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*Somewhere in the back alleys of Sunnydale*
It was just Spike’s luck that Angel had to be extra dense and waste so much time on the way to the Bronze. By the time Buffy and Spike got to the club and he managed to get a beer and coke, vampires were already dragging away… Joey, Jeremy, Jake? Some unimportant name like that. Willow had also managed to get kidnapped, leaving Xander as the odd man out, running alongside Buffy to help his friends. Maybe the other guy’s death in Spike’s old timeline had transferred some sort of mystical curse on Xander, making him the monster magnet he would be in the future. Maybe not, since Xander managed to trip on his own feet.
Spike bent down and helped Xander up one-handed.
“Whoah, dude. How much do you work out?”
For some reason Spike thought Xander understood the whole ‘vampires are real’ thing by then. Damn Sunnydale blinders. “No, mate. I’m a vampire.”
Xander stopped dead in his tracks. “Wait, what? Who of the what, now?”
Spike sighed. “I’m a vampire. Don’t worry, I won’t rip your throat out or anything, though. I’m reformed.”
Xander’s eyes were still wide as saucers.
Buffy huffed, stomped her way to Xander and turned him so he would look at her. “Xander, focus. Willow and Jesse are in danger. Spike is here to help get them back. Can we just not right now?”
Xander shook his head. “Yeah. Right. Sure. Let’s go.”
They ran as fast as they could, with Xander trying his best to keep up and Spike stopping from time to time to sniff the trail. Soon enough they reached a mausoleum in one of Sunnydale’s many cemeteries. Willow and What’s-his-name were in the process of being herded away to become vamp snacks. Spike recognized one of the vampires right away—Darla.
Buffy spoke up first. “Well, this is nice. A little bare, but a dash of paint, a few throw pillows – call it home.”
“Who the hell are you?” Despite her question, Darla’s eyes jumped to Spike before she was done talking. She frowned and waved a hand in the air. “Actually, you know what? I don’t care. William did you bring these pathetic beings as a tribute for the Master?”
Spike laughed darkly. “’Lo there, Great-Grandma. Long time no annoyance, huh?” He leaned against a wall and lit up a cigarette, ignoring Xander’s shocked gasp at the family connection. “When exactly was the last time you heard about me bringing a tribute for anyone? You and dear Bat-face can just go and choke on each other’s dust for all I care.”
“Come on, Jesse, lean on me.” Xander tried to get his friend to stand up, but Spike could tell from his heartbeat that the boy had lost a lot of blood.
“You were always such an annoyance. Just because some imbeciles are singing your praises doesn’t mean I don’t remember when you crawled out of your grave and started being a thorn in my side.” Darla cocked her head. “Maybe it’s time I put you out of my misery.”
The other vampire with Darla had tried in the meantime to sneak up on Buffy, but she staked him without even batting an eye. “I’m sure you have lotsa history to run over, and as fascinating as all of this isn’t, let’s get done with the family reunions, and start with the kicking of the ass.”
“Really, who are you? Don’t you have any respect for your elders?”
Buffy snorted. “If growing up means getting stuck wearing a Catholic School-girl uniform forever, then count me out. And your friend, asthma attack over there, what was his damage? He looked like something the ‘80’s barfed out.”
“He was young. And stupid.” Darla was trying to look cool and calm, but Spike knew her enough to realize she’d been thrown by the events.
“Xander, go.” Buffy issued her order like a natural born leader.
“Don’t go far.” Darla lashed out, but her attack was too slow for Buffy, who blocked it.
Xander was just about to drag his shell-shocked friends with him, but Spike stopped him. “If I were you I wouldn’t go out there without either me or Buffy. This looks like the gathering point before the main nest, so more minions are gonna show up sooner or later.”
Xander looked unsure. “You would know.” It was probably supposed to be an insult, but having heard and survived much worse, Spike barely registered it.
“Yeah, I would. Now stand back and let us deal with this. We’ll have you home in no time.” Spike tilted his head toward the still-bleeding Jesse. “Might wanna do something about that bite, otherwise he’ll be dead before the fight is over.”
Spike lost interest in what Xander decided to do when he saw someone pick Buffy by the neck and holding her up like a rag doll. “I don’t care who you are.” Buffy flew to the other end of the mausoleum, hitting the wall face-first. The newcomer—Luke—turned to Darla, who was looking a lot worse for wear, and was struggling to get up off the floor. “You were supposed to be bringing an offering for the Master. We’re almost at Harvest and you dally with this child?”
Spike wanted to kick himself. Of course the walking tree was here. And he was talking about that same Harvest Angel was prattling on about. If only Spike could remember why that was so important from what he knew of Buffy’s early times in Sunnydale.
Darla looked frightened for a second. “We had someone. But they came and… she killed Thomas… Luke, she’s strong.”
Luke laughed. “A pathetic gathering. Go round up the offerings while I take care of your… pests.”
Spike saw Buffy crawl back to her feet and smirked. “Long time no smell, Luke. Or should I call you Angelus Beta?”
“You insolent Childe. You dare talk to me this way? I, who am destined to be the vessel for the Harvest? I shall be the conduit for the rising of the Master. This filthy pestilence called humanity will finally be erased from this planet once he is free!” The way Luke talked, Spike could almost taste the fanaticism.
Darla was eyeing the three teenagers huddled in a corner while Buffy took a step forward. “I was wondering what all the Harvest mumbo-jumbo was about. Thank you for being a generic Bond villain.” She tried a combination of kicks on Luke, but he dodged. She used one of Spike’s trick maneuvers and the blow struck true, rocking the giant back on his feet.
Unfortunately he didn’t stay there. “You are strong.” He slammed her back with a powerful hit. “I’m stronger.” He went to hit her again, but Spike had had enough.
He went in, using a stake to hamstring Luke. It wouldn’t have been much use for the killing blow this early in the fight anyway. Not with a demon as old as Luke. Spike received a backhand that had him seeing stars for his trouble.
“You cannot defeat me, traitor. I am destined. I am foretold.”
“You are dust.” Buffy rammed her stake in Luke, but he had just enough time to move to the side, making her miss his heart.
Luke roared in pain.
Darla tried to go for Xander, but Spike clotheslined her, then he tried to use his back-up stake to dust her. She was faster than him, though, and she jumped out of the way, her blouse and shoulder torn and bloodied. “I’ll make you die slow for this.”
Spike grinned manically. “I’ve survived both better and worse than you. And let’s face it, you never even came close to your precious Angelus. Look where torture got him.”
A crash distracted Spike and by the time he was ready for Darla’s counter-attack she was nowhere to be found. “Bitch.”
Another crash reminded him of the more serious matter at hand. Luke, despite the two stakes still lodged in his flesh, gave Buffy a real run for her money. It reminded Spike yet again she really did need to train more, even if that thought brought up Angel’s warnings and he just hated agreeing with the ponce.
Buffy was trying to keep the tomb between her and Luke, while not letting him get too close to her friends.
“You’re wasting my time.” Luke ripped the stake from his calf and crushed it in his fist.
Buffy panted. “Hey, I had other plans, too, okay?”
Luke shoved the top of the tomb at her, but she leapt over it and hit him with both her legs dead-center. She pulled out her back-up stake and tried to use it, but Luke grabbed it and splintered it in his fist.
“You think you can stop me? Stop us? You have no idea what you’re dealing with.” He grabbed her and threw her on the ground again. Then he started reciting while he hit her. “And like a plague of boils, the race of Man covered the earth. But on the third day of the newest light will come over the Harvest…”
Spike leapt from his position and yanked the stake from Luke’s shoulder. “You were always interested in the wrong bloody literature, mate. Try more Keats, less Nest.” He then brought down the stake, found his mark, and dusted Luke. “Good riddance, wanker.”
Buffy looked slightly dazed, but she accepted Spike’s hand up and smiled when he gave her back her stake. “Guess the Harvest’s gonna be a no-go, huh?”
Spike looked around the area his Great-grand-sire had disappeared to. “I wouldn’t count my chickens before they’re hatched, pet. Unfortunately Darla escaped, so who knows what’ll happen next.”
As if on cue three vampires burst in through the mausoleum door. Spike and Buffy exchanged a look of determination, while Xander whimpered and Willow let out a soft cry.
Buffy attacked the first vampire, while Spike threw himself at the other two. Without a stake, he was somewhat at a disadvantage, but as he’d always stated, he always had his weapons with. By the time Buffy dusted her opponent, one of Spike’s vampires was out cold, while the other had just made a very bad move, allowing Spike to grab him in a choke-hold.
Of course, due to the lack of breathing, the choke-hold’s effectiveness was reduced, but it did allow Spike to subdue his opponent as he ever so slowly ripped his head from his shoulders.
In mere moments the only thing left was dust, as Buffy staked the knocked-out vampire while she kept her eyes trained on Spike.
“Ewwww. That’s the grossest and most awesome thing I’ve seen in my life. So wow, but also ewwww.” Xander was a lot paler than at the beginning of the chase.
Spike could see he was on the receiving end of a look he was unaccustomed to. The look he’d only seen others give Buffy when she saved their worthless hides. The future carpenter was getting a bit of hero worship for the Big Bad. Oh, the irony.
“You guys okay?” Buffy rushed to her friends and checked them for wounds.
“You better take your friend to a hospital. He’s not gonna make it for long.” Spike stepped next to Buffy. “I’ll help you carry him. This way we can be there in no time at all.”
She looked at him with unfocused eyes. Perhaps a short check-up for contusions on the Slayer wouldn’t be a bad idea. “You know where the hospital is?”
“Of course. Follow me.”
“We’re coming with.” Willow seemed more composed than Xander, despite her wide open eyes full of fear.
“Of course you are. You’d be a couple of tasty morsels in the middle of a cemetery if we leave you here. No man left behind, and all that rot. Come on.”
They made their way out of the mausoleum and to the hospital as fast as they could.
Animal attack. One of many in a town such as Sunnydale. The nurses didn’t even bat an eye.
~~~***~~~
*The high school library, next day*
Spike came up through the back entrance of the library. As he came closer he could hear the Scoobies discuss the previous night’s events.
“Okay, this is where I have a problem. See, because we're talking about vampires. We're having a talk with vampires in it.” Xander, ever the one to bring to light the obvious. Some things hadn’t changed much with time, although others sure had.
“Right, mate, of course we are.”
Xander jumped in his seat, startled. “Vampires shouldn’t be real.”
“Neither should hell-gods, ghosts, werewolves, witches, the First Evil, and vengeance demons. Yet they are all out there and, trust me, you’ll get to meet more than your fair share of them, living on the Hellmouth. Question is what’re you gonna do about it? Pretend you don’t notice, or help Buffy fight the darkness?”
“Yes, that is the point I was making, however I had planned on giving a bit of perspective.”
“You’re a vampire.” Willow was looking straight at Spike, her ‘resolve face’ to the fore.
“I am.”
“You helped us against other vampires.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Spike’s eyes darted over to Buffy, who was watching the interaction with a small smile on her face. “I’m not your usual vampire. Never was one, and I’m even more… different now.” He looked at Giles. “Did you get to explain about demons, slayers, and all that rot?”
“I was just getting to that.”
“So vampires are demons?” Xander had calmed down and was sizing Spike up and down.
“The books tell the last demon to leave this reality fed off a human, mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed, infected by the demon's soul. He bit another, and another, and so they walk the Earth, feeding... Killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind. Waiting for the animals to die out, and the old ones to return.”
“Oi, not all of us want the old buggers coming around. As a matter of fact, apart from the Aurelians and a couple of others, most vampire clans are content with a bit of blood, mayhem, and good, old fashioned, world domination. It’s the really deranged fuckers with dust for brains who want to bring Hell on Earth. The Master is one such idiot, true, but he’s a special kind of moron.” Spike had already had several talks with Giles about his views on demons, but he needed to make sure the prejudice the Scoobies had developed in his past wouldn’t be there in the future. Of course, Buffy had evolved in leaps and bounds, considering how long it had taken her the first time around to accept Clem, for example.
Giles explained a few types of demons and their involvement with the world, as well as what a Hellmouth was, finally coming to the Slayer.
“And that would be a what?” Xander was full of questions, which pleased Spike.
“For as long as there have been vampires, there's been the Slayer. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One.” Giles had taken his pedantic tone.
Buffy mock-whispered to the other two teenagers. “He loves doing this part.”
“Alright. The Slayer hunts vampires, Buffy is a Slayer, don't tell anyone. Well, I think that's all the vampire information you need for now.” Giles was looking at Willow and Xander as a teacher looks at his students when he’s getting ready to give a test.
Xander raised a finger. “Except for one thing: how do you kill them?”
“Stake to the heart equals dust.” Buffy made a staking gesture.
Spike decided to expand on the lesson. “Pushing them out in the sun, setting them on fire, and beheading works just as well.”
“What about the crosses, garlic, and the holy water thing?” Willow was her usual inquisitive self.
“We’re more allergic to garlic than anything else, though I find it gives food just the right amount of spice. Crosses and other religious symbols burn, just as holy water does. There are a hundred and one ways to hurt a vampire, but there are even more ways for them to hurt you.”
“Like they hurt Jesse.” Willow was pensive.
“Right. How is the boy?” Spike had never met him in the past, so if he survived it would be one of the first persons he could be a hundred percent sure he saved.
“He’s lost a lot of blood, but he’ll make it. He even gets to miss school for about a week, so he’s probably better off than I am right now.” Spike could tell Xander was still worried about his friend.
“I just hope we managed to stop the Harvest, whatever that was.” Buffy was playing with her stake at the table.
“I’ve been researching that. It is supposed to be a ritual that would syphon the blood from a demonic vessel to the Master, who would then be able to open the gates of Hell.” Giles turned another page in the ancient tome he was consulting.
“Great. So an Apocalypse. I just wish I knew where Darla went. My guess is wherever she went is where they’re getting ready.” Buffy’s bottom lip stuck out in a pout.
“They’re in the tunnels.” It seemed obvious to Spike.
“Yeah, that’s right. There’s a whole mess of tunnels for electricity, water, and sewage.”
“Good ol’ Sunnyhell is built on top of a Hellmouth. Since the beginning there have been tunnels, caves, sewers, and the like for demons to get closer to the source of power. Hell, how do you think I was able to come here in broad daylight?” Spike frowned. “This reminds me. Watcher, didn’t I tell you we shouldn’t meet up here?”
“Why?” Willow had been more subdued than Spike remembered. Maybe she needed to spend some more time with Buffy to open up.
“’Cause there’s an open invitation to any and all to come in? ‘Cause you’re literally on top of the Hellmouth?” He accompanied his words by pointing down.
“Wait. You mean that as in ‘the whole town is built on it?’ Or do you mean…?” Xander was looking around as if he expected the earth to open up and swallow him whole. Not that far from the truth, if you were to ask Spike.
“I mean under the floor of the library there’s the actual Mouth of Hell. There’s a seal on it and everything.”
“Good God.” Giles was cleaning his glasses with more force than necessary.
“I was sure I mentioned it. Ah, well. Consider yourselves warned. So if I were you, I’d find someplace else to have your Scooby meetings.”
“Scooby?” Willow looked lost.
“Yeah. Scooby-Doo and his gang. Fighting ghosts and all kinds of demons while still in their teens. Sounds like you lot, doesn’t it? You’re the Scoobies.”
“I like it.” Of course Xander would. Spike was almost sure he’d been the one to come up with the name the first time around.
“We could meet up at my house.” Buffy was holding her hand up. “My Mom won’t mind, and we’ll be safe there.”
“But I won’t have the necessary tools for research there…”
“Since I’ve moved out of the basement, I’m sure you can convince Joyce to store some of your precious tomes there.”
“Wait, hold up. You were living in Buffy’s basement?” Xander ignored the idea of research in favor of what he deemed more important information. Some things didn’t change.
“Yeah, until I could find my own place. Joyce was nice enough to take me off of Rupert’s hands.”
Willow was shaking her head slightly. “You really aren’t a normal vampire, are you?”
Spike grinned. “Not by a long shot.”
“What about this Harvest?” Xander looked determined.
“The Harvest will probably still go ahead, even if we dusted Luke. Bat-face isn’t going to let such a chance go by without trying anything, and he has other lackeys wound up and ready to go.”
“So we need to be careful.” Giles was reaching for another tome.
“It’s tonight, and it’s probably gonna be at the Bronze.” When everyone looked startled, Spike just shrugged his shoulders. “Luke said it himself, ‘third night of newest light,’ which is tonight’s new moon. As for the place. Well, is there any place other than the Bronze where you can find easy targets to suck the blood from?”
Everyone around the table shrugged and nodded.
It felt good for the Scoobies to listen to the Big Bad.
~~~***~~~
*The Bronze, that evening*
By the time Spike got to the Bronze, the rest of the Scoobies were already there, and Buffy was getting ready to break in through an upstairs window, while the rest went around the back.
“If we work together we can huff, puff, and blow them all down.”
“Spike.” There was relief in Buffy’s voice, and he couldn’t help but give her a warm smile.
The two of them managed to kick the main entrance open on the second attempt. Once they were in they made quick work of the two vampires protecting the door and went in the Bronze, while the Scoobies started helping the people trapped inside to escape.
On the stage, where bands usually played, a vampire was holding Cordelia up by the throat. He had a three pointed star painted on his forehead which marked him as the Harvest’s vessel.
“Bloody Colin. Figures of all the sorry excuses for a vampire in this Order he’d be the one to be picked.”
“Why not Darla?” Buffy had just staked her third vampire in as many minutes.
“She’s better at being in the back… or on her back. Being the Vessel is too much responsibility for her.”
“It also gives me more time to do this.” Darla’s attack went wide, her fist giving Spike a glancing blow to his shoulder. She was old and powerful, so even that almost hit hurt like a bitch, but he shrugged it off.
“Buffy, save the Cheerleader. I’ll take care of family business on this end.”
“Oh, Slayer, please. Don’t leave on my account. I’d love to have you for dinner.” Darla was vamped out and snapped her teeth at Buffy.
“We both know your precious sire wouldn’t let you even wet your teeth in the slayer’s neck. He wants her all to his hideous self.”
“You know nothing, Willie.”
Spike’s smirk grew wider. “You’d be surprised what I know, Great-Grannie.”
She charged him again, but he managed to trip her and cold-clock her in the back of the head. The move would have knocked out most vamps, but Darla was no wilting flower. She kicked her feet back and caught Spike in the chin.
Two more Aurelians jumped to help her, only to find themselves dusted by a double-wielding Spike.
“God, you were always such a disappointment.” Darla punched him in the kidneys, making him lose his grip on one of the stakes, and stumble a few steps backward. She looked behind her when Colin cried out, as he was dusted by Buffy. “You stupid meddlers. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
Spike had recovered and moved in behind her. “Yeah, we do.” He staked her through the back, spitting on her dust for god measure. He raised his eyes to take stock.
Buffy was dusting the last remaining minion dumb enough not to escape with the others after they’d lost their leaders. The Scoobies had gotten everyone out. The Harvest was over.
Buffy was standing in the middle of the club, her eyes darting to all the darkened corners. She’d never looked more the slayer than she did at that moment. She was magnificent.





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