Title: Secrets
Author: Salinah20
Email:
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Cordelia slammed through the doors to the Hyperion. Barely noticing the silence of the hotel, she sprinted up the stairs in record time and soon was standing before Angel’s door. The moaning coming from the room caused her to pause for a second, but only for a second.
She pounded on the door, "Angel!" Undaunted by the animalistic growl in response, she yelled, "You can fuck her later. We got work to do." Not waiting for an answer she went to rouse the rest of the hotel.
Inside the room, Buffy looked up into Angel’s shocked eyes. "Leave it to Cordy to say the most romantic thing."
Angel chuckled. "We better go," reluctantly withdrawing from her depths.
"Finish this later?" Buffy smirked as she quickly thrust her hips up not allowing him to escape that easily.
"This better be good, Cordy," Angel muttered reminding himself that murdering Cordelia would not be in his best interest.
******
Angel and Buffy walked down the stairs arm in arm to join the rest of the gang.
"What?" Angel barked, the anger in his voice obvious to all in the room.
"What the hell happened to your office?" Cordelia asked, gesturing to the mess of papers on the floor.
"Cordelia," Angel growled menacingly. If Cordelia got us out of bed for that, I will kill her, he mused.
"Oh, right…had a vision," Cordelia answered offhandedly, slowly turning away from the office door.
"And," Angel asked, prompting her to continue the story.
"There is a family trapped in some kind of silo. I tasted salt," she replied oblivious to his impatience.
"Fine, everyone get dressed. We need to go," Angel said nervously glancing at Buffy, thinking of the salty location.
"Victor can stay with Dawn," Buffy added matter-of-factly.
Angel looked up at the ceiling seeming to look through it. "He’s not here." Noticing the quizzical look on Buffy’s face he quickly added with a sigh, "Don’t ask how I know, he’s just not here."
"Where did he go?" Dawn asked, in a trembling voice.
"I’ll stay with her Angelcakes," Lorne said, ignoring Dawn’s comment. That was a can of worms he wasn’t going to open.
The couple both turned to look at him, and had to stifle a laugh at his attire. Lorne stood there in purple, footed pajamas that sparkled at every turn. The sequins reflected the light enough that he looked like a giant disco ball that would have been more at home in a nightclub.
"Uh, thanks," answered Buffy as she headed to the weapons closet to gather supplies. "Nice PJ’s," she shot over her shoulder not trusting herself to look at him as she said it.
"Thanks," Lorne beamed, thinking it was a compliment. "So, are we going back to sleep now?" he asked turning to Dawn.
"No, I’m awake now. Do you know where Victor is?" Dawn asked, pleading with her eyes for the answer.
"Tell you what," Lorne said leading her to the kitchen, "why don’t you sing me a song…"
********
As Victor strode confidently into the offices at Wolfram and Hart he said, "I’ve found your key."
"Excellent," Lilah answered grinning mischievously, "Where is it?"
"You were right, the slayer was protecting it. They said it doesn’t work anymore though…" he trailed off as he stalled for more time.
"Where is it?" Lilah repeated not fooled for a second by Victor’s delays.
"You’ll let them go once I tell you?" Victor asked, holding the information over her head until he heard the answer he wanted.
"No, our deal wasn’t to let them go, just to tell you where they are. Now, tell me where it is?" Lilah spat, her eyes sparking with anger.
Victor sighed, "She left it behind in Sunnydale. In the Sunnydale cemetery, in Buffy Summers’ grave." Please let his work, Victor added in silent prayer to the Powers that Be.
Lilah looked him up and down, looking for the telltale signs of a lie. Victor however had been around long enough to learn the art of the perfect lie. If Lilah took the bait it would mean at least two hours to get Dawn out of here. Finally, Lilah answered, "Very well. Your ‘family’ is in a silo at a saline factory in Redondo."
Victor spun quickly and raced for the door, only to be blocked by two heavily armed guards, each wielding a baton with a wooden stake at the end. "We didn’t agree to you leaving, Victor," Lilah said in a sing-song voice. "What would be the fun in that?"
*********
"You sure this is the place, Angel?" Gunn asked looking up at the saline factory.
"Yeah, this is it." He glanced at Buffy, looking for any signs of recognition. The smell of humans wafting in the wind caught Angel’s attention, "This way," he shouted breaking into a run, trusting the others to follow.
As they neared the silo, they saw the men standing guard. "You take left?" Angel whispered to Buffy.
Without acknowledging, Buffy charged towards the man on the left. Using her momentum to propel her, she lifted her legs into a flying kick connecting squarely with the man’s jaw. He hit the ground with a bone-crunching thud. As she glanced at Angel fighting the man on the right, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see the man she had just kicked sporting a game face, raising himself off the pavement. Without hesitation, she quickly pulled a stake from her waistband, leaned down and plunged it into his heart before he even got up from the sidewalk. "Vampires," Buffy yelled, alerting the rest of the group to be on guard.
"What gave it away?" Angel yelled back. Buffy turned to see the two men grappling, both in game face. The guard’s hands wrapped around Angel’s neck, attempting to crush the bones. Before Buffy could move, Gunn shot the crossbow into the guard’s heart. Angel fell to the ground clutching his throat as the guard exploded into dust.
"Uh guys," Gunn said softly, alerting them to more vampires coming out of the shadows behind him.
"Don’t worry. Got you covered," Buffy said, marching up to stand in front of the vampires. "So, who’s first?" she quipped, beckoning them forward with her fingers.
The first vampire charged her. She quickly dodged him, kicking her leg out to connect with his chest. Before he could recover, Buffy reached over and staked him. "Who’s next?" she asked as the dust settled around her feet. The remaining vampires looked at each other in terror; as one they turned and ran away.
Angel stepped up to the door of the silo. Tugging at the door, he snapped the chain holding it locked in place. He charged in full force to see the family hand sitting around on the floor of the silo, cowering in fear of him. Their hands and feet bound, their mouths gagged. He stepped up to the small girl as she shrunk back against the wall. "Shh," he said gently making quick work of her bonds, while the others freed the rest of the family. "It’s okay. We’re here to help."
"We can’t go," the father insisted his voice dripping with anguish. "They’ll kill him."
"Kill who?" Buffy asked mentally preparing herself for the fight to free whoever else was trapped.
"Victor," the wife answered breaking into sobs. Angel, Buffy, and Gunn all exchanged wordless glances.
Angel found his voice first, "Gunn, take them out to the car. We’ll be right behind you." What does Victor have to do with this? He wondered as he headed for the door following them to the car.
He froze as he heard Buffy mutter under her breath, "Déjà vu."
Turning to her, attempting to sound innocent, "What was that?" She couldn’t remember. It’s not possible.
"I don’t know," she said pulling him out of the silo much to his relief, "seems like I’d been in there before."
"Hmm," Angel answered noncommittally, thankful she didn’t seem to remember more. "Where do you think Victor is?" he asked changing the subject.
"Well, that’s the $20,000 question, isn’t it," Buffy replied as she climbed into the crowded car, leaving a puzzled Angel holding the door. Looking into his confused face, she laughed, "Never mind. Just get in."
*********
Victor paced in the supply closet turned holding cell. He knew it was only a matter of time before they found the empty grave. What would happen to him then? What would happen to those he cared about so deeply?
A scuffling noise on the other side of the door caught his attention. He could hear the guard whispering, trying to keep the conversation from Victor. How could these people have gotten on so long in the demon world, and still know so little about vampires? He wondered to himself, as he silently inched his way towards the door.
"They’re gone," he heard the guard whisper.
"They’re what?" Lilah answered incredulously. "Wait, let me guess, our marauding avenger strikes again"
"It was Angel," the guard confirmed. "The guards didn’t stand a chance. He had the Slayer with him," he added quickly trying to excuse the guards’ slip-up.
"The Slayer’s with him?" Lilah said an idea forming in her mind. "Bring them in," she ordered, a wicked grin spreading across her face.
Victor backed away from the door. He was conflicted as he felt overwhelming relief that his loved ones were safe, but a fear spreading through him as he realized Angel would learn of his deception. He was supposed to have found the key, and turned it over to Lilah. How was he supposed to know the key was a sweet, innocent girl? And that he’d fall in love with her?
Realizing Buffy and Angel could take care of themselves, and that they would protect Dawn, he vowed that they would get no more information from him. They had nothing hanging over his head now. He would die with the secret of the key.
**********
"Okay, how do you know Victor?" Angel growled at the family as soon as they entered the safety of the hotel.
"He has been a guest of our family for many years now. We have come to think of him as part of it," the man answered evasively.
"By ‘many years’ I’m guessing you mean generations, right?" Angel asked the man, as he crossed his arms and leaned against the post. The anger faded from his voice as he realized they were Victor’s family.
The man stared at Angel. Did he know what Victor was? As the rest of the gang stared at the man waiting for a response, his eyes never left Angel’s. Angel let the demon appear in his eyes for a brief moment. Seeing the golden eyes the man realized he was either among friends, or in deep trouble, and that either way, he wouldn’t be giving away any dangerous information. "That is correct."
"Did they say where they took him? Is he okay?" Dawn gushed. Unbeknownst to everyone in the room, she had crept down the stairs hearing the whole exchange.
"We don’t know," the wife replied gazing into Dawn’s love-filled eyes and watched as tears rolled down her face. "They wanted some kind of key and told Victor to find it."
Dawn eyes widened. "No…no…not again," she moaned, crumpling to the floor.
"We gotta’ get her out of here," Buffy said quickly to Angel, as Lorne hurried to Dawn’s side, "Where can we go?"
"She can’t stay with us. They’ll look for her there first," Angel practically growled. He never would have thought Victor to betray them like this. He hated himself for allowing Victor into their home, and cursed himself for ever telling him the truth.
"Gunn," he said turning to his trusted friend, "take Dawn and the family. Have your gang watch over them. Buffy and I will lay low for a while, Lorne…"
"I got a place," Lorne answered quickly with no fear in his voice. Angel blinked at the calm sound in the normal panicky demon’s voice, but agreed.
"Everyone pack a bag and make it quick. We’ll meet back here in three days," he ordered. As everyone ran up the stairs, he pulled Gunn aside. When the last person left the room he turned to Gunn, "They can’t have Dawn," he said quietly.
"Relax man, she’ll be safe," Gunn said confidently.
"You don’t understand," Angel said, the serious look in his eyes scaring Gunn, "they take her and the world ends. And I’m not talking metaphors here."
Gunn nodded slowly. "Is this the part where you tell me you’ll explain it all later?"
"Something like that," Angel said as he chuckled humorlessly.
**********
TBC
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