"Immortal Beloved...XX..."
A shortie...
PG-13
Disclaimer: No, Joss, no...I make no claims, put that thing down! It's all yours and ME's
Spoilers for Angel to this week...Flee at once!...
Summary: Ok, so no one asked and the Missus begged me not to...Some things just will out...And like my devil in "The Devil and Dr. Walthrop" I am reputed to play with the truth sometimes...However if I am lying about lying...
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Wolfram-Hart tower...Screening auditorium...One week after the Rome rendezvous...
A video is projected on wide-screen...
A heavily made-up Harmony strolls down an office corridor...Another female secretary/vamp, tall, brunette, by her side...Hungry look in her eye...
(Wait a bit...William eyes the brunette...Is that?...Nah, Angel shakes his head...An actress...Martin Landau's daughter Juliet...Human playing vamp?...Will looks again...Or is she?...Nah...Angel shakes again...Human...But I couldn't resist casting her...I'm hoping Dru will see and try something so we can capture her...Seeing a copy take our offer might even persuade her in some bizarre way to accept...
Uncanny resemblance, though, huh?...he noted...)
"How is it going, Cordelia?..." the brunette asks her companion... "Did you get that big promotion?..."
(Cordelia?...Wesley stared...Harmony would only do it if I let her...Angel sighed...And human Harm was her friend...I don't think she'd mind...)
"Oh, Esmerelda..." on-screen Harmony sighed... "I got turned down again..."
"What?...But you are such an efficient administrative assistant...And have such a sterling no-kill record..."
"But I lack the one thing required to move up at the new Wolfram-Hart, Inc..."
A soul...
Oh... "Esmerelda" nods...A soul...
"It's Mr. Angel's new policy...To win promotion past the D-9 level, every employee must have a soul, cursed or otherwise..."
Cut to various beaming employees... "I've got a soul..." a dark, Dracula-like type smiles... "So do I..." a rather hideous-looking demon grins...With several thumbs raised... "I just won mine...And is what I hadn't killed of my human family proud..." an attractive young vampiress beams... "I've got my soul back and I'm on the fast track to career advancement..." a tall, handsome brown-haired vamp gives an eager, but dignified nod...
"What I am gonna do...?" "Cordelia" sighs... "Sweetie, the solution is obvious...You have to get your soul back..." "Esmerelda" pats her... "Like I did..."
You?... "Cordelia" stares...But how?...And isn't it painful?...
"Extremely painful...And the pain is nothing compared to the arduous journey required...But think how you'll feel when it's done...After you get over the horrible remorse and insanity..."
Hmmn... "Cordelia" ponders...
Cut to shot of William in spiffy suit...Looking a tad ill at ease...
(Only did this to impress my girl you know...Helping my fellow suffering lost ones...Will notes firmly...And I am not wearing a monkey suit every day in the office...)
"Hello...I'm William Soames Walthrop...aka William the Bloody...aka Spike...Heroic fighter against evil, law partner, poet...Vampire..."
('My heart expands...Tis grown...A budge in it...' Illyria sighs dreamily...Wesley staring at her...Perhaps the human world was worth sparing for the sake of talent such as his...she notes...
'Inspired by...' Harmony continues, likewise sighing...
'Your beauty...' another takes it up...Nina?...Angel stares...)
"Like some of you lot...Including our boss...I was once an unsouled, heartless killer...Then good fortune and the love of a good woman...A glorious, wonderful woman...A woman such as..." Spike!...A voice hissed off-camera... "Right...A terrific woman...Led me...Unlike certain other souled vampires I could mention...To voluntarily seek out my soul's restoration...I won't say it was easy...Hell, it was the hardest damned near impossible thing I've done in a career of doing the impossible...And painful, God...Buffy if you only knew, my darling..." Spike!!... "Right...As I say, it was tough...But here I am...A souled, world-saving champion with a chance for full Humanity and a ticket to Heaven practically in my pocket...Not to mention a reasonably nice corner office...Though, it could be better!..." Spike!!!...
"Right...So, if you've the balls and the guts, why not join the growing ranks of the few, the proud, the heroic, the romantic, the everloving beyond eternity, Buf...In case you're ever free for a date at least in Heaven?!...Oh, darling...!" Spike!!!!...
(I thought the PR boys were cutting all that out...Angel groused to Wesley...Well, Angel...Actually they thought it was an inducement...Polls indicated most vampires found his yearning romantic bit appealing...)
"Right...The courageous, the noble...The...Voluntarily...Unlike certain fellows I could mention...Human-souled vampires...Wolfram-Hart, Inc...Thanks to bloody me...Can show you how...Call now...And get started on the path to success by way of Africa...And to avoiding bloody Eternity in Hell, which our boss lad for one can tell you is not the vacation playground the demon brochures crack it up to be..."
"Bet the goddamn Immortal superpoof never had the balls to try it...Ask him, Buf...!...And I'm sorry for not calling you sooner...I had this bloody stupid idea about keeping my sacrifice pure!...Just say the word and I'm on a..."
Cut back to "Cordelia" and "Esmerelda..."
Well?... "Esmerelda" eyes her friend...
"Wow...Sounds like I'm headed for Africa today!..." "Cordelia" notes brightly...
"How's about you?..." she stares out from the screen...
(The blonde vampiress of low intellect is not preparing to leave for Africa today...Illyria notes to Wesley... She's still mulling it over...he replies...Big step for her...)
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