Road to Recovery 2
25 July, 2004
With the tv flicked off, the grey haired man hefted himself out of the cool leather armchair. He strode over to the little bar area set up in one corner of the large guestroom. Pouring himself another bourbon, Randall was pleased with the results of the police invesigation into the Eternal. Apart from the incriminating video tapes of Clark with Christopher and the other glamoured whores, there was so far nothing that could be pinned on him.
The annoying blonde detective had been thrown off his track by finding a badly decomposed corpse that had been shot through the head twice, making it look like a business deal gone bad. Wolfram and Hart had arranged the whole thing, right down to the corpse having the same dental records as Randall. As far as anyone knew, Randall Hargraves had been murdered by a business associate. The lawyer he dealt with most, Lindsay, had managed to somehow make documents appear that made Eternal look like it was going under due to bad investments and murky underworld dealings. Mr McDonnell had persuaded one of Randall´s old staff members to turn himself in as the mystery bomber after wafting a tempter of almost two million dollars to do so. The man had pleaded guilty to the bomb and went to jail for a minimum of 6 years. Unfortunatly, Kirk had been bashed to death two weeks into the sentence.
What a shame thought the former brothel owner, the man had been such a good worker for the human side but like he always said, in business you either sink or swim and swimming was what he always did. Bourban finished, he turned his attention to the rolled up floor plans that were lying ontop of the bar. Unfurling the largest, he anchored the edges with the empty glass and bourban bottle, making sure not to get the detailed plans sticky with alcohol. A huge grin lined the older mans face as he looked over the plans once more.
The blue and white detailed drawings showed Randalls new project, Sanity. It was going to be a brothel/bar for demons in which they could relax after a hard day or night with the companion of their choice. It was still in the final stages of planning but hopefully in a few months, building could start. Wolfram and Hart had been so helpful with everything. The firm had indicated that they had considered Eternal to be essential in helping the lawyers deal with the more agitated clients. Apparantly nearly all the demons who had taken up on the offer of the Eternal had been easy to deal with the next day. Henceforth their interest in setting up another brothel.
Randall was ecstatic to be nearly back in business again. He wouldn´t be the sole owner this time but as long as things ran his way, he wasn´t too fussed. Adam and Fletcher had been sent down to Mexico to wait until things were ready to start up again while the older man was staying with one of the top senior partners of the law firm. So far everything was going according to the plan.
He was thankful more than ever for the silver braclets and necklaces that each boy wore, it had made tracking them down so much easier. Tomas, the firms senior Warlock had taken only minutes to locate each male, concentrating on the jewellery. It had been decided to leave the whores where they were for the moment. The older man had been disapointed when he had learnt what had happened to Jonathan, it meant that he would have to shell out more money to replace the boy. As soon as the new place was ready to open, a few people would collect the boys and make sure that they arrived safely at Sanity. After all, he had paid fair and square for the four youths, he had every right to reclaim what belonged to him. Christopher would also be rejoining the four youths. The warlock had informed Randall that although the man was stuck for the time being in a child form, with the right spell, the brothel owner would be able to change appearances again.
There was a small problem with the ones who had gone back to Sunnydale. It turns out that they were in contact with the Slayer, someone that Randall hadn´t really believed in but after seeing a video of the petite blonde staking a few vampires and killing various demons, he had to admit that the girl was impressive. The firm was working on a solution of how to get Andrew and Mathew out from under her nose without drawing attention to Sanity. The main problem was with Christopher and Scott living with the very people who had masterminded the raid on his place. Lindsay had been arctic when he had learned who was behind the rescue mission but had assured the older man that everything would be fixed before it was time to collect the five males. Randall wasn´t too sure but he doubted that anyone who had been involved with the raid would be alive to see the grand opening of Sanity.
With a sigh, he wondered how Scott´s surgery had gone that morning and hoped that there hadn´t been any complications. The last thing he needed was an unserviceable whore on his hands. He already had to shell out a load of money to replace Jonathon and he didn´t want to make that two new boys to train. Rolling up the plan carefully, he rested it by the wall ontop of the wide bar top.
Things would be different this time, of that he was sure.
July 23, 2004
Staring in to space, Angel knew that he had a tough descion to make. One that would affect two lives. Xander and his Childe Spike. Hands clasped behind his head as he sat in his office chair, the dark vampire wondered just what the hell he was going to do. After the hospital episode only three day´s ago, so much had happened, it was hard to think straight.
Eternal´s owner, Randall Hargraves, had been found rotting in an abandened warehouse. With that discovery, the chance to find out more about the slave ring had been lost, none of the boys could remember how they got taken or by whom. Christopher remembered that he had lived in Sunnydale while a little child but was still blocking out almost everything else before his tenure as a prostitute at Eternal. It was still a big step for the man but not enough to get excited about.
Kate had called him two day´s ago to warn him that there were numerous porn tapes featuring the enslaved boys out on the market, they were apparantly aimed at fetish enthusiasts. Angel had felt sick when the blonde detective had confirmed his fears over Xander´s involvement in them. Yesterday, she had dropped off four large boxes of videos from the survellance system from the brothel. She hadn´t been able to drop them off before hand as she had had to wait until the uproar had died down a little before making them vanish from the evidence room. All tapes featuring human clients had stayed, any tapes featuring demons were now residing next to the vampires desk.
There was one she had specifically wanted him to see in the hopes of identifing the featured youth. Kate had warned him that she had only been able to watch the first 20 minutes before she had been too sick to see the rest. The tape titled ´David´ was still sitting on top of his desk waiting to be watched.
Suprisingly enough, these were the least of his problems. Xander and Spike were the foremost problem at the moment. The brunette youth had finally come out of his drugged weepings as the doctor had agreed to re schedule the surgery. It had taken all of Wesley and Doyle´s strength to hold Angel back from killing every nurse on the ward after Xander had managed to stutter out what had gone on after Cordelia had left him. After almost two hours of talking, pleading and tears from Xander, all four men had convinced him to stay for the surgery, Spike promising to stay until an hour before sunrise. Doyle had then promised to be there when Spike left.
Throughout all the bargining with Xander, his Childe had sat on the bed as close to the youth as he was allowed. At first Angel hadn´t really taken any notice of it, after all Spike was the one who soothed Xander´s nightmares each night. It was when the young man had grabbed at Spike´s hand to stop him from leaving for a smoke that had alerted Angel to the growing problem. He had felt both Wesley´s and Doyle´s shock at not hearing the blond vampire start whinging at not being able to leave for a quick puff in a stairwell.
Spike had sat back down and let the brunette cling to his smaller hand. The older vampire had cursed silently to himself when he realised what was happening between the two males. He knew that neither one had any idea of what this simple gesture could turn into in the near future. It really was all Angels fault, only he was to blame.
No one, apart from Darla, The Master, Spike, Drusilla and himself, knew that he had originally created four Childer, not the recorded three. He had only planned on three but Spike had been turned out of sheer desperation not out of lust or from the need to possess the beautiful male. Angel had allowed the popular theory of him lusting for the younger vampire to validate his turning of Spike to save himself some humiliation over having an unwanted Childe.
Sighing, Angel caught up with reality. Firmly shoving his memories behind their gilded cage, he once again wondered just what to do. Either he encouraged Spike´s protectivness of the brunette and gave the boy someone to lean on until he was able to look after himself better or he could send the vampire away, cutting the cotton thin bonds that were beginning to form between the two before it got out of hand on Spike´s part.
If he encouraged the blond, he would be reassured that Xander would never be left on his own again, Spike would always be around to do everything for the youth. The only problem with that, was Spike would isolate the boy in his drive to protect him. The good side was that he would forever be defended from any demon who made a pass at the brunette.
Sending the vampire away would force the youth to stand on his own two feet a little more, making him latch onto another support person who would be able to do all the normal human things with him. He would have to learn how to socialise again without someone backing him up all the time. Without the vampire being around to scare off any potential friends for the youth, Xander would eventually make one or two friends from outside the Sunnydale and L.A. groups. The downside was that he wouldn´t have the smell of a Master Vampire lingering on him to discourage any unwanted demon suitors, nor would the blond be around to get him out of any sticky situations. Angel very much doubted if the brunette would ever be able to defend himself against any sort of attack in the future, even after the hospital episode. After it had been painstakingly explained about Xander´s experiences over the last few years, the nurses had agreed not to press charges on the youth.
Cordelia had been ropable when she had found out about what had happened only calming down when Doyle had told her about his promise to Xander. In the end, it had been both Doyle and Cordelia who had relived Spike at the hospital, leaving Angel and Wesley to pick Xander up just after sunset.
With a groan, Angel realized he was going to need a second opinion to the dilemma. He didn´t want to release his Childe back down to Sunnydale but if it was going to be detrimental to Xander´s health in the future, it looked like he was going to have no choice. Wesley was just about to get an insight into the relationship between Angelus, his Sire and Grandsire and his Childer that was written no where in a Watchers book.
It was all his own fault that he had a headache, he should have taken better care of Clarice.
"Wes, can I talk with you for moment?"
The uncertainy in Angel´s voice alerted the ex–watcher that there was something bothering the older vampire. A quick nod and smile at his lover, he set down the book he was reading, leaving his room to set off after the black clad vampire. A few quick steps to catch up to Angels longer strides and Wesley was curious to see that they were heading towards the boiler room. He didn´t ask why, just following the broad back down into the warm room.
After being curtly told to sit, Wesley was amused to see Angel methodically check every corner in the room before shutting the door, locking it from the inside. Patting the box beside him, the human waited for the taller man to sit beside him.
"What´s wrong? What´s got you so broody now?"
A brief scowl from Angel at the word "broody´ and Wesley was made to promise never to tell what he was about to hear. The ex–watcher could feel his heartrate increase tenfold as he nodded his agreement, the smile wiped from his face at the serious tone. He could almost see the uneasiness radiating off the older man. His boss was anxious, that much was clear.
"Please don´t interupt me during this Wes. Only Spike, Drusilla, The Master, Darla and myself know what I´m about to tell you. Of all things that have been recorded by the Watchers, this never has."
At the younger man´s encouraging nod, the vampire stunned his lover with his next words.
"As you know, I made Penn, Drusilla and Spike. What has never been known, is that before Spike, I made a Childe named Clarice."
Holding up his hand to stop the question forming on Wesley´s lips, Angel continued.
"Two years after I made Drusilla and a year after Penn left the clan to explore on his own, it was decided by Darla that it was time to introduce her to The Master. I don´t need to explain how her mind works to you, I´m sure that you have read the Watcher Diaries."
Wesley wriggled around on top of his box, trying to get comfortable. It looked like the brooding vampire was going to take a while.
"The Master was pleased that a Grandchilde of his had managed to turn such an unique Childe of their own. He had thrown a party for Drusilla and all had gone well until I took my attention from her for little more than a minute. The next thing I knew, Drusilla was in the process of embarassing some of The Master´s oldest Childer, older than Darla herself. It was only the saving grace of The Master himself that stopped Khan and The Knight from dusting her right there and then."
The brunette shuddered when he remembered just how close he had been to being dusted right along with his Childe that night.
"Needless to say the party went downhill from there on. Darla sent me away in disgrace for failing to control Drusilla. The Master had a ´talk´ with me later that night, just before Dru and I were due to go back to England. He indicated that he wanted me back for his next feast, due in just over four years, but without the charming Drusilla. I was specifically told not to destroy her as her ´gift´ was too precious to waste"
With a deep breathe, he rubbed his hand absently over Wesley´s warm one that had settled on his cool thigh and continued the story.
"In fact, the only option I was given, was to train a minion to look after her during my time in The Master´s Court. Four years was not enough time to train a minion properly to look after such a demanding creature as Drusilla. So, I decided to create another Childe just for the sole purpose of looking after Dru. With all the extra Sire blood a Childe got during the early months of rearing, even though Drusilla would be older, they would be in more control than a mere minion."
"Keep going Angel, I´m understanding it all so far"
"Thanks Wes, it´s just so hard. I´ve tried to actually forget about Clarice. Anyway, back in England with only three years and 10 months until I was to be back in the Court, I wandered the streets of London for almost four months just looking for the perfect candidate. After being ´scolded´ by Darla and then having The Master give me a personal talking to, there was no way that I would accept anything but the best. Eventually I came across a girl who was well known in an upper class neighbourhood for her charitable work with the sick. I had struck gold with Clarice. She was gentle, kind, intelligent and well bred. Best of all, she was a born nuturer, just the type of Childe that I wanted for Drusilla."
Angel gave Wesley a crooked grin as his larger hand was squeezed gently.
"As you know, when someone is turned, all of those attributes are thrown out by the demon that takes residence in their bodies. There is a way however of creating an almost subliminal set of instructions in a new born Childe that will stay with them until they either get dusted or the one who planted them gets dusted. I had no idea that it was even possible to do it until The Master told me that you could. All you really do is repeat a few very explicit sentences during the whole time they are slumbering until they wake for the first time as a vampire. So, with that in mind, I snatched Clarice one night and turned her. I sat the whole night next to her just telling her that Drusilla was always to come before her and that her whole purpose of being was to look after Drusilla. Clarice was to defend her to the death, bathe and dress her, do her hair if neccessary. She was to be Drusillas maid until either one got dusted."
Taking an uneeded breathe, Angel refused to look at the man beside him as his guilt got bigger.
"Over and over that night, I imprinted on her fledgling mind that she was to show compassion for the insane vampire. Clarice was to be her shadow from that time on. It worked too, the first word Clarice spoke when she woke was Drusilla. As her Sire, she would defer to me naturally but she would really belong to Drusilla. All was going along smoothly. Clarice was smart, she took to Drusilla like I had hoped and after the first year and a half, I really didn´t need to check up on them. Nor did I have to follow them out whenever they went hunting together."
The brunette vampire could feel the heat being thrown of Wesley as the younger man struggled to keep his mouth closed, barring all the questions that he wanted to ask.
"One night, about six months before I was due to leave for Venice and The Master´s Court, I recieved a letter from Darla to say that she had forgiven me about Drusillas debutante party. In the mood for celebrating, Drusilla, Clarice and myself, went out to see the Wicker Man Festival being held in a local town not far from the large mansion we had taken over. It was really just a bunch of drunken yokels dancing around a huge bonfire that held a massive figure of a man made out of latticed woodwork. Drusilla was enchanted by the sight, pulling both Clarice and myself closer to the fire until we were almost scorched by the heat. It was then that Drusilla decided to start whining about how Clarice was about to leave her. I had no idea what she was going on about and after seeing that the younger vampire was having problems calming her down, I had decided to take matters into my own hands, classic Angelus style with a fist. What happened next will haunt me forever. As I drew my fist back to smack at Drusilla, I bumped Clarice behind me, in turn sending her backwards into a few drunk humans. The drunken sods took insult at that and shoved her towards the bonfire. She was still so new, that the intense heat made her panick and instead of letting me grab at her so that I could pull her away from it, she tried to dodge my hand and instead ended up tripping over another drunk, ending up in the fire itself."
Rubbing at his face, Angel chanced a look at the man sitting beside him. He was reassured by the calm look on his lover´s face, pleased that he could smell no anger on him.
"She was dusted pretty much in an instant. If she had been even a few years older, then she probably would have survived the horrendus burning. I just grabbed at Drusilla and ran to the carriage, urging the minion to take us straight to London and not to worry about the minions back at the mansion. All through the lenghty trip, Dru kept weeping and moaning about Clarice. I tried to shut her up but I was too shocked by what had just happened. I should have know better than to let Drusilla get so close to the fire. Anyway, just as we hit the outskirts of London, Dru stopped her weeping and told me that the blue eyed boy was going to look after her until she met the grey eyed one. Yet again I had no idea what she was babbling about, all I could think of was that I now had less than six months to train another Childe for Drusilla. Once we had reached Darla´s London home, I made sure that Drusilla was fed and in bed before leaving a few minions to look after her. I was furious and hated the idea of making another Childe but out onto the streets I went with the sole purpose of picking someone up and turning them that very night."
"Jesus Christ Angel, I´m sorry but shit!"
"Yeah, I know Wes. Blue eyes. That was what my lovely phsycic had told me so blue eyes were what she was going to get, I just ignored her reference to the grey eyes. I figured that The Master would see her again as he was the only one that I knew at that time that had grey eyes. I looked everywhere for a blue eyed youth but at 3am in London in those days, the pickings were slim to say the least. For hours I looked until just as I was about to admit defeat and go back to the house, this slender brown headed man came out of a doorway opposite me. It was obvious from his dress that he was on his way to work as a baker´s apprentice. With a whistle in his direction, he turned to look at me and I saw that his eyes were blue. That pretty much sealed his fate. I didn´t even notice how pretty he was until I had him back at the house and on the floor of the spare bedroom. This time, I couldn´t take any chances at the instructions not setting into his fledgling mind."
Another quick hand squeezed from Wes and he was set to resume the story.
"Even as I was feeding off him, I had him turned so that his last vision would be of the large portrait of Drusilla. I mentally voiced the words ´protection´ and ´Drusilla´ to him over and over as I drained the last of his blood and again I repeated it to him as he feed from me. All throughout his twighlight slumber, I yelled at him that he was to put Drusilla first and to protect her to the death no matter what. He was to defer to all her wishes unless he knew that it was going to put her in danger. I shrieked at him that he didn´t matter unless he was looking after a brown eyed brunette. I shouted those *exact* words at him a good few times. All during the time I was with Clarice in her slumber, I had only whispered at her but this time I had been yelling at the top of my voice at the smaller male. Eventually he woke up and again it had worked as he asked for Drusilla as soon as he had stopped feeding from me. It was only a few day´s later that I realised just what I had Sired. A loud, rude, uncouth Fledgling. He was nasty, mean and quick tempered to everyone except Drusilla. William barely even tolerated me, his Sire coming into contact with Dru. The first few minions that came within touching distance of Drusilla were torn apart before I could stop it."
A bitter laugh echoed throughout the room as Angel hung his head. He was ashamed that he had created such Childer as Spike and Drusilla. People who would have had such normal happy lives if he hadn´t destroyed them.
"It took weeks of beatings, torture and rapes to make him submit to me. In the end it took me constantly belittling him, deriding his whole being that made him stop growling and snarling every time I went near Drusilla. William wasn´t just protecting her, he was obsessed with her. I had gone too far with the instructing while he was slumbering. Drusilla was happy and actually took to him better than Clarice, that was one of the very few things that stopped me from staking him during the first week, that and the fact that I was running out of time. I hated him, I loathed every fibre of his body. He was everything that Clarice wasn´t, he was lower class, illiterate, had a shocking accent and had no respect for his Sire. I took great delight in comparing him to the dusted Clarice and pointing out how much better she would have done a task than he did when I set one for him. I broke his fingers and ribs too many times to count when he was taking too long with any task I set for him, be it learning to read or even working the intricate hairstyles that Dru so loved. I just didn´t have the time to train him properly, he was a total rush job. I had to get three years worth of training into a handful of months. The way I treated both Clarice and Drusilla was soft compared to the way I bullied and beat my way with William."
"Fuck me!"
"Almost six months after I had turned William, I left for Venice and The Master. Darla was happy about the new Childe even after I had told her about the disaster with Clarice. She came back over with me to meet her new Grandchilde only to be shocked at how rude and arrogant he was and expressed her dislike in a very painful way. From then on, I treated him as worse than a minion, just like a savage dog that need to be kicked every time it was passed. The only one who showed him any kindness was Drusilla in her odd way. I gave him a dog´s name, Spike and was amused when it stuck. If ever he snapped at me too much, I would either discipline him or humiliate him by giving him to the minions to use as they pleased until either I had decided it was enough or Drusilla wanted to go out hunting. That went on for a good few years, only stopping when I go bored with it all. He eventually settled down into the role of the youngest Childer and after a few mishaps, asserted himself over the minions."
"Uh...um, ok?"
"Although I never stopped disliking him, I did occasionally go out hunting with Drusilla, Spike always by her side. I was proud in a way that my youngest Childe was sticking so true to his training. This went on for more years than I care to remember until the fateful holiday with Darla in Romania and you know what happened after that. Spike was never intended to happen, he was unplanned and unwanted from day one."
"Right. Um, why did you tell me all that?"
"I have a problem. Spike is unknowingly following his set of instructions by starting to fixate on Xander. You have to look on it from his point of view. Xander is brunette, dark eyed and extremley needy at the moment. That hand holding incident at the hospital a few days ago wasn´t the first time that Spike has comforted Xander. Spike is helping the boy through nightmares every night by holding him while he sleeps. Have you noticed that Spike is just a few notches gentler with Xander than he is with everybody else?"
"No, I haven´t, what the hell are we going to do? I mean in one way it might be good to know that Xander is being protected but an obsessed vampire in the hotel is something that I don´t want to live close too"
Wesley was shocked by what Angel had revealed. He had never heard of Clarice and had always bought into the theroy that Angelus picked Spike for his beauty. The man had no idea of what to do and knew that his lover was stuck with the very dilemma himself.
