Flesh and Blood

1

"Like, really really?"

"Yes, mate! How many times are you going to ask?"

Spike was getting annoyed at this point by Angel's constant badgering. Was this even the right time to be judging the life choices of an almost 200-year-old vampire? Then again, Angel had been ragging on him for the last century. But in the middle of a battle was not the time to pick a fight. There were other things to worry about—not getting staked was very high on the priority list.

Spike dodged a punch from the vampire and then staked the demon in the heart. The wood punctured in easily, like popping a balloon with a pin needle. As it turned to ash, he continued his rant. "An' it's not like Harmony and I haven't dated before. She always came back."

Angel finished off the vampire he was exchanging blows with and faced his grandsire. He was tired of discussing Harmony's reliability. Lives have been and always would be in danger, and if important information were passed to the wrong hands, Angel feared the consequences. Harmony had already betrayed him before. And as his receptionist, she was exposed to many of Wolfram & Hart's most lethal secrets. He continued to voice his disagreement with the decision to keep Harmony, but no one would listen. Besides, she was trying to be a better person—according to her, anyway. She always seemed to find a way to make up for her mistakes.

"Spike, you can't tell me that your relationship with her in the past was perfect. You tried to stake her."

"But she didn't die, did she?" Spike retorted, grunting as he staked another vampire. "An' she found that bloody gem that you selfishly destroyed. Imagine how helpful it'd be to us right now."

"You don't think she's going to hold that as a grudge and bite us in the ass when we least expect it?" Angel brushed Spike's comment off about the Gem of Amara; something his vampire grandchild loved to bring up... regularly.

Spike gave Angel a sideways glance and chuckled. "I'm not worried," he replied cockily.

The two paused side by side to regroup as more vampires surrounded them. They were at a park in the middle of a Los Angeles suburb, arriving shortly after hearing the struggle between these vampires and the group of teenagers they were preying upon. Fortunately for the teenagers, they had snuck out of their parents' homes for a late-night smoke session and were probably too high to remember the reality the situation.

"I'm not saying you can't date her; I'm just saying she can't be trusted, so be careful what you're telling her."

Spike rolled his eyes. The two ensouled vampires turned their backs to each other as the remaining five vampires circled around them. The platinum blond lunged at the three in front of him, kicking one and punching another to the ground, towering over the latter with a stake raised high. The third one yanked Spike off and threw him into Angel, and they tumbled, grumbling obscenities at each other as they untangled and regained balance.

"I thought you two were supposed to be 'Big-Bads,' " the vampire taunted. His crew of vampires rallied behind him. "Thought keeping you away would be much harder."

The vampire smirked as he watched their faces twist in confusion.

"Keeping us away? From what?" Spike turned to Angel, befuddled, but his frenemy looked just as lost as he was. They held off on attacking, but the vampires had a different idea.

The one that spoke charged at them but was too slow to tackle either. Instead, he looked down at his chest in surprise to find he was staked while he made such a naïve move. In his last moments, he glanced, bewildered, at Angel and Spike—like they had the audacity—and then turned to dust. Through the falling ashes, Angel saw fear on the faces of the remaining four. He stood his ground, vamp face on. He had seen this situation before. They were following a leader, and now that their leader was dead, they were lost and helpless. He continued to stare them down with his piercing, yellow eyes until the four demons scattered into the dark like a flock of birds. Mindless birds. Angel did not feel the need to go after them.