Kin of the Soul

[lit_gal]

Anyone miss this?

Once upon a time there was Kin of the Heart where Angel and Xander learned to be friends. Now we're working towards something entirely different.

Kin of the Soul
Slash: Angel/Xander, Angel/Spike
Rated: ADULT
banner by objectivelypink

An evil auction is the sort of place where you'd find a lot of evil--big evil, little evil, and all the evil in-betweens. And Angel really has only one moral compass that he can use to navigate an increasingly complicated world.

( Part One ) ( Part Two ) ( Part Three ) ( Part Four ) ( Part Five ) ( Part Six ) ( Part Seven ) ( Part Eight ) ( Part Nine ) ( Part Ten ) ( Part Eleven ) ( Part Twelve ) ( Part Thirteen ) ( Part Fourteen ) ( Part Fifteen ) ( Part Sixteen )  ( Part Seventeen )  ( Part Eighteen ) ( Part Nineteen )  ( Part Twenty ) ( Part Twenty-One ) ( Part Twenty-Two ) ( Part Twenty-Three ) ( Part Twenty-Four ) ( Part Twenty-Five )



Angel pulled Xander closer as they walked through the hotel's back room. Demonic chests, body parts, shriveled heads and idols were strewn across folding tables, each with a small number on a tag attached. He could smell Xander's distress, and he wondered if Xander had changed his mind about burning the place down once they got the horn. Angel could feel the violent glee at that prospect, and he reminded himself that he would have to pull the fire alarm and give the humans in the rooms above a chance to get out first.

"Creepsville," Xander said softly. "It's like paradise only for really twisted people who think Poe and Quentin Tarantino make for good bedtime stories."

A young man went rushing by them, his arms held out like he was about to hug a long-lost friend. "Oh! Look! I really want one of these." He stopped just short of a mummy, which was good because it was covered in rotting bandages. "Buy me this one."

An older woman in spiked heels and a business suit followed. She had an indulgent look on her face as she agreed.

"Bloody idiots," Spike said softly.

"Oh yeah. Fools in fool's paradise, and please tell me that fool can't use the mummy to end the world or perform any apocalypsy fun." Xander turned to Angel.

Angel looked at the misshapen artifact. "It might eat him," Angel finally concluded.

"And I'm thinking that's only fair in a Darwinian kind of way."

Angel didn't know how to answer that. Certainly he didn't feel any sympathy for the young man who was almost dancing around the mummy, but Angel was a demon. Xander was a human, and he still wasn't bothered by the high likelihood that this overly enthusiastic young man was about to become part of the food chain.

"Bloody hell, let's just get on with it," Spike said, and that effectively interrupted any introspection on Angel's part.

"This way." Angel started walking toward the office area. Smaller artifacts were lined up on tables in this area. It occurred to Angel that this Barney would pay a lot to get the Gem of Amara, and Angel calculated the cost of adding a little more security onto the hotel.

They definitely needed to either bring in more guests or go raid some treasure. Angel had heard rumors of a necromancer who had a very large treasure and an even larger library. Of course, it was insanely dangerous for vampires to go after a necromancer, but Spike was nearly dancing with glee at the thought of trying, and if this worked, Faith and Graham would be available for a raid. It would solve both their current difficulties with dwindling finances and provide them with more research material. And it would make Cordelia happy. Angel had quickly discovered that the entire hotel tended to match Cordelia's mood. If she was stressed over money, Spike would break something, Xander would get upset about whatever Spike had broken, Graham would get tense around Spike, and Faith would snap at Spike for making Graham uncomfortable. Life was easier when Cordelia was happy. Sometimes it worried Angel just how much Cordelia and Darla had in common, but at least this time he wasn't sharing a bed with the queen bee.

Angel glanced over at Xander who was looking around, his expression caught between horror and fascination. The idea that Xander would be in his bed within days... within hours... it was terrifying. Angel knew how to dominate Spike and he knew how to get dominated. Darla's training wasn't something he cared to think about, but he certainly knew how to placate a dominant lover in bed. However, Angel wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with Xander.

"Okay this place? Officially weird," Xander said with an exaggerated grimace. "And if you lose me the way my mother lost me in K-mart when I was seven, I'm never forgiving you."

Angel blinked, shocked at the evidence that Xander would ever suspect that. Reaching out, Angel caught Xander by the neck and pulled him close, enjoying the warmth. "If you wander more than two steps, I'll track you down."

Spike smirked over at them. "We could probably pick the boy up a leash if you'd like," he suggested, wiggling his eyebrows. Spike was enjoying Angel's discomfort a little too much, and the worst part was that he probably understood the dilemma that Angel was in. After all, Spike had already made the transition to having sex with humans... sex that didn't involve broken bones and bloodletting. Angel glared at the younger vampire.

"You try it and I'll... I'll..." Xander sputtered, struggling to come up with a threat good enough. "I'll tell people you're addicted to Passions!" Xander finally blurted. "I'll have Graham put it on the webpage!"

"You soddin' little..."

"Enough," Angel cut them off before they could get into a war of mutual threats and blackmail. A woman was walking straight toward them, her dark eyes focused right on Angel, and this did not look like a casual interest.

"Ah, Mr. Angel." The woman walked up to them, and Angel stepped forward to get between her and Xander. Her tailored suit and briefcase suggested that she was a broker or a buyer, and if she wanted to buy Xander, Angel was going to have her for lunch. It would distract him from his aggravation with Spike. Xander sighed, but since he didn't loudly complain and poke Angel in the ribs, Angel assumed that was a sort of tacit agreement that this woman was dangerous.

"Yes?" Angel narrowed his eyes and looked at her. He considered the length of time it would take her to die if he started stripping off her skin. While he didn't actually plan to try that, Spike and Xander agreed that tended to have his most intimidating expression when he indulged in that fantasy, and he needed this woman to understand that he didn't want her near. Unfortunately, she didn't seem bothered by his expression.

"I'm Connie Whither, from Wolfram and Hart. I wanted to introduce myself." She put her hand out and offered him an unctuous smile. Angel stared at her. Russell Winters had used the law firm before Angel had killed him, and there were rumors of other demons hiring the lawyers. As far as Angel was concerned, working for demons put you on some pretty thin ice. He was fairly sure Xander would approve of terrorizing the woman since her law firm had tried to defend Winters when he'd kidnapped Cordelia.

"Whoa, the crazy vampire businessman's law firm? The people who tried to defend the vamp who grabbed Cordelia?" Xander asked with a fear coloring his voice. Angel didn't like that tone. He also thought the tone pretty much confirmed his first guess. This woman was on some thin moral ice. One wrong move, and Spike would be having fresh blood for dinner.

Angel narrowed his eyes and took a step toward the woman. "If ye have something to say, say it quick." Angel noted that Spike had moved back to Xander's side, defending him.

"Yes, we did represent Mr. Winters, but there are certainly no hard feelings there. Vampire culture has its own laws, and while we would have attempted to negotiate on his behalf, you were clearly well within your rights." Angel could hear the strain in her voice. She wasn't lying... not outright, but not everyone agreed with that assessment. Taking another step forward, Angel moved within inches of her. Tiny drops of sweat gathered at her hairline, and she smelled of the musk that came not with terror, but with the emotion that preceded it--a sort of nervous awareness of mortality. "We simply wish to offer our services to you."

"Services?" Spike asked, and the sarcasm in his voice made it clear what he thought of that offer.

"An evil door-to-door salesman in an evil auction, who woulda thunk?" Xander said quietly, echoing Spike's displeasure with his own odd sort of mangled English.

"We offer a wide range of services beyond the normal legal firm. For example, we have an establishment that presents demon gladiator fights. Normally, vampires are not a popular attraction. While I would never want to offend you, the fact is that the normal minion does not present any sort a challenge for the demon fighters. However, if you are interested, I'm sure the crowd would love to bet on a Master Vampire, and we could arrange a profit sharing plan for our mutual benefit." Angel sub vocalized a growl, warning Spike to stay out of it before he signed himself up. By insulting vampires as a race, she was clearly attempting to manipulate Spike. The boy simply could not resist any challenge to his strength. Of course, Angel understood that insecurity entire too well since he had created it.

"I don't see any reason why I would be interested in your profits," Angel pointed out coldly. She simply smiled.

"I would not expect you to take any interest. That's the advantage of our law firm. We are a neutral party out to secure profits for ourselves and our clients. We have no political motives other than money, so you can be assured that we will always act in the best interest of our financial future. You would be a significant draw in the fights--you or Master Spike--and we would be willing to share those significant profits in order to secure a share for ourselves."

Angel studied her. From what he'd heard in the demon communities, Wolfram and Hart was far from neutral, but then evil people shied away from announcing their own nefarious motives. Certainly Angelus had only showed his true nature once he has his prey in the trap. However, that left him wondering what trap Wolfram and Hart was preparing. "Not interested," Angel said shortly.

"Or," she hurried to say as Angel started to turn away, "we could arrange to use your hotel for accommodations. From what we've heard, you have done a remarkable job with the restoration." She smiled at Xander, and Angel growled, his eyesight slipping into the gray, sharp-edged vision of the demon. The woman had the grace to turn pale and take a step back. "We represent a number of politicians, demonic clan leaders... diplomats. We would pay top dollar for a demon-friendly luxury hotel."

Angel studied the woman, but her vacuous smile didn't reveal anything of any interest.

"Master Angel!" A floppy eared demon who clearly shopped for obnoxiously colorful shirts at the same stores as Xander hurried up to him. Reaching out, he grabbed for Angel's hand without even pausing. Clearly he was stupid. "U'talaba said to expect you, and can I just say I am really excited about doing business with you. You are just the hottest thing to hit L.A. since pastel colors during the Miami Vice craze. So, I hear you're looking for a Tak horn, and I have just the merchandise for you. That boy of U'talaba's really knows his business if he spotted my trail from the newspapers, huh?"

Angel's vision turned human again as he studied the strange demon that was shaking his hand enthusiastically. If he didn't know Xander was completely human, Angel would have been tempted to assume that they were related.

"Barney?" Angel asked.

"That's me. Your procurer of all things of power. Healing hands, visionary eyes... Tak horns—I have it all. But for you, I'm just your good old buddy, Barney."

"Is it just me, or did anyone else expect bigger, musclier and scarier when Wesley described a killer of killers and other really big, scary stuff?" Xander asked in a slightly bewildered voice.

"Hey, kid, don't go judging a book by his skin," Barney suggested. "Of course now that I know how U'talaba's ex-Watcher tracked me, I clearly need to change my MO a little."

"Ex-Watcher?" Connie Whither's face grew speculative. Angel mentally cursed. Barney might not be as physically intimidating as Xander had expected, but Angel suspected he had just done far more damage than a rampaging Moira demon. Damn. Clearly, they would have to move to get Wesley out of U'talaba's place more quickly than Angel had planned. And hopefully, he could do it without Xander realizing that U'talaba had effectively enslaved Wesley. Xander would consider that a sin worthy of slaying, and Spike always wanted to kill, so that would make it two against one in favor of killing U'talaba. Angel would prefer to avoid that. The demon had connections, and more than that, he had power that Angel still didn't understand, and that made him nervous.

"Some new slave U'talaba picked up," Barney said dismissively. Angel kept his best stoic face on, even when Xander turned and looked at him with undisguised horror. Damn it. If Xander weren't here, Angel would wring Barney's neck like one of his grandmother's cheesecloth bundles with the curds tucked inside the rough fabric. Only, Angel would squeeze until Barney's brains started leaking instead of whey.

"How interesting," Whither said as if Wesley and U'talaba were the least interesting topics in the world. Angel wasn't buying her faked disinterest. "Do consider our offer, Mr. Angel. Wolfram and Hart is always looking for profitable partners, and we could make a lot of money together." She looked over at Xander and Spike and tipped her head in respect. "So nice to meet you Mr. Harris, Mr. Pratt." Angel could feel every muscle tense at the evidence that this lawyer had done her research. No one alive knew Spike's original name, and she threw the name around as if the information were so easily come by that it didn't matter. That kind of arrogance suggested that either Wolfram and Hart was far more powerful than Angel had thought or that they had paid dearly for that information, and they'd been waiting for a chance to drop it into some conversation just to convince Angel of their power.

Angel traded looks with Spike. All the playfulness had vanished, and Spike was dangerously still and ready to attack. Angel weighed the dangers. Whither was just a minion of the real power, however. Killing her would only serve to give Wolfram and Hart an inflated sense of their own ability to worry Angel.

"Don't expect a call," Angel said shortly. Barney looked from the lawyer to them and back in clear confusion. "Let's discuss the terms of sale on the Tak horn," Angel said, facing Barney even though he tracked the lawyer's every move with his hearing.

"The auction is tomor—" Barney choked off the last word, probably because Angel had reached out and grabbed him by the throat.

"Let's understand each other," Angel said in a friendly voice. Spike gave a little bounce. "I've had a really difficult day. A technomage attacked my clan, and when I find her, I'm going to pull her intestines out the smallest possible hole I can make in her stomach." With his free hand, Angel reached out and slipped a finger between the buttons of Barney's shirt and stroked the skin beneath. "I'm having fantasies of eviscerating something with a beating heart, and I can either take the Tak horn and work on undoing the technomage's spell or I can indulge in a little torture while I wait for someone to find this woman for me." Angel smiled and let that piece of information soak in. "How would you like me to spend the next hour?" Angel tilted his head to the side and considered Barney. His pinkish skin was turning a much brighter shade of red and he was making little inarticulate noises.

"Um, I think he needs to breathe, Angel," Xander said softly.

"Oh." Angel tried to hide his own embarrassment at forgetting that. He loosened his hold, and Barney noisily sucked air in.

"But for you, we can do a private sale," Barney said, his voice a rough whisper. "How does $10,000 sound?"

"Unreasonable," Angel said sharply.

"Because it is," Barney agreed with a strained smile, patting Angel on the forearm. "Because we're friends, and we don't make a profit off each other... or kill each other. I would never charge my friend more than $4,000. I have it right over there," Barney waved his hand toward a table. Angel looked over, and he could see the Tak horn with its tag. Angel nodded and Spike headed for the table, pulling Xander along with him.

Slowly, Angel let go of Barney's neck and patted him on the shoulder, mimicking Barney's desperate and placating gesture. "It's good to have friends," Angel said as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket.

Barney was holding his neck with both hands, but he nodded his agreement. Angel pulled the money out and counted out the hundred dollar bills. "I'm five hundred short. I'll have to have the last part of the payment sent over." Angel handed Barney $3,500 and watched for any sign that the demon was about to call in security. For a second, Angel thought he might be considering it, but Angel reached over and patted Barney on the cheek the way one might a child. "After all, friends trust each other, right? If you didn't trust me, you wouldn't let me leave without the last of the payment and if I didn't trust you, I'd rip you apart and throw your decapitated head at the first guard to show his face."

For a second, Barney didn't breathe. Hell, most of the patrons who were inspecting the exhibits held their breath. "Of course. I have absolute trust in you, Master Angel. You're quickly becoming the most important Master in L.A. You certainly run the only traditional court on the West Coast. In fact, I insist that you take the horn for $3,500. It's more than fair. Maybe you could let me leave a few brochures at your hotel? Advertise my services? You know, one friend helping out another?" Barney's words tumbled out, and he smelled of desperation and hope.

"Call Cordelia. If you can get her to agree, you have my permission." Angel turned toward the exit, but he kept an eye out for Barney. Unless Angel missed his guess, Angel didn't have anything to fear from him at this point, though. Barney was looking at him with awe and excitement. Angel jerked his head, and Spike took point, Xander right behind him as they headed for the exit. Angel kept to the rear, covering their retreat. He wasn't even all the way to the door before Barney turned to a human who'd been hovering in the background during the entire conversation.

"Do you hear that? Master Angel is going to let me advertise in his hotel if I can get past his major domus."

Angel sighed, wondering if it would placate Cordelia to know that the demon community was about to promote her from human slave to majordomo. Probably not. The title wouldn't reduce her work load, but maybe Angel could do something about that, too.

Outside, Xander moved away from Spike and back to Angel's side. Angel raised an arm and let Xander slip into place against his side. The warmth of Xander's body reminded Angel that he wasn't the demon he once had been, no matter how good it felt to intimidate Barney and feel the awe and respect as people looked at him and saw a Master Vampire—not a souled abomination known for crawling through alleys for a century.

"U'talaba thinks he owns Wesley?" Xander asked.

"Ya just now figuring that one out, pet?" Spike turned around and looked at Xander like he was a particularly cute and slightly stupid dog. Angel glared at Spike, silently warning him to play nice. Spike was probably still stinging from Xander's threat to publicize his Passions obsession.

"Hey, I think I'm figuring it out way faster than Wesley. You do know that Wesley doesn't know that he's U'talaba's slave, right?" Xander looked from one of them to the other. "We aren't going to just let him stay enslaved, right?"

Angel sighed. He was aware. "We'll deal with that after we get the spell we need. We're not going to abandon Wesley," he promised. They reached the car, and Angel looked back at the hotel.

"Should we take the auction out?" Angel asked. He'd asked Xander before, but now Xander had seen just how much power and how many dangerous artifacts were together in this one place.

Xander sighed and shrugged and gave a lop-sided grin that looked like the one he used when he'd performed particularly badly on a test at school. "Lots of things creep me out. Like the Barney that's on TV. That's way worse than this Barney. There is something very wrong about getting kids to hug a purple dinosaur. If you see a purple dinosaur, running and screaming in terror would be way better reactions than hugging. So trust me, you are not going to be able to uncreepify the world."

Angel tightened his arm around Xander's shoulders. He remembered a day when Xander would have asked for exactly that. He wasn't sure whether it was good or bad that Xander was willing to accept a certain level of evil in the world.

"Let's go get a cure for Faith," Angel said.

"About bloody fucking time." Spike leaped over the door and landed in the passenger side seat and propped a boot on the dash of Angel's car.

Angel walked around to the driver's side and opened the door and pulled the seat forward so Xander could climb in.

"Harry will be very happy if Doyle gets well enough to travel, because I really think they're going to get back together, which is hard to do if Doyle is here and Harry is off learning demon table manners," Xander said. "Although I'm almost a little sorry, because Harry and Blair would have been really cute together. They would have had kids so smart that the rug rats would have been making fun of me before they got to the third grade, but Blair and Harry would have been cute together."

Angel listened to Spike and Xander chat about who should pair up with whom as he pulled into the traffic. Considering his own fears that he would not live up to Xander's expectations, that was not a conversation he planned to join in. Besides, right now, he couldn't think past getting Faith her cure. That and trying to figure out a way to get Wesley away from U'talaba and Wolfram and Hart.

Life was just never simple. He remembered Whistler once warning him about perfect happiness. Angel certainly didn't see himself being in any danger of that. If he didn't get Wesley before Wolfram and Hart bought him, he doubted he was ever going to be even slightly happy ever again. Sometimes it occurred to Angel that Spike and Xander were not all that different. Inside the auction, Xander had walked away from a young man who was most likely going to get eaten by a demon mummy, but he wanted to save Wesley from a situation where he was safe and happy and enslaved. Yeah, Xander was far more protective of his people than of people in general, and clearly Xander wanted to save Wesley. So, they'd be saving Wesley.

If life got any more complicated, Angel was going to have to start keeping "To Do" lists. Save Wesley, make Cordelia happy, figure out what Wolfram and Hart was up to, and do it all before they ran out of money. No wonder he'd spent a century living in alleys; it was simpler.