Chapter 13
'Bloody hell, Dru! Watch out!'
Spike had watched in total awe( and not a good awe!) as Dru eased the car over into the turn lane, then waited for an arrow. She didn't get one and she STILL went!
Cars began beeping and were forced to stop, as Dru turned anyway and drove down another street. Spike looked at her with disbelief!
'Luv, you didn't get an arrow.'
Dru shrugged.
'I should have had one. Obviously the light was broken.'
'No! You didn't get the arrow because there was no one behind us.'
'Spike, don't be ridiculous! What does that have to do with anything?!' she snapped. Spike shook his head, thinking that maybe he should have just left Drusilla's driving in the hands of the DMV!
He had used his contacts there to get Dru a license, in case they were stopped(and with Dru's increasingly bad driving, that was almost assured!). Spike had sent a Wolfram & Hart intern down there with a picture of Dru, taken from the Wolfram & Hart files. A source of his employed there, made out a license for Dru, with the age she was when she 'died'.
Dru had worked the rest of the day, then at 6:30, as darkness began to fall, she went to the undercar garage with Spike, suitcase in hand. Spike handed her the license and Dru insisted on driving home. Big mistake.
'Pull it over, Dru! Pull over now!' Spike insisted. 'I'm already dead and I surely don't feel like dying all over again!'
Dru sighed and tried to pull in between two cars, but ended up backing up traffic. Spike jumped out of the passenger side and revealed his vamp face to the people behind them! A few people jumped out of their cars and ran off!
Spike then walked over to Drusilla's side.
'Push over! I'm driving us home!'
'You know, I don't see what you're so upset about! I think I'm doing a rather smashing job.' Drusilla insisted, not moving.
'Oh, 'smashing' is going to be the word for it, pet, if I leave you behind the wheel. Now, push over!'
Dru reluctantly slid over, as Spike got in, checked for traffic, then sped off, running a red light! Dru began to pout, something Spike sensed and he looked over a her.
'Oh bloody hell! Dru, we would've been stopped if I had continued letting you drive! And I don't go around eating cops when I get pulled over anymore! Now come on! Be a good girl about it. We can go out again tomorrow night.'
Dru still said nothing. Spike actually stopped at a red light this time.
'I have a bit of a surprise for you.'
Dru looked over at him and stopped pouting.
'What is it?'
'Well, since it will be our first night together, I purchased a DVD and I will cook dinner.' Dru raised a brow. Cole and her had watched a couple of those 'DVD' things. She had found a few of them quite interesting. It was so strange what you missed, when you spent most of your life drinking people's blood.
And it was not as if she had never been to a movie or play before. She used to go to many with Spike. But the movies were not memorable, not for lack of plot, but because her and Spike would be busy necking, and then later on, they fed on the people that sat through the credits!
'What's the movie called?' Dru asked, feeling a little better about her disastrous driving lesson.
'Oh you just wait, luv! It will bring back all kinds of memories.'
****
Angel closed a file folder, with the intention of heading home for the night. Phoebe was back in San Francisco, but he was going to call her tonight.
Drusilla seemed to be fine, when he spotted her in the cafeteria earlier. She was alone and had very little on her tray. Spike had told him that Dru had agreed to move in with him, and Angel figured that she was wondering if she had made that decision in haste. Angel had decided to not to try and lecture her, or give any advice. When he thought about it, he realized with what he had going on in his life, he was the last person to be giving out any anyway!
Angel looked up, as Beth, the secretary from Las Vegas, handed him a phone message from Phoebe. Angel raised a brow. She was going to be in San Francisco tomorrow night for some kind of awards ceremony for her newspaper. She was going to get a room at a hotel downtown.
As Beth began to walk away, a card fell from her stack of files. Angel jumped up to pick it up.
'Uh, Beth, you dropped something here.' he said, looking at it. It was some kind of card or something...Angel squinted at it. Who the hell was Angelika, Mistress of the Black Arts?
'Oh, that's my card. Thank you Mr. Angel.'
'Uh, this belongs to you personally?'
'Oh yes. I dabble in witchcraft...actually I do more than dabble. Secretarial work doesn't pay that well... I have a business on the side.'
Angel looked at the card again. It read 'Angelika, Mistress of The Black Arts. Specializes in all types of witchcraft: spells, potions, curses....
Angel looked at her, before handing her the card.
'Curses? You cast them?'
'Yes...and I remove them.' Beth said, taking the card from Angel. 'If you don't need me anymore tonight, I have a Wicca meeting to get to.'
'Oh. Oh, yes of course. Thanks for staying.'
Beth nodded and walked out of the office, trying to keep from smiling. She could feel that he wanted to ask for her help, but was unsure, and unfamiliar with her.
But that phone message from Phoebe Haliwell had been real. She was going to be in San Francisco tomorrow night...in a hotel room. Beth/Utha had no doubts that Angel would be asking for her help before tomorrow night.
****
Spike opened his apartment door, while carrying Drusilla's suitcase. He suspected she had not brought everything with her in the luggage, in case things did not work out. Spike smiled. He would be more than happy to go to Belthazor's apartment personally, and get the rest of Dru's stuff by the end of the week!
Dru stepped in first and looked around. It was a nice apartment, as far as apartments went. It was just as nice as Cole's. She looked around while Spike stepped in, then closed the door.
'I'll just get this to the bedroom.' he said, walking off down a hallway. Drusilla walked over to the window to look down at the view. It was nice....
She suddenly turned towards the hallway! Had Spike said 'the bedroom'? As in ONE?! Dru eased down the hallway after him. There were three closed doors and one open one.
Dru opened the first door and found an empty room. She then opened the door across from it, and found ANOTHER empty room.
Now, very suspicious, Dru opened the next door and found a bathroom!
'Damnit, Spike!' she hissed, as she walked towards the open door and looked in. Spike had her suitcase open!
'What the hell do you think you're doing?!' Drusilla cried out, hurrying into the room. There was a lamp on and a fireplace going. There was also a bathroom connected to this bedroom. Why Spike had a fireplace going with the heat the way it was outdoors ....
Her answer to that question was answered, when Spike pulled out a peach colored nightgown, wrinkled his nose at the sight of it, then flung it into the fireplace!
'Spike!' she screeched, hurrying towards the fireplace. Spike looked clueless.
'Oh c'mon, pet! We can't have you wearing that ghastly thing to bed!'
Dru's mouth dropped open as she looked from the fireplace, to Spike.
'Have you lost your mind?'
'No, luv. I sleep in the buff. So do you. So there's no need...'
'Spike, where is this 'separate bedroom' you promised?'
Spike raised a brow.
'Did I say separate bedroom? No, luv, what I meant to say was....seperate bed...space.'
Drusilla squinted at him, then watched as Spike drew back the blanket of the bed in the room and put his hand in the middle, as if to part it.
'See, you sleep on this side and I will sleep...'
Drusilla grabbed her suitcase from him!
'I am orbing back to Cole's and I will pray that he takes me back, with no hard feelings! I can't believe you'd pull a stunt like this!'
Spike snatched the suitcase from her and threw it on the other side of the room! Her clothes went flying out and about!
'What have I pulled, Dru? I love you. I've told you that before...a million times before. I don't want to sleep in a separate bed. That's no way to spend the week.'
Drusilla stared at him for a moment, before she spoke.
'Spike, I thought when you made this offer to me, you had some understanding of how things were for me. I am not the same Dru you've known all of these years. We can't just take up where we left off.'
Spike regarded her for a moment.
'Dru, this isn't about us taking up where we left off. We broke up, I certainly don't expect that.'
Dru snorted!
'What is all of this then?' she said regarding the bed.
'I just don't believe in all of this foolery, where you're trying to pretend as if you don't want me. I can accept that you're not ready to be with me again...right away, Dru, but I won't stand for not being able to touch you...to hold you at night....'
He reached out to touch her raven colored hair. She did not move and allowed his hands to caress her hair. His hand then moved from her hair to her face.
Drusilla finally backed out of his reach.
'Alright, Spike, but I want no funny business from you tonight. We just sleep...in this bed right here, alright?'
Spike refrained from smiling. He had scored another victory!
'You have my word.' he said, thinking there was no way in the hell he was going along with a promise like that! And Spike knew, that Dru secretly had to know that this would not work.
'Why don't you unpack your things, I'll get dinner started, then we can pop in the movie, alright, lamb?' Spike asked, although he hadn't really meant it as a question.
His familiar endearments to her, at times, made her feel all the more tense. But she just nodded, then waited for him to leave the room. Drusilla then looked around, until her gaze settled in on the fireplace. Her nightgown was good and charred now. She had others, but she strongly suspected that it was not the color of the nightgown, Spike had objected to, so much as the existence of it, itself.
Drusilla walked over to where Spike had flung the suitcase, and picked it up. As she was carrying it over to the bed, her cellphone rang. She could hear it, even though the phone was tucked away in her purse. Dru rummaged through it, before pulling it out and answering it.
'Hello?'
'Dru? It's Piper.'
Drusilla immediately tensed up.
'Yes, Piper?'
'Dru, uh, Paige has orbed Wesley and her somewhere...I guess really far away, and I can't get ahold of her. We need to vanquish a demon and use a power of three spell. Phoebe and I were wondering if you could come?'
Drusilla would've been lying to herself if she had not admitted to being dumbfounded. Piper and Phoebe wanted her help with a vanquishing? But what if she had to use her powers? What if she wasn't very good at using them? Sure she could orb, but she had barely tried out all that she could do. What if she failed Piper and Phoebe?
But Drusilla swallowed those insecurities.
'Sure, I'll come right away.' she answered, hanging up before Piper could say anything else. Still holding her phone, she left the bedroom and moved down the hallway, until she was out in the livingroom. Spike had just paid someone at the door for a few bags of food. He turned as he closed the door, startled to see her there.
'Well, there you are. Done unpacking?'
'I thought you were going to cook?'
'I'm a bloody awful cook, pet. I didn't want to drive you away on your first night here.' he said, eyeing the phone she was holding. Drusilla noticed and palmed the phone.
'That was Piper. They need for me to help them orb over to the house and vanquish a demon...Paige is missing, otherwise I'm sure they wouldn't have bothered.'
Spike set the food down and walked over to her. He reached for her hands. Drusilla set down her phone and allowed him to put his hands in hers.
'Dru, you can't see yourself as 'extra' or some sort of substitute. I'm sure they asked you because they needed you. Now, go and orb over there, vanquish this sodding demon, then get back here. I bought the DVD 'Titanic' for us to watch, plus I ordered in some food.'
'Titanic? Why does that sound familiar?' she asked herself, more than him.
'Don't you remember, luv? We were going to get on that bloody ship, when you had a vision. You said the 'fish were screaming', or something like that. So, we decided not to get on and now look at us.'
'Oh...and someone made a movie out of that?' Dru asked, not quite sure why Spike would think she'd want to see a film like that.
'It made quite a bit of money, pet. Plus it's got a lot of action... and it's a love story.' Spike said meaningfully, looking into her eyes.
Drusilla felt as if she would drown in the look he was giving her. But, she knew she would have to pull herself together, if she was ever going to help Piper and Phoebe with the vanquishing. She disengaged her hands from his.
'Alright. I'll hurry back.' she said quietly. Spike leaned forward and kissed her softly on the mouth, before she orbed away. Spike sighed. Little by little, Dru was letting him back into her life, and her heart.
He looked around and walked back over to the bags. Just as he was headed back to the kitchen, his phone rang.
'Bloody hell!' he hissed, wondering who was about to disrupt this evening! But when he picked up the phone, he heard the familiar squeak that was Harmony.
'Spike?! Spike, you have to help me!'
Spike's demeanor changed altogether.
'Harmony? Harm? Slow down why don't you, and tell me what's wrong?'
'I was kidnapped, Spike! Can you believe it?! I couldn't get away because of the daylight, then I was grabbed and thrown into a truck, then let out on some godforsaken highway! I had to hitch a ride with a trucker with really fast hands! God! It was all I could do not to rip his throat out!'
'Angel told us you were in Las Vegas?!'
'I thought I was going there too! I packed for the week to work at the Wolfram & Hart there, only when I went down to get into the limo, that I thought the firm sent for me, I got in and suddenly this glass partition went up and this gas came out of nowhere! Next thing I know, I'm in some kind of dark, warehouse type of place! Spike! Spike come and pick me up, please?!'
'Tell me where you are, pet, and I'll come and get you!' Spike said, looking around for a pen and paper. Both were on a nearby table and he scribbled down the instructions Harmony gave to him, before hanging up.
He then grabbed another piece of paper and left a note for Dru, as he headed out. If Harmony didn't go to Las Vegas, then who the hell was that woman that took her place today?!
Angel and Wesley would have to be told. Spike grabbed Drusilla's phone and tried to reach Angel. But he got his voice mail. Spike then tried Wesley, but his phone was apparently turned off! None of this sat well with Spike, as Belthazor came to mind. This had his signature all over it!
****
Cole balled up the letter Drusilla had left him, and flung it in the garbage! He had had it with Spike!
Even though his new plan, would give him another chance with Phoebe, Cole hadn't appreciated Spike's insolent manner...or his burning the only picture he had had left of Phoebe and himself during happier times!
He hadn't really went to work this morning, as he had told Drusilla. That was just a cover. He had shimmered down to hell, and with the help of a few kiss ass demons, began building his power base. He would need all of the allies he could get.
Utha shimmered in, just as Cole turned from the waste basket.
'What do you have to report?' Cole asked.
'By tomorrow tonight, the first steps will have been taken to bring out Angelus.'
Cole folded his arms.
'What do you mean, 'the first steps'? Just take away his soul.'
Utha sighed. This had been the part she had been dreading.
'I overheard information, that gives me reason to believe that Angel wants to become intimate with the witch, without letting her know about the curse. He is looking for a way to reverse it, so that he can keep his soul, while experiencing happiness with her.'
Cole smirked!
'Is that right? Well it's not about to happen with my Phoebe!'
Utha coughed. Cole peered at her.
'What? What have you done?'
Utha looked him in the eye.
'He does not know or trust me. I have prepared a spell, where he will be able to bed the witch once, without suffering repercussions, thus allowing him to think that he is safe. He will lose his soul the SECOND time he beds her.'
Cole was speechless! He produced a fireball and Utha stepped back.
'Are you telling me, that I must allow Angelus to know the feel of Phoebe's skin on his? That I have to endure his holding her in his arms, when I cannot, in order for him to return to Angelus? I know I could find someone else that could do much better! And by 'better', I mean that Angel only gets his one time, then he loses his soul...not this twice crap!'
'You're missing the point...'
'And you're going to be missing your life, witch!' Cole sneered, prepared to incinerate Utha.
But the phone rang just then. Cole got rid of the fireball, all the while glaring at the witch.
'Don't you dare shimmer away! We're not through here!' he warned her, before snatching up the phone. Utha watched calmly as her new 'boss' listened. His face darkened with further anger, before he hung up. He then turned back to her.
'It seems that someone misunderstood my instructions, and let that ditz secretary that you're replacing, go! She was to be killed, not let go and not now! That means we'll have to speed everything up!'
Utha nodded.
'Meaning I have to get Angel to trust me tonight.'
Cole pointed at her.
'Do whatever you have to do to get him to allow you to perform that spell. I don't like it, but it's all we have. If Angel or any of his other minions, hear that the secretary was kidnapped, your cover will be blown before we can complete my plan.'
Utha nodded again.
'And what of the other witch? The one called Drusilla?'
Cole breathed in deeply.
'I love Phoebe. I always will. If that makes me appear weak, so be it. But I also know that she will never willingly give me another chance. Not unless someone else appears even more monstrous than she thinks I am. Drusilla...I still want her to use her powers to benefit me, not her relatives. That won't happen as long as she's with Spike. I'm afraid I'm going to have to pull out the big guns in order to get her back in this apartment...tonight.'
Utha watched, as Cole morphed into Buffy! Utha looked puzzled. Cole/Buffy smiled.
'Who are you supposed to be?' she asked.
'Drusilla's biggest insecurity. I am the woman that can keep Spike and Dru apart.' Cole said, tossing his 'blonde' hair.
'What are you planning? I mean do you still have plans to marry this particular witch?' Utha asked.
'Never mind me! Just hightail it back to Angel and work on bringing out Angelus. I'll just pay a visit to 'Spikey Poo's' apartment.'
'But what if this Spike attempts to bed you?' Utha asked, frowning. Cole/Buffy almost choked!
'I just need for Dru to see me there. I'll stake the bastard before I allow him to put one finger on me.'
'Bloody hell, Dru! Watch out!'
Spike had watched in total awe( and not a good awe!) as Dru eased the car over into the turn lane, then waited for an arrow. She didn't get one and she STILL went!
Cars began beeping and were forced to stop, as Dru turned anyway and drove down another street. Spike looked at her with disbelief!
'Luv, you didn't get an arrow.'
Dru shrugged.
'I should have had one. Obviously the light was broken.'
'No! You didn't get the arrow because there was no one behind us.'
'Spike, don't be ridiculous! What does that have to do with anything?!' she snapped. Spike shook his head, thinking that maybe he should have just left Drusilla's driving in the hands of the DMV!
He had used his contacts there to get Dru a license, in case they were stopped(and with Dru's increasingly bad driving, that was almost assured!). Spike had sent a Wolfram & Hart intern down there with a picture of Dru, taken from the Wolfram & Hart files. A source of his employed there, made out a license for Dru, with the age she was when she 'died'.
Dru had worked the rest of the day, then at 6:30, as darkness began to fall, she went to the undercar garage with Spike, suitcase in hand. Spike handed her the license and Dru insisted on driving home. Big mistake.
'Pull it over, Dru! Pull over now!' Spike insisted. 'I'm already dead and I surely don't feel like dying all over again!'
Dru sighed and tried to pull in between two cars, but ended up backing up traffic. Spike jumped out of the passenger side and revealed his vamp face to the people behind them! A few people jumped out of their cars and ran off!
Spike then walked over to Drusilla's side.
'Push over! I'm driving us home!'
'You know, I don't see what you're so upset about! I think I'm doing a rather smashing job.' Drusilla insisted, not moving.
'Oh, 'smashing' is going to be the word for it, pet, if I leave you behind the wheel. Now, push over!'
Dru reluctantly slid over, as Spike got in, checked for traffic, then sped off, running a red light! Dru began to pout, something Spike sensed and he looked over a her.
'Oh bloody hell! Dru, we would've been stopped if I had continued letting you drive! And I don't go around eating cops when I get pulled over anymore! Now come on! Be a good girl about it. We can go out again tomorrow night.'
Dru still said nothing. Spike actually stopped at a red light this time.
'I have a bit of a surprise for you.'
Dru looked over at him and stopped pouting.
'What is it?'
'Well, since it will be our first night together, I purchased a DVD and I will cook dinner.' Dru raised a brow. Cole and her had watched a couple of those 'DVD' things. She had found a few of them quite interesting. It was so strange what you missed, when you spent most of your life drinking people's blood.
And it was not as if she had never been to a movie or play before. She used to go to many with Spike. But the movies were not memorable, not for lack of plot, but because her and Spike would be busy necking, and then later on, they fed on the people that sat through the credits!
'What's the movie called?' Dru asked, feeling a little better about her disastrous driving lesson.
'Oh you just wait, luv! It will bring back all kinds of memories.'
****
Angel closed a file folder, with the intention of heading home for the night. Phoebe was back in San Francisco, but he was going to call her tonight.
Drusilla seemed to be fine, when he spotted her in the cafeteria earlier. She was alone and had very little on her tray. Spike had told him that Dru had agreed to move in with him, and Angel figured that she was wondering if she had made that decision in haste. Angel had decided to not to try and lecture her, or give any advice. When he thought about it, he realized with what he had going on in his life, he was the last person to be giving out any anyway!
Angel looked up, as Beth, the secretary from Las Vegas, handed him a phone message from Phoebe. Angel raised a brow. She was going to be in San Francisco tomorrow night for some kind of awards ceremony for her newspaper. She was going to get a room at a hotel downtown.
As Beth began to walk away, a card fell from her stack of files. Angel jumped up to pick it up.
'Uh, Beth, you dropped something here.' he said, looking at it. It was some kind of card or something...Angel squinted at it. Who the hell was Angelika, Mistress of the Black Arts?
'Oh, that's my card. Thank you Mr. Angel.'
'Uh, this belongs to you personally?'
'Oh yes. I dabble in witchcraft...actually I do more than dabble. Secretarial work doesn't pay that well... I have a business on the side.'
Angel looked at the card again. It read 'Angelika, Mistress of The Black Arts. Specializes in all types of witchcraft: spells, potions, curses....
Angel looked at her, before handing her the card.
'Curses? You cast them?'
'Yes...and I remove them.' Beth said, taking the card from Angel. 'If you don't need me anymore tonight, I have a Wicca meeting to get to.'
'Oh. Oh, yes of course. Thanks for staying.'
Beth nodded and walked out of the office, trying to keep from smiling. She could feel that he wanted to ask for her help, but was unsure, and unfamiliar with her.
But that phone message from Phoebe Haliwell had been real. She was going to be in San Francisco tomorrow night...in a hotel room. Beth/Utha had no doubts that Angel would be asking for her help before tomorrow night.
****
Spike opened his apartment door, while carrying Drusilla's suitcase. He suspected she had not brought everything with her in the luggage, in case things did not work out. Spike smiled. He would be more than happy to go to Belthazor's apartment personally, and get the rest of Dru's stuff by the end of the week!
Dru stepped in first and looked around. It was a nice apartment, as far as apartments went. It was just as nice as Cole's. She looked around while Spike stepped in, then closed the door.
'I'll just get this to the bedroom.' he said, walking off down a hallway. Drusilla walked over to the window to look down at the view. It was nice....
She suddenly turned towards the hallway! Had Spike said 'the bedroom'? As in ONE?! Dru eased down the hallway after him. There were three closed doors and one open one.
Dru opened the first door and found an empty room. She then opened the door across from it, and found ANOTHER empty room.
Now, very suspicious, Dru opened the next door and found a bathroom!
'Damnit, Spike!' she hissed, as she walked towards the open door and looked in. Spike had her suitcase open!
'What the hell do you think you're doing?!' Drusilla cried out, hurrying into the room. There was a lamp on and a fireplace going. There was also a bathroom connected to this bedroom. Why Spike had a fireplace going with the heat the way it was outdoors ....
Her answer to that question was answered, when Spike pulled out a peach colored nightgown, wrinkled his nose at the sight of it, then flung it into the fireplace!
'Spike!' she screeched, hurrying towards the fireplace. Spike looked clueless.
'Oh c'mon, pet! We can't have you wearing that ghastly thing to bed!'
Dru's mouth dropped open as she looked from the fireplace, to Spike.
'Have you lost your mind?'
'No, luv. I sleep in the buff. So do you. So there's no need...'
'Spike, where is this 'separate bedroom' you promised?'
Spike raised a brow.
'Did I say separate bedroom? No, luv, what I meant to say was....seperate bed...space.'
Drusilla squinted at him, then watched as Spike drew back the blanket of the bed in the room and put his hand in the middle, as if to part it.
'See, you sleep on this side and I will sleep...'
Drusilla grabbed her suitcase from him!
'I am orbing back to Cole's and I will pray that he takes me back, with no hard feelings! I can't believe you'd pull a stunt like this!'
Spike snatched the suitcase from her and threw it on the other side of the room! Her clothes went flying out and about!
'What have I pulled, Dru? I love you. I've told you that before...a million times before. I don't want to sleep in a separate bed. That's no way to spend the week.'
Drusilla stared at him for a moment, before she spoke.
'Spike, I thought when you made this offer to me, you had some understanding of how things were for me. I am not the same Dru you've known all of these years. We can't just take up where we left off.'
Spike regarded her for a moment.
'Dru, this isn't about us taking up where we left off. We broke up, I certainly don't expect that.'
Dru snorted!
'What is all of this then?' she said regarding the bed.
'I just don't believe in all of this foolery, where you're trying to pretend as if you don't want me. I can accept that you're not ready to be with me again...right away, Dru, but I won't stand for not being able to touch you...to hold you at night....'
He reached out to touch her raven colored hair. She did not move and allowed his hands to caress her hair. His hand then moved from her hair to her face.
Drusilla finally backed out of his reach.
'Alright, Spike, but I want no funny business from you tonight. We just sleep...in this bed right here, alright?'
Spike refrained from smiling. He had scored another victory!
'You have my word.' he said, thinking there was no way in the hell he was going along with a promise like that! And Spike knew, that Dru secretly had to know that this would not work.
'Why don't you unpack your things, I'll get dinner started, then we can pop in the movie, alright, lamb?' Spike asked, although he hadn't really meant it as a question.
His familiar endearments to her, at times, made her feel all the more tense. But she just nodded, then waited for him to leave the room. Drusilla then looked around, until her gaze settled in on the fireplace. Her nightgown was good and charred now. She had others, but she strongly suspected that it was not the color of the nightgown, Spike had objected to, so much as the existence of it, itself.
Drusilla walked over to where Spike had flung the suitcase, and picked it up. As she was carrying it over to the bed, her cellphone rang. She could hear it, even though the phone was tucked away in her purse. Dru rummaged through it, before pulling it out and answering it.
'Hello?'
'Dru? It's Piper.'
Drusilla immediately tensed up.
'Yes, Piper?'
'Dru, uh, Paige has orbed Wesley and her somewhere...I guess really far away, and I can't get ahold of her. We need to vanquish a demon and use a power of three spell. Phoebe and I were wondering if you could come?'
Drusilla would've been lying to herself if she had not admitted to being dumbfounded. Piper and Phoebe wanted her help with a vanquishing? But what if she had to use her powers? What if she wasn't very good at using them? Sure she could orb, but she had barely tried out all that she could do. What if she failed Piper and Phoebe?
But Drusilla swallowed those insecurities.
'Sure, I'll come right away.' she answered, hanging up before Piper could say anything else. Still holding her phone, she left the bedroom and moved down the hallway, until she was out in the livingroom. Spike had just paid someone at the door for a few bags of food. He turned as he closed the door, startled to see her there.
'Well, there you are. Done unpacking?'
'I thought you were going to cook?'
'I'm a bloody awful cook, pet. I didn't want to drive you away on your first night here.' he said, eyeing the phone she was holding. Drusilla noticed and palmed the phone.
'That was Piper. They need for me to help them orb over to the house and vanquish a demon...Paige is missing, otherwise I'm sure they wouldn't have bothered.'
Spike set the food down and walked over to her. He reached for her hands. Drusilla set down her phone and allowed him to put his hands in hers.
'Dru, you can't see yourself as 'extra' or some sort of substitute. I'm sure they asked you because they needed you. Now, go and orb over there, vanquish this sodding demon, then get back here. I bought the DVD 'Titanic' for us to watch, plus I ordered in some food.'
'Titanic? Why does that sound familiar?' she asked herself, more than him.
'Don't you remember, luv? We were going to get on that bloody ship, when you had a vision. You said the 'fish were screaming', or something like that. So, we decided not to get on and now look at us.'
'Oh...and someone made a movie out of that?' Dru asked, not quite sure why Spike would think she'd want to see a film like that.
'It made quite a bit of money, pet. Plus it's got a lot of action... and it's a love story.' Spike said meaningfully, looking into her eyes.
Drusilla felt as if she would drown in the look he was giving her. But, she knew she would have to pull herself together, if she was ever going to help Piper and Phoebe with the vanquishing. She disengaged her hands from his.
'Alright. I'll hurry back.' she said quietly. Spike leaned forward and kissed her softly on the mouth, before she orbed away. Spike sighed. Little by little, Dru was letting him back into her life, and her heart.
He looked around and walked back over to the bags. Just as he was headed back to the kitchen, his phone rang.
'Bloody hell!' he hissed, wondering who was about to disrupt this evening! But when he picked up the phone, he heard the familiar squeak that was Harmony.
'Spike?! Spike, you have to help me!'
Spike's demeanor changed altogether.
'Harmony? Harm? Slow down why don't you, and tell me what's wrong?'
'I was kidnapped, Spike! Can you believe it?! I couldn't get away because of the daylight, then I was grabbed and thrown into a truck, then let out on some godforsaken highway! I had to hitch a ride with a trucker with really fast hands! God! It was all I could do not to rip his throat out!'
'Angel told us you were in Las Vegas?!'
'I thought I was going there too! I packed for the week to work at the Wolfram & Hart there, only when I went down to get into the limo, that I thought the firm sent for me, I got in and suddenly this glass partition went up and this gas came out of nowhere! Next thing I know, I'm in some kind of dark, warehouse type of place! Spike! Spike come and pick me up, please?!'
'Tell me where you are, pet, and I'll come and get you!' Spike said, looking around for a pen and paper. Both were on a nearby table and he scribbled down the instructions Harmony gave to him, before hanging up.
He then grabbed another piece of paper and left a note for Dru, as he headed out. If Harmony didn't go to Las Vegas, then who the hell was that woman that took her place today?!
Angel and Wesley would have to be told. Spike grabbed Drusilla's phone and tried to reach Angel. But he got his voice mail. Spike then tried Wesley, but his phone was apparently turned off! None of this sat well with Spike, as Belthazor came to mind. This had his signature all over it!
****
Cole balled up the letter Drusilla had left him, and flung it in the garbage! He had had it with Spike!
Even though his new plan, would give him another chance with Phoebe, Cole hadn't appreciated Spike's insolent manner...or his burning the only picture he had had left of Phoebe and himself during happier times!
He hadn't really went to work this morning, as he had told Drusilla. That was just a cover. He had shimmered down to hell, and with the help of a few kiss ass demons, began building his power base. He would need all of the allies he could get.
Utha shimmered in, just as Cole turned from the waste basket.
'What do you have to report?' Cole asked.
'By tomorrow tonight, the first steps will have been taken to bring out Angelus.'
Cole folded his arms.
'What do you mean, 'the first steps'? Just take away his soul.'
Utha sighed. This had been the part she had been dreading.
'I overheard information, that gives me reason to believe that Angel wants to become intimate with the witch, without letting her know about the curse. He is looking for a way to reverse it, so that he can keep his soul, while experiencing happiness with her.'
Cole smirked!
'Is that right? Well it's not about to happen with my Phoebe!'
Utha coughed. Cole peered at her.
'What? What have you done?'
Utha looked him in the eye.
'He does not know or trust me. I have prepared a spell, where he will be able to bed the witch once, without suffering repercussions, thus allowing him to think that he is safe. He will lose his soul the SECOND time he beds her.'
Cole was speechless! He produced a fireball and Utha stepped back.
'Are you telling me, that I must allow Angelus to know the feel of Phoebe's skin on his? That I have to endure his holding her in his arms, when I cannot, in order for him to return to Angelus? I know I could find someone else that could do much better! And by 'better', I mean that Angel only gets his one time, then he loses his soul...not this twice crap!'
'You're missing the point...'
'And you're going to be missing your life, witch!' Cole sneered, prepared to incinerate Utha.
But the phone rang just then. Cole got rid of the fireball, all the while glaring at the witch.
'Don't you dare shimmer away! We're not through here!' he warned her, before snatching up the phone. Utha watched calmly as her new 'boss' listened. His face darkened with further anger, before he hung up. He then turned back to her.
'It seems that someone misunderstood my instructions, and let that ditz secretary that you're replacing, go! She was to be killed, not let go and not now! That means we'll have to speed everything up!'
Utha nodded.
'Meaning I have to get Angel to trust me tonight.'
Cole pointed at her.
'Do whatever you have to do to get him to allow you to perform that spell. I don't like it, but it's all we have. If Angel or any of his other minions, hear that the secretary was kidnapped, your cover will be blown before we can complete my plan.'
Utha nodded again.
'And what of the other witch? The one called Drusilla?'
Cole breathed in deeply.
'I love Phoebe. I always will. If that makes me appear weak, so be it. But I also know that she will never willingly give me another chance. Not unless someone else appears even more monstrous than she thinks I am. Drusilla...I still want her to use her powers to benefit me, not her relatives. That won't happen as long as she's with Spike. I'm afraid I'm going to have to pull out the big guns in order to get her back in this apartment...tonight.'
Utha watched, as Cole morphed into Buffy! Utha looked puzzled. Cole/Buffy smiled.
'Who are you supposed to be?' she asked.
'Drusilla's biggest insecurity. I am the woman that can keep Spike and Dru apart.' Cole said, tossing his 'blonde' hair.
'What are you planning? I mean do you still have plans to marry this particular witch?' Utha asked.
'Never mind me! Just hightail it back to Angel and work on bringing out Angelus. I'll just pay a visit to 'Spikey Poo's' apartment.'
'But what if this Spike attempts to bed you?' Utha asked, frowning. Cole/Buffy almost choked!
'I just need for Dru to see me there. I'll stake the bastard before I allow him to put one finger on me.'