Special thanks to those of you who have taken the time to review my story. I think I love you…**BG**
Part Eleven
Spike wasn't sure how much time had passed since he'd driven hell bent for leather from the Welcome to Sunnydale sign, days maybe weeks. He didn't know and he didn't really care. All he wanted was to get away from her and them and everything.
Most of his nights were spent in one demon dive bar after another drowning his despair in booze and bar fights, his days spent in abandoned warehouses or buildings trying to sleep and failing miserably. There was no carefully thought out plans of where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do but the time would come for those decisions to be made and he was dreading it.
One night while Spike was once again feeding his sorrow tequila shots in a seedy beer garden in San Francisco he heard a name spoken by a one-eyed Aclop demon sitting two stools down. Attempting to shake off the tequila fallout, he tried to focus his attention on the words the demon was speaking to his companion, a demon Spike had never seen before.
"…killed a bunch of lawyers. Humans. The LA crowd was hoping that this was the end of his vigilante days but I narrowly escaped being one of Angel's victims…"
Angel. His big…grand-sire or…whatever. Clearly remembering the events of his last sojourn to LA Spike decided to pay his long lost whatever a visit anyway.
It ended up taking Spike a couple of nights to actually reach LA and another night shaking the location of Angel's new digs from a few vamps but he had made it and now he was standing in the shadows across the street from the Hyperion.
Wondering if this was another installment of his self-destructive phase Spike hesitated. Angel would definitely want a little payback for the damage that Spike had caused and Spike couldn't count on past loyalties to get him anywhere. Dru had managed to impart the story of her burns to him when she had come back to Sunnydale the last time so obviously the poof wasn't above killing his own family.
Oh, what the fuck. If he kills me, fine. If he doesn't well…who knew.
Crossing the dark street Spike affected his typical arrogant swagger, the one that said I DARE YOU in big bold letters. Approaching the entrance to the hotel Spike pushed through the doors without a moment's hesitation.
Standing in the foyer he was a little disappointed
that no one was around to notice his grand entrance. Where the hell was everybody?
"Well now that's a bugger, innit?"
While Spike was pondering this next move he failed to notice the arrival of the only occupant of the hotel at the moment.
"And how can I help you tall, cool and scrumptious?"
Spike pivoted sharply to face the voice and was a little startled to find an extremely tall, extremely green demon in a lilac leisure suit staring back at him. There was a brief pause where Spike found himself at a momentary loss for words but then he found them again.
"Who the hell are you?"
"My aren't we grumpy this evening. Wake up on the wrong side of the coffin, did we?" The demon seemed unfazed by Spike's belligerence.
"Nevermind. Where's Angel?" Spike didn't like the way this guy was looking at him almost like he was trying to read his mind or something. Right creepy it was.
"Angel is indisposed at the moment but if you want to leave your name…"
"Nope. I'll wait." Now that he was here Spike had no intention of leaving until he had seen his poofy grand-sire.
"Uh-huh…well there really is no telling when Angel will return so you might have a long wait. Hey do I know you?" The penetrating eyes had turned quizzical.
Spike gave a laconic shrug giving nothing away. He had decided that he didn't want to talk to this freak anymore so instead he sat down on the round couch in the foyer and lit a smoke.
"Let's see. A vampire arrives unexpectedly wanting to talk to Angel. This brash creature is rude and uncommunicative, smokes, wears a brilliant leather duster and bleaches…Oh," Lorne began to chuckle, "you must be Spike."
Remaining silent Spike sent the demon a piercing glare that might have been intimidating if Lorne wasn't used to Angel giving him those same looks on occasion.
Spike wondered what had been said about him but decided to contain his curiosity for the moment. Let the wanker draw whatever conclusions he wanted.
"I'm Lorne by the way, I'm a friend of the um, gang." He thrust out his vivid green hand to Spike who just looked at it in disgust.
Pulling his hand back Lorne didn't look the slightest bit phased by the rebuff.
"Right. You vampire, all Child of the Dark and such. Oh, honey, this is going to be fun. We could all use a little pick-me-up these days. So tell me, what's it really like in Sunnydale? Better yet, sing for me."
Spike abandoned his silence. "What? You want me to sing for you? Are you out of your bloody mind?"
"Sweetie, you have no idea. Come on, just one verse or even just one line." A decidedly devious glint entered the demon's eyes. "Angel does it all the time you know."
"Angel, ya say. Doesn't really surprise me that Gel-Boy would spend his time singin' you lullaby's." Spike chuckled snidely.
Arching a brow a the vampire Lorne said, "Actually he's very good." Oh, Powers, forgive him this lie.
"Good?" Spike was incredulous. "I lived with the bloke for a hundred years, he'd scare a deaf person with that voice."
"You haven't heard him recently. It's very funny actually because we had a similar conversation about you. He was saying how you were always going about singing and Angel said that your voice was simply horrid." Lorne affected a sympathetic look.
"Humph!" Fine.
The world is a vampire.
Lorne's face screwed up in mild distaste. "You, my little cool whipped topping, get no extra points for originality."
Spike was beginning to understand Buffy's dislike of his little pet names.
"Hey! It's the only thing I could think of on such short notice." That wasn't too defensive what it? Not that it mattered what the jolly green giant thought of him anyhow.
"Ya know, I have got to meet this girl! She's fabulous!" Lorne was mostly talking to himself but Spike heard.
"What, huh, what? Girl? I think I lost ya, mate."
"Oh, sorry. I meant the slayer. She's brilliant, very innovative. The beautiful Buffy has found more than one way to slay a vampire."
Spike was starting to get angry. No one insulted the slayer. Well no one but him and maybe Dawn but definitely not anyone else. With quick vampire dexterity Spike latched onto Lorne's shirtfront and raised him slightly off the ground.
"Hold on now, cupcake, I'm on your side. I meant it, I like her." Spike dropped the demon back to the floor and took a step back, pinning Lorne with suspicious eyes.
"Look, Spike, when people sing it allows me to…read them so to speak. And let me tell you, there is all kinds of darkness in you."
"Well, duh, vampire here." Spike was back to smirking.
"No, honey, I don't mean the regular vampire black hole stuff, I'm talking about the heart. Your slayer is having a rough time to say the least and her survival is ambiguous at this point. At the risk of sounding cliché, she needs someone to save her and quick. Here is the last place you should be."
Lorne could see that the vampire was having difficulties following along but sometimes the pictures he received were not quite so clear. He decided to try again.
"Okay, here it is.
She needs you and you left her so go back to her. Now."
"The slayer doesn't need me. Every time I touch her it's a toss up who she hates more, me or herself. I can't keep hurting her like that and if I go back I can't stay away." Spike was definitely uncomfortable with this conversation but for the longest time he'd had no one to talk to and he was more than a little embarrassed to find that he wanted to talk, needed it. "Being with her is like nothing I've ever experienced before and I have been around a long time. Every time she rejects me I think that there is no way I'll try again and yet that's exactly what I do. I go back thinking that if I found the right words to say and make an attempt to behave the way she wants me to than she will realize that she has feelings for me too. But this last time-well, it has to be the last time. I can't do that to her anymore."
Lorne felt compassion for the vampire even thought he probably shouldn't knowing what he knew about Spike. When it came down to it he was just another man longing for the love that continues to elude him. It was moving no matter who played the starring role.
"Dumpling, I can't tell you that she is going to love you and I can't tell you that she isn't. What I can say is that it isn't over. Not by a long shot. There is a lot of history between the two of you. Both are representing sides for the quintessential battle of good versus evil and I seriously doubt that the universe has seen this particular situation before. But if you don't' go to her now, she may be lost again."
Decision made Spike jumped up and spun around in vamp face, growling. "If you say anything about this to him I'll rip you apart."
Lorne held up his hands. "Whoa there, big fella, what I read about a person is confidential. If I went around blabbing to everyone then no one would sing for me." Besides the last thing Angel needed right now was something else to worry about.
Smoothing his human mask back into place, Spike adopted a less menacing tone of voice. "It's not for me…"
"I know, crumb cake, no need to explain. Good luck, you'll need it."
Lorne watched the vampire exit the hotel saying under his breath, "And so will she."
The demon was pondering the unlikelihood of those two working things out when his acute hearing picked up the sound of a baby crying. "Well back to work."