She stood there, arm hanging casually by her sides, head tilted to one side with an expression of genuine curiosity, as if she had not been at the centre of one of the most exhilerating fights Spike had ever seen. Gone were the baggy clothes of before. Instead she stood confidently in a pair of black combats which hung low on her hips and a dark purple tank top. Her hair was down and shaped into a slightly erratic style. In her left hand was a stake, which she pushed into one of her pockets while continuing to look at Spike. She looked perfectly sincere, except for the gleam in her eyes, partly excitement and aggression from the fight, part mirth at the fact that Spike was now looking at her slack-jawed and bug-eyed.
Both stood in silence for a short time, Wren looking on with the same feigned expression of mild curiosity, and Spike with a look of complete shock, before he finaly shook his head and spoke.
"What the bloody hell was that pet?"
"Nice to see you too," said Wren, a smile coming to her lips to match the light in her eyes.
"You...I mean...what?...But...with..." Spike garbled, "I mean...you...How?"
"An excelent question," said Wren, her voice retaining the slightly upper class British accent, but speaking far more elloquently and with infinitely more confidence than the last time Spike had heard her, "And one I fully intend to answer. But first I think we should probably leave, 'cos there's going to be a hell of a lot of questions when someone see's all this," she said, gesturing the the piles of dead demons, "and, I don't know about you, but I don't want to be the one who's expected to give them the answers."
With that she turned around and started to walk, calmly but purposefully, out of the alley, leaving Spike glued to the spot for the second time since he'd seen her. Once again he quickly gained his composure and ran after her.
"Now look here just a second missy," Spike growled, grabbing Wren's arm and spinning her around, "Just what the hell is going on?"
Looking straight into his eyes, Wren said, in a even but forceful voice, "Please let go of my arm."
"What? Now wait just a minute..." Spike said, reaching around to grab her other arm as well.
Before his had was even half way, Wren had grabbed his wrist and effortlessly spun out of his grip. Taking his right arm by just above the elbow and his left at the wrist, she spun around and threw him into the wall to her right.
All of this happened so fast that Spike didn't even have time to register the fact that he had lost his grip on the girl, before he came abrubtly into contact with the brickwork and then the concrete floor. He lay there for a moment, slightly dazed by the dizzying speed at which he had been thrown, rather than the force of his impact, which had been minimal. In this time Wren had walked over and stood by his head. Studying him for a moment she reached down and offered her hand to help him up. Spike focussed at that and looked at her hand as if it would bite. He then reaslised that she did not intend to attack him again and reluctantly accepted her help.
When he was on his feet again, he looked at Wren and, to his suprise, saw that she looked slightly sheepish. He was even more shocked by what she said next.
"Sorry," said Wren, a little more quitey than she had been before, "it's kind of an automatic reaction. I didn't throw you too hard did I?"
Although still in a complete state of bemusement regarding the past few minutes, Spike heard himself mumble "Nah pet, s'alright," before staring at her in complete confusion.
Feeling a little strange being under deep scrutiny, Wren spoke up after a few seconds. "OK then, that's good. Just please don't do that again. Now, I really think it's best if we get out of here don't you? If you want to talk...or at least listen, then I know somewhere safe we can go."
Nodding slightly dumbly, Spike fell into step next to Wren as she turned to walk off again, and followed her out of the alley and into the dark streets of LA.
-+-
A few minutes after Spike and Wren left, someone did turn up in the alley, and they certainly did have several questions.
Angel had abandoned his car about an hour previously, realising that any demon that wanted to retain a low profile was unlikely to stay on the main streets. He had headed into the seedy demon underbelly of the city, and was horrified by what he had found.
Her scent was everywhere. It trailed around all the most infamous bars and dives, around all the demon haunts and nests in the area. Angel repressed a shudder at the thought of what Wren must have gone, or still be going through as she was dragged around by her captor. Angel couldn't even begin to think what what happeneing or why, so focussed was he on catching up with the young slayer, and coming face to face with the monster who had taken her.
After a short time, he found the site of the enormous battle, and stopped in mixed wonder and horror at the destruction he saw. He had could not even begin to conceive what had meeted out this kind of punishment, but instantly became fearful at the thought that the creature which had taken Wren from Wolfram and Hart had been capable of this level of violence. A this point his thoughts immediately came back to Wren, so completely defenseless against this kind of power, and feared the worst.
After searching for her body amidst those of the demons, Angel finally found her scent again, this time leaving the field of battle. With it came another smell, a demon with which he was all too familiar. Spike.
Thinking back, Angel realised that Spike had not been seen by anyone since Wren's disappearance, and his expression immediately darkened at the thought. Although Angel knew that Spike had a soul and had been fighting on the side of good for over two years, he also knew that that did not make him impervious to magical control or other kinds of mind alteration. Angel also knew that Spike on his own could not have been responsible for the carnage he saw around him, and a thought began to form in his mind.
Quickly jumping to the wrong conclusion, Angel assumed the worst, so blinded he was by the need to protect the young girl who he had become so deeply attatched to. Fully intent on finding Spike and killing him if he could not remove whatever control he was under, Angel ran off in persuit of the Slayer and the demon which possessed her.