Title: Secrets Part 4
Author: Salinah20
Email:
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Buffy sat in Angel’s office, trying to make sense of the papers spread before her. The more she stared, the more the numbers jumbled. "This can’t be, how can we make so much money?" she mumbled to herself as she stared at the numbers. Dropping her head into her hands, she rubbed her eyes as she listened to Victor and Dawn talking outside the door. She was happy that her sister had found someone; she wished it wasn’t a vampire, but was happy nonetheless. As her stomach began to growl, she realized maybe food would help sort the mess in her head. Standing to leave the office, she realized it was now quiet outside the office. She opened the door and drew a sharp breath.
Victor and Dawn were kissing, and it wasn’t a simple chaste kiss either. Dawn was leaning back on a column, one foot on the floor. The other foot was on the pole, with her legs spread enough that Victor was leaning his entire body into hers as they kissed. Buffy was so shocked she didn’t know whether to react as Dawn’s parent, her sister, or her friend. She decided to err on the side of caution and quietly slipped back into office.
Gathering her strength, she called out loudly, "Hey Dawn," before opening the door. This time the scene almost made her laugh. Dawn still leaned on the column, her face slightly flushed but she now had a confused look on her face. Victor was halfway across the room sitting on the couch, as if he’d been there the whole time. I guess dating a vampire can help with a lot of the teenage problems, Buffy thought to herself stifling a laugh. At least they wouldn’t get caught. "Have you guys seen Angel?" she calmly asked as if that was her intention all along.
"Nope," Dawn answered
"Haven’t seen him," Victor echoed.
"OK, thanks," Buffy said wandering off to the kitchen in search of brain food. She wondered how long it would be before they started kissing again.
******
She headed back towards Angel’s office with her stomach full and most of her number crunching headache gone. Not wanting to interrupt, or witness, anything else she loudly yelled, "If you guys see Angel, can you let him know I’m looking for him"
Dawn glared at Buffy, "Sure. I’ll tell him" She said between clenched teeth. God, will she ever go away, Dawn thought.
Victor looked at her, innocent as ever, "We’ll send him rushing to you," he said only half-joking. He was amazed that Angelus, excuse me, Angel, was playing second fiddle to his mate.
**********
As Angel entered the office, he looked at Buffy still staring at the numbers with a quizzical look on her face. "What are you doing?" he said motioning to the papers scattered around his office.
She looked up at him, ignoring his remark, "We have a problem"
Looking over the papers he shook his head, "I would say so, this is going to take hours to clean up"
Finally realizing they were talking about two different subjects, she said, "Not your office, I mean Victor and Dawn"
Now was Angel’s turn to have the puzzled look, "I thought you liked him"
"I do, it’s just that…well…I caught him and Dawn kissing," Buffy stammered.
"Well," Angel said moving to stand behind her and pulling her into his arms, "we knew that was just a matter of time"
"I know, but we never talked to him. We never explained about her blood," fear creeping into her voice.
"He won’t hurt her," Angel pulling her tighter in his arms trying to reassure her.
"I know, but what happens when they move past kisses. Angel, you and I both know that loving a vampire comes with a little donation here and there"
"I thought you liked it?" he said with a mischievous grin.
Buffy moaned softly at the memories, "It’s not that, believe me I do, we just can’t risk it with her"
"Um hm," Angel said noncommittally. He was trying to pay attention to her, but his mind was still stuck on the ‘donation’ she had mentioned.
"You know sometimes I feel I know your every move, and others I’m lost. Did that sound mean yes you’ll talk to him, or are you still stuck on the blood donation part?" Buffy said, in effect reading his mind.
"Know me that well, huh?" Angel chuckled.
"Yeah, without even turning around I bet your eyes are golden, your canines are long, and you are panting hard while trying not to stare at the pulse in my neck," Buffy said confidently.
Angel laughed and slowly drew his fangs across her skin.
"Angel, they’re in the next room, they’ll hear," Buffy said, panting in anticipation.
"Victor will hear us anywhere we are, and they’re too busy kissing right now to bother us," Angel said, not thinking about the impact of his words.
"They’re kissing again? Great, that ruined the mood," Buffy said pulling out of his arms and walking back behind the desk as Angel let out of growl of protest. "Tell me you’ll talk to him," she said staring into his golden eyes.
"Fine," Angel barked, "but right now I need…"
"To go to the kitchen and get something to eat. I’m busy with this right now," Buffy said, interrupting and effectively dismissing him.
Angel stomped to the office door, seriously frustrated, wondering if all the blood in the fridge could get her off his mind right now. "Victor!" he yelled. Not waiting for a response, he stormed into the kitchen.
Victor and Dawn disentangled themselves from the couch. He looked at Dawn apologetically as she pulled her shirt back down. "There’s no place in the world I’d rather be than in your arms right now," he said with a sigh as he stared into her love filled eyes. "I’m coming right back to them" He bent down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, then stormed into the kitchen to find out what was so important.
**********
Victor watched as Angel pulled one of the few human blood bags in the fridge out, and bit into it. "Damn, you’re not even heating it up. What the hell did she do to you in there?" he laughed.
"Nothing," Angel growled. Draining the blood bag, and feeling his bloodlust reduce to a slow simmer, he said, "We need to talk"
Victor sat down at the kitchen table, as Angel came to join him. "What’s up?" Victor asked, wondering if this conversation had anything to do with Angel’s sudden need for blood.
Angel sighed, where to start with this one. How can I explain this?, he wondered. "Buffy caught you and Dawn kissing earlier," he started.
"Yeah, I heard the door," Victor said staring at his hands. He was embarrassed to have been so caught up in the events that he hadn’t stopped at the first sound of the door. "She mad?"
"No, just worried. See Dawn’s…well…she’s…" Angel stammered, dropping his gaze from the other man.
"Not human?" Victor supplied.
Angel’s head snapped up as he glared at Victor. "How did you know that?" he asked through clenched teeth, worried about where Victor had gotten this information.
"With that much power, she couldn’t have been. Smells human though so I’m betting this is gonna’ be a good story," Victor said quickly explaining himself.
"She’s the key," Angel said quietly.
"The key to what?" Victor asked innocently.
"You can never take her blood," Angel said staring menacingly with her eyes.
"Wait a minute here, the guy who is taking samples from the Slayer has the nerve to tell me I can’t drink from someone?" Victor said angrily. Who does Angel think he is that he can dictate my love life?
Angel quickly stood and grabbed Victor by the throat, raising him out of his chair and slamming his head into the wall. Game face intact he growled, "No, the guy who is your sire is telling you that you can’t"
"Angel, you can’t have it both ways," Victor said with a sigh.
Puzzled at the sudden turn in the conversation, Angel mumbled, "What do you mean?"
"You can’t live life pretending to be a human, and only use vampire law when convenient" Victor knew this only too well, he’d tried to do both for a lifetime, and it never seemed to work.
Angel slumped in the chair releasing Victor in the process. "Maybe not, but I have to do what I feel is right even if that means switching lifestyles back and forth"
"Fine," Victor sighed. He would have to learn on his own. Returning to the original subject he said, "You never answered my question though, what is Dawn the key to?"
"Her blood tears down the doorways to the dimensions. We believe those doors are sealed, but nothing is ever certain" Angel looked into Victor’s shocked expression and sighed. "Buffy worries every time Dawn gets a scrape or cut, you can imagine what she’s feeling about a vampire taking Dawn’s blood"
"Wow," Victor said trying to let the news sink in, "How serious an issue are we talking here?"
"Not long ago a hell god came to collect the key. When she found out it was Dawn," Angel sighed as he running his hand through his hair. Figuring there was no good way to say it, he bluntly added, "let’s just say that Buffy died to protect her and stop the doorway from opening"
"Let me get this straight, they actually defeated a hell god?" Victor said in awe of the accomplishment. He had never heard of a mortal facing them and living to tell the tale, let alone defeating them.
"Yes, but Buffy had to give her life to do it," Angel answered trying to get the seriousness of the consequences across.
"Okay, one overwhelming piece of information a day," Victor said holding up his hands to stop the flow of information. Life around this place is never dull, he chuckled to himself. Looking into Angel’s eyes he answered the original question, "Tell her it’s done. Let her know I wouldn’t risk either of their lives for a taste" No matter how tempting, he thought as visual images of their recent encounter played in his mind.
*******
Dawn walked into the office and looked at Buffy rifling through the papers. "What did you and Angel fight about?" she asked angry that their fight had interrupted her and Victor.
Buffy stopped and looked up in surprise, "Fight? We weren’t…"
"Yes you were," Dawn interrupted. "He stormed out of here all grr and dragged Victor off to the kitchen in a hurry"
"Dawn, we weren’t fighting. I think he was just a little frustrated," Buffy said stifling a giggle.
"Why was he frustrated? What did you do?" Dawn crossed her arms in front of her chest. She’s not getting off easy this time, she thought.
"Well, he said something at the wrong moment and spoiled the mood," Buffy explained, leaving out as many details as she thought possible.
"Oh," Dawn answered, embarrassed as she realized what kind of frustrated he must have been. "Why was he grr though? Do all vampires get that way when they are… frustrated?"
"Well, depends on how they are frustrated" Buffy said laying the papers down on the desk, realizing this could be a long conversation. "If blood was offered and then taken away…" I can’t believe I’m having this conversation.
"What blood," Dawn eyes widened with the sudden understanding. "You mean yours?" she asked. shocked that her sister would ever do that.
"Uh, yeah" Buffy admitted.
"You mean he sometimes…you know…gross…but how come it doesn’t kill you?" Dawn asked embarrassed
"He has a soul Dawn. He’s in control of how much he takes. He would never take enough to hurt me" OK, maybe she’s starting to understand the difficulties of a vampiric relationship. This is good.
"Would Victor…"
"NO!" Buffy shouted interrupting that line of questioning, "Victor can’t ever do that" Looking at Dawn’s angry face she sighed, "Dawn you are still the key. If something were to happen, I don’t know, the wrong time, the wrong place…"
"Buffy, that lock closed long ago. Glory was the only one who could use me as a key," Dawn insisted.
"We don’t know that for sure. If there’s anything I’ve learned nothing is definite," Well maybe taxes, but certainly not death, Buffy added to herself, suddenly wondering where that expression came from.
"Do you like Victor?" Dawn asked interrupting her thoughts.
"Yeah, he seems like a good guy. Plus, it never hurts to have another vampire around to protect you. Just watch your tongue on his fangs, it hurts like a bitch" Buffy smiled as she turned back to the paperwork.
Dawn stared shocked at her sister and could feel the heat rising in her face as she realized her sister knew what they had been doing. She was saved from further embarrassment as Angel and Victor entered the room.
"Hey there sweetness, why don’t we leave the two lovebirds…" Victor stopped noticing the mess for the first time. "What are you doing?" he asked Buffy.
"Believe it or not, this is neater than when I left," Angel said softly chuckling. He ran his hands through his hair trying to figure out what she was looking for in all this paperwork, and praying she hadn’t found…
"I’m trying to help," Buffy said as a pitiful excuse, interrupting Angel’s thoughts.
"Help, how? By giving Cordelia something to do in the morning?" Victor laughed. He could see the brunette’s reaction to this mess in the morning.
"These aren’t Cordelia’s files," Buffy said looking accusingly at Angel. Angel froze. "They didn’t make sense, so I came to look at Angel’s"
"Buffy, I can explain…" he said walking towards her slowly. I knew I should have locked that drawer.
"Explain what? Why these numbers don’t match? Angel, hardly any of your clients pay, yet money keeps appearing in the account?" Buffy said, shaking the papers in her hand.
"She doesn’t know?" Victor asked, shocked that Angel never told her.
"Know what?" Buffy asked her eyes never moving from Angel’s.
"Oh, this’ll be good," Victor said plopping into a chair and pulling Dawn into his lap.
"What’s going on?" Dawn asked completely confused.
"That’s what I’d like to know," Buffy said, getting angry. What did Victor know that she didn’t?
"Buffy, I never knew how to tell you…" Angel trailed off. He knew this would surface one day, he had just hoped it had been later rather than sooner.
"Let’s start simply," Buffy said waving a single piece of paper accusingly at Angel. "Who’s John O’Connor?"
"I think you already know the answer to that," Angel said hanging his head.
Angrily, Buffy screamed at Angel, "Just answer me please, because right now my head is swimming with a million different ideas and…"
"It’s me," Angel answered, quietly cutting her off.
"OK, that wasn’t one of them," Buffy said, shock showing clearly on her face. She had figured he was getting payments from someone, but never that the money was his all along.
Dawn jumped off Victor’s lap and snatched the paper from Buffy’s hand. Staring at it she said, "I don’t understand. This is a bank statement with more zeroes than I’ve ever seen. If it’s you…" she raised her head to meet Angel’s gaze.
"How did you get this money, Angel? I know the Powers that Be don’t hand out paychecks" Buffy was reeling. Angel’s rich?
"Buffy, I’ve been around for almost 250 years. I got a bit here and there and it just added up," Angel said sheepishly.
"But Cordelia’s always saying you never did anything with investments," Dawn asked amazed by the turn of events.
"If you notice, I’ve never answered that particular statement," Angel said with a smile. "Actually that’s getting harder to do," he added almost to himself.
"Why didn’t you tell me?" Buffy asked, the pain of the deceit visible in her eyes.
"I wanted to, so many times, I just didn’t know how…" Angel trailed off.
"How about, ‘Oh, by the way, I got a little stocked away for a rainy day,’" Buffy spat. "That would have been a start"
Seeing the pain in Buffy’s eyes, Victor reached out and took Dawn’s hand, and slowly led her from the room. There would be other arguments to watch, that he was sure of. This one was getting too painful to witness anymore. He quietly shut the door as he left, leaving them in relative privacy.
"Think about it, Buffy. How could I afford an apartment, and a mansion in Sunnydale? How did I afford all my blood? How did I get an apartment immediately after I moved here? I got a car, and bought this hotel…" Angel trailed off the anger dying down. "How did you think I did that, love?"
"Well, I never really thought about that," Buffy said, realizing it had been in front of her the whole time and she had never noticed.
"I never lied to you," Angel said, only to be met with Buffy’s angry stare. "Not exactly anyway. I just never filled in the blanks," he quickly amended
"How can you accumulate money over all these years and no one notice that the account holder hasn’t died?" Buffy asked, confused with the technicalities of what she had discovered.
Angel chuckled softly. "The account holder has died several times. The money is always inherited by a descendant. Thus the John name on the account now"
"How could you do all this?" Buffy asked, knowing he was worse at math than she was.
"My accountant specializes in these sorts of things," Angel answered simply.
God he has an accountant, she thought shaking her head. "And he just trains someone else to do this every 60 years or so?"
"Not quite, he’s immortal also" Noticing Buffy’s expression he quickly added, "He’s not a vampire. He’s a demon on the good side of the scale"
"He’s good at what he does," she scoffed.
"Yeah," Angel said. "That’s not the only account," he added softly, looking at his shoes so he wouldn’t have to meet her eyes as she found out the scope of his wealth.
"How many?" she asked, wanting to know the whole truth.
"There are four; all with roughly the same amount of money in them. I own a few companies also" Angel felt the weight of the lie lifting off his chest as he told her everything.
"Let me guess, investment companies that buy real estate?" she asked with a smile.
"Yeah, that was me," he said sheepishly.
"I thought it sold pretty fast," she chuckled. Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, she asked the inevitable. "What did you do with the house?"
"Spike lives there now" Angel felt as if he could fly. The truth was out and he wouldn’t have to lie to her about it anymore. She’s not even mad anymore, he thought, smiling at his relief.
"Spike is living in my house?" she said, laughing at the irony of it all. She slowly stepped into his arms. "Are there any other gigantic surprises I should know about?"
"I’m a vampire," Angel said trying to keep a straight face.
"Is that why I never see you eating?" she laughed as she leaned her head on his chest.
"Oh you’ve seen that, well, more like felt it" Angel said, his voice filling with lust as the bloodlust rose in him again.
Tipping her head to the side, she closed her eyes as she bared her neck to him. He slowly lowered his head and began to plant soft kisses down her neckline. As he felt her pulse increase under his lips, he looked up at her. Her green eyes met his golden ones.
"I love you," Angel said.
"I love you too" Buffy answered him.
Angel slowly dragged his fangs across her neck. Her moan of appreciation was all the permission he needed, and he slowly sank his fangs into her neck. As the coppery blood began to flow over his tongue, he could smell her arousal and knew she wanted this as bad as he did.
Gently withdrawing his fangs, he tenderly licked the wound closed. He pulled her even closer to him and began to work on the buttons of her shirt.
"No," she said stopping him, "let’s go upstairs"
********
Knowing the two lovebirds had been completely engrossed in each other for hours, Victor slowly slipped out of the hotel. As he wandered through the darkened LA streets, he wondered if he was doing the right thing. How could I have known? he thought to himself.
He found himself stopped in front of a large office building. Staring at his shoes he again questioned his part of all this. I have no choice, he thought as he entered the large building.
A million fears and doubts plagued his mind as he rode the elevator up. He was so lost in thought he jumped when the bell rang announcing his arrival. Showtime, he thought to himself as he walked straight forward to the door at the end of the hall.
As he entered the office he said, "I’ve found your key"
"Excellent," Lilah answered, "Where is it?"
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