Bullets for a Deadman
The building Angel Investigations was in now, was an old small apartment building. It had six small apartments on the top floor, each barely more than a studio. The first floor and the basement were the gems of the building. It was a bargain because people had thought it was haunted, it turned out to be a raccoon in the walls. Angel would have much rathered a ghost, the raccoon turned out to be a pest, but he couldn't bring himself to kill it so he just had it removed and set free. Bleeding heart indeed...
The main lobby was actually rather large, it had a desk immediately facing the door, and two bookshelves on one wall, the other side had a set of small couches and a matching chair. Behind them was the door to the equally large basement that Angel turned into a training/weapons room.
She pushed her way through the glass double doors and frowned a little she saw Gunn and Connor sitting at the front desk with a grim look on their face.
"Where's Lorne?" She asked with a tired sigh.
"He's in the basement talking to Angel...Angelus? Tryin' to get a read on him without agitating him, but Lorne thinks that one soul suckin' demon Angel killed last week fucked him up, damaged his soul, he's not too sure just yet though," Gunn told her crossing his arms.
"So why are you guys leaving Lorne alone with an unstable Angel?" Faith demanded.
"Lorne says we agitated him," Connor bit off and gestured for the basement, "They're down there."
Faith huffed a little moving for the basement the door was partially open and as she moved closer she could hear Lorne's voice.
"Easy big fella I'm just trying to help, just relax we're gonna fix this okay?" his voice was nervous, almost as if talking to an injured dog.
When Faith moved down the stairs he found Lorne slowly backing up the stairs with his hands up at waist level. Angel's eyes immediately zeroed in on Faith's, she met Lorne halfway grabbing him by his colorful jacket and pulling him behind her nudging him up the stairs, "Get out, and lock the door behind you."
"Hey Faith," his voice was soft like Angel's but there was a slight smirk that pulled at the corners of his mouth that she could definitely tell wasn't Angel's.
She lowered herself down to sit on the stairs and started to reach into her pocket for a cigarette but frowned realizing she didn't grab them, "Don't suppose you got a cigarette handy?"
Angel didn't smoke, Angelus, however, would on occasion. He regarded her for a moment before fishing in his pocket and producing a pack she was pretty sure had been hers, to begin with. He moved up the stairs and sat next to her, a single stair lower than her. He put a cigarette in his mouth, lit it and inhaled deeply before handing it to her.
She took it from him and inhaled the much-needed nicotine. It calmed the very light shake to her hands and offered a slight heady feeling. It had been awhile since she had one, "How we gonna play this?" She asked him after a moment, handing him the cigarette back.
"Faithy," he shifted to the side so he was leaning on one elbow to look at her, "I can still do what needs to be done, I just happen to have a much better personality," his voice was low, but carried notes of amusement in it, still he spoke as if they were having an intimate conversation, "Angel's a stick in the mud and Angelus...he's a psychopath...but me...I'm somewhere right in between."
"Right in between Angel and Angelus is still pretty goddamned dangerous," Faith pointed out as he handed the cigarette back to her.
He stared her down, keeping that same small smirk on his face, but his hand casually rested on her knee. He felt her tense up, and the smirk widened, "Can't get anything past you can I?" he said with a note of sarcasm, his fingertips drawing patterns up and down her legs, "If I remember correctly, Faithy," his voice lowered more leaned in closer to her, "You like dangerous," he muttered, "Gets you all...lubed up."
Faith's face deadpanned and she caught his hand as he tried to slide it higher up her thigh. In one swift motion, she pivoted on the stairs, her opposite leg coming around to put a knee to his throat and pin him to the wall, "Angelus...Angel...who the fuck ever...don't fuck with me, you can either work with me or against me, but you're not gonna sit here and pretend to still be Angel and act like HIM at the same time, I don't got the time or the patience for your shit,"Faith tried to hide the cringe of pain as she was swiftly reminded of her injury.
It wasn't lost on him, not even a little bit. He could even smell the blood, it was easy enough to tell where she was injured. For a moment he didn't move, just a moment, and then his hand gripped her ankle and he yanked down hard. Her knees came down painfully on the stairs now straddling him. She went to move immediately but his hand gripped her side and she froze his thumb lightly gripping her injury his fingers pressed flat against the wound on her back.
"About that, Faithy," he chuckled softly, "You don't get to tell me what to do."
She was frozen in place panting slightly in fear and pain. He did love the smell of fear on her. He pinched out the cigarette and flicking it away, before using his free hand to brush through her hair. He cupped her face to force her to look at him, "You know I always smell her on you, is she as pretty as she smells?"
More fear crossed her face, but also anger, "Angelus I swear to God..."
"Shhhh don't worry, I won't hurt her if you do exactly what I say," he tapped her nose lightly with his knuckle, pressing a bit on her wound. She sucked in a breath and squirmed, but froze again remembering she was on his lap now, when he grinned "You're going to tell them, I'm fine to go back to work, and I'm going to continue to do my job, but you're going to be a good friend and let me drink your blood and I won't hunt down that pretty little girlfriend of yours and rape her to death...how does that sound?"
If Faith could have gotten paler she did as fear settled in the pit of her stomach... until the anger welled up in its place,"You son of a bitch," Faith growled her hands reached up to grip his coat and she pushed off the stairs with her feet knocking them both down the stairs, flipping them so Faith landed on top. She punched him square in the jaw, with wild repeated punches. Angelus's thumb directly into her wound put a stop to that quickly.
She cried out in pain, the sound was music and the smell of blood became fresher. He flipped them over and pinned her down with a forearm to the throat, "You lost a lot of blood Faith, How did you think this was gonna go?" He dug his thumb into the hole in her side, ripping through the bandage and heedless of the gauze. This time Faith screamed and thrashed beneath him, but she was weak right now, "Oh keep wiggling that is SUCH a turn on," he dug his thumb deeper than pulled it out again, then stuck it back in, her cries of pain washed over him.
Frank had been watching across the street with binoculars when she disappeared into another room that was when Frank decided he needed to go inside. Especially when another man left...what...the HELL was he wearing? Some kind of ridiculous costume. The man poured a drink and retreated up the stairs, even through all that makeup...he looked afraid.
He couldn't keep an eye on her from there, he decided. She'd be pissed that was for sure, but if she was safe it didn't matter. They were a place of business, so Frank got out of his van and quickly strolled in, taking in his surroundings, "Hey, um, so...I heard you guys take jobs no one else does?" he asked casually.
"That we do..." The dark-skinned man looked at him warily right off the bat, mistrust in his eyes, "Can I help you with somethin'?"
"I don't know maybe, look man..." Frank was just playing this by ear, hoping to distract him long enough for Faith to come back up and him to physically see she was okay. He looked around as if nervous, checking out every corner of the lobby. "Look...someone's been following me, man..." he laid on the paranoia thick.
"Have you gone to the police?" he asked pursing his lips.
"The Police? Nah man, they're in on it, can't trust anyone, I don't even know if I can trust you guys, for all I know you could be workin' with THEM," Frank nearly rolled his eyes at his OWN ridiculousness.
"Look, man, we can't really take your case if you haven't gone to the police first," He told him with a barely restrained tone of annoyance.
He was about to lay it on a little thicker when he heard a muffled cry from the other side of the door. It was short and sharp and he froze staring at the door. Both the younger boy and the darker skinned man he was talking to looked at the door sideways but at first, didn't move. Not until the pained screams started. They didn't pay him a second look before both rushed to the door. The Darker one immediately tried to open the door but found it locked, then he slammed his foot into it. The metal door didn't budge for the likes of him. The smaller younger one tried as well, the frame trembled, but didn't budge either.
"Shit he wasn't playin' about this door," the older on growled, "Fuck where's the key?"
"My Dad has them..." the boy frowned staring at the door.
She was still screaming and Frank was done waiting for them to figure it out, the boy went to kick it again and Frank said gruffly, "Move," they were surprised as if they forgot he was there. He drew his pistol from the holster hidden under his jacket and shot the lock, then kicked the door open.
"...who the fuck is that guy?"
Frank didn't wait for questions, he was moving swiftly down the stairs before they could stop him, he heard them calling behind him. As soon as he saw the man on top of Faith he didn't hesitate or call out to him, he leveled his gun at his head and squeezed the trigger. The bullet found it's home in the head of the man and he flopped to the side off of her.
"Oh shit...man...get the fuck outta here...shit..." he heard from behind him.
"Faith," Frank called out cautiously moving to her side.
There were tears running down her face and she was extremely pale, blood flowed from her wound and her hands shook. He dropped next to her to lift her up but her eyes fell on him, "Frank...? What the hell are you doing...shit...Frank run..." she told him weakly.
"Faith, take it easy he's dead," He said gently.
"Well...you're not wrong...but see...I was dead before you got down here," the voice made Frank jump about ten feet back and aim his weapon at the man who'd stood up again...this time his face was twisted in some demonic looking visage.
"What the fuck?" he muttered cocking the gun.
"You're outta your league...Boy," Angelus taunted, before running at him.
Frank reacted by dumping the rest of the clip in him, it didn't slow him and he'd nearly gotten a hold of him. Faith, however, forced herself to her feet and put herself in the way allowing him to collide with her.
She was weak from the intense pain and blood loss and didn't have much of a plan aside from using her carcass to keep him from getting to Frank. He hit her with enough force to knock her into Frank and tackle them both to the ground. Frank grumbled curses under her breath, but he was soon yanked off of them.
"Oh no you don't," the younger boy commented yanking him back roughly and decking him.
"Connor...you've been a very bad boy," he growled out.
Frank could hardly believe he was still moving as if the bullets had no effect. The two men seemed to know what they were doing, so he moved to help Faith to her feet. He wanted answers but he knew it wasn't the time, especially since Faith was trying to move towards the fight.
"Ya gonna just bleed on him?" Frank said gruffly.
"Fuck you," Faith snapped immediately, Frank had her by the elbow to steady her and he could still feel her muscles trembling.
Frank cursed seeing the older dark-skinned male was down for the count, and he let Faith go to help the boy. He seemed to be fairing better, but it looked to Frank that he was being toyed with, "Connor, it wasn't what it looked like, me and Faith, we were having a conversation, I was trying to make a point, and it got a little out of hand, and then I got shot...I'm sure you can understand why bullets would make me a little testy Son."
"Really? Testy? Is that all?" Connor rolled his eyes ducking a punch and catching Angel...Angelus? In the jaw, "I'm sure, that's all this is...just a bad mood?"
"Just going through something...wouldn't be the first time..." he replied kicking the back of Connor's knee. Angel was caught completely off guard when he was grabbed from behind and an intense sharp pain shot from his neck and through his body, it was quick and short and suddenly his body refused to respond to him anymore, ".....what...the hell?" it took him a moment to realize that his neck had been broken, "You son of a bitch!"
"Holy shit..." Connor frowned pushing himself back to his feet to look down at his father, "Wow...that's...huh...never really thought about that..." Connor looked back up in shock at the man now standing in his place, "You just...snuck up on him and broke his neck..."
"Why the fuck is he still alive?"
"...Who the hell is he?" Angel snarled from the floor but he couldn't do much else.
Even Faith looked a bit surprised, her eyes flicked from Frank to Angel and back again several times. It occurred to her had Angel been human, Frank would have killed him with little thought, the first shot would have killed him. A human snuck up on a vampire and snapped his neck. A HUMAN snuck up on ANGEL and snapped his neck. It was hard for her to process that.
"Just...take him upstairs to the room in the back and chain him up good, just in case...I'll..." she gestured between Frank and Gunn tiredly.
Frank had already moved towards the other man to check his pulse. It was beating strong he was just out cold, "He's alive, probably want to check him for brain damage when he gets up," He was still trying to process this, none of this made sense.
"Frank...why did you follow me?" Faith asked once Connor lifted Angel over his shoulder and started up the stairs with him.
"Just in case somethin' like this happened," Frank responded crossing his arms and staring at her intently.
"Yeah...um...about THIS...it's a long story..." Faith started.
"A long story?" his eyebrows shot up, "I just shot him in the head, I emptied a clip into him, 9 bullets...and he was STILL comin' at me like they never touched him, I broke his fuckin' neck! and he's STILL talkin', I think I need to hear this long story."
Faith sighed heavily and scrubbed her face, for a moment staring up the stairs thinking they should go upstairs for the conversation, but she shifted her weight and pain erupted from her wound and spread all the way to her fingers and toes. She hissed in pain and stood still.
Frank sighed and moved back to her side putting an arm around her waist to guide her to a chair. He considered picking her up, but he got the sense that she was stubborn enough to want to walk herself. He waited until she lowered herself into the chair to drop down to look at the damage that was done to her wound, "Start talkin'," he said gruffly.
He was surprised when she jerked away from him she nearly fell from her chair but his hand shot out and caught her arm and pulled her back onto it, "Easy Girl," he said softly, "Look yer bleedin' again, he did more damage, I got to stop the bleeding."
Faith shook her had, the fear clear in her eyes, "Don't," she said simply.
It occurred to him that whatever just happened between Faith and the one he assumed was her boss, Angel, had scared the hell out of her. He was concerned about the blood loss but he wasn't ready to force her into letting him treat it just yet, "How about you tell me what's goin' on Faith?"
She took a few deep breaths he noted her hands still trembled as she ran them through her hair, "It's a long story, I can give you the quick and dirty version, Angel is a vampire, I'm a vampire slayer and he's normally one of two good vampires, good meaning that the two have souls and the rest don't, right now, there's something wrong with Angel's soul, when he loses his soul he reverts to who he used to be, Angelus, one of the most vicious vampires that ever lived and right now he's kind of like Jekyll and Hyde."
Frank stared at her in disbelief, he'd seen that contorted inhuman face, but it was so hard for him to process what she'd just told him. It wasn't...logical. Yet, here they were. He tried to search her face for any sign that she was somehow screwing with him, but it didn't seem to be the case.
"I get it, sounds nuts, gimme a second I'll take you up to see him, you can get a closer look," Faith muttered.
"No, You need to lay down and we need to stop the bleeding," Frank said firmly.
She tenses and shook her head and muttered, "I heal fast."
Frank stood up and sighed pacing a bit before pulling out his phone and shooting a quick message to Karen. He stuffed his phone back into his pocket, "Let me at least get you upstairs," Frank told her.
She pushed herself to her feet and gritted her teeth against the pain, she squeezed her eyes shut as tears sprang to her eyes. Frank immediately moved to her side and picked her up bridal style.
"No I can walk," she muttered struggling with him.
"Cut that shit out, maybe you can walk but I don't got all day to wait for you to make it up the stair," Frank said firmly.
She let out a breath and settled a bit not fully relaxing. She gritted her teeth against the pain as he quickly carried her up the stairs as to not prolong it. He laid her on the couch in the lobby, "Just...rest here for a minute, don't go anywhere," he said firmly.
"Gunn," she muttered trying to sit up.
"What about it?" he paused as he'd started to head back into the basement to retrieve the other man.
"Not it, HIM," she sighed flopping back onto her back when the pain was too much.
"The man in the basement, his name is Gunn?" Frank asked, "I got him."
Gunn was already getting up slowly when Frank got down there, but he did offer him a hand up. Gunn eyed him suspiciously, but he was still a little dizzy. He waved Frank off and made his way slowly towards the stairs.
"Where's Angelus?" he asked.
"The Kid took him upstairs," Frank replied.
He nodded working his way up the stairs, "Faith?"
"She's laying on the couch in the Lobby,"
"Okay..." he nodded reentering the lobby he moved to the couches and flopped himself across from Faith, "One more question...who the fuck are you?"
"Gunn this is..." Faith started once more trying to pull herself up into a sitting position, this time she was more successful but she gasped as the pain radiated from her wound once more.
"Pete Castiglione, I'm a friend," he said after a moment.
Faith had called him as soon as she saw him, but if they didn't recognize him there was no point in telling them. Apparently, not everyone could recognize him.
"Faith we need to stop the bleeding now," Frank insisted.
"I'm fine..." Faith said tersely.
"I'm not asking anymore, you're gonna bleed out," Frank started to move towards her but the door opened behind them.
"Man, we're closed," Gunn called out.
"Fra..." the words started, "Oh my god Faith..."
Karen's voice made Faith's head turn sharply and the blonde closed the space between them quickly, her arms wrapping around Faith.
"What's going on? He didn't tell me he just..." her voice trailed off.
"It's a long story...." Faith muttered slumping into her embrace.