Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Mercedes and Audrey.
CHAPTER 34-THE PLAN HITS A SNAG
"Are you sure about this Wes," Faith asked with a concerned look on her face as she kept her gaze intently focused on Wesley as the two made their way towards a grove of trees that lined the necromancer's estate.
"No…not really, but what choice do I have, we need that stone or else Gwen is going to kick us out on our collective asses," Wesley replied with a nervous tone to his voice as he did his best to crouch down behind a row of bushes that lined the property.
"Normally I'd say that you're crazy and that she wouldn't do something like that, but with this witch…she just might," Faith joked back with an amused tone to her voice before she put her arm out for Wesley to use as something to balance himself with if he needed it.
"Don't let her hear you say that, her ego is already fragile enough with even having to ask us for help, she hates to admit it when she comes up against something or someone that she can't deal with herself, she hates being thought of as being weak," Wesley replied with a serious look of apprehension in his eyes as he struggled to breathe regularly while keeping up with Faith.
"I can relate," Faith said back with a sly smirk on her lips as she and Wesley navigated across a small creek.
"Unfortunately all to well," Wesley joked back with a darkly grim grin on his face as he flashed it at Faith before she scowled and spoke.
"No comments from the peanut gallery okay Wes, looks let's just do this and go home, both of us need our beauty sleep," Faith sarcastically pouted back with an impatient frown creasing her lips before she helped Wesley up a steep embankment on the other side.
"From your beautiful mouth to God's ears luv," Wesley quipped back sharply with a daring and sly grin on his face as he turned to look at Faith.
"Nice try Wes, but you're not getting any tonight," Faith said back softly with a content smile on her lips before she set Wesley straight.
"Why," Wesley shot back under his breath, though he fully had a good idea why not he still wanted to confirm his suspicions.
"Because even if this whole thing goes like clockwork you're still going to be exhausted when it's all said and done, I wouldn't want to break you now after all that we've been through," Faith said back softly eerily jokingly at first before her tone grew much more serious and scared as she spoke.
"I don't break that easily Faith, you more than anyone should know that by now," Wesley said back softly with a very calm but honest tone to his voice and look in his eyes as he grabbed a hold of Faith's arm near her shoulder and made her look at him.
"But you're not at a hundred percent there are ya Wes, you shouldn't even be out here tonight, you should be back in bed getting some rest," Faith shot back with a sly grin on her lips as she lightly poked Wesley in the ribs, making sure not to hit him to hard or in the wrong place.
"That bloody well makes two of us, but we're not that lucky," Spike grumbled out sharply with an annoyed edge to his words as he materialized out of the darkness with Angel following closely behind, both wearing very serious looks.
"Shut up Spike," Faith growled with an annoyed scowl marring her features before Angel stepped in between the two and stopped anything from happening before it could get started.
"Make me," Spike snapped back sharply with a combative tone to his voice and fire in his eyes as it was clear that he was ready for a fight, no matter his opponent.
"I wish that I could let her Spike, but we have a job to do, everybody ready…Wes," Angel growled with an unhappy and irritated scowl on his face and edge to his words as he glared back and forth between Faith and Spike before his expression softened a bit when his gaze fell onto Wesley.
"I've made it this far haven't I," Wesley remarked with a lot of bravado in his voice though Angel could tell by the look in his eyes that his true only worry was if he were to disappoint and hurt Faith by dying.
"Yes…just don't get cocky," Angel grumbled back with an unsure and nervous feeling as he couldn't help but feel that something wasn't quite right about all of this.
"Perish the thought," Faith stated back quickly with a relaxed and confidant grin on her lips before Wesley could say anything as she grabbed him firmly around the bicep on his right arm and started to pull him back and away.
"I think that's more your foible luv," Wesley said softly under his breath to Faith as he leaned down close and whispered it into her ear, to which she smiled a little to sweetly and then held him close for her reply.
"Let's not get into the blame game shall we Wes, at least not until after we're back in bed and both of us are still breathing and have a heartbeat," Faith shot back also under her breath straight back to Wesley as she kept her gaze locked firmly on Angel, who thankfully was busy talking something over with both Spike and Gwen at that moment instead of looking her way, though he heard every word.
"Yes mum," Wesley snickered back with a dirty look in his eyes and grin on his lips before he leaned in close and placed a strong kiss on Faith's lips.
"Don't call me that," Faith grumbled with an impatient and uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, though not because of Wesley's show of affection, in fact she was thankful that he had done it with others around rather than in secret. She felt as if he was proud of their relationship and that thought bolstered her spirits immensely.
"Is the big bad slayer getting a little touchy before the big rumble," Spike wondered aloud with a curious smirk on his lips as he leaned out from behind Angel, almost daring Faith to try something.
"Leave her alone Spike, we have enough work to do tonight without you causing trouble, let's just get into position and then get this over with, Willow and Dawn can't stay with us forever before Buffy or Giles figures it all out and comes looking, we can't lose the element of surprise or all of this will be for nothing, we clear," Angel growled out sharply at Spike with an angry glare in his eyes as he clenched his hands up tightly into fists and inwardly wished that Spike would do something that'd earn him a swing.
"Crystal Peaches," Spike calmly replied in that special way of his in which he'd change opposite emotions in the blink of an eye, leaving the other person wondering if either emotion had been a truly honest one.
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"I hate just sitting here like this," Dawn grumbled out with an impatient pout as she flopped down onto the couch and lowered her chin down to her chest.
"Ah, is the little key throwing a temper tantrum because she can't go with her boyfriend," Mercedes joked with a mocking pout on her lips before she flicked her tongue out between her teeth as she grinned over at Dawn.
"Spike's not my boyfriend," Dawn snapped back angrily with a hateful glare in her eyes before she realized what she had said and blushed as deeply as her roots, burying her face in a pillow.
"Ooh…looks like I hit a nerve, this might prove very interesting," Mercedes snickered back with a calculating look in her eyes as she began to slowly trail a line from the bottom of her ribcage to a point just below the top of her panty line.
"Leave her alone Mercedes," Kate commanded with an impatient frown as she looked back and away from the window long enough to glare at the still mostly redheaded vampiress.
"Or what, you'll spank me like I'm a bad little girl…hmm, you know what, that actually kind of sounds like fun," Mercedes replied with an impish grin on her lips and kinky fire in her eyes before she ran a finger underneath her panties.
"That's enough Mercedes, like the rest of us Dawn is just worried about how the raid is going to go, the last thing that we need from you is to be harassed about who we're in love with," Willow snapped back at first with a clear touch of venom in her voice before she regained her senses and composure and altered her tone.
"I can't help it, it's in my nature to," Mercedes started to say back with an eerie smile and shrug of her shoulders before Kate spoke up from the corner near the fireplace.
"Act like a total bitch to everyone," Kate interjected with a grimly amused smirk on her lips while there was a combative fire in her eyes.
"Ya see, now here I was thinking that was your job Lockley," Mercedes quipped dryly with a faint hint of an amusing smirk playing itself across her lips before she turned her head towards Kate and silently bathed in the warm firelight.
"If I wasn't pregnant I'd," Kate began to growl sharply with a combative fire in her eyes, as she looked ready to get up from her seat before Mercedes interrupted her.
"You'd what…fuck me, sorry but I really only like the hot ladies, er…the ones that aren't self absorbed sluts that is," Mercedes snapped back with a very dark and amused twinkle in her smile as her fangs just began to lengthen before she shut her mouth and sat fully back down.
"Oh, what about Spike," Willow asked with a curious and confused tone to her words and look in her eyes as she looked up from her computer screen, not wanting to catch Mercedes' gaze.
"What do you mean," Mercedes asked softly with a tone of voice and look on her face that seemed to suggest that she was trying to appear as if she didn't have a clue as to what was behind Willow's question.
"I've seen how you look at him, what it's not bad enough that you're trying to steal Kennedy away from me that you want Spike to," Willow shot back, emboldened now by speaking about someone that she still held dear, as she tore herself away from the screen of her computer and set her sights squarely on the vampiress.
"Hey, I was with Spike years ago…I can't help it, he's the only guy that gets me really hot," Mercedes shrugged softly with a relaxed and easy going tone to her words before she broke into a dirty smile and brought both hands up to her breasts and making a point of Willow seeing her give them both a hard squeeze just as she said the word hot.
"Then why did you start screwing Kennedy," Kate interrupted from across the room with a less than gentle tone to her words as she grunted softly from the effort of getting back up to her feet before she started slowly walking towards the couch.
"For the perverse fun of it at first, screwing a slayer's brains out sounded like fun…and I'll let you in on a secret…it was, especially a hot one like her, later on I made the one big mistake…I fell for her," Mercedes started off her answer with a devilish twinkle in her eyes, as Willow could tell that she had enjoyed that part of it, before she couldn't help but lick her lips at the memories of herself and Kennedy in bed together.
"Oh give me a break," Willow groaned loudly in annoyance as she wrinkled up her toes in her sandals and forced herself to stay calm.
"Hey now, don't make fun of me, just because I'm a vampire doesn't mean that I don't know how to love, though to be honest I'm not really sure how much I love her," Mercedes shot back angrily at first before she calmed down a bit into an almost arrogant and all to cocky grin, her teeth a bright white.
"Well you sure picked a fine time to figure that out ya know," Kate scoffed heartily with a clear tone to her words that left little doubt that she didn't believe a single solitary word that Mercedes was saying.
"Maybe, but it sure has been fun while it lasted, well…most of it anyway, damn sure would have changed a couple of things though…no way that I would have let her…end up like that," Mercedes countered with a small shrug of her shoulders, being more confidant than usual, before her tone grew much more serious as she began to talk about her lost love.
"Yeah well you should have known that working for someone like the Immortal could only bring…uh er, sorry," Willow began to state with a very confidant and yet at the same time upset and frustrated countenance to her before her better nature resurfaced and she managed to calm herself back down.
"Willow," Kate hissed in surprised frustration, and even a little bit of anger, as she lightly leaned over the back of the couch and laid a hand on Willow's shoulder.
"No…it's okay, I deserved it, she's right, I should have known what working for someone…something…like the Immortal could only end badly for me, but I was so happy just to feel needed," Mercedes admitted with a half tone of sarcasm to her words as she shook her head and stared out of the window, wishing that she could have been brought along for the fight instead of staying back at the base.
"It's only natural to feel wanted, though I didn't know that vampires had the same feelings as humans, given that you're all demons," Willow calmly pointed out at first, as if what she was saying was something that she believed that everyone believed, before she blushed a bit at the end as she tried to tailor the statement to Mercedes.
"Maybe for a human like you, but for vampires…we're demons ya know, we're not supposed to give a damn about friends…feelings, any of that shit," Mercedes remarked with an annoyed scowl and tone to her words, as if she were very upset for even having to talk about the matter.
"But it doesn't always work out like that…does it, it didn't for Angel," Kate pointed out with an unconvinced expression on her face before she walked over and sat down in one of the chairs next to the couch.
"Or Spike," Willow added quickly, interrupting the former officer, with a look of keen interest on her face as she sat up a little straighter in her seat and looked squarely at Mercedes.
"Well that's the shit isn't it, for some reason those two don't act like normal vampires…never have, and I doubt it's because they both have souls, they should be more…more," Mercedes grumped back softly with a noticeably irritated edge to her words before she jumped up out of her seat and lightly padding across the carpet until she pushed aside the curtains and leaned her forehead gently against the window.
"Despicably and irrevocably evil perhaps, more like the demons that they were," Kate observed, her voice softening just a little bit as she spoke, as she shifted her position in her seat just a bit before then suppressing a burp.
"Something like that, I mean back in the day Spike and I would drink a chalet totally dry and then fuck like crazy in the master bedroom, sheets soaked clear through with blood…God that was fun, how he would," Mercedes began to explain with a clear tone to her words before a sickeningly nostalgic smile that spread from one side of her lips to the other. Then she threw her head back, closed her eyes, and really got into the moment, with one hand sliding down her stomach until it disappeared into the front of her shorts, and the other snaking up until she could give both breasts a quick and hard squeeze.
"Is she…I think I'm gonna be sick," Kate gasped out in shock before her cheeks bulged and she tried to get up out of her chair, but couldn't.
"Me to, let's go," Willow sulked along with an equally grossed out expression as she set her laptop aside onto the coffee table before she stood up and helped Kate up out of her chair. The two left the room as quickly as they could, leaving Mercedes to her own devices.
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"You'd think that if you were a necromancer you'd want to live next to a cemetery or someplace like that," Spike whispered back to Angel with a dry tone to his words, no hint of a joke or mockery in his words.
"Wouldn't that be a little to easy Spike, any graves turn up empty and the first place that anyone would turn would be the neighbor next door, whether he'd done anything or not," Wesley grimly stated as he slowly shook his head, being very careful to do it slow enough so that his vision wouldn't blur and his head wouldn't swim, at least any more than usual on this night.
"Guilt by location, been there…done that," Faith quipped out with a dark pout pursing her lips, as it was clear that she was trying to add a little levity to the situation but even she was fully aware that her attempt would and had failed.
"Okay fine, people today are far to nosy," Spike grouched back as he gritted his teeth with his mouth closed as he mentally began to prepare himself for the task in front of him.
"No argument here," Angel agreed with an almost completely emotionless look on his face as he stepped back behind a tree, gently leaning his back up against it, taking a needless breath along the way.
"Well it's all well and good that we agree then alright, but that doesn't get us any closer to actually completing our mission and getting a certain someone off of our backs," Wesley countered with a less than being of full health look to him as he felt a cool bead of sweat trickling down the back of his neck.
"Wait a minute, we can't do this tonight," Faith groaned with a look of realization on her face, as she fought back against the urge to smack herself on the forehead for her failure to realize the blatantly obvious complication in the plan.
"What…why," Angel demanded with a completely confused look as Faith's words interrupted him as he started to reach into his pockets to arm himself.
"This piece of shit necromancer hasn't invited you in yet," Faith announced with an alarmed expression and tone to her words before she turned her head and matched concerned gazes with Wesley.
"Do I need to mention how pathetic we are to just notice that now," Spike sputtered out with an incredibly annoyed growl low in his throat before he began to fidget in his pockets, as if searching for cigarettes.
"No…but if it'll help make you feel any better I can remind you," Angel grouched out as his two cents worth as he momentarily squeezed his eyes tightly shut and then rolled them.
"Well someone here had better figure out another way of getting in there and getting that stone…or else you can all find a new place to hide out from a certain blonde slayer," Gwen countered with a barely restrained tone of anger and disappointment as she stormed up in between Spike and Angel.
"Easy luv, we never said that we couldn't get in" Spike started to argue with his usual snarky tone of voice, as he purely didn't like Gwen making any kind of reference to Buffy, feeling that she hadn't earned that right yet.
"It'll only take a little more thinking first," Angel finished for Spike with a tone to his words and a posture that seemed to suggest that he fully expected Spike to have an angry retort immediately ready.
"We're doomed," Wesley joked darkly with a completely serious expression on his face before he caught the laughter in Faith's eyes even though her expression betrayed nothing.
"We're not doomed, ole Angel here will just have to put that big brain of his to work and figure something out," Faith finally commented with a quick rolling of her eyes and short breath before she leaned over and lightly patted Angel on the shoulder.
"Big brain," Angel softly whispered with a confused look to him, appearing as if he hadn't thought of that way of describing himself yet.
"Yeah well…with that big forehead and all it's gotta be at least," Wesley tried to reply on the sly, starting out with a relaxed and helpful drawl in his speech before he did his very best to make a joke, even if it was a bad one, earning him a scornful look from Angel for his effort.
"Not funny Wes," Angel glowered back with a rather serious glare aimed straight at Wesley, showing that he was not amused by his statement.
"Really…I thought that it was hilarious, top of the line stuff," Faith added with an eerily calm look to her before she couldn't help but crack one of her trademark sly grins.
"Right, and the little but ever so important fact that you're shagging him every night wouldn't have anything to do with it…would it," Spike softly wondered aloud, staring straight ahead and with an eerily casual and calm tone to his words, as he awkwardly began to fumble around in his pockets, searching for a phantom pack of cigarettes. Gripping her hands tightly into fists Faith started to take a step towards Spike but stopped when she felt Wesley's hand on her shoulder, never seeing the look that Angel was giving her, silently begging her to keep her composure and not fly off of the handle.
END OF CHAPTER 34