Chapter Three
The door to the bar swung wide and Spike stepped inside. He felt the musty air and stale beer slap him in the face. He smiled in spite of himself and took a wide look around. Several seedy looking demons were eyeballing him, but once they caught wind that he was a vampire, they went back to their drinks and pool games.
As Spike sauntered up to the bar, Angel took a glance around himself. Several demons were still starring at him. They knew who he was. Anything even close to being related to a demon knew who Angel was.
"Lookin' for a girl. A Slayer." Angel heard Spike say to the barkeep. The short, little man nodded and picked up a ratty bar towel, twirling it in his meaty fingers.
"Couple a' days ago. Two demons down by the docks ran into her. A nut, that one." he said, shaking his head.
"Any idea where she's headed?"
"Only thing I'll tell you is the boys don't go down ta those docks no more." the bartender said, swiping the towel over the counter in front of Spike. He turned and faced Angel, nodding slightly and then turned away from the bar.
"Looks like the docks are our best bet." Angel whispered, eyes still roaming through the bar. He looked like he was looking for someone. Spike followed his gaze for a minute, but grew wary of the glowers he was receiving.
"Come on, mate." Spike said, heading for the door. Angel didn't follow.
Spike sighed and leaned in to his ear. "Will you stop gawkin' and come on?"
Angel nodded slightly and finally turned toward the door. Spike rolled his eyes and quickly walked back the way he'd come. The Jag was parked about a block west of the bar. Angel was too much of a wanker to park it on the street. God forbid anyone breathed on it.
"What the bleedin' hell was that? You trying to get us killed?" Spike asked once they were clear of the bar's neon lights. Angel narrowed his eyes toward Spike and shook his head. "Bloody starrin' at everyone…" he mumbled to himself, looking up and down the street and shoving his hands into his coat pockets.
Suddenly, he felt a light pressure at the back of his neck and he flinched away from it. As he spun around to face the attacker, he saw that it was Angel. Some part of him briefly wondered why Angel always went for his neck...
The same look of rage painted his features and he glared at Spike with something akin to hatred. He had his hand outstretched still from where he had rested his fingers on Spike's neck.
"What are you—" Spike stammered, backing away as Angel took a step forward.
"Don't tell me what to do, boy." he said, voice smooth and even. The only difference was that the words were coming centuries too late. The words were Angelus' and they made something in Spike scream. After pushing down the predatory nature of fight or flight, Spike narrowed his eyes at his sire; ready.
Another bloody attack… he thought, remembering what Angel had said in the car about the control he lost when he attacked Spike earlier. Angel advanced on his Childe and he, in turn, stood his ground.
"You wont find me." Angel whispered, starring at a place just behind Spike. "Stop looking."
Spike turned quickly to see who Angel was talking too, but there was just a dirty ally wall and open air. Looking back at his Sire, Spike saw a brief look of agony cross his face. Something was ing with him and they were doing a right good job of it too. Spike drew in a deep breathe and balled his fists.
Gotta do this just right, he thought, looking at the place just bellow Angel's right eye. If he hit him just right, he could knock him off his feet. Maybe knock some sense into him while he was at it. His fingers tingled at the prospect of actually getting to his Angel...
"I can read your thoughts." Angel continued, still speaking to the ally wall. Spike smirked slightly and took the opportunity to launch himself at Angel's face.
Without so much as a second's notice, Angel's hand came up and blocked the blow aimed at his face. He quickly brought his other arm up and caught Spike directly under his jaw. His head snapped back and blood flooded his mouth as he tripped back and fell onto the pavement. Dazed, he turned his head and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Leave me alone!" Angel screamed, standing over Spike. He snarled, vamped out and grabbed Spike by his shirt. Quickly, Spike brought his knee up into Angel's groin and slammed his other boot into the side of his head. Angel stumbled back, snarling. Spike didn't need another opportunity. He scrambled to his feet, wiping blood from his mouth. But, before he could charge again, he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Angel growled and roared madly forward. Spike quickly sidestepped and turned toward where he saw the movement.
Suddenly, out of the dark, a pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulders and ran him into the ally wall. His face connected with brick and he felt something snap near his right eye. Through hazy thoughts, he felt himself being peeled from the wall and slammed into it again. This time he heard a crunch. Crunching sounds were never good. They usually meant a messy break or a shatter; not the clean snap of a broken bone. Whoever was using his face to knock down the wall obviously had some strength behind them. But it wasn't Angel. Angel was somewhere behind him, he knew, stumbling and wondering how the hell he got where he was.
Enough of this…he thought after the second blow. He had just enough time before his face hit the brick again to bring his arms back and grip the wrists over his shoulders. He used as much power as he could to twist himself around and bring him face to face with his attacker.
When he had accomplished what he had intended to do, he noticed that his attacker was not only small, but she was a she. The girl screamed and twisted her wrists toward Spike's thumbs, breaking the hold and pulling back. She was about to hit him again, but Spike reached out and grabbed her by her wrists again.
Sorry love, done gettin' knocked around by women, he said to himself, tossing her as far as he could away from him. She landed in the flood of a lamplight about three feet away.
Spike was right. Angel was standing around looking lost. He was looking down at his hands and then at the girl crumpled on the ground. After a minute, Angel glanced his way.
"Wha—?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
Spike didn't say anything to him. He was gathering his senses as the crumpled body came around. She pushed up on her hands and flipped her hair out of her face. Spike could easily read the rage in her eyes; it was the same rage that Angel had showed him not five minutes before.
"Think we found our girl."' Spike replied triumphantly. He watched as the young girl eyeballed Angel.
"Vampire." she whispered, smiling slightly at him. Angel just looked down at her with something akin to wonder.
"Slayer?" Spike asked, cocking his head sarcastically.
"I kill you." she said, still using the same whisper.
"No," Spike said, reaching up and fingering his broken cheek. He was right, it was shattered. He could feel it when he spoke. Whenever his lips moved, something sharp poked into his vision. "But almost."
Angel glanced at Spike. No one said anything for a long time after that. The girl didn't move, but she had her eyes trained on Angel the whole time.
"Isn't this about the time you call in the big guns?" Spike asked after a minute. Angel narrowed his eyes and reached for his cell phone, but didn't take his eyes off him. Spike had a feeling he was looking at his cheek. It was bleeding pretty heavily by now. And it hurt.
"Vampire Slayer." the girl on the ground said. Spike rolled his eyes. Suddenly, she snarled and lept to her feet, knocking the cell phone out of Angel's hand. She punched him cleanly in the chest, sending him backwards a few steps. Angel vamped out and countered, launching forward to lock and arm around her throat. She kicked and snarled in his grasp, but he wouldn't let her go. She may have been a Slayer, but she had never learned to use her power the right way. Angel had the advantage in this fight.
"Ok. I'm pretty much done with this." Angel said into her ear, her struggles becoming panicked. Spike chuckled and walked in front of her to pick the phone up off the ground. He could hear Wesley on the other end saying, "Hello? Angel…?"
He was about to put it to his ear and answer when the Slayer raised her left hand, the one not holding onto Angel's arm, and pointed over Spike's shoulder. She smiled between her panicked breaths and nodded. Spike raised and eyebrow and turned around. He watched in confused wonder as the fire escape of the nearest building was ripped off it's foundations and launched through the air.
It clattered across the pavement toward him, sparks lighting up the dirty ally.
Before it slammed into him, he remembered thinking how good it was going to feel to kick the crap out of her…
Continued...
