Chapter Ten
Decisions made, and advice given
The letter had been from Amanda, requesting that he meet with her and Duncan MacLeod regarding the headhunter that'd sent him running from Chicago. Apparently Duncan had decided that it was someone the Watchers called "the slayer", and had taken it upon himself to take his head for the atrocities he'd committed. But with no description or name, finding him required help from Michael, who'd met him and survived. Chuckling slightly at the irony, Michael tried to decide on what to do about them. Deception, avoidance or kill? He quickly decided to hold off on making a final decision until after he'd figured out what was going on with his lawyers.
The rest of the flight Michael spent almost immobile in his seat, pondering what had just happened. Somehow, they had tracked him through two different identities, Samuel McDowell and Michael Madsen, without him noticing it. And then sent a courier on and off an airborne plane. Admittedly, the courier could be considered a show of good faith: "We know you're more than you appear, and look, so are we." But it didn't change matters any.
The only way he could see for the couriers vanishing act was magic. If that was the case, it didn't seem unlikely that the means of locating him had also been magical in nature. Following that train of thought, it would seem that the means of preventing future unwanted locating of him would also be magic. And that was something he knew nothing about.
For a brief moment he considered altering his plans, travel to Australia and search through the vault there in the hope that it contained something to prevent detection. He decided against it. His last experiment, trying to activate a ring that was supposed to enable him to alter his appearance had resulted in a rather spectacular lightshow as his Quickening blew the ring apart. He'd later come to assume that any attempt to use magic on an Immortal would be countered by the Quickening. Unfortunately, locating him didn't seem to count. Not direct enough? Or could it be that the Quickening was attempting to keep his body in the state it'd been when he first died, and only fought if that state was altered?
Still, it would probably be a good idea to get at least the magical objects identified, as soon as he'd found a magician he could trust. Actually, that had just become a priority. He'd been tracked with magic, preventing it required magic, he needed a magician. Wizard, witch, warlock or whatever. A trustworthy one.
Problem: how to find a trustworthy magician? From past experience he knew Dark Mages regularly frequented demon bars, but they were not what he'd call trustworthy. Rethink. A trustworthy mage would do good with their power, right? Yes. Hunting demons were a good thing, right? Again, yes.
So in order to find a trustworthy magician, getting in touch with demon- hunters would seem like the thing to do. And he was on a plane to London, which contained the headquarters of the oldest demon-hunting unit he knew of. Admittedly, he'd found their tactics somewhat outdated when he'd last run into them back in 1912, but surely by now they would have at least entered the 19th century? And it wasn't as if he had a need for their tactics, just a reference to a powerful, trustworthy mage.
He might even get some information about Angelus while he was at it. After all, they specialised in vampires. If anyone knew what he'd been doing after Michael lost him, it would be the Council of Watchers.
****
At first, Angel had argued for infiltration, going in and meeting Lilah in her office, but after a heated discussion, Gunn had managed to convince him that they had upped their security so far after his last few visits that getting in and out unharmed would be far more trouble than whatever information Lilah could give was worth. Grudgingly accepting, Angel had instead driven to Lilah's favourite bar, hoping she would drop by for a drink on her way home from work.
True to expectations Lilah did stop by the bar on her way home. Making his way over to her, Angel noted that she appeared to be somewhat agitated. Slightly raised pulse, and she was well into her second drink by the time he'd made his way over from the booth he'd occupied while waiting for her.
"Rough day at the office? Throw any orphans out of their homes, perhaps? Or did one of your hitmen make a mess of things?" Having approached her soundlessly, Angel was pleased with her reaction as he whispered in her ear. And somewhat surprised. A squeal and a jump was rather more of a response than he'd expected.
"Don't you ever get tired of sneaking up on people?"
"Not when it means I get such a lovely response out of you. So, bad day at the office?"
"Actually no. I just had a meeting with one of the senior partners about a request I made. He tends to make an impression. And what do you care how my day's been? Wait, let me guess, you have a problem, and we are responsible."
"Well, yes. I do have a problem. I'm looking for this man, and I promise I won't be surprised if you say he's one of your hitmen." Angel pulled the sketch he'd made of Michael from his pocket and handed it over to Lilah.
Glancing at the paper, Lilah grimaced slightly before replying. "No. He's not one of our 'hitmen' as you call it. And before you ask, no, he does not work for us either. Never have, never will."
"But you know who he is, and what he does."
"Yes. But seeing as he's one of our clients, I really don't think that is something I am at liberty to reveal to you, or anyone else for that matter."
"A client? And here I thought that one of the services Wolfram & Hart offered was removal of trouble in any way necessary. You must be slipping if he had to do it himself."
Lilah frowned as she listened. "We are not 'slipping'. Not every client we have makes use of all the services we offer. Some of them even think we are nothing but a slightly corrupt lawfirm."
"Does he? Is that why he walks around town smelling of fresh blood? You probably should have let him in on your true nature, or do you get better paid for defending him in court than for handling bloodshed?"
"You met him? And he just walked away? Now that is a surprise, or didn't he recognize you?"
"I almost walked into him two days ago. His heart jumped, then he stole a car and drove off in a hurry, so I'd guess he recognised me. And you know why, don't you?"
Lilah ordered a refill on her drink before replying. "Yes I do. Doesn't mean I'm going to tell you." Downing her drink in a single gulp, she looked back at Angel. "Have you ever considered hiring a PR-firm? Letting people know that with you having a soul, Angelus is long gone? First Holz, and now Samuel. Your soulless self sure knew how to make a lasting impression on people."
"Are you saying he knew Angelus? Not a very likely story, Lilah. First, the man I met was human, or is he another time-traveller like Holz? And if he did know Angelus, how come I don't remember seeing him before?"
"I didn't say Angelus knew him, did I? As for what he is, that is confidential. What I can say is that you should really consider not antagonizing him. In fact, I'd advice you to make sure he knows that the only thing you have in common with Angelus is inhabiting his body." Lilah smirked as she imagined the likelihood of Samuel believing that.
"Are you saying this Samuel is a vampire-hunter? Then how come you have him as a client?"
"Samuel is not a vampire-hunter, Angel. And even if he were, we'd have no problems with him being a client. After all, we're a demonic, not a vampiric lawfirm." Paying for her drinks, Lilah rose to leave. "And now that I've told you all I'm going to, I think it's time for me to leave. Have fun, and give Samuel my regards when you meet him."
Author's note: Yet another chapter delivered. Hope you enjoy, and review even if you didn't. Also, I've lowered the rating seeing as things seems to go less bloody than I originally expected. I'll raise it again if things change.
This chapter have also been edited to correct errors with names. I've been informed it is 'MacLeod', not 'McCloud'. Thanks go to XwingAce for pointing this out to me. Errors in verbs have not been fixed as I found myself unable to spot them. But let me point out that English is not my first language, so I figure I've got an excuse.
Further editing: continued fixing the continuity error. The name Michael's been using with Wolfram & Hart is Samuel McDowell, not James McDowell.
The letter had been from Amanda, requesting that he meet with her and Duncan MacLeod regarding the headhunter that'd sent him running from Chicago. Apparently Duncan had decided that it was someone the Watchers called "the slayer", and had taken it upon himself to take his head for the atrocities he'd committed. But with no description or name, finding him required help from Michael, who'd met him and survived. Chuckling slightly at the irony, Michael tried to decide on what to do about them. Deception, avoidance or kill? He quickly decided to hold off on making a final decision until after he'd figured out what was going on with his lawyers.
The rest of the flight Michael spent almost immobile in his seat, pondering what had just happened. Somehow, they had tracked him through two different identities, Samuel McDowell and Michael Madsen, without him noticing it. And then sent a courier on and off an airborne plane. Admittedly, the courier could be considered a show of good faith: "We know you're more than you appear, and look, so are we." But it didn't change matters any.
The only way he could see for the couriers vanishing act was magic. If that was the case, it didn't seem unlikely that the means of locating him had also been magical in nature. Following that train of thought, it would seem that the means of preventing future unwanted locating of him would also be magic. And that was something he knew nothing about.
For a brief moment he considered altering his plans, travel to Australia and search through the vault there in the hope that it contained something to prevent detection. He decided against it. His last experiment, trying to activate a ring that was supposed to enable him to alter his appearance had resulted in a rather spectacular lightshow as his Quickening blew the ring apart. He'd later come to assume that any attempt to use magic on an Immortal would be countered by the Quickening. Unfortunately, locating him didn't seem to count. Not direct enough? Or could it be that the Quickening was attempting to keep his body in the state it'd been when he first died, and only fought if that state was altered?
Still, it would probably be a good idea to get at least the magical objects identified, as soon as he'd found a magician he could trust. Actually, that had just become a priority. He'd been tracked with magic, preventing it required magic, he needed a magician. Wizard, witch, warlock or whatever. A trustworthy one.
Problem: how to find a trustworthy magician? From past experience he knew Dark Mages regularly frequented demon bars, but they were not what he'd call trustworthy. Rethink. A trustworthy mage would do good with their power, right? Yes. Hunting demons were a good thing, right? Again, yes.
So in order to find a trustworthy magician, getting in touch with demon- hunters would seem like the thing to do. And he was on a plane to London, which contained the headquarters of the oldest demon-hunting unit he knew of. Admittedly, he'd found their tactics somewhat outdated when he'd last run into them back in 1912, but surely by now they would have at least entered the 19th century? And it wasn't as if he had a need for their tactics, just a reference to a powerful, trustworthy mage.
He might even get some information about Angelus while he was at it. After all, they specialised in vampires. If anyone knew what he'd been doing after Michael lost him, it would be the Council of Watchers.
****
At first, Angel had argued for infiltration, going in and meeting Lilah in her office, but after a heated discussion, Gunn had managed to convince him that they had upped their security so far after his last few visits that getting in and out unharmed would be far more trouble than whatever information Lilah could give was worth. Grudgingly accepting, Angel had instead driven to Lilah's favourite bar, hoping she would drop by for a drink on her way home from work.
True to expectations Lilah did stop by the bar on her way home. Making his way over to her, Angel noted that she appeared to be somewhat agitated. Slightly raised pulse, and she was well into her second drink by the time he'd made his way over from the booth he'd occupied while waiting for her.
"Rough day at the office? Throw any orphans out of their homes, perhaps? Or did one of your hitmen make a mess of things?" Having approached her soundlessly, Angel was pleased with her reaction as he whispered in her ear. And somewhat surprised. A squeal and a jump was rather more of a response than he'd expected.
"Don't you ever get tired of sneaking up on people?"
"Not when it means I get such a lovely response out of you. So, bad day at the office?"
"Actually no. I just had a meeting with one of the senior partners about a request I made. He tends to make an impression. And what do you care how my day's been? Wait, let me guess, you have a problem, and we are responsible."
"Well, yes. I do have a problem. I'm looking for this man, and I promise I won't be surprised if you say he's one of your hitmen." Angel pulled the sketch he'd made of Michael from his pocket and handed it over to Lilah.
Glancing at the paper, Lilah grimaced slightly before replying. "No. He's not one of our 'hitmen' as you call it. And before you ask, no, he does not work for us either. Never have, never will."
"But you know who he is, and what he does."
"Yes. But seeing as he's one of our clients, I really don't think that is something I am at liberty to reveal to you, or anyone else for that matter."
"A client? And here I thought that one of the services Wolfram & Hart offered was removal of trouble in any way necessary. You must be slipping if he had to do it himself."
Lilah frowned as she listened. "We are not 'slipping'. Not every client we have makes use of all the services we offer. Some of them even think we are nothing but a slightly corrupt lawfirm."
"Does he? Is that why he walks around town smelling of fresh blood? You probably should have let him in on your true nature, or do you get better paid for defending him in court than for handling bloodshed?"
"You met him? And he just walked away? Now that is a surprise, or didn't he recognize you?"
"I almost walked into him two days ago. His heart jumped, then he stole a car and drove off in a hurry, so I'd guess he recognised me. And you know why, don't you?"
Lilah ordered a refill on her drink before replying. "Yes I do. Doesn't mean I'm going to tell you." Downing her drink in a single gulp, she looked back at Angel. "Have you ever considered hiring a PR-firm? Letting people know that with you having a soul, Angelus is long gone? First Holz, and now Samuel. Your soulless self sure knew how to make a lasting impression on people."
"Are you saying he knew Angelus? Not a very likely story, Lilah. First, the man I met was human, or is he another time-traveller like Holz? And if he did know Angelus, how come I don't remember seeing him before?"
"I didn't say Angelus knew him, did I? As for what he is, that is confidential. What I can say is that you should really consider not antagonizing him. In fact, I'd advice you to make sure he knows that the only thing you have in common with Angelus is inhabiting his body." Lilah smirked as she imagined the likelihood of Samuel believing that.
"Are you saying this Samuel is a vampire-hunter? Then how come you have him as a client?"
"Samuel is not a vampire-hunter, Angel. And even if he were, we'd have no problems with him being a client. After all, we're a demonic, not a vampiric lawfirm." Paying for her drinks, Lilah rose to leave. "And now that I've told you all I'm going to, I think it's time for me to leave. Have fun, and give Samuel my regards when you meet him."
Author's note: Yet another chapter delivered. Hope you enjoy, and review even if you didn't. Also, I've lowered the rating seeing as things seems to go less bloody than I originally expected. I'll raise it again if things change.
This chapter have also been edited to correct errors with names. I've been informed it is 'MacLeod', not 'McCloud'. Thanks go to XwingAce for pointing this out to me. Errors in verbs have not been fixed as I found myself unable to spot them. But let me point out that English is not my first language, so I figure I've got an excuse.
Further editing: continued fixing the continuity error. The name Michael's been using with Wolfram & Hart is Samuel McDowell, not James McDowell.
