Spike was resting his head on Tara’s lap. She’d used the moisture from his tears and the hem of her skirt to wipe away the worst of the dirt clinging to his face, but he still looked like a golem. He was staring up at the bare wooden beams above them.
He’d told her his piece of the story and she’d told him his.
After she and Penny had said their goodbyes, they’d gone out of the dorm room to find he’d vanished. They’d called the police and Penny had given Tara every scrap of paper she had pertaining to vampires. Tara had locked herself in behind a nest of protection spells and wards, simply reading everything she could about vamps.
“How did they get you if you were being so careful?”
“I had t,t,t,to leave for t,t,t,the loo, didn’t I?”
“Spose so,” Spike said.
“One minute I was washing up, the next I woke here. Your body was next to me. A woman vampire with brown hair was watching me. S,s,she looked bored. I was holding your corpse and t,t,trying to make you breathe and s,s,she looked like s,s,she was waiting for a bus, Billy. I could feel your s,s,soul was s,s,still intact. S,s,she made me dig your grave, just t,t,to hurt me,” Tara said.
“She did it to hurt me, too, I'd expect,” Spike said.
“What was it like, t,t,to wake up in t,t,the ground?” Tara asked.
“I've been through worse,” he said.
It was a lie; he really hadn't, but protecting Tara was a reflex.
“S,s,she t,t,thought you'd make me your first meal,” Tara said.
She combed her fingers through his dirt-caked hair, sending loose a shower of particles. The contact soothed him, but the thirst was still burning him up inside.
“If it hadn’t been you, love. I shudder to think what I almost did. You might have to kill me, Tara. The feeling is still there and it’s getting stronger,” he said.
“You need t,t,t,to feed. Animal blood will ward off t,t,t,the worst of it. You’ve got a demon living with you now, but you’ve got an advantage over your average vampire. You’ve got your s,s,s,soul,” she said.
“What are you talking about?”
“Most undead don’t, but yours is s,s,s,safe because of the t,t,t,tattoo,” she said.
“You’ve gone round the bloody bend, what’s that got to do with this crazy, bloody. I give up, it’s too much. Wake me when the world stops tilting off its bloody axis,” Spike said.
He draped his arm over his eyes.
Tara moved his arm out of the way and Spike let her, even though he could’ve flicked her hand off as easily as if it were a drop of water.
“Come on, Billy, I t,t,told you all about t,t,t,this when we got it done. You s,s,said the chants with me, you lit the incense—“
“That’s because I was bloody humoring you, you silly bint. So you’re saying our souls are bound together because of Huggy and Muggy through all eternity?”
“Huginn and Muninn—“
“Whatever. If our souls are bound, why didn’t you die when I did or get all vampirey?”
“It doesn’t work like t,t,that. If I die, you carry my s,s,s,soul with you until you die and vice versa,” Tara said.
“So if I’m immortal, you’ll be cheated of heaven?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“What’s the tattoo got to do with anything anyway?”
“It’s t,t,t,the physical manifestation of our s,s,s,souls. You are Huginn and I’m Muninn. You picked, remember?”
“Again, humoring you.”
“Well, it s,s,saved our asses, didn’t it?”
Spike sat up and looked at her with an expression of mock horror at his sister’s uncharacteristic use of profanity.
“Such language from our little Tara, mum would be so disappointed,” he said.
Then he remembered what he was and how their mother would’ve reacted to that. All the levity of the moment shrank. Spike curled up into a ball, resting his chin on his dusty knees. When he finally spoke again, his voice was deep and quiet.
“The way I feel, I know I’m going to hurt somebody,” Spike said.
“When we get out of t,t,t,t,this we’ll go t,t,t,to a butcher, t,t,t,they s,s,sell blood,” Tara said.
“It’s more than craving a burger, love. I really want to do some damage and…sex is all mixed up in it, too. It's like I’m sick inside,” he said.
She gave him a look of sympathy and tried to reach out to him. He recoiled. Tara’s smile never wavered and Spike was comforted in spite of himself.
“As you get older it gets easier t,t,to control,” Tara said.
“Lovely. What say we try to find a way out of here? Don’t fancy being the cheese in this trap much longer,” Spike said.
He wanted to get away from there before Toy showed up to kill him. He didn’t want her to know how completely he’d failed her. Spike stood up with unnatural grace and then helped Tara to her feet.
“Your girlfriend is coming, yes?” Tara asked.
“Probably,” Spike said, though it felt more like a certainty.
“Does t,t,t,that mean he’s watching us?”
A man in a black suit and long, cashmere coat appeared in front of them; he literally seemed to materialize out of nothing. His black hair was gelled in very specific spikes and his mouth was twisted into a chilling smile.
“Yeah, honey, it does,” Angel said.
Spike shoved Tara behind him, putting himself in between the vampire and his sister.
“Spike, you didn’t like the bag lunch I packed you?” Angel asked.
Spike swung at Angel’s smug face; as his fist connected, Angel seemed to blink out of existence. Then he was back, and landing a blow across Spike’s jaw.
“I touch you, not the other way around, isn’t that the way it works, Spikey? I know what you’re thinking, can I read your mind? Well, sorry to disappoint, but I can’t. She can, though, right Lacy?”
The skinny vamp with the thick bangs solidified in front of them.
“Oh, you didn’t know her name, either, did you Spike? That’s a bad habit of yours, buddy,” Angel said.
Lacy was wearing Spike's leather coat over her black buttoned-down shirt and her shiny, red pants; he wondered if she'd taken the trophy just to make him angry. She smiled at him, and Spike’s human side was repelled. This was his murderer, his torturer and she was smiling at him like a friend. She’d wanted to keep him like a farm animal. Part of him wanted to kill her, but the demon seemed to be soothed by her presence, just as the half that was still a man had been placated by Tara. Lacy’s eyes met his and suddenly he could hear her voice, though her lips weren’t moving.
*“Don’t talk when you hear this, I’m in your head. I’m going to help you,” she thought.
*“Why?” Spike thought.
*“Because it suits my needs,” she thought.
Angel put his hands behind his back and bobbed on his heels.
“So what’s the soul mean to us, Smoke and Mirrors?” Angel asked.
Lacy crossed her arms over her chest.
“It’s an obstacle, but a small one. I mean, Hitler had a soul. It just means that he’ll crack differently than your average night crawler. The longer he waits, the weaker he’ll get in every way. He still has the cravings; he just knows they’re wrong. Eventually, the hunger’s too much to resist,” Lacy said.
She walked over to Spike and caressed his face; again, he couldn’t pull away. Tara whimpered when the female vampire made contact with her brother; she was trembling against Spike’s back, her fingers digging into his shoulders. Lacy invaded Spike’s mind again.
*“When the slayer arrives I want you to drink from me. The blood will make you strong enough to fight. Angel will be distracted by her and I’m going to whip up a little something to give us some privacy, but you’ll still have to do it fast. No soul searching. Drink me dry, kill me. It’ll end the spell and his ass will be solid enough to kick—“ Lacy thought.
*“Why not just drop the spell—“
*“Because I can’t. I need to be dead, I need you to kill me. You don’t want to, do you—“
*“I should, but yeah—“
*“Remember that the last thing you ever said when you were alive wasn't I love you, even though I gave you that chance. It was 'I want to kill you.' Don't fool yourself, Spike. The monster was always there, I just gave him incentive.“
*“I hate you—“
*“Good, use that.“
Angel was talking and he seemed very pleased with what he was saying. Spike could hear Tara whispering behind him and knew she was trying to ignite a spell. Lacy had stopped touching him and had resumed her position beside the boss man, but Spike could still feel her icy hands on his skin.
“I asked you a question, Spike,” Angel said.
“What?” Spike asked.
“Why shouldn’t I kill your sister right now?”
His first reaction was to hurtle toward the male vampire and throttle him, but Lacy’s eyes held him in place. She started unspooling a story in his mind, the words illuminated in bright silver. Spike chose to repeat her thoughts as though they were his own.
“Because, you like the slow death; Tara literally carries part of me with her. After the slayer dusts me, my sister’s body will be my soul’s vessel. The slayer will want to protect that at any costs. If you let Tara go, you can keep playing your game for years,” Spike said.
Angel tipped his head to the side; his stalactite hair did not budge.
“You’re not as dumb as you look. Guess you’ve been hit fewer times than the average boxer,” Angel said.
“I’m a pretty fair dancer. You wanna take a spin around the room?” Spike said.
“Are you coming on to me?” Angel asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t say no if you wanted to put on something frilly and kiss my ass,” Spike said.
Angel punched Spike in the face. Tara caught her brother as he staggered back and kept him on his feet, never wavering in her hushed chanting.
“Sorry, couldn’t think of a clever comeback. Anyway, sounds like you’ve accepted that you’re not going to make it to the next moonrise, just want to let you know that for Tara’s sake, you better make it look good. You know how to throw a fight, right Spike?” Angel asked.
Spike had thrown his first fight, the fight that scarred him; it was the last time he’d ever lost on purpose. Cheating was a prerequisite to show loyalty and to allow the owners of the ring where he fought to have something to lord over the fighters. He’d despised it and had been humiliated by the whole experience. Spike was certain Lacy had fed that knowledge to Angel. Her dark eyes glittered at Spike.
*”You want to hurt me, yeah?” Spike thought. He could feel her presence violating him and knew Lacy had heard him.
*”Always, it’s what I do, it’s what I am,” she thought.
*”I loathe him for making her believe that about herself,” Spike thought.
*”It doesn’t end with him, Spike. Know that when you survive this, there are a group of people who will be pushing you to take his place. They figure a weak, little fledge who's still got mud behind his ears will be easier to control than Angel. He’s being used just like she is, just like you and just like me,” Lacy thought.
*”Stop speaking in bloody riddles—“ Spike thought.
Just then they heard the sound of splintering wood and sunlight flooded into a corner of the room. Toy's maroon, leather duster billowed as she landed in a crouch on the ground. Light caught the dust, making it glow along with her dirty, golden hair. Her hair still gleamed despite everything, nothing could touch her, Spike thought.
Angel threw his arms out like a ring master at the circus and grinned. He rotated slowly, basking in the scene he’d set.
“Buffy Summers, meet Spike McClay. I don’t believe you two have ever been formally introduced,” Angel said.
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Chapter End Notes:
Got the idea for the Lacy brain invasion from Drusilla assuming the shape of Jenny Calendar in order to get information from Giles in the episode, "Becoming."
Did I dump too much info in this chapter? Are you buying the Huginn and Muginn thing? Is the plot thickening to paste? Please let me know, and trust me, you don't need to be gentle.
Thanks for reading and if you choose to, thanks for commenting.
Did I dump too much info in this chapter? Are you buying the Huginn and Muginn thing? Is the plot thickening to paste? Please let me know, and trust me, you don't need to be gentle.
Thanks for reading and if you choose to, thanks for commenting.