Chapter 25

Buffy and Tara slipped into the side entrance of the Sunnydale Memorial Hospital. Giles had managed to find Riley through a contact. He had been found in a park covered in 'wild animal' bites and appeared to have lost his sanity.

Buffy had only half-heartedly smacked Spike upside the head when he had asked if Whitebread had ever been sane?

Giles had pulled Buffy aside after the meeting in the Magic Box and had--with extreme reluctance-- imparted the location and condition of her ex. After the revelations about Glory from Angel and Wes, the meeting had become fraught with tension and stress.

It was a god they were fighting and a god who had Dracula to help her out. Buffy had no idea what to do; instead she focused on each small task and accomplished them. Step by step: she called her Mom and spoke to her, cooked dinner—well, called for take out-- fed everyone, walked Giles and the girls back to his car, came back to the flat and cleared up.

With each small task accomplished, Buffy had regained a piece of herself. A Zen like calm descending on her with each small job done, but the best was soft gentle lovemaking that Spike and she indulged themselves in for the rest of the night. With each whisper soft touch and nibbled kiss, they came into their own, the soft caresses and gentle purrs all contributing to a relaxed pair of vampires.

Ready to take on whatever the Hellmouth spat up at them.

A god.

A Master vampire and his remaining Brides.

They would overcome these odds and more.

They could only hope and cling to each other in the darker moments of their lives.

**********

The others had dropped them off and then headed off to start searching yet again for Drac and Glory. Anya was curled up in the backseat chanting a spell continuously, one that Tara and Giles had created to hopefully dissipate whatever clouding protection Dracula had cast over his new home. Spike rode shotgun in the car that he had jokingly called the midlife crisis-mobile.

Giles had favoured him with a glare and a few choice words that none of the women wanted to know if Spike could do to himself. Spike had watched Buffy with guarded azure eyes as she and Tara had slipped into the side entrance; he wasn't too happy about the visit to the veggie that was his girl's ex, but knew that it was something that he couldn't or didn't want to prevent. Buffy was a good girl with a strong will and if he wanted to visit Cardboard, then she would.

Luckily, Glinda was there to help. He knew that if he went in Riley might get bitten - and not in the 'good' way that the ex-soldier used to troll for. Spike shuddered at the thought of watered down Finn blood in his gullet. The blond vampire licked the back of his hand to take away the imagined taste and then turned to tease Rupes a bit more about the penis-mobile.

*********

Buffy pressed up against Tara's side, the scents and sounds of the hospital gave her the shivers; it was an all too familiar reminder of her cousin Cecily. She hated hospitals - last time she had been in one, Angelus had tried to get to her. Only poor Xander had stood between her and Angelus's fangs.

Why had Xander changed so much? Was it her fault for involving him in her Slayer life? She shuddered again. Sadness filled her at the thought of her missing friend and what had happened to him. She hoped he was being helped, wherever Kendra and Whistler had taken him.

Tara tilted her head in question at Buffy. She had picked up on the distress that was emanating from her friend's small frame.

"What's wrong? Can you sense something?" Tara whispered, she kept her eyes on the busy corridor of E.R.

"Is it my fault Xander went wrong?" Misery etched fine lines around Buffy's mouth and eyes as she stared at Tara, hoping the serene woman would be able to answer the question she hadn't dared voice to Spike again. It nibbled at her consciousness, a hot prick of guilt that rushed through her every time she looked at Anya or thought about Willow.

Tara took a deep breath. She had wondered when Buffy would ask this question. She and Spike had thought it would have been sooner. But instead it had taken several days. She had pondered what to say to Buffy over and over, even talking to Spike and asking his opinion. She had known asking Anya would have lead to tears and recriminations. Giles had sidestepped the issue the one time she had tried to start a discussion. So instead Tara had turned to Spike, with a great deal of trepidation in her heart.

She had been genuinely surprised by the Blond vampire's level-headed responses. He urged Tara to let Buffy come to her and to listen to all her worries. He had instinctively known that Buffy would approach Tara. She was her closest link to Willow - her best friend-- and also was a nurturer by nature. A motherly figure, in tune with her feelings and the earth and because of that, much more equipped to assist Buffy. Spike added that he had done his best in reassuring his slayer - but sometimes girly chats were good for the soul.

Spike had ducked his head and muttered something about needing to find some male friends before it was too late and swaggered off to have a smoke. So here was the dreaded question that Tara had been expecting. She took a deep breath and reached out to cup Buffy's shoulders. Buff managed to control the surprise in her face and the touch of Tara's hands - even though they were all adapting to her being a vampire.

Other than Spike and her Mom, neither Giles, Anya nor Tara had initiated physical contact with her. She missed it, but at the same time her fangs itched against her gums, wanting a taste. She forced the urge down, firmly reminding herself that Tara was not for nibbling on; Spike was.

Tara watched the lavender flicker in and out of Buffy's hazel eyes and could feel the tension coursing through her friend's slight frame. Instead of withdrawing she tightened her hold, aware that Buffy had to get used to her and human contact. Otherwise there would always be this battle with her two sides and Tara didn't want Buffy having to struggle - in her own inimitable words, she's have to deal with it!

"Buffy, listen to me. Xander made his own choices. It was nothing you did. He wanted to help; he could've left at any time, but he didn't. Buffy, whatever mind thrall Dracula put on Xander, it only brought to the fore whatever Xander was suppressing in his psyche. It's not your fault, okay?" Tara gave Buffy a gentle squeeze to emphasis her last comments, secretly amazed that she had managed such a long speech without a single stutter.

Buffy peeked up through her thick lashes at the determined Wiccan who was still cradling her slim shoulders in her hands. Seeing only concern in Tara's eyes, Buffy nodded and opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted before she could.

"Buffy? Buffy Summers?" A clipped familiar voice interrupted the two girls. Tara and Buffy whirled to face the taller man who walked towards them with an easy grin on his face. His ice blue eyes lit up with pleasure at the sight of Buffy.

Buffy frowned, 'guess I wasn't on his contact list...so much for being the girlfriend and reason he stayed in Sunnydale, wasn't even on his ‘in case of an emergency call’ her list! But nooo, instead have the army come and get me...same guys who pumped me full of meds and made me nuts.'

"You look really well!" Graham exclaimed as he reached to take Buffy's hand. Tara rested a hand on Buffy's shoulder and whispered under her breath. A jolt of warmth ran through Buffy's body, heating her from the inside out. Buffy glanced over at Tara in surprise as Graham took her now warm hand and shook it. She widened her eyes slightly, smiled softly at the Wiccan’s quick thinking. Heating her body so as to protect her from Graham and the army.

"Umm, you too!" Buffy gushed and gingerly pulled her hand away before it could cool back down.

Graham's chiselled face quickly slid into a worried set and he glanced over his shoulder. "You're here to see Riley?"

"We only just heard," Tara cut in before Buffy could speak. Buffy nodded mutely, her teeth worrying at her full lower lip.

Graham frowned. "But I thought that you guys were dating?"

Buffy shook her head. "Not since I found out he was visiting, umm, well, he was…" flustered she broke off and stared at Tara for help.

"Since he was getting a bit?" Graham offered.

Buffy's neck cracked loudly, as she did a double take at the unusually non-communicative ex- Initiative soldier. "You...know?"

Graham nodded and gestured for them to follow him. As they walked, he carried on talking in a low voice. "Kinda hard not to notice he is covered in bites and, from the docs notes, some of them are… well… in inappropriate places."

Graham paused and his ears flushed red in embarrassment. "Sorry. Not the gentlemanly thing to do, right? Make with the indiscrete comments to the recent ex?"

"It's okay. Nothing I didn't know already." Buffy nodded her head firmly to emphasise how okay she was with the lack of Riley in her life. Tara was a silent-- but supportive-- presence next to her as they approached the Mental Health wing of the Sunnydale Memorial.

"Yeah, but kinda weird to go looking to get bit on purpose." Graham frowned at the dangers Riley had deliberately placed himself in. Being a well-trained soldier with knowledge of the demon world, he should've known better.

"I know, it's a whole thing. Giles, my Watcher, said that people have been paying to be bitten for centuries. There's a whole rush to it. Personally, I don't get it." Buffy thanked her lucky stars she couldn't blush; she knew exactly why Riley went shopping for a bite.

When Spike sank his fangs into her willing throat-- or any other part of her body-- it was amazing. Buffy rubbed her backside cautiously, wondering if Spike’s recent nibble would leave a scar. But with Spike it was done with love and visa versa, with Riley-- it was just sordid and kinda tacky. Also, the whole dry humping episode in the cemetery after discovering Buffy's newly undead status still grossed her out.

Graham looked down at the top of Buffy's head, a slight smile of surprise quirked his lips-- he'd forgotten how cute she could be. Goofy, but cute.

"Right, so Riley was visiting vamp whores for a bite and you dumped his ass?"

Buffy nodded. So the timing was kinda fudged but what Graham was saying was true. "Uh huh." She shrugged and stared over at the silent Tara who was looking anywhere but at the tall Soldier.

"Good for you; he was a liability. If he had been turned you would've had no idea - your family and friends would have been dead! The moment you said ‘come on in, honey…’" Graham shook his head in disbelief at Riley.

"Man, I knew Walsh had messed with his head, but not this bad. You okay?" He directed his question at the stupefied Buffy.

"Surprised, but okay. I never thought…"

"What? That a soldier would have a brain and could see different sides of the equation, realise Riley was in the wrong?" Graham shook his head at the two stunned women, a wry smile causing his face to wrinkle and his eyes to twinkle. "We're not all jarheads, Buffy. Some of us can have an opinion of our own."

"Sorry, but you know after the whole Initiative thing, you get kinda wary of anyone in commando gear." Buffy put on her best 'I'm a cute girl, forgive me’ face and was rewarded with another grin and a reassuring nod from Graham.

"I get it. Here we are.” Graham rested his hand on the door to the private room that Riley had been moved into. “Look, I should warn you, he's not really that great."

Buffy's sharp hearing could hear Riley mumbling something under his breath.

"What have the doctors found?" Tara asked with a faint quiver of nervousness to her voice.

"Well, multiple animal bites." Graham rolled his eyes at this. "As if they've not seen enough of those yet," he added sarcastically. Amazed at how the 'civililians' in Sunnydale rationalised anything supernatural into a wild animal or unfortunate barbeque fork in the neck attack. "And then the, you know."

"Making with the crazy?" Buffy supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, that. First they thought it was cos of all the bites and exposure, but now they have no clue." Graham leant over.

"The army docs have scanned him and they have a theory. Come on in so we can talk without being overheard and you can see Riley." The tall soldier pushed open the door and walked in.

Buffy and Tara hesitated at the threshold and then followed the man into the ward.

"Pretty, pretty...coming for the party." Riley's baritone voice broke the shocked silence.

"All very naughty. I told the damsels no! Enough, no more...tis not as sweet as it was before...but they took and took until the well was almost dry."

Riley rocked back and forth in his bed, his hands scratching at the multiple bite wounds that marred his chest. Blood seeped through the thick hospital gown as he re-opened the Bride's bite wounds.

He held his blood-soaked fingers up to his face. "No...no...not…good. The Warrior Queen will take away my privileges; must clean...must cover up. Hide away, hide...hide." Riley pulled his bedclothes over his head and began to hum a mindless tune.

Buffy exchanged a shocked glance with Tara at the sight of her ex babbling like a baby.

"What's with the double speak?" Buffy queried.

Graham glanced over at Riley's large form huddled under the covers, his expression a mixture of worry and anger.

"The doc's I brought have examined him, and apart from the obvious bite marks and near exsanguination, there is something wrong with his brain."

Tara stepped closer to the bed and her hand drifted over the blankets. Slowly she caught hold of the edge and pulled it away, revealing Riley's face. It was covered in tears and a Munch-like expression. She raised her hand and gently stroked his forehead, trying to ease the distress that vibrated off his entire form. She gazed intently at him, as if trying to see through the large soldier's head.

"What's she doing?" Graham whispered as he sidled up next to Buffy.

"His aura is shattered," Tara whispered. "Bits of it are missing. I can feel almost a faint electrical presence lingering here… and here." She placed her hands over the spots on either side of his head where Glory's fingers had penetrated.

"It feels wrong." She drew back and shook her hands, trying to loosen the tension that had seeped into them. "It's like his essence has been drawn out of him."

"Rather interesting that you can sense that through touch; it took my entire team and a MRI to ascertain the patient's condition. And you are?" A tall bespectacled man held out a hand to Tara his, white coat and educated demeanour all signalling he was a doctor.

Buffy stepped up next to Tara protectively.

Tara smiled briefly at Buffy and then shook the newcomer’s hand. "I'm a friend of Riley's." She released his hand and turned back to Buffy.

The Slayer was now staring down at Riley's shivering form, a mixture of guilt and sorrow filling her expressive eyes. Tara reached down and squeezed Buffy's hand, the silent Slayer clinging onto her friend's hand and anchoring herself.

**********

"I say!" Giles slammed on the brakes and pointed excitedly out the driver's window. "I think we found it!"

Spike peered around the excited man, narrowly avoiding being belted in the eye by a tweed-clad elbow. "Not one for a suburban semi, is he?" All three of them eyed the Gothic pile that Vlad the Impaler called his home.

Anya rolled her eyes and kept the unveiling spell going, her voice hoarse from the repetitive chant. Spike flicked a concerned glance over at the tiring girl and then nudged Giles. The ex-Watcher peered over his glasses at the annoying vampire next to him.

"What?"

"Demon girl's getting a bit knackered, anything you can do to help? I know you've gotta bit of mojo in you. And before you get all huffy and try to polish a hole in your glasses, can smell it a mile off," Spike tapped the side of his nose.

Giles sighed and counted to ten. Again. He then looked over at the smirking git that his Slayer had taken up with and then silently asked the gods when he would be finished paying for his Egyon days. He was positive that Buffy had been placed on this earth to age him rapidly and help with his ever-decreasing hairline.

With a humph, Giles reached over and scrabbled through the glove box and pulled out a neatly folded map of Sunnydale. Giles fumbled in his pocket as Spike and Anya watched with great interest to see what sort of magical device he would produce to ensure that they would remember Drac's location.

With a twinkle in his eyes, Giles pulled out his battered and much used fountain pen. With a dramatic flourish he placed an X on the map and recapped his pen. "There we go; you can stop chanting now, Anya."

Spike stared at the map and then at Giles. "That's it?"

"Yes." Giles smiled smugly. He wasn't about to spoil his fun by revealing that he had incanted a spell of permanency on the mark, to Spike, as the look on his face was simply too entertaining.

Spike reached under the seat and handed over a bottle of Evian to Anya. She accepted it with a smile and a brief nod before gulping it down. It soothed her aching throat and refreshed her parched mouth.

"Ruddy disappointing, that." Spike refolded the map so that the marked section was facing up and squinted out the window. "Something’s happening over there." Spike nodded to the right side of the house.

Three scabby brown-robed minions scurried around the side and headed towards the street.

"Duck!" Giles hissed and yanked Spike down as Anya slid off her seat and crouched in the footwell.

"You arse!" Spike yelped as his forehead made contact with the dashboard with a sickening crunch.

"Shussh," Giles slapped his hand over Spike's mouth. Inwardly quailing at the image of a Watcher pressing his hand against a Vampire's mouth, he wondered if something such as this had ever happened.

"The mistress needs her shoes." A disembodied voice cut through Spike and Giles's antics. The three of them froze in the car.

"Yes, I know the most radiant Glorificus needs her dainty feet to be shod in only the finest, but where are we going to find Jimmy Choo's in Sunnydale?" another ratty voice replied.

Spike eye's flashed amber and his fangs started to drop; Giles felt the bones shifting in the vampire's face and hastily pulled his hand away. He watched as Spike's face flashed between its two incarnations.

"Well, we have to get them for the fragrantly scented one!" voice one replied filled with sycophantic agitation. There was a rustling of robes as the two of them scurried off.

"That was interesting." Anya straightened and started to pat her hair back into place she peered out the window and checked that the coast was clear.

"Drac's in bed with the Glory bint?" Spike snarled and vamped out. Giles sat up and watched as Spike ground his fangs together.

"I am sure he is. Dracula is drawn to powerful women. I remember a time during the Suez crisis when he…" Anya paused.

"Yeah? Wot happened?" Spike prodded.

"Um, well, you sure you want to hear this? Usually…" Anya was flustered at the lack of interruptions.

"Go on, Suez and Dracula?" Giles was fascinated. Sometimes he forgot how much Anya and Spike had witnessed; they had both seen and heard so much.

"Well, he found out what I was through a mutual friend and he pursued me from one end of the Mediterranean to the other. I did succumb in the end." Anya stopped here, aware that Spike may not want to hear of Dracula's prowess in bed.

Spike ground his fangs together even more; Giles muttered something under his breath and turned to stare out at the Mansion. He pondered the safety of taking a closer look, but before he could suggest it, he heard the passenger door click shut.

"He really has no impulse control at all!" Giles grumbled and followed after him.

"I'll stay here and act as a lookout," Anya called out quietly. She scrambled over the seat and took Giles's recently vacated position.

**********

"I apologize for any discomfort this may be causing. I really - can't imagine the pain."

Angel grimaced and clenched his fists, not pulling against the chains that held him positioned in front of the wall of stakes. "I die, she lives right?"

"Yes. I'm unaware of any deities the vampire worships, but if you'd like to pray," the man who was in charge of the trials pulled a lever and the stakes pulled back, spring-loaded into place. "Now would be the time."

"What are you waiting for?" Angel stared at the stakes.

"For you sir, I can't proceed without your permission. You've earned a choice. Accept your death so she may live or..."

"Or what?" Angel growled.

"Leave. Refuse the challenge and walk away. No one will stop you. Our doors are all open to you. You've done that yourself." The suited man replied honestly as he held his breath, hoping that the Champion for the Powers would indeed walk away in order to fight another day.

"What about…?" Angel panted.

"Oh, she dies," the major domo type replied dispassionately.

"No deal." Angel braced himself.

"No deal," the immobilised vampire growled out a second time.

"I expected as much. A pity. I'm beginning to like you." His captor sighed and Angel rolled his eyes "Spare me."

"I'd very much like to." He stepped closer to Angel, curiosity lighting his eyes. "Do you mind if I ask you a question? Isn't the world a better place with you in it? You can save so many people. Why sacrifice yourself for this one? She doesn't even like you."

"You know better than anyone the world can be a very merciless place. If you sacrifice yourself for her, take yourself out, ensuring her life and what differences can she make? She is mortal – human and not a Champion - unlike you who fights for the Powers," he added as he watched Angel pull slightly against his chains.

"I made a Blood oath," Angel answered simply. "It's my duty to help her no matter what the cost. I have no wish not to help her - she is family. I have no choice but to do all I can to help her," he sighed.

"No - you don't. Are you still ready to give her life at the cost of your own?" the Jeeves type asked.

"Yes," Angel replied firmly. He had made a promise…an oath.

"As you wish."

"Do it," Angel ordered.

The man nodded and released the stakes and watched sadly as they hurtled towards the vampire.

*********

The Brits ran low and fast across the neatly manicured lawn. They both came to a halt under a window and waited a beat before peering in.

The sight that was presented to them was a disconcerting one to say the least. Dracula and his two brides were indulging in a sexual game that made Spike wince and cover his delicates with a protective hand. "Makes your eyes water, don't it, mate?"

Giles stared, appalled at the sight of Dracula and the two vampiresses. "Why on earth are they bending it that way? That can't be good for it?"

Spike pulled the mesmerised man away and yanked him along to the next set of windows.

"Really Spike, why on earth would he let them pierce it there?" Giles glanced over his shoulder.

"Cos it hurts so good. What am I? The vamp equivalent of Dr Ruth?” Spike replied absently as he yanked Giles down into a crouch. "What are you acting like a scandalised virgin for? Not like all you trainee Watchers don't have a giggle and a fiddle over engravings in The Vampyre?" Spike snorted and peeked over the windowsill. “I know I did.”

“Really? You’ve read it?” Giles stared in surprise at Spike.

“Yeah, and the Slayer’s handbook – not a knuckle dragging illiterate here. Why?” Spike scented the air, trying to locate Glory and also refrained form listing William’s academic achievements.

He paused and then looked back into the window.

"That's the bint." Spike glared at Glory who was mid rant at yet another of her rat faced followers.

"Terrible hair!" Giles leaned forward to get a better look at the Hell god that had beaten Buffy so easily and stumbled, falling against the window with a resounding clatter.

"You're the arse, not me!" Spike growled as he pulled Giles away, just as the window shattered and Glory leapt out.

"Move it, Grandad!" Spike pulled Giles along with him as he scarpered, unwilling to get his balls handed to him on a Glory shaped platter again.

"Ahh!" Giles was pulled backwards and away from Spike, his head narrowly missing a tree trunk.

Spike span and reached for Giles who was being embraced by one of the Brides, her fangs dangerously close to the struggling Watcher's jugular. “Oh, good show, Giles. Uhh... at least you didn't get knocked out for a change. You must be one of the remaining Brides? Fascinating, under less fang filled circumstances I would say it was delightful… Um…where's your Master?"

"Ohh, he's around here somewhere," the Bride snarled around her fangs. She tightened her grip on Giles and leant in for a bit, her back to the action – she was confident of Glory’s success.

Spike's head snapped around as Glory's fist made impact; he flipped backwards to avoid her next blow.

There was a roar of a car engine and then the screech of brakes. Glory bellowed in pain as Giles's car pinned her against the Castle wall.

Spike stared in awe as Anya leant out of the car window and fired a crossbow at Giles's captor and yelled for the two of them to get in.

The bolt unerringly found it's mark and with a whimper the Bride crumpled to dust before Spike's very satisfied eyes. Giles fell forward and hit the grass heavily. Spike reached over and grabbed him by the back of his jacket, opened the car door and threw Giles onto the back seat. The blond vampire then flung himself on top of Giles.

"Drive!" he bellowed.

"In a moment!" Anya screamed back as she flicked through the spell book Giles had given her to use earlier. "Where is it - where is it! Ah ha - Got it!" Anya screamed out some words, at the same time throwing the book over her shoulder, hitting Giles on the temple and knocking him out. He collapsed without even a whimper under Spike's body.

A flash of blue light enveloped the pinned figure of Glory and washed back into the mansion to blast Dracula and her remaining Bride. Slamming the car in reverse, the ex-demon hit the accelerator and shot off.

"Watch out for the mailbox!" Spike screamed as Anya steered erratically down the road. He clambered over and collapsed into the passenger seat. "Save our bloody lives from the hellgod and the vampire, only to do us in in a bleeding road traffic accident. That is not the way William the Bloody is going out."

"I did save you, didn't I?" Anya asked perkily, her eyes glued to the road.

"That you did. Right good job of it you did as well, pet." Spike glanced back at Giles, who was still sleeping the sleep of the unconscious.

"Thank you. I was worried I would be injured or die." She glanced over at Spike. "You're not injured, are you? Buffy will not be happy if I return you in less than perfect condition."

"M'fine, pet. Good move using the motor. Wot was that ditty you cast?" Spike reached into his pockets and pulled out a cigarette, figuring Giles was out for the count; he lit it and puffed away happily.

"Something to make them forget us," Anya squeaked as she narrowly missed a parked car. Spike reached over and steadied the wheel.

"Nice idea, pet, but Drac's going to notice one of his birds are missing." Spike inhaled a deep drag of nicotine and puffed out a series of smoke rings.

"No, it's a mutable spell. As far as they are concerned, they were attacked. That, I couldn't change, but what I could do was cloud their minds as to who it was. As far as they are concerned, it was a rival of Dracula's and nothing more-- a Clan skirmish."

"Not bad, Anya, not bad at all." Giles pulled himself up and rubbed the side of his temple gingerly. "Thank you for saving me. I must say, you're very adept with the crossbow."

"Well, she would be you nit, what with coming from the medieval times!" Spike chuntered.

Giles reached over and plucked the cigarette from Spike's fingers, took a puff and then flicked it expertly out the open window. "Don't smoke in my car, Spike."

"Yes, dad."

"Oh, do stop it!"