*hugs* to Meli for betaing!

Chapter 34 - What a Madman Wants



“Xander Harris, why aren’t you home giving me orgasms!” Anya spoke as she opened the kitchen door to Buffy’s house. She quickly realized that Buffy’s house was full of guests, some she did not know and some she did.

“Oh my god, Drusilla! It’s been a while.”

“Anyanka, good to see you too.”

“Oh, it’s just Anya now.”

“I see. And no longer reeking vengeance on the world either?”

“No. All human. But I don’t taste good, so don’t think about eating me.” Anya replied. “Spike, please don’t let your evil girlfriend eat me.”

“She’s not his evil girlfriend.” Buffy replied.

“In fact Anya, I’m not evil at all any more.” Drusilla added.

“Oh thank goodness then. Well there must be an apocalypse.”

“Anya, honey this is one of those times that we just eat and let someone else do the talking.” Xander suggested.

“Well, I had to find out what was going on. Obviously it’s important if the whole world is here.” Anya responded.

“Then you’re just in time Anya, because Dru was about to tell us all about it, right Dru?” Spike asked.

“Yes I was…” Drusilla began before Anya interrupted again.

“Oh my, there are two Spikes! Buffy did you build a Spikebot or something? Is he a clone?”

Xander rolled his eyes, while William came forth and answered.

“No, I’m Buffy and Spike’s son, William.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. Xander told me about him.”

“Am I the only one who didn’t know?” Dawn cried.

“Enough!” Angel finally piped up. The whole room turned around and looked at the broody one. “Go ahead Dru.”

“Thank You. I told you all a little about Miss Edith having been a seer and visiting me in the convent. Not only was she a seer, but her father was a magically inclined member of the Watchers Council. Her father had been searching for a way to harness the Slayer’s powers for himself. He found the ancient texts and was able to modify the spell so that he would have some of the Slayer’s essence passed on to him when each Slayer was called. Of course, her father did not realize that he made a mistake in his spell. Instead of gaining the strength and power of the Slayer, instead he gained the immortality of the demon.”

“Immortality? I didn’t think that was part of the Slayer package.” Buffy replied.

“It wasn’t supposed to be. When they made the first Slayer, the men knew that she had to be able to renew herself every so often so they could keep her in control. Miss Edith found the spell her father did, and then got a vision of how he would eventually destroy the Slayer line. She also began to get more disturbing visions that she did not understand, but that she does now after all this time. She has been able to move through the ether and keep tabs on her father. Her father who never really left the Council, he’s only changed his appearance to the outside world with a glamour spell. I believe you all now know him as Quentin Travers.”

“See, I knew that bastard was evil!” Buffy said.

“So how does that affect Buffy?” Giles asked.

“It seems that Travers still wants the power of the Slayer. He has now found that if he kills her and drinks her blood during a ritual then he will inherit those powers and the Slayer line will be terminated. He has only a handful of close operatives that are aware of his plans.”

“If he is immortal, then how do we stop him?” Spike asked.

“Well the original demon used to create the Slayer was like a vampire,” Drusilla answered.

“So if the demon was like a vampire, then it has immortality on the same terms as a vampire?” Xander asked.

“This means we can stake him!” Buffy exclaimed. “I’ve always wanted to get that bastard back badly for what he put me through during the cruciamentum.”

“How do you suppose we get close enough to stake him?” Giles asked.

“That’s simple,” Drusilla replied. “We just use his own game on him. We just need a decoy that we can do glamour on. Make the decoy look like Buffy, while we appear to be his aids or his prisoners, and then when he thinks he has dusted the Slayer, the white witch can cast a spell to make him feel as though he has had a burst of power when in turn we have stripped him of his magic. His demonic form will appear and then we will dust him.”

“Sounds good in theory love, just who do you think would be willing to sacrifice themselves for Buffy?” Spike asked.

Drusilla rolled her eyes at Spike. “You silly, we don’t need a victim. What happened to that vapid, blonde bimbo you were with for awhile?” Drusilla asked.

“Harmony!” Xander interjected as he jumped up from his chair. “Oh, that would be perfect. I couldn’t stand her in high school; I can’t stand her as a vamp. Please, please use her and make her go away.”

Buffy smiled at the proposition of using Harmony as bait, but she had to be realistic about the plan. “We don’t even know where Harmony is, so we may just have to settle for your average vamp.”

Drusilla shook her head and then brushed her hand through her raven locks.

“No, it’s not that easy. We need someone who can take commands and go along with us. If given the right incentive,” Drusilla spoke as she turned and looked directly at Spike, “Isn’t that so Blondie Bear?”

The group snickered. At least everyone but Buffy, she was not pleased about the possibility of vamp skank coming anywhere near her love. Dru sensed Buffy’s immediate distress. She walked over to the blonde and placed her hand on Buffy’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. Spike only has eyes for you, and besides we’ll make sure part of her incentive to go along with us will include that she doesn’t touch Spike for the duration of the time she is with him until she does what she needs. The stupid girl won’t even realize that we’ve put a glamour on her until it’s too late.”

“Are you sure?” Buffy asked.

Spike seeing her distress, made his way over to his love and knelt before her. “Buffy, there is no one else but you that I want. There is no competition. This is a means to an end, and I have to agree with Dru, this plan makes sense.”

“Well Dad, it makes loads of sense, if we knew where this Harmony girl was.” William added.

“Isn’t the Unicorn Art Display going on today and tomorrow at the Sunnydale Museum?” Willow offered.

“Oh yes,” Anya confirmed. “They have all kinds of unicorn art, from cute to fantasy; they don’t have anything showing org...”

Xander effectively silenced his over sharing girlfriend, but everyone had a good idea what word she was going to say.

“On that note,” Xander said, “Who is going to volunteer to go to get Miss Bleach-Sucked-My–Brains-Out?”

“I’ll do it,” Dru offered. “She will be eager to ally herself with me if I tell her that Spike really misses her but that she needs to prove herself to be a strong vampiress. I’ll tell her she has to go through a ritual, and that no matter what, she must bear all that comes her way.”

“The stupid chit will fall for that,” Spike replied.

“So you’ve determined how we are going to get our bait, now how are we going to get into his lair?” Angel asked.

“It’s time for Rupert Giles to make some amends with Mr. Travers.” Drusilla replied.