Chapter
4.11
Sunday, May 19th, 2002
"So, who's a gal gotta sleep
with around here to get a bed for the night... or
day?"
Angel looked up from the sketch he'd
been working on, having been totally caught off guard
by the woman's approach. The first genuine smile to
grace his face in several days welcomed her to his
office. "I'd settle for a hug."
The woman tilted her head to one
side and gave the vampire a quizzical look. "If
you're gonna go all fuzzy on me maybe it's time I
was movin' on already." She picked up the legal
pad and looked at the likeness there. "Still
jonesin' for the cheerleaders, huh?"
"We-ell, it's..."
"Chill. Just makin' conversation.
It wasn't meant to be Final Jeopardy. Now, not to
be pushy but d'ya think you could point me in the
direction of a shower and maybe some clothes that
look less like I work in a garage? Oh, and you might
want to get someone to ditch the car that's parked
out back. I would have caught a bus but that would
have been wicked conspicuous."
"Anything else you want?"
the vamp asked sarcastically.
"I could murder a Big Mac and
fries, but it'd get a bit wet if I took it in the
shower with me. Feel free to have one waiting when
I get out, though. Heavy on the pickle."
Angel shook his head with a wry smile.
"I'll see what I can do. Here." He tossed
her a set of keys, the room number inscribed on the
tag. "It's mine so don't go getting too comfortable.
Cordy left a couple of changes of clothes in her locker
in the basement. She won't mind if you borrow something...
Actually, she will. She'll probably tear me a new
one if... well... when she finds out."
"I won't tell her if you don't."
The woman headed for the stairs.
"Faith?" The escaped felon
turned back to see what her only friend had to say.
"It's good to see you again."
"Yeah, well, thanks to the heads-up
you gave me it seemed like a good idea to be seen.
Come nightfall I better be on the move again. It's
only a matter of time before they track down my only
visitor other than my lawyer, even if you have moved
up in the world since the last address they have for
you... but I figured you'd get all grandma if I slid
through town without saying hi."
Before Angel could think of a reply
she was gone, bounding upstairs with an energy the
vampire envied.
"Summers Residence, Bee speaking.
Everybody that actually lives here is either really
busy, not here or dying so if you'd like to leave
a message after the tone, I'll scribble it down and
if we get five minutes and it's important and I remember
I'll tell someone. Beep."
"What?"
"Beep. Now have you got something
to say or not? ...because I really have better things
to do than answer the phone to people who don't speak
English."
"Who's dying? And who are
you?"
"Well who did you think you
called? I really don't have time for prank callers."
Bee stuck the phone back in its cradle and pulled
open the back door. "Rupert? Rupert?"
She looked all round the back yard and then balanced
on tip-toe, trying unsuccessfully to peer into the
adjoining yards. "Rupert! You better come
back here now." She looked around again,
checking the area for passers-by and then once she
was sure that there was no-one who could see her she
gave a shiver as if someone had walked over her grave
and inhaled deeply through her nose. Shaking her head
as if to clear it, she swore under her breath in a
particularly guttural demon tongue before turning
back to the house. The open bedroom window did nothing
to alleviate her suspicions even though with her eyes
half-closed she could see the faint shimmer of Tara's
energy barrier, just inside it.
Spike ducked from one patch of shade
to another until he could make his way underground.
The fact that he was fairly certain that at present
lifting a manhole cover single-handed was not within
his capabilities complicated matters slightly. He
had to make his way to a point where a storm drain
let out into the river, and he was somewhat discomfited
when he finally reached the shade of the sewer system
to realise that he had not one but two animals in
tow. Pulling off the uncomfortably tight helmet and
placing it on the tunnel floor open side up, he turned
to berate the animals.
"What the bleedin' hell do you
mangy beasties think this is? A casting session for
The Incredible Journey? Well, newsflash, I don't think
we're goin' to meet Walt Disney. Bugger off, the pair
of you!"
Rogue looked guiltily up at him,
as if she assumed she'd done something wrong since
he was shouting at her but didn't know quite what.
Rupert showed his disdain for the vampire's tirade
by sitting down and licking his genitals.
The blond gave a disconsolate sigh
and picked what seemed like a marginally cleaner section
of "wall" to rest against while he lit a
cigarette and gathered his strength for the next section
of the journey. This day was getting ridiculous. Followed
by a dog was one thing, but followed by a dog that
was followed by a cat... If this guy actually showed
up he was going to have to kill him just to stop word
getting out. As he drew deeply on his cigarette he
noticed how Rogue kept one paw not quite touching
the ground.
Tossing the half-smoked butt aside
with a guilty look, he muttered as he knelt to check
the dog's leg for broken bones. "Dr William bloody
Dolittle an' I don't think."
"Tara?" Bee called out
to the witch as she made her way back through the
ground floor of the house towards the stairs. "Tara?"
The witch emerged from the dining
room where she'd been looking through her notes again.
"What's up?"
"You know that nice magical
barrier you put up? Is there any way to check Spike's
actually inside it?"
Tara dashed for the stairs even as
she argued. "But he didn't come down. We'd have
seen him."
"Only if he used the stairs
and don't you think if he was still in here that there
would have been at least a few 'Bloody Hell's... unless
that barrier does soundproofing."
Skirting past the bedroom door, Tara
headed for the bathroom. The connecting door there
opened outwards into the smaller room and Tara had
set the barrier on that wall so that it ran just inside
the confines of Buffy and Spike's room. She pulled
the door open and looked around. When she saw the
open window she began the invocation that would dispel
the magical energy. The barrier should have prevented
Spike from being able to touch the window, let alone
open it. He had to have gone before the spell was
even cast.
Buffy lengthened her stride to clear
the pile of scattered books that lay on and near the
path. She pushed her way into the hall, darting toward
the stairs just as her cell phone began to ring. She
pulled it out of her pocket but let it ring until
she had thrown the door to her room open, finding
it empty except for Tara and Bee, who was in the process
of shutting the window.
"I'm sorry, Buffy. I thought
he was inside. I should have checked."
"He's out there? On his own?
In the state he was in this morning?"
The Wiccan nodded. "Only he
actually got worse almost as soon as you left."
"Stupid darn vamp... Hello?"
She snapped impatiently at the caller on the other
end of the line.
"Buffy? What's this about Spike
and some voodoo curse?"
"Angel? Who told you about Spike?
He's not— We don't think it's a curse any more."
"Buffy, when I called before
I got some madwoman. She said he was dying and then
hung up. Then, I spoke to his Quarnoth demon and she
said he was ill but that he would be alright."
"We found out he'd been poisoned,
but we don't know yet what the guy used. Except for
the arrow wound, he had every symptom you had three
years ago and then some. Look, Angel, he's gone AWOL
and he's really not fit to be walking round, let alone
heading into whatever trap the guy who poisoned him
has set up, but the absolute kicker is that the spirit
of Christmas past is back for a return engagement.
Now's a really bad time to chat and Lily's only half
Quarnoth."
"The First? ...Is after Spike?"
"I thought I just said that.
Look, I've really got to go. If we don't find him
before he walks into whatever this guy has planned,
it might not be suicide, but it'll be close enough.
I'm sorry, Angel."
"Buffy, whatever you have to
do, do it. Just let me know how it comes out."
"Sure. Bye." Buffy was
already dialling the number for her sister's cell
before Angel had even replaced the receiver. It never
occurred to her that she didn't know why Angel had
called in the first place.
The more Angel went over his recent
conversation in his mind, the more four words seemed
to repeat in his head over and over. If there was
the least chance that he was right, the last thing
he wanted to do was tell Buffy under the present circumstances.
On the other side of the glass that separated his
office from the main reception Faith was chatting
to Connor between bites of burger, getting the basics
of his life from him in her usual teasing way. Angel
couldn't quite work out whether she was actually flirting
with his son or if she just didn't know another way
to talk. At least the teenager had been on his quest
to McDonald's when she walked into reception wearing
nothing but a very short bath towel. As he pondered
the reasonableness of his assumption, Gunn and Fred
made their way back into the hotel via the garden,
which meant that the car Faith had stolen had been
dropped off somewhere out of the way. If it was still
there in a few days, Angel would have to notify the
police anonymously, but for now it was no longer a
problem.
He picked up the phone on his desk
and rang through to Lorne's room. He drummed his fingers
on the desktop as he waited for the demon to answer.
"Lorne, I need you to hold the fort. The rest
of us are going on a road trip."
Lorne hung up, wiped the sleep from
his eyes and opened the room's curtains, blinking
in the bright light. "A road trip? In daylight?"
"You're sure that's what he
said?" Buffy quizzed her sister.
"I'm not deaf, Buffy. That's
what he said. 1570 Maple."
"But there isn't a Maple. I've
been all round this town on patrol and there is no
street called Maple."
"That doesn't change what he
said."
"Buffy..." Bee interrupted.
"What?"
"Not all the 'streets' in Sunnydale
are on the maps. The signs are a bit more discreet
as in near-invisible and they aren't in English or
any other human language for that matter, but as far
as Spike... or Clem are concerned they're just as
much part of the town as the ones above ground."
"You're telling me that sewers
have names?"
"To the right people they do.
You can thank Mayor Wilkins for that."
"So where's Maple?"
"I said they have names to the
guys who use them. I never said that I was a sewer
rat. You want a guide to subterranean Sunnydale, talk
to Clem."
Clem lay as still as possible trying
not to awaken the woman in his arms. He found it difficult
to believe that she had stayed. It was stranger still
that he found himself pleased that they had done nothing
more than talk and lie together, even though there
was a not inconsiderable amount of frustration involved
in being so close to an attractive female who was
dressed only in her underwear. This wasn't meant to
be just a one-night stand. Somehow, the more unhurried
progression of their relationship promised a greater
emotional intimacy and he told himself yet again that
that was more important than any immediate gratification.
All his efforts turned out to be in vain, however,
when he noticed a gleam of amber through the darkness
of her lashes and felt her stretch into wakefulness
beside him.
"Hey, you." Ha Nath smiled
shyly after greeting him, revealing teeth that were
perhaps more pointed than those of an average human
but straight and gleaming white, just the same. She
ducked her head slightly in her nervousness so that
she watched his face through the veil of her hair
though she made no effort to move away from him.
He slid a gentle hand under her chin,
tilting her head up so that he could press his lips
to hers, letting her know she had nothing to be nervous
about. "Morning."
Along with the uncertainty the tension
left her body and Clem, all too aware of every toned
but passive muscle that rested against him, had to
remind himself, yet again, that while rolling them
both over and screwing her senseless might seem like
a reasonable idea, it wouldn't necessarily help the
longevity of the relationship.
"You sleep okay?" he asked.
Her smile brightened and she nodded.
"Sure. Seems like we fit together pretty good."
A small voice inside Clem muttered,
'if only.' That didn't mean that the answer
he gave out loud was any less sincere. "Yeah...
I think we do." This time when their mouths met,
the caress was anything but chaste and as his fingers
stroked the hollows between the folds of skin on her
cheek he could sense her desire flare to more than
match his own before she pulled back to search his
face.
There was a mixture of hope and
anxiety in her voice as she sought reassurance from
him. "This... the talking and the dancing and
the just being together. It means something to you,
too? I'm not imagining it? I mean if we... if... I'm
not going to look back tomorrow and think I've been
some sort of incredibly naive slut. I mean I don't
expect you to guarantee happy ever after or anything
just—"
Clem placed a finger on her lips.
"It— you mean something. I'm not planning
on letting you go any time soon."
A slender yellow-skinned hand slid
under his T-shirt and Clem found himself rolled onto
his back, dainty white teeth nibbling at his ear and
a cascade of shimmering mahogany hair smothering his
senses as it surrounded him in its fragrant softness.
A teasing whisper in his ear made his dick stand even
more erect than before. "So, is your skin like
this..." The hand under his clothes stroked softly
over the folds of his stomach before reversing direction,
lifting each fold one by one then letting it fall
back into place. "...Everywhere?" Her gaze
dropped below his waistline, her meaning, and its
significance, very clear.
He gave a slow nod. "Everywhere."
Her anticipatory smile was enough to drive him wild
and with a growl he reversed their positions so that
he could look down into her face, her hair spread
across his pillows in disarray.
"Guess it's time I quit poker."
He cringed inside as the thought slipped from his
lips unbidden but instead of the incomprehension or
the adverse reaction he more than half expected, her
reply showed they were very much on the same wavelength.
"I'm feeling pretty lucky in
love myself."
"So you want Clem to be guide
to try find William before he meet this Robin?"
"Yeah, where's best to meet
up?"
Lily concentrated on her son's half
of the floor above for a few seconds. "I think
best you meet me here. I take. I think Clem no need
to be there."
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