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Author's Chapter Notes:
So sorry for the delay. I've been editing my book which is now out on lulu.com...
so if you enjoyed Dark Sail take a look
Spike was woken by a raucous noise coming from the intercom system. It physically hurt his vampire hearing and he wanted to find the speaker and destroy it, preferably with a great deal of violence. Spike really wanted to destroy something.

‘Please dress and be ready in 45 minutes for training. There is fresh blood in the fridge. The shower water will be warm for approximately 15 minutes,’ the automated voice told him: even that grated on his nerves. Spike reached out to his sire forgetting that she was no longer a part of him, and felt a rush of reassurance through the link: well that wasn’t Dru.

There were worse ways to be got out of bed than the promise of fresh blood and a warm shower, Spike thought to himself as he let the warm water sooth his aches and pains from the day before. He was just pulling on a clean tee and sticking his dirty cup in the sink, at the same time juggling from one foot to another to slip on his boots, when he heard the tell-tale click of the door to the classroom swinging open. Wandering into the other room was a man he’d never seen before, who didn’t look around but simply made his way to the desk.

‘Mr Pratt? I am Jude and I am here to help you with the more formal side of your education. This morning we will be discussing the curriculum for the next few weeks, then I will assign you some books to read; this afternoon will be car maintenance, weapons training and unarmed combat. This evening you will have a short amount of free time, however please don’t get used to it. Normally in the evenings you will have homework and extra classes.’

Spike took a deep breath in through his nose; whoever this guy was he wasn’t quite human, there was definitely something else in that mix. He slipped into game face and growled.

‘And please don’t do that Mr. Pratt, at the end of each day I have to report to my own masters. If I give a good one you get the whisky and cigarettes you want, and if I have to report an infraction your privileges will be removed, including the warm water you enjoyed this morning.’ The man didn’t have the decency to even sound scared when faced with a vampire in its’ killing face.

‘And if you don’t report back?’ Spike asked, relishing the thought of really fresh blood.

‘You have tried that already Mr Pratt, and you ended up with a burnt mouth; please don’t be so stupid as to try it again. We are all protected and if you want to test the resolve of our people, I may even stay still while you bite. I quite like it.’ The man licked his lips in a very suggestive and provocative way. Spike shuddered; despite Angel’s insistence on sire’s rights, Spike had never really swung that way.

Jude made himself comfortable at the desk, arranging all the pens and books carefully. Spike watched, judging his obsession with precision and neatness. Know your opponent. Jude then pulled out a folder from his leather briefcase and handed it over.

Every page was covered in lists: books, paintings, music; languages human and demonic… Faryl, anyone? Everything was listed, everything he was to study. It would be a long, hard trudge until he got through this lot. It would take months.

‘You will be expected to put in at least 16 hours a day on your studies and I am authorised to tell you that Druscilla has been completely healed from the garlic poisoning she had suffered after the attack in Prague. Normally it takes Sire’s blood, but we found a substitute. She is resting at the moment and will come and see you when she is able.’

‘Cheers mate, thanks for that.’ Spike tried to sound sarcastic but he was actually relieved and delighted to know that Dru would be OK.

‘So what’s first?’ he asked, dropping down into the student’s chair and starting to look through the notes he had been given.

The morning passed quickly: Spike for all his pretence otherwise was actually an intelligent, inquisitive being and he had always loved the chance to learn. He had never told any of his vampire family but he actually had a degree from Oxford hidden in his own history, a first class honours in philosophy no less. His fine copperplate hand filled page after page of the notebook and he hardly noticed when Jude stopped him for lunch.

‘When you have eaten and tidied, wait for collection and we will take you to the garage. There you will be instructed in the proper care and maintenance of various forms of transport. We will also be teaching you to drive properly.’

‘I can drive!!’ Spike exclaimed indignantly, angry at the besmirching of his skills.

‘I have no doubt about that Mr Pratt, but this will be defensive driving, similar to the driving skills required by a chauffeur bodyguard - as well as a dozen other skills you must gain before the next stage of your education,’ Jude told him as he tidied up the books from the morning’s work.

Spike had just finished washing up from his lunch and was enjoying a quiet smoke when the door opened and the familiar voice told him to leave the room, turn right, go to the end of the corridor and turn right again. The passageway to the garage was the second door on the left.

Spike felt like ignoring the voice, his nemesis, but the lure of cars was just too great. Stubbing out his smoke he did as he had been told and found himself in a huge, well lit and wonderfully equipped garage. It was a mechanics wet dream complete with semi nude calendar on the wall, only this one had demons as well as humans posing half naked. He really didn’t want to see a Faryl demon draped over a Harley like that; it was sacrilege.

Spike took his time looking round: he could hear the heartbeat of the one human occupant coming from the office but was far more interested in the cars and bikes that lay about the shop in various states of repair. Tucked in one corner were the remains a 1957 Desoto, looking unloved and uncared for.

‘You could fix her up if you like…’ Spike hadn’t noticed the woman coming up behind him. He slipped into game face and growled at her, covering up his fright at her approach.

‘You can lose the bumps mister, they don’t scare me.’

Spike sniffed the air: there was no scent of fear coming off the woman, just motor oil and the mint bodywash she’d used in the shower. Her heartbeat hadn’t even risen in the slightest.

‘What is it with all of you people?’ He asked as he put his human visage back in place. ‘Are none of you scared by vampires?’

‘We are all protected from you, normal saline injected into the system once a month, using holy water to make it up. One bite and your mouth is on fire, two gulps and you’d burn up from the inside out. Nope, biting one of us is a waste of your time, and if you attack and just break my neck the system would register my lack of consciousness and flood the room with holy water from the sprinkler system. Believe me, we have thought of everything. I’m Kate McGuire, in charge of the garage and transport; I’m to get you up to speed on all forms of repair and driving skills.’ She held up a hand to stop him interrupting. ‘I know you’ve been driving cars since Ford was a boy but I, we, will give you the opportunity to really improve your abilities.’

‘Why? What’s so special about me? Aren’t the white hats just supposed to stake the vampires and head off to get the next one?’ Spike was genuinely curious; he was really trying to understand what was happening to him.

Kate sat on the edge of the bench and looked at the creature before her. He was nothing like she had expected: young looking, innocent in some ways, slim but muscular and fit… if she went for vamps she’d definitely want to play there, but he wasn’t for her.

‘I’m going to get into trouble for this but here goes…’ she pointed at a swivel chair that was covered in grease and grime.

‘We have a seer who works with us.’ She pushed some paperwork deep into an overfull drawer and was obviously distracted by the drawer not shutting. ‘Bloody paperwork,’ she swore at the desk as it finally accepted the return of its wayward container.

‘Who’s us?’ Spike asked, helping himself to one of the cigarettes from the packet on the table. Kate looked at him pointedly. ‘I’m evil and I need my smokes,’ he told her as she smiled indulgently and then continued.

‘Us, is a group of people, originally women, who have been protecting the slayer line since it first began,’ she started to explain.

‘I fight slayers: I don’t protect ‘em!’ He barked out a laugh at the thought of protecting a slayer. He took a deep drag on his fag and studied the woman in front of him; she seemed just the type he liked to eat. ‘I’ve topped two inside 100 years, made my rep on beating them, studying them… and they all have a death wish. I just help ‘em fulfil it.’

‘Well you’re fated to protect this one. You were turned by a Vampiress, Dru, who retained a part of her soul; she prevented Angelus from turning you, and he was the one that was destined to do it.’ Kate picked up one of the cigarettes and reached across for a lighter, but Spike was quicker: whatever else he was he had been raised a gentleman and he quickly lit Kate’s before slumping back into the chair.

‘Thanks,’ she said, ‘and yes you were meant to be turned that night, there wasn’t much we could have done to stop it, though we did try.’

‘So whatever happened with Dru, I was meant to be turned?’ He sat up straight and gave Kate his total concentration. It was enough to unnerve anyone. Being the centre of attention to a predator, she could sense him as though she was lunch.

‘Yep,’ Kate continued, ‘Dru just stepped in to protect your humanity, it was buried for 100+ years and with Angelus’ training you would have had to bury it deep within you. If he’d turned you, you would have been the ultimate in evil, the demon would have helped destroy the world and we would all now live in a hell dimension. Here is a prophecy that tells of a vampire with a soul getting the gift of life.’

‘What the bloody hell would I want that for?’ he yelled.

‘What, life?’ Kate asked him.

‘No, a fucking soul: I’d hate to be cursed with something like that! You’d better not be thinking of cursing me like that or I will start fighting back,’ he spat; even the idea of a soul made his demon feel sick to his stomach.

‘We’re not planning on shoving a soul into you, don’t worry; if you want a soul you’re going to have to earn it yourself.’ She laughed at the thought. ‘Why does everyone think having a soul is a good idea? It can be, if it’s what you want, but if it isn’t it just twists you up and makes you eat rats like Angelus.’

Rats!!! He had to laugh at the thought of the Great Angelus sunk so low as to eat rats… ‘Why didn’t the pillock raid a blood bank? Done it myself a few times when I was desperate.’

‘Cause he was brooding too much, anyway he’s now living in California… talk about a death wish, a vampire living in sunny California, chasing after the present Slayer, trying to be her saviour: and that’s where you are going to come in.’

‘Where, helping him to catch her?’

‘No, stupid, protect her from him, he’s going to lose that shiny new soul of his and we need you to keep her alive.’ Kate looked at the being in front of her; he seemed to vibrate with energy, his compact body looked as though he spent every morning in the gym, lucky man.

‘Never going to happen,’ Spike spat out at her.

‘Well, yes it is, you’ve been in here surrounded by cars and a female in oestrous for about an hour, noticed anything?’ She asked with a smug look on her face; Kate was privy to the secrets the Guardians had been keeping and she knew what was coming.

‘Like what?’ he stubbed out on the floor with the sole of his doc martin, taking his anger out on the ground; he’d been burnt once from attacking the humans round here and he really didn’t fancy a mouthful of blisters.

‘No hard-on. And for a vamp that has to be unusual, we know you don’t prefer men and I’m not pure human, I’m part vela, so you should be panting for it by now… but nothing.’

Spike looked at the woman and sniffed the air. She was right, he could smell the fairy part of her blood and knew he should have had a raging hard-on about 3 minutes after meeting her.

‘And I don’t: why??’ he snarled at her, his eyes flashing gold; what had these bastards done to him?

‘Cause we’ve imbedded a mystical cock ring into your groin: no more hard-ons until we let you and no more coming unless we let you. Please don’t mistake gentleness and softness for weakness again, Mr Pratt,’ she told him as she jumped down from the table and headed out of the garage through a warded door.

The howls of anguished could be heard throughout the building as her words sunk into a very pissed off vampire.





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