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Freedom by icemink
 
Chapter 29
 
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Chapter 29:

It was the violent shaking that woke Spike up.

"What the. . ?" he asked as he opened his eyes to find Buffy frantically trying to wake him.

"He's going to kill her, we have to go." Buffy said leaping out of bed and hurrying to get dressed.

"Who's going to kill who and why do we care?" he said confused by her actions.

It was almost sunset anyway, so he figured he might as well get up. The last few days had been about as peaceful as he could expect. Neither of his two childer liked each other, but at least neither of them had tried to kill each other.

And now that Gwen was back with the Gem of Amara, Spike was forced to kick his plans to get rid of the Master into high gear. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He was starting to realize that maybe the whole plan had been partly suicidal.

At the time it seemed like he'd lost everything. He was doing it to protect the girl he thought he could never have. But now he did have her, and part of him thought they should just run off to some far corner of the globe and forget all about the Master.

Unfortunately, the Master was set on world domination, even if he was going about it with the patience of a centuries old vampire. The longer it took for someone to stop him, the harder it would be. And he wasn't sure how Buffy would take it if he gave up on the plans to kill the Master. After all, her desire to stop him had been one of the things that had led to her letting herself be turned.

But right now he just needed to figure out exactly what bee had flown up his childe's bonnet.

"The Master, he's going to kill the Princess," she explained. "We have to get to Sunnydale before sunrise tomorrow."

He shook his head, not really having any idea what she was talking about. He grabbed her by the arms, to stop her flurry of movement.

"Buffy, kitten, you just had a dream, every thing's okay."

"Of course I had a dream," she said as if he'd just pointed out the most obvious thing. "That's why we have to get moving, before it happens."

She pulled out of his grasp and sat down on the edge of the bed to lace up her boots.

"Before what happens?" he asked still very unsure of what was going on with his childe.

"Before the Master burns the Princess," she repeated. "And Miss Edith too, I think."

He grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at him. "Who told you about Miss Edith?" he asked frantically.

He still hadn't the slightest clue what was happening, but hearing the name Miss Edith chilled him to the bone, especially if she was going to be burned along with a 'princess'.

"No one told me about her, I met her. She helped me get into the tea party."

If he didn't know better he'd think he was talking to Drusilla. Buffy was making about as much sense. Not to mention the talk of Miss Edith and tea parties. He was sure he'd never mentioned anything like that to her. He'd remained pretty vague on the topic of his sire, and none of the other vampires had ever met Drusilla.

"What tea party?" he asked as calmly as he could.

"The one in the garden." When it became clear to Buffy that that didn't mean anything to Spike she added, "In my dreams." Then a thought occurred to her. "Do I have to tell Ms. Post? I was always supposed to before, but I don't want to. The Princess promised me that she wouldn't be invited to the tea party."

Spike might not understand what was going on, but he did know a thing or two about dealing with crazy person logic, and if anyone might have a clue as to what was happening it was the former Watcher.

"Well, if she's not invited it can't hurt to tell her about the dream can it? In fact, it'll probably make her jealous."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that. I do miss things sometimes."

She quickly finished with the knot on her second boot, and rushed out of the bed room to find Ms. Post. Spike followed, figuring that it was wise he not let the two women alone together, even if it did mean walking around without a shirt or shoes.

"Hey, wake up!" Buffy yelled without a hint of politeness when she got to the area of the warehouse Gwen had staked out as her own.

"What on earth. . ?" was the former Watcher's annoyed response as she woke form sleep.

"I had a slayer dream," Buffy stated.

"You're not the slayer anymore, you can't have slayer dreams," Ms. Post said as she rolled over, away from her former charge.

"Can too," Buffy insisted.

"Hold on," Spike interrupted. "What's a slayer dream?"

Realizing she wasn't going to get anymore sleep, she sat up and explained, "The Slayer is connected to all the slayers who came before her through her dreams. They often dream of the past experiences of those slayers. In addition they have prophetic dreams. There's a continual debate in the council over whether these dreams are the result of the slayer accessing the same part of the dreamscape that seers do, or whether it is a result of contact with the spirits of the dead who are known to be able to access the future."

"See," Buffy said looking at Spike. "This is why I didn't want to tell her. By the time she gets through analyzing it'll be too late."

"It doesn't matter," Ms. Post insisted. "She's not the slayer anymore, some other girl is."

"Maybe," said Spike. "But she's not the only dreamer in the family. Tell me what you dreamed, baby."

"Well like I said, I was in the garden." Seeing that Spike didn't know what she was talking about she explained. "Ever since I became a vampire, I dream about this garden. Every thing's dead there, but it all still grows. And it's always night, but the stars are made of paper and they drip blood. Oh, and if you lick them they scream.

"Anyway, there's a gazebo, and the Princess has tea parties there. And there are these fat little angels, cherubs, and when you bite into them they taste like marmalade.

"But tonight she was tied up to a stake and burning, and so was Miss Edith, and it was the Master, I just know it. We have to get there before morning, or he'll kill the Princess."

"What on earth did you do to her when you were holding her prisoner?" Ms. Post asked Spike.

But despite what the ex-Watcher might think, Buffy had just given a fairly rational description of things that Dru had hinted at over the years. It was as if she had somehow found a way into Drusilla's world.

"The Princess, what does she look like?" he asked her.

"She's real pretty. She's got long brown hair, and brown eyes, well, except when she's in her vampire face. And she likes to sing and dance. Oh, and she has a British accent, but more like yours than Ms. Posts."

"Right. Everybody up!" Spike yelled, rousing all the minions. "Get up and get ready. We go to Sunnydale tonight."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Ms. Post protested. "We have careful plans set up and-"

"It's Dru, my sire, Drusilla, I left her with the Master. Should have known better. She was bound to start annoying him sooner or later."

"But that doesn't mean–"

He cut her off again. "Look, I don't know the first thing about slayer dreams. But what she described, it's straight out of one of Dru's vision. And you said something about seers right? Well that's what Dru is, and remember, they're bound by blood now."

By this time most of the minions were up and about, and Spike set abut getting everything organized, because the truth was they were about as ready as they were ever going to get. It might as well be now.

But, when he saw Buffy stick out her tongue at Ms. Post from the corner of his eye, he wondered if he wouldn't almost be better off with one less woman in his life.
 
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