Believe In Me

“It couldn’t be,” Angel whispered, shaking his head. “No, no, it couldn’t be. How do you know?”
“I saw her, Angel,” Giles told him steadily.
“You saw her do it?”
“No, I. . . I saw her last week. A glimpse of her in a crowd. I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, much like you thought. Thought maybe your talking about her and the power of suggestion made me see her, but then when Elaine was found . . . she left a message.”
“A message? What sort of message?”
“Yes, she left a message using Elaine’s blood . . . she said she was back and signed her name. Just simply signed it ‘Darla’.”
“Oh God,” Angel moaned, feeling suddenly quite unsteady. He sat down hard on the couch, rubbing his forehead, oblivious to the fact that Spike and Buffy were watching him intently. “How’s Lindsey?”
“He’s a mess. He’s angry, and rightfully so. I had to tell him about Darla, I couldn’t not tell him. I rather think its time you told Buffy and Spike don’t you?”
“Yeah, I . . . so she’s there?”
“It would appear that her physical body is here. What she’s up to, the power she’s acquired, how she got out of Hell, I can’t say. If I could. . . “
“No, it’s not your fault, Giles. It’s not your fault or my fault that this happened. How were we supposed to know that she – she’s supposed to be in Hell. There’s no way either of us—“
“I should have taken your sighting of her seriously. We should have done something—“
“Giles—“
“Don’t bloody tell me that you don’t feel guilty for this either!”
Angel sighed, “I do. I just . . . I don’t know what to do.”
“You need to come out here, that’s what you need to do. I suggest you leave Buffy and Spike behind. She is calling us out and I don’t want Buffy to suffer the fate Elaine did. I also would hate to see what she’d do with Spike if he came around. You’re all family after all.”
“I’m on my way.”
“I’ll make arrangements and let you know when to be at the airport this evening to catch the jet.”
“Thanks, Giles. Send Lindsey my apologies.”
“Will do.”
Clicking the phone off, Angel looked up to find Buffy and Spike staring at him. Buffy, it appeared, had been crying, as her eyes were slightly red. Buffy looked worried and forlorn and Spike on the other hand, Spike looked about ready to throttle him.
“Care to share now?” Spike demanded. “Or are you going to tell me it’s ‘nothing’ again?”
Angel took a deep breath. “I need to go to see Giles.”
“We gathered that,” Spike snapped. “It was Darla, eh?”
Angel nodded.
“I thought Darla was supposed to be dead,” Buffy interjected.
“Well, one would think she’s supposed to be,” Angel hedged, not really wanting to get into it.
“Then pray tell, Peaches, if she’s not dead as she’s ‘supposed’ to be, then what the bloody hell is going on?” Spike demanded.
“Giles and I, when we were working together—“
“With his Slayer in Chicago?” Buffy questioned.
“Yes, with his Slayer, Anna. When we were working together, Darla came round to cause some trouble.” He darted a look at Spike, “You know how she is.”
“Bloody vindictive and obsessive bitch that one,” Spike muttered knowingly.
“Right, so, she was stirring up trouble. Wanted to bring Hell to Earth. She found some ancient relic that with the right incantation and sacrifice would open a portal to Hell and release it here on Earth. In a battle we had with her, Giles and I sent Darla to Hell instead.”
“And what of Anna?” Buffy asked quietly.
Angel swallowed, “Anna went with her.”
“Christ,” Spike muttered.
“Seems Darla found her way out of Hell and it makes sense that she’s gunning for me and Giles. And, it makes sense that she’s going to try and hurt those closest to us. Whatever she’s doing, she’s in London now and I’m going out there. Tonight.”
“We’re coming with you,” Buffy said determinedly.
“No, Buffy, you’re not. You’re staying here. After what she did to Elaine, I’m not going to let her get her hands on you. Or Spike.”
“Noble of you, Angel, but we’re coming,” Spike interjected.
“I said no.”
“Angel, how can you ask us to stay behind like this?” Buffy asked, her voice shaking with unexpressed rage. “This vampire seems to have gained powers since – oh God. That night you saw her,” Buffy covered her mouth with her hand. “And we just forgot about it as if it were nothing and . . . Oh God, Lindsey!”
Angel hung his head. “Yes, I know—“
“I’m going,” Buffy told him resolutely. “I’m going and you can’t stop me. You actually think I’d let you go out there alone and risk you getting into her clutches? Fuck that. I want a piece of her myself. She hurt my friend, and now she’s going to have to pay for that.”
“I want to keep you both safe!” Angel exclaimed, frustrated.
“We’re family, Angel,” Spike told him softly.
“Exactly,” Buffy joined in, “We’re family and we go together to battle together on these things.”
“If she knows about you,” Angel began quietly, “Buffy, I can’t go through you being lost to me again. What if she does to you what she did to . . .?“
”She won’t.”
Angel nodded slowly, knowing this was a losing battle. He could fight one on it, but not both of them, and definitely not Buffy when she got something in her head. She was a stubborn one, put Spike in on her side and there was no stopping them. “Fine. We better pack.”
*******
Buffy shoved items in her suitcase, not really paying attention to what she was throwing in until Spike took out the black candle she had just placed in it.
“Don’t think you’ll be needing that, pet.”
Buffy nodded mutely and stared down at her suitcase.
“Care to tell me what’s troubling you?”
She looked up at him as if to say ‘Are you being serious right now?’
“Right. I know what’s bothering you. Impending battle. Not only battle, but battle with Angel’s sire and ex, coupled with a mourning Lindsey and a return trip to London where you’d been taken before and in not so unpleasant circumstances.”
Buffy smiled, “Right, all that. I’d like to return to London on good terms for once you know? The last time we were there . . . well, you know.”
“I well remember,” Spike muttered, and started picking through her suitcase to make sure no more candles or other odd object for travel had been shoved in.
“And actually, it’s not just that stuff. I mean, as sick as it sounds, impending battle doesn’t even seem to phase me anymore. Just par for the course isn’t it?”
“You mean I didn’t give enough reasons to be hesitant about going?” Spike asked, incredulous.
Buffy sighed and sat down on their bed, looking up at Spike. “There’s something more to this story. I feel it. Something he’s not telling us.”
Spike sighed and sat down next to her. “I know.”
“You feel it too?”
“Don’t have to be bloody Columbo to figure it out. There’s a huge chunk missing to that story. Whatever it is though, he’s not willin’ to share.”
Buffy bit her lip. “But. . . “
“But?”
Buffy looked over at Spike. “But maybe Giles is.”
“And if he’s not? I have a feeling that Giles will keep this secret for Angel. If there is a secret to be kept.”
“Well then. There’s always Darla isn’t there? A scorned vampiress that got sent to Hell by her Childe and former lover, I’m sure she’ll be more than willing to flap her gums and spill the missing pieces.”
“Pet, don’t go looking for more trouble. If you’ve learned anything about our past escapades, then you should have learned that when you go looking for trouble, you inevitably find it.”
Buffy pouted slightly. “Well, then it’d serve him right. If he plans to keep things from me, then he should be prepared for me to go hunting to get some answers.”
“Pet, a man needs his secrets sometimes.”
“Not when it comes to something serious – like people’s lives!”
“You don’t know that whatever he’s keeping from us has anything to do with Darla being on the rampage. Remember what I told you about her being obsessive about him.”
“I know, but I just can’t shake the feeling that there is a missing link here that has more to do with it than we realize.”
“Stop fishing, Buffy.”
Buffy sighed, “Fine,” she said petulantly, but had no plan whatsoever to stop fishing. If there was one thing Buffy hated, it was secrets being kept from her. It was right up there with lying, and with that in mind, she planned to get to the bottom of this mystery and fast. She had a feeling it was the key to everything.