[Reviews - 318]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 1263 times

- Text Size +




50. The Day After


Monday arrived far too soon, and Buffy dragged herself to the gallery in a daze, grateful that she didn’t HAVE to report to her other office if she didn’t want to.

She wasn’t sure anymore why she was doing anything. Wasn’t sure whether it was all worth it, or whether she should just let the waves break over her until they dragged her down. But Dawn was her responsibility now, and she couldn’t let despair take over her life. The teen needed her – needed something stable in her life- but it was killing Buffy that she dared not share the weekend’s events with the girl who was as fast becoming like a little sister to her. It was obvious to her that Dawn still idolized Spike, and she didn’t want to shatter the child’s innocent faith that just because he’d been good to her, that meant that he was a good man.

Still that didn’t mean that she was ever going to let him near Dawn unsupervised again. She’d come up with some excuse to put him off if he ever dared trying to see Dawn again. She didn’t really want to, but she was saving the threat of bringing him up on charges. That should get him to back off if nothing else did.

Work dragged on, but she couldn’t get into it. She still had plenty of new acquisitions to research and restore, and put up for sale. Today it seemed boring. Like something she couldn’t imagine spending every day of her life doing. But the idea of facing Giles and her friends at the Agency was even worse.

It didn’t help when two dozen white roses arrived with a note from Spike. She didn’t even bother to read it. Just threw everything in the trash.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone rang.

“How are you feeling, Buffy?” Fred’s too cheerful voice was glaring in its intensity. If the woman herself wasn’t so inoffensive, Buffy might have taken exception. As it was, she let it go.

“The good news is, you’ve got a clean bill of health. As long as the AIDS test checks out, I think you can assume that you’re perfectly fine. Physically, that is. Have you made an appointment to speak with Tara?”

“No,” Buffy coughed. She wasn’t sure yet just what she was going to tell Tara. Like Dawn, Tara thought of Thorndale as a friend. But Tara was a grown woman, she didn’t need to be protected from the truth.

On the other hand, Tara had been William’s friend before she even met Buffy. Would even Tara believe her story? Buffy was beginning to doubt herself her own interpretation of events. Maybe she really had just gotten drunk and let things go a little too far. Buffy really hoped that the doctor was about to give her the proof that she needed before she said anything about Spike to Tara.

“Well, that’s the good news.” Fred continued. “Not so good news is, there was no trace of the toxin used. That happens sometimes, like I said. Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen the way you say it did. Doesn’t mean there was no coercive agent involved, it just means we weren’t fast enough to catch it.”

“So there’s no proof then.” Buffy replied woodenly. “If I were to take him to court, it would be my word against his. And that’s all. No physical evidence of any kind?”

“Well, if there’s no drug, the physical evidence doesn’t really matter. All that has to happen is that he admits to having sex with you, but claims it was consensual. After that, any physical evidence you can bring forth can be countered by the objection that it was your choice. But I’m not a lawyer, Buffy, you shouldn’t take just my advice on these matters. I suggest that you go find a counselor to talk to about it. If you don’t want to talk to Tara, there are plenty of others out there. After you’re feeling a little bit better, you might want to talk to a lawyer too. Decide what you want to do. Too many of these cases go unreported, and that just leaves men free to prey on other women. But it’s your call, Buffy. You need to do what your conscience tells you to do. But you shouldn’t decide these things on your own. You need someone to talk to. If you don’t want to go to a professional, then try a friend.”

“All right,” she lied. She was getting much better the more she did it. “Thanks for everything, Fred. And I will think about everything that you said.”

~ * ~

After a day’s worth of sleep and a chance to shower and change into some of Angelus’s spare clothes, Warren felt more human again. Who would have thought that the drug would have such a kick to it? Still, he was glad that Angelus had allowed him to sleep off the rest of the drug’s affects before the questioning began.

Warren wasn’t entirely sure whether his ‘rescue’ by Angelus O’Connor was a good thing or a bad thing. So far at least the man had been nothing but hospitable. Still, he wasn’t sure how his other employer would react to his new associate. At least he and Angelus had one thing in common – they all hated William Thorndale. Idly he wondered if he might not be able to broker a new, much more powerful Trioka. Jonathan and Andrew had always been worthless. But Angelus might be a good ally to have. He couldn’t fool himself enough to believe that he would be the leader in this new partnership, but there were good sides to that. Besides, once he started seeing profits from his invention, the power would even up a little.

“So, you gonna tell me what you got against Thorndale?” Warren startled as Angelus interrupted his stream of thought. He wasn’t used to being interrupted while he was thinking – neither Jonathan or Andrew would have dared.

“I thought that was obvious,” Warren snapped. “He’s the one that did this to me.”

“No, Warren,” Angelus explained quietly. “I mean before that. You had to do something to piss him off, right? He didn’t just decide to set you up like that because he felt like it.”

“I don’t know. Noting specific I guess,” he lied. It was easy to come up with excuses to hate Thorndale. “I just don’t like the guy. It’s all so easy for him. He loses Drusilla right, well, its not like she’s the only fish in the sea, you know. No offense. First he gets all morose about it – and then he decides he’s gonna drink and sleep away his sorrows. So he goes out for a shot or two, and every single goddamn night he comes home with a different woman. Easy as sin for him. And the funny thing is, he doesn’t even care. Doesn’t even remember their names in morning. Doesn’t even fucking talk to any of them – but has me or Jonathan take them home while he fritters off to work to sleep it off at the office until it’s time for him to go out and pick up another trollop.”

“I’m sensing that it is not the mistreatment of women that you are concerned with, but your own jealousy at his success in doing so,” Angelus pontificated. “Am I correct?”

“Well, it doesn’t help that he treated them all like dirt, but I could live with that. It was kind of funny in a way. They’d be all like, ‘tell him to call me,’ and we’d know that that was never, ever going to happen. Then one night he came home with the wrong girl.”

Angelus was sharp enough that he wasn’t buying it. Warren was going to have to tell him at least part of the truth.

“That’s when I lost it. He brought home my Katrina. We’d dated for a long time, and then she just suddenly dropped me cold. Next thing I know, there I am looking at her unmentionables in Thorndale’s bedroom. The stupid bitch didn’t want me, but she let that piece of crap pick her up for a one night stand?”

“So what did you do?” Angelus was very quiet. He knew enough to let the boy have his say. Knowledge was power. And he was listening to this tale very carefully.

“To Thorndale? Nothing. Not then. He never even knew I’d known her.” Warren clearly remembered what had happened between him and his ex-girlfriend. It was a morning that had changed all of their lives forever.

If Angelus picked up on what hadn’t been said, he didn’t ask. Another thought had occurred to him. “How did your miracle drug fit into all this?”

“It didn’t.”

Angelus wasn’t convinced, but let it go. There was something else he wanted to know more. “Did you really invent the stuff?”

Was he better off to admit the truth? Angelus probably wasn’t as easy to fool as Thorndale had been. Plus, he was less likely to care. “Nah, not really. One of the chemists at the lab came up with it. Guy named Knox. But he won’t be complaining about the patent.”

Interesting. That made two unexplained loose ends. Not that he was going to question Warren too closely about either of them so early in their relationship. There would be time enough for that later, if he needed a hold over Warren.

“So, how long ago did all this happen? I’d like to know that there won’t be any trouble.”

Warren remembered each day. Each moment. Knox had been first, but Katrina had had special meaning for him. He still regretted the way things had turned out. But he wasn’t about to admit that. “About five years ago. Few months after Dru left the house.”

Angelus whistled. That was unusual. “So, you waited all this time to get your revenge?” That was surprising to Angelus. Patience was an uncommon virtue.

“There’s an old Klingon saying about revenge, perhaps you’ve heard it?”

God, the boy really was pathetic if he talked about Klingons as if they really existed. Numbly, Angelus shook his head no. Even if he had seen a few movies, he would never admit it to this loser.

“Revenge is a dish best served cold.” At Angelus’s blank look he elaborated. “I’ve been waiting for just the right sort of revenge. I needed the right opportunity to present itself. Not that I didn’t have a good back up plan. But I needed to find the right moment, the right girl, so that my revenge would be even more devastating than what he did to me.”

“And was it? Was it worth the wait?”

“Oh yeah. I waited until the moment when he thought that he was gonna have everything he ever wanted. The very moment when he was most vulnerable, and then watched while it all fell apart around him. He won’t forget this as quickly as he forgot my Katrina’s face. He won’t forget this for a long time. And the best part – it’s not even over yet. I’ve crushed him, stolen the one thing he desired above all else, just as he stole my Katrina from me. Now I’m gonna let him watch while what he’s done destroys the two people he loves most in the world,” Warren crowed as he fingered the small diskette still safe in his pocket. “It’s justice, pure and simple.”

“Thought this was just about some girl.”

“Two girls, actually, not counting my Katrina, who’s beyond revenge now. And really, why not destroy the man utterly? He certainly deserves it. And he’s made it so easy.”

“Good thinking, I suppose. You have a plan to do this?”

“Oh, it’s more than a plan. It’s already started. Gonna go pretty much the same way as my revenge on Thorndale. See, right now the girls, they’re all happy and secure, well, for the most part anyway. When the axe falls, its gonna fall on both of them. Hard. Buffy won’t know what hit her.”

“Summers?”

“I thought you knew. Spike’s girl – that’s your former, Buffy Summers. Heard a bit about that, earlier. Spike never could stand to be silent when he had an audience, you know. When we’re done, Thorndale’s gonna moan the day he was born.”

Angelus wasn’t born yesterday, and he didn’t miss a trick. And he wasn’t about to just let this one go. He narrowed his eyes and prodded the youth. “Who’s this ‘we’? Is there someone else involved in all this you’ve been plotting then?”

“I think that you two are really gonna like one another. You think the same way, and you have common foes. I’ll introduce you if you like. He’s a very influential and powerful man.”

“Really? More powerful than me?” Angelus didn’t like the sound of that.

“Yes,” Warren replied honestly. “Does that bother you? He’s one of the most powerful men around as a matter of fact. But he doesn’t have anything near the kind of money that you do. Or if he does, he’s afraid to show it.”

“And what does he have against Thorndale? Or Buffy for that matter?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him.” If he had the nerve to say that to his face. “Maybe I’ll ask, see if he wants I should set up a meeting.”

“Why don’t you do that,” Angelus purred. Warren was starting to catch on. Angelus was at his most dangerous when he was being quiet. “I’d like to meet this man whom you claim is more powerful than me. By the way, whatever happened to your girl, Katrina?”

“It ended badly, as these things usually do. She’s not around any more.”

“Ah, that’s a shame really. The love of a good woman does such wonders for a man. You can’t even imagine how much Drusilla’s coming back has meant to me. But not nearly as much as seeing Spike laid low. I think you were right for once, and I’ll admit I was wrong. I think that you are going to be very useful to me. And I am good to the people who help me. I think that you’ll find that I can be a very rewarding boss, Warren. Whatever or whoever you want, just be sure you let me know.”

Warren grinned his acquiesce. “Sure thing partner. I think things will work out beautifully between us. And once the three of us get together, we’ll have a triumvirate that is unstoppable. A new Trioka. This, this is gonna be great.”





You must login (register) to review.