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Business as usual by Lilachigh
 
Chp 44 Family Matters
 
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Business as Usual



Chapter 44

Family matters.

It was odd, Agnes thought, how you started to notice teeth once you became a vampire. Before the distressing event in Hollywood - Which Had Not Been Her Fault – she’d never given them much consideration. They caused trouble arriving, gave you pain throughout your life and eventually had to be disposed of, to be replaced by false ones. (Mother had had a set that resided every evening in a glass of water by her bedside).

Agnes had to admit that Americans had better teeth than people back in Britain. All those braces and strange practices to do with flossing and little brushes. And as a vampire you were never free of the worry – even fangs could break and although they did eventually repair themselves, they were extremely painful for a few days.

Admittedly there was Vinnie - a vampire living in a cave under the car wash - who’d had a really flourishing dental practice before he was Turned, but a) his personal hygiene left a lot to be desired and b) Agnes had heard rumours that he’d once been a member of the Mafia. Since then she’d never been able to bring herself to relax in his chair.

Yes, teeth were complicated, she thought again and watched as the two rows of sharp, white ones owned by Mr Teeth, the shark-headed demon, bit the head off another fresh sand dab. She heard the crunching of the bones and watched, fascinated as what she took to be a smile of pleasure crossed his rather plain face. “Delicious, Miss Pringle. Quite delicious! I’ll take some more. And I believe I can smell anchovies! My favourites.”

Agnes sighed: it was always good for business to have a satisfied customer, but Mr Teeth had a very unsavoury reputation and all her regulars had vanished when they’d seen him sitting in the Willow Tree Tea Rooms. It was also extremely annoying that his passion for fresh fish meant her supper for Eric and Nancy had now vanished.

Fish blood was so good for children, especially young vampires like Eric who were still coming to terms with their change of life-style. He hated pig’s blood, insisted he was old enough to hunt for human and although Agnes had made him promise that he wouldn’t do so until Spike had taught him some basic stalking lessons, she was afraid he was getting into bad company. She’d noticed him hanging out on tunnel corners with much older vamps and was terrified the Slayer might find him one night.

Shona, the children’s mother, seemed to be finding life both as a vampire and a single parent harder and harder these days. She’d turned down Agnes’ offer of waitress work in the tearooms, insisting that she had a well-paid job dancing in a demon bar on the other side of Sunnydale where she was apparently working with some Poles, although Agnes hadn’t realised there was a Polish demon community in Sunnydale. But quite often this meant she was away for twenty-four hours or more and Agnes worried constantly about the children. But she wasn’t a relation; she had no right to tell Shona how to raise Eric and Nancy. It was all very vexing and oh, how she wished, she could get Spike to take an interest.

Mr Teeth lay back in his chair and blinked his large black eyes in satisfaction. “I’ve been looking for a friend of mine – Spike – has he been in tonight?”

Agnes came back from her worried thoughts and automatically shook her head. She’d always found it was best to have no knowledge of Spike’s whereabouts, whoever asked. But this time she was telling the truth; she hadn’t seen Spike. She wanted to; she was desperate for his help with Eric, whose behaviour was getting more and more out of control. He needed a man in his life and Agnes couldn’t understand why Spike wouldn’t get involved. She had to admit that as hard as she fought to stay calm, it irritated her: he was keen enough on helping young Dawn, the Slayer’s sister, which showed a very nice side to his nature, of course, but why was he turning his back on his own?

She remembered when her young helper Andrew had been her friend, he’d insisted she went with him to a cinema one evening, to see a long science fiction film. To be honest, she hadn’t understood a great deal of it: so much noise and fighting and very odd hairstyles. But one phrase came into her mind now, “He’s been seduced by the Dark Side…” Agnes was very afraid that was what had happened to Spike.

Mr Teeth stood up and motioned to one of his men to open the door. “Now I know a lady such as yourself would never dream of lying to me, Miss Pringle, but I urge you to think very carefully. I’ll be back – later. Perhaps your memory might return by then. You see – “ His eyes gleamed as he noticed Snowy, Agnes’ cat, sitting fat and contented on a chair on the far side of the room. “It’s a question of kittens. Lots of kittens. And if I can’t get kittens, then I need to have – cats!”

Agnes bit her lip and refused to answer. As the door closed behind the demon, she rushed across the pushed the bolt shut. That wouldn’t keep Mr Teeth out, she realised that, but it made her feel a little safer. She snatched up Snowy – and fled down the stairs into the basement. She was quite certain that she knew the tunnel maze under Sunnydale better than most vampires or demons. She would stay out of the way for a few hours. Snowy wasn’t a kitten, of course, but there had been a very odd gleam in Mr Teeth’s eyes when he looked at her.

“Aggie!”

“Spike! Spike?” Agnes stared in horror as the vampire peered out from the doorway into the tunnels and tried not to giggle at the tweed suit he was wearing and the deerstalker he had on his head. “Well – that’s a different look. Did you lose your coat?”

“It’s a disguise. To stop Teeth finding me. You didn’t tell him where I was, did you?”

Agnes felt a tightening in her chest. Did he really have so little trust in her? “No, Spike, I did not tell him. I didn’t know where you were. But why do you owe him kittens? You promised me you wouldn’t play cat poker any more!”

Spike shrugged and helped himself to a stale Chelsea bun he found in a cake tin. He was hurt that the little English vampire had such little trust in him. “Old debt,” he mumbled through the crumbs, refusing to tell her that it was Clem’s debt he’d taken on because he knew he stood a far better chance of beating Teeth than his saggy skinned friend did.

Agnes sighed; she’d believed him when he’d told her he wouldn’t gamble for kittens any more. She scooped up Snowy and pushed her out through the tunnel door. “I’m going to check on Eric and Nancy. I don’t want them wandering around while Mr Teeth is in town. Will you come and help? I’m so worried about that boy.”

Spike hesitated – he was desperate to see Buffy. The memory of their kiss still burnt in his mind, in his body, in the place where he had once had a soul. “Look, Aggie, I promise I’ll have a chat with him soon, just not today, OK? You worry about those kids too much; they’re not your children, they’re vamps – they’ll be fine. You need to look after yourself first.”

Agnes ignored the pain his words caused; she would think about that later. “I thought you could just tell Eric about hunting – and how to stay away from the Slayer and – ”

“Buffy won’t stake a child!” Spike snapped. “She’s not a monster.”

Agnes stared at him, her eyes anxious but determined. “Spike, she’s the Slayer? It’s her job to kill vampires. I don’t think she stops to ask for their birth certificates! And Eric doesn’t look that young. In the dark she could easily mistake him for an older boy.”

Spike pulled off the deerstalker and pushed his fingers through his hair. “You don’t know her! She’s a good person – brave, kind, she’s having to be a mother to Dawn, cope with coming back from being dead – her life isn’t easy, Agnes.” He pulled the hat back over his head. “Look – we’ll talk about it later, when Teeth has gone. I promise I’ll have a word with Eric, but he needs to find his own way in the world. He’s got a family; that’s what’s important. He’s not on his own. Now, stay out of Teeth’s way. Be safe. See you later.”

“Goodbye!” The whisper hardly carried out into the tunnels as Spike’s long loping stride carried him away from her. Family! Unbidden, his thoughts swung back to his mother, the family that had replaced her - Liam, Darla and Dru. They’d been together for a long time with the Aurelian family bloodline reaching far into the distant past. Now – Spike reached the doorway to his crypt; he was anxious to get to Buffy, to check that she and Dawn were okay. The Summers women, first Joyce and now her daughters – why did they have this power to make him want to belong to them?

Agnes felt quite ill as she scurried along the tunnel, heading for the caves where Shona lived with Nancy and Eric. Spike’s words rang over and over inside her head and as hard as she tried, she couldn’t banish them as they fell like blows from a hammer.

“They’re not your children!”

Well, of course they weren’t. She wasn’t even their grandmother or aunt or any sort of relation. She was just the lady vamp who looked out for them while their poor mother was at work. But she cared for them – Spike cared for Dawn Summers and she was an Unturned! At least Eric and Nancy were part of the vampire family and not a completely different breed.

“Hi, Miss Pringle!” Nancy looked up from where she was sitting at the table, obviously playing with her mom’s make-up. Agnes sighed. With no way of seeing her reflection, the results – smeared red lips, thick mascara and glittery eyeshadow - were to be expected. But every young vamp girl had to learn by trial and error and it wasn’t Agnes’ place to tell the child not to experiment.

She moved automatically to the little kitchen area and checked on the blood supply. As she’d feared, there was nothing to eat, except for two very squashed sandwiches in their Double Meat wrappings.

“Are you making us a meal tonight?” Nancy slid off her chair and skipped up to Agnes. “Can we have that pig with cereal you made the other day? That was great.”

Agnes nodded, ruffling the little girl’s dark curls, and silently sighing as her fingers found countless tangles. And the child was dirty! Shona’s mothering seemed to be slipping away with the passing of each day. She glanced around the cave. “Where’s Eric?”

Nancy opened her eyes very wide and said sweetly, “I don’t know, Miss Pringle!”

“Nancy!” Agnes didn’t have that much experience of children, but even she could tell the child wasn’t telling the truth.

Nancy giggled and swung on Agnes’ arm. “He told me not to tell, but he’s just a silly old poop face! He said I’ll never grow up, never have a boyfriend or get married or have children or anything! How stupid is that?”

Agnes felt a pain lance through her. She’d fervently hoped that Eric would keep that knowledge to himself for a while longer – Nancy still believed in Father Christmas – it seemed desperately sad to shatter her little world in this way. Mind you, she didn’t seem to be that upset. Probably because she hadn’t believed him.

“Yes, well, boys can be silly, can’t they? And where is he now?”

“He’s gone to the Magic Box – you know the shop that sells all those weird things.”

Agnes’s face puckered into a mass of worried lines. The Magic Box was one of the places the Slayer frequented and, like night following day, Spike too! Mr Teeth would be prowling around and there was no way she could allow Eric to be caught up in that encounter.

“What’s he doing there?” she asked Nancy.

The little girl shrugged and returned to the table and her mom’s make-up box. “Some stupid potion, Todd, one of his friends told him about. It sends you back a whole year. I think it’s silly! I don’t want to be a year younger.”

But Eric did! Agnes could see that all too clearly: he wanted to be back before he was Turned, a human boy. Was there such a potion? What would happen if she drank it? For a long second she could see herself back in England, walking down the High Street in Winchester, opening the doors of the Old Willow Tree Tea Shoppe, listening to the cathedral bells as the Sunday sunlight streamed into her bedroom….

She blinked and the dark, dank cave came back into focus. No, there was no such potion; she would have to explain to Eric that it was just a fairy-story, a rumour spread by vamps who should know better. The same sort of fairy-story as the one about the pill you dropped into water to turn it into blood. Oh, yes, she’d spent a lot of money on a box of those in her early days as a vampire!

Agnes felt her face change; her fangs slid out – the one on the left catching her plump bottom lip as it always did, the blood trickling down her chin. But for once she didn’t immediately hurry herself back into human face. She needed to be a vamp at the moment.

“Well, Nancy, I think we’ll go and find Eric. He’s late for his supper and your mother won’t be pleased.” She couldn’t leave the little girl alone – there was no knowing what would happen with Mr Teeth on the prowl. At least she could try and protect Nancy if she was by her side.

With Nancy holding her hand, Agnes scurried back, past the doorway to the Willow Tree and down a side tunnel to the entrance to the larger cavern right under The Magic Box shop. All she could hope for was that Spike would be somewhere in the vicinity if needed.

Suddenly, a hand shot out of the darkness and tugged her violently sideways. She hardly had time to squeak before she realised it was Eric, crouching behind a large pile of rubble, in full vamp face. He wrapped his arm round his sister’s shoulders and shushed her before she could speak. To Agnes’ surprise, Nancy, too, had vamped out, her tiny fangs hardly bigger than large needles, but still wickedly sharp.

“Miss Pringle! What are you doing here?” the boy whispered.

“Looking for you. Why are we hiding?”

“Demon debt collectors – big fight.”

Agnes blinked anxiously. “Oh Eric, you didn’t – ”

Eric shook his head. How could he make her understand? Oh, how he’d wanted to rush out and get involved, feel human flesh under his fangs, drink blissfully from veins pumping hot blood straight into his mouth. So what had stopped him? His hand stroked Nancy’s dark curls. She was a pest and a nuisance but she was still his little sister and even if he was only thirteen, he was the man of the family.

Even as he’d sneaked into The Magic Box to find the potion that would return him to human form, he’d realised he couldn’t drink it. How could he leave Nancy and his mom behind? What would they do without him? And there was Miss Pringle who was a sort of aunt, he wasn’t quite clear what, but definitely family. She lived all alone and ran that tearoom place. She often looked tired. OK, Spike was her friend, but Eric wasn’t blind; he’d seen the way the older vamp looked at the Slayer. Would he have time for Miss Pringle?

Yes, lots of people needed him, Nancy especially because she was going to have to deal with the whole not growing up thing very soon. And he’d been mean to her earlier and was sorry.

The three vampires stayed hidden until all the sounds from demons and humans had faded away. Aching in every limb, Agnes stood up, wincing. Really, her knees did not do bending for long periods any more!

“I’m going to get a job,” Eric said suddenly. “Loads of vamps need someone to help out – shopping, sweeping caves, helping you in the Willow Tree. I can earn a few dollars; buy fresher blood. I can’t leave everything to Mom.”

“I think you’re a very brave boy,” Agnes said, shimmering back to human face. And she meant it. Somehow in the last few hours Eric had faced up to his family responsibilities and accepted them. Maybe it would be years and years before he ‘grew up’ but she had the feeling that if he survived, he would be a remarkable man. “And I’ll ask Spike again about teaching you all about hunting and – ”

Eric shook his head. “Nah, don’t bother him, Miss Pringle. I guess I’ll learn as I go. He’s an Aurealian, I’m not. I’ll steer clear of the Slayer, don’t worry. We all know where she likes to hang out. No, I want to play soccer, not hunt. I’m going to find other boy vamps like me and start a team.” His eyes glowed gold and then he, too, shimmered back. “I reckon there’s lots of kids all over the place like me and Nancy. I just need to find them.”

He turned to his sister. “Hey, pickle face, you could be a cheerleader! And look – I got you a present.” He reached into a crate behind him and pulled out a large black and white rabbit. Nancy squealed with delight and cradled it in her arms.

Agnes raised her eyebrows at the boy who grinned. “Don’t worry, Auntie Aggie; they’ve got hundreds of them upstairs. They won’t miss one!”

And hearing what he called her, Agnes knew that if she’d had a soul, it would have been singing.

tbc



































 
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