Chapter 4
The stuffy room began to get darker and Cornelius felt his head droop, until he nodded off altogether and jumped with a wide-awake start.
If Darla caught him napping, well who knows what she’d do…sitting up he accidentally knocked the scroll onto the floor, completely unrolling it, and much to a sudden jolt of pleasure, the other ‘spindle’ at the end of the scroll was what looked like a spiral horn…glancing at Dru to check she hadn’t seen what had happened, he quickly he put the horn in his pocket, and began to scribble onto the pad. If he could only get Dru to talk…
“Dru…hey, Dru…could you get me some water please”
“Hmm – wha-what – oh! I um…” realising she’d fallen asleep and wasn’t doing the job Darla asked her to, Dru quickly sat up and rubbed her face.
“Grandmum said I was to watch you, not nursemaid you!”
“But I’m thirsty I want some water…I’d get it myself but I don’t know where to get it”
“Taps there, no tricks”
“Course not…” Cornelius went to the tap, turned it on and cupped his hands and drank a few mouthfuls, then turned it off.
“So, this um…this big silver fish sounds like fun, then eh?”
Dru grinned maniacally and clapped her hands
“Oh yes, and with Daddy back we can have games and make pretty colours and it will be a happy time!”
“Um yes…so…have you seen this big fish thing – how big is it do you reckon?”
“Big as a house- bigger – big enough to swallow the world!” Dru said dreamily weaving back and forth on the chair
“Really that big eh…? Um…wow!”
“Grandmum says that when the horn is in place and the rite said, the new world will be all ours!”
“Really! That does sound like fun…well, better get on, don’t want her cross with me, now do we?” Cornelius joked, but Dru was off on one of her daydreams…
Cornelius knew he had to be clever now…right, what had he got that was fact, big silver fish, named Agromanth, horn, swallow the world when the horn was in place………now things he could guess at…well for one, they needed to be by water………and he’d translated enough Latin and Sumerian texts to know what the average ritual entailed – the beast itself, a host so said beast could manifest itself on the earth plane and some spoken word…
************
“Tut…you’d think they’d have the decency to keep it down up there…I thought Buffy said she was tired anyway” Wesley groused, looking at the ceiling
Giles being Giles was doing his best to ignore it, and secretly Gunn thought if he’d got a pretty wife like Buffy, then hopefully he’d be doing what Spike was doing to make her holler like that………
“Oh this is ridiculous! – I can’t concentrate with all THAT going on!” Wesley logged off Harmony’s computer, sat back, yawned and stretched.
Giles too sat back from his laptop, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
“Um guys…I’ve just had a thought…you don’t think they’ve taken him to Persia – I mean Iran for this thing, do you?” Gunn asked, he was still typing away.
“I shouldn’t think so, I looked up unicorns, horns and legends thereof – got the same old about a unicorn can only be tamed by a virgin and what have you – “
“Oh dear lord, how STUPID am I not to have thought of this earlier!” Giles said, suddenly springing to life and opening his laptop again
“What is it Giles?”
“Yeah man, like what gives?”
“It’s a Narwhal!”
“Excuse me?”
“Of course!” Wesley said
“Well, would somebody like to enlighten me as to what a – what did you say?” Gunn asked and Wesley said,
“A narwhal is a sea-creature – a type of whale, the males have a long tusk like horn projection from their foreheads – unscrupulous fishermen used to catch them, get the horns and then they’d sell them to gullible people – quacks – doctors – alchemists and apothecaries as unicorn horn – it was made into all manner of potions and stuff – it was claimed that it could cure anything from toothache to the plague!”
“Right…thanks”
“YES! Giles shouted triumphantly, and Wesley and Gunn got up and stood behind him
“Found the legend – hmm, okay give Spike his due, it’s pretty much how he told it…it refers to the horn as it’s eye in some parts…Argentumuth – silver mouth, but it’s our beastie alright!”
“Good work old man…now all we have to do is to find Angel” Wesley patted Giles’ shoulder. Gunn yawned and started off a chain-reaction with the other two.
“I think we can call it a night now – what’s the time…hmm, just gone three – and thank goodness it’s gone quiet up there now” Giles closed his laptop again, and all three men retired to their beds.
****************
Cornelius was scribbling away ten to the dozen, oblivious of what was going on around him. After half an hour of writing, scribbling out and re-writing, he was satisfied with what he’d made up. He read through what he’d done…
‘Agromanth – Oh great silver one, I am your servant…hmm, better make that
humble servant…right, I am your humble servant, I call upon you to be re-united with what is rightfully yours – be at one again and wreak your vengeance on this pitiful world as you will – I ask in the name of Beelzebub– and all that is unholy’ yeah – that’ll do
He had a big grin on his face and he looked up at Dru. She was playing with a doll as would a child, talking to it and holding to her ear to hear replies…
“What’s that you say Miss Edith? You are SO naughty! No cake for tea for you now – whispering lies about my Spike – he WILL come back to me one day – he must! You shall be locked in the dark box as punishment…”
Cornelius frowned – and thought how that dark haired bit – boy was she a Looney tunes or what!
The curtain swished back and Darla saw Dru standing by their clothes trunk with the key in her hand, she had a huge maniacal smile on her face
“Dru…Dru…DRU!”
“Oh, sorry gran- um Darla!”
“What’s all this about Spike?” Dru knew she’d better not tell Darla about what Miss Edith just said because she’d be cross with her so she said,
“I was thinking it would have been nice for my Spike to come and play with us too – with daddy – be a happy family again”
Darla was already not listening to her ramblings and she went straight up to Cornelius
“Well?” she asked sharply
Cornelius smiled
“All done – there you go”
Darla snatched up the pad that Cornelius had made up the rite on and a slow smile began to creep on her face as she read. When she’d finished reading she looked at the back of the page but saw it was blank.
“Well – where’s what we do – where do we get the horn?”
“Patience…now close your eyes”
“What - don’t be ridiculous!” Darla glared at the grinning idiot
“Just do as I say!” Cornelius was still smiling
“Oh f…right, they’re closed, NOW what?”
“Hold out your hand…KEEP your eyes closed”
“This BETTER not be a – oh!” Carefully Cornelius put the horn in her hand
“There, you can open them now!”
Darla blinked and looked, and then she smiled
“Is this the horn – where did you get it?”
“Well I tell you, it wasn’t easy – I had to translate a fiendishly difficult riddle – then say a spell – and then Ta-da! It appeared out of thin air!”
Darla raised a brow – she didn’t believe him of course – but then she didn’t see what he’d done so…
“Can I eat now, please, I’m starving!”
“Hold on, so I’ve got the rite to say, and I’ve got the horn, so what do I do with it?”
Cornelius felt like saying ‘stick it up our ass’ – he was getting faintly annoyed with this vampiress now…
“Well I suppose when you say the rite hold out the horn and the beastie will do what’s necessary!”
“Are you sure?”
“What – well no, yes, look, not having done the ritual before I wouldn’t know, would I – what do you want to do, throw it a couple of sardines or something first?” Realising he’d gone a little too far with the sarcasm, he also realised that he’d have to stick it out with the bravado now…
Darla smiled and decided to let it pass, she had what she wanted, now all she had to do was turn Angel back to Angelus.
“Darling boy, go feed, you deserve it”
Without another word as he was ravenous, Cornelius dived for the corpse and sank his fangs into its neck, he had his back to Darla, and she said
“And you also need to learn that you never, EVER raise your voice to me!”
“Wha-what?” Cornelius tried to turn his head to look at Darla, but it wasn’t easy as he had his fangs in the corpse’s neck…
Darla bought the horn down into the vamps back, and it easily went straight into him
“AAAARRRRRHHHHHHGGGGGG” Cornelius arched his back and exploded in a cloud of dust. Darla, without a trace of emotion wafted the air with her hand and picked up the rite again. Dru appeared from behind the draped fabric curtain and asked
“Do you want some tea, gran – um, Darla?”
“Please Dru”
“What about Cornelius?”
“Oh him – don’t worry about him…he had to go”
“Oh, okay then”
*******************
“Hmm, Northwest Territories you say?” Giles asked, biting into a slice of toast
“Um, uh huh, he usually stays at a place called Fort Norman – the Great Bear Lake would be favourite for the ritual to take place I reckon” Wesley said
Gunn wandered in and poured himself coffee; there was no sign of Buffy and Spike.
“Morning”
“Morning Gunn, I was just telling Giles how Angel likes to stay at Fort Norman”
“Yeah... I’ve been thinking of that, um…you don’t think…”
“What, don’t think what?”
“Well, how did they know where to find him – I mean, it’s a bit off the beaten track – he could be anywhere in the world, and they pin-point him exactly. Do you think he’s met them there before or something?” Gunn asked
“Nothing so sinister – I was wondering that myself, it seemed too coincidental, and I asked Harmony…she told them” Wesley said.
“She did?”
“Yup…Darla phoned, wanted to speak to Angel, she told them he was on vacation, Darla asked where, she told them”
“Stupid girl” Just as Gunn said that, Harmony walked into the office, and they all looked at her
“What, have I got a mark on my face or something?”
“No Harmony…we were just thinking what a stupid – oh, never mind, it doesn’t matter”
Wesley decided against telling her what they thought of her, if they all had to go out, somebody had to hold the fort at Wolfram and Hart, because Cordelia wouldn’t thank them for leaving her on her own if Harmony threw a wobbly at them all thinking she was stupid………
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