Prompt 83 - A court without a king - BtVS

[thismaz]

I remembered that I forgot to put a timestamp on last week's chapter. That was Friday late morning, while Xander was waiting for Jesse to wake up. This is later that same day.

Also, many thanks to c_woodhaven for the pretty banner from last week, which is now safely mounted on my user page, so I can admire it.

 Title: A court without a king
 Fandom: BtVS
 Prompt: 83 - The Underground
 At: tamingthemuse
 Rating: Older Teen
 Summary: Part 22 of my pre-season one story.
 Word Count: 3,400
 Comments: Are greatly appreciated, loved and cherished.
 Some dialogue borrowed courtesy of http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/
 Previous parts:
 In reverse order, in tags here
 In my memories.
 Or, starting here with links to the next, at the end of each chapter.
 Disclaimer: here.
Now beta'd by the wonderful laazikaat

Warning (highlight the white area to see the warning text):

Demon Spike/Vamp Xander story

22. A court without a king

Friday evening

The awareness of Sunset prickled at the corners of Angel's mind. After Luke left, he was undisturbed and it was difficult to judge time in solitary, but the instinctive awareness of the sun's movements told him it was now 8pm. Not that it made any difference, except that he knew the rest of the residents in the warren would be waking up and if he didn't want to attract attention, he'd have to be quieter.

He'd spent most of the hours since Luke's visit smashing the manacles around his ankles against the rock wall. It had been a painful and frustrating task, since the chains were so short and every impact sent sharp bursts of pain through his wrists and arms as the bones ground against each other, but eventually he'd managed to break them open and kick them aside. His broken arms were black with bruises and wouldn't permit the same attempt for the manacles on his wrists, but he took satisfaction in his minor victory. At least he could now stand up and move around a little, for all the good that did him.

Resuming his seat on the floor, Angel leaned against the wall with his legs outstretched, resting his forearms on his thighs to relieve the pressure. He allowed his head to fall back and closed his eyes. He hadn't eaten for over twenty four hours and then it had only been pigs' blood. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but his injuries were crying out to heal and the resultant hunger was causing his throat to ache with need.

A voice raised in indignation stirred him from his half-trance state, just as two men entered the cave from the tunnel leading up to the main cavern. One was a large, lumbering minion, the other was human, fighting his captor as he was shoved and dragged along by a powerful grip on his arm. "Leave me the fuck alone, man," the human cried. "What are you doing? Let me go, you bastard!"

The minion took no notice, ignoring the wild swings of the human's free fist, not even blinking when the occasional one connected. He merely gave his prisoner a violent shake, causing him to stumble, so he would have fallen if his captor hadn't kept him upright. The minion paused near the torch and unhooked a set of keys dangling from the bracket that held it.

Angel watched, expecting the human to be shoved into one of the other cells. He was surprised therefore when it was his own cage door the minion opened, letting go of the human with a last shove. The human took a few stumbling steps, before he fell to his hands and knees, his head hanging below his shoulders. He stayed there for as long as it took to draw in one deep breath, then lurched back up onto his feet, spun around and threw himself at the door. Too late, the minion pushed it shut against his inadequate resistance and turned the key in the lock. Not even pausing to look at Angel, he then walked away, replaced the keys and left the cave, apparently in a hurry.

Angel stayed where he was; moving would only cause his arms pain. The human turned and slumped against the door, allowing himself to slide down it, until he too was sitting on the floor. Then he raised his head and registered Angel's presence for the first time. "Who are you?" he asked. "Why am I here? What do they want?"

Angel shrugged, his mind playing out various scenarios to explain both why Luke had apparently decided to feed him and what exactly he could say to his proposed meal. After a moment it occurred to him that he should try to reassure the man, so he offered a tentative smile. That seemed to help a little, because the man rolled over and began to crawl towards him, studying him carefully as he approached.

When he was about level with Angel's feet, he suddenly stopped and sat back on his heels, eyes fixed on Angel's arms. "My God, your hands!" he exclaimed, his eyes flying up to meet Angel's.

"I'm Angel," Angel said. "They're broken." He shrugged again, attempting to belittle the seriousness of the obvious damage. "There's not much we can do about it though."

The man nodded. "Liam," he replied, automatically, missing Angel's start of surprise as he looked around the bare cell. Turning back he added, "You need to bind those." Leaning forward, he took a closer look, still not touching, then he began to drag at the hem of the tee shirt he wore under his unbuttoned shirt. "I saw this on the movies. We haven't got a splint, so this will have to do."

Angel realised he was going to use his tee shirt to fabricate bandages. The prospect of Liam's exposed skin, the pulse beating beneath it, jolted him into action. "No!" he said, shuffling forwards and turning slightly, so Liam could see his back. He turned his head to look at Liam, over his shoulder. "Use mine. It's already torn."

Doubtful, Liam demurred, "You're hurt, man. You need to keep warm."

"It doesn't matter. It's torn already. The silk will make better bindings, believe me, and it's sticking to me anyway."

Liam threw him a sceptical look, but apparently accepted Angel's earnest expression as proof of superior knowledge, because he shrugged and capitulated. "Okay," he agreed and crawled closer. Manoeuvring behind Angel, he began to ease the cloth away from Angel's wounds and tear strips off the hem, sucking in a shocked breath as he exposed the burns on Angel's back.

Eventually he seemed to have enough and he returned to Angel's side. Lifting Angel's left arm, he rested the manacle on his own knee. "I need to straighten them, don't I?" he said, looking down at Angel's broken fingers.

"Yeah."

Taking a deep breath, Liam darted a glance at Angel's face. "I think this is going to hurt," he said.

Angel nodded his agreement and clenched his teeth.

It did hurt, exceedingly, and Angel only just managed to avoid shifting into gameface. Luckily Liam was concentrating on his task and didn't notice the momentary flash of yellow in Angel's eyes.

Once the fingers were straight Liam began to wrap the torn strips of cloth around them, talking as he did so. "Who are these people?" he asked. "What do they want?"

Angel was still thinking through what he should say about Luke and the court without a king, so he ignored the second question. "They're trouble." he replied. "How did they get you?"

Tying off the loose ends of the first bandage, Liam shook his head. "I don't know." He ran his hand gently along Angel's forearm. "Here too?" he asked.

"Yeah, both arms, my wrist and a couple of fingers on the other hand."

Liam winced, but he didn't flinch, simply moved around, placed one foot up in Angel's armpit, took a firm grip of his arm, above the wrist, and pulled. Angel closed his eyes and screamed, forcing his face to stay human by redirecting the pain into his voice.

Eventually the bone setting was over and he lent back against the wall, taking deep breaths. It still hurt like hell, but it was a different pain and he knew that a few days of good feeding would now see him heal straight. Not that he was thinking about that.

He opened his eyes. Liam was gazing at him. "Man," he said. "You are some tough dude!" Angel shook his head and Liam reached over for the rest of the strips of silk, laying them across his knee as he knelt at Angel's side.

"It wasn't as bad as it looked," Angel said. "But thank you for doing that. It took some guts." Deciding that distraction was at least as important as getting information, he asked, "What's the last thing you remember?"

Liam shot him a quick glance, before returning to his task. "I was in a bar." He picked up another length of the torn shirt and his mouth twisted with bitter amusement "I thought I was in luck, she was real pretty, but outside, there were these guys. I thought it was a jealous lover, but they didn't beat me up, just hit me over the head and I came to in the back of a truck. Are they planning to ransom us? What about the others?"

"What others?"

"There were two other people in the truck, a boy and a girl. What do they want with us?"

Deciding that lies and make-believe really wouldn't help, Angel offered up the truth. "With you? Food. With me? Revenge. Delayed revenge. When their master comes back. Until then, I suppose they decided to keep me healthy."

Liam snorted. "If you can call this healthy." He tied off the last strip and looked up at Angel. "I'm a student. Sure, my folks have money, enough so I can take a road trip this summer, instead of finding a job, but they're not rich. Not ransom paying rich."

"It's not about money."

Liam shuffled back so he was leaning against the wall, next to Angel. "Of course it is. What else would it be about?"

"Food."

"What do you mean, food?" Liam stared at him quizzically, his expression hovering between amused and incredulous. "You mean you think they're going to actually eat us? Are you crazy? That only happens in Hollywood thrillers. There aren't really any cannibals in America. I'm guessing they're going to come asking for contact details soon, so they can call for ransom. But my family can't pay much. What kind of idiots kidnap people without checking if they've got the money to pay? Do I look like I come from money?"

Angel turned his head and looked at Liam along his shoulder. "It really isn't about money," he said again, very seriously. "They're going to kill you. They're going to drink your blood and kill you."

"No, no, no, you said that, man. And see? I don't believe you. You're crazy. That's crazy." He began to edge away along the wall. "You're letting your imagination get away from you. How long have you been here, anyway? You don't know what you're saying. It must have been a while, if you've started to believe in urban myths. Come on, man. I mean, think about it. What's the most rational explanation? Huh? This is suburbia, not some..."

"Quiet!" Angel hissed, interrupting the stream of denial when he saw movement at the entrance to their cave. "There's someone coming."

"Oh, thank god! Maybe they'll believe me when I tell them my folks..." Liam looked up and fell silent with shock, taking in the sight of two minions exiting the tunnel. They were walking one behind the other, half carrying, half dragging two bodies between them, as if they were a pair of ladders. One had an arm around the bodies' chests, the other had her arms wrapped around their ankles. The body on the side facing the cage was a young woman, her short fair hair dangling down, half obscuring her face, her left arm dragging along the ground. As they walked past, Angel could just make out a pair of men's shoes on the feet of the other body. The minions made their way over to the dark corner of the cave and dropped then both. One of them then hauled them up, one at a time, and threw them onto the top of the heap. Then they turned and left, without even glancing in Angel's direction.

A shuffling sound, followed by retching, drew his attention back to Liam, who had at least had the common sense to throw up through the bars, as far from where they'd been sitting as possible. Eventually he subsided, huddled in on himself. He rolled away from the bars and raised his face to look at Angel. "That was the woman from the truck," he whispered.

*****

Saturday evening

Spike strode into Willy's, Xander and Jesse trailing behind him. He walked up to the bar and Willy himself came over to ask for his order. "Spike, my old friend," he said eagerly, a faint quiver in his voice. "What can I get you?" The question ended in more of a squeak, as Spike grabbed him by the collar and dragged him across the counter top, until his feet left the floor and the hard edge of the bar dug into his stomach.

"Where's Angel?" Spike growled.

Willy's arms flailed, knocking over a jug of water, scattering glasses and the occasional paper umbrella everywhere and sending a heavy ash tray crashing to the floor. "I don't know any Angel," he gasped.

Xander bent down and picked up the ashtray, then stood there, feeling foolish clutching it. Jesse shot him an amused look as he took up position at Xander's side, watching Spike's treatment of the human with the sort of attention he never paid in school. Xander turned to watch too.

When Spike released him Willy slumped, sliding back over the polished surface, like so much human slime, but before he could sink completely out of sight, Spike grabbed his collar again, holding him in place. Spike cocked an eyebrow. "Angel - tall brooding guy, caveman brow, vampire. Where is he?" he asked again.

Xander sneered at the whine in Willy's voice as he replied, "Oh, yeah, Angel, never met him, but there's been talk. Let me go and I'll tell you everything I know."

Spike shook his head. "First you tell me, then I consider letting you go," he corrected.

"Okay, okay, Um... Well... I might have heard a few things, you know, from the underground."

Spike looked sceptical. "The underground?"

"Yeah, you know. From things that live under the ground."

"You mean the court?"

The quiver had spread from Willy's voice to his entire body, which was shaking. "He'll gut me, if I say anything."

Spike smiled. "I'll gut you, if you don't"

"But he'll preach at me while he does it. You? You're more civilised, don't inflict your religion on people while you kill them."

With a laugh, Spike let him go. "What have you heard?"

Willy obviously didn't make the mistake of assuming that the laugh meant that he could relax. If anything he looked even more worried. "Not much, Honest! I don't know where Angel is! I swear on my mother's grave! Should something fatal happen to her, God forbid." As he was speaking, his eyes flicked behind Spike's shoulder and he gave a small jerk of his head.

Spike spun around, his coat tails flaring, and a vampire who had been edging sideways past the group, towards the door, froze. Two others were trying to make a break for the back door. Using the speed of his turn to add force, Spike kicked out, catching the first one in the middle, causing him to double over and sending him staggering back towards Xander, who raised the ashtray and brought it down on the back of the vampire's head. The vampire went down like he'd been poleaxed and Xander promptly sat on his stomach, grabbing Jesse and pulling him down to sit on their captive's legs.

By the time Xander looked up, Spike was across the room and the nearest of the fleeing pair was sinking to the floor, his head having apparently made sharp contact with the corner of the pool table. Spike was still in motion, his legs almost at shoulder level as he used the same pool table as a spring board, pivoting on one arm as he leapt over it. He landed like a cat on the other side and allowed his momentum to carry him forward into a dive, his shoulder connecting with the small of the vampire's back. They both crashed into the wall, but only Spike rolled free. He jack-knifed his legs in towards his waist, at the same time as he pushed his hands against the floor, and before Xander had really registered the move, he was back on his feet. Bending down, he took hold of the vampire's head and gave it a sharp twist. There was a muffled cracking sound and Spike slapped his hands together, ridding them of dust.

Meanwhile the other vampire was beginning to pull himself back up, using the pool table as a ladder. "Sire," Xander yelled, pointing.

Spike's head whipped around and his body tensed, but when he saw the object of Xander's concern, he grinned and relaxed. Straightening his coat, he sauntered around the pool table and took hold of a fistful of the vampire's hair. Pulling back, he forced the vampire to look up into his face. "Want to talk to me?" he asked. "Tell me what's going on in the underground?"

The vampire obviously had more loyalty than sense, because he shook his head, in so far as he could, with Spike's hold on him. Spike sighed. "Okay, then." He pulled the vampire's head back further and lifted it a few inches, until he was almost dangling from Spike's hand and trying desperately to get his legs under him. Then, with a crash, Spike slammed him back into the edge of the pool table, once, twice, three times.

The vampire's face was covered in blood when Spike lifted him again. Reaching out with his other hand, Spike picked up a pool cue, letting it slide through his grip, until the end hit the floor. He flung the vampire away from him, at the same time as he brought the cue up in a vicious stabbing motion. For a second the vampire stood there, gazing down at the pool cue in disbelief. His hands came up to clutch at his chest, as if he would pull it out and Xander feared for a moment that Spike had missed the heart. Tightening his grip on the cue, Spike pulled it free and there was a soft popping sound in the otherwise silent room. He watched dispassionately as another cloud of dust settled to the floor.

Beneath Xander, the final survivor began to buck and wriggle, attempting to dislodge him and Jesse, but he didn't have a chance and Spike's approving smile made Xander feel like he'd won the best prize in the lottery.

Spike wandered towards them, twirling the cue in his left hand. Stopping in front of Xander, he leant on the cue, bent at the waist and tilted his head, so he was addressing the vampire face to face from a distance of only a couple of feet. "What do you know about Angel?" he asked.

"He's at the lair, sir. Master Luke brought him in, because he killed a chaos mage. He's locked up in the store room," the vampire babbled.

"And is he safe?" Spike voice was friendly, genial, and the vampire obviously thought he had a chance, if he co-operated.

"Yes, sir. Master Luke even gave him something to eat. He wants him alive, when The Master comes back."

"And how do I get in to this store room?"

"Er, the entrance is through the Williamson crypt, in St David's. There's a tunnel that leads down to the lair." He looked up at Spike, pleadingly. "Please sir, if they know I told you, they'll kill me. Please, can I join your gang, sir. Please?"

Straightening up, Spike turned to Xander and Jesse. "Off you get," he instructed, with a wave of his hand.

They stood and stepped away. The vampire took a deep heaving breath of relief and made to scramble to his feet. He didn't even see the pool cue slam down through his chest, even as he was bracing his hands on the floor to help him stand.

Spike ignored the dust and turned around on the spot. Any other patrons who had been present were long gone, as was Willy. He sauntered over to the bar, reached across it and grabbed a bottle of whisky from under the counter. Turning back to Xander, he lifted it, like a prize. "Since the poof is safe for now, I think we should go and see if my Dru can think of a good way to get him out of there." He jerked his head towards the door. "Come on, time to meet the ancestor."


Continued here.

Comments

[lit-gal.livejournal.com]

Such a demonic Spike. I love this story... so much action! And I really wonder how Liam is going to take the news that Angel is a vampire, too.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. Yes, Liam, I know, but I'm not telling. *g*

[sparrow2000.livejournal.com]

Stunning fight scene at Willy's. It really does demonstrate why Spike is a Master Vampire and why he's survived so long, despite his occasional impulsive moments. I could just picture Jesse and Xander sitting on the other vamp - hee.

And Luke is interested in keeping Angel in a reasonable condition if he's stocked the larder. I wonder if what will win out - Angel's pragmatism, or his conscience, because Liam must be looking pretty damn tasty right now.

Really good chapter, love

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Yeah, I think watching Spike in action has probably given both Xander and Jesse something to think about.
As for Liam's fate... *g* Well, I know, but you wouldn't want me to tell you, anyway.
Thanks, hon. I glad you enjoyed it. Half way through writing I began to worry that I was getting too gory, but re-reading it just now, I think maybe not.

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

Luke has presented Angel with a nice piece of torture. All that blood his for the taking and his soul and demon screaming at each other over it. Even if he manages to resist he knows the guy's dead meat anyway. Exquisite.

Nice fight scene and perfect climax. Spike's hardly going to take on someone who can switch sides like that.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Luke has presented Angel with a nice piece of torture
And the funny thing is, he probably doesn't even know he's done it.
Poor Liam, the future is not looking too bright for him, is it?
Thank you, I'm pleased the fight worked. No, Spike wouldn't take a turncoat. It's funny, as I was writing that line, I got an absurd flashback to Gary Glitter singing D'you wanna be in my gang, my gang, my gang *laughs*

[smwright.livejournal.com]

So, Angel is (so far) resisting his meal? How noble of him. *g*

Lovely job at Willy's. The dialogue between Spike and Willy is perfect, and I adore the pride Xander seems to feel at his mini-conquest as well. Jesse's slight smugness as Xander stares at the ashtray is very true, too.

This just continues to get better and better. You craft these stories so well, each chapter having its own perfect place in the overall scheme of things. (And I believe I've given you a rather simple prompt with which to work as well!) I cannot wait to see what you come up with next. *g*

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

How noble of him.
*grins* But he is noble. He's a vampire with a soul and a conscience. Of course he's noble.
Thank you, your summary of the dynamic at Willy's is very reassuring, you caught all the things I was hopeful would work.
And thank you for the prompt. I'm thinking about it at the moment, but I must say, it is a very good one - adaptable to any genre, which has to be good.

[laazikaat.livejournal.com]

Love this Spike

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

*grins madly* Thank you.