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Xanpet
Lindsey had been out for less then twenty minutes before he found the missing Dex. It was almost as if it had found him, like it was trying to find home. He bundled it into the truck and drove back to Halley’s apartment. It was remarkably co-operative. There was no fight left in the beast, and it’s sad eyes looked tired and weary of life. In a lot of ways, Lindsey knew how it felt.
“What are we going to do now?” He asked the creature. He tried to phone Hal but her cel phone was off. For a moment, he would have given anything for the demon spawn in front of him to take all his worries. He hid it in the spare room and locked the door. He poured himself a drink and sat down to wait for Halley. Somehow phoning the Hyperion never occurred to him. She’d come home eventually. He wasn’t risking his neck any more.
Suddenly he decided he needed more than just the wine Halley kept in the house. He took his keys and headed for the door. The Dex would be all right. He would just go to the bar on the corner and sink a few beers. He deserved it. Inside the locked room the Dex grew a little sadder.
An uneasy truce hung between the two vampires as they made there way towards
the address Halley Dillinger had given them. Angel’s nose stung like crazy
and his demon seethed that his childe had dared to touch him in that way. Bloody
William and his bloody antics. “Why does he have to be like this?”
Angel thought.
They pulled up outside an apartment block just in time to see Lindsey leave on foot.
“You think you can take an order and just do it?” Snapped Angel. He didn’t wait for a reply. “Follow him.”
Spike jumped the car door and leaned in to kiss his sire on his broken nose. “Okay.” He said and was gone.
Lindsey stepped up to the bar and ordered two beers and two double whiskey chasers. He downed the first whiskey as soon as it arrived and banged the short glass on the counter for a refill. He felt strange, almost euphoric and he hadn’t even been with the Dex that long. Maybe he was just in greater need of a soul cleansing than most. Of course getting drunk while the woman you loved was in trouble wasn’t exactly the most moral thing to do but what the heck? The Dex would absorb his sin and everything would be fine. He wondered if it took the hangovers as well.
A stranger sat down next to him and ordered a JD, neat. “You put an ice cube in that and you die.” Said the man to the bar tender, cheerfully. Lindsey eyed the newcomer up and down. He was dressed head to toe in black. It contrasted sharply with his pale skin and bleached white hair. He wore various cheap silver rings and his stubby fingernails were painted black. There was something about him however that screamed power, even though his frame was wiry and compact. Something in the chiselled features, bright blue eyes and confident almost cocky manner.
“Drinking for two?” The man said in an accent that was almost certainly British. “That’s a sure sign of heartache.”
“Did I talk to you?” Lindsey snapped belligerently.
But Spike carried on, “You know, them what wallow in self recrimination usually ‘ave a soul what’s sick. Some of us would call it brooding.”
Lindsey moved away but Spike just followed him down the bar. “I’ve tried it you know, the booze. Don’t heal y’soul.”
“If your one of those born again deals, just forget it. I’m a lost cause, so go preach to someone that cares!”
Spike laughed, “Born again. Yeah, you could say that. Thought I’d lost me soul too. Funny things, the soulless.” As he talked the pieces of his existence began to fall into place. The pain of his life before his change, the humiliation by Cicely, Dru leaving him, his unrequited passion for the Slayer and his eventual leaving of Sunnydale, it was possible all these events could be attributed, in part, to him having a sick soul. He wasn’t man enough to be a demon and he wasn’t demon enough to be a man.
“I’m not soulless!” Lindsey was shocked by that last comment.
“No? Well maybe not yet but you’re well on the way.”
Lindsey pondered on this for a minute, “My boss said the soulless live forever.”
“Yeah, but that can be a very long time. And in the long run – it don’t bring ‘em happiness. Existence ain’t life.”
“Tell that to most vampires. Oh but I don’t suppose you believe in such things.” Lindsey said, still thinking he was talking to some religious nut.
“Oh I believe. All I’m saying is you can’t cure the soul by means of the senses. I think that’s what makes Angelus so bloody straight laced.” Spike thought that maybe this is what he’d been trying to do ever since he was a human child, the big bad image, the acting out, and all vain attempts at soul curing.
“You know Angel? Did he send you after me? Tell him this is Halley’s problem, not mine. This time my conscience is clear.”
“Which is why you are in here, drinking for England!”
“Look I’m free. I don’t have a thing to worry about. I could
work for good like you, if I wanted, I just don’t want.”
But Spike just laughed again. The man clearly thought he was one of Angel’s
pets. He didn’t work for good, he worked for profit. Rather like prostitution
but at least it kept your soul intact, such as it was. Rather too well as he’d
found out. Not that he was going to reveal his more philosophical side to this
arsehole.
As quickly as the laugh appeared it went again and his chiselled features became
stone. “I don’t work for good!” He snapped outloud, “I work
for profit.”
Lindsey said nothing to that. Who was this strange man Angel had sent after him? Or was he a man at all? Lawyers worked for profit and all it made them was sick. It poisoned the soul and the Dex was proof of that.
Giving a wry snort, Lindsey asked, “Ever read Oscar Wilde? He said, ‘Your
soul can be bought, sold and bartered away. It can be poisoned or made perfect.’
Whoever or whatever you are, tell Angel he’s to stay away from things that
don’t concern him or he may lose more than he bargained for.”
“I’m not your errand boy. You can tell ‘im yourself when you finally roll home.”
It took a while for that to sink through the alcohol. “Brilliant distraction, Angel.” Lindsey chided himself mentally and without another word, he headed for the door.
Spike snickered to himself. Doing good was always so much more fun when you could be evil at the same time. He followed Lindsey out of the bar…. Without paying.