Chapter Twelve

Spike pulled his car into the driveway and was out of the car and up on the porch just as the others pulled up in the Angel-mobile. This wasn’t right. The front door was standing wide open. As the others got out of the car they noticed Spike sitting on his heels in front of the open door. Angel stopped dead in his tracks half way to the door, causing Wesley to nearly run into him.

“Angel, what’s wrong?” Wes asked.

“Blood,” Angel replied. “Buffy’s.”

A loud snarl came from Spike as he jumped up in full game face and walked down the sidewalk, his nose smelling the air. He started barking orders at everyone. “I’m going after them. Angel, I may need help with her. Giles, find the girls and make sure they’re OK, then get them home. And find Red, we may need a locator spell. Wes, you’re with us. I may need you to get Buffy out while Angel and I have a go with these guys.”

Everyone looked at each other a split second and then began scrambling to do as they were told. Spike and Angel took the lead with Wes trailing behind. Giles took Angel’s car and sped off down the road as he backed into his cell phone. Spike and Angel were moving at a fevered pace and Wes was doing his best just to keep them in view.

Caves. Why did they always have to end up at these caves? Spike decided he should bloody well bomb them and then they wouldn’t have to worry about them anymore. He silently cursed to himself as he thought how extensive and winding these caves were. It could take them all night to get the right tunnel and that might be too late. He pushed himself on with renewed urgency.

Just as they entered the caves, Wes came running up. He stopped behind them and bent over, placing his hands on his knees and gasping in huge breaths. Spike quickly eyed him, and asked if he was ok. Seeing Wes’ affirmation, they started deeper into the caves.

Unfortunately, these vamps were clever buggers. They’d gone down several tunnels that were strong with Buffy’s scent, only to find a sweater in one and her headband in the other. Spike felt like he was running out of time. It had been over two hours since he had talked to Buffy and the headband they found had a large bloodstain on it. Now they were at a divergence in the tunnel again and Buffy’s scent seemed to be coming from all three directions. Spike started down one, but Angel’s hand shot out and grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“Smell that?” Angel lifted his head a little and stood there.

“Yeah. Buffy’s scent is everywhere.” Spike sounded dangerously frazzled.

“No, well yeah, but something else. Different. I’ve smelled it before, if I could just place it.” Angel put a hand up to silence Spike before he could protest.

“Darla. That’s it! When Connor was born. It was when Darla’s water....”

“No, oh no. God no. They can’t have...” Spike was sputtering out with a very terrified look on his face.

“Angel, can you track it?” Wesley asked.

Angel nodded his head and paused looking down each tunnel before starting down the one to the far right.

************

This vamp is *so* going to die, Buffy thought to herself. He was sitting in a chair in front of her, watching her like some movie of the week. Buffy felt another contraction and had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming. They were close now. Very, very, close now. Buffy was practically panting between them, and her water broke over an hour ago. The very old looking vampire sitting in front of her seemed to be enjoying the show, while his fledglings were sharing the unconscious guy in shackles across from her.

Buffy’s arms tickled where the blood was running down from her trying to free herself from her shackles. She internally grinned as she noted that she almost had one of them worked loose. A few more distractions from the brain trust across the way and she would have one hand free. Buffy felt another pain and a small moan escaped before she caught it.

“Tisk, tisk, slayer. I would have thought a girl like you could control her pain. After all, you did defeat the army of the First, despite your condition. You know, I heard that strange breathing thing helps,” The vampire quipped. “I am so going to enjoy this. Those little ones will be so sweet and delectable. Of coarse, I’m not sure how much room I’ll have after I drain you. But I’m sure I’ll manage. I just hope this show gets on the road before your lapdog of a vampire gets here.” He stuck his lip out in a mock pout. Buffy let out another moan and he smiled his appreciation. “Now, that’s more like it.”

**********

Spike heard Buffy’s cry of pain and took off running. He heard the vampire’s cocky voice as he rounded a corner in the cave complex. He knew that voice. And the owner would be out for blood. They had to act fast, or Buffy would be the one to pay for Spike’s past.

“Too late, Androchinus,” Spike said as he sauntered in, hands in his pockets. “Her lapdog is here.”

“Well, I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come, Spike,” The vampire said moving around to stand behind Buffy. “Glad you could join us. Now you can watch me finish off the slayer here,” He said and nodded to his fledglings.

“Don’t think so boys,” Angel said coming from one of the other openings in the side of the cave. He stopped between Spike and the fledglings and crossed his arms, not bothering to hide the smirk on his face.

Androchinus sputtered meaningless sounds as he glanced back and forth between Spike and Angelus. He hadn’t planned on facing Angelus, but he decided to play this out as far as he could. He still had the slayer after all. He could still have his vengeance.

“Doesn’t matter if Angelus is here. I’ll kill her before you can cross the room. A little payback for feeding me to that mob in Prague. Imagine my surprise when I found out you weren’t even with your precious Drusilla anymore. No matter, your weakness never changes.” He placed himself behind Buffy’s shackled body and grinned broadly as he shifted to game face. He yanked Buffy’s head to the side and sank his fangs deeply into her neck, sparing a glance to Spike who was just grinning at him. Androchinus only managed one strong pull on her blood before he felt the stake pierce his back.

“How the hell....” he managed before bursting into dust.