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Chapter 13
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Spike was burning up. He was still in a near coma, but what was most disturbing was the high fever he was running.

"I just don’t get it. Vampires don’t run any temperature at all, they’re your basic room temperature model. I can’t find any magic, so it has to be something that was on that arrow. It feels like déjà vu in a way, but I can’t put my finger on it." Willow was starting to really worry about the survival of her charge.

"Wait! I know this! I’m having a thought here, Will. Yes, a definite thought." Xander looked positively excited. "Remember Angel when Faith tried to make a pincushion out of him? We had to baby-sit him while Buffy went all ‘Xena, Warrior Princess’ on Faith to get blood for Angel? It was some kind of poison and Angel was sweating like a steelworker ‘til Buffy let him nearly drain her. That’s what this looks like…like the…what did they call it? Oh yeah, ‘killer of the undead’, I remember! The only cure was the blood of a slayer!" Xander looked downright proud of remembering.

"Ooh yeah! Buffy went all ‘no one messes with my boyfriend’ and quit the council. I remember, too! We’ve got nothing to lose by trying some good old-fashioned vintage slayer. We’ve got enough slayers here to take a little from each of them to cure Spike and not even make them sleepy! Xander, you’re a lifesaver or something like it."

Willow called Vi in and told her what they needed. Vi was happy to help her old comrade and trainer Spike. She organized the blood donation from the girls there
at Council headquarters. Those girls who had been in the Hellmouth with Spike had been first in line to donate. The other girls had heard their stories and
were more than happy to roll up their sleeves and add a pint or two. Soon there were bags aplenty of potentially curative blood.

"You know, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some slayer blood on hand, for medicinal purposes anyway. Never know what it might cure." Xander was filled
with optimism and they hadn’t even managed to get any of the blood into Spike yet.

***

By the time Giles and Dawn arrived at headquarters, Spike was back to his normal hyper self. It was all Willow could do to keep the vampire at rest, insisting
he have sufficient down time to prevent a relapse.

"Man, you need to save all that energy for fighting the oogly-googlies we’ll face getting the Buffster out of whereever they’ve got her. You seriously need
some Ritalin, dude! Bet you were always getting spanked in school."

"You offerin’, Whelp? I didn’t know you cared." Spike smirked at the horrified look on Xander’s face at the thought. "Just what do you mean ‘we’? You plannin’
on a bit of dimensional cruisin’ with the Big Bad when we figure out where she is?"

"I’m there. Look, I know you think I’m just a puny human, but I’ve been backing up Buffy since we were kids. I can watch your back better than anybody. Besides, if things go wrong, you don’t think I want to miss seeing you get your pale ass whupped, do you?"

Spike laughed at that and replied, "I’ve seen you fight. You’re all right in a tight corner. Be glad to have you along." He wished he had a camera to capture
the look of surprise on Xander’s face at that!

Spike would never admit to the boy that he had always grudgingly admired him for his bravery over the years. In all the time Spike had gone up against humans,
precious few had put up much of a fight once they knew what he was. Xander had taken on vampires and demons, knowing how outmatched he was, for years. He had no
superpowers or enhanced healing to fall back on either. No, best not say anything. The whelp’s head would likely explode thinking Spike admired him for anything at all.

If Spike had overheard the conversations correctly while he was recovering, Xander had been the one to latch onto the cure for him as well. Spike couldn’t let that go without some remark. "Glad your brain was workin’ better than usual rememberin’ the cure for the poison. Thanks for that."

"Yeah, well, we still need your undead ass to find Buffy", Xander replied. His genuine smile showed that there were more reasons than that for his desire to
see Spike survive however. "You can be handy to have around."

"Should I go pick out china patterns or register us or somethin’? You do know if we start being civil to each other Buffy’ll be convinced she’s still in some
other dimension and just try to leave, don’t you?" Spike grinned at Xander and the two shared a short laugh.

Giles poked his head in the doorway looking more than a little startled at hearing the shared laughter. "I was hoping you were on the mend, Spike. However, if you are getting on with Xander, there must still be residual damage."

"Come on in and join the fun, Giles. Just think if all three of us were getting along, Buffy’d probably think she was trapped in another weird world like when she was in that asylum and tried to kill us all. That would be majorly bad!" Xander began to laugh again at the thought.

Giles couldn’t stop his lip from quirking in a small grin at the thought. "I suppose she would be rather surprised at that. Speaking of recovering Buffy, do
you think you’ll be up for a trip to the Cotswolds and this Deeper Well tomorrow, Spike? I am putting together a score of slayers to accompany us and deal with those demon warriors you spoke of. You can locate the proper tree more quickly without the added distraction of a fight."

"Tree? Don’t tell me we’re going for answers from the Keebler elves?" Xander looked puzzled.

"No elves, nitwit! Those aren’t even what elves really look like anyway and they don’t bake! The tree is the entrance to the Deeper Well where all the Old Ones
are buried…all but Illyria, that is. She got out." Spike looked a bit exasperated at Xander’s lack of knowledge about creatures as powerful and stately as elves. He probably thought they were silly midgets who assembled cheap toys at the North Pole when not makin’ those cookies and such!

Talk of the Deeper Well led to a serious discussion about the plan to talk to the Guardian and the events that had last led Spike and Angel to the prison for old demons. Xander was suitably regretful about the events leading up to the death of the Burkle girl. He had never met Fred but remembered Willow speaking highly of her. From the sound of it, Spike had held her in high esteem, too.

"I’ll be fine and fit to unleash upon unsuspectin’ demons by tomorrow, don’t you worry ‘bout it, Watcher. I’m still hopin’ the Senior Partners got lazy and just
zapped all our missing to the same place. This Guardian should be able to tell where Angel and Blue are at least."

Spike hated to admit that he was hoping to bring his sire and the odd yet compelling demon god back to his own world in a short time. It would be icing on the cake to get Buffy back that quickly too. Of course, that would mean that Buffy and Angel would have had all this time to cozy up and bond again. Hell, if they
got her back safe and sound, he’d throw the bloody party for her and Angel himself. Then quietly go off and stake himself.

~~~

The demon warriors were no match for the well trained group of girls. Spike, flanked by Giles and Xander, entered through the doorway concealed in the giant
tree and came face to face with a twelve-foot demon of unknown variety. "This the new Guardian then?" Spike looked at Giles for some clue how to address the being
before them.

"You are Enkidu of the Nephalim and current guardian of the Deeper Well?" Giles bowed slightly to the large creature in front of them. "Son of a Titan, renowned
in ages past and current protector of realms, I greet you and implore your assistance."

The giant looked, not at Giles, but at Spike and replied. "Your arrival was predicted, half-breed. That which you seek is not here. The cursed one and
the escaped Old One are in another dimension that must be accessed from another part of this world. You must look to the New World and the place of their Old Ones. I can give you directions, but entrance is won in battle. There is the place of ‘he who holds destiny’, it is there you will find those lost to you. Know your foe well before engaging in battle. There will be a price demanded that must be paid if any may return. Have what you need with you or be prepared to
sacrifice one of your number." The giant glanced at Spike’s two companions as he said this.

"Okay, not liking the sound of that. Why do I get the feeling the price isn’t something we can put on the Council’s Visa card? Got any idea what this guy, this
very large glowering guy, is talking about, Giles?" Xander lowered his voice as the giant turned his eyes on him .

"Actually, you might have given us the clue we need from that postcard you were given in Greece. There are those who feel the ancient gods early civilizations worshiped were actual beings. Demons or Old Ones most likely, although there is a fringe element that believe them to have been extraterrestrials. The name you were given is that of a god of the Aztecs. That would also fit with the New World the guardian referred to. As for the price, well, we need to research Aztec culture a bit more, but I think I may have some idea of what it would be. If I am
right, we’ll have to think of something creative to pay it."

"Not wanting to go all Art Bell on you, but what if they were extraterrestrials? We can’t just borrow a shuttle from NASA", Xander said.

"Don’t be ridiculous, Xander, what sort of a universe do you think you live in? Extraterrestrials, indeed!" Giles huffed at the thought that Xander could be so
gullible.

"I used to listen to that show. Not so crazy at all, Watcher. In fact, I called in one night when the bloke had open lines for any real vampires to call in.
Don’t think he believed me though." Spike looked thoughtful as he continued, "Maybe it was ‘cause I told him all about the whole chip thing and all. Don’t know why else he wouldn’t believe me. Not like I had one of those daft stories he has sometimes, like those chupacabra things that suck blood from goats. I mean goat blood is vile, no self-respectin’ creature’d drink that!"

"Spike, do be serious", Giles said in disgust, "you’re beginning to annoy the giant demon."

They got the necessary directions from the giant demon and headed back to headquarters to make certain they had all the information they would need for their planned encounter with Tezcatlipoca.

"If you’re thinkin’ what I am ‘bout that price we’ll be havin’ to pay, I may have an idea. It’s a long shot and not all that easy either but better than
anything else I can think of. When we get back, I’m gonna’ put a call into Charlie boy. Need to run an idea by him and just hope he’s in the mood to take a chance by givin’ us a hand." Spike looked quite serious indeed.