Out of Series: Dark Love
Part: #2
Disclaimer: All characters from this story that are from the shows Buffy and Angel belong to Joss Whedon, WB and whoever else is involved. All other characters are mine.
Rating: PG
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"I'm sorry Spike. Do you want me to go home," she offered.
"Did I say I wanted you to leave, you little fool?" He growled in exasperation as he tried to find the words to tell her how he felt about her.
"No but you...."
"Oh just shut up will you!"
"Fine, that's it I'm leaving. I don't have to put up with this crap!" She yelled at hime trying to get off the bed.
"Get back on that bed dammit! Ow, now look what you've made me do," he whined in extreme pain from that cursed chip in his head that had activated when he tried to push Shannon back down onto the bed.
"Serves you right, you big baby" she laughed at him.
"Please sit down. I want to tell you something."
"Not if you're going to keep yelling at me."
"I won't I promise." He said crossing his heart, which Shannon found funny since he was a vampire but the least she could do was hear him out. And then she'd leave.
"I didn't mean to yell at you. I just, I mean, I, oh bloody hell! I'm falling in love with you and I don't know what to do about it. There are you happy now?" He asked sarcastically. Shannon was totally stunned. She knew that she was falling for Spike in a big way but she'd had no idea that he'd felt the same way.
"Well aren't you going to say something?" He asked the question impatiently but there was a vulnerability in his eyes that made her want to hug him and assure him that everything would be fine.
"Oh, Spike.." she began with a huge smile but was interrupted by someone pounding on the front door.
"Grrrrr. I don't care who it is I'm going to rip their throats out!" Spike growled looking really pissed off now.
"Spike!"
"Oh alright. I'll tell them to bloody well sod off then." Shannon followed him out to the living room and watched as he ripped the
door open so hard it almost came off its hinges. At the door sttod two very ugly, smelly creatures.
"Spike, what are they?"
"Chaos demons, hang on a minute luv."
"What the bloody hell do you want?" He demanded of the demons.
"Drusilla wants to see you Spike." One of the creatures growled.
"Well too bad, I don't want to see her. Goodbye chaps." spike went to close the door in their faces but one of the deoms put his hand in the door preventing Spike from closing the door.
"Oh come on! Can't you morons see that I'm busy? Get lost before I get really angry and rip your throats out." The demon didn't react to Spike's anger except to repeat
"Drusilla wants to see you, and we promised to bring you to her. There are more of us than even you could take on Spike and if you come voluntarily we won't kill the girl." The lead demon offered At the threat to Shannon, Spike's vampire face came on, he threw open the door and began savagely attacking the demon. With the door wide open and Spike preoccupied with beating the living daylights out of the lead demon, more of the monsters piled through into the apartment. some of them tried to pull Spike off their leader while two of them grabbed Shannon and held a knife to her throat.
"Sspike, help me." Shannon called out in fear of her life. At the sound of her voice Spike threw the chaos demon aside and started
towards the two holding Shannon but four more held him back.
"Come with us and she will be spared."
"Alright you bloody wankers let he go. I'll go see what old Dru wants."
"Let's go then, release the girl." The leader was helped to his feet by some of his minions.
"Just hang on a minute, at least let me say goodbye to the girl" spike protested.
"Hurry up then and no tricks or she dies."
"Spike, what's going on? Who's Drusilla?" Shannon asked worried about what was going to happen to him.
"It's alright pet. I'm just going for a trip to see an old friend. I'll be fine." He assured her.
"But why......"
"Look love do me a favour will you?" He whispered
"Of course."
"Tell Angel what's happened, the poof should be able to fix it. He runs a P.I place in L.A. I'm sure the number is on the fridge somewhere. O.k?"
"I will I promise. But what..." Shannon was cut off by the demon leader.
"Come on Spike time to go. Now!"
"Sorry sweet. I'll see you later" Spike called as he was rushed out the door.
"Sppiiiike."
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"Hello Angel Investigations, how may we help you?" Cordelia answered the phone hoping that for once it would be a paying customer. Helping people was all well and good but she liked having more money than she needed to live off.
"Um, I, uh, could I speak to Angel please?" shannon wasn't comfortable telling some stranger her wierd story.
"I'm sorry but Angel's out working on a caase right now. Would you like to make an appointment to speak with him?" God she hated it how people automatically thought that she was just a receptionist, instead of a valued business partner.
"Yes please. I'm actually in New York right now but I'll be flying over there on the next available flight, so could I make it for tomorrow night sometime? It's really urgent."Shannon responded.
"Well if you come by around 8 o'clock I'll make sure that Angel is here to see you."
"Thankyou so much, I'll be there at 8." As soon as Shannon finished with Angel's receptionist she called the airport and booked the next flight to Los Angeles. There was an empty seat on a plane that was due to leave in an hour which left Shannon with just enough time to race around the apartment picking up Spike's wallet, some extra clothes from his wardrobe, she figured he wouldn't need them, and her pain pills for her ribs. When she arrived at the airport the plane was slready boarding and she just
made it on in time. During the flight Shannon thought about all that had happened in the few short days that she had known Spike and could hardly believe that she was flying across the country to help a guy that she barely knew yet was already in love with. Eventually she fell into a restless sleep and when she woke up they were preparing to land at LAX. By the time she got out of the airport it was already 7 o'clock and Shannon hadn't even had time to book into a motel but she didn't want to be late for her important appointment with this Angel guy that Spike thought could help him. She caught a taxi to the address that was on the business card she had gotten from Spike's fridge, then stood outside for a few minutes looking at the area that she was in and the building in front of her. It didn't look too encouraging but she supposed Spike had a reason for wanting her to come here so she gathered her courage and walked up to the 1st floor and the door that read Angel Investigations. There was a light on inside so Shannon waled in figuring that she could wait even though she was half an hour early.
"Hi I'm Cordelia, can I help you?" Boy did this girl need some serious fashion advice.
"I'm Shannon Delray. I have an 8 o'clock appointment to see Angel." Shannon replied a little nervously, not really knowing what to expect from the receptionist who looked like she belonged on the cover of Vogue.
"Oh, ok, I'll just get Wesley to go downstairs and get him. Would you like some coffee?"
"No thanks," Shannon figured she was nervous enough without the help of caffeine.
Cordelia went into the back room.
"Wesley. Wesley!"
"What, oh Cordelia, what do you want?"
"Can you go get Angel, his appointment is here early."
"Why don't you go get him, I'm trying to translate this prophecy", he said a little irritated with her.
"Well I don't want to leave her alone with all of our office equipment. She looks like something the cat dragged in."
"Always so tactful Cordelia, ok, I'm going." As Wesley went down the elevator to retrieve Angel, Cordelia walked back into the foyer and kept an eye on the girl, who was about her age. In a couple of minutes Wesley returned with Angel and they both came out into the foyer.
"Hi, I'm Angel. This is my associate Wesley, and you've already met my other partner Cordelia." Shannon had stood up as soon as the two men walked into the room.
"It's nice to meet you both. I'm Shannon Delray." She said shaking hands with the men.
"Why don't we go through to the other room and you can tell us the problem." Angel said leading the way with Wesley and Cordelia coming after Shannon. They all sat down on comfortable chairs and waited for Shannon to begin.
"Well,um I don't really know how to begin."
"Just tell us what you want," said Wesley kindly while Angel continued to look at her with his intense eyes.
"My friend needs help", she began. "I think he was kidnapped."
"Ok, and who is your friend?" Asked Angel.
"Do you know someone called Spike? He told me to call you."
With this announcement Shannon noticed that Angel straightened abruptly, Wesley murmured "oh my."
And Cordelia burst out"Spike, vampire Spike, the peroxide blonde bad guy?" "No way, absolutley not, count me out."
"Cordelia, be quiet." Surprisingly the girl listened to him, though she was obviously not happy.
"You know Spike? And what he is?" Angel asked intensely.
"Yes I met him a few days ago. He saved me from another vampire." She replied not understanding their reactions to his name.
"Go on, you might as well tell us the rest of the story." He sat back into his seat waiting for her to go on, while the other two seemed to be in a state of shock.
"Well, I was going home from a club and not looking where I was going when this guy tried to attack me. I know some kickboxing so I faught back, but then he turned into a vampire, and I tried to keep fighting him but he was too strong. Just as the vampire was about to land the final blow Spike came out of the shadows and saved me and killed the vampire. I didn't trust him
because he was another one but then he showed me that he couldn't hurt me because of the chip in his head. He took me to the local hospital to get fixed up and then he took me back to his place because it was closer. But nothing happened. He took care of me but then yesterday some monsters, I think he called them Chaos Demons came to his apartment and took him to see some girl named Drusilla. Before he went with them, he told me to call you", she finished her story.
"Are you trying to tell me that Spike went with these demons without a fight? I'm sorry but I've known Spike a long time and that just isn't possible." He said doubtfully.
"Yeah Spike's like really strong and heaps mean, he could've taken them guys out easily." Cordelia added her opinion.
"He did start attacking them but there was too many, and they held a knife to my throat, and said they would kill me if he didn't go with them. He didn't have a choice." She said defending Spike heatedly.
"I'm sorry Shannon but how do we know it's not a trap, to get to Angel?" Asked Wesley apologetically.
"Why would Spike or me want to do that?" She asked confused.
"Because Spike is the meanest guy on the planet and he hates Angel. Why would he tell you to call Angel, when he can't stand him?" Cordelia butted in.
"Spike's a nice guy! Well he was to me anyway, but he did call Angel a poof, if that helps." Cordelia started to argue with Shannon but Angel cut in,
"Ok, everyone calm down. I think she's telling the truth," he said to Cordelia and Wesley.
"Of course I'm telling the truth, and if you don't want to help then say so and I'll go find somebody else who will." Shannon half yelled, angry that they doubted her.
"Nobody else can help you," Angel said quietly, "I'm the only one who knows Drusilla well enough to help Spike, if she has something bad in mind for him."
"Well maybe Buffy does", piped in Cordelia.
"No. I'm the one who created her." He replied and Shannon had no clue as to what they were talking about.
"Um excuse me, but I have no idea what is going on here. Who is Drusilla, what does she want with Spike, and how can you help?" she asked Angel, not liking being out of the loop.
"Drusilla is Spike's ex girlfriend and very dangerous." He explained patiently
"It doesn't help that she's also insane", put in Cordelia not liking the way this was going.
"We're not going to help Spike are we Angel? He's evil." She said pleadingly.
"Hey! He's not evil, and he can't hurt anyone with that chip in his head." Shot back Shannon.
"I don't think it would be a good idea to get involved with Drusilla and Spike, Angel. It would be very dangerous, there's no telling what she would do to you." Wesley added concerned for Angel's safety.
"No I have to. He helped Buffy against me, and I owe him for that, and he know's it plus he's my child, I have to help him." Angel replied in deep thought.
"Alright then, it looks like you've made up your mind. What can we do to help?"
"Well first, we need to find out where Drusilla has got Spike, I'll ask around the usual info spots later tonight. Wesley,you need to research Drusilla, find out all you can about her in case there's something I don't remember. Cordelia, I want you to take care of Shannon here, if Drusilla finds out that Spike has a new girl she may send people after her too."
"Oh great leave me with the danger duty," she grumbled.
"Of course Angel, anything you need." Wesley replied.
Shannon didn't know quite what was going on but she wasn't about to be left out of it, not with Spike concerned.
"Hey listen, I came to you for help but that doesn't mean that I'm going to sit around waiting, I want to help find Spike." she protested.
"You don't know what you're getting yourself into." Said Angel
"I don't care, I'm going to help find Spike and that's it!"
"Why does he matter to you so much?" Angel asked perceptively.
"Well he saved my life and I love him, and he loves me." she said defiantly.
"Oh my god! How could you love Spike? He's a vampire!" Exclaimed Cordelia looking very surprised.
"Well so am I Cordelia, yet Buffy still loved me." Replied Angel in defense of Shannon.
"Yeah but, you're different, you have a soul, he doesn't. If it wasn't for that chip, he would still be terrorsing Sunnydale and trying to kill Buffy and you."
"You're a vampire?" Shannon cut in.
"Yeah, but I have a soul, no other vampires do." Angel answered her question.
"But what if that chip in his head gave him a soul?" She asked
"I don't think so, but it's worth checking out, because he's not supposed to be able to fall in love with a human.
"Who gave him the chip?"
"Some initiative guys in Sunnydale, that's what Willow said." Once again from Cordelia. Shannon wondered if she ever shut up.
"So lets go there and see them." Said Shannon eager to find out more about Spike and help find him.
"I suppose we could go to Sunnydale and ask them what the chip does?" Said Angel thoughtfully.
"But what about Buffy? Won't it hurt too much seeing her with that guy?"
"This isn't about Buffy and me Cordelia, it's about Spike, so I'll just have to deal with it."
"Why don't we go now, I know you can't travel in daytime, and there's no point in waiting." Shannon addressed Angel.
"Well it's only a 2 hour trip to Sunnydale, we could stay at the mansion. Ok, Cordelia, Wesley why don't you go home and get some clothes together and we'll make a triip to Sunnydale tonight, is that alright with everyone?"
"I suppose so, uh Shannon right? Look do you have any other clothes, ones that fit you?" Asked Cordelia
"Well these are Spike's. My clothes were all bloody and torn after the fight with the vampire the other night and I havn't had an opportunity to go home and get some more." She said embarrassed about her appearance.
"Come home with me, and you can borrow some of my clothes until we go shopping, at least then you'll look like you have some style." Cordelia said in her condescending,helping the less fortunate voice. As Shannon hesitated Angel said kindly "it's ok, she wants to help it's just her way."
"Come on people,we don't have all night."
"I'll take your word for it." Shannon replied to Angel, still not sure about this girl.
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"So who are these people we're going to see"? Shannon asked Cordelia, as she seemed the most willing to talk and never shut up.
"It's a whole big long story but I'll tell you anyway. Here's how it goes. Angel is a vampire, he is like 250 years old or something and he was one of the meanest vampires around, even worse than Spike. But then one day he killed this gypsey girl and her family gave him back his soul as a punishment, because now he remembers all the people he killed and feels really guilty about it. Anyway about 100 years later he sees Buffy Summers, that's the Slayer- the one girl chosen to fight vampires and forces of evil- and angel wants to help her. So when she moved to Sunnydale he started giving her info and stuff except then they fell in love with each other, which was really wierd since he's a vampire and she's meant to kill him. Also there's Willow and Xander, they're best friends and Willow is a computer genius and Xnader, well he and I used to go out but then I saw him kiss Willow when Spike kidnapped them to make Willow cast a spell to help him get back with Drusilla because Willow's also a witch. Got it?"
"I think I understand but why aren't Buffy and Angel together now, if they love each other?"
"Oh, I left out the major part. On Buffy's birthday one year, her and Angel had sex and Angel lost his soul because he wasn't supposed to have any happiness, which I think is really harsh by the way. so Angel lost his soul and turned into evil Angelus and then he tried to kill all of us to hurt Buffy so much it would be easier to kill her. He killed Miss. Calendar, Giles' girlfriend because she was trying to restore his soul and then he opened the mouth to hell and the whole worl would have been sucked into hell
except that Buffy put a sword hrough his heart which sent him to hell instead but Willow had restored his soul minutes before so Buffy actually sent Angel not Angelus to hell. Then she ran away because she was all guilty and her mum kicked her out of home because she had just found out that Buffy was the Slayer. She came back later though and then somehow Angel came back
from hell but nobody wanted to trust him again at first and him and Buffy could never be together so at the end of last year he left and went to L.A and so did I but Angel still loves Buffy even though she's got some new guy. He's part of the Initiative thing that put the chip in spike's head." Cordelia finally wound down.
"So who is Giles?" Asked Shannon trying to sort it all out in her head.
"He's Buffy's watcher, or he was but then he got fired and Wesley became the new watcher but then Buffy quit the Watchers Council so Wesley got fired too."
"We're in Sunnydale." Announced Wesley from the front of the car with angel who was driving. The group reached the mansion at about midnight and after getting set up they decided to go looking for Buffy since she was probably on patrol.
"Here you go," said Angel handing Shannon a stake and some water as they walked out of the mansion.
"If we get attacked by any vampires splash them with the holy water then stake them in the heart, they won't die unless you get the heart." He explained to her. They began walking around town to any of the cemetaries and parks that Buffy might be at. Eventually at one of the many cemetaries they heard sounds of a fight. They continued on cautiously until they saw a blonde-haired girl and
a guy fighting against some vampires.
"Buffy" Shannon heard Angel whisper his beloved's name and then he spotted the guy and said,
"Oh great, commando boy's here. Why couldn't it be Xander?"
"Ok", he said to the group "let's go help them." He gestured for the others to keep moving forward. When they reached the pair Angel and Wesley started attacking the nearest vamps to help Buffy while the two girls stood back and watched. A hand
grabbed Shannon and pulled her around to face the creature. She froze at first but then her self preservation instinct kicked in and she remembered what Angel had said and she threw its hand off and fought the thing hand to hand until she had the opportunity to throw the holy water into tis face. As it put its hands up to protect its eyes she quickly thrust the stake into its chest where she thought the heart was. Victory! It turned to a pile of dust "Not bad for the new girl", Shannon thought to herself. She turned to see how the others were doing and noticed that Cordelia was having trouble keeping a vampire away from her with just a cross and a jar of holy water. While it was distracted with Cordelia she snuck up behind it and lunged at its back with the stake. This time she wasn't as lucky and didn't get the things heart. As she was registering this the vamp turned towards her and puched her hard in the ribs, her weak spot which caused Shannon to fall to the ground in agony. The vampire leaned down to bite her when suddenly Angel staked it from behind and it turned to dust over Shannon. Angel nodded at her thanks and rushed back to help his girl Buffy. Shannon slowly got to her feet mindful of the stabbing pain in her ribs and stood with Cordelia, on the lookout for any other vampires headed their way, thinking that the others could handle themselves but Cordelia wasn't a fighter. The two girls watched the others battle the creatures of the night and within minutes it was over. The vampires hadn't stood a chance. Buffy brushed herself off and turned to thank the people that had come to her aid then she realised who it was.
"Angel," she gasped feeling the happiness, anguish and loss she always felt upon seeing Angel. Riley turned at the sound of Angel's name and scowled at the one person he hated.
"What are you doing here vampire?"
"I came to see Buffy. Got a problem with that little boy?" Replied Angel just itching to puch out this little pipsqueak's lights like he did the last time he had come to Sunnydale.
"You should have been killed long ago." Riley said to Buffy's ex. Buffy started to say something when Cordelia waled up to Riley and ripped into him like only Queen C could.
"I don't know who you think you are, but angel is the best guy around. Just because he's a vampire doesn't make him evil. For your information he has a soul and even though he doesn't like you if you were in trouble he would help you because you're a friend of Buffy's which I bet is more than you would do for him. And hello look around you, the commando boy look went out
years ago, even Xander knows that! As she delivered this crushing insult she flounced over to say hello to Buffy.
"Well glad to see that you havn't changed cordy, still the same old fashion queen" Buffy said as her and Cordy hugged. She moved onto Wesley.
"I heard you had teamed up with Angel Wes. Looks like you've picked up some new moves."
"Well you don't appear to be fairing all that badly yourself either Buffy." He responded in that British way of his. Buffy caught Riley's hand and dragged him over to meet some of the old Scooby gang.
"Guys this is Riley Finn, my friend, Riley you know Angel. The girl who just told you off is Cordelia, the British guy is Wesley my old watcher and angel, who's the new girl?" She asked, for some strange reason hoping that she wasn't his new girlfriend, she didn't know how she would react to that.
"Oh Shannon I'm sorry, Shannon this is Buffy Summers, the Slayer and Riley. Buffy this is Shannon Delray, a friend of Spike's, she came to us for help," he introduced Shannon to Buffy with pride while completely ignoring the boy Riley.
"A friend of Spike's? But my spider sense isn't tingling, why not?" Buffy asked Angel.
"She's not a vampire Buffy, she's human," he explained.
"What? A friend of Spike who is human! This definitely qualifies for Giles wierdness." She said half jokingly while looking Shannon over again. "Why don't we all go to Giles place, I'll call Willow, Xander and Anya and you can tell us the whole story." She suggested before starting to move off in the direction of Giles house. Riley quickly moved up to walk beside her, not wanting to give Angel a chance to be near Buffy without him. Cordelia took the other side of Buffy with Wesley and they regaled her with stories of their adventures in Los Angeles. Angel walked slightly behind them and Shannon kept up with him, feeling his sorrow that he couldn't be with Buffy the way he wanted to. It reminded her of Spike and the emptiness inside her with his absence.