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How to Treat Your
Lover
by Tami
Chapter 54
Chapter 54: Step 4 – Reconciliation (Part
4)
Los Angeles, Angel’s Suite
One minute, Spike and Angel were arguing and the next they were fused at the mouth. Before he could blink, Spike found himself flat on the bed. His eyes never left Angel as he started to crab-crawl towards the pillows. Angel’s dark eyes followed his progress and then advanced on his mate in a slow panther crawl up the bed. Angel straddled Spike’s hips and held his wrists down on the pillow on either side of him before he took his mate’s mouth in a possessive kiss.
Angel released Spike only long enough to pull his t-shirt over his head and then buried his face against the curve of Spike’s neck, biting the skin with blunt teeth. He reached down between them to undo Spike’s belt, yanking the strip of leather out through the belt loops and tossed it over the side of the bed. With that out of the way, he set to work on ridding Spike of his jeans, growling in frustration when they wouldn’t open fast enough.
Once the jeans were open, Angel was off the bed, pulling the shoes and then the pants off his mate. Climbing back onto the bed, Spike met him half way and popped the buttons on Angel’s jeans just enough to reach in and wrap his fingers around his Sire’s cock. Angel let out a growl as he attacked Spike’s mouth again. The kiss was violent and possessive as Angel ground himself against Spike, thrusting into his hand.
Breaking the kiss, gasping for unneeded breath, Angel tugged his own shirt over his head, too impatient to undo the buttons. Spike took the initiative and tugged the pants down over Angel’s hips. Angel pulled them off and tossed them onto the growing pile on the floor. Then, he pounced on Spike again like a starving man. All those months away from each other had finally caught up.
“Love you, baby boy. Need you now,” Angel growled as he reached for the bottle of hand cleanser on the bedside table.
Spike hissed as Angel pressed the nozzle against him and squeezed the cool liquid inside him. He should be lucky that Angel remembered the lube at all, given the countless times they’d made due without. He barely saw Angel toss the bottle to the side before his mate rubbed the tip of his erection against his hole and then pushed inside.
“Angel!” Spike growled at the sudden intrusion.
His protest was cut off when Angel’s mouth came down on his in a bruising kiss. Angel grabbed him around the waist and rolled them over until Spike was on top, straddling his Sire’s hips. Spike thought he’d have better control this way, but Angel refused to let go. Angel kissed down his mate’s throat and held him in place as he thrust up into him.
“Fuck, Angel,” Spike groaned as he tried to meet his Sire’s thrusts as best he could in the pinned position he was in.
**************************
Hyperion Lobby
“It sounds like all is right in the Heavens,” Fred commented as she opened the weapons cabinet.
“Yeah, sounds like the fang duo are back together,” Gunn, agreed as he grabbed a battle-axe.
There was an echo of lusty growls in the cavernous hotel. The sounds had been going on for the last few hours. Gunn and Fred barely got any sleep since Angel brought Spike back to the hotel.
**************************
Angel’s Suite
Their first hour of frantic, desperate, ravenous sex resulted in injuries that a human would describe as bordering on horrific, but the deep scratches and punctures yielded precious blood to lips and tongues seeking fundamental unification.
Satiated by the first accumulation of lust, Angel only bit Spike twice during their second hour of coupling – once by accident.
Spike was impressed during their third hour when Angel managed to invent one or two positions they hadn’t tried, which Spike had thought impossible since they’d gone through so many.
By hour four, they’d finally slowed down to gentler movements until Spike found his release and collapsed on the bed. Angel fell on the mattress next to him. The hotel was quieter now. Usually, he could hear Gunn and Fred moving around in the lobby. He turned to look at his companion and found Spike dozing.
“Spike?”
Spike hummed sleepily.
“Move in with me permanently,” Angel suggested. It seemed innocent enough to his ears.
Spike’s eyes snapped opened at the request. “What?”
“Close down the mansion and move into the hotel with me – us,” Angel clarified. He didn’t see anything wrong with the idea. Spike hadn’t been in the mansion for nearly a year anyway. He’d either been at the hotel, Cordy’s or Africa.
“What brought this on?” Spike asked confused. After the workout he just experienced, he wanted to sleep. Angel wanted to have a coherent conversation. After all the years of bouncing him like a yo-yo, his Sire decided to let him move in for good? This had to be some kind of joke. Maybe it was another way to clear his conscience. Now that his childe had a soul, he couldn’t very well turn him out now, could he?
“Now that you have a soul, I thought if you were closer to me, I’d help you deal with that and --” Angel started to explain, confirming Spike’s suspicions without realizing it.
Spike had been listening to Angel’s speech with half an ear. When the words finally sunk in, his brows furrowed in anger and he bolted from the bed, nearly tripping when his foot got caught in the tangled sheets. “I’m not bloody well moving in with you so that you can have a guilt-free conscience.”
“—Now that we have our feelings for each other out in the open,” Angel finished in bewilderment at Spike’s outburst. “I don’t want two-hundred miles – or any amount of distance – between us if I can help it.”
Spike paced the floor beside the bed. The mansion was his getaway when he was pissed at Angel or his prison when Angel decided to banish him to Sunnydale ‘For the Greater Good.’ Now, Angel wanted him to move in permanently? Where the hell could he escape to when he was angry at Angel?
Angel was getting more frustrated with each pass. He didn’t see the dilemma in his suggestion. Spike had been nagging at him for years to let him stay. Now that he suggested it, Spike scoffed at him. Besides, it would be easier to watch over his mate here to see if there were any signs that he was having difficulty coping with a soul much as Darla had. When Spike didn’t answer him, Angel got out of bed and pulled his clothes back on. Giving his mate one last glance before he headed for the door.
Upon opening it, Angel paused long enough to say, “If you can’t see how I feel then what the hell am I trying so hard for?” With that, he walked out and closed the door behind him.
Spike stopped wearing a path in the threadbare carpet and looked up at the sound of the door latching. He was surprised to find himself alone. He wasn’t completely back to his old self no matter what confident airs he put on for the rest of the team. He just needed time to work things out in his head. Surely, Angel of all people would understand that. Sighing, he put his clothes back on and left the room following in Angel’s wake.
**************************
On the second floor of the hotel, Lorne caught up with Angel as he walked through the corridor.
“Angelcakes, I’m glad I ran into you. Well, not so much run into you as --” Lorne started to say cheerily.
“What do you want, Lorne?” Angel asked brusquely.
Lorne took a step back as if the vampire had threatened to attack him. “Whoa, Mr. Grumpy! Did we wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”
“No,” Angel replied.
“Lover’s tiff then?” Lorne suggested.
“No!” Angel replied even more annoyed and kept walking down the hall to the stairs. “Was there something you wanted?”
“Yes there was, before your dark cloud came looming over our heads. I think we should talk to Cordelia,” Lorne started to say.
“No,” Angel cut in with a tone of finality as he descended the staircase to the lobby.
“Why?” Lorne asked as he followed close behind.
“No,” Angel stressed the word.
“Why?!” Lorne asked emphatically.
“Cause I said no,” Angel shot back.
“And I said ‘why’,” Lorne countered. “Now, let’s meet in the middle with a ‘why no?’”
“It’s too soon,” Angel said, heading for the front desk.
“But she got her memory back,” Lorne said as he followed Angel. “Aren’t you a weensy curious if Cordy remembers anything from her little stint as a Miss Higher Power? Oh, say, maybe something about the thing-a-ma-bad that Wolfram & Hart sucked outta my noggin?”
“We need to give her time to adjust before we start coming at her with a million questions,” Angel said exasperated by Lorne’s badgering.
“How about one? One’s good,” Lorne suggested hopefully.
Angel threw his hands in the air. “In a couple of days when she’s more herself.”
“Spike, you want to chime in here? Your mate is being immobile on the subject,” Lorne said.
Angel had been so busy deflecting Lorne over Cordelia’s memory that he didn’t see Spike come down the stairs. He watched the blonde vampire walk past him without even a glance in his direction and go behind the reception desk.
“Angelus has always been obstinate,” Spike commented nonchalantly. Angel however did not miss the use of his full name. His childe was upset with him for some reason and he couldn’t figure out why.
“Where did Fred and Gunn go anyway?” Angel asked, changing the subject.
Spike held up a memo note. “Says here they went to Hancock Park. Some woman heard spooky sounds in her pipes.”
Angel turned to Lorne and gestured at Spike. “See? The worst thing we got going is a haunted toilet, so let’s give Cordy a little space. It’s not like the world is going to end right this second.”
The words no sooner left his mouth then they heard a scream upstairs. All three demons practically flew up the steps to Cordelia’s room and nearly broke the door down bursting in. Cordelia was sitting up in bed gasping either from the shock of her door slamming open or the dream she had Angel wasn’t sure.
Spike’s the one that moved first. In seconds he was sitting on the edge of the bed, gripping her shoulders.
“What is it?” he asked anxiously.
Angel and Lorne moved closer to be the bed looking around for the possible threat.
“Oh, G --” was all Cordelia managed to get out.
“Are you all right?” Spike asked. When she just stared unseeing at him, he shook her. “Cordy!”
Suddenly, Cordelia broke down sobbing. She leaned on Spike who held her while looking over his shoulder at Angel and Lorne who wore identical dumbfounded expressions. It was as if they never before encountered a woman who burst into hysterical crying jags.
Spike, having his own issues with his newly acquired soul, glared at his Sire and the Pylean who left him to deal with Cordelia. He pulled away to look at her.
“Looks like you haven’t slept since you came back,” Spike observed, brushing the hair out of her eyes.
“I know,” Cordelia admitted in a small voice. “Every time I close my eyes, I . . .”
“What?” Angel asked.
Cordelia blinked and looked at Angel and Lorne as if she hadn’t noticed them before or forgotten they were there. “I see it: something horrible moving deep down, clawing its way up.”
“It was just a dream, muffin,” Lorne said soothingly, “But while we’re on the subject --”
“Lorne! Not now,” Angel hissed.
“I can taste the blood of all the people it’s going to kill,” Cordelia said anxiously. “I can smell the stench of burning flesh.”
“It’s okay, Cordy,” Angel said. “You’re safe.”
Cordelia shook her head. “No one’s safe. Don’t you understand that? It’s coming, and no one can stop it. I feel it. The thing in my dreams . . . it’s real, and it’s almost here.”
“What does that mean?” Angel asked confused.
“It means it’s time to hit the books,” Lorne replied.
“And search for what: Some unknown evil entity that may or may not show up in the near and distant future? Do we have a time line to even know where to begin to look?” Spike asked. “I don’t think the Demon Database covers that. Or, if it does, it’s a broad range of suspects.”
“When did you become so knowledgeable on the subject?” Angel asked amazed by his childe’s intelligence.
“Sod off, Angel,” Spike shot back as he helped Cordelia to her feet and led her out of the room in search of food.
Angel looked bewildered at Lorne. “What did I say?”
Lorne shrugged and walked out of the room, leaving Angel to follow.
**************************
Hyperion Lobby
They hadn’t set foot on the ground floor before phone rang. Lorne jogged over to the reception desk and answered it. Angel grabbed the nearest weapon, started cleaning it in preparation of a possible case and proceeded to brood over the enigma that was Spike and Spike’s refusal to move in with him.
“Snakes? Uh-huh. And they came out of your what? Okay, okay, well did they get up there themselves, or is this part of a, you know, a thing,” Lorne was saying. He laughed nervously when the caller berated him for being judgmental. “No, I’m not judging!” He put the phone down and asked, “Do we fight snakes?”
Angel, brooding and polishing his sword, said with an air of boredom, “Only if they’re giant . . . or demons . . . or giant demons.” He jerked around to face Lorne, “Are they giant demon snakes?”
Lorne shrugged. “Unless this guy’s 30 feet tall, I’m thinking they’re of the garden variety.”
Angel sighed disappointedly. “Oh. They could still be demonic. Are they making any kind of weird demon-y sounds?”
“Is who making any weird demon-y sounds?” Spike asked as he came in with a glass of blood.
“Giant demon snakes on the phone,” Angel said as he was brought up short.
Watching Spike drink, his throat reflex as he swallowed made Angel want to latch on to his jugular and drink him as he drank the blood. Angel stood transfixed for a moment before shaking his head to clear that image out of his mind. It took another minute to realize Spike was speaking.
“Are these giant demon snakes the type that lured Eve to give the apple to Adam? Cause that could mean the Apocalypse is about to start,” Spike said.
Lorne put his hand to the receiver long enough to reply, “Garden variety.”
“Oh,” Spike said disappointed.
**************************
Outside the hotel, Fred and Gunn came in through the garden on their way back from the last case. Fred led the way up the terrace steps to the front door.
“Nasty pink-nosed bastards,” Gunn complained, “I can still feel them crawling on me.”
Fred shuddered at the memory of a bathroom full of mice. “I’m going to take a long bath and scrub ’til my skin stops twitching.”
Gunn perked up at the mention of a bath. “Can we have bubbles?”
Fred turned to face him, a look of apprehension on her face. “I was kinda looking forward to a quiet soak alone.”
“Oh,” Gunn shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”
“It’s just – Forget it, we’ll squeeze in.” Fred felt nauseous the second those words left her mouth and now she couldn’t take them back. The new tub that Angel and Spike got her was definitely big enough for the both of them and they’d tried it on more than one occasion. Gunn knew it too and he could see the lie written all over her face.
Gunn didn’t correct her though. He gave her a weak smile that made her feel worse. “No, no, you go ahead. I’ll grab one later.”
Fred cringed at the biting tone in Gunn’s voice. Six months ago, they were a normal happy couple. Spike and Angel had invited them on that vacation trip to Colorado and they were . . . not like this. “Can we not do this?”
“You mean have a meaningful conversation the way that two people who love each other are supposed to?” Gunn suggested with a hint of sarcasm.
“Fine,” Fred nodded. “We’ll do this.”
“Fred, what do you want from me?” Gunn asked.
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, you’ve made that pretty clear.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“You sure? We don’t talk. We sleep on opposite sides of the bed. We haven’t even touched each other since –”
“Since we murdered Professor Seidel,” Fred finished for him.
This was Gunn’s reality – his version of what he thought happened between them. In her reality, it started before Professor Seidel’s murder. She tried, really tried, to make it work after her mistake with Angel. They were both hurting – Angel over the sudden departure of Spike and her over her break-up with Gunn. One thing led to another and it never should have happened at all. But it did. And now It and Professor Seidel’s murder was between them. Only Gunn didn’t know that. He didn’t know that she started sleeping on the opposite side of the bed because she felt like she betrayed him in a moment of weakness. The guilt of that ate at her until she couldn’t even be with Gunn intimately.
From the sounds of it, though, their unfaithfulness to those they loved hadn’t put Angel off one bit. He and Spike were still going at it like bunnies. Then again, when she thought about it, Angel and Spike were a century old. That was a lot history and baggage between them. They probably learned to deal with it a whole lot better than she was doing. Unless Angel never told Spike about it. But, even then, they had a mind link didn’t they? Wouldn’t Spike have seen it anyway? Not really, because Angel didn’t know Spike had slept with Buffy until Spike had his guard down when he was unconscious after being shot by Holtz. Maybe cheating on each other was par for the course with them, but not her.
Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to tell Gunn that, so she avoided making eye contact and went with their murder of Professor Seidel.
“No. Since I did,” Gunn corrected.
“For me,” Fred insisted.
“I couldn’t let you carry that,” Gunn said softly.
“It wasn’t your choice!”
“Fred, that’s not who you are. It isn’t in your heart.”
“But, it’s in yours?” she challenged.
“It is now.” There it was. The truth Gunn accepted: his admission that he murdered someone for her. And yet, it was a mercy killing because unlike Fred, the Professor wouldn’t be able to endure a portal. Fred came out nearly crazy after five years of fending for herself in Pylea. Gunn couldn’t see the Professor surviving a portal of his own making.
That secret hung heavily in the air between them, as were many others.
“I have to go,” Fred said as she started to cry. Running down the stairs, she tossed over her shoulder. “I’m sorry.” For so many things.
“Fred!” Gunn called out as she left the garden. He wouldn’t follow. He just watched her leave.
**************************
Gunn walked inside the hotel to see Angel inspecting the artillery in the weapons cabinet. Lorne was working the phones at the reception desk. They were ringing off the hook, faster than he could answer them.
“No, no, that certainly doesn’t sound normal for a boy his age,” Lorne was saying. “Look, we’ll send someone out as soon as we can. Just, um . . . just don’t poke it.”
Lorne hung up as Gunn handed over his battle-axe to Angel.
“Hey, how’d it go?” Angel asked as he took the weapon.
“Where’s Fred?” Spike inquired.
“Bad. Out,” Gunn replied flatly. The phone ringing saved him from elaborating. “I’ll get it.”
“Bless you and all your parts,” Lorne praised as he handed over the message log and went over to Angel.
Gunn took the memo pad and answered the phone. “Angel Investigations. Uh huh, and what is the nature of your manifestation?”
“Business is really humming, huh?” Lorne commented, trying to sound nonchalant.
“Yeah, word of mouth, I guess, got around that I’m back.” Angel replied as he inspected two different weapons. “Do you think I should keep these alphabetical or rearrange them by how much damage they inflict?”
“Damage,” Lorne said. “Nomenclature goes out the portal when hacking’s a-foot.”
“Still,” Angel pondered. “It’s good to know what you’re using. I mean if I’m fighting a Glurgg and I ask for a Khopesh to finish him off. What would you throw me?”
“A towel,” Spike scoffed from behind him as he cleaned a weapon. “Glurgg’s are 90% puss.”
Lorne looked between the vampires. He was picking up a rancorous vibe between them. Whatever grudge they had going on, at least they were still talking. “Yeah, uh, not speaking of sticky fluids, maybe we should get some help around the office. Like say: a certain somebody with a good understanding of Higher Dimensions? Someone who could tell me what got Hoovered out of my head?”
“Now’s not a good time. After everything she’s been through, the last thing she need is, us coming at her with a million questions she probably has no answer for. Give her a chance to work things. In a couple of days everything will be back to the way it was.”
Just then they heard a scream from the kitchen and then a crashing sound. They ran into the room led by Spike. They were greeted to the sight of Cordelia going through a seizure. Spike and Angel ran over and grab hold of either arm and sat her up so that she wouldn’t crack her head on the floor.
“Cordy!” Angel yelled.
“What’s going on, luv?” Spike asked.
“He’s coming. He’s coming now!” she said in delirium before she passed out.
“Okay, let’s her get up,” Angel said.
They got to their feet and he bent to pick her up, carrying her to one of the couches in the lobby. Angel laid her down. Spike perched on one of the arms of the couch as Lorne appeared with a glass of water. Gunn was too busy manning the phones to drop the receiver and come to see, so he turned his body to watch the latest drama unfold while still pretending to care about the caller’s dilemma.
Angel was pacing the floor beside the couch when Cordelia came around. When he noticed she was awake he said, “You still have your visions. I thought they weren’t supposed to hurt anymore.”
“This wasn’t normal,” Cordelia sighed. Angel moved closer to the couch, waiting for her to elaborate. She sat up and took the water Lorne offered, “If that word actually applies to anything that ever happens to me. The visions are usually like a lawn sprinkler. This was like Niagara.”
“You should be sleeping, pet,” Spike commented. He could see the dark circles under her eyes.
“I’m okay,” she said with a tired smile.
“What else can you tell me?” Angel asked.
Cordelia looked up at him. “It’s big, powerful, clawing its way up through the bowels of the earth to slaughter us all.” She nodded her head. “Yeah, that pretty much covers it.”
“Did you see anything that could give us a location?” Angel asked.
“No, just the big beastie,” Cordelia sat up. “It’s coming, Angel, and it won’t stop – not until we’re all – It won’t stop.”
“Spike’s right,” Angel said which caused Spike to look up in shock that Angel agreed with him on anything. “You should probably get some sleep.”
“Yeah, because impending doom – almost as good as warm milk,” Cordelia said sardonically.
Angel shrugged. “Whatever’s coming, I’ll figure out a way to stop it.”
“You? Who says it has to be you?” Spike asked.
Cordelia shook her head. “It’ll be too late. I can feel it. There’s something – I don’t know. I think I know more about this thing – or, I knew more when I was all High and Mighty, but I just can’t get at it.”
“What if Lorne read you again?” Spike asked.
“Do you think he would after what happened the first time?”
Three sets of eyes turned to Lorne. Angel assessed him. “We could hold him down.”
“Hey!” Lorne said indignantly as he got up and answered another line.
“We need to know more. I need to know.”
At the reception desk, Gunn was on the phone telling the caller, “I’m sorry. I know, but we’re pretty swamped right now. Well, if Snowball hasn’t tried to eat your spine yet, hit her with the catnip until we get there.”
“Oh please, yeah, describe it in detail,” Lorne was telling his caller. When the person proceeded to do just that, he put the receiver to his chest and addressed Gunn, “Hey, uh, this isn’t letting up. How about, uh, rustling up some adorable reinforcements?”
“I don’t know where she is,” Gunn said as he hung up and jotted down the memo.
“That’s where the rustling comes in,” Lorne suggested.
“If Fred wanted to be here, she would,” Gunn replied in a clipped tone that got the attention of the vampires.
Lorne raised the phone to his ear. “Uh, yeah, that sounds horrible. Hold please.” He hung up without putting the caller on hold and looked worried at Gunn. “Are you two okay?”
“Ask her that. Maybe she’ll talk to you,” Gunn sighed.
The phone rang again and Lorne picked up. “Angel Investigations. Hold please.” He hung up and went around the counter to give Gunn his full attention. “Hey, I don’t know what’s going on between cupcake and her icing, but you know how she feels about you. It doesn’t take horns and a beautiful singing voice to be able to read that.”
“It’s just – it’s been hard since that thing with her Professor,” Gunn admitted.
“Well, being stuck in Pylea is pretty crappy, but being sent there on purpose by someone you trust – Hey, at least Dr. Ego got a taste of his own portal,” Lorne surmised.
“Yeah,” Gunn gave Lorne a small smile. “He got what he deserved, didn’t he?”
Angel and Spike had been listening in on the conversation when there was a thud against the windowpane of the front doors. Spike got up to investigate. He cracked the door open to see what the object was and then opened it wider.
“It’s a sparrow. The bloody thing slammed right into the glass,” Spike announced.
“Close the door, Spike!” Lorne said alarmed.
“You want me to leave a dying bird --” Spike started to say.
“Close it!” Lorne shouted.
Spike looked up just in time to see a swarm of sparrows headed towards him. He slammed the door shut just as the sparrows hit the glass so hard that they exploded, leaving blood splatters all over the doors and windows.
“I’m guessing this isn’t a good sign,” Gunn said as he took in the new red color decorating the frosted glass.
“Yeah, as harbingers go – not so much,” Lorne agreed.
“Someone might know what it means though,” Angel said as he headed for his office to get his car keys. As he came back through the lobby shrugging on his coat, he added, “I’ll be back in a while.”
“Where are you going?” Spike asked. “It’s raining birds and sod all else out there.”
“Going to check on a resource,” Angel replied before he went down the basement steps and into the sewers.
“I’m getting really sick and tired of being a babysitter,” Spike grumbled to himself.
**************************
Los Angeles, Wolfram & Hart
Following her afternoon tryst with Wesley, Lilah was on the phone, reading some lackey the riot act as she headed down the hallway to her office.
“A 300% increase – in the last hour? Uh-huh. Oh, you think? Well then, don’t think. Just shut up and give me an incident report cross-referenced by region, socio-economic backgrounds, and species. Oh, and get Gavin up here. Somebody’s trying to muscle in on our apocalypse and that is not going to happen while --” She stopped mid-threat when she opened her office door to see Angel perched on her desk. “Let me get back to you.” She ended the call and stared agape at the vampire in her office.
“Close the door,” Angel commanded.
“How did you get in here?” Lilah asked as she complied with the instruction only because she didn’t feel it necessary to give passersby something to gawk at. “Vampire detectors my ass,” she grumbled. “Well, here we are, all nice and cozy. Let’s talk about – hmm, gee, let me guess – Lorne? How’s he doing by the way? Still green?”
“I told you we were going to have a conversation,” Angel reminded her.
“Swell, but I’m having a bit of a day. So, let’s say we skip the usual two-step: you threaten me, I threaten you, yadda, yadda, yawn, and jump directly to the throwing you out on your thick meaty head. ’Cause you know what, you’re not getting anything out of me this time either.”
“I didn’t think I would, but Gavin – he was more accommodating,” Angel said casually as he looked behind her.
Lilah turned around to see Gavin bound and gagged on her leather couch. She smirked at her co-worker’s predicament and glanced at Angel. “Couldn’t you have at least tortured him a little bit more?’
“I really wanted to, but he wouldn’t stop talking long enough for me to get into it,” Angel said as he tossed a file on her desk that he had perused while awaiting her arrival.
“I have a cure for that,” Lilah said as she walked around her desk. It was good to have a guard between her and the vampire that wanted her dead on several past occasions.
“Vindict on your own time,” Angel sighed tiredly. “I’m kind of on a clock here.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That you’re trying to decipher what you took out of Lorne’s head. Hundreds of psychics probing and prodding – well, not quite that many now because every time they peel back a layer, their brains end up decorating the walls. Sound about right?”
Lilah scoffed at how much truth was in those words. Gavin had been spilling company secrets to the enemy. Maybe she could use this knowledge later in assorted blackmail schemes waged against her annoying co-worker. “You should see the cleaning bill. Now that is terrifying.”
“Anything you got on what’s coming, now would be a good time,” Angel said.
“Now that big on sharing,” Lilah said derisively.
“Think I’m joking,” Angel threatened.
“Not unless you’ve conjured up a sense of humor to go with that soul. Look, you got it straight from the weasel’s mouth. Whatever Lorne gleaned from reading Wonder Girl – it’s protected. Try to unlock it – ka-blooey. Thanks for stopping by.”
“You’re trying to hide it. I can smell it on you,” Angel said.
“Chanel?” Lilah surmised as she sat down behind her desk.
Angel stood up. “Fear.”
“Well, you are very imposing in this light.”
He walked around to stand by her chair. “You’re not afraid of me, Lilah. You’re afraid of what’s coming. Maybe we can help each other, huh. The enemy of my enemy --”
“Can kiss my ass too,” she finished. “You want to play hero? Go find another sandbox.”
Angel grabbed her chair and turned it to face him. Placing his hands on the armrests, he trapped her in the seat. “Normally, this would be the part where I’d make a grand threat, but thanks to Gavin --”
They both looked at the man in question trussed up on the couch.
“Like he knows anything,” she scoffed.
Angel released her chair and stood by the desk. “That’s the point. This thing caught you by surprise too. You had no idea it was coming.”
Lilah sighed. “So, what – I’m supposed to throw in with the White Hats ’cause the great unknown has me shaking in my pumps?”
Angel walked around her desk. “It’s a win-win for you, Lilah. You help me, I stop it and Wolfram & Hart makes you Employee of the Month for protecting everything they set in motion for the last thousand years. You help me and I don’t stop it. Well, the only way that’s going to happen is if this thing kills me.” He sat on the desk in front of her. “And if that’s the way it goes, you win again. So, you can keep playing it hard, or you can play it smart. It’s up to you.”
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel Courtyard, Night
It had been hours since Angel left to run whatever errand he felt was important after signs in the Book of Revelations came to life. Spike stepped outside for a cigarette. It wasn’t that he couldn’t smoke inside the hotel, but the group was researching the new activities and he felt he needed a bit of time to himself. Okay, so he was really shadowing Cordelia who had come out here to clear her head. She sat on a bench in the courtyard diagonal from his position on the stairs.
“It must be genetic,” she said seemingly to the open air.
“What’s that, luv?” Spike asked as he walked down the stairs while lighting his cigarette.
“Skulking around,” she replied. “Angel’s great at sneaking up on people.”
“It’s a perk to being a vampire. What are you doing out here?”
“Just been inside all day,” she sighed. “Thought I’d take a walk, clear the cobwebs, recharge the chargeable.” Spike tilted his head and looked at her. She rolled her eyes and refused to meet his. “Okay, stop with the look.”
Spike sat down beside her and took a drag on the cigarette. He remained quiet.
“I’ve been getting a stronger feeling,” she explained.
“About the vision?” Spike clarified.
“Yeah, flashes here and there, images tugging at me.”
“Where?” he asked between drags.
“I don’t know. Maybe where this thing’s going to jack-in-the-box.”
“So you think you’re just going to face it by yourself?” Spike asked with an arched brow.
“It’s all right,” Cordelia snapped, feeling as though he’d insulted her. She stood up and started to walk away. “I was a higher being.”
“Was,” Spike emphasized behind her, which caused her to stop in her tracks. “You’re not anymore.”
Cordelia hung her head. “No, I’m not.” She turned around and looked at him with a faraway expression. “I remember wanting to come back home, to be able to touch, to feel . . . to be human again.”
Spike clamped the cigarette between his lips, stood up and moved closer to her. “You are.”
“But I can’t remember how. Am I on vacation? Did I go cosmic AWOL? Did I do something to piss off the Powers That Be and get kicked out? Why am I here? Maybe I was sent back to stop whatever’s about to happen. I have to find out if that’s why I’m here.”
“Then I’m coming with you,” Spike stated.
“You don’t have to,” Cordelia started to object.
“Well, you’re bloody well not going out there alone,” Spike challenged. “Angel would kill me if anything happened to you while you decided to have a nature hike, if you haven’t noticed, luv the skies are imitating a Hitchcock movie and who knows what’s out there that could make a meal out of you.”
Cordelia sighed tiredly. She knew when she was beat. Spike wouldn’t let her go alone. She glanced through the windows of the hotel doors and saw the team inside still researching. She turned and walked away. Spike fell into step with her.
**************************
An alley in Los Angeles
“Do you know where we are?” Spike asked as he scanned the area for anything that might attack. The alleyway seemed familiar to him.
“Not exactly, no,” Cordelia admitted. “But, for the first time since I’ve been back, I feel like I have a purpose – a reason for being here. Before, all I felt was empty – like I was waiting for my life to start.”
When she abruptly stopped talking, Spike looked at her. “What is it, pet?”
“This place. I’ve been here before,” she replied.
“Should bloody well hope so,” Spike said. He knew why it was so memorable. “This is the alley behind what used to be Caritas.”
“Lorne did say that Caritas was a mystical hotspot,” Cordelia commented.
As if by some cosmic affirmation, the ground cracked in front of them and something burst up from the pavement. The blast blew Spike and Cordelia back a couple of feet. They looked up to see a hulking figure haloed in red light. Cordelia stared aghast at the beast. It looked like the one in her visions.
The Beast was huge. It had two enormous horns on top of its head and cast a towering shadow on the damp street.
Spike shifted to his demon and launched himself at the monstrosity, but The Beast merely swatted him across the alleyway into the side of a dumpster as if he were little more than a fly.
“Spike!” Cordelia cried out fearfully.
She was still crouched on the ground. She tried to crawl over to where Spike was shaking off the daze from the blow but stopped when the shadow moved over her form. She glanced apprehensively between Spike and the mountain of rock looming over her.
The Beast grabbed her by the throat, lifted her several feet in the air to its eye level and stared at her, studying her. She trembled in its grasp but didn’t scream or try to break free.
Spike regained his bearings and attacked the Beast again. The massive rock put Cordelia down. It twisted around, grabbed Spike and threw him across the alley again.
“No!” Cordelia screamed.
The Beast stalked towards her. She tried to crawl backwards, but couldn’t get away fast enough. Her skin was torn where the Beast had grabbed her around the neck.
Angel suddenly appeared at the mouth of the alley. His eyes widened when he saw the huge form stalk towards Cordelia for another attack. Somewhere in his peripheral vision, Spike staggered to his feet.
Angel took off at a dead run down the alley. “Stay away from her!”
The Beast looked up at the newcomer, then at Cordelia and laughed. With a single effort, he jumped to the top of a nearby five-storey tall building. Then, the Beast was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
Battered and bloody, Spike made his way to Cordelia and helped Angel get her on her feet and out of the alley.
“How did you know where to find us?” Spike asked, limping along the way.
“You opened the link between us,” Angel replied.
Spike looked at him with an unreadable expression.
“I’m sure you didn’t mean to but in your panic, you did open it,” Angel continued. “I’m not happy that you decided to leave the safety of the hotel.”
Spike nodded solemnly.
“Let’s get back to the hotel before that thing comes back and any other acts from the Book of Revelations happen,” Angel sighed.
The vampires helped Cordelia to the car parked a few feet from the alleyway. They all climbed in the front seat and Angel started the car.
“What’s all this?” Spike asked as he moved a set of books and papers out of the way.
“Something that may or may not explain our current predicament,” Angel replied as he stepped on the gas and took off in the direction of the hotel.
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
Gunn and Lorne were manning the phones.
“If you see Fred, could you have her call me? Charles Gunn, two N’s,” Gunn said. “Yes, that’s my real name. Just – please, have her call me.”
“Well, it might take a couple of days,” Lorne told his caller. “You’re fifth on the bleeding walls list. You know what? Spray it with a little 409. We’ll get back to you.” He hung up and looked at Gunn. “No word yet?”
Gunn dialed Fred’s number again, but it just rang. “Nobody’s seen her.”
“Well, maybe she ducked and covered when our feathered friends went kamikaze,” Lorne surmised.
Gunn hung up the phone. “Are you good here? I’m going to drive around, see if I can – I’m just going to drive.”
Lorne ignored the ringing phones and walked around the reception desk as Gunn put on his coat. “Let the machine work its mechanical magic. C’mon, I’ll hang my head out the window and see if I can pick up the Burkle vibe.”
This new talent surprised Gunn. “You can do that?”
“Um, no, but it sounds comforting and I could use the air,” Lorne commented.
They started toward the door when Wesley came in. He stopped on the landing.
“It is a bit ripe in here,” Wesley said neutrally. “I’d suggest opening a window, but --”
Gunn’s blood ran cold at the sight of the former watcher. His tone was even colder when he said, “Fred’s not here.”
“I didn’t ask,” Wesley said.
“Didn’t have to,” Gunn said harshly.
“Since you brought it up, where is she?” Wesley asked.
“None of your business,” Gunn said resentfully.
Lorne was definitely picking up on the hostile vibe between the two men. “Hey, uh, call me kooky, but maybe we can save the three rounds until after the Chuck Heston Plague-a-thon cools off.”
“You’ve noticed the increase in paranormal activities?” Wesley asked only to have Gunn roll his eyes at the rhetorical question.
“Yeah, you stepped in some on your way in,” Lorne replied. “Birds, rats, blood – the Ghostbuster lines have been ringing off the hook.”
“I’ve been tracking similar reports.” Wesley sighed. “Maybe if we pool our data --”
“Go pool yourself,” Gunn said. “I’m going to find my girlfriend.”
Gunn went to the opposite door and started up the stairs when the door suddenly burst open with Spike carrying an injured Cordelia who looked drained and Angel with an armload of books and folders. The vampires heard Gunn say he was going to find Fred. After what they just saw erupt from the alley behind Caritas, no one was going anywhere until they could work out what they were dealing with.
Angel let the door slam shut behind him. “No you’re not. If we don’t stop what’s coming, it won’t matter where Fred is, or any of us.”
Spike took Cordelia over to one of the couches and set her down. Angel dropped the books off on the reception desk, and then went to the coffee table and spread contents of the folders out on the surface. The other three men went over to look at the mess.
Lorne sat down, looking at the papers that Angel spread across the table. Hundreds of pages were covered in mystical symbols. Spike joined Angel as the dark vampire stood up and started pacing. Wesley sat next to Lorne while Gunn sat on the couch across from them. Spike picked up a couple of pages trying to make sense of the garbled symbols.
“That’s everything Wolfram & Hart could decipher from what they took out of Lorne,” Angel explained.
“They just handed these over?” Spike asked distractedly.
“Lilah – she can be very giving,” Angel replied which caused Wesley to look at him out of the corner of his eye.
“Do you trust her on this?” Gunn asked as he scanned a few pages.
“No. But she’s got an interest in stopping the end of the world before it ruins Wolfram & Hart’s end of the world, so . . .”
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Spike asked.
“You’re holding it,” Angel replied as he sat next to Gunn. “We figure out what all this means and then do something large and violent.”
Wesley glanced over at the vampire. “I see you’ve given it considerable thought.”
Lorne perused the papers he held. “So all this came out of my head? No wonder it made me greener.”
“If Wolfram and Hart hadn’t extracted it, you’d be a paler shade of dead,” Angel commented.
“Hey!” Spike said indignantly.
Angel looked slightly irritated at him, “The permanent kind.”
“Yeah, well, remind me to send them a fruit basket,” Lorne said, sipping his cocktail. The phone rang again. “Hmm, saved by the continuous bell.” He stood up and walked to the reception desk.
“Have you been logging the calls?” Angel asked.
Lorne raised his glass. “Every last squishy one.”
“Grab a map and start marking the locations. See if they’re concentrated in any one area.” Angel said. Addressing the others, he said, “Whatever’s happening, whatever Cordy’s seen, the answers are on these pages.”
“And figure out if that bloody beast in the alley is connected to it. The brute was made of solid rock,” Spike added still feeling the pain in his body from the beating he took.
“It is. That’s the thing I saw in my vision,” Cordelia verified.
“There was a beast made of rock in an alley?” Wesley inquired. The watcher side of him was interested in a new evil. “For those of us just tuning in, what are you three talking about?”
“We’re never going to figure this out,” Gunn spoke up, turning the conversation away from Wesley’s curiosity.
“I’m with Charlie,” Spike agreed. “This is a waste of time.”
“It’s all we have,” Angel said.
“Then we must be missing something,” Wesley said. “This is gibberish. Just bits and pieces of glyphs, archaic languages, symbols – all jumbled together.” He tossed the pages aside and looked at Spike. “What’s this Beast thing that you saw?”
“Like a huge thing made of rock instead of flesh,” Cordelia replied tiredly.
“Do you recognize any of the symbols, Wes?” Angel asked.
The former watcher gestured toward the papers covering the coffee table. “Uh, heat, fallen, shrine, and flesh . . . none of it makes any sense.”
“We got to keep at it until it does,” Angel said.
Gunn stood up. “Maybe we should take a step back.” He walked around behind the couch.
“We don’t have time. Cordelia said whatever’s happening is right now,” Angel said.
“Then perhaps you should have addressed this earlier,” Wesley said curtly. “We could sift through this muddle from now until doomsday, whether that’s tomorrow or a thousand years from now --”
Gunn stood next to Spike looking over the vampire’s shoulder. “Wait, Spike. Go back. That last sheet.”
Angel stood up and walked over to look. “What is it?”
Wesley looked at the mess on the table. “I don’t see anything.”
“That’s ’cause you’re looking too close,” Gunn said offhandedly.
Gunn lined up the two pages in Spike’s hands, revealing a triangular symbol that’s complete when they are positioned properly. Swiftly, the patterns of symbols and glyphs weren’t illogical anymore.
Gunn snatched the pages out of Spike’s hands, grabbed the stack from Angel, pushed the coffee table out of the way, and started arranging the papers on the floor, matching up the denser areas until they formed a larger picture.
Wesley joined the vampires as Gunn stood back and looked at the design on the floor. “Okay, so what the hell is it?”
“The Eye of Fire,” Angel replied.
“Ancient alchemical symbol for fire,” Wesley explained.
“And destruction,” Spike added.
“You had me at ‘fire’,” Gunn said wryly.
“Um, boys?” Lorne spoke up from the reception desk where he held up the map. “I hate to be the little demon that cried apocalypse nowish, but uh . . .” He gestured to the map with a marker. The locations of the disturbances were plotted on the map looked similar to the blueprint on the floor.
**************************
Los Angeles, Diner
Fred sat alone in a booth at the all-night diner, nursing a cup of coffee. She knew she was hiding from Gunn, or rather the situation with Gunn. But she needed some time to herself. She just needed to gather her thoughts and figure out the best way to tell him what happened between her and Angel. She was so preoccupied that she didn’t notice the waitress come up to her with a carafe, and refill her cup.
“I’ll give you one more, and then I’m cutting you off,” the waitress teased.
Fred startled and looked up at her. “Oh, sorry. I can pay for the next one.”
“It’s not the free refills that I’m worried about,” the waitress said. “It’s you – vibrating into another dimension after a tenth cup.”
Fred smiled knowingly at that. The waitress didn’t know how close to the mark she was. “Nobody wants that.”
“Why don’t you call him?” the waitress asked. When Fred looked surprised, the waitress leaned on the table. “You’ve been sitting here all day. He’s probably worried sick.”
Fred looked properly chastised and admitted shyly, “I-I don’t know what I’d say.”
“I think ‘hello’ would probably work. I’ve seen the way he looks at you when you two come in here. That man would do anything for you,” the waitress smiled.
Fred felt queasy. “I know.”
“So cheer up. Whatever’s going – as long as you’ve got love – it can’t be that bad,” the waitress said.
She tried to return the waitress’s smile when the building started to shake as an earthquake struck. Fred slunk out of the booth and crouched on the floor, pulling the waitress down with her.
“Get away from the window!” Fred yelled at the patrons.
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
While Angel, Wesley and Gunn discussed where and when the Ring of Fire would appear, Spike was stuck with First-Aid duty. He sat on the couch applying Mercurochrome and a bandage to Cordelia’s neck where the demon grabbed her.
Cordelia watched him wince as he tended to her. “You’re hurt because of me. Because I thought maybe I still had some grand higher purpose, that my being here could actually . . . make a difference. Now, I know better.”
“All you know is that that thing can hurt you,” Spike said as he taped the bandage in place.
Angel stood at the reception desk drawing lines on the map, connecting the corners of the square formed by plotted incidents.
“That’s it,” he announced, pointing out where the lines transverse.
Lorne looked over his shoulder. “What?”
“The focal point of the disturbances?” Wesley inquired.
Everyone came to a halt when the building shook with the earthquake. When the rumbling stopped, Angel went back to the diagram on the map. “Whatever’s coming, that’s where we’ll find it.”
Gunn looked at the map. “I know that area – the old Kimball building’s down there. They did a retro on it and put a club or something on the roof. The, uh, Sky Temple or something.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard of it,” Lorne chimed in. “A watering hole for the tragically hip. Actors, models, all the celebrities . . .”
“There’s your shrine of flesh,” Wesley commented.
“So, who’s thirsty?” Angel asked, walking to the weapons cabinet.
“I’m in,” Gunn said and followed the vampire.
Lorne still sat at the desk. “Hey, I know location’s everything, but maybe we should hold off on the down-payment ’til we know what we’re dealing with or how to stop it?”
Angel started handing out weapons. “If it’s alive, we kill it. If it’s not, we bury it.” He tossed a crossbow to Wesley. “Spike, you in?”
It took a moment for Spike to get over the shock of Angel wanting him on this mission and not being relegated to babysitter. Maybe his Sire was serious about wanting to make things permanent between them. He tossed the Firs-Aid kit aside and joined the others, taking the sword Angel handed to him.
**************************
Los Angeles, Sky Temple Club on Kimball Building Roof, Night
The group walked up to the club entrance armed and ready to fight, but they frozen in their tracks by the sight of the Beast. It was the size of King Kong compared to Angel and his team. Adding insult to the unfairness, the Beast chuckled at the sight of them. It stood inside a barrier made of human bodies that were laid out in formation. At the center of the square, the Beast held a man in the air by his ankle.
Lorne blanched at the sight of the Beast. “Ooh, uh, I’m going to need a bigger arrow.”
The Beast sneered at Angel as he threw the body he held across the room before focusing his attention on the group in the doorway.
Angel raised his sword and ran toward the Beast. Spike mimicked him, both vampires attacking the Beast at once. Gunn flanked them on the right, while Wesley and Lorne were on the left with crossbows aimed.
Angel swung his sword high at the Beast while Spike swung his low, but it has no effect — when the swords made contact the Beast's skin, a pinging sound was heard, but the swords didn’t make a dent or penetrate the skin.
Angel continued to try using his sword on the Beast, but still nothing. Eventually, the Beast took the sword away from Angel, tossed it, and threw Angel across the roof where he collided with a column, shattering it to pieces.
The Beast reached down and grabbed Spike around the neck, pulling him up until he was eye-level with the Beast. The Beast gave an unimpressed growl. He looked down again and saw Gunn advancing on him.
Gunn hurled the battle-axe at the Beast, but the Beast caught it easily, bending the blade in half against his body and threw it back at Gunn.
Angel recovered from his fall, stood up, and wielded two smaller axes. He looked up to see Spike dangling in the air by his neck. Growling in anger, Angel swung the axes at the Beast’s legs, arm and head – but they made no impact.
Wesley and Lorne fired arrows from their crossbows at the Beast, but the Beast deflected them with his forearm, changing their trajectory such that the arrows hit Angel instead. The dark vampire doubled over in pain as one arrow landed in his belly and the other in his upper right shoulder.
Spike caught sight of his Sire’s attack and struggled to get free but to no avail. The Beast looked around at them all. Wesley and Lorne were in the process of reloading their crossbows when the Beast picked up Angel’s body and threw it at them, knocking them off balance.
Gunn went for the Beast with a sword, hacking mightily at its head, again ineffectively. The Beast grabbed Gunn by the throat as well and threw him across the room.
Seeming to remember that he still held Spike suspended in the air, the Beast tossed him like a baseball. Angel stared in shock as his mate went sailing over the side of the building.
Wesley reached both hands inside his coat, pulling out two automatic handguns. He shot them, two at a time, at the Beast’s chest and head with no result. He threw them down and reached for the shotgun at his side. He fired at the Beast’s chest, causing it to flinch a bit, but the shots did nothing to damage it. He fired again at the Beast’s face, causing the Beast to fall to its knees. Wesley aimed the shotgun at its face at close range, but the Beast just looked up and smiled at him. The Beast grunted and pushed the shotgun away before hurling Wesley across the room. The Beast chuckled.
While Wesley was occupied, Angel pulled the arrow out of his body. “Might want to hold the gloat, chuckles.” He pulled the arrow out of his shoulder. “We’re just getting started.”
Angel lunged for the Beast, engaging him in hand-to-hand combat. They exchanged punches. The Beast punched Angel so hard; it sent him backwards through the air in a back flip. Angel landed on his feet on an awning, in vampire face now. He jumped down from the awning, landing in front of the Beast. They sparred again, but Angel managed to knock the Beast down to his knees. Angel grabbed a stake from his leg-holster and aimed it at the Beast's strange yellow eyes. Its eyes widened. Angel hesitated for a split second, unable to plunge the stake into its eyes because the Beast had a grip on Angel's arm now. The tables turned as the Beast stabbed Angel in the neck with his own weapon. Angel groaned in agony, blood dribbling down his mouth, as he involuntarily shifted to his human face. The Beast looked at Angel before he hurled Angel out into the city, well beyond the edge of the building.
Gunn stood up and screamed, “No!”
Lorne looked panicked. The Beast knelt on one knee and punched the floor at the center of his human square, sending a trail of fire out along the floor in the shape of the Eye of Fire symbol. Shock waves emanated from the area, knocking everyone back a few feet. Lorne was thrown back, but landed on a glass skylight and fell through it into the room below. Gunn and Wesley were knocked down, but still on the rooftop. The fire became a pillar, taller than the Beast. Wesley sat up in time to see the Beast leap straight up into the sky, riding the fire that he created. Wesley rushed over to Gunn, who lay unconscious on the floor. Lorne was conscious now and started to gradually make his way out of the building. Wesley carried Gunn away from the fire.
In the street below, Spike slowly gained consciousness. He sat up and looked around. A few yards away, Angel lay unmoving on the ground. Spike slowly got his feet and staggered across the distance, collapsing to his knees at Angel’s side as the elder vampire rolled over, bloody and in pain from his encounter with the Beast. Spike was surprised to see a stake in Angel’s neck. When Angel weakly reached for it, Spike pulled the implement out, causing Angel to wince. The elder vampire convulsed in pain while looking at the sky. Spike followed his gaze and saw a shaft of fire shoot up into the red cloud in the sky right over downtown. Still glowing, the clouds began to rain tiny fireballs all over the city.
“Let’s get you up and out of here,” Spike said as he staggered to his feet and struggled to help Angel up.
Finally on his feet, they leaned on each other as they went in search of a safe place to hole up until the rain of fire stopped.
**************************
From the office in which he fell, Lorne watched through the window as the fireballs rained down on the city.
**************************
On the rooftop, Wesley held Gunn’s limp body in his arms and watched the sky.
**************************
From inside the diner, Fred watched through the blinds as the fire rained down over the city. The waitress and other patrons were beside themselves with panic. Fred punched a number on her cell phone, but there was no signal. She looked at her cell phone, hung up and continued to stare out the window.
**************************
Cordelia watched the rain of fire through her bedroom window.
**************************
From her office, Lilah watched the rain of fire come down outside. She wrung her hands nervously, and then rubbed her upper arms as if she were shivering.
**************************
Angel and Spike found sanctuary in an abandoned building. They watched the rain of fire through a dirty window.
“Great way to make your point,” Spike commented.
Angel looked at him. The glow from the shower of fire illuminated Spike’s face, turning his blue eyes into a steel-gray color and creating shadows against the high cheekbones.
“What do you mean?”
“You started the apocalypse with a beast made out of rock that made fire rain from the sky,” Spike replied.
“I didn’t cause the apocalypse!” Angel growled in irritation.
“Well, it’s not like I can go anywhere now. You’re going to need help with the backlash from this stunt, mate. So, I guess you’re stuck with me until we avert the end of the world.”
“Don’t do me any favors, Spike! I wouldn’t want to put you out or anything,” Angel ground out.
“Who said I was doing you a favor. I’m not taking orders from you anymore. This is what I want: to be here with you, so you’re just going to have to deal with that,” Spike said, kissing Angel.
The elder vampire pulled back enough to say, “I can deal with that.” He pulled Spike closer, kissing him possessively. |
