Still Ensouled 6

The Adventures of Captain Peroxide and Deadboy

The Angel/Spike Zone of the BtVS Writer's Guild

Part VI - Goodnight Moon

Angel had been sitting alone in his room for hours. Spike had long since cleaned himself up and went downstairs to do some reading. Connor and Cordelia had left the night before, and Wesley had followed suit. Angel had thought Gunn and Fred went out to, but there were the occasional shouts from the office to remind him they had not. They sat together, uncomfortable, detached. Now Angel wished the others would come back, if for no reason than the mindless chatter that would eventually float up the stairs. He wanted to hear something other than the sirens outside, the occasional screams from passersby. The silence was painful, until Lorne made his way down the hall, humming some show tune that Angel couldn't quite identify.

Lorne opened the door, a glass of pig's blood in his hand. "Brought you some lunch."

"Set it on the table." Angel said, continuing to work on the sketch of the Beast he was penciling. He moved slowly over the demon's horns. Lorne looked over the drawing and grimaced.

"Yeesh, you don't mind if I go screaming from the room do you?"

"Don’t forget to shut the door on your way out."

"Well, if that's how you want to play it." Lorne turned to go.

"Play what?" Angel asked absently.

"Oh please Angelcakes. Don’t bother me, I'm brooding."

"I'm not brooding. I'm researching."

"About the apocalyptic beast? So’s everyone else. Downstairs. Wesley included."

"I work better alone."

"Tough shit. Your a, I don't really want to use the C word, but I will."

"What?" Angel said as he stood up.

"A champion, and heroes don't get personal time. You need to come down and stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about the rest of the world."

"There’s nothing on this beast, Lorne. I've read all of these," He motioned to a stack of books piled on the end table. "There’s nothing there. No mentions at all, and this thing keeps showing up around my kid."

"The kid that's not completely done making the moves on the girl that might have been." Lorne impulsively took a step back to match Angel's step forward.

"You wanna shove that into English for me?"

"I know about Connor and Cordelia, it's a vibe. It's a thing. Point is I know, what can I say."

"You can say goodbye, take a hike."

"Angel, baby, when this whole thing is done Connor is still going to be your son. And you may not find perfect happiness with Cordelia, but there are other fish in the sea. Like a certain recently ensouled vampire sitting in the lobby with the rest of the team." Lorne said. He then left the room, leaving Angel alone once again.

Angel sat in his dimly lit room, still alone, looking over the same books he had been looking at an hour ago. Every few moments his eyes would drift to the floor, which was littered with images of the demon. He felt himself begin to slip into a much-needed sleep when there was a knock on the door.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's me. Can I come in?"

"Go away, Cordelia." Angel answered. He stood up, prepared to lock the door, then sat back down. The door opened, and in walked Cordelia.

"I know I don't have to be invited, it's just polite." She crossed the room and sat beside him. Angel squirmed in his chair a bit before setting the book he was looking at on the floor.

"Angel." She started. "I don't know where to start."

"Then how ‘bout we skip to the end where you're finished and leave." Angel picked up the books and sketches he had been working on and walked over to the small desk that sat against the wall.

"Aren’t you going to ask how Connor’s doing?"

"Sure, and I'm sure you’ll be asking how Spike is." He turned to stare at her. "I really don't need a progress report."

"That is not what I meant, and you know it." She rose from her chair. "He's scared to death and he needs his father. He needs you to tell him that you don't think he's connected to the beast."

"You know what? The thing does seem to keep popping up whenever he‘s around. What am I supposed to think?"

"I swear, like father like son. Between you and Connor you’ve pretty much cornered the market on teenage snits. How about you stop being angry at me and..." Angel slammed his fists against the table and looked hard at her.

"How about you stop pretending to give a damn about my feelings and get out of here!" He shouted at her.

"I do give a damn. I give a whole lot of damn. That’s why I came over here, to tell you that you need to get over it."

"What? Get over it?" Angel asked incredulously.

"Right now you and I are not the issue. There is a big beasty out there, and I had a vision and..."

"You know I never thought of that. Get over it. It's so simple." Angel was tempted to physically throw her out of his room. He moved towards her, but as he did she reached a hand up to caress his cheek. He caught it in mid stride and held it tight.

"Angel, I'm sorry I hurt you. It's the last thing in the world I wanted to do." She turned her wrist painfully in Angel's grip. "But you have to get past it. And you have to get past it right now. People need you. Your son needs you."

"Fine. Tell me about your vision."

"Look who decided to join the living." Spike said as Angel came down the stairs. "Anything exciting going on?"

"Nope." Angel said after leaning on the desk that Spike was working at. "Just another vision of Cordy’s meant to vague things up a bit. Anything useful turn up down here?"

"Oh yeah. Our new friend killed a couple totems of a group called the Ra-tet, which included little miss evil in a plaid skirt."

"Sounds fun." Angel smiled.

"It's not, I assure you." Wesley said, coming from the inner office. "We’re not sure what it means yet, but Fred and I are still looking."

"We need some new clues." Fred chimed in.

"Or new brains." Gunn added from behind the lobby counter.

The group turned to see a fabulous brunette wearing red leather pants and a halter-top, standing on the landing.

"Hi there, long time no hand to hand." She gracefully walked down the lobby steps, stopping a few feet from Angel.

"Nice surprise. You remember Gunn and Fred."

"Yeah, sorry about the whole..."

"Killing you thing." Fred interrupted. "We’re still holding a grudge."

"No, really I'm sorry. I generally try to avoid contact." Gwen replied, rubbing her glove covered hands together to emphasize her point. "Mostly." She said with a knowing glance at Angel.

"Cordelia, this is..."

"Yeah, I know who she is." Cordelia stared at the unwelcome visitor. "Caught your little show on the omniscient higher plane channel. Thanks."

"Oh, I didn't." Spike said, rising to shake her hand. Gwen didn't extend her own.

"Sorry, don't want to be rude, but if I killed another one of Angel's friends, he might start taking it personally."

"Good enough. I'm William."

"Nice to know you." Gwen returned. She took another look at Cordelia before turning her attention solely on Angel. "So she‘s the one that makes your heart go pitter-pat, huh? Figuratively speaking I mean. You must be so happy."

"I am. Not having the best week." Angel said, also looking at Cordelia.

"Tell me about it. I mean really tell me about it. Is the world about to end or what?"

"Did something happen to you?" Angel said, taking a step to Gwen’s side.

"I was meeting with a client in the oil fields last night, which is weird, because in three years of lifting for this guy he never wanted to meet until now."

"Fascinating, really. But we’re dealing with some apocalyptic stuff here that takes precedence over..."

"So, anyway, we’re talking and all of a sudden he gets his heart ripped out by some huge demon. Demon. The whole nine yards. Horns, cloven feet." As she was talking Lorne walked in. Gwen stared at him a moment. "He wasn't wearing lamé."

"The evil ones can't pull it off. It gets camp." Lorne said with a small laugh.

"So do you want to tell me what’s going on? Freak to freak?"

"Um, Gwen." Fred said looking up from a book. "Was this client of yours by any chance a skinless saber tooth tiger or composed entirely of light?"

"Yeah, maybe. When the demon punched in his chest light came out of him."

"I think he was another member of the Ra-tet."

"You wanted a pattern." Gunn said. "He's killing the totems."

"Totems?" Gwen asked.

"There are five totems of the Ra-tet, each one symbolizing a step in the Egyptian sun god Ra’s journey across the sky. The beast is killing them, but we don't know to what end."

"Think it's time to hear more about this vision of Cordelia’s." Spike said.

"It was nothing." Angel said. "She saw the beast talking to someone, she doesn't know who, and she didn't get audio."

"It felt like I was inside someone, someone familiar."

"Who was inside you?" Spike asked. "I mean, who was it you were inside?"

"Great, well at least the phone lines between the powers and us are still on." Gunn said.

"Which works in our favor. "Wesley said. "With Wolfram and Hart cut off with the death of the little girl, we have a leg up."

"You keep your leg down around here." Gunn warned.

"Okay, if there are three totems dead for sure, we need to find the other two. Manjet was last seen in Belize, the other lives in the valley." Fred interjected.

"Looks like somebody’s having a road trip." Spike said.

"It's like a four-hour trip each way." Cordelia said.

"Great, we’ll take Gwen. I'm sure the three of us can find something to talk about." Angel took Gwen by the arm and led her out the door.

"Or do." Spike added, following them.

It was nearly dawn when Spike, Angel, and Gwen returned to the hotel. When they arrived they had a short balding man in tow.

"Who’s this?" Wesley asked.

"This is a being of supreme power?" Wesley asked, eying the diminutive man before him.

"You should see me in my Armani." Manjet said, tipping his hat to Wesley. "And you can call me Manny."

"Where’s the tiger guy?" Gunn asked.

"He had a slight case of being ripped open to death." Manny said.

"Yeah, somebody already pulled out the toy surprise." Gwen added.

"Any idea why the beast is killing the Ra-tet?" Fred asked.

"He's going to blot out the sun, making LA a feeding ground for things that go bump in the night." Manjet said.

"As far as evil plans go, it doesn't suck." Wesley said taking a seat on the arm of the couch.

"We better put guards on the entrances." Gunn said.

"Sure, let’s keep the last totem of the Ra-tet in the home of the only people we’re sure the beast knows."

"You got a better plan, Einstein?"

"Give me time." Wesley sneered.

"I've got a place." Gwen said. "Hey Manny, wanna come stay at my place?"

"Oh, you have no idea." Manjet said, grinning ear to ear. "Not that I'm holding out for some miracle, maybe a lap dance, but not a miracle."

"Where are you going to take him?" Cordelia asked. "Some nondescript tenement downtown, filled with..."

"The faint smell of death."

"You didn't have to come, Cordelia." Angel snapped at her as he sidestepped a pile of newspaper. The group had followed Gwen to a seemingly abandoned building a couple of miles from the Hyperion.

"Oh, come on. If the beast was going to look for us, don't you think it would be in a hellhole like this?"

"Oh yeah." Gunn said as Gwen opened the door to a vast lobby filled with velvet hangings and sculptures. "It would definitely be in a crapper just like this."

"My butler already left for Tahiti, so it may take me a second to remember where the panic room is." Gwen said, gazing at the various hallways that branched off of the lobby.

Angel leaned over to whisper in Cordelia’s ear. "You know the Axis of Pythia, the thing Spike and I used to bring you home? It was worth $33 million, I gave it to Gwen when I was done." He smiled at her and followed Gwen.

She reached a large library and pulled a book from the wall. A door opened, revealing a concrete room. "Never give up a chance for a really good cliché." She shoved Manny into the room. "Twelve inch thick concrete walls, it's own ventilation."

"Hey does this thing get skinamax?" Manny asked.

"Goodbye, Manny. Sleep tight." She closed the door with a brush of her hand over a panel in the door.

"So, we’ll keep watch in teams. Gwen and I will take the first shift." Angel said.

"How about we split up the super powers." Cordelia said.

"Sure. I'll take Denzel for second watch, if you don‘t mind, I‘m kinda wigged, thinking a hot totty is in order." Gwen said.

"Go for it supertramp." Cordelia chided.

"Um, yeah. We'll take four-hour shifts, sleep on the off hours. We’re going to need it." Angel said, taking a seat on one of the plush chairs that sat in the center of the library.

"Maybe we should talk." Cordelia said, once she had settled into the chair next to Angel's.

"Maybe we shouldn’t."

"Hey, Gwen." Angel called over his shoulder.

"Got anything to drink?"

"There’s a mini bar in the buffet against the wall."

"Yeah, Spike." Fred called from the lobby.

"Mount up. Angel just called."

"Oh, god, what happened?"

"The beast got Manny." Spike grabbed his coat from the rack and handed Fred’s to her. "He wasn't sure how, but he wants us to go check on little brother."

"How did it get into her apartment?"

"Not sure, but according to Gwen Manny’s superpower seems to be extra blood and guts. When the beast went to pull out the toy surprise he left quite a mess."

"Well, we better get going then. Should we take Lorne?"

"No, our charming host seems to be more of a lover than a fighter."

"Okay, then. Let’s get to Connor’s."

When Spike and Fred made it to the ramshackle hole in the burning sky that Connor called home, they found him brooding over a book.

"Do you know what I always wondered about that book?" Spike asked from the doorway.

"No, what?" Connor asked, adding an invitation to the vampire to his reply.

"Why didn't Roquetin ever check out the next book the self-taught man was going to read to just really piss him off?" Connor laughed. "That and why Angel makes all of his children read it."

"What are you doing here?" Connor asked.

"Just checking in. Any demon sightings today?" Fred answered.

"No. No one comes here except Cordelia, and Angel when he needs to fit some peeping tom action into his schedule."

"Hey!" Spike cut him off. "Fred, will you give us a second?"

"Sure, I'll go back down to the car and wait for Angel."

"Thanks." Once she had left he continued. "Okay, baby brother, I don't want you to even start trying to explain what happened between you and the princess, because I'll be sick. I do, however , want you to tell me that you didn't do it just to hurt Angel." Spike stood close to the boy and waited for his answer.

"Of course not. We thought the world was going to end. Believe me, she’s made it quite clear that it can't happen again." Connor diverted his eyes from those of the vampire.

"Good." Spike turned back towards the door and went to leave. "I'll come see you again. You’ll want to talk later." He opened the door, but instead of hallway all he saw was the beast.

"Hello, Spike." The beast threw a fist at Spike and sent him flying into the wall. Connor lunged at the demon but barely got a single blow in before he was tossed through the air. He made a second leap but was once again stopped mid-stride. The beast threw him in the same direction he had sent Spike, but instead of hitting the wall Connor went through the window and plummeted to the ground below.

As soon as Connor hit the ground Fred was at his side, and soon Cordelia was there as well. Connor caught a glimpse of Angel rushing past him under a thick blanket.

"Connor. I'm here." Angel cried out to him from the safety of the shadows. "Where’s the beast?"

"He's up there." Connor pointed. "Dad."

"Connor, it's okay, I'm here now."

"Dad, hurry, Spike's still up there."

Angel rushed up the stairs. Gunn and Fred followed, with a recently arrived Wesley in hot pursuit.

"Wes, did you get it?" Angel asked.

"Yes. I had to go back to my place, but I think that Fred and I will be able to open a porthole for you to push the beast into."

"Great, because we know how well that always works out." Gunn said.

"It's our best bet, Charles." Fred said.

When they entered Connor’s place the beast was knelt within a circle on the floor. In front of him there was a statue made up of silver wings, the beast was breathing an energy into a small orb that rested on top of the wings. He then held a heart, still dripping with blood over the orb and chanted.

"Private party, or can anyone join?" Angel said as he swung his broadsword at the beast’s head.

"Angel, get him away from the statue. If I can get close enough I can melt the metal of the wings.

Gwen whispered to Angel when he backed up to take a second charge.

"Right, Wesley, any time."

Fred and Wesley stood in a corner reading an incantation to open a portal. Below, in the street, Cordelia tended to Connor’s wounds, but as she did they felt the air around them cooling, as the sky dimmed.

"What does it feel like to pass out? The lights get dimmer, right?" Connor asked.

"Why do you ask?" Cordelia said, following Connor’s gaze to the heavens. As they watched black fingers seemed to curl around the shape of the sun. In a matter of seconds the sun was completely covered with black flames. The day had turned to night.

Back above Gunn, Angel, and a weakened Spike battled the beast. At last the air behind the demon began to fold as the porthole began to open. With a final dash Angel pushed the beast into the porthole and watched him disappear.

"Is that it?" Gwen asked.

"I'm not sure." Angel answered; looking around the apartment for the pieces of statuary that had been scattered in the fight. He spotted the orb, but as he made a move for it, the beast reappeared in front of him and took the orb into his hand. He opened his mouth and swallowed it.

"I told you once; you need not be my enemy. Angelus." The beast said before bolting out the window and disappearing once again.

"What?" Angel asked no one in particular.

People said "Make him evil already!" .

Violators will be beaten to death with a shovel

(A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend)