|
|
|
|
Inner Demons and Words of Hope
Title: Inner Demons and Words of Hope ...... Spike hung from the wire cage that held him above the Hellmouth. The runes cut in his skin burned, but no longer bled. He fought to stay conscious, but could feel himself being dragged under. He wanted to die. He has once again put the ones he loves in danger. “I believe in you Spike. I saw the change in you.” The words echoed in his head. He felt himself being lowered to the ground. Spike walked over to Spike and lifted his chin. “Look into this vampire’s eyes, you recognize anything?” Spike tried to focus, but the lack of blood in his system was making it very hard. The vampire just grinned in silence. “Of course, it’s been too long since you’ve actually been in touch with each other hasn’t it. How pathetic really” He let go of Spike chin and it slammed against his chest. Spike began pacing. “I figured it would be excellent to bring
back the old you. But you went off and got a nasty soul. So I made a deal with
the demon you sought out. He helped me put in that trigger. How does that tune
go again? “ He began to sing “Early one morning, just as the sun was rising/ I
heard a young maid sing in the valley below/ Oh, don't deceive me; oh, never leave me/ How
could you use a poor maiden so” Spike felt a change go over him this time, so that’s what
Buffy was on about. Why it didn’t send him into sweet oblivion this time, he could
only guess. Spike smirked and leaned on the wall. “Have you figured it out yet, “why you?” Probably not, sometimes you’re so thick you make Harmony look smart. I released your demon, William to bring havoc to Hellmouth once again. The only one whose really got the stones to do it. Oh, you’re still linked, so I won’t kill you. This should really make you feel just peachy that it’s you who is doing the destruction. I am leaving now. I hear the ones who will keep you safe for me coming.” Buffy slammed the door open, glanced at the hole and ran to Spike. She worked furiously to get him released from his bonds. When she did he fell helpless to the ground. She knelt by him and rolled him over on his back. She gingerly touched the marks that riddled his body. His hand snapped up and grabbed hers “Kill me” and then he was out. ……. “Let’s just stake him and be done with it, he asked for us to do it anyway.” Anya was fixing buffy’s knickknacks for the twentieth time. “An, we can’t do that.” Xander looked at his hands. “Since when did you become pro-Spike?” Anya stopped at turned to look at him. “Since I decided I no longer have to protect Buffy, if she wants him alive, I gotta trust her.” “I heard what you said to Andrew before I decided to try and make his face one with the carpet and…” Dawn walked in carrying a tray of cookies, followed by Willow with drinks. Buffy came downstairs to start the meeting. “How is he?” Willow was concerned for Buffy, this really seemed to be shaking her up. “He won’t wake up, I left the bag of blood where he could reach it.” She sat down warily. “You do have him chained up right?” Anya glanced toward the stairs nervously. “Yes, he’s chained to my bed.” Buffy laughed a little, then seeing the looks she got explained. “Just thinking of all the things Spike would say about that situation.” “I really don’t want to know.” Xander sat back “That was that time you and I…” Anya busied herself with the knickknacks again after Xander shot her the ‘shut up’ look. “What are we going to about Sleeping Looney when he wakes up?” Xander watched as a million emotions ran over Buffy’s face. “Do you guys trust me?” She looked right at Xander. “Do you still love him?” Xander countered. “No.. I. “ She took a deep sigh. “I don’t know if I ever loved him. I used him. But then he left, and little things started to get to me. I like having someone around I don’t have to worry about. He can take care of himself.” She paused. “Usually.” “Even after he hurt you like that?” Dawn was shocked. “It’s more complicated than just that. He knows he was wrong. I know he’ll never do it again. Yes I still remember every emotion, every pain, and every hurt. I also know that same person is not upstairs.” She got up and began to pace. “I told you he got a soul, I didn’t tell you he got it for me.” “Oh Buffy..” Willow went over and embraced her friend. Her friend who had seen her through her difficult time. She didn’t know whether to feel sorry for Buffy or happy. This was Spike. Willow almost hated him for what he was doing to Buffy and she did hated for what he already did to her. “Wow. That’s kinda romantic.” Dawn twisted her hair on her finger. She didn’t know what else to say. Xander kept quiet. A million quips were running through his brain, but he decided it was best to keep them to himself. “Ok, Wil, I need you to look up those runes we saw carved on Spike. Dawn I need you to help her by looking for any prophesies that sound remotely like what is going on. Oh, and Willow hack into the Watcher’s database if you have to. Xander, Anya, I need you two to try and get a hold of Giles.” “I have been, nobody knows where he is.” Willow looked guilty for a second, then “I needed some help ok?” “It’s ok, Willow, but weird he can’t be found.” Buffy went to go check on Spike, she didn’t like leaving him alone for long. “So, what do you want us to do?” Anya asked hopefully. “I need you guys to see if you can find out anything from the local underground.” She started to ascend when she stopped “Oh and don’t get killed.” “Not exactly big on that one myself, so no worries here.” Xander headed for the door with Anya in tow. ……………… Willow tapped on the table, lost in thought. She was in deep concentration trying to figure out to crack the next level of the Watcher’s computer network. She had gotten into the initiative system easier than this. The cursor flashed at her. Magic Word ? _ I was mocking her, she had tried every magic word she knew, nothing. She wanted to scream in frustration. Dawn walked into the kitchen ‘Help Willow’ they said. It was more like ‘Wil, it’s your turn to baby-sit.’ . Still it was better than before. At least now they pretended to include her, so she shouldn’t complain. “Whatchya doin?” Dawn moved behind Willow to peer at the screen. “Absolutely nothing at the moment. I can’t figure out this code. “ Willow sighed in defeat. “I might have it, but it seems kinda silly.” Dawn went to the fridge to root for something to drink. “What? I’ll try anything at this point.” “Whenever I wanted something, Mom used to make me say ‘The Magic Word’.” Dawn found a soda and popped the tab. “Please?!! You think in a highly British, ancient society would have ‘please’ as a password?” “Aren’t you going to try it?” Willow shook her head but typed in the six letters and hit the enter key. Thank You Flashed across the screen and soon the files of this level were opened to her. Willow jumped up and kissed Dawn on her forehead. “Thank you, Dawnie.” Dawn shrugged “No problem.” Inside she was beaming that she actually helped. ………….. Anya and Xander walked in silence down the street. It was an uncomfortable silence where they both want to say something, but not be the first one to start. Funny how sleeping with someone can change everything. Anya’s thoughts wandered to Olaf. Why now? He’s been dead 1000 years. With more perspective, she guessed he was the best husband he could have been. His father was the town whoremonger before him anyways. Maybe that was all he knew. Xander wanted so bad to tell Anya about the hole that he created when he pushed her away. He wanted to kiss her, smooth her hair and tell her it was ok. He wanted to tell her that, even when she was a vengeance demon he still loved her, which is why he was empathizing with Buffy right now. He wanted to apologize and have her actually believe it. He wanted to show her he was willing to try and be brave for her and maybe take the relationship in the direction it should have gone in earlier this year. Who was he kidding? He was Xander Harris he will always be somebody’s bug-eating man-bitch or butt monkey. Why would she ever take him back? You are so stupid, Harris! Lost in their thoughts they never heard the two creep up behind them and then swing in front to cut off their path. “So what are two love birds doing out so late tonight?” the woman asked. Xander fumbled and pulled his stake, he reached over to push Anya behind him and hit his hand on her readied stake. “OW! Holy mother of pearl.” He lunged forward to remove his hand from the offending pine and staked the unsuspecting vampire. The other turned to flee but An was already in front him with a cross. Xander got over the initial shock of the kill and pulled out his own crucifix. They backed the vampire up against the nearest building. “Talk you walking human-shaped leech!” Anya yelled. “What would you like me to talk about? And wouldn’t this be more fun with out those nasty crosses?” “I like these thank you, and their staying. Now what do you know about what going on in town?” Xander asked “Well let’s see, tonight at the Bronze there is some chick hippie band playing, at Jimmy C’s down the street there’s an all you can eat buffet, and hmmm….the end of the world is coming.” “That happens every Tuesday Night in Sunnydale, Bub. We want to know about this first evil, the thing beneath us or some such.” Anya pressed her stake point against his chest. “Better watch out, she not good with the questions, just the roughing up part.” “Shut up, Harris, I think he’s gonna sing like a canary.” “You two are crazy” He went to straighten himself and they both moved the crosses forward. “Ok, stop. All I know is there is a new vamp, showed up only this evening. He says he’s the new Master of this town. He’s ugly as sin and has already killed twenty vamps for looking at him the wrong way. He wants to bring about the apocalypse , but first he wants the Slayer. He keeps chuckling about phase 1 is complete. I just steer clear.” With that Anya pressed the stake harder and watched as the dust flew. “Why’d you do that?” “Didn’t think I was going to let him live, did you? He was evil, Xander. I should know, I was for so very long.” “Yes, and you have been so quick to point that out lately. What’s up with that?” “You never killed your best friend! I did.” She broke down and he pulled her close. He started moving them back towards Buffy’s house. What in the heck was Buffy thinking, sending them out? He couldn’t even beat Harmony in a slap fight. ….. Buffy stared at the unmoving body. She tried to think him awake. Finally she gave up and sat next to him. She had a bowl with a washcloth in it on the nightstand. She took the cloth and began to mop his forehead. It made her feel better, even he didn’t even know she was doing this. “Wake up!” She slammed the cloth into the bowl hard enough to upset it and send it crashing to the floor. “Damn.” She bent over and began putting the pieces in her hand. Ms. Kitty just then chose to run across the bed, jump to the floor and squeeze out the door .Buffy was startled and sprung to a defense stance. One that she closed her fists for. “Damn Cat. Should have taken it to the shelter while Wils was in England. Ow. Ow.” She looked down to see the blood running down her arm. She ran into the bathroom to wash it off. When she came back she had a fresh bowl and cloth, whisk broom and dustpan. She cleaned up the mess from the previous bowl and sat back down on the edge of the bed. “Amazing. I thought all of that would have woken the dead.” She took the cloth and rubbed it on his forehead. His hand grabbed hers and held it to his mouth. He reopened the fresh cut with his teeth. She yanked away and jumped from the bedside holding her hand to her chest. “What is wrong with you?!!!” He lay there as before. No movement. The sleep of the dead. “Damn it Spike, if this is just a game I’m going to stake you!” Nothing. She moved slowly towards the bed and grabbed the bag of blood that she had waiting for him. She pierced the bag and let some dribble into his mouth. It just ran right out of the corners and onto the pillow. “You stubborn, stupid, annoying,….grrrrr…Vampire EAT!” Dawn knocked on the door and pushed in tentatively. “You ok Buffy?” “Yeah.” “I heard you yelling, and there was a crash. Has…has Spike woke up?” she glanced at the bed. “I thought so, but no. Nothing. I don’t understand it.” She looked at her sister’s worried face. “Don’t worry, Dawn. I’ll get him going again.” “That’s sorta what I’m worried about.” Her eyes never left the motionless body. “I’d like to tell you it’s going to be ok, but I just don’t know.” Buffy looked at her hands unsure of what to say to reassure her sister. “You’re the slayer, right? And..and were the Scooby gang, right? Well I’m just Scrappy, but you know what I mean. It has to be alright. I believe in you Buffy, I believe in us.” Dawn got a big smile on her face, walked up to her sister and hugged her. “I know you’ll do the right thing.” Dawn left and Buffy returned her attention to Spike. She stared at his face with curiosity creeping in on her features. She reopened the wound that had already closed for a second time and held her hand above his open mouth and let some drip in. His hands moved to grab her again, but she was ready and moved out of the way. “So that’s how you’re going to play it? Huh?” She thought of denying him and walking out the door. If he got hungry enough he’d eat the pigs blood. What if he was beyond that? What if he needed her blood, slayer’s blood, to come back? Well, One thing is for sure, he’s not getting it straight from the tap. She dumped the glass of water she had up her for herself into the bowl of water and let the wound drip into it until it closed again. She propped Spike up to a sitting position with no resistance, or help from him. His head lolled to the side and she almost dropped him completely, how much he reminded her of Joyce that night she found her. She finally got him into place and held the glass to his lips. As soon as the crimson liquid touched he greedily sucked to whole glass down. She leaned to set it down next to the bowl and when she straightened again he was looking at her. “Spike…” He licked his lips and weakly “Kill me.” “No Spike, we went over this in the basement.” A wave of frustration ran over his features. Again he summoned his strength to speak. “He is me. Kill me.” Buffy thought he was just delirious again. “Shhhh..” She could tell he was still weak. So she re-opened the cut for a third time and held it to Spike’s mouth. He had a look of shock, but not the strength to push her away. When she couldn’t take his feeding anymore she pulled her hand away. He smiled weakly and rolled over. True sleep, not comatose. ………. “Omigod, omigod, omigod Buffy!” Willow’s screams brought buffy running down the stair ready to fight. She found the witch staring at the computer screen with a look of total disbelief. “What is it Willow, what did you find?” “I hacked into a meeting they were having, apparently one of them couldn’t make it to the motherhouse. They were doing some research, they were gathering all the slayers in training to them for the big battle. When..when….” Tears fell from her eyes and her face crumpled as a sob escaped her throat. “when they just blew up.” She looked up at Buffy “They’re all dead. All of them.” Buffy ran to her friend’s side and supported her as she sunk to her knees. “I could feel it Buffy, the loss of life, hundreds of souls crying out in shock and disbelief at the same time. Suddenly her eyes got big with realization “What if Giles was there? What if..if …if he’s.” “Shhh..I don’t think they would let Giles back in there.” Buffy tried to console Willow. A knock at the door startled them both, they heard Dawn open the door, shriek happily then excited voices coming from the living room. They exchanged curious looks then stood up to go see what the commotion was. In the doorway to the rest of the house stood Rupert Giles. Willow flew into his arms “Thank the Goddess you are ok!” “Well, yes, Of course.” He seemed very put off by the witches enthusiasm. “Let me introduce you to Kennedy, Annabelle, and Molly.” He moved from Willow grasp to reveal three teenage girls. “You have your own teenage entourage now Giles? I didn’t know you had it in you, you sly dog!” Spike tried to make show of being fine, but was doing a very bad job of it. “Mr. Giles is not like that!” Annabelle protested. “Of course he’s not, and Spike knows that.” Buffy ran to his side and helped him over to the couch. “Spike who should probably not be out of bed.” “Oh, I see it is awake.” Anya peered in from the kitchen where she and Xander just came. “Oh, hi Giles, good to see you’re back.” “An, Spike is a he, as you well know. What is up with you?” Xander appeared behind her and spun her to face him, pulling her deeper into the kitchen. “I didn’t tell you because I know you’re still hurt, but when I was vamp sitting the other day I came on to Spike.” “You what!” Xander couldn’t believe his ears. What does that vamp have that he doesn’t? First Buffy and now Anya. Xander suddenly felt very inadequate. “I hit on him, but he turned me down.” Anya caught Xander’s dejected look. “I only did it because he caught me snooping in his pants.” Xander’s eyes got big. “On the floor, his pants were on the floor. He woke up and caught me rifling through his pockets.” “And why were doing that?” “To find out if was Bad Spike again. I figured there’d be something. I was bored.” “And you hit on Spike..because…” “I had to cover up the fact that I was snooping in his pants. Don’t worry, he told me it’s still all about Buffy. He even said he hated my hair.” She pouted and her hand went unconsciously to her hair. “And that’s why you hate Spike, because he didn’t take you up on the pants snooping cover-up?” “It’s not like you give me orgasms anymore.” “So if he hadn’t turned you down you would have?” “No. Yes. Well maybe….I’m sick of doing it alone.” Anya pushed her way out of the kitchen, through the group of girls and ran into the bathroom. Xander stood in the doorway “Women”. He shook his head as he looked in the direction she ran. Dawn sitting on the stairs got up and went to Xander and whispered. “Not exactly the best thing to say when you are out numbered two to one.” Xander took in his surroundings, three teenage girls he never met, Willow, Buffy, Dawn, Anya in the bathroom, making seven girls to his measly Giles, Spike and himself. “Right hiding now from feminine wrath.” He faded back into the kitchen and busied himself with looking for snacks. TBC |
|
The Watcher's Zone website is Copyrighted © 2001-2006 and is the sole creative property of Melissa aka Sarafina Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its characters are the property of Twentieth Century Fox, Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, UPN and/or the WB Television Network. Angel and its characters are the sole proprty of Twentieth Century Fox, Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and/or the WB Television Network. Firefly is copyright 2002 Mutant Enemy, Inc. and 20th Century Fox. The fictional genres that this site is based on are the sole intellective property of their respective owners and creators.
|
