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Chapter 45
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The small band made its way carefully to the basement of the hotel. Dilby, having been drafted to the cause, led the way. "I’ve only been down here a couple of times. No one is supposed to know about the room behind the boilers. I think there’s a small room, then another door leading to a dark room with some cells for special prisoners of the Partners. It’s all very hush hush. I…um …accidentally found it one evening and got curious. If they ever found out I had a clue, I’d be one dead lawyer."

Spike got a thoughtful look at hearing the details of their planned hiding place. "Cells, huh? Don’t think you’d mind too much if we put you in one of ‘em ‘til this whole thing’s finished, would ya, Dilby? Not that I don’t trust you. Oh, who am I kidding, of course I don’t trust you! Any of those special prisoners there now?"

"I really don’t know, Mr. Spike. I wouldn’t dare be caught watching the comings and goings of the Partners too closely. I do know that they’ve stayed pretty close to home ever since the Circle of the Black Thorn was…um…disbanded."

The boiler moved easily for any of the three superpowered beings of the group. The human, Dilby, would never have been able to dislodge it, however. "So how is it you know about the other room with cells? Unless you’re a lot more than you seem to be, no way you moved this to snoop around." Angel looked at the lawyer/clerk with suspicion.

"Okay, okay. I sort of overheard some of Ram’s minions talking about it when he had a guest there. I haven’t actually seen it. The minion who opened his yap was gutted when Ram found out he had loose lips. I wasn’t about to let anyone know I’d heard the little secret," Dilby explained. "Let’s just say that Wolfram & Hart doesn’t have the most enticing severance package."

"Think there’ll be any guards? I mean if they have a prisoner there, they probably need to have someone watching them." Buffy, like the others, was being careful to whisper even though they hadn’t seen anyone on either the lobby floor or in the basement. There was no point in tempting fate.

"Well," said Spike with a shrug, "no time like the present to find out." With that he opened the door to the inner room. It was empty. They could all see the other door on the opposite wall that supposedly led to the cells. Buffy moved silently towards that door and flung it open as soon as she could see that Angel and Spike were ready for combat if needed.

When no one attacked and no sounds were audible, they entered the large room. A flick of Spike’s lighter revealed several empty cells and no occupants. The light didn’t reach to the farthest corners though and both vampires reached out with their enhanced senses to check for life.

"I’m pickin’ up a heartbeat. Too fast for human, even scared human. Don’t smell human either." Spike was cautiously heading toward the being in the far corner cell.

"Smells familiar somehow. Can’t quite place it. Too many other smells, prison-like smells. Makes it hard to pin down." Angel was right behind Spike.

"Kinda like Newgate back in the day, huh?" Spike shivered at the memory of a killing spree Dru had insisted upon soon after he had been turned. She had wanted to find out if highwaymen and rogues tasted any better because of their evil. They hadn’t. In fact, the smells in the prison had put Spike off eating altogether. This place had a similar scent of body waste, rotting food and misery. If hell had a perfume, this would be it.

As they approached the far cell, they heard the beginnings of a low warning growl emit from a furry creature in a corner of the cage. It was manacled. The dim light from Spike’s lighter didn’t quite reach far enough to give any details, but the rattle of chains was a familiar one to both vampires as well as
Buffy.


"Demon?" Buffy knew when she asked that it was a stupid question. What? Did she think the Partners were running a dog pound?

"My guess is yes," deadpanned Angel. "Could be werewolf. I don’t think there’s a full moon for a few weeks yet, but this dimension may be completely different. I think that’s the reason for the familiar scent. Well, Nina smells better than this, but I’ve never left her to rot in a cage either!"

"Okay. First things first. Let’s keep with our plan. Wolfie here isn’t going anywhere and I really don’t want to waste energy fighting a werewolf before we take on the real baddies. Let’s lock Dilby up towards the front and deal with the forgotten prisoner after we kill the REAL big bad wolf." Buffy had always had a problem justifying werewolf kills since they were human most of the time. The only exception she would have happily made was Veruca and that was because the bitch had hurt Buffy’s friends so badly.

They locked Dilby in a cell but didn’t manacle him. "Hey, maybe you should leave some water in case you don’t make it." The lawyer/clerk caught the dark look given to him by the abnormally strong girl and amended his comment. "Okay, sure, you’re going to royally kick the Wolf’s ass. No problem. But I might get a little thirsty anyway. Besides, Mr. Angel did say he wanted a day to convince them he’d switched sides, right?"

"Got a point there. We’ll fix you up right proper." Spike noticed a faucet near the outer door and filled a jug for their drafted helper.

"You know, since there is a prisoner here, we’re probably going to have company sooner or later." Buffy couldn’t imagine that there wouldn’t be someone along to check on food and water for the creature in the back cell.

"We’ll have plenty of warning, pet. They can’t get in this whole section without moving that bloody boiler and you can’t do that without makin’ some noise. Not to worry. They come in, we rip their heads off, take the kibble and feed the nice doggie." Spike didn’t want to suggest that the werewolf might well have been left to die without food or water by the Partners. Well, it would be rescued soon enough. "Just hope the soddin’ pup doesn’t try to take an arm off in gratitude," Spike thought.

They closed the doors on the growling werewolf and frightened human and moved to the open chamber on the other side of the door. "Maybe we should poke around
a bit for supplies since you’re wantin’ that quality bondin’ time with Wolf. Don’t want Buffy here in the dark with no comforts at all." Spike caressed Buffy’s shoulder as he spoke.

"Good idea, I’m all for the lightness here." Buffy was hoping that Spike wouldn’t be gone too long anyway, but light would be of the good. "Besides, I’ve missed seeing your face. If we’re gonna be stuck here while Angel plays like he’s gone evil, I’ll want a chance to look my fill."

They had little trouble finding a selection of kerosene lanterns that would do an admirable job illuminating their hiding space without throwing out so much light as could be seen outside the room.

The hotel laundry facilities were located in the basement as well, giving them access to a couple of cozy bed comforters that would make sleeping on the floor much more pleasant. They even found a pair of pillows in the large storage room off the laundry.

Spike and Angel left Buffy to make a comfy nest for herself while they cautiously raided the pantry for some provisions for her and Dilby. Water was available in the cell area, so that wouldn’t be an issue.

Spike pulled out a frozen beef roast from the freezer while Angel arched his brows in confusion. "Ah Spike, I don’t think Buffy can cook even in ideal conditions. Maybe that’s not such a good choice."

"Not for Buffy, you nit, for the pup in the cage. May not’ve been fed in a bit. Don’t hurt to make nice with the puppies." Spike put the roast in a plastic sack, along with a few easy open tins of food for Dilby.

"You’re probably right. I don’t think that werewolf’s fed in a while. I smelled hunger. More than the normal ‘the moon is full and I need to eat someone’ hunger. Good thinking." Angel hoped that if Nina had been in a similar situation someone would have given thought to her care.

As soon as they had fed the prisoners and made sure Buffy was set and comfortable, the vampires headed for their theatrical debut.

~~~

"You need to keep your damned hands off her. She’s MY girl, has been since she was fifteen. I’ve only been waiting for that Shanshu to finally be with her. Our love is a forever love. All she is to you is something of mine that you want," Angel blazed at Spike with his opening volley.

"Yeah? Well, who left whom, Peaches? Looks to me like ‘forever’ ended with graduation. You left her in pieces that took years to get back together. Buffy and I had more than one night of perfect happiness anyway. What’d you have? One night and then lots of nothing, that’s what." Spike had no trouble thinking of things to say to his sire where Buffy was concerned, even if it was all an act.

"I was always there in her heart, boy. Did she ever slip and call out MY name when you were having that great passionate affair you keep talking about? Bet
she thought it. You were never more than a convenient substitute, Willie boy. Bet she wasn’t even there with you emotionally, huh?" Angel’s shot in the dark
was hitting a bit too close to home for Spike’s comfort. When it came to his fragile heart, that year had been torture worse than any devised by Angelus and Angel’s words were too much an echo of Buffy’s to just ignore the hurt.

"Yeah, well, don’t matter what happened then, does it? She’s not depressed now. She picked ME. No matter what she didn’t feel at first, she loves me now." Spike desperately hoped his words were the truth.

"She didn’t know she could choose, now did she? No, you came charging in here to rescue her from Eduardo and she was grateful. Well I’m here now, boy. I may have signed over my Shanshu, but I’m not letting you get the girl. You are not getting my leavings, Willie. You never got Dru’s heart and you won’t get Buffy’s either. You’ll always be second best," Angel spat the hateful words, opening up century-old wounds.

"Sent you away, didn’t she? Back at the Hellmouth? Picked me for her champion, NOT YOU!" Spike punctuated the last two words with pokes at Angel’s chest.

"She didn’t want to risk losing me. She sent ME back to safety. She let you wear that cheap piece of gaudy jewelry because it didn’t matter what it did to you, I’D still be safe!" Angel felt bad saying that last bit when he saw Spike flinch in obvious pain at the words. "Come on, Spikey, she sure moved on from her ‘terrible grief’ at your dusting pretty quickly. How long after you closed the Hellmouth before she started playing the Immortal’s dancing queen? She told me she still had some baking to do before she settled down with me. She tell you anything like that, boy?"

Come to think of it, she hadn’t. NO! Spike was not going to start believing this little drama. It was all for the benefit of Wolf and his minions. There was no truth in it…was there?

Spike threw the first punch. It never took much for the two of them to come to blows even on a good day and the fight was only partially staged. The blows were real enough and the simmering jealousies behind them as well.

"If you think I’m going to just sit by and let you walk off into the sunset with the girl, you’re crazier than your sire ever was. Buffy’s going to be mine, Spike. Whatever it takes, she’s going to be mine. I’ve waited too long, been too patient." Angel launched himself at Spike again, pushing him towards the secret panel they had found on the blueprints. Just as the minions entered the room, Spike disappeared through the unseen opening.

Angel acted startled as the minions surrounded him. "Where’d he go? Where did that bastard go?"

"We shall find the vampire soon enough. Now you must come with us to be destroyed by the great Fenris," the swarthy demon, Aeneas, ordered. "Find the other one!
He cannot have gotten far. He must have gone through that window there. Check the grounds!"

~~~

Spike moved quickly to the end of the hidden passage and exited to the far room they had chosen for his escape. There was a laundry chute in the wall that allowed him to slide straight to the laundry room in the basement and Buffy.

He landed on a small pile of soiled sheets and dragged himself out of the bin. "It was just play actin, Spike. Get over it." He was still so insecure where Buffy was concerned, especially in light of her historical, much eulogized love of Angel. So much of what Angel had said could be plausible. "No! She said I am her choice…me, not Peaches. Not gonna let him ruin even one more minute I have with her."

Spike’s enhanced hearing could make out the many footfalls on the floor above and he made haste to the boiler and their hiding place. Time to go home to Buffy. His home would always be wherever she was, whether it was a hole in a wall behind a boiler, a cozy crypt, fancy flat or hell itself. His home was in Buffy’s heart. He prayed he was right trusting her when she told him he was the primary resident there.

~~~

"Well, well, if it isn’t our renegade CEO and the only member of the Black Thorn left alive. Welcome, Angel. I think I need to discuss our employee handbook and all the fine print on terminating employees you must have missed." Wolf’s eyes blazed red as he drew himself up and revealed his true form.

The minions scattered both in fear and because there was little space in the room for anyone beyond Wolf as he expanded to full size. He towered over the nervous
vampire. Ceilings of twelve feet proved too low as Wolf brought his head down in front of Angel. His fetid breath assaulted the vampire, nauseating him. His jowls oozed with drool and his teeth, though sharpened to points, were as large as Angel’s fingers.

He was immense in size, his body taking up at least a good half of the room. His claws reminded Angel of those hands on the character in the horror movie Lorne insisted he watch about nightmares that became real. Angel hoped to hell he was going to get a chance to play his game before he found himself eaten. Angel hadn’t felt real fear in a long time, not for his own safety at least, but he was feeling it now.

Wolf growled then forced out English words as he licked his lips, "So…any last words?"