I don't own BTVS or Angel and if I did, do you think I would share? Would
you? I don't own the characters in this story except for a select few and
they really don't matter that much. Egad! Apparently, I'm making spelling
errors, now. (Yes, I went back and saw my gaffes. I'll try better. Spelling
mistakes can be distracting. I know from experience.) Oh, yeah and guys...
No Lindsey slash. (Et tu, Cancerious?) For lack of a better phrase, Angel
was being a dick. Plus, Angel wasn't trying to make a double entendre. I
was. I just made Spike have a dirty mind for a second. I found it amusing.
Just try to trust me. I may tick you off every now and then, but I'll try
not to disgust you. Okay, thanks for putting up with neurotic little me,
guys. Anyway, Joss is boss and I am... high? Nope, but it rhymes. Hey, give
me a break. I'm trying to stay original. Okay, love and kisses to all of
you reviewers out there and...
On with the show.
::Carpe Diem- Bloodflowers::
Spike had been questioning Lindsey the whole time they had been on the road. "She's your sister?" He pushed the head of the little hula girl on Lindsey's dashboard and watched it sway. "She doesn't resemble you, at all."
"No. I guess she doesn't." Lindsey glanced over at Spike and quirked an eyebrow. "You like Kai Laia?"
"What's that? Some type of fish?" Spike pushed the girl again and watched her hips bob. "Angel needs one of these."
"Kai Laia is her name." Lindsey flicked his right hand at the wobbling doll. "Andy gave her to me for Father's Day, last year." Lindsey put his hand back on the wheel and sighed. "His own dad gave him up when he was born. He was a jerk for leaving them. Amelie has been doing her best, I suppose, but Andy needs a male figure around."
"Yup. One with a leash." Spike caught the frown Lindsey had taken on and shrugged. He really didn't know Lindsey well enough, to care whether he was making him upset or mad. In all honesty, he had only ridden with Lindsey to 'keep an eye on him and his evil hand'. Angel was a bitch, he decided. "What's this about an evil hand."
"It's a long story." Lindsey slowed down to a stop and waited for the light to change. He couldn't believe the situation he was in. Two weeks in LA and he already needed Angel's help. He flexed his wrists and sighed. On another note, his old truck was sputtering again. He would have to get that checked. Damn.
"Well, I have the time. If you don't have the breath, then give me the footnotes." Spike insisted. "Come on, now. Gimme a good story." Spike pointed up at the traffic light. "Pay attention or you'll miss it, altogether."
A loud beep from behind made Lindsey jerk his head up and step, a little too hard, on the gas. He could only assume what special words Angel was calling him back there. "Angel and me, plus sharp pointy objects, equals Star Wars. Good enough story?"
"Riveting." Spike rolled his eyes. "That the best you can do?"
"On short notice. Maybe, I'll write my memoirs and you can have first peak. Of course, mine wouldn't be half as interesting as yours." Lindsey thought, aloud.
"Well, he never said 'Spike, I am your father.' It was always a given, in my case. And maybe there wasn't as much blood or guts, but that's not what makes a good story." Spike checked the rear view mirror and tried to find his sire's, or at least Gunn's, face in the little piece of reflective plastic.
"You have no idea what you're talking about." Lindsey laughed. Was this guy for real? Had Angel really not told Spike anything about him? He figured he wouldn't have been a main topic, but at least he could have been a... subtopic.
"Sure I do." Spike insisted. "Contrary to popular belief, I've read loads of great books and very few of them were centered on killing and torture."
"I sold my soul to a firm called Wolfram and Hart. In the war of darkness and light, I fought on the side of darkness and won many battles. Blood, guts, and gore have no effect on me, anymore. Most of my clients were demons of some sort. One guy, a Lirnchurl demon, actually tried to pay me with dog entrails."
"Then he was trying to stiff you. The viscera aren't worth anything, unless they come from puppies." Spike looked over at Lindsey, who was now a little paler. ""No effect, eh?" Spike shook his head. "They are used in a spell that gives you your heart's desire. That's why Lirnchurl demons pay with parts. They can't use cash, but they can use magic."
"Oh." Lindsey turned the truck into the zoo entrance and pulled into the yard. "Well, I guess we should get in there." Lindsey waited until he saw Angel and Gunn pull up next to him and step out of the car, closing the doors behind them. He stepped out of his truck and Spike came around the back.
Spike threw Angel a look and nodded over at Lindsey. "I think we should leave him here."
Lindsey frowned at Spike. "I'll be fine. I might even be able to help with Andy." Lindsey's head jerked, when a loud howl broke the silence of the night.
Angel shook his head. "I think Spike's right. You may get overly protective or something." Angel kept a straight face, as Lindsey glared at him. "I believe it's in the best interest of your nephew." Angel turned on his heel and made his way to the large gate that protected the outside world from the zoo or, in this case, the zoo from the outside world.
"He threw out the trump and you know it. Just wait here for us and we'll have him back to you, as soon as you can say furry faced nephew." Spike tried to assure Lindsey. He patted the man's shoulder, in sympathetic gesture and watched his Sire size up the wall. After Angel scaled the barricade Spike leaned into toward Lindsey and whispered low enough that the older vampire wouldn't hear. "If it were me or Connor, we would be very reluctant to send Angelus in there. Try not to fret." Spike followed in the footsteps of his Sire and scaled the wall with an easy grace. When he landed on the other side he came face to face with a slightly perturbed Angel.
"What took you so long?" Angel's nose flared, as he tried to hide his disdain toward Lindsey. It was impossible. "Were you re-reassuring your new bestest friend?"
Spike's mouth dropped open, in shock. "You're a psycho." Spike tried to push past Angel, so he could get to the main gate and let Gunn in, but Angel grabbed his arm and held him in place. "Could we *not* do this?" Spike tried not to sound like an annoyed child, but it really was no use. In all the technical ways, he was an annoyed 'child'.
"If I didn't know any better I would say that you were already making ties with that..." Angel thought of a word that would best suit Lindsey. "...monster." It didn't really describe the man on the other side of the wall. It was just all he could come up with.
"If I didn't know better, I would say that you actually cared! Since when do you really care, Angel?" Spike pushed Angel's arm off of him and stared up into eyes. "If we're going to do this now, we may as well do it right. You're obsessive."
"This is what you didn't want to do? Throw insults at me? Well, to tell the truth, I'm not too fond of it either." Angel turned to walk away, but Spike grabbed him in very much the same way as he had grabbed Spike, only moments before.
"You're also possessive, oppressive, depressive, and suppressive." Spike's voice was calm, but everything else about him was animated. His hands moved, as he talked and his eyes seemed bluer than ever.
Angel gave a small smile and shook his head. "You're not a poet anymore, but you can still rhyme."
Spike shook his head. "Damn it, Angelus! That's what I'm talking about! You know that I never could rhyme."
"Now, you're upset that I gave you credit for something as unimportant as that?" Angel was thoroughly confused.
"Maybe you think it was unimportant, but it mattered to me. It was a part of me. If you never drank Irish whiskey or listened to those horrible Gaelic singers anymore, don't you think you would have felt some sort of loss?"
"So, you want to write poetry again?" Angel didn't know what to do to make Spike *not* angry, again. He really wasn't sure what he had done to make him angry in the first place, but he was positive that it was his fault, some how.
Spike was down-right disgusted. Was Angel listening to him, at all? "You are a very daft man, with a very thick skull. Please, don't talk to me, until you, at least, pretend that you have filled it with a brain." Spike heard a noise from behind him and looked around to find Gunn making his way up the fence. Spike headed toward the gate, in a jog. Gunn was half way over the entryway, trying not to get impaled by the spikes up top. "Any luck?"
"Yes. No thanks to you and him!" Gunn pulled his left leg over the spiked area and got caught. "Shit." He tugged his leg and lost his hold on the gate, making him tumble to the ground, in a heap. Gunn lay there catching his breath and stared up at Spike. "Is it... bad?" He asked in between deep breaths.
"It's not bleeding." Spike said, as he examined the leg that had gotten caught on the gate.
"No. I meant the rip. These are new pants." Gunn sat up slowly and glanced down at his pant leg. "Well, there goes my paycheck."
"Why did you wear new pants to work?" Spike paused a moment, in thought. "More over, why do you get paid and I don't!?"
Gunn pushed himself up from the ground and dusted off the back of his pants. "Why would you have to get paid Spike? Your blood daddy provides everything for you."
"Blood daddy?" Spike was outraged. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, isn't that what a Sire is?" Gunn tried to look as educated on the subject as he could, but without Wesley to back him up, he knew he was flying blind. He knew nothing of the childe/sire relationship. He knew that vampires were killing machines, on average, and that you had to kill them before they could kill you. That was the natural order of things. Everything about Spike and Angel practically shouted unnatural, and he figured if he could keep up with whatever curse or prophecy came out about them each week, he would be doing all right.
Spike narrowed his gaze at the man and sniffed the air. He turned his head to the side and saw the outline of his sire in the shadows. "Angel wants our help. Let's go."
"Wait. You can read his mind?" Now, that would be neat, Gunn decided, as he pulled out his tranquilizer gun.
"I can read his stance. He thinks we're wasting time... which we are. He can smell the blood in the air. I can smell it, so I know he can. We're close." Another howl broke the night air. "Come on." Spike headed over toward Angel and sighed when the older vampire took a cautious step out of the shadows. He looked tired, but not angry. "Smell it?"
"Blood." It was all he said. It was all he needed to say. Spike knew that there would be carnage around the next bend, just as well as he did. Gunn had to have figured it out by the looks of it. The man was definitely a little less than eager to do this job. Angel reached behind his back and pulled a gun out from under his coat. He handed it to Spike and nodded. "I'll get him to attack me and you shoot. Gunn you stay here, in case he gets past us."
"What if I miss the wolf and hit you?" Spike watched the smile flitter across Angel's features, when he looked back at him.
"You wouldn't miss, unless you were trying. You're better than that."
"What if I miss?" Spike gave his best look of impertinence and Angel had to laugh.
"Just remember who feeds you." Angel said jokingly, as he walked away from Gunn and toward the smell of blood.
"Yeah, I can't seem to forget." Spike muttered under his breath.
"What's that?" Angel asked, as he looked back at his childe.
"Nothing." Spike loaded the weapon and stalked after his sire.
Angel stopped near the entrance to the gazelles, which were crying out in strangled voices. "He must be a fast little thing." Angel gave Spike a mock- pleading look. "Please don't miss."
"You should trust me, Sire." Spike cocked his gun and cocked a grin. "I always get my man... or dog, whatever the case may be."
Angel ran up to the wall of the gazelle pen and hopped down to the leveled off grazing area. He landed on both feet, crouched low to the ground. He scanned the area and sniffed the air. He couldn't sense any living thing, let alone a wild werewolf child and a pack of frightened gazelle. He got up from his crouching position and walked the perimeter of the pen. There were dead carcasses scattered around the area, but nothing more that he could see.
Then, he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He stalked toward the movement, in the shadows, and came up behind the darkened figure. He pounced with all of his force and knocked it off of its feet. It grunted and went down with a thud. The figure squirmed and growled, causing Angel to have to tighten his grip to an uncomfortable amount of pressure. The thing would be crushed if they continued like this. "Stop moving or I'll crush you." The figure's movement fell still and Angel had enough time to realize that the *thing* was really a person... or something that resembled a person. It wore clothes. "Who are you?"
"Mis..." The person gasped out. "Missy. I'm... Missy. I didn't... kill them. I... swear." The women frantically waved at the dead gazelle and then gripped the cold, damp ground in horror.
Angel let his grip loosen. "Missy? You were the one who took Andy out." He got up from the ground and helped the woman up. She was about five foot ten and one hundred and fifty pounds. She wasn't a heavy woman, definitely no hard task for Angel, but she had gone rigid with shock, therefore very awkward to handle. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I thought you might have been Andy."
"You were going to tackle a werewolf?" The woman asked doubtfully, while she tried to let some of the tension slide out of her body. She reached her right hand over her left shoulder and started massaging away the tightness she found there.
"I have someone up top, there." Angel pointed up to where Spike sat, leaning precariously over the edge of the wall. "He has tranquilizer darts. I was bait."
The woman stared at Angel and took in the details of his person. Handsome man, smooth faced, wearing an expensive pair of shoes. "You're not a hunter, are you?" Missy reasserted herself and shook her head. "That wasn't meant to be a question. You're not a hunter."
Angel shook his head. "Not technically. We were hired to bring him home, by Andy's mom. That's what we intend on doing."
Missy nodded, solemnly. "I screwed up and other people are having to pay for it."
Angel shook his head and glanced up at Spike... who was no longer on the wall. Spike really wasn't the most reliable man to have backing you up. A loud howl/yelp and a tug on his shirtsleeve broke Angel's ponderings. He looked over at the woman, who was frantic.
"That's him. That's Andy. He's being hurt. Help him, please."
Angel reacted immediately. His thoughts, naturally, turned to Spike and his stream of bad luck. He had to get up that wall. As soon as he had thought it, it was so. He had cleared the wall, with little more than a jump. What he saw when he got to the top wasn't really that shocking. Spike was sprawled out on his back gripping his stomach with one hand and clutching the used dart gun in the other hand. Angel hurried over to his battered childe and leaned down, over him. "You all right?"
"I got him twice before he got me." Spike said with a shaky smile.
"That's not what I asked." Angel pulled Spike's hand away from his abdomen and pulled at his shirt.
"If you wanted a peak, all you had to do was ask." Spike coughed and pushed at Angel's hands. "I would of said no, but at least you would have asked." Spike pushed himself up into a sitting position and grunted. "He just knocked the air out of me, is all." Spike shook his head, roughly. "There musta' been three of 'em."
"Three werewolves?" Angel asked. He didn't even bother hiding his confusion.
"Keep up, Angel. Do you think I would have gotten away without a scratch, if it had been three werewolves? They were men. They had a big sack that smelled like... bloody, puppy breath." Spike jumped up to his feet and glanced behind Angel. "Who's the bint?"
Angel looked around and saw Missy quietly making her way toward them. "Spike, meet Missy."
Spike glared at the woman and took a few threatening steps her way. "It's your fault we're out here."
"I figured Andy needed a day out in the sunlight. Time got away from us and..." Missy took a deep breath and let it out in a hiss. "... he got away from me."
"They're all the same, Angel." Spike nodded slowly, as he stalked toward the woman. "Careless and stupid. That's all that you people are. Your kind disgusts me more than my own kind. That says a lot... Missy." Spike emphasized both syllables, as he stared the woman down. "Your little pup is now in a doggy bag. Who knows what these people will do with him, if we don't get him away from them."
"Well, they can't do anything, now. They'll have to wait for tomorrow. The suns about to come up." Angel watched the sky and then looked back at his childe, who was still glaring at the object of his annoyance. "Spike, did you hear me? The sun's going to be up in ten minutes. We have to get to the car."
Spike just snorted. "You make me ill."
Angel had stood by and watched the woman turn pale, but he was not going to watch her crumble. "That's enough, boy."
Spike shrugged and turned his back on her. "She's not worth a sunburn." He stalked away from the pair and headed to were Gunn was supposed to be standing watch.
Angel made a helpless gesture to the woman and then just settled on shrugging. "I'm not going to ask you to excuse his comments. You were very careless. I do believe that you care about Andy, though, and if you know anything that would help us, we would appreciate it."
Missy nodded. "I think I may know something that could be of use."
"Good." Angel said with a small smile. He waited a couple of silent moment and finally grew impatient. "What is it?"
"You should probably check up on his dad. He's a dangerous man. He deals in Andy's kind. Not just that. He also messes around with magicks and demons. We're all afraid of him. Not Andy, mind you, but he's just a kid." Missy took a deep cleansing breath. "He's a little shorter than me, medium length sable hair, if he hasn't cut or colored it, and his name is Lindsey."
Angel cocked an eyebrow and nodded. "Of course, it is."
TBC
-I am so very sorry for taking so long in getting this out. I have had my cousin in town and she is my closest friend. We had a lot of catching up to do. She should be going home next Wednesday, so my writing speed should get back to normal around that time. Thanks for being so forgiving and faithful. I'll try not to let you down.-
--Another note- I'm sure that you all have questions about what I'm going to do with the story. That's good! I wanted you to. Just know that I don't expect for there to be any Lindsey slash, or even any Lindsey undertones. I love the man with all of my heart, but I'd rather be tortured a million ways from Sunday, before I let him take Angel or Spike away from me.--
---The subtitle was Bloodflowers. It's a song (and CD) by The Cure, who I love to pieces.---
On with the show.
::Carpe Diem- Bloodflowers::
Spike had been questioning Lindsey the whole time they had been on the road. "She's your sister?" He pushed the head of the little hula girl on Lindsey's dashboard and watched it sway. "She doesn't resemble you, at all."
"No. I guess she doesn't." Lindsey glanced over at Spike and quirked an eyebrow. "You like Kai Laia?"
"What's that? Some type of fish?" Spike pushed the girl again and watched her hips bob. "Angel needs one of these."
"Kai Laia is her name." Lindsey flicked his right hand at the wobbling doll. "Andy gave her to me for Father's Day, last year." Lindsey put his hand back on the wheel and sighed. "His own dad gave him up when he was born. He was a jerk for leaving them. Amelie has been doing her best, I suppose, but Andy needs a male figure around."
"Yup. One with a leash." Spike caught the frown Lindsey had taken on and shrugged. He really didn't know Lindsey well enough, to care whether he was making him upset or mad. In all honesty, he had only ridden with Lindsey to 'keep an eye on him and his evil hand'. Angel was a bitch, he decided. "What's this about an evil hand."
"It's a long story." Lindsey slowed down to a stop and waited for the light to change. He couldn't believe the situation he was in. Two weeks in LA and he already needed Angel's help. He flexed his wrists and sighed. On another note, his old truck was sputtering again. He would have to get that checked. Damn.
"Well, I have the time. If you don't have the breath, then give me the footnotes." Spike insisted. "Come on, now. Gimme a good story." Spike pointed up at the traffic light. "Pay attention or you'll miss it, altogether."
A loud beep from behind made Lindsey jerk his head up and step, a little too hard, on the gas. He could only assume what special words Angel was calling him back there. "Angel and me, plus sharp pointy objects, equals Star Wars. Good enough story?"
"Riveting." Spike rolled his eyes. "That the best you can do?"
"On short notice. Maybe, I'll write my memoirs and you can have first peak. Of course, mine wouldn't be half as interesting as yours." Lindsey thought, aloud.
"Well, he never said 'Spike, I am your father.' It was always a given, in my case. And maybe there wasn't as much blood or guts, but that's not what makes a good story." Spike checked the rear view mirror and tried to find his sire's, or at least Gunn's, face in the little piece of reflective plastic.
"You have no idea what you're talking about." Lindsey laughed. Was this guy for real? Had Angel really not told Spike anything about him? He figured he wouldn't have been a main topic, but at least he could have been a... subtopic.
"Sure I do." Spike insisted. "Contrary to popular belief, I've read loads of great books and very few of them were centered on killing and torture."
"I sold my soul to a firm called Wolfram and Hart. In the war of darkness and light, I fought on the side of darkness and won many battles. Blood, guts, and gore have no effect on me, anymore. Most of my clients were demons of some sort. One guy, a Lirnchurl demon, actually tried to pay me with dog entrails."
"Then he was trying to stiff you. The viscera aren't worth anything, unless they come from puppies." Spike looked over at Lindsey, who was now a little paler. ""No effect, eh?" Spike shook his head. "They are used in a spell that gives you your heart's desire. That's why Lirnchurl demons pay with parts. They can't use cash, but they can use magic."
"Oh." Lindsey turned the truck into the zoo entrance and pulled into the yard. "Well, I guess we should get in there." Lindsey waited until he saw Angel and Gunn pull up next to him and step out of the car, closing the doors behind them. He stepped out of his truck and Spike came around the back.
Spike threw Angel a look and nodded over at Lindsey. "I think we should leave him here."
Lindsey frowned at Spike. "I'll be fine. I might even be able to help with Andy." Lindsey's head jerked, when a loud howl broke the silence of the night.
Angel shook his head. "I think Spike's right. You may get overly protective or something." Angel kept a straight face, as Lindsey glared at him. "I believe it's in the best interest of your nephew." Angel turned on his heel and made his way to the large gate that protected the outside world from the zoo or, in this case, the zoo from the outside world.
"He threw out the trump and you know it. Just wait here for us and we'll have him back to you, as soon as you can say furry faced nephew." Spike tried to assure Lindsey. He patted the man's shoulder, in sympathetic gesture and watched his Sire size up the wall. After Angel scaled the barricade Spike leaned into toward Lindsey and whispered low enough that the older vampire wouldn't hear. "If it were me or Connor, we would be very reluctant to send Angelus in there. Try not to fret." Spike followed in the footsteps of his Sire and scaled the wall with an easy grace. When he landed on the other side he came face to face with a slightly perturbed Angel.
"What took you so long?" Angel's nose flared, as he tried to hide his disdain toward Lindsey. It was impossible. "Were you re-reassuring your new bestest friend?"
Spike's mouth dropped open, in shock. "You're a psycho." Spike tried to push past Angel, so he could get to the main gate and let Gunn in, but Angel grabbed his arm and held him in place. "Could we *not* do this?" Spike tried not to sound like an annoyed child, but it really was no use. In all the technical ways, he was an annoyed 'child'.
"If I didn't know any better I would say that you were already making ties with that..." Angel thought of a word that would best suit Lindsey. "...monster." It didn't really describe the man on the other side of the wall. It was just all he could come up with.
"If I didn't know better, I would say that you actually cared! Since when do you really care, Angel?" Spike pushed Angel's arm off of him and stared up into eyes. "If we're going to do this now, we may as well do it right. You're obsessive."
"This is what you didn't want to do? Throw insults at me? Well, to tell the truth, I'm not too fond of it either." Angel turned to walk away, but Spike grabbed him in very much the same way as he had grabbed Spike, only moments before.
"You're also possessive, oppressive, depressive, and suppressive." Spike's voice was calm, but everything else about him was animated. His hands moved, as he talked and his eyes seemed bluer than ever.
Angel gave a small smile and shook his head. "You're not a poet anymore, but you can still rhyme."
Spike shook his head. "Damn it, Angelus! That's what I'm talking about! You know that I never could rhyme."
"Now, you're upset that I gave you credit for something as unimportant as that?" Angel was thoroughly confused.
"Maybe you think it was unimportant, but it mattered to me. It was a part of me. If you never drank Irish whiskey or listened to those horrible Gaelic singers anymore, don't you think you would have felt some sort of loss?"
"So, you want to write poetry again?" Angel didn't know what to do to make Spike *not* angry, again. He really wasn't sure what he had done to make him angry in the first place, but he was positive that it was his fault, some how.
Spike was down-right disgusted. Was Angel listening to him, at all? "You are a very daft man, with a very thick skull. Please, don't talk to me, until you, at least, pretend that you have filled it with a brain." Spike heard a noise from behind him and looked around to find Gunn making his way up the fence. Spike headed toward the gate, in a jog. Gunn was half way over the entryway, trying not to get impaled by the spikes up top. "Any luck?"
"Yes. No thanks to you and him!" Gunn pulled his left leg over the spiked area and got caught. "Shit." He tugged his leg and lost his hold on the gate, making him tumble to the ground, in a heap. Gunn lay there catching his breath and stared up at Spike. "Is it... bad?" He asked in between deep breaths.
"It's not bleeding." Spike said, as he examined the leg that had gotten caught on the gate.
"No. I meant the rip. These are new pants." Gunn sat up slowly and glanced down at his pant leg. "Well, there goes my paycheck."
"Why did you wear new pants to work?" Spike paused a moment, in thought. "More over, why do you get paid and I don't!?"
Gunn pushed himself up from the ground and dusted off the back of his pants. "Why would you have to get paid Spike? Your blood daddy provides everything for you."
"Blood daddy?" Spike was outraged. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, isn't that what a Sire is?" Gunn tried to look as educated on the subject as he could, but without Wesley to back him up, he knew he was flying blind. He knew nothing of the childe/sire relationship. He knew that vampires were killing machines, on average, and that you had to kill them before they could kill you. That was the natural order of things. Everything about Spike and Angel practically shouted unnatural, and he figured if he could keep up with whatever curse or prophecy came out about them each week, he would be doing all right.
Spike narrowed his gaze at the man and sniffed the air. He turned his head to the side and saw the outline of his sire in the shadows. "Angel wants our help. Let's go."
"Wait. You can read his mind?" Now, that would be neat, Gunn decided, as he pulled out his tranquilizer gun.
"I can read his stance. He thinks we're wasting time... which we are. He can smell the blood in the air. I can smell it, so I know he can. We're close." Another howl broke the night air. "Come on." Spike headed over toward Angel and sighed when the older vampire took a cautious step out of the shadows. He looked tired, but not angry. "Smell it?"
"Blood." It was all he said. It was all he needed to say. Spike knew that there would be carnage around the next bend, just as well as he did. Gunn had to have figured it out by the looks of it. The man was definitely a little less than eager to do this job. Angel reached behind his back and pulled a gun out from under his coat. He handed it to Spike and nodded. "I'll get him to attack me and you shoot. Gunn you stay here, in case he gets past us."
"What if I miss the wolf and hit you?" Spike watched the smile flitter across Angel's features, when he looked back at him.
"You wouldn't miss, unless you were trying. You're better than that."
"What if I miss?" Spike gave his best look of impertinence and Angel had to laugh.
"Just remember who feeds you." Angel said jokingly, as he walked away from Gunn and toward the smell of blood.
"Yeah, I can't seem to forget." Spike muttered under his breath.
"What's that?" Angel asked, as he looked back at his childe.
"Nothing." Spike loaded the weapon and stalked after his sire.
Angel stopped near the entrance to the gazelles, which were crying out in strangled voices. "He must be a fast little thing." Angel gave Spike a mock- pleading look. "Please don't miss."
"You should trust me, Sire." Spike cocked his gun and cocked a grin. "I always get my man... or dog, whatever the case may be."
Angel ran up to the wall of the gazelle pen and hopped down to the leveled off grazing area. He landed on both feet, crouched low to the ground. He scanned the area and sniffed the air. He couldn't sense any living thing, let alone a wild werewolf child and a pack of frightened gazelle. He got up from his crouching position and walked the perimeter of the pen. There were dead carcasses scattered around the area, but nothing more that he could see.
Then, he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He stalked toward the movement, in the shadows, and came up behind the darkened figure. He pounced with all of his force and knocked it off of its feet. It grunted and went down with a thud. The figure squirmed and growled, causing Angel to have to tighten his grip to an uncomfortable amount of pressure. The thing would be crushed if they continued like this. "Stop moving or I'll crush you." The figure's movement fell still and Angel had enough time to realize that the *thing* was really a person... or something that resembled a person. It wore clothes. "Who are you?"
"Mis..." The person gasped out. "Missy. I'm... Missy. I didn't... kill them. I... swear." The women frantically waved at the dead gazelle and then gripped the cold, damp ground in horror.
Angel let his grip loosen. "Missy? You were the one who took Andy out." He got up from the ground and helped the woman up. She was about five foot ten and one hundred and fifty pounds. She wasn't a heavy woman, definitely no hard task for Angel, but she had gone rigid with shock, therefore very awkward to handle. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I thought you might have been Andy."
"You were going to tackle a werewolf?" The woman asked doubtfully, while she tried to let some of the tension slide out of her body. She reached her right hand over her left shoulder and started massaging away the tightness she found there.
"I have someone up top, there." Angel pointed up to where Spike sat, leaning precariously over the edge of the wall. "He has tranquilizer darts. I was bait."
The woman stared at Angel and took in the details of his person. Handsome man, smooth faced, wearing an expensive pair of shoes. "You're not a hunter, are you?" Missy reasserted herself and shook her head. "That wasn't meant to be a question. You're not a hunter."
Angel shook his head. "Not technically. We were hired to bring him home, by Andy's mom. That's what we intend on doing."
Missy nodded, solemnly. "I screwed up and other people are having to pay for it."
Angel shook his head and glanced up at Spike... who was no longer on the wall. Spike really wasn't the most reliable man to have backing you up. A loud howl/yelp and a tug on his shirtsleeve broke Angel's ponderings. He looked over at the woman, who was frantic.
"That's him. That's Andy. He's being hurt. Help him, please."
Angel reacted immediately. His thoughts, naturally, turned to Spike and his stream of bad luck. He had to get up that wall. As soon as he had thought it, it was so. He had cleared the wall, with little more than a jump. What he saw when he got to the top wasn't really that shocking. Spike was sprawled out on his back gripping his stomach with one hand and clutching the used dart gun in the other hand. Angel hurried over to his battered childe and leaned down, over him. "You all right?"
"I got him twice before he got me." Spike said with a shaky smile.
"That's not what I asked." Angel pulled Spike's hand away from his abdomen and pulled at his shirt.
"If you wanted a peak, all you had to do was ask." Spike coughed and pushed at Angel's hands. "I would of said no, but at least you would have asked." Spike pushed himself up into a sitting position and grunted. "He just knocked the air out of me, is all." Spike shook his head, roughly. "There musta' been three of 'em."
"Three werewolves?" Angel asked. He didn't even bother hiding his confusion.
"Keep up, Angel. Do you think I would have gotten away without a scratch, if it had been three werewolves? They were men. They had a big sack that smelled like... bloody, puppy breath." Spike jumped up to his feet and glanced behind Angel. "Who's the bint?"
Angel looked around and saw Missy quietly making her way toward them. "Spike, meet Missy."
Spike glared at the woman and took a few threatening steps her way. "It's your fault we're out here."
"I figured Andy needed a day out in the sunlight. Time got away from us and..." Missy took a deep breath and let it out in a hiss. "... he got away from me."
"They're all the same, Angel." Spike nodded slowly, as he stalked toward the woman. "Careless and stupid. That's all that you people are. Your kind disgusts me more than my own kind. That says a lot... Missy." Spike emphasized both syllables, as he stared the woman down. "Your little pup is now in a doggy bag. Who knows what these people will do with him, if we don't get him away from them."
"Well, they can't do anything, now. They'll have to wait for tomorrow. The suns about to come up." Angel watched the sky and then looked back at his childe, who was still glaring at the object of his annoyance. "Spike, did you hear me? The sun's going to be up in ten minutes. We have to get to the car."
Spike just snorted. "You make me ill."
Angel had stood by and watched the woman turn pale, but he was not going to watch her crumble. "That's enough, boy."
Spike shrugged and turned his back on her. "She's not worth a sunburn." He stalked away from the pair and headed to were Gunn was supposed to be standing watch.
Angel made a helpless gesture to the woman and then just settled on shrugging. "I'm not going to ask you to excuse his comments. You were very careless. I do believe that you care about Andy, though, and if you know anything that would help us, we would appreciate it."
Missy nodded. "I think I may know something that could be of use."
"Good." Angel said with a small smile. He waited a couple of silent moment and finally grew impatient. "What is it?"
"You should probably check up on his dad. He's a dangerous man. He deals in Andy's kind. Not just that. He also messes around with magicks and demons. We're all afraid of him. Not Andy, mind you, but he's just a kid." Missy took a deep cleansing breath. "He's a little shorter than me, medium length sable hair, if he hasn't cut or colored it, and his name is Lindsey."
Angel cocked an eyebrow and nodded. "Of course, it is."
TBC
-I am so very sorry for taking so long in getting this out. I have had my cousin in town and she is my closest friend. We had a lot of catching up to do. She should be going home next Wednesday, so my writing speed should get back to normal around that time. Thanks for being so forgiving and faithful. I'll try not to let you down.-
--Another note- I'm sure that you all have questions about what I'm going to do with the story. That's good! I wanted you to. Just know that I don't expect for there to be any Lindsey slash, or even any Lindsey undertones. I love the man with all of my heart, but I'd rather be tortured a million ways from Sunday, before I let him take Angel or Spike away from me.--
---The subtitle was Bloodflowers. It's a song (and CD) by The Cure, who I love to pieces.---