Who, What, Why, Where, When?
Chapter 17
The next couple of days fell into an easy routine, with Giles getting used to having someone living in his house and Willow getting used to being that someone.
Buffy and Xander continued to patrol and both reported that minimal vampire aity ity was still the order of business. Whatever had caused this slump after their last battle was still having its affect.
Angel arrived three nights after the phone call. Giles had suggested that Willow patrol with Xander and Buffy to ensure she was out of the house when Angel arrived.
A knock on the door signalled his arrival. "Good to see you Giles" he said quietly.
Giles shook his hand. "And you Angel, come in" he offered, aware of the vampires reluctance to enter without his specific permission despite his standing invitation. "Thank you for coming, how are Wesley and Cordelia doing?" he asked as he moved to the kitchen.
"They're fine and Wesley said he was glad he wouldn't be required for replacement Watcher duties again" Angel smiled, putting down the books he was carrying and accepting the beer that Giles had handed him. "I understand congratulations are in order?" Angel said shyly and moved to sit on the sofa.
Giles grinned soppily. "Yes, Willow agreed to move in with me. I think she was getting embarrassed by the whimpering and begging" he smiled.
"I'm really glad for you both" Angel toasted him with his drink then put the bottle down on the table. "We should probably get rid of this Bolak demon once and for all and let you get back to the important stuff?" he suggested.
Giles nodded and handed him the small book. "This seems to be the best description we have of the host/demon transference procedure and, as I explained on the phone, I think there are a couple of obvious weak points during which we could strike". He drank his beer as Angel quickly read through the appropriate pages. He had only ever envied the vampire on his mastery of languages that had been built over the centuries.
Angel nodded and looked up at him. "I agree, but I think you may have overlooked something." Giles looked up quickly to meet his gaze and Angel continued. "I found a text which relates a previous Bolak/Slayer encounter and it seems to suggest that the demon wasn't in human form at all but took a wolf as his host"
"Animal transference" Giles said and took his glasses off as he paced quickly. "I've never heard of anything like that before unless you allow for the early historical references to wizards in ancient mythology who were purported to transmogrify into animals as part of their rituals"
Angel put a large leather bound book on the table and turned to a specific page. "Here it mentions the slayer having to defend against the teeth and claws of the demon in his animal state"
Giles leaned over his shoulder. "They always did go in for gruesome pictorial representations in the 12th century didn't they?" he asked as he noticed the picture on the opposite page. He quickly read through the passage Angel had marked and sighed. "I never even considered this as a possibility but it gives the entire problem a new dimension and explains why things have been so quiet since the battle"
Angel stood up and took the book back from him. "You couldn't be expected to think of everything after all you were recovering from amnesia and this is very unusual even in the demon world"
Giles smiled up at him. "You don’t need to humour me, this is my job after all, I should have gone through all of the possible options and I missed this" He stood and paced. "If Bolak took an animal host after the last battle we don't have much time. If he hasn't yet found a human host he will soon and we want to try to remove him before he gets that far"
Angel agreed. "But how do you go about finding an unspecified, warm blooded animal with no outward signs of demonic possession. I mean I don’t even want to think about how many rats there are in the sewers". He thought for a minute or two. "Buffy made sure that there weren't any humans or vampires around after the fight?" Angel finally asked.
"That's what she told me and they are all quite familiar with the process of sweeping up any loose ends, although I doubt they checked for animals per se" Giles replied, his head on one side as he considered the question.
Angel considered the situation and finally said. "The only part of your original plan which will change is that we can now utilise another non-human animal as the recipient when we initiate another transfer of the demon"
Giles stared at him for several seconds. "An animal wouldn't have any control over the process, we would need to strike in the middle of the transference but ensure both the existing and potential hosts were dead and no others presented themselves"
"The only other option is for one of us to present ourselves as the host and disrupt the transfer from within" Angel suggested.
Giles nodded. "But surely that is also the most dangerous time for the prospective host?" he asked. "After all, there is no guarantee that we would be able to completely eradicate the demon once the transfer has begun"
"I'm no expert on the magic side of things but isn't there some kind of spell we could use to help the host disrupt the process at the crucial point. If your book is correct, and the transfer relies on an awake, fully aware host during transference, then that may be enough to put Bolak off and allow us to finish him"
Giles stood up and began to pace. "I had thought of that but the host would have to initiate the final stages of the spell themselves and time it perfectly"
Angel and Giles sat down to consider the options for several minutes. Angel finally roused himself. “We need to try and sort out what form the demon has taken at the moment and the only way to work that out is to find out what happened during the battle”
Giles sighed. "I don't have any memories from the few days before the fight until I woke in the hospital several weeks later" he looked miserable. "We'll quiz Buffy to find out the exact details"
They stared at each other for several minutes before Angel finally spoke again. "Are you going to tell Willow and Buffy the whole plan this time or try to keep them in the dark again?"
"I think they'll need to know as I'm going to need both of them to ensure the success of any plan" Giles said and sat down again. "The only problem is I may not survive their anger to face the demon"
Angel idly flicked over some pages in the book he still held and soon became immersed in a particular passage. Giles left him in peace, well aware of the studious look and sure that he would be given the information once Angel had sorted through his thoughts.
They were still sittingsilesilence, pondering the situation, when Buffy and Willow arrived back. "Angel" Buffy shouted and stood in the doorway looking at him in astonishment.
Willow hugged him then moved to sit on the arm of Giles' chair reaching down to kiss him. "Why didn’t you tell me he was coming?" she asked as Buffy loudly complained to Angel at the lack of notice for his visit.
Both men smiled at each other and Angel took Buffy's hand to lead her to the sofa. Willow slipped from the arm of the chair onto Giles lap. "We had some business to discuss and I knew that you would monopolise Angel's time as soon as you arrived" he suggested dryly looking at Buffy.
She pouted. "Not true, I can behave myself until the business is out of the way"
Angel smirked and looked at her. "And after the business?" he asked quietly and laughed as she blushed and punched his arm.
Giles smiled at them and pulled Willow a little closer. "Angel's right, we'd finished what we were discussing anyway so let's relax and enjoy his visit" he suggested. "Tell us about the cases you've been handling in LA"
Angel understood that Giles wanted to have some time to think through the problem before he tried to explain the unlikely circumstances to anyone else. He nodded and began telling them outrageous tales of life in the big city.
"You expect us to believe" Willow asked as she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. "That Cordelia actually scared the ghost haunting her house into leaving it?"
Buffy looked at her and said, in mock seriousness. "Yep, no problem with believing that at all" and they all started laughing again.
Giles eventually suggested that they get some rest after Willow had stifled her third yawn. "You've both got classes tomorrow and I've got a dinner to prepare for tomorrow evening"
"Pizza?" Buffy said hopefully.
"No" Giles laughed and stood to hand Buffy her coat. "I'm going to make you all sit down and eat a proper meal for once and Fraser can finally meet the famous Angel he's heard so much about"
Willow smiled. "That sounds great, you'll like the dishy doc" she nodded to Angel.
He raised his eyebrow and looked at Giles as both girls started laughing again. "I like him already, I think" he smiled and headed out to walk Buffy back to the dorm.
As Willow grabbed the vampire for a final hug, Giles followed Buffy outside. "I'm sorry Riley can't be included in tomorrow night's get together, unless you think…?"
"No" Buffy agreed. "Somehow they don't seem to get on" she shrugged. "Some day you can explain to me the mystery that is man" she suggested and hugged Giles. "Thanks for a nice night, I'll let Xander know about tomorrow"
He locked and bolted the door as he returned to find Willow tidying glasses in the kitchen. "Come on" he said, taking her hand. "One more yawn and you'll break your jaw and I have better uses for it"
Some time later, as they lay in bed in each other's arms, Willow asked the question that had been annoying her since she had seen Angel. "What did you guys work out about the demon" she whispered.
He bent down to kiss the top of her head and squeezed her a little tighter. "We think we've come up with an interesting hypothesis which explains the demon's apparent disappearance after the fight and the lack of activity recently, but it is quite unusual and we need to do some further research before we can be sure. After dinner tomorrow night we'll let you all know how far we've got"
She nuzzled his arm as it lay across her shoulder "No more life or death secrets though?" she mumbled and heard him sigh against her back.
"No, I promise" he whispered in her ear. She giggled and he nibbled her earlobe. "What's so funny?" he whispered again, causing even more giggles.
"Your chest hair is tickling my neck" she said as she wriggled against him.
He sighed heavily. "I know watchers get used to managing on very little sleep but you are the biggest challenge I have ever faced." By the end of the sentence he had rolled her onto her back and was lying on top of her, his erection now rubbing against her thigh.
"I'm really sorry" she gasped insincerely as she ran her nails over his lower back. Her legs parted and he slipped between them. "Now I'm not sorry at all" she grinned at him.
"Where do you get the energy from?" he asked wonderingly as he reached to the bedside table for a condom and stared into her eyes. "You had classes all day and patrolling for most of the night"
She tutted impatiently and crunched her pelvic muscles to place his erection at the correct point. "Always with the talking, we'll really need to work on that." He slid into her and the next few minutes were taken up with slow movements and deep breathing.
He gazed into her eyes in wonder as he tried to remember what it was like to have a full nights sleep without her in his arms. Just as he was about to kiss her he felt her muscles clench against him and her breath quickened. He noticed a grin spreading across her face and her eyes were suddenly screwed tight shut. She panted and writhed underneath him as he increased his pace to try and catch up with her obvious head start. When her orgasm hit, her entire body closed in on itself before relaxing and shuddering beneath him. He continued his ever-increasing pace and felt himself get ever closer to his own release but he had reached a plateau and couldn’t seem to get above it.
Willow noticed the sweat beads starting to form on his forehead and trickling down the side of his face. She continued to grin and held his gaze as she clenched and released her pelvic muscles to encourage him. He shook his head as he slowed down. "I'm sorry love, I think I'm just too bloody knackered to get there. Maybe in the morning?" he suggested then noticed her mischievous look
Willow shook her head. "You're giving up way too early. What would all those stiff upper lip types back home say?" she giggled as she reached down and gently squeezed his balls. His gasp reassured her that she wasn't coercing him into anything and she continued to caress with her hand as she wriggled out from underneath him.
Giles felt himself being rolled over onto his back and opened his eyes to protest. "I cannot go back to Fraser with another bedroom injury" he tried to sound determined about this but she had removed the condom and her lips had reached the head of his penis and he only managed occasional groans and grunts thereafter.
She knew that he was close and used her hands to stroke his erection and testicles as she moved back up to kiss his lips and eyes. She heard him sigh and sped up her hand movements as she leaned down to whisper in his ear. "After everyone's gone tomorrow you are going to put on one of those old tweed suits and we are going to have a private party of our own" she murmured breathily against his neck as she nibbled his ear. "First I'm going to put the suit on you then I'm going to slowly take it off, just like I imagined all those times in the library. All those times you used to smile at me and look over my shoulder, when I could feel the tweed through my shirt and wanted to turn round and kiss every bit of you right there."
Her thigh was rubbing against his thigh as she increased the pace of her hand still further, however, she gasped in surprise when he pushed her hand out of the way and began doing it himself. She stared at him for a few seconds until he opened his eyes. "Talking was good, keep going" he grinned at her and used his free hand to rub her still erect nipples.
She groaned and pushed her groin against his thigh. "Now I've got you pushed against the book cage and I'm using handcuffs to keep your hands above your head. Once you're secure I start unbuttoning your shirt and kissing your nipples." She matched her actions to the words for several seconds. "Now I'm kneeling in front of you and pulling your belt out of the way to get your trousers opened." She placed kisses down his stomach to his navel and rested her head there to watch in fascination as he continued to masturbate.
"Jesus, don’t stop" he groaned and she chuckled as she continued her journey down his body.
"Now I've got you completely naked and I gently lick the inside of your thighs" she suggested, a little unsure of how to participate without getting in his way. She needn't have worried as he came with her last words and shouted her name as his sperm coated his hand and thighs.
He pulled her back up into his arms, as he turned onto his side to face her. "Well that was an interesting first" he murmured as he kissed her and nuzzled her neck.
"First?" she asked a little incredulously. "You mean to tell me you've never done that before?"
He sighed dramatically. "Nooooo, I went to an all male boarding school when I was ten and I've never wanked before" He pulled her lips back to his as she tried to bury her head in his chest while she laughed. "I mean it's never been a team sport before" he laughed gently and hugged her.
"Not even with matron?" she whispered, managing to look a little sheepish as he looked at her in shock.
"She scarred me for life, I never could understand men finding nurses uniforms sexy" he muttered. "At least I'll be the only one having to dress up?" he smiled as she blushed.