Chapter 32
Cordelia was fuming. “What is your deal!?” she cried
Spike looked up at her from his place on the ground. “Isn’t it obvious? I killed people again. I’ve brought nothing but trouble to Buffy. I have finally realized that I can’t be with her. But I can’t go on without her. So . . .” He swept a hand up at the sky. “Hence the impending sunrise.”
“God, get over it! Buffy needs you. What did you do, grow a soul? Cuz if you did, it is so not adding to your personality. You were smarter as a badass.”
A snort of indifference escaped Spike. He wasn’t going to move. It didn’t matter what logic the ex-cheerleader dished out. He had made up his mind. Buffy was better off without him. And so be it if he was becoming like his poof of a grandsire.
“Fine!” Cordelia shouted. She stomped off.
“He’s changed from a badass into a dumbass,” she muttered as she headed toward the construction site.
She may not think of Spike as a friend, but she was not going to let him fry. He was important to Buffy. And even though the slayer wasn’t one of her highest people either, she owed it to her. Buffy had saved her from doom a couple times, and it was time to repay her.
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Buffy was fighting the key of darkness. Well, not really fighting, more like picking herself off the ground every few seconds. The truth was, the boy wasn’t allowing her to get near him much. . . At all.
Buffy picked herself off the ground. She had lost track of how many times she had repeated the act. “You know,” she told the kid, “You’re never gonna get a date at this rate.”
The boy just smiled. The vamps around them didn’t interfere. They seemed to all be in some sort of trance. Either that, or they were mindless zombies who hadn’t been given enough blood.
“Will, help me out here,” the slayer begged.
“I - I can try,” Willow replied.
The red-headed witch took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and then opened them again. “Eliminaté!”
Nothing happened. “Uh, Buffy . . . The spell. . . didn’t work so much.”
“They’ve set up a shield around him,” Christina observed verbally. “I can sense it. They’re concentrating, keeping it up.”
Great, thought Buffy, that’s why they’re acting all brainless. Not that they would be all brainy otherwise, though. Most vamps were plain out stupid, especially fledglings. The only ones that amounted to anything were the masters. Speaking of masters, she heard the one next to her speak.
“Buffy, I don’t think this is working,” Angel commented.
“Don’t you think I know that!” she threw back.
His eyes darkened. “I didn’t . . .”
She sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m so stressed. I doubt things could even get worse. And that is saying a lot living in SunnyD.”
Just then Cordy came running into view. She halted before them, trying to catch her breath. Angel came over to her, snatching her shoulders and gazing into her eyes.
“Cordy, what is it? Why are you here?”
Cordelia turned her head to Buffy. “Spike . . . He . . .”
“What about Spike?” Buffy demanded.
Codelia was about to continue when they noticed the dark key move. He began to walk away, the vamps trailing behind him.
“Oh, he thinks he can walk away like that, does he? He so can’t!” Buffy charged, but was quickly deflected. She landed on the ground once again. She picked herself up for the countless time that night with irritation. “Okay, maybe he can.”
“I think we’re going to have to let him go,” Giles stated. “We are not prepared to confront him.”
Buffy nodded in defeat.
“Buffy!” Cordy shouted to get her attention. ”You have another pressing matter. It’s about your bleached egg-head boyfriend.”
Looking around, Buffy muttered, “Things just got worse. Remind me to never say they can’t.”
“Buffy!?” Cordy yelled.
“Tell me already,” Buffy ordered.
“Spike took off.”
The slayer’s eyes widened. “He what!? He took off!? As in ‘you’ don’t know where he went!?”
“Oh, I know where he went. He went to sit on a hill near Crawford Street.”
“So?” Buffy asked, not getting it.
“So- Sunrise, as in less than an hour,” Cordelia emphasized. She pointed up at the lightening sky.
Buffy began to stomp off. “I’m gonna havta kill him.”
“Somehow I doubt that will be a problem if you wait an hour.”
“You guys, go find out what you can about this key of darkness. I can handle Spike alone,” Buffy addressed.
She looked over when she heard someone come up. She saw Angel walking by her side. “What are you doing?”
“I’m coming along. I think I can reason with him,” he explained.
“I don’t think he’ll listen to you.” Spike hated Angel with a fiery passion. He didn’t even want to be in the same room as Angel, let alone hear what he had to say.
Suddenly cold, Buffy hugged her arms as she moved. It had suddenly occurred to her where she was headed. Spike had gone to the same hill Angel had after being haunted by the first evil. She had almost lost her lover that day. She didn’t know what she would do if she lost her new one. She needed Spike far more than she needed Angel. She had barely survived without her first boyfriend, but she wasn’t sure if she could even take one breath without Spike. He was her life-preserver, the only thing she could hold onto.
They were silent the rest of the way. After what seemed to be hours, but in reality only a few moments, Buffy spotted their target location. She sprinted up to it, finding the back of the bleached head that belonged to her vampire. He was staring off into the horizon.
“You selfish son of a bitch!” she screamed, coming up beside Spike.
Spike glanced over. “Hello, Buffy,” he greeted dryly. “She told you, I take it.”
“Do you even care what this will do to me?” she demanded.
He gaze shifted to rest on the town below them. The buildings were darkened, the inhabitants still in slumber. But there was no rest for the weary- the warriors.
“You don’t need me, slayer. All I do is screw up your existence. Shoulda staked me properly when I first came to town.”
“Idiot,” Buffy spat. “ ‘You’ are the only reason I get up in the morning.”
He shook his head. “What about Dawn and the rest of the scoobies? You got them back in your life now.”
Her hands formed tight fists. She forced herself not to use one to punch him in the face.
Angel came up. He stopped before the couple, eyeing his grandchilde with dissatisfaction. “I’ve always found you daft, William, but I never thought you were an imbecile. I was wrong.”
“As if you never wanted to end it all, Angel.” Spike said it lacking the spirit to use one of his retched nicknames.
“Actually, I have,” Angel confessed. “On this exact hill.”
Spike vaguely thought how embarrassing it was to be caught reciprocating his grandsire’s behavior. But he was too dejected to care. That much.
“I wanted to not exist. I figured that there wasn’t a reason to be on earth anymore. I felt as if I brought nothing but damnation onto the world. But the powers showed me how mistaken I was.”
“Good for you, peaches.” Okay, maybe he did have some spirit left.
“Is that what you’re after, Spike. Huh?” Buffy challenged. “A miracle to prove that you have a purpose. Cuz I can give you one. Me. You have a purpose with me! Get off your miserable ass and fulfill it!”
“Buffy . . . It’s better this way.”
Angel stiffened. He sniffed the air. “I can smell the dawn.”
“Go, Angel. Go find shelter,” the slayer urged.
Angel looked down at Spike, hesitating. “I don’t think . . .”
“Angel, go now! One pile of dust is better than two. I can handle Spike. If I have to I’ll pick him up and carry him to safety then so be it.”
Spike raised his head. “Bloody better not!”
Angel nodded. “Alright. I’ll meet you back at the magic shop.” Then he jogged away.
Buffy put her hands on her hips. “You know I’m not going to let you do this.”
“Not much you can do. We’re evenly matched. You start using force, I’ll just use some back. We’ll be caught in the fray when Mr. Sunshine comes out to play. And guess who will have a dusty ending?”
“You think we’re evenly matched?”
“I know it, pet.”
Buffy grabbed Spike and hoisted him to his feet. She punched him directly in the nose. “I don’t think you’ve ever fought me when I was REALLY pissed off!”
She sent another blow to his head. “I WILL NOT LET YOU DO THIS!”
Spike stepped backwards. He ducked under another fist. Then he caught her arm, drawing her to him. “I love you, Buffy. I’m doing this because I love you. You don’t deserve a monster.”
“Did you grow a soul when I used my light mojo?” she questioned. She head butted him, making him lose his grasp on her arm.
“Not likely. I just want what is best for you.”
“How do you know what is best for me?” Buffy kicked him in the side.
Buffy was about to beat him up some more when she noticed his stance change. He cocked his head to the side, gazing out at the sky. She realized that it had significantly brightened in the last couple minutes. Panic grew in her chest.
“Spike,” she squeaked. “Please . . .”
He turned his head back to her. “I love you, Buffy. Remember that.”
She did the only thing she could think of as the burning rays fell over the landscape. She pounced, landing on top of Spike, and sending them both to the ground. Her body spread over his, trying to shield him from the harmful radiation.
Her fingers tore at his leather coat, frantically. “Help me get your coat off!” She needed to cover him.
Spike reached up and grabbed her wrists. He met her eyes, fright and wonder in his gaze. “Uh . . . Buffy?”
They both shifted their vision up. Blue sky hung over the couple, vivid and clear. When Buffy turned back to her boyfriend she was sure she would find him smoking. But instead she found a very pale, yet smooth-skinned vampire beneath her.
Spike hadn’t wanted a miracle, but he had received one anyways.
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Ok, explanations will come soon. And no, it isn’t a copout PTB miracle like Angel’s salvation. Although, I think they would have interfered if Spike really was in danger. I mean, he is the dark keeper.
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