Banner by Selene
Banner
by Selene
Chapter 8: Mastermind at Work
The Outskirts of Rome
The cloak-clad figure stood before the fire once again, deep in thought. ‘The
advent of all these new slayers is tied to two people, the witch that created
the spell and the Chosen One. Eliminate one and the spell is broken. The world
goes back to only the two slayers, Buffy and Faith. The witch is too powerful,
anyone that was able to pull off the spell in the first place would be. But, the
slayer.’ He chuckled ruefully. ‘Now she is vulnerable.’
Even though that vampire guards her, he could get around that. It would just be
a matter of timing. It wouldn’t even take any fighting on his part. Thanks to
the book, he had the means to take down the slayer without having to resort to
violence. It may take a little longer to see the effects, a week perhaps, but it
would work. All without exposing himself or his agenda.
Turning away from the fire, he left the room to set his plans in motion.
~*~*~*~*~
Rome
1:30 a.m.
Spike left a sleeping Buffy and made his way downstairs to the office to use the
phone. He hadn’t wanted to worry her, so he had waited until she had drifted
off to sleep before quietly slipping out of bed. But, he need to see what – if
anything – that prophecy had to do with what he could feel was coming. Spike
picked up the phone and dialed the number to Wolfram & Hart. He hated to
involve his grandsire, but he needed to make sure that scroll had nothing to do
with Buffy. And he needed to see if they were also feeling these vibes that he
was having. He figured that since Angel had a gateway to the senior partners he
could actually put the paper-pushing ponce to work. Besides, if something evil
were about to happen, the boys at Wolfram & Hart would hear about it first.
Shoot, knowing them, they probably already did. It would just be a matter of
twisting the right arm for the information. Or neck.
“Wolfram & Hart, how may I direct your call?” a female voice enquired.
“I need to speak with the poof… uh, gimme Angel,” Spike said.
“One moment, please.”
“Angel’s office, how may I help you,” Harmony asked.
“Harmony, is Angel there?”
“Blondie-bear! How are…”
Spike interrupted her. “Harmony, just get Angel on the phone. It’s
important.”
“Uh, right, sure. Lemme see if he’s in.” A pause. “Spike, he’s not in
his office. He’s probably pow-wowing with Wesley and Gunn down in Wesley’s
office. Something or other about a new prophecy.”
“Damn. Hey, ring me to Wes’ office.” Spike heard a few clicks, and then
Wesley’s voice came on the line. Well, it sounded like Wesley’s voice
anyway. Damn speakerphones. Bloody annoying.
“This is Wesley.”
“Wesley, it’s Spike.” The other occupants in the room stopped what they
were doing and looked at the phone.
“Spike?”
“Yeah. So tell me, did you guys ever get that scroll translated?”
“Er, yeah. Just not sure what it means yet.”
“Whatsit? Bloody connection.”
“I said that we’ve translated the document as best we can. We’re just not
sure what it means, exactly.”
“Look, the slayer and me, we’re getting a bad vibe. Nothing specific. Just a
feeling, really. I don’t bloody well like it either.”
“Spike?” This from Fred.
“Hey, pet. How are things?”
“I can’t complain,” she said with a smile in her voice, a sideways look at
Wesley. “How are you?”
“Not bad, pet. Except for this weird feeling ‘m havin’. Almost like the
calm before a bloody storm.”
The tunnel-voice abruptly ended when Angel picked up the phone. “Tell me.”
“Good day to you too, peaches.” Spike scowled into the phone. “Look, mate.
I’m not likin’ this. Not one bit. It’s not just me either. The slayer
feels it too. She’s worried, but isn’t sayin’ anything, as usual. She’s
got Giles looking in to it as well. I think you should send a copy of the text
and translation to him. See if he can help you guys out.”
“I’ll get Fred on it. I would have sent something before, but Buffy isn’t
exactly in the ‘trusting me’ mode right now. Speaking of, how is she?”
“She’s good. Got a whole passel of li’l slayers running around here.
Enough to creep out even a master vampire like myself.”
“Little slayers?” Angel asked confused.
“Oh, right. Buffy trains the younger girls that became slayers when Red cast
that spell back in Sunnydale. You know how that went. Bloody slayers were poppin’
up everywhere. Some are too young to deal with it. Buffy helps.” Usually,
slayers weren’t “called” until they were fifteen or so, but when Willow
did the spell, it included all potentials, no matter their age. Most had no idea
of the gift they had been given. Hence, the “slayer school.”
“Oh,” Angel replied, shaking the image of little Spike/Buffy’s running
around. He so did not want to go there. “Anyway, stuff’s on its way to
Giles. Keep me posted on your end.” ‘Keep her safe.’ he silently
voiced. “I’ll let you know if we find out anything here.”
“Right.” ‘I will.’ Spike replied, ringing off. Silently, he made
his way back upstairs.
~*~*~*~*~
Spike quietly closed the door to Buffy’s room. Looking towards the bed he
could make out her figure underneath the sheet. He didn’t like what he saw.
The slayer was thrashing around in bed, moaning in her sleep. He hurried towards
the bed to try to get her to wake up.
Buffy walked through the hallway towards the training room. It was quiet. Too
quiet. Dawn was at school, but the other girls should have been getting ready
for their workout. Buffy was getting a bad feeling. Hurrying the rest of the way
down the hall, she quickly threw open the door to the training room. Angelina,
Francesca, Lionna, and the others were lying on the floor, blood pooling onto
the ground from their numerous wounds. She froze for a moment from the sight
that greeted her, but quickly recovered and ran to the closest body. Bending
down, she turned over Angelina checking for any sign of consciousness. Nothing.
She hurriedly checked the other girls, but it was too late. Tears were silently
falling unchecked down her face.
Standing up, she backed carefully out of the room. Her hand was covering her
mouth, trying to hold the screams back.
‘I’ve got to get to Dawn,’ she thought.
Turning, she ran down the hallway and practically flew down the two flights of
stairs to the first floor. On her way to the front door she heard a shrill ring.
She couldn’t place the sound. Then she remembered: the telephone.
‘Maybe it’s Dawn.’
Reversing her steps, she ran to the phone. In her agitation, she dropped it. The
sound of the phone connecting with the wooden floor resounded through the quiet
building. Recovering quickly, she picked up the phone.
‘Dawn!?’ she shouted, panic evident in her voice.
‘Buffy, it’s Giles.’
‘Wha… Giles? I can’t talk right now. I’ve got to find Dawn. Something
bad has happened.’
‘Buffy, wait. It’s not just there. It’s everywhere. The slayers are
gone.’
‘How? That can’t happen. There’s too many of us now. They can’t get us
all.’
‘It’s you, Buffy. It’s tied to you.’
‘Huh? You’re not making sense, Giles.’ Buffy glanced at the mirror beside
the phone. She let out a muffled scream, the phone slipping silently from her
fingers as she brought them up to touch her face. Her normal tanned complexion
was pasty-white, her veins protruding blue through her translucent skin.
‘Buffy. Buffy!’ Giles’ voice was calling frantically to her from the
dropped connection. She was unable to support her weight and slide silently to
the floor.
‘Nooooo…’ she whimpered. ‘Noooo…’
Just as Spike reached the bed, Buffy went deathly still. If his heart were
actually beating, it would have stopped. He leaned over her, grabbed her by the
shoulders and started shaking her.
“Buffy, wake up! Wake up, dammit!” He continued to shake her. Abruptly, her
eyes opened and she gasped as she sat up in bed, instinctively reaching for
Spike.
“Hush, luv. I’ve got you. It was just a bad dream. I’m here now,” he
said as he cradled her gently in his arms. Buffy was openly weeping. Spike just
continued to hold her while she calmed down.
After a while, he pushed her back so that he could look at her. She got out a
muffled, “slayer dream.”
“Tell me what happened.”
In a halting breath, Buffy told him that she was making her way to the training
room, but was getting spooked because it was so quiet. She told him about how
all the girls were dead, that she was trying to get to Dawn when Giles called
saying that all the slayers were dead. She told him that she could see herself
dying right before she woke up.
When Spike heard that, he tightened his hold on her. She didn’t seem to mind,
taking comfort in his tight embrace.
“I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe with me.” He spoke more
to convince himself than her. He wouldn’t be able to go on if something were
to happen to her. He’d died once to protect her, he’d gladly do it again.
Buffy squirmed in his hold attempting to get out of bed.
“Where are you going?”
“I’ve got to check on Dawn.”
“I’ll go. You stay here.” He placed a quick kiss to her forehead and let
her lay back in bed. “I’ll be right back.” Spike left the room to make
sure that the Niblet was ok.
When Spike left, Buffy got up and went to the bathroom. Turning on the
cold-water tap, she cupped her hands under the cold stream. Lifting her hands to
her face, she let the water splash down her face, removing the last vestige of
sleepiness. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, grateful when she saw
her normal, slightly tanned complexion. She took a few deep breaths to slow her
heart rate down. She was sure Spike could hear the pounding of her heart all the
way down the hall.
As far as slayer’s dreams went, this one was a doozy. She could almost feel
herself dying in her dream, and she definitely had some experience with that
feeling. Only, this wasn’t a blissful death. It was filled with a pain so
deep, she could hardly contain it. The pain of it had leaked over into her
consciousness. Its deadly talons digging at her from the inside out. Resolutely,
she put the dream from her mind.
Walking from the bathroom, she looked up to see Spike shutting the bedroom door.
At a questioning look from her, he said, “She’s fine. Sleeping like a
baby.”
“We’ll need to call Giles,” Buffy said.
“We will. In the morning. Right now, you need to get back to sleep.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“Well then, I’m sure I can think of something to occupy our time.”
Scooping her up in his arms, he crossed to the bed. He laid her body tenderly on
the bed, and then crawled in next her. Wrapping his arms around her, Spike
pulled her up on top of him. True to his word, he kept her busy until the first
rays of the sun could be seen behind the thick curtains.