Chapter 1: Haunted
 
 

 “My Spike… why do you fight it so? Why do you fight your true nature?” Dru cooed softly in his ear.

Spike knew he was dreaming. Everything was dark and he heard her voice calling out from the darkness- haunting him.

“They’ll never except you, you know. They can’t. They won’t. They don’t need you, my Spike. Return to me. Become who you truly are.” Dru’s voice continued softly.

“No, that’s not who I am anymore. Go away Dru.” Spike said harshly.

“Why…? Why do you try so hard? For those who despise you?” Her voice became harsher.

“I’ve changed. I’m in love with the Slayer.”

“Lies! All lies! Why do you punish Ms. Edith so? She cries all night now because our family is broken. You don’t really love the Slayer… how can you? You have the blood of the other two on your hands.” Dru appeared to him now, her tall thin body covered in shadows. She moved towards him seductively.

“Dru…don’t.” Spike warned.

“Do you remember the first? Her blood was so delicious. It swam throughout my body like little fishies. Chinese girls taste good.”

“Jeing Mei.” Spike said automatically, with out thought.

“You remember that night?” Dru ventured.

“How could I forget…?” Spike said in a sad, far away tone.

Suddenly the darkness lifted and he saw laying before him the body of Jeing Mei. Spike looked around and saw that he was in the Buddhist temple he killed her in during the Boxer Rebellion. He looked back down at the Slayer lying, dead on the ground.

Dead.  Dead, but still warm.

“Tell my mother I’m sorry...” Jeing Mei’s voice echoes in his mind until suddenly her face morphs into Buffy’s.  “Tell my mother I’m sorry…” Buffy’s voice says to him. A deep burning pain fills Spike’s heart, something akin to regret and remorse.

Spike awakens with a start, sitting straight up in his bed. He takes in deep un-needed breaths to calm his panic.

“Bloody hell…” Spike pants. He tossed the blankets aside and jumped out of bed. He climbed up the steps to the upper-level to retrieve his blood out of the refrigerator and glanced out the window to the now setting sun. It was almost time to go on patrol.

He downed his first jar of blood in moments, and was moving toward his second when he realized there is another presence in his crypt. He turned to search the shadows, but could see nothing.

“Come out where I can see you. I know you’re there.” Spike says while replacing the second glass jar back into the fridge. He was about to give whoever was lurking about an earful, and maybe a fistful, about coming into his crypt uninvited. Who he saw step out of the shadows, however, rendered him speechless…well, almost.

“Cecily?”

“Dawn!” Buffy yelled up the stairs to where her sister resided in her room. Seconds later, however, Dawn was clambering down the steps, standing before her sister.

“You bellowed?” Dawn asked as she came to the bottom step. She watched with even eyes as Buffy put on her jacket and picked up her slaying bag.

“You know the drill. In bed by 11, no HBO, and don’t forget to wash your dishes!” Buffy said the last with exasperation. Dawn constantly left her dirty dishes in the sink, never thinking about who washed them. Namely Buffy.

“What about…” Dawn trailed off, motioning to upstairs with a nod of her head. She was asking about Willow.

Buffy grimaced as a fresh wave of pain reminded her that her best friend had tried to make her forget about being in Heaven, but the spell had gone wrong, as usual with Willow’s spells.

Willow had been crushed when she realized that She hadn’t pulled Buffy out of Hell- she had pulled her out of Heaven, and had been depressed about it ever since. After Tara left her for breaking her promise to stop using magic, her depression increased tenfold. She barely ate anymore and spent most of her time locked away in her room.

But try as she might Buffy couldn’t conjure up any sympathy or compassion for Willow. Buffy felt cheated. Twice. Willow had stolen away her well earned peace by resurrecting her, and tried to take it away again with the forget spell. In fact it took a lot out of Buffy to try to not hate her best friend.

“I don’t know Dawn…listen, I’ve got to go.” Buffy said as she turned and opened the front door. “Good night.” She called to Dawn over her shoulder.

“ ’Night. Be careful.” Dawn called back before the door closed behind her sister.

Dawn sighed and crossed her arms. She stood there for a moment, glancing up the stairs, thinking about asking Willow if she wanted to do something, but then thought better of it. With a bored huff she turned and walked into the living room, flipping on the TV to HBO.

“Ooh, Sex and the City.”

Buffy sighed in annoyance as she dusted her seventh vamp of the evening. Spike had not shown for patrol and it was seriously annoying her.

“Damn peroxide pest. Where the hell is he? I am *so* gonna stake him for this...if he’s not already dust...” Buffy mumbled to herself as she stalked off in the direction of Spike’s crypt.

Damn him for making her worry about him.  Didn’t he know she had enough to worry about?  Why the hell was she worrying about him anyway?  He’s evil.  He’s an evil vampire.  He’s an evil vampire that has tried to kill her more then several times.  He’s an evil vampire that for some obscure reason she was attracted to, and liked to kiss him.  Among other things…

Damn it! Bad Buffy! Bad thought! No Spike!

With another exasperated sigh (seemed like she was doing that an awful lot lately) she slammed open Spike’s crypt door, walking in without hesitation. She never told anyone, but she always slammed open Spike’s door for two reasons- the first was to announce her presence- why break with tradition? And the second…well, lets just say that she sometimes hoped to catch him at embarrassing moments.  Well, and it was fun too.  That nice, satisfying BAMB sound it made as it hit the stone wall.  Okay, three reasons. But tonight she had no such luck. The top level was empty. A couple candles were lit, which meant that he was here. He never left candles burning while he was out. So that meant he was in the lower levels.

“Spike?” She called out as she got closer to the trap door in the ground. She listened closely and heard his voice growl, in what sounded like a heated conversation.

“Listen, I don’t give a damn about who you are. Leave me alone.” Spike growled. Buffy listened and was confused when she didn’t hear anything else for a few moments.

“Don’t try to pull that guilt crap on me, soulless vampire here, remember? So piss off!” Spike shouted.

Buffy was very confused  now. Spike was talking to himself? Maybe he stole a cell phone or something… but who would he be talking to?

“Yeah, yeah. You said that already, ducks. ‘First Evil’, blah, blah, blah…. Christ. Now the Slayer has me talking like her….” Buffy heard another brief pause. “Don’t you bring the Slayer into this you bloody bint.” Spike said with real malice in his voice. What was that he said about The First Evil?

“I said, sod the bloody hell off! You’re little guilt trip isn’t working princess, so go torment someone else, eh? Try someone who cares.” Spike said in an annoyed tone.

Buffy was overly curious now...screw the cat.

“Spike?” Buffy called out as she descended the stairs to the lower level. When she first saw him, his back was turned from her and he was standing in the center of the room facing a wall as if talking to someone standing there.

He whirled around to face her.  “Buffy.” He said in a much softer tone.

“Who were you talking to?”

“She can’t see me William. Only you can see me.” Cecily told him.

“What? Oh, uh, no one.” Spike replied to Buffy. Buffy gave him a skeptical look.

“Why didn’t you meet me for patrol?”

“Patrol? Oh..! Right. Sorry, must have slipped my mind.” Spike said. Buffy gave him another skeptical look.  She was good at those.

“You never forget about patrol. In fact you’re usually early and have already started by the time I get there. What’s with you?”

“What’s wrong pet? Worried about me?” He offered her one of his more charming smirks. She could feel herself blushing.

“Ugh, no! I wasn’t before, but I think I am now, seeing how you were talking to yourself down here, Spike.”

“Well, I--” Spike started to say but ‘Cecily’ cut him off.

“She wouldn’t understand. You can’t tell her about me, William.”

“Stop calling me that.” Spike growled to Cecily. Unfortunately Buffy thought Spike was talking to her.

“Oookaayyy, what do you want me to call you then?” She ventured.

“What? Oh, never mind.” Spike sighed.

“Ok, what’s wrong with you? And don’t tell me nothing, cause something is definitely up.”

“Slayer, you wouldn’t understand.” Spike said wearily.

“That’s never stopped you before.” Buffy retorted. Spike raised both his eyebrows.

“True.” He shrugged.

“You can’t tell her about me William, she will think you’ve gone insane.” Cecily protests.

“Shut up you bloody bint, I’ll do as I damn well please.” He snorted at Cecily. At Buffy’s still confused look Spike continued. “Er, right. Well, let’s see…how to say that something claiming to be the ghost of the woman who cold heartedly rejected you when you were human, thus leading to you getting turned, has just shown up on your doorstep and has been 'tormenting' (said with air quotes) you for hours about the thousands of innocents you have killed during your lifetime. Oh wait, I guess I just did say it. Bugger.”

Buffy paused, gave his long, run-on sentence great thought, before finally retorting with a profound and heartfelt, “Hu?”

Spike chuckled.

“Don’t worry pet, I’m right there with you on that.” Spike said, glancing back over at Cecily.

“So wait…you’re telling me that you’re seeing some girl that dumped you when you were alive?

“You see, I told you she wouldn’t believe you.” Cecily said. Spike ignored her.

“Yeah. Remember that conversation we had at the Bronze, what with you wanting to know about the two slayers?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s that bint I mentioned. Cecily.”

“Yeah, hey, you never did tell me that whole story. How did she break your heart, anyway?” Buffy asked. Spike started to shift uncomfortably.

“Er, that’s kind of off topic, luv. I’ve got bigger problems right now. Namely this annoying chit that’s hanging over my shoulder.” Spike says, gesturing over his shoulder, where Cecily stood.

“Right, sorry.”

“William…you’re hungry, aren’t you?” Cecily says in a suggestive voice. Spike sighs.

 “What of it?” Spike looks over his shoulder at Cecily.

“You have the Slayer sitting here in your Crypt…. Slayer blood is the best blood around, you know that.”

“Oh sod off you annoying, eternally-bad-hair-day-ed bint! I’m talkin’ to the Slayer here!  And last time I checked, you were no slayer.” Spike sneered and turned his back to the apparition.  Unfortunately, Cecily had never been one to give up when she had someone to torment emotionally.

“Look at her standing there…You know she’s drawn to you… she wants you to do it…she wants you to bite her. To drain her…” Cecily purred.

“Stop it.” Spike growled at her. He didn’t want to drain her, but the idea of tasting her, her the greatest of slayers, was still a temptation.

“Spike?” Buffy waved her hand in front of him to get his attention again.

“Er, right, sorry, luv. She’s a persistent chit.”

“What is she saying?” Buffy asks.

“Er… uh… nothing… she’s just…er…bugger.” Spike says sitting down on his bed and covering his face with his palms. Buffy walked closer to him.

“Spike…?”

“William…”

“Stop calling me that!!” Spike shouts, and Buffy quickly jumped a couple steps backwards at his intensity.

“Spike, I think we should ask Wil--”Buffy stopped abruptly. No more Spells from Willow, she reminded herself. “…I mean, we should ask Tara for a spell. We could find out who or what is haunting you. Get her to leave somehow.”

“You can’t get rid of me.” Cecily insisted. Spike grimaced at the thought.

“Right then, get Glenda Two over here...and right quick, if you don’t mind.  I'm getting rather PUT OUT," he glared at Cecily, "at not being able to have a BLOODY MOMENTS PEACE in my own home."

Back home, Buffy taped her foot in annoyance. *Come on, pick up Tara…* Buffy thought as she listened to the ringing through the earpiece. *Pick up, pick up, pick uuuuuup* On the fourth ring, Tara finally answered.

 “Hello?” Tara’s sleepy voice asked.

 “Tara? It’s me, Buffy.”

 “B-Buffy, Hi! H-h-how are-are you doing?”

 "I’m okay. Listen, I’m sorry to be calling so late at night....uhm...early in the morning, but I need your help.”

“Ahh, s-sure, what’s up?”

“I need you to do a Spell…” Buffy said, and told Tara the whole story about finding Spike talking to Cecily.

“So you think it’s some kind of haunting or s-something?” Tara asked after she had listened to the whole story.

“Well, sort of. You know…all of this sounds really familiar…I just can’t place it. Someone or something is trying to do a number on him though. So do you have any ideas?” Buffy asked.

“Yeah. I-I think that maybe a r-reveal s-spell might work. Let us see what he’s seeing, m-maybe it’ll give us an idea of what we’re dealing with.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Can you meet me at his Crypt in an hour?” Buffy asked.

“S-sure, I’ll be there.” Tara said.

“Great. Thanks so much Tara.”

“N-no problem. I’ll see you soon.”

“Alright. Bye.” Buffy said as she hung up the phone. She glanced at the clock on the microwave and sighed. 6:30 am. Dawn would be awake soon, even though it was Saturday. Buffy quickly scribbled a note for her and left it on the refrigerator. She then headed back out, towards Spike’s crypt.

“I told you, I don’t care about what happened in Prauge.” Spike practically shouted. ‘Cecily’ hadn’t relented any since the Slayer left. In fact, she seemed to be trying harder.

‘Cecily’ sighed.  “You know, this just doesn’t have the same effect with a soulless vampire. This was so much easier with Angelus. You *are* his Childe, aren’t you?” Cecily asked wearily.

“First off, no I'm his *grandchilde*, and you tried this with the Poof?  Does he even know you?” Spike asked, amused.

“Yes I did and no he didn’t, but that's not the point, William, and you know it. And I would have succeeded if the Powers That Be hadn’t stepped in.” Cecily’s voice seemed to change in tone, bitter and powerful all at the same time.

"Yah, it always would have worked if those meddling kids and their dog hadn’t stepped in. I’ve heard it before, kitten." Spike's voice was sneeringly lightheartedly, but he was now eyeing her wearily. The more time he was forced to spend with her, the more he seemed convinced that this woman was *not* Cecily, but something else entirely. She did mention earlier something about the First Evil...whatever that was.

“So what...Brood boy got a little broodier? Did your torture for him consist of making him have a sense of humor? Or a personality?” Spike chuckled.

“No, I made him relive his past.” Cecily says.

“Oh. I see, the whole guilty trip thing worked with the poof, did it?”

“It was his weakness.”

“And you’re trying to find my weakness, eh kitten?” Spike asks, amused. Just then he heard Buffy slam open his Crypt door above. A small grin that he couldn’t hide lit up his face for a moment. ‘Cecily’ looked at him with a critical eye, but Spike’s grin quickly faded when he saw her studying him.

Buffy traipsed down the steps to the lower level, and found Spike with more or less the same look of exasperation he had earlier.

“Tara will be here soon. So is she…?” Buffy gestured around the crypt with a sweep of her hand.

“Yeah. She’s still at it. Or trying to be anyway.” Spike said in annoyance.

“That’s it. That is your weakness…” ‘Cecily’ said to herself, a triumphant grin spread across her face.

“What are you on about now?” Spike grumbled to her, only half interested.

“The Slayer. She is your weakness.” ‘Cecily’ said in a cool and even tone. The look that crossed Spike’s face, however, was a mix between fear and shock. She had him.

“Spike…?” Buffy started to get worried when she saw the grave look on his face.

“H-hello? Buffy? Spike?” Tara’s voice called out from the upper level.

“Down here Tara.” Buffy called out to her, still keeping an eye on Spike. He truly looked worried.

Tara came down the ladder and smiled shyly at Buffy.

“Hey.” She greeted, holding up a small rucksack. “I-I brought the stuff.”

“Great. You showed just in time. I think something is going on. He looks real worried.” Buffy commented.

“William, William...” ‘Cecily’ shook her head banefully. “The Killer of two Slayers. What is it about this girl?” ‘Cecily’ asked as she walked closer to Buffy, circling her. But Buffy was oblivious to it as she worked with Tara to set up the stuff for the spell.

“You leave her out of this.” Spike said gruffly.

Tara looked up at Spike and then at Buffy. Watching Spike talk to air was interesting, to say the least.

“He’s talking to her, don’t worry. Let’s just get this done, ‘kay? I wanna know what’s going on, and who to pummel.” Buffy tells her. Tara nods and starts lighting the candles.

“Okay, I’m ready. Just stand inside the circle. I’m going to recite a spell. All you have to do is say the last part. I’ll tell you when.” Tara informs her and Buffy nodded.

“Goddess Hectate, lift the veil of deception so that others may see what is hidden. Let the fog be parted, let the truth be revealed, let the deception be cast out, let the reality come to light. Reveale!” Tara said and raised her palm, opened it and blew the green colored dust off. The dust flew throughout the crypt, snaking around everything. It finally gathered and started to congregate in one spot, about two feet away from where Spike was facing. All of the dust settled there, and a bright flash blinded them for a second. When it died down Tara could see a woman standing there in classical Victorian era dress.

“Oh my.” Tara said in surprise.

“You see her?” Buffy asked.

“Y-yes. Okay, now you say ‘Let the reality come to light. Reveale.’ And You’ll be able to see her too.” Tara told her.

“Ok. Let the reality come to light. Reveale.” Buffy said in a monotone voice, and a small flash of light flashed before her eyes, blinding her.  She blinked hard to make the spots go away. When she opened them again, she saw the woman Spike called Cecily standing before Spike. She could also hear her. The two had been involved in a heated conversation while Tara was doing the spell, but before Buffy had only heard Spike’s side. Now that she could hear both, it made a lot more sense.

“I told you to shove off!” Spike was shouting.

“Oh come now, William. Why would I want to leave now, just when it’s starting to get interesting? Why would you remember the name of the first Slayer you killed if you didn’t care about it somehow?” ‘Cecily’ asked innocently.

“I told you, it was a memorable experience. Why wouldn’t I remember the bint’s name?” Spike said impassively.

“Oh no, William. Don’t downplay it. It’s something about the Slayers, isn’t it? You’re obsessed with them.”

“Now don’t start getting ideas! Just because I have a thing for the current Slayer, doesn’t mean I’ve always had a thing for them.” Spike growled.

“Then why does it make you feel guilty about killing the other two?” ‘Cecily’ ventured.

“I DON’T FEEL GUILTY!!” Spike shouted desperately. Unfortunately no one in the room bought it. Not even himself.

“It was the dream wasn’t it?” ‘Cecily’ asked.

“What of it?”

“What did you feel when you saw the Chinese girl’s face change?”

“Jeing Mei. Her name was Jeing Mei.” Spike said automatically.

“You see? You insist on calling her by her real name. You do feel remorse.” ‘Cecily’ said with a grin that foreshadowed her malicious intent.

Suddenly, before everyone’s eyes, Cecily morphed into the Chinese Slayer, Jeing Mei.

“I asked you to tell my mother I was sorry.” She accused. Spike closed his eyes and swallowed hard, as if to try and dispel her image from his mind.

“And do you remember what you told me?” ‘Jeing Mei’ asked. Spike opened his eyes and took a couple steps back, as if trying to rid himself of the memory, but ‘Jeing Mei’ followed him.

“You told me you didn’t speak Chinese. But you did. You were cruel.” she continued.

“Y-yeah, well…what do you expect? I’m evil.” Spike said lamely, trying to sound proud, but it didn’t reach his voice.

‘Jeing Mei’ morphed back into ‘Cecily’.

“That’s right. You are evil. You took pleasure in draining her dry. Slayer blood is so much more nourishing, I’m sure you remember. So what is stopping you from draining this Slayer? You know you want to. And don’t say it’s because of the chip. That would never have stopped you before. It wont stop you now!”

“It’s not the chip.” Spike said through clenched teeth.

“You think you love her?” ‘Cecily’ asked dubiously.

“I don’t think. I know I love her.” Spike said seriously. ‘Cecily’ morphed again.

“My Spike… don’t you love your princess anymore?” ‘Dru’ pouted. Spike turned away from her.

“No.  Go away.” He demanded through clenched teeth.

“The nasty slayer has stolen your heart from you. But instead of cherishing it, she throws it in the garbage, doesn’t she, Miss Edith?” ‘Dru’ caressed the ever-present doll’s hair lovingly, “She despises you, you know…Her, and her friends. They’ll never accept you. They can’t. They won’t. They won't. They won’t.  Not never.  They don’t need you, my Spike. Return to me. Become who you truly are. Come with me and we’ll become a happy family again. Happy, Happy Family.  Daddy and Mommy and Spikey and little Miss Edith. We’ll be a lovely, lovely family, wont we, Spikey?”

“Dru…” Spike said in a warning voice. His entire body was taught with tension, and his fists were clenching.

“Buffy, what should we do?” Tara asks.

Buffy was truly concerned now. It seemed that Spike was trapped in his own little world now. Who ever this was, she was really doing a number on him, especially if she was bringing Dru into the mix.

*Lord knows the last time she showed things went so well…* Buffy thought.

“Call the others. I’ll stay here and see if I find any clues. I don’t care how, just get them here.” Buffy said as she kept an eye on Spike and ‘Dru’.

“R-right, okay.” Tara said and disappeared up the ladder. A few seconds later Buffy heard the crypt door creak closed. Buffy turned her attention back to Spike’s conversation. It was like watching a live soap opera… or rather an undead one.

“Why? Why can’t you kill her?” ‘Dru’ asks. "Why can't you kill her for Mommy?"

“You know why! I couldn’t kill her any more than I could kill you!” Spike shouts back.

“But you’re lying! You tried to kill me the last time I was here!”

“Well yeah, you were going to kill Buffy, I couldn’t let you do that.” Spike said.

“So it’s all about her, is it?” ‘Dru’ asked. She morphed back into Cecily.

Buffy sighed, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes.  It was going to be a long wait.

CONTINUED...