CHAPTER SIX
There's a fault in this world
And I won't forgive God
The sun in your eye
that comes between me and the light of the sky
There's a fault in this world.
Karan Casey - Buile mo Chroi
I still felt like vomiting. I think I understood my father better at this moment than I ever had, tasted the pain he lived with. Maybe I understood Buffy for the first time ever. Before this, I could never understand why she couldn't chose between Spike and Dad but now I did. Even though me and Cordy ended long before she was murdered, I still loved her. More than that, I realized how much I loved Faith. I hadn't given it much thought before. We had fun together. We worked well and the sex was great. It never occurred to me it might be more but there it was. I loved Faith. Oh dear God, I was in trouble.
I wanted to go back to Dad's, sink into the hot tub and pretend the world didn't exist. I just couldn't take the tension inside the Summers' house so I sat out on the back steps. Even Kate and Lindsey were subdued. They had known Cordy. I think Lindsey might have liked her. For once, Xander had been speechless. I could only imagine what he was feeling. His first wife was back from the grave and Cordy, one of his first loves, came with to top it off. He didn't even have the support of Willow, who was barely functioning thanks to seeing Tara again.
The door opened and I was hoping for Faith. The heavy footfalls told me it was Dad even before the night breeze carried his scent to me. He sat next to me, our shoulders barely touching. Even so, that was comforting.
"Are you okay, son?" he asked after several moments of silence.
"That'd be a stretch." I looked over at him. "How about you?"
"It was a bit of a shock to see Cordy alive," he admitted. " But I've seen people back from the dead before. Buffy, Darla; I'm a little more used to it than you."
"Ever had to face one you killed before?" I asked. "Like Jenny." That was cruel of me. I knew how much Dad regretted killing her and I had no idea why it just popped out. "Sorry. I don't know why I said that."
"It's all right. If Jenny remembers anything, I'll have to confront what I did. Even if she doesn't, the rest of us know." Angel's big hand closed over his knee, squeezing as if to steady himself. "But the answer's yes. I killed your mother once. I'm not sure if I ever told you that. Buffy sent me to hell. We already know how hard it is to face up to that."
I shifted my weight. Had I known how Mom had died the first time? I couldn't remember. I didn't like to think about her. "Have they remembered anything?" When I had walked out, the women were still working on getting past the fact they were back from the dead. We weren't even sure their minds were intact. Mostly they just cried and moaned. Sometimes they'd mumble a name. Buffy had told us how hard it had been to readjust to being alive, how horrible it had been. Dad had concurred. Spike had been remarkable quiet about it, none of his usual braggadocio. He just shuddered and said he never wanted to do anything like it again.
Angel shook his head. "They're still in shock."
"I should go in there, be supportive or something. I'm out here being so useless." I shut my eyes. I have always hated not having control of a situation. I needed it desperately and yet I so rarely had it.
"You're not useless, Connor. You're in an ugly position that no one should ever have to be in."
I shook my head, my braid whipping Dad's shoulders until he caught it, dragging me in closer. "Xander is in a worse situation. I can't even imagine it and he's in there."
Angel didn't say anything. He just put his arm around me.
"I know that I should be concentrating on what Ethan and the Brothers are up to," I babbled, "but all I can think of is Cordelia is inside and she is alive." Worming free of Dad's protective arm, I got up. I headed back into the house. I didn't have to look to know he was following.
Several shell shocked faces turned to me as I entered the living room. We all looked like the living dead. Some texts had made it to the table but the research had been abandoned, at least by this part of our crew. Wes and Ham weren't here, nor were Buffy and Dawn. I was sure the latter two were upstairs.
"You'd think with as many people we have here, we'd have some Valium or something," Xander was saying.
"I think Maddelena and I can cast a sleep spell over..." Willow trailed off, but it was good just to see her thinking coherently again. "They could do with a rest and maybe when they wake, we'll be better prepared to help with the, uh...transition."
Xander snorted. "I meant the Valium for me. But your idea is a good one, too."
"Agreed," Giles said. "Are you sure you're up to this, Willow?"
From her expression I could tell Willow had her doubts but she nodded. "I have to be." She didn't sound convincing but I knew she'd find the strength. Willow usually came through.
"What can we do to help?" I asked.
"I can assist Willow and Maddelena," Giles said. "Why don't you help Ham and Wes? Xander and Angel, your energy would be best used there. Yours, too, Spike."
I didn't argue. I knew Faith, Buffy and Dawn were upstairs, trying to keep the rresurrectees calm and corralled in the bedrooms. Wes and Hamish were at the dining room table, making a half-hearted attempt at sifting through the texts for clues.
"This rots," Spike said, taking a seat. "We should be doing something for them, not mucking through this stuff." He jerked a thumb up at the ceiling.
"That's exactly what the Fratelli want," Dad said and Spike glowered at him. If either of them started a pissing match, I'd kill them.
"Angel's right. We have to focus, hard as it might be," Hamish said. He looked fairly shocked but he had to have the clearest mind out of all of us. After all, he hadn't known any of the dead women.
"You do the focusing," I said. "You're the least emotionally vested in this." Dad gave me a weird look. I think the word 'vested' bugged him. He wasn't used to me talking Watcher-like, all educated and everything.
"The amount of magic..." Wes trailed off, his eyes wide. "Do you know how much power this requires."
"So you're suggesting Ethan didn't act alone," I said, staring at him.
"There's no reason to think that he did. The Fratelli have any number of mages at their disposal," Wes replied.
"The question is, why use him at all?" Hamish looked at me and Dad as if our prior encounters with Ethan might shed some light onto this.
"He might have volunteered," Dad replied, shuffling the books in front of him aimlessly. "He has a history with all of us and would love to cause us trouble."
"And sometimes magical things turn up in the weirdest places," Spike put in. "It's possible Ethan had something the Fratelli wanted and he had them cut him in."
"Too bad we just can't ask him," Hamish said, flipping open one of the text.
That gave me an idea. We still needed to find Ethan and the other mage. I knew how I might do that and the solution wasn't in the books laid out in front of me. Sometimes I'm so busy pretending to be entirely human that I ignore my superior senses. I got up and headed upstairs. Faith came over to me, curiosity in her dark eyes.
"The spell worked." She took my hand, giving it a squeeze. I pressed my lips to her forehead quickly, as a thank you for the support.
"Good. Think you could get me some of their clothing?"
"Do I want to know why?" Faith shot me a disturbed look.
"I'm going to try something," I replied.
Faith complied without further questions. Dawn and Buffy returned with her. Their eyes all screamed 'what the hell are you up to?' I took one of the garments from Faith and put it to my nose. Cordy's scent rose from the dress, making me weak kneed. My balls tightened as memories of her flooded back, permeating me as her scent filled my senses. I shunted the remembrances aside, sifting through the aromas until I got a good lock on the underlying masculine scent. I handed it back to Faith and took the other dress. It carried the scent of one of the women I didn't know, Tara, but under it was the same masculine scent.
"You're going to track the person who dressed them," Faith guessed and Dawn looked relieved. I didn't want to know what she thought I was up to.
"Track but...you can do that, too?" Buffy looked surprised. "I know vampires can."
"It's part of my demon heritage. I just hope the person who dressed them is the one who brought them back to life."
"Even if he's not, he'll know who did this to Mom," Dawn said, shuddering. Her pretty eyes hardened."You find him."
I nodded, taking the clothing back from Faith. "I'll get Dad and Spike to help."
"You have to take those?" Buffy gestured to the clothing.
"If we lose the scent, we can use these to focus," I replied. "Is Maddelena still up here?"
"Back with Giles and Willow in the room with Mom and Tara." Buffy pointed down the hall.
"You want a mage to go with," Faith said.
"It would be smart," I replied.
"Want me or Buffy to come, too?" Faith brushed a stray lock of my long hair back.
"No. Dad and Spike are more than enough. You stay here and protect them." I waved a hand to indicate the rooms upstairs and the ladies within.
I rounded up Maddie and we headed back down to the kitchen. I lateraled the clothes to Angel. "We should be able to track down at least one of the bastards."
"Good plan, kid." Spike got up, taking a dress to give it a sniff. "It beats doing nothing."
Dad got plastic bags and after getting the scent he put the garments in the bags to help preserve the scent. We maintained an eerie silence back to the house we found the ladies in. The scent was the same inside the home but I couldn't tell if it was Ethan's. I had blocked him from my mind. I didn't want any remembrances of him. We tracked around the house but he got into a car. We had better senses than humans but we weren't bloodhounds.
"It was a good idea, son, but it's not going to work." Dad sounded tired and oddly apologetic.
"Maybe it will. I don't know how to cast a tracking spell to follow a scent but maybe I can boost your natural abilities to follow it," Maddelena said.
"It's worth a try," I said, in no way ready to give up.
Maddelena chanted her spell and it was like my sense had suddenly exploded. It was overwhelming. I was hyper aware, maddeningly so. I couldn't even move, stunned by the sensory input. Dad moved first. I knew he was heading the right way. I could smell that man mixed in with the exhaust fumes.
Spike headed for the car. Dad cut him off, shoving the keys at Maddelena. "Drive, Maddie. We need to concentrate."
She complied. We drove through town, our heads hanging out the windows like hounds. We were able to follow the scent. It led to a very average house smack dab in the middle of other utterly average homes. There was a light on in the downstairs window.
"What now?" Spike grumbled. "Do we just burst in on them?"
"And if we have the wrong house?" Maddelena asked.
"Our other option is to just knock on the door," Angel said.
"Bugger that." Spike started for the house. "We can at least peep in and see if the bastard's home."
We let him go. Arguing with Spike was like trying to get cockle burrs out of long hair, frustrating and pointless since you're bound to lose. At least he'd be the first one hit if something was waiting for us. After standing on tip toe at all the windows, he waved us on.
"Don't see a damn thing," he said softly.
"Guess it's the door then," I said. "Only problem, if it's Ethan he knows all of us except you, Maddelena. He might open the door to you."
"Guess I'm elected then." She brushed back her dark unruly hair and knocked on the door. No on answered. She tried the knob. "It's open."
We headed in. His scent permeated the inside of the home. I didn't hear anything. Dad went to the basement and I headed upstairs. I left the lights off. I could see well enough in the dark and my sense of smell was still in overdrive. I went into one of the bedrooms then paused. Listening closely, I could hear him breathing. I turned for the closet door. It sprang open and Ethan stepped out. He screamed something in Latin, I think, and it felt like an invisible force hit me. It hurtled me back. I went through the window and crashed to earth so hard my breath was gone. Pain racked me and my stomach knotted against it.
Ethan floated out of the window, levitating softly to the ground and took off running. He had a car behind the house. I tried to get up and fire lanced through me. Blood scent filled my clearing senses. I glanced down and saw a portion of the windowsill protruding from my gut. It hurt too much to move. I tried to call out but I still couldn't get my breath back. Ethan was in the car and gone before anyone made it out of the house. My vision started getting fuzzy around the edges.
Someone touched me, jarring me back to consciousness. I could hear voices, neighbors awakened by the noise. Maddelena and Spike were trying to head them off then I head her talking in a strange language, probably a spell to get rid of them, to make them forget.
"Oh God, Connor." Dad's hands felt cold. "We have to get this out of you."
No one suggested a hospital. I heal fast, too fast. It would only bring up questions. Maddelena was a nurse. If a transfusion was needed, she could do it, provided we could get the needed materials.
"Hold him down, Spike," Dad said. "This is going to hurt, son."
Yeah, thanks Dad, like I didn't already know that. I smiled up at him. "Guess wood is good for more than vampires."
"Now is not the time to be a wiseass." He grabbed the wooden sill. "Ready?"
He didn't wait for me to say anything. He yanked the debris free. I couldn't keep from screaming. Maddelena pressed something against the wound, Spike's shirt. It wasn't clean but at least it would keep the blood flow tamped a bit. My hold on consciousness nearly slipped.
"He got away," Spike said, lighting up his cigarette then tossed it away. The magical boost on our olfactory senses hadn't faded enough and the smoke was nauseating.
"Sorry," I muttered. "Messed up." "No, you didn't," Dad said.
"We could try following him," Spike said. "But your kid probably needs a little more help than he's going to get here."
Maddelena nodded. "That pierced him clean through. I know he'll heal without surgery but he could stand with a fill up of the AB positive." Maddie knew my blood type and the types of everyone in our little group just in case.
"I'll swing us past the hospital," Dad said, scooping me up. I moaned as he jostled me. The pain wasn't quite the worst I've ever suffered but it was close. "Spike, stay here. Make sure he doesn't return. Call Wes and Ham, tell them where you are. They'll want to check out this house. Maybe we'll get lucky and Ethan had to leave something behind."
"He had....nothing when...he jumped." I panted, licking my lips. "Might have been... in the car already."
"I'm on it," Spike said, heading back for the house.
Dad and Maddelena tried to make me comfortable in the backseat of the car. Dad covered me with his jacket then tore off down the road. Things went dark then would flash back all too brilliantly as I faded in and out. I came to when the car no longer was making any forward momentum. I was so cold I couldn't stop shivering even though every movement made the pain worse. I stared up at the sky. Dad had put the top down. The blood smell was probably making him sick or hungry. He might not need blood any more, being all human now, but I wondered if the smell of it made him remember his two centuries long blood diet.
"Where?"
He turned and reached over the seat, stroking my arm. "The hospital. Maddie's trying to sneak out what we need. She said she'd accomplish it better without me."
"Invisibility spell...can only do...herself." The pain had spread all through my body now, making it feel leaden and unreal. "Making a mess out...of the Angelmobile."
He snorted. "Don't worry. I'll make you detail it."
I laughed and regretted it. It stoked the fires of agony in my gut.
"Easy, son. We'll get you home soon."
Something clanged against the car and Angel got out. I heard Maddie's voice telling Angel to open trunk so she could put the IV tree in it. She put the blood in the cooler Dad carried all the time, just in case. I could hear the slippery bags dropping in it. It didn't have any ice of course but we weren't that far from home now, just a few minutes. I faded away before we made it that far. I was half aware of Dad carrying me out of the car. I heard Faith asking how I was. They must have called her. I blacked out again as they started stripping me and Maddie went to check the wound. I fluttered back to the land of awareness just long enough to feel the prick of the large needle needed for the IV before I tumbled into the welcome darkness of unconsciousness.
When I came to again, I felt warmer. Someone was pressed up against me. Disoriented, I looked around trying to see who it was and looked into a pair of deep warm brown eyes. The eyes brightened, realizing I was awake and a long pink tongue snaked out, licking my face.
"Ewww." I focused on Mebd who sat on the floor next to my bed. The damn dog was so big, she had no trouble staring over the edge of the mattress. Someone shifted beside me and Faith rolled up onto one elbow, looking down at me. Those were the brown eyes I had been expecting.
"You gave me a scare," she chided, then kissed me.
"Trust me, it wasn't my idea." I still felt exhausted. I wasn't out as long as I first thought since there was still blood draining into my arm from the bag suspended from the tree next to the bed or maybe this was a second pint.
"If you were a little thicker, Maddie said it probably wouldn't have gone straight through you." Faith grinned, almost desperately. Humor to banish her fear.
I rolled my eyes. "What does she know?"
"What I know is a little more toward center and a little lower and I would have lost something I really enjoy." Faith rolled over, getting a cup of ice off the bed stand.
I involuntarily touched the dressing over my wound. It was only about a fist's width away from my groin. "You and me both."
She pushed an ice chip between my lips. "Here. Maddie said nothing to eat or drink until we're sure your guts are healed, the kidney, too. Ice chips are okay, but just a few."
I sucked on the ice then thanked her. All I wanted to do was sleep more. I think she knew that, since my eyes were barely able to stay open and I wasn't pulling my hand away from the licking Mebd was giving my palm. "Tell Dad....to come get his dog."
Faith reached over and patted Mebd's head. "She wanted to help keep you warm."
"Yeah right...probably wanted to eat my carcass."
"You wouldn't be much of a meal, baby." Faith kissed me again. "Don't fight it, Connor. Just go to sleep."
"I let him get away, Faith." That sounded as panful as it felt. I had fucked up royally.
"Let nothing. He blasted his way through you." She snuggled into my uninjured side. "Sleep. And Connor, you are not allowed to die on me."
"Promise," I muttered and gave into it.
I still felt like vomiting. I think I understood my father better at this moment than I ever had, tasted the pain he lived with. Maybe I understood Buffy for the first time ever. Before this, I could never understand why she couldn't chose between Spike and Dad but now I did. Even though me and Cordy ended long before she was murdered, I still loved her. More than that, I realized how much I loved Faith. I hadn't given it much thought before. We had fun together. We worked well and the sex was great. It never occurred to me it might be more but there it was. I loved Faith. Oh dear God, I was in trouble.
I wanted to go back to Dad's, sink into the hot tub and pretend the world didn't exist. I just couldn't take the tension inside the Summers' house so I sat out on the back steps. Even Kate and Lindsey were subdued. They had known Cordy. I think Lindsey might have liked her. For once, Xander had been speechless. I could only imagine what he was feeling. His first wife was back from the grave and Cordy, one of his first loves, came with to top it off. He didn't even have the support of Willow, who was barely functioning thanks to seeing Tara again.
The door opened and I was hoping for Faith. The heavy footfalls told me it was Dad even before the night breeze carried his scent to me. He sat next to me, our shoulders barely touching. Even so, that was comforting.
"Are you okay, son?" he asked after several moments of silence.
"That'd be a stretch." I looked over at him. "How about you?"
"It was a bit of a shock to see Cordy alive," he admitted. " But I've seen people back from the dead before. Buffy, Darla; I'm a little more used to it than you."
"Ever had to face one you killed before?" I asked. "Like Jenny." That was cruel of me. I knew how much Dad regretted killing her and I had no idea why it just popped out. "Sorry. I don't know why I said that."
"It's all right. If Jenny remembers anything, I'll have to confront what I did. Even if she doesn't, the rest of us know." Angel's big hand closed over his knee, squeezing as if to steady himself. "But the answer's yes. I killed your mother once. I'm not sure if I ever told you that. Buffy sent me to hell. We already know how hard it is to face up to that."
I shifted my weight. Had I known how Mom had died the first time? I couldn't remember. I didn't like to think about her. "Have they remembered anything?" When I had walked out, the women were still working on getting past the fact they were back from the dead. We weren't even sure their minds were intact. Mostly they just cried and moaned. Sometimes they'd mumble a name. Buffy had told us how hard it had been to readjust to being alive, how horrible it had been. Dad had concurred. Spike had been remarkable quiet about it, none of his usual braggadocio. He just shuddered and said he never wanted to do anything like it again.
Angel shook his head. "They're still in shock."
"I should go in there, be supportive or something. I'm out here being so useless." I shut my eyes. I have always hated not having control of a situation. I needed it desperately and yet I so rarely had it.
"You're not useless, Connor. You're in an ugly position that no one should ever have to be in."
I shook my head, my braid whipping Dad's shoulders until he caught it, dragging me in closer. "Xander is in a worse situation. I can't even imagine it and he's in there."
Angel didn't say anything. He just put his arm around me.
"I know that I should be concentrating on what Ethan and the Brothers are up to," I babbled, "but all I can think of is Cordelia is inside and she is alive." Worming free of Dad's protective arm, I got up. I headed back into the house. I didn't have to look to know he was following.
Several shell shocked faces turned to me as I entered the living room. We all looked like the living dead. Some texts had made it to the table but the research had been abandoned, at least by this part of our crew. Wes and Ham weren't here, nor were Buffy and Dawn. I was sure the latter two were upstairs.
"You'd think with as many people we have here, we'd have some Valium or something," Xander was saying.
"I think Maddelena and I can cast a sleep spell over..." Willow trailed off, but it was good just to see her thinking coherently again. "They could do with a rest and maybe when they wake, we'll be better prepared to help with the, uh...transition."
Xander snorted. "I meant the Valium for me. But your idea is a good one, too."
"Agreed," Giles said. "Are you sure you're up to this, Willow?"
From her expression I could tell Willow had her doubts but she nodded. "I have to be." She didn't sound convincing but I knew she'd find the strength. Willow usually came through.
"What can we do to help?" I asked.
"I can assist Willow and Maddelena," Giles said. "Why don't you help Ham and Wes? Xander and Angel, your energy would be best used there. Yours, too, Spike."
I didn't argue. I knew Faith, Buffy and Dawn were upstairs, trying to keep the rresurrectees calm and corralled in the bedrooms. Wes and Hamish were at the dining room table, making a half-hearted attempt at sifting through the texts for clues.
"This rots," Spike said, taking a seat. "We should be doing something for them, not mucking through this stuff." He jerked a thumb up at the ceiling.
"That's exactly what the Fratelli want," Dad said and Spike glowered at him. If either of them started a pissing match, I'd kill them.
"Angel's right. We have to focus, hard as it might be," Hamish said. He looked fairly shocked but he had to have the clearest mind out of all of us. After all, he hadn't known any of the dead women.
"You do the focusing," I said. "You're the least emotionally vested in this." Dad gave me a weird look. I think the word 'vested' bugged him. He wasn't used to me talking Watcher-like, all educated and everything.
"The amount of magic..." Wes trailed off, his eyes wide. "Do you know how much power this requires."
"So you're suggesting Ethan didn't act alone," I said, staring at him.
"There's no reason to think that he did. The Fratelli have any number of mages at their disposal," Wes replied.
"The question is, why use him at all?" Hamish looked at me and Dad as if our prior encounters with Ethan might shed some light onto this.
"He might have volunteered," Dad replied, shuffling the books in front of him aimlessly. "He has a history with all of us and would love to cause us trouble."
"And sometimes magical things turn up in the weirdest places," Spike put in. "It's possible Ethan had something the Fratelli wanted and he had them cut him in."
"Too bad we just can't ask him," Hamish said, flipping open one of the text.
That gave me an idea. We still needed to find Ethan and the other mage. I knew how I might do that and the solution wasn't in the books laid out in front of me. Sometimes I'm so busy pretending to be entirely human that I ignore my superior senses. I got up and headed upstairs. Faith came over to me, curiosity in her dark eyes.
"The spell worked." She took my hand, giving it a squeeze. I pressed my lips to her forehead quickly, as a thank you for the support.
"Good. Think you could get me some of their clothing?"
"Do I want to know why?" Faith shot me a disturbed look.
"I'm going to try something," I replied.
Faith complied without further questions. Dawn and Buffy returned with her. Their eyes all screamed 'what the hell are you up to?' I took one of the garments from Faith and put it to my nose. Cordy's scent rose from the dress, making me weak kneed. My balls tightened as memories of her flooded back, permeating me as her scent filled my senses. I shunted the remembrances aside, sifting through the aromas until I got a good lock on the underlying masculine scent. I handed it back to Faith and took the other dress. It carried the scent of one of the women I didn't know, Tara, but under it was the same masculine scent.
"You're going to track the person who dressed them," Faith guessed and Dawn looked relieved. I didn't want to know what she thought I was up to.
"Track but...you can do that, too?" Buffy looked surprised. "I know vampires can."
"It's part of my demon heritage. I just hope the person who dressed them is the one who brought them back to life."
"Even if he's not, he'll know who did this to Mom," Dawn said, shuddering. Her pretty eyes hardened."You find him."
I nodded, taking the clothing back from Faith. "I'll get Dad and Spike to help."
"You have to take those?" Buffy gestured to the clothing.
"If we lose the scent, we can use these to focus," I replied. "Is Maddelena still up here?"
"Back with Giles and Willow in the room with Mom and Tara." Buffy pointed down the hall.
"You want a mage to go with," Faith said.
"It would be smart," I replied.
"Want me or Buffy to come, too?" Faith brushed a stray lock of my long hair back.
"No. Dad and Spike are more than enough. You stay here and protect them." I waved a hand to indicate the rooms upstairs and the ladies within.
I rounded up Maddie and we headed back down to the kitchen. I lateraled the clothes to Angel. "We should be able to track down at least one of the bastards."
"Good plan, kid." Spike got up, taking a dress to give it a sniff. "It beats doing nothing."
Dad got plastic bags and after getting the scent he put the garments in the bags to help preserve the scent. We maintained an eerie silence back to the house we found the ladies in. The scent was the same inside the home but I couldn't tell if it was Ethan's. I had blocked him from my mind. I didn't want any remembrances of him. We tracked around the house but he got into a car. We had better senses than humans but we weren't bloodhounds.
"It was a good idea, son, but it's not going to work." Dad sounded tired and oddly apologetic.
"Maybe it will. I don't know how to cast a tracking spell to follow a scent but maybe I can boost your natural abilities to follow it," Maddelena said.
"It's worth a try," I said, in no way ready to give up.
Maddelena chanted her spell and it was like my sense had suddenly exploded. It was overwhelming. I was hyper aware, maddeningly so. I couldn't even move, stunned by the sensory input. Dad moved first. I knew he was heading the right way. I could smell that man mixed in with the exhaust fumes.
Spike headed for the car. Dad cut him off, shoving the keys at Maddelena. "Drive, Maddie. We need to concentrate."
She complied. We drove through town, our heads hanging out the windows like hounds. We were able to follow the scent. It led to a very average house smack dab in the middle of other utterly average homes. There was a light on in the downstairs window.
"What now?" Spike grumbled. "Do we just burst in on them?"
"And if we have the wrong house?" Maddelena asked.
"Our other option is to just knock on the door," Angel said.
"Bugger that." Spike started for the house. "We can at least peep in and see if the bastard's home."
We let him go. Arguing with Spike was like trying to get cockle burrs out of long hair, frustrating and pointless since you're bound to lose. At least he'd be the first one hit if something was waiting for us. After standing on tip toe at all the windows, he waved us on.
"Don't see a damn thing," he said softly.
"Guess it's the door then," I said. "Only problem, if it's Ethan he knows all of us except you, Maddelena. He might open the door to you."
"Guess I'm elected then." She brushed back her dark unruly hair and knocked on the door. No on answered. She tried the knob. "It's open."
We headed in. His scent permeated the inside of the home. I didn't hear anything. Dad went to the basement and I headed upstairs. I left the lights off. I could see well enough in the dark and my sense of smell was still in overdrive. I went into one of the bedrooms then paused. Listening closely, I could hear him breathing. I turned for the closet door. It sprang open and Ethan stepped out. He screamed something in Latin, I think, and it felt like an invisible force hit me. It hurtled me back. I went through the window and crashed to earth so hard my breath was gone. Pain racked me and my stomach knotted against it.
Ethan floated out of the window, levitating softly to the ground and took off running. He had a car behind the house. I tried to get up and fire lanced through me. Blood scent filled my clearing senses. I glanced down and saw a portion of the windowsill protruding from my gut. It hurt too much to move. I tried to call out but I still couldn't get my breath back. Ethan was in the car and gone before anyone made it out of the house. My vision started getting fuzzy around the edges.
Someone touched me, jarring me back to consciousness. I could hear voices, neighbors awakened by the noise. Maddelena and Spike were trying to head them off then I head her talking in a strange language, probably a spell to get rid of them, to make them forget.
"Oh God, Connor." Dad's hands felt cold. "We have to get this out of you."
No one suggested a hospital. I heal fast, too fast. It would only bring up questions. Maddelena was a nurse. If a transfusion was needed, she could do it, provided we could get the needed materials.
"Hold him down, Spike," Dad said. "This is going to hurt, son."
Yeah, thanks Dad, like I didn't already know that. I smiled up at him. "Guess wood is good for more than vampires."
"Now is not the time to be a wiseass." He grabbed the wooden sill. "Ready?"
He didn't wait for me to say anything. He yanked the debris free. I couldn't keep from screaming. Maddelena pressed something against the wound, Spike's shirt. It wasn't clean but at least it would keep the blood flow tamped a bit. My hold on consciousness nearly slipped.
"He got away," Spike said, lighting up his cigarette then tossed it away. The magical boost on our olfactory senses hadn't faded enough and the smoke was nauseating.
"Sorry," I muttered. "Messed up." "No, you didn't," Dad said.
"We could try following him," Spike said. "But your kid probably needs a little more help than he's going to get here."
Maddelena nodded. "That pierced him clean through. I know he'll heal without surgery but he could stand with a fill up of the AB positive." Maddie knew my blood type and the types of everyone in our little group just in case.
"I'll swing us past the hospital," Dad said, scooping me up. I moaned as he jostled me. The pain wasn't quite the worst I've ever suffered but it was close. "Spike, stay here. Make sure he doesn't return. Call Wes and Ham, tell them where you are. They'll want to check out this house. Maybe we'll get lucky and Ethan had to leave something behind."
"He had....nothing when...he jumped." I panted, licking my lips. "Might have been... in the car already."
"I'm on it," Spike said, heading back for the house.
Dad and Maddelena tried to make me comfortable in the backseat of the car. Dad covered me with his jacket then tore off down the road. Things went dark then would flash back all too brilliantly as I faded in and out. I came to when the car no longer was making any forward momentum. I was so cold I couldn't stop shivering even though every movement made the pain worse. I stared up at the sky. Dad had put the top down. The blood smell was probably making him sick or hungry. He might not need blood any more, being all human now, but I wondered if the smell of it made him remember his two centuries long blood diet.
"Where?"
He turned and reached over the seat, stroking my arm. "The hospital. Maddie's trying to sneak out what we need. She said she'd accomplish it better without me."
"Invisibility spell...can only do...herself." The pain had spread all through my body now, making it feel leaden and unreal. "Making a mess out...of the Angelmobile."
He snorted. "Don't worry. I'll make you detail it."
I laughed and regretted it. It stoked the fires of agony in my gut.
"Easy, son. We'll get you home soon."
Something clanged against the car and Angel got out. I heard Maddie's voice telling Angel to open trunk so she could put the IV tree in it. She put the blood in the cooler Dad carried all the time, just in case. I could hear the slippery bags dropping in it. It didn't have any ice of course but we weren't that far from home now, just a few minutes. I faded away before we made it that far. I was half aware of Dad carrying me out of the car. I heard Faith asking how I was. They must have called her. I blacked out again as they started stripping me and Maddie went to check the wound. I fluttered back to the land of awareness just long enough to feel the prick of the large needle needed for the IV before I tumbled into the welcome darkness of unconsciousness.
When I came to again, I felt warmer. Someone was pressed up against me. Disoriented, I looked around trying to see who it was and looked into a pair of deep warm brown eyes. The eyes brightened, realizing I was awake and a long pink tongue snaked out, licking my face.
"Ewww." I focused on Mebd who sat on the floor next to my bed. The damn dog was so big, she had no trouble staring over the edge of the mattress. Someone shifted beside me and Faith rolled up onto one elbow, looking down at me. Those were the brown eyes I had been expecting.
"You gave me a scare," she chided, then kissed me.
"Trust me, it wasn't my idea." I still felt exhausted. I wasn't out as long as I first thought since there was still blood draining into my arm from the bag suspended from the tree next to the bed or maybe this was a second pint.
"If you were a little thicker, Maddie said it probably wouldn't have gone straight through you." Faith grinned, almost desperately. Humor to banish her fear.
I rolled my eyes. "What does she know?"
"What I know is a little more toward center and a little lower and I would have lost something I really enjoy." Faith rolled over, getting a cup of ice off the bed stand.
I involuntarily touched the dressing over my wound. It was only about a fist's width away from my groin. "You and me both."
She pushed an ice chip between my lips. "Here. Maddie said nothing to eat or drink until we're sure your guts are healed, the kidney, too. Ice chips are okay, but just a few."
I sucked on the ice then thanked her. All I wanted to do was sleep more. I think she knew that, since my eyes were barely able to stay open and I wasn't pulling my hand away from the licking Mebd was giving my palm. "Tell Dad....to come get his dog."
Faith reached over and patted Mebd's head. "She wanted to help keep you warm."
"Yeah right...probably wanted to eat my carcass."
"You wouldn't be much of a meal, baby." Faith kissed me again. "Don't fight it, Connor. Just go to sleep."
"I let him get away, Faith." That sounded as panful as it felt. I had fucked up royally.
"Let nothing. He blasted his way through you." She snuggled into my uninjured side. "Sleep. And Connor, you are not allowed to die on me."
"Promise," I muttered and gave into it.
