Title: Family: On to LA
Author: victoriamartynne
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Spoilers: None, I think!
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA and Family: Return to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit LA and a haunted house.
Wes had set assignments for everyone now it was daytime. Angel, Cordelia, Spike and Buffy were to go down in the basement where there were no windows to search for books or papers that said what had happened in the hotel. Deaths, murders, things like that. He and Fred were going to research using the books he'd brought on ghost activity and exorcism. Gunn and Lorne had got the job of searching the attic.
The basement was dark and dingy and had no light, which was handy for Spike and Angel but meant that they had to reply on torch light.
Buffy and Cordelia found a stack of boxes near the doorway so they set about sorting through those while Angel and Spike searched the rest of the vast basement. And as Spike said 'did all the hard work'.
"What did he look like?" Buffy asked, meaning the ghost.
"Well dressed and rich. He had a suit on and a very expensive watch."
"I guess you'd know that." Buffy teased.
Cordelia grinned. "He was hung from the ceiling. His head was flopped to the side and then he came to life. He ended up behind me trying to strangle me."
Buffy shuddered. "Creepy."
"Tell me about it."
In the end they found a book filled with pictures of dead people. It looked like it was from the eighteenth century. The people in it were wearing old clothes and basically just looked old. Some were alone and some were in groups.
"Why on earth people would want to have their photo taken when they were dead is beyond me." Buffy said.
"I don't think they had any say in the matter." Cordelia added.
"Smart ass."
Buffy grabbed Cordelia's arm. "What was that?"
"What?"
"I heard a noise."
"Well, the guys are up here, maybe it was them." Cordelia suggested but stood up and held out her free hand to Buffy. The other was holding the book. "Come on, we'll go find them."
Still gripping each other's hand they felt slightly foolish when they jumped when every floorboard creaked.
"This place is very creepy." Cordelia said as she brushed a cobweb out of her hair furiously. Her elbow knocked a standing lamp over and she shrieked when if fell onto the floor with a crash.
Buffy didn't reply.
Cordelia turned and saw her gazing at something in the corner. "What have you seen?"
Buffy pointed to the mirror in the corner. From Cordelia's angle she could see nothing in it.
Not again, she thought, as she stepped behind Buffy's shoulder to see what she was seeing.
As suspected there was a figure in it. This time Cordelia didn't bother to turn around.
It was a woman dressed in an old petticoat and apron. Her face was covered in burns and scorches, as if she had been in a fire or had something hot thrown on her.
The woman began moving closer to them in the mirror. Buffy's grip on Cordelia's hand tightened.
"Oh God." Cordelia breathed.
"What's up ladies?" Spike's voice interrupted the silence.
Both women jumped and shrieked. "Jesus Christ Spike!" Cordelia yelled.
"What's wrong?" Angel asked, stepping into view from around Spike's back.
"Angel." Cordelia gasped in relief before turning back to the mirror. She was gone. "There was another one."
"A ghost?" He asked.
Buffy nodded. "A woman, in the mirror over there."
"She's not there now." Spike pointed out.
"I know that, it must have been you with your great." Buffy began but was stopped by Angel.
"Did you find anything?"
Cordelia gave him the book. "You?"
He shook his head and thumbed through the book.
"Okay, then why don't we go downstairs and look through this and find out what everyone else found out." He suggested and put his arm around Cordelia's shoulders. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Everyone once again met up in the lounge.
Buffy and Cordelia had studied the book and pointed out the two ghosts they had seen and now Claire and al were looking through it to identify the ghosts they'd seen.
Wes and Fred had found two exorcisms that could be used. One was humane but needed the background of every ghost being exorcised. The other was a nasty exorcism used to send evil spirits back to hell. The only problem with that one was that they couldn't tell if the ghosts deserved to go to hell or not and Claire was insisting that they really couldn't play God.
Gunn and Lorne hadn't found anything in the attic. It was completely empty but filthy so they'd been the last to arrive having stopped of to shower before they came downstairs.
"So, what now?" Cordelia voiced the question everyone was thinking.
"I have no idea." Wes admitted. "Why don't we all go upstairs, rest for a while and then come down for dinner. Perhaps we can do some exploring tonight?"
"Sounds like a plan." Gunn agreed.
Angel flopped on Cordelia's bed while she put on something more comfortable. When she was throwing clothes on this morning she hadn't realised she'd put on something that wasn't comfortable. More at home in a pair of jeans and a sweater she flopped down next to him.
"I missed you last night." She told him.
"I missed you too."
"Do you think Claire and Al will let you sleep here tonight?" She mused and snuggled into the crook of his arm.
He snorted. "No."
She sighed. "We could pretend we went out and got married today."
He smiled. "I don't think they'll believe that."
"Me neither, but we could try." She replied desperately.
He laughed. "You missed me that much huh?"
She nodded and closed her eyes.
Gunn was advancing on Fred in her room. "Girl, Buffy and Cordelia both went to see their man last night, where was you?"
"Charles, I didn't know they did that. If I'd have known I'd have come with them." She said softly, trying to pacify him.
He grabbed her and they fell onto the bed together. "We'll just have to make up for lost time now."
He leaned in to kiss her but she placed a finger on his lips. "How did you know they came across, I didn't."
"I heard them. I got the two vamps on each side of me." He grinned wickedly. "The funny part was when Claire caught Angel and Barbie."
Fred giggled. "Charles, you're a monster."
He smiled and kissed her.
"I was thinking." Cordelia informed Angel.
"Uh oh." He replied teasingly.
She slapped his chest. "I was thinking that maybe we don't have to wait until you've shanshued for us to get married."
"You want to get married now?" He answered, opening his eyes.
"Not now, maybe a few months, a year." She told him and propped herself up on her elbow. "There isn't really a reason for us to wait, is there?"
"I guess not. I just thought you'd like to wait, so then you were marrying a human and not a vampire. And then you don't have to explain to your family why the ceremony is at night or why the groom doesn't have a last name."
"Family? You think I'd invite family? AI and the Scoobies are my family. And I'm pretty sure all of them know you're a vampire." She smiled. "Why don't we? We already have a family."
"We could." He supposed. "If you don't mind marrying a dead man."
She slapped him again. "Don't say that. You're not dead; the man I saw this morning was dead."
He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. "Sorry baby, if you really want to then."
A piercing scream cut into his words.
"That sounded like Fred." Cordelia told him jumping off the bed and heading to the door,
Angel hot on her heels.
They opened her door to find a very naked Gunn comforting a half naked Fred.
Cordelia laughed gleefully. "What's up Gunn? Your manly body scare her?"
He looked at her in annoyance and covered himself. "Shut the door will you?"
They stepped into the room and shut the door.
"What happened?" Angel asked.
"She saw a ghost in the mirror." Gunn answered for her.
Cordelia went to sit on the side of the bed. "What did it look like?"
"A little girl. She was holding her head in her hand and she was bleeding." Fred replied weakly, visibly shaken.
Cordelia nodded and squeezed Fred's hand. "I'll get the book off Claire and then when you feel ready you can look and see if she's in there."
Fred nodded.
"We'll leave you to, uh, get sorted out." Angel said and left the room with Cordelia.
When they were back in Cordelia's room he told her what he thought.
"Three ghosts in one day, that's pretty extreme so we must be dealing with a lot of trapped spirits here. I think we're looking in the wrong direction. We need to look into the history of this place in the newspapers, see if there were any mass murders of unexplained deaths. Something must have happened for there to be so many ghosts. If we've seen three in one day we could see a hell of a lot more in a week."
She nodded her agreement. "Why don't you tell Wes? I'll call Willow and ask her to research on the net for me."
He nodded and kissed her goodbye.
She picked up the phone and dialled the Hyperion's number. Tara answered and Cordelia quickly explained what she needed doing and then spoke to Connor for a couple of minutes before hanging up.
When Angel came back into the room she was dressed for dinner and ready to leave the dank room.
"Should I get changed?" He asked.
She shook her head. "You look fine. Come on, I'm sick of this place."
Seated around the dinner table Fred still looked shaken and rather pale.
"Can I sleep with you tonight Cordy?" She asked when they'd finished eating.
Cordelia nodded. "I was going to ask someone to sleep with me. The man this morning freaked me out too much to stay in there on my own."
"Hey, I don't want to sleep on my own." Buffy interrupted.
"Well, aren't you just the scardiest slayer I've ever seen." Cordelia taunted.
Buffy glared at Cordelia. "Vampires and demons I can handle. But ghosts give me the wiggins."
Cordelia smirked. "Do you want to come sleep on my floor?"
"Why do I get the floor?" She complained.
"Because Fred asked first." Cordelia replied simply.
Angel leaned across to whisper in Cordelia's ear. "Any chance of you sneaking out tonight?"
She laughed softly. "With Buffy and Fred on the lookout for ghosts I'm going to go with no. But I could go to the bathroom in about ten minutes if you want to go and ring Willow."
He looked at her blankly.
"Say you're going to ring Willow and I'll meet you in the bathroom in about ten minutes." She explained with a sigh.
It clicked in his brain and he shot her a sheepish smile as he excused himself.
Cordelia made aimless conversation with Lorne and Wes before heading to the bathroom.
The only door closed had to be Angel so she tapped slightly and went in when he opened it.
She stared at him, her eyes black with desire and then they lunged at each other in passion.
He had just thrust in her when the door to the bathroom opened. Her eyes pleaded with him as he clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Ssh." He whispered.
Lorne's voice could be easily recognised as he sang quietly.
Her eyes were begging him to move. She wasn't bothered how he moved as long as he stopped torturing her.
He quietly slipped a hand down her body to massage her pulsing nub. Her muscles were clenching around him and almost driving him mad with pleasure.
She almost let out a groan as his fingers began to drive her over the edge.
By the time Lorne had left they were both way out of control and began ravaging each other.
Author: victoriamartynne
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Spoilers: None, I think!
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA and Family: Return to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit LA and a haunted house.
Wes had set assignments for everyone now it was daytime. Angel, Cordelia, Spike and Buffy were to go down in the basement where there were no windows to search for books or papers that said what had happened in the hotel. Deaths, murders, things like that. He and Fred were going to research using the books he'd brought on ghost activity and exorcism. Gunn and Lorne had got the job of searching the attic.
The basement was dark and dingy and had no light, which was handy for Spike and Angel but meant that they had to reply on torch light.
Buffy and Cordelia found a stack of boxes near the doorway so they set about sorting through those while Angel and Spike searched the rest of the vast basement. And as Spike said 'did all the hard work'.
"What did he look like?" Buffy asked, meaning the ghost.
"Well dressed and rich. He had a suit on and a very expensive watch."
"I guess you'd know that." Buffy teased.
Cordelia grinned. "He was hung from the ceiling. His head was flopped to the side and then he came to life. He ended up behind me trying to strangle me."
Buffy shuddered. "Creepy."
"Tell me about it."
In the end they found a book filled with pictures of dead people. It looked like it was from the eighteenth century. The people in it were wearing old clothes and basically just looked old. Some were alone and some were in groups.
"Why on earth people would want to have their photo taken when they were dead is beyond me." Buffy said.
"I don't think they had any say in the matter." Cordelia added.
"Smart ass."
Buffy grabbed Cordelia's arm. "What was that?"
"What?"
"I heard a noise."
"Well, the guys are up here, maybe it was them." Cordelia suggested but stood up and held out her free hand to Buffy. The other was holding the book. "Come on, we'll go find them."
Still gripping each other's hand they felt slightly foolish when they jumped when every floorboard creaked.
"This place is very creepy." Cordelia said as she brushed a cobweb out of her hair furiously. Her elbow knocked a standing lamp over and she shrieked when if fell onto the floor with a crash.
Buffy didn't reply.
Cordelia turned and saw her gazing at something in the corner. "What have you seen?"
Buffy pointed to the mirror in the corner. From Cordelia's angle she could see nothing in it.
Not again, she thought, as she stepped behind Buffy's shoulder to see what she was seeing.
As suspected there was a figure in it. This time Cordelia didn't bother to turn around.
It was a woman dressed in an old petticoat and apron. Her face was covered in burns and scorches, as if she had been in a fire or had something hot thrown on her.
The woman began moving closer to them in the mirror. Buffy's grip on Cordelia's hand tightened.
"Oh God." Cordelia breathed.
"What's up ladies?" Spike's voice interrupted the silence.
Both women jumped and shrieked. "Jesus Christ Spike!" Cordelia yelled.
"What's wrong?" Angel asked, stepping into view from around Spike's back.
"Angel." Cordelia gasped in relief before turning back to the mirror. She was gone. "There was another one."
"A ghost?" He asked.
Buffy nodded. "A woman, in the mirror over there."
"She's not there now." Spike pointed out.
"I know that, it must have been you with your great." Buffy began but was stopped by Angel.
"Did you find anything?"
Cordelia gave him the book. "You?"
He shook his head and thumbed through the book.
"Okay, then why don't we go downstairs and look through this and find out what everyone else found out." He suggested and put his arm around Cordelia's shoulders. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Everyone once again met up in the lounge.
Buffy and Cordelia had studied the book and pointed out the two ghosts they had seen and now Claire and al were looking through it to identify the ghosts they'd seen.
Wes and Fred had found two exorcisms that could be used. One was humane but needed the background of every ghost being exorcised. The other was a nasty exorcism used to send evil spirits back to hell. The only problem with that one was that they couldn't tell if the ghosts deserved to go to hell or not and Claire was insisting that they really couldn't play God.
Gunn and Lorne hadn't found anything in the attic. It was completely empty but filthy so they'd been the last to arrive having stopped of to shower before they came downstairs.
"So, what now?" Cordelia voiced the question everyone was thinking.
"I have no idea." Wes admitted. "Why don't we all go upstairs, rest for a while and then come down for dinner. Perhaps we can do some exploring tonight?"
"Sounds like a plan." Gunn agreed.
Angel flopped on Cordelia's bed while she put on something more comfortable. When she was throwing clothes on this morning she hadn't realised she'd put on something that wasn't comfortable. More at home in a pair of jeans and a sweater she flopped down next to him.
"I missed you last night." She told him.
"I missed you too."
"Do you think Claire and Al will let you sleep here tonight?" She mused and snuggled into the crook of his arm.
He snorted. "No."
She sighed. "We could pretend we went out and got married today."
He smiled. "I don't think they'll believe that."
"Me neither, but we could try." She replied desperately.
He laughed. "You missed me that much huh?"
She nodded and closed her eyes.
Gunn was advancing on Fred in her room. "Girl, Buffy and Cordelia both went to see their man last night, where was you?"
"Charles, I didn't know they did that. If I'd have known I'd have come with them." She said softly, trying to pacify him.
He grabbed her and they fell onto the bed together. "We'll just have to make up for lost time now."
He leaned in to kiss her but she placed a finger on his lips. "How did you know they came across, I didn't."
"I heard them. I got the two vamps on each side of me." He grinned wickedly. "The funny part was when Claire caught Angel and Barbie."
Fred giggled. "Charles, you're a monster."
He smiled and kissed her.
"I was thinking." Cordelia informed Angel.
"Uh oh." He replied teasingly.
She slapped his chest. "I was thinking that maybe we don't have to wait until you've shanshued for us to get married."
"You want to get married now?" He answered, opening his eyes.
"Not now, maybe a few months, a year." She told him and propped herself up on her elbow. "There isn't really a reason for us to wait, is there?"
"I guess not. I just thought you'd like to wait, so then you were marrying a human and not a vampire. And then you don't have to explain to your family why the ceremony is at night or why the groom doesn't have a last name."
"Family? You think I'd invite family? AI and the Scoobies are my family. And I'm pretty sure all of them know you're a vampire." She smiled. "Why don't we? We already have a family."
"We could." He supposed. "If you don't mind marrying a dead man."
She slapped him again. "Don't say that. You're not dead; the man I saw this morning was dead."
He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. "Sorry baby, if you really want to then."
A piercing scream cut into his words.
"That sounded like Fred." Cordelia told him jumping off the bed and heading to the door,
Angel hot on her heels.
They opened her door to find a very naked Gunn comforting a half naked Fred.
Cordelia laughed gleefully. "What's up Gunn? Your manly body scare her?"
He looked at her in annoyance and covered himself. "Shut the door will you?"
They stepped into the room and shut the door.
"What happened?" Angel asked.
"She saw a ghost in the mirror." Gunn answered for her.
Cordelia went to sit on the side of the bed. "What did it look like?"
"A little girl. She was holding her head in her hand and she was bleeding." Fred replied weakly, visibly shaken.
Cordelia nodded and squeezed Fred's hand. "I'll get the book off Claire and then when you feel ready you can look and see if she's in there."
Fred nodded.
"We'll leave you to, uh, get sorted out." Angel said and left the room with Cordelia.
When they were back in Cordelia's room he told her what he thought.
"Three ghosts in one day, that's pretty extreme so we must be dealing with a lot of trapped spirits here. I think we're looking in the wrong direction. We need to look into the history of this place in the newspapers, see if there were any mass murders of unexplained deaths. Something must have happened for there to be so many ghosts. If we've seen three in one day we could see a hell of a lot more in a week."
She nodded her agreement. "Why don't you tell Wes? I'll call Willow and ask her to research on the net for me."
He nodded and kissed her goodbye.
She picked up the phone and dialled the Hyperion's number. Tara answered and Cordelia quickly explained what she needed doing and then spoke to Connor for a couple of minutes before hanging up.
When Angel came back into the room she was dressed for dinner and ready to leave the dank room.
"Should I get changed?" He asked.
She shook her head. "You look fine. Come on, I'm sick of this place."
Seated around the dinner table Fred still looked shaken and rather pale.
"Can I sleep with you tonight Cordy?" She asked when they'd finished eating.
Cordelia nodded. "I was going to ask someone to sleep with me. The man this morning freaked me out too much to stay in there on my own."
"Hey, I don't want to sleep on my own." Buffy interrupted.
"Well, aren't you just the scardiest slayer I've ever seen." Cordelia taunted.
Buffy glared at Cordelia. "Vampires and demons I can handle. But ghosts give me the wiggins."
Cordelia smirked. "Do you want to come sleep on my floor?"
"Why do I get the floor?" She complained.
"Because Fred asked first." Cordelia replied simply.
Angel leaned across to whisper in Cordelia's ear. "Any chance of you sneaking out tonight?"
She laughed softly. "With Buffy and Fred on the lookout for ghosts I'm going to go with no. But I could go to the bathroom in about ten minutes if you want to go and ring Willow."
He looked at her blankly.
"Say you're going to ring Willow and I'll meet you in the bathroom in about ten minutes." She explained with a sigh.
It clicked in his brain and he shot her a sheepish smile as he excused himself.
Cordelia made aimless conversation with Lorne and Wes before heading to the bathroom.
The only door closed had to be Angel so she tapped slightly and went in when he opened it.
She stared at him, her eyes black with desire and then they lunged at each other in passion.
He had just thrust in her when the door to the bathroom opened. Her eyes pleaded with him as he clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Ssh." He whispered.
Lorne's voice could be easily recognised as he sang quietly.
Her eyes were begging him to move. She wasn't bothered how he moved as long as he stopped torturing her.
He quietly slipped a hand down her body to massage her pulsing nub. Her muscles were clenching around him and almost driving him mad with pleasure.
She almost let out a groan as his fingers began to drive her over the edge.
By the time Lorne had left they were both way out of control and began ravaging each other.
