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buffyfic-digest        Saturday, April 11 1998        Volume 02 : Number 119



In this issue:

       BUFFYFIC: Vampires Anonymous, (4/5) by Andrea
       BUFFYFIC: Vampires Anonymous, (5/5) by Andrea

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Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 12:47:09 PDT
From: "Andrea Newbery" <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Vampires Anonymous, (4/5) by Andrea

Title: Vampires Anonymous
Author: Andrea Newbery
e-mail: [e-mail]
Distribution: sure, as long as I know where.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: everything up to KbD
Summary: I have been spending way too much time thinking about Angel's
soul or lack thereof. That is not actually in the story but it is still
true. Anyway I was thinking way to much on how Angel will get his soul
back and I started thinking that it might be interesting if, say Willow
found the ritual and performed it but made a slight mistake and restored
the souls of everyone in the factory with Angel.  So I decided to see
what would happen.
Disclaimer: The characters of Angel, Buffy et al. are the property of
Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB and whoever elseà No copyright
infringement intended. Please don't sue me I'm already up to my neck in
debt!
Feedback: Please...good, bad, whatever!


"Okay, step one isà"
 Xander never could understand why they had to recite these every week,
did vampires have really bad memories?

 "Do not feed off a human under any circumstan
ces." The group spoke softly still somewhat afraid the humans would
notice they were there.

"Exactly, you can feed off of cow's blood, pig's blood...  Willie always
has a great supply of blood from the slaughter houses, make sure you
check to see if it is fresh-he will try to cheat you. Also never steal
from the blood banks, human blood is never okay. If you're really stuck
try rats or mice." A sigh of distaste murmured through the group.

"And number two is?" Xander was getting into the spirit of things now
and had apparently decided that the spirit of things was eerily similar
to the captain of  a cheerleadin squad.

"Never use your vampire abilities against humans."
 The chorus of voices was getting stronger, this rule were easier to
follow than the first one.

"That means no throwing rude clerks against walls, no going game face on
children throwing rocks, no nothing!"
The vampires all sat there looking as angelic as third-graders.

"Number three?" Xander was getting progressively louder and Willow and
Buffy were watching him nervously. Cordelia on the other hand was
sitting with her face in her hands at the back of the room wondering and
not for the first time what she was doing involved with him.

"Never associate with the other vampires, the ones who don't have
 souls." They all were very happy with this guideline. None of them
particularly wanted to be reminded of what they had been.

"Right, that means if they're not here tonight, then they're not one of
you. Some of you are actively involved in helping the slayer, which is
great but I don't want anyone to feel obligated to. I understand that
for some of you hunting your former comrades is very difficult and no
one will think less of you for not actively hunting other vampires. On
the other hand we believe guideline number five supercedes any
reluctance you may have and it is?"
Xander watched to see their response to this guideline, this was the one
that was important to him.

"Always protect any human from attack by any vampire or other demons."
The stated it loud and clear and Xander was relieved.

"Exactly, if any humans are being attacked then it is permissible to use
your supernatural abilities to help them. We, as you know, weren't going
to make this a guideline but after hearing from many of you about how
helping protect humans from things you once did helps you regain some of
your lost humanity we decided it was an important step. We want everyone
to feel as human as is possible."

Angel almost shuddered at the thought of how stupid this whole group
thing was.  A sorry group of vampires with souls trying to make their
lives mean something other than death. Angel had thought that was
possible for one shining moment over a year ago and everyone had paid
dearly for that mistake. Of course now everyone thought Angel was the
one with the attitude problem, Buffy was continually nagging him to be
more involved in the group, to make more of an effort. He thought back
to when Buffy had first seized upon the idea to have the group. They had
been sitting in his apartment after he had finally realized that she was
determined to forgive him for the horrible things he had done. He was
too weak to fight her on this issue; he wanted too badly to be with her.
So he was sitting there complaining about the newly souled vampires. How
they were crying and moaning and generally being a huge pain in the
neck. Which is something a vampire usually gives rather than receives.
Anyway he was talking about how they had lost two to suicide that day.
He thought it was a good idea, he only wished he had been able to do it.
She was horrified at the thought of this. She actually thought he wasn't
responsible for what he had done and therefore none of the vampires at
the factory were. He could see the logic in her thinking but logic
doesn't help much when your basic premise is wrong. He argued against
her forgiveness for a while longer then he finally shut-up and decided
to hate himself in private from now on. It was to late though, she had
already decided to go talk to the vampires and see if she could help
them. He thought for sure Giles would stop her but no, Giles thought the
vampires could be valuable allies. Willow was always willing to give a
second chance so Xander was his only hope. That turned out to be
somewhat of a false hope. He remembered the first meeting, it was only
Spike, Dru and himself there arguing over who was more evil and who
deserved to die more and on and on. He had gotten really angry with
Spike when Spike tried to apologize for trying to kill him and his
girlfriend. He had turned Spike's girlfriend into a vampire could
anything be worse than that? Well, he had also driven her insane. Dru
just sat in the corner the first meeting whimpering 'I killed my bird, I
killed all my birds' repeatedly. And here they were now a year later
with a few less vampires and a lot less death.

"Number six?" Angel was starting to worry this would never end.

"Accept that you do have a demon inside you and resolve to always keep
it under control" Exactly, Angel thought, remember you are a demon.

"This doesn't mean you are a demon, just think of it as your bad side.
You all have the capacity for good, we just want you remember that the
demon will always be with you but that you are not the demon."
 Xander was a little weak on this guideline, he wasn't sure he fully
believed it himself. He had been beaten down though by Buffy and Giles
insistence on this fact. He had to trust they were right. He also had
just realized he was running this meeting so if he decided to cut this
guideline reading off here no one would stop him.

"Okay, great, I think we all got the gist of it. You all have copies now
so I say take them home put them on your fridge or whatever. You all now
these by heart anyway." Xander saw Angel then lurking in the shadows at
the back of the room and thought...cake!


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------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 12:51:07 PDT
From: "Andrea Newbery" <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Vampires Anonymous, (5/5) by Andrea

Title: Vampires Anonymous
Author: Andrea Newbery
e-mail: [e-mail]
Distribution: sure, as long as I know where.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: everything up to KbD
Summary: I have been spending way too much time thinking about Angel's
soul or lack thereof. That is not actually in the story but it is still
true. Anyway I was thinking way to much on how Angel will get his soul
back and I started thinking that it might be interesting if, say Willow
found the ritual and performed it but made a slight mistake and restored
the souls of everyone in the factory with Angel.  So I decided to see
what would happen.
Disclaimer: The characters of Angel, Buffy et al. are the property of
Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB and whoever elseà No copyright
infringement intended. Please don't sue me I'm already up to my neck in
debt!
Feedback: Please...good, bad, whatever!





"I would like to congratulate Spike and Dru on there first anniversary
in the group, as you know the group started with just three of you and
slowly built from there. Angel is also..."
 Xander voice trailed off as he felt the look Angel was giving him.
Buffy was mouthing 'No' and shaking her head franticly. Right, he forgot
Angel wouldn't do the group thing and had threatened to disappear if
forced to. Tempting.

"Anyway I invite everyone to join Spike and Dru in having cake and
beverages to mark this milestone in their life."
Xander walked quickly to the snack table hoping to get a piece of cake
before the vampires got there. Nothing personal really, they just were
used to eating there food live and so were somewhat rusty on table
manners.
Giles walked up to him with an obvious purpose in mind. "Xander, we were
thinking"
 This did not bode well for him, "We think if you talk to Angel he may
join in with the group."
 Him talk to Angel, try to convince him to join? He could do that; look
like the big hero to everyone, succeeding were everyone else had failed.
If he succeeded. He may just end up pushing Angel farther away; they had
a bit of a rocky history.

 "Giles, Angel and I, we...well, we aren't exactly the best of
friends.... And I'm not as sure as the rest of you on this group idea
and..." He watched Giles to see if his words had any effect, the watcher
simply motioned his hand towards Angel. Xander grabbed another piece of
cake, he knew Angel wouldn't take it, but Angel food cake was his
favorite.
 He did not want to have this talk with Angel but he was fully aware of
how persuasive (read violent) Buffy could be when she wanted something.
"So Angel, how's it going?"

Angel just looked at him, suspicious of his motives.
"Right I forgot, you-no-speak."
Angel continued staring at him, almost daring him to say anything.
Xander just took a deep breath and jumped in,
"Okay here's the deal, everyone has decided that you need to be involved
with this group. I have been chosen as the next unsuccessful person to
try and convince you that you're not evil. I am not the best person to
be doing this 'cause I'm not sure you aren't."
Angel looked slightly interested at this news.

"I do know however that you can control this evil, you did it before and
you've done it for the last year unless maybe you've taken off for short
killing trips?" Angel just looked at him.

" Okay right, the way I see it Buffy and the others will never stop
bugging you so you may as well give in and fake it. I do things for
Cordelia all the time that I don't want to but they make her happy. I
mean look at my clothes, they match. Do you think I would have done
this?"
Xander stopped talking for a minute as he thought about the horribly
conventional clothes he was wearing. The things a guy will do for....

"So, I'm thinking, you go up there, say a few words, Buffy will be
deliriously happy. I will be the hero and everyone will have a great
evening" He watched Angel hopefully, praying he saw this as a sensible
solution.
After a few minutes Angel laughed and said, "So I just pretend to
believe this feel good junk to get everyone to lay off? Xander you
really should consider a career in politics."

This sounded to Xander as if maybe he was thinking about it. "So..."

"I'll do it, it serves them right for trying to force me into this."
Xander could barely contain his grin; he was going to be such the hero.
 He took off for the front of the room dragging Angel behind him so he
wouldn't change his mind. He grabbed the mike and spoke into it.
"Okay is everyone ready to get back to business?"
Everyone sat back in their seats; Buffy, Giles and Willow sat in the
front row watching Angel anxiously.


"We have someone here tonight who you all know, he is speaking tonight
for the first time. Please give a warm welcome to Angel..." A gasp ran
through the group, Angel had been very vocal about his thoughts on this
stuff. They were all curious about him though. He represented hope to
them, a human, the slayer, had actually fallen in love with him. Angel
walked to the podium as Buffy grinned at him.
 He cleared his throat, took an unnecessary deep breath and began, " Hi,
my name is Angel and I have a soul."

The End




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