(Untitled)

[aknightforhire]

I came in the back door, tossing pair of manila folders onto the conference room table, and pulled my coat off, tossing it over the back of one of the chairs. With a wince, and some stiffness from my right shoulder, I pushed the door closed and latched it, then walked through the back room of the office into an adjoining side room, where a set of

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[taramber]

I had been at Champion Investigations for a while now, and whilst it was all still quite new to me, I felt that I was beginning to get a handle on my role in the organisation. It felt good - no, it felt wonderful - to be part of something. For perhaps the first time in my life, I felt as if I were doing something that really mattered. The only time I had ever really felt that was when I had done magic with Mom, and sometimes with Wi- But I wasn't thinking about that. Instead, I was focusing on how to make my new life a success... And surprisingly, I found myself being quite proud of how I was doing.

Angel came into the office, pulling on a sweater. I'd come to realise that if Angel were putting something on, that either meant he'd been asleep... or something had stabbed him. Since I knew it hadn't been the former, I was guessing he was hurt.

"A-are you ok?" I asked, getting up from my desk at once.

[aknightforhire]

"Yeah, I just..." I rolled my shoulder a bit before slipping the sweater on and covered a groan with my mouth. "well, it-it...turns out... that... Thrakkashian Spine Demons really... don't like... chinese food." I grinned a little self conciously and slid my head into the sweater, pulling it down around my shoulders and hissing a bit as the bandage stretched over my injury. Once I had the sweater completely on, I ran a hand up through my hair and patted it down a bit, smiling at her as I moved to the coffee maker. "You look nice tonight. Have a good day?"

[taramber]

"Oh, um, p-pretty good," I said, smiling back at him, and slipping between him and the coffee maker. I have a rule - if someone has been stabbed, I make them the coffee. I poured him a cup and passed it over. "Mr O'Brien paid his bill," I said, referring to a recent client of ours. We had wondered if he'd be likely to pay, as he had seemed quite shifty every time I'd tried to bring up the subject of money, but he had finally brought in a cheque today. "Let's hope the cheque doesn't bounce, anyway," I said. "Um, what else? I-I dealt with the Grady case," I said, not without a touch of pride. It was the first case I'd handled without Angel's help. "They just needed a-a simple disenchantment. Th-the girl who hexed them must have been quite, um, new at doing it," I said wryly.

I noticed Angel was still wincing as he moved.

"H-how bad is it? Your shoulder? Do you want me to take a look at it?" I said. "It's hard to clean your own shoulder wound. I would guess," I added, not having had any experience of it myself, thankfully

lol. Because I suck. I suck.

[aknightforhire]

"It's ... ah," I tried to think of a word to say, and then laughed, shrugging the uninjured shoulder. "Painful. But... no, you don't... have to..." I blushed, feeling -- suddenly shy. "..touch it. Or.." I turned away, accepting the cup of coffee with a half smile. "You know... look. At it."

I turned completely away from her and sipped the coffee, raising my eyebrows at my own behavior. What was wrong with me? The coffee was surprisingly good -- it even coaxed a small sound of pleasure out of me, and I turned back. "...this is ... this is really... wow." I sipped the coffee some more. "And you solved the Grady case, that's..." I took another sip of the delicious coffee. "That's pretty impressive. And good job. You can keep all of the commission for yourself." I took another sip. "We have another magical case, and that's actually why I came.."

Another sip of the coffee, and I looked down at the mug, mystified. God, this really tasted good. And I said as much. "... is there... like, blood in here?"

[taramber]

I nodded and we walked towards the car. I quite liked the feel of the leather coat. It was... solid, and comforting. Kind of like Angel, I suppose. And where did that thought come from? I was so strange sometimes.

I was glad Angel wasn't a telepath.

It didn't take us too long to get to the apartment block. Everything looked very normal, but as we got out of the car, I gasped. Although I've never thought that I'm a very powerful witch, I do have quite a strong ability to sense power. When I met Willow, for instance, I could tell at once that she was gifted. I could sense a great power here, too... But it was dark. The air tasted bitter, and I shivered involuntarily.

"We, um, should be careful," I said quietly. "This... This isn't a good place."

[aknightforhire]

I let Tara park a few blocks down from apartment. I didn't want to tip our hand too soon

[taramber]

I nodded nervously, feeling my stomach roil. I'd never done anything like this before. I'd got a little involved in Scooby things in Sunnydale, but - nothing like this.

I swallowed and nodded as Angel mentioned the sewer. I took his hand, feeling the pulse in my throat leap slightly at the touch of his skin. We made our way down the narrow ladder, Angel telling me softly where to put my feet.

Angel was right. The bottom of the sewer wasn't too bad, although I wasn't keen to find out what was in the water.

"So, h-how do we get up there?" I asked softly.

[aknightforhire]

I dropped into the sewer behind Tara, shining it up and down the tunnel ahead and behind of us, until my eyes caught on a ceiling drain beneath the apartment complex where our up and coming dark witch - and hopefully her ertswhile boyfriend and current prey - were lurking. "There," I said, shining my flashlight up at the hole in the roof of the sewers. "Smells like... laundry detergent," I said, turning the flashlight off and jumping up into the pipes above our heads, holding on with my hands and latching my feet around the thicker pipes to support my weight.

"Ssiiiiss.. yoww!" I snatched my right hand back and almost fell, grabbing onto another pipe and swinging in the air for a second before I steadied myself. "...that was hot."

I steadied myself in the air and felt for the grate, the loose metal in the sewer ceiling, it was dry. Luckily. I hated crawling up wet drains. I balled up a fist and licked my lips, prepared to punch my way inside, and then hesitated, glancing down at Tara. "... by any chance... you couldn't... make a

[aknightforhire]

I marked out a circle-ish shape in the ceiling, at the base of the apartment complex, with the salve that Tara gave me, then hung back a bit as she used magic to 'knock' on the 'door.'

"Presto," She said, and I took an unnecessary gasp. I mean, I've seen Wesley work mojo before, it was always ... impressive, but... well, this..."Amazing," I breathed, smiling down at her. Then I scrambled up into the doorway-slash-hole and dropped my bag of weapons on the tiled floor of the laundry room, lying down on the ground and extending my arm back down into the sewers for Tara. I pulled the blonde witch up, out of the Sewers, and helped her onto the tile flooring, then grabbed my bag and hoisted it over my shoulder, swinging about

[taramber]

I almost giggle as the old lady looks at us with horrified eyes. Angel isn't exactly good at making up excuses, but then Angel hurries us past and the moment of levity is gone.

We climb the stairs and I feel a little dizzy. The sense of magic is strong here. Bad, dark magic. It reminds me of something viscous, like clotted blood. There's a taste of iron in my mouth, and I feel very afraid again. This is bad, whatever it is we're dealing with. Goddess.

And then Angel wraps the scarf around his eyes, and I feel another pull of terror. He was trusting me with so much. Oh, Goddess, don't let me get him killed. Please.

He reaches out, not having to grope, knowing where I am, and touches my cheek.

"Are you okay?" he asks, and I can't stop an involuntary sigh, a sound like a tree in the breeze. I am reminded of a poem -
I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them -
its sense of yearning suddenly bright within my mind, but I put the thought away.

"I'm... I'll be okay."

[aknightforhire]

I could hear the tremor in her heartbeat and the hesitation in her voice. I didn't ... I didn't need to see her, right now. I slid my hand further along her cheek until my palm cupped her cheek and part of her new and jawline. "I'll be right with you, every step. Don't think about me, or whether I'll be okay. Just ... keep chanting." You can do it, Tara.

I stepped back, dropping my hand and readying the longsword in my hand. I closed my eyes, drawing on my other senses - listening, feeling, smelling...

And then I kicked the door open. "I hear nine heartbeats," I said into the dark beyond my scarf. "Seven of them aren't human. Now, Seven... that's a lucky number, isn't it?"

That's when the demons charged.