The Viking Hunter

Part 13

Angel pulled up in front of Ruperts apartment complex and turned off his engine. He sat in the car and collected his thoughts before going up, on the one hand he wanted to help his Childe but on the other he wanted to keep the attention away from himself. He may have a soul but his demon still had a very strong sense of self preservation.

Eventually He resigned himself to his fate and climbed out of his car and approached the door to Giles apartment. He knocked, and the door was immediately opened by Spike who grabbed him and all but dragged him inside before slamming and locking the door behind him.

"What in bloody hell do you think you're doing sitting out there? Are you trying to draw attention to your self?"

"Huh?"

"Christ peaches! I'm being hunted! Don't you think Thor would have me under surveillance? You aren't very bright for a private investigator! How do you manage to save people with your head up your arse?"

"Nice imagery Spike. For your information I looked, there was no one out there."

"Yeah whatever."

After Angel was brought up to date on the Thor situation, and quite annoyed by Spike because he wouldn't show him the letters from Xander, the three men settled in to get some rest. The next night would not be easy for any of them.

Buffy awoke to the phone ringing very early the next morning.

"Mmm, 'lo?"

"Good morning Buffy, I'm terribly sorry to wake you so early but I need you to gather the others and meet me at my apartment as soon as possible."

"This have anything to do with Spike's stalker?"

"Yes. Willy brought another message last night. The hunt begins tonight. I ah, I called Angel. He's here now as well."

"Okay, I'll get everyone up and we'll be there as soon as we can."

Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Tara arrived at Giles place a half hour later with pastry and coffee for everyone. Buffy and Angel shared an uncomfortable greeting and everyone else was too tired to care much who was there.

"Right then, Spike if you would fill the others in on what they need to know from the letter we can get started on the planning."

"From what Xander wrote, he's going to be joining his Sire on this little hunting expedition. He's promised he wouldn't raise a hand to any of us, but don't count on him to fight on our side either."

"Why not?"

"Because it's his Sire, Slayer. Childer don't stake their Sire, even when their souled poofs. It's just not done."

"But Angel....I mean Darla..?"

"Bloody Hell."

Spike didn't miss the pained expression that flashed across Angel's face at the mention of his Sire. He still had nightmares about that night. His soul made him do it to protect Buffy, but that didn't make it any easier to live with.

"Look, I'm just giving you the facts slayer. Xander is out of it, he's not gonna fight on either side. Deal with it. Now, we don't know how old this bugger is either, but we know for a fact he's well over a thousand. He's had two Childer before, both female, last one died four hundred years ago. None of this makes a bleedin' difference though. Tonights mission is strictly to track me, I figure old Thor wants to train his new boy to hunt well, and I'm the prey."

"Is that it?"

"No. Thor's had his minions watching me, us. He knows that I associate with humans, and that one of them is the slayer. As far as Xander knows, he doesn't know about those two (nods toward Willow and Tara) being witches. He figures we can use that. Oh, and he says he misses all of you."

"Okay, so we parade you around town tonight as bait, and have the wicca women work some mojo on him and then you, me and Angel attack. Sounds easy enough."

"Sounds easy, but it won't be. Come on people, lets get to work."

The gang headed over to the Magic Box to get ready. The next few hours were spent testing various spells and training, everyone needed to be in top form. Giles and Willow had a few arguments on which spells would be the safest to use yet still be effective, and Buffy and the two vampires sparred in the training room. Giles left the shop closed that day so they wouldn't be interrupted, and Buffy had called Dawn in sick from School.

Dinner was ordered from the local Chinese food place and eaten in relative silence. There was nothing left for them to do. Buffy, Angel and Spike were in top fighting condition, the magic users were ready to cast, and Dawn was going to Janice's house to spend the night right after dinner. As soon as the sun went down they would head out.