Eve of Change: Chapter 3
by Im An Angel
Eve of Change
Chapter Three
“Why didn’t you tell them about Nicholas?” Spike asked irritably, from where he was standing in the kitchen microwaving some blood.
“What good would it have done them to know?” Angel asked tiredly accepting the cup of blood that Spike handed him and continued, “All it would have done is worry them even more.”
“Oh great so they’re worry free,” Spike said sarcastically. “And I can worry instead! Cause after all he isn’t one to take no for an answer.”
“Yeah and all this time I thought he was long gone.” Angel said coldly ignoring Spike’s outburst. “Guess we didn’t do a good enough job, we’ll have to rectify that this time,”
“I can’t stand it,” Spike said pacing. “I want to go get her now!”
“We don’t know where she is,” Angel said calmly from where he was sitting on the couch. “Sit down will you!” Angel snapped.
“Fine!” Spike yelled and slouched down into the chair. “But you know she wasn’t in the best of shape when they took her.”
“Buffy will be fine. I just hope that he doesn’t hold a grudge or better yet, doesn’t know at all that Buffy, you and me are together.” Angel said darkly from his seat.
“Yeah well I wouldn’t count on it, you know how much the demon population hates us at the moment,” he said flicking his lighter. “Anyway you can’t blame us!” Spike said mutinously thinking back over what had happened that day in Paris.
It was the 1880’s and they were in England when Dru had started going on about the stars in Paris calling her and Darla stared on soon after about wanting a new wardrobe, the fights and complaints went on for weeks, consequently they had been nuisances for weeks. No matter what Angelus did to them they wouldn’t give in, finally Angelus gave in, in a rage.
They arrived in Paris a week later and walked around looking for a home for the next few weeks, they found a big, old house. Darla and Dru played their parts of young lost ladies perfectly, getting into the house and taking care of the previous occupants.
Him and Dru had been on their way out to torment and kill like usual. When Angelus had pulled them up short,
“Where are you going?”
“Out to hunt my Angel,” Dru said pursing her lips prettily and spinning around wildly. “The stars are singing to me!”
“Are they my sweet?” Angelus said with a grin as he grabbed her and pulled her to him and kissing her, Dru just giggled. Spike felt an overwhelming flash of possessiveness, which he purposely ignored. It didn’t help to get angry with Angelus, it just made him smug and to repeat the action. It was much easier to ignore it, and over time Angelus would get sick of taunting him.
“Angelus!” Darla called from the other room, causing Angelus to growl at the interruption and let Dru slip out of his arms. “Let them go out to hunt. You promised to take me shopping!” Angelus growled in frustration but let them go. And with that Dru and Spike went into the night to hunt.
Spike and Dru had gone to the theatre after stealing the tickets from their first course. The show wasn’t too bad and the company was delicious… They left had left and were walking down a path arm in arm, towards the park when Dru giggled and darted off into the dark,
“Dru?” Spike called, “Princess where have you gone off to?” He asked sharply, walking quickly after her and shifting into vamp to see more clearly in the dark.
“Ooh Spike!” Dru whispered, and started humming to herself.
“What is it ducks?” Spike asked coming into the clearing and switching back to human as he came into the moonlight. Where he saw his princess spinning around with wildflowers in her arms and a male figure beside her. “Who’s your…friend?”
“The sky is talking to me,” she cooed ignoring his question.
“So who are you mate?” Spike growled, looking at the auburn haired guy standing in the shadows.
“The name is Nicholas,” the guy said as he watched Dru spin.
“Well Nicholas,” Spike said loftily. “What do you think you’re doing all the way out here with my girl?”
“Yours is she?” he said with a smirk then walked closer to Dru so that they were almost touching, “Are you sure?”
“Damn right she’s mine so keep your hands off,” Spike hissed.
“I’m always one for a challenge, especially for something so…unique,” he said with a grin as he grabbed her and spun her around.
I’m warning you…” Spike said stalking towards him.
“What’s going on here?” came another voice and Spike groaned silently, just what he didn’t need Angelus to come to the rescue and show off! He thought with a growl, though Angelus would teach the boy a lesson, he thought with a grin.
“Oh my Angel, I made a new friend,” Dru said happily as she ran straight into Angelus’ arms.
“I can see that Dru why don’t you introduce us,” he said coldly, with a frosty glance towards Nicholas.
“My Angel this is…” she trailed off, her head on a slant and a finger to her lips as she tried to remember.
“Nicholas,” the stranger said with an icy smile in return. Dru beamed as she was reminded,
“You aren’t angry with me are you, my Angel?” Dru questioned looking up into the cool brown eyes, which softened momentarily then hardened again.
“Angelus? Where have you gone off too?” an annoyed voice rang out in the silence.
“No my sweet,” Angel said with a small smile, adding placidly “But us boys need to have a…chat, so why don’t you go home with Darla and we’ll meet you there? Hmm?”
“Okay my Angel,” and with that she skipped off into the shadows. When she was gone Angelus turned his attention to the other boy,
“So what were you doing with Dru?”
“Making her acquaintance,” he said blandly. “I enjoy unique things…” And Spike smiled at Nicholas’ poor choice in words, this guy really was stupid…
“Well, he did have it coming to him,” Angel said quietly a small smile covering his lips, “And it was…fun.”
“Of course he bloody did! That smooth talking, pretty-boy was just asking for it!” Spike practically spat. “Wanted to take Dru away from us,” he muttered, thinking of his black princess without regret. “Should a known that we would come after her!”
“True, he really should have known better,” Angel drawled. “Especially thinking he could take Angelus’ childe.”
“Hey, she was mine too mate!” Spike said shooting him a glare.
“Let’s not start this again,” Angel said rolling his eyes.
“You’re the one starting it mate,” Spike snarled and stood up. “You were the one that had to have everything. Always showing your superiority over me, you’re ability to take away the things I loved with a wave of your hand…”
“Not me Spike,” Angel soothed. “Angelus.”
“Ha! You like to pretend that you’re different,” Spike snorted, circling the other vampire. “But you’re not that different from Angelus.”
“You know that’s not true,” Angel hissed.
“Do I?” Spike asked bitterly, “I’m not so sure sometimes.” Angel’s eyes flashed gold at the insult. Stalked up to Spike and raised his hand,
“You’d know if I was Angelus, boy.” He bit through clenched teeth. Spike raised his chin defiantly and asked without flinching,
“And what makes this scene any different?”
****
Buffy had had enough, they had been sitting there for almost half an hour and he kept going on about simple easy subjects and skirting the important ones that she wanted answered, like what she was doing there!
Buffy looked up from the meal in front of her, it looked delicious – especially after eating nothing for what she guested had been days, except for the bit of pizza this afternoon. But she couldn’t help but look at it suspiciously; after all she had been kidnapped and was now eating an elegant dinner with her enemy.
She seriously doubted that the food was poisoned; after all it would be ludicrous to have gone through all the trouble to catch her, just to kill her. But she wouldn’t put it past him not to drug her…after all the Council had done it.
“So I can assume this is edible?” she enquired, looking up at him through lowered eyelashes as she pushed the food around on her plate.
“As far as I know,” Nicholas answered as he lifted a bite of rare steak to his mouth. “Though I admit that my experience with food is not what it used to be.”
“Not that I’m not enjoying this,” she said cynically, still eyeing her food critically. “But are you trying to drug me?” she queried pointed, bypassing the soft approach for the direct one, it always worked better as far as she was concerned.
“Why would I do a thing like that?” he asked, seemingly genuinely puzzled at the idea.
“Oh come on!” Buffy insisted impatiently. “You must have had a reason to kidnap me in the first place other than taking me out to dinner!”
“Oh that, I had hoped to leave that bit of conversation until after dinner,” he said dryly, taking a sip of his wine. “Don’t you find dinner more pleasurable if you don’t talk about business?”
“Not when I’ve been kidnapped I don’t,” she said heatedly. “I’d much rather know what’s going on.”
“Tsk, you’re so impatient. But no I have not tampered with your food, if you do not believe me get Henry to try some,” he drawled with a wave of his hand.
“I’ll believe you,” Buffy stated and took a bite of the food. “Mm…delicious, but please tell me,” she coaxed.
“I have two motives in kidnapping you,” he confided gallantly. “The first is that I enjoy unique things and you are definitely unique my dear. Not just the fact that you are the Slayer, or that you have out lived all other known Slayers. But you are renowned and feared all through the land. You would be an excellent prize…”
“Excuse me?” she snapped angrily. “I am not a prize! I am a human being and I belong to no-one!”
“And of course there is my other, more devious motive,” ignoring her outburst he continued with a cruel smile. “It has to do with two friends of yours, whom of course you should by rights of birth as the Slayer, you should have killed long ago… vampires through and through. But I have been told that you have a soft spot for them.” Buffy looked up at the vampire sitting in front of her,
“So you know Angel and Spike?” she asked, well aware that there was no purpose to pretend not to know who he was talking about.
“Know them my dear?” he asked, his accent thickening as his emotions came to the surface. “Those devils almost took my un-life...”
“Not that this conversation isn’t thrilling.” Buffy interrupted impatiently. “What does this all have to do with me?”
“Well my dear,” he said blandly. “What better way to get back at them then to take the one thing that means the world to them?”
“So this is blackmail? And I’m the bait.” Buffy stated, fuming. They could at least want her for being her! Not over Angel and Spike.
“Oh you say it and it sounds so trivial,” he said disdainfully. “It is so much more than blackmail. I will get rid of the two abominations of the Vampire world and get my revenge at the same time.” Buffy looked at him, her green eyes were sparkling with anger, cold shards of glass,
“Great,” she said sarcastically. “Well sorry to burst your bubble but I’m leaving!
“Are you my dear?” he asked pleasantly, though his eyes were hard like green glass. “And how do you propose to do that?”
“I am the Slayer,” Buffy said icily. “What makes you think that you can keep me here against my will?”
“My Warriors,” Nicholas said with a wave and several vampires stepped out of the shadows. “They caught you last time, why shouldn’t they be able to this time?” he asked with a smirk.
“It isn’t smart to underestimate me,” Buffy said softly but sweetly. A smile curving her lips, she stood up from the table, and stepped towards him. Then whispered softly,
“I might not always win the battles Nicholas, but I always win the wars,” and with that she walked off towards her room once more.
****
Spike stood unflinching, his chin raised proudly as he looked at and watched his Sire with ice-cold blue eyes. Almost seeming to dare Angel to do it, to try to hit him. To go back to being the monster that he used to be. To be no different and no better than the animal Angelus that he takes great pains to be different from.
He was sick of Angel pulling superiority over him; he always had over everything and this time Spike wasn’t going to back down.
Angel stood frozen, his hand raised to the blonde and ready to strike. His brown eyes blazing with anger, though he stood there fighting with himself. But he would not take out his anger on Spike, no matter how much he pushed; he would not become go back to being someone he wasn’t. Especially since it would only wreck the friendship that had just begun to flourish between them thanks to Buffy. The friendship he had been consequently unable to have since being Angelus, and how he had treated Spike.
So they stood there thinking without moving, frozen in place like statues. Still in the same stance as when the battle of wills against each other and themselves had started, standing in the middle of the room inches apart. Waiting for the other to back down.
They were still unmoving when Willow walked unknowingly into the room, excited over the information she had found on the internet, it was amazing some of the stuff you could actually find on there! She had managed to find a clue of where Buffy might be being held, not to mention a bit of history about this mystery guy Nicholas. She pulled up abruptly, taking in the stances of the two vampires.
She swallowed nervously and cleared her throat softly, alerting them to her presence.
Spike’s eyes shot over to look at the invader, his eyes like ice, though it melted when he saw that it was Willow. Angel knew who it was and slowly lowered the fist back to his side with a sigh. Ran a hand through his hair and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Spike caught Angel’s eyes once more and Angel found himself staring into the ice blue eyes of his Childe, a silent challenge in plain sight.
How had their relationship backtracked this far? It had been going fine until all the problems with Nicolas started. It was all Nicholas’ fault, he thought gritting his teeth. The past had been brought up and with it, all the problems and issues from the past had been brought up again too. Even the ones that he had thought had been settled, but right now they didn’t have the time to fight they needed to find Buffy and get her out of danger and Nicholas’ clutches.
“So what did you come to tell us Willow?” Angel asked gently, breaking the red head out of her musing.
“Oh, right!” she said grinning once again. “I found some information on Nicholas and where he could be keeping Buffy.”
“Well?” Spike said impatiently, tapping his foot.
“Hold your horses,” she scolded. “Or I wont tell you at all,” she added glowering at them.
“Okay,” Spike said with a sigh. “Will you please tell us?”
“First of all I would like to know what’s going on with you both!” Willow said frowning. “I don’t think that you should both be fighting at a time like this with Buffy missing, and I thought that you had both already put your differences aside?” she added pointedly. Spike and Angel glanced at each other and then quickly away feeling guilty about how they were acting.
Especially when the woman they loved was in danger.
“I’m sorry Will,” Angel said apologetically. Then added with a small smile, “It was just a disagreement, nothing to worry about.” Willow looked from one sincere face to the other, and finally relented,
“Okay then, I’ll believe you,” she said with a smile. “Promise to be good and I’ll tell you what I found out.”
“Promise,” they said in unison.
“So anyway I found out that like you said Angel, there is supposed to be some big gathering in less than a week, probably more like a day or two, in this place called Bella Manor, in France,” Willow said going into research mode. “Where this guy Nicholas sells the “prizes” that his Retriever’s have caught for him and they are sold off to the highest bidder. Now I’m not sure if Buffy will be in the same category as the others, since she is the Slayer I don’t even know if she will be there and up for sale…”
“So we should go and get her the hell out of there!” Spike growled.
“Well that’s the problem,” Willow said calmly. “The site doesn’t actually say where the place is only that its in France, something about getting the information sent to you.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Angel said grimly.
“Why is that?” Willow asked.
“Well Spike and I have a past with Nicholas and he wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble and then go and have a sale, where Buffy might be without giving us some notice so that we can turn up to witness it,” Angel said with a sigh. Willow looked from one vampire to the other wondering what exactly this past was, but knowing that she shouldn’t pry, because it was probably what the argument she had walked in on had been about,
“Well,” she said with a sigh. “You should come in with the rest of us so that we can make a plan,” and with that she turned and walked out of the room. Angel and Spike looked at each other and then followed the red head into the next room.
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