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Bel headed into town after getting Darla's call. He was still annoyed by how Angel was pretending to be all friendly -- whatever he was up to, it wasn't going to work. He was also a little nervous about Darla claiming guardianship of him. Better than Angel, he supposed. But he couldn't help but wonder if Crowley would have anything to say about that.

...or if Phoebe would.

He walked into Wolfram & Hart and saw Darla behind her desk and grinned. "Hi," he said. "Mom."

Darla smileed at him. "Not quite yet. Sign your name about 500 times on these forms, and it will be official. Your guardianship is transfered to me."

"I am so not going to ask how you pulled this off," Bel said, "but so long as Angel can't control any part of my life, I'll sign." He picked up the papers and glanced through them.

"They're all in order," Darla said, a bit annoyed as she noticed him reading them over. "There aren't any hidden surprises." Okay, there probably were, but if Bel signed without reading them, she'd be covered.

[[I don't have anything in mind, I'm just causing trouble, lalalala...]]

"Just making sure you included an allowance," Bel said, grinning. ~~"And maybe giving someone a chance to stop me from doing something really stupid. Anyone?"~~ He picked up a pen.

"While we're young?" Darla asked acidly. "Actually, you're young. I just look it. But the point holds."

Bel started to sign and initial where indicated, scanning the text quickly and covertly so as to not piss off Darla. "Should I start shopping now for Mother's Day?" he asked idly as he scribbled his name.

"Definitely," Darla purrs. "Remember, if it needs to be insured, it's the right gift."

~~Now no one can save you now, bwahahahahahaha! But I would never, ever, ever do anything evil or underhanded to you (http://www.livejournal.com/users/files_records/6050.html)...~~

"How do you think my new big brother is going to take this?" Bel asked as he signed the last page necessary.

~~I can't believe you dug up that old link. Bwhahahaha!~~

"He'll probably try to convince you that I'm untrustworthy, that even though we're both evil you still shouldn't work with me, and oh, by the way, you don't have to be evil, come to the shiny happy fluffy side of the fence. That sound about right?

"Speaking of evil, any more ideas on how to sunder Angel from his soul? I haven't had a chance to get to Caritas and try to torment the little blonde you told me about. Veronica, right?"

"Turns out he went for door number two," Bel said. "Callisto. Blonde, leather, attitude about the size of the planet. They've been pretty snuggly as of late."

Darla is not turning green. Or, if she is, it's at the thought of Angel being 'snuggly', and not with jealousy. "So would the same plan work with her? Get her in a dangerous situation and see if Angel will give his soul to save her?"

"She'll be harder to take down, but yeah," Bel said, "same theory applies. Just how far will he go to protect someone he cares about?"

"Well, he was once stupid enough to risk his immortal life for my mortal one. I assume that he's enough of a fool to do that for other. And while I appreciate the gesture, it would have worked a lot better if he had just turned me, the way I asked." Darla made a dismissing motion with her hand. "But he had some idea that I was more valuable with a soul, and he wanted to save me."

"So if he thinks he can stuff a soul in you, too, he won't be able to bring himself to kill you, right?" Bel said. "As long as there's a chance that since they did it to him, they could do it to you, and he can 'save' you."

"Considering that he did try to kill me when I was suddenly soulless, I don't think anything's going to stop him now." Darla's voice was a whiplash of fury. "I'm only worth saving when I *have* a soul, not when I potentially could have one."

"Well," Bel said, "when he tried to kill you before, did he have people with him right there who could do the ritual to put a soul in you? That may make a difference. Or..." Bel paused thoughtfully. "Can you fake it?"

"Fake what? Having a soul?" Darla looked torn between being outraged and being amused. "That's just... disgusting." Then she stopped and thought for a minute. "On the other hand... Bel, my boy, you're brilliant!"

Bel basked in her praise. "Could he tell? Can anyone really tell?"

Darla stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Bel's cheek. Then she started pacing in thought. "It's not something that is easy to check, soulled vampires not exactly being thick on the ground. I could. I knew as soon as I saw him what they'd done. But I am -- I *was* -- the Master's child, and I was always better at sensing which demons had souls than he was."

She turned, and paced in the opposite direction. "We'll have to plan this carefully, because if he suspects... then again, why would he suspect? Still, ~~because I want to be evil~~ it would work better if he thought I was an active danger, because that's what he was when those ~~pesky~~ children resoulled him. If it came out of nowhere, he'd be suspicious.

"And then, when he thinks I'm as confused and helpless as he is, I'll seduce him, give him his moment of perfect happiness, and poof! There goes the soul." She slanted a wicked smile at Bel. "Sounds like a plan?"

"Drusilla knew...about me, I mean," he said, averting his eyes. "But she'd be on our side. Could even use her to help convince them. But how do we plan this out to let them think someone put a soul in you? Who else would try it aside from them?"

Darla drummed her fingers in thought. "That's assuming that they are in close enough contact that Angel would know what they did. But what about your little friend, Lindsey? Doesn't he have a witch for a girlfriend? Sister to your chere amie? Everyone in the town knows that Angel was resoulled. It's easier to do something the second time than the first."

"Threaten Lindsey, encourage Piper to give the spell a try herself, pretend it works?" Bel mused. "She's not trained enough to pull it off on her own, but that doesn't mean she can't be convinced that she could do it. I have notes about the spell...those could conveniently fall into her hands in some altered form."

"Altered enough that I don't end up getting stuck with a soul," Darla said, rather forcefully. "She doesn't even have to try it, although it would convince Angel wonderfully if she did. I'm liking this plan."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't put that kind of information into Piper's hands," Bel said. "She couldn't pull it off now, but one day I'm sure she could. I'll make another partial copy and put it somewhere she or Phoebe can find it when the time comes."

"Perfect." Darla smiled smugly. "Is there anyone else close to Piper that I could... alarm? I assume you'd rather not have me menacing Phoebe, so... roommates? Best friends? Third cousins once removed?"

"And that brings us back to Veronica Mars," Bel said. "She and Piper are tight. And yeah -- Phoebe stays out of this."

"However did I guess that?" Darla asked archly. "All right. We'll start slow and steady. Make people nervous, then make them scared. Then... trick Angel into thinking I've been taken out of the equation."

"Just not too scared," Bel advised. "You don't want them trying to do the ritual on you for real. Angel might convince them to try. But it took a lot of power for them to do it to him, and they may not be able to tap into that source for awhile."

Wolfram & Hart - January 4

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