Developing Situations
"It's all right, Lorne," Angela said soothingly. "The singing can wait till another time. We could go dancing or something tonight."
"Whatever your understanding little heart desires, cupcake," Lorne replied. But he was still shocked at how out of it he'd been lately. His favorite karaoke bar was now a sports grill. There were other changes he could see too. It had been too long since he'd gotten out and about though, that was obvious.
&&&&&&&&
Oz paced up and down the length of his motel room, feeling like there were bugs crawling all over, just under the surface of his skin. A blue moon could mess with you in ways that no herbs or meditation could overcome. When there were two full moons in on month, the wolf tried all the harder to come out. And it was only days away. He could already feel it so strongly that he felt like throwing back his head and howling. Instead, he sank into a lotus on the floor, closed his eyes and began meditating. Or, trying to. He was so antsy he was having difficulties focusing. He gave himself a mental shake, and tried again, regulating his breathing, concentrating on the soothing words and images. With a final snarl, it seemed, the wolf gave in and went dormant again. Until the next time.
&&&&&&&
"House there." The Q'xlzr demon pointed. "That where I saw man coming out. But I not thinking he live there. Just where action is."
"It's a start," Angel conceded. Money exchanged hands. "Why didn't you follow him and find out where he lives?"
"Lost he on way to bus stop," the little demon complained. "Human legs much longer than I's."
"What about the woman he was with?" Angel asked, reaching for any tidbit of information he could get. "Did you see her?"
The Q'xlzr thought for a moment, trying to put what it had observed into human terms. "Yellow on top of she's head," it said. "Almost as tall as man." It considered further. "Very bumpy."
"Bumpy?" Angel had to give that one a minute to sink in. "Oh. You mean..," He gestured with his hands, indicating full breasts.
It nodded, then, curiosity got the better of it. "What bumps for?" it inquired.
&&&&&&&&
"I thought you said that we were going to make an early night of it," Rose commented breathlessly.
"We're in bed, luv," Spike pointed out. He carried on with doing what was making her sound breathless.
"An early night suggests not only going to bed but actually sleeping," she replied.
"Would you rather be sleeping?" Spike teased. He bent his head to nibble ever so gently on her neck, and anything else Rose might have had to say was lost, as she moaned and arched her back.
The twins were sleeping soundly, unaware of what they were missing.
&&&&&&&
Angela prepared for bed, grateful that the demon had taken a hint that she wasn't ready to sleep with him. And she wouldn't be, she thought, not ever. Dancing hadn't been bad though. Lorne had a good sense of rhythm, and while they were dancing, she could rest her head on his shoulder and close her eyes and not have to see what she was dancing with. Then, it had been good, and if Lorne had been human, she would have had no qualms about spending the night with him. But when the music had stopped, she was still with a green demon with little red horns on his head. She shuddered, then went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Again.
&&&&&&&
Lorne went home, walking on clouds. He didn't mind that Angela wanted to take things slow, that was probably a good thing. It certainly showed that she wasn't in the habit of jumping into bed with just anybody. And the few sweet kisses she had given him as they said their good nights were going to be enough for him to live on for a while. At least until tomorrow night. Lorne couldn't believe his luck. From no social life at all to a nearly full-blown relationship in the space of twenty-four hours. Sweet Angela, he thought. Some women had wanted to sleep with him out of curiosity, and others were completely turned off by the obvious fact that he was a demon. But darling Angela seemed to just accept him as he was, looking at him as a person, rather than as human or demon. Lovely, lovely Angela. He was whistling a merry tune as he unlocked the door to his apartment.
&&&&&&&&
Another council of war in Angel's office.
"Ethan Rayne is one of the most amoral persons I have ever heard of," Wesley remarked. "From what Giles told me, he does what he does, not for power, or to aid and abet the forces of evil, per se, although they certainly do benefit from his actions. But he does it simply because he can."
"Wasn't he that bloke that turned poor old Rupes into a Fyoral demon that time?" Spike asked with a grin. "A bit of fun, that was." He saw Rose giving him one of 'those' looks. "But I was still evil then," he added lamely.
"He also cast the spell that made everyone take on the characteristics of the Halloween costumes they were wearing," Wesley said. "I believe Giles said that that spell got broken just in time to keep you from biting the Slayer, Spike." He felt a pleasurable, albeit guilty thrill to see Spike's discomfiture.
"He also sent a demon after Buffy to save his own sorry hide," Angel put in quietly. That was a slightly uncomfortable memory. He'd saved Jenny's life then, only to take it away himself a short time later.
"So we've got a guy who can make with some major mojo," Gunn summed it up. "And doesn't give a good damn who gets hurt as long as it's not him, right?"
"That would seem to be a pretty fair appraisal," Wesley agreed. "But we still haven't found the spell that he's going to
use. I think we'll have to assume that whatever the trouble is, Ethan Rayne is behind it. He appears to be constitutionally incapable of staying out of trouble."
"We going to put him out of action permanent-like?" Spike asked. "Seems to me that's the only way we're going to keep him from getting all tricksy again."
"Giles had another proposal," Wesley informed them. "He would like us to just hold him, when and if we catch him. Then he'll send a detachment of Slayers to escort him back to England. Where he'll stand a rather informal trial in front of what little there is of the new council."
"Why don't we hold off on that decision until we actually have him?" Angel suggested. "The Q'xlzr picked up a line on him, but it's only a girlfriend. It wasn't actually able to follow him home, so we don't know where he lives yet. But I've got the house where the girlfriend lives discreetly staked out. If Ethan shows up, they'll give us the word, then keep him under surveillance from that point on."
"Still think we ought to just put paid to his pranks on the spot," Spike grumbled. "You take it easy on that sort and they just get into more mischief. If those poncey Initiative blokes had done a proper job of it, we wouldn't be having to clean up after him now."
"He hasn't actually done anything that we know of yet, Spike," Fred commented. "Besides, I thought being the good guys didn't mean that we kill them first then ask questions later."
"Fred, pet," Spike said mildly. "The most dangerous people are often the good ones. They'll kill you without so much as a by your leave if they think you've got it coming. It's the evil types that like to stand over you and gloat. Always thought that was a little stupid, myself. You gloat after." Seeing the look on Angel's face, he added, "Or sometimes before. But you don't give someone you're trying to off that kind of opportunity. It tends to jump up and bite you on the ass."
"And may I remind you, once again, Spike," Angel broke in. "That we only kill a human as a last resort. If we can catch him and put him out of commission..,"
"Then some damn fool will let him out again to go his own merry way," Spike finished. "Bet you ten to one that him getting away from the Initiative was nothing more than a bureaucratic cock up."
Angel ignored him. "Lorne, have you heard anything from any of your contacts?" He waited in vain for a reply, the Pylean seemed to be miles away. "Lorne," he repeated a bit louder.
"What?" Lorne had been miles away, reliving those few moments on Angela's front steps when he'd kissed her good-night. "Oh. I've got nothing on him, Angelface, under either name. Whatever he's doing, he's keeping it under wraps. At least for the time being."
"My contacts rolled snake-eyes too," Gunn said. "Looks like the little demon is the, whatever it is, of the hour. It certainly was the only one who could get a line on the guy."
"It would certainly seem that we've said anything that might be productive already," Wesley remarked. "So if you'll excuse us, Rose and I should be getting back to Research and continue looking for that spell."
Rose bit back a groan. She would be heartily glad when this sorry business was over and Angel was safe. She was constantly having headaches these days. Both from trying to make out the demon script on eroding texts, and the stress of worrying about Angel. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to be able to go home and be with her children.
&&&&&&&
"We're having fun learning to write and play music, Oz," Alaric began.
"I sense a 'but' coming up here," Oz remarked dryly.
"We'd like to go to the park again," Ariel said, smiling winsomely at him. Unlike her mother, she hadn't had to discover feminine wiles. She'd seemed to be born with them.
"And play on the swings," Alaric added. "Can we? Please?"
"To be honest, I don't think I'm up to a day at the park," Oz replied. In the outdoors like that, with the open spaces and trees, it tended to bring the wolf to the surface. But he didn't want to elaborate, although he wouldn't be surprised if the children picked it right out of his head, regardless.
Both of the children started to pout, and it made Oz feel slightly guilty. It wasn't right that they should have to be cooped up because of him. But there were a lot of things that weren't right in the world. And this, at least, was safer.
"After the blue moon?" Ariel asked.
"You know about that?" Oz didn't know why he should be surprised. These kids probably knew things about him that he kept a secret even from himself.
Alaric nodded. "'Sides," he said. "You're starting to smell a little wolfy."
"When did you get near enough to a wolf to scent it?" Oz let himself get sidetracked.
"Daddy took us to the zoo one night," Ariel answered. She giggled. "We sneaked in. But daddy can't go during the day, and mummy doesn't like the zoo."
"She doesn't like to see all the animals in cages," Alaric explained in answer to Oz' unasked question. "She thinks it's mean."
Having been caged himself more than once, usually voluntarily, but one time, very involuntarily, Oz could see Rose's point of view. "And you say you can smell the wolf on me?" He hadn't been around a vampire, and certainly not a curious hybrid like the twins so near to a full moon.
Both twins nodded this time. "'Specially when you're tired," Ariel remarked. She patted his hand sympathetically, an oddly adult like gesture from someone who so obviously had several years to go before being an adult. "We won't ask to go to the park again if it bothers you, Oz."
"I wanna see him turn into a wolf," Alaric grumbled. He found cause to grumble about a lot of things.
"Trust me," said Oz. "No, you don't."
&&&&&&&
A meeting with the rest of the coven tonight. Ethan wondered which was worse, their inane, self-righteous drivel, or Melody's demands in the bedroom. At least the meeting would be restful. With his plans fairly well secure, and the blue moon only a couple of days away, he could probably sleep through the entire meeting and not miss anything important. He almost considered giving the whole thing a miss, but decided against it. Someone might get an actual idea. Though it usually took more than one of them to come up with that kind of brainpower. He'd best make an appearance just to make sure that no one got.., creative. That was his prerogative.
&&&&&&&
"How did your date with Angela go last night?" Rose asked Lorne as the meeting broke up and they headed to their respective work areas. "And what did you do?"
"We spent the evening tripping the light fantastic, Rosebud." Lorne saw 'that' look on Rose's face and realized that he had used a phrase she didn't understand. "We went dancing. It was heavenly. I can hardly wait until tonight."
"Another date tonight?" Rose queried. "This sounds like it could be getting serious."
"I hope it is," Lorne replied, suddenly serious. "Because it wasn't until I met the beautiful Angela that I realized just what I've been missing the past few months. I never even noticed that I was lonely."