Part 4
FRIDAY NIGHT
Angel had disappeared shortly after returning home. Saying if he couldn’t get a cigarette, he might as well go out and drink. Buffy and Willow tried to convince him to do otherwise, but Angel wouldn’t have it.
He was getting loaded, and that was final. That left the Scoobies to reheat dinner and discuss the night’s events.
After Xander had sufficiently stuffed his mouth on breadsticks, he finally posed the question that was on everyone’s minds. “What the hell is up with him? One minute he’s whooping ass like you wouldn’t believe and quipping in a fashion to make our very own Slayer proud. The next he’s all depressed and looking to drink himself into a stupor. What’s up with that?”
The girls shared knowing looks between themselves. Buffy took it upon herself to express the common theory. “We think that he’s in love with Cordelia.”
Giles and Xander stopped eating and looked at them in shock. “Cordelia? You mean the Cordelia that I used to date?” Nods greeted the question. “And when you say love, you mean…”
“The big ‘L’,” Buffy sighed.
“He was afraid to tell her,” Giles mused. “Perhaps he feared what would happen if he became too close.”
“Or maybe she didn’t return the feelings,” Willow suggested.
The possibilities were considered as the gang munched on the leftover lasagna. They ate silently for several minutes until the front door opened. Moments later, Spike appeared in the kitchen. The vampire observed the scene before him.
“That must be takeout, because last time Buffy made lasagna, Dawn had to be given some Ipecac to bring it back up.” Spike fell silent as a familiar sensation crept into his conscience.
“Or it could have been made by Angel. He always had a knack for the culinary arts.”
“How’d you know Angel was here?” Buffy asked.
“I felt him,” Spike answered as he sat down next to Dawn. “Smelt him, too.” Spike paused a moment. “Just so we’re clear, you’re not planning on boinking him, are you?”
Buffy stared at him. “Why? Jealous?”
“Yeah,” he answered honestly. “Plus, the whole losing his soul bit isn’t something I want to deal with. I’m just starting to get used to having mine without dealing with a lack of his.” Spike looked around and swiped a breadstick. “So where is Granddad? Perhaps gelling his hair or maybe saving a kitten from a tall tree?”
“He’s out getting loaded,” Willow answered.
Spike considered that as he chewed. “He’s having woman troubles then. Angelus never got drunk unless he was having problems with Darla. So who’s the chit that’s got his knickers in a bundle?”
“Cordelia,” the collective group answered.
“His secretary? I liked her. Held a crossbow to me once. Didn’t show any fear either. Girl had balls.” Spike then patted around his coat searching for cigarettes. He frowned as he remembered that he quit.
The front door was heard to open again. Angel reappeared looking quite frustrated. “Can you believe this shit?” he ranted. “I go to Willy’s to drink, and the son of a bitch won’t let me in. All because I killed some regular customers. I don’t know if I want to live in a country where you can’t drink just because you kill things.”
Angel stopped at the edge of the dining room when he noticed Spike sitting at the table. The two vampires stared silently at each other for several moments.
“Spike,” Angel greeted hesitantly.
“Angel,” Spike returned. They were both silent as they contemplated what to say. The rest of the gang watched the interchange curiously.
“Soooo,” Angel drawled, rocking back and forth on his heels, “I hear you got a soul now.” Spike nodded that he did. “How’s that working for you?”
Spike shrugged. “I initially went mad with guilt as years of unspeakable evil invaded my newly found conscience. Plus, the First Evil decided to make me insane by whispering into my ear.”
“Mad with guilt, then the First Evil screws with you,” Angel repeated. “I hear ya.”
A few moments of silence reigned. “So how about you?” Spike asked.
“Still struggling to find acceptance into a world I don’t belong in. Still have a problem being with the girl I love. Same old, same old.”
Spike nodded. “Can’t find acceptance and can’t be with the girl you love. I hear ya.” The Scoobies continued to find the vampires’ conversation fascinating. “You were wanting to go out drinking?” Angel nodded that he did. “I know a spot better than Willy’s. They got Buffalo wings and a big screen television. At this hour they’ll be showing rugby.”
“Rugby?” Angel was intrigued. “That’s a good Isle’s sport.”
Spike stood up and joined his grandsire. “Yeah, it’s a sport for real men. Not like this football shit where they wear pads. Now, let’s go drink ourselves into a stupor.”
The gang watched as Spike and Angel disappeared to go on their drinking binge. Once they had gone, it was Buffy who spoke for the girls.
“I guess that’s what you call vampire bonding?”
“No,” Xander answered. “That’s just typical male bonding. If it were vampire bonding, there would be a trail of bodies in their wake.”
***
Charlie’s Place was a distinctly human bar. But despite that, Angel and Spike were both enjoying themselves watching a rugby match between Manchester and Belfast. Spike dipped a pretzel in his Budweiser and popped it into his mouth. Angel took a shot of Jack before chasing it down with his own beer.
They both flirted lightly with the ladies that happened by, but made it quite clear they didn’t want company for the evening. In a strange bit of bonding between a pair of beings that historically didn’t care for one another, the vampires shared their stories of the past few years.
Spike told about how some commandos neutered him by installing a chip in his head. Angel was slightly amazed that Spike willingly began to aid Buffy and her friends. Spike informed him how he fell in love with Buffy and went to Africa to retrieve a soul.
Spike was equally amazed at Angel’s sordid tales. He knew of Darla’s return, but the fact that Angel had a human child with her shocked him beyond belief. A few betrayals later and an apocalypse diverted, Angel explained that he just needed to leave town.
“It’s because of her,” Angel slurred slightly. A half dozen shots of whiskey and a couple beers would do that. “Now, I’m not saying I was a saint. Hell, I did some horrible shit to her. I cut her away during my darkest hour. I went off and fucked Darla. She had reason to hate me.
“But what she did to me hurt. She says that she will always love me. Looks me dead in the eye and says it. And you know what? I was stupid enough to believe her. She loved me? Then why the fuck does she go and screw my son for? You think getting stabbed by your girlfriend and going to hell hurts? That’s nothing compared to having your heart ripped from your chest and having your soul set on fire. The pain was infinitely worse than what Buffy did. Buffy was justified in what she did. Cordelia killed me just because she could. She killed me without knowing it.”
Spike took a long swill of his beer. “That’s a woman for you. No matter what you do, it’s never enough. You try to become the man that they deserve, but all they can see is the flaws. You can worship her, put her on a pedestal, but that creates a problem. Once they are above you, the fact that you are beneath them becomes abundantly clear to the both of you.” Spike took another sip before continuing.
“Women are more trouble than they are worth. And as a wise man once told me: Women. You can’t live with them and you can’t exsanguinate them.”
Angel laughed when Spike said that. “That sounded good when I thought of it.”
Spike smirked as the memory of that night returned. “When you thought of it, you just had a fight with Darla, sucked a Parisian chambermaid dry, and got loaded up on cheap red wine.”
“True,” Angel conceded. He then grabbed his glass of beer and raised it up. “I propose a toast then. I say to hell with women. We don’t need them.”
Spike concurred with that and the vampires clinked glasses and then drained the beer. Together they watched the conclusion of the rugby match. Manchester scored on a try and put the kick through to go up and win 35-28.
Disgusted, Angel reached into his wallet and threw a twenty on the bar in front of Spike. Spike happily took the money and informed Angel he would be picking up the tab as well. Angel tossed more money onto the counter in a huff and followed Spike out to the street.
***
Buffy, Willow, and Dawn were awakened by the most God awful noise they’d ever heard in their lives. Rubbing the sleep from their eyes, the girls stepped out into the hallway in their nightclothes to see what the ruckus was.
Going downstairs, they found two vampires camped out on the sofa trading a bottle of whiskey. Worse than that, they were…singing.
“Ooooohhhhh, I got friends in low places
Where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases
My blues away!
Well I’ll be okay!
“Oooohhhhh, I’m not big on social graces
I think I slip on down to the oasis
Well I got friends!
In low places!”
Spike took a long guzzle from the bottle of Jack Daniels before handing it back to Angel. Angel followed with an equally long drink. And through the bottle, Angel could distinctly see three forms on the stairwell watching them.
He thrust the bottle back at Spike and pointed to the stairs in disgust.
“Look at that! It’s some of…them.”
Spike squinted to see what the hell Angel was talking about. Disgust quickly covered his face when he saw who was there. “Them,” he spat. “We don’t need them. Their kind sucks.”
“Our kind?” Willow asked curiously. This was just bizarre.
“Women,” Angel stated. “Damn, dirty women. Only thing your kind is good for is smelling pretty and breaking our hearts.”
“Yeah,” Spike agreed. “How can you live with yourselves? You walk around looking all beautiful and smelling the way you do. You give us false promises of love and then WHAM!”
Spike slapped his hands together to emphasize his point. “You rip our hearts out and leave us wounded and bleeding. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
“Absolutely ashamed,” Angel concurred.
The vampires then began to fight each other over whose turn it was to get the bottle. Angel won. Spike pouted.
“Those two have issues,” Dawn observed. Willow and Buffy were inclined to agree.
***
Hannah, Emma, and Kayla walked quickly and quietly through the streets of Sunnydale. Avoiding attention and detection, the trio was determined to reach their destination.
Well, Hannah was determined to reach it. Emma and Kayla weren’t so sure.
“How can we know if he will be here?” Emma asked.
“Because our intelligence said he was,” Hannah answered.
“Hannah, our intelligence was a drunkard who said Angel was living here FIVE years ago,” Kayla reminded. “Don’t you think he’s moved on by now?”
“Maybe,” Hannah admitted reluctantly. “But we have to take the chance. If he is gone, then she will tell us where.”
The girls came to a stop as the Summers’ house came into view. “Strange,” Kayla mused. “A vampire falling in love with his mortal enemy.”
“Do you think he will know who we are?” Emma asked.
“Should,” Kayla answered. “Hannah looks enough like her great-grandmother that he should know. And we’ve all heard the stories that Angel and Sarah were…close.”
Hannah ignored the conversation behind her. They may not believe that he was here or that he could protect them. But Hannah was positive on both counts.
“It’s time to say hello,” Hannah voiced. Emma and Kayla cast a quick glance at each other before following Hannah up to the house.
***
“So what do we do?” Willow asked. The girls had been sitting on the stairs for ten minutes watching the vampires.
Angel and Spike had finished off the bottle of whiskey. Now they were discussing rugby, weapons, and occasionally shouting lewd phrases in their direction.
Buffy rested her chin on the banister as she watched. “I guess we close the drapes so they don’t fry up at sunrise. I don’t really want to drag them upstairs.”
“The only thing worse than a woman is a woman demon!” Angel interrupted. Spike shouted his agreement.
Before Buffy could shout back a retort, a knocking at the front door sounded. “Get that, woman!” Spike taunted. “If you’re opening a door, that means you’re not stabbing me in the chest!” Spike collapsed back on the couch and began to sing Can’t Get No Satisfaction to the ceiling.
Buffy would stake them both later, but now, she had to see who was knocking on her door at two in the morning. When Buffy got to the door, she found three girls waiting on the other side.
“Uh, hello,” Buffy greeted.
“Are you Buffy Summers?” Hannah asked. Buffy nodded that she was.
“My name is Hannah. I came to see the vampire named Angel.”
***
Calvary, New York
1921
Joseph didn’t like the idea at all. It was dangerous, foolish, and insane. But as he took in the grim faced expression of the fair-skinned redhead before him, he knew that his opinion would not matter.
“Sarah,” Joseph tried once more. “Please reconsider what you are about to do.”
Sarah remained silent for several moments. She crossed the bedroom of the old cabin and knelt in front of an oaken chest. She began to extract various herbs and potions she would need to perform the ritual.
“Sarah…”
“No, Joseph,” Sarah interrupted. They had had this discussion several times a day for the past three days. It didn’t change her mind the first twenty-eight times, it wasn’t going to change it this time. “This is the only way. He can save us, Joseph. Can’t you see that?”
Joseph knelt down in front of the young woman and grabbed her shoulders roughly. “He is a VAMPIRE, Sarah. He cannot be trusted.”
Sarah’s eyes sparked with a fury that frightened him. Joseph immediately let go of her. With a warning glance, Sarah shut the chest and walked back over to the doorway. At the right angle, she could peer into the kitchen and see him. He sat at the table and drank from a bowl containing warm chicken blood.
“Sarah,” Joseph called softly. “I know that you care for this…thing. But he is not a man. He is a beast. And if you insist on going through with this ritual, I fear that it may hold dire consequences for our entire clan. Giving a demon such as this the power that you suggest…”
“It is only a temporary transfusion,” Sarah reminded. “He’ll have the power for a few hours or until I say the chant to retrieve it. Besides, Joseph, I trust him. This isn’t a mere animal we speak of. True, he is a vampire, a demon. But look into the depths of his eyes and you will see a soul, and a good one at that. He already has so much power about him. I can feel it. He has the potential to be a savior. Our savior.”
Joseph found he couldn’t argue anymore. It was pointless. Once Sarah made her mind, nothing could change it. He watched as she entered the kitchen and smiled at the beast. He would never understand the affection she seemed to hold for the creature. If it were up to Joseph, this Angel would already be in Hell. But he would not risk the fury of Sarah by ignoring her orders.
After all, he had sworn to that fact. As had everyone in the village. They would trust her judgment. Even if that meant trusting a vampire as well.
***
Angel began to immediately pull from his drunken haze the instant a strange voice uttered his name. Sobering himself up, Angel lifted from his seat on the couch and went to see who was at the door. Spike, seeing that Angel was on alert, also went about the mental process of sobering up. He didn’t have as much luck. We he got drunk, he tended to stay drunk until nature took its course.
“It’s imperative that I see Angel,” the voice insisted. “If you know where he is, I need you to tell us. He is the only one who can help us.”
Buffy was seriously considering kicking the three women out. But then Angel appeared behind her. The collective jaws of the women dropped. This was the being from Sarah’s drawings. And wow. They did not exaggerate at all.
Angel was dumbstruck. Even in his intoxicated fog, Angel was easily able to remember this face. It was one he had not seen nor touched in eighty years. But how was that possible?
“Sarah?” he asked hesitantly.
Hannah smiled widely at the recognition. This would make things so much easier. “Sarah was my great-grandmother. My name is Hannah. I’m the…”
“You’re the Keeper,” Angel realized. Hannah nodded that she was. “What are you doing in California?”
“We need your help. Merrick escaped.”
Angel’s eyes darkened. “How is that possible? The magicks that bound him should have held for eternity. How did he break free?”
Hannah looked down at the ground with guilt. She didn’t know how it happened. But Angel was right. It shouldn’t have been able to occur. “There was an electrical storm two months ago. We don’t know how, but that seems to have aided in his escape.”
Meanwhile, Buffy looked between the two in confusion. “Okay. Who’s Merrick?”
Angel glanced down into the eyes of the blonde before him. “It’s a long story.”
“Why do I get the feeling I should make time for it?”
“Because you should.” He turned his focus back to Hannah. “He’s near, isn’t he?”
“He’s very close,” Hannah answered. “Can’t you feel him?”
Angel closed his eyes and tuned out the world around him. His focused his entire consciousness trying to locate the force that he had not met in eighty years. On the edge of periphery, he detected a familiar tingling. Oh yes, Merrick was out there, and he was close.
“He’s not an immediate threat,” Angel announced confidently. “But he will be soon.” He turned to Buffy with a pleading look. “I think they need to stay here. It isn’t safe.”
“Will you tell me what the hell is going on?”
“Yes.”
Buffy smiled slightly and nodded. “Then I guess they are staying here. Come on in.” She glanced up the staircase to Willow. “Can you get some blankets from the hall closet? Looks like we have some more guests.”
As Willow went off to retrieve the blankets, Dawn observed the growing crowd with a sigh. “We should so be charging for board.”
