Have a Little Faith, Chapter 14

“You got laid,” was the first thing Angelus said when Lindsey came in the morning.  At first all Lindsey wanted to know why Angelus was in his office in the morning.

“What?” he asked.  Were they spying on him?  Did they know about Cordelia?  She had left before dawn, although neither of them really wanted her to leave.  They had taken the service exit away from any cameras.  He did not go back to sleep after she left.  He wanted to remember waking up in her arms.  Instead he sat on the couch and just thought about her.  Pure undisturbed thoughts only about happiness and nothing about the monster he had to work with.

“I can see it, that look of happiness, lack of stick up your ass.”

“It was just a one night stand,” he said.  “But boy was she hot.”  The sad part is that it was true.

“I bet she was.” Angelus said and thought of Darla.  “She smells familiar, someone from the office?”

Lindsey smiled, but felt utter fear.  He knew he should have sent Cordelia home.  What would happen if Angel recognized her scent?

“In this business there is no time for relationships, especially one from the office,” Lindsey smiled again.  “But I never kiss and tell.”

“I know,” he replied. “One moment you love someone, then you change and you love no one.”

Lindsey did not say anything.  Despite his fear, his night with Cordelia gave him the stomach to keep going.

Lilah and Lee came in.

“Lindsey got laid,” Angelus told them.

“Congratulations,” Lee said and laughed.  “It’s about time you lost your virginity.”

Angelus laughed even though it wasn’t remotely funny, but because Lee was the favorite man of the hour for finding Penn.

Lindsey tried to smile and play along.  Being with Cordelia did not make it so bad.  He so longed to be with her again.   To touch her the way he touched her the night before.  To feel the silkiness of her skin against his own.   He know he could not, but that the memories of last night would keep him going, like he knew Faith’s support would also.  He doubt he would be able to go on without the love and support of these two women.

“Excellent work,” Lilah said and he could sense a hint of jealousy in her voice.

“Thank you,” Lindsey replied.  He was anxious to get off the subject.  “Now what is going on today?”

“Oh, Holland didn’t want to tell you because you are working on our case tomorrow.  Angelus is going to kill someone.”

“Who?”

“Alexandria Taylor.  She’s a PI—“

“I know who she is.  She’s a witness in the case against Papazian.”

“Besides that, she’s been a major bug up my ass, I need her dead.   If she’s dead, Little Tony should get off.”

“What about Lockely?” Lindsey asked.

“She does not have much except that resisting arrest thing.  I’m sure you can discredit her. Although I may have to take care of her soon also.  She’s nosy.”

“I’ll get Little Tony off and he can disappear,” Lindsey said.  That was the case he was trying on Wednesday.   “Although I cannot stand dealing with that righteous bitch Kate Lockely.”
 

Kate was not sure if she liked seeing Faith at her desk especially when she was due in court in an hour.

“Faith.”

“Hey,” she said.  “I have info, you know,” she smiled. “From my special place.”

“What about?”

“You know anyone named Alexandria Taylor?”

“Yeah, she’s PI, been working with the feds on trying to nail Tony Papazian.  I’m testify against him today.”

“Someone’s gonna kill her,” she replied.

“What?”

“Angelus is gonna kill her,” Faith admitted.

“What would Angelus want with a witness against a maf—Wait a minute, Angelus works for Wolfram and Hart, right?”

Faith nodded.  “But you didn’t hear that from me.”

“She is a major witness against Tony Papazian.  She’s scheduled to testify in two days.  I’m testifying today.  Do you think I’m in danger?”

“Didn’t get any danger signals on you.  I think cause Taylor’s the biggy.  How well do you know her?”

“She’s a PI that I’ve run into a few times, but I don’t really know her—Well she’s a piece of work, not in a bad way, but she’s female and black in a white male dominated profession, so she tends to over compensate.”
 
“Can you convince her that I’ll look after her without telling about the vampires and visions thing

“I’ll do what I can.  I’ll give you her home and work address and I’ll talk to her after court.”
 

“Detective Lockely,” Lindsey said and gave a false smile.  “You claimed Tony Papazian was resisting arrest?”

“That’s correct,” Kate said, a little mad.  She had dealt in court with Lindsey McDonald a few times and she hated him.  Even before she knew what Wolfram and Hart really did, she hated him.  Now she hated him even more.   He had ruined more than one of her cases.

“What was he doing?”

“He ran off.”

“Ran off?  Weren’t you waving your gun around like a lun—“

“Objection,” the prosecutor said.

“Withdrawn.  Detective Lockely, did you not in fact identify yourself—“
 

Faith had sent Doyle to watch Taylor’s apartment during the day.  Although, she did not expect Angelus to kill the her during the day.  Kate was in court all day.  Taylor’s was at work and Faith planned to hang out there in a bench across the street while she waited for Kate.

She wondered why Angelus would do what she considered a lowly assassination attempt.

“You know how to think,” she told herself.  Angelus’ ulterior motives have always been to destroy the human world.  To make evil on earth.  Were Wolfram and Hart as evil as he was?

“There you are,” said a voice Faith did not want to hear.  Faith tried to smile at Cordelia anyway.  She tolerated her because she knew how Lindsey felt about her. Cordelia was wearing black sunglasses, a tank top, and blue jeans.  She had two cups in her hand.

“Doyle sent me. I bought espresso.”

Faith did not really want company but she was thankful for the espresso.

Cordelia made herself comfortable next to Faith.  Faith sensed something weird from her.  She seemed overconfident, self assured and no longer jealous.

“He thought you might need company.”

“I’m waiting for Kate.”

“So, well, I have an ulterior motive,” she explained, handing her the espresso.

“Which is what?” she took a sip.  It was good and strong with a lot of sugar, just like Faith liked them.

Cordelia smiled slightly.  “Think I could maybe like, crash at your place for a few days—“

“It’s kind of small.”

“I know, it’s just at my apartment there was like hundreds of roaches.  It was the most disgusting thing ever.  I called Doyle and he tried to stomp them all dead, but like they kept coming.  He says he could set me up with a new place in a few days.  That’s where I kind of need you.”

Faith sighed.

“Doyle said you were like really into helping people now.  It was your thing separate from Buffy.”

Faith was now ready to kill Doyle.  She knew he had a crush on her, although it was obvious that Cordelia had fallen hard for Lindsey.

“Only for a few days.  There may be an assassin out to get me,” she explained, hoping that would definitely limit it to only a few days.

“Well, I can be careful.  Remember the time those assassins mistook me for you?”

Faith nodded.  She looked at her watch.  She decided to see if Kate was back from court.
 

“Miserable cock sucking bastard,” Kate said, when Faith entered the room.

“What?” Faith asked, a little confused.

“You heard me—“ Kate paused.  “Oh I’m not talking about you.  I’m talking about that Wolfram and Hart lawyer.”

“Oh,” she said, trying not to be shocked or to laugh.  Lindsey knew that Kate was at least aware of Faith being a vampire slayer, but she was completely in the dark about Lindsey.  Faith decided to keep it that way.   Eight people knew the truth and that was still too many.

“You ever meet up with any of them?”

Faith nodded.  “I decked one of them.”

Kate smiled.  That seemed to cheer her up. “It wouldn’t happen to be Lindsey McDonald?”

“Lawyers all look alike to me.”  Faith resisted all temptation to laugh especially due to all the misery Lindsey was causing Kate.

“I’ve spoken to Taylor.  I told her one of my snitches said there was a contract out on her.  She’s not surprised.  This has happened before, apparently.  Her testimony will put Tony Papazian away.”

Faith did not respond for a moment.  She still wondered why Angelus was interested in such a small person.

“We have to keep Taylor alive until Thursday that’s when she’s scheduled to testify.”
 

“He’s going to hit Taylor when she heads home.”

“Taylor’s got police protection,” Faith explained.  “Shortcake, why would Angelus be killing this woman?  She and the guy she’s testifying against are small potatoes.”

“Power game between Holland and Angelus.”

“I thought they liked each other.”

“As best as a vampire and soulless human can be.  However Angelus really needs Wolfram and Hart’s resources.  Holland wants to know he can keep Angelus under control by seeing if he’ll accept minor assassinations.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Faith said, but still had doubt.  Right now saving Taylor and stopping Angelus was more important.  But in the back of her mind, worry began to build up about Lindsey’s safety even more.
 

Alexandria Taylor was proud.  They told her when she had first gotten into this business that no one would hire a black female private investigator.  However, Alexandria, Alex to everyone she was introduced to had confidence in her skills.  In five years, she had established herself as one of the best PI’s in LA. She was even used by the LAPD from time to time.

“Ms. Taylor,” said one of the bodyguards she had hired to watch her and her office.  She had been used to it while investigating organized crime.

“Yes.”

“There is a woman here, sent by Detective Lockely.”

“Oh, yes, send her in.”  Kate Lockely was the arresting officer on the case.  Earlier in the day Kate had discovered from a snitch that an assassin was planning to kill her on the way home. Kate  was sending someone who know about the assassin.

And when the woman came in, Alex could not believe it.  She was a very young woman, she barely looked 18.  She was dressed in a Marilyn Manson t-shirt and black jeans.  She looked just liked a street kid.

“You’re Faith?”

“That’s me,” she said.

“You must be kidding.” Alex said and laughed.

“I look young, but I assure you I can protect you from this assassin.  Appearance ain’t everything.”

Alex knew this was true, but still Faith looked too small to cause any real damage.

“You look like a teenager.”

Faith sighed.  She picked up the phone book off her desk and ripped straight in half with no struggle.  That caused Taylor to cease doubting her abilities.

“Wow, how did you do that?”

“Tao Quin Leap.  Now, Ms. Taylor.”

“Call me Alex.” Alex said, suddenly fasinated.

“Alex, this assassin is nothing like you’ve ever seen.  He’s brutal, he’s fast and he’s painful.”

“I’ve dealt with attempts on my life before.”

“Nothing like this guy.  You got family in town?”

“Yes, my mom lives in Santa Monica.”

“Tell her to stay home, and to not let anyone in until you testify.  In fact, you may want to ask her to leave town for a few days.”

“You really think he’ll go after my mom?”

“If he doesn’t get you.”

“How do get your info?  I’ve been investigating Tony Papazian for weeks, most of what I got was roadblocks from Papazian lawyer.  There’s something about that law firm—It’s like weird—“ Alex paused.  Faith guess she wasn’t sure if she wanted to share.

“Listen the guy’s gonna hit you on the way home.  All right.  You’re gonna walk it just like you always do.  Only I’m gonna follow you.  You think you can deal with that.”

Alex nodded.
 

Lindsey was alone in his office.  He knew that soon Angelus would be attempting to kill Alex Taylor and that Faith was going to stop him.  They would be meeting for the first time.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened.  Lilah entered the room.

“Don’t you believe in knocking?” Lindsey asked.

Lilah smiled.  “I think I got some good news.”

Lindsey wanted to frown.  Had Faith been unsuccessful?  No, that could not be it.  Alex did not walk home until 6, it was only five minutes to.

“I think I may have found Drusilla.”

Lindsey did not reply.

“Some sources say a she boarded a ship in New York bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia.”

Lindsey smiled.  This was the lead that Giles had sent out.  Lilah picked it up. Soon she would receive the bad news.

“Good work Lilah,” he said and smiled.

Lilah smiled.  “It’s to bad you didn’t pick up any leads,” she gloated.  Lindsey did not care.
 

Alex Taylor was not afraid.  Even though as she walked home, a big fast mean assassin was going to try and kill her.  She had stepped on enough toes.  She had several scars from bullet wounds.

But this one worried her as much as the overly strong woman who followed her.  Alex had come across some weird things during her search for evidence against Papazian. Spells, rituals, demonology and Wolfram and Hart. Now Faith had spoken to her about an assassin that seemed supernatural.  She knew the occult existed, but did not realize how powerfully real it was.

Faith followed behind her, wearing a baseball hat with her hair stuffed in it and a long pseudo leather jacket.   Another associate of Faith, Francis Doyle was a several feet ahead of them.  He seemed normal with no special powers.

Faith saw him and it made her stop.  Buffy had shown her pictures.  He was walking casually, no vamped look on his face nor did he look like a killer, though she could smell he was a vamp from where she was standing.  He had his hands out.  Faith figured that he was going to walk up to Alex, break her neck and then walk on.

But Faith wasn’t about to let him do that.  She rushed over and knocked Alex out of the way.

Angelus seemed shocked.

“Hey there,” Faith said.  “You know it’s weird, you kind of look like someone named Angelus and my watcher says you’re supposed to be dead.”

Angelus smiled.  “Faith—How did you?”

“I got my ways,” she replied.  “Me and the Powers that Be are like real cozy now.  Just like you and the forces of darkness.”

“Then I guess you have to kill you before you tell Buffy.”

“You’ll have to kill all of us too.  We all know.”

“We—“

“Hey there!” said Doyle from ahead of them.  Angelus turned around.  While he was distracted by Faith, Alex had moved away from them and was now with Doyle. “You have to kill us all,” Faith said and smiled.  “Good luck killing me.”  She punched Angelus in the face. Angelus took the blow, put on his vampire face and kicked  her back.
 

“What is he?” Alex asked. “Is he a demon?”  They had walked several feet away.  So how other people while they watched Faith and Angelus fight.  No one jumped into stop them.  In this case Doyle was grateful for apathy.

“Close enough, a vampire.  Strong as a ox, nasty as well a vampire.”

“A vampire,” she said, dreamy and looked at Angelus’ face.  “There are really vampires? Like Dracula?”

“And other nasty things,” Doyle said.  He began to get nervous, Faith was keeping Angelus busy, but he might knock her away and try to get Alex.

“When I was investigating—Wolfram and Hart, I keep coming across all this demon stuff.”

“That’s what they do.  Perhaps we should leave,” Doyle said.  “Angelus is dangerous and he’s still after you.”

“But she’s only a girl,” Alex said.

“Faith is strong, she can handle him.  We can’t.”

“Are you sure?”
    
Yep, now lets get somewhere safe.”
 

“You fight like a girl!” Faith cried.  “My dead mother can fight better than you!”

“Dead mother huh?” Angelus said, swinging at her and hitting her dead on the side of her face.  Faith fell over, but immediately jumped back up.  “Can’t you think of something more original?”

Faith punched him in the face.  “Don’t you insult my mother like that.”  She said kicking him.  Angelus grabbed her leg and knocked it down.  Faith noticed that a crowd had gathered.  She knew she had to get out soon.

Angelus punched in the face hard.  He punched her in the chest and Faith fell to the ground.  She picked herself up.  Angelus was strong, Buffy had a hard time killing him and Faith wasn’t as strong.

Angelus punched her again.  Faith could hear sirens.  Kate was supposed to send the calvary at 6.

“We’ll do this again,” she said, running off.

Angelus laughed than ran around the corner to the limo that was waiting for him.  He had failed to kill Alex, but he did not care about the two bit assassination, what he did care about was that the slayer had run from him.

“What happened?” Lee said, concerned.  “Did you kill her?”

“Taylor, no, Faith came to her rescue—“

“Faith, how did she find out?”

“Vision man probably, but that’s not important.  The important thing is that she knows about me.  Her watcher will contact  Buffy about my return.  I don’t have to keep a low profile.  I’ll kill anyone your law firm desires.  And I’ll take care of your little vampire slayer, forget your blind assassin.  Now it’s time to play rough.  And she’s afraid of me.”
 

“Faith, where are you?” Doyle said into his cell phone.  “We’re on 23 Bundy Street, that’s where Alex lives.  Alright, see you in a few.”

Doyle hung up the phone and stuck it back into his pocket.  He moved back to the living room where Alex was sitting on her couch.  She had a very nice apartment.  Two bedrooms, and a giantsize kitchen and living room.  That reminded him that he had to help Cordelia find an apartment. “That was Faith, she’s heading here.”

“So Wolfram and Hart hires vampire assassins.  What are they?  The lawfirm for evil?”

“Well, yeah, I guess—Hey how did you know Wolfram and Hart hired the assassins?”

Alex sighed.  “Every where I turned Wolfram and Hart were involved.  They are more than just lawyers.  There is something evil about them.  This isn’t the first time I’ve crossed paths with them.”

“They are evil.  I’d watch your back—“ Doyle suddenly cried out.  He tried to turn away in time but Alex saw him change.

She remained silent and calm until Doyle recovered.  “And what the hell are you?”

“Just a headache I—“

“Doyle, cut the crap and level with me.  I’m a good PI, I don’t want to hound you.”

“Let me just call Faith first.”

He dialed his cell phone.  “Faith, before you get here, you gotta save a woman on 54 Sunset Boulevard.”
 

By the time Faith got to Alex’s place Doyle had filled her in on every detail but one—their inside man in Wolfram and Hart.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Faith,” Alex said.  “Doyle told me everything.”

Doyle shook his head without Alex seeing him. Faith picked up the hint that Doyle did not really tell her everything.

“I know you’re the slayer, one of two and that vampire you met tonight, you really want to save.”

“Doyle’s got a big mouth.  So what do you want?”

Alex smiled.  “I want to hire you.”

“Hire me?”

“Yeah, Doyle said you were trying to hire yourself out, but it hasn’t been working.”

Faith smiled.  “No one wants to hire a teenage girl.”

“I figured between your strengths and his visions, we can help people and make a good deal of money.”

“I don’t know.  I don’t think Wesley would approve.”

“I thought you didn’t care about what Wesley said,” Doyle replied.

“That’s changed,” Faith admitted.  “We decided to work things out.”

“Doyle says that Wesley’s a librarian.  I could use a researcher.”

“Are you sure you can afford all this?”

“You’re going to need a good secretary,” Doyle brought up.  “I know someone who’s perfect.”

Faith sighed.  The last person she wanted to work with was Cordelia, but if Cordelia moved her crush away from Lindsey onto Doyle, it would save the angish for both of them.

“Can you afford to hire 4 people?”

“Not really.  I would have to lower the salaries and I don’t know if I could give everyone benefits and you would be on call, so you can have a lot of time off.”

“Well, I don’t need benefits.  I tend to well—not get hurt that badly.”

“I would only be able to pay the four of you 20k a year.”

“That’s all?” Doyle said.

“20k for me, alone, 20 thousand dollars?”

“Yeah, sorry, it couldn’t be higher.  We’ll see how many cases we get.  I can probably set up some kind of commission thing.”

“So you’ll pay me 20 a year?”

Alex looked at her strangely, but Doyle realized what Faith was talking about.  She had grown up poor and probably never had 20 thousand dollars in her lifetime let alone a year.

“Yes and I have a lot of  space, I’ve been thinking of expanding my services.  Just never met anyone I could use.”

“So you’ll pay me alone, 20 thousand dollars.”

“Yes.”

“It’s a deal,” Faith said and smiled.

Continue to Chapter 15

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