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CHAPTER 3: Just like the movies


Sweat was dripping in Spike’s eyes but he couldn’t reach his face to wipe it off. So he just clenched his teeth and kept kicking at the wall like he’d been doing for the past hour. Colorful curses could be heard in the empty building as tiny little pieces of whatever the wall was made of fell to the floor. He had managed to damage the wall around the ring holding his chains a little bit, but not enough for him to break free.


Once again, he stopped to try the chains. He sat on the floor facing the wall, put his feet on either side of the ring, and yanked on the chains as hard as he could without popping his arms out of their sockets. Nothing. He tried a couple more times with the same result.


Spike let out a long scream of frustration, then got up and started kicking at the wall again.


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Buffy stared at the howling man on the bed for a few seconds, not knowing what to do. She had to think fast because it looked like he was already starting to recover. She knew Spike and this wasn’t Spike. Or it probably was Spike, but he was under some kind of spell, or drug, or maybe even possessed. Something was affecting him, that was for sure and she was now worried about what he could do.


“Is that your idea of fun you stupid bitch?” Spike wheezed from his spot on the bed. “You should have told me… you were into S&M. I would have come prepared.”


“Spike, please, listen to me. You have to stop this. I don’t know what got into you, but that’s not you talking. You have to calm down. Do you remember anything strange happening since you left the other night?” Buffy’s eyes were darting left and right, trying to locate some kind of weapon that she could use to defend herself without hurting him to badly in case things got out of control.


But she was out of luck. Not only was their bedroom almost furniture free, but it was also completely weapon free. Except maybe for that lamp by the bed but he would definitely get to it before her. Fortunately, she was between the bed and the door so if things came to that, she could make a quick escape.


Spike slowly looked up. The pained expression on his face was gone and he was now leering at her, his blue eyes cold and unfeeling. “What’s wrong little Slayer? Starting to feel twitchy? As a favor to you, I’ll tell you what is your mistake here. A good fighter must always stay calm and collected no matter how bad the situation. And never, ever let emotions interfere. Even when the man you love is just about to slice your lovely throat.”


The smile on his face chilled her to the bones. She took a small step back.


*Mind control? Or.. or maybe the First Evil is back? It has to be something like possess… Ok, escape now, figure it out later!* She thought as she watched Spike slowly get up from the bed and pull out a wicked looking knife from his jacket sleeve.


She kicked at a T-shirt on the floor and sent it flying in Spike’s face to create a diversion, then ran out of the room and down the hall. But the diversion hadn’t slowed down Spike all that much, he was right behind her.


He grabbed her by the back of her T-shirt and she only stopped long enough to punch him the face. She cringed when she heard his nose break and mumbled a quick “sorry” before trying to escape again but he caught her with the knife. She felt the burn of the blade slicing through the first layer of her skin from her right shoulder blade to her left hip. She didn’t let it stop her though and burst through the first door she encountered, locking it behind her.


“Oh come on Slayer! I was just getting warmed up. Be a good sport and come out of there! How come nobody ever wants to play with me?” He started banging on the door, putting all of his weight into it to break it down. “Don’t make me come and get you, you little whore.”


The door shook a couple more times, then stopped. Buffy breathed a sigh of relief even though she knew this couldn't be good. And she was right. It really wasn’t.


Turning the light on, Buffy looked around the room. It was Cordelia’s. She hoped to find something to defend herself with, and possibly a first aid kit because she could feel the blood dripping down her back. She knew that if she had just faced him while they were in the room, she could have tried to knock him unconscious. She had enough space in there to fight properly.


She didn’t know why she had the stupid idea of running away. Probably because she couldn’t stomach the idea of hurting him. But now, not only was she stuck in Cordelia’s room, which despite being big, was cramped with all kinds of stuff, but her back was hurting too much for her to have a chance against Spike.


The power went off.


“Fuck!”


Buffy jumped, startled by the sound coming from the door. He was hacking into it with an axe! *Shitshitshitshit! Ok, now I’m freaked!*


When he made a hole big enough, he looked at her through it. “Hey babe. Missed me? Aren’t we having fun or what? I couldn’t wait to get back to you so I could cut you into little pieces.”


Without answering, Buffy made a run for it. She got into the bathroom and locked it behind her. It would have been the stupidest idea ever if Buffy didn’t know the hotel. Cordelia’s room had originally been the maids quarters, and her bathroom used to be a storage room for cleaning supplies.


While giving Buffy “the tour” Cordelia had pointed out her own private escape hatch-- the original laundry chute she’d kept when they had renovated the bathroom. At the time, Buffy had laughed and said that if Cordy wanted to avoid Angel, she could go pretend to take a bath, jump down and escape through the basement. She would never have thought she was the one who would need to use it.


She tried to look down, but it was pitch black. Actually, not that much different from the bathroom. Just finding the trap door in the dark had been a challenge; now, she had to jump down that thing, not knowing if she’d make it to the basement in one piece. It was only three floors and maybe she could slow her fall down with her hands…


Thinking fast, she took two towels and wrapped them around her forearms. This way, she could use her forearms to slow herself down and not get hurt doing it.


“Oh Slaaaaaayyyyer! Are you hiding in there? Are you stuck?… Let me get you out then.”


Buffy took a deep breath and, climbing on the edge of the bathtub, lowered herself into the tight opening. “And here goes nothing…”


She fell for what seemed like a lifetime and landed in a crouch on the basement floor. She looked up but she was sure that he wouldn’t fit in the chute anyway. Spike was lean, but he still had large shoulders. If she barely fit, he definitely wouldn’t.


Not wasting anymore time, she scanned the basement for anything useful. Soon enough, she located some rope and a couple of two by fours. She put the rope across her shoulder. The pain shooting through her back as she did this made her wince, but she didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself. She picked up a two by four and stopped only long enough to turn the power back on, then rushed up the stairs. She hoped against all hope that she would make it before him.


Buffy opened the door carefully, her fist cocked, ready to strike. The lobby was lit up brightly, and no one was there… yet. She threw the rope on the couch so she’d be ready to fight when he showed up, then she went to the center of the room and waited. And… waited.


After a few minutes, she started getting impatient and nervous. The plan was to let him come to her, but what if he didn’t come? What if he had a plan of his own that involved hiding and waiting her? Or maybe he was just upstairs, not understanding where she had disappeared. She finally decided that taunting would probably work better than patience in this case.


“Come on Spike! What are you waiting for? Are you scared of taking me one on one in a fight?” She waited a beat. Nothing.


“You used to be the Big Bad. Why don’t you show me how you got your reputation?” Still nothing.


Using all the bad words she had ever learnt in school, Buffy started carefully approaching the office area. By doing so, she turned her back to the weapons display, were she hadn’t noticed the shadow observing her every move. As soon as her back was completely turned, Spike lunged at her and tackled her to the ground. He had let go of the bulky ax so he could move faster, and only had the knife.


Buffy yelped and tried crawling away from him. She freed one of her legs and tried kicking him in the face but he grabbed her leg and pinned it underneath him. Reaching as far as she could, Buffy took hold of the two by four she had let go of during her fall and twisted herself sharply to hit him in the head. But he blocked her blow with his arm and threw the piece of wood away.


At the same moment, they both heard a startled “What the Hell is going on in here?!” coming from the front door.


Buffy lifted her head to look and saw a very shocked Willow standing there staring at them. “Willow, stop him. Do something!” Then, she thought about it for a second when she saw Willow’s eyes turn black and added: “DON’T KILL HIM! DON’T KILL HIM!”


With a flick of her wrist, the witch threw Spike away from Buffy. Stunned, he tried to get up, but Willow said a few words in Latin and he found himself incapable of even blinking.


Seeing that her spell was successful, Willow rushed to Buffy’s side and took her friend in her arms. The two girls embraced and Buffy finally let herself cry.


“God, Buffy, are you alright? What happened? You’re bleeding! Why was Spike trying to kill you? Has he completely lost his mind? Thank goddess I arrived early…”


“Willow! Please. First things first.” She got up and went to get the rope. “Help me tie him up would you.”


The two girls grabbed Spike by his arms and lifted him off the floor and sat him on a chair. Buffy tied the rope securely around him, making sure that he wouldn’t be able to escape if the spell didn’t last. Finished, she collapsed on the couch.


“There’s something wrong with him, Will. I don’t know what it is. Didn’t have much time to think about it while he was chasing me around the hotel with an ax.”


Willow gasped. “With an… ax? Geez, psycho much? Maybe if you tell me everything that happened, we could figure out what’s wrong with him. I could do a spell to see if there’s magic involved, but I’d have to cancel the spell he’s under right now.”


“Later. If he escaped right now, I’m so exhausted that I think I wouldn’t even fight back.”


“Ok, stay right here, I’ll get the first aid kit and some tea, and you can tell me everything.”


She came back a few minutes later to find Buffy looking at Spike with a sadness Willow had never seen on her friend’s face before.


“Buff, are you gonna be alright?”


“Yeah, I guess.” She answered in a lifeless tone.


Willow made her take off her bloodied T-shirt and started cleaning up the wound. “So, why don’t you tell me what you know?”


Buffy sighed heavily. “We had a fight, right after you called the other day. I upset him and he left. Up until then, it was nothing to be worried about… I mean nothing supernatural or anything like that. Just typical Spike and Buffy bickering. He was gone for a little more than twenty-four hours. When he came back, I knew right away that something was wrong. He was acting normal but there was something.”


“What was it?”


“I just knew. I know, it’s not the kind of proof you base a scientific theory on, but I could feel it in my guts.”


“Just a question before you continue so I can understand the situation better. You guys are together?”


“Yes. We are.” Buffy looked down at her hands, still feeling stupid for not telling Willow over the phone. “I was going to tell you when you got here. I wanted us to spend time together like we used to. Remember when we were gossiping in my bedroom and giggling while talking about Oz and Angel? I thought we could do that. I miss that. I missed you.”


“Aww, Buffy! I missed you too, you have no idea.” The two friends held each other for a while but were interrupted by the front door crashing open and the loud noise of chains rattling on the floor.


“BUFFY! STAY AWAY FROM ME, I’M NOT ME! I’M SOMEONE ELSE WHO WANTS TO KILL YOU! I MEAN… HE IS…” Real Spike was standing in the doorway holding heavy chains in his arms, and he looked dangerously close from an adrenaline overdose.


Before he knew what was happening, Buffy was in his arms, kissing him all over. “You’re you! I knew you weren’t you!”


“You knew I wasn’t me?”


“Of course, doofus. I knew you weren’t you and I know you are you, you!”


“Huh… you guys are giving me the mother of all headaches.” Willow said from her spot on the couch. “And Spike,” She pointed at the chains with the huge piece of wall still attached to it. “Is this your new Halloween costume? Ghost of the Manor?”


“Ha bloody ha. Hello to you too, Red. And for your information, it took me three hours to get these chains out of the wall. I’d appreciate a bit of respect.”


“Sorry Spike. I’m glad you didn’t turn out to be an ax murderer after all.”


Buffy and Spike came to sit next to Willow, facing the fake Spike who was still tied up on his chair.


“So,” Buffy finally asked. “Who is this, and what is he doing wearing my boyfriend’s hot body? Is he your evil twin or something?”


Spike told them everything that happened after he left the Hyperion the night before, his kidnapping, the Slayerfest, the shapeshifter, how he escaped. “So, what do we do with him now?”


Spike looked at Buffy like she grew a second head. “What the bleeding hell is wrong with you? We kill him. That’s what we do!”


Buffy bit her nails and looked away, mumbling something that nobody heard.


“What’s that pet?”


“I said… He looks like you. I’m not gonna kill someone who looks like you. I’ll have nightmares for the rest of my life.”


He gave Buffy a funny look but turned to Willow without commenting.


“Hey! Don’t look at me! I’m not killing you either.”


“But it’s not me!”


The girls looked away.


“Bloody Hell! Have you birds gone completely stalkers? IT’S NOT ME!… Fine. I’ll do it. Then maybe later we could rent a movie and have a quiet night in to try to forget that you girls forced me to kill my own bloody self. You said you wanted to see The Shining, right?” He smirked evilly at his girl.


Buffy shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. “A whole world of NO WAY IN HELL. I had enough psychos for one night, thank you very much. Take that ax and kill your own damn self already so we can get this over with.”


Spike chuckled. “Alright then. All sensitive girls who don’t want to see my gorgeous head fall, go in the office now or have nightmares forever.” He stood up and took the ax from the coffee table. Before going in the office, Buffy whispered something into Spike’s ear. He gave her a disgusted look, his mouth slightly opened in shock. “You’re sick, Summers. Get in the office so I can kill the bugger.”


She ran to the office, giggling like a schoolgirl. A moment later, he called them back. “Oh Slayer… come here for a second would you pet. I have something to show you.”


Willow and Buffy walked out of the room and they both made a grossed out face.


“What the Hell is that thing?”


“This,” He held up the head of the shapeshifter, who had regained its original form after dying, “happens to be the thing you suggested we could have a threesome with, you nitwit. Still interested?”


Willow almost fell to the floor in hysterics. Buffy turned green.


“I think I’m gonna be sick…”


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Epilogue


The room was small, dark and crowded with twenty so demons. They were standing all over the room and you could just feel the excitement crackling around them. The backroom of the bar was normally used for clandestine poker games and had never been this animated before. The noise from all the different demon dialects spoken at once was deafening.


In the middle of all this confusion, a huge demon sat awkwardly on a chair too small for him in front of a dirty table. He looked oddly like a king presiding over an assembly of ministers, or, maybe a demonic version of Al Capone. He was big, he was ugly and he looked down right annoyed. A scrawny assistant was standing next to him holding a pad and a pen, ready to jump at his boss’ next order.


Big Ugly dragged a disdainful look over the crowd and shook his head. These were the ones who claimed they would win the contest? These were the ones who said they could defeat the greatest Slayer ever and bring back her heart? He sighed and rubbed his massive forehead wearily. Not only was he the one to come up with the idea, but he had the strong impression that he’d be the one walking away with everyone’s money as well.


He stood, straightening up his impressive body as much as the ceiling allowed without impaling it with his multiple horns.


“Silence you pathetic excuses for demons!”


His voice was so loud that some of them had taken a step back.


“Why don’t you approach the table so we can discuss our progress in this exciting game.” He tried to smile encouragingly, but the rows of gigantic fangs adorning his large mouth were anything but friendly.


Big ugly took a seat, and gestured for the nearest demon, a small green slimy thing with bright red eyes, to do the same. A Fyral demon sat too, and soon, the crowd of demons was pressing against the small table.


“Alright, alright… Quiet! First of all, I think the question to ask would be: Did any of you succeed in bringing back the heart?”


They looked at one another in silence, anxious to see if the jackpot had been won or if they still had a shot at it.


Seeing that nobody was going to answer, Big Ugly was about to talk again when a big, smelly, non-human heart landed on the table in front of him. All the demons gasped and stared at the heart in fascination, not understanding what was going on.


“See, I was wondering… The bloke who brings back the Slayer’s heart gets the jackpot, but what about the one who rips all of your hearts out? Does he get to walk with the money too? Cause I was thinking about buying a house for my girl here and some extra cash would come handy.”


The demons hesitated to attack when they saw a group of humans and demons blocking the doorway. The excitement they had felt earlier gave way to pure fear when they recognized who they were faced with. Every demon’s worst nightmare: the Slayer and her friends.


“Red, would you do us the honor?”


The witch’s eyes turned to pure black and she smiled.


“It will be my pleasure Spike. Let the fun begin.”


The End





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