Red hot steel, and other gadgets
Have some Faith series part 4
SUMMARY: The clock is ticking, the time for the ritual is coming, and Angelus is bored. Faith and him decide they've been waiting long enough and it's time to give B what she deserves.DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the series are property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I don’t own anything.
RATING : NC-17
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A/N: Warning for sensitive souls. There is some torture in this chapter and the next one. Oh, and by the way, I’m a review junkie so please indulge me. It takes only two minutes of your time, and it makes my entire day :-)
The doorbell to the magic box rang cheerfully as a flaming blanket covered vampire ran through the door, followed closely by a hysterical Slayer. Spike stomped on the blanket furiously while Buffy held her painful ribs and tried to catch her breath.
“Glad I gave you a good laugh Slayer. Wouldn’t be smelling like roast pig though if you had the decency to buy better quality blankets.” Spike tried to give Buffy a murderous look, but couldn’t help the slight smile that was tugging at his lips.
Buffy snorted. “Baby! ‘sides, if I’d buy better quality blankets, I’d miss the show of seeing you run with your ass on fire.” She started giggling again.
They were both completely oblivious to the five pair of eyes staring at them in silence as they kept bickering like good old times.
“Luv, I wonder if you’d find the big pile of dust nearly as bloody funny…”
Still arguing happily, they walked towards the stunned, silent, Scoobies.
“Spike, for a vampire, you really are a drama queen. I think you’re watching Passions way too much.”
That’s when Xander finally found his voice back. Not taking his eyes off Buffy and Spike, he asked Dawn with a fearful voice: “Dawny? When you said Buffy needed time off so she could be alone with the new… man of her life, you didn’t mean….”
Instead of answering, Dawn burst out laughing. Ignoring them, Giles addressed Spike.
“Spike. Glad to see that for once, you were able to put your stubbornness aside long enough to listen to my advice and do the right thing.”
“Yeah, I have my moments. Not as thick as everyone thinks I am.” Spike smirked at Giles, and leant against the counter while Buffy took a seat at the table. “What is it, missed your roommate Watcher?”
“Wait just a minute! You knew about this? Bleach Boy was back and…”
Giles completely ignored Xander and put his glasses back on his nose. “I was actually hoping that you moved out for good…” The Watcher gave Spike a hopeful look. “ Did you move out for good?”
Suddenly uncomfortable, Spike gave Buffy a quick glance, not knowing what to answer. But she answered for him.
“You can relax Giles, Spike’s done stealing your scotch, he’s moving out..” she turned to Spike, a little insecure “You’re moving out, right?”
The vampire gave her his brightest, most sincere, smile in answer to her question. She smiled back, but remembering something, she turned her head sharply to look at her Watcher.
“You! You are in so much trouble! I trusted you.. How could you keep a straight face when I was confessing my feelings to you the other day? I never knew you were such a good liar.”
“Buffy, Spike told me…”
“Since when do you listen to anything Spike says?”
“Buffy, please…”
“Oh no, don’t you Buffy me. I’m sorry to inform you that you are on my shit list for the next… oh five minutes at least!” She crossed her arms on her chest and glared at Giles with a mocked scold on her face.
Dawn, Willow and Spike burst out laughing at Giles’ expression, while Xander just put his head down on the table, arms crossed on top of it.
“If it can make it any better, I did try to convince him to talk to you, and not only because I wanted to get rid of him.” Giles said, taking a seat next to Xander.
Spike looked at him with exaggerated shock on his face. “What? Rup! I can’t believe you’d say that… I though you liked having me as your roommate. Both of us getting pissed on Scotch every night, you telling me stories of your past glory, me telling you how bloody pathetic you are… You hurt my feelings, really.”
Giles looked shamefully at the Scoobies. “I do not get pissed every night telling stories of when I was young. It only happened once.” They laughed again at that. “And Buffy, I am really sorry…”
“Giles. You can stop apologizing now, I was kidding. I understand and it’s ok. We can move on. We actually came here be…”
Xander interrupted her, not looking up from the table. “Can somebody wake me up when this is over so I can wake up in a world where Fangface is still missing and Buffy doesn’t bonk the evil undead?”
Getting pissed off, Buffy slammed her hand on the table. “Did that wake you up Xander? Oh, damn! You have the wrong reality: Spike is not missing anymore, and Buffy is still bonking the not so evil undead. Sorry you don’t like my world. If you want, I could ask Anya to send you to her ex boyfriend the Troll’s world, the one with evil bunnies in it..”
Anya nodded and smiled happily at the thought.
“Now. Not that I don’t like discussing my private life with you guys, but there is an actual reason why we’re here. If there weren’t, believe me, we’d still be cuddling happily at home. Unfortunately, we have to get down to business because we have a big problem.” Buffy took a deep breath, and Spike came to stand behind her, putting a supportive hand on her shoulder. “We have good reasons to think that Angel lost his soul again and is here in Sunnydale.”
There was a collective gasp around the table. Giles removed his glasses, not even bothering to clean them this time, he just put them down on the table and pinched the bridge of his nose, frowning. “And what brought you to that conclusion Buffy?”
“Well… when we woke up this morning, there was a drawing on the pillow… a drawing of us, sleeping.”
“What does it have to do with Angel losing his soul?” Anya asked, having never met Angelus.
“An, Angelus is a really creepy vampire. And lets just say that drawing is one of his thing. He creeps into your room while you’re sleeping, and instead of killing you like any good vamp would do, he makes drawings of you sleeping and leaves them on your pillow. This way, when you wake up, it scares the shit out of you to know that someone was in your room watching you sleep.”
Anya’s face brightened. “That’s an original idea! What a great way to bring terro…. “ She stopped when she saw that everybody was giving her horrified looks. “Oh. Of course I mean by that that it is terrible to do such an evil thing to people and… You were going out with that guy?”
“Yeah. Could we get back to the important stuff?” Buffy rolled her eyes at the vengeance demon. “We know nothing more unfortunately, but it’s enough to be worried.” Buffy turned to Willow. “Do you have you’re magic enough under control to be able to perform a deinviting spell Will?”
“Of course. That’s pretty basic and doesn’t request much power. I’m on it.”
“Ok. So Willow will do a deinviting spell at my place. Anybody else was dumb enough to invite Angel back into their home?”
They all shook their heads in silence.
“Buffy, don’t be too hard on yourself, you couldn’t possibly know it would happen again… “ Giles started.
“No Giles, I should have been more careful. He could have slaughtered us in our sleep! Even if Angel knows that sleeping with someone he loves will make him lose his soul; it doesn’t make him safe to have around. We know what the trigger is, but perfect happiness is pretty vague. Inviting him back into my house was a mistake. I put my family in danger. He could lose his soul receiving a giant screen TV for Christmas for all we know!”
“Or a life time supply of hair gel.” Spike added with a smirk. Xander actually giggled discretely at that, disliking Angel way more than Spike.
“Buffy, I’m sorry this is happening. You’re probably really upset. You want me to curse him?” Willow asked quietly, not looking at Spike, unsure of what the situation was.
Buffy smiled and put a hand on Willow’s. “I’m absolutely fine Will. No worries. Angel had his chance. Twice. Ok, this is not his fault. But we can’t keep on cursing him like that. Maybe it’s just better this way.”
“You sure? Cause I could try to alter the curse to make it permanent…”
“I don’t know. You can look at it if you want, but if it’s too much for you, don’t. I’d rather have to stake Angelus than having to lose you. If you slip, if you lose control… maybe we won’t be able to get you back this time.”
Spike frowned, and lowering his voice, asked Buffy “I did miss on a lot last summer, didn’t I.”
Buffy smiled at him while Willow blushed bright red. But the young witch answered nonetheless. “I kinda turned evil last spring… the day after you left. I’ll tell you everything later on if you want.”
Spike smiled genuinely at Willow. “Sure thing Red. I know a bit about evil. We’ll sit and talk if you want.”
“Oookay. Not that I have anything against the bounding, but what do we do about Angelus?” Xander seemed eager to put an end to the conversation.
“I think our priority would be to find out if he’s working with Faith.”
“I’m pretty much assuming he is” Buffy pointed out, in full slayer mode now “but we can’t just assume, we have to make sure. Though, what a coincidence that would be if they just happen to be here at the same time.” She gave Spike a quick look before continuing. “Spike and I will do a long intensive patrol tonight. Try to find out whatever we can. But I don’t think we’ll have a problem finding him. Angelus wouldn’t go through the trouble of making that little portrait of us if he didn’t plan on attacking eventually. It’s not his style to start something and let it slide.”
Willow grinned excitedly at Buffy. “Talking about the portrait… can we see it?”
Buffy and Spike answered as one. “NO!”
Willow sank in her chair, disappointed. “Why? Maybe there are some clues in the drawing… something you could have missed. Can’t be that bad.”
“Yes, huh..” Spike stammered, not looking at anybody.
“It is...” Buffy’s face was flushed with shame as she remembered just how detailed the drawing really was.
“No clues there, right Slayer?”
“Nope. No clues…”
“And it’s kinda private..”
“So no one will see it..”
“I think what they are trying to say” Anya chimed in “Is that it’s a pornographic drawing. Like a porn picture, but a drawing.”
Buffy dropped her forehead to the table, wishing the Hellmouth would swallow her.
Spike looked at Anya, horrified. “Does she have to talk?”
Willow was just as red as Buffy. “If I wasn’t on a magical diet, I would make her stop talking for you, but unfortunately…”
“S’ok Red, don’t worry bout it. I’ll just… I’ll.. go smoke in the training room.”
Buffy gasped and lifted her head to watch him as he left the room. “Hey! You’re leaving me here alone you coward?!” She stood up quickly and started following him. “I’ll go smoke with you.”
“But you don’t smoke pet…”
“Would you shush already? Today is as good a day as any to start!”
Giles rolled his eyes as they both disappeared into the training room.
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Faith jumped down on the roof through the open window and walked towards Angelus. He was standing in the shadow, well away from the afternoon sun, smoking a cigarette.
“You didn’t apologize yet for ruining our date yesterday.”
Angelus kept smoking without answering, or even looking at her.
“It was supposed to be fun. Standing outside B’s house in the middle of the night for almost two hours doesn’t qualify. What was that anyway? You didn’t even bother telling me what the hell you did in there.”
“Witnessing the bad tastes of Slutty the Vampire layer.” Faith sat on the rampart at the edge of the roof, in the sun, and laughed. “Whoa! What the heck did you see in there big boy? Sounds interesting.”
Angelus smirked and threw his cigarette over the edge of the roof. “The proof that the little tramp deserves to suffer before dying, and that my childe is pussy whipped and needs a lesson.
Faith tilted her head, frowning in confusion.
“Your childe? Who’s your childe and what does it have to do with Buffy?”
“That guy you flirted with the other night and said wasn’t a threat cause he hates Buffy… Spike. That’s my childe. And the part where he hates Buffy? I don’t usually get naked with people I hate.” He stopped to think about what he just said, then corrected. “Well, I do, but they don’t survive long enough to talk about it.”
The rogue Slayer’s mouth formed a perfect “O”.
“You mean… He was in bed with her?! The fucking little bitch! How does she manage to always be a step ahead of me?”
He gave her a slightly amused smile, and lifted an eyebrow at her. “Faith. Please. Do you really want Slutty’s left overs? Not only is he pathetic, but he’s damaged goods.”
“Yeah, look who’s talking.”
The vampire growled at the brunette. “Watch what you’re saying if you want to live to see the rest of the day.”
“And you be careful with the threats if you don’t want to go sunbathing.”
They glared at each other for a moment.
“You know” Angelus started saying, looking away from the girl, “the work on the Hellmouth is almost over.”
“Yes I know” she answered quietly.
“They’ve started to throw the bodies in it. Four nights, and it will be time for the ritual. Twenty-four hours in a day, twenty-four bodies a day. The little twit will figure it out soon enough with all the disappearances and she’ll try to stop us. We might as well get rid of her now. Besides, if we wait until the night of the ritual to get rid of her, we will be too busy to enjoy it. So why wait?”
Faith crossed her arms tightly on her chest, feeling cold all of a sudden. “What’s on your mind?”
“Hunting… violence.. and games. What do you say sweets? Are you up to it?”
She gave him a forced smile. “Always.”
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Spike was sitting on the gymnastic horse, Buffy standing between his legs, her hands on his thighs.
“So are you gonna tell me what the bloody Hell happened here?”
She leant forward, putting the top of her head against his chest and snaked her arms around his waist. “Nothing good Spike.” She sighed. “I don’t know where to start. Tara… The day after you left, I was in the backyard and Warren showed up. He had a gun. He shot me and one of the bullets got Tara. She died instantly. The only reason I’m still here is because Willow got the bullet out of my chest magically. But she couldn’t save Tara.”
He let out a small gasp, and tightened his hold on her. They stayed like that for a moment before he worked up the courage to speak again.
“The little witch… she’s dead?” It wasn’t really a question, just unreasonable hope that he had misunderstood.
Buffy couldn’t say a word, her own disbelief washing over her all over again while he tried to assimilate the concept of Tara being gone.
“I always fail, don’t I.”
“What?” Buffy looked up at him, not understanding why he would blame this on himself. “What does it have to do with you?”
“I promise myself I’d protect the ones I love, but when things get bad, I’m nowhere in sight.”
“Spike..”
“Tara was the most descent person I’ve ever met. The kindest. The little bird always treated me like I was part of the damn Scoobies. To her, I existed. I wasn’t just the bleached pain in the ass. And I genuinely loved her for that. But when she needed to be saved, where the bloody Hell was I? “
“Spike, you couldn’t know what was going to happen. And you had your own issues to deal with.”
He let out a short, humorless chuckle. “Yeah, my issues… Still. I should have been here. To protect you, to protect the witch…
“There’s nothing you could have done.” Willow walked up to the blond couple. “Broad daylight. Human. Gun. The bullet went straight through her heart. You being in Sunnydale really wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“’S that what happened Red? The allusions about you having been evil and all?.. That’s what happen.” He asked quietly, Buffy and him both looking at the redheaded witch whose pain at the memories was evident.
Willow looked away, still ashamed of her actions. Ashamed of how easily the pain and the darkness had taken over her.
“Yes. But it’s no excuse for what I’ve done.”
“Red, I don’t know what you’ve done, but having the woman you love killed in front of you excuses pretty much everything.”
“I killed him Spike.” She said, staring deep into his eyes. “First, I tortured him a little. Then I skinned him and set him on fire.”
If the situation hadn’t been this serious, Spike’s expression would have been comical.
“Cor Red, that’s…” He shut his mouth, realizing that words would have been useless.
“I killed two humans that night Spike, and I could have killed my friends, just because they were in the way. I almost killed Giles. I was so drunk on dark magic’s, I wasn’t in control of my anger and my hatred anymore. Damn, I almost ended the world that night.”
He felt Buffy tensing slightly at Willow’s words, and took mental note to talk to her about that later. If her best friend had tried to end the world, chances were it just added one more issue to the long list of Buffy issues.
“Spike? You told me you know a chapter or two about evil… Am I? I’m not sure anymore. Maybe it’s in my nature and I’m just repressing it.”
“Pain brings the worst out of people. Makes them do things that are not in their nature. Doesn’t make you a bad person ducks… just someone who had her insides ripped apart, is all.”
The blond vampire tucked a loose strand of red hair behind Willow’s ear.
“I’m sorry Red.”
“For what?”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to kill him for you.”
Willow smiled sadly. “You couldn’t have anyway.”
“Doesn’t matter. I would have. Even if the chip had turned me into a soddin vegetable. I would have killed him so you wouldn’t have to.”
Willow gave her two friends a hug. After a few minutes, Buffy decided to interrupt the moment.
“Spike? Aren’t you supposed not to have murderous thoughts anymore? What with the new soul and all…”
“Bollocks. Some wanker walks around shooting my girls. Soul or no soul, there’s no way in hell he’s gonna keep going on his merry way, unscathed.” The Slayer reached up to kiss him.
Willow cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt guys, but if you don’t mind, I’ll go to your house to do the deinviting spell before sunset.”
“Thanks Will. Do you need me to come with you?”
Willow smiled at her friend. “Nah. I’ll be fine on my own. I’ll be back before sunset.”
And she walked out of the training room, just as Dawn walked in.
Buffy and Spike watched curiously as Dawn walked to the middle of the training room with her backpack, a serious expression on her pretty face. She put it down, and looked through it, then pulled out two bright orange pompoms. She stood, facing her sister and Spike, and cleared her throat officially.
“The cheerleaders try outs are next week and I need volunteers to tell me if I’m good enough… Oh yeah, that’d be you guys.”
Spike gave Dawny an amused look while playing with Buffy’s hair. “Sure thing Nibblet, cheer away, we’re watching.”
As the teenager cartwheeled and jumped around, Buffy snuggled up against Spike, a sudden feeling of dread washing over her.
“Will there even be a next week Spike? Will my little sister even have the chance to be a cheerleader, date boys, be happy?” she whispered against his ear.
“Don’t be silly luv. Of course she will. We’ll defeat the bad guys and stop the end of the world yet again, so little bit can have a world where she can cheer and date… Hey, isn’t she a little young to have dates?”
Buffy laughed into his chest. “She’s sixteen you over protective psycho vamp. In the 21st century, girls are dating at sixteen.”
“Sorry pet, I’m a little old fashioned.”
The started kissing playfully, but an outraged teenager soon put an end to their snuggling.
“I can’t believe you!? I just jumped around like an idiot for nothing, you guys didn’t even watch me! Couldn’t you spend like five minutes without sucking face?..”
They had the decency to at least try to look ashamed. “Sorry Nib… we got carried away…”
Dawn didn’t soften her glare. “A little self control maybe?”
“Do it again pigeon, we’ll watch this time. Sides, you know what they say Dawny, practice makes perfect. Look at me, 127 years of practice and I don’t think I could get anymore perfect.” He gave Buffy his patented cocky grin.
Buffy disentangled herself from her boyfriend and walked up to her sister.
“Lets see if I still have it.” She grabbed her little sis and said a few things in her ear, then she got Dawn’s extra pompom from her bag and the two girls started doing their little steps and jumps singing:
He’s sexy… He’s hot… He’s your super perfect vamp! He’s the Big Bad and is name is…
S-P-I-K-E! SPIKE!!!They shrieked mockingly, shaking their pompoms frantically under Spike’s glare. Dawn stopped and pointed at him, her mouth gaping exaggeratedly. “Oh my god! It’s him! It’s… Spike!”
She dramatically put the back of her hand to her forehead, and pretended to faint, letting herself fall back on the gymnastic mat.
Buffy laughed hysterically at the vampire, wiping tears from her eyes.
“You Summers girls are a laugh a minute.” He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice, but smiling nonetheless at Dawns antics.
For a moment there, they felt like life goes on, and always will. But reality always comes crashing back. This time, it was Xander clearing his throat loudly.
“I am terribly sorry for interrupting this ‘make fun of Spike’ moment, but… someone wants to talk to you Buffy.” He pushed an obviously shaken Cordelia in front of him.
Buffy, Spike and Dawn stood next to each other and observed the new comer in silence, unsure of what to say. For some reason, ‘Hey Cordy, how’s it going’ didn’t sound appropriate.
Buffy instantly recognized the look on Cordelia’s face, for it was one she once had on her own face… What seemed like a lifetime ago. Pure pain. The kind you feel when the man you love loses his soul and tries to kill you. A sudden urge to reassure herself made her grasp Spike’s hand. A way to remind herself that she had found love again and the pain eventually had gone away.
There seemed to be nothing left of Queen C. Cordelia’s features were still gorgeous, but pale and tired. Her newly short hair was pulled back in a half ponytail, and she was wearing a gray sweatshirt too big for her, cargo pants and snickers. Her lack of style contributed to make her look even more miserable.
“Guys, could you leave us alone for a moment?” Buffy said, her eyes never leaving Cordelia. “I think we need to talk between girls.”
They all moved towards the door, but Buffy was reluctant to let go of Spike’s hand. They locked eyes for a second, and he gave her a reassuring smile.
“I’ll be there if you need me luv.” And he walked away, leaving the two women alone.
When Cordy didn’t move, Buffy took her hand and led her to the bench.
“I know why you’re here. Angelus.”
Cordelia’s eyes got teary and she looked down at her hands.
“Cordy? Are you gonna be all right?”
“Buffy, I’m so sorry. I know I shouldn’t be here… I have no right to come to you, of all people. You’re probably going to hate me, but no one else could understand.”
“Hate you? Cordelia, why would I hate you?”
She hesitated. “You and Angel… your background together… it’s complicated. And I…”
Buffy smiled. “You think I’m gonna hate you because you’re in love with Angel? Is that it?”
Cordelia’s head snapped up and she gave Buffy an almost fearful look. “How do you…”
“Come on, it’s pretty obvious. You look exactly like me when it happened a few years ago.” Her voice was full of compassion. “ Cordelia, I’m sorry.”
“You don’t hate me? Angel was the love of your life, and there I am, claiming to love him, and running to you.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Geez, what is it with you people? Does everybody think I’m lame enough to still be obsessing over my ex four years after we broke up? Hey, I moved on. And if he did, I’m glad it’s with you.”
“So, Spike huh?”
Buffy seemed taken aback. “How did you know?”
She gave the Slayer a good old-fashioned Cordelia look. “Buffy, come on, I’m not dumb. The look you gave each other?.. And the ‘I’ll be there if you need me’?” She smiled faintly at her friend. “Good for you. He’s a major hottie.”
Buffy grinned proudly. “Yep. That he is.”
“But we’ll have to have a girls talk someday and you’ll have to tell me everything. Cause to be honest, I feel like I’m watching a movie and I missed half of it while I was in the washroom. Last time I’ve seen Spike, he was torturing Angel to get a ring so he could kill you, and now he’s what? Smooching you to death?”
Buffy laughed at that. “I promise we’ll tell each other everything once we figure out what’s going on and we stop it. We’ll have dinner together and we’ll catch up.”
“Yeah, bad things are coming. I guess we’d better concentrate on that.”
After hesitating for a moment, not knowing how to bring it up, Buffy finally asked Cordelia “I need to know now Cordy. What do you want me to do? I don’t know what he’s done to you. I don’t know if you want him dead, or cursed again… I need to know so we can plan what we’re gonna do. We already have an apocalypse to stop, so we have to think of everything.”
“Do you think you could…”
“Get Willow to curse him?”
“Yes.”
She squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. “Of course we will. I’ll talk to Willow. She went to my place to do a deinviting spell right now, but as soon as she’s back, I’ll tell her. She said she could maybe alter the spell to make it permanent.”
She stood up. “Ok. Now that it’s settled, is there any information you have that could be useful? We already thing Angelus is working with Faith. She’s out of prison and planing the apocalypse. You know, the usual.”
“Yes, they are working together. I had a vision, and there’s a few things Angelus told me himself.”
Spike cracked the door open and knocked lightly on the frame to get their attention.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I figured this could go on forever. For some reason, there’s always a lot to say about my poofter of a sire. Just want to know if you girls want something to eat. The whelp is going out for pizza.”
“Sure. Tell him to go, and bring Giles back here. Cordelia has information for us.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Faith watched, as yet another victim was taken to the opening in the Hellmouth, a cold expression on her face. This one was a young boy, around 17 years old, with red hair. He reminded her of Oz and she couldn’t help thinking about the first time she had met the Scooby gang at the Bronze, what seemed like a lifetime ago.
God she had impressed them so much with her bullshit. Half of the stories she had told them that night were coming straight from her imagination, but they were enjoying it. They were enjoying her. But it hadn’t been her. Just like it wasn’t her right now, watching a teenager get sacrificed, without any apparent emotion. They couldn’t know that she was scared. They couldn’t know that she was horrified. Because that would mean that she was weak and weak people didn’t survive. Weak people got dragged to a hole in the ground, and tumbled to their death. But not her. It would never happen to her. She would not die like her mother did, begging for her life as her father had crushed her skull with a frying pan. She would not die crying like her watcher did, as a vampire had ripped her insides out. No, not her. She was a survivor.
“Are you ok Faith?” Angelus asked, the lack of concern in his voice contradicting his words.
“Five by five big guy. Why do you care?”
“I really don’t. Just curious. I was wondering what could be going on in your head while you’re watching the show. I know you’ve killed people, but this one is a young one. His whole life in front of him and all that shit. Thought some part of you should care.” He said with a mocked scold.
“Not the tiniest little bit. The boy would have ended up in a trailer park anyway. We’re doing him a favor.” She answered, shrugging.
Angelus laughed. “ Just what I was thinking. Our mind thinks the same way honey. Maybe I should turn you…”
“Hey! Back off if you don’t want to accidentally trip in that hole over there.”
Angelus put his hands up in surrender. “No need to get cranky, I was just saying.”
Faith looked around at the people working on what used to be a high school, and now looked more like a makeshift arena. No one was even paying attention to the sacrifices, thanks to the mind control spell they were all under. At least twenty people or so had been killed in silence so far, and nobody had shown any kind of emotion, or attempted to stop the murders.
The girl shook the disturbing thoughts away. “In two days, this place is gonna be ready for the ritual.”
“You ready?”
“You bet. Can’t wait to get this over with actually. It’s gonna be a blast.”
“Yeah, this is all gonna be a lot of fun, but I have plans for us tonight babe.”
“About Buffy?”
He smirked. “How did you guess?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because you’re even more obsessed with her than I am.”
“Nothing wrong with obsessing over killing the Slayer, that I can assure you.” He put his arm around her. “But enough talking. We have a couple of things to plan if we want to make the most of our night of fun. It’s not everyday that you get to play with the Slayer. Better make sure everything is perfect. Let’s go.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giles stood with his arms crossed on his chest, looking down at the two girls sitting crossed leg on the training mat.
Spike was back on his spot on the gymnastic horse.
“So you think this law firm is responsible for Angel losing his soul?”
“They had been trying for a long time now, but I don’t think so, I know so. I was there.”
Cordelia took a deep breath. “Wesley had come to the Hyperion to warn us that Wolfman & Hart had hired a soul stealer. His sources are fairly sure since he sleeps with one of Wolfman & Hart’s lawyer.”
Buffy couldn’t repress her laugh. “Wesley has a girlfriend?!.. An evil girlfriend? That is too funny.” When she noticed everyone looking at her, she added, “Ok, I’ll shut up now. Go on Cordy.”
“So this guy in black robe walked in. Angel and I were alone together. The guy stopped at the door, chanted a few words, then walked out like nothing happened. When I turned around, Angel was unconscious on the ground. I dragged him to the couch and tried to make him wake up. When he did, he assured me he was fine. But as soon as I turned around, something hit me over the head and I passed out. Only to wake up in one of the rooms on the floor we don’t use, tied up to the bed.”
Cordelia closed her eyes for a moment. Nobody dared interrupting her. “Angel… was acting strange. I knew right away that the guy who had walked in earlier had been the soul stealer Wesley was warning us about. It wasn’t Angel standing next to the bed, it was Angelus.”
She took a deep breath, obviously reliving the horror in her head. “I won’t get into the details of what he did to me, it’s too painful, and pointless to the story. But before leaving me there, Angelus rambled for a little while and in his cockiness, he let a few details slip out. He said that Wolfman & Hart got Faith out of jail and they were planning a trip to Sunnydale for a little apocalyptic fun. Something about using people to feed the Hellmouth, then opening it for good and ruling the demons of the world, have them under their control. Anyway, that’s pretty much all he said before leaving me there to die. Fortunately enough for me, Fred… that’s the girl we rescued from another dimension while you guys were fighting that Hell God. Fred got into a fight with her boyfriend and decided to wander through the hotel to cool off. That’s how she found me three days later.”
Nobody dared speaking for a little while, but Giles finally found the courage to break the heavy silence. “This is truly horrible Cordelia. I am terribly sorry this happened to you. I am also sorry to say that with a demon like Angelus, it will be either way the stake, or finding a way to make the curse permanent. There can’t be any in between solutions. He is too dangerous.”
They all nodded, agreeing with the Watcher. “Is there anything else you can tell us? Dates? Time? Name of the ritual?…”
“Unfortunately, that’s all he said. But I did have a vision.” At the hopeful expression on her friend’s faces, she added quickly “Nothing positive though. Lots of fire, bodies being thrown into the opening of the Hellmouth, Faith chanting… and Buffy…” Spike tensed at her hesitation. “You couldn’t fight your fight.”
Buffy raised her eyebrows in confusion. “What do you mean ‘I couldn’t fight my fight’? I’m not…” She gave Spike a quick look before asking. “… gonna die, am I.”
“No. I don’t think so. I didn’t actually see you in the vision, but I knew. See, my visions are a mix of images and feelings. I was seeing Faith doing the ritual, but I could feel that you were gonna lose that battle. Now, that doesn’t mean the battle is lost. It just means that you won’t be winning it. And even that is not set in concrete. Now that I had the vision, we can always change it. The future is never decided until it happens.”
“Well it won’t.” Buffy stood up, aggravated by Cordelia’s words. “The day I lose a battle, it will be because I die, not because I forfeit. And I’m not gonna lose, especially not to Angelus and Faith.” She could feel Spike’s piercing gaze on her, and she shuddered. He didn’t need to say a word. She knew what was on his mind, and what he was feeling.
“Buffy,” Giles tried, unsure what to tell his Slayer. “I know it is not in your nature to give up, or let other people fight for you, but sometimes it’s the best thing to do. We don’t know what Cordelia’s vision means, but…”
“I know Giles. Slayer’s rule number one: Don’t die. And I have no intention to. Not now. You know, when I jumped off that tower before, I thought I had nothing to live for, except my sister. And she was going to die if I didn’t. I was glad to go, knowing that you would all live, and I had done my job. ” She admitted softly. “But things are different now. Life is finally getting to be good again after a long period in the dark, and I’m not gonna give that up. So I’m gonna fight. And I’m gonna win. End of the story.” She glared at her watcher, daring him to contradict her. “Now, Spike and I will patrol tonight, and try to find Angelus and Faith. Or at least find where they hide. I mean… if we kill them now, no chance for them to start their little chanting, right?”
The blond vampire finally found the strength to smile at her, trying desperately to push away the image of her dead body lying on a pile of concrete. He couldn’t go back there. Couldn’t think of her end or he’d lose his mind.
“Sure thing luv. Kill before you get killed. That’s my motto. Well at least, it is now. We’ll try to find them tonight so we can attack when they don’t expect it. That should increase our chances.”
“Ok, let’s go home and change, grab a bite, then we’ll leave for patrol.” Buffy took her sport bag off the floor and started for the door. But she stopped and looked at Cordelia. “Where are you staying Cord?”
“That cheap motel just outside of town. I think it’s actually the same motel where Faith used to live when she first got to Sunnydale. How creepy is that.”
Buffy looked at Spike, and he nodded. “Too creepy. Why don’t you stay with us until we fix that mess? We have an extra room since Willow moved out.”
“I don’t know Buff… I feel kind of bad invading your house like that.”
“Nah, no problem, the house is big enough for the four of us. Lets go.”
They were almost out of the magic shop when Xander walked in carrying three boxes of pizza. “Hey! Where are you guys going?..”
“Going home to see how Willow’s doing with the deinviting spell. Then it’s patrol time for us.”
They didn’t stop, and when passing next to Xander, Spike grabbed the first pizza box on top of the pile.
“Hey!!!”
“Thanks Whelp.”
And before Xander could protest any further, they were all gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After installing Cordelia in Willow’s old room, and eating the pizza, Buffy and Spike left for patrol with one thing on their mind: find Angelus. It really didn’t take long. About fifteen minutes after they had left the house, they came across what they were looking for.
“See? I told you Faith. Wish for the Slayer to appear, and poof! Here’s the little slut. Just like magic.”
The blond couple came to a stop, both tensing, ready for action.
“Oh! And look at what she brought with her! Her vamp sex toy!” The brunette Slayer added mockingly. “Can I have him when we’re done with her?” She fluttered her eyelashes at Angelus.
“I don’t think it would…”
Spike decided that he had been silent for long enough and interrupted Angelus. “Do you plan to keep on yammering all night, or are we going to fight eventually? Get it over with so Buffy and I can go home and watch some telly?”
“Oh, I think when I’m done with you boy, telly will be the last thing on your mind.”
“What was I thinking! You’re right. The first thing on my mind will probably be shagging. Then telly.”
Buffy pouted flirtatiously at Spike. “Honey! How could you put me second after TV?” With her eyes, she indicated that she was going to take on Faith. Without waiting any longer, they attacked.
Spike threw himself full speed at his sire, while Buffy attacked Faith with a series of punches that the other Slayer blocked efficiently.
“So Faith, tell me, how was jail? Did you become somebody’s bitch?”
“It was five by five B. But..” she blocked another punch. “I was the one who had bitches. Slayer strength can be quite intimidating for mere mortals, no matter how tough they think they are.”
“I see you’re not cured of your God complex. And you’re into girls now?”
“I’m into pretty much anything as long as I get fun out of it. You should try. Maybe it would help you loosen up a little.”
Buffy paused, crouching to avoid a roundhouse kick and gave Faith a seductive smile. “Don’t take it the wrong way sweetie, I’m flattered, really. But I’m already getting all the sex I need right now, thank you very much.”
Spike would have commented on that if he hadn’t been stuck in a headlock. Jumping up, then dropping on his knees for momentum, he flipped Angelus over his head and flat on his back. Spike reached for his stake, but his sire managed to kick it out of his hand. Annoyed, Spike kicked Angelus in the ribs. But the other vampire was too quick and grabbed the blond’s foot, making him lose his balance. They struggled for dominance for a moment, then separated to get back on their feet, both in a fighting stance, waiting for the next blow.
Faith called out to Angelus. “Hey big guy! You were right. Our little Buffy became a real sex kitten. Such a surprise coming from our little miss pristine-I-have-a-stake-permanently-up-my-ass.”
Blocking Spike’s attacks, Angel snickered. “Yeah, that coming from the girl who won’t let me fuck her because boohoo, I don’t have a soul. What a shame.”
Spike roared and charged Angelus, but the older vampire managed to flip him over his head.
“What is it Angelus? Jealous?” Buffy asked, wiping the blood that was dripping down her face after Faith had rammed her head into a tree. “Jealous that you childe was good enough for me even when he didn’t have a soul, while I’d never have touched you in a million years?”
The distracting words almost caused Spike to get kicked in the face by his sire.
“I almost regret I didn’t insist Buff. Too bad I was too busy trying to end this pathetic world. But now that I know you like dead cocks…”
“Quite frankly dear,” Buffy threw Faith against a tombstone, almost breaking the girl’s back. “Depends who’s attached to it.”
Spike growled. “Buffy! Stop that… you’re gonna get me killed here!”
“Sorry babe. I’ll shut up now.”
But Angelus took the opportunity to grab Spike and smash his head in a tombstone hard enough to break his skull. He dropped his childe carelessly to the ground.
Buffy shrieked. “Spike!”
Faith seized her chance to pin the distracted Slayer’s arms behind her back, immobilizing her for Angelus.
Stalking like a giant evil cat, Angelus made his way slowly to the now powerless Slayer.
“What is it that you said Buff about dead cocks? Maybe I should fuck you before killing you…” He grabbed her face roughly with one hand, and she spat on him. He merely smiled. “On second thought, I don’t do used up hoes.”
He didn’t have the opportunity to insult her any further or to cause any physical damage. Spike, powered by his fear for the Slayer’s safety, found the strength to get up. Having no weapons around him, he picked up a headstone and smashed it over Angelus’ back. Not with enough strength to cause real damage, but enough to injure him and make Faith let go of Buffy who dropped to her knees.
Judging it would be safer to postpone the killing for later, Angelus started backing up. “Faith. Let’s go.”
Before Spike or Buffy could do anything about it, they were both gone into the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The front door to the Summers house opened, and the blond couple slowly made their way in, supporting each other. Cordelia jumped off the couch right away, a worried frown marring her face.
“Oh my god! Look at you two!… You look awful!”
Buffy gave her the finger.
“Well, on the bright side, you’re still alive.” She added, seeing Buffy’s reaction. “That’s good, right?”
Spike and Buffy dropped on the couch with painful groans and a ‘ouch’s. “Where’s the first aid kit?”
“Bathroom.” Buffy answered without opening her eyes, resting her head on Spike’s shoulder.
Cordelia came back quickly, putting the first aid kit down on the coffee table. She started getting some gauze out of the kit, wanting to help Buffy with her cuts, but Spike took over. So she sat in the armchair without a word and watched him with great curiosity.
She couldn’t believe just how much love there was in each one of his gestures. She couldn’t help but feel a little envious of them, but her demony sixth sense also told her that they had been through a very hard time before getting to where they were right now.
As soon as Spike was done with her, Buffy lay down on her side and fell asleep almost instantly. She was exhausted from the fight. Spike then started tending to his own cuts and bruises.
“You’ve changed a lot Spike.” Cordelia said quietly, not wanting to wake Buffy up.
“Humm?” He lifted his head wearily from what he was doing to look questioningly at her.
“It’s been what? Three years? Last time I’ve seen you, you were… different. You’re mind was set on one goal, and it was to…”
“Kill Buffy?” He suggested helpfully, a sad smile on his face. “Yeah. That.”
He went back to wrapping some gauze around a nasty cut on his right arm, using his teeth to tie a knot. “You want to hear a funny thing ducks? I once told Angel that demons don’t change.” He cut the extra piece of gauze and set it down with the scissors on the coffee table. “Well I’m the living, or unliving, proof that I was wrong.”
“You changed because of Buffy?”
He gave the sleeping blonde a loving look. “She’d make any men crawl on their hands and knees. I know I did. But it was worth it.”
“Even the soul?”
“She told you?”
“No. I’m half demon now. I sensed it. So, was it worth it?”
“It’s painful, but in the end, it’s all worth it. At least now, I’m not struggling to make the right decision all the bloody time. I couldn’t kill anyway… the army put a chip in my head so I couldn’t bite. But I could still do evil or act selfishly. And sometimes, I’d think I was doing something good, then get my ass kicked for it and not understand why. Like this time I accepted to keep demon eggs in my basement for a lot of money. I thought I was doing something great because I wanted to use the money for Buffy. She was struggling. I just wanted to help her, so I thought that automatically made it a good action. But turned out not to be such a brilliant idea. Without a soul, it’s hard to make a judgment. I used Buffy most of the time, but it wasn’t enough. I’d get in front of a situation and think ‘what would Buffy do, what would she say, would she kick my ass for that?’ It was a constant struggle because what seems completely innocent to a demon, can be a big deal to a human, especially the Slayer.”
He touched the sleeping girl’s hair affectionately. “The day I hurt her, I finally understood. So I went to get the soul. I still think it was the best thing to do. I might be plagued by guilt and nightmares, but at least, I know I’ll never lose control again.”
“Wow.” Cordelia looked at her unmanicured fingernails. “I just wish Angelus would be more like you.” She mumbled darkly, not looking at Spike.
“Sorry cheerleader, Angelus getting his soul back on his freewill… that’s the least likely thing to ever happen.”
She finally looked up and gave him a half-smile. “Yes, I know.”
Spike got up and went to put his jacket in the closet, then came back to the couch to get Buffy.
“I had a vision today Spike.”
The vampire gave Cordy a worried look. “Anything bad? I mean, worse than what’s already going on?”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Not all my visions are bad you know. Once in a while, The Powers That Be give me a nice one to keep me from getting too depress and shooting myself in the head.”
“Ok. So… what was it then?” he asked curiously.
“You two are gonna be happy some day.”
Spike raised an eyebrow, almost insulted. “But we are happy.”
“I meant.. happier. I know you’re happy, but you’re a vampire, she’s human.. Things are not all gleefully perfect. But you will meet in the middle some time soon. Well, if the world isn’t sucked into Hell, of course. That goes without saying.”
“What did you see?”
“Hey, I’m not gonna tell you. What’s the fun in that?” They exchanged smiles, and Spike bent down to pick up the Slayer who was still asleep on the couch.
“Come on luv, time to go to bed now.”
Buffy put her arms around Spike’s neck sleepily, and Cordelia looked at them as they disappeared up the stairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike put Buffy carefully down on the bed, trying to push the covers with one hand while still holding her. Taking him by surprise, she grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down roughly on top of her, making him lose balance.
“Hey!”
Buffy laughed at the expression on his face.
“I thought you were asleep pet.”
“Was.” She said quietly before kissing him. “Where did you think your were going like this?”
He smiled down at her. “To take a shower. I thought you needed some sleep. You had quite a rough day as it is.”
She pouted. “I slept enough.”
“Really?” He asked curiously. “When was that?”
“I just did!”
“You slept for five minutes pet.”
“Mmmm” she mumbled, her hands already wandering over his hard muscles. “Plenty enough… top shape now.”
He chuckled softly, a low rumble in his chest, and gave her a lust filled look. “You are impossible Summers, you know that?”
“It’s an art. And one I’m really good at. Now, enough with the chatting, and more with the removing of the clothes.
Not about to argue, Spike threw himself into the task of undressing his Slayer. Slowly, one piece at a time, kissing every new body part revealed. Once she was completely naked, he tried to take her mouth, but she stopped him, immobilizing his head between her small hands. She showered his face with light kisses, his forehead, his nose, his sharp cheekbones, along is jaw. She stopped at his ear, and murmured into it: “Were you turned on Spike… during the fight with Angelus and Faith?”
Spike moaned at the back of his throat.
“Were you turned on when I was saying these things? Knowing that Angelus was seething with jealousy? Knowing that I’m yours, not his?”
Spike’s voice was low and breathless. “I’ve never been that aroused in a hundred and twenty seven years of existence.”
“What would you do…” She sucked lustily on his earlobe before continuing. “What would you do to me if I’d tell you he’s standing at the window right now, watching us from the shadow? What would you want him to see…”
Spike smashed his lips to hers before answering, aroused beyond possible. “I’d want him to see me with my head between your legs, making you scream.”
With her hand tangled in his hair, she pulled his head away from her roughly and stared deeply into his eyes. Intense need was obvious in her beautiful hazel eyes. “Than stop talking and do it.”
Buffy opened her legs for him in invitation. Without anymore foreplay, Spike put his mouth to her hot, swollen sex and suck on her, making her gasp and arch off the mattress. She was already dripping wet, and he lapped greedily, making her shudder at the sensations he awoke in her burning hot body.
Incapable of lying still, she caressed herself. She ran her fingers lightly on her flat stomach, enjoying the feel of her own skin. Her hands traveled all the way to her warm, supple breasts, teasing her hard nipples, and ended their journey buried in Spike’s soft hair. She was holding him to her, marveling at the sensation of his cool lips on her flesh. Sensing that she was nearing her orgasm, he sucked mercilessly on her erect clit and she started unconsciously ridding his mouth. The idea of being watched, even if it was just a fantasy, acted on Buffy as an extreme turn on making her whimper and moan loudly.
Spike pushed three fingers inside of his lover and started pumping fast while circling her clit with the tip of his tongue. She cried out his name and he gave her one final suck to push her over the edge. She suddenly threw her head back, her mouth opened in a silent scream, her chest heaving. Spike climbed back up and lay on his side to look at her. She was a vision. With her golden hair all over the pillow, her eyes closed and her breast rising and falling with her slowing breath, she looked like that girl he had always wanted: the Buffy who was happy, carefree and thoroughly loved. She smiled and he kissed the tip of her nose lovingly.
“So luv, was the wanker really there?”
“Does it really matter?” Her voice was still dreamy. “It was fun to imagine he was. And even if he really was there, I don’t think he would have stayed for the show. Home porn starring The Slayer and her Vampire Lover?.. He probably had better things to do. People to terrorize, things to fuck…”
Spike laughed and rolled to the other side of the bed to reach his pack of smokes on the nightstand. He swore when he realized it was empty and threw it in the garbage can next to the bed.
“Bloody Hell, I’m out of fags… Now I’ll have to wait until tomorrow night to go buy a new pack.”
“Nah, don’t worry. I’ll go buy you some. I have that strange craving for cookie dough ice cream anyway.”
“Forget it luv, it’s okay, I’ll survive until morning.”
Buffy crossed her arms behind her head, still far away in her mind.
“I wonder if Faith was with him… you know, watching. She has a thing for my boyfriends, now she’s gonna want you.” She said jokingly.
“Actually, she already does pet.”
Buffy sat up.
“What?”
“Yeah, she hit on me… Twice.”
She laughed derisively. “Whatever. She never even met you.”
“Hum.. yes she did.” Spike said hesitantly.
“What? When?..”
“…”
“That’s not possible.” She started thinking. “You left after the whole Angelus thing, then you came back a couple of months later. That was when you kidnapped Willow for a lame spell or whatever. You stayed only for one night then you left again. Faith wasn’t even in Sunnydale yet. Then you came back a year later for the stupid ring and Faith was in a coma… She got out of the coma, wrecked havoc on my life for a few days then she took off for L.A. When the hell did you meet her?!”
“I’ll tell you if you give me a chance to say a bloody word!”
“Sorry. Go ahead.”
“The first time I met her… well, actually it wasn’t her. I mean, it was her, but..”
Buffy shrieked. “Oh my god!! When she was in my body?!”
“Yeah. I was at the Bronze and I saw you. You… I mean she, pushed me against a wall and…”
“No! She did not! In public?! In my body? She had sex with you in public?”
Spike laughed. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist Slayer, nothing happened. You still have the exclusivity of the public sex at the Bronze.”
She smacked him. “You’re a pig!”
“She just teased me, then walked away, leaving me with a raging case of hard on.”
Buffy snorted. “That is so like her! What did she say?”
“Something about ridding me to a gallop, and Slayer’s muscles. Then she asked me if I knew why she wouldn’t do it, and she answered something like ‘because it’s wrong’ if I remember well. Actually, I do remember very well. It’s not every day that you have Buffy pushing you against a wall and telling you stuff like that you know. Well, at least not back then. And I already had a crush on you so…”
“So, is it true?”
“What’s that luv?”
“About the Slayer muscles?”
He gave her a wicked grin. “Never felt anything like it.”
Buffy shook her head and started getting up.
“Hey! Where are you going?”
“I still want that ice cream. And I’m sure you want your cigarettes. So I’m going to the convenience store.”
“But, I don’t want to get dressed and go out.”
“Oh my God Spike, stop whining. Just stay here, I’ll go by myself, I won’t be long. The store is five blocks away. I’ll take the SUV for once. It will take me fifteen minutes max and that includes choosing between cookie dough ice cream and cheese cake and cherry ice cream.”
“Fine. I’ll stay here and take a shower. But if you take more than fifteen minutes, I’ll start snooping through your stuff for future blackmail material.”
“Don’t you dare threatening me.”
She finished getting dressed under his loving gaze, then grabbed her purse.
“Buffy?.. Come here.”
She approached him and as soon as she was within reaching distance, he grabbed her and pulled her to him. He gave her a breath-taking kiss.
“I love you.”
Buffy smiled down at him. “Well, hold on to that thought cause when I come back, you’ll have to prove it to me.”
“Ok. Do you want me to give you chocolates?”
“Nah, they make me fat.”
“Flowers then?”
“Boring.”
“A good fuck?”
She smiled brightly. “That’s the spirit!”
“You’re a perv Summers.”
“That would explain why we get along so well. I love you.”
She took her jacket from the back of a chair, and blew him a kiss. “I won’t be long, promise.” And she closed the door behind her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of Buffy’s high heels echoed in the empty night as she made her way back to her car. The parking of the 7 eleven was completely deserted and the orange light at the corner of the building gave it an eerie feeling. Buffy switched her bag from one hand to the other so she could unlock the driver’s door. She scolded herself for buying way too much useless stuff, but giggled a little at the thought of the Count Chocula cereals she couldn’t resist buying. Not to mention the two containers of ice cream because she hadn’t been able to decide which one she wanted.
*Spike is making me lose the minimal amount of maturity I had managed to accumulate over the years…* She shook her, head, lost in her thoughts.
“Turn.”
A feeling of helplessness invaded Buffy’s body as she dropped her bag and turned against her own will, her body not responding anymore.
She heard a sardonic laugh, and found herself face to face with Angelus, Faith, and another man.
* Crap*
The man Buffy didn’t know was the one who had spoken the command. She realized this must be one of the men who had paralyzed Dawn in the park the other day to give her the warning.
“You see Faith? That’s the way I like my women: submissive, and with a complete lack of self-respect and pride. Gotta love the idea.”
The brunette snickered. “Yeah. A Slayer with a remote control. I must admit the idea has a certain charm.”
“Wanna try our new toy sweets?” Angelus turned to face the other man. “Larry my friend, you know what you have to do.”
The man said only one word. “Follow”
Before she even knew it, Buffy was putting one foot in front of the other, walking towards something that could only be her painful death.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cordelia awoke to the sound of something seemingly tumbling down the stairs. She had fallen asleep in the armchair while watching TV. Not sure of what was going on, she blinked several times, looking around herself, a little confused. She finally spotted Spike at the front door, trying to put on his jacket and his boots simultaneously.
“Spike? What are you doing? What’s going on?”
“It’s Buffy. She’s missing.” He answered, finally managing to put on his boots.
“But… Wasn’t she with you? I don’t get it. What do you mean, missing.”
“She went out to get something at the store. She was supposed to be gone for fifteen minutes. It’s been an hour and she isn’t coming back.”
“You think Angelus…”
“I’m gonna go look for her. You call everybody and tell them to be here in fifteen minutes. The numbers are next to the phone in the kitchen.”
Before Cordelia could answer anything, the front door was slammed shut behind Spike.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike saw the SUV in the 7 eleven’s parking, dread filling his undead heart. He walked quickly up to the car but stopped dead in his tracks, his worse fear realized. The SUV door was cracked open, key still in the door lock, and there was a grocery bag abandoned on the ground, melting ice cream slowly leaking out of it.
In two long steps, Spike was inside the convenience store.
“Hey, you,” he walked toward the clerk “Did you see a pretty blonde bird, bout this height” he gestured with his hand “hazel eyes, wearing blue jeans, a lace top and a leather jacket?”
The clerk didn’t take his eyes off his magazine. “Sorry man, dunno what you talkin’ bout.”
Spike hoped the chip wasn’t gonna go off when he grabbed the kid by his shirt.
“Well you’re gonna have to think real hard cause her car is outside your store and there’s a grocery bag from this store abandoned on the pavement next to the bloody car. So think hard mate if you don’t want them to find your guts all the way to L.A.”
“Hey man! Relax k? No need to get all violent and stuff. I’m just doing my god damn job. I don’t want any trouble. If a girl talks to people and leave with them… what am I supposed to do? Call the cops and get shit later for doing it? They could have been her friends for all I know.”
Spike let go of the guy’s shirt. “Look mate, it’s important. She could be in trouble right now. What did you see.”
“She walked out of here about an hour ago. Those two guys and a girl walked up to her and she turned around very slowly. Was weird man. Dunno… like she didn’t really want to turn or she was dreading what she would see. Then that tall guy talked to her. He looked aggressive, but like he was making fun of her at the same time.”
“Why were you paying attention?”
The guy snickered. “Hey she was hot, and I’m pretty bored here..”
Spike growled. “Watch it mate, it’s my girl you’re talking about. Continue.”
“Whoa, sorry. Anyway, so the girl looked pretty freaked out, but she followed them. She kept looking my way while following them, but what was I going to do, right? So I watched until they disappeared into the night.” He stopped for a second. “Hey, don’t look at me like that! They didn’t have a gun or anything. They didn’t even touch her! Was I gonna call the cops and tell them a girl left with a bunch of people?? C’mon! They’d think I’m dumb.”
“Thanks anyway.” Spike mumbled as he walked away.
He was long gone when the clerk finally answered. “Anytime dude, anytime.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When he walked into the Summers house after parking the car in the driveway, Spike was faced with a very anxious bunch of people. Everybody was there, including Dawn. He couldn’t even look at the girl.
Cordelia stated the obvious, in a low, shaky voice but no one dared commenting.
“She’s not with you…”
He threw Buffy’s purse on the table.
“No. I think she’s not.”
Seeing Dawn’s eyes starting to fill with tears, he added quickly: “But I’ll go get her Nibblet. Don’t worry.”
She just nodded.
“Giles, you and Anya are gonna cruise the downtown area. Harris and Willow, cemeteries and the docks. Cordelia and Dawn, you stay here and are responsible for the phone, and in case Buffy comes back. We all have a cellphone?”
They all nodded their heads in silence, scared to say anything that could upset the vampire any further.
“Good. I’ll take Buffy’s phone and we all report every fifteen minutes. I’ll go first to the old mansion. Angelus is pretty thick. There could be a chance he took her there. Then I’ll go to all the hot spots, and when the sun comes up, I’ll check the sewers. I’m not gonna come back until I find her, dead or alive.”
“Spike…” Giles started. But the blond vampire was already out the door.
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She walked into the house through the kitchen door and set her grocery bag on the table. Everything was quiet. She chuckled quietly while putting away the cereals thinking of Spike’s face when she’d put the box on the table for breakfast. Opening the ice cream containers, she served herself a small scoop of both flavors, not wanting to chose which one she wanted most, than made her way back upstairs. Seeing Cordelia asleep on the armchair when she walked by the living room, she went to wake the girl up.
“Wanna go upstairs? There is two warm beds waiting for us.”
Cordy stretched and got up.
“But don’t pick the wrong one cause you might be greeted by a horny naked vampire.”
Cordelia chuckled. “Yeah, I figured that much.”
“Good night Cordy.”
“Night Buff.”
She watched as Cordelia disappeared up the stairs, then she switched off the TV and turned the lights off. She suddenly couldn’t wait to get some well deserved sleep in her lover’s embrace so she hurried up to her room.
Buffy walked into the bedroom and found Spike fast asleep, lying on his stomach. He was completely naked and hadn’t bothered to cover himself up. She smiled. Ice cream didn’t seem so important anymore, so she put the boll down on her dresser with the cigarettes and striped off of her clothes. With a yawn, she lay down next to Spike, feeling strangely exhausted for some reason. Buffy put her arms around his cool body and brought him close to her, trying not to wake him. He stirred in his sleep, but didn’t open his eyes. After being still for a moment, Spike started caressing Buffy’s stomach, his hand going slowly up and down her torso, barely touching her smooth skin. She sighed at the comforting feeling, her eyes closed in contentment. She felt safe, loved, and happy. She felt him shifting on the bed, bringing himself up on his elbow to look at her. But when Buffy opened her eyes to tell him she loved him, instead of warm blue eyes, she was met with ice cold brown ones. She opened her mouth to say the name but an excruciating pain washed through her as the hand that had been lovingly caressing her, was now slowly cutting through her skin from the middle of her chest to her lower stomach.
She screamed.
“Wakey wakey Slayer! Time for fun and games!” Angelus was standing in front of a half naked Buffy, the girl hanging from the ceiling by shackles, her bare feet barely touching the cold floor. He was licking blood from a Swiss army knife. “You see Faith, I told you they weren’t lying. Those Swiss army knives really are quite handy. You just have to know how to use them.”
The brunette Slayer didn’t bother answering him. Sitting next to the fireplace, she just gave him her best wicked smile, and went back to her book.
“Now Buff, I knew you were not a light sleeper, but that’s pushing it a little. Look. I had time to draw such pretty patterns on you. Did you ever consider piercings?”
The look on his face made her quiver with fear, but she did her best to hide it, concentrating on slowing down her breathing to prepare for the pain to come.
“I hope you did sweetheart cause when I’m done with you, there will be holes in every part of your body.”
He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and gave her a sickly sweet smile.
“Sounds like fun.” she said defiantly.
“Excuse me?”
“I said. Sounds. Like. Fun. Asshole.”
*Buffy, shut the fuck up you idiot*
Angelus walked towards her like a predator. “Oh it will be. Hours of fun. Maybe days of fun. ”
He poured whiskey down her torso, making her hiss in pain, before licking the mix of blood and alcohol off her skin. “And I can make it last forever if I want to. I know just how to keep my toys alive for a very long painful time.”
Her pride rebelling, the Slayer in her just couldn’t stop herself from defying him. “Is that all you’ve got? I must say I’m not impressed.”
“Don’t be too disappointed Buff. You have seen nothing yet. I have the whole nine yard deployed just for you. My favorite Slayer deserves the VIP treatment.”
He went to the fireplace where the instruments usually used to tease the fire or move the logs were now heating up in the fire. Wrapping his hand in a cloth, he picked up one of the picks and studied it carefully. Like a connoisseur would a very rare and fine piece of art.
“No. That’s not all I’ve got.” He said, seemingly talking to himself.
Then he turned to Buffy with a proud smile. “I’ve also got some red hot steel… “ He pointed at a table that Buffy hadn’t noticed yet. On it, she could see what looked like a surgeon’s brief case. “And other interesting gadgets.”
Buffy’s scream echoed into the night as the burning pick pierced through her shoulder. But there was no one there to hear her, except a psychotic vampire and a seemingly indifferent Slayer.
She was in for a long night.
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