The figure moved, stalking his prey, keeping to the shadows. The alley was dark, darker than most, even in this part of town. Not even the demons ventured into this forsaken place.
Well, except for one.
The darkness of his surroundings were no inconvenience for this creature. The night was where he belonged. Where he could move quickly, quietly, without being heard or seen. He could follow the object of his attention all night without ever being noticed, not until he wanted to make his move. He would wait, until the time was right, when-
"Spike, are you planning on sneaking along behind me all night or just until I get bored and stake you?"
Stepping out of the shadows, a frown firmly planted on his mouth, the fallen master of sneakiness 'let' himself be seen.
"Bugger. How long did y' know?"
"About ten minutes. So are you going to let me get on with this now or are we going to spend all night playing Marco Polo?"
"Ooh! Looks who's all Mr 'Snappy-and-Broodish' tonight. Sorry Peaches, didn't realise there were laws against taking an evening constitutional," said Spike, casually lighting up a cigarette.
"There should be, when it comes to you and annoying me. And I am not brooding," groused Angel. "Now, go away."
"But it's fun!" Spike said with a confident smirk. "'S th' only thing left to do 'round here," he added in a low grumble.
Not low enough however, as it earned a sideways scowl from the subject of his 'fun'.
"Well, it's true! You're all 'sit in the office and count pencils' guy these days. Leave the obliteration of evil to the minions," Spike said, falling into step next to Angel.
The two continued to walk in silence, following the alleys around L.A's factory district. Eventually, however, the quiet became too much for Spike.
"So what we doin' here anyway? Makin' sure no one's stolen the lead off the roofs? Or protecting innocent industrial machinery perhaps?" After an irritated growl from Angel; " Oh come on, we've been walking around here for hours! Ok, minutes, but isn't this what you pay people to do?"
In a low tone, evidently straining to retain the last of his patience, Angel answered. "I didn't ask you to come along. But, as I don't see any chance of you going away-"
"Nope!"
"-I'll tell you. We are here because I gave Gunn, Wesley and Fred the night off and I don't trust any of the people I employ to do this."
"Right. Evil law firm. Got it," said Spike, then continued walking. The silence lasted about five seconds before, "So why am I here?"
Angel sighed and wondered if putting up with Spike was part of his eternal retribution, but said nothing.
-:-
Ten minutes later the two souled vampires walked into a building, which to Spike looked like every other abandoned warehouse he'd seen that night, until he saw what was sprawled across the floor.
"Bloody hell," he whispered.
Angel shushed him with a hand movement and quietly moved around the giant snake demon that was coiled, asleep, in front of the door.
Moving into the derelict, partitioned office, Angel and the latest addition to the Fang Gang stopped.
"So, what're we looking for then?" asked Spike in hushed tones.
"Ssh! Do you want to wake that up?"
"Fully grown Xelic demon?" Spike paused. "Nah, I'll pass."
"Right. So keep quiet and help me look," commanded Angel.
"Well it would help if I knew what I was looking for," said Spike, not moving from where he stood next to the door.
"Whatever the Xelic is protecting," said Angel, searching through a file cabinet.
Shrugging, Spike turned to look briefly through the cupboard next to him. Finding nothing but some old file paper and a pack of smokes (pocketing the latter), he turned to the next chest of draws.
Angel, meanwhile, was having similar luck, looking through every storage unit in the office but finding nothing. Just as they were about to give up, both Angel and Spike simultaneously came to the picture on the wall.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me. Nobody would be that obvious…would they?" Spike asked.
"Well, only one way to find out," said Angel, reaching over to lift the frame from the wall. As it moved aside, the cracked and broken painting revealed hidden behind it… TBC...