Chapter 3: Chasing
Buffy rushes into the street after Spike and finds the world around her shifting once again. The cave is still gone, and a street still stands before her, but the modern day pavement and brick buildings have transformed. The street is now made of dirt, and the vehicles that pass Buffy are not cars but horses and buggies. It takes her a moment to absorb her surroundings, but she doesn't have to make much of a leap to come to the conclusion that she's in 19th century London. Her head whips around in all directions searching for Spike, but he is nowhere to be seen. As she makes her way aimlessly down the street, kicking up the dust road as she moves, various pedestrians walk about oblivious to her presence. Men brush by her in tweed jackets and Women stroll by in long heavy gowns. Buffy finds that she's glad to only be an observer in this particular memory of Spike's.
Buffy notices that there is little light cast by the streetlamps and the shadows seem to be growing larger with every step she takes. She looks over her shoulder wondering if she should turn around. When she looks back however she sees someone familiar. Young William stands directly in the warm light before an alleyway up ahead. He's facing her and the second that Buffy spots him she picks up her pace to reach him.
By the time Buffy gets to the boy the streets seem to have completely cleared of passersby's. Only she and William exist in this 19th century ghost town. He looks up at her with wide blue eyes as she kneels down before him.
"William," Buffy says. "I really need you to take me to Spike." William simply shakes his head. "It's really important," she pleads. His blue eyes meet hers and then he looks away. After a moment Buffy follows his line of sight. He's staring down the alleyway beside them and in that alleyway Buffy sees something which she cannot take her eyes off of. There is another version of William here, an older one dressed in old fashioned attire. He wears wire framed glasses and his hair is a light brown mess of curls. Buffy is awestruck at the sight of him and notices a sweetness about this man, he's gentle and sensitive; and as Buffy looks at him she can see where that soft part of Spike's personality comes from. She sees the loving part of Spike that she never gave him credit for.
Then Buffy notices that before this William, who rests his back against the brick wall of the building, is Drusilla. Buffy's brow crinkles slightly and her lips part in awe. The vampire's black gown covered in intricate lace moves fluidly as she dances closer to William entrancing him with her eyes and the sway of her hips. She speaks to him, but to Buffy their voices are a blur. The Slayer watches in horror as William; innocent William, allows the raven haired vampire to near his neck, Buffy's breath catches in her throat as Dru's face transforms and slowly she sinks her fangs into his flesh. The older William screams out in pain and Buffy's muscles tense as she stands wanting to go to him, to save him, but the young William at her side grabs her hand firmly squeezing her fingers with all his strength and Buffy stops.
"Let's go," the boy says and pulls Buffy with him, she hesitates for a moment then allows the young boy to drag her away from the sight of William's death.
--
"Why do you keep bringing me here William?" Buffy asks as she sits on the edge of the boy's four poster bed. After they walked away from the alley William led Buffy down the road and into a two story Victorian house, his house. She followed him past the parlor room and up the thin wooden staircase to his room. Now he sits at his desk drawing pictures while Buffy looks on.
"It's safe… I didn't do anything bad here," William replies and Buffy is silent for a moment.
"Who was coming before William? When you pushed me out," Buffy asks, William looks to her but says nothing, the only indication that he even heard her question is a slight wavering of his eyelashes. It's then that Buffy notices a flower in a small vase on William's desk, a large white rose in full bloom. "Is that rose from the bushes outside the cave?" William smiles, he sets his pen down and scoots off his chair. Buffy is pulled to her feet as William takes her hand in his and pulls her out the door of his room and down the stairs causing them to creak with every step. Buffy barely has time to look around the large and ornately decorated Victorian house as she's pulled through the entry way then through the kitchen and to the back door. William pushes the door open and he and Buffy step outside into a beautiful garden.
Flowers of all kinds surround while the sun shines warm golden light upon everything around her. What catches Buffy's eyes first though are the large white rose bushes. Their flowers are as pure a white as the ones she saw when she first entered Spike's mind. Before the rose bushes is a stone bench and behind them the garden continues overflowing with bright yellows and purples and greens. Buffy then notices that William has disappeared. She spins around looking for him, but as she faces the open kitchen door of the house the boy is nowhere to be seen. When Buffy turns back toward the roses however she finds a different version of William is now here with her.
A much older William sits at the stone bench before the roses. His limbs are lanky and even sitting Buffy can tell that there is something awkward about this young man. He adjusts the glasses which sit upon his nose and scribbles something upon a pad of paper in his hand. Buffy sits down beside him, but he does not acknowledge her presence. William mumbles as he scribbles and Buffy stares intently at him soaking in his features. She looks at all the ways in which he resembles Spike, and all the ways in which he does not. She can see that he is Spike, or that he will be, but he looks so soft. His skin blushes with color, his hair appears soft as does the pull of his lips as he smiles, and his eyes are so gentle.
"My heart…tis grown a bulge in it," William murmurs, his voice, Spike's voice speaking in a much thicker accent then Buffy is used to. She smiles at him warmly. The sweet perfume of the roses behind her swirls around her senses, she turns herself to face the white flowers and wraps her hand around one of the large blossoms. This short moment is rather peaceful Buffy thinks as she pulls the white rose to her. She closes her eyes and breathes its sweet smell in deep then pulls her hand away sliding it past a razor sharp thorn as she does.
"Ow," Buffy says. She brings her hand up to her face and sees that one of the thorns from the rose has pricked her finger. A tiny bead of blood forms on her fingertip, one single drop of blood. For a moment she's entranced by the tiny crimson dot; so much so that she fails to notice the sky's sudden darkening; she doesn't notice that the garden is changing all around her, changing from a bright colorful place of light to a dark cold place of death. When Buffy looks up the warm sun has disappeared. It's now night and William is no longer at her side. She stands up and spins around trying to get her bearings. Before her eyes the flowers of the garden shrivel and wilt then the entire rose bush disappears, drying up and turning into a twisted mass of dead branches. What replaces the flowers that had surrounded her are worn stone headstones of an ancient graveyard.
The tiny cut on her fingertip is forgotten as Buffy finds her balance in her changing surroundings. At her feet there is a newly covered plot. No headstone lies before the overturned earth, and as Buffy stares at this nameless final resting place the ground begins to move. Her Slayer senses tell her that a vampire is about to emerge, she reaches for her stake but she doesn't have one in this dream world and the beating of her heart begins to quicken.
Buffy backs up as the dirt begins to shift and bone white fingers appear clawing through the earth. For a moment the Slayer's mind flashes back to when it was she who was digging her way to the surface, quickly she banishes the thought. With no weapon Buffy knows she should run, but something keeps her glued to where she stands, as if the grass had cemented her in place. Another hand appears, dirt beneath its fingernails, and soon arms are visible as well. Then in the distance there is another movement to catch Buffy's attention; a figure sails among the headstones. She is darker then the night, a dancing shadow in the moonlight. Yellow eyes advance as the vampire at her feet pushes his way out of his grave.
"Oh goodie," Drusilla coos as she comes to stand before the grave where a newly sired William is clawing his way out. "Willy's wormed his way out of the dirt." A large menacing smile crosses Dru's face as vampire William pulls himself the rest of the way out of the earth and stands before her. He looks around amazed at how differently the world looks to him through yellow eyes, at how differently everything feels. Even his dirt encrusted fingernails seem fascinating to the newborn vampire. "Isn't it wonderful William, I'm a mummy now." William's eyes meet hers.
"Yes… it is wonderful." William says then turns and looks straight at Buffy, his feral yellow eyes staring into her soul. An eerie chill runs down the Slayer's spine. Drusilla turns as well to face her and the raven haired vampire licks her lips while a devilish grin casts itself across vampire William's face. It only takes Buffy a second to realize that they see her, unlike other visages in Spike's mind, and with no weapon at hand Buffy's mind tells her to run, and she does.
Buffy takes off moving as fast as she can through the graveyard, she doges between trees and jumps over headstones, all the while she can hear them chasing her. This isn't real, she reminds herself with every step, this isn't real, but at the moment it feels very real. The cold night air, the wet grass beneath her feet, the demons chasing her, it's all very…
"Oomph," Buffy says as she trips and falls head first into an open grave. Buffy tumbles downward past dirt and roots, but even after eight feet she finds that she's still falling. Her body spins around as she falls through nothing-ness twisting her hair around her face and she stares back up at the quickly disappearing night sky through the hole of the grave. Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole Buffy wonder's if she'll ever reach the bottom.
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