Chapter One



It had seemed like a good idea when Willow had suggested it. They’d all agreed that it was a great plan. And it had worked like magic too – well at least until it was over, then things took a bit of a turn for the worst…


Magic! Spike snorted. He should have known that any magics involving himself would go horribly wrong. He thrashed in his chains knowing that it was useless but having to try anyway. He thought back to when it all started…


“Why don’t I create another Spike?” suggested Willow brightly.


“What?” Xander cried in horror. “Isn’t one enough?”


“Hey!” Spike let his features shift and growled at him.


Buffy smiled at Spike and rested a hand on his arm. “More than enough last night anyways,” she said quietly.


Not quietly enough, judging by the look of disgust on Xander’s face and the flush creeping across Willow’s. Of course, Spike grinned toothily at them before letting his features morph back and licking his lips as he gazed at Buffy.


“Quit it!” she said affectionately. Her friends were only coming to terms with the fact that she and Spike were together but whilst that was her friend’s problem, she really could do without Spike rubbing it in their faces quite as often as he did.


Spike gave her a chaste kiss on the mouth and then turned back to Willow. “So how is two of me going to help us kill this…this…” he snapped his fingers together as he tried to recall the breed, “Rarag demon?”


“Rataq,” corrected Willow.


Spike scowled. “Whatever. All we need to know is how do we kill the bleeding thing and why will it take two of me to do it?”


“We can use the other you as bait and then you and Buffy can sneak up and kill it with the sword and the axe that I will enchant with magics to make them send the demon’s body back to its home dimension when you’ve severed its head and cut off the arms,” Willow replied.


“Why can’t we use him as bait?” asked Spike, pointing to an indignant Xander. “It usually works a treat.”


Xander mouthed wordlessly at them.


“Because it is trying to recruit vampires not humans,” said Willow a touch impatiently. She’d said most of this already. “Then once it has its army of vampires, it will bring others to this dimension and take over Sunnydale, after killing the slayer.”


“Not gonna happen,” snarled Spike.


“It won’t,” said Buffy firmly. She turned to look at Willow. “So what exactly is this plan of yours with the two Spikes?”


An image of herself sprawled on her bed with a Spike on either side of her popped rather pleasantly into her mind, causing a warm flush to run through her. Spike cocked his head on one side and regarded her with a raised eyebrow. Buffy coughed and avoided his eye knowing that he’d guessed what she was thinking. Spike lounged back in his seat and smirked.


“So what happens to this other me when it’s all over?” he asked.


“Spike goes poof!” declared Willow.


Spike leant forwards and growled. “I’m no bloody pouf!”


Willow giggled. “I meant the other Spike goes poof – disappears.”


“Oh, right,” replied Spike, mollified.


“Let’s get this all figured out,” said Buffy. “We don’t have a lot of time before this Rattie demon –”


“Rarag,” corrected Spike.


“Rataq,” corrected Willow with a sigh. “Do either of you ever listen to me?”


Spike rolled his eyes and then winked at Buffy before they all huddled around the kitchen table to plan their ambush.


*~*~*~*


Spike tensed as he heard someone approach. Shit, he’s back. His eyes bugged out as he saw the other Spike saunter into the room where he was shackled. The bastard was wearing his duster! And his boots. He’d specifically told Willow not to let the new Spike have a coat like his and now the git had stripped him naked, tied him up and nicked his sodding clothes.


“Buffy sends her love,” said the impostor, rubbing his thumb over lips that Spike could see were still red from kissing.


“You bastard!” he roared. “Leave her alone!”


“Oh, I rather think that she liked it. That noise that she makes when she comes…it gets even cuter after the third time.”


Spike tugged at his shackles and vamped out but TwinSpike merely chuckled.


“I never did realise how horny a slayer got after a good slayage.”


“That’s because before yesterday you didn’t fucking exist! How come you didn’t disappear? Willow told me that you would.”


TwinSpike shrugged. “I have no idea. I did come over all queasy when you jumped on that weird demon but I just wandered off and got me a meal and then I felt fine. More than fine once I’d bumped into you.”


“You ate somebody? Buffy will kill you for that!” Spike growled.


“After what I’ve just done to her in bed, I think I could drain Xander in front of her and she’d not bat an eyelid.”


Spike thrashed again. “I mean it. Keep your fucking hands off her.”


“Or what?” asked TwinSpike, with an irritating smirk. “You’ll rattle your chains some more? I couldn’t believe it when Buffy let you go check on what had happened to me alone. Thank God her little witchy friend came over all peculiar and had to be helped home by Xander and the Slayer. Now I’m here for good, and the best thing is I get to live with Buffy but also get to play with you!”


TwinSpike strode across the room and stood right in front of Spike. He brought his hands together and laughed as Spike recoiled from the sparks it generated.


“Wha…” gasped Spike, leaning as far away as his chains would allow.


“Oh, just a little magic. No big deal,” said TwinSpike dismissively.


“But you…you’re me. I don’t know magics, so how—”


“You really are stupid, aren’t you?” TwinSpike vamped up and snarled in Spike’s face. “I was created by magics – ‘course I’m full of the bleeding stuff! Very handy it is too.” He grinned and Spike knew that nothing good was going to follow that grin. “Like how I can do this.”


He gently touched Spike’s temples with the fingertips of both hands and Spike went limp, only the chains holding him up. But he wasn’t unconscious, and his eyes stared balefully at TwinSpike as he hung there.


“What…are…you…going…to…do?” Spike’s voice was slurred and the words were difficult to find.


“Like I said…I get to play with you.”


He unfastened Spike and caught him before he hit the ground. He carried him easily out of the stark cold room where his captive had been tied and into a room lavishly furnished as a bedroom. Spike panicked when he saw the bed, but all he was able to do was slowly shake his head.


“N…no,” he managed to whisper.


“Oh, yes,” replied TwinSpike with a chuckle. “The Slayer and her buddies won’t wake up for at least twelve hours and so we’ve got plenty of time.”


He lowered the inert body of Spike onto the large comfortable bed and stood back to stare at him. Spike closed his eyes. This was all kinds of wrong. Too weird even for the bloody Hellmouth. He knew what was going to happen – the look on TwinSpike’s face was the same as the expression Angelus wore before he’d shagged him.


Spike heard a rustling noise and opened his eyes to see the disturbing image of TwinSpike totally naked and sporting a huge erection. For a second he almost smiled. Bloody hell, I have a great body! Then the knowledge of what that body was about to do wiped all thoughts out of his head. All thoughts bar one – that cock looked a lot bigger when it was heading towards you and not into the Slayer.


TwinSpike lay next to him on the bed and began stroking him. “You’ll enjoy this…I promise I won’t make it hurt – much.”


“G-go…fuck…your…self,” Spike managed to utter through gritted teeth. He couldn’t vamp out.


His doppelganger flopped onto his back and laughed out loud. “Oh…Spike you’re priceless – you know that? Effectively that’s exactly what I’m planning to do!”


Spike hissed when TwinSpike’s hand caressed his balls; he tried to speak but was no longer able.


“Disappointing,” murmured TwinSpike as he pushed Spike’s flaccid cock one way and then the other. “Sort of pointless really I suppose.” He stared into Spike’s eyes as he spoke. “You know that you’re never going to leave here and I’m never going to let you come so I’d enjoy this while you can. I reckon I’ll bite the whole lot off one day soon.”


Spike managed to turn his head away. The glint of mania in his double’s eyes terrified him. Not for himself but for Buffy and to a lesser extent her friends. This lunatic would end up killing Buffy, Spike was sure of it. A tear ran slowly down his face and he shuddered violently as TwinSpike licked it off.


“It won’t hurt for long. A clean bite will heal in no time,” soothed TwinSpike, not realising that the tear was for Buffy and not his impending de-sexing.


The impostor sat up and moved down the bed. He touched Spike’s legs with sparking hands and they drew up and out, knees bending up and spreading wide, exposing Spike’s genitals.


Spike moaned and moved his head from side to side, unable to do more. His breath began to come in ragged pants. TwinSpike put two fingers in his mouth and stared at Spike as he licked them and then pressed them to his anus. They slid in much easier than Spike had thought but then his body was relaxed because of the spell.


Another finger was added and Spike could feel it starting to burn. TwinSpike’s finger’s jabbing roughly inside. He gasped when the fingers rubbed across his prostrate but his cock didn’t so much as twitch. Like his twin had said. Disappointing. Spike suddenly realised that he’d never feel pleasure again. As long as TwinSpike was here, no one would come looking for him. He closed his eyes as his double withdrew his fingers and slammed his cock into him. The force of the thrust shoved Spike up the bed and elicited a growl of possession from TwinSpike. He was roughly pulled back and held firmly in place as he was subjected to a violent assault.


Pain…the spell did nothing about the pain. The sharp metallic smell of blood filled the bedroom. After being initially taken on his back with his bent legs forced wide apart, Spike had been manoeuvred into countless other positions, he was currently on his stomach being pounded into from behind. The now familiar cry of his twin’s release echoed round the room and Spike teetered on the edge of consciousness.


TwinSpike flopped down, his body covering Spike’s, not caring that he crushed him. He licked Spike’s ear and chuckled at the shudder it provoked. He let his softening penis slip from Spike’s body and shuffled back so that he could look at the damage that he’d caused. Blood was trickling sluggishly from Spike’s torn rectum and a questing finger brought forth a moan.


He rolled Spike over and gripped his chin, forcing Spike to meet his eyes. “How was it for you, honey?” He mashed his lips hard against Spike’s and withdrew chuckling when Spike didn’t respond. “Aww…it wasn’t so bad, surely?” He let Spike’s head fall back to the mattress. He slapped Spike’s cheek gently. “You’ll get used to it. But I guess you’ll never forget this first time, will you?”


TwinSpike reached out and picked up Spike’s left hand. He slowly sucked each finger in turn starting with the index finger. “I think you need something to remember this by,” he mused. “I’m not convinced that you will savour the memory as much as I will.” He popped Spike’s little finger into his mouth, vamped out and bit it clean off at the lowest joint to his hand.


Spike’s head thrashed against the pillow and his scream had enough volume to cause an echo despite the spell almost muting him. EvilSpike grinned and held the digit between his teeth before chomping on it and swallowing it.


“Memories,” he said softly. “That’s what’s important. And right now almost all that I have are bloody yours! I need to make lots of my own.”


A wave of his hand and Spike was on his stomach once more. He stared at his mutilated hand. Gone. His finger was gone forever. Spike was sure that he would have vomited if his magically relaxed body had allowed it. He could hear his double walking about and the ominous rattle of metal on metal. Without warning a narrow rod was rammed into his gaping hole. It was so long that it seemed as if TwinSpike was trying to get it to come out of Spike’s mouth.


Spike’s legs were pulled apart almost to the point of dislocation and he felt metal cuffs being locked to each ankle. TwinSpike grabbed him by the back of his neck and lifted him off the bed. Spike glanced down to see a spreader bar holding his legs at the almost impossible width. He was dragged to the wall on the left of the bed and thrown carelessly to the floor. A wave of TwinSpike’s hand meant that movement returned to Spike’s limbs before he even hit the ground. He body immediately tensed at the invasion of it and Spike groaned loudly as the rod jolted inside him when he landed.


He tried to move but pain racked his body and all he could do was pant and wait for TwinSpike’s next move. The double shifted Spike so that he could get to the end of the rod and then he padlocked it to the floor. He left Spike’s hands free and as he walked away, Spike tried to get up.


Without turning around TwinSpike said, “I’d sit still if I were you.” He picked something up from a drawer and twirled to face Spike. “Now pay attention. This is the same as what I have put inside you.”


He made sure that Spike looked at the device before pulling sharply at the ring on the bottom of it. It immediately transformed. The top mushroomed out to about the size of a grapefruit and barbs sprang out along its length.


“I don’t think that you’d really want that to happen. The damage that would do…the pain it would cause…” He chuckled as Spike began to weep with frustration. “I’ll see you later. Think I’ll drop into Willy’s Bar and have me some JD. Bet you could use a drink. I’ll bring you something back later.”



Alone, Spike raged against what was happening to him. He sobbed, he vamped out, he punched the floor with his fists and he mourned the loss of his finger. His hips were in agony spread so wide by the bar between his ankles. Then finally, he was quiet. His throat ached with the yelling and he knew that his situation was without hope unless someone discovered that the other Spike wasn’t the genuine article.


*~*~*~*


Buffy yawned and stretched out on the bed a smile playing over her lips. She couldn’t believe that she’d tried to resist Spike’s love for so long. Their lovemaking just got better and better, and last night…


“Morning, love,” said TwinSpike. “Sleep well?”


Buffy shifted up the bed and grinned at him. “I slept like a baby and I’m not surprised after what we did – what you did – last night.” She patted the bed next to her and TwinSpike sat down. “I love you so much, Spike. I’m sorry that I wouldn’t tell my friends for so long.”


TwinSpike reached out and tenderly pushed a stray tendril of hair back from her face before kissing her gently on the lips. “I love you too,” he replied. Well, I love shagging you. “They know now, that’s all that matters. Now I can be with you all the time.”


“Talking of time,” said Buffy. “It’s not time to get up yet is it?”


TwinSpike cocked his head to one side and smirked in a way that he knew made her heart speed up. “Some things are already up, pet.” He pulled her hand to the bulge in his jeans. “Gonna do something about it?”


Buffy giggled and began to undo the buttons at his fly. She loved that Spike was always ready for her. She loved that he wanted her so badly.


It was two hours before she left the bedroom, walking a little bow legged and wondering if her vision would clear soon. She’d come so hard that last time, she was sure her eyes had crossed.


On the landing, Dawn confronted her. “God, Buffy. Can you keep the noise down? It’s squicking me out, all the grunting and groaning. Spike has a perfectly good crypt you could use, you know.”


“Sorry, Dawnie,” said Buffy, blushing bright red under her sister’s accusatory glare. “I promise we’ll keep it down. I don’t know what’s gotten into Spike, but I like it. It’s like he’s—”


“Whoa!” Dawn held her hands up. “Too much information – just whatever he wants to do to you next – can you do it in his crypt?”


Buffy felt her legs in danger of collapse if she didn’t sit down soon and so she just nodded her agreement and walked unsteadily past Dawn and into the bathroom.


Dawn stared after her for a moment and then turned to go downstairs. She squeaked when she saw Spike standing there wearing just a pair of jeans and a lot of bruises that she knew her sister had put on him.


“Creep much, Spike!” she complained.


“Sorry, Dawn,” replied TwinSpike, looking anything but.


“Take her out tonight, okay? Some of us can do without the audio.” Dawn flounced past him and ran down the stairs two at a time.


TwinSpike watched her go with narrowed eyes. There was something a little off about the Slayer’s sister. He scanned through Spike’s memories of her but came up with nothing as to why she troubled him. He shrugged and walked to the bathroom, the door was locked, he scowled and tapped on it.


“Want some company?” he called out.


“What? No, I’m okay, I’ll be down in a minute,” Buffy replied. God, he’s insatiable. No way can I do that again…well not for a few hours anyway. She smiled.


“Um…you okay if I go out for a bit, then?” asked TwinSpike.


“It’s daylight,” Buffy reminded him.


“Well, yeah,” replied TwinSpike and she could just tell that he’d rolled his eyes at her. “Sewers, remember. I’ll be back before dusk – that should give you time to recover for patrolling and…” He let the words hang in the air and grinned as he heard Buffy chuckle.


“Okay, see you later,” replied Buffy, trying not to let the relief show in her voice. She sank back into the hot bubble filled water and closed her eyes. The water soothed her aches and felt heavenly.

Chapter Two


TwinSpike wondered what state Spike would be in when he got back to him. He’d left him impaled on the rod with his legs wrenched apart for hours. In his hand he held several bags of human blood that he’d bought from Willy’s bar. He debated whether to drink it himself but decided he’d better let his captive have some sustenance today. And that child he’d snatched on the way had tasted simply delicious. The body had been easy to hide. TwinSpike was sure that the boy would never be found. Much easier than adults and tasted nicer too.


Spike raised his head as he heard whistling and footsteps coming closer. His whole body was shuddering uncontrollably at being held in such a way. He’d almost passed out at one point but luckily had caught himself before he’d fallen to the side and pulled on the ring. Since then, fear of it happening again had kept him awake.


“Hey, Spike,” said TwinSpike happily. “Sorry I was so long, but I have brought you some food.”


Spike glared at him. “You’ve killed again.” It wasn’t a question. He could smell it.


“Yes,” replied TwinSpike with undisguised glee. “Very tasty too. Veal – nothing quite like it and you should know.”


He walked closer to Spike. “So how are you feeling?”


Spike vamped out. “Like I’ve got a rod stuck up my arse and my legs almost ripped apart!”


“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” asked TwinSpike with a smirk.


Spike simply stared.


“Ooh…what shall it be?” TwinSpike rubbed his chin as he pretended to consider what to do next.


Moving so fast Spike didn’t even have time to tense, TwinSpike was at his side, he grabbed his neck just under Spike’s chin and pulled him up off the floor. Spike howled as the rod inside him exploded.


TwinSpike dropped him and he writhed on the floor trying to curl around the pain in his abdomen but hampered by the bar between his ankles. As Spike’s screams turned into breathless whimpers, TwinSpike rubbed a hand over his cock. There was nothing like a good bit of torture for getting the old juices flowing.


“Believe it or not; that wasn’t the bad news.”


Spike didn’t register that he’d heard him. The doppelganger waved a hand at Spike and he flipped over onto his back, generating another scream as the rod shifted inside him. TwinSpike bent down and touched the end of the rod with his fingertips.


“Don’t,” gasped Spike.


“Don’t what? Touch it?”


Spike nodded slightly.


“I won’t touch it,” reassured TwinSpike. “I’ll fucking pull it!”


His voice rose to a shout but his words were still drowned out by Spike’s shrieks of agony. TwinSpike looked at the rod curiously. Pieces of torn flesh were snagged on the barbs and bottom edge of its mushroom shaped top. Spike’s torn hole looked like his whole arm could fit inside it. TwinSpike was a little surprised at all the blood. He hadn’t realised that vampires could bleed quite so freely.


“That’s the bad news,” murmured TwinSpike as he knelt beside Spike. “Oh, and there isn’t any good news.”


He curled his lip up at the sight of Spike’s face, tears, snot and saliva were covering it and the vampire’s screams showed no sign of stopping. He unfastened Spike’s legs and was disappointed when the additional pain from the cramping muscles was too much for Spike and he passed out.


TwinSpike grabbed his arms and dragged him back to the bed, leaving a trail of blood where Spike’s ruined arse rubbed on the floor. He hauled him on the bed and magicked Spike’s legs up and apart so that he could examine his work. He clenched his fist and pushed it inside Spike, grinning when it barely touched the sides. The rod had been as long as his forearm and sure enough his fist slid easily in up to his elbow. TwinSpike wished that Spike had been awake for that part, but no matter- he could always do it again once Spike had healed.


He let Spike limbs fall to the bed as he walked around, waiting for Spike to wake up.


Spike could hear a low keening whine and tried to shake his head to get rid of it. He gasped at the pain in his gut and the sound stopped momentarily before beginning again with more volume. It was five minutes later when he realised that the noise was coming from him. He was on his back and it felt like his skin was too heavy for his insides to bear the weight of. He tried to move and blacked out again.


This time, he came to because a foul smelling substance was being waved under his nose.


“Come on, wake up. You’re sodding boring. Are you like that in bed? No wonder Buffy thinks the sex just keeps getting better.”


TwinSpike’s taunts worked and Spike opened his eyes and glared at him. Words were impossible to achieve. His vision kept rippling, like the surface of a pool when a pebble is dropped in.


“Don’t you want to know what the good news is?” TwinSpike asked brightly. “There really is some – I was joking before.”


“P…piss…” Spike couldn’t catch his breath to say more.


“Maybe I shouldn’t let you have the blood then? You’ll heal in a couple of days unless you don’t get any at all. How’s the hand?”


Spike shuddered slightly as he glanced at his mutilated left hand. The wound was still open and raw. He hadn’t fed and so hadn’t healed.


TwinSpike walked to where he’d left the blood and then sat on the bed next to Spike, who howled again as the bed bounced. Vamping out, TwinSpike nicked the bag and held it to Spike’s lips. Spike clamped them tightly. If he didn’t feed and kept being injured he’d eventually dust and that seemed at lot more appealing than living as the fucking twin from Hell’s plaything.


Then his mouth suddenly opened of its own accord and the blood was poured into his mouth. Gagging and half choking he swallowed it down, vamping out as the well remembered flavour of human blood washed over his taste buds. He whined when it was all gone, unable to close his mouth still. Staring up at his tormentor, Spike licked as much blood off his lips as he could. Another bag was offered and this time Spike drank it hungrily. Animal blood, he could have resisted but not human.


“Well done,” said TwinSpike, stroking Spike’s face and allowing his mouth to close. “Feeling better?”


Spike nodded. He still hurt. He reckoned the bastard would never let him have a day without pain, but it was no longer as sharp. He glanced at his hand and was shocked to see that the place where his finger belonged was now completely healed – as if there had never been a finger there at all. He’d forgotten how much quicker he healed when on his natural foodstuff.


“That’s good. I want to try something but I’m not sure if it’ll work so bear with me, okay?” said TwinSpike.


He’s totally bug shagging crazy. Spike reluctantly met his eyes. His twin was staring at him expectantly and so Spike nodded his head. Just humour the bastard and you might survive. Spike closed his eyes. Yeah, right. He opened them and when TwinSpike waved a hand surrounded by sparks, Spike involuntarily vamped out.


“So far so good,” muttered TwinSpike.


Spike tried to change back but couldn’t. Panic set in when his mouth once more was forced wide open. He tried to move away from him but the pain in his abdomen made him stop. He couldn’t take his eyes off his doppelganger.


TwinSpike reached out and touched Spike’s top left fang. Pain ripped through Spike’s mouth. TwinSpike pulled his head up and to the side and Spike soon found out why he’d done that as one by one his vampiric teeth plopped bloodily onto the bed. Spike blacked out and was unaware of TwinSpike wiping the blood off his face or moving him further up the bed with his head propped up on pillows, his mouth still gaping and his features still demonic.


When he woke he was retching as TwinSpike’s long thick cock was ramming into his mouth provoking the gag reflex. Tears streamed down Spike’s face and each retch brought a shaft of pain from his abdomen. He tried to close his mouth but couldn’t and tried to shift his features but couldn’t. TwinSpike came with a yell and an extra deep thrust which made Spike choke all the more.


“Mmm…” mused TwinSpike. “That needs a little practice. You didn’t help at all.” He withdrew his penis and sighed. “Well I suppose I’d better get back to Buffy now.” He waved a hand and allowed Spike to use his mouth.


“W-why?” croaked Spike.


“Well, she’s a lot better at giving head than you,” replied TwinSpike with a grin as fresh anguish showed in Spike’s face.


Spike shook his head. “No…why…ar…are...” Despite the blood he’d been given, his strength was beginning to fail.


“Oh! Why am I doing this to you?” asked TwinSpike. “Well, mostly because I can and its fun, but also because you’ve had well over a century of life and I’ve just been born. That’s not right is it? You should never have done it. It’s cruel to give someone life only to take it away again almost immediately. But you screwed up and I’m still here and…like I said – hurting you is such fun!”


Spike closed his eyes and began to drift off.


“Why did you prefer Buffy to Dawn? The younger one is pretty cute.”


“Leave her alone,” growled Spike with as much volume as he could muster.


“Maybe…maybe not,” said TwinSpike.


He force fed Spike more blood and then pulled one foot to the post at the bottom of the bed and held it flat against the wood. Bending down to the side of the bed he picked up something that…


“Nicked this out of that Xander’s car. Got lots of useful stuff in there.”


…looked like a nail gun. TwinSpike pushed it against Spike’s foot and pulled the trigger. It didn’t just look like a nail gun – it was a nail gun. Spike jerked but no pain came. He stared at his foot as TwinSpike moved the nail gun an inch or so and pulled the trigger again. Another was slammed through his foot before TwinSpike turned to look at Spike.


“I numbed your foot for you. I think I got a little carried away with you today. Never did have any patience – you should know. It won’t stay numb though – ‘cause that wouldn’t keep you here would it? You’d pull it away and make your escape. By the time you can move again,” he pressed his hand hard down onto Spike’s abdomen, scrunching his eyes up at Spike’s scream, “the numbness will have worn off. See you tomorrow.”


He left Spike alone to his pain with the sound of his own screams and his captor’s laughter ringing in his ears.



*~*~*~*


Back at the house, TwinSpike was pleased to see that both Buffy and Dawn were in the kitchen.


“Hey, pet,” he said, tilting his head and smiling sweetly at her.


“Spike! You’ve been gone for hours. I was getting worried,” said Buffy standing up and wrapping her arms around him.


TwinSpike bent his head and kissed her soundly, his tongue taking possession of her mouth. They were interrupted by loud gagging noises and he looked over Buffy’s head to Dawn who was mimicking making herself sick. TwinSpike wondered how much fun it would be to make her retch for a totally different reason and his cock twitched happily in response.


Turning his attention back to Buffy, he suddenly knew that he could break her completely if he took Dawn in front of her. Maybe when he was finished with Spike he’d put it into practice. Not that he could kill Spike. He was pretty sure that if the original Spike died that he would too.


“Crypt,” said Dawn. “Please use the crypt.”


“Dunno what you mean, Dawnie,” said TwinSpike. “There’s patrolling to be done first and then we’ll be tired…” He leered at her.


“Yeah, right! You’ll just curl up in bed and sleep,” Dawn retorted before stomping past them and running upstairs.


“She’ll get used to it,” said Buffy with a sigh.


“She’ll have to,” replied TwinSpike. “I’m here to stay.” He took her hand and they went out to patrol.


They did as Dawn requested and used the crypt. TwinSpike brought Buffy to levels of ecstasy that she’d never before achieved. She flopped boneless onto the bed.


“I love you, Spike,” she whispered before falling asleep.


TwinSpike cradled her in his arms and pondered on what to do with Spike next.


*~*~*~*


It was hours before Spike became aware enough to notice the bags of blood left on the bed near to him. He snagged one and tried to bite it, moaning when he remembered that his fangs were gone. Spike tried to shift his features so that he could bite it with his human teeth but his face remained unaltered. Whatever TwinSpike had done to him – it was still working. He drifted in and out of consciousness for another hour or so before his attention returned once more to the blood. He clawed at it with his fingers and after a time he managed to tear a small hole in it. He pushed the bag to his face and sucked at it hungrily, repeating the action with them all.


Spike decided to sit up and although the pain in his abdomen still made him suck in a deep breath, he found that he could move without blacking out. He shuffled closer to his pinned foot to try to ease the pull on it. As TwinSpike had said – the pain intensified the more the pain in his guts lessened. He gave his foot an experimental pull but was too weak to be able to rip his foot free. Spike moaned and flopped back onto the bed in despair. The thought that the crazy bastard was with Buffy was nearly driving Spike insane.


He heard footsteps and turned his head towards the door. The twist in his gut was nothing to do with the injuries but due to the fact that TwinSpike positively reeked of Buffy.


“Hello there, mate,” said TwinSpike cheerily. Spike turned his head away, hating how helpless his was. “Aww…don’t be like that. I’ve brought you some more blood.” He saw the empty bags on the floor and added, “I wasn’t sure that you’d be able to open them. You should be almost healed up then.”


He chuckled as Spike shuddered at his light touch on his cock. “Shall we have a play with this today? But first let’s get you untied. Can’t have any fun with your foot stuck to the bedpost, can we?”


He grabbed Spike’s ankle and tugged hard. Spike’s scream was eerily cut off as he passed out. Ignoring the fact that the foot was bleeding and that Spike was unconscious, TwinSpike magically flipped Spike onto his belly and pulled his butt cheeks apart. Spike’s anus had certainly healed from what it was but it was still far from normal. It looked as if a wide plug had just been removed. TwinSpike whipped out his cock and thrust it inside, moaning softly at the pleasurable friction. Spike’s ass was now the perfect width without the pesky need for preparation. TwinSpike resolved to plug him to ensure that it healed no tighter than this.


Spike reluctantly resurfaced just as his double had shoved a plug inside him. “Aah, back with us,” said TwinSpike. “Sorry about your foot.” He inclined his head to the bedpost. Spike’s eyes followed his gaze and he twisted to the side and threw up bloodstained bile on the mattress. There was a big chunk of flesh still held around the nails. He couldn’t help but look again before he glanced at his foot. The middle two toes were missing, along with about two inches of flesh, they were still pinned to the bedpost.


Spike began to laugh hysterically. Was the bastard planning on chopping him up piece by piece? He brought his left hand up to his face and laughed some more. His sanity was barely hanging by a thread. A resounding slap to his face brought him back to his senses.


“Shut up!” roared TwinSpike.


He grabbed Spike’s foot and squeezed it tightly. Spike gasped and reached towards it, but his hands were pushed away by his double’s free hand.


“What should I do with it?” asked TwinSpike. “Should I bind it together so the gap heals up? Or should I…” He stood up and walked to the set of drawers that held his ‘toys’. “Keep it apart so it the gap will remain?”


Spike was past caring. He stared up at the ceiling as TwinSpike pushed a piece of metal right down into the start of the tear. It was V shaped and forced Spike’s remaining toes apart.


“Wonder what that’ll be like tomorrow?” TwinSpike mused.


That started a whole new game for TwinSpike. Over the next few days, he punched holes in Spike and then inserted objects that meant the wounds healed without closing up. Spike now had holes in the palms of his hands and a thin one through the middle of his cock. TwinSpike had had a lot of fun with that – using a metal tube the width of a drinking straw and when it was healed he threaded a thin silver chain through the hole. The chain was fastened at either end to the holes in Spike’s palms. Spike could no longer touch his face, unless he was bent double.


To Spike’s shame, he now willingly gave TwinSpike a blow job whenever the vampire arrived. It had taken only the feel of his double’s fangs against his balls to convince Spike that some things just aren’t worth fighting for. He no longer needed the plug inside his arse to keep him wide open and ready to be filled. It had healed around the plug and now permanently gaped wide open. He hated that more often than not, TwinSpike fucked him face to face, and vowed if he ever made it out of here that he’d never smirk again. Spike wanted to hit the wanker’s face every time that he did it, but short of ripping half of his cock off, he couldn’t do it.


TwinSpike fed Spike after every assault but had taken to drinking from him when he climaxed and so although Spike healed quickly, his strength was slowly ebbing away.

Chapter Three


Spike thought back to the day that they performed the spell to create his twin. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off the vampire when it had appeared before them. Having no reflection for so long, Spike had more or less forgotten what he looked like. If this version was an exact copy then his cheekbones were much sharper than he remembered and his eyes a more vivid blue. He remembered his regret at the thought that he’d never get the chance to talk to him. The double hadn’t spoken a word – just looked at them all with wide frightened eyes and then their target the Rataq demon appeared. The double ran just like he was supposed to and with the demon focussed on him, Buffy and Spike had managed to kill it and banish its body to its own dimension. Spike wished that the demon had killed his doppelganger before they’d killed it.


He opened his eyes and shuddered. The eyes meeting Spike’s own no longer could be classed as frightened. Gleeful was the word that sprang to mind whenever he was getting ready to play. Spike rolled over and offered his arse to his captor. Unable to brace himself properly because of the chain linking his hands and penis, Spike’s face was buried deep into the mattress with each thrust. There was never even a hint of pleasure in it for him. Spike was certain that his prostate had fallen victim to the episode with the rod, either that or the bastard’s aim was good enough never to brush it.


Spike knew exactly how many thrusts brought his tormentor to climax and exactly how many minutes lapsed before he could start again. On the last but one jab Spike tensed waiting for the bite on his neck – sure enough as he felt the seed spurt inside him, fangs dug deep into his neck and pulled hard enough at his blood to make his vision begin to grey out.


As TwinSpike collapsed on top of Spike, crushing him to the bed, he chuckled. “I do enjoy ramming my cock into your very accommodating arse.” He withdrew his softening cock and lay beside Spike, waving a hand and turning Spike over magically. He loved doing that to Spike – his expression when his body did something not dictated by himself was so funny. It really freaked the little fella out.


Spike seldom spoke these days. He’d cringed when he’d heard the lisp caused by the removal of his teeth and then when TwinSpike had pierced his tongue with three heavy round studs, it became almost impossible to make himself understood. He no longer had the strength to fight or even resist.


“You’re getting skinny – go and get some blood,” ordered TwinSpike.


Spike stared at him for a moment before wriggling down the bed and limping to the corner of the room. His noise wrinkled in distaste as his double’s come leaked out of his always open hole and ran in sticky streaks down his legs. His left foot ached as each step caused the gap in it to spread a little wider. He glanced back over his shoulder to see TwinSpike watching him carefully. With a sigh, he turned back to the wall and wrapped his lips around the teat on the bottle held there. He drained the bottle and felt a bit steadier on his legs as he walked back to the bed. Instead of getting on it, he knelt beside it and glanced up at TwinSpike through his lashes, knowing that any moment now… Yes, there it was – the double’s cock sprang back to life.


TwinSpike grinned and slid down the bed, putting his feet on either side of Spike. “You really are getting the hang of this aren’t you?” He rubbed the tip of his erection across Spike’s mouth and he obediently opened it and began to lick and suck at TwinSpike’s erection.


The double moaned and let his back arch as he held onto Spike’s dirty hair and thrust upwards. “I think you’re getting better than Buffy at this.”


TwinSpike then howled and kicked Spike as hard as he could. Spike flew sideward, falling just short of the wall to the room and lying there winded, but smiling weakly.


“You’re gonna pay for that, you git!” roared TwinSpike, holding his throbbing cock in his hands.


Spike may not have teeth but his healed gums were hard and had badly bruised the organ. “No Buffy for you tonight." His words were managled but understandable. Spike wished that he’d managed to bite the fucking thing off.


When TwinSpike could move, he walked towards Spike and grabbed one of his hands pulling him up with it. The chain pulled his other hand to his cock and for a horrible moment Spike thought that his twin would simply pull on the chain and rip through the piercing on his cock, he sighed with relief when the pressure eased as he struggled to stand. TwinSpike hurled him across the room, and this time he hit the wall with a bone wrenching crash. He curled up in a ball as TwinSpike stalked towards him. For the next ten minutes, Spike was systematically beaten and thrown against the walls. The doppelganger only ceased in his actions when Spike lost consciousness.


Drawing in deep unneeded breaths, TwinSpike glared at the crumpled figure on the floor for a moment before he checked that the bottle of blood had automatically refilled as it should, and then walked out, locking and warded the door behind him.


An hour later, Spike stirred. He tried to push himself up and yelped as the bones of his wrist ground together. He opened his eyes and looked at it. There was no mistaking that it was broken and broken badly. The chains on his hands rattled as he held his right hand in his left, nursing the broken limb. He moved his legs experimentally and moaned with relief when everything else seemed to have survived the assault.


“That was stupid,” he mumbled, cringing at the sound of his voice.


He tried to change his features from his vampiric ones, but nothing shifted. It never did, but he had to keep on trying. He got to his feet and walked to the baby’s bottle on the wall and drained it in seconds. Walking stiffly back to the bed he groaned as he curled up on his side cradling his broken wrist.


*~*~*~*


TwinSpike seethed all the way back to Revello Drive. Even the teenager that he’d snatched and eaten hadn’t done anything to calm him down. Tasted too old, but the spate of missing children that the papers had reported on had made it harder to snatch the little gits.


He stormed into the house and threw his leather jacket on the banister before going into the kitchen. Opening a cupboard, he pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels that he’d left there a few days ago, unscrewed the cap and drank several large mouthfuls.


“Kind of early to be drinking isn’t it?”


TwinSpike whipped round with a growl, his eyes blazing yellow as he vamped out briefly. “Vampire, yeah? Can do what I fucking like, when I like.”


Dawn took a hasty step back and held up her hands. “Jeez, Spike. Was only joking,” said Dawn, although she really wasn’t. There was something not quite right about Spike lately. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but the way he looked at her sometimes…


Forcing himself to relax, TwinSpike smiled. “I’m sorry, Dawn. Not had a great day, is all. Where’s big sis?” He took out a glass and poured a large measure into it, and then sat down at the table.


That was one thing that was odd. For weeks now, he hadn’t called her Niblet, or Li’l Bit. Only Dawn or Dawnie. What was that about? She leaned against the wall. “At work.”


“Told her to bleeding pack that job in,” growled TwinSpike. He wanted Buffy’s sweet lips around his bruised cock and he wanted them now!


“We need the money,” replied Dawn reasonably.


“I can get money.”


“Oh, like I’m sure Buffy would love to have your stolen money pay the bills,” said Dawn. “I can’t believe that you haven’t got any legitimate money after living for so long.”


Dawn held her breath as TwinSpike’s eyes glittered amber once more. She’d never before thought that Spike would try to hurt her, but now she was glad that the chip meant that he couldn’t attempt to without it firing.


TwinSpike closed his eyes and smiled a little at the image of her thin neck being crushed by his hand. He knew that the original Spike was neutered by the chip and could hardly wait until he surprised the whole smug Scooby gang and ripped them apart. He opened his eyes again and stared at Dawn. Maybe he should take her to Spike? Make his prisoner shag her or else lose another body part? He grinned.


Dawn squeaked and backed out of the kitchen. “I’m going over to Jenny’s,” she called and ran out of the door, slamming it behind her.


He knocked back the drink that he’d poured and then another, then walked into the living room and flopped on the couch. He flicked on the TV and settled for an old black and white movie. The teenager might not have tasted as good as he’d hoped but the pain in his cock was quickly fading away.


Just after Buffy got home, Dawn called to say that she was having a sleepover at Jenny’s and would go straight to school from there. By the time Buffy had hung up, TwinSpike was nuzzling at her ear and opening the zipper on her trousers, his hand probing between her legs.


Buffy tried to resist. She was tired and was sure she smelled of grease, but his fingers were such experts that she achieved her first orgasm before her hand left the receiver…


*~*~*~*


It had been days. Spike was sure of it. His wrist had set but not quite right somehow. He couldn’t straighten it out. The reservoir supplying Spike’s feeding bottle with blood had run dry and his stomach rumbled hungrily. Since he’d been captured, he’d never gone so long without more pain being inflicted on him. He walked restlessly around the room. Spike stared at the drawers that held his twin’s ‘toys’ and then back at his hands. Decision made, he reached out to open the second drawer down. He was unable to reach the top because of the chain on his cock and hands; but the lightest touch of his fingers sent a bolt of pain through him that brought him to his knees. He shook his head – of course the thing would be warded. Glancing at the door he wondered if he would he be strong enough to escape? He sat on his bed and put his head in his hands. More importantly – would he be brave enough to even try?


The familiar clank of bolts being drawn back had Spike’s head fly up in panic. He couldn’t prevent his body from trembling violently. He rested his hands on his knees to keep from tugging on the chain that ran through his penis. Spike hated himself for swiftly dropping his eyes to the floor as the door opened. As usual, the tormenting fragrance of Buffy clung to the doppelganger.


“Well, don’t you look better for a week’s rest,” said TwinSpike. “The blood lasted long enough didn’t it?” He glanced at the empty feeding bottle and laughed as Spike’s stomach rumbled. “Or not,” he added. “No worries. I’ve got some here for you.”


Spike risked a glance at TwinSpike’s hand and his mouth watered at the sight of the bags of blood that he held. He bent his head forward so that he could wipe his mouth and then turned over and offered his arse to his captor. He yelped as his arse was slapped.


“Got something different to do today. Get on your back.”


Not waiting for Spike to respond, TwinSpike used magic to flip the vampire over. TwinSpike knelt on the bed and puzzled, Spike opened his mouth. A wave of TwinSpike’s hand closed it again. Spike tried to rise but a hand firmly held him down. “Just lie back and let’s see if we can have some fun shall we?”


Spike went rigid as TwinSpike fisted his cock. He rubbed up and down the shaft being careful not to pull on the chain threaded through it. After ten minutes of paying serious attention to Spike’s cock and balls, TwinSpike hooked a couple of fingers in Spike’s opening but as Spike had suspected, he could no longer feel the buzz of pleasure from his prostate.


TwinSpike gave up with a deep sigh. “Maybe you just need some blood?”


He pushed thin metal tube into one of the bags and offered it to Spike’s lips. Spike shuddered as he began to suck on it. It was the same tube that had been used to punch and hold open the hole in his penis, but he was so hungry he couldn’t resist. As he got to the bottom of the bag, he began to wish that he had been able to, everything was going fuzzy. Why had he drugged him when he could do magics?


Through half closed eyes, Spike watched his twin rummage in the ‘toy’ drawer. He selected a metal collar and fastened it around Spike’s neck. “Should have done this before,” he said. “Then you’ll find it easier to remember your place.”


A couple of quietly spoken words from TwinSpike and the collar heated up as the ends of it melded together. Spike shook his head weakly as it constricted against his neck. It was a tight fit. Then TwinSpike unfastened the chains from the holes in Spike’s hands. He fastened a large ring to one end of it and clipped it through the hole in his penis before treading the other end through a ring on Spike’s collar. He pulled it taut enough to hold Spike’s cock erect.


“Least it looks the part now,” said TwinSpike with a grin. “How are you feeling?”


Spike blinked at him, it was an effort to keep his eyes open. He tried to raise his head to see what had been done to him but it was too hard. A wave of TwinSpike’s hand had him sliding off the bed to kneel at the side of it. His doppelganger walked towards him, freeing his hard cock from the confines of his jeans.


“Now do you think that you can do this without chowing down on my dick? ‘Cause you know how unpleasant I can make things for you.”


He rubbed the head of his cock over Spike’s face and laughed as Spike obediently opened his mouth revealing his bare gums and multi-pierced tongue. It wasn’t the best blow job that Spike had given – he was a little too out of it to work at his best but at least the fucker hadn’t bitten him. TwinSpike was sure that he hadn’t totally learned his lesson. But he soon would.


Another wave of TwinSpike’s hands and Spike was spread-eagled on his back on the bed. Chains weaved magically around his wrists and ankles, holding him tight. TwinSpike pushed a couple of pillows under Spike’s head.


“I don’t want you to miss this.”


The twin ran his hand down Spike’s chest to his genitals. He pulled on the chain attached to Spike’s cock, hard enough to make him yelp. TwinSpike froze. “Damn! I nearly forgot.” He got another of the bags of blood and punched the metal straw through it. “Open up.”


Spike opened his mouth wide, like a baby bird when its mother returns to the nest. Instead of letting him suck the straw, TwinSpike pushed it into Spike’s mouth, right to the back of the tongue and then squeezed the bag. Spike swallowed greedily for the first couple of times, before the pain hit, then he tried to spit it out, as he yelled. TwinSpike waved his hand and Spike’s resistance stopped but the cries remained for another minute. They stopped when the Holy Water that the blood had been laced with, seared through his vocal chords.


“I know that you don’t talk much these days but this is going to hurt and I’m quite partial to my eardrums. I was going to gag you but they look so unattractive, don’t you think?” TwinSpike said conversationally, releasing control of Spike’s throat.


Spike gargled and wheezed but could make no real sound. TwinSpike’s hand went to Spike’s balls. He stroked and played with them for a while before straddling Spike’s legs and bending to lick them. The sensation wasn’t unpleasant, although his cock still refused to get interested.


TwinSpike vamped out and Spike felt a pang of envy at the sight of his mouthful of razor sharp teeth. Spike tensed as the twin bit into his femoral artery and pulled a couple of mouthfuls out before lathing it closed with his tongue.


“Whoo! That’s some good shit you have in your veins, Spikey,” said TwinSpike throwing his head back and laughing. “Focus. Focus,” he chided himself a moment later. “Right. So you know how I decided to give you something to remember our first shag by?”


Spike’s eyes drifted to his left hand. As if he could forget – even without the loss of a digit.


“Well, I reckon that you need reminding who is in charge here. And to have something to remind you how wrong it is to try to bite me.”


TwinSpike licked Spike’s right testicle lazily, and chuckled some more when Spike feebly writhed beneath him as the penny dropped in his drug befuddled brain about what was going to happen.


“The thing is, Spike,” continued TwinSpike. “Biting is so much more effective when you have teeth.”


He licked Spike’s testicle again and then drew it into his mouth. For some reason, Spike’s cock finally decided it was time to come to life and filled for the first time since the day one of his captivity. TwinSpike pulled away from Spike’s ball.


“Looks like there’s life in the old dog yet,” he chuckled evilly. “So think on, Spike. The right one is history – no going back on that – but your bits do still kind of work, so better think hard about what might make me get rid of the left, okay?”


The drugs in Spike’s system did nothing to dull the pain. His scream was loud in his head but an almost inaudible gasp in the room. He wanted to close his eyes. He wanted not to see what he was seeing, but he couldn’t look away. TwinSpike raised his head, mouth and chin covered with blood. He opened his lips so that Spike could see what was inside and then chewed a couple of times before swallowing it.


TwinSpike grimaced. “Bit chewy, probably because you’re so sodding old. When the other one goes, maybe I should tenderise it a little first?”


He waited until Spike’s silent scream diminished and then rubbed his hand over the raw wound left behind, watching Spike’s face with glee as he screamed again and again and again.


“Thank God I remembered the Holy Water laced blood,” muttered TwinSpike as he left. “I swear he would have deafened me.” He glanced back over his shoulder and was pleased to see a pair of tear filled yellow eyes watching him. “I’d give you some blood, but that would make you heal so…” He paused dramatically. “See you in a week.”

Chapter Four


Dawn didn’t go home straight from school. She knew that Buffy would be at work and didn’t want to be around Spike if she could help it. She’d tried to talk to Willow about her concerns but the red head had just brushed them aside as if she were just a jealous kid. There was only one person who she knew would listen. Tara.


She knocked loudly on the door to Tara’s apartment and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the door to be opened. As soon as it was, she startled Tara by marching straight in and turning around to face her with hands on hips.


“Tara, you’ve got to help me. It’s Spike. Something’s not right with him. Could Willow’s spell have gone kablooey and hurt Spike somehow?”


“Er…come in, Dawnie,” replied Tara with a gentle smile.


She closed the door and walked to Dawn taking hold of her hands.


“Sweetie, why don’t we sit down and you can tell me all about it?” she suggested.


Dawn took a deep breath. “Okay. But I’m not just a jealous kid. I’m so over my crush on Spike. There’s this boy at school who is way cooler…”


Tara sat on the couch and suppressed a sigh. She had a feeling that this was going to be a long conversation.


*~*~*~*


Spike shifted position and gasped. How could it still hurt so much after so long? Had the bastard put a spell on him? He raised his head and looked at his wound through narrowed eyes. Tentatively he touched the area and screamed. Croaked would be more accurate but it was more noise than he’d been capable of the day before. The wound looked almost as bad as when it had happened. Spike let his head fall back to the bed.


Why can’t the git just sodding stake me or chop off my head?


The really terrifying thing was that Spike knew exactly why he wouldn’t. He knew first hand just how much fun it was to torture and maim. Only he’d never had a vampire to play with and so his victims had tended not to last very long. The things that TwinSpike had done to him were pretty much the same as he’d inflicted back in the day. Admittedly, he’d spat out the body parts that he’d torn off not eaten them like that sick fucker, but he’d done it all the same. He shuddered when he thought of all the things in TwinSpike’s stolen memories of what could still be to come. Spike had never thought the saying ‘what goes around comes around’ applied to vampires but now he was sure that it did. He was getting payback with a capital P.


He stared at the feeding bottle on the wall as if he could fill it simply by his own will. To his utter astonishment, the bottle did begin to fill with blood as he watched. His stomach growled and though he was suspicious of how the blood had arrived – TwinSpike must have magicked it there – the need for sustenance was too great to be able to resist it.


Slowly, oh so slowly, Spike moved down the bed until his feet touched the floor. The pain from his missing testicle seemed to drag at his innards almost as badly as when the rod had been activated. He struggled to his feet and walked on unsteady legs towards the bottle.


Halfway there, his legs gave out and he fell to the floor, an almost silent scream on his lips. It was over ten minutes before he dare to move again. He crawled until his hands could touch the wall and then he leant against it as he rose to his feet. He bit the teat with his gums and sucked hungrily. It began to fill as soon as he emptied it and he drank until his stomach felt bloated.


He slid down the wall until his arse touched the floor and then curled up in a ball on his side. Spike knew that he’d need more blood soon and couldn’t face trying to get to and from the bed. He fell into a deep, exhausted sleep. Twenty-four hours passed before he stirred.


Spike opened his eyes slowly and shifted position to see how much pain he was in. To his surprise, the answer to that was hardly any. He ran his hand down to his groin and encountered smooth hairless tissue where the gaping hole had been. Spike closed his eyes again and tried to still the trembles that were taking over his body.


Another part of him gone.


He touched the remaining ball and wondered how long he’d be allowed to keep that? Maybe he should just rip it off himself? Save the doppelganger the trouble?


Get a grip, Spike. He chided himself. Can’t give up while the fucker goes home to Buffy. Although he knew that these dingy four walls would be the only ones he saw for the rest of his existence, Spike couldn’t give up. While his twin could come here and get his kinks worked out by abusing him, he might not get violent with Buffy, the Niblet and the Scoobies. No. Gotta stay strong.


He felt strong enough to stand and drank deeply when he saw the bottle was full again. He glanced down at his genitals. His cock was still held upright by the chain attached to his collar and the lone testicle hanging there made everything look lopsided. It would be much neater with none. He walked slowly to the bed. Least once it was gone, the bastard couldn’t threaten to do it anymore. Spike knew that he’d do anything to avoid the pain he’d endured with the other’s removal.


Spike rolled over onto his hands and knees when he heard the bolts being opened, thankful that he could now use his hands to brace himself again the hard thrusts.


TwinSpike didn’t speak. He smirked when he saw that Spike was in position. The blood had obviously done the trick, and he didn’t think Spike would have any trouble remembering the past few days.


Spike whimpered as his double gently stroked his remaining testicle, his whole body rigid with the terror that the gentle touch may change to something more.


“It’s all right, Spikey. The last one gave me terrible indigestion, it was so bleeding tough. You can keep that for a while.” His hand gripped more firmly. “Aren’t you going to thank me? I know you can speak again by now.”


“Thank you,” rasped Spike.


TwinSpike chuckled and let go, the ball swinging slightly as he did. “Does look kind of sad though, hanging there all alone.”


Spike heard the familiar sound of the zipper on his twin’s jeans and braced himself for the first hard thrust. He wasn’t disappointed and soon TwinSpike’s balls were slapping on his arse in a frantic rhythm. It didn’t really hurt anymore. Whether TwinSpike had intended it or not, forcing Spike’s arse to heal wide open, meant that even being fucked with such force no longer really caused any physical damage.


TwinSpike told Spike to stand up once he had shot his load and Spike found that no matter how often it happened, the humiliation of standing powerless in front of his captor while spunk ran down his legs hurt more than most of what had been done to him. He stank of stale semen and blood. Spike glanced down and grimaced when he saw how his legs were streaked with both He clenched his fists. His anger increased when he saw the stump where his little finger should be. He was full of blood – he was almost pain free – he was fucking sick of being a victim.


Spike launched himself at TwinSpike. His left fist connected with his double’s cheek before he was hurled across the room. As he hit the wall with a bone rattling crunch he remembered the advantage that TwinSpike had over him. Magic. The bastard was full of it. He struggled to get up, but was pinned there – helpless – again.


“Now that was downright unfriendly,” said TwinSpike, vamping out and stalking towards him. “That wasn’t very friendly at all.”


*~*~*~*


Tara listened patiently to Dawn’s jumbled explanation as to why she thought that Spike was all wrong. Like Willow, she wasn’t totally convinced that Dawn wasn’t just jealous. Even if her crush had ended, she sounded resentful of the time that Spike and Buffy were spending together.


“Please,” begged Dawn. “Help me. No one else will.”


One thing that Tara could do quickly and without anyone knowing about it was read auras. She was familiar enough with Spike’s to be sure that she would be able to detect any changes.


“Okay, I’ll come over. But I really don’t want to see Willow,” Tara replied. No way was she ready to see her former lover just yet.


“She’s going to Xander’s tonight – big pizza fest. Buffy promised to stay in with me, but I’m sure that she’ll end up going out with Spike to patrol and then they’ll go to his crypt and—”


“I said I’d come!” interrupted Tara. “I’ll come over at seven. They’ll still be in by then, won’t they?”


Dawn grinned triumphantly. “Yeah, they won’t have gone patrolling by then.” She hugged Tara and then added, “I’ll see you later.” Before she ran out of the apartment.


*~*~*~*


Spike stared in horror as TwinSpike approached him. He’d hoped that the beating he’d just endured would be the end of it, but now his double was walking towards him again carrying something that Spike was sure wouldn’t be pleasant. He was pinned against the wall by the magics TwinSpike had thrown at him, with his feet just off the floor and his arms outstretched to the sides.


“I fed you well so that you would heal nicely,” said TwinSpike calmly. “But what do you do? You just fucking attack me.” He stroked Spike’s face. “I’m getting bored of you. There’s not much more I can do apart from chop you up into little biddy pieces.”


He mimed the action of scissors with his free hand. “Could just cut off your arms and legs and put you in a box and leave you here – forever. I’m pretty sure that I can make it so you don’t need to feed – so that you’d just exist.”


TwinSpike smiled and then sank his fangs into Spike’s neck. “If keeping you so well fed makes you think that you can take me, then I’d better not make that mistake again.”


Spike felt light-headed when his twin eventually pulled his fangs out.


“I think it’s about time that I brought little Dawn down here to play with instead.”


“No!” growled Spike. “Leave her alone.”


TwinSpike loosened the hold his magics had on Spike and then slammed him back into the wall. “You’re in no position to tell me what to do,” snarled TwinSpike. “I’ll find the spell that the witch did to create me and make me a new Dawnie and bring the original one here.” He smiled as he thought of the fun that he could have.


Spike felt a faint glimmer of hope. Would a spell work on Dawn given that she was already mystical in origin? If there were no double, then Buffy would find her. She’d never let any harm come to the Niblet.


“You really piss me off sometimes,” said TwinSpike. “I’m sure that if I listen to you or look at you for much longer that I’ll end up staking you.” He leaned in close. “But I want you there to see what I do to your precious little Slayer and her sister when the time comes, and I think that if you die then I will too.” Holding his hands out so that Spike could see the two flat pieces of metal that he held, TwinSpike grinned and said, “This will prevent me from staking you in temper. It might pinch a little.”



The force holding Spike to the wall disappeared and he slumped forwards landing in his doppelganger’s arms. TwinSpike put one hand on Spike’s chest, covering his heart and the other in the same equivalent place on his back. Before Spike could struggle out of TwinSpike’s arms, the magics kicked in and the metal embedded itself into his skin. Spike yelled and when his twin let him fall to the floor his fingers scratched at frantically at the metal, but there was no edge to try to pull against. It was as if the metal was a part of him, shielding his heart at the front and the back. The sharp pain diminished and Spike struggled to his feet.


“I won’t let you hurt them,” he hissed, spittle flying as he glared at TwinSpike.


TwinSpike patted Spike’s cheek affectionately. “You haven’t got a hope in Hell of stopping me doing anything that I fucking want.”


A wave of his hands and Spike was suddenly enveloped in chains, wrenching his arms behind his back and his ankles up to meet them. Spike gasped as another chain yanked his head back causing the one on his penis to pull cruelly tight. A bag of blood was dropped onto the floor a couple of feet away.


“Just remember, if you hadn’t attacked me, you could have been lying on that lovely bed with a bellyful of blood.” He reached down and tugged the penis chain. “I could have taken this or your other bollock, but I reckon it’ll be fun to have a little game when I get all of your little friends down here. I’ll let one of you pick which bit I cut off another.” He laughed in Spike’s face. “If you don’t pick then I shag Dawnie ‘til someone decides to play. I wonder just what else I could fill her with than just my cock – large as it is – I don’t reckon I’d make it hurt too badly. She’d be all hot and wet from just wanting me inside.”


Spike growled and thrust his head forwards and snapped his bare gums at TwinSpike, who merely laughed. “Easy, tiger. Have fun; not sure when I’ll be back.” He straightened up and walked away, leaving Spike with his muscles protesting already.



*~*~*~*


TwinSpike stopped short when he caught a different scent when he walked into what he now considered home. He searched his inherited memories and came up with a name – Tara. Shite, she’s a witch. Spike’s memories also told him that she was a sensitive – able to read auras. Pausing as his closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated hard, TwinSpike gathered his magics. When he was satisfied that he had it under control, he walked into the living room, unaware that by drawing in his magics to create a shield around him that the hold over Spike was weakening.


“Hey, Tara,” he said as he sprawled on the armchair. “Haven’t seen you for a while.”


“Hello, Spike,” said Tara carefully. If there really was something wrong with Spike, she didn’t want to risk antagonising him, chip or no chip. “Dawn asked me to come around. She’s a little lonely,” added Tara, glancing towards the kitchen.


“Yeah, well, me and her big sis have been kind of busy, what with the patrolling and all.” TwinSpike leered at Tara and ran a hand over his groin. She was quite a looker – another good candidate for a playmate.


Tara flushed and looked away. She closed her eyes briefly and tried to concentrate on his aura. It was different – there was no question about that – but she wasn’t exactly sure what the difference meant. She’s never had one like this. It was jumbled up, as if it had been patched together. She tried not to flinch when she opened her eyes to find him staring at her intensely. Dawn was right, forget his aura, his eyes were different. Colder, more predatory.


She wondered if the chip had failed and if he was killing again. She needed to do some research, then when she had more of an idea of what was going on, she’d tell Willow. She thought that it was more likely to be a fault with the chip than anything going wrong with the spell. She knew that Spike’s double had disappeared as scheduled because Willow told her it had. What she didn’t know was that Spike had been the one to report that fact.


*~*~*~*


Pain flared in Spike’s face. He closed his eyes and groaned. What now? His limbs were cramping from the way he was shackled and his remaining genitals were being pressed against the concrete floor. Spike hissed as the pain increased and then suddenly his features shifted. Teeth ripped their way through his gums as his face returned to his human appearance for the first time in weeks.


Before Spike could process this fact, the chains binding him suddenly disappeared and his face hit the floor with a thud. The taste of blood flooded his mouth as he’d bitten his tongue. Gasping, Spike rolled onto his back and lay there panting for a time, trying to gather his wits. He cast his eyes towards the door. If the magics controlling him had gone, then had the wards failed too? If so, freedom was only a couple of bolts away.


He rolled over until he could get on his hands and knees and crawled until he could reach the blood. How weak he felt right now meant that he knew he’d be unable to break the door down. Spike allowed himself a grin as his human teeth ripped the corner of the bag open and then he drained every drop. A glance at the bottle on the wall showed him that it was full, so Spike crawled over and used the wall to help him get to his feet. He almost bit through the teat on the end of the bottle in his eagerness to get to the blood.


Still feeling a little shaky, he walked to the drawer where his torturer had kept his ‘toys’. Tentatively, he reached out but there was no stab of pain this time. Spike shuddered when he saw the rod that had been used on him resting in there with pieces of dried flesh on it; pieces of him. He found what he was looking for, a pair of pliers. He snipped the chain off his penis and sighed as the abused flesh dropped down to rest against his solitary testicle. The attempt to get the collar off failed and so he just cut the end of the chain from there too. No time to worry about that.


The blood in his system was doing its job and he could feel his strength returning. Spike looked down and touched the metal covering his heart. It no longer hurt and still looked like it was part of his skin with no discernable edge to it. The magics involved with that had obviously just been to site it and so the plate was unaffected by the failure.


Taking a deep breath, Spike walked to the door. He held his hand out, trying to feel the energy that would be pulsing if the wards were intact. He hesitated a moment longer before taking two steps forward and kicking the door with all his might with his good right foot. To his utter astonishment, it flew open. He had no idea of whether it was day or night and the corridor the door opened onto gave him no clue. With a backwards glance at his prison, Spike walked slowly down the passage; his whole body was tense as he crept along. The dim light of the corridor made Spike want to vamp out to use his enhanced sight but he daren’t try to change in case he couldn’t change back.


The door to the outside revealed a day slowly turning into night. Spike regarded his filthy naked body with disgust. He needed clothes. He needed somewhere to hide where his double could never find him. He needed help.

Chapter Five


Tara left as soon as she could without arousing suspicion from either Spike or Dawn. She’d smiled reassuringly at the teenager in the hope that she would calm down a little about the changes in Spike. But for the coldness in his eyes, he didn’t seem much changed. Maybe a little more crude that he was before – she shuddered at the way he’d handled himself in front of her – but other than that, not too different. His aura puzzled her and she couldn’t wait to get started on researching it. She desperately hoped that Willow’s spell hadn’t caused any damage. She tried to warn Willow of the dangers but the end result had been them breaking up and obviously Willow not staying away from the powerful magics.


*~*~*~*


TwinSpike relaxed his shielding magic and slouched even lower in the chair. God, I’m good! He smirked and grabbed the remote, turning the TV on and settling down to watch the news. He was pleased that so far the teenager’s body hadn’t been found. So hopefully they wouldn’t have curfews introduced by their parents and he’d be able to grab a snack when the Slayer was sleeping. His stomach rumbled loudly. Running a hand over it he called out to Dawn.


“Going out for a bit. I’ll be back in an hour. Tell Buffy to be ready to patrol when I get back.”


A good feed always made him horny. He ate as little of the pig’s blood that they were always filling the refrigerator with as he could without arousing suspicion. It tasted like shite.


“Okay,” replied Dawn scowling. Tell her to be ready! Huh, Spike the control freak now.


But truth be told, she was glad that she wasn’t alone with him. She’d been able to tell that Tara thought something was wrong even though she hadn’t said anything so far. She grabbed a bag of chips from the cupboard in the kitchen and wandered back into the living room. Disregarding her schoolwork, she sat down to watch her favourite reality TV show.

The telephone rang shrilly, interrupting her. Groaning, she got up and walked into the kitchen to answer it.


“Niblet?” The voice was low, slurred and raspy.


“Spike?” The use of her nickname made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up; he hadn’t used it in so long. “Is that you?”


“I-I need help…is…is Buffy there?” Spike spoke slowly, trying his hardest to make his words clear. The heavy studs in his tongue making it almost impossible,


Dawn scowled. “You know she’s not due back from work just yet. Are you drunk? You’ve only been gone thirty minutes.”


“No…I forgot. Look, Bit, can you…” There was a pause as Spike struggled to catch his breath. “I need…clothes…”


The door opened and Dawn turned around expecting to see Buffy even though it was a little too early for her but she almost dropped the phone when Spike walked in. She quickly turned away. Was this a trick? With a trembling hand she put the receiver to her ear.


“Where are you?” she whispered, heart thumping in her chest.


“Nearest call box to…the old…factory…it’s—”


“I know where it is,” said Dawn quickly. Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Two Spikes! She had no doubt that she was talking to the real version. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Without waiting for a reply, she hung up.


“Who was that, Dawnie?” asked TwinSpike.


“Er…Jenny,” replied Dawn, thinking on her feet. “I left some books there last night. I’ll have to go get them.”


TwinSpike immediately lost interest. He shrugged and grabbed the bottle of JD and left Dawn alone.


She raced down into the basement. She knew that Spike had some clothes in the laundry basket and that he’d not miss them for a few days at least as he always left Buffy to do his laundry for him. She grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and stuffed them into an old rucksack that she found down there. Back in the kitchen, she took a bag of pig’s blood from the fridge and raided the tin on the shelf where Buffy put the grocery money each week.


“See you later,” she called, hoping that her voice sounded normal and then ran outside.


*~*~*~*


Spike’s legs gave way and he slumped to the floor. He’d managed to hang up the phone with Dawn, but struggled to keep his eyes open. When he’d found the door to the outside, he’d gone back to the ‘bedroom’ and pulled a sheet from the bed to cover his nakedness. Now he wrapped it tighter around himself as he sat on the floor, surrounded by the quarters that had fallen when he’d ripped open the telephone. He hoped that she’d hurry, his doppelganger could return at any moment and he’d certainly spot Spike if he did.


After what seemed like an age, Dawn arrived at a jog, her face pink from the exertion and her dark hair flowing out behind her. Spike struggled to his feet and she skidded to a halt.


“Oh, my God. It really is you,” she whispered.


Spike tried unsuccessfully to smile at her – it came out more like a grimace. “’S me.” When she didn’t move, he held out his hand for the bag. Dawn took it off her shoulder and went to pass it to him, but then she squealed and dropped it.


Spike looked behind him, there was no one there. “What’s wrong, kitten?”


“Your hand!”


“What?” Spike glanced at his left hand. “Oh, right.” He curled it up into a fist and hid it in the sheet.


“What happened? Where have you been? And who is that back at the house?”


“Let me just put the clothes on first, eh?” His legs were wobbling again and he leant against the call box.


Dawn bent down and picked up the bag, handing it to Spike without incident this time. Spike pulled out the jeans and t-shirt. She just stared.


“Can you turn around? I’d like a bit of privacy.” And I don’t want you to see…He shuddered.


Dawn turned crimson and immediately whirled around. She heard Spike grunt with the effort it took to pull on the jeans and t-shirt.


“You can turn ‘round now.”


“I didn’t bring shoes,” said Dawn as she turned to face him. A glance at his feet made her face blanch and bile rise in her throat. “Oh, Spike,” she whispered.


Spike gritted his teeth. “Look. We need to get away from here.” Before I fall down and can’t get up again.


“By the time we get home, Buffy will be there.”


Spike shook his head. “Too dangerous. It needs to be somewhere that I’ve never been, somewhere that he can’t find in my memories.”


Dawn’s eyes widened. “He can read your mind?”


“No. But all of my memories are his too.” Spike gripped the call box a little tighter. “We need to plan what to do.”


Dawn frowned and then her face lit up. “I know just the place! It’s not too far.”


Spike took a step but staggered and she rushed to his side to keep him from falling. He wrapped his arm around her gratefully, but when he looked at her to thank her, all he became aware of was her strong slightly accelerated pulse. He licked his lips. Smells so good – warm. With an effort, he shook off the almost impossible to resist need to rip her throat out. He didn’t care if he had to do it with his blunt human teeth. He was pretty sure that he could get a good enough bite in before the chip fired if he was really quick.


“No,” he growled.


“What?” Dawn’s huge eyes met his and the temptation eased a little.


“Nothing.”


She picked up the bag as they began to walk slowly away. “I’ve got you some blood.”


“Thanks.”


Spike knew that after being back on the good stuff that returning to pig’s blood would be hard. It would hurt. When he’d first had the chip put in, making the switch from human to animal had been like going cold turkey from drugs.


Together they made their way slowly to the building that Dawn suggested. Expecting a burnt out ruin or some other dilapidated place, Spike’s stopped in surprise when she led him down the driveway of a large detached house. A glance at Dawn revealed that the teenager was grinning at him. “No one will think of looking here for you.”


“It’s no good,” Spike said shaking his head. “This place is bound to be alarmed. The cops will know as soon as we break in.” His voice was getting weaker.


Dawn laughed. “I know where the key is. They’re away in Europe for another month.”


“But…”


Spike’s legs chose that moment to give out and despite Dawn’s grip he slid down to the floor.


“Spike!” Dawn’s eyes were wide with alarm.


He closed his eyes. “I’m really…tired…I’ll just –”


“No! You’re nearly there.”


She slapped his face as hard as she could. She was horrified when Spike cowered down at her feet.


“Oh, God, Spike, I’m sorry.” She bent down to look into his face, taking his chin gently in her hand when he wouldn’t meet her eye. “Come on, it’s not much further and then you can sleep, okay? You’ll be safe.”


He met her gaze when she said the word ‘safe’. Would he ever truly feel safe again? He took a deep breath and struggled to his feet, relying on Dawn’s help. With his head down, they walked round to the back door. He leaned against the wall when Dawn went to retrieve the key from under a fake rock in a flower bed.


Spike settled for the couch, not able to face trying to climb the stairs.


“Um…you’re kind of…well…er…”


“What is it, Niblet?”


“Don’t you want a shower, or a bath? I’m sorry but you really stink,” Dawn said apologetically.


“Later, okay,” Spike replied wearily.


“Here’s the blood.” She handed him the bag. “I’ll go home and tell Buffy about you. She’ll come right over.”


“No,” said Spike, sitting up. “She has got to act normal or else he’ll suspect something and you’ll all be hurt. Ask her to come here instead of work tomorrow.”


“I’ll call her and stay with you,” said Dawn. “I’m not leaving you alone.”


“You’ve got to, Niblet,” said Spike, fatigue making his words even more slurred.


Tears welled in Dawn’s eyes. “He never called me that,” she whispered.


Spike raised his eyes to meet hers and tried to smile, but it came out all wrong again. He could tell it had by the look on her face. “I thought you didn’t like it?”


“I don’t, but I missed it.”


Spike nodded and slumped back on the couch, closing his eyes. “Has he…has he hurt you…hurt Buffy?”


“No. He doesn’t talk to me much and Buffy and him are too busy…um…patrolling,” replied Dawn, silently berating herself at almost telling Spike what their chief occupation was these days. A glance at Spike told her that he hadn’t believed the patrolling part. “She thinks he’s you.”


Spike turned away, squeezing his eyes shut in the hope of keeping the bitter tears from falling.


“But you thought something was wrong,” said Spike, the hurt he felt was disguised by his awkward speech.


“Only because he never called me Niblet,” lied Dawn.


Spike heard the lie and shuddered. “You’d best go home.”


This time she didn’t argue. Spike’s crying! Oh, God, Spike’s crying! She’d never seen Spike anything but cocky and confident. He looked so small. Her eyes fell on his mutilated foot and she shuddered.


“Buffy will come as soon as she can.” Dawn bent down and kissed Spike’s forehead before running from the room.


That gentle touch opened the floodgates and Spike thought that he’d never be able to stop the gut-wrenching sobs that were tearing through him.


*~*~*~*


Buffy and Spike were out when Dawn got back. She rolled her eyes – no surprise there, but her stomach churned at the thought of Buffy and the other Spike getting more than smoochy at the crypt. She glanced at the telephone. It wasn’t too late to tell Tara was it?


Deciding that she didn’t care if it was, Dawn dialled the number and waited for an age before Tara answered.


“Hello?”


“Tara! Spike’s hurt! You’ve got to help him.”


“W-what?” said Tara, puzzled. “Why do you want me to help him – you thought that he was all wrong earlier, evil or something – so what’s so urgent now?”


“Not that Spike,” explained Dawn. “The real Spike. The other must be the double that Willow made – he never disappeared and he’s really hurt Spike.” Dawn’s voice quavered as she spoke.


“Oh! Sweet Goddess. Where is he?”


Dawn told Tara all about what had happened and where she’d left Spike.


“He shouldn’t be alone, but he made me leave and said Buffy hasn’t to go to him until tomorrow but she’s with the other one now and…” She couldn’t go on.


“Shh, sweetie. I’ll go to him. He’s right. We need to be careful. The other Spike must be powerful to be able to do what he has. Tell Buffy to bring Willow tomorrow. We need to send that…” What could she call the other? It was getting confusing. “TwinSpike back to wherever Willow conjured him from.”


“I’m scared, Tara. I don’t want to stay here. Can’t I leave a note saying I’m staying with Jenny and come with you?”


“No, Dawn. What happens if they check up on you? A locator spell would lead them both to Spike if you’re with him. Be brave, Dawnie. Spike needs you to be brave.”


Dawn reluctantly agreed and as soon as she hung up, she headed for the kitchen and ice-cream – she needed lots and lots of ice-cream.


*~*~*~*


Spike lay on the sofa. He was exhausted but couldn’t even begin to relax. He knew exactly what TwinSpike and Buffy would be up to and shuddered as he ran a hand over his groin. He’d never let her see that. Never!


He pushed himself up until he was sitting and when the stench of stale semen made itself known once again, he decided to try to make it to a shower. Spike walked slowly to the stairs and crawled up them, rather than risk falling. The third door he tried revealed a huge bathroom with a tub and separate shower stall. Sitting down seemed like a better idea than standing and so he put the plug in the tub and turned on the taps, hoping that the water would be hot. He wasn’t disappointed and steam clouded the room as it filled.


Spike hissed as he lowered himself in. The sensation of the water being able to go inside him was unpleasant, but clenching his buttocks made no difference.


Least it’ll get that bastard’s juices out of me.


Spike sank lower until the water was lapping at his chin. The bath was so large that his toes only just reached the end with the taps. Closing his eyes, he decided that he’d just soak for a while, before he soaped himself. He drifted off to sleep without knowing that he had.


Tara arrived at the house and when there was no sign of Spike in the living room, she called his name as she walked quickly through each of the downstairs rooms. They were empty. Her heart began to beat a little quicker. What if that TwinSpike had found him already? She ran softly up the stairs. Only one door on the landing was ajar and she moved swiftly to it. The deep pile carpet made her steps almost silent. She tentatively pushed the door open. She saw Spike lying in the tub with only his closed eyes above the level of the water.


“Spike!” she shouted. It wasn’t until afterwards that she realised how stupid she’d been in worrying that he had drowned. But in that instant, she forgot all about the lack of breath vampires needed and saw only a friend possibly lying dead in the water.


Spike startled awake with a yell that had water flooding into his mouth. Coughing and spluttering, he leapt out of the bathtub in panic and then came to a shocked halt in front of Tara.


Her eyes widened and her hand flew up to her mouth when she saw his naked body. In an instant, she followed the mass of bruises down his torso, the strange metal plate over his heart, and then gasped in horror as her eyes settled on his genitals.


Spike gathered his wits enough to cover himself with his hands, but he knew that he’d been too slow and that she’d seen what he wanted no one ever to see. He spun around and picked up the fluffy pink towel that he’d left on the floor, ready to use. Another sharp intake of breath reminded Spike that his rear view wasn’t any prettier than the front. Groaning with shame, he wrapped the towel around him and then slumped to the floor resting his head on his bent knees. She didn’t move or say anything, so he glanced up at her through his lashes and saw her eyes were fixed on his feet. Well one foot in particular. He shifted his position so that his feet were hidden by the large towel and screwed his eyes shut. He couldn’t bear it.


He shrank away when her hand touched his shoulder though he wasn’t sure whether it was because he was so used to being abused or whether it was shame.


“Spike,” she said in a voice so laden with sympathy that Spike wished he could dust right there and then.


He shuffled further away, sickened even more when the movement allowed water to seep out of his anus.


“I’m here to help you,” said Tara gently. “I’m sorry I startled you, I just thought you had fallen unconscious and drowned.”


Spike could hear the embarrassment at her mistake in her voice and without looking at her, he mumbled, “Already dead, love.” He cringed at the garbled sound of his voice.


“I brought more blood. I’ll go and heat it for you, then bring it up, okay?”


Spike didn’t react.


“You’ve got to eat,” she persisted.


Spike sighed and nodded slightly. He couldn’t give up. Not until that bastard was dead.


“Leave the bedroom door open, then I’ll know which one you’re in,” said Tara, adding, “This place has so many; the blood would be cold before I found you again.”


She stroked his arm before getting up and walking out of the bathroom. Spike shivered. All of the benefit of having a hot bath had gone. His whole body ached. He struggled to his feet and made his way to the nearest bedroom. Judging by the posters on the wall it was a teenaged girl’s room but the bed was still a large double. It would do. Spike dropped the towel and slipped under the covers, pulling them right up to his chin.


The door opened a little wider and Tara walked in holding a mug of steaming blood. Taking care to ensure that the only part of him showing was his head, Spike sat up and moved his left hand out to take the mug before remembering and reaching awkwardly for it with his right instead. He hoped she wouldn’t notice the small holes through his palms, but the slight widening of her eyes told him that she had.


He wished that Tara would just leave; instead she sat in the armchair near the window after she’d passed him the mug. His nerves were on edge after ten minutes of her sitting in silence. Not because he wanted her to talk, but rather that the longer it was the more certain he was that she would talk. In the end, he could stand it no more and broke the silence himself.


“Wh…what…uh…what you saw…” He bit his lower lip as he tried to remain composed. “You can’t…I mean…I don’t want anyone to know.”


“I would never tell.” She knew exactly what part of him he meant and her heart went out to him.


“Thank you,” he whispered.


“C-Can I do something to your foot, please?” asked Tara. “It looks like walking on it would hurt. Maybe it will feel better if I bind it so that…” Her voice broke.


“So that it doesn’t look like a bloody flipper?” supplied Spike, with an edge to his voice. “Bastard made it heal like that. Forced it apart until it was healed over.”


“I’m so sorry, Spike,” murmured Tara. She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. “What happened?” She saw him tense and quickly continued. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. Just forget I said it.”


Spike met her eye briefly. “’S okay. I’ve got no secrets from you, have I?” He was proud at how even his voice sounded. “Left the toes and part of my foot nailed to a bed post.”


Tara paled.


Spike brought his left hand out from under the covers and held it for her to see. “He ate the other bits.” He knew she wouldn’t be thinking of the finger when he said it.


Tara made a mewling sound and fled from the room. Seconds later, Spike could hear her throwing up in the bathroom. He cursed himself for saying it like that. She was trying to help him. Spike sipped at the blood, letting its warmth soothe him from the inside out.


Spike had just begun to think that she’d left altogether when Tara reappeared with a first aid kit. She was still deathly pale but looked composed and said, “Let me see your foot.”


Spike obediently wriggled his foot until it was poking out of the bedclothes. She examined it closely. “Let me know if I hurt you.”


She selected a bandage and wrapped it around Spike’s foot. Beginning with his toes and working her way to the heel and then wrapping it around the ankle before tying it off. Spike winced when the two smaller toes were pushed towards his big toe but it was more discomfort than hurt. When she was finished, he quickly pulled it back out of sight. He wasn’t sure what looked worse – the V shaped hole in the middle of his foot or how narrow it looked now that it was strapped together.


“May I see your hand?” she asked quietly.


“That’s all healed up,” he said but he offered it to her all the same. He shuddered when her fingers stroked the unscarred surface of where his finger had been. She surprised him by bringing his hand to her lips and lightly kissing the palm.


She looked in his eyes with the boldest stare he’d ever seen her give. “It won’t change the way she feels about you.” They both knew that she wasn’t talking about his hands.


He dropped his gaze but said nothing. It changed the way he felt. Didn’t matter what Buffy said. The only time he’d gotten hard was just before the bastard had chewed it off. He doubted that he would ever get hard again.


“Do you want me to take a look at your tongue?” asked Tara.


“Don’t miss a trick, do you,” replied Spike, before sticking his tongue out at her.


The three studs in his tongue were almost as big as marbles.


“How did he do it?”


“Magic. The git’s full of it.”


Tara smiled. “In that case I might be able to get rid of them now. A simple reversal spell should do it. I’ll go and get my bag.”


Spike watched as she scurried out of the room. He slipped his left hand under the covers and stroked his dick and solitary testicle. Three fingers on his cock instead of four felt odd. He teased the skin of the remaining part of his scrotum and sighed when nothing stirred.


May as well have taken the fucking lot!


He screwed up his eyes as despair closed in again.


Why hasn’t Buffy noticed? Does she like him better than me?


Tara returned with another mug-full of blood and the makings of her spell. “I’ll do the spell first. It might hurt a little – I haven’t got the ingredients for a numbing spell with me.”


“Do it.”


He watched as Tara mixed the ingredients with a small pestle and mortar and then recited an incantation in a language he couldn’t understand. It felt like his tongue was being ripped out but when he leant forward and gasped, the three studs flew out of his mouth and rolled down the bed.


“Wow,” said Tara a little wild-eyed. “Are you okay?”


Spike rolled his tongue around his mouth experimentally. It hurt but was a lot more mobile. He nodded. “Think so.”


Tara rested her hand on Spike’s arm, both pretending not to notice him flinch, as she said, “Everything will be all right.”


But Spike knew that it wouldn’t be. That bastard could die, but nothing would ever be all right again.

Chapter Six


Spike had no idea of the time. He’d woken from his nightmare ravaged dream while it was still dark. Taking advantage of the lack of light, he dressed in the clothes that Dawn had brought for him. Tara had left them carefully folded on the floor beside the bed. He didn’t want to see his mutilated body and shuddered as he tucked himself inside the jeans. Swallowing hard against the bile that that rose in his throat, Spike sat on the chair that Tara had used. Pulling back the drapes, he stared out into the night. Where was TwinSpike? Had he been to check on him yet? Were the others already dead by his hand?


The vampire shook his head. No, he couldn’t have discovered what was going on yet. If he had found out then he would have come for Spike before killing the others – that bastard would make him watch – he was sure of it. Tara had left three bags of blood and Spike walked over and drained them all. His stomach cramped in protest at the lack of nutrients in the pig’s blood and he gasped as he doubled over until the spasm passed. Panting slightly, he resumed his place at the window, waiting there until the light of dawn forced him to pull the drapes together once more.


He didn’t want to see Buffy. Didn’t want to look in her eyes and see her pity. Pity would be there, of that he had no doubt and the thought of it churned the blood in his stomach. He was no longer the creature she had loved. He was weak, broken and it felt like he would never get back to how he was before…before that bastard ruined him.


The sound of footsteps hurrying up the driveway caught Spike’s attention and he rose from the chair, took a couple of strides and then turned around and sat back down heavily. His mind was in turmoil. A large part of him wanted to get down those stairs as fast as he could and fling himself at Buffy; he ached to feel her warm body against his, but another part of him told him to keep cool, not to show how much he had longed to see her again when he was being held captive. He just needed to make sure that she and Niblet were safe from his doppelganger and then… He didn’t really want to think of what then.


He heard Buffy come into the house and ask Tara where he was. Footsteps thundered upstairs and Spike stood once more, holding himself tense and shoving his hands into his pockets. The door was flung open and there she was – the love of his whole existence – the lover who hadn’t realised she was shagging the twin. The bitterness of his thoughts made him turn his face away as she strode towards him. He knew that his emotions showed on his face no matter how he tried not to let them.


“Spike! Oh my God, Spike!”


And then she was there. Her arms around him, hugging him with Slayer strength. She mistook his flinch, thinking that she’d hurt him, but it was his unbeating heart that was searing with pain. He could still smell TwinSpike on her. He closed his eyes, knowing that she would have had to sleep beside him after Dawn told her the truth, but part of him had wanted the Slayer just to have staked the bastard and then come for him.


“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” she asked letting her arms fall away from his body and taking a step back.


Spike didn’t trust himself to speak, and so kept his eyes averted, shook his head slightly, and widened the space between them a little more. He could practically feel her eyes looking over him; he shifted uncomfortably and glanced gratefully at the doorway when Dawn walked slowly through it.


“Hey,” she said softly as she hugged him gently.


Without thinking Spike put his arms around her. A loud gasp reminded him of his mistake and he gritted his teeth as he glanced over Dawn’s head at Buffy. Her mouth was wide open and her gaze was fixed on his left hand. When she caught him looking at her she quickly looked away. Spike felt sick to his stomach. She obviously couldn’t bear the sight of him.


“So what are we going to do?” asked Buffy. She’d moved across the room and had her back to him as she spoke.


Before Spike could speak, Dawn pulled out of his arms and snarled, “Kill the bastard!”


It was a toss up as to who was more shocked by Dawn’s outburst, but neither Buffy nor Spike contradicted her.


Silence hung heavy in the room until Spike asked where Willow was, worried that she hadn’t wanted to help him.


“Downstairs talking with Tara,” said Dawn.


“Are you ready to go downstairs?” asked Buffy, still not looking at Spike.


“Um…yeah.”


She marched out of the room without a backwards glance. Spike caught Dawn staring at him and quickly looked away. Not quickly enough. She rested a hand on his arm.


“She’s just so mad, she wants to kill him. She loves you, Spike. You know that she does.”


Spike shrugged slightly. “Best get down there.” He tried to prevent Dawn from holding his left hand, but short of snatching it violently away there was nothing he could do. He shuddered as his three fingers wrapped around her hand. It felt so wrong.


The others were in the kitchen and Spike sat at the table without meeting anyone’s eyes. He loathed the way that they’d all stopped talking when he’d limped in.


“So why didn’t you just stake him after Niblet told you what he was?” Spike said bleakly into the silence.


“We…He…” spluttered Buffy.


He stared at her coldly and raised an eyebrow. “He what?”


Buffy glanced imploringly at Willow, who obliged by stepping in.


“We thought that if we killed him that it might kill you too,” she explained.


“You’d all be safe then wouldn’t you? So why didn’t you do it?”


Buffy whirled around to face him. “We don’t want you dead!”


Spike only heard the ‘we’. He’d said it hoping for an ‘I’. He closed his eyes, knowing that he wasn’t being fair, but it was hard for him to be objective when his jeans fitted a bit more loosely at his crotch. When he opened them, Tara was the only one looking at him. He smiled at her weakly but could see that she wasn’t convinced.


“So what’s the plan then?”


“We trap him in the basement until we figure out how to get rid of him properly. Tara said that you told her TwinSpike was big with the magics?” said Willow.


“TwinSpike?” said Spike. They’ve given him a fucking name!


“Well, we had to call him something,” snapped Buffy defensively.


“'Bastard' not do it for you then, love? ‘Cause that’s what I called him most of the time?”


The others gasped but Buffy just said softly. “It’s just a name. Won’t matter what he was called when he’s gone, will it?”


Spike shook his head.


Buffy sat down and closed her eyes. She shuddered as she thought of all the times that she’d… How could she have not known? She opened them and met Spike’s eyes before looking away, the guilt she felt was eating her up inside and it hurt too much to see the pain in Spike’s face.


Spike took her glancing away as another rejection. He rubbed his left hand over his face and then swiftly put it out of sight when he realised what he’d done. Getting up from his seat to avoid seeing the pity on their faces, he stood by the window and peered out. The sun didn’t reach this side of the house and he could see the bright flowers in the garden waving gently in the breeze.


Until falling in love with the Slayer, Spike had never really missed going out in the sun. He’d belonged to the night and thrived there. The monochrome world suited him better than the Technicolor one ever had. But now…he yearned to walk beside Buffy in the sunlight. He wanted to see the way the light danced off her hair and not content himself with lurking in the shade. Spike realised with a jolt that he had had enough.


His love for the Slayer was as unnatural a creature as he was himself and he shouldn’t be enticing her into the dark. No wonder she hadn’t realised that she was bedding someone else. There had been plenty of rough sex between them. How could she be expected to tell the difference? She didn’t love him – she simply thought that she needed him – thought that a human wouldn’t be enough for her, but she was wrong. Her dreams should be of fat grandchildren and white picket fences, not of aging while her lover remained the same. How could they have ever thought that they would be able to be together?


He forced himself to turn his attention back to their plan. It seemed too elaborate to work. Typically, they seemed to favour the complicated but it didn’t matter. When the doppelganger was trapped in the basement, Spike intended on staking the git himself the first chance he got.


It was decided that Tara and Willow would arrive at the house just after Buffy pretended to get home from work. Working together, the two witches were sure that they could counter any magics that TwinSpike threw at them. Once he was secure, they’d call Dawn and Spike and then hit research mode until they were certain the twin’s destruction wouldn’t adversely affect Spike.


The others left so Spike and Dawn made their way to the living room and channel hopped until they found a program that they could agree on.


*~*~*~*


TwinSpike was feeling pretty pleased with himself. He’d resisted the urge to torment Spike some more. Leaving him tied up like that for a few days would really be painful. He grinned at the memory. Then, as he wandered around the tunnels he’d happened across a kid, a boy of only thirteen, who’d climbed down into the sewer on a dare. TwinSpike had growled ferociously as he grabbed him, purely for the benefit of the friends he could hear at the surface.


The boy had pissed himself with fear as TwinSpike held him down and bit deep into his femoral artery. The kid’s screams when he’d ripped off his jeans and had a bit of fun were so fucking satisfying that TwinSpike had come in his jeans as if he were a kid himself. The body was so torn up that TwinSpike fully expected stories of an alligator in the sewers to be splashed all over the papers if it were ever found. He’d carried the remains for two miles before dumping it. With a bit of luck it wouldn’t be found for a while.


He rubbed his belly as he opened the door to Revello Drive. He had made a bit of a pig of himself but the boy had just been so tasty. How the hell Spike could live on that animal blood he’d never know. Out of the corner of his eye, saw the light glint of the blade of an axe but he had no time to react and the flat of the blade hit him on the side of the head and knocked him into the kitchen. He fell in a crumpled heap on the floor, unconscious and the three women leapt into action.


By the time that he’d awakened, he was securely shackled to the wall of the basement by his neck, ankles and wrists. The first thing he saw was the Slayer. The second was that he had been stripped naked.


He grinned at Buffy and tilted his head on one side. “Never thought you were into bondage, love. Should have said sooner – think of all the fun that we’ve missed out on.”


Buffy strode towards him and slapped his face hard enough to make his head crack against the wall.


“Just shut up!”


Wincing and working his jaw, he glared at her defiantly, chanted a phrase and waved his fingers in her direction. His brow furrowed when nothing happened. It was Buffy’s turn to smile.


“The basement is a now a magic free zone,” she stated. “You can’t use it in here.”


“But neither can your bloody pet witches,” snarled TwinSpike, beginning to realise that he was in trouble.


Buffy glanced to the right and he followed her gaze until he spotted the sharply honed axe. “Won’t need magic to kill you. I can do that part myself.”


“You get me all hot when you talk like that.” TwinSpike pointedly looked down at his erect cock.


Buffy shuddered. “You disgust me.” She turned on her heel and began to climb the stairs.


“Not true, pet,” TwinSpike mocked. “You’re disgusted with yourself for enjoying what I did to you.”


She quickened her pace and slammed the door when she stepped out into the kitchen.


Not true. Not true. If she repeated it enough, she’d believe it.


*~*~*~*


Spike and Dawn arrived at Revello Drive to find Willow, Tara, and Buffy all gathered in the living room surrounded by books. Willow’s laptop was on and Tara was busily tapping away at its keypad. To Spike’s relief, Xander wasn’t there; the last thing he needed was pity from him.


“Where is he?” demanded Dawn. “Can I go and hack him into pieces?”


“That’ll be my job, love,” said Spike softly, though the fact that he was so close to his tormentor was almost unbearable.


“No. It’s mine,” said Buffy getting up and walking over to Spike.


She ran her hand up his chest, checking his expression carefully to make sure that she wasn’t touching him anywhere that was sore. Her eyes widened as she felt the metal plate over his heart. He made no attempt to stop her when she pulled his t-shirt up and touched it.


“Does it hurt?” she whispered


“Not now.”


“Why did he do it?”


Spike took her hand in his right and moved it from his chest. “So he couldn’t dust me if I pissed him off.”


Her hands wandered to the thick metal band around his neck. “Was this—”


“That was just to tie me up with,” interrupted Spike.


“Oh,” she said weakly. “Did he do anything else?”


Spike shook his head. “My hands and my foot, is all.”


He caught Tara’s eye and nodded fractionally to acknowledge her silence on the matter.


“Spike, I’m s—”


“So have you found anything yet?” asked Spike too brightly, moving away from Buffy and sitting down.


Buffy paused for a moment and then sat on the couch opposite where Spike was sitting.


“We think since he was created by magic then he has to be destroyed by magics too,” said Willow. “Only we’re not sure how yet.”


“But you said that magics won’t work in the basement since you warded it,” Buffy said frowning.


Spike got up and walked towards the kitchen.


“They won’t,” explained Willow. “I’ll have to disable the wards first.”


Buffy leaned forward in her seat. “That’s too dangerous. There must be another way.”


Glancing over his shoulder, Spike saw that no one was taking any notice of him, so he limped as swiftly as he could to the door to the basement. He paused with his hand on the handle.


The bastard can’t hurt me now.


Raising his chin, he gritted his teeth and opened the door. Hating the fact that he had to hold onto the hand rail to steady himself, he slowly made his way down.


“Well, well, well. What have we got here?” TwinSpike sneered. “I didn’t think you’d have the balls to come down to see me. Oh, that’s right. You haven’t got the balls, have you?” He licked his lips. “I’ll take your other one once I’m out of here.”


Spike shuddered and looked anywhere but at his double. “Shut up.” His voice wasn’t the commanding growl he had intended; it came out weak and tremulous.


“Ooh! I’m quaking here. So masterful aren’t you?”


Spike forced himself to lift his head and meet the ice cold blue eyes of TwinSpike. “I’m not the one who’s trapped anymore,” he whispered.


If he thought that his words would have an effect on the doppelganger, then Spike was mistaken. TwinSpike didn’t so much as blink.


“But no matter what happens to me. I’ve still won and you know it.”


“You can’t win when you’re dead.”


TwinSpike grinned, curling his tongue behind his top teeth for a moment before saying, “You know that I can. You know that I already have.”


Spike clenched his left fist and brought it up to chest height.


“You’ll remember me forever,” goaded TwinSpike. “Every time you raise that fist and every time you scratch your pathetic solitary bollock.”


Backing away, Spike lowered his hand and stuffed it on his pocket.


“What’s Buffy think of the new you? You smell of her but only a little, so I’m guessing no big reunion so far?”


“Piss off,” mumbled Spike still backing up.


“Look at you. You’re beyond pathetic. Does she know how you offered yourself to me? Has she told you that she’s had the best sex she’s ever had in these last few weeks?”


“Not true.” It wasn’t much more than a whisper.


“Should have done you a favour,” goaded TwinSpike as Spike retreated up the wooden staircase, “and gouged your eyes out. Save her having to look at all that hurt and save you from seeing her guilty looks when she wishes it was still me in her bed! Save you from her pity when you can’t fulfil her like I did!”


Spike ran the last few steps and slammed the door shut behind him. He took a deep shuddering inhalation of breath and tried to stop the shakes that were threatening to make his legs give way altogether. After a couple of minutes, he walked unsteadily to a chair at the kitchen table. It scraped on the tiled floor as he pulled it out and then he sagged down into it, resting his elbows on the table and his head in his hands.


He leapt six inches in the air when a quiet voice spoke behind him.


“Are you okay?” Tara walked around so she could take the chair opposite.


A quick glance at her face told Spike that she knew he was anything but okay. She was the quietest of the Scoobies and noticed more because of it.


“Whatever he said it’s not true,” she added when he remained silent.


Spike met her eye and held her gaze. “I think that you and I know that it is.” He looked over his shoulder towards the living room; he could hear the others talking. “He’s done a better job on me than if he’d killed me.”


Tara reached out and took one of Spike’s hands in both of hers. “You’re strong, Spike. Stronger than you think. You’ll come through this.”


He smiled at her and looked down at their joined hands. “Yeah,” he whispered. “’Course I will.”


She squeezed his hand and then left him alone. Spike knew that he’d avoided her eye because she would see that he didn’t mean it. He let his mutilated left hand rest on his mutilated groin. How could he exist like this? Why couldn’t he just go down there and chop the bastard into little biddy pieces whether it dusted the double or not? Tara had got it so wrong. He wasn’t strong – not anymore.


*~*~*~*


The research was done. The spells written down and double checked. They would do it in the morning. Willow was practically asleep on her feet and needed to be well rested to be able to finish what she’d started when she had created the doppelganger. Willow and Tara headed out the door together and Dawn yawned theatrically and announced that she was going to bed, leaving Buffy and Spike alone in the living room.


Buffy shifted uncomfortably in her seat and smiled shyly at Spike. “Well, that was subtle.”


“Yeah.”


Spike began to fiddle with his fingers then stopped when he counted how many were there. He shoved his left hand into his pocket.


Getting up from the chair, Buffy walked over and sat on the couch next to Spike. She couldn’t fail to notice that he moved ever so slightly away from her as she did.


God, he hates me for not noticing.


“Why do you keep doing that?” she asked gently.


“Doing what?” said Spike, staring at his feet and trying not to think of how one boot was far too wide for the remains of his foot. For a second, he wished the bastard had blinded him, least then he wouldn’t see the handiwork of his double every time he looked at a part of himself.


“Hiding you hand.”


Spike swallowed hard and glanced to the side, but said nothing. She reached out and held his right hand. The hole in its palm was small and she ran her fingers over it, noticing how Spike cringed when she did.


“Does it hurt?” She lifted it to her lips and placed a kiss over it.


He shook his head.


Buffy let go of his right and tugged gently at his left elbow, encouraging him to withdraw his hand from his pocket. Spike’s throat was so tight that it was a good job that he didn’t need to breathe. He let her take his hand and shuddered as she stroked where his digit ought to be. He thought that he was going to vomit when she began to place kisses all over it. It wasn’t right. She shouldn’t be doing it. Moaning softly he tried to pull it away but she held it tight.


“Please,” he whispered, unsure of quite what he meant. He couldn’t bear her to touch it, but couldn’t bear the thought of her stopping either.


She used her free hand to cup his chin and turn his face towards hers. He still couldn’t meet her eye. He shivered as he felt her warm breath on his face, and couldn’t help but look up. Buffy leaned closer and pressed her lips gently against his and suddenly he was lost, he couldn’t have pushed her away if his very existence depended on it.


Her tongue played along his teeth and without conscious thought Spike opened his mouth and groaned as it quested. Buffy shifted closer and wrapped her arm around him. She put her hand beneath his shirt and he jumped when she met his flesh as if her touch burned. Finally, he managed to move. He put his left hand behind her head and pulled her in for a hard kiss, twining his fingers through her hair.


Buffy twisted free from his grip and unsuccessfully hid a small grimace at the look of hurt in Spike’s eyes before he let her go and looked away. He’d never thought he was worthy of her love for him, she knew that, but the irony was it was the other way around – she wasn’t worthy of such adoration. She needed to dispel his fears and dispel them quickly.


She took a step towards the staircase and then glanced back. “Aren’t you coming then?”


“I thought…I mean…”



Holding out her hand, she said softly, “Come to bed with me, Spike. I need you.”


As his cock twitched in his jeans, Spike stared at her. She waggled her fingers to encourage him off the couch and like a robot he stood up and walked on stiff legs towards her. Taking his hand in hers she led him upstairs to the bedroom.


Spike covered her hand as she reached for the light switch. When she glanced at him, he shook his head slightly. He wasn’t sure how far he could manage to take this and knew that light wasn’t going to help his cause. With Spike watching intently, Buffy began to slowly unbutton her blouse. She cupped her pert breasts as she unclipped the clasp on her bra.


“Oh, God, Buffy.”


He fell to his knees, hands clutching her hips and buried his face against her stomach. She squeezed her eyes shut as hot tears pricked at her lids. She pushed her blouse from her shoulders and stroked Spike’s hair. They remained like that for some time, then she gently urged him to lie on the bed.


Spike rubbed his hands over her perfect body – the body that he knew so well. He knew every tiny scar. She opened the button and zipper on her pants and then smiled up at him.


“I need your help in getting these off- they’re a tight fit.”


Spike tugged on the pants as she raised her hips and wriggled until they were near her knees. He then pulled each leg free one at a time and tossed the clothing to the floor.


“This looks kind of unfair,” complained Buffy with a pout. She ran a hand over her body and let it come to a stop between her thighs. “I’m all naked and you’re…not.”


Hesitantly, Spike took off his shirt, his eyes never leaving Buffy’s. He gained confidence when her eyes didn’t stray to the metal in his chest but kept locked onto his. He growled as he struggled to kick off his boots and was grateful that Tara had bandaged his right foot. Buffy’s hands went to the waistband of his jeans but he distracted her by slipping his fingers inside her.


His half hard cock suddenly stood up and took notice and Spike almost wept with relief. Buffy moaned and arched her back as his fingers found the mark. He began to slide down the bed but she stilled him when she placed a hand on his shoulder.


“I want you inside me,” she whispered.


Spike fumbled at his button fly like a kid on his first time. If Buffy was surprised that instead of taking them off he simply released his erection, then she didn’t show it. She wrapped her small hand around his shaft and licked her lips as she pumped it slowly.


“Christ,” he croaked. It had been so long. He’d dreamt of this each time that bastard had been ramming his cock into his arse.


Laughing softly, Buffy guided him to her opening. She watched him close his eyes as the head of his cock was slowly pushed inside. Buffy felt Spike tremble when he was fully seated in her. She grabbed his neck, pulled him to her for a kiss.


“Baby, that feels so good,” she murmured. She shifted to gently encourage him to move and put her hands on his backside.


Gathering his scrambled wits, Spike pulled out almost completely before thrusting into her again. He set a slow rhythm to try to make it last as long as possible, the tingling at the base of his spine told him that this wasn’t going to take too long.


Raising her hips, Buffy began to force the pace. She wrapped her legs around him and kissed his neck, then worried at the flesh with her teeth. Spike howled and came hard. His face shifted for the first time since the magics controlling his game face had disappeared. He was brought back to reality with a thud when his bare gums met her flesh. With a whimper he morphed back, relieved to find that he could.


“Shh, baby. It’s okay,” said Buffy.


He tried to pull away but the Slayer still had her legs around him and she hugged him to her chest, effectively immobilising him. She only loosened her grip when she felt him relax into her once more.


His softening cock slipped free and Buffy allowed him to roll to lie at her side.


“I’m sorry that you didn’t—”


“Tonight was about you,” interrupted Buffy. “I wanted it just to be you.” Because I’ve been in this bed each night with the thing that has hurt you so badly. I’ll never be able to make it up to you.


Spike pushed a tendril of hair away from her face and saw tears glistening in her eyes. He had to force himself not to get up and get out of the room. He’d never left her unsatisfied before. TwinSpike was right. Seeing her pity wasn’t what he wanted. What did he expect; he was only half of what he had previously been.


Buffy tried to snuggle up to Spike but the metal plate in his chest reminded her of what was in the basement and of what Spike had been through while she… So in the end she turned her back to him and let him spoon her.


Spike held her until she was asleep and then gently got out of bed and padded downstairs, drawn like a piece of iron to a magnet, to what was shackled in the basement.

Chapter Seven


Spike heard the soft chuckling as soon as he opened the door to the basement. Hesitating, he stood trembling for a moment before inevitably continuing down the stairs.


Mocking blue eyes met his and it was Spike who couldn’t hold the stare, dropping his eyes to the floor. Despite being shackled against the wall for the best part of a day, TwinSpike looked as cocky as ever. He moved his hips and laughed even louder when Spike glanced at his erect penis and shuddered.


“I have to say, I’m impressed. You managed to stick it in her after all,” TwinSpike sneered as he sniffed loudly.


“Piss off.” Spike was once again disappointed at how weak his voice was when he spoke to his former torturer, but at least now, he managed to hold eye contact.


“You never got her off though, did you?” TwinSpike shifted his hips again. “Too busy wanting this up your arse instead of your cock inside her, I reckon.”


Spike had to fight the urge to drop to his knees and suck off TwinSpike. He didn’t want to do it but it seemed wrong not to. He moved uncomfortably from foot to foot.


TwinSpike laughed again. “Christ, I’m right! You didn’t make her come! You useless bastard. I don’t think I would have been able to not to give her orgasms every time – she’s so bloody responsive.”


Spike mumbled something, too low for the double to hear, but still stared at him.


“What was that?”


“She wanted it to be about me, not her. She wanted to welcome me home.” Even as he said it, Spike realised how pathetic it sounded.


“Fucking hell! I’m ashamed to be made from you. You don’t believe that, do you? You know she only said it ‘cause the pity fuck she was giving wasn’t enough for her. She wanted it over quickly and I’ll just bet that it was.”


Shaking his head, Spike fell to his knees and stared at the double’s feet. It wasn’t true – it couldn’t be true. But in his unbeating heart he knew that it was.


“That’s the right place for you, you piece of shit.” growled TwinSpike. “On your knees with your face level with my dick.”


Spike glanced up at him, his eyes slightly unfocussed.


“Come over here and do your fucking job!”


Crawling slowly towards TwinSpike, he tried to take notice of the small part of him that was screaming for him not to do it – for him to get up off his knees and get the hell away from TwinSpike. But, he wasn’t strong enough to resist the deeply ingrained obedience that his double had beaten into him. Spike paused for a moment when he got right next to TwinSpike. His doppelganger thrust his hips forward and the moist tip of his erection brushed Spike’s cheek.


“Get on with it,” TwinSpike hissed.


Licking his lips, Spike moved forwards a little more, brought his vampiric features to the fore, and then swallowed him whole. This time he didn’t shudder as his bare gums touched flesh.


“Oh, fuck, yeah!”


A few minutes later, TwinSpike came with a growl and sighed as Spike licked his softening cock when it slipped from his mouth. Spike’s eyes suddenly regained focus and he rocked back on his heels, his expression horrified as his features returned to human.


“What? I…” He shook his head in confusion. What the hell had he just done?


Answering his unspoken question, TwinSpike grinned at him. “It’s what you were born for, Spike. No use denying it or trying to resist it.”


Spike rose to his feet and stared at TwinSpike. “No it’s not!” He began to back away.


“Stand still,” commanded TwinSpike, smirking when he was immediately obeyed.


He hadn’t been sure that using a thrall would work down here, but since it wasn’t actually magic it obviously did. TwinSpike hadn’t enthralled Spike before – it had been so much nicer to beat the bastard into submission – but that submission meant that Spike was an easy subject for it now.


“Look at me.”


Spike’s eyes lost focus after he’d met TwinSpike’s gaze briefly. The doppelganger knew that his survival was doubtful and so he needed to prepare his legacy in case the witch and slayer succeeded in killing him. He smirked as he thought of what he was going to order Spike to do.


“Get rid of that face, when you look at me,” TwinSpike growled.


“Sorry, Master,” whispered Spike, he lisped through his toothless mouth as he morphed immediately, and averted his yellow eyes.


“Step closer; I want to tell you something. Something that you must never repeat – understood?”


“Yes, Master.”


Spike walked a little unsteadily until he was almost touching the double. He put his ear next to TwinSpike’s mouth as he began to whisper…


*~*~*~*


Buffy stirred in the bed and rolled over, her body seeking Spike’s. Her eyes opened when she realised the bed was empty. Sitting up, she glanced around the room and got out of bed when she didn’t see him. She picked up her robe and wrapped it around her before padding out of the room on bare feet and walking quietly downstairs in search of him.


When he wasn’t in the living room, she walked into the kitchen and her heart lurched as she saw that the door to the basement was ajar and light pouring out through the gap.


She pushed the door open and listened intently. Buffy thought that she would hear whispering, but couldn’t be sure. Almost silently she tiptoed down the wooden steps and balked at the sight of Spike standing close to the doppelganger as the creature whispered into his ear.


TwinSpike met her eye and grinned wickedly, before whispering something to Spike that had him reeling away in horror. Spike hid his face as Buffy raced down the last few steps and went to his side.


“Spike! What are you doing down here?” She grabbed his arm more roughly than she’d intended and silently cursed when he cringed and tried to pull away.


“S…sorry,” he mumbled. “Did…didn’t—”


“Shh, it’s okay. I’m not angry with you. Don’t be afraid.”


TwinSpike laughed loudly at this and Spike took advantage of Buffy’s distraction by wriggling out of her grasp.


“Don’t be afraid,” mocked TwinSpike. “Yeah, right. Like that’ll work! Look at him – see how pathetic he is.”


Buffy glanced around; Spike had backed up against the wall and was trembling violently. Snarling, she turned to face TwinSpike and punched him in the face as hard as she could. “Don’t you ever fucking speak about him again!”


TwinSpike groaned and spat out a mouthful of blood before regaining his smirk. “I’d much rather talk to you, pet.”


The second blow hit his genitals; the air went out of his lungs with a hiss and he flopped forwards as much as his shackles allowed.


“Are you sure about that?” Buffy asked, “’Cause I’ve always liked to talk with my hands.”


A slight noise from behind made her turn and she saw Spike standing with his arms wrapped tightly around his body, a hint of a smile on his face.


“Are you okay?”


Spike gave a harsh laugh. Yeah, course I’m okay! It’s not like bits of me are missing or anything is it? He shook his head and pushed down the hysteria that was bubbling in his chest before speaking. “It’s just…it was…it was a good line, is all.”


Buffy smiled broadly at him. “Yeah, I thought so too.” She looked back at TwinSpike who was still panting and hanging his head. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”


She held her hand out to Spike and after a pause he took it and allowed her to lead him back into the kitchen.


“What were you doing down there?” she asked when they sat at the table.


Spike shrugged. He had no idea why he had gone to TwinSpike apart from the thought of lying next to Buffy all night had terrified him. If he had stayed there, she would have asked him why he hadn’t shed his jeans. He cursed the fact that he had previously been so at ease when naked.


Buffy heated some blood and pushed the mug towards Spike. “What did he say to you?”


The contents of the mug were suddenly very interesting and for a moment Buffy thought that Spike wouldn’t reply at all.


“I don’t want to talk about it,” he whispered. “Just…stuff.”


“Spike, tell me please. You can tell me anything. When I got there you looked…well you looked scared of him.”


The vampire glanced up at her and the pain in his eyes brought tears glistening into her own.


“It’s…it’s h-hard not to be.” He looked down again. “He could do what ever he wanted to me for a long time.” Spike shuddered and pushed the mug away, his stomach churning at the thought of what had been done to him and of what he had done.


“But you know that he can never hurt you again, don’t you? You really are safe. You’re with friends now.”


Friends. He closed his eyes. TwinSpike was right. It was pity that the Slayer was full of. She couldn’t even say that he was with her – she just said with friends. But they weren’t were they? Not really. Apart from Niblet, none of the Scoobies had much affection for him and usually didn’t hold back in letting him know it.


Buffy’s hand closed over his un-mutilated one and squeezed it. “Please eat. You need to get back your strength…”


So she does think I’m weak. Spike thought bitterly. Hardly surprising though, is it? The voice in his head mocked. Look at you. You are weak. Admit it – he broke you beyond repair.


“and he’ll be gone tomorrow,” Buffy finished. “It will all be over,” she added firmly.


Yeah, right, sneered the voice.


Buffy stood up, keeping hold of his hand. “Come back to bed. The others won’t be here for hours.” She dropped a kiss on the top of Spike’s head and gave him a tug.


He rose slowly and walking slightly behind her, went back to the bedroom with her. She dropped the robe when she got to the side of the bed and smiled, looking at him through her lashes.


“Hold me,” she asked softly.


Spike stepped in closely and sighed deeply as her warm body met the bare flesh of his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He loved her so much his whole body ached with the intensity of it. Buffy trailed kisses across his chest. Spike tensed when her fingers traced the metal plate over his heart. She glanced up at him and his legs went weak when he saw the love in her eyes. It was love, wasn’t it? Not pity. Love.


“I like this,” she murmured.


“Like it?” His voice was hoarse.


“Yes. It will keep you safe.”


Spike bit his lip to keep from moaning. Safe. She thinks I can’t defend myself. When he met her eye again, this time he misread her gaze. Seeing only what TwinSpike told him he would see. Not love.


“So I won’t ever lose you,” Buffy whispered. “I love you.”


He swallowed hard. No you don’t, but thanks for saying it. “I love you.” The words came out automatically. He would love her forever no matter whether she loved him or not. That could never change.


Buffy once more took the lead and encouraged Spike onto the bed. She put her hands on the belt of his jeans.


“’M really tired, pet.” No way were those jeans coming off for her to see…


The Slayer’s hands fell away. “Oh, God – tired. ‘Course you’re tired.” Buffy babbled. He must think I’m so selfish! But I need to feel him inside me, to wipe away the feeling of the other…


“Hold me,” she said again.


Spike opened his arms and she snuggled in against him. He tenderly stroked a few stray hairs back from her face, before embracing her.


Buffy blinked back tears. The other was never like this. He was never gentle. How could I ever have thought him to be Spike? We had sex. We never made love. He never looked at me like Spike does.



*~*~*~*


Spike held Buffy in his arms until she woke up again. She smiled up at him and kissed him gently. He tried to deepen the kiss but she pulled away.

“Better get dressed,” she said after glancing at the clock on the bedside cabinet. Just be cool. Don’t pressure him into having sex. He’s still healing.


“Um…okay. I’ll—I’ll go grab a shower, then.”


Buffy smiled too brightly. “Okay.” I want to join you in there – ask me, please.


But Spike didn’t hear her unspoken plea and wouldn’t have acknowledged it even if he had – he was going to have a hard enough time dealing as it was.


He grabbed a towel from the closet on the landing and walked into the bathroom. Locking the door firmly behind him, he turned the water on and took off his jeans as he waited for it to heat up.


Stepping under the flow of almost too hot water, Spike sighed and closed his eyes. He lifted his face to let the water run over it. Then he moved and picked up the blue sponge from the chrome rack in the corner. He wondered if the doppelganger had known which sponge was his. Squeezing some shower gel onto it, he worked it up into a lather before he ran the sponge over his body.


He found himself tensing as his left hand moved the soapy sponge down to his groin. Dropping it, he let the three fingers of his hand caress his genitals, almost as if he weren’t in control of his hand. Looking down, Spike saw that the wound had healed so well that it looked like there had never been two balls hanging beneath his cock. Without the pair holding it in place, his penis hung to the right, resting almost beside his left testicle.


It looked so…wrong.


Spike inhaled deeply and the breath came out as a sob. He leaned against the glass side of the shower and slid slowly down to the base of it. The sound of the water hitting the metal plates on his back and chest seemed too loud. He held out his left hand and then glanced down at his genitals again. Spike tried to picture Buffy straddling him, taking his cock in her mouth, caressing his scrotum with her dainty fingers, but each time in his mind’s eye that she slid her hand down, she gasped and pulled away, her pert nose wrinkling at the sight of his disfigurement.


He drew his knees to his chest, wrapped his hands around them and bowed his head as sobs wrenched their way out of him. In all of his existence, Spike had never felt so alone.


“Spike! Are you nearly finished in there?”


Dawn’s voice brought Spike back to his senses. He stood up quickly and fumbled to turn off the now cold water.


“Yeah. Be right out,” he called.


He hurriedly dried himself and pulled his jeans back on over his still damp legs. Wishing he had brought a shirt in with him, he tossed the towel in the laundry basket and opened the door.


Dawn didn’t miss a beat when she saw him, even though the plate was shocking to see. She grinned and kissed his cheek. “You were in there for ages. Has the water gone cold?”


Spike touched his cheek and smiled back. “Sorry.”


“Doesn’t matter. Haven’t got time, anyway. The others are here. We’ll be able to get rid of TwinSpike soon.”


“Um…I’ll get a t-shirt, and go down then, I suppose?”


“I think Buffy is already down with them.”


“Okay.” Spike turned away from Dawn and disappeared into the bedroom that he and Buffy had shared before he’d been held captive.


She watched as he closed the door. Why did Buffy seem to think that he was doing okay? He looked as if he were teetering on the edge of the precipice of insanity to her. But what did she know? She scowled furiously. She was only a kid – no one listened to her half the time. Letting the door slam behind her, she had a quick wash before dressing and running down the stairs two at a time.


The Scoobies were gathered around the kitchen table. Dawn smiled when she saw Tara and Willow sitting next to each other. Xander was sat opposite Buffy at the head of the table, leaving the two chairs opposite the witches free, but Spike wasn’t sitting. He was leaning against the wall slightly behind Xander’s eye line, reminding Dawn of how Spike used to be before he was openly with Buffy. She nudged him and inclined her head to the chairs as she walked by him but he just shook his head slightly and stayed where he was.


She took the chair opposite Tara, near to Buffy, and listened intently as the plan was talked over one final time.


“So,” said Buffy. “Willow, are you ready?”


The red-head nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”


“Not making big with the confidence there, Will,” said Xander.


“She’ll be fine,” said Tara firmly, blushing slightly as Willow smiled at her with gratitude.


Spike had to agree with the boy, the witch looked jittery, but she had created the bastard so surely she ought to be able to get rid of him too?


“Okay.” Buffy picked up a large lethally sharp axe. “Here goes.”


One by one they followed Buffy down the stairs and into the basement. Buffy, Willow, Tara, Dawn, Xander and finally, almost as an after thought, Spike.


*~*~*~*


TwinSpike tensed as he heard the door open. He’d been able to hear their murmurings but to his annoyance he hadn’t been able to pick up the actual words. He took a couple of deep calming breaths; once the wards were down he wouldn’t have much time.


The six filed into the basement and stood in a semi-circle facing TwinSpike. He was pleased to note that Spike was the closest to the stairs.


“Six of you and just one of me,” TwinSpike said scornfully, “hardly seems fair, does it?” He shrugged. “Mind you – not sure that Spike counts anymore.”


“Shut up!” yelled Buffy. “Are you sure that I can’t just hack him to pieces?” She twirled the axe in her right hand – her stare never wavering from the cold blue eyes of the doppelganger.


“Like I’ve said before. I’m not sure that if we cut him up that the pieces won’t regenerate into new Spikes," replied Willow.


“Bad enough with two,” muttered Xander.


Spike took a step backwards, his face shifting to his vampiric ones as TwinSpike turned and winked at him. Only this face in front of him.


“Can we do it now, Will, ‘cause I’m not sure that I can resist chopping his tackle off if we wait any longer.”


TwinSpike’s cock twitched and began to fill. “After all the pleasure they’ve given you. Rammed inside you, rammed down your throat. You enjoyed it.”


Buffy took a stride towards him, glaring at Willow as she put a hand on her arm and said quietly, “Don’t.”


The Slayer gave out a growl that a vampire would have been proud of and slashed the air with the blade, before lowering it.


“Didn’t think after last night that you would want another lover with parts missing?” sneered TwinSpike. “Old ‘one bollock’ over there didn’t manage to keep it up long enough to make you come last night, did he? Sure that I’m the one you want to get rid of? Think of the sex we had. Is running your hand over a solitary ball a good feeling?”


All but Tara, gasped and turned to stare at Spike. He backed up further and without thinking, pulled his lips back and growled, intending to try to make them look away. But the shocked looks on their faces reminded him of what else his double had taken from him.


TwinSpike laughed. “Oh, this is priceless – Buffy – you let him shag you and you didn’t even notice that his bollock was hanging there all alone?”


“Shut up,” Spike pleaded, closing his eyes.


Buffy brought her hand up to her mouth. That’s why he wouldn’t take his jeans off. Oh, Spike what did I let him do to you? If I had noticed sooner…


The noise of loud retching meant their attention left Spike and focussed on Xander who was doubled over, throwing up what he ate for breakfast.


Buffy walked towards Spike but he shook his head, silently begging her not to come to him. Not to make it worse. His legs could barely hold him upright and he knew that he would lose his tenuous hold on his emotions if she touched him now.


She nodded, mouthed ‘I love you’ and then turned to Willow. “Can we get this done with now?”


“Xander, are you going to be okay?” asked Willow resting a hand on her friend’s back.


His complexion was grey when he stood upright. He glanced at the doppelganger. “You…Sweet Jesus, you…”


“Bit it off, chewed it and swallowed it,” said TwinSpike gleefully. The more he got them rattled the more chance that the witch’s reflexes would be slower than his. His cock was now fully erect and pre-come leaked from its tip. He was going to win! The fun he was going to be able to have!


“Oh, Christ!” Xander lurched past the hunched, trembling figure of Spike and fled up the stairs.


The four girls turned back to the doppelganger.


“Willow, when he dies, will all the bad he’s done be undone?” asked Dawn quietly.


“Only the things I’ve done with magics,” supplied TwinSpike helpfully. “If you’re asking about your pathetic version of a Spike’s bits and pieces…well, I bit off and swallowed his left little finger and his right bollock – so they will stay as they are. Starting to wish I’d completely gelded the fucker now – but no matter that can be my first job when I’m free. His missing toes will be looking a bit green and be smelly by now but they’re still nailed on the bedpost at the mansion, so they’re not gonna reappear either. His arsehole—”


TwinSpike’s words were cut off when Buffy’s axe cut deep into his midriff. His scream was music to her ears.


“Just do the fucking spell, Willow!” she roared.


Willow nodded and glanced at the others. The two vampires had more colour in their faces than the humans did. She began to quietly mutter the only spell that would work in the basement; the one to disarm the wards.


The air began to crackle with static and the second that Willow uttered the last word, the shackles binding TwinSpike flew away from him and crashed against the wall. He grinned walked forwards and extended his hands towards Willow – she flew backwards and was pinned to the wall, her wriggling feet some two foot off the ground.


Buffy swung the axe again and was sent reeling as it bounced out of her hands when it hit a protective shield the doppelganger had formed.


Willow began to frantically scrabble at her throat, her eyes bulging and lips turning blue.


“Willow!” yelled Dawn.


TwinSpike only had to glance in her direction to send the teenager flying through the air. She hit the wall just beside Spike and lay unconscious in a crumpled heap, like a discarded rag doll.


Spike whimpered and sank to his knees, but stared intently at TwinSpike.


“Get off her!”


The voice echoed through the basement and TwinSpike staggered back a couple of paces.


“You?” he said incredulously as the furious blonde stepped between Willow and him.


He waved a hand, expecting to swat her out of the way with his magics. Instead he found himself pushed backwards another stride. The double let his focus on Willow slip as he defended himself against Tara’s attack.


Willow fell gasping to the floor, her lips pinking up, but unable to do more than weakly raise her head.


“Get you back to the hell you sprang from,” said Tara, her voice eerily calm.


“No!” yelled TwinSpike. “Not you, you’re not strong enough. Red has the power – not you!”


He desperately gathered his magics together. “I’ll throw you through the fucking wall, bitch!”


Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Slayer approaching once more, axe held aloft, his blood dripping from its blade. In that instant he knew that he was done for. He’d never accounted for Tara to have any real power. Spike’s memories hadn’t given him any of that. He glanced at Spike, still quivering on the floor, vampface showing like the good little slave he was.


“Now!” shouted TwinSpike.


He threw what remained of his power at Tara, she blocked it and Buffy ran in to the attack, her blade neatly cutting off his genitals and a taking a large slice of his thigh with it too.”


As Buffy and Tara went in for the kill, no one noticed Spike bolt out of the basement.


Tara knew the enchantments needed to neutralise TwinSpike as well as Willow did, and as she recited them, Buffy hacked at his now kneeling body, knowing she couldn’t kill him but the screams told her that the bastard could still feel. Images of Spike bound, tortured, alone, flooded her mind as she swung the axe again and again and again.


“Hey, you can stop now,” said Tara. “He’s gone.” She grabbed Buffy’s arm as she raised the axe again. “It’s done.”


Buffy glanced at Tara and blinked before looking down. There was a large pool of blood but nothing else.


“He…he’s gone? We did it?” she gasped.


Tara nodded. Buffy let the axe fall from her hand and dazedly looked around the room. Willow had managed to sit up, but was still wheezing and had livid bruises around her throat. Buffy saw Dawn lying unmoving near the wall.


“Dawn!” She raced to her sister.


Tara walked to Willow on unsteady legs, and sat down with a thump beside her.


“Baby, you did it,” rasped Willow, holding out her hand.


Tears sprang into Tara’s eyes. “I-I did, didn’t I?”


The two witches fell into each other’s arms and sobbed quietly in relief.


Dawn began to stir and the first thing that she saw was Buffy’s concerned, blood and tearstained face looking down at her.


“Wh…what happened? Is he gone?” asked Dawn, screwing her eyes up in response to the throbbing pain behind them.


“He’s gone,” Buffy confirmed.


Dawn pushed herself up until she was sitting and twisted as she looked around the basement.


“Where’s Spike?”


Buffy’s heart missed a beat. “Spike!” she screamed. She rose and then looked uncertainly at Dawn, who waved her hand at her.


“Go, I’m okay. He needs you more than I do.”


Buffy smiled gratefully at her sister and ran swiftly up the stairs. She almost knocked Xander over when she tore out of the kitchen.


“Where is he?” she asked. “Where’s Spike?”


Xander shook his head. “I don’t know. I was upstairs in the bathroom,” he mumbled guiltily. “I think I heard the front door open though.”


They both stared at the bright light flooding in from the windows.


“Oh, God. No!” Buffy cried as she flung the door open. She looked down. No dust. Almost collapsing with relief she tried to think where he might have gone. He could make it to the entrance to the sewers if he covered himself up – but where then?


Xander steadied her as she staggered. “Where has he gone?” she asked, her eyes huge in her drawn face.


“Back to where he was held?” suggested Xander, not really sure why he suggested it, but he had no other clue as to where to look for the vampire.


“Help the others,” said Buffy. She took a deep breath and jogged away from the house. She’d use the tunnels – she might be able to catch up with him.


*~*~*~*


Spike ran as fast as his legs would carry him. The jacket he’d grabbed to cover himself with had burst into flames several yards from the sewer entrance and for a moment he thought that he’d dust there and then.


Not much further now. Nearly back where he belonged. Nearly back where Master wanted him to be.


*~*~*~*


Buffy raced past the charred remains of Xander’s jacket and her heart hitched in her chest. At least she knew that he was in the tunnels. Scrambling and almost falling several times she drew on every ounce of inherent Slayer strength that she had. She had to get to Spike.


*~*~*~*


Spike slid to a halt in the room where he had been held for so long. His chest rose and fell rapidly as the stress he was under made him pant heavily. Glancing around the room, he shuddered when he saw the decaying remains of his toes on the post. The blood in the bottle had long since turned rancid and he wrinkled his nose at the stench of the room.


Then he saw it. What Master told him he had to get. Spike smiled, not caring that his naked gums were showing. He was being good. Master would be happy. Master wouldn’t hurt him. He’d reward him.


He sank to his knees and picked up the bottle.


*~*~*~*


Buffy’s feet pounded the corridors of the mansion. Her feet slid on the stone floors as she checked the rooms for Spike.


“Spike! Where are you? Spike!” Her voice was hoarse from yelling and exertion.


She found the door to the lower level open, and forced her burning legs to increase speed again.


*~*~*~*


Spike slowly unscrewed the cap from the bottle. For a moment he hesitated, but then he heard Master’s voice as clearly as if he were stood beside him.


Drink it!


He raised it to his lips and drank deeply until his insides began to sear and the bottle fell from his fingers as he bent double, gasping with pain.


*~*~*~*


“No!”


Buffy reached the doorway just as the large plastic bottle fell from Spike’s trembling hand. Some of the contents splashed on his legs and she heard his skin sizzle when the liquid soaked through his jeans.


“Oh, God, Spike. What have you done?”


Spike raised his head, his features human again. He stared around the room in confusion and then tears fell from his blue eyes as he realised where he was for the first time. He gasped again and clutched at his stomach.


“Why have you done this?” sobbed Buffy. “You can’t leave me.” Her legs gave out and she fell to the floor.


Spike tried to speak but his vocal chords had been burnt away by the Holy Water that he’d drunk. His eyes widened as he suddenly understood what TwinSpike had meant when he’d said that he’d win even if he was destroyed.


The last malicious act that the doppelganger had done was to command Spike to come here to drink the Holy Water. It was what he’d whispered to him last night. Spike had to come here when TwinSpike said ‘now’. Come here to die alone. Only he wasn’t alone. Buffy was here. Buffy, with pain-filled eyes. He closed his own as another spasm ripped through him. His insides were on fire. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to leave her.


It hurts so much.


“You’ll be all right. Willow will do a spell. You haven’t drunk enough. You’ll be okay.”


He opened his eyes and slowly shook his head. No time.


“Please don’t leave me, Spike. I love you,” Buffy crawled towards him, her hand outstretched.


The tears were unstoppable now. ‘I believe you’ he mouthed, and reached out with his left hand.


Their fingertips touched briefly, and then Spike slowly crumbled into dust.


The End