Gambit

Sumary:Spike must make a sacrifice
Rating:G/PG
Disclaimer: Joss, the WB and Fox own the characters.

*** Gambit- a movement in chess in which a player sacrifices a piece in order to win the game. ***

L.A. is a ghost town now...a derelict remnant of its former self. So many have died that it's not much bigger than Sunnyhell.

I scan the steps- odd place to choose for a meet. The steps of a high school, closed down because of the plague. Still, he did agree to the meet. My nerves stretch to the screaming point- but when his voice finally comes it startles me- he's always been as quiet as a damned cat.

"Still forgetting to check your parameters?" He steps forward into the faint light- still darkly handsome but with eyes that have looked on hell. It's not easy to meet those eyes; but I manage it. I speak the name I hate more than any other.

"Angel."

"Spike." His voice is mocking. "What do you want?"

I smile at him. The hatred between us is like a living thing...far more alive than either of us has been for two centuries. I begin the game.

"I want..." I make my voice as mocking as his..."to say goodbye."

He looks at me skeptically. "You're leaving Sunnydale? Where have I heard that before?"

"Never cared for the place above half," I lie. "And lately it's worse than ever. I'm bored."

"Domestic bliss wearing thin?" He sneers.

He's not buying it.

"Oh, it had its good points." I allow a small knowing smile to touch my lips. "As I'm sure you know."

His face changes then; for an instant he's ready to go vamp, but then he regains control.

"Do you have any idea how much I want to kill you?" he asks conversationally.

Well, why not? I'd feel the same. I DO feel the same! So, I tell him.

"The feeling is mutual, pal. But I couldn't resist the chance to rub your nose in it...one more time. Another Slayer goes down...but I hate to brag. Oh, who am I kidding? I LOVE to brag! There's more than one way to kill a Slayer!"

He shows no reaction.

I wish, how I wish, for a cigarette. But I've given them up...she couldn't tolerate the habit.

Finally he speaks, "You're sure she'll die?"

I shrug. "Giles says she will."

"Then, she will. I should have known...Slayers are designed for combat, not childbirth."

His voice sounds sad but somehow impersonal.

"Of course, Giles thought I could save her by making her a vampire," I confess, "but I don't fancy that. Why keep her around forever? Once the kid is born, she's no longer needed."

Angel murmurs, "The birth of a dhampire- child of a vampire and a Slayer. The one thing that will stop the plague."

His eyes suddenly focus on me. "And you, Spike...that rare vamp with the actual ability to be a daddy!" The bitterness in those words could chill my soul- if I had one, that is.

I grimace engagingly. "That whole process is a bit repulsive...but we had to stop this bloody plague- it's putting everyone at risk, vampire and human alike!"

"You're a real giver." He purrs the words...and for a second I feel fear. Human love is conditional, after all, and perhaps his jealousy is stronger than his love for her.

But no...

"She would never consent to becoming a vampire," Angel objects.

He's going to do it...he's taking the bait.

"She might...for you," I sigh theatrically. For an instant I'm afraid I've overdone it, but no, he's lapping it up like a starving mongrel.

" It was a bit of a bore...but she kept thinking of you...I'm certain of it. True love, and all that. Sickening...even more so than the plague."

Angel smiles then; and I'm convinced I've won. The gambit- I've sacrificed my queen to take the game.

"No." He starts to turn away, then pauses.

"I almost bought it, Spike- until you said she was thinking of me. Even if she was...you'd never admit it!"

"But I would," I say quickly. "It's not like I care...I've HAD my revenge, on both you and her. I've had my revenge for Dru."

"Dru?" Angel considers this. " I don't think so...in the end she was nothing more than a monstrous child."

"She was what you made her," I point out. If guilt will help....

It won't.

"It's true, " he concedes, " but I won't do that to Buffy."

"You won't! She can keep her soul, if she's made by a vampire..." my voice trails off. Blunder.

"So that's it." Angel nods as if in confirmation. "I've heard before that a Slayer can't become a vampire...too powerful a force for the other side. Any attempt usually kills both Slayer and vampire- UNLESS the vampire also has a soul."

"You'd be together...forever," I offer desperately. "I meant what I said before, I'll go away!"

He studies me with those dark, unreadable eyes.

"You mean that, don't you? You're slipping, Spike."

He's right, of course. I am slipping- have been for some time. But I still have some pieces on the board.

"No. I won't do it." The words are flat- ugly in their finality. He turns to leave.

"Angel..." I am fighting to get the words out and I've never hated anyone so much, but I do it.

"I'll beg if I have to."

He faces me, eyes wide with shock like he can't believe what he's hearing. And I can't believe what I'm saying. I make my last move.

"Suppose I stand on these bloody steps until sunrise..?"

"Go home, Spike." His voice is unutterably weary as he starts walking away.

"Please," I whisper. He keeps walking. And I feel the first sickening lurch of failure....

"Please!"

I scream it...the full length of that dark empty street.

And it works, he stops. Slowly, he walks back to where I'm frozen to the damn steps and I'm hoping maybe, just maybe, the game's not over yet.

"All right. I'll go to Sunnydale with you; and I'll do...what you want me to do. But then...THEN, Spike..."

"Yes?" My voice is shaking in its eagerness.

"Then- she can choose between us." He smiles faintly, but it's the first real smile of the evening.

"And- may the best vampire win."

I fall into step beside him, feeling oddly elated. The humiliation I've suffered tonight, the terror I've lived with for months...it's over now. It worked, my gambit- and now Buffy won't die.

My wife will survive.

It isn't hard to return his smile.

Because, no matter what happens now....

I've already won.

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