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Angels and Demons by TalesofSpike
 
Chapter 5.08
 
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Note: Thanks to my beta t_geyer for her unending patience, perseverance and support.

SECTION 5 - LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

He raised his son in the English way
And he taught him respect, he taught him how to pray
He sent him off to boarding school
Where he learned how to live by someone else's rules...

... It must be something much deeper than fear or pain
Another child learns the pattern, he won't break the chain

Fear of God and the feel of the rod will raise a good boy
The fear of God and the feel of the rod will raise a good boy
The fear of God and the feel of the rod will raise the next boy


(Rick Springfield Album - Living in Oz)




Chapter 5.08
Saturday, June 15th, 2002


Wes was anticipating at least an 'I know what you've been doing' smirk from the vampire when he and Marie knocked on the door of Spike and Buffy's room. Instead, the vampire lay back on one of the two cots, holding up a battered paperback book to one side of his face so that he could easily transfer his gaze from the book to the young girl who was using his stomach as a seat. Her eyes were full of enchantment and delight as Spike detailed the attractions of 'The Ning Nang Nong' and other nearby lands.

"I see you're introducing her to the classics?" Wes wondered what it would have been like to have someone read such frivolous material to him as a child, rather than trying to make the most of a young brain's adaptability to introduce him to Latin, Ancient Greek, or whatever language happened to be foremost in their research at the time.

"Well, she's a bit young yet for Shakespeare but this seemed to fit the bill."

Rosa nodded enthusiastically. "Unker Will told me about the wiggle woggle. It's silly... But first I had to help him tidy up his room so we could sit down properly. Auntie Buffy messed it all up looking for her earring. Does that count as chores, mommy?"

"Only if you can convince your Uncle Will to help you tidy your room in return... Nice try though," Marie answered.

A small frown marred the girl's face for at least a fifth of a second before she decided that her room wouldn't be an issue until long after their return from the beach. She scrambled off of Spike, ready for a new excitement. "Are we going now?"








"So?" Wes looked over toward where Marie had taken the passenger seat in her own car. It wasn't that she expected Bee to have put enough in the cookies for the amount she had eaten to have any discernable effect but she wasn't taking any chances. Rosa twisted in her seatbelt to watch Wes's expression in the rear view mirror.

"So what?" Marie teased, her hair rippling in the draught from the open window.

"So are you going to tell me about your evil plan to bankrupt my father or not?"

"I didn't say bankrupt... That would... well, it might not be more than he deserves, but it would be more than my conscience could live with... And no."

"No? Haven't I got a vested interest in the situation?"

"You have... and I know it's not fair, but the less you know, the less your father can torture out of you."

Marie had only been joking, but Rosa caught the look, somewhere between startlement and panic, that flickered briefly in Wes's eyes as he thought of long hours imprisoned in the cramped darkness under the stairs. "We-e-es?" The girl asked, "Does it mean that I'm bad if I don't like your daddy?" There was something unsettling about that young voice, something that sent a shiver down Wes's back. Only after the feeling had gone did his eyes find the child's in the mirror. The crone-like wisdom and slow burning anger he glimpsed in them concerned him even more.

"Rosa..." Her mother spoke to save Wes the embarrassment. "If not liking someone made you bad, then 'round about now, I would be Lucifer himself. You can't help feeling that way about some people and you should trust your instincts and try to stay away from people that you don't like, but you still have to be polite and well-behaved when you can't avoid seeing them."

"Even when they hurt people?"

"That's sort of a judgement call, honey. Let's say you have to be polite until I say it's okay for you not to be... or Wes or your grandma."

"Unker Will isn't polite to people he doesn't like."

"And that would be why his name isn't on the list of people who can say when it's okay to be rude."

Rosa considered this. "Oka-ay." After all, as long as it wasn't sunny, she was sure that she could talk Unker Will into keeping her company the next time she saw Wes's daddy. She was fairly certain that she could get him to be rude on cue as well and he was a lot better at rude than she was, especially the 'off' words. Mommy wouldn't let her use any of the 'off' words.








"Something smells interesting." Faith wiped the sweat from her brow with one end of the towel that was draped around her neck. She gave the diminutive blonde in front of her the once over. The classic 1920's bob in platinum and gold, the heels designed to compensate for her diminutive stature, the all-black clothing with the blouse one size too small, so that her cleavage was highlighted to best effect, and the tidied-up Robert Smith eyeliner-lipstick colour combo that might as well be tattooed in place all made her look every bit the neat little watcher's apprentice that the brunette remembered. However, the slayer couldn't imagine that anyone to do with the council had helped with the baking.

"Help yourself." Bee pushed one of the plates toward the other woman.

Faith snagged one of the cookies and munched down on it. "Well, that takes care of the hungry part of the equation... at least until the munchies set in." Bee pushed the larger plate of cookies over as well and Faith stacked up four or five of the assorted treats in front of her before she pushed the plate back over. "Pity there's no prospect of doing anything about the other half."

"Do I want to understand what that means?"

"Nah... Probably not... But speaking of understanding, you're supposed to be the whiz when it comes to demon languages, right?"

"I get by... which is more than most of these watcher types." Bee gave a toss of her head that somehow seemed to indicate that she held the library's occupants in derision.

"Okay, then. Say some demon said something that sounded like 'piggy roll' what would that mean?"

Bee's eyes narrowed and she gauged the slayer's mood as she spoke. "Pegaral? Literal translation is just the name of a certain species of demon. Why do you ask?"

"Just trying to work out whether someone already had the punishment he deserves or whether I need to pay him a visit later... So what's with these demons?"

Bee sighed. "You really want Demon 101 now?"

"Well, unless you've got a pitcher of margaritas and a couple of male strippers hidden away under the table, I can't think of anything better to do..."

"Okay, well, outside their home dimension pegaral demons only really show up as slaves. Lowest of the low type of thing. They, well, they kind of have this super efficient digestive system... So, well, what would be waste to anyone else is food to them."

"So they eat trash? That's it?"

"Not just trash. Think bunny rabbits, maybe... Let's just say a lot of them end up in brothels catering to people with certain preferences."

Faith considered for several seconds to make sure she had fitted all Bee's hints together. "So, basically, the guy called me a slave-hooker who licks out freaks' asses? Is that about the size of it?"

Bee's head tilted on one side and she seemed to put a lot of concentration into deciding the matter before she replied. "Yep!" Her hand reached out for another of the 'normal' cookies.

"Did I just hear that right?" Tara stepped from the stairway that led to the attic and pulled out a chair, taking a pecan and white chocolate chip cookie from the pile.

"That'd be a 'hell yeah'... A broken nose isn't enough for that slime ball..." The brunette struggled briefly to maintain the impetus of the unfairly treated before she gave a shrug and picked up another of the dope cookies. "Slayer metabolism... Well, actually, apart from the fact it was Willie boy that did it rather than me, a broken nose is quite satisfying... And I guess I did dislocate his finger. The thing is, it'd be so much easier to get with the righteous indignation if I hadn't at least tried it a couple of times." Bee's hand stopped midway to her mouth, perhaps not so much fazed by what the slayer had done as by the fact that she had admitted it in front of two relative strangers. Tara simply lifted one eyebrow, her chewing doing nothing to disguise a mischievous grin. "Of course, that was just for fun, not for profit," Faith continued.

Bee looked distinctly uncomfortable at the turn the conversation had taken and the brunette deliberately caught the artist's gaze, asking, "What's up, princess? You telling me you've always stuck to vanilla?" The half-angel's cheeks flared bright red at the memories Faith's question prompted and the slayer chuckled. "Or maybe not..."

Tara spoke up for her roommate. "Don't tease. It's been a rough day."

The slayer raised both hands in the air, though she didn't lose the gleam in her eye. "No harm, no foul. Just thought since none of us seem to be able to get any that we could at least talk about it. It's not like anybody's gonna force you into anything."

"Speak for yourself," Tara told the brunette. "Some of us have had offers- an offer... not from anyone that I'd want to be with even if... Well, even if I was at a point in my life where I was looking for a relationship, but an offer just the same."

"Oka-ay!" The slayer's mood brightened at the admission, and Bee cast a curious sideways glance the witch's way. "Now you've got to spill."

"Spillage comes at a price. You help me work out how we're going to feed everyone, and I'll talk as we work."








The room full of slayers in training fell silent as Spike pushed through the double doors, his new duster billowing out behind him. Dawn followed on his heels, and each seemed to scan the room looking for someone. The vampire didn't take long to find the potential he was seeking.

"Hoi! Little Miss Likes to Fight! Get your arse over here."

Kennedy's eyes filled with suspicion and then excitement. "Why?"

"Why d'you bloody think? 'Cause I damn well say so an' if I have to knock your hoity-toity little block off to prove a point then I won't think twice about doin' it."

The S.I.T. seemed to consider arguing further, but the vampire and his companion were already checking out the rest of the room's occupants as if her compliance were taken for granted. Much as she longed to stand her ground, she knew that if this were for a patrol or some other duty and she balked now, then she might not be given another chance.

Dawn tugged at Spike's sleeve and nodded toward the far corner of the room. Spike followed the teenager's gaze. "You Amanda?" he asked in a far softer voice.

The coltish girl tried to stand, put down her coffee cup and nod all at the same time.

"Alright then, Twiggy. Get some shoes on an' the Bit'll tell you what's goin' on."

"And is somebody going to tell me?" Kennedy asked, flinching as the vampire's hand closed none too gently on her shoulder to steer her from the room as soon as she came within reach.

"Sure, pet. 'Cause we all know you wouldn't like to just go into a situation, fists an' feet flyin', without havin' a big discussion as to what's goin' on first."

The vampire pushed her toward the main door of the building with a steady pressure, leaving Dawn and Amanda to follow in their own time.

"I attacked a demon ! Hello? Slayer in training? Pretty much my raison d'être."

"And yet you don't seem to be in a hurry to take on Spike?" Buffy's voice carried from where she waited by the front door with Giles and Lydia. The two watchers hovered around each other, Giles' hand often reaching out as if he would take the blonde by the hand or wrap an arm around her shoulder and yet every time it dropped back to his side without touching her. "Timid, flabby demons who wouldn't say boo to a girl scout... They're fair game! Well, newsflash, we can't defeat The First if we're busy fighting the entire demon population of this town when we should be dealing with it . And especially not if you're going to try to kill the only guy who'll take payment in Cheese Doodles for babysitting my little sister."

Spike grinned mirthlessly as the girl's steps faltered. "See, pet. We're havin' a bit of a get together tonight... an' one of our guests is the guy you laid into for no reason whatsoever."

Kennedy wrenched her shoulder from the blond's grasp and turned to face him, her hatred spilling from her eyes. "I don't see what that has to do with me."

"Don't you?" Buffy asked. "You instigated an attack against a peaceful demon. I don't think it'd even be stretching it to call him an innocent. You allowed your ignorance, your arrogance and your prejudice to endanger us all and when Clem gets here, you are going to make it right. You are going to apologise to him... to his family... and to his girlfriend."

"I don't think so. I'll take this straight to Mr Travers," the debutante protested.

"Actually, Mr Travers is aware of the plans for the evening," Lydia interjected. "I am here, in part, as his representative."

"I don't believe it. He wouldn't go along with this. That thing did this to me." She held up her still swollen hand in its wrappings.

"An' what would you do if you came out the lav an' found somebody beatin' up on your honey bun?" the vampire was quick to ask before the watcher could comment. "Just because he doesn't look like Brad Pitt doesn't mean nobody loves him."

"Mr Travers may not like the situation that he finds himself in. He might prefer that he is not seen to personally condone tonight's events. That doesn't mean he doesn't understand the delicate balance that has to be maintained here on the Hellmouth. You will make a full and free apology."

"And if I don't?"

Lydia gave a sigh of exasperation. "I doubt even the bodyguards your parents could afford would be able to keep you safe outside these walls."

"Are you threatening me?"

Giles stepped in like the metaphorical white knight. "I believe Miss Chalmers simply stated a fact. Quite aside from the fact that you need to learn that there is more to slaying than 'Demon, Kill, Kill!', if you cannot bring yourself to do what is needful for the group as a whole then you cannot expect the protection of the group. The lesson must be conveyed that the S.I.T.s cannot get into fights willy nilly, disturbing the equilibrium between demon and human population. Either through ignorance or arrogance, your actions have fostered ill will, and if you expect to remain here you will put that right."

"I'm a slay- er! What-."

"Actually ," Spike drawled. "Unless our little jailbird has popped her clogs in the five minutes since we left her helping to sort out the room, you're a wannabe. An' believe me, if I thought the world was relyin' on you , I'd be tempted to shift the line of succession on a notch."

"Like you're so altruistic?"

Spike's blue eyes turned cold and his grin feral. His tongue flicked out to run along the edge of his upper teeth and for once the message of predation that it sent had nothing to do with sexual appetite. "Hell, no, pet. Never denied that I'd enjoy it. Could spend hours beatin' you to a bloody pulp an' watchin' you suffer before I chalked up number three... but you're no slayer an' judgin' by how those frown lines are comin' in, past your prime like you are, chances are you never will be." His sneer suggested that she wasn't even worthy of his attention.

Buffy's raised eyebrow, welcoming smile and outstretched arm softened her words as she interrupted. "Heel, Spike. I think she gets the message... Besides, you'd have to beat the bringers to her." The vampire slipped into the slayer's embrace, his arm wrapping around her waist even as her hand snaked under his coat. Contentment radiated from him as his head tilted slightly so that his cheek rested against Buffy's forehead.

The potential stared at the couple as if their very closeness sickened her, but the underlying warning, in not only their eyes but those of Buffy's watcher, stilled her tongue.

In the temporary hush Amanda's excited chatter carried along the corridor. "So, she was like an actual demon?"

"Sure," Dawn answered. "I guess what with all the leather and the full-face helmet it'd be pretty hard to tell."

"And I get to talk to her? Say thanks for-. Well, it sounds kinda melodramatic, but it seems like if it weren't for her..."

"You wouldn't be here?"

"And her boyfriend is Spike's best friend?"

Buffy gave a wide grin but her eyes turned cold as she stared down the potential. "Did we mention that Clem's going to be our best man?"








By the time Ha Nath's motorcycle roared down the drive, followed by Marie's people carrier, Amanda had stopped trying to make up for Kennedy's sullen silence with her own chatter, even if it had taken the older girl several minutes of dirty looks to quell her enthusiasm.

Buffy's eyes widened in surprise as she viewed the black, skin-tight PVC cat suit and matching knee-high lace-up stilettos that Ha Nath wore with her blue biker's jacket, and Spike whispered in her ear in explanation. "Work clothes. Must reckon she might need to leave straight from here."

"Tell me she doesn't wear a mask and dance in that bowl down at The Fish Tank," the slayer whispered back.

"The dancers down at The Fish Tank don't wear much more than a bit of iridescent body paint... from what I remember... from a long, long, long time ago. Bloody awful place. Only ever went there once, maybe twice... An' anyway when Clem's not around the only dancin' she does is the same kind you do. Told you, she's a bouncer."

"You said at a club... not a brothel."

"It is a club," Spike argued sotto voce. "...And a brothel or sort of..."

As the demoness removed her helmet and used her fingers to comb her hair back into place, Wes helped Lily from the car, leaving Marie to release Clem and Rosa from their side of the childproofed rear compartment.

Ha Nath waited for the others to draw level with her, taking Clem's hand in her own and giving it a reassuring squeeze. They walked the last few yards of the gravel drive six abreast, Lily in the centre flanked by her son on her left and her 'daughter-in-law' on the right. Rosa held her mother's hand and the two significant others took up positions at the edges of the group, instinctively protecting them. The line became more of a flying V as they made their way up the front steps, Lily's assessing gaze drawn immediately to the sullen woman at the back of the entrance hall. Her attention often returned to her even as she hugged the vampire, his mate and her sister and then shook hands with the two watchers.

Clem, Marie and Rosa followed in the demoness's tracks, but Wes and Ha Nath maintained a watchful distance, ready to intervene if things should go awry. Finally, Buffy stepped forward to introduce the newcomers to the two potentials.

"Lily, Clem, Ha Nath, Marie, Rosa, this is Amanda."

The S.I.T. gave a nervous smile, accompanied by an equally nervous wave. "Hi there." She stepped first toward Ha Nath, her right hand outstretched. "I kinda wanted to say thank you for the other night. I- em- well, I didn't realise you were like part of the 'family'." Ha Nath took the proffered hand and shook it firmly but briefly. "It was real good of you helping out like you did with those guys. I mean it was like awesome and I know like you can't really thank somebody for well, like saving my life 'cause I mean like words just don't cut it when you're talking about something way huge like that but, well, thanks anyway."

The teenager turned to the demoness's boyfriend. "And you must be Clem. It's real nice to meet you, to meet you all. I mean what with me owing Ha Nath-. Did I pronounce that right? I mean that'd be just plain rude if you saved my life and then I got your name wrong..."

Spike rolled his eyes and stepped between Amanda and the demons. "You got it right, pet, or close enough for government work at any rate, an' I think they all know how pleased you are to see them an' meet a real live demon or three, seein' as how vampires don't seem to count, so why don't we leave the gettin' to know you session for after the conclusion of business an' let Trust Fund say her piece."

He spun round in a half turn, his coat swirling around his legs. With a flourish almost worthy of a game show hostess, he indicated the other potential, who had hung as far back as she could during the rest of the introductions. "Kennedy, I believe you've already met Clem an' his lady Ha Nath. This here is his mum, Lily, an' the pretty little thing in pink is his niece, Rosa, an' you might have seen her mum around before, seein' as how she's steppin' out with the watcher here." The vampire nodded toward the Latina. "Marie."

Giles cleared his throat loudly as the pause after Spike finished the introductions turned into more of an elongated silence. "I believe you have something to say... Kennedy, is it?"

The potential looked around all the members of the assembled group, her dark brown eyes showing disbelief. She hesitated for a few seconds, as if she hoped she would find an ally somewhere in the crowd. When none was forthcoming, she turned on her heel and ran.
 
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