13 and half hours later: 7 am. Monday
Buffy awoke to her alarm and she stretched before feeling the sense of dread flow over her. She peered at her nightstand and noticed another drawing.
As she sat up, her head felt like she was spinning as she held it with one hand while studying the picture with the other. This one was even freakier than the last. It was of Buffy in the pajamas she wore last night but instead of them covering her body, it was exposing her breasts and it showed a hard reaching out to touch them. She shuddered lifting up her shirt to see tiny bruise marks on her breasts and put her hand over her mouth covering the scream that wanted to emit from her body.
She got up quickly determined to find a way to dis-invite a vampire from her house as she picked out clothing for the day. She glanced in the mirror noticing the bite mark was less and mostly faded to the point of where it looked to be an old master mark. Buffy sighed in relief that no one would notice it until she shuddered remembering that picture. The only tiny thing she could be thankful for is that he didn’t seem to notice the claim mark on her neck. Perhaps he thought it was from the Master.
She frowned wishing this had been just a bad nightmare she would wake up from. Angelus was invading her personal space, abusing her body and breaking her heart even more. She needed to be strong though because she couldn’t kill him or destroy him. Buffy needed to find a way out of this claim so she could put a stop to this before something bad happened to someone she knew and loved or herself.
Buffy hopped into the shower with steaming hot water willing it to wash away any results of his touch on her body. Buffy glanced down noticing the tiny bruises on her breasts appeared to be the only part marred. She shook her head as a few tears fell from her eyes but were quickly washed away by the shower before they reached her cheeks. Buffy sighed quickly but forcefully washed her body until it shined red from the strength she used on her washcloth she had opted to use instead of her normal poof. She was determined to wash away his touch even if it meant rubbing off a layer or two of skin. She finally finished by washing her hair and stepped out of the shower still as red as a beet.
She glanced over at the sink in the bathroom where the mirror was steamed. She used her towel to wipe away mist and looked at her neck. It was the only part of her not red and she closed her eyes willing the mark away but when she opened it, it was still there as clear as day. Buffy knew she would forever have that scar on her until she was able to convince someone to challenge for her.
She frowned as the tears almost fell again but she quickly rushed to get dressed leaving her hair down. It would cover the marks on her neck instead of a scarf two days in a row, which might draw attention to her neck. The last thing Buffy needed was for Xander or Giles to get wind of the claim. Both would be so disappointed in her and might even dust Angelus causing her to die. Buffy wasn’t ready to die and hoped to live a long life but it seemed difficult to think such things lately.
She grabbed her backpack shoving the picture into it as to not have her mom find it accidentally, as she noticed again the kitchen was empty. A tiny note was on the fridge saying, “I won’t be home until much later tonight. I have a meeting at the gallery with a new artist in the area. I left money for pizza and packed a larger lunch than normal for you. Have a good day sweetie!”
Buffy sighed pulling the lunch from the third shelf in the fridge then headed out to walk to meet Willow for their way to school.
15 minutes later: 7:15 am. Monday
Buffy walked next to Willow as they walked to school together. Buffy decided to be nice and ask Willow about Oz for once, “So how are you and Oz doing?”
Willow looked embarrassed but decided to share as her hands started moving as she talked, “We are good, well ok…”
Buffy glanced up while still continuing to walk questioning, “Are you guys going anywhere special tonight?”
Willow shook her head glancing in Buffy’s direction as they rounded another corner, “We aren’t going anywhere…well we are but not where I want to go.”
Buffy’s eyebrow rose up in surprise, as she hugged her books tighter, “Nowhere?” Willow nodded responding, “Nowhere. I mean, he said he was gonna wait until I was ready, but I’m ready. Honest. I’m good to go here.”
Buffy smiled realizing Willow was talking about sex not their actual relationship as she glanced towards Willow as she exclaimed, “Well, I think it’s nice that he’s not just being an animal.”
Willow’s voice appeared calm as she looked at Buffy still walking as she laced her hands together in front of her saying, “It is nice. He’s great. We have a lot of fun.” Her voice got desperate as she stated, “But I want smoochies!”
Buffy tried to help by suggesting, “Have you dropped any hints?”
Buffy’s hand gestured in front of her during the word hints as Willow looked directly at her still walking but their pace slowing, “I’ve dropped anvils.”
Buffy shook her head flinging her hair back behind her shoulders as she smiled at her friend hoping to reassure her, “Ah, he’ll come around. What guy could resist your wily Willow charms?”
Willow frowned a bit, “At last count, all of them. Maybe more.”
Buffy smiled slightly, “Well, none of them know a thing. They all get an “F” in Willow.”
Willow got a smile on her face with a slight far away look as she toyed with the bottom strain of her hair, “But I want Oz to get an ‘A’ and oh, one of those gold stars.”
Finally having reached school Buffy turned towards Willow with a confident look on her face as she sat down on the bench realizing they were still a few minutes early, “He will.”
Willow glanced towards Buffy taking the seat next to her glancing around the walkway, “Well, he’d better hurry. I don’t want to be the only girl in school without a boyfriend.”
Buffy looked down at her hands sadly thinking about what Willow said. She didn’t have a boyfriend unless you counted one who wanted to kill her and her friends. Willow realized her mistake and apologized immediately, “Oh, I’m such an idiot. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t even be talking about…do you want me to go away?”
Buffy shook her head sadly, “No I wish you wouldn’t.”
Willow frowned asking, “How are you holding up?”
Buffy frowned being honest, “I’m not really. He was in my room last night again drawing pictures. I won’t show you since he was violating my body during his drawing adventure but it’s bad. Really bad. Is there any kind of dis-invite spell someone could perform to get him out?”
Willow gasped, “He didn’t hurt you did he?”
Buffy shook her head, “Just a few bruises in places I’d rather not mention but nothing too bad. But he’s getting braver and I’m not waking up for it...”
Willow looked up at Buffy hopeful, “I could talk to Ms. Calendar. I over heard she was a witch of some sort like me. I saw her in the Magic Box a few weeks ago buying some kind of supplies. Perhaps she knows about vampires.”
Buffy nodded looking hopeful as well just as the school bell rang, “Please do that. See you at lunch Wills.”
Willow waved, “Library 12 pm. We will do some more research ok?” Buffy nodded and took off running towards her first class of the day as her mind still worried with thoughts of Angelus’s next step.
4 hours and 45 minutes later: 12 pm. Monday
Willow was already into research when Buffy sat her backpack down on the table pulling up a book that Willow had placed out for her. Giles came into the room, “Ok the goal is to find all we can about Angelus.”
Buffy frowned stating, “He’s stalkerish, he’s creepy, he’s obsessive, he kills, maims and destroys, and he tortures, doesn’t that about cover enough information about him yet?”
Giles frowned as his disappointed clearly showed, “Buffy, dear we must find his weak point.”
Buffy decided to brave the question, “Is there any way to dis-invite a vampire into a person’s home?”
Just then the library door opened and in walked Jenny Calendar, “I’m so glad Willow asked me about that today. She said Angelus was giving you trouble in your home Buffy? I have the spell here but I need a few ingredients and I still have a tiny bit of translation to do but by the end of the day tonight if not tomorrow morning, I should be ready to perform the spell and I’ll teach Willow how to for the future in case I’m not available. I suggest any one who has given him an invite, should do the same. Just to be safe.”
Buffy nodded grateful that her house would be once again protected. She was fearful for her mother’s life and with Angelus having a free for all access to her home, it was just asking for trouble. She motioned towards Jenny not quite forgiving her for the part she played in not warning her about Angelus, “Thank you.”
Jenny nodded and apologized once again, “I am sorry again about not telling you…”
Buffy cut her off, “It’s the past. Let’s move on shall we?”
Jenny nodded quietly leaving the library again as Giles watched dejectedly as Jenny left then turned towards his desk with his book still in hand. Buffy watched this sadly then felt Willow nudge her, turning towards her, “Do you need anything?”
Buffy nodded explaining, “My source said it can be removed….”
Willow got excited, “That’s great? It is by a spell or some kind of ritual? Is it easy or hard? Probably hard but I’m sure I could handle it.”
Buffy shook her head putting her hand up to signal Willow to be quiet, “It’s nothing like that. It’s a vampire challenge actually. Someone from the Aurelius line must challenge the claim and win to free me. My source claimed only Spike and Dru are left since the others were destroyed. Is that true?”
Willow grew excited, “Oooh, I saw a list of Aurelius line vampires in here!” She started flipping through the pages quickly getting into an image that appeared to be a family tree. On the list of vampires, most were listed as deceased. Willow took out her black pen adding in 1998 for Darla’s death and 1999 for the Master and sure enough, only Spike, Angelus and Drusilla were listed.
Buffy sighed in defeat, “I guess that is a no go.”
Willow nodded sadly, “We will keep looking. Perhaps your source isn’t as smart as you seem to think they are.”
Buffy shook her head, thinking Spike seemed very smart as she offered, “Yea we can keep looking but I really think he was telling the truth.”
8 hours later: 9 pm. Monday
Buffy was walking through the cemetery as usual but was looking for a certain blond vampire. She had decided she wanted to make a deal with him. She would offer him something in return for him offering something only she hadn’t decided what her offering would be. Nonetheless she was determined to be brave and make this work.
She glanced around having already staked about 10 vampires in the night figuring it was Angelus and Drusilla’s work. She had even gotten a message from a few claiming, “A gift from Angelus to you” which had only proved to piss her off and dust them faster before they could say anymore. She was tired of living this nightmare.
Just then she heard the distinct sound of wheels rolling. She ran up towards the sound and yelled out, “Spike!”
Spike turned around in his wheelchair to face her breathing out a deep breath he had been holding at his name, “Oh it’s you Slayer. What do you want? Aren’t you satisfied enough with my existence in a sodding wheelchair or do you plan to torture me to death with stalking me forever knowing I can’t very well get away fast.”
Buffy sighed as she plopped herself down on a particularly big statue in front of a grave, “Neither. I want to offer you something.”
Spike’s eyebrow shot up as he cocked his head to the side, “Ok pet, let’s hear it. What do you have the offer to the Big Bad vampire?”
Buffy bit her lower lip as the thought suddenly came to her, “Blood. Slayer blood. I will give you some of my blood in exchange for you challenging Angel for me.”