{"id":13370,"date":"2024-04-07T11:52:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-07T10:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/?p=13370"},"modified":"2025-06-27T09:24:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T08:24:31","slug":"mercenary-hearts-prologue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/07\/mercenary-hearts-prologue\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercenary Hearts Prologue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Title: Mercenary Hearts\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong> <\/span>
\nAuthor:\u00a0<\/strong>Califi<\/span>
\nPosted:\u00a0<\/strong>25\/06\/05<\/span>
\nEmail<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nRating:\u00a0<\/strong>R<\/span>
\nCategory:\u00a0<\/strong>No Angel or Spike involvement pre-S4<\/span>
\nContent:\u00a0<\/strong>C\/A, possibly B\/X.\u00a0 S\/T<\/span>
\nSummary:\u00a0<\/strong>Challenge by\u00a0Impress:\u00a0<\/strong>Mercenaries for hire, Angel and Spike\u2019s latest \u2018Contract\u2019 leads them to Sunnydale. They end up fighting the next Big Bad alongside the Scoobies.<\/span>
\nSpoilers:\u00a0<\/strong>None, really.<\/span>
\nDisclaimer:\u00a0<\/strong>The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.<\/span>
\nDistribution:\u00a0<\/strong>Please ask first.<\/span>
\nNotes:<\/strong>A\/S first appearance in Sunnydale. Cursed with soul\/s, but never a Gypsy caveat.<\/span>
\nThanks:<\/strong> I would like to thank Lysa<\/strong>\u00a0once more for her support through this fic. I only hope I do it justice.<\/span>
\nChallenge: <\/strong>Details will be added at the end of the fic.<\/span>
\nFeedback:\u00a0<\/strong>The yummy icing on top. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prologue<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

New York. 1999<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAre we gonna go in there and kill \u2018em, or just act like ruddy virgins at an orgy?\u201d Spike asked; rolling his eyes when Angel lifted a silencing hand in response, his dark eyes fixed on the grubby window of the derelict warehouse.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are too many,\u201d Angel finally spoke, his voice a low rumble. \u201cLet\u2019s wait until they split up.\u201d A statement, rather than a suggestion, Spike noticed sourly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen it\u2019ll take bloody forever to find \u2019em again.\u201d He shifted impatiently on the crate he\u2019d found to sit on. Spike had never been one to avoid a fight, regardless of the odds, and he was getting antsy just waiting. <\/span><\/p>\n

There were better places to hang out than this particular area of New York. <\/span>He hated the smell of harbor water. It brought back too many bad memories of his not-so brief reign of terror in the murky Docklands of England.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dark-haired vampire beside him hadn\u2019t so much as twitched a muscle since they\u2019d ended up on the outside looking in, and that just pissed him off more. Oh, he could do the impression of a tree alright, but that meant being still. Which soon led to boredom\u2026\u00a0\u201cShoulda brought popcorn\u201d, he muttered under his breath. At least eating would take the edge off.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSod it. I\u2019m going in.\u201d Spike dropped his half-smoked cigarette and rose lithely to his feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019d been tracking the group of demons hiding out in the warehouse for several weeks, and had been more than irritated earlier to find out there were at least half a dozen more than the seven the paperwork had stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although that put the kibosh on ending it tonight, being pissed had nothing to do with being outnumbered, and everything to do with the price agreed upon. Angel was more than tempted to stick to the original number and let the ones who\u2019d hired them sort out the others themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

But his decision to wait it out until the group broke up a little and pick out their marks then, was just about to hit the crapper.<\/span><\/p>\n

Angel cursed a blue streak, as the hand reaching out to stop the impetuous vampire wasn\u2019t quick enough and grasped thin air.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll\u00a0kill<\/em> the scrawny bastard\u201d Angel swore under his breath as he headed rapidly towards the doorway his partner had just kicked open.\u00a0If he isn\u2019t already dead<\/em>, he thought as the sound of raised, guttural voices, roars and crashing grew to an ungodly level\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFuck it!\u201d The curse tore from him as his blood coated hand slipped on the length of wood jammed between his ribs, jolting it higher. Sweat popped onto his brow as he realized how close the buried shaft was to his heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gritting his teeth, Angel eased it out an inch at a time, groaning aloud when it finally pulled free and his borrowed blood sluggishly filled the jagged hole. Dropping the wood to the ground next to him, he finally lifted his dark head and scanned the gloomy warehouse; dilated eyes briefly resting on every dead demon sprawled on the filthy floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Counting up to six, a growl of annoyance rumbled his powerful chest, changing pitch as he attempted to get to his feet. Blood started pissing out of his wound, and with a grunt, Angel slumped back onto the floor, his back propped against a wall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Resigning himself to the fact that he\u2019d be going nowhere for at least several hours, he settled as comfortably as he could and tried not to think too much about the distinct lack of a bleached-blonde\u2019s head amidst the carnage\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part 1<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: Mercenary Hearts\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Author:\u00a0Califi Posted:\u00a025\/06\/05 Email Rating:\u00a0R Category:\u00a0No Angel or Spike involvement pre-S4 Content:\u00a0C\/A, possibly B\/X.\u00a0 S\/T Summary:\u00a0Challenge by\u00a0Impress:\u00a0Mercenaries for hire, Angel and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-to-be-continued-fic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13370"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13412,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13370\/revisions\/13412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goteamfiction.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}