Spike watched in fascination as a tall, slim, dark-haired man materialized in the middle of the room. Or, to be more accurate, it had obviously taken the appearance of a man, but Spike wasn’t fooled. Even if it hadn’t been for those black eyes, shifting into red, he had still been able to tell there was nothing human about this creature.
Some sort of demon, then, he thought. Glancing at Harmony, he saw how she seemed to shrink back against the wall, her eyes squeezed shut and her entire body trembled in fear. He turned back to look at the demon again. Looks could be deceiving, he was well aware of that, but this one sure didn’t look that bad.
“What have we here?” It suddenly spoke in a low, guttural voice. “Another toy? Morou is pleased.”
“Uh-huh. Whatever you say.” Keeping his eyes on the demon, Spike got to his feet. “Can you open the door?”
The demon watched him with something that looked like interest, or possibly amusement. “Yes.”
Ignoring Harmony’s fearful moan, Spike raised a brow. “Then open it.”
After a brief moment of silence, Morou shook his head. “No,” he calmly stated.
Spike sighed. “All right, let me rephrase that. Open the door, and I won’t hurt you.”
“Stop it,” Harmony whispered pleadingly from her position on the floor. “You’ll just make him angry.”
Morou looked at Harmony, then turned his attention back to Spike. “Empty threats. You are nothing down here, vampire. Morou’s rules - not yours. You have no say.”
“We’ll see ‘bout that,” Spike muttered, not too impressed. “Now, listen-“
“You will listen,” the creature interrupted, eyes glowing like fire as he pointed at the closed door. “Morou owns the door.” His arms raised towards the ceiling. “Morou owns the room. And now...” It happened so fast, Spike never got the chance to react. With one swift move, the demon struck out and made him fly across the room, crashing head first into the brick wall. “And now, Morou owns you.”
~ ~ ~
Impatiently pacing back and forth in the tiny apartment, Buffy looked at her watch for what seemed like the fiftieth time. Technically Spike wasn’t late, since he hadn’t told her exactly when he would be home, but it was getting late and she had been ready for hours. Not to mention the fact that the food was getting cold.
Slumping down on the couch, Buffy hesitated for a moment before turning on the TV. She had already tried to call Rowan, hoping he would tell her that Spike had left and was on his way home, but much to her disappointment, she had just gotten the voice mail.
Maybe Rowan had sensed something about Harmony, picked up some sort of trace, and he and Spike had gone to check it out. That could explain why Rowan’s phone had been off. Still, Buffy couldn’t help thinking that if that had been the case, surely Spike would have called her and let her know about it.
Buffy worried her bottom lip between her teeth, not sure what to do. Anger was starting to well up inside her. She and Spike were supposed to have this big, important date tonight, but instead he had to run off searching for his ex. Having already disliked Harmony when she was alive, Buffy now liked her even less as a vampire, seeing how she refused to take the hint and stop ogling Spike.
Of course, deep down, Buffy knew Harmony was no threat to her. Just like she had come to know Spike well enough to realize that if he didn’t show up in time for their date, there had to be a good reason. And he would most likely tell her about it, as soon as he came back.
Firmly telling herself that she had nothing to worry about, that Spike would probably step through the door any moment, Buffy tried to focus on what was happening on the TV screen. But her thoughts kept wandering back to the vampire and she found it next to impossible to concentrate on anything else.
~ ~ ~
“Spikey, wake up! Are you okay? Spike!”
The first thing Spike became aware of as he started coming to was the sound of Harmony’s shrill voice next to his ear. Blinking a couple of times, he groaned and swatted her hand away. “Get off me, ‘m fine!”
She watched as he struggled to sit up and touched his forehead, frowning when he saw the blood on his fingers. “The hell happened?” he demanded, his vision still a little blurry.
“The beast knocked you out.” Harmony paused for a moment. “Um, maybe you shouldn’t move too much. What if you have a concussion?”
Spike stared at her, exasperated. “’M a soddin’ vampire, you daft bint! We don’t get concussions.” He slowly got to his feet, keeping his hand on the wall to steady himself. “Where’d the bastard go? I’ll bloody kill him!”
“He’s gone. For now.” Harmony hesitated. “Um, Spike, don’t take this the wrong way, but you didn’t seem, like, that big of a threat to him. I mean, you were out before you even...” She stopped when she saw the warning look on his face. “Sorry.”
“Took me off guard, is all.” Spike let out a low growl. “Won’t happen again.”
Harmony nodded in understanding, but didn’t appear to be totally convinced. “If you say so.”
“Bloody right, I do!” Spike gave her a hard look. “And the next time, instead of just sitting there, you could try and make yourself useful.” Seeing her confusion, he rolled his eyes and explained, “There’s two of us, and only one of him. Do the math. We can take him.”
Her eyes widened and she shook her head, firmly. “No. No, we can’t.”
Ignoring her objection, Spike went on, “You’ll distract him while I’ll get up behind him and take him down. Son of a bitch won’t know what hit him. Then I’ll make him open the bleedin’ door.”
Harmony kept shaking her head. “Spike-”
“What?!” He glared at her. “Just gonna sit there and wait for him to off you, ‘s that it? Don’t you wanna get out of here?”
“Of course I do! But Spike...” Harmony looked him right in the eyes, sounding almost sympathetic as she continued, “Don’t you get it? There is no way out of here.”
“Bollocks!” Spike snorted. Then his face softened a little. “Look, I said I’d get us out and I bloody well meant it. He can’t be all that powerful; gotta have a weakness and I intend to find out what it is.” He paused. “’Sides, ‘s just a matter of time before Buffy’ll realize I’m gone. They’ll come looking for us.”
“Yeah, for you, maybe.” Harmony’s eyes darkened. “Rowan’s not dead, is he? He was never down here. He tricked me.”
Spike sighed. “Looks that way, yeah.”
“But why?” She sounded so miserable, Spike found himself feeling sorry for her. “Why would he do that to me?”
“Dunno.” Spike was quiet for a moment. “Look, Harm, ‘m not sure what the bloody hell’s going on here, but I have a feeling it’s not just about you, so don’t feel so bad.”
Harmony opened her mouth, then closed it again. She stared at him as she started to put two and two together. “The missing demons?”
Spike nodded. “’Cept I doubt missing’s the right word. I’d say dead’s more likely.”
“Yeah.” Harmony nodded in agreement, shuddering a little. “There’s enough demon blood down here to...” She stopped. “Wait. Does this mean Rowan’s evil?”
Spike closed his eyes for a moment, not sure what to say. The truth was, he liked Rowan. Hell, aside from Buffy and Fred, the blond man was probably the closest thing to a friend he had. The idea of Rowan betraying them like this – pretending to be concerned and help with the searching when in fact he knew exactly what had happened to the demons at Wolfram and Hart – hurt more than Spike wanted to admit.
He had thought he knew what evil looked like, but with Rowan, Spike had not seen it coming. A part of him couldn’t help but hope that it would all just be some kind of misunderstanding, even though he found it hard to believe. Then he decided that it didn’t really matter at the moment. Right now, he needed to focus on getting himself and Harmony away from this place. He could deal with Rowan later.
“Morou is impressed,” the tall demon stated as it suddenly appeared behind them, causing Spike to spin around. “Morou expected you to be out longer. You must be stronger than you look.”
“Better believe it.” Spike glared at him. “You know, I’m really gonna enjoy killing you.” Casting a brief look at Harmony, he noticed that she had backed up against the wall.
“You will do no such thing.” Morou’s mouth twisted into a cold smile. “Morou likes strong toys. They last longer.”
Spike’s eyes narrowed, dangerously. “Not your bleedin’ toy, you miserable piece of shit.”
“Morou will keep you around for a while,” the beast continued, clearly deciding to let Spike’s outburst pass for the time being. He regarded the bleached blond vampire for a moment, and then nodded in confirmation. “You talk a lot, vampire. You need to learn your place.” The demon’s eyes flashed. “Morou will take great pleasure in breaking you.”
TBC
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I have to admit, the lack of interest for this story makes me sad. Clearly only 3 people found the last chapter to be worth commenting. If the rest of you don’t like it, there’s really nothing I can do about it, but I wish you’d just take 2 seconds to let me know why. It makes me seriously question the point of keep posting on this site. To PhotographyNut, cordykitten and Kirsty: thank you so much for your support!
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks to Mabel Marsters for betaing!