Ceremony Of InnocenceBy DM Evans
Chapter: 3
LAS VEGAS
"I haven't even had time to gamble yet," Spike groaned, smoothing out a wrinkle in his soft blue shirt.
"The casinos aren't going anywhere, Spike. Quit bitching," Xander said, knocking on the door to the room Buffy, Willow and Dawn were sharing.
It opened immediately. Dawn stood there grinning, a smart flowered sundress showing off her tan. "Buffy and Willow still aren't ready so come in. They're so slow." She ushered in Xander, Spike, Giles and Anya.
"That's because you hogged the bathroom," Willow said, sliding on red pumps that matched the flame print of her 70's style dress.
Dawn stuck her tongue out at her. "Too bad you couldn't come with us to the Painted Desert, Spike. We had fun." Dawn had not exactly forgiven him for what he'd done to Buffy but she had moved on to treating him decently. She had to admit that once he was liberated from the influence of the First Evil, he was instrumental in defeating it and the thing born from his blood. He'd saved her life and it was obvious her friendship helped his mental state. He was slowly settling back to normalcy. Angel had confirmed it took him a few years to stop hearing the voices all the time. Buffy had asked him during the nastiness that had swept the land and Dawn knew the question Buffy really wanted to ask but didn't was 'If this is the End of Days and we have two vampires with a soul, which one gets to be human?' The answer was neither, at least not yet. Buffy, and her friends on her behalf, had been furious to learn Angel hadn't told Buffy about that prophecy. Fred had let it slip during the Battles. It had been an ugly scene.
"I don't think deserts are my thing, little bit," Spike said, taking out his cigarettes. Dawn snatched them away and he rolled his eyes. "I'm more a city boy."
"So where are we going?" Buffy asked, coming out of the bathroom in a lavender angel-sleeved dress. "A show? Not those dumb Blue Men, right?"
"No, even if they weren't totally annoying we couldn't begin to afford the tickets. There's a karaoke bar with a seer that we might hit later but where we're going is a surprise," Anya said. "We have to get going because we can't be late."
"Ready," Buffy said. "But you know how I hate surprises. They don't turn out wellÄnot for me."
"You'll love this one, trust me. Bring your cameras," Xander said, leading the way to the front of the hotel. He stopped in front of the long white limo parked in front. No one had thought much of it. It was common in Vegas to see them everywhere.
Giles stared at it then glanced at Xander. "Is this what I think it is?" Giles grinned cheekily.
"Yes, that's our big surprise," Xander said, patting the car as the driver got out to open the doors.
"We're getting married!" Anya piped up, hugging Xander. "For real this time."
"We figured this would be better given what happened last time. None of my family around reminding me of the horrors that could be," Xander said, his arm snaking around Anya.
"And none of my demon acquaintances working up a little chaos," Anya added, looking at her reflection in the smoky glass. She shoved a lock of her honey-hued hair back into place.
"The only friends and family we wanted at out wedding are standing right here," Xander said.
"We're honored," Giles said, his jaw tightening against the emotion. He fussed with his glasses, trying to hide it. The girls were too stunned to speak.
Finally Willow squealed and grabbed Anya in a hug, plucking her away from Xander by sheer enthusiasm. "I'm so excited. I can't believe it."
"It's wonderful," Buffy said, wrapping her arms around Xander. Dawn nearly bowled her over, jumping in on the hug.
"Well, this is it then, your chariot awaits my lady," Xander said, helping Anya inside.
As everyone else piled in, Buffy caught Xander's arm and whispered. "You run this time and I cripple you."
"No worries, no doubts this time," he assured her.
On the way to the chapel, Xander babbled nervously about having to specially arrange for a nighttime wedding just so Spike could be there. Anya was off on a rant so fast and high-pitched Buffy was expecting bats to be homing in on it. The 'Las Vegas Wedding Chapel' was much nicer than anyone was expecting with flower-lined hallways leading up the actual chapel. A portly woman with a bright happy face was waiting for them. She introduced herself and started going over a brief run-through of how it was going to work while her assistant handed Buffy, Willow and Dawn small bouquets with blood red roses and white star-like flowers. She pinned boutonniúres to Giles and Spike while her boss handled Xander and Anya.
"I'm wearing a bloody flower. Anyone mentions this to anyoneÄ" Spike grumbled, straightening his boutonniere fussily.
"Oh, as if you wouldn't cry if you weren't part of the show," Buffy said, smiling at him.
He subsided with a smile of his own.
"I want photos!" Willow exclaimed.
"Great. Blackmail photos," Spike moaned, fooling no one. They knew he wanted to be in them.
Despite everyone's worries the marriage went off flawlessly. The reception consisted only of champagne and cake but made up for the lack of frills with a rousing concert by 'Elvis.' By midnight they had moved on to the karaoke club, drunker than lords excepting Dawn.
"You guys are getting really embarrassing," Dawn said as they sat down at a table in the corner closest to the door. "We're going to get thrown out."
"What's a wedding without everyone getting rat-arsed," Spike asked, trying to light his cigarette but not quite able to find the end of it.
Dawn took the lighter from him. "Well, just remember we're driving back home tomorrow and the first person who pukes on me gets it."
"You need to lighten up, bit. Let's get you some lager," Spike said, draping an arm around her, swaying in his seat. He nearly toppled both of them and would have except Buffy yanked him back.
"No giving my sister alcohol," she said, giving Spike's face a warning tap.
"I'm afraid we can't serve you here," a man's voice broke in, "Obviously you're all over the legal...well, doesn't this take the cake. I didn't expect to see you lot here. Why didn't you tell me you were coming."
They all tried to focus on the red horned, green skinned creature in front of them. They remembered him from the End of Days battles.
"Lorne!" Buffy said, trying to get up then decided against it. "We didn't know this was your place."
"It's a friend's actually." He smiled widely, putting a hand on Buffy's shoulder. "What brings you to Las Vegas? It looks like you've been celebrating."
"Anya and I just got married," Xander said, kissing his wife's cheek.
"That's wonderful. Congratulations," Lorne said, taking Anya's hand and kissing it himself. "I'll have something sent over from the dessert bar for you."
"Just so long as you don't read our future. Every time someone tries that it goes horribly wrong," Anya said, her eyes wide.
"Sorry to hear that. How about you, Buffy?" Lorne said and Buffy frowned, swaying on her seat. "No, probably not, given we can all just imagine what awaits a Slayer."
"Trying to bring us down?" she asked with a wave of her hand, nearly taking out the ambience candle.
"How about reading me?" Dawn asked. "See how I'm going to do after I move to Chicago? Or how about Giles and see how semi-retirement is going to treat him?"
"I'm in no shape to sing." Giles said. "I can't even feel my lips."
"You don't have any lips," Willow said, giggling, drunkenly patting his mouth. Giles just glared.
"Bugger singing. I need to find the loo," Spike said, struggling up.
"You're dead. Can you even pee?" Xander asked.
"Fluid goes in, it's gotta come out," Spike said, staggering off.
"There's an image I could have lived without," Xander muttered with a full body shudder.
"Can I sing for you now, Lorne?" Dawn asked.
"By all means. Did you catch the bouquet, little one?" He smiled gently.
"We decided against the whole bouquet, garter thing," Buffy said. "Cause it just meant one of us would have to do the leg thing with either Giles and Spike and that was just...ewww."
"I think I'm insulted." Giles pouted but the girls ignored him.
"What should I sing?" Dawn asked.
"How about something for the lucky couple," Lorne suggested.
After a little deliberation Dawn warbled out some of Savage Garden's 'Truly, Madly, Deeply,' oblivious to Lorne's increasing discomfort. When she stopped, he simply smiled wanly.
"I can tell you graduation day is something you won't ever forget," he said then turned. "I'll go see to that dessert."
Dawn got up and followed him. She put a hand on his arm, stopping him away from the others. "Something's wrong isn't it?"
He looked back at the rest of the wedding party. "Look, kid I didn't want to ruin the evening for them and they're all too drunk to remember anyhow."
"I'm not." Dawn sighed, wilting. "I'd rather know than go home tonight wondering."
Lorne sighed. "Someone's trying to tamper with the Hellmouth again. That's all I saw. I can't tell you who or why but I can tell you it's going to happen soon."
"Graduation day?" Dawn asked.
"Before that. I sort of lied about graduation. I didn't see anything about you at all." He gave her cheek a gentle caress. "Sorry, hon."
Dawn shook her head. "That's okay. Should have known better really."
"We all should but knowing might be better than ignorance in this case. You can tell them on the way home."
"Right." Dawn gazed back at her friends and family. Willow was face down on the table and Buffy and Anya were running in
the general direction of the bathroom. She hoped they made it. "And at this point, it looks like I'll be the one driving tomorrow."
"You have your license?" Lorne looked dubious.
Dawn shrugged. "No, but do you think anyone of them is going to survive their hangovers?"
"I see your point. I'll go get your dessert."
LOS ANGELES
Lindsey had worn his soft-soled shoes with his expensive suit, hoping no one would notice his sub par footgear. He had to eschew hard-soled dress shoes since he planned on tracking Lilah if at all possible. It wouldn't be easy to do but he knew her. He knew this building. No one would question him in his suit, not if he carried with himself an air that he belonged there. And he knew, while paranoid, Lilah could get so focused on what she was doing that all else ceased to exist.
His hope was that she would lead him to his brother even though he knew how much of a long shot that was. Maybe she'd lead him to the boy that she claimed was Darla's son. Lindsey had been obsessing on that idea all night. He couldn't imagine Darla willingly carrying a child to term so he chalked it up to whatever magic made the conception possibly must have also protected it.
Some of the staff that had helped him today he remembered from two years ago. Even the ones he didn't know acted as if he had been an associate of the firm all along. It was unsettling. The deal Wolfram and Hart was offering the demons was stunningly equitable and if he weren't dealing with Moahilya demons he could have this done in a matter of days. But those demons liked to haggle and make everything a giant ceremony. It was like sitting down to a Japanese high tea with a six-foot dung heap. He hadn't even made physical contact with them yet since they insisted on a proper greeting ceremony, which would take three days to prepare for, but he had presented that to Lilah as progress. He wasn't used to having her in complete control and Gavin had made certain he knew she had cut off Linwood's head to get the job. The idea of Lilah being more ruthless than ever terrified him more than he cared to admit.
The sun had set by the time Lilah left her office with any intention of heading off the floor. This would be the hard part, running down the steps in time to beat the elevator to the landing. Luckily it wasn't a fast one and two years back home on his brother's ranch had toned his body. He had gotten fast to help out on round up days. Still, by the time he hit subbasement number one he was tired and very dizzy. Of course he should have known she'd be going to a basement, at least for anything he cared to track her to. But it was very hard to hide from anyone in a subbasement. Yes, they were dark but they were also empty but luck was with him. Lilah was still in her heels and the flooring was cement. He could hear her walking so could let her get some distance ahead of him. He almost lost her around one turn of the labyrinthine tunnels but he managed to catch up as she stopped to talk to a guard outside of a heavy metal door. God, let his brother be inside. Unfortunately, that thought distracted him and he came out of the shadows too much. Lilah smirked at him.
"I should have known. Why didn't you just ask to see him, Lindsey? I would have made the introductions," she said.
"I've already asked to see my brother," Lindsey said even though from her words he knew she wasn't talking about Kevin.
"And I showed you him albeit long distance. So, do you have your first meeting set up with the Moahilya's?" Lilah turned to the guard. "Turn off that music."
"If they can find enough Queen Anne's Lace for their welcoming soup, it'll be on Saturday. I keep telling them it's not necessary and that Queen Anne's Lace is deadly to humans but they insist." Lindsey closed the gap between them.
"Just try not to die before you get our deal done," Lilah said, punching a series of numbers on the panel to open the door.
Lindsey watched her, memorizing the keystrokes. He had a gift for numbers. He could remember them easily. He had astonished more than one girl at a bar by memorizing their phone numbers no matter how fast they spouted it off, even if he only heard it once. He remembered every phone number and zip code for every place he ever lived and now he'd remember how to get past this door.
Lilah waved him in. "Come on, Lind, meet Angel's brat. I warn you he likes to charge the containment circle. He can't get past but that never stops him."
Lindsey stared in horror seeing the video montage that played on all the walls. "And you put that music to this."
Lilah showered him with a smug smile. "It stops when he agrees to help us. Oh, a note about his hearing, even from here, he can hear us, isn't that right, Connor?"
Lindsey watched as the boy roused himself off the mattress, noting that he had been stripped. Lilah was taking extra steps to dehumanize this one. He had heard about things like this all the time in Wolfram and Hart but tried to keep himself distanced from it. He kept telling himself his regard for human life was higher which was why he had left. Now with a few years away, this hit like a runaway bull.
The boy stalked over to the edge of his cell but didn't, as Lilah had suggested, throw himself against it. Lindsey wondered if his presence had something to do with that. He couldn't help staring in shock, seeing Connor's beard had been shaved. Now he really did look like he was thirteen. Connor seemed to be studying him even more intently; the boy's generous lips held parted, giving him a perpetual air of worry.
Lindsey looked into those hooded blue eyes and scowled. Where'd the kid come up with blue eyes? Darla and Angel had brown eyes. The boy was smaller than Lindsey had first thought. Conner was about the same size as he was.
"Now do you see why we thought he could be yours, those eyes, the fact he's pint-sized and scrawny," Lilah said and both men glared at her.
"Who are you?" Connor asked, edging even closer to the circle.
"Lindsey. I was a friend of your mother," Lindsey said, his heart thudding at the thought of what Darla must have gone through when she realized she would have to trade her life for her son's. Did the boy know that? Would she be proud of him? Would she tear out Lilah's throat for doing this to him? Lindsey liked to think so.
Connor's lip curled. "What sort of man is friends with a vampire?"
Good question but Lindsey was used to coming up with good and quick answers. "She wasn't a vampire when I met her - long story. I tried to help her but I couldn't."
Lilah laughed, thumping Lindsey's shoulder. "Yes, such a tragedy. He might even be tempted to help you, Connor, except he knows how that would turn out. He's got a soft spot the size of Oklahoma." Lilah grinned at him. "Too bad it's in his head."
"You like her?" Connor jerked his head at Lilah.
"Never," Lindsey replied and the boy smiled slightly.
"Sweet." Lilah spared them both a withering glance. "If possible, Connor, he hates your father more than you do."
The grin that twisted the boy's face gave Lindsey the chills.
"Good for him," he said, turning to Lindsey. "Get me out of here."
"She's right. I can't. I don't even know you. You could be in here for a good reason," Lindsey said, unconvincingly.
"Just readying the weapon," Connor said, pacing away from circle.
"Perspective, isn't he?" Lilah asked.
"I've seen enough, Lilah," Lindsey said, staring at the boy's narrow back. How badly had they been starving him? Lindsey doubted Connor weighted a hundred pounds with a rock tied around his neck.
"Good since I've a meeting with the doctors yet. I thought the hours we keep were bad," Lilah said and Lindsey didn't miss the boy's shudder at the mention of doctors. "I should bring visitors more often, Connor. You were actually well behaved for a change."
Connor gave her the finger then sat back down on his bed.She laughed. "What would your father say?" She led Lindsey out of the room. He heard the music going back on once the door was shut.
"What do you think of him?"
"He doesn't look like much. If I hadn't seen him fight, I'd think you were torturing a teenager for the sheer hell of it," Lindsey replied. "Why are you doing it? You're just making him hate you."
"We thought he'd break by now and be totally malleable. We could make him ours completely that way," Lilah replied, heading for the elevator.
Lindsey snorted. "He doesn't look very broken."
"He was raised in the worst of the hell dimensions," Lilah said, punching the button for her office's floor. "It made him stronger than we anticipated."
"He hates Angel?"
"Passionately from what I hear."
Lindsey leaned against the elevator wall. How could they have failed to capitalize on that? "Did it occur to anyone that he'd jump at the chance to help destroy his father then? All you had to do was treat him well, give him things. That probably would have worked better than this."
"I suggested it," Lilah said, indignant. "But the senior partners wanted to see what made him tick. By the time the doctors were done with him, he was so skittish he wouldn't trust any of us."
"Did they find anything of interest?" Lindsey dreaded the answer.
"No. He appears human for all intents and purposes. They found nothing to be out of the ordinary other than his bones are quite dense, possibly from whatever he was subjected to in Quar-Toth. His senses are all enhanced but it appears to be genetic."
"In other words, nothing the senior partners can bottle and use which is what they were hoping for."
"No secrets to super strength they could take for themselves," Lilah said stepping out at the elevator reached their office level. "And I'm sure I don't have to tell you what happens to your entire family if you run to Angel with this."
Lindsey coolly nodded. "No, you don't."
"I didn't think so."
LOS ANGELES
"I wish I had more to tell you, Cordelia but I don't," Wesley said into the phone. "How are you liking New York? Yes, I have heard it's cold there but it's May now, Cordelia, surely it's warmed up a bitÄyes, actually it feels very good to be back. I wish it were under better circumstancesÄyes, I do miss being in Wales. Saeth and Stiabhan are a great deal of fun to be with even if they're as big a magnet for trouble as Angel is. Oh dear, he heard that." Wesley laughed. "Yes, Cordelia, of course he's glaring. Hold on, hereÄ.Cordelia wishes to speak to you, Angel." Wesley surrendered the phone to the vampire who had been idly making more stakes than they'd need in months.
Wesley went and sat with Fred on the couch.
"You angling for my job answering phones?" Smiling, Fred patted his arm.
"Ha. I was going to call Giles. I had a few questions for him. He's better with spells than I am but that's going to have to wait. I have a meeting I can't miss. Would you like me to bring you anything back?"
Fred shook her head. "No, thanks. I checked with my doctor and she said your suggestion of ginger tea to settle my stomach was okay for the baby so Gunn's out getting me some. It's not like..." She trailed off, looking at Angel.
"We'll find Connor somehow," Wesley said with more conviction than he actually felt. He headed for the door.
"Do you have a lead?" Angel asked, cupping a hand over the phone.
"No, but I'm getting someone who might be a big help. We'll be back as soon as we can."
Wesley drove feeling uneasy. Not all of his unease had to do with the mission he was about to undertake. It had been three days since his spell had confirmed, at least to their minds, that Wolfram and Hart had done something to Connor and it was all they could do to restrain Angel from just going in like a man possessed and trashing the place. Wesley had never seen Angel so shortsighted and rattled. Without more proof they couldn't just tackle the law firm, not without putting Connor at severe risk. Wesley hoped Giles would know a way around the spells that were warping his finding spell. He would have called Saeth and Stiabhan, too, but they were still out of touch somewhere in ghost-infested central Florida.
The sun was shinning brightly when he parked and headed inside. It was a strange counterpoint to his bad mood. But he knew the person he was going to meet might just like it, as if it was smiling on her new start. When the authorities escorted him into the room, her dark eyes went wary. Wesley knew Faith wasn't expecting him to be the one to come and get her.
"Hello, Faith. I'm sure you're more than ready to go," he said.
Still eyeing him as if he were an alien or something, Faith edged closer. "You have no idea."
She said nothing else except to answer monosyllabically the few remaining questions she had to face being processed out of the jail. They had gone several blocks in silence before she finally turned to him.
"Where are you taking me, Wes?"
"To the hotel. You'll be staying there. We all live there now, Angel, me, Fred and Gunn. You remember them from the End of Days battles, right?"
Nodding, she slid down a bit in the seat. "Oh. All Fred said when she called was that someone would be by to get me. I still can't believe I'm paroled. I can't believe you're here." Her chocolate eyes raked over him. "Did you have something to do with this, Wes?"
"The Council did on my recommendation. When the jail was breached during those horrible battles, you had your chance to run. You might never have been found. Instead, you fought with us, proving Angel right. You've changed."
"I'd like to think so." Faith nibbled her lower lip. "It doesn't change what I did to you."
Wesley's blue eyes fixed on her briefly as he slowed for traffic. "I think the order of the day for this brave new world is we're all starting with a clean slate. I forgive you, Faith. I understand why you did it. I may never forget what you put me through but I can forgive it."
Faith gazed out the window. "I'm not sure I could."Wesley snorted. "Like I said, we're all suddenly big on forgiveness. It was in short supply before the last End of Days but I think it showed us a little forgiveness might be in order. I've forgiven you. Angel's forgiven Connor for sinking him under the ocean and me for letting Holtz get hold of the boy in the first place."
"I'm still working on Angel having a kid. I know I saw the boy with my own eyes but still." Faith shook her head, her long hair spilling over her face.
"I know what you mean."
"And now he's gone. Fred told me that, too."
"We think we know who has him but where and what they are doing to him is a mystery." Wesley let out a low sigh.
"Angel's having a difficult time holding it all together. To be honest, we can really use your help."
Faith let her head drop back against the rest. "Is that why I got sprung?"
"No. I've been talking to the Council about it since I went to Wales. You more than proved yourself, as I said, Faith. There are those of us who felt we most certainly didn't do enough to help you before you got in trouble, and that needed to be rectified." Wesley looked very abashed. "Giles and I have been campaigning for your parole for some time now."
"And don't think I don't appreciate it - do the Watchers think I'm working for them again?" A bit of a sneer touched her lips, as she looked out the window at the traffic snarl they were in.
"Sort of. I think they want to see how you react to being out. They want me to look after you even though I haven't been a Watcher in over four years."
"And you're okay with that?"
"I am, if you are. We really do need your help, Faith. Cordelia's in New York. Fred is pregnant. She can still help with the research of course but we are short onÄwell, muscle." He smiled wanly, honking at the idiot who was riding up the midline trying to figure out which lane wasn't blocked. "Bloody drivers."
Faith laughed. "I hear you. That I have. They mentioned I was working for Angel Investigations when they were going over the terms of my parole. Neither Angel nor Fred mentioned it to me but I just kept my mouth shut. I was afraid the officials change their minds if they knew I didn't have a job on the outside."
"But you do, I hope. I haven't exactly approved it with Angel since he's in no condition to be worrying about these things but that's what I told the Council to arrange when they were working on your release." Wesley pulled a long face. "I don't even know who runs Angel Investigations any more. It was me until I did what I did with Connor. It's more just a name than a real job and I can't see anyone having a problem with it. Angel's been your biggest champion all along."
"I know and I know I can't pay him back for that." Faith picked at the hem of her shirt where it was unraveling.
"You help us find his son and if he's keeping a tab, which I doubt, that will surely pay it off," Wesley said.
"So, are we at the head breaking stage yet of this thing with Connor?" Faith asked.
"Not yet unless Angel has decided to storm Wolfram and Hart in broad daylight," Wesley said ruefully.
"Well, it looks like we're going to be stuck in traffic until sunset, so catch me up on what we do know about this mess," Faith said, settling back, an oddly content look on her face.