“Right, of course.” Giles reached for his glasses, then seemed to realize what he was doing and let his hand drop into his lap. “All right, have you ever…?” He hesitated. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever witnessed something… supernatural?”
“What?” Spike looked at his uncle in confusion. “Told you I don’t know anything about magic, didn’t I?”
“Yes, well…” Giles sighed. “Not knowing is quite all right. But do you believe in it?”
Spike frowned. “Is there an answer to that question that won’t get me fired before I’ve even started?”
“I’ll take that as a no, then.” Giles got up with another sigh. “How about a drink? I have a feeling this will take a while.”
“Sure.”
Five minutes later, Giles returned with a bottle of Scotch. He put two small glasses on the table and poured some of the liquid into them before handing one of the glasses to Spike. Then he sat down again, this time on the couch. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, both sipping on their drinks, before Giles spoke again. “What would you say if I told you magic is real?”
Spike put his glass down, raising his eyebrows. “Um… I’d probably demand some proof.“ He paused. “You are kidding, right?”
Giles ignored his question. “When I said ‘supernatural’ before, I wasn’t only talking about magic. I was also referring to, um… supernatural beings.”
Spike took another sip from his glass. “Right. Like ghosts and stuff?”
“Well, yes and no.” Giles leaned back into the couch, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I haven’t come across any ghosts myself, to tell the truth, but I’m quite sure they do exist. However, I have encountered both vampires and other various demons.”
He stared at Giles in disbelief. “What kinda game are you playing here, Rupert?”
“Oh, it’s no game, I assure you. Vampires and demons are real.” Giles looked him right in the eyes for a brief moment, then got up again. “If you’ll excuse me…” He walked over to a large book shelf, immediately finding the book he was looking for, and pulled it out. Opening it, he started reading out loud; “In every generation there is a chosen one…” Then he changed his mind and walked back to the couch, placing the book on the table in front of Spike. “Second thought, why don’t you see for yourself, it’s all in there.”
Shaking his head, Spike’s eyes remained on Giles. “Are you listening to yourself, Rupert? That’s bollocks; don’t tell me you actually believe in that crap?” Giles just looked at him, and he frowned. “You do. All right, listen, none of this…” He gestured towards the book. “…is real. Think you may have been working in that shop a little too long, mate.” He let out an uncertain chuckle, and got up. “I mean, come on, Rupert, vampires?! Seriously!”
“It’s true, you know. Vampires are real.” Spike spun around at the sound of the soft voice, coming from the doorway. Buffy was standing there, a serious expression on her beautiful face.
He looked from Giles to Buffy. “What is this? Are you two very stoned? We’re having a talk about vampires here!”
Buffy ignored him and turned to Giles. “Have you explained the Slayer part to him?” She then glanced at Spike. “He loves that part. You see, in every generation…”
“Buffy, dear…” Giles interrupted her carefully, giving her a pleading look, and she became quiet. Then he turned back to Spike. “I know this is quite a bit to take in, and I can’t blame you for finding this information a little, um… shocking. But I do assure you, what I’m telling you is true.” Seeing that Spike was about to object, he hurriedly went on; “Yes, there are vampires and demons, but there are also people who fight them, people who are devoting themselves to keep the town safe from the, um… monsters.”
“Right, like the Slayer?” Spike crossed his arms over his chest.
Giles and Buffy looked at each other for a moment, then Buffy looked away. Giles cleared his throat. “Well, the Slayer has powers and strength that the rest of us don’t have, but we all try to do our best to help.” He suddenly got a proud look on his face. “In fact, I managed to take a vampire out myself earlier tonight.” Buffy nodded in agreement. Spike stared at them for a moment, then grabbed his duster and headed for the door.
“Where-where are you going?” The proud smile on Giles’ face disappeared, and got replaced with a worried expression.
Spike stopped by the door and looked back over his shoulder. “You’re both crazy, you know that? Well, I’m not, so I’m out of here. Good luck with the vampires and, um… have a nice life.” With that, he quickly opened the door and left without looking back.
“Spike, wait, you can’t…” Giles stopped, sighing when he realized that Spike was already gone. “Brilliant! Just… brilliant!”
Buffy walked over to the window and looked out. “The sun has been down for hours.”
Giles closed his eyes for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose. Then he gave her a firm look. “Go.”
Spike wasn’t sure of in which direction The Magic Box was, but he was convinced that he would find it and more importantly - his car - sooner or later. The town wasn’t that big, after all. He now regretted leaving his car there for the night and going over to Giles’ house with Xander; if he had taken his own car he could have been on his way out of this bloody town by now.
Not that he knew were he would go; he sure as hell wasn’t going back to London, but he didn’t intend on staying here either. Vampires! He snorted. Bollocks! His uncle was nuts, no question about it. And obviously, so was Buffy. Shame really, after all, the chit was hot. But he figured, after what she had been through, what else was there to expect?
A sudden cracking noise behind him pulled him out of his thoughts, and he spun around. Seeing nothing, he shrugged and kept going. But it didn’t take long before he heard it again. This time he stopped. “Right, whoever you are, I’m not afraid of you. Just sod off, or I’ll kick your bloody ass.” Silence. He snickered, certain that whoever it had been, he had scared them off. Almost too bad, kicking some serious ass actually sounded quite appealing right now. But no, he didn’t do that anymore, he had come here to get away from all that. He would just have to get used to not solving every situation with his fists.
He started walking again, but he had barely taken a few steps when he heard something that sounded suspiciously like footsteps. Once again he turned around, and wasn’t surprised when he didn’t see anyone this time either. Now he was starting to get angry. Someone was obviously playing with him, and that made him furious. He wasn’t afraid, whoever it was, he knew he could take them. God knew he had been taking down guys twice his size back in London.
Looking around, he sighed. This was starting to get ridiculous. He would never get to his car like this; stopping every time he heard something. Deciding to ignore whoever was following him, he once again started walking. For a couple of minutes he didn’t hear anything, and he let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. He stopped paying attention to his surroundings, and found himself wondering again where he would go once he had gotten back to his car.
The sudden growl took him by surprise, and he didn’t even get the chance to turn around before he was knocked to the ground. Quickly jumping back up on his feet, ready to greet his attacker with a series of punches and kicks, he finally saw the man’s face. Only it wasn’t a man standing in front of him. Spike’s eyes widened, and he could hear Giles’ voice in his ear. ‘Vampires are real.’ Shaking his head in denial, he found himself starting to back away.
He knew he should do something; fight back or simply run, but he remained where he was, staring at the creature in both horror and fascination. The face was ridged and pale, the eyes were yellow, and the teeth… no, fangs, were sharp with red stains that looked suspiciously like blood. As he kept backing away, the creature followed, a threatening growl escaping from its throat.
Spike suddenly found himself trapped in a corner, and silently cursed. Rolling his eyes, he realized that his only option now was fighting the damn thing. A weapon of some kind would’ve been nice, but unfortunately, there was no such luck. The creature – he still refused to think of it as a vampire – had stopped, only a few feet away, and was now watching him, head tilted to the side and still growling. In an attempt to take it by surprise, Spike feigned a punch against its face, then ducked and shot his leg out, intending to make it go down by kicking its feet away.
The plan probably would’ve worked, had the attacker been human. Now it merely jumped back, reacting faster than any human would have been able to, grinning madly. Before Spike got the chance to react; it all happened so fast he didn’t even see the thing move; it grabbed him by the throat and threw him back, hard, against the brick wall behind him. More than a little dazed after hitting his head, but desperately trying to stay conscious, Spike watched the creature approaching him again through blurred eyes.
He struggled to get up, but a wave of dizziness came over him. Should’ve ran, mate, he thought to himself, cursing his stupidity. It was then he realized that the vampire – hell, who was he kidding? – had yet to attack again. That was weird, right? Shouldn’t it be drinking his blood by now? He blinked a couple of times and slowly looked around, seeing that it was still there, but now it seemed to be fighting someone else, though he couldn’t see who it was. Then the vampire snarled and hissed the word ‘Slayer!’ Spike’s eyes widened as it suddenly just seemed to explode – into a cloud of dust.
TBC