April Simms was 21, and a Los Angeles native. Her dad was a private detective, until an accident on a case took him out of the business. April was raised to work with her dad and carry on the family legacy. By her slim build and graceful demeanor, you’d think she was a dancer, until she showed you the card identifying her hands as a registered lethal weapon. See, her father wanted her to be prepared, so April was enrolled in multiple martial arts, taught how to use a gun, and every surveillance technique in the book by age 14. By age 18, she was an accepted and respected member of his team.
One thing that made April exceptionally good at her job was that she was clairvoyant. She’d been getting premonitions since puberty, and they kept her out of a lot of scrapes. This was how she knew Buffy Summers would be visiting here after the collapse of Sunnydale. April was one of the first new Slayers that would be contacted by Buffy and her friends, and she was cool with that. April had lived in L.A. all her life, so she knew what lurked in the city at night, and heard rumors through others in the business of demon fighters. Not that anyone would openly admit they existed. Only in whispers behind closed doors, to those people who wouldn’t automatically think you were crazy.
April was older than most of these new Slayers. She listened to Buffy, and the others, took notes on what might happen in her life now, and politely declined to follow the team to England. She and Buffy hit it off right away, being so close in age, so Buffy respected her decision. It didn’t surprise April a couple weeks later when she got a call from Buffy with a job offer. Buffy had noticed that her ex, Angel, was keeping tabs on her, so the Slayer wanted April to keep tabs on Angel in return. She would report any findings directly to Buffy, as well as taking her orders only from her. All April had to do was keep an eye out and an ear open around the city while she went about her work.
Several months later, April found something worthy of reporting.
November 2003
April was out on surveillance, as usual. She’d heard rumors for about 2 weeks of a man in black dusting vampires in alleys and such around the city. She wondered if Angel was back out doing field work, like old times, so she was stationed across the street from Wolfram and Hart, waiting for someone she recognized to leave. She saw a figure exit the lobby and continue down the street on foot.
‘Well, well, this could be interesting,’ she thought. April followed on the rooftops. Her mark was heading towards the nightclubs. He paused for a moment, as if he heard something, then took off running for a dark side street.
April hurried to catch up, and saw the man approach another man with a young woman. The woman didn’t appear to be having a good time. He grabbed the other man by the shoulders, away from the woman, and punched him in the face, causing him to morph into his demon personage. Her mark did the same, fought with the vampire for a couple minutes, and staked him. April documented the whole thing with her digital camera. She recorded it as video, but she was too high up to get sound. She watched the vigilante help the young woman to her feet and speak to her, probably telling her to run home. She ran off in the direction of an all-night diner a block over. April stopped recording, and prepared to follow the vigilante again.
She had a good idea who this was, but she wanted more proof to confirm it.
April had followed her subject nearly every night for a week. He was always dressed in all black, including a leather coat, and nearly always smoked a cigarette after a fight. He’d been taking out fledglings, for the most part, never gaining a scratch. She definitely admired his fighting style. It was the perfect combination of street brawler and finesse. He was lithe, graceful, light on his feet – a dancer of the deadliest kind. She knew she’d have to talk to him soon to really confirm her hunch, before sending her report to her boss. April really didn’t want to mess this up.
Tonight, he’d run into something other than vampires. She had no clue what these demons were, but they were big, ugly, and didn’t appear to be in a good mood. She watched her subject taunt them into a fight, pulling a knife out of somewhere. He’d started off with two, who were keeping him pretty busy, and didn’t notice the two others come out of a connecting alley. April certainly didn’t think 4 against 1 was fair odds, but she remained where she was, until she saw one of the new demons shove a blade into her subject’s liver. Her man in black yanked out the blade and used it to kill the demon. One other was already disabled, and the other two were still circling the wounded vampire warily.
April set her bag on the roof and dropped down to the street below.
“This a private party, or can anyone join in?” she asked, announcing her presence.
Three heads whipped around to look at her, the vampire’s eyes widening slightly when he sensed she was a slayer. April jumped in, attacking one of the demons with a flurry of kicks and punches, all aimed for the typical vulnerable areas. She must have gotten a good shot in on the demon, for it dropped to its knees and howled like it got hit in the balls. She took the opportunity to pull the knife from her boot and stab the demon in the eye. It groaned, and fell over dead. She looked towards the vampire and noticed he had dispatched his demon, as well. He was holding a hand to his back, trying to stop the blood flow, but it was still dripping on the pavement.
“I can bandage that for you. My office isn’t far from here,” she offered.
“Thanks, pet, but I can manage. Blood flow’s already slowing.”
“Is your home close by?”
He chuckled. “No, not really, if you can call it home.”
“Then I insist. This town needs all the help it can get.” April’s demeanor conveyed that she wasn’t going to back down. He shrugged.
“Alright, luv. I’ll humor you this time.”
“Good. Let me get my bag from where I left it, and we can go.” April climbed up the fire escape for the building, and came down with her backpack. She set off west towards her office, the vampire slightly limping at her side.
“You mentioned an office. What kind o’ work do you do?” he asked.
“I’m a P.I., and I do private security. The business has been mine for 2 years, since my dad retired. I’m the best in the city.” She smiled at him. “And the most honest.”
“I suppose being a slayer can come in handy, then.” Okay, so he wasn’t going to beat around the bush.
“Was wondering when you were going to mention that. I suppose you’re wondering why I helped you, a vampire?”
“The thought had crossed my mind, pet.”
“Well, I have a hunch I know who you are, for one. For two, I’ve heard, and seen, that you’ve been helping people in L.A. since mid November. That makes you okay in my book.” April stopped walking and held out her hand. “April Simms.”
He grinned and shook her hand. “Spike.”
“I thought so! You seems a bit less dead than I’d heard of,” she teased, as she resumed walking.
“It’s a recent development. How much farther to this office of yours?”
“Just around the corner. Are you alright?”
“Yeah, luv. Just need to get off my feet soon,” he replied, his voice strained.
April put her arm around his back in support. They rounded the corner, and she paused in front of a door, fished out her keys, and let them into the small building. She walked to the elevator and pressed the ‘up’ button. Her office was on the second floor. She stopped in front of a door labeled ‘Simms Investigations’, and unlocked it. She flipped on the light switch and gestured him inside.
“Have a seat on the couch. I’ll get the first aid kit.” April walked into the bathroom and got the box out of the cabinet with her mending supplies. She took a seat next to Spike on the cotton-covered couch. He’d already removed his duster. “Good thing this couch is Scotchguarded. You’re a bloody mess.” His lips twitched at her little pun. April lifted his t-shirt, clipped the material out of the way, and started swabbing off the blood with purified water. She applied some ointment to the wound, then taped some gauze in place to keep it clean. “All done. Do you have a place to crash tonight? I could get you some blood.”
“’S alright, pet. I can see myself back.” He gingerly started to stand to leave.
“Really? Cause you look dead, well, deader than normal, I’m assuming. I live on the top floor. You can have a real bed with clean sheets, and I have cable. You do kind of owe me, since I saved your butt,” she said, grinning impishly.
“Pfft. You jus’ saved me the trouble of offing those two other blokes,” he scoffed.
April took his arm and led him out of the office and back to the elevator. She figured that if he really wanted to leave, he would. She arched her brow at him when the doors opened, stepping in, and he followed, shaking his head, which made her smile. The building was small for being three stories, so the whole top floor was April’s home. There was a spacious living room, kitchen, dining area with a full size table, and two bedrooms. One bathroom was at the beginning of the hall, and smaller than the one in April’s bedroom, which was the bigger bedroom of the two.
She gave Spike the tour, flipping on lights as she went, and stopped at the guest room.
“This is yours. You’re welcome to stay tomorrow during the day. I’ll just be going over some case files here at home, so you won’t be in the way.” She turned to go to the kitchen, but paused when his hand touched her arm.
“Thanks, pet. It’s not too often that the likes of me sees generosity from a stranger,” he said softly.
“You’re welcome, Spike. Can’t have one of the world’s Champions stuck out of the street,” April replied with a wink. Spike’s eyes widened at the use of the word “champion”, but she didn’t notice. What could this baby Slayer have been told?
Spike entered the guest room and looked around. It was simply decorated, with cream-colored walls and a navy comforter on the bed. He hung his duster in the closet and nosed around in the bureau. One drawer held spare linens, then next held t-shirts and sweatpants, and the rest were empty. There were two lithographs in the room. One was of a blooming rose over a multi-colored background, and the other was of a cello flying through a slightly cloudy sky. Both were signed by B. Bayard. As he walked back into the main are of the apartment, he noticed other artwork on the walls. Though there were different themes to them, they were all done by the same artist. Curious.
“So, pet, how come you aren’t out there with all the other new Slayers? I’m sure the Watcher wanted you to do some training? Get the full boring research education?”
“I declined the offer to go to London with the rest. I spent a couple weeks learning what to expect, and Buffy was fine with it. I’m 21 years old, with my own business, so Slayer School…not where I need to be.” She made an omelette while she talked.
Spike leaned his non-injured side against the kitchen counter. “What were you doing on the rooftops when you interrupted my fight?” He was more than curious about this new kind of Slayer, the first he’d met without some kind of attitude.
“Truth?”
“Would I ask, otherwise?” was the sarcastic reply.
“Observing you. I saw you leave Wolfram and Hart over a week ago, and I’ve been wanting to verify your identity ever since. Buffy told me all about you when she was here after the collapse of Sunnydale. How could I not find out if it was you I saw?” April turned off the stove and slid her omelette on a plate. “How are you back, Spike? Everyone thought you died in the Hellmouth.”
He sighed, and had a seat at the table. April sat across from him and waited for him to speak.
“I did burn up in the Hellmouth, only to pop out of that bloody amulet 19 days later at Evil Inc. I was a ghost until mid-November, when a box showed up at the office addressed to me. There was a flash, and here I am, in the flesh again. Walked face first into a door before I found out. Had a scuffle with Peaches over a cup of bleedin’ Mountain Dew.” He raked a hand through his platinum blond hair. “Had a boat ticket to Rome, even stood down at the docks…”
“But you’re still here. Why didn’t you go?” she asked softly.
“I don’ know how to show up at her door again, after my grand exit. Don’t know if I have that right anymore. She has the chance for a normal life, you know?” He didn’t know why he was sharing this with a virtual stranger, but she had that quality, like he’d seen in Red’s bird, that you could tell her anything. Still he wanted to shift the topic off Buffy for the moment. “So, tell me what I’ve missed with the Scoobies?”
“Well, everybody from Sunnydale stayed at the Hyperion for a couple weeks while they figured out where to go. Some of the youngest girls went back home to their families. Giles managed to make arrangements in London, so that’s where everybody went. There’s a Slayer school there, along with the headquarters for the new Council. Willow and Xander travel all over the world finding the new girls. Faith and Robin Wood are in Cleveland. It’s the most active Hellmouth now that Sunnydale is gone. Buffy was in Rome, but she’s in London now for the month of December while Dawn is off from school. And Andrew works with Giles.”
“You didn’t mention Anya. I figured she’d be with Harris.”
“She didn’t make it out of the high school. The group had a memorial for everyone that died out at the sea cliffs. It was very nice.”
“I’m sure she went out fightin’. Demon Girl was tougher than they gave ‘er credit for. Did they tell you she was a former Vengeance Demon?”
“Yep. I got the full story, all 7 years of Buffy’s life as a Slayer, and everyone that that entailed. Xander still takes her absence pretty hard. He travels alone and mostly keeps in contact about the work only. Buffy gets emails, but I don’t think the others do. They gained something in common last May, you know.”
“Wha’s that, pet?” He’d missed her pointed look, picking at the polish on his nails.
“They both lost the one they love.”
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