Saturday ~ 12:30 AM
“Have you heard of Good Cop/Bad Cop?” Angel asked.
“Yeah. Why?” Cordelia responded.
“You get to be the Good Cop.”
“Oh, sweet!”
Willy groaned heavily when he saw the vampire enter his bar. He absolutely hated it when he or the Slayer came to hassle him for information. After divulging said information, he almost always lost a couple customers who didn’t want to drink the booze of a “squealer”, and he normally received a black eye from the one he gave the info to.
“Angel! Buff…Hey! You’re not the Slayer.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
The introductions stopped there. Angel and Cordelia leaned across the counter from Willy and made it quite clear that ignorance was not an option. Or rather Angel did so. Cordelia smiled politely at the lobster demon on the next stool that was eyeballing her. At least she thought that was an eye.
“We can do this two ways, Willy,” Angel warned. “Quick and easy or slow and painful. Either one will work for me.”
“Actually, he might prefer the pain one. Angel’s in a mood tonight. Seems his friend has gone missing. Would you know anything about that?” Angel cast a quick glance at her. He was obviously impressed.
“I don’t know nothing about the Seer,” Willy defended.
“Who said it was the Seer?” Angel demanded. Willy shifted nervously. Sweat beaded on his brow. He always seemed to fuck up early in the interrogation.
“It’s the Seer? That’s a shame. Course, better her than the redhead girl the Slayer likes I guess…”
Angel reached out in a flash grabbing Willy’s wrist and twisting until he heard a snap. Cordelia clucked sympathetically as Willy howled in pain. “Shouldn’t talk that way to a vampire, Willy. Even I know that. Might wanna spill what you know before he latches onto the other arm.”
Lobster demon clacked his claws in excitement as Angel shifted into vamp face and showed just how serious he was. Cordelia slapped away the claw that tried to stroke her hair. “Hands off before I whip out the marinara sauce, buddy.” Lobster boy backed off. Willy spilled what he knew.
“Okay, okay! All I know is that someone or something is collecting demon parts! A Kungai had its Tack horn removed, a Coluva had its healing core extracted, and just last night a Mikai had its tail cut off! And that is all I know I swear to God!”
Angel growled fiercely for good measure, but he could tell by Willy’s eyes that was all the information he had. But just maybe it would be enough. Angel slapped him roughly on the cheek a couple times and dipped his hand into a nearby pretzel bowl.
“Good talking to you, Willy.” He motioned for Cordelia to follow and popped a pretzel into his mouth. As they left the bar, Cordelia kept whispering how cool the experience was. And in the corner of the bar, a Polaris demon shook its head in disappointment.
“No one likes a snitch, Willy.” The demon drained its beer and made an extravagant display of n
Saturday ~ 1:47 AM
Adele woke from unconsciousness with a heavy groan. She grunted in pain as she rubbed the sore spots on her back where the tasers made contact.
“Feels like I’m hungover on Jose Cuervo,” she moaned.
It took a few moments to realize that she was lying in a steel cage with inch thick metal bars. Surrounding her were tables and jars containing various demon parts and assorted other paranormal paraphernalia. Adele knew without a doubt she hated the current situation.
“This is no good at all.”
PART SIX
Saturday ~ 2:02 AM
The silence in the living room of Adele’s apartment was palpable. For over an hour after their interrogation of Willy, Angel and Cordelia had bustled around town talking with a couple figures the vampire knew dealt in information. Both were incredibly disappointed when all merely reciprocated the same knowledge they received from Willy. Someone or something was collecting demon parts.
Angel sat in the leather recliner sipping on a cup of coffee. He focused on a section of chipped paint on the far wall as he thought. Cordelia was munching on a bag of Adele’s ranch Doritos as she looked at a list they had made up. It listed over a dozen demon parts that had been or rumored to be collected from town.
“This is some weird stuff,” Cordelia observed. “I don’t see what the hell someone would want all these things for? Could these things be used in some sort of spell?” she questioned.
“Just about anything could be used in a spell in one form or another. But I don’t know of any that would require having all of those ingredients.”
“Ok. Not a spell. Makes senses. I don’t see how the frontal lobe of an Empathic demon and the big toe of a Havrock demon could be used together. So what else are we looking at?”
“I’m not sure,” Angel frowned. “It can’t be for personal use. It takes an incredible amount of effort to collect most of those items. I don’t think one being could use or have use for it all.”
Cordelia latched onto Angel’s thought. “You say this stuff is hard to come by?” Angel nodded that it was. “So all the items here would be valuable.”
“Extremely. Mikai tail is probably the world’s most potent aphrodisiac. One ounce of ground Mikai tail can sell for five thousand dollars in some markets.”
Cordelia considered that. “Is it possible that these items are being collected for a demon supermarket or something? One stop shopping for all your paranormal needs?”
Angel dismissed that. “No, I don’t think so. These are specialty items, you see. This is the kind of stuff not every demon wants or needs. It’s a small market for this, and the beings that buy are the beings that have an excess of money to do so.” He continued to stare at the chipped pain. In a singular moment, an idea struck. “Unless…”
“Unless what?”
Angel shot up from his seat and leaned against the nearby wall. Groaning in frustration, he slapped the wall hard, nearly knocking down a photo of Adele and her mother. “I’m a fucking idiot!” he moaned.
Cordelia had ditched the Doritos and was now on her feet next to Angel. She tried to focus his attention on her and was finally able to do so. “Angel? What the hell? Talk to me.”
“A fucking auction!” Angel proclaimed. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier. All these items would be perfect for an auction. You get truckloads of wealthy people all looking to buy something rare and special.”
“Wait a minute.” Cordelia was desperately trying to wrap her mind around this one. She was doing so without much success. “There are auctions where beings try to buy demon parts? Since when?”
“Since forever. It’s just the first time I ever remember one occurring in Sunnydale. I took Darla to some in the old days. Shit, I bought her a coat made of Numfar fur once at one.”
“Numfar? What the hell is that?”
“It’s like a giant chinchilla. Went extinct about two centuries ago. Nasty things though. I saw a Numfar eat a Jack Russell terrier once. Damn funny sight that was.”
“You and I differ on what’s funny.” Cordelia wrinkled her nose in disgust at the thought. “But what do we do now?”
“Now? Now we hit the streets and try to rustle up whatever info we can on where an auction may take place.”
Angel was already moving to the coat rack to gather his duster. He was ready to go when Cordelia spoke.
“I think I might know an easier way to find them,” she said. Angel stopped and gazed at her curiously. Cordelia dutifully explained.
Saturday ~ 4:41 AM
Sitting Indian style in the middle of her cage, elbow propped on a knee and her chin tucked in her hand, Adele watched in boredom as Hal and Murphy organized the items into the order that they would be sold. Adele noted that she appeared to be number twelve.
“Yo boys! Can a chick get a deck of cards to wile away the hours until she’s sold into prostitution or whatever the hell I’m being sold for?”
Hal gently set a crate of Huplar eggs onto a table before turning and glaring at her in disgust. “How about you shut up before I let Murph bitch slap you like the whore you are?”
“Yeah, like that will happened. If memory serves, I beat the shit out of both of you. It took ten thousand volts to bring my ass down. You want to bring your twiggy ass over here for round two, that’s cool with me. Just don’t be surprised when I rip you a new hole.”
Hal looked about ready to take up the offer when a new person entered the back room. He was an average looking guy with brown hair and a bad poly-blend suit. With the way his eyes bugged out slightly, he had a Steve Buchemi type look. Adele hated Buchemi, so she felt it only appropriate to hate this guy, too.
“Hal! Leave it be!” the man ordered. “Now how about you and Murph go out to the auction room and finish setting up the chairs? This place is opening in just over three hours, so we need to be ready.” Hal sent Adele a scathing look. But when the man again instructed him to leave, Hal did so reluctantly.
“Sure thing, Doug,” Hal murmured. Murphy waddled behind him, a mess of white tape covering his broken nose.
When they were alone, Doug smiled slightly towards the cage and sauntered over. Kneeling down, he dropped to eye level with Adele. “So you are my prized item. You are far prettier than they described. Of course, you did beat the hell out of them, so that probably explains it. Too bad I must sell you. I could certainly find another use for a creature of your beauty.”
“Is that right?” Adele drawled. “Well, you might as well wipe those thoughts from your head. The last guy who got those kind of thoughts and tried to force me into them lost function in his…unit. Happens when you shatter a bloke’s pubic bone and crush every vessel down there.”
Doug had the gall to smirk and chuckle. Adele felt the sudden and overwhelming urge to crush his windpipe. “A feisty little thing, aren’t you?”
“Indeed. How about letting me out and showing you how feisty?”
“I don’t think so, pet. It wouldn’t do to lose my star exhibit. Early rumor is saying you might bring in a cool hundred thousand dollars. That will of course go up to one-ten if we have to remove your eyes. Delicate surgery you understand. Boosts the price.”
“My eyes? Excuse me, but I don’t think I like that. I’ve had these eyes all my life. I have my father’s eyes actually. They’re a family heirloom.”
“I’ll be sure to mention that to the new owners.”
“Asshole.”
“Cunt.”
Adele instantly shifted into demon face and lunged at the bars. Shooting her hand out, she huffed mightily when her nails fell just short of Doug’s jugular. It didn’t help when a small conceited smile crossed his face.
“You better pray I don’t get a hold of you. I’ll make you hurt,” Adele promised.
Doug merely snorted in amusement. Standing up, he motioned to a couple guards to stand watch over the storeroom. It wouldn’t do to have his prized item stolen.
Saturday ~ 7:47 AM
It was certainly amusing to watch how a woman’s mind worked. And when that mind belonged to Cordelia Chase, it was all the more so. The girl explained that her idea for tracking down the auction house was to look in the yellow pages and find all the listings under “auction”.
Angel had diligently explained to the young woman why it was a foolhardy action. It just wasn’t feasible to sell demonic type of items in an open and public forum as a human auction house. Demons would also be in attendance, and they simply couldn’t move about in broad daylight. After observing and investigating six different places in Fulton County, Angel felt confident in his belief.
But then, Cordelia drove down Main Street of Jonesboro, a small town ten minutes south of Sunnydale. It was a nice little burg. White picket fences. Brightly colored houses. A barbershop right next to the sheriff’s office. A caravan of demon’s showing passes to a guard in front of the town auction house.
“Son of a bitch,” Angel murmured.
Cordelia pulled her car into the parking lot of the small Kroger grocery store across the street and smiled triumphantly. She slapped Angel on the arm and pointed to the house in victory. The vampire just hated people that gloated.
“Who was right? Huh? Go on and say it. I was right, wasn’t I? Say my name, bitch! Say my name!”
“Cordelia.”
“That’s right. I was the one who was right, not you, Vampirella. This just goes to show that I’m always right and you are always wrong.”
The car fell silent as Angel stared at her in disbelief. She was actually serious. “Cordelia, Poison was not the greatest of the hairbands.”
“Pfft!”
“How can you say they were better than Bon Jovi?”
“They just were. Now shut up and grab the blanket from the backseat. I don’t want you bursting into flames by the time we get to the front door.”
“And how do you propose we get in the front door? It looks like the guard is checking for invitations.”
“Leave that to me. When you’re a woman, you have the greatest persuasion gift ever devised at your disposal.”
“Charms?”
“Tits. I’ll be back in a minute. Don’t go anywhere.”
Cordelia breezed from the car and trotted across the street to secure their passage inside. Angel was left to ponder the young woman. She was quite an amazing specimen. He grabbed the blanket from the seat and began to wrap it around him.
“Gotta love a girl not afraid to use what she’s got.”