Gift From The Past

Chapter Seven

Angel Investigations

 

Angel: But how can we be certain?

Giles: I am not sure. We may have to try and remove it.

Cordy: No way. You can’t do that. What if you can’t put it back?

Angel: Cordy, I need to know. I can not risk thinking it is permanent and it not be.

Wesley: We can do it under controlled circumstances.

Cordy: So you want him to go see Buffy and test your little theory.

Angel: No. We will find another way. I will not jeopardize her or the baby. I will destroy myself first.

Giles: That should not be necessary. We should be able to find another way to try and remove the soul.

Wesley: Means more research.

Cordy: Great.

She turns around and goes over to Xander and begins shaking him.

Xander: Just five more minutes, mom.

Cordy: I am not your mom and you are on my computer.

Xander sits up quickly and stares at Cordy.

Cordy: Get up. I need to start looking for away to take Angel’s soul.

Xander stands.

Xander: Take it? I thought we were trying to keep it.

Cordy: Old news. Go talk to Giles.

She plops down and connects to the internet. Xander walks into the office and looks at the three men talking.

Xander: So what did I miss?

Giles: Oh, right. Well, Wes found some information that leads us to believe Angel’s soul may have been integrated to his body by the Acathla vortex.

Xander: And?

Giles: Well we need to find away to remove the soul.

Xander: And why would we want to do that?

Wes: To prove we can’t.

Xander: Oh.

Angel: Why don’t we all take a break. You guys get some breakfast and some sleep. We can start back later.

Wes: You sure.

Angel: Yes. We all need to rest for awhile.

Giles: I agree. Xander, what say you and I find a hotel.

Wes: That is not necessary. One of you can come home with me. If you do not mind a fold out sofa bed.

Angel: And Cordy has a fairly comfortable sofa.

Xander: And you know this how?

Angel: I’ve sat on it when visiting.

Xander: Oh.

Angel: Cordy.

Cordy enters the office.

Angel: We are taking a break. Would you mind taking Xander home with you?

Cordy: With me?

Angel: Yes, Wes is taking Giles to his place. We can meet back here late afternoon.

Cordy looks at Xander and shrugs.


Cordy: You are sleeping on the couch.

Xander: Never thought otherwise.

Cordy: Let’s go. You are buying breakfast.

Xander: Fine.

She grabs her purse and they head out the door.

Wes: Well Mr. Giles?

Giles: You want to drive or shall I?

Wes: I think you should. Don’t think you would like riding on the back of my motorcycle.

Giles raises his eyebrow in confused shock. Wes motions to the door. The men turn to say good bye to Angel but he has left.

 

 

Sunnydale.

Buffy runs the brush through her hair and pulls it back into a pony tail. Willow walks in.

Buffy: Will, I have to thank you again for the help in bio last night. I don’t understand why the professor could not have explained it like that.

Willow: Not sure using demons as an example would have been in her field of knowledge.

Buffy: Might be right. But you made it sound so simple.

The phone rings and Willow reaches over and picks it up.

Willow: Hello.

She smiles and holds it out to Buffy.

Buffy: Who is it?

Willow: Daddy.

Buffy jumps and grabs the phone.

Buffy: Angel?

Angel: Hi.

Buffy: Hey.

Angel: Wasn’t sure if I would catch you before class.

Buffy: I was just about to leave.

Angel: Well I won’t keep you. I just wanted to hear your voice once more.

Buffy: Have you decided when you are coming here?

Angel: Not yet.

Buffy: Well just call me when you know.

Angel: Can I call you even if I don’t know?

Buffy: You better.

Angel: I better let you get to class.

Buffy: Okay. Talk to you later.

Angel: You will.

She listens as the phone clicks in her ear. She slowly replaces the receiver.

Willow: You ready?

Buffy: Yes.

Willow opens the door and they walk out. As they step into the stairwell, a tall figure steps out from the shadows and begins to follow.

 

 

LA

Late afternoon.

Angel Investigations.

Wesley and Giles walk in and see Angel hunched over a stack of books.

Wes: Did you bother getting any rest?

Angel: Actually I did.

Giles: Well we had an idea.

Angel: What?

Wes: Well there are a number of demons who buy and sale souls as a commodity.

Angel: You want to sale my soul?

Wes: No but they have to have a way of extracting the souls.

Angel: And if we can find out how.

Giles: We will also know how to put it back if necessary.

Wes: We made a list of demons we know of who are in the soul trade.

He hands the list to Angel who glances over it.

Angel: Your list looks pretty complete. I see you even included Jenoff.

Wes: Want to be sure to cover all the bases.

The door opens admitting Xander and Cordelia.

Xander: Hope we’re not late. Well actually if you already solved the case that would be okay.

Giles: No. We have made a list of possible places to start checking.

Cordy: Well tell me where to start. I would like to return to a normal life eventually.

Xander: You work for a vampire and you expect a normal life.

Cordy: My whole life does not evolve around fighting evil like some others we know.

She turns and dramatically lowers herself into her seat. She flips on the computer. Wes walks over and gives her a copy of the list.

Cordy: So what am I looking for?

Wes: Any information you can find on how these creatures procure and move souls.

Giles hands Angel and Xander each a copy of the list and a stack of books. Quiet descends upon the office as each immerses themselves in their research.

 

Sunnydale

Buffy walks out of her last class and moves toward the building exit. As she reaches for the door it is suddenly opened. She glances up the arm holding the door and looks into the smiling blue eyes.

Buffy: Riley?

Riley: Hi Buffy.

He follows her out the door and moves in beside her as she goes down the steps. As she reaches the sidewalk, she turns to look at him.

Buffy: What are you doing?

Riley: I was going to walk you home.

Buffy takes a deep breath.

Buffy: Please don’t do this. It is over

Riley: Buffy, can’t we talk about this. This is crazy. I thought we were happy.

Buffy bites her lip trying not to hurt him.

Riley: Let’s just go get a cup of coffee.

Buffy: No, Riley. Please don’t make this any harder.

She turns and walks away. Riley stands watching her leave. He moves to follow her but Forest calls out to him. Riley stops to wait on his friend.

Forest: Hey man.

Riley: Hi. What do you need?

Forest: Need to stop you from making a fool of yourself.

Riley: I’m not. There is something wrong and I intend on finding out what it is.

Forest: You said there was another guy, right?

Riley: Yes.

Forest: Then what more do you need to know.

Riley: First off who this guy is. He has no last name. No records. And a detective agency with no license.

Forest: So he is not on the up and up. Proves what I said before. The girl is trouble. I don’t care if she is some super human. She can’t be trusted.

Riley: You don’t understand.

Forest: I understand plenty. She is great in the sack. With all that strength and flexibility she should be.

Riley: I wouldn’t know.

Forest: You are kidding me. You can’t be serious.

Riley: I am saying I have not slept with Buffy. Not that we didn’t get close once. But things happened and well we never did.

Forest:: Give it up man. Find another fish. One not so messed up.

Riley: I wish I could.

Forest: That way leads to hell, man. I am telling you.

 

Dorm Room

Buffy comes in and tosses her backpack on the desk. She drops on the bed and sighs. She lays there a few minutes before rolling over and grabbing the phone. She slowly punches in the numbers. When prompted, she speaks her name. She listens to rings.

Cordelia: Hello.

Voice: Collect call from “Buffy Summers”.

Cordelia: What? You got to be kidding.

Voice: Say yes if you will accept the charges.

Cordelia glances over at Angel and sighs.

Cordelia: Yes.

Buffy: Hey Cordy. Is he there?

Cordelia: Just a second.

She places her hand over the mouth piece.

Cordelia: Angel.

Angel: Who is it?

Cordelia: Buffy calling collect.

Angel jumps up and takes the phone.

Angel: Buffy, is everything okay?

Buffy: Yes, sorry about the collect. No long distant calls allowed from the dorms.

Angel: That’s okay. I just got worried.

Buffy: Again sorry.

Angel: No, don’t. So what is going on?

Buffy: I just got out of my last class. Going to take a nap before I start on my homework.

Angel: You still tired?

Buffy: Yes. But at least now I am able to sleep.

Angel: Glad to hear it.

Buffy: So how is the research coming?

Angel: Fine.

Buffy: Still not talking, huh?

Angel: No.

Buffy: Fine. Well I better let you go. You have stuff to do.

Angel: Not so fast. You still haven’t told me why you called.

Buffy: I just well I needed to hear your voice. To know you were there.

Angel: I am here and will always be here whenever you need me. Now you going to tell me what upset you today?

Buffy: Nothing. I’m not upset.

Angel: Buffy.

Buffy: Fine, I ran into Riley. Actually he came up to me after my last class.

Angel: What did he want?

Buffy: To talk. I hate hurting him. He is a really nice guy?

Angel silently listens as Buffy collects her thoughts.

Buffy: He doesn’t deserve to be hurt. I made a mistake dating him. I used him and that was not fair.

Angel: Buffy, do you love him?

Buffy: No. I can’t. I am in love with someone else.

Angel: Someone?

Buffy: Yeah, he is this tall dark mysterious guy who makes me go all weak in the knees just by looking my way.

Angel: I know that feeling.

Buffy: I better go. This is expensive and I can hear Cordy getting upset.

Angel: It is okay, but you need to rest. I will try and call you later.

Buffy: Bye.

Angel: Sweet dreams.

He hangs up and stands thinking.

Cordy: And what is with the collect call?

Angel: She can’t make long distant calls from the dorm.

Cordy: She needs to get one of those pre-paid phone cards.

Angel: Can you do that?

Cordy: What?

Angel: Not now of course.

Giles: Angel?

Angel moves into his office.

Cordy: Great now I am doing errands for Buffy.

Angel: Did you find something?

Giles: Yes and no.

Xander: Which is it?

Giles: We found a way to remove the soul. There are a group of demons in the middle east. Shur-hods. They feed off the energy of the stolen souls.

Angel: Does it say how they take them?

Giles: Yes. They use a specially honed blade called an Agatha Dagger. Named for the sorceress who wrought them.

Xander: So lets get one and finish this.

Wes: It is not that easy. The blades are very rare. Even if we can find one, I am not sure we could afford to purchase it.

Cordy: Can we make one?

Giles: I’m afraid not. They are made of pewter and a mixture of mystical crystal dust. They were molded and hand formed to precise specifications. Nothing we can reproduce. I don’t even think the demons can make more.

Xander: If we can’t get the knife, then why bring it up?

Giles looks at Wesley.

Angel: It’s okay guys. We will keep looking.

Everyone picks up a book and Cordy moves back to her computer. Silence again descends upon the office.