Chapter 15. Choices

“Change your mind then, pet?” Spike inquired, deceptively mildly. “Doesn’t sound like the best of choices to me, luv, but when has my opinion ever mattered to you lot? I happen to think you’d look right good as a demon, pet. What you’ve got now is false advertising. Pretty enough packaging, but not so sweet and mild mannered on the inside. Let’s see what’d suit you? Fyral perhaps. Or, I know, I nice slimey Chaos demon. Can’t think of a demon I hate worse than those buggers, all slime and antlers and insincerity. That’d be about right, I think.”

“Shut up, Spike,” Buffy ordered. “You were right the first time. No one wants to hear your opinion. We’re sticking with the original plan. If we have to go through with the sale, we’ll do it. Despite how much I’d love our positions to be reversed for even five minutes…”

As her voice trailed off, Buffy could just make out Spike’s whispered, “It’d almost be worth it,” and firmly pushed aside her memory of those few minutes of insanity back in the prop room.

Firmly she continued, “Canceling the sale sounds like a bad deal all around. Even if Willow could reverse the spell, it wouldn’t help us get any closer to Tara. And that’s what this is all about.”

“Okay then,” Willow would back her friend’s decision, whatever it was. But she was glad that it would not entail her trying to undo a spell that had obviously been cast by experts. Even Willow had to admit there were some limits to her power – at least at her current level of knowledge. The professionals employed by the demon agency would almost certainly have built in precautions against just what they were considering attempting. The results of a failed reversal could be worse than the original curse, although it was hard to imagine how.

“I agree with Buffy,” Willow admitted. “Sticking with the plan is probably the best option. We let the auction take place, and hope that Anton is the buyer so you can get in close to Tara and rescue her. Spike, what exactly is it that makes you think Anton will win the auction?”

“Oh, he wants to win all right.” There would be few demons out there who wouldn’t. But Anton’s resources were far greater than most demons, and his desire to own the unattainable would be coupled with his desire to humiliate Spike. He tried to explain his reasoning to the girls.

“Demons are a lot like teenage girls, Red. They love to spread gossip. The story will have already spread that I wanted to keep the Slayer to myself, but was forced to go through with the sale. That little tidbit will surely get back to Anton. You may not have noticed, Slayer, but Anton and I aren’t exactly the best of friends. It’ll give Anton another way he can get one up on me, by taking for himself something that he knows I want to keep.”

“So, all to the good, right? I know it’s not exactly the way we planned it, but this sounds even better. If it gets us close to Tara…” Buffy also didn’t see the problem.

“You’d be his property, Slayer! Do you think I want that?” The girls just weren’t getting it at all. He really hated to be the one to explain it to them. “He’ll be ready for trouble, now. They know you’re the Slayer, and they know you’re still dangerous, even if you are supposed to be under thrall. The Auctioneer pretended to buy that bill of goods I sold him, because it suits his own purposes to pretend to believe it. Anton’s not stupid, Slayer. He’s not likely to take any chances. You’ll be heavily guarded, and probably chained, until he’s sure he’s got you under his control.” He sighed and shook his head. There was a lot that he needed to think about and prepare, and not a lot of time to do it in. “At least you’ll be spared the block. If we pretend we’re too busy in here, they’ll hold the auction without you physically being present.”

“How about this idea?” Willow had been thinking about ways to fulfill the terms of the contract, without the unpleasantness of Buffy actually having to be sold. “If you’d rather Anton didn’t actually buy her, well, couldn’t you buy her back yourself? Or, or…” Willow was so excited now she practically bounced off the edge of the bed. “I could buy her. As evil vampire Willow, that is. That way, well, the sale will have been completed, so the contract breaking provisions won’t go into affect, but we’d still have Buffy,” Willow reasoned. “I mean, you’d be paying yourself. So what’s the big?”

“Willow, even if I don’t have to pay the purchase price, the buyer’s premium is due immediately upon sale. That’s twenty-three percent of the purchase price.” Spike winced. He really didn’t like to admit this part. “I don’t think I can cover it.”

“You can’t cover the cost of the commission? Come on, you’ve lived like forever, you’ve got to have some cash squirreled away somewhere, right? Besides, you can always steal more.” She couldn’t believe that she was saying this – urging Spike to steal. “Or maybe we can get the money from Giles.”

“No,” he answered. “We can’t. For one thing, payment is due upon receipt of the merchandise – and there’s no time to raise that kind of cash. I’ll admit I’m not exactly as broke as I may have made out that I was, but hoarding cash never was my style. I mean, what would be the point? It’s not like there’s much worth buying that a vamp can’t just as easily steal.”

Seeing Buffy’s unapproving frown he moved on. “Besides, you lot don’t seem to realize the kind of money that we’re talking here. Not, ‘I need a new car’ kind of money. Not even if it was a really nice car. Maybe when we first started this – but not now. Now we’re talking more like ‘beach house in Malibu’ cash.” For the first time since this whole scheme began Buffy saw Spike with a genuine smile. “After this sale goes through – I’m gonna be bloody rolling in it.”

Squinting her eyes Buffy decided she needed to take Spike down a notch or two. “Not likely. Despite appearances, you don’t own me, Spike. And since it’s my body we’re selling, I should get to keep the cash.”

Spike grinned. “Fine Slayer. And that makes you what, exactly?”

For once suppressing her urge to strike out at Spike, Buffy turned to Willow. “Okay, so the plan is Spike gets stinking rich selling me to Anton, then I go in all meek and slavey looking, dust whoever gets in my way, get Tara, and we’re out of here.”

There were undercurrents to this conversation that Willow just didn’t understand. I mean, sure, they got on each other’s nerves a lot, but this felt different. Something was going on between Spike and Buffy. Willow really wished she hadn’t spent so long cowering in a closet. It seemed she had missed a lot.

“Few details yet to work out, Slayer,” Spike mentioned. He didn’t like to bust her bubble, but it had to be done. It was not going to be nearly as simple as she made it sound. Not any more. “First, if the sale is going to be convincing, and it better be or we’re all dead, I need to be able to hand him something other than just your leash.” Both girls turned to look at him, so he continued. Buffy wasn’t going to like this part, but there was nothing to be done for it. “I am going to have to put you under a thrall.”

“No way! I am not, repeat, NOT about to let that happen, Spike. Besides I doubt you could anyway.”

“Wanna bet?” There was no way he was ever going to admit to her that he had used a thrall on her twice already on this little escapade. He liked all his parts intact, even if he rarely got to use them. “Look, we never intended for things to go this far – certainly not with them knowing who you are and what you are still capable of. And not – like this - not - with you not being bloodstock. But this plan isn’t going to work without some kind of thrall. He’ll know.”

Despite the fact that he had gloated about how he stood to earn a lot of money, Buffy could tell that Spike wasn’t happy with the turn events had taken.

Placating, Spike continued. “I can teach you how to break the thrall, Slayer. So long as you know it’s there, you should be able to do it. That’s why it’s so dangerous, you don’t even notice it happening. Of course, you’ll need some practice, but you should be able to do it. Especially since the bond with your new owner will be fresh. You won’t be under Anton’s control long – I promise you. If Anton decides to get frisky, you’ll be able to say no.”

“Oh – that is SO not a problem, Spike,” Buffy fumed. “Did you see that guy? There’s no way I’d ever let Butt-Ugly get close enough to – you know – thrall or no thrall.”

“I hope you’re right Slayer. I’m going to be counting on that bloody mindedness of yours. But even if things don’t go as planned, I’ll be nearby to lend assistance.”

“You will? How exactly are you going to manage that?” Was it his imagination, or did Willow sound somewhat relieved?

“I will. I mentioned it earlier, but I suppose it needs a little explanation. When you were scouting around before we ran into Tara and her master Anton. Tara recognized Buffy and that’s when things all started to turn to shite. It was a tricky situation, and I had to talk fast. I smoothed things over and managed to stick in a witness clause. It’s not that uncommon, but usually reserved for special situations, so I guess it sort of fits with the story I’ve told. Now that the witness claim’s been made public, the buyer will be forced to agree to it. It’ll be part of the terms of sale.”

“Huh?” Their blank stares told him the girls obviously weren’t tracking. He’d never actually told them, but what they knew about vampires and slave auctions wouldn’t fit in a thimble. So he spelled it out for them.

“Told him that I wanna watch while he… that is… I wanna watch. Hence the term, witness. That’s another reason I’m so sure Anton will be the buyer. Aside from being a bloody rich coward, he’ll get an extra kick out of it. He’ll enjoy watching me while I’m watching him with you.”

“Huh?” Both girls still sounded perplexed, and it was probably just as well.

“Don’t worry about it kitten, because it’s not gonna happen. There’s just one more thing we’ll need to do.”

“What’s that?” It seemed like their plan was foolproof. What were they forgetting?

“Well, Slayer, what are we doing up here?”

“Making plans, strategy, for how we’re gonna get Tara back…”

Buffy stopped rambling as Spike raised his brows at her. “What?” she asked, clearly annoyed. “We are too.”

“You want to tell them that?” Spike gestured towards the locked and enchanted door, reminding them of the demon and vampire guards standing just beyond it. “What do they think we’re doing up here?”

“Oh.” Buffy covered her mouth with her hand and turned a bright crimson.

Spike couldn’t help but think her blush was amazingly attractive.

“We’re not… I mean...” The Slayer was adorable when she stuttered like a teenager. Of course, that wasn’t far from the truth.

“S’alright, Buffy,” Spike put her out of her misery. “I know we’ve lost the magic of the moment.”

“Moment? What moment? There we moments?” Wondering exactly where Spike was going with this, Buffy ignored Willow’s comments. If she was still in the dark as to what exactly had been going on in that prop room, Buffy surely wasn’t going to enlighten her.

“Even so, Slayer, it’s got to look right if we’re gonna convince anyone. Have to put some effort into appearances, or the game will be up before we even get to Tara.”

“Spike and I need to have a talk. Do you think you can re-cast that glamour now, Willow? Maybe go scout around a little bit, see where Anton’s group is holed up?”

“Sure. No problem, Buffy. But you’ll tell me about everything I missed later, right? I don’t like feeling left out of the loop. I’m here to help you guys in whatever way I can. And the best way for me to do that is if I know what’s going on. So fill me in, alright?”

“Sure, Willow,” Buffy bit her lip and lied through her teeth. “I’ll tell you everything as soon as this is over.”

A/N: There was a lot of interest in the contract aspect. Considering the borrowed nature of this story, if anyone wants to pick it up from this point and write an ending where they choose to break the contract, have at it. I agree that it would be interesting.