Chapter 23
Sunday…
See, plans of isolation only work when a) no one knows where you are, or b) they’ve agreed to leave you alone. So when there was a knock on Charlotte’s door ten minutes after sunset, she cursed Spike’s inability to leave curious behavior alone.
She went to the door, knowing he’d be able to hear her just fine on the other side. “Miss Taylor is not receiving visitors at present. Please try again on another occasion,” she stated in an obviously fake posh accent.
“Very funny, luv, but I’m not leavin’ until I’ve seen you’re alright with my own two eyes.”
Damn stubborn vampire! “I’m fine, Spike, just not presentable. I’ll see you soon.”
She heard him chuckle. “I’ve seen you without make-up before, pet. You don’t have to be shy.”
“Ha, ha…I’m not opening the door. So there.”
“I could always use the key…” he warned.
Charlotte gasped. “You gave that back!”
“I gave yours back. Didn’t mean I hadn’t made a copy for emergencies,” he replied smugly.
“Well, this isn’t an emergency, so go away!”
The shuffling steps of her middle-aged landlord halted any further debate. “Young man, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Miss Taylor is a nice girl, so leave her be.”
Spike swallowed the urge to be rude, and nodded. “Sorry to be any trouble,” he answered tersely.
Charlotte sighed in relief as she heard them both walk away. She’d just gone back to making directorial notes on a sheet of music, when the knob turned in the door and a sneaky vampire slipped into her apartment.
“Spike!” she cried, throwing her pen down in exasperation. “Don’t you listen?!”
He pouted. “You’re not happy to see me?”
“Oh, don’t give me that! I work with high-schoolers, remember? The pout doesn’t work. Would you please leave? I’m trying to get some work done.”
He sauntered over to join her at the kitchen table, turning a chair around and straddling it. “On what?”
Charlotte dropped the pen on the table and pushed her chair back. “I’m not doing this. You can’t just barge into my home for no good reason just because we’re friends. The door was locked, there was no emergency, so I want you to leave. Now.”
“Charlotte…”
“Now! You might not know this because of being a vampire so long, but in the human world, there are boundaries! Decent people respect those boundaries. Go home, go to Buffy’s, I don’t care. Just get out.”
“Pet, I didn’t mean to make you upset…” Spike reasoned.
“Get. Out,” she growled. Charlotte’s control over her temper was rapidly melting away. She could feel the demon clamoring for violence, and it scared her. “Please,” she whispered.
Spike stepped forth in an attempt to calm her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Pet, you’re shaking…”
Charlotte’s will collapsed, the demon coming forth and pouncing on Spike, knocking him to the ground in surprise. She pressed her mouth on his, sharp fangs cutting his lips as she growled. Regaining his composure, Spike pushed her away. Talitha landed easily on her feet, like a cat. She started circling him as Spike popped to his feet, ready to pounce again.
“No. We’re not dancing to that tune,” he stated firmly, turning to keep facing her as she moved.
“Oh, but we are, cousin. I don’t have the same restraints my host does,” she replied, grinning ferally. Her eyes blatantly poured over his form, to toes and back.
“You seem to have learned a couple things since I last saw you.”
She smirked, a decidedly more evil expression than he’d ever seen on Charlotte’s face before. “I’m a quick study. It won’t be long, you know…”
“Before what?” he asked warily.
“Before I have complete control over this body. Humans are inherently weak. It’s amazing they’ve lasted this long.” Talitha sashayed up to the vampire and smiled seductively. “And guess who I’m coming for first.”
“Not happening, luv,” Spike stated, then knocked her out with a surprise punch. Charlotte’s body crumpled to the floor. “Sorry, pet,” he said sincerely.
He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, surprised to see restraints chained to the bed frame. He gently laid her down, then fastened the heavy leather cuff to her wrist, and looked to see if there was a match on the other side. It wasn’t there, but he found the mate in the closet. Once she was restrained, Spike went to get an ice pack from the freezer for the bruise developing on her jaw.
He called Angel and Buffy next.
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Charlotte’s first thought upon awakening was ‘ow’. The next was ‘What the hell?’ as she realized she was tied to her bed. She searched her memory, the last thing she could recall being that she was arguing with Spike.
“Spike?!?” she yelled.
He came rushing in, followed by Buffy and Dawn. “Charlotte?” he asked tentatively.
“Uh, duh! What the hell is with this?!” she replied, shaking her wrists and rattling the chains.
“I, um, had to knock the demon out. She was a bit less…cordial…than the last time we met,” he answered.
“Well, you can release me now. It’s just me, and all I’m going to do is whap you upside the head for not listening to me,” Charlotte groused.
Buffy and Dawn looked at Spike with matching arched brows.
“Bloody bints always banding together,” he muttered under his breath. To Charlotte, he replied. “Eh…we don’t think so, pet…it’s safer if you stay how you are…”
“What?! No. No, no, no…I have work in the morning. You can’t just keep me like this!”
Buffy interceded, stepping forward. “Willow’s on her way. She’s going to try a spell to remove the demon. The demon has progressed enough, that we can’t depend on you staying in control if you’re free.” She glanced at the other two. “It’s just for a few hours?”
Charlotte grumbled, and sighed. “Well, can you at least let me up long enough to pee?”
The Slayer smiled apologetically. “We can do that.”
Dawn pushed Spike out the door while Buffy approached with the keys for the locks on the chains. The cuffs stayed on. Charlotte hurried into her bathroom, but wasn’t allowed to latch the door. She did her business, then glanced in the mirror while washing her hands.
“Geesus, Spike!!” she exclaimed, seeing the dark purple mark to the side of her chin.
In the living room, Dawn heard the exclamation and poked her friend. “You’re in trouble,” she sang.
“I had to knock the bitch out,” he reminded her defensively. She smirked in response.
“Spiiike! Get your ass in here!” they heard Charlotte yell.
Buffy was refastening the chains to the frame, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
“Yes, luv?” he said, sticking his head in the door.
“You couldn’t have knocked me out without leaving a giant black bruise on my face?!”
“Well, forgive me for not preserving your vanity while trying to prevent that bitch from doing something in your body you’d regret!”
She dropped her eyes, absorbing that bitter revelation. Lashing out at him was easier than facing how bad this could get. Buffy decided to play mediator.
“Hey, it’s a stressy situation, but yelling at each other isn’t going to help, ‘kay? Charlotte, try to rest until Willow arrives. Let’s leave her with some quiet,” she told the vampire.
Spike clamped his mouth shut and turned on heel to go. He left the apartment. Buffy started to follow him, but her sister stopped her.
“Let him be. He’s just going to have a smoke and calm down. Sit. Watch TV.”
The Slayer sighed as she sunk into the couch. “I wish there was something I could slay. Physical fights are easy. This mystical crap sucks.”
“You think Willow will be able to fix it?”
“I hope so, Dawn. She’s the most powerful witch I know. If she can’t do it, then this whole situation gets a lot more ugly.”
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Willow teleported into the Hyperion to find Angel waiting for her. “Hi!” she greeted him. “So, where’s the patient?” she quipped.
“Nice to see you again, Willow, under the circumstances. I’ll drive you there.”
“Lead the way.”
Spike had given his grandsire directions when he called. Someone had to wait for Willow at the hotel, since she could only teleport into places she had been, or seen pictures of. Dawn and Spike were the only ones to see Charlotte’s apartment, before now.
Angel parked and stayed outside. They didn’t need to crowd the apartment, and he wasn’t about to ask for an invitation now. Willow knocked on the door, which Spike opened immediately.
“Sure you can do the mojo, Red?”
“Pretty sure. I went over the spell with Giles before I left. No one’s done this exact spell before…”
“Does that mean it’s dangerous?” Dawn asked.
“Can we just get on with this?” Charlotte called from the bedroom, interrupting.
“You betcha!” Willow replied cheerily. She carried her bag into the bedroom and started setting up.
Willow poured a big enough circle of salt that she could sit Indian style, and set out a big jar, and a pillar candle to focus on. Then, she set the spell before her.
“Guys, I’m going to need you to stay out there. Don’t want the demon jumping ship, ‘kay?” Willow directed.
Once they were alone, she got comfy, laying her arms over her knees with palms facing up, fingers relaxed. Willow took a few cleansing, steadying, breaths, then lit the candle.
“That’s all you’re gonna do?” Charlotte asked.
“Shhh. I need to concentrate. Sorry to disappoint you, but not all magic needs to be mixed in a cauldron with lots of flashy stuff.”
Willow closed her eyes and focused on the words of the spell, murmuring them under her breath. The start of the spell was similar to when she had entered Buffy’s mind to bring her back to reality after Dawn was kidnapped, only she wasn’t tapping into Charlotte’s psyche. She was looking for the space the demon was residing in, so she could pluck it out. That’s what the jar was for. Her gaze switching to an alternate perception, Willow could see Charlotte’s essence next to the demon’s, with the two bleeding into each other in the middle. She hoped they’d found the spell in time to separate them.
The demon lashed out psychically, sensing a threat. Clashing against Willow’s greater power, it fled deeper, instead, hoping to escape. Willow visualized wrapping a cage around the black figure and pulling it out into the room.
Charlotte felt like every cell was being split apart. She screamed in agony as the demon tried to hold on while Willow tried to rip it away.
“Willow, stop, it hurts!” she pleaded weakly.
“Just hold on! I’ve almost got it!” the witch replied.
But the demon was strong and determined, and latched onto Charlotte’s core self. Willow cursed internally. If she didn’t handle this delicately, the demon would shred Charlotte’s mind as it left, doing irreparable damage. Come on, you rotten little bitch, let go! But it wouldn’t. Willow tried everything she knew to weaken it, but the demon would not be separated from its host. She had no choice but to bind the demon where it was and hope it would be enough. To forcefully rip it away would destroy her friend. So, she wove a cage around the demon and set it in a place far removed from where Charlotte’s consciousness lived.
Understanding passed between Willow and Charlotte when the witch opened her eyes.
“You did your best,” Charlotte whispered. “I saw.”
“I’m sorry ‘my best’ wasn’t good enough. Maybe if we’d had the spell right after you were infected…”
Charlotte shook her head. “No, Willow…don’t blame yourself. As long as she can’t ever take over, it was a success.”
The witch nodded, though she still felt incompetent. But she wasn’t that girl anymore who forced her will on others. Willow blew out the candle and placed the jar back in her knapsack.
“I’ll go find the vacuum,” she stated.
“Pantry closet next to the kitchen. You can send Spike in. I’m sure he’s smoking up a storm waiting.”
Willow faced a roomful of expectant faces as she left the bedroom. “What, didn’t anybody have anything better to do on a Sunday night?” she quipped. She fished the vacuum cleaner out of the closet.
“Well?” Dawn asked impatiently.
“You can let her out of the chains.”
Dawn grabbed the keys from Buffy while Nina went outside. She smiled at Spike as he passed her, but he was focused on getting inside. Charlotte was sitting up on the bed and rubbing her wrists. Buffy watched them hug and turned away. She went outside to join Angel and Nina.
“How do you feel, luv?” Spike asked Charlotte. He looked back at Willow, who was cleaning up the salt. “Did you remove the demon?”
A look passed between Willow and Charlotte, before the brunette replied, “She couldn’t. It was already too much a part of me.”
“Then what did you do?” Spike asked carefully, a growl underlying his quiet tone.
“I bound the demon…caged it…and set it aside. She’ll be kinda like Angel, though without the undeath,” Willow replied, thinking that Spike could still be scary, after all these years.
“Bloody hell…” he swore. “There was no other way?”
Both girls shook their heads. He nodded. Dawn looked sad.
“So, what happens now?” she asked.
“I continue with my life,” Charlotte replied. “The important thing is that she can’t go on a rampage in my body. No more switching personalities…right?” she confirmed with Willow.
“Right. You’re in control, with a fully human conscience in the driver’s seat. Um, sorry to magic and run, but I’m needed back at the Council soon.” Willow came up for a hug. “I hope next time is under better circumstances?”
“Count on it. Thank you,” Charlotte replied. Dawn hugged her and followed the witch out. Charlotte looked back at the vampire to find blue eyes full of guilt and regret. “Hey, don’t look like that…I’m okay. And if I’m ever not okay, I’m surrounded by experts, right?”
He touched the bruise on her cheek. “Sorry about this. I’d never intentionally…”
She grasped his hand. “I know. Spike, I trust you more than anyone I know. You’re my best friend, as unlikely as that was to come about. Let’s put the whole ugly mess behind us, okay?”
He nodded, not trusting his voice. When he felt in control of his emotions again, Spike looked up and smiled. “I believe you still owe me an air hockey match.”
Charlotte laughed, the sound bursting up from her belly. “I believe I do, but not tonight, cuz frankly, I’m exhausted.”
“Mm. Get some sleep, then. I’ll shoo out the rabble.”
“I know.” She kissed his cheek, then got up and went into the bathroom to change and wash her face.
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Spike turned off the lights in the living room and locked the door behind him. The others stood around talking.
“Time to go home, people. Excitement’s over.”
The girls shrugged and climbed into Angel’s convertible, except for Buffy.
“You’re not staying?” she asked Spike, surprised.
“I do have my own bed, Slayer,” he teased.
“Well, yeah…I just thought…never mind…” she rambled, blushing.
“Buffy…” She stopped and turned expectantly.
“Patrol after class tomorrow?” Spike offered.
She smiled. “Okay.”
----------
Charlotte dove into work. The season leading up to Christmas was one of the busiest for her. Music was really the best kind of therapy right now.
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Thanksgiving at the Summer’s apartment…
“I am so glad we ordered a dinner!” Dawn exclaimed, as she and Buffy carried in the bags in the morning.
“Hey! I got better at cooking in Rome…” Buffy pouted.
“Yes, you can make a fine spaghetti with sauce from a jar, but traditional Thanksgiving wonder girl, you’re not.”
“Did you confirm with Willow that she’s bringing Giles and Xander?” Buffy fretted.
“Yes. Twice yesterday and three times last week. Stop worrying! All we have to do is set the table and transfer this stuff to serving dishes. Everybody RSVP-d.”
“Good…good…you mind if I take the bathroom first?” she asked, worrying her lip.
“Go get pretty for Spike,” Dawn teased, shooing her sister off towards the bedrooms.
“I…I…”
Dawn rolled her eyes as she pushed Buffy along. “You’ve been making googly eyes at him for weeks. It’s not like you’ve been hiding it from anybody. Now, shoo!”
Buffy glared at her little sister, and rushed into the bathroom. That accomplished, Dawn turned a critical eye on the apartment and started cleaning once the food was put away. She had her own reasons for getting a pre-cooked meal – it spared her the time she would have taken rescuing Buffy from the kitchen, so she could primp to impress her own bit of hotness.
Willow teleported in at 2:00, with Xander, Giles, and…
“Andrew?!” Dawn exclaimed.
Willow held up her hand. “Don’t ask,” she said tiredly. “Is there somewhere I can lie down for a bit?”
“Sure, take Buffy’s room,” Dawn replied, pointing to the door.
Buffy came bouncing in from the kitchen, stopping short when she spotted the young Watcher. “Andrew?!”
“Hey, Boss Lady. L.A. agrees with you,” he replied.
Well, at least he cut that dorky hair, Buffy thought. “Okay! Everybody have a seat. Xander, you can turn on the game, or whatever. Once the vamps arrive at sunset, we can eat!”
“Buffy, you invited them?” Giles asked disappointedly as he followed her back into the kitchen.
“Don’t start, Giles,” she warned him quietly. “They’re my friends, same as the rest of you.”
“Very well…I can be civil on a holiday for your sake.”
She smiled gratefully. “Thank you.”
The public area of the apartment was one big open space, with the kitchen at one end, separated by a long counter, then the dining room/living room, and a wall shared with Dawn’s bedroom. The one bathroom was across from Dawn’s room, and Buffy’s bedroom was at the end of the short hall. The full-size dining table could be pushed against the counter when they didn’t have guests, and the sofa sat against the wall with the TV sitting center. The back wall consisted of mostly windows, with a loveseat beneath them. Framed pictures of friends and family dotted the walls of their home.
With two and a half hours to kill, the Scoobies caught up on each other’s lives. The Summers’ girls kept the men happy with snacks. The sun had barely dipped below the buildings, when the intercom buzzed below. Buffy hurried down to let them in.
Two slightly smoking vampires came rushing in, followed by a bemused Nina and Connor.
“You couldn’t wait until the sun was down?” Buffy asked incredulously.
“Spike got bored,” Angel grumbled, earning a winning smile from his grandchilde.
“You look lovely, pet,” he complemented the Slayer. She blushed, smiling demurely.
Connor rolled his eyes at the blatant flirting. “I hope there’s still food left…”
“We haven’t started dinner, yet,” Buffy assured him. It was so nice of Angel to mentor the kid.
“I realized I never got you a housewarming gift, so this is for you,” Nina stated, presenting a bottle of wine. “One of my sister’s favorites. It goes well with chocolate. Love the sweater.”
“Thank you! Well, head on up, guys.” Buffy led the way up the stairs, pleased that she had chosen her new off-shoulder sweater to wear that day. As she opened the door, she announced, “Hey, everybody, we can eat now! Dawn?”
“Got it!” The teen scurried into the kitchen to start pulling dishes out of the oven.
Introductions were made. To Spike’s surprise, Xander shook his hand. He narrowly escaped another hug from Andrew, glaring at Dawn as she giggled. Buffy introduced Connor as a colleague of Angel’s. Willow and Dawn exchanged a look over the Slayer still not knowing the boy’s true origins. No one was choosing to correct her, anyway. Willow rolled her eyes, as Dawn sat next to Connor. The girls had planned the seating carefully, putting down place cards at each setting to avoid a potential blow-up. The lefties had to be seated accordingly, too.
“It all looks lovely,” Giles complemented the girls.
“Thanks, Giles,” they chorused.
Buffy raised her glass. “To friends being together, and the ones we miss.”
The nice thing about “ritual feasts” is that your guests are too busy stuffing their faces for the first several minutes to make much conversation. Words spoken consist of “Pass the potatoes”, or “Could I have the butter, please”, and “Who wants the drumstick?” Of course, Xander eventually had to make a comment about this going better than Buffy’s first attempt at a Thanksgiving, which prompted the story of the Indian spirit invasion for those who hadn’t been there. In Dawn’s memories, she’d gone with Joyce, so she was happy to hear the tale again, too. In retrospect, even Spike found it amusing.
After snoring for an hour on the couch, Giles begged off for his hotel, followed by Andrew. The Scoobies from Europe were staying in town for the weekend. Dawn was off in the corner with Connor, pumping him for info about college. Xander and the two vampires had found a sports channel they could agree on.
“That leaves us to do the clean up, girls,” Nina said.
“Yep, the price of being an old Slayer is that I have to do dishes,” Buffy quipped, clearing the table. She glanced over at Spike as he laughed at something, and smiled. Then, she remembered that it had taken seven years to see him genuinely laugh, and felt regret creeping back in.
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“See you all around Christmas?” Buffy said, as her guests were leaving.
Smiles and nods. Everyone had a full stomach and leftovers for the next day. She closed the door and turned around to see Spike staring out the windows. They could hear Dawn putting away dishes in the kitchen.
“Didn’t realize you were still here,” Buffy murmured.
“Hmm? Sorry, pet…got caught up watching the traffic below,” he replied absently.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Spike turned his head to give her his attention. “Just thinking about past holidays…I haven’t been part of a family gathering in a good long while. Your mum would have been proud of you today, both of you.”
“Well, all we did was place an order. I still haven’t gotten past spaghetti or mac ‘n’ cheese,” she said humbly.
“Still, it was a right nice party, all things considered. Didn’t even have any bloodshed. You’ve grown up into quite a lady, Slayer.” Spike smiled to himself over some hidden thought, and stepped back. “Well, I ought to say my goodnights to Dawn and be on my way…”
Buffy nodded. She watched him walk into the kitchen and hug her sister, whispering something in her ear that made her laugh, and swat at his arm, and wondered why she still couldn’t relax that much around him. They hung out, they killed things, they had fun, but…you couldn’t say they were “close”. Not like he was with Dawn, or Charlotte, or even Angel. Did she actually share stuff less than Angel?
“G’night, Buffy.”
Spike’s voice interrupted her thoughts. He stopped at the open door and peered at her, his head tilted in that way she knew was about him being perceptive.
“Earth to Buffy?” her sister added, rolling her eyes.
The Slayer moved to action, crossing the room to the door. She bit her lip nervously, then wrapped her arms around the vampire in a hug. Spike froze in surprise, then brought his arms up to return the embrace.
“I’m glad you came, Spike,” she said into his jacket.
“Me, too, luv.” Me, too.
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