Author's Note: Guess whose back. Back again. Ms. P is back, tell a friend. Okay, and as we can all see, I've been listening to Eminem just a little too much lately. Well that and a nice healthy dose of My Chemical Romance and the Killers. I think I have a thing for guys in makeup… that can't be good. Oh well moving right along. I'm back. Here's a chapter. You're all going to kill me, and I'm okay with that. Just remember I love you all. And it's not my fault I disappear for months at a time, blame my new addiction to Charmed fanfiction, House and my three jobs! It's all their faults. Yes, blame them… okay good bye now. Enjoy the chapter.
Chapter Thirty-Five
"Alright so Wesley, I get because you know it is his friend," Angel said as he drove down the highway. "Darla, I also get because she's the reason we're going. Cordy, I get because I invited her. But why are you two here?" he looked through the rearview mirror to see Spike and Xander grinning at him from the backseat where they were wedged with Wesley and Cordelia.
"Moral support, Peaches," Spike replied, purposefully vague on who they were morally supporting. Honestly the idea of running to Los Angeles for the weekend didn't seem too overly interesting to him but here he was cruising down the freeway jammed in the backseat between his best friend and a man that hated him for the better part of his life, all for the sake of one girl, who had yet to speak a word since she had gotten into the car.
Cordelia had taken the news of Angel's betrayal and imminent fatherhood better than anyone had expected her to, much to the obvious disappointment of Faith and Buffy, who were looking for a catfight. Instead, she had uncharacteristically withdrawn into herself and pulled away from Angel. They were barely on speaking terms and she had adamantly refused to go on this trip with only Wesley as a buffer, and that's where Spike and Xander had come in.
Normally Buffy would have gladly jumped at the opportunity to be there for her friend, but her mother was once again out of town on business and she felt bad forcing Dawn on Giles and Jenny, especially since Jenny had caught some kind of bug that caused her to throw up the vast majority of the day. So she stayed behind with her sister and Spike volunteered to go in her place. Something in him felt for Darla, deep down inside. He didn't know what it was or even know how deep it ran but it was there and he was willing to go to LA to meet with the demon known simply as the Host to find out what her deal was now.
Naturally once Spike had volunteered to go to LA and Gunn had announced he was going home for the weekend, Xander jumped along board. He was there strictly for Cordelia. He didn't know how he felt about Angel being a father but he did know that he felt nothing but a deep sense of distrust and hatred for the pregnant vampire that had taken the life of his friend. But even he couldn't ignore the ramifications of a pregnant vampire. So here he sat lodged in the backseat of Angel's convertible barreling down the highway between a pissed off, annoyed hybrid and a depressed seer. It didn't take a genius to know that they needed to stop soon or someone was going to wind up dead, or in certain cases, deader.
At the first available rest area, Angel pulled the car to a stop and ignored the three men as they hopped out the backseat screaming about freedom. Darla also waddled out the car to stretch her legs and kill a rabbit, or at least this is what Spike assumed she was doing before he disappeared to torment someone else. This left Cordelia and Angel alone in the car. Neither moved, nor took a breath. Of course in Angel's case it wasn't a necessary function but for Cordelia, it was pretty much a regularly needed activity.
Finally, Angel couldn't take the oppressive silence that had settled over them. Things hadn't been this awkward between them since before Doyle had died. He winced as he once again was reminded of his friend's murder and the fact that he was harboring the killer. "Cordy…."
"Don't," she said quietly. "Don't try flashing me the puppy dog eyes and the soft, brooding angsty voice. It's not going to work. You can't make this better with stupid small talk. You can't make this better."
Angel looked at her through the rearview mirror, grateful that for once that she couldn't see his reflection. He saw the tears streaming down her cheeks and longed to be able to brush them away like he used to. But instead he was forced to sit back and watch her fumble with the door handle. She started away from the car in the direction Spike and Xander had wandered off in but stopped suddenly turning back to him.
"You hurt me. You lied to my face. You told me nothing happened and obviously something did. We're not friends, Angel. Not anymore. I don't know if I can ever forgive you for this." With that said, the seer continued on her way towards her friends.
Angel slumped lower in the driver seat and let out a shaky breath. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Wesley standing beside him. "So how much of that did you hear?"
"All of it," the former watcher replied, sympathy hanging in every word. "I'm sorry things had to go this way."
"Yeah, me too," the vampire ran a hand over his face. "I don't know how I can ever begin to make this up to her. I don't know if I even can."
"Perhaps the Host can answer your questions about that as well," Wesley offered. He settled back in his seat as the rest of the group came trudging back towards the car. And once again, they were on the road again.
"If you two don't stop singing that, I'm going to have to kill you!"
"So let me get this straight. Not only do we not have control over Angelus, but we also lost the pregnant vampire," Holland Manners growled as he paced back and forth in front of his two employees. This was getting to be a habit. "Why the hell haven't I shot you two yet?"
"Because we have one last ace up our sleeve," Lindsey said quickly. "Daniel Holtz." Holland gave him a blank look. "He was a vampire hunter in the 1700s that hunted the Scourge of Europe especially. In 1764, Angelus and Darla killed his family in revenge for his nearly killing Angelus' childe, Drusilla. They turned the youngest daughter into a vampire. Needless to say, the guy was a little pissed off."
"That's a great story, Lindsey," Holland said, sitting on the edge of his desk. He pulled out his gun and stared at it longingly. "But what does that have to do with the massive amounts of screw-ups you two have managed to accumulate in the past two months."
Lindsey squirmed for a bit. "In 1773, he found the demon Sahjhan and asked him to turn him into stone for 200 years, so that he could get revenge on them in the future. Now before you shoot us. We want you to meet someone."Holland looked up at the door to see a huge stone encasement being wheeling into his office. Lilah smiled and stood in front of it. "Holland Manners, meet Daniel Holtz. He'd say something back but he's a little tied up at the moment."
Their boss shook his head in wonder. "How did you two manage to pull this one off?"
"We had Sahjhan taken care of temporarily and stole this from his lair," Lindsey said, rising to his feet. "The way I see it. If we can't have Angel or Darla, than no one can. Holtz is just the guy we need to take them down. He knows their moves. He almost got them once before. With a little help from Wolfram and Hart, I'm sure he can finish them once and for all."
Holland nodded in approval. "Just when I think its time to get rid of you two, you actually come up with a solid plan. So what are we waiting for? Wake the old boy up."
Lilah reached into her purse and pulled out a satchel. She sprinkled dust on the statute as she walked around in a circle. "Arise as was foretold and promised. Arise!" she then stepped back to watch…as nothing happened.
"Well, what's the hold up?"
Lilah exchanged a nervous glance with Lindsey, who quickly scooted over to her. "What's going on, Lilah? I thought you said this was the right spell?"
"It is the right spell. Are you sure this is the right dust?"
"Well, it was either that or the pixie dust. I'm thinking that was the right choice." They glanced up at the still stone statue. "Or maybe, just maybe, I should have gone with the pixie dust."
Suddenly the ground around them started to shake and the statue finally began to break apart. Neither one of the younger lawyers missed Holland putting the gun back in his desk and walking over to them. Once the shaking was over, the statue lay crumbled around a tall man. He looked around the room in wonder before landing on the three lawyers in front of him.
"Where is Sahjhan?" he asked.
"There's been a change in plans," Lilah smirked. "Welcome to Wolfram and Hart and the twenty-first century."
Angel was definitely getting a headache now. Between Darla's constant whining about having to sing onstage, Cordelia's hostile silence, and Spike and Xander's random and very annoying comments about being in a demonic karaoke bar, he was going insane. Wesley saw this and quickly shushed the two teenagers. They merely flipped him off and continued on as usual. The vampire was very close to actually attempting to murder them both when the Host finally approached them.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" he asked, as he sauntered over to their table wearing an electric blue suit, a huge smile and his customary Sea Breeze in hand. The green skinned demon spared Angel an amused glance before taking in the three teenagers. Spike and Xander openly gaped at him for the briefest of seconds before shrugging it off as being yet another oddity in their lives and returning their attention to the stage. The Host then chose to glance at the thus far quiet seer, and his smile grew brighter. "You must be Cordelia."
"How did you know?" she looked up at him with confusion evident.
"I can recognize that aura anywhere. It's clearly intertwined with tall, dark and broody over here. You are the center of his world."
If he could, Angel would have blushed at the statement. Instead he stared down at his feet waiting for one of his less than mature friends to make a comment. Thankfully, they were distracted by a demon onstage performing some Ashlee Simpson song. Cordelia, on the other hand, stared up at her former vampire friend with a soft smile.
"So what brings you to me today?"
"What do you think?" Darla griped as she stood up, revealing her pregnancy. "We need your help. This isn't natural."
"That depends on what you consider natural," the Host smirked. "Why don't you step in my back office and we'll talk."
Angel turned to Spike and Xander. "Can I trust you two to sit here and not cause any trouble?"
"I don't know," Xander retorted. "I was thinking of setting the place on fire and starting a bar brawl. But since you asked so nicely, I guess we'll just have to reconsider." Spike snorted in support, crossing his arms over his chest. Angel started to respond when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry," Cordelia said, startling him. She looked him in the eye. "Wes and I will look out for them."
"Actually princess, this involves you as well," the Host said. "Like I said, you and Angel are directly connected. So it makes sense that you and the little one are connected too." If she was surprised, Cordelia hid it well. She merely nodded, and followed the path that Darla had just been sent on. Angel sent the demon a grateful look.
"Thanks, uh, Host."
"Call me Lorne." Lorne grinned and glanced back at the remaining Scoobies. "You three behave yourselves."
Spike and Xander feigned innocent looks of confusion before smirking. Lorne shook his head and led Angel back into his office. Once they were sure the vampire was out of earshot, they turned to each other and grinned. Wesley was at once on his guard.
"Whatever you two are planning, don't. Angel will be back and I don't want to have to be trekking all over Los Angeles looking for you two. Giles told me to deliver you two right back to his doorstep and that's what I intend to do."
"And that's what we intend as well," Xander put a hand on the former watcher's shoulder. "Don't worry so much, Wes."
"Yeah, we're just going on a little detour, is all," Spike shrugged. With that both teens were out of their seats and headed up the stairs towards the front door. Wesley gaped silently for a minute and sighed. It was times like this that he really hated being older than them, even if it was only by four years. Sighing once more he followed his younger friends. He opened the door and froze at the sight. Xander and Spike were struggling against several men in black suits. He started to help them when he heard a too familiar voice stop him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Lilah."
"You remember me. I'm surprised." The lawyer stepped out of the shadows and smiled. Wesley didn't register that so much as the gun that was aimed straight at his heart. He sent a quick glance over at his friends and then back over at the once again gun wielding lawyer.
"It's hard to not remember the wench that held a gun to your head for five hours."
"Wench," Lilah rolled her eyes. "That's the best you could come up with."
"What do you want?"
She circled in front of him, blocking his view of his friends. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Your little friends aren't going to be hurt. On the contrary, if they would just stop fighting us, we're taking them where they'll be safe."
Wesley arched an eyebrow. "And why is it not safe for them here?"
Lilah leaned closer to him. "That would be telling." She turned back over her shoulder to see that her men had finally stopped trying to attack and had sufficiently taken both teens out. She watched in satisfaction as they put the two bodies in the back of the limo. "I'm leaving you behind, lover, to deliver the message. Tell Angel, Holtz is back and he's gunning for him." She leveled the gun and shot Wesley in the shoulder. He expected blinding pain, but instead just felt numb.
"Bitch," he muttered before everything went dark.
"Now that's what I'm talking about," she stepped over his body and walked back to the limo.
On the outside nothing had changed between Cordelia and Angel since she found out about Darla. But after hearing Lorne confirm what she already fundamentally knew, Cordelia had inwardly changed her opinion of the whole situation. But of course she wasn't about to let the vampire off the hook that easy. He deserved to squirm and feel bad. How dare he not tell her about sleeping with Darla! She shifted in her seat and tried to look disinterested as Lorne talked to Darla and Angel. Suddenly, a sharp intense pain started in her head. She groaned quietly and pressed a hand against her forehead waiting for the images to start but nothing. She opened her eyes and found that Angel had come to her side.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah," she said, only pushing away from him slightly. As much as she wasn't ready to forgive him, she also wasn't ready to admit that she really missed him.
"What did you see?"
She looked him in the eye. "Nothing."
"You had a vision of nothing?"
"No, that's just the thing. I didn't have a vision. It felt like a vision but I didn't see anything." Angel frowned and turned over to Lorne, never once moving his arm from around her shoulders.
Cordelia moved a fraction of an inch closer so that she was leaning against her friend. She didn't understand how she could have a vision but see nothing. It was almost as if the powers were trying to tell her something that they couldn't show. But that had never happened before, so why now? And just what couldn't they show? Just as she was thinking this, an image floated through her mind. It was a wispy, almost like a memory, but she knew that none of her memories ever involved Wesley laying face down on a sidewalk.
"Wesley!"
Angel looked down at her. "What about Wesley?"
"He's in trouble, or he's going to be in trouble. But something is going to happen. We need to find him." Angel nodded grimly and they raced back into the main part of the club. Cordelia had a sinking feeling in her gut as she saw the table they had left the trio at was empty. Come to think of it, she didn't see either Spike or Xander when she saw Wesley. She shook off the thoughts as she heard Angel talking to the bartender who informed them that their friends had taken off about a half an hour ago. The British one seemed extremely exasperated. Angel rolled his eyes and headed up the stairs to try and catch their trail. Cordelia followed him.
It was because Angel was occupied with muttering death threats geared towards a certain two pains in his undead behind that he didn't notice the unconscious form lying a feet away from them. Cordelia, however, did and smacked Angel on the arm to get his attention. She kneeled down beside Wesley.
"Is he dead?" she asked, quietly.
"No, someone used a tranquilizer dart on him," Angel said, pulling it out. He tapped Wesley on the cheek. "Wes, wake up."
"Who did this to him? And where are Spike and Xander? Do you think they did this to him?"
"They're insane, but not that far gone." Angel shook his head. He sniffed the air, something that would never cease to amaze or disturb Cordelia. She arched an eyebrow as his eyes flickered yellow, a noticeable sign that he was trying to hold back going full on vampire mode. "Lilah."
"As in the lawyer that," she trailed off. "She was here?"
"She shot Wes." Angel growled again. "And I'm willing to bet she took Spike and Xander as well."
"Why? Why take them and not Wesley?"
"Holtz," came the weak reply from below. They both looked to see Wesley struggling to sit up. "Lilah said that she was taking them to be safe. That someone named Holtz was back and gunning for you."
Angel paled visibly and sat back on his heels. "Holtz?"
"Who is Holtz?"
Angel sat quietly mulling over his thoughts. Cordelia thought that maybe he had gone catatonic when finally he looked up at her. "Daniel Holtz. He was a vampire hunter, and he went after Dru. Darla was furious that someone had gotten that close. So she wanted to make him suffer. She wanted him to feel what it was like to have someone threaten your family." He left it at that. Cordelia was well versed on Angel's big bad Angelus' days as she had heard most of them from Doyle early in their relationship. Wesley had considered writing his thesis on the Scourge of Europe but had found their trail of blood and gore a little bit too much for even him, and had chosen to instead focus on the ancient demons known only as the Old Ones.
"So how is Holtz back? Did you guys turn him too?"
"No," Angel shook his head. "I don't know how he's back but it's not safe for you or Wes. Lilah was right. Wherever Spike and Xander are, they're safer than they are around me or Darla."
"So you're just going to leave them there with that woman in the pit of Hell?" Wesley asked incredulously.
"Wow, Wes, repressing a thing for this chick, huh?" Cordelia asked with a smirk. He rolled his eyes. "But he's right. We can't just leave them there."
"I didn't say that I was!" the exasperated vampire ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily. "Wesley, you and I will go out looking for them. Cordelia you stay here in case they manage to escape and come back."
"So what, you're just going to drive around LA at night hoping to spot some evil lawyers?" she asked with an arched eyebrow. "You've come up with dumber plans, not recently, but still pretty stupid."
"Any suggestions?" he asked, annoyed.
"Hello! Gunn! He lives in LA. He's fought the baddies here since he was a kid. I'm sure he could tell you where Wolfram and Hart would be hiding two annoying teenagers."
"You're a genius!" Angel kissed her on the cheek quickly before pulling out his cell phone. Once again he missed the look of happiness that flashed on her face. Wesley didn't and he grinned in her direction. Cordelia rolled her eyes and nudged him with her elbow. Oblivious to this, Angel started to dial the number when a thought occurred to him. "What's his number?"
"It's," Cordelia paused and frowned. She looked up at Wesley, who shrugged, and then finally back at Angel. "I have no idea."
Faith frowned at the sounds of retching coming from the bathroom. She sincerely hoped that whatever her mother had to make her spend the vast majority of the day throwing up, she would keep to herself. The slayer sighed and turned her attention back to the book in front of her. Her eyes went blurry as she tried, and failed, to absorb anything on the Boxer Rebellion. Her brain just wouldn't cooperate with her and she had a test on Thursday. With a sigh, she looked up at her calendar and realized that Thursday was tomorrow. On second thought, if Jenny could just pass that on in Faith's direction. She started to get up and see if she could be of any assistance when her phone rang. With a puzzled look on her face she picked it up.
"Angel?" why on earth was Angel calling her? On a phone?
"Hey, Faith. What's up? How's your weekend? Can I have Gunn's phone number?"
"Why would you need me for that? Just ask Spike or Xander?"
"Well if I could do that, do you think I'd be asking…? Hey!" there was a scuffle as the phone changed hands.
"Hey, it's Cordy. Look, Spike and Xander skipped out on us, and we need Gunn's number to give him a head's up."
"Sure," Faith reached over for her phone book and rattled off the number. "Are you sure everything's okay, Cordy?"
"Everything is great!"
The younger slayer frowned. She could tell something was up. But Angel was a big vampire. He could handle whatever it was. Couldn't he? He had Cordelia, Wesley and now Gunn to back him up. So of course, everything would be fine. "Should I be concerned?"
"What? Concerned, no. Everything is great. Alright, gotta go. Give my love to everyone back home."
"When are you guys going to be back?"
"Uh, hopefully soon! Bye!"
Faith pulled the phone back as she heard the connection end. A frown formed on her face. Her friends were definitely insane. She grimaced as once again the retching reached her ears. Not that her family was much better. She got up and headed into the bathroom. If something did happen, she wanted to be a sick as possible before they turned on her.
Xander groaned as consciousness started to come back to him. A sharp stinging pain in his chest reminded him of what had happened. They had been shot with apparently tranquilizer darts. He tried to stretch but found that his hands and feet were tied together. He shifted on the hard metal chair he had been forced into and glanced around the office. To his left, sat Spike in a similar position. He was still unconscious and that was a little worrisome. He was a hybrid. Shouldn't he have been up sooner? Or maybe his immune system was still out of whack from when the Initiative held him. All sorts of thoughts were flowing through his head, when suddenly Spike moaned and his head shot up.
"Bloody hell," he glanced around the room they were in and then blearily looking over at Xander. "What's going on?"
"I have no idea. Are you okay? You were out longer than me."
His face scrunched up in confusion. "I guess. I feel okay. Just a bit out of it."
"I wonder what was in those things." Xander took another brief look around the office. He was really worried about his friend. He wasn't looking to good. The only time that he had seen him look that bad before was when…. "Holy water?"
"Close," a new voice added behind them. Both boys tried, and failed, to turn around to see the source of the comment. "The darts were blessed. We usually use them to take out vampires. But you two left us with no choice."
"Sorry we didn't see a bunch of guys jumping out of a limo and trying to force us in as a pleasant situation," Xander quipped. "Speaking of which, if we're supposed to be so safe, why are we tied up."
"Like I'm stupid enough to let you two free and have access to a telephone. Because that's all I need, two pissed off slayers banging down the doors of Wolfram and Hart."
"I think that's the least of your worries," Xander said, cockily. Lilah arched an eyebrow. He nodded his head towards Spike.
"What's he going to do, throw up on me? Because that seems to be the only thing he's going to do right about now," the lawyer laughed and sat down behind her desk. Xander frowned in thought and then glanced over at Spike, who was looking suspiciously green around the gills. His friend looked up and met his gaze. He could almost read the silent message being thrown his way. Having an allergy to anything holy sucked.
"So why us? Huh? Why not Wes?"
Lilah sighed. "Nowhere in the files did it mention how annoying you two were."
"You have files on us?" Spike asked for the first time. The greenish tint starting to leave him as he was finally interested in something other than the extreme nausea in his stomach.
"Of course, we have files on all of your little Scooby gang. We picked you two, well because my current, I guess you could call him partner, feels you two are the most innocent out of this and has decided to spare you."
"Innocent? Who's your partner, Jesus?"
"No, but a deeply religious man all the same," they tried again to turn their heads towards the new voice. He saved them the struggle and walked towards Lilah's desk.
"Who the bloody hell are you?"
"Daniel Holtz," he greeted as if that was to mean something to them. He could tell by the blank looks on their faces that the vampire had never mentioned him to them. That was odd. He always figured that the vampire wouldn't hesitate to brag about what he had done to him and his family. He mentioned something along this line to the two teenagers.
"Who the poof?" Spike snorted. "Yeah, he would have maybe a hundred years ago."
"But now he's strictly about censoring his stories," Xander added. "Ever since he ran into those gypsies."
"You mean ate that gypsy."
"I wonder if this is a story that the Dead Boy Jr. is going to get to hear."
"Ah, if not we'll tell him. I mean what else is an uncle to do?"
"What are they talking about?" Holtz turned to an increasingly flustered Lilah. They had managed to make it this far without Holtz knowing about Angel's soul. They weren't sure how this would effect his treatment of the vampire, as he was a religious man. "What are you two blabbering on about?"
Twin masks of confusion and innocence turned to him. "You mean you don't know about…."
"That's enough out of you two," Lilah said, standing up and leaning across the desk. "Knew I should have kept a gag in you two. You might be the normal ones in your little group but you're annoying."
"Normal?"
"Annoying?"
"Who said anything about me being bloody normal? I'll have you know that…" Spike trailed off as he caught the look that Xander giving him. Save it for the opportune moment. The hybrid nodded. "I'm the son of a watcher. That's something pretty important."
"Yes and your twin is one of the strongest witches in the Western World, your father was a powerful mage in his day, your stepmother is pretty good with the magics herself, your younger sister is a slayer and your youngest sister is an unclassified."
"Well you've just done all your research haven't you?" Spike asked with an unnerving smirk. Lilah didn't like the look on his face. That look like he knew something she didn't know. And in her line of work, it didn't do well when the hostages knew more than her. The pawns were supposed to know what they were told. Now she could feel the situation spinning out of her control. She realized that it was definitely out of her realm of control when she heard one of the two, she really couldn't tell which one it was at the moment, tell Holtz that the very same demon he was hunting down currently had a soul and was soon to be a father. Lilah sank into her seat bonelessly. It was over. It was so beyond over. She and Lindsey were going to be shot in the morning. And then she heard Holtz's reply and all was fixed in her world.
"Well this only slightly changes the plan."
"What do you mean? You mean you're still going to try to kill Angel?" Xander asked. "What the hell is wrong with you? He's not the same person he was back then. He has a soul now and perpetual guilt for everything he's ever done."
"And everything he hasn't done," Spike added, drolly. He looked Holtz in the eye. "Don't do this. Angel is good person now."
Holtz sighed heavily. "He has corrupted you two, but you are young. There is still hope for you. I will free the creature's soul and allow it to rest in peace." He then turned to a shell-shocked Lilah. "You didn't inform me about this."
"Well it doesn't look like its changing too much for you."
He reached a hand out and pulled her closer to him. "This changes everything." He let her go. "At first I couldn't understand why Angelus had surrounded himself with human children as a pack. But now that this soul business has been brought up, it's clear to me. He's very territorial when it comes to those he claims as family." His gaze landed on Spike, who squirmed only slightly. "Something about this one reminds me of Angelus. He'll come looking for them, both of them."
"Here? He's coming here?"
"Yes, and while he's here fighting his way into the building, I'll be out there killing Darla and whoever else gets in my way." He started to head towards the door when he suddenly pulled out another one of those tranquilizer guns. He fired a shot right into Spike, who slumped forward immediately.
"Hey!" Xander protested.
"What was that for?"
Holtz shook his head and walked back to Spike. "He's marked," Holtz pulled the unconscious teen's head back and revealed the two bite marks in his neck. "He runs with Angelus' pack, and bears the mark of a vampire."
"So what?" Xander spoke up, trying to distract them from the truth. "I've got marks of my own."
"Yes, but your scars will fade with time because you didn't become a vampire at any point in time. You never received blood, you were only bitten. This one's scar will linger as a testament to what he has become."
"But he's human," Lilah shook her head in confusion. "He walks around in the sunlight. He's in college, for heaven's sakes."
Holtz placed a finger on Spike's neck. "He also a pulse. He's a mystery this one. One that I trust will keep you occupied until Angelus gets here. And I trust that you will keep him entertained until I return?"
"Of course," Lilah smirked as Holtz wandered out the door on his mission. Xander sighed heavily and relaxed the best he could in the current situation. Well, he thought. We're certainly screwed now.
Cordelia thumbed through the pages of her Cosmo magazine trying in vain to ignore the vampire that was blatantly staring at her, not even trying to make any attempts to hide that she was. After a few minutes, though, the seer gave up and glared back at Darla. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Why are you helping me?" she asked, finally. Cordelia arched an eyebrow. "You should hate me for what I did. What I took from you. But you're helping me."
"I'm not helping you. I'm helping Angel. In case you missed it, but for some reason the Powers that Screw have decided that my life isn't screwed up enough but now I have to be Angel's eternal side piece."
"You're not a side piece," Darla snorted. "You're the only piece. He loves you."
"Yeah, enough to sleep with you," Cordelia rolled her eyes and returned back to the sex quiz she had been taking. Of course, her sexual experiences were a bit, well, limited to only person, so the quiz wasn't going quite so well. But it was enough to give her something other than Darla to focus on. However, it appeared that the blonde wasn't done. Cordelia huffed. She would never know what it was with Angel and having bossy little blondes in his life. He simply traded Darla for Buffy.
"He was evil then. Trust me, I see him now. I see how he looks at me. I can see the guilt. And he's not feeling bad about this," she gestured to her stomach, despite the fact that the girl had yet to look up at her. She sighed. "He feels bad about lying to you, betraying you. It's always about you."
Cordelia glanced up from the magazine to look at the pregnant vampire. "You sound almost jealous."
"I am. Even when he was Angelus, he never gave me half the devotion he shows for you. You love him as more than a friend. I'm a woman, we can tell these things. But what makes it worse for me, is that no matter how much of a miracle this baby is, he'll never love me as much as he loves you. I could give him five more children, not that I want to, but not one of them will be enough to make him love me like he loves you."
Darla sat back and folded her hands over her stomach. "Don't hold me against him. He's only doing what it's in his blood to do. I'm connected to him, just like I was connected to Dru, and like I'm connected to Spike. It's the web that binds us. He doesn't love me, or even like me really. He just has to protect his sire. It's the vampire in him."
Cordelia put the magazine to the side. "Does it really hurt you that he doesn't love you?"
The vampire looked up and met her gaze. "Deeply."
"Good," the seer smirked. "Do you need anything?"
"Yeah, this thing out of me," Darla griped, struggling to sit back up. She was surprised when Cordelia reached over and helped her into a more comfortable position. The girl started to sit down once again but Darla caught her arm. She saw a momentary flash of panic cross her face but she calmed down in an instant. Darla frowned. As if it wasn't enough that this cheerleader had the love of her childe, while she was stuck carrying his kid, she was also apparently sharing a soul with the little brat and neutered. She couldn't even feed because of the chip that the Initiative bastards had stuck in her head. Just when she thought she couldn't get any lower than being rescued by a bunch of teenagers, she had tried to take a bite out of one of the witches and had been rewarded with an agonizing pain centering in her brain. And not unlike the one happening to her at the moment. She moaned and clutched her stomach.
"Oh no," Cordelia's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. "No, now is so not the time for this! Spike and Xander are still missing and that crazy vampire hunter guy is still on the loose."
"What crazy vampire hunter guy?"
The seer looked down. Darla lashed out a hand and held onto her arm tightly. Surprisingly the headache from the chip felt like nothing compared to her current labor pains. "What vampire hunter?"
"Holtz."
The little color Darla did have in her face faded as she heard that name. Holtz. It couldn't be. How could Holtz be here, now? It didn't take a fool to know that he was plotting revenge on her and Angelus, but would he spare the life of her child. It suddenly scared her that she didn't know if he would. They certainly hadn't. She wrapped her arms around her belly tighter as Cordelia moved over to the corner to call Angel. The vampire managed to put up a front that she didn't care but her eyes were locked on every move the girl made, every word that left her lips. Because deep down inside the thought that she was about to give birth to her child and put him in danger terrified her beyond belief. Because somewhere down the line, she had come to love her son and she didn't want to loose him to Holtz, which she knew she would.
"Angel," Cordelia glanced over at the vampire in concern. She snapped back to reality when she heard the fear in Angel's voice. "Yeah, we got a little problem." There was a loud explosion coming from the front of the club. The shock sent both her and Darla flying across the room. It took a minute for Cordelia to regain her composure. Darla sat up, and aside from the bleeding wound over her eye, and the fact that she was in labor, she appeared to be alright. The seer fumbled for her cell phone. "Scratch that, we got a big problem."
And I know after how long I return and dare to leave a cliff hanger. But honestly if I didn't break it there, you wouldn't have gotten a chapter until like June! So I figured, what's a little suspense between friends? And that's only going to get me so far, but um, here's some good news. I'm busily at work on the next chapter and I might actually have it up before the end of April! So yeah, go me…. Okay I'm going to go hide in my little bunker place now. Bye.
I should really get back into the habit of responding to reviews…. Of course it's been like three months since those reviews were posted so my answers are far from being current. So let me answer a few:
Loosestring: I'm putting you here first because I want everyone to follow your example. Yes, rushing me takes away from the quality of the writing. That's why it takes like four months for a chapter, because I'm trying to make it good! LOL. Yeah right. It's just because I forget, but I still thank you for sentiment although I did in fact disappear again.
Karmawiccan, yes, I'm alive. And as for the Anya/Wesley, it just kept coming out but I'm really going to try for Anya/Gunn coming up real soon. Um, I have a feeling the Darla situation is going to resolve rather soon, and I'm not really sure what happened to Adam or the rest of the Initiative. Maybe by the next posting, I'll figure it out. Oh yeah and thanks for the suggestion about Dru. I contemplated it once but now I've so got to find a way to make that work, it's too good to pass up. So refrain from going psycho, I promise the next update will be within a month, if not you can have my Spike blowup doll (as if I really had one of those!).
Jenna, hey I'm so sorry I haven't spoken to you in so long! My email situation has been terrible and college/RL is kicking my butt big time. Sorry about taking forever with this chapter, but I promise on my nonexistent Spike blowup doll that I will not take forever next chapter. I promise! LOL. Alright, enough apologies I'm just going to go write the next chapter. Bye!
LittleDrusilla: Yeah I'm back, again after yet another long break. I don't even think anyone is going to read this chapter, come to think about it. You guys probably think I'm dead. LOL. And I kinda was there. My break sucked, and then I came back and started working like three jobs. Luckily I think I quit like two of them so more fanfic time for me! And I hope Cordelia's reaction was angry enough for you. Sorry again about the long wait. I'll try harder for next time.
Ms Trick: Can I just say thank you for like being around since like the beginning? And hopefully, sticking around through all the long breaks in between chapters. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope you think that the story is still good after this chapter. I have to admit I like this one a little better than last chapter, so at least I hope that's a good sign. Oh well, moving along. Glad you read/reviewed. Hope you enjoyed. Ciao.
To everyone else, don't think I don't appreciate your reviews. I do, of course I do. Its just 2:30 in the morning and I should have been sleeping a long time ago. But I just wanted to post, see how dedicated I am. Anything to cover my own butt, lol. Thanks you guys for sticking wtih the story throughout everything. Love ya'll lots. See you in another three months, I mean... three weeks? Ciao!