The first thing Buffy felt was a cool breeze as it swept across her bare shoulders causing her to involuntarily shudder. She tried to pull a blanket closer but found there was nothing, no blanket to grab onto, her movements restricted.
The second thing she felt was pain. Her back was no longer numb from the cream Willow had lathered over her wounds but was now screaming with red-hot protest at having been laid on.
Tears sprang to her eyes as she struggled to move, her breath catching as searing pain surged across her back, eyes scrunching together to stop the blank white spots she saw. It took a few moments and a few failed attempts at moving, to finally realize that her hands had been tied together, making it almost impossible to sit up without causing a massive amount of pain.
Great.
One thing she did notice was that the cut on the palm of her hand, as it rubbed against the knuckles of her other hand, was no longer stinging. Thinking no more on it when the snorting of horses and the rumbling of a carriages wheels as they rolled across the dirt and rocks was heard. With a jolt as the cart seemed to hit a narrow hole in the ground she came to the dimming realization that she was no longer sitting in the comfortable bed that she had woken to previously.
She was being moved.
Again.
Events from the night before were still foggy in Buffy's mind as she struggled to open her eyes, knowing that the situation she was in was not a good one.
Now would be a good time to get out and run Summers!
"I'm sorry, b-but it's safer this way."
"For who." Groaning, Buffy cracked one eye open only to find her vision skewed sideways. She was lying sideways down on a carriage seat across from Willow and Tara, who were looking down at her apologetically. "Why am I tied up?" Even as she asked the question she knew the answer.
Escaped from one prison only to be landed in another one, with another vampire as it's master.
This was not going according to plan.
Buffy knew she needed to escape and travel further east to find Rupert Giles, the man who was going to help her take down Angelus.
"So you don' run off, luv."
Buffy jumped, startled and let out a yell at Spike's smirking voice as his head came into view as it popped through the open window to the carriage. He was leaning down from where his horse walked alongside next to them.
"Do I look like I'm going running anytime soon?" Tears sprang to Buffy's eyes as she finally struggled to a sitting position, her back screaming in protest. As she spoke, her hands wriggled in their bindings, trying to find a weakness and loosen them. Any movement she made just seemed to rub the ropes tighter, digging into her already tender flesh from having been tied up by Riley and his men.
"I can' run the risk of you escaping. You're too important. Now that I know wha' you are and how much a certain someone will do almos' anything to get you back."
Buffy's head dropped and a few tears threatened to spill over at hearing his words. There was no way she was letting Spike deliver her to Angelus hogtied and on a silver platter.
She was not going back.
I'll die first.
Hands shaking she struggled to grab at the wrappings of the bandages around her chest as they stuck to her back, pulling on the sensitive skin. She would give almost anything for some of that magical paste Willow seemed to be in possession of. Anything to take away the pain.
Spike didn't know what possessed him to yell out, but seeing the stricken look that crossed Buffy's features had him shouting out an order to stop. He pulled on his horse’s reins until it slowed and finally came to a stop alongside the carriage. He yanked open the door none to gently and motioned for the two women to exit, helping Willow down with a gentle hand before letting Tara slip passed. He reached in and wrapped his hand around Buffy's tied wrists, jerking her up and out. He held the door to the carriage open and grasped her arm tight when she stumbled on the two steps, still weak from blood loss and lack of food.
"Get that paste of yours would you." He grimaced as Willow pulled out the vial of paste to which he seemed obviously disgusted at, scrunching his face when the vial was opened and the smell assaulted his senses.
"Tied me up so I can't run free and yet worried about my discomfort. Thanks ever so!" Buffy growled, snatching her arm free, grimacing as the movement caused her back to flush red-hot.
"All that wriggling of yours has your back open again. I can smell the blood." He breathed in deep, leaning down to whisper in her ear hotly. "You taste even better."
"Fuck you." Buffy spat, heart racing at his implication.
She was unnerved, Spike spoke with such conviction. He made out that he had tasted her blood already and she couldn't help but nervously lift her hands towards her neck, a silent sigh going through her when she found no bite marks there.
Still, he smirked on.
Smug bastard!
Buffy flinched and stepped back when Tara moved towards her to help unwrap the bandages.
The sun had already set and pitch black darkness surrounded the small group, barely being able to make out the shadows of the trees that lined the path. The carriage they traveled with had lit oil lamps. One was inside the carriage and the other was strung up on the outside, lighting the spot near where the driver sat. Standing just under the light made it easy to see the blood soaked bandages as Tara unwrapped them from Buffy's chest and dropped them to the ground.
Grimacing as the bandages were peeled away from her back, Buffy brought up her bound hands to cover her exposed naked chest, eyes glaring at her grinning vampire captor as his tongue came out to wet his lips.
'Delicious.' Spike thought, eyes raking over her half naked form.
"This will sting." Willow said sympathetically before splashing a small bottle of cold running liquid on Buffy's back. The scream that broke through her lips had her eyes squeezing shut and grabbing blindly at the closest thing that was available to her to release some of the pain. It just so happened to be Spikes arm.
"Christ!" Spike exclaimed, at feeling Buffy's tiny hands wrap around his arm in a vice like grip.
Buffy was panting, tears threatening to spill over as her vision flashed white. Her naked chest was forgotten as she gripped his arm, her nails digging into his flesh and nearly drawing blood. Spike stared at the torn woman in front of him felt pity for her for the first time since she had been brought into his group.
Her back was a mess. Old scar tissue covered the whole expanse of her tiny back, blood dripping in between the raised welts from the blows her captors had dealt her. Her tear strained face met his and dropped quickly, hands shaking and nails digging into his flesh again when Willow splashed her with the cold wet liquid once more.
Buffy cursed, the scar that ran from her cheek to lips quivered as she shook from the pain.
She was one battered and beaten woman.
Her chest faced him and Spike couldn't help but take in her small frame for the first time since capturing her. She had obviously been living off of the land with the amount of dirt and grime that was caked to her clothes and skin. He had smelt weeks’ worth of travel, different woods and dirt stuck to her clothes, but as it was winter there wasn't much to hunt and her ribs were starting to show through her pale skin.
His gaze traveled further down to her hips and stopped just above her tattered and torn pants where his eyes zeroed in on what looked to be bite marks followed by four long pale lines. His eyes darkened at seeing the bite mark on her skin, his demon crying out in rage that she had been marked in such a way.
Marked by a vampire that wasn't him.
'What the bloody hell?' Spike couldn't stop the possessive growl that seemed to rumble through his chest. The bite marks looked so familiar and yet there was something about them, vicious in their making.
"Don't!"
Without realizing he had reached out with his free hand, his fingertips barely grazing the silky expanse of her skin when Buffy's hand snatched his wrist in a tight grip.
"D-Don't."
"He really did a number on you didn' he."
It was more of a whispered statement than a question. Buffy's eyes never left his, thankful that Willow had started to cover her back in that magical paste of hers, slowly numbing the pain that encased her back. Tara moved to wrap a fresh bandage around Buffy's chest, covering her naked breasts from Spikes view once again.
The brief contact of his fingers on her bite mark had sent it burning hot and Buffy couldn't help the discomforted whimper that escaped her. The bite mark always burned at night, every step she took seemed to worsen the pain, but this was different. The burning sensation she felt now was fiery-hot and angry, like nothing she had felt before.
One thing was for certain, she did not want his hands near her again.
I was weak. Too weak to fight back. Too weak to tear my tormentors off of me when they attacked. Riley, Angelus...Drusilla.
"It wasn't just him." Barely recognizing her own voice as she spoke, she took a deep breath. The defeat in her voice was comforted by the gentle squeeze Tara gave to her shoulder before wrapping the bandage around her chest and back around in another loop. "This one was from Angelus." Buffy traced a finger down the scar on her left cheek and stopped at her lips where the scar finished. "Some on my back are from Angelus, but mostly from Riley. Different times, different places." Shuddering, she lift up her arms as best she could with them bound as Tara wrapped the bandage around again, almost breathing a sigh of relief when she no longer felt the ache in her back. Numb once more, she dropped her hands, fingers hovering over her right hip. "These," she scratched at the bite mark and deep lines angrily as they burned before turning to glare up at Spike. "are from Drusilla."
"What." Spike almost but whispered, his demon whimpered as Spike forced it aside.
"T-That should keep you relatively comfortable until we get back and then we'll change the bandages and clean the wounds again. OK, let's go." Willow rushed out, pouring water over her hands, rinsing them of Buffy's blood before stepping up back into the carriage, one hand running soothing circles on her belly.
Buffy raised an eyebrow at Willows rushed words, something sure had her frazzled and for a moment she was sure she had seen something cross her face before she disappeared from view. Tara had already walked up ahead to where Oz was standing, gripping onto the reins of Spike's horse as soon as she had tied off the bandage. She came back a few moments later just as Willow sat down in the carriage.
"W-we need to move. Oz say's it's not safe to linger here any longer."
Buffy let out a defeated sigh, goosebumps rising across her skin as another icy winter’s breeze brushed through the air. Turning to climb back into the carriage she was stopped by Spike who grabbed her arm in a deadly grip, eyes wide.
"Drusilla? She's with Angelus?"
"Yes." It came out as a whisper, making her shudder from the memories. "She's his mate." Buffy spat the words out, a shudder running though her. There was no amount of spells that would ever erase the memory of that particular night from Buffy's mind.
The night Angelus had claimed Drusilla.
The night she had been bitten.
"You lie! She-"
"I have absolutely no reason to lie to you!" Buffy shouted meeting his narrowed glare. "I have been held captive by that insane bitch for nearly two years!"
Buffy's head reeled from the blow Spike delivered to her face. She kept her eyes downcast and low, spitting the blood from her mouth at his feet as it trickled from her open lip.
"How dare you!"
Tears welled in her eyes before she blinked and let them fall freely. She slowly lift up her head and met his enraged gaze.
"You know nothing."
Her whispered words pulled at the pit of her stomach making her numb. Memories she had tried to stay banished from her mind forced themselves forward and her tears fell freely onto her cheek, her lip dripping with blood. She stared at him for seconds or minutes she didn't know, she couldn't breathe, didn't blink and then finally she was turning and stumbling up the three steps back into the warm carriage.
She didn't look at either Tara or Willow as she wiped the blood from her chin and brushed the tears from her cheeks. The only response Spike gave was a fierce growl and a bark of orders to Oz who had climbed back into his seat outside. With a shout the horses started up, coming to a fierce gallop and pulling the carriage away with a jolt.
"Drusilla was-" Willow whispered and paused, "with William, uh-Spike a long time ago."
She passed Buffy a blanket after seeing the shaking she was doing, skin covered in goosebumps. Giving no response of thanks or voice on her words, Buffy sat staring blankly down at her bound hands as the ropes dug into her flesh. Her fingers and hands still smeared with the blood from her face.
William? As in William the bloody. The master vampire that has been fighting a war against Angelus for over a decade. The master vampire who had plagued the country for over one-hundred years with the insane Drusilla at his side. He was supposed to be dead!'
Buffy let out a silent sob as her memories caught up with her.
It didn't matter anymore. None of it mattered anymore. She had resigned herself to that fact that she was never going to find Rupert Giles. She was never going to get her revenge on Angelus and Drusilla. Not when Spike only saw her as a bargaining chip to get the insane bitch back.
Tears fell down Buffys cheeks as she whispered.
"Effugiturus unus abyssus tantum ut exsisto captio in aliud."
Under her own blanket Willow reached over and grasped Tara's hand in a firm grip as tears formed in her own eyes. At Tara's quizzical look Willow translated her Latin spoken words in a broken whisper, sympathy and sadness for Buffy written all over her face.
"Escape one hell only to be imprisoned in another."
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Chapter End Notes:
There are few ways to translate that last part. "To glide away one hell only when to emerge imprisonment upon other" or "To flee from one hell only when to emerge imprisonment upon other" I couldn't find exact match.
Also a big thank you to Silverwolf89 for being my BETA :)
Also a big thank you to Silverwolf89 for being my BETA :)