Your Place Aura Mine

"Don't you want to go roller skating?" Oz gave Ariel's shoulder a soft nudge.

"I don't think so, Oz," Ariel replied. She sighed and propped her chin in her hands and stared off into space.

Alaric rolled his eyes but kept his mouth shut. He looked at Oz and shrugged.

"Is this about Lindsey?" Oz asked, hoping the answer was no. He had given Spike the word on the situation, but whether or not Spike had actually done anything, even to passing the message on to Rose was anyone's guess. "I know for a fact that you love to skate. Are you going to let one bad time ruin it for you?"

"If he shows up again Oz can turn into a werewolf and eat him, can't you, Oz?" Alaric seemed more enthused by that prospect than by the thought of skating.

"No one's getting eaten," Oz replied evenly, trying to suppress the surge of nausea that Alaric's suggestion gave him. "I really kind of doubt that he'll come around again." He gave Ariel an inquisitive look, then gave one of her pigtails a gentle tug. "So, are we on for this or what?"

Ariel's eyes nearly crossed, so hard did she think it over. "Will you hold my hands when I skate backwards so I don't run into anybody?"

Oz smiled at her and pulled her out of her chair for a hug. "It's a date." He released her. "Get your skates, guys." He scratched his head as the twins left the room, sure he was forgetting something. He remembered.

"And be sure to use the bathroom before we leave," he yelled after them.

&&&&&&&&

"Utterly amazing," Wesley remarked, eyeing Rose up and down while wearing the magic goggles. "No wonder they thought you'd be the ideal sacrifice, Rose."

Rose looked at her supervisor like he'd lost his mind, then turned her gaze to Angel, to see if he could make sense of it for her. But Angel's attention wasn't focused any farther than her aura either.

"Quit hogging them, Wes," Angel complained, reaching over the Watcher's head to remove the goggles himself. "Didn't you ever learn to share?"

"You wouldn't have even known about those glasses if I hadn't told you about them," Wesley sulked.

Rose brought one foot firmly down on the floor to get their attention. "I think the two of you had better tell me what you're up to instead of spending all your time looking at me through those creepy glasses and bickering."

"The rosy tones get red when she's mad," Angel observed. "And they're getting redder." He suddenly realized the import of what he was saying and snatched the spectacles from his own face. "We were just checking out your aura, Rose."

"I see," said Rose, in forced, even tones. "Are you done now?" It was phrased as a suggestion, but sounded more like a command.

"I suppose so." Angel loved Rose to death, they all did. And she still surprised them occasionally by missing the point of something because she was still relatively new to being human. But for some reason, when Rose started issuing orders, or even almost-orders, people jumped.

"Would you mind very much if we looked at Alaric and Ariel's auras?" Wesley asked, all undaunted. "Since they are the instruments of prophecy, theirs might be nearly as spectacular as yours."

Rose frowned and puzzled over it a moment. True, there was no real harm to be done. But the other side of the argument said it was just plain snoopy. She couldn't find what she considered to be a happy medium herself, so in the time-honored tradition of parents everywhere, she passed the buck.

"Ask Spike and see what he thinks," she suggested, then turned back to her regular chores with the extra duties disposed of.

Angel groaned and covered his eyes with one hand. He knew that even if he could stifle his curiosity enough not to scope out Spike's aura, Wesley, who would probably stick to him like a limpet, would have to look. And give him a full report whether he wanted one or not. He was starting to feel like this was going to be a very bad day.

&&&&&&&

Glowing orange eyes gave Lindsey a long, assessing look. But what the judgment was, Lindsey couldn't even begin to guess.

"What man want?" the blue-gray possessor of the eyes demanded. "I's time is valuable."

Lindsey shoved a couple of bills at the demon. "I heard you were one of the best sources of information around," he replied, forming the rest of his cash into a dingy, green fan to which the Q'xlzr's eyes were riveted.

"You be hearing right," it said smugly. "I be having all kinds of important clients."

"I want the skinny on what's going on at Wolfram and Hart," Lindsey drawled. "Don't bother with the piddly little shit either. Go straight to the top."

"You want I to find out what boss vampire being up to?" The Q'xlzr's ears were performing some odd acrobatics.

"You know him?" Lindsey's eyebrows shot up, although he guessed he shouldn't have been surprised. An informant with a reputation like this on had, well, Angel would certainly have heard of it.

"Sometimes I be doing jobs for he," the little demon hedged, carefully omitting the fact that Angel actually had it on retainer.

Lindsey frowned fleetingly, then relaxed. Everyone who knew anything about them knew how mercenary Q'xlzrs were. Their only loyalty was to money, and that, he had.

If Lindsey's gears were turning, it was as nothing compared to the whirl the Q'xlzr's mind was in. It eyed Lindsey cautiously and did its own version of a shrug, which involved its ears rather than its non-existent shoulders. It decided to play the man along and take his money. Then, it could go and collect more money from the boss vampire for filling him in on what this one was up to.

"That be all you be wanting?" it inquired. "Wanting to know about boss vampire?"

Lindsey considered. "That's the main thing," he finally conceded. "But I'll tack on a nice bonus for everything you can find out about a girl named Rose." He pressed a few more bills into the Q'xlzr's spindly, little hand.

Even while the little demon nodded in thoughtful agreement, its ears curled in consternation. The man wanted to know about Rose. Uncharacteristically, it didn't even consider the bonus offered. Rose was its friend. But what to do now? It decided to table the problem until it could ask the boss vampire. Or maybe Rose's vampire. Rose's vampire with the pale hair and the hot temper just might want to know that there was someone asking questions about his mate.

The Q'xlzr demon was indeed happy. A double opportunity. Not only a chance to do its friend a good turn, but it could also make money doing it.

Life was very good.

&&&&&&&&&&&

"You're even broodier than usual today," Spike remarked, nailing Angel in the stomach with a roundhouse that doubled him over. "Is that aura thing still bothering you?"

"We shouldn't have them at all," Angel wheezed, trying to find breath to speak. "Only living things have auras." The memory of Wesley yanking the goggles off with a yelp at the white-hot radiance of Spike's aura was going to haunt him.

"We're sort of alive." Spike circled his grandsire warily. He'd never seen Angel quite like this before. Then, it suddenly dawned on him.

"You're jealous!" Spike exclaimed. "Straight up, no kidding around, jealous. Of me. Whatsamatter ponce? Is mine bigger than yours?"

"I am not jealous of you," Angel snapped, watching in dismay as Spike jerked his head neatly out of the way to avoid a left hook. Angel's response was automatic. Of course he couldn't possibly be jealous. Not of Spike. So why did he have this knotted, gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach that had nothing to do with Spike hitting him?

He'd been lost in thought for what would, in a real fight, be a dangerously long time. And yet, Spike had not taken advantage of it. He looked at his grandchilde questioningly, and found himself on the receiving end of a similar gaze from Spike.

After a while, the awkward factor became overpowering, and both vampires dropped their eyes to the floor.

"Don't really suppose we need to tell anyone," Spike said a bit diffidently. "Keep it our little secret."

"Won't work," Angel mumbled, leaning against the wall. "Wesley is probably already writing a monograph for the Watcher's Council about it. And that's not even counting everyone he might have told along the way. Why should it make a difference to you? As you so eloquently put it, yours is bigger than mine."

For a moment, Spike looked almost embarrassed. "And I've got a wife, and kids, and you've had a soul for over a hundred years. Doesn't seem right somehow." Then, embarrassed became shocked horror. "Are we bonding?"

Angel grinned suddenly. "Bond with this," he suggested. And aimed a right cross at Spike's eye.

&&&&&&&&&

"I expect not only progress reports, Richard," the old man snapped. "I expect there to actually be progress. Have you found another sacrifice?"

Richard gave a non-commital shrug. "A few possibilities," he mumbled. "But nothing like Rose."

"Who will obviously not do," the ancient growled, his small store of patience completely exhausted. "She knows what we're about now. She would never sing the spell."

"Maybe she would," Richard mused. "She might be hypnotized into it. Or coerced."

He had the old man's full attention now. "Coerced?" he echoed. "How?"

"Probably the easiest way would be to take her family hostage," Richard replied. "I think she's the sort of woman who'd happily let the world go to hell to save her family."

"Do nothing towards that end just yet," his master ordered. "I must examine this plan for possible flaws. Too much depends on this for one small detail to ruin everything."

Richard nodded his head thoughtfully. "I understand, master," he murmured subserviently. "What, if any of this, do you wish me to relay to Lindsey?"

A furrow appeared in the elder's brow. "Tell him nothing, for the moment," he decided. "Allow him to continue with his little games. They may provide a useful diversion."

"It shall be as you wish, master." Richard bowed formally, and left.

&&&&&&&&

"Can I get you anything, sir?" Corinna asked as Angel returned to the office from his sparring session.

For the first time all day, Angel noticed that Harmony's replacement was extremely attractive. He sneaked a surreptitious peek at her ring finger and found it to be bare. He also flashed on the long, lonely years both behind and ahead of him, and decided they were going to go on that way if he continued as he was.

"Not right now, Corinna, thank you." He flashed her a smile, then, his confidence took a nose dive, but he soldiered on, regardless. "Um.., I don't generally make a habit of this, but.., um.., would you like to go out with me?"

"I'd love to," she purred, looking over the tops of her tinted lenses and giving him a glimpse of amber eyes.

"Friday night? About 8:00?" He was almost in a state of shock that she'd said yes.

"It sounds great," Corinna replied. She looked the vampire over appraisingly. True, she had been sent here merely to gather information, but what was wrong with having a little fun? It had been such a long time. "Casual or dressy?"

"Dressy?" Why was he making everything sound like a question? She was going to wind up thinking he was a complete jerk.

Corinna flashed him a smile that had physical as well as psychological effects. "I'll be looking forward to it, sir."

"Angel," he corrected her. He wasn't all that comfortable with sir, anyway. And it just wasn't right for a woman he was seeing, or at least, going to be seeing, to call him sir.

"Angel." Her voice washed over his senses like a silken caress.

It suddenly occurred to him that it was only Tuesday, and having come to that realization, Friday seemed an awful long way off.

&&&&&&&&&

"Hello, Thora," Lindsey greeted the middle-aged woman that answered his knock.

"Mr. McDonald," she said stiffly. "I'm sorry, but I no longer work for Wolfram and Hart."

"Neither do I," Lindsey replied, pushing past her, letting himself into the place. He checked the cramped, efficiency apartment out. "My, my, you have come down in the world, haven't you?"

"If you're not here for Wolfram and Hart," Thora snapped. "Then what are you doing here? Aside from critiquing the decor."

Lindsey flashed her a disarming smile. "Don't get on your high horse, sugar, I'm here to do a little business." He pulled out some cash.

"What sort of business?" The sight of the cash had almost as strong an effect on her as it had the Q'xlzr.

Lindsey trailed the bills teasingly down her arm, and then yanked them away just before he got to her hand. "You were always the best with the mental spells," he remarked. "No one better. That's why I came to you."

"There are all sorts of spells," Thora pointed out. "You're going to have to be more specific, Mr. McDonald." Her eyes still hadn't left the money.

He smiled again, turning on the charm for all it was worth. Which probably wasn't much when compared to the money. "I need a spell to protect me from mind-readers," he said. "Or rather, let's say I want something that will let them see only what I want them to see."

Thora mentally counted the money in his hand, and subtracted likely expenses from it. She didn't like the results. "It's a difficult spell," she informed him. "It also requires some rather rare and expensive components which I don't happen to have on hand at the moment. It's going to cost you more than that."

"This?" Lindsey held up the bills like he'd forgotten they were in his hand. "This is just a retainer." He started to hand it over to her when a thought struck him. "How long is this gonna take? It's kind of a rush job, you might say."

"Then the sooner you give me the money," she pointed out sensibly. "The sooner I can get the materials I need and get started." Money exchanged hands. "Leave me a number where I can reach you," she directed. "And I'll call you the minute that everything is ready."

Lindsey took a piece of paper and jotted down a number. As he passed it t her, he caught her eyes with his. "If you have any thoughts of screwing me over on this, Thora," he warned. "Think again. I may not be working for Wolfram and Hart anymore, but I still have a few cards up my sleeve."

Thora snatched the paper from his hand. "So do I.., Lindsey." She smiled sweetly at him, then shut the door in his face.

&&&&&&&&&

"Tell me first, and I'll decide if it's important enough to bother the big man," Spike suggested. The remark was prompted more by boredom than curiosity, nothing going on the last day or so. At least, not at work. The Q'xlzr had made its way into ops with perhaps more ease than it should have. Have to get on to the boys in security about that.

Exasperation was evident in the little demon's voice. "I be telling you when I be telling boss vampire." It clambered up onto the corner of Spike's desk, crossed its legs and folded its arms and looked for all the world like it was prepared to sit right there, doing nothing, until Angel made an appearance.

Spike sighed, picked up the phone and punched in the number to the CEO's offce.

A small, brown spider came spinning its way down from the ceiling. The Q'xlzr deftly caught it between two fingers, examined it carefully, then ate it.

&&&&&&&&&&

Rose knocked, and, receiving no answer, pushed the door open an inch or two and peeked inside, to see Wesley, writing at a furious pace, his entire attention riveted on what he was doing.

Rose hesitated. What Wesley was working on could be dreadfully important, it often was. But what she'd been doing was important too, and Wesley had told her to bring it to him immediately. Of course, there was a certain of curiosity factor involved too. Since her supervisor hadn't noticed her arrival, Rose walked around the desk and started reading over his shoulder. A look of consternation crossed her features.

"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce," she exclaimed suddenly, startling him so badly that the pen point made a long, jagged tear in the paper. "Are you out of your mind?"

Wesley took a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to regain his equilibrium. "When did you get here, Rose?" he stalled. He leaned protectively over the ripped paper.

"I already saw it, Wesley," Rose informed him with much less warmth in her tones than was usual. "Have you asked either Angel or Spike for their permission in publishing it?"

"Er.., no," the Watcher admitted. "But really, Rose, it's not really standard operating procedure for a Watcher to ask a vampire permission to..,"

"And even you have to admit that Spike and Angel are special cases," Rose pointed out. Her voice still carried a winter chill to it.

"Well.., yes," he conceded. "But really, Rose, this is absolutely amazing. There ought to be a record of it. It could be of inestimable value. Especially when I get to view the twin's auras and include them," he added ingenuously.

"I see," Rose said reflectively. "Tell me, Wesley. When Spike gave you permission to look at the children's aura's did he also give you permission to write about them? About my children?"

Wesley could feel the ground crumbling beneath him, but he was so enthusiastic over the project that he just couldn't let it go. "Sealed records?" he suggested hopefully. "To be read only in the greatest need? With just enough on the cover sheet to allow someone to tell what sort of need would be involved?"

The harsh lines on Rose's face smoothed out a bit. "Maybe," she agreed tentatively. "But you still have to ask Spike and Angel."