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Ancient shades by Kur
 
13
 
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CHAPTER 13

Angelus stood beside the bed and tilted his head to deliver Faith an angry gaze. He was planning on hurting his grandchilde but slowly. This stupid girl had spoilt the fun. Useless attempt that of trusting on amateurs brats. They ruined everything. At least, he’d seek comfort in the obvious pain rushing inside Spike’s body. Or maybe not even in that. He was as unconscious as a knocked out boxer. With another look he bunged a vial at Faith’s face and left the room.

Spike was swimming in a fog. Sometimes it grew thinner and he could focus on the world around. Sometimes it was so thick that veiled everything. He was caught in an eddy where he spun round and round as a little paper boat in a stream. He was aware of the hands that were daubing his body with something fresh and welcome. And yet, he couldn’t help feeling that he was been anointed as a sacrifice for a black mass. His inner flesh was boiling as if he was burning in some ghaut.

Images leapt inside his head as crazy goats. Gil… an Englishman with a special task. To teach and protect… Gil… A Watcher… No. Mr. Wyndham-Prissy was a Watcher. He had sent the hound dogs after him. Had nearly locked him in some demon jail were they were all tied up with hot wires and tortured every time of the day. The runaway had been tough. Spike fidgeted on the mattress, feeling the pokers stabbing his stomach again.

Hot hands fondling his chest. Dru… Dru’s dark hair caressing his thighs, her tongue tracing his knees, his legs, his shaft. As only she could do it. Painfully. Wonder why he didn’t like it anymore… Buffy… Sweet lips on his eyelids and her voice whispering naughty, future sexy things while he watched TV sipping from a mug. Joyce’s gentle conversation coming from the next armchair while Buffy’s fingers sneaked under his duster, folded on his lap. Joyce? He’d talked to the lady a few times but calling her by her name was out of the question. And, definitely, he had never been that close to Buffy’s mother. Buffy… His movements became more restless. The pain wasn’t supposed to be there. Something pinned his hands to the mattress. Darla’s golden hair then… Darla and that night in which he had been chosen as a making-up present. Her present to his twisted Childe…

Spike yelled and squirmed and the hands disappeared like hands did in a dream. Only whispers now. The nightmare went on. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t open his eyes.




Buffy peeked from behind a car, waiting for Xander and Oz to get Anya. Too many pins to be attached to her coat in those days. Mad, fugitive, vamp’s bitch. And now, kidnapper. A poke on her shoulder nearly gave her a stroke.

“How many times, people, do I have to say this? No paws on my car!” Taking out a handkerchief from her purse, Cordelia cleaned the supposed dirty spots from the red surface. “And what? Aren’t you going inside? Don’t tell me! They’ve finally expelled you!” She sighed with evident glee.

“I promise not to touch your precious car anymore if you leave right now, Cordelia. If not I’ll kick it. You know, a super Slayer’s kick.” Buffy said the last words ducking a little when a suit man went out the school doors.

“Hiding from that Watcher of yours, eh?” Something in Cordelia’s voice caught her attention. “Can’t blame you really. He’s such a total jerk! What? He is and you know it. I mean, he didn’t need to tell Snyder that I spent too much time in the library, did he? It wasn’t that I wanted… Okay, I can’t fool you. I wanted it. But he…”

“Cordelia, Cordelia, please…” Buffy was more than eager to listen to that particular tale. Could be of some help if her plans went wrong. Mad, kidnapper, and pin number five... Briber. Xander was coming downstairs with a pleased Anya dangling from his arm, followed by Oz. Cordelia had to be sent away. Now.

“Oh, that bitch! Guess some people are meant to be together…” Cordelia’s eyes went after the trio. She was taken aback when Xander gave Anya a quick push to force her into the van. “Wait!” She grabbed Buffy’s arm before she could run away. “If you’re going to take her to that demon prison I want to go. She owes me!” She shouted jumping on the front seat of the van after pushing Buffy aside. “You go back there. Demons and you… Well, let’s say you’re used to dirty clothes…” She smiled and shut the door.



The smell in the empty Magic Shop weren’t as pleasant as it used to be. Some of the things kept on the jars had horrible greenish goo floating on the liquid they had been maintained freshly. Others jars had shattered into pieces and nasty gluey slime shed to the floor as if the shelves were drooling.

Buffy dragged a heavy table to block the basement door and turned round to look at Anya, sitting on a wooden chair.

“What do you want? I’m human now.” Anya stated without a thread of fear. Her head was a little tilted to a side and a bored, disgusted line curved her lips.

“I want you to cast a spell for me.” Buffy crossed her arms on her chest. Her gaze was hard and murky.

“Yes, sure. And then you’re going to lock me up in that… whatever it is of yours. Won’t do it.” She imitated Buffy’s posture.

“Okay, since you’re nothing but human now I guess it’d be pretty simple to snap your neck in two…” Standing in front of her, Buffy put her hands on the back of the chair.

Anya laughed. A true, amused laugh. Buffy winced a little. “That’s impossible. You’re the Slayer and slayers don’t kill humans.”

“Don’t be that sure…” It was only a murmur.

“Maybe certain slayers, but not you.”

Cordelia hit a cobweb with her purse and stepped forward. “Well, I’m not a slayer so I could break your neck if you don’t help. After all, you ruined my wish. I died!” One of her shoes stamped the floor lifting a small cloud of dust.

“I cast a perfect spell. You ruined it.” Anya glared at her with antipathy.

“Maybe I’d eat you.” Oz smiled sweetly. His eyes locked with Anya’s and she was the first one to avert her gaze.

“No. We would have to wait till next full moon for that and I don’t have that much time…”

“Time for what?” Cordelia looked at Buffy as if she just found out she was locked up in a cellar. “I mean, I thought you’re going to lock her not ask for spells… Why do you want a spell? And why are we hiding like common criminals?”

“You want the long story or the short one?” Xander teased. “Okay, Buffy believes… knows, - he changed with a nod, - that this reality has been bent a little. Meaning that the Watcher we all know it’s not really her watcher. She wants things back as they were. Her Watcher and Willow back with her.”

“You mean this here is not true? You mean that I was suspended from school nearly a month and forced to be humiliated in front of my friends for somebody who doesn’t even exist?” Cordelia was blushing so hard even in the soft light of the basement her cheeks looked as red as beets. “Not to mention that we have to wear these awful clothes ‘cause your Watcher, - she stated with an accusatory voice, - has talked the Principal into forcing the students to wear ancient, completely out of date, boarding-school style! I can only wear decent shoes just not to look like a complete loser! Not that you could have a problem with that subject but…”

“Cordi, later, okay?” Buffy stared at Cordelia for a minute. She hadn’t noticed before but the Queen of Design looked like a fifty year old woman clothed in a long dark skirt and a yellow turtle neck sweater. Which wasn’t even tight. She was right. It was awful. Turning to Anya she showed her a piece of paper. “Here’s what you’ve got to do. It’s not that difficult. You do it, you go away.”

“If I do it, would you, don’t know, help me to get my demon status again?” Having no answer Anya skimmed the sheet and sighed. “That’s it? You can’t do it yourselves? This human thing is pathetic, really. You’re worthless. I’m worthless!”

“That means you can do it?” A third smile shone on Buffy’s face when Anya nodded her acceptance.

“But first you must tell me everything. I mean, the whole story. Don’t want you to accuse me of having ruined a perfect spell.” Anya parried the blow Cordelia aimed to her head with her head. She thought she should buy one of those. To use it as a weapon. Seemed useful… “Where did you get this words from? And this list…”

“I’ll explain, then you put your ex demon hands to it. Understood?” Buffy sat on a table and began to talk.



“So I thought that if I could, well, you could, open a portal in that same date and spot as Willow did, maybe I could have a chance…” Buffy looked around but there wasn’t anything remotely similar to water. Her throat was burning. “Like a travel machine, you know…”

“But that was Halloween!” Xander was impressed by his friend’s tale. Nobody that could explain things so accurately could be that mad. It wasn’t that he’d considered… Maybe a little delusional… But he had been scared. Now, he was terrified. Buffy was in lo… Buffy was dating Spike! Regularly. Having met him as human didn’t change the big subject. And Faith… She was a bitch. He knew that. Her strength and Angelus together were like a Molotov cocktail. Not to mention that disgusting Mayor. He had that superior speech… Every time he appeared on the TV Xander turned it off. Maybe it was something with that weasel face of his. Or the fact that he talked as if he were some god trapped among useless dwarves…

“Yes, and the memorial service would be on November the 14th. According to the book. If she can change the date just for a few days…” Buffy’s heart was ablaze with hope. “I’ve figured out that, since the dress was the… vehicle… is that the word? Anyway, that maybe we could bewitch the dress I have. It could be helpful to come back home…”

“What if you have to change clothes?” Cordelia blinked several times. Buffy changing? Doubtful… Only if she could find jeans and thighs in the nearest Victorian shop… “I mean, if your dress get all muddy, as usual and… You know what. Forget it. It’ll never happen.”

“I was free to go everywhere I wanted…” Melancholic eyes and deep sighs. Anya was lost in her glorious memories. “I had this beautiful pendant…” The chair knocking against the floor brought her back from her reverie.

“That’s it!” Buffy didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I’ve got a necklace! Since I don’t know how long it will take me to find this guy I’ll need something I can open the portal with. Can’t keep all of you waiting here. I mean, it’s not that I’m going to phone or something.” Revamped. That was how she felt. Full of new strength and back to the fight. “Cordelia, can you take me home? I’ve got to dress properly and I’m sure you could help with that. Xander, you go back to school and make sure everybody knows there’s something really wrong with Buffy. That she’s being chased by her Watcher or something like that. In the meantime, Oz will help you with everything you need. Take what you want.” She pointed at the shelves around. “It’s free of charge.” Six pins. Thief. And see if I care…




A thin, long haired, young vampire was sat on the edge of the bed in which Spike was still lying. His hands went from a bowl containing a blue scented liquid to the half-healed wounds on Spike’s body. His grey eyes never left the skin he was cleansing. His long fingers moved in slow, pleasured circles on the pale flesh.

Angelus stood in the room threshold for a while, watching him. The young guy didn’t even notice he was being stared by an interested gaze. “Where’s Faith?” Angelus finally asked and had to hold back a giggle when the fellow nearly fell to the floor. The metal bowl jumped from his lap and chimed on the tiles like a bell.

“She… she went out, sir.” His fear was so evidently disgusting. Rookies had always annoyed him. They were like pariahs crawling backwards. “She said she had something to check.”

Nodding, Angelus smiled slyly. “You like him, don’t you boy? Bet you’re thinking that somebody like you would never have somebody like him. After all, you’re a minion…” He took out a packet of cigarettes from a pocket and lit one with a gold lighter. “Imaging the humiliation… A master vampire being shagged by a useless minion…” A silvery, thin column of smoke swirled in the air. “Unless he was unconscious… Unless somebody had given you some blessing…”

Shaking from head to toes, the young vampire could see a stake in those dark eyes. The cloth fell from his fingers and he was about to beg for his un life when Angelus’s next words staked him better than a wooden weapon.

“Unless nobody had ever seen you…” Angelus stepped out closing the door in the gentlest way. The distinctive sound of a key reached the fellow’s ears. He had been locked up. Alone. With an unconscious, gorgeous master vampire… The fear in his grey eyes petered out as a hungry spark replaced it.

tbc...
 
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