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Every Time You Say Good-bye by slaymesoftly
 
Five
 
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Chapter Five

 

“So, tonight’s the night?”

Buffy sighed heavily, sneaking a glance at the window of her bedroom before giving a reluctant nod. “Yeah. We can’t wait any longer. I think we’ve taken out enough minions in the past few days that the numbers are going to be reasonable.  Anyway, the way they’ve been letting their humans do all the work for them, I think they’re probably pretty soft. Not used to working for their meals.”

“They have been pretty easy to take down,” Rachel agreed, stretching her arms over her head. “When you said you wanted help, I figured they were going to be tough.”

Buffy made a face. “A vamp is a vamp,” she snapped. “Any one of them can have his one good day if you get careless.  For all we know, we’ve been dusting expendable fledges and the nest is full of hundred year old masters.”

Faith raised a skeptical eyebrow, and Buffy muttered, “You don’t know. It could happen….”

“I’m pretty sure we know most of the old vamps in this part of the world,” Faith said.  “You know these aren’t going to be anything but smarter than normal bloodsuckers.”  She stood up and yanked Rachel to her feet.  “Let’s do this.”

Giving the empty window one last glance, Buffy picked up a bag of weapons and hefted it over her shoulder.  Allowing Rachel and another trained, but new, slayer to precede them, she and Faith walked slowly down the stairs.

“How… how’s he doing?” Buffy asked, the quaver in her voice belying the casual words.

“’Bout the same. Broodier than usual, but he seems sane enough.”  At Buffy’s gasp, she raised a cautioning hand. “Not saying we’re not keeping a close eye on him, and keeping him under lock and key when we can’t. But he’s been real helpful to the Council.  You know, he’s old, and he knows lots of stuff… and he’s being a little more willing to tell us about the whole Twilight mess.  How he got into it, why he got into it—stuff like that.”

Buffy nodded. “I’m glad he’s doing okay,” she said quietly.  “Does… does he ever… never mind.”

“Does he ever talk about you?” Faith said bluntly. “Only one time. He asked if you hated him now.”

“And you said…?”

“I told him we weren’t BFFs, and you didn’t talk to me about your feelings.  He never asked me again, and it’s not like there’s anyone else he could—”

“There’s Willow. He could have asked her.”

Faith shook her head. “Will is getting better about the no magic thing, with having so much to do without….” she choked just enough to make Buffy flinch, “…Giles around to run things.  But she blames Angel for the whole debacle.  And he knows it. Asking her would be asking to hear something he doesn’t want to hear.” She shrugged. “He’s stuck with me, and I wouldn’t tell him the answer to that question if I even knew it.”

“I don’t hate him,” Buffy said, her voice small and too soft for the other girls to hear it.  “But I hate what he did—what we did together.  I don’t want to see him… ever again. I can’t… I’ll never be able to trust him again.”

“Speaking of trusting vamps….” Faith’s face lit up as she pointed to a figure dropping down from a nearby roof.  The vampire landed in front of Buffy and cocked his head.

“You gonna tell those two not to stake me, or do I need to defend myself?”

As he spoke, he whirled to face Rachel and the younger slayer whose name, Buffy had to keep reminding herself, was Janie. The two girls were running toward him, stakes raised; but they hesitated when neither Buffy nor Faith seemed to be concerned about the vampire standing in front of them.

“Don’t try it, girls,” Buffy said, shaking her head. “He just wants a chance to show off.”

“Party pooper,” Spike said as the other slayers lowered their arms.  He turned to Faith, a grin splitting his face. “Lookin’ good, Slayer Two,” he said with wink. “Fancy trading baby-sitting old broody pants for a real vamp?”

Faith laughed, enjoying the way Buffy was trying to hide her jealousy and appear cool and casual in front of the other girls.  “Tempting thought, blondie.  But the last time I got between B and her vamp, I got a knife in my gut.  I’ll take a rain check.”

Spike gave Buffy a quick glance, obviously reading her as well as Faith had. “Ah, Slayer knows I’m just—”

Buffy cut him off. “The Slayer knows that we’re about to see what’s hiding in that building and we don’t have time to watch you flex your flirting muscles.  Let’s go.”

She strode toward the warehouse, now only a half-block away.  Faith met Spike’s gaze and shrugged, waiting until Buffy was too far ahead to hear her before whispering, “I don’t know what that’s all about, but if you need a place to stay tonight, my couch is all yours.”

Spike shook his head. “It’s not like that with us,” he whispered back. “I’m not sure what she’s so brassed off about. I said I’d be back in three days, and here I am.”

“The last time she gave me that look, I was sitting next to you on a cot and we were having ourselves some verbal foreplay. Don’t tell me you don’t know what she’s pissed about.”

Spike stared thoughtfully at Buffy’s stiff back, eventually letting a small smile touch his lips. “She never did like to share her toys,” he said, moving into a jog. “Doesn’t mean she wants me, just means you can’t have me.”

“Big surprise there,” Faith snorted, increasing her speed to catch up with him as he joined Buffy at the front of their little slaying squad.

Buffy shot her a puzzled look, but remained focused on the warehouse. “Okay. I want to spread out around the building first, take out any guards you find. If they’re armed and human and you can’t get the guns away safely, wait for Spike.” She turned to him, all business. “You can circle the building, listen for the heartbeats or whatever, and step in if the guard is human.”

“Whatever you want, lo—pet.” 

Buffy pointed in four directions, indicating which side of the building each slayer would take. Moving like the predators they were, all four women moved silently into position at each corner of the building and then began to move from shadow to shadow, eyes alert for movement.  Spike waited for a few seconds, then shadowed Buffy until they reached an outside fire escape. Pointing silently to the roof, he waited for Buffy’s nod before leaping to the first level and disappearing up the wall in blur of movement. She watched him go, wondering for a second if perhaps she and Angel hadn’t been the only ones to get new powers.

I wish that dumb Julie could have seen that.

Turning her attention back to her job, she stashed the extra weapons under the fire escape and continued down the front of the building, clinging to the walls and using the shadows to keep herself invisible.  When she saw only one guard on the main door, she stepped out of the shadows and sauntered up him.

“Hey there, big boy, did they leave you out here all by your lonesome?”

The vampire gawked at her, then quickly pulled a human man holding a shotgun out in front of him. Swearing silently, Buffy kicked the gun out of man’s hands and stepped close enough to knock him out with one punch.  Unfortunately, that gave the vampire a chance to yank open the door and begin to shout a warning.

“Hey! We’ve got—” was all he managed to get out before Buffy slammed the door on his head, effectively decapitating him. As his dust settled onto the sidewalk, she picked up the guard’s shotgun and threw it as far as she could, confident that even if the man woke up any time soon, he would never recover his weapon.  Spike dropped almost silently onto the sidewalk beside her, his eyes chilly as he checked her over.

“Thought the plan was to let me handle the wankers with weapons?”

“You weren’t here,” she said with a shrug. “And anyway, I didn’t see him. I thought it was just the one vamp.”

“I would have known,” he muttered. “Could have told you there was another heartbeat here.”

“It turned out okay,” she said with a trace of impatience. “The other slayers needed you more than I did.”

“Not as concerned about what happens to the ‘other slayers’,” he grumbled. “But we got—“ he stopped when his hearing caught the sound of scuffling on the other side of the door.  “Incoming, pet,” he hissed, stepping to one side.

Buffy quickly moved to flatten herself against the wall on the other side of the entrance, holding her breath and wishing she had some way to stop her heart from beating.  The door burst open, a small group of men and minions got shoved out and the door slammed shut behind them.  Before they could look around, Spike had already wrenched the guns away from the human guards, leaving Buffy free to stake the two vampires that had been pushed out with them.

Two of the men tried to run away, only to be clotheslined by Faith as they brushed past her. Spike picked up the only one left and shook him, letting his true face come to the fore.  “How many of you lowlifes are in there?”

The man grimaced with pain as Spike’s claws (something Buffy stared at with curiosity) dug into his neck.   “Urk,” he managed to get out before Buffy touched Spike’s arm, causing him loosen his grip just enough. The man gave her a grateful glance, saying, “There are two more human guards on the back doors—”

“Not anymore there aren’t,” Spike said, his cheery grin all the more frightening for it being on the face of a monster.

The man’s eyes widened and he nodded his understanding. “Then there’s only the masters left in there….” He frowned when Spike laughed and Buffy snorted at hearing his employers referred to as “masters”, but continued on, “… but some of them have shotguns too.” 

Spike shook him again. “Which ones? Describe them.”

“Um… big guy, red shirt and a cowboy vest.  He has a six-gun too.” Spike rolled his eyes and almost dropped the man in disgust. “And the two guys wearing cammo—they have guns.”

Faith came strolling up, eyeing the man still dangling from Spike’s hand. “Hey, blondie, we’ve still got work to do. You can snack later.”  The man began to struggle, pleading, “I told you everything. I did what you wanted! You have to let me go!”

Spike laughed, fading back into his human face. “You’ve been working for vamps and you still think you can trust one of us?  “Sides, I never promised to let you go. That was just wishful thinkin’ on your part.” He leered at the man, licking his lips until Buffy poked him.

“I’ve got a better idea,” she said when he looked at her and raised his eyebrow.

“Better than eating him?”

“Yes. He can get us in.”

“He can get me in,” Spike growled. “You heard him, there are still guns in there.”

“News flash, fangface. You might not be killed by bullets, but you aren’t going to be very useful if you’re lying on the floor full of holes.  We’re all going in together.  If it makes you happy, you can go in first.  Maybe if the first thing they see is another vamp, it’ll slow them down for a second or two.”

Spike lowered the man to the ground, keeping his hand around the man’s throat as a reminder.  He broke off his staring contest with Buffy to ask his captive, “How many vamps—and don’t call them ‘masters’— are in there?”

The man shrugged. “Probably twelve or fifteen. Depends on how many went out hunting tonight. The Mistress was having a hard time getting anybody to go – seeing as how nobody’s made it back the past few nights…” He gave Buffy and Faith a sharp look, his eyes widening when the other two girls came walking up.  “Guess that’s why, huh?” he asked, looking back at Spike.

“More than likely,” Spike agreed smiling at the four slayers. “Now who or what is ‘the Mistress’?”

The man shuddered. “I don’t know exactly,” he said. “I try to stay away from her. Crazy bitch scares the shit out of me—Hey, you know, you look a lot like the guy she keeps in her room….”

“Bloody buggering fuck!” Spike began to swear in several languages. Buffy’s lips were compressed into a straight line and her eyes narrowed.

“Skinny, crazy, dark-haired ho-bag of a vamp?” she asked, getting up in the man’s face and glaring into his eyes. “Wears a lot of nightgowns and talks to stars?”

The man peered at her and nodded. “Sounds like her. Like I said, I stay away from her. She only comes out when she’s hungry.”

“Comes out from where?” Spike’s voice was calm and controlled as he tried to figure out where the biggest danger was going to be and how he could get to her first.

“She’s got herself a lair in the lowest level. Got her own entrance and everything.  That’s where she keeps her ‘pets’.”

“Pets?”

“Yeah. Like the guy that looks like you—she calls him her ‘pet’. Won’t let him out of the room. We have to bring him take-out all the time.”

“He’s human?” Buffy and Spike spoke at the same time, exchanging looks.

“Yeah. Weird, huh? But he seems happy—follows her around like a puppy dog, calling her ‘princess’.”

Buffy looked at Spike, whose expressionless face did not give away what he was thinking.  “Are you going to be okay with this?” she asked.  “ ‘Cause if you don’t want to….”

“Just another vamp, pet,” he said. “And one that we don’t want to be sending baby slayers up against. She’s just another vamp.”

Buffy studied his distant eyes and the muscle twitching in his jaw. She shook her head, but said, “Okay.  But why don’t you let me take her out?”

“Would you two like to share with the class?” Faith broke into the tense discussion, gesturing toward the door. “Cause we’ve got a nest of vamps in there and we’re giving them time to get away”

Buffy looked at Faith and said, “It sounds like the head vamp in there is Spike’s sire. Drusilla.”

“Bummer.” Faith gave Spike a surprisingly sympathetic look. “But we’re going in. Now.”  She aimed one of the captured shotguns at the doorknob and blew a hole where the locks used to be. With a shout of “Go!” she yanked the door open, flinging herself into the room right behind Spike and Buffy.

 
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