Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Audrey.
Author's Notes:
Tamara: Dawn might, though if she does she doesn't know it yet, how's that for confusing…
Jess: Trust me you're not the worst reviewer ever, that title goes to those who only write flames as reviews, whether they actually read the story that they're reviewing or not
CHAPTER 14-PAIN AND SUFFERING
"What's that," Willow asked softly with a nervous smile on her face as she walked up to Nina and tried to start up a conversation that could take her mind off of seeing an alive Spike months after his death.
"Nothing…just my pitiful attempt to pass the time until they release Wesley and Faith," Nina replied with a self-doubting sigh as her shoulder slumped and she stopped drawing. When Willow had entered the small break room she had found an empty pot of coffee and Nina sitting cross-legged at one end of a plush couch, looking like she was surviving more on grit than on energy, hard at work with a pen and a napkin.
"What is it," Willow asked softly with a nervous look on her face as she tried to make small talk with a woman that she knew nothing about, other than that fact that she and Angel were an item.
"A memory…I think, after the last few months I'm not sure what's real anymore," Nina replied softly without taking her eyes off of the image on the napkin, though Willow could see that her eyelids were beginning to droop and she was fighting back the urge to yawn.
"It's pretty good," Willow started to say with an appreciative smile on her face as she looked down at the napkin and recognized Angel, though he looked oddly like a puppet, before Nina glanced up briefly and interrupted.
"Pretty good for an art school dropout you mean," Nina interrupted with a somber frown on her face as she momentarily stopped scribbling on the napkin, looking as if she were debating whether or not to ball it up and throw it in the trash, before she returned to it with vigor.
"You went to art school," Willow asked softly with a consoling and comforting tone to her voice as she cautiously sat down next to Nina, hoping to not scare her.
"For awhile yeah, back in LA, then of course the whole…went back for a little bit, bet they all think I'm dead now," Nina replied with a soft haunted laugh before Willow saw her eyes moisten like she was about to cry but she sniffled and regained her composure just in the nick of time.
"Are you okay…you seem a bit jumpy," Willow wondered with a concerned look on her face as Nina looked to be exhibiting signs that one would usually think of a junkie having.
"Not really, I haven't slept in God knows how long and if I don't get some blood soon I'm going to rip someone's throat out," Nina started to answer softly with an odd chuckle and smile on her face before she balled her hands up into fists towards the end, grinning slyly up at Willow at the end.
"Wait, you're a vampire…but I thought," Willow replied softly with suddenly a very awkward look on her face as she started to rise before Angel walked into the room.
"She's not a vampire, she's a werewolf," Angel explained with a worried look on his face as he walked across the room and sat down in between Willow and Nina, hesitantly reaching out to Nina.
"Hence the need for the blood," Nina mumbled out softly with a tired look on her face before the yawn that she had been holding back finally won.
"She doesn't drink blood like vampires, she just has a little now and then to keep the werewolf inside of her docile, at least until the full moon" Angel said softly as he answered Willow's unspoken question before she could utter a sound, even though his back was to her at the time.
"Oh…that's…new, how long have you been a werewolf Nina," Willow stammered out in classic fashion at first before she recovered and switched the subject to something easier.
"Little over half a year, picked the wrong night to go jogging, lucky for me Angel and the others were nearby," Nina replied with an unhappy expression on her face as she rolled the napkin up and then shoved it into her pocket.
"But like usual with my luck I wasn't fast enough, the werewolf had scratched and bitten her, she used to spend the full moon in a cell in the basement of Wolfram and Hart, but now that it's gone we'll have to come up with something new," Angel said back with a concerned look on his face as he squeezed an arm in between Nina and the couch and pulled her close. At first Nina seemed to not want anything to do with Angel, but as his fingers touched the bare skin of her arms the fight left her and she laid her head down on Angel's shoulder.
"Maybe she could do what Oz does, with the beads, he can keep himself from transforming, most of the time," Willow replied with an optimistic smile on her face as she sat up straight and then stared over at the clock on the wall.
"If we live through this maybe we'll look him up," Angel said with a worn out look on his face before he pulled Nina a bit closer to him and she fell asleep almost instantly.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
"Never done that before," Kennedy said with an awkward frown on her face as she pulled her bra down off of the lamp and snapped it on as Kristine was pulling her head through the top hole in her shirt.
"Me either, but I liked it," Kristine said back softly with a nervous but excited smile on her face as her whole face brightened up at the end, causing Kennedy to have a hard time to keep from smiling back.
"Me to," Kennedy thought to herself with a slightly impish smile on her face at first as she turned away from Kristine to go in search of her socks before her guilt kicked in.
"What were you and Mercedes doing last night, you weren't doing anything illegal were you, I'm a good lawyer but even I can't perform miracles," Kristine asked softly with a serious look of concern and fear on her face as she stopped after getting her shirt on straight and walked over to Kennedy.
"Just out on a hunt, nothing illegal, the Immortal wanted us to see if we could find Angel and his gang, we didn't have any luck…at first, then Mercedes," Kennedy started to answer with a forced look of calm on her face before her guilt showed through and she hung her head and went silent before she could finish.
"I get the picture, she certainly has a problem with that doesn't she, she seems to run on sex and booze, one of these days that won't be enough for her and she'll coming looking to make a withdrawal, and I don't mean from a bank," Kristine said back with a serious and worried look on her face as she edged closer to Kennedy before getting really close and whispering the last part into Kennedy's ear followed by a gentle kiss against her neck.
"I can handle Mercedes Kristine, you don't need to baby me, I'm almost eighteen," Kennedy grumbled back with an unhappy frown on her face as she found her jeans and then pulled them on, buttoning the button and zipping them up in seconds.
"You're right, you're not a child, but look at the watchers council…the old one, how many years of experience did they have, did all of those accumulated years of experience save them, nope…it all went up with them when they were blown up, experience isn't everything, Mercedes isn't a fool," Kristine replied back softly with a subtly stern expression on her face as she and Kennedy finished getting dressed before she opened the curtains and unlocked the door.
"Only for love," Kennedy replied softly under her breath before Kristine leaned in close and gave her one last kiss goodbye and then let her go. Twenty minutes later the Immortal stood in her doorway, holding something behind his back.
"Kristine…you disappoint me," The Immortal stated with an unhappy smile on his face as he stepped into the room, leaving the door to be shut, locked, and then guarded by some of his most loyal guards.
"I'm sorry sir…I don't know what you mean," Kristine said with a quickly growing look of fear and uncertainty on her face as she slid her glasses off of her nose and stood up, her hands shaking slightly.
"You should know better than to undermine me, I'm trying to build a better life for everyone here, and what do I see, my best lawyer screwing a slutty slayer," The Immortal snapped back with an angry sneer on his face before Kristine started to turn away. She was just turning her head back towards him when the sweet spot on the bat slammed into her midsection. She cried out in pain as she felt a few of her ribs breaking. "I have no problem with your preferences…but then you have to fuck up and screw the witch's girlfriend without my permission," The Immortal added with a furious scowl on his face as he readied to strike again with the baseball bat while Kristine coughed up a little bit of blood and struggled to breathe.
"I…," Kristine mumbled out softly with a very pained look on her face before the Immortal swung again, this time an overhead chop down onto the forearm of her left arm as she was using it to try and stand up. She screamed in pain as the force of the swing easily snapped the radius and ulna in two. She dropped down to her knees and tried to cradle her left arm but two of the guards acted quicker, one grabbing her right arm and dragging her out from behind her desk and the other then kicking her hard in the side. "Please," Kristine begged with her eyes brimming with pain and tears as she struggled to keep from passing out.
"You should know that never works with me you stupid bitch," The Immortal growled back with a mocking sneer on his face before he took a step forward and kicked her straight away in the face. Blood blew out of her nose as it broke, with the force of the blow almost knocking her out but in the end sent her flopping back onto her back on the floor.
"Now the real fun begins," One of the guards grunted with an evil gleam in his gaze before he pulled a pair of brass knuckles out of his pocket and then advanced towards Kristine.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
"Have you seen Willow," Xander asked with an impatient frown on his face as he walked up to Buffy, who looked more than a bit glum.
"Not lately, she left earlier, said something about one of her contacts having something for her, she didn't say what it was though," Buffy replied back with a somber expression on her face as she closed the magazine that she was making a poor effort to read.
"Did she say where she was going," Kennedy asked softly with a worried look on her face as she walked into the lobby and revealed herself after having spied on the beginnings of the conversation for a couple of moments.
"No, she left in a hurry though, should I even ask where you've been all day Kennedy," Buffy replied with suddenly a very firm and commanding tone of voice as she laid the magazine down and stood up, making sure that Kennedy knew that she meant business.
"Great, I have the whole night free and Willow's nowhere to be found, do you know if she took her phone with her," Kennedy grumbled with an unhappy pout on her face as she started to walk past Buffy and Xander and make her way towards the elevator before stopping suddenly and turning around to ask her question.
"I don't know, after her contact called her she bolted out of here pretty quickly, you could always check in your room," Buffy said back with a deep in thought tone to her voice as she studied every aspect of the younger slayers mood and posture, hoping to figure out what was really going on with her.
"Right, be right back," Kennedy said slowly with an unsure look in her eyes as she turned back around and dashed into the elevator.
"There's something going on here Xander, and we owe it to Willow to find out what," Buffy stated with a very firm tone of voice as she pushed up her sleeves and went to work.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Mercedes awoke and glared at the clock. She had set the alarm to wake her up eight hours after she had set it, however something had happened and she had slept two hours longer. Growling low she threw back the covers and got out of bed. She downed a quick glass of blood in the small kitchen before heading to the bathroom, walking right into the shower and turning it on as she liked to sleep in the nude. When she was done she got dressed and left her apartment, using the underground tunnels to make her way back to The Immortal's offices, expecting him to have an assignment for her. However when she arrived she instantly smelled blood, not an altogether odd fact, but one that struck her in an odd way. She had only smelled this blood once before, when Kristine hadn't been looking where she was going and walked straight into a door that she thought was open.
"Krissy," Mercedes mumbled softly with a steadily growing look of concern on her face as she walked past the receptionists without acknowledging their greeting and salutations and instead headed towards the legal department. She walked around a corner and stopped dead in her tracks as the smell of blood very nearly overwhelmed her. She rushed forward through the slightly darkened hallway and burst into Kristine's office, breaking the door down in her actions. "Oh fuck," Mercedes gasped out softly with a look of horror on her face as she took stock of the scene in front of her. Kristine lay on the floor beaten horribly and covered in blood, her clothes were ripped and torn all over the place and Mercedes could hear that she was barely breathing.
As tears sprang to her eyes Mercedes ran forward and knelt down beside Kristine, feverishly checking for a pulse, hoping that she wasn't to late. She grinned briefly as she found one before she checked her over to make sure that there were no major wounds on her body that would stop her from being moved.
"Come on baby stay with me here," Mercedes said softly with a scared tone to her voice as she did her best to carefully pick Kristine up and then turn around to the door. "Out of the way," Mercedes shouted loudly in alarm as she took off back out of the trashed office and headed for the underground, sprinting through the tunnels towards the nearest hospital.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
When the nurse came in at night to give Wesley and Faith their meals she found them both sitting on his bed, one leg crossed underneath them and the other dangling off of the side of the bed. The two were putting their heads together and writing and drawing down everything that they could remember about their incarceration. Wesley was having more of a tough time of it as most of his injuries were still healing and that left the writing and art chores to Faith. She swore that she had terrible handwriting and after a short while Wesley was forced to agree with her, though he had gone far enough to make a slight joke about it. Faith had started to lift her gaze up and glare at him but at the moment that their eyes met she could only summon up an impatient pout, which caused a few dirty thoughts to flicker through Wesley's mind.
"No that's not it, you've got it all wrong, we turned left at the broken light and right at the drip," Wesley stated with a tired and impatient frown on his face as he shook his head and sighed.
"Are you sure about that, because I remember that it was the other way around," Faith shot back, more in a playing a game manner than really angry manner, as she lifted her pencil up off of the paper and slid off of Wesley's bed.
"Realistically I'm not sure that we can fully trust either of our memories on that one Faith, neither of us were in any condition to map the layout of the tunnels appropriately," Wesley said back with an impatient frown on his face as he watched the nurse set their food down onto the little rolling trays by their beds and then leave.
"Guess it's self serve then," Faith joked with an amused smirk on her face as she half got out of bed and pushed Wesley's tray over closer to him so that he could grab it without moving his sore left before she pulled her own supper over.
"It would appear so," Wesley grimly replied with a disapproving look on his face as he picked up his fork and lightly tapped what he guessed was apple crisp before he set his fork back down and picked up his spoon.
"You don't have to eat that swill, I saw a Chinese place down the block, if you two want I could get you some, though I'm a little short on the Benjamin's at the moment," Spike stated softly from the doorway with a humorous smile on his face as he stepped into the room and grimaced at the food on the trays.
"But I'm not, I borrowed some from Giles yesterday, if you guys know what you want," Willow offered up with a helpful smile on her face as she peeked in from around the corner, half watching Spike and half watching Wesley and Faith.
"Be our guest, I don't think that I could stomach much more of this," Wesley replied sadly with a look on his face that one gets after having forced themselves to swallow something that they found to taste very revolting.
"Good, then it'll give Spike and I a chance to talk, come on Spike let's go," Willow said back with a determined look on her face as she leaned into the room, grabbed Spike's arm and then pulled him back out of it just as Spike was about to argue.
"What's this all about Red, you don't need my help to get Chinese food, or is there something that you're not telling me," Spike asked with an impatient and nervous look on his face as the two made their way out of the hospital.
"I want to know what you're going to do about Buffy, are you going to try to win her back…or kick her in the face like Angel," Willow asked with a very calm tone to her voice as she glanced over at Spike briefly before pushing open a door and heading out into the night.
"Honestly…haven't thought that far ahead yet, okay look I know that I love her but," Spike started to say with a bored tone to his voice before Willow turned back and glared at him lightly and he got to the point.
"All you need is love Spike, remember that," Willow said back softly with a cheeky smirk on her face as she left his side and started walking towards the restaurant.
END OF CHAPTER 14
Author's Note: I said that this would be a darker story and I meant it. Kristine being brutally attacked was solely meant to show further proof of the Immortal's true nature and to set up some twists and turns later on. I do not endorse or approve of his actions and I wanted to kill him off the entire time I was writing that scene, but he's needed for a few shockers later in the story. Feel free to wish the bastard a slow and painful death, by whatever means you want. Who knows I might just take suggestions about how to kill him and use one of them in the story, though The Immortal is still going to sink a little lower in his future actions so be warned, no one is safe.