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snoggedI *finally* have a new chapter to share with you today! Hope it makes up for the wait. I also have a new banner to display. This one was made by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spikesredqueen
Title: Self-Destruct Button (11/?)
Author: snogged
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and many other corporations own the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series. I don’t.
Pairing: Willow/Spike
Word Count: 1328
Overall Rating/Warnings: FRAO/NC-17
Setting: Buffy – Post “Chosen”/Angel – set shortly after “Damage.”
Summary: Willow gets a party invitation from a certain warlock in Los Angeles.
Beta(s):angelskuuipo and purplefeen. All other mistakes are mine.
A/N: Written forrua1412.
Banner byrua1412
Banner byspikesredqueen
Previously On Self-Destruct Button
Afterward, Willow curled her body against Spike’s and he didn’t push her away. She rested her head against his shoulder, counting each inhale, counting each exhale. Despite all the words swishing around in her brain, she didn’t say a single one, preferring to give into the exhaustion and recognizing that a new plan could happen later.
Like tomorrow.
Tomorrow sounded good.
----
Willow’s dreams of tomorrow did not come to fruition. In fact, she and Spike had only gotten a few hours of much needed rest when the door to their hiding place burst open and Angel stormed in with Fred and Wesley staggering in behind him.
The champion of Los Angeles looked worse for the wear. Willow could see bits of demon skin embedded in his hair and his red silk shirt had been slashed by something that had obviously gotten in a good shot with its claws. Fred’s hair also had bits of demon in it and Wesley was sporting a small gash on his cheek.
“You look like shit, peaches,” Spike murmured, sitting upright. During their sleep, he had managed to divest himself of the shirt and coat that Willow hadn’t bothered to remove during their coupling, but he had ensured that his pants were zipped up so that was a plus right? At the very least, that simple gesture made Willow feel less guilty about people walking in and seeing her and Spike in bed – or more accurately, on a mattress- together.
“What happened?” Willow asked, quickly following Spike’s statement in an effort to avoid Angel’s inevitable growl and vent. The initial sleepiness in her tone transformed into a world of concern.
“Kith’hern demons,” Wesley said breathlessly, gently touching his marked cheek and wincing slightly. “They attacked us a few blocks from here. Angel managed to kill them all.”
“And we helped.” Fred beamed, pointing to the pieces of demon flesh still clinging to her ponytail.
Willow scraped her teeth across her bottom lip, realizing just how not good it would have been if the demons had been the ones doing the barging in instead of Team Angel. At least with them here, there would be time to develop a new plan to take down Cyvus.
“Those demons work for Vail. Or at least, they do when he’s having fake parties for witches and their vamp friends.” Spike explained, wincing ever so slightly as he squared his shoulders. “Bloody bastards, they are.”
“We already figured out that Vail’s invitation for Willow was falsified,” Angel replied. “The special alarm went off.”
“Ruffled your feathers a bit, eh?” Spike asked, chuckling softly.
“Well, actually, it wasn’t the special alarm,” Fred replied sheepishly. “It was the fire alarm. Knox got a little excited in the lab and certain things kinda turned…erm…smoky and maybe a little flame-y. But at least we know the fire extinguishers work and we know that it sounds like the special alarm and makes the lights flash and stuff. We also know… that you guys are not surrounded by a bunch of clawed, ugly creatures of the night and that is definitely of the good.”
Willow nodded, casting a glance at the silver chain that had caught a loose nail on the far wall and was now loosely hanging in a sliver of moonlight that had slipped through the room’s dusty window. “That is good, especially since your tests didn’t exactly work on that thing.”
Willow knew that wasn’t entirely true, given how the design had left a faint mark on Spike’s skin, but admitting to that might make Angel, Wesley, or Fred ask questions that didn’t need to be getting asked right now. It was bad enough that Angel had super-powered smelling and was currently giving her a look that said he knew what she and Spike had been up to anyway.
Wesley pressed his lips together, drawing a thin, pale line across his face. “Curious. I assisted Fred with her work the night before your party. We followed the book’s exact instructions….”
“Book?” Willow asked, arching an eyebrow. Normally, she was all for trusting books. They came in super handy with the research and could kill an entire afternoon by sucking her into their well-described pages. Not that she’d ever been sucked into a book literally. It was more like a metaphorical thing. Even so, she hadn’t forgotten the Moloch incident and she knew that Wesley’s research department at Wolfram and Hart was all about the scanning and the downloading of books. There was no telling how many facts in those had been altered in an effort to benefit the firm in their countless legal cases.
“Knox had told me about it,” Fred explained. “Apparently, he’d done his internship in the research department and had assisted with scanning several hundred documents. Thankfully, that boy has a mind like a steel trap and had the stones to convince the firm to move him into a way cooler position.”
Everything about Fred’s mannerisms made Willow think that Knox was trustworthy, but at the same time, she was the one with the outsider’s perspective and that perspective was telling her that Knox and Eve were in cahoots with each other.
Why else would the amulet be a red herring that just happened to have a few vampire-rejecting properties?
But she didn’t need to speak up, because Spike did. “Well, I’d say your boy did us about as many favors as that sodding bitch, Eve, did.”
The color drained from Fred’s face and she lowered her head, staring at her toes for a long moment before she looked up at them again. “Sorry. I really didn’t know that it was going to do that and I’m sure Knox didn’t know that Eve was going to trick us either.”
“Well,” Willow offered, knowing she had a way to make Fred’s apology worth while. “We all know that Cyvus Vail is not to be trusted and we know there’s some Circle thingy that he wants me to join. So let’s start there and then figure out how to end his reign in LA.”
“The bloke’s attached to a wheelchair and IV needles. How hard can it be?” Spike scoffed, a well of anger springing up behind his tone.
“Hard enough,” Willow reminded him, tentatively resting her hand on Spike’s shoulder. She should have known that Spike would want to leap back into the fray, to seek revenge on the warlock for getting one over on him, but she hoped that the simple gesture of touching him would be enough to keep him from going rogue. Of course, touching him like this kind of made her want to touch him other places too, but now was not the time to be thinking those thoughts. They had a world to save.
“Not to interrupt your little moment here or anything, but what did Cyvus say exactly about the Circle?” Angel asked dryly.
“He called it the Circle of the Black Thorn. Said they keep the wheels of inhumanity spinning and they were hoping I’d be their new grease. As you’ve probably figured out, Vail wasn’t a big fan of my answer.”
The response that followed came so far out of left field that Spike and Wesley did a double-take and Fred’s and Willow’s eyes widened with confusion and surprise.
“I think you should have said yes,” Angel replied sternly.
“What?” Willow asked, more loudly than she intended to.
“You’ve got to be bloody joking, mate!” Spike said simultaneously.
Clearing his throat in an oddly Giles’ like way, Wesley offered: “I’m quite certain Willow made the best decision, Angel.”
“She’s one of the good guys,” Fred chirped, nodding her head in agreement.
“I’m aware,” Angel replied. “I’m merely suggesting that if she had said yes, it would be far easier for us to infiltrate their group and destroy them from the inside out. That Willow and Spike were the only ones in attendance at Cyvus Vail’s party tells me they like to keep themselves close-knit.”
Spike pursed his lips, before nodding his head in ascent. “Bugger. Starting to think you have a point there, pouf.”
“So what do you suggest?” Wesley asked.
Willow caught the devious twinkle in Angel’s eyes and found herself feeling reassured by whatever plan might be cooking inside that brain of his.
“I suggest we throw them a party.”
Chapter 12
spikesredqueenTitle: Self-Destruct Button (11/?)
Author: snogged
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and many other corporations own the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series. I don’t.
Pairing: Willow/Spike
Word Count: 1328
Overall Rating/Warnings: FRAO/NC-17
Setting: Buffy – Post “Chosen”/Angel – set shortly after “Damage.”
Summary: Willow gets a party invitation from a certain warlock in Los Angeles.
Beta(s):
angelskuuipo and purplefeen. All other mistakes are mine.A/N: Written for
rua1412.Banner by
rua1412Banner by
spikesredqueenPreviously On Self-Destruct Button
Afterward, Willow curled her body against Spike’s and he didn’t push her away. She rested her head against his shoulder, counting each inhale, counting each exhale. Despite all the words swishing around in her brain, she didn’t say a single one, preferring to give into the exhaustion and recognizing that a new plan could happen later.
Like tomorrow.
Tomorrow sounded good.
----
Willow’s dreams of tomorrow did not come to fruition. In fact, she and Spike had only gotten a few hours of much needed rest when the door to their hiding place burst open and Angel stormed in with Fred and Wesley staggering in behind him.
The champion of Los Angeles looked worse for the wear. Willow could see bits of demon skin embedded in his hair and his red silk shirt had been slashed by something that had obviously gotten in a good shot with its claws. Fred’s hair also had bits of demon in it and Wesley was sporting a small gash on his cheek.
“You look like shit, peaches,” Spike murmured, sitting upright. During their sleep, he had managed to divest himself of the shirt and coat that Willow hadn’t bothered to remove during their coupling, but he had ensured that his pants were zipped up so that was a plus right? At the very least, that simple gesture made Willow feel less guilty about people walking in and seeing her and Spike in bed – or more accurately, on a mattress- together.
“What happened?” Willow asked, quickly following Spike’s statement in an effort to avoid Angel’s inevitable growl and vent. The initial sleepiness in her tone transformed into a world of concern.
“Kith’hern demons,” Wesley said breathlessly, gently touching his marked cheek and wincing slightly. “They attacked us a few blocks from here. Angel managed to kill them all.”
“And we helped.” Fred beamed, pointing to the pieces of demon flesh still clinging to her ponytail.
Willow scraped her teeth across her bottom lip, realizing just how not good it would have been if the demons had been the ones doing the barging in instead of Team Angel. At least with them here, there would be time to develop a new plan to take down Cyvus.
“Those demons work for Vail. Or at least, they do when he’s having fake parties for witches and their vamp friends.” Spike explained, wincing ever so slightly as he squared his shoulders. “Bloody bastards, they are.”
“We already figured out that Vail’s invitation for Willow was falsified,” Angel replied. “The special alarm went off.”
“Ruffled your feathers a bit, eh?” Spike asked, chuckling softly.
“Well, actually, it wasn’t the special alarm,” Fred replied sheepishly. “It was the fire alarm. Knox got a little excited in the lab and certain things kinda turned…erm…smoky and maybe a little flame-y. But at least we know the fire extinguishers work and we know that it sounds like the special alarm and makes the lights flash and stuff. We also know… that you guys are not surrounded by a bunch of clawed, ugly creatures of the night and that is definitely of the good.”
Willow nodded, casting a glance at the silver chain that had caught a loose nail on the far wall and was now loosely hanging in a sliver of moonlight that had slipped through the room’s dusty window. “That is good, especially since your tests didn’t exactly work on that thing.”
Willow knew that wasn’t entirely true, given how the design had left a faint mark on Spike’s skin, but admitting to that might make Angel, Wesley, or Fred ask questions that didn’t need to be getting asked right now. It was bad enough that Angel had super-powered smelling and was currently giving her a look that said he knew what she and Spike had been up to anyway.
Wesley pressed his lips together, drawing a thin, pale line across his face. “Curious. I assisted Fred with her work the night before your party. We followed the book’s exact instructions….”
“Book?” Willow asked, arching an eyebrow. Normally, she was all for trusting books. They came in super handy with the research and could kill an entire afternoon by sucking her into their well-described pages. Not that she’d ever been sucked into a book literally. It was more like a metaphorical thing. Even so, she hadn’t forgotten the Moloch incident and she knew that Wesley’s research department at Wolfram and Hart was all about the scanning and the downloading of books. There was no telling how many facts in those had been altered in an effort to benefit the firm in their countless legal cases.
“Knox had told me about it,” Fred explained. “Apparently, he’d done his internship in the research department and had assisted with scanning several hundred documents. Thankfully, that boy has a mind like a steel trap and had the stones to convince the firm to move him into a way cooler position.”
Everything about Fred’s mannerisms made Willow think that Knox was trustworthy, but at the same time, she was the one with the outsider’s perspective and that perspective was telling her that Knox and Eve were in cahoots with each other.
Why else would the amulet be a red herring that just happened to have a few vampire-rejecting properties?
But she didn’t need to speak up, because Spike did. “Well, I’d say your boy did us about as many favors as that sodding bitch, Eve, did.”
The color drained from Fred’s face and she lowered her head, staring at her toes for a long moment before she looked up at them again. “Sorry. I really didn’t know that it was going to do that and I’m sure Knox didn’t know that Eve was going to trick us either.”
“Well,” Willow offered, knowing she had a way to make Fred’s apology worth while. “We all know that Cyvus Vail is not to be trusted and we know there’s some Circle thingy that he wants me to join. So let’s start there and then figure out how to end his reign in LA.”
“The bloke’s attached to a wheelchair and IV needles. How hard can it be?” Spike scoffed, a well of anger springing up behind his tone.
“Hard enough,” Willow reminded him, tentatively resting her hand on Spike’s shoulder. She should have known that Spike would want to leap back into the fray, to seek revenge on the warlock for getting one over on him, but she hoped that the simple gesture of touching him would be enough to keep him from going rogue. Of course, touching him like this kind of made her want to touch him other places too, but now was not the time to be thinking those thoughts. They had a world to save.
“Not to interrupt your little moment here or anything, but what did Cyvus say exactly about the Circle?” Angel asked dryly.
“He called it the Circle of the Black Thorn. Said they keep the wheels of inhumanity spinning and they were hoping I’d be their new grease. As you’ve probably figured out, Vail wasn’t a big fan of my answer.”
The response that followed came so far out of left field that Spike and Wesley did a double-take and Fred’s and Willow’s eyes widened with confusion and surprise.
“I think you should have said yes,” Angel replied sternly.
“What?” Willow asked, more loudly than she intended to.
“You’ve got to be bloody joking, mate!” Spike said simultaneously.
Clearing his throat in an oddly Giles’ like way, Wesley offered: “I’m quite certain Willow made the best decision, Angel.”
“She’s one of the good guys,” Fred chirped, nodding her head in agreement.
“I’m aware,” Angel replied. “I’m merely suggesting that if she had said yes, it would be far easier for us to infiltrate their group and destroy them from the inside out. That Willow and Spike were the only ones in attendance at Cyvus Vail’s party tells me they like to keep themselves close-knit.”
Spike pursed his lips, before nodding his head in ascent. “Bugger. Starting to think you have a point there, pouf.”
“So what do you suggest?” Wesley asked.
Willow caught the devious twinkle in Angel’s eyes and found herself feeling reassured by whatever plan might be cooking inside that brain of his.
“I suggest we throw them a party.”
Chapter 12
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no subject
on 2011-05-02 02:24 pm (UTC)AWESWOME CHAPTER, TOTALLY CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
no subject
on 2011-05-03 05:51 am (UTC)I'm so glad you enjoyed it!