123

Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth

Alaric and Ariel were nodding off on Willow's couch.

"Maybe I'd better be getting them back," Oz suggested. His heart wasn't really in the request, though.

"Let them be," Willow said. She disappeared into the next room for a minute, and came back with a blanket and covered them up. "They'll be fine. And while they sleep, we can talk. We always could talk. About anything."

"Time to catch up on each other's lives?" asked Oz. "A lot's happened since the last time. It could take a while."

Willow shrugged. "Then let it take a while," she answered. She looked at the sleeping children again. "I still can't get over Spike being a father. It must be really weird."

"Not really," Oz remarked. "After a while, you don't even think about it. And Spike's a good dad. They love him to death."

"They love you too," Willow commented. "I think that was why they were giving me the cold shoulder at first. Because of you. Has there been anyone else?"

Oz shook his head. "A couple of false starts," he admitted. "But nothing solid. Nothing close to..,"

"What we had," Willow finished. "I have missed you, Oz." She realized that this could be getting into awkward territory, and decided that she'd better change the subject. "So, you want to tell me how you ended up being a nanny? I still can't see it."

"Angel thinks that maybe the PTB's had a hand in it," Oz replied. "I don't know, one minute, I'm in the midwest, and the next, I'm tooling down the road headed for California. I didn't know why, I just felt,.. pulled there."

"The Powers work in mysterious ways," Willow stated.

"Yes they do," Oz agreed. "Alaric and Ariel Powers." He gave Willow a look. "And believe me, they do work in mysterious ways."

"I meant The Powers That Be," Willow protested. She looked at Oz, then the twins, and back again. "You're kidding me, right?"

Oz gave her half a grin. "I guess it's going to be another all nighter," he replied. "And no, I'm not kidding."

&&&&&&&

"Who would have known, sir?" Travers asked soothingly. "Such a small, pliant seeming woman. It was unforeseeable that she should prefer to deal with Angelus rather than yourself."

"Insufferable female," Stenslow grumbled. "The kid gloves are coming off, Travers. I want surveillance on Ms. Powers twenty-four/seven. And as soon as she is.., vulnerable, I want her brought here. Then, we'll find out just why Angelus is so obsessed with her."

"I'll make the arrangements immediately, sir," Travers assured him. "Am I correct in assuming that you wish her brought here.., undamaged?"

"Relatively," Stenslow replied. "A few bruises won't hurt anything, I think. Except maybe for her." His eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as he sat in thought. "Travers, do you have a dossier on her?"

Travers shook his head. "Regrettably not, sir," he replied. "When the investigations were made, our people concentrated on those of the group who had been part of Angel's detective agency prior to the takeover. Ms. Powers was not yet a part of the group then. Nor, was her.., er.., significant other."

"Get the snoops off their lazy asses and get them to work," Stenslow snapped. "There's got to be more going on with Rose Powers than just being a pretty face. And I want to find out what it is."

"Very good, sir." Travers gave a ghost of a bow and made his exit.

Stenslow sat there thinking, long after he had gone. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, and now, it was all blowing up in his face. He had to find a way to turn the situation around. And soon. If he didn't get this debacle sorted out and start showing a profit by the next meeting of the board, he seriously doubted that he'd still be CEO. Given the nature of the board members, he might not even be Cariadoc Stenslow anymore.

&&&&&&

Rose had paled at Angelus' pronouncement, but stood her ground. It wasn't difficult, really. She didn't exactly have anywhere else to go. No safe haven that she could get to faster than he could block her path.

"Nothing to say, Rosie?" Angelus asked mockingly. "You should have been a little more cooperative. I would have taken it a little easier on you then." He eschewed dealing with the buttons on his shirt and merely ripped it open, letting the buttons fly where they may. "You might even have liked it."

Rose edged away a few feet, even though she knew it was a futile gesture at best. But hearing what appeared to be her best friend uttering such words.., It scared her even more, if possible, than the thought of what he planned to do to her. "Not that I'm complaining," she began, hoping to distract him, even for a moment. "But why did you leave Val alive? You could have easily killed him."

Angelus shrugged, grinning as he saw her cringing away from him. "Not worth the effort," he said lightly. "I wanted to save my energy for.., other things."

So much for the distraction. What would really help would be a distraction from an outside source, but she couldn't count on that. As far as Rose knew, she was completely on her own. She continued sidling away from him, hoping that she could at least put a piece of furniture between them.

"Always the tease," Angelus accused. "Lead a man on, then turn him down."

"When did I ever do that?" Rose asked.

"All those kisses that promised so much," Angelus said with a sigh. "And then you never delivered on any of it."

"For crying out loud," Rose muttered. "That was years ago, and we were both under a love spell. I hardly think I can be held accountable for things I did under the influence of a spell."

"You know I was always there, Rosie," Angelus said suddenly. "Even when it's him, I'm always there, just under the surface. And I can remember it all. Remember what it felt like having your hot little body under mine." He licked his lips and moved a little closer, enjoying the waves of fear he could feel coming off her.

"You can remember all that," Rose murmured sadly. "But you can't remember the really important things. Like how it feels to have people who care about you. Or why it sometimes seems like a good idea to take the day off work just to play with a couple of children who absolutely adore you."

Angelus made a face. "Spare me the sentimental crap, Rosie," he snapped. "I'll leave that stuff to losers like Spike. If I had your kids here right now, the only thing I'd be thinking is what would be more fun, making a quick snack of them, or showing them just what those little fangs are for."

"If Spike is such a loser," Rose remarked. "Then why do you seem to be so determined to have what is his? I mean, why do you bother?"

"You know what your problem is, Rosie?" Angelus inquired. He pounced, like a cat, but much quicker than a jaguar, and pinned her against a wall. "You talk too much. And I'm getting tired of talking."

"If you're that tired I could come back later," Rose said hopefully. All right, not that hopefully. She didn't really think that she could put him off that readily.

"You're not getting off that easily," Angelus warned. Then he realized that sentence could be taken two ways, and laughed at the play on words. "Or maybe you are. One last chance Rosie." He grabbed her wrists, and placed her hands on his bare chest. "Touch me the way that you touch Spike."

Angelus didn't notice anyone coming in, his attention was all on Rose. And Rose's, needless to say, was on him. Therefore, it was a surprise to both of them when Angelus was roughly shoved away from Rose as Eve launched herself at him at a dead run.

&&&&&&

Gunn met Spike striding down the hall and fell into step beside him. "So much for the buddy system," he sighed ruefully. "You think she's all right?"

"She'd bloody well better be," Spike said grimly. They walked on in silence for a few minutes. "I didn't stake Valentine," he muttered. "Couldn't really blame him. Angelus took him by surprise."

"I think he took us all by surprise," Gunn remarked. "For a whole week we didn't even realize it was him. We should have made more concrete plans for dealing with him. And right from the get go."

"Crying over spilled milk," Spike commented. "I take it you're coming to get a piece of him too?"

"Just thought you could use a little back-up," Gunn replied. "I remember what Angelus is like."

"So do I," Spike said. He picked up the pace until he was nearly running, and Gunn was hard pressed to keep up with him.

&&&&&&

"What in the hell are you doing here?" Angelus backhanded Eve, knocking her half across the room. "I thought I'd told you to stay the hell away until I sent for you. I didn't send for you."

"That was to your office," Eve said sulkily, rubbing her bruised jaw. "And I should be the one asking what the hell you're doing. Because unless you can give the senior partners a damn good reason, they're going to be pretty pissed about you messing with Rose. Not unless you tell them what they want to know."

"Just why should the senior partners care?" Angelus queried. "All they need to know is that she isn't on their side. And they need to get their noses, or whatever it is they have, out of my business."

"This is their business," Eve pointed out.

While the two were arguing, Rose was quietly, cautiously and ever so slowly making her way towards the door, hoping that they'd be so preoccupied with their debate that they wouldn't think about her until she was gone. She should have known better.

"Shame on you, Rosie," Angelus scolded, suddenly blocking her path. "I'm not done with you yet." He grabbed her arm, the same one he'd already bruised, and was rewarded by a gasp of pain by her. "Surely you're not jealous now, are you?"

"I'm not," Rose said quietly. "But I think she is." She looked over at Eve, who was looking daggers at her.

Angelus shrugged. "She was just an easy piece of ass," he commented. "I always kind of enjoyed chasing it down, myself." He grinned at Eve who gave him the same look she'd given Rose seconds earlier.

"Evil is one thing," Eve snarled. "But you're just a creep, Angelus. If I find that damned soul of yours, I swear that I'll put it back myself."

"Eve, if you were looking for commitment and happily ever after, you came to the wrong door," Angelus informed her. "I guess I just thought you were a big girl who actually knew the score. It looks like I was wrong."

Eve gave him a contemptuous look. "I'm not that stupid," she snapped. "It's just..," She stopped, realizing that despite what she thought, her feelings were another matter entirely, and she had thought that she had exclusive rights to him. Furious with him, for his treatment of her, and herself for letting herself get so involved, she stalked out the door, too angry to speak further.

"I thought she'd never leave," Angelus remarked. "Now, where were we?" He pulled Rose back up close to him, tangled one hand in her hair and yanked her head back, and started nuzzling at her neck. "This is good," he murmured. "I can smell the fear on you, hear your heart beat, the blood coursing through your veins. I like this." He gave her neck a playful nip, still with his human teeth, but it hurt, and Rose couldn't hold back a pained whimper.

"That didn't hurt," Angelus said. He vamped out, pulling his head back a bit, making sure that she could see. "Now this, is going to hurt."

&&&&&&

Willow yawned. "The sun's coming up," she remarked. "I guess we did pull an all nighter after all."

Oz laughed quietly. "Well, we did have a few years to catch up on," he replied. "Any chance a guy could get a cup of coffee?"

"Coffee would be good," Willow agreed. "While I'm in the kitchen, I'll just see what I've got in the way of breakfast. Do the kids like waffles?"

"They love them," Oz replied. "And it would be nice to have one meal where they don't sit there and complain about the food."

"It can take a little getting used to," Willow admitted. "The English cooking, I mean. That, and I think they have some sort of philosophy that you can't pamper a Slayer in any way. Like giving them anything to eat that really tastes good."

A whimper from the sofa caught their attention. Both twins had the flickering eyelids that said that they were dreaming. And from the expressions on their faces, they weren't good dreams, either.

"Mummy," Ariel whimpered without waking.

"No!" Alaric shouted it, suddenly sitting bolt upright, wide-awake, and his sister wakened simultaneously.

Oz and Willow immediately went over to the children.

"It's just a bad dream, guys," Oz said soothingly. "It's all right."

"No, it's not, Oz," Ariel contradicted him, flinging herself at him, needing the comfort. "It's really not all right."

"He's biting mummy," Alaric whispered. Willow pulled him into her arms, and he snuggled into her, as desirous of solace as his sister was. He repeated his statement. "He's biting mummy."