Fault

Spike smiled menacingly at the group. For as much as he hated the wanker, Angelus had taught him a thing or two. Part of it had actually been fun, hell the whole thing had been fun. The waiting was not fun. She had to show up some time. From what he had observed, she always returned to the crew after…
“Hey guys,” Buffy said brightly as she walked into the library.
“’Lo, luv,” Spike said.
He watched in amusement as her step faltered, and basked in the gasp that escaped her lips.
“What in the hell is going on, Spike?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“Revenge,” Spike said simply. He dropped his fag to the ground and stubbed it out with his boot.
Buffy took in the scene before her. Locked in the book cage was a very sedated, very wolfy Oz. Chained to the cage was a petrified Willow. Laid out, spread eagle, on the table was Giles. His shirt was ripped, blood stains could be seen on his flesh. Tied to the stair banister like a witch to a stake was Cordelia. Xander was no where to be seen. Buffy allowed her gaze to return to the blonde vampire who was leaning nonchalantly against the counter.
“Where is he?”
Spike only smirked at her.
“He’s in the office, Buffy,” Willow’s unsteady voice called.
“Red’s found her voice again,” Spike said as he took a meaningful step towards Willow, “Let’s see what I can do about that.”
Forgetting about Xander momentarily, Buffy placed her self between Willow and the offending demon.
“Ready to dance, Slayer?” Spike asked. He took on a defensive stance, gold flickering in his eyes.
Buffy rolled her eyes, “Why?”
Her question caught him off guard. He had wanted a fight, a chance to vent his anger, his…pain. “Vampire, luv. Fighting Slayer’s what I do.”
Buffy gave him a pointed look. She knew he was avoiding answering her question. She would stake him, there was no doubt in her mind of that, but she needed to know what had caused him to do such a thing to her friends and not just come after her.
“It’s your turn to loose something, pet,” Spike said softly. The malice lacing his voice would have cut through steel and he took silent pleasure in the fear he felt flicker around the Slayer, brief as the emotion was.
Looking at him closely, she noticed hurt buried deep within his eyes. Something serious had happened tonight and he obviously blamed her for it.
Before she could form a response, Spike had her by the throat. His grip wasn’t deadly…yet. He wanted more than just her blood, he wanted her to suffer as greatly as he had, and would not stop until she had. Buffy tried to release his grip on her, but the instant her hands connected with his forearm, the world began to dissolve away.
Buffy dashed out of the frat house, his signature strong. She ducked around some bushes and fell back slightly as a hard fist connected with her face. She quickly recovered and faced Spike.
“What’s the matter, Spike? Dru dump you again?” Buffy asked sweetly.
Before he is given the chance to respond, Spike blocks to of her well placed punches before a third hits him true. “Maybe I left her.”
Before their dance came to the full rhythm, Harmony’s voice pierced the night sky. “She left him for a fungus demon. That’s all he talks about most days.”
Buffy wore an amused smile as she watched Spike retreat to Harmony and grab her roughly by the arm, “Harm! We are going,” he ground out, “It isn’t time yet.”
Before either of them had a chance to take in what had just happened, they were inside a crypt. Spike’s crypt.
“Spike?” Buffy called as she walked through the door.
Nothing.
“Spike?” she tried again. Slight worry touched her features as she wandered around the empty crypt. She spied a trap door and opened it up to reveal a hole that led to a lower level of the crypt. A sheet hung from the ceiling. Buffy pulled the sheet aside and gasped. Quickly, she drops the sheet and dashes up the ladder as quickly as her legs will carry her.
“See anything interesting?” Spike asked when he saw her blonde head emerge.
“Spike. I, uh…,” Buffy faltered as she continued to climb up the ladder, “what…” she backed up as Spike advanced on her, “what happened?”
“Me.”
Buffy turned toward the unfamiliar voice. She briefly caught Drusilla’s face before she was zapped by a taser.
“There she is,” Spike’s voice pulled Buffy from her semi-conscious state.
Realizing she was restrained, Buffy pulled on her bindings.
Ignoring her efforts, Spike continues, “Beginning to think you’d sleep the night away.”
“Dru…Drusilla?” Buffy questioned, remembering the taser.
Spike grinned at her before stepping aside to reveal a very upset Drusilla tied to a pillar.
“Not nice to change the game in mid play, Spike. You’ve taken my chair and the music hasn’t stopped,” Dru whined.
“Sorry, pet. My house, my rules,” Spike said.
Unsure, Drusilla replies, “I think I shall be cross with you when I’m free again.”
“What’s going on?” Buffy asked.
“Simple. I’m gonna prove something,” Spike said as he moved closer to the Slayer, “I love you.”
As his words seeped into her brain, Buffy flinched.
“Oh my god,” Buffy whispered in disgust.
“No, look at me!” Spike demanded as he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him, “I…love you.” Before he could continue, Buffy jerked her chin out of his hand. “You’re all I bloody think about. Dream about. You’re in my gut…my throat…I’m drowning in you Summers, I’m drowning in you.”
Breaking the heated silence, Dru began to laugh.
“I can do without the laugh track, Dru,” Spike said with irritation lacing his words.
“But it’s so funny,” Dru protested, “I knew…before you did. I knew you loved the Slayer. The pixies in my head whispered it to me.”
Again the images blur, but this time it is more of a fast forward.
Spike grabbed a stake off the table and marched over to Dru.
“I’m going to kill Drusilla for you,” Spike said.
Dru began to laugh again.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Buffy began, “Except that you’re a sick miserable vampire that I should have dusted a long time ago. And hey, already there.”
More fast forwarding.
“If you don’t admit…that there’s something there…some tiny feeling for me…then I’ll untie Dru, let her kill you instead,” Spike said.
Dru began to nod excitedly, “Yes, please. I like that game much more.”
“Just…give me something,” Spike began, “a crumb…a barest smidgen…tell me…maybe, someday, there’s a chance.”
Releasing his grip on the Slayer, Spike pusheed the girl away. They stared at each other for long moments, neither wanting to accept what just happened. They had shared a vision. No longer were they just dreams, or hallucinations. They had both felt what was going on, as if they were actually there.
“What in the bloody hell is that about?” Spike raged.
Buffy opened her mouth, then closed it quickly realizing that she was just as lost as him.
“Uh, guys?” Willow asked.
The two blonds turned to the redhead.
“Let them go, Spike. We can’t figure this out alone. We’ll need their help. Besides, you want to let out some rage, fine by me. But give it to me, not them. They didn’t do a thing to you. I’m the one you hate,” Buffy said evenly.
“What are you doing to me Slayer?” Spike asked softly.
Buffy felt his gaze blaze through her body. He was just as spooked as she was. “I don’t know.”
Shaking his head, Spike walked over to Willow and released her from the chains. She offered him a hesitant smile as she rubbed her sore wrists.
Buffy had rushed over to where her Watcher lay. She carefully released him from the bindings and helped him to sit up. “Wil, can you grab the kit?”
Willow hurried into the office to retrieve the medical kit. “Uh, Spike?”
Spike cocked an eyebrow before he walked over to the threshold of the office, “Red?”
“Can you um…” she pointed to Xander.
Spike nodded as the witch passed him.
Once everyone was freed, save the warewolf, they all took a seat around the table in the library. No one met the eyes of anyone else in the room.
“I-I’m going to make some tea,” Giles blustered.
His temporary solution for the situation caused the air to lighten a bit around the group.

“Now we research, right?” Xander asked.
“Research what?” Buffy asked, “This isn’t a demon. I don’t know how to fight this. I mean, until tonight, they were like slayer dreams. Tonight was just…wiggy.”
“It’s a spell,” Giles said matter-of-factly as he reentered the room.
Glad to see he was back to Watcher-mode, Buffy asked, “How do you know?”
“Angel called. He heard some interesting things in L.A.,” Giles said.
“Oh, well if Peaches thinks it’s a spell, then well it must be true,” Spike said sarcastically.
Buffy glared at him, “What kind of spell, Giles?”
Giles sighed and removed his glasses from his face. He began to rub them furiously.
“Great, he doesn’t know,” Cordy exclaimed, “I’ve been tied to a banister because Buffy pissed off Spike all for nothing. This isn’t fair.”
“Right, because you’re the only victim here,” Xander retorted. He was too tired, and beaten to give into his girl’s whining.
“I suggest you all go home and get some rest. It’s about two hours from dawn, and most of you have school in the morning. We’ll begin our search tomorrow,” Giles said.
“He’s right, guys. Go home, sleep,” Buffy said.
“What about the evil undead?” Xander asked.
“I’ll take care of him, Xan,” Buffy reassured her friend.
The group nodded their agreement before groggily retreating from the library.
“Are you ok, Giles?” Buffy asked with concern.
“I’ll be fine. You take care of Spike and I’ll see you later,” Giles said as he retreated into his office.
Buffy began to walk out of the library and noticed that Spike wasn’t following, “Coming?”
Spike shrugged off of the wall and followed Buffy out of the school into the pre-dawn of Sunnydale. They walked together in silence.
Buffy was the first to break the uncomfortable silence, “You told me you wouldn’t kill them.”
“I didn’t.”
“But you would have,” Buffy said.
“Probably.”
“We made a truce, Spike. Demon or not that has to mean something.”
“I lost it tonight, ok?”
“It’s not ok, Spike. They didn’t do anything to you. You should have come after me.”
“I did.”
Buffy looked at him then. There was an emotion in his eyes that she couldn’t read. “The way you think I came after you.”
“Dru’s all I’ve ever had. When she left, you were the first person I blamed. Killing you wouldn’t be enough. You can thank the poof for that, taught me well he did, although he’ll never believe it. I wanted to destroy you the way I was.”
Unable to find any words, Buffy merely nodded. It was a bit much to take in at once. Soulless things didn’t love, they didn’t care…hence the lack of soul, but the emotion that Spike was showing, even if he would never admit it, had to come from somewhere. Maybe things weren’t always black and white.
“I’ll come to the school at dusk,” Spike said as they reached his crypt.
“If you hurt them again, I’ll dust you,” Buffy said.
Spike looked up at her and nodded, fully aware that she had every right to end his undead life right then.
With one last glance at Spike, Buffy began the walk home. The Bronze wasn’t really on her way home, but she wanted to do a quick sweep of the town. Slaying something would be of the good for her.
“Hey!” Buffy heard a female voice shout.
Buffy took off in a run toward the back of the club. There she saw the girl who shouted. She was being attacked by a vampire. “Finally, something.”
“Stop struggling, this won’t hurt,” the male vampire said.
Buffy, about to join the party, backed off when she saw the girl push the demon away. Before the guy could react, the girl elbowed him in the face. The girl jumped onto a crate as the vampire regained his balance. Just as the vampire was about to lunge, the girl performed a roundhouse kick to his face, sending him spiraling to the ground. Buffy watched as the girl approached her.
“It’s ok, I’ve got it. You’re Buffy, right?” the girl asked.
Before she could answer, the vampire grabed the girl’s shoulders. Fascinated, and slightly shocked, Buffy watched as the girl head butted the vampire, grabbed onto his arm and looked at Buffy.
“I’m Faith,” she said as she threw the offending demon into the chain link fence.
Buffy gaped at the girl, Faith. After a few more minutes of struggling, Faith turned back to Buffy.
“Can I borrow that?” Faith asked as she took Buffy’s stake.
Again, all Buffy could do was watch as Faith dusted the vampire.
“Thanks, B. Couldn’t have done it without you,” Faith said as she handed the stake back to Buffy.
“Faith!” Buffy called as the girl walked away.
“Yeah?” Faith called.
“Wait. You’re the new Slayer,” Buffy said.
“Yeah,” Faith said.
“Not that I mind the help, but why were you called here?” Buffy asked.
“Well, I wasn’t. My Watcher went off to some retreat thing in England, and so I skipped out. I figured this was my chance to meet the infamous Buff and compare notes,” Faith paused, “ So, B, Did you really get to use a rocket launcher one time?”
“Yeah, I did. Last year. I had the gang help me out with the Judge,” Buffy said.
“That is so cool. I would love to use some of that high power shit,” Faith said, “You and I are gonna have fun, ya know, Watcherless and fancy free.”
“Watcherless?” Buffy asked.
“Didn’t yours go to England too?” Faith asked.
“Not unless he left in the past twenty minutes or so,” Buffy said, “Maybe I should go ask him…”
“You do that, and I’ll go party,” Faith said.
“You should come with me, he needs to know you’re here,” Buffy argued.
“So tell him I’m here. Tonight, I party,” Faith said, “You’re welcome to join me. Work off some of that energy. We’ll grab some food. God, I could eat a horse. Isn’t it crazy how slayin’ always just makes you hungry and horny?”
“Sometimes I crave a non fat yogurt afterwards,” Buffy said.
Faith shook her head, “You comin’, B?”
“I really should go tell…”
“Here’s how I see it, B. You can do two things: one, go run off and tell Watcher boy about me, or two come with me, have some fun, and tell him in the morning,” Faith interrupted.
Buffy considered it for a moment. She really could do with some relaxing, the ordeal with Spike left her with plenty of unused energy and since Faith seemed to have found the only vampire in town tonight. “Sure, why not.”
Faith smiled and put her arm around Buffy’s shoulder as they walked back into the Bronze.