Disclaimer: All characters and objects (such as the Codex) BTVS-related belong to Joss Whedon. I, however, own Stefanie, Ivory, Venus, and Lorenzo and Tessa (who don't appear until late in the story). Hope you enjoy!
He sat in his office in the school library, poring over the text he had become so familiar with. On a normal day, he would have done so eagerly, in an effort to help out the two young vampire slayers he had spent so long training. Yet, with this one, he was afraid at what he might find.
Rupert Giles leaned back in his chair, removing his glasses to rub at his eyes, knowing he was in danger of straining them from reading so long. He eventually stood with a sigh, deciding to take a rest for a few moments.
The night had started off pleasant enough, Giles thought as he fixed a cup of tea for himself. He had been at home with his wife prepared to go out to dinner when the phone call had come. It had been his friend, Angel, one of two unique vampires who were both cursed and blessed with a conscience.
With his heightened senses, Angel had an awareness of the most ominous things. To sum it up, the vampire was sure he could feel something terrible brewing around town, something that would surely affect the two girls Giles had sworn to protect. So, out of worry, Giles had come to the library instead to do some research (his wife had understood).
Giles took a few moments to drink the tea, then returned to his task of translating. This particular volume, the Codex (the most comprehensive book of slayer prophecy), was written entirely in Latin. With that in the way, it was taking him forever to find the right passage.
Finally, Giles found part of what he was looking for, pulling a stationery over to write down the interpretation. This particular verse was long, and he didn't really pay attention to the meaning as he wrote.
When he finished, Giles leaned back and sighed, then looked over what he had recorded. After a moment, he froze, immediately knowing that the next few days were going to get very, very bad indeed...
The two slayers stood back to back, both alert for any move the vampires surrounding them might make. In their present positions, neither Buffy Summers nor Stefanie Marks were left blind to an attack, and that gave them a deadly advantage.
Seeing that none of the vamps in her line of sight were daring to advance, Buffy turned her head slightly to whisper in Stefanie's ear. "We strike on three... One... Two..."
Before Buffy could finish, one vampire got gutsy enough to come in for the kill. In the blink of an eye, the clever blonde slayer whipped out a stake, plunging it into his chest and watching as he turned to dust.
She quickly looked up at the ones who remained with a smirk. "Well, who wants to go next?" she asked in a cheerful tone. "Don't keep my friend and I waiting."
Buffy and Stefanie killed off their remaining adversaries one by one, eleven in total. That done, the two girls relaxed and moved to face each other. "You did good," Buffy told her young/old friend. "And we get better at this every time. Another year, and we may even get to retire permanently."
Stefanie looked up, blue eyes shining. "That'll be the day!" she said with a laugh. "Do you really think that would happen?"
Buffy smiled. "With all the bloodsuckers we've dusted, it just possibly might." She took a deep breath. "And after that, we could concentrate on finding a way of making you and Angel mortal again."
Stefanie felt thrilled at that thought, for she would give anything to be freed from a life as a vampire. And a slayer, for that matter. She had never asked for nor wanted either role, and the possibility of a normal life appealed to her greatly.
Stefanie had been made a vampire almost forty years ago, but it was her status as a slayer that set her apart from the rest. She had both retained her humanity and been powerful enough to prevent the demon from taking her. She still had a need for blood though, but minus the instinct to take a human life.
Angel, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky, as his soul was given back to him through a gypsy curse but he still remained a demon at the core. He had been struggling with the two conflicting sides for as long as Stefanie had known him.
Buffy, however, was madly in love with Angel, and vice versa. According to her, Angel was gaining better control of his instincts the more time they spent together. Stefanie guessed it was better than nothing though.
She and Buffy began to walk to their car then, deciding to call it a night. As they wandered into the nearby parking lot, Stefanie found herself thinking of Rhys, the kind, tortured young man she had become romantically involved with a few months back.
Their doomed-from-the-start relationship had begun when Rhys had approached her in a night club with an offer to dance. It had been love at first sight for her.
It broke her heart later when she discovered that he was a vengeful spirit brought back from the dead (by a crow of all things) to slay the three vampires who had murdered him and his family years earlier. When Rhys had finished what he had meant to, he'd had no choice but to go back where he belonged.
As if picking up on her friend's sad memories, Buffy pulled over to the side of the road, shifting into park and looking at her. "You're thinking of him again, aren't you?" she asked softly.
Stefanie nodded. "I miss him so much, Buffy," she said, looking back at her friend. "More than anyone else I've lost... I never told you, but he was the only guy I ever truly loved. I would give anything just to have a few more precious moments with him."
Buffy smiled slightly as she thought of what could cheer Stefanie up. Changing the subject, she said, "I was going to wait until your birthday next month, but I guess now would be a good time... Look in the glove compartment."
Stefanie hesitated, giving Buffy an odd look, then moved to do so. Slowly, she pulled out the small black velvet case, then opened it.
There lay a beautiful pendant: a rounded smoky quartz crystal held inside an intricate silver bird's claw. Stefanie removed it from the case in awe, tears coming to her eyes as she gazed at it. "It's lovely," she told Buffy.
Buffy smiled. "I found it a few days ago, and I thought it was something you would like, because it reminded me of Rhys. This way, whenever you look at it, you'll always remember the love you two shared."
Stefanie managed a small grin, then asked Buffy to help her put it on. "It was nice of you," she said, lifting her light brown hair so Buffy could work at the clasp. "Thank you so much. I'll never take it off."
The two girls moved to hug each other then, holding one another as if they'd never let go. Finally, Buffy pulled back, shifting into drive and continuing the journey home...
Following his discovery of the dismal forecast, Giles had promptly placed calls to his wife, two of Buffy's friends, and Angel, telling them that he had to see all of them right away. He preferred Stefanie and Buffy to be at this meeting as well, but Angel had informed him that they were out at the moment.
For now, all Giles (and the individuals who had come) could do was sit and wait for the others. But it had been half an hour, and the two slayers were showing no signs of entering the library.
Finally, the conceited Cordelia Chase walked over, facing Giles angrily. "Tell me I did not give up a hot date tonight for nothing!" she snapped, an annoyed look on her pretty face. "I don't even know why I need to be here for this anyway!"
Giles cast a silent concerned glance up at her. He and Cordelia had never gotten along that well, but his revelation tonight made him realize just how much he cared for her. Everyone included in Buffy and Stefanie's circle of friends had become like family to him, and it would hurt Giles to lose even one of them.
At this, Giles decided to clue them in as to what was so urgent. He sat up straight, looking around at everyone. "I invited you here because this concerns all of you," he announced in a soothing British accent. "I don't want to go into details until everyone is present, but suffice it to say that every single one of us is in an equal amount of danger."
That got them into an uproar, and Giles' attempts to calm them proved futile. Even Angel, who had first hinted at the menace, looked concerned. It was the sound of wailing that brought silence among the group, and Angel went to the source: the wicker basket on the table where his and Buffy's baby daughter, Ivory, had been sleeping.
Angel picked Ivory up, holding her close and whispering words of comfort to her. Then, rocking her gently, he glanced at Giles, prepared to speak when the library doors swung open.
Buffy walked in with Stefanie right on her heels, waving a piece of paper in her hand. "Okay, Angel. I got the note you left. Now what's so important?" she blurted out, breaking off when she saw the stricken expressions on her friends' faces.
Buffy froze, a wave of anxiety descending over her. "What is it? What's going on?" she asked fearfully. When no one answered, she fixed her gaze on her mentor. "Giles?"
He took a deep breath, holding up the Codex for her to see. Buffy knew all too well what the book was and what it stood for, and her legs threatened to give out at the sight. Yet somehow, she remained strong.
"What did you find out?" she asked as peacefully as she could, but her voice betrayed how she felt anyway.
Giles paused, then motioned for her to sit down. When she had, he went back to addressing the whole group. "With this particular prophecy, it doesn't say that only Buffy and Stefanie's lives will be in the balance, but also... Well, perhaps I should read it aloud for you all to understand."
Giles cleared his throat, lifting a piece of pale blue stationery to read. He threw glances at the silent, scared faces as he did so, wishing he could take this all away, prevent it from happening, but such thoughts were useless.
"'In this time, the slayers will kill a group of twelve, And it shall gain the attention of a vampire king. This king and his mistress will seek out the slayers With the intention to destroy.
Two friends shall become pawns in a deadly plot While one slayer falls and the other rises. In the light of destinies forever altered, One will die and the other will fade into darkness...'"
When Giles had finished, Buffy looked up at him with tears streaming down her face. "It's already started," she said in a shaky voice. "Steffi and I did do in a dozen vampires tonight."
Cradling Ivory in one arm, Angel stepped closer and rested one hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. But all the while, he was on the verge of breaking down himself. "Who are the two friends that were mentioned?" he asked Giles. "Do you know?"
The Watcher shook his head. "I don't know anything at this point. The first part is pretty clear, but the second... It's anyone's guess as to who or what it refers to."
Stefanie took a step forward, fingering the pendant Buffy had given her. "How can you be so sure that any of the rest of it will happen?!?" she blurted out. "It could be wrong. We could stop it!"
Buffy looked over at Stefanie, her green eyes filled with pain. "Because it can't be changed," she said numbly. "There's no prophecy in the Codex that doesn't happen... I'm sorry, Steffi, but one of us..." Buffy broke off, unable to finish the sentence.
Stefanie did so herself. "One of us will die," she said with a sob, looking around at her friends. But she kept talking, knowing that if she didn't, she would break down in tears. "Giles, how long do we have? When will this happen?"
He remained silent a moment, gazing at her as if to capture her image in his mind. "It could be a matter of days, possibly a few weeks. I don't know."
Cordelia spoke up at this. "Well, what do you know?!?" she fired back. "What good are you if you can't give us any straight answers?!?"
"Cordy," Buffy started, only to have the haughty girl fix an icy gaze on her.
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down, Buffy!" Cordelia said. "I am not going to go through a major disaster because of you. If that's what being a friend of yours will do, then consider our friendship off as of this moment!" With that, Cordelia got her purse, starting towards the doors.
Giles' wife, Jenny, watched her go with a contemptuous stare. "Some pal she is."
Buffy looked round at Jenny at this. "She's just scared, same as the rest of us," the slayer explained. "I don't blame her... I think Cordy's got the right idea. I don't want any of you guys put in harm's way because of me."
Angel set Ivory back in her makeshift crib gently, turning to his girlfriend. "We're already in harm's way," he stated simply. "It's like you said. Nothing we do can stop this... The best we can do is try to determine the outcome."
At this, Buffy threw glances at all her loved ones left in the room, wondering just which two would be used against her and Stefanie. First, there was her loving Angel, who she felt cared too much to ever harm her. Buffy met his eyes briefly, managing a brave little smile for his benefit.
She focused next on her recently married best friends, wiseguy Xander and modest Willow Harris. Their loyalty for her ran very deep, and Buffy knew that, unless a demonic possession was involved, they would never turn on her. So they too were out as likely candidates.
As to Giles, Buffy trusted him more than words could say. He was more than a friend; he was like a father to her. And he would give his life before he did something to jeopardize their relationship.
That only left Jenny. Buffy wasn't especially close to her, not as much as the others. But there was enough rapport between them that the slayer didn't think that she was a possible threat either.
With a sigh, Buffy looked back at Angel, thinking that making an opinion was easier said than done. She quickly made her thoughts known, then suggested they disband for the night and wait to see what the next few days brought.
She held Ivory in her arms all the way home while Angel drove, studying her daughter's cherub-like face intently. After a long moment of silence, Angel interrupted her reverie.
"She looks so much like you," he said softly. "The same emerald eyes, the same features. I imagine she'll be the splitting image of you someday."
"Without my blonde curls though," Buffy said with a short laugh, stroking Ivory's sheer patch of black hair. After a moment, she added solemnly, "Angel, do you think I'll be there to see it?"
Angel threw a quick glance at her, reaching for her hand. But he said nothing, knowing that Stefanie was sitting in the back seat and not wanting to upset her with what, for Buffy, would be a hopeful assurance.
So Stefanie surprised him when she leaned forward and stated, "Of course you will, Buffy. Fate wouldn't be that cruel... If one of us has to die, it should be me. You're needed by too many."
Buffy looked back at her friend, biting her lip. "If only we were give the option to choose. I wouldn't wish this on either you or me." She paused, remembering what the last line had said. "What do you think it meant when it said the surviving slayer would 'fade into darkness'?"
Stefanie shrugged. "I haven't the faintest clue." Then, on a more positive note, she added, "Whatever it is, it can't be as awful as it sounds."
Following this, the trio remained silent until they reached home. Once ther, Buffy carried Ivory upstairs to the nursery, laying her down in her crib and watching her sleep.
Buffy didn't know how long she stood there, but she was acutely aware of when Angel entered and came to stand behind her. After a moment, he placed one arm across her shoulders, and she turned her head to look at him.
The strain of the evening's news showed in his dark eyes, as it appeared he'd been crying. The sight of it made her vulnerable too, and Buffy stepped into his embrace, feeling safe in his arms just as she had countless other times.
Eventually, Buffy looked up at him. "We'll get through this, Angel," she whispered. "Nothing's carved in stone... If I recall, the Codex prophesized that I was to die five years ago. But you and Xander resuscitated me!"
Angel sighed. "We were lucky then," he said, hating to rain on her parade. "There's nothing that says we will be now." He put one hand to her face. "I think we should prepare ourselves for the worst. And pray for the best."
With that, Buffy cas one more glance at Ivory. Despite her attempts to assure herself, she found herself wondering how the infant would survive growing up without a mother...
Despite the dire prediction of the night, life went on as usual for everyone the next day, each of them handling it in their own way. Buffy still had her part-time waitressing job, Xander and Willow found comfort in each other, Jenny scanned through her world of web pages for a clue to what the future held, etc.
And, in the cellar of Buffy's home, Stefanie and Angel were engaged in a martial arts training session. She already had every move down, but still insisted on this so she wouldn't get rusty.
Stefanie went at him with a series of roundhouses, kicks, and punches, but Angel blocked each blow with amazing agility. This went on for a while until she began to tire.
Angel took a step back with a sigh, removing his pads. "Are you okay?" he asked in concern.
Stefanie nodded, taking a moment to recover. Then, she said, "How would you rate this session, coach?"
He smiled slightly. "I'd say your skills are still pretty fine-tuned," he replied. "And that you're going to need them for whatever the next week brings."
"I know," she said, feeling a pang in her heart as a dark thought came down on her. How many more times will Angel and I have these matches, she mused. Before one of us is killed?
Just then, the two of them heard Ivory crying in the distance. Angel sighed, going upstairs to see to his daughter's needs. The entire house had been shrouded in darkness thanks to the curtains and blinds Buffy had installed, allowing both vampires free run of the place during the daylight hours.
Stefanie soon followed, stopping in the kitchen to retrieve a pack of blood from the fridge. She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, amazed at how fatigued this fight had left her. But she merely connected it with the tension of last night.
Stefanie looked down at the bag in her hands, her face morphing into that of a vampire. She bared her fangs, sinking them into the plastic and drinking her fill. When she had finished, she too went upstairs to see how the infant was.
Ivory was held comfortably in her father's arms as he sat in a rocking chair inches from the crib. Stefanie took a step into the room, smiling at this sight.
"You're so good with her," she said, walking over and sitting on the floor beside Angel. She gazed at Ivory a moment, then asked to hold her.
With a smile, Angel handed his daughter to Stefanie, watching as she made faces at Ivory that made the baby laugh. It felt good to hear that sound, but it also hurt knowing it could be stolen in an instant.
Stefanie looked up at him. "Don't presume that, Angel," she chided, having picked up his thoughts through her telepathic abilities. "You, Buffy, and Ivory will get through this perfectly fine. It's me I'm worried about."
Stefanie paused, rubbing absently at her eyes. "I used to have so many dreams when I was still human," she said. "Would you believe I actually wanted to be a ballet dancer?" Without letting him answer, she added, "I wanted to have a romantic wedding and two or three kids of my own. I was so hopeful until I was told about this destiny I didn't even want."
Angel leaned back, sensing that she wanted to share her thoughts and feelings about her life; he was ready to listen. He remained silent while she recounted the events that had led to her becoming a vampire: how her Watcher/mentor had informed her that she was a slayer, Stefanie's reluctance to accept her duties until her brother was recruited into the enemy's ranks, and finally, how her own flesh and blood had betrayed her in the worst way.
"It seems like... when you take on the life of a slayer, you can forget about any fantasies of the future you might have," Stefanie finished. "When your life expectancy is low, the odds are you'll never be around to realize them."
Stefanie looked back at Angel then, an almost accepting mood about her. It was as if she had already resigned herself to dying, even though they still didn't know that she was the one who would.
"I'd miss you," Angel said without thinking. "And I'm sure Buffy would too... There has to be a way around this. I would personally kill anyone who dared hurt her or you." There was such raw emotion in his voice that Stefanie couldn't help but believe him.
Only she didn't know how the statement made her feel...
Cordelia returned to Buffy's house around two in the afternoon, thinking that she'd seriously have to consider finding her own place until the prophecy blew over. She started for her room, intending to start packing. But it was the sight of the crib in the nursery that stopped her.
Cordelia could pretend that the friendships meant nothing, that they weren't important to her, but she couldn't cast aside what she felt for little Ivory. With this in mind, she slowly entered the room, going to stand at the baby's bedside.
Despite herself, Cordelia felt a smile tugging at her lips. "Hi, sweetie," she cooed, reaching down to tickle Ivory's chin. "How are you?"
"She's doing good," Buffy said from the doorway, making Cordelia stiffen. "I'm glad she's so young... What's happening doesn't bother her in the slightest that way."
Cordelia remained silent so long that Buffy was afraid that she wouldn't speak at all. Finally, the arrogant brunette turned, arms crossed. "It's your prophecy," she spat out. "Why do the rest of us have to suffer because of it?"
Buffy flinched at Cordelia's harsh words. "it's not fair," she stated simply. "I know. It never is... Cordy, don't you think I would prevent this if I could?!? I don't have a choice. None of us do!"
Cordelia shook her head. "That's where you're wrong. Come tonight, no one will associate me with you. I'll be safe!" With that, Cordelia stormed from the room, not even throwing a glance at Buffy as she passed her.
Buffy stood there a long while fighting tears, strangely finding herself wishing that everyone else around her dared be as callous. If it would save them, it would be worth it. "I hope you're right, Cordy," she muttered under her breath...