Chapter 18
**
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Previously:
“Xander, why don’t you take Spike and go and pick up some dinner for us all?” Penny suggested, hoping to defuse the volatile nature of the situation. She didn’t know if Angel was worth saving, but the psychologist in her had to try.
**
Angel narrowed his eyes in distaste at the obvious camaraderie between the other vampire and the boy that had thrived on making his life in Sunnydale a misery. He was having enough trouble dealing with that little alteration to all-things-being-as-they-should-be on its own, he seriously didn’t need everything else that they’d thrown at him.
On some level Angel realised that he was jealous over the display of control the younger vampire had displayed. Even with his soul, he knew he didn’t have that degree of ability, but he tried desperately to quash the disquieting thought with his ever faithful ‘Spike is evil’.
“Why are we wasting time with this loser? It’s not like you’ll ever get him to admit that he’s wrong.” Dawn had never felt the need to disguise her animosity towards Angel. She didn’t like him and she wasn’t opposed to sharing that opinion.
“Dawn,” Joyce gently admonished her daughter. The vampire had not answered Penny’s question yet. Joyce was prepared to wait, regardless of the fact that she tended to agree with her youngest.
Angel released a deep and heartfelt sigh. “Look, I don’t understand what is going on here. Can somebody please explain it to me?” Angel looked around the room, attempting to gain back some control. “Starting with Spike.”
“Not your concern, Angel,” Buffy told him coldly. She felt like she’d been on an emotional roller coaster for days, but the one thing that she was absolutely certain of was Spike. His actions on her mother’s behalf had guaranteed him her loyalty; he had offered himself in place of another. Even if she didn’t take what Penny had said into account, Spike had proved his worth.
“Buffy…”
“No.” Buffy cut Angel off sharply. “Spike and Sunnydale are none of your business. I will not discuss Spike with you. If you want to know why you have no place here, or how you’ve been going about the whole redemption thing wrong, then fine. Anything having to do with me or Sunnydale is off limits; especially the butting of your nose into my life bit. Get over that little habit, Angel. It’s seriously pissing me off.”
“Fine, if you don’t want to act like an adult, that’s up to you.” Angel believed that if he got Buffy angry, she would be more likely to give him the information he wanted.
“This coming from an individual with over 270 years of life experience that falls in love with the heart of a fifteen year old child sucking a lolly pop the first time that he sees her from afar,” Penny’s mocking comment was out before she had time to think. He really did make it hard to want to help him. Taking in the stunned fish impression, Penny persevered with her offer to help, telling herself over and over, ‘don’t bring personal feelings into it’.
“I will make this offer once, Angel. You, Cordelia, Wesley, and I will go somewhere to talk. With the help of Cordelia and Wesley, I will attempt to help you understand what is happening. There is a possibility that you can make the changes that you need to make before it’s too late, but the people from Sunnydale have their own baddies to fight and you are delaying them by being here. Your path is different from theirs, and you need to spend more time worrying about that. The choice is yours.”
“We’ll want privacy,” Wesley stated firmly. The future that Penny had described to them over the phone, had not been a pleasant one. He, for one, wanted to gain as much knowledge as possible from this ill-advised trip
Cordelia also wanted to get this over and done with. Who knew who she could run into in this godforsaken town? “Say goodbye, Angel, and let’s get this over with,” she ordered the brooding vampire. With a toss of her hair, she headed in the direction of the door. It was clear that Queen C wasn’t expecting an argument.
Penny made a quick note on a spare piece of paper and thrust it at Giles. “I’ll just leave that with you.”
Grabbing Angel’s arm, Penny steered him towards the exit. Pleading brown eyes stared back at implacable green that seemed to be saying goodbye with hard and cold finality. There would be no changing her mind this time.
~*~*~
“Is it hard for you?”
“Is what hard for me, mate?” Spike asked, curious as to what the young man was referring to. Spike was surprised to discover that his demon hungered for a friendship with Harris. Even as a human, he had never really been treated as an equal by another male. He was so overwhelmed by the feeling of euphoria at having this type of a bond that he silently vowed with all his power to ensure their relationship continued.
Xander considered the vampire before he quietly rephrased his question, “Is it hard to control the demon?”
“Some times are harder than others,” Spike softly tried to explain to the carpenter, ever mindful of the fact that they were in a public place. He decided to use an analogy that would best describe his mental battles over control, but remain fairly basic to ensure easier comprehension. “You ever seen those cartoons were the main character has an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other and both of them are whisperin’ in the poor bloke’s ear?”
“Yeah?” Xander was pretty sure it wasn’t that easy, there had to be more to it than that, so he waited for the vampire to continue. He didn’t have to wait too long.
“Well, imagine that’s what I’ve got, but instead of being little buggers that sit on my shoulders, they’re the same size as I am. I’m the one steerin’ the ship and most of the time they just sit back and enjoy the ride, but sometimes either one of ‘em or both’ll try to take over and I have to hold them off. You get what I’m sayin’?”
Xander appeared momentarily lost in thought, clearly trying to process the concept. “So you have to like keep the ship on course and at the same time keep an eye out for a possible mutiny?”
Spike eagerly nodded his head in excited agreement and grinned at the boy. “Bloody good job, Harris; that’s it exactly!”
~*~*~
Riley watched Spike and Xander from the shadows of the alley across the street from the Chinese restaurant. His eyes narrowed. He was getting more disgusted by the minute. Xander seemed to be having a real conversation with the vampire and actually seemed to be interested in what the murderous demon was saying to him. This was not good; it didn’t bode well for Riley’s plan of enlisting the dark haired carpenter to his cause.
Riley wished he could get could get closer to the two, maybe hear what they were saying, but he couldn’t see any cover that would allow that. He also couldn’t imagine any scenario that included listening to a vampire with actual interest. He was deeply disappointed in Xander.
“Oh well, guess it’s time to come up with a new plan,” he told himself resolutely. Suddenly a hand wrapped tightly around his throat and he felt himself being dragged further back into the alley, Riley’s mind went blank as the fangs pierced his neck, and when he felt the blood being drained from his body, his last conscious thought was, ‘this is Buffy’s fault’.