Title: Secrets Don't Make Friends (Pt 13-I Have a Bad Feeling About This…)
Author: DivaDelilah (divadelilah@aol.com)
Description: Set in late Season 4, after Faith has body switched and is in prison.
Adam isn't in play, Spike is working with the Scoobies reluctantly.
Disclaimer: I only have the action figures. Joss, Mutant Enemy, and Fox own
all…I'm just daydreaming.
Distribution: Fanfiction.net, assorted lists, and anything I okay. (like you'd
want it!)
Feedback: Supercalifragilisticexpealidious!
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Dawn rose and fell in Sunnydale; demons and humans went about their business
unknowing or caring about the problems between the Slayer and her group of friends.
People were born and people died. But within the Scoobies, there was little
room for sleep as sound as Spike and Buffy had just awoken from.
Giles suggested they patrol after sunset, splitting up to cover the ground
Buffy and Spike normally patrolled together. He guessed they wouldn't leave
the apartment after Angel's edict, although he preferred not to think of any
other reasons they might stay in. The town still needed a patrol, regardless,
and he was going to make sure it was done.
"Cordy, you, Angel and Wes take the Bronze and the docks. Willow and Tara,
you take the college and west cemeteries. Anya and Xander take the east cemeteries
and the mansion. I'll stay here and do some research on claims in my Watcher
Diaries. Let's meet in Shadyrest Cemetery in forty-five minutes to finish that
last, and biggest, cemetery en masse." He removed his glasses and rubbed
his eyes, preparing for a long evening.
They all filtered out reluctantly, muttering about their assignments, and he
went back to his books. Surely, there must be something he could find about
vampires and claiming. Some Watcher must have at least heard something.
Maybe he needed to go much further back in history…
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Angel, Cordy, and Wes worked silently and swiftly in the Bronze. They took out
a few fledglings in the alley, and headed off toward the docks. There they had
more luck, trading insults and blows with five vamps and their buddy, a Respin
demon. Bloody and tired, they trudged to the meeting point by the lake in Shadyrest
while Cordy muttered something about never moving back to the Hellmouth.
Willow and Tara were finishing a completely dead patrol when they glimpsed
one of the Asian demons. Conferring for a moment, they used a spell to separate
the demon from it's victim. They bound it to a tree while the girl ran away
in terror, then decided to leave, having no idea how to kill it or what it could
do if they attacked.
Anya and Xander had forgone patrol and just headed straight to the cemetery
to get in some 'quality time' before the others arrived. They were still fooling
around in the grass as the rendez-vous time approached, oblivious to anything
but what they were doing. Three vamps rose out of graves nearby, and smelling
the humans' arousal, began creeping up on them.
The gang had all run into each other at the gate, commenting on how dead their
areas seemed tonight. A total of seven vamps and two demons was low for a weekend
night, and the reasons for it could not be good. Coming to the top of the hill
overlooking the lake, Cordelia gasped. Everyone looked to where her shaking
finger was pointing and made out Xander and Anya's clueless forms being converged
upon by the vamps.
Angel took off running down the hill, thinking to himself. I'll never make
it. It's a good 600 feet and I'm close to toppling down this hill to start with.
Suddenly, Spike and Buffy came charging out of a copse of trees not ten feet
from the lake being chased by a horde of vampires. The new vamps looked at the
horde and decided to join in, helping to encircle the Slayer and Spike, who
had stopped dead upon seeing Angel tearing down the hill. The rest of the gang
huffed down the hill and stood by Angel, who had counted twenty or more vamps
surrounding the two, and was watching as Spike looked at Buffy. She looked back,
then they sprang into fighting position. Buffy whipped four stakes out of a
thigh sheath and tossed two end over end at the back of Spike's head.
Smirking he caught them without looking and she giggled, a silent communication
passing between them. They stood back to back as the vamps attacked, anticipating
their enemies' and each others' moves instinctively. The next wave rushed in
and one charged at Spike from behind with an axe. He struck the vamp in the
face with a spinning back kick without looking. Buffy closed her eyes to keep
all the flying dust out and managed to dust the last two standing without even
re-opening her eyes.
Angel blinked at the sight, impressed by their obvious skill and deadliness.
He watched the dust settle and Buffy open her eyes and gaze at Spike. She leaned
on his shoulder and he leaned on hers, both breathing heavily. They shared another
one of those 'looks' and then another, until they were zinging back and forth,
not a word spoken. Finally, they slumped down the ground, laughing and groaning
at the pain.
"Are you quite sure insanity doesn't run in your line, Angel?" Wes
asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, Deadboy, cuz they are acting totally screwy. Drusilla makes this
look normal," Xander added, raising his eyebrow as Spike started tickling
Buffy mercilessly.
Angel shrugged and picked a piece of grass out of Xander's hair, handing it
to him in retort. He laughed when Xander turned pink, and both Spike and Buffy's
heads whipped around to stare at him. "What? Why does everyone seem so
surprised that I laugh?"
'Maybe because he's a poofy poetry reading sod who broods more than anyone
who's name isn't Poe. Not to mention the total lack of humor displayed by his
hairstyle…' Spike thought.
Buffy burst out laughing and cut her gaze to Spike, who smiled innocently.
She chastised him in her head and he rolled his eyes and snorted, causing her
to laugh harder.
"Ahem. I thought you guys were staying in the apartment until we came
back?" Angel asked, a look of irritation crossing his face.
Spike looked at him incredulously and thought to Buffy, 'Can you believe
that git thinks he can tell us where we can and can't go? If only we
taken a picture of you tipping him backwards onto his ass… I mean, who
does he think he is, the next coming of Christ? Damned spiky haired wanker…'
Buffy held her hand over her mouth, trying desperately not to crack up at the
names Spike was calling Angel in his head. Some of these words she hadn't even
known existed…. 'Behave, dammit! They have to think we're as nutty as
your ex-ho, Spike.' she scolded. She sobered herself and looked at the group,
trying to block Spike's continued ramblings from her mind.
"Okay, so what's going on?" Cordelia asked in confusion.
"T-they can re-read each other's m-minds," Tara interjected. "Willow
and I d-do it sometimes through m-magick."
Giles and Wes looked at each other, and shrugged, having no idea if this were
possible. Anya looked to Angel, who let out a long suffering sigh. Cordy rubbed
his shoulders gently and he turned his head slightly, smiling at her.
"Yes, they can read each others' minds. It's part of the whole claiming
process. The claimants begin to share feelings and thoughts, like I said. The
mind reading can be a great edge in battle if used correctly like just now;
some consider it a hindrance, though, because it takes intense concentration
to block the other person out of your mind for even a small amount of time.
I'm sure Buffy is perfectly capable of it, but Bleach Boy…," he said
doubtfully, noting the look on Buffy's face as she listened to him.
Buffy's jaw dropped and she stared at Angel incredulously. I can hear his
thoughts, too. Holy shit! He doesn't think Spike can handle this and…he
thinks Cordelia looks beautiful today? What?! Suddenly, Buffy got a small
montage of images of Cordelia, little screen shots of her life in LA with Angel,
all tinged with Angel's thoughts. A low growl formed in her throat unconsciously
as an image of Cordy in a towel, coming out of the shower and walking up to
Angel floated through her mind. She let her mental wards down as the anger filled
her. The growl got louder, and everyone stared at her except Spike, who sidled
up to her wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Ooh, Slayer, now that is sexy. If you keep that up, they are going
to get that free show they keep missing." He ground his hips into her backside
slightly and licked her ear, stunned when she shook him away impatiently.
Buffy's eyes grew dark as she slowly walked toward Angel, dissecting him with
her glare. He looked at her in puzzlement, and she ignored the questions in
his eyes. Like a predator, she sniffed at him, cocking her head to the side,
then advancing on Cordelia, sniffing again. The growl increased to almost low
thrumming sound as she turned toward Angel, and roared, "How dare
you, Angel? How dare you risk it? You preach to me about my choice of mate,
you've been… You bastard!" She yelled the last sentence directly into
his face and her hand flew up, backhanding him.
By the time anyone else could react, she'd tackled Angel to the ground and
was beating him senseless in between his groaned protests. His vamp face flickered
forward, but he could not bring himself to hit his former love. Angel tried
pushing her off when his lip split open, but even with his strength, he suddenly
could not budge the enraged Slayer. His eyes searched the crowd wildly, knowing
none of them could assist him without hurting Buffy. Finally, he caught Spike's
eyes, which lit up as he slid into Buffy's mind and figured out what was going
on.
She can hear Peaches' thoughts, too. Can I? He tried and found that
he couldn't even attempt to. He delved back into Buffy's mind and picked out
the things she'd seen and heard. So Peaches has it for the May Queen, huh?
Interesting… Guess I can see how that might set the Slayer off. Wonder
if I should be jealous? But one look at his Buffy just about beating Angel
to hamburger and growling up a storm did nothing turn him on. He rushed over,
peeling the Slayer off Angel as best he could, and gathered her in his arms,
cooing in her ear. "Easy, luv, easy. What's gotten into you? Besides me,
of course," he asked grinning.
Her face turned to his, and he nearly fainted when he saw the slight yellow
tinges brighten, then fade out of her eyes when she recognized him through the
haze of anger. The growling stopped abruptly and a rumbling purr replaced it
while her little arms encircled his neck. She whimpered slightly, and buried
her face into his chest. Spike's heart almost leaped out of his chest in happiness,
and he felt the bulge in his pants strain against the buttons of his jeans painfully.
That's it, he thought. He looked down at Peaches in game face, his arousal
making it impossible for him to force the demon back.
"The apartment. One hour," he ground out. Angel nodded and he started
to walk away. He turned back abruptly. "Oh, Peaches? Bring some food. We'll
need it." And he was gone, sprinting away so quickly it seemed like a trick
of light.
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