Fic: Shanshu 13 - Two For the Price of One

[dragonyphoenix]

Title: Two For the Price of One
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 444 - Money Lies
Rating: PG
Summary: Part 13 of Shanshu
Word Count: 1052

About a half-dozen of Buffy's Slayers had vanished into the catacombs that lined the crypt. It wasn't until Babs burst back out, shouting for Wes, that Buffy realized nobody had told them to be not telley around Angel. “Angel! You're hurt,” Buffy exclaimed. “We should get you back to HQ and get you checked out.”

“I'm fine.” He was staring at the artifact – glass or at least clear and star shaped but with more than five points – that Babs was handing over to Wes. Okay, deep breath. Maybe it was part of the reason the demons had taken Angel.

“Ah, yes,” Wes said. “Good eye, Barbara.”

“I thought Mr. Theroux,” Barb replied.

“Yes, yes,” Wes said absently. “It's certainly rare enough that he'd want it for his collection.”

Or maybe the artifact had nothing to do with Angel. She should have bonked Wes on the head rather than wasting her time trying to drag Angel away.

“What's going on?” Angel asked.

Wes' mouth opened but nothing came out. Only a Watcher could be so distracted by an artifact that he'd forget Angel was standing right there. Damn. She'd known better than to bring Wes. “It's part of why the demons brought you here.” She could at least try to get Angel off the scent. “This Throw guy, well he's kind of an expert on how pointy bracelets are used in rituals.” Pointy bracelets? Really? It was kind of bracelet sized and would look cool with her …

“You're selling it,” Angel said.

Shit.

“You're taking demonic artifacts and selling them.”

“I, well, ah.” Wes was no help.

Babs stepped away, moving as she spoke. “I'll just get back to my …” She pointed toward the catacomb she'd run out of. At least she had enough sense to not spill the beans, even though they'd already been spilled so it was more like she wasn't adding to the spillage but at least she knew when to go away.

Angel turned on Buffy before she had a chance to tear into Wes, not that she was about to with Angel standing right there. “You said you didn't need funding. I had all those Wolfram & Hart accounts sitting there, ripe for the plucking, and you told me that you had the money under control.”

She could have had something prepared. She'd known he'd figure it out someday. She could have been ready for this. She wasn't.

“You lied to me about money? You lied to me?” You lied to me about money was bad enough but that plaintive quiver in his voice when he'd said you lied to me? He was going into that broody place, the one that not even ice cream could break him out of, not that Angel was ever big on ice cream.

“Not lied so much as …” No, they had lied but they'd had a good reason. “That was evil law-firm money.”

“You won't take my firm's money, but you will steal from random demons?”

“We defeated these demons. There are spoils or money spoiling if you let it sit too long or, um, something.” She let her sentence run down at the end. That money spoiling concept couldn't be right.

“We defeated Wolfram & Hart.” Right. That. And this is why she'd kept it from Angel. Because it made sense when you said it that way but it had also made sense when Wes had said to leave the lawyer money alone.

“I advised her against accepting access to the Wolfram & Hart accounts.” Thank you Wes for finally jumping into the fray.

“You advised her?” Good, let Wes deal with Angel's wrath. Wes, at least, didn't have to worry about dog houses and sleeping in his own bed privileges being revoked. Not that Angel could kick her out of her own bed, but she liked it when he was there with her.

“Yes,” Wes said. “We'd been affiliated with Wolfram & Hart. If we took their money as we left, a case could have been made that we were continuing our employment, and that might have given the Senior Partners access to this dimension.”

“Let me get this straight. First Spike shanshues and now you lie to me.”

“Technically we lied first.” Oh, right. So not the point to make.

“Spike did what?”

Okay. Who knew that Wes' glare could be that intense. “Spike shansued.” Before Wes could start in on her, Buffy blurted out, “Not hiding anything from you. We just found out. Xander callage. During the fight.”

“Oh dear.” Buffy glanced at Angel who looked as worried as she felt. “Sophia,” Wes called out. “Do we have any indications what these demons wanted Angel for?”

Sophia ran over. “We found this.” This had an outer circle, about an inch wide, and squiggly lines – lightning bolts maybe? – running down to an inner circle that surrounded a cross.

Wes stared down at the object. “Oh dear,” he said again.

“Oh dear what?” Buffy asked. “Oh dear they almost killed him? Oh dear they almost opened a Hellmouth? Oh dear they almost transported us to a world without shrimp?:

Wes raised his head and caught Angel's gaze, “Oh dear they almost shanshued him.”

“Shanshu?” Shit, Angel sounded like he wanted it. They'd talked about it. Angel was perfectly okay with not becoming human again. Why would he sound like he wanted it?

Buffy jumped in. “But Spike's already shanshued.” Okay, and that wasn't the best thing to remind Angel of. “One shanshued vampire per apocalypty ritual, right? Why would they need another?”

“It's possible they didn't know Spike had shanshued.” For a moment, Wes looked as if he'd bitten into a lemon. Whatever he'd just thought, it was worse than the demons not knowing Spike had shanshued. “Or it could be two sets of demons, each intent on their own apocalypse.”

“What? Two apocalypses? No. Bad. Not two apocalypses. One is bad enough.”

“What can we do?” Angel asked.

“We'll need to secure Spike immediately.”

“Willow's there,” Buffy said. “And Xander. Willow and Xander. They can handle it, right?”

“I'm afraid not. We need to be in L. A. ourselves, as quickly as possible.”

Oh, great. Spike being all big with the googly eyes. Angel being all jealous. And an apocalypse. At least it wasn't two apocalypses.

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Oh my god I love this! The Buffy/Angel bickering feels so true and everything is going haywire all at once and... MORE! MORE RIGHT NOW!


Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It's so wonderful to hear you're enjoying it.

The Buffy/Angel bickering feels so true. Thanks. I don't believe I've ever written Buffy/Angel bicker before.

[rbfvid.livejournal.com]

At least it wasn't two apocalypses.
Aww, you write amazing Buffy =)

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you. ;-)

[rahirah]

Well, at least it will distract Angel from the money!

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Good point. He should be well distracted. ;-)