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Author's Chapter Notes:
Yes, back from holiday. The original chapter is much longer, but didn't make quite sense. Some parts written I might use later on
Chapter 8

“Vanished? How do you mean she just vanished? People don’t just vanish!” Liam roared. He was pacing around in his study. Captain MacDonald was sitting nervously in his chair. “She was gone. I don’t know how the escaped, but no one saw her.” He answered.

Liam gritted his teeth. Buffy had managed to escape him.
“Did anything else happen?”
The captain stared into space, not saying anything.
“Well?” Liam hissed.

“W-we had an encounter with pirates. Nothing serious, because we had no special cargo or anything.” MacDonald squeaked.

Liam scowled. He hated pirates. Everyone knew how much he hated pirates…
“What pirates?” he asked.
“I think it was Spike the Bloody. They sailed with the Liberty, so no doubt about it.” Captain MacDonald said with a soft voice.

“Fuck, not again!” Liam shouted. It was silent for a while. He was still pacing around his office and stopped in front of the window. He looked over his lands, seeing his people working.

“Uhm, sir?” the Captain squeaked.
“What?” Liam grunted, still staring outside the window.
“Miss Summers befriended the doctor…uhm Rupert Giles. Maybe that’s useful information.” MacDonald answered. Liam turned around.
“Is he still on board?” The captain nodded.
“Go back to your ship and tell him to visit me, this night. You can borrow one of my carriages.” Liam ordered.

The Captain nodded again and hurried out of the study. Liam set his attention back to what was happening outside and soon he saw MacDonald leaving. He smirked and thought, I’ll get you Buffy. You won’t escape me. I’ll squeeze it out of that little friend of yours and you’ll regret that you ever left.

*^*^*^*^*

“Giles!” Captain MacDonald shouted from deck.
“Yes?” Giles asked politely when he came out of his working space.
“O’Connor wants to see you. Go!”
“Did he say why?” Giles asked.

“Yes, he wants to question you about your friendship with Miss Summers. Since she disappeared and all.” The captain answered.
Giles nodded and didn’t question the matter any further.

Giles was dropped of at the mansion. It was large and a bit showy. He didn’t like it much,
“The O’Connor mansion.” The servant announced.
“What happened to Mr. Summers?” He asked.

The servant shrugged and opened the door to let Giles out. He was directly led to the study. Liam was sitting behind his desk. Giles watched him closely. He came to the conclusion that the mansion was a reflection of the man who lived in it. Mr. O’Connor was a large man. He wore clothes according to the latest fashion, made of the finest and most expensive materials. His hands were dressed up with rings. When Giles entered he didn’t even bother to stand up.

“Good evening.” O’Connor said.
“Good evening.” Giles replied, still standing close to the door.
“Please sit down.” Liam said again. Giles slowly moved over to the chair in front of the desk sat down.

“I hope you are aware of the purpose of this meeting?” Liam asked business-like.
Giles nodded and shifted in his seat.
“Good,” the man stated, “Your captain told me you had a friendly relationship with me fiancé Elisabeth Summers.”

“Yes,” Giles answered, “I’m very sorry for you she disappeared.”
“I bet you are,” Liam said not to convinced, “could you tell me something about it?”
“We used to talk about things, our lives mostly. I was fond of her.” Giles said.
“When did she disappear according to you?”

“I’m not sure when she disappeared, but it was discovered a few days after we left St. Lucia. I’m guessing she escaped somewhere after we left.” Giles lied.
Liam shifted in his seat and hung over his desk. He stared into the eyes of the man across him. “I know that you’re lying, Mr. Giles. Tell me something, when was the encounter with the Liberty?”

Giles felt slightly uncomfortable, but he didn’t show. “A few weeks after we left England.”
Liam was quiet, waiting for the middle aged man to continue.

“Nothing much happened. They searched our cargo and the captains’ compartment. And they questioned some of our crew. But for as far as I know Miss Summers was in her compartment, hiding in her wardrobe.” Giles lied again.
Liam looked him very closely in the eye. “Mr. Giles, I know when people are lying. You are lying. And if you don’t want to die a painful death I would suggest you tell me the truth right now.” He hissed in a dark voice.

Giles swallowed, but didn’t give in. Liam got up and started pacing around again. “She was in the captains’ compartment.”
The man on the chair didn’t respond.

Liam resumed: “They found her there. She begged him to take her with him, but this great pirate’s captain didn’t want to take her, because there was a great risk. Then she thought of you. You were her friend and you were going to help her get her out of there. When you were in St. Lucia, you helped to get of the ship unseen.”
Giles sat in his chair staring into space. His lips were clammed together. Liam was circling behind him like a vulture.

“Great. You can go.” Liam finally said.
Giles looked up in surprise. “No painful death?”
The man nodded. “No yet anyway. I’ll find you when you’re actually useless.”
Giles got up from the chair and rushed out of the manor. When he was walking back to the docks he thought, Oh hell

*^*^*^*^*

A couple of weeks later

After a few weeks they reached Africa. Buffy was voted part of the crew.
At this moment the Liberty was harbored in Algiers. Most of the crew was on the shore including Buffy. William himself was having a meeting with Marc Baker, captain of the Red Dragon. Apparently they worked together.

Buffy was sitting in a bar with Gunn and Faith talking to this sailor called Parker. They had a nice conversation about what they were doing with their lives and what they might want in the future. Suddenly the conversation took a turn.

“The Bloodhound set out again.” Parker said sideways.
Faith and Gunn let their mouths hang open. “No!” Faith managed to bring out.
Buffy took a pull from her pint. She didn’t get the commotion.
“Are you sure?” Gunn asked.

“The rumors are flying around. Of course I’m sure.” Parker answered irritated.
“Crap…” Gunn whispered.
“What’s the Bloodhound?” Buffy asked looking at her friends.

“The Bloodhound,” Faith started, “is the most feared pirate hunter. Or at least, the man on it is: Liam O’Connor.”
Buffy spat out her beer. She never told anyone her total history and neither did William. Faith and Gunn stared at her with surprise.
Buffy ignored their stares. “What do know?” She asked Parker.

“O’Connor is looking for a certain pirate, Spike the Bloody. Rumour has it that he stole O’Connor’s fiancé away.” Buffy shifted nervously in her seat.

“Ridiculous.” Gunn commented, but Faith cast a glance at her blonde friend. Buffy noticed. She quickly drank her beer and left the bar. Faith came after her.
“That’s you isn’t it?” She asked quietly.
Buffy nodded slowly.
“Big shit.”
Buffy nodded again. “I’m gonna find Spike.”

“So that’s settled then?” William said to Marc. The man nodded and shook Williams’ hand. Suddenly the door flew open with a loud bang/
“Buffy!” William said surprised. He smiled when he added: “I would appreciate it, if you knocked the next time.”

“Liam is hunting you!” She blurted.
“What?” Williams’ warm smile faded away and made room for seriousness, “You’re kidding right?”
Faith showed up, behind Buffy’s back and said: “Nope boss, the rumour is that the Bloodhound has set out to get you and claim his fiancé you took away…again…And after he did that…”

“He’s going to kill me.” William added gloomily. There was silence. Every one was in thoughts.
Suddenly Marc cleared his throat. The other three looked up. “I don’t want to be a drag or anything, William, but I suggest you get the hell out of here. Everyone who sails knows you have your base in Africa.”

“But no one knows where.” Faith argued.
“No one civil does,” Marc threw back, “But all the pirates who sailed with you do. I know that they took an oath and all, but if you have enough money, everything’s for sale.”
William nodded. “We have to move away from Algiers as soon as possible. I guess we go to Madagascar and trade the ship. Then we set out to Asia with a new identity.”

“But you love the Liberty.” Buffy protested weakly.
William smiled. “Yes, but I love you more.”
Faith raised her eyebrows. “You two are actually in love?”
Buffy nodded and smiled back at the two blue eyes who were staring at her. They showed a mix of adoration and love.

Marc tapped the man on the shoulder. “Snap out of it. No time lovey dovey stuff. You have to get your crew together and provision. Time to move!”

In a matter of two days, they were back on the move, sailing of to Madagascar. One day Buffy caught William staring at the land they were going to leave behind.
“You love Africa, don’t you?” Buffy asked.

William looked up and saw the small girl standing next to him. “Yes, I’m gonna miss it here. Maybe when it’s all over, I want to settle there. I mean, I have enough money to buy a huge piece of land. Would you want to live there as well?”

Buffy shrugged, “I never saw more then Algiers, but if you say it’s nice enough to live there I’ll go with you. Can’t go back to England anyway.”
William wrapped his muscled armed around her shoulders. “I love you.”

“I know you do,” Buffy replied. She finally saw the opportunity to ask the question she’d been dying to ask ever since she got on the ship, “How do you know Liam?”

William was silent for a while. It wasn’t a very embarrassing story and he didn’t regret his actions, but if he knew it would bring Buffy in danger, he wouldn’t have done it.

“You know the story in which his 19 year old wife committed suicide?” William started. Buffy nodded. “Well, in fact this is what happened. I was 19 years old. Sharpe just left me his ship and I wanted to be a hero. We invaded one of O’Connor’s ships. Not the Bloodhound, but one he used for trade. He was on it and so was Drusilla, his newly wed wife.

He was ordered to show us his cargo and everything that was hidden. I send on of my men with him to check it out. When I was on the deck Drusilla requested me to speak to me in private. She practically begged me to take her with us, to put her on shore, far away from him. She was so desperate, I couldn’t refuse. We took her with us and Angel soon found out. He chased us a very long time, but our ship was faster, with less depth, so we finally went over rivers. He couldn’t follow us, but he vowed to kill me next time we met.”

Buffy was quiet for a while. Then she asked: “What happened to Drusilla?”
William shrugged. “We put her on shore and made sure she lived in a safe village. I think she married someone and had kid.”

“Why was she so desperate?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t say. But things I’ve heard weren’t very hopeful. His favorite hobby is torturing. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard.”
Buffy pulled a face and William smiled.


TBC





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