Banner by Me
Banner by Me
Chapter 6
“Angel? What’s going on?”
Buffy had been standing outside the mansion, but the place had looked deserted. Which had been strange because Giles had told her that Angel had been in town when she’d stopped by his home after walking Willow back to their dorm room. Apparently he and someone else were going to help with the soldier problem in Sunnydale.
Then the door had opened and an invisible wall surrounding the mansion seemed to shimmer.
“Buffy. Hi.”
Oz and Wesley stepped out behind Angel and looked anxiously at Buffy.
“Oz? What—?”
Oz didn’t look at Buffy, and at a word from Angel, he and Wesley walked around to the side of the mansion, got in his van, and left. Buffy stared at the retreating van in shock then turned and glared at Angel.
“Angel.”
She just said his name, but that one word conveyed a lot of meaning. Like, what in the world is going on and you better tell me right now, or else.
“We got a vision that soldiers were here in Sunnydale and doing something with the local demon populace. We came to investigate.”
“I know. Giles told me.”
“Do you know that your boyfriend is one of them?”
“What? Riley? No way. He’s… just a normal guy.”
“No he’s not, and he’s either playing you or you know and are covering for him.”
“I’m not covering for him. Sheesh, Angel! Riley goes to UC Sunnydale. He’s a TA for Professor Walsh. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“A fly, no. But he’d damn sure hurt a demon.”
“What are you talking about, Angel?” Buffy demanded; she crossed her arms over her chest defensively.
“These soldiers are experimenting on demons.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t care if you do. We’re—”
Spike bellowed Angel’s name and Angel dismissed Buffy out of hand and raced back inside.
“What is it? What—?”
“He won’t stop thrashing, and he won’t wake up,” Spike yelled. He was struggling to hold Xander still on the bed with little success.
The boy’s blood-curling screams made both of the vampires wince.
“Ouch!” Spike muttered. His voice became soothing as he crooned to Xander, running his hand over his shaved head, down his back, “Xander, pet, wake up, love. It’s just a dream.”
“Spike!” Buffy hissed. She’d come up behind Angel and was peering over his shoulder. “What is Spike doing here? And, that’s… Xander!”
She tried to enter the room and rescue Xander, but was barred by Angel and a snarling Spike.
“Get out of here, Slayer. It’s your bloody fault he’s like this.”
Buffy broke free of Angel’s grasp and drew a stake. Angel, responding to the threat, vamped and took a defensive pose.
“Get out of my way, Angel.”
“No. You don’t get to come in here and make demands. We rescued him. Those soldiers you’re so friendly with did this to him, just because he had the misfortune of getting bit by a werewolf.”
“Bit by a werewolf? What are you talking about?”
Buffy shook her head, denying what Angel was saying. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Spike murmuring to Xander, peppering his face with kisses. She tried to get into the room again, not trusting Spike for an instant, and came face to face with Angel.
“It’s time for you to leave, Buffy.”
“I’m not leaving without Xander.”
“Yes, you are.” Angel saw her body tense, and said, “Don’t make me fight you. You’ll lose.”
Buffy relaxed her aggressive stance, if not the expression on her face. “This isn’t over.”
“No,” Angel agreed. “It isn’t. The soldiers created something, a demon out of various body parts of other demons, and probably humans too. At least it looked that way. I suggest you get with Giles and figure out how to kill it.”
Rather than say anything, Buffy turned on her heel and left.
Angel shifted his attention back to Spike and Xander, nodded at the gratitude in Spike’s eyes. “Maybe we should get him a sedative. I can have Wesley mix something up when he gets back.”
“Yeah. Alright.” He settled down by Xander, who was calm for the moment. “Slayer’ll be back.”
“I know. As soon as Oz and Wesley return we’re leaving. We’ll go back to Los Angeles and figure out how to take out that thing those soldiers have created. Until then, the further we are from Sunnydale, the better.”
Spike nodded wearily and reluctantly climbed out of bed to get dressed, covering Xander’s naked form gently with the sheet.
Angel noted Spike’s mechanical actions, realized he was running on automatic and wouldn’t be thinking of the practicalities. “I’ll check the trunk in my bedroom. I should have something that will fit Xander for the time being.”
~*~*~*~*~
Buffy, Willow, and Giles showed up at the mansion just as the sun came up and were armed with all manner of weapons. They had every intention of getting Xander back, by force, if necessary.
Willow had been shocked, then hurt that Oz had come back to Sunnydale and not told her. She and Giles, both, had been stunned that Xander was now a werewolf – if Angel was to be believed.
The place looked deserted but Giles mentioned that it was probably the result of some spell Angel had performed. He quickly mixed together a handful of herbs to countermand the spell and read the lines he’d jotted down on a piece of paper.
The invisible wall shimmered again and disappeared. Unfortunately, the place looked just as deserted without the spell.
Buffy banged on the door, kicking it in when no one answered.
The place was deserted.
“They’re gone.”
Giles laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find him, Buffy.”
~*~*~*~*~
“We can’t stay here indefinitely,” Cordelia told Angel as she collapsed onto her couch. A glass of water floated in the air, and she grabbed it when it hovered in front of her, thanking Dennis. Cordelia, Angel, Spike, and Xander were bunking at her place for the time being while Wesley and Oz were staying at Doyle’s.
“I know,” Angel replied. “I’m working on it now. We’re gonna need a new base of operations anyway. I’ll go out once it gets dark.”
“What about Xander? And Spike?”
“Spike will look after Xander. Do you have anything that Xander can eat? Soup or something? I don’t know what those soldiers did to him, so I’m not sure what kind of appetite he’s going to have.”
“Soup should work. I’ll get changed and go to the store.”
“Just… be careful. I doubt the soldiers were able to pinpoint your apartment, but…”
“I will. Straight to the grocery store… oh, and maybe a clothing store. You guys didn’t really buy a lot after the whole exploding building thing. Not that we’ve really had a lot of time. Been a whirlwind few days, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah. It has.”
“Well, off to shower. You think Spike will bite my head off if I get some clean clothes out of my room.”
“No. But, I’ll go with you… just in case.”
“Thanks.” Her face fell suddenly. “He’s going to be alright, isn’t he? Xander, he’s—”
Angel laid a hand on her shoulder. “Physically, he’ll be fine in a few days. After Xander changes for the first time, he’ll start to heal a lot faster. Mentally, I just don’t know. Spike told me what happened to them, more than what Xander told you guys. It wasn’t pretty.”
~*~*~*~*~
The bedroom door closed behind Angel and Cordelia and Spike heaved a sigh of relief and settled closer to Xander. He was exhausted, physically and mentally. It had taken awhile for Wesley to come up with a sleeping draught for Xander, and the boy had done nothing but thrash around on the bed, caught up in his nightmare – or memories – until Spike had poured the majority of it down his throat. Xander had finally managed to drift off to sleep and they’d all loaded into Oz’s van and left Sunnydale behind.
During the drive, Xander had twitched in his sleep, but not the wild thrashing that had gone on at the mansion. Spike had just continued to soothe him while silently demanding that Oz hurry.
“Ow…” Xander groaned.
Spike gently turned Xander over so that he could face him.
“Hey, pet.”
“Spike?”
“Yep. It’s me. I’m here.”
“Where—where are we?”
“Cordelia’s. Chit even gave up her bed for us.”
“Are you sure it was Cordelia?” Xander tried to joke. Laughing hurt and he groaned again. “Ow.”
“Try not to move, love. You’ve got cuts all over your body that haven’t healed yet.”
“He cut me,” Xander murmured.
“I know.”
“He—he…”
“Shush, pet. I know.” Spike drew Xander in his arms, felt tears fall onto his bare chest.
“They shaved me. They were laughing, said the doctor was going to put something in my brain.”
“Shhh. Never happen. We got you out. Got rid of the tracer too. They won’t be able to find us again.”
“I was so scared. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
Spike kissed him. He’d just wanted to stop Xander’s trip down memory lane. Wanted to stop the boy’s crying. And, miracle of all miracles, Xander kissed him back. Wrapped his arms around Spike and held on for all he was worth.
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