At Buffy’s request, the Scoobies convened in front of one of the many vamp whorehouses in the not-so-nice part of Sunnydale. Buffy was still smacking herself upside the head for not knowing there was any more vamp brothels functioning and thriving in Sunnydale. She was the Slayer, how could she have not known? If it hadn’t been for Spike butting in to her business, she still might have been oblivious to their existence.
And Riley wouldn’t have left.
But even as she lamented about her loss, Buffy knew it was better that she knew the truth. Better knowing that he boyfriend was getting suck jobs from vamp ho’s mere moments after leaving her bed.
Didn’t mean that hurt any less, it just was what it was.
So now here they were and Buffy was all about putting them out of business in her town. This was the last vamp whorehouse that was still standing, according to the information she’d beat out of Willy and Buffy was eager to wipe it out of existence. They’d found the previous ones easy to dispose of and Buffy just wanted them gone.
A plan was formulated on the best way to approach taking down this brothel. Willow, Xander, and Buffy would go into the building, leaving Giles and Anya to secure the only way out.
Taking a deep breath to get her fractured emotions under control, Buffy went straight down the stairs. Willow went to the right, with Xander heading to the iron balcony on the left. Buffy only saw a handful of vampires below them in the main area and she quickly got to work easily managing to dust those before her.
Confident that she had the situation under control, she gasped as more vampires poured in to the room, at least two hundred of them from all sides. From his post Giles witnessed the new onslaught and feared for his Slayer. Back up was needed and he quickly sent Anya to find Spike, hoping it wouldn’t be too late.
It was a tough battle. With Xander and Willow’s help, the sheer number of vampires dwindled, although not as quickly as Buffy would have liked.
XXXX
Rider hung back and watched the Slayer and her little friends in action. He was a Master Vampire and the fact that his minions were being slaughtered right and left didn’t concern him much. They were disposable; it was always easy to make more. He was wiry and tall with dark hair and a deep southern accent. He smiled when one of his more beefy minions brought the Slayer to her knees. She was wounded and breathing hard and just ripe for the picking. He gestured to his men to stand down and they backed away forming a circle around their master and the fallen Slayer. Rider taunted Buffy not allowing her to escape. She’d been a thorn in his side for too long and he’d lost entirely too much business because of her interference. He noticed the Slayer’s sidekicks backing away slowly and he allowed them to leave. He could always hunt them down later. It was the Slayer he wanted now.
“You afraid Slayer?” Rider asked, walking toward her slowly and seductively.
Buffy stumbled to her feet and backed up her eyes never leaving his. When she bumped into the crowd of angry, hungry vampires at her back, she quickly moved towards the center of the circle. Defiantly, she tossed her hair back and glared at what was obviously the Master Vampire. “Not of you! Aren’t you afraid of me? You should be because I’m going to rip your head off!” she threatened, desperate to bite back the nausea that accompanied the dizziness that was plaguing her. Being knocked in the head with a crowbar was never a good thing and she hoped her Slayer healing kicked in and quickly.
Fear ran through her as they circled each other. Buffy looked around at the crowd of vampires all screaming and taunting her. She was desperately looking for a way out, hoping that the gang was working on a plan. All she had to do was distract the vampires to buy some time.
“You know, I had liked it here in Sunnydale,” Rider commented with an evil glint in his eye, “What I don’t like so much is that my houses don’t seem to be bringing in the money like they used to.”
“Yeah, well, we frown on all kinds of prostitution,” Buffy informed him. “The only suck job left is gonna be when I suck you up with a vacuum after you’re dust.”
“Being the Slayer and all, I was thinking that we should see what you can do?” Rider said, as he signaled two large vampires to step into the circle. Rider moved to the side crossing his arms and watching her.
The first vampire moved quickly and with an agility that Buffy hadn’t been expecting. He caught her by her throat and held her there for what seemed like hours before throwing her to the ground. He turned to the screaming crowd of vampires and put his arms in the air victoriously.
“Sssslaaayyyerrr, isn’t so scary, now is she?” exclaimed the bulkier of the two vampires.
Buffy quickly recovered and was on her feet but the other vampire grabbed her as she was getting up and twisted her arm behind her back. He pushed her hard into the vampire crowd that surrounded them.
Buffy found herself kicked, hit, and beaten before being thrown back out into the circle. The dizziness was increasing by the minute and Buffy fought to stay conscious, willing herself to fight only to find herself unable. This was so not good, she thought to herself. The two minion vampires played with her, tossing her back and forth like a rag doll, kicking and hitting her until she was on the brink of passing out.
Just before Buffy was about to slink into oblivion, the door burst open and a vision of platinum and black stood at the top of the stairs.
The calvary had obviously arrived and not a moment to soon, Buffy couldn’t help but think. She watched the bane of her existence as he gestured to the others to stay back.
XXXX
Spike assessed the situation quickly, realizing that the Watcher hadn’t exaggerated a bloody bit. Without conscious thought, he slipped into game face. His Slayer was in trouble. He looked down at the vampire that was holding a bloodied, beaten Buffy and he couldn’t help the growl that left his throat. Spike jumped down from the balcony and landed in front of the vampire holding Buffy, making an entrance not to be ignored.
“Who is the master vampire here?” Spike demanded.
“Rider, sired by Sawbucks, sired by Zoya, line of Kakistos, Cult of Antemorh” came the answer from behind him.
Spike turned to him and laughed sarcastically, “The name’s Spike!” He walked toward Rider demanding authority in his swagger. “I belong to The Masters line, sired by Drusilla, sired by Angelus, sired by Darla, member of The Whirlwind. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?” he asked looking every bit the image of a pissed off Master Vampire. This was going to require a certain approach. Spike knew he was outnumbered and knew he couldn’t possibly fight his way out with the Slayer out for the count. He also knew that he out-ranked the other vamp, but getting Rider to acknowledge his authority was a bit of a different story. The git was the one with all the minions, all Spike had was his reputation and swagger.
The minions stepped out of the circle, dropping Buffy to the ground as they backed up into the crowd. Buffy painfully got to her feet and went to his side. Spike growled dominantly and dangerously as he pulled Buffy in front of him. She was hurt, and he could smell the fear running through her. The girl could hardly stand. Grabbing her possessively, he held her up and pulled her shirt and hair back to reveal her old scars from being bitten previously. He only wished one of those bites had been his. He felt her tense as he leaned over and kissed them gently.
“Play along,” he whispered as quietly as he could, hoping she heard him. He felt-rather then saw – the imperceptible nod she gave him and breathed a tiny sigh of relief. He didn’t need the girl fighting his authority too. She was shivering, fear rolling off her in waves, all that she could do now was trust in Spike as the Scoobies watched from the door above, not knowing what to do.
“Mine,” a booming growl went through the club. “Any of you want to test who has the biggest wrinklies ‘round here? Step on up!” Spike challenged as he slowly spun in a circle, still holding Buffy by the waist like she was nothing more than a doll.
“An old scar does nothing to tell me that she belongs to you,” Rider dared him. He knew the vampire who was before him, but he also knew he had the advantage. Taking something from Spike would make his reputation.
Spike knew what he had to do. The Slayer was likely to stake him if they got out of this but it needed to be done if he was going to get her out in one piece.
With no hesitation, Spike dropped his head and bit her shoulder as gently as he could while covering up the old scars that marred her neck. He felt Buff jerk in his arms and gasp in outrage. “Trust me,” he commanded again in a slight whisper, before licking her wounds until the bleeding stopped. He then proceeded to use his teeth to make a small cut on his forearm which he then held up to her mouth.
“You protect her?” Rider asked sizing up Spike. “The Slayer of Slayers is claiming this one as his own?”
“I do an’ I’m protecting what’s mine,” Spike growled.
Not questioning why she was doing it, Buffy sucked on the arm that had been shoved against her mouth, finding the tast of Spike’s blood not as unpleasant as she would have imagined.
Spike needed to get the Slayer to safety so he pushed her behind him toward the stairs. Two vampires came out of the crowd, grabbed Buffy and set her down on the floor outside of the circle.
“Let’s do this then,” Spike said with a smirk on his face. He was always game for a good fight or two, and the power of the ingested slayer blood gave him a distinct advantage over his opponent.
He watched as the minions moved back into the shadows, leaving only Spike and Rider in the center of the large club. They circled each other, predator against predator. Rider leapt at him with a short-sword which he had pulled out of the waistband of his jeans. Right before it made contact, Spike's arm shot out and grabbed Rider by the neck. Spike took the sword from him and easily cut off the vampire’s head, dusting him in one quick move.
Spike spun around slowly, looking at the cowering vampires, daring them to stop him. It didn’t surprise him that nobody made a move. He picked Buffy up off the floor and gently lifted her in his strong arms.
“I suggest you run, don’t want me to find you lot here tomorrow,” he said, turning on his heel with his duster billowing behind him. He climbed the stairs, and exited the club with Buffy in his arms.
XXXX
The next evening, Buffy got to the Magic Box right before Spike walked in the door. Giles had already been researching what had happened in the old club the previous night.
Seeing Spike sent a jolt of… something through her. Buffy was confused and a confused Buffy was an unhappy Buffy. The previous night, Spike had just dropped her off with her Watcher and took off. That wasn’t like the Spike she thought she knew, figuring he’d stick around and made sure that everybody knew that it had been William the Bloody that had saved the day. Giles had been oddly silent on what had occurred and that alone was disturbing. He’d even saved the lectures about walking into a trap and that wasn’t something that Giles would normally overlook.
Finally unable to stand the silence a moment longer, Buffy asked, “Can someone please tell me what happened last night?” She was looking between Giles and Spike. “And why the hell did you bite me?” she demanded.
Spike stood there with that infuriating smirk on his face, his arms crossed, looking Big Bad. Giles motioned for Buffy and Spike to sit down at the table, but Buffy was the only one that sat down.
“Well, Buffy, I’m not sure, but I have read some on this. It is some kind of a ranking order, and I believe you have been claimed by Spike here,” Giles explained, sending a dark look in the vampire’s direction. He hadn’t uncovered all the implications of this claim yet, but it didn’t bode well for his Slayer’s future to be so closely tied with a vampire, especially this vampire.
“Ha what? I have been what?” she asked, looking confused.
“Claimed, pet,” Spike confirmed with a smug look on his face. “About the only way to get ya outta there in one piece, unless you thought taking on two hundred, vamps, would be fun of course?”
“Spike, would you care to explain to me how you were able to take Buffy and just walk out after only fighting the one vampire?” Giles asked.
“Easy. I scared the buggering fuck out of ‘em, is what. Killed their Master, took the Slayer, and left. No need to thank me. Just stopped by for a bit of burba weed and then I will be out of your hair.” Spike said, shrugging his shoulders, going over to the burba weed container, taking some out, and putting it in his pocket.
“Now, I know that there is some kind of a pecking order per se, Spike. Not like we didn’t hear you calling out your sires,” Giles pointed out.
Spike looked mildly irritated by all the questions.
“Well, I out ranked their Master easily being from the Aurelian line. The Whirlwind still strikes fear over a hundred years after we broke up, ya know.” Spike said with a smirk on his face. “Ole Spike can still, scare them, even if you Scoobies don’t think he’s so scary, anymore. There are lots out there that do fear me. Last night being proof of that, mate.” Spike stalked out the front door and took off down the street.
“Giles, what the hell is the whirlies or whatever?” Buffy asked, her brow knit in confusion.
Giles got up to pick up a Watcher’s book on vampires.
“Oh here it is,” Giles told her, reading from the old book, “The Whirlwind is a referential term for a group of vampires. Darla and her lover, Angelus, and the destruction, suffering and death the pair caused.”
“In 1860, Drusilla would join them and, in 1880, Spike, or William the Bloody, completed the foursome.”
“The Whirlwind had been the Masters of whatever place they entered, sometimes taking out the Master of the area, other times allowing the Master to let them take over until were been ready to move on to the next place.”
“They had been feared by other vampires because of the damage and destruction they caused. The Whirlwind suffered a heavy blow in 1898, when Angelus' soul was restored, and shattered completely in 1900, when the ensouled Angelus rejected Darla, who eventually returned to the Order of Aurelius, while Spike and Drusilla went their own way.” Giles finished, looking up from the book and back at Buffy.
“This should serve as a reminder that although Spike seems harmless enough now, he surely isn’t,” Giles informed her, taking his glasses off to clean them.
“So what does it mean that he claimed me?” Buffy asked.
“I don’t know Buffy, but we’ll figure it out,” Giles assured her.
That night on patrol, Buffy’s vampire tinglies had been going off almost continuously. She had patrolled three cemeteries and every vampire she saw ran from her as soon as they realized she was the Slayer. She had debated on calling Spike out for following her all night, but Buffy was too tired and still hurting from the night before. Rather than angering her that Spike had been following her all night, it was strangely comforting.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
A Special thanks to Bloodshedbaby for all her help support and beta skills!