“Damn it.! Giles slammed the phone down. He pulled on his robe and went to wake Buffy. He didn’t have Spike’s cell phone number and perhaps he’d answer that. He knocked gently on the door.
“Buffy?” Are you awake?” he called softly.
A moment later Buffy opened the door, always a light sleeper and now even more so due to Joy’s needs.
“Giles! What is it? What’s wrong?” Panic was evident in her voice.
“It’s probably nothing but I tried to call the cottage and there was no answer. Can you call him on his cell?”
“Spike? Oh my God! What’s going on?”
Buffy dashed into her room and picked up her phone. She hit the speed dial button for Spike, listened for a moment, then hung up.
“Giles, what is it?” she shouted, not caring that she woke Joy.
“It’s the Immortal, Buffy. Xander’s just found out. He’d had Helen attacked in his efforts to find Spike. She’s alive but badly beaten and she told them of the cottage.”
“I’ve got to go!” Buffy turned and started picking up clothes to put on. “His phone was off, Giles. He never has it turned off. Something’s happened to him!”
“Buffy, you can’t just head off. There’s a local coven that we deal with. I’ll get them to check out the cottage - they’ll be there a lot quicker than you can be.”
“Okay, do that, Giles, but hurry. I can’t stand it.”
Giles quickly contacted the witches who promised to go immediately and report back. He went into the kitchen to put the kettle on. It was going to be a long night. By the time the coven got back in touch everyone was gathered in the kitchen. Buffy paced up and down and the others gloomily nursed cups of coffee.
They all jumped when the phone rang. Giles answered it, listened for a while then said “I see” and hung up. He turned to the others.
“Spike’s not there. There’s signs of a struggle near the front door and Buffy, I’m afraid they said there was blood, human blood, on the path,” Giles said quietly.
Buffy burst into tears.
“The bastard!” she said, with all the more effect as she spoke so softly, “If he kills Spike……..she didn’t finish the sentence.
Oooooooooo
Xander went back into Helen’s room.
“Is he okay?” she asked
“I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “I’ve just contacted Giles. I told him I’d phone later to find out.”
“What’s going on, Xander. What were those……things?”
“Vampires,” said Xander.
“What? That’s not funny, Xander.”
“It’s the truth, Helen. Vampires are real, pretty well just like in the movies except they don’t turn into bats. That’s just a myth,” he said. “There’s a whole other world out there that most us are mercifully ignorant of, but it is real nonetheless. Vampires, demons, good versus evil, that’s what we deal with on a daily basis.
Helen’s mind reeled. How could it be?
“Let me start at what was the beginning for me. Willow and I were in high school in Sunnydale, California, just regular geeky kids, when a new girl turns up - Buffy. Anyway, we pal up and all hell literally ensues. Turns out that she’s the Slayer, the Chosen One, the one girl destined to fight the forces of evil and protect humanity. Our high school was built on the mouth of Hell so there was lots of weird stuff going on. Giles was her Watcher, her mentor, if you like. Between us we’ve saved the world a lot and the good part is that most people didn’t know it was in peril in the first place.
After the last apocalypse Willow did a spell that made all Potentials, those waiting for the call should the Chosen One die, into slayers in their own right, thus giving us a few thousand more weapons in our fight against evil. That’s the work the Council does. I came to investigate the attacks. Things have been pretty quiet since the slayer numbers increased.”
Helen was looking at Xander like he was completely crazy.
“My God! If I hadn’t seen those…..er……vampires myself I wouldn’t have believed you. But how does Spike fit in? Is he a Watcher like Giles?”
Xander had to stifle a smile at the thought.
“No, he’s not. He’s………it’s complicated.” Xander paused, trying to think how he could tell her about Spike, especially as she’d had a relationship with him.
“Tell me!” insisted Helen.
“Ok, I’ll try,” said Xander, “Spike was a normal guy living in London when in 1880……”
“When?” exclaimed Helen.
“Told you it was complicated.”
Xander went on to tell her of Spike’s bloody past as a vampire, how he’d fallen in love with Buffy, got his soul for her, and fought for good, not evil.
“But if he’s a vampire, how can he go out in the light? Or is that a myth too?” asked Helen, confused.
“No. Garlic, stakes, crosses, sunlight, holy water – that part’s all true but the night Spike was brought into the hospital a powerful prophecy came into force. It made him human again as a reward for saving the world,” added Xander, thinking that he’d leave the whole ‘burned up in the Hellmouth, came back as ghost’ ‘til a bit later.
“My God,” said Helen, but it did all kind of make sense. The way he’d reacted on coming out of the coma and why he wouldn’t talk of his past. No wonder!
“Who’s the Immortal and what does he want with Spike? I’m sure I’ve heard it before,” asked Helen.
“He’s a centuries old demon, the suavest of the suave. He’s unbelievably handsome and charming when he wants to be but utterly ruthless when crossed. He and Buffy had a bit of a thing but she ended it and he took it very badly. I think he wants Spike to get revenge on Buffy.”
“Why wait until now?” asked Helen.
“I think he may have only just found out that Spike was alive. The fact that he’s now human probably threw him off the scent.”
At that moment a nurse came in.
“Time for you to go, sir, our patient needs rest.”
Xander left promising to visit again that evening, thinking she probably needed a strong drink after what he’d told her, not a rest.
He phoned Giles and got the news he’d feared - Spike missing, blood at the scene.
“How’s Buffy?” he asked.
“Going crazy. She just wants to head out to try to find him but the Immortal’s not dumb, we can’t go off half-cocked. Willow’s done several spells but they’ve all just backfired. Wherever Spike is, whether dead or alive, it’s cloaked with some major power.”
“What do you want me to do?” asked Xander.
“Stay over there. When Helen’s released get her to a safe house. Run a protection spell around it and stay with her until we know she’ll be safe. Don’t want them going back to tie up loose ends,” said Giles.
“Okay.” Agreed Xander, “But if you need me over there…?”
“I know, I’ll get you back.”
Ooooooooooooo
Spike regained consciousness. He was slumped against a wall in a small room; well, dungeon would be more accurate. As he shifted he felt the chains on his wrists dig in. They were holding his arms up at over the height of his head. He tried to touch the wound on his neck but the chains wouldn’t allow it. He felt sick and light headed. That big git of a vamp had drained enough blood out of him to make him pass out but not quite enough to kill him. He tried to stand and managed it only by pulling himself up on his chains. He swayed and nearly collapsed but leant back against the wall and managed to keep on his feet.
Moments later, though, he doubled over and vomited violently. His left leg gave way and he crashed back to the floor in more or less the same position as before. He grimaced as he realised his left leg had ended up in the pool of vomit. He straightened it out. The pain almost made him faint in his weakened state.
“They’d done their homework,” he thought, “They knew exactly where to hit that bloody leg.”
Oooooooooo
Buffy was going out of her mind. Willow was seriously worried about her friend - she hadn’t seen her like this before. It didn’t help that they could find no clue to indicate where Spike had been taken. He may even be in a different country by now or……
“No!” thought Willow, “He can’t be dead - it’d kill Buffy, too.”
Luckily Joy needing feeding and changing helped to keep Buffy going, determined not to let her baby down, but Buffy was equally certain she had to do something to get her daughter’s father back.
“Oh, Will. I’ve got to do something. I can’t just wait here!” cried Buffy.
“There’s nothing we can do for now except be extra vigilant here that no one can get near you or Joy,” said Willow, trying to calm her friend down. “We can protect you here but if you leave here anything could happen. I can’t protect you on the move.”
“And I can’t just sit here, Will, Spike needs me. God, now he’s human he’ll be so easy for the Immortal to hurt. He hasn’t got the strength to fight…..” her words trailed off as she broke down in tears, head in hands.
Willow put her arm around her friend, unable to say or do anything that would make it right. The only thing that would was Spike’s safe return.
Joy started to cry, too, picking up on her mom’s anguish. Buffy started to get up but Willow stopped her.
“It’s okay, I’ll see to her.”
Buffy gratefully let Willow tend to Joy. Looking at her was so hard. She was a piece of Spike. The thought that Spike might never see her grow up was almost too much to bear.
Ooooooooooooo
Helen was approved for release. Xander went to pick her up and take her to one of the Council’s secret safe houses. Once they were inside he chanted the spell that would put a protective barrier around the house. Helen watched him with interest as he cast the spell. She still couldn’t get over what she’d learned over the past couple of days. Xander, at her insistence telling her of their various battles - even one time when a demon made the whole town become a musical! She thought of the vampires that attacked her and shuddered. They were hideous beasts. It was hard to think of Spike in those terms but although she knew Xander had said she’d told him all about Spike, she sensed that he’d spared her a lot of the gory details and for that she was grateful.
“So what do we do now?” she asked.
Xander grinned at her,
“Anything you like as long as you don’t leave the house.”
“For how long?”
“Honestly? We don’t know but we figured the Immortal thinks those vamps killed you and no way do you want to be in his way if he finds out you’re alive,” Xander replied grimly.
“Any news about Spike?” She still felt so guilty she’d told where he lived.
“No, nothing as yet, but we’re working on it. Now let’s get you sitting down and I’ll get us a drink, you still look pretty shaky.”
They went into the lounge and Helen curled up on the sofa, glad to be out of the hospital, much preferring the role of nurse to that of patient.
Oooooooooo
Spike heard footsteps approaching. He’d no idea how long he’d been unconscious or, for that matter, how long he’d been awake. Time seemed suspended. The door was flung open and the two vampires who’d jumped him at the cottage walked in.
“Get up,” said the one who obviously fancied himself the leader.
He was about six feet five, a good three inches taller than the other, with jet black hair tied back in a pony tail. The other had ginger hair in a crew cut.
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather sit,” said Spike glibly.
The carrot top grabbed him by the throat and effortlessly lifted him until he was standing.
“Oh, okay then. Thanks for the lift,” said Spike once the creature had released its hold on him.
He was rewarded with a back handed slap across the face, hard enough to make his teeth rattle. Blood dripped from his split lip.
“Way to go, Spike,” he said to himself, wishing for once he’d learn to keep his mouth shut, especially since he no longer had a vampire’s strength or resilience.
The ginger vamp swung his arm back as if to strike another blow when the pony tailed one grabbed it and stopped him.
“Gordy, pack it in. You know what the boss said.”
“But Bill, he pissed me off,” whined Gordy.
“Yeah, well, you don’t want to piss the boss off. You know that now he’s human he’s too easy to kill by accident,” said Bill, talking of Spike.
Spike stood there favouring his left leg and leaning against the wall for balance.
“Great. If these two are the monkeys where’s the bleeding organ grinder?” he thought, “What the bloody hell am I in the middle of?”
Gordy approached Spike again, who, despite himself, shrank back as the vampire grabbed one of his wrists. Spike silently cursed himself for being so weak. Time was he’d have finished these two without exerting himself.
“Yeah, this being human thing sucks in a crisis,” he thought.
He relaxed a bit as he realised the vampire was unlocking the manacles on each wrist.
“Right, I’ll just be off then. Thanks for the hospitality,” said Spike.
Gordy growled at Spike but Bill put a restraining hand on him.
“Oh, you’re so funny! Say another word and I’ll finish off what I started the other night. You were out for so long I thought I’d overdone it, but then I was hungry.” He licked his lips as he spoke and Gordy started to laugh.
“The other night? So how long have I been here?” asked Spike.
“We brought you here Friday night and it’s now early Monday morning. We’d better get you where you’re going before daybreak puts a stop to it. The boss’ll be there tonight and he doesn’t like waiting.”
“Two days?” thought Spike, “So where’s the bleeding cavalry?”
Gordy and Bill pushed Spike towards the door. He lost his balance and just stopped from falling by grabbing the door-frame.
“Bloody kitten’s stronger than me.” thought Spike in frustration, his left leg hurting almost as much as when he first got out of hospital. He was still light headed from lack of blood, which was sort of ironic if you thought about it.
He staggered along the passageway so slowly that Bill lost his patience, grabbed Spike by one arm, and half-dragged, half-carried him the rest of the way.
They got outside by going up some steep steps and through a door at the side of a big stone built house, obviously centuries old but still in use. Spike tried to see as much as he could in case it gave him any clue as to where he was, but since it was pitch dark and he no longer had vampire vision he didn’t really see much.
They came to a car and Gordy opened the trunk. In it there was a blanket, stained with blood. Spike correctly guessed this was how he’d arrived on Friday.
“I’m not……”he started, before a well aimed punch knocked him out and the vampires bundled him in and slammed the lid shut.
“We should just make it by dawn,” said Bill, looking at his watch. Gordy drove off rapidly, wheels spinning on the gravel driveway.
to be continued . .
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