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Author's Chapter Notes:
A/N: Thank you to all that have reviewed! You are wonderful and thank you for catching "dessert" vs "desert." Hopefully that word has been fixed and won't be misused again.

Chapter Summary: Enter antisocial Spike with a shiny soul and a chip on his shoulder. Buffy struggles to travel across the desert in a strange land.
Chapter 2

Solitary confinement is what the politically correct term is. When you are too dangerous to everyone else, the proverbial man locked you away. The only thing different was no man locked Spike away and no man was coming for him. No man. Only a demonic beast with loyalty that ran thick in his veins would disturb a sleeping vampire in a foreign country.

“Spike?” Clem’s inquisitive voice echoed in the empty basement apartment.

Blinking, Spike rolled over in his bed and squinted towards the door.

“Clem?” His voice sounded like gravel from lack of use. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey buddy, miss me?” The larger demon stepped through and closed the front door. He looked around the one room dwelling and moved towards the kitchen. “I’m starved, got anything spicy?”

Shaking his head and sitting up, Spike watched his old friend search through the meager kitchen in hopes of finding a snack. “What are you doing?”

“I’m hungry,” the wrinkled demon reiterated.

“I mean here, as in my apartment, in Morocco?”

“Oh,” he stopped his search for a treat and stepped towards the bed. “Funny story that is. See, I dropped the Slayer off at the airport. I went to the local bar for some kittens… I mean cards.” If Clem could blush, he would with his mistaken wording. “I was playing cards with these other… friends and they mentioned that there was a half- crazed, blond vampire that kept to himself, blood bagged it and wouldn’t come into civilization. I thought… hey, wonder if that’s Spike. And, here I am!”

“What?” Spike paused and shook his head once more. “You dropped off the Slayer?”

“Oh, yeah. Please don’t tell Buffy that I was playing for kitten’s again. She’ll make me buy another litter box. I don’t want another litter box. Three is plenty! I have to clean them everyday or Spuffy, Spangel and Spawn won’t use them! I hope that Willy comes everyday to clean them, but you never know what’s going to happen when you are away. Truthfully, I don’t trust the weasel, but Buffy assured me that Willy would take care of them.”

“Slow down,” Spike interrupted. “You dropped the Slayer off why again?”

“Oh, to find Dawn, of course.”

“Dawn? What’s with Dawn?” Spike felt his breath catch in his throat. Dawn was in trouble, of course. And, Buffy was on the same continent as him.

“I forgot that, didn’t I? Oh, three weeks ago, Glory broke into the crypt while we were having a Mexican night, ripped off her sombrero and took Dawn! She totally ripped it apart, can you believe that?”

Confused, Spike rubbed his eyes. “The sombrero?”

“Yes.” Clem nodded in agreement and smiled. He opened the refrigerator only to find bags of blood.

“Glory’s back?” Spike prodded again.

“Yes.”

“When did this happen?” Spike watched Clem walk back towards the living area.

“I told you, three weeks ago. Anyway, Glory took Dawn and told Buffy to come get her at a certain time and a certain place. Something about the autumnal equinox. She took off and now Buffy is hot on her trail.”

“I’m missing something. The Hell-Bitch is dead. I saw…”

“Was, actually. Just like Buffy. As in the past tense. She’s back.”

“What’s the whole hubbub? Just kill the Dr. Wanker the Hell-Bitch turns into and get Dawn back.”

“Ah, there’s the problem. The reincarnation spell only brought back Glory, no Dr. Wanker.”

“Bloody hell!”

“That’s what Giles said when Buffy called him. We’ve been tracking and trying to figure out what is going on for the past few weeks.”

“Can’t you just un-magic what was magicked? Someone must have played with a spell to bring her back. I’ve got an idea or two of who’s strong enough and stupid…”

“Unfortunately, we can’t undo Glory without… undoing Buffy. They are linked. Ying and yang. Black and white. Smeagol and Golum. Chunky and smooth. Sweet and Salty. One doesn’t exist without the other.”

Sitting back, Spike contemplated Clem’s words. “So where’s the gang? I assume they would be right behind her, tracking every move, every nuance.”

“Not this time, they aren’t coming.”

“So she’s off looking for the Hell-Bitch and Dawn, alone?”

“Yep. The Watcher’s Council didn’t think that she should travel with me… being…”

“A demon?” Spike shook his head. The Council of Watcher were stupid cows, taking away Buffy’s only back up.

“Yeah… so they arranged for her to go with these… people. They are supposed to take her across the desert.”

“But you brought her here?”

“Well, yeah. I mean…. I like Buffy and all, but she isn’t the best when it comes to international relations. She probably would have set off world war three if she had to travel across the ocean by herself. Not to mention everyone looking down at a single woman traveling alone. She needed someone. I was available… so, here I am.”

“She’s all alone, traveling the desert? Why didn’t she just fly into where…ever she needs to be?”

“According to the coven in L.A., Glory is on the move. Buffy hopes that she can find her before the ritual, you know; fight Glory before she’s ready. Bring the war to her. Something with the upper hand.”

“Sounds like good strategy.”

“Problem is the equinox is approaching and Glory is settling down some where south of the Sahara. One moment she was in southern Morocco and now she’s in Nigeria or something. I wasn’t paying attention to the whole thing…”

~*~*~

Stupid men

Buffy lifted her pack from the thrashed jeep. After the bleak desert, she was happy that she was at the edge of Tamanghasset, Algeria, especially now she was alone with no mode of transportation. Filled with something other than sand this oasis was heaven sent. Crossing the Sahara seemed too easy at first; Buffy should have known that something was lurking in the shadows of life.

The crack team of supposed-demon-hunters Giles assembled were a joke in Buffy’s opinion. They didn’t even notice the Harenariabelua start to emerge from the sand before it was too late. Luckily, she was prying off goggles and bandana while looking at the ground when she noticed a small vortex start to swirl the sand. The men that surrounded her didn’t want to listen to her warnings before they stepped out of the vehicle and into the Sand Beast’s jaws.

She told them that stopping at the edge of the city, still far away from civilization, was a bad idea. But, no, they couldn’t listen to a woman. Forget that she’s the Slayer!

Stupid men

So with a quick jump from the vehicle and a quick run to a well placed palm tree, she was safe. The beast spent its energy on the men that were too stupid to run from its jaws, finally sated and returned to underground. Buffy carefully walked to the crumbled jeep and retrieved her pack and weapons. Barely a mile from the town’s gates, she started her trek. She’d have to find another ride to Agadez, Niger where she was suppose to meet with a shaman that would guide her the rest of the way.

~*~*~

Clem settled down on the floor next to Spike. His friend wasn’t looking too good. He looked sick. His eyes were yellowed, but not demon yellow… something less. His skin was ashen gray, the remnants of his arteries and veins visible through the layer or tissue. He looked skeletal, starved. His movements were jerky at best as if he hadn’t moved in a long time.

“How long have you been holed up here?” Clem asked quietly as Spike lit a hand rolled cigarette.

“Few months,” his voice cracked.

“When was the last time you left the apartment?” Clem looked around, not even a television or stack of books.

Spike’s eyes seemed to glow with unknown anger and mumbled, “Since I first stepped in. Don’t rightly like to be around society anymore. Just stick to myself. Safer that way.”

“Spike,” Clem paused for a minute and then proceeded. “What happened?”

“Nothing, really.” His eyes avoided Clem’s as he stood. “Saw a demon, got what I wanted and that’s that.”

“Call me crazy, buddy, but I thought you wanted the Slayer?”

“Call me crazy, buddy, too.” He moved to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

“What’s that’s supposed to mean?” Clem followed Spike, intent on figuring out what was happening.

“Nothing,” he mumbled. “Just don't feel very sociable. Thanks for stopping bye; don't let the door hit you on the way out.”

“What's gotten into you?” Clem asked incredibly. With the vampire's questioning gaze, he continued, “You aren't the same guy you were in Sunnydale...” His voice trailed off. “As if something changed. What did you get that you wanted?”

“Leave it and leave me!”

“I see it now. I don't know why I missed it before. You need to go tell Buffy.”

“Bird doesn't want to hear from the likes of me,” his voice was soft and pitiful. “She's got a lot more on her plate than a vampire stalker. She's better off without me.”

“How can you say that? Didn't you hear anything I told you? She has no backup, she's on her own. She needs someone to watch her back.”

“You said it yourself, she's got issues. She doesn't need me to add to them.”

Rolling his eyes, Clem shook his head at Spike. “Yeah, and she's worked a lot of those issues out. She misses you!”

“She misses someone that she could walk over more like it.” Spike denied.

“No, she missed you. I could see it in her eyes. She realized what you were trying to do...”

“You mean when I tried to rape her? Yeah, I know what I was trying to do, too.”

“You're different now.”

“Doesn't erase the past!”

“And, if she doesn't get to Dawn in time, what kind of future does she have?”


a/n: anyone interested in me finishing Hidden Secrets?





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