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Trials for Joyce by ginar369
 
Chapter 10
 
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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Many thanks to my beta Leon Stryfe who stepped up when I was stuck and helped write more than a few chapters with me. For all your help you have earned the title of Co-Author for this story and my sincere gratitude. Thanks to my wonderful friend Sweetprincipale who listens to me and encourages me. And the wonderful ending was all her idea!
I have played with the time-line a bit in this story. The Angel episode “The Trial” actually aired a week after the Buffy episode “Shadow”. For the purposes of this story “The Trial” happened first. I have taken quite a bit of dialog from a few episodes of season 5. Shadow written by David Fury, The Trial written by David Greenwalt, No Place Like Home by Doug Petrie, Checkpoint by Jane Espenson and Doug Petrie, Blood Ties by Steven DeKnight, Spiral by Steven DeKnight and Intervention by Jane Espenson.

I hope you enjoy the story. This is the longest piece I have ever done and hopefully I did it justice.

Spike had finished patrol and had just left Willy's bar. The snitch didn't have any new information about Glory, which did not surprise the vampire. Not ready to go back to the slayers house, he found himself outside his crypt.

“Might as well grab a few more togs and packs of smokes while I'm here,” he said to himself before pushing open the door. Just as it creaked open, he was hit from behind. Before he could do more than roll over to face his attacker, he was piled on by 5 or 6 of Glory's minions. Despite his struggles, he could not free himself before a second sharp blow to the head knocked him unconscious.

“Tie his hands! Glory will want him restrained.” Jinx barked orders to the others. “Careful with him. She will want the key intact.”

After securing Spike, Glory's followers dragged their prize to their god.

“What the hell is that,” the Hellgoddess asked angrily, pointing at Spike, “and why is his hair that color?”

“Stunning one, we believe he is...” Murk paused and waited for Jinx to finish the sentence with him. “ The Key!”

A moan from the body on the floor alerted those present that Spike was waking up.

“Really? That's fantabulous!” Glory strode over to the captured vampire, pushing Murk out of the way. “And impossible.” Walking in a circle around Spike's prone form. “He can't be the Key, because, see, the Key ... has to be pure.”

Spike looked up stunned and a little worried that she could tell so easily that he was not the prize she desired.

“This is a vampire. Lesson number one, vampires equal impure.”

Putting his best 'Big Bad' face on Spike turned to the hell god. “Yeah, damn right I'm impure. I'm as impure as the driven yellow snow. Now let me go.”

“You can't even brain-suck a vampire.” Glory walked over to Spike and patted him on the chest. “He's completely useless.” Turn back to Jinx she walks away from Spike.

“So, I'm just gonna let myself out.” Spike struggled to get up.

“But your Holiness, the slayer had him move in with her after your last meeting and we observed the Sobek, when it entered the slayer's home. It did not see the Key. He was the only one of the slayer's group that was not there!”

“Really?” Glory turned and stared at Spike. “Let's take a look at you, precious.”

“Sod off.” Spike snarled as he got to his feet.

Frowning, Glory punched Spike, sending him flying into a wall. “He doesn't look like much to me.” Grabbing Spike by the lip, she dragged him to his feet and tossed him across the room. “But if the slayer protects him, maybe appearances are deceiving.” She threw Spike on her bed like he was a rag doll. He landed with his bound hands behind his back, straining his shoulders. Glory then climbed on top of the immobilized vampire, straddling him.

“Maybe there is something on the inside.” Glory trailed one finger with its long red nail down his chest before thrusting it into Spike's stomach. Screaming in pain, Spike thrashed madly, trying to get away. “Shhh, what do you know, precious? What can I dig out of you?”

Spike held out for as long as he could but after hours of torture he passed out. Glory instructed her minions to chain Spike up to the ceiling. His shirt was ripped, barely hanging on him, and there were numerous bloody holes in his chest and abdomen, evidence of Glory's torture. His face was a mass of bruises and cuts, one eye completely swollen shut. It was obvious by looking at him that there were a few broken ribs and possibly even a broken leg.

“Ugh, you'd think a vampire could handle a little torture? Wake. Up. Precious.” She punctuated each word with a punch to Spike's face and body.

“Welcome back.” Glory smiled as Spike began waking up. “I have a riddle for you, precious. How is a vampire that won't talk like an apple?” Holding a dagger in her hand, she started cutting his chest. “Think I can do you in one long strip?”

“Enough.” Coughing up blood at every word, Spike continued to speak. “No more. I'll tell you who the sodding key is.”

“So start talking.”

“Okay, the Key. Here's the thing.” Spike twisted his hands around, trying to loosen the chains that held him prisoner. “It's that guy... on TV... what's his name?”

“On the television?” Glory looked at her minions in confusion.

“That show... the prize show... where they guess what stuff costs?” Spike kept twisting his hands, feeling the chains loosening slightly.

“The Price is Right?” Murk offered hopefully.

“Bob Barker!” Jinx jumped with excitement, extremely pleased with himself.

“We will bring you Bob Barker!” Murk exclaimed. “We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker.”

“It's not Bob Barker, scabby morons! The Key is new to this world... and Bob Barker is as old as grit.” Smiling a vicious smile, she stepped closer to Spike. “The vampire is lying to me.”

“Well yeah... but it was fun. And guess what, bitch. I'm not telling you jack.” One more twist had Spike's hands free of the chains. He held himself perfectly still while he put his escape plan into action. “You're never gonna get your soddin' key, 'cause you might be strong, but in our world, you're an idiot.”

“I am a god!”

“The god of what, bad home perms?” Spike glanced behind him, gauging the distance between his position and door.

“Shut up!” Balling her hands into fists, Glory continued yelling. “I command you to shut up!”

“Yeah, okay, sorry. But I just had no idea that gods were such prancing lightweights.” At Glory's look of disbelief he chuckled. “Mark my words, the Slayer.... is going to kick your skanky, lopsided ass back to whatever place would take a...” Spike pauses as he made one more glance at the door, “...cheap, whorish, fashion victim ex-god like you.” Bracing himself for the blow Spike narrowed his eyes in expectation of the pain.

One spin kick from Glory had Spike flying backward, crashing through the apartment door into the hallway. A back-flip and a crash found Spike on the floor.

“Good plan, Spike,” he muttered, pulling himself painfully to his feet. His left leg wobbled as he stood, limping towards the elevator at the end of the hall.

“Bring him back,” Glory commanded her minions. They scrabbled out the door as Spike reached the elevator doors. Falling against them, he fought to pry them open.

“Here. He's here!” Gronx shouted to the other minions.

“Bollocks.” Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the little demons were gaining on him. With the last of his strength, he managed to get the doors open. Without looking, he tumbled down the empty elevator shaft.

“Bugger me.” Landing hard on the roof of the elevator, Spike rolled over and lifted open the escape hatch before crawling in and falling to the floor. Reaching up, he managed to push the button to open the doors.

~*~
 
“Spike. Spike! Did you find anything on patrol?” Buffy was calling out to him before she even reached the bottom of the stairs. “Spike?” A quick look around was enough for the slayer to realize that Spike wasn't in the basement. Turning, she called back up to the kitchen. “Mom, is Spike upstairs?”

“No, he should be sleeping.” Came Joyce's reply.

“Well he isn't. Has anyone seen him today?”

Swallowing a mouthful of cereal Dawn answered.
“Nope. He usually has a mug of blood when I'm eating breakfast before he goes to bed.”

“So he didn't come back from patrol. Okay, no need to panic. Maybe he's following a lead?” Buffy started chewing worriedly on her thumb nail.

“Wouldn't he have let you know? Or called if he was?” Panic was clear in Dawn's voice. “It's light out already, he can't get back here until the sun goes down unless someone goes to get him. So wouldn't he have called?”

Joyce went to her youngest daughter to calm her down.

“I'm sure he's fine, Dawn. Spike can take care of himself.”

“I'm going to look around, see if anyone has seen him. I'll call and let you know what I find out.” Buffy ran downstairs for a minute and then left the house clutching one of Spike's black t-shirts in her hands.

“Guys, I need you to do a locator spell on Spike.” Buffy announced as she walked in the shop, tossing one of his T-shirts on the table. “He never made it back to the house last night.”

The two witches quickly started gathering the supplies they needed. While Tara and Willow were performing the spell, Buffy went to the training room to gather weapons.

“Do we really need weapons for this?” Xander asked as he walked into the room.

“That's what Spike said at Parents Night.” A giggle from Buffy disconcerted him. “Sorry, I don't know. Either he is holed up from the sun because he was chasing a lead, or something happened. Either way I'm taking some weapons.”

After arming herself and grabbing weapons for everyone else Buffy, headed back to the main part of the shop. Willow and Tara were just finishing the spell.

“That's weird,” Willow said, looking at Buffy.

“What's weird, Wills?”

“He's at those pricey apartments on the other side of town, near the park.” Willow looked up from the map to answer Buffy. “Why would he be over there?”

“Let's go find out.” Buffy marched out the door followed closely by the gang.

Sorry for the delay in posting. I didn’t have power last week because of Hurricane Sandy.
 
 
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