Summary: Angel and Spike spend the year trying to hang on to their souls, and each other
One Month Later
Part One:
Angel had driven all night. He wasn't sure he'd make it to Sunnydale before dawn, but he knew he had to try. He had been on auto-pilot ever since... No, he wouldn't think about it, wouldn't picture it. He would just drive from memory, hugging the turns as he came into town. He found his way to the cemetery easily. It had been a couple of years since he had been here for Joyce's funeral, but he knew this foggy place better than he knew the Hyperion. There were still rooms of the Hyperion he had not looked in, but he knew every headstone of this place. Every stone door, every crypt.
He parked his car outside the high iron gates and made his way slowly through the low fog to Spike's Crypt. His body was bruised on nearly every inch. His neck still sporting a large hole where the beast had gouged the stake in. He tried to focus on the task at hand, but could not get the evening's earlier fight out of his head. The wide entrance to the crypt seemed like home to him, after this night Angel wanted nothing more than to fall asleep in his childe's arms. He heard quiet sounds inside, the television droning on, a glass being swished, a bowl of chips being crunched. It all sounded very plain. Very normal. It was what he had come back to the Hellmouth for. A big dose of normal.
Angel knocked on the door and heard a crash inside. There was a hurried shuffling towards the entryway. Angel felt his stomach tighten. He had not seen Spike since Cordelia had come back. It seemed another lifetime then. Angel had only had two short weeks with Spike before he had taken off again. Back to Buffy, back to his life. Angel had been left with...
The door swung open, breaking his train of thought. He was met not with the cool blue eyes he had expected, but red ones. Red eyes staring at him from what may have been the most wrinkled face he had ever seen on a demon.
"Can I help you?" The demon asked.
"Um, I'm looking for Spike. Is he home?" Angel asked. The Demon gave a relieved sigh and smiled.
"Oh good, no he's not here. I thought you were gonna, ya know, attack me."
"Why would you think that?"
"Well, prime crypt like this, you vampires seem to think you just get first dibs or whatever. Come in, come in." the demon waved a hideously flabby arm at Angel and motioned him into the dark crypt. An infomercial was playing on the small television and there was a spilt bowl of bugle chips on the floor. "You must be Angel." The demon continued.
"Yeah, Angel. Did Spike?" Angel didn't finish the question; he stared at the nearly empty crypt looking for some sign of Spike, but saw none.
"Nah, I've actually seen pictures of you at the Slayer's house." Angel focused his attention back to the walking drapery of skin.
"You know Buffy?" He said, trying to avoid being rude.
"Oh yeah, we go way back, met her last year. We played kitten poker. Good times." He stuck his arm in Angel's direction again. "Name's Clem."
"Nice to meet you." Angel replied as he shook the offered hand. "I'm really looking for Spike."
"Well, truth is I haven't seen him since he went to Africa. I told him I'd keep an eye on the place, and well, he just hasn't come back." Clem took a seat on the worn recliner that sat in front of the television and motioned to a wooden chair for Angel. The vampire shook his head at the offer.
"I haven't seen him in nearly a month myself, figured he'd come back here first thing." Angel strained to pick up some lingering scent of Spike, but all he smelled was the lint that filled the demon's skin folds.
"I guess you could try the Slayer's place. Chances are she'll know where he is, they have, um, history." Clem pulled away from Angel's stare and looked back to the television.
"Yeah, I know." The two demons shared a quick pained glance. "Guess I'll try Buffy then. Thanks for the heads up." Angel turned back to the door.
"Tell her `hi' for me, her kid sis too, sweet kid." Clem called after him.
"Sure, No problem." He opened the door and headed back to his car. The sky was beginning to lighten, he'd half to hurry to Buffy's if he was going to beat the sun.
*****
It was nearly six-thirty in the morning when Buffy heard a knock at the door. She threw on a robe and headed for the stairs. When she was halfway to the landing she saw Angel's familiar form in the door's glass panes. She hurried her step, seeing the sun coming up fast. She opened the door and pulled him inside. "Angel, what are you doing standing in the sun? Why didn't you just come in?"
"Wasn't sure if there was still an invite." Angel smiled.
"There is always an invite." Buffy reached out to give her former lover a hug, but he winced at the gesture. Only then did she truly look at him. She had never seen him so battered, and they had fought some hellacious battles. Angel couldn't help but notice her stare.
"I know, it looks bad." He slid off his heavy leather coat, relieved to have the extra weight off of his wounds.
"It doesn't just look bad. It is bad. Take your shirt off, I'll get the first aid kit." She forced him into the kitchen and pulled out a stool for him to sit on.
As Angel sat in her kitchen, taking his shirt off, he couldn't help remembering the first time he had sat in this same position. It was nearly seven years earlier, and they had only just begun to fall in love. He knew Buffy was reliving the memory too, he tried to smile again, but he was exhausted. Exhausted from the fight, the drive, and the disappointment of not finding Spike at the crypt. Buffy took out a bottle of peroxide and some cotton balls and began cleaning the slashes that covered the vampire's back and chest.
"Angel, what did this?" She asked as she traced the black form of his tattoo with a moist ball of cotton.
"I don't know. I can't be gone long either, but I had to," he paused as tears filled his eyes, "I had to leave, but I'll have to go back tonight. I just needed to see..." He covered his eyes with his hands, trying to regain his composure.
Buffy stopped wiping the blood from his back and stood in front of him. "You had to see who? Angel, you're scaring me, what is going on?" She pulled his hands down to look into his eyes. "Please, tell me."
"I need to find Spike." Angel looked away, not wanting to show the Slayer how much he needed his childe. "He wasn't at his crypt, and he left in such a hurry, and I didn't know what to say. I let him go without saying anything." Angel wiped more tears away. He then grabbed his torn shirt from the counter and started to put it back on. Buffy's small hand stopped him.
"Okay, first, I'm not done. Second, when did you see Spike? And last, what did this to you?" Buffy held his gaze, willing him to tell her what she needed. Angel let her take the shirt from his hand and begin wiping his chest down with the peroxide. His skin bubbled as the liquid met the torrents of blood that had spilled from his neck earlier in the night.
"Alright," Angel began in a hushed voice. "You can finish, I'm already healing, I'm just a little weak still. You know, my summer vacation was a hoot." He didn't smile now. "Spike came to me after he got back from Africa. He was so ashamed at what he'd done to you, Buffy. He was so sorry, he didn't know how to start. Guess he figured I'm the master when it comes to needing forgiveness for unspeakable evils committed by my alter ego." They shared a forced smile at the painful memory of Angelus. Angel continued. "We did a spell to bring Cordy back, I couldn't do it, but he did. He brought her back, but then he left. I couldn't follow him; I didn't know what to say. As for this," He traced a finger over the still gaping hole in his neck, "I have no idea what it was. Cordy had a vision, and Lorne read her." He stopped.
"Go on." Buffy urged.
"I can't. Buffy, I can't." He stopped trying to hold back the tears as the image of his son on top of Cordelia filled his mind. That had hurt worse than anything the beast did to him. "I need Spike." He whispered over and over as Buffy pulled him into her embrace. He tried to be soothed by her gentle words of comfort, but he could find no peace.
"Angel, Spike's here." Buffy said softly. "He's upstairs." Angel pulled away, not sure what to think. He let her wipe his tears away with her smooth, warm hands.
"He's here?" Angel could barely get the words out.
"He is." Buffy continued, "But, Angel, he's not okay. There is something messing with all of us, and it has been going after Spike worst of all. Playing with his mind. He's been feeding."
"Feeding, on humans? How? The chip was working when he was in LA."
"It was working here too, but whatever this thing is, it found a way to get into Spike's mind. I still don't know how much permanent damage it's done." She wiped the last of the blood from Angel's shoulder, placing a bandage over what looked like an arrow hole, and helped him off the stool. "Come on. I'll take you up to him."
They made their way up the stairs to the spare bedroom. Angel could hear Spike's mumbling in his sleep before the door was opened. He could only make out about every other word. "Devour. Go Away. Beneath. I remember." Buffy opened the door slowly, but she did not enter. "I'll be in my room if you need me."
"Thank you, Buffy." Angel said, in earnest. She closed the door, then leaned her back to it as her own tears began to fall from her eyes.
Inside Angel sat on the edge of the bed and kicked his shoes off. He then undid his pants and stood so they would fall to the floor. He had found Spike, but he shivered at the sight of him. He was fighting something, even in his dreams. Angel pulled back the blankets, careful to not uncover the sleeping vampire as he slid in next to him. Once he was sure he had not awakened him, Angel let his hand move over the bony hip of his childe. He pulled himself closer to Spike's small frame. At last Angel let the familiar scent he had been searching for all night fill his nostrils. A smell that only belonged to Spike. To his William.
Angel had only just laid his head on the pillow, when he felt Spike shudder. He watched as Spike's blond head turned over to look into Angel's luscious brown eyes, still wet with tears. The younger vampire's gaze lasted only a moment before he flew out of the bed, only stopping when he hit the far wall of the room.
"You are not here! You aren't real!" Spike screamed. "Buffy, Buffy!" He banged his head backward against the wall as he continued to scream. Angel climbed out of the bed slowly, not wanting to make Spike's panic worse, but every inch that he moved closer to Spike only resulted in a renewed volley of screams.
Buffy ran into the room, nearly ripping the hinges off the door as she came. She hardly noticed that Angel was wearing nothing but boxers and Spike was completely naked, flailing against the wall. "Buffy, it's back. It's here. It wants me to hurt people." Spike cried. "Buffy, kill it please, kill it. It makes me see what I want to see. It's not real." Buffy took Spike's hand and pulled him close.
"Spike, it's not here. It's really Angel." She caressed his hair and talked softly amid his continued screams. "William, listen to me. Angel was worried about you, that's why he's here. Look at him please. Angel's hurt, he wanted to be sure you were okay." Buffy repeated herself several more times. The same soothing words over and over, until Spike finally stopped screaming and looked at Angel again.
"He's not here." He whispered again. "He loves Cordelia, not William. He's not coming back." He continued to stare at Angel as he said the words.
"Spike, I'm here, it's really me. Will, can't you tell it's me?" Angel took a tentative step forward and tried to reach out his hand for Spike to take. He held his hand extended for several moments before Spike took a hold of it, running his small fingers over the numerous wounds that covered Angel's hands.
"Angel?" Spike asked, finally believing that it was not a dream.
"It's me. I'm here." Spike released himself from Buffy's hold and dove into the arms of his sire. Angel clutched at Spike's bare back, not feeling it possible to hold him tight enough. Spike returned the strong grasp, trying to find a place that was not ravaged with torn tissue. Angel leaned his face down to that of his childe's and was met with hungry lips, searching for a remembered home. Angel found a mouth of cool softness, just waiting to kiss that which had been missing for weeks. Both vampires let out a sea of `I love yous' into the room, and the kiss seemed to swallow them both, wiping away weeks of anguish. Together they found strength they had lost when they parted. In a room with a woman they both loved, they lost themselves in each other, as the Slayer's jaw hit the floor.
After several moments Spike was calm enough to break the hungry kiss he had shared with his sire. Not wanting to let go completely, he rested his forehead against Angel's chest, welcoming the rhythmic swaying as Angel rocked him gently. "I'm here." He whispered into Spike's ear. "I'm here."
"I know. You're here." Came Spike's reply. "Promise me you're real. Angel, promise me."
"I promise." Angel felt his chest moisten as his childe's tears trailed across it. He held Spike's still trembling body close to his, acutely aware of Buffy's incredulous gaze. He did not speak. He had no words to describe his relationship with Spike. No way to convey to her what they shared. No way to make her understand the need they shared. All he could do was give her a look to meet her own and hope she found answers in his tear-filled eyes. Buffy gave him a small smile, unsure of her own meaning, the feelings too fresh to discern. Only when she heard footsteps in the hall did she become aware of the awkwardness that surrounded the trio.
Willow had been awakened by Spike's screaming, just as the sunlight began to flood her room. Afraid he was in the throws of an episode she had grabbed her fuzzy robe from the hook on the door and hurried to his room. She stopped cold in her tracks as she saw Angel and Spike standing in the room with nothing but one pair of boxers between their bodies.
"Ouch!" Willow screamed as Buffy reached out and pinched her arm. She instinctively pinched Buffy back. "What the heckadoodle did you do that for?"
"I was kind of hoping we were sharing a dream." Buffy whispered.
"Well I can see why. What is going on in here?" Willow asked as she looked at the two vampires still holding each other in the center of the room. "I heard Spike screaming, so I thought... Well, I don't know what I thought, but you can bet this wasn't it."
"I have no idea." Buffy said.
"Um, Angel." Willow said quietly.
"Hi, Willow." Angel said without moving.
"Hi, Angel." Willow replied, unable to think of anything better. "Oh, have you had breakfast? We have some blood in the fridge."
"That sounds great, Willow. Make sure you warm some up for Spike too. I'll be down in a second."
"No!" Spike yelled. He quickly broke from Angel's embrace and looked into his eyes. "You can't leave. Angel, you can't leave."
"I'm not going anywhere without you, don't worry." Angel said as he stroked Spike's tangled hair with his hand. He turned to the two women. "We'll be down in a minute, okay."
Buffy nodded and she and Willow went downstairs.
*****
Willow placed two mugs full of pig's blood into the microwave and threw a paper towel over the top of them before closing the door. She then turned to Buffy, who was sitting at the counter on a stool.
"I know." The Slayer said in response to Willow's look. "It's just too weird. Angel said he needed to find Spike, that he came to LA when he got back from Africa. Then when I told him Spike was here he just freaked. He couldn't make it up the stairs fast enough. Then after I stepped out of the room Spike spazzed and thought Angel was whatever has been messing with him. Willow you should have seen them. As soon as Spike calmed down they couldn't let go of each other."
"Well, they're scared. Angel looks like hell, literally. It's just natural that they'd..."
"Willow, they kissed." Buffy interrupted. "Right there in front of me. They kissed." She tilted her head to the side; her eyes brimmed with tears.
"Okay, that's not natural." Willow said. "I mean, not that there's anything wrong with two men... Oh god. Buffy, I'm sorry." Just then the microwave beeped. Willow took out the mugs and set them on the counter to cool.
"I just had no idea. That night in the chapel, Spike said Angel should have told him, but I just thought he was talking about before, you know when Angel got his soul. It never occurred to me that Spike would go there first." Buffy wiped the wetness from the corner of her eyes and tried to calm herself.
"You're a little jealous aren't you?"
"No, I'm not." Buffy stopped. "Well, maybe a little. I mean why would Spike go to see Angel?"
"Because, I'm his Sire." Came the answer from the hallway.
Angel stepped through the archway to the kitchen making room for Spike to join him. The two vampires grabbed the warm mugs of blood from the counter and sat down to drink. The four of them sat in silence for a moment, until Willow stood to make some tea for Buffy and herself. Once they all had warm beverages they returned to their quiet vigil. No one sure how to begin.
"Angel?" A shrieking voice screamed as footsteps were heard plundering down the staircase. "Angel!" The voice yelled again.
Angel rose to meet Dawn's hug as she came running at him. "Hello, Dawn." The vampire said to the teenager.
"I saw your car out front. I'm so excited that you're here. By the way, did you know that you look like crap?" Dawn released Angel from her bear hug and took a step back.
"You're kidding?" Angel said touching his head. "Is it my hair? Quick get me a mirror. Oh that's right, Vampire." Angel pointed at himself, then gave Dawn a soft squeeze on the shoulder. "I'll be fine. Really."
"Great, so why are you here?"
"I just wanted to make sure everyone was all right." Angel cast a meaningful glance at his childe. "I was worried."
"So, Angel." Buffy interjected. "Are you going to tell us what did this to you or make us guess?" Angel took a sip of his drink and tried to find the appropriate words. "Okay, Spike did he tell you?" The other vampire remained equally silent, but gave a small shake of his head. "Great."
"I just wasn't sure where to start." Angel began. He motioned to Spike. "When you left, Cordelia didn't remember any of us. Nothing about where she'd been, or us."
"All of us?" Willow asked.
"Right. I mean nothing. Not Sunnydale or family, or me."
"But you love Cordelia." Spike whispered. "She had to remember you, or it wasn't worth it. What I did. It wasn't..." His cerulean eyes began to fill with tears at the thought.
"Wait. Spike." Buffy moved closer to the weeping vampire and held him fast. "If you brought Cordelia back it was worth it. You did what no one else could."
"Spike she knows now, but it's just different." Angel said, trying to comfort him.
"But you love her!" Spike yelled as he stood. "You love her!"
"This just keeps getting weirder." Willow said to Dawn.
Angel stood up as well and took a hold of Spike's arm. "She doesn't want me. Spike, listen to me. She said she saw my past, she saw Angelus. She can't be with me. She told me she couldn't love me anymore." Angel was now the one crying.
"She will though. Don't you see? She will want you back, and you'll leave and go to her. You love her, not William." Spike's face looked on the verge of changing. His anger nearly bringing out the demon within him. "She will want you back, just like you wanted her!" He yelled.
"No she won't!" Angel yelled back. "She'll never come back to me. Not now. Not ever."
"Yes she will. You can't stop that kind of love twice in a lifetime!" Spike said with a knowing look to Buffy. "You can't!"
"Damn it, Spike, listen!" Angel said as he grasped both of Spike's arms. "I saw her! I saw her with him." Angel slid down the wall, releasing his childe's arms as he fell to the ground sobbing.
"You saw her with who, Angel?" Buffy asked.
"Don't make me say it. I don't want to think it." Angel cried. "Oh god, don't make me think it."
Spike suddenly understood. There was only one type of pain he had ever seen Angel suffer so acutely. The pain of watching a childe take away the woman he loved. He had seen the same look in Angel's eyes more than a hundred years earlier. He had seen it the first time Drusilla had come to him in the night instead of Angel.
"It was Connor, wasn't it?" Spike asked gently. He crouched down and wrapped his arms around the collapsed form of his Sire.
"Don't make me say it, Spike. Please, I just don't want to say it." Angel whispered into Spike's shoulder.
"Angel, you still haven't told us what beat the hell out of you." Buffy said quietly. "If it's still out there we need to fight it. We need to kill it."
"We can't. It nearly killed me. For all I know Gunn and Wesley are already dead. It said I couldn't protect them." Angel closed his eyes against the memory of the beast.
"Then why did you leave LA?" Dawn asked.
"I had to get away. I had to find Spike. To make sure something was still as it should be." Angel uncovered his face and looked at his friends. "I can't fight it myself. I need help."
"There's a lot of that going around." Willow said.
"Yeah, whatever we've been battling here has the same M.O." Buffy stated. "Bigger than us, root of all evil kind of thing."
"Then we need to work together. We need to find out what is doing this. Chances are if we've got apocalypse number seven on the way it's connected." Angel said as he stood up, taking Spike with him. "First we need to get back to LA, unless what's going on here is in attack mode as well."
"Not yet, but I'm thinking we shouldn't completely divide camps that much. What if that's what it wants? For me to go running off to LA while it makes a home on the hellmouth." Buffy said.
"Good point. We need another option. I can't just take all your power back to LA and leave you here single-handed." Angel stated. "There's got to be another way."
"Faith." Spike said.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Faith." Spike repeated.
"We have plenty of faith," Dawn said, "unfortunately, blind faith doesn't kill monsters."
"He means Faith Faith, Dawn." Buffy said.
"Oh," Dawn said with a nod of her head, "I knew that."
"But how do we get her out of jail?" Willow asked.
"I don't know, but we have to. Angel's right, we need more help. We need all the help." Buffy said.
"Okay, so that's the first thing we do." Angel said. "I'll go back to LA and get Faith out, whatever it takes."
"I'm going too." Spike said, grabbing Angel's arm in a possessive gesture.
"I was hoping you would." Angel said as he kissed Spike on top of his head.
"You're right this is getting weird." Dawn said in a hushed voice to Willow.
"You have no idea." Willow answered.
"What do you mean, did I miss something?"
"Let's just say it's a good thing you're a heavy sleeper." Willow said with a smile.
"Willow?" Angel asked.
"Sorry Angel."
"No, don't worry about that." Angel said with a dismissive gesture. "I need you to start calling LA. I'll give you my office numbers, and everyone's cell phones. I need you to find out if they are okay. I can't do it."
"No, totally. You need to rest." Willow smiled. "I'll get right on it."
"And I'll bring some more blood up to you and Spike." Dawn said. "I don't mind."
"Dawn." Buffy said in a warning tone. "I'll bring some up in a bit. You two rest. I have a feeling you're going to need it."
"Thanks. I appreciate it." Angel gave a quick nod to all of them and headed out of the kitchen for the stairs. Spike was close on his heels as the vampires made their way upstairs.
******
Part Three - Oranges
As soon as Spike and Angel reached the top of the stairs and were away from the rest of the group a wave of relaxation washed over them. Being in a room with Buffy, and to a lesser extent the others, was nearly unbearable for both vampires. Angel had searched all night for Spike, and to have to share him with the Slayer had taken every bit of self-restraint he had. Once alone, though, the world changed.
They quickly undressed each other and made for the bed. Not out of need for sex, but something far more primal, companionship. Closeness. They needed what all creatures that have been alone for vast periods of time need, sheer touch. Flesh against flesh. Once they were wrapped in the soft down of the bed they clamored for each other. Angel locked his arms around Spike and held him, afraid to kiss, afraid to move.
"Angel, it's going to be okay. I know it will." Spike said from beneath his sire's heavy grasp.
"I'm not sure this time. You didn't see this thing." Angel said back, squeezing Spike even closer.
"All I know is that I haven't stopped crying for days. I've been seeing Drusilla and the Master, Buffy when she isn't here, myself. Every time I thought I was going to be alright and let myself relax it would come back. And now that you're here, I don't feel like crying anymore. I don't want to cry. Not anymore."
Angel kissed the back of Spike's neck as a sign of understanding. "I've felt the same way. There's so much I want to tell you, but I feel like I can't get through it. When I close my eyes, all I see is them."
Spike rolled over, loosening Angel's grip ever so slightly and kissed him. "We will make it through this. As soon as the sun sets we'll head back to the hotel and see that Fred and Gunn are okay. We'll check on the watcher, and then we'll tackle the issue of Cordelia and little brother. Deal?"
"Yes." Angel sighed. "We'd better get some sleep; we're going to need it."
"True enough. Angel." Spike paused. "When I sleep, it's not...it's not pretty. I just want to you to be prepared. I have a tendency of late to try and open the curtains and such."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to let go of you. You won't have the chance to immolate." He gave his childe a smile and closed his eyes.
"Right then, sleep. Do me a favor, roll over and let me hold you for a spell." Spike planted another kiss on Angel's torn lips and urged him to roll over until he was facing the wall. He gingerly draped one arm over Angel's hip, letting his fingers dangle just above his sire's navel, his other arm resting above his head. Spike coaxed his fingers through Angel's blood coated hair, forcing a soft groan from his sire as Spike massaged his scalp.
"Need a shower." Angel said matter-of-factly.
"Not worried about it." Spike assured him, as he began to nibble on his ear lobe.
"Trying to sleep, Spike."
"Me too, stop doing that." He answered, continuing to suckle Angel's ear.
"Doing what?"
"Smiling."
"You can't see my face, Spike."
"I think you smell different when you smile. It changes you." Spike said, smiling himself.
"Good thing I don't do it very often."
"Oh yeah, cause tall, dark and stoic is always sexy." Spike let his hand slide forward from Angel's hip to caress his bruised abdomen.
"Funny, I don't feel sexy."
"You feel sexy to me, Angel." Spike said, letting his kisses move to Angel's neck. The worst of his wounds were luckily on the other side of his neck, leaving Spike free to make a trail with his tongue along the sensitive flesh of Angel's jaw line.
"Still sleeping." Angel said dreamily.
"Okay." Spike said turning over abruptly. Angel made a small noise of protest but did not roll over. Spike quietly reached into the nightstand and pulled out a bottle of massage oil. He coated his fingers before turning back over to spoon the larger vampire.
"Spike, why do I smell oranges?"
"Left over from the witches. Willow can't sleep in here anymore. Too painful, obviously." Spike crept his fingers back to Angel's hip and let them slip between the firm crease of his cheeks. Angel squirmed but did not move away. Spike ran slow circles over Angel's entrance, expecting to be pushed off of the bed at any moment. Instead, his fingers were welcomed into Angel's body with a gentle push. He moved slowly inside his cool entrance as Angel quietly rocked back and forth on his side, low growls emanating from his sire. Spike made no attempts to pleasure himself, wanting only to take away the pain the night had caused Angel. He continued to kiss Angel's neck and shoulders while he slid his slender fingers deeper into the smooth passage of his lover.
"Spike, please." Angel let out, arching against the hand that filled him. "Please make me...."
"No, Angel." Spike said, continuing to massage Angel's swelling prostate. "I don't need too. Just relax. Let me take away the pain." At his words Angel pulled away from Spike's calming hands and rolled over to face him.
"You are." He leaned closer to Spike's face, resting his cheek against Spike's forehead. "You are taking it." He moved lower on the bed and kissed Spike's waiting mouth. Spike welcomed his sire's tongue into a dance with his own. Savoring the flavor that belonged to his lover, sweet and in pain. Angel reached over his shoulder and grabbed the bottle of oil and placed it into Spike's hand. "Make me forget." Angel folded his body up, lifting his glorious ass into the air. Spike moved behind him, stroking his own swollen cock for the first time in weeks.
"Are you sure?" Spike asked as he covered his length with the oil, letting the aroma of the orange fill his senses and calm his nerves.
"I'm sure." Angel answered through clenched teeth.
Spike pressed forward, letting Angel take him in slowly. He felt his walls adjust ever so slightly, opening to him further. Spike let out a growl of his own, pressing deep within his lover. Angel arched his back again, forcing Spike's balls to slap against his own with a concussion of power. The movement brought Angel's cock to life and Spike willingly reached a hand around to help stroke it with his still-wet fingers.
Angel set the pace of Spike's intrusion; a slow rocking that made a dull thumping against his prostate with each thrust. After several moments of gentle and slow movement Angel began to hurry the pace. Each thrust building force, Spike's hand moving more rapidly against Angel's engorged cock. As he neared his climax, Angel's eyes filled with tears. Spike felt a stream of tears fall on his hands and went to stop his harsh pace.
"No, please, don't stop." Angel cried. Unsure, but nearing his own orgasm, Spike pressed deep into his sire, growling deep in his throat, kissing the back of Angel's neck as he sobbed. Angel's seed filled Spike's hand and his sobs grew even louder. Spike quickened his pace once more, wanting to be done, wanting to hold his sire. At last he felt the burning grow within and in a final movement released his orgasm into Angel. Spent, he moved off of his sire, and lay beside him in the bed. Angel's body shook violently as he sobbed.
"I'm so sorry Angel." Spike whispered to his sire. "I didn't want to hurt you; it was selfish of me. This being ensouled thing isn't all it's cracked up to be, I'm still the same man I was. I'm so sorry I hurt you." He wanted to reach out and hold Angel, but was now afraid he would recoil at his touch as Buffy once had.
"No. No." Angel said as he tried to regain his composure. "You didn't hurt me, Spike. Oh god, you didn't. It was just what I needed. It was perfect, it really was." He slid across the bed to be closer to his childe. "Spike, I wouldn't have made it through this day without you." He kissed Spike though his body still trembled.
"You're sure? If I hurt you again I wouldn't be able to live with myself." He welcomed Angel's kisses again, a simple answer to a complex question. There was no hurt those lips could not cure. Spike had spent a lifetime away from Angel, and wondered how he had survived a day without his sire.
"Sleep now." Angel said.
"No shower?"
"Not now, I don't want to let go of you yet. We'll get cleaned up after a while. Hopefully after a few hours some of these cuts will be healed enough to not burn when the soap hits them."
"Sorry we don't have any human blood. It would heal you faster. I just can`t..." Spike closed his eyes, hoping to hide the hunger that had been reawakened in him.
"Neither of us need that temptation." Angel agreed. "We'll be fine, I just hope the others are okay. I just hope Willow can reach them. I should have checked before I left. It was selfish of..."
"Enough. You did what you had to. You left. No one here blames you, and if team Angel doesn't understand they can get shagged." Spike leaned into Angel's chest and dragged a heavy arm over his side, burying himself in the broad expanse of his lover's chest. "We'll know how it all turned out soon enough."
******
Chapter Four
The Evening After
Just before sunset Angel and Spike had gathered a few pints of blood, a new shirt Buffy had bought Angel during the day, and waited for the last rays of fatal light to fade into the hills of Sunnydale.
"You'll be alright?" Buffy asked as Spike opened the door to leave.
"Yeah. Getting away from the Hellmouth'll do me some good. Hopin' my sidekicks will decide to stay here." He cocked his head to the side and smiled at the Slayer. "Gonna miss me that much, eh?"
"I think we'll manage. Be safe." She said, taking a small step forward, then stopping before she reached out to hug him.
"We're going. Now." Angel said as he walked out the door.
"Bye to you too, Angel." Buffy said.
"Keep calling LA. Let me know if you reach them." Angel said without turning around.
"Keep trying." Spike said.
"Wait!" Dawn screeched, running down the stairs. She handed a small package to Spike. "Here."
"Didn't realize we were exchanging parting gifts. I'd have baked a cake."
"It's not a gift. It's a weapon."
"Gotcha." He shrugged at her and placed the package in his coat pocket. He followed Angel down the walkway, turning around from the yard. "I'll see you soon, yeah."
"Soon." Buffy answered and shut the door.
******
"They're fine."
"Uh-huh."
"Angel, they are fine."
Silence.
"Angel, say it."
"They're fine. Happy?"
"No. Not happy. They probably had their cell phones smashed during the fight. Lines of communication are down. That can happen during an apocalypse." As if on cue the package in Spike's pocket rang out the theme to Bonanza. "Dammit." Spike ripped open the package as the phone rang again. He stared at the small buttons, locating one that said talk. "Hello?" He said into the phone.
"Spike?"
"Who else would it be? You gave it to me, remember, little bit?"
"Don't call me that. Willow just wanted me to let you know that she still hasn't reached anybody."
"It won't work." Angel said.
"Why not?"
"Because we're home." Spike looked out of the windshield to see the rain of fire, which continued to pour down on Los Angeles.
"Oh, Shit."
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Angel turned off the freeway and continued until the hotel was in view.
*******
Inside the hotel, Wesley, Lorne and Gunn had just returned, Fred was apparently trying to keep the cavalry from charging and the phone was ringing.
"Oh my gosh, Angel." Fred squealed. "And Spike. You're back."
"Nothing gets by you, does it?" Spike said, giving her a quick hug.
"Angel." Wesley started. "Do you have a plan?"
"No." He gave a nod to Spike and walked upstairs.
"I do." Lorne said to the vanishing vampire. "Of course, it involves hiding, with cowering in my room as a major theme."
"We are not hiding." Angel said from the top of the staircase. "We are regrouping." He then moved out of the group's sight.
"He's had a long day." Spike said before taking to the stairs himself.
"Did he see Connor or Cordelia? We need to know if they're okay." Wesley said.
"Um, they're fine. Just do me a favor." Spike said turning to the group. "Don't say either of those names in Angel's presence, or you will answer to me." With that he left the room.
"What the heck is that about?" Gunn asked.
"Jealous boyfriend thing." Wesley said with an arched eyebrow aimed at Gunn. "You of all people should recognize that."
"Don't start with me, English."
Wesley turned his back on Gunn and left the hotel.
*******
Cordelia felt a hand resting on her hip and opened her eyes to see Connor smiling in his sleep.
"Oh my god." She whispered, quickly rolling onto her other side and pulling the tattered blanket close to her chest. Her movements awoke the sleeping teenager that had shared her bed the night before. No. More than her bed. She and he had... "Oh god." She said again.
Connor leaned up on one elbow and began to nuzzle her neck. He gently massaged her hip briefly then reached his arm around to cup her stomach. "Good morning."
"Yeah, well good in that the world didn't end, I guess." Or maybe it did and I'm in hell, she thought.
******
"Hey Peaches, what are we doing up here when the help is downstairs?"
Angel had lain down on the bed and was staring at the ceiling. "Nothing. We are doing nothing."
"Is this nothing going to involve kissing?" Spike said as he sat down on the bed.
"It might."
"Well then, count me in. We'll let LA burn while we shag and pick through the ruins later." Spike made a move towards Angel, but only met his shoulder as Angel sat up.
"This thing is going to kill us." Spike kissed his sire on the neck and wrapped his arm around his waist.
"It might, but hey, getting killed without the morpho-vision isn't such a downside to me."
"No visions since we left Sunnydale?" Angel asked.
"Not a one."
"Good." Angel said in response to both Spike's answer and nuzzling. He turned to take his childe's mouth into a soft kiss, letting his lips linger a moment before standing up.
"Research mode?" Spike said, following Angel's lead towards the door.
"I guess. More along the lines of shuffling paper to look busy, but either way." He said shrugging his shoulders.
*******
When Cordelia entered the hotel Angel was in his office looking at a mound of paperwork. Spike and Fred were reading in the back office. In the lobby Gunn and Lorne manned the phones, playing tag-team with a notepad. Lorne put a caller on hold just long enough to point Cordy towards Angel's door.
"Right, blood on the walls. Didn't you call yesterday?"
"Angel?" Cordelia said poking her head through the door of his office.
Angel looked up and made a small "Ugh" sound. "What do you want?"
"I was worried about you."
"Sure." He continued moving papers from file to file.
"And Connor." Angel walked out of the office. Cordelia followed him, then placed a hand on his arm to stop him. Angel flinched and turned back to her.
"Could we please not do this right now. I'm busy." He went back into the office and tried to shut the door. Cordelia placed a foot in the way to stop the door and followed him in.
"Angel, look at me." Angel looked up but avoided her stare. She began to say something else, but looking through the large window in the office she saw Spike sitting with Fred. "Is that Spike?"
"Yeah. He's here."
"I see that, dumb ass. What is he doing here?"
******
Spike looked up just as Cordelia was looking at him. "What the Hell is she doing here?" He asked Fred.
"Well, she does work here, kind of. I mean I guess she does. Why wouldn't she be here? This is the command post."
"She should not be here." Spike said standing up.
*******
"What. Do. You. Want?" Angel said again.
"I already told you, attention span. I wanted to talk to you about Connor."
"I already know." Angel said, not trying to mask the anger he felt.
"You do?" Cordelia asked incredulously.
"Yeah, I do. And I really don't want to talk about it."
"This Demon sprang up from the exact spot where your son was born, and you don't want to talk about it?"
"He what?"
"You just said you knew."
"Of course I do." Angel paused. "You think it's his fault, well it's not. I'll figure it out."
"Look, maybe you don't believe it, but Connor does, and now he's disappeared, and I don't know where he is."
"He'll turn up." Angel exited the office once more.
"Angel." Cordelia followed him but was stopped in mid-stride by Spike.
"Enough." Spike said. "You need to back off. Now."
"Look, Spike, I don't know why you're here again, but you had better back off." She tried to side step the vampire but failed. Spike pushed her back into the office and shut the door. He held the knob so she could not turn it and smiled at Angel.
"Let her out."
"Nope, don't think so. Go find little brother and I'll deal with Mrs. Robinson."
"That's not funny."
"Admit it," Spike said, struggling to keep the door shut. "it's a little funny. Go, please, find him."
"I think I can help with that." The two vampires pivoted to see Wesley enter the lobby. "He's at Wolfram and Hart, he's trapped there."
"And I'm guessing our new friend is there too." Spike interjected.
"Yes, the beast is there."
"Gunn, Lorne, Mount up." Angel shouted across the lobby as he grabbed a broadsword from the weapons cabinet. "Fred, get a move on."
"I'll take care of the princess." Spike leaned forward to give Angel a kiss. "Bring him home safe, okay."
"Yep."
Spike waited for the group to leave before opening the door. Cordelia flew at him in a rage. "What are you doing letting him go without me?" She reached out to punch him, but Spike easily caught her fist and pressed her down into a chair. He leaned on the counter as she fumed in her seat.
"So, Cordelia." Spike drawled. "You look positively flushed. Rough night?" Her eyes widened. "Oh, catching on are we?"
Cordelia nodded.
"Good. Then we can skip the pleasantries." He jumped on top of the desk, letting his legs dangle over the side of the counter. "I'm thinking I might drain you and put my sire out of his misery. Thoughts, concerns?"
*******
Part Five - Catching Up
"Tell me again why the powerful, albeit semi-scary vampire got to stay at the Hyperion with Cordy while I'm charging into battle with you all?" Lorne asked as he, Gunn, Fred, and Wesley followed Angel through a dripping sewer that ran under the Wolfram and Hart building.
"He's not exactly battle ready and you are." Angel answered. "Besides, we're not here for the monster. We are here for Connor. We get him, we get out. If any of you see the big bad you turn tail and run. I mean run fast. This thing is not going to hurt any of you." Angel pushed open a sewer grate and allowed Wesley to take the lead.
"It's about two hundred meters from here. It was a pretty long drop though. I'm not sure your grappling hook will reach the top." Wesley turned a corner and paused for a moment before taking a turn to the left.
"You sure this is the way?" Gunn asked. "Your info doesn't always pan out, ya know."
"I know where I'm going, and exactly what I need to do to get there." Wesley said. He turned another corner and stopped under a hole in the tunnel's ceiling.
"How do we know this isn't just some set up? You ain't exactly been part of the team lately. We could end up.."
"Shut Up." Angel yelled at the spatting men. "I don't give a rat's ass what's going on with you two. Put it away. We're here to get Connor. You leave your crap here. If either of you put him in more danger by not paying attention I'll kill you myself." With that he grabbed a duffle bag full of rope and leapt up into the hole. Once at the top he threw the rope back down and helped the others up.
*****
Spike and Cordelia sat in the lobby of the Hyperion daring the other to speak first. The vampire lounged comfortably atop the counter, occasionally licking his lips and making a show of staring at Cordelia's neck.
"You are not drinking from me you creep, so quit making moon eyes at my jugular. I don't know if Buffy goes in for that whole donor thing, but not me, so don't get any ideas." Cordelia said, trying to look more confident than she felt.
"Oh don't worry your pretty little head about ideas, peaches. I'm way beyond ideas. I've had ideas, thoughts, plans, and maps, fancy pencil drawings, trial runs, you name it. I'm thinking I'm ready for the real deal." Spike cocked his head and gave her a look that screamed predator. She began to stand up, but Spike jumped from the counter and in a second had a cold hand on her shoulder, holding her in place.
"Get your hands off of me." She said through gritted teeth. Spike kneeled in front of her and leaned close to whisper in her ear.
"You shouldn't be worried about my hands." He then took a seat on the sofa, reclining back against the plush velvet. "I'm glad we get to spend this time together." He said, his voice far cheerier than before.
"Oh yeah, we'll bond for sure." Cordelia said quietly.
"No love, we've already bonded." He licked his lips again and continued. "I wish you could see the little hole in my brain as clearly as I can. When I reached through the axis to pull you back into this reality it was almost as if you climbed right through my skull and some pieces of my brain came out with you. Did you feel that?" He did not give her time to respond. "I was so dazed I hardly remember going back to Sunnydale. I remember waking up in a dank basement, thinking I must be at Buffy's, but then I realized I wasn't chained to a wall, so I knew I was somewhere else. I looked around a bit, wandered through halls that never seemed to end, doors that all led to the same little room. So, that's where I planted myself."
"Why didn't you just go back to your crypt or whatever?"
"Loaned it to a friend when I went to Africa, figured he was pretty comfy there."
"What the hell were you doing in Africa?" Cordelia asked with feigned interest.
"Getting my soul, keep up. Figured Angel would have told you." Spike laughed at his own assumption. "No, I guess he wouldn't have talked about my visit too much."
"Not really, but I knew you were here while I was gone. Saw the whole show, but the one downside to living on a higher plane is that you don't always get audio."
"Fascinating, so back to my story, eh? So I'm in the basement and I start seeing people I knew, Drusilla, the Master, Buffy, and others, even Adam-look-at-all-my-parts. They were always there, talking, always talking. Never let me get a moments rest, never let me sleep, never let me feed. I thought it was the soul. I tried to cut it out, did everything short of staking myself. All I wanted was to see Buffy, but she didn't come. I just wandered the room, trying to ignore the voices, and she didn't come."
"I'm heart broken."
"Shut up. It's your fault I had to go back there so soon at all." Spike said as he stood up, barely containing the rage he felt.
"How is your screwed up crazy crap my fault?" Cordelia said rising from her chair.
"Because Angel loved you. You sodding idiot. He loved you more than anything, deeper than I've seen him love anyone in years, and you threw it in his face." Spike wanted to kill her, not even to feed, just to end her. "He nearly died a dozen times over for you, and you were completely oblivious."
"I was not oblivious." She said taking a step back as she saw his anger grow.
"They gave you a choice didn't they?"
"Who?"
"The Powers, they gave you the choice. You chose to leave him, and he looked for you. He waited for you. I pulled him from the bloody ocean floor and he still wanted only you."
"Don't you lie to me!" Cordelia yelled. "I saw you two together. The night I came back. I saw you, so don't you talk to me about the pain he felt. I felt it too!" She sank back onto the chair and began to cry. "He thinks I don't know, but I'm not stupid, Spike."
"So that's all that Connor was? Payback?" Spike asked through his own burgeoning tears.
"God, no. We thought the fucking world was going to end. It was just, it was insane."
"Oh, that I get. I'd shag my pseudo-son in that circumstance too."
"I am not his mother, Spike."
"You're the only mother he knew as a baby, which since I knew his real mum, I'm going to say that's a good thing. You were his father's, well whatever you were then, you're Maggie May now, so get used to it."
"You really are disgusting aren't you?" Cordelia asked.
"You have no idea." Spike said to himself as much as her.
*****
Wolfram & Hart's lobby was as still as a graveyard, one that wasn't located in Sunnydale at least. There was not a single person left alive. Blood coated the walls, floors, desks, windows, and everything in between. To call it a massacre would have implied that the people inside had time to realize what was happening before they were in the Beast's grasp. These people had died by the hundreds in a manner of minutes. Angel stepped over countless bodies, forcing himself to look at each face to make sure it wasn't his son's.
It didn't take long to make it to the conference room on the third floor. Angel could smell Connor's scent, but he was long gone by the time they reached the pile of rubble that had covered him when Lilah left
"He was alive when he left this room. We'll take the stairs, search each floor and meet up top."
"Angel?" Fred asked. "What do we do if we come across the demony guy?"
"If you see the Beast don't try to fight him. Just run like hell." Angel made his way down the hall.
"Right, we see the big bad and we make like Alice back down the rabbit hole." Gunn grabbed Fred by the arm and went the opposite direction Angel had gone. Wesley and Lorne followed closely behind.
*****
Angel had just turned a corner on the seventh floor when he caught Connor's scent. He had no more than taken a step before he felt a body lunging at him. Angel instinctively grabbed his opponent by the throat and slammed him up against a wall.
"Dad." Angel blinked to clear his vision and realized who he was holding.
"Connor!" Angel pulled his son into an embrace them pushed him back inspecting for injuries. "Jesus, I was so worried. What were you thinking coming here?"
"I had to know what I am. I'm connected to this demon." Connor said, brushing Angel's hands off of him to show he was fine. "The Beast and I came from the same place. You know this is my fault."
"No, I don't. All I know is that there are a lot of weird coincidences going on. Look, Connor none of that matters right now. We need to find the others and get out of here." Just as he turned around Angel felt a blow rain down on his neck. He expected to be facing the Beast, but instead saw Gavin Park, although a rather dead looking Gavin.
"Dad, look out." Connor kicked at the lawyer's knees and knocked him to the ground. No sooner had he hit the floor than he crept back up and made a second lunge at Angel. The vampire easily pushed him back down with a forearm and shoved Connor towards the stairwell. "What was that?"
"A zombie."
"What's a zombie?" Connor asked. As he glanced down the hall he saw several more bodies beginning to stir. "They look dead."
"They are, they're undead."
"Like you."
"No." Angel said punching another zombie. "Zombies are slow moving dimwitted dead things that crave human flesh."
"Like you." Connor said smiling.
"No, not like me." Angel took up his broadsword to decapitate another zombie as it attacked and was immediately come at from another. "There are a lot of them. Let's find the others and get out of here." The duo entered the stairwell and both started heading upwards.
"Since when does Wesley wear so much cologne?" Connor asked.
"I have no idea what's up with Wesley. They are all acting bizarre."
"Even for them." They continued their ascent until they reached the ninth floor and heard the rest of the group pinned in a small room, surrounded by several dozen of Wolfram and Hart's finest. Angel and Connor quickly disposed of several of the zombies before they reached the door. Angel kicked in the door, giving the others a good scare.
"Connor!" Fred exclaimed.
"Angel." Wesley said nonchalantly.
"Wes." Angel nodded. "Any ideas to get out of here?"
"Only two ways out of the building that I know of. Third floor stock room and the lobby."
"We can make that." Connor said.
"Not all of us. Too many dead men walking." Angel thought for a moment. "There is another way."
******
Angel, Connor, Fred, Wesley, and Gunn instantly appeared in the middle of the hotel lobby, swords at the ready.
"She sent us home." Angel said, looking around the lobby. Spike was on the couch reading and Cordelia... "Oh." Angel made a rushed entrance into his office, with Spike not far behind.
"How the frilly heck did you do that?" Cordelia asked the others, after giving Connor a quick hug.
"We didn't, it was a little girl." Fred answered.
"More precisely, something ancient and evil that likes to dress up like a little girl." Wesley added.
"Was the Beast there?"
"Oh, yeah. Sucked the filling right out of evil-red riding hood." Gunn said.
"Mmm. Lovely." Cordelia said. "I'm gonna go check on Angel."
She walked to the office door, looking through the mini-blinds that were pulled halfway up, and saw Angel and Spike kissing. As she put her hand on the door Spike opened his eyes and stared at her, not breaking the kiss. He closed his eyes again and pulled Angel even closer. Undaunted, Cordelia opened the door. Angel let go of Spike with reluctance and began shuffling papers on the desk.
"I was worried."
"I bet." Angel said.
"I'm just glad you all made it home safe."
"Yep."
"Angel, please talk to me. Tell me what I can do to help."
"You can take your new boyfriend and get the hell out of here." He took Spike by the hand and led him out of the office and up the stairs to his room. Spike's smile as he passed Cordelia did not go unnoticed.
******
Part Six - Goodnight Moon
Angel had been sitting alone in his room for hours. Spike had long since cleaned himself up and went downstairs to do some reading. Connor and Cordelia had left the night before, and Wesley had followed suit. Angel had thought Gunn and Fred went out to, but there were the occasional shouts from the office to remind him they had not. They sat together, uncomfortable, detached. Now Angel wished the others would come back, if for no reason other than the mindless chatter that would eventually float up the stairs. He wanted to hear something other than the sirens outside, the occasional screams from passersby. The silence was painful, until Lorne made his way down the hall, humming some show tune that Angel couldn't quite identify.
Lorne opened the door, a glass of pig's blood in his hand. "Brought you some lunch."
"Set it on the table." Angel said, continuing to work on the sketch of the Beast he was penciling. He moved slowly over the demon's horns. Lorne looked over the drawing and grimaced.
"Yeesh, you don't mind if I go screaming from the room do you?"
"Don't forget to shut the door on your way out."
"Well, if that's how you want to play it." Lorne turned to go.
"Play what?" Angel asked absently.
"Oh please Angelcakes. Don't bother me, I'm brooding."
"I'm not brooding. I'm researching."
"About the apocalyptic beast? So's everyone else. Downstairs. Wesley included."
"I work better alone."
"Tough shit. Your a, I don't really want to use the C word, but I will."
"What?" Angel said as he stood up.
"A champion, and heroes don't get personal time. You need to come down and stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about the rest of the world."
"There's nothing on this beast, Lorne. I've read all of these," He motioned to a stack of books piled on the end table. "There's nothing there. No mentions at all, and this thing keeps showing up around my kid."
"The kid that's not completely done making the moves on the girl that might have been." Lorne impulsively took a step back to match Angel's step forward.
"You wanna shove that into English for me?"
"I know about Connor and Cordelia, it's a vibe. It's a thing. Point is I know, what can I say."
"You can say goodbye, take a hike."
"Angel, baby, when this whole thing is done Connor is still going to be your son. And you may not find perfect happiness with Cordelia, but there are other fish in the sea. Like a certain recently ensouled vampire sitting in the lobby with the rest of the team." Lorne said. He then left the room, leaving Angel alone once again.
*****
Angel sat in his dimly lit room, still alone, looking over the same books he had been looking at an hour ago. Every few moments his eyes would drift to the floor, which was littered with images of the demon. He felt himself begin to slip into a much-needed sleep when there was a knock on the door.
"What is it?" He asked.
"It's me. Can I come in?"
"Go away Cordelia." Angel answered. He stood up, prepared to lock the door, then sat back down. The door opened, and in walked Cordelia.
"I know I don't have to be invited, it's just polite." She crossed the room and sat beside him. Angel squirmed in his chair a bit before setting the book he was looking at on the floor.
"Angel." She started. "I don't know where to start."
"Then how `bout we skip to the end where you're finished and leave." Angel picked up the books and sketches he had been working on and walked over to the small desk that sat against the wall.
"Aren't you going to ask how Connor's doing?"
"Sure, and I'm sure you'll be asking how Spike is." He turned to stare at her. "I really don't need a progress report."
"That is not what I meant, and you know it." She rose from her chair. "He's scared to death and he needs his father. He needs you to tell him that you don't think he's connected to the beast."
"You know what? The thing does seem to keep popping up whenever he`s around. What am I supposed to think?"
"I swear, like father like son. Between you and Connor you've pretty much cornered the market on teenage snits. How about you stop being angry at me and..." Angel slammed his fists against the table and looked hard at her.
"How about you stop pretending to give a damn about my feelings and get out of here!" He shouted at her.
"I do give a damn. I give a whole lot of damn. That's why I came over here, to tell you that you need to get over it."
"What? Get over it?" Angel asked incredulously.
"Right now you and I are not the issue. There is a big beasty out there, and I had a vision of and..."
"You know I never thought of that. Get over it. It's so simple." Angel was tempted to physically throw her out of his room. He moved towards her, but as he did she reached a hand up to caress his cheek. He caught it in mid stride and held it tight.
"Angel, I'm sorry I hurt you. It's the last thing in the world I wanted to do." She turned her wrist painfully in Angel's grip. "But you have to get past it. And you have to get past it right now. People need you. Your son needs you."
"Fine. Tell me about your vision."
*****
"Look who decided to join the living." Spike said as Angel came down the stairs. "Anything exciting going on?"
"Nope." Angel said after leaning on the desk that Spike was working at. "Just another vision of Cordy's meant to vague things up a bit. Anything useful turn up down here?"
"Oh yeah. Our new friend killed a couple totems of a group called the Ra-tet, which included little miss evil in a plaid skirt."
"Sounds fun." Angel smiled.
"It's not, I assure you." Wesley said, coming from the inner office. "We're not sure what it means yet, but Fred and I are still looking."
"We need some new clues." Fred chimed in.
"Or new brains." Gunn added from behind the lobby counter.
"Maybe I can help."
The group turned to see a fabulous brunette wearing red leather pants and a halter-top, standing on the landing.
"Gwen." Angel said.
"Hi there, long time no hand to hand." She gracefully walked down the lobby steps, stopping a few feet from Angel.
"Nice surprise. You remember Gunn and Fred."
"Yeah, sorry about the whole..."
"Killing you thing." Fred interrupted. "We're still holding a grudge."
"No, really I'm sorry. I generally try to avoid contact." Gwen replied, rubbing her glove covered hands together to emphasize her point. "Mostly." She said with a knowing glance at Angel.
"Cordelia, this is..."
"Yeah, I know who she is." Cordelia stared at the unwelcome visitor. "Caught your little show on the omniscient higher plane channel. Thanks."
"Oh, I didn't." Spike said, rising to shake her hand. Gwen didn't extend her own.
"Sorry, don't want to be rude, but if I killed another one of Angel's friends, he might start taking it personally."
"Good enough. I'm William."
"Nice to know you." Gwen returned. She took another look at Cordelia before turning her attention solely on Angel. "So she's the one that makes your heart go pitter-pat, huh? Figuratively speaking I mean. You must be so happy."
"I am. Not having the best week." Angel said, also looking at Cordelia.
"Tell me about it. I mean really tell me about it. Is the world about to end or what?"
"Did something happen to you?" Angel said, taking a step to Gwen's side.
"I was meeting with a client in the oil fields last night, which is weird, because in three years of lifting for this guy he never wanted to meet until now."
"Fascinating, really. But we're dealing with some apocalyptic stuff here that takes precedence over..."
"So, anyway, we're talking and all of a sudden he gets his heart ripped out by some huge demon. Demon. The whole nine yards. Horns, cloven feet." As she was talking Lorne walked in. Gwen stared at him a moment. "He wasn't wearing lamé."
"The evil ones can't pull it off. It gets camp." Lorne said with a small laugh.
"So do you want to tell me what's going on? Freak to freak?"
"Um, Gwen." Fred said looking up from a book. "Was this client of yours by any chance a skinless saber tooth tiger or composed entirely of light?"
"Yeah, maybe. When the demon punched in his chest light came out of him."
"I think he was another member of the Ra-tet."
"You wanted a pattern." Gunn said. "He's killing the totems."
"Totems?" Gwen asked.
"There are five totems of the Ra-tet, each one symbolizing a step in the Egyptian sun god Ra's journey across the sky. The beast is killing them, but we don't know to what end."
"Think it's time to hear more about this vision of Cordelia's." Spike said.
"It was nothing." Angel said. "She saw the beast talking to someone, she doesn't know who, and she didn't get audio."
"It felt like I was inside someone, someone familiar."
"Who was inside you?" Spike asked. "I mean, who was it you were inside?"
"I don't know."
"Great, well at least the phone lines between the powers and us are still on." Gunn said.
"Which works in our favor. "Wesley said. "With Wolfram and Hart cut off with the death of the little girl, we have a leg up."
"You keep your leg down around here." Gunn warned.
"Okay, if there are three totems dead for sure, we need to find the other two. Manjet was last seen in Belize, the other lives in the valley." Fred interjected.
"Looks like somebody's having a road trip." Spike said.
"It's like a four-hour trip each way." Cordelia said.
"Great, we'll take Gwen. I'm sure the three of us can find something to talk about." Angel took Gwen by the arm and led her out the door.
"Or do." Spike added, following them.
******
It was nearly dawn when Spike, Angel, and Gwen returned to the hotel. When they arrived they had a short balding man in tow.
"Who's this?" Wesley asked.
"This is Manjet."
"This is a being of supreme power?" Wesley asked, eying the diminutive man before him.
"You should see me in my Armani." Manjet said, tipping his hat to Wesley. "And you can call me Manny."
"Where's the tiger guy?" Gunn asked.
"He had a slight case of being ripped open to death." Manjet said.
"Yeah, somebody already pulled out the toy surprise." Gwen added.
"Any idea why the beast is killing the Ra-tet?" Fred asked.
"He's going to blot out the sun, making LA a feeding ground for things that go bump in the night." Manny said.
"As far as evil plans go, it doesn't suck." Wesley said taking a seat on the arm of the couch.
"We better put guards on the entrances." Gunn said.
"Sure, let's keep the last totem of the Ra-tet in the home of the only people we're sure the beast knows."
"You got a better plan, Einstein?"
"Give me time." Wesley sneered.
"I've got a place." Gwen said. "Hey Manny, wanna come stay at my place?"
"Oh, you have no idea." Manjet said, grinning ear to ear. "Not that I'm holding out for some miracle, maybe a lap dance, but not a miracle."
"Where are you going to take him?" Cordelia asked. "Some non-descript tenement downtown, filled with..."
******
"The faint smell of death."
"You didn't have to come, Cordelia." Angel snapped at her as he sidestepped a pile of newspaper. The group had followed Gwen to a seemingly abandoned building a couple of miles from the Hyperion.
"Oh, come on. If the beast was going to look for us, don't you think it would be in a hellhole like this?"
"Oh yeah." Gunn said as Gwen opened the door to a vast lobby filled with velvet hangings and sculptures. "It would definitely be in a crapper just like this."
"My butler already left for Tahiti, so it may take me a second to remember where the panic room is." Gwen said, gazing at the various hallways that branched off of the lobby.
Angel leaned over to whisper in Cordelia's ear. "You know the Axis of Pythia, the thing Spike and I used to bring you home? It was worth $33 million, I gave it to Gwen when I was done." He smiled at her and followed Gwen.
She reached a large library and pulled a book from the wall. A door opened, revealing a concrete room. "Never give up a chance for a really good cliche." She shoved Manny into the room. "Twelve inch thick concrete walls, it's own ventilation."
"Hey does this thing get skinamax?" Manny asked.
"Goodbye, Manny. Sleep tight." She closed the door with a brush of her hand over a panel in the door.
"So, we'll keep watch in teams. Gwen and I will take the first shift." Angel said.
"How about we split up the super powers." Cordelia said.
"Sure. I'll take Denzel for second watch, if you don`t mind, I`m kinda wigged, thinking a hot totty is in order." Gwen said.
"Go for it supertramp." Cordelia chided.
"Um, yeah. We'll take four-hour shifts, sleep on the off hours. We're going to need it." Angel said, taking a seat on one of the plush chairs that sat in the center of the library.
"Maybe we should talk." Cordelia said, once she had settled into the chair next to Angel's.
"Maybe we shouldn't."
"Okay."
"Hey, Gwen." Angel called over his shoulder.
"Yeah."
"Got anything to drink?"
"There's a mini bar in the buffet against the wall."
"Hey, Fred."
"Yeah, Spike." Fred called from the lobby.
"Mount up. Angel just called."
"Oh, god, what happened?"
"The beast got Manny." Spike grabbed his coat from the rack and handed Fred's to her. "He wasn't sure how, but he wants us to go check on little brother."
"How did it get into her apartment?"
"Not sure, but according to Gwen Manny's superpower seems to be extra blood and guts. When the beast went to pull out the toy surprise he left quite a mess."
"Well, we better get going then. Should we take Lorne?"
"No, our charming host seems to be more of a lover than a fighter."
"Okay, then. Let's get to Connor's."
*****
When Spike and Fred made it to the ramshackle hole in the burning sky that Connor called home, they found him brooding over a book.
"Do you know what I always wondered about that book?" Spike asked from the doorway.
"No, what?" Connor asked, adding an invitation to the vampire to his reply.
"Why didn't Roquetin ever check out the next book the self-taught man was going to read to just really piss him off?" Connor laughed. "That and why Angel makes all of his children read it."
"What are you doing here?" Connor asked.
"Just checking in. Any demon sightings today?" Fred answered.
"No. No one comes here except Cordelia, and Angel when he needs to fit some peeping tom action into his schedule."
"Hey!" Spike cut him off. "Fred, will you give us a second?"
"Sure, I'll go back down to the car and wait for Angel."
"Thanks." Once she had left he continued. "Okay, baby brother, I don't want you to even start trying to explain what happened between you and the princess, because I'll be sick. I do, however , want you to tell me that you didn't do it just to hurt Angel." Spike stood close to the boy and waited for his answer.
"Of course not. We thought the world was going to end. Believe me, she's made it quite clear that it can't happen again." Connor diverted his eyes from those of the vampire.
"Good." Spike turned back towards the door and went to leave. "I'll come see you again. You'll want to talk later." He opened the door, but instead of hallway all he saw was the beast.
"Hello, Spike." The beast threw a fist at Spike and sent him flying into the wall. Connor lunged at the demon but barely got a single blow in before he was tossed through the air. He made a second leap but was once again stopped mid-stride. The beast threw him in the same direction he had sent Spike, but instead of hitting the wall Connor went through the window and plummeted to the ground below.
As soon as Connor hit the ground Fred was at his side, and soon Cordelia was there as well. Connor caught a glimpse of Angel rushing past him under a thick blanket.
"Connor. I'm here." Angel cried out to him from the safety of the shadows. "Where's the beast?"
"He's up there." Connor pointed. "Dad."
"Connor, it's okay, I'm here now."
"Dad, hurry, Spike's still up there."
Angel rushed up the stairs. Gunn and Fred followed, with a recently arrived Wesley in hot pursuit.
"Wes, did you get it?" Angel asked.
"Yes. I had to go back to my place, but I think that Fred and I will be able to open a porthole for you to push the beast into."
"Great, because we know how well that always works out." Gunn said.
"It's our best bet, Charles." Fred said.
When they entered Connor's place the beast was knelt within a circle on the floor. In front of him there was a statue made up of silver wings, the beast was breathing an energy into a small orb that rested on top of the wings. He then held a heart, still dripping with blood over the orb and chanted.
"Private party, or can anyone join?" Angel said as he swung his broadsword at the beast's head.
"Angel, get him away from the statue. If I can get close enough I can melt the metal of the wings.
"Right, Wesley, any time."
Fred and Wesley stood in a corner reading an incantation to open a portal. Below, in the street, Cordelia tended to Connor's wounds, but as she did they felt the air around them cooling, as the sky dimmed.
"What does it feel like to pass out? The lights get dimmer, right?" Connor asked.
"Why do you ask?" Cordelia said, following Connor's gaze to the heavens. As they watched black fingers seemed to curl around the shape of the sun. In a matter of seconds the sun was completely covered with black flames. The day had turned to night.
Back above Gunn, Angel, and a weakened Spike battled the beast. At last the air behind the demon began to fold as the porthole began to open. With a final dash Angel pushed the beast into the porthole and watched him disappear.
"Is that it?" Gwen asked.
"I'm not sure." Angel answered; looking around the apartment for the pieces of statuary that had been scattered in the fight. He spotted the orb, but as he made a move for it, the beast reappeared in front of him and took the orb into his hand. He opened his mouth and swallowed it.
"I told you once; you need not be my enemy. Angelus." The beast said before bolting out the window and disappearing once again.
"What?" Angel asked no one in particular.
*****
Chapter Seven - Awakenings
The main floor of the Hyperion was filled with raised voices. Wesley and Angel had been in the office for several hours debating the ups and downs of bringing Angelus back to find out if he knew anything about their most recent enemy. Fred and Lorne had been arguing about the finer points of evil vampire knowledge with Cordelia in the lobby, and Gunn, Connor, and Spike stood in the back office presenting the united No Angelus campaign to both factions. The shaman, Wu-Pang looked on from the sofa, sipping his glass of orange zinger tea, quite amused by the spectacle.
"Wesley, listen to me as I spell this out simply: No!" Angel calmly repeated to the former watcher. "You may have read all the fun facts you could find about Angelus, but you have no clue what you are asking, and since it isn't even possible, we are not discussing it any more."
"Angel, it is possible. Wu-Pang can not only remove your soul, he can put it back. If there is even a chance that Angelus knows this creature, it's worth trying to talk to him." Wesley pleaded.
"No it's not." Spike shouted from the adjoining room.
"He's right." Angel continued. "Angelus is the last person on earth you want loose in LA right now."
"He wouldn't be loose. We'll tie you, chain you, whatever it takes to keep him from escaping."
"You couldn't hold me any longer than I wanted to be held. You think you know Angelus, but you have never had the pleasure of his company and you have no idea what you are asking me to do. Get rid of the shaman." Angel said as he grabbed the door handle and walked out of the room. He silently walked through the lobby and onto the garden terrace. Spike was seated on the stone bench beside him within seconds.
"You're doing the right thing, Peaches."
"Must you call me that?" Angel winced.
"I could start calling you pastry names like your Pylean prophet in there." Spike said with a tilt of his head.
"Dear god no." Angel said as he rested his head in his hands. "I am just feeling a little..."
"Lost?" Spike finished for him. "We all are, and I'm right there with you. The thought of your alter ego running around trying to do the Beast one better is pretty much the least appealing thought floating in my head right now."
"Exactly, that's what they don't get. They think they could contain Angelus, like chains would be enough."
"Right, it would take Angelus about three seconds to outsmart the lot of us. He's just like that." Spike said, leaning against Angel's large form.
"He's smart."
"Right, too smart."
"Spike, why?"
"Why what?"
"Why is it that Angelus is so much smarter than me? Same brain, same past."
"It's not that he's smarter, he's just...Okay, he's smarter, but in that sick way. Pure evil will do that. I think of some of the schemes you came up with back then and it makes me want to drop to my knees and pray to the alter of all things unholy. You were so good. I mean bad. Bad, bad evil guy." Spike wanted to continue his on the knees train of thought, but Angel had stood up and gone back into the hotel.
"We're going to need a cage." Angel said to Wesley. "Maybe ten by twelve, two inch bars, no better make it three."
"I'll make some phone calls." Wesley answered.
*****
"Angel, please don't do this." Spike begged.
"Spike, it will be fine." Angel answered from inside the large cage they had constructed in the hotel's basement. He lay chained to a thick slab of steel while Wu-Pang set up his supplies on a rolling cart. The shaman took a round jar with a bright red cork from a felt lined bag and placed it on the cart.
"What's that?" Spike asked.
"It is the Mo Ping, the vessel that will hold your friend's soul once I have removed it. It will stay there until the restoration."
"Should we put a deadbolt on it?" Gunn asked.
"It will be safe here. The soul is useless to anyone but the vampire." The shaman assured the group.
"You just can't put it back in fast enough for my tastes." Cordelia said.
"You had better place the second lock on the door, for your safety." The shaman said to Gunn, who promptly agreed and bolted another padlock on the metal gate.
"Spike, take the girls upstairs. I don't want you here when I change." Angel said, trying not to look his childe in the eyes.
"Tough." Spike and Cordelia answered at the same time.
"I'll go upstairs with Lorne." Fred said. "I think he may need some oxygen." She made her way up the stairs as Connor came down them.
"Connor, I don't want you down here either."
"I'm not going anywhere." He said coming closer to the cage.
"Connor, please just remember that no matter what happens, or has happened, I am you father and I love you."
"Yeah, I know." Connor answered quietly.
"And if I get loose, you know you're going to have to kill me." Angel said, trying not to let his voice shake.
"I will." Connor said.
"If." Angel repeated.
"Uh huh." Connor agreed, taking a seat at the bottom of the stairs.
"I'm ready to begin." The shaman said.
*****
Angel closed his eyes as the shaman began to chant in mandarin. The incantation was not completely dissimilar to the curse that had given him his soul back a century earlier. The vampire felt a deep pull forming in his chest and he closed his eyes tighter, waiting for the sensation to pass. The shaman leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear. "Time to say goodbye."
No sooner had the words left the shaman's lips than he reached into his robes and pulled out a slender sword and took aim at Angel's neck. Angel managed to get his hand up fast enough to block the sword's path, but with his arms bound he could not maneuver the weapon away from him. "A little help here!" He shouted to the others in the room.
"Why would I ever help you?" The shaman said through gritted teeth as he tried to press the blade further. "I serve the awakened one."
Angel heard the clang of metal as Gunn undid the heavy locks on the cage and rushed to his side. Wesley tried to pin the shaman in a corner, but he had drawn a short knife from somewhere and now pointed it at Wesley. Spike had followed Gunn into the cage and unfastened Angel's feet and arms, the pair of vampires now closed on the shaman with rage in their eyes.
"I don't get it." Angel began. "Why go through the show if you were just going to try to kill me?"
"You will get no answers from me." The shaman returned, plunging the knife deep into his own chest.
"Great." Cordelia said. "There goes our fount of information."
"Gunn, see if he has anything on him." Gunn reached out and pulled away the cloth that covered the shaman's head. The shaman's skin was covered in intricate tattoos depicting Chinese symbols, each layer of cloth revealed more vertical rows of symbols.
"Um, I'd say he's got something on him." Gunn said, sparing a glance at Wesley.
******
The group had gathered around the shaman's dead body and Wesley was examining the symbols with a magnifying glass. "It looks like scripture." He said. "It tells the story of the Beast's acolytes and their battle with a group trying to forge a weapon capable of destroying the Beast."
"What sort of weapon?" Angel asked.
"It's a sword." Cordelia said. Angel turned to look at her, only to see her eyes glazed over with a white film. "It's called the Tooth of B'ash Mahat." Her eyes lost the glaze and she focused on Angel. "It's here, under the city."
"Did you hear that, Wes." Angel asked. "There's a sword here in LA capable of killing the Beast, and you wanted to bring Angelus back by having an evil shaman cut off my head."
"I'm sorry." Wesley replied. "I acted rashly."
"Was that a genuine apology?" Angel asked.
"Yes."
"Wow. I think that's the first time you've ever apologized to me for anything." Angel was genuinely touched that Wesley felt remorse.
"Um, great, can we go get the sword?" Spike asked.
"I'm ready." Connor answered as they headed up the stairs.
*****
After walking for some time Cordelia had spotted a faint light coming down the corridor. She and Angel followed the light into a chamber filled with stacked columns and a center piece that was bare.
"It's not here." Cordelia said with panic in her voice.
"Maybe." Angel answered, looking at the small altar in the middle of the room. "You said in your vision that the sword could be in a hundred places at once, right."
"Yeah."
"Well, the light's coming from somewhere." Angel reached his hand over the altar and felt his skin chill. The sensation alternated hot and cold, he occasionally felt something metallic brush over his skin, but he could not grasp it. He continued to move his arm into the void that covered the altar until he felt his grasp closing on something solid. Angel slowly drew his hand back into the room, sword in hand. "It's some sort of dimensional porthole."
"Oh, Angel!" Cordelia cried as the illuminated bubble over the altar began to burn a flaming red. The ball of liquid-looking fire seemed to plummet to the altar and the tall stone columns began to sink into the floor. As some of the columns tilted sprays of fire shot from the ball at the center of the room. Flames sprung up between Cordelia and Angel, and she began to scream his name. In a flurry, Angel leapt over a column and shielded the young woman from a burst of flames. They bolted from the chamber and fell to the ground in the corridor. Angel fell on the hilt of the sword and felt several bones in his side nearly crack from the pressure as Cordelia fell on top of him.
"Ow, ah ah." Angel let spurt out. "I'm okay. I'm okay." He repeated as Cordelia moved off of him. Her eyes were quickly filling with tears and she rested her head on the vampire's shoulder. Angel reached a hand up to caress her hair. "It's okay. We're all right." He repeated.
"We almost died." Cordelia cried.
"But we didn't. We're okay." Angel said, trying to sooth her.
"We almost died, and if we had you wouldn't have known." She said pulling back to look into his eyes.
"Known what?" He asked.
"You wouldn't have known, that I can look at all of the horrible things you did as Angelus, that I can see all of it, and it doesn't matter to me. I love you Angel. And I'm just so afraid that I made such a mess of things with Connor that you would never be able to forgive me, and that I would never be able to tell you how sorry I am."
"Cordy, it doesn't matter." Angel said. "I can look at you too, you know. It doesn't matter to me what you've done either. Nobody's perfect, least of all me. I won't judge you." Cordelia pressed against him once more, this time letting her lips glide over Angel's. She waited for him to deepen the kiss, and when he didn't she pressed further. Taking the fullness of his lips into her mouth. She clawed at his back, pulling him closer, not noticing that Connor and Spike were now in the corridor, with Wesley trailing behind them.
Angel broke the kiss when he caught the scent of the other men. "Oh, Spike." Angel let out in a pained whisper. At the same time Cordelia found Connor's hurt eyes barreling into her. The teenager ran down the long hall of stone. Angel jumped to his feet and followed, after placing a quick hand on Spike's shoulder.
Angel caught up to his child in a torch lit alcove of the cave. He had barely entered the space when Connor took a step towards him, sending an arrow flying from the wall. The shaft buried itself deep in Angel's shoulder. Angel grabbed the arrow and pulled it out, thankful the end had been round, not barbed.
"Ouch, that hurt." He said throwing the bolt to the ground.
"I can see why she would want you." Connor sneered. "You are the reason my life sucks." He turned and faced the wall, stepping on another booby trapped floor panel. Angel flew through the air and tossed Connor to the ground just as a much thicker bolt of wood flew past his ear.
"Connor, this is not the place for this."
"It's the perfect place." Connor said as he brushed himself off and crouched to the ground. He threw out his left leg in a sweeping motion and caught Angel's legs just as he rose. The vampire fell to the ground once more. The fall triggered several more arrows and both men rolled across the floor to escape the barrage.
"You think you're the first angst ridden teenager to wish his father were dead?" Angel asked as he blocked an oncoming punch.
"No, the difference is that my father is dead." Connor said, lunging again.
"So's mine. Get over it." Angel said, jumping off the ground to avoid another leg sweep.
"You do nothing but take things from me." Connor yelled as he landed a kick to Angel's already hurting ribcage. "She was mine!"
"No she wasn't." Cordelia said firmly from the edge of the alcove. "I'm sorry Connor, but I wasn't."
Defeated, Connor lowered his fists and left the caverns.
*****
Fred and Gunn had managed to find a few more references to the sword and its purpose. It had to be driven into the Beast's brain in order to kill it, and return the sun to Los Angeles.
"The catch is that the force of releasing that energy will kill anything human, and maybe even you, if you're too close." Fred had told Angel.
"Well, that's an acceptable risk." Angel said, grabbing the sword from Gunn, who was rapidly destroying the end tables playing with it.
"No, it's not." Cordelia said. "I can't lose you again. Not when we're just beginning again."
Angel rested his head against hers and said quietly, "I'll come back. For you, I'll always come back." He looked up just in time to see Spike racing out the doors of the hotel. He shuddered at the loss, but focused back on Cordelia. "I have to do this first, I have to find the Beast before we can be together." Just then the lobby's glass doors came crashing inwards. "Oh, there he is." Angel said, pulling the sword to the ready.
Cordelia and the others made a fast retreat out the front doors, following Spike's path.
"Angelus." The Beast intoned. "You need not fight me. We could rule this planet, you and I."
"Uh, yeah, don't think so."
"But why? You were once one of the most feared beings on earth."
"Well, partly because you just broke a really expensive set of doors, partly because of the whole rain of fire, permanent midnight thing, but mainly because you are just really pissing me off." Angel rained several blows down on the beast. The sword's magics allowing it to cause real hurt. On the fourth swing, however, the Beast caught the blade and snapped it in two. Angel tried to pick up one of the shattered pieces, but he was picked up by the throat and suspended in the air before the demon. Angel felt the pressure on his windpipe growing and expected it to be crushed when he heard the clang of metal on the demon's magma covered skin. He opened his eyes enough to see Connor distract the demon. The Beast released Angel from his grip and let him fall to the ground. Connor continued to charge the demon as a diversionary tactic, but it was not long before he was hurdling across the room and smashing into the lobby's desk.
"Arrogant, just like your father. Will you be a martyr like Angelus?" The Beast asked.
"His name is Angel." Connor answered. The Beast turned to look at his opponent just as Angel thrust a broken shard of the sword up under his neck and into his brain. Connor and Angel instinctively rolled as far from the Beast as the lobby would allow. The demon in turn exploded in a thousand rays of light, releasing a vibrant glow that briefly filled the hotel and then wafted into the night sky releasing the blackened fingers that had encompassed the sun for days.
"You came back." Angel said incredulously as he tried to regain his composure.
"Like I would let you take all the credit for saving the world." Connor smiled. "Look, Dad."
"Yeah, Connor?"
"I'm sorry about earlier. In the cave. I know Cordelia isn't mine. She loves you. I could feel it in her touch, see it in her eyes. She's always loved you, I just didn't want to accept it."
"I'm sorry too, Connor. I wish things could be different."
"It's okay. This must be what it feels like to be a champion."
"Pretty much." Angel said.
Cordelia, Wesley, Fred, Gunn, and Lorne made their way back inside the hotel and gathered around the large pile of dust that had been the Beast.
"That it?" Gunn asked.
"That's it." Angel smiled. "We did it. All of us together."
Cordelia rushed down the stairs and jumped into Angel's arms. "You did it!"
"We did it." Angel said, pointing at his son. "Now, does somebody want to get a broom?"
******
Angel stared out the window from the shadows. The sun was shining brightly, but Spike had not returned to the hotel.
"It must be hard to know that all those people out there, playing in the sunlight, don't even know they owe it to you. Knowing that you can't go out in it." Cordelia said.
"Nope." Angel replied, turning to see her. "There's pretty much nowhere else on earth I'd rather be right now." He slid his arms under hers, feeling the cool black silk of her camisole brush against his flesh.
Cordelia tilted her head back and met Angel's mouth with a soft kiss. Angel pressed into her for a moment, not wanting to let go, but afraid he would not be able to control his emotions if he didn't stop himself right away.
"No." Cordelia said as she broke their kiss.
"What?" He asked.
"No, to whatever objection you were going to give. We have waited long enough. It has been seven years since I first saw you, and I have wanted you ever since. Now, we have saved the world, mended our fences, brought all of our friends back together. There are no more obstacles to climb Angel. It's just you and me now. The way it should be." She kissed him again. "No." She murmured through the kiss when she felt him pulling away again. Cordelia led Angel to the bed, unbuttoning his black shirt as they moved. She felt the backs of her knees meet the thick down of the comforter and sat down on the edge of the bed. She undid Angel's trousers and pulled him onto the bed with her.
The two lovers slipped under the covers and Angel fell into a rhythm of kisses and caressing over Cordelia. He took only seconds to fill her and find a pattern that was pleasing to them both. The sheer ecstasy of the moment was overwhelming to him. He arched his back to fill Cordelia further and felt his orgasm build as her cries grew louder. He closed his eyes and tried to stall his completion, but when he closed his eyes all he saw was Spike slipping out the lobby doors into the night. He continued to thrust into Cordelia, no longer trying to find a steady pace, he moved blindly and deeply, his climax filled her. A single word escaped his lips as he withdrew and fell back against the bed.
"William."
******
Angel opened his eyes tied to something cold and hard. The pulling in his chest had become a sharp pinching, but just as it reached its fever pitch, it was gone. He turned his head to see Cordelia and Spike looking at him. Looking at him through steel bars.
"It is done." The shaman said as Gunn let him out of the cage.
*******
Chapter Eight - Airing Out
"Why won't you stay?"
It was a simple enough question, but one Spike could not find an easy answer for. As soon as Angelus had returned Spike had felt a piece of himself slip away. Part of his goodness went into the ether with Angel's soul. He could not find a reason for the change, but he knew he had to get as far from his sire as possible.
"Fred listen to me," He said as he softly brushed her hair from her face, "If I stay here, Angelus will use me. He will find a way to get under my skin."
"No, he won't, you're stronger than that." She tried to assure him.
"Maybe I was before, but now, when I look at him, all I see is Angel. He's all I've wanted in a hundred years, and I can't have him now. Angelus knows that, and he will torture me with it. I have to go."
"There's something you're not telling us." Wesley asked from across the room. "Isn't there Spike?"
"Yeah, well, there's always something." Spike said quietly. "Okay, so I've been having some fairly killer headaches this morning, the kind of headaches that usually end with a basement full of fledglings. So, I'm thinking that LA might not be the best place for me right now."
Wesley took a step closer to the vampire. "You think the First is trying to make contact with you here?"
"I don't know what it's trying to do, all I know is that you have enough problems right now. You lot do not need the real Team Angel working against you, so I'm leaving." Spike gathered up his coat and took Angel's car keys from the counter.
"Spike, I don't want you to leave. We may need your strength to contain Angelus." Wesley said.
"Sorry, Wes. Not your choice. I'm going back to Sunnydale, and I'm leaving now while it's dark. There I mean, since I'm thinking perma-night won't have hit that far north just yet." He gave a short hug to Fred and a nod to Wesley as he made for the lobby doors. "Just call me if you need me. If I don't answer my phone it means Buffy's got me chained to the bed."
"Oh, thanks for that visual." Cordelia said as she came out of the office.
"Oh, William, don't I get a goodbye kiss?"
Spike ignored the Irish brogue coming out of the television monitor that sat on the counter and walked out the door.
******
"I think it's time one of us went down there." Gunn said. "Evil Dead's banging is starting to piss me off."
"I'll go." Wesley stated, picking up a crossbow. "Everyone needs to watch the monitor. Listen to everything he says, he'll try to manipulate everything we say to him to turn us against each other. We can't let him. Keep your wits about you and we'll be fine."
"None of us will be fine if he gets out of that cage." Cordelia said. "Trust me I know, I've seen it."
"Right, puppies, fish, we got the keep your pets locked up memo." Lorne said grimacing at the imagery Cordelia had planted in all of their heads.
Wesley walked towards the staircase and then paused. "I've been preparing for this moment for years and I'm still not ready."
"You'll be fine, Wesley." Fred encouraged.
"I guess we'll see."
******
"Wesley." Angel said with exaggerated excitement. "I'm so glad to see you."
"As I am you." Wesley said. He grabbed a wooden chair and placed it just outside the red border marking the safe distance outside of Angelus' cage. "The legendary Angelus. Here in all your glory. Well, most of your glory at least. We should have considered your comfort more."
"Really?" Angelus replied with little interest.
"Yes. I tried to talk Angel into wearing the leather pants, as I know how you do love them." Wesley smiled at the picture he had painted as he took a seat and laid the crossbow across his lap. "Other than that, I assume you're comfortable."
"Oh, just keen, Wes. Nice acoustics. Wouldn't hate a chair." Angelus said as he began to pace the cage.
"Sorry, we had to take the necessary precautions. Your daring escapes are infamous, as is your cruelty."
"Stop, I'm blushing."
"I've read everything there is about you. The prophecies, watcher's diaries, even a few of Darla's journals left throughout the world, everything."
"No, you haven't."
"I assure you..."
"Wrong, watcher boy. There were some putrid attempts at poetry that Spike wrote in the late 1800's that will never be seen again." Angelus sneered. "That is unless you care to dig through petrified pig shit. I made him feed it to the swine hoping it would come out better on the other end."
"Tragic I'm sure. Did the experiment work?"
"Don't be coy, Wesley. Buttering me up, the small talk bit. We're above this. Wouldn't you agree?"
"I was just trying to be polite."
"Then say it all with a little more reverence. The LEGENDARY Angelus. Put some emphasis into it. I'm not some punk like Spike who turned the slayer on enough to survive a few decades." He said, smacking the bars in exclamation.
The clang of the bars made Wesley bolt a little and he chided himself for being so jumpy.
"I realize you and Spike have little in common, I mean with one exception of course."
"And what might that be?"
"Neither of you can keep your hands off of Angel's cock at night."
"Nice, Wes. Are you just going to talk about my cock all night, because I could whip it out. You seem so terribly interested."
"Quite alright, really." Wesley blinked to moisten his eyes, or so he told himself, the truth was it forced him to look away from the vampire he had waited so long to meet.
"Suit yourself. You could go back to the flattery."
"Well, as a former watcher, I have to admit it's a high point."
"Enough, Wesley. It pains me to see you like this. You're just dying to know about the big beasty."
"True."
"Ask away. Open book."
"Alright. Did you know the beast?"
"Well, that's a question. Not a very interesting question, but a question nonetheless." Angelus took a step closer to the bars of the cage, wrapping his long fingers around the bars. "I'll tell you this, where you're looking. Wrong place."
"You mean our research?"
"Research, right. Is that what you call a bunch of retards flipping through the same books over and over? I've got a question for you. What's up with Angel and the Raiders of the Lost Ark?"
"The movie?" Wesley asked leaning forward in his chair.
"No, his retarded perfect day fantasy. Booby-traps, caves, the requisite phallic sword."
"In his fantasy, Angel killed the Beast?"
"Yeah, not enough to save the world, he has to have the whole gang helping out. Real candy ass."
"The Beast?"
"No, Angel."
"I see."
"Do you. Do you really feel my pain, Wesley? Because, I would love to feel yours."
"So, if we're all looking in the wrong place, where is the right place?"
"That would be telling wouldn't it?" Angelus said, turning away from Wesley and once again pacing the small space that confined him.
"The Beast called you an adversary. If that were what he was we'd be doing you a favor by killing him."
"I'd be careful how many favors you do me, Wesley." Angelus resumed his task of stroking the bars up and down.
"I'm sure. Why do you remember the Beast and Angel doesn't?" Wesley asked.
"Maybe he just forgot the good parts."
"Or maybe you don't really have anything to tell me." Wesley began to stand.
"Oh, that's it? Nice stamina, Wes." Angelus followed Wesley's movements as he went to leave the room.
"You're just wasting my time."
"Oh gee, is this the part where I'm supposed to get all defensive and tell you all of my evil plans? No wonder she doesn't want you. It must just make you nuts. Knowing that he's with her up in their room each night, rubbing that big shiny black head all over her milky skin. Throwing her down on the mattress as she calls out his name, and she does. Her arching her back to take that big black..."
"And it must kill you that Angel devoted his life to doing good. To protecting the innocent from those like you." Wesley said, turning around to face the vampire.
"Oh, no fair changing the subject. I mean it's not like everyone doesn't already know about your little schoolyard crush. I mean she's a bit bony for my tastes, but you know different strokes. So what, you figure you save the day, giver her roses, then wham..." He said slamming his hands against the bars again. "You bend her over the kitchen table and..."
"You found a weakness, well done. Now can we get back to the Beast? In Cordelia's vision she said..."
"Oh, yeah, let's talk about Cordelia shall we? Now there's a rack to write home about. Too bad about the personality. I mean really, yak, yak, yak." The vampire pantomimed an invisible Cordelia, "I love you, Angel, but we can't be together. You ate babies. Chicks." Angelus laughed at the recollection. "So what do you think is worse, Wesley? Kidnapping my kid like you did, or banging him like Cordelia did?"
******
Upstairs, in the hotel lobby, three faces turned from the surveillance monitor to look at a very crimson Cordelia.
******
Chapter Nine - Loose
Spike had hoped to make it back to Sunnydale in a few hours. That hadn't happened. He had only been on the road for about an hour when another blinding headache threatened to split his head open. He had pulled the car over just outside of LA and found a small motel, hoping to take enough of a rest to let the pain subside, that was two days ago.
He had given the manager an extra hundred dollars to keep him from calling the police, the screaming was upsetting the other guests, the man had said. Spike believed him. He was only able to stop for a few minutes at a time, and even then the echoes of his own voice were so loud in his head he could find no peace. Some time around dusk on the third day there had been a knock at the door. Spike was vaguely aware of a large body entering the room and holding out a glass of water to him. He took a drink, followed by another. Then a thick set of fingers pushed several pills into his mouth and forced him to drink again. There were no words of comfort, as one might expect, just the hands and shadows pouring the lukewarm water into his waiting mouth. And then the figure was gone.
About twenty minutes later Spike was able to have his first coherent thought in days.
"I must get to Sunnydale." He said to the room. The need to get out of this dingy place was overwhelming. He watched the last of the sun's rays slip into the distance and gathered up the few things he had managed to get out of the car after taking the room. As he was putting on his jacket he noticed a bottle on the nightstand with a small note.
Come back when you are ready to play - A
Spike shoved the bottle into his pocket and tossed the note into the trash. He promised himself he wouldn't look back to LA. His life was in Sunnydale, and he was going home.
******
"Angel's back." Willow said, looking out the window.
"He couldn't be." Dawn said. "He just called here not fifteen minutes ago."
"Maybe he was on his cell phone."
"Don't think so, I could hear sirens and stuff, sounded like a payphone."
Willow continued to look out the window. "Nope, it's just Spike."
Dawn opened the door for the haggard looking vampire, but when he reached the threshold he stopped.
"Willow." He said. "Get Buffy now, before I come in."
"Why? Spike what's wrong?"
"Just get her. Now." He said, leaning on the doorframe.
"Okay. I'll get her." Willow made a dash for the door that led to the basement. Once downstairs she waded through a mass of teenage girls, narrowly missing a few swings of a broadsword and another from a mace. "Hey watch it or I'll turn you all into little hoppy toads."
"Hey, Will, what's up?" Buffy asked.
"It's Spike, he's here and he won't come in."
"Why not?" Buffy asked as she ascended the stairs.
"He didn't say."
"Great, because all I need right now is a cryptic vampire."
Spike was still standing, or more accurately slumping, against the wall when Buffy reached him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, despite his resistance.
"What is your deal, just waiting to see if you immolate?"
"No fear of that, sun's still an hour away." He said quietly.
"Where's Angel?" Buffy asked. "You look like crap. Tell me you didn't drive here by yourself."
"It's okay, I'm on drugs." Spike laughed. He took a seat on the couch and fell back into the deep pillows. "Nice relaxing drugs."
"Dawn, go check on the potentials." Buffy said to her on looking sister.
"Oh come on Buffy. Like I'm going to become some strung out junkie girl just because Spike's hooked on the dope." Buffy did not return the teenager's smile.
"Downstairs now."
"No." Spike said, trying to sit up. "Get them all out of the basement."
"Why?" Buffy asked again. "Spike, you have to tell me what is going on."
"You're going to chain me up again, lover." With much effort he stood up and headed for the stairs.
"Oh, goody, more chains." Buffy said, following Spike to the basement.
******
Life in LA just wasn't what Angelus had remembered. The last time he and Angel had been here there had been demons and lynching, and a generally good time. Angel still drank human blood then, cold, coagulated blood, but human nonetheless. Now there weren't humans anywhere. At least none that hadn't already been sampled, and if there was anything worse than sloppy seconds Angelus couldn't think of it. His short draught from Lilah's already dead body notwithstanding he had a few years of thirst to quench.
He had tried to congratulate himself for escaping from his cage, but it was hardly a daring escapade. He'd had a harder time getting loose of leather pants than duping the morons at Angel Inc. It had taken all of an afternoon to get them so turned against each other the men were fist fighting while the girls offered to suck him off if he would just cooperate and help them kill Stonehenge. He had played along, even put up with the little light show Cordelia had put on trying to stuff the soul back down his throat, but he had to draw the line at the hugging. That was just too much, so while his exit had been a quick one it hadn't really involved more than a leap out a third story window.
Now he would be happy if he could just find a decent bar where the patrons were more than Anne Rice fans that had let themselves be turned in the vain hope that all vampires looked like Brad Pitt and Stuart Townsend. Good luck in LA, he told himself. The first few dives he had tried turned up little in the way of promising minions, and the third certainly wasn't any better, but he had heard a few rumblings about an insane vampire holed up on the other side of Valencia. A few of the fledglings sitting at the bar had heard it was William the Bloody and were planning on making a reputation for themselves by dusting him while he was in a fit.
Once Angelus had made sure that all three vampires would fit in a baggie he made a quick detour to the Motel 6. It was so pathetic watching the childe he had once tormented writhe in pain that he couldn't even bring himself to rape him. He'd have plenty of time for that later.
Angelus was back in LA within the hour and even managed to find a real live human girl for dinner when he heard a group of vampires talking about the Slayer being in LA.
"Great." Angelus said, tearing into the girl's throat. After a few short gulps he let her limp body drop to the ground and walked to a nearby payphone. He dialed the Summer's house from memory, and waited for the voice on the other end.
"Dawn, Hi." He said, "Yeah, it's me. Is your sister home? She is?" He hung up the phone. "Great, it's the other one." He said as he headed for the warehouse district in search of one more bar that he had heard might have some decent company.
******
"Sounds like a ruckus going on up there." Spike said as Buffy came down the stairs.
"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you." The Slayer replied.
"Let me guess, more bad?"
`That's a safe guess around here any day of the week." She said, giving in to a pained laugh. "You know you don't have to stay down here. I trust you."
"Then you're a fool." Spike said. "You cannot trust me. There is something seriously wrong with me. Something wrong with the chip, and since the First has already found more than one way to set me loose, I think this is the only place left for me to be until you..."
"Until I what?"
"You already know the answer to that." He smiled.
"I am not going to kill you Spike. We are going to do more research and figure out what is happening."
"Start with Behavior Modification Devices Throughout the Ages." He said, placing a gentle hand over hers.
"Right, so it's not a research thing. Maybe it's a..." She paused to think, "It's a phone thing."
******
"Hello," Buffy said into the phone, "I'd like to order a dozen roses for Agent Riley Finn." She gave Spike a questioning look as he sat on the stairs and clutched at his head. The bottle of pills was nearly empty so he had tried to space them further out, blindingly further apart.
"No, he works there, Agent Riley Finn. Maybe I'm not supposed to say that. Is this actually a flower shop, or is this still the number for special ops. Oh, maybe I'm not supposed to say that either. Please make the card say that Spike's chip is misfiring and that I need it, well I don't know what I need. Can you sign it Seeking Answers in Sunnydale? Oh, okay, just Buffy then. Um, all right, I guess that's it."
She turned to Spike and hung up the phone. She then took a seat beside him on the stairs and ran her fingers through his tangled hair. "Well, that was either a wrong number or an elaborate government conspiracy." She continued to stroke the vampire's hair. "It's going to be all right. They'll call back. They'll help, Spike."
"Maybe we can't wait." Spike said just in time for another pang to shoot through his brain, nearly knocking him unconscious.
*****
Finding the Beast had only taken a matter of hours with the help of some otherwise useless vamps that had been lucky enough to spot him entering a little used warehouse the night before. Although the vampires in question were terminally stuck in the eighties, right down to the Pacino and Flock of Seagulls haircuts, they had proved a good enough distraction for Wesley. He and Faith, the Vampire Slayer, had managed to track him to the warehouse, no doubt using his creepy offspring as a bloodhound. Although Connor had not arrived with them, he could smell the boy on Faith's clothes as she wandered the dark aisles of the building.
His game of cat and mouse had been rather short. He had been waiting for years to meet her again. Unlike the elder slayer, this one had an edge to her. Definitely a few qualities he wouldn't mind sinking his fangs into. He had delivered her into the hands of the Beast, hoping the walking pile of magma could soften her up a bit. He knew he wasn't physically as strong as the slayer, but hoped that after a few rounds with the Beast she wouldn't put up quite as much of a fight. It was amusing watching her taught body being tossed around, the blood that dripped from the dozens of cuts that now covered his body only served to excite him to the point he couldn't wait any longer.
He stepped up beside the Beast as he taunted the fallen Slayer, enjoying her prone position immensely; Angelus let the moment linger. As the Beast went in for the killing blow Angelus took the sheath that the Beast had forged for his "master" from the inside pocket of his coat.
"You know Faithy, the only thing that could hurt him is him." He thrust the jagged knife into the center of the demon's back where he couldn't reach it. As the Beast flailed he threw Angelus to the ground, where he watched as the Beast exploded into a cloud of dust. The light that flew from the body was momentarily blinding, it flew towards the sky in a powerful stream and released the tendrils that had blocked out the sun for days.
"Oh, crap. You mean killing the Beast really does bring back the sun? I thought that was just Angel's retarded fantasy." Angelus picked himself up off the floor and sidestepped the heavy cables that Faith had sent flying at him. "Oh, nice try, but a swing and a miss." He turned just in time to see the chains break through the large window that stood behind him, letting in a bright swath of sunlight. He moved into the shadows and brushed at the front of his jacket as it started to smolder. "Just you and me now, Faithy."
"Can't wait." Faith said as she passed out in the sunlight.
******
It hadn't taken long to find the partially sealed entrance to what had once been the Initiative headquarters. The halls inside were pitch black and as their flashlights scanned the walls Buffy and Spike saw bodies left half decomposed throughout the compound.
"They just left them here." Buffy said, pulling her shirt collar up over her mouth and nose to try and filter the smell.
"Come on, Buffy. Let's try to find the holding pens. I imagine if there are going to be any of the drugs left, that's where they'll be."
"We'll try to find some files too. Maybe Willow can figure out what's going on with the chip if she has a bit more information to work with."
"Yeah, right, let's make the drugs the priority." Spike said. "A solution would be great, but I'm looking forward to seeing fluffy bunnies and daffodils."
"It works that well, huh?"
"Oh yeah. When they first put the bloody thing in me I couldn't stop thinking about how much I wanted to kill them all. Every time one of those little white-coated wankers walked past the glass my brain would implode. Then they'd shoot me full of the happy juice and I'd be okay. For a while at least." Spike took the lead and made his way through another grouping of dead demons. As he rounded a corner near the main laboratory he heard a scuffling sound that made him jump. Buffy had heard the noise as well and was now close on his heels.
"Do you think anything survived the attack?" She asked him, taking a stake from her jacket pocket.
"Would have preferred to not find out." Spike answered. He took a few more steps forward before he was lunged at by a foul smelling demon dressed in rags. As soon as he turned to retaliate the chip fired and sent him to the ground. He struggled to keep hold of his flashlight and aim it at the demon so Buffy could fight it, but the light he shone was wavering at best. He lay on the floor, helpless. Spike tried to keep an eye on the Slayer as she pinned the demon to the ground but as she fought she was forced to let go of her own flashlight. Spike's heightened eyesight allowed him to see most of the action as long as he was able to keep his eyes open. It was, however, only a minute before the battle, for him, was reduced to the grunts and clanging of the Slayer and the demon that was quickly gaining the upper hand on her.
Spike closed his eyes and tried to will his brain to stop throbbing, but he received a renewed volley of pain when suddenly two dozen flashlights illuminated the area in front of him and the sound of a tazer gun rang through the air. He opened his eyes enough to see Buffy toss the dead demon off of her and a group of soldiers begin to move closer.
"Miss Summers." One of them shouted to her.
"See, I told you, government conspiracy." Buffy whispered in Spike's ear.
*****
Chapter Ten - The Real Team Angel
The sound of dozens of feet hitting the carpet. Every sink in the house running. A toilet flushing. Milk being slopped into a bowl full of something crackling. A can tossed into the recycling bin. Doors shutting. More feet, this time on the stairs. Chattering. Whining. The clang of swords. The pulling back of a crossbow string. A book tossed on the coffee table.
The thought that his head might explode from all the noise crossed Spike's mind.
"Spike, do you want s