Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.
CHAPTER 38-THE BONDING CONTINUES
While Willow and the others were investigating the mysterious noise Scarlet was busy dancing her way through a local mall, trying to find something that she liked to use as her new look. Kennedy followed closely behind, looking every bit the part of her sire as she didn't let her childe out of her sight and kept a tight leash on her. Her own style had come to greatly resemble that of a biker, or at least what she thought that a biker would wear. Her dark jeans were almost to tight and to top that off she wore a new leather jacket that she had stolen from a young man that she had drained dry. Underneath the leather jacket she wore a top that covered up her chest and top of her midriff before stopping there and being held onto her body by spaghetti straps that went over her shoulders and around her back. She had already gotten a tattoo right in the middle of her back between her shoulder blades. It was of the yin and yang, though instead of in black and white she replaced the white color with her own skin tone as she had left that section open. She had gotten Scarlet to get a few as well, though their locations were known only to her.
"What do you think of this top," Scarlet asked with a sly pout on her face as she held up a top that was black with long sleeves that was sheer to a point and looked like a bra would usually be worn underneath it as it would be visible through the thin material.
"Hmm…it's not you, I think that you're more of a red leather and lace type, more like that place over there," Kennedy said softly as she shook her head and pointed back out of the shop and over to a specialty store. The two spent the rest of the night acquiring clothes, some to use when they were out on the town and some to use when it was just the two of them. When they had been about ready to leave the specialty shop, after draining the saleswoman there dry a young blond woman had walked hesitantly in, looking for something for her wedding night. She only managed to get a few steps into the shop before she noticed the dead body on the floor. She started to scream but it was muffled as Kennedy slapped her hand over her mouth and bit down hard into her neck, bringing forth her next childe, Rhette, near morning.
"What are you still doing up," Connor asked with a concerned tone to his voice as he walked out of the bathroom and saw Morgan sitting on top of the covers in her nightgown and staring silently out of the window.
"Huh…oh just thinking about the future, what we're going to have to do pretty soon," Morgan said with a fearful look on her face as she briefly glanced over at Connor before returning her gaze to the window, absentmindedly rubbing her once injured shoulder.
"We'll get through this, my dad will have a plan that'll work, and after that it'll all be over and we can be together without having to look over our shoulders ever other step, you'll see," Connor replied with a hopefully calming tone to his voice as he walked over to her as he tied the towel tightly around his waist and sat down on the side of the bed beside Morgan and put an arm around her.
"I hope so, because I really don't want any of this to continue, when I first found out that I was a slayer I thought that I had hit the jackpot, that nothing could be cooler than having all of this new power and these abilities, but so far it's all been more of a curse than a blessing, I don't think that I could keep this up for the rest of my life, being the slayer and constantly fighting evil twenty four seven is not the life that I want for myself," Morgan said with a worried look in her eyes as she turned back to look at Connor midway through her speech and then lay her head on his shoulder, cuddling up next to him and wiping away a lonely tear.
"That's why what we do next is so important, if we can get both Wolfram and Hart and The Initiative to leave us alone then we will be free and I can give you that life that you want for yourself, it'll be just the two of us, we'll travel around and find some small out of the way town and find a reasonably priced house and settle down," Connor said with a very serious and sincere look on his face as he gently put his hand under Morgan's chin and brought her gaze up to meet his.
"I see that you've thought this over, this house going to have a white picket fence and two point five kids to," Morgan asked with a sly grin on her face as she fought back the urge to simply break out laughing at the look on Connor's face.
"What do you…what I mean is that we'll find our own way in the world, and only take on the forces of darkness when we have no other choice, other than that I don't care if I never see another vampire again, besides my father of course," Connor started to reply with a confused look on his face at first before he realized that she was joking and tried to simplify what he was saying.
"Our way…sounds like you're expecting me to come along with you, what if I don't, what if I meet some handsome pilot before we leave England," Morgan started to say with a sly grin on her face before she saw the confused and nervous look in Connor's eyes.
"You…you don't want to go with," Connor started to say with a hurt and confused look on his face as he started to pull away before Morgan grabbed him by the arm and stopped him in his tracks with as passionate of a kiss that she could muster.
"Of course I do Connor, I was just joking around, why do you always take everything so seriously," Morgan said softly to Connor, keeping her face but an inch from his, as she stared him straight in the eyes so that he would make no mistake in the meaning of her words and the feelings behind them.
"But then why did you," Connor asked softly with a slightly worried look on his face as he softly caressed her cheek as one of her hands slid down his side until it reached the fold of his towel.
"I just wanted to get you to smile," Morgan whispered back as she leaned forward and then kissed Connor again while pulling the fold apart on his towel with one hand while slipping one of the shoulder straps of her nightgown off of her shoulder, with Connor took care of the other one.
"Did you find anything," Rhona asked before yawning deeply as she and the others met in the living room the next morning.
"No nothing," Willow replied with a tired yawn as she began to make her way back down the hallway towards her room.
"Good, then I can go back to bed," Jamie said with a deep sigh as she slipped her robe off and opened her door, not noticing the stares that she was getting from the others.
"Does she always dress like that," Rhona asked with an awkward frown on her face after Jamie shut her door.
"Pretty much, but back in LA it was just her and Holly, so it really didn't matter if she wore anything at all," Katy replied with a tired shrug of her shoulders as she tapped the flat part of her knife on the railing.
"But wasn't Holly killed by the vampires back in LA," Vi asked with a timid look on her face as she leaned heavily against the wall as her eyelids were beginning to become very heavy.
"Yeah, they went everywhere together, Holly was like family to me," Katy said with a sad look on her face as she rubbed one of the charms on a charm bracelet on her wrist.
"You don't seem to shaken up by her death though," Maria said with a confused look on her face as she checked her watch.
"I…guess I really haven't had time to, everything's happened so fast I don't think that it's really hit me yet, but when it does don't worry I'll be a mess," Katy said with a forced sad smile on her face as she tried to keep herself from allowing her emotions to take hold to powerfully.
"You guys stay up all night," Faith wondered aloud with a worn out look on her face as she rounded the corner and saw the small group in front of her. She looked like she had just come out of a sauna as her tank top and sweatpants were soaked clean through with sweat and her hair was a mess.
"We heard a noise and went to investigate, we looked everywhere but didn't find anything," Rhona answered with a large yawn as she turned around and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"You probably heard us then, we couldn't sleep so we spent the night sparring, sorry," Wesley said with a weary smile on his face as he followed Faith around the corner, his clothing soaked through with sweat as well.
"You sure that's all you did," Katy asked with an impish smirk on her face as she slid the knife back into the sheath that she had attached to her belt and turned back to Faith and Wesley. Faith looked like she was about ready to smack Katy upside the head for a moment but then her expression softened.
"Up to now yeah, but now all I want is a nice hot shower and eight hours, come on Wes," Faith replied with a shrug of her shoulders before she turned back and put a hand behind Wesley's shoulder and pushed him along down the hallway just as Buffy and Spike walked into the house, oddly enough with Buffy wearing Spike's duster.
"So do we have a plan yet," Gwen asked with an impatient scowl on her face as she leaned back in her chair in the room that Angel and Spike had debated strategy in earlier.
"Not completely, but it won't be long now, as long as Wolfram and Hart and The Initiative hold off for another day we should be okay," Angel replied with a grim expression on his face as he continued to do a few more calculations in his head.
"We are at the end then, the final battle is upon us," Groo added with an almost excited expression on his face as he turned in his chair and looked at the other three in the room.
"Pretty much, though we'd like to see it all end with us in the winner's category and not in the recently dusted category," Spike replied with a somber and serious look on his face as he brought the mug of warm blood to his lips and then took a drink.
"It's only a matter of time before they figure out where we are and raze this place to the ground, we can't stay here much longer," Gwen said with a concerned look on her face as she pulled over and then studied some of the maps that Angel had gathered.
"You're right, and that's why tonight we end this, by tomorrow morning it'll all be over and we'll all be free," Angel replied with a very sincere and serious look on his face as he pulled back from studying the maps a bit and looked up.
"You sure that we can do this all in one night," Buffy asked from the doorway as she pushed the door open and glared lightly at Angel and Spike, while Giles stood behind her with an equally stern look on his face.
"We'll have to, otherwise all three sides will call in reinforcements and this city will be destroyed," Angel replied with a cold expression on his face as he couldn't help but be irritated a bit by the scents that poured from both Spike and Buffy. He knew what they had done the night before but unlike he had expected he wasn't insanely furious at them, instead it was more like a shot that hit a little closer to the mark than he had expected it to.
"And that wouldn't be very good for the old resume would it, no one would ever hire you then," Nina joked with a warm smile as she walked into the room and sat down in the open chair next to Angel.
"Was that supposed to be funny," Giles asked with an impatient and unkind scowl on his face as he glared over at Nina, who looked ready to say something back but she bit her lip and instead just glared daggers back at him.
"Giles, if you do that again I'll throw you out of the window," Angel said with a very clear and stern look on his face as he glared up at Giles and Buffy decided against getting involved and just stayed in her seat, her left hand brushing over the back of Spike's right hand.
"Don't worry Angel Rupert's a good boy, he won't do that again," Spike said with an almost mocking tone of voice with a sly smirk on his face before Angel cut him off.
"All right everyone this is it, the final battle, we get this right and we can all go home happy," Angel interjected with a very serious look on his face as he began to distribute several maps around to the different people in the room.
"Where is this, I don't believe that I recognize the neighborhood," Giles ask with a deep in thought expression on his face as he studied the map in front of him.
"It's an old section of town, out on the edge where there aren't to many houses, that's where we're going to make The Initiative and Wolfram and Hart fight us, thereby hopefully reducing the possibilities of any innocents getting hurt," Angel answered with a calm but yet serious look on his face as he took out a pen and began to make a few marks on the big map spread out over the top of the table.
"Now we think that Wolfram and Hart and their forces have congregated around their building here," Spike said slowly as he stood up and pointed out a location on the big map before continuing. "As for the government boys they've set up camp just outside of town and trying to draw as little attention to themselves as possible, now all that remains is the vampire army that has only grown since we closed the portals," Spike added with a very serious look on his face as he pointed out the location of The Initiative camp just on the edge of the city.
"How'd you find that out, go up and ask them if they were part of a super secret government program in charge of ridding the world of everything that's not entirely human," Buffy asked with a girlish smile on her face as she leaned forward in her chair and glanced up at Spike, catching sight of his impatient scowl at her question.
"Not exactly, but any group that size is hard to conceal for very long, especially from a couple of vampires and a werewolf," Nina answered with a proud expression on her face as she checked her watch and tried not to look angry at the surprised looks on Giles and Buffy's faces.
"This part of your plan at least appears to be sound, but I really can't think of anything that we have or can do that would cause all three of those groups to cease hunting us," Giles interjected with a very serious and curious look on his face as he looked up and waited for Angel's answer.
"Actually we do, while I was head of the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram and Hart I managed to squirrel away a few choice bits of information, among them are facts that neither Wolfram and Hart nor The Initiative would want to be made public knowledge," Angel replied with a calm look on his face as he finally finished scribbling a list down onto a scrap piece of paper.
"Though just to be safe we're splitting up what little evidence we have into at least two groups, so that after we make the deal they won't double-cross us, but that doesn't mean that we can't plan for the future," Spike said with an impish smirk on his face as almost everyone else in the room wondered what he meant but Nina couldn't help but chuckle before Angel stepped in.
"We've made numerous copies of everything, both what we're going to hand over to them and what we're going to keep back, so we're safe either way, Giles you'll take one copy of everything back to Rome with you and send one back to London as well, that way they will have to leave all of us alone," Angel interjected with a serious and proud smirk on his face as he shuffled a few papers and stuffed a couple of scraps of paper into his pockets.
"You're going to trust me with all of that information," Giles asked with an interested and curious tone to his voice though in the back of his mind he was almost giddy at the prospect of learning more about the two mysterious organizations.
"Normally no Giles, I wouldn't trust you with all of that information, however given that I'm only giving you a copy while I keep the originals is my failsafe in case you try to cut a deal," Angel replied with a very serious look on his face as he shot Giles a silencing glance before he turned his gaze to the maps.
"What is to become of the army of the undead that remain," Groo asked with an interested and concerned look on his face as he lightly studied the maps on the table in front of him.
"More than likely The Initiative already has many plans on how to deal with them, all that we have to do is stay out of their way and dust those that try to get past us, as tempting as it sounds we don't want an entire army of vampires simply slipping away back into the countryside," Spike answered with an anxious expression on his face as he sat up in his chair and looked across the table at Angel.
"Look everyone, I brought that army into London to help with the first part of my plan, and as such they're my responsibility, I won't rest easily until they're all dust in the wind," Angel added with a very serious look on his face as he looked around the room, making sure that everyone there knew that he was serious about getting rid of the vampire army.
"Perhaps you should have thought about all of this before you brought that army here in the first place," Giles said with a rather stern and disapproving tone to his voice as he scowled heavily and continued to study the maps, never seeing the angry look that Angel gave him.
"Perhaps, but then again at least I've admitted my mistakes," Angel shot back without the slightest bit of venom in his voice before he collected the maps and left the room, with Nina looking nervously at everyone else in the room for a few short moments before she got up and hurried off after her boyfriend.
END OF CHAPTER 38