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Chapter Four
 
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His buyer, Marvin Best, took him directly to an abandoned warehouse. Spike almost had to laugh. It was such a vampire cliche. They always went for the abandoned warehouse.

The warehouse was empty of minions but full of debris from former homeless residents. Spike had his vampire vision to thank for being able to see in the complete darkness. In one corner, an assortment of odd shapes refused to reveal their identity. Spike couldn't make out what they might be.

Marvin led him by the arm to the middle of the warehouse. With a pointed look, he released his grip and walked away.

Spike stayed put. He didn't have anywhere to go anyway.

"Do you know who I am?" Marvin's voice sounded from the shadows.

"The man who bought me," Spike replied.

"I bet you don't remember Linh, either."

Spike squinted. The name was familiar.

"Linh. The beautiful, loving woman that you and your bitch tortured to death." A low rumbling emerged from the darkness. Marvin reappeared, wheeling a square device in front of him. "I don't think you were there when your bitch turned me. You'd already gotten bored."

Spike had a glimmer of a memory of him and Dru doing something like that decades ago. But then, they'd killed a lot of people, and Spike hadn't been in the habit of taking their names. Spike remained silent.

Marvin stopped a few feet away from Spike. "Not only did you kill Linh, you had to go and give me immortality. For what? To make me feel the agony of loneliness forever?" Marvin's face was contorted in rage. "Could have dusted myself, sure. But I knew better. I knew I wanted to get revenge on you first."

Spike shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Broken glass dusted the floor of the warehouse, piercing tiny daggers into the soles of his feet.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

Spike shrugged. The knowledge that the torture was going to come no matter what he did allowed him to maintain a detached state.

With angry, jerking motions, Marvin removed the key from his pocket and unchained Spike. Spike rubbed his neck, careful to avoid Angel's bite mark.

"This," Marvin gestured toward the large device. "Is probably a bit cliche. But I prefer to think of it as a classic. The rack. I trust you've heard of it."

Heard of it, yes. Seen it, no.

Spike allowed himself to be shoved back against the flat surface. He held still while Marvin manacled his arms and legs to the corners.

"You're so quiet," Marvin said. "I expected more of a fight from you, though I suppose I shouldn't have given your current state." Marvin stepped back. "But if you're not going to talk anyway, then I might as well help you out with your silence."

A draft blew against Spike's naked body as Marvin left his side. He returned a few moments later wheeling a tray of various torture tools. Marvin flourished what appeared to be a large set of pliers with sharpened edges. Spike licked his lips in a nervous gesture.

"Let's get that tongue out," Marvin said.

* * * * *


Angel frowned and gripped the phone closer to his ear. "Are you sure?"

"Of course."

He sighed. "Thank you, Mr. Mowat. I appreciate the call."

Angel set the phone back on the cradle and leaned back. Dawn had been at the auction.

He wondered if she'd talked to Buffy yet.

* * * * *


The demon whorehouse erupted into chaos at Buffy's arrival. The employees sprang to their feet and started crowding into the backrooms. The Johns looked around in confusion, unsure of where to go. Buffy half-expected the jazzy music playing over the speakers to start skipping.

Before Buffy even had to ask, the manager rushed into the lobby, arms out in the hopes of smoothing everything over.

"Everybody calm down!" the man said, directing his attention firstly to his workers.

Not one to be ignored at this moment, Buffy swiftly approached him and shoved him back against the wall. The wall paintings rattled at the impact, and a couple of the women screamed. Buffy didn't pay them any attention.

"Spike," she said. "You sold him to Marvin Best. Where is he?"

Buffy sensed Dawn's presence behind her. She could see her sister in her mind's eye: arms crossed with a heavy Summer's glare. Despite Dawn's lack of slayer abilities, the two of them managed to produce a frightening united front.

Lyle Mackson looked surprised. His mustache trembled. "I don't know."

"You don't know where one of your valuable pieces of merchandise ended up? Why don't I believe that? What, were you letting people just walk in from the street?"

"I'd never seen him before! But his money was good, so I didn't question him."

"He pay you in cash?"

Lyle nodded. "Plus! Oh! He mentioned that Wolfram & Hart had sent him the invitation!"

Buffy released him, stepping back as if she'd just been slapped. "Wolfram & Hart..."

"Which I thought was funny seeing as, you know, their guy, Angel, was the one who sold Spike to me. But who am I to question them, right?"

Buffy turned to Dawn. Her sister returned a grim expression. They knew where they had to go next.

* * * * *


With one smooth motion, Marvin turned the rack tighter. Spike grunted in response to the ropes tugging his limbs further apart. His joints hadn't popped yet, but Spike knew Marvin was just warming up. He'd been party to enough Angelus-style tortures to know how it was done.

"I was really looking for that bitch, Drusilla." Marvin reached into a bucket of water and pulled out some sort of instrument. It had a long handle with a ball at the other end. There were holes along the top of the sphere as there might be on a salt shaker. "Holy water," Marvin said right before he shook the instrument over him. Water sprinkled out and sizzled on Spike's skin.

Spike's body jerked in reflex at the pain. He closed his eyes.

"I was surprised to find you weren't with her anymore," Marvin said. "What's the matter? She abandon you?"

Blood still seeped from where his tongue had been carved out. Spike swallowed a mouthful.

Drusilla had cut him off - abandoned him. Like Angel had. Left him alone.

"Your friend, Angel, gave me the information about the auction. He had to take time out of his lunch with some cute blonde to do so. Anyone you know?"

Buffy.

Spike turned his head away. Buffy was the last thing he had to hang onto. The last person who still might want him. He didn't want to hear that she was with Angel. Please anything but that.

He knew he'd screwed up when he didn't call her after being resurrected at Wolfram & Hart. But she'd been willing to move past that. Now, though. Now he'd screwed up again. He'd promised to call her - to go to her in England. He'd let her down again. Of course she'd go running to Angel. If he was completely honest with himself, he realized that even if he hadn't let her down, she probably wouldn't want him in this state.

"Hell, he even gave me the money to buy you. All he wanted was for me to tell you something." Marvin shook the instrument again. Screaming welts covered Spike's body. "He said, 'Tell Spike not to worry about Buffy. I've got her.' Mean anything to you?"

Without warning, Marvin pulled the lever on the rack. Spike's shoulders and legs yanked in opposite directions. Tears fell down his cheeks.

* * * * *


Dawn had never seen Buffy so angry. Not even after that one time Dawn had taken the heads off all her Barbies and strung them up in grotesque fashion all about her room. Buffy was in full-on slayer mode, and Dawn had to do an approximation of a gallop just to keep up with Buffy's breakneck pace through the Wolfram & Hart offices.

Harmony attempted to greet them. Buffy didn't even look at her.

"Hey! I have to let him know you're here! I'm the secretary!"

Dawn shot Harmony a conciliatory look before rushing off after Buffy.

Her sister had stomped into Angel's office, making sure to slam the doors as loudly as possible. Angel was already moving towards her with his hands out.

"Now, Buffy - "

Dawn stopped as Buffy punched Angel in the face. He went down, colliding back against his desk. The piles of paper scattered around him. Without any pause, Buffy bent over and grabbed him by the lapels, hoisting him up and pinning him to the top of his desk.

"Why'd you do it, Angel?"

"Buffy, if you'd let me explain..."

"Tell me why you did this to Spike. And then tell me where to find him."

"I'm not gonna talk like this."

Buffy attempted to stare him down, but Angel held his ground. Finally, Buffy relented, though her expression didn't soften. She released him and backed up, her arms crossed. Dawn joined her side.

Angel made a show of adjusting his suit. "You know these clothes aren't cheap -"

"Talk."

"Fine." Angel grimaced. He looked more annoyed than anything. "I didn't want to tell you any of this because I knew you wouldn't understand."

"Understand what? Selling someone into slavery? Lying to me about it? Telling me some bullshit story about Spike being dead?"

"Okay." Angel held his hands up. "Don't need the recap. We all know what happened." He put his hands down. "And yeah. This is a vampire thing. It won't make sense to you guys."

Buffy remained silent but steely-eyed.

Angel sighed. "Listen, I'm Spike's sire. Well, his grandsire, but I still have blood rites to him. He's my responsibility. He came back from his last mission gibbering about going over to England to be with you, and I couldn't let that happen."

A crack in Buffy's hard exterior appeared. A less observant person wouldn't have noticed the moisture in her eyes.

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because, his job now is atoning, not settling down with you. That's what the soul is. That's what I've been doing for all these years. If we could just shrug off our responsibilities, I'd have found a cure for the curse a long time ago and been with you."

Buffy blinked. "So you sold him because he was willing to take the opportunity to be with me and you weren't?"

"I knew you wouldn't get it." Angel rolled his eyes. "And look, I didn't just sell him. I took away his blood bond."

"What's that mean?" Dawn asked.

Angel only glanced at her before looking back at Buffy. "Vampire families share a bond. It's how the hierarchy forms. It's how we survive. Vampires can't live alone. With the bond, even when we're scattered about the world, we still belong. We're still a part of something. We're kept."

Buffy frowned. "And you - "

"Revoked it, yes. Buffy, Spike's always been a damn problem for the family. Ever since Dru turned the guy. I've had to put him in his place so many times. This time, though, I knew that it was hopeless. Dru had given up on him years ago. I figured out why. So, yeah, I cut him off. Once I did that, I transferred ownership to Lyle. He runs a brothel that Wolfram & Hart has represented a couple times. It's good for PR to provide him with an acquisition on occasion."

"And Marvin Best?"

Angel shrugged. "A guy with a grudge. He'd contacted me a couple months ago asking about Spike. I sent him an invitation to the auction along with some money to bid."

"And you want me to believe that that wasn't petty revenge on your part?"

"No, it was a business transaction. Marvin's gonna do some work for us in return."

Buffy was silent for a few moments. Then she shook her head. "Where's Spike?"

"All I know is that Marvin mentioned being down at the docks."

"There's a lot of docks," Dawn protested.

"Then if you want to find Spike, you should start looking."

Buffy walked forward and removed her stake from...wherever she kept that thing. She pushed it against Angel's chest. "If you ever come near me or Spike again, I will dust you."

She held the threat for a few seconds before backing away. Angel remained fixated on her.

As Buffy turned to leave, Angel said, "I did you a favor. Without his blood bond, Spike's just a shell. At least this way, he's still helping me."

"I'm don't think 'helping you' is a good thing anymore," Buffy said under her breath, though Dawn knew Angel probably heard it.

Once they left Angel's office, Buffy turned to Dawn.

"Dawn, I need you to call home base and have a Council jet sent here as soon as possible. Keep your cellphone on."

"Wait, why?"

"Cause while you're taking care of that, I'm gonna get Spike. Then we're taking him home."

* * * * *


The bones in Spike's thumb snapped and the jagged edges stabbed the flesh from within. Spike cried out. He instinctively attempted to pull away, but his arms and legs were still bound tight. He couldn't move.

Marvin removed the thumbscrew from Spike's hand and held it up. "That was fun."

Marvin tightened the rack one more notch before wandering off. Both of Spike's shoulders and legs had already popped out of joint, but each additional inch only aggravated the pain.

Spike turned his head, pressing his face against his stretched arm. He gritted his teeth at the unrelenting torment.

"I don't blame you for crying," Marvin's voice rang from the darkness. "Linh cried. Before you killed her."

Marvin reappeared. "And you're not even sorry, are you?" He carried another instrument with him. Spike barely paid attention. He was sure it was another torture device designed to cause him as much agony as possible.

"I know you think the pain doesn't matter since you're cut off from your kin. But it does. It just makes it worse, doesn't it? Knowing that your suffering is for nothing." A metallic snapping noise pierced Spike's ears. "This is something I got off a collector. He didn't want to part with it, but I managed to convince him. With my fangs." Marvin chuckled. "It's called the pear, which is actually a bit of a pussy name for what it does."

Marvin stood in front of Spike and displayed the instrument. It had a bulbous head on one end. "You stick it in a person's ass and...," Marvin pushed a button and the head sprang open with an array of sharp ends. "Then you wiggle it around to make sure it's done its job. Horrifying, isn't it?"

Spike hadn't thought he could still feel the trepidation of fear run through him. His body was already battered. What's one more torture?

But it was instinctual. Knowing what Marvin intended to do, knowing what he would do...Spike wished he would just dust him.

"After this, I think it'll be time to take a breather. Let you rest a bit. It won't do any good to kill you right away." Marvin smiled.

Marvin's hands disappeared from view. The tightness of the rack left Spike suspended a couple of inches above the flat surface. The cold metal of the pear nudged at his backside as Marvin attempting to find his opening. The movement caused Spike's body to jostle against his restraints, heightening the ache of being stretched.

Then the sharp point of the pear made contact with Spike's rectum. His thrust his hips up to get away, but he had such a small range of motion. With no hesitation, Marvin slipped the pear inside. The harsh texture of the metal dragged along his inner flesh, tearing it apart as it went. Marvin didn't stop, though, until it was fully inserted.

It's not as if Spike had never had something up his ass before. Angelus had made use of it many times. This was different, though. This was a jagged bit of metal forced in. There was no yielding on its end. Only destruction.

"Now the suspense," Marvin said in a low voice. "Will I open it now? Or should I wait a bit?"

Spike's breaths came quickly, and his body trembled from the strain. However, he knew Marvin was right. The pain may be bad now, but in a split second, the pear could tear him apart from the inside.

"Just tell me this, Spike," Marvin said. "Do you remember Linh amongst your scads of victims?"

Spike shuddered. He knew which answer might grant him a reprieve, but he also knew any dishonesty would be exposed sooner or later.

He shook his head, closing his eyes in preparation.

There was nothing.

Spike's body relaxed and he opened his eyes. It was then that Marvin triggered the device. It sprang open, the individual petals clawing through his flesh.

Spike screamed.

* * * * *


Warehouses dotted the docks in clumps. A group of ten or so in one area, separated by a wide open space, then another group.

Buffy stared at the area before her in dismay. The sun was high in the sky, so any vampires would be inside. However, she hadn't counted on row upon row of unmarked buildings. How would she ever find Spike?

If only she had a contingent of slayers with her. She could order them to spread out and launch a full-scale search. It was just her, though, and there was only so much ground one person could cover.

In frustration, Buffy kicked one of the pallets that lay beside a warehouse. A flock of birds took flight, startled by the noise. Buffy stared after them. That's what she needed.

The closest warehouse had a pile of pallets stacked beside it. Rickety though they were, Buffy's slayer speed allowed her to climb the make-shift edifice without them collapsing. Once she reached the top of the building, Buffy settled down on the rooftop, scanning the area.

From this vantage point, she'd have a good view of any vampires going and coming. She knew that this Marvin guy would probably want to eat once the sun went down. She'd be waiting.

* * * * *


Torment passed into hours such that Spike almost lost track of time. Marvin's departure roused him from his pained stupor. His vampire senses told him that the sun had gone down. Marvin was probably out hunting for both himself and for Spike. After all, Spike needed to heal up a bit so he could be tortured some more.

The blood had finally stopped oozing down his chin from the gash in his mouth where his tongue had been. Marvin had done him the "favor" of loosening the rack before leaving. This only gave him more range for his dislocated limbs to be shaken.

He remained restrained in the darkness. Alone. His body throbbed in a mass of agony, parallel to the agony of his mind.

* * * * *


It was hours past sundown when Buffy finally saw him. She'd missed his exit, but it was hard to miss his return. He was dragging a dead body along with him.

She leaped onto the ground and followed him at a distance.

Marvin eventually arrived at one of the nondescript warehouses. He gave a cursory look around before opening the squeaky door and pulling the body inside.

Buffy took a deep breath and waited. She fought the urge to rush in after him. She knew it would be all too easy for Marvin to dust Spike as soon as she entered. No, she had to play it quiet. She wished she'd managed to spot Marvin when he'd left the docks, but she didn't linger on that thought. What's done was done.

A quick perimeter of the warehouse revealed an alternate entrance on the far side. The padlock was rusted over, so it only took a sharp tug with her slayer powers to yank it off. Once she did, she opened the door as slowly as possible so as to keep it from making any noise.

The inside of the building was almost entirely pitch black except for a lone lamp set up on the far end. In the halo of the light, she could see Spike on a rack with Marvin and the dead woman beside him. Even from this distance, she could see the red blood liberally coating Spike's body. Her heart skipped.

"...not sure what type of food you would want," Marvin was in the middle of talking. "I mean, obviously, you liked Linh. So I figured another woman would do. Oh, right. But you have a soul now. You don't eat from people - not even if they're dead and corpses." Marvin held the body up. "But I bet you're hungry. Oh, I know that Lyle defanged you, but, - " The light reflected off a blade in Marvin's hand. "Everybody can drink from a mug, right?"

There was no apparent response from Spike. This concerned Buffy momentarily, however she forced herself to put those concerns on the backburner. Marvin had set the body down and was hunched over it, presumably drawing blood into a cup for Spike. In any case, he was distracted.

Buffy crept forward, glad she had worn her sneakers. Even still, her footfalls seemed far too loud in the empty warehouse. She moved faster in order to ensure the advantage of surprise.

She walked past Spike and delivered a kick to Marvin's head. He sprawled backward.

Buffy had her stake out in the next instant, but she waited for him to stand up. "Congrats on winning the auction. The slayer will dust you now," she delivered her requisite pithy line, uncomfortably aware that her voice was shaking in anger.

Marvin was already on his feet, holding his jaw. "What the hell is this? Did Lyle send you?"

"You're slow. That's probably why you didn't notice that we don't sell people anymore." She threw a punch, which he blocked. She fell back a couple steps.

"This doesn't concern you, cunt! He's mine."

She shook her head. "Wrong." Buffy did a standing kick, knocking him off balance. She was about to follow through with the classic stake through the chest maneuver when Marvin picked up a burst of speed. He ducked down and moved behind Buffy, grabbing and pinning her arm at her back. She dropped her stake.

"You're Buffy, aren't you? Angel told me about you."

Buffy stomped on his foot and jerked her head back in a reverse head-butt. That was enough to get him to release his grip on her. She tucked and rolled, coming up facing him.

"Okay," Buffy rolled her eyes. "Let's talk some more. Please."

"Yes, let's." Marvin reached down and picked up her discarded stake. He twirled it in his fingers before casting a glance over at Spike. Buffy tensed. She'd been hoping she wouldn't get into this situation.

Marvin was far closer to Spike than she was. He had the upper hand.

He moved as if to stake Spike. Buffy jumped.

"Don't!"

Marvin froze. He looked at her with a grin. "Why not? He's not the vampire you thought he was."

"I know exactly who he is," she said. She knew Marvin was trying to distract her with talk of Spike's soulless misdeeds, but she wouldn't let him. She was well aware of what Spike had been.

She began moving slowly, hoping he wouldn't notice her approach in his attempt to unbalance her.

"Do you? I don't think you do. Listen, if given a choice, do you think Spike would prefer to be rescued by you or for me to dust him?"

Buffy frowned. "What type of question is that?"

He laughed. "Like I thought. You don't know. And you're wrong, by the way. Spike would much rather be dusted than go home with you."

"Well, why don't I ask him and see?"

"Actually," Marvin stared down at the stake in his hand. "That works for me."

He tossed the stake at Buffy.

Buffy caught it on instinct. Marvin stood straight, presenting himself to her. She hesitated. This wasn't right.

Spike groaned. She didn't have the time to worry about it. She plunged the stake into Marvin's heart, standing back as his body burst into dust.

Before the last remnant of the vampire had fallen, Buffy had dropped the stake and rushed to Spike's side.

"Spike," she said. As the slayer, she'd seen a lot of blood in her time. Not usually so much from any one person, though. Spike had blood coating his chin, his lips, running down his chest. Angry red welts covered his body, and his limbs looked dislocated. Buffy's first instinct was to touch him, but she didn't know if she could without hurting him even more.

"Hold on," she whispered, more to herself than to him. His eyes were closed. She didn't know if he were even aware of her presence.

Buffy turned to a tray that held a bunch of unpleasant tools, most covered with blood. A key to the manacles that restrained Spike rested among the torture devices. Buffy grabbed it up and unlocked Spike's hands.

His arms fell limp at his side. Buffy knelt to undo his leg restraints. She noted even more blood on the lower half of his body as she did so.

Spike's body nearly slipped off the rack once he was loose. Buffy caught him, holding him at his sides. He gave a moan, but didn't move any.

Her mind raced. She hadn't expected for him to be so injured. She couldn't get him out of here on her own.

Gently, she lowered him to the floor, being careful not to put pressure on any of his wounds. Then she reached into her pocket to get her cellphone. Her hands shook as she dialed.

Dawn picked up after only one ring. "Buffy. They're sending the jet over, but it's gonna be twelve hours - "

"Dawn, I need a pick-up."

"You found him?"

Buffy swallowed. "Yeah, but he's...it's bad. I can't get him back on my own."

"I'll grab a rental car. Oh, and we've been booted from Angel's hotel."

Not a surprise. "We'll get our own place. Just get a car and get here soon. I'm at the docks in the warehouse section. Two rows in from the east. Give me a call when you get here and I'll come flag you down."

"Got it."

Then the line disconnected and Buffy was left alone with an unresponsive Spike.

She knelt beside him. Not sure what to do, she grabbed his hand to hold it. Doing so caused him to jump and he inhaled a sharp breath. Buffy dropped his hand.

"Sorry," she said. On a closer look, she could tell that his fingers had been broken. Stupid Buffy. Why couldn't she have noticed that earlier?

Buffy allowed herself to fully sit on the dirty floor and just watch over him.

"You didn't call me like you promised," Buffy said softly. "You're gonna start to give a girl a complex." Her vision blurred as tears gathered in her eyes. She let them. "I guess you get a pass in this case, though, right?"

Spike didn't respond. She didn't think he was even awake. That was probably for the best.

She wasn't accustomed to doing nothing. Just sitting there. Waiting. She wanted action - needed action. She wanted to put some slayer muscle into helping him. Fight off all the people that had even considered purchasing him. Fight off anyone that still wanted to hurt him. She needed something to do other than sitting beside his broken body, watching him bleed blood he couldn't afford to lose.

Buffy's mind jumped to the dead woman Marvin had brought in. She turned. The body still lay behind her.

She shook her head. She couldn't do that. Absolutely not. Spike wouldn't forgive her.

Of course, the corpse wasn't the only blood-filled body in the warehouse.

There wasn't even a moment of hesitation. Buffy stood up and fetched one of the sharper instruments from Marvin's torture array. She'd overheard about Spike's fangs being gone, so she'd have to extract the blood herself.

Buffy knelt beside Spike's head. With a squick slash, she cut a thin wound across her wrist. The blood pooled to the surface.

Being as careful as possible, she lifted Spike's head with her uninjured hand. She rested the other against his mouth.

"Come on, Spike," she whispered.

Nothing. His mouth didn't open. No tongue darted out. He seemed completely oblivious to what she was doing.

She parted his lips and smeared her blood along the inside. She hoped that would have some effect. She knew slayer blood was potent for vampires, though she wasn't exactly certain as to how effective it would be in healing him.

Something was wrong, though. Spike still hadn't even twitched. Surely, the smell of her blood would rouse him at least a little. Buffy probed further into his mouth. Her hand jerked back once it touched the soggy stump at the bottom.

Buffy gripped her stomach, feeling suddenly nauseous. His tongue had been cut out. She'd thought the blood along his chin was from the fang removal, but it must have been from when -

She turned away, afraid she might retch.

Her phone rang. The sound made her jump. She picked it up.

Dawn had arrived.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Hold on, I'm coming out."
 
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