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Ch. 11 ~ Ch. 13
Chapter Summary: Dru tried to get Spike to think she still wanted him. Angelus, jealous of Dru's attentions on Spike, threatened Spike with a dusting if Spike didn't do it himself first. Spike and Dalton set up a fledgling to take the dusting for him, and Spike prepared the amulet to cover his essence. As Charmand suggested, the amulet worked but not quite how Spike thought it would. Buffy believes that Spike is dead as well. Not even their telepathic link was strong enough at the distance they were apart from each other. Now we see the repercussions off all of this. What happened with the amulet? Will Spike make it to Giles' place in time to stop Buffy from doing something very foolish?
**WARNING: Just a little reminder that this story is rated NC-17 overall, and it contains many graphic sexual situations throughout. This chapter has biting and sexual moments in it. I don't always warn with each separate chapter, but since there hadn't been any sex for a few chapters I'm sending out this little reminder to you readers.**
(All disclaimers are noted in the first chapter of this story.)
'Single' quote marks surround thoughts in this story. "Regular" quotes are around spoken words.
Spike's voice drifted off in the echoes of the hidden passage near his room. The moment the amulet lay draped around his neck and onto his chest, he panicked. Emptiness filled him where previous vampiric bands had been. Even his link with Buffy was close to non-existent. What he did feel from Buffy was pain, despair, and grief so strong that he nearly cried.
'Buffy,' Spike tried to reach out with their telepathic link. 'Buffy, luv. I'm all right!' There was no response back to him. The emotions he felt from Buffy were becoming unbearable, and he screamed at being unable to soothe her. This wasn't right. He should still be able to contact her. 'Damn it. This must have been what Charmand meant.'
As soon as he was sure Angelus was out of the room, Spike bolted down the passage. There was no time to wait for Dalton to check on him. He needed to get to his Mate before she tried something foolish. He knew what he would do if he lost Buffy. He hoped the Watcher or her friends were around her to try and stop Buffy from doing the same thing he would.
Spike dashed from the gardens of the mansion to the nearest sewer entrance without a care about sunlight exposure. He figured he wouldn't be in the direct sunlight long enough to burn. The sewers were the quickest way to the Watcher's house, and he needed to get there fast.
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"Buffy, we mustn't jump to conclusions." Giles tried in vain to wrap his arms around Buffy to comfort her. "Spike said he had some plans to work on. Maybe this is a part of it?" He wanted to be hopeful for Buffy's sake, but he was concerned himself at her loss.
"You don't understand, Giles." Buffy lifted her head from her arms. Tears trailed down both sides of her cheek. "There's nothing. I've tried to send a thought to him, and I've tried to feel him. Reaching out does nothing. I'm just ... empty."
Buffy rubbed the bite marks on her neck. "You weren't supposed to leave me." She spoke out loud as if Spike were there to hear her. She rubbed the marks harder, but she still felt no response or tingling.
Giles stood up. "I'm going to make some tea and heat up some blood for you, Buffy." He was out of his element to counsel Buffy in this situation. A Watcher wasn't trained to care for a Childe when they lost their Sire. Neither did he know what to do with one Mate when the other perished.
Willow, after being pushed away again by Buffy, followed Giles into the kitchen. "What are we going to do, Giles?" She never remembered Buffy being this torn up about anything before. "She wasn't even this bad when Angel went all Angelus on us. Do you think Spike's really gone?"
"For all our sakes, I hope not. Buffy needs him." Giles readied the teakettle with fresh water. He prepared a tray with three cups, a little bowl of sugar, and a tiny pitcher of creamer. "I'm hoping that he's using some sort of cloaking spell, but that shouldn't have affected their telepathy. At least it didn't affect them the other night."
Buffy ignored the conversation in the kitchen. She didn't care why Spike was gone. She focused on the pain and emptiness where his presence used to reside. It was only a few days ago that she would have happily dusted the bleached Master Vampire herself. In the last few days a connection had burrowed so deep into her mind, body and soul that without their connection she was crumbling.
What was it that Charmand and Antoinette said about being bound for eternity, even beyond a second death because of the joining of their souls? Did that mean if she dusted they would be together again? What if she was wrong and Spike wasn't in Heaven? 'Then I'll fight my way down to tear Hell apart to find him.' She looked up at Giles' door. 'Just a few quick steps away to find out for sure.'
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Spike kicked through bits of paper, wood and metal debris that tried to get in his way on his run through the tunnels. 'I have to reach her,' was the mantra he continuously repeated in his head while he ran. A greater sense of despair and desolation hit him from Buffy as he drew nearer to Giles' house.
Spike estimated he was still a couple blocks away. He tried to reach Buffy telepathically, but he still hit the proverbial brick wall during the attempt. "Remind me to punch that git for being the king of understatement," he growled loudly. 'Nice warning there, mate,' he directed his thoughts towards an absent Charmand.
With one block to go, Spike received clearer thoughts and emotions from Buffy even though he wasn't able to send thoughts himself. He was in such a desperate dash to reach Buffy that the thought didn't cross his mind to remove the amulet. 'Don't you dare do it, Slayer!' He practically screamed his thoughts in an attempt to reach his Mate any way possible.
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For a brief moment Buffy stopped her creep towards the door. She thought she felt Spike for just a second before he was gone again. She closed her eyes. 'Don't bloody torment me,' she mentally cursed the powers. 'A little fraction of feeling isn't going to stop me.'
Willow looked out into the living room from the kitchen. She watched Buffy stand up and stare at the door. She tugged on Giles' sleeve. "Giles, I think that Buffy is ..." Before Willow could finish her statement, the door was already flung open, and Buffy ran outside.
"BUFFY!" Giles and Willow both yelled in unison. In their haste it actually took them longer to reach the outside because they were tripping over each other and everything in their path.
Buffy stood out in the direct sunlight outside of Giles' home. Her arms were spread open wide in offering, just waiting for the burning to begin. By the time Giles and Willow joined her outside, Buffy was weeping.
Willow stuttered in confusion, "I thought ... Shouldn't she be burning?"
Buffy cried harder. She looked up at the sky with pain in her eyes. "I don't care if my soul is purer than the demon, Antoinette. Let me die!"
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"NO!" Spike yelled out. His voice reverberated off the sewer tunnel's walls with a matching strength to the voice that first called out. He jumped up the last few rungs of the ladder to the street and shouldered the manhole cover off. He left the hole open while he ran across the street, into the courtyard of Giles' place.
A flash of black and white blurred past Giles, who was standing at Buffy's side, and tumbled with Buffy back into Giles' house. "Spike?" He turned his head to look into the house where the snarling black and white blur covered Buffy with is body.
"Don't you ever ..." Spike kissed Buffy all over her face. "Ever ..." He shook her by the shoulders. "Do that again!" His demon growled loudly in anger while his inner humanity wept.
"Spike?" Buffy looked up at her Mate. She still couldn't feel his presence, but she felt the tingling sensation of her Sire and Mate wherever they touched. "Oh God, Spike! I thought you were dead."
Spike snarled. He hated to see his Mate in tears. Knowing that he was the cause of those tears grated at him even further.
Willow and Giles slowly walked back into his house. Many questions swirled around in Giles' head as to why Buffy hadn't dusted. She was out in the sunlight long enough to start to burn at the very least.
Spike growled possessively at Buffy. "What the bloody hell were you trying to do, Childe?" He gripped her upper arms so tightly that if she were human he would have broken her arm.
Being a vampire increased Buffy's threshold for pain. It also made her body less susceptible to injury. As a Slayer her bones were stronger than a human's. Her combined Slayer and vampire constitution gave further extensions to her thresholds. "I couldn't bear the loss of your presence. If you were gone, I was ready to join you. I can't live without you anymore, Spike."
Spike sat up halfway. He pulled Buffy up with him. "I felt your strong emotions, but you weren't hearing my thoughts." He rocked the two of them back and forth in a soothing motion. "I tried to reach you, pet." Buffy's words warmed his undead heart. Her devotion told him that he was cherished, and she claimed that she couldn't live without him. That told him she was no longer thinking of herself as being "dead".
Buffy looked up into the eyes of her Sire. Matching tracks of tears fell down their faces. She felt the warm tingling sensation burn hotter the longer they touched each other. If she wasn't seeing him with her own eyes, Buffy would swear that Spike was still gone. His presence was still missing in her spirit. "I see you Sire, but I don't feel you." Her voice choked on the words.
"I'm real, pet. I'll make sure you feel me." Spike, who had remained in his vampire face since leaving the mansion, yanked Buffy's neck to his lips and plunged his fangs into her skin. "Mine," he roared through a mouthful of her wonderful Slayer/Childe blood.
After re-entering the house, Willow tried to avoid the couple. Willow was pretty scared, but she realized that Spike and Buffy needed some "alone" time. She resolved herself to give them that privacy until a yelp of pain snapped her full attention back to Buffy. The sight of Spike roaring with Buffy's blood on his lips chilled her to the core.
Giles bolted to the kitchen table to retrieve a stake. Before Spike bit Buffy, he found himself a curious observer of how the two interacted. The moment he felt any real danger, his papa bear side made an appearance. Half a second before he brought his hand down to turn Spike into dust, a lustful moan from Buffy stopped him.
Buffy's body tensed from the fierceness of Spike's bite. With his fangs embedded in her throat, their connection was renewed and strengthened. Although she couldn't feel his actual Sire presence, she felt the mental mating ties between them snap back into place. "Oh my! Yours!" She moaned in pleasure after her initial yelp of pain. She clamped her mouth onto Spike's neck. Her fangs slipped into her previous marks, and she happily drank from him. "My Sire. My Mate. Mine!"
"Yours." Spike's voice answered Buffy's proclamation. A sense of relief washed over him. Mentally he could sense his Mate's telepathic link with him once more. It unnerved him that it was still a weaker link than what they previously shared. 'It must be an effect of the amulet. I'll be bloody glad when I can take it off again.'
Both fully "vamped", Spike and Buffy clawed at each other's clothes in earnest. Each swipe rewarded one or both of them with a better view of their Mate's body. No thought was given to the two humans standing stock still in Giles' house. All that mattered for the mates now was to renew and reacquaint themselves with each other.
Willow found it hard to decide if she should be appalled or aroused at the sight before her. Her best friend was tearing into Spike like a wanton and feral beast. She might have thought Spike was making Buffy do things against her will if she hadn't seen the look in Buffy's eyes that radiated the desire and need she had for everything she and Spike were doing to each other.
Giles pulled at the collar of his shirt. He gulped hard. With a come hither motion of his hand, Giles gestured for Willow to follow him back out the door. Once outside he locked the door. "Why don't we go get some breakfast in town? I think it would be better if we weren't there to witness what they're doing."
"That's ... That's a good idea, Giles." Willow stared at the closed door for a minute. "Will they be all right in there? It looked like they were going to tear each other to pieces."
"As awkward as it may seem, it appears that Buffy and Spike were renewing their claim in a bestial way." Giles led Willow out of the courtyard. He decided against driving in favor of walking to allow them more time to clear their heads. "Their demons and human selves all need the reassurance of their mate being alive and cared for."
"That is a pretty scary way to say I love you," Willow countered with a shiver.
"There are many aspects of their relationship we may never understand, Willow, and there are many different types of love." Giles tried to explain the situation quickly and simply. He had no desire for anyone to overhear any critical points of the conversation. He wasn't convinced about the Council's lack of knowledge about Buffy. He feared Travers sent operatives to watch them. So he kept his voice low for Willow's hearing only. "Demons react to each other on a more primal level. Although I have witnessed tender forms of affection between them, their other sides will also demand their own forms of expression and affirmation."
"I think I understand better Giles, but it still frightens me to see them act like that." Willow sighed softly. "I almost forget Buffy's new state until something like this shocks the realization back in."
Giles nodded. "We need to give her all of the support possible." They arrived outside of a small diner. "Hardly anything is happening in a "normal" way for Spike and Buffy either. We're all muddling through this, but we'll survive better if we stick together." He despised the thought of his Slayer being turned, but he wasn't foolish enough anymore to assume this was the end of his charge. He was willing to stand up to Angelus, the Council, or anyone else that came after Buffy.
Willow weaved around several tables to locate an empty two-seater in the corner. "I'm scared, but I won't desert Buffy. If only we could get Xander to understand."
"Xander has shown a lot of prejudice when it comes to those he deems as evil." Giles knew Spike wasn't completely good, but he had to respect the fact that Spike was willing to risk his entire existence and way of life to protect Buffy. Spike also seemed willing to fight whatever was necessary to keep her safe and loved.
Willow nodded. "He never liked Angel, but part of that was from his crush on Buffy." She'd been so mad at Xander for the last couple years because of his crush on Buffy. She'd loved him for a long time before she met Oz, and it had hurt to watch her best friend chase after her other best friend especially when she knew that Buffy didn't love Xander like that.
"He has taken great pleasure in repeatedly saying I told you so, as of late." Giles groaned in frustration. He had more reason to be upset with Buffy about Angelus than Xander, but he also wasn't going to blame her for everything either. Part of the blame lay at Jenny's feet for not telling them about what she knew and for staying late at the school alone when she should have been safe at home. He missed her terribly, but there was nothing he could do to bring her back. He needed to move on as best he could.
Willow noted the furrowing of Giles' brow. She squeezed his hand in support. "Once Xander gets a hold of something, he doesn't let go." Willow rolled her eyes. "He's all on the bandwagon to stake Spike, but I doubt that Buffy lets him anywhere near Spike. Her fangy display the other day proved that."
Giles nodded in agreement. "Yes, you are right. We need to watch Xander carefully." He sighed. "I am afraid that I don't trust the boy not to overreact emotionally when it comes to Buffy."
Conversation stopped when the waitress walked over to take their order. The two sat in relative silence contemplating the state of their lives while they waited for their order and then ate it.
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Back at Giles' house Spike and Buffy were lost in their own world where only the two of them existed. Bits and pieces of their clothing were strewn throughout the living room, furniture was knocked over, and the two of them were practically fucking their way around the room.
Spike hovered over Buffy's body, buried to the hilt within her warm channel. He snarled and bit her shoulders and breasts while he pounded into her pussy savagely. The force of his thrusts slid them both along the carpet. She would have been pushed away from him if he hadn't grabbed a hold of her shoulders or waist to remain intimately connected.
Buffy was not idle in her actions either. Her claws, fully extended in her demon's façade, dug into Spike's back. Thin lines of red blood dripped over his shoulder blades, the scent of his blood driving the pair to further heights.
"Never leaving you." Spike grunted, punctuating each word with a separate plunging of his cock in and out of her body. He grabbed Buffy's shoulders, pulled back and flipped her over to her hands and knees without losing the warm sheath around his cock.
Buffy gasped in pleasure and shock at the change of position. She braced her hands against the floor. Her claws dug into the carpet and wood beneath it. She used any leverage she could get to push herself back when Spike pushed his cock forward. "I'll kill anyone that even thinks of touching you." She tightened her inner muscles to strangle his cock within her as she spoke.
Spike's head snapped backwards, and he howled. His body shook in ecstasy. His orgasm was ripped from his body with the tightening of her pussy around his cock. He curled his hands on her shoulders; claw marks being embedded in her front and back. He yanked her body up against his and buried his fangs into her neck.
"SPIKE!" Buffy yelled out in orgasmic joy. Her body rushed over the edge the moment his fangs entered her neck. The rush of Spike's cool seed within her womb did nothing to chill her, but it satisfied her body's need for his essence in any way that she could find it. Her muscles pulsed and rippled around his cock, milking each strong jet of thick cream deep within her canal.
Spike rocked his hips forward and back in shorter strokes that were no less forceful than his previous fucking. Even as his body emptied itself within her, his hunger for her remained. His passion for Buffy would never die, and he pounded against her womb harder with the round thick head of his cock.
"Yes, Spike. Yesssss!" Buffy's words slurred off when the colorful light display began behind her eyes. She bucked back against Spike, sending him to the floor. Quickly she turned around, straddled Spike on the ground, and impaled herself on his still stiff member with a bounce.
"BUFFY!" Spike bellowed. His voice echoed off every wall, bouncing back to them. His cock plunged so deep within Buffy's depths that he felt his throbbing head force its way past her cervix and deep into her womb. His eyes nearly crossed at the different feeling of this most secret place of his lover.
Buffy fell over on top of Spike. The brief shot of searing pain that radiated from her lower regions was nothing compared to the fullness and completion she felt with where her lover was now buried. She bounced a little to keep him deep within her as the force of that first thrust sent her into another orgasm.
Spike rolled Buffy beneath him. He lifted her hips up into the air. With a feral growl he pounded into his climaxing Mate. Every thrust relit the fire within Buffy's body and continued her orgasmic crest to near unconsciousness.
Anyone else would literally be crushed from the pressure and force of their lovemaking. No matter the intensity of this sex between them, it was lovemaking to their demons. It was a passion beyond the normal mortal feelings between humans. This connected them on an even deeper level. Spike's essence and blood filled his Mate while he consumed Buffy's blood and essence.
The lovers were lost to the outside world. Only one thing existed for either of them, that was each other. Unfortunately the outside world still existed, and it was about to intrude on their private world.
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Willow and Giles walked leisurely back to his house. They hadn't been sure how long the lover's needed to be with each other before it was safe to go back home. Neither one wanted to walk into the middle of anything resembling what they left them doing. So, they casually talked about school, and other mundane things, until they heard a shrieking scream coming from the direction of Giles' house. Both of them took off in a dead run.
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Inside Giles home an enraged vampire crouched over his wounded Mate. "Buffy!" He fought every urge to destroy the boy that did this.
Buffy lay on the floor naked and bleeding around the wooden stake embedded in her unmoving left lung. Only inches from her heart, she tried to remain still while the tears ran down her cheeks. "Oh God, Spike. It hurts." Her claws dug into her own hands in clenched fists.
At first Spike had been too stunned to even move. One minute they were pounding each other into the floor, changing dominant positions frequently, and the next he was yanked off his Mate. When he shook his lustful head to clear it and react, a stake was swishing through the air to his heart. Mere moments before the tip of the stake would have pierced his heart, he found himself with an armful of Buffy sporting a stake embedded in her lung with her back against him.
"Make it stop, Sire. Please, make it stop." Buffy cried out at the pain. She didn't know if it would kill her or not, crosses and sunlight had no effect, but it hurt like hell.
Cold brown eyes stared at the couple on the floor. His back rested against the wall opposite Buffy and Spike. He felt sick to his stomach to see the blood oozing out of the woman he'd had a crush on for almost 2 years already, but another twisted part of his mind told him that it was just what she deserved. 'The bitch wanted to play with evil. She'll end up dust right alongside him.' He stretched his arm out behind him to gather another stake into his hand. Slowly he took two steps forward prepared to stake the vampire caring for his Childe and Mate.
Willow and Giles burst through the door. "XANDER!" Willow yelled. All she saw was Spike leaning over someone with his back to Xander. Xander held a stake in his hand, and it was only a couple strokes from plunging into Spike's back.
"COWARD!" Spike roared, turned around, kicked Xander in the gut and forced him into the wall. He grabbed Xander's wrist. He pressed it tighter in his hand until the pain forced Xander to drop the stake. "How could you?" He brought his knee up to disable the boy.
Xander saw stars when the force of the kick knocked the breath out of him. The stars were joined with a searing white light when his balls were wounded by Spike's knee. He crumbled towards the ground in a heap of quivering pain.
Spike dropped the whimpering Whelp to the floor. He turned to a shocked Giles and Willow. "Do something with him," he ordered. If Spike had his way, he would drain the boy right then and there. His Mate was in danger though, and that was the only thing that saved Xander's life.
Giles stepped up to the couch. As he neared the end of it he inhaled sharply. The sight of Buffy lying in her own blood was enough to nearly stop his own heart from beating. He ripped Xander up off the floor, back into the wall. A very Ripper like voice emanated from Giles' lips. "If she dies, you die." He tossed Xander into a nearby armchair then headed to the bathroom for his first aid kit.
Willow's eyes practically bulged out of their sockets at the sound of Giles' voice. The entire atmosphere of the room was dark and foreboding. She had never felt so much negative energy in all of her life. It literally changed the room temperature with the chill. She walked over to Xander trying not to look at Buffy's pain stricken form.
Spike caressed Buffy's cheek. Buffy's teary eyes never faltered from her lover's gaze even when her body shook in pain. He knew the stake was near her heart, and he was afraid to remove it. One wrong twist of his wrist, and he would lose her. As much as Buffy wished to die when she thought she'd lost him, he would greet the sun himself if he lost her.
Giles returned to the living room with a metal box and a plastic shower curtain. He draped the curtain over the couch. "Spike, do you think you can get her up here without jarring the stake?"
Spike nodded. Nothing could express the gratitude he felt towards Giles for trying to help him instead of blaming him. He felt quite proud of the Watcher's display in front of the boy. He half expected the Watcher to finish what the boy had started.
Giles secured a fluffier pillow under the top of the shower curtain on the couch. He placed another pillow down a bit further in the approximate position of where Buffy's chest would be. He had no desire to see her dust, and they had to keep her upper torso as flat as possible.
Spike looked down at his beloved Buffy. "We have to try and get that out, pet."
Buffy nodded. She was in too much pain to speak to him verbally. 'Do what you have to do, Spike. Just don't leave me.'
"I'm not going anywhere, pet." Spike spoke out loud for the sake of the others in the room. He figured they would realize that he was speaking to Buffy. "On the count of three, luv." He slipped one arm underneath her legs and another at her shoulders. "One ... Two ... Three." He lifted Buffy up as softly as he could.
The few steps to get around the end of the couch and lay her down on it seemed like a mile to Buffy. She cringed and whimpered out pitiful little cries with each movement of her muscles against the embedded stake. Tears rolled down her cheeks. No amount of vampire or Slayer stamina seemed to be able to compete with the pain of the wood in her chest.
Giles examined the wound with a clinical eye. He tried to push his paternal emotions to the back of his mind but failed. Xander moaned behind them. Giles tossed a capped bottle to Willow. "Blow some of this dust into his face. If he wakes up again, do it again."
Willow caught the bottle. She walked over to her oldest friend with trepidation. She knew Xander hated vampires, but his actions were vindictive beyond anything she realized he was capable of. These were not the actions of her Snoopy dance loving best friend. She uncorked the bottle, pinched a little bit of the dust into her palm and blew it at Xander. About ten seconds later, Xander slumped forwards, asleep.
Giles never wavered his attention from Buffy's wound. He pressed as softly as he could around the wound. "It appears to be a clean piercing."
"Clean piercing?" Spike growled. "That is a stake that was shoved into Buffy's body, not some belly ring."
"I know that Spike," Giles yelled. He looked at Spike. "I was trying to ascertain whether or not the wood splintered when it went in, Spike."
"Oh." Spike hung his head a little bit. "Sorry."
'He's just trying to help, Spike.' Buffy gazed lovingly at her Mate.
"I know, pet." Spike sighed. "I don't know who to trust right now. Your best friend just tried to kill you."
Buffy started to shake her head, but the pain it caused stopped her. "You," Buffy barely made out the word verbally. 'He was trying to kill you.'
Spike's shoulders slumped.
"What did she say?" Giles inquired. He was unwrapping several layers of gauze and cotton from the first aid kit.
"She said he was trying to kill me." Spike waited for the burst of angry words to spew from Giles' mouth.
"I see." Giles picked up a scalpel. The Slayer/Vampire healing was sealing the wound around the stake too quickly. They were going to need to cut around the stake to remove it. "She couldn't allow that to happen to you."
The matter-of-fact tone with which the words were spoken surprised Spike. "You aren't going to blame me for this?"
"I believe the blame rests at Xander's feet. He should have realized Buffy would defend you, especially after her display the other night."
Spike stared open-mouthed at Giles. A moment of awkwardness passed between then. Giles cleared his throat to break the silence. "I need you to hold Buffy down. We don't want her to jar the stake into her further if she moves while I work."
"That won't be necessary." A decidedly female voice spoke from behind the men. An ethereal glow surrounded the ex-Slayer who stepped closer to the couch.
"Antoinette?" Spike stood up abruptly. "Why the bloody hell didn't you two tell me that I'd lose touch with her completely?"
"We warned you, William," Antoinette spoke patiently.
"Not bloody well enough. She tried to take a dance in the sun." Spike pointed at Buffy. "And now one of her little friends decided to take a piece of her when she defended me."
"I know, William." Antoinette patted Spike's shoulder. "I'm here to help." She walked over to Giles.
"I ... I don't ... understand." Giles stuttered. Spike called the woman Antoinette. Surely this wasn't the Slayer from Louis' Watcher diaries. "You're ..."
"Yes, Rupert." Antoinette knelt next to the couch. She pressed the palm of her hand against Buffy's brow. "You were brave, little sister." She consoled the injured Vampiress. "The powers wish to reward your love." She had to admire the small woman on the couch. She had such a fire and passion to her. "You risked your own life to protect your Mate. You were willing to crumble to ash to join him when you thought he was gone. These are signs of the devotion and depth of your love."
Willow, Spike, and Giles watched the glowing woman tend to Buffy. They stared amazed when a glowing hand grasped the stake. The stake disappeared in her hand as if it was never there.
Buffy gasped. The pressure of the stake was gone. The searing pain that tore through her only minutes before disappeared. She inhaled and exhaled several times, testing the use of her unnecessary lungs.
Antoinette rubbed her hand over Buffy's gaping wound. The wound quickly sealed itself. New skin grew over the reddened skin to replace it. When she was done, she stood up to face Spike again. "This is a one time visit to this plane, William." She cupped Spike's chin in her hand. "A friend's heart has turned black. The circle knows of Buffy's existence. They will try to come after her, but do not fear the coven. They will protect you both."
Spike nodded. 'Why can't the bloody powers stop speaking in riddles?'
Buffy, who was rapidly regaining her sense of strength in the absence of the pain, turned her head towards Spike. 'What would be the fun in them just telling us outright?' She teased with a laugh.
Antoinette reached out one hand to clasp Willow's hand. Her other hand surrounded Giles' hand. "You both know what is truly right and wrong. Do not close your minds to what you do not understand. All is as it should be." With those last words she disappeared into the other realm once more.
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Chapter Summary: Buffy tried to take a walk in the sun when she thought Spike was gone. She didn't burn, and Spike knocked her back into the house. Buffy and Spike renewed their connection, and an interruption by Xander left Buffy staked but not dusty. Antoinette arrived on the scene to assist and issue another little warning for them all. Now Giles, Willow and Spike are researching anything else they'll need for the funeral tonight. Buffy is resting on the couch. Xander is unconscious in a chair in Giles' living room. So far Xander's life has been spared, but will the bonds of family allow him to survive?
**WARNING: A bit of torture, major character death, and violence in this chapter. Also if you love Xander, you are probably not going to want to read this chapter.**
(All disclaimers are noted in the first chapter of this story.)
'Single' quote marks surround thoughts in this story. "Regular" quotes are around spoken words.
DEDICATION: This chapter is dedicated to my faithful reviewer Dana. She's been here from the beginning with her comments and ideas. Her ideas were a key factor to this chapter's contents. So, if you like Xander blame it on her. LOL. Just kidding. I wanted this to happen, but I just wasn't sure how to make it the most believable. She had some great ideas. Also the day this is being updated (June 13th) is her birthday. So Happy Birthday, Dana, and thank you.
After Antoinette disappeared, Spike worked on getting Buffy to rest. She refused to head to the bedroom. She deemed it too far away from Spike. She finally relented to resting on the couch. She adamantly denied being tired, but her body disagreed with her. Weary from her wounds and traumatic emotions over Spike's "death", her eyes closed and sleep claimed her rather quickly.
Giles checked on Xander's condition. Confident that Xander would remain unconscious for a couple more hours, he directed Willow down a new path for their research. He seemed to recall reading once or twice about vampires who walked in the sun. He dismissed the idea previously, but after the day's earlier events he wanted to look into it.
Spike sat at the table behind the couch. His gaze intermittently switched back and forth from Buffy to the books in front of him. He scanned the journals for any pertinent information. Maybe there was something to be found by reading between the lines. Right now he was as lost as a rowboat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Absentmindedly he fingered the amulet around his neck.
"Is that the cause of this morning's turmoil?" Giles pointed at the amulet Spike wore.
Spike nodded. "Seemed to have a few effects that someone forgot to write about or mention." He was still a bit disgusted at himself for not finding a way to get word to Buffy. He had assumed he would be able to use his thoughts when she lost his vampiric essence. "I knew the amulet would mask the essence of my demon, but the bloody thing covered more than I thought it would."
"It was foolish to wear something magical without being informed or knowledgeable of its function."
"I didn't have a whole lot of bloody choice, Watcher." Spike sighed in exasperation. "Do you honestly think after how I came barreling in here that I wanted her to think I was gone?"
Giles set down the book he was reading. He thought back to the earlier desperation he'd seen in Spike's eyes when he tackled Buffy. The question was better left unanswered. He was willing to support and protect Buffy, but he couldn't help his skeptical nature where demons were concerned. "Where did you get the amulet from?"
"Louis," Spike answered simply. "Surely you read about it in his journal." He held the book up off the table.
"Of course, but I assumed both amulets were destroyed when you made no mention of their existence."
"Why would I give up all my aces, Rupert?" Spike queried honestly. "Would you have told me if our places were reversed?"
Giles stuttered for a moment before he became silent again. He shook his head back and forth to indicate that he would have kept the knowledge to himself. "We need to work on our trust issues." He nodded his head in Buffy's direction. "For her sake."
"I'm trying, Watcher. You have no idea how hard this is for me. It's just as hard for me to trust you as it is for you to trust me." Spike sighed in frustration. "I keep waiting for the stake in the back." He tilted his head towards Xander's slumped form. "Not like it hasn't already been tried."
"I have no plans to stake you unless you give me further reason to. We have a common goal, Spike." Giles wrote down a few more references to check for information. "We both want to protect Buffy and kill Angelus."
"You have more in common than that." Willow muttered out loud. He voice was soft but audible to Spike and Giles.
Spike glanced over at the studious redhead. "What was that, Red?"
Giles' eyes widened in a minor fit of fearful trepidation. "I'm sure that we don't have time for frivolous jaunts, Willow. We have important research to tend to before tonight's confrontation." He tried to dissuade Willow from further conversation, but his words had the opposite effect on the young girl.
"I think it's cute, Giles." Willow grinned mischievously. She picked up several pieces of paper before she walked over to Spike. "The irony of it all is amusing."
"What's amusing?" Whatever Willow was referring to was making the Watcher nervous. Spike delighted in the squirming ritual Giles was succumbing too. "Has to be good if your wriggling that much."
Spike's words struck at Ripper's sarcastic side. His demeanor shifted to one of secret amusement. "We'll see just how funny you think it is shortly." He had a feeling that a vampire finding out he was related to someone from the Watcher's Council would grate the vampire even more than it did Giles.
Willow handed the small stack of papers to Spike. "I've checked and triple checked each date and person from several sources." She wondered if Spike would be upset at the link. 'It must be lonely to think you are all that remains of your family.'
Spike flicked through the first few pages. "Nothing but a whole lot of genealogy on the Watcher's fam ..." He stopped mid-sentence when a particular name caught his eye, Catherine Anne (Jamison) Giles. "No way."
Giles tried to act disinterested in Spike's reactions. He hadn't given much thought on how Spike would feel about their familial link. He watched the creases of confusion mar Spike's face. "Not so smug now, are you?"
"This isn't bloody funny, Watcher," Spike squawked in response. "You made this up." Although he protested vehemently, he hoped it wasn't some sick game. With Angelus' return, and subsequent faking of Spike's final death, Spike felt like he had been cut off from the last of his family. Buffy was the only one he could link to as family. 'If this information is correct, I'll belong to a whole new family.'
Willow risked patting Spike's arm with her hand. "I promise you that I have validated everything as best as I could." She inhaled deeply when Spike's cool hand covered her own.
"How did you find this, Red?" Spike smelled no deception coming from the girl. Her eyes reflected the honesty and purity within her.
"It took nearly all night to piece together where the familiarity of your name came from for Giles." Willow loved a good puzzle. Taking in each little note, clue or road block added to the merriment of the challenge for her.
Spike chanced a glance at Giles for confirmation. Giles nodded in the affirmative. "Your name struck a familiar cord in my memory. I was unable to ascertain the reason until Willow showed me her research."
"Once I found the link to Giles' family, I traced the whole line through the Watcher diaries and Council records." Willow beamed proudly. "You are Giles' great great great uncle. Your older sister, Catherine, married Giles' great great great grandfather."
Both Spike and Giles simultaneously exclaimed, "Bloody hell". Neither one of them knew what to say. One man was still a Watcher, and the other was still a vampire. They now had a lot more in common. Perhaps the time would come when they could talk about it further, but that time wasn't now.
"I'm not calling you Uncle Spike." Giles removed his glasses and started cleaning them. "I suppose it would be Uncle William, but I'm still not doing it."
"Stupid git." Spike rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't want you to. Sounds bloody ridiculous." Although a part of him enjoyed the fact that he was someone's uncle now. He wasn't going to admit that to Giles. He always assumed his family line died when he was turned. He'd forgotten about his Aunt Catherine.
"Good." Giles slipped his glasses back on. He tucked his handkerchief into his pocket.
"You do realize that you have a free life pass with me now." Spike considered the implications of Giles being family to him. "I've never been like Angelus when it comes to family."
"How so?" Giles questioned.
"Angelus hunted down all of his family when he was turned and killed them." Spike stated matter-of-factly. "I still respected my family, and I tried to stay away from them as much as possible. The only person I did anything to was in the hopes of curing her illness by making her a vampire because I loved her."
Giles stared at Spike awe struck. It was common knowledge that many vampires killed all human ties to world once they were turned. The fact that Spike didn't added another link to the puzzle of his humanity versus his demon.
"That didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but I never would have done it if I'd known what she would have become." The thought of his mother as a vampire still made him ill to think about. She was nothing like the caring woman he'd adored all of his human life.
"So you are saying that because I am family, you won't kill me?"
"That's right."
"Why?" Giles was curious as to how Spike's mind worked on these matters.
"Family is blood. Blood is family." Spike started in his explanation. "Blood gives us life, and it binds us. Being family tightens those bonds further. Some people will do anything to protect their family no matter what line they cross to do it."
Giles nodded as he listened. Willow sat enraptured by the conversation.
"I am one of those people. You don't know how much I want to kill that Whelp right now." Spike pointed at Xander. "The only thing that even saved his life was that my Mate's life was in danger, and she needed tending."
"I won't let you kill him, Spike, even though he deserves it." Giles' even tone belayed the anger that he himself felt over Xander's actions.
"I give my word that I won't do it this time, but not everyone in my family may be so forgiving." Spike turned his attention back to the journal in front of him, effectively ending the conversation. He had felt the rage of his "son" through the familial bonding all day. He had no doubts that a day of reckoning would soon be upon the boy known as Xander Harris.
Buffy kept her eyes closed on the couch, but she'd been listening to every word spoken in the last 15 minutes. Dalton's growing anger and rage nipped at her demon's psyche. She knew what he planned on doing. A small part of her told her that she needed to stop it from happening. The larger part of her Slayer and human side told her that Xander had been warned what would happen if he tried to hurt Spike or her. Her only concern was for her best friend Willow. She was likely to take the whole matter very hard. She'd deal with that when she had to. She sent along a reassurance to Dalton through their familial bond, giving her approval for what he intended.
Spike looked up over the back of the couch at Buffy in amazement. He'd felt her assurance and approval being sent to Dalton. He raised a curious brow but made no mention of Buffy's thoughts to Giles and Willow who were engrossed in their research again. Buffy continued to amaze him. 'She'll make a fine Mistress. Her understanding of our ways is growing as well as being tempered by her Slayer side. I have to change, but she is changing too. We'll find the middle ground.'
Buffy smiled to herself on the couch. She felt her Sire's pride in her. She understood many things that she couldn't before. She found a sense of peace in the mixture of what she'd been told was right and what she felt was right to do now.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dalton's agitation grew exponentially as the day wore on. When Buffy was staked he shot out of Spike's room like a rocket. Before that he lay in his Master's bed enjoying the euphoric feelings of their joining. Only the presence of the sun stopped him from racing to Buffy's aid. He felt her pain finally subside, but that did nothing to appease his anger. Even Angelus' loudly uttered, "freak", hadn't deterred him from his mood.
Every hour that went by increased his resolve for revenge. He loved his new Master and Mistress. They'd welcomed him and given him a purpose or reason for "living" again. While he plotted, one obstacle seemed the hardest to get around. How would he get into the Watcher's house? He hadn't been invited in yet. 'I'll cross that bridge when I get there.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shortly before sundown, Joyce Summers arrived at Giles' place as planned. She was quickly greeted by her daughter's loving embrace before she could knock on the door.
A large pile of stakes lay on the living room table, joined by a couple swords and daggers. It looked like they were preparing for an all out war. In a way Joyce guessed that is what this was. They were waging a war on the vampires.
Buffy led Joyce over to Spike. "Mom, I'd like you to meet Spike. He's the one who saved me."
Joyce extended her hand out to Spike. "You look vaguely familiar to me. Have we met before?"
Spike gently grasped Joyce's hand and kissed the back of it. "Not properly, but you did slam the flat end of an axe into my skull on Parent/Teacher night at the high school."
Joyce gasped. "Oh my!" She pulled her hand back to cover her mouth.
"S'all right. No hard feelings." Spike smiled. "You were protecting your daughter. Can't fault you for that. I'm right fond of protecting her myself now." He pulled Buffy's back against his chest in an embrace.
"So, I see." Joyce regarded the vampire with a motherly interest. He seemed quite protective of her daughter, but he was also the reason she was a vampire in the first place. She had a hard time reconciling being thankful to him for that.
As if she read her mother's thoughts, Buffy spoke, "Angelus killed me, Mom. I would have died completely if Spike hadn't turned me. Be mad at him, not Spike."
"I'm trying to understand all this, Buffy. I really am. It's just hard for me to get it all straight in my head."
"I know that it's a lot to take in, Joyce." Giles stepped into the living room from the kitchen with a cup of tea in hand. He handed the cup over to Joyce. "I find myself at a loss to understand it all myself, but things are as they are. We need to focus on the future and not the past now."
"I'm sure you're right, Rupert." Joyce looked back at her daughter and Spike. "All I can promise is that I'll try to give you both a chance."
"That's all I can ask for Mrs. Summers." Spike sighed a sigh of relief. He worried whether or not Joyce Summers would stake him on the spot when they met.
Buffy felt her lover relax, and she smiled. "Once Angelus is dust, we all have a lot to talk about."
Giles nodded. "Quite, right." He opened up several backpack like bags and started to stow the stakes and daggers away in them. "The sun has nearly set. The mortician should have the casket in place. Willow do you have the ingredients for the cloaking spell ready?"
"Yes, Giles." Willow looked over the different herbs before her on the table.
"Cloaking spell?" Joyce questioned in confusion.
"It will make me practically invisible until I use the command to reveal myself. That way I can get into the coffin without alerting Angelus to my presence." Buffy explained.
"What about Spike? Won't he sense you somehow?"
"Not with this amulet around my neck. It works like a vampire dampening field." Spike turned to Giles. "Once all hell breaks lose, I'm taking it off though. Somehow I have a feeling that if it weakened some of my vampiric abilities, it could weaken them all. I need to be in top form for this fight."
"Agreed." Giles gathered the bags, handing one to each person.
Buffy pulled several stakes from her bag and stowed them away on her person. She looked over at Willow, "Okay, cloak me up, Will."
Willow muttered the phrases for the incantation. She lit each herb in the order of succession that Spike told her. With a poof of smoke, Buffy disappeared from in front of them.
Joyce shrieked. "Buffy!"
"I'm still here, Mom." A disembodied voice danced around the room. "I'm still standing in front of you." A ghostly hand touched Joyce's arm. "See. I'm here."
Joyce's heart raced. "I don't know how I'll ever get used to this supernatural life of yours."
Buffy patted her Mom's arm. "It gets easier every day, Mom."
"Let's go." Giles led Willow and Joyce to the door.
"You guys go on ahead. We'll be right there." Buffy called out to Giles. She waited for the door to close before she wrapped her arms around Spike's waist. "You know he is coming for him."
Spike nodded. He wondered if Buffy felt the presence as much as he did. "Are you going to stop him?"
"No." Buffy shook her head back and forth. "I warned Xander what I would do if he tried to hurt you. He didn't listen."
"Are you sure that you can live with the consequences of this, pet?" Spike wanted the Whelp dead for what he'd done to his Mate but not at the expense of her sanity or guilt.
"If you mean will I feel guilty, then not so much. I will only hurt for how much it is going to hurt Willow." Buffy answered honestly.
"Tell him to make the boy disappear then. It will always leave a doubt as to what truly happened."
Buffy nodded. "All right. You'd better go. I don't want them to suspect you in any of it." She leaned up to kiss Spike softly. "Stay safe, Sire. We're in this together."
"I will, Childe. He may have been my Sire, but you are more important to me than ten Sires." Spike kissed Buffy's forehead and hugged her tightly before he left Giles' house. He needed to catch up to the others.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Angelus practically danced around the mansion. "The streets will be painted red tonight, my dear."
Drusilla stood with her arms crossed in a pouting fashion. She was angry at her Sire, and she wasn't going to play his game tonight.
"Come my deliciously evil queen." Angelus nipped at Drusilla's ear. "It is time to play with the kiddies and make them bleed."
"I do not wish to go, Daddy." Dru stomped her foot in a tantrum motion. "The dollies aren't going to play nice, and I don't want to be there to see them take over."
"You're talking nonsense, Dru. We have them at our mercy and surprise." Angelus turned Dru around in his arms. "We'll crush them before they even know what's hit them."
"No, Daddy. The pixies tell me that play time is over, and we are going to be punished."
Angelus growled. He threw Drusilla away from him and into the wall. "I'll not listen to such crazy meanderings Dru. I've had enough of your double talk." He stomped towards the door. "Stay if you want to, but you will pay for your insolence when I return. You will know true punishment then."
Drusilla whimpered in the corner of their bedroom. She rocked herself back and forth singing, "Ring around the rosie. Pockets full of posies. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dalton watched Angelus gather all of his minions for the mission. He faked his remorse over Spike's death to a more dramatic level. Angelus had sighed in disgust then ignored him. 'Good. One obstacle out of the way.' He watched the minions and Angelus leave the mansion.
Dalton barricaded Drusilla in her bedroom. He wasn't sure what Spike would want to do about his former lover, but they didn't need her getting loose to help Angelus. Confident that she was secured, he headed out of the mansion towards the Watcher's house.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Joyce, Giles, Willow and Spike arrived at the predetermined cemetery. Spike quickly headed into a nearby crypt to wait for the right time to strike. Joyce rearranged some chairs for the people that were showing up to honor her daughter's memory. Several students from school, a couple teachers, and some of Joyce's business associates took their seats.
Giles and Willow strategically placed several stakes under each chair with tape. They opened the casket lid slightly to slip a few more stakes in there. Buffy would have her bag of stakes with her, but you could never have too many stakes when dealing with vampires. They both took their seats while they waited for Buffy and Angelus to arrive.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The door of Giles' place opened up when Dalton arrived. It appeared that the door had opened on its own, but the whispered words of his Mistress brought understanding. "You haven't been invited, have you?"
"No Mistress. I haven't." Dalton tilted his head to the side in supplication to his Mistress.
Invisible fangs dove into his neck to take two long pulls for verification of what Buffy already knew. Dalton was loyal to her and Spike. "I'll bring him to you."
Dalton nodded. He watched the boy's unconscious body seemingly float across the living room to the door. The body was placed on the ground outside of the entrance.
"Do what you wish, but make sure no one finds the body." Buffy commanded. "He should know pain, but I will not see my other friends suffer even more because of it."
"Yes, Mistress." Dalton heaved Xander's body up over his shoulder. "It shall be done." He disappeared into the shadows of the growing darkness intent on his revenge.
Buffy headed off quickly towards the cemetery. She had to be in place very soon.
Unobserved by the others, an older woman left her place in the shrubbery that surrounded Giles' home. "A very interesting development indeed. I must check again with the others to be sure we are correct about this."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Xander groggily roused from unconsciousness to a searing pain in his limbs. He found himself stretched and tied to an X like fixture of wood. His hands and legs were each bound to a different end of the X. He was stretched out just beyond the limit of being comfortable, and the pain was slowly gaining strength.
"You're finally awake." Dalton stepped out of the shadows into the moonlight. He held a wooden stake in his hand that he slapped against his palm constantly.
"What do you want? Untie me and maybe Buffy won't stake you." Xander recognized the vampire who had visited all of them in the library a few nights ago.
Dalton laughed. "Who do you think helped me to get you?" He reveled in the look of fear on the boy's face. "That's right, little one. You broke her trust, and now you will pay for it."
Xander yelped and pulled against his bonds. The face before him was a true demon bent on revenge. Each pull against the ropes dug them into his wrists causing them to bleed. He nearly pulled his arm out of its socket to get away from the rapidly approaching vampire.
"Do you have any idea what it feels like to know your Mate or Mistress is in such pain as you caused?" Dalton stopped right in front of Xander. "Do you know the burning that it causes in your gut when you can't do a thing to help?" He slashed out the sharpened stake cutting Xander's clothes and cutting into the skin of his abdomen.
"AHHHH!" Xander screamed. A burning sensation buried within his abdomen as well as the pain from the wound created. He wondered if the tip of the stake was laden with some kind of poison.
Dalton smirked. "Oh it won't kill you." He lifted up the point of the stake to show Xander his own blood and a slippery green residue underneath it. "It will just make it hurt more."
Xander's eyes widened, and his screams were louder with the next slash of the stake deeper into his stomach from one side to the other.
"I should turn you into a vampire and torture you for decades." Dalton taunted. "Even then I would not feel satisfied that you had suffered enough." He laughed. "No one worries about the bookish vampire. Well you are learning differently, aren't you boy?"
"Ye ... yes ..." Xander stuttered. "Oh God, it hurts."
"This is nothing compared to what I could do to you." Dalton twirled the stake in his hand. He raised it to shoulder height. "Do you know what she felt? What she was willing to go through to keep you from hurting her beloved?" He rammed the stake forward into Xander's lung, near his heart. He pushed at it again to embed the wood deep enough to press the tip into the wooden X that he was attached to.
Xander screamed bloody murder, but it was no use. Wherever they were, no one was near enough to hear them. The pain was excruciating, and he found himself loosing consciousness. He wasn't able to bear the pain, and he knew he was going to die.
Dalton hated violence as a whole, but his demon rejoiced in the pain he caused the young man. Even his human side felt justified in this revenge. As the boy lost consciousness, Dalton sank his fangs into Xander's neck. He drained him to within a couple heartbeats of his last before slashing his wrist and forcing the blood down the boy's mouth.
Dalton murmured a few words that required no permission from the boy to accept. He only gave him enough blood to allow him to turn. He would barely even be strong enough to be a minion, but it wouldn't matter. He uttered a few more phrases to hasten along the turning.
The boy would be a vampire enough by morning that when he greeted the sun he would feel the pain burn through him before turning to ash. There would not be any remains to be found, save some ash that no one would be able to identify as Xander Harris.
Dalton fulfilled his promise to his Mistress and his need to avenge the wrongs committed against his family. Now it was time to head to the cemetery to aid his family against Angelus.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter Summary: Dalton took care of Xander. Spike and the rest of the Scoobies are at the cemetery already. Buffy is on her way there. Everything is set up for Angelus' appearance, and everyone is quite nervous about it. Dru is locked in her bedroom at the mansion. It's time for the big fight between Angelus and the Scoobies. Only one group will walk away successful. Will it be the Scoobies or Angelus and his minions?
**WARNING: Major character death (even though it is a villain or two), lots of violence in this chapter (the title of the chapter should give that fact away), and language.**
Author's Note: One of the characters in this chapter will have an accent. I will be trying to show this by phonetically, or otherwise, spelling words out for their speech. So no, I don't need to correct typos. It is being done on purpose. Just an FYI.
(All disclaimers are noted in the first chapter of this story.)
'Single' quote marks surround thoughts in this story. "Regular" quotes are around spoken words.
Buffy practically skipped the entire way to the cemetery. She put all thoughts of Dalton and Xander out of her mind. She needed all of her concentration to be focused on her upcoming battle with Angelus.
Since Spike and Buffy renewed their claim right before they left Giles' house, both of them still heard the other one's thoughts. Spike felt Buffy draw nearer to the group. 'You all right, luv?' He was worried about Buffy's emotional state of mind after she made the decision concerning her former friend's life.
'Yep. Everything is according to plan.' Buffy's invisible body walked by several barely concealed vamps about fifteen feet from her "gravesite". 'Angelus isn't hiding his minions well. I just passed 4 vamps by the Tapper crypt.'
'He thinks the humans are too weak with grief to be a threat.' Spike paced in the crypt he was hidden in. 'Everything is in place here but you in the coffin.'
'I'm getting there now.' Buffy walked up behind her mom. She tapped her on the shoulder.
Joyce yelped and shot out of her seat.
"Joyce, are you all right?" Giles rested his hand on Joyce Summers' arm. He knew this whole situation was still a shock to his Slayer's mother. He worried that the slightest thing would snap the woman's emotional stronghold into smithereens.
"Sorry mom," Buffy whispered.
Joyce's heart raced. "I'm fine, Rupert. Cemeteries have always spooked me." She tried to cover up her reaction to Buffy by passing it off as nerves. It wouldn't bode well to alert Angelus to their plans. They'd come this far already. There was no turning back now.
Giles nodded in understanding. He felt the air stir when Buffy moved in front of Joyce. "I've never been very comfortable in them myself, despite my ... profession."
Buffy leaned as close to Joyce as possible. She whispered into her mother's ear at a level only Joyce would hear. "Walk over to the coffin. Stand in front of it. Then I need you to open the lid just enough for me to crawl in."
Joyce walked over to the coffin slowly. The site of it unnerved her, even though she knew her daughter was "alive". She carefully lifted the lid with only a small space for Buffy to sneak into it with.
Buffy squeezed her way into the tight space. She laid herself out in the bed of satin. She felt the extra stakes Giles left for her in the lower half of the coffin. She added her bag of stakes to the stash. "Angelus is here," Buffy whispered low. "When I appear, open the lid the rest of the way. Then have the priest begin."
Joyce nodded. She added a few sniffles for effect and to calm her nerves.
"Body, reveal," Buffy uttered the phrase that made her body appear in the casket. The spell still masked any vampiric essence from anyone's senses.
Joyce outwardly shivered. "I hate this." She brought a handkerchief to her face to wipe away real tears. Her daughter truly looked dead as she lay there unmoving.
Buffy wanted to jump out of the coffin to comfort her mother, but she forced herself not to do that. She had to remain still. Any movement might tip off Angelus.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Angelus watched from a nearby tree. He delighted in the grief stricken faces of Buffy's family and friends. The pain they suffered laced the air, much to his delight. This was a delicious way to have his revenge on all of the Scoobies. Before sunrise this town would belong to him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Joyce motioned for the priest to begin. She took her seat next to Giles. Giles clasped his hand with Joyce's to show his support. He promised himself that tonight he would protect this woman at all costs. She was new to everything supernatural, and her emotions would not keep her focused enough for a proper fight.
Buffy waited in her coffin for the right moment to strike. She needed to wait for Angelus to make the first move. She only hoped that he stuck with his method of taunting his prey before killing them.
Spike bounced on the balls of his feet, itching to be out there to kick some butt. He was ready for a fight. He'd been ready for weeks in that stupid wheelchair, waiting for the right opportunity to stick it to the poofter. Now he had even more reason to want the bastard dead. Everything was a matter of timing. Patience wasn't a strong point of his. He felt Buffy send him a calming sensation and patience to help him out.
The priest stood in front of Buffy's coffin. He not only wore a cross around his neck, but every piece of clothing and jewelry he had on consisted of multiple cross patterns. He'd lived in Sunnydale for a lot of years. A sunset graveside service was NOT a smart idea. "Friends and family, we are gathered here today to honor a vibrant young life who was taken long before her time."
As Buffy listened to the priest drone on and on, she mentally snickered. 'Hey Spike, he thinks I was taken long before my time. Think he has any idea just how much longer I'm going to live now?'
Spike laughed. 'Very funny pet. Pay attention.'
Buffy mentally rolled her eyes. She sent an image of her sticking her tongue out at her Sire.
'Careful pet. I am more than willing to put that tongue to good use.' Spike retorted.
Buffy snorted from the coffin. 'Oops.'
The priest stiffened in front of the casket for a brief moment before he continued on with his eulogy. 'I need to get out of this town before it kills me.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
An ebony skinned woman silently passed through the entrance of the cemetery. She'd heard about the event through various indirect channels. Thankfully she'd already been on her way to Sunnydale after a very disturbing dream. She had a feeling she was going to be needed tonight.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Giles casually looked from one end of the guest area to the other. His main focus was forward on the priest, but he allowed his eyes to scan their surroundings.
The longer the priest droned on, with no sign of attack from Angelus, the more tense the Scoobies grew. Joyce knew Angelus was near. Buffy told her so. Why wasn't he attacking? She really hated that vampire.
Angelus jumped down from the tree limb he previously perched on. With an arrogant air about him, he slowly walked over to the open casket.
The various classmates and Joyce's co-workers assumed Angelus was a late attendee of the funeral. When the man turned to face the gathering in full vampiric visage many screamed.
"Come, Come ..." Angelus cupped his hands in come hither motions. "We are all here today because of Buffy. Don't be shy."
Angelus' minions quickly returned the few attendees who attempted to escape from their seats. Giles and Willow inched their hands lower on their seats towards the taped stakes underneath.
"Some of your faces I recognize." Angelus clapped his hands together. He aimed a broad grin at Giles. "Those of you that I don't know, I'm sorry you chose to come to this funeral because you are all going to die."
Various gasps and shrieks carried through the crowd. One woman fainted into her husband's arms.
Angelus turned back to face the casket. His minions had the whole group surrounded anyways. So, he wasn't worried about an attack from behind him. He leaned over the coffin. "My poor dear Buffy. So young," His voice seemed to soften the more he leaned into Buffy, but the timbre was laced with mocking disdain. "But thankfully you're finally dead, bitch."
"Don't count on it." Buffy head butted Angelus then flipped out of the coffin. "I've had a little reprieve. Heaven isn't ready for me yet."
"What?!" Angelus growled as chaos erupted behind him. Giles, Joyce and Willow flipped their chairs over. They ripped the stakes from underneath and attacked the minions surrounding them. "I killed you!"
"Not so much." Buffy circled and counter circled Angelus' position. "Didn't your mother ever tell you to be sure clean your plate completely. Never leave food behind." She growled, jumped at Angelus with a swinging kick, and knocked him over to the ground.
Spike ran out of the crypt out of the site of his Sire. "Reveal me." He didn't care if Angelus saw him or not. Besides the amulet still hid his essence from his Sire. He knew the Scoobies needed help with all of the minions. He barreled through a group of three vampires who attacked some of Buffy's classmates. He tackled another that had a hold of one of Joyce's co-workers.
Joyce forced a stake into the back of one vampire before it could reach one of Buffy's teachers. Her gut instincts took over while she raced to the casket. A cowering priest was pushed out of her way. She ripped the skirting from the casket, drew out a familiar looking axe, and twisted back around to the priest. "Their vampires for crying out loud. You have a cross, and now a stake," she handed him a stake, "Use them."
The priest made a cross with his fingers from his head to his chest followed by both shoulders. He sent up a prayer to heaven before he jumped into the fray of battle.
Dalton ran in from the side along with three other minions, who upon seeing Spike switched sides. The only reason they were fighting on Angelus' side was because they feared Spike was dead. Seeing their Master alive, they immediately returned to his service.
Spike howled in the delight of battle. He felt the thrill of the violence running through the borrowed blood in his veins. He fought to keep his game face at bay. That way he wouldn't scare the various humans he was trying to save. Two vampires dusted from separate stakes he'd slipped from the sleeves of his duster into their unbeating hearts. "About time you showed up, Dalton."
"Sorry, had a bit of trash to take care of." Dalton entered the fray at his Master's side. He looked briefly at Buffy who was fighting Angelus. "Is she all right?"
Spike craned his neck to see Angelus have his Childe pinned against the coffin with his hand on her throat. "Oh no you don't." He ripped the amulet off his neck and stuffed it into his pocket.
Angelus jumped back from Buffy. He held his head in pain as the emotions, essence and presence of Spike returned to him. "Hell!" He screamed with a growl.
The few moments of distraction gave Buffy the opportunity to gain ground again. She kicked Angelus away from her. "Thank you, Sire!" She rubbed the title into Angelus' mind.
"What?!?" Angelus' head snapped back up to Buffy. "Sire?"
Spike taunted Angelus while he dusted Angelus' minions. "Should have listened to Dru, Sire. She might be batty, but she knows what she's talking about at times."
"Reveal all." Buffy commanded the spell to completely end. She watched in delight at the contorted features on Angelus' face with the knowledge of just exactly what was before him.
"No ... No ... that's impossible." Angelus was furious. How dare they trick him this way? He was the head of the Aurelius Clan. They should be withering at his feet in obedience.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The wailing scream of a vampiress bounced off the walls of the mansion. She pulled her locks from her head when the presence of Spike was revealed to her mind once more. She scratched and kicked at the locked door.
The essence of Spike's Childe, no longer being hidden from her, forced her to the ground on her knees. "No ... Daddy ..." She knew that nothing she could do now would save her precious Daddy from dust. The pixies had been right, but he wouldn't listen to her. Now they would both die.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The ebony skinned woman jumped into the fray of battle. At first she had a hard time finding out just who was on what side. Her first trip to Sunnydale revealed to her that not all vampires should be considered evil. Some of the vampires seemed to be attacking the humans. Others seemed to be helping them. She staked a vampire through from the back that had Giles pinned to the ground.
Giles adjusted his askew glasses when the pressure of the vampire was removed from his chest. He looked up at the woman before him. "Kendra?"
"Hello, Wawtcherman." Kendra offered a hand to Giles. "Is dis a pryvat partay, or did I jost miss ma inveetation?"
Giles laughed. He was amazed at the growth in Kendra from the last time they saw her. She actually seemed to crack a joke. "We're glad to have you." He stood up again. "There's too much to catch you up on, but don't stake Spike or Buffy. Angel lost his soul. So feel free to stake him this time."
Kendra looked over at the small blond who fought with fierceness against Angelus. "I tink she wahnts dat playsure herself."
Giles nodded. "Quite, true." He was proud that the amount of minions against them had greatly dimished. He picked up the presence of Dalton's head bobbing over the pair of vampire's he was fighting. "That one in the glasses is on our side too. Anyone else, you'll have to use your judgment."
Kendra nodded. She accepted the extra stake Giles handed to her. She departed into the middle of a bunch of cornered humans. This was going to be fun. With a shrill Xena like howl, she dove through the humans at the vampires. "Tyme to meet Misstair Poynty, devils."
Joyce gasped for breath. She'd just managed to cut the head off one of her latest attackers. She leaned against Giles. "Who is that?"
"That is Kendra. She is another Slayer."
"I thought you said there was only one?" Joyce looked at Giles in confusion.
"I'll explain later." Giles removed his glasses a moment to clean them. He ducked the punch from a nearby vampire. The vampire met with the flat head of the axe over his head. When the vampire fell to the ground unconscious, Giles staked him. "Nice work."
"Thank you. Must be in the Summer's blood." Joyce laughed.
Giles joined her in laughter. Together they attacked another vampire to keep him from disturbing Buffy and Angelus' battle. "You're a natural, Joyce."
Spike retrieved several more stakes from inside the coffin. He tossed two of them through the air. Each hit their targets with unfailing accuracy. The vampires shouldn't have tried to sneak up on the Island Slayer anyways. "Face em fair and square, I always say."
"MASTER!" Dalton screamed in warning.
Spike turned in time to bring a stake up protectively and curl to the ground. The dead vampire's dust covered his duster. He jumped up and brushed the vampire's remains from his treasured coat. "Pillock."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy and Angelus' fight heightened in ferocity. Angelus was pissed, and he wanted to make sure to rid the Slayer from his life and once and for all. "Why are you even fighting if you are a vampire?" He backhanded her.
Buffy's head snapped back with the force of the blow. She loved taunting Angelus. She'd been waiting for this moment since the first minute she'd opened her eyes to the night. Even though Spike was her Sire, her only desire had been to kill Angelus not Spike. "Funny thing about us Slayer's," She quipped back. "We keep our souls."
Angelus sneered in disgust. "That's just wrong." He swiped his foot out to knock Buffy off balance. "You just can't do anything right, Spike. You have a bleeding heart Scooby for a Childe." He bellowed into the night air.
"Leave my Mate out of this, you bastard." Buffy elbowed Angelus in the gut followed by a high heeled boot heel into his foot. "He's more a Master than you will ever be." She raised her hand in the air. She brought it down hard to his chest.
"You'll never know what you're missing, Missy." Angelus pushed Buffy to the ground. He lay on top of her with the stake partially into his skin. "Besides, you can't kill the face of your lover."
Buffy pushed the stake into Angelus' chest a little harder. "Sorry, Peaches," She used one of Spike's nicknames for his Sire. "But I have a wonderful lover, and you aren't it. You were most disappointing." She forced the stake the rest of the way into Angelus' heart.
The shock on Angelus' face was the last thing she saw before a poof of heavy vampire dust covered her body. Buffy closed her eyes. She whimpered at the loss of her first love, but the pain she felt was for the loss of Angel and not Angelus. She realized that her first love had died the moment Angel lost his soul.
Spike ran across the gathering area to his Childe. He felt the pain that tore through her the moment his Sire died. He gathered her in his arms. He rocked her back and forth. He whispered soothing words of comfort and calm.
Buffy nodded against Spike's chest. "It needed to be done." She looked up into the loving blue eyes of her Sire and Mate. She saw the questions and doubts in his eyes. "I don't regret my decision. I never will, Mate."
The two of them kissed passionately while the fighting around them ceased. Those few minions loyal to Angelus froze at the death of their Master. It made them easy pickings to be sent to their final death in a flash of dust and wood. Family and friends gathered in different clusters to comfort each other after the night's trauma.
Kendra, Dalton, Willow, Giles, and Joyce gathered around Buffy and Spike. Giles wrapped an arm around Joyce's waist. He drew her in to rest her head on his shoulder.
Dalton sniffed Willow slowly. He picked up the scent of what might be a werewolf, but he also sensed an underlying power under the surface. 'This one would be fun to get to know.' She gave off an air of intelligence that intrigued him as well.
Kendra looked back and forth at everyone. Her dream had proven to be a Slayer dream, but she still needed a lot of things explained before any of this would make sense.
Spike and Buffy looked up at their gathered comrades. He stood up slowly. He directed orders to his loyal minions to return to the mansion without further bloodshed to await his orders. In a flurry of "Yes Master's" they left the cemetery.
Buffy hugged her mother and Giles tightly. Willow joined in the hug as well. Buffy finally noticed Kendra's presence. "Thank you, Kendra."
"Naught a problem, Bouffy." Kendra smiled.
"Let's get back to my house." Joyce offered. "I think we could all use some rest and regrouping." She turned to Spike. "Something tells me that you'd be a hot chocolate man."
Spike's ears perked up. "Hot chocolate?" He didn't even try to maintain his Big Bad image. He had no idea how this woman figured out his chocolate love, but he loved her already. "Do you have any of those little marshmallows?"
Joyce laughed softly. With instructions to Buffy's classmates and Joyce's co-workers that everyone should go home, the Scoobies headed out of the cemetery towards the Summers' home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dru wailed and wailed at the mansion. Blood red tears fell from her face. Even though the pixies told her about Daddy's death, she felt the pain of his loss so deep that it tore at her very being. Even when Angelus was souled, she still felt him in the back of her mind. Now there was nothing left. Her daddy was gone.
When Angelus was souled, Dru always held out the hope that he would return to her. Now she had no such chance or hope. She refused to live any longer without him. She had nothing left to live for anyways. Her Spike was lost to her, and now Angelus was dead.
Drusilla stood up slowly from her spot on the floor. With determined steps she walked away from the door to the window. She threw open the heavy draperies that previously protected the entire room from being bathed in sunlight. The easterly facing window would be flooded with sunlight come the dawn.
Drusilla admired the twinkling of the stars above. They called out to her to join them. They told her it was time to come home. She sadly danced her way back to her bed. She gingerly cradled Miss Edith in her arms after she laid down.
Dru stared up at the blood red canopy top above her. Her mind was blank of thought except the resignation that it was time for her to go. The welcoming voices of her mother, father, and sisters called to her on the breeze. She closed her eyes to the memories of her human days. It was time to rest, and soon she would be with her family again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I didn't see Dru, Dalton." Spike turned to his "son". He was proud of how the vampire fought tonight. "Any idea on where she is?"
Buffy grumbled a bit to herself because of Spike's question. She knew where his love lay, but she couldn't stop herself from a little bit of jealousy rising over his concern for Drusilla's well being.
"I locked her up in her bedroom at the mansion, Sire." Dalton explained his earlier actions of the evening. "She refused to follow Master Angelus out for the ambush. He confined her to their quarters."
"He is not your Master anymore, Dalton." Buffy snapped. "I don't want to hear those two words together again."
Dalton cowered away from his Mistress. "Yes, Mistress. My apologies."
"Easy there, pet. Old habits die hard." Spike squeezed their joined hands. "We know where his loyalties lay."
Buffy sighed. "I'm sorry, Dalton. I shouldn't have snapped."
"It's all right, Mistress. I understand." Dalton leaned over, took Buffy's free hand in his, and kissed the back of it gently. "My true Mistress and Master are you and Master Spike. Forever more."
Giles watched the exchange with much interest. He had a feeling that he would learn a lot about vampiric families by watching these three from now on. There was an extra bond there that he was sure had been sealed with blood. Everything about vampires dealt in blood, at least from Spike's point of view.
The whole group continued walking through the streets of Sunnydale on their way to the Summers' residence. They were all happy that this night's battle was over. It was time to regroup and recuperate. They each spent the remainder of the journey lost in their own thoughts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Miss Summers?" A darkly dressed man in his early thirties stepped over from the Summers' porch swing to stand in front of the main door.
Spike stood in front of Buffy to block the way between the stranger and his Childe. "Who wants to know?"
The man pulled a cross from his pocket. He advanced on Spike's position. "Step away from her, vampire. She is Council property, and we aim to reclaim what is ours."
Spike hissed, but he refused to give up his position. Buffy tensed behind Spike. Her whimpers told her Sire that she had no intention of willingly leaving with any Council member.
"I don't think so, tweed boy." A strangely familiar bass voice called from the street. His footsteps hastened across the lawn. The dark haired boy stopped a few feet away from the group of Scoobies with an M-16 machine gun pointed at the Council representative. "Stand down, and I won't fill you full of holes. These bullets can more than kill a human with one. If you don't step away, I'll unload the whole clip on you."
Buffy and Willow blinked in surprise, the former being more surprised than the latter. "Xander?"
Spike growled. He had no idea why the Whelp was still alive, or why he was protecting them now after trying to kill them earlier. "Whelp!" He snarled.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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