Chapter Twelve

Preparations and truthful deception

After three days and almost 65 thousand pounds, the investigators Michael had hired had managed to find 15 direct decendants of Edward Travers, 12 of which were still alive. Ruling out any over 90 or below 18 left 7, tossing out any females and the number had dropped to 3. Of these the most likely candidate had been Quentin Travers, the oldest son of Edward's only son. A quick search through his taxes and credit history had revealed that he had spent his entire life employed in the same firm as his grandfather, a discovery that had almost made Michael groan out loud.

Having decided to make the most of the opportunity, Michael had dismissed all but two of the investigators, and had tasked them with investigating the organizatioral structure of the Council. If the Council were to ever discover the existence of Immortals, Michael had no doubt that they would begin hunting them, either because they were not human, or, should they learn of the Game, in order to prevent someone like the Kurgan from taking the prize. Should that happen, Michael intended to be in a position to eliminate them before they could do too much damage.

Having long ago made plans to deal with the Watchers, he would now make similar plans for the Council. Should it be necessary, mercenaries and assassins on retainer would be activated and receive detailed plans. Considering the apparently sentralized organizatioral structure of the Council, Michael estimated a near complete wipeout could be achieved in a single strike, unlike the merely severe wound he hoped to be able to give the Watchers if they ever became a serious threat.

Thus having begun the preparations to kill them all, Michael had phoned the Council and arranged the trade of one journal in return for answers about Angelus and a recommendation to a skilled white-magic user.

****

Remembering Edward, Michael was once again amazed at how little genetics mattered in determining the personality of an individual. Quentin looked almost exactly like an older version of his grandfather, but were Edward had impressed Michael, Quentin had almost disgusted him. The man was clearly nothing more than a scheming bureaucrat, a politician were his grandfather had been a teacher and a warrior. And he was head of the Council, an organization whose primary function were teaching and supporting the Slayer, a teenage girl.

Returning from the meeting, Michael remembered the trust and love apparent between Edward and the Slayer he'd been in charge of, and the callous behaviour he'd killed for in China. It seemed that Edward just might have been an aberration in the organization. As soon as he'd finished with Angelus and the nosy attorneys, Michael would have to dig deeper into the Council, maybe even join it if he could. And then, should his suspicions regarding the treatment of the Slayer be correct, he just might have some fun.

Regarding the meeting itself, Michael was puzzled. They had answered his questions fully, and as far as he could tell they had not told a single lie. Still, something had seemed..off. Something they had not wanted him to know? Or merely a reaction to his appearance? He had after all chosen to appear before them as a ruffled, slightly unstable vampire-hunter, hoping to limit the amount of questions they would ask of him, and also to encourage swift answers in order to get him out the door.

Their reaction had been almost exactly as he'd expected, and had reminded him of some of his dealings with government officials during his mercenary days; "We need your services, but we neither like nor trust you." In retrospect, going for quick answers and few questions asked may have been a mistake. If there were something about Angelus they didn't want known, his appearance had certainly not encouraged them to share.

However, going over the information he'd received he was unable to spot anything pointing at missing pieces of the puzzle.

Apparently Angelus had left the remainder of the Scourge mere hours after William the bloody had sought out and single-handledly killed a Slayer, something Angelus had never dared even to attempt. Could the younger vampire have used his sudden notoriety to wrest control of the Scourge from Angelus, driving him away? Not unlikely, given the cowardly nature of Angelus, and the fact that William, now using the moniker 'Spike', had been accompanying Drusilla ever since gave credence to the assumption.

After that, the Council had not been able to track Angelus for years. The first verified appearance after 1900 had placed him in Los Angeles, at the Hyperion hotel. Using the name 'Angel' he had 'lived' there for an extended period of 1952. During that period there had been several suicides among the other guests, and a suspected bankrobber, a young woman named Judy Kovacs, had checked into the hotel and vanished. She'd never been found, and were presumed dead. The photo in the newspaper clipping the Council showed him were of a woman who would fit well into Angelus' original target profile. He'd vanished shortly before the bellhop, Frank Gillnets, were arrested for murdering a salesman, whose corpse he'd stored in the hotel meatlocker.

Michael remembered reading about the trial. Gillnets had been suspected of being responsible for more than one of the 'suicides', but nothing had been proven. Still, the suspicions, combined with the mutilation of the corpse in the murder he was found guilty of, had been enough to get him executed. Back then, Michael had been saddened that he'd not even suspected a serial- killer were in action at the hotel, now he felt he might owe the man's spirit an apology. Apparently, Angelus had escaped his attention by changing his M.O. completely; hiding his preferred victims among suicides and framing innocents for those deaths his 'artistry' made impossible to hide.

His next appearance had been in Sunnydale, fall 1996 until spring 1999, still using the name Angel. There, he'd actually seduced the Slayer. Apparently, he'd managed that by pretending to help her, and had even staked Darla, his Sire, in order to save the Slayer's life. Considering that Darla had been observed in the company of Angelus and Drusilla a few months ago in Los Angeles, Michael wondered how he'd managed to pull off that deception. Turned some poor girl who looked like Darla and then ordered the fledgling to pretend to be Darla before staking her seemed the most likely explanation.

Having pulled off the seduction, 'Angel' had attempted to kill her, but failed. He'd then returned to his old name and habits, stalking and terrorizing the girl and her Watcher, and had even briefly joined with Spike and Drusilla. The revival of the Scourge had ended in an attempt to open the Hellmouth and destroy the world. Michael found the next part hard to believe; the attempt had been prevented by Spike teaming up with the Slayer to stop the opening and sending Angelus to a hell dimension. Seeing as he'd somehow escaped, Michael resolved to settle with dusting the creature when finished with it.

After the return from the hell dimension, Angelus had left Sunnydale for Los Angeles, and had apparently resided there ever since. The Council had decided to keep out of his way after one of their retrieval teams, hunting a rogue Slayer, were trashed by Angelus and the Slayer working together. And even though that Slayer had since surrendered herself to the police for murder, the Council were unwilling to move against the vampire.

A rather puzzling story. A master vampire working with a Slayer to save the world from his grand-Sire, her lover. A Slayer gone rogue (the same, or her replacement?) working with Angelus against the Council and then going to jail for murder. Michael was beginning to think that this hunt would be among the more amusing he'd ever had. After the Council, he might give some thought to the idea of hunting older vampires more often.

First things first, though. First a trip to Sunnydale for a talk with the witch the Council had recommended. Apparently there were two witches working alongside the Slayer there. He probably should have asked whether the jailed Slayer had died, or been reformed. The witches, a Tara Maclay and Willow Rosenberg, were both registered at level five. Knowing nothing about how the levels worked or where they were registered, he'd have to assume it was high, given that they were working with the Slayer on a Hellmouth. If he was fortunate they might even have some knowledge about the time Angelus had spent there. Then, if they could help with preventing magical tracking of him, he'd have to settle things with Amanda and Duncan before continuing the hunt for Angelus. He really hoped he wouldn't have to kill Amanda, he'd always found her youthful spirit rather amusing.

Author's note: Ok, here is the next part of the story. Many thanks for the reviews I've received, they keep me working. I humbly offer many apologies for the delay since the last instalment. I have many reasons, and while some of them involve laziness, others involve Connor and my lack of interest in the show after his inclusion. I swear, if I don't stop hating him soon, I won't even try to find a good reason for Michael to let that brat live.