It had taken quite a lot of arguing for Angel to manage to come along on the fact finding patrol. No matter how much he insisted that he was feeling better, no matter how much Doctor Hasna supported statements of his recovery, Buffy was still insistent that he remain out of any danger for the rest of eternity. But this had been his home long before Buffy had arrived in this time. The people who lived there were his responsibility. Or, more simply, he had to do this.
It also had something to do with the need to get out of the theater for a while. After weeks of captivity in the tiny, bright room, he longed for the towering buildings and relentless darkness. And the people…such extremes. From enforced solitude, to crowds. Crowds, coming and going all the time, and all of them watching him. Were they looking to him to be a leader? Angel had always been a loner, even more so in recent centuries, and the consistent attention was unnerving. He much preferred the company of one or two friends, and the simplicity of battle.
And even if these weren't all his friends, they were what he had. In one way or another, close.
"I said get away from me," a voice interrupted Angel's thoughts. "I swear I'll stake you if you so much as look at me wrong."
"No need to get touchy, Pet," came Spike's retort.
Angel fought not to show his amusement at the young Slayer's fury. Not that should would have noticed, considering her entire demeanor was focused on Spike. Spike would quickly learn not to mess with this particular Slayer. Well, if he wasn't dust first….
"What did you just call me?" Tamika was obviously aghast. She was also reaching for her stake.
If they were going to avoid bloodshed, Angel had to speak now. Hanging back slightly from the group, he called out, "Tamika."
The dark haired Slayer looked back at him curiously, turning her attention away from Spike. Tomas, the young psychic being still inseparable from her side, kept right on glaring at the vampire on her behalf. Spike met the expression with a broad smile, showing his fangs and clearly reveling in his monstrous appearance.
A glare from Angel, however, managed to wipe the expression from Spike's face and leave him muttering.
The younger Slayer fell into step beside Angel. He could tell she was still uncertain around him. Not that it was at all surprising: he was a vampire, and she a Slayer. Were he anyone other than who he was, her life would have depended upon that very awareness.
"Yes?" she asked after a moment.
The truth was, Angel didn't have anything in mind beyond distracting her from killing Spike. But he did not have to fish far for a topic. "I never thanked you," he said softly.
"Thanked me?" Tamika's voice sounded slightly nervous.
Angel nodded. "For your rescue. You didn't have to get me out of there. You could have left me behind."
Tamika looked startled by his statement. "No, we couldn't have," she said, sounding surprised as well. "I…we'd never…"
Angel shrugged slightly. "I'm a vampire, Tamika. You know this. You had absolutely no obligation to help me, and yet you did. Thank you."
She blushed slightly. "You were in pain," she muttered.
"I was." He wasn't about to admit it, but he was still in pain. Dull pain, compared to the agony of his cell, and it had settled like a weight in his chest. Just a persistent ache more than anything else. It was nothing that would slow him down, and compared to other events in his past this pain was easy to hide. So, he just gave Tamika a very slight, reassuring smile.
She nodded in response. "I did the right thing, Angel. I did the right thing getting you out of there, and I did the right thing getting me out of there. So can we move on to something else now?"
Angel caught Buffy's smile over the other Slayer's head. "Of course," he agreed, even as he smiled back.
Spike rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "You two are going to make me lose my appetite."
"Like we care about your appetite," Buffy shot back easily.
"Why do we have him around again?" Tamika muttered. She probably meant to be speaking to herself, but Angel heard her with ease.
"Unfortunately, we need the extra muscle," he replied just as quietly - and knowing full well that Spike would hear him, too.
"Hey! Is that all I am to you people?" Spike cried defensively.
"Yup." Buffy was obviously enjoying the old banter. "Face it Spike - you're a vampire."
"So's Angel, remember?"
Buffy rolled her eyes at him. "I don't have to give the 'Angel has a soul, you don't' lecture again, do I?"
"Maybe I need you to refresh my memory."
"Why haven't I staked him yet?" Tamika asked Angel suddenly, only half joking.
"I have no idea," Angel replied easily. "I don't know why I didn't stake him within his first week as a vampire."
"He's always been this annoying?"
Angel nodded. "Easily."
"Hey!"
Angel could see Tamika pale slightly. "Did you…" she started to ask, then thought better of it.
"Did I what?"
"Did you make him?"
Spike made an abrupt, derisive noise.
"No," Angel replied calmly, remembering back to the century and a half before the curse. So incredibly long ago, now.
"Oh."
"Don't wipe me of responsibility so quickly," Angel felt the need to admonish. "I made the one who made him. And I taught him everything he knows."
"You wish," Spike objected.
"Shut up, Spike." That from Buffy, listening to the entire scene with amusement.
There was a moment of silence, the banter over for now. To Angel's surprise, it was Tomas who spoke up. He'd been silent until now, and his expression once he spoke was serious.
"Aren't we supposed to be…looking for demons or something?" he asked. "Are you sure all this chatter isn't scaring them all away?"
"Chatter, huh?" Buffy asked with a chuckle. "No, it takes more than this to scare the demons away."
"But you're right," Angel interjected, earning himself a glare from the blond Slayer. "We should be concentrating."
Tomas nodded slightly, proud of himself and trying - but failing - not to show it.
Tamika sped her steps, going to walk beside the boy who seemed ready to follow her anywhere. Angel just watched them, the way they were starting to move together. Tomas would do anything for her, Angel knew. And, with her sudden break from the Watchers, Tamika probably needed someone with that kind of devotion and loyalty.
Love, perhaps, in time.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Buffy's voice brought him out of his musings.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing."
She grinned at him, a secret sort of smile. "I was thinking about Sunnydale," she said. "And some of our, you know, 'patrols.'"
Angel couldn't help but smile back. It was indeed a night for memories. "We weren't very efficient, were we?"
"Do you two ever stop?"
Buffy shot the younger vampire a look. "No. You gonna make something of it? Oh, that's right - you can't."
Spike hung his head, muttering to himself. Something about the government, and 'built to last'?
Angel would have thought Spike would have gotten rid of that chip by now, or that it simply would have ceased working, but apparently he was mistaken. Maybe there was some sort of magic tied into it, preserving it…?
"I don't like this," Buffy said abruptly, all of her teasing draining right out of her voice as if it had never been. "There's something not right. But it's so quiet…."
"Your imagination…" Angel began by way of explanation.
It wasn't that simple, because at that moment Tamika, a few steps ahead of them, made a disgusted sound and came to a halt. "Oh god," she muttered.
"What?" Buffy called urgently, hurrying to her side. "What is it?"
There was nothing there, though. At least, that was what Angel thought, until he saw Buffy's face contort into something between pain and disgust. "Buffy?" he asked urgently.
Tamika's arms were wrapped around her stomach. "I think I'm going to be sick," she muttered.
Buffy's expression did not change when Angel wrapped an arm around her in comfort. "I think…uggg…I think we found what we're looking for." She looked up at him, confused. "Don't you feel it?" she asked miserably.
"Feel…?"
"I feel it."
Angel looked up, startled by Spike's proclamation. The younger vampire had an unnerving smile on his face. There was something…something very wrong. And Angel had to admit he felt it, too, crawling under his skin, both revolting and energizing at the same time. It took away the pain in his chest and left something icy cold in its place. Something that was not supposed to be.
"It's power," Spike declared, his chest lifting as if he was breathing in the sensation.
"It's evil," Buffy said helplessly. "I…I can almost taste it, on the back of my tongue. So terrible…"
"What's going on!?" Tomas had one arm wrapped around Tamika, who looked like she was going to be violently ill any moment. His eyes were starting to show a glaze of panic. "I don't feel anything. What's wrong?"
"We need to get out of here," Angel declared. With the warring sensations within him, Angel somehow managed to stay the most level headed of them all. "Tom, help her. It'll only get worse the longer we stay."
Tomas nodded, wrapping his arms tighter around the stricken Slayer. Angel did the same for Buffy, though she was considerably more firm on her feet. Together, they pulled the two Slayers away from whatever they had encountered.
It only took a couple of yards to get away from the influence. Buffy let out a long, deep breath, her entire body showing relief. The same was mirrored in Tamika's posture, who sank wearily to the ground with her eyes closed. She didn't look sick anymore, though.
"Where's Spike?" Buffy asked after a moment.
Angel had not realized that he wasn't with them. In fact, the other vampire had not moved. He was standing several yards away, his arms loose at his sides and his head tilted upwards. As Angel watched, he took a slow, deliberate step away from them. And then another.
"Spike!"
The vampire did not turn when he spoke. "This is just the edge," he said. "Imagine what it's like closer! The source!"
"We don't have time for this, Spike!" Angel yelled back.
The other vampire was beyond hearing. With a growl of frustration and anger, Angel ran for him. He barely heard Buffy's call of warning before he was in the thick of it again.
Spike was right - it was power. It was power, racing along him and through him and barreling him right into Spike. They fell to the ground in a tumble of limbs and fists. He met the younger vampire's golden eyes, and felt his face change in return. The power sang to the demon within him, luring it with silent promises.
He growled at Spike. "You listen to me…"
"Have I ever?" Spike interrupted, only to be interrupted in turn by Angel's fist. Spike's nose spurted blood.
"You'll listen," Angel snarled. "You'll listen, because I made you what you are, and I can destroy you easily! I'm the elder, the master here, and you will listen!"
Some part of Angel knew that he was beyond reason at this point, that the energy of this place was taking him along for a ride, but he was also beyond caring. Spike snarled up at him, more demon and less human by the moment. Angel snarled right back.
"I said we were leaving," he hissed, "and we're leaving!"
With a great heave of strength, he grasped Spike by the lapels of his coat and in one movement flung him towards the two Slayers. He crashed to the ground beyond them, a tumble of bruised limbs.
"Angel!" Buffy called.
Her concerned, shocked voice pierced through Angel's manic state. The power shifted, revolted, leaving Angel shocked and sickened. His mind cleared. He was in control.
But the demon still raged within him, fed by a new power. And Angel looked down at his clawed hands, stained with Spike's blood, and howled.
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