Family
By Velvet Crypt
Chapter Nine
Angel woke to the most bizarre feeling. For the first time since his return from hell, he couldn't remember where he was. For the first time in over 200 years, his first thoughts weren't of a vampiric nature. He felt the soft bed beneath him, warmth seeping into him from somewhere. He smelled eggs and bacon. He heard laughter, male and female. He heard singing…Gaelic singing? For the briefest moment, he felt a surge of happiness. It was all a dream. He was home, in his bed. The cook was preparing breakfast. His mother, sister and brothers were in the family room singing.There was no Darla, no death. No pain or guilt or hopelessness. Then he felt his demon howl in pleasure and he came completely awake, fighting an inner battle to keep it submerged. By the time he had wrested it into submission, a faint sheen of sweat covered his brow and he was panting though he needed no air.
He kept his eyes closed as he acclimated himself back to reality. He could still hear the singing, but it was not quite right. Some of the phrases made no sense. It was also being sung with an American accent, while one with a British accent laughingly interrupted with corrections.
The smells remained the same, but he finally placed the reason for the warmth against his side. He cracked an eye open and saw the littlest Harris watching him from her perch on the side of his bed. He opened both eyes and blinked owlishly at her. She giggled. Then she bounced forward and snuggled up against him, resting her head in the crook of his neck.
"Um…Ellie?" He struggled to remember her name.
"What?" she mumbled against his throat.
"Um, what are you doing in here?" And in the arms of the Scourge of Europe he added silently as he realized his arm had stolen over her tiny waist.
"Uncle Wil told me to stop sneaking bacon. He said to go check on you."
Angel shifted so he could look at her face. "Spike is awake?"
Ellie gave him a look of irritation. "Uncle Wil" she emphasized, " is cooking breakfast with Lys. They're singing some weird song about she's." Angel looked befuddled for a moment and then snickered. Ellie looked offended. It was such a strange look to see on a five-year-old's face that Angel snickered again.
"They are singing about sidhe's." He explained. "They're like…I guess fairies or elves. They live in Ireland." Ellie sat up.
"How do you know that?" She piped.
He sat up as well and leaned against the headboard. Ellie scrambled back up the bed and sat in his lap.
"Well, I'm from Ireland." He began. "We have a lot of stories and songs about the sidhe in Ireland."
"Like we have stories about vampires here?" Ellie asked innocuously. Angel froze momentarily.
"You know about vampires?" He asked carefully.
Ellie looked at him with a smug grin. "Uncle Wil is a vampire. But he doesn't hurt people. He had a potato chip in his head. And he loves us." Angel pinched his lips together to keep from laughing in the little girl's face.
"Um, Ellie, sweetie…I think it's a computer chip, not a potato chip." He managed in a strangled voice. Ellie cocked her head, then shrugged.
"Whatever. So you know about vampires too?"
Angel nodded solemnly. "Actually, I am a vampire, too."
Ellie's eyes grew big. "Really?" she breathed.
"Really. I'm like Sp-Uncle Wil's Daddy. I turned him into a vampire." Ellie practically bounced.
"You're Uncle Wil's Daddy? That makes you my Grampa!" she squealed.
Angel got the feeling he'd just done something really, really bad for his reputation.
"I don't like my other grampa and gramma." She made a face. "They're mean. And they don't like us. So, you can be my new grampa!" Angel tried to get a word in edgewise. He realized it was hopeless as Ellie began bouncing on the bed shouting 'Grampa Angel' at the top of her lungs.
What the hell have you got me into now, Spike? He sighed, and lay back against the pillow.
---
Cordelia raised an eyebrow as Spike pulled Ellie onto his lap and got comfortable. "So, princess, what do you need to know?" He asked, blowing a brown curl out of his face.
Cordy drew her attention back to the reason for their visit. "So, Ellie saw these bad things happening to her and her brother and sister?" Spike nodded. "And it wasn't like a dream?" This time Ellie shook her head.
"I know what a dream feels like," she said ultra seriously. Cordy met Spike's gaze over her head and saw the blonde vamp hiding a smile. "This was more different. It was scary. Lys and Nate didn't even see me. I didn't see me either."
Cordy frowned. "Could you hear anything? Smell anything?" Ellie got wide eyes and sat up straight in Spike's lap.
"Uh huh! I could smell garbage around me and Lys." She wrinkled her nose in remembrance. "I couldn't smell anything near Nate, but I heard other boys yelling through the walls." Cordy tapped her finger against her chin in thought.
"Well, it sounds like a vision. Visions tend to use more of the senses than just sight. They incorporate smells and sounds that a regular dream doesn't have. Now about coming out of it…" She turned her dark gaze on Spike. "From everything I've researched and experienced, you can't just stop a vision. You have to ride it out."
"But you say you broke into the vision and pulled Ellie out?" Spike shrugged.
"Dunno. I made her look at me. I felt dizzy. She was just staring through me one second, and the next…she was back."
Cordy shook her head thoughtfully. "No, you pulled her out. When you have a vision, you can't see anything in the here and now. Just what the vision shows you. It sounds like something you did shoved the vision away and then she could see you. Have you ever done anything like that before?"
Spike shook his head and absently twirled one of Ellie's curls around his finger. "Dru was always the one who did the mind games. She could hypnotize you into her eyes and do pretty much anything she wanted to you. Could make you see things, too. I never knew how she did it. Never really cared. I was always more of the…physical component of the relationship." He edited his speech glancing down at the little girl.
"Do all vampires have the ability to do it and you just never learned?"
Another shrug. "I never met another one. I always thought it was cause Dru was touched in the head.
Cordy rolled her eyes. "Dru was nutty as a fruitcake."
Spike shook a finger at her. "Watch it, princess. That was the love of my life for nearly 100 years."
Cordy grinned.
"So, what can you tell us about this then?" He asked.
Cordelia's smile slipped from her face to be replaced by a look of concern. "I really can't tell you. It doesn't feel like she's touched by the Powers That Be, but I could be wrong. I always have visions about demons hurting humans, or great evil. So far, she's only had the one; and it was about her and her family. I've never had one about myself."
"Could be that her visions are tied in to this pentacle bond you all have together. I can't be certain until she has another one."
Spike looked decidedly upset at the idea of Ellie having another episode like the last one, and Cordy reached over and patted his leg. "We'll stay until we get this fixed, Spike. I promise."
He gave her a worried smile and began tickling Ellie, breaking the seriousness of the moment.
---
"Spike, I'm going patrolling tonite. Wanna come with?" Buffy asked as she vaulted over the back of the couch to land at his side. Spike quickly lost Ellie's attention as Buffy handed the little girl a cookie and stuffed another into her own mouth. Ellie scampered off before her uncle could chastise her for eating before lunch.
Spike rolled his eyes at the grin Buffy gave him. "I dunno, Slayer. I kinda think I should be here in case Ellie has another vision." Cordelia's brain took a moment to realize that Buffy actually looked disappointed.
"Um, I can watch her." She heard herself offering. "And Wes and Giles will be here, right?"
Buffy perked up. "Right! They're discussing some Hellmouthy slash LA thingy and just started on the dusty tomes. And Lys, Nate and Dawn are going to the movies with Will and Tara. Hey! Xander can keep Cordy company. I'm sure they have tons of stuff to talk about"
She gave Spike a pleading look. "Pleeeeaaaase?" She wheedled.
Spike heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Fine. But I know I'm going to regret this."
Buffy squealed and hopped back over the couch. Cordy looked suspiciously at Spike.
"Excuse me for mentioning this, but doesn't Buffy hate you?" Spike grinned.
"Mostly."
"Then why is she so eager to go patrolling with you…alone?"
A snicker came from the blonde vamp. "She's being stalked by a vampire."
Cordy gasped. "Oh my God, like Angelus?"
Spike shook his head. "Naw. Not even close. Not really scary at all, actually."
The girl looked confused. "So why doesn't she just slay him and get it over with?"
Spike leaned in conspiritally and eyed the empty room before whispering, "He's in love with her."
Cordy snorted and covered her mouth quickly.
"He was modern artist before he was turned. He follows her around giving her flowers, candy, and horrible unrecognizable paintings and sculptures of her." He leaned back. "He's apparently 'too sweet' to stake. SO, she hauls me along for the ride and pretends we're an item so he won't pester her for 'just one kiss'."
"What is it with Buffy and vampires falling in love with her?" Cordy laughed. "Speaking of vamps who've been in love with her, have you seen Angel lately?"
Spike stood and held out a hand. With only a second of hesitation, she took it and let him lead her into his and Xander's room. Angel sat cross-legged on Spike's bed, toys scattered all over the floor and over Xander's bed. He had Ellie in his lap and was reading to her from a fairy tale book.
The little girl alternately looked down at the pictures and up at Angel's face with a tiny smile on her face. Cordy gave a small sigh at the picture they made. Angel looked up, startled. He got a sheepish grin on his face and he shrugged, going back to the story.
Moments later, he closed the book and kissed Ellie on the top of the head. "Come on, breagha, lunch time."
"But I'm not hungry, Grampa Angel." She whined. Angel tut-tutted her.
"You should have thought about that before eating the cookie Buffy gave you."
"But she was eating one too!"
"And if Buffy ran out to play in traffic would you follow her?"
Ellie just crossed her arms and stuck her lower lip out.
Angel just hoisted Ellie into his arms and pushed past his secretary and his childe, deliberately ignoring their snickers.
Chapter Ten"Slayer, duck!" Buffy briefly wondered, as she dropped flat to the ground, why she was taking orders from a blood-sucking fiend who tried to kill her on several occasions. Then the two-headed demon flew over her head, slamming into the crypt behind her, and she rolled to her feet. Ask a silly question, she thought.
She faced her own opponent again, and saw out of the corner of her eye a whirl of black leather as Spike launched himself off of a headstone and on top of the recently airborne demon. She placed a foot squarely in her own demon's gut and shoved him backwards into a remarkably pointy headstone.
She watched as if in slow motion, as green goo shot from the hole in the demon's chest, headed unerringly towards her new $45 on a half-price-sale-blouse. From behind her, she heard a resounding crack. "Bloody two headed git." Another crack.
Spike sauntered over, lighting a cigarette. "Nice, pet." He mumbled approvingly from around the fag. "Bit of improv, I see."
Buffy stared morosely at her shirt. "I hate demon slime." She sighed.
Spike grinned and pulled a wadded rag from one of his many duster pockets. He tossed it at her and began heading for the cemetery gate. Buffy half-heartedly scrubbed at the gunk and followed. "Only one more cemetery and we can head home."
"Home to our families." She continued. Spike nodded, blowing a smoke ring.
"Cause, they love us." Spike tapped the ash from the end of the fag.
"And we love them." Spike placed it back between his lips.
Spike stopped. Sighed. Looked at the Slayer. She looked innocently back for all of 5 seconds.
"Fine." She groused. "Do you love Xander?"
Spike's teeth clenched on the cigarette. "I really don't think that's any of your business, Slayer."
"Have you had sex yet?"
Spike's eyes widened. "Now I know that's really none of your business."
"He loves you."
Spike jerked the cigarette from his lips and roared his irritation to the night sky. "What the hell is wrong with you people?" He growled. "Why the bloody hell do you keep sticking your noses into business that isn't yours?"
Buffy stood toe to toe with him. "Because Xander is my friend. I love him very much and I don't want to see him hurt. For some reason, he loves you. I want to know if you feel the same!"
"I'm not discussing this with you, Summers. Xander and I have an understanding. If it's not to your liking, well then, you can just bugger off." Buffy glared at him ineffectually for a moment, then hmphed, and turned on her heel to walk away.
"Bloody nosy bint." Spike mumbled, flicking his cigarette butt into an entryway of a nearby crypt. He had just begun to follow her when he heard a muttered curse. Peering into the darkness, he saw a figure in the shadows of the entryway frantically brushing a glowing red ember off of it's shirt.
As the figure looked up, Spike watched it vamp out.
"Bugger," Spike sighed. That was all he got the chance to do however, as the vamp leaped out of the shadows and lunged like a feral animal at the blonde. Spike went down in a tangle of arms and legs with a huff of astonishment. He certainly wouldn't have chosen to fling himself pell mell against a master vamp like that, but whatever rocked the other vamps world.
With a growl, he heaved the slavering creature off of him and flipped to his feet.
Buffy turned at the commotion and cursed under her breath. Then she hit the ground from a well-placed kick to her temple. She blinked rapidly rolled to the side and staggered to her feet. Slayer reflexes were all that kept her alive as she ducked the 2x4 swishing through the space her head had occupied a moment ago.
Spike shrugged his duster into a more comfortable position in which to fight and braced himself as the vamp rushed him again. He stiff-armed him and followed it up with a boot to the chest that sent the vamp flying 15 feet into a tree trunk. Spike frowned in disappointment as the vamp managed by 6 inches to avoid being impaled by a dead branch.
"Missed, Spike." The Slayer snickered between snatching the board out of her own vamp's hands and smashing it into his face.
"Piss off, Slayer." Spike's lucky vampire slid down the trunk to sit dazedly at its base.
A movement caught his vision and he vamped out himself to use his improved night vision. Bugger all, three more. Buffy finished off her vamp in a cloud of dust and moved closer to Spike, preparing to fight back to back. The new vampires circled them, snarling.
Spike felt a tingle at the base of his spine and snarled back. To his amazement, the three stopped. Their snarls fell away and a look of fear crept over their faces. Spike tilted his head and turned to look at Buffy. "Wot's up with that, Slayer?" Buffy let out a tiny yelp and jumped away from him, her gaze locked on his eyes. Her own eyes grew huge and her face filled with terror. "Slayer?…Buffy, wot's wrong?" Spike reached a hand out to her. She squeaked again and scrambled back, tripping over her own feet.
He stared at her prone form on the ground for a moment then turned back to the other vamps with a teeth-baring growl. "Wot did you do to my Slayer?"
A chorus of negative assurances followed. "Nothing, Master Spike!" "We'd never touch your Slayer, Master!" "Nothing, I swear!" They huddled into a frightened group.
Spike took a step forward and looked the middle vampire in the eyes. "I don't know what you did. But I'll find out." He hissed softly. "If I were you, I'd start running now and hope like hell I don't need to find you again to fix it." The vamp quivered, held in place only by the pressure of his two buddies on either side of him.
The instant Spike blinked, he bolted. Preternatural speed made him a blur as he raced out of sight. Spike turned on the other two. "You must be the stupidest fledges I've ever seen." He curled his lip. "What the bloody hell made you think you could take on the Slayer and a Master Vampire?"
"You both disgust me. You're not worth the blood your Sires wasted on you." He was slightly startled as both remaining vampires howled, causing Buffy to whimper behind him. They threw themselves at each other, clawing, ripping, biting, tearing. Spike stepped back to avoid the blood spray.
Desperate wails escaped their throats until those throats being torn out silenced them. Spike stared in horror as they decimated each other into bone with bits of flesh hanging loosely about. Finally, the whole sight proved too much for even William the Bloody and he yanked a stake out of his pocket.
He impaled both quivering masses and watched in horror as the dust floated down onto the pool of blood at his feet. A touch on his shoulder caused him to spin frantically, holding his stake at the ready. A frightened, tearful Slayer held her hands up peaceably.
He dropped the stake in distaste and barely managed to keep to his feet as Buffy threw herself at him. She clung to him, trembling and breathing with a tiny hitch. Long moments later, he gently tugged her loose and turned them in the direction of home.
---
"I've never been more afraid of anything in my life." Buffy whispered, arms wrapped around herself. "It was like he was all I could see. Just…him. Looming over me. He filled my entire vision. All I could think was 'please let him stop looking at me so I can run'. I nearly passed out I was so relieved when he turned away."
Spike sat on the far end of the couch, head in his hands. Xander could see from the set of his shoulders that he was barely hanging on by a thread. He threw a leg over the back of the couch and slid down behind the blonde. Spike tensed briefly, then scooted forward to allow Xander more room.
Xander slid his arms around Spike and rested his chin on the leather-clad shoulder. He felt Spike relax into his embrace and gently brushed his lips over the upset man's neck.
"Did you feel he was going to attack you?" Giles asked.
Buffy shook her head. "I couldn't think at all. I just knew I had to get away from him. Run, run, run. That's it."
Spike glanced at Angel. The older vamp slouched with Ellie on his lap and frowned slightly. "It was like Dru, Sire." Spike said softly. The room became deathly quiet. Angel sat up. That Spike would call him Sire in front of the others revealed how upsetting the evening had been.
"They stared at me like everything I said was the most important thing they'd ever heard."
Angel passed Ellie to Willow and moved to kneel in front of his Childe. "Dru climbed in people's heads, Spike. Is that what you did?" He asked calmly. Spike shook his head.
"Not exactly. I couldn't tell what they were thinking. It was like what they were thinking didn't matter. Only what I thought. What I said."
Cordelia looked incredulously at him. "Are you saying you mind controlled them?" Spike's gaze shot to her and she tried not to flinch.
"I didn't tell them to do that." He said forcefully. Cordelia held her hands up defensively and nodded.
"Okay, okay…back off, blondie."
He closed his eyes and dropped his head into his hands again. "Gods, Angel. It was bloody awful." He breathed. "It wasn't a kill. It wasn't even mutilation. It was pure slaughter. They tore at each other until they had no more muscle or sinew to hold their hands onto their bodies."
He looked up into his Sire's brown eyes. "I've done a lot of evil and twisted things in my unlife. That? That was…worse."
"Why would they attack each other when Buffy was laying on the ground, helpless?" Willow asked. "Why not even gang up on Spike? Why each other?"
"Did you say anything to them?" Wesley inquired.
"I told them they disgusted me. That they weren't worth the blood their Sires wasted on them."
Tara cleared her throat and forced her hand down onto her lap as she nearly raised it. "Wh-what would you do if you t-truly believed that y-you were a mistake? Th-that Angel wasted his b-blood on you?"
Spike looked uncomfortably at Angel, then fixed his gaze on the shy Wicca. "Not that I care anymore," he began with bravado, "But I suppose when I was first turned, I would've went for a walk in the sun."
"A-and if you felt y-you couldn't wait til m-morning?"
"Staked myself?" He continued, determinedly not looking at Angel.
"N-no weapons are av-vailable."
Spike sighed, "Bloody hell, woman. What are you getting at? I guess I'd throw my self headlong at the first thing I saw that could kill me."
Giles pulled his glasses off. "But that really should have been Spike, in this instance."
Tara faced Giles, more confident now that someone saw where she was headed. "B-but if Spike were the o-one making them do it, they wouldn't attack him. Th-they'd go for the next best thing."
"Each other." Wesley inserted, nodding. "It actually makes sense."
Spike just stared at them. "You all are saying I made them rip each other up?"
"Well, you did want them to be punished for attacking you and terrifying Buffy." Wesley pointed out. "Perhaps this power of yours takes the intent and thrusts it into the mind of the other person, thereby letting them decide how best to fulfill your whims."
"Is this a vampy thing, or something like what happened to Lys or Ellie?" Buffy asked. "Cause if this is a normal vampire thing, I'd like to turn my resignation in as Slayer right now, please." She joked wanly.
"My first impulse is to link it to the pentacle bond." Giles assured her. "His developing this power on the heels of the girl's powers is too much of a coincidence."
"I think we should keep Spike nearby until we can discern the catalyst of this power." Said Wesley. Giles nodded his agreement.
"Was there a precursor, Spike?"
Spike wrinkled his forehead. "Well, there was this tingle…"
"Was this tingle like the one you got when you calmed Ellie down?" Cordy interrupted.
He pondered a moment. "Actually, yeah. It was." He suddenly went paler. "Oh, bloody 'ell. I could 'ave 'urt the bit!" Xander locked his wrists to keep Spike from leaping off of the couch.
"Bullshit, Spike." He gritted. "Wes just said that you have to have intent. There's no way you would ever intend to hurt any of the kids. Knock it off!" He jerked the squirming vampire back against him. Angel placed a restraining hand on Spike's chest and held him down as well.
"He's correct Spike. Intent seems essential." Wes assured him. "Just…try not to make eye contact with anyone if you happen to become irritated." He added.
Spike snorted. "Not likely, mate." He looked at Buffy, deliberately catching her gaze. She met it bravely, though he could see the flicker of fear and knew she was once again seeing in her mind the two bloody forms of his last irritants.
"What I did back there, Slayer," he said quietly, "I'm sorry. At one point, not too long ago, I would have reveled in terrifying you like that. Fear rolling off of you in waves like…" He closed his eyes briefly. He shook his head and opened them again. "But seeing what I did to you, now…it makes me sick. I'm sorry."
"It's okay." She said, the beginnings of a slow smile on her face. When it reached her eyes, Spike smiled back gratefully and ducked his head almost shyly.
"Er, yes…well." Giles began polishing his glasses again. "So, the general consensus is to inform us if any tingling is felt by anyone." Nods all around. Xander and Lys exchanged guilty looks. Giles caught them. "Xander? Something to add?"
"Well, I may have felt a tingle or two of my own…recently." He mumbled. "When I had a hold of Lys, during the Ellie incident, I felt a tingle in my head and then felt this skittery fear rush over me and just…wash away." Lys nodded.
"I was getting overwhelmed. I couldn't make Ellie get out of my head. I was trapped in this loop of her fear and my fear. Then Uncle Xan grabbed me and I could feel it start to drain away. As long as he was holding me, I could fight off the panic long enough to build my walls back up."
Giles blinked. "And you neglected to tell us this why?"
Another exchange of guilty looks. "We forgot?"
"You forgot."
"Well, it was pretty intense. And Ellie was way freaked out. We just kind focused on her." Lys protested. "By the time we were all calmed down, it didn't seem…important…any…more…you're really mad aren't you?" she looked very small.
Giles sighed. "Why me?"