Chapter 7

"Hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride." Lindsey gunned the engine to the van, pitying the driver when he came back and found his van missing and the cargo all over the garage. Spike and Angelus had been a little more than thorough in clearing out places for them to sit in the back.

Angelus glared at Spike as he pushed his hands out to steady himself. "You know, there are days when being a vampire really sucks!" he commented, yelling the last two words. "Who the hell taught you how to drive?"

"Alexa and James." Lindsey jerked the wheel, skidding slightly as he avoided the car in the slow lane. "At least neither of them is driving. You'd be plastered to the back door by now."

"I already know that," Spike muttered to himself.

Angelus looked at Spike. "She's that bad, huh?" He snickered before glancing back to Lindsey. "Well, keep driving MacDonald. The hungrier I get, the nastier I get and the nastier I get..."

Lindsey rolled his eyes. "Which way am I supposed to be going? North? South? East?"

Angelus concentrated for a moment. "Head North. Up the coast road."

Lindsey nodded, weavingthrough traffic, and racing up the entrance ramp to the highway. He floored the gas once on the freeway, nearly plastering both vampires to the back of the van.

"I'm beginning to feel like a hood ornament," Angelus growled softly.

Spike snickered. "At least you're not thinking that riding on the roof is about as safe as riding inside."

"You know, you may have a very good point," Angelus said as he was thrown across the van and into Spike. "We brought him because?"

"Your idea." Spike shoved Angelus off him. "I was going to get the codes from Alexa, and we wouldn't be in this mess." He paused, a speculative look on his face. "Or it could be worse. She could have insisted on coming with us, and then she'd be driving, and we'd be in a car."

Angelus pushed away from Spike. "Riding on the floorboards beneath a blanket with you is not my idea of fun."

"That makes two of us."

Lindsey parked the van just over the ridge from the small house, looking at the sun. "It looks like we have a few hours before the sun sets. I'm going to see what kind of guards this person is keeping on the house." He slid out of the van, loosening his knife in its sheath, as well as unstrapping his gun from its holster.

He crawled up the ridge, peering over the edge. There were three people visible from where he was, all of them human in appearence. Can't assume they are human. Only that they're not vampires, sitting out in the sun like they are. Other than that, no garuntees. He continued to watch for most of an hour, seeing four others prowl past, along the inside of the high fence that surrounded the property. That's seven, so far.

Lindsey slipped down the ridge, and made his way around to the back of the property, looking for a back door. There were three more guards, all distinctly not human. Three garunteed demons. Lovely. I am not going in through the back door. He remained to watch them for almost an hour, but no relief came for them, just like the three up front. And the same four patrols came through his field of view. Ten out here. And no windows other than the one up front, and that one is covered with blinds. No way to tell how many are inside.

He slipped back down the ridge, heading back to the van to tell the two vampires what he'd seen.

"Well?" Angelus snapped as soon as Lindsey climbed back into the van.

"Ten guards, four patrolling, three on each door. The three on the back porch are all demons, the others could be human, or half-demons. Or demons that can pass for human, at least at a distance." Lindsey paused. "There's no way to tell how many are inside. Though considering the size of the house, no more than about a dozen."

Angelus closed his eyes for a moment. "You catch all that?" he asked to no one in particular.

Yeah. I can't help you in that respect. The room I'm in has no windows and the door is securely locked.

"She's in a room with no windows and there's no way she can jimmy the door," Angelus commented, leaning his arm on his knee.

Lindsey frowned. "Has she been able to see any guards? Or anyone at all, for that matter?"

McInnis. And someone named Cain, I think.

"McInnis, which we knew, and someone she thinks is named Cain," Angelus snapped. He let himself vamp, his eyes locking with Spike's. "I feel like hunting. How about you?"

Spike glanced at the window, and noted the fading light. "That sounds like a plan." He jerked a thumb at Lindsey. "And him?"

Angelus looked at Lindsey and decked him, sending him sprawling and rendering him unconscious. "Let's go."

Spike opened the door. "After you."