Three for a Secret by Lilachigh

Chapter 2 Who do you Kill?

One for Sorrow,
Two for Gold,
Three for a Secret that shall never be told


“Woa, slow down a bit, Buffy,” Xander said. He took a swig of beer, gazed around the noisy, smoky Bronze and tried to get his thoughts in some sort of order. “You’re telling us that Spike has a cousin - ”

“Ross!” Buffy said brightly to the boy that Xander and Anya had brought along as her date. “I could die for a plate of Buffalo wings. Could you buy me some?”

“Oh, sure, Buffy,” Ross said, puzzled by Xander’s reaction and wondering who this guy Spike was they were all so concerned about.

“A vampire cousin called Arabella,” Anya put in helpfully.

‘Pretty name,” Willow added, then, catching Buffy’s expression added swiftly, “Not! Clumsy sort of name, ugly, bet she’s ugly, too. Vampire. Uggh.”

“No, she’s very pretty, and yes she’s a vampire. She was the only one of his family Spike didn’t kill, apparently. He turned her instead.”

“What a prince!” Xander said sarcastically. “Hey Uncle and Auntie, nice to see you, let me give you a big wet bite!”

“Whatever,” Buffy said. “Moving on now. She’s married to the giant green demon you saw. He‘s nice, his name is Div’vid. He’s very rich.”

“How rich?” Anya looked up, suddenly interested.

“Very!” Buffy replied. “He’s devoted to Arabella, but I don’t think she’s that keen on him. He’s a regurgitating Frovlax demon - you know, brings up his last meal - usually hay or straw - and chews it.”

Three appalled faces looked back at her across the table. “But Buffy, when did you meet these - when did you come in contact with Spike’s relations? And even saying that word makes me shudder.” Xander emptied his glass in one giant gulp.

“Slow down, Sweetie,” Anya said dryly. “I’m not carrying you home tonight.”

“We went to their wedding anniversary party a few weeks ago - ” Buffy realised that their expressions were now beyond appalled and hurriedly changed the subject. “Okay, not important. Just saying, I’ve met them and she’s really bad news.”

“Why didn’t you stake her?” Xander asked.

Buffy shrugged. “It’s - complicated. She’s, well, she’s Spike’s only family. It felt - mean, especially as it was her anniversary. And I liked Div’vid a lot.”

‘But Buffy, are you allowed to choose which vampires you stake?” Willow asked, suddenly serious. “Because I mean, confusing. Ok, Angel was good and Spike’s chipped, so it would be cruel, but ordinary vamps and demons. Are we picking and choosing now?”

Buffy bit her lip. This was a conversation she didn’t want to have - because she couldn’t give her best friend an honest answer. “No, of course not. But sometimes there are circumstances - life isn’t always straightforward, Will.”

“So how rich is very rich?” Anya had got her teeth into the subject and was refusing to let go.

Buffy sighed. “If I ever meet Div’vid again, I’ll ask him!”

“Buffy, why are you worried that this Arabella is in Sunnydale?” Xander said. “You haven’t got to meet her, have you? I mean, Captain Peroxide isn’t going to be having a crypt warming party for his relations, is he?”

“I’m not worried!” Buffy exclaimed, downing the rest of her drink in one mouthful and feeling the fizzy bubbles hit the back of her nose. “Look, completely unworried girl here. Just - well, interested. It’s always useful to know what the evil opposition is up to.” She stood up. “And that’s why I’m off to patrol. Give my apologies to, what’s his name, Ross. And don’t wait up for me, guys. I might be late.”

She turned her back on their disapproving faces and hurried out of the Bronze. Well, she did have to patrol, she told herself. And no, she wasn’t going to go out of her way to bump into Spike, but perhaps it would be only friendly to let him know his cousin and her husband were in town.

After all, he might not want to see them, Buffy reasoned. They hadn’t parted on the best of terms after the nightmare party. She threw her mind back to the big house in the desert, the demons, the pink champagne and hours and hours of rampant sex.

No, don’t remember the sex. It was far better to think of fighting Arabella and wanting to kill her so much it hurt.

The graveyard that housed Spike’s crypt was the oldest in Sunnydale. The tombstones were old and covered in lichen and moss. Only a few new ones were scattered throughout the cemetery.

Buffy hesitated as she reached the crypt door. Usually she would just go straight in, but - what if Arabella and Div’vid were there. Would it look as if she really was Spike’s girl friend who could come and go as she pleased?

Well, she wasn’t, no matter how it had seemed at their party. That had just been - a sort of time out - she convinced herself, for the hundredth time since they’d got back. A time out of her sensible life, being silly and sexy, fighting and killing, getting a little tipsy on pink champagne - Well, a lot tipsy, if she was honest, but there had been no one there to see. Only Spike and his cousin, of course.

He’d called her his kissing cousin, Buffy remembered and wondered why she was fingering the stake in her jacket pocket so fervently.

She was getting angry with herself now. She tossed back her hair and tied it tightly with a piece of ribbon. She wasn’t going to let Spike think she’d dressed up specially to see him. No, the low cut top she was wearing was just because she’d been going to the Bronze and meeting her friends, old and new. Ross seemed like a very nice boy and she hoped he would ring her and ask her out on a proper date.

Yes, she was getting on with her life, being busy and social and - God, how she hated Spike! She thumped open the door and it crashed back against the stone wall. Spike was standing by the stone table, gazing at something in his hand.

He turned, dropped what he was holding in his shirt pocket and watched her stalk across the crypt towards him. “Slayer? Nice of you to drop by.”

“Spike.” She stopped. He looked - she bit her lip - he looked, odd. She hunted through her brain for the word she wanted. He looked - tense.

“I thought you should know,” she said calmly, “Xander met a demon tonight who sounds a lot like your friend Div’vid. So he and Arabella might be giving you a call. I thought you’d better know.”

“Div’vid?” Spike said, sounding puzzled. “Arabella?”

Buffy sighed heavily. “Your cousin, Spike, pretty girl, blue eyes, vampire like you. Remember?”

“Of course I know who Arabella is, pet. Haven’t laid eyes on her or Div’vid. Thought they were still in Australia, kangaroo watching.”

“Well, of course, Arabella might be.” Buffy tried to look into his eyes, but he’d turned away and his face was in shadow.

She felt the chill of the crypt and shivered. Only earlier this evening he‘d been standing in her bathroom, jeering and flirting and being his old obnoxious self. Now, only hours later, he was acting like a stranger. A stupid sense of loss overcame her. Without Spike in her life, what did she have?

She shook herself mentally. What rubbish was she thinking? She had Dawn, her friends, a life. Which was more than Spike did. She certainly wasn’t relying on his friendship in any way at all. “So, do you fancy patrolling tonight?” she said eventually, desperate for something to break the silence.

“No, not tonight, Slayer. Sure you can manage. Don’t reckon there’s too many nasties out there at the moment. Slack time in Sunnyhell.”

“Spike - do you feel - are you OK?” Buffy didn’t know what else to say. Did vampires feel off colour? They couldn’t get sick in the way humans could, but she supposed they could catch some gross demon illness.

“Me? I’m fine, Buffy. Never better.”

There was another long pause, then his voice sounded again from the deep shadows where he was standing. “Tell me, Slayer. Why don’t you kill me?”

“What!” Buffy moved towards him, but he backed away and she stopped in her tracks. This was getting seriously weird. Perhaps he was drunk? Yes, that must be it. He’d been hitting the Scotch before she got there.

“I mean, you kill vampires and some demons, but others you don’t. Angel, me, you’ve never tried to take out Clem, or most of the guys at Willie’s Bar. What makes you pick and choose?”

Buffy felt her head spin. This was exactly what Willow had been asking earlier in the Bronze. Why didn’t they kill everything that was evil. Why was she deciding who should live and who should die.

“Is this to do with Arabella?” Buffy said suddenly, light dawning at the end of a very long tunnel. “Are you scared I’ll stake her if I meet her again? OK,. I promise I won’t, unless she tries to kill me first. Is that fair?”

“This isn’t to do with Arabella.”

“Then what the heck is it to do with Spike, because, honestly, you’ve lost me somewhere along the way. You’re in one weird mood. I kill demons and vampires and all sorts of monsters. You know I do. I’m the Slayer. That never changes. Sometimes - ”

She paused. Sometimes what? Sometimes you had feelings for different demons. Sometimes they made you laugh, sometimes they were kind, like Clem, sometimes they were sad and pathetic, like most of the guys at Willie’s and you felt that killing them would be like treading on ants. There was always another one coming along and it was better to deal with those you knew rather than worry about ones that might bite you.

Buffy turned and walked back to the door. She couldn’t deal with Spike tonight. It was too difficult. How could she tell him that sometimes there was just one who made you both laugh and cry and feel happy and joyful. Sometimes there was one vampire who could make the world and all its worries go away and you knew you were the only person who mattered in the whole universe.

“Sober up, Spike. I’ll see you tomorrow. Give my regards to Div’vid and Arabella if they call round. But keep them out of my way, then we’ll all be happy.”

The door thudded shut behind her. Spike still didn’t move, not even when the trap door to the lower crypt swung up and his cousin Arabella climbed gracefully up the ladder.
She moved silently to his side, a soft pink dress clinging to her body, outlining curves that were enough to make any vampire feel hot blooded again.

Arabella raised her hand and touched Spike’s cheek. “Your girlfriend has gone, I see?”

“Buffy’s not my girlfriend,” he said tersely.

Arabella pouted and her dark blue eyes glittered for a second, then became soft and coaxing. “I’m sorry, don’t be cross with me. I didn’t mean to imply - I just thought you might have told her - because you’re such good friends.”

‘“Of course I wanted to tell her, but you heard what she said!” Spike interrupted. “She sodding well chooses who she’ll kill. There’s no logic to it. No way of knowing how she’ll react. How can I take that chance?”

Arabella turned to the table and poured him another glass of whisky. “Oh Spike, I feel so bad, coming here like this. Div’vid and I discussed it for days. I should have told you years, ago, but I promised so faithfully and there were - circumstances. But – ” The catch in her voice was beautifully timed – “I don‘t want to cause any trouble between you and the Slayer.”

Her cousin looked up at the anguish in her voice. “‘Bella - don’t think like that. It was a bloody awful secret to carry all these years What you’ve told me, you’ve given me Hope - it’s - it’s amazing. Just bloody amazing. I can’t take it in, that’s all.”

Arabella smiled, a cat who has scented the cream and knows it won’t take long to find it. “So, cousin, what do we do now?”

Spike reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the heavily carved silver locket he’d been looking at when Buffy came in. God, how he’d wanted to tell her, get her help. He would never know how he’d stood there, pretending that nothing was wrong, that his whole world hadn’t been turned upside down by what his cousin had revealed this night.

His grip on the locket tightened until the edges cut into his skin and blood began to drip onto the floor. His blue eyes blazed and for a second, Arabella flinched, only too aware of the thin line she was walking between being and dust

His voice was hoarse when he eventually spoke. “We find her. We find Hope.”

to be continued