Chapter 5

Buffy was washing her hair. It was so nice and peaceful, now that Emily was finally in bed. It was amazing that a human six-year-old could have more energy than her Slayer mother, but Buffy was exhausted just from answering the constant questions. Buffy was feeling a little guilty after her less than honest conference with Emily’s teacher. She knew that she really had to do something about the William questions. It was only natural that Emily was curious, but Buffy didn’t really have any good answers for her. Why does William sleep here all the time? Why can’t William walk me to school in the morning? Why doesn’t William eat dinner with us? Are you and William going to get married? And Buffy’s personal favorite: What’s a vampire? Buffy wrapped her hair in a towel and sat down with a cup of tea. It was a difficult situation. She had fallen in love with William, and given up her life with her home and friends in Sunnydale and come 3,000 miles to be with him. Had it been horribly selfish of her to bring Emily into this lifestyle? William clearly doted on Emily and she adored him, BUT... she had never seen him in vamp face. She had never seen him drinking blood. She had no concept of the Spike that Buffy had known in Sunnydale.

In a way their entire futures depended on a tiny plastic chip. Not that William was still looking to have the thing removed… but what if it failed? What if it reached its shelf life one night while he was alone with Emily? Buffy shuddered. Why was she thinking like this? It wasn’t like her to borrow trouble. The chip had worked for 9 years; there was no reason to think it wouldn’t continue to work. But there was so much they didn’t know. What Buffy wouldn’t give to have a nice long Q&A with Dr. Maggie Walsh… at gunpoint, if necessary. But Maggie was long dead, a victim of her own science project. Buffy got up and started to comb out her hair. Now she was having what she used to call a major wiggins.

On impulse, Buffy picked up the phone. It was probably dinnertime in Sunnydale, but Willow wouldn’t mind. The phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Will, it’s me."

"Buffy! How are you? How’s Emily? "

"Oh, we’re fine. How is Esme?" Willow and Tara had adopted a little Guatemalan girl about 6 months ago.

"Oh, Buffy, she is just wonderful. Tara is giving her dinner right now. She says hi, by the way. Did you get the latest photos we emailed you? "

"Yes, they are wonderful! She is growing by leaps and bounds... I hardly recognize her from that skinny little thing you brought home."

"I know… it’s a miracle, isn’t it? I can’t believe that Spike was able to help us get her. We are so grateful. Uh... how is he doing, anyway... uh... you two, I mean?"

"So far, so good. He’s out shopping for Emily’s birthday present."

"Oh! Ours is in the mail! Emily should get it in time for the big day!"

"So what did you get her? Wicca Barbie?"

"Ha Ha... no we got her vampire Ken! He’s cute with his little black leather duster and big boots."

"You know, I think Mattel is missing out on a major marketing concept here!"

"Actually we got her the cutest dress. And a purse and some dress up jewelry. Isn’t it fun buying for little girls? Don’t tell Xander, but buying for Alex isn’t nearly as much fun."

"I know. I look at the boy’s toys and think… huh?"

"Me too. Listen. Was there something special you wanted Buffy? We were just going to go take Esme out for a walk. You wouldn’t believe it here, now Buffy. You can actually go out for a walk in the evening."

"No, I just felt like hearing your voice, Willow. I really miss you guys. When are you going to come visit?"

"Soon, Buffy. Maybe we’ll come out this summer, okay? If we can swing the air fare; we’re traveling for three these days."

"Great, maybe Xander and Anya can come too. When is Anya due, anyway?"

"Not ‘till October. She should be able to come."

"Great. I’ll email you guys and we can make plans. Bye Will. Love to Tara and give Esme a kiss for me."

Buffy hung up. She felt marginally better, but not much. Why was she feeling so edgy? She looked at the clock. 9:30. Good. The stores were closing, and William should be back soon. She sat down to watch a movie on TV. William still kept all of his state-of-the-art entertainment equipment back at his place. There was really no room for it here in Buffy’s tiny living room. But Buffy’s television was adequate for her needs. The movie, some teen romance flick from the 90s, wasn't all that fascinating, and Buffy soon dozed off. She awoke to the sound of guns and bombs and flying body parts. Her gentle love story had become Saving Private Ryan! She looked at her watch. 11:30pm. And still no William. That was odd. He did still have his own place where he slept occasionally, and he was certainly entitled to go out for a drink or whatever. But the fact remained that since Buffy had moved to New York, William had been devoted to her, and didn’t seem to have any interest in staying out at night by himself. It was as though he had been craving a family all his unlife, and now was reveling in it. And he had been so excited about Emily’s present. Surely he would have come home with it by now. Buffy was feeling more and more uneasy by the minute. She phoned his apartment and got the answering machine. She left a brief message to call her if he came in. She couldn’t go out. Emily was asleep. No point in calling Dawn at Jason’s place. Why get her worried? She tried to sit down and relax but her slayer senses were setting off bells and whistles in her brain. Something was wrong, and she felt totally helpless.

Buffy sat back down in front of the TV, with some hot chocolate. She did eventually fall into a fitful sleep, but her dreams were tortured images of dolls and frogs, and Spike murdering a small blonde girl. She sat up in a cold sweat, and immediately ran in to check on Emily. She was tossing and turning in her sleep. Buffy smoothed her rumpled covers and kissed her forehead. Emily quieted down and seemed to relax. But Buffy couldn’t. She was sure by now that something had happed to William.

Somehow, no matter how horrible the night, morning eventually comes. When the sun rose, Buffy was still up staring at the Home Shopping Network. This was the point, in Sunnydale, when she would have summoned the Scooby Gang. But they were 3,000 miles away, and had other things on their minds these days, like babies. But there were the makings of a mini-gang right here. She phoned Dawn at Jason’s summoning her home, and called Tina. It was Saturday, so school wouldn’t be a problem. She phoned the BBI Office and left a message for Winnie to phone as soon as she arrived. No point wasting a trip to William’s apartment. Winnie could tell her if he was there or not.

Hunting for vampires in the daylight, Buffy reflected, was like hunting bears in the winter. They were hibernating, but if you found their nest, they were pretty easy to dispatch. Though why was she thinking of William in terms of prey? This was William, her boyfriend, and he was in trouble. Right?

Tina arrived first. She was excited that Buffy had called her, and ready for an adventure.

"What’s up, Buffy?" She was lugging a big bag of weapons.

"William is missing."

"What? What do you mean missing?"

"He didn’t come home... uh back here last night and he was supposed to."

"So? He’s a vampire, right? Isn’t that what they do? Wander around all night?"

Buffy sighed. "Look, Tina. You’ve met William. You know that he’s different."

"Well, sure, Buffy. He looks like a human, and talks like a human. And he seems to really like you and all but, basically, he’s a vampire. Sooner or later he’s going to revert back to his vampires ways. It’s silly to think about him like he was human."

What 15-year-old says ‘revert?’ Buffy wondered. Obviously she was quoting Priscilla Scott. Buffy really didn’t have time for this debate. "Look, Tina. As soon as Dawn gets here, I am going to look for William, some clues, anything. If you don’t want to help me, then go home and drink tea with Prunella and gossip about me some more. I can do this alone, okay?"

"No. I want to come. Can I? Please? " Tina asked sheepishly. Playing detective sounded like fun.

By the time Dawn finally arrived, Buffy was frantic to leave. Dawn had Jason in tow. They seemed to be joined at the hip these days. "Dawn, I’m really sorry to ask at the last minute like this, but could you take Emily for the day? William is missing, and I’m afraid that something has happened to him." Thank goodness Dawn understood about William.

"Well, Jason and I have this big paper due for film class. On Quentin Tarantino! Our professor seems to think he’s a genius, even though he never did anything worthwhile after Pulp Fiction. Anyway, we can work on it here. I’ll watch Emily; don’t worry, Buffy."

"Thanks honey. There’s all kinds of food in the fridge. I’ve got the cell phone." Buffy and Tina left.

F.A.O Schwartz was just opening as Buffy and Tina arrived. "What makes you think he came here last night?" Tina asked.

"He was shopping for a birthday present for Emily, and he loves this place."

"Well, it is a pretty cool store," Tina remarked as she contemplating the idea of a vampire shopping for birthday presents. At a toy store no less.

Buffy asked around, but none of the clerks were the same ones who had been on last night. She asked to see the Store Manager. He came out, a fussy little man. Buffy looked at his name badge. Milton Pankhew. "Mr. Pankhew. Hi. My name is Buffy... Atherton. My... husband came in last night to buy a present for our daughter." She laughed. "You know men! I’m sure he bought her something totally inappropriate. I was wondering if you could check last night’s sales for me and tell me what he bought?"

"Why don’t you ask him yourself, Mrs. Atherton?" Oh. Good question.

"Uh…I did! And he refused to tell me!" She leaned into Mr. Pankhew. "Listen, Mr. Pankhew. Last year he bought her a pony! And we live in an apartment! Mr. Pankhew, it broke her little heart when we couldn’t keep it! I don’t want the same thing to happen this year. I just want to head him off at the pass." She gave him her best pathetic Buffy look.

"Well, here at F.A. O. Schwartz, we pride ourselves on not letting such things happen. We counsel our... more impetuous fathers about appropriate gifts. You wouldn’t believe some of the ideas they come up with. One time, we had a divorced father who wanted to buy his son a Mercedes."

"Mr. Pankhew… I’m so sorry but I have a very important… luncheon to attend this afternoon… with the mayor."

"Oh, of course, Mrs. Atherton. I’ll get those records right away." He bustled off.

"Very nice," Tina whispered

While waiting for Mr. Pankhew to return, Buffy and Tina looked around the store. Buffy tried to guess what William might have bought. As she passed the doll section, she noticed one of the clerks doing something to the Victorian dolls. Curious, she stopped. "What are you doing? She inquired.

"It’s the strangest thing. I tell you, people are weird. Somebody came in here, last night I guess, and put blindfolds on a whole bunch of these dolls. A couple of them are missing, too. Shoplifting, we’re used to, but that blindfold thing is just... weird."

Buffy looked at the blindfolded Victorian doll and got a sudden shiver of apprehension. There was only one person Buffy knew who had a strange fascination with dolls like these, if person was the right word. Buffy grabbed Tina, and ran back to the manager’s office. "What is it, Buffy?"

"Drusilla’s been here."

"Drusilla? Where do I know that name from?"

"I can’t explain now. Here’s Mr. Pankhew."

Mr. Pankhew came out and asked them some questions to try to narrow down he time when William might have made his purchase. Buffy told him that William had left home at 7:30 PM so it would have been within the last 2 hours of the shopping day. Eventually Mr. Pankhew found a cash sale of a dollhouse to be delivered to an Emily Giles. "That’s it! Uh... Emily still has my ex-husband’s last name. Thank you so much. Let’s go, " she said to Tina.

"Don’t you want to see which dollhouse he picked out?"

"Oh. No need... he has perfect taste. Thank you so much, Mr. Pankhew."

They left the store. "So now we know he was here at 9:15 PM. What’s so funny, Tina?"

"I’m sorry it’s just, ‘thank you, Mr. Pankhew’. It’s funny, that’s all."

Buffy wasn’t amused. "Have you read anything about Drusilla? She is Spike’s ex-girlfriend. If she was here, he is in trouble."

"You mean Drusilla the vampire? The crazy one?"

Standing outside the store, Buffy told Tina a little bit about the Spike/Drusilla story, including an edited version of their last run in. "He let her go and I haven’t seen her since. But she is very dangerous. I don’t know how… vulnerable William would be to her these days. "

"So, what do we do next, Buffy? How do we find out where William went after he left the store? Would he have taken a cab? Or the subway?"

"If he took the subway or walked, we’re dead. But if he took a cab, we might be able to call the cab companies and find out where they dropped him."

"But don’t you have to be the police to get that kind of information?"

"Oh. I don’t know. Probably. Let’s walk toward the subway stop. Keep your eyes open for anything that might be a clue."

As they walked down Fifth Avenue, Buffy was trying to imagine why William and Drusilla would have been together in the toy store. None of the possible answers were comforting. How long had she been in town? Had William been meeting her secretly? The thought of William and Drusilla together again made Buffy sick to her stomach. Tina had stopped short and was bending over something in the gutter.

Tina laughed. "I thought this was a real frog… sitting right here on Fifth Avenue! But it’s just a toy. Ewww... it even feels real." She picked the frog up by one leg. Buffy looked at it, and her heart skipped a beat.

"William has been here. He dropped this, I know it."

"This frog? How can you tell? Are you getting some sort of mystic vibrations from it?"

Buffy sighed. "No. William buys these for Emily. It’s a family joke. Keep looking around."

This time it was Buffy who found pay dirt. Near the doorway to Banana Republic, she found a tiny blonde plastic doll. The kind that fits in a dollhouse. An Emily doll.

"He would never have just dropped these things. He must have fought somebody here. "

For the next hour they scoured the area, looking for clues. In that time they found an empty pack of cigarettes, not the brand that William used to smoke, some crushed soda cans, a half sandwich that looked somewhat worse for wear, several bits of pink wrapping paper and ribbon, and a small, torn F.A.O. Schwartz shopping bag. If there had been other dolls they must have been picked up by passing children. No blood, thank God, and no sign of a struggle, though what would have shown up from a fight on a sidewalk? They threw the trash in the nearest can, and brought the doll and the frog back to Buffy’s house. A call from Winnie confirmed that William was not in his apartment, and there were no messages from him, nor had he picked up his messages from the office phone. A cold dread had settled in Buffy’s stomach. In spite of all their great detective work, they still had no idea what had happened to him. Buffy sat down at the kitchen table. Emily came running in, and climbed into her lap. Buffy held her daughter close but for once, even Emily brought her no comfort.

Chapter 6

Bloody hell! Where was Giles with his mug of blood? He was bloody starving! William opened his eyes. He was tied up in a chair, but he wasn’t in Giles’ house, like in his dreams. It was too dark to make out details of the room he was in, but he could smell rotting wood and more than a hint of fish. Hey... I could use some bloody light here! William’s head was throbbing and he was hungry. How long had he been here? How the hell had he come to this place? He couldn’t remember much, just bumping into Darla on Fifth Avenue. Darla! Had she done this to him? Why? She didn’t particularly like him, but she had no reason to tie him up in a chair, did she? Bloody hell! Was this some sort of plot to get him out of the way so she could attack Buffy? William struggled against the ropes but they were tied very tightly and efficiently. Where the hell was his captor? Had she left him here to starve to death?

William heard noises in the darkness, a muffled grunting. His vampire eyes had adjusted to the dark, and he could see a person, a girl, bound and gagged on the floor in a far corner. She was evidently alive by her noise and struggles. Knowing Darla as he did, William didn’t imagine that she would be alive for long. William could make out forms leaning against the walls of this small square room where he was imprisoned. From the smell of rotting wood and ancient fish, William surmised that they were old moldering rowboats. He suddenly knew where he was. Central Park, near the lake in that old deserted boathouse he had passed a hundred times. In fact, he and Buffy had cleaned out a nest of vampires from this very place a few months ago. It was night, but which night? Was it still Friday or had time passed... eons in this place? He heard a door creak open and a lantern almost blinded him with its brightness. As his eyes struggled to make out the person holding the lantern, he heard a familiar voice, its Cockney accent forever imprinted on his brain. "Spike?" She pronounced it ‘Spoik’

"Drusilla?" Had he really awoken in this place with Drusilla or was this still a nightmare? "Is that you, Dru?"

Darla and Dru together. This was very, very bad, William knew. He had heard about their partnership from Angel. The gruesome twosome, Cordy called them. At least it explained Darla’s interest in him. He thought desperately about his options. With Dru, in her insanity, it was always better to play along.

"My Spike. We’ve come to rescue you. Like a kitty up in a tree."

"Rescue me? Oh, that’s lovely pet. Untie me then."

"Oh no, Spike. I can’t do that. Darla would be ever so cross. And you are our kitty. The kitty thought he was a bird, didn’t he, and he tried to live up there in the trees with the other birds. But he was a cat, after all, and the other cats had to rescue him, don’t you see? Miaow." Dru stroked his face as she spoke.

"Sure, Pet." The worst of it was... he did see. He had always been able to translate Dru's madness into a kind of sense.

"I couldn’t help you, my Spike. You were too full of the Slayer and your science… I couldn’t fight them both. But I wanted to help you, my poor baby. So I went out and got you something to make it all go away."

"You make it sound like you stepped out to get a pack of fags, Dru… It’s been 7 years, love."

"She got distracted," Another voice, this time Darla’s. "You know Dru." He could see her now. She took the lantern from Dru and placed it on the floor.

"Unfair, Darla. It took ages and ages to find those soldier boys. They moved around so... like fireflies at night. So hard to catch." She mimed catching fireflies in her fists.

"And then when you did catch them, you turned one to play with." She turned back to William. "That kept her occupied for years."

"Well, I had to, didn’t I? How else could I find out what I wanted to know? The fireflies were buzzing so around my head. I had to catch one in my hand and put him in a jar so that he could light my way."

Soldier boys! What the hell were they trying to tell him? Was this about his chip? He suddenly recalled the small device that Darla had aimed at his head.

"Listen Dru, my head hurts, I am bloody uncomfortable, and I could use a cigarette! Couldn’t you tell me this lovely story someplace else? This place stinks like fish."

Darla spoke. "I would have booked us a suite at the Waldorf Astoria, But we were a little low on funds. Plus we have to keep a low profile. The Slayer has seen me."

"Buffy?"

"No... the new one. I don’t think she knew who I was, just that I was a vampire. But she is friends with the Buffy bitch now, so I don’t want to take any chances. Personally, I wanted to leave town but Dru had her heart set on this little rescue mission. As far as I’m concerned you can stay here and be Buffy’s pet vampire. What do I care?" she shook her head and said, almost to herself, " I’ve already tried my hand at rescue. It’s not worth it."

"Yeah... with Angel. I heard all about that. Poor Darla. I mean, you shag the guy’s brains out, really give it your all, and you still can’t make him happy enough to break the curse. How embarrassin’ for you. A big blow to the profession, too, I must say."

"Shut up, Spike." Darla had produced the small device again. "I was glad to see that you actually regained consciousness... I was afraid that I might have turned the dial up too high. Of course, I don’t know if this could actually kill you, but you might wish it could."

"What is that bloody thing?"

Dru piped up. "Why that’s your Birthday present Spike. We’ve had a terrible time finding you. Your crypt in Sunnydale was all empty. I was afraid we’d missed your special day."

"My birthday? I don’t even remember when it bloody is, Dru."

"Then we are just in time. I got you something special, Spike. "

"I’d enjoy it much better if you would untie me, love."

"No. I’m so afraid you might not want our present, Spike. I don’t want you to run away before you try it out."

"Well Dru, I guess that all depends on what it is."

"The firefly told me all about your chip, Spike. I had him in a jar and he buzzed and buzzed. He showed me all the secret places where they keep the machines. It was awful, Spike. I don’t like machines... they are so cold and full of wires and sparks."

"That’s why she needed me. Machines are just peachy with me."

"All right, ladies. You’ve obviously gone to a lot of trouble to lay on this lovely surprise party. As the guest of honor, I’m delighted, but I don’t think I want to play any more. Let me go and I won’t tell the Slayers where you are. You can get out of town, and we’ll all forget this ever happened."

"Right." Darla laughed scornfully. "I told you. Dru has her heart set on this. And what Dru wants; Dru gets. Right honey?"

Drusilla had picked up the struggling girl and brought her over to William. "Besides, Spike, it’s almost time for cake!"

William looked at the girl, the look of terror on her face. Did she even know what Dru and Darla were? What he was? Did she know she was going to die?

"Ladies, I’d love to oblige but eating people gives me a headache these days. I’ll pass."

"Oh, but that’s the Birthday surprise, Spike. Darla, can we unwrap it now?"

Darla held the device up to William’s face. It was black plastic, with dials and buttons. It resembled a television remote control only smaller. William remembered seeing something just like this on a table somewhere in the Initiative headquarters. If this little piece of plastic did what he thought it did, he should have grabbed it at the time.

"I guess that thing controls my chip."

"Very good, Spike. With this little remote, I can program the chip to hurt you badly; you’ve already seen that feature in action… or I can just turn it off. It’s really up to you."

Dru clapped her hands. "Aren’t you excited, Spike?"

William was totally stunned. This was something he’d have given his left arm for 9 years ago! Now, it was 9 bloody years too late! What was he going to do?

"Ladies. I’m touched, really. That was damn thoughtful of you. But I think I’ll pass. Come back in another 7 years or so, and we’ll talk. Now just untie me, okay?"

"See, Dru? I told you. It’s not just the chip anymore… it’s all those years of conditioning. If a cow gets a shock every time he touches the electric fence... he will stop going near the fence. Will stop dreaming of escape. Start being happy in his own little pasture! Until the farmer, who loves him so much turns him into hamburger."

"Mooo," said Dru.

"And I’ll bet you’ve been living on animal blood too, haven’t you?"

"Well… yeah. What difference does that make? They don’t sell human blood here."

"Bullshit, Spike. They sell it. I’ve seen the bars where they do. But you know that human blood makes you aggressive, so you stick to nice safe animal blood. Cow, pig… chicken!"

This was true. When William had first come to New York, he had found some demon bars that served human blood, but it did make him aggressive. He was always picking fights with people, which given his chip was a really stupid thing to do. He had stopped going to those places years ago.

"Look, Spike luv, I’ve got a nice tasty girl for you right here." Dru plopped the helpless girl down on Spikes lap. He could feel her terror. Her neck was inches from his mouth.

"Get her off me! I don’t want her!"

"Spike… Remember when I said that we were giving you a choice here? Well, I lied. Dru and I want you back with us. It’s nice to have a man around… even you. And Dru wants her family back, so without further ado…" Darla aimed the device at William. "Gee I sure hope I programmed this correctly. I’d hate to see your head explode."

"Boom!" added Dru

Darla pushed the button. William felt nothing. No change. But then again after his original operation he hadn’t felt any different either. He had attacked Willow fully expecting to kill her, only to be thwarted by that hideous pain. He looked at the girl huddled against him on his lap. He could smell her blood rushing through her veins, spiked with adrenaline. Can I really just kill her now? Just sink my fangs into her neck? Am I really Spike again? Well, Goddamn Happy Birthday to Me!