Chapter 4

 

Buffy came charging through the door to Revello drive dragging Dawn behind her “Giles we have a problem.”  Pushing Dawn into a chair she with what she hoped was a stern look before turning back to address Giles.  “I caught up to Dawn at the Campus and Riley had her.  I kind of panicked and told him that Dawn was my sister.”

“Buffy do you think that was wise” Giles mind was already ticking over the consequences of her statement “We will need to establish some sort of paper trail so if anyone checks there is some truth to your words.”


“Yeah Buff, no ones going to believe that you have a long lost sister,” Xander added

Dawn watched as the group around her bounced ideas around as they tried to figure out what to do. She couldn't help but smile as Joyce sat down beside her, pulling her into a hug.  “So Dawn, would you like to be my daughter?”

“I’ve never had a mother before.” Dawn felt herself drawn to the Slayer's mother ‘No wonder Spike likes her.’ “Well unless you count Drusilla and she was nuts.”

“I have an idea.” Joyce cleared her throat and waited until she had everyone’s attention “What if Dawn were my foster daughter? It would explain Buffy’s statement that Dawn is her sister and also explain why she hasn’t been living with us before this.”  Joyce thought for a moment before continuing. “Rupert surely you know someone that could provide us with the required paperwork in a hurry.”

“Excellent idea, Joyce.” Giles seemed pleased with the suggestion and hurried off to use the phone. “No time like the present to get things rolling.”

“See sweetheart? Everything’s going to be alright” Joyce reassured her.

“What about Spike?” Dawn was starting to fret once again.  The discussion about her living arrangements and status had been a temporary distraction, but now her focus was returning to the person she loved most. 

Joyce looked towards Buffy. “Yes, what about Spike?  Buffy, if these people aren’t to be trusted we can’t leave him there.”

Buffy sighed as she sat down; her mother seemed to have a soft spot where Spike was concerned. Why, she’d never understand.  “Mom it’s not that simple. Spike is a vampire, he’s evil!” she waited for her mother to grasp this concept “Mom! I’m the Slayer I just can’t go rescue an evil vampire because a girl we know nothing about asks us to.”  Waving her hand in Dawn’s direction she continued her irrational tirade. “I mean, how do we know that this isn’t some evil plan of Spike’s and little miss mysterious here.”

“Oh Buffy really. That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, Spike has helped you in the past, and does Dawn look as though she could hurt a fly?”  Joyce was starting to get tired of her daughter's narrow mindedness when it came to all things relating to Spike.

Dawn gulped as she heard Joyce defending her ‘If she knew…’ fixing Buffy with her best sincere look she braced herself “I will tell you everything” she saw a triumphant gleam in Buffy’s eye “After you rescue Spike, I will tell you.”  She turned to Anya “maybe you should go and see about getting the book of Dasnmahel, Giles will need it.”

Anya gasped, her eyes growing round and fearful before she nodded “I’ll call on D’Hoffran, he can pass the message along.”

“Ok why is this book of dashound so important?” Buffy turned to ask Giles as he returned to the room.

“I’ve never heard of it before” Giles interest was piqued “Anya perhaps you could enlighten us.”

Anya however was staring at Dawn in awe, studying her as she answered “It’s old, Giles, older then any written word.” She turned slightly her expression serious “Human or Demon.  It’s guarded by the four eldest beings in existence, it is said to hold many ancient spells, ways to travel within dimensions, create new worlds.  It’s also said to hold the key to immortality.  How do you know about it?”

Dawn sighed “The ritual I told you about, it’s got something to do with the book.”  She frowned for a moment “Or rather Brother Micheal said that we would need the book if the ritual was started.”

“I see, very well we will have the book brought here.” Giles began to polish his glasses “as far as Spike is concerned, however, we can’t just attempt to retrieve him without knowing what we are getting into.” He desperately tried to get the teen to understand “We have no idea what sort of defenses they have or even if he is still alive.”

“He’s still alive.” Dawn protested fiercely. “When he drinks from me, it not only makes him stronger but it gives us like a connection or something.  We can feel and sometimes hear each other.  He’s blocking it at the moment but every now and then I get flashes.” Dawn fixed Joyce with a pleading look “He’s in pain, they’re hurting him.  Please make them help.”

“Sweetie we will find a way to help him I promise, but Mr Giles is right, they need to know what they’re facing before they go in” Joyce tried to reassure her.

“And how are we supposed to do that?” Buffy added a touch sarcastically “Call up The Initiative and ask them for a map to where he’s being held and oh by the way can you tell us if you’ve been torturing him at all?”

Dawn glared at The Slayer; she was really starting to get pissed off with her attitude.  She opened her mouth to tell her this when she was cut off by Willow.

“Well actually Buffy, there may be a way”

“Huh?” Buffy turned “Will?”

Willow started to fiddle nervously with the hem of her skirt as she scooted forward to the edge of her chair “There’s this girl at Wicca group on campus, Tara, well she’s got a lot of natural magical abilities.  I think she said that she inherited them from her mother” Willow frowned as she tried to recall the conversation “Umm anyway she draws most of her powers from the earth and nature and stuff.  She’s been helping me with my magic and Oz with his wolf.”

“How so Willow?” Giles asked leaning towards her with all the disposition of an eager child being offered a treat.  Buffy couldn’t help but smile, she knew that Giles had had his Ripper days, however, she had always imagined him to be an earnest and proper young boy, well actually she’d always imagined him as a bit of a nerd which still managed to show through on occasion.

“Well um Tara’s made him a few charms, but mostly she’s helping him find his centre so that he can control the change.” Willow was eager to talk about her boyfriend’s progress.  They hadn’t told anyone what they were doing as they had wanted to make sure it would work first.

“Control his change?”

Willow nodded enthusiastically “It’s supposed to help him control the wolf part of him a vampire can control his demon.  Eventually his wolf won’t be controlled by the moon at all; he’ll be able to call forward the change whenever he needs.  He’ll be able to control how much of the wolf comes through as well.”

“How is he progressing?” Giles was already forming a list of questions in his mind.

“Well we always make sure he’s in his cage before we do anything” Willow wanted to reassure them all that they weren’t being reckless. “But so far he can hold of the change for a few hours to begin with.  Oh and he pretty can much call forward his wolfie senses whenever he wants now.”

“Will that’s really great and it’ll be a huge help on patrol, but how does this relate to the Spike situation?” Buffy tried to steer her friend’s enthusiasm back to the issue at hand.

Willow blushed as she realised she had gone off on a tangent “Sorry, what I wanted to tell you about was Tara mentioned something about a type of locator spell that can be done when two people share a bond like me and Oz, or Dawn and Spike in this case.  I don’t know exactly how it works but it lets you ‘see’ what the other person or umm vampire is seeing or what is happening around them or something like that. Would that help?”

“Perhaps it would be helpful if you could bring this Tara here so we could investigate this spell more fully” Giles turned his gaze firstly to Buffy then to Dawn “If this spell provides us with any useful information we will use that to assess the situation.  Our decision either way will be final; there will be no more discussion on the matter afterwards.”  He waited for both girls to nod their agreement before addressing Willow once more “Perhaps you could bring Oz along as well, his new abilities may prove to be useful if we decide to attempt to retrieve Spike.”

Dawn watched as the others left to prepare for the spell in a few hours, she sent up fervent prayers that they would not ignore Spike’s suffering, she gave Buffy a hesitant smile as a peace offering before turning to face Joyce “So what do you want me to call you?”

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His first conscious thought well feeling actually was the intense pain that seemed to ripple through his body.  Wave after wave of sensation washed its way across him, Spike concentrated on trying to block the pain while he took stock of his surroundings, he was laying on something cold and hard and felt as though he were being pressed into it’s very surface, from this he guessed that he was still strapped to the table where soldier boy had conducted his own little brand of interrogation.

Spike groaned as another wave of pain pulsed through him, suppressing the urge to give into the darkness that beckoned him once more, Spike took a deep breathe and pushed the pain aside as he allowed himself to open the connection to Dawn.  Feelings of fear, anger, helplessness as well as affection and hope quickly filled his mind before he once again snapped the connection closed, his nibblet was scared but safe and that’s all he needed to keep him going.

He had wanted to reach out to her mind and reassure her, but he knew that the time for them to renew the connection was soon approaching and he didn’t want to strain the weakening bond. 

The door to the room was viciously thrown open as Riley strode in immediately stalking up to the prone vampire his face twisted into a mask of fury “Hostile 17” he drawled as he began to pick through the surgical instruments nearby, casually inspecting one after the other “Meet you girl again today” he grinned as he held the wickedly sharp scalpel loosely in his hand “Had her in my hands and then you know what happened?”

Spike smirked up at the soldier cockily as he leaned down towards him “What my little girl kick you in the balls and run away?”

Riley snorted “No her sister showed up. Buffy, cute little California girl, not to bright.” Riley took this opportunity to plunge the scalpel into Spikes gut once more, slowly dragging it downwards “Now I like Buffy, really I do, I was even going to ask her out, nice normal girlfriend to keep the bed warm at nights.”

Riley stood abruptly and turned his attention to Spikes open stomach plunging his hands downward he began to tear at his tortured flesh “So I ask you how does my nice normal potential girlfriend come to have a little sister who hangs out with vamps?” He had adopted a casual air as he moved over to the sink and washed his hand clean, he moved back to study his handy work.  “It kind of excludes her from the dating pool if you know what I mean” he moved in close to whisper in Spikes ear “cause I like them pure and innocent”

Spike struggled helplessly against his bonds, frustrated at his lack of strength and his inability to protect Dawn from this human monster.

Riley ignored Spikes attempts at freedom as he picked up a syringe from the tray studying its contents for a moment before plunging it into Spikes arm “Just a little something to help you relax.” Riley began to loosen the restraints binding Spike “Does open up a whole new world of possibilities though.” Roughly he flipped him onto his stomach, not bothering to restrain the battered vampire.

Spike wanted to scream in agony as his battered stomach hit the cold metal.  He managed to turn his head to one side and caught sight of a monitor sitting to one side of the room, he could see himself clearly on it, Riley was nowhere in sight even though he could still hear him moving around the room.

“I spoke to Professor Walsh about your little girl, now what did Buffy call her? Dawn that’s it, anyway the professor agrees with me that it would be a good idea to go in tonight and retrieve little Dawn for questioning, and anyone else who might be with her at the time.” Riley finally came into view a saw like instrument in his hand “Can’t wait to meet the family and have my own special little chat with them.”

Spikes eye’s widened as he watched Riley bring the instrument down towards his flesh, a strange whirring noise filled his ears ‘Fuck its electric’ screams tore from his throat as the blade began its job on his back.

Riley started humming as he worked on the vampire “You know I’ve always wanted to try something, you don’t mind do you?” Laughing at the screams that were his reply Riley turned off the saw and went to find the bone separators.  “Now this is a little technique I read about, legend has it that it’s a type of blood revenge the Vikings were reported to have practiced.” 

Spike could hear the bones in his back cracking and grinding, visions of his time in a wheelchair filled his mind as he contemplated his fate if he was to survive.

Riley continued his history lesson with the maniacal calmness of an evil Mr Rogers “Now this little number is called a Blood Eagle, the Vikings would break the ribs on either side of the spine and then pull the lungs out of the body to make a set of wings.” Spike felt a tugging inside of himself, although miraculously there was no pain, blood spewed from his mouth as he focused on the monitor and saw the macabre display it presented.

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Buffy sat rigid in the lounge room of her home, as if a trance she mutely watched the scene playing out in front of her. 

Willow’s friend Tara had arrived about an hour earlier and proceeded with the spell almost immediately.  What they had witnessed had been so tangible it was as if they had been in the room with Spike.  They had seen horrors that no demon could ever match, all at the hands of a human.

Willow and Tara were now huddled in Oz’s arms weeping openly; Dawn was near hysterical as Joyce tried to calm her even though she too was bordering on hysteria.  Giles sat calmly cleaning his glasses the only indication that he was affected in anyway was the steady stream of water that ran down his face.  Buffy could hear Xander out on the porch as he retched repeatedly and Anya’s concerned voice.  Snatches of conversation wafted in through the open window “Thousands of years I’ve wreaked vengeance on the world and I’ve never….” Buffy could hear the ex demons voice crack in confusion.  “Humans are meant to be the good guys, they aren’t meant to do things like…that.”

Buffy could feel the numbness leaving her body, rage and disgust slowly taking its place.  She turned sharply to face Xander as he returned a strange look on his face.

“I vote we go in and get him out of there. Tonight!” Xander's voice held a hard note that Buffy had never heard before.

Dawn let out a strangled noise as she squeezed her eyes shut and began to whisper fervently “Thank you, Thank you.”

Buffy merely nodded “Ok tonight we arm up as much as we can, we find a way in and we get Spike out.”

“Buffy I agree that we need to remove Spike from the situation, but what do you intend to do about the soldiers?” Giles feared what his slayer might be forced to do during their rescue attempt.

“If they get in my way I will hurt them” Buffy stated coldly

“And Riley?” Giles pushed

“I vote we kill him till he’s dead” Xander's icy tone cut through the group as he waited for their cries of protest. 

The group remained silent.

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Graham watched as Riley left the room where Hostile 17 lay.  He had come across Riley’s ‘interrogation’ on a monitor and he had watched in disgust as his ‘friend’ had brutalized the vampire.  Quietly he slipped into the room a few bags of drugged human blood in his hand; he was amazed that the vampire was still conscious.

The bags had a straw like top to them so Graham twisted the tip off the first bag and pressed it to Spikes mouth, gently squeezing it so that blood trickled into his mouth.

Spike desperately tried to spit the tainted blood out.

Graham squeezed the bag again “Look I’m trying to help you.  The bloods human so it should help you heal, it’s drugged but it’ll help with the pain, it won’t knock you out.  I promise.”

Graham knelt down so he was eye level with Spike “I found out that they’ve been putting drugs in our food.  I don’t know what they’re for but I know that they’re making everyone more aggressive.” He seemed to be ashamed “I’ve stopped taking them, and I know that what Ri is doing is wrong.  I want to help you but it might take a bit of time.  In the mean time you need to get strong again.”

Spike nodded his understanding taking a small sip on the bag before trying to force words through his raw throat “You have to warn them.” He watched Graham for a sign that he was willing to help no matter what it took.  “You need to get to Buffy they’re going for them tonight.”

Graham was silent for a few minutes before he gave a curt nod

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Buffy and the gang were armed and waiting for sunset so they could begin their assault on the commando’s base.  The plan was to go out, find a group and follow them back, knock them out, find Spike and get out.

Buffy knew that their chances for success were small but they had to try.

The entire group jumped as there was a sharp knock on the door, Buffy strode over and flung it open and wicked knife clutched tightly in her hand.

Graham eyed the petite blond warily not understanding why Hostile 17 trusted her so much.  He was shocked to see the predatory gleam that shone in her eyes “I have a message from Spike.” He said as he steeled himself for what was to come.

The Scoobies were nervous; Buffy had been at the door speaking to the newcomer for about ten minutes.  They were all aware that this man was a friend of Riley’s and therefore there was a good chance that he too was a member of the commando unit that held Spike.

Buffy came striding back into the room, the soldier trailing in her wake “Ok guys new plan.”