Chapter 31
| Have a Little Faith
Chapter 31 |
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“What do you want Lilah?” Lindsey asked, coldly, though his curiosity was peaked.
“I wanted to bring you some information—“ she said, a little nervous. She was dressed nicely. She looked more professional than she did before. Lindsey guessed she was trying to move up now that he was gone.
“About what?” he snapped. He touched his neck then put his hands down. He took a deep breath to try to calm himself.
“Angelus—“
“I could put her through a wall if you want, Shortcake,” Faith suggested. She did not want to see Lindsey uncomfortable.
“No,” Lindsey said, calmly. He sensed that Lilah was being honest. “Lilah, what has he been up to?”
“Look,” she said and backed away in fear that Faith might go through with her threat. “I wanted to do my job. I don’t want to die, but I went through Lee’s papers. Angelus wants to steal an object called the Gem of Dorchadas Marbh. Holland doesn’t know—“
“Dorchadas Marbh?” Wesley asked. “Are you sure?”
Lilah nodded. “It’s dangerous whatever it is. It’s just like what he did two years ago.”
“What is it Wesley?” Lindsey asked. Wesley had on a curious expression.
“The dark dead,” he replied.
“What does it do?” Alex asked.
“I’m not sure. There is supposed to be a book that goes with it. I believe that book is lost completely. But she is right. It is probably something to open a portal somewhere.”
“All I know is that he’s using us,” Lilah said. “And I don’t want to die. I want to do well.”
“Lilah,” Lindsey pleaded. “Don’t go back.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I have to.”
Lindsey shook his head. “No you don’t. You took the first step and came to me. You don’t have to be this way. We have contacts. We have people who can help. Get out while you can. This path-- it will kill you eventually.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But so will yours.”
Lindsey did not respond.
“Listen. I want to do well, but if Angelus is planning something on a grand scale like what he did two years ago. I don’t want that to happen. Everything else is just business. Good luck,” she said and started heading out.
“Lilah,” Lindsey pleaded again. He grabbed her hand, which made both Cordelia and Faith jealous. “Please, don’t go back. You don’t have to go back to the darkness. I promise if you don’t go back, we won’t pass judgment. We’ll help you. Please get out while you still can. Lilah, you aren’t dead inside.”
Lilah turned back just for a moment and in the moment, Lindsey thought he might have reached her.
Instead she pulled away from him and walked out the door. “Goodbye.” She said and then was gone.
No one went to stop her or said anything. The door closed shut.
Lindsey looked down. Cordelia touched his shoulder. “She’s as good as dead.”
Faith nodded. “We can’t think about her. We need to think of those we can save. Maybe she’ll come to her senses before she gets killed.”
Lindsey nodded, though it still depressed him. What upset him even more was that Lilah could have been lying. This could all be a set up. However in this new life he wanted to believe in people more. If he could get off the dark path, so could Lilah. “We need to find out as much as we can about this gem.”
“Here we go,” Wesley said, looking through the book. “The gem of Dorchadas Marbh. The Dark Dead. They dated it about 400 BC Celtic Ireland. It’s worth about a million dollars.”
Faith whistled.
“And it’s currently housed in England, but it just so happens it’s on a three month tour and will be arriving in Los Angeles in six weeks.” Alex said, looking over her computer terminal.
“That means he’s going to try and steal it,” Faith said.
“We should contact Kate about this one,” Lindsey suggested. Faith nodded. “She can at least let the authorities at the museum know that someone is planning to steal it.”
“How difficult will that be?” Doyle commented, a little sarcastic. “Five vampires for them to deal with? We can’t put people in danger.”
“I know, but it looks like they don’t have
the support of Wolfram and Hart,” Lindsey explained. “Which means
it is just them and Lee’s limited resources.”
“Okay,” Lee said. “According to my sources, there is five minute window at around 3am where the alarm system goes down. I think we can be fast enough to get in and out in five minutes.”
“How reliable are your sources?” Angelus asked.
“Very,” Lee said. “You can’t imagine how many people will talk for a million dollars. Even snotty curators.”
“I like gems,” Drusilla said. “Pretty, pretty gems. All sparkling and twinkling. They remind me of the stars.”
Angelus smiled. He took Drusilla’s hand. “This one you will love. With it, we will be invincible.”
Drusilla smiled. For a moment she missed
Spike. She wished they had not sent him away.
“So why would Angelus be interested in some gem,” Kate asked. “I didn’t think vampires were into material possessions.”
“Well,” Lindsey said, smiled, touched his neck. “I actually know several of them who are interested in making money. I once had a client who was an investment banker who got turned into a vampire and continued his job.”
“But Angelus isn’t interested in selling the gem,” Faith explained. “He wants to use it for the magickal properties.”
“What does it do?”
“We don’t know,” Faith explained. “There’s a book that goes with it, that apparently was lost. I don’t know what he’s usin’ it for. Whatever it is, it won’t be pretty. Let’s hope he ain’t anywhere near that book.”
“Unless—“ Lindsey said and paused. He looked down. He could kick himself for not realize this before.
“Unless what?” Kate asked.
“Wolfram and Hart have a lot of documents that are supposedly lost. Like the scroll that brought Angelus back. They could have possession of the book. Lee might know about it.” He looked down again. “Damn it. That’s why Angelus turned Lee. He wanted someone who would know about Wolfram and Hart’s inventory.”
Faith touched Lindsey’s arm. He did not know why. She was glad that Angelus had chosen Lee not Lindsey.
“But what will this book do?” Kate asked.
“Something bad,” Lindsey replied. “Which is why we need to keep the gem out of his hands.”
“If we could switch it with a fake,” Faith suggested. “At least temporarily. That will stop what he’s doing.”
Kate laughed. “I could see it now. Trying to explain to the police commissioner why I lent a out million dollar gem. So a vampire would not steal it. Does this mean I could get a job with Alex too?” She said with sarcasm in her voice. She did not mean to be nasty. She knew Faith and Lindsey were doing this to be helpful. Kate was never sure how much of their world she wanted to be a part of.
“We don’t have to use official channels,” Lindsey suggested. “We promise to return it once Angelus is re-souled.”
Kate sighed.
“I know a forger, but I’m not going to switch it.”
“I can probably think of something.
Alex can help me. I’m sure she knows a lot about all this.”
“So it’s come down to stealing,” Faith said, as she and Lindsey drove back to the office. “I thought we were through being evil.”
Lindsey laughed.
“Well, it’s true,” she said, with some seriousness in her voice.
“As long as we aren’t stealing to sell it and we’ll return it as soon as possible, there is little evil involved. You don’t want Angelus to do whatever he is planning?”
“I guess so,” she said and leaned back.
Lindsey touched Faith’s hand. “We’re not evil Faith, you must have told me that 100 times since I got out of the hospital.”
Faith smiled. She liked the feel of his hand on hers.
Lindsey smiled back and pulled his hand away. “Listen, we have four weeks to plan this. I do however need to make Cordelia’s wedding memorable.”
“I saw you bring in a guitar case when you moved in,” Faith said and smiled. “That would make things memorable.”
Lindsey grunted. “I’m not sure I’m ready for that memory.”
“Why? You suck?”
“I haven’t played in a long time. Being busy dealing with Angelus.”
“I would love to hear you play.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not that good.”
To be continued...