“She was bitten. I smelled her blood on him,” Angel insisted, shaking his head as he walked past the stairs where David was sitting in the upper lobby. He dropped through the stairs and started walking behind them, listening in. Maybe he’d find something to occupy his mind. Anything was better than boredom.

  “Tonight’s the second night of the full moon – two more nights for her to go all dog-girl,” Gunn agreed.

  “Twelve hours till moonrise and then … if she hurts anyone…” David listened as Angel spoke, intrigued. Angel sounded genuinely concerned.

  “She won’t. We’ll find her,” Gunn reassured him.

  “We better. She won’t even know what’s happening to her,” Angel said as they reached the elevator and Gunn hit the button to go down.

  “She’ll figure it out soon enough. McManus did. The guy you…”

  “Killed,” Angel supplied, looking none too pleased.

  “I pulled his credit card records, cross-checked them with police reports. He left his wife and kids a couple years ago,” Gunn explained as he rifled through papers in a folder in his hands. “Kept moving. Staying in the middle of nowhere most of the time. First year or so, a few mangled bodies showed up here and there. But the last six months, guy was leaving corpses like bread crumbs.”

  “Probably tried to control it for a while, then just gave up,” Angel said as they turned to climb into the elevator. David frowned, imagining what that must have been like. Remembering what he’d seen in his life, watching the monster overcome the man. He shook his head and followed them into the elevator while they continued to ignore him. “Thought he had to fight it alone and ended up with nothing worth fighting for. But this girl, she’s not alone. She’s got us,” Angel said as he hit the button in the elevator.

  “And what are you gonna do about it?” David finally asked. “When you find her? She’s a werewolf, yeah? Gonna lock her up or something?” He knew he might sound callous, but he wanted to get a better idea of who these people were. They’d seemed like so much talk, and he wanted to know how they’d react. Angel turned to David, still serious and focused but he didn’t react with the same annoyed tone David had come to expect from him.

  “We’ll find her and help her understand what’s happening to her. Only lock her up when she’s turned to keep her from hurting herself or others, but outside of that, I want to help her learn how to control her impulses. She’s going to be scared and confused. The last thing I want to let happen is for her to hurt someone and then to have to live with something like that. This girl could have family or friends around her when she turns. People she cares about who could get hurt.”

  “And this is what you guys do? I mean, before you were at Wolfram and Hart? Helped people?” David asked as he thought about what Angel was planning.

  “We’re still helping people, just in a different way. Now we have a ton of resources at our disposal to help people. To change how Wolfram and Hart has been doing business and take it in a different direction,” Gunn responded.

  “Save many werewolves too, did ya?” David couldn’t help it; the words just popped out.

  “No. But we helped a lot of people in other ways. People who had no one else to turn to. Who the police couldn’t help. Like this girl,” Angel continued. David nodded impressed, as he followed them out of the elevator and to the lab. He found himself relieved that there was something to occupy his mind. Even if he couldn’t help, he could listen and learn. But he was most intrigued to see Angel and his team in action. If this was the kind of thing they had done before coming to Wolfram and Hart, then maybe there was something here worth being a part of after all, instead of just trying to occupy his time and stem the boredom.

  ****

  “We’re useless. Is that what you’re trying to tell me? All these resources…” Angel complained inside the bustling lab.

  “We’re doing everything we can,” Wesley interrupted. David watched them work like a well-oiled machine. He’d only heard a little about how they’d worked together before, and what had seemed like rumors until today about how much good they’d done. After all, how much good can you do and end up heading up Wolfram and Hart?

  “Two years of history on the dead guy, and we can’t get one lead on a living, breathing girl.” Angel was venting now, and David was again struck by how much he really did seem to care.

  “Fingerprints. Have his, don’t have hers.” Fred clarified.

  “There must be something at the attack scene,” Angel said.

  “So far, not even an earring,” Wesley responded.

  “Bloody shame, letting the girl run off like that,” Spike said as he walked through the door. David glanced up. He’d wondered when the bloke would wander in. Spike stared directly at Angel. “Somebody’s slipping.”

  Angel tried to ignore him. “I want people on the street with this in 15 minutes. You find anybody who’s seen her, you let me know,” Angel passed a hand-drawn image he’d made of the woman they were searching for off to a lab assistant. Man’s got a pretty good memory! David thought noticing the level of detail as the assistant walked past him. “What about tire prints?”

  “I’m working on it. It takes time, Angel,” Fred answered.

  “Psychics are working on traces of the girl’s blood. They pick up images, imprints,” Wesley showed Angel a blurry image and David tried to peer at it from behind them.

  “That’s bloody brilliant,” he said in surprise at what their psychics could conjure up now and realized just how thankful he was for his protections. Bloody well creepy too, is what it is!

  “Must be her bedroom. Can they make it clearer? Maybe they could…” Angel started, still grasping at straws.

  “It’s not like a photograph,” Wesley explained.

  “Better than nothing, though, innit?” David volunteered.

  “Not if I can’t use it!” Angel retorted as he turned to the scientist examining the body behind David.

  “Pretty rare breed you’ve got here.”

  “Dr. Royce is a cryptozoologist on my staff,” Wesley explained. “I brought him in to tell us what we’ll be dealing with when we find the girl.”

  “Lycanthropis externus. Undocumented in North America… till now, obviously,” Dr. Royce sounded excited by the prospects of the discovery.

  “How is it different from a standard werewolf?” Fred asked.

  “Biped, for one thing. Walks upright. Canines are a bit longer than normal. Arm span is…” Dr. Royce started to explain.

  “I don’t care about that,” Angel interrupted. “All I care about is the girl.” David studied Angel’s face and looked around at Fred and Wesley as they were gathered around the body. He could tell they all cared deeply about saving this unsuspecting girl. Well, isn’t that something! The great Angelus really does have a soul in there, doesn’t he? David mused to himself. There might be something to Angel after all.

  “That’s rough,” Spike interjected. “’Cause here on out, she’s in the kill or be killed club.”

  “Here on out, she’s under my protection,” Angel huffed.

  “If you find her before she turns. Catch her after she goes all growly, won’t be easy taking her out. I had a wee spat with a werewolf myself once. Fought for over an hour. Brutal. Vicious. Almost lost my…”

  “Angel killed him with a pen,” Fred interrupted Spike. David chuckled softly at the look on Spike’s face. Bloody priceless, that is.

  “Gotta hand it to him, he seems to be quite crafty with his weapons. Spoons, serving platters, pens …” David volunteered. Spike stared daggers at him, which only made David grin wider.

  ****

  “Those fine lines? Bad for the car, good for us,” Fred finally said, and Lorne and David leaned over her shoulder to look at the computer. “Apparently, they mean old tires, at least five years.”

  “Thank you,” Gunn said as he closed his cell phone. “Nice sketch. Somebody saw your girl last night. East Hollywood.”

  “Alright, so we’re looking for a midsize sedan, at least five years old, somewhere in the Hollywood area.”

  “Tick-tock. Tick-tock,” Spike prodded from across the room next to Wesley. “And the moon’s arisin’, ladies and gents.”

  “I’m in the DMV database, but there are thousands of possible matches,” Wesley’s noted from his computer.

  “Color me clever. Sister gets slammed around by a werewolf, she’s putting pedal to the metal,” Lorne noted as he walked over to Wes. “I mean, red light, green light, same diff.”

  “Traffic cameras. We networked?” Gunn asked as he followed Lorne’s train of thought.

  “Yep,” Wes confirmed, as Gunn made his way quickly over to another computer behind Wes.

  “I’m looking at the cameras. You get set to run with it if I find a match. Course, I might leak the info to the senior partners, ‘cause we’re tight,” Gunn added the last part sarcastically, causing David to raise his eyebrows. He’d heard a little about Gunn making a deal for a legal brain upgrade. David wondered what he’d had to give up to get all of the legal knowledge at Wolfram and Hart’s disposal downloaded into his brain. The very idea of it made a shiver go down his spine. If they could add that kind of stuff in, what else could they have taken out or added while they were in there? Trouble in paradise between friends? David mused to himself.

  “Just do it,” Wes dismissed Gunn’s sarcasm, seeming annoyed. Definitely trouble in paradise…

  “Is the van ready?” Angel asked anxiously.

  “Yes, I triple-checked,” Fred answered. Fred? They’re sending Fred? David felt a little panicked, but tried to reassure himself that she must have done those kinds of things all the time, right? The thought of something happening to her though … She was the closest thing he’d had to a friend in a bloody long time.

  “Good. ‘Cause we got less than an hour.”

  “Lot of fuss over one girl,” Spike noted. “Other things to do around here. Important things.” Spike gave Fred a meaningful look.

  “You know that ‘whoosh’ thing that you do when you’re suddenly not there anymore? I love that,” Angel said pointedly. David huffed softly to himself, irritated with Angel. The bloke had no ruttin’ idea how awful it was when they ‘whooshed’ as he put it. The memories were like a bad storm at sea, but the hellscape they’d increasingly found themselves in? He’d finally decided that was actually worse than reliving the ‘highlights’ of his life and the maelstrom of pulling sensations that caused. At least it didn’t hurt his head anymore. But the hellscape felt like torture half the time. David shook his head as he scowled at Angel’s back.

  “10:19 last night,” Gunn said from behind his computer. “1992 Honda Civic ran a red light at Western and Franklin. Blonde woman.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “That’s her,” Angel confirmed as he looked at the printout Gunn handed him.

  “License number 2ABM543,” Gunn read aloud. Wes was already typing it into his computer.

  “Address: 2315 Harvard. Name: Nina Ash,” Wes confirmed. Bloody well-oiled machine is right, David thought as he watched them work together. Everyone seemed to have a part to play, and they built on each other’s skills so effectively. David wished again that he could do something, but he also realized they worked so well together, he had trouble imagining how he could possibly help. Fred hadn’t had much time to put out articles as the month had worn on, and some evenings she even forgot to turn on the radio for him if he wasn’t there to remind her, which was becoming more often. He felt so bloody useless. He breathed an audible sigh of relief, though, when he realized Fred wasn’t going to retrieve the werewolf girl.

  ****

  David stood in the space next to the holding cell containing the werewolf. It snapped and growled at him as it tried to reach for him. He stepped closer, staring into its jaws as they opened and closed. “Wondering what it would feel like to be eaten, are we?” Spike said from behind him.

  David shrugged. “Wondering what it’s like to be trapped like that. Stuck in a body that’s no longer your own. Is she aware of what’s happening, ya think? Or is the human gone and it’s just a monster left in a meat suit?”

  “Couldn’t tell you what it’s like when that kind of monster takes hold. Different for vampires I suppose.” Spike’s voice was contemplative.

  David turned to look at him. “When the demon takes over and you put on your game face?”

  Spike nodded. “Then it’s mostly instinct that takes over. The blood lust.”

  “And the desire to maim?” David asked quietly.

  “To consume. To drain the life from the victim. Everything else, that’s the monster. The demon just wants the blood. The life,” Spike answered.

  “The monster,” David said and Spike bobbed his head once. David stared at the growling werewolf in front of him. “That’s what this is. The monster inside of her now. Out on the surface. Too bad people can’t wear it as plainly. Maybe the world would be much simpler if we could all just see who was good and who was bad, if there even is such a thing,” David mused aloud.

  Spike studied him and opened his mouth to say something when Angel opened the door. “What are you two doing in here? She doesn’t need an audience. Besides, it’s almost time for her to change back. I want to let her settle down so we can record it.”

  “You’re going to record her?” David asked incredulously.

  “I want to show her, so she can see for herself. Otherwise, she’ll have a hard time believing me when I explain about her new condition,” Angel said, annoyance creeping in that he even had to tell a couple of ghosts to leave this poor girl in peace.

  “Condition. That’s quite the way to put it,” Spike said. Angel ignored him.

  “Come on. Let’s go,” Angel tried to usher them towards the door. David looked back at the werewolf, then walked past Angel and through the wall instead of the door Angel was trying to hold open for them. Spike smirked and followed David. Angel rolled his eyes and met them in the hallway. “Can you just give her some privacy? This is going to be hard enough for her without an audience.”

  Spike and David looked at each other, as if trying to decide whether they wanted to listen to him. David just shrugged. “Fine. Got another hour I think ‘till she changes anyway. I’ve got better things to do with my time,” David said.

  “Oh yeah? Like what?” Spike shot at him. David scowled but said nothing and walked away. He wandered the halls, trying to pass the time. It was still quiet, though there were more people in the building this morning than normal due to the werewolf alert. Finally, David made his way back up towards Angel’s office to realize that Nina had finally woken up and was in talking to Angel. Bugger, he thought. I wanted to watch the transformation. As he rounded the corner to the hallway that ran alongside the back of Angel’s office, he smirked to see Spike sticking his head through the wall. It was exactly what he’d planned to do.

  David popped his head in next to Spike, who jumped. David smirked at him and Spike just shook his head as they tried to stay silent, both wanting to see what Angel might say to the new monster.

  “No, it’s not,” Nina was arguing with Angel.

  “You didn’t…”

  “I wanted to rip her throat out,” she shouted at him, then sighed and started pacing.

  “That wasn’t you. It was that thing inside.”

  “Oh, like there’s a difference?”

  “There is. A big one. I know this is a lot…”

  “Don’t tell me what you know,” Nina snapped at him. “You didn’t wake up and find out you’re a … monster. You don’t know anything.” David looked up at Spike, he stood there with closed eyes. Is he remembering what it was like to wake up as a vampire? To wake to find the entire world had shifted on its axle and suddenly everything you thought you knew had changed. David looked down at the ground.

  “I … I’m not a werewolf … like you. But… but I know what it’s like. I’m a monster too,” Angel stuttered as he attempted to reassure her. David closed his own eyes this time, trying not to be pulled into a memory as he fought against the memories of the day his entire life had changed. He’d refused to visit those memories and would not allow himself and potentially Spike to be pulled into them either. It was bad enough they seemed to share so many of the memories and flashbacks, though David still had no idea how much Spike actually saw, or when he was even in the same memory as David.

  “So, what, you’re like a Frankenstein?” Nina asked. David had to stifle a laugh, relieved to be drawn from the memories scratching at the back of his brain.

  “What?” Angel asked surprised. “No.” He paused, then finally stammered, “Um, I’m … I’m a vampire.”

  “Vampire,” Nina tried out the word, trying to digest.

  “But I have a soul. I’m not evil, and neither are you,” Angel tried to reassure her. David glanced at Spike again who was already looking at him. They both looked away quickly.

  “But vampires kill people and they …”

  “Can control themselves if they want to. I do it every day and so can you.” David could hear what sounded like Nina sigh, then Angel continued. “I’ll help.”

  “Can you … cure me?” Nina asked.

  “No. But I can keep you safe.” Safe, the word echoed in David’s head. He’s going to help keep her safe. From the monster inside of herself? Come a long bloody way from pushing others to be the worst versions of themselves, David thought as he closed his eyes. His mind flashed to Angelus and Spike standing side by side as Angelus laughed over a dead body, laughing about how the girl had thought she was safe. David shook his head. No bloody flashbacks right now, he pulled his head out of the wall and looked around for a distraction, then started pacing. Spike pulled his head back out too and studied David who kept shaking his head. Spike’s eyebrows shot up as David hit himself in the head, then grimaced when he noticed Spike staring at him. He really didn’t want an audience as he tried to fight the memory away. Spike frowned, looking like he was about to say something when they heard the door to Angel’s office close. He’d come out. David looked relieved and moved towards the sound, recognizing it as the distraction he needed. Spike followed.

  “How is she doing?” Fred asked.

  “Oh, agreed to stay in the holding cell tonight, but she’s pretty scared. So, what do we do now?” Angel responded.

  “We wait for the show. Should be a good one,” Spike volunteered as they rounded the corner. Angel and Fred stood talking to Dr. Royce. “Everyone on pins and needles, dreading the moonrise. Then pop goes the werewolf.”

  “I can’t stop what’s gonna happen, but I can keep her from getting hurt,” Angel spoke to Fred and the doctor, ignoring Spike. Fred gave them an annoyed look before turning back to Angel.

  “These first few transformations are the worst. The werewolf’s strength combined with the disorientation and fear,” Dr Royce explained, as Spike and David split ways. David walked over to stand next to Fred.

  “You mean she could hurt herself?” Fred asked.

  “Oh, I’ve seen them bang their heads against walls, claw at their own skin,” Dr Royce continued to explain matter-o-factly.

  “That’s awful,” David said quietly, frowning. Fred and Angel turned to notice him.

  “We’ll just have to tranq her, let her sleep through it,” Angel recommended.

  “Well, that could work for tonight, but over the long haul, a bad idea,” Dr. Royce countered.

  “Well, there has to be something,” Fred responded.

  “They like familiar scents, images. Maybe if you took her home let her get a few things, um, could have a calming effect,” Dr Royce suggested.

  “Fetching a blankie’s not going to make a bloody bit of difference,” Spike said as he came up behind them. David recognized the look on his face. He was concerned too.

  “Spike, really not helping,” Fred said testily.

  “I’m just saying … the girl’s a killer. Maybe not tonight, or tomorrow, but she will get out of that cage.”

  “Not if she doesn’t want to,” Angel said.

  “Oh, she’ll want to,” Dr Royce volunteered. “It’s unfortunate, but …”

  “And when it’s not that time of the month? She’ll be wracked by the guilties. What with a soul and all.” David could hear the emotion Spike was holding back. He frowned and looked down at the ground. If she manages to hurt anyone, she’ll want to tear herself apart, I’d wager. Same as him, David thought as images of Spike clawing at his own chest came unbidden to his mind.

  “Didn’t seem to bother you,” Angel shot back.

  “Oh, it’s been nothing but a pain in my…” Spike shot back angrily, as David felt the pulling sensation again. He cursed himself as they were both drawn down again.

  “Finally. I’ll take Nina by her house,” Angel said, relieved to not have the ghosts interrupting them anymore.

  “Angel, it’s the middle of the day, unless you plan on waiting in the car,” Fred reminded him.

  “Take security, in case she changes her mind,” Angel said.

  ****

  Spike sat crouched on the floor of the Sunnydale High School’s basement, hands pinned to against his ears as he rocked. He was murmuring to himself, trying to quiet the voices that seemed to surround him constantly. The voices of the innocent people he’d taken out of this world. His rambling grew louder, before he cried out and started to claw at his own chest.

  “Get it out. Get it out. I don’t want it anymore. Take it away. Take this blasted spark out. I don’t want it anymore. You hear me? Let me go down to hell. I’m ready to dust. Ready to be gone,” he cried as he dug into his skin. David was helpless as he stood there watching him. His throat tightened. He couldn’t stand watching Spike hurt himself again. He’d been struggling since Africa but had gone downhill with breathtaking speed since arriving back at the Hellmouth. “Take it out!” Spike shouted to no one in particular, screaming to the heavens as though there was anyone there who could hear. Who might care.

  David looked down at the ground, as angry tears sprang up. Spike wasn’t getting better. If anything, he was getting worse. He spun away, intent on trying to find a place where he wouldn’t hear Spike’s anguished cries, and came face to face with Madeline smirking at him. “Nice handiwork,” she commented. David stopped dead in his tracks. Her green eyes seemed to bore into him. He stared at her as Spike wailed behind him.

  “I … what are you doing here?” David asked confused.

  “I’m just here to admire your work. You really did a number on him, didn’t you?” Madeline mused as she walked around him to stand over Spike. David watched her warily.

  “You’re dead,” he stated, unsure what else to say. He’d felt like he’d been punched in the gut. Watching Spike was bad enough, but to be seeing Maddy? Was he completely losing it now?

  “I am, no thanks to you,” she said and smiled at him as she walked around the room. Spike continued to scream and claw at his chest, the blood dripping from the marks he was gouging. David shook his head to clear it.

  “No, I didn’t … I didn’t kill you,” he stammered.

  “If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be alive. But you knew that, didn’t you?” Madeline said as she walked back over to him. David closed his eyes, trying to block her out. “If you hadn’t done what you did, I’d have lived out a full and natural life. Instead, I died before my time at the hands of a monster.”

  “No!” David cried out desperately. “I didn’t …. I mean, I didn’t …” but he couldn’t manage to form complete thoughts. Seeing her in front of him like this. “Maddy, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt,” he pled as he walked over to her. It couldn’t be her. It couldn’t. But a part of him wanted it to be. Wanted it so badly. He didn’t want to be alone anymore. She saw him! She was speaking to him. “I’m so sorry Maddy!” he cried out again and fell to his knees in front of her and started sobbing as Spike’s cries echoed his own behind him.

  Maddie knelt in front of him. “I know you are. But you did it all the same. We could have had a long and happy life together, if you hadn’t …” she didn’t need to finish the thought. He knew well enough how bad he’d managed to muck things up, even if he hadn’t done it on purpose. He wished he could gouge his own soul out. Tear his own heart out of his chest if it meant Spike wouldn’t be hurting anymore. If it brought Maddy back.

  “You can’t be here. You don’t belong here. You should be in heaven, not here in this hell on earth!” David finally cried out to her. He didn’t want to believe it was her. Finally, a part of him was starting to realize that it really was impossible for her to be there. Wasn’t it? She couldn’t be there. He’d have seen her before now if she’d been caught as a ghost too, wouldn’t he?

  Finally, it came to him. “You’re it. The thing,” he said softly, tears still falling down his cheeks. “You’re the bloody ghost that’s haunting Spike. The one who seems to know all of his mistakes. His worst fears. You …” David trailed off as Madeline started to smirk at him.

  “Thanks to you,” she said, and his blood ran cold as the implications of that statement hit home. His eyes grew wide and she started to laugh at him coldly. “Thanks to you, I know exactly how to get to Spikey. To get to William. I really ought to thank you. You’ve made my plans so much easier,” she said patronizingly. He cried out, shaking his head.

  “No!” he cried and lunged at her, then screamed in frustration as he passed right through her. “You’ve been here watching the whole time. You could see me. No one can see me.”

  “Oh, that’s not true sweetie. Just because no one talks to you anymore doesn’t mean no one can see you,” she said sweetly. David’s face twisted in confusion. What was she implying? That he was being deliberately ignored? That people could see him, but chose not to talk to him? Dru had always been the only one who could see him, right? Until now. Until this bloody ghost had appeared in front of him. He wanted to cry again. The loneliness had felt like a great weight on his chest, but now it felt like an anvil. An anchor crushing him. Pulling him down under the waves. Madeline leaned in close to his ear. “You’re just not worth talking to,” she whispered in his ear and he collapsed in on himself, sobbing. She started laughing as she stood and walked away down the hall. He watched her go as Spike continued to wail behind him.

  ****

  David came to standing in Angel’s office again. Why do I have to come back here so often? He wandered glumly back to the lab. He wanted to look over Fred’s shoulder. He found it comforting, even if he didn’t always understand what she was doing. He just didn’t want to be alone right then.

  “Where’s Fred?” David asked Angel who was grabbing some papers before heading back to his office.

  “She went with Nina to get some things from her house,” Angel responded.

  “She what?! You let her what?” David felt furious.

  “It’s the middle of the day, and I sent her with a security team. Fred can handle herself,” Angel studied him trying to decide how to take David’s anger. David pressed his lips together. He was sure she could take care of herself, but right now he couldn’t stand the thought of losing another person he cared about.

  “She better,” he spat back and stormed off, right through Angel.