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Author's Chapter Notes:
Betad by Mabel Marsters. Thank you!
”Spike’s missing?”

Buffy let out a frustrated groan, suppressing the urge to stomp her foot like a child. “Yes! That’s what I’ve been telling you, Angel. We had a date last night and he never showed up. Something must have happened.” Seeing how Angel exchanged a look with Wesley, who was also in the room, she crossed her arms over her chest. “What?”

“Um...” Wesley cleared his throat, glancing at Angel. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Buffy, but maybe he just-“

“What? Forgot?” Buffy cut him off, staring at the man in exasperation. “I’m sorry, Wes, but if you actually believe that, then you’re an idiot.” Before the former watcher got the chance to object, she turned back to Angel. “Well? Don’t just stand there, we’ve gotta do something!”

“Okay, let me see if I’ve got this straight.” Angel slowly got up from the office chair and walked around his desk, stopping a few feet away from Buffy. “Spike’s gone missing, and you want me to start a search party?”

Eyes narrowing in barely contained fury, Buffy took a threatening step closer to the vampire. “Are you saying you won’t?”

“Actually, what I’m saying is...” To his credit, Angel didn’t back down, although he did seem a little uncomfortable by the Slayer’s obvious rage. “I just think it’s kind of interesting, Buffy. Vampires and demons have been disappearing around here for weeks, and it hasn’t really seemed to bother you. But now-”

“That’s not true,” Buffy interrupted, glaring at him. She couldn’t believe Angel would actually talk to her like this again. It reminded her about that time when she had confronted him about Faith, and he had ordered her to get out of his city. “I’ve been doing what I can to help, and you know it.”

“Right.” Angel scratched his chin. “Remind me again. Yesterday, when the rest of us – including Spike – were out looking for Harmony and God knows how many others have gone missing by now. What were you doing? Oh, right. You went shopping.”

Buffy opened her mouth, then closed it again. She clenched her fists and stared angrily at Angel. For a moment, the former lovers just stood there glaring daggers at each other. Then Wesley spoke up, softly. “Forgive me for interfering, but shouldn’t we focus on what’s important?”

“Hey, guys, what’s going on?” Fred entered the office, followed by Rowan. She went to stand next to Wesley, a concerned look on her face.

“Apparently, Spike’s missing,” Wesley explained with a sigh. He then looked at Rowan. “As a matter of fact, you might be the last person who saw him. He went to your place yesterday, if I’m not mistaken. Did he happen to mention anything about...” He stopped when Rowan froze in his tracks, all color suddenly draining from his face. “Rowan? Are you quite all right?”

Rowan stared at him for a moment, then swallowed hard. “Spike came to my house? Yesterday?” He cast an alarmed look at Buffy who nodded, looking like she might cry.

“I take it he never made it, then?” Wesley gave Rowan a questioning look. The blond man turned back towards him, slowly shaking his head. He looked like he was about to be sick.

Fred hurried over to Buffy, placing her hand gently on the blonde’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Buffy, I’m sure Spike is just fine.” She looked around the room. “Maybe we should split up. Buffy and I can go check the demon bars again, ask if anyone’s heard anything, and you guys...” She stopped as she saw Angel roll his eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you wanna go to the demon bars?”

“Sure, why not?” Angel threw his arms up in frustration. “I have a meeting with the Fyarl demons in five minutes, but I’ll just call the whole thing off. In fact, let’s all drop everything else and go running around town searching for the bleached moron. Just because it’s someone Buffy happens to care about-” That was how far he got before Buffy punched him in the face, causing him to stumble backwards.

The room went silent as the dark-haired vampire grunted in pain, the strong blow obviously taking him off guard. Buffy stared at him with wide eyes, clearly just as surprised. Then her face crumpled and she promptly burst into tears.


~ ~ ~


“It takes more than simply cutting out the tongue to kill a vampire,” Morou said, watching Harmony’s lifeless body before turning back to Spike. “But you know that already. Don’t you?” He gave the vampire an expectant look.

Spike’s jaw clenched, but he wisely remained silent. The image of Harmony’s panic-stricken face, just before the monster ripped her tongue right out of her mouth, would stay with him for a long time, and he still felt slightly nauseous. Besides, he had a sinking feeling the demon wouldn’t think twice before doing the same thing to him.

“You may speak.” Morou crouched down in front of the vampire, and Spike hated how he instinctively flinched back. “In fact, Morou insists. Talk! What does it take to kill a vampire?”

Spike glared at him, wanting nothing more than to tear the demon apart with his bare hands. Unfortunately, it turned out that Morou had been right all along. They really were playing by his rules and Spike could do little more than obey. “Stake through the heart. Direct sunlight. Decapitation.”

“Ah, yes.” Morou nodded in agreement. “And let’s not forget fire. Fire is powerful enough to kill all of us, given enough time.” His voice remained eerily calm as he continued, “You get to take your pick, vampire. Morou is generous. What will it be for you?”

Staring at him in disbelief, Spike let out a snort. “You’re bloody insane! Not gonna-“ His head snapped back as the creature slammed an iron hard fist right into his face and he gasped, feeling the blood well out of his nose and mouth. He vamped out, growling furiously.

“You will speak only to answer Morou’s questions.” The beast spoke slowly, and by the tone of his voice, he might as well have been talking about the weather. He grabbed Spike’s chin, forcing him to look at Harmony who was still lying unconscious on the floor with blood dripping out of her half open mouth. “She knows her place. She gets away easy.”

“Easy?!” Spike knew he should stop arguing, but he just couldn’t help himself. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he continued, outraged, “You call that easy? Killing her would be much more merciful than what you just did to her, you sick fuck!”

Morou stood up, watching him for a moment. Without warning, the demon then kicked Spike in the chest, causing the vampire to double over in pain. Casually making his way over to Harmony, Morou bent down next to the female vampire, his large hand closing around her throat hard enough to leave marks from his fingers as he pulled her up in a sitting position.

Harmony’s eyelids fluttered briefly before her eyes finally opened, and she blinked a few times. She appeared to be confused and disoriented, a choked moan escaping her throat. At that moment, with a simple flick of his wrist, the demon snapped her neck before tearing her head off. Slumping back against the wall, Spike watched Harmony’s lips part in a silent scream as she exploded into a cloud of dust.


~ ~ ~


Realizing that he had gone too far, Angel lowered his eyes in shame. Not meaning to take his petty issues with Spike out on Buffy, especially since she was already visibly upset, he sighed. “Buffy, I was out of line. I know you’ve been helping out since you got here, and I shouldn’t have implied otherwise. I’m sorry.”

“But you were right.” Buffy wiped away the tears from her face, a defeated note in her voice as she went on, “I admit it; I didn’t really care before. They were demons and I barely knew them. I know I’ve been selfish and I’m sorry. But...” she took a shaky breath, “it’s Spike. I can’t lose him again, I just can’t. Angel, please...”

Seeing Buffy’s heartbroken expression made Angel feel like he had been punched in the stomach, and he closed his eyes for a moment. He had reluctantly accepted the fact that she was in love with Spike, mostly because he didn’t seem to have much of a choice. But now, seeing the look of pure fear and despair on her face made him realize just how much the other vampire actually meant to her.

“Look,” Angel reached out to take her hand, relieved when she didn’t immediately pull away, “it’s gonna be okay. If Spike’s still alive...” He stopped, regretting his choice of words when he saw how Buffy’s bottom lip started trembling, and quickly started over. “We’ll find him. You have my word.”

Sniffling a little, Buffy gave him a hopeful look. “You promise?”

“I promise.” Angel suddenly remembered that they weren’t the only two people in the room. Thinking quickly, he then turned to face the others. “Okay, guys, sorry about that. Fred had a good idea; we should split up. I’ll cancel my meeting with the Fyarls. Rowan, you...” He stopped, looking around the room with a frown. “Where did Rowan go?”


TBC


Chapter End Notes:
Thanks to PhotographyNut, guest, B, cordykitten, IamGhost, JO and Kirsty for reviewing the last chapter. :)



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