Alexander

For the first time in years Liam and Angelus, the soul and the demon, were in perfect agreement. Both parts of Angel knew what they had to do in order to protect ehir mates… they had to kill Darla. Their sire had hurt their mates, had planed on killing them. She’d taken Xander’s eye, threatened Alex… if not for Lindsey Angel’s mates would probably be dead. Darla was too dangerous to be allowed to live. For the safety of his mates Angel needed to ensure that Darla was dead… for good this time.

Although the soul was technically in charge of the body, Angelus was the one directing the vampire’s actions, making his way towards Wolfram and Hart and smirking darkly when he saw Darla striding out of the law office… she was so confident that she’d refused any bodyguards from Wolfram and Hart.

Silently Angel stepped out of the shadows and grabbed Darla, pulling her into a more secluded area of the Wolfram and Hart parking lot. Darla looked up at Angel with a smirk on her face and pressed closer to Angel, rocking her hips provocatively.

Angel sneered in disgust and pushed Darla away, fighting the urge to laugh when she fell flat on her ass. “Angelus?” Darla practically whimpered, looking up in Angel in confusion.

“My name…” Angel growled, pulling Darla up by her hair. “Is Angel” With that Angel clamped a hand around Darla’s neck and tore her head off, shaking his hands in order to get rid of the dust that the woman turned into. Looking down at the little pile of dust which had been his sire, Angel calmly kicked the pile, scattering the dust as best he could, before he made his way back to the hotel, wanting nothing more then to curl up with his mates and listen to the sound of Alex and Xander’s heartbeats.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Everything Drusilla says suddenly makes sense.”

It was the night after Xander had lost his eye and gained his new “mystic” one and the young man was trying to get used to his new senses. Alex and Xander had spent the day in the arms of their mates and the two vampires hadn’t left the humans alone for a second.

At the moment Angel and Spike were drinking their “breakfast” while Alex and Xander were talking about the changes which Xander was experiencing. Xander was sitting next to the window (which Angel had only allowed after Wesley and Alex had cast several protection spells on the hotel) and looking up at the stars with wonder in his eyes.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked, blinking in confusion as he looked up at the stars, trying to see what Xander could.

“It’s hard to explain…” Xander laughed and turned back towards his mates, gesturing to Spike. “I can see… see the past, the present and the future. But the future’s strange… I can sorta understand it, but most of it just looks like gibberish…” Xander trailed off, feeling self-conscious.

Angel put away his mug and walked over to Xander, gently wrapping his arms around the young mortal as Alex leaned on Angel’s shoulder. “Do you think the Powers are passing the visions to Xander?” Alex asked.

“No.” Angel sighed. “I don’t know why… but something tells me that someone up there happens to like Xander.”

“Lindsey likes Wesley.” Xander suddenly remarked, smirking slightly. “He’s gonna join Angel Investigations to have an excuse to stay near him… oh and Wesley likes Lindsey but is too shy to say anything.”

Angel blinked and looked between Alex and Xander. “So now you’ve got the power to stay ahead of gossip.” Angel laughed as Spike entered the room and nuzzled up with his mates.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After Xander and Spike had gone to help the Sunnydale gang, things had gone downhill. When they’d returned to Sunnydale Buffy made every effort to cut all ties between the Scoobies and Angel Investigations. If it had been up to Buffy the Scoobies would have come down and disposed of Angel Investigations…

Recently Rupert Giles had noticed a change in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Where once there had been a bright young woman who saw that there was grey in the world, now there was a woman who saw the world in black and white, with no grey at all. Where once there was a young woman who was proud to count vampires and werewolves in her circle of friends, now there was a woman who grumbled whenever Giles told her that a particular demon was “no threat” or “good”.

When Giles informed the Scoobies that Xander had lost an eye while fighting the good fight, Willow had whimpered and gone home early with Tara, while Buffy just shrugged and made a remark about how the “vampire-lover” had deserved it.

This had frightened Giles… not only was his Slayer becoming more and more like the Watcher’s he come to the United States to escape…but she was talking about Xander, a young man whom Giles thought of as his honorary son, like he was the worst sort of demon. When Xander took off to live in LA Giles had been happy for the young man, happy that Xander was spreading his wings and figuring out just who he was.

At the moment, Rupert Giles was sitting in the Magic Box, going through receipts as he waited for Buffy and her remaining scoobies to arrive. He heard the door opened and looked up, a smile on his face as he watched Tara and Willow walk in… A few second later the smile on Giles face vanished when he realized that Tara had a black eye and a long scratch mark on her cheek. “Tara?!” Giles stood and quickly moved over to the young witch. “What happened? Are you all right?”

Giles helped Tara to sit down and began to administer some first aid to her bruised face. “Buffy.” Tara whispered.

“Tara was walking with Buffy when they saw a peaceful demon.” Willow explained, sitting down next to her girlfriend.

“I told Buffy not to hurt the demon…” Tara sniffed softly as he struggled to hold back tears.

“She hit her Giles!” Willow wailed as she hugged her girlfriend.

Giles rested his head in his hands. “I don’t know what’s happened to her… she’s so different from the young woman I met when I first came to Sunnydale!”

“Giles…” Willow sighed, gently laying a hand on Giles’ shoulder. “Tara and I talked about it… we’ve decided to leave Sunnydale. We’re going to transfer to UCLA and help Angel.”

Giles looked at the two young woman whom he thought of as his daughters. “Do you… do you need anything? Money, a car… anything?”

“Giles…” Willow whispered. “We want you to come with us… or at least leave Sunnydale! If Buffy has already hurt Tara, then what’s to stop her from hurting you?” Willow asked the older man.

“Buffy’s already gone over my head… she’s asked the Council for a new Watcher.” Giles told the two as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Then why are you still here?” Standing in the doorway was Ethan Rayne, who had a bag slung over his shoulders. “The Slayer only sees black and white and your quite a healthy shade of grey Ripper.”

Giles hand instantly flew to the tattoo on his arm, which was covered by his shirt. “So I’m evil… in-human to her eyes.” Giles face hardened as he slowly stood and looked between the two witches and Ethan. “Then I guess I have no choice.”

Giles moved over to the counter and started writing out a note for Anya who still helped the group out from time to time and actually owned half the Magic Box. “I’ve giving the shop to Anya… but we’re taking all the research books we can.”

Less then two hours alter Giles was driving past the Welcome To Sunnydale sign, Ethan in the passenger seat while Willow and Tara slept in the back. “Why did you come back for me?” Giles asked the other man, not looking at Ethan.

“I promised I’d stay with you.” Ethan said, his voice shaking slightly. “I know you still wear it Ripper.”

Giles silently reached up and pulled out a necklace which had been hidden under his shirt… a simple metal necklace with a gold ring on it. In response Ethan held up his hand, revealing a similar ring.

“I’m sorry I left.” Giles whispered, not meeting Ethan’s eyes.

“I know you did it to protect me.” Ethan smiled softly and reached out to hold Giles hand. “I would have done the same.”

TBC