I guess I'll be all right as long as there's a lending library.’
Stephen King
The demon’s lifeless body flew across the room before sliding to a halt atop the polished red and white tiles. The clatter of heels on marble heralded the entrance of a pair of brand new, stylish and rather expensive boots. Their owner stalked into the dark room until she reached the dead centre. She stood there, legs astride, arms folded, a murderous expression on her face as she glared at the frail warlock seated before her.
“Ahh. Miss Summers,” Vail gasped, “did you kill all of my guards?”
“Oops. Were they your guards?” Buffy smirked. “Funny, ‘cos they were so friendly and welcoming, I thought they were the reception committee. Up until one of them spilt some of his icky demon blood on my new leather pants. So not cool. I had to reprimand him for that, and then his two buddies got involved so… yeah… there was a thing and next thing you know, dead demons! I mean guards. My bad!”
“I should have given them the day off,” Vail sighed as he adjusted his oxygen line.
“Yeah well. You live and learn,” Buffy shrugged. “So, let’s cut to the chase. You’ve got something of mine and I want it back,” she growled menacingly.
“Now, now, now Miss Summers let’s not be like this. If you are referring to this interesting artifact…” Vail paused as he lifted up his frail arm. Light danced along his palm and the amulet shimmered into view, dangling from his gnarled fingers. “Then you are sadly mistaken. The amulet belongs to me I assure you, and I’m not in the habit of relinquishing my property willingly.”
Buffy shrugged, grinning as she stepped forward, preparing to snatch the disc out of the old demon’s bony red hand. “Yeah, well you know what they say about possession being…” She frowned as she slammed into a solid barrier and rebounded backwards two steps.
“You may be the Slayer, my dear,” Vail cackled breathily, “but your strengths have little value here. My house, my rules! Home team advantage, as they say.” He snorted spitefully as the amulet disappeared, then grunted as he flicked his wrist towards Buffy. She was instantly flung across the room like a discarded rag doll. Her back slammed into the wall and she slid dazedly to the floor.
Frantically Buffy scrambled up, her hand straying automatically to her abdomen. Her back was a bit stiff but otherwise she seemed fine. Still she’d have to be more careful from now on. Time to play hardball.
“Well that was a bit ungracious Mr Vail. No wonder you don’t get many guests in this dingy old place if that’s the way you’re gonna treat them,” Buffy snarked as she dusted off her leather pants and sauntered back over to the warlock’s throne. “Still that’s okay ‘cos I invited over some friends of my own. Hope you don’t mind, but the more the merrier, as they say.”
With that Buffy stuck her index finger and thumb in her mouth and emitted an ear-piercing whistle. Footsteps echoed in the hallway, then in strolled Angel, Wesley, Giles, Faith, Willow, Xander, Kennedy, Rowan and Oz. They took up places behind and to either side of her, Angel and Wes to her left, Giles and Willow to her right and stood there menacingly.
“Ah, such interesting company you keep my dear Miss Summers. Quite a mixed bag you have here and powerful too. Mr Giles, ” Vail inclined his head in the watcher’s direction, “I see you’ve been busy refashioning that archaic old organization you used to hold so dear, into something more… post-modern, shall we say. I wonder what old Quentin would think of such an eclectic band of merry men?” In reply, Giles merely lifted one eyebrow sardonically.
The warlock quivered and his eyes gleamed as he turned to Willow. “Well, well my dear Miss Rosenberg. This is truly an honour. Yes, I can feel your power from here.” He rubbed his hands together covetously. “The question is to what ends will you use all that delicious power? You’ve crossed that line before dear; you know how seductive it can be. Just drop me a line if you’re interested, and I could hook you up with some of the best dark practitioners in the business.”
While Vail continued to stare at her calculatingly, Willow clenched her fists by her sides and gritted her teeth. She dropped her head down and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. Slowly she lifted her head back up then opened her eyes. Looking Vail directly in the eye, she paused then smiled at him disarmingly. “Thanks, but don’t hold your breath.”
Vail scowled momentarily but quickly gathered his wits before moving his gaze upon Angel. “Ah, the new CEO of our local branch of Wolfram and Hart. It’s fascinating to see you here Angel, although I must wonder whose interests you’re representing at the moment.” The vampire scowled at him, but said nothing.
“I was expecting our paths to cross shortly anyway; this is just a little earlier than I had planned. But where are my manners? Welcome Angel. It’s wonderful to meet you. It’s always important to connect with influential business associates. Networking, you know!” He shrugged self- deprecatingly.
Angel took a step forward. “You’re no business associate of mine Vail,” he growled through clenched teeth. “But while we’re the subject of business, I think I’m entitled to dispute ownership of that amulet you’re claiming. I believe Wolfram and Hart purchased the charm from you several months ago. We would be happy to pay a recovery fee to offset the expenses involved in finding it,” he offered bluntly.
“Oh, ho! Good try Angel. But you won’t get it that easily. The payment was a service fee only; use of the amulet, not it’s outright purchase. The artifact itself, quite beyond it’s mystical properties, is priceless. There is no way I’d consider letting go of it for the paltry sum I was paid.”
“So the extremely large payment you received three weeks ago was unrelated to this matter?” Wes enquired.
“Ahh, one of your minions Angel?” Vail sneered in Wes’ direction. “Look of an ex-watcher about him too if I’m not mistaken.” The sorcerer dismissed Wes to turn back to Angel. “No, that particular payment was for a quite different matter altogether. Something quite memorable you might say, although some people would have no memory of it at all. It could be very awkward if the wrong people were to suddenly remember things best left forgotten.”
Angel froze as Vail’s gaze bored through him. The evil old wizard licked his thin lips and rubbed his hands together, cackling with glee at the tension he could see in the vampire’s eyes. Nevertheless Angel played it cool. Taking an unneeded breath to calm himself, he stood his ground.
“Is that a threat Vail?” he asked quietly.
The sorcerer just smiled thinly; content to take the points he’d just scored.
“Ahem, excuse me, but aren’t we getting off topic a little bit here?” Buffy tapped her boot impatiently. “I don’t know what you two are going on about, but can we just deal with one issue at a time?”
Vail’s gaze flicked back to the Slayer and he nodded slightly. “I do apologise Miss Summers. Where are my manners? I didn’t even give you a chance to introduce the remainder of your friends.” His eyes darted along the row of people spread out around the back of the room. “Still,” he waved his hand contemptuously, “they appear to be of little importance anyway. A bunch of would-be slayers, curs and nobodies is my guess. Charmed I’m sure,” he added facetiously.
“And so, to business. You wish to acquire an item that is in my possession. I, however, am disinclined to relinquish this item.”
“Well we don’t exactly need to keep the amulet,” Buffy countered disarmingly. “We just need to, er, borrow it for a short time.”
“Yes, I’m sure. You are interested of course in the whereabouts of your associate, the young vampire. No doubt, you are also interested in his safe retrieval.” Vail paused, pursing his lips in consideration as he stroked his chin with one bony finger. “However the problem with that is that I am just as interested in keeping him where he is. Out of harm’s way so to speak.”
Buffy quivered, overflowing with mixed emotions – elation to hear Vail basically confirm that Spike was still alive (well undead) and fury that she couldn’t just snatch the amulet from him right now. The anger won as she went to take a step forward. Wes stilled her with a gentle hand on her arm.
“Why would a warlock be so interested in Spike’s existence? Surely he is of no consequence to you?” he asked calmly.
“I’m not inclined to reveal my secrets to you minion.” Vail stared fiercely at Wes then closed his eyes, seeming to look inwards. When he opened them it was to frown at the Englishman, with something that looked a little like respect, a little like fear. “Hmm, maybe I’ve underestimated you Mr Wyndam-Pryce. It seems our paths may cross in the future and… I am uncertain of the outcome… for either of us!”
Wesley looked confused but quickly rallied himself and pressed on. “Your ability to manipulate and restructure time and reality is well known Mr Vail.” Wes inclined his head graciously, much to the old warlock’s approval before continuing. “Surely this vampire can not concern a sorcerer of your skill and experience.”
“Ah ha ha. You lay it on a little thick dear sir, but still points for your approach. Ah well, I shall concede a little information in return for such geniality. Courtesy after all is to be rewarded.” Vail shuffled around in his seat, adjusting his oxygen line before beginning his explanation.
“Of course I’m sure you all realise that the Senior Partners intended to catch quite a different prize in their mystical little net, a much bigger fish to be sure.” He grinned as he glanced towards Angel who was grinding his teeth in fury. “And if not the granddaddy fish himself, then even the Slayer would have been an acceptable alternative,” Buffy and Giles gasped at this, “affording them suitable bargaining power. However, they had not considered the blonde vampire’s capture. He was of no consequence to them and not regarded as adequate collateral given the enmity that was known to exist between he and Angel. And in any case, an alternative opportunity had since arisen, providing them with all the access to Angel they required.” Vail smirked, delighting in the vampire’s obvious unease.
“They were quite uninterested in young William’s existence I must confess, not even bothered enough to retrieve the amulet from the ruins of Sunnydale. But as I mentioned before, that amulet is priceless and I don’t discard valuable possessions lightly. Its retrieval was of little bother to me. I believe I glimpsed the arrival of these two young ladies,” he waved his arm in the direction of Buffy and Willow, “but was sorry that I couldn’t stay to properly make your acquaintance. Once I returned home, I had to decide what course of action to take.”
“I considered simply releasing the vampire,” he raised his eyebrow at Buffy whose lips were pressed together tightly while her eyes gleamed with moisture, “or even turning him loose in the belly of the beast.” At this he grinned at Angel maliciously. “What a lovely ‘Welcome to the Firm’ gift that would have made. Oh yes, quite delicious. The return of a long lost enemy Angel, bound to your side. Even if one of you didn’t manage to dust the other, it would at least have provided a heady distraction.”
Vail shrugged at Angel’s lack of reaction then continued. “Before I acted, I decided to check out all the possibilities. In line with my temporal abilities, I can often get glimpses, just flashes mind, of potential pathways that lie ahead. Let us just say that I didn’t like the end journey of one of the pathways that began with William’s arrival at Wolfram and Hart; for either myself or my circle of… friends. It left a bad taste in my mouth,” he wheezed loudly before clearing his line again.
“Well in that case I have the perfect solution for you old man,” Buffy bristled, stepping forward again. “I’ll just take the amulet off your hands. Once we’ve released Spike we’ll whip him out of the country, nowhere near Angel, nowhere near Wolfram and Hart. Problem solved, free of charge. And we can get out of your hair.”
“I may have considered that a few weeks ago. But then I found myself wondering why the Slayer was so worked up about finding this little trinket. Why did one vampire merit so much time and effort?”
Buffy flinched slightly; only noticeable to Vail because he was watching her so closely. “He’s a colleague, a friend, a champion; he saved us all,” Buffy avowed.
“Hmm, undoubtedly all true, but still there’s something I’m missing and I pride myself on knowing all the facts.” Vail probed further.
“He is very dear to me,” the Slayer whispered, “I care for him deeply.”
“Closer, I’ll grant but there is still something hidden.” The warlock squinted at Buffy and then at Angel who had been grinding his teeth furiously. He sucked on his lips, intrigued by what lay beneath the surface, before waving his arm dismissively. “Oh well, I suppose we must all have our little secrets. It pays to hold your cards close to your chest in mixed company. But it is this mystery that made me decide to search for any complications in William’s future that could impact on me.”
“And?” Giles asked cautiously. “What did you see?”
“Well it’s not an exact art by any means,” Vail growled, “very tiresome indeed. The future in regards to William the Bloody was veiled to my eyes. Still, I get a feeling…”
While the warlock sat pondering the possibilities, Buffy had casually crept closer to his chair. He looked up just as she grabbed the front of his tunic, yanking his oxygen line out as she jerked him towards her. He gasped, scrambling to reattach the tube while she glared at him.
“As fascinating as this might be, I’m sick of all this talking. I’m more of an action type of girl and I’m ready for action. I want that amulet and I want it now, and just in case you get any funny ideas, I’m not letting go of you until I get it.”
“I don’t think I really care for your attitude Slayer,” Vail wheezed as his yellow eyes flashed with venom. “I believe its time we evened up the playing field, don’t you?”
He flicked his free wrist out to his left and a group of six heavily armed Kith’harn demons appeared, crouched and ready for combat. Then, with a muttered incantation, he froze Buffy in place, still clutching his robe, and re-erected the protective barrier around himself; this time with the Slayer trapped inside alongside him.
“Game on,” he hissed.