Dawn felt like the ground had just been torn out from beneath her feet. She had known there had been something wrong with Spike, but she had just chalked it up to his never-ending stubborn streak.
“What…how?” she stumbled over the words. “He didn’t run into gypsies, did he?”
“This wasn’t a curse,” Clem responded quietly. His eyes darted about the alley making sure they were alone. This wasn’t really news he wanted getting around the demon community. Spike was still capable of defending himself; only lately he didn’t particularly care about his survival. “He left Sunydale to get a soul. He thought it was what the Slayer wanted.”
“So if he did it for Buffy, why is he avoiding her?” she demanded. She crossed her arms over her small chest and flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder with an impatient twitch of her neck. “I know she wants to talk to him. She’s not like all no problem about what happened, but she knows it was the demon.”
“It’s not that simple,” he sighed. He wished it were. Then he wouldn’t be going to all the trouble he was and quickly chipping away at his poker winnings buying presents for the Slayer. “He might not have been cursed, but he’s still dealing with the guilt. He doesn’t see it as the demon took over.”
“He’s going to have to deal with it sometime,” she cut in. “Not dealing is what led to this mess in the first place. Besides, you know Buffy’s going to find out about him eventually.”
“Not that that’s going to happen anytime soon,” Clem added with a shrug.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dawn’s forehead creased with confusion. “Do you know something about Buffy?”
“Well, it’s been going around that the Slayer’s been pretty busy with some new guy.” Okay, it wasn’t exactly a lie. He had overheard a couple of the bar’s patrons mention Buffy. She was always the topic of one or two conversations in that place. He wasn’t going to tell the girl he had found out about the guy while trying to meddle in her sister’s love life. If the Slayer found out, he’d find himself on her things to slay list.
“That’s why I’m here,” she sighed. “What do you know about this guy?”
“Nothing really,” he replied quickly. Other than he was screwing up the plan to get Spike and Buffy back together, he really didn’t know anything about him.
“Come on, there’s got to be something,” Dawn pushed tapping her fingers impatiently against her arm. “Buffy meets some new guy in the cemetery, he just suddenly shows up in Sunnydale needing saving and hooks up with the Slayer, and you don’t find anything the least bit suspicious?”
“Well, I—I didn’t say that,” the demon stammered. “I just don’t know anything about him.”
“Fine,” Dawn sighed. Clem was horrible at hiding secrets. It was obvious he wasn’t telling her something, and he wasn’t planning on sharing anytime in the near future. “I’m probably wrong anyway. I’d better get going before Buffy gets home, or I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Do you want me to walk you home?” the demon suggested looking extremely guilty. “It’s really not safe around here.”
“I’ll be fine. Slayer’s little sister, remember? I can hold my own. Besides,” she tossed over her shoulder as she left the alley, “you’d better go win those kittens so they don’t end up as a late night snack for one of your demon buddies.”
***
A sigh of relief passed Dawn’s lips as she crept into the backyard. The windows of the house were dark, and there wasn’t a sign of Buffy anywhere. Quickly, she crossed the short distance to the house and heaved herself onto the porch railing. If Buffy had come home and found her missing, she was bound to be sitting up waiting for her. There would have at least been the telltale flickering light from the TV shining through the window. Using the door would have been much easier than scaling the side of the house and climbing through her bedroom window, but she wasn’t going to take any chances.
“I didn’t realize breaking and entering was on your assignment list tonight.”
Dawn wrapped an arm around the porch post to keep from falling. Slowly she ventured a look over her shoulder fighting to keep the guilt from showing on her face as she saw her sister standing at the foot of the porch steps.
“Do you mind telling me exactly what you’re up to?”
“Well,” she paused a moment to jump to the ground. Her mind was racing to find a plausible excuse. “I went out.”
“I can see that much,” Buffy replied crossing her arms over her chest. She was tapping her fingers on her elbow making her sister’s chest tighten as she stood in the backyard hoping for an escape. “I don’t recall you asking if it was alright to go out before I left.”
“I wasn’t planning on going out,” she explained. “You weren’t around to ask. It’s no big deal. I just wanted to go out.”
“Dawn, you know it is a big deal. You know better than anyone how dangerous Sunnydale can be at night,” the Slayer paused a moment. Her expression softened a bit. “There’s nobody around to get you out of trouble.”
Dawn knew exactly who her sister was referring to, and for the thousandth time she wished she could just tell her the truth. Of course, that would just be way too easy.
“I can take care of myself, you know,” the girls reminded her. “I just couldn’t concentrate, so I decided to visit Clem.”
Well, it wasn’t a lie, was it? She just wasn’t going to say why she couldn’t concentrate, or why she had visited Clem. Hopefully, she was in enough trouble for sneaking out that Buffy would overlook the reason she had done it.
Buffy’s angry mother face returned. “You got bored, so you decided to hang out in a crypt with a demon. What happed to gabbing on the phone with a friend deciding what you’re going to wear to school the next day?”
“No school tomorrow,” she replied with a shrug. “Besides, Clem is a friend. I don’t think I’d want him picking out my outfits, but…”
“Dawn, I’m not in the mood to joke,” Buffy interrupted. “Now get in the house. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”
***
“Damned,” the dark haired vampire growled as he watched the two girls enter the house from the cover of the bushes bordering the backyard.
“Would you shut up already!” his companion hissed.
“What?’ he complained returning the glares he was receiving from the other two.
“The Slayer’s going to hear you, you moron,” the blond told him careful to keep his voice low until the door shut behind the girls. “Do you want to get staked?”
“I want to get something to eat,” the first complained rising from the cover of the bushes and brushing a few dead leaves from his worn leather jacket with an irritated flick of his hand. “You guys got to hit that club while I was stuck in the tunnels. I don’t see why I couldn’t have gotten a little sip…”
“From the Slayer’s sister,” the vampire sporting a Marilyn Manson t-shirt with a rather large hole in the shoulder rolled his eyes as he entered the Summers’ yard. “That wouldn’t put us on her most wanted list would it? She’s not supposes to know about us, remember?”
“We attacked her in the cemetery, remember?” the first shot back. “She already knows about us!”
“She doesn’t know we’re still around…”
“Would you two shut the hell up!” the blond growled as he studied the small house waiting for the light on the second floor to go out. “We have a job to do.”
“Yeah, some job,” the first vamp growled. “Sneaking into the Slayer’s house, and you say I have a death wish for wanting to eat the girl! Just how are we supposed to get into this joint anyhow?”
“The boss has it taken care of,” the blond snapped.
“Sure, he has it taken care of,” he grumbled pulling a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his jacket. “It looks like we’re the ones taking care of things. We’re risking our unlives while he’s getting a little…”
“It’s all part of the plan,” he reminded his companion. “The boss knows what he’s doing, and if you don’t like your part, you’re going to find yourself on the wrong end of a pointy stick.”
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