Angel the series was created and is own by Joss Whedon. Me? I'm an evil genius who has been trying to take over the world and yet finds the time to write fanfics. BWAHAHAHAHA!
LICK THE DUST
(part two)
by Lamech
THREE DAYS EARLIER
"This isn't what I thought you meant when you said we should see the country side, Angel!" Cordelia gasped as she ran with all her might across the thick grassy field. She had a bag full on iron horseshoes over her shoulder and a railroad spike in her right hand. The tall blades of grass were hitting against her bare shins. She felt like she was being whipped over and over again. But this was not the time to whine. Well, maybe a little one. "I thought we were going to this place to relax and do some case research. Not to chase some energy sucking Tinkerbell!"
Wesley was following her close behind with a large flash light in one hand and a book of Celtic spells in the other. He was panting. "This isn't some Tinkerbell, Cordelia. It's a Leanhaun Sidhe, an Irish spirit that exchanges inspiration to an artist for their life force." He stopped in order to catch his breath. "But this one has been only taking and not exchanging. She is out of control and must be stopped."
Cordelia stopped for a moment as well. "But why did she come out here instead of staying back in L.A.?"
"Because after all she is a nature spirit. If she is out of her element and around iron like the buildings and cars in the city for too long she will grow ill and die."
"And she couldn't have stayed in the city and have made it easier for us because….?"
Angel suddenly ran past them as if the wind was carrying him. "Come on, I saw her go into the barn up ahead." He disappeared into the shadows of the country night.
Wesley and Cordelia looked at each other and sighed. The girl dropped the heavy sack and grabbed the flashlight and the book from Wesley's hands. "My turn to take the light load." She ran away before Wesley could even protest.
The young man looked at the bag and picked it up. The weight made his arms ache. Sighing again, he tossed the bag over his shoulder. His feet sank into the dry summer grass a little more. He was going to feel this come morning.
Angel burst into the abandon barn like a madman. Untamed grass had reclaimed the dirt bottom of the place while cobwebs covered the rest. The harsh smell of mold and rotting wood floated around. The barn was a perfect hideout. No human in his right mind would have entered such a condemned area. However a nature spirit was another thing all together.
Something skittered across Angel's path. In the almost pitch-black barn it could have been the spirit or just a common field mouse. But Angel wasn't taking any chance. His face turned from human to demon. In his demon form his night vision was twice as good.
The shadows that drowned the place sneaked back and Angel could see something-large running along the back of the barn. He squeezed the railroad spike that was being held in his hands.
"You might as well give up," he shouted to the moving shadow. "We both know how this is going to end."
"Pog mo thon," hissed a voice that sounded like two women speaking at once. One high pitch voice and the other smooth as molasses.
A great deal of time had passed since Angel had last heard his native tongue. Even when he was a boy not that many people spoke Irish in Dublin because of the large English influence on the city. But somehow the translation to that insult was still fresh in his mind. He smiled despite himself and shook the stake, "Bend over!"
A milky blur raced across the vampire's field of vision and vanished into another shadow. A sharp pins and needles pain grew across Angel's right cheek. His hand rubbed the raw skin. A moment passed before his mind had registered what had just happened. She slapped me? She slapped me!
A maniac giggle filled the barn.
This sidhe was toying with him. Angel sneered as he backed up into the shadows of the barn. He became almost invisible in the dark. The giggle stopped.
Cordelia ran into the barn with the flashlight in hand. "Angel?" she called out as she ran the light along the rotting walls. As far as she could tell the place was empty. Maybe he chased her around back? She looked around again and covered her nose. Guy, this place stinks.
Wesley stumbled in behind her. He dropped the bag with a groan. Cordelia threw him a glance. "Hey, Wes. Did you see Angel go around back?"
He looked up with tired eyes, "Hmmm?" Cordelia swung around and by mistake shot the beam of light right in Wesley's face. The light seared his eyes. The young man hissed as he was momentarily blinded.
A milky blur jumped in between the two landing on all fours like a cat. She stood up with her body still arched. The creature turned to Cordelia giving the girl a clear view of her face. The spirit was not that tall, barely over five feet with long brown hair that was tied up in a maze of braids. Her skin was the color of milk with a green tint to it. From the back she looked almost human but her face was far from it. Her eyes were gold on gold without any whites and they seemed a little too large for the creature's small face. Her mouth was small and her brow was too smooth and flat to be normal. Black tattoos decorated the ridge were her missing eyebrows should have been. Two large doe like ears jutted up from the sides of her head. They twitched back and forth as if they were trying close in on a sound. She looked more deer like then human.
"Cordelia!" Wesley cried as his sight began to come back to him. He charged forward with the bag in his arms.
The sidhe's ears twitched towards Wesley's voice. Her body followed second. The young man stopped in his tracks as the creature lowered herself back onto her feet and leaped at him. He closed his eyes and felt the sidhe's mouth on his own. With every suck from her Wesley could feel himself becoming weaker and weaker. Cordelia screamed for the creature to get off of him. She charged swiping at anything that was in her path with the iron spike. Angel suddenly landed on his feet just a few inches from the girl. Cordelia froze in her tracks overjoyed that Angel had finally appeared. Angel's hands grabbed the creature by her braids and pulled as hard as he could.
A scream poured from her tiny mouth. The creature fell over backwards into Angel's arms. Wesley collapsed onto the barn floor with eyes rolling into the back of his head. His body almost showed no signs of life. But he was still alive.
"Cordelia!" Angel yelled and he reached out for her.
"Right!" she yelled and tossed him the railroad spike in her hand.
He caught it and raised it over the back of the creature's neck.
"Wait!" the creature hissed in Irish.
Angel obeyed.
The creature looked up and into Angel's eyes. "Look!" She cooed as she pointed at Wesley. "I want you to know this." The Irish the vampire knew struggled to meet the Irish the sidhe was saying.
"What?" he answered back in the creature's language. His eyes followed along the sidhe's unusually long arm to where Wesley was lying unconscious.
A woman in white was bent over the young man. Pale pink flesh ran over the young man's gentle face tracing every curve with her fingertips. Her long black hair covered her face as tears fell from her and onto Wesley's gray shirt. She was weeping. And with every passing moment the sound of her sorrow grew louder and harsher.
"Who is that?" Angel whispered as his old Irish superstitions began to crawl through his mind.
The answer was already beginning to form in the vampire's mind but he did not want to believe it. But when the sidhe in his arms whispered back with a smile, "Sister." He knew his worse fears were true.
The creature that was with Wesley threw her head back revealing her true appearance. Her face was like that of a barn owl. Black on black eyes with a strong nose and brow ridge across her milk white face. Her large mouth opened and let out a blood-curdling wail.
Angel's heart sunk into his chest. The Irish messenger of Death. No. It can't be. The energy in the vampire poured out in one whisper, "Banshee." The creature in the vampire's arms giggled making the vampire raise the spike over his head once more. He shoved the sidhe down to the ground and pushed her face into the dirt. "Get her off of him right now!"
The creature sighed as if she could not understand Angel's stupidity. "You know I can't do that. Sister's kind doesn't like to obey anyone. And even if I could what bit of different would that make? She is just the messenger."
Another wail from the banshee crashed into Angel's ears. In the dirt the creature giggled again.
"Your friend is going to die. Maybe not today but soon and there is not a thing you can do about it. In fact, vampire, he might even meet his fate by your own hands."
The vampire hissed and slammed the spike down on the nape of the sidhe's neck. The creature screamed as the iron stake shattered her bones like fine china. A moment later the body went limp and began to change. Milky green flesh transformed into wood and leaves and began to rot until it was nothing more than a compost heap. Angel glared up at the banshee but she was no longer there. Instead Cordelia was shaking the young man and shouting how this was no time for naps. She spoke of nothing about the creature that once loomed over him.
Angel shook his head in confusion. She didn't see it? Cordelia didn't see the banshee? Hope grew in him. Maybe it was a trick. An illusion by the sidhe. He stood over the young man and looked down. His right hand patted the side of Wesley's face, "Wesley, wake up now."
A pathetic groan came from Wesley's lips as his eyelids fluttered. "Oh, why do I always get the worse kisses?" Angel smiled in relief.
"Hey!" Cordelia sneered as she helped the young man to his feet. "I have you know that I am a great kisser."
Wesley hummed an incoherent response that the girl ignored. She did not want to be mad at the young man. She was just glad he was okay. A little worse for wear but okay. "Time to go home," she said as she placed one of the young man's arms around her shoulders and helped him walk.
Angel grabbed Wesley's other arm and placed it around his neck. "Good job, you two."
"Yeah," Cordelia said with a smirk, "Remind me when Christmas rolls around to go and kick the elves that hang around with the mall Santa."
Wesley snickered as he could just imagine Cordelia doing exactly that. He dropped his head because it was becoming to heavy to keep up. "Hey," he proclaimed as he looked up at the two of them, "My shirt is wet. How did it get wet? Did something happened while I was passed out?"
Cordelia answered this is in a puzzled look as she felt up Wesley's shirt. Sure enough it was damp. But she didn't remember anything happening that would cause that. "You were probably just drooling."
"I do not drool," protested Wesley.
Angel suddenly stopped in his tracks almost making the Cordelia and Wesley fall over backwards. He turned and brought Cordelia's flashlight over the young man's shirt. Large damp spots dotted the fabric.
"See what did I tell you?" Cordelia smiled, "Drool spots."
"But I DO NOT drool!" the young man hissed back.
"Fine, then what could have caused it?"
Tears, Angel thought as he fear spread through him. That wasn't an illusion. He took hold of Wesley and pushed forward almost in a harsh matter. Cordelia stumbled over her feet but did not fall.
"Whoa there," she sputtered as she hurried along. "I see someone wants to get home in time to see "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."" Angel did not smile. Cordelia turned away as her countless attempt at humor failed. "Hey, Angel," she said as a question popped in her mind. "Back in the barn when you were talking to that psycho pixie, I couldn't understand you two. What was that anyway, Latin, Greek?"
"Irish."
"Oh, right up your alley. Anyway, what was she saying?"
Angel looked at Wesley. His head was hanging down gently. He looked at peace.
The sidhe's voice began to creep into the vampire's head. "And there is not a thing you can do about it."
Angel narrowed his brown eyes and stared at the stars over head. "Nothing, Cordelia. She was just insulting me. Nothing more than that."
___________________________________________________________________________
The next morning Wesley was back to his old self. The effects of the sidhe's kiss were not permanent since she was no longer alive. Angel still suggested that he should take a day off and sleep in. Relax a bit and not go anywhere. But Wesley would listen to nothing of the sort. A brush with death like that left him with a new amount of energy in him. If Angel did not let him work then he was going to go out there and do a little undead hunting by himself. So, Angel might as well make him work and take advantage of his new lease on life.
Angel sighed and told Wesley okay. But that he was only to do paper work and nothing else for a while. The words of sidhe haunted the vampire's mind. He figured as long as Wesley's was in arm's length, Angel could keep an eye on him.
Wesley peaked behind the linen blinds of the office and felt the warm morning sun against his face. That was one the few things that he hated about having a vampire as a friend. The sun had to be a no show or else.
"Coffee?" offered Cordelia as she handed a mug to the young man. Wesley thanked the girl as he took it. He went back to gazing out the window. Cordelia peaked out of the window as well. Today would have been the perfect day to stroll the boardwalk.
"Ahem," coughed a voice.
Wesley and Cordelia jumped in their skins as they turned around. Angel stood at the doorway of his office. "Enjoying the view?"
Blushing, Wesley smoothed down the blind making sure it covered every inch of the glass pane. "Nice day…"
Angel shrugged his shoulders because there was no way of him knowing that for himself. He would have to just take the young man's word on it. Walking over the Cordelia's desk he began to look over the daily paperwork. The pile was light. "So, what do we have for today?"
Cordelia gazed over a large stack of papers that sat next to the daily paperwork. She waved at them proudly. "Nothing for today. At least not yet. But thanks to yesterday's Tinkerbell case we now have this and next month's light and water bill paid off along with the last bill for the reconstruction of the office." She dumped the bills in the shredder and smiled at the satisfying sound of the machine working. "Who knew that the O'Connors were so generous?"
Wesley walked over to the Mr. Coffee and poured himself a cup, "That makes sense if you think about it for a moment. We did save their son from that deadly sidhe. I know I would be eternally grateful if someone saved me from a fate of death."
Ice seemed to pour through every vein in Angel's body that instant. His hands began to tremble a bit but when he put down the paperwork it stopped. He looked up at Wesley who was in the middle of stuffing a doughnut in his mouth.
The young man blush brightly as he realized how rude he was being. He swallowed the bit that was in his mouth turned around and picked up the doughnut box behind him. He offered the box to Angel. "Doughnut?" his voice hummed in a soothing tone.
Angel did not respond. Instead he stared at the young man through unblinking eyes as if to the freeze Wesley in that moment forever. The young man answered this with a shake of the box. "They're fresh from the bakery."
Sadly, Angel shook his head. He gazed at the emptiness of the floor around him. A thought crossed his mind. "If the day continues to be like this maybe we should close shop early and do something. All three of us. Together." Looking around he spied the morning newspaper on the couch. He picked it up and turned to the entertainment section.
Cordelia and Wesley looked at each as if the two of them had just slipped into a Twilight zone episode.
"Here we are," Angel proclaimed with a rustle of the paper. "Bowling! I haven't bowled in decades." He folded the paper in half in order to make the ad he was looking at more prominent. Turning the paper around he pointed out the picture of a nuclear family complete with the family dog in a bowling shirt playing a frame. The bold caption over them stated 100% fun guaranteed. "Wesley can drive the Plymouth while I stay under the covers in the back. I can make a mad dash into the place with no real worry about the sun. And after that we can bowl away into the night. What do you say?"
A smile grew across the vampire's face. A smile that was starting to creep out Cordelia. She took one step to Wesley's side and folded her arms. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with our Angel?"
Crestfallen, Angel dropped the paper, "Wha-what do you mean?"
"Our Angel would never be caught in a bowling alley, even with a vial of Holy Water over him," the girl stated with narrowing eyes.
Angel bit his lip, "But it's fun."
"And this is twisted!"
Angel's eyes went dead and cold. In a frustrated heap, he collapsed onto the couch. He picked up the paper, crunched it into a ball and threw it right next to him. Burying his tired head into his worn hands he growled, "I give up. I can't win."
Cordelia leaned towards Wesley's ears, "And brooding Angel is back."
"I heard that." Angel glared at the two people before him. "I don't get it. You two are practically down my throat everyday on how I should cheer up and look for the silver lining in the proverbial cloud. But the moment I do you think I've lost my mind." He looked away. "What do you want from me then? I was just trying to be nice. I thought… You know, I don't know what I was thinking."
Guilt was starting to grow in Cordelia. "Look, Angel," she interrupted in a soft motherly voice. "I'm sorry if I came across crude. It's just you went from one extreme to another. From Trent Reznor to Kathie Lee." She took a seat next to the vampire and rubbed his back. "Of course Wes and I would love to see you happy. But you should start slowly."
"Like how?"
The girl was stumped. She shrugged her shoulders, "Oh, I don't know. Start with Jimmy Stewart movies and work from there."
Angel smirked at the idea of him lounging around in front of the television and watching "Harvey". Actually the idea wasn't that bad. Still he turned to the girl and asked, "So bowling is out of the question?"
She smiled back. "You kidding? I just had my nails done."
"Uhm…" Wesley suddenly spoke up while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
Angel and Cordelia looked up at the man. "What is it, Wes?" Cordelia asked.
"Who is Kathie Lee?"
A thread of shock ran past Angel and Cordelia. Their mouths dropped open. The girl groaned as she got up and grabbed herself a doughnut. "Oh, you need to watch more television, Britboy."
"But I do watch television!" Wesley protested as he felt a blush coming on.
Cordelia broke off a piece of doughnut and waved it at him as if it were a pointer. "Something besides PBS and Nightline."
Just when Wesley was about to shoot back the office door opened. A young man with skin the color of thick chocolate and eyes that had seen too much too soon walked in.
Angel stood up in shock, "Gunn?"
The young man gave a brief nod of the head. He felt a little out of place standing in the office. And he knew he looked out of place too. But he had a mission and he knew he had to carry it out. "You said if I ever needed your help I could just come and ask." His voice tried hard to disguise the concern and worry that it was drowning in. But it was failing.
And when I told you that you just scoffed at me. Angel thought. But he did not dare speak those words out loud. He crossed his arms. "I did do that. What do you need?"
The young man dropped the bike messenger's bag that he was lugging onto the floor. It was bulging with papers, vials of Holy Water and stakes. "I need," he said in a voice that mocked Angel's, "everything you got." Pulling out a file he went to Cordelia's desk and laid out the paperwork. He nodded at the girl and at Wesley. They nodded back remembering that it was him and his gang that had watched over them while they lied helpless in the hospital. Now if there was anything they could do to return the favor they were geared to do it.
The paperwork consisted of maps of Chinatown and lower L.A. and photographs. Large red circles were slapped across the maps with notes in messy penmanship. While most of the pictures were that of Asian men in expensive suits. "A new gang has been moving on my territory and this isn't just another turf war. These men have been kidnapping all the homeless and turning them into vampires. And they have been taking these vampires and have been setting them loose to terrorize the local merchants."
"And if the merchants wants the vampires to go away they pay a fee to gang," followed Angel.
Gunn nodded. "It's racketeering but in the most dangerous form. These guys are good. They are smart, organize and ruthless. And they're getting bigger by the day. What is worse is vampires are not the only nonhumans they use. I've seen them with large blue horned demons. And turtle-duck demons that have taste for human flesh."
Wesley let out a small gasp as he took off his glasses. The color rushed from his face. "Oni and kappa."
Everyone turned to the young British man with a puzzled look. "Say what?" Cordelia sneered, "Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"
The young man ignored the girl's remark and turned his attention to Gunn, "Does this gang have a name?"
"Yeah," Gunn shrugged and nodded. "It was odd sounding. Like Yakoo. Or Yakki. Or Yak."
"Yakuza," whispered Wesley as his eyes went vacant. He placed his glasses back on and tried to regain his composure.
"I've heard that name before," Angel said as he scrunched his brow.
"It's the Japanese Mafia."
"Mafia?" Cordelia gasped as she shivered. Images of all the Godfather movies flashed through her mind. She imagined herself waking up next to a horse's head. Not the best sight in the world. "Oh, damn."
Wesley was still solemn, "Oh, damn is right. I know the Yakuza have been here in America for a while but they have never included demons in their ranks. But if they have it's only because they are serious about taking control." He leaned over and took a look at Gunn's map.
Cordelia shook her head in amazement. Wesley never seemed the mafia trivia buff type. "How do you know all this?"
Wesley answered in a voice that cold and distant. He hated reliving memories. More so when the memories were bad. "Six years ago after losing much of their strength in Japan due to government crackdown, the Yakuza thought it would be in their best interest to turn for help via the occult. And so they took in Oni, those blue demons, and Kappa, those turtle-duck demons, as well as other creatures. The slayer summoned at the time was in Japan and fought long and hard to end their rein in Kobe and Tokyo. She won in destroying the creatures but in the end the Yakuza murdered her and her Watcher for it. I at the time was still in training to become a Watcher and was apprenticing as a field reporter. You see when a slayer is killed it is usually her Watcher that files the field report on how and why she was killed. But in this case with the both of them dead I was sent out to file the report." He paused and looked away as if Wesley did not want the others to see the fear and sadness in his eyes. "My first field report. The Yakuza had shot the two making them immobile. And then they disemboweled the Watcher and the slayer so that they would bleed to death slowly and painfully. The Watcher, Ian Gromen, was a friend of mine. And the slayer, Maki Goto, was only fourteen at the time."
"Fourteen?!" cried Cordelia as she shivered at the grotesque images of the murders in her head. She knew that that slayers were usually young girls but she had no idea that they started that young. And who knows maybe there were even young slayers throughout history. Child slayers that defended the human race.
"Wait," whispered Angel as he looked up, "Six years ago was when Buffy was summoned. Does that mean…"
"That Maki was her predecessor?" Wesley nodded, "Yes." He picked up a photo of a youngish looking Japanese man wearing a gray suit that failed to completely cover up the tattoo of a dragon that was crawling up the side of his neck. "I know this man. Hirotaka Ito. He was there in Kobe when I was writing the report. He knew about the Watchers and what I was." Wesley put down the picture and began rolling up his right sleeve until it was in the middle of his upper arm. A pink faded scar was slashed across his pale skin. Everyone leaned in to get a closer look. "A bullet scar. He gave that to me. It wasn't meant to kill me but to warn others not interfere with the Yakuza."
"Oh, my God you must have peed in your pants!" Cordelia spat out before realizing what she had just said. She looked up at Wesley and blushed; "I did not say that."
Wesley smiled despite himself as he rolled his sleeve back down. "You were right on one point. I was frightened. Frighten to the point that I did not leave the Watcher Headquarters until I was assigned to Buffy against my will."
"Then you have no choice," proclaimed Gunn as he slammed a hand down on the paperwork. His face had taken on the look of a concern parent for the welfare of his children. He was indeed worried. Vampires he could handle. Even sadistic lawyers were pretty much a cakewalk. But the Yakuza was something all together. It was a combination of the two other problems with demons he had never heard of or imagined in his worst nightmares. He was at his wit's end. A feeling the controlled young man despised. "Then you just know how bad Yakuza is. You have to do something."
"I'll do something," Angel spoke. He gathered up the paperwork and placed it back into the folder. The vampire's hands trembled a bit as he did this. He tried hard to hide the fear that was screaming to get out. A vision of the banshee over Wesley's body was pounding in his head. He could feel a migraine coming on. "I don't want Wes or Cordy to get involved."
"Why not?" asked Wesley in a surprised voice that was sharp with anger. He felt like Angel was doubting him again.
Gunn took the file from Angel's hands. "Yes, why not? We need every warm body on this job. And Wesley could be valuable on finding way to defeat these demons. 'Cause, V-man, I don't think crosses and Holy Water are going to cut it."
Codelia raised her hand, "Uhm, do I have any say in this?" No one was paying any attention to her.
"This is too dangerous, Gunn!" Angel hissed as he shot the man a glare. He could feel his face wanting to change but fought back the urge. "I don't want my people to get hurt."
"And what about the people out there, Angel?" Wesley hissed back getting the vampire's attention. He looked at Angel over the rim of his glasses. "Do they mean of any importance? If I can help-!"
"Stay out of this, Wesley! It's for your own good! You will be killed if you go!" Angel screamed as he swung his arm out in front of him swiping Wesley.
Out of sheer instinct the young man took a step back as he felt the flesh of his right cheek begin to burn. There was no need of a mirror to know that there was a series of red marks on his cheek displaying where the fingers had just been. He felt a shiver of fear run through his system like a virus infecting every pore in his body. A fat swift gasp escaped his lips. Memories of his own father beating him in order to "knock some sense" into him played into his mind. Instantly the fear turned to anger and then into pure rage. A new flush of red painted his face. He had enough of being bullied. The Yakuza had hurt him and had murdered not only a fellow Watcher but also a dear friend of his. Wesley was usually above such trivial things such as revenge but in this case he could not ignore the problem at hand. To turn his back was to turn on everything he believed in. He looked at the vampire before him with new eyes. And for a moment he had lost all respect in Angel. The feeling made the young man sick to his stomach.
Wesley felt his teeth sink into his tongue. The stuffy Brit in him fought with rude emotions that were fighting to get out. Wesley knew that if he stayed in the office a second longer he was going to say something that he would regret. That he was positive on.
Quietly he turned around and walked towards the door.
"Wesley, where are you going?" called out Angel in a voice that was laced with anger. When the young man did not answer but instead opened the entrance door Angel took on a look of concern, "Wes, where are you going? Wes, tell me!" His voice and body could no longer the fear that lurked beneath it, "Wesley! Wait, don't go."
Wesley continued out the door. Angel glanced towards Cordelia. "Follow him and make sure he stays safe."
"Are you sure he would want that?" the girl said in an uneasy voice.
"Cordelia!"
The girl grabbed her purse and hurried out the door, "I'm going, I'm going."
An uncomfortable silence fell on the office as Angel collapsed into Cordelia's office chair. He buried his head in his worn hands and sighed as if he was the dumbest thing in creation. Gunn looked at the door and then at Angel. This was not how things should have happened. At least not according to his plans.
"Okay," he breathed, "that was…awkward."
END OF PART TWO