Bright Lights
By: Peanutbutter
Note: Thanks for the reviews!
Chapter 4 'My other half'
Trenton woke with a start to see the girl stirring. It had barely been a day and already the injuries were better and it looked like she would wake at any moment. Trenton rose from his chair feeling the effects of sleeping in a very small, very uncomfortable wooden chair. There was no padding on the seat or back and he was sure he had wooden slate marks on his ass. He stretched and rubbed his face and ran his hand through his wild hair trying to settle it to little success and leaned over the sleeping girl.
"Hello, are you awake?" Trenton asked softly and leaned a little closer his lips right beside her ear. "Wake up."
"Aren't you a sight," Mika laughed as she walked into the room and doubled over when Trenton jumped at least six feet in the air and backed away.
Trenton creased his brow and frowned, "That really wasn't funny."
"Try looking at it from my angle," Mika offered quietly, "trust me it was very funny."
Trenton started the grumble under his breath and turned back the blond girl. They cleaned her up quite a bit. Mika had done most of it protesting that when she woke she would be embarrassed to know Trenton had changed her clothes. When she woke fully she'd be able to clean herself up better.
"She was starting to wake up you smart ass," Trenton finally said as he glared at his still laughing friend.
Mika let her laughter taper off for a moment and walked to the girl's side. She was still and quiet just like she had been before. Mika shrugged, "if you say so, but she looks about the same to me."
"She was mumbling," Trenton defended lightly. "I was only getting up to see about her."
"She's very likely to talk or mumble, but you're right it is a good sign, not to mention her injuries are all but healed." Mika shook her head in astonishment. There were only two types of people she knew healed like that, vampires, and Slayers. The funny thing was they already had the Slayer and she definitely wasn't a vampire. Whether she was a hybrid or part demon she wasn't sure either.
"So what do we do with her today?" Trenton asked.
Mika sighed, "I'll watch her you go to work. If you don't show up practically jumping to go to the surface Angel and Spike will think something is up so go if you want to keep her here a little longer."
Trenton was reluctant to leave her side even if he knew she'd be safe in Mika's care. He wanted to be there when she awoke. He wanted to know why she had hugged him like that and why she'd called him Xander. Mostly he wanted to know about her.
Trenton moved away from the girl's side when Mika waved him out again. "Fine," he grumbled as he lumbered to the corner and picked up Isa and strapped her to his belt. He felt a little better with Isa next to him again. She was comforting in her own way. "Come get me if she wakes up."
Mika looked up from her wound checking and nodded before looking back at the girl again, "I'll get you all right. I'll run onto the surface Nell drawn and cut my way threw demons." Mika felt a jerk in Nell's constant song and knew at once the blade was laughing.
"You're funny," Trenton grumbled as he pulled his black military type vest on and headed for the door as he grabbed his boots. Mika just laughed.
Trenton gave the girl one last look before opening his door and slipping into the hall. Life was mostly boring and anything out of the ordinary made him hum and jump with anticipation, much like Isa did before battle. His occasional boredom had only been punctured by the device he'd found that played movies. Sure he'd heard of them before, they had TV's and he knew that at one time there had been actual shows on, but it was hard to grasp when you've never seen it before. He'd found the fist tape on a scavenging mission three years ago. It was called 'The Terminator'. Because it was the first it was his all time favorite. Later on his collection had grown, a series called 'Star Wars', a couple of drawn movies by a popular corporation called Disney, there were a few in between about lovers and some were humorous. Most of the scavenging was spent trying to repair broken film but it had paid off in the end.
Recently the novelty had worn off slightly and the appearance the blond girl that seemed to have the strength of a Slayer was more than enough to keep his interest. He just hoped that Angel and Spike wouldn't find out. Angel was more easy to deal with just because he didn't seem to care about most things but when he was angered Trenton didn't want to be anywhere around their violent leader. Spike on the other hand had been very laid back about everything until Molly had come along and died shortly after. Spike had a very short fuse now. Things that had never bothered him before made him furious. Unfortunately that included breaking of rules.
Trenton bounded down the steal steps and hopped onto the bottom floor where Angel and Spike were already lounging around the conference table. As the refuges only protection they occupied the top floors while the actual inhabitants lived below them. Trenton tried to give off an air of his usual enthusiasm as he bounded toward them and plopped into a chair across from the two vampires.
"So fellas what's on the roster?" Trenton leaned back in his chair propping his head up with his hands.
"Not going to beg to be on the front lines today," Spike asked the corners of his mouth turning up slightly as he turned his the scared side of his face toward Trenton.
Trenton shrugged and let the chair legs fall to the floor, "Well are you sending me up or not?"
Angel was silent for a moment before speaking, "Yes, we have arranged a pick up of goods near the old railroad station."
Trenton was a little disappointed and tried not to show it as he nodded his head. He was planning on looking after the girl not wandering around on the surface looking for a dirty old man claiming that pebbles were seeds. "Right, so who's going with me?"
"Zarah," Angel said quickly.
Trenton's eyes widened and he shook his head no. "The girl drives me crazy Angel I'm not going with her."
"If you run into something you're going to need help and Zarah does the work of ten men or more," Angel said without looking up.
Trenton snorted, "I'd rather go with scar boy than her."
Spike narrowed his eyes at the comment. "Watch it whelp or you'll find that sword shoved strategically up you arse."
Trenton rolled his eyes and ignored the way Isa hummed angrily beside him. If there was anyone Isa hated the most it was Spike. In fact she had little like at all for Crydon as well. Trenton didn't blame her Spike was pretty much an asshole all the time, though he had to admit his disposition had gotten better over the years, but not enough for Trenton to entirely change his opinion.
"Did you already tell her she was going?" Trenton asked ignoring the glares Spike was sending him as he tried to find a way to get out of going to the surface with Zarah.
"I did," Angel smiled a little, "she's not so bad." As if to disprove his theory Zarah jumped in from the top floor and landed in the middle of the table looking very much like a panther. Her dark hair was swept behind her ears and she smiled slightly and looked around the table. She was wearing her normal traveling gear, a pair of leather pants and one of Spike's shirts. It had taken a while for them to convince the girl to wear a shirt. In the wild she had been running around mostly unclothed and she felt that confining her breast wasn't necessary. Mika had later showed her the benefits of a bra and she usually wore that if nothing else. In her hand was a dagger carved out of bone, or what they thought was bone. She wouldn't let anyone touch it. Strapped to her back was a long sword and a bow and arrow set, the sword was given to her by Angel and she had made the bow and arrows herself.
She rose to full height, only five foot two, but she was still young fifteen or sixteen at the most. Her dark eyes sparkled and she jumped off the table to stand by Trenton she threw her arm around his shoulder and smiled up at him as she indicated the direction of the outside.
"Go," she said her voice low but upbeat. Zarah didn't really talk that much but when she did it was always right to the point. She grabbed his arm and tugged.
"Better get going," Spike said, "don't want to keep the lady waiting."
Zarah smiled wider at Spike and touched her lips before turning back to Trenton. Trenton never really understood Zarah's connection to Spike. The way she acted around him Trenton wondered if he had done anything with her, though it seemed like she didn't know anything about that in the first place. He smiled warily down at the slayer and succumbed to the tugging and fell into step with the girl as they made their way to the surface.
"Don't forget the payment," Angel called after him, "there's three bottles of bourbon at the entrance. He gives you four bags and he gets the liquor."
Trenton nodded warily and picked up the bag of booze and threw it over his shoulder carefully as he listened to the bottles clang together. He wondered what was going to happen while he was gone. It was only to take at least three days to reach the building and there was no telling when the girl would awaken. Mika was going to have to keep the secret without him. He wished he had time to talk to her before he left but it was too late. He already had everything he'd need packed up for him, his weapons, and a bag of food for the both of them along with the payment. Angel was too thorough sometimes.
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"What do you think the whelps hidin'?" Spike asked as he watched the boy disappear into the sunlit world.
"I don't know," Angel commented as he watched the door for a moment, "we'll find out though. He wasn't very good at hiding it."
"You're telling me. I heard him up all night." Spike said and looked at Angel. "I heard Mika too, but it wasn't the kind of noises you'd expect to hear from a girl and guy in the same room together."
Angel nodded, "Go check it out."
"I'm not your whipping boy," Spike snorted, "I don't really…"
Spike didn't get to finish his sentence before Angel grabbed him around the neck and lifted him out of his seat. Spike started to struggle immediately his hand flying to his side where Crydon was protesting just as much as Spike was. If Angel was going to try and rip his head off he wasn't going to go easily. Angel squeezed harder crushing Spike's windpipe as he knocked Spike's hand out of the way and grabbed the protesting limb with his free fist.
"Don't question, just do I don't have time to fuck with you right now!" With a growl Angel pulled him backward and flung him at the wall. He watched, a smile of sick satisfaction crawling across his face. Spike slid to the floor his eyes closed. Angel shut his eyes as well as a shudder went through his entire body and he shook his head.
Spike groaned and attempted to push himself to his feet but it was hard. His hand was around his neck as he tried to draw in a breath so he could speak. His voice wheezed and cracked as he spoke, "You fucking bastard." Spike pulled out his sword. The aura around it was blazing and Spike morphed into game face.
"I didn't," Angel swallowed and put his hand on the sword at his side, "It was…" He trailed off. He knew what it was. It happened only occasionally but every time it did it scared him. Angelus wasn't completely gone and having the hellmouth so open and close, it tempted to demon to come out, and sometimes Angel couldn't control him.
"I know who it was you fucker! I spent a century living with the prick. He comes out again; does that around me and I'll cut out your other eye you complete bastard. I'm not your lackey." Spike seemed to calm for a moment though the sword didn't go back in the sheath. He turned on his heel and headed for the stairs. "Go check on it yourself."
Angel felt the guilt consume him as he watched Spike leave. There was a time when he had liked hurting people, a time when he had been Angelus. He felt Sesa humming discontent at his side and he placed his shaking hand on her hilt and tried to calm her and himself. In a few moments her hum had quieted and already the shaking of his hand had stopped. He couldn't take the anger, the losing control. It was driving him crazy.
He'd lost his eye because he couldn't control himself and he knew Spike meant it when he threatened to take out the other. Angel raised his hand to his face and touched the empty spot where his eyes had once been. It was covered by a patch but underneath the cloth was a jagged scar. Angel quickly pulled his hand away from his face and sat back down at the table. He pulled the sword out and waited for her to sing, but her hum was still a little off and he wondered if she would ever forgive him.