CHAPTER SEVEN

Spike offered Faith another Tetley's Ale and a cigarette. She seemed numb as she took them. He didn't blame her. He was feeling numb himself. There had been a bigger cache of stuff than either of them expected when they went on their respective raids. Spike had found files on a computer - Red's lessons had taken root in him - detailing medical records on one Steven Franklin Thomas Holtz and another on Daniel Holtz. The files had come from Wolfram and Hart's New York City branch, so Eve hadn't quite lied about her involvement.

Daniel seemed to be a very ordinary man, albeit one who had been dragged back from the dead. The same could not be said of Steven. Spike knew he wasn't an idiot but he didn't have the education to really understand what the notes said. He didn't have the science background and he couldn't ask Fred without tipping his hand. Still, it was obvious enough Steven wasn't exactly human.

Faith's discovery had been more profound. Files on both of the men, Steven's was cross-referenced to a Connor Angel - and loads of videos tapes. They skipped the files and went straight to video, working through them and a six pack of Tetley's simultaneously. There were no sounds in the room except for the subtle sucking noises on the mouth of the bottles and the crinkling sound of cigarettes going to ash.

It was the second time through for all the tapes. Some had sound. This one didn't. All were obviously taken in secret. Spike had seen ones of what looked like a very pregnant Darla except Spike knew that was impossible. Still, he had seen it. Faith revealed some of her Orpheus knowledge and told him Angel had given it to Darla some time after he had set her and Dru on fire. He told her Angel was always kinky that way. They watched as Daniel tore up men inside a place Faith called the Hyperion Hotel, Angel's last place of residence. There was no doubt this was the man they had come across in the parks. Spike counted himself lucky as hell that he wasn't fitting into an ashtray just about now.

Even more perplexing were ones of Angel cooing to a baby, singing lullabies and otherwise rampaging through the hotel like he had been given a cocktail of estrogen and stupid pills. Spike was embarrassed for him and from Faith's expression she felt the same. The embarrassment mixed with confusion and pity. Spike knew they were seeing the impossible then he remembered vampires waiting for their messiah, some dolts worshiping the great potentate Ul-Thar - fuck, if some vampires couldn't be totally pretentious prats - and here it was, a vampire baby. Trust Peaches to be the one to pull off the miracle. Then the baby disappeared from the videos and the boy that kicked the shit out of Faith appeared. The sound in these tapes were wonky as if made by something other than taping equipment if that made sense. It did to Spike since he heard Lorne on tape discovering the bugs via his enhanced senses. Wolfram and Hart had probably switched to magic or something. The last videos were of the boy and Angel with a dark-skinned woman on newscasts then a newscast of the boy trying to kill a mall full of people. Angel had been crying. Spike didn't want to see that. He didn't even want to use it against Angel because he could see the real emotion there, the heart felt pain. He understood that, had cried similar tears.

They were rewatching the strange-sounding tape, the one where the boy was kicking Angel's ass all over the hotel while adding some good kicks to Gunn and some guy Spike didn't know. He was shocked at Fred cowering in a corner with Lorne and Cordelia who was guarding them and acting like she knew the first thing about fighting. Fred had said Cordelia was good at it. Spike had his doubts. Spike could keep a copy of this just to watch Angel getting the crap kicked out of him like he so richly deserved but he was just as glad the kid had lost the stake launcher by the time he had come across him. Faith seemed to like the dirty leather look which made him wonder about her fantasies.

Both of them jumped off the couch when the door slammed open so hard, Spike thought it had to have been splintered off its hinges. Angel stood there, wild eyed. "Faith, care to explain to me why Eve's threatening to call the cops and have you arrested for theft?" He stalked into the room. "I know I can keep her from pressing...." His mouth stopped working as he saw the video tape.

"Want to tell us a few more lies about how you don't know him?" Faith asked, stabbing a hand at the tv. After a long pause she looked at him concerned. "Angel?"

"Where...Eve had all of this?" Angel sounded broken.

"This, and those files and the files Spike found in the lab. Angel, who is this boy? I know what the tapes said he was." Faith got up. "I thought he looked familiar while he was kicking my ass but I can't place him. I know what it looks like on the tapes but that's not possible. Then I poke around my own brain at all the stuff Orpheus left there and realize there are huge holes."

"I didn't know they had this." Angel's shoulders slumped.

"You didn't answer the lady's questions," Spike said.

Angel bristled. "I can't talk about it."

"Enough of the bullshit, Angel," Faith snapped.

The tune of "That's an Irish Lullaby" interrupted and Spike immediately regretted having programed that in as a joke, especially after hearing Angel trying to warble a Too-la-roo-ra-loo-ra to the infant on the videos. Angel pulled out his phone, staring at it as if he didn't know what it was. He looked at Faith then answered it.

"Yes, Willow?" Spike watched Angel get sadder and sadder as Willow talked. "Thank you, Willow. I owe you."

Faith grabbed the phone before Angel could hang up. "Will, it's Faith. Yeah...not going so good actually. Is Buffy there? Put her on, thanks....Hey, B, gotta question for you. Is it normal for Angel to keep really big secrets from you and get all mad if you try to figure it out even though it's super important that you know...when he's acting all protective and thinks he's doing it for you own good? Yeah, thought so. Yeah, he's doing it now...no, I doubt kicking his ass will help but it might make me feel better," Faith said and Spike seconded it. He didn't miss the wounded look on Angel's face. "I gotta jet, B. Things are finally kicking loose here...Wes emailed you what? I didn't get my ass kicked." Faith looked irritated. "I got a little knocked around, nothing new for a Slayer, right? Oh, did he tell you what else happened....just stuff about me? Okay, guess who got a cross burned into his skin flute...you got it in one." Faith laughed.

"Bloody hell!" Spike muttered.

"Yeah, I know there really wasn't any other choice. Angel wouldn't have his out where it could be branded." Faith grinned.

"I resent that both of you!" Spike yelled loud enough to be heard across the Atlantic then mumbled, "Bints."

"I heard that, Spike," Faith said. "Okay, I'll let them know." Faith hung up and handed the phone back. "Buffy said hi and that if you don't stop acting like an overprotective asshole, I'm allowed, no, encouraged, to kick your ass."

"I don't think she called me an asshole," Angel said, softly.

Faith tossed her hair. "Close enough."

"And you didn't let me finish. I can't talk about it here." He gestured at the tv. "They're good at spying. We need to get this stuff someplace safe after I get the chance to read through it all. And we need to get someplace where we can't be easily overheard. Then I'll tell you everything."

"Fair enough," she replied.

Spike helped to gather it all up and they went underground since it was still daylight. Angel led them to The Next Dimension Over. Lorne wasn't in yet since he had very limited hours during which he did his thing. Spike knew the demon was still at work at the firm at this hour but his club was packed and noisy as hell. It was just what Angel obviously wanted.

"What did Red tell you?" Spike asked after he ordered a Type O Negative with a whiskey chaser.

"That Eve's been contracting out to the New York branch." Angel shook one of the files. "Doing this. She's the one who brought Holtz back from the dead. I don't know how or when she did it or what happened to Connor but I'm betting you two do."

Faith nodded. "Once it was made clear to you any more attempts to see him would result in breach of contract and you, like a giant ass, believed them, they took him to New York. I don't know what they did to him though."

"Experimented," Spike offered. "I don't understand half of what they did but I wasn't about to trust Fred, at least not yet. Wolfram and Hart's people did this to him...or maybe you did, Angel. He didn't look wrapped too tight in that video of the mall. We all know how good you drive people barmy, just look at Dru."

Angel wagged his head. "Holtz did this to him...I helped probably without meaning to. Cordelia helped. Jasmine...he didn't have a chance. Holtz made sure he only saw in black and white."

"And there's too much grey in this world," Spike said.

"But is it what it looked like? Is what we heard real?" Faith asked. "Is he your..." She trailed off as the waitress came over with two blood drinks, Spike's shot and a Dirty Orgasm for Faith. Spike made a face at the rather curdled-looking thing of orange liquor, Galliano and Bailey's Irish Cream. He had her pegged as a beer girl. This is what happened when you had drink menus that were like mini-phone books.

"He is," Angel said as the waitress moved on.

"How is that possible?" Spike asked.

"The usual way." Angel shrugged. "This isn't supposed to happen."

"Then how did it?" Faith asked.

"When Wolfram and Hart brought her back from the dead, she was human but dying from a disease. I fought to save her life but it didn't work. The life I earned was given to us in the form of an impossible baby, someone who was prophesied to come," Angel took a sip of his blood.

"And you gave Prophecy Boy to Evil Incorporated?" Faith kicked him under the table.

Angel looked wounded. "It wasn't that simple."

Spike listened as Angel explained it all. He thought Faith was going to chew through the table when Angel told her she had once known the boy but he had erased Connor from her memory; that or give Angel a holy water enema. Spike would hold him down for that.

"You fucked with my brain?" Her hand convulsed on her drink, shards of glass cutting her.

Spike reached for her hand, pulling out the slivers.

"I didn't have a choice. You saw that, Faith. You think I wanted this? You think I wanted it to go this way, to hurt everyone I know just to save him?" Angel's good eye was wet with restrained tears and the burned one looked even worse.

"It was wrong." She slammed her uninjured hand on the table, sloshing booze and blood.

"I know. And now I'm trying to figure out what to do. I know he's not killing those kids in the park, Faith. I know it here." Angel tapped his chest. "But this doesn't help. I don't understand everything they did to him that turned him this insane. Even when he was melting down in the mall, he was at least lucid...too lucid. Suicidal, hating himself and me and all the bad things in this world. He just couldn't grasp the shades of grey. He knew I loved him and he was starting to love me, I think, just a little. Now I doubt he even recognizes me. I'm just a vampire to him.

"Loving you screwed him up worse," Spike said and Angel looked at him. "What? Think I don't know how that is. You and I both do."

"Buffy," Faith said.

Spike nodded. "It's why we both left. Bodies and sex, that's okay. Love screws you up."

"Only Connor wasn't equipped to handle it, thanks to Holtz. His whole life was nothing but a lie as he saw it. He told me you couldn't be saved by a lie. I didn't listen," Angel said.

"Did you find spells to reverse this?" Spike asked. "That's why you were really in the library, right? Not some bloody nonsense about magical party favors."

"I knew you'd figure that much out." Angel ran a hand through his hair. "I think it can be done. I'll need Willow and Giles and probably Wes but once this comes to light, I'm not sure anyone will want to help."

"They'll help," Spike said. "If nothing else, they're do-gooders. They'll help the kid, if not you."

"And I say the plan doesn't change," Faith said. "We bring Connor and Holtz in. If they're not behind the demons possessing the kids and slaughtering half the college brats in town, at least you'll have them and can help Connor. And if they are...."

"Faith, you're in no condition to fight Connor," Angel interjected.

"Hey, you said I've beaten him in the past." Faith got her back up. "Just because he surprised me last night..."

"You're his equal, there's no doubt of that," Angel said quickly. "But you're still recovering and now you're drunk."

"He's got you there," Spike said. "But Peaches hasn't seen the tranquilizer gun Fred has cooked up. We should be able to drop the kid without having to fight him. We're all going out tonight with them."

Angel's melancholic look returned. "I'll help."

"What about the guy who fucked him up?" Faith asked.

"Don't hurt him. I've already done that enough," Angel said, the sorrow in his voice could have been bottled and sold to inspire suicides and dark poetry. "Bring him in if you can. If we capture Connor, Holtz will come to us on his own. I can almost guarantee it."

"And Eve?" Faith asked.

"She lives...until this is over," Angel growled. "After that I make no promises."

"Angel, you can't just kill her." Spike saw the horror on Faith's face as she said that. "Isn't that what your soul is supposed to stop?"

"I stop me because of the soul, Faith. It's a choice. I've chosen to ignore that soul before when I let Darla and Dru eat most of Wolfram and Hart's top players. Eve hurt my son. Don't think I'll think twice about hurting her," Angel said.

"The others might not agree, Peaches, but I'm with you," Spike said, seeing very little surprise in his grandsire's eyes. "Some people get what they deserve and I don't need to hear arguments about who are we to decide."

Angel nodded. "Cordelia once told me to kill Holtz for what he did. Fred and Gunn took Connor away so I could do just that."

"We got past Willow killing her lover's murderer and I know what Giles did to stop Glory." Spike put a comforting hand on Faith's shoulder. "I think they'll understand."

"I don't like it," Faith said. "But I'm not going to stop you, Angel, because I trust you and your judgement. Maybe that's dumb but I do."

"And I appreciate it. I wish I could have told you earlier, Faith, about all of this but I was hoping it could be fixed, that I could give Connor back the life I bargained for. I can't and I know that now." Angel got up. "Let's get back to the lab. We have some hunting to do."