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Something Wicked Cool This Way Comes by The Rhapsodian
 
Chapter Seven - Mad World
 
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I forgot to mention that at the end of the last chapter, Gayle and Spike were drunkenly singing Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself”, a most brilliant song. Mr. Idol, if you’re reading this, a thousand apologies… You rock!

Sorry again about the lateness, in fact this chapter went on for so long that I had to split it in two, and now the second part needs re-writing to make it to a decent size. I’ll try to be faster…

Chapter Seven – Mad World

“And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
Its a very very mad world”
Tears For Fears, Mad World


Gayle Masterson was going through her third cemetery, desperately looking for action. She badly needed to kill something, slowly and painfully. Luckily some freshly-risen fledglings seemed happy to oblige. Five of them sneaked around her from behind a mausoleum. When she found herself suddenly surrounded, her lips curved into a strange smirk.

“Oh, guys, you so picked the wrong girl on the wrong night!”

One of them lunged for her, snarling. With incredible speed, she extended her leg in a very high kick to his face. The vampire screamed as the high heel of her boot tore into his face. He reeled back in pain.

“And guess what? I don’t have to hold back squat tonight!”

She threw herself into the battle. She moved faster and hit harder than ever. She wasn’t in for the dusting, so she did not make it quick. She dragged on for a good fifteen minute, beating the un-living daylights out of the vamps. When some of them tried to escape, she caught up with them with ease and resumed the fight. Finally, there was only one left. She approached him slowly, her eyes a predator’s. He was shaking like a leaf.

“Please!” he begged. “Please! Have mercy!”

“Sorry, I’m all out.”

With that, she leapt a good twenty feet into the air, then plummeted stake first towards the fear-stricken vampire. She hit home and gracefully landed into a cloud of dust.

She got back up slowly, shaking the dust off her clothes and cranking her neck a couple of times. She breathed in deeply. She felt better.

She was considering calling it a night when she felt a presence behind her. She spun around quickly, stake at the ready. But she gasped in surprise when she saw who it was.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. “If you’re looking for S–” she was interrupted when a puff of pink, glittery smoke was blown in her face. She inhaled some of it reflexively, and her eyes went wide. She seemed to look at something in the distance and sighed “Oooh, pretty!” before toppling to the floor.

__…-==-…__

Buffy was sitting at the island of her kitchen, turning a small green crystal over and over between her fingers. She had an untouched mug of hot cocoa in front of her and was staring into empty space.

It couldn’t hurt… she’d probably would be okay with it… it’s like an adventure, right? Wouldn’t harm anyone…

But why would you need to do that? Yes you crave the man, but if it’s only a craving why would go to such lengths to find out whether he still loves you or not?

Hey! No mention of the L-word!

Too late!

The fact was, she still wasn’t sure whether Spike truly loved her or was just obsessed by her. In ordinary times, with ordinary people, it would not have mattered. She would just have told him to suck it up and she would have moved on with her life.

But in these times with those people, subtle details made a world of difference. If he was just obsession, then her using of him wasn’t so bad and his attempted rape was truly unforgivable. The sentence would then be stakage or banishment, the latter a kind of clemency for good services to the Scoobies.

But if it was love… real love…

She rested her head in her hands. Things just did not get simpler with time. And time was running out. Soon, he would move on, she was sure of it. It wouldn’t be difficult for him; so many girls were swooning over him. He just had to pick one. And then she would never have the answers to her questions…

She looked at the crystal again. So easy…

She heard footsteps down the stairs, and quickly pocketed the crystal before taking the cup of cocoa in her hands to give them an occupation. Seconds later, Willow appeared in the kitchen in her flannel pajamas and fluffy slippers. She smiled when she saw Buffy there.

“Hey” said the redhead while getting a clean mug from the cupboard. “Can’t sleep?”

Buffy smiled back and tried to look innocent. “No… too much coffee earlier, I guess. You?”

“Too wired. I’m just so happy Tara’s back, you know?” She got some milk out of the fridge and filled her cup, then popped it in the microwave. “I actually spent the last hour or so just watching her sleep. How sickening is that?”

“Very. Please do keep on rubbing your happiness in my face.”

Willow shrugged with a little smirk on her face. The microwave rang and she got the mug of hot milk out. She then went to sit next to her friend. “How are things with Spike?”

Buffy was startled. “What things with Spike? There are no things with Spike! There will never be any things with Spike! Why should there be things with Spike?”

“Well, I don’t know! The way you go all moony-eyed when he’s in the room, maybe?”

“I’m not ‘moony-eyed’! I’m just… I’m just… aargh, shut up! Any news on the goop front?”

“Way to change the subject, though really not subtle. But I think I may have found something…”

“Oooh, do tell!”

“It’s not much, and it’s not actually about the goop. I tried to get more out of that, but the tissues are so damaged I couldn’t. So I started studying the victims. All male, all in the prime of life, all healthy and, from what I’ve seen in the pictures, real hotties too.”

“Will!”

“What? I was straight once you know! I have some leftovers of that! Anyway, I started looking into what sort of demons might be going for that type of victims, and there’s only one: it’s called a Succubus.”

“A sucker-what?”

“Sah-queue-bus. It’s an ancient demon present in several religions, including Christian and Jewish. Basically, they’re supposed to look like really beautiful women, and they entice men to steal their life force… usually through sexual intercourse.”

“Wow… I think we went to high school with a couple of those…”

“You’re telling me! The first one ever recorded was called Lilith, and she was supposedly Adam’s first wife in the Garden of Eden… until she dumped him for Lucifer.”

“Ouch, that got to have hurt…”

“Yeah, but then Eve came along, I’m thinking she made it all better before the apple incident. It’s all only based on legends, though, nothing solid. But here’s the catch: when the Succubus take her victim’s life-force, the guy is not supposed to melt, but to fall into a deep, endless sleep, kinda like a coma.”

“So, in the end, Miss Sucker might not be our culprit at all?”

“Might not, but then I’m all out of ideas. But those legends I’ve found are pretty old, so maybe they have evolved in some way, and now they go for melting? I don’t know, but so far, it’s still our best shot.”

“It’s brilliant, Will. You’re still researcher Number One. So, in the more than likely event that it is a Succubus we’re after, how do I kill it?”

“Still working on that. But maybe our trusty old friend Violence could be a solid call.”

“I like the way you think, Will.”

“I know. That’s why you love me. So… how are things with Spike?”

“Oh, god, he is like winning you all over one at a time?”

“Well, he kinda did save my girlfriend, and he helps a lot. And, normally, I would try not to interfere in your love life, but… you’ve been so… I don’t know, it just seems to me like you’re in pain and you could avoid it, you know?”

“Will… you know what he’s done…”

“Yeah, I do. And as an ex-villain myself, I realize I really am in no place to judge and don’t get a say in the matter. I won’t influence your decision, Buffy. But whatever that is, I’ll always be here for you. I hope you know that.”

Buffy felt some tears trying to gain their way to the surface. Willow understood. She really did.

“Oh,god, Will! I think I –”

Thump.

Both heads went in the direction of the noise. It was coming from the foyer, but they didn’t see anything. They looked at each other in puzzlement.

Thump.

From the foyer again. This time Buffy got up, gesturing Willow to stay put, but the witch shook her head and followed her.

The foyer was empty. Buffy switched the light on: nothing in the stairs or the lounge either…

Thump.

That noise again. It came from the door. Somebody was out there.

“Hello?” ventured Buffy.

Thump.

She tried to look through the door’s glass panels, but it was too dark, she could only see a shape. A human shape.

Both girls looked at each other in understanding. Buffy got a stake and Willow positioned herself near the stairs, generating a small plasma ball in her hand. Once they were ready, Buffy opened the door…

“Breakonthroughtotheothersideyeah…”

… and Gayle fell face first on the floor.

“Oh my god, Gayle!” Buffy cried out. “Are you all right?”

Gayle had her eyes closed. Her eyes shot open at the sound of Buffy’s voice.

“Home sweet home. Hey… when did the door go all… horizontal?”

Buffy and Willow looked at each other, puzzled. Gayle flipped over and propped herself on her elbows. She stared into space for a while, then turned her face to Buffy.

“Hey Buff… cake left?”

Buffy was slightly taken aback. “Hum, sure, in the kitchen I think…”

“Throw it away. Full of worms. Give it to the seagulls, thieving little creatures.”

New glance at Willow, then back. “Ooookay… what’s with the Woodstock speech, girl?”

“Mmm? Spike was at Woodstock, ya know. He ate people there.” She then broke into a manic fit of laughter.

Oh great, he told her that too… “What happened to you?”

Gayle straightened up abruptly and got to her feet at lightning-speed. “What happened to you?”

“Wh –? I asked you first!”

“No, I believe I did.”

Buffy could only stare for a second. “Are you drunk?”

“Drunk… dunk… junk… funk… I’m considering words ending in ‘unk’… punk… hunk… sp –”

“Snap out of it!”

“Do you know why a raven looks like a writing desk?”

“Okaaaay…”

“Cos I do! Well, no, I don’t, but I’ll hazard a guess… “

Buffy wrapped her arms around the brunette’s shoulder, guiding her slowly to the lounge. “Why don’t you hazard yourself onto the couch right now, and tell us all about it?” She helped Gayle to sit down.

“Okay… do you want a biscuit? I’ll go make some!”

“Hum, Gayle? Right now I’m thinking you and ovens are really non-mixy.”

“Okay… how about ice cream? We could all scream for ice scream, I know!”

Buffy sing-songed “You are starting to scaaaare meee…”

“What’s with the noise, guys?”Dawn interrupted from the bottom of the stairs, her hair mussed and her eyes sleepy.

Gayle beamed at her and released a very high-pitched “Dawniiiiiie!”

Dawn’s hands flew to her ears. “Ouch! Gayle, please, off with the shrieking! I’m too young to be deaf!”

Tara appeared next. “What’s going on, guys?”

Willow turned to her lover. “Baby, you should be resting!”

“Well, I was actually, but I heard someone shriek!”

The Shrieker Formerly Known As Gayle suddenly sprang up from the couch and went to Dawn’s side: “Ooooh, you’re pretty!”

“Urm, thanks…” She mouthed to her sister Is she drunk?

Buffy just shrugged in response. She had not smelled any alcohol on Gayle’s breath, she couldn’t confirm or deny anything at this point...

Gayle kept rambling: “Reeeeal pretty! All shiny and-and-and like… you’re not even there!”

Willow and Tara looked at each other in alarm. This rang far too familiar.

Dawn had had the same thought and went into a panic. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygod…”

“Dawn!” Buffy caught her sister in her arms. “Don’t worry! Nobody is going to hurt you!”

“But what if she’s back, Buffy? What if Glory…”

“Glory can’t be back, Dawnie. She can never come back, I promise you. But now we know that Gayle’s in real trouble…”

__…-==-…__

After much persuasion and two chairs shattered in the process, they managed to get Gayle to stay seated and still long enough for Willow and Tara to examine her in the dining room. Buffy and Dawn waited in the lounge with a cup of hot cocoa each.

When Tara joined them, she had a very worried look on her face. Willow had stayed with Gayle, Tara being still too frail to resist the rookie slayer in case she became violent.

“Well, the good news is, it’s in no way godly-induced. Glory’s off the hook for once…”

Dawn let out a deep sigh of relief. But Buffy had read between the lines: “And the bad news…?”

“We tried a simple reveal spell – Nothing big, I promise! B-but… it’s not good, Buffy! Not good at all!”

“What is it, Tara?”

“We looked for everything: no drugs, no alcohol, nothing! But whatever happened to her… made her insane!”

Buffy blinked. “She’s mad?”

“As a hatter! We did find some magic residue though, so it’s safe to say that somebody did this to her. Either someone who is prolific with magic or has access to it. B-but, Buffy, that residue isn’t sufficient for us to analyze, and if we can’t analyze it… w-we can’t cure her!”

“She could stay like that?”

“Yes!”

Buffy was truly worried now. She couldn’t possibly let her friend like that. “What do you need?”

“We need to find the source, t-the cause of her madness. Then we can reverse it.”

“Okay so we need to find out where she went when –”

The front door opened suddenly, like it was reading her mind, and a leather clad vampire stepped through.

Buffy gasped in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Red called me. Chirpy’s in trouble?”

“Called you? You have a cell, now?”

“Yes he does” said Willow, coming back to the foyer with Gayle in tow. “I enchanted a prepaid one so that we can reach him in case of emergencies.”

“This is an emergency / So are you listening?”

“Oh yeah, and she’s gone into juke-box mode…”

“So you give up every chance you get / just to feel new again…”

Spike got closer to the maddened slayer and waved a hand before her eyes. “Chirpy? Gayle? You in there, luv?”

She looked at him without seeing him. “Not sure… please come back and make an appointment…”

Spike seized her head and prodded her eyelids opened with one hand. “Eyes aren’t bloodshot… s’not drugs.”

“You smell nice…”

“Thanks pet, yer not too bad yourself.” Turning to Buffy and Willow. “What the hell happened?”

“We don’t know” Buffy answered. “She just came home, and she was… ‘away’!”

“That’s not just ‘away’, the girl’s gone bonkers, I can tell!”

“Did you see her tonight?” Willow enquired. “After the party, I mean?”

“Yeah, she came to join me at Willy’s. We had a few and when the bar closed we…” snogged? Humped? Almost went at it right there in the alley? Not if you want to keep stake-free, mate. “…ahem, went our separate ways.”

“Did she say where she was going?”

“No. No, she didn’t.”

“Didn’t you try to find out?” asked Buffy rather curtly.

“What, am I slayer-sitting now? No I didn’t try and find out, chit’s to do as she pleases, isn’t she?”

Willow came to the rescue. “Did Gayle say something about meeting someone?”

“No, she just… took off. So I did too.”

Willow tried a different approach. “Have you ever heard of demons that would go around making people crazy?”

“Not that kind of crazy… Know a few that can make you hallucinate if you lick their scales, but…”

“Ewwww!”

“… well, you bloody asked!”

“Wanna see me fly?” interrupted Gayle. “I just need a happy thought… and to go to the roof…” She started to climb the stairs before Willow caught up with her and led her back to the lounge.

Buffy turned back to Spike. “What did you mean by ‘that kind of crazy’?”

“I meant the kind that’s not coming from something you ingest, smoke, sniff or pop up your veins. I meant the ‘permanent-damage-strait-jacket-padded-cell’ kind. Trust me on this, pet, I’ve lived with crazy for about a hundred years, I can tell them apart…”

The mere mention of the other woman made Buffy see red. “You have a cell phone?”

“Well yeah... how do you think I know about Scooby meetings? Either Red or Nibblet call me, that’s how…”

“How come I don’t know about this? Oh let me guess: I should have asked!”

Spike looked at an imaginary wristwatch. “Slayer, that’s got to be a new record: from cool as a cucumber to tight-arsed bitch in less than twenty seconds! Bravo!”

“Did you just call me a b –”

“When I’m with you / Are you somewhere else…”

Spike and Buffy stopped the argument-in-the-making to stare at Gayle who had started singing…

She was looking straight at them with her empty eyes, but her voice was hypnotizing…

“Am I getting thru / Or do you please yourself…”

The former lovers simultaneously felt a chill down their spine… the lyrics certainly rang a bell…

“When you wake up / Will you walk out / It can’t be love / If you throw it about…”

Everybody was at a standstill, listening to the crazed Slayer’s beautiful rising voice and melancholic tones…

“I know you think that love is the way you make it / So I don’t wanna be there when you decide to break it…”

Without realizing it, Buffy and Spike were moving closer to each other, still staring at Gayle. Tara had come to Willow’s side and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Love bites, love bleeds / It’s bringing me to my knees / Love lives, love dies / It’s no surprise / Love begs, love pleads…”

Gayle approached the blond couple and looked at them in the eyes. “… it’s what I need. I want some juicy juice…” She walked past them and headed into the kitchen, Dawn hot on her heels to prevent further damage.

The music’s spell broken, Spike and Buffy looked at each other. Unconsciously, they had joined hands…

Spike raised their locked hands to eyes level. Though they were puzzled, neither one made an attempt to break away. They just lost themselves in each other’s eyes.

‘It’s what I need’…

“That song…” said Buffy weakly, “… did she make it up or…”

“No… no, pet, it’s quite old…”

“Ah… it was nice…”

“Yeah…”

“It just sounded so…” She winced, trying to find the words.

“… appropriate?” said spike with a low chuckle.

Buffy smiled. “Yeah… that.”

“Don’ quite think they mentioned juice in the original version though…’

“Really? You don’t say…”

“Hey!” Gayle interrupted again. “Did you hear that?”

Everyone stared at her…

“Outside!” she chimed, and ran to the front door. Before anyone could stop her, she was out…

Buffy and Spike broke contact to run after her. They did need to get very far though: Gayle was standing on the front lawn, staring at the sky.

“Whoa… what da ya know… they are singing… I’m still the prettiest voice out of you all, pipsqueaks!”

Buffy blinked. “Hum, Gayle? What are talking about?”

“Ghosty-Girl… Just like she said… the stars are singing… only now they’re singing to me…”

Buffy and Spike exchanged worried glances. Those words sounded awfully familiar. Can’t be… can it?

Buffy seized Gayle by the shoulders. “What Ghosty girl, Gayle? What did she look like? Did she say her name?”

“Say my name, say my name…”

“No! Her name!”

“Eddie.”

“Huh? Her name’s Eddie?”

“Ruuun tooo the hiiiiills… don’t you love Maiden?”

“Gayle please! Try to remember!”

“Eddie… Eddie Death… Ed d’Eath… She said missy… missing… missed… I’m considering words beginning with a little dolly named Miss Edith…”

Spike and Buffy tore off to get into the DeSoto, and drove off at full speed, leaving Gayle in her singing conversation with the starry sky above her. “Ruuun fooor your liiiiife…”

End of Chapter Seven

Gayle’s ramblings are inspired by J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Lewis Carroll’s “Alice In Wonderland”. The author of the latter was allegedly on drugs while writing the book… it shows, doesn’t it? If you haven’t read it yet, DO IT!!! Just don’t drink or smoke anything illegal while reading, otherwise you’re in for one hell of a trip…

Gayle’s songs: “Break On Through (To the Other Side)” by the Doors, “Emergency” by Paramore, “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child, and “Run To The Hills” by Iron Maiden (the “Eddie” bit refers to the band’s zombie mascot).

The song that got everyone in a trance is “Love Bites” by Def Leppard. Some very clever person made a beautiful Spuffy video on YouTube with that song as a theme, go check it out!

As usual… feed the review-hungry muse… please…

 
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