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Chapter 17: School Hard (Part 3 of 3)

Having finished talking to the police, Giles was headed to his car, when he thought he heard a familiar British voice yelling.

He quickly headed in the direction of Spike's voice, thinking perhaps the vampire was in trouble. Buffy had been reticent about talking about why the souled vampire had left town. But if he was back, he could once again be a valuable ally.

He rounded the corner of the school and saw Spike, his back turned, talking angrily to a young black man.

"Are you bloody insane? What the hell do you think you're doing going after Angelus?"

"What you're too scared to do. Avenge my mother."

"Scared? You think what? That I should've gone after him right after your mum died? And who would have looked after you? Do you think your mother would give a damn about whether or not Angelus lives? She'd want you to be safe."

"No, I can't let that monster live. And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

The young man tried to push Spike out of his way but he didn't budge an inch. Then Spike purposely moved out of his way and watched him go.

"I didn't realize Nikki had a son," Giles said once the young man had left. "What's his name?"

"Robin," Spike's voice was husky, and Giles almost thought he saw tears glittering the vampire's eyes.

"Don't worry, Buffy will take care of this Angelus, and we'll make sure the boy is safe."

"Thanks Rupert. I just hope she can before. . ."

Giles put his hand on the other man's shoulder, in a sign of solidarity. He never would have imagined having a vampire as a friend, but over and over Spike surprised him.

Giles had begun to think of Buffy more and more as a child he had never had, even though he knew he should keep a greater emotional distance between the two of them. Even knowing how strong and capable she was, it was hard sending her out night after night. Leaving her to confront the dark things of the world. He wished he could protect her from them, just as he was sure Spike was trying to protect Robin. Therefore Giles would do whatever he could to ensure the young man's safety.

**************

The sun was just coming up and a little of it streamed in the high window of the factory, lighting the ceiling.

Angelus stood by a cage that hung from the ceiling. Drusilla walked around it to him.

"Daddy, did she hurt you?"

"Nothin' too serious, my dear. She wouldn't have so much as laid a hand on me, if yer wayward boy hadn't shown up."

"He's a very bad dog. We should take away all his toys."

"Aye, that we will, my dear. That we will." She came over and laid her head against his chest. "And how is the young Master?" he asked.

Drusilla frowned. "He doesn't wanna play."

"Well, we'll see if we can't do something about that."

He walked over to the boy vampire and knelt before him.

"You failed," the Anointed One said.

"I offer penance," Angelus said, his head bowed to hide his smirk.

"Penance?! You should lay down your life," demanded one of the other vampires, "Our numbers are depleted, the feast of St. Vigeous has been ruined by your impatience!"

"What can I say, I've little more use for rituals in this life than I did in me last." He stood up. "Of course that isn't to say I don't believe in a bit o'the old ways. Like respecting yer elders."

With that he scooped the boy up by the waist and carried him like a sack of potatoes to the cage.

"No!" the boy yelled.

One of the other vampires started to help, but Drusilla stood in the way. Weakened as she was, the crazy vampiress's gaze was still enough to unnerve the others.

He threw the boy vamp in the cage, and locked the door. Then he started to pull on the chain, and hoist the cage up into the air.

"From now on, we're going to do things sensibly around here. None of this extraneous ritual crap. Just the hunt and the kill."

The cage moved into the sunlight and the boy screamed. Drusilla smiled at Angelus. He smiled back.

"And we're going to start with the Slayer. Come now Dru." He put his arm around her and she snuggled into his embrace, purring.

"We'll throw a great party, and watch them all burn," she said delightedly.

"That we will, my sweet. That we will."

*************

Buffy lay in her bed, unable to sleep. Her mind was in turmoil. She had seen Spike, she was sure she had. But then he'd disappeared, he hadn't even said a word to her.

She turned over in bed, and there, outside the window, was Spike, watching her.

She leapt up, opened the window, and threw herself at the vampire, embracing him. As she buried her face in his chest, she breathed in the familiar smell of cigarettes and leather. She'd never realized how safe that smell made her feel. His arms wrapped around her, and he held her tightly.

"It's you, it's really you. You're back." She pulled back from his hug, to look him in the eye. "You are back aren't you?"

He didn't say anything at first, he just cupped her cheek in his hand, and looked at her. His gaze was so intense, so full of love, that she felt she was trembling.

"You're cold," he said.

Then he pushed her back inside through the window, and followed her into the room. He wrapped his duster around her, and sat her on the bed.

"I'm here for a while. As long as Angelus is."

"So what? Same deal as before, stick around till the big bad dies, then take off?" Buffy was angry. She didn't want to be, she just wanted to be kissing him. But she was so scared of losing him again. None of this felt quite real.

"No, it's different this time. If Angelus dies, I can stay. Look, remember when I told you I had family to attend to?" Buffy nodded. "It's my son, Robin, you saw him tonight, Fellow with the crossbow."

"I see the resemblance, just didn't know that mysterious appearances and disappearances was genetic," she said sarcastically.

"His mother was NIkki. After Angelus killed her, I took care of him."

"And now he's here on a vengeance kick," she finished for him. "I didn't know Slayers ever had kids."

"I don't suppose most do. And yeah, I left here to go for his graduation. From Stanford," he added with pride.

It was a weird moment for Buffy. She'd always known he was older than her, and for most of that time she'd known that he was over a century. Finding out he had raised a kid who was older than her was much much different. It was almost like she was dating one of her friends' dads.

"About two months ago, he found out where Angelus was and took off. I've been following him ever since. Funny thing was neither of us knew Angelus was headed here."

"Two months? Talk about taking the scenic route."

"Vampires can't fly, too much risk of sunlight coming through the windows, so we usually take ships."

"So if I kill Angelus, you don't have to worry about Robin. And you can stay right?"

"Yeah, pet. Then I can stay."

Buffy was ecstatic. If all that was standing between her and her boyfriend was one vampire. . . Well she was the Slayer, and she'd killed the Master hadn't she? How tough could this Angelus be?

She shoved her fears and worries aside, and kissed him, using her tongue to take out the last of her aggression on him. It wasn't enough though. After so long a separation, she felt like she needed to be closer to him, and the way they were sitting on the bed didn't allow that, so she rolled onto her back, pulling him along with her.

One of his legs ended up between hers, and as he tried to shift his weight it rubbed against her sending sparks through her body. Instinctually she pressed herself against his leg, and he stopped to push it against her.

She broke off their kissing to moan as her hips lifted off the bed to press herself even harder against him. He gently put his hand over her mouth to muffle the sound, and his mouth moved to kiss her neck. Her hands moved to grip his shoulders while her mouth parted slightly to allow her tongue to lick his palm.

As the tip of her tongue traced the creases in his palm she could feel a growing hardness against her stomach. Suddenly Spike pulled back from her.

"I should be going," he said.

She nodded. Although part of her wanted nothing more than for him to stay, another part of her wasn't too sure about her self-control, and she knew she wasn't yet ready to go as far as those parts of her wanted to.

Just as he was about to leave, he stopped and turned. "Angelus isn't like other vampires. He won't fight you one on one. He's not even likely to fight you directly again, unless you force him to. Instead he'll go after the people close to you."

With that he was gone. Buffy sighed. Looked like things were pretty much back to normal.





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