Chapter 14
 
Giles finished jotting down the details of Buffy’s patrol the night before and tucked his diary away. “Utterly remarkable,” he said, polishing his spectacles for all they were worth. “Are you positive he said that Glory was no more? It does seem to be rather…”
 
“Too good to be true?” Xander put in.
 
“I was going to say fortuitous.” Although Giles admitted to himself that Xander’s comment was equally apt.
 
Grinning, Buffy nodded vigorously. “Uh-huh. He said I can keep the Key, that Glory was no more, and that they were going to sacrifice themselves for failing her. There was sobbing. Neat, huh?”
 
“And they gave no indication of how Glory met her end? Given what you told me of her, it’s difficult to imagine.”
 
Buffy rolled her eyes. “No, Giles. I’ve told you everything he said. They did their disappearing act before I could ask any questions.”
 
Willow said excitedly, “Oh! That must have been me and Tara with our teleportation spell! Oh, boy! I always knew we were awesome, but wow! Yay me! I killed a Hellgod!”
 
“God, will you ever get over yourself, Will? I don’t know where you poofed her to, but wherever it was, it didn’t kill her. I’ve had a run in with her since then.”
 
“Phooey.” Willow slumped back in her chair and stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. “That would have been so cool.”
 
“This is good, right?” Anya asked, looking up from where she was counting the day’s takings. “If Glory’s dead, that means the apocalypse has been averted and none of us has been brain-sucked or met a grisly end. And we can stop mollycoddling Dawn. Frankly, that has become boring.”
 
“Yes, Ahn, except that I guess those Ren Fair knights that attacked Buffy are still out there,” Xander pointed out. “They’ll still want to destroy the Key. That can’t be good.”
 
“But they don’t know Dawn’s the Key.”
 
Buffy made a face. “I don’t think we can count on that for long. From what Dawn said, one of them was in the crazy ward at the hospital and when he saw her, he started babbling that he’d found the key. Perhaps if we tell them that Glory’s dead, they’ll pack up and disappear back down whichever time-warp hole they crawled out of?”
 
“I suppose it’s worth a try,” Giles allowed. “But you should remain vigilant, Buffy. Fanatics are rarely dissuaded from their goals so readily.”
 
“Reckon I could dissuade them right bloody quick if they dare to come anywhere near Dawn or the Little Bit,” Spike snarled, slipping into game face for a couple of seconds.
 
“They may be crackpots, Spike, but they’re human. I’m the slayer. I don’t kill humans.”
 
Spike smirked. “I’m not the slayer.”
 
Buffy looked at him, biting her bottom lip uncertainly.
 
Spike placed a hand on her arm and said with quiet sincerity, “Buffy, tell me that if it came down to Dawn’s life or those nutters’, you wouldn’t kill to protect her.”
 
The uneasy silence was broken by the loud clang of the shop bell as Dawn clomped in, followed closely by a sombre-looking Joyce.
 
Buffy reluctantly nodded. “Last resort, Spike. No killing unless it’s literally her life or theirs.”
 
“I hear and I obey, oh magnificent Chosen One.” Spike swept her an elegant bow, prompting her lips to twitch into a little smile.
 
Giles glanced up and smiled a welcome to Joyce, then turned his attention back to Spike. The vampire seemed sincere but Giles couldn’t help wondering how long his promise would hold up in a confrontation. At every turn, Spike continued to confound him.
 
“We have some news, honey.” Joyce placed a folded newspaper on the research table.
 
“Gamma!” Annie stumbled out of the training room, fisting her eyes sleepily. “Potty!” She raised her arms in the universal signal for ‘pick me up now’.
 
Joyce nodded to Dawn. “Go ahead sweetie. It’s your story anyway.” She gathered Annie up and headed behind the counter to the staff cloakroom.
 
Dawn picked up the newspaper and clutched it to her chest, preening smugly. “Okay. There was a story in the paper this morning that upset Mom. She showed me and… Buffy? You remember Ben, that nice doctor from when Mom was in the hospital? Well, he’s dead.” She handed the paper to Buffy and pointed to a short item with a photo beside it. “He was found in an alley with his neck broken. Here’s the kicker; he was wearing a dress!”
 
“Good Lord!”
 
“Oh no! Poor Ben. But he was nice!” Buffy bent to read the article. “Who would want to kill him?”
 
“Someone with a thing about transvestites?” Xander suggested with a snigger.
 
Dawn rolled her eyes. “Well, as soon as I read that and saw the picture, I remembered something. You know at the hospital I said that Ben was there, but he must have gone before Glory arrived? That’s not how it happened. It was like, I was chatting with Ben and there was hot chocolate and he was trying to be sympathetic in a feeble kinda way. Then he started freaking out and suddenly, right in front of my eyes, Ben turnedinto Glory! So I guess it’s like, when Ben died, Glory died?”
 
Joyce returned with Annie and Buffy reclaimed her daughter then ushered Joyce into her seat and casually went and sat on Spike’s lap. Frowning, Buffy asked, “Dawnie, are you sure?”
 
“Absoposilutely.”
 
“So she was what?” Xander said. “Doing the Clark Kent and Superman thing? Ben was her incognito identity?”
 
“Not really, Xan, ‘cos anyone who can like, see, can see that they’re the same person. This was more like Bruce Banner and the Hulk, except that she didn’t know what I’d been talking about with Ben.”
 
“Is that possible, Rupert? It seems so unlikely, but Dawn is adamant that’s what happened.”
 
“I’ve never heard of such a thing, Joyce, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Particularly on the Hellmouth.”
 
“But even though Glory’s gone, I’m still the Key, right? So I still need to know what that means, Giles. Do I have cool powers, or what? Can you help me find out?”
 
“Of course, Dawn. Under the circumstances, I’ll switch the focus of my research from Glory herself to the Key.”
 
Spike gestured to the newspaper and said quietly to Buffy, “Let’s have a look.” Buffy passed it to him and he examined the poorly reproduced photo. Then he chuckled and tossed the paper onto the table, saying, “Thought that story sounded familiar. She’s right. That’s the shape-shifting demon I offed the other night after it beat up the slayer. That switch is exactly what I saw, except in reverse.”
 
Everyone began speaking at once. After a few seconds, Giles grew frustrated with not being heard and cleared his throat noisily. Everyone fell silent except Buffy.
 
“I thought I felt a vampire close by. That was you?” Her face fell. She asked in a very small voice, “And you killed Ben? I thought you were keeping your promise not to kill humans any more.”
 
Spike shrugged. “Far as I knew, he wasn’t human. Doubt if he was, a hundred percent, if he had a god hiding inside him. I’d just seen that blonde with the bad perm trouncing you and then when she turned into the bloke it was obvious to me that it was a shape-shifter. Couldn’t have it distracting you while I was trying to get you to help me, so I figured I’d take care of it for you.”
 
“So Glory reallyis gone. What a relief! Thank you so much, Spike.” Joyce stood and reached for Annie. “We’ll be off home then. Come on, Dawn. Do you have Annie’s stroller, Buffy?” After a sly sidelong glance at Spike, she added, “I hope you’re not going to be hometoo late tonight? Don’t forget you have class in the morning.”
 
And before Giles knew it, the meeting was breaking up. He tried to make himself heard several times but each time, he was interrupted by goodbyes and invitations to dinner and comments upon the likelihood of encountering the knights, and above all, cheerful arrangements for celebrating at the Bronze the following evening.
 
Finally the shop door closed behind Anya and Xander and as the sound of the bell faded way, he was left standing by the table in the abruptly silent shop with only Willow for company.
 
“Uh, Willow? I wonder if you might help me with a couple of spells?”
 
“Me? But yesterday you said…” Willow said doubtfully, looking up from the research volumes she was sorting.
 
“I merely wished you to refrain from frivolous spells, Willow. This is important.”
 
“Well, I guess.” Willow put down the book she was holding.
 
“First, I need a locator spell to find these blasted knights.”
 
“But won’t we need something that belongs to one of them?”
 
Giles went into the training room and returned brandishing the sword that Buffy had picked up from one of the knights. He smiled grimly. “I think this should suffice.”
 
“Okay, if you say so.” Willow began gathering the required components.
 
Giles finished clearing a space on the table, absently noting the absence of Spike’s map and its exquisite case. “And once that’s done, I need you to help me find a way to mask Dawn’s Key qualities, both from magical detection and from those poor deranged creatures who can naturally recognise her true form.”
 
“Oh, okay. I’ve actually been researching that for a while.” Willow reached into her backpack and withdrew several notebooks of varying colours, separated out a shiny green one and tucked the rest back. She held the green one out to Giles. “My notes on what I’ve found so far.”
 
“Thank you, Willow. That should be very helpful. Now that the threat from Glory has gone, I’d also like to speak to you about possibly moving up your stay with the coven. What would you say to going over at Easter, that is, Spring Break? I really think it is vital for you to begin your formal training as soon as possible.”
 
“But… but school?”
 
“Well, I may be out of favour with that pompous prat Travers, but I still have some friends with influence on the Council. Would you agree if I could arrange for you to spend the Summer term attending lectures at the University of Bath?”
 
 
~*~*~*~
 
 
“Do you think she meant it?”
 
Buffy threw her head back and strained to draw air into her oxygen-starved lungs while Spike nibbled along her jaw and down her throat. Did he honestly expect her to form words when he was doing that? “Ungh,” was the best she could manage.
 
Spike chuckled and wrapped his free arm even more tightly around her, slipping a second finger inside her. “Your mum. Did she mean it?”
 
Buffy opened her mouth, fully intending to ask what he meant, but only a low moan came out. Then his thumb landed dead on her clit and all the air that she’d managed to accumulate was driven out of her in one massive grunt. “Gah!”
 
“Uh… miss? Are you okay?” A tentative voice invaded their privacy in the shadowed doorway of the April Fools dress shop.
 
“Sod off!” was Spike’s predictable response.
 
Buffy looked past Spike’s shoulder. There was a man on the sidewalk shifting nervously from one foot to the other. She cleared her throat and forced out a weak, “I’m fine, thanks.” He looked as though he was about to protest, so she hastily added, “No, really.” Then Spike did that thing with his thumb ring and she lost all interest in the potential Good Samaritan. As waves of pleasure pulsed through her, her eyes closed, her legs turned to jello and her head fell forward onto Spike’s shoulder. “Oooooh god!”
 
It seemed like hours before she could breathe normally and her legs began to obey her instructions to hold her upright. Then she remembered the man who had interrupted them and her face flamed hotly. She pulled her arms from around Spike’s neck, batted him feebly on the shoulder and pushed him away. “I can’t believe you just did that!” She was torn between laughter and anger. Only the fact that the precise details of what they’d been doing had been shielded from the stranger by Spike’s duster allowed her to come down on the side of laughter.
 
“Figured you needed to take the edge off, love.” Spike smouldered at her as he very deliberately sucked the two fingers that her movement had pulled from within her body, slowly drawing them out of his mouth and moaning dramatically. “God, you’re delicious!” He sent his tongue out to lick his thumb as though it was a lollipop and Buffy almost melted again. He cocked his head to one side and smirked. “Reckon from how quick you got off, you could do with a few more. Why don’t we go to the mansion so I can give you a proper seeing to?”
 
Buffy was tempted. So very tempted, but she took a deep breath and stiffened her resolve. She refastened her pants and regretfully shook her head. “Not tonight, Spike. Sorry. There isn’t time. I really need to deal with these bitey places and then I have to get home.”
 
“Bugger it. Can’t wait ‘til we can get a place of our own. I miss you, Buffy.”
 
“I know. Me too.” By way of offering an olive branch, she pointed at his groin. “If you like, I could return the favour?”
 
Spike unhurriedly adjusted the bulge straining the button fly of his jeans. “Don’t worry ‘bout me, love. I’m willing to wait for the main feature. And you didn’t answer me, love. Did your mum mean it?”
 
“Mean what?”
 
“When she told me to come to dinner tomorrow night. She does remember I’m a vamp, doesn’t she?”
 
Buffy took him by the hand, dragged him out of the doorway and headed towards Willy’s, glancing around to make sure that the witness to their little tryst wasn’t hanging around. “Oh yeah. She meant it all right. Be prepared for the third degree.”
 
“Bloody hell.”
 
“I’ve already had to suffer it, so it’s only fair.” Buffy smirked up at him and squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry; I’ll make it up to you. Tomorrow’s Friday, so after dinner we can drop into the Bronze for a little while to celebrate with the gang, then we’ll have the whole night together. If I can, I’ll find a way to get mom to suggest she should mind Annie all day at the gallery, so I won’t need to be home until Saturday night.”
 
“I’ll hold you to that, Goldilocks.”
 
After a few minutes they reached Willy’s and Spike said, “Best for me to go in alone. They’ll talk more openly without the slayer hanging off my arm.”
 
Buffy hated it, but she was big enough to acknowledge that he was right.
 
A few minutes later, Spike emerged from the bar amid a gust of smoky beer fumes and grinned smugly at her. “As I thought. The bite shop down the block is still up and running. They tell me there was one across town close to the college campus for a while, but the G.I. Joes cleared that one out. Wouldn’t be surprised if that was where your boy got the idea.”
 
“I expect so.” Buffy automatically checked that the several stakes secreted about her person were still intact. She returned his grin and eagerly reached for his hand. “Okay honey; let’s go kill us some vampires.”