Lydia Higginbottom used the rearview mirror to reapply her lipstick. The message she’d received from William--Spike--on her mobile had been quite odd. Cryptic even. Meet him at 6pm at the Magic Box.

Lydia carefully blotted her lips on a tissue, then looked at her watch. 5:45pm. What could he possibly want?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Thanks, Kevin. I’ll see you later?" Dawn smiled broadly at her dark-haired companion.

Kevin’s eyes sparkled in response. "You gonna be at the Bronze later? Maybe we could hook up?"

Dawn’s eyes shifted to the side before she responded. She really ought to ask Buffy, but . . . "Sure! I’ll be there. Say 8?"

"Yup. Sounds good. See you at 8." Kevin waved and turned to leave.

Dawn pulled on the Magic Box door. The bell sounded loudly.

Anya popped up eagerly from behind the counter. "May I help--Oh." Her face crumpled in disappointment. "It’s just you. I thought you might be a paying customer. Either that, or Xander."

Dawn absent-mindedly picked up what looked like a paperweight from the counter and played with it in one hand. "No problem. You seen Buffy yet?"

Anya’s eyes widened as she watched Dawn precariously balance the object in her hand. "No, I haven’t. Um, would you mind putting that down? If it breaks it will summon a Ratchos demon, and they tend to be rather grumpy. We don’t need that kind of chaos. Not with Sp--not with--um--everything, you know, in Sunnydale--well, it’s the Hellmouth."

"Oh." Dawn put the not-so-innocuous object down. "Sorry."

An awkward silence fell over the shop. Crickets chirped. Dust mites began a conga line. Or maybe that was just Dawn’s over-active imagination.

"Niblet!"

"Spike!" Dawn watched as the vampire dashed into the shop, blanket shielding him from the last rays of the sun. "What’s up?"

"You tell me. I got a message to meet Buffy at the shop."

"Me too." Dawn grinned widely and took the blanket from the vampire. "You’re still smoking."

"Yeah." Spike rolled his eyes. "That sister of yours has a tendency to have meetings during non-vamp friendly hours." He paused and withdrew a cigarette from his jacket pocket. "You have any idea what your sister wants, Niblet? She sounded . . ."

"Odd. I know. I said to Kevin that . . ."

"Kevin? Who’s this Kevin bloke?" Spike flicked open his Zippo.

Anya shifted nervously behind the counter. Quickly, she pulled a cross necklace from under her sweater. "Um, Spike. You can’t--you can’t smoke in here."

Spike shot Anya a puzzled look. What had gotten her knickers in a twist? He winked at her and lit his Marlboro, carefully blowing the smoke away from Dawn.

Dawn opened her mouth to answer, but she was quite literally saved by the bell--the bell to the Magic Box.

"Xander! Anya rushed to hug her fiancé, a task that was made awkward by the crossbow he clutched. "We got some new, um, stuff in the back room." She nodded towards Spike. "Maybe we could talk about him--um--I mean it--the stuff?" Nervously, she tugged on Xander’s sleeve.

Xander glared at Spike. "Not now, Anya."

Anya’s brow wrinkled. "Xander, I don’t think . . . "

"Later, Anya." Xander’s eyes filled with rage as he approached Spike. Swiftly, he aimed his crossbow at the vampire. "What do you say? Let’s just finish it here and now."

"Xander!" Dawn screamed and moved protectively in front of Spike. "What are you doing?"

"Get away from him, Dawn! I’m gonna do it. I mean it."

Spike’s expression changed from surprise, to hurt, then settled on suppressed rage. He drew deeply on his cigarette and blew the smoke towards Xander. Finally, he spoke. "Niblet, do what the man says. Back away."

Dawn shook her head. "No." Defiantly she regarded Xander. "Why are you doing this?"

Xander smiled grimly. "Spike, why don’t you tell Anya and Dawn what you’ve been up to?"

Spike laughed. "Isn’t this special? Just like old times." Without warning, he moved towards Xander, knocked the crossbow from his hands, and pinned his arm behind his back. "I’ve always admired you, boy. You always rush in, even though you know you don’t have what it takes. Yeah, you’re brave. Too bad you’re stupid."

A stunned silence fell over the shop. Spike’s game face emerged. Angrily, he thrust Xander away. "Look at me when I’m talking to you, boy."

Xander’s eyes widened in horror.

"Yeah, that’s right. This is what you see. This is all you’ll ever see. A demon. It’s that simple for you, isn’t it?"

"Spike?" The bell at the front of the Magic Box rang as Buffy entered the shop. "Spike, I got your message to meet you here and . . . " Buffy’s mouth gaped as she took in the scene. Xander. Crossbow. Spike in game face. Dawn and Anya looking pale. "Oh my God."

Spike shook his head and the demon receded. "Buffy, I . . ."

"What the HELL is going on?" Buffy seethed with fury.

"He’s a killer, Buffy. I saw the pictures. I saw what he did. I was going to talk to you first, see why you didn’t--take care of him, but then I saw him and I just couldn’t . . ."

Buffy’s eyes flared. "How dare you, Xander? You can’t just kill him. You just can’t take a life like that!"

"He wasn’t too worried about the homeless guy’s life."

"Wait a bloody minute! I didn’t kill the bloke. I just--I just . . . "

"Had a snack? Uh-uh Spike. I checked it out. The body’s at the morgue."

"What?" Buffy’s face contorted with doubt. "You told me that . . ."

"Hello?" Clipped British tones echoed through the shop. "William? I got your message."

"Why did you call Lydia, Spike?" A note of jealousy crept into Buffy’s voice.

The bell rang again.

Spike continued to glare at Xander. "It’s a fucking party!"

"Hey, guys." A drawn-looking Willow dropped her bag when she saw the grim expression on everyone’s faces. "Um, what’s going on here?"

"That’s what I’d like to know." Buffy looked around the shop. "The only person that’s not here is Tara."

Willow’s eyes filled with tears. "She won’t be joining us. Ever. We kinda broke up and . . ."

"Oh Will! I’m so sorry." Buffy temporarily forgot the mess that was her life as she moved to comfort her friend.

"Hey, Slayer. Crisis here. Whelp tried to kill me. Body in the morgue, remember? We have all those lovely trust issues to rehash." Spike took another drag from his cigarette, the pain in his eyes belying his cavalier words. "Let’s get this done."

"Yes, I agree, William." The bell rang again and Doc calmly entered the shop, Lena Petrovich following close behind. "Let’s finish this, once and for all."

END PART TWENTY-THREE

Continue to Part 24

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