Chapter 4
The party went on for hours, Buffy pointedly ignoring Spike for the rest of the evening. The promised midnight waltz came and went without her. One by one, the girls began to grow tired, and began to make their way back up to the rooms that had been assigned to them for the night. Spike had made sure that fires were lit in the many fireplaces, and extra wood and blankets were ready to keep them warm. The girls would have to share beds, or some would sleep on the floor, but it was still far more spacious than the accommodations they had been sharing at Buffy’s house. Buffy was the only one who had been given a private room, and if Spike had hoped to share it with her, it wasn’t by so much that he hadn’t made alternate plans. He would sleep on a cot in the basement.
Not surprisingly, Buffy had remained angry with him for the rest of the evening, pointedly dancing with every male at the party, including George and Co., but not Spike. The snub hadn’t been wasted on him. After cleaning up, he’d sleep in the basement, where it would be blessedly quiet and random acts of sunlight couldn’t reach him. He’d make up with Buffy tomorrow.
As he was turning to go downstairs, his eyes fell on a bit of something shiny in the corner. He picked it up. It was one of the necklaces he’d picked out to go with the girls’ dresses. It was set with rubies – probably belonged to Cho-Ahn or Angela. He didn’t want it to be forgotten, and decided it was a nice excuse to go upstairs and talk to the Slayer a bit, maybe mend some fences now that she knew that Dawn’s virtue would remain safe.
Buffy had already shut her door, but he could hear her getting ready for bed. The rustle of the gown as she let it fall to the floor – the gentle swish as she once again slipped into the nightshirt he’d gotten for her. He could hear as she carefully removed her earrings and necklace and laid them by the dressing table. Now was his chance. He knocked softly and pushed open the door.
“Didn’t mean to bother you, but I wanted to make sure that this got back to its owner.” He held the necklace out before him like an offering.
“Of course you did, Spike. I’m sure your motivations had nothing to do with coming into my bedroom as I’m getting ready to go to sleep. I’m sure if you’d just been a little faster, you could have caught me in the all together.”
Why did she still always think the worst of him? He didn’t bother to point out to her that he could have easily barged in at the opportune moment if that had been his agenda. In fact, he had purposely waited outside her door until he knew that she was decently covered.
“Seriously, Buffy, you’d do me a big favor if you’d tell the girls to be careful with these things. I’ll probably still be sleeping when you all go home in the morning. I went to a lot of trouble and expense getting these doodads – the least they can do is take care of them.”
Buffy wasn’t impressed. “Right, Spike, I know you went to a lot of trouble to set this up, and we all appreciate it, really. But despite what you said, we all know that you stole all this stuff. So it seems kinda wrong for us to keep it.”
Now it was Spike’s turn to be angry.
“I bloody hell did not. Well, except for the last few. Who expected more Potentials to show up just in the last few days? Besides, it’s not like half the stores in Sunnyhell aren’t already boarded up. Place is almost a ghost town. Pretty soon they’ll be no one left except for us and the looters.”
“So, you’re telling me that you bought all this stuff with stolen money. And that’s supposed to be better how?”
“Told you I didn’t steal it, and I didn’t steal the money to pay for it either.”
“Then where did the money come from, Spike? We all know you don’t have any money.”
“Just shows what you know then, doesn’t it? Who do you think has been keeping the lot of you in food and supplies these past few months?”
“Giles and the Council…”
“Council’s gone, Buffy. Oh, there’s money there somewhere, but I don’t think Giles knows how to access it on his own. They never made provisions for a large-scale disaster like what happened. Don’t know if anyone’ll ever figure out how to access their accounts.”
“So you’re saying you’ve been paying for everything?” It was pretty evident that Buffy didn’t believe him. “Where’d you get the money, Spike?”
“I’m sure that you remember a fancy bit I had once called the Gem of Amarra? YOU stole it from ME if I recall, and gave it to the sodding poof. But that wasn’t the only thing I found in that vault. Not by a long shot. Course I didn’t care about much but that ring at the time. But despite appearances to the contrary, I do think ahead. Came to me that a tidy bit of dosh could be a useful thing to have, and I pocketed a few other trinkets that appeared they might be valuable. Found quite a few other baubles along with that ring.
“But you’re right. That’s not the half of it. Later on, I found out some of the treasure had been stolen before the whole thing caved in. By none other than the vamps that had been working for me. I decided to take exception to it. It became kinda a crusade. I tracked the demons down and explained to them how it all really belonged to me. Not surprisingly most of them were willing to give back what they’d stolen, once I explained the alternative. There was more’n enough to feed and equip this small army for months. Years, if we had years left to live.”
He knew that she could really have no idea how much treasure had been in that underground crypt. He hardly believed it himself, looking back on it with more human eyes. If she had any inkling of how much the jewels she was wearing were really worth, he knew she’d never accept them. Course she would never have to find out, unless things went all to hell, as seemed likely. He’d even paid extra for a spell that would ensure that if any of the girls ever tried to sell or pawn their gifts, they’d be offered a fair price for them. He didn’t want to have to watch as anyone he cared about have to struggle the way Buffy had that year working at the Doublemeat. Not if he could help it.
“So, you’re saying you’re rich?” A thought occurred to her, “Just when did all this happen? Last year, when I was desperate for money…”
“Told you I could get you money. You wouldn’t take it from me.” Suddenly seemingly tired, Spike sat down at the dressing table where he had done her hair.
“As to when it started, well, guess it was when I was helping to take care of Dawn. While you … weren’t around. I came to realize that in the human world, money was not an extravagance. Not when you have to pay for food, clothing and bloody college tuition. I mean, vamps only need money if they intend to take up housekeeping, or just to show off. It was never something I was very interested in.” He laughed, “I wanted to be able to brag about the things I’d done, not how many dollars I had in some sodding bank. Anything I wanted, I figured I was strong enough to just take it.”
“So not the way to live. Reminds me of Faith’s old credo, ‘want, take, have.’ Not the way to go. So, you’re rich now? That how you got to and from Africa?”
“No, and no. I guess that I was rich for a while, but like I said, unless it was to help out you and yours, it just doesn’t mean anything to me. This little shindig here – well, I’m just about tapped out. Should be enough to see us through until the end -- after that, I’m not much sure that it matters much.”
“This party cost that much?”
“Well, the spell casting wasn’t cheap. But that wasn’t the main bit. That’s what I came up here to tell you, Buffy. You need to keep good care of your jewelry. It’s not paste.”
“What do you mean? What’s paste?”
“Paste, glass, cubic bloody zirconia, whatever they call it now a days. What I mean is, if it looks like diamonds or sapphires or such like, well then it is.”
He had to be careful here, if Buffy had any idea at all how much her jewelry was really worth he’d never convince her to keep it. While it was true that all the trinkets he’d given out were valuable, none were worth a fraction of what he’d spent on Buffy and Dawn. For their jewels he’d gone to an exclusive store near L.A. Between the two of them, their necklaces could buy a small mansion in Beverly Hills, or half the town of Sunnydale. He’d put no little thought into framing the gift in terms she would accept.
“This is real? I can’t take this…”
“It’s not just yours, Buffy. Though I did make sure to pick out something special for you and the Little Bit. They’re all real. All the jewelry I gave to the Potentials.”
He sighed, and began his prepared speech, “There’s no way to tell who’s gonna make it out of here and who’s not. I wanted to be sure that everyone had a little something to help them get back on their feet when it’s all over. I didn’t want to make the same mistake the Council did, in thinking that there would always be someone survived who knew where the money was hidden. So I cleaned out my accounts and divvied it up between the lot of you. Small, lightweight, easy to carry. Won’t burn, melt or weigh you down.”
He looked at the floor, before looking up and meeting her eyes. Now came the hard part.
“Besides, I wanted you to have something beautiful. The Council may never tell you, Buffy, but it’s a terrible thing that they’ve done to you all. Made you into tools for their war, willing or no. You deserved better. You all deserved better.”
She had stopped glaring daggers at him, and Spike could tell that she was finally softening to him again. He was only sorry for the cause of it.
“We’re really not all going to make it out of this, are we Spike?”
“No, I don’t think so.” He shook his head. “I think our luck has finally run out. But, I wanted you all to have this memory, and these things to take with you. So that those of you who do survive will have some fond memories of one another. Not just the times you all got under each other’s skin crowded together in your Mum’s house.”
“You really put a lot of thought into this, didn’t you?”
“Had a lot of time on my hands for a while there. I …”
They were both startled by a perfunctory knock on the door, and the sudden appearance of Dawn.
“Spike, you in there? Buffy, do you know where Spike is?” Dawn pushed into the room, the elegant lady of earlier transformed back into a gawky teenaged girl.
“Oh, good. Glad I found you. Listen, the party’s been really great and all, but we have a crisis on our hands.” At the looks both turned on her, Dawn backpedaled quickly, “Okay, not really a crisis, crisis. Jeez, will you guys chill out? It’s just… well…” Dawn stopped and blushed.
“Out with it already, you’ve already scared us half to death. What’s the problem? Girls not like the sleeping arrangements?”
“No. No, nothing like that. No one would complain to you about that. It’s just… well. We’ve used all the napkins Willy brought, but we can’t find anything else.”
“What are you talking about Niblet? She making any sense to you, Buffy?”
“Buffy! Please tell me you understand…” Dawn looked imploringly at her sister. Clueless, Buffy shook her head.
“We can’t find any toilet paper. Did you buy any toilet paper, Spike?”
“Bollocks! I can honestly say the thought never crossed my mind. Are you sure you need it?”
“Spike, this house if crammed full of girls who’ve been drinking punch all night. We’ve only managed to last this long using dinner napkins, and Amanda brought some tissues cause she’s still got a head cold. We’ve scrounged through all the closets we could find – and boy was that nasty – but no one’s found anything useful.”
Spike swore again, then turned to look at Buffy who was giggling. “What?”
“Oh, come on, it’s funny. We’ve been complimenting you all night on what a great job you’ve done, but you forgot something as basic as toilet paper?”
“Not like I use it myself. That was something one of my human helpers should of thought of, right Dawn?”
“Well, maybe. But we really, really need it, and everyone else is afraid to go out to get any. I mean, the protection spell is only on the house, right?”
“Right then. Off I go. A vampire’s work is never done.”
“Hold on, and I’ll go with you. Haven’t killed anything all night, I don’t want to get rusty.”
Spike smiled. A romantic starlight walk? Not a bad idea at all. “Whatever you say, luv, whatever you say.”
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Only one more chapter (the epilogue) remains after this one.
Only one more chapter (the epilogue) remains after this one.