The Highlander Factor

Beep.

"Sorry but Angel Investigations has temporarily relocated, please leave your message after the tone or, if you need help urgently call...."

Beep.

"Dammit, I already tried that number and there was no answer there either. Angel? Where are you? Don't you ever pick up your messages? Look, if you ever get back, ring me. You know the number."

Spike's hand hovered over the telephone. He really didn't want to call Buffy, but if she was trying to raise Angel it must be something important, and he already felt guilty about leaving her in the lurch. At least she'd had the witches to back her up and there hadn't been anything that nasty happening when he left, except himself.

"Who was it?" Wesley came into the office carrying two mugs, one coffee and the other blood for Spike who was sitting on the desk looking, if possible, paler than usual.

Since their drunken session the night before, and building on the tentative connection they had made over the last couple of days, they had reached a truce, which he felt could easily develop into a genuine friendship. When the hotel had been proven to be vampire proof, Spike had offered to move out of Wesley's apartment and use a room there. He had rejected the notion, arguing that it made more sense to split their forces so that Angelus couldn't besiege the whole group and there would always be someone to call for back up.

If he were honest with himself though, Wesley knew that this wasn't the only reason. After so much time alone, and despite his better judgement, he was starting to enjoy the company, the snarky English vampire had a way about him that, although irritating, was a refreshing change fromel'el's cumbersome humour. Spike could be almost endearing when he wasn't being totally self-centred, and Wesley briefly wondered if the soul had made that much difference until he remembered the heartfelt sobs that had racked the vampire's body the night before.

Any doubts that may have been left vanished as Spike looked up at him. His eyes were haunted and grey, and looked sunken in his face.

"Buffy." That one word explained everything and ...nothing.

"What did she want?" Wesley tried to keep his voice cheerful, sensing that Spike would neither want nor appreciate his sympathy.

"Don't know. She wants to talk to Angel." He paused and put his hand over the phone before pulling it back and letting drop into his lap. "I should ring. It must be bad or she wouldn't have called." Despite his words Spike made no effort to pick up the phone and just sat and stared at it.

Wesley put the mugs down on the desk. "Do you want me to do i

Spike shook his head, but Wesley had heard the quick inhalation that had followed his words.

"I don't mind doing it. I do know Buffy, or did several years ago and it might be easier..." As he spoke Wesley let his hand rest on the telephone. When Spike raised no objections he picked it up and looked questioningly at the vampire.

After giving the number, Spike walked out of the office, ignoring his mug of blood and started pacing the lobby, trying not to listen to the call but continually shooting glances through the door.

"Buffy? Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. You wanted to speak to Angel?"

"They did what?!! Oh my God." At Wesley's outburst Spike shot into the office and virtually bowled the ex-Watcher over.

"Buffy, just hang on a minute. I need to tell Spike what's...Yes he's here. If you insist."

Wesley held the phone out for Spike to take, ignored the vampire's suddenly ashen look and raised his eyebrows insistently. Spike took it with a shaking hand and held it to his ear, licking his suddenly dry lips before speaking.

"Hello?"

"What are you doing in LA?"

"Nothing. Seeing Angel."

"That so cannot be true. You hate Angel." There was an irritated edge to her voice that Spike was very familiar with, she thought he was lying.

"He's still my Sire, pet." There was a long silence.

"I need to speak to Angel. Is he there?" And this was the other side of her he knew well. The 'I'm so mad and I'm going to ignore you' mood.

"That's a bit complicated at the moment." All his suggestions to call the Slayer for help with Angelus had been quashed, so she still didn't know of his return. The others had argued that it would be too hard for Buffy to kill her ex-lover for a second time, and although her help would be useful, between himself, Connor and Gunn they really had enough muscle to deal with the situation.

There was an odd little sound down the line, and Spike could imagine Buffy tapping her manicured nails on the mouthpiece as she worked through what to say next. "Let me speak to Willow then or Dawn if they're in."

"Why would they be here?"

With an irritated huff Buffy launched a tirade at him. "Because you bleached idiot, they're in LA seeing Angel. Have you done something to them, is that why you won't let me speak to them. My god, I bet you have! I bet you got your chip out and killed them all. That's it I coming up there and..."

"Buffy, slow down. Please, I haven't done anything to anybody. Shit" He held the phone back out to Wesley. "She won't listen to me, and keeps insisting the Witch and Dawn are in LA."

Wesley's face was as pale as the vampire's as he replied. "They left her a note to say Angel had invited them for the weekend. They left Sunnydale on Friday night."

The phone dropped from Spike's suddenly numb fingers and he groped for the edge of the desk, his knees rebelling at the thought of Red and Dawn in the hands of Angelus. His mind a whirl, he could only think one thing. 'It's all my fault. I let him live and now they're going to die.'

Slowly, as his vision cleared and his ears started to hear something other than his own voice screaming out his failure, Spike became aware that Wesley had picked up the phone and speaspeaking to Buffy again.

"Perhaps you're right. Come straight to the hotel and we can work out what to do from here." He was telling her to come to LA.

Spike reached out and grabbed the phone from the Wesley's hand ignoring the outraged cry at his bad manners.

"You mustn't come. It's exactly what he wants you to do. He's only taken them to get you here to LA..."

"And how would you know that?greagreat, well-informed one."

Spike lost his temper. He was trying to help the stupid bint and all she could do was mock him.

"Listen to me Slayer and listen well. I know Angelus and you know that I do. I didn't spend the best part of twenty years with the bastard and not pick up on some of his tricks. He's taken Dawn and Willow to get you to LA and the minute you arrive he will know and they will die. Do you understand me now?"

There was a long silence fthe the other end and then a low voice said. "Don't let them die, Spike. Please don't let him kill them."

Her quiet tearfulness was too much; the Slayer was putting the lives of her sister and best friend in his inadequate hands. After all he had done to them and her, she was still willin tru trust him, it was so much more than he deserved. The line went dead and he painfully put it back in the cradle.

"She's not coming?" Little colour had returned to Wesley's face and he was obviously still shaken.

Spike shook his head. "No, she's not. She can't, mustn't. He'll kill them."

It was Wesley's turn to sit down heavily as the implications of what he had nearly done sank in. "My god, I nearly killed them. It never occurred to me that they could be bait for the Slayer."

"How could you have done? You're not an evil soulless monster." There was a bitter note in Spike's voice as he rested a comforting hand on Wesley's shoulder. Then he gave himself a little shake. "You make coffee. I'll wake the others. We need to work out what the fuck we do now."

The council of war was held in the lobby with people perched wherever they could find a seat. It was a depressing meeting with no new ideas offered up and no insights they weren't already familiar with. Spike was reminded of the terrible days when the Scoobies were facing Glory, there was the same fatalistic mood, the same sense of hopelessness. At least then they had a Slayer on their side, all they had now was a kid, a washed up vampire and a wannabe vampire hunter. Quietly, he muttered imprecations against psychopathic sires and the lack of a Slayer to deal with them.

"What did you say?" Wesley fixed him with a rigid glare. Spike looked around guiltily then repeated his words.

"That's it! We need a Slayer, so we'll get one."

As Wesley disappeared into the office the others looked at each other in confusion, until Fred whooped in sudden realisation. "Faith. He's going to get Lilah to release Faith from prison."

Gunn dropped his head into his hands in despair. "Shit, just what we need, another psychopath on the loose."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Angelus lay on the floor next he rhe redhead, studying her face carefully. It was something he liked to do with his victims, he felt their features gave away more in repose than they did screaming at times. The Witch's hair was plastered to her face with sweat and blood, she was holding up well, better than he had expected but he needed her to break soon. Maybe a different tactic was in order. He had resisted touching the girl, feeling she was far too fragile to tolerate much in the way of torture, and he would her her to distract the Slayer when she got into town. But with Willow this far along, perhaps he only needed to threaten her to make the Witch respond.

He hopped to his feet and started pacing the floor as he considered the problem. Remembering the trick Drusilla had played on the Watcher, Angelus was regretting his mad Childe was no longer at his side. He was sure that the Witch would do anything if it came at the behest of her dead lover, just as Giles had. Tur her her was the other option, but he would avoid that if at all possible, it was sheer luck that Dru's talents had survived her turning, else she'd have been little more than a momentary distraction in a pretty package. He was willing to take a similar risk with Cordelia if she ever reappeared but not Willow, that talent was too powerful to lose on a whim. She needed to be broken and to break her Angelus knew he needed to force her to use her magics, the ones the coven had told her were too dangerous.

It had been an interesting and illuminating weekend with Willow and Dawn, and well worth the effort he had put into playing them. The Witch had given Angel information about happenings in Sunnydale; she would never have shared so willingly with Angelus. He'd had difficulties schooling his features when she told him Harris haved ved the world, it seemed an unlikely role for the inadequate boy he remembered, and had listened with quiet satisfaction when she had shared her horror at her murder of Warren. No, a Witch with her power was too good to waste, he wanted her on his side and under his thrall, and once she capitulated and used her magics they would be half way there. It was just a matter of being patient and having self-control, and he was excellent at both.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Tell me about Angelus." Wesley had his stocking-ed feet on the coffee table and was nursing his drink on his chest as they talked. It had become something of a nightly routine for himself and the vampire. Having escaped Fred's discomforted babbling, and Gunn's taciturn silences, not to mention Connor's obvious disgust in Spike, and Wesley's unhappiness at being around Justine, it was nice for the pair of them to be in a company where they could start to relax.

Spike glanced up from his glass and studied his companion silently for a moment, before returning to his drink. "What do you want to know?"

"Anything that might help. I'm trying to work out a battle strategy and you said you knew him years ago?"

"Yeah?" It was a small hesitant comment, and Wesley was immediately alerted to something that he probably needed to know even if he didn't want to.

"You told Buffy you knew him for twenty years. There must be something from that time which can help us now."

"Not really stuff I want to remember." He changed the subject adroitly and brought up an issue Wesley had hop hoping to avoid. "What about this Slayer, then. I heard she's a bit of a loose cannon. That right?"

"Something like that, yes." This was a very awkward subject.

Spike considered the ex-Watcher. His body language was interesting, there was regret and pain, but the way Wesley was avoiding his eyes was suggestive of embarrassment.

"Bit of history between you two, I'd wager."

Wesley shot him a look of disgust and panic, then relaxed. If he told the truth here, maybe Spike would be willing to share some of his information about Angelus. "You're right. I was her Watcher and I let her down badly when she needed me most, she almost killed Buffy and Angel, and worked for the Mayor during his Ascension, before coming here."

The reference caused a frown to cross the vampire's face. "Wasn't he the one who got blown up with the school? Big, snake demon I heard. Happened while I was out of town."

When he got an answering nod he continued with a bit of a guilty laugh, "Yeah, I remember now, rogue Slayer, dark hair, about so tall, goes by the name of Faith, criminally insane. Left Sunnydale under a cloud and did something to Buffy. She ended up here?"

"Yes. Then tried to kill Angel, beat up Cordelia, and attempted to torture me to death."

"And this is the woman we're getting out of prison to help us?!" Spike was starting to think Gunn had a point.

Wesley sat forward and put his glass on the table. "Angel said she has changed, was serving her time, and looking for redemption. He visited her occasionally, Fred went with him once and ironically I trust his judgement in this, he knows about redemption."

There was silence for a while as both men helped themselves from the bottle on the table.

"Do you think he could help me?"