The vampire dissolved into dust and the new incarnation of 'Spike' didn't even pause. He shattered a nearby chair into a twin pair of long stakes and went to work.
Buffy blinked, still frozen at the spectacle until Giles called out, “Buffy, don't you think you might want to give him a hand?”
But this 'Spike' seemed to have everything under control.
He twirled the stakes in each hand like quarterstaffs and struck in vicious, lightening fast jabs. Leaping onto the research table he grasped a forgotten sword Buffy had been using in during training earlier in the evening and beheaded three more minions before they were even aware he had gotten above them.
Buffy managed to stake one retreating vampire and it was all over.
'Spike' still stood on the table, sword upraised, when his face suddenly slackened again. He wobbled on his feet and blinked.
“What's going on?” His voice was soft and bewildered.
“Come on down now, Will.” Angel offered a hand to the confused vampire.
Will dropped the sword in surprise and bounced like a startled cat at the clatter.
He kept looking from Buffy, to Angel, to Giles, to Willow, to Xander as if hoping one of them would tell him how he had gotten onto the table.
Angel reached into his coat pocket and pulled out something in an orange wrapper, “Come on down, Will, and have some chocolate.
Will fixed his eyes on the treat and quietly jumped down from his perch. Buffy saw it was Reese's Peanut Butter Cups as Will enthusiastically opened them. He paused and looked around the room, “Does anyone want one?”
He offered the package to Buffy and she shook her head, biting her lip. Xander was the only one to take the offered treat.
What. The. Hell? Was the only thing Buffy could think of.
Will began eating the chocolate in with a systematic fervor. He nibbled around the outer edge for a few minutes. Buffy just kept staring at him.
He looked up at her and blinked, he had chocolate on his lip, “Are you sure you don't want one? I have one left.” He offered her the package and Buffy took one with numb fingers.
“Thank you.”
He beamed at her and the smile took up his entire face, it was incredibly disarming, she couldn't help smiling back.
Giles had sauntered over to Angel in the meantime and quietly whispered, “Perhaps an explanation is in order?”
Angel licked his lips and glanced over at Will, “Why don't you listen to your music for a while, Will? I have to talk about important things.”
Will looked up, “I can help! I can-“
“No, Will, its all pretty boring stuff. I think Now Effix would interest you more.”
Will chuckled, “It's NOFX! N-O-F-X.”
“Er, right. You listen to so many different ones I can't keep track.”
Angel got Will settled with the headphones over his ears at a suitably high volume and joined the Scoobies and Giles at the table.
“So, I think I speak for everyone here when I say, 'What the heck?'” Xander sputtered.
Angel sighed, “Will has been with me for a long time, since before I got my soul. He was turned in 1880 in London. I did that. I took the purest, most beautiful human being I could find and made him a monster.
But before I did that, I stalked him, I tortured him, I killed what little family and few friends he had and it slowly made him take leave of reality.
He was a bit gone when I finally turned him, but what I did afterward really made him… split. I-I violated him. I starved him nearly to the point of dust and back again. I practiced every horrible thing I could think of onto his flesh and his mind.
Eventually, I noticed another person emerging who would take the torture and everything and throw it back into my face. He called himself 'Spike' and it was almost like he didn't feel pain. Then, sometimes Will would come back when I wasn't doing anything. Will is like a child, he just wants to be entertained and taken care of. He likes beautiful things and somehow, despite the demon, he is still incredibly pure.
I think something had been done to him when he was alive to make this happen. I'd tortured people into insanity before but there was never anything like this. Both of them are 'sane' really. They can think for themselves and act accordingly. They have separate identities. Will isn't really aware of Spike but Spike is aware of Will. Spike needs to be called to come out but sometimes, if the situation is really desperate enough, he'll come out on his own.
That happened twice. Giles, if you want to research this, look up 'William the Bloody'.”
Giles immediately shook himself out of his trance and started pawing through Council journals. “I think I've seen that name before! Yes, here it is- Good Lord!”
“What?” Buffy got up and read over Giles shoulder.
“The Slayer of Slayers. William the Bloody, also known under the moniker 'Spike' has fought and killed two slayers in the last century.”
Everyone's eyes shot to the figure sitting Indian-style on the chair oblivious to the conversation.
“He is regarded as an incredibly proficient killer and should be avoided at all costs.” Giles read on.
“That's nonsense. They had the soul on both occasions. They didn't set out to kill those slayers. We had joined up with my sire Darla in China during the Boxer Rebellion. I still thought we could move on from the soul and go back to the ways things were. Will just stayed at my side. The Chinese slayer attacked and Spike came out. They fought and he won, end of story.
The soul effects Spike, too. He felt remorse for her death. I'm just glad Will had no idea it had happened. When we went to see 'Old Yeller' in the theater when it came out he cried about that damn dog for two weeks. Can you imagine if he knew he had killed people?
The same thing happened in New York, it was in the 1970s. A slayer named Nikki Wood marked me for her stake. Spike got in the way.
Spike used to be out a lot more often then Will before the soul. It was Spike who came up with the plan to get it and fought for it. We went to Africa in 1899. I was still a little crazy and he holed me up in a cave. I know he went to see this demon and passed some kind of warrior's trials. After we got back to Europe, Will was out more and more until eventually he was there almost all the time.
I guess because of the split the soul didn't affect them as much as it affected me. Or, it could be because they only had eighteen years of being a vampire while I had a century and a half. Or, it could be because they never lost as much of their humanity as I did. Or because they were a better person before being turned. I've thought about his a lot but I don't really have an answer.”
Buffy traced the words on the page of the book Giles had been reading. 'Incredibly proficient killer…' Yes, he was. She had seen him in action.
“Why haven't you brought him before? We could have used him.” Buffy asked suddenly shattering the silence that had descended over the room.
“And why are you keeping him away from us if he's so safe?” Xander chimed in.
Angel sighed, “I never wanted to bring him here at all. I don't want him to be a part of this. It isn't his fight. And I wasn't keeping him away from you. I was keeping you away from him. I've only known you all for a few weeks. I have to be sure he's safe with you.”
Buffy's mouth dropped open and flapped wordlessly before she found her voice, “You think we're just going to what? Beat him up and kill him? He's harmless. Er, when he isn't the other person that he is… this is getting confusing.”
“To say the least.” Giles was staring at the figure on the chair that removed his headphones suddenly and looked up, “Are you done yet? Can we get a Slurpie on the way home?”
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