Chapter 2:
The old man stepped into an elevator that was situated nicely within the immaculate marble walls of a similarly floored hallway.
He used his palm to activate the elevator, very few people were authorized to use this elevator, and today he wished that he weren't one of them.
The elevator was equipped with only two buttons, one designating up and the other down.
He shuddered slightly as he pressed the button that would carry him for what seemed miles southward.
The previous trips down to the basement, as everyone referred to the cave like building that he was quickly approaching, never went according to his plan, and he had no reason to expect that today would go any differently.
But he had his orders.
Suddenly the lift came to a complete stop and the lights flickered until finally he was encompassed in complete darkness. They always had a flare for the dramatic down here, he thought wryly as the doors opened and he stepped out onto a solid granite floor, with no light to see by except for a few torches, spaced haphazardly every few yards, leading the way to the office of the bane of his existence Lily.
Lily also known as Lilith in many cultures' lore was her father's favorite child. She is the demon of temptation, and according to the nameplate that was proudly placed on the door to her office "The Executive Administrative Assistant to Charon".
He stepped through the door without knocking and marched directly to the little bitch's desk.
"Charlie, what a pleasant surprise, I didn't realize that we had an appointment today." Lily said with a wicked grin, she stood up presumably to shake his hand, but in the process managed to pull the top that she was wearing so that it revealed even more than it had just a minute earlier.
"Save it Lily, you know I would never fall for your tricks, you don't tempt me even a little." He said while plopping himself down in a chair directly facing her.
"Oh all business today is it?" She said with a little pout, "So what does Rahmiel want today?" She asked
He flinched a little when she used his true name, being the angel of mercy and love it burned just a bit when his name was spoken by a demon.
"I have orders to take one you have in holding back with me."
"Orders huh?" She laughed softly, it was a beautiful, melodic sound, very similar to bells or tapping your finger on fine crystal. Nope still not tempted.
"And just who, may I ask, am I supposed to release?" Her eyebrow arched in amusement.
"Don't play dumb with me, you know full well, who." He stated with a note of finality.
"You're kidding me right?" "There's no way in well here, that we're letting that one go." She was laughing so hard that tears began pouring out of her eyes now.
"No decision has been made yet, you can't keep him here." He argued.
"Fair point, but answer this, whose orders are you representing?"
"Ok for starters, Raphael, Shepherd, Nemamiah, Sammael and if you need more, Michael."
The demon blanched at that; "So we have the healer, the angel of repentance, the angel of just causes, the angel of souls and the angel of miracles, all laying claim to this one." She whistled through her perfectly, white, even teeth.
"What do they want with him, and I swear if I hear one word about a slayer I'm going to vomit."
"Well?" She asked.
"I don't think I'll say anything, I just got this shirt back from the cleaners, one hour service, my ass." He grumbled."So this is a big deal, maybe I'd better call my dad for approval on this." She said threateningly.
"Fine, but if you do that I'm pretty sure that Michael can get his boss down here too, you know he doesn't get involved in these issues without direct approval."
"You wouldn't." She was beyond pale now, was that shade considered grey? He wondered.
"That meeting is not meant to happen for hundreds of years yet." She implored.
He couldn't help it, he laughed at her. "Yeah and we all know how that's going to turn out, it was foretold so long ago."
"There's always hope." she argued.
"Says she who lives in the dimension without hope."
"Ok, so no bringing the big guns in, but obviously, I can't just let him go, there would be hell to pay after all." Charlie just groaned, he should have known that one was coming.
"So what do you suggest?" Truthfully he could care less about the trouble she was certain to face, but he just wanted to get out of this place and back to where he could breathe again, metaphorically speaking that is.
"A trade?" She offered with a sly grin.
"A trade, and who do you suggest that I trade with you?"
"How about the Wicca?" She said slyly, "You know we're going to get the red witch in the end, so how about you send her here and let her be with her lover."
"Absolutely not, she's pure of heart and of spirit, she wouldn't make it down here?" "How about Anyanka?" He offered with little hope.
"Hell no, we keep hearing about her incessant ramblings with regards to orgasms and money and Xanders' penis." "Thanks but no thanks."
"Oh well it was worth a try." He offered off handedly
"How about the slayer's mom?" "That might be fun, let her get a daily reminder of what her baby girl has to deal with?"
"Nope, she's off the table, she's already been promoted."
"Joan of Arc?" He replied with "forget it."
"Mother Theresa" "Next" was all that she heard.
"Well obviously, we're at an impasse, any other suggestions?"
He pretended to give it a thought for a couple of minutes, and then with a small smile, perhaps if he was lucky, too small for her to even have noticed it, he said simply "how about a game of chance?"
He watched her face light up and he knew then that he had her, as smoothly as he could he asked "what do you want to play?"
"Chess" She offered, "Many deals have been struck over the ages during a game of chess."
"That will take too long, the big guys are in a hurry, how about poker?" He suggested.
"What's the rush, what are they planning" and then realization hit, "They're sending him back aren't they?"
"Yep" he popped the p and said no more as he watched her face change to reflect nothing but rage.
"No, no deal, no games, call Michael if you have to, but no." she screamed.
"What?" "Are you afraid that you can't beat me,"
Lily hated nothing more than to admit fear, but her father was pretty big on retribution and if she lost, she would be demoted, returned to cleaning up after Turlok demons.
Charlie continued to goad her, "don't I remember something about your being the seventh's circle junior poker champion two years in a row?"
"Three, but who's counting?" She said, trying not very convincingly to feign an air of humility.
"Come on, one hand takes all." "I haven't been playing that long, you should have no problem beating me." He coaxed gently.
"So, if you win, you guys get him, what's in it for us when I win?"
"If you win" he said while clearing his throat "you get to keep him of course, we will relinquish all rights to him."
"Not enough" the demon snapped, "we have him already, I want more."
"Nothing has been settled with regards to his eternity yet, as of right now he's in holding, what else could you possibly want."
She smiled the most evil smile that he had ever seen, and that was saying something.
"24 hours to walk free on the earth, nothing less will do."
He gulped and sent a silent prayer upwards, that the bluffing skills that Peter had been teaching him would be good enough, before he answered her with one simple word "done."
"I'm sure that I have a deck of cards around here somewhere, give me a second to find them and we'll get started." Lily offered, already imagining what she would do with her 24 hour vacation.
"That's ok, I'll have Raguel bring a deck with him when he comes." He told her in response, he wasn't taking any chances with this girl.
"Raguel, is that really necessary, he hates me. Don't you trust me?" She pouted.
"First of all he is an angel, he doesn't hate anyone and second of all no."
"But, but, but" she sputtered.
"Look it's a much for your protection as it is mine, he is the angel of justice and fairness after all." "His presence insures fairness on both sides."
She couldn't really argue with that logic, so like a petulant child she said nothing.
Meanwhile, in an area, two floors down, the vampire in question, was waiting; Waiting for what he really didn't know, but he knew something was coming.
The area that he was being held in was nothing, there was no other way to describe it; no walls, no light nor no pure darkness, maybe grey was the way to describe it, but that wasn't quite right either.
It was neither hot nor cold; but in all honestly it wasn't exactly comfortable, it was nothing.
There was no sound, not even a vibration that he could feel.
In other words it was as if he were deaf, blind, had no nerve endings, and no sense of smell. It was infuriating.
There were no chains to bind him, but he was unable to move. He had no memories, no idea really of who he was or what he was doing there, in the middle of a vacuum. That's it he thought, the way to describe his surroundings vacuum.
Time had no meaning, he had no idea how long he had been there, it could have been seconds or it could have been centuries. It just was.
There was no sleeping, but no need for it anyway, there was just nothingness; but still somehow he knew things were going to change.
No sooner had that thought flittered through his mind, or maybe it was years later, he was suddenly blinded by a light so bright that if he remembered being a vampire, he would be terrified of becoming dust.
As the light began moving closer to him, he heard a sound; a sound so beautiful it would make poets weep, so soothing that it could end wars and so strong that it could make mountains crumble into the sea.
Even without memories, he knew that this was something that he had never been witness to before;
"What are you?" He asked, startled by the sound of his own voice.
"Be not afraid, I am Gabriel." "I am the angel of peace and of The Messengers."
An angel huh, that could explain why the being was so unfamiliar, he couldn't swear to it, but he was pretty sure that he had never met one of those before.
"I came to give you a message, we are coming for you William."
"Coming for me huh, why's that?" He had been called William, while that sounded familiar it didn't exactly sound right. He was beginning to wonder if this Gabriel bloke had made a mistake.
"We have a job for you, a very important job, one that only you can perform, you're not finished yet."
"Great" he thought, not that he minded the sudden lack of nothingness, but he was going to have to go to work.
"So what's this ever important job you have for me?" He asked, hoping beyond all hope that it was going to be something that he could do.
"It is for you to remember and to figure out for yourself, but know this, you must not fail."
And just like that the angel was gone and the nothingness was back.
15 minutes after the deal was made, Charlie heard the solid footsteps that belonged to Raguel, nearing Lily's office.
"So a card game it is?" The soft baritone voice asked firmly. "I assume that everyone here knows the rules; one hand winner take all, the game will end immediately if I even suspect anyone of cheating." He gave a hard glare to the female demon, sitting to his immediate right.
"Why are you looking at me?" She complained, and thought it about it for a second and then conceded that he indeed had her number.
With a snap of his fingers a deck of cards appeared on the table, and he began to shuffle them with a style of expertise that you would expect to see at a finer Las Vegas casino.
"Ladies first, cut them please." He said while never taking his eyes off of her hands.
"Charlie, would you like to cut also?" He offered to his fellow angel, Charlie declined deciding that if his friend had not noticed any type of deception, that they would be just fine.
"Everyone ok with five card draw, I assume." He stated as he was already dealing the cards.
Neither the demon nor the angel offered any argument, so once again he stated simply "Ladies first."
Lily spent a couple of moments sorting her cards, obviously making mental calculations before she asked for three, while handing the angel her discards.
She looked at her cards and Charlie could have sworn that he saw a flash of something in her eyes very briefly; Not only had Peter been teaching him how to bluff, but also how to read opponents tells.
He had seen Lily play before and he was almost positive that the look that she had been wearing was one of frustration. Please let it be frustration he prayed.
One more look at his cards and he laid down one.
Raguel, slid one card to him, paused just a second and said "Ok, let's see them.
Charlie barely had a second to register what card had been dealt to him, when he laid them on the table.
He took instant notice of Lily's cards and he sighed.
She had the seven, eight, nine, ten of spades and the eight of hearts, nothing but a pair of eights.
She was looking at his cards now, indignation clearly showing, it's not possible she whined; Charlie had a pair of queens and three twos. Full house, he said a silent prayer of thanks before speaking to his opponent.
"No need for you to get up" "I know where you're keeping him, I'll get him." He offered.
"No, no this can't be, you must have cheated." She exclaimed, ignoring the look that the angel of justice and fairness was giving her.
"It's not fair" She continued, "You just can't put him back with his memories in tact, think of all that he would be capable of if you did. No memories." She pled.
"And you can't put him back as a souled vampire, again unfair advantages." She continued.
"The lady has a point, so here's what I purpose;"
"Wait," Charlie shouted. "You want to put a man from the 18th century back into the 21st century with no memories of his life as a vampire and his purpose at all?"
"More like locked, but not impenetrable." The other angel offered.
"This is crazy!" Charlie retorted.
"I'd say it's a fair test to see if he fulfills his destiny" Lily said innocently.
"Now you care about fairness?" Both angels retorted.
"Fine" Charlie muttered, knowing that he had been beaten. "It's his destiny, he'll figure things out."
"Let it be done." With a snap of his fingers, Raguel released the hold that had been placed over William, and he and Charlie, began the trek to their home together.
With an evil grin, Lily, also snapped her fingers and the lock that had been placed on William's memories transformed into a brick wall.
"That will make for a more interesting adventure." She giggled.
However, Raguel, was fully prepared for that sneak attack and with a wave of his hand the brick wall became a delicate web, knowing that all it would take to trigger those memories would be a pull of the right strand by a certain someone.
Knowing that her father was going to be furious, Lilith began formulating a plan, that would make this game a little more sporting and maybe would appease her quick to anger dad.
Perhaps a race to the finish, the cruelty and chaos that together again the two could create, would be delicious.
So with a small sigh of regret and a wave of her hand, she released her favorite pet back into the world.
"Find him first Druscilla" She whispered into the wind.