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Chapter 10 – Angelus Manor

The next morning, Amy brought Buffy breakfast in bed. Lilah had allowed everyone in the household to sleep in since they were so exhausted from the ball. Lilah also had Amy alter some of Dawn’s riding gear so that Buffy would have the proper attire for the riding party at Angelus Manor that afternoon. Lady Lilah would be accompanying Buffy as she had business with the senior Lord Angelus.

Buffy dressed in the riding gear and went out front to wait for the car and Lady Lilah. On her way down the stairs she was surprised to find Drusilla dressed and outside her room.

“Hey Drusilla!”

“Sunshine is off to see daddy?” Drusilla asked, clutching Miss Edith.

“What do you mean? You know my father is dead.” Replied Buffy, shocked.

“Oh no, daddy!” Drusilla started wailing and clawing at her face. Nurse Walsh quickly came down the hall.

“What did you do to her?” She snapped at Buffy as she tried to subdue Drusilla.

“I didn’t do anything! She started talking about my father, I told her he was dead and she went nuts!” Sniffed Buffy. She was truly shocked by Drusilla’s behavior. She was even more shocked to see Nurse Walsh pull out a syringe and stick it in Drusilla’s arm. The girl quickly became subdued, and Nurse Walsh started to lead her away, but not before turning to Buffy.

“Best you leave her alone.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Buffy snapped at the nurse’s retreating form. Buffy really didn’t like that woman. Something about her rubbed her the wrong way. She pulled herself together and went outside to wait for Lilah.

To Buffy’s surprise, Lilah pulled up the drive in a red convertible.

“Surprise!” Lilah jumped out of the drivers seat. “Buffy, this is one of your father’s cars. It’s a 1993 Aston Martin DB7 Volante. I thought you should have a car at Oxford, and what better than one of your fathers. Jump in the drivers seat. I’ll teach you to drive on the proper side of the road on the way to Angelus Manor.”

Buffy gulped. “Thank you grandmother.” She said in a weak voice.

“What’s wrong Buffy? You don’t like it?” Lilah asked sounding hurt.

“Oh, no, it’s lovely, what every girl would want. It’s just…I don’t know how to drive.” She confessed.

“I thought all Americans could drive!” exclaimed Lilah. “With your big trucks and all. Oh well, that’s okay; many young people of stature don’t drive. That’s why we have drivers. But we will get you lessons. We’ll have you on the road before school starts.”

“Okay,” Buffy said nervously. She didn’t think now was the time to tell Lilah she didn’t drive because when she did she crashed into things. Her mother had taken her out twice before they decided driving wasn’t for Buffy.

Buffy enjoyed the drive to Angelus manor with the wind whipping through her hair. The Angelus manor was as large and impressive as Pembrook, with a large redstone manor surrounded by gated horse pasture.

“The Angelus family has a passion for horses. They even own race horses.” Lilah told Buffy as they passed the expansive stables. Lilah pulled up to the entrance where they were greeted by a butler and shown into the drawing room where Darla was sitting with an older gentleman with silver hair and a kind smile.

“Lady Lilah, how nice to see you again. Is this Elizabeth?” The gentleman came over and kissed both their hands.

“Yes, Holland, this is Buffy.” Lilah beamed as she made the introduction.

“Such a pleasure my dear.”

“Thank you.” Buffy blushed as he kissed her hand again.

“Well father, let me take Buffy to meet the others. I’m sure you and Lady Lilah have plenty of items to go over.” She led Buffy into the hall. “You do know they are lovers.” Darla whispered to Buffy.

“Get out!” exclaimed Buffy.

“Mm-hmm. They’ve been hot and heavy lately. We could be cousins soon.” She smiled.

“Gross-much! I don’t even want to think of Lady Lilah getting hot and heavy.” Buffy shook her head, trying to remove the images. Darla just laughed.

“They’re old and they’re lonely.” She shrugged.

The girls walked out to the stables where Fred, Angel and Wesley were already mounted on their horses. The stable boy brought Darla and Buffy’s horses over for them to mount. Darla quickly mounted the horse while Buffy stood staring at the beautiful tan horse brought to her. For the first time it occurred to Buffy that she had never been on a horse.

“Need some help miss?” The stable boy winked at her.

“Yes please.” Buffy smiled widely at the boy. He pointed at the stirrup and helped her put her foot in. Fortunately everybody was on the other side of the horse chatting away and didn’t notice the boy helping her.

“Up and over.” He whispered to her as he scooped her up by her bottom and over she went! He grinned up at her as she sat blushing furiously on top of the horse. “Your reins miss.” He handed her the reins, brushing her fingers as he did so.

Darla noticed that Buffy was finally ready to go. “Scott, do you have the picnic loaded?”

“Yes ma’am.” replied the stable boy. “I’ll ride ahead to set up.”

“I’ll lead.” Called Angel as he took off, followed by Darla, Wesley and Fred. Buffy had no idea how to get the horse to move and started to panic again. Scott gave the horse a thump on its rear and she was soon following behind the others. They rode across the pasture to a wooded path and into the woods.

“So Buffy, do you ride much?” asked Fred softly, so that the others couldn’t hear.

‘Oh no, she noticed!’ though Buffy. “Well, not that much. I grew up in a town - you really only have horses in the country in America.”

“Well let me know if you need any pointers.” Fred smiled kindly at her.

“Thanks, Fred.” Buffy smiled back at the girl. They continued on the path for about a half hour. Fred made sure to stay near Buffy and made motions on how to control the reins. They eventually came to the other side of the woods to a small clearing on top of a hill.

“This is where we’ll be picnicking.” Darla called back to Buffy. They all stopped their horses and dismounted. Scott was already there and took the horses over to a brook. Buffy couldn’t figure how he beat them there.

They all sat down where the food was set up and started eating. Angel sat very close to Buffy. The conversation was mostly about the upcoming school year. Angel asked Buffy a lot of questions about America. He confessed he hoped to travel there after he graduated.

Buffy walked away from the group to the edge of the hill to get a better view of the scenery. Across the valley on top of the opposite hill she noticed another large home. She saw it had an expansive garage with many cars and motorcycles. She chuckled to herself thinking that family stabled cars like the Angelus’ stabled horses. Angel came up behind her as she was observing.

“Who lives over their Angel?”

“That is the Martin Manor. I went to school with their son, William. He still attends Oxford, though I’m not sure what he is studying. They are new money with no titles. Look how they flaunt their cars.”

Buffy couldn’t help but laugh. “What wrong with new money?”

“Nothing is worse than new money. It comes with no class and breeding.” Replied Angel.

Buffy looked away uncomfortably. She was new money, little did he know. These were not the type of people she wanted to be hanging out with – people who looked down at others. She made up her mind to be polite, since they were friends of the family, but not to become close friends with any of them. Hopefully she would make new friends at school.
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