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epilogue - Ride into the dawn
#51
Office of Angel Investigations, LA


Angel waited for her, anxious and nervous. He showed how
relieved he was after she walked past the doors into his
basement apartment.
"Long time no see," Buffy meant, thinking of the people
of her gang that waited upstairs. Willow and Tara had
already begun to prepare the spell, Doyle - Angel's
weird half-demon friend - was hovering near the phone
and Graham sat behind a desk, looking files through. He
had a bandaged hand. And looked positively scared when
she came in, asking for permission before entering.
Buffy knew that they were over, she and Graham. Whatever
there had been. He would soon leave and get a life of
his own somewhere else...hopefully a happier one than he
had had up to this moment. "Angel."

"Buffy," Angel whispered, cranky. He looked over at her
and Buffy had odd sensations. Her demon had them. For
the first time she didn't just knew he was a vampire but
that he was an old and powerful one. "Are you...okay?"

"Aside from some jerk almost ramming me from the road
with a truck, sorry that I didn't call and tell you
I'd be late," Buffy told him casually. "What's the
matter?"

"Nothing. I was...merely concerned."

"Liar," she smiled, affectionately. "You thought I would
go away with them."

Angel hesitated and sighed, then nodded. He was reaching
out to her. Buffy let him and pulled him into a tight
embrace. "I am glad it was unsound."

"You know me," Buffy whispered, "always the good girl."

"Yes," he said, hoarsely. "Forgive me?"

"Of course," Buffy smirked. "Still, what amde you think
I ever would consider such a thing?"

"She's your sire...," Angel stated with a blank face and
a grave voice. "They asked, didn't they?"

"Faith and Cordelia did. Xander, I dunno. They said he
did not...but that was just what they said."

"I think we can take their work on this," Angel sighed
as he stepped away from her and offered her a seat on
his couch. "You are...hungry?"

"I am," Buffy admitted. Shouldn't it be thirsty? No, it
was hungry. She followed Angel as he led her into the
small kitchenette. He stored numerous bloodbags inside
of a small fridge there. And before feasting he warmed
the blood up with a microwave oven. "Just like Spike."

"What?"

"The warm blood."

"That? You ever tasted cold...?" he said and fell just
silent in mid-sentence, looking for an acceptable way
out without embarassing himself any further. Or saying
something that hurt her.

"I don't," Buffy said to break the ice. "Angel, it is
not the end of all things if I am a vampire as well!"
And it isn't your fault but that of my own stubborness,
that I shut myself off from them all. Again. And I paid
the prize for it - again.

"But...your nightmare...what about that?" he stammed.

"Is a nightmare. We have to deal with what we are and
stay, right?" Buffy told him off. "I am neither fragile
childe nor am I going to go crazy because of this, okay?
You managed to deal with this for decades! And you built
a life on it and what a life it is! You can be proud of
yourself and what you achieved."

"Maybe," Angel sighed, belakly. Then he loosened up
and laughed. "Probably. Some of it."

"See?" Buffy said quickly. "Just because Cordelia went
around the bend doesn't mean I will. Or anyone else."

He nodded and the oven beeped. Angel pulled out the bags
and held one out for her and Buffy felt awkward upon
taking it. Not that she could not drink it. It was not
even bad - just...different from tasting real, solid
food. And a reminder of a change in life she had so not
been looking for. Not to mention her other problems.
Then he asked how Cordelia had been.

"She went crazy for all I can tell. Hopped into their
bed and on their platter," Buffy answered with a shiver.
What had happened to turn the arrogant but very human
cheerleader she knew into that pervert badass girl? She
looked like she wanted to get into fighting and killing.
"Can you believe she offered herself to me?"

"As a snack?" Angel gasped. "And she OFFERED...?"

"That AND the other thing," Buffy clarified. "Do you..."
What? Would Cordelia get hurt? Sure. Would she want it
any other way - or be able to walk away? Hardly.

"You don't have to be ashamed if you were tempted."

"The demon tried. I said no," Buffy rasped out. "But how
can she do that? It's not like she had nothing here."

Angel gave her a taxing look and then stared at the
wall with the kind of blank expression she noticed with
him not wishing to explain reality to her. So she had
to ask and pick him until he revealed that biting did
not have to hurt so bad. There was feeding and then
there was biting.

"And the difference?" Buffy demanded to know.

"In the words of your generation...you get off on it,"
Angel sighed, somewhat ashamed. "Faith marked Cordelia,
before."

"I remember reading something about this but...wait a
second, wasn't that about...?" Buffy said while her
brain was working. She looked the uncomfortable man up
and down. "Oh bugger, Faith had something for her from
the beginning."

"I wouldn't say so," Angel numbly stated. "She was a
Slayer...that counts for a lot."

"By being extra-vicious, you mean?" Buffy moaned,
shaking her head. Faith. And Cordelia...had Faith tried
to turn Cordelia before? Something had been on her mind
as she took her away from the morgue where the former
mayqueen woke up.

"I wasn't referring to her character, Buffy. I can feel
it in you as well - you're powerful beyond what a mere
fledgeling should be," Angel replied. And fell into a
talk she would have expected from a Watcher but not her
broody and usually still ex-boyfriend. Or...how much of
an ex would he be? Not so much if she had her way. Damn.
She listened with increasing unease as he spoke of his
mad childe, Drucilla. Looney tunes she may be but also
one damn powerful one. Only the master had her outdone
with that, maybe.

"And what is this about?"

"Don't you know? You're a vampire queen, Buffy. You will
have to learn to recognize, control and use your new
abilities," Angel said somwhat uncertain. "I think you
are yet a bit stronger than before, your visions and
your instincts will be far more accurate...and let's not
forget the hypnotic powers."

Right, Faith could whammy people! Buffy thought. Her
mouth slapped open and closed again and she tensed. She
was used to being a Slayer, being more powerful than
most other beings. "Why do you refer to me as a queen,
Angel?"

"That's what you are now. If not for your soul you could
walk into a lair, kick the master out and take over...
and they would follow you!" Angel said, with a groan. He
shook his head with astonishment. "If you applied for
the position of his favorite you would win even faster."

"Comeon."

"No, I'm serious. With just that little bit of more
practice you'd be able to command the junior fledgelings
anyway...not to mention your own. IF you ever made any."

"Definitely not part of the plan," Buffy barked. "And I
don't think I want to rule over a gang of undead thugs,
or crawl into the bed of a master vampire!"

"Buffy, I am a master vampire."

"Not just any, you're...Angel," Buffy defended herself
hurt. Adjustment was a bit harder than she thought. No
matter, she would make it. "You know what I mean."

"I do. But you should not be surprised when they ask you
out for dinner instead of fighting you, though," Angel
said with not a shred of humor in his stance and voice.
"You do know that vampires are not exactly...?"

"Right in the head?" Buffy grinned. "Nothing new there."

"I wanted to say monogamous," Angel whispered. "And you
are not just looking good and powerful, your demon is
firmly screaming a challenge at the world around. Which
they may take as an invitation to, hm, court you."

"I thought I had that demon issue covered!" Buffy
snapped before staring at him. Was he hinting at what
she thought?

"Hardly," Angel laughed, bitterly. "You might not like
to learn about this."

"But I have to?" Buffy yawned. Nothing enw there. "You
can teach me what I need to know, right?"

"Yes," Angel admitted.

"Hey, it can't be so much! I mean, I was the Slayer for
what - cose to five years? Not much I don't know...!"
Buffy said, actually quite agitated. She would be up in
another couple of days and then she could slay again.

"Buffy, it took Darla close to fifty years to teach me
how to be a master vampire," Angel sighed. "And then I
actually wanted to learn."

"What's the big hit with that title anyway? I mean, you
just scare the crap out of some stupid minions and kick
them where it really hurts when they fail to execute
your orders...right?" Buffy provoked him, annoyed.

"Not even close to it," Angel unhappily answered. He had
to come over and touch her again. "You have to learn it
all, Buffy."

"Or what?"

"Or the next master vampire who comes may take your soul
away and then you would truly be a nightmare," Angel
said icily. "What do you think why we never tried to
turn the Slayer?"

"Because you need a spell for it?"

"Yes, but that's not so bad to come by," Angel grimaced.
"The reality is that a turned Slayer usually is a lot
more powerful than most master vampires - and they also
do not like to submit to a weaker sire..."

"Were yoo planning on turning me?" Buffy asked, sharply.
"When you were...Angelus."

"Sometimes. That never worked out very much," Angel
winced, clearly unwilling to tell details. "We will have
to work on several things tomorrow, Buffy. Starting with
meditation techniques...you're not doing T'ai chi much
anymore?"

"Not really," Buffy admitted. Mainly because she lacked
the time and never had so much of the patience for it.
"Why bother with that? I thought we'd start with social
life for the undead 101 or soemthing."

"You have to control your demon, Buffy."

"But...I got a soul, don't I...?"

"You think you are in control," Angel answered roughly.
He took her hand in his and gently massaged it. "That
fight will never end and be far from easy."

"Faith is, isn't she? In control."

"No. Neither is Xander, yet," Angel informed her dryly.
"They are working on it...as is evident from the way
they stopped their killing rampage."

Buffy's eyes grew as Angel explained to her about the
demons and their violent tendencies, which were not so
easily ignored as she thought. Faith and Xander had done
even more damage than usually and hardly were in control
of their own emotions and minds. Yet.

"Rub it in deeper, will you?"

"Rub in what?"

"That I messed up when I tried to stake Xander instead
of getting him here...wonder how the world would be now
if I had," Buffy guilitly ranted. "I really should have
done better...instead of letting Faith drag him away."

"They were close before, and I really think this was
not such a bad idea after all," Angel meant unusually
vividly. "I do not say this just for your comfort but
from all I saw they could be a lot worse."

"How?"

"Look at what they took on. Buffy, with nobody to help
you your own way would hardly look different - always
running, killing and more killing and getting a rush
from it!" an angry Angel hissed back. "Yes, you failed.
But not when you let Xander down but when you fialed to
make Faith come here as well. And the Watchers made it
all even worse by trying to kill them."

"What's the point again?"

"Demons, Buffy, their demons. You do know you could so
easily turn coat now? A soul or not, you have to fight
for your sanity and maintain control. It gets easier as
the years go by but the first decade is hell," Angel
bitterly stated. "You will have to deal with all new
nightmares, every day you sleep. Emotions, moods and
sudden impulses as well...and there will be slips. When
the demon gets the better of you it may take minutes or
hours until you're back in charge."

"And in these slips I will be...the demon?"

"Yes. Which is why you should keep away from your
friends as much as you can," Angel sighed. "Or else you
might kill some of them."

"Ridiculous."

"Remember the ambush in the hotel, Buffy? I think Xander
and Faith let their demons out as they got pressured and
the massacre was the result!" Angel countered that. "You
are not half as far away from doing the same as I'd like
you to be."

Buffy looked at the floor. Maybe I would have it easier
with the other side...at least that wya I'd have gotten
so much more live action...! she thought, flinching.
She heard Angel tell her this was one attempt of the
demon to gain control. Using her own emotions and her
own thoughts against her. Baaaad busines, that. Very bad
business indeed.
"Reminds me - what do you think they do now?"

"The same they came to LA for...lie low, hide and get a
level head back."


#52
New York


"Last thing I want is to hide and wait for some idiot to
fuck up my plans again," Xander said as he spoke to his
new family, standing in the unused warehouse they had
taken over yesterday morning. It was an okay bolthole
until they got something real. "Tried that with the club
and it shot to hell real quickly."

"So what else do you want to do?" Harmony asked, really
wondering why she stayed again. Because of the pay for
her services and sex. Getting Cordelia and Faith and
Wesley to play with her. "I mean...you can hardly do
much else."

"Wrong," Xander corrected her softly. "The club was my
idea of hiding and to stay out of troubles. Cutting
deals, making money and get along with everybody else."

"Aside from Angel it worked out beautifully," Cordelia
commented without looking up from the nintendo gameboy
she was furiously working on. Faith and her toys...as
long as it spared him her talking when they drove here.
"Why not try again?"

"Oh, we will, we will," Xander admitted. "But not in
the same sense as before. This time we don't go for a
bigger human audience!"

"You got a plan, Xand?" Faith gloated, her eyes glued
on the playing Cordelia's upper bodyparts. "Do tell."

"Well, I remembered reading one of Giles' books about a
Slayer fighting a mage...a mage who had a house in a
place far more safe from attack," Xander began to tell
them. Mostly looking at Wesley. He was their only magic
expert and he was not such a big sorcerer himself. But
still such a very useful hand to have around. Not to
mention lay around, Xander thought with a leer.
He had seen the dreamworld once before, when Sunnydale
threatened to tear thorugh the veil and make all the
nightmares real.
The mage had managed to move his house over there and to
transform it into a real fortress as well. Good way to
stay safe from a lot of troubles, like nasty intruders,
visitations from relatives and city officials. Just the
usual.
"I want such a home."

"Easier said than done," an intriduged Wesley muttered.
"You would need several things for this..."

"Which is why I'm asking you now," Xander smiled. "SO?"

"A lot of spells, a powerful demon...numerous of them
to be banished into spellwebs," Wesley decided. "And a
lot more of...?"

Xander listened and took mental notes about what the
former watcher told him. A coven of witches would not be
so hard to come by, sad joke that one. He had a number
of contacts in mind already.
Same for the ingredients and the demons. Money wasn't
such a big problem, he still had a fake identity to run
a club and legal biz through it. That was going to be
the facade, another club. Doing similiar business as the
first one. But one where they could step into another
reality literally. Noone would be able to enter that
other house without invitation, noone would be able to
leave either and there would be more security too.

"Just how do you think you can do that?" Cordelia asked,
fascinated. "Even I know that we would need so much,uh,
magical power for this feat...how can we do it?"

"It's actually not so hard," Xander answered swiftly.
"We just need to take a certain place in Manhattan...an
ancient indian burial ground. Holy ground, so we have no
problems with Immortals."

"Some big bonus if youa sk me," Harmony chuckled. "But
can we go in there?"

"Sure we can," Wesley assured her. "As long as it's not
of christian origin or really badly holy we can get by."

"Nice to know," Faith smirked. "And what else?"

"Okay, they buried some major demon honcho down there.
Heard it in LA, they have had a cult neabry and they
dumped a lot of shit in there," Xander chuckled. "The
indians found a natural rift to the ghostworld there.
Something like a little hellmouth."

"If that is there and we could amke use of the energy,"
Wesley greedily moaned, trembling, "you could get your
safe place."

"And what will you do there?"

"A real place for demons, what else?" Harmony asked. "I
always liked the parties at the club..."

"Not so wrong. But as it would be in the world of dreams
you wouldn't have to feed so much," Wesley answered. "An
actual pity...there would be some side effects, though."

"Which one?"

"The usual weird incidents, a lot of curious faces from
the area...nightmares, a couple of humans freaking out,"
Wesley grinned, licking his lips. He liked that. "And if
we get the people to dream enough about something their
dreams might come out to play at the other side."

"For real?"

"Not that much - most of the place would be shifting the
reality constantly, the dreamworld is like that," the
Watcher shook his head. "There are spells to anchor the
important parts but a lot of the rooms would be subject
to the changes."

"I wonder what happens if we make them think about some
naughty plays," Cordelia grinned debauched. "Last place
you had held that brothel. Too bad I never could go
there, Faith says it was a real fun place."

"You wouldn't have known what to do it then anyway,"
Xander reminded her. Wondering when Cordelia would get
to the point where her nympho nature was challenged. No,
she really was that nympho...all the better for them.
"Still, Wes, what would happen?"

"You get it. People walk the halls and do the deeds, we
might even catch some for further usage - and we could
kill as many as we like, just dreams anyway!" Wesley
cheerfully claimed. "Of course, I have to check the
books before but I'm rather sure...?"

"Good, very good," Xander mused. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. The anchoring magic - most of it has to be done
in the real world."

"Then let's prepare it. We can bury the things in the
place when we redo it!" Xander laughed. Once they got a
safe base of operations he could see about other, more
profitable business. Like taking over the underworld in
New York. Not the mob or such but the demons.
He had millions of people here and almost anything the
world had to offer was available here. And he didn't
even have to travel so much to get there.
Xander found he liked the city despite everything. The
crowds, the sounds, the stinks - his demon found it all
attractive. He also would love to kick some demon butts.
Couldn't be so hard to buy the rundown factory on the
old burial ground and then have it rebuilt. It would
look pretty cool, had all kinds of underground cellars
and offered access to the tunnels.
He figured it would take four months at best to make the
place over and move into business again. There was blood
to be sold, information, drugs, weapons...favors.
And once he had a support structure he could start to
look for his real enemies, the asassins of Tarakka. He
would destroy them, one after the other.
And as thar endeavor clearly called for an entire army
he would make one. He would create his forces right here
in New York, taking all he found suitable and killing
the rest of the competition in the territory. Pretty
simple scheme and rather insane but he had the feeling
it might work.
Besides, he always had dreams of himself as the big bad
overlord...not many but some. Why not act on them, when
they already told him he was a master vampire to Faith's
vampire queen?

The end