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Chapter 14
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"Grisly bunch of buggers these Aztecs. Surprised the Spanish survived to commit genocide on ‘em." Spike put aside the history book he had been reading and sighed deeply. It looked as if the germ of an idea he had gotten as they were leaving the Cotswolds might be the only direction to take. Spike decided to wait and pay Charles Gunn a visit in person to make his request. Some things you just had to do face to face.

"I’d think you’d fit right in, Spike. I mean who better than a vampire to understand bloodthirsty?" Xander quipped.

"That’s just it. They were all for the bloodlettin’, but wasted all of it. Let it run down the steps of those temples of theirs. Not right wastin’ blood like that." Spike shook his head in disgust at the thought.

"So you’re a…what, vampire environmentalist with a ‘waste nothing’ approach to draining people?" Xander may have called a truce, but he still had to get his digs in when he could. Actually, he seemed to think Spike enjoyed the verbal jousting.

"Yeah, Whelp, sorta like you and doughnuts … don’t leave any crumbs behind," Spike got in the last word this time.

"Spike, you said you had an idea to deal with the payment necessary to leave that dimension after we’ve rescued Angel and Illyria. Would you mind sharing the idea? I don’t think we should leave it for the last minute," Giles said.

"I’d kinda like to talk it over with someone else first. If he’s up for lending some vital help, we might be okay. It’s a lot to ask though and I want him to feel free to turn me down. If we all approach him, he might feel pressured into helping and I respect him too much to do that." Spike looked sad as he spoke.

"I can certainly understand that. If this person should turn you down, do you by any chance have a backup plan?"

"Yeah. How attached are you to the Junior Watcher Boy?" Spike had seen Andrew skulking around the bookshelves and decided it was time to confront the lad. "I’m thinkin’ he might do in a pinch."

"Spike! What a pleasant surprise to see you here in London! You’ll be happy to know that I’ve been doing really well in the class on avoiding and resisting a thrall. Mr. Umboto says I’m at the top of my class. You were right. I need lots more training." Andrew looked uncomfortable in the presence of his hero.

Spike felt a bit bad for the boy. After all, Andrew had been the only one to greet his return with anything close to pleasure. "You’ll do fine eventually. You need to remember everyone fights evil one choice at a time;it’s not just a one time battle. You’ll make it."

Spike managed to dodge the boy as he lunged in for a hug.

"Why don’t you locate a few more books on this god for now? Need to know how to fight him if we want to stand any chance at all. If it was that easy, Illyria’d gotten herself out of there by now. She’s no easy one to beat in a fight."

"Maybe they did get free but can’t pay the price to get out", opined Xander.

"Yeah … not somethin’ you’d carry a spare", Spike muttered.

"Okay, enough with the cryptic. What’s this price you seem to have figured out? You two have been giving each other that doom-and-gloom look since we left the Deeper Well. It’s share time", Xander insisted.

Giles sighed and turned to face Xander. "The sacrifice made to Aztec gods, as you should know from all the research you’ve been assisting with today, was the heart of a warrior."

Xander blanched at the thought. "Can I say "eww"? I’d also like to point out that I am a sidekick and not a warrior while I’m at it."

"Too late now, Whelp. You’ve proven yourself in battle too many times." Spike smirked at the fear in Xander’s eyes.

"The whole idea is to come up with a way to make this payment without any of us leaving our hearts behind" , Giles explained.

"Yeah, I don’t think Tony Bennett had that in mind when he was singing about leaving his heart in San Francisco", Xander said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Not going that far north, you git. More like Northern Mexico according to the directions Tiny gave us." Spike pretended to ignore the looks given to him when he used his choice of nickname for the Guardian.

"Bleedin’ god sounds like some Morris Dancer, what with the bells and all", Spike muttered as he went back to his research.

"Oh great, we get the god of war! Didn’t the Guardian say we’d have to do battle to get in to the dimension? Nothing like taking on THE local war god. You know, I liked it much better when we just had to face off against stupid vamps and some demons. This god-of-the-month club we seemed to have joined is a bummer!" Xander complained.

"Hey, watch it with the ‘stupid vamp’ comments, Whelp. You stayed off the menu ‘cause of the soddin’ chip, not lack of plannin’." Spike glared at Xander.

"Yes and thank you for reminding us of why we all loved having you in our company, Spike, not to mention why there are trust issues still." Giles leveled a serious gaze at the vampire.

"Not stupid’s all. Not plannin’ on eatin’ the lot of you. Didn’t when I could have. Think I’d have earned a bit of trust by now." Spike whispered this but both the other men heard it anyway.

Spike began to feel uncomfortable being stared at by his companions and decided to put some space between them all to allow a cool-off period. ‘Gotta learn when to shut up’, he thought to himself.

Spike stood and started to exit the room. "That reminds me of somethin’ else. The sacrifice was of a BEATING heart, eh? Might need to have a talk with Willow on that one. ‘Scuse me while I go chat up the witch."

"Giles, say we aren’t going to be pulling hearts out of anyone, please?" Despite his best efforts, Xander sounded a little shaky.

"Of course we aren’t. I am interested in hearing what plan Spike may have to manage this, however."

~~~~

Willow and Spike had their heads together for over two hours, poring over books and grimoires. Finally Willow spoke. "I wonder if you’ll need a sacrifice for each one of you that plans to leave? I guess we need something big enough to hold multiples, just in case. I think I have what I need in the back room. I’m not much with the sewing, but I can do the spell part. Dawn is a pretty good seamstress and can make a decent pouch. Gotta make it leak proof ‘cause, human
hearts…pretty messy! Besides, I know she’ll want to contribute."

Giles entered the room and seemed to catch on to the plan without much effort. "I see. The plan is to take the sacrifices in to start. I assume the magic is to keep them beating?" At Willow’s nod, he continued, "The question remains, where are we going to get these hearts?"

"I’ve got an idea, like I said, but I don’t want to share ‘til I talk to my friend. Look, we’ll find them somewhere without killin’ anybody. Besides, needs to be the heart of a warrior, right? Can’t just go offin’ an accountant and hope for the best." From the look Giles gave him, Spike was sure he’d put his foot in his mouth yet again. "Just sayin’", he muttered sheepishly. Humans could be far too sensitive about some things.

"Oh, Giles, I’ve got another idea for something that might help. Andrew has been helping me with an idea for a kind of universal translator, like on Star Trek. Actually it was Andrew’s idea. I figure if you get there and they all speak Aztec, you won’t even be able to ask if they’ve seen Buffy or Angel." Willow began to sketch her plan for the device.

"The language is called Nahuatl, Willow, but that’s a very good idea. Such a device would be quite useful for more than just this mission. Do keep working on
both of these projects." Giles was impressed with Andrew using his pop culture obsession for something potentially useful.

"Not gonna have to stick something out of my ear, am I, Red?" Spike asked, envisioning the characters on Star Trek and the props they had used.

"Nope, strictly Next Generation or even Voyager", Willow said.

"But not ‘Enterprise’, ‘cause that sucked", offered Andrew from his position eavesdropping.

~~~

As soon as Willow had prepared the magical supplies they would need, Giles, Xander and Spike headed for L.A. Spike had called ahead and arranged for Gunn to meet them at LAX. Spike was finding it uncomfortable thinking what he was about to ask of the young warrior who had already lost so much in the cause of good.


"Yo! Spike, my man! Good to see your white-on-white self!" Gunn looked more relaxed then Spike had ever seen him. Of course, working at the shelter and practicing law were not as stressful as the constant battle against the forces of evil.

"Charlie! Lookin’ like life’s startin’ to pay you some respect! How’ve you been?"

"Not too bad, not too bad. Still miss some of it and still haunted by the blasted Gilbert and Sullivan in my head, but pretty good all things considered. Doin’ the good deeds with the regular folk, helpin’ lots of brothers and sisters. Killin’ the occasional sorry vamp, too, so I stay in shape. How you doin?"

"Been worse, haven’t flamed up in a while, so it’s all to the good. Hey, where’re my manners? This here’s the infamous Rupert Giles and the whelp’s Xander Harris. He’s kinda the white you…you know, human, but out fightin’ the fight."

Charles had narrowed his eyes at the mention of Giles but trusted Spike’s judgment enough to let it pass without comment. Obviously the vampire didn’t think the Watcher was going to betray anyone or withhold help that would lead to sweet girls dying again.

"Nice to meet you, Harris." Charles held out his hand to shake Xander’s. He merely nodded to Giles. Giles noted the snub and decided to ignore it. According to Spike the L.A. group held him to blame for their loss of a fine young woman. Giles supposed he’d react much the same way if their roles were reversed.

"So what brings you back to the land of sunshine and beaches? I’m bettin’ it’s not a vacation. Did you get a lead on Angel and Fred..er, Illyria? I kinda thought that might be it, ‘cause you called me instead of a travel agent." Charles looked at Spike closely trying to decide if this visit was good news or bad news. The vampire always had a face that was easy to read.

"Pretty close, Charlie. Got a lead all right, but it’s not all puppies and clover, if you know what I mean."

"Sound like normal stuff for us, hey?" Gunn threw an arm over Spike’s shoulder, emphasizing to the other two men the acceptance given to Spike by Angel’s crew. He’d heard enough about the Sunnydale contingent to know that Spike never got the props he deserved for the years of helping out, much less saving the world. Charles might never be considered a fan of vamps, but he recognized a good guy when he saw one, unlike some people who made decisions based on where a person worked.

Spike saw the surprised look on Xander’s face at the camaraderie and decided not to shrug off the arm as he would otherwise wish to do.

"Actually, I was hopin’ we could drop these two off to get their beauty sleep and you and I could go get a pint or two and talk about it." Spike really did want Charles to feel completely free to turn him down without an audience.

"So long as it’s not that damned poetry/biker bar you used to drag me to, I’m in." Gunn smiled to himself at the horrified look on Spike’s face. The confusion on the faces of his companions was pretty priceless, too. Gunn could see he could get a lot of mileage out of that bit of information!

Gunn dropped Xander and Giles off at the Hyperion. He’d been living there and making sure the renovations Spike had started were on schedule. Angel had left it to Spike, but Spike said it was really in trust for all the survivors of the battle. Hell, knowing Angel, Spike was probably right.

~~~

The bar was just a hole in the wall, but Guinness was on tap. They made small talk at first. It was obvious that Spike had something weighing on him, but Charles knew to wait for the vampire to get around to it on his own.

"So…hear anything from Lorne? Felt bad Angel had him do that bit of dirty work. Fella was a lover, not a killer. I shoulda taken out Lindsey, not him. Guess Angel felt McDonald wouldn’t get suspicious with Mr. Green Jeans."

"Nope, not a word. You’d think it wouldn’t be too hard to stumble on a red-eyed, green-skinned, singing demon but he’s as hard to find as the Invisible Man. Maybe he’ll get in touch someday, when he gets past all the crap of that last year. I’m sure he’s out there singing show tunes and knocking back sea breezes somewhere. Look, Spike, I’m willing to bet you didn’t just travel across the planet to ask if I’ve seen Lorne. What’s up?"

Spike ordered another pint for each of them and began catching Charles up on everything that had happened since they had parted company. The mood turned light
when Spike got to the part about the Italian CEO. "Think she’d be up for a tall, dark and handsome lawyer and former employee of her evil law firm? Sounds like the lady needs to be put on the right path."

"Thought you and that Anne bird were a match-up?" Spike was relieved to have a short delay in getting to the major issues that brought him there. "Don’t tell me you struck out again?"

"No. Never even picked up the bat. Anne’s really pretty, and sweet as they come, but you know…too much like Fred. Can’t seem to see past that, know what I mean? I’m still free, single and lookin’ for love in all the wrong places. What about you, you finally move on like Angel did?"

Spike went back to his story at that point. Starting with the back story of Andrew’s involvement with the whole Immortal part of the picture.

"So that whole ‘move on’ thing wasn’t even from her? Damn! That’s seriously cold!"

"Yeah. Still doesn’t mean she’d be wantin’ to pick things up with me, but it feels a bit better knowin’ she didn’t know I was there. The boy’s a menace though. He’s back at Watcher Central relearnin’ how to tell the bad guys from the good guys."

Spike took a deep breath and jumped into the rest of the story, having run out of delaying tactics. "So here we are getting’ ready to chase down this Aztec war god and go in guns blazin’. Well, not guns really…you think they’d help?"

"Don’t know if you can actually kill a god, Spike, but I’d think guns would do more damage to you guys. Well, maybe not you unless they were wooden bullets, I guess. Okay, I follow the game plan so far but gotta wonder what you need me for?"

Spike stared into his Guinness as if the meaning of life could be found in its foam. The silence was beginning to unnerve Charles. Suddenly the lawyer’s eyebrows shot up as he had a flash of an idea. "Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no and again, no! You cannot be going where I think you are with this train of thought. Jesus, Spike, I thought we were friends!"

"We are. That’s why I wanted to talk to you all private like. Look, I won’t blame you if you tell me to go to hell, even send me there yourself. I’ve done some really horrible things in my life, but askin’ a friend to do this is one of the worst, I know it. Look, I’d do it myself, but bein’ a vamp, my heart would likely dust as soon as it was out."

Charles’ mind reeled in remembered horror. The holding dimension with its basement of torture was one of those memories that Gunn would have been happy to have wiped away. Sure, he could see where Spike was coming from. It made sense, even to him. The problem was it was HIS heart they were talking about having cut out over and over. He wondered how many they were planning to ask for.

"You sure Angel and Illyria are in this dimension?"

"No. Look, I could lie to you and say we were certain and get you all guilted up to lend a hand, or heart I should say, but I respect you too much. Charlie, it has to be the heart of a warrior and I can’t think of any better than you. Not sayin’ that to score points either. Wasn’t kiddin’ ‘bout you and Harris earlier--damned brave humans. Easy to be a strong and tough warrior when you’re the Big Bad, ‘nother thing when you’re just a mortal. I really can’t think of any other way, unless I could sweet talk Xander into a tour of the W & H employee discipline hall of fame."

"Let me sleep on it, okay? Look, for what it’s worth, I know you’d not ask me if you thought there was any other way. I don’t hate you for asking. I’m grateful you’re doing this in private and letting me have the option, you know, with dignity. I’ll let you know in the morning, okay? I assume you have a plan for having a replacement for me after you get all the parts you need?"

"’Course. Woulda picked Eve, but the bint appears to be dead already. Remember that bugger Corbin Fries? I was still in that bleedin’ amulet when it all went down but I remember all of you talkin’ ‘bout that wanker. Was gonna kill his own kid to force you to get him off those charges. Your first case, wasn’t it?" Gunn nodded in memory of his first "win" in a courtroom.

"Think a visit from the lawyer that kept him out of prison might be in order. Little trip to suburban hell, switch the necklace and Fries gets to finally pay for his sins a bit, eh? Figure we play it right and his sprog stays nice and safe, even gets a better home out of it. Yeah, sleep on it, Charlie. I don’t want you to agree unless you are really willing to do this. If you say no, I’ll figure something else out. Not gonna push you into a corner with no real choice, unlike some other vamps we know. Won’t have anything but respect for you either way, your choice."

"So, how many hearts do you think you’ll be needing?" Gunn had a pained expression on his face at the prospect.