History Lessons
"I'm afraid we shall be needing Angel's help," Giles said as Xander and Anya walked in his door.
"Are you sure?" Buffy asked in a small voice.
"What's going on?" Xander asked.
"There is a clan of demons looking to make an uprising in Sunnydale. There is reportedly a fairly simple incantation that would easily halt them, but it has been lost for centuries, and it looks like we will be using the somewhat more hazardous route of brute force."
"What is the clan called?" Anya asked.
"They are known as the brotherhood of Carnauba."
"Oh, wait-" she began, but Xander interrupted her.
"But we've stopped demon uprisings before. Many, many times. I don't see why we need to bother Angel."
"Xander, although I am well aware that our past successes have made all of you a bit blase about our likelihood of prevailing, I cannot stress how dangerous these demons are. You do not believe me now, but the moment you finally see one, I believe you will be very glad to have Angel fighting with us."
"But we don't need to-" Anya tried again.
"I can get in touch with him," Giles continued, apparently oblivious to Anya's remark.
"But Angel doesn't have to-" Anya attempted, more or less futilely as Buffy stood up.
"Well, I guess that's that. When's it all going down?" she asked.
"Tomorrow. I only just began understanding the portents this afternoon."
"You know, about the incantation-" Anya began.
"What time do you want us here?" Willow asked.
"As soon as the sun sets."
Anya shrugged, and didn't bother to try again. When Angel got to Sunnydale, she would talk to him, and he would listen to her. He at least respected her.
"Are you okay?" Xander asked as they left.
"Fine," she replied.
**
There was a good deal of tension in Giles' living room as soon as a certain black car pulled up outside.
"He's here!" Anya said excitedly. She, however, was the only person who seemed to be looking forward to his visit. Buffy seemed frozen and tense, Willow was watching her nervously, and Xander was starting to get an irritated, edgy look that he always seemed to wear when Angel was around. Giles seemed the least affected by the news, being the only one among them who was somewhat more worried by the coming murderous demons than the one wearing a leather coat who was knocking on his door.
"Angel, thank you for coming," Giles gestured for him to come in. "Especially on such short notice."
"Of course," he replied. His eyes shifted nervously from one face to the next, and he didn't seem very reassured by any of them until he saw Anya smiling slightly in his direction.
"Was traffic horrible?" she asked.
Angel looked slightly surprised by the normalcy of the question, but he nodded slowly. "Yeah, the freeways were terrible. But they always are."
As odd as it had seemed for Anya to ask about traffic conditions, the tension in the room lessened somewhat.
"I think the best thing for us to do would be to go in pairs," Giles explained as he got down to business. "I am not sure where the demons will first appear, and we need to find them before they start killing. Angel, you-"
"I'll go with Angel," Anya volunteered. There were some strange looks sent her way, especially from her overly jealous boyfriend, but Angel acquiesced.
"That's fine. Angel can protect you," Giles decided.
Anya snorted slightly, but Angel was the only one to hear it.
Buffy was paired with Xander, Giles with Willow, and after a weapons check, everyone went out to start hunting.
**
Two blocks from Giles' house, Anya dropped her crossbow and put a hand on Angel's arm to stop him.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Did Giles tell you anything more than 'Bad demons, please help'?"
"He asked if I had the incantation that would stop them, but it was reputedly lost around 1100, give or take a couple of centuries. There's no way for us to find it."
Anya just looked at him.
"What?" he asked.
"Didn't we already discuss this? Angel, in order for an incantation to be truly lost, there can be no one alive who knows it. Well, big shock, I was alive in 1100, and I happen to know it pretty well, and if you'd like to avoid lots of bloodshed, we can do it right here. I don't need any special ingredients-- it's very basic."
Angel shook his head in disbelief. "Incredible. Anya, why didn't you tell Giles?"
"They were all freaking out over you coming, and no one seemed to be paying attention when I tried to explain you didn't need to. I'm sorry you had to come all this way, but at least you won't have to, you know, die."
He set down his axe on the grass. "What do you need to do?"
"Give me your hands."
Joining hands with his, Anya closed her eyes and began to chant. Angel understand a few of the words. A wind picked up for a moment, and there was a clap of thunder.
"Okay, that's it," she said, letting go of his hands and picking up his weapon. "This is nice."
"Wait, you're done?" he looked at her skeptically.
"I said it was basic. Of course, they'll be bound in servitude in the nether regions for another five hundred years, but we don't have to deal with them. Shall we go back to Giles' place?"
"Shouldn't we try to find the others?"
"Angel, they're all playing stealthy, and if we try to find them, there might be some violence. They'll come back eventually. We can make them a pot of coffee, if that will do."
He thought for a minute. A part of him thought it would be better to call off the search, but then he thought of Xander being completely terrified for nothing, and he gave into the twisted impulse that told him to just go along with her.
"Okay. Let's go back."
**
Angel settled down onto Giles' couch with a sigh. The drive had been horrible, and he had been fighting succubi all night long, only to be harangued by Cordy because her new coat got a little charred in the fight.
"You look horrible," Anya said as she sat down in the chair opposite him.
"Thank you, I heard the same thing from Cordelia just before I left."
"What have you killed this week?"
"Vampires, succubi, vampires, ice demons, vampires."
"Ice demons?" Anya asked. "Did they have french accents?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"I used to work with them. We collaborated on a few cases."
Angel looked at her in amusement and a bit of awe. "Such as?"
"The Titanic."
"What?" he blurted.
"The movie was awful. They totally ignored the most pivotal character, who was me. See, one of the lesser captains had a pretty little wife at home. Unfortunately, she walked in on him with her sister the day before the ship set out for America. I came along to help her pain, she wished his stupid ship would sink, and the ice demons helped me manipulate the iceberg. I was standing on the top of it-"
"The ship?"
"The berg, when the stupid boat came along. I watched it sink, and my next commission was in Russia."
"Anya," Angel stopped her, somewhat perplexed. "Hundreds of people died on that ship, innocent people."
"Angel, live awhile longer, you'll figure out that no one is really innocent. Furthermore, you have no idea how many scummy men were on that boat. There was this one bellboy who had cheated on every girl he ever pretended to love, and there is nothing more repugnant than a facsimile of love. Besides, I was a demon. You don't seem to be clear on the concept, despite your insistence that you're an expert. I killed a lot of people, and now I am a person and try to avoid the same fate. It all comes around."
He stared. He wasn't even brooding. He just looked at her in shock. "Any other great moments in history you had a pivotal role in?"
She laughed. "Angel, that list is longer than you can imagine. I can give you a few, I suppose. Um, well, you know Napoleon, yes?"
"Napoleon?" he echoed.
"Josephine was a very jealous woman. She finally couldn't deal with knowing he was cavorting around Europe, so she wished that he could just be stuck on some island for the rest of his life. Not as exciting as most of the revenge I exacted, but I'm told it was important."
"Slightly, yes."
"There was that lying cheater Cromwell. He broke the wrong heart during the Interregnum, and so I guess you could say I had something to do with the Restoration of Charles II."
"Anya, the things you are saying are nothing less than incredible! You do realize that, don't you?"
She shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess. Still, I really tended to run in more mystical circles. You know how sorcerers tend to die violent deaths?"
He nodded warily.
"It's not because they sell their souls to the devil. It's because power makes them lash out sexually, which was not a good idea while I was still in the game. I swear, you'd think they would see a trend at some point."
"I'm almost afraid to ask," Angel interjected, "but I behaved in much the same manner. Why exactly do I still have all of my limbs?"
"Angel, you killed most of the people you slept with. Your one constant paramour in your bad boy days was Drusilla, and she was far too obsessed with you to ever want revenge. You never really pretended to love anybody, anyway. You dominated, and my area of expertise was broken hearts. You just broke spirits."
He looked down. "No one ever really talks about my past this way."
Anya rolled her eyes. "Look, if you believe in cumulative guilt, then trust me, I am very much in the lead. I just don't care."
"How can you not care?" he asked.
"I am not who I was. That's enough. I was the scourge of unfaithful males, now I'm dating one. In some ways, very much the same thing, really."
"I think I'm afraid of you," he admitted.
"Good. So, shall we make that coffee? The fearless troop should be getting back soon."
"Sure," he agreed.
As they walked over to the kitchen, he realized how much larger he was than the ex-demon.
"Why are the powerful women always so small?" he wondered.
"It's the best disguise. Look at you. You just loom all over the place, and no one could ever look at you and not be a little bit intimidated. But little old me? I promise you that none of the recipients of my special services ever guessed what I was until it was too late. And unless she drops a stake, no one would ever think a tiny person like Buffy was the Slayer."
"I loom all over the place?"
"You're huge! You're terrifying! No wonder you can keep evil at bay. And don't make fun of me."
"Why not?" he goaded her.
"Because if you do, then I might tell you what I really did to your great great grandfather."
Angel winced, remembering all too well how his family had avoided that topic.
"Coffee?" he asked.