Chapter Three
Spike sat in the backseat of the Desoto, running his hands through the hair of the young girlchild who sat comfortably with her head on his shoulder. In his entire life, both human and Vamp, he had never felt this feeling of contentment. His demon should be howling at the thought; William, his inner ponce, should be dithering. No, however it was Spike, the pure unadulturated demon, that was truly content. Family. Such a small word, but in truth something the demon had never really felt. With Dru, he had come close, but never was it like this. This other Spike - he had a wife and mate, a son and this beautiful child next to him, and from what he had heard another daughter somewhere who was full of piss and vinegar and looking just like the Slayers in the front seat.
A sudden intake of breath drew his attention back to the front seat as both the Slayer and Witch stared at him.
"Blokes got a right to a dream, don't he?" he asked his Slayer. And yes, she was his Slayer from here on out. He couldn't deny the truth of that anymore.
"Just never thought I would see this." Buffy the younger stated looking confused. "I mean Vamps can't love, its impossible."
Before Spike could answer, there was a loud snort from the returning Darker Buffy as she handed him a large cup of heated blood. "Yeah, and who told you that?" she asked her younger doppelganger. "Hmmm, let me guess, the Council. Who conveniently don't want you to believe anything good about the enemy. Oh, oh, no, better yet, I know, I bet it was Angel! Yeah! Right cause he has no reason to lie to you about this." Her smirk was far from pleasant.
"Hey! Angel doesn't have any reason to lie to me." The younger Buffy was getting a bit pissed.
"No? Why lie? I mean…he doesn't love you souless, so of course since the moon rises and sets on his fat ass, he must be right." The elder Buffy says as she buckles her seat belt and started the car. "You ever stop to think that maybe all a soul really is…hmmm…a conscience? Wouldn't that make you think before you start killing off others? Maybe the Angelus you saw might just be the true Angel, an Angel that you are scared to death to know?"
The one good thing about knowing who the young man, no, not young man - her grandson, Joyce stopped suddenly and walked back to the kitchen door to look out at her grandson, really was, was the fact that now she knew the beginnings of how to help him heal. Rupert, who was currently watching HER grandson sleep had informed her that according to legends Damphyres were human predators that survived mainly on red meat. Unlike Vampires, Damphyres could and often did survive on normal human foods, but when severely injured, they needed lots of red meat. He had also informed her that Damphyes were seen as protectors of their human cousins.
Joyce warmed her pan as she finished defrosting a pack of steaks. She really didn't know why she kept buying steaks, as neither she nor Buffy ate red meat very often, but still it was a habit she had picked up while being married to Hank. Right now she was happy she had some on hand. She stopped suddenly and walked back to the living room door and took a quick look at her GRANDSON.
OK she had seen Spike before and yeah he looked very nice, but damn who knew he could make a son that looked so sweet. Joyce walked back to the stove and continued cooking the steaks hoping that seven should be enough. Rare?? Someone that needed red meat to heal might need it a bit bloody, his father was a vampire after all. Hmmmm, my son-in-law is Spike. Nope that's not going to do, have to call him William, or Will, no, William, it fits him better, more distinguished. Joyce loaded the plate with the seven rare steaks. She thought for a moment before grabbing her largest eating bowl and headed to the freezer bringing back the ice cream container inside. After all her GRANDSON, might want some Cookie Dough ice cream.
Xander had never been this scared in all his life. The guy standing in the shadows had been ranting for a good ten minutes, and it was obvious the guy was insane. He tried to drone out the guy's words, but when something was said that was to insane for words, he spoke up. "What the hell, Spike has kids?"
The statement was wrong on so many levels that Xan could almost bet it had to be true. "Yes, Spike has kids, and you're gonna kill them??"
Xander peered into the shadows at the obviously SUICIDAL, insane nutcase there. "Man have you ever met Spike? The guy will kill you just for looking at any kids of his."
The man finally stepped completely from the shadows, and Xander nearly gasped at the scars on the man's face. His ugly face was crisscrossed with angry twisted gaping scars.
"You like those huh?" The Man asked with a sneer, "Spike's bitch of an eldest daughter did it."
Once again Xander's mouth overran his brain. "Dude, I don't know how it is where your from, but in Sunnydale, no…means NO."
Ok, Xander thought, he was getting it. Scarface had tried something with this Joyce, who is Spike's daughter, still hard to get his mind around that, and now Scar had to kill Spike before Spike killed him. Of course just this once the Xanman was gonna have to plead with Buffy for Spike leniency, cause this guy just needed to be dead.
"Not like that, but maybe," Scarface's grin looked like a rictus as he continued, "she does look exactly like her mom. But she's never been touched by a demon. Hmmm, blonde hair, green eyes, yeah, I might have some fun before I kill her."
Xander's head came up with a jerk, and he stared into the hate-filled eyes before him. "But Dru is a brunette."
The smile grew, "Dru isn't her mom, Buffy is."
Xander lunged forward nearly breaking his own arms as the chain snatched him back.
As the Desoto came to a stop, Spike hit the ground running bringing his demon to the for as he raced into the Summers' house. As he stepped through the door, he flung his duster off as he brought his wrist to his lips and tore through the veins there. He moved behind William quickly using his own body to support his almost-son. He was only vaguely aware of the Slayer's mum and Watcher looking on with shocked eyes as he began feeding the boy. "Don't worry mate, Uncle Spike's got ya."
Rupert Giles caught his words immediately that this wasn't young William's father, but rather the Spike from Rupert's own when. Yet the way he cradled the boy feeding him sire's blood, or possibly as close as could be had here, it was very telling. Buffy, his slayer, had followed only a step behind stake in hand, but as Spike began feeding William, she stopped and picked up Spike's duster dropping it over the back of the couch.
What did surprise the Watcher was the second Buffy. Older than his Slayer, yes, but if he were to judge he would say only older by three or four years at the most. The last two arrivals were both redheads. Willow he knew well, but the younger redhead was a bundle of energy; her eyes flashed yellow, and Rupert realized that obviously William had at least one sister. Dear God, the implications!
Xander stared at the butt ugly monster that called itself a man in front of him. He was angrier than he had ever been. The blinds had been forcibly removed from his eyes, and as much as he hated it he somehow knew the man wasn't lying about Buffy and Spike. But that didn't matter right now. It scared him, yes, it hurt him, sure, but that wasn't important right now. All that mattered was the safety of Buffy's children. "Ya know when Spike comes up and slips his fangs in you and drains you dry? Afterwards, I think I'll buy the bastard a beer."
The blows that came after were painful, yes, brutal yes, but more so they were expected. As he began to lose consciousness, Xander was almost surprised when he realized that YES, he did want a front row seat of the Bleached one killing this trash.
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