Chapter 1.11
Monday, May 13th, 2002

"You're telling me you went to see this demi-goddess, and all she gave you was the address to some freaky bookstore."

"Actually, all she told me was that the answer was already within my grasp," Angel answered Buffy's question.

"And you made the intuitive leap from there to bookstore how?" the petite blonde interrogated her ex. "Since it's the only lead we've got, I'd kinda like to at least know how we got there."

Angel looked slightly sheepish. "I kinda beat up this snitch for information the other night. He gave me this guy's business card. It was still in my pocket. I guess I was kinda fidgety."

"You mean you had it in your hand?" Buffy asked incredulously.

Angel nodded and looked slightly embarrassed.

He pulled the plastic card from his pocket and passed it over to Buffy.

The slayer took the card and read the inscription. "Benjamin Holliday. Dealer in rare books and artefacts. Ooh, the nice end of the strip," she said sarcastically.

"So is he supposed to be something to do with Drusilla, or are we just supposed to be able to find what we need to get round the wards?" Willow asked.

"Do I look like the Delphic oracle?" Angel asked. "All I know is that a guy who could have been Groo went to see him about finding a way to another plane. And he looks human."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "He looks human, but he's...?"

"A demon."

"Hell-o-o-o? What're we talking here? There are quite a few demons that look human, but they don't all stay down if you stick a stake through their heart. It could be kinda important," Buffy commented in an exasperated tone.

"That's all I know."

"Tara, Willow, Wes, if we're looking for some spell or something, you three had best come with for the magicky-ness. Wes, you're our designated driver. Lily, Clem, either of you know anything about rare books and artefacts?"

"Little," answered Lily, "but Holliday, I know."

"Okay, Gunn, looks like we're going to need you to drive. Lily, Clem, Wes you're with me. Willow, Tara you ride with Gunn. Lori keep on with the computer stuff. Connor, Fred, your call whether you want to stay or go." Buffy turned toward the door, but Lily gripped her shoulder to hold her back. The diminutive demon then crossed to the weapons cabinet and unerringly selected the most finely crafted broadsword.

"Use this," she said passing it to the slayer.

"I'm guessing you don't like this guy Holliday," Buffy commented dryly.

"I knowing you no like Holliday. William no like Holliday." With that Lily headed out toward the car, leaving a confused Buffy to half-run to keep up.

"What do you mean, me and Spike don't like Holliday? I don't know any Holliday."

Gunn grabbed his axe and passed a narrow-bladed longsword to Fred before ushering her and the witches toward the hotel's back door. Wes grabbed another axe before following on, with Clem and Connor trailing at the back.

Angel looked out through the main doors at the street bathed in brilliant sunshine. "Why does everybody always take my favourite sword. And they couldn't wait a few hours?"

Lori looked up from where she was poised behind the computer for a few seconds before she decided that not only did he not really want an answer, he'd forgotten she was there. At least she hoped he had, because if he normally spent that long checking he didn't have "blanket" hair when there were other people around then he was seriously strange.

Spike strained against his chains, desperate to escape but as the last bud of Lethe's bramble was consumed by the flame, he slumped again.

"It is done. He'll be out for a couple of hours. When he comes to, he shouldn't remember anything that caused your break up."

The mage took a length of silver wire, winding it in a spiral around the black crystal, so that one end formed a loop through which he passed a leather thong, giving the piece the look of a pendant that could be purchased in almost any New Age shop. He dangled the necklace in front of Lindsey. The former lawyer pulled a cheque from the inside pocket of his suit and the pair made the exchange. Lindsey passed the necklace over to Drusilla, who hung it around her neck with a near orgasmic smile.

The mage picked up his remaining accoutrements and left the room with one of the guards. Another guard produced a set of keys from his pocket and released Spike from his chains.

Drusilla was there to catch him before he could sag to the ground. She carried him from the room without a backward glance.

Lorne almost automatically found himself standing between the kids as he thought of them and the remaining vampires, and silently cursed himself for spending too much time hanging around with all these heroic types. Darned if they weren't starting to rub off.

Unfortunately, Scheherazade seemed to have noticed his movement. His hostess gave an almost feral smile as she walked up and stroked his cheek. "Aren't you playing the manly man, today? Don't worry. No need to go all Pappa Bear... yet. We made a deal. They're under his protection, until he says they're not. But then, I would expect that to be pretty much as soon as he wakes up.

Personally, I can't wait. I hear he used to be a real demon's demon, before he went soft.

Though, if you keep up the macho act, I might just be tempted to wait for Stockholm Syndrome to set in. I think I might like that.

I wonder what you would be prepared to do for our little strays." She brushed against him so softly as she leaned in to whisper in his ear that Lorne would have thought it was an accident, if he didn't know by now that everything the woman did was deliberate. "Something tells me that you're more of a lover than a fighter. but maybe we'll get a chance to put the theory to the test."

She turned and gave Lorne ample opportunity to appreciate her rear view as she made her way to the door where she was the last to leave. "Technically, dinner shouldn't count, since it's on me, but I guess we'll have to make do. Someone will come by to collect you at nine. We picked up some of your clothes from Angel's place. One of the guys will bring them up in a bit. In the meantime I suggest you make use of the en suite to freshen up. You wouldn't want to disappoint me. Would you?"

Spike winced as he turned over in his sleep. Drusilla rolled over next to him, draping her arm carefully along his naked side, so as not to brush against any of the areas where scars marred his flesh.

She smiled contentedly to herself. Her darling boy was home again, at last. She had been so alone for so long. Even the last year she had spent with Spike, he had already belonged to the slayer.

Daddy had said she didn't need her knight, that he would be there, but Daddy lied. Again.

Her sweet William never came back after that. His smile never reached the ocean any more. Sad William never wanted to love her. He was a caged bird and in the end she'd been forced to set him free.

Now she could be his princess, his kitten, his goddess or just his. She didn't ever have to be alone again. She inhaled deeply, savouring his scent like a familiar and cherished caress. She decided they would move again. They would go home to Europe. The fairies no longer danced round her boy, taunting her with his love for a mortal. They could leave tonight. He would never see Her again. Never fall in love with Her.

He would be hers forever. And they would both be happy. They would dance together through the capitals of Europe, and when his slayer lay dead beneath the ground, he wouldn't mourn. He wouldn't cry for Her broken body. He wouldn't waste his time trying to be true to a pile of bones long gone. He wouldn't wither away living in his own isolated world, unable to leave Her resting-place unattended, but never truly accepted by either humans or demons. He wouldn't be lonely.

When She lay beneath the ground, then it would be safe to come back, and they would dance together on Her grave, just like he promised.

Drusilla drifted back to sleep, feeling loved and protected, feeling secure, for the first time in almost half a decade.

The two cars pulled up on a bit of waste ground on the same block as the book-store and Buffy made her way over to Angel's convertible along with Wesley to speak to the Angel investigations crowd.

"Okay, you guys want to find out about what went down with Cordy's possibly former honey, so we're going to do it like this. Wes has one of our phones and he's going to keep a line open between him and Clem, so Clem'll be able to hear what's going on.

We can't risk Holliday seeing anyone from Sunnydale, but we'll follow on with the weapons. It's up to you four to see what you can get out of the guy before we come in, which we'll do as soon as Wes gives us the signal or we hear fighting. Wes can warn you what to look out for if he does start a fight, though until he sees us, there's no real reason that he should.

Willow, Tara, when we go in, I want you to do that barrier spell you did at the gas station. I don't want this guy to have any way out. If you can do it from outside, that's even better. Things might get a little cramped in there with four of us swinging swords and axes. The guy's a total pack-rat."

Willow took in Buffy's earnest expression as the slayer watched Wesley, Gunn, Fred and Connor make their way down the street.

"I'm guessin' from the 'destroy all monsters' approach that you think this guy is something to do with Spike's disappearing act?" the redhead asked, giving her friend a questioning look.

Buffy shrugged. "Nope. At least not that I know about. We've just got unfinished business." Judging that Wes's group had a big enough head start, Buffy gathered her people together, sharing out the weapons between them.

"Time to go, people." She took a determined step forward and then hesitated turning to Clem and Lily. "Em, you guys don't mind being called people, do you? It's not some sort of massive insult or something?"

"Only if you meant it to be," Clem answered. "Of course, calling Mom a guy, now, that's an insult."

The gentle brush of Drusilla's fingertips along his arm brought Spike back to consciousness. He lay there for a second or two revelling in her tenderness before he rolled to face her, discovering his injuries as he moved.

He flinched and shifted slightly to accommodate the more tender areas.

"How's my darling boy?" Dru pushed a soft curl back from Spike's forehead.

"Been worse," he said, though he couldn't honestly think when it that might have been. "What about you, princess? Did your cure work? Are you strong again?"

Spike felt an almost physical surge of warmth through his entire body at the smile Drusilla gave him by way of reply. "I'm all better again. My Spike made me well. Shall I show you?" A cool hand reached to cup Spike's balls, and he jumped backward.

"Tell you what, pet. Why don't we wait till I grow some skin back down there." Spike looked around the room. "Not that it isn't an improvement, but what happened to our old digs? And where are we?"

"My boy went all away, and I was all alone," Dru replied.

Spike sighed. He walked over to the room's wardrobe, automatically checking for his clothes in the left-hand side. Everything was new. Still creased where they had been unpacked from the cellophane.

He took a pair of stiff black canvas jeans from a hanger pulling off the tags. He wondered what had happened to his soft, faded denim jeans. These new ones were going to rub him raw.

He decided to forego a T-shirt, and skipped straight to the red button-down shirt, leaving it unbuttoned. He strode to the room's door, yanking it open.

"Alright, people," he called out. "Who's in charge here? Hell-o-o-o?"

"That depends..." came a drawl from the living room.

"On what?" Spike asked as he came to the head of the stairway down into the open-plan reception room.

"On what it is you're lookin' for the boss of," Lindsey replied. He raised a crystal whisky glass in Spike's direction. "Join me?"

"That depends on who you are."

"You could say I'm your little brother."

"And you came on the scene when?" Spike asked.

"A few months back. You've been out of the loop for quite a while, but we don't need to fight over who's top dog."

Spike started his descent into the cabin's main room.

"And why's that?" Spike asked.

"'Cause sooner or later, you and Dru'll be heading off on your own and until then I can take a back seat."

"Okay, I'll bite. What do you want?"

"To stay young forever, know true love, and never have to worry about money again, but as the song goes two out of three ain't bad."

"Well, I'm guessin' that you're okay on the first and judgin' by the digs and the clothes I'd say the you're doing pretty well on the third and the second I don't think anyone can help with."

Lindsey rose as Spike reached the bottom of the stairs, moving to where a decanter and several crystal glasses rested on a silver salver. "This," he gestured around him, "isn't mine." He passed the freshly poured whisky to Spike. "But when all's said and done I'll be doin' pretty well. True love, well, I guess I missed my chance, so all that's left is cold, ugly revenge."

Spike took a swig of the well-aged spirit taking the time to savour its taste before he commented. "Why do I get the impression that we're negotiating here?"

"I've got resources here. I've got enough people to get pretty much anything I want done, done. I can live anywhere I want and I can get enough blood to keep me and mine without ever having to leave a corpse to bring trouble to my door. There's only one fly in the ointment when it comes to getting what I want."

"Enlighten me."

"Dru wants to put her family back together. I want to take Angel apart."

"I guess that means he didn't die, then?" Spike drawled.

"He's in LA. Set himself up as a Private Investigator and that little blonde slayer's in town to pay him a visit."

"Really? Now that is fun. You get your people in play. You can have Angel, but the slayer is mine."

"And Dru?" the American asked.

"Your people keep her out of the fight, and when it's all over I'll take her back to Europe."

Spike knocked back his remaining whisky in one mouthful and passed his glass back to Lindsey, before turning for the stairs.

"Better fetch your coat if you're plannin' on comin', mate."