Stumble Into Grace- Chapter 25
-Buffy-
I'm bored. I've been walking these alleys for two hours with no sign of any vamp what so ever. The only thing I found was a couple making out in the alley behind a club. I scared them. I hope they go somewhere less populated by the undead. I can hear the club music pounding out of the various places. I haven't gone dancing in years, probably since the last time I saw Faith.
"Ssssslayer." I hear behind me.
I stop stock still. Dammit, why didn't I get the special spidey sense package? I mean feeling Angel, really nice, but it would have been nifty to have the whole deal. I turn around slowly, casually.
"I heard you were looking for me." I lean against the brick wall.
The vamp walks closer to me. He glides like really old vamps sometimes do. Angel could almost manage the glide before he became human. Melanie was right. He is ugly, not Master ugly but so few are.
"You are Angelus' slayer." He says.
"Maybe you didn't get the memo, but his name is Angel now." I say.
"You carry his mark."
"Wow, your observation skills are really lacking aren't they?" I say.
"Where can I find Angelus?" the vamp asks.
I pretend to think for a moment. "I'm thinking a hotel room.... in Hell."
He moves faster then I anticipated. He backhands me. "Angelus should teach his slayer some respect."
I wipe the blood from my mouth, glaring up at him. "I'm going to teach you some respect." I dart my right hand out and land a fist squarely in his solar plexus. He stumbles back just far enough. I catch him in the temple with a jumping snap kick. The vamp's body crashes into a grouping of trash cans.
"Oh come on, exactly how did you take out my slayer?" I taunt.
"Like this." He says from behind me. Holy shit, I never even heard him move. "If I wanted you dead, you would be. I want Angelus."
"And I told you, Brain Trust, his name is Angel now." I say.
The vampire's hand caresses my throat. He pauses at Angel's mark. His fingers wrap around my throat. I will myself to stay calm. He bends to whisper in my ear. "I think Angel will be most interested in what I have to say to him." I slam my head back into his forehead before he has a chance to move. He stumbles back with a scream. "Bitch!"
I catch him in the temple with a flying roundhouse kick. "Just because I like keeping really accurate records, what name should I put in my journal of Vamps I've staked?"
He's gone. I don't know how but he's gone. I was kicking his ass one second and the next, no joy.
"Morte Viziosa," a voice says from the shadows. I dart toward the sound and am not surprised to find nothing.
I dust my hands off and walk back to the magic shop, frustrated that I lost the vamp. At least I've got a name. The shop is ablaze with lights. Everyone is gathered around the round table, just like King Arthur's knights. Sorry my brain rambles sometimes. Everyone turns when I walk in the room.
"Mortie Vezza." I say.
"Morte Viziosa," Angel says in perfect Italian.
I pout and go sit on his lap. "I wanted to be the one who broke the great news."
He chuckles. "Sorry. Tell us what happened." He touches the corner of my mouth that is still fresh with blood.
"He found me. We fought. He ran. I'm all big and scary." I joke. "Seriously though, he's strong, he's way fast. Twice he moved and I never saw it happen. He's not invulnerable. I was hurting him. He's just too fast." I say.
"He's somewhere around 525 years old." Angel says.
"He wanted to talk to Angelus. "I say.
Angel takes a deep breath. "Did he say why?"
I shake my head. "Nope but he didn't want to kill me. He just wanted me to deliver a message."
"He didn't have anyone with him?" Angel asks.
"Nope, he really didn't hurt me. He backhanded me and said you should teach me respect and the back of my head hurts where I head butted him, but that's it."
"Let me guess. You taunted him." Angel said.
"Only a little, besides I had to make with the quips, otherwise he might think you'd sent an imposter. My quippage is famous you know, even Dracula knew about it." I say.
"Dracula?" Angel says.
I wrinkle my nose. "Uhm, did I forget to tell you about that?" I say.
"Dracula came to see you?" Angel says.
"Yeah, it was a whole big deal. Xander turned into the bug eating guy from the movies. Dracula got Buffy under his thrall. He bit her. Riley freaked out. It-oh-shutting up now." Willow says as she finally catches my glare.
I can feel Angel literally trembling underneath me. "He. Bit. You." Angel says. Each word is hard, separated and carefully controlled.
I bite my bottom lip. "Under thrall, promise." I squeak.
Giles gets up. "Uhm, I've got books in the back room. Perhaps, Willow, Oz, Melanie help me gather them."
Willow and Oz stand up. Melanie remains seated. "No way I'm missing this." She whispers back to Giles.
"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him very slowly. Little, sniveling gypsy, he's going to pay. He knew, he knows what that mark means. It's not like the entire demon community doesn't know you belong to me." Angel's voice is shaking with anger.
"Baby, it was twelve years ago. "
"I don't care. I'm going to kill him." Angel says.
"I staked him, twice." I offer.
"It doesn't matter. I'm going to make sure the asshole stays dead. No amount of crappy gypsy magic will bring him back when I'm finished with him. No one touches my mate." Angel says.
I don't bother to mention that crappy gypsy magic made our lives hell for several years.
"Okay, Baby, not that I don't like it when you go all cro mag on me, but I think we better handle things here before we tackle Dracula."
"Fine, after this we are making a trip to Romania. I'll take his fancy native dirt and shove it up his ass." Angel growls.
I glance over at Melanie. She's fighting giggles.
-Angel-
When Buffy kisses me awake in the morning, I'm tempted to pull her back into bed and stay there for the rest of the day. The only reason I get up is because if I want to kick Dracula's ass for biting Buffy I'm going to have to be able to walk to do it. Buffy drops me off and heads to the magic shop to help with the research. I'm working on walking in between the railings again.
"I don't know what put a burr up your ass, Angel but whatever is motivating you seems to be working." The Asshole says.
"Someone hit on my wife." I growl.
"Maybe I should have made a pass at Buffy a long time ago." The Asshole says.
"Go ahead. I'm going to kill this guy very slowly when I find him. I can put you on the list too." I warn.
"Kidding, I was kidding." The Asshole puts his hands up in surrender.
The session goes really well. I'm walking with just my fingertips brushing the railing. I take very small, shuffling steps. It's a long way from where I used to be. The doctor warns I may never be where I used to be. I may never have the grace, agility or reflexes. At one time I would have thought that unacceptable. Now I'll take anything that gets me out of that chair and on my own two feet.
"Good job today. Tomorrow we'll work with canes. If you keep moving at this rate I think you can be out of that chair in a month." The Asshole says.
I might have to come up with a new name for him.
I take a cab to the magic shop. It's just ten in the morning and everyone there is deep in research mode. Buffy and Melanie are sipping at ice lattes and providing not so helpful tips. Buffy stands up and breaks into this huge smile as soon as she sees me. I love the way she looks at me. She just glows. There's not another person on this earth she looks at the same way she looks at me. She sits down, draping her legs over the arm of my wheelchair. The one thing I will miss about the wheelchair, Buffy in my lap, all the time. I'll have to come up with more excuses to get her to sit in my lap. Maybe I'll get rid of all the chairs in the house except one.
"Did we find out anything else?" I ask.
Buffy shakes her head. "Not really. We know most everything. Willow, Melanie and I are going patrolling tonight. Will has this nifty tar spell she can smack him with that will slow him down. After that, he's just another vamp."
"You'll be careful." I say.
"Extra, promise. Cross my heart and hope not to die, because been there done that just not fun." She puts her hand over her heart.
I kiss her hand. "Take care of that for me." I say.
"Take care of what? My hand?" She looks at her hand confused.
"Your heart." I say.
She smiles at me. "That belongs to you."
"Okay, then take care of my heart." I say.
"It's my most cherished possession." She whispers and leans in to kiss me.
It's funny. Willow and Giles completely ignore us. They've gotten used to Buffy and I. Melanie is watching us with a silly grin on her face, absorbing everything.
"Baby, if you and Mel are going to train today, go do it. I want to go home for a while before you go patrol." I say.
"Oh yeah, because we have to uhm, take a nap before patrol. Napage, always good for patrol." Buffy grins at me.
"Yeah, I've gotten used to our afternoon naps." I rub her nose with mine and let her get up. Great now I'm going to spend the next hour thinking about making love to Buffy.
-Buffy-
I drop Angel off at the magic shop. He and Giles are going to research. Melanie, Willow and I are walking the alleys where I met Mortie last time. I twirl my stake and sing the lone ranger theme. Melanie is looking at me like I've lost my mind.
"B, I don't mean to you know tell you how to do your job, but don't you think being quiet would be good?" Melanie says.
I crack a smile at her. "If he's anywhere within a half a mile of here he can smell me and you. He's got our scent. He could track us better then any bloodhound, scratch that, better then any dog. So scream, yell and sing all you want. He's either got the scent of us or not. Besides we want to find him." Having Willow beside me makes me feel pretty invincible. She is still a wicked powerful Wicca.
Melanie doesn't seem to be comforted by my words. She'll loosen up. It's always hard to get back into the swing of things when you've been hurt. She's been lucky up until now. She hasn't been seriously injured until the night before last.
"Relax Mel. I know it's hard to get back into it. I was freaked for a while after I died. Ask Will, I was a total bitch."
"You died?" Melanie says in disbelief.
"Thirteen years as a slayer, I die twice, save the world more times then I can count and all they remember is that I fell in love with a vampire." I say with an exaggerated sigh.
"Well, yeah, its better then any soap opera ever written." Melanie says.
"It is pretty romantic, the whole forbidden love thing." Willow agrees.
"When we get through with this guy, I swear I'm making Angel give you slayer history lessons, that don't include our love life." I say.
"I heard ya'll today." Melanie said. "So Angel can't walk but he can have sex?"
I blush bright red. "Here Vampy vampy, oh Mortie vamp where you at?" I yell at the top of my lungs. Maybe Mortie will come along and kick my ass or something.
*
At midnight we decide to pack it in. We haven't found one vamp, one demon or one sign that Morte even cares we're there.
"Next time I think I'll take out an ad in the paper, gives good neck." I grumble.
Willow grins at me. I open the door to the magic shop and step inside. "Honey, I'm home!" I shout out.
The magic shop is a wreck. The table is over turned, there are books scattered everywhere. Ice water runs through my veins. Angel's wheelchair is turned over on the floor. "Angel," I try to yell. It comes out a watery wavery whisper. My knees buckle. Melanie catches me and eases me to the floor.
"Giles," Willow yells.
"In here," Giles comes out of the backroom swerving and holding a bloody hand to his head. "Vampires showed up, including Morte Viziosa. They took Angel."
-Buffy-
I'm bored. I've been walking these alleys for two hours with no sign of any vamp what so ever. The only thing I found was a couple making out in the alley behind a club. I scared them. I hope they go somewhere less populated by the undead. I can hear the club music pounding out of the various places. I haven't gone dancing in years, probably since the last time I saw Faith.
"Ssssslayer." I hear behind me.
I stop stock still. Dammit, why didn't I get the special spidey sense package? I mean feeling Angel, really nice, but it would have been nifty to have the whole deal. I turn around slowly, casually.
"I heard you were looking for me." I lean against the brick wall.
The vamp walks closer to me. He glides like really old vamps sometimes do. Angel could almost manage the glide before he became human. Melanie was right. He is ugly, not Master ugly but so few are.
"You are Angelus' slayer." He says.
"Maybe you didn't get the memo, but his name is Angel now." I say.
"You carry his mark."
"Wow, your observation skills are really lacking aren't they?" I say.
"Where can I find Angelus?" the vamp asks.
I pretend to think for a moment. "I'm thinking a hotel room.... in Hell."
He moves faster then I anticipated. He backhands me. "Angelus should teach his slayer some respect."
I wipe the blood from my mouth, glaring up at him. "I'm going to teach you some respect." I dart my right hand out and land a fist squarely in his solar plexus. He stumbles back just far enough. I catch him in the temple with a jumping snap kick. The vamp's body crashes into a grouping of trash cans.
"Oh come on, exactly how did you take out my slayer?" I taunt.
"Like this." He says from behind me. Holy shit, I never even heard him move. "If I wanted you dead, you would be. I want Angelus."
"And I told you, Brain Trust, his name is Angel now." I say.
The vampire's hand caresses my throat. He pauses at Angel's mark. His fingers wrap around my throat. I will myself to stay calm. He bends to whisper in my ear. "I think Angel will be most interested in what I have to say to him." I slam my head back into his forehead before he has a chance to move. He stumbles back with a scream. "Bitch!"
I catch him in the temple with a flying roundhouse kick. "Just because I like keeping really accurate records, what name should I put in my journal of Vamps I've staked?"
He's gone. I don't know how but he's gone. I was kicking his ass one second and the next, no joy.
"Morte Viziosa," a voice says from the shadows. I dart toward the sound and am not surprised to find nothing.
I dust my hands off and walk back to the magic shop, frustrated that I lost the vamp. At least I've got a name. The shop is ablaze with lights. Everyone is gathered around the round table, just like King Arthur's knights. Sorry my brain rambles sometimes. Everyone turns when I walk in the room.
"Mortie Vezza." I say.
"Morte Viziosa," Angel says in perfect Italian.
I pout and go sit on his lap. "I wanted to be the one who broke the great news."
He chuckles. "Sorry. Tell us what happened." He touches the corner of my mouth that is still fresh with blood.
"He found me. We fought. He ran. I'm all big and scary." I joke. "Seriously though, he's strong, he's way fast. Twice he moved and I never saw it happen. He's not invulnerable. I was hurting him. He's just too fast." I say.
"He's somewhere around 525 years old." Angel says.
"He wanted to talk to Angelus. "I say.
Angel takes a deep breath. "Did he say why?"
I shake my head. "Nope but he didn't want to kill me. He just wanted me to deliver a message."
"He didn't have anyone with him?" Angel asks.
"Nope, he really didn't hurt me. He backhanded me and said you should teach me respect and the back of my head hurts where I head butted him, but that's it."
"Let me guess. You taunted him." Angel said.
"Only a little, besides I had to make with the quips, otherwise he might think you'd sent an imposter. My quippage is famous you know, even Dracula knew about it." I say.
"Dracula?" Angel says.
I wrinkle my nose. "Uhm, did I forget to tell you about that?" I say.
"Dracula came to see you?" Angel says.
"Yeah, it was a whole big deal. Xander turned into the bug eating guy from the movies. Dracula got Buffy under his thrall. He bit her. Riley freaked out. It-oh-shutting up now." Willow says as she finally catches my glare.
I can feel Angel literally trembling underneath me. "He. Bit. You." Angel says. Each word is hard, separated and carefully controlled.
I bite my bottom lip. "Under thrall, promise." I squeak.
Giles gets up. "Uhm, I've got books in the back room. Perhaps, Willow, Oz, Melanie help me gather them."
Willow and Oz stand up. Melanie remains seated. "No way I'm missing this." She whispers back to Giles.
"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him very slowly. Little, sniveling gypsy, he's going to pay. He knew, he knows what that mark means. It's not like the entire demon community doesn't know you belong to me." Angel's voice is shaking with anger.
"Baby, it was twelve years ago. "
"I don't care. I'm going to kill him." Angel says.
"I staked him, twice." I offer.
"It doesn't matter. I'm going to make sure the asshole stays dead. No amount of crappy gypsy magic will bring him back when I'm finished with him. No one touches my mate." Angel says.
I don't bother to mention that crappy gypsy magic made our lives hell for several years.
"Okay, Baby, not that I don't like it when you go all cro mag on me, but I think we better handle things here before we tackle Dracula."
"Fine, after this we are making a trip to Romania. I'll take his fancy native dirt and shove it up his ass." Angel growls.
I glance over at Melanie. She's fighting giggles.
-Angel-
When Buffy kisses me awake in the morning, I'm tempted to pull her back into bed and stay there for the rest of the day. The only reason I get up is because if I want to kick Dracula's ass for biting Buffy I'm going to have to be able to walk to do it. Buffy drops me off and heads to the magic shop to help with the research. I'm working on walking in between the railings again.
"I don't know what put a burr up your ass, Angel but whatever is motivating you seems to be working." The Asshole says.
"Someone hit on my wife." I growl.
"Maybe I should have made a pass at Buffy a long time ago." The Asshole says.
"Go ahead. I'm going to kill this guy very slowly when I find him. I can put you on the list too." I warn.
"Kidding, I was kidding." The Asshole puts his hands up in surrender.
The session goes really well. I'm walking with just my fingertips brushing the railing. I take very small, shuffling steps. It's a long way from where I used to be. The doctor warns I may never be where I used to be. I may never have the grace, agility or reflexes. At one time I would have thought that unacceptable. Now I'll take anything that gets me out of that chair and on my own two feet.
"Good job today. Tomorrow we'll work with canes. If you keep moving at this rate I think you can be out of that chair in a month." The Asshole says.
I might have to come up with a new name for him.
I take a cab to the magic shop. It's just ten in the morning and everyone there is deep in research mode. Buffy and Melanie are sipping at ice lattes and providing not so helpful tips. Buffy stands up and breaks into this huge smile as soon as she sees me. I love the way she looks at me. She just glows. There's not another person on this earth she looks at the same way she looks at me. She sits down, draping her legs over the arm of my wheelchair. The one thing I will miss about the wheelchair, Buffy in my lap, all the time. I'll have to come up with more excuses to get her to sit in my lap. Maybe I'll get rid of all the chairs in the house except one.
"Did we find out anything else?" I ask.
Buffy shakes her head. "Not really. We know most everything. Willow, Melanie and I are going patrolling tonight. Will has this nifty tar spell she can smack him with that will slow him down. After that, he's just another vamp."
"You'll be careful." I say.
"Extra, promise. Cross my heart and hope not to die, because been there done that just not fun." She puts her hand over her heart.
I kiss her hand. "Take care of that for me." I say.
"Take care of what? My hand?" She looks at her hand confused.
"Your heart." I say.
She smiles at me. "That belongs to you."
"Okay, then take care of my heart." I say.
"It's my most cherished possession." She whispers and leans in to kiss me.
It's funny. Willow and Giles completely ignore us. They've gotten used to Buffy and I. Melanie is watching us with a silly grin on her face, absorbing everything.
"Baby, if you and Mel are going to train today, go do it. I want to go home for a while before you go patrol." I say.
"Oh yeah, because we have to uhm, take a nap before patrol. Napage, always good for patrol." Buffy grins at me.
"Yeah, I've gotten used to our afternoon naps." I rub her nose with mine and let her get up. Great now I'm going to spend the next hour thinking about making love to Buffy.
-Buffy-
I drop Angel off at the magic shop. He and Giles are going to research. Melanie, Willow and I are walking the alleys where I met Mortie last time. I twirl my stake and sing the lone ranger theme. Melanie is looking at me like I've lost my mind.
"B, I don't mean to you know tell you how to do your job, but don't you think being quiet would be good?" Melanie says.
I crack a smile at her. "If he's anywhere within a half a mile of here he can smell me and you. He's got our scent. He could track us better then any bloodhound, scratch that, better then any dog. So scream, yell and sing all you want. He's either got the scent of us or not. Besides we want to find him." Having Willow beside me makes me feel pretty invincible. She is still a wicked powerful Wicca.
Melanie doesn't seem to be comforted by my words. She'll loosen up. It's always hard to get back into the swing of things when you've been hurt. She's been lucky up until now. She hasn't been seriously injured until the night before last.
"Relax Mel. I know it's hard to get back into it. I was freaked for a while after I died. Ask Will, I was a total bitch."
"You died?" Melanie says in disbelief.
"Thirteen years as a slayer, I die twice, save the world more times then I can count and all they remember is that I fell in love with a vampire." I say with an exaggerated sigh.
"Well, yeah, its better then any soap opera ever written." Melanie says.
"It is pretty romantic, the whole forbidden love thing." Willow agrees.
"When we get through with this guy, I swear I'm making Angel give you slayer history lessons, that don't include our love life." I say.
"I heard ya'll today." Melanie said. "So Angel can't walk but he can have sex?"
I blush bright red. "Here Vampy vampy, oh Mortie vamp where you at?" I yell at the top of my lungs. Maybe Mortie will come along and kick my ass or something.
*
At midnight we decide to pack it in. We haven't found one vamp, one demon or one sign that Morte even cares we're there.
"Next time I think I'll take out an ad in the paper, gives good neck." I grumble.
Willow grins at me. I open the door to the magic shop and step inside. "Honey, I'm home!" I shout out.
The magic shop is a wreck. The table is over turned, there are books scattered everywhere. Ice water runs through my veins. Angel's wheelchair is turned over on the floor. "Angel," I try to yell. It comes out a watery wavery whisper. My knees buckle. Melanie catches me and eases me to the floor.
"Giles," Willow yells.
"In here," Giles comes out of the backroom swerving and holding a bloody hand to his head. "Vampires showed up, including Morte Viziosa. They took Angel."