Chapter 2
Dru stood from watching over Angel asleep on the bed, and went to where Darla was sitting the other side of the draped off area…
“Grandmum…he’s waking up………but daddy’s so far away – when can we bring the real daddy back to us? Miss Edith says that-“
Darla had been trying to keep her temper all week, nothing seemed to be going to plan and she was on a VERY short fuse – the translator she’d got to decipher the encrypted ceremony rite was barely making headway, time was running out and to top it all Dru was going through one of her more ‘totally away with the fairies’ phases, talking in riddles and nonsense, and it just about did her head in.
“Darla. My name, is Darla – will you PLEASE call me that and not grandmum – and another thing – Miss Edith is a doll, get it? A DOLL – nothing more than bits of old cloth and stuffing, wool and buttons, so I don’t want anymore of this Miss Edith says garbage okay…………I SAID OKAY!” Darla barked out the last three words making Dru jump.
She nodded vigorously and cuddled the doll to her neck and whispered to it, then put her down. Very carefully she edged round the table to stand by the chair with the fresh corpse that was slumped in it.
“But…okay. Can I eat now gran- er Darla?”
“What – oh, yes…Look Dru, I don’t mean to shout at you, but all this Miss Edith –oh hell!” The sounds of a glass smashing made them both turn to look at the curtain where Angel was sleeping behind.
“Do you want me to help you?”
“No – you feed, he should be weak as a kitten still, I’ll sort it…as soon as Cornelius comes, come and tell me okay?”
“Yes gran – Darla”
Darla pulled back the draped fabric to see Angel trying to sit up, he’d knocked a glass of water off the upturned grocery box that served as a nightstand, and it had smashed on the floor.
Angel was woozy; colours and shapes swam in and out of focus, and he could hear echoes of somebody talking, but not what they said as the words ran into each other.
Screwing his eyes shut, shaking his head to clear the double vision he focused on the blonde girl smiling at him standing next to the bed. She sat on the edge of the mattress and smoothed back his ruffled hair.
“Dear boy are you tired still? – Never mind, as soon as I have all the information I need from the translator – then the fun and games can begin!”
Trying to sit up became too much effort and Angel flopped back against the pillows.
“Where am I………Who…Darla………what’s goin’ on?”
“Shh, my darling – won’t be long now and then we can soon have you back to your old self and it’ll be just like the olden days! What fun we’ll have, but in the meantime…”
From her pocket she produced a hypodermic needle and without hesitation stuck it in his arm, depressed the plunger, and before Angel had a chance to object, his eyes rolled and he was out cold again.
Discarding the needle, Darla gently ran her fingers through his hair again, and then frowned at the stickiness of her fingers.
Standing she just whispered one word to him ‘soon’.
****************
Wolfram and Hart, a little after midnight
“………So every 3-4 months he takes himself off to the Rocky Mountains in Canada – he likes the solitude, or so he says”
Wesley explained to them all. Spike rolled his eyes.
The office door banged open and Harmony came in wheeling a trolley. She wasn’t in the best of moods.
“I’d better be getting paid overtime for this!”
Wesley frowned and said,
“Harmony! We have a crisis here – I thought we all agreed to do what it takes to get Angel back in one piece without griping and moaning – we do what it takes!”
“YOU agreed you mean! You and Gunn and the rest, not me, nuh huh, no sir-ee, not me! I have a life – well un-life – a SOCIAL life, and that doesn’t involve being a waitress to the slayer and that slayer-loving freak!”
Buffy narrowed her eyes at the ditsy blonde and Spike gave a low combat growl to frighten her.
Harmony heard it alright, gave a little ‘yip’ and scooted out of the office in treble-quick time.
After helping herself to tea, and Spike took the extra large Scotch he’d ordered, Gunn said,
“We know Angel was taken from the log cabin any time between just after 10pm on the Wednesday evening, and sun-up at 7am on the Thursday morning, I was the last person he spoke to on his cell phone, and I’ve checked with the phone company, I can give you the exact time – I phoned him at 9.47pm and the call duration was 16 minutes, ending at 10.03pm – we spoke about a case I’ve coming up, and he said to me that he’d speak to me about it on Friday when he got back, so I know he was planning on coming back”
Spike leant over to Buffy and whispered conspiratorially,
“I bet that guy could tell you how many times a day he farts!” Buffy bit the inside of her cheek to stop from bursting out laughing…
Giles was sitting behind Angel’s desk, working away on his computer. The printer sprang into life and began to reel off copies of the information Giles had taken from various demonology books, mostly from one of the oldest one known, the ‘Ars Daemonicus’
“Okay folks, here is what we have on the demon ‘Agromanth’, and I’m sorry to say it’s very little” Giles distributed the printed out sheets between everybody.
Spike took the sheet, but didn’t read it. Giles said,
“This demon, which originates from ancient Persia was petrified to stone by a Persian princess, supposedly riding on the back of a - now this is where we get contradictions, some texts say a winged horse or dragon, others say it was a winged unicorn, and-“
“Yeah, yeah, yeah Rupes, can we cut to the chase, I thought time was of the essence here – all we ned to know is where is it, and how do we stop it before the poof does something stupid and really bollocks’ up my plans for next Sunday?”
Giles coughed a little embarrassedly and said,
“Yes, well quite, I was coming to that. It seems that some ancient scrolls have been unearthed in Iran and have fallen into the wrong hands, sold by unscrupulous dealers wanting to make a fast buck – these scrolls hold the key to re-animating Agromanth – the ritual will be a simple one”
“Got to be for Peaches to be involved!” Spike quipped, and Wesley gave him a frown, but Spike was adamant not to feel guilty about it!
“So do we know what I looks like or where Angel will fit into things?” Buffy asked after skimming through the paper Giles had given her.
“Hopefully stuck in it’s stupid great gob!” Spike said, and again Wesley frowned at him, but this time he was joined with Gunn and Giles who all glared at him.
“Bleedin’ ‘ell – know nothing, do ya? – Spike stood, having spied a ‘Globe of the World’ drinks cabinet and he drained his scotch and went over to it, opened it and selected a bottle of 40 year old malt began to pour himself a tumbler full, saying
“Look it wasn’t originally called this, but Agromanth – AG – symbol for silver,
-manth – mouth – silver mouth – great silver mouth – he’s king of the undersea world, he’ll need Peaches to make the link so he can stand on the earth and jump from his dimension to ours, then he’ll swallow the world up in his great silver mouth – it’s needs something evil and strong - that’s how the story goes, and just for the record, it was a mermaid on a flying swordfish, not a Persian princess on a – whatever you said” Spike put the decanter back after pouring himself more of Angel’s 40 year old malt, and closed the globe.
Wesley and Gunn looked suitably impressed, Buffy grinned and Giles asked,
“How do you know this?” whilst polishing his glasses
Spike took a gulp of whiskey and said,
“Campfire legends…Agromanth – Gem of Amarrah, Acathla, The Judge – all legends in their own way - stories told”
“So how did this…this mermaid foil the plot?”
“Well, she needed his eye to become human – look, I’ll start at the beginning, shall I?” Spike sat down and crossed his legs
“Once upon a time-“
“Spike, be serious!”
“Shh, let him tell us!”
“Alright, I was only saying-“
“Are you lot gonna bleeding well shut up and listen or don’t you want to know?”
“Carry on please Spike” Wesley said
“Right, there was this mermaid see…………
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!