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Beta and banner by the amazingly talented dawnofme!
They’d finally made it. Windayle’s chimney came to view between the trees.

“Oh, thank God,” muttered Buffy.

For the last thirty minutes, she’d been worrying that Craig wouldn’t make it. He’d grown increasingly pale and had vomited a couple of times.

“What?” said Craig.

“That’s Windayle.” Buffy pointed towards the house.

“What if they’re there?”

“I’ll go and get the money and our passports. If someone is watching – I’ll make sure that they don’t see me.”

Although they’d left early that morning, dusk was already falling. Craig sank to the ground gratefully. He knew he’d held his mom back and terror ran through him with every pulse of his heart, as he worried that the time they’d lost today would mean that they’d fail to find Cam.

Ducking his head so Buffy wouldn’t see him blinking back tears, he said, “What will we do then? I can’t walk any further, Mom.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll work something out,” said Buffy. “Just stay still and I’ll come back for you, but…”

Craig looked up when she paused. “But, what?”

“If I’m not back in thirty minutes. Move further north and call the police, okay?”

“No, I’ll come with you, I can’t—”

“Craig,” said Buffy sharply. “Do as I say!”

“But—”

“I can’t risk taking you to the house with me. I can’t have them get their hands on both of my sons. You understand that, don’t you?” She knelt in front of Craig and placed a hand on either side of his face and looked deep into his troubled eyes. “I love you so much, and I’m sorry that being the slayer has meant your life hasn’t been as it should have been.” She kissed his forehead and gave him her cell phone. “I’ll be back before you know it.” Without giving him chance to reply, Buffy stood up and ran towards the house.

Craig stared after her, wishing he had the strength to get up and follow her. That had sounded too much like goodbye.

*~*~*~*

Cam couldn’t sleep. He wished the nurses had put him in the bed instead of leaving him in the chair, his toes almost touching the huge mirror that made up the front wall of his quarters. Each time he began to doze, his head fell forwards with a jerk that woke him up. Screaming with frustration, he tried in vain to turn the chair around.

“At least turn the fucking light out!” He yelled at the ceiling.

*~*~*~*

“He’s not settling in as well as I’d hoped,” said Maggie, as she watched the feed from the camera in Cam’s room.

“He’s a tough kid,” Mark replied, with a shrug. “Son of a slayer – he’s seen more than most.”

“Hmm…maybe we need to do something a little more drastic?” Maggie smirked.

“Shall I go get him?”

“Yes, we’ll do it tonight. Then he might be more useful tomorrow.”

A sharp rap at the door had them both turn to face it.

“Enter,” Maggie said.

The door swung open and two men walked inside. Maggie’s eyes narrowed at their nervous appearance.

“Tell me that you have them.”

The men glanced at each other before the taller said, “The fire service put the fire out, but it took some time as the undergrowth caught—”

“Cut to the chase, Haines,” snapped Maggie.

“Well…I’m sorry, Ma’am, but there were no bodies in the vehicle. We searched the area around the crash site but found nothing.”

“Nothing!” She stood up and marched around the desk to stand in front of the men. “Just why, exactly do I pay you?”

“Sorry, Ma’am,” they murmured in unison.

She turned to face Mark and nodded almost imperceptibly. He got up and walked to the door. “Haines, Gibson, best we leave the Professor alone, now.”

Smiling gratefully, the men walked through the door that Mark held open. Mark followed them out and without either man suspecting a thing; he put them on the floor with a shock from a stun gun.

Maggie pressed the intercom on her desk. “Get a clean up squad here. Two subjects to be taken to the labs.”

She went to the men, writhing feebly on the floor. “No one fails to do their allotted task.”

“Please…” gasped Gibson.

Mark kicked him in the face and he lost consciousness.

Two minutes later, the men were carried away to the laboratory holding pens.

“Get the boy,” said Maggie. “If there is the chance of the slayer being alive, we’d better give her something to worry about, eh?”

Mark grinned and nodded. “I’ll see you in the O.R. with him in ten minutes.” He turned on his heel and strode away.

With a sigh, Maggie went into her office and sat at her desk. It would be easier just to kill the boy and stake the vampire, but then she’d never liked easy.

*~*~*~*

Spike started as the mirrored wall in front of him slid open. He sat up and pressed his back against the wall, afraid of what might come inside. Two white coated men walked inside and for a moment, Spike’s attention was on their reflections rather than the men. Tilting his head, he wondered why they could be seen and he couldn’t.

His attention was brought back to the men when the nearest one kicked at his legs. “Stand up.”

Not knowing what else to do, Spike did as he was told and struggled to his feet, resting a hand on the wall to steady himself. For a long time before the men had entered, Spike’s head had been swimming with pain and it made standing difficult.

“Where am I?” he whispered.

A hand lashed out and hit him with a back handed slap that made his head hit the wall and his vision flicker.

“Shut up!”

He did. He didn’t know they would be the last words that he uttered.

“Hold out your hand,” said the man who’d hit him.

Spike glanced at both and shook his head. Whatever they were going to do, he just knew that he wasn’t going to like it. With a sigh, the man lunged at Spike and with an all too brief struggle, soon over powered the weakened vampire and pulled his arm out in front of him.

The second man stepped in close and injected a pale yellow liquid into Spike’s forearm. Spike panted nervously as the men simply smiled at him and let him go. Soon he was alone again. Ten minutes after they had gone, Spike was hurling himself around the cell, crashing against the mirror, time and time again, as an uncontrollable rage tore through him, and the pain in his head increased.

His inhuman growls and snarls echoed off the walls. Pain ripped through his mouth as his fangs grew back, much more rapidly than normal, and he lost all reasonable thought when he saw the specks of blood on the tiled floor. Pausing long enough just to lick it up, Spike resumed hurling himself at the walls; his head feeling like it was going to explode.

Maggie grinned as she watched the vampire’s reaction on a monitor in the O.R. “Just a little precaution if the Slayer manages to find you. Let’s see how much she loves a feral, insane vampire,” she said to herself. She turned away from the monitor as she heard the arrival of Mark and Cameron. “Now let’s screw with the bitch’s son some more.”

She stepped back to ensure that the boy had the opportunity to see Spike’s behaviour.

“What are you doing to him?” asked Cam, wearily. “Why can’t you just leave us alone?”

“What would be the fun in that?” Maggie replied. “Get him on the table.”

Cam offered no resistance as Mark got him from the wheelchair to the table and strapped his hands down. He closed his eyes at the fact the only restraints needed were on his arms. When he opened them again, his eyes went to the monitor. They widened slightly as he saw Spike attacking a man. The man, Haines, was trying to fight back but with Spike’s strength returning, the human was no match for him. Cameron looked away as Spike roared with triumph and bit into the man’s neck so savagely that he almost severed it.

“How could you love that?” asked Maggie, bending close enough for Cam to smell the garlic from her dinner on her breath.

For some reason, it struck him as funny and he began to laugh hysterically.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Mark, shut him up.”

Cameron’s eyes bulged as Mark rammed a ball gag into his mouth, stretching his jaw wide open and reducing any sounds to a low gurgle as it compressed his tongue.

“You remember why you came to be here?” asked Maggie.

Cam nodded.

“It was out of love for that creature.” Maggie pointed at the monitor. “Now that is just not normal, and we need to do something about these silly notions of yours. We need you to be like Gunn.”

Even with the gag in place, Cameron objected loudly and shook his head as rapidly as he could, his chest heaving with his panic.

Maggie stroked her hand along his lifeless limbs. “Don’t worry, Cameron, you’ll hardly miss it at all.”

*~*~*~*

Buffy stealthily made her way to the house, calling on all her long unused but not forgotten skills. The house appeared empty and only Dora’s small car was in the driveway. Hoping that the Carmichaels had gone out together, Buffy broke the lock on the back door and then paused, listening intently for signs that anyone had heard the sound of the wood splintering. Satisfied that no one was heading her way, Buffy stepped catlike inside and cautiously made her way upstairs.

Grabbing Craig’s rucksack, Buffy quickly found their passports and cash and put them in it. She glanced around the room to see if there was anything else that would be of use, but there was nothing. With a sad glance at her favourite high heeled boots, she tiptoed down the stairs and into the kitchen. She needed weapons. The top drawer revealed a set of stainless steel kitchen knives of varying lengths. She picked up the largest and held it out, gauging its weight. Nodding, she put it in the bag, swiftly followed by one with a two inch blade and another with double that. Her eyes fell on a wooden spoon and she picked it up and added that to her cache.

She’d just picked up the keys for the car on the driveway when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she heard the click on a gun’s safety catch being released.

“Place your hands on the counter and don’t move a muscle.”

*~*~*~*

Cameron was in danger of hyperventilating as Maggie placed her hand on his chest. “You really are a good person, Cameron. Your soul is pure.” She tapped her fingers lightly. “The trouble with that is it's always going to hold you back now that you’re working for me. I need to free you from that troublesome desire to do the right thing, from your conscience.

Shaking his head frantically, Cameron wailed.

“In return, you’ll get more vampire blood – you will heal some more.”

Mark stepped forwards and handed her a small golden disc which Maggie placed on Cameron’s chest. Pain ripped through him and his fingers clenched into fists. He prayed for death – how much more could his body take?

A brilliant light rose from his chest. Maggie used what looked like a handheld vacuum cleaner to suck it away from him. The pain receded as the light dimmed until it all was pulled into the device. With a glance at Cam’s face, Maggie walked to a table and put the nozzle of the device in the neck of a jar made of thick glass with a greenish tinge. Pushing a button, light flooded out of the device and filled the jar. Maggie quickly screwed on the lid and then held it up for Cameron to see.

“One, barely used, untarnished human soul – have you any idea how much this is worth?”

Cam couldn’t move – his emotions were in turmoil – he no longer knew who he really was. His eyes found the monitor and saw that Spike was covered in blood and gore and still tearing up the remains of the man. He tried to care – for the loss of the man’s life and for what Spike had been through, but all he felt was emptiness.

“Tell me what you’re feeling, Cameron,” said Maggie, pulling the gag from his mouth.

He worked his aching jaw for a moment before fixing her with a flat stare, but found he had nothing to say.

“You’ll feel better soon,” Maggie continued. “I’m going to make you sleep now and when you wake up, you should find some improvement.”

A prick in the back of his hand and Cameron’s world went dark. As the boy slept, Mark and Maggie went to work. Using technology acquired from Wolfram & Hart, they attached electrodes to Cam’s scalp and infused his mind with new skills. They’d used it to turn Gunn from a hot shot lawyer to a computer expert. With Cam, they infused the knowledge and skills of a top class surgeon. Like Gunn, they shut down the part of his brain that allowed him to feel strong emotions like love or hate. The only thing he’d truly care about would be his work. He’d also forget that he’d ever been taken from his room that night.

Maggie tubed vampire blood directly into Cam’s stomach. A surgeon was no good without fully functioning arms. She ran her hand over his sweat beaded brow.

“You’ll be happy now, my son.”

*~*~*~*

“I can explain,” said Buffy, quietly, resisting the urge to face the man behind her.

She heard the bag being shoved away from her.

“Turn around slowly, Buffy – if that is really your name,” said Mr. Carmichael.

“It is. Please, just listen to what I have to say.” Buffy turned to face Maurice.

“I have to listen to the woman who has just broken into my house? And was about to steal Dora’s car by the look of it. So why shouldn’t I just pick up the phone and call the police?”

“Maurice, Craig is hurt, he’s in the woods. We were in a car wreck.”

The hand holding the gun never wavered. “Why did you break in? Tell me – is it anything to do with the men who were here earlier?”

“They were here? Oh, God! I’ve got to get back to Craig. If they find him…” The colour drained from her face.

Maurice lowered the weapon. He believed in trusting his instincts and his instincts were telling him that although the woman was in trouble of some kind, that maybe she wasn’t the one in the wrong.

“I’m going to ask you one question and I want an honest answer.”

Buffy nodded. “Fair enough.” Now that the gun wasn’t on her, she could take the man in a heartbeat, but she was reluctant to do it, unless she really had to.

“Were the men that came here from that facility with the trained vampires?”

“Yes. They have my other son.” Buffy boldly held the man’s stare.

“In that case you have my assistance – if you want it?”

“That’s really good of you, Maurice, but things are going to get messy. I don’t want to put you or your wife in any danger.”

“They’re up to no good up there, I might be retired but an old soldier can tell when something’s off. Whatever they’re doing in there – it isn’t what they want us to believe. I’ll help you in any way that I can.”

“It’s too dangerous. I can’t ask for your h—”

“There’s no time for that now,” said Maurice. “I offered. Where is Craig? We need to get him to a safe location. Is he able to walk?”

Buffy saw the determination on the man’s face and made the decision to trust him. She quickly told him what had happened. As she was talking, Maurice busied himself getting supplies that he thought they might need. They walked out of the broken back door and instead of going to the car on the driveway, Maurice took them to a shed at the back of the property.

“Dora has already gone to our cottage. One of the men who came here recognised me, as I led a local opposition group when the place was being constructed. I didn’t trust them not to come to clear up the loose ends when they realised that their target was lodging with a known opposer of their organisation. They’d think we were connected even if we’re not.”

“I’m sorry that I’m causing you trouble.”

“Enough of that.”

He pulled open the door to reveal a quad bike. “It should be able to carry the three of us as long as you’re able to hold on tight enough to sit on the wing, so Craig can sit behind me. It means we can stay off the roads.”

“I’m stronger than I look,” said Buffy dryly causing Maurice to look at her quizzically.

He tied their bags to a rack on the back of the quad and climbed on. Buffy got on behind him and the bike roared into life when Maurice turned the key. Using the compass to guide them back to where she’d left Craig, she was off the quad before it fully came to a halt.

He wasn’t there.


Chapter End Notes:
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