Angel stared down in horror at the still girl in his bed. Dawn’s luxurious hair was spread out, her face was snow white. She was really dead. And he had changed her into a demon. This hadn’t happened in a very long time. Too long, the demonic voice in his head whispered. Angel felt like he was going to be sick. He heard someone knock on the door. “Go away!”
“You’re going to bloody well open up or I’m going to knock the door down and beat you with it.” Spike bit out from the other side of the wooden structure.
Angel composed himself for a minute. He didn’t want to show any weakness to his grandchilde. Spike was a master at exploiting the weaknesses of others.“Come in.” He said opening the door, his voice dripping with disdain.
The blue eyed demon had eyes only for Dawn. “You did it.” Spike said hollowly, eyes fixed on the small girl in his sire’s bed. “She’s gone.”
“Yes, I did it.” Angel affirmed. “I just hope she’s happy.”
They both knew he was talking about Buffy. The younger vampire shook of his own melancholy. “She’ll be happy to know that nibblet will have a long unlife. That’s all that matters.” Spike turned his attention to Dawn once more. “Huh.” He mused. “She looks a bit like Drusilla. All black and white.” Dawn’s face and hair did reflect a stark contrast. “Though she doesn’t play with dolls.”
Angel’s left eye twitched with repressed anxiety. “Yet another innocent I took to the dark side. I wonder if she’ll grow to hate me as much as Dru did.”
“The dark side?” Spike scoffed. “You sound like sodding Darth Vader.”
“Is that a demon?”
“Never mind. Point is, you didn’t take anything she didn’t want taken. The bit and I thought this all out. I’m not going to let her regret this. You’ll see.”
“What do you have to do with this?” Angel asked.
“I’m going to be her sire.” Spike explained as is if he were talking to a very stupid person. Well, in his book, Angel was deeply stupid. “She needs someone to teach her how to be a vampire and that’s what I intend to do. Me and the nibblet, together for always.” He had become adjusted to the idea of Dawn as a vampire. He was actually looking forward to it now. She would be his compatriot, his creation. He would never be alone again.
“You. . .and Dawn?” Angel said condescendingly. “I don’t think so. She’s my childe. Mine.” He could feel Angelus grumbling within him, eager for the chance to assert his dominance.
“Don’t be ridiculous. She can’t learn to be a proper vampire from you, Your Poofiness.” Spike folded his arms across his chest. “What would you teach her? Guilt 101?”
“She isn’t going to be a proper vampire. She’s going to have a soul.” Angel nodded. “She’ll have to learn how to straddle both worlds like I have. A foot in the demon plane, a foot in the human one. I am the only one who can guide her.”
“You just love to hear yourself talk, don’t you?” Spike snorted. “She’s a vampire. Not a human. She never was human. I’m going to see to it that she doesn’t end up as a boring drudge like you.”
Angel was about to argue the point, or perhaps slam his fist in Spike’s face when Dawn stirred on the bed. “She shouldn’t be waking up this soon.” He said worriedly.
Spike shrugged. “She’s The Key, that probably makes her stronger than a human.” Both vampires stepped closer to the bed eagerly. ***********
“This isn’t working, Giles.”
“I know.” He sat down with a sigh, a clump of smoldering herbs in his hands. He crushed it into a nearby ashtray to stop the flames. They were both more than a little tired from their efforts.
Willow picked up the Orb of Thessulah. “Do you think its broken?”
“No, I don’t think so.” He thought about how to express what he could sense coherently. “The spell doesn’t FEEL right.”
“I know what you mean.” Giles was speaking in terms of energy. The two of them together were creating a field of magickal force which was powerful yet amorphous. But it just fizzled. Whenever they tried to make it conform to the mandates of the spell, it resisted and drifted away. As a result, they were in a highly charged room, the energy almost crackled in the air. “What are we doing wrong?”
“I’m not certain.” He took off his glasses. “Think back to the first time you performed this, is anything different now?” He tucked the right tip in his lips absently
“Uh-oh.”
“What ‘uh-oh’?” Giles had spent enough time on the Hellmouth to discover that ‘uh-oh’s produced death and disaster with alarming regularity. “What’s wrong?”
“The last time, there may have been a teensy difference.” Willow said, minimizing the situation.
“What difference?”
“I may have been a bit. . .well, a little–“
”Willow! For God’s sake, just tell me.”
“Possessed.” She said, shrugging. “But only a little bit.”
Giles was livid. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner? Like say, oh I don’t know. . .three years ago!?”
“Because I knew you’d get mad at me. And I was right.”
“I’m not mad at you!” He snapped. She rose one perfectly sculpted red brow. “Alright. Perhaps I am a little cross with you.” He took a deep breath, trying to be patient with her. “But there is no such thing as a little possessed! You’re either possessed or you are not.”
“Well, I guess you should know.” Willow clamped her hands over her mouth. “Sorry!” She said, from behind her fingers.
“Point taken.” Giles said dryly. He was over his initial anger. He wasn’t even upset with her, not really. He just didn’t want her to put herself at such risk. Especially so casually. Willow never stopped to consider the possible repercussions of her actions, especially when it came to magick. She reminded him of the young man he used to be and he desperately wanted to dissuade her from that path in life.
“If it’s any consolation, it wasn’t a demon. I think I was possessed by the spirit of the gypsy who performed the original spell. ”
That did improve his humor. Somewhat. “Alright then. A spirit possession is not nearly as serious. Did you call her somehow? Subconsciously perhaps?”
Willow looked thoughtful. “I might have. I was very focused on performing the ritual, but my thoughts drifted back to the first time it was performed. I remember wondering what it must have been like for the gypsy.”
Giles nodded. “That could be it. Let’s try again. This time, I want you to focus on the first ritual.”
They once again assembled their supplies. Giles replaced his glasses and picked up his book. He began to say the verses in Latin while Willow implored the spirt world for access to Dawn’s soul. ***********
“Dawn, are you alright?”
“Open your eyes, little bit.”
Dawn licked her lips, her mouth felt dry as if she hadn’t had a drink in ages. She blinked her eyes open, two concerned vampires swam into her line of vision. The light was harsh and she squinted a little a she sat up in bed. She was forced to steady herself against the headboard. “Do I have something on my face or what?” She asked, trying to force some humor into the situation.
“No.” Spike said quietly. “Do you feel alright?”
“Considering the sitch?” He nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay.” Her expression grew serious. “Did it work? Am I a vamp?”
Angel winced at his contradictory emotions. “I suppose so.” The demon inside, howled in triumph, eager to greet his newest childe.
Spike grinned before he vamped out.“Show me your face, bit. Let’s have a look at my girl.”
Dawn scrunched her face up, trying to make the demon come to the fore. But it didn’t. She twisted her features again. Then, stopped. “Ow. That just made my cheeks hurt. What’s going on?”
Angel cupped her chin in his hands and looked into her eyes, as if he were a doctor dealing with a perplexing patient. “Usually, the demon is eager to appear.”
Spike honed his senses, searching for her with all of his vampiric faculties. He could smell her blood. It was no longer human. “Smell her.” He said to Angel who took a whiff as well. “ She has our essence.” She smelled of Angel. She even smelled like himself. Because Angel and himself were so closely related, their scents were almost the same. In fact, she smelled like their kind. All members of the Order of Aurelius had traces of the same blood in their veins.
Angel’s head turned to the side, much like a dog who has heard a far off sound. “I hear a heartbeat.”
Spike could feel it too. It reverberated in his ears in an unmistakably steady rhythm. “It didn’t work.” He stared at Angel accusingly.
“What?” Dawn asked, a tear sliding down her face. “No! It had to work.”
“This doesn’t make sense. I can smell my blood in her veins but she’s still alive.”
Just then, Dawn made an agonized sound. Her head fell back as she was slammed up against the headboard by some invisible force. Her eyes flew open, their blue depths became an eerie green as the demon finally asserted itself. Her whole demeanor changed. Her innocent face took on a knowing smirk as she gazed at the other vampires. Slowly, her visage morphed into the familiar ridges that marked her as a demon.
Spike whooped in triumph. Her ‘lumpies’ as Buffy put it were not so pronounced because she was new and she was female but she was definitely a vampire. “You’re beautiful, little bit.”
Angel looked away, revolted by his own actions. Inside, Angelus celebrated. And urged him to taste his new childe, show her her place.
Then, Dawn gasped in surprise. They both looked up to see the vampire’s eyes widen with shock as a stream of what looked like lightening spread over Dawn’s body. It was white and green, obviously pure energy. The most powerful force either of them had ever seen. The demonic presence disappeared, the energy surge had completely obliterated all trace. It left Dawn gasping Her eyes were completely white, save for the green lightning that shimmered across the surface.
“The Key.” Spike whispered, reverently. He was truly awed by its presence.
Dawn’s eyes snapped shut. She shook her head as though to clear it. When she opened them once more, they were their usual shade of blue. “What was that?!” ***********
“What’s wrong with you?” Willow shouted as she furiously shook the little globe. “Bad ball! Bad!”
“Willow, I hardly think chastising the Orb of Thessulah is going to work.”
