FOOLS FOR LIFE:
CHAPTER 26: Dealing with Rack
Spike and Anya followed Rack into his room. It was larger and lighter than the waiting room, bur not that much cleaner. There was a strange large table in the middle of the room, with a small fire burning in a hole in it's center. There were chairs and couches and pillows, with odd burns and stains on them in many sizes, shapes and...colors.
Spike could only imagine the things that had gone on here since Rack had set up his 'business'. Anya looked around at the dirty torn wall paper and wrinkled her nose a bit at the various smells of the room. Some strange mixtures ranging from pleasant to pungent.
"Now then," Rack said as he turned to them. "What can I do for..." his eyes turned to Anya, "....you?"
Anya opened her mouth to speak, frowning a little again at the look on his face, but before she could say anything Spike stepped in between them. "Yeah, mate, about that....seein' how you're this high'n mighty warlock, I'm sure you can tell she's with the vengeance crowd, just like you sniffed out my bloodsucking ways back there."
Rack frowned a little but grinned too. "Yeah, sure...not that hard to spot."
"Right," Spike continued, "I also noticed you said 'another one' when you saw her, so I don't even need to ask if you happen to've seen a certain dark haired lady, yay high and in the same line of business as my friend here, do I?"
"What's it to you?" Rack asked. "Who wants to know?"
Spike straightened his back and got a little closer to Rack as he said in a lower voice: "I do, that's who. And take it easy, not here to hurt her, just want to have a word, is all."
Rack walked away around the table and sat down, laughing a little. "Sure, sure, I'll buy that. Or you wouldn't have walked in my front door. Besides I have a few spells up for that sort of thing." He rubbed his hands together. "But she paid me to hide out here. Not very client friendly of me to just let everyone in to see her."
'Paid'. Spike frowned a bit and slowly walked around the room. "Yeah......how come I'm thinking you're not talking about dollars and cents, here mate?"
Rack looked down on his hands, still rubbing, and glowing where they touched, and his smile deepened a little. "Hey man, I'm an easy going guy. I can be....flexible when it comes to payment. It's not all about the cash, you know."
He looked at Anya again. "I'd never tasted the energies of a Vengeance Demon before....couldn't pass that up. Now, I have to admit, it's an acquired taste, but once you have it...."
Anya raised her eyebrows a little. "Acquired??" she said, slightly insulted.
Spike growled a little as he slowly advanced on Rack. This guy was getting his goat now. He was blocking Buffy's rescue, treating Anya like she was some street walker and, in spite of what she'd done, even the thought of Cecily in here with him for a day got his blood up. Rack noticed and laughed as he got up.
"Well now, relax man....." he walked around Spike while he looked at him intently "We're just chatting here. We're all friends. What's your story anyway?"
He kept walking slowly and stared at him with eyes that saw more than Spike found comfortable.
"I can tell you're as soulless as they come...still, here you are, all chivalrous...only thing missing is the horse and armor...."
Spike's jaw clenched as he stood there and looked over his shoulder as Rack passed behind him. He tried to remind himself the guy was still human so his chip would kick in, and even if it wouldn't it would probably STILL end badly for him....but he really wanted to hit this guy now.
"Ahhh," Rack said like he spotted something. "There's the two vengeance ladies.....and then there's a different one......a third.....there's the real damsel in distress isn't it?" He had come full circle and was facing Spike now, close up in his face. "No soul, but....damn if you don't have a heart in there, man." He laughed. "Isn't that something else..."
Spike snarled and his face started to vamp out.
"Speaking of client friendly." Anya said, raising her hand with a quick motion to interrupt things before they got out of hand.
"What...?" Rack said, looking at her with a momentary confusion.
"Uh..client friendly. You were talking about that earlier." She smiled like a sales person. "Now I happen to run a store myself and I have to say, you could use some advice here. I mean would it kill you to clean up a little? A price list in the waiting room would probably not be a bad idea either...."
Rack turned from Spike and walked towards her. "Heh, thanks but that's not what I had in mind." He grabbed the ends of a hair lock draped over her shoulder and softly rubbed it between his fingers.
"Like I said, once you've tasted some vengeance on a girl...." He looked in her eyes with that wolfish grin again. Anya stiffened a little at his touch. "You're one too so, I'm sure it's okay for you to see her. I'm not a difficult guy. Of course, you won't mind if there's something in it for me."
"Uhm....." Anya started.
"Your power, your aura.....you smell.....fresher than her. Yet more....seasoned at the same time. I'd love to have a taste."
Anya shrugged and gave a shy, yet flattered little laugh. "Well, .....that's totally understandable." She gave a little 'p*shaw' gesture. "I am told I have a certain....appeal."
"Yeah...." Rack said and his hand reached out to her. "Hey now!" she said, slapping it away. Flattery was nice but there are limits. "I'm not even sure I like Buffy all *that* much!" she said, backing up.
Spike stepped in between them again. "Look mate, let's be reasonable eh? I know you accept money too, so why don't you just name a price."
Rack shook his head. "Got enough. That's not what I want here. Looks like we got a problem."
"Looks like we do," Spike grunted. For a moment he considered jumping the sorcerer, taking his chances, seeing as they were running out of options. Chances were slim though, he could tell the chip was already buzzing slightly at his intentions.
Suddenly his face lit up. He turned to look at Anya and grinned. "What?" she said, not understanding.
Spike looked back at Rack. "Yeah, the girl's got her assets alright. On second thought mate, I'm sure we can work something out here."
Anya's eyes grew wide.
"EXCUSE me??"
** **
"Buffy? Are you okay? You've been in there for a while." Willow asked as she knocked on the bathroom door. She heard some fumbling "Uh, yeah, sure, coming."
She hoped she wasn't still feeling sick from her hangover...or sitting there brooding about her whole situation. It was best to.. 'Is that smoke?' Willow suddenly thought, pulling her nose up. Then the toilet was flushed and the door opened, a wave of way too much toilet freshener greeted her in the face as Buffy emerged with a fake smile. The smell of potpourri doing little to mask the clouds of cigarette smoke that came along with it.
"Uhm Buffy, you don't have to hide." Willow said, waving her hand to disperse the cloud of bad smell-combo.
Buffy's smile faded. "What? I-I mean..."
Willow closed her own nose with two fingers for a moment while raising her eyebrows.
Buffy pouted. "I know! But I don't WANT to smoke! I mean I don't want to WANT to smoke. It's not me! I bloody hate cigarettes. And I bloody well hate saying 'bloody'!!"
She slumped back against the wall and slid down on the ground. Willow sat down next to her, patting her arm.
"There, there. A few won't kill you on the spot. And after we got you back to normal you can pretend it never happened."
Buffy looked up with an even poutier face. "God, my insides must look like an ashtray by now. I hate cigarettes..." Her lip curled like a little girl about to cry.
"But I'm still dying for a smoke!!" She dropped her head into her folded arms.
Willow sighed and went on patting. "I know. Don't worry. I'm sure Spike and Anya will come through."
Buffy lifted her head up a little. "Yyyeaahh.."
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing." Buffy dropped down again.
"No really what?" Willow insisted.
"Well," Buffy sighed. "Did you have to team those two up?"
"Well she can track Halfrek at least a little, and Spike was the wisher of the wish that wasn't really a wish and that he wished he hadn't...uhm, you know what I mean."
Buffy shrugged, her face hidden again. "I know.."
Willow frowned. "What, you're thinking they took a break and went to find the nearest table to jump on??"
"No..." Buffy lifted her head up all the way now and rested it on one arm. "I don't know what I'm saying. I'm messed up and I already was messed up before they turned me into ..." she sighed and gave Willow a look. " ...'Spuffy'."
Willow smiled uneasily and shrugged. They sat in silence for a few moments before Willow spoke again: "He said...he said he'd gotten so drunk...you know when she came to do her thing, because you......had said some "nasty bits" as he put it. I take it the Oprah talk was not all that Oprahy?"
Buffy shook her head. "I...I saw Halfrek. She left his crypt..she was all disheveled and unbuttoned...." Willow raised her eyebrows.
"I don't know I just....it just got to me. Pissed me off so much. I know I told him to get away and move on, but......part of me still just wants him to look at ME....like that's how it's supposed to be."
"So when you went in....." Willow started
"It was not so much Oprah. More like Dr. Phil....if he was a Tasmanian devil on crack."
"Ouch." Willow said and thought about it for a moment.
"Did he......what did he say about Halfrek?"
"Not much. He was surprised I knew, didn't deny she'd been there but he seemed to really wonder why I was so mad......must be the that nasty empty spot where a soul should be."
Willow frowned. "Buffy, I don't know what the deal is but what I saw tonight, when he came in with you in his arms....he's as nuts about you as ever. And after the thing with Anya, he was all with the guilty, you said it yourself."
"So...what're you saying?" Buffy looked at her.
"I don't know. I just have a feeling we shouldn't trust anything when it comes to that Vengeance hussy." She gave an angry look and accompanying lip.
Buffy thought about that. "I guess, yeah. Those vengeance demons are a tricky bunch, what?" She frowned at her own slang again. "I mean, 'aren't they'?"
Willow smiled. "Buffy, let it go. You can't help but talk like that. It's just the spell. Relax, it's not that important." She giggled and continued: "I mean when you tried to pull a deliberate American accent in the kitchen earlier...."
Buffy gave her a look. "That was.....a perfectly legitimate Californian, USofA accent I'll have you know."
"Shoor, ma'am!" Willow mocked with a bad John Wayne drawl. "Wadever yoo sayy."
She giggled until even Buffy had to smile and gave her a little elbow in the ribs for her trouble.
Then Willow's face turned more serious. "So, you don't.....*feel* cold?"
Buffy shook her head. "Nope, I'm almost room temperature now, but I feel completely normal."
"I'm sorry," Willow said. "I think that by freeing your head a bit we may have shifted the energies more to other areas. Like now it may be starting to change you physically a lot faster. That's magic, action is reaction. Maybe we should have let well enough alone."
Buffy shook her head. "Nah, I'm pretty sure it's better that I know. May have been better for YOU if had let well enough alone. You shouldn't do magic Will, not even for my sake."
"You needed it." Willow said simply, but firmly. "Wouldn't be much of a friend, now would I?"
Buffy smiled and reached out to her hand. "You're the best friend anyone could have. And are you okay now? Now that you've...."
Willow sighed. "It felt....good. Doing the ritual. But then that's the problem isn't it? I'll be okay.....when there's a crisis it's always easier to block out personal stuff."
Buffy nodded. "So," she added with a slight worry in her voice. "You think I'm going to be 'Buffy the Vampire, period!' soon? Without having to die first?" Buffy asked.
"I really don't know." Willow said apologetically. "There's really no way of knowing."
Buffy laughed a little. "Guess I should be glad I'm the Slayer and not someone else right now. Could be in big trouble if someone like Faith or Kendra was around. Kendra'd probably stake me and take all 'me shirts'!"
They both had to laugh out loud at that thought. Then they sat in silence again, with nothing to do but wait.
Buffy leant her head against the wall and said with a silent weariness: "Bugger, I could use a shot of bourbon...."
** **
TBC!
CHAPTER 26: Dealing with Rack
Spike and Anya followed Rack into his room. It was larger and lighter than the waiting room, bur not that much cleaner. There was a strange large table in the middle of the room, with a small fire burning in a hole in it's center. There were chairs and couches and pillows, with odd burns and stains on them in many sizes, shapes and...colors.
Spike could only imagine the things that had gone on here since Rack had set up his 'business'. Anya looked around at the dirty torn wall paper and wrinkled her nose a bit at the various smells of the room. Some strange mixtures ranging from pleasant to pungent.
"Now then," Rack said as he turned to them. "What can I do for..." his eyes turned to Anya, "....you?"
Anya opened her mouth to speak, frowning a little again at the look on his face, but before she could say anything Spike stepped in between them. "Yeah, mate, about that....seein' how you're this high'n mighty warlock, I'm sure you can tell she's with the vengeance crowd, just like you sniffed out my bloodsucking ways back there."
Rack frowned a little but grinned too. "Yeah, sure...not that hard to spot."
"Right," Spike continued, "I also noticed you said 'another one' when you saw her, so I don't even need to ask if you happen to've seen a certain dark haired lady, yay high and in the same line of business as my friend here, do I?"
"What's it to you?" Rack asked. "Who wants to know?"
Spike straightened his back and got a little closer to Rack as he said in a lower voice: "I do, that's who. And take it easy, not here to hurt her, just want to have a word, is all."
Rack walked away around the table and sat down, laughing a little. "Sure, sure, I'll buy that. Or you wouldn't have walked in my front door. Besides I have a few spells up for that sort of thing." He rubbed his hands together. "But she paid me to hide out here. Not very client friendly of me to just let everyone in to see her."
'Paid'. Spike frowned a bit and slowly walked around the room. "Yeah......how come I'm thinking you're not talking about dollars and cents, here mate?"
Rack looked down on his hands, still rubbing, and glowing where they touched, and his smile deepened a little. "Hey man, I'm an easy going guy. I can be....flexible when it comes to payment. It's not all about the cash, you know."
He looked at Anya again. "I'd never tasted the energies of a Vengeance Demon before....couldn't pass that up. Now, I have to admit, it's an acquired taste, but once you have it...."
Anya raised her eyebrows a little. "Acquired??" she said, slightly insulted.
Spike growled a little as he slowly advanced on Rack. This guy was getting his goat now. He was blocking Buffy's rescue, treating Anya like she was some street walker and, in spite of what she'd done, even the thought of Cecily in here with him for a day got his blood up. Rack noticed and laughed as he got up.
"Well now, relax man....." he walked around Spike while he looked at him intently "We're just chatting here. We're all friends. What's your story anyway?"
He kept walking slowly and stared at him with eyes that saw more than Spike found comfortable.
"I can tell you're as soulless as they come...still, here you are, all chivalrous...only thing missing is the horse and armor...."
Spike's jaw clenched as he stood there and looked over his shoulder as Rack passed behind him. He tried to remind himself the guy was still human so his chip would kick in, and even if it wouldn't it would probably STILL end badly for him....but he really wanted to hit this guy now.
"Ahhh," Rack said like he spotted something. "There's the two vengeance ladies.....and then there's a different one......a third.....there's the real damsel in distress isn't it?" He had come full circle and was facing Spike now, close up in his face. "No soul, but....damn if you don't have a heart in there, man." He laughed. "Isn't that something else..."
Spike snarled and his face started to vamp out.
"Speaking of client friendly." Anya said, raising her hand with a quick motion to interrupt things before they got out of hand.
"What...?" Rack said, looking at her with a momentary confusion.
"Uh..client friendly. You were talking about that earlier." She smiled like a sales person. "Now I happen to run a store myself and I have to say, you could use some advice here. I mean would it kill you to clean up a little? A price list in the waiting room would probably not be a bad idea either...."
Rack turned from Spike and walked towards her. "Heh, thanks but that's not what I had in mind." He grabbed the ends of a hair lock draped over her shoulder and softly rubbed it between his fingers.
"Like I said, once you've tasted some vengeance on a girl...." He looked in her eyes with that wolfish grin again. Anya stiffened a little at his touch. "You're one too so, I'm sure it's okay for you to see her. I'm not a difficult guy. Of course, you won't mind if there's something in it for me."
"Uhm....." Anya started.
"Your power, your aura.....you smell.....fresher than her. Yet more....seasoned at the same time. I'd love to have a taste."
Anya shrugged and gave a shy, yet flattered little laugh. "Well, .....that's totally understandable." She gave a little 'p*shaw' gesture. "I am told I have a certain....appeal."
"Yeah...." Rack said and his hand reached out to her. "Hey now!" she said, slapping it away. Flattery was nice but there are limits. "I'm not even sure I like Buffy all *that* much!" she said, backing up.
Spike stepped in between them again. "Look mate, let's be reasonable eh? I know you accept money too, so why don't you just name a price."
Rack shook his head. "Got enough. That's not what I want here. Looks like we got a problem."
"Looks like we do," Spike grunted. For a moment he considered jumping the sorcerer, taking his chances, seeing as they were running out of options. Chances were slim though, he could tell the chip was already buzzing slightly at his intentions.
Suddenly his face lit up. He turned to look at Anya and grinned. "What?" she said, not understanding.
Spike looked back at Rack. "Yeah, the girl's got her assets alright. On second thought mate, I'm sure we can work something out here."
Anya's eyes grew wide.
"EXCUSE me??"
** **
"Buffy? Are you okay? You've been in there for a while." Willow asked as she knocked on the bathroom door. She heard some fumbling "Uh, yeah, sure, coming."
She hoped she wasn't still feeling sick from her hangover...or sitting there brooding about her whole situation. It was best to.. 'Is that smoke?' Willow suddenly thought, pulling her nose up. Then the toilet was flushed and the door opened, a wave of way too much toilet freshener greeted her in the face as Buffy emerged with a fake smile. The smell of potpourri doing little to mask the clouds of cigarette smoke that came along with it.
"Uhm Buffy, you don't have to hide." Willow said, waving her hand to disperse the cloud of bad smell-combo.
Buffy's smile faded. "What? I-I mean..."
Willow closed her own nose with two fingers for a moment while raising her eyebrows.
Buffy pouted. "I know! But I don't WANT to smoke! I mean I don't want to WANT to smoke. It's not me! I bloody hate cigarettes. And I bloody well hate saying 'bloody'!!"
She slumped back against the wall and slid down on the ground. Willow sat down next to her, patting her arm.
"There, there. A few won't kill you on the spot. And after we got you back to normal you can pretend it never happened."
Buffy looked up with an even poutier face. "God, my insides must look like an ashtray by now. I hate cigarettes..." Her lip curled like a little girl about to cry.
"But I'm still dying for a smoke!!" She dropped her head into her folded arms.
Willow sighed and went on patting. "I know. Don't worry. I'm sure Spike and Anya will come through."
Buffy lifted her head up a little. "Yyyeaahh.."
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing." Buffy dropped down again.
"No really what?" Willow insisted.
"Well," Buffy sighed. "Did you have to team those two up?"
"Well she can track Halfrek at least a little, and Spike was the wisher of the wish that wasn't really a wish and that he wished he hadn't...uhm, you know what I mean."
Buffy shrugged, her face hidden again. "I know.."
Willow frowned. "What, you're thinking they took a break and went to find the nearest table to jump on??"
"No..." Buffy lifted her head up all the way now and rested it on one arm. "I don't know what I'm saying. I'm messed up and I already was messed up before they turned me into ..." she sighed and gave Willow a look. " ...'Spuffy'."
Willow smiled uneasily and shrugged. They sat in silence for a few moments before Willow spoke again: "He said...he said he'd gotten so drunk...you know when she came to do her thing, because you......had said some "nasty bits" as he put it. I take it the Oprah talk was not all that Oprahy?"
Buffy shook her head. "I...I saw Halfrek. She left his crypt..she was all disheveled and unbuttoned...." Willow raised her eyebrows.
"I don't know I just....it just got to me. Pissed me off so much. I know I told him to get away and move on, but......part of me still just wants him to look at ME....like that's how it's supposed to be."
"So when you went in....." Willow started
"It was not so much Oprah. More like Dr. Phil....if he was a Tasmanian devil on crack."
"Ouch." Willow said and thought about it for a moment.
"Did he......what did he say about Halfrek?"
"Not much. He was surprised I knew, didn't deny she'd been there but he seemed to really wonder why I was so mad......must be the that nasty empty spot where a soul should be."
Willow frowned. "Buffy, I don't know what the deal is but what I saw tonight, when he came in with you in his arms....he's as nuts about you as ever. And after the thing with Anya, he was all with the guilty, you said it yourself."
"So...what're you saying?" Buffy looked at her.
"I don't know. I just have a feeling we shouldn't trust anything when it comes to that Vengeance hussy." She gave an angry look and accompanying lip.
Buffy thought about that. "I guess, yeah. Those vengeance demons are a tricky bunch, what?" She frowned at her own slang again. "I mean, 'aren't they'?"
Willow smiled. "Buffy, let it go. You can't help but talk like that. It's just the spell. Relax, it's not that important." She giggled and continued: "I mean when you tried to pull a deliberate American accent in the kitchen earlier...."
Buffy gave her a look. "That was.....a perfectly legitimate Californian, USofA accent I'll have you know."
"Shoor, ma'am!" Willow mocked with a bad John Wayne drawl. "Wadever yoo sayy."
She giggled until even Buffy had to smile and gave her a little elbow in the ribs for her trouble.
Then Willow's face turned more serious. "So, you don't.....*feel* cold?"
Buffy shook her head. "Nope, I'm almost room temperature now, but I feel completely normal."
"I'm sorry," Willow said. "I think that by freeing your head a bit we may have shifted the energies more to other areas. Like now it may be starting to change you physically a lot faster. That's magic, action is reaction. Maybe we should have let well enough alone."
Buffy shook her head. "Nah, I'm pretty sure it's better that I know. May have been better for YOU if had let well enough alone. You shouldn't do magic Will, not even for my sake."
"You needed it." Willow said simply, but firmly. "Wouldn't be much of a friend, now would I?"
Buffy smiled and reached out to her hand. "You're the best friend anyone could have. And are you okay now? Now that you've...."
Willow sighed. "It felt....good. Doing the ritual. But then that's the problem isn't it? I'll be okay.....when there's a crisis it's always easier to block out personal stuff."
Buffy nodded. "So," she added with a slight worry in her voice. "You think I'm going to be 'Buffy the Vampire, period!' soon? Without having to die first?" Buffy asked.
"I really don't know." Willow said apologetically. "There's really no way of knowing."
Buffy laughed a little. "Guess I should be glad I'm the Slayer and not someone else right now. Could be in big trouble if someone like Faith or Kendra was around. Kendra'd probably stake me and take all 'me shirts'!"
They both had to laugh out loud at that thought. Then they sat in silence again, with nothing to do but wait.
Buffy leant her head against the wall and said with a silent weariness: "Bugger, I could use a shot of bourbon...."
** **
TBC!
