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The next few days were a time of major upheaval and adjustment for Spike. True to their words, the Summers women helped him move his stuff into their basement. It already held an old, but working TV and he insisted on having the armchair from his crypt. He helped them move all their stored items over to one corner and then board up the small windows.

“Sorry, we’ll have to still come down here to do laundry.” Joyce said worriedly.

Spike shrugged, “Won’t worry me luv. I’ll just have to make sure I’m decent.” He gave her a token smirk, but patted her arm reassuringly at the same time.

He also had to adjust to family life – which for a former blood-sucking, evil being was not easy. At first, when Dawn hugged him, he froze and had no idea how to react. The last time he had been that close to a young, human female, was when he’d pursued and eaten her. The pulse of her blood and the scent of her body was torture at such a close range. After the chip, he had made sure not to get that close to humans. So, he taught himself to identify all these females as “family” and then it became easier. After a while, he either patted her back awkwardly or returned the hug briefly.

Joyce made sure that he was included in conversation, which he found hard at first. It was so easy just to give flip or sarcastic replies, but he hated the hastily covered hurt or surprise in their expressions. He found that he had to listen hard and think hard about his responses, not easy when the last normal family exchanges he’d had, were over 120 years before. The frozen silence that followed Dawn’s cry of “Bloody Hell!” made him reconsider his language in the house. But over the next couple of days, he found it easier and easier.

The only one who kept her distance, both literally and figuratively, was Buffy. Wherever he was – she wasn’t. During the day, when both girls were at school and Joyce was at work, it wasn’t so obvious. But Buffy missed quite a few dinners, because she had to “train” or she said there was a Scooby meeting at the Magic Box. He took to going out every night hunting demons on his own, trying to let out his frustration and confusion on them.

On the forth consecutive evening, when Buffy said that she’d pick up something to eat on her way to the store, Spike watched her retreating back miserably. He’d killed his previous love for this woman, who would never love him back. The irony of the situation weighed heavily.

“Hey, penny for ‘em.” Dawn grinned at him. “Wanna help me with my homework?”

He knew it was a rhetorical question. He’d tried to politely refuse, and then not so politely refuse before, but she’d got skin like a rhinoceros and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Sighing, he made his way to the dining room and sat next to her.

“What is it tonight, Bit? English, history, geography?” He saw the expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh no! I’ve left my textbook at school. I can’t do my homework without.” Her face crumpled. “Mr Morgan’s got it in for me, if I don’t get the essay to him tomorrow, he’ll send me to detention. I’ve gotta go and get it.”

She sprang to her feet.

“Hey! Not so fast Nibblet. You can’t go trolling off to school – you don’t know what sort of nastys you might find.” Spike said firmly.

“Then you’ll have to come with.”



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Still muttering under his breath about sodding, headstrong, manipulative teenagers, Spike stood over Dawn as she rummaged through her locker. She’d even managed to persuade him to loan her his beloved duster, when she’d felt the cold. He was going soft – soft in the head.

“Ah, there it is.” As her beaming face emerged, they both heard a noise behind them.

Swinging round, Spike saw a group of demons approaching. “Run!” he yelled at Dawn as he sped to intercept them. The next few minutes he fought furiously, but there were too many and he kept getting distracted when one or two of them tried to approach Dawn, who was trying to escape. At last, he went down, dizzy from the blows. When they hauled him to his feet, they twisted his arms behind his back and tied them roughly.

One of the demons said, “Careful with him, Glory will want the Key intact.”

Spike struggled uselessly, “Key? Who’s a Key? I’m not a Key.”

“Then it must be the girl.” The demon moved towards Dawn who was struggling and trying to twist away from the hands that were holding her.

“No! You’re right – it’s me.” Spike was desperately contradicting himself, when he was blinded by a sudden extreme white and green flash of light. Then Spike heard screams and smelled burning, before he too, was screaming as his upper arms were burned almost to the bone where the demons were holding him. A blast of energy threw him into a wall and he thankfully lost consciousness.



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Buffy sighed as she let herself in the front door. She was home earlier tonight, because she couldn’t stand the constant sniping from Xander, “Explain to me again why exactly you have got blood-breath staying at your house”. He was worried about her; she knew that and her own conflicted feelings towards the vampire, made explanations so much harder. Then there was Giles, with his disapproving – no disappointed - looks. The last straw had been Willow, who was trying so hard to understand, that it grated on Buffy’s nerves. She’d told them that she’d got a headache and fled.

Joyce had gone to visit one of her cousins in San Diego for a few days rest, and in her absence, the girls had been eating take-aways. Buffy wandered into the kitchen, to see if Dawn had left her any pizza. She saw a note pinned to the fridge door. SPIKE AND ME GONE TO SCHOOL TO PICK UP A BOOK – BACK SOON – DAWN.

A jolt ran through her. How long ago had they left? It must have been at least an hour ago. Damn that vampire, didn’t he know any better than to let Dawn wander about in the dark, when Glory was still a threat? When she found them she vowed she’d kill him – deader!

Buffy set off towards the school at a dead run. When she arrived, the smell of burning led her straight to the corridor that held the school lockers. She skidded to a halt and gaped in amazement. It looked as if someone had held a small war there – the floor was covered in heaps of smoking ashes. She spotted her sister and ran over to her.

“Dawn! Oh my god, Dawn!” She lifted Dawn’s head gently and her sister gave a small moan.

“What happened?”

“I was hoping you’d tell *me* that.” Buffy said softly.

Then Dawn’s eyes widened, “Spike! Where’s Spike – they were taking him!”

“What? Who were taking, huh?” Buffy said incoherently.

A low groan came from behind them and Buffy swung round defensively. She saw the vampire on the floor, surrounded by small piles of ashes. Spike groaned again and tried to sit up. The Slayer moved quickly to his side, crouched down and leaned his body against her. He looked around dazedly, his eyes blank, and then his face creased with concern,

“Dawn. Bit, you okay?”

“She seems to be fine. What happened here?”

Buffy grasped Spike’s upper arm, intending to untie his bonds and was unprepared for his yell of pain. She looked down and saw that his arm was charred, black and raw.

“Tell me, what the hell happened?” In her fright, she spoke more harshly than she’d intended.

“Dunno, Slayer – there were nasty, scabby demons trying to take us to that Glory bint. Then zap! Blinding light – got thrown against the wall and I guess I hit my noggin. Bleedin’ feels like it.” He groaned again as she wrestled with the knots binding his hands behind his back.

“Blinding light? And then?” Buffy at last managed to loose his bonds and he moaned as he moved his arms forward.

“Emphasis on blinding, Slayer. Can’t see a buggering thing.” He moved carefully, trying not to jar the burns on his arms and put his hands to his eyes.

Dawn crouched down at his side, scared to touch him, not wanting to add to his hurt. “Spike, I’m so sorry!”

He removed his hands and looked puzzled. “Sorry? What for Bit?”

“If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have got hurt like this.”

“Pfft! This is nothing luv, been a lot worse than this. Anyway – not your fault.”

“Come on, we need to get out of here, in case there are more of these demons about. Spike can you walk?” Buffy touched his arm gently.

“Yeah, luv, I’ll be okay. You’ll have to lead the way though.”

With Buffy and Dawn on either side of him, he managed to make his way back to the house without too much difficulty. They sat him on the sofa, while Buffy got the first aid box and Dawn heated him some blood.

When he was bandaged and fed, Dawn cuddled up to him and he tentatively put his arm round her.

“I’ll be okay Platelet – vampire healing an’ all. You need to get your rest; maybe Buffy’ll write you a note for tomorrow. You know, demons set fire to your homework, or something.” He gave a grin in her direction.

“Yeah, all right. See you tomorrow.” Suddenly feeling exhausted, Dawn bent, kissed his forehead and went upstairs.

When he heard her bedroom door close, he slumped forward and put his head in his hands. “Bloody hell - we need to get her out of here. It’s not gonna take long for that Glory bint to work out who is the key – and if tonight is anything to go by, I’m bloody useless to protect her.”

Buffy felt her throat tighten, as she heard the bitterness in his voice. “She got through it okay.”

“Yeah, no thanks to me.” He laughed humourlessly, “Can’t hunt, can’t bite and now can’t see.”

The only thing Buffy could think of was the threat to her sister, she was deeply frightened and didn’t have time for this.

“Have you quite finished?” She said harshly. “Or do you have any more self pity you want to share?”

She flinched back as he surged to his feet, snarling. “I’ll go take my self pity somewhere else shall I?”

“Oh, shut up Spike – we need planning, not dramatics. Tell me what you *did* see; maybe we can work out what happened.”

He sighed, knowing that he wouldn’t have made more than a hundred yards from the house in his state. He fumbled around until he found the sofa, sank back down, and started to recount all he could remember of the events.

“So, you think whatever caused this bright light, also caused the demons to go pouf?”

“It must have been. The two holding my arms must have gone up in flames and that’s why I got burned.” He sighed again. “Doesn’t get us very far, does it?”

“It could be a whole new big bad. We need to call a Scoobie meeting – right now.” Buffy said grimly.


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