Chapter 9 - I Like the World the Way It Is

"I would be happier," Wesley said to Spike, "if you hadn't given him the ruby."

"I didn't," the vampire said, mildly. He was picking up the other rubies, and only found six. One of the large round rubies seemed to be gone. He shrugged. "And after thinking it over, I don't think anyone did. What he has is a copy, right?" he asked Ann.

Ann smiled at them. The flat ruby appeared in her hand. "Yes. This is the original." She flipped it up in the air. At the top of its trajectory, the ruby vanished again.

"So there's no reason for him not to go to Mexico City?" Cordelia asked.

"None that I can see," Ann agreed.

"Good," Cordelia said.

Ann gestured a bottle of wine and new glasses into being on the small table. She poured herself a glass but did not pick it up. "The security in this hotel is abysmal," she commented.

"It sucks," Spike agreed, pouring a glass. "I wasn't going to mention it, being a guest and all, but that's sure as hell true. It's not as if Angel didn't know any better, either. In the old days, he always secured his perimeter before he relaxed and started the torturing and the feeding. Maybe he is getting sloppy in his old age."

"May I do something about it?" Ann asked. "Purely temporary, only until 9:30 this morning, say?"

"Go ahead," Wesley said.

Ann nodded, cupped her hands together, whispered into them, then opened them. A green sphere expanded rapidly from her two palms and disappeared through the ceiling, the floor, and all the walls. "Much better. That will keep everyone but Angel out." She picked up her wine and drank.

"I've been meaning to ask, Gytha..." Gunn said.

"I can't detect vampires well," Ann said.

"She says we're foggy," Spike said.

"No, I said there is a fog around you that muffles my perceptions," Ann said.

"Which is how you got walked in on," Gunn realized.

"Yes, but you don't need to worry about that happening again till morning."

"It's also why she has a pack of shouyu around the Sunnydale house," Spike said.

"How do you manage to live there, then?" Wesley asked.

"They like me," the vampire said.

"At some point, we should tell Fred it's all right to come out," Cordelia said, sitting on a sofa and putting her feet on the table.

"I will," Gunn said, and climbed the stairs.

"I was thinking," Spike said, sitting on the red sofa facing Cordelia and putting his feet up on the table.

"Oh?"

"If there were some more teenage shouyu available, Angel could employ them here."

Ann shook her head. "The youngsters who are watching over Buffy's grave are mostly doing me and Gang Long a favor."

"You have people watching her grave?" Cordelia asked.

"It seemed wisest," Ann said. "Mighel insisted I burn Clemencie, even before he let me heal him; but when I suggested it, Tara and Willow said cremation would distress Dawn, and I came to agree with them."

"Who are Mighel and Clemencie?" Cordelia asked.

"Mighel was a Watcher, and Clemencie was his Slayer," Ann said. "Some time ago."

"Back in the 15^th Century," Wesley said.

"The three of them and Xander Harris picked out a place to bury Buffy's body, which, while pretty, was too undefended, in my opinion," Ann continued. "I'm not sure if there is a market for a Slayer's bones, but disturbing Buffy's grave would upset the people who love her."

"That was well thought," Wesley said. "Poor Giles."

"Poor Angel," Cordelia said.

Spike looked at his glass and said: "Poor Dawn." He looked up to meet Ann's sympathetic gaze and managed a tight smile.

"She is so spooky," Cordelia said.

"No more so than anyone else," Ann said, "if you go back far enough."

"What are shouyu, anyway?" Wesley asked as Gunn came back down the stairs.

"You may know them as Fu dogs," Spike said. "Immortal guardians. They look a lot like the classic statues."

"Well, the ones in Sunnydale also took the job because they're young rowdies, looking for an excuse to fight," Ann said. "Rather like teenage gang members. However, they get excited easily, and that is not what you need here, where there are a variety of visitors, not all of whom should be mauled or devoured."

"Where's Fred?" Cordelia asked Gunn.

"She came all the way out on the balcony, wanted to know what was going on and see for herself that we're all right."

"Fred," Ann called. "Have some wine."

"Oh, I don't know," Fred whispered from the balcony.

Ann said, "If you don't want wine, you can have cider or anything else you want."

"Well, maybe cider, I like apples, there were apple trees, not really apple trees, since they were blue, but I liked them."

"Here," Ann said, appearing in front of the girl, who stared at Ann wide-eyed, "try this. It's from a mix of fruit, apples and peaches."

"Oh, well, thank you, I guess I can try this," Fred said, looking at the pint mug. Hesitantly, she took the mug, then a sip.

"I think you'll find it very restorative," Ann said, then used the stairs to return to the lobby.

"This is about what they served," Cordelia told Spike.

"No, this is much better," Spike said.

"Change glasses with Spike," Ann said. "His palate is more experienced than yours."

"Oh," Cordy said, sipping. "This is different."

"And if you remember what it tastes like and concentrate, you can call it out of my wine anytime."

"We need to know what we want?" Gunn asked.

"That's always a good idea," Ann smiled.

Wesley frowned, focused on his wine: the glass shifted to a snifter and the wine stilled and changed color. He tasted. "My word."

"When did you meet Drusilla?" Spike asked.

"A good while back," Ann said. Spike continued to look at her and she continued: "You were being a pest, and I was wondering if I should kill you. I wanted insights Rupert's files lacked, so I sought out Drusilla in South America and talked with her."

"That must have been interesting," Gunn murmured.

"Yeah," Cordelia agreed.

"I can be very patient," Ann told them.

"Why did you decide not to kill me?" Spike said.

"You stole the Viper," Ann laughed.

"And that made you like me?" he demanded incredulously.

Ann smiled at him. "A little, enough so I listened to you when you brought it back."

"So why do you want to see her again?"

"Claire thinks she's found a therapist who can deal with Drusilla's post traumatic stress syndrome, possibly make her less crazed and unhappy."

"She's a vampire," Wesley said.

"So?"

"Sounds like what you'd get is a happy killer," Gunn said.

"She's a killer now," Spike pointed out. "That may not change, but it sounds as if no human would be any more endangered by making Dru a little saner."

"Very possibly it would work the other way," Ann said mildly.

"And I want to get her away from Adan. I think she's likely to be hurt or staked if she stays with him."

"So she'll just be happy? She can whistle as she murders?" Wesley demanded.

"You can whistle?" Ann asked Spike, who grinned at her, then whistled part of "Ode to Joy." "Interesting," Ann said again.

"This reminds me," Spike said. "Ann, what's Claire's phone number? Cordelia wants it."

"Here," Ann said, handing Cordy a card.

"Sunrise is in two hours, forty eight minutes," Ann told Spike. "If you're driving straight back, I'll ride with you, if you like. If you're staying on another day, I'll go home now."

"You can drive," Spike said.

"So tell me all about Angel's curse," Spike said, lounging back in the passenger seat.

"Well," Ann said. "As soon as I met Angel, I saw that he wasn't cursed; therefore I can't tell you anything about his original curse that isn't hearsay or deduction."

"So how'd it work?"

"The triggering incident wasn't just sex, there was a happiness factor." Ann explained the complexities of Angel's curse.

"And sex with Buffy gave him perfect happiness?"

"So I've been told."

"So what did Willow do to him?"

"You must remember that until recently, Willow's kind heart kept her from cursing anyone. This was not something she consciously did, either. She couldn't curse anyone, even deliberately, even Oz after the werewolf bitch incident."

"Yeah," Spike said. "I remember. She was worried about me, when I was so suicidal that time, and when I was the birdbath, something about acid rain. So she wouldn't have hurt him; but what did she do to Angel?"

"The vampire syndrome, except for a few extraordinary cases that are causing Claire some statistical and theoretical problems, artificially fragments the subject's personality, separating you from your conscience and any sense of empathy you may have. Willow omitted all the vindictive parts of the curse and re-integrated Angel's personality without the limiting factors. She and Angel call it bringing back his soul, which is not, of course, what happened at all."

There was a period of silence, then Spike said, "I don't think you could sleep with Angel and not make him perfectly happy, so he knows he's not cursed. Why hasn't he told his friends?"

"There are at least four assumptions in that last speech," Ann said, amusement obvious in her voice. "I thank you for the compliment, but for anything concerning Angel's thought processes or emotional states, I refer you to him."

"What's he doing here?" Spike asked, seeing Konrad, a statue again, in the foyer.

"I want to talk to him. You're sort of involved in what I want to say, so you can stay, but I would like you to keep your mouth mostly shut."

"What do you want to talk to him about?"

"Blood."

"Why?"

"Konrad was a very convincing human."

"So you said, but as Gunn pointed out, there are plenty of humans already; and if you mean I could become human, it didn't sound as if Konrad found the ability to mimic humans solved his problems. In fact, I'd say it could create more problems than it solved, since if I had been walking around in sunlight and got mugged, I'd not only..."

"Spike, have you considered that if you could shift to human, I would be able to heal you completely and immediately, without that damn vampire fog getting in the way? I'd be able to access every part of you right down to the innermost convolution of your cerebral cortex."

Spike looked at her for a long moment before he said, "So you would, by god. I never thought of that aspect of it."

"I told you, if you were human, I could get that obscene chip out of your head."

"Yeah, you did."

"Until you're free of it, I'm not ruling anything out. Apparently, a vampire can drink listig blood with no adverse effects, unlike my blood--"

"Which makes me break out in hives."

"--and probably doesn't confer shape-changing ability anyway. We'll still do another sensitivity test before you drink any of Konrad's blood and I'll start looking for Arval Lund. If he's still alive, we'll be able to evaluate his long term health."

Spike asked: "Do you really think you can find him?"

"I can usually find what I'm looking for," Ann said. "How do you think I found Drusilla?"

"I have no idea," Spike admitted. "Did you ask the Watchers?"

"No," Ann said. "I don't completely trust them or totally agree with their goals, either long or short term. And if you will take my advice, you won't tell even Rupert or Wesley what we're trying to do. I haven't, and I have no intention of doing so."

"I thought you liked them."

"I like Rupert very well, as you know, and I'm beginning to have a growing respect for Wes, but they may be Watchers first, and our friends second."

"You may be right. Do you keep secrets from me?"

"Of course. All those that are none of your business," Ann said.

"Such as who that really was in the photograph you showed Wes?"

"That's one of them. So how much blood do you take when you kill? It occurs to me that if Adan was just sipping from Konrad daily, as he appears from his mutterings to have been, he never received a large enough dose of blood to trigger the change, while Konrad would have died from exsanguination, if Arval hadn't let him drink."

"Gunn's right, you don't stop thinking at all," Spike said. "I don't know."

"Well, I'll see what I can arrange. The volume probably isn't larger than your stomach's, which is a couple of pints, unless you digest it at preternatural speed."

"No one's ever mentioned that," Spike said.

"We do need Konrad's cooperation, since we want him to shift to a non-vampiric listig. Don't look too interested or even involved while I deal with him."

"Right."

Ann freed Konrad, who looked around.

"So where am I now?"

"One of my homes. Come and sit down," Ann said, leading the way into her formal and rarely used living room. "Adan has gone off to Mexico City, apparently resigned to your escape."

"What did you tell him?" the shifter asked, sitting on one of the long sofas. Ann sat across the low table from him, while Spike took a chair off to his left.

"Drusilla saw you, remember, so we had to tell him something, but we lied to him about everything we could. He thinks you're calling yourself Giorgio and we told him we had no idea where you went. Where do you want to go now?"

"North," Konrad said. "If Adan is going south, I want to go north."

"Name a city," Ann said.

"Minneapolis," Konrad said.

"Then that's where I'll send you. Have you an address?"

Konrad shook his head. "Any place inside will do."

"Certainly, but before that happens, I have a proposition to put to you."

"Oh?"

"I want two liters of your blood, or more accurately, two liters of normal listig blood."

"You want to become a shifter?"

Ann smiled and became a slender red head, a tall blonde and her normal self. "Thank you, no; I want your blood for research purposes."

"What are you?" Konrad asked again.

This time Ann answered him, at least to say: "That is not the issue. I offer you a trade," and she handed the listig a small hollow glass sphere. "It's a lifesaver. Break it, step on it, or crush it, and you'll be moved directly to me."

"Really."

"This is not a license to steal," Ann warned. "You will arrive stripped, no loot, no gear."

"Ah." Konrad sat back. "That's not a very attractive bargain."

Ann sat back and smiled.

Eventually, they agreed on one lifesaver now and another after Ann had drawn two liters of unaltered listig blood. That done, Ann waved the shifter to a small all night restaurant on Lyndale Avenue, not far from Hennepin, in Minneapolis.

"So how long do you think it will be before he comes back?" Spike asked.

"Him?" Ann laughed. "Maybe next century, maybe next week. I'd say sooner than later."

"And after that, there's only about twenty years while I practice shifting to human."

"Since you'll know what you're trying to do, I think you'll manage sooner than that," Ann said. She stood and stretched.

"If, of course, it's possible at all."

"It's only a matter of time, Spike, until I discover how to deal with your chip."

"Given that you and I are immortal, that's probably true, but not necessarily immediately comforting. Thank you, though." Spike grinned over at Ann. As he turned for the door, Ann held up one pale hand.

"There's one more thing before you retire. Gang Long," she called. "Can you come here for a moment?"

"Good morning," the long said, appearing in the living room in dragon form.

Ann plucked the flat ruby from the air and showed it to him.

"Where did you get that?" the dragon asked, shifting to boy.

"From Spike," Ann said.

Gang Long turned to the vampire. Spike saw he was shocked and excited. "Where did you get it?"

"I stole it, more or less, but it wasn't in Sunnydale, so Ann's not mad at me."

"And you gave it to Jingwu?"

"Yes."

The dragon turned back to his guardian. "Are you free?" Gang Long asked.

"Come on," Ann laughed. "This has nothing to do with my controllers. You know who really pulls my chain. This is Fate."

"What is? What is this?" Spike asked. "Why does Gang Long recognize it?"

"It controls the world," Gang Long said. "We're taught about it, about all the tianyuan, while we're still in the egg."

"It's one of several things that set up the physical laws of the world," Ann said. "Some of the items on Adan's list are part of the, oh, the control knob; or maybe remote is a better word. If you have all forty-one of them, you and forty of your closest friends can change, ah, the default settings."

"Wait, wait," Spike said. "This is real?"

"Yes," Ann said.

"And Adan's collecting all forty-one things that can change the world?"

"Someone is," Ann said. "My problem is, I like the world the way it is."

(The problem of Adan and the world the way it is will continue in the new series of stories, coming soon.)

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