Still Ensouled 7

The Adventures of Captain Peroxide and Deadboy

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

Chapter VII - Awakenings

The main floor of the Hyperion was filled with raised voices. Wesley and Angel had been in the office for several hours debating the ups and downs of bringing Angelus back to find out if he knew anything about their most recent enemy. Fred and Lorne had been arguing about the finer points of evil vampire knowledge with Cordelia in the lobby, and Gunn, Connor, and Spike stood in the back office presenting the united No Angelus campaign to both factions. The shaman, Wu-Pang looked on from the sofa, sipping his glass of orange zinger tea, quite amused by the spectacle.

"Wesley, listen to me as I spell this out simply: No!" Angel calmly repeated to the former watcher. "You may have read all the fun facts you could find about Angelus, but you have no clue what you are asking, and since it isn’t even possible, we are not discussing it any more."

"Angel, it is possible. Wu-Pang can not only remove your soul, he can put it back. If there is even a chance that Angelus knows this creature, it's worth trying to talk to him." Wesley pleaded.

"No it's not." Spike shouted from the adjoining room.

"He's right." Angel continued. "Angelus is the last person on earth you want loose in LA right now."

"He wouldn't be loose. We'll tie you, chain you, whatever it takes to keep him from escaping."

"You couldn't hold me any longer than I wanted to be held. You think you know Angelus, but you have never had the pleasure of his company and you have no idea what you are asking me to do. Get rid of the shaman." Angel said as he grabbed the door handle and walked out of the room. He silently walked through the lobby and onto the garden terrace. Spike was seated on the stone bench beside him within seconds.

"You're doing the right thing, Peaches."

"Must you call me that?" Angel winced.

"I could start calling you pastry names like your Pylean prophet in there." Spike said with a tilt of his head.

"Dear god no." Angel said as he rested his head in his hands. "I am just feeling a little..."

"Lost?" Spike finished for him. "We all are, and I'm right there with you. The thought of your alter ego running around trying to do the Beast one better is pretty much the least appealing thought floating in my head right now."

"Exactly, that's what they don't get. They think they could contain Angelus, like chains would be enough."

"Right, it would take Angelus about three seconds to outsmart the lot of us. He's just like that." Spike said, leaning against Angel's large form.

"Why is it that Angelus is so much smarter than me? Same brain, same past."

"It's not that he's smarter, he's just...Okay, he's smarter, but in that sick way. Pure evil will do that. I think of some of the schemes you came up with back then and it makes me want to drop to my knees and pray to the alter of all things unholy. You were so good. I mean bad. Bad, bad evil guy." Spike wanted to continue his on the knees train of thought, but Angel had stood up and gone back into the hotel.

"We’re going to need a cage." Angel said to Wesley. "Maybe ten by twelve, two inch bars, no better make it three."

"I'll make some phone calls." Wesley answered.

"Angel, please don't do this." Spike begged.

"Spike, it will be fine." Angel answered from inside the large cage they had constructed in the hotel’s basement. He lied chained to a thick slab of steel while Wu-Pang set up his supplies on a rolling cart. The shaman took a round jar with a bright red cork from a felt lined bag and placed it on the cart.

"What’s that?" Spike asked.

"It is the Mo Ping, the vessel that will hold your friend’s soul once I have removed it. It will stay there until the restoration."

"Should we put a deadbolt on it?" Gunn asked.

"It will be safe here. The soul is useless to anyone but the vampire." The shaman assured the group.

"You just can't put it back in fast enough for my tastes." Cordelia said.

"You had better place the second lock on the door, for your safety." The shaman said to Gunn, who promptly agreed and bolted another padlock on the metal gate.

"Spike, take the girls upstairs. I don't want you here when I change." Angel said, trying not to look his childe in the eyes.

"Tough." Spike and Cordelia answered at the same time.

"I'll go upstairs with Lorne." Fred said. "I think he may need some oxygen." She made her way up the stairs as Connor came down them.

"Connor, I don't want you down here either."

"I'm not going anywhere." He said coming closer to the cage.

"Connor, please just remember that no matter what happens, or has happened, I am you father and I love you."

"Yeah, I know." Connor answered quietly.

"And if I get loose, you know you're going to have to kill me." Angel said, trying not to let his voice shake.

"I will." Connor said.

"If." Angel repeated.

"Uh huh." Connor agreed, taking a seat at the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm ready to begin." The shaman said.

Angel closed his eyes as the shaman began to chant in mandarin. The incantation was not completely dissimilar to the curse that had given him his soul back a century earlier. The vampire felt a deep pull forming in his chest and he closed his eyes tighter, waiting for the sensation to pass. The shaman leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear. "Time to say goodbye."

No sooner had the words left the shaman’s lips than he reached into his robes and pulled out a slender sword and took aim at Angel's neck. Angel managed to get his hand up fast enough to block the sword’s path, but with his arms bound he could not maneuver the weapon away from him. "A little help here!" He shouted to the others in the room.

"Why would I ever help you?" The shaman said through gritted teeth as he tried to press the blade further. "I serve the awakened one."

Angel heard the clang of metal as Gunn undid the heavy locks on the cage and rushed to his side. Wesley tried to pin the shaman in a corner, but he had drawn a short knife from somewhere and now pointed it at Wesley. Spike had followed Gunn into the cage and unfastened Angel's feet and arms, the pair of vampires now closed on the shaman with rage in their eyes.

"I don't get it." Angel began. "Why go through the show if you were just going to try to kill me?"

"You will get no answers from me." The shaman returned, plunging the knife deep into his own chest.

"Great." Cordelia said. "There goes our fount of information."

"Gunn, see if he has anything on him." Gunn reached out and pulled away the cloth that covered the shaman’s head. The shaman’s skin was covered in intricate tattoos depicting Chinese symbols, each layer of cloth revealed more vertical rows of symbols.

"Um, I'd say he's got something on him." Gunn said, sparing a glance at Wesley.

The group had gathered around the shaman’s dead body and Wesley was examining the symbols with a magnifying glass. "It looks like scripture." He said. "It tells the story of the Beast’s acolytes and their battle with a group trying to forge a weapon capable of destroying the Beast."

"What sort of weapon?" Angel asked.

"It's a sword." Cordelia said. Angel turned to look at her, only to see her eyes glazed over with a white film. "It's called the Tooth of B’ash Mahat." Her eyes lost the glaze and she focused on Angel. "It's here, under the city."

"Did you hear that, Wes." Angel asked. "There’s a sword here in LA capable of killing the Beast, and you wanted to bring Angelus back by having an evil shaman cut off my head."

"I'm sorry." Wesley replied. "I acted rashly."

"Was that a genuine apology?" Angel asked.

"Wow. I think that's the first time you’ve ever apologized to me for anything." Angel was genuinely touched that Wesley felt remorse.

"Um, great, can we go get the sword?" Spike asked.

"I'm ready." Connor answered as they headed up the stairs.

Angel had led Cordelia, Spike, Wesley and Connor through a series of clever, yet entirely wicked, booby traps that lined a cave formation under the east side of Los Angeles. They had come to a dead end at a rock wall and after figuring out the key to raising the wall the group had split up to search for the sword. Angel and Cordelia had taken one path, and Connor had followed Spike and Wesley the other way, after no small amount of protest.

After walking for some time Cordelia had spotted a faint light coming down the corridor. She and Angel followed the light into a chamber filled with stacked columns and a center piece that was bare.

"It's not here." Cordelia said with panic in her voice.

"Maybe." Angel answered, looking at the small altar in the middle of the room. "You said in your vision that the sword could be in a hundred places at once, right."

"Well, the light’s coming from somewhere." Angel reached his hand over the altar and felt his skin chill. The sensation alternated hot and cold, he occasionally felt something metallic brush over his skin, but he could not grasp it. He continued to move his arm into the void that covered the altar until he felt his grasp closing on something solid. Angel slowly drew his hand back into the room, sword in hand. "It's some sort of dimensional porthole."

"Oh, Angel!" Cordelia cried as the illuminated bubble over the altar began to burn a flaming red. The ball of liquid-looking fire seemed to plummet to the altar and the tall stone columns began to sink into the floor. As some of the columns tilted sprays of fire shot from the ball at the center of the room. Flames sprung up between Cordelia and Angel, and she began to scream his name. In a flurry, Angel leapt over a column and shielded the young woman from a burst of flames. They bolted from the chamber and fell to the ground in the corridor. Angel fell on the hilt of the sword and felt several bones in his side nearly crack from the pressure as Cordelia fell on top of him.

"Ow, ah ah." Angel let spurt out. "I'm okay. I'm okay." He repeated as Cordelia moved off of him. Her eyes were quickly filling with tears and she rested her head on the vampire's shoulder. Angel reached a hand up to caress her hair. "It's okay. We’re all right." He repeated.

"We almost died." Cordelia cried.

"But we didn't. We’re okay." Angel said, trying to sooth her.

"We almost died, and if we had you wouldn't have known." She said pulling back to look into his eyes.

"Known what?" He asked.

"You wouldn't have known, that I can look at all of the horrible things you did as Angelus, that I can see all of it, and it doesn't matter to me. I love you Angel. And I'm just so afraid that I made such a mess of things with Connor that you would never be able to forgive me, and that I would never be able to tell you how sorry I am."

"Cordy, it doesn't matter." Angel said. "I can look at you too, you know. It doesn't matter to me what you’ve done either. Nobody’s perfect, least of all me. I won’t judge you." Cordelia pressed against him once more, this time letting her lips glide over Angel's. She waited for him to deepen the kiss, and when he didn't she pressed further. Taking the fullness of his lips into her mouth. She clawed at his back, pulling him closer, not noticing that Connor and Spike were now in the corridor, with Wesley trailing behind them.

Angel broke the kiss when he caught the scent of the other men. "Oh, Spike." Angel let out in a pained whisper. At the same time Cordelia found Connor’s hurt eyes barreling into her. The teenager ran down the long hall of stone. Angel jumped to his feet and followed, after placing a quick hand on Spike's shoulder.

Angel caught up to his child in a torch lit alcove of the cave. He had barely entered the space when Connor took a step towards him, sending an arrow flying from the wall. The shaft buried itself deep in Angel's shoulder. Angel grabbed the arrow and pulled it out, thankful the end had been round, not barbed.

"Ouch, that hurt." He said throwing the bolt to the ground.

"I can see why she would want you." Connor sneered. "You are the reason my life sucks." He turned and faced the wall, stepping on another booby trapped floor panel. Angel flew through the air and tossed Connor to the ground just as a much thicker bolt of wood flew passed his ear.

"Connor, this is not the place for this."

"It's the perfect place." Connor said as he brushed himself off and crouched to the ground. He threw out his left leg in a sweeping motion and caught Angel's legs just as he rose. The vampire fell to the ground once more. The fall triggered several more arrows and both men rolled across the floor to escape the barrage.

"You think you're the first angst ridden teenager to wish his father were dead?" Angel asked as he blocked an oncoming punch.

"No, the difference is that my father is dead." Connor said, lunging again.

"So’s mine. Get over it." Angel said, jumping off the ground to avoid another leg sweep.

"You do nothing but take things from me." Connor yelled as he landed a kick to Angel's already hurting ribcage. "She was mine!"

"No she wasn't." Cordelia said firmly from the edge of the alcove. "I'm sorry Connor, but I wasn't."

Defeated, Connor lowered his fists and left the caverns.

Fred and Gunn had managed to find a few more references to the sword and its purpose. It had to be driven into the Beast’s brain in order to kill it, and return the sun to Los Angeles.

"The catch is that the force of releasing that energy will kill anything human, and maybe even you, if you're too close." Fred had told Angel.

"Well, that's an acceptable risk." Angel said, grabbing the sword from Gunn, who was rapidly destroying the end tables playing with it.

"No, it's not." Cordelia said. "I can't lose you again. Not when we’re just beginning again."

Angel rested his head against hers and said quietly, "I'll come back. For you, I'll always come back." He looked up just in time to see Spike racing out the doors of the hotel. He shuddered at the loss, but focused back on Cordelia. "I have to do this first, I have to find the Beast before we can be together." Just then the lobby’s glass doors came crashing inwards. "Oh, there he is." Angel said, pulling the sword to the ready.

Cordelia and the others made a fast retreat out the front doors, following Spike's path.

"Angelus." The Beast intoned. "You need not fight me. We could rule this planet, you and I."

"Uh, yeah, don't think so."

"But why? You were once one of the most feared beings on earth."

"Well, partly because you just broke a really expensive set of doors, partly because of the whole rain of fire, permanent midnight thing, but mainly because you are just really pissing me off." Angel rained several blows down on the beast. The sword’s magics allowing it to cause real hurt. On the fourth swing, however, the Beast caught the blade and snapped it in two. Angel tried to pick up one of the shattered pieces, but he was picked up by the throat and suspended in the air before the demon. Angel felt the pressure on his windpipe growing and expected it to be crushed when he heard the clang of metal on the demon's magma covered skin. He opened his eyes enough to see Connor distract the demon. The Beast released Angel from his grip and let him fall to the ground. Connor continued to charge the demon as a diversionary tactic, but it was not long before he was hurdling across the room and smashing into the lobby’s desk.

"Arrogant, just like your father. Will you be a martyr like Angelus?" The Beast asked.

"His name is Angel." Connor answered. The Beast turned to look at his opponent just as Angel thrust a broken shard of the sword up under his neck and into his brain. Connor and Angel instinctively rolled as far from the Beast as the lobby would allow. The demon in turn exploded in a thousand rays of light, releasing a vibrant glow that briefly filled the hotel and then wafted into the night sky releasing the blackened fingers that had encompassed the sun for days.

"You came back." Angel said incredulously as he tried to regain his composure.

"Like I would let you take all the credit for saving the world." Connor smiled. "Look, Dad."

"I'm sorry about earlier. In the cave. I know Cordelia isn’t mine. She loves you. I could feel it in her touch, see it in her eyes. She’s always loved you, I just didn't want to accept it."

"I'm sorry too, Connor. I wish things could be different."

"It's okay. This must be what it feels like to be a champion."

"Pretty much." Angel said.

Cordelia, Wesley, Fred, Gunn, and Lorne made their way back inside the hotel and gathered around the large pile of dust that had been the Beast.

"That it?" Gunn asked.

"That’s it." Angel smiled. "We did it. All of us together."

Cordelia rushed down the stairs and jumped into Angel's arms. "You did it!"

"We did it." Angel said, pointing at his son. "Now, does somebody want to get a broom?"

Angel stared out the window from the shadows. The sun was shining brightly, but Spike had not returned to the hotel.

"It must be hard to know that all those people out there, playing in the sunlight, don't even know they owe it to you. Knowing that you can't go out in it." Cordelia said.

"Nope." Angel replied, turning to see her. "There’s pretty much nowhere else on earth I'd rather be right now." He slid his arms under hers, feeling the cool black silk of her camisole brush against his flesh.

Cordelia tilted her head back and met Angel's mouth with a soft kiss. Angel pressed into her for a moment, not wanting to let go, but afraid he would not be able to control his emotions if he didn't stop himself right away.

"No." Cordelia said as she broke their kiss.

"No, to whatever objection you were going to give. We have waited long enough. It has been seven years since I first saw you, and I have wanted you ever since. Now, we have saved the world, mended our fences, brought all of our friends back together. There are no more obstacles to climb Angel. It's just you and me now. The way it should be." She kissed him again. "No." She murmured through the kiss when she felt him pulling away again. Cordelia led Angel to the bed, unbuttoning his black shirt as they moved. She felt the backs of her knees meet the thick down of the comforter and sat down on the edge of the bed. She undid Angel's trousers and pulled him onto the bed with her.

The two lovers slipped under the covers and Angel fell into a rhythm of kisses and caressing over Cordelia. He took only seconds to fill her and find a pattern that was pleasing to them both. The sheer ecstasy of the moment was overwhelming to him. He arched his back to fill Cordelia further and felt his orgasm build as her cries grew louder. He closed his eyes and tried to stall his completion, but when he closed his eyes all he saw was Spike slipping out the lobby doors into the night. He continued to thrust into Cordelia, no longer trying to find a steady pace, he moved blindly and deeply, his climax filled her. A single word escaped his lips as he withdrew and fell back against the bed.

Angel opened his eyes tied to something cold and hard. The pulling in his chest had become a sharp pinching, but just as it reached its fever pitch, it was gone. He turned his head to see Cordelia and Spike looking at him. Looking at him through steel bars.

"It is done." The shaman said as Gunn let him out of the cage.

People said "Yippee!" .

Violators will be beaten to death with a shovel

(A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend)