A/N: So so so sorry!! It's taken me so long to get this out. SORRY!! Just now watched the new MV for DBSK, and OHMYGODS. If I were to die now, my happiness would match none. XD If you've never heard of DBSK, I don't blame you. They're Korean. But check it out nonetheless. WARNING: CHANGMIN AND MICKY are TOTATLLY MINE. Yunho will soon be mine (watch your back, Midori...) COMPLETE 180 And since I like giving nicknames to the characters, Rennie is pronounced REE-nee. Of course, Angel and Spike's names are too short for NNs, so we'll just have to settle with degrading names. :D
And I found this random quote, which I think I'll use in DoD, in the future:
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" said Alice.
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where –" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"– so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
-Alice in Wonderland, the Weirdest Book Ever
Not much to say. Enjoy this chapter.
Seven
The plane had barely taken off before Angel unbuckled himself and turned on Renee, who was quietly enjoying her twenty-second time reading Dante's Inferno. "Alright now, I've got a bit of a problem with you. You set me on fire."
She absentmindedly turned a page. "Correction: I opened a window. The sun set you on fire."
"It doesn't matter. You could've killed me!"
"No, I love you too much, Angel, darling. Why on Earth would I set you on fire? If I wanted to kill you, shouldn't a simple stake to the heart take you out much faster? Plus, I have those awesome superpowers that no one else has. I could just do this." She raised her free hand and flexed her fingers. Nearly invisible strings snaked around Angel's arm and sliced into his skin, blood beginning to ooze from the wounds. "Killing you would be too easy."
"...I-but...you..." he spluttered.
"Time to get serious." Renee leaned forward. "For once you have some decent allies on your side: me and Gabriel. If you can convince your son to join us, Angel, I think we may stand a fighting chance against hell." She inserted her thin platinum bookmark and closed the book. "The one thing that's keeping me from marching straight down into the fire is my sister. I have no clue where they buried her." She looked at Gabriel. "Did you have a funeral for her?"
He sadly shook his head. "Hell no. I wanted to keep my distance from the body, or risk getting my ass arrested."
Spike, Gunn and Fred looked confused. "Katherine's dead?" Spike whispered. "But, she was human!"
"Oh, right." Renee blinked. "You guys still don't know. He killed my sister."
Fred raised her hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm completely lost here, and this is kinda coming outta nowhere. Did you just say that he killed your sister? Are you...okay with that?"
Renee looked outraged. "Why would anyone be okay with that news?"
"Sorry, I'm just tryin' to understand." She took a deep breath. "So, what, he's like our lapdog for now until this apocalypse is over?"
Gabriel scowled at her. "I'm not a lapdog."
Angel smirked. "An involuntary warrior to a good cause. Otherwise known..."
Spike finished his sentence. "As a lapdog. Believe me, Wonderboy over here would know all about being a lapdog, wouldn't you?"
"Spike," Angel growled.
Gunn sighed impatiently. "For once, can you two not bicker like twelve-year-olds on a playground?"
"Well..." Gabriel's grin was wide as he looked at Renee. "I wouldn't necessarily say involuntary." When he caught her mouth opening in slight shock, he winked. "Renee has her ways of...persuasion." Her face was plain: If you tell anyone about last night, you will suffer a slow and painful death. It was hilarious yet absolutely adorable.
"Whatever," she said through her teeth. "The forces of evil haven't made a move, and there's no word of an invasion, so we can lay low for now. Strategy and the element of surprise are our only options right now. Fred." The young Texan started. "Is there any way you can get ahold of my sister's records? I need to find that grave."
"No problem. I'm on it." She pulled out her MacBook Pro and got to work.
"Spike, how did you know she was human?" Angel asked him.
"Well, the vampire grapevine works wonders. Right before me and Dru rampaged through Sunnydale-"
"If by rampage, you meant frolicked."
"...rampaged through Sunnydale, she wanted to know how Kitten was doing. More accurately, why she wasn't on the radar for killing and slaughtering men, as we were so used to. Found out she had a heartbeat and a soul."
"Does everyone know everything before I do?"
"Nah, mate. Unlike you, we don't spend half the morning putting in hairgel. We look for news, we don't wait for it to find us."
--
In the midway of this our mortal life,
I found me in a gloomy wood, astray,
Gone from the path direct.
Hm. Dante was a strange fellow. What in God's name inspired him to write this tragic yet insanely addictive...book? Was his sex life nonexistent? That usually applies to many writers, who seem to have much time on their hands. Maybe he had a mistress to keep him company while he wrote. I'd like to see his original copy: proably smattered drool and body fluids everywhere, from watching her dance. His wife wouldn't have liked that. Bet she didn't even know he was cheating on her. Or was that even considered cheating back in those days? Was it a requirement or expected to have a mistress, or did she just turn the proverbial other cheek?
"You look deep in thought," said Gabriel, relaxing in the seat beside her. He wound a loose hair back into place. "Care to explain?"
She didn't look up from her book as she answered tersely, "It's the next day, Gabe. You can stop pretending you actually like me."
"Never said I didn't. You're a different sort of girl. Snarky, with a sadistic sense of humor."
"Hmmm." Steadily ignoring him.
He leaned closer to her and whispered gently in her ear. "Remember our bargain, sweetheart," he said dangerously. "I help you fight, and you sleep with me."
"Is your memory slipping, or was last night not considered 'sleeping together?'"
"I didn't say a one-night stand," he muttered almost seductively.
Now she looked up, agitated. "No."
"Yes. Otherwise, you lose a fighter."
She grimaced. "You fight dirty." She clenched her jaw. "Fine. But know that I have no interest in you other than the obvious physical."
As soon as those words left her mouth, Gabriel made his choice. Make her fall in love with him, and the humiliation alone would satisfy him. Sex was just another luxury. He chuckled and lowered his lips to her neck. Renee's jaw strained with the tension. "Good. I'll be seeing you, then. But just as a reminder..." He gently sucked on her skin, and he felt her hand sliding away from his arm. He heard a tiny twang and suddenly his arm felt as if it were being painfully sliced into by a thousand daggers. He lifted his mouth to see small incisions up and down his forearm, blood already beginning to stream out of them.
"Get away from me," she snarled.
He smirked. Her anger was unnecessary and endearing, like a small kitten getting agitated. "Enjoy your book, darling." Smiling at the outraged look on her face, he stood and sauntered back to his seat. In front of him, Spike was doubled over with silent laughter as Angel furiously pummeled his bag of peanuts.
--
"Am I usually the last one to know about these things?" Angel growled as he tossed the peanut dust into a small bin by his seat. "Since when did Renee lower herself to bed a dog?"
Spike chortled. "You know perfectly well you can't do a bloody thing about it. Love's one thing, but lust is something different." He glanced over at Gabriel, who was wrapping his arm tightly. "I wouldn't suggest getting on the bad side of McFurry over there. He'll just give it to her harder." His grin was wicked. "Besides, if you two have a toss in the hay, you'd get one of those perfectly happy moments, and then Renee would hafta stake you."
Angel groaned. He'd nearly forgotten about his curse.
Fred giggled, looking up out of her glasses. "Angel, you're so cute when you're jealous."
"Who's jealous?" he muttered, roughly turning the pages of the newspaper he swiped from Gunn.
Gabriel gasped as the pain hit him in a fresh new wave. "What the hell'd you do to my arm? My bicep will never be the same..."
Renee cackled. "That's what you get."
"Hey!" Fred exclaimed. Her face was lit up. "Found a possible burial site! Bad news is, it's on Quileute territory. Nowhere near L.A."
Angel and Renee exchanged glances. "We'll go. The rest of you can stay at Wolfram and Hart until we get back." When Gabriel opened his mouth to complain, Angel stopped him. "You two can screw each other's brains out when we get back."
If Renee could blush, she would've been as red as a tomato. "That's right. Have a bit of restraint."
He glared at her. Not the deal, princess. "I refuse to sit out of the action."
"We're going to dig up my sister's grave. There's not going to BE any action besides dirt flying everywhere."
Gunn frowned heavily. "Fred, you said that she's buried on Quileute territory. Are you talking about the tribe up in Washington State?"
"Mm-hm. Why?"
"Think about it. Didn't Gabe here kill her on the East Coast?"
The three vampires were absolutely still. Gabriel raised his eyebrows and Fred gasped.
"Who had her moved all the way over there?"
Renee let her head fall into her hands. "This is more complex than I realized." Does this mean...that raising her from the dead...was the plan all along?! I can't allow that to happen! Not to her!
