Something Sad and Blue
”Spike lips! Lips of Spike!” Buffy wiped her mouth in disgust. She was horrified by the thought that she’d not only spent the better part of the day locking lips with her mortal enemy, but that she had been totally, completely, and undeniably head over heels in love with the bleached menace. She expected the insults to start flying any second.
Casting a surreptitious glance in the direction of the unnaturally quiet blond, Buffy was stunned to see him standing quietly, his head down and his posture screaming submission. It looked to her like the vampire was shaking.
Dismissing the bizarre behaviour as being brought on by his own disgust at being magically forced to love someone he hated, Buffy was momentarily concerned that he’d have a reaction similar to the one that Angelus had when he’d been forced to feel love for his mortal enemy. She shrugged away her concerns when she reminded herself that Spike had a chip. ‘What can he do? It’s not like he can hurt us anymore.’
Grabbing the shaking vampire by the arm, Buffy snapped her orders out to the rest of the group. “We need to get back to Giles’.”
Even though Spike gave her no resistance, she roughly pushed him into motion. She wasn’t about to admit that the shaking and his failure to say anything was completely wigging her out and that was causing her to be even harsher in her treatment of him that usual. Her anticipation for the meltdown that she was expecting increasing the longer he remained silent. She didn’t care if he blew up; she just hated waiting for his explosion. Why should she care that the idiot wasn’t acting like his normal, annoying self?
It was a subdued group that re-entered the watcher’s apartment. However, the Slayer was slowly getting majorly pissed at the unresponsive blond at her side. She hated the anticipation. She hated knowing that there was a mother of all verbal sparing sessions coming. Actually, truth be told, she was looking forward to the actual fighting bit because Spike was really good at it and he was the only vampire that had ever really challenged her verbally. What she really hated was the waiting. It was times like this that made her totally get why Spike had been unable to wait for St. Virtuous day, or whatever that damn thing had been called.
Buffy was shocked when the bleached blond walked quietly over to the dining room chair he had been tied to earlier, picked up the ropes from the floor and sat with the bindings in his lap, clearly waiting to be secured again.
Xander wasted no time. Moving swiftly to the vampire, he snatched up the ties and cruelly tied them as tightly as he could, snarling out his vitriolic words. “I hope you enjoyed your little jaunt of freedom, fangless. It won’t be happening again. Maybe we should just stake you now for even thinking that you could touch Buffy.”
Spike didn’t even acknowledge that the boy had spoken, just kept his head submissively lowered.
Angered that his spiteful words had received no reaction from the incarcerated and usually combative vampire, Xander poked him in the side as he asked his question, “You in there, blood breath?”
Spike grimaced in pain as the vicious brunette touched an injury.
Happy to get a reaction, Xander maliciously poked him again. And again.
Giles was horrified by the vindictive nature of the brunette. Watching Xander behave in such a manner was definitely unsettling and caused the watcher to re-evaluate his own treatment of the defenceless vampire. He didn’t like what he found. However, before he had a chance to intervene, someone else stepped in.
“Alexander Harris, you stop that right now!” Anya firmly ordered her boyfriend as she grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the bound blond. “I thought the good guys weren’t meant to be mean and cruel?”
Before Xander could protest, Giles stepped in. Moving cautiously to the vampire’s side, he placed a gentle hand on Spike’s shoulder. “Spike, are you hurt?”
“One of the demons that tried to attack Miss Summers was a Lyaliac demon. When I intervened, he managed to scratch me with his claws,” the vampire stated quietly, still not raising his head. They couldn’t help but notice that his voice was cultured and refined, his manner meek.
Something was very wrong here.
Anya’s sharp intake of breath was the only indication of just how wrong things really were.
“May I see the wound, Spike?” Giles continued to speak to him in quiet tones, unconcerned with anyone else in the room at present. At the vampire’s nod of accedence, the watcher carefully lifted the captive’s t-shirt.
The wound was red and ragged, and a cloudy pus seeped from the edges. “We’ll need to clean this, Spike,” Giles calmly informed the pliant vampire. Casting a quick glace over his shoulder at his slayer, the watcher gave his order. “Buffy, please get my first aid kit from the bathroom.” While his words were polite, his tone brooked no argument, and Buffy moved quickly to follow his instructions.
“Willow.” Giles looked to the witch. “There’s some blood in the refrigerator, please heat it.”
Anya walked to the bookcase and quickly found the book she wanted. Removing the heavy tome she moved to place it on the dining table and opened it to the index page. Scanning the page till she found what she was looking for, she identified the section she needed and turned to it.
Buffy returned from the bathroom with the requested first aid kit and wordlessly kneeled at the vampire’s side to begin cleaning his wound. His whispered words shocked her. “Please milady, this is beneath you. If you would untie me I can attend to the wound myself.”
“You got this wound protecting me; let me do this for you?” Buffy asked just as quietly.
The gentle tone the vampire was using was having a strange effect on the normally abrupt slayer. Buffy was feeling a little protective towards this new side of the vampire she thought she knew and for some reason it wasn’t freaking her out.
“Here you go, Spike.” Willow held out a mug to the restrained vampire. She was really glad that whatever it was that was going on with Spike, it had taken the spotlight off her little mistake with the spell. With a little bit of luck, the mystery of the mope-y vampire could keep everybody distracted.
His quiet ‘thank you’ brought Willow out of her reverie and she smiled at his bowed head.
“It says here that the claws of a Lyaliac demon have a specific effect on a vampire,” Anya informed the group. “The rest of the information is incorrect. I swear, I don’t know how you people do your jobs when you have to rely on the rubbish in these Council approved books,” she sniped in disgust.
Giles looked over at the ex-demon, seeing her in a new light. He had never before considered that his books might be less than completely accurate. His animosity towards the Council grew with each new insight he discovered. He didn’t doubt Anya’s knowledge for a minute. First-hand knowledge was supposed to be the source of these books as it was, if a thousand year old former vengeance demon said they were inaccurate, then he was willing to bet that she was right.
“Are there source materials you can suggest, or are you knowledgeable enough on the subject yourself?” Giles asked her.
“I can give you the basics, but we really need Bozniac’s Guide to Demons,” she told him. “I can probably show Willow where to look for it online.”
“Excellent. Willow?” Giles indicated that he wanted the redhead to work with the ex-demon.
“I can give you a list of more accurate books if you want, Giles,” Anya tentatively offered as the young witch grabbed her laptop and moved to join Anya at the dining table.
Giles smiled at the girl in appreciation.
Turning back to his slayer, Giles made a suggestion, “Maybe we should untie him. He’ll be more comfortable on the couch.”
Buffy nodded in agreement. As she moved to loosen the tight bindings, Xander made his presence felt.
“What the hell are you doing?” he yelled at Buffy. “He’s a filthy, disgusting vampire. Who cares if he’s comfortable?”
Buffy pursed her lips in irritation when Xander’s words started the calming vampire to begin shaking again.
Giles glared at the brunette. “Don’t presume to make decisions relating to the guests in my home, young man.”
“Guest?” Xander exploded angrily. “He’s a vampire! Am I the only one having a problem with this?”
“Well, you’re the only one shouting about it,” Anya muttered angrily. She was truly sick to death of Xander’s need for superiority. She was still having so much trouble fitting in with humans again, but she honestly didn’t remember it being necessary to settle for someone who was only with you because they couldn’t be with the person they wanted. She was sure she remembered there being more choice than that. Maybe if she could get Giles alone she could ask him.
“Please, I don’t wish to be the cause of any discontent. I am quiet comfortable here,” Spike spoke with quiet dignity.
“Okay, this is getting totally wiggy. Anya, tell us what you know,” Buffy demanded, getting more fretful by the minute.
“The claws of a Lyaliac demon contain venom that is fatal to most vampires. It kills their demons. There are only two vampires that I know of that might have the ability to survive, and one more that is a possibility. All three are of the Aurelian line. Angel, Spike, and one other. Lawson, I think his name is.” Anya firmly stated.
“What makes those three different?” Giles was intrigued enough to ask.
“Their souls,” Anya told them, totally unprepared for the reaction that followed.
“What?” Buffy stood and looked at the ex-demon in shock.
“But I thought Angel was the only vampire with a soul?” Willow asked, confused.
Giles looked at the young woman intently. “Anya, it might be best if you further explained that statement.”
“You mean about the souls and how they got them, don’t you?” she confirmed.
“Yes, dear,” Giles assured her.
She shrugged in compliance and began to speak, “Well Angel is the one that I suggested as a possibility. That’s because his is a curse. It might be enough to save him, but I’m not sure. Both Spike and um…Lawson were turned with their souls intact. Spike because Drusilla was insane and Lawson because he was turned by Angel. It happened that way because Angel had his soul when he turned Lawson.”
Buffy just stared at Anya as she tried to get her mind around what the girl had just told them. “Anya, I need to know how you know this.”
“You mean other than the fact that I can see them?” Anya asked innocently.
“You can see souls?” Giles asked, stunned.
“Of course,” Anya was surprised the watcher didn’t know this. “You only broke my amulet, Giles. Yes, I’m stuck in human form, but I still have abilities that weren’t encompassed by the necklace.”
“What sort of abilities?” the curious watcher asked.
“I can see souls and humanity. I have heightened senses and I have all the magical abilities I had as the human that I once was,” she cautiously told the watcher. Her caution was caused by the look of horror on Xander’s face.
“You told me you were a human,” Xander accused.
Anya looked at him coldly. “I am human, Xander.”
“You’ve got demon abilities,” he spat out angrily.
“So has Buffy,” Anya flatly replied. “You told me that the reason you couldn’t be with Buffy had nothing to do with her abilities…”
“That’s enough, Anya,” Xander hastily interrupted the ex-demon. But the damage had been done.
Buffy faced the red faced young man, her expression cold. “Xander, you and I are going to have a little conversation about reality in the face of hyena possessed rape attempts, but for now we have something more important to deal with than your delusions.” Turning back to Anya and effectively dismissing the brunette, Buffy asked, “Tell us what else you know about these souls.”
“Okay, Buffy.” Anya was beginning to understand that she had something to offer the group. Maybe it wasn’t the way Xander said it was. Maybe the others really did like her and she could be accepted on her own. “Angel was cursed with a soul that would subject his demon to massive amounts of guilt. Now, I could be wrong on this, but I think the soul that was used was his human father’s soul. Spike was turned with his own soul intact. From what I’ve heard, Drusilla wasn’t allowed to turn anybody and the only reason Angelus let her that night was because he wanted William too. Angelus, Darla, and Drusilla raped and tortured him for twenty years, and his soul retreated into itself for protection.
“Lawson was different, also. He was turned sometime during the war in the forties by Angel. He kept his soul because he was turned by a vampire with a soul,” Anya informed them.
“If I’m remembering correctly, the venom kills the demon that’s animating the body. But the soul can protect the demon until he can be given the antidote. I won’t be easy, but it is possible. Oh, and at the moment you’re dealing with William rather than Spike.”
“Do you know what the cure is, Anya?” Giles asked quietly.
“No, I’m sorry, I don’t remember,” Anya replied. “But we’ve found the book with that information and ordered it. It shouldn’t take too long to get here.”
Buffy was reeling from what she had learned; it was going to take her some time to process it all. Turning to the silent vampire Buffy got down on her knees in front of him. Reaching up a hand to his chin, she lifted it so that she could look him in the eye. “Why didn’t you tell us you were William?” she asked gently.
“I apologise, Miss Summers. I was unsure of what to tell you,” William shyly told her.
“Well why don’t you start by calling me Buffy and we can move on from there.”