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Chapter 6

Tara looked intently at the man standing before her, his aura very bright and wide around him. That wasn’t anything new to her. Spike’s aura was always bright and extended around him. Usually full of reds and oranges, with spikes of gold, black, and muddy gray. But whomever this person was, his aura was very different, more muddled in spots. He was covered in varying shades of purple and blue, with a bit of bright lemony yellow mingling with a muddy green, and bits of silver here and there. This person may look like Spike, but he definitely not the Spike they knew.

“Yeah right. If he’s the Marquess of Camden…”

“Willow…” Tara tried to get Willow’s attention.

“Then do I get to be Countess Rosenberg?” Willow laughed at her own joke.

“Willow!” Tara put a hand on Willow’s shoulder, finally gaining her attention. “He’s human…,” She stared into Willows eyes to ensure she got the meaning of what she was saying.

“Once upon a time maybe…” Willow retorted.

“I’m serious, Will. I can see it. He is definitely not who you think he is,” She added, glancing at the shy and confused person standing in front of them. “His aura is human. And it’s nothing like Spike’s. I think Anya’s telling the truth.”

“But… that’s not even possible! You can’t just unmake a vampire… can you?” Willow turned to Anya. Tara noticed that the man’s aura shifted, he was afraid… and worried. Very worried. His thoughts and emotions were running wild and he was trying to control them, but not succeeding.

“Well…sure! Not much I can’t do,” Anya seemed to be beaming with pride. “Not that I really wanted to do this, but I didn’t have a lot of choice. I mean, Buffy made the wish, and I knew she didn’t mean it, but D’Hoffran was listening and he kind of forced my hand. It was either, *poof* Spike gets a very dusty ending, or *poof* I take him back to pre-Spike. Which is also, by the way, why no one should ever underestimate the power of the wish!”

“So, you mean this is…” Willow trailed off.

“Lord William Pratt…” Anya replied.

“Heir to the Marquess of Camden.” Tara finished.

“Presumptive,” Anya corrected. “He’s the presumptive heir.”

“And that means..?” Tara asked.

“That he’s only the heir if his Uncle doesn’t produce a viable one that lives long enough to inherit the title.”

“Oh. Ok. So, um, Spike…” Willow asked.

“William,” Tara corrected Willow, almost at the same time that Anya did.

“William… is part of the aristocracy of Britain?” Willow sounded like she was having a really hard time accepting this. “I mean, no one ever really knew his history, so we just assumed he was always like this,” She waved her hand in William’s direction, indicating his appearance.

Which made William look down at himself, sending even more confusion and fluster shooting dancing around his aura. They really were sort of traumatizing the poor guy.

“William?” Tara smiled at the very distressed William, hoping it would set him at ease. It seemed to marginally work.

“I’m Tara. I bet you’re pretty confused, aren’t you?”

He nodded his head, seeming at a loss for words.

“All of us talking around you, instead of to you? Saying some really strange things? Not really answering your questions?” She added, as she got closer to him.

He nodded again, and seemed to be fishing for the right words to say.

“You’re worried about someone?” She asked gently.

“Mother,” He answered brokenly. “She’s not well you see…” He trailed off, his voice cracking. “I just want to make sure she’s…”

“Ok?”

He nodded again.

“I can tell you really care about her a lot. It’s hard worrying about the ones we love.” She looked at Willow, sending her another look that she hoped conveyed just how much she loved her.

“I know you want to see her. We’ll do everything we can to help you find her.”

“You will?” He looked so hopeful and relieved at her statement. Then he seemed to realize he’d been a little too eager and schooled his actions. “I mean… thank you.” He gave the slightest bow of his head toward her.

Her conscience only gave her a tiny twinge as she acknowledged to herself that her idea of ‘finding’ his mother, and his idea of ‘finding’ his mother, were very different things. This was going to be hard. She recalled how she felt when her own mother had died, and felt more than a little sorry for what he was about to go through. It was never easy losing someone you loved.

“We will, I promise. Would you mind if we took care of that wound on your head first, though? It looks pretty bad, and you wouldn’t want it to get infected. Then we can talk about finding your family. If that’s ok?”

He seemed to waffle a bit. Torn between finding his family and being a gentleman.

“It’s really no bother. It would be our honor to help you if you’ll let us.” She hoped appealing to his own sense of honor would sway his decision.

He nodded.

“Good. If you’ll just, um, follow us inside?” She asked him

His hesitance was back, but after a brief second, he seemed to resign himself to the idea and nodded again.

As Willow stole up next to her, she placed her hand in Willow’s and they started walking up to the house.

“Have I told you how much I love you?” Willow leaned in and whispered in her ear.

“Not as much as I love you,” She smiled back at her as they walked hand and hand up the steps, and turned to see William, Xander, and Anya following. She noted William looking at her with curiosity as he stopped on the steps. Xander simply stepped around him, but Anya stopped and leaned towards him.

“Sapphists,” She heard Anya say.

William’s expression almost made her laugh, as he seemed to ponder that a moment and then blushed three shades of red. This was certainly going to take a lot of adjustment for all of them.

Anya threaded her arm around William’s and not so gently led him through the door, which she shut behind them.

A *lot* of adjustment.





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