Part Four

Shannon had never been so anxious as the day that she waited to meet with her brother for the first time in nearly two and a half centuries. She spent most of the day pacing back and forth through the different rooms in the factory that she had taken over as her temporary base. When she wasn’t doing that, she was preparing the room that her brother was going to spend the day in. He had to be weakened for a day if the spell was going to work properly. She didn’t want to do it because there was a chance that Angel could seriously hurt himself, but she wanted her brother back. The ingredients for the spell had been purchased a few days before hand so all that was needed was Angel himself to complete it.

“I really don’t see why you’re bothering,” a clipped English voice said from the shadows. “Turn him into Angelus again and the Slayer will just do that spell the gypsies did and he’ll be soulboy again. Gets kind of pointless.”

Smiling at her companion, Shannon set down the powder that she had been in the middle of mixing. “Not this time, Spikey. This spell is permanent. After tomorrow, the soulful Angel will cease to exist. My Angelus will be back and the two of us will destroy the world. Wanna come?”

“Do whatever you want, lady peaches. Just don’t expect me to help,” Spike muttered as he left the room. The craziness must run in the family, Spike thought to himself as he stalked into his own room. She’s as much a nutball as her idiot brother.

Spike was more than willing to let her have her go at turning soulboy back into the imbecile Angelus. It wasn’t like she’d actually succeed. The Slayer would keep her boyfriend safe just like she always did. He wasn’t going to help either side. But since he had shown Shannon where her brother lived, it was only fair that he warned the Slayer about what the insane vampire had planned for soulboy.

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“I don’t see her anywhere,” Angel grumbled, his eyes scanning the darkened cemetery for the umpteenth time. It wasn’t until the two of them had arrived at the cemetery, that Angel had realized just how much he had wanted to see his sister.

“Maybe... Maybe she’s not here. She could be at the Bronze,” Buffy suggested, tugging on the vampire’s arm. “You said that she was seventeen when she disappeared, right? Well I’m seventeen and I can guarantee you that I would much rather be at the Bronze than here in the cemetery.”

Angel didn’t even waste a second before turning and heading in the direction of the club. Buffy reminded him a great deal of his sister so if Buffy said that she would go to the Bronze, then chances were that Shannon would go there too. It was because Angel had let his guard down that he didn’t hear the approach of the other vampires until he heard Buffy shout a warning to him. But by that time it was too late.

Shannon’s lackey jumped up behind Angel, hitting the older vampire over the head with a metal bar. By the time that his body connected with the ground, he was out cold. Buffy
could only watch on in horror as they started to drag him away. For some unknown reason, she couldn’t seem to react. It was as though her entire body was frozen into place. She wanted to move, she knew that she should move, but she couldn’t seem to force her limbs to move. The Slayer could only stare in disbelief as the four young vampires hauled Angel away into the darkness.

It was only after they had disappeared into the night that Buffy was able to find her voice once again. “ANGEL!!” she screamed as she fell to her knees. Oh God, what have I done? I let them take him. How could I do that? Why didn’t I try to stop them?

Still going over these things in her mind, the Slayer got quickly to her feet and mentally put herself into hunt mode. She needed to find Angel now, before they did anything to him. She had just gotten him back and didn’t want to risk losing him again.

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Knock! Knock! Knock!

Giles was more than a little annoyed to be woken up in the middle of a wonderful dream involving a room full ancient manuscripts that very few people had ever seen before. Such a thing made the Watcher feel giddy. And now someone would dare to interrupt his dream. That person would rue the day that they had interrupted him.

“What?” Giles growled as he opened the door.

Even though she was very upset, Buffy couldn’t help but smile at the image before her. Giles, in his pin-stripped pajamas with his hair sticking up on end, was growling at her in much the same manner that a vampire would. Pushing that from her mind, Buffy turned back to the matter at hand.

“Giles, someone grabbed Angel,” Buffy announced as she stormed into the apartment without waiting to be invited. She knew that Giles hadn’t completely forgiven Angel yet-she would almost go as far to say that he hated him -but he was the only one that she could turn to for help.

“What?” Giles asked in a less harsh tone. He wasn’t completely awake yet and wasn’t sure that he had heard her right? So come garb Argyl?

“Someone... Grabbed... Angel...” Buffy repeated much more slowly for her sleep-deprived Watcher. “We were in the cemetery, someone jumped us from behind, knocked him out and dragged him away.”

Rubbing his hands vigorously across his face, Giles tried once again to wake himself up. Why did she always have to come when he was having good dreams. And why did it have to be about Angel of all people... Demons, he corrected himself. Couldn’t it have been Xander? At least then he would have made the effort to care at two o’clock in the morning. “What happened to Angel?”

“Someone grabbed him,” Buffy repeated for what felt like the thousandth time. Slumping down on the couch, she finally let the emotions that she had been keeping in check all night come to the surface. “I should never have let him come with me. He hasn’t been feeling well. He was distracted. It was like I was asking for someone to come and take him. How could I be so stupid? Giles, what do we do? Isn’t there some prophecy that talks about something like this? Something that will give me at least some clue as to where he is? Giles, help me! Where’s Angel?”

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“Hello, Angelus,” a familiar voice echoed in Angel’s spinning head. He felt dizzy and nauseous (a very strange sensation for a vampire since they didn’t actually eat any food) and now there was that voice.

“Shannon?” Angel managed to rasp out. He didn’t dare to open his eyes in case he was dreaming. It couldn’t be his sister. His sister was dead. Shannon had disappeared so there was no possible way that it could be her. Shannon was dead. Long dead.

Feeling a hand brush across his cheek that was most definitely not Buffy’s, Angel shrank back a little. It was then that he realized that he was leaning against a wall. The last thing that he could remember was Buffy shouting at him and now Buffy wasn’t there. Panic quickly taking over, Angel opened his eyes and began to swivel his head from side to side in search of Buffy. A little too quickly. It wasn’t long before Angel was doubled over as a sharp pain shot through his skull.

“Easy there, Angelus. You’ve got a nasty bump on the back of your head,” that same voice said.

Angel raised his head, his eyes widening when he saw who it was squatting down in front of him. A seemingly seventeen year old girl with a sarcastic half grin. She was dressed in black from head to foot. Black boots, black leather pants, black shirt and black trench coat. About the only colour on her was her flaming hair which was a great deal shorter than it had been the last time that he saw her. “Shannon? But you’re dead. You can’t be here... Where’s Buffy? What did you do to her? Shannon, answer me!”

Scowling down at him, Shannon rose to her feet and stalked to the other side of the small room. “You make me sick, Angelus. Caring about the Slayer. That’s disgusting... Fortunately, that won’t last for long. Have a nice day, Angelus. Watch out for the sun, you’ll get a nasty sunburn if you get too close.”

“Shannon, what are you doing? SHANNON! Answer me goddamit!” Angel shouted, getting shakily to his feet.

The other vampire turned around to regard the creature that, at one time, had been her brother. The only relationship that they shared was the blood that had once coursed through their veins nearly two and a half centuries ago. Now they were completely different. She was evil, he was good. He had a soul, she didn’t. She wanted the Slayer to die, he was in love with her. No matter how hard she tried, Shannon could not believe that the Scourge of Europe had become the pathetic weakling that stood before her. Rebellious Angelus O’Conor was now brooding Angel. Such a switch revolted her.

“Temper, temper, Angelus,” Shannon scoffed, waggling her index finger at him. “You’ll find out soon enough. In fact, you’ll be the first to know what I’m up to. I promise you.”

Alone now, Angel threw his head back and screamed. He screamed loud and long, hoping that somehow Buffy could hear him. Angel didn’t really know where he was, but from the brief look that he had had out of the window while his sister had been talking, the area looked deserted. He was probably in a scream all you want situation. Buffy wasn’t coming. Angel slumped down dejectedly and leaned against the wall as he waited for dawn to come.

Part Five

It was about an hour or so before sunset when Giles heard a knock at his door. After a quick glance at his Slayer who was sound asleep on the couch, Giles set his book aside
and went to go answer the door. The Watcher moved rather briskly due to the fact that he had at least four extra large cappuccinos in him thanks to an all night coffee shop. Man, was he going to be in trouble when the caffeine buzz wore off.

“Hell....lo...” Giles trailed off when he saw who was standing on his porch.

“Hello, Watcher,” Spike said with a wicked grin. Without another word, the platinum blonde vampire reached into an inner pocket of his black leather duster and pulled out a piece of paper. After handing it to Giles he disappeared into the night once again, the smile never leaving his face for a minute.

Waiting only long enough to shut the door, Giles opened the letter that Spike had given to him. He recognized the type of paper from when Angelus had been stalking Buffy. Seeing it brought back memories that Giles wasn’t sure that he wanted. Memories of Jenny that, until then, had been buried for at least a little while.

Meet me at the mansion an hour before sunset and I will tell you where your precious soulboy is. No tricks or you’ll never get him back. I’d tell you now, but that would ruin the fun that’s going to come. Spike.
P.S. I’m not the one who has soulboy. His sister does. I believe that you’ve heard of her, Watcher. She’s known as the Fiery One. Her birth name is Shannon O’Conor.
-WtB

Giles had indeed heard of the Fiery One. A vampire who was nearly two and a half centuries old. She had been given the name on account of her flaming red hair as well as her fascination with fire. Most vampires wouldn’t go anywhere near fires knowing how lethal it was to their kind. This one, however, was well known for burning the villages that she had massacred. The Fiery One had wreaked havoc in Central Asia since late in the 18th century. She had dropped out of sight nearly a hundred years ago, around the time that Angel had originally been cursed by the gypsies.

That realization hit Giles quite suddenly. Angel may not have known about his sister, but she most have obviously known about him. The pieces were quickly starting to fit together. Dropping the letter, Giles bolted for the stairs. He remembered reading something like this a few days ago. Something about twin vampires... One good, one bad...

Sure enough, while skimming through a book on vampire lore, Giles came across the passage that he was looking for.

As humans, the pair ruled the night. From birth, the O’Conor twins were destined for great things. Things that no humans could possibly comprehend. Both will lay waste to the countryside. Each in a different continent. Only one will know the other’s fate. That one will spend their time trying to lift the other’s curse. There is no reversal to this spell. Once both are safely back in the fold, complete destruction of the world will begin.

Giles swallowed slowly, a huge lump suddenly appearing in his throat. This was bad. Worse than bad. If this was talking about what Giles thought it was talking about, it would surely destroy Buffy. This verse talked about turning Angel into the souless Angelus permanently. Giles didn’t think that his Slayer could take a blow like that. She had lost Angel once too many already. Buffy would never be able to deal with losing Angel a final time. The last time.

“What’s going on, Giles?”

Nearly dropping the book, Giles turned to face his Slayer. “Buffy. You’re...um, a-awake. Did you h-have a nice s-sleep? Would you like some coffee? I think that th-there’s some left,” Giles stammered hoping to avoid answering her question.

By this time Buffy was convinced that something was wrong. The only time Giles avoided her questions like that was when he was trying to hide something from her. Reaching out, Buffy quickly grabbed the book from his hand before he had a chance to protest her actions. She hurriedly scanned the contents of the page, but none of it meant anything to her since she had not seen Spike’s letter.

“All right, Giles, what’s going on? Why the panic attack?” Buffy asked as she handed him back the book.

Knowing that he couldn’t hide it from her forever, Giles decided that it was better not to try. “Did Angel ever tell you about a sister? A twin perhaps?”

Buffy nodded her head, still not fully comprehending what her Watcher was getting at. “He did. He said that her name was Shannon. Why?”

Before Giles could answer, Buffy’s hand flew to her mouth as the realization hit her... The O’Conor twins... Twins... “It’s from my sister,” Angel had said. “Shannon.
She’s my twin...” TWIN... Buffy knew right away that the book was talking about Angel and this mysterious sister of his that had suddenly made an appearance in his life
after two and a half centuries.

“Oh my God,” Buffy whispered, her knees suddenly feeling very shaky. Mustering her courage, she looked up at Giles, prepared to ask him the question that she dreaded more than anything else. “What... What is she going to do to him?”

“If my guess is right, she’s going to turn him into Angelus again,” Giles said quietly, removing his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “There will be no turning him back if she succeeds. Angel will just simply cease to exists after this.”

“No!” Buffy screamed, all of her fear turning into anger. “Giles, I can’t lose him again. I won’t. We have to find him. Now! I don’t want anything to happen to him.”

Giles quickly went to console his devastated Slayer. “Don’t worry, Buffy. We’ll find Angel before this happens. Spike is going to tell us where he is. He’s meeting us at the mansion an hour before sunset.”

“Spike?” Buffy cried. “Spike? You have got to be kidding me. Why on earth would Spike help us? He wants to kill Angel in case you have forgotten. Remember, teaming up with me to kill him last spring? How about two weeks ago? Ring any bells?”

“Regardless of what he may have done in the past, Spike does appear genuine about this,” Giles tried to explain to her. “What I want you to do now is go home, have a shower, try to calm yourself then go to school. We won’t tell Willow and Xander about this. There’s no need to involve them at this point.”

“But, Giles, how can I-”

Giles silenced her with a wave of his hand. “Don’t argue with me, Buffy. You need to stay calm. Don’t let the others know what’s going on. I may ask Willow’s assistance, but I don’t think that you would like having Xander help. He still has a strong dislike for Angel and would only hinder our efforts.”

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It didn’t take long for Willow to figure out that something was wrong with her best friend. About two minutes as all that it took.

“All right, Buffy, what’s up? Something’s the matter so don’t even try telling me that something’s not. You’re brooding almost as well as Angel does,” Willow said,
hoping to coax a smile out of her depressed friend.

“Before I tell you, you have to promise not to say anything to Xander,” Buffy said sternly, not wanting to think about what her other friend would say when he found out about what had happened the night before.

“Let me rephrase my earlier question, what’s wrong with Angel?”

Buffy leaned back in her chair and shut her eyes. “His sister has him and his going to turn him into Angelus tonight.”

“Well that’s okay, we can turn him back right away,” Willow said cheerfully.

“Not this time. If Shannon does the spell, there’s no reversing it. I’ll lose him forever, Will. I just got him back, I can’t lose him again,” Buffy whispered as she
began to fiddle with the cross that was fastened around her neck. A gift from Angel the first night that they had met.

It was a few minutes later before the hacker processed the other bit of information that the Slayer had released.

“Angel has a sister!” Willow cried out suddenly, her eyes going wide.

Despite her present situation, Buffy managed a smile. “Yes, Angel has a sister. A twin sister to be exact. Apparently she was made a vamp about three years before
he was. She’s still evil and is determined to make her brother evil as well. Spike’s involved in this somehow, too. About the only good thing that’s come of this is that I finally found out Angel’s last name.”

Willow’s eyes got even wider. “Angel has a last name?” she asked in a stage whisper.

Buffy nodded her head. “He does. It’s O’Conor.”

“Do you have any idea where he is?”

Buffy gave her friend an are-you-serious-look. “Will, if I knew where Angel was, don’t you think that I would have got him out of there by now.”

“Good point. But I can help, right?” Willow asked.

“Help what?” Xander asked as he walked into the library.

“Nothing,” both girls said at the same time. They both knew that Xander would have no part in helping Angel. Not the mention the fact that Buffy didn’t want to
have to deal with him in his “I hate Cordelia” phase. He hated the vampire enough when he was in a good mood.

Xander made a little puppy dog face as he sat down next to Buffy. “Come on, Buffster, you can tell your old friend Xander. You know that you wanna.”

“It’s-OW!” Willow cried as Buffy kicked her in the shin. “Nothing... It’s nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

Part Six

Putting it mildly, Angel felt terrible. Not only had his head yet to stop pounding from whatever had hit it, but the light seeping into the room from the open window was severely weakening him. Then there was the fact that his throat was raw from about two hours of screaming. Part of the time he had been calling to Buffy, the rest he had been yelling at his sister, demanding that she tell him what she was up to. Just like when she had been alive, Shannon loved to keep him in suspense. He’d give his sister one thing, she planned this well. There was no way for him to get out. A nice beam of light cutting across the middle of the room saw to that. And, of course, Angel was on the other side. But, then again, isn’t the good guy always on the other side of the escape route? Angel thought to himself.

“Well, if it isn’t the mighty Angelus. Must be embarrassed getting your butt kicked by your sister,” Spike said as he flung open the door to the cell. Being sure to keep out of the sunlight, the younger vampire couldn’t help but smirk when he saw how wasted his sire was. It brought back good memories of the time that he and Dru had “borrowed” his life-force to heal the insane vampire.

“Go away, Spike,” Angel muttered, staring through slitted eyes across the expanse of sunlight that filled the cell he had been stuck in.

Spike’s hands flew to his heart in an over exaggerated gesture. He began to stumble backwards, laughing his undead head off. “Oh how you wound me, Angelus! Go away, Spike. Yeah, like that’ll work. Come now, peaches, you know me better than that. I come in peace if you’ll hear what I have to say.”

“And just what is that?”

“You’re girlfriend will be here tonight to save you,” Spike said even as he began to shut the door.

Raising labourously to his feet, Angel cautiously made his way over to the edge of the light. “What are you talking about Spike? How do you know that Buffy’s coming? Spike, how do you know that she’s coming?”

Of course, there was no answer. Angel hadn’t really expected one. Furious that he had no clue what was going on, Angel began to pace about the little space that he had left to do so. That was quickly taking a great deal of energy out of him so he lowered himself back down into the corner. Normally Angel would have been worried about getting
fried by the sun, but he knew that his sister didn’t intend to turn him into ashtray fodder. There was something that Shannon was up to.

If there was one thing that Angel was thankful for, it was that the knowledge that Buffy was going to come before Shannon did whatever it was that she was going to do to him. Why he was believing Spike, Angel couldn’t figure out. But at least it gave him one less thing to stress out over.

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“I must be out of my bloody mind,” Spike mused as he made his way towards Sunnyhell in his gorgeous black car with the painted windows. He had a meeting with the Slayer to
keep. “Me helping the Slayer. You’d think that I’d have learned my lesson last time. But noooo... I’m a sodding idiot who helps the Slayer save whelp of a lover.”

Still reflecting over his latest of strange actions, Spike reached the mansion and pulled into the garage that he had blasted out of many months ago with Dru. The garage door broke
once again as Spike drove through it and into the dark confines of the building.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Spike muttered once again as he entered the aging mansion.

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“Something’s up, Giles. Spike should be here by now. We’re wasting good Angel searching time by waiting here for him. You know what, this was probably just some distraction that he created so that he could do something evil to Angel. And you know that he’s doing something evil. He’s Spike. The whole name just screams evviillll. Not that William the Bloody’s any better. Doesn’t this guy have a normal name. Come to think of it, he’s not a guy, either. He’s an undead creature of the night. An evil undead creature
of the night. At least Angel’s a nice undead creature of the night. What if something happens to him and he’s not my undead creature of the night. What will I do then? Giles, say something. Stop me from thinking these bad things. Isn’t that your job?” Buffy rambled, her mind working a million miles an hour as she paced back and forth across the main room of the mansion... The last place that the two of them had been together before they started out to the cemetery.

“He’s not late, Buffy. He’s got-”

“Thirty seconds!” Willow called as she checked her watch. Her latest mocha buzz started to fade from the way that the other two were glaring at her. “Sorry. I’ll be quiet now.”

Giles began to rub the bridge of his nose as he watched Buffy take up her pacing once again. It wasn’t like he couldn’t sympathize with the girl. Her boyfriend was in danger and so was the rest of the world if Shannon succeeded with her plans. Considering how hard of a time Buffy had had kill Angel the last time, Giles was concerned about what this would do to his Slayer’s sanity. Buffy couldn’t take another blow like that.

“Well if it isn’t my favourite little Slayer,” the platinum blonde vampire said as he strode into the room. He had that cocky little smile of his pasted firmly on his face. “And you’ve brought friends. Even better.”

“Enough with the chit chat, Spike. Where’s Angel?” Buffy asked, getting quickly to the point. She wanted Angel out of danger as soon as possible.

Spike looked taken aback. “You wound me with your words, Slayer. You’re as bad as your bloody poof. But if you must know, he’s at the abandoned warehouse fifty miles out of town. The cat food one. This should give you just enough time to get there in your Watcher’s clunker of a car.”

“For your information, I bought a new car last week,” Giles said, defending his manly honour to the vampire.

“Let’s get the hormones in check here, guys,” Willow muttered. She was still a little skittish around Spike after the last time, but she was the only one still thinking rational at this point. Buffy was ready to stake anything that got in he way, Spike was teasing Giles and Giles was yelling like a teenager. He was also swearing like one.

While Giles was distracted, Buffy lifted his keys and stormed out of the mansion with Willow just behind her. She was through waiting and to hell with the fact that she didn’t have a license yet. Giles would understand. And if she got in an accident she could get workman’s comp. She was sure that the Watcher’s Council would pay, provided they never found out that she had been saving a vampire when she got hurt.

Five minutes into the ride, Willow was beginning to have second thoughts about coming with Buffy. Hadn’t she learned anything the last time that she had gone anywhere with Buffy when she was driving. Add the fact that Buffy was riding on emotions was a bad thing. Buffy worried about Angel was worse than Buffy on a caffeine high.

“Um, Buffy... The speed limit says 55, not 75. We’re gonna get pulled over,” Willow said meekly. She had a death grip on the arm rests that she wasn’t about to let go of until Buffy stopped the car.

“Don’t bother me right now, Will,” Buffy hissed, her eyes darting over to her best friend.

“Buffy. Road. Please,” Willow pleaded, clamping her eyes shut.

Buffy turned back in time to narrowly avoid running into a sign that had 55mph posted on it. The car, on the other hand, was going in access of 85mph.

“Look, Will, you know that I’d love to obey the speed limit, but we’re a little hard pressed for time right now. In fact, we don’t even know how much time we have. She could be taking Angel’s soul away right now as we speak. I don’t care if she’s his sister, but anyone who messes with my boyfriend gets to meet Mr. Pointy.”

“Did you just say that he was your boyfriend?” Willow interrupted.

Without even pausing to think, Buffy continued with her rants. “Of course he’s my boyfriend. He’s Angel. Nothing’s changed that. If he can trust me after sending him to hell then I can trust him no matter what. Angel would never hurt me. Now his sister is a different story. That witch deserves to die for what she wants to do to him. No offense, Will....”

The rambling continued until they reached the factory. By that time, Buffy had made her grievances known about Xander, Cordelia, her mother, Giles, Spike and just about any other demon that had annoyed her in the past three years. Willow just sat there praying to whatever gods would listen that Buffy wouldn’t crash the car. She wanted to get through this alive. The one compliment that she could give Buffy about her driving was the fact that she drove better than Cordelia. But, then again, a demolition derbiest drove better than Cordelia Chase.

The sun was just beginning to set when the two pulled up at the factory. For the life of her, Buffy could not figure out why the evil bad guy types always had to go for dingy, old factories when choosing their hideouts. Couldn’t they go to a condo or something? Buffy finished her musings as soon as she heard Angel’s scream echoing from inside the factory.

On to Part Seven