Things That Go Bump in the Night

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Chapter 29
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As he strode toward Willie's, it wasn't difficult for Doyle to drop back into old habits. There had been a time when bars were pretty much the central icon of his life -- not that he was exactly a stranger to them now. wasnwasn't proud of who he'd become after the presentation of his demon side, but as much as he hated to admit it, it meant he knew how to fit in with the . . . lower element. He just wished it wasn't *this* easy. He would have preferred it to be more difficult to act like the low-life he used to be.

As he opened the door and shifted to demon form, Doyle shook the past away and stepped inside. It wasn't much brighter than the night outside, of course, but he had no trouble seeing. He took only a moment to scan the room for potential threats before heading straight for the bar. Though he could see no more than the usual amount of interest from the other demons, Doyle felt like every eye in the room was glued to his back. He felt like a target.

"Hey there, Man," he said as he slid onto a bar stool.

"What'll you have?"

"Beer."

Doyle silently watched the bartender slash snitch while the human filled the order, waiting until it was sitting in front of him and he had taken one long swig before speaking again.

"I hear you're the man to see for information."

Willie's eyes widened slightly. "Depends," he replied.

"On?"

"On what you're looking for. I've pretty much gotten out of the information business"

"That's not what I hear."

"What do you mean?" Willie asked suspiciously

Doyle shrugged non-committally.

**

"What's taking so long?" Buffy hissed quietly.

"It hasn't been that long," Richie chided her gently. "He's only been in there for. . . ." He paused to glance at his watch. "Six minutes."

"Too long."

"He can't use the same methods you can, Buffy," Tara said, laying a hand on Buffy's arm. "He'd give the whole thing away."

Buffy sighed. "I know. It's just that. . . ."

"It seems like forever when you don't know what's going on." Tara finished for her.

"Yeah."

"And, of course, it doesn't help that you don't trust him," Richie offered.

"No, it doesn't. Trusting a demon goes against every instinct I have, *and* everything I've been taught."

**

"Eight minutes. That should be long enough," Giles said. "One way or the other."

The two men with him nodded, but before either of them could reply the ringing of their cell phone made all three men jump.

Joe quickly snapped it open. "Dawson."

"Anything up front?" Buffy asked him.

"Nope, not a thing," he replied. Masking his disappointment, he shook his head at the other two, mouthing 'Buffy'. "We'll call if there is," he continued, then clicked the connection closed, and snapped the cell phone shut.

**

"You're sure you know absolutely nothing about it?" Doyle asked yet again, though it didn't look like he was going to get anything out of Willie.

"Like I told you, everyone's keeping their mouth shut about this thing. All I can say about it is this -- it's gotta be big. Everyone's buzzing about it -- in a general way, until they realize I'm there. Then they're quiet as mice." Willie shrugged before continuing. "Guess you're not the only one who's heof mof my rep. And that just stinks! I tried to get out of it completely. It's why I bought this place. But that damn slayer and her buddies. They just won't let it be."

Doyle hid his frustration by taking another long drink of his now warm beer. He grimaced. Irish he might be, but he did *not* like warm beer.

"Need another one?"

He nodded absently, and Willie took off, presumably to get him another beer.

As he waited, another patron came upide ide him. Doyle ignored him as much a prudence allowed. The vampire was in game face, so it was difficult to miss what he was.

"Why do you want to know?" the stranger asked, not bothering to even look at Doyle.

"Know what?"

The vampire snorted, finally turning to face him. "You're not fooling anyone. Now tell me why you want to know."

Doyle shrugged. "I just want to be there when history is made."

Silent far too long for Doyle's comfort, the vampire finally nodded. "I can't tell you where it is. That's forbidden, but I can take you there."

Far from happy with the turn of events, but having expected something of the sort from the very beginning, Doyle grinned. "Good enough for me," he said, hopping off the bar stool. "Whenever you're ready."

**

"Never thought I'd be haunting the sewers with Deadboy," Xander whispered.

Angel rolled his eyes, but turned to face the boy. "Xander, I would appreciate it if you *didn't* call me that."

Xander grinned. "Well, I suppose I could call you Peaches, like Spike does."

"Never mind," Angel muttered disgustedly. "I think I prefer Deadboy."

Xander laughed and Willow giggled, though she did stop quickly, slapping her hand over her mouth.

"You didn't really think you'd get me to stop, did you? Giles keeps trying to keep me from calling him G-Man, but it hasn't worked." Xander paused, his crooked grin growing. "And I *like* him."

Angel shook his head, opened his mouth to reply, but snapped it shut leaving his comment unsaid. It was a lost cause and he knew it.

The sound of a manhole cover being removed had all three silent and wary. As one, they moved further back into the shadows and waited. It didn't take long before they heard Doyle's voice.

"Is it far?"

"Nope."

**Who's that?** The three waiting in the shadows shared a glance, none of them having the answer to the question that was on all of their minds.

"That's informative," Doyle replied dryly.

"Told you, it's forbidden."

"Ah, right, sorry."

The three of them froze in place, barely daring to breath as Doyle and the unknown person came closer, Angel tensing as he stopped hearing footsteps.

"What?" Doyle asked. "Why'd you stop?"

"There's someone down here. Several someones."

Angel tensed further, cursing silently. Trust Doyle's luck to have a vampire lead him, he thought sourly.

"They're probably just others going to the ceremony," Doyle offered.

"No, some of them are human. Human's aren't allowed."

"Well then, we'd better hurry, before they find out we're here and follow us."

Angel heard a chuckle.

"No, I think I'm hungry. A bite to eat would be nice right about now."

"What?" Doyle exclaimed. "And miss part of the ceremony? I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss a thing."

Angel waited in tense expectation for the other vampire's response, hoping Doyle's suggestion would be taken to heart.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I've heard they have to kill her first thing. I don't want to miss that."

Angel could almost feel Doyle stiffen up. **Don't blow it Doyle,** he thought desperately. **You're her only chance.**

"Whoa there guy. Why are you so mad of of a sudden?"

**Damn!**

"I don't want to miss it either!" Doyle snapped, to Angel sounding like he actually meant it. "All this doddling just might make us do that!"

**Then again, maybe he does mean it.** Just for a different reason than would be assumed.

Angel sighed in relief when the footsteps resumed, but he waited until he couldn't hear them anymore before turnio hio his companions.

"What the hell was that all about, Deadboy," Xander snapped. "Why'd you tense up like the shit was about to hit the fan?"

"Because it almost did," Angel hissed quietly. "It's a vamp leading Doyle, and he smelled us."

"Shit!" Xander breathed.

"I'm going to follow them, you two contact the other teams and follow as quickly as you can."

"No way, Deadboy, you're not going alone."

"I can move much faster down here alone. You can barely see."

Xander started to protest again, but Angel cut him off with an angry slice of his hand.

"No buts, Xander. I'll come back and meet you all when I find out where they're holding her. I promise."

For a moment, Xander looked like he was going to continue protesting, but finally nodded curtly.

Angel turned and ran off before the young man could think up any other protests. He had to catch up, before he lost them completely. To his surprise, it didn't take him long before he caught up enough to hear them. He almost laughed. Doyle was obviously doing his damnedest to slow them down.

"Ouch!" Doyle exclaimed.

"What now?" asked the vampire, irritation and disgust filling his voice.

"Damn tunnel is filled with boulders the size of Colorado," Doyle snapped.

The vampire, just as obviously no longer irritated, laughed. "You're just blind, half-breed. Maybe you should watch where you're going; if you did, we might actually get there."

Angel bit his lip and tried not to grin, just knowing that Doyle was having to bite back acidic retorts. Doyle was usually pretty laid back, but when he wanted it to be, his tongue could cut deeply. When they continued on, Angel inched forward wary of rounding the corner too soon. He didn't want to be caught following the two of them.

He was just about to slip around, when he heard the distinctive sound of metal on metal. He froze, grateful when Doyle's voice floated back to him.

"Damn! I didn't know this exit was here."

"Most don't. It's well hidden."

"Yeah, I'll say it is. I'd never have seen this. I didn't even see the entrance to the alcove."

The vampire chuckled. "Unless you know it's there, you wouldn't. It's an illusion. No one knows whether it's natural or whether someone made it, but it makes for a great bolt hole."

There was silence for a moment, and Angel began to wonder if they'd gone through without shutting whatever it was the vampire had opened.

"You know something half-breed. You talk too much."

"Sorry," Doyle replied. "My lips are now sealed."

The vampire grunted. "Sure."

Their voices faded after that, the clank of metal closing against metal drowning out Doyle's reply.

Waiting a few precious moments, Angel ducked around the corner to find only a long, unbroken tunnel. **What alcove?**

Carefully feeling his way along the wall, he made it 20 feet before his hand suddenly wasn't pressed against a wall. **The vamp was right. If I didn't know about it, I wouldn't have found it.**


**

"Damn!" Xander exclaimed as the manhole cover slammed down on his fingers, quickly sucking them into the soothing warmth of his mouth.

"You okay?" Willow asked below him.

"Yeah, just smashed my fingers."

Willow whimpered slightly, but it didn't stop her from urging him up. "I know it hurts, Xander, but move! We need to call the others."

"I'm up. I'm up!"

Willow clamored up after him, pulling out the cell phone as soon as she was clear of the interference caused by the solid concrete of the sewer system.

Xander waited tensely as he watched his best friend call in the cavalry, desperately wishing he could hear both sides of the conversation.

"It's time. . . . Yeah, Angel's following them. . . . Okay, we're waiting at the sewer entrance. . . . Oh, what?. . . . Yeah, I'll call them, Buffy."

"Well?" Xander asked immediately, despite knowing the answer, and despite knowing she'd have told him without prompting.

"They're on their way," she said, even as she was dialing the second number.


TBC