Chapter Three: Bearing Fruit

The silence was short-lived when the crickets resumed their chirping. Buffy and Andra stared down at the unconscious man at their feet. Buffy had no idea what to do with him now.

“We could call the police and have him picked up,” she suggested, knowing as she said it that it wasn’t a good option.

“They’d just call an ambulance. They don’t know that he’s the serial killer.”

With a deep breath, Buffy nodded. “You’re right, but I have no idea what to do now.”

Andra bent down and picked up the knife, its blade shining in the moonlight. “We could kill him and end his madness.”

Backing up a few steps, Buffy shook her head, her eyes wide. “No way. He’s clearly human. I don’t do that.”

“This monster killed at least seven women and he was trying to make you number eight. I’m sorry, but I can’t let him get away.”

It happened so fast that Buffy didn’t have a chance to react. Andra bent down and sliced the knife across the man’s neck. He didn’t jerk or make a noise, but the metallic smell of warm fresh blood pouring from his jugular had Buffy staggering back. She stumbled and landed on damp grass, her demon buzzing with need. Just like that, Andra could take a life.

“You just—”

“Well,” a tall woman said as she stepped out from behind a tree, “you’ve just saved me a hell of a lot of trouble.”

With the knife still in her hand, Andra whirled around. “Who are you?”

Buffy quickly morphed her features back to human, but Andra boldly faced the women while still vamped out.

“My name is Lilah Morgan and I’m a representative of Wolfram and Hart.” Lilah folded her arms across her chest and tilted her head slightly. “I’m curious. Why would two vampires kill someone and not feed on him?”

Now in human face, Andra put a hand on her hip. “They’ve got a branch of Wolfram and Hart here in California?”

“Yes. And you’ve just killed Lindsey, a former employee who was causing us a lot of trouble.”

“Didn’t do it for you. Did it for all the girls he hurt.” Andra tossed the knife and walked towards the gates. “You coming?” she called back to Buffy.

Buffy stood with her mouth slightly parted and pointed down at Lindsey. “Andra, we can’t just leave him here like this.”

“Aren’t you the slayer that was turned?” Lilah asked, squinting at Buffy. “The one with the soul?”

“That would describe us both,” Andra answered for her.

When they got away from the woman, Buffy planned to chew Andra out for being so free with their personal information, but right now, there was clean up to do. “Again I ask, what should we do with the body?”

Lilah pulled out a cell phone. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it taken care of.”

~ * ~ * ~

They didn’t go home right away. There were two more cemeteries on Buffy’s list and while they walked through them, the two vampires had argued about what do to. They both agreed that it was easier to let the lawyer woman deal with the dead body, but they disagreed strongly about what to tell Giles. There was no question that Buffy would tell Spike what had happened and Andra didn’t try to talk her out of that. Andra didn’t think it was any of the Council’s business, and Buffy could understand her feelings but she wasn’t comfortable with what had happened.

On the way home, Buffy’s skin began to tingle and a nagging prickle at the back of her neck kept her on high alert. They came around the corner and headed down Revello Drive, but once she saw the big black convertible parked haphazardly on her driveway and lawn, she sped up.

“What’s wrong?” Andra asked, matching her steps to keep up with her.

“That’s Angel’s car. The other vampire with a soul. If he’s here that means there’s trouble.” Buffy broke out into a run. “Come on.”

Buffy didn’t slow down, but burst into the house, heading straight for the living room. She stopped short when she noticed all the people. Andra slammed into her back and she stumbled farther into the room just as Spike came forward. She ended up in his arms, and despite all the alarmed faces, they smiled at each other.

“What are all these people doing here?” she asked Spike.

Andra flipped her hair back over her shoulders, closed one eye and pointed. “Am I seeing things or is that guy actually green?”

The flashy, red-horned demon smiled. “It’s not easy being green.” His smile faded just as quickly as it came on. “Angel, honey, let’s skip introductions and get to the point where we figure out what we’re going to do, hmm?”

“Junior’s waking up,” a tall, good-looking bald man said as he stared down at a teenage boy who was now growling and struggling to get out of the chair that he was tied to.

“What?” Buffy said, staring at the group assembled.

Spike pointed at the teen. “His name is Connor. Would you believe that he’s Angel’s son with Darla?”

“No,” Buffy said, her brows furrowed in confusion.

“We don’t have time for this,” Angel said. “We have to do something and quick.”

Spike put his hand up to stop all the talking at once, then turned to Buffy. “There’s a hellbitch mindfucking all the residents in Los Angeles and if she goes live, worldwide, on television or radio, she will have the whole world under her control.”

“So why hasn’t she been hacked to pieces?” Andra asked.

“Jasmine is very powerful,” the girl named Fred said. “If you even look at her, you will fall down and worship her.”

“Untie me!” the teenager yelled. “I’m going to kill you all.”

Buffy couldn’t help but grin. “Let me guess, he takes after Darla?”

Dawn sat in a chair not too far from Connor and just stared at him. “And I thought I had issues.”

Giles and Wes began going back and forth with ideas that they rejected just as quickly as they came up with them. They had a vial of blood with them that they insisted would help anyone who got the blood in their system to see Jasmine’s true form, but could not agree how to get the blood into every one of the affected people in Los Angeles. And first, they would need to get rid of Jasmine before she affected anyone else.

Andra went to the weapons chest and pulled out an ax with a long handle, its thin curved blade catching the light overhead. Buffy noticed Angel staring at the redhead as she calmly sharpened it and Buffy said, “Angel, meet Andra. Andra meet Angel.”

Not even looking up from her task, Andra smirked. “So this is the fruit you were talking about in London?”

“Fruit?” Angel said, taken back by her words.

Spike couldn’t stop laughing and Buffy found it difficult to look at Angel. Andra glanced up. “Peaches, right?”

Angel clenched his jaw and said nothing. Gunn laughed, but Fred, Lorne, Wes and Giles kept their heads together, intent on coming up with a plan. Andra stood, gently placing the ax within her reach on the table and held her hand out saying, “I’m pleased to meet another souled vampire.” They shook hands and Andra continued, “For the longest time, I thought I was the only one, but there’s at least four of us.”

“You have a soul, too?” Angel asked.

“She’s a turned slayer, like me.” Buffy said. “But she’s been around a lot longer.”

Angel started to ask a question, but Wesley called him over. He sat down with the group, but couldn’t help looking back in awe at Andra.

~ * ~ * ~

Spike gripped the steering wheel with one hand and reached over to grab Buffy’s hand. Andra sat in the back seat with Fred. They followed Angel and his other friends back to Los Angeles. Faith had gotten home from patrol and wanted in on the action, but Giles convinced her to stay and help him and Dawn keep an eye on the still tied up Connor in the living room, just in case he got out of his bindings.

Spike still could not believe that Angel had a son. And a teenaged one at that. But he could believe that the kid hated his father. There was something very satisfying about that.

Buffy had told him what had happened in the cemetery, but Spike couldn’t care less about some serial killer getting offed. The interesting thing was the way Fred had perked up when the names Lilah and Lindsey had been mentioned. She’d filled the vampires in on the story of how Darla had been resurrected in her human form and how Connor came into being. It was all almost too crazy to believe.

They pulled up as close to the Hyperion Hotel as they could get with the crowds around it. Spike nodded at Angel’s crew as they disappeared around the alley. Because Jasmine knew to expect them, they were to go in the back way. Buffy and Spike followed Andra in after she covered her ax with a jacket. Worshippers filled the lobby and it didn’t take long to find out from one of them what room Jasmine was in, preparing for her satellite feed appearance to the world.

As casually as they could, they climbed the stairs and found the room. A couple of guards stood by the closed door, keeping the admirers from getting too close. The plan was for Angel and company to distract them and have Andra burst in with the ax while Buffy and Spike kept the people at bay and dealt with anyone in the room with her.

A shout from the other side of the hall got the guards attention, but they did not move from their posts. Gunn appeared first, wielding a baseball bat, and Spike decided right there that he liked the ballsy human. People began flying to the left and to the right and one of the guards left his spot to stop him. Angel came next, shouting just as loud, but holding a broom of all things.

The minute the last guard left his/her position by the door, Spike kicked it open, keeping his eyes to the floor until he found tennis shoes. Then he locked eyes with the man and charged at him. As soon as he heard a woman’s voice, he started singing The Ramone’s Blitzkrieg Bop, repeating ‘Hey, ho, let’s go’ over and over to block her out. Buffy just shouted as she dealt with the guy on her side of the room.

Andra was fast. Without any hesitation, she charged Jasmine and swung the ax. Her determined face changed to awe, then regret, but it was too late. The ax was slicing across Jasmine’s neck. Andra sank to her knees in despair, but all Spike could see was a maggot infested body and head. Buffy was by Andra’s side in an instant, the guard she had been fighting slumped in a chair, out cold. Spike quickly smashed his opponent’s head into the wall and joined Buffy beside Andra. But Jasmine’s spell was quickly broken with her death, and Andra could now see the decayed face of the goddess, too.

“Hack this bitch to pieces,” Andra said to Spike as she held up the ax for him.

“Right.”

The crowd outside was outraged to hear what had happened. When they left Jasmine’s room, Buffy had to fight some of them off, but Andra gripped Jasmine’s head and held it up.

In a booming voice, she shouted, “Is this what you’ve been worshipping?” The people shrank away from the sight of maggots writhing in the rotted flesh and soon, sobs and screeching filled the hall. Andra kept going, waving the severed head and forcing her way to the railing so the throngs in the lobby could see. “She was no god. Go home. Go back to yer lives, you sorry people.”

It didn’t take long for the crowds to disperse. Angel’s crew methodically went about cleaning up the mess that such a crowd leaves behind, while Angel prepared to leave with the other vampires to go pick up his son. If they wanted to get back to Sunnydale before sunup, they would have to leave soon. They said their goodbyes and Andra followed Angel to his car.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I don’t think I could take another two hour drive with the two of them making moon-eyes and caressing each other the whole way.”

Angel got in and glared at Buffy and Spike in the car ahead of him as they kissed passionately. He let out a loud grunt. “I don’t blame you. It’s enough to make anyone sick.” He glanced over at the vampire now sitting in his passenger seat. “Just don’t call me Peaches. I hate that.” The car roared to life, drowning out her laugher, but Angel let his lips curve into a smile. “How old were you when you were turned, anyway?”

~ * ~ * ~

As the two vehicles sped off down the block, Lilah kept her eyes on them while holding a cell phone to her ear.

“I think we found a better alternative to Angel. She was once a slayer, she was turned and now she has a soul.” She listened for a few seconds and said, “If you’d seen this vampire in action, you would have no reservations. She slit Lindsey’s throat without batting an eye and then hours later, she hacked the head off that god from another dimension. She took care of our two biggest problems faster than I thought would be possible.” Again, she paused with the phone to her ear. “Yeah, you do that. Research. I’m going to go home and rest. Call me when you make a decision. I’d like to be the one to proposition her.”