Lindsey´s Angels 9
January 4, 2005
Hyperion Hotel, Fourth floor, Room 404,
2.19 pm
"Right..that´s it! The actions are perfect...you do this very well Joyce."
Grinning slightly as she echoed Wesley´s words, the older woman acknowledged that she was terrified of stuffing the latest challenge up. All morning, both she and the ex–watcher had been going over a series of complicated finger and hand gestures. The actions were to compliment the three sentences of Nrotog Wesley had taught the woman the day before, something that had been quite difficult. With Joyce speaking each word simultaneously with Wesley, the woman had found it hard to catch on to that languages particular speech pattern.
It had been difficult to concentrate on one voice while still hearing the same voice completely twist the words. She really didn´t even know why she had to learn the sentences herself if she could project the mans voice, Joyce had thought that all she would be doing was to learn the actions and let Wesley speak through her while she performed the finger routines.
Wesley however, was adamant that she had to learn the precise moment of when a particular action was needed. Apparently each slight dip or rise of the voice required a different action, so Joyce has practiced the words over and over until Wesley had been satisfied that she knew them properly. It had given the woman a feeling of pride that she was making the thin man feel useful again and when she thought about it, she was glad to be doing something other than answering the phones and filing.
Breathe taken, Joyce prepared herself to run through the sentence routine once more before attempting to combine it with the hand routine. Staring straight ahead as she felt her heart rate quicken, Joyce spoke the words in a clear voice. Her grin got bigger as she allowed the pitch of her voice rise and fall as the words demanded, taking a breath after each ´Z´ as Wesley had taught her.
"Ish anthum rotanu..zthor."
"Manzt granthum warlum..zthor."
"Zthor..ab´vor..ZTHOR!"
A quiet clapping beside her and Joyce found herself blushing, happy that she had got them right. At Wesley´s gesture, she nodded that she was ready to try them together, the butterflies in her stomach making her feel slightly sick. It was a simple task according to the ex–watcher. Just encouraging a candle to light up. Something that almost all witches learnt during the first few months. At Joyce´s query of them not using Latin, Wesley had confessed that the old language was sometimes a little wonky in casting outcomes and that the Nrotog was the most stable of all spell–casting languages. He had told Joyce that even Willow had eventually conformed to the demon language after one too many spells had gone haywire when performed in Latin, apparently there had been a "Thy will be done" spell that had gone particularly nasty. After that, the red–haired witch had quickly lost all her romantic leanings towards the language. It was also the same language that was used to bind Angel´s soul.
"Weady Joysh?"
"Ready Joyce?"
Another nod and Joyce hesitantly performed the gestures as she spoke, eliciting a noise of disapproval from Wesley. Taking a deep breath, she performed the routine again with less hesitation than before but still the candle refused to light. It just stood mocking her, placed in a gaudy gold holder while standing upon an old fold out table. They were practicing in the same room that had only a half hour ago, hosted a quite obnoxious rotten cabbage smell, a remnant from Joyce´s first failure at the deodorant spell. The older woman had confidently used the same spell again in order to get rid of the noxious odour, pleased to have gotten it right on the first try.
"Noth quith Joysh, wath me."
"Not quite Joyce, watch me"
Wesley slowly ran through the words and actions together, making sure that Joyce saw just when to wave her left pinky over her right second knuckle while taking a breath. At her more confident nod as she finished echoing his words, the ex–watcher did the spell at the proper speed. Seeing that she looked as sure of herself as she was going to currently get, he gestured for her to do it again. He stood to one side of the bare room as he watched the woman take a few relaxing breaths before attempting the spell again.
Just as she finished the last word on the third sentence, Joyce gasped as the candle sputtered and lit for a brief second before flickering out again. She had done it! She had actually done magic all by herself. Smiling widely, she turned to see Wesley looking a little sad at her while he gestured for her to try again. Immediately her hand flew to her mouth as she realised that the other man would never be able to perform magic again, no matter how well the speech therapy went, her heart clenching with sympathy for him, the flare of excitement inside of her gone in an instant.
"No Joyce, I don´t want your pity. I am going to miss it but I don´t feel so useless now I have you to train....that´s if you want to continue?"
"I can´t help it Wesley, I *do* feel sorry for you. From what Angel has said, you were quite good at it and I´m sorry that you can´t do it anymore but I´m glad that you´re able to pass on your knowledge. I´m still not sure that this is the right thing for me but I´m willing to try it. I have to admit that I´m proud of what I just did even if it didn´t last that long."
Nodding at her, Wesley gestured at her to try it again as he rubbed at his cold limbs, the thick jumper not really doing its best at keeping out the cool air. It was chilly in the fourth floor room, the hotels heating couldn´t be turned up until Riley, Graham and Angel had finished retrieving all the books from the boiler room, the ex–watcher afraid for the well being of the valuable tomes if kept too long in a hot room. The thin man didn´t even want to think about how much damage the cold had already done to them. As he watched Joyce do the spell again, he noted with a small glimmer of pride that the candle´s flame stayed lit for almost 30 seconds before dying out again.
"Wesley, isn´t the flame supposed to stay lit until one of us blows it out? Could it be too cold up here...because, I don´t want to whinge but in a few more minutes, my fingers are going to snap off if I try to move them again."
Blowing on her cool fingers, Joyce grinned as she watched the younger man do the same thing. With a good–humoured sigh, she ran through the spell twice more with the same result as before. The flame only staying lit for around 30 seconds. It wasn´t long but Joyce was proud of herself, never in a million years had she thought that this was where life would take her. Tears rising up, she hastily wiped them away as she found herself wishing that Buffy was alive to see her. Straightening her back, she steeled herself for another go. Determination written over her serious face, she drew in a breathe and just as she completed the first word, she became aware that Wesley was standing next to her matching her actions as he too, spoke the spell out loud.
As they came to the end of the incantation, the candle flickered for a millisecond before the whole table and wall behind it exploded into flames, the heat and roar of the ferocious element terrifying them both in an instant. Thick jumpers stripped off, leaving both in long sleeved t–shirts. Wesley and Joyce beat frantically at the approaching tongues of flame. Eyes watering as the thickening smoke crawled past them into the deserted hallway, both humans jumped as one as the smoke alarms started to screech.
"OUT...GOD JOYCE....LETS GO!"
Screaming the words together, Wesley and Joyce coughed their way to the open doorway, the intense heat shimmering the air in front of them. In the two seconds it took them to reach the hallway, the flames had crept forward a whole foot. Joyce grabbed Wesley by the upper arm, the ex–watcher wheezing and shaking with the effort needed to breathe. Arm around the thinner man, the older woman sneezing as she followed the smoke towards the main staircase.
"Wes..come on?"
"Cough..ack!"
Joyce suddenly decided that she would smother Wesley herself if he didn´t stop coughing, forcing her to do the same thing. Reaching the stairs, she re–affirmed her grasp around the younger mans waist and started to descend towards the main lobby. Halfway down the third floor stairs, they were rushed by Graham and Angel, both taking one look at their dishevelled states and mouthing words that no–one could hear over the clanging fire alarms. Angel snatched Wesley from Joyce, flinging the still coughing man over one shoulder just as Joyce found herself suddenly being carried down the remaining stairs in a pair of strong arms, only a few steps behind Angel and Wesley.
Riley was waiting for them at the bottom of the staircase, one hand on Doyle´s upper arm as they both shouted out questions as to what had happened. With everyone down in the lobby, Joyce hurriedly explained that the spell had set the room alight as Graham put her down. An agitated vampire listened long enough to learn that the fire was on the fourth floor, room 404, the corridor to the left of the main stairs. Thrusting a wheezing Wesley towards Joyce, he told them to get Doyle out of the hotel while he, Riley and Graham did what they could about the fire.
"Go! Get out of here...the sewers!"
"Angel, you can´t it´s too dangerous! Riley..Graham?"
"Hey! Why the fucking sewers?"
"Doyle...your still bloody BLUE!"
With the fire bell still ringing through the hotel, Joyce herded the two men towards the kitchen as the vampire and two ex–soldiers ran up the stairs towards the fourth floor. Sewer entrance reached in the alley behind the hotel´s staff entrance, Joyce and Wesley shifted the heavy cover while Doyle waited to be guided down the ladder. Wesley went first, followed by Doyle while Joyce went last.
"That´s right Doyle, two more rungs and you´re on the bottom."
Breathing heavily from the excitement of the fire and the effort of climbing down the ladder, the half demon shivered as he missed the last rung, slipping as he landed heavily against Wesley.
"I thought you said that after two more bloody rungs, I´d be on the floor of the fucking sewer?"
"Sorry Doyle, I meant to say that you would be on the last rung...I truly am sorry?"
"Mmmm."
Sharing a look between them, both Joyce and Wesley knew that the Irishman was still adjusting to the loss of his eyes. The Braille lessons with David were going well so far but it was still a huge step into a territory that Doyle really didn´t want to go.
"I hope that Angel hasn´t gotten too hero like and trying to take on the ´Towering Inferno´ by himself...not to bloody mention the gung–ho soldier boys?"
"So do I Doyle...so do I."
As the three shivering figures settled down to wait until they could come up again, Wesley, Joyce and Doyle discussed what had happened on the fourth floor.
Four hours later....
"Oh man....I don´t even want to *know* what the clean up bill is going to be."
"You and me both Ri."
Standing in the charred shell of the destroyed hotel room, Angel was aghast at how much damage there was. The room in which the fire had started, was basically one big charcoal box. On either side, the adjoining rooms weren´t much better, the remaining paint and wallpaper was blackened and bubbled from the heat and smoke. The much whinged about threadbare carpet was no longer an issue, a victim of the massive amounts of water and foam, the firemen had pumped into the burning rooms and hallway.
The vampire turned around slowly, not wanting to look at the damage on the opposite side of the hallway. The flames had only just licked at the empty corridor, instead they had run along the roof and had occupied the room directly opposite the one the fire had started in. With a whine, the brunette could almost see the dollar signs adding up with every inch of the charred wreckage he glanced over. Forehead rubbed, Angel sighed as he realised that this side was worse than the other. All the rooms along the corridor, on the left side to the main stairs, right side of the hallway, had been burnt into one long rectangle. All seven rooms length, only stopping where the elevator was situated. The buckled and heat warped elevator. Thankfully, the fire men had arrived only about ten minutes after the alarm had first sounded, Angel and the two other men having been forced back down stairs after a minute of trying to get a grip on the blaze.
As they had all been ordered outside by loudly yelling firemen, Angel had managed to run through the kitchen and down into the sewer before too much sunlight had gotten to him, leaving the explanations to Riley and Graham. Once down in the dark, he had calmly demanded Joyce and Wesley tell him what had happened. He had listened with not a word to be said, something he had continued to do until Riley had come to get them once the fire investigators had left and the fire truck had gone. Without a word, he had brushed past them all and had ventured up the sopping wet stairs, paying no heed to the yellow tape barring any access beyond it.
Still not a word said, the visibly upset vampire ventured down to the third floor to see how much damage had been done to the ceilings of the rooms directly under the disaster area. Footsteps squelching from the sodden remnants of carpet, Angel ducked under the bright yellow tape that warned people not to go beyond, the same tape that was fixed to almost every standing feature in the burnt rooms and started to stomp heavily down the water logged staircase. Dully, he noted that the usually plush red carpet on the steps would have to be replaced as well. Walking slowly towards the sound of dripping water coming from Cordelia and Doyle´s room, the vampire cringed at the thought of his sorely missed secretary coming back to damaged belongings.
A glance into Christopher´s room and he was somewhat relieved to see that there was no visible damage to the young man/child´s room or belongings. He continued down the corridor and stopped suddenly as he stared at the ceiling. The paintwork in the centre of the rooms ceiling had swelled into a giant bubble, straining to hold the massive amount of water that had been emptied into the room above. Thankfully, there wasn´t much directly underneath it. About a dozen different leaks from other parts of the ceiling were irritating Angel with their constant wet ´splooping´ as the large drops joined the water already on the ruined carpet.
Turning slightly, he heard Graham and Riley behind him, still gossiping like old women about the damage the fire had caused. Head shaken in an unbelieving gesture, he brushed past the two ex–soldiers as they sheepishly went to have their turn at staring in Doyle and Cordelia´s room. Angel was three steps down the wet stairs when he heard a loud whooshing noise, closely followed by howls of disgust. Pausing for only a brief moment, Angel continued down the stairs as a soaking wet and covered in paint flakes Riley and Graham skidded past him, both men anxious to get to their rooms and showers on the second floor.
It was final then.
He was going to kill both Joyce and Wesley.
He didn´t care that Joyce was teary and Wesley was inventing new body language in an effort to display how sorry he was. Yep...*both* Joyce and Wesley got to tell Doyle that he was moving into a new room and they would be the ones to do the shifting. They would also be the ones to ring around and get quotes to fix the damage.
No doubt about it.
He was going to slowly strangle them both, painfully and forcefully.
First...a drink.
January 27, 2005
Hyperion Hotel
4.36 pm
As the last of the workmen left the Hyperion, the re–formed L.A. team breathed a collective sigh of relief. Finally, after almost a month of constant noise, dust, fumes and workmen milling around at all hours, the friends could now relax without having to watch what they said or did. No more possibilities of alerting the unsuspecting masses about the everyday presence of demons, magic and the PTB via loose–lipped builders and painters.
Burqua thrown off, Doyle rolled the much hated heavy black material into a ball and threw it in the direction of where he thought the lobby desk was, missing it completly and managing to wrap it around an innocent half dead palm tree instead. Laughing along with Joyce as she described where the offending head–to–toe covering had landed, the half–demon felt weeks of tension lift from his shoulders. He now no longer had to pretend that he was a devout Muslim woman, one that was wearing the black covering and matching gloves in order to preserve her good name. From the time the first workman had arrived, the Irishman had had to cover up, hiding the fact that he was still blue even though he was apparantly a much lighter shade than he had been originally.
Joyce watched as Francis tore off the heavy gloves that hid his aqua hands, noting again that the colour was really quite a lovely shade. Gesturing for Angel and Wesley to lead the way, she allowed Doyle to grasp her elbow and followed them up the stairs while Riley and Graham took the rear. Excited, the group took the newly carpeted stairs to the fourth floor.
Thanking the PTB once again that David Nabbit was one of his friends, the brunette vampire stood open mouthed in awe of what the workman had acheived with such a limited worktime. The room the fire had started in and the two adjoining rooms had been transformed into a sound and fireproofed large room. Perfect for Wesley and Joyce´s continuing magic studies. After calling the insurance company, Angel had been devestated to find out that the policy had lapsed. The demon had left all financial arrangements to Cordelia after discovering her knack for always getting a good deal out the relevant companies. Apparantly, the re–newal hadn´t been posted in time and after a search in the bottom drawer of Cordelia´s desk, the vampire had found the insurance re–newal and a few others that were still to be re–newed such as magazine subscriptions and health insurances.
It was only after Angel had asked for his invested money to be returned from David´s company that he had told the other man about his money woes, informing David that the money Giles had left him wouldn´t go close to fixing the damage even a quarter of the way. With Wesley and Joyce´s money, the damage to the third floor roof might be fixed and the carpet re–done,but that was about it. Once again, the billionaire had come through with the finances. Angel had felt ashamed that he had to rely on another person for money, David explaining that he had nothing else to spend his money on hadn´t made him feel any better. In order to make it up to the other man, Wesley had given him one of the books Spike had hand copied so many months ago.
The newly re–done room had sturdy light beige fire–resistant carpet, made from wool and treated with numerous chemicals to make it as stain resistant as possible. The walls were painted a solid off white, the same as the ceiling. It was decorated with sturdy aluminum trolleys and bookcases, a large set of cupboards at one end of the room hid the tanks that held the special foam that the recently installed sprinkler system used in case of another fire. Something that everyone was hoping wouldn´t occur again. The system was designed to be activated via a switch near the solid metal door that opened into the hallway. It had been originally set to activate at the first whiff of smoke but had been changed to a manual setting after Wesley had described many of the spells Joyce was currently learning had small smoke explosions, a downpour of fire–retardant foam would not be a good thing for a beginner to experience with each successful spell or incantation.
Angel had agreed to it but had insisted on a timer that would activate the foam if Wesley didn´t stop it from going off in the space of five minutes. Taking a last look around the re–done training room, Riley flicked off the ´occupied´ switch that lit up a light in the hallway over the doorway, shutting the heavy door behind him. Upon hearing the muffled clunk of the door clicking into place, the tall blond punched the lock code into the numeric keypad mounted on the wall beside the door. An identical pad was situated on the other side of the door inside the room.
The ex–soldier turned to face across the hallway at what hadn´t been up until recently, another row of empty rooms that had once been occupied by the rescued boys from the Eternal, now just a long white wall that stopped at the newly restored and working elevator. After a long discussion with the building crew, the L.A. team had discovered that the cost for repairing the damage to the right side of the hall and the water damaged rooms underneath was going to be astronomical. It had been suggested to just get the floor/third floor roof repaired and not worry about sectioning the space into individual rooms again. Upon telling David how much the repairs were going to cost for the right side of fourth floor hallway, Angel had been embarrassed to see the man finally flinch at the estimated cost. What David had decided upon had suprised them all.
The wealthy man had decided to follow the workman´s advice and not get the rooms re–sectioned off. Instead, he had instructed them to rip out the damaged section of flooring entirely. In a totally original thought, he had made the two floors high space into a gym and exercise area.
Following the others, Riley and Wesley trailed a few steps behind Graham and Joyce as Angel guided Doyle down the stairs to the third floor. Corridor turned into, the group of friends unlocked the gym door and stepped into the huge room. So far, everyone had been banned from entering the space, the billionaire wanting it to be a suprise for them. David was meant to be showing off the newly designed area himself but had been forced to attend the launch of his latest computer software, a handheld computer notebook with braille keys and a voice awareness chip. A travel size of what he had already designed. Doyle had recieved his own gifted one that morning along with instructions for everyone to just go a head and take a look after the workmen had left.
Graham almost choked in amazment as he stared goggle eyed around the room. At one end, there was a complete gym set up. From the weight system right up to the latest computerised exercise bike and stepping machine. At the opposite end, there was an area that was a few room lengths in size that had been converted into a small basketball court, something he was already eager to try out. One on one with Riley, he really didn´t think Angel and Wesley would be into such things. With another glance around, the smaller ex–soldier found himself gazing longingly at a closed off spa and sauna area, and from the low murmering from Wes and Angel, he wouldn´t be using it first. A shake of his head and he realised that David had thought of everything, there was even two bathrooms tucked away in one corner, both clearly marked ´man´ and ´woman´. The gym and basketball court was seperated by a large bare area, something that puzzled the human until he caught sight of the stack of exercise mats piled up against one wall of the room.
Running a hand along one off–white wall and he felt the re–inforced thickness, grinning as he realised that this room had also been soundproofed and that he was the first to come out of the shock that seemed to be rendering them all speechless. Throat cleared, Graham spoke the one word that was on everybodies minds.
"Wow!"
"Yep...ah..er..mmm!"
"A sauna? Christ! I´m gonna have David´s baby myself!"
At Doyle´s comment, laughter echoed through the large room as Riley continued to tell the Irishman what the other man had done to the available space. As the gathered group seperated and went to explore the room, the tall ex–soldier led Doyle around the different pieces of exercise equipment, agreeing to help the older man start a light exercise routine.
A finger run down the cool metal of one of the new peices of equipment, the half–demon grinned to himself as Angel still tried to utter a complete sentence much to Wesley´s amusment. As he listened to Riley explain where each peice was situated, Doyle concentrated on memorising the number of steps each one was from the doorway. He so far refused to use a white cane, claiming that it wasn´t any use until he could go outside again without the burqua covering. The half demon had already been subjected to enough narrow minded abuse from racists because of the head–to–toe covering, having Angel or one of the ex–soldiers guiding him had prevented people from taking the verbal abuse to a physical level, having a white cane would just earmark him as an easy robbery target. Doyle now had more respect for Muslim and Islamic women and how they must cope with such attitudes on a daily basis.
Arms crossed, Doyle nodded as Riley ´oohhed´ and ´aaahhed´ over the electronic exercise bike, not bothering to point out that the features were useless if one couldn´t see to operate them. He stood patiently as he heard the numerous bips and beeps as the taller man fiddled with bike´s programs.
"Shit! This thing can even set up idividual programs for everyone...the whole room *must* have cost more than the repairs would have....it *has* to have had?"
"Probably...what´s a bet that Angel and Wes are christening the sauna as we speak?"
"No...no..they were right here? Whe..oh god! I can´t see them in the room and there is no way that I´m knocking on the door of the sauna!"
Grimacing at the thought of what the vampire and his consort could be doing right that moment, Riley stole a glance at his best friend Graham and Joyce as they giggled together in one corner of the room. Graham had loosened up a lot since he had officially started dating the older woman a few weeks ago. As the two of them walked towards Riley and Doyle, the blond soldier blushed furiously as he noted that Joyce was panting. Somewhere...Wesley was doing the same thing.
"Oooohhh...mmmmm, right there...that´s it, FUCK!"
"So? Time for you two to take a drive then?"
"How long have they been at it or have they just started?"
In between the moans and soft swearing Wesley was uttering through her, Joyce informed them that the action had only just started. One of the down sides to Joyce´s talent was that she spoke as Wesley no matter where either of them were situated in the hotel, meaning that the older woman knew exactly when the vampire and his lover were having ´relations´ as Graham so tactfully described it. Even after voicing Wesley´s screams as he had been ´claimed´ by Angel, no–one had really taken the side–affect into consideration until much to Riley, Graham and Doyles amusment, Joyce had vocalised Wesley´s entire delight at reciving a blow job from Angel one day while the four friends had been relaxing in the library. It had been a little shocking to find out just what the two men considered as foreplay, everyone knew that Angel was the dominant one in the relationship, they just hadn´t realised to what extent. Needless to say, Angel and Wesley had been more than horrified to realise just how intrusive the talent was.
Angel and Wesley, in particular, had hastily agreed to either time their encounters to when Joyce was out of the hotel or give her time to leave before starting. Unfortunately, on a few occasssions, the agreement had been forgotten and it looked like this was one of those times. With the four friends sniggering as Wesley pleaded with the vampire to ´fuck me hard Master´, Joyce allowed Graham to steer her towards the gym doorway with the intent to drive until she was out of the ´voice radius´. Something that seemed to be at least a two mile width.
Hearing the moaning woman leave, Doyle continued to laugh as he heard Wes scream out a sentence begging Angel to slap him. He was going to give them no mercy when they decided to show themselves in the near future. With Riley still chuckling hard beside him, he reached a hand out to the taller man and felt down his arm until he had a firm grasp on the blond´s elbow.
"Right then, let´s leave the good ´Master´ and his obediant sevant to their carnal pleas....Ahhhh! Vision!"
"Doyle? Ok...just breathe...breathe."
As Riley tried to hide the slight shudder that went through him as the man beside him paled from an aqua to a baby blue, the taller man gently lowered the half demon onto the stiff new carpet. Doyle, jerking in pain, tried to descibe his vision as best as possible.
"Oooohhh....Bloody Spike again....ah, ouch! Don´t think any new bits are missing...fffuuuuck...sobbing like usual....he´s saying something this time...I..ouch..I can´t make it out. Damn, that goddamn awful smell! Cabbage...rotten bloody stuff....something different? Jesus Christ this hurts! Hang..oooff..on?"
Supporting the stricken man´s body so that Doyle didn´t hurt himself against the exercise equipment as he writhed with the pain from recieving the vision, the blond listened as the light blue male continued to voice his vision from the PTB.
"Snow...what? This...ouch..isn´t Spike? Oh my God! A woman...she´s pregnant...ahhhh, about to drop any day...can´t see her face....SHIT! I think she just had her first contraction....gaaaawwwwdd...I can actually bloody well feel that! Hair....RED HAIR! Willow....I think it´s Willow....ohhhh...here comes another contraction!"
As quickly as it had hit, Doyle felt the vision lift from his mind, leaving him breathless and with his stomach muscles aching from feeling the womans contractions. Wiping at his sweat covered brow, he struggled to get to his feet as he twisted out of the ex–soldiers arms, grabbing onto Riley for support after a few seconds of swaying on his feet. Head pounding as a result of the vision, Doyle cursed the PTB once more for being arseholes. His visions of the bleached blond vampire had been striking him daily, occasionally another vision would hit later the same day featuring someone or something that the PTB wanted Angel to get involved with but this was the first time that a vision of Spike had featured someone else.
"Doyle..you alright? Painkillers, drink, rest? What do you want?"
"I´m not a fucking invalid alright? I´m pretty capable of getting something by myself....I..sorry."
"Nah...I know that. Just want something to do rather than disturb ´Master and Bitch´, I know they need to know what you saw but....for gods sake, I´m still mentally scarred from springing them last time...let me get you a drink?"
Chuckling at the slight desperation in the ex–soldiers voice, Doyle nodded and let Riley place his hand upon the taller man´s elbow as he was guided towards the doorway, both men trying valiently to ignore the images of Wesley and Angel that their minds were throwing at them. One hand rubbing at his tender temple, the Irishman prompted Riley into going down the elevator rather than the stairs, tired from the brutal assault on his mind.
Door of the elevator slid across and fastened into place, Riley pushed the button for the ground floor, taking a step back as the small lift jerked into life. Gaze focused upon the arrow that pointed at each floor as the lift descended, the blond didn´t at first register the odd noise behind him. Lift ´dinging´ as it settled upon the ground floor of the Hyperion, the tall man unlocked the saftey gate and slid it to one side, his brow only just furrowing as he wondered what the low continual noise was.
"What the hell is that noise? Doyle...Doyle?"
Turning to look behind him to where the half demon stood, the ex–soldier couldn´t help but stare as the Irishman slowly spiked out for the first time since coming back to the hotel. With a slight gasp, he realised that the gutteral moaning sound was coming from deep within the other man.
"Shit! Doyle....ummm, are you alright?"
"Mmmmmmm...no, no I´m not. I think....ooohhh, I´m having another visiiiooooonnnnn.....Fuck!"
