Chapter 8
A little before sunset, the car pulled up outside of the old high school, and out emerged a blanketed figure, followed by Robin Wood, who’d gone along to pick him up. Once inside the doors of the school, Angel tossed the blanket aside, and he looked around at the group of worried ex-slayers. Willow was seated off in the corner, a yellow glow emanating from the book she read.
“Were you followed?” Giles asked, as the heavy doors thudded closed. The locks clicked into place.
“No,” Robin said quickly, “but they’ll be here soon.” The blood had long since dried on the concrete, but with its potency, even Angel was having the urge to feed. Luckily, he’d brought along a thermos full of pigs blood, which he was now drinking hungrily. It was the next best thing to Slayer’s blood.
“Where’s Buffy?” Angel asked, looking around the group, spotting Spike, who had his arms folded across his chest.
“She’ll be down in a tick,” he pointed out. “She’s up with Dawn and Andrew. They’re securing the windows.” As if on cue, the clomping of two sets of feet came down the large staircase. Buffy eyed Angel for a moment before making her way over to Spike, as Andrew moved to his post by one of the front windows. Following suit, the ex-Slayers, armed with stakes, scythes and holy water, moved to their own posts.
“Bex and Bella are safe with Dawn on the third floor. Nobody’s coming in there. The windows are secure, but I left Dawn with plenty of protection, just in case.” Spike nodded, gently rubbing Buffy’s shoulder. Angel‘s gaze moved from their faces to Spike’s hand gingerly caressing the smooth shoulder of the Slayer. Buffy caressed her husband’s cheek, and he watched the flicker in her eyes as she did so. What was that flicker, anyway? It wasn’t something he’d ever seen in her. It was something very protective, very powerful, and very desire-filled. “Spike, I want you up on the second floor.”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t want to risk you getting hurt,” she said flatly. “You’re going up there.”
“No bloody way,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m staying here. I’ll be at your side.”
“Spike, don’t argue with me on this.”
“I’m not leaving you down here with a bunch of weak…”
“Faith will be here. Xander. Willow…”
“They don’t have the power to save you if…”
“Neither do you.” Her words stung him, but they were truthful. If anything happened to him, she wouldn’t have him anyway, and even with his strength, there was still the possibility of his getting hurt, or worse. Still, he wasn’t having her down here, fighting side by side with Peaches, while he slinked in the shadows upstairs to ward off any strays that might have gotten through the barrier. No way in Hell. He’d risk it.
“I’m staying.”
“What about Bex and Bella?”
“They need you just as much as they need me, so if I go, you go. If you stay, I stay. It’s as simple as that, Slayer.” Buffy gritted her teeth, and Angel finally stepped in.
“I’ll guard the stairs,” he offered. “I know Wood and Robin are up there, but it wouldn’t hurt to have somebody else. Somebody immortal.” Spike looked over his shoulder at his grandsire. Their gazes met, and he realized that Angel was giving them some room. He was actually trying to help them come to an understanding, and when Buffy finally gave in, Spike nodded toward Angel. Reluctantly, Angel retreated halfway up the stairs.
“Do me a favor,” Buffy warned her husband, looking into his eyes as she stroked his cheek again.
“What’s that, pet?”
“If anything starts shining or glowing, don’t put it around your neck.” Spike chuckled at that.
“I think I can manage.”
“And don’t forget that just because you’re strong…”
“I’m not a superhero,” he muttered.
“Right. And…”
“What, luv?”
“And don’t forget that when this is over, we’re so taking the longest vacation ever.” She stepped toward him, wrapping her arms around him and whispering in his ear, “and I hear that sex on the beach is even better than the drink.” A low growl of approval came out of Spike’s throat, and he pulled her in, crushing his lips against hers, as Angel winced from the stairs. He’d heard Buffy’s words as plain as day, and hearing her heart rate begin to accelerate because of Spike made him a bit sick to his stomach.
“Bloody hell, Slayer,” he murmured against her ear, as he curled her into his arms before holding her out to look at her; look into those glimmering green eyes. “Think we have time to…” His eyebrow twitched suggestively, and she shook her head.
“Put that tension into the fight, bad boy,” she grinned, standing on her tiptoes once more to kiss him.
“Love you, pet.”
“Love you too.”
“Uh, guys? We’ve got company.” Xander tightened his grip on a stake, and both Buffy and Spike made their way over to the windows. It was dark enough in the school that they could clearly see the group of vampires, perhaps an entire nest, coming toward them. There appeared to be twenty or so, and Buffy looked at Spike.
“Promise me you’ll stay back.”
“No promises, luv. I’m gonna do what I have to so we both get out of this.” That was as good as she was going to get out of him, she knew, so she nodded, and she gave a nod to those waiting at the windows.
“Ready?” They nodded, and all of them bent down, striking matches to light an arrow and quickly place it on the crossbow. Everyone took aim, feeling confident that even if they missed the heart, the fire would consume the undead within moments.
“Fire,” Buffy muttered, not wanting to eliminate the element of surprise. And in seconds, an airy whistle filled the air, as tiny yellow balls of fire surged through the dark night, some landing on the ground, some on trees, and some landing square in the chests of the front line of vampires. Some dusted immediately, some managed to pull out the potentially fatal weapon before the fire could burn too much of their skin.
***
“What’s going on down there?” Bella asked, desperately attempting to get to a window to see outside. Dawn, however, moved in front of the window and stood there, arms crossing sternly in front of her chest. Bella sighed dramatically. “I wanna see Mommy and Daddy.”
“Mommy and Daddy are busy right now.”
“Are they gonna get hurt?” Bex asked quietly from the cot in the corner. Dawn swallowed hard, hating lying to her niece and nephew. There was a high possibility that one or both of them would be hurt, but she couldn’t very well explain that to a couple of five-year-olds.
“No. They’ll be fine, alright?”
“Promise?”
“Come on. Get back in bed, Bell,” Dawn said with a motion of her hand. “I’ll tell you a bedtime story.” Bella reluctantly snuggled under the covers with her brother, and Dawn sat down on the edge of the bed, trying to ignore the sounds of fighting coming from two floors below. She looked over at the door, hoping the strong oak and steel would hold. If they got past Buffy, there was no telling what might happen.
“Tell us how Mommy and Daddy met,” Bella finally suggested.
“Oh, there’s a story for when you’re a lot older,” Dawn laughed. “How about I tell you about your first birthday party?”
“Okay,” Bella said, pleased with the thought.
“I flew in from Italy, and your mommy and daddy were getting the house ready for your party.” Dawn grinned at the memory of Spike and Buffy hanging up birthday banners, while a birthday cake baked in the oven. It had been such a normal activity, and when Dawn had walked in the house, it was strange to see the two of them doing something like this together. Even though they’d been married for quite some time, it was strange seeing a Slayer and an ex-vampire hanging decoration. “You were both sleeping, and I had presents for both of you. I put them over on the present pile, and Bex woke up. I told your mommy and daddy I’d go get you, and when I went in your room, your face lit up.” Bex grinned at that. “You held your arms out to me, and I picked you up, and then Bella woke up. So, I sat on the floor of your room and read to you both. And I guess we all fell asleep again, because the next thing I knew, I was waking up, and you were both sleeping in my lap, and your mommy and daddy were taking pictures.” The kids laughed.
“Mommy has those pictures in our album back home,” Bella grinned.
The sounds of battle downstairs were growing louder, and the children showed no signs of falling asleep.
“Want me to sing you a song?”
“Okay,” Bex said with a yawn, curling up on his side. Ah, success. Dawn smiled and settled in, leaning against the wall as she began a long string of nursery rhymes in a feeble attempt at trying to get the twins to sleep.
***
“Kiki’s down!” a young woman screamed as she sent an ax hurtling out the window and slicing across the neck of one very vicious vamp, who immediately turned to dust at the sudden decapitation. Buffy looked over to see a young woman on the floor, still, not breathing. Who the hell was Kiki anyway? She didn’t know a handful of the girl’s names, but in this moment, all of them were soldiers. They didn’t have names, and that was scary. It didn’t matter who they were. It mattered how they fought, and it mattered that they stayed alive long enough to win.
“How many more are out there?” Spike asked, handing Buffy an extra stake.
“Three more. One’s in the bushes. One’s around the side. The other one’s coming straight for us.”
“Right,” Spike said with a nod. He started for the door.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I’ll be right back, luv.” If he was still a vampire, this would have been the moment his game face came on, but instead, Buffy detected a hint of fear in his eyes. Still, he walked out of the school, scythe in one hand, crossbow in another, and the vampire at the side immediately found a wooden arrow sticking through his undead heart, and he turned to ashes.
Spike heard rustling from the bushes, and he sent another arrow his way. It was then that a swirl of ashes rose up out of the bushes before being carried off in the wind. Finally, he tossed his crossbow back inside, braced himself, hands firmly squeezing the handle of the scythe, as the last vampire made his way up.
“There’s more on the way.”
“Think we don’t know that, mate?” The vampire kicked at him, but Spike blocked the blow with the body of the scythe.
“We just want the girls.”
“Kinda figured that.” He blocked another blow and struck the vampire in the gut with the end of the handle.
“He told us you’d all be stubborn and stupid, right up until the end.”
“Who might that be, mate?” Spike sent his open hand right into the face of the vampire, breaking his nose. The vampire stumbled backward, feeling the warm blood oozing out from his nose. He licked the red residue off of his hand and smiled.
“Who else would enjoy chaos so much?” Inside, Giles stood at the window, listening down to the conversation a floor below. He gritted his teeth.
“Who else?” he muttered. “Ethan.” Giles raised his voice. “Kill him, Spike! We’ve got our man!” And in an instant, the vampire’s head was lopped off, and before it hit the ground, he shattered into billions of grey ash particles. Buffy came rushing out onto the porch.
“Are you crazy?” she asked.
“Maybe a little,” he replied. “Vampires these days. They talk way too easily. Can’t be trusted, you know.” Buffy rolled her eyes, and she grabbed his hand, leading him back into the house.
“So now we know who caused all this mess. Ethan must have done something to upset the spell.”
The crowd regrouped downstairs, and Giles cleaned his glasses.
“Giles, I know you two used to be buddies, or whatever,” Xander stated, “but because of him, hundreds of girls are dead. Including one more tonight.”
“I realize this, Xander, thank you,” Giles said curtly. He placed his glasses back on and cleared his throat. “I’ll deal with Ethan.”
“Giles, you know what has to be done, don’t you?” Buffy asked.
“I’m quite aware,” he replied. “He’s endangered us before, but this is too much. I’m going to have to kill him.”
“You’re too late,” came a voice from outside. Everyone gathered at the windows to see a few more vampires outside, looking quite smug despite the fact that over a dozen of their buddies were no more than dirt on the ground. “Rayne’s dead. He broke the little witch’s spell, and that was all we needed from him. The slayers have wiped out more of our kind that we can count. It’s time we repaid the favor. You’ll be seeing us again soon.” And then they were gone, and Giles turned to Buffy, who didn’t look one little bit afraid.
“I guess they took care of our Ethan problem for us. Good news for us.” She turned to Willow. “Think you can get that spell going again?”
“Sure,” Willow said quietly, “but if Ethan could break it, who’s to say somebody else won’t?”
“If it’ll help us for the meantime,” Buffy said quietly, thinking about her daughter safe and sound upstairs, “it’ll have to do. You have what you need?”
“I…I…yeah,” Willow said quietly, wondering if she even had it in her right now to perform the spell.
“Get to it,” Buffy ordered. Willow nodded.
“Alright, but Buffy, if this does work, it might not be permanent. It wasn’t before.”
“It’s better than nothing. Come on, Wil…”
“I’m going. I need some help getting set up.”
“I’ll come with you,” Buffy assured her. “Everybody, try to get some rest. Faith?”
“I’ll take first watch,” Faith assured her. Buffy nodded, and she headed off with Willow, while Spike headed up to check on the kids and Dawn. On his way up, Angel caught his arm.
“What the hell was that?”
“Excuse me?”
“You ran out there! You could have been…”
“Killed? Didn’t think you cared so much, Peaches.”
“I don’t,” Angel muttered. “But Buffy does. Don’t be stupid, Spike. You’re not invincible. You never were. Not even when you were like me.” Spike shook his head.
“See, I think there’s a flaw in your logic. I was never like you. But thanks for the concern.” Spike headed off up the stairs, and Angel headed down to help Faith with the first watch. One thing about Spike, not even turning human could take away his thirst for a good fight.
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