For Love of a Wolf: Alric's Story
by SpikesKat
Chapter 16
The spell was relatively simple, although it left Giles feeling rather drained afterwards. They knew it was successful because the moment it was complete, both he and Doyle witnessed the sheer joy on the vampire’s face – undoubtedly a moment of perfect happiness in his estimation. And no evidence of Angelus in sight.
Doyle laughed then. Which caused the other two to chuckle as well.
Angel stepped out of the chalked circle and shook Giles’ hand, giving the man his heartfelt thanks. He could still feel his demon banging around inside his head, but he didn’t have the constant struggle anymore. More like it was resigned to its fate, making it so that he could relax his guard a bit, enjoy the things around him now without worrying about the return of his alter ego.
The three settled in around Doyle’s living room, each nursing their own preferred libation. Giles wasn’t due to leave until the next day and they spent some time discussing their plans – Angel and Doyle fighting the good fight, changes Giles was hoping to make at the Council… hopefully for the better. The subject of Spike, of Buffy, was carefully avoided. After a few drinks had loosened his tongue, Giles spoke of Joyce and their budding relationship, how he planned on marrying her, sooner rather than later, if at all possible. If she would have him.
Congratulations and toasts were made all around. Giles struggled not to blush. The drink helped. Before he knew it, the bottle he’d commandeered was nearly empty.
Then the clock was chiming the lateness of the hour, nearly three in the morning – midday for the vampire, but long past his own bedtime. He struggled drunkenly to his feet, weaving precariously for a minute before leaving Doyle and Angel to seek his bed. Tomorrow morning was going to come early.
But it was a day to surely be brimming with hope, both here in California and in England. He found himself looking forward to it, knowing his life – and his calling – had taken a step in the right direction.
~*~*~*~*~
Bob gave Alric a wide berth as he stepped into their cabin and shut the door. His arms laden with groceries for himself and Tala, he moved into the small kitchen and set about putting the food away.
A month had gone by, Christmas included, and they were no closer to finding the reason behind Tala’s listlessness. The Chinaman Alric had hunted down had been no help, only able to give him the names of the breeders in and around Europe and Asia and their approximate location, though he did manage to discover Glarshnic’s whereabouts, but only because of the demon’s reputation. Which was saying something given his rather unorthodox upbringing.
He and Alric had infiltrated the dead demon’s small compound, and knew in that second that deciding to do away with many of the larger slavers had been the right thing to do. He’d nearly lost his lunch at the atrocities he’d seen.
Needless to say, there wasn’t a brick left standing, a demon left alive, when they’d finished. Afterwards, they’d left the country far behind, knowing instinctively that the statement they’d made wouldn’t go unnoticed by the clan, that Spike and the others would find a means of reuniting the humans left behind with their loved ones.
What had angered Alric was that the destruction of his Consort’s former master’s compound had been met with a blank stare by Tala. If anything, she seemed to slip further into herself.
Each successive slaver they’d tracked had been met with more of the same, and resulted in the steady decline of Alric’s ability to subdue his demon. To the point where, more often than not, it, and not his human mask was present for all to see.
On the one hand it freaked Bob out, especially given his boss’ ferocity and abrupt manner. But Tala seemed to take some comfort in the demon’s presence. And it was only when Alric was like that, commanding that she eat with harsh growls, that she did so. It was the only time she responded at all, in fact.
“It’s been a month, Alric. I think you should let me tap my source at Interpol.”
“No.”
“Alric—”
“I said no!”
Bob sighed and poured himself a drink. They’d been having this argument for the last two weeks, with no relent. While he had complete faith in his friend’s discretion, Alric wasn’t taking any chances. They’d yet to figure out what Tala’s problem was, let alone her identity. Without that, they couldn’t determine how to fix her.
Even explaining that to the vampire was met with that unnerving amber stare of his. Until he was forced to look away and drop the subject… again. But, enough was enough. It was time for him to take matters into his own hands and damn the consequences. Once he had the information in front of him, it wasn’t like Alric could do anything about it then.
Alric left right on cue two hours after the sun went down, after first seeing that Tala was tucked into bed. As soon as he was gone, Bob pulled out his secure cell phone and made a call. Obtaining the girl’s fingerprint was met with no more than a dull look from eyes that seemed dead somehow.
Twenty minutes later, he was no better off than before. Her prints weren’t on file. Anywhere. Which meant she wasn’t a criminal – a plus. A good thing in his book, yet it made things much more difficult for him. Needle in a haystack difficult.
He wasn’t giving up, however. Had a lead, of sorts. More of a “why didn’t I think of this before?” than anything else. Armed with Tala’s name, he began searching missing children databases on the internet. After scanning those for what seemed like hours with little luck, and worried that he’d be caught red-handed by Alric’s sudden return, he expanded his search to include several large US city newspapers.
It wasn’t until he threw in the wildcard “Indian” that he got anywhere.
The write-up was small, no more than a few paragraphs in an obscure tribal newsletter. The story wasn’t about her, specifically, but about her brother, Hakan, an eight-year-old boy that had been abducted from his home one day, not long after his sister, Tala, had graduated from Georgetown University. The author speculated that the girl had gone off to seek a new beginning, leaving behind her brother in the care of their great aunt, lovingly referred to as Nana by family and friends. Nana had been vocal in her disbelief in the general consensus, citing Tala’s love for her only brother – made more so in the wake of their parent’s death – as her reasons for wanting to return home. Her contention was that Tala had been kidnapped, just like Hakan, but nothing had ever come from her protestations to the contrary. With little money, she hadn’t been able to conduct a search in locating the girl either.
Bob took note of the article details and logged off his computer. He leaned back, a smile on his face.
Tala Highblood.
The name sure did fit.
~*~*~*~*~
Bob was packing when Alric came back in.
“What are you doing?” Alric demanded.
“Packing. What’s it look like?”
Probably not the best – or smartest – answer he could give, but he was rather excited, and Alric had been a stick-in-the-mud for far too long. He couldn’t help stating the obvious.
“I can see that. Why are you packing?”
“Booked the three of us on a flight to Arizona.”
Alric held onto his patience, but it was a close call. His nostrils flared as he took a deep calming breath.
“You wanna tell me what we’re doing going there. And, Bob?”
“Yeah, boss?”
“Better make it quick. My patience is at an end.”
Bob sighed and turned around. Explaining what he’d done would probably land him in a world of shit, but there was little chance that his random search would spark any kind of interest from the clan. Or anyone else for that matter.
“Look… we’ve taken out how many of these breeding farms? Five? Six? And yet Tala still hasn’t…” His voice trailed off at Alric’s growl. “I ran her fingerprints,” he announced abruptly.
“You what? Have you lost your mind?”
“No. We needed answers and I got them. But relax. The trace didn’t come back with anything. I hit the internet and did a search on her name. Actually came back with a hit too…”
“What?”
“Her name is Tala Highblood, Alric.”
Tala Highblood. Regal.
“She had a brother named Hakan.”
Hakan.
“… he was kidnapped.”
Brother. She has a brother.
“… going to Whiteriver… hopefully find some answers…”
Alric shook himself. “What?”
“Haven’t you been listening to me?”
“Of course I was.”
“So we’re going then, right?”
Alric didn’t answer him, but Bob assumed they were. He watched as the vampire walked off towards his and Tala’s room, for once, his step confident, more like the master vampire he’d come to know the last few years. The door clicked shut and Bob returned to his task – packing their belongings and wiping away any trace of their ever having been there.
~*~*~*~*~
I should have known. She is my Consort, I should have known.
Alric crept up onto the bed and curled his body around the girl. The soft rumble began automatically – something he’d long since given up trying to understand – and his lips eased into a half smile when her rigid body relaxed in his arms. He nuzzled into her neck and felt a slight shudder go through her body, felt her head dip to the side.
He tried to resist what she was unconsciously granting him, not wanting to take advantage, but his demon needed some form of connection. And since he wasn’t sleeping with the girl in anything other than the literal sense, this was the only way he could keep himself from taking what was rightfully his and saying to hell with the consequences. That she whimpered “master” once his fangs sunk deep kept him from going further in his need to make her his.
He cringed every time he heard it. Wanted the word stricken from her vocabulary. Blocking it from his mind, Alric supped at her neck for a few moments then reluctantly pulled away. Already his demon was purring contentedly. He licked lovingly at the fresh marks he’d made – marks that would fade with the sunrise – and leaned back so that he could look at Tala’s face.
Her eyes were closed and she was panting slightly. Not because he’d hurt her, but because she couldn’t help but be affected by her Claimant, even with the withdrawn state she was in. It was his hope that by doing this, continuing to strengthen their bond through blood, she would return to him.
The news Bob had given him could only help his cause and found he couldn’t actually fault the man from going against his wishes and doing what he’d done. At some point, he had to trust when his employee said he could do something. He only hoped it wasn’t misplaced.
“Tala?”
As he lay on his side facing her, he trailed one hand over her face until she finally opened her eyes and looked at him. There was no more recognition than before, but he hoped that by mentioning her brother’s name he’d get some type of reaction.
He did, but it wasn’t what he expected. He murmured her brother’s name and watched, shocked, as her eyes filled with tears and eventually spilled over onto her face. Her body didn’t move, which made her anguish more apparent in his eyes. The constant dull ache of his Consort that resided somewhere in the vicinity of his unbeating heart became a howling pain of grief and he couldn’t prevent the harsh growl of outrage on her behalf.
Unable to bear looking at her tears any longer, Alric drew her close and practically lay on top of her and he once more struck up his soothing rumble. It took almost an hour before he noticed her breathing even out and he felt her body relax back into the mattress – a sign that she’d drifted off to sleep.
Careful not to wake her, he climbed from bed and began cramming their clothes into the four suitcases tucked away in his room, mindful to leave out a set of clothing for Tala to wear. When that was finished, he started on his weapons, loading them into a crate for easier shipping to the States. Nestled amidst all the paraphernalia was his beloved katana – something he hated being parted with, but given the lack of the clan’s clout and their much easier means of flitting about the globe, knew was necessary.
He closed the crate and locked it, hefted it onto his shoulder and left the bedroom. Bob was on his way out the door with two suitcases, one held in either hand. He set the crate near the door and went to retrieve the rest of the stuff from the bedroom.
Finally, everything was loaded into the car, leaving Alric with the job of dressing his Consort. Ten minutes later, with Tala bundled into a Down coat and rugged snow boots over her warm-weather clothes, Alric carried the girl out of the small cottage that had been their home for the last week.
Bob held the door open for him, making it easier for him to climb into the back seat without relinquishing his hold on Tala. Alric settled her beside him as Bob shut the door and hurried around to the driver’s seat.
It was an hour’s drive to the airport and Alric spent the time silently brooding, one arm wrapped around Tala’s shoulder.
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