Chapter 27
“Angelus is back,” Spike growled at Buffy when they neared the back entrance of the Magic Box.
“Cassie must be happy then,” Buffy replied. She linked her arm through Spike’s arm.
Riley stepped into the alley from a dark shadow. He gave the two vampires a dirty look before he attempted to swagger off towards the meeting place.
Buffy wrinkled her nose in disgust. “There’s another vamp whorehouse in town for us to burn down. Honestly, why would he go there if he has Faith? We’ll never be friends, but she’s not a bad person.”
Spike shrugged. He had no idea why the big git was cheating on the dark Slayer. “The Specter and I should invite her along when we do our spot of arson, just in case he’s in need of rescuin’.”
Buffy nodded in agreement. “So, a date to patrol tonight?”
“Sounds good.” Spike ducked his head to give Buffy a fast kiss on the lips. “Let’s go find out what this meeting is about.”
Together Spike and Buffy entered the back of the Magic Box. In the front room of the store they could hear some voices they didn’t recognize.
“She’s a demon,” a male voice snarled. “Tara Maclay, you get your ass over here right now! I’m your father, and you will obey me.”
“What’s wrong with demons?” Willow asked. “Some of my best friends are demons.”
“What kind of demon?” Anya asked before the man had a chance to answer the red-haired witch.
Spike and Buffy strolled into the main shop area of the store. They looked around at the different tableaus in the room. Anya and Giles stood behind the glass counter that held the most precious of magical ingredients, Angel and Cassie were standing between Tara and Tara’s family, and Faith and Riley were off to one side. Wesley wasn’t present as he was off on a fact finding meeting for Buffy that no one but he and Spike knew about. Xander and Cordelia were absent who, out on a much needed date.
“What does it matter what kind of demon she is?” Tara’s father glared at the people spread across the room.
“Because we don’t care if she’s a demon,” Willow said. “Look at all of us. We all look human, don’t we?”
“Well, I hope you all enjoy hanging out with a disgusting demon,” a pretty girl in the back said, her voice dripping with loathing.
As one, Anya, Spike, Buffy, and Angel slipped into their demonic visages.
“So, what kind of demon is she?” Anya asked again.
“Or is this just some kind of ploy to keep the women in your family suppressed?” Spike gave Mr. Maclay a leer. “I almost like you.”
Tara’s family stepped back in terror. This wasn’t what they were expecting at all. They had expected to easily intimidate Tara to leave her friends and come back into the fold.
“I’m kinda hungry, Angelus,” Spike drawled. “I got dibs on the blond bitch in the back.”
Angel wrinkled his nose. “You always want the choicest treats, William.”
“I’ll take the old man here,” Buffy said with a chuckle. “You can have beardless there, Angelus.”
The Maclays turned to rush out the front door at the thought of being eaten. They had a shoving match when they all hit the exit at the same time. The Scoobies weren’t all that surprised when the blond girl won the fight by pulling one man’s facial hair and kicking the other one in the balls.
“And don’t come back! I’ll give you some vengeance if you do.” Anya marched to the front door to slam it closed. She turned the open sign to closed since it was that time anyway.
“Idiots,” Spike muttered. “Like we’d eat them.” He wrinkled his nose in repugnance. “I much prefer veal. I almost wish they’d run into some of Sunnydale’s finest citizens.”
“Wish granted, almost.” Anya said softly. She couldn’t wait for the Maclays to meet up with Clem.
“Y-you all d-defended me,” Tara said softly. “Why?”
“If you’re a demon, I’m a monkey’s uncle,” Cassie replied. “You guys were so cool. They were so scared.”
Riley gave a private sigh of disgust. He wanted to get Faith away from this crazy bunch of … he couldn’t really call them people. Half of them were demons of some kind. One more visit to the vamp whores, and he’d be ready to work on convincing his girlfriend to leave Sunnydale for good.
“We should make sure they make it out of town all right and proper. Wanna have some fun, Angelus?” Spike glanced over at the older vampire. “Show those gits why we’re called the Scourge of Europe?”
“You two know each other?” Riley blurted out.
“Spike and Angel are both descendents of the Master, the vampire that killed Cassie and allowed the Slayer line to be split,” Giles replied.
“Vampires,” Riley spat out with venom.
“Yeah, vamps, Captain Cardboard. Don’t know why you’re protestin’, you like vamps well enough.” Spike gave Riley a stony glare.
“What are you talking about?” Riley looked as innocent as possible.
Spike tapped his nose, but before anything else was said, the front door blew open. Glory the Hell-God marched in with the body of a dead monk which she threw down in front of the group.
“Where is my Key?” Glory screamed. “This little worm confessed that it was turned human and given to the Slayer as a sister. Give me my Key.”
Buffy tightened her grip on Spike’s arm when she saw the demon she had fought before had entered the store. When Spike glanced down at her, Buffy nodded slightly to let him know she recognized the demon.
“I don’t have a sister.” Cassie looked confused. She glanced over at Faith. “Do you have one you never mentioned?”
“Nope.” Faith shook her head. “No sister here either.”
“You lie!” Glory advanced on the group. “One of you Slayers has my Key, and I want it.”
“No, we don’t.” Cassie glanced at the other woman’s dress and hair. “My God, who did your hair? That is the worst perm job I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“Dress is a knockoff too,” Anya replied. “Whoever sold it to you lied about the maker.”
“It’s a genuine Gucci,” Glory insisted. Why weren’t these people scared of her? She was a Hell-God, and they were insignificant humans.
“You just keep telling yourself that,” Cassie said with a nod.
“Your arse is lopsided too,” Spike put in. “I’ve seen some lopsided arses in my day, but yours is the mushiest I’ve seen.”
Buffy hid her mouth behind her hand as Spike insulted the bitch that had attacked her two weeks before. Inside she was a bit scared when the woman mentioned that she knew that the Slayer’s sister was the Key. Buffy was glad that she had the robots replace her mother and sister the previous weekend.
“One of you bitches is lying, and when I find out which one, you’ll be sorry.” Glory glared at the Slayers.
At that moment, Willow and Tara together let loose a spell that made the Hell-God disappear. Not that any of them knew that was what the creature was. Tara seemed to be fine, but Willow’s nose started to bleed.
“Take her in the back room, Tara,” Giles said quietly. “Call Serina, and have her come by.”
The two witches obeyed the Watcher. Tara helped Willow to the other room where she settled the red-head on the couch. Then, she made a call to the Coven witch.
“That demon was kinda powerful, wasn’t she?” Cassie looked over at the other Scoobies. “Do you think she could be the one that the Specter fought the other night?”
“Could be.” Spike nodded. He had relayed the Specter’s fight with said demon a few days before he had learned her true identity… or rather all of her identities.
“I wonder if I should contact the Council?” Giles pondered quietly. “I still have some friends on the inside that won’t tell Travers about our questions.”
“Maybe you should. I mean, a demon looking for a Key that’s a Slayer’s sister? That’s kinda far out even for Sunnydale.” Faith nodded her agreement with Giles. “Maybe they can tell you which Slayers have sisters.”
“We should split up on patrol, Faith.” Cassie turned to her sister Slayer. “We can’t afford for her to catch us together until we figure out what is going on.”
“Right, guess I’m with you, blondie,” Faith told Spike with a grin. “Hope you and the Specter can keep up.”
“Don’t worry about us!” Spike noticed the disgruntled look on Riley’s face. It was obvious to the vampire that the corn fed Iowa boy was not happy with Faith’s choice of friends.
“What about me?” Riley demanded. “I’ve been patrolling too.”
“I don’t think patrol needs four of us.” Faith looked thoughtful. She knew that Riley was jealous of the others for their supernatural powers. She tried to point out the fact to him that neither Xander nor Cordelia had any special powers. She gave the others a wicked grin. “Cass and Angel need a chaperone though.”
“We do not,” Cassie protested.
“Whatever!” Faith held up one hand. “I call ‘em like I see ‘em.”
“I have other stuff I need to do.” Riley stiffened when Spike and his vamp girlfriend looked at him. His mind wandered to when his vamp bite obsession had started. One night after patrol, when Faith deserted him for a hen party. So, he had been out alone for a drink when a vampiress had hit on him. Before he could stake the creature, she had bitten him. Riley couldn’t believe how turned on he had been by the act. He had fucked Faith into the mattress that night.
Just one last time, Riley thought to himself. Then, I’ll be ready to convince Faith to leave this whacked out town.
“Well, if that’s what you want.” Faith gave Riley’s hand a squeeze of reassurance even though she was confused by his actions. First he protested about patrol, and in the next breath he brushed it aside. “Should I come by your apartment after patrol?”
“Not sure I’ll be home.” Riley shrugged. “You can try.”
“The Specter and I will meet up with you over by Murphy Street.” Spike glanced at Buffy. “We haven’t patrolled that part of town lately.”
“Us either.” Faith nodded.
“Looks like things are all set then,” Cassie said. “We have two patrols, and Giles will call the Council.”
“Sounds good to me,” Giles agreed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Faith watched Spike and the Specter closely. She could only understand half the conversation between the two, but it seemed to her that the two were even closer than usual. Faith wondered what Beth thought about her guy patrolling so closely with another female. Then, she dismissed it as none of her business.
Spike stopped about a half a block from a deserted house that wasn’t as deserted as it should have been. He waited for the Specter and Faith to join him. He silently pointed down the street to the big, muscular vampire standing guard outside the building.
“Don’t see that very often,” Spike whispered. “Most vamp brothels try to hide under the radar.”
“He looks like one of Ri’s military buddies.” Faith studied the vampire bouncer. She missed the knowing look Spike gave the Specter.
“You knew them better than us,” Spike replied. He took out a cell phone, and he punched in some numbers. “Clem will be by with some flammables. After we clear the place out of customers and kill the vamps, we’ll burn the place to the ground.” Then he placed the phone back inside his duster.
“Last one in is a rotten egg,” the Specter said slyly to Spike. She moved quickly to appear in front of the vampire bouncer. With a tilt of her head and a quick guttural word, she dusted the creature.
“It’s no fair,” Faith said as she came up behind the black-clad woman. “You move faster than me.”
The Specter smirked under her mask. She knew it was part of her enhanced Slayer that let her move so much quickly than a normal Slayer. It was like her Slayer part and her vampire part worked hand in hand to make her faster, stronger, more powerful.
“Stick together,” Spike commanded. “Be careful.” He pulled a stake out of each duster pocket.
Together the three supernatural warriors swept up onto the house’s porch. A swift kick from a booted foot had the door off its hinges. The door crashed down on another muscle bound vampire that looked like another military grunt. Spike leaped onto the door, and he grinned down at the other vamp with a feral grin on his face.
“Where’s the head honcho?” Spike growled. He bounced on the door a couple of times.
“Upstairs, main bedroom,” the grunt grunted.
“Specter, darlin’, your turn.” Spike leaped off of the door.
The Specter took Spike’s place on the door, and with one word she dusted the vampire. She still preferred hand to hand combat, but there were times when dusting with a word came in handy. She leapt after Spike as the door fell to the floor to cover the swirling pile of dust.
“That’s a bit anti-climatic,” Faith complained. “You will leave something for me to kill, won’t you?”
The Specter looked over her shoulder, and she winked at Faith. “Don’t worry, Slayer. You’ll be plenty hungry and horny when you go see your boy toy,” she said in a whisper.
Faith had no idea what the other woman said, but she had a feeling it was about Riley. She followed Spike and the Specter up the stairs. At the top, Spike sniffed the air carefully, and then he pointed at the door at the end of the hallway. The three warriors moved quickly and quietly towards the room.
Spike knew that Finn was behind said door. He could hear the vamp in charged talking to the idiot ex-soldier. As they got closer, Faith could hear the vamp too.
“Come on, Finn. You have no idea the freedom that’s in store for you. With your knowledge of the Slayers and their little friends, we’ll be able to eliminate them. We’ll rule Sunnydale together.”
“Riley!” Faith surged ahead to push open the door. She laid horrified eyes on the scene inside the bedroom. Graham in full game face stood staring at Riley who was sitting half naked in an arm chair with vampire whores sucking on both arms at the elbows.
“Ah, it’s one of the Slayers.” It appeared that Maggie Walsh’s death hadn’t taken at all.
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