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Chapter 27: Setting the Record Straight

“Let’s sit and chat Dawn. I’m beginning to get why he hasn’t said anything to me about you. Tell you what? I’ll find us something that’s actually edible, and we can talk while we eat, okay?”

Nodding, Dawn eagerly agreed to help. “I’ll get us juice. I know I can do that without any ruining anything.”

Rummaging through the cabinets gave Buffy some time to collect herself. The kid obviously had a lot to say, but so far none of it had been useful. What could she ask that would be helpful?

For whatever reason, Dawn seemed happy with the current situation. Buffy didn’t think that she could get her to go to social services voluntarily. At least not without a lot of convincing. And what could she really say? Spike is an unofficial suspect in three murders, and I’m afraid that Dawn is going to be number four? The kid would never believe it in a million years. Heck, Buffy hadn’t really believed it either.

As soon as she’d met Spike she’d found it hard to believe that he could be a criminal. Forging artwork, well, she could believe that, maybe. But murder? Especially brutal murder? She’d read the file on the murders. The middle one, the murder that had happened in Romania, couldn’t possibly be explained away easily by claiming something as simple as ‘self-defense.’ It made her sick to think what had happened to that poor girl. She hadn’t had the time to read the entry from the journal she’d found in Spike’s safe, but at least it confirmed that he had in fact been in the right place at about the right time.

In the shock of meeting Dawn, she’d almost forgotten about the pages she’d photographed, but not read. Would they somehow clear Spike of that most brutal murder, or prove his guilt? Either way, that was in the past. What was going on with Dawn was happening right now, and it was her responsibility to stop it. But what could she do about Dawn, except report her presence to the authorities? Was she a runaway?

Apparently all the eggs were now in a smoking heap in the trash, so Buffy took out two bowls, milk and a box of cereal. Breakfast of champions, and all that.

“So, Dawn, do your parents know you’re here?” Time to get to this straightened out.

“Parent. As in singular. Mom never did let on who my Dad was, assuming she even knows. Personally, I was kinda afraid to find out. Though I did tell her she’d better exclude any possible suspects from the auction. That’d be just way too creepy. That’s another reason I was happy it was Spike who bought my contract. He’s never slept with Glory.”

Huh? “Dawn.” Buffy put her hand over the girl’s, and momentarily stopping the teen’s mad rush to stuff as much cereal into her mouth as possible as quickly as possible. “Just once, could you actually answer the question? Does your mother know where you are?”

Dawn rolled her eyes. Grown-ups could be so dense sometimes. Hadn’t she just told her that? “Of course she does. I talk to her once a week. Of course I lie.” Dawn giggled. “She thinks Spike and I are doing it like bunnies.”

The cereal Buffy had been eating suddenly turned to concrete in her mouth, as she looked around frantically for a napkin. If she didn’t find one soon, this half chewed mess was going to find its way onto the table, and she really didn’t think either of them wanted to see that. Finally she spit the unappetizing mess out, and tried to wretch unobtrusively into the napkin until she could control herself.

“Let me be very sure I’m understanding you, Dawn. Your mother knows that you’re living with Spike. And you want her to think that you’re sleeping with him, although you’re really not. In fact, you’ve never slept with him at all.”

“Yes.” Dawn agreed. “That’s right.”

Thank God for small favors! “Why exactly do you want your mother to think this? Does Spike know that’s what you’re telling her?”

Dawn rolled her eyes again. “Of course he knows. It was his idea. My mom would never let me stay here if she knew the truth.”

“I’m still not following, Dawn. Are you saying that your mother wants you to sleep with Spike?”

“Of course. That was the deal.”

Finally beginning to understand the older girl’s confusion, Dawn finally hit upon the one piece of information that Buffy was missing. “My mother is Glory.”

Dawn could tell that Buffy still wasn’t tracking. “Glorificus? She runs the whorehouse downtown. Spike’s supposed to be my education.”

Buffy still had that deer in the headlights look, so Dawn decided to elaborate. “When I turned fourteen years old, dear old Mom thought it was time that I learned the trade. She hit upon this idea. See, a girl’s first time can be valuable. Some guys like to be the first, you know? So she decided to make an online offering to special clients, kinda like a sneak preview at the movies. I helped her go through her client database, and pick out suitable candidates. Like I said, I wanted to be way sure there was no way I’d end up with anyone who could possibly be my father. Then, we sent out an email, and the highest bidder got me for a whole week. Course it’s been a lot more than a week, now, but that’s not unusual for Spike. Years gone by, he’d keep a girl he liked a couple months at a time. I know. I saw the database. Even remember talking to some of the girls about it. It was an unusual gig, and one they fought over. Even though I was only nine at the time, I remember that. All of the girls wanted to be the one he chose. So you see, as long as she thinks we’re dong it, and as long as Spike keeps paying for the privilege, she’s happy as a clam to have me stay here.”

Buffy shuddered, and it seemed her mood finally carried over to Dawn as well. For the first time Dawn lowered her voice and spoke softly as if she ought to be ashamed of what she was saying.

“I’ll admit I’m kinda scared what’s gonna happen to me once this gig is over. I mean, I’ve gotten used to the good life now. Plus, I know Spike would’ve been gentle. Next place I go, the guy’s gonna expect I know something, isn’t he? Might not be happy to find out I’m still a virgin. That’s why I wish we’d done it. Well, aside from the obvious, of course.” She got that teen crush look again. “You gotta admit, he is dreamy. Can’t always guarantee that’ll be the case either.”

All this was too much for Buffy to process, especially so early in the morning. A mother who sold her daughter’s virtue at auction? Who sent her out to be a whore? That just didn’t compute in Buffy’s world. Sure, she and her Mom had had their problems. And a daughter’s loss of virginity was sure to be a sore spot for any Mom, but this was a twist she had never expected in a million years.

How could her intervention set this right? Social services would either send her back to her mother, or to foster care. And the girl would probably wind up right back where she’d started, only without the fancy backing to find her lucrative ‘contracts’ with wealthy men.

She could only thank the patron saint of wayward girls that something had made Spike hesitate to take this girl’s innocence. It was her job to bring him to justice for his crimes, and if she could have proven statutory rape, she would have to call in the authorities, not only to see Dawn safely taken care of, but to see Spike put away too.

But apparently he hadn’t done anything to Dawn, except insist that she live in the pool house rather than have her own bedroom upstairs by him, or with the other staff. That was probably a smart move on his part. Buffy hadn’t seen any other females in the place at all.

Spike hadn’t touched Dawn. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t going to be a reckoning. Whatever he had or had not done in the past, this was going on right now. And the situation just wasn’t right, whatever had or had not happened between Dawn and Spike. One way or another she was going to put a stop to it.





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