Let the Cards Fall
Angel wandered through Sunnydale's familiar night, no real destination
in mind, just a desire to do something useful. He wanted this done. He wanted
Cole and Dawn found and safe. He wanted
to be free of Sunnydale and loved ones who kept asking questions that he
couldn't answer. Questions, topics that
he really didn't even want to think about. He knew what he needed to do; defeat Wolfram and Hart, kill Dru and
Darla; he didn't need to think about it. Why wasn't important, it was what he had to do. Considering the methods he was going to have
to employ to achieve those goals he didn't want to think about it anyway. For once there was something he had no desire
to brood about.
The methods didn't matter, why didn't matter, winning was all that
counted. Watching helplessly as Darla
was killed was the last failure Angel could take. He'd played fair, followed all the rules, done what everyone from
the PTB to Kate Lockley had asked of him and all he'd gotten was failure… Tina
died, Kate's father died, Lisa Brewer was still out there, no jury in the world
would ever convict the blind assassin, Darla had been raised from the dead and
then made a vampire again, every time he'd been helpless to prevent the bad
things from happening because he tried to play fair.
He'd tried so hard to save Darla, with no help at all from the
PTB. Like Buffy, Cordelia and all the
rest the PTB hadn't cared about the former vampire.
His friends saw a difference between himself and Darla, but Angel
couldn't. He didn't believe that the
PTB would see a difference either. Buffy and the others didn't know enough about him to truly judge. Only himself, Darla and what ever higher
Powers that existed knew about those first years after the curse, when he'd
tried to act as a vampire despite his soul. When he'd killed as a vampire kills, he'd only been able to force
himself to kill murders, rapists, and the like but he knew of all people he had
no right to judge someone as being unworthy to live.
His friends saw him as being fundamentally different from Darla only
because those first few years had happened so long before they'd met him. "Maybe if Darla had been given the time to
adjust and to start making amends they would have been willing to give her a
chance," Angel thought, then grimaced. It was more likely that if they had been there when he'd first been
cursed they'd want nothing to do with him either.
He wasn't trying to upset or hurt his friends. He was just trying to do what he had to and
survive with some shred of his sanity intact. "Why couldn't they see that?" Angel wondered bitterly. "Could it possibly be because you told them
so many lies just to have them as friends that they couldn't be expected to
have the slightest clue as to how similar to Darla you actually are… were."
It wasn't that he wanted to get out of Sunnydale, Angel realized. He needed to get back to LA and the safety
of a war he could loose himself in fighting. But to do that he had to find Cole and Dawn first.
"How hard could it be?" Angel thought. He was a vampire after all, a hunter. Shouldn't he be able to track the two
teenager's movements? All he needed was
a starting point. Cole had been seen
around his old building, it was something.
"It was just a place," Angel reminded himself as he stood uncertainly
outside of the building.
As soon as Angel entered the hallway outside his apartment he knew that
Darla, Dru and Spike had been there in addition to Dawn and another human who
to be Cole. Dawn and Cole's scents were
laced with fear; that was expected if the vampires had taken them captive. Darla and Dru had been calm, also not a
surprise, kidnapping a pair of children would have been trivial for three
master vampires. What was odd was
Spike; the peroxide blond had been highly agitated.
Angel wasn't sure how to take what he'd learned. Dru and Darla's involvement meant he was to
blame for this latest set of problems. Still, if it had been Glory that had taken them, he would have been in
the dark, but he could always find the other vampires who made up his old
family. Angel didn't know exactly how
it worked, but all it took was enough desire and he would find them.
Better than a year after being cursed he decided to return to them,
despite the fact Darla had threaten to stake him the last time they'd
spoken. He followed little more than
hunches from Romania to China walked into the middle of a war and less than
seven months after he decided to find them he had been pleading his case with
Darla.
Sunnydale was a lot smaller than the combined continents of Europe and
Asia, how hard could it be to find them here?
Dawn crashed blindly through the tunnels, the chain around her leg
tangled about her feet, hindering her as she fled. She didn't know where she was going and all the tunnels looked
frighteningly the same. Behind her the
sounds of fighting faded away, taking with them her last reference point.
Finally Dawn spotted a manhole cover above her. She clambered up the access ladder and
pushed at the heavy metal circle. Gratingly it rose. Dawn was
forced to stop for rest once it was ajar. After a few moments she braced her shoulder against the heavy cover and
shoved up, sliding it over a few more inches before relaxing back against the
ladder, panting from exertion.
"Dawn… My lost little girl shaped thing…" Drucilla called in her
singsong voice from the depths of the tunnels.
Tears stung Dawn's eyes as she pushed at the cover again. Then suddenly slender fingers appeared
around the edge and the cover was easily tossed aside.
"Buffy!" Dawn sobbed in relief, reaching for her older sister. Buffy leaned over the hole, taking Dawn's
arms by the wrists and lifting her out.
A sudden jerk on the chain around Dawn's leg overset both girls,
tumbling them back into the access tunnels.
"Slayer," Drucilla hissed, rapidly using the chain to haul Dawn to her
side.
"Let her go," Buffy warned, regaining her feet.
"I like her," Dru said, wrapping a hand around Dawn's neck.
Dawn stared pleadingly at her sister. Buffy's face filled with helpless fury. She knew Dru could kill Dawn before she could reach them.
"If anything happens to her I swear I'll hunt you to the ends of the
Earth and I will make you beg for death," Buffy threatened.
"Why shouldn't I take what's yours?" Dru asked. "You've taken so much
of what's mine. You've taken my Angel
all away, forever and ever. With or
without his soul he is always yours and never mine. Now you take Spike as well. Why shouldn't I take this one?"
Dawn kicked and squirmed hopelessly as Dru's fingers tightened around
her throat. Thin streams of blood
appeared where Dru's long, deadly nails cut into her flesh.
"No!" Buffy protested. Then
stared as Drucilla crumbled to dust, revealing Spike standing behind her, a
stunned expression on his face, blood still seeping from the deep cut on his
cheek.
Dawn collapsed to the floor and Buffy ran to her side, hugging her
tightly. "You saved her," Buffy said to
Spike, sounding disbelieving.
Spike blinked a few times then shook his head as if trying to collect
his wits as he turned to the sisters. "I guess I did," he said.
"Thank you," Buffy replied.
"Yeah," Spike said, a smug expression replacing the blank shock on his
face. "You owe me, Slayer. We never did go on that date."
Buffy felt her normal Spike-based annoyance rising, but then he glanced
back at Dru's ashes and the cocky façade cracked for a second, giving Buffy a
glimpse of the loss and confusion Spike was trying to hide.
"I guess it wouldn't be too awful if you hung out with us at the Bronze
some of the time," she sighed.
"Really?" Spike asked, a trace of innocent pleasure sounding oddly out
of place from his lips.
"Really," Buffy replied leading Dawn to the access ladder and boosting
her up the first few rungs.
As she put her foot on the first rung, preparing to follow Dawn out,
Buffy glanced back to see Spike, standing, head bowed in a pool of
moonlight.
Buffy found herself remembering how she'd felt after sending Angel to
Hell. Grieving and feeling so horribly
alone because she had known that no one else would grieve for the souled
vampire, for her love.
"Spike," Buffy said hesitantly. "If you need to talk, or just have some company, I think Mom bought some
more of those little marshmallows. I
could make hot chocolate."
Spike's head jerked up and his mouth dropped open at Buffy's
words. Blushing the Slayer turned and
climbed to the surface.
Angel stared at the man glancing nervously about the shadow of one of
Sunnydale's numerous cemeteries; Lindsey McDonald was the last person he'd
expected to see in Sunnydale.
But then maybe he shouldn't be surprised. "If Darla was here how long could it before the lawyer showed up
as well," Angel thought with derision. That Lindsey loved his Sire was pathetically obvious, he'd done
everything he could for her and in the process destroy any ability Darla might
have had to love him in return.
Vampires were bound by what they'd been in life. Spike might have been awful poet, but he had
been a true romantic. The blond loved,
hopelessly, foolishly, obsessively. No
matter how often or how badly he was burned Spike would always be compelled to
follow his heart; it was part of his nature. "Love's Bitch," he'd called himself and Spike could never change
that. Spike was a rarity among
vampires. Humans and other souled
creatures could grow and change, things without souls couldn't. They were static, their most basic essence
defined only by what they were and never what they'd experienced.
Vampires were the most variable of soulless demons. Formed from what they had been as humans and
the demon each was unique, but once created they were as unchangeable as
anything else without a soul. Drucilla's
madness could never be cured. Liam's
hurt anger could never fade, no matter how Angelus lashed out at the world
around him. Darla would never be
anything other than ruthlessly self-centered.
Angel wasn't certain whether Drucilla could love or not, it was
difficult to see what was real with her and what was the play-acting of a mad
woman-child. But he knew without his
soul he was incapable of love, as was Darla. They'd been lovers for a hundred and fifty years and yet they'd never
felt the slightest love for one another. Darla may have convinced herself that she'd loved him after being made
human, but Angel remembered what it had been like between them. They lusted after one another, he craved the
praise she gave him for his viciousness and she wanted the power that came from
being his consort.
Angel knew what he'd been as a mortal, severely unhappy but too
self-absorbed to see other people except in how they related to him. Those he could use he did and the rest
seemed to exist only to hurt him, all except Kathleen. She had loved him with a child's
unconditional love and he would have done anything to keep her love. While alive he'd been hurt and as a vampire
he delighted in causing torment.
Darla had been made a vampire a century before his birth, but he could
guess what she'd been like as mortal; he knew she'd been a prostitute, that
she'd done what she felt she had to to survive, but she hadn't enjoyed it. He imagined she'd been very bitter. In life Darla had been used, in death she
never would be again.
When Darla appeared to lead Lindsey into the tunnels beneath a
particular crypt, Angel instantly realized that she and Drucilla must have
taken up residence in the Master's old lair. He choose another path and raced through the tunnels counting on
Lindsey's humanity to delay Darla long enough for him to take out Drucilla and
possibly Spike as well, before the other vampire arrived.
Angel burst into the buried church ready for battle and found to his
shock, that only Cole was still there.
Cole's expression was suffused with awe as he recognized Angel. "You came for me," the boy breathed.
"Your mother's worried sick," Angel stammered, embarrassed by Cole's
reaction to him, he certainly didn't deserve the boy's love.
"Mom actually broke the rules and went to you to find me?" Cole asked
excitedly. "Did she tell you?"
"I'm sorry I didn't know about you," Angel began awkwardly, how did he
convey how much he wished he'd actually been able to be a father to this boy.
"You didn't know," Cole said with a shrug. "The council didn't let you know, it wasn't your fault. I just had to meet you anyway. I don't care about destiny or any of that
crap, I wanted to talk to you."
"I'd like that too," Angel said. "But let's say we get out of here first."
"Sounds good to me," Cole replied, his smile threatening to split his
cheeks. "Did Dawn tell you where to
find me?"
"I had been hoping she'd be with you," Angel said. "What happened?"
"Spike broke her loose. He and
Drucilla fought. By the way, do I have
any other lunatic vampire siblings who are going to be showing up? Afterwards they both went after Dawn into
the tunnels," Cole reported.
"I knew it couldn't be this
easy," Angel muttered, slamming the heel of his boot into the Master's throne
and looking pleased when it splintered around the embedded chain that held Cole
prisoner.
"Angel!" Darla cried angrily, exiting the tunnels with Lindsey.
Angel spun to confront her. In
a second the former lovers where at each other's throats, both vamped out and
snarling.
Lindsey pulled a gun, moving around the perimeter of the room, looking
for a shot.
Then Angel knocked Darla to the floor and pinned her there, pulling a
stake from his coat. Darla locked both
hands around his wrist, but it was obvious that it would be only a matter of
seconds until the blond vampiress was overpowered.
Lindsey's gun echoed loudly in the confided space as he fired. Angel winced at the bullet entering his back
but didn't loose his advantage over Darla.
"Do that again and human or no you won't walk out of here alive," Angel
warned the lawyer, never looking up from Darla.
"If she dies so does your son," Lindsey replied, aiming at Cole.
Angel froze. "I'll let her
walk," he said. "Just set down the
gun."
"Drop the stake first," Lindsey ordered.
Angel didn't move.
"Looks like a Mexican standoff," Lindsey said after a few seconds had
passed. "Neither of us trusts the other
to keep their word. We can't back down
without risking the other taking advantage. You want the boy alive more than you want Darla dust, I just want
her. Think about it Angel, you know I
draw the line at killing children. I
know you want Darla dead, but I won't kill your son unless you make me."
Almost before the stake hit the ground Angel was between Lindsey and
Cole. He didn't trust Lindsey's ethical
restraint, but he believed that the lawyer would have expected him to take the
time to consider his proposal rather than acting. And now Angel was in position to protect Cole. He'd made a mistake earlier in going for
Darla, he'd let his priorities be confused, but as long as there was someone he
cared about in the equation, he could have only one goal. "That was why Darla would win as long as he
let his friends get involved," Angel thought.
"Good choice," Lindsey said offering Darla a hand up.
The blond vampiress ignored him, snarling at Angel and looking ready to
re-engage him in battle.
"You lost today," Lindsey said softly to her. "It's time to go home. I
never wanted to involve the boy anyway. Our fight's with Angel, not him."
Darla gazed the lawyer contemptuously. "Do you give up an advantage so easily in court?" she asked nastily.
"I don't kill children," Lindsey reiterated, his voice breaking with
anger.
"Humans," Darla sneered. "You're all so pathetic."
"He saved your life this night," Angel said quietly.
"From you?" Darla asked mockingly. "You don't have the will to kill me."
"I've done it before," Angel reminded her coldly.