Pathways Ch. 03-04

But now she could let her breath out. Halfway anyway. Willow had agreed to help. Now she just had to break the news to Angel.

As it turned out she didn't get the chance. When Angel returned hours later from wherever he had been he swept into the office and nearly dragged her by one arm out to the car. In the usual terse way he gave out information he revealed that a contact had reported a Suvolte Demon in the sewers. Nina inquired as to the importance of that event. Angel explained that the demon was looking for a place to lay its eggs and if they hatched they would eat their way through half the population of Los Angeles.

The car slid sideways against the curb right above where a tunnel disappeared into the ground. Angel snatched up a pair of swords from the back seat and tossed the one to Nina that she had been practicing with. A couple of practice swings and they slid down the embankment and disappeared into the yawning opening.

"Which way?" Nina wrinkled her nose at the smell and then grimaced as she realized she was wearing jeans and tennis shoes and that both were rapidly becoming soaked in stuff she didn't want to imagine.

Angel breathed deeply. "This way. The scent is coming from down there." The duo took off in that direction. Angel could see well enough in the almost complete darkness to guide them. To her surprise, Nina found she had no trouble keeping up with her partner. Not only could she see nearly as well as he could but when he paused uncertainly at a three way intersection her own sense of smell picked up the trail.

Then they were suddenly in an open area and Angel charged the bulky creature that reared up before them. Astonishing herself again, Nina never paused but gave a whoop, flourished her sword and attacked.

An hour or so later the Plymouth pulled into the garage and Angel and Nina staggered out of the car and into the hotel.

"You really need seat covers. Plastic ones at that. It's going to be awful scrubbing those stains out of the upholstery," mumbled Nina.

Before Angel could reply, another female voice spoke up. "How about the stains on the two of you? And ewwwwwww, what have you been rolling in? It stinks?"

"Willow!" Angel's face brightened for a moment before resuming its usual guarded expression. "What are you doing here?"

"You called me. Us, I mean," Willow indicated the young woman with her. "Or rather the person next to you that I'm guessing is your associate named Nina did. Goddess, what IS that smell? Have you been rolling in a sewer?"

"Very perceptive in fact Willow," sighed Angel. "That's exactly where we've been. Suvolte Demon and it was laired in the sewers."

"Oh," the red-haired witch wrinkled her nose, just as Nina had done earlier. "Well why don't you go take a bath or something. We'll wait here." She looked at Nina and went on. "After then maybe you can explain what happened to your clothes."

Nina blushed. During the battle she had once again shape shifted when the demon had tossed her aside. She had landed hard. Springing back to her feet she had launched herself into the fray once more, this time in her werewolf form. And once again she had not taken the time to climb out of her clothes. She had managed to improvise enough from the rags of her jeans to cover the most important parts of her body. She had already vowed to keep extra clothes in the car.

"Hey now," frowned the other female with Willow. You're not supposed to be noticing any nearly naked female unless it's me." She looked Nina over. "Not that this one is hard on the eyes or anything."

"Kennedy!" exclaimed Willow.

"I'm sorry," replied the witch's lover, sounding not at all apologetic.

The most embarrassed of the foursome was, of course, Angel who hurried upstairs with Nina right behind. They returned in short order in clean clothes; their hair wet and smelling a great deal better.

"Okay now," Willow said as they all sat down. "Please tell me everything. I want to help you Angel and my instincts tell me to trust you, both of you in fact. But I need confirmation."

Angel started. He covered the events of the last year leading up to the final confrontation with the Black Thorn and the battle in the alleyway. Nina chimed in at certain points. Angel was surprised at how open Nina was to Willow, candidly discussing her were-side and the enormous relief she felt now in being able to control it.

"Except when I get tossed against walls," the blonde girl added, smiling shyly. For some reason she felt completely comfortable with Willow and trusted her at first sight.

"You probably should practice shifting," suggested Willow thoughtfully. "Perhaps that would give you even more control than you have now. You've been given a rare gift indeed but that doesn't mean it doesn't require practice."

After completing the final summary, including the ambush here at the hotel, Angel sat back with what almost was a hopeful look on his face. At least as hopeful as he could manage. To anyone who didn't know him his face would resemble that of a cigar store Indian.

Willow didn't keep him in suspense.

"Kennedy, where did I put my bag?"

Two hours later the pair from Sunnydale left with the Hyperion as nearly impervious to evil creatures as could be managed. Willow had hugged Angel and then Nina and wished them good luck. Kennedy had just hugged Nina, the more to just tease Willow by squeezing the blonde's bottom for a second. Both Nina and Willow had simply rolled their eyes and said nothing about it.

They had cleared LA proper and were headed up the coast when Kennedy broke the comfortable silence.

"So that's Angel."

"Yes."

"The one that Buffy was so crazy about."

"Yes."

"And that Nina. She's quite the cutie."

Willow sighed. "Yes she is Kennedy and I DID notice you running your hands over her butt for a moment or two. And if you were trying to make me jealous it didn't work." She grinned." I know who your heart belongs to and it's me."

"Well, yes, it does," admitted Kennedy as she leaned over and kissed her girlfriend without taking her eyes from the road." That's not what I meant though. I noticed something and wondered if you had seen it."

"What was that?"

"I noticed when they went upstairs that only one door opened and closed. I also only heard one shower come on. Being the clever girl I am I deduced that they took their bath together. I doubt it was as a water conservation measure."

"Hmmmm, I didn't catch that," admitted Willow.

"Also when you all were circling the building as you created the new wards, I snooped. Not much, but there is one and only one occupied bedroom and one and only one king-sized bed in it. Her clothes are in the closet along with his and her personal products are in the bathroom." Kennedy stopped for a minute and mused, "I wonder, do female werewolves still have periods? That would be bad, twice the bloating and bad moods each month."

Willow groaned. "Lover, what is the point of all this?"

"The point is that Nina is a lot more than Angel's 'Associate'. Vampire and werewolf to the side, neither of them strikes me as the type to sleep in the same bed, live in the same room, and have it remain purely platonic."

"And so what? Nina seems nice and devoted to Angel and I've always supported his struggle to redeem himself."

"Don't you think Buffy should know about this? You've always described her and Angel as a 'Destined couple'. Seems to me this other relationship would put quite a dent in that."

The rest of the drive home avoided that subject. For several days Willow struggled with what to do. Finally she called Rome again. After all, Buffy was her oldest and best friend and did deserve to know what was up with Angel. She still didn't catch up to the blonde slayer but this time Andrew seemed much more interested in the message that Willow demanded he take down.

Back at LA Nina had stopped holding her breath again. After a few days with no long-lost lover showing up the blonde shapeshifter had managed to assure herself that it wouldn't ever happen. She stopped worrying about it, worrying instead about cases and demons and other-worldly creatures and why she couldn't seem to shake the stomach flu that had her so nauseated.

Therefore no one was worrying when a private plane direct from Rome landed at LAX and disgorged a single passenger. The petite blonde woman cleared Customs with ease and climbed into a waiting limousine. The limo drove off and turned towards town. The driver had already been instructed to take the woman to an old hotel he had just looked up the route to that morning. After all, he had never heard of any hotel named "The Hyperion".

(To Be Continued)