Chapter One

Oops!

Spike could hear the fight in the graveyard as soon as he stepped out of his crypt.

“Bloody hell. What’s the Slayer up to now?” he muttered and went to watch the action, ‘You never know, I might actually get to see her get her ass kicked.’

Smiling, he headed over towards the ruckus. As he approached he could see Buffy in combat with a huge demon. It was a perfectly grotesque green, covered in lumps, and had an extra eye in the middle of its forehead that glowed a dull orange.

Spike saw the Giles standing to one side, moving from foot to foot in his usual indecisive manner, shouting instructions to the Slayer.

“Go for the eye,” he yelled.

“I’m trying to,” Buffy yelled back, thrusting her sword at the beast.

Spike ambled over to Giles.

“Having a bit of bother, are we?” he said with his usual smirk.

“Help her, Spike,” said Giles, wincing on Buffy’s behalf as the demon threw her backwards, her body slamming into a headstone.

“Now why should I do that?” drawled Spike, “This is much more fun.”

Buffy leapt up, picked up the sword she’d dropped as she’d flown through the air, and ran the demon through with it. At that precise moment, the demon, who had turned to face Giles and Spike, suddenly let out a roar. Its third eye opened wide and a blinding shaft of orange light flew from it, hitting both Giles and Spike and blowing them off their feet, then depositing them with crushing force some twenty feet away. They both lay still.

“Giles!” cried Buffy. She pulled her sword from the demon’s belly. It fell to the ground as she did then disappeared in a puff of orange smoke. She ran to where they lay.

“Giles, are you okay?” she knelt beside him, taking his hand.

He started to stir and, with a groan, he sat up, putting his free hand up to his head, which was throbbing abominably.

“I’m ..I’m all right,” he stuttered.

“What the hell was that?” asked Buffy.

“Not too sure,” he said, looking around, “Where is it?”

“It’s gone. Just went ‘poof’ after I’d killed it,” said Buffy.

Spike moaned and got up.

“I’m fine, by the way. Thanks for asking,” he said.

“Whatever,” said Buffy.

Spike huffed at her. “God, I need a drink,” he said and he staggered off to his trusty stash of JD in his crypt.

Buffy helped Giles get to his feet.

“We’re done?” she said, “No more slayage? No more patrolling?”

“For tonight, yes, we’re done,” said Giles weakly. It’d been hard enough to get her to patrol in the first place and he knew she couldn’t wait to get back to Riley.

Ooooooo

The next morning…

Spike woke up and God, he felt like crap. ‘I must have overdone it with the JD after that demon did its ‘glowy’ thing.’

He opened his eyes and saw to his amazement a white painted ceiling above him, not the cobwebbed stone of his crypt.

“Did I get lucky last night? Can’t remember going out again.’

He went to sit up and his body felt odd, heavy somehow. He looked down at his hand and was startled by two things – firstly, it was bathed in light. A ray of sun from the open curtains was enveloping it and swiftly on that revelation’s heels was the realisation it wasn’t his hand!

‘What the f…..’

He leapt out of bed and looked down at the rest of himself. The sight wasn’t a pretty one, due to the blue and red striped pyjama bottoms and what was going on with his stomach? It certainly was no longer it’s usual taut, flat self. Plus his feet looked somewhat further away.

Baffled, he looked around the room. Things looked a bit fuzzy. Without realising he’d done it he put on the pair of glasses that had been on the bedside table. Things got clearer; well, his sight got clearer.

He walked down the stairs and in the mirror facing him he could see Giles walking down them.

“Giles!” Spike said and whirled around. He wasn’t there. “Where the hell have you gone?”

He froze, standing stock-still. The voice. It wasn’t his own. It sounded like….

He spun back round to the mirror.

“Giles! Sodding hell,” said Spike, looking at his reflection, “I’m bloody Giles.”

Ooooooo

At exactly the same time...

Giles woke up with a start, then regretted it. He squeezed his eyes closed against the pounding in his head. He felt a bit ‘green’. He pushed the covers off and swung his feet over the edge of the bed where they dangled, not reaching the floor.

“That’s odd. My bed’s not that high.”

He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in Spike’s crypt.

“What am I doing in Spike’s crypt?”

He looked around but there was no sign of the vampire. He pushed himself off the tomb that had served as his bed, kicking over an empty bottle of JD, which explained the head pounding. Something wasn’t right. He hadn’t landed with his usual thud but with something like feline grace, landing lightly on his bare feet. He looked down at his feet.

“Good lord!” he exclaimed, as he realised he was naked, his voice echoing around the crypt.

“Oh my God,” he said as he realised the naked body wasn’t his own.

“Not again,” said Giles. He’d only just gotten over the fact Ethan had turned him into a Fyarl demon.

“Least this time I’m still human.” He glanced at ‘his’ body again, Yes, definitely human, a rather lean fit human by all accounts.”

He looked around for some clothes. He could see a pile carefully folded on the floor. He picked them up and saw that they looked like Spike’s but, no matter, they’d do. And Spike wasn’t around so shouldn’t miss them. A thought wandered through his mind trying to connect with something, something he’d missed earlier. No, he couldn’t place it. He shrugged, decided not to put on Spike’s jacket, certain the vampire wouldn’t approve of it, and walked to the door to the crypt.

He pulled it open, but as the light flooded in he gave out a yell and slammed it shut again. It had burned! He looked down at his faintly smouldering hand. Suddenly the thought floating through his mind connected with something, his voice hadn’t been his own - it’d been…

“Spike! Oh my God, I’m Spike!”

to be continued……..

Chapter Two

A Bit of a Problem.

Spike walked up and down in Giles’ apartment. What should he do?

“Find Giles,” he said, “The real Giles - he’ll know what to do.”

The sound of his voice sent him halfway to freaking out.

“Hang on a minute. If I’m him, what if he’s me?" Phew, at least in his mind he sounded like himself. “Where will he be? Where was I? My crypt, I was in my crypt. Crap! If he tries to get out of there he’ll be toast in the daylight.”

He ran out of the door and to the graveyard. It took him twice as long as it should have. Bloody unfit body! He’d had to stop twice to catch his breath. Finally he got to his crypt and fairly dived into it.

“Giles!” he yelled, the voice just echoing around the empty chamber. He saw that his pile of clothes, including his beloved leather duster, was missing.

“He better not damage that coat,” muttered Spike as he ruefully looked down at the clothes he’d put on - a pair of tweedy trousers and a wool pullover.

“Yay! Great look, Spike.”

If Giles had left here there was only one option - the access to the sewers. He went to check and, sure enough, the slab over the hole was pulled to one side.

“Shit! Giles doesn’t know the sewers. He could end up anywhere! I’ve got more chance of finding Giles (or should that be me? God, this is confusing!) if I find the Slayer."

He rushed- well, huffed, puffed and slowly made his way - back to Giles apartment. He rummaged until he found the car keys, got in the old grey Citroen and drove to the college campus. He knew which room Buffy shared with Willow.

As Spike was driving, he spotted Xander walking along. He screeched to a halt beside him.

“Hey G man,” said Xander, “What’s the rush?”

“Don’t have time to tell you, just get in! I need to find Buffy,” said Spike, “Oh my God, I sounded just like him!”

“Okay, okay,” said Xander, climbing in. He was thrown back in his seat as Spike floored the car.

Ooooooooooooo

Giles stood there for a moment, wondering what to do.

“Well, I can’t just stay here.”

He walked over and put on the leather coat, knowing it would give some protection from the sun should he need it. He found the access to the sewers covered by a large stone slab.

“I’ll never move that.”

He bent down, ready to heave with all his might, but to his surprise he slid it over easily. He peered into the gloom below, seeing further into it than he’d thought possible. Then he realised that he was in Spike’s body and it was still the body of a vampire, with its enhanced strength and senses. Giles jumped agilely into the sewer and headed off in what he thought was the direction of his home.

As he walked along he began to hear voices from ahead.

“Oh good, I might be able to get some directions. I’m sure I missed a turn somewhere.

Too late he realised that whatever was coming might not be friendly. Sure enough, appearing from round a corner, two soldiers walked into view, weapons slung over their shoulders, chatting to each other as they went along.

Giles froze, knowing that the chances were that these two had seen Spike when he was in the Initiative. Well, he’d just have to reason with them.

The men saw him.

“Hostile 17!” cried the first.

“No, no, just listen,” said Giles, approaching them.

The men reached for their weapons.

“Oh, for goodness sake!” cried Giles, annoyed they wouldn’t listen. He didn’t realise that inadvertently he’d slipped into Spike’s vampire features.

They fired their first shot at Giles, hitting him in the shoulder but in a fluid movement Giles snarled, grabbed the weapon, kicked the hapless soldier and sent him flying backwards. Giles screamed out as his head exploded in pain as the chip fired. The second soldier hit him with a tazer blast and he collapsed unconscious.

The soldier lowered his weapon and spoke into his radio.

“Request a vehicle at the southwest access to the sewers. I have recaptured Hostile 17, repeat, Hostile 17 is in the bag.”

He looked over at the fallen soldier.

“You okay, Phil?”

“Yeah, Graham, I’m okay.” He got up and went over to the unconscious vampire and gave him a bit of a kick with his foot. “Least I got one round in it, hurt it a bit.”

“It’ll be hurting a whole lot more when Professor Walsh gets her hands on it again. She didn’t like it giving her the slip. Come on, let’s get him to the entrance. The vehicle will be here soon.”

They got hold of a foot each and dragged Giles to the rendezvous. They tied his hands and feet and threw him, none too gently, into the back of the army truck.

Ooooooooooooo

Spike terrified Xander on his dash to get to the campus, going round corners so fast the car was nearly on two wheels. Xander looked at the grim look on Giles’ face.

“Another apocalypse? Didn’t we just stop one?”

“This is worse, I’ll tell you when we find Buffy,” said Spike.

They left the car and ran up to Buffy’s room, Xander reaching the door before Spike who, once again, was cursing how unfit Giles had let himself get. As Xander’s hand was just touching the handle, Buffy opened the door and stepped out, the pair bumping into each other.

“Xander, hey, what are you doing here?” she asked, “with Giles,” she added as Spike finally got to the door and stood with his hands on his knees, panting.

Spike gestured for them to go inside and when he got in he sat gratefully on the bed.

“We’ve got a problem,” he gasped.

“Yeah, I figured that with the sudden entrance. So what gives?” asked Buffy.

“Remember the demon last night? How it did something to me and to, well...er…”

“Spike,” supplied Buffy, “Yeah, I was there, you know. It hit you and Spike with some sort of force thingy, so?”

“So,” said Spike, talking slowly to emphasise his words, not realising it made him sound even more like Giles, “Something terrible has happened. I’m really Spike and I’m trapped in Giles’ body.” He looked at them seriously.

To his horror they both burst out laughing.

“Good one Giles,” giggled Buffy, “had us going for a moment.”

“Yeah,” said Xander, “Turning into Spike - that is way worse than being a Fyarl demon,” wheezed Xander through his chuckles.

“Dammit, Slayer!” yelled Spike, “I mean it. I went to bed in me crypt and woke up in Giles’ bed and his body, which is seriously unfit, by the way. Bloke’s a certainty for a heart attack.” He kicked a chest of drawers in temper then yelped as the pain coursed through his foot.

He turned to look at Xander and Buffy, who stood looking at him open mouthed.

“My God, Spike, it is you,” said Buffy.

Before he could answer Willow crashed through the door.

“Oh, hi, everyone! Good, you’re all here. We’ve got a bit of a problem. I’ve just seen Riley and he said he can’t make your date as he’s been called in. They’ve captured Hostile 17 - they’ve got Spike!”

Spike, who, being unaccustomed to his breathing having any effect, had been hyperventilating for the past few minutes, he managed to mutter,

“What?” before passing out.

“Giles!” said Willow, going towards him.

“We really do have a problem, Will,” said Buffy, “Because who you’re seeing lying there is, well, it’s Spike!”

Willow looked up at her in horror.

“So that means The Initiative has Giles.”

Xander sloshed some cold water on Spike’s face and slapped it a couple of times. He finally came to.

“What? What did you say?” He started hyperventilating again.

“For God’s sake, Spike, calm down. You’ll faint again,” said Buffy, “Breathe slowly.”

Spike struggled to control it but still managed to gasp, “Yeah, well, haven’t needed to breathe in a long while so it takes a bit of getting used to. So what are you going to do?”

“We could work on switching you back and leaving the bodies where they are,” said Xander.

“Hey!” said Spike.

“Tempting,” said Buffy, “but the Initiative is up to no good, I’m sure of it, and Spike’s harmless. We can’t just leave him there.”

“Hey!” said Spike, with more volume.

“Pain chip,” said Willow.

“Yeah, but harmless? That’s a bit harsh.”

“You looked pretty harmless trying to get up those stairs,” laughed Xander.

“Guys, guys! Can we focus? They’ve got Giles. Whether he’s wrapped in Spike’s body or not, it’s still Giles," said Buffy.

That thought sobered them all.

“Look, from what I’ve heard, I got off pretty lightly with just the chip. The experiments they do,” said Spike.

“I know, I’ve seen some. Not pretty,” said Buffy.

Spike paled at the thought of what might happen to his body. Hell, if they dusted it would he die or would he be trapped here? Neither bore thinking about.

“Let’s get back to Giles' place,” said Buffy, “I’m not sure they haven’t got the whole campus wired, I mean they could put a lock down on it when Spike, er. ..you, came looking to bite Willow and me.”

“Yeah, well, water under the bridge an' all, and I didn’t hurt you,” said Spike sulkily.

“Only ‘cause you couldn’t,” said Willow, glaring at him.

“Come on, we’re wasting time.”

They all got up, piled into Giles’ car and went back to Giles’ apartment.

To be continued………

Chapter three

Poor Giles.

Pain.

The thing that awoke Giles was pain.

He groaned and tried to bring his hand to his head but couldn’t because it was strapped down. He panicked, remembering the soldiers, and started to tug at his restraints. In addition to his hands, his legs were secured and a strap across his torso just under the arms prevented him from sitting up. The light above him was so bright he had to half close his eyes against the glare.

“Ah, you’re awake.” A woman’s voice spoke.

Giles turned his head to the left and squinted, trying to see who was there. Maggie Walsh. The sight didn’t cheer him nor did the fact that she was wearing a lab coat and holding a scalpel.

“You’ve given us quite the run-around, No. 17,” she said coldly.

“But I’m not….” Giles trailed off. What could he possibly say to convince her?

“You’re not? So what are you then, the Easter Bunny?”

Giles stayed quiet. He knew this harridan wouldn’t listen to him. The way she’d spoken of vampires and demons to Buffy indicated that she thought of them as lab rats with no intellect, nothing to say but lies and wanting nothing more than to kill and do other evil deeds. In fairness she was probably mostly right!

Maggie stepped closer, her hand feeling warm on his flesh. Giles realised he was stripped to the waist.

“Well, let’s see how quickly a vampire heals, shall we? My agent caught you with a bullet as you were captured. We’d better get it out.”

She laid the scalpel on his skin and pressed it along in a line starting above and finishing just below the bullet wound. Giles yelled out in pain.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Maggie dryly, “Did that hurt? Fresh out of local anaesthetic, I’m afraid.” And she dug deeper into his flesh to locate the bullet.

The pain and fear in Giles made him change into Spike’s game face. His cries were replaced by growls and snarls.

Maggie removed the bullet and left the now quite large wound unstitched or dressed. She noted its size on Giles’ chart so they could track how long it took to heal.

The pain in his shoulder was excruciating. The vampire features faded as another short blast from the tazer rendered him once more unconscious.

“We’re not taking any chance with this one again,” said Maggie, “It’s shown above average intelligence for a vampire by escaping and eluding us for so long. It will make a very interesting subject for study.”

A couple of assistants threaded a straight jacket onto Giles and put shackles on his ankles, with only a foot of chain linking them. No. 17 wouldn’t be escaping again. He was put in one of a long line of glass-fronted cells.

When Giles came to once more he was lying on his side, arms held painfully tight by the straight jacket. He struggled a bit but the straps didn’t budge. He managed to sit up and shuffle to the wall so he could lean against it. The bullet wound was painful and he could see a patch of blood seeping through the canvas of the jacket.

“Oh dear,” said Giles.

Ooooooooooooo

Buffy, Spike, Willow and Xander were desperately trying to think of what to do, missing Giles’ encyclopaedic knowledge.

“We’ve basically got two problems,” said Buffy.

“Yeah, well, that’s enough to be going on with, right?” said Spike.

“Two problems,” repeated Buffy, giving Spike a ‘look’. “One is to get Giles out from the Initiative and the other to get the two of you back where you belong.”

“And it’s taken you this long to work that out?” sneered Spike, sounding almost Spike-like even with Giles’ voice.

“Shut up, walking dead guy,” said Xander, “Er..or middle-aged ex-librarian guy.”

“The thing is, we might not have to do them in that order. It might be easier to get Spike’s body out if Spike were in the driver’s seat.” said Buffy.

“Oh, right. You swap us back and then leave me there, like the boy here said before.”

“No,” said Buffy, thinking that Spike was even more irritating when he sounded like Giles. “It’s just if there’s fighting to be done to get him, er, you, er whatever, out then you might do it better than Giles.”

“See your point, Slayer,” said Spike, “Thing is, how do we get swapped back?”

“I dunno. Willow, Xander, you hit the books. I’ll go back to where I killed the demon and see if I can find anything.” Buffy got up to leave and Spike also rose from his chair, “Where are you going?” she asked.

“Look, pet, I might be all dressed up in Giles but I’m a ‘doer’, not a ‘book’ guy. I’ve got a vested interest so I’m coming too.”

“Okay.”

Ooooooooo

Xander and Willow went through the books for hours and so far hadn’t even managed to trace what kind of demon it was, let alone learn how to reverse what had been done.

Spike and Buffy hadn’t fared much better at the scene. They managed to collect a little orange dust that they thought might be leftover residue from the orange cloud it had disappeared in.

They all gathered back at Giles’ to swap their tales of no progress. Buffy said she’d look round the Initiative in the morning as she was scheduled for a tour with Riley so it wouldn’t arise any suspicion.

Spike protested about leaving it to the morning but eventually agreed, especially as he felt more exhausted than he’d ever felt. They all crashed at Giles’, Spike being gentlemanly for once, let the girls take the bed then lost the race with Xander for the couch and ended up sleeping in one of the armchairs.

Ooooooooooo

Giles looked up as the door opened. Two soldiers stood there - one was one of the two who’d captured him, the other Riley Finn, Buffy’s boyfriend.

“Riley,” he said.

“How’d the thing know your name?” asked Graham.

“I don’t know,” said Riley, “and I don’t much care for it. Go on, Graham, I’ve got you covered.

Graham walked into the cell carrying a bag of blood.

“Here’s your dinner,” said Graham, “We’re not freeing your hands so you’ll just have to bite hold of it.” He held it close to Giles’ face.

Giles started to say he didn’t want it when he felt his face change and he suddenly found he did want it after all. Part of him was repulsed but the body had taken over where the mind had quailed - it hadn’t eaten all day. He bit into the bag and drank the lot. Once the bag was emptied the two men left. After a time Giles started to feel woozy.

“Oh, damn. It was drugged.”

He succumbed to the drug in the blood and fell asleep.

To be continued……

Hostile 17

Spike had been unable to sleep because of worrying about what was going on with his body and the fact that the ‘comfy’ chair was anything but. It wasn’t until he’d located Giles’ well hidden bottle of brandy that he managed to sleep at all.

“Spike.”

It was repeated this time with a none too gentle shake.

“Wha……? Huh?”

“For God’s sake, Spike, wake up!” came the voice again.

“I’m awake, I’m awake, ooh I don’t feel too good,” groaned Spike.

“I’m not surprised, Spike. You sank enough brandy to knock Giles out for a week. You’re not in your vampire body now,” said Buffy impatiently.

Spike looked around blearily and realised everyone must have been up for ages. He rubbed his eyes.

“Here.” Buffy held out Giles’ glasses.

“Thanks.” He put them on then took them off, wiped them with the handkerchief he found in his pocket, and put them on again.

Buffy was staring at him.

“What? They were dirty is all,” said Spike, “God, I’ve got to get out of this body.”

“Right. Here’s the plan: I’m just heading off to The Initiative. I’ll locate Giles and study the plans for the best way to get him out. My security clearance should help. Xander and Willow have found out what sort of demon it was and the dust we found yesterday appears to be the key to summoning one to reverse the spell. Willow’s gone to get some ingredients that will act as a catalyst for the dust,” stated Buffy.

“So what do I do?” said Spike.

“Sit there and get over your hangover. Look, I’ve got to go.” She turned on her heel and left.

“Is she always like that in the mornings?” said Spike to no one in particular.

Oooooooooo

When Giles woke up it was clear he’d been moved whilst he’d been drugged. He was in a much smaller cell with a glass wall at one end and he could see an ordinary door in the opposite wall. He shuffled along, hampered by the straight-jacket and shackles, until he was able to see out of the glass. That side of the cell was slightly curved and it looked out on to what appeared to be a circular pit, the floor being level with where he sat and its walls being some thirty feet high and topped with railings. At intervals around its base were steel shutters that looked about the same size as the glass he was looking through. Pressing his face up against the glass he could see that it looked like his cell had steel shutters too, but they’d been drawn back.

He jumped as the door behind him was opened and turned to see three soldiers come in, two were armed to the teeth.

“Just stay where you are,” ordered one of the gun toting men. “Don’t even twitch.”

They approached cautiously. Giles didn’t move - he could see their fear and didn’t want to startle them into using their weapons.

“Turn around,” ordered the soldier.

Giles turned so his back was to them. Without even knowing he was doing it he emitted a low growl. A gun was pressed to the back of his head.

“This thing will blow your head clean off and the only mess we’ll have is a pile of dust,” snarled the soldier.

“Okay, okay,” said Giles.

The unarmed man unstrapped the straight-jacket and then removed the shackles on his ankles.

“Get up. Slowly.”

Giles cautiously pushed himself up until he was standing, still with his back towards them. His arms ached from being held so tightly and the wound on his shoulder had started to bleed again as it had been stuck to the fabric of the jacket.

The unarmed man picked a radio out of his pocket and walked back out of the door to the cell.

“We are releasing Hostile 17 to the cage. Confirm door is open.” With that he pushed a button on the outside of the cell and the glass wall in front of Giles slid open almost silently.

“Step through the door,” came the order from behind.

Giles walked through and immediately the door slid shut, followed by the steel shutters. He looked around but there was nothing more to see than he had in his cell. The cage was about twenty five yards in diameter. He couldn’t see anyone up at the railings. He walked about a bit swinging his arms to get some feeling back into them. He was surprised that the wound hurt so much less than yesterday, vampire accelerated healing he supposed. After a while he sat down, leaning against the wall and wondering what Spike was doing.

Oooooooooo

Buffy entered the Initiative via the access in the house where Riley lived. She went down in the elevator with Riley and Graham. She had to find Giles. It was easier than she thought it would be. As soon as they got down into the heart of the Initiative they were approached by Maggie Walsh.

“Ah good, you’re here. Come on, I want to show you something.” The last part was directed at Buffy, “It’s a vampire, a very interesting one as it is the only creature ever to escape and then it managed to elude recapture on many occasions.”

“Graham was one of the ones who bagged it,” said Riley.

“Yeah, surprised it in the sewers,” said Graham with a smile, “Phil shot it then it kicked him, but the pain chip put him on the ground. One short blast with the tazer and it was over.”

“Poor Giles.” Buffy felt sick.

Giles could hear the voices for a long time before he saw anyone arrive at the railings. One of them was Buffy. He stood up, walked to the middle of the area, and looked up, waiting for them to come in to view.

“Here it is,” announced Maggie, “Hostile 17.”

Buffy looked down and saw Giles looking up. Well, it was Spike’s body but she knew Giles was inside it. He was wearing just jeans and his boots and, though she hated to admit it, boy did Spike’s body look hot half naked.

“Bad thoughts, Buffy. Bad thoughts!”

Their eyes met and she nodded slightly, hoping Giles would realise she knew.

“Since it’s obviously a prime example of a vampire we are going to test it to find out its strengths and weaknesses,” continued Professor Walsh.

“Tests? What tests?” asked Buffy, recalling the operating theatre she’d seen the last time, with limbs being removed and internal organs examined.

“To begin with, physical tests here in the cage. The men have nicknamed it Thunderdome. We shall put different species of demon in with him one at a time and see how he fights and adapts to their different methods.”

Buffy could see Giles take a couple of steps back in horror at her words. She spoke loudly to be sure her words carried down to Giles.

“He doesn’t look so tough. I mean, he looks like he could be a librarian to me.”

Maggie, Riley and Graham looked at her as though she was crazy but she could see Giles knew she knew it was him.

“We’ll start the trial tomorrow to make sure all traces of the drugs are out of his system. We want him strong and clear headed. Graham, throw him a couple of bags of the grade A blood,” said Maggie.

As they left the railings Buffy managed to give Giles a little wave as he left. He raised a hand to acknowledge it.

"Thank God Buffy knows. But how will she get me out of here?”

He heard footsteps and Graham threw down two bags of blood.

“Don’t waste it,” he called, “that’s the best vintage we got.”

Giles looked at the bags on the floor in front of him. He knew that vampires’ healing abilities and strength came from their dependence on blood so he knew he’d have to drink it again if he were to stand a chance of fighting those demons. He gingerly picked up a bag, again as he brought it to his mouth he felt his face change and he deftly ripped a couple of holes in it and drank it, swiftly followed by the other bag.

“Mm, that does taste better than the other did.”

“Good Lord!” he said aloud when he realised what he’d just thought.

Ooooooooo

Buffy raced back to Giles’ apartment to tell the others.

“Is he okay? Is my body okay?” asked Spike, jumping up as soon as she came in.

“Yes to both. Well he got shot when they caught him but…”

“Shot? He let my body get shot? Great, this is just great. I give him a hangover and he gets mine shot and captured.” He paced up and down.

“Spike, shut up,” yelled Buffy.

He did and also stood still.

“As I was saying,” she continued, “It wasn’t a bad wound. They’ve fed him some of what they called their grade A blood, not drugged, so your body’s fine…..for now.”

“Giles has drunk blood? Ew,” said Willow.

“Hang on a minute,” said Spike, “Did you just say ‘for now’? What’s happening later then?”

“Er..well..we’ve got to get him out tonight. Professor Walsh is going to be testing Giles by having him fight demons since they were so impressed at Hostile 17’s escape.”

“Impressed, eh?” said Spike, puffing up a bit with the praise, “Yeah, didn’t get caught again until an out of shape bloody ex- watcher was in charge.”

“Maggie Walsh did say she didn’t want the demons to kill him as she had more tests planned. She didn’t say what, though,” said Buffy.

Spike paled and shuddered at the thought.

“So what’s the plan?” he asked.

To be continued…….

The Escape

As soon as it was dark Buffy intended to use her security clearance to get into the Initiative and get Giles out. Willow and Xander were still trying to work out how exactly the ceremony to summon the demon should be done. It was very complex and with such a lot riding on the outcome Willow was more than a little nervous.

“I’m leaving and I’ll be back as soon as I can. Xander, you know where to take the car?” Xander nodded. “Good,” added Buffy, heading to the door. Spike got up and followed her.

“No,” she said.

“No what?” said Spike.

“No, you’re not coming.”

“I bleeding well am! That’s my body you’re after. He’s already let it get shot. I just want to make sure it gets out in one piece is all.”

“You’ll slow us down,” said Buffy.

“No I won’t…er…well, yes I will but I’m still coming,” insisted Spike.

“Come on then,” said Buffy in exasperation, “but make sure you keep up.”

The pair headed over to access the Initiative via the elevator in Riley’s house. They sneaked in and luckily saw no one. Buffy kept Spike out of the way whilst the retinal scan took place then they descended into the depths of the Initiative. They found a couple of white lab coats and put them on.

“Here,” said Buffy, giving Spike a clipboard, “Try to look intelligent.”

Spike snatched the clipboard and glared at the intended jibe.

“It’s this way,” she said.

Buffy led the way to the cage. They peered over the railings. Giles had heard their arrival and was looking up at them. Spike barely glanced down at Giles. His heart was pounding, triggered by the acute fear he felt at being back in that hateful place.

“What you waiting for, love? Get him out of there,” he muttered.

They ran down a level and found the doors to the cells in the cage’s perimeter.

“Which one did Giles come out of?” said Buffy. Riley had pointed it out to her that morning.

“What’s it matter? Just open a bloody door!” said Spike, reaching for the door release on the nearest cell.

“No!” said Buffy.

Too late - the door opened and a demon leapt out of the door and grabbed Spike by the throat. Spike tried to hit it but his blows had no effect on the creature. He was struggling to breathe, his vision starting to black out. Buffy kicked the beast, which was a primitive type that hadn’t even registered her presence, just latching onto the first thing it saw. It let go of Spike as soon as the blow landed, Spike falling to his knees wheezing. Buffy swiftly got to the demon and broke its neck. It collapsed dead.

“That’s why I needed the one Giles had come out of. It would have been empty,” snapped Buffy.

Spike said nothing, just staggered to his feet, breathing hard.

“For God’s sake don’t hyperventilate again. Steady your breathing,” warned Buffy.

She leaned over and opened the inner door and shutters. As soon as they slid open Giles rushed through.

“Quick, I can hear someone coming,” he said.

Giles tore at the metal shutters with all of his body’s vampire strength and bent them backwards. Buffy joined in and helped break the glass of the cell’s door. The pair then heaved the body back inside and shut the door.

“What’d you do that for?” asked Spike as they ran away.

“So they’d think I got out without help, you berk,” said Giles.

Buffy stopped them when they came to a grid in the ceiling.

“Okay you two, get up in there. I was shown the plans - it’s an airshaft. Just keep heading upwards and it’ll come out in the woods,” said Buffy.

“Where are you going?” asked Giles.

“Back out the way I came in otherwise they’ll know I helped. Hurry!”

Spike being the tallest since he was in Giles’ body, reached up and lifted the grill. Accustomed to his usual agility he grabbed the sides of the hole and went to pull himself up. Nothing happened. He jumped a bit and still he couldn’t pull himself in.

“Er….can you give me a bit of a push?” he asked sheepishly.

Giles grabbed his waist and with one good shove pushed Spike up and into the shaft, then leapt effortlessly after him. Buffy was already rushing away as Giles put the grill back down. He pushed past Spike to lead the way. It was pitch dark and the vent had a sharp uphill incline, making it tough going. Spike was soon falling behind.

“Come on, Spike,” urged Giles.

“Look, I’m going as fast as I bleeding can,” panted Spike, “If you’d kept in better shape….”

“There’s nothing wrong with that body,” snapped Giles.

“Nothing right with it, more like,” grumbled Spike

Finally, after what seemed like an age, they came to the grill at the other end of the ventilation shaft. Giles effortlessly broke it open and the pair crawled out, gratefully standing up straight again. Knowing that the Initiative patrolled these woods they hurried off to where they’d been told Xander would be waiting with the car.

Giles ran steadily along, light-footed, barely exerting himself. Spike, on the other hand, was wheezing and crashing through the undergrowth with the grace of a baby elephant.

“It’s there,” said Giles, his vampire sight picking out the car ahead.

Spike glanced up. He didn’t notice the root sticking out and fell forward, hitting his head against a tree trunk. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Xander saw the figure of Spike running towards him. He grinned.

“Hey G Man, how are you enjoying your body?”

“Ha ha - very funny,” said Giles

“Where’s Spike?”

“What?” Giles spun around, “He was there just a minute ago. Oh hell, where’s he gone?”

Xander and Giles backtracked and found Spike slumped on the ground. They grabbed an arm each and dragged him back to the car, putting him on the back seat.

Back at the apartment they found Buffy and Willow waiting. Buffy had gotten out without any problem and had told Riley she’d gone back to collect something she’d left the previous day so her cover story was intact. The fact Giles had escaped hadn’t been noticed before she got out. They greeted Giles with hugs that felt very strange since it was Spike’s slender, firm body they were holding rather than the more fatherly bulk of Giles’ normal body.

“Where’s Spike?” asked Willow.

“He’s in the back seat,” said Xander, “The idiot tripped and knocked himself out.”

They brought Spike and laid him on the couch. They decided to call it a night - the research could wait until the next day.

To be continued…….

Chapter Six

Losing Himself

Spike awoke to the sound of voices chattering away. He groaned and clutched his head.

“Great. Another headache.”

He leant over, put on his glasses and looked around. Everyone was sitting at the dining table; everyone, that is, except for Giles. Spike got up and went over to join them, gratefully taking the cup of coffee Willow offered before sitting down.

“So where’s Giles?” he asked, “I hope he’s………” his voice faltered as Giles walked into the room. He’d found a tee shirt Spike had left behind when he’d stayed there so was dressed in the usual, for Spike, black. Shaving without a reflection had proven a bit tricky so he had a couple of bits of tissue stuck to his face where he’d nicked himself.

Spike stood up and went closer, staring at Giles.

“Oh my God!” said Buffy, suddenly realising, “Apart from last night, you haven’t seen yourself since you were turned!”

Spike just stood there speechless, which doesn’t happen very often where Spike’s concerned.

“What’s it like? Is it weird?” asked Willow.

That seemed to break his trance. He turned to look at her.

“What? Looking at myself? Is that weirder than what? Say waking up in someone else’s body? Are you mad? It’s not as weird as that! Just forgotten how good looking I am. Dru always said the bleached hair was cool and she wasn’t wrong. Didn't really take it in last night; too busy not wanting to be in that bleeding place”

He then marched up to Giles and punched him in the face.

“Ow! Bloody hell, Spike! What was that for?” cried Giles, reeling from the blow.

“For getting my body captured and shot, you git,” shouted Spike, “And you’ve lost my coat. Bloody fond of that coat, I am.”

“Ahem,” said Buffy.

Spike turned around. She was holding up his leather duster.

“Saw it as I was getting out and figured you’d want it back,” she said with a smile.

“Aw, pet! That’s great,” he said, “and don’t you bloody wear it again!” he added, pointing at Giles.

“Look. Interesting as all that is,” said Giles, “Can we please focus on how to get switched back?”

“Yeah he’s right. I want out of this thing before it has a heart attack and finishes me off with it,” said Spike.

“I told you last night that there’s nothing wrong with that body,” snapped Giles.

“Yeah, well, all I’m saying is, I didn’t get the best of the bargain, said Spike.

“What do you mean? I’m a bloody vampire!” retorted Giles.

“Guys!” yelled Xander, “That’s not helping and be very worried that it’s me pointing that out to you.

“Xander’s right, we’ve got to get this figured out. Giles, you’re to stay in at all times. We can’t afford the Initiative to have another pop at you,” said Buffy.

“You’re not wrong there, pet”, said Spike.

Buffy ignored him - it was just easier that way.

“So what do we know?” asked Giles, “What sort of demon was it?”

“It was a Morowgwi demon and Buffy didn’t kill it because only decapitation works. It travels between its home dimension and ours so we’ve got to summon it back as only it can undo what was done. Not even another Morowgwi can.”

“So how do we do that?” asked Giles.

“That’s the part we’re struggling with a bit,” said Willow, “Buffy got some of the dust which contains its essence and we have to somehow make it into a catalyst that will pull it back over here. Now that you’re back we have a better chance of working it out. We’ve only got a tiny amount of dust so we’ll only have one shot at it.”

“Stop staring!” said Giles sharply, startling everyone.

“Uh? Um….sorry,” said Spike, “but it has been over a century and all.” He was unable to help looking at himself.

Oooooooooo

All day they worked at the research, thinking they’d found a solution then realising they hadn’t. They were all a bit despondent. Buffy was worried about how both men were coping but more so Spike. She’d seen him several times take off his glasses and wipe then in a such a totally Giles-like gesture that it surely couldn’t be a good sign.

Giles was pouring over the books, leaving the computer to Willow. Buffy gave a little chuckle. Everyone looked at her.

“Sorry,” she said, looking anything but, “It’s just seeing Giles there in Spike’s body scouring the books. It’s just not very Spike-like behaviour.” She giggled.

“I can bloody read, you know! snapped Spike. “That’s it! I can’t stand it a minute longer. I’m off out.”

“Wait,” said Giles, “Where do you think you’re going to?”

“I need a bleeding drink,” said Spike, “I’m going out and if I’m really lucky I might just be able to get your body laid, though it’ll be difficult. Who’d look at this? Don’t sweat it, I’ll be back, it’s just…..”

He pulled his glasses off and started to clean them, then realised what he was doing,

“…Shit! I just need to be me for a bit!” and with that he stormed out of the door.

“Spike, wait.” Buffy went to stop him.

Giles stopped her, “Let him go. Xander, follow him. Don’t let him see you, just keep an eye on him.”

Xander got up quickly and went outside in time to see Spike disappear around a corner. He jogged to the corner to be sure to keep him in sight. At least since Spike didn’t have his vampire senses he wouldn’t know he was being followed.

Spike strode angrily along the street. He felt that he was somehow losing his sense of himself. He daren't voice his fears to the others. Giles didn’t seem to be having any trouble being ‘Giles’.

“Probably just imagining it. Just spooked at seeing myself from the outside, I reckon.”

He arrived at his destination and went to order a drink.

“A latte, please, and a blueberry muffin,” he said.

“What?”

He looked around him.

“The coffee shop! I’m in the sodding coffee shop! Not what I meant when I thought I wanted a drink.”

The girl behind the counter had to tell him the price twice before he heard her. He dug in his pocket, paid her, took his purchases and sat at a table. His hand was shaking so badly as he tried to lift the cup to his lips that some of the hot coffee splashed on his hand. He put it down with a clatter.

“Oh God,” he said under his breath.

Xander peered at Spike from his vantage point at the corner.

“Oh God,” he said under his breath. He turned and ran back to Giles’ apartment as fast as he could.

Ooooooooo

The door was flung violently open, startling the others. Willow gave out a little squeak and dropped the book she’d been holding.

“Good Lord, Xander,” said Giles, “What on earth is wrong? Where’s Spike?”

“I think we’ve got to get this figured out as soon as we can, guys,” gasped Xander.

“Why? What’s going on?” asked Buffy.

“It’s Spike. I think he’s in trouble.”

“And you just left him? Where is he? Don’t tell me he got into a fight at Willy’s Bar?” said Buffy.

“No, this is worse,” said Xander, “He went to the coffee shop for a latte and a muffin.”

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with that,” said Giles.

“Exactly,” said Xander, “Nothing wrong if you’re Giles but if you’re Spike…..? When I left him his hand was shaking so much he couldn’t hold his cup. I think he was as surprised as I was at where he’d gone to.”

The others silently digested this fact.

“What about you, Giles? How do you feel?” asked Willow, “Please don’t tell me you’re getting Spike’s bloodlust?”

“Apart from when I have to take the blood I have no feeling of being anything other than me. I did go into vampire mode a couple of times at the Initiative but that was when that horrid Walsh woman was cutting the bullet out and then again when the blood was offered. But other than that I feel like me.”

“So what’s going on with Spike?” asked Buffy.

“I don’t know,” pondered Giles, “Perhaps it’s because he’s a vampire?”

oooooooooooo

“Sir?” said the voice. “Sir, we’re closing.”

“Huh?”

Spike looked up. All the other tables had chairs placed on them. He looked down at his table and saw that the coffee was cold and congealed and the muffin was untouched.

“Are you alright?” asked the waitress.

“Um, yes, yes I’m ….fine” stuttered Spike. He got up clumsily and knocked the table, spilling the coffee, “Oh, sorry,” he added and walked dazedly out of the shop.

“Good Lord, how long was I sitting there?”

He shook his head violently from side to side.

“Sodding hell! That’s better. For a moment there I even sounded like Giles in me head. What’s bleeding going on?”

Feeling a bit sick at the thought he headed off back to the apartment.

Ooooooooo

They all looked up at him as he walked in.

“What? Don’t worry, I didn’t get pissed. I just had a couple at the Bronze until I got embarrassed about being a bit over the average age in there,” said Spike glibly, unaware they knew where he’d been.

“You’re a hundred years and change too old usually, Spike.” Xander pointed out.

“Yeah, well, least I usually look hot,” sneered Spike.

“This is better. This is me - just keep this up.”

“So, any more idea of what to do to switch us back?” he added with a faint tremor in his voice that he hoped no one noticed.

They all had.

Ooooooooo

“We’ve certainly made progress, Spike. Sit down. Do you want a drink?” said Giles.

“Okay, I’ll have a cup of tea, please,” said Spike, sitting at the table.

They all looked at each other. Tea was a favourite of Giles’. With Spike it was all very simple - blood, Jack Daniels, coffee or hot chocolate, and not necessarily in that order. Although he was English, tea just wasn’t his tipple.

They all noticed the fleeting look of panic pass over Spike’s face as he asked for it. His hand went to his spectacles then dropped back down to the table and started fidgeting with a book.

“So what have you found out?” he asked.

“We’ve sorted out the spell to conjure the demon back into this dimension but it can’t be done for another two days,” said Giles.

“Two days!” exclaimed Spike, “Why two days?”

“It’s just the way the stars are aligned,” explained Giles, “The boundary between the dimensions will be at its weakest. We can’t afford to get it wrong - we’ve only got one shot at it.”

“Oh, okay,” said Spike weakly.

Xander put Spike’s cup of tea down in front of him. He looked at it in distaste.

“Sorry mate, changed my mind. I think I need something bit stronger,” he said, getting up and helping himself to a very large brandy. He downed it in one and swiftly followed it with another.

“Take it easy, Spike,” cautioned Buffy, “Remember - no vampire constitution.”

“As if I could forget that,” said Spike and he swallowed another shot. He swayed slightly as the alcohol started to get into his system.

“That’s better. Can’t feel like Giles if I’m pissed - he barely drinks.”

He picked up the bottle and glass with one hand and stalked out of the apartment, scooping up his duster as he went to find the only privacy he could - the little courtyard in front of Giles’ apartment.

He sat there for a while, drinking and holding his beloved jacket close to him before he heard the door open. He didn’t look up, just gloomily took another mouthful of liquor.

“Spike?” Willow’s voice was tentative. “Are you okay?”

Spike just gave a small shrug of his shoulders.

“If you don’t tell us what’s wrong we won’t be able to help you,” she insisted, wanting him to tell her himself rather than her voice the others' concerns about what was happening.

He took off his glasses, looked at them for a minute then hurled them across the yard.

“All right then, but if you laugh at me……” he warned.

“I won’t. I promise.”

“Well…..I feel like…..um….that……God, this is stupid! I feel like I’m turning into bleeding Giles, that’s what I feel like.” His voice rose to a shout, then he slumped his shoulders and added in a small voice, “I don’t feel like me anymore. I’ve even started to sound like him when I think something. Before I sounded like me. I’m …I’m scared Willow.”

Willow was shocked to see the glint of tears in his eyes and looked away so he wouldn’t be embarrassed. Poor Spike.

“Look, come on inside. We’ve got to tell the others. I’m sure we can do something about it.”

“What if by the time we do the switch I’m not here anymore?” he replied quietly.

Willow took his hand and led him back inside. He gave her hand a little squeeze but let go of it before the others saw. He still did have a bit of a reputation to consider.

“Were we right in what we thought?” asked Giles.

“Oh, so you’ve all been talking about me,” Spike snapped, “That’s real nice.”

“We’re trying to help here!” said Buffy sharply, “So what exactly is going on with you?”

Spike looked at them all staring at him and hesitated.

“Um,” he said. Willow gave him a nudge, “Ok then, here goes. I’m starting to feel less like me and more like Giles, which, trust me, I’m not enjoying. No offence, mate,” he added as Giles glared at him, “When it first happened I was just more or less me but in Giles’ body. Now I don’t know how to describe it. It feels like I’m fading away. Giles, when you think something, not say it aloud, what do you hear - your voice or mine?”

“My own,” said Giles.

“All the time?”

“Yes.”

“Well, see, it was like that for me. But today, well, first I ended up ordering a bloody coffee and muffin when all I really wanted was to get pissed, then I realised that some of my thoughts had changed into Giles’ voice, which freaked me out a bit.”

“Yes, I can see that would,” said Giles, “By the way, where are my glasses?”

“Oh, um, I threw them away.”

“You what?”

“Well, I was bit stressed and started to bloody clean them again like you do and I chucked them away,” said Spike.

Giles sighed, “There’s a spare pair in the drawer near the book case.”

“So what’s going on then?” asked Spike.

“We’re not sure yet but now we know the symptoms we should be able to work it out. In the meantime try to focus on yourself. Think of things that are really ‘you’ and focus on those,” said Giles.

“What, like being a pain in the ass, evil undead bloodsucker?” suggested Xander helpfully.

“Hey!” protested Spike.

“Exactly” agreed Giles with a smile.

Spike looked down at the leather duster he was still holding.

“This is like a part of me,” he said.

“That’s the sort of thing I mean. Keep it with you and think of the past so you’re focussing away from what’s happening right now,” said Giles.

Spike nodded and slumped on the couch holding his coat tightly.

“We’ll work this out, Spike,” reassured Willow.

To be continued…………

Chapter Seven

Not Good News

Hours passed and since Spike was banned from helping with the research so he could concentrate on keeping his own identity, he just mooched about holding his jacket, trying to reminisce about the bad old days, which was proving harder than he’d thought it could be. At one point he’d even dipped a finger into Giles’ blood in the refrigerator and tasted it, hoping it would help him focus but it just turned his stomach.

“I’ve found something.” Willow’s voice was triumphant, “I’ve got an account here of a vampire involved in a Morowgwi demon induced body swap. The ritual to reverse the spell was done, but…” she paused.

“But? There’s a but?” said Spike, leaping up, “What’s the but?”

Willow looked at him, her big eyes full of sorrow. Spike started to back away a little, not wanting to hear the answer anymore.

“Go on, Willow,” urged Buffy.

“But,” she said quietly, “the vampire didn’t survive the switch back.”

“What happened? How did it die?” asked Giles.

“What’s it matter what happened? Dead is what happened. Does it matter how I end up dead?” cried Spike, “I’m too sodding young to die!”

“Spike, calm down. We’re not going to let you die,” soothed Giles, “Why don’t you and Buffy go out and patrol for a bit? Leave us to work this out.”

“Okay,” said Buffy, “Come on, a bit of violence will do you good.”

Spike cheered momentarily and left with her.

“Right, now he can’t hear us. What happened to the other vampire?”

“The switch went ahead, the human back in his body with just a bit of nausea recorded. The vampire appeared to re-enter his body but then just dusted with no external signs as to why,” said Willow.

“Do you think this is because of this sort of fading identity he’s got happening?” asked Xander. He never liked Spike but did feel a bit sorry for the guy.

“Yes, I think that must be the key. We’ve got to try to focus him on himself as much as possible and I think we need to provoke his vampire behaviour as soon as he’s switched. That might be strong enough to help prevent the dusting, or damn it, that might be the cause of the dusting!” said Giles in exasperation, “Willow, does it say anything else? How long were they in the wrong bodies? Perhaps that’s the key?”

“They were…oh…” said Willow. She looked up at Giles, “It was two days less than it’ll be with you and Spike.”

“Can’t we do it earlier then?” asked Xander, “Do we have to wait?”

“We haven’t enough dust to summon it until the boundaries of the dimensions are at their weakest, so no, that’s not an option,” said Giles.

Oooooooo

Buffy and Spike returned after the others were asleep. Spike had cheered up a bit, especially as he’d managed to dust a vampire.

Buffy went upstairs to bed, she and Willow still claiming it each night. Giles was asleep on the couch and Xander in one of the armchairs.

“God, that boy could sleep anywhere.”

Spike was a bit too wired to sleep straight away. He hadn’t sounded like Giles in his thoughts whilst he’d been on patrol and so was feeling a bit better about the whole thing, well, as long as he didn’t dwell on the whole ‘turning into a big pile of dust’ thing. He wandered round then poured himself a Jack Daniels. Someone had bought it for him obviously knowing it was his favourite. He selected a book off the shelf and settled down to read until he felt sleepy.

He was so engrossed in the book that he didn’t hear Buffy come back down the stairs to use the bathroom. Suddenly the book was snatched from his hands and he was punched in the face.

“No! You’re Spike. You’re Spike, not Giles,” said Buffy.

“Er..yeah…I know I am, pet,” said Spike, “What the hell was that for?” He put a hand up to his bloody nose.

“When I saw you there reading…….” She looked down at the book in her hands, moving it out of Spike’s reach as he tried to snatch it back, “…poetry, I thought Giles had taken you over.”

She looked back at Spike to see him blushing furiously. Blushing is something vampires can’t do, so it was a very strange sight to see Giles’ face bright red. Buffy was so taken aback that Spike was able to grab the book back off of her.

“Yeah, well, everyone said I should do stuff that makes me feel like me and I couldn’t sleep so…”

“So you decided to do something so completely Giles just by accident? God, it’s getting worse. You don’t even know you’re doing it anymore,” interrupted Buffy.

“So,” continued Spike, glaring at her, “I saw he had the same volume that I have in my crypt and decided to read a bit, alright? You tell anyone and I’ll bite you when I can, chip or no bleeding chip.”

Buffy started to giggle.

“I mean it.”

“Okay, okay, your sordid secret’s safe with me,” chuckled Buffy. “Spike reading poetry - what was that all about?”

to be continued………

CHAPTER SEVEN WAS SHORT SO CHAPTER EIGHT IS HERE TOO. PLEASE READ ON....

Chapter Eight

The Ritual

The next morning the gang started preparing for the ritual the next day. They decided to do it at 1 am as that was the very earliest the alignment was correct. They daren’t leave it any later as at one point Willow called for Giles and both Giles and Spike turned to answer her, before Spike realised what he’d done and stormed out, clutching his beloved duster. They didn’t follow him this time -just let him have some space.

They were just starting to worry where Spike had gotten to when he arrived back at the apartment.

“Where’ve you been?” asked Willow, “You’ve been gone for so long.”

“Just around and about, pet. Couldn’t face sitting here all day,” said Spike, not wanting to tell them he’d gone to his crypt to see if it would help him focus but it hadn’t helped at all. It hadn’t felt like home, so he’d wandered round Sunnydale for the rest of the time. He’d tried to not even think of anything for fear of hearing Giles’ voice in his head.

“Right then, we’re ready to go. It’ll take us a while to set things out,” said Giles.

“Go where?” asked Spike, “Aren’t we doing it here?”

“It has to be done at the site of the first switch. We think that’s why the vampire dusted, because it wasn’t in the same place,” said Willow.

“Was that ‘think’ or ‘know’, pet?” asked Spike dryly.

No one said anything.

“Got another little problem to worry about if we’ve got to go back into the graveyard. It’s crawling with Initiative troops, so just in case I don’t bleeding turn into a pile of dust, I can get captured and experimented on instead,” said Spike.

“Damn, just what we don’t need,” said Giles, “Look, Willow, you know how to set everything out. I think I’d better stay here until just before we’re ready to start. They won’t be interested in what you’re doing.”

“Oh no,” said Spike sarcastically, “They won’t find anything suspicious about a middle-aged man and a bunch of youngsters half his age setting up some weird magical stuff in the middle of a graveyard in the middle of the sodding night. Oh no, they won’t give it a second thought.”

“We haven’t got any other options,” said Giles, “Go on, get it all organised and I’ll meet you there at one.”

So off they went, each carrying a bag with some of the supplies they needed and Willow carrying the ancient book that held the vital incantation. When they got to the site of the switch they started to lay out the summoning circle.

Willow carefully made a circle with enchanted sand, placing five candles at equal distances around it. A further two sand circles were marked out for both Giles and Spike to stand in. Half of the dust would be thrown into the empty circle to summon the demon and the rest thrown over it to provoke it to reverse the switch whilst Willow chanted the incantation.

At one point an Initiative patrol did pass by but although they gave them all strange looks they continued on without questioning them. Shortly before 1 am Giles appeared, arriving so stealthily that he startled everyone as he spoke.

“Are we ready?” he asked.

“Jeez! Can you go easy on the creeping up?” said Xander, nearly dropping his precious handful of dust.

“Yes, we’re ready,” said Willow, “Spike, Giles, stand in those circles and make sure you’re standing at the correct side of each other so it’s as you were when you got switched.”

Giles went into the left hand circle. Spike hesitated a little, then raised his chin, squared his shoulders, and stepped into the circle on the right.

“Hope this works, pet,” he said to Willow, hoping no one would notice he was trembling slightly.

“Okay, here goes,” said Willow.

All the candles were lit and Willow began to read from the old book she held in her hand. The words were in a language she didn’t understand so she hoped the pronunciation was in the ballpark. Her voice was a soft monotone, almost hypnotic. She threw the dust into the empty circle. Suddenly, with a burst of static energy, a demon appeared. As soon as it did Xander leapt forward and threw the remaining dust into its face. Its dull orange eye opened wide and a burst of brilliant orange light flew from it and hit Giles and Spike and threw them off their feet and out of their circles. As soon as the light stopped flowing from the beast Xander rushed over to the two fallen men.

“Giles! Spike! Has it worked?” he yelled.

Giles sat up slowly and looked down at his body.

“I’m back,” he said before turning to the side and vomiting .

Spike lay still. Xander shook him.

“Spike, Spike.”

“Huh?” said Spike, blearily lifting his head off the ground, “You did it, I’m not dust.” Then he flopped back down, barely conscious.

“It worked!” shouted Xander.

With that Buffy, who’d been positioned to the side of the summoning circle, swung her axe and decapitated the demon.

“You won’t be messing with my friends again,” she cried.

It disappeared as it hit the ground, its body sucked back into its own dimension.

“Come on, guys, we’ve got company,” said Xander.

They all froze for a moment. They could hear the Initiative patrol getting close, no doubt drawn by the static disturbance.

“Leave the stuff. Willow, Xander, you get Giles home. I’ll get Spike.”

Xander went over to Giles, who by now had gotten to his feet and, despite looking a bit green, seemed okay. Spike was still on the floor. Willow and Xander grabbed Giles and hustled him away. Buffy got to Spike’s prone body.

“Come on, Spike, time to get going.”

She gave him a shake. He looked up at her vaguely. She gave him another shake and started to pull him up. He got the message and tried to stand but got halfway up and his legs gave out. He sat down with a thump.

“Christ! Come on!” urged Buffy.

“Too tired,” came his mumbled reply.

“You’ll be too dead if the Initiative catches you. Spike, can’t you vamp up or something? We need to move. Now!”

His features didn’t change but he staggered to his feet and this time managed to more or less stay upright, leaning heavily on Buffy. The pair of soldiers had worked their way in front of them, effectively cutting off the easiest route to Giles’. Buffy glanced around and saw they were near Spike’s crypt.

Luckily Slayer strength meant she could half carry Spike to the crypt. He seemed totally out of it. They made it but to her dismay she heard the soldiers talking on their radios saying they were going to check the crypts once more. She’d let go of Spike to shut the door and when she turned back round he’d slumped to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. They’d be here any second. She dragged the barely awake vampire over to one of the tombs. She slid back the lid put him in it and slid it back again, then she quickly ran and jumped into the entrance to the sewers. She held her breath.

The soldiers came in and poked about a bit.

“This is pointless. We’ve done all these once already,” one grumbled.

“Yeah, but when the professor wants it done it gets done,” said the second, “But there’s nothing here. Let’s go.”

They went out of the crypt and Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. She needed to get Spike a bit more ‘with it’ if she was to get him back to the apartment. She pulled back the lid of the tomb and hauled Spike out. He was as limp as a rag doll. She decided to get tough and slapped him a couple of times across the face, hard. His eyes came open a slit and he squinted at her.

“Slayer? What’re you doing here?”

“Saving your undead ass is what I’m doing,” she snapped, “We’ve got to get you out of here. The Initiative are patrolling.”

This time the words had a little more effect. His eyes focussed a little more sharply and he pushed himself up, swaying alarmingly as he did so.

“Ooh, I don’t feel so good, pet,” he said, his words a bit slurred.

“You’ll feel better once we’re at Giles’ place. You can rest there.”

The pair of them made their way out of the crypt and back towards the apartment. They managed to hide when a patrol went past. Buffy was barely able to get Spike to his feet afterwards but struggled on with him.

“Buff? Is that you?” A voice came from ahead.

“Xander, thank God. Help me - Spike’s barely conscious.”

Xander rushed to them and between him and Buffy they soon had Spike safely indoors.

Ooooooooo

They all stood looking at the vampire lying on the couch. He hadn’t moved or spoken in the half hour he’d been there.

“Least he’s not a pile of dust,” said Willow.

“Perhaps he just needs to sleep it off?” said Buffy.

“Perhaps,” said Giles, but he was worried for Spike. His own feelings of nausea and dizziness had passed quickly. He would have thought a vampire’s constitution would have bounced back quicker than his own, since he’d obviously survived the switch. “Well, there’s nothing more we can do tonight. It’s nearly three am – let’s try to get some sleep. We’ll take turns watching him. I’ll go first.”

They all made their way to their now usual sleeping places, the girls in the bedroom, Xander in his preferred easy chair, Spike on the couch and Giles settled in a chair to watch over him.

It’s when a vampire is unconscious that you truly realise they are in fact not alive. Although not needing to breathe on a physiological level the body carries on as if it does but when unconscious it falters and barely happens at all. If it was possible for Spike to look any more pale than usual then he did. Giles sat and wondered what he could do. After a couple of hours he roused Xander from his sleep to take the next watch and settled back in his own chair, falling asleep within minutes. The trouble was, so was Xander.

To be continued………

Chapter Nine

A Rude Awakening

Buffy woke up with the sun streaming through the window. She blinked a couple of times, rubbed her eyes, yawned and headed downstairs to the bathroom. She tiptoed through the lounge room and was halfway through brushing her teeth when she realised what she’d seen. The couch was empty. Where was Spike?

“Guys! Guys! Wake up!” she yelled, “Spike’s gone.”

Xander and Giles woke up and she could hear Willow getting out of bed.

“Xander, you were supposed to be on watch,” said Giles, “When did you fall asleep? Any idea how long he’d been gone?”

“Um….well…” said Xander.

“God, you just fell straight back to sleep, didn’t you?” snapped Giles.

“Sorry, but I was exhausted,” said Xander.

“If he didn’t find shelter in time he’s that big pile of dust he was afraid of by now,” said Buffy grimly.

They quickly got dressed and set out to search his usual haunts. Willow teamed up with Giles and Buffy with Xander.

Oooooooooo

“Spike? Is that you?” The voice roused Spike from his doze.

“Huh? Giles?” said Spike, struggling to wake up. God, I feel weird.

“No, not Giles,” said the voice, this time sounding more like a snarl.

A pair of hands grabbed Spike by his shirt and lifted him up from where he was sprawled until his feet were off the ground completely. That woke him up. He opened his eyes and came face to face with a Seromid Demon and wished he were still asleep. The Seromids are an angry breed of demon and Spike had a horrible feeling that this one was pissed off in general and at him in particular.

“Yeah mate….er….I’m not feeling the best so if we could perhaps do this later?” he said hopefully.

The Seromid did what Seromids do best. It hit him. He flew backwards some ten feet. He would have gone further but for the sewer wall blocking his path. He hit it with a bone shaking crash and slid to the ground.

On the plus side, Spike started to feel more alert. On the negative, he knew he was in real trouble. These things were notoriously strong and he didn’t even remember how he got to the sewer in the first place. Spike got to his feet, holding out his hands to the demon.

“I really don’t want to fight you. You wouldn’t believe the week I’ve had. I don’t remember upsetting any Seromids so what’s your gripe m…..”

His words were cut off by the demon grabbing him once more and throwing him at the wall opposite with the same result as before - bone rattling thud followed by sliding down into a crumpled heap.

“You didn’t upset a Seromid, you killed one last week. You killed my girlfriend,” roared the beast, “I was just going to jump you when those soldier guys got you. Didn’t figure I’d see you again after that then here you are, large as life, sleeping in my sewer!” The demon strode over to Spike.

Okay, looks like I’m going to have to fight him. He vamped up his face knowing he’d need all his vampire strength to take the demon on. Nothing happened. He concentrated harder but still nothing. Oh bollocks.

He ducked in time to avoid a savage blow to the head, the demon’s fist leaving a dent in the wall.

“Look, would it help if I said I was sorry?” said Spike. The demon threw another punch, this one on target, “I guess not,” he added, shaking his head trying to clear his vision. He was literally seeing stars.

And so a very one sided fight ensued - Spike dodging as many blows as possible, trying to get past the demon to escape but to no avail. He felt weak when he started and soon was moving slower and slower, his limbs feeling like they were dipped in treacle.

The demon caught him by his throat, Spike struggling ineffectually in its grasp. The demon brought his other hand up and Spike knew that the thing was going to rip his head off. In desperation he tried to put his game face on but still nothing. He closed his eyes.

He heard the whistle of steel through air, felt a shuddering blow, and then was lying on the floor trapped beneath something heavy and unmoving. He opened his eyes and standing above him holding a very sharp looking axe was Buffy.

“Looked like you needed a hand,” she said with a grin.

“Good timing, pet,” he said weakly, “Can you give me a hand to get this thing off of me?”

Between them Buffy and Xander hauled the demon off Spike.

“Why did you come out here?” asked Buffy.

“Didn’t know I had until that thing woke me up,” said Spike.

“What did you do to it?” asked Xander.

“Apparently I killed its girlfriend last week sometime.”

Buffy and Xander looked at the hideous beast on the ground and shuddered at the thought of two of its kind having smoochies.

“Well, if you killed that one how come this one was just about to kill you?” asked Buffy.

“Well, got a bit of a problem, see. I can’t vamp up.”

“What? How’s that possible?” said Xander.

“I dunno, but I tried and nothing happened,” said Spike grimly.

“Come on. Let’s get back to the apartment and figure it out there. We’ve got a blanket and it’s not far from the sewer to Giles’ so you’ll be okay,” said Buffy, taking charge and leaving Xander and a despondent Spike following in her wake.

Ooooooooo

They got back to the apartment without further incident though Spike was smoking a little as they burst through the door.

“Spike, you’re safe,” said Willow, “You’re all right.”

He smiled weakly at her.

“Well, the safe bit anyway, love.”

“Why? What do you mean?” she asked.

“Spike’s having a bit of a problem performing,” said Xander.

Spike glared at him.

“What? Can’t bite because of the chip? We know that already.”

“Little more serious than that,” said Spike, “The chip means it sodding hurts if I try to bite a human. Thing is at the moment I can’t even hope to bite anything. I can’t get into vampire mode at all.”

“Not at all?” asked Giles.

“Nope, just nothing happens. It doesn’t normally take any effort you know, just a thought, but no matter what I try it just doesn’t happen,” said Spike, flopping into an armchair.

“So what’s it matter anyway?” asked Buffy.

“What’s it matter? What does it bleeding matter? Sodding hell, what the hell am I if I can’t do that? Apart from the obvious fact that I’m now fair game for any demon I’ve even slightly annoyed, it just means there’s even less of me left. It must be your fault,” he said, glaring at Giles.

“Mine?”

“Yeah, you must have done something to my body. So fix me,” snapped Spike. He put his head in his hands and moaned softly.

“Well, at least you’re not a pile of dust,” Willow pointed out helpfully.

“Suppose that is a bonus,” said Spike, perking up a little.

“Xander, go and get him some blood, heat it up. See if that helps,” said Giles.

Xander pulled a face but went to the kitchen to do it.

“When I was in your body at the Initiative I vamped up without even knowing I had when I was offered blood, so it might kick in for you then,” said Giles.

“Bloody hope so. Pathetic sodding vampire that can’t even get his fangs out,” said Spike grumpily.

Xander reappeared with the mug of blood and offered it to Spike.

“Try now, Spike, just before you have some,” said Giles.

A momentary look of concentration passed over Spike’s face then he shook his head in frustration.

“Nope, nothing,” he sighed. He drank all of the blood but still couldn’t vamp up.

“I wonder…?” he said. He got up and clipped Xander across the head.

“Ow,” yelled Xander.

“Ow,” yelled Spike.

“What did you do that for?” asked Xander.

“Just checking the chip still works and it does.” he said, wincing and holding his head.

“So what do we do with the living dead now?” asked Xander.

“I’ll have to stay here until you work out how to put me back,” said Spike, grinning at the look of horror on Giles’ face, “What time is it? Is Passions on yet?”

to be continued……..

Chapter ten

Mm...tasty!

Later that day they all sat down to try to work out what was going on with Spike.

“Let’s start with when you re-entered your own body,” said Giles, “What was it like from there?”

“I dunno,” said Spike, “I felt dizzy, bit sick but mostly really tired like I hadn’t slept in a month or was drugged. Don’t really remember much after that. Hey, did you hit me?” he added, looking at Buffy.

“Only a couple of slaps to get you on your feet,” said Buffy defensively.

“What was the last thing you remembered?” asked Giles.

“Buffy pulling me about and slapping me then nothing until that bloody Seromid demon got me in the sewer,” said Spike.

“So you didn’t wake up and decide to go out then?” asked Giles.

“I just said, didn’t I? Don’t even remember getting back here.”

“So what was the next thing you remember?”

“Getting the wake up call from the Seromid. Are you bleeding listening to what I say? I’ve just told you this.”

“That doesn’t tell us a lot, Spike,” said Buffy

“Well, I can’t help that, can I?” snapped Spike.

“Look guys, shouting at each other isn’t going to get this figured out,” interrupted Willow, “There has to be a reason for it so we’ll just have to hit the research again.”

She was met with a collective chorus of groans but everyone sat at the table and picked up a book.

Oooooooooo

They’d found nothing at all to help them so working on a hunch Giles had, he and Buffy got some sleep so they’d be ready to sit and ‘Spike-watch’ all night in case he went strolling again.

He did, at about four in the morning. Spike very casually got up from his place on the couch and started towards the door. His movements were so normal that to start with Buffy and Giles thought he was awake, but they than realised that although his eyes were open they were totally unfocussed.

He picked up his leather duster and put it on as he went out of the door, shutting it quietly behind him. Buffy and Giles opened the door and hurried through to follow him. He walked steadily through the streets until he got to the graveyard. Without any hesitation he went into his crypt again, carefully closing the door behind him. Buffy and Giles got to the crypt in time to see him drop into the sewer tunnels and they followed him down.

Spike walked along, never tripping or hesitating, until he came to a part of the sewer where there was a bend just ahead. There, to the puzzlement of Buffy and Giles, he simply sat down in a dry spot, leant back against the wall, closed his eyes and slept. Buffy and Giles looked at each other.

“Why on earth has he come here, Giles?” asked Buffy.

“I honestly don’t know,” he replied, “It’s not where we switched so I can’t think of its significance.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Wait and see what he says when he wakes up, I suppose. Is this where you found him yesterday?”

“Yes, just over there you can see the hole in the wall the demon left with his fist,” said Buffy.

They stood there watching the sleeping vampire for an hour or so.

“Good Lord!” Giles suddenly exclaimed.

“What?” asked Buffy.

“This is where I got jumped by the Initiative. I forgot until just now but it’s the place I first changed into vampire features. That must be why he’s coming here,” said Giles.

“So what now? Should we wake up Sleeping Beauty and go home?” asked Buffy.

“I think it would be best to leave him to wake up unprompted and see if he can tell us anything.”

Fortunately they didn’t have too long to wait before Spike started to stir. He shifted a few times then woke with a start and looked around him.

“Oh,” he said when his eyes fell on his two observers, “Guess I did it again then.” He got up and stretched.

“Do you remember anything?” asked Giles.

“Not about getting here but I did dream I was a vampire,” said Spike.

“What do you mean?” sneered Buffy, “You are a vampire, you dope.”

Spike scowled, “I meant I could vamp out obviously.”

“That is interesting,” said Giles, “What were you doing in your dream when your game face appeared?”

“Um…well, I was fighting Initiative troops,” said Spike, a shade reluctantly.

“What’s up? Were you getting your ass kicked?” said Buffy.

Before Spike could answer Giles spoke.

“Yes, he was. There were two of them - one shot him before he grabbed the gun and kicked him and as the chip fired the other nailed him with a tazer.”

“Hey, how’d you know that? Bleeding psychic now, are we?” said Spike in amazement.

“No, that’s because your dream is my memory,” said Giles, “This is exactly where I vamped up for the first time after we switched.”

“What does that mean then? Can you fix me?” asked Spike.

“I don’t know but it must mean something,” replied Giles.

The three of them went back to the apartment. Willow and Xander had just gotten up and Willow was making pancakes. Over breakfast they tried to work out the significance of Spike’s sleepwalking and dreaming. The breakfast was delicious but brought them no answers at all and neither did their next three breakfasts.

Each day they tried to find answers and each day they found none. Each night Spike walked back to the same spot in the tunnels, dreaming the same dream.

All were starting to despair about finding a solution to Spike’s inability to draw on the demon inside, not in the least Spike. The poor vampire was starting to feel a bit ragged, stressing about his deficiency, and not resting each night due to the sleepwalking and dreams. The dream provoked his own unpleasant memories of his captivity to resurface, which didn’t help his nerves. He was starting to dread going to sleep.

One evening Giles was chopping vegetables in the kitchen when Spike accidentally jogged his arm as he past him to get his blood from the refrigerator.

“Ouch. Damn,” said Giles as he cut deeply into his finger, blood instantly pouring out of the incision. He left a long trail of blood on the counter as he reached for a towel to stem the flow.

Xander, Willow and Buffy popped their heads into the kitchen to see what was going on.

“What’s Spike done now?” said Xander.

“I didn’t do anything,” protested Spike. He ran his finger through the trail of blood and licked it off.

“Ew!” cried Willow.

“Gross, Spike” cried Buffy.

“Did you see that?” cried Xander.

“Waste not, want not,” cried Spike.

“No guys! Listen! Did you see that?” insisted Xander.

“Yeah, Spike’s grossly licking up Giles’ blood,” said Buffy, “We’ve seen it and wish we hadn’t.”

“Not that,” said Xander, “Spike’s eyes, did you see Spike’s eyes when he licked his finger?”

“What happened to them?” asked Giles

“They went yellow - only for a second but they definitely did.”

“Really?” said Spike. He put some more blood on his finger and once more licked it off.

Four pairs of eyes stared into his.

“Yes,” said Giles, “They did change.”

Spike grabbed Giles’ hand and brought it to his mouth to suck the bleeding wound.

“Ow!” said Giles, pulling his hand away.

“Ow!” said Spike as the pain chip kicked in, but this time his eyes stayed yellow for a little longer.

“Okay, so we can definitely say that Giles blood has an effect,” said Willow.

“How do we know it’s just Giles’ blood? It might be any human’s,” said Xander, “Stop looking at me like I’m food, Spike.”

“Like I’d bite you?” sneered Spike.

“Good point, though,” said Buffy. She grabbed the knife on the counter and nicked her finger. “Hold your hand out, Spike.” She squeezed a few drops of blood onto his outstretched palm.

Spike licked it off and looked at them expectantly.

“Nope, nothing,” said Giles.

Spike looked at Giles, licked his lips and grinning broadly with head tilted said “So how are we gonna do this, Rupert?” Giles shuddered. “I can’t suck you dry without the chip activating.”

“I vote no sucking dry of Giles,” said Willow firmly.

“It’s all right, Will, he’s only joking, right?” said Xander.

“Right,” said Spike, still leering at Giles, “but I think that Giles’ blood is the key.”

“Um…well..yes, I’d tend to agree, unfortunately,” said Giles.

Since the pain chip precluded Spike from drinking directly from Giles himself they had to decide how to go about the blood letting, trying to find a nice pain-free way for Giles to donate his blood. Willow managed to do a little numbing spell on his wrist and then he nicked his vein and let his blood fall into a mug. Once it was a quarter full his wrist was tightly bound.

Spike’s mouth was practically watering at the thought of having human blood to drink. Pigs’ blood would keep you going but to a vampire comparing it to human blood was like meatloaf to prime steak.

He drank it slowly, savouring every drop as he did so. For the first time since the switch his vampire features came out fully. Everyone was delighted. They faded once he’d finished the blood and when Spike tried to produce them again he couldn’t.

“Seems I need a bit more of you to re-charge the batteries,” he said, looking hungrily at Giles.

With a sigh Giles unbound his wrist and let his blood once again quarter-fill the mug.

“You can’t have anymore today after this,” said Giles firmly.

Again Spike drank it but once more couldn’t keep his game face out on show for long after he’d finished. It was decided that Spike would have to have a little of Giles’ blood each day for the next few days until hopefully he was cured.

ooooooooo

Poor Giles was starting to look a little pale and wan after the blood letting had been repeated a few times even though only small amounts had been taken each time. He was starting to think he’d have to dust Spike to get rid of him before he did quite literally bleed him dry.

Giles was having a lie down on his bed one afternoon when Buffy called in. Spike was sitting on the couch eating cookies and happily watching ‘Passions’.

“Where’s Giles?” she asked.

“He’s having a lie down, poor fella’s feeling bit run down,” grinned Spike shamelessly.

Buffy walked up to him and punched him in the face. With a growl Spike vamped up and snarled at her.

“What was that for?” he said, wiping his bloody nose with the back of his hand then licking it off.

“Ew,” said Buffy, “It’s because you’re faking it, as is clear now. You can obviously vamp up at will.”

“Fair cop, love,” he said, relaxing his face into his human features.

“How long?”

“Well, after the second lot that first day,” laughed Spike, “but the mini bar’s just so good at this hotel.”

She went to hit him again but he caught her wrist.

“Hey calm down. I wasn’t going to do him any permanent harm, just a bit of payback for getting my body all shot and making me want bleeding cups of coffee and muffins.” He shuddered at the memory.

He pulled her towards him and kissed her on the lips. She responded briefly, body melting against his before pushing him in the chest and pulling away.

“God, Spike, what was that?”

“A kiss, love. What, don’t you get any off soldier boy?” he sneered. He ducked another blow with a grin, “Just saying thanks for your help, pet.”

He grabbed his leather duster and swaggered out of the door.

“Be seeing you, petal. Tell Giles I’m off back to my crypt.”

Buffy stared after him, wiping his kiss from her lips with a grimace. But she couldn’t help remembering how hot he’d looked with his shirt off.

The End.