Some kind of bitchy, broody superhero ([info]neverbeenfree) wrote,
@ 2008-01-05 21:40:00
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Current music:Different- The Exies

I learned to love by hating
My conversation with Caleb was still heavy on my mind as I made my way through LA towards the Hyperion. At least now I thought I knew a little more about Alexia. Tyler was always so tight lipped about her and half of me wondered whether he knew more than he was letting on. Actually, I never stopped wondering that. It was right up there on the list of worries, right next to when is Tyler coming back from New York? He was still calling or texting every night which was a good sign but I made a mental note next time I talked to him to ask him when he and Lily were planning on coming back.

It was nice to be outside in the sunlight. It wasn't full on, almost dusk but closer than I'd been. Lately I was beginning to feel like a vampire myself, only comin' out of my motel room at night and staying inside all day long. With everything that was going on I wasn't taking any chances. I knew they'd find me if they really wanted to but I wasn't gonna make it any easier on them. Although judging from Kennedy? It wasn't me that they were after. James said I was gonna lose everything first and that made me kind've scared about what was comin' next. I know, it's bad. Normally? I don't like admitting when I'm freaked. Not that I would say it out loud even now.

I had a lot of things to do. I had to get over to the school and make sure that everything was alright there. I knew it had to be messed up considering what had happened. Hell, I didn't even know the girls who'd been killed. Not really. But I should have. I should know all of them. I was sure as hell that Kennedy and Spike did. I needed to change that but I wasn't there just yet.

After that I needed to find Serenity and her locket. Not exactly the perfect way to meet your big sister. Unfortunately I was strapped for time and we could leave the touchy feely family reunion stuff until after...what happened. Even though, sometimes it occurred to me that after might not happen. Still, I couldn't help but be curious about her. I'd spent my whole life knowing Grace. Yeah there were a few years in between but mostly? I knew her. I didn't know anything about Serenity. The only thing I did know was that my mom had a weird theme going for names. It didn't seem very Lena at all. Once I had Serenity I was gonna have to bring her and her locket to Grace. If this locket had mojo attached to it at all? I'd need her there.

And after that....well, who the hell knows? I can only plan my moves so far in advance. Right now I just wanted to check in with Harry and Angel. The three of us had been so disconnected for months. I had trouble remembering the last time I'd really even spoken to either one of them. What happened to us? I couldn't explain it, I just wanted to check in with them before anything went down. Besides, I was probably gonna need their help.

It was just before sunset when I was crouched on the roof outside of "the room" formerly known as "the boys only room". I remembered what went down here last and I wasn't real proud of it. In fact, if I had my way this room would probably stay the boys only room. But I knew it was soundproof and probably the safest place we had to hide for a little while. Opening up the window I swung in feet first before closing the window behind me. It was still a little early so they weren't here yet but I could wait.

Walking over to the bed I sat down on it and crossed my legs Indian style as I waited for them to show.


(Open to Angel and Harry)


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[info]ny_city_boy
2008-01-09 10:08 pm UTC (link)
Time was starting to blend together for me. I was dead more than a year ago, yet I didn't really start to feel dead until my daughter became just like me. No, scratch that, she wasn't just like me. She was a real vampire. She had the bloodlust, and she had no soul. No guilt to tie her to the family and life she knew before Sophia took her from us.

I had all of the soul we shared now. All of her memories were colliding with my own, and each day, each hour, it was killing me more. I was becoming the corpse I was meant to be because I couldn't quite find the urge to live. The only thing that kept me from greeting a sunrise was my son. And my daughter. Because you couldn't separate them. Not even in death.

I made my way to the hotel and easily climbed up on the roof. For a moment I was content hanging in the shadows and not being seen. Of course she knew I was there. She felt me the way I felt her. The way we felt Angel. I'd been putting off seeing either of them because it was too hard to wear a mask. At least at work I could be as empty and angry as I truly felt. I didn't have to pretend that I still had the fight inside me. That I still gave a damn about how things ended up.

Indifference is a powerful emotion. It's truly the opposite of love. Hate is inspired by passion. Hate will make you wake up and have a purpose for the day. Even if that purpose was only revenge. Indifference made you a corpse.

I dropped down next to her and looked out at the sky. "Hi."

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[info]mr_angel
2008-01-10 01:15 am UTC (link)
It was the first time in a while that I'd had any contact with Faith. Given the circumstances of what was going on, I wasn't that worried about it. Well, I was worried, but not because I hadn't heard from her. Being worried happened because of a load of other reasons. But when she left us the message to meet her in the room, I didn't hesitate. Actually, I was anxious about it and pretty much forced myself not to sit up there until they arrived.

I kept myself busy downstairs and in the basement doing one thing or another and then when I thought it was late enough, I headed upstairs. The last time we'd all been in this room together ... we didn't exactly just have a talk. Or the time before that. Something always happened here and I wasn't banking on either one of those times repeating itself, but she wanted to meet for a reason and I was nervous to find out what it was exactly.

Once I got to the room, I unlocked the door and shut it behind me only to find that they were both there already. Both of them looked a little uncomfortable and I wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Hey," I said and took a step or so forward. We never were the ones for small talk and especially at a time like this. Asking how are you seemed almost cruel right now. I looked at Harry and then Faith. She'd asked us to meet and so I guess she was up.

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[info]neverbeenfree
2008-01-10 02:11 am UTC (link)
I couldn't believe how awkward things had become between the three of us. It didn't seem all that long ago when we always had something to say to each other. Even if we were yelling and fighting it was at least better than....nothing. Harry came in first and I tried to shoot him a small smile at his greeting before he looked out the window past me, I wasn't even sure if he had even seen me. Only a few minutes later and Angel had come in with a greeting that almost matched Harry's before both of them turned to look at me.

What? Oh, right. I'd been the one to call this little impromptu meeting. Did they remember when it didn't take people dying and the end of the world to get the three of us together? A long moment of silence stretched out between the three of us before I shifted uncomfortably and stood up, crossing the room over to the window and looking out it for a minute before I turned back to look at them.

"Guess I'll just get right down to it then. Shit's about to go down. I made a judgment call during that blizzard and went after James." I hoped the two of them weren't gonna get pissed and yell at me about that. I was sure I was already gonna get enough of that from Kennedy. "I knocked him out and dragged him back to the school. Dosed him up with sodium pentothal and asked him how we stop him. He said he can't be stopped but he can be killed and that it has something to do with my sister. Not Grace either. The other one. Some locket she's wearing is supposed to have the "key" to stopping him." I already felt like I was talking forever as I looked up at them but decided to press on.

"He got away, I knew I couldn't keep him sedated for too long but the guy comes back up swinging faster than anything I've ever seen. I thought he was gonna kill me but...he didn't. He told me I was gonna lose everything first. Well, he started at school. I had five dead teenage slayers delivered to the gym." I took a deep breath and looked up at them again. "So that's where I'm at. A locket, and five dead teenagers. I've been layin' low since but it's not gonna stop. You guys know that. He already took Harry's soul and his choices away from him. He sent Sophia after Lexi. He's got Grace right in the palm of his hand. Five dead slayers. I'm ready to end this shit for real and I can't do it alone."

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[info]ny_city_boy
2008-01-10 02:20 am UTC (link)
"Serenity," I said after processing what she had said. "Is she your sister? She smells like you, Grace and the kids." What? I was tuned in to my family's scent. "I was trapped with her and the Angel look alike cop during the blizzard. The more I was around her the more she smelled like you."

Five teenagers dead. Gracie in the palm of his hand. No...wait she was wrong about the soul and choices though. "My soul is back. All of it's back. Technically, he can't hold that over me again, but I won't leave Grace in the firm. As long as she's there, I'm there."

That didn't mean I wouldn't help with whatever Faith wanted to do. If she had a plan I'd play my part, but I was not leaving her sister there to fend for herself.

Five teenagers. Would it ever stop?

I was worried about my daughter. If there was going to be a fight she would fight with her grandparents. When did this get so fucked up beyond repair.

Leaning against a wall I looked at both of them. "I want Lexi stashed away for this fight. I don't want anyone going after her, and I don't want her hurting someone because she chose to fight with James. Do you know when you plan to do this?"

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[info]mr_angel
2008-01-10 02:54 am UTC (link)
I watched her carefully as she started talking, trying to take everything she said all in. The girl in the hotel was her sister. I knew there was something familiar about her since the day Connor brought her home, but I never thought in a million years she'd wind up to be Faith's sister.

And then came the part about how James killed five slayers from the school. She'd kidnapped him, loaded him up with chemicals and gotten answers. I stared at her for a minute, trying to decide what to think. She knew her actions were going to have consequences and now five slayers were dead. He didn't go after her directly but instead he was going after everything that was important to her. Who was next?

Stepping over to the window, I glanced out for a moment then turned back around to look at the both of them. She wanted a fight and god damn it was about time we did something instead of letting them come at us and leaving us to always pick up the pieces.

Lexi being stashed away wasn't up to me, but I doubted it would be that easy as just putting her somewhere.

"How did you want to do it? And I know you've probably already thought of it, but we're going to need everyone in on this. Going up against the partners... we're talking full on war here." Not that they didn't know that already, but somebody had to say it.

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[info]neverbeenfree
2008-01-10 03:04 am UTC (link)
"I haven't seen Grace yet." I said, looking over at Harry. "She's one of my next stops. I'm gonna talk to her about it but I'm gonna try and convince her to not go back. I don't think it's safe for either of you to be there right now. In fact, I think it might be a good idea for all of us to go underground for a little while." I said looking back and forth between the two of them. "If they really wanna find us they will but I'm hoping they'll be so disjointed they won't know where to start. At least we can make their job a little harder." They were stubborn, especially Angel. I was sure they wouldn't like the idea of going into hiding for a little while.

"I wanna keep Lexi out of this too, but that's easier said than done. She's gonna fight on their side now, so we need to keep her away and distracted and you know that means Sophia is coming along for the ride. We can come up with a way to deal with them." I promised Harry because I knew it was important to him. It was important to me too.

I turned towards Angel as he weighed in with his two cents. It was gonna be war, I was already prepared for it now. "I don't know how yet. I need to find Serenity and that locket. I'm guessing magick's involved so I need to get her to Grace as soon as possible. Beyond that? I don't really have any answers just yet. This is gonna be huge and whatever happens? We gotta be prepared to go balls to the wall. It's either all or nothin'. I've already got B in on it and she's down for the fight. Me and Kennedy been workin' the girls at school hard. They're strong and they're ready. Hopefully Serenity's locket will give us more answers. But for now that's all I got."

Folding my arms over my chest I leaned against the wall. Neither one of them were arguing with me just yet which was good sign but honestly I might even take the arguments over the silence that had grown between the three of us.

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[info]ny_city_boy
2008-01-10 03:17 am UTC (link)
"She's not in the hotel? If she's the key then we need to put her on lock down now. James will know he told you, and that means your sister is a liability." I paused as I thought that over and felt my stomach knot up. "Both of your sisters are a liability. Gracie has a lot of power in her magic. If Serenity isn't here maybe you can have her do a locater spell."

Going underground? I wasn't sure about that. I wanted Tyler off the streets though. Lily would try and protect him, but that wouldn't be enough. Why the fuck did Alec choose now to take off?

"Tyler needs protecting. We could send him and Lily to one of the islands maybe. I don't know if I'll feel comfortable having him that far away."

I looked over at her silently asking what she wanted. I felt so out of sync when it came to fighting this war that we were in. It had been a war all along, but the battles were carefully chosen. Faith wanted to flush them out.

"We have my father's weapons. The gliders and pumpkin bombs and all of that could be used to help provide a distraction, help to take out whatever they start throwing at us."

I guess that was my answer. If Faith was leading the charge then I'd fall in line with her. "Where are you thinking of hiding? I'll go if Grace does, but if she is determined to stay..." I let my words trail off. They knew where I stood on that.

Things were so quiet here. This room had never been quiet with us, and I wasn't sure how to get past that. It was hard to be close to them. It was like more proof that I had lost something the night Lexi died that I was never getting back.

"I'm on your side. Tell me what you need me to do and I'll do it."

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[info]mr_angel
2008-01-10 03:40 am UTC (link)
"She's been leaving the hotel more lately. I haven't tried stopping her because the more she gets used to this world, the better. Once we're done here, I'll track her down and see about making sure she's protected." I'd talk to Fred, Connor, and even the cop about seeing where she might be going during the day since they were the ones who had he most contact with her lately. She'd been doing better and not keeping to her room, so I hadn't checked in as much as I had at first. Given the outcome of who she was, that wasn't the best idea.

"The more people we have to do this, the better but the sooner we figure out exactly what to do the better too. We can't let anyone in that office find out what's going on and it's best if both you and Grace get out of there and go somewhere. They're always going to have their ways of finding out other people's business when they shouldn't. Now wouldn't be the first time." Sighing, I looked from Harry and back over at Faith again.

"You all staying low is probably a good idea, but I can't force everyone out of the hotel and make them do the same. If we all leave then they're going to know something is going down. If Harry and Grace disappear then that's reason enough. The less prepared they are the better chance we have of seeing this through. It's got to be fast."

I paced a few steps of the room and rubbed the back of my neck with my hand before facing both of them again. "We do this.. we really do this and see it through then maybe we can finally figure out what the hell do to from here."

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[info]neverbeenfree
2008-01-10 11:46 pm UTC (link)
They were askin' a lot of questions. I'd been prepared for that. Answering a ton of questions but sometimes it was hard to keep up with. I nodded at Harry following along with him. Getting Tyler as far away from LA as humanly possible was high on my list of priorities. I'd expect Lily to go with him and I trusted her to protect him. Old Norman's weapons would probably come in handy too. "Can you bring the weapons over to the school?" I asked Harry. "I'd like to take a look at them." And maybe train some slayers how to use them? I wasn't sure on that front just yet.

"I've just been going from motel room to motel room lately. I'm heading towards the school next. Kennedy, Buffy and Spike are already there watchin' out for the slayers. I wanna put the whole place on lockdown. No one in and no one out. Maybe Grace can work up some mojo to keep the place protected. There's plenty of dorms for whoever wants to stay there." I need to talk to Kennedy, to Grace and to a whole bunch of other people.

I smiled grimly and nodded at Harry when he said he was on my side. I knew he would be, or at least I hoped he would be.

I nodded at Angel next when he echoed my sentiments about going all the way with this. "I think we're off to a good start at least. Harry you should probably just go about business as usual at work and I'll call as soon as I get in touch with Grace and let you know what's up. Angel, find Serenity and call me the minute you do or bring her to the school. She's the link to all of this. We find her, we can end this whole nightmare." Finally.

Pressing my lips into a thin line I looked back and forth between the two of them. "I guess that's it."

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[info]ny_city_boy
2008-01-14 11:55 pm UTC (link)
"I'll be at the office if either of you need me. As soon as Gracie is out, I'll be out, but I'll see what I can do to keep Lexi out of this." Easier said than done of course. I wasn't above drugging her and her sire and stuffing them some place until this was over. I guess I was more like my dad than I ever wanted to realize.

"I'll drop the weapons off this week and give everyone a crash course in how they work. One thing to consider is...you and Lily are immune to the poison of the drugs at this point. If you wanted to consider a power boost just for this fight, it's there." It was opening an entire different can of worms, but if we were going to go balls to the wall then we better explore all options.

I approached her, brushing the hair away from her face before leaning in to kiss her. It had been awhile, and I knew they were both disturbed by my distance. I'd fix it in time, but for now I was having a hard enough time staying focused on what I needed to do.

"You can count on me." I paused and looked over at Angel and added quietly, "Both of you can. I better get back to the office. Use the phone if you need me."

I moved from Faith to Angel, crushing my lips against his hungrily, before pulling back just as fast as I had with her, and disappearing out the window. I wasn't allowing myself to get too comfortable there with them. Otherwise I would become distracted and I couldn't let that happen. Not with everything that was at stake.

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