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Author's Chapter Notes:
For the purposes of this story, Spike did NOT spend that silly year with Angel in L.A.

If you recognize Sahjhan from Angel, yay! But please remember that this story takes place in Buffy Season Five, so Sahjhan hasn't shown up in the land of Angel quite yet.

Reviews and feedback are very much appreciated, so if you like it (or don't, but I hope you will), then please feel free to let me know!
Chapter 5

Twenty minutes later, Willow and Tara were ready to start the spell. "Got all the ingredients together, guys. Now, I just need a map of Sunnydale and something that belongs to Buffy." Buffy slipped a chunky silver bracelet from her wrist and tossed it over to the corner of the shop where the witches were sitting cross-legged facing each other, preparing for the incantation. Giles set his very old, dusty reference book on the table and crossed the store, producing a map of Sunnydale from behind the counter. He handed it to Willow, and she set about unfolding it.

"What's taking Xander so long?" Buffy asked. "Asher really couldn't have gotten that far, could he? You don't think he…ran away, or something, do you?"

"That wouldn't make much sense," Giles said, flipping through his book. "I'm sure they'll return any moment. Ah, here it is." His thumb moved over the page as he murmured, "Sahjhan, Granok demon, prophecies related to…"

The two witches began to chant softly in the corner, and Buffy leaned over Giles' arm to peer at the sketch on the page. "Ooh, not pretty," she said.

"Oh, dear," Giles said, peering at the text. "I think I know why Sahjhan would have been interested in this particular…child. Buffy…I don't think you're going to like this at all."

"Share time, Giles."

"According to this text, Sahjhan is obsessed with a set of scrolls. Nyazian, they're called. They reference the end of days, apparently. Much of the scrolls' content is shrouded in mystery because of the difficulty in translation. But part of it details this demon's death…at the hands of the one born to the vampire with a soul."

"The one born to the vampire with a…" Buffy trailed off, eyes widening. The souled vampire. Angel.

"It's Angel's child," she breathed.

"We don't know that, Buffy."

"Giles, we do. How many other souled vampires do you know? Have you even heard of? Ever? I don't know how it's possible, or why, but it has to be his. And that means I can't just leave it there, with Sahjhan, or the First, or whoever."

Giles shook his head. "Buffy, Quentin could be wrong. He wasn't even certain that the demon traveled with anything at all. Perhaps Asher's description is truly accurate—maybe it is just some sort of weapon."

"I don't think so, Giles. I think I have to find this kid." Her mind was suddenly racing. Angel had a child. Impossible. But she couldn't stand the thought of it being in danger.

"Hey!" Willow chimed in from the corner. "Asher was right! Buffy's bracelet worked after all. We've got a location." Buffy jumped from her chair and rushed over to look at the map on the floor. There was a tiny orange dot that marked Buffy's location in the Magic Box. And, several blocks away, another orange dot glowed just as brightly.

"It's the Christmas tree lot!" Buffy said. "God, I am so mentally challenged! That's exactly where I found the Bringers before, back when they were messing with Angel." There was his name again. The First had it in for him, even then. It made so much sense that they would go after his child. She grabbed her lightweight jacket and slipped it on. "Giles, I'm going to go check this out. See if I can find this kid."

"Buffy, I don't think you should walk into this unprepared. Wasn't Asher very clear that you shouldn't lay eyes on it? What if seeing it harms you in some way? We should wait and talk to Asher more, find out everything he knows. And you shouldn't go alone. Didn't you say Riley would be here soon? Why don't you take him along as backup?"

Her eyes widened. "Right, because that wouldn't be awkward at all. Hey, Riley, why don't you come along and help me fight a battle to save my ex-boyfriend's kid? You know, the vampire ex-boyfriend you hate? Somehow, I don't think that would lead to anything good. Look, I've got to do this. Call it recon—I'll just scope out the sitch, figure out what they're up to over there, and then I'll be back and we'll work out a plan. In the meantime, find out what Asher knows. Find out everything he knows." And then she was gone and Giles was shaking his head in frustration.

He should have kept the information to himself, Giles thought, at least until Xander and Anya had returned with the elusive future Watcher. He simply did not see how this could turn out well at all.

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She walked as fast as her legs could carry her down the sidewalk, fighting the urge to sprint. Angel's child. What on earth could happen in the next eight years that would make Angel having a child a possibility? She wondered if it was a boy or a girl, if it looked like him, with the dark eyes and dark hair. A quiet child, she would guess. Thoughtful.

And despite the fact that Asher had made it pretty clear that she herself was dead eight years from now, a nagging voice in the back of her head kept pointing out that it was her bracelet that had worked for the locator spell. She couldn't dare to hope, could she, that somehow in the future, by some miracle, she and Angel would have a child together?

She was so lost in her thoughts that she had walked two blocks without paying any attention to the vampire tinglies that she now realized had been curling up her spine all along.

"Spike," she said, without turning around.

"Hello, cutie." He was nearer than she'd thought, or maybe he'd just closed in when she'd said his name, because his mouth was suddenly right next to her ear, his voice rich and seductive, and she shivered against her will. Damn vampire. Focus, she reminded herself, as she seemed to do lately when she found herself in Spike's presence. On a mission here.

"Getting this close to me is a surefire way to find yourself in an ashtray, Spike," she warned, not slowing her pace.

"Ooh, big bad Slayer with her big bad threats. You don't scare me, you know." He'd moved to walking beside her, his coat billowing as he kept stride with her in the cool early night air.

"Not now, Spike."

"Why? Out to kill something nasty?"

"Maybe."

"Could use a good kill, myself."

"Get your own kill, Spike."

"What, can't share? I see. Vampire's help isn't good enough for the Slayer. You can be a real bitch sometimes, you know that?"

They had reached the old Christmas tree lot, empty and abandoned. Buffy stopped, holding her hands up in front of her. "You know what? Fine," she huffed. "Fine. You want to help me on my rescue mission to save Angel's child, be my guest. But you get in my way, and you will be dust faster than you can say…oh, anything!" She glared at him. "Cause you'll be dust. Got it?"

He raised his eyebrows, mouth open in confusion. "Huh? Peaches doesn't have a sprog! Vampires can't. Cause…dead. You know that, right? What on earth does that Watcher teach you, anyway?"

"He does. Or he will. Have a sprog. Child. Whatever. Come with me or don't." She turned on her heel.

He clucked his tongue behind her. "Well, this is something I got to see for myself." He followed Buffy through the vacant lot until she stopped in front of a person-sized hole in the ground. "How far do-" he started, but she had jumped into the hole before he'd even finished his sentence.

"Bollucks," he grumbled. The things he got himself into, following the Slayer around like some lovesick nancy boy. He sighed and jumped into the hole.

Buffy hit the ground with a soft thud, and she could tell immediately that she wasn't alone. A dim light danced against the walls further into the cavern, and she could hear voices. Spike's boots were louder than hers as the vampire landed beside her.

"Could give a bloke some warning, you know," he muttered.

"Shh," she said, elbowing him and holding a finger to her lips. She crept toward the voices, keeping her body pressed toward one wall of the cavern. Spike followed suit behind her. She peeked her head around a corner, and in the flickering torch light she saw a group of men, the Bringers, seated in a circle and chanting quietly. In the middle of the circle stood the tall, ugly demon Buffy now knew as Sahjhan, along with another man whose back was turned to Buffy as he leaned down toward the floor to tend to something she couldn't see.

"You lied to me," Sahjhan said. "This child isn't the one."

"How can you be sure?" A chill ran down Buffy's spine as she recognized the voice. The mayor. The mayor she'd killed two years ago. "It is the child of the souled vampire, after all." Neither seemed to be paying much attention to the chanting around them.

"I have a wild feeling this one isn't going to grow to manhood and kill me, for one thing," Sahjhan said, drily. "She isn't even born of darkness. I should have left her where I found her. You sent me on a ridiculous goose chase. I'm not merely a tool for your bidding. Although, not a bad idea. Maybe it's time I found someone to do my bidding."

"Yes, well, things don't always turn out the way we want them to, now do they?" Although, by the sound of the mayor's voice (the First's voice, Buffy reminded herself), things had turned out exactly as he'd wanted them to. "But don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to think of whom would be best to do your bidding in the future. I recommend vampires, myself. So efficient, and so darn easy to kill when you're finished with them. Poof!" he said, standing and turning so that Buffy could see his face for the first time. He made a motion with his hand clearly meant to imply vamp dusting that, in the end, looked more like jazz hands. Still, Buffy shuddered at the sight of the mayor's friendly, evil face.

"You owe me for my troubles," Sahjhan said, but just as he finished his sentence, a blue light began to swirl around the demon's feet, encircling him until his form became one with the light and disappeared into an urn that a Bringer held in his palms.

The First, still in mayor disguise, clapped his hands. "Wonderful show!" he said to the men in the circle. "And one less thing to worry about, isn't it? Now, it's about time to get the little one out of here. Sure is a pretty thing. If only she'd stop with the tears. So wet and messy."

Time for the big entrance, Buffy thought, before they got away. Though she hadn't seen her yet, she knew that Angel's little girl was waiting, just behind the First. Waiting for Buffy to help. She jumped around the corner. "Hey guys. Watcha doing?"

The six Bringers jumped to their feet, some hastily gathering supplies, others extinguishing torches along the dirt walls of the cavern. And two were running straight at Buffy. The First took a step closer. "Well, well," he said. "Look who we have here." He clapped his hands again in delight. "This should get interesting."

The Bringers wore hooded black cloaks and had no eyes, any of them, only what looked like x's and y's stitched into their skin where their eyeballs should have been. But they still seemed to know exactly where she was. Buffy moved to fighting stance, but lost all purpose quite suddenly, when the mayor moved a few feet to the right and the little girl was visible for the first time. The Bringers disappeared in that moment, and the movement in the room seemed to be happening in another place, somewhere far away from her.

She stared, green eyes wide.

"Buffy, what are they?" Spike shouted behind her. But then he saw her too. "Bloody hell," he breathed.

Sitting on the dirty cavern floor was a little girl, no more than three years old, little pink pajama-clad knees pulled tightly to her chest and her light golden hair falling in loose lovely waves around her shoulders. She was crying, quiet little sobs that could barely be heard over the commotion around her. She was the most beautiful thing Buffy had ever seen, and she felt inexplicably drawn to her. Pulled to her. But all she could do was stand and stare at the honey skin of the girl's exposed collarbone, the slender fingers on sweet small hands.

One of the cloaked men came at Buffy, brandishing a knife with a sharp edge that glinted silver in what was left of the torchlight, but she didn't move to defend herself, so transfixed was she by the sight of the little girl.

"Buffy, look out!" Spike shouted, coming to his senses and pulling her out of the way, but not before the Bringer's knife sliced into her side. The vampire threw one single powerful punch and the man fell away, unconscious. Spike roared in pain, gripping his head with both hands. "Humans!" he cried.

His shout was enough to catch the attention of the little girl, who looked up at the pair for the very first time. Her startlingly blue eyes, shiny with tears, widened and her little mouth opened in a tiny "o" of surprise that drew Buffy's attention to the soft but striking line of the girl's cheekbones. She could feel Spike beside her, knew he was staring too. The child reached out a hand to them, and in the same moment, a Bringer jerked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. The little girl turned, squirming, pounding the man's back with her little fists. She looked at Buffy and Spike with a pleading expression on her face. "Mummy!" she screamed. "Daddy! Help!"

Then the last torch was extinguished, and everything in the cavern fell into darkness.





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