Part Five
Los Angeles
Midnight
Kenjiin, demon lord of Thwashfor, narrowed
his eyes and sniffed the night air. He was not happy on this world, and
distrusted most of its inhabitants. He had hoped never to return here, and knew
that Hrahek was behind his recent incarceration.
"I wish to seek my kind," he told his
liberator, head raised regally and looking down his long ridged nose at the
young Chino-American. "There are some who have chosen to live in this world.
Before I leave, I will talk with them."
It wasn't a request. Kenjiin didn't do
requests. Even as a prisoner, he'd made demands. Gavin nodded. He knew how
Kenjiin could contact his subjects in this dimension.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy awoke with a start, and looked around the
lounge in confusion. Realising with relief that it had all been a dream, she
got up from the sofa and turned off the television, then headed for the
kitchen. It was still dark outside, so she flicked the switch beside the door –
and found herself in the bathroom. Frowning slightly, she went to the sink and
rinsed her face with cool water. On looking at her reflection as she
towel-dried her skin, she saw Angel standing behind her, and whirled around to
throw her arms around him.
"Ang-" He wasn't there.
Turning slowly, she looked back in the
mirror, and Angel smiled at her.
Buffy sighed.
"This is getting too weird," she told his
reflection, although her lips didn't move. "Where are you?"
"I'll find you," he said confidently.
"I think we covered that part," Buffy 'said'.
"If I leave this room, will you be there when I come back?"
Angel smiled.
"I'll be wherever you are," he said.
Buffy nodded, and smiled at him wistfully. He
was always just out of reach. She bowed her head to wipe away a tear forming in
her eye, and when she looked up at the mirror again, he had gone. Checking the
bathroom, she found herself alone.
Stepping into the hallway, she saw the door
to Dawn's room slightly ajar and pushed it gently, allowing light from the
ceiling lamp to filter in. Dawn was fast asleep. Taking that as a good sign,
Buffy turned – and almost walked into Willow.
"You need to stay where you are," Willow told her gently,
placing a hand on Buffy's shoulder. "We can't find you if you keep moving
around."
Buffy realised they were now in the lounge,
and as Willow motioned for her to
sit on the sofa, she did so. Her friend smiled, then walked out of the house.
With a sigh, Buffy leaned her head back
against the soft cushions of the sofa, and stared at the television, watching
"Passions" without the sound on.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sunnydale
Wednesday, 2 am
Cordelia sat in the armchair in the corner of
Buffy's bedroom, and told herself again that this was too weird for words.
Buffy's former lover lay thrashing deliriously in the slayer's bed, mumbling
about keys again. Earlier his delirium had completely wigged Dawn, who'd been
woken by his cries, but Willow had calmed the teen and given Angel some powder
to quieten him, and they'd all gone back to sleep.
'What was the deal with the keys?' Cordelia
wondered again, remembering Dawn's almost hysterical reaction. 'Maybe she'd
been having nightmares too.'
She hadn't slept for long. The sofa was very
comfortable, and she was so tired she could barely think straight, but she'd
woken with the nagging feeling that she should be near Angel, and, hoping
another vision wasn't on its way, she'd crept quietly upstairs to maintain her
vigil in the armchair. She'd left the door open so the light from the landing
corridor softly lit most of the room. Pulling the duvet closer around her,
Cordelia closed her eyes. Then she opened them again, holding her breath. Angel
was finally silent. Not sure whether to be afraid or relieved, she got up and
went to the bedside.
"Buffy?" Angel whispered.
"Me," she answered, sitting on the side of
the bed and peering at him.
The vampire looked slowly around the room,
confusion growing as he recognised more and more of it, before looking at
Cordelia again. He opened his mouth to say something, but Cordelia cut him off.
"Yes, this is Buffy's room," she told him.
"We're in Sunnydale. How do you feel?"
Angel tried to sit up, but was still too
weak.
"Like I just died," he groaned. He looked at
her, startled. "I didn't, did I? Cos this … I …er, you …?"
"No," Cordelia said, "and I don't wanna hear
your version of heaven. You're not dead. Well, no deader than you were
yesterday. I'm not either. And you're not dreaming. We're in Sunnydale. Now go
back to sleep – you need to rest."
"Dreams," Angel said, trying hard to
remember.
"That's right," Cordelia nodded. "Sleep
tight."
"No, I dreamt of Buffy," the vampire told her
as if it was really important. "I feel like I should know where she is."
"Don't be so hard on yourself; we're all
working hard to find her."
Angel shook his head.
"I feel like I know where she is," he
clarified. "But I can't remember."
"We'll talk about it in the morning,"
Cordelia assured him, assuming he was rambling again, or the poison had given
him temporary amnesia. "Go back to sleep."
Shaking his head, Angel sat up and reached
for the phone as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
"Angel …"
"I'm calling Wes," he told her, "we need …"
"Wesley is at Giles' place," she told him.
"We're all here. And it's 2 am – can't it wait til morning? He only got
out of the hospital last night, and you really need to rest."
"Cordelia," Angel said with a sigh, "I'm a
vampire. If I wait til morning I'll be trapped here, and that will be another
day wasted."
Half an hour later, Cordelia parked the Plymouth outside the Magic
Box and helped Angel out of the passenger seat. She was tired and cranky, and
he was speechless over her driving of his cherished car. They didn't notice the
lights were on until Cordelia took out Buffy's keys to unlock the door. Pushing
her behind him, Angel tried the door; it wasn't locked. Opening it slightly, he
carefully looked inside, and saw Giles's slumbering form at the table near the
counter. Frowning, and signalling for Cordelia to keep quiet, he stepped into
the shop.
The doorbell jangled, making everyone jump.
Angel stepped back onto Cordelia's foot, and she yelped. Giles almost leapt out
of his chair, and out of sight somewhere, glass shattered.
"Sorry," Angel said, somewhat abashed.
"Didn't know about the bell."
Giles smiled, sighing to get his breathing
back under control, and walked towards them.
"Is everything alright?" he asked,
worried by their late visit. "How are you feeling?"
"Been better," Angel admitted.
"He's weak as a kitten," Cordelia grouched,
rubbing her shoulder, "but not as light. Or fluffy. Or …"
"What are you doing here?" Giles asked. "At
this time of night?"
"Might ask you the same," Angel countered.
"Wesley has my bed," the Watcher told them.
"I thought it unfair to give him the sofa, in his condition: he needs to rest."
He noticed Cordelia nudging Angel in the ribs, but said nothing. "And I wanted
to follow up some notes I'd made earlier. Why are you here, now? Has something
happened?"
"No," Cordelia answered, cutting Angel off.
"But Action Guy here can't wait til morning to … what do you want to do,
exactly?" She directed the question to Angel.
Angel sighed, and ran his fingers through his
unkempt hair.
"I don't know," he said. "Just need to be
doing something."
Cordelia rolled her eyes.
"Will you tell him?" she asked Giles. "He's
too weak. He won't sleep, he hasn't fed for days … he's gonna kill himself."
Giles and Angel exchanged looks, knowing that
worry for the slayer was tearing them both apart. Giles nodded.
"Why don't you go back to bed, Cordelia?" he
suggested. "Or … or … wherever you were sleeping," he added, wondering about
the accommodation arrangements at Revello Drive.
Exasperated, but too tired to argue, Cordelia
turned on her heels and left them to it.
"I must say," Giles said, indicating the
table and chairs for Angel to make himself as comfortable as possible, "you do
look rather the worse for wear."
Angel sat down heavily, and scanned the open
books on the table.
"We're sharing dreams," he confided. "They
don't make any sense."
Immediately interested, Giles sat next to
him, and took up his pen and pad.
"Sharing?" he repeated. "You're sure? You're
not just dreaming about her?"
"No, there's a difference," the vampire
answered, and Giles believed him: he'd heard the same from Buffy in the past.
"Tell me," he said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Los Angeles
Wednesday 5 am
Donny Panatello put down the phone and
frowned at it. He'd just had a very strange conversation with a deep-voiced
foreigner who didn't want to take 'no' for an answer. The guy talked like he
was the president or something, demanding to talk to Angel and not happy that
he was only going to get Donny at that time of the morning. It took Donny a lot
of patience to stay calm and not just put the phone down on the guy, but Jayce
had made it clear that they were just house-sitting for Gunn, and they were
there to take messages and be polite, so he dutifully wrote down what the guy
had said, and marked the message for Jayce to read when he arrived later that
morning.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
8 am
Lilah and Gavin faced each other across the
boardroom table, hostility almost tangible between them. Lilah suspected her
colleague's involvement in the problem she now had just over twenty-four hours
to resolve, but couldn't prove anything, and glared at him. Gavin sensed that
she suspected him, knew she would find no evidence, and gloated at her.
Nathan Reid steepled his fingers and looked
from one to the other. They both showed such promise, especially Lilah, but he
had little time for their constant bickering. He'd called them in to discuss
the latest development privately, hoping that between the three of them they
could get things back on track without the senior partners learning of it. He
needed them both on the same page, but was quickly concluding that that was not
going to be easy – they were in such intense competition with each other that
they could barely stand being in the same room, much less working together.
Things had been much simpler with Lindsey MacDonald – at least he had been a
company man, most of the time. He knew these two had their own agendas, and he
was still unsure of the extent of their loyalty to the firm. Perhaps the
projects they were currently responsible for would prove that, once and for
all.
"When you're ready?" he prompted, smiling mirthlessly
at Lilah.
Lilah composed herself, and lifted her chin.
She was not about to show either of them that she was a pushover. With another
laser glare at Gavin, she turned to Nathan and told him of her meeting with the
demon lord Hrahek.
"Kenjiin was your bargaining tool?" Nathan
asked, to clarify her report.
"He's to be handed over to Hrahek in return
for his 'work' with Angel and the slayer," Lilah nodded.
"But he is no longer detained?"
"No." Lilah watched Gavin out of the corner
of her eye, but the Chino-American's expression had not changed.
"And how did Hrahek discover this," Nathan
enquired, "before you did?"
"I wish I knew," Lilah replied meaningfully,
looking directly at Gavin. Park's face was a mask. "Hrahek didn't tell me."
"I'll summon a seer," Nathan decided, getting
to his feet, "to locate Kenjiin. It's up to you to arrange his … return … to
our safekeeping. With emphasis on the safe," he added, leaving Lilah in
no doubt that her job was pretty much on the line.
Gavin allowed himself a small smile, careful
to keep it from Reid's notice.
"Gavin," the older man said from the door,
"you will give your full support to this project."
"Of course," Park agreed, as if there were no
question. "Happy to help."
Fuming, Lilah rose from her seat and followed
Reid, not trusting herself any further: she wanted to tear Gavin limb from
limb. Gavin Park leaned back in his seat and smiled, almost chuckling to
himself as Lilah slammed the door closed behind her. Reaching for his cell
phone, he hit speed-dial.
"Cyril," he said, "do you have news for me?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy breathed in deeply and opened her eyes, one of
which was centimetres from the sandy floor. Sitting bolt upright, she quickly
checked her surroundings and realised she was back in her cell. She assumed it
was the same cell – walls, sandy floor, barred window – but without the demon
corpse it was difficult to tell if it was the same one she'd escaped from. Or
thought she had. She remembered the fight, and the stairs, and the cave
outside. Had it been a dream? Then she remembered Angel, and Willow, and decided that
that part had been the dream; the rest was way too real to have been imaginary.
She checked her nail for evidence.
"Yep," she said to herself, "still broken.
Yay for reality."
With a sigh, she made herself comfortable on
the sand and stared out at the still-raging storm beyond the barred window. Her
dreams gave her confidence, trusting the link with Angel – and, it seemed,
Willow, although that was probably more to do with the witch's own
transcendental talents – as proof that they were doing their best to find her.
She just had to sit and wait. And hope that the dream image of Dawn sleeping
safely in bed was proof of her younger sister's wellbeing.
She had no idea how long she had been sitting
there, letting her mind wander back to happier times so that she would remain
positively focused, but her day-dream was interrupted by a tingling at the back
of her neck which she knew to be Slayer's sixth sense. Turning slowly without
getting up, she faced the door as it opened and looked up at the huge demon
that stood in the frame.
"Come," it commanded, surprising her with its
use of English.
"I know you," Buffy said, recognising the
strange insignia on the pendant which hung from its thick neck. "You're my
travel guide."
Hrahek looked at her quizzically, its black eyes
narrowed beneath the horny protrusions that replaced eyebrows in this
dimension.
"You're the one who brought me here," Buffy
stated, getting to her feet and dropping immediately into fight mode. "What did
you do with my sister?"
"Sister?" the demon sounded like it had
trouble pronouncing the word, never mind understanding it. "We have no time …"
"Sister," Buffy emphasized, speaking slowly,
"the one who was with me. Long dark hair, habit of being in the wrong place at
the …"
"No time," Hrahek repeated, stepping back
into the corridor. "Come. Now."
Realising the demon hadn't come to fight,
Buffy relaxed a little, and let her curiosity take her to the door. As she
joined the demon in the corridor, it waved a long clawed hand at the cell and a
portal shimmered above the spot where Buffy had been sitting.
"Kenjiin," Hrahek pointed at the portal.
"Enemy. You kill. You go … home."
"What?" Buffy demanded. "This is a trade-off?
I kill your enemy and you let me go?"
The demon nodded, obviously impatient for her
to get started.
"I'm not an assassin," the Slayer told him
bluntly. "I don't do hit jobs. I kill demons to protect people, not to settle
scores." She thought of the Master, and one or two others, and added, "Mostly."
"Protect people," the demon nodded, his
pronunciation almost laughable if he wasn't being so deadly serious. "Not too
late."
"Not too late?" Buffy repeated. "What does
that mean?"
"Kenjiin in your world," Hrahek told her. "He
kill friend. Friend? Human. Demon. One man. Not man."
As the demon struggled with the concept he
was trying to describe, Buffy grew cold.
"Angel?" she whispered, goose bumps creeping
over her in a wave of dread.
Hrahek nodded.
"More in danger," he added, pointing at the
portal. "Come."
It was the 'more in danger' part that changed
Buffy's mind. With Angel gone, Los Angeles would be in peril, and who knew what
would be happening in Sunnydale. Fighting back tears, Buffy stepped towards the
portal. Hrahek swiftly overtook her, grabbed her wrist, and leapt through it
with her in tow.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Wednesday 4
pm
Dawn ran into the Magic Box, looking over her
shoulder in puzzlement at the silenced bell above the door, and stopped at the
top of the short flight of steps which led down to the counter area. Giles,
Willow and Tara smiled at her from the table, then resumed their work. Willow
was keying information into the computer, while Tara and Giles were putting
together notes from several scraps of paper.
"Where is he?" Dawn demanded, disappointment
and worry making her frown as she slouched into a seat between Tara and Giles.
Anya entered the shop, obviously miffed that
the teenager had left her behind, and went straight to the till to check the
latest readings.
"Sleeping," Willow said softly, eyes warning
both of them to be quiet.
"Up there," Tara whispered, pointing at the
loft gallery, which housed some of Giles' darker collection of books. Angel had
gone up there to consult some of the manuscripts, and had fallen asleep in the
gloom.
Eager to see Angel now that he was no longer
unconscious or delirious, Dawn made to get up but Giles stayed her with a hand
on her arm.
"You can talk to him soon enough," he said
gently, pushing a book and notepad towards her. "But for now he needs to rest.
Perhaps you can help us with this?"
They had put together all Wesley's
information on Kravlar, and the scant details they had relating to the missing
key to that dimension, and tied it in with their own research into portals. Now
they were looking into ways of opening a portal themselves, in case the missing
key could not be found.
"Sure," Dawn said, keen as ever to help with
the research.
"Where's Xander?" Anya asked, forgetting the
'quiet' rule and giving a puzzled look in answer to their frowns. "He said he'd
meet me here."
"He's with Fred and Gunn," Giles told her,
keeping his voice low, "getting weapons. They shouldn't be long."
"You don't need to whisper," Anya informed
them, hissing in her attempt to whisper loudly, "vampires sleep like the dead."
"They also have great hearing," Angel said
sardonically as he climbed down the ladder from the gallery.
Grinning broadly, Dawn leapt from her chair
and threw her arms around him in a tight hug. Smiling, slightly abashed, Angel
returned the hug. When he realised Dawn wasn't about to let him go, he prised
her away from him by her shoulders and lifted her chin so he could see her
face. She was crying, and the miserable look she gave him reminded him so much
of Buffy that he pulled her back into his embrace and let her sob quietly
against his chest.
Giles felt a small pang of jealousy, having
refrained on so many occasions lately from giving the girl a comforting hug; he
felt it would have been inappropriate, unless she'd made the first move as she
had with Angel. But he understood – Angel was a link to Buffy, and probably the
only other person on the planet who loved the Slayer as much as Dawn did. Giles
felt a father's love for the girls, and recognised the difference.
Tara and Willow watched with empathy, knowing
that the teenager had cried herself to sleep every night since Buffy's
disappearance but had found it hard to share her feelings with her sister's
friends. Anya concentrated on the till readings, wondering why Xander was late,
and hoping he hadn't forgotten their dinner-and-movie plan for the evening.
Lorne made a great house guest – he was tidy, and a great cook, and she was
getting used to his singing all the time – but after less than twenty-four
hours as hostess she was in desperate need of one-on-one time with her fiancé.
When the tears had subsided, Dawn pulled out
of Angel's arms and wiped her face with her hands. Now clearly embarrassed, she
didn't know where to look.
"It's okay," Angel said softly, steering her
back to the table and sitting next to her. "We all feel the same."
"You look a lot better," Willow smiled. Last
night she'd begun to believe the poison was going to kill him, and she'd
administered her potion without much hope of success. She'd been delighted to
learn of his recovery, when she'd joined Cordelia for breakfast that morning.
"But still kind of grey," Anya added, her
face serious with concern and curiosity. "You looked awful last night, like you
were really dead … now you just look not quite dead. I hadn't realised that
vampires …"
"I guess the potions worked," Willow cut in,
trying to stop Anya from taking the conversation to a grosser level and hoping
to save Angel from embarrassment.
"Yeah," Angel nodded, glancing curiously at
Anya . "Thank you."
Willow grinned with pride.
"We're working on that portal spell we
discovered," she told him. "I think it will work, but we need some ingredients
that aren't easy to come by. Lorne said he knows someone who can get them, but
it'll take time."
Angel nodded, and noticed Giles' hesitance.
"Giles?" he prompted.
"It's dangerous," the Watcher said, ignoring
Willow's attempt to argue. "We don't have any guarantee that it will open in
the right dimension."
"But it's worth a shot, right?" Dawn asked
earnestly. "We have to try something."
"If we can't find the missing key," Giles
conceded.
Angel suddenly slouched forward, head in his
hands. The movement made Dawn jump, and she leaned close to the vampire, hand
on his arm. Everyone watched with concern, asking if he was alright.
"Dizzy," Angel slurred in response to their
queries. "Feel weird."
"Probably the last traces of the poison,"
Giles said, "and an accumulation of the last few days' activity." Realization
dawned. "Angel, when did you last feed?"
The vampire shook his head slightly.
Giles went to the phone, and dialled the number
for his apartment. Wesley was waiting there for Cordelia and Lorne to pick him
up on their way back from collecting ingredients for the portal spell. Speaking
quietly, knowing the subject caused Angel an immensurable amount of
embarrassment, he asked his colleague to bring all the blood bags from his
fridge. No doubt it would cost him - Spike had declared allegiance to his sire,
but he was not likely to freely donate his food supply.
An hour later, they were still waiting for the three
to arrive. Xander, Fred and Gunn had turned up shortly after Giles' phone call,
carrying a small armoury of assorted weapons between them. Xander's residual
memories of his time as a soldier came in handy sometimes, although Giles
wasn't altogether comfortable with the young man's skill at breaking, entering
and stealing government property. All too aware of Anya's irritable mood,
everyone had been thankful when she had insisted on Xander taking her out as
arranged, even though her fiancé clearly would have preferred to stay and
contribute to the evening's plans. As they left, Xander reminded them he had
Buffy's pager if they needed to call him in at any time, and was rewarded with
a painful thump in the arm from his disgruntled lover.
Angel had been persuaded to lie down in the
training room, before he passed out, and Dawn had been popping in and out
intermittently to check on him. Getting more and more agitated as time went on,
she became clumsy and inattentive, dropping pencils and books, and repeating
questions while the others went over the plan of action. Grabbing her soda can
before it spilled over the books beside her, she grinned sheepishly at the
adults around her and mouthed the word 'Sorry' for breaking their concentration
again.
"Perhaps you could call Wesley?" Giles
suggested, trying not to sound irritated. "Find out what's delaying
them."
Eager for something to do, Dawn launched
herself towards the counter, dragging her schoolbag with its strap caught
around her ankle and emptying its contents across the floor. Embarrassed now,
she hurriedly scooped everything back into the bag, and reached for the phone.
"No answer," she reported, after waiting for
several minutes for the call to be picked up. "They must be on their way."
She went to the shop door to wait. Ten
minutes later, they still hadn't arrived and the teenager became restless
again.
"Where are they?" she whined, worried about
Angel and now concerned for Cordelia, Lorne and Wesley too.
Gunn hit speed-dial on his cellphone.
"Hey, it's me," he said. "Where are you?"
After a short exchange, he reported that
Cordelia and Wesley were at the far perimeter of Wetherly Park waiting for Lorne,
who had arranged to meet his contact there. The contact had not so far arrived,
but knowing the rarity of the items he would be supplying, they were willing to
be patient.
"Oh," Gunn added, catching Giles' attention,
"and Wes says he can't find your … keys. Damn!" He stood suddenly, and headed
for the training room. "Got a message for Angel – almost forgot about it!"
Opening the training room door, Gunn scanned
the room and found the vampire lying on the leather-covered bench in the far
corner, away from the window.
"Angel, man …"
With a growl, Angel was on his feet before
Gunn could say anything more, yellow eyes blazing and teeth bared in full
vampire mode.
"Whoa!" Gunn stepped back quickly, reaching
for the door.
For a moment, Angel simply stood and looked
at him. Then, with obvious difficulty, he morphed back to his normal features
and sat down heavily.
"Sorry," he said quietly. "Getting hard to
control."
"Okay," his colleague said uncertainly. "It's
okay. I'll make sure you aren't disturbed again."
"Maybe you should lock the door," Angel
suggested. He looked at Gunn with ashamed honesty. "I'm starving, feel like I'm
losing control."
Gunn nodded.
"Got a message," he said quickly. "Kind of
cryptic, but I figure you'll know what it means – the guy who left it said you
would." Angel looked at him expectantly. "'The heart of the beasts will reveal
the way.' That's it. From a guy named Kenny or something. Ken Gee?"
"Kenjiin?" Angel asked, suddenly alert.
Gunn took another involuntary step back.
"Could be," he nodded; "sounded like that I
guess. I got the message from Jayce this morning. Sorry for the delay – been
kinda busy."
Angel nodded, deep in thought. He tried to
get up, but didn't trust his legs to carry him more than a few steps, and
sighed in frustration.
"I can't think straight," he said, running a
hand through his hair. "Need to talk with Giles." Gunn raised his eyebrows.
"Tell him to bring a stake," Angel added, knowing the younger man was thinking
the same.
Against Gunn's advice, Giles went unarmed
into the training room, followed by Dawn. He was amazed by their total trust in
the vampire, and somewhat ashamed that he did not – could not – share their
faith in Angel's self-control. He hovered near the door, crossbow at the ready,
while vampire and watcher discussed the unusual message. Dawn sat next to
Angel, concern creasing her young brow.
"He gets kinda jittery," Fred explained
quietly, noticing the frowns on Willow and Tara's faces. "It's a long story."
"It's okay," Willow said kindly. "We figured
he's had it tough. Bad vampire experience? We've all been there. But Angel's
different. I mean, he's … we've …" Pushing memories of Angelus out of her head,
she shrugged. "He's different."
"Fred's the puzzle master," Gunn said, having
talked briefly with Giles before locking the training room door, much to Dawn's
chagrin.
Giles relayed the cryptic message to the
girls at the table.
"It may be connected to current events," he
stated, "or it may be completely unrelated. The message was left for Angel by a
demon warlord, one of several enemies of the Kravlarian leader, so we can't
overlook that link. Of course it could be coincidence, but …"
" 'Heart of beasts'," Fred murmured, mind
whirring.
"She's on it," Gunn commented with
confidence. He turned to Willow and Tara, eager to get their plan properly
formulated. "What's next?"
"Okay," Willow said, "after the circle is
formed …"
At that moment, Dawn ran to the door, having
heard Angel's car pull up outside, and met Cordelia, Wesley and Lorne as they
entered the shop. Wesley was still limping but his condition had improved
greatly, and he no longer appeared to be in so much pain. Lorne carried a large
cardboard box, the contents rattling as he descended the steps to the table,
and apologised for being late. Cordelia held two plastic carrier bags almost at
arm's length, not wanting them to brush against her clothes or her bare legs.
"Is that …?" Dawn asked, reaching for the
bags.
"Yes," Cordelia nodded, thankfully handing
them over to her. "The bags are damp," she added.
"Condensation," Giles told her, "from the
fridge."
"Whatever," Cordelia shrugged. "They feel
gross on your skin, let me tell you. How's Angel doing?"
"Bearing up," Giles replied.
"Dawn," Tara called, halting the girl's
tracks on the way to the training room. Everyone exchanged glances, sharing the
feeling that Dawn should perhaps not witness the vampire feeding, especially in
the feral state he was in. Giles took the bags from her, smiling
sympathetically as the girl pouted in frustration.
"Maybe next time," he said. "But not now."
"Fine," she said, clearly annoyed. Concern
and curiosity were eating at her, but she knew her arguments would fall on deaf
ears: everyone had taken over Buffy's long list of the things she wasn't allowed
to do, and they were just as firm about it as her sister was.
'Is,' Dawn amended wistfully.
Giles unlocked the training room, and stepped
inside, closing the door behind him. Clearing his throat to warn the vampire of
his presence, he helped Angel to a sitting position and handed him a blood bag,
leaving the others in the bags at his feet. Angel hesitated.
"I'll leave you to it," the Watcher said,
heading for the door.
He heard Angel thank him before the
unmistakable sound of fangs sinking hungrily into the plastic and gulping at
the contents.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
