Title:  Demon Lovers, Part II

Author:  Miss Murchison

Rating:  "Chiaroscuro" is mostly R and PG.  However, some content may be considered NC-17.

Disclaimer:  All characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc.  Only the lame plots and dialogue herein are mine.

Thanks:  To DorothyL for the beta and for her wonderful friendship.

Notes:   This is a sequel to “Demon Lovers, Part I."  Duh!

        It was late morning when Cordelia knocked tentatively on the door to Buffy’s house.  “Hi,” she said when the Slayer opened the door, “how are you feeling after getting the defoliation treatment from that demon last night?”

“I’m fine.  They were just flesh wounds and I heal quickly.”

Cordelia’s gaze scanned the lower floor of the house.  “Is Spike around?”

        “No,” said Buffy, smiling wryly at Cordelia’s obvious pleasure at this news.  “Where’s Angel?”

        “Not following me over here through the sewers, I hope.  I talked to Xander a little while ago, and he said that Angel is still asleep.  Connor went out to look around Sunnydale, so he should be back there in about fifteen minutes, unless this town got a whole lot bigger.  But I told Xander to tell Angel and Connor to wait for me to call them there.”

        “Spike’s checking his more unsavory contacts, demon and otherwise.  He probably won’t be back for hours.  And Dawn went to the mall to meet some friends.  Can I get you something?”

        They went into the kitchen, and Buffy found Cordelia a diet soda while she made herself some herbal tea.  “That’s new,” commented Cordelia.

        “What?  Oh, the tea.  Lately, I’ve started to worry about all the junk I eat and drink.” 

        “It’s not like you don’t burn it off with all the slayage.  You look great.  A little different in a way that’s more than just the hair, but I can’t say exactly how.”

        “It must be the dying and coming back to life.  I don’t recommend it as a beauty treatment, though.  You look good too.”

        “It must be the becoming part demon so that the visions stop tearing up the brain cells.  I don’t recommend that treatment either.”

        Buffy, who was pouring hot water into the teapot, stopped and stared at Cordelia.  “You’re part demon?”

        “Yeah.”  She looked at Buffy uncertainly.  “You seem pretty shocked.”

        “Well, yes, but not the way you think.  It’s just kind of a coincidence.”  Buffy set the teapot on a tray next to a cup.  “It turns out I’m part demon too.”

        “Really?  How did it happen to you?”

        “Oh, I always was, at least from the time I was called as Slayer.  I just didn’t realize it.”  Buffy opened the kitchen door and they went outside to sit on the lawn chairs in the backyard.

        “Makes sense.”  Cordelia laughed.  “Remember when you first came to Sunnydale?  I saw you, and I thought, ‘I have a lot in common with that girl.’  Then you started acting like a major league freak, and of course I changed my mind.  But I was right the first time.   Here we are, years later, two part-demon girls with powers we never wanted, destinies we could live without, and the world’s two weirdest significant others.”

        “Yes,” said Buffy.  She smiled.  “It’s kind of nice.”

“I’m glad you’re happy.”

“I just meant that I really wanted to be friends with you that first day, Cordelia, until you wigged me out.  And are you really so unhappy with your life?  I know that being Angel’s girlfriend is no walk in the park, especially not on a sunny day, and when I was with him at least I didn’t have to play stepmom—”

“Oh, Connor’s not a problem.  At least, he’s a lot of problems, but not ones that I’d ever want to do without.”

“I get that.  It’s how I feel about Dawn.”

“And Angel—well, he’s got the curse thing going, which was a major dating barrier for a long time, but we’ve figured out a way around that—” Cordelia looked at Buffy to see how she would take this news.

“Yeah,” said Buffy calmly.

“He told you?”

“No, Spike said so this morning when he’d stopped sulking over—well, never mind.  And, no, Angel didn’t tell Spike.  Spike just figures these things out.  But he said Angel was still really conflicted about it.”

“Angel is conflicted about everything,” said Cordelia brutally.  “But there’s no way I let him brood.  My job description as his girlfriend goes something like this:  have visions, talk stupid vampire out of making idiotic decisions based on said visions, administer periodic metaphorical kicks in the ass to said vampire when he makes idiotic decisions anyway.  So tell me why I stick around?”
        Buffy smiled.  “You’re in love.  And you’re good for him, too.”

“Thanks.  That means a lot.  I know you won’t believe this, but one of the hardest things for me when I was getting involved with Angel was feeling that I was betraying you.”

“Don’t ever feel like that.  I’m glad he has someone.  I want him to be happy, but not too happy, of course.  And it’s not as if I haven’t moved on.”

“Yeah,” said Cordelia, drawing out the word and keeping her tone neutral with an obvious effort.

Buffy started laughing.  “That’s pretty much the universal reaction to the news about Spike and me.  But it’s good, Cordelia.  What we have is good.  He’s good too—foul-mouthed, sarcastic, and annoying as hell—but good.”

“If you say so.” 

“I know that you remember a different Spike.”

“Yeah, I remember one who almost killed me and arranged for Angel to be brutally tortured.”

“Angel has an evil side too, Cordelia.  You’ve forgiven him for that.”

“But I never forget that it’s there.  Do you trust Spike so much that you can forget what he did?”

“Not forget, no.  But forgive and move on, yes.  It’s about more than just the breathing and walking around in the sunlight.  He’s done a lot of good things since you last saw him.  And—there’s a side of him that he only shows to a few people, even now.”

“And that’s enough to make you love him?”  Cordelia leaned forward, looking as if the answer to that question was very important to her.

“More than enough.”

“So it’s not just about sex?  Because I understand that the two of you are the hottest thing to hit Sunnydale since the hellmouth first opened.”

If Cordelia expected outrage at this comment, she was disappointed.  Buffy just smiled.  “The sex is a bonus.  But it wouldn’t have been enough by itself.”   

Cordelia looked unconvinced, but she had obviously had enough of dishing gossip about Spike.  “So, what are we going to do about this demon?  I wanted to talk to you about it, girl to girl, without any testosterone in the room.”

“Good idea.”

“Angel is developing a battle plan to neutralize this thing in spite of its speed, but he’s having problems because Spike is faster than either Angel or Connor, and Angel doesn’t want to admit that.”

Buffy nodded.  “Spike is trying to find out where the demon’s stash of body parts is, but he won’t admit that to Angel, because it was Angel’s idea.”

“You know, Buffy, it sometimes amazes me that men are even able to walk across a room without tripping over their own egos.”

“So,” said Janice, “she told us that he had said that they thought that I was with you—”

Dawn was only listening with half an ear.  She was keeping an unobtrusive eye on the mall entrance and her glance flicked impatiently over each new arrival.  At last, the person she had been waiting for made an appearance.  She immediately looked away and employed immense willpower not to turn around until she sensed that he was standing uncertainly a few feet away.  Dawn swiveled in her seat, as if to talk to the boy next to her, and gave an almost credible jump of surprise. 

“Connor!” she said.  “You made it.”

“Yeah,” he said, coming a bit closer and looking at her companions uncertainly.

“Guys,” said Dawn, “this is Connor.  He’s visiting from LA.”

This statement gave the newcomer instant status, and Connor relaxed slightly as he realized he had moved to the rank of honored guest by virtue of his city of origin.

“This is Janice, and Heather, and Chad,” said Dawn, pointing out each of the others.  She and Heather simultaneously pulled chairs up for Connor.  He chose the one next to Dawn, giving Heather an apologetic smile.

“LA, huh,” said Janice, as if speaking of Shangri-La.  “Have you lived there long?”

“Only about a year,” said Connor.  “I lived out of the country before that.”

“How exciting,” purred Heather, leaning across the table.  She wore a loose, low-cut top and no bra.  This position exposed enough of her breasts to rivet Connor and Chad’s attention.  Connor was so focused on the display that he failed to hear Heather’s question about where else he had lived.

Before she could repeat it, a newcomer dropped into the chair next to Heather without requesting permission or even uttering a conventional greeting.  “Wow, Heather,” he said.  “Nice to see all three of you today.”

Heather sat back and gave him an angry look.  “What are you doing here, Scott?  I thought you had, like, permanent Saturday morning detention.”

“I got out over an hour ago,” Scott replied with the unconcern of the borderline sociopath.  “And I went out to relax a little afterwards.  Want to see something gross?”

Buffy and Cordelia came back into the house to find Spike dumping a stack of rolled up documents and other papers on the dining room table.  “What have you got?” asked Buffy.

“Some maps and my notes on where this thing’s been sighted,” he said.  “I thought it would be a good idea to make a chart of where it’s been.”

“Wow,” said Buffy.  “That’s organized.”

“Organized isn’t my favorite adjective,” said Spike.  “But I’ll use it if I have to.”

Buffy noticed a light blinking on her answering machine.  “Excuse me,” she said to Cordelia, and hit the button to listen to the messages. 

Dawn’s voice filled the room.   “Buffy?  Hi.  I’ll be a little late.  There’s something I want to check out, but don’t worry, it’s not dangerous, and I’ll be back soon.”

“I wonder what she’s checking out?” asked Buffy.

“She went to the mall earlier,” said Spike, who was sorting through papers.  “It may be a new pair of shoes.”

The machine beeped again.  “Hello, Buffy?” said a tense voice.  “This is Angel.  Is Cordelia there?  Connor’s not back yet.  Xander’s gone to look for him, but I don’t know where the sewer entrances are in this neighborhood, and I can’t get out of here.  Do you have any idea where in this damned town he might be?”

“Oh, no,” said Cordelia, turning pale.  She looked at Buffy.  “Can you think of any place?”

“No,” said Buffy, looking only mildly worried.  “I have no idea.  Where would he be likely to want to go?”

Cordelia shook her head.  “In Sunnydale?  I can’t imagine.”

Spike gave a snort of laughter. 

Cordelia turned on him.  “Why is this funny to you?”

“Because,” he drawled, “you have two teenagers missing at the same time, and you can’t seem to do the simple addition.”

“You think Connor and Dawn are together?” asked Buffy.  “What could they be doing?”  Her eyes widened in speculation.

“You don’t think--?” said Cordelia.

Buffy picked up the phone, dialed a number, and waited.  “Dawn’s phone is either turned off or out of range,” she said.  “Does Connor have one?”

Cordelia shook her head. 

“Call a snitch,” suggested Spike.  “Do you know Janice’s number?  She’s not usually bright enough to remember when she’s not supposed to give out information.”

Buffy dialed another number.  “Janice?  It’s Buffy.  Is Dawn with you?  Okay.  Thanks.”  She turned and looked at Cordelia and Spike.  “She went off with ‘that cute guy from LA,’” she quoted.  “Someone at the mall showed them ‘something gross,’ and they went to the park by the school to check it out.”

“They’re looking for the demon!  If Connor sees that thing, he might try to go after it on his own,” said Cordelia.

“He didn’t strike me as the suicidal type.  And I don’t think he’ll find a Mwrowek in a sunny park,” said Spike.

“It must be nice not to worry about people,” snapped Cordelia.  “But those of us with feelings don’t have that luxury.  I’m going to look for them.”  She stormed out the front door, almost running into Xander on the doorstep.

“Did you find him?” Xander asked Buffy, as Cordelia rushed down the walk without a word.

“Not exactly,” said Buffy.  “But we know he’s with Dawn.  Janice thinks they went to that park by the high school.  We think they’re looking for clues about this demon.”

“Damn,” said Xander.  He looked from Buffy to Spike.  “Well, aren’t we going after them?” he demanded.

Spike looked at Buffy.  “We should be working on the maps,” he said.  “We need to be ready by nightfall.”

“Maps!” yelled Xander.  “You’re worried about maps when Dawn is in danger?”

“Dawn’s in danger?” asked Buffy.  “How do you figure that?”

Xander gave her an incredulous look.  “You may not care about your sister any more, but I do,” he announced, and turned to leave. 

“Balls!” said Spike.  He stared at Xander in exasperation.  “I’ll come along.  Just give me a minute.  Go rev your engine or something.”

Xander left, and Buffy looked at Spike.  “Are we being crazy not to panic?” she asked.

“No,” said Spike.  “It’s broad daylight, Dawn knows how to take care of herself in Sunnydale, and that kid isn’t a threat to her.  Just the opposite.  He’s a bloody good fighter, so she’s probably safer than usual.  And, unless I miss my guess, she just wants someone her own age that she can really talk to.  I’m only going along to make sure that Xander doesn’t move from overprotective to overreacting.”  Xander honked his car horn impatiently.  Spike leaned over to kiss Buffy on the lips and left the house.

Buffy sighed and turned to look at the documents he had dropped on the dining room table.  “And you’ve managed to leave someone else with all the paperwork, as usual,” she muttered.  She started to roll out a large map.

“I’m kind of surprised you hang with those guys,” said Connor.

“I don’t, really.  Well, except for Janice.  And I know she seems shallow, but that’s only because—well, she is shallow.  But that’s what I like about her.”  He grimaced, and Dawn laughed a little uneasily.  “Well, one of the things I like about her.  She’s not stupid, you know, it’s just that she hasn’t seen and felt all the horrible things I’ve been through.  What she has seen, she hasn’t really internalized; you know how some people can look right at a demon and rationalize it into something else?”

He nodded.

Dawn continued, “So when I’m with her, it’s like being normal for a little while.  And her family’s really nice, and her mother’s a good cook, which makes a change from Buffy.”

“I just started school a few months ago,” said Connor.  “And I haven’t really made any friends like that yet, but I’d like to.  It’s hard, you know, because I was in a different dimension until about a year ago.”

“I didn’t even exist as a human until a little over two years ago, but I have fake memories going way back.  I hate remembering things that aren’t real, but I don’t know what I’d do if I were suddenly dropped in this world with no memories of it at all.  You must be really brave to go off to school each day.  I mean, what do you do when someone starts talking about Rocky and Bullwinkle or mentions really ancient bands like ’N Sync?”

“I just told everyone that I grew up in Nepal with missionaries who didn’t believe in television,” he said.  “That seems to work.  Everybody feels really sorry for me.  And I’m learning.  I’ve even started to get some of the references on The Simpsons.  Who are Rocky and Bullwinkle?”

“Cartoons,” she said as they reached the top of a hill overlooking a small grove of trees, some houses, and the high school buildings.  “A squirrel and a moose.  I think this is the place Scott was talking about.”

“Yeah,” he said.  “I can smell something.”

“That Mwrowek thing?”

“No.  It’s not a demon.  But it’s dead.” 

“What fun.”

Connor bent over a patch of grass.  “Down here,” he said.  “Look.”

“More bones,” she said.  “They’re not very big.”

Connor picked them up.  “They’re like the ones Scott found.  I don’t think they’re human.  But I’ll show them to my father anyway.”  He patted his pockets and found a Doublemeat Palace napkin.  He used it to wrap the bones and thrust them into a zippered pocket on his pants leg.  Then he turned in a slow circle and seemed to become more alert.  “There’s something else coming now.”

“Hey, look out!” yelled Dawn at the same moment.

Something darted out of the trees at them, shrieking madly.  Dawn ducked, grabbed a branch from the ground, and swatted the air with it.  The thing circled away, then dived at her again.  This time, she managed to catch it with the branch, and it flapped its wings uncertainly as it veered earthward.

Before the thing could fly away again, Connor jumped forward and grasped it by the neck, holding it out and away from him so that its talons couldn’t scratch him.

“A fidget,” said Dawn in disgust.  “We need to find something to kill it with.”

Connor bent down and pulled up his pants leg with his free hand.  He yanked a knife out of an ankle sheath and cut the tiny dragon’s neck, dropping the corpse to the ground.

“Dawn!”  Xander came panting up as the two teens stared at the small scaly body.  “Are you all right?”

“Sure,” she said.  “It was just a fidget.”  She looked past Xander and saw Spike coming towards them more slowly.  “What are you two doing here?”

“Looking for you!”  Xander seemed extremely angry.  “What do you mean by disappearing like that?”

“I didn’t disappear.  I left a message for Buffy saying I was going to look for something.”

“And what are you doing with him?” Xander stared at Connor angrily.  The boy was cleaning his knife on the grass, and he looked up sulkily at the older man.

“He was helping me,” said Dawn.

“Helping you do what?  Almost get killed?”

“By a fidget?  Come on, Xander, I know they’ll bite if they get close enough, but they’re not exactly a big bad.  Besides, you saw that we took care of it.”

“There’s more than just a fidget out here.”

“The Mwrowek only comes out after dark.  That’s what Spike and Tara said.  And I think that the Mwrowek’s stash is around here somewhere.”

“The kids may be right,” said Spike.  “Fidgets are attracted to places where demons hang out.”

“Then this is a place where Dawn doesn’t need to be hanging out.  Especially not with vampire spawn.  I’m taking her home,” said Xander. 

“Vampire spawn?  Xander, how rude is that?” said Dawn.  “What’s the matter with you?”

“What’s the matter with me?  You’re running all over town with some guy you don’t even know, and you want to know what’s wrong with me?”

“You’re right.  I shouldn’t have bothered to ask.  You’ve always been completely irrational, so why should I be surprised at anything you do?”

“Yeah, well, I’m going to completely irrationally keep my promise to your sister and drive you home right now.”

Connor and Spike watched Xander and Dawn leave, still arguing vociferously.

“Who died and made him hall monitor?” asked Connor.

“Some are born to hall monitorship, some achieve hall monitorship, and some poor buggers have hall monitorship thrust upon them,” said Spike.

 “I thought you’d be the one who’d be mad at us.  Aren’t you her big brother?”

“Maybe that gives me a perspective Xander doesn’t have.  Or maybe I just figured that the two of you had a lot to talk about.”

“We do.  I meet a lot of other people my age whose lives have been really screwed up.  But Dawn’s life was screwed up in a way I can really relate to, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” said Spike. 

“Besides, we didn’t come here to make out or anything.  We really were looking for the demon’s stash,” said Connor.  “I think it’s around here somewhere.”  He stuck his hand in his pocket.  “Look, I found some fresh bones.”

Spike’s gaze was analytical.  “They’re from a dog,” he said.  “But the bite marks could be Mwrowek.  Can you show me where you found them?

Connor pointed out the spot.  Spike looked around.  “I don’t see any disturbed earth around here,” he said.  “But I think I smell more blood.”

Connor sniffed the air and shook his head.  “Just what’s on the bones,” he said.  “And the fidget, of course.”

“Open your senses a little more, mate.  Your mind has been on finding the stash, so you’re focusing on the victims’ blood.  Demon blood has a deeper aroma.  Sunnydale is so full of demonic energy, the scent tends to blend into the background.”

Connor’s eyes widened, and his face changed to a look of intense concentration.  “Yeah,” he said in surprise after a minute, and he turned to look at the small grove.

They both went over to investigate.  Spike pointed out the smear of blood on the largest tree.  “It leaned here.  It was bleeding from the axe blow, and it needed some time to recover.”  He picked up a stick and started poking around the roots of the trees.  “I don’t think the stash is here, though.  I think the Mwrowek came this way, then dropped part of its trophy on the way to the real hidey-hole.”

“So this doesn’t really help much.”

“I won’t say that I wouldn’t be happier if you’d tracked the sodding thing to ground.  But you and Dawn have certainly found the right neighborhood.  This should narrow our search down.”

        The boy looked proud for a moment, then turned in surprise as his name was called by someone coming up the hill.

        “Connor!  What are you doing up there?”  Cordelia looked at Spike with some distaste.  “Didn’t I ask you to stay away from trouble?”

        “Spike thinks that Dawn and I found the area where the Mwrowek keeps its stash,” said Connor excitedly.  “He’s really good at tracking demons.”

        “How charming,” said Cordelia.  “But your father is worried, you know.  You were only supposed to be gone for a few minutes.”

        “I know, but Dawn and I found—”

        “Can we talk about this later?  Your dad can’t come to you at this time of day, you know.”

        Sulky at being reprimanded in front of a near stranger, Connor mumbled a good-bye to Spike and started down the hill.

        Cordelia waited until the boy was out of earshot.  “So, Spike.  Can I tell you how much I don’t want you around Connor?”

        “I wasn’t corrupting the tyke.”

        “Thanks much.  But forgive me if I don’t trust you.”

        “Don’t be coy, Cordelia.  It doesn’t suit you.  I know very well that of the two of us, I’m the one that should be asking forgiveness, not granting it.”

        “But you haven’t bothered, have you?  To ask forgiveness, I mean.  Or even to say you’re sorry for what you did the last time we met.”

        “Did it occur to you that maybe I just haven’t thought of any words that wouldn’t be bloody inadequate?”

        “It did occur to me that maybe you just don’t care.”  She turned away and followed Connor down the hill.

`      “Well, she’s not signing up for my fan club any time soon,” muttered Spike.  He shrugged, and sighted a line between the place where the Mwrowek had leaned on the tree and the spot where Connor and Dawn had found the bones.  He slouched along the path, trying to follow the demon’s cold trail.

        “Do you know how worried I was?” Angel said to Connor.  “This is Sunnydale, possibly the only place in the country that’s more dangerous than back home.  I’m trapped here until nightfall, and you’re wandering off who knows where.  Why did I ever agree to stay here?”

        “You agreed to stay here to get away from Spike,” said Cordelia. “Who, incidentally, has been spending the past half hour or so making friends with Connor.”

        “You’ve been hanging out with Spike?”  Angel looked like he would have preferred to hear Connor had been spending his morning drinking beer and breaking car windows.

        “Well, I was hanging out with Dawn until that Xander guy came along and started acting like her mother or something.  Then Spike showed me how to track the Mwrowek by scent, and I wanted to ask him some more questions.  I was trying to figure out what kind of a demon he was.  I mean, the way he went after that Mwrowek last night was amazing.  I know he’s not a vampire.  Do you think he and Buffy are the same kind of demon?  Is there such a thing as a male Slayer?”

        “No, and Buffy’s not a demon,” said Angel immediately.

        “Sure she is, Dad.  It’s way obvious.”

        “Obvious?”  Angel gave a nervous laugh.  “There’s no way, son.  Cordelia, tell him.”

        “Buffy’s part demon,” said Cordelia.

        “You see—what!”

        “She’s part demon, Angel.  Deal with it.”

        “I knew it,” said Connor.  “I think she’s the same kind as Spike.  Don’t you think that they smell sort of the same, Dad?”

        “Great,” said Cordelia.  “No wonder I don’t want to look up my other old Sunnydale friends.  I can just hear the conversation now.  ‘What are you doing these days, Cordy?’  ‘Oh, I live with two guys who sniff demons.’  Can we be a little less weird here?”

        “I don’t believe it,” said Angel.  “Buffy’s part demon?  Are you sure?”

        Cordelia gave him a look of disgust.  “Get over it, Angel.  You got over my being part demon easily enough.”

        “Yeah, but that was different,” he said.

        “Gee, thanks.”

        “No, I just meant that you had to become part demon or die.  I didn’t want you to die.”

        “Thanks again.”

        “It’s just—you’re not like Buffy.  She was always so—you know.”

        “Perfect?”

        “Yes—no, I didn’t mean that.  It was just—”

        “I know what it was, Angel.  I had a front row seat for your whole romance with her, remember?  Or maybe you don’t.  I don’t think you even noticed when I was in the room back then.”

        “Maybe I was just trying to ignore the way you and Xander were always all over each other!”

        “Really?” said Connor.  “Cordelia and Xander.”  He shook his head, trying to imagine this.  “That’s as weird as you and Buffy.”

        Angel and Cordelia stopped arguing, suddenly aware of how inappropriate their behavior was in front of the boy.   Angel stormed off into the bedroom, shutting the door with enough force to discourage any company.

        Cordelia stood uncertainly, watching Connor’s concerned face as the boy stared at the bedroom door.  “Connor?”

        He turned to look at her.

        “I’m sorry about all those things I said yesterday, about your dad—and about your mother.  I just got kind of crazy when I realized Angel hadn’t told Buffy about you, and my mouth started moving.  You know how I get.”

        “Yeah,” he said, agreeing with unflattering rapidity. 

“I just want to make sure you understand that your father really is a good man, and that, at the end, your mother made a huge sacrifice for you.”

        “It’s okay,” he said.  “I get it.  Anyway, I thought you were just trying to make sure that Buffy girl didn’t still have the hots for Dad.”

        “Connor!  Why would I—why would you even think something like that?”

        “I dunno.  They don’t seem terribly interested in each other.  She seems more like that Spike guy’s type to me.”

        “Oh.”

        “I just thought you were kind of jealous.”

        “Who, me?  Jealous?”  She tried to look incredulous and failed.  “Okay, I was absolutely jealous.  But I’m not any more.  I’m just confused.  My visions aren’t making any more sense than usual.”

        “Oh.  It’s a vision thing.”  This seemed to satisfy him, and she realized that he had completely lost interest in adult motivations.  This was confirmed when he asked, “Cordelia, can I go to that dance at the high school tonight?”

        “Connor, we’re here to fight a demon.”

        “Yeah, but I can do that afterwards.  I promise I’ll help to kill it, if I can just go to the dance first.  Come on, Cordelia, ask Dad if he’ll let me.  He’ll say ‘yes’ if you ask.”

        “No,” said Angel.

        “Don’t be a jerk, Angel,” said Cordelia.  “He’s not asking for permission to drive to Vegas and take the girl to a wedding chapel.  He just wants to go out with her and have a good time.”

“Cordelia, why would I let Connor go to a high school dance with Dawn?”

        “I don’t know, Angel.  Maybe because it’s only one of the first times he’s asked to do a normal thing that a normal high school kid would want to do.”

        He was silent for a long time.  “I didn’t even think of that.”  He assumed his tortured expression.  “How could I not think of that?  He’s so important to me, and when he wants something like that, all I can do is think that it makes me uncomfortable.  I should be putting his feelings first.”

        “Which you can’t do if you beat yourself up for being wigged out by the whole idea of him wanting to date Buffy’s sister.  Which is weird enough to wig anyone out, incidentally.  But Dawn isn’t Buffy, and Connor isn’t you.  And it’s not like there are going to be any opportunities for this to turn into a great romance.”

        “No,” he admitted reluctantly.

        “And that’s not the missed opportunity you’re thinking about anyway.”

        “What do you mean?”

        “Don’t play dumb, Angel.  You’re not smart enough to get away with it.  This is Cordelia, remember?  The Cordelia who saw you agonize over the impossibility of having a relationship with Buffy.  The Cordelia who figured out there was a way for you to have a relationship with a woman—provided she was part demon.  If you had only known about Buffy back then, you could have used the—”

        “It wouldn’t have made any difference.  Buffy and I—it just wasn’t meant to be.”

        “You and Buffy, the great star-crossed lovers.”

        “Me and Buffy, the two crazy people who made each other miserable and every so often tried to kill each other.  Do you think I really want to go back to that, Cordelia?”

        “No, I guess not.  But what do you want, Angel?”

        “Truthfully?  I want to be with you.  I want to finish whatever it is I’m supposed to do here and go back to LA.  And I want nothing disastrous to happen at this dance tonight.  This thing is scaring me, Cordelia.  Crazy things happen when Sunnydale and teenage hormones mix.  I want to go to this dance and keep an eye on things.  Do you think there’s any way I can get in?”

        “You want me to do what?” Angel asked Spike.

        “I want you to meet Buffy at the high school and help her chaperone until I get there,” said Spike.  “I found out some new information, and I need to check some books at the magic shop.  So I’ll be late tonight.”

        Connor, who had just emerged from the bathroom after spending a half hour combing his hair, raised his eyebrows as Angel sputtered into the telephone.

        “It mostly involves checking the boys’ bathrooms for illicit activities and making sure no one puts anything over zero proof in the punch,” said Spike.  “The good ladies of the PTA can take care of the overenthusiastic lovers.”

        “Checking bathrooms?” said Angel.  He sounded as incredulous as if Spike had asked him to hijack the space shuttle. “You want me to check bathrooms?  While you read books?  Why?”

        Spike’s tone of irony was more pronounced than usual.  “I thought you came to town to help out, mate,” he said, and hung up.

        “He asked Angel to take his place at the dance,” said Buffy, staring at her answering machine.

        “Well, Mrs. Coe gets cranky if there aren’t enough men to keep after the guys,” said Dawn.  “And you know that Mr. Petrovsky and Mr. Ahn are terrified of the football team.”

        “But, Angel?” asked Buffy incredulously.  “He always used to get this completely befuddled look on his face whenever I mentioned anything about high school.”

        Dawn was staring at the answering machine meditatively.  “Has it occurred to you that Spike may have moved from regarding the telephone as an unnecessary nuisance to using it as an instrument of manipulation?”

        “What?” asked Buffy in a distracted tone.  She was trying to stuff a large knife in a relatively small purse.

        “It’s just that he seems to have figured out how to use voice mail to further his own evil schemes.”

        “What are you talking about, Dawn?  What evil schemes?  If you mean this chaperoning thing, what good does it do him to dump his responsibilities on Angel?  He couldn’t have picked a more incompetent replacement.  Besides, Spike doesn’t mind patrolling the dance floor.”

        Dawn said nothing.  It obviously hadn’t occurred to Buffy that Spike had put Angel in a position to fail at a task that Spike himself performed easily and without complaint.  Since Dawn had as much selfish interest as Spike in making Angel look bad in Buffy’s eyes, it wasn’t in her best interest to explain her theory to the Slayer.

        Angel looked around the high school gym and hunched his shoulders uncomfortably.  Cordelia had gone off to talk to one of her old teachers, and Dawn was dragging Connor around the room, introducing him to her friends.  Xander was around somewhere, but Angel hadn’t been feeling very generous to his host since Connor had repeated Xander’s words at the park that morning.  He had been feeling even more unfriendly since Xander had explained that he was far too unpopular with the vice-principal to take over the bathroom patrol.

        “There you are,” said Buffy.  Angel turned to see the Slayer standing next to a stern-looking middle-aged woman.  “This is Angel, Mrs. Coe.  Angel, this is the vice principal.  Angel is going to help out with the chaperoning duties tonight, since William can’t be here.”

        “I see.”  Mrs. Coe looked at Angel in a way that made him squirm.  “So, this is another—friend of yours, Buffy?”

        Buffy looked horrified.  “No—I mean, he is an old friend, but—William’s the one who asked him to come.  I think I said that, didn’t I?  Anyway, I’m going to check on the girls’ room now.”  She left in a hurry.

        Mrs. Coe frowned.  “So, how do you know Buffy and William?”

        Angel winced at the obvious impossibility of an honest answer.  He got as close to the truth as he could.  “I’ve known Sp-William for a long time.  Years and years.  And years.”  His voice trailed off into silence.

        “I see.”  She still looked suspicious.  “We all think that Buffy and William make a very charming couple, don’t you?”

        “Uh—”  He looked around desperately for Cordelia. 

“Okay,” said Buffy a half-hour later.  Angel had finally escaped from Mrs. Coe, but he was appalled to realize that Buffy’s expression was almost as severe and business-like as the vice principal’s.  “Xander and Jonathan are keeping an eye on things outside.  They’ll let us know if they see anything, and they’ll make sure none of the kids goes wandering around.  If Spike’s right, the Mwrowek nests somewhere nearby, and the crowd in this gym is in the most danger tonight.”

“What do we do?”

“Wait for Spike and keep checking the bathrooms.”

        “I can’t believe—  How do you stand this, Buffy?”

        “This is my life now, Angel.  I take care of Dawn, and I take care of my Slayer duties, and I have a regular—well, sort of regular—job too.  I know it probably seems boring to you, but it’s what Spike and I do from one day to the next.”

        “Spike really does this too?”

        “Of course.  We’re in this together.  At least, we are when he’s here.  I wish I knew what he was up to right now.”

        “Buffy, I—I know that my being here hasn’t made things any easier between you two,” said Angel.

        “Things are fine between Spike and me.  Angel, you may not believe this, but your being in Sunnydale isn’t even the biggest thing on my mind right now,” said Buffy absently. 

        “I think I do believe it,” said Angel.       “I know I keep saying that I can’t understand what’s happened between you and Spike, and that’s true.  But it’s also true that I knew five minutes after I first saw you two together that as far as you were concerned it was all about him now.”  Buffy looked at him in surprise, and he went on, “Do you remember when I came back a few years ago and you were dating that big, dumb guy?”

        “Riley?” said Buffy with a faint smile at this description of someone who had always been so proud of his own intelligence.  “Yeah.  You two got in a fight.”

        “And when you busted us up, you pulled me aside to sort things out.  You left the other guy waiting.  But when Spike came home yesterday and found me there, you barely looked at me.  The only thing on your mind was making things right with Spike.  Now, I really can’t pretend to understand that, but it’s obvious to me that it’s real.”

        “As real as you and Cordelia?” asked Buffy.  She added after a moment, “And how comprehensible do you think that was to me when I first heard about it?”

“She’s not the same person you used to know, Buffy.  She’s changed and grown.”

“Okay.  I can believe that about Cordelia.  Why can’t you believe it about Spike?”

He grimaced.  “I guess I can try.  But, Buffy, I can tell something else is up with you.  What is it?”

My dinner, she thought.  Any moment now.  Aloud, she said, “Sorry, Angel, it’s kind of personal.  And I need to get to the bathroom—I mean, get on bathroom patrol.”  She took off at a speed that left him convinced that he had indeed been cut out of important parts of her life.

        “Hi, Angel,” said Dawn.  “Connor’s talking action movies with some of my friends.  I think he’s really enjoying himself.  I can’t believe your kid actually knows how to have a good time.  Where’s Buffy?” 

        Angel looked down, then up again.  “I can’t get used to you being this tall,” he complained.  “Buffy’s on bathroom patrol.”

        “I thought Mrs. Piernak was taking care of that now.  Buffy’s probably running away from the vice principal,” said Dawn.  “She hates this part of being my guardian.”

“After spending the past hour kicking smokers out of the boys’ room, I can’t blame her.  At least she’s got to be better at this than Spike,” said Angel.

“Oh, no.  Spike’s a lot better at this stuff than Buffy ever was.  In a weird kind of way, it makes sense,” said Dawn.  “Buffy never really got the hang of high school.  She was called to be Slayer when she was younger than I am now, so she always had a grown-up job, and that didn’t give her much time to learn to play the game.  But Spike spent a century as a vampire, and he told me once that was like a prolonged adolescence.  So he should be good at this, and he is.  It’s just a big game to him.”  She smiled suddenly.  “There he is now.”

Angel was watching her face.  “You really like having him around,” he said.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” said Dawn.  “He’s fun, and he cares about me, and he makes Buffy happy.”

Angel caught the implication that he himself had been judged in all three categories and found wanting.  He had to admit to failure at the first and the last, but the middle one caused him some confusion.  He found it oddly hard to remember just what he had felt about Dawn back in the days when he had lived in Sunnydale.  How had he been so obsessed with Buffy and yet so indifferent to her sister?

“Hello, pet,” said Spike to Dawn.  “Angel, I gave you a sacred trust and you have bloody well failed me.”

“Huh?” said Angel.

“Someone’s dumped about a half a gallon of vodka in the punch,” said Spike.  “Didn’t you check it?”

“Oh, no,” said Buffy from behind Spike.  She looked pale.

“C’mon,” said Angel.  “It can’t be that serious.”

“You think a bunch of drunken teenagers wandering around Sunnydale with a Mwrowek demon on the loose isn’t serious?” asked Buffy.  “Dawn, you had better go get Connor and make sure he doesn’t drink any punch.”

“Sure,” said Dawn happily.

“And bring him back here,” said Angel.

“Okay,” said Dawn, less enthusiastically. 

“I’m going to check in with Mrs. Coe,” said Spike.  “Tara and I found some evidence that the Mwrowek is attracted to human adolescents.  That fits with the identities of most of the victims here in Sunnydale.  I think the stash must be somewhere near the school, and that the Mwrowek comes here to pick out its victims, then stalks them until they’re far enough away to draw attention away from its stash.  It seems to me that a conversation with the lady in charge of the town’s wayward teens may be in order.”

Angel spent the next few minutes fretting over the amount of time it was taking Dawn to return with Connor.  Cordelia had gone to fetch Jonathan and Xander, but she had not reappeared either.  “If Spike’s right, we need to get outside and find this thing now,” he said for the third or fourth time.

        Buffy was watching Spike.  He was talking to Mrs. Coe and a few other middle-aged women, all of whom seemed to be enjoying his company.  “It’s okay.  Spike’s got the answer,” she said.

        “You can’t know that,” said Angel.

        “Well, he either knows where the Mwrowek is stashing its trophies or he just figured out who put the vodka in the punch,” said Buffy.

        “How can you possibly tell either of those things from over here?”

        Buffy frowned.  “I don’t know, but I think it’s because of the way his shoulder just twitched,” she said finally.

        Angel stared at her.  Before he could think of a response, Spike swept up and took her arm.

        “We are ready to move, love,” he said.  “Mrs. Coe, all unbeknowing, has just handed over the last piece of the puzzle.  Two puzzles, in fact.”  Smoothly, and without warning, Spike turned and nailed a passing teenager with a frown.  The boy stopped as if mesmerized.

        “Chad Draper,” said Spike evenly, “You will dump that punch, refill the bowl with nothing but that bloody awful sugar water that’s supposed to be there, and dispose of any evidence.  You will do this within the next five minutes, or I will have your guts for garters.  Understood?”

        The teen stood almost a foot taller than Spike.  He looked as if he were about 300 pounds of pure muscle, up to and including his cerebral cortex.  At that moment, he was slouching as if he wished he could sink into the ground.  “Yessir!”  he muttered, turned tail, and ran.

        Spike turned back to the others and smiled.  “Now,” he said.  “Let’s get us a demon.”

“So where are we going?” asked Angel.  He was watching Buffy and Spike unload weapons from the trunk of Spike’s car.  “And please don’t tell me we’re out here to break up couples trying to enjoy the flowers that bloom in the spring.”

“The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra-la, have nothing to do with the bloody case,” said Spike.

Angel looked at him in surprise.  “You like Gilbert and Sullivan?” he asked.

“Don’t get excited, mate,” replied Spike.  “I have no intention of letting operetta become a bond between us.  It seems there’s a new smoking and drinking spot.  It’s about a hundred yards or so away from where Connor and Dawn found those bones.”

        Dawn frowned.  “I thought the smokers were all going behind the tennis courts now that they’ve been kicked out of the baseball dugout.”

        “Those are the kids with the regular smokes,” said Spike.  This new spot is for the kids who smoke weed.” 

        “Oh,” said Dawn.  “Well, I guess I didn’t get the word because I don’t smoke anything, weed or otherwise.”

        “I know,” said Spike.  “Do you think for a heartbeat that you could get either of those two bad habits past me, Bit?  But the weed smokers have been evicted too.  One of them saw something that scared him enough to run for help this afternoon.”

        “The Mwrowek,” said Dawn.

        “Yeah, but Mrs. Coe put it down to the hallucinogenic properties of funny cigarettes.  I put it down to a demon stash just under the shed where they keep the archery equipment.”

        Xander came up, followed by Cordelia and Jonathan.  “What’s the scoop?” he asked.

        “We need to stake out the demon’s stash,” said Buffy.  “I want the three of you to fall back towards the high school and make sure none of the students get hurt.  If this thing heads toward them, you engage in defensive action only, and retreat as soon as you can.  Dawn, you stay with them.” 

Buffy started up the hill with the rest of her troops.  “Spike, you—”  She stopped, thinking over her plan.  “No,” she said reluctantly.  “Spike, you need to be at the top of that hill.  If this thing gets past me, I want you to be able to spot it and chase it.  It is not getting away again.  I swear this thing has had its last free lunch in Sunnydale.  Angel and Connor will wait by the archery shed.  We know this thing has been spotted there at least once.”

        Almost total silence greeted this order.  Angel realized that the only sound he was hearing was the grinding of Spike’s teeth.  Clearly, the Slayer’s husband wanted to fight by her side.  However, Angel was equally unhappy with the implications of Buffy’s plan.  With reason, she considered herself and Spike the quickest and strongest fighters.  One or the other of them would get the beast tonight.  Connor and Angel were merely assistants.  Once again, Angel wondered why Cordelia’s vision had ordered him to Sunnydale.

        Buffy’s next words to Connor and Angel confirmed the vampire’s suspicions.  “Listen to me.  I know I told the others that it’s their job to guard the students, but the three of us know that just isn’t possible.  They’re not strong or fast enough.  Angel, you stay just beyond the door to that archery shed and you make sure, no matter what, that the demon doesn’t get near the high school.  I don’t care what happens to me, guarding the school is your job.  Connor, you take this pike.  You can back me up, but your main job is to assist your father.  And don’t get too close to this thing unless it heads for the school.  Leave that to me, or to Spike if I fail.”

        Buffy pointed out to Connor where she wanted him to stand, and did the same for Angel.  As she was about to leave him, she said, “I may—that is, I may look a little different when I fight this thing.  If Cordelia hasn’t already told you, there’s something about me that you need to know.”

        “You’re part demon.”  And I don’t remember you being quite this bossy either.

        “Well, yeah.  So don’t be surprised if I don’t seem quite like the girl you used to know.”

        You haven’t seemed like that girl for a long time, thought Angel.  He looked at her and felt a shiver of fear.  There had always been something dangerous about her, but now it was quite palpable.  Involuntarily, his features changed from human to vampire.

Once again, I have the worst-kept secret in Sunnydale, thought Buffy.  She looked at Angel and realized with mild surprise that he had already changed into vampire-face.  She wondered if he had done so consciously or if it had happened spontaneously as he sensed the Mwrowek coming closer. 

There was enough moonlight to make out his features fairly clearly.  Once upon a time I was in love with both of his faces, she thought.  But what I saw there was never anything but a distorted version of what I was really seeking.  Spike is right; what we become is nothing like that.  No wonder I was always such an emotional mess when I was dating vampires.  It wasn’t that they weren’t human.  It was that they were inhuman in the wrong way. 

She looked away from Angel, and could not help thinking, And apparently vampires don’t make me hot anymore.  Not even Angel.  Not when I know what kind of a lover is waiting for me at the top of this hill once I kill this Big Bad.  Spike would have a quote for it.  ‘I put away childish things,’ or something like that.  I’m a big girl now, and I can see clearly what I want.      Tonight, she wanted two things.  A dead demon and a live lover. 

A moment later the world seemed to shift, although she knew that the only real change was in her ability to sense what happened around her.  Shockingly, her heightened awareness registered Angel as prey.  She moved further up the hill and away from him, careful not to move too far into the otherness while he was close by.  Then she saw the Mwrowek.

        It was over with astonishing rapidity.  The Mwrowek had always relied on superior speed, and it lacked the skill to fight something as fast as it was.  The axe Buffy held whirled through the air, striking fur and flesh again and again.  The creature howled in pain and fell to the ground within seconds. 

        Connor watched the fight and its aftermath.  The Slayer was framed in the moonlight as she turned towards Spike, who had raced down the hill to meet her.  Spike stopped a few paces away from her, staring down at the body on the ground.  Connor thought he saw Buffy shiver for a moment as she too looked at the Mwrowek. 

        “I think it’s dead,” said a voice from behind him.

        Spike looked into Buffy’s wild yellow eyes.  The power she had drained from the Mwrowek seemed to surround her in an iridescent glow.  Her face was still barely human, but she looked ready to release the leash at any moment.  As drawn as he was to her, he could sense the many people in the area, and he spoke gently to pull her back from the otherness. 

        Connor turned to look at Dawn.  “You were supposed to wait back there,” he said.

        “I had a feeling I might be needed,” she said.  “I guess I was wrong.”

         “Cordelia said we were needed here, and her visions are always right.  But we didn’t do anything at all.”  He sounded confused. 

        “You helped me find the bones.”

        “‘Helped’ is the operative word.  You would have heard about the bones and shown the spot to Spike without me.  Dad and Cordelia and I didn’t really accomplish a single thing.”  He looked around.  “Where is Dad?”

        Buffy hovered between her human and demon state.  Part of her wanted to knock Spike to the ground and demand that he mate with her, but she could sense his reluctance, and it confused and thwarted her more feral self.  Another part of her wanted only to keep him with her, to keep him safe.  She could not tell if it was the woman or the Slayer who insisted that that danger was not yet over.  She shivered, knowing that she needed to think more clearly, and she felt the demon slip back into the recesses of her being.  She looked up at Spike, clear-eyed and loving.  “Something is still wrong, William,” she said.