Chapter Text
Summary: Set in S2E9/S2E10 "What's My Line? Part 1 and 2." I thought it would be interesting if Kat was there, starting when Angel couldn't get out of the locked up area Kendra locked him up in, before she knew he wasn't evil anymore. What if Kat was able to rescue Angel from the cage from the sun and get him into the sewers, before Willy ever grabbed him and let him be taken by Spike and his vampires? Even though Kat is human, can she help figure out what Spike's up to and take him down before his next move? With Kat being human, will Angel accept protecting her from any enemies?
The sun had just risen in the sky, Angel still locked in the cage in the storage room, weak. He was in a corner of the cage, trying to avoid the sunlight. He didn't think the girl was a part of the Order of Tarak that had locked him in here, but also didn't know who she was.
"Now, what brings you to a place like this, locked in some cage?" he heard a very familiar voice ask him.
He looked up to see Katherine approach.
"Just get me out of here, will ya?" he replied.
"You really need to invest in a Daylight ring, Angel," she replied, before using a crowbar to unlock the gate. She then went over and put an arm around him, helping him up, as she said, "Come on. Let's get you into the sewers." She then helped him, making sure to keep him out of the sun.
Twenty minutes later, she was in the sewers with the reformed vampire, him seated against a wall.
"Would you like to explain to me what happened? You were almost served crispy fried," she asked.
"Some girl got the jump on me when I was questioning Willy. He's a human, but owns the demon bar. I needed to know if it was Spike, a vampire, that sent some demon bounty hunters after Buffy. She's the Vampire Slayer here in Sunnydale. I think I got my answer."
"Okay, well, I'll help you with this situation then. It seems you care a great deal about Buffy. However, I'm gonna need more than a stake, vervain, and holy water. Elijah finally realized who I really am now, so he left when I was a vampire a few weeks ago. There's a cure for vampirism. I figured my doppelganger was partly the reason he left, so I tried to kill her in revenge. I didn't know the cure was in her pocket, so she shoved it down my throat. I've been human ever since. Since I don't trust Damon with my life, I decided to track you down. It's a good thing I did, too."
"Well, thank you then. If you need any weapons, you'll need to head to the high school. Buffy's watcher keeps his collection there. And I doubt I'll be up to fighting speed when the time comes. The Order of Tarak won't stop until either they're dead or Buffy is. And unlike your kind of vampires, I don't heal fast," he informed her.
"Let's get you home. The quicker I get you home, the quicker I can get you some rodent blood so you can have at least some strength."
She knelt in front of him.
"I'm not sure I have that kind of strength," he admitted to her.
"Well, we need to at least keep moving. If Spike summoned the Tarak, he's probably coming for you. I'm not leaving you until I know you're safe. Even if I have to spend the day in some smelly sewer tunnels," she replied.
He knew from meeting her a century ago that she wasn't going to stop pushing him to keep going, even in his weakened state. He knew that she was always staying ahead of enemies and always moving. That made her the best person right now to keep him going, when his whole body felt too weak to carry on.
She put an arm around him, helping him, as she continued to walk him down the tunnels, not taking any chances. If he couldn't make it home though, she knew she'd have to sneak into the school. It would have to be tonight, though.
"If I don't make it home, the tunnel entrance for the high school is the third entrance from here," he informed her, as if he knew what she was thinking.
"Just concentrate on moving. You're gonna make it someplace safe. I'll make sure of that," she encouraged.
Once it was dark outside, Kat took Angel out of the tunnels and towards the high school. As they neared it though, she could tell that the weakness was getting to him. She was having to use her body weight to hold him up.
"Angel," she said. "We're nearly at the school. I just need you to hold on for a few more minutes."
Eventually, she got inside and found the library, which was where she saw only one person there. She looked to be waiting for someone to show up.
"Help me get him in a chair," Kat told her.
"Oh, my God. What happened?" she exclaimed, before doing what she was told.
"Angel told me that when he interrogated some human at the demon bar, some chick got the jump on him. She locked him up in the storage room in the back. He's lucky I came to town looking for him," she explained. "I'm Katherine. You are?"
"Cordelia, but some people call me Cordy."
"Where's the watcher and Buffy Angel mentioned?"
"We think Buffy's laying low after she took Giles pretty seriously with the whole Tarak thing. Giles and Xander are looking for her. Willow is researching. I'm waiting for Xander to get back."
"Well, let's hope they do soon. If Spike, some vampire Angel mentioned, summoned those demon bounty hunters, Spike is probably gonna be looking for Angel." Kat went over to the cage that held weapons, grabbing a crossbow and what looked to be a small axe. "I hope you're ready to fight. Here." She gave Cordy the crossbow. "Ever shoot a crossbow before?"
"Never. I just found out recently what Buffy is."
"It's easy. Load the arrows and shoot. It's kinda like shooting stakes, but you're not so close. Just make them count. We need to protect Angel until the others get here. I would've taken him home, but he's too weak from hiding in the shadows from the sun so long. I barely got him here. He's gonna need rodent blood, but I'm not leaving his side until he's safe."
"Tell me again how you know Angel?"
"I was a vampire until my doppelganger shoved the only cure for vampirism down my throat a few weeks ago. I was a different kind of vampire, though. The sun didn't hurt me as long as I wore my Daylight bracelet. And I loved more than two people and I had a soul still. I met Angel a century ago. At the time, I was his only friend. And he's the only vampireI trust with my life.I've made too many enemies," she answered her.
Kat looked at a barely awake Angel.
"So, what do we do now?" Cordy questioned the newcomer.
"We wait for them or someone to get back here. I'm not leaving one person in charge of watching over Angel, but he is going to need blood soon. And he's not gonna want any human blood, even if I offered mine," she answered her. "In the meantime, you need to fill me in on everything. Where I'm from, we don't exactly have Vampire Slayers, but once in a while we have Vampire Hunters."
As Kat requested, Cordy filled her in on everything and everyone that was important, as they waited for them to show up.
About an hour later, at least a couple of them came back to the library.
"Angel?"
"You must be Buffy he told me about," Kat stated, as she watched her go over to Angel. "I'm Katherine. I saved him and got him here. He's weak, because some girl locked him in the storage room in the back of the demon bar. If I hadn't been looking for him, he'd be dust."
Buffy looked at her.
"Thank you. Why were you looking for Angel, though?"
"Because I used to be a vampire before my doppelganger shoved the cure for vampirism down my throat. I've got too many enemies and I know too many people that would rather hand me over than protect me, so I figured I'd be safe with Angel's protection. Don't worry. It's not like we ever had anything. We met a century ago. We're just friends. Now, as for the Tarak Angel spoke about, he found out that whoever Spike is is the one that sent them after you. I know you have your duty to stop any bad guys, so I'm going to do the rest of my responsibility and get the blood Angel needs to regain his strength. I'll be back as soon as I can," she answered her. Then Kat left the library to do just that, returning about half an hour later and giving it to him to restore his strength, which worked. Then, when his strength was restored, Kat sat down at the library table, but before Kat could move forward in the conversation of what to do next, she received a question from the Slayer.
"How do I know we can trust you? You were a vampire."
"I admit, I wasn't completely trustworthy as a vampire, but I guess when I became human, a part of me reverted back to who I was before I became a vampire. Before I had to run. Before a vampire-werewolf hybrid killed my whole village for revenge, because I ran. I was a vampire, yes, but I was a different kind of vampire than what you know. Your vampires turn to dust. I wasn't like that. I never lost my soul when I became a vampire, but half of my vampire life I had my humanity turned off. My kind of vampires have a switch that can be turned off if you don't want to feel a certain emotion. Sometimes though, I chose to turn my humanity back on. Those were the times that you'd see the real me. I can't erase everything I did, but I can move forward," she replied. "Now, I'm not going to pretend that I know everything about the kind of vampires you're accustomed to, but I know they can be vicious. I also know from Angel how terrible Spike was in the day. I assume he hasn't changed, considering he's summoned the Tarak to kill you. I've never been up against any bounty hunters, but I would like to help. I may not have the speed or the strength of a vampire anymore, but I do still have the ability to fight when I need to. I can help protect Angel from Spike and whoever else. I can also help you with anything else you need," she added.
After the newcomer's explanation, but also knowing that they needed every help they could get, she decided to at least try and trust what the former vampiress told her. Besides, if she and Angel were friends, and since Angel was a good vampire as long as his soul was attached, she knew that she had to trust someone that Angel was friends with.
"Alright, fine. You can help," Buffy replied to her. "Any idea why these assassins would be after me?"
"Well, in my experience, anyone coming after someone usually means they're angry at someone, but you don't strike me as someone to anger a bunch of people, much less vampires. Especially, vampires you've never met. After what Angel's told me about Spike though, I assume Spike must want you out of the equation. If I were a bad vampire like Spike, I'd do anything possible to make a distraction so I could get to Angel, which means that's probably why he's gone to great lengths."
"Then let's find him and get this over with," Buffy stated.
"Not without being prepared. He might be a lousy fighter, but he seems to be a smart vampire. He might know that you're coming and have a trap ready. If that's the case, then we need to know his plan of action before we show up. We need to know if he'll be alone or if he has some kind of weapon or friends with him as a distraction."
"You seem to have all the answers," Buffy had to comment.
"Well, being alive for hundreds of years, much longer than Angel, has its perks. Especially, when I was running from a bunch of enemies left and right almost for my entire vampiress life," Kat said. Then she looked at Angel that knew more about the Tarak and Spike than she did. "Anything I should know?" she asked him.
"I know that Spike won't be alone," he informed her, knowing exactly what she needed to know, knowing her well enough. After all, when they'd met, it had been in 1897 when he'd been struggling still. She'd helped him through that though, which had helped him learn to cope, even if he hadn't been the kind of vampire that she'd been at the time. And now she was a human that wanted and needed his help. That was, after this ordeal was over with. "There's an insane vampire that will be with him, as well as possibly a few everyday vampires. Dru was turned by me before I received my soul a long time ago," he continued. "I drove her to insanity before turning her when Darla was at my side still."
"Doesn't seem too much of a threat then," Kat commented to him, before saying to Buffy, "You can practice or whatever. I'll make sure your friends know what they're doing. Some people could use a few tips from someone that knows how to fight enemies. Then, once we know more of what Spike's up to, we can attack before he makes any other moves."
"Sounds fair enough," Buffy commented. "I'll take Angel home before sunrise and stay there with him. With everything going on, it's not safe for me to go home."
"I agree," Katherine said. "You do that. I'll stay here and figure out what's supposed to be going down." And so, that's what they all did. And when Angel and Buffy had gone, Kat gave Cordy some fighting tips and how to actually use a crossbow and a few other things, before she dove into helping Giles out with reading. Then they finally figured out what was possibly Spike's endgame. There was a ritual to make a weak vampire strong again.
The next night came when the showdown happened at Spike and Dru's place. Spike was a little unprepared, not expecting a newcomer nor an attack quite yet to happen. And so, he was beaten with his vampires being staked by them all. Spike lived, but Dru being weak and all was killed by Katherine. And so, everything turned out great. Kat even found a place to stay and Angel protected Kat from any enemies as promised.
