”What makes you think Rowan’s dead?” Spike kept moving around the small room, stopping every now and then to kick the door or throw a punch at the brick wall. He refused to accept that they were really trapped – there had to be a way out. And he intended to find it.
“Oh.” Harmony shrugged and ran a shaky hand through her messy hair, grimacing as she tried to comb it out with her fingers. “He left me a note this morning, asking me to meet him down in the basement. Door was open, so I...” She lowered her eyes. “Well, he’s not here. The beast probably killed him.”
“What beast?” Spike was starting to lose his patience. There was something down here, all right, he could feel it. But something about Harmony’s theory didn’t quite add up. For one thing, why would Rowan want to meet up with her in the basement of all places? And writing a note? It just didn’t make any sense.
In fact, the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed that Rowan had set her up. But for what purpose?
Wrapping her arms protectively around herself, Harmony’s frightened eyes darted over the room. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “He looks like a man, but he can’t be. I don’t think he’s a vampire, either. He’s strong. Real strong.”
Spike raised a scarred brow, expectantly. “So, where is he now?”
“I don’t know.” Harmony was trembling. “He’s evil, Spike. Really evil. We need to get out, now!”
“Yeah, well, I’m workin’ on it, aren’t I?” To tell the truth, Spike was at a loss for what to do at the moment, but he wasn’t ready to admit it. He wasn’t really worried, though - he had been in worse situations before. And he had yet to meet a beast strong enough to take him down. Hell, he had been up against the First Evil. This one couldn’t be so bad.
“Work faster, then.” Harmony’s voice had taken a whiny note, which Spike started to find most annoying. “He’ll come back soon, and if we’re still around, he’ll kill us both!”
“Oh, for the love of...” Spike clenched his fists. “Would you just stop yammering? I’ll get us out of here, all right? Got a date tonight and I don’t intend to miss it.”
Harmony’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “A date? With the Slayer?” She let out a snort of disgust.
“That’s right.” Spike gave her a warning look. “I’ve got a date with the Slayer and I’m not going to stand her up. Now I need to think, and I can’t do that if you won’t shut your gob. So if you don’t want me to leave you here with the beast when I find a way out, then I suggest you just stay where you are and shut up!”
With her eyes starting to well up, Harmony said, “You don’t have to be so mean! Do you have any idea what I’ve been through here in this place?” When Spike just turned his back against her and went back to examining the door, she slumped back against the wall with a miserable sigh.
A couple of minutes passed in silence. Harmony obediently remained on the floor, watching the bleached blond vampire with a mixture of interest and wariness. Finally she spoke up, quietly, “You wouldn’t really leave me here, would you, Spikey?”
He turned to look at her, about to respond with some sarcastic remark, but the fear in her eyes made him stop. Letting out a sigh, he shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t.”
She gave him a watery smile. “Oh, good!” She twisted her hair around her finger. “I knew you cared about me.”
Spike opened his mouth, then closed it again, not bothering to comment. Instead he just shook his head in frustration. He was beginning to get the sinking feeling that there was simply no way out of this room, that their only chance of escaping would be for someone to come looking for them. At least – so far – there had been no sign of any beast.
Not that he would actually mind kicking a little demon ass at the moment. In fact, he just found the idea more and more appealing by the minute. Then again, it didn’t necessarily have to be demon, Spike thought grimly. Right now, he would gladly settle for Rowan.
~ ~ ~
Buffy was humming to herself as she put the bottle of wine in the fridge and then went to set the table. Spike would most likely not be back for a couple of hours, but she wanted everything to be prepared. When she was done, she took a step back, pleased with what she had accomplished.
She had bought almost a dozen candles and placed them all around the room. The small – but surprisingly comfortable – bed was made with the new satin sheets she had bought the same day at the mall. And the food would arrive in about an hour. Buffy couldn’t keep an excited smile from appearing on her face. It was time to hit the shower and start getting ready.
~ ~ ~
A couple of hours later, Rowan stumbled through the front door, swaying dangerously as he shrugged out of his jacket and let it drop to the floor. “Home, fucking home,” he muttered. Having spent most part of the day in a blissful alcohol induced fog, the harsh reality came crashing down as soon as he closed the door behind him.
Knowing that he most likely had the mother of all hangovers to look forward to in the morning, he resisted the urge to immediately head into the kitchen and get himself another drink, preferably something stronger than the cheap beers he had been consuming all day at the demon bar. Instead he slowly made his way across the living room, heading for the stairs.
Putting an unsteady hand on the railing to support himself as he started climbing the stairs, Rowan suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to look over his shoulder. Noticing that the red curtain was pulled aside and the door leading down to the basement was half open, his eyes darkened and he reluctantly went back down.
If any part of him had been hoping that Harmony hadn’t found his note on the pillow, that she had simply woken up and left, Rowan was now forced to face the truth. She was down there. He had done it again. Closing his eyes, he desperately tried to fight back the wave of nausea threatening to well up inside him.
There was a pretty good chance Harmony was still alive. Rowan had learned that Morou tended to keep his ‘toys’ around for at least twelve hours. He took a hesitant step forward, and then stopped in the doorway. Who was he kidding? Sure, he could go down there and confront Morou, plead with the monster to let Harmony go. But then what?
Even if he would actually be able to convince the creature in the basement to spare Harmony – which he seriously doubted – Morou would still demand a new victim tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. Deep down, Rowan suspected that he had no choice but to spend the rest of his miserable life as the devil’s servant. With his mind finally made up, he took a step back and closed the door.
Rowan ignored the little voice in his head screaming at him to stand up for himself and do the right thing, even if it killed him. Not that he liked his life very much, especially not at the moment, but still, he didn’t want to die. For a long time after losing Julie, the thought of dying hadn’t really scared him. But what if – even in death – Morou would somehow find a way to keep him in his evil claws?
Suddenly a horrifying thought occurred to Rowan. All this time, he had been convinced that he kept fighting on the side of good. But what if he had been wrong? What if he was the one who was evil; doomed to betray the ones who had never done a thing to hurt him? He tried to push the thought away, but it was hard.
All of a sudden, he was hit by a wave of exhaustion, so strong it nearly made his legs give way. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the small key and quickly locked the door. His hands were shaking badly as he grabbed the edge of the thick curtain and pulled it in front of the door, stubbornly telling himself there was nothing else he could do but to forget about Harmony and go to sleep.
~ ~ ~
“You know, if you had a cell phone, we could call someone.” When Spike didn’t even dignify her statement with an answer, Harmony gave him a hopeful look and asked, “Do you have a cell phone?”
“No.” Leaning his head back against the wall, Spike fought the urge to growl in frustration. He could no longer fool himself; the door wasn’t going to magically open and allow them to leave. He was trapped here in this bleeding basement, with Harmony of all people. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Buffy was probably sitting in his apartment right now waiting for him, and getting more pissed off by the minute.
“We’re gonna die.” A whimper escaped Harmony’s throat. “We’re both gonna die here, and there’s nothing...” Her voice trailed off and her eyes suddenly widened in absolute terror. “Oh God! Did you hear that?!”
“Hear what?” Spike sat up straight, tilting his head to the side. As he listened closely, he could make out a low, humming sound, and in the next moment, he felt the air around him expand and contract rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat. He gave Harmony a questioning look.
She swallowed, hard. “He’s coming.”
TBC
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Betad by Mabel Marsters. Thank you! And thank you to my faithful reviewers! :)