[Gunnwesley] Fic: Kungai Part Five 4/20 (Wesley/Gunn, NC17)

[helenraven]

Title: Kungai Part Five 4/20

Author: Helen Raven

Email: helenraven at talk21.com

Pairing: Wesley/Gunn

Summary: The full history of the relationship between
Gunn and Wesley in the Birthdayverse. A novel in six
parts.

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: Not mine, not for profit, not even a blip
on the litigation radar.

The Story's Home Page: http://www.kelper.co.uk/kungai

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On Tuesday Gunn started to think about what he'd do on
Thursday evening, when he'd promised he'd get out of
the apartment so Angel could have his "physical
contact". Grouw and Piriti had said on Saturday that
they probably wouldn't be going to Caritas, not for a
while - didn't want to deal with the questions, for
one thing. Gunn called Grouw on Tuesday to check and
it was definite, but they were digging on Saturday, or
meeting at the nest anyway, and then digging if they
couldn't agree on something else to do.

Gunn didn't want to go to Caritas on his own. He
wanted company - people rubbin' off each other,
talking shit for two, three hours. The crew. Maybe the
crew and a movie. He'd call, see who was up for
"Planet of the Apes".

They'd already done "Planet of the Apes", but George
said he'd ask around about "Rush Hour 2" or "Akira",
and when Gunn turned up at the base on Thursday, the
group had settled at six people, and on "Akira". Over
Mexican in Jefferson afterwards, they decided on "Rush
Hour 2" for next Thursday.

Seemed like it was Gunn's week for being told other
people's decisions. He turned up at the nest with
suggestions ready for finding a video arcade, or going
exploring in some of the tunnels, maybe finding
somewhere down there that would be a new place indoors
for them to hang out. But Grouw and Piriti were doing
a tour that evening - their first together, and they
knew it might be their last - so now they didn't want
to do anything new, just stick with the routine and
slowly psych themselves up.

Piriti had found their customer on Thursday night,
when he'd actually been out working on closing down
the business by taking leaflets out of the hotels; he
hadn't told Grouw that he was going to do that, but
apparently neither of them had a problem with that
now.

"So I came out of the Marina Hotel - at Torrance and
Victor - and I dumped the leaflets in the nearest
trash bin. He saw me do it, wondered why I was so down
- he's an empath demon, said he'd seen that about me a
block away - and he took one out of the trash to see,
thought it might be we'd had to cancel a gig or
something. Read what he needed in a few seconds and he
caught up with me just before I got to the Wilderness
Hotel. It's him and this human friend of his. Hank. In
town for a couple of weeks lookin' to set up a new
business. Dunno what sort yet." Piriti laughed. "They
want a tour that's half the Chachaspe one and half the
Hull one. He'd got one of the Chachaspe leaflets, but
then he was asking about the human driver, so I told
him about the whole setup. He called Hank and then we
called Grouw, and we booked it right there. Should be
fun."

"That's cool." Gunn grinned. "So when's Grouw's night
for trashing your leaflets?"

The demons both laughed, then shook their heads, and
Piriti said, "We'll see how it goes tonight."

When they took a break for soda and donuts, Gunn said,
"Y'know, Wesley was trying to save an empath demon
when he had the fight with the Kungai. The fight where
he lost his arm. The Kungai was after the demon's
empath powers. Going to steal them. Wesley'd tracked
them both from San Antonio. He thinks the empath got
away. Looked like the Kungai was still on the hunt
when it attacked Wesley. And Angel killed it and saved
Wesley, so..." He shrugged.

The boys were shocked and impressed, asked more about
Wesley and Angel, then wondered how many empath demons
there were, what were the chances that Barney knew the
demon that Wesley and Angel had saved.

Barney was the exact same demon that Wesley and Angel
had saved. Piriti had wanted to call as soon as they
found out, but that would have been weird and kinda
rude in the middle of the tour, and it was past two
when they finished; he knew it was still too early
when he did call (8.30 on Sunday morning), but he just
couldn't wait and he knew Wesley would want to know.
Well, it was early if you didn't have a training
routine: Gunn and Wesley were having breakfast in a
diner in Venice. Gunn passed the phone to Wesley and
heard Piriti tell the story again to Wesley, in
exactly the same way.

Wesley was uncomfortable, though Piriti probably
thought he was just being English. He didn't say much
beyond, "Goodness. That is a remarkable coincidence,"
and, "Well, that's very thoughtful of him. Yes, I'll
remember that for when he calls."

Gunn waited until they had refills of coffee before he
said, "What's he wanna do? The empath demon?"

"Take me out for a meal." Wesley shook his head. "I
don't want to talk about what happened. I'm glad for
him. Of course. But I don't what to hear... what he
saw. Of what happened."

Gunn was definite. "He won't. Empath demon, he'll pick
that up 'fore you've even parked the car. You c'n talk
about the boys, the tours. Caritas. Y'know. Grouw's
sister 'n' the duals... Course he can't leave town
without thankin' you, can he?"

"I know. But I don't need it. That's not why I..." A
shrug, and he'd suddenly accepted. "I've never met an
empath demon. I wonder what I'd ask. Piriti found him
good company, anyway. He said that, if that was the
last tour, then it was the perfect one to end with."
Just what Grouw had been hoping for. Thank you,
Barney.

Barney called about two hours later. He was leaving
L.A. on Wednesday. Was Wesley free on any of the
evenings before then? Wesley checked with Gunn and
agreed on that evening, and suggested a mid-range
restaurant that he'd heard about through the survey.

He wore his suit, and he looked so controlled, so
English. And yes, he was, but there was more, and had
anyone but Gunn ever worked out how much more? Gunn
helped him with his tie, enjoying all the details of
smoothing him down, while getting half-hard from
thoughts of mussing him up; he loved the feel of
Wesley in a fresh shirt, just loved it.

Wesley and Barney did talk about the boys and the
tours and Caritas, but mostly they talked about the
survey. Piriti had mentioned the survey to Barney,
along with the committees and all of the meetings.
Barney was fascinated by the organisation, how Wesley
had got L.A.'s demons to co-operate, and then by all
the politics with the review board, how Wesley's
designs (and Gunn's) were working out in practice. He
was interested for practical reasons since an
important part of his business involved selling a line
of specially-processed shellfish products to Kekulei
demons, and it would be a big help to know the likely
market and the best locations. He didn't have time on
this visit to make the application to the review
board, so for now he was just hoping for some tips on
how the board worked so he could avoid making a stupid
mistake when the time came. Wesley was happy to
explain, and the more Barney heard, the more he wanted
to know, now just out of curiosity - which was a big
thing with him, the reason he'd followed Piriti and
then booked the tour.

Of course Wesley offered to help Barney with the
application for the board, but then when he got home
he decided he might as well spare Barney that extra
trip from New Orleans. He got the information about
Kekulei demons from the database, broken down by
district, indications of income, mode of transport,
and internet use, and added a note to the printout
saying what he'd picked up in passing about favourite
hangouts (for food, sports, grooming, worship...), and
what Kekulei demons were likely to read. He dropped
the information off at Barney's hotel the next day,
just leaving it at the desk and not asking if Barney
was in; Wesley already knew how Barney expressed
thanks (at exactly the right time, in exactly the
right amount), and it was enough for Wesley to
imagine.

* * * * *

Late on Thursday morning, while Wesley was in talking
to Angel, Gunn took a call for Wyndham Gunn from
Swift, one of the community leaders on the review
board. She needed someone who could deal easily with
any type of human, to help investigate the murders of
a family of Kekulei demons (parents and eldest
daughter). The bodies had been found in a storm-drain
in Burbank, and the three had last been seen alive
leaving a church in Hollywood Hills on Monday night,
eight miles away. They had all been bound hand and
foot, and their throats had been cut lengthwise and
the spiral larynx had been removed from each of them -
not as a trophy, Swift thought, but as the entire
object of the murders. The larynx of the Kekulei
demon, if held suspended and played with ice-cold air,
produced sounds that could make an emotion condense
out of the air, so it could be collected and
transported and used as a weapon. With one larynx
only, the playing required great skill to produce the
required emotion, but if more larynxes were added -
and especially if their tones were related - then the
necessary level of skill dropped sharply.

Swift wanted Gunn and Wesley to speak to any humans
they knew who might have heard any talk (no matter how
vague), about Kekulei demons or about strange musical
instruments or about artificial emotions. Or about
hiring a van or parking a van or anything at all about
a van, because the murderers must have had some way of
getting the three Kekulei demons out of sight in less
than a minute.

Wesley had put Barney's card in the index box on his
desk; Gunn would have known it was there even if he
hadn't watched Wesley emptying his pockets on Sunday
night. Gunn dialled the number, and the number did not
exist. He tried again, but no, he had dialled it
properly the first time. He had to tell Wesley. Now.
Wesley wouldn't want to be left talking about dreams
with Angel while this was happening out in the world.

"Wes? You need to come here. There's something... You
need to come here."

Wesley came out prepared for bad news, but not nearly
prepared enough. He clutched at his throat, seemed to
be struggling to breathe, and his voice was thin,
hardly recognisable, when he asked which church. Gunn
told the story quickly, and then found nothing,
nothing to say, hardly anything to think except, "No.
Please, no." Wesley had closed his eyes after Gunn had
nodded towards the index box, and when Gunn finished
speaking they were still closed, and the shudders were
getting more violent and more random.

Wouldn't be enough just to step forward and hold him,
probably close him in worse with his hand still up at
his throat and his lungs working like he was trying to
breath concrete. But get behind him, hold him from
behind... Be able to help him breathe. Be like...
supporting him from the inside. Reminding him of what
he already knew about how to get through this.

Gunn had reached Wesley's side, was turning, about to
reach out, when Wesley suddenly moved away, almost at
a run, for the desk. Gunn heard him pull another card
from the index box, and then he was dialing.

"Swift, it's Wesley Wyndham-Pryce." His voice sounded
normal. Urgent, but normal. "Yes, I think I know who
did it. There's an empath demon who calls himself
Barney. He was staying in Hawthorne, at the Ocean
Hotel on Rosencrans and Ramona. That was on Monday." A
pause. "Yes, very little chance, I know. But in case
we do get a lead there, can we be ready to -" Another
pause. "I think he has at least one accomplice. The
one I know of is human. So, yes, as many as you can. A
block away? The street behind the hotel? Charles and I
can bring a net. And restraints." Gunn was heading for
the chest in the closet. "Yes, and a range of weapons.
Twenty minutes." A brief pause and then Wesley's voice
was suddenly thin again, terrible. "No. No. You don't
- I'll... I'll... When there's time." A deep,
shuddering breath, and then he was in charge again.
"Twenty minutes. As many as you can."

Wesley and Gunn were the ones who went in to ask for
Barney at the desk, with Gunn carrying the crossbow
and their swords in a sportsbag. The six demons (three
of them Kekulei demons) waited around the corner.

Barney had checked out on Monday, though he'd been
booked in for another week. Before midday he'd gone,
maybe an hour after he'd got Wesley's envelope. Come
down and said he was checking out, and his human
friend already out there in the van, waiting to pick
him up. (A blue cargo van. Maybe a Ford. Maybe a
Chevy.) No mention of where he was going. The address
in the register was the same as the one on the card.
The room had been cleaned several times since Monday,
there was a couple of Hmba sisters in it right now -
and what the hell was this, anyway? Wesley stepped out
into the street and called for the demons, and Swift
did most of the talking after that.

They searched the room, looked under everything,
behind everything, took the notepad, the magazine, the
pack of brochures, in case there was something tucked
away, some impression made of a message taken, a
number.

Nothing.

On the stairs on the way down to the lobby, Swift said
to Wesley, "Who told you about this empath demon? Take
us to him and we'll see what else he knows."

Wesley's voice was perfectly steady, clear enough to
reach Gunn at the very back of the group, two flights
up. "No one told me. I already knew. I was the person
who told the empath whereabouts in L.A. he could find
Kekulei demons."

A frozen silence for maybe three seconds, with Gunn
trying to push past down the stairs, desperate to get
to Wesley. Then a roar, and a rush that knocked Gunn
off his feet, and Wesley was crushed against the wall
on the next landing, being promised death in four
different languages. Gunn scrambled for his bag and
hauled out his sword, and prayed that he could take
down three of them while he had the advantage of
surprise. And would Wesley even fight? Was he on his
own?

"Wait!" Swift, from just around the corner, out of
Gunn's sight. "We have to ask him. While he can still
talk." They backed off, leaving just Swift with a hold
on his arm and a Kekulei demon holding fast on his
shoulder.

Gunn was still up on the stairs, still poised to jump
down swinging, and he could see Wesley now, over their
heads. Wesley was crying. Not noisy, not pleading, not
out of fear. But quiet, hopeless. Heartbroken.

Unbearable. And Gunn could do nothing. He could do
nothing. He couldn't change what Wesley had done.

"So why? Why did you tell him?"

"He'd heard about the survey. He invited me out for a
meal on Sunday night. He said that he was going to
open a business in L.A. With Kekulei demons as the
main customers. And he'd be back in L.A. in a month,
to start the process of applying to the review board.
He asked me about the board, what he should expect. He
didn't ask me if I had a copy of the database, if I
could give him the information directly. But when I
got home I printed it out. And I added what I'd heard
about the main meeting-places, including churches. And
I gave addresses, including the one in Hollywood
Hills. I brought the list here on Monday morning and I
left it at the desk."

Another eruption. The Kekulei demon had dug his claws
under Wesley's padding, and had dragged it - with the
shirt - half-off Wesley's shoulder. Wesley didn't seem
to notice, had his eyes fixed on Swift.

"For a meal? You came with all those speeches about
procedures and safeguards, and all the time you'll
sell it for a meal?"

Now Wesley reacted, shaking his head. "No. No. I
thought he was safe. I think... I think... Because I'd
helped him before."

"Before? To find Kekulei demons? When? What have you
done?"

Gunn took a step down the stairs. "Wesley saved his
life two years ago. When he was being hunted by a
Kungai. The Kungai took Wesley's arm and Wesley nearly
died. But the empath got away. The meal was to thank
Wesley. That's what he said. They'd never even met
when Wesley was tracking the Kungai. But he... He's an
empath. I think he said all the right things to make
Wesley feel like he knew him. Like they really had a
history."

The demons looked at one another, then one of the
Kekulei demons said slowly, "Are we sure it's him?
That he's the one who did it?"

The Kekulei demon at Wesley's shoulder shrugged, then
stepped back and let go. "The van. The way he took off
after seeing the list. All the lies. You know empaths.
You know how they operate. This one smells of hunter.
He's done this before. Maybe he tried to do it to that
Kungai."

The others nodded, and Swift released her hold on
Wesley's arm. "So we start looking for an empath
demon. Get a description from him." A nod towards
Wesley. "And carry on looking for the empath's
customer or any sign that he's using the larynxes
himself."

Gunn said, "We can do that. On the human side. Like
you asked before."

They looked at him. After a couple of seconds Swift
(and only Swift) took a glance at Wesley, and then she
said to Gunn, "Yes. Do that. But first you drive home
and we'll follow with him. I want to see where you
live before I let you go."

"Wes?" Gunn could see Swift's point, but this wasn't a
decision he could make. Not when it might involve
Angel.

"You can see us to the door of the apartment. You can
see us open it but you can't come inside."

A pause, then she nodded, not looking at Wesley, and
led the way down to the lobby. They put Wesley in the
back seat of Swift's car, with the largest Kekulei
demon guarding him, and they had another Kekulei demon
in with Gunn. Gunn's ride was in complete silence, and
from what he could see in the rearview, so was
Wesley's.

Angel was lying quietly on the mattress, made no sound
even at the new voices, and you couldn't see the
monitor from the corridor. The demons didn't try to
enter the apartment: one look at the desk and the
bookcases and anyone could see that this was where
Wesley lived. They left almost immediately, after
Swift had given Gunn orders to call in at midnight to
report what he and Wesley had done and what they were
planning to do next.

Wesley and Gunn started by looking in Wesley's books
for descriptions of the spell for capturing emotions,
in case there were any details that might give them
more leads. They found three descriptions, all much
the same, all with illustrations of a larynx held in
the middle of a cage, and the first with an
illustration of Kekulei demon. Wesley started crying
again as he read the first description, but it was
almost like he didn't know that he was doing it: he
just went on talking through it, making notes, having
ideas.

One idea was to call Lilah Morgan - because if the
empath demon did have a customer, it would have to be
someone very, very rich - and Wesley did that next and
left such a brief, controlled message on her
voice-mail that she'd think it was just another case.

They needed descriptions of Barney and Hank (yes,
they'd call them that, until they knew better). Wesley
found a good picture of an empath demon and made
copies. He couldn't say much about Barney except how
he'd dressed (aggressively casual, but maybe that was
just another lie, shrugged off minutes later). Gunn
called Grouw and asked for a description of Hank,
anything he or Barney might have said about places
they knew, things they did. "Tell you later, OK?" And
he'd have to. He'd have to tell Piriti, too. Tomorrow.
Or... Or... After they'd found Barney, once they knew
who he really was.

They agreed that Wesley would take the bookstores and
the magic-users, Gunn would take the internet and the
street, they'd share out any others as they thought of
them, and they'd call in every hour.


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