Chapter 39- Intimidation
-Angel-
Cordy's parents came down from Sunnydale. Her mother went on and on about how the stress of this wasn't good for her health. She said she'd have to spend a week in a Swiss spa to get rid of the lines. Her father complained about the amount of money a funeral would cost. In the end, I offered to take care of everything. I wrote her mother a check to go to the spa. I just wanted Cordy's real family, the family that loves her, to handle this. Besides, I had to get them out of there. Angelus kept threatening to eat them.
We had her cremated. I remember all to well the horror she had in Sunnydale when someone was making girls out of spare girl parts. I want her soul to rest assured that we have made sure nothing like that could happen to her. There's not a lot you can do with ashes.
A couple of hours before dawn our little group goes down to Paramount Studios. I had to knock the guard at the gate unconscious. We scatter and bury Cordy's ashes in the flower bed in front of the gates. We all decided it was what she'd want.
*
The show must go on, or at least that's what Hollywood says. I have to think Cordy would agree with that. I can't help but feel like we're fighting blind here. I don't have a seer or a contact to the powers that be. I have no way of knowing what's coming next. Buffy is upstairs, getting ready to attend her Commander meeting. I don't want her to go but I know it's the only way we're likely to get any information on what's coming and we need to know.
Wesley, Giles, Willow and Tara are working on magic we can use against the Oracle. I look up as Buffy comes out of our room and walks down the stairs. She joins me on the couch. I pull her into my arms and inhale the scent of her. I could drown in this woman and be perfectly happy.
"You'll be extra careful tonight, won't you?" I whisper
She nods. "I promise I'll come back to you. I'll always come back to you, no matter what, Angel."
"You better, I came back from Hell for you." I fight to keep the tears out of my eyes and my voice. I can't shake the feeling that I'm never going to see her again.
"Then I've got it easy, I've just got to come back from a little meeting." She says with a smile.
A little meeting that includes a demon army and a time folding Oracle vamp. So yeah, I'm worried.
*
-Buffy-
Angel and Gunn are in the warehouse behind me. We don't have a big group tonight because I know if I get caught we won't be able to kill all the demons in this warehouse. Angel and Gunn will be solely focused on getting me out of there alive. I walk into the warehouse and I try not to gape. There's a huge gathering of demons. I'd say close to a hundred. We're so screwed. I go take my place next to the other "commanders" standing in front of the mass of demons. Oh goody, it seems the whole thing was just waiting for me to start. Dulek steps up and the crowd of demons goes quiet.
"You are all honored to be in Her Immortalness' army. Trust me when I say you will be richly rewarded in the end. We do not have long to prepare. Her Immortalness makes plans to take over Los Angeles the first night of the full moon. For those of you who don't know, that's only a week away." Dulek says.
Great, that doesn't give us much time to form a plan. It's a good thing Sunnydale taught me to think on my feet. One of the demons in the group before us speaks in a loud clear voice.
"So when do we get to meet this Immortalness, herself?"
I was kind of wondering that myself.
"You will meet Her Immortalness when and if she decides to grace you with her presence." Dulek responds in a cold voice.
Oooo, so cancel that 9am appointment, I think. Dulek begins splitting the large group off with the various commanders. One of the demons is arguing with him about going with my group. This is not of the good.
"That's the Slayer." I hear him say.
Dulek looks over at me. He and the argumentive demon walk toward me. I try not to look nervous, which probably means I look very nervous and very guilty.
"Tito here says you're the Slayer." Dulek says.
I put on my game face. "Do I look like any Slayer you've ever met?"
Tito is obviously surprised by my transformation. Dulek looks to Tito as if waiting for an answer.
"Well, no, but she was Angelus' Slayer." Tito offers as an excuse.
Geez, excuse me but does everyone know about my love life? Who took out the ad in the paper? "Angelus," I manage to purr. "Now he was a formidable foe. It's a shame he can't come out to play." I'm going to have to wash my mouth out with soap when I leave here.
"So you admit it? You're Angelus' Slayer." Tito looks to me.
"I was turned brain trust. I might have been the Slayer at one time, but I'm not anymore." God I suck at undercover. I might have mentioned this to Angel before we decided to put me undercover.
Dulek looks me up and down as if he's trying to make some sort of decision. I consider reaching up and trying to snap his neck before he has the chance. That might buy me enough shock value to get out of there alive. Dulek is wary of me. He knows it would be good to have me on his side. I think we stood there staring each other down for a good five minutes, like those rams you see on the National Geographic Channel. "You know, screw this. Hi, I'm Buffy, the vampire slayer." I slam a fist into his solar plexus and snap his neck as he bends at the waist. I let out a blood curdling scream before his body falls to the concrete.
I take notice in a way that is more feeling then seeing that Gunn and Angel have joined the battle. I'm covered in blood, a lot of it's not mine, go me. I have a bloodied stake in my right hand, my only weapon. There aren't many vampires in this group but I've found a stake is a good multi purpose weapon that I know how to use. The press of demons is actually working for me, instead of against me. They can't get in good solid punches and hits because there's just not enough room. There's a steel beam above me that I could probably jump and grab onto, if I could get the room to jump. As it is, I'm punching and kicking without aiming and I never come up joyless. A hand clamps onto my wrist. I whirl and stop the stake inches from Angel's heart. He smiles at me and we turn back to back, fighting our way to the door. He's got his favorite broadsword. I can see Gunn a bit closer to the door is doing some damage with his axe.
"You know, I was worried when all you brought was that stake, but you're dangerous with it." Angel says to me.
"I get by." I shoot back with a smirk as I plunge the stake into the throat of something ugly that got to close. I jerk it out and he falls back screaming and holding his hands to stop the gout of green blood.
I'm exhausted, I'm covered in blood that has turned sticky by now and we're still surrounded by demons. I catch sight of one out of my peripheral vision just before Angel yells "Duck." I drop in a crouch, trusting him. He slices the head off of a vamp and the guy's ax clatters to the floor. I pick up the ax and spring back up. I take one half turn with it, cutting a swath of demons in the process.
"Nice, I can see the appeal of these axes." I say.
Angel just chuckles and shoves his sword through a demon. I can see the door from here. Gunn is clearing the door. He's got it about half way open, trying to stem the flow of demons through it. A few more dead demons, a couple more feet and we're at the door.
"Bring the car around, Gunn. Buffy and I can hold the door 'til you get back." Angel says.
"Hurry," I add. I'm tired. I want a shower, I want a bed and I want Angel time.
Gunn pulls the car up and Angel and I tumble in the backseat. He speeds off leaving an angry horde of demons behind.
"Are you okay?" Angel asks me.
I nod. "I think so. I reopened the wound on my back and my shoulder. There's a nice gash on my thigh but all in all, most of the blood isn't mine. You?"
He shrugs. "I'll live. We got to you pretty quickly. There wasn't a lot of time for anything to beat on me."
Maybe not a lot of time, but something hit him in the face. He's got a cut below his left eye that looks stitch worthy and his lip is bleeding.
"Gunn, have you got anything a first aid kit won't patch up?" I lean over the front seat and ask.
"Nah that was a walk in the park." He says, keeping his eyes on the road. I notice he is covered in a fair amount of blood and some of it smells human.
*
I wait until we're back at the hotel and everyone is patched up before I tell them the little I found out in the secret pow wow meeting.
"What does she mean, take over Los Angeles?" Gunn asks.
"I don't know." I confess. "I sort of blew the undercover thing before we got around to that. I'm sorry, guys. I really suck at undercover."
"No, we know more now then we did, and that's always a help." Giles says.
I smile at him. I can always count on Giles to be Yay Buffy with the knowledge.
"We've got a few hours until sunrise. Let's split up into a couple of groups and see if we can't hit up some of our contacts, find out a little more of what's up here. If she's got that big a demon army then someone knows something." Angel says.
I sigh and stand up. "Just let me go wash some of this stuff off. I'll be back down in 15 minutes."
Once the blood and gore is washed off and I'm in fresh clothes I feel better. Hitting up contacts doesn't sound like such a bad idea, especially since I know Angel's idea of hitting up a contact involves actual hitting.
*
We walk through another alley. I think we've been in a dozen so far. Angel tells me I'll like this next place, it's nostalgic. My fingers are laced loosely with his. I glance over at him. A shaft of moonlight falls on his face and the breath I don't have is taken away. Tears sting my eyes. Was this man always so beautiful? It's not a wonder I couldn't help falling in love with him from the moment I met him. I also realize why I spent so much time denying it. After all, nothing that beautiful could be real. It has to be a dream. I stop and tug on his hand. Angel stops and looks back at me confused. My fingers caress the cut under his eye. It's beginning to heal already.
"Are you real?" I ask with a whispered awe.
He smiles that half grin and my body flashes hot. I stretch on tip toe and brush his lips lightly with my own. He wraps his arm around my waist and crushes me to him, deepening the kiss. My hands find their way to the nape of his neck and tangle in his hair. He lifts me off my feet. I nip at his bottom lip. He opens his mouth instinctively and lets my tongue slip in.
When he finally sets me back on my feet, I'm dizzy. His shirt is unbuttoned and my hair is tangled from his fingers.
"Come on, we have one more contact to check out before we can go back home and finish that." He says
The nostalgia of this place is that it reminds me of Willy's. There's even a sniveling human bartender that could be Willy's brother. It has a decidedly Irish flare to it though.
"Doyle introduced me to this place when I first came to LA." Angel says.
"He had-good taste." I finish weakly.
Angel quirks a grin at me and sits down at the bar. The bartender looks over at him wearily, avoiding his eyes. Angel is looking daggers through him. Finally the bartender can't avoid it any longer. He comes over.
"Hey, Angel. What can I get you?" the bartender wheezes.
"New vamp in town. She wants to take over LA. I want to know what she means by that, and I don't know isn't an option here."
The guy flicks his eyes over to me. Angel grabs him by the throat. "Don't even look at her. Answer the question, Sean." He releases the bartender's throat.
Sean rubs his throat and coughs, makes a big show of being hurt. Willy used to do the same thing, until he figured out stalling got him even more hurt.
"I'll ask one more time. Then I'm going to let her hit you." Angel gestures toward me.
I spread my hands wide and shrug. "What can I say? I like to hit." I let my vamp face flash for just a second. The guy gets the picture. His eyes go wide and he starts stuttering out his story.
"She's says she's seen the future. There's nothing anyone can do to stop it. Since she's an Oracle she knows how it's going to turn out. She's going to make LA an all you can eat demon buffet. She's offering higher positions in her army if you sign up before the buffet starts."
"What is it with vamps wanting to destroy the world?" I ask Angel.
He shrugs. "I don't know. The only reason I wanted to suck the world into Hell was because I love you."
"Right and it's the gift that keeps on giving." I quip.
"Exactly. How many other guys have offered to suck the world into hell for you?" Angel grins at me. Sean, the bartender is looking at us like we've gone insane.
Angel turns his attention back to Sean. "Is that all you know? I really don't want to come back down here and if I have to, I can promise you I'm going to be peckish."
"Where's she at?" I ask.
"I don't know. I swear. Several of the guys in here the other night were talking about it. They think she stays in another dimension until she needs something here. That's all I know. I swear." Sean snivels
"Great, a time folding, can't fall in battle scepter holding, dimension hopping vamp, can this get any better?" I grumble.
-Angel-
Cordy's parents came down from Sunnydale. Her mother went on and on about how the stress of this wasn't good for her health. She said she'd have to spend a week in a Swiss spa to get rid of the lines. Her father complained about the amount of money a funeral would cost. In the end, I offered to take care of everything. I wrote her mother a check to go to the spa. I just wanted Cordy's real family, the family that loves her, to handle this. Besides, I had to get them out of there. Angelus kept threatening to eat them.
We had her cremated. I remember all to well the horror she had in Sunnydale when someone was making girls out of spare girl parts. I want her soul to rest assured that we have made sure nothing like that could happen to her. There's not a lot you can do with ashes.
A couple of hours before dawn our little group goes down to Paramount Studios. I had to knock the guard at the gate unconscious. We scatter and bury Cordy's ashes in the flower bed in front of the gates. We all decided it was what she'd want.
*
The show must go on, or at least that's what Hollywood says. I have to think Cordy would agree with that. I can't help but feel like we're fighting blind here. I don't have a seer or a contact to the powers that be. I have no way of knowing what's coming next. Buffy is upstairs, getting ready to attend her Commander meeting. I don't want her to go but I know it's the only way we're likely to get any information on what's coming and we need to know.
Wesley, Giles, Willow and Tara are working on magic we can use against the Oracle. I look up as Buffy comes out of our room and walks down the stairs. She joins me on the couch. I pull her into my arms and inhale the scent of her. I could drown in this woman and be perfectly happy.
"You'll be extra careful tonight, won't you?" I whisper
She nods. "I promise I'll come back to you. I'll always come back to you, no matter what, Angel."
"You better, I came back from Hell for you." I fight to keep the tears out of my eyes and my voice. I can't shake the feeling that I'm never going to see her again.
"Then I've got it easy, I've just got to come back from a little meeting." She says with a smile.
A little meeting that includes a demon army and a time folding Oracle vamp. So yeah, I'm worried.
*
-Buffy-
Angel and Gunn are in the warehouse behind me. We don't have a big group tonight because I know if I get caught we won't be able to kill all the demons in this warehouse. Angel and Gunn will be solely focused on getting me out of there alive. I walk into the warehouse and I try not to gape. There's a huge gathering of demons. I'd say close to a hundred. We're so screwed. I go take my place next to the other "commanders" standing in front of the mass of demons. Oh goody, it seems the whole thing was just waiting for me to start. Dulek steps up and the crowd of demons goes quiet.
"You are all honored to be in Her Immortalness' army. Trust me when I say you will be richly rewarded in the end. We do not have long to prepare. Her Immortalness makes plans to take over Los Angeles the first night of the full moon. For those of you who don't know, that's only a week away." Dulek says.
Great, that doesn't give us much time to form a plan. It's a good thing Sunnydale taught me to think on my feet. One of the demons in the group before us speaks in a loud clear voice.
"So when do we get to meet this Immortalness, herself?"
I was kind of wondering that myself.
"You will meet Her Immortalness when and if she decides to grace you with her presence." Dulek responds in a cold voice.
Oooo, so cancel that 9am appointment, I think. Dulek begins splitting the large group off with the various commanders. One of the demons is arguing with him about going with my group. This is not of the good.
"That's the Slayer." I hear him say.
Dulek looks over at me. He and the argumentive demon walk toward me. I try not to look nervous, which probably means I look very nervous and very guilty.
"Tito here says you're the Slayer." Dulek says.
I put on my game face. "Do I look like any Slayer you've ever met?"
Tito is obviously surprised by my transformation. Dulek looks to Tito as if waiting for an answer.
"Well, no, but she was Angelus' Slayer." Tito offers as an excuse.
Geez, excuse me but does everyone know about my love life? Who took out the ad in the paper? "Angelus," I manage to purr. "Now he was a formidable foe. It's a shame he can't come out to play." I'm going to have to wash my mouth out with soap when I leave here.
"So you admit it? You're Angelus' Slayer." Tito looks to me.
"I was turned brain trust. I might have been the Slayer at one time, but I'm not anymore." God I suck at undercover. I might have mentioned this to Angel before we decided to put me undercover.
Dulek looks me up and down as if he's trying to make some sort of decision. I consider reaching up and trying to snap his neck before he has the chance. That might buy me enough shock value to get out of there alive. Dulek is wary of me. He knows it would be good to have me on his side. I think we stood there staring each other down for a good five minutes, like those rams you see on the National Geographic Channel. "You know, screw this. Hi, I'm Buffy, the vampire slayer." I slam a fist into his solar plexus and snap his neck as he bends at the waist. I let out a blood curdling scream before his body falls to the concrete.
I take notice in a way that is more feeling then seeing that Gunn and Angel have joined the battle. I'm covered in blood, a lot of it's not mine, go me. I have a bloodied stake in my right hand, my only weapon. There aren't many vampires in this group but I've found a stake is a good multi purpose weapon that I know how to use. The press of demons is actually working for me, instead of against me. They can't get in good solid punches and hits because there's just not enough room. There's a steel beam above me that I could probably jump and grab onto, if I could get the room to jump. As it is, I'm punching and kicking without aiming and I never come up joyless. A hand clamps onto my wrist. I whirl and stop the stake inches from Angel's heart. He smiles at me and we turn back to back, fighting our way to the door. He's got his favorite broadsword. I can see Gunn a bit closer to the door is doing some damage with his axe.
"You know, I was worried when all you brought was that stake, but you're dangerous with it." Angel says to me.
"I get by." I shoot back with a smirk as I plunge the stake into the throat of something ugly that got to close. I jerk it out and he falls back screaming and holding his hands to stop the gout of green blood.
I'm exhausted, I'm covered in blood that has turned sticky by now and we're still surrounded by demons. I catch sight of one out of my peripheral vision just before Angel yells "Duck." I drop in a crouch, trusting him. He slices the head off of a vamp and the guy's ax clatters to the floor. I pick up the ax and spring back up. I take one half turn with it, cutting a swath of demons in the process.
"Nice, I can see the appeal of these axes." I say.
Angel just chuckles and shoves his sword through a demon. I can see the door from here. Gunn is clearing the door. He's got it about half way open, trying to stem the flow of demons through it. A few more dead demons, a couple more feet and we're at the door.
"Bring the car around, Gunn. Buffy and I can hold the door 'til you get back." Angel says.
"Hurry," I add. I'm tired. I want a shower, I want a bed and I want Angel time.
Gunn pulls the car up and Angel and I tumble in the backseat. He speeds off leaving an angry horde of demons behind.
"Are you okay?" Angel asks me.
I nod. "I think so. I reopened the wound on my back and my shoulder. There's a nice gash on my thigh but all in all, most of the blood isn't mine. You?"
He shrugs. "I'll live. We got to you pretty quickly. There wasn't a lot of time for anything to beat on me."
Maybe not a lot of time, but something hit him in the face. He's got a cut below his left eye that looks stitch worthy and his lip is bleeding.
"Gunn, have you got anything a first aid kit won't patch up?" I lean over the front seat and ask.
"Nah that was a walk in the park." He says, keeping his eyes on the road. I notice he is covered in a fair amount of blood and some of it smells human.
*
I wait until we're back at the hotel and everyone is patched up before I tell them the little I found out in the secret pow wow meeting.
"What does she mean, take over Los Angeles?" Gunn asks.
"I don't know." I confess. "I sort of blew the undercover thing before we got around to that. I'm sorry, guys. I really suck at undercover."
"No, we know more now then we did, and that's always a help." Giles says.
I smile at him. I can always count on Giles to be Yay Buffy with the knowledge.
"We've got a few hours until sunrise. Let's split up into a couple of groups and see if we can't hit up some of our contacts, find out a little more of what's up here. If she's got that big a demon army then someone knows something." Angel says.
I sigh and stand up. "Just let me go wash some of this stuff off. I'll be back down in 15 minutes."
Once the blood and gore is washed off and I'm in fresh clothes I feel better. Hitting up contacts doesn't sound like such a bad idea, especially since I know Angel's idea of hitting up a contact involves actual hitting.
*
We walk through another alley. I think we've been in a dozen so far. Angel tells me I'll like this next place, it's nostalgic. My fingers are laced loosely with his. I glance over at him. A shaft of moonlight falls on his face and the breath I don't have is taken away. Tears sting my eyes. Was this man always so beautiful? It's not a wonder I couldn't help falling in love with him from the moment I met him. I also realize why I spent so much time denying it. After all, nothing that beautiful could be real. It has to be a dream. I stop and tug on his hand. Angel stops and looks back at me confused. My fingers caress the cut under his eye. It's beginning to heal already.
"Are you real?" I ask with a whispered awe.
He smiles that half grin and my body flashes hot. I stretch on tip toe and brush his lips lightly with my own. He wraps his arm around my waist and crushes me to him, deepening the kiss. My hands find their way to the nape of his neck and tangle in his hair. He lifts me off my feet. I nip at his bottom lip. He opens his mouth instinctively and lets my tongue slip in.
When he finally sets me back on my feet, I'm dizzy. His shirt is unbuttoned and my hair is tangled from his fingers.
"Come on, we have one more contact to check out before we can go back home and finish that." He says
The nostalgia of this place is that it reminds me of Willy's. There's even a sniveling human bartender that could be Willy's brother. It has a decidedly Irish flare to it though.
"Doyle introduced me to this place when I first came to LA." Angel says.
"He had-good taste." I finish weakly.
Angel quirks a grin at me and sits down at the bar. The bartender looks over at him wearily, avoiding his eyes. Angel is looking daggers through him. Finally the bartender can't avoid it any longer. He comes over.
"Hey, Angel. What can I get you?" the bartender wheezes.
"New vamp in town. She wants to take over LA. I want to know what she means by that, and I don't know isn't an option here."
The guy flicks his eyes over to me. Angel grabs him by the throat. "Don't even look at her. Answer the question, Sean." He releases the bartender's throat.
Sean rubs his throat and coughs, makes a big show of being hurt. Willy used to do the same thing, until he figured out stalling got him even more hurt.
"I'll ask one more time. Then I'm going to let her hit you." Angel gestures toward me.
I spread my hands wide and shrug. "What can I say? I like to hit." I let my vamp face flash for just a second. The guy gets the picture. His eyes go wide and he starts stuttering out his story.
"She's says she's seen the future. There's nothing anyone can do to stop it. Since she's an Oracle she knows how it's going to turn out. She's going to make LA an all you can eat demon buffet. She's offering higher positions in her army if you sign up before the buffet starts."
"What is it with vamps wanting to destroy the world?" I ask Angel.
He shrugs. "I don't know. The only reason I wanted to suck the world into Hell was because I love you."
"Right and it's the gift that keeps on giving." I quip.
"Exactly. How many other guys have offered to suck the world into hell for you?" Angel grins at me. Sean, the bartender is looking at us like we've gone insane.
Angel turns his attention back to Sean. "Is that all you know? I really don't want to come back down here and if I have to, I can promise you I'm going to be peckish."
"Where's she at?" I ask.
"I don't know. I swear. Several of the guys in here the other night were talking about it. They think she stays in another dimension until she needs something here. That's all I know. I swear." Sean snivels
"Great, a time folding, can't fall in battle scepter holding, dimension hopping vamp, can this get any better?" I grumble.
