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Chapter 4.10
Sunday, May 19th, 2002
"Brandon, take Spike's car
and Dawn and just get away from the area."
"Isn't he going to be pissed
when he finds out we took it?"
"Probably, but then you got
the lecture about Dawn going on a motorcycle without
the proper gear and he isn't exactly giving her
time to change." Tara picked up the vampire's
car keys from the hall table and tossed them to
the teenager. "Go! I'll call your cell when
it's okay to bring her back."
"But—" Dawn tried to
argue, even as Tara passed her a jacket and pushed
her out the door.
"Until those wounds heal,
Sweetie, having you around is like waving double
chocolate gateau in front of someone who's on a
diet. It's not fair to test him like that when he's
ill. Go with Brandon. As soon as he's well enough
to cope or too out of it to be a danger, we'll let
you know. I promise."
Dawn gave up her argument. If the
best thing for Spike was for her to leave she was
already gone.
Tara turned her attention to the
other woman. She picked up one of three cell phones
which were sitting on the same table where Spike's
car keys had been and passed it to the other woman.
"If you go through to the kitchen you'll find a
pint of blood in the fridge. I want you to stick
it in the microwave for about a minute. That way,
if the worst happens, at least he's as strong as
he can be before he goes. While it's heating you'll
find the number for Buffy's cell in the directory.
Tell her what Dawn said about the guy calling
to arrange a meet and tell her I'll talk to her
once I finish upstairs or when she gets here, whichever
is sooner. I better go. By my reckoning we've got
at most three minutes before he gets out of here,
assuming Spike's patience can actually last five
minutes."
"What are you going to be
doing?"
"I'm going to be trying to
put up a barrier spell strong enough to contain
a desperate master vampire without him realising
what I'm doing and leaving before I finish it."
Tara whispered as quietly as she could before dashing
back upstairs.
"Buffy?" Willow's voice
sounded hesitant, knowing her friend was in a hurry
and probably would prefer to save the conversation
for another time. "Tara? Is she...? I mean—"
Buffy turned back to look at her
friend standing in the doorway of her parents' house,
and her heart twisted in her breast. She had been
wrong, very wrong, but she had lost so much because
of it. "She's hurting, Will, but we're all
doing our best to help her through. She's made her
choice. She's making a fresh start."
"B— but, I love her."
"Will, you can't keep hurting
people over and over and always expect them to forgive
you. If you really love her, you'll let her move
on. You've broken her heart twice over. This time
let it be a clean break." The sound of Wes
turning over his car's engine drew Buffy's attention
away from the witch as she realised that she was
holding up their investigation. Turning back toward
the house, Buffy hurriedly made her goodbyes. "Look,
I've got to go. I'll try to call tomorrow after
Dawn and Tara have gone. We can..."
"Go, Buffy. There's no point
in both of us losing the people we care about."
Willow twisted her face into a bitter-sweet half-smile
and Buffy ran the remainder of the distance to Wes's
car with her friend's blessing.
"Hi?" Buffy was slightly
bemused when her caller ID said she was speaking
to one of the spare cells she had brought back from
LA. She couldn't understand why anyone at the house
where she had left said phone, wouldn't be using
the land-line.
"Buffy, it's Bee—"
"Bee? As in bumble? How did
you get this number? How did you get that phone?"
"Tara called, said she needed
help with the research. I came. Listen, we've got
a problem, a couple of problems. Tara says she'll
speak to you when she finishes upstairs or when
you get back here, whichever is sooner, but right
now she's trying to stop Spike heading out on his
own for a rendezvous with some guy who called and
spoke to your sister."
"Where?"
"I don't know. Don't know
if Tara does either. She packed Dawn up and sent
her off with her boyfriend as soon as I got here.
I'm not sure what the deal is with that. Tara seemed
to think Dawn was in danger but from the scream
I heard seems like she did a pretty good job of
defending herself."
"Scream? Who screamed? Where's
Brandon taking Dawn?"
"Yes. Spike. Away."
"Wh—?" It took a while
for Buffy to put together Bee's answers with the
relevant questions. When she had, the ease with
which her sister had dealt with the vampire seemed
out of place. "Bee, how sick is Spike? Put
him on the phone."
"Are you sure? Tara was trying
to do a barrier spell to keep him in without tipping
him off. If I go up there now, it might give the
game away."
Giles winced as he heard the tone
Buffy took for her next comment. "Put Spike
on this phone now."
Bee heard a scratching sound and
looked over to see Rupert the Siamese standing by the back door.
With a muttered, "Already?" she pulled
the door ajar before teetering towards the stairs.
When she saw Tara kneeling on the
upstairs landing, she hissed to the other girl, while
covering the phone's mouthpiece, "Buffy wants
to talk to Spike."
Tara frowned. "I'm not sure
that would work right now. I'll take it."
The Wiccan rose to her feet, incanting
a few words in Latin before she took the phone from
Bee. "Buffy?" As the witch reached out
a hand, the air in front of Buffy's bedroom door
shimmered and resisted her. She leant against the
barrier with all her weight and when it didn't give
she turned her full attention to the phone conversation.
"Tara? Where's Spike? I want
to speak to Spike."
"Buffy, I don't think that's
a good idea until you can get back here to do it
in person. I think there's something or someone
here in the house, playing with Spike's head. Just
after you left he seemed to get a lot worse and
he started hallucinating, or so we thought, only
Rogue seems to be aware of whatever it is he's seeing,
at least some of the time, so maybe he is
hallucinating but I think there's something there,
too. From what he said when I was talking to him,
I think he thinks that something is you. I think
it tried to make him hurt Dawn."
"That's ridiculous. I'd...
I mean—"
"Buffy. I know, and if Spike
was in his right mind he'd know too, but he's not.
He's running a fever so high that if he was human
he'd probably already be dead, and I just don't
think until you can actually get here in the flesh
that you're going to convince him that you're the
real you and whatever is in there with him and Rogue
is the impostor."
Wes pulled over at the next intersection,
waiting to see whether Buffy would want to head
for Revello. He was stunned when instead of giving
directions, Buffy pushed open her car door before
he had even come to a complete stop.
"Buffy?"
"You two find this Woody
guy. I've got to go home. Spike's... The First is
there and it's messing with him."
"But—" Giles tried to
reason with her.
"I'll run. If I cut across
a few yards it'll be just quicker than driving."
She raised the phone again as she scrambled out
of the car. "Tara, I'm on my way."
Even as he made his final preparations,
Spike used his full concentration to listen in on
what was being said downstairs. As soon as he heard
Tara banish Dawn and her boyfriend from the house,
he pulled Buffy's motorcycle helmet on, forcing
it down over his head with leather-gloved hands.
As protection went, it was by no means fool proof.
Even this early in the day, he would have to keep
his head well down to avoid his face being burned
behind the plastic visor but Buffy had banished
his scruffy, singed and slightly smelly blanket
to the basement, so for the sake of a quick exit
he would take his chances with what was to hand.
He knew the others would try to stop him from going
alone. This time, though, he had to clean up his
own mess. Buffy might be joking now about always
having to rescue him, but, if he let the trend continue,
he would be nothing but a millstone round her neck,
like Harris, a handicap, a vulnerability her enemies
could rely on being able to exploit. Her gentle
teasing would give way to scorn. Instead of love
and desire, when they touched he would feel her
discontent and eventually her hatred.
He opened the sash window as far
as he could, but climbing out would still have been
clumsy and time consuming and for all Glinda allowed
herself to be overshadowed by her former lover,
she was a powerful Wicca in her own right. In fact,
Spike was willing to bet that in her purity of spirit
the witch had access to far more power than she
gave herself credit for, if only she had the confidence
to use it. Willow drew the bulk of her power from
the darker magical elements. Her magic was showier
and more obvious. Spike believed that when his wild
dove grew into her power, or when necessity drove
her to test her own limits she would prove that,
though she wouldn't use her power to harm others,
in every respect bar that, she was more than Willow's
equal. He wound a black scarf around his neck, covering
the last of his visible flesh before he let his
demon take charge. Taking as much of a run-up as
space would allow he dove through the window, somersaulting
once before he landed on his feet just beyond the
bounds of the strip of ground that Joyce had planted
with roses and other flowers. Staggering slightly
before he regained some semblance of his normally
perfect balance, he lurched off in the direction
of the nearest sewer entrance.
Rogue jumped up, her front paws
resting on the open windowsill as her master left
her behind. She whimpered, trying to coax the vampire
into coming back to fetch her, but when he didn't
relent, she scrambled up onto the sill and then
through the window, landing clumsily with her right
front leg twisting under her. Her pained yelp finally
made the vampire turn, trying to wave her back toward
the house. He should have known better. Even favouring
her injured leg slightly, the bitch seemed determined
to maintain her vigil over what she regarded as
her vampire. She covered the distance between them
in a blink and Spike had to concede defeat rapidly
or risk attracting Tara's attention, thereby causing
the confrontation his ultimatum was designed to
avoid. The whole point of telling the witch he would
be coming out in five minutes was to give him the
chance to sneak out the back in two, that and making
sure Bitty Buffy got her arse out the way before
anything happened. He swiftly returned to his original
route with the puppy easily keeping pace with a
three-legged lope.
Looking down from the bedroom window,
the First Evil gave a satisfied smile. It would
have been easier if those three bunglers had managed
to stay out of jail and maybe, somehow the demon
could have been reclaimed. Too bad that he would
have to be sacrificed instead, but there was no
way he could be allowed to remain with the slayer.
Who would have believed that a soulless vampire
could resist evil's lure, whilst humans with the
full quota of free will were so easy to manipulate?
It gave one last Buffy smile before folding in on
itself, only to appear at Robin Wood's shoulder
on the far side of town. |
