Twenty minutes later Spike walked down the stairs into the living room to find Buffy surrounded by Giles and the entire Scooby company. He tried to reacquire some of his old swagger but found himself lacking, and decided to simply settle for settling against the wall behind Buffy. Upon noticing that Spike had finally entered the room Giles stepped forward and began the meeting.
“Alright, as everyone is well aware a ritual has recently taken place that has removed Spike’s demon and added its power to Buffy’s”
At that announcement several sets of eyes widened in surprise, and Buffy braced herself for the onslaught that was to come.
“Well if they went through with the ritual then why is blonde and obnoxious still standing?”
There was no real explanation for the utter rage that was fueling itself through Buffy’s body, but she suddenly felt a sense of blinding possession fill her as Xander continued to let loose on the man, yes , man, behind her.
“ ….. I thought that this ritual was supposed to remove that pain in the ass once and for all.”
“Shut up Xander!”
Buffy’s exclamation plunged the room into surprised silence. After all, while she had recently shown a minimal amount of affection towards the blonde she had never displayed anything that would have led to her defending the ex-vampire over one of her best friends.
“What?”
“I said shut up! Just shut up!”
“Buffy… are you defending him?”
Seeing her best friend floundering before her, Willow quickly stepped in to defend Xander’s position.
“Now Buffy, I am sure that it’s just the change that’s making you act like this, if you were thinking clearly you would see that removing Spike from the picture would have been for the best.”
“Well with that logic Willow, it would have been for the best to remove you a long time ago. God knows it would have been safer for us all.
Buffy raised her hands to her mouth in horror at what she had just said. She had meant to defend Spike, but not by putting that familiar look of traumatic shame back into the witch's eyes.
“Oh Willow…”
“Now do you see? Do you see what you and that bloodsucking bastard has done? You turned her into a monster, just like him!”
Xander’s voice was full of righteous rage and concern for the red head now sitting on the sofa, his entire focus aimed at the ex-vampire still leaning against the wall behind Buffy.
“Children! If you would please shut up perhaps we can get over this nonsense and actually ascertain just how much Buffy has changed before blaming everything on Spike. Because as lovely as the notion sounds, this ritual is bigger than all of us, including your quarrel with Spike Xander.”
“Giles! Did you not hear what she said to Willow? How can you for-“
“The same way I forgave Willow for murdering several people in cold blood before trying to destroy all of Sunnydale.”
Willow opened her mouth to protest but was effectively cut off by a single raised hand.
“No, Willow. Buffy was right, as much as hate the notion of forgiving Spike, because I belief his actions to be almost utterly unforgiveable, if you want forgiveness yourself you should allow her to show the same sentiment towards others.”
Buffy was both shocked and touched by her watcher’s loyalty, and though she wondered if it derived more from affection or necessity she was grateful for it nonetheless.
“Now Buffy, besides an increase in your proclivity to be… more aggressive, than usual have you noticed any other changes?”
Hesitating after having experienced her friends’ previous outbursts, Buffy looked back at Spike in a quiet plea. Somehow innately understanding what she needed Spike moved forward and, placing his hands on the back of Buffy’s seat, craned his neck in order to show the others the mark Buffy made earlier that morning. A collective gasp filled the room and Buffy looked carefully at the floor in order to avoid the various expressions of disgust that now filled her friends' faces.
“Well I just don’t understand what the big deal is. Everyone knows that biting makes sex better for vampiric creatures, it only makes sense that someone as talented as Spike would make her lose control enough to feed.”
Everyone looked at Anya with matching expressions of astonishment before simply shaking their heads. There was no point in reasoning with Anya over what was and wasn’t appropriate and no one felt like taking on that task over something as sensitive as the matter at hand.
“Well if ya’ll aren’t going to do anything then I will.”
With that Kennedy rose from her seat and turned to face the room.
“Don’t you see…she’s not even one of us anymore. She’s one of the monsters, and I destroy monsters.”
Sensing danger Buffy’s eyes turned gold and she felt her teeth elongate before, moving too quickly to see, she rushed Kennedy and, placing both hands around her neck, pushed her up against the back wall.
“Don’t you ever threaten me again Kennedy, or I will kill you.”
At that Buffy gradually allowed Kennedy to fall back to the floor before turning back to the surrounding Scoobies, her eyes still filled with that strange golden amber.
“Interesting….”
Giles walked away from his place beside the stairs and addressed the now silent Scoobies.
“Well, as you can all see, regardless as to the extent of her change Buffy is obviously still in control. After all, if anyone would be annoying enough to warrant an immediate death it would have been Kennedy.”
Buffy heard Giles words, but it was as if they echoed from a far distance. It had taken all she had to let go of Kennedy, and her blood was still fuming with uncompleted violence. She was about to lunge once more at the young potential before she found herself encompassed in a warm set of pale arms.
“Shhh love, shhh…try not to think about her. Think about anything else. Now come on love, walk with me, walk with me over this way.”
Buffy allowed the voice to seep into her consciousness and surprisingly found herself responding to its words. Both Buffy and the demon found its presence familiar and it took little effort to allow it to guide her back to her seat.
Upon settling Buffy down to control the demon he knew to be raging within her, Spike got up and addressed the Scoobies himself. After all, if Buffy could face her friends then he sure as hell could.
“Look, I know you lot bloody hate my guts but this isn’t about me, it’s about her. She did what she had to save you all and now your treating her like some kind of bloody pariah. If you got a problem with me that’s fine, but attack me, not her. She doesn’t deserve that, she’s doing the best she can.”
Without a word Xander moved towards Spike and pulled his fist back before slamming him full in the face. Fully expecting the vampire to instinctively hit back and cause himself great pain, Xander was surprised to see him drop to the floor.
“What the…”
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