Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Audrey.
Author's Note:
Bob-from-Accounting-Don't worry about Illyria, she'll be showing up soon, possibly in this very chapter…
Jess-Thanks, the fireworks have only just begun…
Angel of Darkness-Well Wesley/Faith and Spike/Buffy are always couples in my stories, this story will be no exception, though don't expect anything quick for Spike/Buffy
J-Angel tends to overdo it when he's angry, and has shown no qualms about killing people when they're evil. Buffy and her group will get some characterization and become more well rounded and no I won't demonize Buffy, well Roger maybe…but imho Buffy and her group got a little to comfortable in their new roles and got a little paranoid about Angel and the others, but as you'll see in this chapter, Angel still has his friends…
Tamara-Glad you liked the chapter and there'll be more Wes/Faith in the future, as for TGIQ and Buffy/Spike that episode won't be forgotten as we'll see glimpses of The Immortal's true intentions with Buffy, and as for Roger…yeah he is a bastard isn't he.
CHAPTER 8-DECOMPRESSING
The attack on the party was all over the papers the next morning. Though many of the news crews had been informed exactly what had happened oddly enough each and every one of them reported that a gang hyped up on PCP had attacked the gathering. Nina had gone around the city gathering up many different newspapers so that they could get a wide array of opinions on the event. They had ended up bedding down in the condemned hulk of an old hotel that was scheduled to be demolished in one week.
"Anything yet," Faith asked with a concerned look on his face as she entered the room that Wesley had taken over. After exiting the sewers Faith had slipped back into her hotel with Angel's help and taken a quick shower before grabbing all of the clothes that she could fit into a duffel bag and then disappeared into the night minutes before the scared and confused new slayers returned.
"Unfortunately no, I've looked through almost five hundred pages of glyphs, Sanskrit, hieroglyphs, tattoos, and other such markings and have found absolutely nothing that will be of any help to us," Wesley replied with a solemn expression on his face as he looked up from the book and rubbed his eyes.
"Ya lost me at no," Faith said with a sullen frown on her face as she walked by Wesley and sat down in one of the old creaky chairs.
"Sorry I…what's wrong," Wesley started to reply with a sheepish smirk on his face before his face grew serious and concerned as he more closely studied Faith's face.
"They're never going to trust me again you know, not after last night, the worst part about it all is that some of them were actually starting to trust me," Faith replied with a guilty expression on her face as she looked embarrassed to even be admitting anything to Wesley.
"You're right they probably won't, I guess the only comfort that you can have is that you did what you did because it was the right thing to do and was what needed to be done," Wesley said with a not completely convinced about what he was saying look on his face as he glanced back and forth between Faith's face and the text of the book.
"Still doesn't help me Wes, and besides they don't know that it was the right thing to do…helping you guys, they're just going to see me as the traitor…again," Faith grumbled with an unhappy pout on her face as she hid her face with her hands and groaned softly.
"I wish that there was something that I could say or do to change things and make everything right…I really do Faith, but I can't, we just have to press on and hope that everything gets worked out in the end," Wesley replied with a somber look on his face as he kept looking straight ahead towards Faith before she finally lifted up her head and looked back at him, a subtle smile playing on her lips.
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"This is unacceptable, how dare they take such an action," Roger growled with an angry scowl on his face as he read down the list of the damages to the ballroom.
"They probably didn't think that they had any other choice, they looked desperate," Willow softly replied with a nervous and sad expression on her face before he cowered a bit under Roger's intense glare and went back to sipping her tea.
"Desperate for our blood maybe, did you see him…he's evil again I swear," Xander interjected with a very grim and upset tone to his voice as she impatiently paced back and forth in front of the bookcase of Giles' study.
"We don't know that for sure Xander, he could have killed Giles but he didn't, and Faith only knocked you out, she didn't exactly beat you up," Willow said back with a slightly unconvinced look on her face as she swirled her tea around a bit and frowned.
"But she hit him and sided with Angel, she betrayed us…again," Dawn interrupted with a frustrated scowl on her face as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at the pile of newspapers on the table in front of her.
"It would seem so, I don't see how we missed it," Giles added softly with an embarrassed and guilty expression on his face before he reached up and gently massaged his throat, the bruises clearly evident.
"I told you this would happen if you let that harlot back into the council's good graces, she's nothing but trouble, in the old days cleaners would have been sent after her and this mess would have been resolved promptly," Roger stated with a very confidant look on his face as he spoke about the good old days but a look of absolute disgust crossed his face when he spoke about Faith.
"You tried that already, and it failed," A bandaged up Buffy said from the doorway, with her arms crossed defensively in front of her chest and it looked as if she hadn't slept a wink since the ball.
"Only because that pitiful excuse for a son of mine and that damn vampire helped her out," Roger growled back with a disapproving scowl on his face as he kept his gaze straight and didn't turn to even look at Buffy.
"Why do you always do that, I've known you for only a few months and so far I don't think that I've ever heard you say one good thing about Wesley, he's your son," Willow questioned with an uncomfortable and upset frown on her face as she set her tea cup down on the table in front of her and turned her gaze to Roger.
"He's a failure and that's all there is to it, and now he's gone and sullied the family name by associating with that thing," Roger answered with a very displeased look on his face as he looked away from Willow and towards the bookshelf.
"Angel is not a thing, he's a friend," Buffy shot back
"Some friend, he very nearly killed Mr. Giles here last night and you call him a friend…are you sure that your personal feelings for him aren't getting in the way of your duty, like they did with that other abomination," Roger spat out with a condescending expression on his face as calmly leaned forward and set his cup back down onto the table.
"Don't you ever talk about Spike like that," Buffy nearly screamed out in a rage as all of her pent up emotion burst out of her and she leapt forward, grabbed Roger by the front of his shirt, and hauled him up out of his chair, balling up her free hand into a tight fist and looking as if she were about to take a swing at him.
"I seem to have struck a nerve," Roger stated with an eerily calm expression on his face and tone to his voice as he remained calm and didn't struggle against Buffy.
"Easy Buffy," Xander shouted in alarm and fear as he looked first to Willow and then to Giles, silently asking them for help.
"Buffy no…let him go," Dawn added with a scared and sad tone to her voice as she jumped up out of her seat and laid a hand on Buffy's shoulder.
"But he…fine," Buffy started to argue with an overworked look on her face before she unclenched her fist and let go of Roger's shirt.
"I believe that it would be a good idea if we would all just calm down and talk about this rationally, obviously Angel was after something last night, attacking us seems to have only been a diversion for the real crime," Giles stated with a nervous look on his face as he walked up and stepped in between Buffy and Roger.
"What was taken," Xander asked with a concerned and confused look on his face as he stayed standing for fear that Buffy might go after Roger again.
"A particularly valuable ancient text, containing a wide variety of rare etchings, tattoo's, and markings, it is an impeccable reference book, retrieving it must be our top priority, everything else can wait," Roger answered with a very serious and nervous look on his face as he adjusted his collar and smoothed out his shirt.
"But how, who took it, Angel, Wesley, Faith and that new girl were in the ballroom the entire time, they must have had someone else with them," Xander wondered aloud with a scared look of disbelief on his face as he ran a hand through his hair while putting the other one on his hip and turning to look at Giles.
"That would be the most likely answer, however the book in question was guarded by the highest caliber security lasers with heat sensing technology, had anyone gone in there to steal the book or anything else the alarm would have gone off, alerting us to the theft," Roger said back with a curious look on his face before he closed his mouth and thought deeply.
"But the alarms didn't go off," Dawn said softly with a confused and concerned look on her face as she turned first to Giles and then to Buffy.
"You're right, unless that person's temperature was low enough that it would be equal to or close enough to room temperature that the sensors wouldn't even notice that anyone was in the room," Willow added with a very deep in thought look on her face as she was mulling over all of the different variables in her head.
"But the only ones with a temperature that low are vampires, and it couldn't have been Angel, do you think that they dug up Drusilla somewhere," Xander observed with a lost look on his face as he rubbed his hands together in frustration and then turned to the others for help.
"It's possible, but stealth isn't Dru's strong suit, the only one that could have done it that Angel would have trusted that much would be Spike…but it couldn't have been him," Buffy said with a slight shrug of her shoulders before her eyes grew a bit misty at the end of her conclusion.
"And since William the Bloody is currently deceased, consisting of no more than a small pile of dust underneath the remains of the city of Sunnydale this presents us with a grave problem," Roger said with a very grim frown on his face as he walked over towards Giles' desk and then leaned ever so slightly against it.
"Um actually," Andrew started to say with a nervous and very scared look on his face before he found that he couldn't force the words out of his mouth.
"Well was is it boy, spit it out," Roger growled with an angry scowl on his face as he turned sharply towards the former nerd.
"Well you see…The Immortal's on the phone for Buffy, he says it's urgent," Andrew started to stammer out with a very nervous look on his face before he blurted out the rest, smiled sweetly, and then ran off. Buffy took a deep breath, tried her best to calm down, and then went to answer the phone.
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"Did I do the right thing," Angel asked with a guilty expression on his face as he held an old broken children's toy in his hands.
"You did what you thought best, don't beat yourself up over it, you brood enough as it is," Spike replied with a nervous sigh as he shook his head and pushed off from the wall that he had been leaning against.
"I do not," Angel shot back with a juvenile frown on his face as he looked up at Spike and nearly dropped the toy.
"You do too Peaches, you brood so much that it's how your friends know when something's wrong, if something's bothering you and you're not brooding then we're all in trouble," Spike countered with a grimly amused expression on his face as he started to walk across the room towards Angel.
"Nothing about this is simple, sure we got the book but now Buffy and the new council want us dead, and Wolfram and Hart has to know where we are now, we can't stay in Rome much longer, we have to leave tomorrow," Angel said with a defeated look on his face as he turned the toy over and over again in his hands while staring at it closely.
"Right, I'll go tell the troops," Spike replied with a look of solemn agreement on his face as he nodded his head and then left the room.
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She had been found at the bottom of a large pile of rubble, covered in blood, and not expected to live through the night. The doctors and nurses had been stunned when they had been unable to get any of her vital signs. Her skin was strangely hard and no needle could break through. She seemed to have no discernable heart rate or pulse. They tried to use her fingerprints but found that they were gone, the pads of her fingers and toes were completely smooth. One of the lab techs had told a cousin of his about the strange woman. A week later a team from the new watchers council had arrived and claimed the woman, disappearing before their credentials could be verified. They had taken her to a secret location in the hills surrounding Rome that night and ever since had been trying to discern her identity. When the sun came up on the day after the incident in the ballroom each and every person that was trying to figure out her identity lay dead, their necks snapped and bodies piled into the garage. Not understanding how to drive a car she instead was forced to walk the several miles in between the house that she had been confined in and the city itself. Her wounds, most of which had yet to fully heal, finally took their toll on her as she passed by a shop frequented by members of several covens, with one of their members being one Willow Rosenberg. A few witches had been there that day and when she collapsed they had picked her up and taken her to the hospital, but not before placing a call to inform the council, as the woman that had collapsed bore a striking resemblance to a young woman that Willow had described as being a part of Angel's inner circle.
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"Are you cold," Wesley asked softly, the concern clearly evident in his voice, as he slowly approached Faith from behind. She was sitting with her legs crossed, facing the setting sun, on the roof of the old hotel. She shivered a bit before answering.
"Not really, I've been through worse than…uh thanks," Faith started to reply with her usual confidant tone of voice and smirk on her face before Wesley took off his coat and then laid it over her shoulders. She nervously smiled up at him and thanked him as she pulled the coat tightly around her body, getting a whiff of liquor, gun oil, and oddly enough sawdust along the way.
"Don't mention it, if I hadn't given you my coat then I could never again even have a prayer of calling myself a gentlemen," Wesley replied with a soft smile on his face as he stiffly walked over and sat down beside Faith. Faith let out a small chuckle before she replied.
"You…a gentlemen, sorry but I don't buy it," Faith shot back with a sly grin on her face before she raised her chin up a bit and shook her head slowly.
"I'll have you know that before I came to Sunnydale and met you I was a very fine upstanding English gentlemen, but then you came along and I wound up here," Wesley replied with a slightly defensive expression on his face as he squinted against the last few rays of sunlight and turned to Faith.
"You winding up here isn't all my fault, you did enough of screwing up of your own damn life yourself," Faith shot back with a slightly angry pout on her face as she turned away from watching the sun to look at Wesley, suddenly having to do her best to not look him in the eye.
"You're right, I've made enough mistakes in my life that I'm the one that has to take most of the responsibility for me winding up here sitting on this rooftop talking to you, but at least it's not raining," Wesley replied with at first a slightly solemn look on his face as he slowly nodded his head before he turned to Faith and gently reached over and brushed some hair off of Faith's face and back behind her ear. Faith was surprised to feel a shiver travel through her entire body when Wesley's hand came into contact with her cheek.
"Huh, what does that have to do with," Faith started to ask with a confused look on her face before Wesley took a gamble and pulled her close to him. Reluctantly at first Faith tensed up, half expecting Wesley to let go. But when he didn't she slowly began to relax before finally laying her head down on his shoulder and relishing in the close physical contact. Neither noticed the azure-eyed vampire checking up on them from the safety of the darkened stairwell.
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"How are Wes and Faith," Nina asked with a nervous and cold look on her face as she pulled Angel's coat more tightly around her body and tried not to shiver.
"Fine," Spike answered with a calm look on his face before he slid his hands into his pockets and walked into the room.
"That's good," Nina replied with a grimly happy expression on her face as she looked up at Spike and tried to sound happy.
"You okay pet, you seem a little nervous," Spike asked softly with a genuine amount of concern in his voice as he walked through the room until he was standing a foot away from her.
"Nervous…me nervous, whatever gave you, yeah okay I give…I'm nervous, ever since last night Angel's been all serious and wanting to be alone, do you think I did something, is this my fault," Nina replied with at first a false sense of confidence look on her face as she brightened up before her countenance fell and she looked scared and hoping for Spike to answer quickly.
"What…no luv, no, this isn't your fault, he's always been like this, ever since he and I first met he's been a little off his rocker, when he falls in love he falls hard, often despite his best efforts, and contrary to popular opinion he can't let anyone go, a part of him is still hung up on Darla and always will be, the same with Buffy," Spike replied with what he hoped was a soothing and supportive tone of voice as he pulled one of the old chairs closer to Nina and sat down in it.
"But you and her were together right, what about," Nina asked with a somewhat more confidant look on her face as she posed the question to Spike.
"Buffy and I are a different story entirely, our love is different, Angel was her first love, it's hard for anyone to get over their first love, if anybody truly can, he just takes everything personally and holds it in, letting it eat away at him," Spike started to reply with a solemn and serious frown on his face as he did his best to answer Nina's delicate question before she interrupted him.
"Sounds a lot like someone else that I know, you and he are a lot alike you know," Nina interjected with a steadily growing sly grin on her face as she seemed to gain confidence and relax by the second as she sat up and cocked her head to one side. Spike tried to say something back but he couldn't find the words. "Don't worry I know how you two hate to be compared to one another, but if you both somehow managed to get a slayer like Buffy to fall in love with you then you both did something right, and if I didn't know better I'd think that even after Angel interrupted the party she was looking for someone, I think that she was looking for you Spike," Nina added with an honest expression on her face as she crossed her arms in front of her chest underneath Angel's coat as Spike sat there and scowled as he couldn't think of a proper comeback to her statement.
END OF CHAPTER 8
P.S.-Thanks to all for reviewing and here's another chapter, I changed the chapter a bit as the original draft had Andrew telling Buffy and the others about Spike and a Wes/Faith kiss, but I decided that it was to soon for both so I changed it.
To those in the path of hurricane Rita, in all honesty good luck and God bless, hope to hear from you on the flipside.