Just as he approached the house he heard a scream from around the back. He ran around the house and kicked in the back door. There was Darla biting Joyce.
"Let her go!" Spike yelled.
"I just had a little, there's plenty more. Aren't you hungry for something warm after all this time? Come on, Spike. Just say 'Yes'!" With that she shoved Joyce into his arms so that her bleeding neck was offered up to him. The smell of blood called out his demon and he felt his fangs come forward.
He growled at Darla, but she only smiled at him and said, "Welcome home." She walked around him and then left the house.
Just as he was about to put Joyce down and call for an ambulance, he heard Buffy call, "Hey! I'm home." As she walked into the dinning room and saw them. Her eyes went wide. Before he could do or say anything, she barreled into him, sending him flying out the back door.
She stood over her mother and yelled, "You're not welcome here. You come near us and I'll kill you."
********************
Buffy grabbed the phone and dialed 911, then she rushed back to her mother.
"Mom! Mom, can you hear me?! Yes, I need an ambulance, 1630 Revello Drive! My mother cut herself, she lost a lot of blood! Please, please hurry!" she cried as she dropped the phone, "Mom!"
"Hey, Buffy!" she heard Xander call from the front of the house. As she looked up both he and Willow came through the kitchen door. "Oh my God!"
"What happened?" asked Willow.
"It was Spike. God this is all my fault."
"Spike? What do you mean?" asked Willow.
"I knew that guy was no good," said Xander.
Then the sound of an ambulance came down the street. "I'll explain later," Buffy said as the paramedics came through the door.
***************
"Do you remember anything, Mom?" Buffy asked as the doctor left the room.
"Just, um, your friend came over... I was gonna make a snack... "
"My friend? I thought you and Spike went way back?"
Just then Giles arrived.
"No, not Spike, Darla. Poor thing, I must've frightened her half to death when I fainted." "
Buffy's eyes went wide. Was it possible? She had wanted so desperately to believe that Spike was good. Seeing him with her mother had been devastating. Now to be offered the chance to believe that her trust hadn't been misplaced.
"Someone should really check and make sure she's all right," Joyce continued. "I guess I slipped and cut my neck on... The doctor said it looked like a barbecue fork." She looked at Buffy strangely, "We don't have a barbecue fork." Then she looked at Giles, "Are you another doctor?"
"Oh! Um... No, Mom, this is Mr. Giles," explained Buffy.
"Oh, the librarian from your school," Joyce said confused, "What's he doing here?"
"Uh, I-I just came to pay my respects; wish you a speedy recovery."
"Boy, the teachers really do care in this town."
"Get some rest now." Buffy kissed her mom and she and Giles went out into the hallway of the hospital. "She's gonna be okay. They, they gave her some iron... Her, uh, blood count was a, a little..."
"...a little low," Giles finished for her, "It presents itself like mild anemia. I would say that you were lucky you got to her as soon as you did, however Willow and Xander said something about Spike being a vampire?"
"I'm sorry Giles, I know I should have told you. He told me, the other night, after we fought the Three."
"Whoa, hold on a minute," Xander interrupted. "You knew he was a vampire and you let him stay in your room?!"
"It wasn't him, Xander. My mom said something about someone named Darla. As for Spike, he explained it all to me, there's these gypsies and a curse, and he has a soul. It's a thing."
"Be that as it may," Giles interrupted, "I'm your Watcher. You should tell me about anything dealing with vampire's at once."
"Hold on a minute, why'd you tell Willow and me that it was Spike?" Xander asked.
"When I got home he was holding her. He must have chased Darla away. Oh my God! He probably saved my mom's life and I attacked him and told him I'd kill him if I saw him again. I-"
"It's about time you figured that out," came a British voice. They all turned to look, as Spike casually walked around the corner. "How's your mum?"
"She's going to be fine. I'm so sor-"
"No worries, Slayer. What's important now is stopping Darla before she comes after you or your mum again."
"And why exactly should we trust you?" Giles asked.
"You shouldn't, but you don't have much choice." Spike handed Giles a card, "I'm sure the first thing you'll want to do is look me up in your books. He should be able to tell you where to look."
"Malcolm Forrester?! How did you know I was trying to contact him?" Giles asked surprised.
"Didn't. You're more on top of things than I thought, Watcher. Let's just say Malcolm's the whole reason I'm involved in any of this, so he can have the pleasant job of convincing you to trust me."
"Do you know where we can find Darla?" Buffy interrupted.
"I have a good idea. But I need to warn you, she's most likely going to say things-"
"Lies to make me not trust you. Yeah I get it Spike. Don't worry, I fell for that once. I won't again."
"It's not the lies I'm worried about, it's the truths."
*****************
Reflexively her eyes closed as Darla exploded into dust. When she opened them she could see Spike leaning heavily against the wall. His t-shirt was torn in several places, but the dark blood from the bullet wounds made it look almost whole.
"Are you. . ?"
"I'm fine Slayer. Hurts, but it'll heal. It's hardly the first time I've been shot."
"That's good. I mean the healing not the. . . It's not true is it? I mean you couldn't have. . . "
"Killed a Slayer? It's true. Now why don't you run on back to the hospital and check on your mum?" His voice was cold, detached. "I'm think I'm just going to lay down and bleed for a while."
Buffy was torn. On the one hand not only did she want to see her mom, but she also wanted to get away from Spike. She was beginning to feel like a pendulum, swinging back and forth between trusting Spike and not trusting him. She needed time to think.
On the other hand, the part of her that not only trusted him, but was deeply attracted to him wanted to stay and take care of him. After all, he had just taken several bullets for her and distracted Darla enough for Buffy to get close enough to stake her without getting shot.
"Mom's not going anywhere, and someone should bandage you."
"You don't have-"
"Yeah, I do."
Angelus jerked awake. He felt like he had been stabbed, as if someone had cut something inside of him. Something was missing, but he couldn't tell what.
The woman next to him in the bed began to whimper, "No. Grand-mum? They've taken her all away."
Then Angelus understood. Darla. She was gone. Even on the other side of the world he always had a dim awareness of his Sire. That connection had now been severed.
It was an absolutely stunning thought. He would never see Darla again. It had been decades since she had gone back to the Master, but it had never occurred to Angelus that he would never see her again.
"What happened Drusilla? Do you know?" he asked his companion.
"All the ladies dance around. But they always fall down."
Angelus sighed. If Drusilla knew anything useful he wasn't going to get it out of her. His mind still couldn't grasp it, Darla gone. She had always been a survivor. What could have killed her? He had to know.
It would be a difficult trip. Last he heard of her she had gone to California, and making that trip with Drusilla as weak as she was would be difficult.
Drusilla had become more and more agitated. There was no way she would go back to sleep now. Sighing he tore off several strips from the sheets. Then he gagged and bound her, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her into the next room.
Normally the flimsy bonds would not have been enough to hold the mad vampire, but ever since Prague she had been weak. He threw her down onto the floor among the bodies of the demon monks who had failed to cure her.
If he remembered correctly the town Darla had been going to was supposed to be on top of a Hellmouth. If he was lucky he might stumble across a cure for Drusilla there. Otherwise he might just abandon her and find himself a new companion. He would make this last attempt to cure her since he now had other reasons to head to the Hellmouth, but her sickness was beginning to make her more trouble than she was worth.
"Did you find anything out last night Giles?" Buffy asked as she entered the library the next day.
"Quite a bit actually. Mr. Forrester was quite helpful, and all my other sources seem to confirm what he told me. Were you able to find Darla?" He was worried about her. Buffy did not seem her usual perky self. Last night had obviously taken its toll on her.
"Found her, staked her. Found out the guy I have a crush on killed a Slayer. He wouldn't talk about it, Giles. She said it, and he didn't deny it; he wouldn't say anything. How could he. . ."
"I'll tell you what I can," he said gently. "You already know about his soul."
Buffy nodded.
"When his soul was restored, his Sire and the other vampires of his clan left him to die. He spent the next few years looking for his Sire. When he finally found her, she was battling a Slayer. He stepped in and killed the Slayer to save his Sire, but she rejected him again. After that it seems he decided to take to killing vampires, as a way of . . . atoning I suppose."
"So how does this Forest guy know all this? Why should we trust either of them?"
"Forrester. He was the Watcher of a Slayer about twenty years ago. His Slayer and Spike crossed paths. They began to work and train together. They worked as a team for several years until Spike's 'family' heard about it. His Sire and Angelus, one of the most vicious vampires of all, hunted the two of them down and killed the Slayer. Evidently Spike has always consider this his fault.
"Mr. Forrester has been studying several old texts and realized that the Master was trying to open the Hellmouth so he sent Spike to help stop it. . ." Giles paused, waiting for Buffy to say something. It was obvious that she was having a hard time dealing with Spike's past.
"Buffy, I'm not happy that you hid what you knew about him from me. . . But I think we should work with Spike. The Master is a powerful foe, and if he gets free. . . We will need all the help we can get. However I'm not sure I approve of you carrying on a . . . relationship with a vampire, whatever the other circumstances are."
"You're right, Giles. I should have told you, and Spike and me? It's ridiculous! So I'll. . . I've got class."
Giles watched as Buffy got up and left. He was glad she hadn't pushed him for too many details, or asked if Forrester had told him anything else. He was also glad that she had agreed to work with Spike. Trusting a vampire went against everything that Giles had ever been taught as a Watcher, and yet both what Forrester had and hadn't said told Giles all he needed to know.
First of all, Forrester had also told Giles about certain prophecies he'd found, 'The Slayer shall die, and the Master shall rise'. He had sent Spike to stop the Master once Buffy died. However, Forrester had also indicated that Spike didn't believe in the prophecy and wanted to prevent it. That alone would have given Giles good reason to treat Spike as an ally. While Forrester was willing to let the prophecy play out, Giles was determined to stop it and if the vampire could help, then so be it.
Secondly, whereas Forrester had glossed over Nikki Wood's death, saying simply that she had lost a fight to Angelus, the report the Council had sent him was far more detailed, if just as misleading.
It talked about a 'demon hunter' named William that she had trained with, never mentioning that William was a vampire. The report's description of her death read:
According to witnesses Nikki Wood was last seen in the company of a large, well-dressed, Caucasian male with dark brown hair. She and the man were said to be engaging in intimate behavior when they were interrupted by a short caucasian male with white hair and dressed in 'punk' clothing. This second man has been identified as the vampire known as 'Spike' who is reputed to have killed the Slayer Xin Rong in 1900.' Witness accounts say that the two men fought, when the first man ran off, Spike decapitated Nikki Wood with her own sword.
Even Giles, had he read the report before speaking to Forrester, might have assumed that the brunette man was the demon hunter William. However, having learned of Spike's other appellation - William the Bloody - he saw a different chain of events.
Angelus had drained Nikki, and possibly turned her. Spike had attacked him, driven him off, then cut off Nikki's head to save her from becoming a vampire.
It was that act that earned Spike Giles' respect. More than once Giles had had to burn or decapitate the bodies of friends so as to spare them the awful fate of rising again. If Spike, a vampire, viewed that fate with as much horror as Giles did, then Giles felt he could be trusted.