Rupert Giles slammed his fist down on the desk in triumph. After over a week of trying to locate Angelus through spells, the shifty character's location had been pinpointed. Wesley looked up at him from across the room, wondering why the unorthodox banging.
"I've found him!" Immediately, Wesley was jogging to the series of maps set out on the oak table in front of the other man, looking to see the raven bones arranged in a circle around a certain neighborhood.
"There's no time to lose, then," Wesley said somewhat excitedly, somewhat nervously. They had come back from their nightly patrol, exhausted, but decided to try the locator spells just one more time before heading to bed. Their energy rejuvenating as the adrenaline kicked in, they quickly collected a few choice weapons, and darted though and out of the building to the Council-supplied SUV waiting in a parking garage a few buildings over.
Giles drove, while Wesley fiddled with a compass-like tool he wore around his neck. He held his mouth at an odd angle as other cars, lights, and signs flew past them, looking over at Giles ever few minutes.
"What is it?" the older Protector finally asked him, annoyed.
"Tonight seems to be quite the night for Vampire activity. We've already sped past at least twenty signals, and most were strong enough to lead me to believe that there were multiple creatures in the area. It's too bad we didn't patrol this part of town earlier tonight."
"Wesley, Angelus has to be our top priority. We can't go stopping ever few blocks to dust a hapless fledgling! We're going after the Master!"
"But Rupert," he practically whined, "Angeuls has been here for a few weeks already; we can nab him anytime. Who knows when this many Vampires will be again roaming the streets, unsuspecting?"
"We have not been searching for one Vampire all week just to let him slip through our fingers when an easier target comes along!" he declared adamantly. Wesley was childishly pouting, which finally clued Giles in. "You're scared," he said simply, wanting to lord it over the younger man, but too focused on the situation.
"He's a Master! THE Master of the Aurelius line! Sure, it was fantastic and noble searching him out, but I never assumed that I personally would have anything to do with his dusting!" Giles gritted his teeth, not breaking from his course.
"You willingly hopped into this oversized, gas-guzzling vehicle with me, Wesley!"
"Got caught up in the moment," was the sheepish answer.
"You've known he was in your domain for over a month, you seriously never thought you'd run into him?"
"Well, of course I did! Haven't you fantasized about being the Protector to bring down someone of Angelus' reputation?"
"Clearly, as that is currently our destination!" Wesley glanced at the tracker in his hand. Snorting angrily, Giles looked for a place to pull over.
"What are you doing?"
"Go and hunt the baby Vamps. I have work to do." Wesley began to protest. "You'll be of no help to me with your current attitude. You're scared; you'd rather be anywhere but with me and Angelus. This is my task, anyway. He is my link to Spike, and therefore Buffy." He nearly slammed the car into the curb, and Wesley opened the door, putting a foot on the pavement. He looked back at Giles, his gut telling him to pull back the leg. But a glowing symbol on the tracker caught his attention, and he raced off to attend to business. Truthfully, he would have liked to be the Protector to bring down Angelus. But he knew that he was just an ordinary Protector, who wanted to kill ordinary Vampires. The legends batted around the Council gossip circles were true. Rupert Giles was not an ordinary Protector.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Giles slipped a credit card from his leather wallet to use to pick the lock. He had been thrown when it turned out that Angelus' location was inside a seedy apartment building, but the spell to locate him had registered less than an hour ago, and he was certain it was the place. Equally certain that, as long as Angleus had stayed in the same place for the past hour, his animalistic ears had picked up on the breaking-and-entering Protector, Giles strung his crossbow before kicking the door open and bounding into the apartment.
He released the arrow as soon as he recognized the tall hair of the hellish man, not all that surprised when Angelus stepped to the side automatically to avoid it. Pushing the door closed with his foot, Giles strung another.
"Who the hell are you?" Angelus asked, taking a swig from a bottle of beer he'd been opening when he heard the sounds at the door. Giles stared at the Master Vampire who appeared to be making himself at home.
"Does it matter, Vampire?" he asked, aiming but not releasing the tautness. Angelus shrugged.
"You look surprised to see me. Was I not the demon you were sniffing out?" He grinned, letting his dark eyes slide over the living room he was standing in humorously. No idea in all the Hells why his grandsire had taken up lodgings here of all places. There were other human scents in the set of rooms, some older than others, and he distinctly smelled blood in the bedroom. It puzzled him, but he didn't worry about it. All questions he'd drag out of Spike later on.
"What demon do you think I should be after?" Giles asked carefully, having figured from the girly décor of the rooms that Angelus most certainly did not frequent this place, wondering whom it was that did.
"A distant relative of mine. I'm actually waiting to see him now. Perhaps it's out of my character, but I'm taking great amusement in observing his standard of living. Would you like to wait with me? Maybe play a game to help us pass the time?" He cocked his head and stared at the skin exposed above Giles' tie, and even the hardened Protector felt a twinge of fear shimmy up his spine under the famed Master's stare.
"I take it you mean Spike. I didn't know the two of you were running together again." Angelus snorted, leaning up against a wall with his beer, appearing relaxed. But Giles knew he could be across the room in the blink of an eye.
"Don't flatter the scrawny punk by such suggestions. He'll be the one running once I get done with him." Giles furrowed his brow. Wesley and himself had assumed that Angelus and Spike were working together. This blew their whole theory out of the water- and he still had no idea how Buffy fit into all of this. "So, I didn't realize Spikey would have visitors. I can see by the fancy weapons and determined look that you're a Protector, but I wasn't under the impression that Spike was high enough in this world to warrant someone searching him out in his cozy home." Spike's home? Spike was living in this apartment with the flower vases and the colorful afghan? As he scanned the room, wary of Angelus, he noted that said accessories appeared to be newer, and differently coordinated than most of the larger, duller furniture. Perhaps Spike had redecorated, but the room had a woman's touch.
Spike...a woman...Buffy! Despite the fact that Angelus was not on good terms with Spike, the Protectors' efforts to track him down had indeed led to finding Buffy. Well, almost. Except for the fact that the sunny girl did not appear to be there at the moment, nor her bleached kidnapper.
"I've hunted down Spike for reasons which are my own. You are simply a bonus trophy." He let the arrow fly, already knowing that Angelus would avoid it. Barreling forward, he next tossed the bow itself at the Vampire, both moves causing Angelus to focus on items other than Giles. The stake was in his hand, aimed at Angelus' heart, when the Master grabbed a lamp and threw it into Giles. It crashed against his arm, nearly knocking the stake to the floor, causing Giles to loose precious concentration. Angelus shifted to game face with a sinister grin, walking slowly towards his prey.
Giles quickly sprung to his feet, switched hands, and swung at the Vampire. He had grown to be ambidextrous over the years, and once again it helped him out. His right arm was bruised and it hurt to swing it as forcefully as he now swung his left. Angelus easily avoided him, but Giles kept up the fight well enough to hold the Vampire's fangs at bay. They tornadoed through the living room, knocking over furniture, tracking dirt from their shoes all over the sofa. Giles was tiring, but he fought with the voracity a man his age should have been lacking. For Buffy...to save Buffy...Angelus stood between him and Spike, and Spike had Buffy...
"I humbly admit I admire your stamina, old man, and anticipate tearing out your strong, healthy heart." His voice carried into the hallway, where a couple was walking towards the door behind which it had come from. The man had been tense since getting into the elevator, having felt familiar tingles of anger. But he had not been able to place them until he heard the voice. He stopped walking, hand clenching around Buffy's wrist.
"Oh my God...that's Peaches!" she practically screamed. What? How did she know his nickname- No time for that.
"Hide, Buffy," he pushed her back towards the elevator, not wanting to explain and startle her.
"Why is Peaches at our place? And who is he fighting?"
"I'll find out, now go!" A second voice ripped from the apartment. It was a good thing it was nighttime, when most occupants of the building were out partying or imbibing in less-than-legal activities. Things were mighty loud from where they were standing.
"Then it's a battle for hearts- literally!"
"Giles!" she screamed, running past Spike into the apartment. The door was unlocked, and as she threw it open, looked at the two dueling men on her couch, and felt Spike run into her from behind, she felt absolutely no need to stop screaming.
"Buffy!" "Giles!" "Spike!" "Protector!" "Spike!" "Peaches!" "Peaches!" "...girl!" Spike pushed her to the entrance wall, and flew past her to join the fight. Both were his enemies, so he needed to ask no questions about whose side he should be on. But Angelus tired of Giles the minute he saw the blonde Vampire in the doorway, and shoved the Protector in a blind direction, which happened to be Buffy's.
"Giles!" she cried, rushing to catch him, and ending up with both of them on the floor. "What are you doing here?" Mere yards away, Spike had slipped into game face, and the two Vampires were snapping and growling at each other. It reminded Buffy somewhat of dogs, but not cute little cocker spaniels or anything of the sort. The kind of dogs that wore spiked collars, and had signs reading "Beware of Dog" on their fences.
"The more important thing is, what are you doing here? Has Spike hurt you?" He saw a flash of red on her neck, bite marks that were growing into scars due to their constant reopening. He scrambled away from her, holding up the stake in his hand. "Back, Buffy!" She rolled her eyes, forgetting for the moment the men who had dove to the floor and were rolling around trying to affix each of their fangs to the other's neck.
"I'm not a Vampire, Giles! You need to get out of here!" He stared, then withdrew a small, wooden cross from his pocket. Buffy stepped forward so he could place it over the bite marks, as Angelus missed, and his fangs scraped Spike's cheek.
"I have no idea what's going on! Explain to me in the car," he exhaled quickly, pulling her to her feet and out the door.
"No, wait, Spike's still in there!"
"I know that, and I'm getting you out of here while he's occupied!" Inside, Spike punched his Grandsire in the face, and looked to see where Buffy had gotten too. He saw the Protector dragging her down the hall, and growled.
"Hold that thought, Peaches," he said as he sprinted out the door. Angelus watched the duster-clad figure retreat, and saw what he was running after. Come to think of it, the little girl in the pink sundress had shown up with Spike...Getting a dark, sinister, wonderful idea, Angelus brought up the tail of the parade, running after the other three persons.
Directly in front of the elevator, Spike grabbed Buffy by the waist, wrenching her arm away from Giles, and held her protectively. She was blinking at Giles, angry.
"I'm telling you, I need to stay with Spike!"
"Good God, Spike, what did you do to her?" Rupert asked him with tired eyes.
"Can't figure out why she's acting this way?" Spike said with a quirk of his eyebrows. Momentarily forgetting Peaches, he pulled Buffy into his chest, and she willingly sunk against him. "Watch the Soaps sometime, bloke!"
"What?" Giles asked, before Spike felt himself being twirled around by the man behind him. He and Buffy were now facing Angelus, who looked angry, if not confused.
"Answer the man, Spike. What did you do to this little girl who seems in no hurry to leave you? I'm a little interested myself." He leered at Buffy, who looked at him purely with disgust. Being in Spike's arms alleviated any fears beyond that.
"None of you business, mates," Spike responded frigidly. "You two just go back to duking it out, and me and my girl will be on our merry way." He tried to back them into the elevator, not liking the way the brooding Master was sizing up Buffy, but Giles' stake poked him in the back.
"I wouldn't back up any further, if I were you," he hissed.
"Oh, no, Protector. Let William the Bloody be our guest, and go heroically dashing out into the sunny streets of LA." Spike cursed quietly as he remembered himself and Buffy hurrying back to the apartment after a fun night of clubbing, clearly not wanting him to burn to a crisp in the approaching sunrise. How much time did he have left? He sniffed the air, thankful for his natural ability to sense the sun's patterns. He didn't have much time before a golden glow would begin to dust the city buildings. But he couldn't stay here with two men who wouldn't give a second though to killing him, one of whom wanted to take Buffy away, one of whom…was still eyeing Buffy.
"Hey you sons of bitches, shut up out there!" a man called from the door he'd just opened, poking his head into the hallway. Both Spike and Angelus were still in game face, and both simultaneously let out a tiny, primal roar, causing the man to skitter back inside. Those with Vampire hearing could hear his hands shake as he locked every possible lock on his door.
"Give her to me, Spike," Giles said in a warning tone.
"I'll take the girl," Angelus licked his lips. One of them was behind him, one of them was in front of him, and he didn't think he could fight them both off and still protect Buffy. He gritted his teeth, knowing what he had to do.
"Don't let him take you too far," he whispered to her. She frowned, not understanding the instructions, but he had already whirled around and shoved her to Giles. He turned back to Peaches, knowing the Protector would keep her safe while he deterred the Poof. The elevator closed behind him, Buffy's voice shrieking at Giles who had an unyielding grip on her.
He cracked his knuckles, staring down his elder. It had been a long time since he and Angelus faced each other alone like this. Many times they'd fought for the amusement of the ladies, or squabbled over a plan with their fangs. But they stood facing each other, smirking, in a deserted hallway, and Spike felt his guts heavy. It just added to the feeling that this would be a fateful moment. Was Aurelius Master Liam Angelus finally going to kiss the stake? Or would he, William the Bloody, be reduced only to a legend?
"Alone at last, Spikey. It's been awhile." Spike nodded, as the two began to circle each other, despite the smallness of the hallway. "How you complicate my unlife. I was going to take you and the girl prisoner, so I could torture you by inflicting pain on the both of your bodies and minds. Now you've sent her off, and I'll have to extend effort to collect her. Unlike collecting you." Spike snarled. So he wouldn't take any bloody effort, eh? Perhaps Angelus hadn't calculated, but it had been nearly fifty years since their last could-have-been fateful battle. Yes, he'd been easily bested then. But in the time since then, he'd traveled on his own, palled around with some of the more feared North American Vampires, been Master of his own flock of minions, and, of course, fallen in love. His cold blood boiled when he heard Peaches talk about torturing Buffy, just to get to him. He had a cause, and that gave him all the strength he needed to take down Angelus. The older Vampire had no cause other than vengeance for the sake of alleviating boredom, probably.
The elevator dinged, and opened to reveal three giggling, tipsy, overly made-up women in tight, shiny dresses. They tripped between Angelus and Spike, not noticing the funny masks the men were wearing, heading for their trashy abode. Spike had never noticed them on this floor before, and if he had to guess he'd say they would probably have to wander a few more floors before finding the right one. Angelus studied the elevator, clearly in agreement with Spike that the hallway was not the place for such a battle as was now upon them. Stepping into the contraption, Spike wordlessly behind them, he pushed the button for the Roof. Squinting at the button panel, Spike wondered what games the old Grandsire was playing. Guess they'd find out.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
The elevator door slid open to reveal an empty hallway. Buffy jogged past the initial landing, down towards where their home for the past week-and-a-half had been. Giles scurried after her, limping.
"What in God's name has gotten into you?" he hissed angrily. After pulling her down to the ground level, Spike's orders had kicked in, and she'd screamed to a group of passing, biker-looking guys that the old guy was trying to rape her. Not the most upstanding gentlemen, but they'd still sort of come to her rescue, and swung a heavy leg in Giles' direction before continuing on their way. She'd waited the longest fifteen minutes of her life in the small, dingy excuse for a lobby (the only piece of furniture was a bench, and the only thing on the walls were mailboxes), Giles grumbling beside her, slapping him away every time he tried to take hold of her. She'd grown sicker and sicker at heart with ever passing minute, hoping Spike was alright. Peaches was different from any of the other Vampires she'd run into while hanging with Spike recently. He carried himself differently. She was Spike's biggest fan when it came to his fighting skills, but something settled in her chest, telling her that said skills might not match up against Peaches. She finally couldn't wait any longer, and summoned the elevator.
"Buffy, please just explain what's going on! Why are you with Spike, and why won't you come willingly with me? Is it some kind of thrall? I've read of such things, but Spike seems too tactless to know how they are accomplished." She sighed and tapped her foot. The elevator was taking forever. Spike could be a pile of dust by now, and the only thing worse than his being a pile of dust, was the not knowing if he was a pile of dust or not. "Buffy! You are not going back up there!"
"I have to see if Spike's alright. Would you just leave me alone, Giles? This isn't really your business."
"Not my-" Giles gasped indignantly. "I am a Protector! I slay creatures like Spike and Angelus! Of course it's my business! What I can't figure out is how you would come to the conclusion that it's YOUR business!" She clicked her teeth anxiously, rubbing the bite marks on her neck.
"If you must know, Spike and I are in love. And he's no longer the Sunnydale Vampire Master, so he's not your job anymore." Giles stared at her, bug-eyed.
"Can you repeat what you just said?" he asked in an incredulous voice.
"Spike is not your problem anymore. He's gone from Sunnydale for good."
"No, not that, the part about you and Spike being in love." The elevator opened, and she quickly stepped inside.
"Clearly, you heard me the first time." She held him at bay as the doors closed, thanking for once the crappy construction of the building that hadn't budgeted for those doors that wouldn't close should something be in their way. She drew her hands back into the elevator, and pushed the button for the seventh floor. Giles stood stunned on the other side for a minute, then sprinted for the stairs.
"In love...in love my ass," he panted as he ran up the flights. It had to be a thrall. He had no idea how they worked, had assumed they were mere legend as no one had ever presented a victim of such unnatural crime, but it appeared they were existent and kicking.
He reached the seventh floor, stumbling into the hallway as he saw Buffy exit the door he'd kicked open earlier. She looked panicked.
"Giles, they're not here!" He breathed a sigh of relief, but it was too soon. "Track them," she ordered bossily.
"Buffy, we need to-"
"Track them!" she screamed, more upset than he'd ever seen her.
"No." She held up her hand, and he saw the poor light from the grimy ceiling bulbs glint off a knife she had grabbed from her kitchen seconds ago. He gasped at the steely look in her eyes.
"Do it Giles. I love you, but I have to know where he is. I'll do anything to find out, please don't doubt that." Tears gathered in her eyes as she threatened the man who had been so good to her, rescuing her, teaching her, being kind to her, her mother, and her friends. But Spike's face swam across her vision. She hadn't found any dust. But she was deathly afraid that somewhere unknown to her, there was dust. Her veins were thudding in her head, and the scar on her neck was for some reason reverberating with each throb. Or maybe it was just her imagination. "Please, Giles!" her voice cracked.
Giles stared, almost believing that the girl in front of him was not Buffy after all. But the tears welling in her green eyes, those he recognized so well, told him differently. After a minute of standing still, she broke down, dropping the knife to the floor, her body following as she sank to her knees and sobbed.
"I can't do it! I can't hurt you!" He moved forward and got down on the floor with her, after carefully tossing the knife aside. He held open his arms, and she crawled into them. "What if he's dead, Giles? Why won't you find him for me?" Her behavior confused him immensely. The stories he'd heard about enthrallment had never said anything about the desperate amount of caring he had just witnessed. Yes, they told of dark obsession, but frequently the one under the thrall helped contribute to the death of their subconsciously hated captor, so long as they hadn't been ordered not to. The women in the stories frequently staked their masters, but then kept the dust as close to their person as possible for the rest of their life. Buffy didn't seem to have any secret loathing of Spike. He was confused, and it was probably against his better judgement, but he withdrew from his breast pocket a trinket like the one Wesley had been carrying earlier.
"He's alive," he muttered to Buffy. There are two dots above us," he ascertained after studying it for a minute. His original plan had just been to reassure Buffy, but the second she heard 'above us' she was out of his arms and running for the elevator. The "R" button had always just been there, probably rarely used if ever, but the roof would allow plenty of space for a Vampire fight, or at least more than the hallway or their living room. Giles screamed after her, but the doors closed. Cursing again, still limping, he headed for the stairs.
