Little Bitty Puzzle PiecesBy PJzallday
Reproach
"Oh shit, here's another one." The club owner cowered with a couple of his employees behind the bar as an intense dark-haired woman dressed in jeans and a leather jacket entered the room. "We're closed!"
Without hesitating, Faith strode to hover over the crouched figures. "What the hell happened here?"
The place was a mess: shattered glass, broken furniture and half a dozen demon corpses scattered around the room.
"Please, don't hurt us!" a waitress pleaded.
The bartender insisted, "We're all human. Honest."
The three were whimpering and clearly frightened.
Faith couldn't tell how long they might have been huddled there. "Hey, look," the Slayer grunted, "I'm not gonna hurt ya. I just wanna know what happened. A couple of my friends were supposed to be in here last night, and I-"
"Faith?" a strained and muffled voice called from one side of the club. "Is that you?"
She turned toward the sound but couldn't see anyone familiar in amongst the debris. "Lorne?"
"Oh," he squeaked, "Thank the god of all that's fashionable!"
"Lorne?" Faith repeated as she scanned the lounge trying to find the demon.
"Over here!"
She caught a glimpse of a pair of shiny red shoes then rushed over to him. "Lorne, what the hell hap- Geez!" She'd found him. Part of him. "Lorne, ya gotta help me out here. Where's your head?"
"I rolled under the table at one of the booths," he cried dramatically. "Don't you ever clean under here? It's disgusting," he complained to the management.
The concerned Slayer followed the sound of the demon's voice. Sure enough, his head had rolled under a table — and he was right, it was disgusting under there: sticky and dusty, and splattered with demon blood.
Faith grimaced as she picked up the head, holding it uncertainly. "Lorne, I've done some pretty grim stuff in my time, but this is just…" A drip of fluid oozed from his severed neck onto the leg of her jeans. "… nasty." As she carried him over to the rest of his body, trying not to trip on overturned furniture or step on broken glass, she asked, "OK, so how's this work?"
"Just stick my head back on my body, I'll do the rest."
She knelt by his body and set the two detached parts together, groaning at the squishy noise they made when she pushed the parts together.
Lorne shifted his head slightly with his hands then sat up. After giving his shoulders a roll and cracking his neck to one side then the other, he explained, "Yeah, we Deathwok clan are a tough bunch. To kill us, you've got to mutilate our bodies. Fortunately, we're not well known in this dimension, so-"
"So what the hell happened?" Faith asked again still baffled by the scene.
As he brushed himself off, the demon grumbled, "A bunch of you happened."
***
"Ah good morning, ladies," Giles greeted a group of late risers as he sipped his tea in the Reseda hotel restaurant. He'd been reviewing papers in anticipation of the planned redistribution of Slayers and of his return to Headquarters. "Please," he said as he motioned to chairs at his table, "do sit down."A couple of them took seats, oblivious to the suspicious tone in the Watcher's voice, but most knew something was up.
"Tell me, did you sleep well?" he asked as he pulled off his glasses and began cleaning them while the girls gave shaky but affirmative responses. "Alright. Now which of you is going to tell me why you arrived here so much later than the rest of us last night — or rather, this morning?"
Most of the girls were just guiltily staring at the table top or glancing around with shifty eyes when Natalie spoke up, "We turned wrong coming back."
"Yeah, and we came across a bunch of demons and took 'em out," Sandy stated proudly of the group's accomplishment.
"Oh?" Giles questioned curiously.
Helen explained, "Yah. Zere vere two on ze street."
"And we heard about some more at a club," added Sandy.
"It was the oddest thing, Mr. Giles," Natalie said. "There was this one demon and it looked like 'e was chattin' up a vampire."
"A vampire? That is odd," the Watcher agreed. "Demons don't normally associate with vampires; they see them as hybrid abominations."
"Zat's not ze strangest part."
"Helen's right. What about that outfit?" one of the other girls spoke up.
"White dinner jacket. Shiny blue shirt."
Dallas chimed in, "And a red scarf thing…"
Giles paled. "You mean an ascot?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"So this thing was like a real live lounge lizard," remarked Sandy. "Big and green with red glowy eyes."
"Oh dear lord," Giles groaned. "And the vampire he was with?"
"Dust!" the girls cheered.
***
Poking her head into his office, a secretary spoke, "Mr. Gunn?""Meredith, what's up?"
"You're needed in an emergency meeting," the woman explained.
"Is it the big cat?"
"No, but Lorne's assistant did say that it's urgent all executive members meet in the boardroom as soon as possible."
"Sure, thanks," he said casually as he got up from his desk, glad to leave his paperwork behind.
The spacious executive suites were done in rich woods and textures, with warm lighting and elegant floral arrangements. It was a far cry from their dark cramped old office space at the Hyperion. Strolling the halls in such surroundings seemed to make the former demon-hunting street-gang leader walk taller, prouder.
"D' you know what's goin' on, Wes?" asked Gunn as he entered the boardroom.
The other man sat uneasily at the far end of the table. "Haven't a clue."
"I guess we're just waiting for Angel and Lorne," Fred noted from where she'd curled up in one of the large executive chairs.
"Angel's not coming," Faith stated gruffly, having suddenly appeared in the doorway with Lorne. "I think you're gonna wanna sit down for this," she suggested to Gunn as Lorne made a beeline for the bar.
"OK, look. I'm just gonna tell you what I know," the Slayer began. "Last night, Lorne and Angel were attacked."
The others gasped and looked on with wide eyes.
"I found Lorne early this morning at that club they went to, but Angel…" The normally tough young woman appeared shaken. "We're not exactly sure but we think he was…"
"Oh my god," cried Fred.
"No way. He musta gotten out," Gunn insisted. "It's not like he hasn't taken off before."
"He has a point," agreed Wesley. "P'rhaps a search-"
"He's gone," Lorne declared without any of his characteristic flair. "He wouldn't have run off and left me lying in headless on a dirty floor. Not that great big lovable-"
Before the demon had finished his lament, there was a knock on the door. "Mr. Wyndam-Pryce: there's a call for you."
"Take a message," the Brit barked.
"It's Mr. Giles," the woman stated. "He insists that you take the call."
"Alright," grumbled Wesley. "Would you put him through?"
She nodded and went to her desk. Soon the phone was ringing.
"Rupert," Wesley greeted curtly.
Giles dispensed with the pleasantries and launched into the business at hand, "Could you tell me, have you been in touch with Angel or Lorne today?"
"Well, yes," the younger man replied. "Lorne's right here. Why do you-"
"Oh good," sighed Giles with relief. "So everyone's alright. No… ah… incidents to report?"
Agitated, Wesley countered, "Actually no, everyone's not alright. Lorne and Angel were attacked last night."
The voice on the other end groaned, "Oh dear lord."
"Lorne was decapitated. Thankfully his… species is rather resilient. But Angel-"
"You've not heard from him?" Giles said with concern.
"No, we haven't."
The Watcher paused for a long while, fully aware of what most likely happened to the other man's friend. "Wesley… I'm sorry to have to tell you this but I believe that ah… a number of my girls…"
"They killed him," Wesley shot back.
The others sat in stunned silence hearing what they presumed to be confirmation of what they'd all feared.
"Yes. I believe so."
"What the bloody hell have you been teaching those girls!?" the former Watcher roared. "Don't they know that there are passive even benevolent demons? You never bothered to mention Angel was a vampire with a soul?"
"Well, yes I-"
"He fought on the side of right! And now because your girls went on a mad rampage he's gone!"
"Wes," Fred tried to get the man's attention. "Wesley!"
He stopped his barrage and looked at the frail young woman.
"Who's gonna tell Buffy?"