For Love of a Wolf: Alric's Story
by SpikesKat
Chapter 21
Spike’s phone rang and he excused himself from the others loitering in the study to answer it.
“Sire?” the voice crackled over the line, more growl than anything else, and even if he’d not had all his other childer accounted for, Spike would have known it was Alric.
His childe’s pain was palpable and Spike’s own voice was equally gruff when he answered. “Alric.”
“I don’t know how much longer I can— It’s— It hurts, Sire,” Alric whined into the phone.
“It’s time to come home, Alric.”
“I can’t.” Alric’s voice was barely a whisper in the phone. “I—”
“Go to Kagoshima. I’ll be there soon. We’ll all be there soon.”
“Sire—”
“Go, Alric,” Spike all but growled into the phone. Added quietly, “Alric, I can’t help you like this. Go home.”
The call disconnected in Spike’s ear, but not before he heard Alric sigh in resignation. His lips turned upward in a half-smile; Alric would be in Japan when the clan arrived.
Spike called Adam and apprised him of Alric’s phone call, that Alric would soon return, and it was okay for him to call Bob and have him resume his duties at Jocelyn’s estate.
“That’s good news, sire.”
Spike hummed his assent into the phone.
“I’ve also got a lead on that Bushlwarknik slave compound,” Adam added.
“Oh? This the last one then?”
“Of its size? Yes. Fancy a spot of violence, Sire?”
Spike could sense Adam’s eagerness and had to laugh. “Let the others there know and meet me at the watcher’s after sunset. We finish this tonight.”
When he returned to the study, Buffy and his childer looked at him enquiringly, having picked up on his mood. Before he had a chance to say anything, however, Joyce interrupted him with a loud exclamation.
“Oh! I swear, Rupert. She gets more active as the day draws near.”
Giles smiled and rested his palm against Joyce’s rounded stomach. Laughed when he felt a tell-tale kick. “That she is, my love,” he agreed. Their hands linked and Giles gave Joyce a reassuring squeeze. “Won’t be long now.”
Less than a month, actually, as Joyce was nearly full term.
It was later that afternoon before Spike had a chance to tell Buffy and the others that Alric had finished up in Germany and was returning home and that Adam had found the Bushlwarknik compound, that they’d be paying it a visit once the others arrived.
~*~*~*~*~
Angel was yanked from the van and then propped between two Prisk’tol demons, bare feet left to scrape along the dirt floor as he was dragged into his cell. There was a clank of metal and a loud creak as the door opened before he was dumped unceremoniously on a narrow cot situated against the far wall.
“Here’s your prize, vampire,” one of the demons laughed, dropping a bag of blood not far from his head. It was unfortunate that Angel was in too much pain to lift his arms to reach it; he was beyond ravenous and cared not that the blood was spiked with a sedative.
He almost hadn’t walked away from this latest fight; it was only the image of Hakan and Nana – the name she’d insisted he use – and what would happen if he were dusted that had given him the strength to persevere and defeat his opponent.
It was only after the two demons’ ringing laughter grew softer and disappeared altogether as they left the underground cellar and made their way back upstairs did he pick up on the sounds of Nana slowly making her way to his side.
“You’re gonna have to open the bag for me, Nana,” Angel told her wearily.
At her lengthy pause, his eyes opened to see the elder woman’s lips pursed with a mixture of concern and disapproval. He sighed, already sensing the coming battle. It was one they had often in the past month. Especially when he was returned to his cage much like he was now – too weak to stand, let alone feed, blood pouring out of his wounds at an alarming rate, cuts and bruises littering his body.
“No,” she told him, then tossed the blood packet in a corner out of reach. “You argue, but it is no good. You will not survive next time.”
“I will…”
“You will not. Think of Hakan. Think what they will do to him. Already they look at him with knowing eyes.”
“What you ask is impossible!” Angel protested. Draining the woman to save himself and the boy was not an option. He refused to sacrifice the woman. They were all getting out of there together; he just had to figure out how.
“Not impossible. Easy.”
“Killing you isn’t easy, dammit,” he hissed, glancing furtively at the small pallet in the corner where Hakan was sleeping. Thankfully, the boy had not awakened from their arguing. “Do you have any idea what this will do to the boy?”
“I am thinking of Hakan. I am an old woman. Even if all three of us managed to escape, I would just slow you down. We would be caught before night’s end. No, this is the only way. You two will escape while they are upstairs celebrating. My blood will give you the strength you need to get free of this cage.”
“Nana—”
“Rest easy…” Nana soothed, petting Angel’s ridged brow with fingers gnarled with age, no longer fearful of his demonic features. “Neither I nor my tribe will bear you ill will for doing this, you have my blood oath.”
Angel could see Nana’s resolve and sighed again, wondering how his soul would survive taking her life. It was his fault he’d dragged the woman with him to free Hakan. If he’d just rescued the boy first they wouldn’t be in this mess.
“… I will have yours in return.”
“Huh?” Angel shook himself out of his reverie.
“You are the boy’s protector. He is in your care as of this moment. Nothing and no one is to come between you until Hakan is of an age that he can care for himself. You will tell the Tribal Council this. That I have chosen you. Your oath, Ana’i.”
Angel closed his eyes. “It is given.”
~*~*~*~*~
Angel gently laid Nana back against the cot and tucked his threadbare blanket up around her shoulders. The elderly woman looked peaceful in death which just made his guilt all that more difficult to bear. He tucked a strand of frazzled gray hair behind her ear, ran a fingertip along her weathered cheek before standing and abruptly turning away.
Already he could feel his wounds start to close over, his bruises fade away, and for the first time in what seemed like ever, Angel was able to suppress his demon. With human blood coursing through his veins, preternatural senses – senses that had grown fuzzy first due to years of living off animal blood and then more recently the drugged blood – sharpened into crystalline clarity. He easily heard the Prisk’tol demons moving about upstairs, and as Nana had predicted, they were well into their celebratory party.
It was now or never, Angel thought, as he moved to the door of his cage and easily yanked it off its hinges. Afterwards, he systematically went from cage to cage and did the same for his fellow prisoners before returning to his own cell to scoop Hakan up into his arms. Humans and demons alike made for the underground exit and what they hoped would be their freedom, and Angel cast one last glance at Nana before melding into the crowd.
His features hardened and he ignored the lingering pain of his half-healed injuries and jogged up the tunnel, eager to put the hell of the last several months behind him. He froze at the exit and let his demon out, needing its heightened senses to aid in his escape. Hakan woke and mumbled his name, and Angel shushed the boy back to sleep; thankfully Hakan snuggled into his chest and did like he asked, allowing Angel to concentrate on the night sounds and figure out which way to go.
Angel started off in a different direction than the others fleeing the compound. Some innate sense told him he had maybe a handful of hours before the sun would be up; spying the barren countryside, he was going to be hard pressed to find someplace to hide before then.
Still, he refused to give up, to waste Nana’s sacrifice.
He would find some place for them to hide.
He would get Hakan reunited with his sister.
Then he would return to this place, take it apart brick by brick when he did; he had a debt to settle with his captors.
~*~*~*~*~
It wasn’t until Angel stopped – the impending sunrise making it necessary – that he realized he had a tail. He tucked Hakan deep into the scrubs then turned around and set out after whoever had followed him.
Angel found her in minutes, relaxing his aggressive stance as he stepped out from his hiding place and spied one of the slave girls he’d released. A demon, though she looked human enough; the poor thing looked as badly off as him.
“What’s your name?”
“Faline.”
“Come on,” he waved her to follow him back where he’d hidden Hakan. He couldn’t save Nana, but he was going to save this girl.
The sun crested the horizon just as he hunkered down in the bushes with Hakan and the girl. He couldn’t believe his luck that he’d encountered what appeared to be a thick copse of trees behind which stood mountains that might have been the Rocky Mountains and gave a passing thought that Doyle’s Powers had had a hand in providing him some sanctuary. A very passing thought. Because if the Powers really had control of his fate, then he’d like to think they could have done better than just provide him a safe haven to ride out the daylight hours.
Something like him freeing Hakan without getting caught, or barring that, making it so that he could escape with both Hakan and Nana.
“I’m going to get some sleep,” he told Faline as he settled himself behind Hakan. “If the boy wakes up, make sure he doesn’t leave the immediate area.”
“Okay.”
Angel closed his eyes, having put his trust in the girl. Though he’d like to think he’d wake up if he sensed any danger. With as weak as he was, he wasn’t quite sure.
~*~*~*~*~
For a week, the three traversed the mountainside, moving in a southward direction, always careful to avoid the few deserted roads they encountered. Angel scrounged for their food, killing an odd rabbit here and there, draining its blood before skinning it and cooking it for Hakan and Faline. He didn’t want to chance going up against bigger game.
While the infusion of Nana’s blood had started his healing, living off barely a pint of animal blood a day had done much to drain Angel of his already depleted strength. A few more days and he’d wind up in the same position he’d been in at the Prisk’tol compound, too weak to take care of himself, let alone his two charges.
The sun finally set and Angel nodded at Hakan and Faline; it was time to set out. The pace was unhurried because of the extreme darkness, though as the trees began to thin out, Angel couldn’t help but lengthen his stride.
He thought he smelled humans in the distance – the scent on the air much different than what he’d come to expect over the last week –and motioned for Faline to stop and wait with Hakan while he checked it out. There were lights far in the distance, and Angel could have wept with relief at what that meant. He staggered down the hill and slowly made his way towards the small town and civilization.
~*~*~*~*~
Angel had to break into a store to steal enough money for them to rent a room in the small town of Augusta, and he silently vowed to come back and make things right for the elderly couple who owned it.
Now with the three of them settled into their motel room, Angel took a moment to sit down and write. He hated involving Spike – the vamp had his own new life to live – but he’d do anything to keep Hakan safe, even throwing himself on the mercy of his grandchilde. He’d given his oath. In his condition, he could barely look after himself, let alone two children.
His hand hovered over the paper, unsure how to open the letter. In the end, he decided on something sure to gain a response.
Most Favored Childe, he wrote, not surprised at how easily the words flowed across the paper. After that, explaining his situation came easy, though he kept the details vague, saying only that he was hurt and had the care of two fellow escapees and wasn’t sure if the demons would still be looking for them. He closed with his plea for urgency and signed his name.
On another sheet of paper, he wrote a brief note to Giles, asking that he deliver his letter to Spike with all possible haste.
The weather worked in his favor, gloomy to match his mood, and he let himself out with instructions that Faline keep an eye on Hakan while he ran to the post office to deliver his letter, that afterwards he’d stop by the convenience store and pick up a few things for them to eat. If he could find a stray animal while he was out, he wouldn’t turn his nose up at it; he was beyond ravenous.
A/N: For those of you that haven't read Lost in Time, or, it's been awhile, you might want to refresh your memory with the Epilogue. We're almost to that timeline with this story and the next chapter will incorporate what happens - without going into too much detail.
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