Once back downstairs Buffy deliberately squashed herself on the sofa between Willow and Xander, so there would be no way Spike could sit beside her. She wasn’t sure she could have kept her hands to herself if he’d been too close. Spike noticed this, as he noticed everything, but didn’t comment beyond a raised eyebrow and quirk of the lips.
He sauntered over to the fireplace and lent against it, “Sorry about that Rupes, me an the slayer were a bit tangled up there-“
“With the words!” Buffy chimed in shrilly, “Me and Spike had a difference of opinion and the words got all... tangly and stuff.”
Spike poked his tongue out at her, causing Willow to elbow Buffy in the ribs in a way which just screamed ‘we’re going to be talking about this later!”
Buffy shot Spike a warning glare Giles pretended not to see. Though Spike was far and away a thousand times better then Angel, he was still at least partly a demon, and Giles preferred to pretend there was nothing more between him and Buffy then camaraderie. The fact that he was fairly sure he’d heard ‘kissing noises’ coming from Buffy’s bedroom moments before was neither here nor there. Spike could have been merely teaching Buffy some sort of demon dialect he was not familiar with....
Giles cleared his throat, and mind. “Right, well, now we are all assembled and not, ah tangled, in any way perhaps we could get back to the rather pressing matter at hand?”
When he received no objections he continued, “Yesterday afternoon a rather disturbing discovery was made in some woods on the outskirts of town. Three bodies had been dumped there, torn up almost beyond recognition.”
He got Buffy’s attention at once. “Torn up? So are we thinking it’s a demon, or demons? Not vamps?”
Giles sighed. “That would be a fair assumption to make, if not for the timing.”
“Timing?” Willow ventured.
Spike shook his head, clearing the images he’d just seen from his mind. He gave Giles a hard look. “These bodies aren’t fresh are they?”
Giles didn’t wonder at Spikes perception, but simply shook his head.
Buffy looked back and forth between the two men.
Xander piped up, “So are we meaning not fresh as in day old doughnut, or not fresh as in cafeteria food?”
Giles gave Xander a despairing look. “Not fresh as in the bodies are over a week old.”
The significance of this time was not lost on Buffy. “So they were killed before I went to get Spike out of hell?” A pang of guilt shot through her. She had been so focused, so consumed with working on a way to get Spike back that she hadn’t patrolled at all. If she had, if she had done her duty, she might have killed this thing, and those people might not have died.
Spike caught her eyes with his piercing blue ones. Though his lips didn’t move she felt him speaking to her. She felt his words inside her head, it was the weirdest sensation but it felt right, intimate and good at the same time. It was like he was giving her a mental hug. She was going to have to ask him how he did it. “You can’t save everyone Slayer. But you’ve saved the whole bloody world, more than once. You do more than your bit. Cut yourself some slack yeah?”
The guilt didn’t vanish but she gave him a small smile. Looking at Spike, feeling the heat course through her body at the very sight of him, she couldn’t regret her decision. She needed Spike. It scared her to think how much.
Giles had been looking at Spike oddly throughout this silent exchange, but cleared his throat and carried on as though it hadn’t taken place. Willow and Xander had been talking in low voices, and hadn’t noticed anything at all.
“Well, it seems to me that these people were killed either the night you went to, ah, hell or on the night before or after.”
Buffy looked confused, “Why those specific nights?”
“Because those were the nights of the full moon.” Spike spoke quietly. If Buffy had been paying more attention to how he looked and not what he said she would have known that something was troubling him. Giles noticed and gave Spike a significant look, but he shook his head as if to say ‘later’.
Buffy raised an eyebrow, “Well? What makes the full moon so important?”
Spike sighed in exasperation. “Luv, you’re really gonna have to start hitting the books, your lack of knowledge about some stuff is kinda worryin.”
Buffy felt her anger flair up, but it died just as quickly when she heard Giles next words. “The full moons significant Buffy because it seems that we’re dealing with a werewolf.”
Willow let out a little gasp, and Xander went into full wide eyed shock mode. “A werewolf? Seriously? Just when I thought things around here couldn’t get anymore twilight zone.”
Buffy sighed in exasperation. “Isn’t anything that’s supposed to be a myth actually a god damn myth? I’m I gonna have to fight fairies at some point?”
Spike answered as though the question hadn’t been rhetorical. “Fairies aren’t fighter’s slayer, they’re more like harbingers, or messengers if you like. So unless you’re into the whole shoot the messenger bit than I don’t reckon you’ll be killin one too soon. Though they are aggravatin little buggers.”
Everyone looked at Spike with slack jaws, including Giles who was itching to pick up his abandoned journal and pen. It seemed the council’s record of magical, and maybe even demonic creatures, was seriously lacking. Giles was on the verge of asking Spike a question when Buffy got over her surprise and snarked at him. “Is there anything you don’t know everything about?”
Spike grinned, “Probably not slayer, an if there is it aint worth knowin.”
“Alright then, if you’re so clever, how d’you kill a werewolf? I’m guessing stakes won’t work.”
To Buffy’s surprise it was Xander who answered, “That’s easy Buffster, silver! Silver bullets are usually the best thing, shoot it right into their blood stream and voila, one dead dog.”
When Xander realised everyone was looking at him he blushed, and took an extra large bite of doughnut. “At least that’s how they say you kill them in the movies.”
Spike raised his eyebrows. “Thank you Harris, for
introducing me to an entirely new sensation”
Xander eyed Spike suspiciously, “What’s that?”
“Being almost impressed with you.”
Xander wasn’t sure whether to take that as a compliment or not.
Giles hid his smile and explained. “Xander’s actually quite right. Silver is the best way to kill a werewolf. Though you can kill one with brute strength alone it’s very difficult, and dangerous. If they get close enough to bite you, you will become a werewolf too. If they get close enough to bite you several times, you’re... well, dead. It might seem callous to say this but we are actually fortunate the werewolf killed those it attacked, if it had merely bitten them we would have more to deal with.”
Buffy was confused by Giles’ gravity, and the heavy look Spike had on his face. “So what’s the big deal? I get some silver bullets, find this thing, shoot it and ta da! Job done.”
Giles ran his hand across his brow. “It’s not that simple I’m afraid Buffy. A werewolf is only a werewolf for the nights of the full moon. For the rest of the month they look and act like ordinary human beings. That’s what makes them so hard to track and find, they could be just about anyone.”
Buffy slumped. “Oh. Well that’s annoying.” She brightened suddenly, “But if they look like ordinary humans the rest of the month then they won’t be killing anyone will they? And we have a few weeks until the next full moon don’t we? So we have a while to find it.”
Giles nodded. “I was fortunate enough, or unfortunate enough, to see the bodies of the werewolf’s victims. I managed to procure a few strands of the beast’s hairs from them. I think the best course of action would be to find a spell that would let us use the hair to find the creature in human form. As they are one and the same I would assume that the essence of the werewolf would be identical to that of the human.”
“Do you think we could find a spell like that?” It was the first time Willow had spoken in a while. There was a strain to her voice Buffy didn’t miss.
Buffy looked hard at Willow. She was even paler than usual and her eyes had taken on a glassy sheen.
In a low voice Buffy asked, “Will? Are you ok?”
Willow nodded and gave Buffy a weak smile, “Just a bit upset about these deaths I guess.”
Buffy nodded, “Yeah, getting torn to bits isn’t a very nice way to go.” She didn’t notice the way Willows smile disappeared at her words as Giles had started talking again.
“I’m sure we will be able to find an appropriate spell, it will just take some dedicated research...” He ignored the loud groans of Buffy and Xander, “Which I really think we should begin as soon as possible.”
Buffy thought as quickly as she could, “Uh, actually Giles, me and Spike were gonna do some training, you know, spar and stuff. I haven’t trained since before the night in the mansion, so I’m a little out of shape.”
Spike put on his best mock polite voice. “I don’t think you look out of shape slayer. I’d say you look remarkably in shape.” His eyes sparkled, “Then again, probably won’t be able to tell for sure til we get down to some grunt work...”
Buffy shot him a murderous look. Giles was furiously polishing his glasses. “Ah, yes, well if you um think it would be better to do some training today then you have my leave to do so. We can get together tomorrow to get the research underway.”Buffy bounced off the sofa. “However-“ Buffy sat back down with a sigh. “Before you go I would like to have a quick word with Spike.”
Buffy’s eyes went saucer wide. “Why?”
Giles frowned at Buffy, “That is between Spike and I. We won’t be a moment.”
Buffy watched in panic as Giles went out to the yard. Her panic increased tenfold when she saw a wickedly grinning Spike going after him.
The moment Spike was out of Buffy’s eye line his smile dropped right away. He knew exactly why Giles wanted to talk to him and it had nothing to do with him stealing kisses from the slayer.
Giles’ voice was grave. “Tell me what you saw.”
Spike lit up a cigarette and inhaled deeply. “Well, I didn’t see much. It was during the next full moon, couldn’t tell you which night, and the slayer was outside a buidin I don’t recognise. She was crouched over a body, which I couldn’t see, and the werewolf was comin up right behind her. That was it, didn’t see anymore.”
Giles ran his hand across his brow. “I’m assuming because you’ve been able to tell me this so fully that this future isn’t set? It is one we can alter?”
“Damn right its one we can alter. I plan on alterin it big bloody time.”
Giles smiled a little at Spikes confidence. He didn’t seem to think Buffy was in any immediate danger. And if he thought that, that was good enough for Giles. “Are you planning to tell Buffy what you saw?”
Spike raised his eyebrows, “Course I am, she can’t very well defend herself from a threat she doesn’t know is comin can she?”
Giles sighed. “It might worry her unduly though, especially as we will hopefully remedy the situation before somebody else gets hurt.”
Spike shook his head. “I like you watcher, I do, but you’re bloody short sighted when it comes to the slayer. You expect her to face the forces of darkness, and do it without makin any mistakes, and yet you treat her like a child, decidin what’s best for her, what she should and shouldn’t know. She’s the slayer for Christ sake, not a little girl. No matter how horrible a truth isn’t it better to let her decide whether she can deal with it or not?”
Giles frowned, “I just want to do what’s best for her”.
“Yeah, I know you do, but I’d reckon the slayer should be the judge of what’s best for her.”
Giles leaned heavily on the porch railing. “I’m her watcher Spike, it’s my job to protect her.”
Spike leant next to him. “No Rupert, it’s your job to teach her. She’s the Slayer. Protecting the world, and everyone in it, is her job, a bloody crappy job, but hers all the same. You can’t protect her. No one can.”
Giles gave Spike a small smile, “You can.”
Spikes returning smile was a little grim, “No. I can try.” He gave Rupert an awkward, but reassuring pat on the back. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ll try my soddin hardest, I won’t let nothin happen if I can help it, but, in the end, it’s all on her.”
The two men were silent for a while.
Giles cleared his throat. “I take it you’ve had dealings with werewolves before?”
Spike nodded, “Met a couple here and there. I’d reckon we’re dealing with a new werewolf, one only recently bitten. The longer a person’s been a werewolf the more they learn to control the demonic side of them the way a vamp does. In a way that makes them more dangerous than the newly turned, the ones who run wild, with no humanity in them. They get calculating then, cunning with their kills or with who they turn. Some aren’t so bad though. I Know you might find this difficult to believe, what with all the clap trap the council feed you, but some don’t want to be killers. Some don’t even remember what they do when the full moon comes around, have no idea that they’ve done anybody any harm.”
Giles looked incredulous, so Spike dropped it and decided not to mention that one of his best poker buddies was one of those types of werewolves.
Buffy suddenly poked her head round the door. Her relief at seeing Spike, and not a big pile of Spike dust, was enormous. “Uh, you guys have been out here ages, everything... ok?”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
SOOO SORRY its taken me so long to upload, horrible uni deadlines have been ruling my life!! but ive got two chapters to upload, and the last two in this story will be uploaded soon :) thanks to everyone for their patience, and thank you for all the lovely reviews, really sorry I havent replied to them, I will as soon as I can!