Taking The Hard Way Out
 Part 7-12


 Written by: JBF_Hair Round Robin ~ Pandora, Deli, Richess, Kira, Raven, Shelby, Barb, Diurnal, Julia, Paula, Valerie, Bree, Guinan, Stacey, Wajoma, Munchkin, Gabriella, Valerie, Vic & others along the way

Summary: Set mid-season 2, the Scoobies and the Scourge of Europe find themselves scrambling to find out the meaning of a mysterious prophecy before time runs out and disaster strikes. A S/B fic, with B/A, W/O, D/S, C/X and D/A undertones.
Distribution: Heat. Desire., Strictly Fic, MirrorofDarkness, and all other author's sites.
Disclaimer: The show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all of it's characters belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, & Fox Prod.
Feedback: I will forward all email to the group, onegoodlaysb@yahoo.com, or you can email each other directly.





PART: 7/?
AUTHOR: Juliatheyounger
FEEDBACK: hpayne@powerup.com.au
______________________________________________________________________________


"Ok, now that was just freaky," said Xander as he locked the door to their suite very firmly.

"Tell me about it," said Cordelia. "I should have known being transported into a luxury hotel room complete with Dolce Gabbana originals could only end badly."

"Uh, Cordy, you know when we sort of saw into Buffy's room?"

Cordelia raised her eyebrows and looked at him expectantly. "And you made a very mature comment about Angel falling over?"

"Um yeah," said Xander sheepishly. "Ok, here's the thing: I swear I saw Spike sleeping next to Buffy."

"Spike and Buffy? In the same bed? Hello? God, Xander, you've got to get over this fixation you have with Buffy having sex with vampires."

"Seriously! Didn't you see them? He was all like, curled around her, in a really cuddly, so not right way."

"Xander, Buffy was on the bed, Spike was on the floor. Everyone saw it."

"On the floor? As in, not on the bed?"

"Yes!"

Xander brightened considerably. He looked over at his girlfriend.

"So, uh, you want to continue doing what we were doing, you know, before the screaming and door slamming?"

"Xander, hello? This place is obviously haunted. You really expect me to get all naked and sexy in front of invisible perverts?"

"They might not be watching," Xander said, then realised Cordy really was freaked out by the happenings in the house. He put his arms around his girlfriend comfortingly. "Hey, it's ok. We'll be ok. We've got three vampires, a werewolf and a slayer here."

Cordelia looked at him. "And that's comforting how?"

Xander grinned. "Besides…they gave us a great big four poster bed…."

"Exactly! It's probably all a set up. Some sicko's probably got hidden cameras in all the rooms."

"We'll turn the lights off."

"Infra-red cameras?"

"Then they'll only see our body heat as we-"

"Xander!" growled Cordelia in frustration, pushing him away from her.

"Ok, no naughty stuff. I can handle that." Xander sighed, then looked around trying to find something to do. He started opening the drawers on one of the cabinets in the room. "Ooh look, Gideon's been here."

Cordelia frowned and walked around the room. She wanted to make use of that gorgeous bed as much as Xander. It was so annoying. She'd been wanting Xander to take her somewhere special for ages. Doing it at her house when her parents were at the country club just didn't cut it. And there was no way she was getting naked in Xander's place. Here they were, finally in a place worthy of her admittedly exquisite taste, and it was all ooky and haunted. It was so unfair. Life was always so unfair to Cordelia Chase. She reopened the armoire that contained the gorgeous designer outfits, for comfort.

Cordelia felt strong arms wrap around her.

"You know," Xander said in a low voice. "I still can't get over being naked with you."

Cordelia smiled. "Guess all that arguing and being nasty to each other DID mean we just wanted to get into bed together."

Xander laughed. Then he turned all suave Xander again. "How about I run you a nice hot bath in the huge tub I found in our bathroom, you relax, then we make use of that room service menu I just found."

Cordelia smiled. "Ok," she said brightly. Xander mentally patted himself on the back. Hey, it was easy to please Cordy when you had someone else's money to spend.

"You're not worried about ghosts seeing you having a bath?" Xander had to ask.

"Thanks Xander," glared Cordelia. "And no, I'm not. Who knows how long we'll be here. If they've got cameras in the bathroom it's their own fault what they see."

Several minutes later Xander came back into the room. He coughed politely. Cordelia turned, curious.

"Miss Chase, your bath is drawn," he said in his best Jeeves the butler voice.

Cordy rewarded him with the cute little nose crinkle that drove him wild.

"Xander!" she exclaimed, then swept past him into the bathroom.

"I'll order room service while Miss is taking her bath," said Xander.

"Thank you, Harris. If you're very good, I'll let you give me a foot massage."

Xander grinned, then thought about that.

"You don't let your real butler do that do you?" he asked through the door.

Later, Cordelia sat at the little table dressed in a white bathrobe, brushing her hair and eating the lobster Xander ordered because, hey, whoever sent them here could pick up the cheque for that too.

"Wonder how Buffy's coping, having to share a room with Spike," she said.

"Yeah, that's got to be the wiggiest thing this side of….the last wiggy thing that happened in Sunnydale," said Xander. "I know the Buffster can take care of herself, but still, it's Spike, evil undead guy, her mortal enemy. Can't be comfortable." He felt much happier though, knowing it had just been his imagination that Spike had been getting all cosy with a sleeping Buffy.

"He is kind of cute."

"Cute? Spike? Yeah, next you'll say Angel's hot." Xander sat at the table as well. He had also made use of the huge bathtub but only after Cordelia had finished. He was wearing some purple satin pjs he'd found in his own collection of mysterious host-supplied clothes.

"Well he is." Cordelia paused, letting Xander get all bothered. "And so are you," she added, taking pity on her boyfriend.

"I'm hot?"

"Well duh, wouldn't be getting all squishy with you otherwise."

"Heh," said Xander, pleased with himself. "I'm hot too."

"Well," said Cordelia suddenly. "I think I'm done here." She wiped her fingers daintily and put the serviette on the table. Then she stood up and slipped the bath robe off her shoulders.

Xander just gaped. Cordelia was wearing a slippery, satiny, dark red nightdress that did everything to show off her figure.

"Um, same here," Xander managed, putting his own napkin down.

"I think we should probably go to bed," said Cordelia. She raised an eyebrow. "UNDER the covers."

"I think that idea just shows how incredibly smart you are, as well as sexy," said Xander, very pleased that Cordelia seemed to have gotten over her aversion to getting up to naughty stuff in the hotel. Cordelia turned on the bedside lamp and Xander got the main light switch. Watching each other, they slipped under the bed covers.

"Ohhhh that feels nice," moaned Cordelia as she slid between expensive sheets.

"Mmm comfy," said Xander, plumping the pillow then turning on his side towards Cordelia.

Cordelia turned out the bed lamp and turned towards Xander.

"Uh, that's a very sexy night dress," said Xander.

"You like?" Cordelia asked in the kittenish voice she reserved for such occasions.

"I like very much," said Xander, finding Cordelia's shoulder in the dark and slipping a strap off.

"Uhuh," murmured Cordelia, and didn’t say much else as they found each other's lips in the dark.

Xander was so busy running his hand over Cordelia's thigh as he moved between her legs, that he didn't notice the room become perceptibly colder. Cordelia was so busy kissing Xander and removing his satin pajama pants that she didn't notice the room become colder either.

They did notice the brilliant light that flooded the room.

They froze, staring at each other in horror.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Cordelia hissed, trying to rearrange the top of her night dress.

Xander moved onto his back, and they both stared at the vision at the foot of the bed. It was a woman, dressed in white with bright white hair and surrounded by violet light.

"Um, hey," said Xander, babbling nervously. "Are you the person who arranged this hotel for us, because, heh, about all the room service we ordered-"

"The waiter was really rude," interrupted Cordelia.

Xander shot an embarrassed look at the spectre. "We, uh, really didn't mean to order the lobster. I said toast, really-"

"Xander! They locked us up here. They can pay for our room service. Don't apologise."

"Cordy, much as I love you, and you know I do, we don't want to leave supernatural forces with a bill for the mini bar."

"I hope you didn't tip that waiter."

"What-"

"The two." The sound stopped them both. It came from the woman, but her lips didn't appear to move. "Vampire. Slayer. Together as one. Join as you do. Together as one."

And then she vanished.

"Ok," said Xander. "I think that was supposed to be important."

"Oh, well, that's easy," said Cordelia. "Slayer, duh, equals Buffy. Vampire, obviously Angel. Buffy and Angel have to do the horizontal tango."

"Like us," grinned Xander.

"Don't even think about it," said Cordelia. "That ghost knew what we were doing. I feel all…ooh, actually, it's kind of kinky."

"Knowing that someone might be watching?"

"Yeah, sort of…naughty."

"Good naughty?"

"Yeah…good naughty."

Xander grinned and, while they kissed, did something very naughty with his hand.

"Xand- ooh! Mmmm."

Xander shifted himself above Cordelia, and she slid her long legs alongside his. Their kiss deepened as they writhed against each other. Xander slipped Cordy's nightdress from her shoulders and pushed the skirt up her body.

"Very naughty Miss Chase," he murmured. "No panties."

"Took you long enough to notice," breathed Cordelia, one hand sliding under his pajama top, the other freeing Xander from his, by now, very constraining pajama pants.

Xander slid down Cordy's body, kissing and nuzzling until he was right where her panties should have been.

Cordelia ran her fingers through his hair and giggled slightly as he kissed her inner thigh.

"Would Miss Chase like me to pleasure her orally?" Xander asked.

Cordelia stifled a laugh.

"Yes, Harris, Miss Chase would, and when you're finished, you may come up here and kiss me."

"Yes, Miss Chase, very good." Xander bent his head back between Cordy's legs, then looked up again. "And what would Miss Chase like me to do once I have pleasured her and kissed her?"

"Once you have performed those tasks satisfactorily, I may permit you to penetrate me with your…oohhh Xander!"

And they didn't say much after that, aside from some giggles and some moans and, at the end, a very enthusiastic, "Oh yes, Xander! Yes!" and, "Yeah, Cordy, yeah, ohgod yes Cordelia!"





PART: 8/?
AUTHOR: Suaine
FEEDBACK: saskia@dcse.de
______________________________________________________________________________


Despite what he said earlier, Giles had no intention to rest and let things develop on their own. This place was extremely dangerous and he WOULD NOT be responsible for any of the kids getting hurt. No, he was the only adult, and had to find a way out.

Pondering over the possibilities, and not getting anywhere, he decided to take a walk. Somewhere around, there were clues: clues that he was going to find. His stroll took him down the corridor. The path forked in front of him, one way leading down some very suspicious looking steps, into the darkness. The other way looked just like the corridor behind him. The small part of him that was Ripper wanted to descend the stairs and take on the dark. The sensible watcher/librarian, on the other hand, was quite certain the other corridor was the better choice.

As it turned out, the librarian was right once again. When Giles followed the corridor around a corner, his eyes lit up with delight. Before him was a huge room, illuminated by torches along the far wall. Shelves crammed full with books covered the other three walls, almost up to the ceiling. In the center of the library there was a group of tables with more books in high stacks and rolls of parchment. All this had the feeling of ancient secrets to it.

**This is it! With all this knowledge, it's only a matter of time before we get out of here.**

He made his way to the table, and a worn sheet of paper caught his eye. It seemed to have been ripped from a notebook of sorts. The handwriting on the paper was quite pleasant and easy to read. He could identify the language as Latin, with some Gaelic influences. The piece probably dated back about two hundred years.

He sighed. The words were easy enough to decipher, but the meaning of some phrases escaped him. And, much to his dismay, he knew just the person who had grown up learning both of the languages.

Angel.

Yes, he knew Angel had a soul and was fighting for the good guys now. He also knew that Angel would never hurt any of them, and that he loved Buffy with all his heart. Still, he couldn't quite quench the uneasy feeling he got around the vampire.

Nevertheless, this vampire had his uses.

With a stoic statement and a deep breath, Giles knocked on the door to Angel and Drusilla's room. He was greeted by Dru, who smiled at him like the loony she was. He fought the urge to roll his eyes, and asked to be let in.

"Where's Angel?"

Dru's eyes lit up with mischief. She leaned closer to Giles, almost as if to tell him a secret. Then she blew lightly in his ear, stepped away, and started dancing with Miss Edith. Her voice, reminding him of sunshine and flowers, called out to her sire.

"My Angel, someone is here to see you."

A mumbled, "Who is it?" came from the bathroom. Giles related his problem, all the while watching Drusilla dance. She was beautiful, in a way, her predatory grace and deathly nature competing with eccentric, somehow childish innocence.

Angel called, "I'll be right out," but Giles barely noticed. Dru had captured him with her glistening eyes, her mind probing in his thoughts.

Dru was happy. Her Angel was here with her and Miss Edith. The Watcher had come here to dance with her. And the stars were singing with angels' voices. There, in his delicious psyche, Dru could see what the Watcher wanted.

"I can help you," she uttered in a moment of clarity. "My Angel wants to be alone. He's all confused; the slayer is in his head."

Giles took a look at the closed bathroom door. He hadn't heard any water, neither from a shower nor from a bath, and it fed his growing suspicion.

**Buffy's in his head... that wanker better not...**

His irritation with the vampire had just multiplied by about a million. With another sigh he held his arm out to Dru. The vampiress took it, and Giles led her out of the room.

When Angel stepped into the main room he was greeted by silence. Giles wasn't there anymore, and Dru was gone as well.

**What the hell?**

Angel was a little confused. Giles' problem had sounded, while not urgent, at least pretty important. Why would he leave without him? Why would he take Dru? Why had they not waited for HIM?

He paced, trying to decide what to do.

**Follow them**

**Stay and brood about Buffy. ... Hmm, Buffy, all golden and innocent...**

Shrugging, Angel decided it couldn't have been all that important.

********

Oz nuzzled Willow's neck, his hands roaming over her delicious body. He wanted her so much. Never had he imagined he would meet someone so warm, so loving as Willow. Her body responded to him almost immediately. He smiled as his left hand moved down lower. Tracing her soft curves, he rested his palm just above the waistband of her panties. Then he slipped lower, tickling her through the cotton. It caused her to shudder, but when he looked at her eyes they weren't luminous with pleasure.

In fact, she had a worried frown on her face.

**Am I that bad?**

No, something else must be upsetting her. "What is it, Will? Not in the mood?"

The smile she gave him made his heart melt. Willow sighed, and then fell silent again. He didn't want to prod her, but even HIS patience wore thin in bed. Before he could ask again, Willow had made up her mind to tell him.

"It's Buffy."

"Are you worried because she's in there with Spike?" he wondered.

Willow shook her head. "No. Well, yes, but that's not all. She wanted to tell me something... I can tell it's really bothering her."

To his surprise, Willow broke into another smile and shrugged. Her eyes reflected her awakened desire. "I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow." With that, she caught his lips in a searing kiss, and all thought of Buffy and evil vampires left his mind.

Just when it was about to get serious, a white figure appeared in front of their bed. Willow yelped, and Oz glared towards the ghost. He was REALLY out of patience now. The figure pointed at them.

"A match as night and day, the slayer and vampire bear the key. Only together will the door open to them." Then the ghostly apparition exploded into white light.

Oz shrugged. "Nice exit."

Willow decided that she had had enough interruptions as well. She could be bold too, and right now she wanted to. "Ready to give our dead audience a show?" Of course she was talking about the ghosts, but Oz couldn't help himself.

With a slight frown he said, "Angel and Spike would enjoy that, but I don't think I'd like them ogling my girl."

Willow grinned. He expected a witty comeback; instead she reached down his pants. "I'm about done with talking for tonight," she whispered huskily.

Oz agreed. Without words.





PART: 9/?
AUTHOR: Diurnal Lee
FEEDBACK: diurnal@magma.ca
______________________________________________________________________________


Waking in someone's arms proved comfortable and -- strangely familiar. Buffy puzzled over that while she processed her surroundings.

Light played across her eyelids, and the faint scents of cigarette smoke and something vaguely floral tickled her nose. She lay curled around the heavy weight of her bladder, with a firm, slightly cool body curled around her. A harder lump pressed against the back of her thigh. Her ear hurt, a little, where her head rested on Spike's arm.

**Spike's arm. Spike's cool body. Spike's --**

The realization woke her completely.

**Is Spike awake? Does he know he's -- doing that?**

At once mortified and curious, she held her breath. Her hormones warred with her common sense. He had tried to kill her. He had kissed her and called her beautiful. And he was still holding her, had apparently held her all night. She hadn't dared hope that Spike would be as attracted to her as she was to him, but --

The vampire lay completely still, apparently dead to the world. Finally convinced he was asleep, Buffy let curiosity win out over caution, and wriggled her bottom deeper into Spike's lap.

He thrust his hips forward with a sort of strangled groan.

Buffy tensed, panic coursing through her system. **Did Spike's erection just -- twitch?** "You're awake," she accused.

Silence for a moment, then, "Hardly blame a bloke for not wanting to miss this." He squeezed the breast he held in one hand, and Buffy realized she'd missed a few body parts in her initial survey.

Suddenly, it was all too much. **What am I doing? In bed, with Spike, evil vampire,** she wondered. **The same evil vampire who saved my life, played paramedic, then held me while I slept. Grr. I hate it when I rebut myself!**

Moving around had jarred her bladder, and Buffy leapt at the excuse to be elsewhere. She pulled herself free of Spike's hold and hurried to the bathroom without a backward glance. Competing portions of her brain took time out from thinking about Spike's body to notice that they had been assigned a room with north-facing windows.

Giles' summons postponed any further embarrassment for the time being.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Jim, but this puppy's dead." Xander leaned back from the gory remains of his breakfast, and made a bet with himself. Sure enough, within seconds, the fancy tray thingie disappeared from his lap. "We'll dispose of it by transporter, Bones. That is so cool!"

From the facing couch, Willow gave him an indulgent smile that quickly seguéd into Concerned Frown #2. He followed her gaze to see that Buffy and Spike had finally arrived. They stomped to opposite corners of the room, and squared off like fighters in a ring. They had a kind of weird tension thing going that he didn't quite get.

"Buffster! I see your roomie is still among the unliving. Well, there's no better way to start off the slay than with a healthy breakfast!"

Not even a hint of a smile. **Whoops,** he thought. **Okay, so Buffy isn't playing today.** He decided to let Giles pitch the tough questions, and tried to concentrate on not being bored. Looking at Cordelia didn't help, because of the "No staring at my boobs in public" rule.

"Good morning, Buffy," Giles said, balancing his teacup on his knee. "I trust you're well?" He waited for her nod before continuing. "Now that we're all here, I'd --"

"Where's Dru?" Spike interrupted. His glare made it clear that Angel was supposed to answer.

From his seat by the roaring fire, Deadboy obliged with, "She's sleeping."

The younger vampire appeared to consider that, then he hitched himself up on the corner of a little table and lit a smoke. To Xander, it looked like Spike didn't trust Angel any further than he could throw him. Which was probably a lot further than Xander himself could. Which meant -- well, actually, those proportions worked out pretty well.

Willow piped in with, "Buffy, what happened? I was so scared, and then we couldn't get into your room."

While everybody told ghost stories, Xander studied the room. The "West Parlor", as lobby-guy called it, was loaded with dark wood furniture and heavy curtains and upholstery in dark reds. There were small tables scattered all over, and cluttered with old knick-knacks. The room was so full of carved stuff that it was hard to find a flat surface anywhere. Even the coasters bore elaborate designs.

They were also round. Xander picked up the stack from the low table in front of him to examine more closely. They were thin and wooden, with smoothly rounded edges. **Perfect.**

He flicked a coaster at Cordy.

"Ow! Doofus!"

**Oops.** His aim was a bit off, there, but at least he hit a soft spot. His girlfriend actually got up from her throne-like chair to come over and personally thwap him. Which in itself was good, but it drew too much attention his way.

He bided his time, waiting for the revelation that at least one of the ghosts wanted Buffy and Angel to do the horizontal mambo. While everybody was distracted, Xander launched two coasters in quick succession. The first, Buffy snatched out of the air inches from her face. The second deflected off Angel's shoulder and struck the carved mantle, sending wooden shrapnel flying into the air.

Xander winced. **Oops, again.**

"Xander, will you KINDLY stop vandalizing, and focus on -- Oh, dear." Giles set his saucer aside so quickly, it sloshed tea all over the side table. He headed toward the fireplace, patting his pockets frantically.

Buffy sounded exasperated. "Giles. A hint here, please. Was that, oh, dear, Xander's set off the Apocalypse, or oh, dear, I've left my hankie in my other jacket?"

The coaster had knocked a chunk of smoke-darkened carving off the mantle, leaving behind a patch of clean, paler wood with the outline of the original carved leaf. Giles held up the torn piece of parchment with the prophecy fragment on it. In the margin was drawn a leafy design that matched the carvings on the mantle perfectly.





PART: 10/?
AUTHOR: Barb ~ Once Bitten Spike ~
FEEDBACK: watchone@ecarthage.com

______________________________________________________________________________


Xander’s brown eyes widened as he saw how eagerly Giles leaped to examine the fireplace mantle.

"Oh... Great." Xander sighed.

Cordelia glared at him.

"What’s your deal this time?"

Xander just stared at her. How could she have hung with the Scoobies for this long, and not know?

"Research, Cordy." He nodded in the direction of the happy Watcher. "This means big time research."

"Oh." She sat up a little straighter. "I knew that."

"Yeah. Like you knew not to wear a red shirt today... that means that you’re gonna get eaten or zapped by the monster of the week."

Cordy glanced down at her red top, and back up at Xander. She narrowed her eyes. "Xander. If you think I’m spending my entire time here, lost in Star Trek world..."

At his grin, she tossed him a long suffering look. "Besides. Captain Kirk wasn’t what visited us in our room last night."

"Bet you wish it had been," Xander quipped.

Buffy sulked in her corner of the room. Giles was in his element here, and she wasn’t needed until monster killing was involved, and that wouldn’t come without mega reflection on the Watcher’s part. No amount of research was going to help her with her own problems.

She was careful to look at everything except Spike. It was hard enough to try and pretend that she hadn’t slept with him.

**SLEPT with him? Oh my God. ARMS of Spike!**

Still, it wasn’t like they’d done anything but sleep. Well, at least SHE hadn’t. From what she’d felt when she awakened, there was no telling what that leather-shrouded pervert had been thinking.

She glanced at Angel, and he gave her a tentative smile. It was the usual look, which carried the promise of a huge amount of thought process occuring before he would actually SAY anything to her.

She threw him a weak smile, and turned away, rolling her eyes. She risked a look Spike’s way.

She caught him completely off guard. The blonde vampire’s blue eyes were trained on Angel, with a barely concealed emotion on his face.

Envy? Her eyes went to the subject of his perusal, who was oblivious to the drama.

Buffy frowned. She turned her gaze back to Spike, since he was occupied with shooting daggers at Angel, thus giving her the opportunity to ogle without being caught. She allowed herself to get lost in him for a moment.

**Arms of Spike**

They were very nice arms.

And that hardness lower down hadn't been so bad, either.

Xander hadn’t missed the look on Spike‘s face. He knew that there was no love lost between the two Vampires, but there seemed to be more to this than simple dislike between enemies.

That was when his gaze fell on Buffy, and her own steady stare at the blonde vampire.

Either his eyes were playing tricks on him, or she was drooling.

Unready for where his brain was taking him with that one, he tried looking at Cordy’s chest but the brunette turned her back on him. **The no boob worshiping rule’s still in effect, I see**.

Then something else caught his attention, as, out of the corner of his eye he saw Drusilla enter the room. As usual, she seemed to float, dance, and glide, all at the same time.

"Hey, if it isn’t time for the Saturday morning cartoons. ‘Looney Tunes’, that is."

Cordelia slapped his arm and hissed. "Shhh! She can hear you!"

"Does that wacko really ever hear anything?"

Dru, in fact, did not hear the jibe. Her attention was focused on Spike, and she suddenly seemed to transform into a sane person. She slid to a halt in the middle of the room and studied the blonde vampire for a few more seconds, and then all semblance of normality fled in the face of her emotions.

Her eyes widened, and she seemed all at once to actually breathe, as she began to suck the air in and release it in great, heaving gasps.

Everyone in the room turned to look at her.

Everyone except Giles, who was still absorbed in the mantle and barely glanced up, and Buffy, who was still absorbed in Spike.

"TWO!" Drusilla screamed, and then collapsed on the floor like so much limp broccoli.

Spike raced to her side and gathered her into his arms, trying to ignore the fact that she was pushing him away with all of her might.

"Dru, baby, what is it Luv? Tell daddy what’s hurt you. What do you see?"

Dru looked wildly into his eyes, as if for confirmation, just as Buffy came and knelt beside them.

The vampiress turned her attention to Buffy, and visibly sniffed her.

"TRUE!" she screeched, causing Spike to wince because she’d yelled into his ear.

Xander had arrived by then, and leaned in towards Buffy. "Did she say TWO or TRUE?"

Drusilla reached out to claw at Xander’s face, and he got out of the way just in time. But Buffy, who was strangely unwilling to move, was alarmed to feel her arm in the grasp of the panting vampiress.

"YOU!" Dru panted, her eyes focused on the Slayer’s.

"I give up." Xander went and sat down across the room. **Let the rest of them sort this one out. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.**

Buffy tried to jerk free, and was dumfounded at the strength in the seemingly fragile hand. She stopped struggling for a moment, and looked into Dru’s eyes.

Spike, his arms still around his lover of so many years, was alarmed to find himself thinking of the blonde Slayer, and had to stop himself from reaching out to her. What the bloody hell was wrong with him?

Buffy began to tremble, as the vampiress continued to look into her eyes, as if waiting for something.

Waiting for what? A confession? An admission that a Slayer has the hots for the vampire who only recently tried to kill her? That maybe the Slayer is envious of what the two vampires have together?

Buffy twisted her arm violently, and broke Drusilla’s grasp on it. She stood and, refusing to look at Spike, she went across the room and sank into a chair, talking to no one on the way there.

Willow, who’d never gotten a satisfactory answer to what happened in the bedroom that Buffy had shared with Spike, bit her lip and frowned. Putting on her best resolve face, she started to rise from her seat, but was stopped by Oz’s hand on her arm.

Looking down at him, she met his eye. He said nothing, as usual, but slowly shook his head, ‘no’.

Willow plopped back down and sighed.

Something was definitely wonky around here.

She noticed that Giles had gone right back to examining the entire fireplace area, seemingly unworried about anything else.

**That much is normal**

Willow laid her head on Oz’s shoulder and settled back to wait for further developments.





PART: 11/?
AUTHOR: Bree
FEEDBACK: brianna_devlin@yahoo.com
______________________________________________________________________________


Drusilla simply became more agitated when Buffy walked away from her. She lunged after the Slayer, only to be pulled back by Spike. Dru's head whipped around, her eyes black as night as she raised her hand, pointing at him.

"Tsk, tsk. You think you can hide, but they see you," she smirked, her eyes widening. "They're watching you: ALL of you." Drusilla looked around the room at each spellbound member of the Scooby Gang. "They are watching . . . waiting . . . wanting . . . BOO!"

As Drusilla's exclamation filled the room, Willow jumped into Oz's lap, and Xander grabbed Cordelia's arm. Giles looked away from the mantle, then, satisfied that no one was in danger, returned to his investigation.

"She's good." Xander tried to cover his fright.

"Heck, yeah," Cordy answered, then pried Xander's hand off her arm.

"I think you need to go back to your room and rest, ducks. That's enough entertaining the kiddies for today," Spike said, attempting to pacify Drusilla, who began rambling about Miss Edith. Spike tuned her out and cast a quick glance at Buffy.

The Slayer ignored him, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. She stiffened slightly as Angel approached her, scooting back further into the chair.

Angel knelt beside Buffy, taking her hand in his own, his eyes filled with concern. **What else is new?** Buffy felt a twinge of guilt and stopped herself from pulling her hand away as Angel grasped it. It wasn't his fault she was having these feelings. It was Spike's, she justified. **Yeah, all Spike's fault. Again, what else is new?**

"Are you all right? She didn't hurt you, did she?" Angel turned Buffy's arm over, checking for any sign of injury.

"I'm fine. Can't say much for your roommate, though."

"About that . . . is Spike behaving himself? He hasn't done anything, has he?"

"DONE anything?" Buffy asked, cautiously.

"Tried to hurt you?"

"No. Nothing," Buffy lied. **Nothing that I haven't wanted him to do, or LET him do, that is.** "He's been a perfect vampire. He's surprisingly house-trained and everything. You did well raising him." Buffy smiled and patted Angel's knee.

Angel smirked at her sarcasm. "You don't have to lie."

"Honestly, no lying here. I think this place has some sort of control over Spike and Drusilla." Buffy looked over at the two vampires. Spike was still trying to get a handle on Drusilla, who seemed to want nothing to do with him. "As far as I know, they haven't tried to bite anyone. Yet. How about you? Adjusting well to your living arrangements?"

"As well as expected, I guess," Angel said soberly, his brooding face returning. "Buffy, if something's wrong, you can tell me. You know that, right?"

"Wrong? Why -- why do you think something's wrong?" Buffy stammered. **He couldn't know, could he, what I've been thinking, feeling about Spike?**

Before Angel could respond, Drusilla screamed and rushed at the vampire, who caught her in his arms expertly. "Not worthy, dirty man," she spat at Spike as he approached them. Drusilla cowered behind Angel, shooting a wicked glance at Buffy. "Dirty, little humans, all of you!"

"It seems she fancies you today, Peaches. I think she's taken this roomy bit too far. She thinks DADDY'S back. Now, why might that be, mate?" Spike growled.

Angel held a shuddering Drusilla to him tightly. To Buffy, it looked like Angel was protecting Drusilla from Spike. Even more upsetting, however, was that apparently, Spike was jealous of Angel.

**Spike jealous of Angel over Drusilla? How dare he?**

Buffy stood and walked to the trio. "Spike's right," Buffy said, receiving a questioning look from Angel. "About Drusilla," Buffy affirmed. "She's obviously too out of it right now to be of any help, and since she seems determined to cling to you, Angel, why don't you take her back to your room? Have a tea party, or whatever, just calm her down."

Angel started to protest, but seeing Buffy's determined look, thought better of it. Besides, it was worth it all, just seeing how much it upset Spike that Dru was turning to him once more. Since the powers in charge of the hotel were obviously determined for him not to be alone with Buffy, he certainly wasn't going to let Spike have all the fun by thinking he had both Buffy and Drusilla for himself. Angel was confident that Buffy accepted his responsibility to Drusilla, and that any time he spent with his childe was not necessarily his choice.

"Let's go, Dru." Angel grabbed Drusilla's hand and started to leave, but turned to Buffy first. "Remember what I said."

"I will. Everything's fine, Angel," Buffy attempted to convince him. "I promise. Now, go. We've got work to do."

As Angel walked out of the room with Drusilla, the room itself seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Cordelia sat down in the chair that Buffy had occupied and crossed her legs. "Well, I for one am glad THAT horror show is over. Was she trying to run for melodrama queen of the year, or what?"

Willow pulled herself out of Oz's lap, suddenly uncomfortable with their closeness. "I'm, uh, gonna go see if Giles needs any help."

Flustered, Oz stood and watched his girlfriend walk across the room to the librarian. "Yeah, okay." He felt a hand on his shoulder, and, looking up, saw Xander standing next to him.

Xander patted Oz's shoulder, then put his hand in his pants pocket. "It's okay, man. I've got one myself."

Across the room, Spike was a happy vampire. Glad that he finally had a moment alone with the Slayer since they woke up that morning, Spike closed the space between the two. "What's the matter, pet? You're not jealous of Peaches and Dru, are you?"

Buffy psshawed. "What? Jealous of that loon? Right."

Spike, apparently forgetting everyone else in the room around them, moved even closer to Buffy. Suddenly it seemed as if they were the only two people in the room as Buffy felt his body brush against hers. "What about Angel, pet?" Spike asked as he pushed a few stray hairs from her face. "Are you jealous of him?" he whispered in her ear.

As her pulse began racing, Buffy's felt herself began to pant a little. Having Spike next to her, so close, so alone, so . . . frustrating! Buffy suddenly pushed the vampire away from her and swung at him, but missed as Spike ducked. "Stop it, Spike! Just leave me alone, will you? There is nothing going on between us. Nothing. There will never BE anything between us!"

Buffy stomped to the door, ready to find clues in another room, preferably one far away from Spike. She stopped as she turned the doorknob, turning back around to face him; something was wrong, different. "Spike? Where'd everybody go?"

Looking around, Spike finally realized that they were alone in the room. In fact, they were alone in a different room altogether. "Bloody hell."





PART: 12/?
AUTHOR: Vic
FEEDBACK: vvks326@aol.com
______________________________________________________________________________


Spike had been reaching for the doorknob. The sight of an unfamiliar room behind him had caused him to freeze for a moment, and when he turned back the door was no longer there. In fact, as his vampiric vision adjusted to the sudden darkness, he was able to find no door at all. Anywhere. And what he DID see was enough to make him rub his eyes in disbelief.

The sound of a muffled cry snapped his attention back to his companion. Unable to adjust to the darkness as well as he, Buffy had stumbled over one of the many chains that lay in piles on the cold stone floor. He was at her side in a moment and helping her to her feet.

"Where...? What...?" He was surprised by the tremble in her voice.

"S'alright, pet. Just another parlor trick, I expect."

"But where are we? What IS this place?" She stared around her at the chains--some in the aforementioned piles, others hanging from the ceiling and walls, many of them ending in open shackles.

"It seems we've been dropped into the dungeon, luv. Though precisely what we've done to deserve it, I've no clue."

He saw a flash of temper in her eyes.

"Well, I know what YOU'VE done to deserve it, Bleach Boy, but I sure don't know why I'M here." She stomped around the room, avoiding several large shapes that were half-draped in sheets and muttering under her breath. "As if having to share a room with you isn't enough of a punishment. Where's the DAMN DOOR!?!???"

Spike watched her, feeling both amusement and a tender sort of possessiveness. "Careful, pet. Let's not rile the proprietors. I'm familiar with some of this equipment, an' I doubt you'd fancy a demonstration."

She froze as the meaning of his words sunk in. Tentatively, she reached out and pulled at one dusty sheet, revealing a mammoth wooden chair with large rusted iron cuffs at the arms and legs, where one might place wrists and ankles. In addition, there were equally rusted spikes protruding from the seat and back of the chair. Buffy stared in horror and flinched backward, stumbling again. Spike stepped up and caught her, setting her back on her feet.

At that instant there was a burst of light and suddenly they were no longer alone, for seated in the chair, her appendages locked into the cuffs, was none other than Drusilla. Standing next to her, an evil leer creasing his face, was the former Scourge of Europe himself.

Spike's quick intake of breath confirmed to Buffy that she wasn't alone in what she was seeing. Somehow, she found this comforting.

Drusilla's dress was in tatters. Her face was smudged with filth and blood, and more blood ran down her legs to pool on the floor at her feet. Her head lolled backward against chair and her eyes were swollen slits as she stared up at her sire.

Angelus moved toward her, a riding crop in his hand. He raised it above his head with the obvious intention of bringing it down upon her face. Only the sound of an angry cry prevented it.

And there stood Spike. Not Spike of Sunnydale, but mythic Spike--William the Bloody in all his debauched Victorian glory.

"What have you done to her, you bleedin' pillock?" William stepped forward and grabbed at Angelus's arm to prevent him from striking.

"Ah, William, you've finally joined us. Look, Drusilla, the prodigal son returns. You told me he would, but I didn't believe you, did I?"

Spike's body stiffened with anger. He recalled this little scene all too well--it was a re-enactment of something he'd hated living through once, and he didn't appreciate being forced to witness his own and Drusilla's degradation at the hands of Angelus a second time.

He watched as his self-of-old knelt next to Drusilla and attempted to pry open the iron cuffs that held her wrists.

"I don't recall giving you permission to release her, William." Angelus's voice was silky smooth, but there was no mistaking the threat it held.

"She's hurt--you've hurt her, you dim-witted git! She needs to feed--" William was silenced by a crashing blow to the head that caught him off-guard.

Buffy began to feel ill and shut her eyes to block out the view. She understood full well that what she was seeing before her wasn't real--that it was only a memory, a shadow of the past. But it shocked her to know that Angel could ever have been so cruel, so bloodthirsty--and to his own family? What must he have been like to his prey?

She opened her eyes when she felt Spike begin to tremble. His hands were still at her shoulders and she could sense the tension in him as his fingers pressed into her flesh.

Angelus had dragged William up by his hair and thrown him against one of the stone walls of the dungeon. He was shouting at him.

"You insolent cur! How many times have I told you to stay close to home, eh? How many times have a told you to never hunt outside the city limits without my explicit permission? Four days, you've been gone! FOUR DAYS!"

William didn't answer. He just stood, facing the wall, resignation written in every line of his body.

"Since lecturing YOU doesn't drive the point home, I thought I'd try punishing HER. And lo and behold--" Angelus reached out and ripped William's shirt from his back. "--it's worked. For here you are and here you'll stay until I'm sure you've learned the lesson at hand."

With that, Angelus reached behind him on the floor and picked up something coiled and dark. Something that looked to Buffy like a large snake. But the bite of this particular snake was more painful than that of any cobra, if less deadly. Spike recalled it perfectly.

The first stroke left a bleeding diagonal stripe on William's back from his left shoulder to the waistband of his trousers.

"Fifty lashes, I think, William." The second stroke opened a matching stripe in the opposite direction. "Then another fifty tomorrow, when these have healed. And not a single sound from you the entire time, boy. Perhaps then Drusilla may be allowed to feed."

After that, the silence was punctuated only by the sound of the whip striking flesh and Drusilla's occasional whimpers of sorrow.

Buffy stood transfixed, as if her limbs had turned to stone. Then all at once, she turned away, gagging. Falling to her knees, she dry-heaved onto the stone floor, dimly grateful for having skipped breakfast. Spike knelt next to her and steadied her, bringing her to her feet when she had finished.

The scene before them had disappeared.

Buffy buried her face in Spike's chest and began to sob.

"Shhhhh... pet, it's all right. Happened a long time ago, yeah? The ponce was a different bloke altogether back then. Not the one you know. Shhhh..."

Her weeping lessened slowly, and she pulled away to look up at him.

"No wonder you hate him."

"Nah, that's not the reason, luv. It's a good deal more complicated than that. An' nothin' for you t'be working yourself up over." Spike pushed the damp hair from her eyes and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Time we started lookin' for a way outta here, pet. Lord knows what's been happenin' in our absence, an' I'd like to get back to Drusilla--make sure she's all right, an' all."

Buffy flinched. Of course, it made sense that after what they'd witnessed--what he'd relived--that his thoughts would be for Drusilla. But still-- **Get a grip, Buffy. This place is playing games with your mind. This is Spike, remember? Whatever happened to him, and whoever did it, it doesn't matter, 'cause he's just another vampire that should have been dusted months ago.**

She almost bought it. Almost.

It took them twenty minutes to find the trapdoor in the ceiling and another ten to argue over who was going to stand on whose shoulders in order to get out. By the time they were back on the first floor--grimy and grumpy and disoriented--Buffy no longer needed reminding of just why she hated Spike.

 


Continued...


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