ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES
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BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
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Adult ++
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210
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Category:
BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
210
Views:
11,868
Reviews:
182
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
THE COVEN & THE SENIOR PARTNERS
CHAPTER 150 - THE COVEN & THE SENIOR PARTNERS
LOS ANGELES
AUGUST 14, 2009
10:00AM
“Come on Fluffy,” said Bruce, as he chased the little Pekinese into the denser areas of the park, just outside the city. Every time he walked the dog, he hoped he wouldn’t run into one of his old school mates. Usually, some muscle-bound jock type, with a manly sized dog, as well.
“If I didn’t love your owner so much, and if I wasn’t having the best sex of my life, I wouldn’t be chasing after your ass, that’s for sure,” he said, grunting, as he crashed through the brush.
Fluffy was digging at the foot of a small mound of earth, as Bruce caught up with him. He was just about to put him on his leash, when he saw the toe of a foot sticking up out of the dirt.
“Shit!” he said, as he pushed back some more dirt, only to uncover a leg attached to the foot.
Bruce high-tailed it out of the park, trying to decide what to do. He finally decided that here was no benefit to be had from coming into work late. Again. He went back to the apartment he shared with Jenny, dressed for work, then left. On the way to work, he stopped for a minute at a local convenience store, which had an outside phone, and anonymously notified the police about the body.
“What’s up?” asked Benny, his co-worker, when he arrived at the UPS loading dock a little while later.
“You wouldn’t believe me, if I told you,” Bruce answered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LONDON, ENGLAND
AUGUST 15, 2009
FRIDAY
1:00PM
Giles stood up as Willow entered his office, followed by Sabrina.
"Willow," he said, coming around the desk to give her a warm hug, "I'm glad you're back."
"Thanks, it's good to be back," she said.
"Sabrina, it's good to see you, too. I'm glad you're both okay."
"Thank you, Rupert," Sabrina said.
They stood awkwardly for a moment. Finally, Giles turned to Sabrina; "I know it was traumatic for you, but would you mind recounting your version about what happened the night the coven was attacked."
Sabrina shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, "I was up late that night because I couldn’t sleep. I was in the kitchen looking for something to eat, when the attack started. I got scared and ran out, and hid in the woods until it was all over with. That's about it," she said shrugging.
"You didn't see or hear anything? Nothing at all?”
Sabrina looked up as if pondering his question, "No, not really. I just kept running, until I couldn't run anymore. I hid out for over an hour, then finally came back. Guess that was rather cowardly of me, wasn't it?"
"No, not at all. You’re not fully trained as a slayer, and you’ve only just begun to investigate your powers as a witch,” Giles said. “You had a strong sense of self-preservation and you saved yourself. That's always preferable to winding up dead."
They satsilesilence for a moment, until Willow spoke up, "Sabrina, why don't you go and find the other Potentials, and see if they can bring you up to speed on what's been happening since you've been gone."
"Oh, okay. Sure," Sabrina said rising.
"Tell them I'll be down shortly," Giles said.
"I will," she said, as she walked out.
“Have you talked to Buffy?” Willow asked.
“Not since Wednesday. You?”
“Yesterday. William knows,” she said, softly.
Giles nodded, “I knew it was forthcoming. How’s he taking it?”
"Not well, Giles. Not well at all. Buffy said he was destroyed by the news. She sounded pretty destroyed, too."
"Oh dear," Giles said, taking off his glasses to polish them.
"I think today is William's birthday.”
Giles shook his head sadly. “I dare say; it won’t be a very happy one.”
“No, it won’t,” Willow said, “They were supposed to be going to Michigan for vacation, back to the place we were at last year, where they fell in love again, because Buffy wanted it to be special for him.
Giles, you have no idea how pure and innocent he was last year when we got him out of that hospital. I don’t think young William had ever had so much as a kiss, let alone a murderous thought in his head. I wish I could just cast a forgetting spell and make all their pain go away.”
Giles shot her a warning glance.
“But I won’t,” Willow said, sadly.
He sighed in relief. “I think the best thing we can do right now is to be available to Buffy, if she needs our support.”
“What about to William?”
“Of course, to William as well. I don’t envy him his place right now.”
Giles got up and went to the window. “That’s odd, I just saw Sabrina crossing the street. I thought she was supposed to go and work out with the other Potentials.”
He looked at Willow and frowned.
"What is it, Giles?"
He shook his head, "I don't know, there was just something odd about her today.”
Willow nodded, “ I know. I don' t know how to say this, Giles, other than Sabrina seems different to me, ever since the night of the attack."
"How so?"
"I don't know, just lots of little things. Like when she talked about being downstairs in the kitchen when we were attacked...she was the one who first told me that she had a bad feeling, a premonition. But whenever we've talked since then, she's never said a thing about that. If I didn't know better, I'd say that she's only mimicking what I’ve said to her about it; as if she wasn’t even there herself."
"Well, that could be from the shock of the experience. You did tell me she was scared to death, and ran off."
"It's not just that. On the way home, I asked her some things about her fy, wy, which she had already told me, and she kept changing the subject.”
“Well, maybe she just didn’t want to talk about them.”
“No, it was more than that. I asked her if she’d heard from her brother lately, and she told me not for a while.”
“So?”
“Giles, shen onn only child. We talked about that, since I am, too.”
Giles looked at her sharply, “You tricked her, then?”
Willow nodded, “Yeah, and she fell for it. She or whatever she is now.”
Giles sighed; “I felt something, too. As soon as she walked in, I just didn’t know what it was. Oh, that and she called me Rupert.”
“I noticed.”
“You don’t think it’s her, then?”
Willow hesitated, then answered, “No. At first I thought it was just shock, but her aura is wrong, the others noticed it, too. For that reason, we didn’t talk about anything too important when she was around.”
Giles nodded, “That was wise. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here but obviously, it has something to do with the attack.”
“My guess is that a demon has taken over her body,” Willow said.
“A demon who knows my name is Rupert?”
“Good point. What or who do you think it is, then?”
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out. In the meantime, why don’t you see if you can figure out if Sabrina is actually dead, or her essence is still recovle.”le.”
“I’m on it,” Willow said.
“Good. Now, onto the business of Angel and Wolfram & Hart.”
Willow nodded, "Wolfram & Hart are run by higher beings called the Senior Partners. Althanea contacted them as soon as we became aware that Angel was behind the attacks. They assured her that they knew nothing of his intentions."
“I rather suspected as much,” Giles said. “Still, they have every reason to lie to you, to save their own skins.”
“I don’t think that they are.”
“Why?” Giles asked
"Um... ," Willow began, looking a bit sheepish, "I believe that I may have spoken out of turn, when I warned Angel that the coven would destroy him and Wolfram & Hart, should try to go after William or Buffy..."
"Willow!"
“Turned out the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart are gods, sort of like Glory was.”
“Oh dear lord! What do they want, then?”
“Just to go on as before. The Coven's path and that of Wolfram & Hart's don't usually intersect. Althanea told me that over the years they've learned to ignore each other rather nicely. They're working out a plan to deal with Angel, which all parties can live with.
Giles snorted, “I can’t believe that I’m hearing this. The Coven, going along with evil...”
“They're not going along with it at all, Giles, they just don’t have the resources to destroy gods. Their position is that they can’t do any good in this world, if they no longer exist in it at all. They consider themselves, we consider ourselves, a part of the other side of the pendulum of good and evil. We can’t rid the whole world of it, nor can they ever be rid of us. We’re all a part of the balance. You know that, better than anyone. And Giles, you know first hand how hard it was to go up against a god of Glory's strength; this is more than one god."
Giles nodded tersely. “But what about future threats to Buffy and William then? They, rather Angel, obviously had the resources to thwart the protection spell, and even though you assure me that the latest one is even stronger, I don’t doubt that Angel will still try to...”
“He won’t be able to.”
“Why not?”
“That's been a part of the negotiations between the coven and the Senior Partners. Althanea wanted me to reassure you that the coven does wield a lot of power, and although we can’t destroy them, we can do a lot of damage to Wolfram & Hart’s interests and clients around the world. Believe me, Angel will no longer be in any position to hurt William or Buffy.”
“What are Wolfram & Hart going to do?” Giles asked.
“They’re turning him over to the coven.”
“And what is the coven planning to do?”
“They’re removing his power.”
Giles scoffed, “That’s it then? They’re removing him from power, and that’s supposed to make me feel better? If Wolfram & Hart weren’t behind the attacks, then as I suspected, Angel had sources of his own. What’s to stop him from using those again?”
"Giles, I said the coven was removing his power, not only removing him from power.”
“How so?”
“I’m not exactly clear on that. I’ll have to ask Althanea, but I’m sure it will be quite effective.”
"And what of William? What are Wolfram & Hart’s intentions towards him? After all, it was their amulet that wound up being given to him to wear by Buffy, rather than Angel."
"That was accidental, because Buffy wanted Spike by her side, not Angel."
"Or providential," Giles said.
"Either way, it’s also a part of the negotiations. The Senior Partners said they have no use now or in the future for a Victorian Poet, even if he was a former bad-ass vampire, as they put it.”
Giles eyes widened in surprise, “Poet?”
“Um-hmm,” Willow said, grinning.
“Good Lord!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The late afternoon sun was shining into the office as Giles closed his briefcase, and rose from his chair. He closed the office door and was locking it, when he heard the phone ringing.
“Oh blast it all,” he swore, hurrying back in. “Giles here.”
“Giles, Wes here, I have some news to tell you about Ethan.”
He listened intently as Wes told him that Ethan’s body had been discovered in a park near downtown.
“Are you’re 100% sure?”
“I personally went down to the morgue and identified him from pictures. I took the liberty to send one to you, if you’d like to identify him your.”
.”
“When did you send it? Did you send it overnight?”
On the other end, Wes sighed, “Giles, its there now. Look in your email.”
“Oh, yes. Quite. Hold on a minute,” he said, logging on. He saw the email and opened it, downloading the pictures. There it was - the face of his old nemesis, looking quite peaceable. He took off his glasses and looked closer. He’d swear there was a smirk on Ethan’s face. Knowing him, there probably was.
Giles picked back up the phone; “It’s him.”
“I thought so. Oh, and to let you know, there was a Wolfram & Hart card found in his pocket.”
“How do you know?”
“I told them I was family and they released his belongings to me.”
“Was there anything else?”
“No, just the card. Oh, and a pocket watch; I’d say quite old and probably valuable. One more thing, there were marks on his wrists, as though he’d been bound. It looks like Wolfram & Hart used him in some way, then killed him as soon as they had what they wanted. I wonder what that was.”
“I think I know,” Giles said, and proceeded to fill Wes in on what he knew of recent events.
“So, Wolfram & Hart broke Ethan out of jail, then used him to break down the protection barrier so that Dru could attack Spike and Buffy? Why would they do that?”
“It appears more likely that Angel acted on his own. He lost the Shanshu to Spike, and Buffy.”
“I can’t believe he’d go to such lengths...”
“You didn’t know him when he was Angelus.”
“You think he’s Angelus now?”
“I don’t know, but he’s obviously been corrupted in some manner. I can’t believe that Angel would do this to Buffy either, although I don’t profess to know the deep feelings of hatred he must have had for Spike. All I know is that there was a lot of animosity on both ends. I just attributed it to their long history, almost a familial contempt.”
“I see. Do you want me to speak to Angel?”
“No, don’t approach him at all. I believe the coven is taking steps to rectify this.”
“I see. Is there anything else I can do on this end?”
“Are they releasing the body to you?”
“Yes, tomorrow I believe.”
“Have it cremated, not buried.”
“Why, if I may ask?”
“I don’t quite know, but I just think it would be...more permanent. I just can’t see that Rayne let himself be killed quite so easily.”
“You think he would be trying to come back? Because I can assure you, that was a very post-mortem body I was looking at...still, stranger things have happened in our world, haven’t they?”
Giles laughed a small, joyless laugh.
“Not to worry, I’ll have his body cremated, straight away. You’ll let me know if I can be of any more assistance?”
“I will, thank you. Oh, one more thing. What did the coroner rule Rayne’s cause of death as?
“They said it was inconclusive, but that more than likely it was a heart attack."
A heart attack? Bloody unlikely, that!
“Thank you.” Giles hung up the phone and stared off into space, something in the back of his head nagging at him. Sighing, he got up, and once more locked up for the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK 3 DAYS BEFORE
LOS ANGELES
PENTHOUSE OF WOLFRAM & HART
AUGUST 12, 2009
TUESDAY
8:30AM
“What is it?” Angel picking up the phone.
“It’s the driver, he’s back,” answered a guard who’d been stationed in the garage all night.
“Is anyone with him?”
“Negative.”
“I’ll be right down,” Angel answered, his face going dark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Where is he?”
“Over there,” said the guard, pointing to the small office, in the corner of garage.
Angel swung the office door open, surprising the driver, who spilled his hot coffee all over himself and the table he was sharing with a couple of the other drivers.
“Out!” Angel yelled to the other two.
Looking at their comrade with sympathy, they hurried out.
Angel closed the door, “What happened?”
“We arrived around 7:30 last night, the one who calls herself Dru and the other two got out to walk the rest of the way up the road. A little after 8:00pm a car with a blonde woman in it, sped up the drive. That was it, until almost 6:30am this morning, when another car carrying a man and a woman arrived. I’m sorry, nobody ever came out.”
“Did anyone see you?”
“I don’t think so, I was up the road and off to the side, but I could get a clear look at who was coming and going, using the magnified video mirror.”
“So you just left then?”
“Yes, but not until morning. Well past the time they were expected back.”
Angel nodded. “That will be all.”
The driver sighed in relief.
Angel turned back around, “Did she leave anything behind in the car?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, any personal belongings; I’d like to have them, if she did.”
“No there was nothing. I checked the backseat before I put the car away, like I always do.”
“What about the floor?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, it’s really important to me, how about we go over there and you check again.”
The driver was about to argue, but then he saw Angel’s eyes and just nodded.
They walked silently over to the limousine and the driver opened the back door, “See there’s nothing on the floor...wait, what are you doing?” he asked, as he was pushed into the back seat, the door slamming after him.
Angel didn’t heed the pounding on the windows or the frantic cries of the driver as he walked away. “Why? What did I dodid did as I was asked? Pleeeease!”
“You know what to do,” Angel said to the guard as he walked past him, on his way to his private elevator.
The guard nodded, emotionless.
The elevator door opened and Angel got on, pushing the button to take him back up to his penthouse.
The guard looked over at the limousine then pushed the button on the remote, setting the backseat aflame.
He put on the special protective ear covering, used by airport workers, and Wolfram & Hart employees.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LOS ANGELES
OFFICES OF WOLFRAM & HART
AUGUST 15, 2009
9:00AM
“What do you want?” Angel asked as Lilah walked into his office.
“It’s not what I want, it’s what the Senior Partners want, lover.”
Angel looked up from his desk, “What would that be?”
“They’re requesting your presence in The White Room. Actually, both of ours.”
“G, ju, just what I needed. What’s this about?”
“I’m not sure.”
“And if I don’t agree to their request?”
“It’s not a request, it’s a summons.”
Angel had a funny feeling looking at Lilah, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
She shook her head; “I don’t know anything more than you do. I just got this memo, requesting our presence in the White Room this morning.”
Angel took his time tidying up his desk, before rising from his seat, “Very well, lets go. Wouldn’t want to keep the Senior Partners waiting now would we?”
The elevator door opened up to a bright, blinding light, and the ferocious howling of otherworldly winds. Angel squinted and looked down, his foot testing the solidity of the ground through the swirling mist. Satisfied, he stepped off the elevator. Lilah followed.
“Well, what now?” he asked, his voice straining to be heard through the maelstrom.
“We wait,” Lilah yelled back.
A few moments later the winds and mist disappeared, as shafts of bright yellow, blue, and purple lights appeared from above. As they descended, they became corporeal, the colors became the robes and inside them, the mystical Senior Partners.
Angel’s expression gave no indication of surprise, whereas Lilah’s eyes were wide.
“And so finally we meet,” Angel said.
“Yes, we meet,” said the purple robed Senior Partner, regarding Angel with narrowed eyes.
“It’s an honor...” Lilah began.
“Silence!” said the yellow Senior Partner. “Your job is finished here, be gone!”
Before she could question or protest, Lilah disappeared into a million bits of inky black mist, quickly swirling to the top of the room’s ceiling, then disappearing.
Angel stood alone now.
“What is it you want?” Angel asked, his false bravado quickly fading.
“You have failed us, vampire. You have taken it upon yourself to use the power of your position to go against The Champion.”
Angeltterttered, “Who? What are you talking about?”
“I believe you know very well who we’re talking about.”
“You can’t mean...? Oh, this is rich...”
The blue robed Senior Partner stepped forward, “It’s precisely who we mean. Not only that, you used Wolfram, & Hart’s resources to free a prisoner, then had him summon demons against our allies at the United Coven of Bath.”
“Allies?”
“Not exactly allies, but we have an understanding with them that reaches back eons older than you; we are but a piece of the puzzle, they another. Although we don’t work the same way, our goals at times have not been in conflict.”
Angel shook his head; “I don’t believe this.”
Just then the air began to shimmer and much like their own appearance, a fourth figure materialized.
“Althanea,” said the purple robed figure to her respectfully, “you always did like to make a grand entrance.”
“You should talk, Gordon,” she said, grinning bemusedly at him.
Gordon? Angel looked over at him, questioningly.
“A family name...but enough about me. Althanea, I turn the proceedings over to you.”
“Proceedings? These are proceedings now?” Angel asked, irritation evident in his voice.
“Indeed they are, Angel, “Althanea answered. She held out her hand, and a small scroll appeared. She unrolled it; “By The Highest Order of the United Coven of Bath, granted us by The Powers That Be, we hereby strip you of all of your enhanced vampire strength, sight, speed, and hearing for an indeterminate amount of time. We take you with us now, back to your homeland, where you cave ove out your days, and hopefully find a way to once more become a useful member of the world.”
Angel tried to say something, but as the last of her words fell from her lips, a binding spell surrounded Angel, rendering any words or physical movements impossible.
Althanea turned to the Senior Partners, “I believe this concludes the coven’s business with you for now.”
Gordon reluctantly nodded, “Yes, so it does. He turned towards Angel, “It’s really too bad you know, we had high hopes for you. Oh well.”
Althanea looked around at each of the Senior Partners, “Two things before we take our leave of you. “First a warning; you are to have nothing to do with William Worthington, formerly known as Spike, and William the Bloody, or anybody he knows or is acquainted with. The same applies to the former Chosen One, Buffy Summers, known now as Elizabeth Worthington. Secondly, you are truly despicable; taking a vampire with a soul, who’s been good for many years, and corrupting him. You, and this ‘corporation of the damned,’ is what turned him back into a monster.”
Gordon smiled at her, “You call it corruption, I say we merely exploited a weakness that was already. Besides, corrupting power is what runs the world, Althanea. You should know that.”
“As well I do, but that doesn’t make it, or all of you, any less despicable.”
“Coming from you, we’ll take that as high praise.”
“Good-bye, Gordon. Consider yourself warned,” she said, and with a small wave of her hand, both her and Angel disappeared in a flash of bright yellow light.
“Too bad,” sighed the blue robed figure, “I had such high hopes for him.”
The yellow robe figure shrugged, “An acceptable casualty of doing business. It could’ve been much worse.”
They all nodded vigorously.
Gordon smiled suddenly, “I hear there’s a formerly, very powerful domestic goddess by the name of Martha something-or-other, who might be needing a new position.”
“Excellent idea,” said the yellow robed figure, as the three Senior Partners exited the white room, in the same manner in which they had appeared.
END CHAPTER 150
LOS ANGELES
AUGUST 14, 2009
10:00AM
“Come on Fluffy,” said Bruce, as he chased the little Pekinese into the denser areas of the park, just outside the city. Every time he walked the dog, he hoped he wouldn’t run into one of his old school mates. Usually, some muscle-bound jock type, with a manly sized dog, as well.
“If I didn’t love your owner so much, and if I wasn’t having the best sex of my life, I wouldn’t be chasing after your ass, that’s for sure,” he said, grunting, as he crashed through the brush.
Fluffy was digging at the foot of a small mound of earth, as Bruce caught up with him. He was just about to put him on his leash, when he saw the toe of a foot sticking up out of the dirt.
“Shit!” he said, as he pushed back some more dirt, only to uncover a leg attached to the foot.
Bruce high-tailed it out of the park, trying to decide what to do. He finally decided that here was no benefit to be had from coming into work late. Again. He went back to the apartment he shared with Jenny, dressed for work, then left. On the way to work, he stopped for a minute at a local convenience store, which had an outside phone, and anonymously notified the police about the body.
“What’s up?” asked Benny, his co-worker, when he arrived at the UPS loading dock a little while later.
“You wouldn’t believe me, if I told you,” Bruce answered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LONDON, ENGLAND
AUGUST 15, 2009
FRIDAY
1:00PM
Giles stood up as Willow entered his office, followed by Sabrina.
"Willow," he said, coming around the desk to give her a warm hug, "I'm glad you're back."
"Thanks, it's good to be back," she said.
"Sabrina, it's good to see you, too. I'm glad you're both okay."
"Thank you, Rupert," Sabrina said.
They stood awkwardly for a moment. Finally, Giles turned to Sabrina; "I know it was traumatic for you, but would you mind recounting your version about what happened the night the coven was attacked."
Sabrina shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, "I was up late that night because I couldn’t sleep. I was in the kitchen looking for something to eat, when the attack started. I got scared and ran out, and hid in the woods until it was all over with. That's about it," she said shrugging.
"You didn't see or hear anything? Nothing at all?”
Sabrina looked up as if pondering his question, "No, not really. I just kept running, until I couldn't run anymore. I hid out for over an hour, then finally came back. Guess that was rather cowardly of me, wasn't it?"
"No, not at all. You’re not fully trained as a slayer, and you’ve only just begun to investigate your powers as a witch,” Giles said. “You had a strong sense of self-preservation and you saved yourself. That's always preferable to winding up dead."
They satsilesilence for a moment, until Willow spoke up, "Sabrina, why don't you go and find the other Potentials, and see if they can bring you up to speed on what's been happening since you've been gone."
"Oh, okay. Sure," Sabrina said rising.
"Tell them I'll be down shortly," Giles said.
"I will," she said, as she walked out.
“Have you talked to Buffy?” Willow asked.
“Not since Wednesday. You?”
“Yesterday. William knows,” she said, softly.
Giles nodded, “I knew it was forthcoming. How’s he taking it?”
"Not well, Giles. Not well at all. Buffy said he was destroyed by the news. She sounded pretty destroyed, too."
"Oh dear," Giles said, taking off his glasses to polish them.
"I think today is William's birthday.”
Giles shook his head sadly. “I dare say; it won’t be a very happy one.”
“No, it won’t,” Willow said, “They were supposed to be going to Michigan for vacation, back to the place we were at last year, where they fell in love again, because Buffy wanted it to be special for him.
Giles, you have no idea how pure and innocent he was last year when we got him out of that hospital. I don’t think young William had ever had so much as a kiss, let alone a murderous thought in his head. I wish I could just cast a forgetting spell and make all their pain go away.”
Giles shot her a warning glance.
“But I won’t,” Willow said, sadly.
He sighed in relief. “I think the best thing we can do right now is to be available to Buffy, if she needs our support.”
“What about to William?”
“Of course, to William as well. I don’t envy him his place right now.”
Giles got up and went to the window. “That’s odd, I just saw Sabrina crossing the street. I thought she was supposed to go and work out with the other Potentials.”
He looked at Willow and frowned.
"What is it, Giles?"
He shook his head, "I don't know, there was just something odd about her today.”
Willow nodded, “ I know. I don' t know how to say this, Giles, other than Sabrina seems different to me, ever since the night of the attack."
"How so?"
"I don't know, just lots of little things. Like when she talked about being downstairs in the kitchen when we were attacked...she was the one who first told me that she had a bad feeling, a premonition. But whenever we've talked since then, she's never said a thing about that. If I didn't know better, I'd say that she's only mimicking what I’ve said to her about it; as if she wasn’t even there herself."
"Well, that could be from the shock of the experience. You did tell me she was scared to death, and ran off."
"It's not just that. On the way home, I asked her some things about her fy, wy, which she had already told me, and she kept changing the subject.”
“Well, maybe she just didn’t want to talk about them.”
“No, it was more than that. I asked her if she’d heard from her brother lately, and she told me not for a while.”
“So?”
“Giles, shen onn only child. We talked about that, since I am, too.”
Giles looked at her sharply, “You tricked her, then?”
Willow nodded, “Yeah, and she fell for it. She or whatever she is now.”
Giles sighed; “I felt something, too. As soon as she walked in, I just didn’t know what it was. Oh, that and she called me Rupert.”
“I noticed.”
“You don’t think it’s her, then?”
Willow hesitated, then answered, “No. At first I thought it was just shock, but her aura is wrong, the others noticed it, too. For that reason, we didn’t talk about anything too important when she was around.”
Giles nodded, “That was wise. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here but obviously, it has something to do with the attack.”
“My guess is that a demon has taken over her body,” Willow said.
“A demon who knows my name is Rupert?”
“Good point. What or who do you think it is, then?”
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out. In the meantime, why don’t you see if you can figure out if Sabrina is actually dead, or her essence is still recovle.”le.”
“I’m on it,” Willow said.
“Good. Now, onto the business of Angel and Wolfram & Hart.”
Willow nodded, "Wolfram & Hart are run by higher beings called the Senior Partners. Althanea contacted them as soon as we became aware that Angel was behind the attacks. They assured her that they knew nothing of his intentions."
“I rather suspected as much,” Giles said. “Still, they have every reason to lie to you, to save their own skins.”
“I don’t think that they are.”
“Why?” Giles asked
"Um... ," Willow began, looking a bit sheepish, "I believe that I may have spoken out of turn, when I warned Angel that the coven would destroy him and Wolfram & Hart, should try to go after William or Buffy..."
"Willow!"
“Turned out the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart are gods, sort of like Glory was.”
“Oh dear lord! What do they want, then?”
“Just to go on as before. The Coven's path and that of Wolfram & Hart's don't usually intersect. Althanea told me that over the years they've learned to ignore each other rather nicely. They're working out a plan to deal with Angel, which all parties can live with.
Giles snorted, “I can’t believe that I’m hearing this. The Coven, going along with evil...”
“They're not going along with it at all, Giles, they just don’t have the resources to destroy gods. Their position is that they can’t do any good in this world, if they no longer exist in it at all. They consider themselves, we consider ourselves, a part of the other side of the pendulum of good and evil. We can’t rid the whole world of it, nor can they ever be rid of us. We’re all a part of the balance. You know that, better than anyone. And Giles, you know first hand how hard it was to go up against a god of Glory's strength; this is more than one god."
Giles nodded tersely. “But what about future threats to Buffy and William then? They, rather Angel, obviously had the resources to thwart the protection spell, and even though you assure me that the latest one is even stronger, I don’t doubt that Angel will still try to...”
“He won’t be able to.”
“Why not?”
“That's been a part of the negotiations between the coven and the Senior Partners. Althanea wanted me to reassure you that the coven does wield a lot of power, and although we can’t destroy them, we can do a lot of damage to Wolfram & Hart’s interests and clients around the world. Believe me, Angel will no longer be in any position to hurt William or Buffy.”
“What are Wolfram & Hart going to do?” Giles asked.
“They’re turning him over to the coven.”
“And what is the coven planning to do?”
“They’re removing his power.”
Giles scoffed, “That’s it then? They’re removing him from power, and that’s supposed to make me feel better? If Wolfram & Hart weren’t behind the attacks, then as I suspected, Angel had sources of his own. What’s to stop him from using those again?”
"Giles, I said the coven was removing his power, not only removing him from power.”
“How so?”
“I’m not exactly clear on that. I’ll have to ask Althanea, but I’m sure it will be quite effective.”
"And what of William? What are Wolfram & Hart’s intentions towards him? After all, it was their amulet that wound up being given to him to wear by Buffy, rather than Angel."
"That was accidental, because Buffy wanted Spike by her side, not Angel."
"Or providential," Giles said.
"Either way, it’s also a part of the negotiations. The Senior Partners said they have no use now or in the future for a Victorian Poet, even if he was a former bad-ass vampire, as they put it.”
Giles eyes widened in surprise, “Poet?”
“Um-hmm,” Willow said, grinning.
“Good Lord!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The late afternoon sun was shining into the office as Giles closed his briefcase, and rose from his chair. He closed the office door and was locking it, when he heard the phone ringing.
“Oh blast it all,” he swore, hurrying back in. “Giles here.”
“Giles, Wes here, I have some news to tell you about Ethan.”
He listened intently as Wes told him that Ethan’s body had been discovered in a park near downtown.
“Are you’re 100% sure?”
“I personally went down to the morgue and identified him from pictures. I took the liberty to send one to you, if you’d like to identify him your.”
.”
“When did you send it? Did you send it overnight?”
On the other end, Wes sighed, “Giles, its there now. Look in your email.”
“Oh, yes. Quite. Hold on a minute,” he said, logging on. He saw the email and opened it, downloading the pictures. There it was - the face of his old nemesis, looking quite peaceable. He took off his glasses and looked closer. He’d swear there was a smirk on Ethan’s face. Knowing him, there probably was.
Giles picked back up the phone; “It’s him.”
“I thought so. Oh, and to let you know, there was a Wolfram & Hart card found in his pocket.”
“How do you know?”
“I told them I was family and they released his belongings to me.”
“Was there anything else?”
“No, just the card. Oh, and a pocket watch; I’d say quite old and probably valuable. One more thing, there were marks on his wrists, as though he’d been bound. It looks like Wolfram & Hart used him in some way, then killed him as soon as they had what they wanted. I wonder what that was.”
“I think I know,” Giles said, and proceeded to fill Wes in on what he knew of recent events.
“So, Wolfram & Hart broke Ethan out of jail, then used him to break down the protection barrier so that Dru could attack Spike and Buffy? Why would they do that?”
“It appears more likely that Angel acted on his own. He lost the Shanshu to Spike, and Buffy.”
“I can’t believe he’d go to such lengths...”
“You didn’t know him when he was Angelus.”
“You think he’s Angelus now?”
“I don’t know, but he’s obviously been corrupted in some manner. I can’t believe that Angel would do this to Buffy either, although I don’t profess to know the deep feelings of hatred he must have had for Spike. All I know is that there was a lot of animosity on both ends. I just attributed it to their long history, almost a familial contempt.”
“I see. Do you want me to speak to Angel?”
“No, don’t approach him at all. I believe the coven is taking steps to rectify this.”
“I see. Is there anything else I can do on this end?”
“Are they releasing the body to you?”
“Yes, tomorrow I believe.”
“Have it cremated, not buried.”
“Why, if I may ask?”
“I don’t quite know, but I just think it would be...more permanent. I just can’t see that Rayne let himself be killed quite so easily.”
“You think he would be trying to come back? Because I can assure you, that was a very post-mortem body I was looking at...still, stranger things have happened in our world, haven’t they?”
Giles laughed a small, joyless laugh.
“Not to worry, I’ll have his body cremated, straight away. You’ll let me know if I can be of any more assistance?”
“I will, thank you. Oh, one more thing. What did the coroner rule Rayne’s cause of death as?
“They said it was inconclusive, but that more than likely it was a heart attack."
A heart attack? Bloody unlikely, that!
“Thank you.” Giles hung up the phone and stared off into space, something in the back of his head nagging at him. Sighing, he got up, and once more locked up for the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK 3 DAYS BEFORE
LOS ANGELES
PENTHOUSE OF WOLFRAM & HART
AUGUST 12, 2009
TUESDAY
8:30AM
“What is it?” Angel picking up the phone.
“It’s the driver, he’s back,” answered a guard who’d been stationed in the garage all night.
“Is anyone with him?”
“Negative.”
“I’ll be right down,” Angel answered, his face going dark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Where is he?”
“Over there,” said the guard, pointing to the small office, in the corner of garage.
Angel swung the office door open, surprising the driver, who spilled his hot coffee all over himself and the table he was sharing with a couple of the other drivers.
“Out!” Angel yelled to the other two.
Looking at their comrade with sympathy, they hurried out.
Angel closed the door, “What happened?”
“We arrived around 7:30 last night, the one who calls herself Dru and the other two got out to walk the rest of the way up the road. A little after 8:00pm a car with a blonde woman in it, sped up the drive. That was it, until almost 6:30am this morning, when another car carrying a man and a woman arrived. I’m sorry, nobody ever came out.”
“Did anyone see you?”
“I don’t think so, I was up the road and off to the side, but I could get a clear look at who was coming and going, using the magnified video mirror.”
“So you just left then?”
“Yes, but not until morning. Well past the time they were expected back.”
Angel nodded. “That will be all.”
The driver sighed in relief.
Angel turned back around, “Did she leave anything behind in the car?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, any personal belongings; I’d like to have them, if she did.”
“No there was nothing. I checked the backseat before I put the car away, like I always do.”
“What about the floor?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, it’s really important to me, how about we go over there and you check again.”
The driver was about to argue, but then he saw Angel’s eyes and just nodded.
They walked silently over to the limousine and the driver opened the back door, “See there’s nothing on the floor...wait, what are you doing?” he asked, as he was pushed into the back seat, the door slamming after him.
Angel didn’t heed the pounding on the windows or the frantic cries of the driver as he walked away. “Why? What did I dodid did as I was asked? Pleeeease!”
“You know what to do,” Angel said to the guard as he walked past him, on his way to his private elevator.
The guard nodded, emotionless.
The elevator door opened and Angel got on, pushing the button to take him back up to his penthouse.
The guard looked over at the limousine then pushed the button on the remote, setting the backseat aflame.
He put on the special protective ear covering, used by airport workers, and Wolfram & Hart employees.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LOS ANGELES
OFFICES OF WOLFRAM & HART
AUGUST 15, 2009
9:00AM
“What do you want?” Angel asked as Lilah walked into his office.
“It’s not what I want, it’s what the Senior Partners want, lover.”
Angel looked up from his desk, “What would that be?”
“They’re requesting your presence in The White Room. Actually, both of ours.”
“G, ju, just what I needed. What’s this about?”
“I’m not sure.”
“And if I don’t agree to their request?”
“It’s not a request, it’s a summons.”
Angel had a funny feeling looking at Lilah, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
She shook her head; “I don’t know anything more than you do. I just got this memo, requesting our presence in the White Room this morning.”
Angel took his time tidying up his desk, before rising from his seat, “Very well, lets go. Wouldn’t want to keep the Senior Partners waiting now would we?”
The elevator door opened up to a bright, blinding light, and the ferocious howling of otherworldly winds. Angel squinted and looked down, his foot testing the solidity of the ground through the swirling mist. Satisfied, he stepped off the elevator. Lilah followed.
“Well, what now?” he asked, his voice straining to be heard through the maelstrom.
“We wait,” Lilah yelled back.
A few moments later the winds and mist disappeared, as shafts of bright yellow, blue, and purple lights appeared from above. As they descended, they became corporeal, the colors became the robes and inside them, the mystical Senior Partners.
Angel’s expression gave no indication of surprise, whereas Lilah’s eyes were wide.
“And so finally we meet,” Angel said.
“Yes, we meet,” said the purple robed Senior Partner, regarding Angel with narrowed eyes.
“It’s an honor...” Lilah began.
“Silence!” said the yellow Senior Partner. “Your job is finished here, be gone!”
Before she could question or protest, Lilah disappeared into a million bits of inky black mist, quickly swirling to the top of the room’s ceiling, then disappearing.
Angel stood alone now.
“What is it you want?” Angel asked, his false bravado quickly fading.
“You have failed us, vampire. You have taken it upon yourself to use the power of your position to go against The Champion.”
Angeltterttered, “Who? What are you talking about?”
“I believe you know very well who we’re talking about.”
“You can’t mean...? Oh, this is rich...”
The blue robed Senior Partner stepped forward, “It’s precisely who we mean. Not only that, you used Wolfram, & Hart’s resources to free a prisoner, then had him summon demons against our allies at the United Coven of Bath.”
“Allies?”
“Not exactly allies, but we have an understanding with them that reaches back eons older than you; we are but a piece of the puzzle, they another. Although we don’t work the same way, our goals at times have not been in conflict.”
Angel shook his head; “I don’t believe this.”
Just then the air began to shimmer and much like their own appearance, a fourth figure materialized.
“Althanea,” said the purple robed figure to her respectfully, “you always did like to make a grand entrance.”
“You should talk, Gordon,” she said, grinning bemusedly at him.
Gordon? Angel looked over at him, questioningly.
“A family name...but enough about me. Althanea, I turn the proceedings over to you.”
“Proceedings? These are proceedings now?” Angel asked, irritation evident in his voice.
“Indeed they are, Angel, “Althanea answered. She held out her hand, and a small scroll appeared. She unrolled it; “By The Highest Order of the United Coven of Bath, granted us by The Powers That Be, we hereby strip you of all of your enhanced vampire strength, sight, speed, and hearing for an indeterminate amount of time. We take you with us now, back to your homeland, where you cave ove out your days, and hopefully find a way to once more become a useful member of the world.”
Angel tried to say something, but as the last of her words fell from her lips, a binding spell surrounded Angel, rendering any words or physical movements impossible.
Althanea turned to the Senior Partners, “I believe this concludes the coven’s business with you for now.”
Gordon reluctantly nodded, “Yes, so it does. He turned towards Angel, “It’s really too bad you know, we had high hopes for you. Oh well.”
Althanea looked around at each of the Senior Partners, “Two things before we take our leave of you. “First a warning; you are to have nothing to do with William Worthington, formerly known as Spike, and William the Bloody, or anybody he knows or is acquainted with. The same applies to the former Chosen One, Buffy Summers, known now as Elizabeth Worthington. Secondly, you are truly despicable; taking a vampire with a soul, who’s been good for many years, and corrupting him. You, and this ‘corporation of the damned,’ is what turned him back into a monster.”
Gordon smiled at her, “You call it corruption, I say we merely exploited a weakness that was already. Besides, corrupting power is what runs the world, Althanea. You should know that.”
“As well I do, but that doesn’t make it, or all of you, any less despicable.”
“Coming from you, we’ll take that as high praise.”
“Good-bye, Gordon. Consider yourself warned,” she said, and with a small wave of her hand, both her and Angel disappeared in a flash of bright yellow light.
“Too bad,” sighed the blue robed figure, “I had such high hopes for him.”
The yellow robe figure shrugged, “An acceptable casualty of doing business. It could’ve been much worse.”
They all nodded vigorously.
Gordon smiled suddenly, “I hear there’s a formerly, very powerful domestic goddess by the name of Martha something-or-other, who might be needing a new position.”
“Excellent idea,” said the yellow robed figure, as the three Senior Partners exited the white room, in the same manner in which they had appeared.
END CHAPTER 150