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No Rest For the Wicked by SMS by slaymesoftly
 
Chapters one and two
 
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A sequel to "Slayer's Night Off"
 
No Rest for the Wicked
 
Chapter One
 
"So, G-man, what was all that stuff with the vampires going all Halloween on us this year?"
 
"Yeah, Giles. I was expecting to have a night off, and instead I ended up staking vampire zombies, vampire pirates and vampire freakin' Hobbits!"
 
"Hobbits?"
 
Buffy glanced over at Xander.
 
"Yeah, you guys missed that little bit of 'please scrub my brain' fun."
 
"Where did you find vampire Hobbits?  Were they real vampires? Were they real Hobbits? Did they have furry feet?"  He seemed genuinely curious.
 
"Of course, they weren't real Hobbits, you—” Giles took a deep breath.  "Hobbits are imaginary creatures from literature. They aren't real."
 
Anya raised her hand and opened her mouth; then shut it and just watched with interest.
 
"Kinda like vampires and werewolves, huh, Giles?"  Buffy said, raising a sardonic eyebrow that reminded her watcher too much of the vampire that had apparently figured into the previous night's activities.
 
"I suppose it's an example of the creolization of Sunnydale's demon population," Giles said with just a trace of an indignant sniff.  "With the Master gone, the newer vampires have no one to teach them the traditions and it will be only a question of time before it spreads to the rest of the demon cultures."
 
"Oh goody. No more days off for Buffy," she huffed, slumping back with a pout.
 
"I thought you were happy to have something to kill, Buffster?  Isn't that what you were saying just before the undead pirates showed up?"
 
Buffy flushed as she remembered why she'd been in such a bad mood.
 
"I was just having some issues that required me to kill something, Xander.  It doesn't mean I want to spend every Halloween staking cartoon characters with fangs!"
 
"Technically," Willow ventured, "Hobbits aren't cartoon characters..."
 
"Not the point, guys." Buffy looked around the room and frowned.  "Does anybody know where Spike is?"
 
"Why would we know if you don't?" Anya asked with a clearly puzzled frown.
 
"What's that supposed to mean?"
 
"Well, usually, if we see Spike, it's because he's following you around like a...a..."
 
"Stalker?"
 
"I was going to say 'a puppy dog'.  A scary puppy dog," she added as they all turned to stare at her with wide eyes.
 
As the Scoobies and Buffy mulled over what Anya was implying about Spike and his relationship with Buffy, the vampire in question burst into the room.
 
"Hey, Watcher, have you seen...oh, there you are."
 
No one questioned who Spike was talking about, only nodded and pointed at Buffy's direction.
 
"Where have you been?" she asked with some asperity. "It's been dark for hours."
 
He cocked his head at her, ignoring the interested eyes and ears that were focused on them.
 
"Let's be clear, pet. Are you brassed off because you think I should have been here the minute you wanted me to, or because you're worried about what I may have been doing instead?"
 
Their eyes met, Spike's challenging Buffy to admit she might be still jealous of his aborted 'date' the night before.
 
"Or, I could have been worried that Riley came after you again with helpers," she snapped, grabbing her coat and heading for the door.  "But I forgot, you have other things that might have kept you away.  What did you do – go hide out with your new 'friend'?"
 
She slammed the door behind her and stormed across the parking lot, ignoring his muffled shout when the door shut in his face.  With a snarl, he wrenched it open and followed her rapidly disappearing form.
 
"See?" Anya said with a smile. "Scary puppy dog."
 
 
XXXXXXXXXXX
 
Before Buffy could decide which way she wanted to go, Spike had caught up with her at the edge of the parking lot.  Ignoring her "Don't touch me" he put both hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him.
 
"I'm sorry," he said, completely disrupting her intended rant.  "It was inconsiderate of me not to let you know where I was. I should have known you'd be worried."
 
"As if!" she sniffed, totally contradicting what she'd said earlier.
 
"Exactly," he growled, dropping his arms and adopting the same attitude.  "It's not like I expect you to worry about me, is it?"
 
"He tried to kill you last night!  Why wouldn't I be worried?"
 
She turned and began to march down the sidewalk, Spike falling in beside her and easily matching her rapid stride.
 
"I dunno," he said more cheerfully. "Maybe because staking me is something you threaten to do on a daily basis? Hard to imagine you'd mind all that much if soldier boy did it for you."
 
"Don't be stupid," she muttered, shoving her hands in her pockets and hunching her shoulders.  The conversation they'd had in the Bronze ladies room ran through her head, and she tried to remember exactly what she might have admitted to feeling.
 
Spike just nodded, every word of the conversation firmly fixed in his memory; as were every one of Buffy's actions that evening, from her obvious jealousy over the red-head to her words to Riley after he'd tried to dust the vampire she referred to as "mine".
 
"Get the impression you might have already been in a bad mood before I got there, pet.  Care to share?"
 
Buffy sighed and slowed down.
 
“I was just complaining about all the stupid vampires running around last night and Giles said it was probably going to continue to happen.  I'm not sure what it has to do with New Orleans, but—”
 
"New Orleans?"
 
"Yeah. He said something about Creoles. Isn't that where they live?"
 
"He called the vampires 'creoles'?"
 
"No. Pay attention. He used some word like that to say that the old traditions were being replaced by... something.  I don't know. All I know is that he was basically saying I'm losing my only night off.  I have to be the Slayer three hundred and sixty-five days a year.  It's not fair!"
 
"Creolization," Spike said almost to himself. "The Watcher likes those big words, doesn't he?"
 
Buffy peered at him from the corner of her eye.  "How come you know that word?"
 
He shrugged and changed the subject.
 
"I thought you were enjoying yourself last night, luv.  I'm surprised you're so upset to learn you might not have that night off any more."
 
"I was... okay, not enjoying, cause that's just too much like...." She glared at him. "I needed to work off some steam.  But that doesn't mean I want to have to work every Halloween.  That's supposed to be my night for parties and... stuff."
 
She could see him cutting his eyes at her, doing his best to suppress his twitching lips. She tried to glare at him, but ended up smiling ruefully.
 
"I sound like a spoiled brat, don't I?"
 
"No, love." His voice was suddenly serious, the smile gone. "You sound like somebody who spends too much of her time killing things in the dark, and not enough time having fun in the sun. Where you should be."
 
Buffy shrugged.  "The last time I had that kind of fun in the sun, I was beating up on you." Her eyes lit up. "Hey! Maybe you could find another ring and we could spar during the day."
 
He just stared at her until she blushed and looked away. 
 
"Well, I mean, you'd have to give it to me for safekeeping when you weren't, you know, actually with me. But...."
 
"Do you really think I'm that housebroken, Slayer?"
 
Her shoulders slumped. "No, I guess you aren't," she said sadly.  "I don't know what I was thinking...."
 
He pivoted in front of her again, putting hands on her shoulders and waiting until she brought reluctant eyes up to his.
 
"You were thinking that I'd do pretty much anything to be allowed to spend time with you, weren't you?"
 
"I... wasn't... maybe?"  Her eyes dropped again. "I'm sorry, Spike. I do take you for granted, don't I?  Of course you wouldn't...."
 
As though she hadn't spoken, he tipped her chin up so that she had to look at him again.
 
"And you'd be right, love.  I would do just about anything to spend time with you. You know I would...."
 
Buffy flinched at the reminder that he was willing to endure watching her cuddle with Riley just to be around her; then she remembered what Riley had tried to do and she nodded.
 
"I know you would.  But I'm thinking that after last night's little performance, you won't have to put up with some of it anymore."
 
"Was trying to stake me a deal-breaker, then?"  The hope in his voice was palpable.
 
"It always has been," she admitted.  "It's one of the first and only fights we ever had.  I told him that unless he found you with your teeth in somebody's throat, he had to leave you alone."
 
"Oh." His hands fell from her shoulders and he stuck them in his pockets.  "So, nothing new about it, then."  He turned away and began walking.  Buffy stared after him or a second, than ran to catch up, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him to a halt.
 
"It's always been a deal-breaker," she said, willing him to listen even as she watched his face shut down.  "The difference is – back then, I would have just been really, really mad; and now... " She touched his cheek, stroking it until he met her eyes.  "Now, I would be heartbroken."
 
"Can't have that," he whispered, kissing her palm and holding her hand against his cheek.
 
Buffy blushed and looked away from the adoration in his eyes. 
 
"Well, no. It's not my favorite thing to be.  Hence the worry when you were late tonight."
 
He released her hand and they began walking again, slowly this time and with their shoulders brushing occasionally as they strolled around Sunnydale in search of slay-worthy demons.
 
 
Chapter Two
 
A few weeks later, Xander bounced into Giles’s apartment with his usual respectful greeting. "Hey, G-man, what's with all the evil un-dead presence lately?"
 
"Please do not call me that.  If you're referring to Spike, I'm afraid you would have to ask Buffy.  Although, I will admit to enjoying the company of someone who can speak the Queen's English from time to time."
 
"Spike? You'd rather be talking to the evil undead than us? The pride of Sunnydale?"
 
"I did not say I would rather be speaking with him; simply that he and I share a common heritage – and, to my surprise, a common grasp of language – that makes conversing with him a bit more like speaking with a contemporary."
 
"Now, see, if you'd said all that in American, I might have agreed with you."
 
"Hence my occasional preference for Spike's company," was his dry reply.
 
“Back to my question. Why is he around here so much? Shouldn’t he be out doing creature of the night kinds of things?”
 
“Like hunting and killing demons with Buffy?”
 
“Well, yeah, okay. So the Buffster is sort of a creature of the night – but only because that’s where the bad guys are.  Otherwise, she’d be all about the sunshine and beach scene.” 
 
“So you think Spike will not be here?”
 
“Well — and you have no idea how I hate to admit this — Anya thinks he’s only hanging out here because Buffy does, and since the Buffster is in LA with her dad and Dawn....”
 
“Point taken,” Giles admitted.  “However, I do not believe Spike has many friends left among Sunnydale’s demon populations. So, as little as we may celebrate the idea of his becoming a fr—member of our little group, I think we must accept that it is so.” He looked from Xander to the door, which had just been opened to admit the vampire in question.  “As you can see.”
 
“Talking about me, were you?”  Spike glanced between the two men, making it clear his vampire hearing had allowed him to hear some of their conversation.
 
“Eavesdropping, were you, Yoda?”
 
“That would be ‘Eavesdropping, you were?’” Spike snorted.  “And, no, not intentionally listening. That would imply I thought you two might say something worth hearing.”
 
“You got my Star Wars reference... and corrected it.” Xander turned a panicked face to Giles. “The bloodsucker is trying to out-geek me, Giles! Do something!”
 
“Please do not permit Xander to feel you know more than he does about things he considers important, Spike,” Giles said with a wry twist to his mouth.
 
Spike nodded as he dropped his coat on a chair. “Wouldn’t want the boy to feel inferior.  Should we stick to mid-nineteenth century literature then?”
 
Xander gaped back and forth between the smirking vampire and Giles, who was visibly trying to hide a small smile.
 
“I’m telling Buffy on you when she gets back,” he finally sputtered.  “On both of you!”
 
Before Spike could reply, Willow and Tara came through the door with Anya following them complaining about having her plans for the night interrupted.
 
“Thank God,” Xander muttered, going to stand by the girls. “People who speak my language.”
 
“We all speak the same language, Xander.” Anya frowned at him. 
 
“No we don’t. Giles and the bloodsucker speak... British.  It’s not the same at all.”
 
Willow’s giggle and Tara’s soft smile did nothing to improve Xander’s mood, although he settled for throwing himself into a chair.  “Can we get this show on the road? Why did you call this meeting, G-man? Buffy’s not here, so no slayer stuff to handle.”
 
“My point, exactly.  Buffy is not here, and hasn’t been since early yesterday evening. I’m proposing we take her place for the next night or two. Just so when she gets back she doesn’t have to deal with overwhelming numbers of vampires.  And to keep the public safe, of course.”
 
“So you want us to... what?  Patrol for her?  I’m all about keeping down the population of bloodsuckers—” Xander shot a quick glance at Spike who made a rude gesture in his direction — “but once we find them, which one of us is going to do the fighting? You?”  When Giles glared at him, Xander quickly added, “Not that you couldn’t do it. With all those watcherly skills you’ve got...”
 
Giles sighed and rubbed his face.  “Although I would like to think I could hold my own, I believe that working as a group would be best.  Willow and Tara have their magic, I have my own...as you pointed out...small measure of skill with slaying weapons, you—”
 
Anya interrupted. “Xander doesn’t have any skills... well, he does, obviously, but not in the way of vampire-slaying. We don’t have any magic, and we’re just humans. You don’t need us. Come on Xander, let’s leave now.”  She stood up and held out her hand.
 
“Ayn... I’ve staked my share of vamps. I’m not completely helpless, you know.” He stood up and glared at his girlfriend.
 
“You are vulnerable, and important to me. So I don’t want you going out to do Buffy’s job.  She can do it when she gets home.”
 
The room was silent as everyone waited to see how Xander was going to handle Anya’s comments.  Spike’s snort of laughter focused Xander’s anger on him rather than Anya.
 
“What are you laughing about? If anybody should be out there doing Buffy’s job for her, it’s you. You know her routine and where the evil things are likely to be lurking.”
 
Spike raised his eyebrows at Giles who shrugged an apology. “I hadn’t got to that part of the plan yet.”
 
“There’s a plan? Why wasn’t I told? I like plans.” Xander sat back down, ignoring Anya’s tapping foot. “What is it?”
 
“You weren’t told because Anya interrupted me before I’d finished explaining why I feel we can be useful while Buffy is gone.  Spike is part of the plan. He has agreed to help us while Buffy is away.”
 
“Oh.” Xander rounded on Spike again. “Why would you do that?”
 
“Because I promised the Slayer I’d see to it none of you lot managed to get yourselves killed while she was away.”
 
“Hah!” Anya’s triumphant exclamation was followed by, “I told you so. He’s here because of Buffy.”
 
“I’m here because the Slayer isn’t,” Spike corrected her. “If she wasn’t scampering about in the big city, you wouldn’t need me.”
 
“How do you know where she is?” Willow asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “And when did she ask you to help us?”
 
“She told me where she was going the same time she asked me to watch out for all your delicate little selves,” he said, managing to avoid the real question. “Being as you’re all such nummy treats... Well, maybe not old Rupert there, but the rest of you are plump, ripe....” Spike’s eyes glazed over and his mind clearly went elsewhere while the humans all shrank together on the other side of the room from him.  With a start, he shook off his wrinkles and gave them a toothy grin. “Sorry about that.  Got lost in memories for a bit.  I’m alright now.”
 
“I’ll bet Buffy didn’t tell you to scare us to death,” Anya snapped, her usual demon solidarity with Spike taking a back seat to the fright he’d just given her.
 
“Didn’t tell me I couldn’t,” he said back.  “Vamp’s got to have some fun while he’s out helping a bunch of white hats.”
 
“As entertaining as this has been.” Giles cleared his throat loudly. “If we could focus on the plan....”
 
“Which is?”
 
“You Slayerless Scoobies take a stroll through the cemeteries and when something tries to eat you, I step in and remind it who the real Big Bad is,”  Spike responded before Giles could open his mouth.
 
“Is that really the plan, Giles?” Xander appealed to the older man and waved his hand in Spike’s direction.  “We’re going to risk our lives because he says to?”
 
“Well, my plan was to patrol for Buffy while she was gone. But I’m certainly not sorry that she anticipated me and provided us with some back up. Spike will be a very useful addition to our group.”
 
“How can we trust him?”
 
“Slayer does,” Spike said with a shrug. “Guess you’ll just have to trust her judgment.”
 
“Stop being such a pain, Xander,” Anya said. “We’ve talked about this. He’s not going to do anything to make Buffy mad at him.”
 
Spike snorted, but didn’t bother to explain. It was left to Giles to say, “I’m fairly certain Buffy gets angry at Spike on a regular basis—”
 
“And vice versa,” Spike put in.
 
“—as does he at her,” Giles went on as if there had been no interruption.  “However, it is perfectly obvious that they trust each other when it comes to slaying and do not allow any temporary disagreements to disrupt that trust. I suggest we be on our way now so as complete our patrol at a reasonable hour.”
 
After handing out weapons and explaining to Anya that the crossbow, which could be used at a distance, was probably a better choice for her than a sword, Giles led them out and into the night, Spike gliding along silently behind them.
 
As they reached the entrance to the first graveyard on Giles’s list, Xander dropped back beside Spike. 
 
“Why does Buffy trust you?” he demanded.  “Besides the fact that you’re harmless?”
 
Spike sighed and shook his head. “Not ‘harmless’, Harris.  Can’t maim or kill humans, that’s true, but no reason I can’t beat and kill my way back into being the Master of Sunnydale if I wanted to.  Could have minions to bring me my food, could burn your house down if I felt like it, could—”
 
“Okay, okay. I get the picture. Spike is still the Big Bad, he just doesn’t want to be for some reason. Doesn’t explain why Buffy believes you’re safe for us to be around when she’s not here.”
 
“Slayer trusts me.” Spike repeated his earlier comment and slid his eyes to the side to watch Xander’s reaction. “Don’t you trust her judgment?”
 
“Buffy’s judgment when it comes to vampires she’s played tonsil-hockey with is pretty shaky. People tend to die,” Xander muttered, then remembered who he was talking to.  “And if you tell her I said that, I’ll stake you myself!” 
 
Spike allowed him to panic for a few seconds before saying, “Maybe her taste in men has improved with age.” He waited a few more seconds before adding, “I’m not him, you know.”
 
“Yeah, yeah. I know. You’re all ‘I can control my demon’ guy, and you at least have a sense of humor.  But the tonsil hockey was a spell, and you don’t have a soul—”
 
“Don’t need one,” Spike said shortly. “All you need to know is I wouldn’t do anything to hurt the Slayer... and that includes allowing any of you to die.” He pointed ahead. “Best cock that crossbow if you want a piece of that vamp, or demon-girl’s going to beat you to the first slay tonight.”
 
“Don’t call her that,” was the automatic response, even as Xander cocked the weapon and released a shaft into the chest of the vampire just out of the open grave and trying to stand up.  The dust settled back onto the dirt and Giles waved the group on deeper into the cemetery.
 
 
XXXXXXXX
 
“Well, a good night’s work, I think,” Giles said as the small group of humans followed him toward his apartment.  “Spike can help me with the weapons if you would like to go to your homes now.”
 
“I’m giving the girls a ride back to the dorm, so we need to get back to your place anyway,” Xander said. He cast a look behind him to see Spike once again bringing up the rear, cigarette in mouth and appearing very relaxed and unconcerned about their surroundings. 
 
However, a close call with an angry demon that had come from nowhere earlier in the evening had shown them exactly how quickly Spike could go from seemingly oblivious companion to active and lethal bodyguard. He’d snatched a sword from Giles and beheaded the demon before the others even realized they’d been attacked. He’d waited, head cocked and vamp face on, as he listened and watched the darkness for any more attackers, before handing the sword back to Giles and retrieving his still-glowing cigarette from the grass where he’d dropped it.
 
Xander chose not to examine too closely the disturbing thought that he felt safer knowing part of the Scourge of Europe was walking behind him than he would have if Spike weren’t there.
 
As soon as the girls and Xander had driven away, Giles and Spike carried the weapons into the apartment and placed them in the chest. Giles gave a nod of approval as Spike took a rag from the chest and cleaned the sword of demon ichor before putting it away.  While Spike closed the chest and followed him to the kitchen, Giles took out two glasses and a bottle of scotch, pouring a healthy amount in each glass and handing one to Spike.
 
They sat quietly, sipping their drinks, the silence comfortable rather than feeling like something that needed to be filled.  Giles held up the bottle, blinking in surprise when Spike shook his head.
 
“Don’t look at me like that, Watcher. I know good sippin’ whiskey when I taste it. We sipped. We’re done.  I’ve got to swing by my crypt and grab a few things before I go to my bed for the day.”
 
“I thought that was your home.”
 
“Is. But the big hick knows it and I’m not interested in being staked in my sleep, so I’m not staying there just now.”
 
“You think he would do that?”
 
“Came home by way of the tunnels the other day and heard him and one of his buddies upstairs. Just lucky the trap was closed and covered and they didn’t find my bedroom.  When they left, I went up to check it out and found they’d rigged a crossbow to go off at the first person to come through the door.”
 
“But that could have been....” Giles gulped the rest of his drink. “... any of us.”
 
“Exactly. Bloody stupid bastard. Could even have been the Bit or Joyce.... or Buffy.”
 
“You should have mentioned it tonight.”
 
“Probably should have, at that, but I wouldn’t expect any of the Scoobies to be paying me a visit without the Slayer, and she already knows about it.”
 
“You didn’t take it down? Are you trying to get someone killed?”
 
Spike shook his head. “Was kind of hopin’ it would be Finn – coming back to check his handiwork. But I reckon he knows better than to walk into his own trap.”  Spike stood up. “Anyway, Buffy knows not to come in that way, and so do Joyce and Dawn — not that they have any reason to be there. The Bit isn’t real big on doin’ what she’s told, but she’s not here so I think it’s safe enough.  I’ll tell the others tomorrow night.”  He set his glass in the sink and went to the door.  “What time do you want me here tomorrow?”
 
“What? Oh, sorry. I was thinking about that bloody blithering idiot and wondering what was wrong with him.”
 
“Think we both know what’s wrong with him, Watcher,” Spike said with a sideways glance at Giles.
 
“Perhaps if you spent less time with Buffy....” Giles trailed off at the stony expression on Spike’s face.  “Right then, we’ll just have to warn everyone.”  He sighed. “Maybe I should talk to Riley. I could explain....”
 
“What would you be explaining, exactly?”
 
“Well that’s the question, isn’t it?” Giles challenged him. “Clearly he is jealous. But if he has no reason to be....”
 
“Slayer told him a long time ago if he tried to stake me she’d be really brassed off. She told me it was a deal-breaker for her and that he knew it.  She repeated it with a bit more emphasis after that little attempt to stake me in the back a few weeks ago. I’d say it doesn’t matter if he’s got reason or not – he thinks he does.”
 
“And does he?”
 
“You’d have to ask Buffy that. I’m pretty sure my feelings aren’t a secret from anybody... including Harris, as much as he may want to pretend he doesn’t know.”
 
Spike opened the door and said over his shoulder, “See you tomorrow night, Watcher.”
 
“Good-night, Spike. And thank you for tonight. Do be careful.”
 
There was no reply as the door closed behind him.
 
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