Introductions

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Part 11

It wasn’t a small club, nor was it big due to its location squirreled away at the end of an alley not far from St. Mark’s Place and 8th. In fact, it was largely unknown except to those who were either brought there by friends or who somehow stumbled onto it by accident or need. There was no sign, no neon, no velvet or other sort of rope.

It was just a simple steel door set with rivets, guarded by a very large and apparently homeless man, although if one were well versed in demons he would have been recognizable as anything but homeless… or a man.

Still, most humans weren’t so versed and that was why the guardian-or bouncer, as the case may be-seemed a bit surprised when what appeared to be three humans approached as though they knew where they were going.

The woman of the group, tall enough to match the height of the blond man with her, surprised him further when she grinned, showing very white teeth along with an almost desperate gleam in her eyes.

"Defenestrate," she said in the language of his people, and as that was the current password, he nodded and used one of the smaller skills given his kind to unlock the door and open it.

"Be welcome," he replied in the same language. "No killing, no biting if you’re the sort to do that. No spitting unless it’s ratified as common and medically necessary for your species, which it is not, human. No stripping unless cleared with the management and they receive a portion of all tips, percentage to be decided privately. No fighting, with the same provisions and additionally with enough advance warning that a betting pool may be started before the first blow. Have a pleasant evening."

He stepped aside, closing the door and performing that same mental twitch that had unlocked it. He was a demon, yes, but he took his position very seriously. It had taken him decades to prove himself fit for the job, and… he was respected within his clan and the community because of it.

It wasn’t every Pohbar demon that could get work at ‘Shambala’, after all, especially in such an important position.

He leaned against the wall again, slumping until he once again appeared as no more than just another poor, disadvantaged and displaced human, although of unusual size.

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"Come on!" Hypatia yelled as they passed the first door and the music suddenly crashed over them, "I hear they make the BEST margaritas on the whole CONTINENT here!"

Harris laughed suddenly, his eye darting here and there through the large room. He smiled, seeing a Gorblath having a conversation with a Chestik, then more as the bizarre-looking clump of flesh writhing on the dance floor resolved itself into a Parmakian, complete with ear horns and a female demon who looked an awful lot like Clem.

"Who told you that?" he shouted back, his hand tightening around Spike’s as they followed the woman through milling humans and demons to the bar. "This place remind you of anywhere?" he added in an aside to his claimed.

Hypatia laughed and shrugged apologetically. "All right, you caught me, Harris. I didn’t hear, I just KNOW, okay?" She gave him a wink then turned a saucy grin to the green-skinned four-breasted woman behind the bar. "Margarita," she ordered, "Grande! A Jack and Coke, and a tall glass of your finest O-positive, please!" She smirked at the vampire for a second, then winked and added to the green woman, "And Spike it!"

Spike couldn’t help chuckling a bit himself. He’d wondered whether going out was a good idea when they had no idea of where Hypatia would take them, and he was ashamed to admit that in over five years he’d never even heard a whisper about this place. Then again… he gazed quickly about. As many demons as were in evidence, there were barely one in ten who could be dangerous when provoked, and of that ten percent, none were vampires.

Or they weren’t tonight, because obviously they kept fresh blood in the place. The barmaid hadn’t even batted a single eye at the order.

"Yah, luv," he finally responded, leaning in close to his Xander’s ear, " ‘s like a bigger, better, less seedy an’ safer Willy’s." And since he knew his beloved wouldn’t understand the reference, he made no mention of Caritas, which it reminded him a good bit more of… if Caritas had been six times the size, he amended mentally, and please Gods, no karaoke.

"So what are we doing here again?" Harris demanded once he and Spike had their drinks in their hands and Hypatia had hers, as well. "I mean, there were places closer to home…"

One slim shoulder rose in a partial shrug as she led them towards a couch against the far back wall just as the five mixed bag of demons rose to leave or dance or whatever. Deep red lips curled slightly as Hypatia took a long draught from her glass, sighing happily although she was barely even buzzed from the drinks earlier. "They were right," she said, finally able to stop shouting as the acoustics of their spot somehow made it unnecessary. "The margaritas are incredible."

Spike arched one brow, his expression skeptical and slightly threatening. "An’ I somehow don’t think that’s why you really brought us here, luv."

The portion of the former entity grinned again, doing her best to just… be human and have fun for the first time since she’d been ordered to find her brother and make him realize what he’d been doing. "Actually," she admitted with a bit of a blush, "it is."

"I thought we could all use a bit of fun to decompress. Everything’s been so SERIOUS lately, yes?" She frowned, unaware of the way her lips made a perfect little moue. "Trevor finds his match, Trevor finds his love. Trevor ignores everything he’s SEEN for the last six years because he’s jealous of match and love being drawn to each other. Why does everything have to be about Trevor? As though he’s that special! It’s his love and match who matter… but I suppose he does too. The bastard."

She snorted. "Still, with just a little bit of luck they’ll all be fine and the everything will go on as it’s meant to, and I think that’s reason enough to blow off some steam and celebrate, don’t you?" She swiftly drained the last half of her glass and strode sinuously through the crowd. The margaritas were too good to pass on getting another.

Spike looked at Xander, his brow furrowed over confused blue eyes.

Harris looked at Spike, the strap of his eye patch itching slightly. "Okay… what the HELL was that all about?"

The vampire snorted and shrugged as he sipped the amazingly fresh spiked blood in his glass. "No idea, mate… But I’m thinkin’ maybe we shouldn’t have let her talk us inta this before she finished her story. We know good an’ well it didn’t end at Wolfram and bloody Hart."

Harris thought about that for a moment then gave his love a slightly wicked grin. "True. But she seems to be letting stuff slip so maybe…"

Spike perked up and grinned hugely before kissing his human hard. "You’re a bloody genius, pet! Let her get all drunk an’ tired an’ who knows what we’ll find out, ‘ey?" He kissed him again, just for the hell of it. "Might mean we’re goin’ ta stay up all night, luv… think you can handle that?" His brow waggled teasingly.

"I can handle anything YOU can, bleached menace," Harris said with a grin after returning the kisses with a good interest rate. "Even an all-nighter."

One dark, scarred eyebrow rose tauntingly. "Goin’ ta remind you of that next time you try ta tell me you’re too tired, Xan… just so you know."

Harris’s eye rolled. "Like I’ve ever actually let you go to sleep… randy, Randy." He grinned and nipped lightly at the top of Spike’s ear. "So… what do you think of Hypatia, anyway?"

The vampire cocked his head, looking at the woman who was having a rather animated conversation with a large human-looking man whose skin appeared to be bright orange. The bloke was either a demon or had had really bad luck with self-tanning solutions, Spike figured.

He watched her for another moment, then shrugged, pulling his eyes away with a bit of effort.

"Not bad for a human, I suppose. Even a human who was… what she was. She’s…" he considered for a good ten seconds before he found the proper word. "She’s peculiar."

Harris held his chuckle in deliberately. He remembered the days when Riley had been around; remembered some of the conversations they’d had while waiting for Buffy to show up for patrols and Scooby meetings. His eye moved slowly from his claimed’s face, tracing the same path the bright blue gaze had wandered just a few moments earlier.
He looked her up and down, considering what he knew of her and finally nodded as he went back to looking at his love. "Yeah, she’s definitely… peculiar, babe." He smiled.

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(A/N: Thanks to TheShadowCat and DaniKitten(how was vacation?) for the reviews. Love and such! *grins* More soon.)