Part 4: Revenge
21: Unwelcome Guests
Erica's fingers paused above the keyboard. The last chapter of her life was not something she wanted published. She had been doing so well with her writing up until now, but she didn't want to turn what had happened to her the month before into a story.
For one thing, she hadn't told the others all of the details about what had happened between she and Lindsey. Occasionally she let Angel check her stories for mistakes to do with demon lore. He'd already said that he was interested in everything she'd seen in the other reality, and was looking forward to reading a detailed account of it. Erica got the feeling he suspected that more had gone on than she'd indicated.
It was private. She and Cordelia were not quite at the stage to have 'girl-talk' of that serious a degree, even though they were getting along. She didn't really know anyone outside of Angel Investigations. The other students at Multimedia were just that: other students. She didn't really talk to anyone else at the gym either.
She'd dreamt about it, but while awake she was still looking for the answer to her question. Did she forgive him yet? It was easy to forgive in a dream, when she wasn't weighed down by principle and regret. Still, she was sure she would have, if she'd been given the time. She wanted to. But she was separated from him now, and when she returned she would have to kill him. Not personally, but he didn't exist in the 'real' reality, and she was going to erase the other one.
She knew that instead of trying to answer a question that wouldn't matter, she should be trying to forget him, and make things easier on herself. She had enough to think about besides places and people that only existed because of her carelessness.
She wanted to stop thinking about it. She closed down the laptop and left her bedroom to sit on the couch in the lounge area, to watch some late-night TV. Only Cordelia was home with her, asleep in her own bedroom. All three vampires were out hunting. It was the night before the full moon, and Nina still hadn't been stopped. They had gone out to find her, and whomever she may have converted to her cause against humans. They had an entire city to search; so all three had needed to go on the hunt if they were to find her before she had a chance to hurt someone.
There was no guarantee of a one-on-one fight, especially if Nina had been looking for allies, so the girls had been left at home for their own safety. Cordelia was completely human, and Erica had so far only gone up one weight level in her training, so her slayer abilities were obviously still a long time away.
She'd been right about starting to heal quicker, but it was still just as painful to get hit so Erica hadn't been testing out the theory of her changes much. It was still only a small improvement on human healing, but she could somehow feel that she was just beginning to toughen up. Cordy was right, the more she practiced, and the more she trained and exposed herself to the nasties of the world, the sooner she would start to improve, and bring out her abilities; both Slayer and Guardian related.
She'd still put one of the vampires between her and a blow to protect herself; because they could take it and keep fighting (and besides, that's exactly what they were there for; to protect her), but she felt that where other humans were concerned that she would be marginally better at taking the injury. It was something that she'd thought about since the bruise had disappeared from her cheek.
She wasn't exactly brave, or stupid, but she wasn't a coward either. She'd learnt in her old self-defence classes that she needed to be able to ignore some pain in order to stay capable of helping herself out of dangerous situations. If you were in a fight you were likely to get hit at some point. She hated feeling helpless, and pain was good at doing that to you, so she'd learnt to deal with it as much as possible. Pain was pain, but staying alive was generally worth it - so far she'd never been in enough pain to doubt that principle.
She was lounging on the couch in her pyjama pants and a tank top and watching a documentary about wolves. It was interesting how many parallels she found between them and the werewolves she'd almost gotten killed by last month. They'd gone after her because she was human; weak compared to them. She glanced at the window, even though the curtains were drawn, and thought of the moon outside. It was a weird coincidence that the wolf documentary was on tonight, but the TV producers had probably thought it was as good a time slot as any.
An ad came on and she got up to get a drink of water. She was usually a night person by now anyway, but she didn't want to keep herself buzzed with coffee either if she didn't have anything to do tonight. She'd still take advantage of sleep when she could get it. She looked back at the curtain that was backlit by the light of the moon, and thought she saw something move from one side to the other.
The fire escape was always a possible escape route, but it was also an entry point for nasties. The fact that they were on the eighth floor, roommates with a vampire, and in a reasonable neighbourhood had prevented Angel from suggesting they get another apartment. Demons and other creeps wouldn't come to their window unless they specifically wanted something or someone in their apartment, which meant they already had to know about the tenants.
The likelihood of being a random break-and-enter by anything was slim, so Erica jumped as soon as her instincts told her that someone was outside their window. Someone who was being very quiet, and whose shadow had only been there for the fraction of an instant when they'd had to cross in front of the window.
All of the windows, the front door; all of the outer entrances were locked. If they were willing to break in noisily, she had seconds. If they were trying to be stealthy, she had longer. She left the TV on; they'd have already heard it. It was the only light and noise source on in the apartment.
She ran to the bathroom. She wanted to make some kind of noise to draw them that sounded natural enough that they wouldn't think she or Cordelia were alert, so she turned on the shower and drew the curtain back across. The noise would also help mask whatever sounds she and Cordelia might make. She hit the panic button that was above the light switch. There was a panic button in every room; Angel was still a little paranoid, but at least he'd cleared it with the girls before deciding to add them.
The guys all had beepers. They were silent so that if they were hunting something they wouldn't give their position away, but if a panic button was hit then the beepers would vibrate and tell the boys that there were troubles at home. It also worked if the girls phoned their numbers from elsewhere, but that wouldn't tell anyone where they were in trouble, only that they were in trouble. The girls had a beeper each as well, in case one was out while the other was at home. Hopefully Cordy's was by her bed, close enough to be heard, but in any case Erica was going to wake her up anyway.
She shut and locked the bathroom door behind her, hoping that whoever it was would waste time by trying to get in there first. Erica knocked softly, twice and then pushed open the door. She'd bothered to knock because she didn't want Cordelia to attack her if she'd already been woken by the beeper making the small buzzing noise nearby.
Cordelia was sitting up; she'd heard it or maybe the shower starting, but she was still a little groggy from sleep. "Get up, now" Erica whispered. She got to her knees and reached under Cordelia's bed. She wasn't much of a fighter, but Cordelia had a small hand- axe and a holy water bottle under there anyway. God bless paranoia, or caution; whatever Angel and Lawson wanted to call it. She'd never thought to assume that the shadow might have been just that; an unthreatening shadow, so maybe she was getting paranoid too. If it kept her alive, she didn't care.
Cordelia was wearing similar nightclothes as Erica; drawstring pyjama pants and a short-sleeved top. She pushed her covers off and got to her feet. "What is it?" she asked in the same hushed tone that Erica had used.
"'Don't know," Erica said, pulling out the holy water and axe and offering one to Cordelia. "But something's outside the living room window."
Cordelia didn't ask anything else and decided on the holy water. Erica was the one who was training with weapons, not her, though Cordelia was supposed to start learning to defend herself too. Human or not, they both knew that Erica had already gotten better than her, so she took the defensive weapon. Vampires couldn't enter without permission, but vampires weren't the only demons that reacted badly to holy water, even if it was only useful as a deterrent. There were a few more weapons in Erica and Lawson's rooms but they didn't know how much time they had to get anything.
"The others should be coming," Erica whispered, "but do you want to stay hidden or try for the front door?"
"Don't know how far away they are," Cordelia said, "might not get here in time to help; we need to get out of here," she decided. Erica nodded; she'd been thinking the same thing.
"Use the kitchen as cover, if it's not already inside we dash for the door," Erica reminded them both. Living the lives they did, they'd already come up with some strategies for dealing with intruders, just in case.
They went to the door and Erica listened for a moment before opening it a crack. The drawback to the shower and TV masking their noise was that it also made it hard to hear where an intruder was. Whatever it was seemed to be trying for stealth so she crouched and duck-walked with one hand for support on the carpet to around the corner to the kitchen. Cordelia quietly left the door a little ajar, in case they had to dash back and lock it behind them.
The lounge room was clear, but the window was open, the bathroom door was open, and Erica and Lawson's bedroom doors were open. All had been closed when Erica had entered Cordelia's room. It or they could have been anywhere; to the front or behind them, which meant there might have been no retreat.
The front door was shut, so maybe the outside hallway was clear and they'd only come in from outside the building. Erica mouthed the word 'Go', to Cordelia and they dashed forward. Cordelia got to the door first, with Erica looking back behind them. Cordelia dropped the bottle and used both hands to undo the locks while Erica guarded her back with the axe gripped in both hands.
Cordelia's shriek made Erica half-turn around, her head whipping back to see what it was. A man-shaped figure in black clothes had his arm around Cordelia's neck. He had a gun which was pointed at Erica, so she was pretty sure that it was a man and not a demon.
She heard something else in the room behind her and looked back to see another black clothed man coming out of her bedroom, and another coming from the direction of the bathroom around the corner. Both had guns pointed at her. She didn't know enough about guns to know what type, but she suspected that they were military or something because they were long, two-handed weapons that sat under the shoulder. Also that fact that the men had matching uniforms and wore black facemasks made her think they were professional.
The order was professional sounding too. "Drop the weapon, now, or we'll take it from you."
If they wanted the girls dead already they'd have just shot them. An axe against guns wasn't a huge threat, but they seemed to want the girls alive and unarmed. Erica wasn't brave or reckless enough to test any assumptions that they wanted them both alive, or about how much they were willing to hurt them, so she did as she was told. If they want you alive but look willing to hurt you, just do as you're told. Pick the battles that you're likelier to win, unless they've given you no other alternative. Erica had been given an alternative; give up and avoid harm.
Besides, giving up never had to be permanent; they could start fighting back at any time, and it was time that she was concerned about. If she could draw this out, the guys might get back before anything serious happened to the girls.
She slowly and deliberately took one hand off the axe and started raising the empty hand at her side as non-threateningly as she could. The other hand let the axe lower closer to the floor, and she let the shaft slide through her hand so that the head of it was against her skin. She half-bent her knees because she didn't want to chop her foot off when she dropped it to the floor, and the men didn't object to her being careful. She kept her eyes on the man with Cordy, and he kept his eyes on hers. He seemed to be the one to give orders, so she wanted to make it clear to him above all others that she was submitting.
Although she didn't want anything as serious as decapitated toes she let one of the points of the axe graze her hand. Little more than a scratch; it took a few seconds for blood to start to show. She dug a little deeper, trying to keep it from doing permanent damage, but wanting a good cut that would bleed. The axe was sharp, and didn't deny her what she wanted.
The axe was clean, so she wouldn't get an infection unless she left the wound open, but she never forgot that her protectors were vampires. They were experts on blood. She'd discovered first-hand that they could track someone by the smell of blood alone.
She kept the leader's eyes fixed on her own and not on what she was doing, as if she could hypnotise him. As long as the others didn't realise and object to what she was doing (which could have been accidental as far as they were concerned), she was okay.
She left the axe on the floor and stood up just as slowly as she'd bent down, raising her other hand now. She'd go quietly as long as they didn't try to hurt her or Cordelia, but she was still going to quietly defy them by giving the vampires as much help as possible to rescue them. She wasn't especially brave, but she wasn't stupid either.
"What do you want?" Erica asked the man with Cordelia. "We haven't done anything wrong."
The man didn't seem to be in the mood for stalling. He nodded to the man in Erica's doorway, who came forward and pulled Erica's wrists behind her back. This was familiar in a way she didn't want to remember, although this time she didn't struggle. The palms of her hands were left facing outward, and the light was poor so maybe they wouldn't see that she was bleeding. The man behind her was brusque and professional, but didn't bother to pat her down as she'd half expected. 'Probably had something to do with the fact that she was in sleepwear.
The feeling of vulnerability wasn't much considering that she had much bigger problems than being bare-shouldered and bra-less in front of strangers, no wait, scratch that: strange men. She hadn't seen a single woman among the intruders, though with the black gear she couldn't be positive.
A man who had been out of sight in the outside hallway had come forward to deal with Cordelia the same way, leaving the leader's hands free. Four men so far. The man had a coat with him, and put it over Cordelia's shoulders to cover her, and another coat was draped over Erica's shoulders too.
Cordelia was pulled firmly but not roughly out of sight, and Erica was pushed forward by the man behind her to follow them. The man at the bathroom walked forward too. They were very definitely leaving. The leader held a hand up to make them pause and spoke to the girls. "If you scream we will kill anyone that comes to help you. It's up to you if people are going to die tonight. Is that clear?"
"Our neighbour is nearly deaf," Cordelia said quietly, out of Erica's sight, "and the guy across the hall has a night job. No one needs to die." She made it clear that they understood no one was there to help them.
The man might have made an expression under the mask for all anyone else knew, but he nodded and the girls were led outside. They took the stairs, all eight floors of them. There was a parking garage beneath the building, and the girls were led to a waiting van.
If this was a bad spy movie it might have been black, or with a fake business sign on the side, but it was light brown without any real identifying markings. It wasn't shiny new, but it wasn't beat-up or anything either. Just a normal, inconspicuous van. There were only windows in the front end, so the only visible person was the driver, who was already in plain clothes.
Everyone but the leader hopped in the back. Erica managed to brush the back of her hand against the door as the got in, acting natural as she did it. As they drove away the girls were able to see that the leader was putting his black gear in a big garbage bag. The back of his head revealed sandy blonde hair cut short. A white t-shirt that had been underneath his gear was covered by a brown jacket. He didn't seem to fiddle with his pants, and they were just black pants anyway so he could pass them off as normal clothes. Joe Normal, sure.
Erica was in the back seat with a man either side of her, and Cordelia was in the centre seat against the wall with a man between her and the door. Cordelia glanced back and Erica saw that she was pale, and she didn't feel so great herself either. They were being quiet and submissive, and it wasn't difficult to see that they were nervous. They couldn't really tell where they were going because of the lack of windows.
Erica was sure that they'd been watching the place before they'd tried to get in, because it couldn't have been coincidence that they had only come when there was no one but the girls in the apartment. That indicated planning. Who wanted her and Cordelia that bad that they'd send trained men after them? Wolfram and Hart was nonexistent, Angel had assured her of that. Or at least it was in the LA area. The buildings had all collapsed for the other branches, but it was possible that the people working there were still trying to do their job and take revenge on him.
Angel and Spike were not well liked in the demon world either, but she doubted that demons would hire men to kidnap the vampires' weaker human allies. It was much more likely that someone human was the one who'd given these guys their orders. Someone who was serious enough to let their men threaten innocent people. In theory, the good guys weren't supposed to do that, so somehow Erica didn't think these guys were working for the human government or the human military, no matter how professionally they worked and looked.
She didn't know anything for sure except that she was getting tired of being chased and captured. At least this time they hadn't hit her, yet. If they hurt Cordy, at least she could reverse it – she'd reattached entire hands before. Or at least, she could have if she had a way to make fire. Her old lighter had been left with Lindsey, and her new one was by the front door of her apartment. If they hurt her, she would probably be able to heal it. How far were they willing to go, and how much could she and Cordelia take? What did they want?
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