Strange Place to Live:
Holy Matrimony
by Cynamin

"We got this far
not by luck
but by never turning back"
~The Hard Way
Mary Chapin Carpenter

The church as of yet had no flowers, no decorations, and the few people gathered were wearing everyday clothes, but in her mind’s eye Buffy could see exactly how it all would look on her wedding day. Absolutely beautiful. That was the bride-to-be Buffy. The Slayer saw at the same time places where demons could hide, best places for fighting, ambushes laid. Yet Buffy rebelled against those thoughts now. After all, except for vampires there’d been very little of threat in the last month. And so the dreamy vision of the wedding took precedence, and Buffy wasn’t aware of much else.

The wedding rehearsal had ended just a few minutes before. Buffy’s family and friends were making their way out of the church, but Buffy hung back a bit, lost in thought. A hand on her shoulder startled her.

It was Willow. "Hey," she said, "you coming?"

Buffy smiled slightly. The wedding was going to be perfect - and perfectly normal. Willow and Cordelia were going to be her bridesmaids, Xander and Oz were the groomsmen. Both of Buffy’s parents were going to be there, and Giles was standing in for family of the groom. The reception after the wedding was going to be held in the mansion, being the only private residence they had access to without too much money that was large enough. Undead party crashers were not a usual wedding concern. Then, Buffy and Angel were spending a week in the

Bahamas.After the craziness of the last few months, they definitely needed a vacation. The wedding might be normal, but everything leading up to it certainly hadn’t been. They’d had to forgo some of the usual pre-wedding events. What with the constantly threatening monster attacks, there just wasn’t time. Even tonight was going to be dealing with demons instead of the impending wedding. That’s where everyone was going now - the Scooby gang was meeting at Giles’ house to face whatever might be thrown at them.

Buffy shook her head slightly. "I’ll be there," she said to Willow. "I want to talk to Father Riley."

Willow frowned. "Don’t be too long. It’s getting dark."

Buffy laughed. "Yes, ma’am."

Willow smiled and walked towards Giles at the door. Buffy watched them go, then crossed the church to where Father Riley stood. He was talking to Angel and both smiled when Buffy came over to them.

"Buffy," Father Riley acknowledged, while Angel put an arm around her shoulder. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

Buffy grinned from ear to ear. "Definitely." After a moment she looked at the priest seriously. "Can I talk to you for a moment, Father?" She looked at Angel, reluctantly conveying that she wanted to speak to the priest alone.

The priest nodded. Angel gave Buffy a kiss on the forehead, saying, "I’ll wait for you outside," and left Buffy and Father Riley alone.

When Buffy hesitated about saying anything, Father Riley regarded Buffy with a questioning expression. "What’s wrong, Buffy?" he asked.

"Wrong?" Buffy asked in surprise. "Nothing. I just wanted to thank you."

"Thank me? Ms. Summers, that’s not necessary. Performing a wedding . . ."

"I’m not talking about that," Buffy interrupted. "Well, not entirely." The young priest looked confused. "You know that we’re not exactly . . . normal. I mean, how we met you and all . . . And you know that we had to be a bit, uh, creative, in order to make this legal. But you’ve never said anything about it.

The priest nodded in understanding. "You want to know why."

"Yeah."

"Buffy," the priest explained, "when we first met, when Angel was in the hospital, you asked why I helped him after I saw my cross burn him. I said that he needed help at the time, even if the circumstances were odd." Buffy nodded. "I’ve since learned that there are a lot of odd circumstances around here."

Buffy looked at Father Riley in surprise. Off her look, he continued. "People aren’t as oblivious around here as you think, Ms. Summers. Though, as a member of the church, perhaps I am a bit more open to the supernatural than most. Connecting legends with real life isn’t that hard. And it doesn’t take much for me to remember that you asked about banishment of demons when you saw your cross no longer burned Angel. So, I can guess a lot. But I also hear a lot. And those same people who’ve lived in Sunnydale for a while, who talk about all the strange things in town, talk about you sometimes."

"Me?" Buffy asked in alarm.

The priest nodded. "You always seem to be at the center of action, they say, and many of them give you credit for saving their lives. I figure you know about a lot going on that I don’t want to know about." He paused for a moment, thinking. "I’m a pretty good judge of character, Buffy, and you are a very good person. You care a lot about people. The man you are marrying tomorrow is a good person as well, I think, and he cares a lot about you. That’s all I need to know."

Buffy smiled. "Thanks." Then she thought about what he’d said for a moment. "You haven’t . . . spoken to anyone else about this, have you?" "No. And I won’t."

Buffy sighed in relief.

Father Riley smiled. "Go on, Buffy. It’s getting dark, and you don’t want to leave your friends waiting."

Nodding, Buffy practically bounced towards the door. Part way there, she turned around to face the priest again. "You know," she said, "if it wasn’t for you this wouldn’t be happening. We couldn’t get married . . . before."

"You’re welcome." Father Riley laughed slightly. "Now get going!"

Buffy grinned, spun around, and waltzed towards the doors. Father Riley’s answers had given her one less thing to worry about. She couldn’t feel anything but joy, no matter what else might be ahead.

She was surprised when there was no one outside the doors at first. Not worried, just surprised. "Angel!" Buffy called. There was no response. "Angel!" Looking around, Buffy did not see Angel anywhere. She continued to call out his name as she began to walk around the church.

On the side of the church where few ever walked, Buffy saw her first proof that something was wrong. Standing in the yard across from one of Sunnydale’s twelve cemeteries, Buffy was disgusted at the smell of things rotting. It filled her senses, though it had no discernable source. The grass and nearby bushes showed clear signs of a fight, broken and trampled. There was no one here any more, but even Buffy could see - and smell - where they had been.

"Angel?"

Now she was worried.

By the time Angel exited the church, Giles and the rest of Buffy’s friends had already left. Not that he minded at all. He stood outside the doors of the church, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. The sunset was beautiful tonight, just beginning to turn the sky brilliant colors of gold and red. Angel smiled. He had yet to see a sunset that wasn’t beautiful.

And tomorrow, he was going to be married. Married! To a woman who loved him unconditionally, whom he loved more than life itself. Coming from him, who a year ago didn’t have a "life" to speak of, that was really saying something. A year ago he never would have guessed that he’d ever be standing where he was today - watching the sunset outside a church while waiting for Buffy, his fiancée, a day before they would be wed. Destiny was a wonderful thing.

Of course, that was assuming they both made it tomorrow. Angel had looked over some of the records that Giles had found. He wasn’t sure if Buffy was aware of this, but the only other Slayer who had gotten engaged had survived to the day before her wedding. Both she and her fiancé had been killed in the night. Giles tried to be optimistic, saying that since the prophecies seemed to clearly indicate that the "Wedded Slayer" was Buffy, with Angel her husband, they had to survive through their wedding.

But Angel was used to being pessimistic. It didn’t help that Giles would not show him or Buffy the entirety of what he’d found. Giles insisted that the prophecies referred to the two of them because of something in the wording, light and darkness, Slayer and vampire . . . but Angel couldn’t be sure. Even if it was a certain thing, what was to stop . . . whoever . . . from attempting to thwart prophecy? After all, Buffy had already managed that once.

Not that Angel was letting such things predominate his thoughts. He was incredibly happy to be where he was, his gloom-and-doom habits quickly becoming a thing of the past. He was just ready for whatever might come, and, god forbid, preparing for the worst.

A strange noise rustled to Angel’s left, making him jump, then instantly wary. A normal human probably wouldn’t have heard the sound at all. Angel glanced at the doors behind him, but Buffy did not appear. The sound came again, and slipping a stake into his hand, Angel moved to investigate.

As Angel approached the corner of the church, he became aware of something else - a smell. He recognized it, and was instantly revolted. The smell of rotting corpses was not one he ever wanted to be familiar with. Still, the sound came again, and Angel found himself approaching the source of the smell.

The side of the church was lined with bushes, and it was here that the sound was coming from. It was part rustle of disturbed plants, part moan of . . . something. Angel approached cautiously, listening as well for the sound of Buffy leaving the church. Angel was standing in front of the bushes now.

Neither the source of the sound nor the smell was visible. Slowly, cautiously, Angel leaned over the bushes, pushing them apart so that he could see behind them. Nothing. The smell, that horrible corpse smell, was stronger now, overwhelmingly so. It was so strong that it no longer had a definite source at all.

A new sound stirred the quiet evening. Already tense, Angel listened to the very soft step of someone trying to sneak up behind him. He waited, unmoving, for the person to come closer. Then, stake at the ready, he spun to meet his enemy.

He met a zombie.

At least a dozen zombies, actually, their recently reanimated bodies the source of the now overwhelming stench. *Why did it have to be zombies?* Fighting a dozen zombies was not a great option. The stake Angel held meant nothing to them. They could be torn limb from limb and still come after you. Still, it was either fight, or let them tear *him* limb from limb. Backed against the church, running was not an option.

So Angel fought.

Exhausted, depleted of weapons, and surrounded by zombies, Angel never saw the blow that knocked him out from behind.

Giles was pacing the length of his living room. Willow ground up herbs almost violently, staring at the bowl on the table with almost too much focus. Xander and Oz were having a hushed conversation, looking at the door instead of each other. Cordelia filed her nails with singe-minded determination.

Stopping in the middle of the floor, Giles looked sharply at Willow, again. "They said they were coming, right?"

Willow rubbed her forehead and looked up at Giles. "Buffy said she was coming, she wanted to speak to Father Riley." Her tone was exasperated she’d already said this. "I assume Angel is with her."

Giles began pacing again Willow went back to her magical preparations. A nervous routine.

"If you’re all so anxious," Cordelia said, not looking up from her nails, "why doesn’t Willow cast this spell without the lovebirds?"

Everyone fell silent and stared at her.

Cordelia looked up at them in surprise. "What?" she said. "We cast the spell, find the demons, and then Buffy and Angel show up to kick some demon but."

Xander laughed suddenly. "Does it strike anyone else as odd that Cordelia came up with a good plan?"

Before they could deteriorate into bickering, Willow sprang to her feet with her bowl of herbs and went to the already prepared ritual space. As the threat of demons had increased in recent weeks, Willow had gone back to her old routine of casting the demon locator spell every evening. There would be no demons sneaking up on them.

They had not heard from Kenneth since Giles had tried to contact him over a month ago. Still, Willow thought as she cast her spell, in some ways he was helping them every time she used the magic he’d taught her. There was little he’d taught her that she used as often or was as useful as the demon locator spell. So often had she used this spell now, she had no doubt it would work. But as Willow completed the spell, it did not work as she expected. Instead of creating simple green smoke, it ended in a flash of green light instead.

Xander jumped. "What was that?"

Willow was flustered. "I don’t know."

A knock came at the door. "I hope that’s Buffy," Giles said, standing up.

"So where’s the demon?" Xander asked.

The door disintegrated. A flurry of writhing tentacles filled the doorway.

"I think it’s already here," Willow replied.

Part Eleven

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