SUMMARY: Sometimes, just when you thought you had everything figured out, you realize that you know nothing. And that's exactly what Spike is about to find out when going to Italy to warn his former lover of impending doom.

RATING: NC-17

DISCLAIMER: BTVS is property of Joss Whedon. I own nothing.

SPOILERS: Inspired by the first book of the comics Buffy season 8. You don't need to have read it to understand what's going on, but it will spoil you if you haven't read it yet.

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CHAPTER 11: Nothing like a good fight... or two

It was cold and damp. The rain was the kind you can only experience in this part of the world: a wet mist coming at you from every angle as if to make sure you won’t escape it no matter what you do. It had washed the gel right out of Spike's hair, now a mess of stubborn blond curls. He was not happy. The only thing keeping him from turning on his heels was the promise of a good fight. The weight of the sword felt good in his hand and he was ready for a brawl. Craved it, actually. He had issues to work out, so he figured he might as well do it at the expense of the bad guys.

The vampire was surrounded by a small army of girls. To the casual observer, they would have looked like rowdy teenagers on their way to a pub, not Slayers on their way to rescue their friends and avenge a girl who shouldn't have died so young.

Still. Spike felt like a babysitter. Not that he would have ever said it out loud--too many Slayers with weapons in their hands surrounded him. It wouldn't be wise.

Xander and Giles were there too, but their participation in the fight would be limited. They would guard the perimeter, Giles with a crossbow, Xander with what looked like a modified taser gun. The whelp had explained to Spike that it was used as a last resort only because it didn't kill vampires, only stunned them long enough to escape. It had a long range and didn't require a good aim because they went down no matter where they were hit. Perfect for the man with the eye patch. If a girl was surrounded by too many vampires to fight off, he'd use his little toy to help her get away. Spike hadn't really seen the point--too high tech for him--but if it made Harris feel useful and stopped him from whining, he wasn't about to argue.

They made it to a dark alley behind a pub when they finally heard the commotion. Right there, in a narrow street to the left, people were fighting. The vampire was the first to start running, and after a slight hesitation, the pack of girls followed.

A simple glance told Spike what he needed to know about the situation. How many enemies he had to fight, where they were situated, where the five girls were and which one was in most urgent need of a hand to fight off her attackers. Even a fighter as impulsive as Spike needed to know these things before diving head first into a brawl. His skills at observation had saved his ass more than once over the last hundred plus years... a last minute escape route or an improvised weapon could always save the day when you had your back against the wall.

Eyes yellow and fangs bared, Spike savagely threw himself at the first vampire he spotted. He had one of the girls pushed against the stone wall and was preparing to bite into the half conscious girl's neck. The arrogant prick was taking his time and enjoying the kill. Spike grabbed the back of his jacket with his free hand and spun sharply. The motion sent the would be Slayer killer flying across the alley to crash into the opposite wall, breaking a few bones in his body. Ignoring the fight raging around him, Spike marched calmly to the other side of the alley to finish the job. Barely taking the time to stop, he decapitated the vampire that was sprawled gracelessly on the wet cobblestones and moved on to his next victim.

He had counted around twenty to twenty-five vampires in total, and maybe fifteen Slayers-five of which were already tired or injured. That would be plenty enough if the girls were all like Buffy or Faith, but he probably would have to take on a lot more of the fight to compensate for the girls' lack of experience. He smirked. Nothing wrong with that.

The newly arrived Slayers were already helping the ones who had been fighting for more than half an hour and desperately needed the extra hand. Spike took a moment to make sure they were doing alright. Satisfied that he wasn't needed for the moment, he decided it was his time to have some fun. Standing there, legs in a wide stance, the heavy sword dangling carelessly from his left hand and the wind blowing in his long leather duster, he waited for trouble to find him. It didn't take too long. Seeing the three vampires finally noticing him and rushing him, he smirked but didn't move a hair.

The one coming on his right got to him first. Spike took a step forward to get out of his trajectory and, extending his right arm, stopped him in his tracks and used his momentum to jump up and swing around him, beheading the two other wankers coming at him with one clean arc of his sword. He landed back on his feet right in front of the vampire he'd just used as a pole. Quickly pulling a stake from the inside pocket of his coat, he unceremoniously dispatched the still stunned vampire and turned to face two new attackers.

Bluffing, Spike raised his sword to strike but fell into a crouching position then swung one leg out, knocking both his would be attackers off their feet and on their backs hard. One of them got up faster and managed to knock the sword out of Spike’s hand. Shrugging, Spike engaged him in a bare hands fight while always keeping an eye on the other one. When slow and wimpy got up, Spike quickly dispatched him with a solid mule kick to the chin. Slow and wimpy got discouraged and decided that attacking a Slayer was safer, leaving Spike to leisurely fight the other guy who seemed to have some kind of street fighting experience, making kicking his ass so much more entertaining for the bleached vampire.

In true Spike fashion, he let the other guy get a few good punches in--left, right, left, right--an almost manic smile on his face. Then he licked his bloody lip and gave his opponent a look that almost paralyzed the guy with fear before attacking with a succession of round house kicks, each one faster, then a flurry of punches. He would have continued, but he noticed one of the girls needed help. With a snap kick, he sent his own opponent flying onto his back a few feet away. He pulled the stake he had hidden in his sleeve and brought it down quickly, turning the vamp to dust.

"Comin' ... Luv." He had a moment of embarrassment when he realized he couldn't remember the girl's name. Actually, he couldn’t remember most of their names, except for the two or three he had a chance to talk to earlier. If one of them died tonight, he wouldn’t know who she was. It made him sad, but it also made him fight harder. He wasn’t gonna let any of these Slayers die. He’d have tomorrow to learn their names and get to know them, he’d make bloody damn sure of that.

The problem was that every time he thought that was it and they were close to winning, more vampires showed up. It was really starting to get on Spike’s last nerve.

“Trina!” He yelled over the noises of the fight. At least he remembered her name. Not that it would easy to forget; she was the one who told them about the dead Slayer earlier.

“What?” A girl‘s voice answered him.

“Start getting the injured girls to Giles and Xander. We’ll manage better without worrying about them. Giles brought one of the two vans near the entrance of the alley. They need to get to safety.”

Trina nodded stiffly, then rushed to help the three injured Slayers get away. Xander had already had the morbid task of picking up the body of the fallen Slayer. He’d put her in the extra car, and one of the less combat ready Slayers had taken Aubrey back to the castle where she would get a proper burial in the morning.

Now that the injured were out of the way, Spike could stop worrying and focus his attention on the fight. To his intense frustration, more vampires had shown up while he was distracted.

Giles was shooting as many as he could with his crossbow from his position at the end of the alley, but he was hitting more legs, arms and butts than hearts, which wasn’t so useful.

“Soddin’ hell! So that’s your plan then?” Spike asked no one in particular. “Keep sending more until I get bored out of my bloody mind and walk away?”

He landed a vicious kick in the face of one opponent and heard a satisfying crunch.

“Well, bring it on then!”

One of the girls--Virginia if he remembered well--tried to get his attention. “Uh... Spike...”

“Not now, luv, I’m kinda busy here.”

She tried again. “Spike!”

He staked another vamp and finally turned to see what she wanted. “What’s the matter, pet?”

She didn’t answer, shaking her blonde curls while staring at something, or rather someone. Apparently someone impressive enough to render her speechless and make her take a few cautious steps back.

Spike came to stand next to Virginia to see who spooked her and his jaw dropped, but he quickly hid his shock behind his usual arrogant smirk. So this was the unseen mystery nemesis.

“Well if it isn’t Daniel Delongpres, Baron of Wankerville.”

Spike’s greeting was answered by a bark of laughter. “William! My, what a surprise.”

“You know this guy?” Virginia whispered through clenched teeth, still unable to take her eyes off the beautiful and dangerous looking blond man standing in front of them.

“I have the immense displeasure, yes.” He answered loudly.

A dark haired beauty clad in a sequined purple Versace dress that clung to her curves came to stand next to the tall blond man, an almost pleasant smile on her perfectly glossy lips.

“And I see you brought your charming whore with you. Funny, I thought the backstabbing cow would have killed you in your sleep by now.”

Her dark eyes sparkling with mirth, she flashed Spike her pearly whites. “Now now, William, that’s not very nice. I see you’re still as rude as ever, what a shame.”

“Fuck off, Juliette.”

Spike pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one up to try to calm himself down. The rage made his fingers tremble slightly.

It was like time had stopped. The vampires and Slayers around them had interrupted their fights while still keeping a wary eye on one another. Nobody knew what was going on or what to do.

“Got an extra one, William? Je creve d’envie d’un cigarette.” Juliette asked pleasantly.

Spike gave her an incredulous look. “Want a martini with that? This isn’t a social call. Get your own cigarettes, bitch.”

She pouted and grabbed Daniel’s arm. “Are you going to let him talk to me like that, mon amour?”

“Shut up, Juliette. This isn’t the time.”

“What the bloody hell are you up to, Daniel? Woke up bored one morning and decided Baron wasn’t enough of a title for you, you needed to rule the demon world?”

Daniel smiled. “Something like that, yes. What can I say... I saw an opportunity and I took it.” His smile widened. “You can accomplish a lot when you believe in yourself.”

“Did you get that in a self help book, you wanker? World domination for dummies? You know, they also say that if you bite off more than you can chew, you can choke.”

Daniel laughed. “I see you haven’t lost your delightful sense of humor. Good for you. Since when do you align yourself with the enemy anyway? I always knew you were weak, but that’s pushing it.”

“None of your business, you pansy.”

The tall vampire looked incredibly amused. “And you call ME a pansy?”

“I might be a white hat now, but I’m still manlier than you. And what‘s with the Crazy 88 wannabes, mate?”

Daniel looked puzzled. “The what now?”

“Kill Bill... Tarantino? No? Never mind. You need to brush up on your pop culture. I‘m talking about the seemingly endless number of incredibly bloody pathetic fledglings working for you. Not that I‘m getting tired or anything, but it would be useful to know how many more you got coming.”

“Enough.” Daniel smirked. “But I tell you what... Because you’re family and I haven’t seen you for so long, I’ll show mercy and make you a deal. Take your sad looking Slayers and get them out of here before they start crying. We’ll finish this some other night.”

Every fiber in Spike’s body was screaming at him to attack. His muscles were tensed, ready to pounce on the enemy. But he knew this would be suicide. The girls were exhausted and knowing Daniel Delongpres, he probably had more minions waiting to join the show. To be honest, he was tired too and not in a shape to fight a vampire two hundred years his elder. At the top of his form, Spike knew he could kick Daniel’s pompous ass, but not tonight after fighting twenty something vampires--fledglings or not.

He glanced at Virginia. “Take everybody back to the vans.” Then, to Daniel: “This doesn’t mean it’s over, you wanker. Family or not, bollocks if I’m gonna let your sick twisted plan succeed.”

“Fair enough. You can try to stop me, but my money is on me.” He gave Spike his most charming grin. “And we both know I don’t take risks with my family fortune.”

Spike didn’t dignify this with an answer. He crushed his spent cigarette under his heavy combat boot and turned to leave. On the other side of the alley, Giles was helping a girl limp her way back to one of the vans.

Spike never saw Juliette throw his forgotten sword to Daniel who caught it swiftly. Giles tried to warn the vampire, but too late. Daniel plunged the sword in Spike’s lower back and lifted him off his feet. The weight of his body made the sword slice its way upward slowly until it reached his chest. The minions left gathered around them.

Daniel had vamped out. “You really thought I would let you go, you white trash piece of shit? Working with Slayers? Really, William? You bring shame to the Aurelius family!” He spat through his sharp teeth.

Spike was trying to hold himself up, his hands wrapped around the sword’s sharp blade but all he managed to do was cut his hands on it. Blood seeped through his parted lips and he groaned in pain.

“We have to help him.” Giles yelled in Xander’s direction.

“I’m on it.” He took aim. “Let’s see if the Bleached Wonder still thinks my little toy is bloody useless after it saves his life.”

He started firing his taser gun at the minions surrounding Spike and Daniel. One after another, they were falling on the ground in convulsions. It wouldn’t last though so they had to hurry. He got most of the minions while Giles shot arrows at the ones coming their way. In a matter of seconds, the path was clear. Xander aimed at his last target, Daniel. Unfortunately, Daniel was holding the sword that went through Spike. The shock electrocuted both vampires. But it was probably a blessing for Spike to be unconscious for a while.

Giles and Xander ran to Spike’s side and pulled the sword out of the vampire’s body. Picking him up, they made their way back to the van as fast as they could, not really wanting to find out how long it would take for Daniel and his followers to regain consciousness.

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It had been two long nights for Molly, and if she wasn’t such a persistent girl, she would forget about the whole thing. The neighborhood around the former office of Wolfram and Hart had been a total bust. Besides getting into a hair pulling match with a prostitute, kicking the woman’s pimp in the head and turning down about ten or so drug dealers, it had been the most boring night of her life. She had ended the night by touring one lame ass fake magic shop after another where all she got for her trouble was a chamomile scented candle, and had met a wannabe demon hunter who looked more like a mental patient than Van Helsing.

Apparently, the real demon world was not easy to infiltrate. Maybe she would have more luck tonight, but she had her doubts.

The last thing on her list didn’t give her much hope. She had been excited at first because the name of the business couldn’t be a coincidence. Angel Investigations. They were specialists in demon problems. But when she’d called, the number was disconnected. Her last hope was that maybe one of the neighbors would know something or still be friends with this Angel person. Someone might point her in the right direction. There was a chance Angel Investigations still existed, but had changed location and phone number and just hadn’t updated their website. Anyway, she had an address and that’s where she was going now.

She arrived in front of the Hyperion and stopped to take it all in. The old hotel looked ghostly in the full moon. Her hopes of finding friendly neighbors to give her information was squashed. The seemingly abandoned building stood alone at the corner of a quiet street and there were no businesses around. She walked up to the front door only to find it nailed shut with two by fours. She swore, then went to a window to try to see inside, but everything was dark and it looked like nobody lived there.

Molly started walking around the building. She had pretty much given up by then, but couldn’t leave just yet. She would thank herself for her stubborn ways later. Her mom had always said it was a flaw of hers, but in this case, it paid off. While walking the narrow and dark streets behind the Hyperion, she came across a man who looked like he was being attacked by... Well, she could put a name to these things. Three monsters, about seven feet tall and with a severe complexion problem, the horns on their heads completing the “I’m taking a little vacation from Hell” look, were surrounding him. But then, she realized he wasn’t a man either and by the look of it, didn’t need much help. The bumps on his face, the yellow eyes and sharp teeth, she’d seen it before... on Spike. Vampire. She wanted to jump up and down like a little girl, so excited she was at finding one of them. Maybe he could tell her about Spike, Angel, or that Buffy girl. But she knew it would be stupid of her to get too excited. Vampires didn’t exactly have a good reputation. Spike looked OK enough if you forgot about the tying her up to a chair part, but she probably shouldn’t assume that because he didn’t try to kill her, other vampire wouldn’t. Which is why she had a stake and holly water in her coat pocket.

In front of her, the vampire was fighting viciously. One of the three demons managed to kick the sword out of his hand and it landed not too far in front of Molly. She stared at it for a moment until he snapped her out of her contemplation.

“Could you throw it back to me, please? Decapitating one of these things without something sharp is something I‘d rather not have to do.” He said while holding one of the large demons in a choke hold and kicking another one in the face.

Molly picked up the sword. “Need help?”

The vampire shrugged. “No offense, but I don‘t think you know what you‘re getting yourself into.”

If there was one thing Molly hated above all, it was to be underestimated because of her size. Sure she was a small girl, but she was also a trained soldier and she had made very large men cry before.

One of the three demons was facing the vampire and had his back turned to her. He didn’t see her coming. Determination in her eyes, she swung the sharp weapon and it landed on the demon’s neck, severing his head... almost. Still attached to the body, the head fell to the side. It took everything she had not to vomit her dinner.

“Oh my God! That’s disgusting.”

The thing turned around.

“Finish him!” The vampire yelled at her, while still struggling with his own demons.

She took a shuddering breath, then brought the sword down again. The head made a sickening sound when it fell to the pavement, then the body followed and disintegrated into a pile of goo.

“What the HELL is that thing?!” Molly shrieked.

The vampire threw a flurry of punches in one of the two demons face. The other one had set his sight on Molly.

“A bad guy.”

She grimaced. “Duh. I guessed that much.”

Molly stepped back as the thing approached her, pretending to be the damsel in distress, then surprised him with a hard kick to the face. The demon barely stumbled back, but she didn’t let that discourage her. She used his surprise to launch her attack, trying not to give him time to recuperate. She knew if he got a punch in, it would probably knock her out so she concentrated on avoiding every one of his attempt.

The vampire had managed to kill the one he was working on and was coming to help her out when the demon finally got one in. He caught her stomach with his claw. It was a superficial wound, but she yelped, her heart racing. God, he could have gutted her.

From behind, the vampire managed to get the sword that was on the ground, and dispatch the hellish demon. The body fell to the ground then disintegrated like the other ones had done.

“Are you OK?” He asked her.

Molly looked down at her stomach, feeling stupid. She’d try so hard to look tough, and there she was, hurt like a helpless little girl. “Yeah, it’s nothing.”

After returning to his human face, the vampire extended his hand to her. “I’m Angel.”

Her head snapped up. “You’re Angel?”

The good looking dark haired man looked confused. “Uh, yes? That’s what I said.”

Molly shook her head almost not believing her luck. “You’re kidding!”

His hand still extended, he frowned. “Again, I’m Angel... or at least I was last time I checked.”

She smiled, feeling silly. “I’m so sorry.” She shook his hand. “I’m Molly. It’s just that I’ve been looking for you and I can’t believe I found you. What were the odds?”

Angel smiled. “The odds were pretty good considering I live right over there.” He pointed at the Hyperion.

“But I was just there and it looks like nobody’s lived there in years.”

He sighed. “I’m not the most popular man in town, Molly, so I keep a low profile. I make sure the place doesn’t look lived in. It keeps the bad guys at bay. Well... not always, as you can see.”

“Those were nasty. What were they?”

“Syriaak demons. Why were you looking for me?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Why don’t we go inside, it will be better to talk and I have a first aid kit. You look like you need it.” He grinned.

“Hey! I didn’t do so bad considering they were my first demons. At least I killed one of them.”

Angel laughed. “You did great. Next time, maybe you’ll even manage not to get yourself sliced up.”

Molly scrunched up her pretty face. “Wow. I didn’t know vampires had a sense of humor. This should be interesting.”

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Buffy slowly made her way downstairs. She was wearing her good old flannel pajamas and was barefoot. She noticed how quiet the place was, but chalked it up to the late time of the night. They were probably all sleeping. She wondered briefly if Spike was sleeping somewhere in the castle, or if he’d followed up on his threat and had already left. What felt like a lifetime ago, she would have assumed he was too in love with her to do that, but she wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Probably a good thing because it made her realize just how conceited that made her sound and how much she’d taken his love for granted before. How callous of her to assume he would always be there. But for someone like her who was so afraid of being abandoned, it was also comforting. Now, that comforting feeling was gone and it made her insecure. She always thought that of all the men in her life who loved her, Spike was the only one she just knew would never leave. But he’d left her twice now--even though both times were out of his control--so all bets were off. Still, she wanted to believe he was still here in one of the castle’s room being mad at her and calling her all kinds of British names.

She sighed and walked into the empty kitchen. All the unreasonable crying she’d done had left her starving. She needed to eat because she was going to need her strength tomorrow. If Spike was still here, she would face him like an adult and have a little chat with him. And if he was gone... well the hell with it, she’d go after him. If only to hear what he had to say, even if she was terrified of what it was. She had to make her inner coward shut up because things couldn’t end this way between them.

She got left over birthday cake from the fridge and a fork from the silverware drawer, then sat at the counter. She didn’t get why they didn’t just use the same cake for a couple of birthdays. They had birthdays to celebrate almost every week and there was always so much left over. At least half of the girls were on what seemed to be a permanent diet and never touched the damn thing. Guess they still hadn’t figured out that Slayer didn’t really need to diet. Fast metabolism was kind part of the Slayer package. Oh the joy of living in a female world… Atkins, South Beach, low cal, fights over shoes, clothes, make up, even fights over Xander’s attention. And her old friend did enjoy it a great deal. Good for him. It was pretty entertaining to Buffy. If the Xander Harris she once knew had known that some day there would be a bunch of teenage girls blushing and giggling every time he smiled at them....

Buffy looked down and realized she had polished off half the cake while she was lost in her thoughts. She made a face, disgusted with herself, then pushed what was left of the cake away.

Suddenly it sounded like the castle had come to life above her. She could hear voices of people talking loudly all at once and wondered if everybody woke up at the same time, or if they were coming back from somewhere. Buffy stood up and went to investigate.

When she arrived in the large entryway, she was shocked by what she saw. All the girls were there. They were dirty, bloody and looked exhausted. The frantic atmosphere alarmed her. They had gone on a mission without her. Not that she could blame them. She wouldn’t have been of much help anyway. But still, Giles or Xander could have informed her before leaving.

“Guys, what’s going on?” She didn’t get an answer right away. “Guys!” She tried again.

“Long story.” Virginia said cryptically while pushing past her.

Then, Giles and Xander walked in, carrying an incredibly bloody and unconscious Spike. His shirt had been taken off and his torso was clumsily wrapped in bandages. His blood had seeped through the gauze, making it a sickening shade of dark red.

Buffy took a few deep breaths, trying to get a grip on what was happening. Spike was hurt. Badly. It’s funny how seeing the person you love covered in his own blood can put things into perspective. Suddenly, her hurt feelings seemed ridiculous and it didn’t matter as much that he’d taken so long to come back to her. All she could think of in that moment was that he could have died again, and the last thing she would have said to him was “leave.”

She rushed to his side.

“What happened to him?”, Buffy asked Giles and Xander almost accusingly. “I was mad at him, that doesn’t mean you have free pass to kill him.”

Xander looked offended. “Hey! We didn’t...”

“Or get him killed, whatever. Semantics.”

Giles gave her a disapproving look. “Actually, Xander saved Spike’s undead arse, so be grateful.”

“Fine. Sorry.” She mumbled, not taking her eyes off of Spike.

“Let’s bring him to the infirmary.” Xander suggested.

Buffy shook her head. “No. Bring him to my room.”

“But Buffy...”

“My room.”

“He needs to be patched up first, Buf.” Xander observed. “He was nearly cut in half!”

“Just... get him to my room and send Iris to stitch him up.”

“Two girls went to get blood for him, they should be back soon.” Giles informed her.

“Good. And as soon as Iris is gone, I don’t want anybody to come in.”

Buffy turned around and walked to the staircase, fully expecting them to follow her.

“Buffy, we need to talk about what happened tonight.” Giles said while following her.

“Tonight, I take care of Spike. Tomorrow, you can fill me in. Tomorrow... He‘ll be better.”

Yes, if she had her way, tomorrow he would be back to his good old infuriating self. She’d make damn sure of that.

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CHAPTER TWELVE: The best thing a girl could give

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