- 12 -
As Wesley gaped at the body of the goat, his face broke into a wide grin and he pointed at the animal.
"Did you see that? That was...It was...Bloody brilliant!"
His only answer was a quiet moan. Wesley immediately lost his interest in the still form of the goat and turned toward the sound, instantly concerned when he spotted Angel laying amongst the wrecked debris which formed most of what remained of the contents of the room
"Angel! Oh my goodness!"
He rushed across to the figure on the floor. As he reached Angel's side, Wesley hesitated, appalled at the state of the vampire who lay, eyes closed, at Wesley's feet. Angel's features had returned to their human form and he appeared to have no marks on his face. His tee however was little more than scarlet shredded strips of cloth. Blood oozed from the criss cross of claw marks that covered Angel's torso. One shoulder was clearly dislocated whilst his other upper arm bore evidence of the snake tail's deep, penetrating bite. Red lines emanating from the bite mark tracked the path of the venom's spread. Angel's whole body was shivering as though he were freezing cold, yet when Wesley put a hand to Angel's cheek, it was clear that his temperature was at fever level.
Wesley knelt down by his friend and gently patted Angel's cheek.
"Angel? Angel, open your eyes. Come on, please, wake up."
Angel's head turned slightly as Wesley touched his face and he moaned again.
"Angel...It's me, Wesley. I need you to wake up now. Do you hear me?"
"Wes?"
"Yes...that's right."
The vampire's eyes half opened and he cast around in a daze, trying to focus on where the voice was coming from, eventually coming to rest on Wesley's worried face.
"C'mera?"
Wesley's wide smile returned.
"Dead."
Angel tried to lift his head from the floor, unable to stop himself from groaning, he gave up.
"I think it's best if you stay still for a little while. You...well...you're pretty badly hurt."
Angel licked his lips.
"Thirsty...Poison."
Wesley nodded his understanding.
"Stay still. I'll get you...something. Just try to stay awake."
Angel sighed and closed his eyes again whilst Wesley left him to retrieve a bag of blood from the fridge.
He returned to Angel, rolling the blood bag between his hands to warm the contents. Squatting down again, he placed himself at the vampire's back and helped Angel to half sit up. Using his own body to support Angel, he held the bag to his friend's lips whilst Angel drank.
"Feeling any better?"
"A little...thanks."
"Do you feel like you could walk if I help you?"
"Maybe."
"I suggest we give it a go and get you into your bed. Ok?"
During the painful, staggering journey to the vampire's bedroom, Wesley found himself altering from lending his support to Angel, to shouldering most of his body weight as Angel found it harder and harder to keep moving forward and to stay upright. Angel kept his eyes downcast, and Wesley felt him hesitate briefly as they made their way past the corpse of the Chimera.
"Wes...s'a goat...D'ju sacrifice goat?"
"No, it's the Chimera."
Angel looked confused as they stumbled on past the body.
"Din'know we gotta goat."
"Angel. It isn't a goat, it's the Chimera. The spell changed it."
"Cordy gonna be mad...think our goat's dead."
Wesley gave up.
"She won't mind. She never liked the goat."
Somehow Wesley managed to stop Angel sagging to the floor whilst he dragged the bedcovers back in order to save them from being ruined by the amount of blood coating Angel. Angel lay his head on the pillow with a sigh of relief. When Wesley returned from rummaging out an old blanket to cover the vampire with, Angel had passed out. Wesley didn't try waking him, instead he headed to the kitchen for water and towels to clean the blood away from Angel's wounds, hoping to be better able to assess the damage. As he gathered what he needed, Wesley pulled out his cell and hit speed dial for Cordelia.
Both women jumped, startled by the sound of Cordelia's ring tone echoing in the tunnel and breaking the silence. Cordelia checked the caller's name.
"It's Wesley! He and Angel must be ok. Hello? Wes?"
Wesley heard the ringing stop, but then there was silence.
"Cordelia? Cordelia, are you there? Can you hear me?"
Cordelia tried shouting into her phone, groaning when it became clear that although she could hear Wesley intermittently, he couldn't hear her at all. Frustrated, she ended the call and turned to Maria.
"Well, at least we know it's safe to go back."
Cordelia began to unfurl her legs, relieved to be to start moving again. She stopped when Maria grabbed her arm. In the dim light of the torch, Cordelia could see Maria's worried frown.
"Are you sure?"
"Well, yes. Wesley would hardly be ringing if he and Angel were still fighting Felix, would he?"
" But...What if it's that thing, you know, pretending to be Wesley?"
Cordelia paused, then shook her head.
"Nahh. That was Wes. Trust me. Come on girl, let's get out of here."
Maria continued to hang back.
"He could've been ringing to warn us that it's on it's way down here, couldn't he?"
"Listen Maria. That was Wesley and that creature is not coming down here to get us. Ok?"
"How do you know?"
Cordelia sighed, feeling herself becoming exasperated.
"I just know...Alright?"
As the two women began to re-trace their journey, Cordelia was pretty confident that she was right, but she quietly slotted a bolt into the crossbow any way - Just in case.
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A.N. Nearly done now :D
Chick xx