The blond vampire sat on the edge of his Sires bed, purposefully avoiding
eye
contact with the humans surrounding him. The prone body of Angel lay
untouched and unmoved.
Spike began to absently rub at the fading bloodstains which covered the
dark
mans skin. They had been left so long to dry into the porous flesh that
they
were almost a coppery brown color now. Some crazed kind of primal tattoo.
It
didnt take any sort of preterntural insight to interpret the actions of
the
rigid backed figure, who was licking his own fingers now and running them
over the stained cheeks of the still unconcious man.
After his initial grand entrance, he had said not one word to the group
of
humans. Rather, the vampire had slipped into a pair of his Sires silk boxers,
and taken his place on the bed beside him. It had been fifteen minutes,
and
he still had not moved.
Inside, he was raging. Angel had done it again. Fucking self sacrifcing
prick. Left him
here to pick up more pieces. Who was gonna fix this shit now? Spike fiercely
battled the prickling sensation behind his tired eyes. He let his face
slip
into its natural demonic form to avoid the disgrace of crying in front
of
mortals. And he held his Sires hand in a crushing grip. The body was still
here. That had to mean something.
The mortals said nothing. After twenty four hours of chaos and cacaphony,
the
apartment was now errily silent. With the exception of Wesley, the gathered
here were little more than high school students. Despite all they had faced
in their short lives, some devestation simply takes more than majik to
fix..
In the span of mere days they had lost Buffy, the unquestionable heart
of
their little family, and now it would seem their Watcher as well.
Obviously the spell had gone terribly wrong. All traces of lingering
subconcious fears, Essence Demons, whirlwinds, even the portal into Angels
conciousness had dissapeared. Along with Giles. If the spell had indeed
been
broken, then Giles had no way of returning to this plane.
And Angel was unlikely to wake up. Ever.
Noone wanted to breach that notion to the vampire seated on the bed. Noone
had a
deathwish.
Noone was more surprised than Spike when he heard the young Watchers voice.
::Right then, thats enough of this moping about. Lets make a plan.::
The slight vampire turned round, prepared to make some sort of scathing
reply. He was halted by the look on the Englishmans face. It was determined,
and...proud. Spike blinked, certain the eyes which had been futiley battling
tears were deceiving him. He could just make out the faint lines of Red
paint
along the bridge of the Watchers nose. He touched his own cheeks
in
recollection, and blinked again. When he opened his eyes, the markings
had
dissapeared. He stared for a moment.
Then the vampire nodded shortly. ::Right then. Lets.::
************************************************************************
The tall vampire helped the obviously wounded mortal to his feet. ::Giles?::
he repeated, pulling the man to face him in the pre-dawn light. The Watcher
shook himself off, and nodded. ::Angel.:: he stated.
The vampire stared. Only Giles would stand here, saying his name politely
like they were meeting for afternoon tea while the world crumbled and the.....
Excpet the world wasnt crumbling. And Angel wasnt ..oh say, exploding into
flames. He spared a glance at the sky. The heavens were completely still.
::Did you-- I mean...what.....I mean...why....Giles!?:: Angel would
have
cursed his own inarticulate babbling if he could have even formulated a
thought that coherent. As it was, he just stared with his mouth open at
the
Englishman, who was regarding him with a mixture of curiosity
and.....amusement.
Giles looked amused. Angel struggled to recall the last time the Watcher
had
looked
amused in his presence. Ok. Make that never. And...Angel tilted his head
and
looked hard at the mans left ear. A small hoop earring dangled from the
lobe.
Angel reached out and pinched the mans upper arm. Hard.
::OW! Bloody hell!!:: he repeated. ::What do you think youre doing!?::
Angel swallowed, and hoped that even though it was physically impossible
for
him to
blush, his embarassment would be obvious. ::Im sorry. I just didnt think
you
were real.::
::Im quite real, Angel. Real and now in- in pain, thank you very much.::
He
rubbbed his bicep with other hand. But there was no malice in his tone.
More
of that amusement.
{{Wow. Ive been in LA way longer than I thought. Giles got mellow. And
an
earring. }}
::And in answer to your question, un-asked as it remains, Im here to take
you
back
home.:: He grinned, and Angel saw the faint shimmer beneath the skin.
A
handsome, vibrant, young man. With a quick wit and a restless, annoyed
glimmer in the eye. Brimming with the beginnings of untamed power.
Good gods. He was almost reminiscent of William when he was still human.
In that instant, Angel understood. The man standing before him was not
Giles..well, it was..but it...The vampire scratched his head. He felt dizzy
again.
Yet, it made a perfectly fluid sense. Demons and world weary Watchers.
Those
who had seen too much, and lost too much. Who else would the Essence Demon
target?
Technically, this was Giles. The man who had loved and carefully tended
to
Buffy with a greater devotion than her own biological father. The man who
had
allowed Angel into her carefully chosen circle of trusted allies, despite
knowing what he was, who he once was. The man who no doubt came to regret
that decision with all his heart; utterly shattered when Angel gave way
to
the demon he hosted, and slaughtered Jenny. The man who still grieved for
his
beloved Slayer, taken from him too, and in the most hideous, violent fashion
imaginable.
But this man was also someone else. Angel had never really thought about
it
before.
Giles had a demon all his own. And even though compared to Angelus, Giles`
alter ego was markedly tame.... it was more than a bit unnerving.
In a day full of some of the most bizzare events the two hundred year old
Vampire had ever had the distinct *non*-pleasure of experiencing, he now
found himself standing toe to toe with Ripper.
Angel sighed. Nope. This just couldnt get any weirder.
************************************************************************
End Part 17d