Note: Thanks to my beta t_geyer for her unending patience, perseverance and support.

SECTION 4 - ANGELS AND DEMONS

Angels and demons and screaming saints
You're all normal and they're insane
They stand alone in the fallout rain
You're all hung up on little pains
Yea Yea (everyone's hung up)


(The Tourists)




Chapter 4.17
Friday, June 14th, 2002


"Who is it?" Buffy called out in a voice she hoped wasn't loud enough to wake Xander and Anya in the room next to hers. It had been a long time since she had answered a knock with a simple 'come in'. Her hair remained slightly damp from her post-patrol shower and she wore one of the black satin pyjama tops her fiancé had given her along with a pair of matching panties. It had been a couple of hours since her return and still there had been no further news from Spike and the others since early the previous evening.

"It's Lydia... Lydia Chalmers. Can I come in?" The watcher's voice was equally hushed.

Buffy gave a sigh, wondering what further surprises this day was going to bring. "Sure. Why not?" Buffy asked. "It's your place after all."

Buffy shuffled back on the cots until her back rested against the wall, her bare legs crossed in the lotus position, leaving the outside edge of the beds free for the watcher to sit on. "Help yourself to a seat. It's not all that comfortable, but it's all we've got." Buffy's gaze strayed between the lower lip which the other blonde seemed to only just prevent herself from chewing to the envelope in her hands, the name William etched in an anally miniaturised and unbelievably tidy script.

"Thank you. I'm sure it will be perfectly serviceable though I'm sorry we've been unable to offer you more luxurious accommodation."

Buffy shrugged. "Our bad. We pretty much invited ourselves, not the other way 'round. Anyway, how can I help?"

"More the reverse, actually... I thought you might have need of this." The watcher passed over the envelope, which turned out not to be sealed.

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "May I?"

"I thought you might wish to check its contents before you passed it on, but for obvious reasons it needed to be addressed to William."

Buffy opened the single sheet of writing paper inside and read aloud. "Dear William, provided you mean no harm to those within its walls, you will always be welcome in my home. L. Chalmers." Buffy raised her eyes to meet those partially obscured behind the other woman's spectacles. "Thank you. It would have been rather awkward if that particular problem had presented itself in the middle of the night, though he never seemed to have a problem getting into the high school."

"Yes, well, given the other school's location, it did have a rather unfortunate motto, and we did deliberately arrange for myself and a couple of the teaching staff to take up residence on the property to make it more difficult for nocturnal callers to gain access. So far as I'm aware, it has yet to be put to the test but I thought it would be as well to err on the side of caution, just in case you and the others class as guests rather than residents."

"You've erred on the side of caution all 'round, it seems."

The watcher flushed slightly, her eyes dropping to the quilt that Buffy had brought from Revello Drive. "I don't know exactly what happened between Quentin and Robin Wood. I do know that it wouldn't be unreasonable for William to desire some sort of revenge, but the fact remains that Quentin is a good man."

Buffy's expression clearly betrayed her scepticism.

"I know he can seem ruthless and unbending. I know he can even at times seem inhuman, but he does what he does for the same reasons you perform your own duty, so that most of the world can live their lives as if demons don't exist."

"He treats people... slayers as if they're just pieces on a chess board."

"As must any general. This is a war... the longest war. I would never wish to stand in his shoes. I wouldn't want to be responsible for sending girls like those downstairs to almost certain death, but there must be people who can make those decisions."

The watcher removed her glasses, letting her gaze rest firmly on Buffy's hazel eyes before she continued. "William and Drusilla killed Quentin's grandfather before he was even born. His father disappeared, presumed killed, before he reached his teens. He had two sons both a few years older than me, both killed by vampires. If he's unable to see those qualities that mean William has been able to change, it's not so surprising. If he's retreated into a world where he has no wish to care for those he must sacrifice to protect the remainder of humanity, it doesn't make him an evil man or a bad one. It simply means he's a lonely one, whose life begins and ends with the duty he performs. To him William represented a threat, and he saw it as his responsibility to do something about that threat. For now, rather unwillingly, he must accept William as an ally. Perhaps this will force him to change his view. Perhaps when the situation with The First is resolved he'll try to arrange another way to have William killed. However, so long as the 'truce' Mr Giles negotiated remains in effect Quentin will not make a move against William and I cannot allow William to harm him."

Buffy was stunned by the other woman's words. "You love him?" she whispered incredulously.

"No," Lydia replied sadly as she rose and moved toward the door. "I admire him. I respect him. On occasion, though he would find such an idea abhorrent, I even pity him, but I think any part of his personality that might once have inspired love died long ago."

The slayer nodded slowly. "He's safe, until the 'truce' is ended, but if he makes any attempt to harm Spike, you would do well to warn him that there are more of us than he might think who care about the platinum butt pain... a lot more."

"I wouldn't expect anything else," the watcher whispered as she closed the room door behind her.

---

Dawn rolled her eyes and snuggled in further against Brandon's side. "He's fine, Buffy. You know that if he was in trouble you would know about it."

Buffy stopped her pacing momentarily. "But it's four in the morning... and the soccer starts in half an hour. They're already doing the pre-match stuff. He would have been here if he could."

"Wearing a hole in the floorboards isn't going to help, and Rogue's claws make irritating clicking noises when she follows you."

"But he hasn't had anything to eat or anything."

"He's a big, butch vampire... okay, a slightly taller than me, lean, tough vampire, but I don't think missing a couple of meals is going to hurt."

Buffy was just about to point out that Spike didn't need to be any leaner than he already was when Rogue took off down the stairs at full pelt. Just after that those with human hearing picked up the sounds of a couple of distant engines coming closer. Snatching the letter Lydia had given her earlier from the arm of one of the chairs, Buffy set off in pursuit of the canine, unmindful of her own bare feet and the fact that her pyjama top only covered her to mid-thigh.

---

Lights still burned in the library as Bee's car and Spike's motorcycle pulled up side by side in the gravelled area at the front of the school building. Before Spike could turn off the engine and put the motorbike on its stand, the main door opened and Rogue streaked across the intervening ground as if she hadn't seen the vampire in weeks, closely followed by an equally eager slayer. The vampire dismounted and let the dog's momentum bowl him over as she impacted, rolling around on the ground with her and ruffling her fur in welcome for a few seconds. When Buffy came to stand over them, he arched that deliciously scarred eyebrow. "Not going to join us, pet?"

"I'll save my rolling around for somewhere I won't get gravel rash. Now, get up off your butt and say hello like you're pleased to see me," Buffy teased.

The vamp gave a mock salute before flipping to his feet in one agile move that made Buffy's stomach do somersaults. The pair melded together as if they were magnets of opposing polarities. Even Rogue finally gave up on receiving any further petting as their lip-lock continued on with no sign of abating, deciding to accost Wes and Bee instead. The watcher scratched behind the dog's ears and waited until Buffy came up for air, her eyes glazed with passion and her pupils dilated. Then, he noisily cleared his throat. "Maybe you could show us where our rooms are before you get too carried away?"

"Huh? What?" Buffy muttered before she finally absorbed the question. "Back stairs off the kitchen at the far end, top floor. Bee's second on the right. You're third on the left. Brandon's watching the soccer in the main room straight ahead. If you want a shower, then the changing rooms are next to the gym." She nodded in the opposite direction from that she had indicated for the kitchens.

Wes and Bee both shook their heads. "More in need of some sleep than a shower," the kohl-eyed blonde admitted, but the couple were once more oblivious to anyone except each other.

Spike scooped Buffy into his arms, dawdling as he made his way toward the school's front doors to allow the watcher and his assistant to get ahead of them. Buffy's arms wrapped around his neck and she nibbled at his lower lip with her teeth, teasing at the cool flesh. "Missed you," she whispered into his mouth in a minty fresh breath.

"Show me where those showers are an' I'll make it up to you, pet," the vamp promised, but as he made to shoulder his way through the doors he came up against an unbreachable barrier. Before he could get into full stride with his litany of words beginning with the letter 'B' that would never be shown on Sesame Street, Buffy's thumb brushed over his cheekbone in a soothing gesture.

"S'okay." She opened out the now rather crushed envelope and showed him the note inside. The barrier gave way as if it had no more substance than wet tissue paper, and Spike staggered slightly as it ceased to support his weight.

Adjusting his grip once more, he rubbed his nose against Buffy's as he carried her toward the showers. "Who's my smart girl?" he asked, his voice rumbling in his throat.

"That would actually be the watcher, but if you want to say thank you, I can pass the message on."

"I'll work on it." The vampire's lips smashed into hers with a force that took her breath away, her lips opening eagerly to allow his tongue entrance, her own returning his every caress with equal fervour.

She struggled for air as he pushed his way through the door marked 'girls' changing rooms'. "What about the soccer?" she gasped.

"Screw the bloody football," Spike retorted.