(Flashbacks are in italics)
The fog lifted slowly from her eyes. A pain worked its way up her leg and she looked down to see a blade tracing the contour of her thigh. With a shuddering gasp she steeled her mind against the pain. She had all but blocked it out when the fist crashed into her stomach. She raised her eyes to meet the sinister grin of her captor. Dru smiled and hit her again snapping Buffy’s mind to another time and place.
“You need a hand over there?” Spike chuckled as the enormous tail sideswiped her.
“Got it covered thanks.” She ducked the second swing and shifted to bury her axe in the creature’s back. “You just stand there and look all menacing.” She snickered and dodged another blow.
“You never want to share in the fun.” He grumbled and lit a cigarette.
“Me? You’re the one that killed the Gremlar before I even got a good look at it.” She pulled out her impaled axe and aimed for the monster’s head.
“So much for gratitude. That thing had a clear shot at you, you ungrateful wench.” He snarled and fidgeted with his lighter.
“You are so over protective.” She sighed. “And don’t think that I don’t know you beat the crap out of that security guard at the bank.”
“What? He was touching what was mine!” He looked at her as if she’d grown a second head.
“Oh, please. He was just staring at my ass. He never touched me and you know it. You just didn’t want him thinking he could.”
“Damn right! No one touches my mate.” Buffy rolled her eyes and lobbed the head of the monster she was battling. She would never admit it to him but the possessive tendencies he was showing her were somewhat flattering.
“What are you going to do? Kill everyone who looks?”
“Yeah.” She just shook her head and laughed.
“Pay attention Buff, wouldn’t want you to miss anything.” Angelus’ voice brought her back to her present situation.
“What is there to miss?” She shrugged as much as the chains allowed. “You torture and maim and I stand here and take it. Not much new there.” She smiled as he uncorked a bottle of holy water.
“You really should have more respect for your elders, Buff.”
“I guess you would count as an elder, you do look a little on the old and skanky side.”
He sighed and shook his head.
“I wanted to make this easy on you, but now it’s going to hurt, a lot.”
“Easy my perky little ass.” She growled. He grabbed her leg and began to pour the liquid on the cut Dru had given her. “Ow, ooh, stop that, it kind of hurts.” Her attempts to be convincing faltered when she started to laugh hysterically. “Stop it, that tickles.” She watched the liquid drain out of the bottle and smiled.
“Any luck figuring out what I am?” She sat down on the couch next to Spike with a mug of blood.
“You’re a vampire, luv. What else is there to know?” He draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him.
“I want to know why I’m different.” She frowned and drank her meal.
“Because you were a slayer.” He sighed knowing it would never be enough for her. “I don’t know any more than that. Maybe your watcher will find something useful.”
“I guess.”
“Quit pouting Slayer, you’re starting to look like Peaches.”
“Watch it Yoda.” She glowered up at him.
“What are you going to do tickle me to death?”
“I told you to pay attention.” Her head whipped around with the force of his strike.
“What do you want now?” She sighed and looked over at Angelus, trying to ignore the blood trickling into her eye.
“Why aren’t you screaming?” He stepped closer to her. “Why doesn’t the holy water burn you?”
“Because it doesn’t hurt.” She shrugged. “What can I say, I’m a more advanced model.” His dagger dug into her rib fiercely and a sharp pain surged through her body as she gasped.
“You will learn to respect me.”
“I was never a very good student, you may be waiting awhile.” Her head slammed back with the impact of another blow to the head. She had no reason to respect him; he was just going to kill her after he broke her. “Where’s the slayer?”
“Not concerned with your lover?”
“Mate, and no, he can take care of himself. Where is the slayer?” She felt the dagger slide into her skin again and fought to contain a wince.
“Don’t correct me Buff, it makes me angry.”
“Where is the slayer?” She lifted her head to look him in the eye.
“Dead, and soon you will join her.”
“Um, already died once, did you miss that memo?” Angelus grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the wall. Blackness slowly engulfed her again as he tormentor stood with a smile.
“You were right Spike, she has an annoying habit of pissing people off.” He turned and looked at the other vampire strapped to the table behind her. “I wonder where she picked that one up.” He ripped the tape off Spike’s mouth with a chuckle.
“You’ll never break her.” He smiled painfully up at his grandsire.
“I will eventually. Everyone breaks, even you.”
“I see they taught you a thing or two in hell.” He snickered.
“What made you think you would get away with this?” Angelus dipped his blade in the holy water and sat on the edge of the table tracing a cigarette burn with the dagger. He was rewarded with a crippled lurch as Spike tried to pull away from the metal.
“I didn’t, I’ve just got more stones than you.” He smiled at Angelus’ scowl.
“How’d you do it Spike? Get her to claim you. Thrall? Torture?”
“Didn’t need to you poof. She did it all on her own.”
“It doesn’t matter now.” Angelus shrugged obviously not believing him. “You’re going to die soon anyway.”
He watched Dru walk behind him back over to the slayer. She lifted Buffy’s chin and waited for the beaten girl to open her eyes. “Be in me.” Buffy felt herself being pulled into Drusilla’s eyes as she tried to fight to free herself from Dru’s grasp. In the end it was a futile attempt and she lost herself to the thrall of the vampiress.
“Leave her be Dru.” Spike growled at his former love, desperately trying to pull away from the table. Dru ignored him and continued the trance, filling Buffy’s mind with painful images.
“Did you claim Dru?” She felt him stiffen and met his feral eyes.
“No.” His growl was angry and she almost regretted bringing it up. “I tried once but she wouldn’t accept the claim.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.” She burrowed her face into his arm to avoid looking at him. “I heard once that claiming was the equivalent to marriage in the demon world. Is that true?”
“Only if the claiming is mutual.”
“Do you love..?” A snarl stopped her question short.
“Don’t say it slayer.” She felt the fingers that had been so gentle a minute ago dig painfully into her flesh. A slow steady snarl rumbled through his chest alarming her.
“I’m sorry.”
“Keep your mouth shut.” She shivered slightly, feeling that familiar panic rise in her throat. He pulled away from her and climbed out of the bed. “Cover yourself up slayer, I can’t stand to look at that pathetic little body.”
Her mind was screaming over and over. “No, this can’t be happening.”
“It is happening. Deal with it.” He pulled on his pants and looked at her with utter disgust. “Peaches was right, you aren’t worth another go.”
“Not again.” She forced back the tears and pulled herself out of the bed. Breaking the table she picked up the broken wood from the leg and followed him.
“Slayer, snap out of it.” Spike knew what was happening long before the chains were removed from her wrists but knowledge didn’t ease his nerves as he watched her raise the stake in her hand. “This is your plan to break her then?” He glanced over at Angelus before turning back to Buffy.
“Fitting, don’t you think? You paying for what I did to her.” Angelus sneered and stepped back to let her pass. “Then she wakes up and lives with the consequences.
“Where are you Spike?” She whirled around taking in the room. She knew he came in here.
“You really think you can kill me, Slayer?”
“Yes.” She stalked angrily to his position and raised her stake.
“Buffy, stop.” She stopped and looked around the room. There was an urgent need in the growl but it wasn’t coming from the demon standing in front of her.
There was little hope left in him as the whispered order fell from his lips. She was deep in the trance now and it was unlikely he would be able to bring her back out of it.
“Don’t listen to it, Buffy. Killing Spike is the only way to bring me back. You want me back don’t you?”
“Angel?” She cocked her head to the side and studied him.
“We can be together Buffy, if you kill him, you kill Angelus.”
Angelus could barely contain his glee. His plan was working perfectly. The slayer crawled up the lithe body of her mate and glared down at him with eyes full of hate. Spike swallowed the pain in his heart remembering the look from when she raised her sword to him in this very room a month ago.
“Kill him Buffy.” A feral glow colored her eyes as she leaned down to study his sorrowful eyes.
She leaned in and studied the demon before her. The features were the same but something was different. His eyes were off.
“Not my Spike.” Her whisper tickled his lips as she pulled back and growled raising her stake.
Another voice behind her startled her from her inspection. “My Spike.” She turned to see Drusilla smiling in the corner of the room. “He’ll always be my boy.”
“Give me back my Spike.” She growled at the demon.
“He’s mine.” Drusilla giggled and began to dance.
Catching Angelus off guard, she lunged off the table landing on Drusilla. “No! My Spike.” She snarled and slammed her stake into the startled madwoman’s chest. The haze of the vision lifted and she found herself poised angrily over a pile of dust. The roar behind her brought reality crashing back to her.
“I’m sorry Peaches, I think I just dusted your ho.” She lunged at him knocking him against the wall.
“That’s my girl.” Spike smiled with relief. “Had me scared there for a bit, luv.” She followed with a barrage of kicks and punches.
“Yeah, well, you know. Wouldn’t be any fun if I was predictable.” He could feel the slight tremors of panic passing through her when she began to realize what almost happened. She sucked it deep inside and moved to circle the man who ended her life.
“I should have made sure you were dead.” Angelus moved awkwardly to the middle of the room giving them more room to fight.
“Hey, how were you supposed to know I had loyal allies?” She smirked and twisted the stake in her hand before lunging at him again. “Why don’t you just give up Peaches? You don’t even know how to kill me.”
“I don’t want to kill you Buff. I want to bleed you slowly until you cry out in pain.”
“Well that was dramatic.” She rolled her eyes and traded her stake for a sword. “Now once again, where is the slayer?” She redirected his punch and launched him across the room.
“The last place you would ever look.” She sighed with frustration.
“Do you always have to do things the hard way Angelus?” She backed toward Spike and thrashed out her anger on the bonds holding him to the table. “I mean is it really too much to ask for you to just tell me?”
“Thanks Pet.” Spike stretched and hopped off the table.
“Welcome.”
“You go find the slayer, sire and I are going to have a little heart to heart.”
“You sure?” She looked over at him with doubt on her face.
“Go Pet.” She was about to protest but stopped when he growled.
“I hate it when you do that.” She handed him the sword and left the two alphas to their own devices. “Any idea where to find her, oh wise one?” She called over her shoulder as she opened the front door. Angelus stared for a moment before regaining his composure. She looked like an angel with the sunlight pouring in around her.
“Try the school.”
“That would be the last place I look.” She turned to leave but stopped suddenly. “Hey Yoda! Do I have permission to eat Snyder?” She chuckled and ran out into the daylight.
“Obnoxious little chit.” He turned angered eyes back on his grand sire. “Now, where were we?”
She moved through the halls with labored steps listening for Faith’s heartbeat. Ignoring the group she knew to be in the library she descended into the bowels of the building and into the boiler room. The two fledglings guarding the door weren’t even worth her time. Angelus definitely lacked in the creativity department. Buffy found the slayer chained to the furnace in the corner.
“Are you alright?” When Faith didn’t respond she took it as a sign she was safely knocked out. “Let’s get you to Giles. Unfastening the chains, she picked the girl up into her arms and carried her up the stairs to the library.
“Buffy!” Willow jumped when she pushed through the door with Faith. “You found her.”
“Is she alive?” Cordy looked skeptically at the unconscious slayer.
“Yes.” Buffy carried her into Giles’ office and set her on the couch.
“Are you alright?” Giles asked as he moved to check them both.
“I’m not dusty.” She smiled wearily and sat down on the floor.
“Where is Spike?” Xander appeared in the doorway and studied the picture in front of him.
“Fighting Angelus.”
“Right.” Xander scoffed and went to sit next to Faith.
“I’m really not in the mood to argue.” Buffy grumbled.
“Come on, let’s get you patched up.” Willow offered her hand to Buffy and helped her stand back up. They moved out into the library and Buffy crawled up onto the table. Her eyes never left the door as Willow cleaned her wounds. Willow smiled knowingly and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “He’ll be fine.” Buffy smiled down at the red head.
“I hope you’re right.”
“There’s no one left to bail you out Spike.” Angelus snarled as he returned to a fighting stance.
“I don’t need to be bailed out.” Spike raised his sword and prepared for battle. It was a rare occurrence for anyone to best Angelus with the blade and he wasn’t banking on winning a second time without a good deal of pain first.
“You’re awfully sloppy with the sword Yoda. I thought you were supposed to be teaching me, not the other way around.”
“Don’t get too cocky, Slayer.” He growled at the challenge, unable to stand losing even a friendly battle.
“I don’t see how you ever beat Angelus. Who taught you to fight, Martha Stewart?”
She was pushing him to the limit, not that that surprised him. She always rose to the challenge, meeting him blow for blow and forcing him to improvise.
“What are you laughing at boy?” Angelus lunged at the sword on the floor next to him and came up fighting.
“I told you last time not to call me boy.”
“Angelus taught me to fight.”
“That explains it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You two fight like your swinging a dead fish.” She laughed at his parry. “I thought you knew how to dance, Spike.”
“She’s right. You really do look like you are swinging a dead fish.” Spike chuckled and countered his movements. “Let’s dance, Peaches.” Angelus was surprised. Spike’s fighting style had drastically improved since their last meeting. He had obviously been training.
“Any time, any where boy.” Spike charged again, his anger renewed by Angelus’ condescending tone. He engaged again, dodging Angelus’ more powerful sweeps and relying on quicker, well-placed jabs to begin to bleed his mentor. Slashing a deep slice in his gut, Spike chuckled when Angelus staggered.
“What’s the matter Sire? Get soft in Hell?”
“Insolent child.” Angelus growled and put every thing he had into the stroke and buried the blade deep in Spike’s shoulder.
“Bloody hell!” Spike’s arm dropped uselessly to his side. Angelus staggered back slightly, now feeling the effects of the blood loss. He centered his focus again on Spike and raised the blade again. Spike dropped his sword knowing he would never have the power to remove Angelus’ head with his damaged arm. He picked up Buffy’s abandoned stake and said a prayer to whoever was listening that he would survive this battle.
“You’ll never learn.” Angelus sneered at the younger vampire. “I’ll always beat you, Spike. You’re too weak to win.” Spike refused to comment, and stood ready for the final hit. Angelus aimed for the head with a wide sweep to build power, giving Spike enough time duck under the blade. He allowed Angelus’ momentum to carry him past before burying the stake deep into his back. The sword clattered loudly to the ground with a startled grunt.
“I’m through being your whipping boy.” Spike nudged the stake deeper and collapsed with the falling dust. Tying off the wound in his arm he prepared to fall into a deep recovering slumber when he felt the uncontrollable panic rise in his chest. “Buffy.” Grabbing his fallen sword he took off into the sewer tunnels leading to the school.
Feedback is greatly appreciated!!
By Daxis Steele