Chapter nine: House of wolves
Yeah, the story has taken a very sudden serious turn, sorry but this is necessary! Also, to the nosy peep who wants to know… I am not going to let it slip what happens, well actually I may at some point
Chapter nine
Waiting for Giles to arrive Angel held Spike close to him, cradling his small figure against his chest. Spike was shaking, blood still seeping through his skin Angel had to keep feeding him from pre-tested blood packs. Illyria was exploring the mansion and its grounds, finding some things immensely fascinating, she seemed to love the large amount of empty, dusty and forgotten rooms on the upper floor. The sofa was drenched in blood, as was Angel and the blanket he'd wrapped around Spike. Dreading loosing his companion Angel stroked Spike's un-slicked blond hair and kept talking to keep him awake, hating the thought that if he were to sleep he could never wake up. It had been nearly an hour, Angel was furious that it was taking so long, Buffy had seen the severity, surely she could have hurried the stuffy Brit along. Just as he contemplated phoning her, Illyria walked over to the door, opening it just before Buffy knocked. She scanned over the two new figures but let them pass, knowing they were with Buffy, who Angel had explained was a good person really. Illyria pointed to the room where Angel was slowly moving Spike off of him and on to the Sofa.
Walking in to the room, Willow almost shrieked, and even Buffy and Giles had to look away. Spike was lying on the couch, the blanket loosely falling off of his red shoulders, the blanket was soaked through and dripping on to the floor, Angel's eyes were red and his face a horrifying expression of hurt, he was covered in blood, it was so thick you could barely make out the pallor of his skin underneath it.
"Oh my." Giles said slowly as he reacted to the seen, it was painful to see, and must have been terrifying for those closer to the younger vampire. "Well, let's not waste any time, where's the blood pack, Buffy said you'd saved it." Angel got up and picked up the blood pack from the coffee table, being careful not to spill the small amount which was still in it. Angel finally noticed the presence of Willow, he slowly raised his hand slightly in a feeble 'hello' gesture, but he was understandably not in the mood for long and heartfelt greetings. "Willow, can you start looking through those books in the bags, and try spell maybe to stop the bleeding, anything that could help." Giles instructed with out looking up, he had lifted his glasses on to his head and was peering intently at what Angel had passed off as maybe a slight coagulation in the blood. "Angel, do you have a clean surface, I think this maybe a useful thing to look at." Angel nodded.
"Yeah, the kitchen has a white counter, and it was cleaned last night…" He trailed, he and Spike had played a game of monopoly to decide who cleaned it, Angel had forgotten that Spike cheated, and that the game would take up their whole night. Giles flitted in to kitchen and carefully extracted the small clot from the pack and placed it on the counter. It wasn't blood, Giles could tell that, it was clear and had simply been showing the blood through it and the blood that covered it. Going back in to the living room he picked up a sewing kit from the bag he's brought with him and returned to his new place of work. Taking the smallest pin he held it down with tweezers and found a hole. It had been a hollow vial, it could barely hold no more then two drops of what ever liquid had been inside, but if this was the means of transport for the cause, what had been inside it? Giles pulled his glasses back down over his eyes; he could hear Willow in the next room, starting a healing spell, or something similar. He rubbed his face as he walked back to join the others, at least they knew that what ever it was, it was powerful and was in the blood, like Angel had suspected. He watched silently as Willow finished, almost instantly it was obvious the bleeding stopped, there was no dripping from Spike's arms, no look of a slow-moving river down his chest. Angel smiled, he almost laughed, it made him so happy that at least the bleeding had been stopped, he was even optimistic that maybe the spell had stopped anything that was wrong. He had never felt so elated, so optimistic in his life, hoping that it was all going to be all right had turned in to blind sanguinity.
"Did you find anything?" Willow asked, sounding like she had all those years ago when Giles had been the only one they'd ever really called on to do the research and the work. Angel quickly, and only for a few seconds, took his eyes off of his childe and looked at the British man.
"Yes, it, it's definitely from within the blood, the small solid which resembled congealed blood was in fact a miniscule blood covered vial. There was nothing left in it however, so we're still no closer to knowing what exactly it was, but we know where it came from." Angel nodded, quickly looking back at Spike who'd just gave a chocked moaning sound. The younger blond sat up and spat blood in to his hands and wiped it on the blanket. He looked around, feeling weak and faint he did his best to keep focus on the four figures in the room with him. Angel was straight at his side, looking intently in to Spike's blurry blue eyes, searching for any sign of pain still there.
"Peaches?" Spike asked slowly, squinting to see if it was Angel whose face was mere inches from his. "It, it feels like I'm freezing." Spike sounded scared, neither Angel nor Buffy liked that waver in the usually cocky voice. Angel reached for Spike's hand to comfort, but froze before he could. Illyria was standing right next to Angel and she'd hastened to point out something which was becoming clear as any remaining wet blood slowly moved from Spike's chest. Spike looked down; he could sense they were staring at him. He wished he hadn't. His heart, the area where it would have been was going black, with each mysterious pump of blood around his body the black spread further, they all stood there, watching it as it crept down his arms, his veins bulging with the metallic looking black liquid. Angel reached out and placed a hand on the black spot which was now growing over his skin, it was cold and smooth, like black marble. It was moving slowly, barely moving at all.
"What is it?" Buffy asked, looking urgently at Giles and Willow for answers.
"I'll get straight on it, Willow, can you help me please, I think in this situation magic may not be a good course of action until we know what's truly going on." Giles and Willow, both feeling obviously apprehensive and rushed, started to flick through the pages of the old volumes. Buffy and Angel sat either side of Spike, who had his eyes closed, trying to ignore the growing feeling of numbness through out his body. Buffy felt protective, trying to reassure the vampire she'd thought she'd lost over a year ago. She still hadn't noticed exactly how close Angel was acting to him, and her obliviousness was starting to amuse Illyria. Angel was sitting so that his leg was against Spike's and his hands gripped Spike's, his thumb making small circles in the ever-hardening skin for comfort.
0-o-0-o-0-o-0-
Hours passed and nothing had been found, Spike's pain was growing, and so was Angel's frustration. The Black spot had grown; it now covered half of Spike's chest and was just a few centimetres down his arm. Buffy had gone somewhere; Angel had assumed she'd gone to help the others look for what ever it was that was doing this to Spike.
"He is strong." Illyria stated, breaking the very long silence which had enveloped the room. "He is fighting, but he can't hold on much longer." She sounded sad, it was confusing for her, even though she'd felt it before, Wesley's death had saddened her. Angel looked at her, knowing that what she said was true, but wishing that it wasn't. It scared him to think that it took loosing everyone for him to realise just how important Spike was, and now it took Spike's possible death for him to even begin to truly realise how he felt towards the smaller vampire. "The blonde girl does not see what you feel." Illyria stated blankly, even Angel didn't clearly see it, he knew there was definitely a strong connection, and almost love between him and Spike. Angel closed his eyes, he could imagine the thumping of his heart in time with Spike's he could feel their breath mingled together as their human forms embraced, it was something that would never be, but it was a nice yet agonizing thought. Letting go for a moment Angel opened his eyes and kissed Spike. He heard an unnecessary breath quickly inhaled by his childe with the soft touch. It was a moment that Angel wished could have gone undisturbed, but the sound of a smashing glass brought his attention back to reality. Standing in the doorway, staring in shock and horror at what she saw, was Buffy. Willow and Giles, books in hands, came running over when they heard the glass smash on the floor. They were to late to see what she had, but it wasn't to hard to pick up on as Angel's right hand still had it's fingers snaked in blond hair and his left was helping balance him as he leaned over Spike slightly.
There was silence. Then Illyria broke it, doing something no one had expected, she made a joke, or at least, she tried to make a joke.
"Even I believe she could have figured it out now." Illyria saw nothing wrong in what the two vampires were doing, and she failed to see why it may upset the slayer. The silence came back, it was nearly a minute before Giles decided to be grown up. He coughed to get the attention of the others.
"Well… we have found out what it is, but there's only one way to get red of it, and it's very risky and requires some out side help." Giles passed the book he was holding open, to a page some where in the middle, to Angel. The vampire took it and red it eagerly; he looked up at Giles as he finished the page. Unsure whither to cry or laugh Angel simply stared. Giles sighed, he wasn't exactly fond of the vampire, he'd done a lot of horrible things in the past, and he knew how hurt Buffy must have felt, but he knew he would do anything he could to help. "Do you want to go ahead with trying to find some one?"
"Of course." Angel said quickly, his eyes locked with Buffy's. Giles left the room as quickly as he could, taking out his mobile phone as he did so. Willow watched him leave then turned her attention back to the eye locked Buffy and Angel.
"So…" Buffy started. She was nervous and angry; she was fidgeting, constantly moving her arms as though she couldn't find a place they could hang comfortably.
"Look…" Angel started, lifting his hands away from Spike, finally, in a gesture to start a passionate speech about how it wasn't wrong and they had never done anything yet, but he found him self shrinking after that first word. Willow sighed angrily, she could see why Buffy was mad, but it had been a year sense Spike had died, and she hadn't been with Angel in a long time.
"This is ridiculous." Spike groaned, the black marble had began to increase at a quicker rate and he didn't want to leave anything like this behind him when he passed out from the pain. "Yes, slutty the vampire slayer, me and Peaches kissed, get over your self! Angel, don't feel guilty, you've done nothing wrong. Blue, that was a decent crack, hope for you yet… and red?" Willow looked at Spike as the rant from the feeble voice came to a close. "Sort these two out for me." Spike grimaced and fell backwards. Angel leaned in quickly to make sure that Spike wasn't dead, but there was no real way to tell.
"So, you're gay now? Wow, LA really does change people." Buffy sniped sarcastically from where she still stood in the doorway; she didn't even seem fazed that Spike had suddenly collapsed.
End of chapter nine….
Okay, it may seem like an odd place to end it, but there is a rhyme and reason! Please review now you've read, and keep me happy peeps! When I break the 3000 hits marker I shall take out all my friends to Colchester for pizza! Yay!
C u in about a week!