Xander got to school just in time to see Buffy and Willow coming toward the steps, having apparently arrived together. He had the fleeting wish, as he often did, that he could join in on more of their impromptu sleepovers, and not only because it would mean seeing Buffy in her pajamas. When girls got lonely they could deal with it by talking to each other all night. Guys were expected to just stay lonely and not tell anyone.
“Morning, ladies,” he said as he caught up to them. “And what did you two do last night?”
“Angel’s been kinda haunting us,” Willow said, stifling a yawn. “He left me a…message in my room so I went over to Buffy’s house.”
“A message?”
They all automatically stopped at the top of the stairs, letting other students and faculty drift toward the entrance around them. “Well, remember that aquarium I got for Hanukkah last year?”
Xander frowned. “Sure. With the tropical fishes and you let me name that one sassy little guy Captain Splashy.”
“Captain Splashy is gone,” she revealed. “So are the rest of them.”
Buffy finally spoke, sounding as somber as Willow had. “You’re lucky you never invited Angel into your house, Xander. He may be coming after any of my friends.”
“But Giles is finding us a spell,” Willow hastened to add. “Something that stops vampires from coming in even after you break the invitation seal.”
Xander felt like he was barely keeping up with the conversation. Willow had been doting on those fish for the past year. That Angel would use them to threaten Buffy seemed like such an unnecessary cruelty. “Why would Angel go to Willow’s place instead of yours?” he asked Buffy.
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Because he already checked off mine the night before.” She sighed and shook her head. “You know, Xander, you’d have an easier time staying in the loop if you hadn’t been disappearing whenever we needed a hand in the library.”
“What?” said Xander reflexively, but he knew immediately that she was right. He hadn’t felt up to seeing Cordelia and Wesley in the library, and it hadn’t even occurred to him that he might be missed.
Before they could get any deeper into his guilt, Willow looked past him and Buffy toward the school and said, “Aw, rats. She’s here.”
Xander looked for Cordelia and instead saw Miss Calendar entering the front doors. Willow’s tone remained disappointed as she explained, “I was gonna take over her class until she got in. I’m getting so good at it, too.”
“Morning, ladies,” he said as he caught up to them. “And what did you two do last night?”
“Angel’s been kinda haunting us,” Willow said, stifling a yawn. “He left me a…message in my room so I went over to Buffy’s house.”
“A message?”
They all automatically stopped at the top of the stairs, letting other students and faculty drift toward the entrance around them. “Well, remember that aquarium I got for Hanukkah last year?”
Xander frowned. “Sure. With the tropical fishes and you let me name that one sassy little guy Captain Splashy.”
“Captain Splashy is gone,” she revealed. “So are the rest of them.”
Buffy finally spoke, sounding as somber as Willow had. “You’re lucky you never invited Angel into your house, Xander. He may be coming after any of my friends.”
“But Giles is finding us a spell,” Willow hastened to add. “Something that stops vampires from coming in even after you break the invitation seal.”
Xander felt like he was barely keeping up with the conversation. Willow had been doting on those fish for the past year. That Angel would use them to threaten Buffy seemed like such an unnecessary cruelty. “Why would Angel go to Willow’s place instead of yours?” he asked Buffy.
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Because he already checked off mine the night before.” She sighed and shook her head. “You know, Xander, you’d have an easier time staying in the loop if you hadn’t been disappearing whenever we needed a hand in the library.”
“What?” said Xander reflexively, but he knew immediately that she was right. He hadn’t felt up to seeing Cordelia and Wesley in the library, and it hadn’t even occurred to him that he might be missed.
Before they could get any deeper into his guilt, Willow looked past him and Buffy toward the school and said, “Aw, rats. She’s here.”
Xander looked for Cordelia and instead saw Miss Calendar entering the front doors. Willow’s tone remained disappointed as she explained, “I was gonna take over her class until she got in. I’m getting so good at it, too.”
Buffy was amused to note that Xander was the first to get to the library as soon as they had a free period. That wasn’t counting Wesley and Giles, of course, who seemed to be arguing about something trivial behind the counter while Xander sat at the table pretending to be interested in a book.
Wesley noticed her before the others and said brightly, “Buffy! I hear there’s some good news regarding Angel.”
Buffy set her bag on a chair and faced him, genuinely at a loss. Good news never applied to Angel anymore. “That he killed my friend’s pets?” she asked. “That he came into my room and threatened me? That I had to tell my mother that I’d been dating an older guy she didn’t know about but now we've broken up and I didn’t want to see him?”
Giles and Xander both joined her in staring at Wesley, which helped to raise the awkwardness of the moment for him. He coughed into his hand and replied in a much meeker voice, “That we’ve found a spell which can reverse a vampire’s invitation to a house.”
Buffy looked at Giles for confirmation, and he nodded. “Wesley misuses the word ‘we,’ but yes, Jenny’s sources were a great help. The ritual itself is fairly basic, actually: recitation of a few simple rhyming couplets, burning of moss herbs, hanging of crosses, sprinkling of holy water…”
Willow and Cordelia came in then, neither seeming very pleased with the timing that had caused them to walk to the library together. Buffy gave them both a nod and then said to Giles, “I’ve got all that stuff at my house. We can do the rounds after school.”
“Wait, are you talking about the magical ‘keep out’ thing?” Cordelia demanded, quickening her pace to reach the counter and looking at Wesley as if he was the only one in the room who could answer. “I didn’t want to say so, but--” She puffed out a dramatic breath. “I invited Angel into my car once, and I’ve been so scared that one night I’ll open the door and he’ll be in the passenger seat waiting for me…”
Wesley’s jitters over Cordy’s blatant flirtation, even after she’d been laying it on him nonstop for the past week, were practically indistinguishable from outright terror. “Um, yes,” he stammered. “Of course. But, but, but. The rule of invitation doesn’t, it doesn’t apply to, um, vehicles. Only homes.”
Cordelia looked as taken aback as Buffy had ever seen her. “You mean…vampires could get into my car anyway?”
Everyone nodded. “I’m afraid so,” said Wesley.
“Why didn’t anybody tell me that?” Cordelia asked, finally turning around to include everyone else in the conversation.
“Everybody told you that,” Xander stated, accurately enough.
Buffy decided it was time to regain control of the topic. “Where’s Miss Calendar?” she asked Giles. “Did she get what she needed at the magic shop?”
She had deliberately avoided mentioning any specifics about Miss Calendar’s shopping list, but Giles replied, “We have everything we need. She would like to make the attempt to restore Angel’s soul as soon as possible, perhaps at my house.”
Everyone looked as surprised as Buffy felt; she had begun to think of the restoration spell as something they would talk about forever but never actually cast. Wesley spoke first, stammering, “You’ll need, ah, assistance? As the sole representative of, of the Watchers’ Council, I should of course--”
“--Inform them, I know,” said Giles in a cool tone. “If you’d like to be present as an observer, it might be prudent to request their approval first. There is always the risk of magic going awry, and I’m sure they’ll want to avoid letting a Watcher become the unwitting target of a spell.”
Buffy hid a smirk with her hand. Giles hadn’t even needed to say the word “again,” but the memory of Wesley being the object of all women’s hatred and then transformed into a rat was still clear for everyone in the room. He turned visibly pale and then nodded meekly. “Do keep me updated.”
“Why your house?” Buffy asked Giles. “Why not here?”
“Hellmouth energy,” he replied. “In some cases that would be helpful, but Jenny is concerned about certain forces gaining too much power from it.”
Buffy looked toward Willow, who was now sitting at the table with Xander. Both of them seemed to shiver a little, making Buffy think about how all of them had been put into unexpected supernatural dangers lately, and Angel wasn’t even the cause of some of it. Willow still didn’t know if she was going to turn into a werewolf when the full moon came, and she had barely even mentioned it. Even now, all she said about the current situation was, “Oh, and we can disinvite Angel from Giles’ house first tonight, so it’s safer.”
Soon they had agreed on an agenda for the night, and in a move that must have taken every last bit of his courage and then some, Wesley offered to escort Cordelia home to protect her from carjacking vampires. Giles watched the two of them leave the library and muttered, “What a gormless excuse for a Watcher.”
Xander huffed his agreement, and Buffy gave Giles a sympathetic look. “I’m surprised you let him know all that,” she said carefully.
He looked weary, his back to the stacks, half-heartedly cleaning his glasses. “The Council is waiting for news about Angel, and about Jenny’s spell,” he said. “If Wesley has nothing to report back to them, he’ll be suspicious - or they will. In any case, I haven’t left them much time to interfere, if that’s what they intend.”
“Right.” Buffy frowned. She felt like she should be more nervous or excited about this than she was, but it just didn’t seem real. “So we really are doing this? Tonight?”
Giles half-nodded, but then hesitated, pulling up a chair for himself with slow deliberation. “Buffy, would you take it amiss if I asked you to leave this to Jenny and me? She won’t need any assistance beyond mine, and…well, she’s feeling quite a bit of pressure. I think she’d be grateful to have some space.”
Buffy, Willow, and Xander all glanced at each other with little shrugs and nods, and Giles added, “Also, I would feel better knowing that the three of you are together until all of our homes are secured against Angel.”
“Mission accepted,” Xander proclaimed. It was a weak imitation of his usual boisterous manner, but Buffy still felt warmed by it, and Willow gave everyone an actual smile.
For the first time since the Cruciamentum, Buffy felt like the team was back together. Maybe she would never get Angel back, but she hadn’t lost everything.
Wesley noticed her before the others and said brightly, “Buffy! I hear there’s some good news regarding Angel.”
Buffy set her bag on a chair and faced him, genuinely at a loss. Good news never applied to Angel anymore. “That he killed my friend’s pets?” she asked. “That he came into my room and threatened me? That I had to tell my mother that I’d been dating an older guy she didn’t know about but now we've broken up and I didn’t want to see him?”
Giles and Xander both joined her in staring at Wesley, which helped to raise the awkwardness of the moment for him. He coughed into his hand and replied in a much meeker voice, “That we’ve found a spell which can reverse a vampire’s invitation to a house.”
Buffy looked at Giles for confirmation, and he nodded. “Wesley misuses the word ‘we,’ but yes, Jenny’s sources were a great help. The ritual itself is fairly basic, actually: recitation of a few simple rhyming couplets, burning of moss herbs, hanging of crosses, sprinkling of holy water…”
Willow and Cordelia came in then, neither seeming very pleased with the timing that had caused them to walk to the library together. Buffy gave them both a nod and then said to Giles, “I’ve got all that stuff at my house. We can do the rounds after school.”
“Wait, are you talking about the magical ‘keep out’ thing?” Cordelia demanded, quickening her pace to reach the counter and looking at Wesley as if he was the only one in the room who could answer. “I didn’t want to say so, but--” She puffed out a dramatic breath. “I invited Angel into my car once, and I’ve been so scared that one night I’ll open the door and he’ll be in the passenger seat waiting for me…”
Wesley’s jitters over Cordy’s blatant flirtation, even after she’d been laying it on him nonstop for the past week, were practically indistinguishable from outright terror. “Um, yes,” he stammered. “Of course. But, but, but. The rule of invitation doesn’t, it doesn’t apply to, um, vehicles. Only homes.”
Cordelia looked as taken aback as Buffy had ever seen her. “You mean…vampires could get into my car anyway?”
Everyone nodded. “I’m afraid so,” said Wesley.
“Why didn’t anybody tell me that?” Cordelia asked, finally turning around to include everyone else in the conversation.
“Everybody told you that,” Xander stated, accurately enough.
Buffy decided it was time to regain control of the topic. “Where’s Miss Calendar?” she asked Giles. “Did she get what she needed at the magic shop?”
She had deliberately avoided mentioning any specifics about Miss Calendar’s shopping list, but Giles replied, “We have everything we need. She would like to make the attempt to restore Angel’s soul as soon as possible, perhaps at my house.”
Everyone looked as surprised as Buffy felt; she had begun to think of the restoration spell as something they would talk about forever but never actually cast. Wesley spoke first, stammering, “You’ll need, ah, assistance? As the sole representative of, of the Watchers’ Council, I should of course--”
“--Inform them, I know,” said Giles in a cool tone. “If you’d like to be present as an observer, it might be prudent to request their approval first. There is always the risk of magic going awry, and I’m sure they’ll want to avoid letting a Watcher become the unwitting target of a spell.”
Buffy hid a smirk with her hand. Giles hadn’t even needed to say the word “again,” but the memory of Wesley being the object of all women’s hatred and then transformed into a rat was still clear for everyone in the room. He turned visibly pale and then nodded meekly. “Do keep me updated.”
“Why your house?” Buffy asked Giles. “Why not here?”
“Hellmouth energy,” he replied. “In some cases that would be helpful, but Jenny is concerned about certain forces gaining too much power from it.”
Buffy looked toward Willow, who was now sitting at the table with Xander. Both of them seemed to shiver a little, making Buffy think about how all of them had been put into unexpected supernatural dangers lately, and Angel wasn’t even the cause of some of it. Willow still didn’t know if she was going to turn into a werewolf when the full moon came, and she had barely even mentioned it. Even now, all she said about the current situation was, “Oh, and we can disinvite Angel from Giles’ house first tonight, so it’s safer.”
Soon they had agreed on an agenda for the night, and in a move that must have taken every last bit of his courage and then some, Wesley offered to escort Cordelia home to protect her from carjacking vampires. Giles watched the two of them leave the library and muttered, “What a gormless excuse for a Watcher.”
Xander huffed his agreement, and Buffy gave Giles a sympathetic look. “I’m surprised you let him know all that,” she said carefully.
He looked weary, his back to the stacks, half-heartedly cleaning his glasses. “The Council is waiting for news about Angel, and about Jenny’s spell,” he said. “If Wesley has nothing to report back to them, he’ll be suspicious - or they will. In any case, I haven’t left them much time to interfere, if that’s what they intend.”
“Right.” Buffy frowned. She felt like she should be more nervous or excited about this than she was, but it just didn’t seem real. “So we really are doing this? Tonight?”
Giles half-nodded, but then hesitated, pulling up a chair for himself with slow deliberation. “Buffy, would you take it amiss if I asked you to leave this to Jenny and me? She won’t need any assistance beyond mine, and…well, she’s feeling quite a bit of pressure. I think she’d be grateful to have some space.”
Buffy, Willow, and Xander all glanced at each other with little shrugs and nods, and Giles added, “Also, I would feel better knowing that the three of you are together until all of our homes are secured against Angel.”
“Mission accepted,” Xander proclaimed. It was a weak imitation of his usual boisterous manner, but Buffy still felt warmed by it, and Willow gave everyone an actual smile.
For the first time since the Cruciamentum, Buffy felt like the team was back together. Maybe she would never get Angel back, but she hadn’t lost everything.
Angelus hadn’t lost anything yet, but his situation was delicate. Every minion whom he had sent to hunt for Ford, that smart-mouthed fledgling, had come up empty, which was a bad look in front of Spike and Drusilla and even worse in front of the other fledglings. He could have gone out to find Ford himself and probably would have succeeded, but he didn’t like the idea of leaving Sunnydale to Buffy for any length of time.
For a while, Spike made use of the failure in his taunts, asking where Ford was as if the boy had just stepped out. He was on thin ice himself, though, still rolling around in that wheelchair, and he knew better than to invite Angelus’s commentary on it.
Dru, for her part, was still in high spirits, slavishly devoted to Angelus and fussing over Spike like he was one of her dolls. The funniest thing about Spike’s humiliation was that Dru didn’t even know that she was being condescending. She probably understood Spike was angry, but she didn’t seem to care.
She would have cared if Angelus decided to dispose of him, of course, which was unfortunate. Spike wasn’t useful anymore, and for all the same reasons, wasn’t fun anymore either. If there had been a chance that he would recover on his own, Angelus would have gladly given it to him, but he didn’t like having to live with him in the meantime and wouldn’t have tolerated it if not for Drusilla’s attachment.
Having Dru around for sex and entertainment made up for a lot, but her greatest benefit took some time to manifest. Angelus had been goading Spike into a fight when Dru, midway through an approving remark about it, closed her eyes and let out a moan. Recognizing the signs of a sudden vision, Angelus and Spike hovered over her, and finally she said, “The air…it worries. Someone…my dear Rupert with the sweetest lips…”
Angelus raised an eyebrow at Spike, who glared back at him, more petulant than ever, and grumbled, “She might have a soft spot for the Watcher, how the bloody hell should I know.”
Drusilla wasn’t done yet. “An old enemy. She loves him. She’ll destroy our happy home for him.”
That would be Jenny Calendar, a teacher at Buffy’s school, but Angelus hadn’t credited her with enough ability to destroy anything. “What are they doing?” he demanded of Dru. “What’s going to happen?”
She turned slowly to look him in the eyes with the kind of sharp focus she could rarely hold for long, and her fingertips lifted to touch him lightly over the heart. “They’re going to bring back what hurts you most,” she murmured.
Angelus cursed. Spike laughed, but only after a brief pause that clearly conveyed his shock. Angelus twisted away from Drusilla to pace around the factory, strategizing through his rage. If Giles and Jenny were planning to restore his soul, they both had to die, but how? He had intended to pick off Buffy’s friends one by one as opportunities arose, and so far that had only given him one girl who barely knew her, nobody from the inner circle.
Buffy had left herself vulnerable to Angelus, and he could seize the advantage whenever he wanted, but he wasn’t ready to end the game yet. Ideally, she would be so hopeless with her support system gone and Angelus whispering in her ear that she would all but give herself to him - he had pictured it often. He couldn’t move onto that stage without getting rid of that support system first, though, and she was much more driven about protecting them than she was herself.
They were also surprisingly good at protecting themselves. Giles in particular was too savvy about the ways of vampires to leave himself open, and the same could probably be assumed about his girlfriend. Angelus gritted his teeth. He didn’t know how much time he had, but Dru’s visions didn’t generally come with much of an advance warning. He had to strike tonight.
He turned back to the others. Dru was now sitting on Spike’s lap, pouting while he comforted her with, “There there, I’m sure the mighty Angel will take care of this in no time.” Spike raised a challenging gaze to Angelus as he approached, as if to ascertain that someone noticed his sarcasm.
Angelus ignored him and ordered, “Dru, go to Buffy’s house as soon as the sun sets. Wait for her mother to come home, but don’t kill her. I need a hostage.”
“But what of you, my Angel?”
“I’ll be at the Watcher’s house. I was invited.” Truthfully, he would have rather switched his own assignment with Drusilla’s, but he couldn’t trust her to be efficient with her kills, especially if she really did have a soft spot for Giles. “If you see Buffy, hide,” he added. “She’d make short work of you.”
The wait for sunset felt unbearably long. Angelus sent a few minions to scout out the school and a few other places in town where Buffy and her Scoobies might have chosen to perform their ritual, and then he took a quiet spot for himself and meditated on his wrath. She really thought she could get her boyfriend back, turn him into her obedient pet, make him feel the things he had felt. She was going to pay for this.
For a while, Spike made use of the failure in his taunts, asking where Ford was as if the boy had just stepped out. He was on thin ice himself, though, still rolling around in that wheelchair, and he knew better than to invite Angelus’s commentary on it.
Dru, for her part, was still in high spirits, slavishly devoted to Angelus and fussing over Spike like he was one of her dolls. The funniest thing about Spike’s humiliation was that Dru didn’t even know that she was being condescending. She probably understood Spike was angry, but she didn’t seem to care.
She would have cared if Angelus decided to dispose of him, of course, which was unfortunate. Spike wasn’t useful anymore, and for all the same reasons, wasn’t fun anymore either. If there had been a chance that he would recover on his own, Angelus would have gladly given it to him, but he didn’t like having to live with him in the meantime and wouldn’t have tolerated it if not for Drusilla’s attachment.
Having Dru around for sex and entertainment made up for a lot, but her greatest benefit took some time to manifest. Angelus had been goading Spike into a fight when Dru, midway through an approving remark about it, closed her eyes and let out a moan. Recognizing the signs of a sudden vision, Angelus and Spike hovered over her, and finally she said, “The air…it worries. Someone…my dear Rupert with the sweetest lips…”
Angelus raised an eyebrow at Spike, who glared back at him, more petulant than ever, and grumbled, “She might have a soft spot for the Watcher, how the bloody hell should I know.”
Drusilla wasn’t done yet. “An old enemy. She loves him. She’ll destroy our happy home for him.”
That would be Jenny Calendar, a teacher at Buffy’s school, but Angelus hadn’t credited her with enough ability to destroy anything. “What are they doing?” he demanded of Dru. “What’s going to happen?”
She turned slowly to look him in the eyes with the kind of sharp focus she could rarely hold for long, and her fingertips lifted to touch him lightly over the heart. “They’re going to bring back what hurts you most,” she murmured.
Angelus cursed. Spike laughed, but only after a brief pause that clearly conveyed his shock. Angelus twisted away from Drusilla to pace around the factory, strategizing through his rage. If Giles and Jenny were planning to restore his soul, they both had to die, but how? He had intended to pick off Buffy’s friends one by one as opportunities arose, and so far that had only given him one girl who barely knew her, nobody from the inner circle.
Buffy had left herself vulnerable to Angelus, and he could seize the advantage whenever he wanted, but he wasn’t ready to end the game yet. Ideally, she would be so hopeless with her support system gone and Angelus whispering in her ear that she would all but give herself to him - he had pictured it often. He couldn’t move onto that stage without getting rid of that support system first, though, and she was much more driven about protecting them than she was herself.
They were also surprisingly good at protecting themselves. Giles in particular was too savvy about the ways of vampires to leave himself open, and the same could probably be assumed about his girlfriend. Angelus gritted his teeth. He didn’t know how much time he had, but Dru’s visions didn’t generally come with much of an advance warning. He had to strike tonight.
He turned back to the others. Dru was now sitting on Spike’s lap, pouting while he comforted her with, “There there, I’m sure the mighty Angel will take care of this in no time.” Spike raised a challenging gaze to Angelus as he approached, as if to ascertain that someone noticed his sarcasm.
Angelus ignored him and ordered, “Dru, go to Buffy’s house as soon as the sun sets. Wait for her mother to come home, but don’t kill her. I need a hostage.”
“But what of you, my Angel?”
“I’ll be at the Watcher’s house. I was invited.” Truthfully, he would have rather switched his own assignment with Drusilla’s, but he couldn’t trust her to be efficient with her kills, especially if she really did have a soft spot for Giles. “If you see Buffy, hide,” he added. “She’d make short work of you.”
The wait for sunset felt unbearably long. Angelus sent a few minions to scout out the school and a few other places in town where Buffy and her Scoobies might have chosen to perform their ritual, and then he took a quiet spot for himself and meditated on his wrath. She really thought she could get her boyfriend back, turn him into her obedient pet, make him feel the things he had felt. She was going to pay for this.
