean?” Spike asked, playing dumb. “Oh, that. You see, Angelus has this little...obsession with the Slayer. He wants to hurt her, and that’s what he’s going to do. Let him alone until he’s done.”
Leonna wiped a piece of black hair out of her eyes and walked forward, turning her head to the side and looking at the door. She made a decision and Spike tried to change her mind.
“Leonna...don’t go after him. He’s gotta do this first, and until it’s done, he won’t even look at you,” Spike reasoned, but Leonna was already gone, evaporated into thin air. He shrugged and turned his gaze back to his princess, who had forgotten all about Angelus.
“What’s with you, Leonna? Last time we were together, you weren’t the stalking type. What’s changed?” Angelus sneered. He continued to walk along on the sidewalk, not stopping to face Leonna, who had appeared behind him. She glowered at his back and appeared before him, stopping his determined walk with one hand on his chest. He halted and looked at her, annoyed.
“Don’t look at me like that, Angelus, my sweet. I know about your little obsession with the Slayer, and Spike and I already have a plan. You were part of it, turning you was just the beginning. We’re going to kill her, just not yet. We want to--”
“Okay, she changes me, not only back to Soul Boy, but also human, and you think you’ll get the privilege of killing her? Think again,” Angelus scowled.
“We can kill her together. And then we can be together,” Leonna said, her voice seductive. He just looked at her, bored.
“Yeah, um, great. Can’t wait for that one. But right now, I have a date with a cheerleader,” he said, trying to shove her out of the way. Leonna just reached up and crushed her lips to his, wrapping her arms around his waist. He almost pulled away, then shook his head and pulled her closer.
Leonna smiled.
Hidden in the bushes, the Slayer glared at Leonna with hatred.
“Ew!” Willow whispered. She was hidden with Buffy, and they were trailing Angelus. All the Slayerettes were there, ready to put their plan into action. She nodded to Cordelia, who stood up and walked down the long row of bushes, coming out at the end onto the sidewalk. She glanced nervously at Buffy, who was waiting for Leonna to leave so she could give Cordelia the signal.
“I have some business to attend to, but I’ll be back in a few hours,” Angelus said. Buffy shot daggers at him with her eyes.
“I’ll be waiting,” Leonna responded with a tantalizing voice before vanishing from sight. Buffy nodded to Cordelia again, and the cheerleader smiled weakly and squared her shoulders. She walked around the corner with her hands in her jacket pocket and her head down.
“Cordelia. I’m so glad I found you!” Angelus said, startling her. She jumped and glanced up, smiling at him.
“Angel, we’ve been looking for you. Are you okay?” she asked, concern on her voice.
“Yeah,” he smirked. “I’m fine now.”
Cordelia walked up to him and offered her arm. “I’ll walk you back to Buffy’s house.”
“Wait, there’s one thing I gotta do first,” Angelus said, changing into game face and grabbing Cordelia with both hands. She screamed as he moved in to bite down, and was stopped as Buffy hit him from behind with a baseball bat. Cordelia sidestepped so he wouldn’t fall on her, and went straight to Xander.
She shook for a moment, the adrenaline stopping and she realized what had almost happened. They watched as Buffy handcuffed Angelus and Oz and Xander helped her lift him up.
“Not exactly the way I envisioned us using these handcuffs...well, that’ll come later. By the way, Cor, Oscar-worthy performance there. Two thumbs way up for bravery,” she smiled, then turned her head, sweeping her eyes over Angelus’ crumpled figure. “And you...if you weren’t in the body of my boyfriend, you would be screaming for mercy right about now.”
“So, now what? Your house?” Xander asked. Buffy nodded, and they began the trek to her house.
They were silent on the way, mostly thinking about what was going to happen to the in the next week or two. They had all packed and talked to their parents, and it seemed they were going to get away with leaving. It turned out there were teacher’s workshops on Thursday and Friday, so none of them would be missed too much.
They just hoped that they would be able to kill Leonna without, you know,
dying.