Musical Wars
Chapter 13
"Can we please get this over with before having to deal with *that* leaves me in need of a drink? Jenny poured the Scotch down the sink, and the local liquor store only carries cheap American swill." Giles pushed in the door to the Magic Box and went immediately to the counter where he dropped several huge rolls of heavy paper and a few thick books.
"Five by five here," Faith agreed. She followed him into the store and disappeared behind a counter. When she came up again, she held a vicious knife and a sharpening stone. She hopped up on the counter, sitting on the top and sharpening her knife with a whip-whorr of metal scraping over stone. Xander noticed all that, but he focused more on Angel, who had followed them into the store and then stood near a display of dried… okay, Xander wasn't going to look to closely at what those were. Beside, the way Angel pressed close to the wall, it he seemed as though he wanted to press into it and disappear. Baby hissed unhappily.
Xander understood what Angel was feeling. Xander had spent most of his high school career trying to find clothing that would blend into the graffiti stained walls of his L.A. high school, and unfortunately, he generally failed. A quick shove from bullies regularly sent him crashing into lockers had taught him to use that body language that screamed, 'not worth your time to hurt me.' It was a cross between looking so hurt already that any further bullying was a little pointless and looking pathetic enough that bullying him didn't earn cool points for the bullies. Angel had that same expression, and Baby growled at master's discomfort. The human made master unhappy. Baby had a very simple solution for what he considered the Giles problem. Xander focused on stopping the growl from actually growling since he didn't really doubt Angel's promise to kill him.
"I suppose it's hard workin' with the vampire who put one of your slayers in a coma and killed another," Spike mused as he passed them all and settled in leaning against a shelf on the other side of the room.
Outside, waiting for Giles to come and unlock the door, Xander had ignored the man beside Spike, but now he couldn't escape the smell the unfamiliar male. He smelled like gunpowder and musk, and Xander had a sudden hatred for all things gun powdery and musky. Looking down at the dull tile floor, Xander ignored Spike with his new pet and Angel's discomfort and his own growing hatred for more than one person in the room. Yeah, way too much stuff to keep track of at once, and Xander had that pop-quiz-coming feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"And you are?" At Giles' words, Xander furtively glanced up as the Watcher pulled off his glasses and polished them as he looked toward Spike.
"Name's Spike."
"Good lord." Xander didn't have time to blink before Giles had pulled a large cross from under his jacket. "William the Bloody. Faith, stake him," he ordered. No one moved.
"Chill out. We have a truce."
"A truce? With a blood-thirsty demon who would like nothing more than to drain us all? If you won't do something, I will." Giles started forward, and Faith jumped down, putting herself in Giles' path.
"He's Xander's William. He doesn't want the world to end any more than we do."
Giles stood, his fury clear even though he stood perfectly still. When he spoke again, he had the perfectly calm tone of absolute certainty. "Your naiveté is both astounding and stupid."
Faith stepped back, blinking in surprise, but she didn't move aside. Giles simply stared at her as she refused to yield.
"Slayer's right, I got no problem with you lot," Spike added, "and you're a little long in the tooth for me, mate. Might go for the little witch, but then Xander'd be put out, so I figure your whole lot is off the menu."
Xander felt a slight twinge of fear for Willow, silently thanking his not-so-lucky stars that she hadn't shown up yet. He could just imagine her hyperventilating at the idea of yet another vampire taking an interest in her. He'd heard the stories of Angelus after Willow used a spell to "cheer him up" and accidentally ripped his soul out. She really didn't need any more vampire admirers.
Spike hadn't even finished before Angel stepped forward. "Threaten her again and I'll dust you, Spike."
"Oi, I'm pointin' out why I wouldn't threaten her. Seems like you're the one who went and murdered her fish." The sarcastic tone made it perfectly clear how he felt about Angelus going after fish, and from his place behind Angel, Xander could see vamp's back twitch.
"Enough," Angel growled.
"Was that before or after ya killed her wolf?" Spike taunted. Angel took a single step forward, his jaw clenched in fury.
"I bet ya didn't even wait for full moon when he had a chance in hell. No, it'd be more your style ta trap him in some corner and—"
"Fuck, not this again," Faith practically yelled. "When I'm the most level-headed person in the room, there's a problem, people," Faith said as she backed up a little more to get between the two vampires while still watching Giles.
"Hey, perfectly responsible adult-type person here," Willow objected as she came in, Tara close behind. The bell over the door jingled merrily, and the suddenly cheerful sound gave Xander an urge to laugh hysterically… not so much with the cheer in this room.
"Jenny said it was full on F-team meeting," Willow said as she stepped up to the counter where Giles had dropped the papers before getting in a staring contest with Spike. She stopped, her eyes darting around the room as she picked up on the hate-vibes.
"Good, you're here. At least now the humans outnumber the vampires," Giles said with terse politeness
"Vampires?" Willow nearly squeaked, "other than Angel vampires?"
"And the G-man is exaggerating again. Only two vamps. The other two are..." Faith paused.
"Human," Angel said tightly. "They may carry a part of a demon, but they are human."
"Whoa, what do you mean part of a demon?" Spike's pet pushed forward, and Xander really looked at him for the first time. Spike had called him Riley, and even thinking the name made Xander want to bite someone. Riley. Big, handsome, stupid muscly-type type. Xander knew he deserved to get replaced, but he couldn't help feeling the cold hatred for the man deep in his stomach. He would have gone fangy and growled, but Baby chose that moment to show an utter lack of interest in growling.
"It's in the blood, mate," Spike answered his pet. "Blood touches blood, but that's not what has the Watcher's knickers in a twist. He's mostly browned off because Angel, the great poof who killed his slayer isn't dust."
"I have a demon?" Riley demanded weakly at the same time that Willow gasped, her fingers searching her purse for a stake, "Vampire?!?!"
"Spike, also known as William, and you'd be Xander's little friend. He says lots of nice things about ya, luv, and he isn't exactly overflowing with love for all things Hellmouth."
"William?" Willow sounded slightly hyperventilaty.
"And that's about it," Faith added. "Only he left out that Giles wanted to attack Spike and Spike has been verbally torturing Angel and Angel continues to growl at Spike and then there's the whole fact that no one is really focusing the demons who are about to open a portal to hell."
Giles coughed. "If the Anointed One is orchestrating this plan, I doubt the Vahrall have the same agenda as the vampire master. Vahrall demons believe self -sacrifice can open a portal to a hell world and return the world to its true master, the pure demons. I find it unbelievable that a vampire would support their activities since pure demons are no more fond of vampires than of humans," Giles backed away, glaring first at Spike and then at Angel for an awkward moment before turning his attention to the stack he'd dropped on the counter. He sorted various scrolls, unrolling them to reveal cramped, tiny writing interrupted by detailed images of various demons.
"Only the Annoyin' One has something up his tiny sleeve," Spike added. "He's got zombies and a Mohra down there. I'm guessing he's either playin' big with the mojo or makin' some pretty big promises." Spike took a step back and leaned against the wall. Xander wanted to just keep looking at him. He wanted to take these minutes to pretend that he hadn't ruined the only good thing in his life by turning to Angel. His mother always told him that he needed to suffer the consequences of his own action. She meant his science grade, but Xander hadn't truly understood suffering consequences until this moment.
He remembered the day he'd sparred with Spike in their basement. Spike had tossed him to the ground again, and then backed off and looked at him with that same intense expression. Part of Xander wanted to pretend Spike didn't have a new pet, pretend that he was still at Spike's side, but instead his eyes slid back to the floor.
He'd thought he felt pain when he thought Spike had died, but being in the same room was a special torture. He should be happy that Spike was still alive... or unalive... whatever, but instead all he could feel was the pain of both loss and rejection. Spike had a new pet, and Xander had Angel.
Xander snorted and Angel shot him a displeased look that made Baby go whimpering back. Oh yeah, once again everyone else sucked the sugary goodness of candy while life had handed him the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Only this time, it was fuzzy, dirty, and covered in cat hair.
Xander glanced sideways at the silently furious vampire beside him and wondered how much it would take to get the vamp homicidally angry. As often as Xander had made his father angry enough to resort to a fist, he should be able to provoke Angel twice as fast. After all, vamps didn't feel much loyalty toward minions. Spike had called them cannon fodder, sent out to die for their masters.
Baby whined and Xander felt himself pushed farther back. He was just so damn tired that he didn't even fight the pressure that forced him into the dim corners of his own mind. Baby came forward and dismissed his plans, his displeasure clear from the throbbing little pain settling in at the back of Xander's head. Baby had a master, and he would live or die to please his master. From a quiet corner of his own brain, Xander pointed out that while they might be able to die to please Angel, neither one of them had much luck pleasing him any other way.
"Whatever the Anointed One has planned, it is imperative that we intercept any attempt to open the Hellmouth," Giles said as he turned to the scrolls. "The scroll says that the demons will need the Word of Valios in order to open the Hellmouth. I simply cannot fathom why the vampires would support opening a portal between here and the Va'alli hell."
"Shortcut to avoid morning traffic?" Willow joked softly, but no one laughed.
"Who cares? We know what they want, so we get it first and then kick demon ass. Simple," Faith said with a shrug. She obviously decided that no one was in any immediate danger of attacking because she went back to the counter, hopping up and returning to sharpening her knife—a wickedly curved silver blade that reflected light from the florescent lights.
"If we knew where to find the Word of Valios, that might work. Since I have no idea where to find it, we start with research. Willow, you have the Tredecim and Attonbitus scrolls. Tara, take Libra Audacter. Faith, maybe you could help me go through the volumes of the Cassus Almus. Those not researching might wish to do something constructive like naffing off so the rest of us can complete our work," Giles finished without looking up from the scrolls.
"I'm not really one for the dusty duty. Why don't I just go along with the boys for some patrol?"
Faith had no sooner suggested it before Giles wheeled around, his eyes so cold and hard that even Baby started reevaluating just how "helpless" this human might truly be.
"I will not have you patrol with Angel *or* Spike. If we must work under some truce, then we will do so safely, which means you will not patrol with them or patrol alone."
"Whoa, chill—" Faith tried to interrupt,
"You have impressive skills, but no more so than Kendra, and Angelus has already shown his ruthlessness in taking advantage of any weakness. Hunting with him would be—" Giles stopped, obviously unable to come up with any words to explain his opinion on Faith hunting with Angel.
"I'm sorry," Angel nearly whispered.
Giles stalked past Faith and straight to Angel, his heavy cross in one hand, and a stake in the other. Baby wanted to both throw himself between master and danger in an attempt to impress master and cringe back in fear. Really, that was pretty lucky since it allowed Xander to keep himself still at Angel's side as the watcher got up in Angel's face.
"If you touch one hair on her head—" Giles didn't raise the stake, but he held the cross so close that Angel had to press back into the wall to avoid being burned.
"I'm here to help," Angel said quietly, and from his side of the room Spike gave a doubtful snort. Shooting a hateful glare in Spike's general direction, Angel started again. "Jenny called me."
That stopped Giles, but he still held the cross close enough that it pinned Angel to the wall. Xander started looking for escape paths, figuring if all else failed, he could just go right over the low shelving with the shrunken heads in bizarre rows.
"Jenny may have forgotten what you are capable of, but I certainly haven't. Kendra was—" Giles stopped, the words choked off into silence. For a long time, he continued to stand, his tweed jacket and glasses and grey hair doing nothing to hide the raw hatred and fury as he held the cross an inch from Angel's hand. Xander could only stand and watch, not even sure what he should do, even if he could get all his various Xander-and-Baby parts organized well enough to actually do anything.
"Giles," Faith called softly from the counter.
"You will take volume one of the Cassus Almus," Giles ordered her without turning around. And then he backed up, his hand still clutching the weapons as he moved back to the counter where he dropped the stake and used a shaking hand to steady himself on the countertop. Suddenly, the fury drained leaving just a sad, sagging man clutching the counter.
"No problem," Faith agreed quietly. Willow had found some interesting spot on the wall while Tara stared at the floor, but Spike watched his sire with an obvious glee that made Xander squirm. He remembered that expression of unmitigated joy from times they had sparred, especially when the sparring had led to pinning and sex. Now he glanced toward Riley who had silently stepped closer to Spike.
Xander gulped air, aware that he had forgotten to breathe until the sharp edges of unconsciousness poked at him, making him dizzy. Angel's hand fell on his shoulder, and Xander dropped his eyes to the floor, aware that he had been staring.
"Spike and I will do patrol," Angel said as he moved toward the door slowly. Xander flinched, reduced to someone not even worth mentioning, and he just wished Spike and his new pet hadn't seen that. Somehow, having Spike find out that he'd become a minion… yeah, so not good for the ego. Xander ducked his head as he followed his master back out into the night.