Chapter 28
Spike stood at the front counter, flipping through another book. Buffy set a mug of blood next to the book. His eyes shifted upwards, his brow arching in question.
She shrugged. “I didn’t know if you’d remembered to eat, so…”
“Thanks, pet.” He took a sip to appease her, but he wasn’t that hungry. Buffy wandered over to the weapons cabinet.
“I think Angel has prettier weapons than I do,” she mused.
“Hm. You look better wielding yours,” he replied.
She looked back to smile at the compliment, but his eyes were on the book. When would Dawn get back? She was getting bored waiting. Buffy perked up as the doors opened, but it was only Nina.
“Hey, guys,” she greeted. “Spike, did you find the bag I left you?”
“Yeah, thanks, pet. It was a help this evening.”
“What bag?” Buffy asked.
“Just some basics for Charlotte, like soap and a toothbrush,” Nina answered. “How is she?”
“Knocked out. We had a bit of a situation,” Spike replied, disappointed.
Nina’s expression was sympathetic. “Well, anything I can do to help…just let me know. See ya later, Buffy.” She went upstairs.
“Yeah…” the Slayer sighed. “Spike?”
“Hmm?”
“Is it worth the bother to patrol the block? I’m getting antsy…”
“Not really, but there’s a decent burger joint down the street, if you haven’t eaten. Could always pick up a book, Slayer,” he teased.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like that’s happening. Old books equal asleep Buffy. Don’t suppose you’ll take a walk with me?” He just looked at her. “That’s what I thought.”
Spike came around the desk and wrapped his arms loosely around her waist. “I can’t…if she wakes up alone…” He tucked a strand of hair behind Buffy’s ear. “Any other day, I’d follow you anywhere you wanted to go.”
“Even shoe shopping at Bloomingdale’s?”
“I’d carry the bloody bags for you.”
“Guess we’re not having a date tonight, huh?” she asked rhetorically.
“It’s Friday?”
She nodded.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart…I wasn’t keeping track, with everything…”
“It’s okay, Spike. I’m used to my love life taking a back seat to the latest crisis. Valentine’s Day is Monday, though, so maybe we could squeeze a little time in?”
“Let’s see how the next two days go, hmm?” He placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “I’d love to whisk you off to something incredibly romantic, but…”
“I know,” Buffy replied. “No pressure, ‘kay? Just…this month has been pretty great, and I want to celebrate that,” she added, blushing.
“Kitten…there’s no need to be embarrassed around me for sentimentality.” Spike grinned and purred in her ear, “I’ve always liked it when you blush.”
Dawn burst through the doors carrying a large overnight bag. “Smooching again?”
“Dawn,” Buffy whined.
“Whatever. I grabbed comfy clothes, a coat, socks and stuff, slippers, shoes, and all the necessities. And brought in her mail. Where’s Char?”
Spike winced. “There was a bit of a situation after you left. She’s asleep upstairs.”
“Alone?” Dawn asked, surprised.
“Tranquilized,” Buffy replied sheepishly.
“Oh. Do I want to know why you had a tranq gun?”
“Never know when you might run into a werewolf…” Buffy rationalized uncomfortably.
“So, you guys are down here smooching while she’s unconscious? Really nice,” Dawn added, sarcastically.
“Bit…”
“What room is she in?” she cut in.
Spike sighed. “The one next to mine.”
The teen nodded curtly and took to the stairs.
“Don’t mind her. She’s still suffering from the teenage attitude,” Buffy stated to make him feel better.
He ran a hand through his hair and went back to the book. “She wasn’t wrong. Either we focus on the bloody problem, or get someone else to do it.”
“Yeah… I’ll be back in a little while, ‘kay?”
Buffy wandered out of the hotel. What would Giles do in this situation? Probably make Charlotte and that crazy Slayer roommates and study the ensuing wackiness. Ouch, Slayer. That thought was a bit harsh. Giles had made an effort to be a people person since Sunnydale, at least with the newbies. She’d seen, before moving to Rome, how he tried not to make the same mistakes with those now in his trust. He asked about people’s stress levels, as weird as that was to hear. Cut through the British reserve. If he could only get over his hostility towards the souled vampires…
~+~
Dawn was a bit surprised to find the door locked when she reached where Charlotte was supposed to be. The knob didn’t turn, so she walked back to the landing.
“Spike? Did you lock the door?”
He looked up in surprise, then dismay, and bolted up the stairs and past her. Dawn ran as fast as she could to keep up, but Spike had already burst through the door when she reached Charlotte’s room. She bumped into his back, as he stood frozen.
Written on the wall in blood was:
“You are my protector; why have you abandoned me? Why must I suffer the cruelty of my enemies?”
The window was broken and Charlotte was gone.
“Spike?” Dawn murmured, her voice small and fearful.
“Go find your sister, Bit. She can’t have gotten far.”
“But…”
“Just do as I ask now, luv,” he said evenly. He couldn’t let Dawn know how worried he was. As she ran off down the hall, Spike picked up the phone and rang Angel’s room. “Come to the room next to mine. We have a problem,” he said quietly, and hung up.
Looking out the broken window, he spotted the fire escape, and more drops of blood. Fuck! At least she’d be easy to track, leaving a trail like that. Unfortunately, she was also vamp bait.
“What’s wrong?!” Angel asked quickly, rushing into the room. Blood assaulted his senses. “What the hell happened?!”
“Just get a lock on the scent and help me find her, alright? Explanations can wait,” Spike barked impatiently.
The two vampires sped down the fire escape.
~+~
Wrong, wrong, wrong, it was all wrong! Spike was supposed to protect her, keep her trust. Run…fly…there is no sanctuary. And the rock cried out ‘No hiding place!’ Insanity ADD for the win…
Charlotte didn’t know where she was going, which way she was heading…only that it wasn’t fast enough. She was a blur on the streets, her bare feet barely touching the ground as she ran. Her mind was farther inside the nightmare, but her body had been restored. It didn’t take her long to heal anymore.
Up, over, through…it didn’t matter.
~+~
Spike followed on foot while Angel went ahead to the convertible. The wet blood trail soon dried up, and he was left with trailing after her scent.
Bloody hell, she’s moving fast!
His phone rang as he was in pursuit. “Yeah,” he answered, his tone clipped.
“What’s going on? Dawn’s in a panic.”
“Charlotte pulled a Houdini.”
“How did she wake up so fast?” Buffy exclaimed.
“Don’t know. Call Angel. I’m on foot.” Spike hung up, needing to concentrate.
Another year, another Spike, and he would have gloried in this hunt. Reveled in it. The still, cold air was perfect for tracking her scent and he knew he could catch her eventually like this. His demon howled inside, only tonight, it was with anguish for family. The bitter tang of her fear, the fresh blood…calls for retribution, and marks of failure. The quote on the wall kept ringing through his mind over and over. It wasn’t just a personal accusation, but a verse from a prayer of a man in exile. Charlotte felt truly alone.
~+~
“Which direction?” Dawn asked as she drove. Buffy was dialing another number.
“I don’t know, yet. He said to talk to Angel.”
“We’re out of our league,” the teen said grimly.
“No, Dawnie…we’ll figure it out, like we always do…” It sounded weak even to Buffy’s ears.
Dawn shook her head. “Not this time. It isn’t a battle that we can send an army at. This…this has to be micro-managed…it’s so delicate. I mean, this is someone’s mind we’re talking about.”
“I know,” Buffy quietly agreed.
~+~
When Charlotte was a little girl, her father would take her to a nearby church for music lessons. After the lessons, the kids would get to eat pizza, then play throughout the building. They sometimes played hide-and-seek in the dark, but the building had never seemed scary. Even in a dark cabinet in a dark room of an old creaky building, she felt safe. It was this memory that led her to slip into a chapel with its lights still on. If she could hide here through the night, she’d be alright.
Charlotte ducked down behind a pew as she heard whistling and keys jingling. She watched the janitor lock and test the doors. He turned off the last light, then locked the main doors from the outside and walked away. She stood, sighing in relief. Slid her hand along the wooden pew as she walked further inside. Finding a children’s classroom was a boon.
Charlotte found paper and crayons, and sat down to draw by the light of the moon.
~+~
“It stops here.”
“You’re sure?” Buffy asked. The super-sniffers just gave her a look.
The group was congregated outside a church. Spike, Angel, and Connor all agreed the trail ended here.
“Okay, so we break a window in the back and go in and get her,” she added.
“Maybe we should just wait her out,” Dawn suggested.
“Sunlight’s gonna be an issue.”
“We don’t want to spook her into runnin’ again,” Spike stated.
“How are we going to get her back to the hotel?” Connor asked.
Angel rolled his eyes, as they were all talking at once. “People! We need to focus.” He opened the trunk of the convertible and began doling out items, and took a kit for himself. “We go in quiet, and we tranq her if she won’t come willingly.”
The mortals shared a glance as Angel used a glasscutter to make an entrance in an obscure window.
“Ladies first,” Spike whispered. He stopped Dawn from following her sister. “Not you.”
“Why not?”
“Someone has to be lookout.”
She could see right through him. “Spike, I can take care of myself!”
“I know you can, but I need you to stay out here with the cars. Please?” he replied.
Dawn sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine…”
“Good girl.” Spike climbed through the window, then, followed by Angel.
Buffy picked a random direction and set off. Connor stayed in the hallway. Neither vamp was surprised he wanted to stay near Dawn. They hoped Buffy wouldn’t run into Charlotte first.
~+~
The demon was whispering again, but Charlotte was doing her best not to listen.
You just HAD to come to a CHURCH!
I’m not listening…
You better listen to SOMETHING if you want to live, little girl!
I don’t care…I don’t care what you say.
Then what is THAT?!
A noise. Noises. Heartbeat, breathing… Someone’s coming!
Find a heavy object, find a heavy object… Mag-lite from a drawer in hand, Charlotte stood just inside the door and waited, silently. As the human crept into the room, Charlotte left the shadows and hit the woman at the base of the skull with the flashlight. She crumpled onto the floor.
SLAYER! Run, you idiot! If she’s here, then so are the others!
She had to run. The windows in this room were barred. Charlotte fled towards the kitchen. Hiding places and weapons.
~+~
“They’ve been gone a while,” Dawn whispered to Connor.
“It’s kind of a big building.”
“Well, I hope this over sooner than later. It’s cold out here.”
“Go sit in the car with the heater running for a bit.”
Dawn shook her head. “It’ll just make me sleepy, and then I’m no good to drive.”
“I’d make sure you got home okay,” he reassured her. Without thinking, he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear that had stirred with the breeze.
She shivered, but not from the cold. No wonder Buffy and Spike ended up doing it. Late night missions are sexy. Dawn started to speak, but stilled when Connor held up his hand, and cocked his head towards the hallway.
“I think I heard something,” he whispered close to her ear. “Go wait in the car until I come back.”
~+~
Charlotte grabbed a few things she passed and hid in the walk-in freezer. She watched in the dark, through the little window in the door, as Angel stuck his head in the kitchen, scanned the area, then kept walking. It was a relief, but she couldn’t relax or let her guard down. She knew what the vampire’s senses were like.
Find a wooden spoon, and this could all be over.
NO!! I don’t hurt people!
You conked the Slayer pretty well. Besides, are vampires really people?
Sentient beings are not prey! I’m not staking Angel!
How about Spike, then? He betrayed you. That’s gotta sting.
Don’t you ever shut up?
Ooo, struck a nerve! Don’t you want a little payback? It’s you or them, kiddo.
Go to hell.
Snappy comeback! Alright…if you don’t want to do it, let me have control. I might even let you in on the secret to how to get rid of me…
~+~
Angel doubled back and found Spike. “She’s in the kitchen.”
“Seriously? I checked there.”
“I’m telling you, she’s in there now. I didn’t let on that I knew, so she’s probably still staying put.”
Spike fell into step with his grandsire. “Have you seen Buffy?”
“Nope. This place is a maze, though. She might have gone back to the kids.”
They stopped outside the kitchen door.
“How are you going to handle this?” Angel asked.
“I’m going to ask her to come home.” Spike casually walked in, his hands showing. “Charlotte, I know you got spooked back at the hotel, but it’s alright, luv. Come on out, and we can go home.” He stood and waited, knowing she was in the freezer.
And waited…
~+~
Charlotte knew he knew where she was, and looked frantically about for an escape route. There was a ventilation duct in the ceiling. She could reach it if she climbed the shelves.
By the time Spike lost patience with waiting, she was long gone.
~+~
“Bloody hell, she’s in the duct work!” he cursed.
“You’re kidding!”
“Does it look like I’m kidding?” Spike hopped up and tested the strength of the duct. “Damnit! It won’t support my weight.”
“So, we track her in the ceiling.”
“Yeah…”
~+~
Charlotte dropped down into a hallway just as Connor turned the corner.
“Uh, hi,” he said casually, his hands up in a harmless gesture.
She growled in warning, a sound born of fear more than malice.
“Easy, Charlotte, we just want to take you home, okay? Dawn’s right out there, waiting to see you,” he said softly.
She regarded him for a minute, her head tilted in a close replication of Spike, then struck without warning, kicking him right under the chin. Connor landed on his back a few feet away, dazed. Charlotte darted past him and dove through the hole she saw in the window, tucking in a roll as she landed and popping up running. She would have made a clean getaway, if Dawn hadn’t stepped out and shot her in the chest with the tranq gun.
Charlotte howled as she collapsed, snarling at Dawn when the girl tried edging closer, her eyes portraying betrayed hurt.
“I’m sorry,” Dawn whispered. She truly meant it.
The drug took full effect just as the others flooded out of the church. Buffy was rubbing her neck.
“You alright, Slayer?” Spike asked.
“Yeah. Just got a bump.”
Spike arched a brow, and she gestured at Charlotte. The fact that Connor was also fingering his chin would have been amusing, if the night hadn’t been so stressful. Angel picked up the unconscious woman and placed her in the Plymouth while the others were still preoccupied. Connor had taken the tranq gun out of Dawn’s loose hand and was speaking to her in low tones. Spike was checking the bump on the back of Buffy’s neck while she fussed that she was fine.
Angel glanced down to the sleeping girl beside him. Perhaps this was his time to make amends for the past. The people around him were still finding their way, while he had time, resources, and regrets to spare. Spike was being pulled in two different directions, too close to the problem. The kids had school…and their budding chemistry for distraction. And Buffy…this was never her problem in the first place. So, Angel put the car in gear and drove back to the Hyperion alone. And with a purpose.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
The quotation is Psalm 43:2. This story is almost at an end. Maybe 2 more chapters, for a nice round 30.