Angel: The Series > AtS - Future
New Beginnings by babiesstolemydingo [Reviews - 0]	Chapters1. New Beginnings

"WESLEY WYNDAM-PRYCE. FOLLOW ME."

I shouldn't have been surprised by the emissary that greeted me in
Cyvus Vail's house, but for some reason I was. I would have laughed at
the cliche of the cowl, the skeletal hand, and the scythe, but he
looked distinctly humorless, so I refrained. A pale horse snorted and
tossed its head behind him, and a kitten purred on its withers. "Where
are we going?"

"THE POWERS THAT BE HAVE REQUESTED AN AUDIENCE WITH YOU."

"Am I in trouble?"

"THAT IS NOT FOR ME TO SAY. COME."

I grasped the bony fingers, and our surroundings dissolved into, of
all things, a boardroom, paneled with dark cherry and carpeted in
ankle-deep burgundy plush. Seven men and women sat in leather chairs
around a large wooden table, dressed in severely tailored business
suits. They looked human enough. "Are these the Powers That Be or the
Senior Partners?" I asked my guide...but he was gone.

At the head of the table, a tall gray-haired man with a mustache and
goatee stood as I appeared. "Mr. Wyndam-Pryce. Welcome." He indicated
an empty chair. "Please, have a seat." His accent was somewhat
European, although I couldn't identify it. "In answer to your
question, we are the Powers That Be. Did you expect robes and wild
beards and flashes of lightning?"

"Yes, actually." They smiled a little at that. "I'd prefer to
stand," I said carefully, "until I know what this is about."

He inclined his head. "Very well." With a wave of his hand, a screen
behind him activated, and I was treated to a ferocious battle scene.
Amazingly, the small cadre made up of Angel, Spike, Gunn, and Illyria
seemed to be winning, against impossible odds. Wounded and battered,
they nevertheless managed to beat back the hordes of demons that the
Senior Partners sent to assail them, and in the end, with the sun
rising over the city, they stood triumphant. The last thing I saw
before the vision faded was the four of them retreating into the
Hyperion before the sun could illuminate the alley fully.

"You have all served us well. Worthier Champions we could not have
asked for. However, you, Mr. Wyndam-Pryce, are the only one to have
paid the ultimate price in this particular battle. We owe you much, and
are prepared to grant you anything that is within our power to give."

Wild hope leaped within me. "Fred--"

He cut me off. "Miss Burkle's journey is not yet complete."

"Her soul--"

"Is still within the body of the God-King Illyria. Dr. Sparrow lied
to you."

I felt like a fool. Why had we believed him? The destruction of a
soul was obviously a much more difficult thing to achieve than that.
Fred would still be denied to me, apparently. All right, then. "Lilah
Morgan."

He tented his fingers and gazed at me, his expression inscrutable.
"The Senior Partners have bound her, by her own choosing. We cannot
lightly interfere."

"But you can interfere?"

"This is your request? Of all the things you could have--including
your life back, on Earth--you choose Miss Morgan? You realize that you
will not be allowed to return to that plane with her?"

Taking a deep breath, I recalled many things. Mainly that she'd died
because of a plan that I had set in motion. The memory of her head
rolling off the table still sickened me. I nodded once. "Yes." A flurry
of movement around the table greeted my simple declaration, and I
noticed some interesting baubles changing hands. "You were taking
bets?" I was incredulous.

"Humans are entertaining. It may seem...capricious, to you, but
subtle shifts in power around this table occur when one of us proves
that they know human nature better than the rest." He smiled. "I myself
have just gained a sizeable increase in my own status. Miss Morgan is
yours." He clapped his hands, and she appeared next to me, confused and
lovely.

"Wes?" she asked.

"Lilah Morgan," the gray-haired man intoned. "You have been released
from your contract with Wolfram and Hart, and you now belong to this
man, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. You will do as he bids you."

The implications of that hit me a half-second after he said it, and
Lilah looked alarmed. "What? Wait, no! That's not how I wanted her," I
said.

His eyebrow went up. "You realize that if she has her free agency,
she can leave you at any time. And probably will. Miss Morgan is not
known for her--" He coughed. "--loyalty."

"I don't care," I said fiercely. "If you take away her choices, you
might as well give her back to the Senior Partners. I didn't want to
liberate her from her contract to make her my personal slave."

"Very well. It's your funeral, as it were." He switched tracks.
"Your time on the Earth plane is done with. However, other dimensions
can benefit from your unique talents...as well as those of Miss Morgan,
who has a formidable mind. If, naturally, she chooses to stay
with
you." His subtle emphasis on the word let me know that he still
disapproved of my viewpoint.

Lilah stepped over to me and took my hand. "I'm staying with him.
Jerks," she muttered in my ear, making me smile.

Arrangements were made to move us to another dimension, where we
would continue the
fight against evil. After they plopped us into an
apartment at our destination, Lilah grabbed me and kissed me
passionately. "I knew you'd come through for me, lover." Her voice was
husky. "And you know what?" She seemed embarrassed as she lowered her
eyes. "I still have that dollar bill." Looking at me a little sideways,
she quirked up one side of her mouth. "Who says you can't take it with
you?"

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