17: A play for power
AN: Niley, you made my day, and no, I'm not finished yet. There's no way I would just leave it there! I promise that before I finish, Erica will at least get back to her own reality, and I may have one or two more 'adventures' in mind for her and her protectors.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Lindsey said , looking up from the pile of books and papers on his desk. The door opened and Lilah Morgan, the woman from the night before and fellow lawyer at Wolfram and Hart, walked through the door.
"Do you realise that Holland has given me responsibility of Darla while you play games with that girl?" she asked with a smug smile.
"Do you remember being told that Darla was part of the big picture?" Lindsey countered her question with his own. He closed a couple of the books. "Well so is this girl. She's already identified with me, so I'm the best person to talk to her and gain her trust."
"So just get her mind read so we can find out what she knows," Lilah insisted, a little fazed by Lindsey's apparent uninterest in Darla, for whom he'd lost his hand. She was hoping for a gloating opportunity. "I have projects of my own too, you know."
"They tried it this morning," Lindsey said with a shake of his head. "The twins' noses started bleeding and they couldn't read anything past the word 'vessel'."
"So she's probably just a witch with a few protection and healing spells," Lilah said, "which means she's nothing special, and that once we remove them we can get what we want."
"No," Lindsey said, "The twins didn't feel any kind of mortal magic, and she is mortal: they could discover that much. I watched the security video. She was scared when they arrived and relieved when they left. She didn't even know that she was a Blocker."
"So how are you planning to get useful information out of her when she doesn't seem to know much anyway?" Lilah pointed out, while crossing her arms and leaning against the arm of one of the chairs that faced the desk.
Lindsey patted the books on his desk. "To be honest, it's her I'm interested in, not what she knows about Angel. I think she might be mentioned in here somewhere."
"You're sure about this?" Lilah asked. "You're going to baby-sit a stray while our biggest enemy gets his mind tinkered with by your former project?"
"She's only been here one night," Lindsey said. "And I don't think you understand that 'the stray' is capable of more than even she knows. You weren't there when she helped me, and you can't feel it when you're near her."
"Feel what?" Lilah asked.
Lindsey wished he hadn't mentioned it. He glanced away and closed his mouth.
"What?" Lilah persisted.
Lindsey thought about it for a moment. He hadn't tried to put it into words before. "Power. It's kind of like a humming, but I can feel it on my skin, I can't hear it. It might be because of what she's done to me, but when I'm in the room with her I can feel the humming and it seems like everything is just … right. And I don't think she even knows she's doing it. But if I do this right, gain the girl's trust, and help her find out what else she can do, she could be a very useful asset."
"How is she going to trust you now that you tried to have her mind read?"
"I told her last night that it was out of my hands. As long as I play the sensitive guy who's just trying to help her, she'll still listen to me. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got research to do."
Lilah took the dismissal without comment and left the room, shutting the door behind her.
Lindsey reopened the book he was up to and turned a few pages. He gave a little smile. "Vessel of power," he whispered. He saw something about portals to other dimensions. "She didn't tell me about this. Life energy. Affection … the key." His eyes rested on a title part-way down the page. 'Filtering energy from the vessel.'
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'The room is monitored by video and audiotape. Do you trust me?' Erica read from a piece of paper that had come with her lunch. 'The firm thinks you might be dangerous. Act normal during meeting today. Stay by the door at 8pm tonight. Will be a blackout. I'll get you out of here. L.'
Erica took another bite of her sandwich as she screwed the piece of paper up and tucked it into her shoe, making it look like she was scratching an itch.
When she finished her lunch she went to take a shower in the small bathroom that Lindsey had assured her wasn't monitored, and while there she tore up the piece of paper and flushed it just to make sure it wouldn't be discovered.
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Erica had been doing her evening stretches, just as she had the night before, when she checked her watch and saw that it was almost time. She was in the main room, close to the door.
She only practiced her close-combat moves while in the bathroom. It was a little slippery, but she didn't want to give the people watching her any more clues about what she was capable of, even though it wasn't much because she was only mortal. She'd felt kind of stupid at first; practicing when there was no use for it, but she kept it up anyway. She felt that it was one way to stay defiant, one way to keep some control over her life. She wouldn't let them control the way she lived her life.
Suddenly the lights went out, and her adrenalin skyrocketed. She stood to one side of the door and clenched her fists. She didn't know how long it would take Lindsey to get there from wherever he had disabled the power.
Someone was shining torchlight into the room, and she guessed that it was the guard. She was out of the way and out of sight. The torchlight moved away and she could hear fumbling at the door. She suddenly wondered if maybe she should have stayed in sight so as not to raise suspicions. But if the door was being opened then it was probably a good thing after all, as it only opened from the outside and she couldn't trust that Lindsey would have the right key card and code to get her out.
They had given her other clothes to wear, but after her shower she had changed back into her own clothing. She had left her wet towel in a heap by the door, and it hadn't been picked up yet by whoever took care of bedding. She grabbed it and opened it up as the door opened. The torchlight came forward, shining at the back wall as the guard took a step inside. She could hear the faint jingle of keys and she threw the towel up where his face must have been. She heard a muffled cry and the torchlight darted up as he flailed his arms. She gave a short, skip-like step, whipped her left leg up and rammed her heel into his head.
The torch dropped as the man fell to the floor. He was still conscious, so Erica quickly scooped up the torch and whacked him on the head with it when he tried to sit up. She removed the towel and used the torch to see that it was the same guard who had been pushing her around her the night before. She'd cracked his forehead. She didn't like the guy, but she took a second to put her hand in front of his face to feel for his breath. He was alive.
Although the torch had been a good weighty object to use as a bludgeon, the impact had damaged it and the light was flickering. It winked out as she stood up and felt her way toward the corridor walls.
She saw more torchlight getting closer from around a corner and she jerked back, ready to fight or flee. Her grip tightened on the torch and she decided to stand her ground, remembering that Lindsey was probably on his way and she needed to stay where he could find her. Red emergency lighting came on and it was Lindsey himself, still dressed in his work clothes, who ran around the corner. He stopped short when he saw her out of the room and the guard on the floor but he quickly held his hand out for her.
They almost crashed into another guard, but Erica used their momentum from running to jump up and slam both feet into his face. He dropped like dead weight, and she used Lindsey's grip on her hand to keep herself from falling after such a risky move.
He led her through the corridors and down the emergency stairs out of the building. He didn't say a word to her until they were two blocks away and hiding in an abandoned building. He'd taken her out through the same tunnels that Angel had once gotten in through, and had taken her back up to street level at the first opportunity.
Erica's torch was broken, so she stood in the middle of the room as Lindsey checked the windows and doors, covering them with some wooden slats that had been left in a corner. "We'll have to move in the morning." Lindsey told her. "They'll be able to track us down by then."
Erica nodded, despite the fact that he couldn't see her. "Where are we going to go?" she asked.
Lindsey turned to look at her. He ran a hand through his hair. "I hadn't really thought that far, to be honest. Do you have family here?"
Erica sighed and looked down. "Not in this reality" she muttered.
Lindsey had heard her. "What are you talking about?"
Erica looked up and gave him a careful look. "I'll answer your question if you answer mine," she said guardedly. "You just threw away your career, and if the firm is as dangerous as I believe, possibly your life too. Why did you risk everything to help me?" She crossed her arms, but it was more a gesture of insecurity than anger or arrogance.
"I thought it was obvious," Lindsey said, walking a little closer. "I like you. You're a nice girl and I don't believe you should be locked up for it. I also owe you, very much. And besides, my future there wasn't that secure anyway." He looked around the room with his torch. "I'm sorry, but we're not going to be very comfortable tonight." The room was fairly bare. There were a few crates around, but the room mostly consisted of dusty floor and peeling walls.
"Not your fault." Erica said simply. "Maybe there's some blankets or something upstairs."
Lindsey directed his torch upward. "Second floor doesn't look too stable," he commented as he saw the cracks in the ceiling. He glanced at her. "Wait down here, and hug the wall in case anything does come down. I'll take a quick look."
Erica nodded and did as she was told. She found an old tin bin pushed back against the wall, overflowing with a pile of paper rubbish. She did her best to just look around and practice getting used to the dark like Spike had told her. She inhaled quickly and sat down against the wall as she was freshly reminded that she might not see any of the guys again, or at least not her guys.
If she could believe Lindsey then Angel was a monster in this reality, or at least not as concerned with helping the innocents as he was when she'd known him. Through her conversations with Lawson and Cordelia she had discovered that Spike had only had a soul two years before she'd known him. He might be a monster too. And Lawson had been a half-souled, unpredictable creature before he'd been called to join the others in helping her. She couldn't rely on help from any of the vampires and for all she knew Cordelia was still in trouble.
Gunn didn't trust her and she barely knew him anyway. She didn't know Wesley at all, and hardly even remembered what he'd looked like from a photo she'd seen at the funeral. The only other people she knew in LA were the regulars at the gym, a couple of people in her multimedia class and anyone she'd met at the funeral. She couldn't rely on any of them to help her or even to remember her. She just hadn't been in LA that long. Lindsey was her only help.
She saw the light coming down the stairs at the end of the room. It looked like something big was coming down the stairs. She knew it was Lindsey though, probably laden with whatever he'd managed to find. The light settled on her and then quickly jerked away from her face so that he didn't blind her. Erica had to blink a couple of times, but she got up and started dragging the bin over to the middle of the room. The light came back to see what she was doing.
"Good idea," Lindsey said. "Here." He dropped the blankets and pillow and walked over to help her. They pulled most of the paper out and kicked it out of the way. Lindsey fished around in his pocket and pulled out her lighter. He'd retrieved it from the guard. He handed it to her and walked over to a spare wooden slat and started breaking it up by stomping on it. Erica was still just holding the lighter when he came back with an armful of it.
"Thank you," she said, glancing from his face and back to the lighter, "it's just a silly little cheap thing. But it's familiar. And it's something from home."
"You're welcome," Lindsey said as he put the wood down. "Let's get that fire lit and you can tell me about it."
"Yeah," Erica agreed, helping him put a few of the wood pieces in.
Soon they had managed to get a bright little bin-fire going and Lindsey turned off the torch. He spread one of the blankets close by for them to sit on. Erica sat down and Lindsey sat to the left of her and draped a second blanket over their shoulders.
Erica stayed quiet for a couple of moments and then began telling Lindsey about where she had come from, and about the differences she had found between her world and this one. "And I'm not sure how to get back," she continued, "because I might end up somewhere worse than here. Much worse. There are demon dimensions I've never even heard the names of. If I get trapped there then I'm likely to end up as dinner. I'm lost, Lindsey. I don't belong here and I'm lost, and I have nowhere to go."
Lindsey put his arm around her shoulder and gently squeezed it in sympathy. Erica was quiet for a little while, just looking into the flames.
"Are you thinking that you wouldn't be in so much of a mess if you hadn't helped me?" Lindsey asked.
"Maybe a little," Erica admitted, "but you wouldn't be in a mess either if you hadn't helped me back, and I'm sure they'll do worse to you if they find you. I'm guessing that they still wanted me to do something for them, although I don't know if that makes me better off once they're done with me. But I'm not sorry that I helped you." She gave him a meaningful glance, full of trust and gratitude.
"Neither am I. And you're not alone here. Maybe other people you knew don't remember you, but now you've met me, and I'm here to help you. You're not alone."
"So," Erica said slowly, after leaning her head on his shoulder for comfort. "That ritual, did it work?"
"What one?" Erica imagined that she felt his voice rumble through her cheek and hair from his throat.
"The one to rescue the woman from hell. The one you lost your hand for. Did it work?"
"Yeah, it did." Lindsey was still looking intently at the fire.
"Was she someone you knew?"
"No." Lindsey said quietly. "Up until now, my work was more important than everything else. I didn't get time to know a lot of people."
"So what's going to be most important in your life now?" Erica asked.
"This." Lindsey said. His fingers grazed her right cheek and he turned her face toward him. His other arm lightly rested on her shoulders, but he didn't pull her or try to force her to respond when he leaned forward to kiss her.
She did kiss him back, but when they pulled away she said, "You don't even know me that well."
"I know enough," Lindsey said, as his free hand touched her hair. "The first time I saw you, when you came over to help me without even knowing who I was; I thought you were an angel come to save me. You kissed me and all the pain and hurt went away. Ever since, I wanted you to kiss me again. Every time I sat in that room to talk to you and every time I thought about you, I wanted it."
"Well, to be honest," Erica said, "When I wasn't being suspicious of you, so did I." She closed the little gap between them and kissed him again. She hooked her arms around his shoulders as they drew each other closer. His right hand, the new hand that she'd created for him, moved from her shoulder and ran down her back. She gave a small shiver as his fingertips reached under her top and traced up and down her spine and then spread out to rest on her lower back. There was a new tattoo on the back of the hand, close to the wrist, but Erica hadn't noticed it. His left hand was still up at her hair, and he pulled the scrunchie out to free it.
Erica shifted her legs so that she was kneeling next to him on the blanket. The other blanket had fallen off their shoulders and crumpled in a heap behind them. She shifted her hands to his shoulders and pushed his jacket down his arms. He was forced to let go of her for a moment but as soon as the jacket was off he took hold of her waist and back again. Her fingers ran through his hair and down his cheeks, and then she followed his jaw line with her lips. He buried his face in her neck and kissed her collarbone, then rose up to meet her mouth again.
The fire that was close to them was warm. Erica thought that was where the warm tingle on her skin was coming from. Erica let him take her jacket off like she'd done to him. Erica let him do a lot of things, and she responded in kind.
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