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Chapter 53

Spike paced back and forth in front of the assembled group seated around the Dowager Duchess’ sitting room. He eyed each one of his childer – still unbelieving that he had a whole clan to worry and watch over now. And, the more he stood there, eyeing their fearful yet determined expression in the face of taking on one of the Master’s own childer, and he undead for nearly three hundred years, the more he thought to hell with dealing with said vampire. That it would be best for them to just slip away and let Havlov do as he will.

His group was too young to go up against so powerful a vampire. Hell, even he was.

The problem lay in explaining things to them. The full truth this time, now that he knew what the Powers wanted from him, from Buffy and the others. And that was what had him pacing. It was enough for him to try and wrap his mind around the idea of he and his clan balancing the scales of good and evil, getting the others to follow was… Hell. Insane was what it was. The whole idea of vampires, and ok, the Slayer, keeping the scales on an even keel was laughable at best. He believed he’d mentioned the evil part often enough, but apparently it had fallen upon deaf ears.

He stopped suddenly; closing his eyes, he allowed his head to fall back and let out an aggrieved sigh. Spike stayed like that for maybe a handful of seconds before his eyes opened again and he lifted his head back up staring at nothing.

“Sod it all,” he grumbled under his breath, then faced the group and told them in a louder voice, “Get your things, we’re getting out of here. Adam, our ship is ready?”

“The Emerald is tied up and waiting instructions.”

“Good. And the other.”

“Already in place.”

“But what about Havlov?” Buffy asked, confused. “Aren’t we gonna—”

“No. We’re not. Havlov was a ruse.”

“A ruse? What? I don’t understand.”

“Think about it, Slayer. Havlov’s gonna get what he wants whether we challenge him or not. And, I’d rather not risk you all getting killed over a done deal.”

“But—”

“Havlov was a means to an end, pet. A reason to bring you and me together, form this li’l pack of do-gooders. They’ve been yankin’ our chains all along, Slayer. Our job, our destiny, is to be bloody peacekeepers, maintain the balance on the bleedin’ planet.” His voice was snide, knowing there was no way in hell the others were going to follow him into this. They were demons after all, no matter that they didn’t openly feed on the abundance of humans milling about in their circles.

The Slayer, he noted, seemed like she’d been sucker punched; she deflated into the back of her chair, her mouth opening and closing around words that she couldn’t bring forth. Staring up at him with eyes wide and confused. The sudden smile threw him for a loop.

“So, we’re not going back?” she asked.

“Back?” He paused, bewildered by the question. “No.” He got out no more, however, because he suddenly had his hands full catching his wife as she hurtled herself at him. He backpedaled a bit to maintain his balance, her arms and legs wrapping around him and holding tight.  But her exclaimed, “Oh thank god!” nearly brought him to his knees.

Unmindful of the other vamps in the room, she kissed him, tears of happiness welling in her eyes to fall silently down her cheeks. Spike, never one to turn down the affections of the Slayer, kissed her back. He would have taken it further, but the discreet clearing of several throats brought him up short, and he reluctantly pulled his head back and coaxed Buffy to release her hold on him.

When she stood on her own two feet, he looked down to see her grinning like a loon. Then her eyes widened, and she turned away, racing to Renee’s side to embrace the vampiress. Both stood there, bouncing up and down in their mannish attire, looking like a pair of kids.

“I’m not going back,” Buffy told her, giddy beyond belief.

“You’re not going back,” Renee confirmed, her smile radiant.

Spike watched as the Slayer then went from one to the other, hugging them close, unmindful of the tears flowing freely from her eyes. When she’d made the rounds, she stopped and looked at him.

“So, are we leaving, or what?”

It seemed like that was a signal for the others to grab their things. He shook his head, wondering why he was even surprised that the others would follow without protest.

“Guess now’s a good a time as any.”

~*~*~*~*~

Spike climbed down the steps that led to his quarters. The smell of the salty sea air and the goings on as the captain’s men prepared to set sail distracted him enough so that he didn’t notice anything at first. But, when he did, his eyes widened, then narrowed in anger, and he left the Slayer behind as he strode swiftly down the corridor and threw open the door to his cabin.

Travis stood there, calmly going about readying the room. Spike noticed he’d already blocked out the port windows so that no trace of sunlight could filter inside in the morning. Candles had been placed strategically throughout the cabin to provide lighting.

“What the bloody hell?”

“Good evening, m’lord. Is there anything I can get you?”

“You can get the hell off this ship and back on land, is what you can do!” he roared.

“No.”

Spike blinked. Then exploded. “No?! You dare tell me no?”

Buffy chose that moment to step inside the room.

“Travis! What are you doing here?”

“Seeing to your needs, m’lady. As always. Here, let me take that.” He walked around his fuming lord and took his mistress’ bag out of her hands, moving off to set it on one of the chairs bolted to the floor.

“But, Travis, your family…”

“The others’ children are grown and will be fine without them. I have no wife or children to leave behind.”

“You’re not alone!” Spike bellowed, uncaring who might here.

“Spike! Stop,” Buffy admonished.

“We’re all here,” Travis replied.

Just then several other outbursts could be heard, and Buffy peeked her head out the door to see familiar faces trolling the halls.

“You’re going to need a staff wherever it is you’re going. Better one well equipped to deal with our lords’ or ladies’ needs,” came the reasonable reply.

“You never had any intention of using those letters, did you?” Spike ground out.

“No.”

“And the money?”

“Left it in a safe place for our families.”

“How did you all manage to get on the ship?” Buffy asked.

Travis blushed a bit. “We stole aboard, m’lady.”

That brought a reluctant smirk from Spike. A few of their groups servants were getting on in years, so trying to smuggle them aboard had to have been an interesting, if not downright funny, sight. He was going to have to adjust their plans for getting off the boat to include the others. But, there was no help for it, and Buffy seemed so happy to see his manservant, he didn’t have it in him to deny that they could come along.

“That’ll be all, Travis. I trust you have a place to stay.”

“Yes, m’lord.”

“Don’t even say it,” he told the Slayer as soon as the door closed behind him. “We’ll bring them with us. Now, come thank your husband like a proper li’l wife.”

Buffy gave him an assessing look.

“Right…maybe not so proper then.”

~*~*~*~*~

They lay there sometime later, Buffy half draped over Spike while he ran one hand up and down along her bare back.

“Will you be able to do it? Watch them grow older and die off, one by one? Tell me now, or I’ll leave them with the crew.”

Buffy nodded around the lump in her throat. She knew he was deliberately painting a grim picture, perhaps to spare her further pain in the future.

“They wanted to come. It’s what they know. They’re like family, Spike.”

“All right, pet. Now, let me up. I need to speak with a few of the others and work out how we’re going to do this.” He brushed a kiss across her forehead and disentangled himself from the Slayer, rising from the bed to get dressed. His hands closed over his discarded clothes and he pulled them on quickly and walked towards the door.

“Get some sleep. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

She nodded, laying her head back against the pillow. Sleeping deeply until the blast from a cannon shot and the subsequent shudder from the ship, woke her from a sound sleep.

Seconds later, the door burst open and a harried Spike rushed inside.

“Get dressed, luv. We gotta go.”

Buffy jumped out of bed and pulled on the dress she’d been wearing earlier as the ship shook again after it was leveled with another blast. She swayed slightly on her feet, and Spike was at her back to steady her.

“Hurry, Slayer. Not much time.”

“The others?”

“Already seen to. It’s why I was late.”

She nodded, and bent down to pull on her boots. Her fingers flew over the laces, missing hooks, but not stopping to fix it. Wouldn’t matter anyway. When she was finished, she stood and grabbed her bag, Spike already had his in hand. She hesitated for a moment, having second thoughts about their plan.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” What she really wanted to say was, “Do we really need to do this.”

“Yes. Now quit stalling and come on. Don’t fancy actually going down with this thing.”

The pair raced up the steps and ran out onto the deck.

Chaos literally enveloped them.

Spike started yelling at the captain. Telling him not to fight, that they’d no hope against defeating the pirates now swarming the deck.

Buffy screamed, and he had to force himself not to let his demon out and attack. He turned and watched as she was dragged away and back across the gangplank connecting the two ships. Renee, Esme, and Angelina were treated to much of the same. He bellowed out his denial starting after them, when suddenly the sound of a shot rang loudly in his ears, the tiny steel ball making a nice hole in his stomach as he raced across the narrow board after Buffy. It hurt like a bitch and he fell sideways, off the plank and into the water below.

Marcus and the others charged after the woman and received bullets for their troubles, causing several more splashes to follow in the wake of Spike’s. Then the grappling hooks were disengaged from The Emerald and the pirate ship moved off, back out towards the open ocean, leaving the crippled ship, and its crew, behind.

~*~*~*~*~

The alarm clock woke Giles from a sound sleep and he reached over and pounded his fist on the button to stop its incessant wailing. At the blessed sound of silence, he fell back against his pillow, rubbing wearily at his temples and the headache he could already feel forming there due to lack of sleep.

He’d been up late, going through the books he’d brought home with him, without much success, no matter what he’d told Willow. Finally falling into bed late, or rather early this morning, and the few hours of sleep he had hadn’t done much to stave off his weariness.

But, he couldn’t give up.

Giles got out of bed and stumbled his way towards the bathroom. He emerged fifteen minutes later after a hot shower, hoping the water would appease his abused muscles and help wake him up. The heated water worked wonders, and he emerged feeling much more like himself. In under thirty minutes, he’d had tea brewed, gotten dressed, gathered his research materials and was headed back towards Sunnydale High. When he let himself inside the building shortly thereafter, it was still dark outside.

His dress shoes rang hollowly in the deserted hallway, his feet on autopilot as he walked unaided down the darkened corridors towards the library – he’d done this so often he didn’t need to turn on the lights to see. He’d left the light on in his office and the soft glow cast a beacon as he turned the corner. The soft illumination caused him to increase his pace, eager now to get a head start on finding the solution to his Slayer’s disappearance. And he hoped he had something concrete to share with the children when they finally showed up.

~*~

Amber eyes watched from the stacks as Buffy’s watcher returned from the office with a cup of tea in one hand and a few books in the other. He waited while the man set the cup aside and lowered the books to the table. When the man was distracted with that task, he raised the small pipe to his lips and blew the projectile towards the man’s cup. His aim was true, and the cup flipped on its side, sending the contents to splash upon the table and threatening the books placed near it.

Derrick melded back into the shadows and listened as the Englishman let loose with several blasphemies Buffy would have been shocked that the man even knew. But, she’d been right in his penchant for books and would do just about anything to ensure their survival. He peeked around the corner and saw the Watcher shifting books away from the flow of tea, holding an unnecessary breath as the book he’d needed the man to look through was shifted to the top of the pile of the ones he’d brought from his office. Score!

His work complete, he slipped deeper into the stacks towards the sewer entrance that would take him back to the others. All they could do now was wait.

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