Buffy slowly woke up, sated and well rested. She enjoyed waking up with Spike’s strong, protective arms wrapped around her. She snuggled into him, knowing that soon they would be running into battle.
She prayed to the Powers That Be for Spike’s safety, the baby’s safety, and that she would have the strength to do what she needed to end their nightmare with Angelus.
She saddened at the thought of Angelus, her Angel. He was her first love, he showed so much potential to make a big impact not just on her world, but the earth itself.
He just did not have the strength needed to persevere when the going got rough. Spike taught her that clearly the soul did not make the vampire. The soul was not the only guide to making a decision, hence when Angel lost his soul he should not have taken the path he took.
That made her angry. Angry for Jenny Calendar, angry for everything her friends and family have been through.
On the other hand she was grateful, because if Angel had not headed on his downward spiral, she would not be in the arms of her mate.
Eternal happiness, well for as long as she was alive, which surprisingly did not concern her. In her heart, mind, body, and soul she knew her and Spike would last forever.
In the midst of her inner thoughts, she had not noticed her mate had awoken. Spike had begun to pepper kisses on the top of her head.
‘Love we are forever’
‘Good Morning Spike. Love you so much. I see we can still do the mind talky thing.”
‘Good. Means I can keep you quiet while I have my wicked way with you love.’
‘Spike, as nice as the idea of that is, we’ve got to get into battle mode.’
He held her tight in his arms, and laid a kiss on her cheek. He felt the tears starting to run down her face.
‘Luv, what’s wrong? What did I do?’
‘You didn’t do anything, I’m just scared.’
‘Slayer, you have nothing to be scared of.’
‘What if we don’t make it, what if something happens to our baby?’
‘Don’t think about that love. Nothing is going to happen to you or the bit. I’ll protect you with my unlife.’
‘Spike, my life will be nothing without you in it. I don’t know if I can raise our baby alone.’
‘You won’t be alone. You have your mom, your friends, and your watcher. You have their love and support, that’s what kept you alive so long. But no worries, yeah?’
‘Just hold me until we have to get up Spike. Please. I just want to imprint the feel of being in your arms in my memory.’
‘Of course, pet. Don’t worry; we’ll have many nights like this. Starting tonight after we win…I love you Buffy, don’t you forget it. I love you always.’
Spike nuzzled his marks on her neck to comfort his mate. He glanced at the clock, 4 p.m. They wouldn’t have much time for this, everyone should be home soon. The best time to hit Angelus would be right before he awoke.
Buffy turned onto her side and looked into his eyes. She was lost in his pools of cerulean blue. Her love, her mate. She could feel his love for her as it emanated through their bond. She let it consume her.
The sound of car doors closing outside signaled the battle was about to begin. Buffy’s face scrunched up as the reality hit her. Spike leaned forward and kissed her softly on her lips.
“Time to get up now love. Time to go be heroes.”
Joyce managed to get the pizzas out of her Jeep without dropping them. The next step was to try and get them in the house. Luckily, everyone seemed to have pulled up at the same time, saving her from embarrassment. Everyone walked up and grabbed a pizza off the top of the pile, Joyce was able to pull out her keys, and opened up the back door.
“Thanks for picking up food Mrs. Summers!”
“Oh it was no problem Willow. I wanted to make sure you were all properly fed before your big fight tonight.”
Cordelia and Giles helped set up the table, while Oz and Willow helped Joyce set the pizza up on the kitchen island.
The entire house filled with the scent of pizza, and that motivated the Slayer to cleaning up and dressing. Luckily, she had some oversized t-shirts in her wardrobe that would accommodate her growing belly.
“You can go ahead downstairs Spike. I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Are you sure Buffy?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Besides, you’re not doing a good job right now at hiding your thoughts. I know you want to go hit that pizza.”
Spike ducked down, ashamed that he had let that pass through the link. She should be his first and only thought.
“Spike, don’t worry about it. Besides, I need you to go down and make sure they save me some. Please?”
Buffy displayed her best pout face, which would be sure to win Spike over.
“Alright luv. Just holler if you need a hand.”
Spike gave her a kiss on her head before he left her room to make his way downstairs.
Oz looked up at Spike as he walked into the dining room. ‘Man he’s so lucky. Someday maybe I’ll be just as lucky with Willow.’ Oz reached under the table to give Willow a gentle squeeze on her leg. She turned to him, with her pizza slice in her hand and smiled. He winked at her and then nodded towards Spike to let her know he was here.
“Oh hi Spike. Sit. Have some pizza!”
“Thanks Willow. Love some. Buffy will down in a moment. She put me in charge of making sure you lot saved her some.”
“I bought plenty Spike,” Joyce replied, “so do not worry about that daughter of mine. You eat up; you are going to need it to protect her.”
Spike did not correct Joyce. She did not need to hear that what humans consume would do him no good, except for his taste buds. He gave her a big smile and grabbed a slice of pizza, with all the works on it, and shoved into his mouth. He let out a moan of pleasure that sounded similar to what the gang heard earlier.
“Ok Spike. We get you like the pizza, and you must really like it since that sounded very similar to the noises we heard coming from Buffy’s room this morning.”
Giles emitted a ‘dear lord’ from his lips as he took his spectacles off to cleanse them. As he put them back on, he felt comfortable enough to speak up and stop this conversation before it got out of hand.
“Cordelia now is neither the time nor place to have this discussion. If we make it through tonight’s activities, I expect Joyce will speak to Buffy and Spike about using better discretion.”
Cordelia let out a ‘humph’ before she grabbed another slice of pizza. Spike suddenly became shy and ducked his head down.
“’Bout that Joyce, ‘m sorry, we’ll be more careful next time.”
Just then, Buffy entered the room.
“Be more careful about what Spike?”
She did not understand from all the looks at the table what the big deal was. Then she heard Spike in her head.
‘Let’s leave this for later, pet. Apparently we were a little too vocal this morning.’
‘Oh. Yeah your right, not a good idea’
Buffy quickly redirected the subject at hand. “Yum, pizza, thanks so much mom. There’s nothing like having a good meal before going out and kicking major ass!”
“Buffy, language!”
“Sorry mom.”
“So everyone had their fill?”
A collective ‘yes’ filled the dining room.
“Good. You all got the weapons stashed?”
Again, another shared affirmative response from the group.
“Great. Sundown is coming soon. That means after I eat two more slices of pizza, we are leaving.”
“What about Spike?”
Spike was happy that the wolf boy was thinking about his welfare.
‘Yeah, pet what about me.’
Buffy squeezed his hand under the table.
“Well we have the UV blanket that he can use. We’ll take two cars.”
Buffy shoved the last sliced of pizza in her mouth.
‘Good plan luv, hadn’t thought of that myself.’
“Mom, where do you think your going?”
“To help protect my baby.”
“No mom. I need you to stay here. I won’t be able to do what I need to do if I’m worrying about you.
“But I worry.”
“Don’t mom; I’ve got the element of surprise on my side. He won’t expect Spike to be helping me, and neither will he expect to be attacked in his sleep.”
Joyce gave Buffy a hug as she walked out to the Jeep. Joyce stopped Spike and gave him a hug.
“Spike you take care of my little girl and little grandbaby she’s carrying. She means the world to me.”
“Don’t you worry Joyce, I swear on my unlife she will be brought back safely.”
Spike turned around, his leather coat flaring out from beneath him. He grabbed the UV blanked that Giles handed him and rushed out to battle with his mate.
Thanks to Meli for betaing the fic!
Thank you all for your kind reviews.
Cheers ~ Opal
Chapter 21- Blood
Angelus confidentially walked around the statue of Acathla. He stared at the stone statue, and then glanced around the cold, dark room. The room that would create the portal to infamy, the room that would make tonight his night, his time of glory, and his triumph for all evil.
It would be the ultimate act of evil, because after destroying the world and humanity with it, there would be no other act to top that.
He stopped before the statue and touched it with his hands. Angelus could feel the energy radiating off the stone. Energy which when fully unleashed would decimate the planet into particles.
Of course, Angelus only hoped that Acathla would make him a powerful being to rule alongside. If not, well he would be dust with the rest of the earth. As long as he did not have to deal with the Slayer and her stupid Scoobies, his death would be worth it. No more of her bouncy blonde hair, silly outfits, dumb large doe eyes, and her geeky friends.
All of the dimensions would know him as the great Angelus. The followers of the dark would speak of his name for eons thereafter. Certainly, this would top being known as the “Slayer of Slayers,” in fact no one would ever use Spike as the benchmark for evil again.
Angelus smirked to himself knowing that reputation would be one more thing he took easily from the pitiful excuse of a grandchilde of his. He should have never let that crazy childe of his make her dolly out of William. He shrugged his shoulders and continued to think of all the glory he would find at Acathla’s side.
Angelus was preoccupied with his ego and did not even hear a group of minions approach until they were in front of his face.
“Master! Master!” The minion tried to keep his voice down, but his Master’s lack of responsiveness warranted the volume.
He was snapped from his reverie; Angelus was agitated and contemplating taking it out on the vocal minion. Until he felt the presence of family, ‘Well speak of the devil.’
“Can’t you see I was deep in thought? This better be something good that you’re bothering me about.”
“Yes Master. Of course it is important.”
“Well what are you fucking waiting for, to turn to dust? Get on with it!”
The minion shuddered with nervousness, unsure of how his Master was going to react at the news. He was only a fledgling, and did not understand the strength of the Aurelius bond shared between the master vampires.
“Well it would seem that Spike has decided to come back to the mansion.”
Angelus decided to play with the minions mind. He figured ‘What the fuck, some quick entertainment was better than counting down the time until the symphony of destruction began.’ He paused for a moment as a light bulb went off in his head. ‘What a wonderful phrase ‘Symphony of Destruction,’ it’s a shame some human created it. Oh well, he’ll be dust along with all his sorry records soon anyways.’
The minion could tell Angelus was deep in thought again. Rather than agitate the master vampire more, the minion just waited patiently for a response.
“I don’t smell burning. That bastard grandchilde of mine should have burned up trying to get in here. There is no other access except through the sunlight at this time of day. Where is he?”
“In his room sir. The one he shared with the crazy one.”
Angelus stopped reveling in his ego and decided he better take the situation seriously. Then he started to worry. If Spike was back, that meant the Slayer would be with him. He did not have much longer to go until the sunset for him to start his mission. ‘Fuck!’ Angelus thought. ‘Leave it to the fucking white hats to come along and waste my fucking time right at when the crucial moments come along.’
“Master, what would you like us to do?”
Angelus thought about it. He only needed to buy time until he could begin the ritual. If he remained hidden, along with the minions then the Slayer would waste time searching them out. There was no way she could sense him specifically, because with so many vampires around her slayer senses would be going haywire. Spike would be a problem, but just a small delay tactic. Angelus knew he could handle Spike.
Angelus kept his voice low to deter any vampire that was not within his arm reach from overhearing.
“We won’t do anything. Tell the others to hide in the shadows and avoid confrontation until it is time to start the ritual.”
“Master, certainly they’ll find us.”
“Yes they will. Some of you will become dust, but that should not really matter to you because either way in fifteen minutes you will become dust either way. Let them waste time looking in the shadows.”
The minion nodded his head and skulked into the hallway to spread the word. Within moments, the mansion was quiet.
Angelus used his power as the head of the line to subtly close off his familial bond with Spike. He did not want the bastard childe to be able to find him just by using his senses. Angelus looked around the empty room, and then moved into the furthest corner of the room into the shadows, murmuring ‘this night will be mine.’
Spike breathed a sigh of relief. They were not anywhere near safe, but the temporary glamour that Giles put up had lead the minions to believe that he was the only one is his own room. It had been difficult enough for them to sneak in during the daylight but luckily, the minions still had not figured out there was a secret passage into his room. This enabled them to penetrate the mansion undetected.
The room was dusty. The same as the day he had arrived with Dru, but she had decided to go on one of her cleaning obsessions. He certainly did nothing to stop her. He had rather a tidy abode than her talking at her dolls .Unfortunately, she was quite efficient so she could have a well-kept house, and have time with her dolls and her daddy.
All that time wasted now, because she was not here at all. Despite that, she would probably mock him for being with the Slayer or try to claw his mate’s eyes out; he was still saddened that she was gone.
If Angelus, or any of the minions chose to come down to find out the purpose of his visit, he would just simply tell them he was gathering the rest of his belongings. Of course, he had all of his belongings thrown out of his trunk and strewn across his bed. Spike decided that perhaps he could make this masquerade useful and set aside the items to take with him once this was over. He stopped when he noticed Buffy holding his old, worn, black leather folio of portraits.
“Luv, be careful with those.”
“I’m sorry, Spike. I shouldn’t have started touching your things.”
“No worries pet. It’s not that I don’t want you touching them. It’s just they are very old and the only pictures I have of my family. I want our bit to be able to see pictures of my mum and sis.”
“Oh.” Buffy carefully placed the folio back down on the bed. She glanced around and took note that there were two piles. “So what are the different piles for?”
“Well pet, that pile close to you is what is important to me and what I want to pass down to our nibblet. The other pile is just meaningless rubbish.”
“It’s bigger than your keep pile though.”
Buffy could sense Spike’s feelings through the claim. Feelings of sadness, because even after all these years he still missed his human family that was long gone from the earth.
“Yeah, luv, well the throw out pile is stuff that I’ve accumulated as a vamp, to make me feel big and bad. The small pile, well it’s the personal stuff. Stuff that’s been mine since before I was turned; you and I will look at it after we kick the poof’s arse, yeah?”
Spike realized this conversation was getting a little too intimate to share with the rest of the room. He looked into his mate’s eyes, and silently let his words flow through their bond.
‘Because I want our child to know where they came from, not just from a vamp but my real family, my mum and sis’
‘Your right, they should know. I want to know all about your family, you loved them so much and I know that it isn’t even an inkling of how much your love our baby.’
Spike reached across the bed and grasped Buffy’s hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it.
‘I love you Buffy.’
‘I love you, always, my big bad.’
Giles coughed to remind the blond couple that they were not alone.
“Sorry Giles kinda lost focus there.” Buffy whispered, noticing how quiet the mansion was all of a sudden.
Giles lowered his voice and gestured for the group to come closer to him.
“Indeed, well now that I’ve got your attention I want to remind you that this glamour isn’t going to last much longer. I also think that your reason for being here is being considered suspicious, because this whole mansion has gone from buzzing with activity to being so quiet you could hear a bloody pin drop.”
“Well Giles, I say we make our move now, before Angelus awakens, just like we planned.”
Spike tried to use the familial bond to locate Angelus, but it was no use.
“Luv, he may already suspect something because I can’t use the clan bond to find him. We need to be careful and anticipate that he may be expecting us.”
“Your right Spike.” Buffy leaned up and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. “Everyone check for your weapons, stakes, and holy water?” The group nodded affirmatively to her. “Great. Let’s go dust some vampire ass!”
The Slayer led her army out of Spike’s room into the halls.
‘Try to avoid dusting my ass luv!’
‘No problem Spikey, but I promise you I won’t be avoiding your ass later tonight.’
‘Minx.’
‘Vampire.’
‘I love you Buffy.’
Buffy stopped and pulled Spike close to her. She placed a gentle kiss on his lips to dissolve the glamour and let the whole mansion know who her mate was.
“I love you, Spike.”
She knew damn well if Angelus were awake, he would hear that!
Xander heard his friends searching the hall. He knew he could yell for them, but he remembered Dru told him no to interfere with the course of the night. He stayed still, so his chains would not rattle.
Xander could feel the cold stones against his back and legs. It was as if the cold was traveling up and down his body on his own. His breaths were now quiet and slow, his demeanor was calm, even as he heard his friends walk by his prison.
Dru had not failed him yet, why would she now? He had the utmost faith that tonight Buffy was going to send Angelus’ ass to hell.
Tomorrow they would talk about the recent events that lead up to her victory, mourn the death of Giles beloved Jenny. They would savor the victory over donuts and coffee.
“And blood Xander, don’t forget William’s blood.” Dru whispered.
Even with Dru whispering in his ear, he did not use that as an excuse to freak out or cry to Buffy for help. Instead, he took comfort that his benefactor was right by his side looking after him.
Looking after Buffy and Spike too. That is when a big grin made its way across Xander’s face.
‘Angelus is so gonna die!’
Angelus heard the Scoobies approaching. He could feel the night sun as it slowly slipped its way towards dusk. Just a few more moments he would seize the day. He brought his hand down towards his belt with the knife he had hidden in its sheath.
Slowly he began to extract it, and then he hid it up the sleeve of his coat. If he were lucky, he would be able to kill the Slayer, before he unleashed Acathla.
Angelus looked up when he sensed Spike walk into the room. He waited for the Slayer to follow, but she never came.
“Well, well it looks like at least my BOY showed up for the party.”
“I don’t see any bloody streamers, mate.”
“Oh Spikey, you know better than to piss Daddy off. Besides you know I don’t do streamers, I do screamers. Oh and your ripe wicked plum, she’s a screamer.”
Angelus wickedly grinned. He could tell he was getting under Spike’s skin.
“Baiting me old man; not gonna work. You could fuck Dru right in front of me under this disgusting statue for all I care. Let her scream your name.”
Spike and Angelus started to walk towards each other, circling one another. Feral looks in each other’s eyes; each waited for the other to make the first move. Angelus was puzzled with Spike, because he expected Spike would have attacked. Instead, Spike let the comments role right off of him. That is when Angelus realized something definitely was not right, but he could not quite pinpoint exactly what it was yet.
Angelus went into game face to improve his sense of sight and smell, getting the first leg up on Spike. He had hoped his vampiric abilities would give him the edge he needed to figure out Spike’s game. Quickly, Angelus realized why Spike was so nonchalant about Dru screaming her Daddy’s name.
“Boy you fucking mated to what’s mine! You know not to fuck with what belongs to the head of the clan.”
Spike vamped out, ready to defend his love, his mate, and their bond.
“Please, you hadn’t the stones to mark her as yours when you were the souled poofter. You had the opportunity to claim her when you had your way with her, but instead you ran off like a pussy. The reality is she was never yours, never meant to be yours.”
“Silence! I will not have you mock me, I am your elder you will respect me.”
“Angelus let me quote your favorite phrase. Oh how does it go? Yes, I believe its fuck off!”
Angelus could not hold back any longer. He launched himself at Spike. They became a blur of fists, fangs, and blood. One would get the upper hand for only a moment until the other would become dominant.
Buffy felt her mate starting to weaken through the bond. She knew it was risky, being with child, but she had to protect him. She knew she would die having to raise their baby without him. She knew she would die just from the loss of his love, his touch, his comfort. Buffy ran into the room as sunset began to fall outside of the mansion.
She saw Angelus hovered over Spike, ready to maul her love’s neck with his fangs. Without thinking, she ran over to grab Angelus, only to find that Angelus prepared for her approach.
Angelus grabbed Buffy, lifted her up and threw her clear across the room. Her head slammed against the stonewall, fracturing her skull and splitting her head open.
“Stupid bitch, how dare you.”
Buffy blacked out as she saw Angelus cross the room to finish her off. Giles, Cordelia, and Oz took out their crosses and vials of holy water. They ran between Buffy and Angelus, pushing the crosses in his bloodied face.
Willow ran over to Buffy, and cradled her friend’s body. She checked Buffy’s pulse it was fine. She looked at Buffy’s head. Carefully, she moved the bloodied strands of blond apart so she could find the cut. Willow could not believe her eyes when she found it. ‘Oh goddess, I knew she had slayer healing powers but I’ve never seen her heal like this!”
It seems Buffy’s bleeding had already stopped, and her skull was knitting itself back together. Willow continued to hold Buffy, offering the one thing slayer healing did not, the warm arms of a good friend.
Angelus howled in pain as the holy water they threw at him seeped into his wounds. He let out a sinister grin when he realized they exhausted their holy water, and the only weapon they had left was their crosses.
‘Fools, they think they can stop me with this crap! I’ll show them strength.’ Angelus summoned his might and plowed through the white hats and their crosses.
“Time to die you whore!”
Angelus raised his hand up to deliver the deathblow, only to have it caught and held in position.
“Not so fast mate. She’s mine, always will be. No one. No one hurts what is mine.”
Buffy smiled with pride as she started to come back to consciousness. Her mate was protecting her, and if he was protecting her, it meant that Angelus had not hurt him too badly.
She could feel Spike’s anger at Angelus through the bond. She knew that if she tried to communicate with him now, she would only break his concentration. She did not realize that he had felt her awaken through the bond; he just did not show it.
Spike threw Angelus’ bloody body into the stone statue in the middle of the room. Blood flowed out of Angelus wounds onto the statue. Acathla started to rumble and shake.
Spike ran immediately to his mate’s side, gently taking her from Willow. He purred and peppered kisses on her forehead. His happiness was short lived, when Angelus reminded him that they now had a much bigger problem to face.
“Boy! It’s about time you did something right. I had forgotten all about my little plan here. Thanks to you, I got my blood dripping all over this baby right now and just in time. Should I thank you or your piece of shit mate?”
Spike growled ready to launch himself at Angelus. Buffy placed a hand on his shoulder, and silently pleaded to him to hold back so they could asses the situation.
“Oh, whipped by the girl. Looks like you are someone else’s whipping boy now. Well since, I finally get to thank you for a job well done, guess how I’m going to do it. I’m gonna turn you, your mate, and everything on the face of this earth into a big pile of fucking dust. All thanks to Acathla, all thanks to you boy!”
Buffy clutched Spike closer to her when she thought about the life they would not have, the child that would never be born. Tears ran down her face.
“That’s right bitch, cry for your mommy. Oh wait she won’t come for you because in a few moments she’ll be dust with you too.”
“Not if I can help it.”
The two master vamps whipped there head up to the direction of the voice. Their faces showed complete shock, which was saying a lot considering the events that had taking place up to that moment.
Spike’s voice broke the silence, but it was barely a whisper.
“Dru.”