Chapter 23 – Cowboys and Angels
Cowboys and angels, leather and lace
Salt of the earth meets heavenly grace
Cowboys and angels tested and tried
It’s a long way to heaven
And one hell of a ride
Nothin’s changed since the dawn of creation
For you will find them together today
And only heaven above them knows why she loves him
But he must be the reason she don’t fly away
Garth Brooks
It was almost like being
home again with Buffy, sharing the same bathroom in the morning. Spike carefully
swiped the razor down his cheek while staring at the beauty next to him. Dressed
in black lace panties and bra, Buffy was busy twisting her hair on top of her
head. She turned her head to see if anyone would be able to notice what he had
done to her last night. Guilt tore through him and he heaved a deep sigh in
regret.
Buffy smiled at him in the
mirror before reaching over and pinching his bottom. “Stop it. It was time for
a change anyway.”
“I…,” Spike tried to explain
that he didn’t have any right to do that to her, but he didn’t get the chance.
Buffy pressed her hand to his mouth.
“I said stop it.” She took
the razor from his hand then pushed him to lean back on the counter. He let her
have her own way as she proceeded to shave him. It was something they had done for
each other a hundred times before. It was an intimate act of trust that usually
led to other intimacies. It wouldn’t this morning. They were both expected
other places.
“What’s going on with the
meeting this morning?” Spike asked, letting his eyes close as she tilted his
head back.
“Nothing much,” Buffy said,
rinsing the razor clean. “The usual prophecy, blah, blah, blah, slayers
protect, blah, blah, watcher’s watch, you know.”
“Everyone is going to be
there, right? Angel, too, so why didn’t I get an invite?”
“Because you’re already out
protecting the world from evil,” Buffy said, smiling. She returned to shaving
his cheek. “We can handle it.”
“I know you can,” Spike
said. A part of him knew he should drop it, but a part of him wanted to get to
the truth. The real reason why he had been pushed out of his home “It’s just
that I know I’m not being told something and I’d like to know what it is.”
His voice was a little
sharper than he intended. He didn’t intend to start another argument, not after
the night before. But he wanted to know. Didn’t she trust him or was there
something she was trying to protect him from? Whatever it was, he was tired of
being left out of the loop like he had been years ago.
“Spike, it’s nothing,” Buffy
soothed. “It’s just another prophecy that probably won’t come true and we’ll
just have taken you away from your job for nothing.”
“A job that I don’t even
bleedin’ want, Buffy,” Spike snapped. He grabbed a towel and wiped his face as
he headed back into the bedroom. It got tossed onto the floor when he was
through. “Why won’t you trust me? I’m starting to feel like your damn lap dog
again.”
“Oh, please, I am so not
treating you like that,” Buffy entreated, at his heels. “And I do trust you…with
the house and the finances…”
“All the stuff that you
don’t want to worry your pretty head about,” Spike argued, turning on her. She
was almost standing on his toes and he held onto her arm to keep her there.
“But when it comes to the prophecies, and the fighting, I’m still your second
in command. Never good enough to actually lead anything or …”
“Ooh, don’t even go there,”
Buffy shouted, through clenched teeth. “That’s bullshit and you know it. Did
you every think that maybe it’s something I can’t tell you about? So, why don’t
you just trust me and let me deal with it?”
Spike merely raised an
eyebrow at her. It was enough. He could see the defeat in her eyes and the
dawning awareness on her features of why he couldn’t trust her. She bowed her
head, leaning against his chest while her arms encircled his waist.
“It’s a bitch being the
betrayer, isn’t it?” Spike asked without malice in his tone. He hugged her,
kissing the top of her head.
“Uh-huh,” was Buffy’s
muffled reply. “I’m sorry.”
“Please, don’t shut me out,
Buffy.”
She looked up at him and
sighed. “Not everyone knows. And it has nothing to do with my trusting you. I
don’t even know everything. None of us do.” Kneading his sides, she let her
forehead caress his chin. “Please, don’t force this. Not yet. I promise I won’t
shut you out, if anyone is in danger.”
Spike cupped her face,
forcing her to look at him. “Promise me, Buffy, no secrets that will hurt us.”
“I promise,” Buffy swore,
and he believed her.
~~~~~~~~
They were late. Faith had
been out with Dylan earlier and had lost track of time. Or so she said. Raven
hadn’t questioned her about it. The older Slayer seemed to have something else
on her mind and Raven already had enough to deal with. Yeah, it was selfish,
but today that was how she felt. Since Connor’s fateful words, the anger had
only been building. She needed something or someone to direct it to.
Impatiently she tapped her fingers on the armrest on the passenger door.
“Okay, okay,” Faith muttered
as she turned a corner with the wheels squealing. “I know we’re late. Don’t
need you getting on my case about it.”
“Sorry, bad morning,” Raven
answered. She sighed. “It sucked actually.”
“What happened, little
Rave?” Faith asked, glancing over at her.
“Connor dumped me. All
because I want to have sex and he thinks it means we’re engaged or something.”
“Maybe to him it does,”
Faith said. “Gotta remember that he had a really different
life than yours.”
“I just want to be close to
him. And then I reminded him that I wasn’t a virgin and he got all upset about
that, too. It’s not like I haven’t sat around waiting, knowing he was out
fucking half of
Faith laughed. “I don’t
think he was ever that bad. He sounds like an old fashioned guy. You know the
one where he likes to fool around a lot but wants the woman he marries to be a
virgin.”
“Great, I wish someone had
told me this at fourteen before I played what goes where.” Raven sighed,
leaning her head back and crossing her arms. “I sure as hell didn’t enjoy it
and it was over in about twenty seconds. Big whoop.”
“Maybe you should tell
Connor that,” Faith said. “You know play it up that in all the ways that count,
he will be the first.”
“He’s a jerk,” Raven swore.
“He dumps me over the phone after I go and do what he agreed was the next step
for us. Screw him.”
“Isn’t that the point?”
Faith said, laughing again. “Well, we’re here.”
She pulled her blue Miata
MX-5 car into the parking lot of the Red Dragon, coming to a screeching stop in
front of the establishment. The valet attendant came running over as the two
women hurried toward the restaurant. Faith just tossed the keys to him and kept
going. Everyone knew who they were because the Chinese restaurant was part of
Aurelius Enterprises. An upstairs private room had been heavily cloaked with
magic to protect any conversations that were held within.
Faith took off up the stairs
as Raven stumbled by the door. She reached down to pull the back of her jeans
from her boot heel when a hand cupped her elbow.
“You all right, Raven,”
Wesley asked, bending over to inspect the damage. “It looks like you ripped the
hem.”
“Ah, damn it. These were new
too.”
Raven stood up, inhaling the
scent of Wesley’s cologne. She felt a tightening in her belly that had nothing
to do with food. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she leaned back a little
when she noticed his eyes drifting over her body. She was now thankful that she
had taken a little extra time with her appearance. The jeans were low riding
and tight while the pink sweater barely hung to mid-waist. There was ample
cleavage and stomach on display.
“Um, maybe we really need to
hurry and get upstairs,” Wesley stammered, staring at her chest.
“Oh, yeah,” Raven giggled.
“I guess we should.” She took off up the stairs, letting her bottom wiggle a
little more than necessary in Wesley’s face as she climbed. Maybe it was time
she found out what she had missed that first time.
~~~~~~~
Angel’s eyes narrowed,
making Buffy swivel around to see what was upsetting him. It was her daughter
followed by a flushing Wesley. Raven refused to look at her mother which gave
Buffy a clear indication that Wes’ uncomfortable state was something deliberate
on her part. Buffy sighed, watching as the Watcher sat next to Fred and Raven sat
on his other side. It was trouble waiting to happen. She made a mental note to
talk to Raven later.
“Well, I see everyone is
finally here,” Giles said, glancing around the large table. Also included in
the meeting was Charles Gunn. Buffy knew that Angel wasn’t happy about having
to include him in this, but without proof that he was a traitor there wasn’t a valid
reason for him not to be there. At least with Spike, she had his job with Jake
as an excuse to keep him away.
“So, what have you found?”
Buffy asked, hoping that her tone was light enough. She didn’t want the others
to be aware of how much her stomach was turning over with the possibility of them
discovering the truth.
“Tanja, I don’t know if
everyone knows her or not,” Wesley said, leaning forward over his stack of
notes. “She was one of the Slayers who fought in Sunnydale in the last battle.”
There were some murmurs of
recognition, but the majority of them didn’t know who she was. Unfortunately,
Tanja was just another one of the girls who had lived and fought in the Blood
house, but had never really become known. There had been way too many of them
and not enough time to make them family. It was one of the reasons Buffy had
insisted on giving them a place to call home.
“What about Tanja?” Angel
asked, bringing the focus back to the topic on hand.
“She had a dream about a
week ago,” Wesley explained. “Or rather a nightmare. It was a return to the
cave and the fighting. She was injured there, not severely but it was enough
for her to fear for her life.”
“Please get to the
prophecy,” Giles interrupted. “As much as we would have like getting to know
each of the girls, at the time it was too daunting of a task.”
“Is she all right now?”
Buffy quietly but firmly asked. “Has she continued to have the dreams?”
“Several as a matter of
fact,” Wesley said, turning grateful eyes to Buffy. “Each one becoming more
horrifying than the last, you might wish to speak with her privately. I know
that Faith has.”
Buffy turned her attention
to Faith expectantly. Giles might wish to brush aside the importance of one of
the girls, but she couldn’t. It reminded her of the long line of Slayers
already gone and remembered only in the stuffy journals of their Watchers.
“I talked to her last
night,” Faith said. “She is writing out details of the dreams and will give
them to Wes when she is done. I’ve asked for a copy also. Maybe something in
them will be familiar to me. I’ll have a copy sent to you, too.”
“Thank you,” Buffy said.
She leaned back in her chair
when the door opened. Ling, the proprietress of the restaurant stepped into the
room. Behind her were two of her servers. Tea and food were quickly placed on
the table for them. It took awhile before they returned to the subject at hand.
Buffy could tell that the wait was wearing on Giles, making her wonder what was
bothering him. These meetings were rarely over quickly and one that included a
meal could last for hours.
Deciding that she had more
important things to worry about, Buffy dismissed him from her mind. And one of
those was her daughter and her new fascination for Wesley. There was definite
flirting going on between those two despite the fact that Fred was there. She
turned to Angel when she felt his hand on her arm. He looked at the pair across
the table then wiped at his nose.
“Eew,” Buffy murmured, shaking
her head. Nothing worse than knowing you’re your daughter was in a state of
arousal. But it did let her know there was a cause for concern after all.
Trying to interfere in whatever was going on, Buffy decided to bring things
back to the subject of the prophecy. “Let’s return to Tanja’s dreams. I don’t
think this should be taken lightly. All slayers have been given these gifts for
a reason.”
“I agree wholeheartedly,
Buffy,” Giles said. “I think we’ve all become too lax in our commitment to the
cause. We have become arrogant because we have so many Slayers to fight, but
evil is not resting. This could be the next onslaught and we have been dilly
dallying around it.”
“Let’s go then,” Faith said,
around a mouthful of lo mein. “Tell us what you know so far so that we can
start figuring out how to kill it.”
“Some things can’t be
killed,” Angel said. Although his voice was low, everyone’s attention was
turned to him. “Evil takes many forms, and fights us in many different ways. We
have to be on our guard all the time and make the right choices everyday. I
agree with Giles. By sitting on our laurels we have allowed evil to penetrate
our camp again.”
“How?” Raven asked. “Is
there something I don’t know about?”
Angel stood and started to
walk around the table. To Buffy it appeared he was playing an elaborate game of
‘duck, duck, goose’ as he moved behind each member of
the team. His hands pressed together as if in prayer. “We forget that our sins
are a form of evil, too. Everyone carries the burden of keeping their own heart
pure. Many of us as individuals seem to be falling into traps that could
eventually hurt us as a whole. Temptations, lust, betrayal, lies, and greed
have encroached against us. Are we doing everything we can to keep it away or
are we embracing it?”
Buffy stared at him while
chills ran along her spine. Silence reined in the room as everyone stared into
their own hearts. Slowly, they began to look at each other, looking for the
guilt that each carried on their face. They didn’t even know what they were
facing yet, and already they were losing the battle.
To be continued….
