Giles frowned when he saw the tears in Fred's eyes. His contact had told him that Fred and Wesley had been together at the time of her death, and he had been the one who had held her as she died. "I don't know, love," he said. He didn't know what else to say. If he said it probably was, he would get her hopes up and if it wasn't about him, she would be devastated. "I suppose we'll have to find out."
When she wrapped her arms around him, he held her tight. He softly rubbed her back and smiled at her words. "I love you too, very much so," he whispered. Giles softly kissed the top of her head and pulled back. With his thumbs, he carefully wiped the wetness from her cheeks before kissing them. Even though he didn't want to leave the hotel room, he knew they weren't finished with their assignment. And if there was a hellmouth, they needed to make sure everything was wrapped up.
"We probably should," Giles said, slipping out of her arms. He picked up his coat and slipped it on again. He then noticed a sword sitting on the bed. "Well, Cordy is full of surprises. I do suppose this is for me since you have your wings to protect you." He slipped the sword through one of his belt loops and looked at Fred. "I'm ready when you are, love."
At Rupert's words, Fred nodded. It was dangerous to try to guess at to what Cordelia could have meant, especially since she had been so vague, and Fred herself had asked so many questions. She didn't want to get her hopes up that she might find out what happened to Wesley - to put her mind at ease about his fate if nothing else.
She clung onto Rupert for a bit longer, his words of love washing over her and warming her and stilling her worries for the moment. He was so wonderful and gentle. Without him, she knew she never could have done this. She would have been as lost as he had been, uncertain as to what to do. Having him there allowed her to focus and think things through. Having him there gave her something she was afraid she had lost when she had died.
They had to go, though, so she finally let him go, watching as he slipped on his coat before putting her own jacket back on. The sword on the bed surprised her at first - just what did Cordelia expect to happen, she wondered. But she supposed that any demon ready to open a Hellmouth would be more than willing to kill those responsible for stopping her plans. Knowing that Rupert would be armed was a good thing.
"Let's go," she told him softly, reaching over and wrapping her arms around him again. Within moments, they were in the familiar alley behind Bedford's shop, and Fred pointed to the door.
"That's the back door that leads into the office," she told him. "I saw it yesterday when I was in there. We should go in that way, I think."
Looking around to make sure no one was there, she hurried over to the door and tried it, finding it open - probably for the delivery they were expecting. She motioned to Rupert and then slipped into the short hallway that lead to the office, peeking in. The "girlfriend" was sitting at the computer, tapping her fingers on the desk, obviously waiting.
They looked at each other, and Fred knew there was no simple way this was going to work. Might as well take the straighforward approach.
"You might want to know...your delivery is never going to arrive," she told the Ar'vek demon softly.
The woman jumped up, her eyes flashing brilliant green for a moment. "Who the hell are you? What do you know about my delivery."
"More than you think," Fred told her. "The books are gone. You'll never find them."
Giles held onto Fred tightly and soon they were in the alley. When she suggested just going in, he wanted to stop her but followed her anyway. They were going to be found out sooner or later, and he rather it on their terms and not the demon's. When they walked into the office and the 'girlfriend' was sitting there, he pulled out the sword as Fred confronted her.
"Those books were important," the demon said as she glared at Fred.
Giles didn't say a word. Instead, he did was he was good at and watched. He'd dealt with this species before and they could be tricky, and fast. The 'girlfriend' started to move away from the desk and Giles gripped the sword tighter. His eyes ticked over and he noticed some sulfur powder on one of the cabinets. Why would Bedford have sulfur in his office? Ar'vek demons were highly allergic to it.
The demon moved closer to Fred and Giles reached over and picked up the powder. "Fred! Duck!" he yelled. Once Fred was out of the way, he threw the powder on the demon and it screamed out in pain as it changed back to it's natural form. Before it could lash out at them, he swung the sword and cut off its head.
"What in the hell is going on?" Bedford said as he jogged into the office.
Giles reached over and tipped over the cabinet. Several magical items fell out and he raised his eyebrows. "Let me tell you something Bedford, I used to do magic quite a bit and I can smell it and you reek of it. Now, why don't you tell us what's really going on," he said, holding his sword up.
When the girlfriend told her that the books were important, Fred almost wanted to roll her eyes in disbelief and tell her that of course she knew that they were or otherwise, they wouldn't have made sure that she couldn't find them. Instead and she just shook her head. "Important enough that they'll be well protected from now on," she told her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rupert moving over toward one of the cabinets. She wondered what he had seen and soon found out when the Ar'vek demon suddenly started moving toward her. Instinctively reacting to Rupert's yell, she ducked and moved back before he tossed something that looked like powder on her.
Within moments, it seemed over. The demon was dead - decapitated - and the books were safe. Until Bedford came into the office and Rupert tipped over the cabinet. Fred looked over the items in amazement, her eyes wide.
"I...I don't know what you're talking about," Bedford tried to say in response to Rupert's accusation.
"I recognize some of these items," Fred said. "Some of them were at Wolfram and Hart when I worked there. And some of them...they were items Wesley was searching for. I saw pictures of them in his notes."
"You know Wolfram and Hart?" Bedford asked, his face draining of color. "I thought you were with the Council."
"You know exactly what these are, don't you?" Fred asked, reaching down and picking one of them up, seeing it was slightly damaged but still enough to respond to its magic trigger. "I knew there was something off about you when we met you yesterday. Don't know about the occult, but you know about different dimension?"
Pushing him up against the wall, she held the item she had picked up to his neck.
"You know what this will do if I say the words to activate it, don't you?" she asked. Bedford nodded. "Where did you get these? I know the firm would never sell these or let someone else have them if they could help it."
"Salvage. I heard about the L.A. branch's fight with that vampire...the one with a soul...or two, I guess. I sent some people in to see what they could find." Bedford apparently rambled worse that Fred did when he was threatened because he kept talking, "They got stuff from the wreckage of the firm building and from the homes of several prominent demonworld figures - an archduke and a powerful sorceror that had been killed in the lead-up. Figured I might be able to at least sell them back at a tidy profit, but the only thing that I was able to sell was a knife."
"A knife? All these things, and they wanted a knife?" Fred said, pressing the item deeper into his neck. "Why don't I believe you?"
"It's the truth!" Bedford insisted. "A representative from the Rome branch came and bought it - for a pretty penny too. Apparently, it's not just a knife. It's a soul catcher. The rep said something about it containing the soul of one of the people that fought against him."
He glanced over at Giles. "You might know him since he was apparently a former Council member. Someone named Pryce?"
Gasping, Fred let go of him and stumbled back. "Wesley?"
Giles stood there and allowed Fred to take care of Bedford, especially when she said most of the things were from Wolfram and Hart. He'd seen some of the items before but not all of them. He paced around the office, watching Bedford to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, or anything to Fred.
When Bedford mentioned a knife that captured souls, he stopped in his tracks. He'd heard of such a knife and it was quite rare. Only five were made and no one knew where any of them were. Until now. Turning his attention to Bedford, he listened to him as he spoke and when he mentioned Wesley's name, his chest clenched.
"You better not be lying," Giles growled as he went over to Bedford and slammed him against the wall.
"I'm not!" Bedford cried. "I have records and pictures of it. Honest!"
Giles released him so he could get the records and pictures. When Bedford showed him the pictures, Giles nodded before turning toward Fred. "It's the Knife of Sliter. It's used by powerful wizards to trap souls of their victims. When a soul is entrapped in the knife, it stays there until a simple spell is said to release it. You have to have a special box in order to catch the soul or it'll go to another dimension, like Heaven...or Hell."
He pinched the bridge of his nose and saw the knife had been delivered to the Rome offices of Wolfram and Hart the week before. "They usually use demons to protect the soul but if you can get close to it, you can release it with the spell," he said before looking at Fred. "Wolfram and Hart is holding Wesley's soul."
Fred watched as Rupert slammed Bedford against the wall, feeling her heart aching. She had heard wrong. She must have heard wrong. He didn't mean Wesley. He couldn't.
But he had said his name was Pryce. A former Watcher.
Looking at Rupert when he confirmed the knife was what Bedford claimed it was after checking the pictures, she felt as though the world was spinning and had to grab the desk. No wonder Cordelia had refused to tell her what had happened to Wesley. He was trapped. Trapped and held prisoner by the firm that was responsible for sucking them in and tearing them apart piece by piece.
"We have to free him," she whispered. "He...he deserves peace. We can't let them hold him in limbo forever. We have to set his soul free to find it's way home."
Turning to Bedford, she held up the magical artifact out toward him. "If you utter one word to Wolfram and Hart about us, I swear that you'll wish you had it as easy as your 'girlfriend'. And take a word of advice - I'd get out of all this if I were you before it sucks you in and kills you too."
Giles watched as Fred threatened Bedford. He wanted to step in but he knew this was something she needed to do. She needed to get her angry out at him before they left the shop. When Bedford nodded, saying he understood and would stop, Giles gently pulled Fred away from him. "It's all right, love," he whispered. "Lets get back to the hotel."
Taking her hand, he led her to the alley, where Cordelia was waiting for them. "I'm sorry, Fred," she quietly said. "You needed to find out for yourself. Now that you know where he is, you have to go get him out."
A piece of paper appeared in Cordelia's hand and she handed it to Giles. "You have to get him out. It's your job to do it. Fred will get you in but you have to go to the holding place and get it," she explained.
"I think Fred should get it out," Giles said.
Cordelia shook her head. "It has to be you. Fred won't be able to do it. Only you can. When you go to back to your hotel room, there will be weapons to help you. You have to be in Rome by tomorrow morning," she said before she looked at Fred. "Are you okay, Fred?"
While Cordelia spoke to Rupert, telling him what he had to do, Fred stood there in confusion. Why was she insisting that he go in after the knife? Wouldn't it be safer if she went in and got it? She knew Rupert could take care of himself - he knew how to use a sword and other weapons, and he was obviously versed in magic - but she didn't like this. Rupert had said something about a demon guarding the knife. Since she was the one who was an Angel with powers, why wouldn't she go in?
"No, I'm not okay," she finally said when Cordelia finally spoke to her. "You didn't tell me about what happened to Wesley, so I had to find out this way, and now you're telling me that Rupert has to be the one to face whatever demon is guarding that knife? Why? What's going on, Cordy? I've never known you to be anything but honest and know I feel like you're lying to me!"
"They'll know what you are if you go into where they're holding Wesley's soul," Cordy said. "They'll be able to stop you. Giles is human and a trained Watcher. He'll have a better chance." She paused for a moment, and Fred still didn't like her explanation. "It's just the way it has to be, Fred - don't risk Wesley by ignoring me, all right?"
Fred stared at her, feeling her throat tightening but finally nodded.
"Good luck, you two." Cordelia looked from Fred to Rupert and back again before disappearing.
Taking a deep breath, Fred turned to Rupert, looking up at him, trying push aside her worry. "Wha--what did she give you?" she asked softly.
Giles stood and listened to Cordelia and Fred speak. He was about to ask why he had to do it but then Cordelia gave them an explanation. It made sense to him since Wolfram and Hart had sensors to keep things out. He knew they would be able to pick Fred out because she wasn’t human. Even though she felt very much like a human when he held her and made love to her.
When Cordelia disappeared, Giles looked over at Fred. He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand and shrugged a little. “It looks like the floor plan to the Rome office. It gives detailed directions to where Wesley’s soul is being held,” he said, looking at her. Giles could see the worry on her face so he slipped the map into his pocket and took her hand.
“Fred,” he said, pulling her closer and wrapping his arms around her. “It’s going to be all right, love. I promise you we’ll get Wesley’s soul out of there. I’ll do whatever it takes.” He pulled back and softly kissed her. “How about we get out of this cold alley.”
When Rupert held out the paper, Fred looked over at him, seeing that he was right - it was the floor plan. "That's exactly like the building in Los Angeles," she told him, recognizing the layout of the corridors. "That would be...three floors down from the main office floor and reception lobby."
Just as she took a deep breath to keep from breaking down, he pulled her into an embrace, and she melted into his arms, closing her eyes for a moment. "I know you will," she whispered. "I just...I don't want to...I don't want anything to happen to you."
She looked up at him for a moment after they had kissed and then nodded at his suggestion they get out of the alley. Within moments, they were back in the hotel room. Several weapons lay on the bed, including something Fred had never seen before, double-proged with jagged edges. Her eyes opened wide in amazement when she saw it.
"Something with two hearts?" she wondered, feeling the dread welling up inside her again. She looked over at Rupert, then around the room and suddenly felt like the walls were closing in. They had to get out of there. She wanted to spend the night with him somewhere special. Somewhere not here.
"Come here," she said, taking hold of his hand. She concentrated for a moment, and the next thing they knew, they were standing on the porch of a beach house. Fred smiled softly - she had gotten them to the right place.
"My aunt and uncle's beach house," she told him softly. "We used to come here sometimes when I was a kid, and I wanted to live here even though I knew we'd have to go back to the farm. I...I wanted us...I knew that they wouldn't be here this time of year, and I thought..."
She looked up at him. "I wanted to be with you somewhere special tonight."
When she wrapped her arms around him, he held her tight. He softly rubbed her back and smiled at her words. "I love you too, very much so," he whispered. Giles softly kissed the top of her head and pulled back. With his thumbs, he carefully wiped the wetness from her cheeks before kissing them. Even though he didn't want to leave the hotel room, he knew they weren't finished with their assignment. And if there was a hellmouth, they needed to make sure everything was wrapped up.
"We probably should," Giles said, slipping out of her arms. He picked up his coat and slipped it on again. He then noticed a sword sitting on the bed. "Well, Cordy is full of surprises. I do suppose this is for me since you have your wings to protect you." He slipped the sword through one of his belt loops and looked at Fred. "I'm ready when you are, love."
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She clung onto Rupert for a bit longer, his words of love washing over her and warming her and stilling her worries for the moment. He was so wonderful and gentle. Without him, she knew she never could have done this. She would have been as lost as he had been, uncertain as to what to do. Having him there allowed her to focus and think things through. Having him there gave her something she was afraid she had lost when she had died.
They had to go, though, so she finally let him go, watching as he slipped on his coat before putting her own jacket back on. The sword on the bed surprised her at first - just what did Cordelia expect to happen, she wondered. But she supposed that any demon ready to open a Hellmouth would be more than willing to kill those responsible for stopping her plans. Knowing that Rupert would be armed was a good thing.
"Let's go," she told him softly, reaching over and wrapping her arms around him again. Within moments, they were in the familiar alley behind Bedford's shop, and Fred pointed to the door.
"That's the back door that leads into the office," she told him. "I saw it yesterday when I was in there. We should go in that way, I think."
Looking around to make sure no one was there, she hurried over to the door and tried it, finding it open - probably for the delivery they were expecting. She motioned to Rupert and then slipped into the short hallway that lead to the office, peeking in. The "girlfriend" was sitting at the computer, tapping her fingers on the desk, obviously waiting.
They looked at each other, and Fred knew there was no simple way this was going to work. Might as well take the straighforward approach.
"You might want to know...your delivery is never going to arrive," she told the Ar'vek demon softly.
The woman jumped up, her eyes flashing brilliant green for a moment. "Who the hell are you? What do you know about my delivery."
"More than you think," Fred told her. "The books are gone. You'll never find them."
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"Those books were important," the demon said as she glared at Fred.
Giles didn't say a word. Instead, he did was he was good at and watched. He'd dealt with this species before and they could be tricky, and fast. The 'girlfriend' started to move away from the desk and Giles gripped the sword tighter. His eyes ticked over and he noticed some sulfur powder on one of the cabinets. Why would Bedford have sulfur in his office? Ar'vek demons were highly allergic to it.
The demon moved closer to Fred and Giles reached over and picked up the powder. "Fred! Duck!" he yelled. Once Fred was out of the way, he threw the powder on the demon and it screamed out in pain as it changed back to it's natural form. Before it could lash out at them, he swung the sword and cut off its head.
"What in the hell is going on?" Bedford said as he jogged into the office.
Giles reached over and tipped over the cabinet. Several magical items fell out and he raised his eyebrows. "Let me tell you something Bedford, I used to do magic quite a bit and I can smell it and you reek of it. Now, why don't you tell us what's really going on," he said, holding his sword up.
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Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rupert moving over toward one of the cabinets. She wondered what he had seen and soon found out when the Ar'vek demon suddenly started moving toward her. Instinctively reacting to Rupert's yell, she ducked and moved back before he tossed something that looked like powder on her.
Within moments, it seemed over. The demon was dead - decapitated - and the books were safe. Until Bedford came into the office and Rupert tipped over the cabinet. Fred looked over the items in amazement, her eyes wide.
"I...I don't know what you're talking about," Bedford tried to say in response to Rupert's accusation.
"I recognize some of these items," Fred said. "Some of them were at Wolfram and Hart when I worked there. And some of them...they were items Wesley was searching for. I saw pictures of them in his notes."
"You know Wolfram and Hart?" Bedford asked, his face draining of color. "I thought you were with the Council."
"You know exactly what these are, don't you?" Fred asked, reaching down and picking one of them up, seeing it was slightly damaged but still enough to respond to its magic trigger. "I knew there was something off about you when we met you yesterday. Don't know about the occult, but you know about different dimension?"
Pushing him up against the wall, she held the item she had picked up to his neck.
"You know what this will do if I say the words to activate it, don't you?" she asked. Bedford nodded. "Where did you get these? I know the firm would never sell these or let someone else have them if they could help it."
"Salvage. I heard about the L.A. branch's fight with that vampire...the one with a soul...or two, I guess. I sent some people in to see what they could find." Bedford apparently rambled worse that Fred did when he was threatened because he kept talking, "They got stuff from the wreckage of the firm building and from the homes of several prominent demonworld figures - an archduke and a powerful sorceror that had been killed in the lead-up. Figured I might be able to at least sell them back at a tidy profit, but the only thing that I was able to sell was a knife."
"A knife? All these things, and they wanted a knife?" Fred said, pressing the item deeper into his neck. "Why don't I believe you?"
"It's the truth!" Bedford insisted. "A representative from the Rome branch came and bought it - for a pretty penny too. Apparently, it's not just a knife. It's a soul catcher. The rep said something about it containing the soul of one of the people that fought against him."
He glanced over at Giles. "You might know him since he was apparently a former Council member. Someone named Pryce?"
Gasping, Fred let go of him and stumbled back. "Wesley?"
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When Bedford mentioned a knife that captured souls, he stopped in his tracks. He'd heard of such a knife and it was quite rare. Only five were made and no one knew where any of them were. Until now. Turning his attention to Bedford, he listened to him as he spoke and when he mentioned Wesley's name, his chest clenched.
"You better not be lying," Giles growled as he went over to Bedford and slammed him against the wall.
"I'm not!" Bedford cried. "I have records and pictures of it. Honest!"
Giles released him so he could get the records and pictures. When Bedford showed him the pictures, Giles nodded before turning toward Fred. "It's the Knife of Sliter. It's used by powerful wizards to trap souls of their victims. When a soul is entrapped in the knife, it stays there until a simple spell is said to release it. You have to have a special box in order to catch the soul or it'll go to another dimension, like Heaven...or Hell."
He pinched the bridge of his nose and saw the knife had been delivered to the Rome offices of Wolfram and Hart the week before. "They usually use demons to protect the soul but if you can get close to it, you can release it with the spell," he said before looking at Fred. "Wolfram and Hart is holding Wesley's soul."
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But he had said his name was Pryce. A former Watcher.
Looking at Rupert when he confirmed the knife was what Bedford claimed it was after checking the pictures, she felt as though the world was spinning and had to grab the desk. No wonder Cordelia had refused to tell her what had happened to Wesley. He was trapped. Trapped and held prisoner by the firm that was responsible for sucking them in and tearing them apart piece by piece.
"We have to free him," she whispered. "He...he deserves peace. We can't let them hold him in limbo forever. We have to set his soul free to find it's way home."
Turning to Bedford, she held up the magical artifact out toward him. "If you utter one word to Wolfram and Hart about us, I swear that you'll wish you had it as easy as your 'girlfriend'. And take a word of advice - I'd get out of all this if I were you before it sucks you in and kills you too."
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Taking her hand, he led her to the alley, where Cordelia was waiting for them. "I'm sorry, Fred," she quietly said. "You needed to find out for yourself. Now that you know where he is, you have to go get him out."
A piece of paper appeared in Cordelia's hand and she handed it to Giles. "You have to get him out. It's your job to do it. Fred will get you in but you have to go to the holding place and get it," she explained.
"I think Fred should get it out," Giles said.
Cordelia shook her head. "It has to be you. Fred won't be able to do it. Only you can. When you go to back to your hotel room, there will be weapons to help you. You have to be in Rome by tomorrow morning," she said before she looked at Fred. "Are you okay, Fred?"
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"No, I'm not okay," she finally said when Cordelia finally spoke to her. "You didn't tell me about what happened to Wesley, so I had to find out this way, and now you're telling me that Rupert has to be the one to face whatever demon is guarding that knife? Why? What's going on, Cordy? I've never known you to be anything but honest and know I feel like you're lying to me!"
"They'll know what you are if you go into where they're holding Wesley's soul," Cordy said. "They'll be able to stop you. Giles is human and a trained Watcher. He'll have a better chance." She paused for a moment, and Fred still didn't like her explanation. "It's just the way it has to be, Fred - don't risk Wesley by ignoring me, all right?"
Fred stared at her, feeling her throat tightening but finally nodded.
"Good luck, you two." Cordelia looked from Fred to Rupert and back again before disappearing.
Taking a deep breath, Fred turned to Rupert, looking up at him, trying push aside her worry. "Wha--what did she give you?" she asked softly.
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When Cordelia disappeared, Giles looked over at Fred. He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand and shrugged a little. “It looks like the floor plan to the Rome office. It gives detailed directions to where Wesley’s soul is being held,” he said, looking at her. Giles could see the worry on her face so he slipped the map into his pocket and took her hand.
“Fred,” he said, pulling her closer and wrapping his arms around her. “It’s going to be all right, love. I promise you we’ll get Wesley’s soul out of there. I’ll do whatever it takes.” He pulled back and softly kissed her. “How about we get out of this cold alley.”
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Just as she took a deep breath to keep from breaking down, he pulled her into an embrace, and she melted into his arms, closing her eyes for a moment. "I know you will," she whispered. "I just...I don't want to...I don't want anything to happen to you."
She looked up at him for a moment after they had kissed and then nodded at his suggestion they get out of the alley. Within moments, they were back in the hotel room. Several weapons lay on the bed, including something Fred had never seen before, double-proged with jagged edges. Her eyes opened wide in amazement when she saw it.
"Something with two hearts?" she wondered, feeling the dread welling up inside her again. She looked over at Rupert, then around the room and suddenly felt like the walls were closing in. They had to get out of there. She wanted to spend the night with him somewhere special. Somewhere not here.
"Come here," she said, taking hold of his hand. She concentrated for a moment, and the next thing they knew, they were standing on the porch of a beach house. Fred smiled softly - she had gotten them to the right place.
"My aunt and uncle's beach house," she told him softly. "We used to come here sometimes when I was a kid, and I wanted to live here even though I knew we'd have to go back to the farm. I...I wanted us...I knew that they wouldn't be here this time of year, and I thought..."
She looked up at him. "I wanted to be with you somewhere special tonight."
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