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It was a was a typical winter's day in Sunnydale. Buffy shivered as it started to snow. She quickened her pace as she reached the high school. A breeze played with her hair like it had hands. "Hey Buff!" Xander exclaimed from behind. She turned to see him run to her. "Hey. What's up?" she asked. "Nothing much. Have you seen Willow? I need to talk to her for a second," he explained. She shrugged. "Sorry, I haven't seen her today." Then he spotted her and ran off. Buffy sighed and went to her homeroom. Another boring day, she thought to herself. At lunchtime, she met up with Willow, Xander and Giles in the library as usual. Willow looked at her with a concerned look. "What's wrong?" she asked. Buffy sighed. "Angel and I argued last night. He left really angry." "What were you arguing about?" Willow asked. "Us. I don't think we can work out as a couple. I really don't," Buffy explained. "So, he's out the way then?" Xander asked, looking excited. Willow eyed him warningly. "Sorry." "I don't know. Who's ever heard of a human loving a vampire? Especially when the human's a slayer?" Buffy asked. "I would say the chances of such an occurrence are indeed very low, but seeing as it's you, I suppose I'm not the least bit surprised," Giles said. "Thanks," Buffy replied, rolling her eyes. "Has anyone noticed the weird weather here lately?" Willow asked. "What's so weird about it?" Buffy asked. "It never snows here. I mean never. This is the first snow I've ever seen here. And it was really hot yesterday," Willow explained. "It is most extraordinary, I must admit. I doubt there's anything behind it though, if that's what you're thinking," Giles said, looking up from a book. "Let's hope so," Buffy thought aloud. "Really, Buffy. Supernatural weather? This is a most extraordinary idea. I think your imagination is working more than reality this time," Giles said, amused at her idea. "Yeah, cheer up Buffy. Why don't you have some fun tonight and go slay? Why play video games when you can do the real thing?" Xander said, smiling. Buffy laughed. "Thanks, Xander, but I think I'll leave that. I don't like risking my life too often in one week," she said. "It's not very good for you," she whispered to him. Xander shrugged. "Fair enough. I eat sugary foods, you slay. We all have different tastes," he said as the school bell rang and they all said goodbye to Giles and walked off to their classes. That night, Buffy went up to her bedroom. It was getting late so she switched her bedside lamp on. The weather had changed yet again and even through the double-glazed windows you could hear she wind howl through the streets, blowing the rain in every possible direction. She pulled her curtains shut to block out the dreary weather and sat down. She had felt bad about her argument with Angel. Then something hit her - when she had been arguing with Angel, they had been in the Bronze and the weather was calm and quiet. It had been sunny that day and the forecast was not inclining towards any storms or weather fluctuation. Oh for God's sake, it's just weather! Why does everything have to creep me out? she wondered. Even so, she knew in the back of her mind that something wasn't right. She thought a good night's sleep would do her good so she changed and went to sleep. She woke up in the middle of the night. The temperature had plummeted and she could hear the wind howl. It was pitch dark and she felt like she was being watched. Slowly her vision started to adjust to the darkness of her room and she jumped when something banged against the wall. Someone or something is in my room, she realised, as she had closed the window firmly the night before. It must be Angel, she thought to herself. Suddenly she became very angry. Why can't he just leave me alone? I should've just killed him as soon as I found out what he was, she thought. Meanwhile, it watched her from the other side of the room. Angel was right, she looks perfect, it thought. Buffy was just about to put the light on when her mom opened the door. It ran out of the window but it was too quick for Joyce to see. Buffy, though, was sure she'd seen something clambering to get outside. "Can you not get to sleep like me? Why is your window open, dear? It's making such a racket," her mom said, yawning. She switched the lights on and closed the window. "Thanks, mom," Buffy said, then Joyce left. There is definitely something wrong, I can feel it, Buffy thought to herself as she glanced around the room before switching the light off and falling asleep again. * * * Next day it was still raining and she quickly ran into Sunnydale High to away from the bad weather. "Oh, look what the cat dragged in," Cordy sneered, glancing up from her locker. Of course, she wasn't wet at all. I suppose her precious parents gave Miss Wonderful a lift, Buffy thought. Ignoring her, Buffy walked on. "I'm starting to wonder why they call it Sunnydale," Xander exclaimed, when Buffy caught up with him and Willow hanging around a corridor. "Well, I wish it was sunny. I got drenched coming into school," Buffy said, noticing she seemed to be the wettest out of the three of them. "Have you seen Angel again? Did you talk to him about your argument?" Willow asked, curious. Buffy shook her head. "No. I think something is going on though. Something weird happened last night. I don't like this," Buffy said, remembering last night's incident. "What? With the weather? Ooh, did Jack Frost hit you? I'll protect you!" Xander asked, kidding. "No. Someone, or more something, was in my bedroom last night." "That something would mean Angel then, right? I mean, it is a thing, not a person, right?" Xander asked. "No. I don't know who or what it was. I think it was more of a 'what' though. You see, I woke up during the night and it was pitch dark so I didn't see it well, but my window was open and I'm sure I locked it the night before. And then when my mom came in and switched the lights on, I saw in the corner of my eye something jumping out my window. I don't like this," Buffy explained. "Ooh, weird. As usual," Willow stated. "Yeah. Moms, who wants 'em?" Xander said, expecting the girls to laugh, but they just looked at him warningly instead. "Sorry," he apologised. "I think you should see Angel. Maybe he knows what's going on," Willow suggested. Buffy sighed. "But that's it. I don't want to in case its him that's causing this after our argument. I don't want to go near him if he's really angry. I mean, I know I'm the slayer and everything, but I've been thinking about this and I don't want to kill him. I do still kinda like him, just not enough for his liking. If we argue anymore I am gonna end up killing him," she explained. "I think we should meet up with Giles again at lunch and discuss this. We should find out what's the best thing to do and try and discover what that thing was in your room," Willow suggested. Buffy nodded and smiled. "It's great to have you guys to explain everything to. I don't know if I could cope without you two," she said and walked off to her homeroom. Xander ran in front of her and handed her his video shop card. "You know if you require my friendship services again or any Xander services here's my card, miss,' he said, mocking a policeman's voice. She laughed. "Get out of my way. Thanks all the same though, Xand, I'll see ya soon,' she said, walking off. "She's one of a kind," Willow said, catching up with Xander. * * * Buffy's morning classes were normal; the same kind of work, the same troublemakers pulling the same pranks, but yet there was something eerily different about it too. Throughout each lesson, she felt like someone nearby was keeping an eye on her. Everytime she turned to try and see who it was there wasn't anyone there. I'm getting paranoid, she thought to herself as she packed her books away as the school bell rang for lunch. All the same, she was still relieved to walk into the library and meet up with her friends. "Hey Buffy! I've just been telling Giles what you were saying this morning. You know, about last night," Willow said. She sat down next to her. "Yeah. Even during my classes I've been feeling like someone's watching me but when I look no-one's there. This is really starting to annoy me now, let alone spook me out," Buffy said. "Could you describe to me what you saw trying to get out your window?" Giles asked, obviously most interested in the conversation. She sighed and tried to picture what she saw in her head so she could describe it. "Well, not very well. I mean, it was quite small. I'd say it was the size of a cat. It had like slashed ears, they were quite raggedy. I couldn't really see well. Anyway, it definitely felt like something bigger was in my room. Like, bigger than a cat. Definitely." "Hey! I'm sorry, but are you sure you didn't just leave your window open by mistake and a cat jumped in?" Xander asked sympathetically. "No. Something's going on, I'm certain," she replied sternly. "Ok. Well, I guess I can have a read about but there's not really much to go by I'm afraid," Giles said. Buffy nodded. "Still, if we can find anything it will be worth it. I'm sorry, I really can't remember anything much. Oh!" "What?" everyone asked in unison as she suddenly remembered something. "I just remembered. When I saw it, what attracted my attention to it for the few seconds I saw it was its eyes. They were shining with a funny tint. They were, like, multicoloured," she said, more to herself than to anyone else, remembering the few seconds encounter of the night before. "Why that makes it a lot easier. I shall try and find out what this creature is as soon as I can. I think this might take me a while so maybe you should come back after school and I'll be able to show you what I find, okay?" Giles suggested. Buffy nodded, relieved that hopefully there would be an explanation for all the weird events of the past few days. "We'll come too. I wanna see what's going on as well," Willow said, turning from talking privately to Xander. "Sure. Good to know you've been hearing me," Buffy said, half-sarcastically. "Yeah. Make that three of us. I wanna know about this demon cat too. Ooh, suddenly I don't feel quite so eager to go to my Aunt Edna's house on Sunday," Xander said. "Why? Does she have a cat?" Buffy asked. "Yeah, but that's not why. I just remembered she makes the worst orange juice known to man. Every year she calls me 'my dear' and sits me down for cookies and orange juice. If that's not a curse, what is? Grans and Aunts can be a lot worse than cats, I bet. At least cats can't talk," Xander said. "I'll come with you. I like orange juice," Willow said, obviously happy to learn she might be able to spend another afternoon with Xander. "Ah, yes. The persuasive old relative. That's a most deadly creature, I must inform you," Giles said, smiling for the first time in quite a while. Buffy laughed at Giles' and Xander's humour just as the bell went again and everyone said bye and left for their classes. Let's just hope Mr Peeking Tom's still out for lunch, she thought, half angry and half uneasy as she walked towards her classroom. * * * School went mind-numbingly slowly in the afternoon for Buffy. She couldn't stop thinking about what was going on, which wasn't very helpful when her history teacher sprung a question on the Civil War, which of course she didn't have a clue what the answer was. "In dreamland Ms. Summers? I suggest you leave and return to reality unless you wish to fail this subject," she said, sounding not at all surprised that Buffy hadn't been listening. Buffy nodded. "Sorry. I will," she said. The bell soon went and she quickly packed all her stuff and ran down the opposite direction to everyone else, trying not to get trampled on as she headed towards the library, every step she took heading her closer to finding out what the latest weird goings-on were about and every step making her wonder what was going to happen this time. She finally walked into the library, slowing her pace so as not to show how much she wanted to get there and find out more about the night before. Willow was on the computer and Xander was sitting on the table next to the computer watching her. Buffy sighed. "Hey," she said and smiling, quickly wiping the smile off her face without realising it. "I think this is what you're looking for," a familiar voice said from behind a bookshelf. Giles appeared with Owen Thurman and gave him a book. "Hey, Buffy. Jeez, you're always in the library," he said, confused. "Yeah. I admit it, I'm a library freak!" Buffy said to him as he and Giles walked down the stairs towards her. She looked at the book he'd been given. "You just can't get enough of Emily, can you?" she said. "Yeah. Ok, I admit it as well, I'm an Emily Dickinson freak," he said with a small grin. "See you!" he shouted as he left the library. "Ok then. I guess you'll be impatient to know what my books and I have found out this afternoon then," Giles asked. "Your books must have good time together," Xander said, turning to see what Giles had to say. "Yes, we're life-long friends," he replied. Buffy sat on the table nearby. "Go on. Tell me, put me out of my misery. What is this cat thing that I'm certain is watching me?" she asked. Giles sighed. "Ok. Well, I think I've discovered what it is that you saw. This could be big, I'm afraid," he said, while finding the book with the information in it. "How big?" Xander asked. "Quite big, I do fear. You see, that was a cat you, Buffy, saw. Only it was possessed by the soul of a demon. This demon is no amateur as such. I'm afraid its abilities include controlling the elements. Now I realise I shouldn't have laughed at your assumption of the weather being strange," Giles explained. "Ok, so I was right about that, but what harm can come from some rain and snow?" Buffy asked. "Yeah. Are there killer snowmen on the loose?" Xander asked. "Oh, I hope it can't hear us talking. How eerie," Willow said. "It can't hear us as long as we're inside. Unfortunately, this creature can read our minds while we're exposed to the weather it's controlling," Giles explained. "Ooh. Freaky," Xander said. "But what does it want? What harm's it going to do?" Buffy repeated. "Well, it usually stays quiet as such, but the texts say that every five or ten years they have to sacrifice a human. This is because when they sacrifice a human, any special talent or powers that person had they inherit and if they don't sacrifice a human after about fifteen years, it slowly dies. "I think, I'm afraid, that it wants you. The only thing I'm not sure of is how it knows you're who it wants. Although it can read your mind, it doesn't know your strengths and weaknesses. It has to ask permission from a vampire of a high class before it can take the sacrifice," Giles continued. Then Buffy realised what had happened. "Angel," she said to herself. "What? Do you think it was him?" Willow asked. "Well, he was angry after our argument. Oh, I knew something was wrong. Oh God, I'll have to do something. Giles, how can I defeat it? It's not got a body," Buffy asked, getting flustered. "Ok, calm down. If you can find Angel, he'll know what to do. The vampire who has authorised everything is the only one who can stop it from happening," Giles said. "Ok. I'm going to get ready to find him at the Bronze. See you guys," she said as she ran out of the library. "Buffy! Don't you want me to drive you home?" Giles shouted, running after her, afraid it might dangerous for her to be in the demon's view when few people were around. "It'll be quicker to run. Thanks anyway!" she shouted as she ran into the street...
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ANGEL'S
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