Chapter 3

 

The Scoobies stared at the young girl currently sobbing in Buffy’s arms.

 

Buffy continued to stroke the young girl’s hair. “Umm Sweetie…what is your name by the way?”

 

“DDDawn.” The heart wrenching sobs continued to poor forth from the girl.

 

“That’s a pretty name.  Dawn, who’s Spike?  Is he your dog or something?” Buffy waited patiently for the girl to calm enough to answer.

 

Dawn pulled back to stare at Buffy in disbelief, her tears suddenly gone “You’ve got to be joking right?” she looked slightly amazed, before she gave a snort. “Yea, he’s my 5’11” bleached blonde, blue eyed dog!”  Dawn rolled her eyes. as she waited for the Scoobies to process what she had just said.

 

Surprisingly, Xander was the first to realise what or rather WHO Dawn was referring to.  “You mean Spike?  As in SPIKE!”

 

“Yes. Spike.” Dawn suddenly jumped up and began to pace around the  room “You know Spike? AKA  William the Bloody?”

 

“So, you know that he’s a …..” Giles was trying to discreetly search his coat pockets for a stake or some other weapon that he always had secreted upon his person.

 

“Vampire?” Dawn delicately arched an eyebrow as she tried to hide her amusement at Giles’s non to subtle actions “You know, I never would have guessed with all the blood drinking, lack of reflection and allergy to sunlight.”

 

Suddenly Giles sprung forward, pressing a small silver cross onto her arm.  Dawn looked from Giles to her arm.  “Well, I’m not a Vampire.  Hello!  Came through the door uninvited.”

 

Buffy had moved in to a defensive pose. “Then, what are you?” she asked menacingly.

 

Dawn seemed to deflate as the tears began to fall once again. “A girl.  I’m just a girl.”

 

Buffy grabbed Dawn, shaking her roughly. “If you’re hanging with Spike, then there’s got to be more to it.” Her eyes narrowed. “So I’m only going to ask you this one last time.  WHAT ARE YOU?”

 

Dawn wrenched her arm free. “I’M HUMAN!  Spike said that you would look after me.  He said that if anything happened to him, I had to come to you.  He showed me where you all lived.  He said that The Slayer would protect me.  He said that that’s what you did.  HE SAID!”

 

“And we all know that Spike never lies.” Buffy tried to grab Dawn once again, her dislike for the vampire over clouding her normal judgment.

 

“NOT TO ME!” Dawn clenched her fists tightly. “He NEVER lies to me.  EVER” she turned and began to stalk towards the door. “I guess he was wrong when he said that you would help an innocent.  Never mind. I’ll find a way to help him myself.”

 

Joyce darted forward and barred the exit, giving Buffy a stern look as she did. “Of course Buffy will help you, Dawn, she’s just a little confused at the moment.  How about we all get some sleep, and we'll talk about it in the morning.  Dawn, would you like to stay here tonight?”

 

Dawn gave a sniffle before burrowing into Joyce’s side and tucking herself under her arm. “OK.” she poked her tongue out at Buffy while Joyce wasn’t looking, unable to help herself.

 

“MOM!” Buffy couldn’t believe that her mother was going to allow a complete stranger stay in their house.  ‘A complete stranger who knows Spike! ’ 

 

“Not another word Buffy,” Joyce replied sternly. “I suggest everyone go home and get some sleep.  We’ll talk about this in the morning.” She briskly led Dawn upstairs to settle her in.

 

Buffy tried hard not to pout at her mother’s dismissal. “You guys might as well leave.”  Buffy winced slightly at the sulky tone in her voice. “But I want you all back here 8am sharp.

 

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Spike woke up to a searing pain in his head. He lay in his cell wishing for the relief of unconsciousness as he began to take stock of his injuries.

 

Beside the migraine like pain in his head, one eye was swollen shut and it felt like his lips were split and dry.  He ran his tongue lightly across his mouth wincing slightly as he passed an especially tender spot.  Spike took an experimental breath, and groaned lightly as a burning sensation shot through his chest.  If his arms didn’t feel like lead he would have checked to see just how many of his ribs were broken.  He managed to lift his head slightly and glance down towards his legs with his good eye. 

 

Spike’s boots were gone and his feet looked swollen and bruised, his jeans felt stiff and rough and he guessed it was from dried blood.  In fact, Spike surmised that his entire body was a bruised and bloody mess.  Thankfully, the exertion of his inspection had exhausted him and he once again slipped into darkness.

 

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The next morning, Buffy entered her kitchen to see her mother clucking over Dawn, who was now wearing, hey! “Is that my new shirt?”

 

“Really, Buffy” Joyce moved to put a plate of pancakes in front of her “You left it here the last time you bought your laundry over.  Surely Dawn can borrow it, it’s not like you’ve missed the thing.”

 

“Yeah but it’s mine,”  Buffy pouted, grimacing as she watched the syrup on Dawn's pancakes come perilously close to dripping on her shirt.

 

Dawn simply rolled her eyes.

 

“The others should be here soon, and then we WILL be getting some answers” Buffy gave the teen what she hoped was an intimidating look.

 

As if on cue, there was a loud knock on the door.

 

Joyce stared at Buffy pointedly, before giving up in exasperation “I’ll get the door, shall I?”

 

“Ok,” Buffy mumbled offhandedly, continuing her attempt to glare Dawn into submission.  Dawn, for her part, was doing a good job of ignoring the Slayer.

 

 Giles, Willow and Xander followed Joyce into the kitchen “Morning Buffster,” said Xander, reaching across to snatch one of her pancakes, stuffing it unceremoniously into his mouth.

 

“Yes, good morning, Buffy.” Giles watched aghast as Xander stuffed more food into his already crowded mouth ‘At least it will keep the boy quiet for a few minutes.’

 

Willow smiled at Dawn brightly before greeting Buffy as well.  “Hi we’re here 8am sharp with paper and pencils for the taking of notes and such.” She raised the aforementioned items as she spoke.

    

Buffy sighed as she watched Xander snatch away the last of her breakfast “Well, it looks like I’m finished here, we may as well take this into the living room.”

 

Buffy stood and waited impatiently for Dawn to finish her breakfast.

 

Dawn made a production of savoring each mouthful as she ate, not knowing quite why she was trying to get under the Slayer's skin so much. But then the thought of Spike dimmed her appetite, and her movements became even more slowed.

 

Buffy began to tap her foot “We don’t have all day.”

 

“Buffy.” Joyce admonished her daughter “Leave her alone, she’ll get indigestion if she eats too fast.” She stared at Buffy’s empty plate meaningfully. “Dawn is enjoying her breakfast, unlike some people who seem to wolf their food down.”

 

Buffy began to splutter in indignation before turning to fix Xander with a pointed glare.

 

Xander, as usual, was completely oblivious to the fact that he had just eaten most of Buffy’s breakfast.

 

Buffy’s attention turned back towards Dawn, as the girl daintily wiped her mouth before sliding off her stool and striding past them with an air of authority “Come on then. We don’t have all day.”

 

Buffy could feel her temper rising but managed to bring it under control before following her out of the room.

 

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Spike awoke to a searing pain in his gut. Struggling to open his still swollen eyes, he looked towards the source of the pain.  Sticking out of his stomach was a long thin blade, which was slowly being twisted by the hand that grasped its end.

 

“Finally awake, Hostile 17” Spike raised his eyes to look at the owner of the voice.  It was one of those commando blokes from last night.  ‘What had they called him?  That’s right, Riley.”

 

Riley sneered down at him, as he pressed the knife deeper into Spike’s gut.  “So 17. What kind of night did you have?” he pulled the knife out abruptly “Because I had a bad night.  Do you know why?” He leant down close to Spike’s face “I spent all last night looking for your little girlfriend.”

 

Spike lifted his head. “Is that right?”

 

Riley nodded “That’s right, didn’t find her though.  Not a sign of her anywhere, which really pissed me off.” He stood up and began to trail the blade lightly across Spike’s stomach and torso.  “I was looking forward to breaking that one in.”

 

Spike felt relief course through him that his little Bit was still safe.  He had wanted to open the connection between them so that he could check on her, but that would mean that Dawn would be subjected to his pain.  Something he was not prepared to do just yet.  He knew that she had made it to The Slayer’s mum and that Joyce would keep her safe.

 

Riley watched as the vampire had relaxed, that was not the reaction he had been hoping for.  ‘Oh well, time for a little interrogation.’ his smile widened. ‘God he loved his job.’

 

Slowly, Riley began to move the blade haphazardly across Spike’s torso, every now and then pressing the blade slightly deeper.  “Hostile 17, you will tell me where the girl is likely to go.”  (Press)  “Do you have contacts here that are hiding her?” (Press) “What type of demon is she?” (Press)  “Where should we look for her?  Where is she likely to go next?”  (Press, press, dig).

 

Spike groaned as he felt the blade dig deeply into stomach once again, shutting his eyes against the pain Spike tried to wrestle some control over his body’s reactions.

“Bite me.” Spike chuckled at the look of rage that crossed the soldier boy’s face.

 

Riley lashed out in frustration, slashing the blade across Spike’s cheek; a long stream of blood began to seep down his face.  “I will find her eventually, you know. And when I do she’s going to pay.”  Riley moved the blade back down to just below his sternum and thrusting it upwards.  “I’m going to make your little girl scream and bleed.”

 

Spike could feel the rage flowing through him like fire.  Gathering all his strength, he jerked his hand upwards to grasp his tormentor around the throat.  He watched dispassionately as the soldier clawed at his fingers.  Spike felt sharp burst of pain flowing through his head and reaching out every nerve ending he possessed.  His grip never faltered.  Slowly, agonizingly he pulled the soldier close “You touch my girl, and I will tear you apart.”  With one last burst of energy he thrust the soldier away before oblivion once again claimed him.

 

Riley sat on the floor where he had fallen take deep gulping breaths, his eyes turned to the door as it was flung open and four heavily armed soldiers burst into the room.  “Why didn’t his chip fire?” he rasped.

 

A white clad doctor brushed past them and began to inspect the subject “I think it did.”  Pulling a small recorder from his pocket the doctor depressed a button and began to speak “Subject is Hostile 17.  During an interrogation subject managed to inflict pain on a human.  Subject is bleeding from ears and nose which seem to indicate that modification chip fired as expected.  However, subject seemed to be able to ignore the effects of the chip and continue to inflict harm with no thought to its own personal safety.”

 

Riley watched as the doctor continued to drone on about the chip and its effects.

 

“Riley!”

 

He turned to see Professor Walsh in the doorway.

 

“I need you on campus this morning.”

 

Riley nodded and rose to his feet.  ‘When he got his chance, he was going to make Hostile 17 pay’

 

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Dawn sat on the sofa, carefully eyeing the people gathered around her.  She knew she needed their help if she was ever going to get Spike back, but she was still unsure of how much to tell them.  Clearing her throat, she began, “I know you all want to know why it is important to get Spike back, so if I tell you some uh stuff” she began to nervously pick at her cuticles.

 

Taking a deep breathe she surged forward with her explanation. “Ok here goes, I’ve been with Spike for about 3 months now.  I used to live with some monks, but they were all... umm killed.”  Dawn felt her eyes begin to prickle, as she remembered the carnage she had been born into.  “One of the monks managed to survive, and he asked Spike to take care of me, to protect me.”

 

“Why would he do that?  I mean I would think a massacre would be right up Captain Peroxide’s alley.” Xander snorted in disbelief.

 

“At first, I think he didn’t really care, but then he found out that the person responsible for the deaths wanted to use me in some ritual.”  Dawn closed her eyes as she replayed the events of that night in her mind “This ritual is a sort of an end of the world deal.  And even though Spike is a vampire, he’s not to keen on the world ending, so he agreed to help.”  Dawn looked towards Buffy.  Spike had told her about Acathla and she was relieved when she saw Buffy reluctantly nod her agreement.

 

“Why did this attacker want you to use in their ritual?”  Giles was frowning as he tried to recall rituals that involved the sacrifice of a young girl.

 

“It has something to do with blood.  My blood to be exact.” Dawn took a deep breath as she prepared to lie “I don’t know why she needs my blood though.  There’s nothing special about me.”

 

“You’re doing well sweetie.” Joyce rubbed her back gently. “Keep going”

 

Dawn smiled her thanks before continuing, “Anyway, Spike decided that I would be safer near the Slayer so we picked up Drusilla and headed to Sunnydale.”

 

“Drusilla’s here?” squeaked Willow

 

Dawn shook her head sadly.  “No... Drusilla’s dead”

 

The Scoobies seemed shocked at this revelation.

 

“Oh, poor Spike.” Joyce remembered how heartbroken he had been when Dru had broken up with him. Buffy looked at her like she was insane. Poor Spike?    Joyce ignored her, inquiring gently, “What happened?  Who killed her?”

 

The other’s waited quietly for Dawn to explain the mad vampiress's fate.

 

“It was...Spike.  Spike dusted her.” Dawn could hear the disbelieving gasps of the others. “At first, Drusilla was really good, she treated me like I was another one of her dolls.  Spike was always careful not to leave us alone though.  I don’t think he really trusted her around me.  Anyway we were in this little town in the middle of nowhere and Drusilla had wandered off somewhere.  Spike told me to lock the door and not let anyone in until he got back, not even Dru.”  Dawn began to absently rub her neck. “I don’t know what happened next really, there was a knock at the door and I looked out and saw Spike, at least I thought it was Spike.  The next thing I remember was Dru with her arm around me in game face and Spike trying to talk her into letting me go.”

 

Dawn shuddered as she remembered what had followed.

 

---------------

 

“Come on now Princess you don’t want to bite Dawn.  She’s your favorite dolly.  Remember?’

 

“But Spike, she glows.” Drusilla had begun to sway slightly. “She calls you away from me with her pretty green light.  I want her in my tummy so I’ll glow too.  Then you’ll never leave your mummy.”

 

“Now Dru, sweet, you know I’d never leave you.” Spike took a cautious step forward. “You’re my ripe wicked plum, I’ll love you forever.”

 

“Spike loves his Princess?” Dru had asked innocently her grip on Dawn easing.

 

“Always luv” He had moved towards Dru, seductively trailing his hand across her face “You’re my Dark Princess, I’m nothing without you.” 

 

Spike had leant in close trailing his lips across Dru’s, all the while trying to gently extricate Dawn from her hold.

 

Suddenly Dru had pushed Spike backwards and grabbed Dawns arm in a vice like grip.

 

“You lie!” The vehemence in her voice had shocked Spike “Two tongues” Drusilla had lifted two fingers, jabbing them in Spikes direction “ssss ssss your words say one thing, but they mean another.”  Dru had then begun to whine in distress “You’re lost to me; they float around you, laughing.”  Dru had pulled Dawn flush against her body “They want to take you away from me.  But you're mine, I made you to be my dark knight.  They can’t have you.”

 

Spike tried to calm her once more “Who, Princess?  You know there’s no one else. Only you.  Let Dawn go and come to me, I’ll make it all better.  I promise, Dru please.”  Spike had begun to plead.

 

“Bad dog, Bad Dog.” Dru clicked her teeth sharply “Why don’t you push them away.  The light and the sun, they cover you.  They’ll burn you all down, till there’s nothing but ashes.”  Dru had lowered her mouth to Dawns throat, one sharp fang nicking her tender skin causing blood to well to the surface.  She licked the blood slowly before fixing her gaze on Spike

 

“NO” Spike leapt forward and ripped Dawn away, pushing her into the corner “You can’t have her Dru”

 

Dru roared her anger and leapt towards Spike, her deadly nails slicing open his forehead just above his right eyebrow.

 

Spike had desperately tried to control Dru’s flailing hands, so that he could subdue her.

 

“You’re a wicked boy, and mummy will need to teach you a lesson.”  Dru was screaming as she broke away from him and headed towards Dawn once again.

 

Spike had launched himself at Dru once again knocking them both into a chair.  Without thinking, he had grabbed up a piece of broken leg and plunged the wood into his sire’s heart.

 

---------------------

 

“Dawn?”

 

The sound of her name being called pulled her from her reverie. “Sorry.”  Dawn tried to remember where she was up to in her story.  “After Dru was ….gone…. the bounty hunters started to come.  Brother Michael had managed to trap the person who wanted me at the monastery, so they sent demons to bring me back.”  Dawn smiled wryly

 

Buffy spoke up, suddenly putting two and two together. “He’s what’s been tearing the demons apart, isn’t he?”

 

Dawn nodded. “Spike tends to get a little protective.”

 

“How?”

 

“How what?” Dawn was confused by Buffy’s question

 

“How does he do it?  I mean, I’ve seen those bodies, and vampires do not have that much strength.”

 

Dawn knew that they were not going to like what she had to say next. but she continued anyway, changing a few details as she went, “When he... gave me to Spike, Brother Michael did something to connect us.  Spike doesn’t need to feed anymore; he just needs to take a few sips from me every week.”

 

“You let him bite you?” Xander was outraged.  “And you want us to rescue him because...?”

 

“No,you don’t understand.” Dawn rolled up the sleeve of her shirt and showed them all the twin neat holes in the crook of her arm.  “My blood, it connects us, it’s a kind of a protection type thing.  And it makes Spike super strong, so he can protect me from anything.”

 

“Dawn, a couple of sips of blood can’t sustain a vampire for any length of time.” Buffy was inspecting the surprisingly neat bite marks on Dawns arm. Obvious care had been taken to minimize the scarring.

 

“He tries not to hurt me,” Dawn told her softly. “Since the thing with Dru, I’m never apart from Spike. EVER. So, I know that he is definitely not feeding.”

 

“Dawn, maybe he’s hiding it from you so you’ll believe that you have to stay with him.” Willow thought that this sounded a much more plausible explanation.

 

Dawn stared at them in disbelief .“I told Spike that you wouldn’t help.”  She stood up and ran towards to the door “Don’t worry about it, I’ll find him myself.  I don’t need your help.”

 

“Buffy.” Joyce pulled her daughter up off the chair. “Go after her, she needs our help.” She turned to stare at the others, hands placed firmly on her hips “And we WILL be helping her.”

 

Buffy ran out of the house looking for Dawn, she could see her in the distance as she turned a corner.  Buffy started to jog after her, all the while complaining to herself about annoying teenage girls.

 

As she rounded the corner, Dawn was nowhere in sight. ‘Great’ she thought, as she began to systematically search Sunnydale.

 

Thirty minutes later Buffy was close to giving up when she saw Dawn up ahead struggling to get away from a large man.  “Dawn!” Buffy raced forward to help the teenager.

 

Dawn was struggling to get away when she heard her name called. She almost cried in relief as Buffy reached her side.

 

“Riley!” Buffy was surprised to see the soldiers harsh face ‘Oh shit, oh shit, Riley’s one of the commandoes.  One of the commandoes who have Spike.’  Buffy calmed herself. “Umm Riley what are you doing to Dawn?”  She watched as his face smoothed into a pleasant and affable expression.

 

“Buffy hi.”  Riley cast his eyes over the blonde, he had plans for this tasty morsel too. “You two know each other?”

 

Buffy reached for Dawn’s other arm “Yes she’s my...ummm…sister.”  She pulled Dawn close, as she eyed Riley “Was she causing trouble on campus?  Sorry, we had a fight and she ran off.”  Buffy started to back them away “Anyway mom was worried, so I better get her home.  I’ll see you at school tomorrow.  Ok bye.” Buffy turned and hurried Dawn back towards Revello Drive. 

 

Riley watched the pair hurry away, ‘This was going to be better then he thought , not only had he located the missing girl, but she was somehow associated with Buffy.  He was going to be able to bring both of them in and interrogate them in his own special way.’  Turning he headed towards Lowell House whistling happily as he ambled along.