Part 10. SPIKE
“You sure this is the one luv?”
“Could be, but hey, I don’t even remember the brand name of my first baby booties.”
“But you know you wore a brand.” I held out my hand as the girl jumped the last leg of the ladder avoiding the puddle that was gathered at the base.
“Damn straight.” She held her bags closer with one hand while she straightened her pants with the other. “After tonight, I can just tell I wouldn’t wear anything below Prada.”
I couldn’t help grin at this woman while she stood there in all her grace and glory balancing six bloody bags worth of clothing and shoes from the one store that she had found open.
“Oh I believe you luv. You homed in on that store as if you had a bloody radar on you.”
“We all have our gift.” She sighed and looked both ways down the sewer tunnel.
“Including swiping credit cards?” I couldn’t help wink at the girl. She had balls. Not only had she been carrying Angel’s plastic, but she was strutting it with as much confidence as if they’d been given to her.
“Hey! He did give them to me!”
I flipped open my zippo and lit a cigarette as we walked down the tunnel. “Ro’ight luv. He handed you the key to his life saving out of the goodness of his heart. But for the record, don’t make a habit of lying to a vampire. Humans have telltale hearts.”
The beautiful brunette snickered next to me as we turned a corner and came to a fork. “In that case swiped is such a strong word.”
“Try pilfered.”
“Try technique,” she came to a stop and grinned at me like the cat that swallowed the proverbial canary, “it’s all in the pinky.”
“As in wot luv?” I couldn’t hold a mirrored grin. “A pinky that’s quicker than the eye.”
“No.” She chuckled. “As in the pinky he’s wrapped around. I didn’t forget everything.” She looked between the two tunnels. “So, did my radar get us in the right place?”
I raised an eyebrow when I caught movement around the edge of the tunnel heading east. “I don’t know Vix, why don’t you ask him?”
Of course, now Cordelia is a smart bird. Although she couldn’t probably tell that the figure walking towards us was her vampire, and see that I use the term loosely considering the talk I’ve had with her. I’d seen enough of us pining over my current problem, namely one stuck up slayer, and I had a feeling Angel needed a push in the right direction where Cordelia was concerned.
Now just for reference, I couldn’t give two figs about Angel’s love life, but something about this damned chit made me wish I could beat the shit out him and tell him just how much she really loved him.
My own love story wasn’t going anywhere fast, but if anyone deserved a break, I’d say it was this hot little number. I couldn’t begin to imagine why my dope of a sire hadn’t shagged her brainless already.
When she realized who it was, I saw the instant straightening of her spine and the muscle in her temple twitched. It was a fight of flee reflex if I ever did see one. Grabbing her wrist I leaned in close to her ear, and again just for reference, the warning growl from the other side of the tunnel was enough to assure me, my sire knew it was his seer.
“Time to test your pinky theory luv.”
In the dim light of one solitary zippo lighter Angel stopped in front of Cordelia, his hands by his side and the fire from my lighter dancing in his eyes. “I was just going to look for you?”
When the chit didn’t speak, because she seemed to find the tip of his nose entirely too fascinating she received a slight kick to her heel that snapped her out of her revere.
“AH! I mean…Hi!” And in that moment I sort of understood why she had this big poof wrapped around her bloody finger.
It was the biggest, brightest smile I’d ever seen in my undead life and I’d kissed plenty.
Now of course it would only be fair to mention Angel’s no idiot, even if he is a bit of a nincompoop. At the full beam of that smile, an eyebrow shot up before his eyes skirted over the bags in her hands the bags that I had swung over one shoulder.
His eyes slowly rose up until they met mine. “Asha’s Boutique? Hadn’t you given up cross-dressing?”
Oh that was low even for a shmuck like him!
“Oh pffft.” Cordelia waved an indifferent hand in the air. “They’re mine! You think I’d let him pilfer your Visa Card and use it on himself?”
I spun around to stare at her. Oh she wouldn’t.
Angel’s arms crossed across his chest and his eyes fixed themselves on me.
I couldn’t believe it! Not only did she pin this one on me! But she was still grinning like a bleeding idiot without flinching or a slip in her bloody heartbeat! Telltale hearts indeed!
Turning her face to me, her eyes flickering with mirth she held out her hand. “Hand it over Sparky.”
I would have merrily wrung her scrawny little neck had Angel not been standing two feet away within reach to snap mine in two. Digging into my pocket I pulled out the card she’d told me to keep and slapped it into her upturned palm with a glare.
Conniving little chit!
With a wink and a smile she turned and stepped up to Angel, slipping the card into his coat pocket like a good little seer. “There ya go! Right back where it belongs!”
Angel looked down at her. “And your buying clothes is?”
“Payment for returning it of course!” She grinned brightly before digging into one of her bags. “And I got you a present!”
I stared at her. When the hell did she have time enough to buy something for him!? I watched in awe as Angel’s stoic expression melted into pleased alarm. Couldn’t he SEE what she was doing! Was he really that bloody blind!?
There in front of my eyes, she pulled out a midnight blue scarf that glowed in the light of my lighter and held it out to him. Sneak! She’d picked that out for herself! Wrapped around her pinky! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Right there in front of my bloody eyes, I saw my sire melt like a puddle of mush as he reached out and took the silk scarf from her hands. His face flickered with a smile as he gazed down at her excited and INNOCENT face!
“You got me a scarf?”
“And it’s color! See I’ve noticed you don’t wear any color so I thought I might get you something besides basic black, but I didn’t want to go too far out and get something too much in color so I decided in between. Do you like it? I figured I should have told you about Spike being over and to say I’m sorry I yelled at you, although you did act all male with the throwing me over your shoulder routine.”
“You were being obstinate.” He gazed down at the silken material running the pad of his thumb over the damned thing like it was sacred.
Cordelia poked the vampire in his chest and if she hadn’t been the one doing the poking, I’ve known him long enough to figure he loved her or her finger would be leaving with her in a doggy bag.
“You were being growly!”
“You both are bloody mad!” I snarled as I watched the two of them talk as if I wasn’t even there. “YOU!” I snapped at Cordy. “I cannot believe you had it in you chit, and YOU!” I glared at my idiotic poof of a sire.
“You bloody deserve it!” Flipping my lighter shut I flicked my cigarette and stalked past Angel towards what I figured was the hotel as my cigarette sizzled out on the damp floor.
Angelus was right! This is what you get when you play with your food!
Well there was one perk.
I still had Angel’s MasterCard.
