Title: Knight in Shining Leather
Author: TammyDevil666
Summary: Takes place during "Helpless." Buffy runs into another vampire instead of Kralik.
Rating: PG
Feedback: Any comments would be appreciated.
Author's Note: I was just thinking of this episode recently and figured I could do something with it. I’ll just say that things will be different. I haven’t seen the episode in a while, so I’m sure some of it won’t be exactly what happened. I guess that was the idea anyway, to make it different. I was going to make it a one shot, but I decided to make it two parts instead.
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me.


Chapter 1

Buffy was walking the streets by herself at night. She was suddenly wishing that she would have taken Angel up on his offer to walk her home. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so nervous. She walked by a group of guys and hoped that they wouldn’t cause any trouble, but there was no such luck.

“Hey, sweet girl! How much for a lap dance for me and my buddy?” They laughed to themselves.

Buffy tried to ignore them as she continued to walk. She stopped when she heard a noise nearby. She didn’t want to wait around for something to jump out at her, so she took off running. She briefly looked behind her to see if anything was after her, but that brief distraction caused her to crash into a hard chest. She was stunned when she stepped back, looking into the blue eyes of the vampire that was now standing in front of her.

He gave her a smirk. “Hello, cutie,” he said.

Buffy took another step back, dreading the fact that Spike was there. She figured he was back to finally kill her, but knew that she wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight in her weakened state.

Spike was confused at the look of fear on the Slayer’s face. “You all right, love? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Buffy didn’t know how to respond. She decided to take the coward’s way out again and took off in the other direction. This time, she knew she was being followed. Her speed wasn’t as good as it used to be and Spike grabbed her instantly. She struggled in his grip. “No, let me go!”

Spike wasn’t one to do what he was told and held her tighter. “Just calm down already. I’m not going to hurt you.”

She finally stopped moving at his words. For some reason, she actually believed him.

He turned her around, so she was looking at him. Something in him broke at the expression on her face. This wasn’t the same girl that he remembered fighting with before. Something was definitely wrong with her. “What happened to you?” he wondered, tilting his head to gaze at her better.

She shook her head. “I…I don’t know. I just wanna go home.”

Spike nodded and let her go. He decided to stick with her if he was ever going to find out what happened. “Yeah, I can do that. I just need to take care of something first.”

Buffy was surprised when she saw Spike walk away and head over to the same men that taunted her before. She gasped when he punched the guy in the face that spoke crudely to her.

“Show some bloody respect,” he spat, watching with a satisfied smile as the men ran away. He then made his way back over to Buffy. He didn’t say anything and just grabbed her hand, pulling her in the direction of her house.


* * * * *


Buffy entered her house, feeling more drained than she could remember.

Spike followed behind her and was surprised that she didn’t revoke the invitation after his last visit.

They moved into the living room and sat down on the couch, neither knowing what to say first.

Buffy finally spoke up when the silence became too much. “Why are you here?”

He shrugged. “I don’t really know. I thought I was done with this town after the last time, but something keeps bringing me back. Are you going to tell me what has you acting so skittish?”

Buffy took a deep breath before she spoke again. “My powers are gone. I don’t know how it happened. I’m just not strong anymore.”

“Well, there has to be something that caused it. Slayers don’t just lose their powers out of nowhere.” He stopped when something suddenly occurred to him. “How old are you, love?”

She raised her eyebrows at his question. “I just turned eighteen. Why?”

“Bloody hell,” he cursed under his breath. “I have a feeling I know what’s causing this.”

Buffy’s eyes lit up now. “What is it?”

“You should ask your watcher. He might be able to tell you better than I can.”

Buffy didn’t understand why Giles would know what was going on and not tell her, but she got up and went to the phone to make the call.


* * * * *


She got off of the phone a few minutes later and walked back into the living room.

Spike noticed the tears in her eyes and for some reason; it bothered him to see her in pain.

“I can’t believe he did this to me. He knew this whole time what was happening and he didn’t say anything. All for some stupid test.”

Spike didn’t know what to say after that. He watched as she sat down next to him, her heartbreak obvious on her face.

She turned to him. “How could he do this to me? I trusted him. He was going to lock me up with some crazy vampire and expect me to win without my powers.”

Spike ran his fingers through his hair, hating what he was about to say. “I don’t think you were supposed to win, Slayer.”

“What? Are you saying that the Council was hoping I would be killed? No, Giles wouldn’t do that.”

“It might not be him, but those blokes he works for. They like their Slayers to be puppets. They like them young and able to do their bidding. I’m sure you already broke all the rules by having your friends involved. Slayers are supposed to work alone. You’re the first one I know of that actually has family and friends around to care for. And I’m sure they don’t care for your feisty attitude either.”

That got a small smile out of her. “Well, Giles said the test would be over now that he told me about it. From what I have heard of this vampire, I really don’t wanna go up against him.”

“Who is he?”

Buffy thought back to what Giles told her. “I think it’s Kralik something, I didn’t get the first name.”

Spike’s eyes grew big. “Zachary Kralik? Bloody hell, they really weren’t planning on you making it out of there alive. He’s bloody insane, even when he was human. He has this thing about mothers. It’s best that you don’t know about that.”

Buffy had a look of fear on her face again. “Okay, now I really don’t wanna go up against him.” She heard a knock on the door. “That’s probably Giles wanting to apologize again.” She got up to answer it.

Spike suddenly had a strange feeling. “Buffy, wait!” he yelled and followed after her. What he saw was Buffy’s unconscious body being held by the demented vampire, Zachary Kralik. Spike vamped out. “Let her go,” he growled.

Kralik only gave him a twisted smirk. “I wanted the mother, but she’ll do nicely.”

Spike attacked him and realized how strong Kralik was. He was kicked into the stairs hard and fell to the ground. Kralik hardly had to put up much of a fight.

He gazed at the girl in his arms. “Time to play,” he said and carried her back to the boardinghouse where he was currently staying.


* * * * *


Joyce came downstairs when she heard the racket and was surprised to see a man passed out on her floor. She walked closer and it was then that she recognized him.

“Spike?” She gave him a firm push to rouse him.

He groaned and touched his head, looking up to see Joyce standing over him.

“Are you all right? What are you doing here?”

He stood up carefully and tried to answer her questions. “I came here for Buffy.” He realized what that may have sounded like when he noticed the distressed look on the woman’s face. “I mean, I came here to help her. She hasn’t been herself lately.”

Joyce didn’t know what he met, but she nodded anyway. “Where is Buffy?”

It was then that Spike realized Buffy wasn’t around. He knew what happened and wasn’t thrilled to tell her mother about it.

Joyce could see that something was wrong. “Spike, where is my daughter?”

“He must have taken her. Don’t worry, I’ll get her back.” He walked out of the house, leaving a confused Joyce to stare after him. He didn’t know where Buffy was being held, so he went to the one person that would probably have the answers. Spike headed to where he kept his Desoto because it would be faster than walking. He had to pay the watcher a visit.

Chapter 2

Spike barged into the school library and hoped that the watcher would be there. He got his wish when he saw the man walk out from behind the stacks, his eyes growing big at the sight of the vampire.

Giles quickly went to grab a stake.

Spike held his hands up in surrender. “You won’t be needing that, mate. I’m here because I need your help.”

Giles lowered the stake, but was finding that hard to believe. “What could you possibly need my help with?”

“It’s Buffy, Kralik has her. I’m sure you feel all guilty for being the cause of her losing her powers, but you can make up for that by telling me where he would have taken her.”

Giles raised his eyebrows, worry for his Slayer evident on his face. He should have never listened to the bloody Council. “And how do I know that you can be trusted?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t be here asking for your help if I was out to kill her. I just want to get her back safe and sound. I promised her mother.” That was partly the truth. Spike always did have a soft spot for Joyce. She was the only one that ever treated him with any kind of respect.

Giles nodded and took his glasses off to clean them. He would question the vampire more later, but now they needed to focus more on Buffy. “All right, I’ll take you there. I will have a stake with me if you decide to try anything.”

Spike agreed and followed Giles out of the library.


* * * * *


They entered the boardinghouse and looked around for any sign of Kralik. It all seemed to be quiet. They slowly walked up the stairs, being careful not to make too much noise.

Spike grabbed Giles’ arm to stop him. He inhaled deeply and could vaguely sense Buffy. He indicated the direction of where he was sure she was being held.

Giles nodded and followed after Spike.

They came across a locked door.

Spike gave it a good kick and the door flew open. Someone was bound to have heard that, but he quickly made his way into the room. He was shocked at the sight of Buffy before him. She was tied to a chair and gagged, bruises and cuts marring her beautiful features. He ran to her side and saw that she was just opening her eyes, which seemed beyond relieved to see him. He ripped through her ropes and pulled the cloth out of her mouth. He was shocked again when she threw her arms around his neck and held him tight.

“I have never been so happy to see anyone in my life. It was horrible; he was talking about turning me and setting me loose to feed off of my mom. I don’t remember ever being so scared.”

Spike ran his hands down her back in a soothing manner. “You’re safe now,” he whispered, realizing how very grateful he was to find that she was okay.

Giles cleared his throat, the display of his Slayer hugging William the Bloody was not something he ever expected to see.

Buffy looked up to notice that Giles was there. She pulled away from Spike, still not sure what to say to her watcher.

“I think we should be getting out of here.” Giles told them.

Spike helped Buffy up and gently touched one of the cuts on her cheek. “We’ll get you fixed up, Slayer.”

She was about to respond, but was cut off by a new voice.

“This is just touching, but the girl belongs to me now.”

Buffy moved closer to Spike at the appearance of Kralik.

“You’ll have to get through me first.” Spike stated and then looked at Giles. “Get her out of here, I’ll deal with him.”

Giles went to Buffy’s side as Spike ran at Kralik and was surprisingly able to put up a good fight against the crazy vampire.

“We can’t leave him.”

Giles shook his head. “He can handle himself. There’s not much we can do.”

Buffy knew that he was right, but something made her stop.

Kralik pulled away from Spike and grabbed his head. He then searched through his pockets and pulled what looked to be a bottle of pills out.

Buffy then had an idea and stomped over to him. She grabbed the bottle before he could take any out, then turned and ran out of the room.

“My pills!”

“Buffy!”

She heard behind her, but just kept on running.

Kralik pushed Spike out of the way and took off after her.

“What the bloody hell is she doing?” Spike asked Giles, who was just as confused.

“She’s going to get herself killed,” he replied, hoping that Buffy knew what she was doing.


* * * * *


Buffy made her way into another room and waited for him to show up. It didn’t take long.

“Where are they?”

Buffy faked trying to get past him, but he grabbed her and shoved her against a wall.

Kralik saw the pill bottle in her hand and snatched it from her. He ripped the lid off and stumbled over to where he located a glass of water. He then popped a couple of pills into his mouth and washed them down with the water. He started to calm down and graced Buffy with a crooked smile. He took a few steps in her direction. “You don’t seem to understand your place in all of this.” He suddenly stopped when he realized that something was wrong. He began to shake and glared at Buffy. “What have you done?”

She pulled an empty bottle of holy water out of her pocket and held it up for him to see.

He dropped the glass and started to shake violently, smoke beginning to puff out of his clothes.

“If I was at full Slayer power, I’d be punning right about now.”

Kralik screamed and then crumbled to ashes from the inside out.

Spike and Giles ran into the room after they heard the scream. They saw Buffy standing there, then looked at the pile of dust on the ground.

“What happened?” Giles wondered.

Buffy shrugged. “He was just really thirsty.”

Spike figured there was more to the story, but decided to ask her about it later. He went to her side and helped her out of there.

Giles followed behind, still confused in the change of the vampire.


* * * * *


Joyce was happy to have Buffy home safe and thanked Spike a few million times.

Buffy assured her mother that she would be fine and sent her back up to bed. She sat on the couch after her mother left, feeling extremely exhausted.

Spike sat down next to her.

Giles went back to the school to deal with the Council and she didn’t want to be anywhere near them. He decided to do the right thing in the end, so she couldn’t stay mad at him forever.

Spike spoke after a moment of silence. “Um, not that I really care to bring this up now, but where was Peaches during all of this? Are you still with him?” That was one reason of why Spike dreaded coming back to Sunnydale. He came back because he finally realized that he had feelings for Buffy and knew that she was probably still with Angel. He didn’t think he could handle seeing the two of them still together.

“No, I’m really not. He was sweet and helped me feel better about the no powers thing, but I don’t think there will be anything between us again. Finding out that he knew me before I was called and actually fell for me then has made me a bit uncomfortable around him. I was only fifteen and a complete flake. Just the thought of him liking me then is a bit creepy. And then there’s the curse, which makes it hard to have any relationship with him.”

Spike smiled. “Well, I could have told you that.” He gently caressed her cheek.

Buffy closed her eyes at his touch, then opened them a second later. “Spike, why did you come back?” she practically whispered.

“I thought that was pretty obvious. I needed to be around you. I think I finally understand why I’m always drawn back to this town. You’re all I can bloody think about.”

Buffy was surprised at his words, even more surprised when he leaned closer and pressed his lips to hers. She closed her eyes again and eagerly returned the kiss.

He pulled away when she needed to breathe and rested his head against hers. “I think I have a reason to stay now,” he whispered.

“Well, at least I should be getting my powers back soon. We can really have some fun then.”

Spike waggled his eyebrows and gave her another kiss on the lips. “I will definitely hold you to that.”

She smiled and once again got lost in his kiss. Things were definitely going to be different from now on, but she had a feeling that everything would be easier with Spike by her side.

The End


That’s all I could come up with. I just really wanted to write something else. I know there was no mention of Giles getting fired, but we already know that happens. I didn’t really need to write about it. And maybe in my world, it didn’t happen. You never know. Well, I hope you guys liked it. Reviews will make me all kinds of happy=)