Chapter Six

Without discussion, Spike and Buffy split to either side as they came through the door, their speed making them almost invisible even to the vampires within.  Faith’s grunted “huh!” as she hit the floor and rolled under the anticipated shotgun blast was the only sign that anyone else had noticed that speed.

“Stay down!” Rachel yelled as she and Janie fired the remaining captured shotguns into the room before dropping them and pulling out their stakes.

In the confusion brought on by the multiple blasts, it was easy for Buffy and Faith to take out the closest minions.  Spike headed straight for the tall vampire now fumbling to get his handgun out of the holster.  Spike grinned as he began to crush the hand on the gun. “Bad choice, mate. I’m faster on the draw than you are.” He made his point by bringing his other hand up and running a stake through the startled minion’s chest.

He glanced around the room, seeing that Buffy and Faith had not bothered to approach the cammo-clad vampires trying to reload quickly, but waited calmly for them to finish. The slayers thrown stakes went unerringly into the hearts of the two vamps just as they straightened up to take another shot. Their fingers crumbled to dust before they could pull the triggers. One of the guns did discharge as it hit the floor – fortunately hitting only the legs of one of the few remaining minions. Rachel stepped up and dusted him before he had even figured out why his legs had suddenly given out on him.

Buffy looked around the room, now containing more dust than vampires, and narrowed her eyes at the remaining minions trying to protect a door marked “Exit” and “Stairs”.  She moved toward them, deadly purpose on her face.

“Do you really want to die for that crazy bitch?” she asked, waving her stake around. “Oh, my bad!” she said as one shook his head and moved away from the door. “Did you think I meant it was optional?” Her stake went in and out of his heart so quickly he had time to say, “But…” before crumbling in front of her.

Buffy shoved the other guard away from the door, confident that one of the other slayers would see that he didn’t leave the room, and yanked the door open. The stairs leading down were dark, the smell of death coming from the lower level almost overwhelming.

“Let me go first, Slayer,” Spike said. “I can see better, and I’ll know where she is.”

Buffy nodded, reluctantly ceding her place in the front. Spike moved quickly, if cautiously, using all his skills in an attempt to prevent an ambush by his former lover or one of her “pets”.  He needn’t have worried. When they reached the bottom and Buffy hit a light switch, all they found were the bodies of Dru’s latest victims and a short set of stairs leading up and out an open door.

Spike ran out the door and sent his senses searching, but came back shaking his head. “Can’t even smell her any more. She must have bolted as soon as we got in—if not before. Her pixies probably warned her we were coming.”

“Damn, stupid pixies,” Buffy said, kicking a table containing the remains of one of Dru’s tea parties.  “She’s just going to set up somewhere else now.”

Spike sighed. Nothing about his face revealed if he was sighing in relief or in disappointment.  “With luck, Slayer, she’ll move on to somewhere else to do it. Now that she knows you’re here.”

“If that’s supposed to make me feel better—it doesn’t.”

Rachel entered the underground room before he could respond, looking at the dead bodies in various stages of decomposition and gagging.  When she found the still mangled corpse of a young child she whirled on them.

“Oh my God! What lived down here?”

Spike’s wince didn’t go unnoticed by Buffy, but she let him respond, blinking in surprise when he said, “A monster. A monster lived here, and we let her get away.”

He began to walk out of the room, getting almost to the stairs before noticing the boy gasping in a corner. He walked over and stared at the young man, sthe bleached hair, black eyeliner, and leather coat.  As Buffy ran up behind him, he knelt down and gently turned the boy’s head to the side, showing her the old and new bite marks.  He pointed to the blood on the boy’s mouth, saying, “Guess she was trying to make herself another Spike.”

Rachel watched, her brow furrowed as neither Buffy nor Spike made any attempt to help the boy.

“Why aren’t we getting him to a hospital?” she finally asked, glaring at them.  “He’s alive, isn’t he?”

“For now,” Spike replied as he lowered the boy’s head to the floor. 

“We need to help him,” Rachel said, moving past them and putting pressure on the still-oozing wound.  “Come on, what’s wrong with you two?”

“He’s dying, luv,” Spike said gently, moving back to give her room. “And he’s been turned. We can’t save him.”

“He’s not dead, till he’s dead,” she insisted stubbornly, tying her scarf around his throat and picking him up. “I’m getting him to a hospital.” She struggled up the stairs, holding the boy awkwardly over her shoulder as she did so.  Spike shook his head and gestured for Buffy to go ahead of him.

“We’d best go with her, Slayer. If he dies on the way there…”

“If he dies after he gets there, we’re going to have to wait in the morgue,” she sighed. “Like there hasn’t already been enough to do tonight.”

“If Bossy there is so set on saving him, let her stay around to make sure he doesn’t make a miraculous recovery and start eating the nurses,” he said. “You done enough for one night.”

Buffy sighed and shook her head. “No, it’s my responsibility. These girls have been here long enough. They’ve got their own responsibilities and areas to worry about.”

To everyone’s surprise, even Rachel’s, the boy did not die on the way to the hospital. Nor did he die once he was there. Buffy offered a vague explanation of having found him lying in the park, bleeding and unable to speak, and they were allowed to leave the hospital once it became clear that the boy was going to live. Buffy gave the hospital her phone number and agreed they could call her if there was any change, but she reiterated that she did not know the boy and was not responsible for his bills.

As she and Spike were walking out, one of the ER nurses ran up and touched Buffy’s arm. “Could I talk to you a second?” she asked, sending a nervous glance at Spike.  Buffy shrugged and gestured to Spike to go ahead with Faith and the other two slayers. Then she turned to the fidgeting nurse and raised an inquiring eyebrow.

“Look, I know who you are… and I know those other girls….” She stopped and started over. “My sister is… she’s one of you. She works in New York. So, I know what probably happened to that guy.”

“Oh,” Buffy said. “That’s… that’s good, then.  You’ll keep an eye on him for me and let me know if he….”

The girl nodded. “I think he’s going to be fine. We had to put a lot of blood into him, but he seems much better. Once they’ve got his throat sewn up and bandaged, he should be able to tell us who he is and we can try to find his family.”

Buffy winced. “Uh…. just so you know, there’s a good chance he doesn’t have a family anymore….” A sudden thought occurred to her. “Oh my God! I didn’t even think—if Dru knows he’s alive….” She grabbed the girl’s arm and squeezed it. “You be very careful around him,” she said. “And call me right away if you see or hear anything… strange. A woman with dark hair who wants to visit him… anything like that. ‘kay?”

The nurse nodded, her eyes wide as she realized what Buffy was saying. She began to back away, shaking her head.  “You think they’ll come here? The vampires?”

“There’s only one left,” Buffy said grimly, “but you don’t want to meet her. And she’s going to want him.” She took a deep breath. “Look, I need some sleep, but I’ll catch it sitting up with him, okay?” Buffy glanced at the waiting area. “And he might stay with me,” she said, pointing at Spike. “Is that okay?”

The girl nodded. “Yeah. Is he the kid’s brother or something? They kind of look—”

“Or something,” Buffy broke in. “Just tell us where you’re going to be putting him and we’ll make ourselves comfortable there.”

Buffy walked toward the curious group waiting for her and explained what the conversation had been about. When she got to the part where she was afraid Dru might come back for her ‘pet’, Spike snarled and punched the wall. “I should have thought about that,” he said.  “Of course she will. Sooner rather than later, I’d guess.”

Buffy rested a hand on his arm briefly. “I don’t… I mean I know you probably have stuff to do… but….”

“Way ahead of you, Slayer,” he said, covering her hand with his and squeezing it.  “You go on home and get some sleep. I’ll keep watch here.”

Buffy shook her head. “I told them we’d both be staying until morning. Maybe he’ll be able to talk by then and he can tell us where Dru might be.”

“Wouldn’t expect much from him,” Spike said. “Dru prob’ly had him in a pretty deep thrall all this time.”  Buffy nodded.

“It’s worth a try, anyway. You go on up. I need to thank the girls and figure out what to do next.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Do you really think Loony Tunes is going to show up here?” Faith’s question was only half-serious as they went back out into the night.  The light coming from the windows of the large building was illuminating the lawn in front, leaving shadows where there were large trees, but a clearly lit sidewalk. 

“I don’t know, but I already feel guilty enough for being so sure he was dead. There’s no way I’m going to let her have him back.”

Faith snorted in agreement as they trailed the two younger slayers through the parking lot and out onto the street where they all stopped. Buffy nodded and spoke to the other two girls.

“Good night’s work, girls,” Buffy said. “I appreciate the help. If you ever have something you want some extra hands with, just let me know.” She hesitated. “… Don’t forget what you saw tonight, or that Dru’s still out there somewhere.”

“You don’t think she left town?” Rachel looked around, clearly hoping to run across the vampire that had brutalized a child and left a young man to die.

“I don’t know. Spike doesn’t think she’ll go without the guy we rescued, and he knows her better than anybody.”  Buffy stared at Rachel’s eager face and said, “You’re a good slayer, Rach. That’s why I picked you tonight. But Dru is very old, very strong, and she has a thrall.  Please don’t try to take her out by yourself. Go home. Take care of your own vamps. Let us worry about Dru.”

“And what about me?” Faith asked quietly as the other two slayers waved good-bye and walked away. 

Buffy grimaced. “I was hoping I could tell you we didn’t need you anymore and you could catch a plane tomorrow, back to….” There was silence as they both tried to avoid thinking about Faith’s financial ability to hop back and forth across the Atlantic – and why she now had that ability, as well as a room in the city’s nicest hotel. After several coughs and nervous laughs from both of them, Faith nodded. “I guess that’s out for now. The more of us the merrier when it comes to tall, dark and crazy. ” 

“Have you ever met her?”

“Oh yeah, we went out for drinks one night. It was a bonding experience.” She made a face at Buffy.  “No. But I heard plenty about her, especially after she turned Darla back.  Angel sure can pick ‘em.”  She shuffled her feet. “Present company excepted,” she mumbled.

Buffy snorted. “Yeah, right.  So, you don’t mind hanging out for another day or two?”

“Are you kidding? That hotel is wicked lux.  I could stay here all week.”

Buffy gave a weak laugh that lacked any trace of humor. “Right.  Forgot for a minute. Sorry, rich girl.”  When Faith’s face shut down, Buffy realized how bitter she sounded.  “I am sorry,” she said, touching Faith’s arm. “It’s not your fault. You deserve whatever you got. And I am glad you came to help out.”

Faith looked dubious, but nodded her acceptance of the apology. “It’s five by five,” she replied. “Any time.  Hey, and anytime you and short and sexy want to hop in his space ship for a visit….”

“We’re not a ‘we’, Faith.  You know that. He just shows up sometimes with his space ship and his bugs.”

Faith shook her head. “You keep telling yourself that, B.  If you say it often enough, you might get to believe it.”  Without waiting for a reply she began to jog toward her hotel.  “You might even get him to believe it.”

“Smartass,” Buffy muttered as turned to go back into the hospital. She tried not to compare the uncomfortable chair she was undoubtedly going to be sleeping in with the luxury hotel room where Faith would be resting, and swallowed the bitterness that appeared without warning anytime she was reminded which slayer Giles had been thinking about when making out his will. “I don’t need his money,” she said to herself. “He knew that, that’s why he gave it to Faith.  He knew I wouldn’t need it.” She continued to chant those words until she entered the hospital and went looking for Spike.