The Blood of the Soul

The Dawn of Hope

A/N: Thank you all for your patience with me on this one! This one's pushing 10k words, and I have a feeling the next few chapters might fall into a similar cadence as I wrap this story up. Enjoy!

[For any of those wondering, my fancast for young Giles is absolutely Milo from Atlantis. You're welcome.]

Theo

After only a few days out of town, New York's skyscrapers seemed formidable. The buildings had once offered a refuge from the sun, but now that he was untethered by the threat of daylight and he'd adopted Liam's sleeping schedule, Theo had fallen into the cadence of the sun rising and falling in the sky.

The buildings stretched tall enough to block out most of the pre-dawn sky, and Theo squirmed around the unfamiliar sensation of claustrophobia, made worse by the constant noise of the city. He popped headphones in so that his sensitive vampire ears wouldn't be overloaded in the first ten minutes after stepping off the train. He missed the trees behind Willow's house and the quiet house, but if he was being honest, Theo was homesick for a place, but a person. Two people.

As soon as that thought entered his mind, Theo plucked his earbuds out and immersed himself in the city. As much a comfort as the headphones were, he couldn't afford someone sneaking up on him. Especially not when he wasn't entirely certain how much of that nearly fatal night in the warehouse had made it back to the rest of the supernatural community.

Theo doubted that he'd be welcomed back with open arms.

Just in case, Theo stopped off at one of the local bars to get a sense of the atmosphere and see if he could pick up any gossip. Spike's contacts claimed that news of that night hadn't gotten out and, considering that Spike had slaughtered most of the demons there, Theo guessed that was still a possibility. It just seemed a little too easy, and he didn't trust anything that came easy.

It was a good sign that no heads turned, no conversations died in the wake of Theo's arrival at the bar. He ordered a glass of O-, thankful that the owner of this establishment went out of his way to humanely acquire his blood. He'd suffered during the shortage like the rest of the vampire population did when the Slayer first got to town, but now the blood was abundant and cheap.

When Theo was satisfied that no news was good news, he made his way down his old familiar route. The sun would crest over the horizon within a few minutes, which meant that he should be catching the Dread Doctors at a good time.

Theo tapped the necklace beneath his layers, letting his connection with Tara and Mia and Liam give him the strength to unlock the door like nothing had changed—like he hadn't packed up all his shit and left without a word.

As soon as the door was open, Caitlin lurched, baring her fangs, but Theo grasped her by the roots of her hair, keeping her feral little mouth as far away from himself as possible. She cried out as some of her hair came away in his fist, and Theo flung her away. She caught herself on the wall and reached a tender hand up to the top of her head.

Mari studied him with a thoughtful expression that he couldn't quite parse out. It wasn't relief, but it also wasn't quite lethal, either.

Doug seemed to be the least surprised by his return. He lowered a hand, tapping his cigarette to loose the ashes into a grimy ash tray he'd never cleaned once in his forsaken life, and leaned forward to rest his elbows across his knees.

"Come crawling back to beg for forgiveness?" Doug mused.

Theo slipped his bag from his shoulder and let it slide to the floor.

"If you think I'm here to beg, you're sorely mistaken."

Doug inhaled deeply, exhaling a cloud of smoke that had Theo's nose crinkling. At least Spike had the decency to smoke near the window, to let the breeze carry the stench away.