Queen Of Darkness
Chapter Four: Shifting Loyalties, Shifting Minds
The building bustled with activity, there was never any time for quiet in an LA hospital. Willow could smell the blood as she stepped through the large automatic door, an intoxicating scent that seemed to permeate every pore of the place. There had been so much bleeding done in the seemingly clean halls that it had left a permanent mark. Intangible to normal humans, and most demons for that matter, it jumped out to Willow's vampiric senses and wrapped her in its sweet bouquet.
She felt the hunger of her demon keenly then, the deep need for blood that went beyond any human experience. A low growl forced its way out of her, causing Angel to glance her way in concern. She waved him off, she knew how to control herself when necessary. She thrust the hunger deep down, forcing her senses to ignore the tantalizing aura of blood. The demon pulled back, content in the knowledge that she couldn't hold it off forever, and didn't want to.
She shifted the uncomfortable weight of Wesley's jacket on her shoulders. She was glad he had given it to her, she was still in the tight leather outfit she had worn since the night at the factory so she would have been very conspicuous without it. Still, it did not even come close to fitting right, and it made her back itch, someone had sprinkled it with holy water at some point.
They passed by the front desk without a word. The nurses here obviously were used to Angel and his group coming and going from the hospital. That almost made Willow worry, but she found that even with a soul she couldn't muster up much caring for the people whose company she had found herself in. The fact that they were going to see Cordelia, the girl that had taunted her mercilessly her entire life, did not help them any. She supposed that the girl might have changed in the four years that had passed since Willow had chased her through the school on her first visit to this universe. She wasn't counting on it, however.
They reached the third floor, and the nervous, mousy woman named Fred met them and began babbling excitedly to Angel. Willow ignored her, instead searching for any sign of Faith. The vampire Slayer intrigued her more than any other person she had ever met, including the Master himself. There was something in the girl's turbulent psyche that had drawn Willow to her like a moth to a flame, and she was quite eager to find out exactly what that attraction was. She couldn't see the girl anywhere, and didn't even catch a hint of her unmistakable scent. Faith wasn't there.
Fred led them to one of the single-occupant rooms. This made Willow raise an eyebrow, with a hospital that seemed as full and busy as this one, then single rooms must be either very hard to come by or very expensive. She assumed both, and wondered what kind of money Angel had hidden away in that hotel. Inside the room was dark, the single bed illuminated only by the calm glow of the monitor screens and the light that spilled in from the doorway.
Cordelia, for her part, looked horrible. Her face was pale and drawn, with her eyes sunken deep into her skull and her once lustrous hair hanging limply about her face. She looked up as Angel stepped into the room, brushing past the silent Gunn, and kneeling at the side of her bed. A smile crept on to her face as he cupped her hand with his own, a smile that he mirrored.
"Oh, isn't that cute?" Willow whispered to Wesley as she stepped into the room herself, letting the door shut behind her.
"Is it her?" Cordelia asked, her voice scratchy from disuse. "The one my vision told you about?"
"Yes, it's her," Angel replied. "She's only been in this world since last night. She doesn't know everything yet, but we're bringing her up to speed."
"Do you think she can do it?" Croaked Cordelia.
Angel took a long look at Willow, his face dark, his eyes searching. Willow cocked her head to the side, and stared right back at him. She knew that he was judging her, taking everything he saw and everything he knew and looking to see whether it measured up to his standards. She didn't like it, not one bit. Her stare, which had started out playful, turned hard, and when Angel's eyes met hers, she made it quite clear that she was not going to be judged. They needed her, and that was that.
Angel nodded slowly, turning back towards Cordelia. "Yes," he said. "She's not ready yet, but she will be. When she is, then we can finish this once and for all. Then we can take back my son."
* * *
She reached for the knob of the large oak door, though she knew what she would find. Just as she suspected, the door had been locked. It was a solid door, so the lock was built into the knob instead of latching into the frame. This was not a problem, though, as just a simple twist with a bit of Slayer strength behind it snapped the locking mechanism and let the door swing wide for her to enter. She stepped through the portal gingerly, wary of any nasty traps that might be set up within the apartment.
She looked around, taking in her surroundings before she made another move. The apartment was cozy, well furnished, and obviously professionally decorated. Just what was expected of the woman who owned this place. As a vicious, conniving, workaholic junior partner of the Wolfram and Hart law firm, Lilah Morgan had very little time to decorate her own home.
Casually flipping a lock of dark hair out of her eyes, Faith made her way into the apartment. She knew that it was only a matter of time before Lilah came home. The broken lock had probably set off a silent alarm, and Faith was absolutely certain that the bitch had some sort of surveillance system set up that would allow her to see exactly who had broken in to her home. That suited her perfectly.
Faith began to pick up odd trinkets, playing with what looked interesting, and carelessly tossing everything else over her shoulder. It was amazing the amount of useless junk that seemed to be just sitting all over the place, some of it of no small value. Faith had never been one for useless trinkets, even the place the Mayor of Sunnydale had provided for her when she worked for him, opulent though it was, had been mostly free of stuff she would never use.
Ten minutes after she had walked through the door, the telltale clicking of a gun being cocked warned Faith that Lilah had arrived. Smiling, she picked up a blown-glass ball that looked as if it might have cost quite a bit, and began to twirl it in her hands like a baseball. "Was wonderin' how long it would take you," she said, not turning around.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Lilah sneered behind her. "What do you want, Faith? And you had better make it good, because I cancelled a very important meeting to come down here."
"Don't worry," Faith said. "I'll get to the point the moment you put away the gun away.
"Not going to happen."
Faith rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I could kill you long before you could pull that trigger on me, and you know that. Put the gun away or I put you away," there was a momentary pause before Faith's keen senses caught the noise of the gun's safety clicking on and the weapon being slipped back into it's holster. Faith turned around then, smirking at the Lawyer. "Good, now we can really talk."
"What do you want?"
"Well, I kinda want to have my childhood back, or maybe a second chance to make good with B and her crew. Heck, what I really want right now is to drive a sharp wooden implement into the heart of the Vampire version of Willow. But, as you just got a demonstration of, we don't always get what we want, now do we?"
"So Angel succeeded in bringing the Vampire from the alternate reality?"
"Yeah, even gave her soul back to her. Not that it seems to make much of a difference. Still, this isn't exactly what I came here for."
"What then? I really don't have any time to spend on pointless conversation."
"Well, I've got two things. The first is this little thing I've got to do for Wesley."
Lilah shook her head. "How many times do I have to tell you people that Wolfram and Hart will not interfere with the fight against Willow. She's as much a danger to the Senior Partners as she is to the Powers That Be. All projects involving Angel or Angel investigations have been put on hold until this situation is resolved. I don't see why he has to keep making sure of this."
"Actually, it was a direct request for you. He needs something called the 'Scroll of Vedarii' for some spell he's working on. Something that'll help the toothy little miss redhead. He thinks you have it, and he sent me to get it."
Lilah raised an eyebrow. "The Scroll of Vedarii was a gift, and it's only used for two different spells. One summons a Spirit-Teacher, the other sinks continents. Let me guess which one Wesley's after."
Faith shrugged. "I don't really care. Do you have it? 'Cause if you don't then I'm gonna have to get you to tell me who does."
Lilah shook her head. "I have it, yes. But it's at my office. I would never keep such a valuable object here."
"Cool. Let's go," Faith said, and began to move towards the door.
Lilah held up a hand to stop her. "Wait. You said there were two things you came here for. What's the second one?"
Faith gave the Lawyer a long look before answering. "I need your help," she said, growling the words out.
"Me? For what?" Lilah asked, surprised.
"I need to clear my name," she said. "Right now I'm trapped. I'm only free now because Angel got a few of his friends in the Government to give me a conditional release. I did a lot of thinking in jail, and I found that I really couldn't pay my debt by rotting in a prison cell. I need to be out there, fighting the vampires and Demons and other evils, like a Slayer should be. As long as I have that prison sentence hanging over my head, I can't do anything. It stops me from doing my duty, and ties me to that asshole of a former Watcher. I need it gone, and you can do that."
"Why should I help you?"
"Because if you do, then I will agree to work for Wolfram and Hart for five years," Lilah's eyes widened slightly, but she managed to keep her composure. "Under the conditions that I don't have to hurt or kill anyone human. Demons are free game, but I don't want my burden to get any heavier than it already is. Also, I get to patrol every night that I don't have something else specifically to do."
"So, if I help clear your name . . ." Lilah trailed off.
"Wolfram and Hart gets a pet Slayer for five years," Faith finished for her.
Lilah nodded, looking thoughtful. "I will have to take this to my superiors, but I think it's a good offer."
"Yeah, you'll get back to me on this one. I know," Faith sneered. "But nothing is gonna happen until this deal with Willow is over and done with."
"Of course," Lilah said, nodding. She reached into her purse and pulled out a small black cell phone. "When I have a decision, I will call you on this," she said handing the phone to Faith, who quickly tucked it into the pocket of her jeans. "Now, let's go get Wesley that scroll."
* * *
Willow sat on one of the uncomfortable chairs in the third-floor waiting area of the hospital. Fiddling with Wesley's jacket she couldn't help but steal a glance at the room where the rest of them were still gathered. She had waited for Angel to emerge for three whole hours now. The sun was well up and the only way to get back to the mansion was through the series of sewer tunnels, of which she knew little. It irked her that not one of them had even come out to check on her since she had gone to sit down and think. She hadn't stayed in Cordelia's room much beyond Angel's revelation that he had a son. She was still having trouble understanding how that was possible.
A son. An honest-to-God son. Something that was supposed to be impossible for a vampire had happened, and a child had been born to one who was undead. It made Willow wonder exactly what kind of world she now found herself in. Everything was turned on its head. She was evil, well the fuzzy-her was evil, and that was strange enough to deal with considering who this universes Willow had been the last time she had been here. To have to deal with the news that a vampire had made a living child was a bit overwhelming.
"Hey there red," came a very British voice from beside her, breaking off her thoughtful reverie. She turned slightly to find Spike standing beside her chair, looking at her with a measure of concern. "You're looking very lost. Care to chat about it?"
Willow made a gesture with her head that could have been a nod, or could have been a shake. She didn't give Spike much of a chance to ponder which, as she immediately changed the subject. "Where were you? Why weren't you at the mansion when I got back?"
"Actually, love, I was. Just headin' out the door as you and the poof were headin' in."
"Where did you go?" Willow said, reaching up and pulling Spike into the chair next to hers. He was a little surprised by her sudden grabbing of him, but he had been warned that the Vampire Willow was a little touchy-feely at times.
"I was on a little mission from Wesley to go talk to Riley and his fellow soldier-boys. Got back to the hotel just before sunrise, and lo and behold, the place was empty. Checked the phone, found out that the last place to call was the hospital. Put two and two together, and here I am."
"Soldier-boys? Who are they, and what do they have to do with Riley?" Willow asked, blinking slowly.
Spike was put a little off ease by Willow's strange behavior. She had acted this way when she had been introduced to him and the rest of the group, but he could tell that it was different this time. Something was definitely off with the vampire, something that made all of Spike's senses, honed by centuries of fine tuning, tingle with the danger of it. "They call themselves the Initiative, red. Mortal demon hunters, the lot of 'em. They were supposed to be disbanded years ago, but they were re-activated a little while ago, and Riley is their leader."
"Why were they re-activated," Willow purred.
Spike tried to ignore her as he answered her question. "About four months ago, our Willow walked into a secret Initiative base in the Nevada desert, killed half the people there, and sucked the mind out of a wizard named Ethan Rayne. The Initiative was put back together specifically to stop you, red."
"And you, William the Bloody? Why are you fighting me?" Willow said, her tone suddenly cold.
Spike frowned at her. This erratic behavior was really getting on his nerves. "I don't want to talk about that red. Just let me ask this: are you crazy? I mean, do you even realize how bloody erratic you're being?"
Willow suddenly drew back, her face shifting through three different sets of emotions in a split second. Spike blinked, hardly believing what he had seen. A confused look finally settled over Willow's features. "Whoa, that was creepy," she said, shaking her head as if to clear it out. "It was like I was me, but I wasn't."
Spike was almost as confused as she was, but he knew that 'Lorne had found that something else was in Willow, so he had an idea of what might be causing her wild shifts in personality. "Can't say I know what you mean, red. But I can say that it is not something I want you to do again. Look, did the poof tell you what 'Lorne said. About what was goin' on with you?" Willow shook her head. "Bloody hell. That means that I'm actually going to have to ask him. You do have a right to know what 'Lorne saw, Willow, and that Angel hasn't told you probably means that whatever he said was very important."
"Yes," Willow said, cutting him off, her tone made it clear that it was not an agreement with what he had just said.
"What do you mean, 'yes'?"
"I mean, yes. I am crazy."
Spike could do nothing but stare openmouthed. "What are you bloody talking about, red?"
"I'm answering your question. Yes, I am crazy," Spike just stared at her some more, shaking his head in disbelief. "You see, when I was turned into a vampire, the blood of the Master was too powerful for my body to handle, so it affected my brain chemistry, unbalancing it severely. I've been very schizophrenic ever since. Well, actually, I think that giving me my soul back has re-balanced me, because I haven't heard any of the voices since I woke up last night."
"I told 'em," Spike whispered to himself, forgetting for a moment that Willow could hear him clearly. "I said 'she's off her bleeding rocker', but did they believe me? Bloody poofter and his bloody pet watcher."
"William?" Willow asked cautiously. She didn't know exactly what had happened to her to make her act the way she did, but it was something about Spike. She felt as if she had known him for a long time, like he had once been her friend, even though she had never actually met him until that night. "Spike, what do you know? What is going on with me?"
"I'm not sure, red," he answered. "But you're not alone in there. Maybe we botched the soul-restoration spell, maybe you picked up a hitchhiker when you crossed worlds. Whatever it is, there's something in you, beyond your soul and beyond your Demon. It's big, it's powerful and no one has any idea what the hell it is."
Willow opened her mouth to speak, but closed it suddenly, and began to concentrate on Spike with an intensity that was almost physical. "You have a chip in your head, implanted there by the Initiative," she said, and Spike immediately recoiled. She latched on to his shoulder and held him still, the strength of her grip surprising the much older vampire. "It prevents you from harming any living human being, causing intense neurological pain for even an attempt. You have since fought along side Buffy and her friends to defeat the forces of evil, until . . . until," she trailed off, her grip loosening enough for Spike to break away from her and stand up.
"How the hell do you know that? Who told you?" He demanded, terrified and furious all at once.
She shook her head. "No one told me, Spike. I remembered it."
"How? How could you remember that? You bloody well weren't there!"
"I know, Spike. I wasn't there. But she was. Those weren't my memories, they were hers."
Spike's eyes went even wider. "That means . . ."
"That means that she's been in my mind," Willow said, completing his thought. "It means that she knows I'm here."
