Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Audrey.
Author's Note:
Jess- The mystery lady is revealed fully in this chapter, for better or worse
Tamara-Yeah Roger needs to rethink a few things doesn't he
J-Actually Spike timed the explosions just right to get the guards and such, he tried not to kill any of the new slayers, and then Sunnydale gang and Roger were the only council members there. Yeah Willow knew that something was off about the attack and she'll keep her head about her, yeah the Spike and Nina bonding scene was fun to write and to me was needed. Nina will get some more characterization as time goes by and her role in this story won't be pushed aside.
Angel Of Darkness231-Illyria is back and will make some noise of her own soon enough. Spike/Buffy is my favorite ship and will happen, though not immediately and not like everyone thinks, no kissing on first sight kind of thing. Wes/Faith are the fun couple in this story, the fun couple to write and they actually fit very well together imho.
CHAPTER 9-COFFEE AND BLUDGEONING
Angel chuckled softly to himself as he walked into the room and saw Wesley, having fallen asleep in mid translation, using the ancient tome as a pillow. His smile widened a bit as he saw Faith in a similar position on the other side of the table. Almost immediately Faith roused from her slumber and lifted her head just enough to stare at him with a confused look on her face. Angel replied by smiling softly and presenting one of the cups of coffee that Nina had just given him. The aroma of the coffee seemed to do the trick as Faith rose from her seat, took the cup of coffee, and then left the room. She mumbled something about being woken up to early as she went. Angel shook off her comments with a smile before he leant over Wesley just right so that he could waft the cup of coffee close to his nose, rousing him finally from his slumber.
"Nnh…Faith," Wesley mumbled out softly with a very tired expression on his face as he slowly blinked his eyes until they fully adjusted to the light.
"She just left, here…I thought you might need a little pick me up this early in the morning," Angel answered with a soft smile on his face as he first nodded his head towards the doorway that Faith had just left through before he handed Wesley the cup of coffee.
"Thank you, I'm sorry but I haven't found out what that tattoo means yet, this book is a riddle on top of a conundrum, it's like a knock-knock joke with no answer," Wesley replied softly with a tired look on his face in between a couple of sips from the cup of coffee.
"Do you think that this book was meant to slow us down, lead us on a wild goose chase of sorts," Angel asked with a touch of concern in his voice as he sat down slowly in the seat that Faith had vacated.
"No, that much I am sure of, this book does have the answers that we seek however to fully translate it I would need another of the books in the collection," Wesley replied with an awkward look on his face as he looked down at the book briefly before raising his gaze up to Angel's face.
"You mean the collection that we stole it from, as in we have to go back to the scene of the crime and steal another book," Angel asked with a frustrated expression of disbelief on his face as he couldn't help but lean forward on the table with his elbows and run his hands through his hair.
"I'm afraid so, they're a pair, like the three books that helped up leave Pylea, you can't fully read one without the other, ingenious really," Wesley said back with a small smirk on his face as he couldn't help but be impressed by the work of the author of the books.
"I hate my life," Angel mumbled softly with a very sarcastic and unhappy pout on his face before he crossed his arms on the table and then dropped his head down onto them.
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"You and Wesley seem to be getting along," Nina said with a sly smirk on her face as she pulled her hair back and up into a loose ponytail as Faith walked into the room, still sipping from her cup of coffee.
"What's that supposed to mean," Faith asked with an anxious scowl on her face as she was unsure of exactly where Nina was going with the statement.
"Ever since we first met you've been hovering over him like a mother hen," Nina started to say with a curious smile on her face as she brushed some lint off of her jeans before being interrupted by Faith.
"As opposed to torturing him again," Faith mumbled very softly with a dejected and self-loathing expression on her face, softly enough that Nina didn't quite catch it.
"What was that," Nina asked with a confused look on her face as she took out a small bottle of hand lotion out of the pocket of her coat and popped the top.
"Huh, oh nothing, was there something specific that you wanted to know or is this inquisition just for fun," Faith replied with a bit of a defensive look on her face at first before she calmed herself down and tried to smirk at the end.
"This isn't an inquisition, we're not in the Middle Ages, I just wanted to know if you and Wesley were…an item," Nina replied at first with a bit of an upset frown on her face before she couldn't help but smile as she asked her question. Almost immediately Faith very nearly spit out the mouthful of coffee that she had. As it was she swallowed a little to quickly and ended up nearly choking on the mouthful.
"What…me and Wes, we're not like that," Faith sputtered out with a look of shock and disbelief on her face as she finally managed to stop coughing and collect herself.
"Oh sorry, it's just that you two looked to be getting along pretty well and you were pretty insistent on figuring out what's wrong with him I just thought," Nina replied with an apologetic expression on her face as she hoped that Faith wasn't to mad with her.
"He's been hurt to many times okay, I was just trying to not let history repeat itself," Faith said back with a somber frown on her face as she finished off her cup of coffee and then flung it into the nearest heap of trash.
"Speaking of history, what can you tell me about Buffy, I didn't get a good look at her when we attacked and I can't ask Spike about her," Nina said softly with a curious but nervous look on her face as she switched gears and went on to other things.
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Willow almost couldn't believe it when she had received the call. She had only met Fred a few months earlier in LA and couldn't think of a reason that she would have been in the hospital. A part of her was glad to hear that she had survived whatever had happened in LA but meanwhile another part of her wondered if Fred's arrival was merely a diversion. When she entered the room she found Fred asleep and looking very peaceful. Her aura seemed to be a bit odd but Willow didn't dwell on it because Roger had ushered her quickly from the room and shut the door behind him. The door stayed shut for nearly an hour before it opened again and Roger walked out, muttering something about needing to make some calls.
"What's he in such a big rush for," Dawn asked softly with a confused look on her face as she watched Roger leave the hotel lobby and get into a waiting cab.
"Got me, it's not like she's going anywhere," Rhona replied with a bored stiff shrug of her shoulders as she passed by the room that Fred had been put in. Fred hadn't woken up since the witches had found her.
"That doesn't matter right now, we just got a tip about that nest of vampires that we've been tracking, it's been located, time to go to work," Kennedy announced with a very energized and serious look on her face as she walked into the hallway and looked around at the assembled slayers.
"What about Fred," Dawn asked with a tired look on her face as she looked back towards the door to Fred's room.
"We'll leave some of the newest slayers to watch her, she hasn't woken up yet so they should be able to handle it, come on let's go," Kennedy replied with an impatient frown on her face as she seemed unhappy to be hindered by having to have someone keep an eye on Fred.
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"Okay, so basically what you're saying is that Wes and I have to go back and get another book, all without anyone noticing us," Faith asked with an impatient frown on her face as she picked at her meager meal.
"Pretty much, Wesley can't fully decipher the first book that we stole without it," Angel asked with a grim expression on his face as he casually shrugged his shoulders and then took a sip of the cup of blood that Nina had stolen from a butcher a few blocks away.
"Should we have known this when we stole the first bloody book," Spike asked with an unhappy scowl on his face as he looked up from solemnly breaking apart his Styrofoam cup.
"No, there was no way for any of us to know that we would need this second book to fully decode the first one," Wesley replied with a tired look on his face as he first looked over at Spike before turning his gaze instead to watching Faith push a bean around her plate with her fork.
"But isn't that place going to be crawling with security, how do you expect them to be able to even get close to it without being surrounded by like a thousand cops," Nina asked with a nervous and confused look on her face as she stopped sipping her tea and turned to Angel.
"Simple pet, I'm going to pay a little visit to our favorite new watcher and tell him to get it for us, Wesley and Faith here just have to wait out back for him to deliver it to them," Spike answered with a sly but nervous smirk on his face before he turned his cup around in his hands just a bit and took another sip.
"Just like that, and you actually expect him to keep you being alive a secret and not tell B or anyone else," Faith added with a skeptical look on her face as she laid her fork down and looked up from her plate.
"He's kept my being alive again secret since he showed up in LA a few months back, besides I'm going to sweeten the deal a bit, tickets to an early screening of some sci-fi movie, one of the flunkies at Wolfram and Hart was handing them out awhile back, I just stuffed them in my pocket and forgot about them, I found them again when I was looking for a cigarette," Spike replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he hoped that what he was saying would turn out to be true and that the plan would work.
"You mean you actually expect that plan to work," Nina asked with a confused and anxious expression on her face as she shook her head and glanced up at Angel.
"Maybe, maybe not, right now it's all that we got, Spike will go talk to Andrew while the rest of us get moving, after Wesley and Faith get the book we're leaving, we should be out of Rome by morning, if we stay here then they'll eventually find us," Angel replied with a nervous and forced look of confidence on his face as he tried his best to sound and appear positive and upbeat about the chances of the plan working.
"We're screwed," Faith grumbled sadly with an unhappy pout on her face before she turned her gaze to Wesley and met his tired gaze.
"Not necessarily, if Andrew does his job then this will all soon be over, and without anymore bloodshed," Wesley countered with a weary look in his eyes as he shook his head slightly and then took a large drink of his beer.
"Then what though, Wesley fully translates the book, we find the big bad guy and take him out, even if we do all of that we'll just go right back to where we were after LA, no better off," Nina wondered aloud with a very concerned and somewhat scared look on her face as she stood up and looked earnestly to Angel.
"Hopefully not Nina, hopefully when all is said and done we'll be free of anyone trying to kill us," Angel replied with a very serious look on his face as he shook his head and then finished off the rest of the blood.
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They arrived back at the hotel just before sundown, never noticing Spike slipping away out the back door, using the shadows to get around. The vampire nest had been teeming with vampires, none of whom were particularly happy with being roused in the middle of the afternoon. Buffy had led the charge with several of the elder new slayers taking flanking positions on either side of her. Willow and Xander had brought up the rear with Giles and Dawn keeping watch a block away with a few of the newer slayers with them to serve as emergency support. Dawn had grumbled several times that she felt like Buffy and everyone else were still treating her as a child. Giles had done his best to pacify her anger on the subject and in the end he succeeded, but only by promising to let her stay out an extra couple of hours some night soon.
The plan had worked flawlessly and as they headed back to the hotel nothing was amiss. Things changed when they got up to the floor that they had rented out for the new slayers. The first sign of trouble was when the doors first opened and they found the body of one of the newest slayers lying facedown on the floor in the middle of the hallway. Buffy had immediately gone into combat mode and told Xander and Giles to stay with the new slayers while she and the older new slayers searched the rooms for what they thought was an intruder.
"What's going on," Vi asked softly with a very scared look on her face as she crept out of the elevator and turned to Rhona.
"Beats me, some big bad decided to mess with us," Rhona replied with a shrug of her shoulders as she looked fully ready for combat.
"We have to find Fred first," Willow interrupted with a very serious and grim expression on her face as she pushed her way in between the two and glared at them both.
"Willow's right, you two go down that hallway, Kennedy you and Willow go left, I'll take point," Buffy stated in a harsh whisper as she drew the stake the she had used in the attack on the vampires nest and crept forward as the others went their way. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to Buffy as she crept down the hallway, aside of course from the trio of bodies that lay haphazardly all around with expressions of pure horror on their faces. She would find out later that the other two teams that were creeping through the hallways found much the same in their search. The three groups finally came back together outside of Fred's room. Vi was in tears and looking like she could go no further while Rhona kept her composure but looked ready to throw up if given half the chance. Kennedy and Willow had the same look on their faces, sadness at the loss of life but grim determination to get the job done.
"Rhona, stay here with Vi," Willow said softly with a concerned look on her face as she laid a hand on Vi's shoulder to try and do a little to calm the younger girls trembling. Unlike her norm Rhona stayed silent and only nodded her head back in reply.
"Okay, stay ready and follow me," Buffy started to say with a very serious look on her face before she reached up, turned the doorknob, and opened the door, allowing Kennedy and Willow to almost half stumble in after her.
"F…Fred," Willow stammered out with a look of total disbelief on her face as she took a stagger step back at the sight, right into Giles who had sent Xander and the rest of the girls back in the elevator to the lobby. Lying on the floor around Fred, were four of the newest slayers, their necks all broken. Initially Fred had her back to them but just as Buffy started to speak up she turned around, her face the perfect image of calm and serenity.
"There is no Fred…only Illyria," Illyria said softly at first with an almost innocent look on her face before her countenance changed as her look gave way to the ancient demon and soon blue eyes stared back at Willow and those assembled.
"My God," Giles muttered softly under his breath with a look of great astonishment on his face as he couldn't believe what he was seeing as Illyria cocked her head to one side and studied them briefly.
"They tried to restrain me, their mistake," Illyria stated with a very matter of fact tone of voice before she turned, ran straight forward and crashed through the plate glass window. She didn't stop running until she got to the edge of the balcony. Without a care in the world she did a front flip off of the balcony and descended to the street below, taking off the second that her feet hit the pavement.
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"I hope Spike convinced that little weasel to help us, otherwise we could be in trouble," Faith grumbled with an unhappy and nervous frown on her face as she and Wesley started to make their way back towards the back of the building that they had been to earlier.
"Well it's a little to late for second guessing now, we're already committed to this plan and can't back out now, we either sink or swim," Wesley replied with a deep breath and nervous smirk on his face as he followed closely behind Faith, doing his best not to look conspicuous.
"Maybe, all I know is that something about this just ain't right, it all seems way to easy," Faith said back with a nervous look on her face as they rounded a corner and the back of the large building came into view.
"You're right, this does all seem a bit," Wesley started to agree with a concerned look on his face before he felt the prick of a dart in the side of his neck. He lost consciousness almost instantly and fell to the ground.
"Wesley," Faith screamed out in shock and alarm as she turned just in time to see him fall before she too was felled by a dart to the neck, falling directly on top of Wesley as her world went black. When she awoke she found herself firmly tied to a chair in a small room without much light in it. The chair was the only piece of furniture in the room except for a small table that lay in front of a large window that showed another similar room with another solitary chair and table. All in all the rooms resembled a police interrogation area, complete with a two-way mirror and intercom system. As she sluggishly lifted her head she found that one of her eyes was swollen shut and she could tell that she bore many bruises and cuts, mostly because of how much every part of her body hurt. With her one good eye she looked through the window and saw a sight that nearly stopped her heart dead. Bound to the chair in the other room was Wesley, half awake and being worked over by two rather large vampires that Faith remembered having worked for The Immortal.
"A beautiful sight isn't it, so much pain and suffering inflicted and yet he does not scream," The Immortal joked with a sly look of pride on his face as he appeared out of the shadows beside Faith, clothed in coveralls that were stained red with blood.
"W…where am I," Faith asked softly, still a bit groggy as she tried to get her vision to clear while keeping track of where The Immortal was in the room.
"It's not important because you'll never leave, both you and your boyfriend over there will die here, after I get what I want out of you that is," The Immortal said back with a supremely confidant look on his face as he leaned over and whispered the last part into Faith's right ear while squeezing both of her shoulders. Upon having her shoulders squeezed Faith discovered that her left shoulder was dislocated.
"He's not," Faith mumbled back softly with an upset frown on her face as she tried to fight against her injuries and concentrate on keeping alert.
"Really…ah to bad, the two of you make such a nice looking couple," The Immortal quipped back with a sad pout on his face before he switched into a wide grin and he then backhanded Faith across the back of her head, almost knocking her back out.
"Fuck off," Faith spat out, only slightly surprised when as she spoke she spat out some of her own blood, as she tried to lift her head up and look around.
"You'd like that wouldn't you, yes…I think that you would, however I think that you should know that no one's coming to save you, Rupert and Roger don't even know that I have you, they don't even know that this room and its counterpart over there even exist, I've got them wound so tightly around my little finger that they'll believe anything I tell them, not to mention the lovely Miss Summers, who was so heartbroken upon losing that bastard vampire that she was ripe for the picking," The Immortal added back with an amused and proud smile on his face as he walked around in front of Faith and squatted down so that he could look her straight in her one eye that wasn't swollen shut.
"Andrew," Faith mumbled out as she struggled to stay awake while simultaneously trying to check to see just how tight her bindings were.
"Didn't know that he was being watched, I made sure to have my security detail stay near the book, the poor fool got scared and never came close to even touching the book, but that's all for now, I have a dinner date to catch, I'll be back later…if you won't tell me what I want to know then we'll see how long your friend over there lasts against a hungry werewolf friend of mine," The Immortal stated with a very smug grin on his face as he took a step back away from Faith and unzipped the coveralls to reveal a tuxedo. With a small smile back towards Faith he straightened his tie and then left the room. Faith only barely managed to watch him leave the room before she shifted her gaze back to Wesley, a small salty tear sliding out of her good eye and down her cheek.
END OF CHAPTER 9