-
Charley was one of the last ones out of the house. He felt tired. He was also sore and worn from fighting with Dandridge. He had scratches in on his stomach from where the older vampire had scratched him while they were in bat form. He also had a bite wound on his arm from when Dandridge bit him. There were a few other scrapes and bruises from his fight. He was certain he didn’t suffer the worst.
Faith was bruised, had a few bleeding cuts and was limping from when she was tackled by Buffy. She might have broken something, at least sprained something in her foot or leg but she dismissed anyone’s concerns for her and kept saying she was five by five, whatever that meant.
Ace had sprained an ankle when he landed after catching Charley. He at least admitted it. He also limped but didn’t mind getting help to move around from Tyler who had a bleeding wound on his temple. Ace had also insisted on getting a container so he could get at least a handful of soil from Buffy’s coffin for her sleeping bag. Spike had insisted on getting it himself.
Charley was mostly concerned about Lyra. She said she had fallen hard on her backside and said she cracked her tailbone but she still could get around. He had offered to carry her, but she told him she can walk fine on her own but they could lean on each other.
The concern for everyone’s injuries was the first on everyone’s minds. They wanted to get back to Angel’s, or rather Angel’s friend’s place where they could patch everyone up and talk about what they all had gone through. The second concern was for the one human in the house.
“Can’t I eat her?” Ed asked as he dragged the tied up and gagged woman from the house. “She’s not a good person.”
“No one is eating anyone,” Angel said.
“She’s the one that kidnapped Brewster and me,” Ed said. “She deserves it.”
“She’s the one?” Lyra asked as she pointed at the girl.
“Yup,” Ed said as he glared at the woman. “I was curious as to how she recognized us and I made her spill the beans.”
“That is all I needed to know,” Lyra said before she backhanded her.
“Lyra,” Charley gasped along with a few others.
“Sorry, but no one hurts my boyfriend.”
“We are all tired and sore,” Xander said. “Let’s get back to Angel’s and we’ll talk.”
-
The drive back was almost in silence. There was little talking and some munching sounds from Ace. The boy had managed to retrieve the container of communion wafers.
“Don’t drive too fast,” Charley said to Spike. “And be careful of the bumps.”
“Didn’t have a problem before,” Spike said as he slowed down.
“We weren’t injured before,” Charley said. He didn’t want his girlfriend to feel a lot of pain on their way back to the house.
“Do you think Buffy will be okay?” Lyra asked.
“It won’t be easy,” Charley told her. “She is no longer under his control but she still feels regret from attacking her friends. She is with the ones that care about her the most-“
“Not all of em,” Spike interrupted.
“She’s lucky she ingested that potion before she was bit. She’s very lucky.”
“Lucky she has Angel,” Spike said in a sour tone. “She didn’t see me.”
“Yeah she did,” Ed told him. “She was all ‘Spike you also came.’ And she was happy as a teenage boy in the Playboy mansion to see you before she took that axe thing and ran up stairs.”
“Not the same,” Spike said. “Doesn’t see me the same as she sees Angel.”
“You are one of the two vampires that loves her?” Lyra asked. “I thought you were in love with Drusilla.”
“I do love her. She will always be my Poodle. I fell in love with her when I first laid eyes on her.”
“You feel conflicted because you also love Buffy?” Charley asked.
“Yes and it’s not fair to Dru.” He slammed his fist on the dashboard. “I have to do what’s best for the both of them.” He turned the car onto the street the house was located on.
As soon as they walked inside there was a raid on all medical supplies. Charley set a cushion on the floor for Lyra to sit on and gave her some Advil for the pain. She ordered him to take off his shirt so she could patch him up.
“I thought I could be strong,” Buffy said as she sat down close to where Charley and Lyra were sitting. “I thought I could resist his thrall.”
“Harder to resist once you have been turned,” Charley said and cringed as Lyra applied some medicine to his chest and stomach.
“B you are a Slayer,” Faith told her while Fahwa wrapped an ace bandage around her ankle. “You are not frikken Supergirl. I know you feel like you have to be that strong all the time but you don’t. Everyone knows that you are not perfect but they still think you are pure concentrated awesome and look up to you.”
“You are just saying that,” Buffy said to her.
“Why do you think I wanted to live as you?” Faith asked. “I was envious of you and there was a reason.”
“Even caught the eye of The Immortal,” Spike said as he grabbed a pack of cigarettes. “Course knowing that bastard he just dated you to piss us off.”
“What are you talking about?” Buffy stared at him.
“I’ll let Captain Hair Gel talk to you about that,” Spike said walked out the door.
“What’s his problem?” Faith asked.
“He has issues to work out,” Lyra said. She placed some cotton pads and placed them over the scratches and used medical tape to hold it in place.
“Spike doesn’t just have issues,” Angel said. “He has a whole subscription.”
“That speaks volumes,” Xander said, earning a few chuckles and groans.
“I understand you moved on,” Angel said when he turned back to Buffy. “I guess I wasn’t there when you were fully baked.”
“What are you talking about?” Buffy just stared at him.
“You and the Immortal,” Angel said. “Unless it was just that one time while you were there in Italy.”
“Oh that.” Buffy closed her eyes and shook her head. “That wasn’t me. Sometimes I have decoys and Andrew suggested she go on a date with The Immortal.”
“He was lying?”
“It was his idea of a joke.”
“That was not a funny joke,” Tyler spoke up. “Especially if he knows it would hurt the ones that love her.” He turned to Ace. “If that is a joke then it makes you look like Robin Williams.”
“God I hope not,” Ace said. “Bad enough I have noticeable wings, but can you imagine if I’m covered with that much hair?”
“Who is The Immortal?” Lyra asked.
“Call me crazy,” Ace said. “But I think he just might be immortal.”
Charley chose to ignore him. “Bad guy or a good guy?”
Angel shrugged. “Don’t know. I do know he likes to be a pain in the ass.”
“I read about him,” Xander spoke up. “And I read his book, very deep reading. He also spent a 150 years in a Tibetan monastery, climbed Mount Everest several times, swims with great white sharks once a year, killed a shadow dragon of the Mordrith clan, and sailed from the North Pole to the South Pole.”
“What I want to know,” Ace said after Tyler finished treating his ankle. “Does he also drink Dos Equis?”
“Not funny,” Tyler told him.
“You are wondering if I’m done baking yet?” Buffy asked. “I think I might be, but I’m fresh out of the oven.”
“Meaning?” Angel asked.
“I need to cool,” Buffy told him. “You don’t want to burn your mouth on bubbling hot chocolate chips. I had no idea you were in town. I knew everyone would come for me. I tried to take out as many vampire minions as I could but I couldn’t stop myself from attacking my friends and you snapped me out of that.”
“I’ll keep on doing that.”
“I know.” She cringed and grabbed her stomach.
“Are you hungry? I have food, or blood,” Angel sat back. “I can’t believe I’m offering you blood.”
“I can’t believe I’m actually drinking it,” Buffy said. “At least until I throw up the potion. Faith, Charley you remember the time?”
“Nine fifty,” Charley said. “It was around that time.”
“I have to be locked in the bathroom at that time,” Buffy said. “I was told it was going to be gross.”
“Throwing up usually is,” Xander is.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up right now,” Buffy said as she stood up. “I slept with him.”
“Not your fault,” Angel told her. “My feelings for you are still the same and true.”
“I know. I just want to know where you will be when I cool off.”
“When Lorne returns I’ll be back in L.A.”
“Thank you,” Buffy said and kissed him on the cheek. “Right now I need a bath.”
“I’ll draw you one, B,” Faith offered and tried to stand up but she was pulled down.
“You stay there and rest,” Xander told her.
“Xander, could you draw me a bath?” Buffy asked.
“Uh, sure,” Xander grinned. “I’ll make it nice and warm and leave before you get with the nakedness.”
Angel waited until the two of them left before he turned to Charley. “Is it all right if you and I have a talk?”
“Sure,” Charley said. He had no idea why this particular vampire wanted to speak with him. “I just have to wait for Lyra to finish.”
“Almost done,” Lyra said as she held the cotton on his arm and wrapped more gauze around it to hold it in place. “There.”
“I won’t be long.” He kissed her on the side of the head and followed Angel into another room. “What do you want to talk about?”
“A few things,” Angel said. “How is Drusilla?”
“She’s fine,” Charley said and wondered why he was asking about her. “In a few weeks she will be working on her garden.”
“She’s happy,” Angel sighed. “Good. After what I did to her she deserves a second chance at life.”
“What you did to her?” Charley asked.
“I was the one that drove her insane. I turned her into a vampire. Every form of pain and torture she inflicted on others is my fault. Everyone she had killed was because of me.”
“You can’t blame yourself for everything,” Charley told him.
“I can and will.”
“It wasn’t really you who did that. Not the true you. Some demon hijacked your body and made you perform all those heinous acts.” He sighed. “I still had my soul and I killed people.”
“You were under the thrall of your sire. Buffy was under the thrall of Dandridge. He made her sleep with him.”
“I did that with Regine,” Charley closed his eyes.
“Hurts to talk about that?”
“You don’t know the half of it. What she did to me. I had given up all hope and then the worlds merged and we moved to Orlando and I met her.”
“Lyra,” Angel said. “You fell in love with a Slayer.”
“I didn’t know at the time when I first saw her.” He smiled at that memory. “She was there on her bike. Her brother was one of the movers and he forgot his wallet and she brought it and there was this aura that was so pure. She had this most beautiful-“
“Heart?” Angel asked.
“And soul. I think fate wanted us to be together cause we kept meeting. You are right her heart is the most truest out of anyone I met and she had it out for everyone.”
“And you wanted to protect it so it wouldn’t get broken. You wanted to warm it with your own and keep it from being bruised?”
“Exactly.” He stared at him. “You know in the wrong sense that can be quite gross.”
“I’ve been told that.”
“They are flying back tomorrow because of school. Lyra, Ace and Tyler. The rest opted to stay in case we didn’t rescue Buffy this weekend but now that she is safe we can get the tickets.”
“I’ll help you with that.”
“We have to be back before the eleventh.”
“Why?”
“Cause that’s Lyra’s birthday. She’s going to be seventeen.”
“Just promise me you won’t turn evil.”
“I have no intention.”
-
They were able to get a flight out on Tuesday evening. Everyone woke up early with an hour to go until sunset to make sure they had packed up everything and to also pack up the sleeping bags. When it was safe for the vampires to leave the house they jumped into the minivan and Angel’s car. Ace drove the teens back in the SUV a couple days prior.
Charley sat back in Angel’s car, along with Buffy and Xander. He had been thinking of seeing Lyra and was worried about her injury. He had nearly healed from the scratches and bite
“What are you going to do now, Xander?” Buffy had asked on their way to the airport.
“Not sure,” Xander said. “When I first flew down here my goal was to find Lyra, convince her of accepting her role as a Slayer and fly back to Scotland, but now things are different. I don’t think Lyra wants to leave her home or her friends, but she still wants to fight the good fight.”
“She doesn’t have to officially be a part of a Slayer cell to be a part of the organization,” Buffy told him.
“What about you, Angel?” Charley asked. He grew to like the two hundred and fifty something vampire in the past few days.
“Still trying to work on Abigail,” Angel said. He kept Abigail Rayne tied up in a chair and been speaking with her about redemption. The poor girl was a mess. She had convinced herself she was in love with Dandridge and since she did not resemble any past lovers he had no interest in her.
“I think she might be a lost cause,” Buffy told him.
“I know,” Angel said. “That is why I’m going to have some witches come and bind her magic and when Lorne returns we are going to arrange to send her back to her mother. She’s seventeen.”
“Like Lyra will be,” Charley said. He didn’t care if he sounded like a sap.
The wait at the airport wasn’t too long and the flight wasn’t horrible nor was it great. Charley was too eager to get home to actually notice or care.
On the drive back to their home they continued the discussion of where they were all going to go. Buffy said that after she has her humanity restored she was going to go back to Scotland with her team of Slayers. Faith said she was going to return to working with Giles and Spike mumbled something about taking motorcycle trip to figure things out.
“Still don’t know about what you are going to do, Xander,” Buffy said as the walked up to the door.
“Still deciding,” Xander said. “There are a lot of Slayers that I need to help train, but I feel an attachment to these kids. Maybe I could convince Lyra’s friends to become Watchers.”
“Always a possibility,” Buffy said.
Charley opened the door and the second he stepped inside Lyra jumped into his arms and kissed him.
“Now that is a welcome home,” Xander said.
“I missed you,” Charley said. “Even though it was only for a few days.”
“It’s a miracle,” Lyra said. “In the fridge.”
“What is in the fridge?” Charley asked.
“Mohra demon blood,” Ronnie said. The whole team of Avengers and the other Slayers were there waiting for them.
“What?” Charley could not believe his ears. “When did it come?”
“Yesterday,” Rowena said. “In the mail.”
Charley wasn’t sure if he wanted to wait until everything was put away or to try and cure his vampirism at that moment. “We should wait to get settled.”
It took only a few minutes for everyone to put their luggage in the rooms and grab a few glasses to drink and a few warm mugs of blood. Charley chose not to drink any. He was about to become human again and that meant he no longer needed blood.
“Evil, I need you to scratch me,” Charley said as he held out his hand.
“Sure you want to be mortal?” Evil asked.
“Positive.”
Ed scratched the back of Charlie’s hand and Dru used a paintbrush to dab some of the demon blood into the scratch. Charley waited to feel something but he didn’t. He could not feel his heartbeat and he did not feel the need to breath.
“Did it work?” Ace asked.
“Not sure,” Charley said.
“Here,” Lyra handed him the compact he gave her.
Charley flipped open the lid and stared into the mirror. He could see the back of the couch and the wall and decorations, but he did not see his face.
“Maybe the blood has to be fresh from the demon,” Lyra said softly.
“Or maybe my kind is not affected.” He sighed. He shouldn’t have put his hopes up. “There is still enough for Spike.”
“Hold on,” Spike held up his hands. “I’m not interested. Not now at least.”
“Put it back in the fridge,” Charley said. “Never mind I’ll put it back.” He grabbed the blood. He could save it for later for Spike or find some way to get it to Angel.
“Charley, wait,” Lyra stood up behind him.
“It’s late and a school night. You should go to bed.”
“This didn’t work but there is probably something that would,” Lyra said.
“Go home,” he snapped. He charged into the kitchen. He was angry at himself for biting her head off but right now he wanted to be alone. He placed the blood in the fridge, went to the pantry and grabbed a bottle of rum.
-
Charley wasn’t sure what time it was when he woke up on the couch in the entertainment room. All he knew was that he felt queasy, his head hurt and his mouth felt like he had been licking the bottom of an ashtray. He could not remember the last time he had been that hungover.
“I feel like hell,” he groaned as he rubbed his head. He didn’t drink much blood last night. He only had the one mug when they were packing in Iowa. His liquid diet of the previous evening was one created by Captain Morgan. He should nuke himself another mug, except the idea of drinking it made him want to throw up. As he rose to his feet he knew that he couldn’t keep whatever it was in his stomach.
Charley raced to the nearest toilet and threw up. Once he couldn’t produce any more he walked to the sink and splashed his face with cool water. After the third splash he looked up.
A sick looking young man in his late teens or early twenties looked back at him. Brown eyes widened in realization and he smiled.
“I look like hell.” He placed his hands over his chest and felt his heart beat. “I look like hell.”
“Of course you are going to look like hell,” Faith was outside the bathroom. “You practically spent the entire night in the bottle.”
“You don’t understand,” Charley said. “I can see that I look like hell.” He opened the bathroom door and pulled her inside. “Look.” He pointed at the mirror.
“Oh my god,” Faith gasped. “It did work.”
“I guess it just needs more time,” Charley said and ran out to the front door. He opened it and let some light fall onto his hand. He felt nothing. He took a step outside and he breathed deep. “I’m alive.” He ran out until he was on the front lawn and laughed.
-
“This is almost as good as sex,” Charley said as he took another bite of pizza. It had been so long since he was able to eat foods that contained garlic. He took his time to admire the slice and inhale it before he bit into it.
“Not even that good,” Lyra said as she ate along with Charley. “It’s just the Hut.”
“When you have been as undead as I have you appreciate everything,” Charley said before he took another bite. He had apologized to Lyra when he picked her up at school. The shock of seeing him out in the sunlight was enough for to her to forget how he snapped at her the night before but he wanted to verbally apologize.
Lyra sighed as she stared out the window. “Now we can enjoy watching the sunset together.”
“Yeah, maybe on the weekends we can watch the sunrise, or at least when you turn eighteen.” He watched as the last sliver of sunlight slipped below the horizon.
“I just have to wait a whole year.”
“Some things are worth the wait.” He took another bit of pizza. For some reason this part of the pizza was hotter than the rest. It was too hot. He had to spit it out. “Sorry.”
“Are you okay?” Lyra asked.
“Not certain,” Charley said. He felt queasy again and ran to the bathroom. For the second time that day he threw up. When he went to wash his hands he stared at the mirror in horror. His reflection was gone. “What? No.” He wanted to cry. Instead he left the restroom and went to tell Lyra the bad news.
-
“It only temporarily works on my kind,” Charley said when he returned home. He dropped Lyra off and went straight back to his house. “I wonder if I should dab on some more into a new wound.”
“No,” Drusilla said and placed her hands on his. “You were just half cured.”
“Half cured?” Charley asked.
“Restored by dawn,” Dru said
“I still don’t get it,” Charley said.
“I’d listen to her,” Spike said as he was about to leave the house with a suitcase in his hands. “I don’t know when and if I will return.” He brushed his hand under Dru’s chin. “There will always be a place in my heart for you.”
“Go and find yourself,” Dru said and gave him a kiss. “I’ll wait.”
“Well it’s been fun,” Spike said.
“Wait,” Buffy shouted. “Spike, you don’t have to leave.”
“I do, love,” Spike said softly. “I don’t want to be standing in the way. You need to cool and you will be needing to get to the loo soon.” He kissed her forehead and walked out of the house.
Buffy was about to walk out but was held back by Faith.
“Don’t B,” Faith told her. “This will just hurt everyone.”
“I know,” Buffy said. “We still need to figure out what’s going on with Charley.”
“I may have to keep on taking demon blood injections.” He went to the kitchen to warm himself a cup of blood.
-
For the second night in a row Charley had fallen asleep on the couch. He woke up to Mr. Tribble licking his face. He rolled over and felt a small paw touch his back. He tried to ignore it, but he felt a hand poke him.
“I’m up,” Charley yawned. “What time is it?”
“Eight in the morning,” Drusilla said.
“Why am I not in my coffin?” Charley asked. He remembered the events of the evening. He chatted a little with Lyra on instant messenger and told her that no matter what he was going to love her. He remembered Buffy spending nearly two hours in the bathroom and that was followed by the need to drink regular fluids and eat some solid foods. He also remembered watching TV until he fell asleep
“You are alive,” Drusilla said. “Come, the dew the fairies left are just now leaving.”
“What?” He rubbed his face and took a deep breath. He felt for his pulse and it was there. He ran to the nearest mirror and saw his reflection. “What is going on?”
“Halfway,” Dru said. “You are alive now but when the sun goes to sleep so does your pulse.”
“Are you saying that I’m human during the day and a vampire at night?”
“The sun wants you alive.” She smiled and nodded.
“I-I think I can live with this. No pun intended.” He took another deep breath. “Go wake up Xander. We can get some breakfast from the arches. I’d love to try a Mcgriddle.”
-