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Coming Full
Circle
Chapter 1
by Tami
Las Vegas, Nevada, September, 2004
It had been four months since the apocalyptic battle between Angel and the Senior Partners. The two vampires were the only ones left standing when the proverbial smoke cleared. Each member of the team knew what they signed up for, and each had paid the ultimate price for siding with the souled vampire.
Cordelia had died in a coma long before the war started.
Fred had died from a parasite that had drained her vitality. Sadly, she passed away on what was to be her wedding day to Wesley. Angel was set to give her away. But that was not to be. As sterile as the labs at Wolfram & Hart had been, they were not impervious to in-born viruses. The lab was working on an anecdote for the deadly virus when a vial of the dangerous substance broke and Fred breathed in the airborne particles. Wesley was never the same after she died.
In the end, Wesley had died fighting Vale. Gunn had taken on the devil-demon without incident, but was injured when he went after Senator Brucker’s vampire aides. When he finally caught up with the two vampires behind the Hyperion, he lasted a good thirty minutes before he succumbed to death, leaving Angel and Spike to fight their way through the throng of demons.
When they saw an opening, Angel and Spike made a run for it, sticking to the shadows and sewers, always moving inland until they hit Las Vegas. Angel found a building that resembled the one he lived in when he first moved to L.A. After that, he started to build a new group of friends around him.
Denise was a feisty girl who played at being a secretary. At least that was Spike’s assessment of her. That is, when she wasn’t mooning over his Sire. She came to be with the team after Angel helped her out when she was attacked by a vampire in a parking lot.
Cassidy was a young librarian who helped with research on occasion. She met Angel due to the number of times he frequented the occult section of the city library where she worked. She had never had problems with demons, but she wasn’t ignorant of them, either. Las Vegas wasn’t a popular town for nothing. There had to be some demonic influence for it to flourish. She also had a crush on Spike, which the blonde vampire occasionally toyed with.
Chase was a demon hybrid; half-vampire/half-werewolf, though he was born with the crossbreeding, the product of a science experiment in a demon research facility that wanted to see what would happen if the two breeds were mixed. He was human with no special powers other than a heightened sense of smell, an unusual strength not seen in humans and excellent night vision.
Chase was a bartender who was usually brought in when the vampires needed the extra muscle. He never sought to kill demons. It was more like they were drawn to him. The crossbreeding gave him a rare blood type, and the demons could sense it. He ended up working with Angel when the two vampires helped him out in a night club where he worked. When they had killed the vampires that were after Chase, the young man turned around and demanded to know if Spike and Angel were after him for the same thing. Angel immediately cut him in on the group.
Francesca, or Frankie as she was called, was a genius mathematician, ranked second in the U.S. She was prone to eccentric babble concerning the probability of winning whatever fight they were in at any given time. Spike got a kick out of watching her. She would be babbling about some problematic theory on the current fight when the opponent would get bored and attack her. The minute he was close enough, her arm would shoot out, staking the vampire and she’d continue as if nothing happened.
It was comical to Spike. He had dubbed the new group Angel’s Avengers which made Angel chuckle whenever he thought back to when Spike first suggested the moniker while they were at Wolfram & Hart. The irony of Angel surrounding himself with people who resembled his old crew was not lost on Spike. His Sire had a near obsessive-compulsive disorder when it came to having something familiar around him. The traits of the new group were familiar.
Although they were amicable to the people they worked with, Angel and Spike had closed ranks between themselves. They rarely, if ever, mentioned Sunnydale or L.A. and deflected any questions the group asked. That was not to say they never spoke of it with each other, just that they never talked about it with outsiders. Sunnydale and L.A. were painful chapters of their lives that were closed. The few times that they talked to Seeley were only casual mention of the L.A. gang and asking about Drusilla’s welfare.
Said vampire’s welfare was now the topic of discussion. Spike was leaning against a wall in his trademark duster and black clothes watching his Sire argue with Chase. Angel had his hands on Chase’s desk, looming over him as he ranted.
“What do you mean you lost her? We’ve been tracking Dru for months and you lost her? She may be insane but she’s my childe. She couldn’t have just disappeared! How can you just lose her?” Angel seethed.
Chase looked up at the dark vampire and then glanced at Spike before saying, “We’ve been trailing her ever since you came to Vegas, but we have nowhere near the ability that law firm had. What was it called? Wolfram & Hart?” Chase received twin growls
at the mention of the law firm and he rushed on. “It’s not like we intentionally lost her. She’s just not there anymore. Hey, you’re the one who made her. Don’t have some kind of telepathic connection with your childer that you can use to locate her?”
“The blood bond doesn’t work like that. To be telepathically connected enough to track, we’d have to be mated,” Angel said flatly.
“What about any of your other progeny? Like Spike, are you able to track him or Penn,” Cassidy asked.
Angel combed his fingers through his hair and sighed. “Spike’s here so I don’t need to track him even if I could. As for Penn, having killing dreams while he was active is one thing, but I couldn’t track him in the way you’re suggesting. The blood bond only lets me feel them if they are close, as in the same city or feel if they are still alive. Besides, Penn isn’t the issue here. He’s dead. Dru and Spike are all I have left.”
“Well, Drusilla’s out there, unchecked, in the midst of three million people,” Frankie commented. “I don’t think I need to give the odds of the chances of finding her, do I? It seems obvious.”
Angel started to pace the floor like a caged animal. His baby girl was out there somewhere. He’d always known where she was, but soon after the war ended, some of his contacts dried up either out of fear of being caught helping him by someone connected to the law firm’s Senior Partners, had moved on, or were dead.
Drusilla had been gone ever since Seeley left them. It wasn’t that she couldn’t take care of herself. There were other factors to consider. For instance, the millions of new Slayers in the world. Her disappearances were legendary within the clan and Angel had always kept tabs on her whereabouts. But now he was at a loss. It wasn’t just Buffy and Faith they had to worry about anymore. Drusilla could be killed by any of the Slayers that Willow unleashed with her spell. The new generation of Slayers wouldn’t know her. Hell, he was sure even Buffy and Faith would kill her on sight because they knew of her. He needed help from someone who wouldn’t be out to dust her.
Angel shared a knowing look with Spike. “I don’t want to do this. I never wanted to contact him and ask for his help. He has a different life than us. He doesn’t need to be involved in our world.”
“You don’t have much choice mate,” Spike said. “We’ve been all over the West Coast, used any resources we had left and still nothing. You and I would both feel it if she were dust and she’s not.”
“How many people have you made enemies of in the last two hundred and fifty years, Angel?” Denise asked.
“More than I can count,” Angel said resignedly. He grabbed the receiver off the base and dialed a number. “I’m calling him. He helped find Dru before. He’ll help again.”
*************************
Washington DC, Seeley Booth’s Apartment
Seeley was bored out of his mind. No matter what position he was in, it didn’t feel right. His movements were instinctive and robotic. In. Out. In. Out. How he managed to stay hard this long was a mystery.
The way he and Cam had started up was a fluke. It began as a one night stand and stayed that way. There were no feelings outside of instant gratification. No matter how many times he did this with her, it wasn’t the same. Her body wasn’t cool to the touch. Her features weren’t delicate and exotically beautiful, belying hidden strength.
Cam lay underneath him, writhing and moaning her pleasure. Seeley had blocked out her voice a while ago. In his mind, he heard growls and throaty squeaks. His eyes were tightly closed as he tried to remember Drusilla’s ethereal beauty when she was in the throes of passion, and the way Spike looked when Angel was behind him, stroking him. Seeley missed the blood-warmed vice-like grip of Drusilla wrapped around him.
When his cell phone started ringing, Seeley sent a prayer of thanks to God for the distraction. He stopped his movements much to the dismay of Cam and reached over to grab the phone off the bedside table.
“Don’t answer it, Booth. Work can wait,” Cam complained.
Seeley looked at the caller ID and saw Angel’s number. “I have to. It may be important.” With that, he flipped the phone open. “Seeley Booth.”
“Seeley, it’s Angel,” a worried voice said over the receiver.
“Are you okay?” Seeley asked.
“Physically, yeah,” Angel replied distractedly.
Seeley could hear the difference in his voice. Angel was broody, but he sounded depressed, which for a person like Angel, was hard to imagine. Seeley had seen exactly three moods with the vampire, and they all had the same expression.
Seeley sat up in bed, ignoring Cam’s attempts to distract him from the phone call.
“What happened? Is Spike okay?”
“Who’s Spike?” Cam asked annoyed when Seeley hissed at her to be quiet.
“Spike’s fine. It’s not him. It’s --” Angel started to say.
“Dru?” Seeley asked even though he knew.
“She’s disappeared and I don’t mean like normal. I’ve always been able to track her, but it’s like she’s vanished,” Angel said solemnly.
“Vanished?” Seeley echoed.
“Look, I would never call you if I knew where she was. I’ve always kept tabs on her location, but I . . . We need help. I have a new crew now, but we’re limited after the war with the Senior Partners,” Angel explained.
“Sit tight. I’m on my way,” Seeley said and ended the call.
Seeley tossed the cell at the end of the bed, flung the covers and Cam aside and went in search of his clothes. He pulled his pants on over his bare ass, deciding that he didn’t have time to find underwear and clipped the cell onto his waistband. He went to the closet to find his suitcases, ignoring a peeved Cam still sitting in bed with the sheet over her breasts.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“There’s somewhere I’ve got to be. A family emergency,” Seeley said as he started throwing clothes into the bags. “You need to leave.”
“But, we were in the middle of --” Cam started to say.
“And now we’re not,” Seeley cut in as he threw his hygiene products into the bags. “Look, we both know this,” he gestured between them, “will never be anything. It was fun, Cam. It’s nothing serious.” He ignored the angry glare that could have killed him and dialed FBI Headquarters from his land line.
“Federal Bureau of Investigations, how may I direct your call?”
“Deputy Director Sam Cullen. This is Special Agent Seeley Booth.”
“One moment please.”
Seeley balanced the receiver between his ear and shoulder as he arranged his clothes in the suitcase while he waited.
“Cullen here.”
“Sir, I’d like to put in for a vacation, maybe a month, could be more. I don’t know,” Seeley said. His voice was shaky from the adrenalin that he felt since Angel called him.
“Of course, you’ve done some good work over the last few years. You’re about due for some down time. I’ll grant it,” Cullen said.
“Thank you sir,” Seeley said and hung up.
He ignored Cam and resumed packing when she nearly screeched, “A month?!”
Seeley looked up with a surprised expression as if he didn’t expect to see her there. “Why are you still in bed? I need to go and I can’t leave you here.” He grabbed her clothes off the floor and threw them to her.
Cam snatched the clothes up and started dressing. “I never took you for a heartless bastard before, Seeley.”
Seeley glared at her when he heard his name. It was one thing for Angel, Spike and Drusilla to say it. But, hearing it from Cam grated his nerves. “Don’t call me Seeley, Camille.”
Once she was dressed, Seeley all but dragged her to the door and escorted her over the threshold. “I’ll call you,” he said noncommittally before closing the door in her shocked face and made another call to arrange a flight to Las Vegas.
**************************
Drusilla hadn’t been able to see for days, maybe months. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been here, wherever here was. Since she became a vampire one hundred and forty-five years ago, she never bothered to look at a calendar. Time and dates meant nothing when you were undead.
The last thing she remembered was hunting a child around the age of ten in Honduras before it all went black. When she came to, she found herself lying on a bare box spring, chained to the frame and feeling groggy. She couldn’t hear any movement aside from herself. She didn’t know where she was and whatever they gave her was messing with her natural senses.
Drusilla opened her eyes and blinked, but it was still dark and her eyes literally ached with the strain to see. She was a vampire. She should able to see. She shook her head and felt cloth move against her face. That took the mystery out of the blindness. Whoever they were had blindfolded her.
She may be insane, but by no means was she dumb. This was very different from anything she had experienced. Her Sire – the true version of Angelus – had schooled her in every form of torture. It wasn’t a question of surviving sensory deprivation. That wasn’t what bothered her. It was the weakness she felt in her limbs. Whatever they had done to her weakened not only her vampire senses, but her mobility. That frightened her more than anything. The last time she was like this, Spike had to perform a dangerous ritual to heal her.
Drusilla thought she had always been very careful in how she lived her life. She knew her own strengths and vulnerabilities. She knew when to hide and when to hunt. The pixies and Miss Edith sometimes aided in that. But here there was nothing to help her. Where had it gone wrong? What had she done for this to happen?
All of a sudden, the Old Catholic prayers that she knew when she was human were coming back to her. She started saying them in her head to calm herself. She wasn’t even sure God heard them anymore now that she was a demon. If only the poison in her blood was gone, she’d be able to feel if Angel and Spike was near. As it was, all she knew was the inky blackness.
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