Chapter Text
Chapter 34-A: Step 3 – Estrangement (Part 1)
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
Fred carefully ventured out of her room on the third floor down the hall from Angel’s room. It had been vacant since the dark vampire became worried over someone named Spike - his mate, Cordelia said – and left them immediately. She hadn’t heard or seen anything of him. Fred quietly snuck down to the second floor and peeked around the corner of the corridor overlooking the lobby. Her eyes widened when she heard Cordelia’s voice echoing from the hotel’s courtyard entrance and she quickly disappeared back up to her room again.
“I can understand people who drink too much. I understand people who put a little note on the parking meter that says it’s broken when it’s not. I don’t understand people who worship demons,” Cordelia said with a shudder.
Cordelia, Gunn and Wesley walked across the courtyard, carrying weapons and appeared slightly disheveled.
“Yeah,” Gunn agreed. “Especially Lu-rite demons, the stink on that thing . . . If you’re a prince of the underworld, bro, take a Jacuzzi every once in a while.”
“It’s sad really. The only way some people can find a purpose in life is by becoming obsessed with demons,” Wesley said and then felt he should correct Gunn’s grammar. “By the way, technically that wasn’t a Lu-rite. It was a Mu-rite, a subspecies of the Lu-rite. The male sports a small, telltale fin just behind the third shoulder.”
Gunn rolled his eyes and headed for the weapons cabinet to grab a bottle of cleaner and a rag. “I’m so glad to know we’re not the sad people obsessed with demons.”
“We have to be a little obsessed. We’re detectives that specialize in these things,” Wesley whined.
“And we’re not sad,” Cordelia commented sardonically.
“No. No, we’re a happy and rambunctious lot if I ever saw one,” Wesley said with a satisfied smile. When Gunn and Cordelia just looked at him, Wesley frowned. “Not going to humor me even a little, are you?”
“Huh-uh,” Cordelia shook her head slowly.
“Well, I realize that we sacrifice a great deal of our,” Wesley winced, “social lives. But we have to. Our work demands it.”
“True. I mean, who has time for love when you’re out there doing it with the demons?” Gunn said offhandedly as he cleaned his weapon. When Wesley glanced in his direction, Gunn realized what he said. “Didn’t that come out sad and wrong? I need to get out more. Speaking of: anyone talked to Fred lately?”
Cordelia sat down on the round settee and laid back, molding herself around the backrest. “Not talked, glimpsed, maybe. She pokes her head out of her room every once in a while.”
“Nice girl,” Wesley said wistfully as he looked up at the second floor balcony.
Cordelia sighed tiredly. “Nice, but she’s not making the giant strides towards mental health. She’s been hibernating up there for three months now.”
“Ever since Angel went away,” Wesley mused. “She’s become quite attached to him.”
“Angel groupie. I get that,” Gunn shrugged. “He rescued her from Pylea.”
Cordelia sat up, looking glum. “I miss Pylea.”
“I would think you might. You were there a week, they made you queen,” Wesley pointed out. “Fred was there for five years. She was a slave, a runaway. They nearly chopped her head off. All those years she spent hiding out alone in that cave.”
Gunn nodded. “She survived. The girl’s strong.”
Cordelia looked at them as if they’d lost it. “The girl’s trading one cave for another. How strong is that?”
“Well, when Angel comes back . . .” Wesley started to say.
“When is he coming back, anyway?” Gunn cut in. “I wonder if he’s got Spike with him. ’Cause, you know, Sunnydale doesn’t sound like it would be the best vacation spot being that it’s over a Hellmouth.”
“As soon as he works through his grief a little,” Cordelia replied as she got up and went to her desk to look over a case file.
“A little?” Gunn asked skeptically. “Buff--”
“Don’t!” Cordelia said, walking up to the reception desk and glaring at Gunn. “Say the ‘B’ word.”
“The ‘B’ word was the love of his life, and he’s what . . . two hundred and fifty? That isn’t a short life. That grief work is going to take more than a vacation in Sri Lanka.”
“It isn’t a vacation. It’s a spiritual retreat at a monastery,” Wesley corrected him.
“Hmm. Angel and a bunch of monks in the middle of nowhere, now there’s a party! If Spike’s with him, that boy must be bored out of his mind,” Gunn said.
**************************
Sri Lanka, Tibetan Monastery
Angel and Spike, dressed in white robes, were fighting against armed, red robbed monks in the hall of the monastery. Angel was attacked from behind. He turned, grabbing the monk’s wooden staff, only to be attacked on the other side by another monk. He kicked the first monk away, releasing the staff. Then, he kicked out at the second monk, grabbing the man’s staff and hitting him in the face with it. He turned to see that the first monk was back on his feet. Angel hit him with the staff and knocked his legs out from under him again.
Spike had his own problems. A monk swung his wooden staff at him and when he jumped back to dodge it, he slammed against a pillar and fell forward, lying flat on the ground. The monk used the opportunity to attack, swinging the staff down as if he were going to stake Spike. Spike rolled to his back, grabbed the wooden staff and pulled down along the length of his body. He jerked the staff back into the monk and then forward again, causing the monk to catapult over him and into the wall. Then, with staff in hand, he rolled to his feet.
Another monk did a flip and hit Angel across the face with his feet, landing in a fighting stance. He swung his staff into Angel’s midsection, forcing the vampire to back up against the wall. Angel grabbed an overhead beam and swung his feet out, kicking the monk in the face and knocked him backwards.
Still hanging from the beam, Angel somersaulted up to the top level. With a hand balanced on the balcony railing, he hit another monk, knocking him out of the way. He jumped over the balcony onto firmer ground and hit the monk when the man came back for more. Angel grabbed the monk’s collar and threw him into a slat in the balcony, breaking the wood as he fell through and onto the ground below.
Spike took the chance to glance up and Angel smirked at him before jumping down to the ground floor. Spike had just knocked out his opponent when the double doors opened. They stepped out and found men wearing gray robes.
“What happened?” the Monk asked in Tibetan when he saw the bodies on the floor.
“Demon monks. I should’ve gone to Vegas,” Angel replied in Tibetan.
The man looked at Angel strangely as the vampires walked past him. Then, he looked in through the open doors to see at least ten red-robbed bodies littering the floor.
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
“He should have gotten hammered and went to Vegas like I told him,” Gunn was saying.
Wesley gave Gunn a harried expression. “He doesn’t need a lap dance. He needs some peace and quiet to work through his grief.”
**************************
Las Vegas, Cheetahs Topless Gentleman’s Club
Women danced around in next to nothing on a catwalk stage. There were life-size bird cages on either side of the stage, each with a topless girl in a g-string. Spike and Angel sat at the end of the catwalk, waving money at the gorgeous brunette that was currently slinking her way towards them across the stage on her stomach.
“This is the best idea you’ve had in the last two months,” Spike yelled over the rock music.
“It just came to me when we flew over the Nevada border!” Angel yelled back.
When the girl finally made it over to them, she twisted around to sit on the edge of the stage with her legs crossed. Spike swiped the ten-dollar bill out of Angel’s hand and added it to his own. Then, he leaned over and tucked them in the barely-there string on her hip.
“Hey, pet, how much to do a lap dance for a grieving friend?” Spike asked with a smirk.
“Depends, are you the one grieving?” she teased.
Spike placed his hand over his heart and made a face as if he were depressed. “I could only be so lucky, princess.”
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel, a day later
Cordelia walked into the lobby with a couple of mousetraps. “So, whose turn is it to set the traps?”
“His,” Wesley and Gunn chorused, pointing at each other.
Cordelia shook her head. “You guys amaze me. You’ll fight hell-beasts, but you’re scared of rats.”
Gunn shuddered. “Man, I hate rats. With their little beady eyes . . .”
“. . . and their beady teeth,” Wesley added.
“And their little tails going all whoosh, whoosh,” Gunn grimaced.
As Cordelia walked towards the basement door, she threw over her shoulder, “Well, aren’t you two just biggest scared-ies I ever saw . . .”
Cordelia dropped the traps with a scream as the door suddenly opened just as she reached for the handle. Angel stood there with a little smile on his face.
“You’re back!” Cordelia cried as she hugged him.
Gunn and Wesley dropped their weapons and followed the sound of Cordelia’s scream, both with bright smiles.
“You guys, he’s back!” Cordelia said.
“You might want to move your ass, ponce, these bags are getting heavy,” Spike said behind Angel.
Cordelia pulled Angel out of the way and screeched again when she saw Spike. She threw herself at the blonde vampire, wrapping her arms around his neck. With the weight of the duffle bags slung over his shoulders and Cordelia’s momentum, both vampire and exuberant girl nearly fell backwards down the stairs. It was only Spike’s quick reflex to grab onto either side of the doorjamb that kept them from toppling over. He knocked his head as the basement door came back on its spring-loaded hinge.
“It’s good to see you too, princess,” Spike choked.
After a minute, Angel chuckled. “You can let him go now, Cordy. He’ll be staying a while.”
Cordelia stepped back, releasing Spike. She smoothed out his shirt and dragged him in behind her, grabbing Angel’s wrist as she passed by, leading them to the edge of the lobby with her. When she let go of them, Wesley hugged Angel.
“Welcome home,” Wesley said.
Wesley then turned to Spike and clasped the vampire’s wrist in a warrior’s handshake. Gunn greeted Angel with a hug and handshake to Spike as well.
“Good to see you, blondie,” Gunn said in greeting.
“So, I hope you had a good retreat,” Cordelia said. Spike and Angel shared a meaningful look, remembering where they’d been. “All peaceful and meditate-y,” she hedged.
The group walked back into the lobby and gathered around the settee. Spike slung the bags on the settee and immediately searched for a cigarette out of habit.
Angel scowled at Spike, knowing what he was doing. “Sure, until the monks turned out to be life-sucking Shur-hod demons.”
“Oh . . .” Wesley sounded interested, his watcher mind always peaked when something new arose.
“Should have gone to Vegas,” Gunn sing-songed.
“We did on the way back,” Spike replied.
“Spike tried to get me a lap dance with a life-draining succubus stripper,” Angel said.
“She didn’t look like a demon!” Spike said indignantly.
Angel turned to face his childe. “That was the whole idea, Spike!”
“Well, how the bloody hell was I supposed to know!” Spike said defensively.
“She had a sapphire stone medallion hanging on her neck! Or did you manage to look past the double-D breasts?” Angel asked with a raised brow.
Spike growled. “Bugger!” He shrugged his shoulders as if it wasn’t any importance. “Shame we had to cut off her head to get you out of that trance. She had a nice body.”
Cordelia cleared her throat at that. “Well, the point is, you worked on things. It wasn’t like a holiday, where you come back to your friends, you know, with some small mementos of your trip . . .”
Angel looked up from digging around in one of the bags. “Fishing for gifts?”
“Yes!” Cordelia squealed. Angel handed over a palm-sized skull with a tuft of dark hair on top. She looked at it, her brow wrinkled in distaste. “Oh, a . . . small . . . human head!”
Angel took it back with a smirk and tossed it to Gunn. The vampire hunter caught it and smiled, “Cool!”
Angel handed a necklace to Cordelia instead. She gave him a toothpaste commercial smile. “Oh! Oh my gosh, it’s gorgeous!” She put it on and modeled it. “And look how it brings out my breasts!” When all four men looked at her, she turned red in embarrassment. “You know you were all thinking it!”
Angel handed Wesley a sheathed dagger he’d picked up in Sri Lanka. Wesley’s eyes widened as if were Christmas morning. “Uh! Sixteenth century!” He pulled the blade out and waved it around. “Angel! Murshan Dynasty?” Angel nodded as a grin spread across Wesley’s face. “I’ve always wanted one of these! I didn’t think you . . .” He slashed it through the air. “Oh, I can’t wait to kill something with this!” He turned to Cordelia. “Any visions brewing?” She glared at him.
Angel looked around the lobby. He’d missed the old hotel. It wasn’t so bad with Spike traveling with him. He’d traveled the world with no sense of homesickness. The nature of being a vampire didn’t allow for such frivolities. These days, it seemed that Spike was the equivalent of home for him. As long as he knew where his boy was, Angel was fine.
“The place looks good,” Angel observed. He looked thoughtfully at the stairs. “How’s Fred?”
“Good!” Cordelia said all-too-quickly. She tapped Wesley on the chest when it looked like he was going to object. When she got his attention, she motioned for him to shut up. “She’s doing well.”
“Hasn’t come out of her room yet, huh?” It was more of a statement than a question.
“Not what you would call frequently. But, we – we sent up a lot of tacos,” Cordelia said.
“From what I understand, she came back shortly before Angel left,” Spike said. Angel had told him about rescuing the fretful girl from Pylea and how he had immediately left when Willow showed up. “You guys expected her to be fine overnight? Give the girl some time, she’ll come around.”
“But Spike, it’s been three months!” Cordelia said.
“Give her time to get her bearings,” Spike said.
“Well, three months is long enough if you ask me,” Cordelia grumbled.
Angel turned away from the stairs to look at them. He’d kept half an ear to the conversation. “We’ll settle in and check on her. You guys can bring me up-to-date later.” Spike grabbed his bag while Angel shouldered his own and they headed towards the stairs when the dark vampire turned around again. “It’s really good to see you guys.”
“Thanks for the head, bro,” Gunn called after them as they walked up the stairs.
“He seems better than when he left,” Wesley observed.
“How much you want to bet it had more to do with Spike than your Tibetan retreat with the demon monks?” Gunn asked, juggling his new gift between his hands.
**************************
Angel walked into his room on the third floor. Spike came in behind him, kicking the door shut. Angel strode into the bedroom, dropped his bag on the bed and set about unpacking.
“Your drawers are still free, and your side of the closet,” Angel said as he busied himself.
Spike nodded and unpacked. He reverently hung his duster in the closet on the same hanger as always whenever he was with Angel. He never expected to be with Angel for so long. Ever since his Sire had initiated the claims, Spike had been spending longer and longer periods of time with him. He could honestly say without hesitation that he spent more time with Angel in the last year than he had in the Mansion in Sunnydale. Hell, he’d spent more time with Angel in the last two years than he did in the first twenty years of his existence as a vampire.
This was starting to become a serious relationship.
Maybe Angel was telling the truth when he said that he would make it up him. They’d just spent three months traveling to a monastery that Wesley had suggested to grieve for Buffy and back again. They got along surprisingly well the entire time. They had sex on the beach in Cap d'Antibes on the French Riviera and toured Europe for the umpteenth time. Angel picked up souvenirs along the way such as the gifts he gave the gang. They forgot everyone else. There were times when neither of them mentioned Buffy or Darla. It was just the two of them. It reminded Spike of the rare times when he and his Sire hunted together without the girls. When they got to Las Vegas, Spike picked up a nightshirt that said ‘Lucky in Love’ with the Las Vegas welcome sign under it for Fred. It seemed fitting after Angel mentioned that Fred may have a crush on him while they were sharing a Jacuzzi in Reno.
After unpacking, Spike went into the bathroom. The next thing Angel heard was the shower running. He perked up at that. A shower sounded like a great idea. A nice, hot shower and several hours rest. Angel actually felt relaxed. He hadn’t felt aggressive or possessive around Spike since they left the States. There was an easy camaraderie between them the whole time. But then, Wolfram & Hart wasn’t there to make his life hell.
As for what drove them to the other side of the world, he felt relieved that Darla wasn’t suffering anymore and Buffy was probably in a better place than he’ll ever be when he’s finally dust. Angel tossed the luggage bags into the closet and headed for the shower.
He undressed and threw the clothes in the hamper. Spike’s body was a kaleidoscope of pink behind the clear, frosted shower curtain. Angel’s shower was only a typical shower. It wasn’t anything like Spike’s Jacuzzi shower. He stored away the idea of getting one installed here. Spike had gotten him hooked on the pleasures of a Jacuzzi. They were handy after fighting demons all night.
Angel climbed into the shower behind Spike. The blonde vampire was soaping up a shower scrunchy. Angel took it from him and started scrubbing it over his childe’s body. A few minutes into it, Spike was clawing the wall and gyrating as if he were in heat under his Sire’s ministrations.
Angel pressed up against Spike’s back and reached around to scrub the mesh ball over the younger vampire’s torso. He wrapped the material around Spike’s semi-erect penis and gave it a few perfunctory strokes, washing it. Then, he knelt down to do the rest.
“You know, Spike, if you’re going to be spending so much time in L.A. with me, maybe we should start moving some of the stuff to the hotel,” Angel suggested as he scrubbed Spike’s legs.
Above him, the blonde vampire had his hands on the wall for balance while Angel manhandled him during a thorough scrubbing. He thought about his Sire’s suggestion for a moment. “Well, there’s nothing really keeping me in Sunnydale any longer. It could be an idea.”
A smile twitched the corner of Angel’s mouth as he continued his task. Spike had agreed to move in . . . sort of. That was a start, right? He’d promised to make it up to Spike for all the bad shit that happened last year. The blonde’s agreement emboldened Angel to continue with other suggestions.
“Yes and maybe a few more items. Like a Jacuzzi shower fitted, you know for us,” Angel said, looking up at Spike from his crouched position.
Spike nodded again. “Sounds good. After all, ’S no need for me to go back to Sunnydale now.” He pondered the idea. “And, it would be a shame to waste all those nice things I bought.”
Angel quickly got to his feet and glared at Spike. “You bought? Don’t you mean that I bought it? You just picked it out. So, they should be here with us now.”
“Well, if you’re going to be literal about it,” Spike drawled. Angel’s washing left him feeling relaxed and somewhat agreeable. “We can start moving them soon.”
Angel quickly washed himself. They got out, dried off and climbed into bed naked. Angel tucked Spike between himself and the mattress. It was something he’d done since Spike was a fledgling. There was no need for intercourse to validate what they had. Though, there was plenty of sex on their world tour. Angel was content to have the close intimacy. The purring that rumbled from his diaphragm attested to that. Soon, Spike echoed the purring in his sleep. Knowing his childe and mate was safe, Angel joined Spike in slumber.
**************************
Los Angeles, the Hyperion, Dusk
Angel drifted back to consciousness with the feeling of Spike’s hand stroking his erection and the soft/rough swipes of his tongue on the tip. Spike’s sex drive had escalated when Angel lost all the tension on the trip. Since then, his boy had done this so much that it became ritual: a leisurely blow job to wake his Sire up followed by a blood breakfast. Pretty nutritious if you asked Angel and Spike still claimed that he was a growing boy. Who was Angel to refuse him a balanced meal?
After the aforementioned blowjob, Angel returned the favor. They got out of bed, dressed and went downstairs for their blood. When Spike hit the second floor landing, he ran through the halls and down the stairs to the lobby with Angel chasing close behind him. Gunn, Wesley and Cordelia all raised a brow and exchanged a bewildered look at the giggling yelps as Spike and Angel ran past them to the kitchen.
Spike was the first to get to the kitchen. He yanked the refrigerator door open and pulled out a blood packet. He had enough time to dump the contents in a glass, put said glass in the microwave; punch in the time and press START before Angel caught up with him. He turned around to face Angel just as the dark vampire ran bodily into him, trapping him against the counter.
“I see you're fixing my breakfast,” Angel said as he peppered nipping kisses over Spike’s jaw.
“Then you have really poor eyesight, pouf. That’s my breakfast,” Spike said, leaning his head back against the full-length cabinet next to the microwave, allowing Angel access to his neck.
“Come on, Spikey. You always fixed my breakfast when we were traveling,” Angel teased.
“No, I didn’t. You just stole it from me,” Spike grumbled.
Angel pulled back, looking indignant. “I would never do such a thing.”
“Steal my virginity. Steal my girl. Steal my blood. Steal my breakfast. Not necessarily in that order,” Spike commented.
Angel settled his hands on Spike’s waist, pressing his renewed erection against the equally hard length in Spike’s jeans. “You may have a point with stealing your blood and maybe your virginity. But then, you didn’t put up much of a fight. Did you, Will? As for the girl, you know how flighty Dru can be.”
Just then, the microwave dinged. Angel quickly nabbed the glass of blood and took the first sip.
“Hey! That’s mine you ponce.”
When Spike tried reaching for it, Angel held it back. “Ah, ah, ah, have to learn to share.”
Spike smirked and tried to reach for it again. His fingers collided with Angel moving the glass out of the way and the liquid spilled all over them. Had it happened a year ago, Angel would have been pissed at the mess they made. Now, Angel gave Spike a critical look and burst out laughing.
“What the bleeding hell are you laughing at?” Spike growled. He looked like a drowned rat if water were red instead of clear.
“You. Look. Adorable,” Angel said haltingly through a fit of laughter. “Oh God, my sides are starting to hurt.”
“I am not adorable! I’m covered in animal blood and so are you, pillock,” Spike ground out.
“Can’t say much can be done about the hair, but hey . . . the blonde looks good with strawberry highlights,” Angel observed. That comment earned him a growl. “And the guys can’t say that you’re white as a ghost anymore. And --” He was cut off when Spike pounced on him, knocking them both to the floor.
Outside in the lobby, the gang heard a crashing sound and then more sounds of things being knocked over. Their interest was peaked enough to investigate the noises. They bumped into each other rushing to the kitchen. For all they knew, Angel and Spike were fighting a demon that came up from the sewer access in the kitchen floor. When they got there, they didn’t know whether to be relieved or disgusted. There was blood everywhere with two laughing vampires rolling around in it.
“Okay, now that’s disgusting,” Gunn commented as he looked around at the blood that now painted the cabinets and stove.
“It is a rather odd sight. I mean who knew Angel could laugh like that,” Wesley said as he watched Angel and Spike wrestle in the blood.
“I think my mind is scarred for life. I’m now forever doomed to dream about naked vampire blood wrestling along with the mind-numbing visions. Maybe they’ll screw up all the visions I have from now on,” Cordelia said.
Angel finally gained purchase on the blood-slick floor and pinned Spike down. That was when he noticed the audience. He was so intent on licking the blood off of his mate that he didn’t hear them come in or what they said.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” Angel asked nonchalantly as he looked up from pining Spike to the floor. With the blood slicking the surface, Spike was still able to squirm under him.
“We could ask you the same thing,” Cordelia replied.
“Uhm, Breakfast?” Angel suggested for an answer.
“No thanks, man,” Gunn replied, cringing at the idea after seeing all the blood.
Angel looked around, observing the mess. “Yeah, Spike and I will clean this up--”
“Me!? This is your fault, not mine!” Spike disputed.
Angel tightened his hold on the blonde vampire and repeated through clenched teeth, “As I said, we’ll clean it up.”
The vampires got up off the floor. Under Cordelia’s watchful eye, they found the cleaning supplies and started to clean the blood off the cabinets. When the humans were gone, Angel looked to see where Cordelia was. Discovering that he was in the clear, he sat down at the blood-free island and watched Spike’s ass move as he worked at scrubbing blood off the stove.
“Too bad you don’t move like that in bed,” Angel teased. He winked when Spike turned to glare at him. In response, he got the British two-fingered salute as the blonde went back to working.
“You know, when you told Queen C that we were cleaning this up, I thought the ‘we’ also meant you,” Spike said over his shoulder.
“Why would I do that when I have a pretty little chambermaid,” Angel smirked.
“Sod off, pillock,” Spike grumbled. He stopped cleaning and walked out of the kitchen, rag still in hand. “I’m going to wash this shit out of my hair.”
Angel leaned back in his chair and called out, “Oh come on, Spike. Don’t be like that!” That was answered with the bloody rag thrown at him from the lobby. Angel chuckled and proceeded to clean the kitchen.
**************************
Hyperion Hotel, Fred’s Suite
Fred was in her room writing ‘Listen, Listen’ on the walls repetitively and muttering to herself, “Listen. Listen. Listen.” She nearly jumped out of her skin when a knock sounded on the door.
Thinking that it was Cordelia, Gunn or Wesley, she called out, “Oh. Hi! How are you? I’m just fine. Doing real good here, no need to worry about me, but thanks for checking!”
She went back to writing when Angel called through the door, “It’s me, Fred.”
Her face perked up at the sound of his voice. “Oh, Angel.” She took her glasses off and ran to open the door. She greeted him with a big smile, “Hi! Hey! You’re . . . Well, hi there!”
Angel watched as Fred bounced around like a pogo stick. After another shower and getting another glass of blood, he had come up here to check on her. Fred reached up as if to hug him, but when he didn’t move to reach for her, she thought better of it and stepped back.
“It’s good to . . . Did you have a nice . . . Oh, here, let me make some room!” Fred was abuzz with energy. She reminded Angel of a fluttering butterfly that didn’t know where to land. He watched as she cleaned a place for him.
“Uh, Fred, I can’t come in,” Angel prompted.
Fred stopped what she was doing. She knew she was trying too hard. Angel was too busy to be around her, what with all the saving people and being a champion.
“Of course not,” she said sadly. “You’re worn from your trip. You go rest.” She walked to the door. “We’ll catch up later.” Fred began to shut the door, keeping her eyes downcast.
“Fred, I want to talk to you,” Angel hurried to say. “I just can’t come in unless you . . .”
Fred pulled the door open again, giggling to herself. “I invite you. Instead of being rude! Oh, come in. Come in.”
Angel walked in, giving her a small smile. He looked around the room at the writing on covering the walls.
“It’s just a smidge of vampire in you as far as I’m concerned, but the universe has rules. I’m a firm believer in rules, and theorems, formulas . . .” Fred said as she walked around him, going back to her post where she was writing.
“I get that,” Angel said as he tried to make sense of the words and equations on the walls.
“Aphorisms leave me a little dry,” she said, nodding in agreement with herself.
“How are you?” Angel asked.
“Yeah. Good,” she spared him a glance before going back to the wall. “Everything’s pretty much like when you, you know, went away on your trip.”
“Sorry I left so suddenly. I just . . .” he started to apologize.
“Hey, no, you had things . . . people . . . your mate or whatever to take care of. It’s not like I need a babysitter or . . .” she turned back to him fully and asked expectantly, “You’re sticking around now, right?”
“Yes I am,” he assured her.
“Oh,” she let out a small laugh. “Good!”
Angel stepped closer and read the words on the wall behind Fred. “Listen, listen, listen . . . What are you listening for?”
Fred sat down on the arm of a chair and pulled her knees up, tucking them under her chin. “The click. When it all comes together and makes sense. There’s like a click in your brain and then you understand things again.”
“Oh.” Angel looked at her curiously. “What happens if you run out of wall space before you get the click?”
Fred hugged her knees. “I don’t know.”
“Fred, I know you spent . . .” Angel stopped as he stepped on some of the trash littering the floor, then moved a chair and sit across from Fred. “Five years in a place where humans could only be slaves or fugitives. I know that wasn’t a picnic for you. But, you’re home now. You’re safe. You can come out of your room. I know that it’s going to take some time.”
Fred got to her feet and moved round Angel to a blank wall space and started writing again. “Time! I have a whole treatise on that. It seems to take a lot of it to do just about anything these days.”
Angel sighed and stood up. He turned around and took the marker out of her hand. “Fred. Fred. You don’t have to write absolutely everything down.”
“Oh, right,” she said thoughtfully. “God, I should write that down.”
Angel reached out and helped her down off the chair she had climbed on. “You just need to take some small steps. Hmm?” He pushed her glasses up her nose with a light smile. “Like, uh, coming downstairs,” he walked past her and opened the door, “and hanging with us for a while.”
“Ahhh! Who’s that?” Fred asked as she pointed at something behind him.
Angel had his head turned to talk to her when he opened the door, so he didn’t see Spike standing in the hall, leaning against the doorjamb with a glass of blood in his hand. Angel turned to see the intruder when Fred screamed and gave a sigh of relief when he saw his boy there in his demon face.
“Are you making those giant strides Cordy was talking about?” Spike asked casually as he drank his blood.
“Something like that,” Angel replied.
“The big ponce has no manners does he?” Spike quipped as he shifted back to his human guise. “I’m William the Bloody.”
“Spike, you don’t have to scare her!” Angel admonished.
“Wot? ’S my name!” Spike said indignantly. When Angel only glowered at him, he sighed. “Fine!” He adopted a bad American accent and said, “Hi, my name is Spike and how are you today?”
Angel looked even less amused. “He’s a menace is what he is.”
Fred giggled at the banter. “Y’all are too much.”
Angel nodded towards Fred. “Spike, this is Fred.”
“Ah, so you’re the little damsel Angel got to rescue,” Spike smirked.
“Uh, I was a slave cow, not really a damsel or anything. Cordelia was a princess! She was in Pylea a whole day and they crowned her.” Fred pouted. “They didn’t do that to me. They were going to cut my head off when Angel saved me!”
Spike looked from the adoring expression on Fred’s face as she made doe eyes at Angel to his Sire’s friendly, yet uncomfortable smile.
“Uh huh, great strides there Angel. She’s in love with you like every woman you ever met,” Spike chuckled.
“No she isn’t! She’s just – grateful . . . maybe,” Angel said as he ran a hand through his hair.
Fred grinned at him.
Angel groaned. “Spike, I’m trying to work a miracle here. She needs to know she’s safe in the hotel. Not that you’re going to tease her out of her clothes.”
“Don’t think I need to worry about that,” Spike laughed. “I’m not the one she’s besotted with.”
Angel looked apologetic at Fred. “You really are safe here in the hotel.”
At that moment, Cordelia’s scream echoed through the hotel. Angel and Spike looked at each other and at Fred.
“Hold that thought!” Angel told Fred.
Fred was close enough to the doorway now that Spike handed his glass to her as he and Angel ran down the hall and galloped down the stairs to the lobby where Cordelia was writhing around on the floor lost in a vision. Her scream also brought Wesley and Gunn running from different parts of the hotel.
Angel and Gunn dropped to their knees on either side of Cordelia, supporting her between them.
“Easy,” Angel soothed. “What is it? What did you see?”
Flashes of a small group of vampires killing college students movie reeled through Cordelia’s head. “A bunch of vampires . . . they’re crashing a party, killing people.”
“Where?” Angel asked anxiously.
“Wilson College . . . Bonner Hall.” Wesley and Gunn headed for the door, leaving Spike and Angel beside Cordelia as she finished, “Room nine-eighteen.”
“Room nine-eighteen, got it,” Angel confirmed.
“They’re going to take hostages.” Cordelia grimaced as more flashes of the scene fluttered through her mind. “Watch out for the blonde. She’s the worst!”
“Are you all right?” Angel asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Go. Go.” Cordelia pushed him to get up.
Angel got to his feet and hurried after them. Spike stayed a half-second behind to help Cordelia up on the settee before he ran after Angel. He didn’t see her fall over to lie on the cushion, sobbing from the pain.
**************************
Wilson College, Bonner Hall
Gunn, Angel, Wes and Spike burst into the appointed dorm room and found it littered with bodies. Spike picked up a flyer, scanned it and handed it to Gunn before kneeling down to check the bodies.
“So much for inviting everyone,” Gunn said dryly as he read the flyer.
“Some of them are still alive,” Angel announced.
Wesley picked up the phone sitting on the desk near the door and dialed 9-1-1. “Yes. There’s been an accident. We need two, maybe three ambulances. Wilson College. Bonner Hall. Room nine-eighteen.”
Angel examined the room then walked over to an open window. He listened for a moment before saying, “They’re heading east on Sixth Street. Take the car. Spike, let’s go.”
“What are you going to do?” Gunn asked skeptically. Angel shifted to his demon, followed by Spike. They both stared at Gunn through yellow eyes. “Oh.”
The vampires jumped out the window and ran along the rooftops.
Four vampires traveled down Sixth Street in a convertible with the top down. A blonde boy was trapped between the blonde vampiress Cordelia mentioned and the driver. His dark-haired girlfriend was trapped in the backseat between two other vampires.
“Please,” the boy begged.
“Hmm?” Elisabeth hummed, looking over at him.
“Please don’t hurt her,” the boy clarified.
“You love her?” Elisabeth asked curiously. The boy nodded. “You’d do anything for her?” He nodded again. “What if . . . we just kill her and let you go?” The boy stared at her. “Come on now. Life’s about making choice. You or her, what’s it going to be?”
After a moment, the boy sobbed, “Her. Take her. God, I . . .”
“Gee. Bobby, do you call that love? When we get home,” she petted the side of his face. “I’ll show you what real love is.”
The girl in the backseat screamed as Angel dropped down on the engine hood of the car. He reached over the windshield and grabbed the wheel, swerving the car off the street into a building. Spike dropped down from the rooftop, landing on the trunk of the car. Wesley and Gunn brought Angel’s car to a screeching halt behind the wrecked car and jumped out. They grabbed weapons from the backseat and rushed to help Angel and Spike.
Spike yanked the girl out of the car while Angel yanked the boy out.
“Run!” Angel yelled at them.
Elisabeth slugged Angel and ran after the kids, only to find herself face to face with Wesley and Gunn. She punched Gunn then turned back to hit Angel while he was fighting two other vampires and Wesley took on the third. She met Spike’s fist instead.
Gunn hit one of the vampires, distracting its attention from Angel, then quickly staked it and threw the stake to Wesley. The former watcher used the weapon to stake his opponent. Seeing his buddies turn to dust, the third vampire started turned to run away. He only got a few feet before Spike stabbed him and twisted his wrist until the vampire exploded.
Elisabeth charged at Spike’s back, but Angel grabbed her by the shirt, pulled her around to face him and staked her. In the process, her necklace snapped off in his hand. She stared at him, recognizing him at the last second. “Angelus?” she said before turning to dust.
Spike spun around to see a cloud of dust shower his face and Angel looking down at an object in his hand. He coughed up the dust and waved it away. He went up to his Sire and fingered the chain, holding up the necklace.
“Robbing trinkets off vampires now? Is that like us robbing our victims?” Spike asked as he looked at locket.
“It’s familiar. I recognize it . . . I think.” He took it back in hand and opened the locket. It showed two aged pictures of the girl he’d just staked and a young man.
**************************
Marseilles, 1767
An alarm bell rang, echoing its distress signal throughout the town. Wooden buildings were ablaze in colors of orange, red and yellow as they burned. A group of four individuals were oblivious to the destruction as they leisurely walked down the street. A young couple, Elisabeth and James, danced down the road laughing, followed by a more sober Angelus and Darla.
“Young love,” Darla mused as she watched the couple.
Angelus wasn’t as easily impressed. He never professed love of anything aside from a good massacre. “Give it a century,” he predicted, echoing the same words as the Master over his own dalliance with Darla.
“A century? A mere hundred years?” James scoffed when he heard Angelus’ comment.
Elisabeth giggled and pressed up against her companion. “I would need a thousand just to sketch the perfect plane of your face.”
“And I would need ten thousand just to name the color of your eyes,” James said in an attempt to outdo her adoration.
Angelus found this conversation frivolous. He had never voiced such inane drivel to Darla. Their relationship was a practical partnership. It wasn’t colored by such things as love and devotion or loyalty. He’d learned early on the motto of want, take, have. There was no belonging, no rules and regulations set by society. He wasn’t dutifully bound to Darla as a husband to a wife and thank God for that. He was never faithful as a human and didn’t try to be in his new life as a vampire.
Angelus kept walking with Darla, not bothering to turn around. “They’re green, but take your time. In fact, don’t. We have a ship to catch and Holtz may not be far behind.”
James sighed at Angelus’ harried pace.
“You know neither poetry nor love, Angelus,” Elisabeth accused.
Angelus looked at Darla as if to say he felt a desire to stake two troublesome vampires that she should have never bothered to turn in the first place.
“He knows other things,” Darla spoke up in his defense. “Marvelously vile and ripping things. Didn’t we eat a poet in Madrid?”
“Troubadour,” Angelus corrected her.
“Everything’s closed!” James whined. He smiled at Elisabeth, “Pity, I wanted to spend some of the count’s gold on you.”
“We’ll need it for the voyage,” Angelus admonished.
“Count DeLeon was a little rich for my blood. I’ll be full for a week!” Elisabeth crowed.
“The fire was excessive,” Angelus said casually.
“Of course it was,” James exclaimed happily. “We burned his villa to the ground!”
“We left a mark, made a statement!” Elisabeth joined in.
That stopped Angelus in his tracks. He turned around to face the imprudent couple. It was only Darla’s staying hand on his arm that kept him from ringing James’ scrawny neck. “Ah, a statement as in: ‘Here we are, Holtz. Please hunt us down.’”
James threw his head back and sighed in agitation. “Ah, who cares about Holtz?”
Darla stalked up to James, flicking her fan at his face angrily. “You would if you knew him. He’s killed scores of us. He’s hunted Angelus and I across half of Europe.” She turned back to Angelus. “God, if he follows us to Morocco what then? The new world?”
“I say we stay and fight the bastard!” James said excitedly.
“Yeah, but you’re an idiot,” Angelus answered dryly.
“I don’t believe he’s the most formidable vampire killer in the world. None lives to tell the tale and all,” James scoffed. He leaned closer to Angelus. “You lived to tell the tale.”
“I heard he trapped you both in a barn and you fled, leaving him to die,” Elisabeth said, gesturing between Angelus and Darla.
“It’s not true,” James said aghast.
Angelus and Darla shared a wry smile. “It’s entirely true. She hit me with a shovel, wished me luck and rode off on our only horse.”
Darla leaned close, giving him a genuine smile. “Life is full of surprises.”
“Ah, life is boring. You’re full of surprises,” he said.
“Of course, when you finally did catch up with me in Vienna I had to pay for my sins, again and again,” Darla said as she smacked her fan playfully against Angelus’s chest and walked away from him.
Angelus watched her hips sway. “Hmm, can you even begin to fathom the things we did?” He turned around and scoffed at James before following Darla. “Of course not, you’re in love.”
When the young couple didn’t follow, Angelus turned back to see Elisabeth looking at a necklace in a shop window and James moving up behind her.
“Let’s not dawdle, children,” Angelus called over his shoulder.
“It’s so pretty,” Elisabeth cooed as she admired the necklace.
“No it’s not,” James stated.
“James!” Elisabeth slapped his chest.
James smirked. “Not as pretty as it’s going to be . . .” He broke the window and picked up the locket. “When it’s worn by the prettiest one of all,” he put it around her neck.
“I adore it. I’ll never take it off!” Elisabeth vowed as James swung her around in a hug and kissed her.
Just then a mob of uniformed soldiers rounded a street corner and were heading straight for the small group.
“This is what love gets you,” Angelus growled.
James laughed off Angelus’ worry. “Elisabeth, you and Darla get to the ship, we’ll join you there.” He gave her a quick kiss and ushered her off before he turned back and gave Angelus’ a jab in the arm. “Let’s give them a rout, what do you say Angelus?”
“I’d say you’re an idiot, but I’d just be repeating myself,” Angelus sighed.
“Come on you bloody frogs! I broke the window and I’ll break your skulls!” James laughed and turned to Angelus as Darla and Elisabeth disappeared down the street. “See, all you have to do is stand up to them.” Then, shouted at the soldiers, “What are you afraid of?”
Another group of riders galloped up the street, running the soldiers off. In the torch light held by a cloaked figure on the lead horse, Angelus recognized the cavalier hat as belonging to the vampire hunter he had just warned James about. The boy was a complete idiot.
“Not us,” Angelus replied as Holtz rode closer. A few of his comrades aimed crossbows at him and his idiot companion. “Hope she treasures that locket.”
***************************
Present Day, Hyperion Hotel
Angel had related the story to Spike on the way back to the hotel with Gunn and Wesley catching up when they got into the building. Now, they were gathered around the reception desk where Cordelia joined in, listening to Angel’s tale.
“Then what?” Gunn asked.
Angel looked at the locket, lost in memory. “Huh?”
“What happened with Holtz?” Gunn asked apprehensively.
“Oh, that’s another story,” Angel said as he put the locket away.
“We got time,” Gunn said.
“I’m not sure we do,” Wesley contradicted.
“Yeah, I want to know about this vampire childe who was worse than me,” Spike broke in with a smirk.
Angel looked at Spike. “He wasn’t worse than you. You’re rash, impetuous, but you weren’t dumb. You may have been the cause of mobs coming after us, but you were never stupid enough to take on more than you could handle. You knew your strengths, James was an idiot.”
“Yeah, yeah, Spike was the golden childe. Can we get back to the fact that James and Elisabeth had the big, forever love?” When Spike scoffed and said that the big, forever love was him and Drusilla, Cordelia ignored him and went on. “If he’s still around and finds out who killed her . . .”
“He’s going to want revenge,” Wesley finished.
“If he’s still around and if they’re still in love,” Angel corrected. “That was a long time ago.” He squeezed Spike’s shoulder affectionately. “James and Elisabeth loved each other. You were devoted to Dru.”
Angel almost called Spike ‘baby boy’. It was on the tip of his tongue to do so, but he forced himself not to. Gunn was still uncomfortable around the vampires when they were intimate with each other. That scene in the kitchen after Angel and Spike spilled blood all over each other and the gang caught Angel licking it off Spike, was the last straw for Gunn.
“Two hundred plus years and the girl is still wearing the locket,” Cordelia hedged.
“Gunn and I’ll hit the streets, see what our sources can tell us,” Wesley and Gunn headed for the door.
“Uh-huh,” Cordelia nodded and grinned at Spike and Angel. “See? We have sources now.”
Angel looked amused and impressed. “Oh, you’re almost like real detectives now.”
“Hey!” Gunn yelled back indignantly as he followed Wesley.
“Just kidding,” Angel laughed. “You should probably check it out. James really lived for that girl.”