Careless laughter bubbled upwards in both amusement and relief. Lilah smiled, heady with the feeling of power, of being in control for once during these bouts. Angel had nothing on her, they both knew it, which meant he was asking her, the enemy for what would turn out to be a very costly favor indeed.
"Why should I help you?" she demanded, brazenly, placing her hands on her hips.
Angel continued to study her in that deeply intense, unnerving way of his and some of her bravado deserted her. Was it possible he had some trick up his sleeve, something she couldn't anticipate?
"Well," he began, "since you killed Linwood, who as you know was Connor's Godfather, I guess that now makes you Godmother to my son."
Lilah snorted at that. Was that the best he could do? If so, she was disappointed. "Yeah, well I'm not waving my magic wand so your kid gets to go to the ball."
She turned her back to him, then gasped as he grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her round to face him.
"But you see, Lilah," he assured her, "that's exactly what you're going to do. You're gonna wave your magic wand, or in this case, your cell phone and get me some answers. Now."
"Don't you threaten me," she hissed, jerking her arm out of his grip.
"Oh, I'm not threatening you, Lilah."
Angel's voice was so cold, so chilling, she actually felt a shiver and wondered, not for the first time, just how deeply Angelus, with all those myriad cruelties and mind games, was buried beneath that soul. Not much, by the sound of it.
"You see," Angel continued, "I know you've got plans for me. Plans for Connor too. Evil, nasty plans. But they're not gonna happen unless Wolfram and Hart pulls out its finger and gets to work to find my son. Because you see Lilah, if something bad happens to Connor, then I might just have to go all vengeancy and kill whomever has him. And once I've started, I might not stop there." He paused, gave the pale column of her throat a considering look, then raised his eyes back to her own, now uncertain ones. "I guess that would kind of screw up your plans now, wouldn't it?"
Lilah didn't reply, but gave him a narrow, shrewd glare. He was right, the cocky bastard. They couldn't afford to let Angel, or his demon spawn for that matter, wind up dead over such a petty matter. Or even leave the brat in the hands of these soon to be dead kidnappers. There was the bigger picture to consider and Linwood had lost his head exactly because he had failed to do so.
Angel must have sensed her acquiescence because he stepped back and turned to leave. Either that or he was one certain son of a bitch when it came to her priorities.
"What, no gloating?" Lilah called after him, in spite.
"Don't take too long," he called back, not even bothering to turn.
"Damn you," she whispered, then snatched up the phone, furiously punching in the number. "Yeah, it's me. I need information, pronto." She allowed herself a nasty smile. Might as well take some of her bad mood out on the staff. "Oh and Gavin? If you don't have it for me within the next hour, you're fired. And we both know how ugly that can get."
*****
A swirl of pale robes sent Golgoth scuttling for the shadows of the room, cowering miserably in the corner as the bearded charmer lifted the priestess into his arms and spun, both of them laughing.
"We've done it." His mistress sounded breathless, giddy with power. "We've finally done it my love. After tonight, we shall be free."
The sound of their kiss, chaste though it was, closed Golgoth's eyes, and he twitched, wanting nothing more than to sink his teeth into the man, to bathe in his blood, to protect his mistress from his deceitful wiles. But he could not.
"You seem troubled, my love," the priestess said, at last. "Your eyes…they are sorrowful, not joyous."
The man, Baron, lowered her to her slippered feet, kissed the palm of her hand. "I am both, Valenza. It is just…he is so young. Little more than a child."
"He is a demon," she countered, cupping his cheek with her hand. "The child of two vampires. Nothing pure could come from such a union, nothing good. And more than that, he is strong and quick and skilled, a fine champion. One who will take your place here, working tirelessly for my sisters' cause."
"And what of his father, this vampire with a soul that I have heard much of? He will not be best pleased to discover that we have stolen his child from him."
Valenza smiled reassuringly. "Angel does not want the boy. He threw him onto the streets, left him to the tender mercies of this city and the dark creatures it houses. Trust me, the vampire will give us no trouble."
"Then all is well?"
"All is well," she promised, and once more Golgoth cringed back from their tenderness, their joining. "Now, you must go my love. I have much to prepare for tonight's ritual."
"As you command, priestess." With a final kiss of her hand, he bowed, then swept out of the room.
Valenza sighed, then turned, seemingly surprised to see Golgoth lurking in the shadows. A look of irritation crossed her delicate features. "I bid you gone, creature," she commanded, pointing at the door. "I neither want nor wish your foul countenance in my presence."
Like a whipped cur, Golgoth slunk from her sight, creeping out, already pining for his mistress in her absence no matter how cruelly she treated him. It was the fault of this other, he decided, this Connor creature, that his place at her side was now in jeopardy.
With a final, longing glance at the closed door, Golgoth set off down the corridor. He would visit this Connor, take his measure. Then make certain that the priestess would have no use for him.
*****
Inflagrante delicto, Angel mused as he watched Lilah leave the apartment, stuffing something red and lacy into her purse. He could smell Wesley on her, could smell the pungent scent of sex, raw and animalistic.
It was baffling, he conceded. Angelus had been something of a student when it came to human nature, a decided genius that had developed over a hundred and fifty years spent observing their rituals, their loves, their hates, the sum of their petty lives. He had used that to his advantage, to enhance the cruelties he inflicted, to damage and wound psychologically as much as physically. It was why he had been so feared.
Like his demon self, Angel too had borne witness to the trials of human kind, coming to believe that he understood many of their motivations, yet Wesley's continued dalliances with Lilah was puzzling.
For someone as uptight as Wesley, a casual affair just didn't seem in character. But then, neither had stealing Angel's baby son right from under daddy's nose. So what was it about Lilah that appealed to Wes? And more importantly, what was it that Lilah saw in Wesley that made her hell bent on turning him to the dark side?
Lilah had slipped off down the stairwell by now and Angel shrugged off the questions and stepped out of the shadows, wandering down the corridor. He was unsurprised to see the door still open. Lilah had obviously told Wesley to expect him.
"Lilah was none too happy to see you." Wesley's voice, rough and graveled, spoke out from darkened apartment. "I'd say she was rather pissed, in fact."
Angel entered the room, noting the blinds drawn, the sunlight blotted out. Was it consideration for Angel or merely because Wesley didn't want anyone spying on him and Lilah while they did the wild thing.
Consenting adults, Angel reminded himself, as he wandered over to the chair where Wesley was slouched. The other man's piercing gaze met his, the dark blue sharp and clear and not at all sex-stupid.
"I'm sure you soothed any ruffled feathers," Angel replied, settling down on the couch. "She seemed like a happy camper when she left just now." Had sounded like it too, when Angel had returned to the building only a few minutes earlier.
Wesley didn't respond, appearing just as cool and calm as ever. Distant, Angel realized, with a pang, and regretted his needling. What Wesley did now was none of his business. Not anymore.
"She got the information you wanted," was all Wesley said, reaching forward to hand over a slip of paper. "The one's who have your boy are called the Veii."
"That, that's great," Angel said, taking the paper, reading the name, imprinting it on his mind. He had a lead now, some connection, however tenuous, to Connor. "So, we've now got a name for the enemy."
Unthinkingly including Wesley in that, he rose, eager to start knocking on doors, kicking ass. Rescuing his son.
"Except you don't."
Wesley's voice cut through his eagerness with scalpel-like precision.
The ex-Watcher leaned forward in his chair to deliver the final, damning words. "The Veii aren't the enemy, Angel. They're our allies."