Chapter 2
“Honey, I’m home.” Buffy pushed open the door, with Spike sprawled out over her shoulder.
“You found him!”
“Yup,” Buffy answered before dropping the vampire on the couch. “Gosh, he may look skinny but he’s one heavy devil.” She rolled her shoulders. “How long will the drugs last?”
“Not long, we should do the spell now.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now. Help me get my supplies set up,” Elizabeth demanded before rushing to her room.
***
“How is this going to work?” Buffy asked as she tied Spike to a wooden chair in the middle of the living room as Elizabeth drew designs on the floor with a chalky substance.
“We’re going to bring William to the future by bringing him to Spike’s present form.”
“That sounds confusing.” Without thinking, Buffy reached out to wipe the crushed blood that had formed around a cut she had given Spike on his forehead. “Will he remember?”
“I’m not certain.”
“Ah, huh…so where will Spike be once William takes over?”
“That answer requires a lengthy explanation and we don’t have the time.”
“Oh.” Buffy left Spike and she began lighting the various candles that were surrounding him. “And this William, he’ll be a really big bad ass?”
“I imagine so, he was known by such a title as William the Bloody. Are you getting cold feet, dear?”
“A little I guess. I just don’t want things to go wonky.”
“Wonky?” Elizabeth repeated with a laugh. “I promise we’ll have everything under control.” She stood on her feet and she wiped off her hands. “I’ll be performing the spell now, for safety reasons, I’d like for you to step into your room.”
“O-ok.” Buffy was closing her door when she heard the chanting begin.
***
“Safety reasons? I’m the freaking Slayer,” Buffy grumbled as she searched through her bags for her pajamas. It was getting close to midnight and Buffy assumed she should get some sleep before her babysitting began.
As Buffy changed her clothes, her mind went to Spike. She never thought Spike and Drusilla would ever break up. Even if she hated them both with a passion, Buffy always thought their love would last, that it would literally be eternal.
Maybe we’re all doomed. Maybe all love isn’t meant to last…besides if everyone were in love and getting their proper amount of smoochies, who’d go to all the romantic comedies? Who’d read all those books with the flowery covers with the naked muscley men on them?
“How depressing…” She said with a sigh, getting into bed.
***
Buffy woke hours later to the sound of hysterical sobbing. “What?” She grabbed a stake from her bag before walking into the living room. “Elizabeth?”
“He’s crying, Buffy.”
“I can see that.” Buffy eyed Spike in distaste. “Why? About Drusilla?”
“No, Spike’s gone, he’s William now and apparently all my books are filled of lies!” Elizabeth grunted in frustration and she walked into the kitchen, leaving Buffy alone with the man who was tied to the chair.
“Spike?” Buffy stepped closer. “Ah, William?”
“Stay away from me! Or I’ll-I’ll scream and the police will come for you!”
“Don’t scream; we don’t want to hurt you. I promise,” Buffy looked at William and she was in awe at how different he seemed. He was in Spike’s clothing but there was something new about him and Buffy wasn’t sure what it was. “Um, I’ll be right back.”
“Blasted books!”
“Elizabeth, what’s going on? The spell did work, didn’t it?” Buffy walked in the kitchen and over to the Watcher who was quickly scanning her books.
“It worked, he’s human, he has a soul but he’s nothing like the human the books say he should be. I’ve been questioning him and all he does is whimper. I asked him about killing people with railroad spikes and he cries more and mentions how he hates such ‘dark and ugly business’.”
“Could he be faking it?”
“It’s possible but I doubt it.” Elizabeth frowned. “I’m supposed to be getting into the mind of an evil villain not a blubbering baby!”
“Did you explain to him what you’re doing? I’d be scared too if I were thrown into the future…”
“Yes, of course I explained everything to him!”
“Eh, Elizabeth, maybe you need to sleep for a little while, let me talk to Spike, maybe I can calm him down.”
“Ok, here.” Elizabeth handed Buffy a tape recorder. “I’ll only nap for a little while.”
“Are there any questions that I should definitely ask him?”
“Just talk to him now, try to make him comfortable. See if he’s hungry, do whatever you’d like.”
***
“William?” Buffy came into the room and she sat on the couch. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m scared out of my wits.”
“That’s understandable. Ah, so, are you hungry?”
“Will you poison me?”
“No.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Um…what if I untied you?”
“I guess that would make you more trustworthy but I’ll scream if--.”
“I know yada, yada, police, yada, yada. But you won’t be able to runaway and if even you did, I’d be on you in seconds flat. I’d hurt you.” Buffy looked William in the eye and she wondered if he was taking her seriously. “Do I need to scare you into not running away? I doubt you’d last long anyway, it’s 1998 you know.”
“1998 what?”
“That’s the year.”
“Good Lord.”
“You won’t runaway?” Buffy fell to her knees and she worked on untying the ropes around his ankles. She knew even if he was an evil man pretending, he wouldn’t get anyway without a fight from her.
“I won’t.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
“Ok.”
Buffy untied him.
***
“God, you can really pack it away.”
“What?”
Buffy watched as he ate what should have been called his third full meal. “Food. You eat a lot.”
“I do.” William blushed. “It’s good, you’re a wonderful cook.”
“Oh, I don’t cook. It’s room service.”
“What?”
“Never mind. So William, are you called William the Bloody where you come from?”
“H-How do you know about that?“
Buffy hid her smile, as William’s blush deepened. She never imagined that she’d see Spike with so much color in his cheeks. “Elizabeth, the lady who was here before, she told me.”
“I don’t like her. She yelled at me and for no reason.”
“I’m sorry.” Buffy wanted to giggle, but she held it back. “We just want to know about you and about your life.”
“I don’t see why…” He said under his breath and then he confessed, “It’s a nickname.”
“William the Bloody? How’d you get it?”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“It can’t be too bad. Heck, my name is Buffy, you can imagine the nicknames I had as a child.”
“Buffy?” He said her name with a grin on his face as if the word tickled his tongue when he said it. “What a peculiar name.”
“I know.”
“Ah,” William sighed. “I don’t know why I should tell you anything but…you’ve been kind to me… The men around town the call me William the Bloody Awful Poet.” He looked down as if ashamed. “Some of my poems were stolen and read without my permission, they weren’t even my best but I’ve been teased about my writing ever since.”
“Poet…”
“Yes.”
Buffy didn’t know what to say. She believed him but she couldn’t imagine Spike as a poet. “So you aren’t a ruthless killer?”
“No! No! Why would you think that?”
“Eh, Elizabeth, she…”
“Well that woman is vile and she is guilty of slander! I wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Hey, I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding.”
“And I’m not sure that I cannot believe anything that she has told me. Being brought into the future—that’s absurd!”
“Does this place look like anything from where you’re from?” Buffy stood and she walked to the kitchen sink. “We have running water. Indoors.” She turned on the faucet and then she turned it off quickly. “Come here.”
“No…”
“William.” She glared at him and he joined her reluctantly.
“This a refrigerator.” She opened the door and motioned from him to look inside. “Touch something in there.”
“It’s cold.” William looked at the bottle of juice in wonder.
“Yup and we have a freezer that keeps things frozen…Hell, this is just one room in the house. We’ve got flushing toilets, comfy beds and TV.” Buffy laughed, “We have MTV.”
“I-I don’t know what to say…it’s improbable.”
“No it’s the future and you’re in it now, William. Magic brought you here and you’re going to be here for quite a while so you’d better get used to it.”
***
“This is a TV. This is a remote that controls the TV.” Buffy handed the remote to William. “The red button at the top, push it.”
William followed Buffy’s instructions and he jumped when the television came to life.
“Sit there, good boy.” Buffy laughed. “The television is your friend. It’s a wonderful invention you can use it to learn or to be entertained. The big arrow buttons, do you see them? Push either the one that points up or down and that will change the channels.”
“Channels?”
“Um, I have no idea how to explain them…after a while you’ll understand them.” Buffy sat next to William and she curled her feet under her. “Here’s the listing, the lodge has crap cable but we’ll find something…and hopefully it’ll be in English.”
“This is unbelievable, how-what?”
“I know I feel the same way sometimes. Uh…did you ever go to plays?”
“Yes, with my mother.”
Buffy smiled, imagining Mommy Spike. “Well most of the people on there,” She pointed at the TV, “They’re actors. Does that make sense?”
“Not entirely.” His eyes widened as he changed the channel to a cartoon.
“It’ll take a while for everything to sink in. Just try not to think about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of everything and you’ll be fine.”
***
“Buffy?!”
“Hm?”
“Buffy, I told you to watch him, not sleep on his shoulder!”
Buffy’s eyes popped open and she sat up with a start. “Elizabeth, I--.”
“He could have ran off! He could have killed you as you slept!”
“I don’t think--.” Buffy sighed when Elizabeth cut her off again. She looked at William to see how he was holding up under her yelling. He gave her a little grin and Buffy found herself grinning back.
“I won’t hurt anyone and I won’t runaway. I made a promise and I’d never break a promise to a lady,” William spoke up during the Watcher’s rant.
Gah, Buffy thought. She felt her cheeks warm up and she knew within seconds she’d have a blush that would match William’s. I can’t believe Spike was ever like this; he’s so different, so…sweet. He called me a lady…awww.
Buffy looked away from William quickly, knowing that she’d melt if she were to look at him for much longer.
Elizabeth clearly did not believe him. “Right. Well,” she tugged on the hem of her shirt and she cleared her throat, sitting down. “Let’s get some work done. William, tell me about yourself.”
“I’d rather not.”
“You can’t refuse.” Elizabeth replied. “If you do, Buffy’ll hit you a few times until you talk.”
William swallowed and he took a minute to respond. “I’ll cooperate but if I’m going to be talking, uh, I’d like to talk to Buffy.”
“Huh?” Both Buffy and Elizabeth asked at the same time.
“I’d like to speak Buffy…only.”
“Why?” Elizabeth looked at him curiously.
“Well, she doesn’t yell as much as you do and she has been very kind to me. And she hasn’t accused me of the horrible crimes that you have.”
“Buffy, let me talk to you in the kitchen, now.”
***
“What happened? I need you to be a Slayer, Buffy, not a girl with raging hormones. We need him for my research not for you to flirt with.”
“I haven’t flirted at all. I was just being nice to him. And my hormones are not raging, they’re perfectly tame.” Buffy crossed her arms and she glared at the older woman. “Maybe he’d be willing to talk to you if you weren’t so bitchy towards him.”
“Oh!” Elizabeth gasped, “I haven’t--!”
“You write down a list of things for me to ask him and I’ll do the Q&A session with the tape recorder. Until then, William and I are going to eat breakfast.” With that said, Buffy turned on her heel and marched into the living room.
***
“Sorry I feel asleep on you. The last thing I remember was trying to understand the show we were watching…I hope I didn’t lean too hard on your shoulder.” Buffy laughed before handing William the menu for room service. “Pick out whatever you want and I’ll order it.”
“I can have anything?”
“Sure. I’m going to have the pancakes myself. The blueberry ones.”
“Oh. I’ll eat whatever you have.”
“Are you sure?”
William nodded as he stared at the color photographs on the menu. “The other woman…Elizabeth, I don’t know about her…”
“Don’t worry,” Buffy said as she picked up the telephone. “She’s not that bad, you just surprised her I think. She expected you to be different.”
“Doesn’t everyone…?” William grumbled.
“What?” Buffy began to ask but the person from room service interrupted her and Buffy was forced to give their order.
“Oh, nothing.”
***
“So, you’re a poet?”
“Oh, yes.” William’s face lit up. “For many years now.”
“What do you write about?” Buffy asked between bites of pancake.
“Things of beauty…love, human emotions…”
“Really? Can you tell me one of your poems?”
“No, I-I can’t remember any from the top of my head.” William blushed and he looked down. “But if I had some paper…I might be able to come up with something new.”
“Paper? I’m sure I can get you some paper. Consider it done.”
“Thank you, Buffy.”
“Hey, no problem.” Buffy shrugged.
“Buffy, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“How can I still be living in 1998? Elizabeth, she said that I was too difficult to speak in the present, what does that mean? Can a man live more than one hundred years in your future?”
Buffy didn’t answer him quickly, not sure how William would react to the fact that he’d be killed and transformed into a vampire. “Some people can live more than a hundred years but you… didn’t. Something…supernatural happened to you. William, um, what do you know about vampires?”
***
“I become a demon?” William asked the question for the third time. “Why? How?”
“Well, I can tell you all about the how but it’s the why we’re hoping you can help us with. To Elizabeth, you don’t become just a demon; ask her, she thinks you’re a legend, a vampire god or something. She’s dedicated her life to studying you.” Buffy waited for William to burst into tears or to start screaming but he remained calm and silent. “Say something, what are you thinking?”
“What am I to you?”
“Huh?” She leaned forward, not sure if she heard him correctly because he had spoken so quietly.
“If I’m a legend to her, what am I to you, now?”
“You’re Spike.” Buffy replied quickly and without a second thought.
“Are we…friends?”
“Not exactly, we’re more like enemies, we’ve been fighting for about a year actually.”
“Are you a vampire as well? You don’t seem like one…”
“No, I’m human but I can do things that humans can’t…I can um, kill vampires. I’m what they call a Slayer.”
“Slayer?” Fear filled William’s eyes, “Are you going to kill me?”
“William, you’re not a vampire.” Without thinking she grabbed his wrist. “You’re warm, you have a pulse and you’re human. You’re not a monster, not a bad man or anything like the Spike I know. You have no reason to be afraid of me.”
William looked down at their touching skin as if he was hypnotized. “I-I’m not afraid of you…you terrify me, Buffy.”
“Now there’s something every girl longs to hear,” Buffy quipped before Elizabeth came into the room, interrupting them and causing their hands to fly away from each other.
“Buffy, I have my list completed, you will ask the questions but I’m staying in the room.”
***
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