Chapter 2.05
Tuesday, May 7th, 2002
"Okay, Peaches, are you goin' to tell me and
the missus just what is goin' on round here?"
Angel hesitated before answering. "Cordy gets
visions from the Powers That Be. She got a vision of a woman in
a bar being attacked by-"
The car pulled up at a red light. "That isn't
what I mean, Poofter, and you know it. Now are you going to tell
me why junior here smells every bit as much like you as he does
Darla? And more to the point, how come he's got a heartbeat?"
"Spike, this isn't the time." Angel spoke tersely
hoping his tone would deter his grandchilde from further questions,
instead as Spike returned his attention to navigating the LA streets
Buffy took up his line of questioning.
"No, I think now is the perfect time, Angel.
We've got a few minutes before we're going to get to that bar,
even the way Will drives. So why don't you tell us? And while
you're doing it why don't you tell us what you did with your tame
watcher? Cordy seemed to think telling me what happened to him
was your job too."
"Alright. Stephen is my son, mine and Darla's,
not our childe, our son.-"
"And when we were going out you neglected to
mention you had a son the same age as my sister because, say,
you really didn't want to worry me with little details like birth
control."
"Because he wasn't born till a couple of months
ago. It's this whole prophecy thing." Buffy turned in her seat,
eyebrow raised in a manner that reminded him far too much of his
grandchilde.
"He was born a couple of months ago, and then
he was kidnapped and taken to a hell dimension. Wesley was instrumental
in the kidnapping, that is why he's no longer welcome at the hotel.
As I'm sure you remember from your visit to one, time flows slightly
differently in these places. To us he was kidnapped last week,
to him it's been considerably longer."
"So that makes it less than a year since you
and Darla. Did you go evil again and not tell us?" Buffy pressed
him.
"No, that is I went through a bit of a rough
patch, but I didn't lose my soul."
"This would be round the time you locked Dru
and Darla in a cellar with a bunch of lawyers, and then felt so
guilty about it afterwards that you set them on fire. Did you
wait till her burns had healed before you slept with her?" Buffy
wasn't about to let up.
"Yes, her burns had healed. Look this isn't something
I want to explain in front of my son. I'm not proud of what happened.
All that he needs to know is that in the end Darla loved him enough
that she died so that he could be born."
Spike snorted.
"I know what you think but when she was pregnant
it was like she had a soul, because Stephen was inside her, she
could love, she loved him. He couldn't be born naturally so she
dusted herself so that he could live."
"We're there, kiddies." Spike stepped on the
brakes. "Story time's over, for now."
Lilah and Wesley stood on the balcony looking
down at the bar off to the side of the crowded dance-floor. Lilah
spoke condescendingly to the former watcher. ".I just needed to
know whether or not I was wasting my time. And to prove we're
still friends. I'll have her pulled out of there before anything
really lethal happens. That way you don't have to torture
yourself as to whether or not you did the right thing."
Wes saw movement on the floor below, a block
of people in black leather moved as one through the dancers on
the floor, accompanied by a youth Wes hasn't seen before. He took
a step closer to the railing and watched the scene unfold. "I
don't think that will be necessary."
Lilah stepped up next to him and looked down
to see Angel along with a shorter man, a youth and a young woman,
none of whom she recognised.
Angel turned to his son as they walked through
the crowd followed by the two blondes. "Well, you wanted to kill
a vampire. This might be your chance." He passed him a stake,
keeping the movement as unobtrusive as possible. "Here, take this.
It's a bit easier than trying to behead someone with a six-inch
blade. Just make sure when you use that thing that you go straight
for-"
"The heart. I know. My father taught me," Stephen
interrupted.
"Yeah," answered his biological father. "I'm
sure he did. Look, there are a lot of innocent people in here.
Just don't go nailing anybody until they show their game face,
okay?"
"Will it look like yours and his did?"
"Yeah." Angel looked across to the bar and recognised
Justine.
"So why do you do it?" Stephen's nod included
not only his father but Spike.
"Do what?" asked the brunette.
"Why kill them if they're like you?"
"They're not like me, Connor. That's a question
for him." Angel tilted his head back over toward Spike.
"I'm not Connor."
Buffy's "spider-sense" was tingling. She counted
three including the bartender around the woman that Angel seemed
to have noticed at the bar and more interspersed throughout the
crowd. With the slightest tilt of her head she and Spike split
off toward the bar.
"Ready for another?" the bartender asked the
redhead. She was half off her barstool, looking past Buffy and
Spike as they approached, so Buffy's guess was that somehow she
had picked up on Angel.
She turned back slightly to answer the question.
"No, I'm done."
The bartender and the two men who had been sitting
on either side of her vamped out, the barman grabbing her the
arm. "You're not wrong," he said.
"She thinks she's a slayer," one of the vamps
beside her remarked. There was a tap on his shoulder.
"Actually, that would be me." Buffy smiled brightly
as she staked the gawking vamp. Spike meanwhile vaulted the bar
just as the bartender pulled Justine up onto the counter. A stake
appeared from out of Spike's sleeve.
"Too bad you're not going to be around long enough
to get her autograph," Spike quipped before he drove a stake through
his back and into his heart. Justine's struggles managed to knock
the third vamp back toward the centre of the dance-floor and Angel
deftly spun him round and impaled him on his stake. Stephen watched
as he turned to dust.
Buffy pulled Justine down off the counter and
pushed her in the direction of the exit. "Go, get your ass out
of here, and in future leave the job to the professionals."
Spike picked up a bottle of bourbon and placed
it on the countertop in case he had a chance to retrieve it later,
before vaulting back onto his original side of the bar again.
He and Buffy fell into a perfectly synchronised run back toward
the centre of the room. Three vamps moved to close in on Angel
who now stood in the middle of a clear space on the dance-floor.
Before they could reach him Stephen ran toward him and with an
impressive jump landed next to him, taking up a position at his
back. Spike and Buffy fell in behind them so that the four made
up the sides of a square.
Two went for Angel, one choosing Stephen as the
easy option, or so he thought.
"We got any more incomin' or is this it, slayer?"
"There are a couple of shy ones." One of the
two on Angel, heard the word slayer and decided to make a bolt
for the door. Spike noted that Buffy was using the rather non-aerodynamic
Mr Pointy and tossed her one of his stakes.
Seeing two coming in toward the slayer from the
opposite side he took a diving roll under her line of sight to
come to his feet right in front of the surprised pair. "My guess,
you two would be the ones with confidence issues." Spike caught
one with a left-handed jab to the nose, which he followed with
a roundhouse kick to the temple before grabbing the vamp by the
collar and throwing him toward Buffy.
Buffy flipped her new stake in her hand and launched
it with an expert aim catching the retreating vampire, square
through the heart. The stake fell to the ground and was scooped
up by someone at the edge of the crowd. Buffy snapped out a forward
kick to land on the jaw of the unfortunate that Spike sent her
way, straightening him up long enough for her to drive Mr Pointy
through his ribcage and into his heart.
"So did you want this one, pet, or should I just
play with him for a bit?" Spike asked as he caught the remaining
vamp behind the knee with a low roundhouse kick knocking him off
balance.
Buffy noticed the teenager despatch his opponent
with apparent ease. "I think maybe you should give him to Stephen.
Looks like we missed a few birthdays. Time we made up for it."
"As you wish, pet. Kid! Wanna play?" As he spoke
Spike continued to deliver blows that were enough to disorientate
his opponent and prevent him mounting an attack of his own. Once
he was sure Stephen was aware of the incoming threat, Spike sent
the vamp sprawling in his direction.
He turned to watch Stephen in his fight, moving
to a position where he could easily intervene if it looked like
the boy might be injured, but not about to interfere unless the
boy looked like he needed or wanted help. Buffy moved to stand
next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder as she also looked
on.
"A little help here, guys?" Angel asked. Buffy
shrugged and stepped up behind Angel's admittedly skilful opponent,
staking him whilst her ex had him distracted. Angel was just about
to move to help his son when Stephen swept his opponent to the
floor and staked him by himself.
"Were you actually thinking of helping there
or were you just going to let my son get hurt?" Angel glowered
at the white-blond vamp.
Spike snorted. "Your son was in no danger of
getting hurt. As soon as we were down to less than one each he
started playing with 'im. He could have dusted 'im five minutes
back if he'd wanted to. Kid's damn good."
Up on the balcony, Lilah watched the blondes
at the bar.
"Angel been recruiting lately?"
"Hardly. I thought your firm would have done
enough research on Angel's background for you to recognise that
pair. I don't see why I should give you any hints." Wes looked
on captivated by how the pair moved together as if one knew what
the other were thinking. With any luck Lilah would have her people
looking for a pair of fighters who Angel had known in the past,
rather than two separate fighters who had become a pair.
The focus of the fight shifted to the centre
of the room and Stephen's fighting skills became apparent.
Lilah couldn't help asking, "who's the Boy Wonder?
He moves just like-"
"His father," Wes finished for her, the similarity
obvious as the two stood side by side.
As the fight drew to a close, Lilah looked up
from the dance-floor. "Now tell me your not interested," she said,
before she realised she was talking to the air.
Buffy slid her arms around Spike's waist, lulling
him into a false sense of security. "Did I see you setting up
a bottle of bourbon on the bar so you could steal it when the
fight was over?"
"Yeah, Ah did." Spike smiled brightly and tried
to move toward the bar to retrieve said item before anyone else
did, only to find himself working against the power of slayer
strength. Realisation suddenly dawned. "Ahh, Sorry, pet. I forgot.
Force of habit. You can punish me later in private, so I don't
forget again."
"Hmmph, that might make sense if I could think
of something that would punish you without punishing me at the
same time. Unless I stop you from watching England's World Cup
matches," Buffy threatened.
"Would hardly warrant that even if I took the
bloody bourbon, slayer. For any decent Englishman that would constitute
cruel and unusual punishment. It's in the Geneva Convention. Not
allowed."
"Since when have you been a prisoner of war."
"And what else do you call it, love? Haven't
been my own man in years." Spike's words were low and laced with
honey.
The couple made their way to the back door of
the club, pausing in the doorway to watch Angel and Stephen mock
sparring in the back alley.
"So you think the kid's good?" Buffy cast an
appraising eye over the pair.
"Reckon he's got a damn sight more natural talent
than his father. Whoever taught him's not bad, but they were no
Giles. A few pointers off Cro Magnon there and he'll be even better."
"Praise indeed. If I didn't know better I'd say
you liked him."
"Well, can't say as I've heard him open his mouth
yet, but it's not like the kid can help who his parents are. As
somebody who lived through twenty years in that household, I kinda
feel sorry for the poor bugger," Spike responded. "If it was still
Angelus that was around and not the Poof, I'd say whoever kidnapped
him did him a favour."
"I wouldn't let him hear you say that," Buffy
cautioned.
"Before Robin, there, interfered I think I pretty
much earned the right to say what the hell I want, at least I
assume it was the kid that knocked me out."
"It was the kid, and I want to know what that
bit about vampire etiquette that I'm not supposed to know is."
"Bloody slayer hearing. I think you'll find that
neither me nor the Poof are prepared to tell you."
"We'll see. Let's head back. I want to talk to
Cordelia some more before I leave."
"I doubt she'll be able to tell you either."
"Not about that, maybe."
The couple took a wide berth round the father
and son, not noticing the old man watching from a fire escape
up above the alley. When the kid ran past them Spike just thought
he was in a hurry to get to the car, or, God forbid, the Brood
Monster had lightened up enough to give him a race. When he ran
past the car and disappeared into the distance Spike looked back
to see what his grandsire's reaction would be. Spike vowed to
have some champagne sent to the hotel as soon as he could. The
dour old git was actually smiling, a proper decent smile, not
one of those half smiles he used to manage once in a blue moon.
"Slayer wants to talk to Vision Girl some more.
Think she'll still be around when we drop you back at the hotel?"
Spike asked.
"Probably, she likes to hang around until she
knows how these things work out. Besides, I think it's time you
and I had a nice private chat," the older vampire replied.
Spike turned to Buffy. "Slayer, tell him which
order the teeth marks and the engagement ring came in."
"Engagement ring first, teeth marks a few hours
later."
"Now tell him why there isn't a matching set
on my neck."
"We're waiting on Giles doing some research to
make sure the bond won't leave me needing SPF 3000, or allergic
to holy water or anything like that," Buffy replied. "Otherwise,
you bet I'd get my own back."
"Last time you were enthralled by a vampire,
did you know what was going on."
"Well, I didn't know what it was at first, but
yeah, I knew it was something and then I found out it was thrall."
Buffy wondered how many more of these questions Spike was going
to ask.
"How long did it last?"
"Until I tasted his blood."
"Have I ever tried to use a thrall or anything
similar on you?" Spike probed.
"No. You'd class that as cheating."
"You don't think that maybe I'm so good at it
you don't know what's happening?"
"Yeah, like you'd be better at it than Dracula,
besides I bit you hard enough to draw blood on Sunday night. I'd
have noticed it being weakened if nothing else," Buffy derided
the very premise on which the question was based.
"The defence rests." Spike turned from Buffy
to Angel. "Still want that private talk or have we covered everything
except the empty threat?"
"It wouldn't be an empty threat."
"Yeah, right. Red or the watcher would do me
months before you even knew what was happening. And I wouldn't
be able to fight back against either of them. Chip doesn't stop
me kicking your ass."
"How did you manage to claim Buffy if that chip's
still working?" Angel looked for the hole in Spike's arguments
that he knew must exist somewhere.
"It would appear that since she was resurrected
Buffy's a bit more special than your average human." Spike's explanation
was rather more diplomatic than the one he had given Buffy.
"So you can hurt her?" the older vamp questioned
the pair.
"Wouldn't be much good as her sparring partner
otherwise," Spike responded, his smirk hinting at more layers
of meaning than the obvious. "We done yet?"
"Yeah, for now." The older vamp gave his grudging
agreement.
"Good." Spike started the car and headed toward
the hotel. |
