~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~Part: 11~
“Why do I feel like you’re up to something?” Giles asked as they got down onto the street. It was dark outside, the only light coming from dim street lamps and the pale glow of apartment windows.
“Because I am?” Buffy replied walking away from Willow’s place down the street. The other’s followed curious as to what she was thinking of doing. Giles let out an explosive sigh.
“Whatever it is Buffy don’t do it.”
“I’m just going to keep an eye on her,” the slayer said. “So why don’t you all go off and I’ll hang around here and make sure she’s okay, okay?”
“And follow her to wherever she’s going to go?”
“That too.” Seeing the disapproving frown she was receiving Buffy smiled. “Come on Giles, we both know that Wills wasn’t saying everything up there and I’m guessing that wherever she’s going to go tonight probably has something to do with it.”
Exasperated with her Giles looked at the other watcher for support. Jonathan gave a brief shrug of his shoulders but didn’t add anything. “We know where she’s going Buffy and I think that her reasons for going there alone were very valid. Willow is obviously well aquainted with these witches and if she says that your going might cause problems then it may very well do so.”
“I’m not going to actually go in wherever she goes, I’m just going to make sure she gets there safely and gets back safely. That’s all. Xander thinks I’m right.”
Giles eyed her suspiciously.
“I what? I never said that! Will everyone please note that I didn’t say that?”
“Perhaps Buffy is right,” Jonathan interrupted.
The slayer stopped in her stride somewhat amazed that the stuffy Giles-twin had actually agreed with her. “See? Even watcher guy agrees with me,” she said triumphantly. “Although I’m not sure how much of a recommendation that actually is.”
Unfazed Jonathan continued. “Of course Cara should accompany you. Therefore if something happens to Buffy then we’ll know exactly what went on.”
“Hey! No, I don’t think so. I don’t work well with others.”
“Buffy you are working with others already and I haven’t seen any major problems with that arrangement just yet,” Giles stated with terrible logic. “If you’re so set on following Willow tonight then I think Jonathan is right, Cara should go with you. You should both get used to working with each other.”
“But...”
“Come back to the hotel when you’re finished and call if you have any problems,” Giles said walking off leaving one shocked slayer staring at another.
~Part: 12~
He watched from the street as the slayer stalked away from the apartment. Christ he’d almost had a bloody fit when he’d seen her wander out of the block of apartments with the watcher, the whelp and, from the smell of her and the odd tingly feeling that he was getting in his gut another slayer. What the hell were they doing here? Shouldn’t they be back living it up in Sunnyhell?
Spike threw down the glowing end to his cigarette and praised whatever was out there that neither slayer had sensed him near. The idea of fighting one of the little bitches wasn’t that bad but he wasn’t feeling up to two. Hastily he revised his earlier plans and hurried off down the street. Their earlier conversation had not missed him and he didn’t feel like waiting around for one of them to correct their earlier mistake.
It was two months since he had spotted the little witch wandering through the late evening traffic and nearly getting herself killed by a cab at the same time. Curiosity had taken control and he had decided to follow her and eventually it had led him back into this apartment where Red apparently lived now a days. Ever since then he had found himself spending an absurd amount of time watching her under the pretence of waiting for an opportunity to kill her.
The vampire wondered why she was here. It was years since he had last seen the little chit and he had to admit it hadn’t been a completely unpleasant sight to see her. Spike’s unbeating heart had almost jumped in his chest when he’d first seen the flash of red and a very familiar face moving through the crowds. He had to admit that it was mainly at the thought that the slayer must be somewhere near but for him it still counted.
He grinned. Slayer hadn’t sounded very happy when they left the apartment he thought and he’d also noticed Red glancing down from her window as they wandered away into the distance. In fact he’d even have had a bet that he’d heard her let out a sigh of relief as they disappeared from sight. Tension in the ranks eh Slayer? The thought caused him to chuckle.
~Part: 13~
By the time that everyone had left, she had cleaned up the mess that they had left behind and she had got ready to go out Willow was exhausted. She had hated this. The idea of staying in was even more appealing then it had been before her friends had turned up but now she had no choice but to go out. Plus there was that damn prophecy hanging over her head. Willow didn’t want to admit it but certain things of what she had been told that evening rang true in her mind.
The witch pushed that thought away. She certainly hadn’t heard of any prophecy that involved her summoning anything. She didn’t summon beings – well, maybe the occasional little demon if she needed a favour but only if they were benevolent.
Glancing aside and into the mirror Willow gave herself a nod of approval. It was true that she wanted to see the head of the local coven but to do that she needed an appointment of sorts and the only way she knew of getting on of those was to ask around until she found someone who could get her one. In a way it was upsetting that she still wasn’t completely accepted into the witch community here. At first they had been happy to welcome her but once they had found out she was friend with a slayer all the barriers went up. Apparently there had been a few stake happy slayers in the past who hadn’t really cared that the witches were human. Still, after meeting Amy’s mom back in Sunnydale she wasn’t surprised that the council held some misconceptions about them.
Grabbing her worn, red three quarter length leather jacket off its hook by the door Willow left the apartment making sure the door was firmly locked and headed out into the night.
For a moment outside she paused as the prickly sensation that she had recently been feeling ran down her spin. It was ridiculous but part of her mind told her that someone was watching her. Refusing to give into the feeling and hurry back inside the safety of her apartment Willow headed off towards the cab that was waiting at the bottom of the steps to take her to the club.
It was strange to walk into the darkness of the club after spending time with her old friends from Sunnydale. It was even stranger to talk to her friends from the city who waved and said hello as she made her way through the smoke filled room towards where she hoped to find someone who could help her.
The club’s name was Sinners & Saints and it was a special place quit unlike anywhere else that she had even been. It was dark and dangerous but still managed to give off a feeling of safety because she knew that while she was within its walls she was safe. A brief glance at the dance floor where ethereal, beautiful music along with modern dance pounded out of the speaker showed her that the usual crowd was in – the usual crowd meaning all the things that she tried to avoid outside the club like demon, faeries, shapeshifters and vampires. Well, expect for a select few who she liked to call her friends.
Spotting Eric leaning against the bar with one of his sister’s friends Willow ducked behind a pillar and hoped that he hadn’t seen her as well. There would be time enough to deal with him later and maybe not even then if she managed to sneak back out of the club without him seeing her. When she was sure that he wouldn’t notice her the witch made a dash around the edges of the dance floor to where she hoped Althea would be sitting. She was rewarded with the other young witch holding up a hand and waving to her in greeting.
“Hey Willow, I didn’t think you were coming tonight?” the pale blonde asked ignoring the demon beside her who was trying to get her attention.
“Change of plans. Actually I need to ask a favour.”
“Sure, what do you need? Errath go get Willow a drink and stop nagging,” she told the demon. The demon’s brilliant red eyes widened even further at the witch’s casual dismissal of him and he turned to Willow.
“What do you want?” he asked grudgingly.
“Just a beer,” she told him knowing that she probably wouldn’t even get chance to drink it. He hurried away and when his retreating back disappeared into the crowd Willow turned back the Althea. She sat on a chair in front of the table that her friend was at and leaned forwards. “I need to talk to Meredith. Can you get in touch with her for me?”
“Why?” the blonde asked sipping at her drink.
Willow edged around a little on her seat. This was part of what she had been dreading. “I got a call earlier – from Buffy,” she said hopping that would be enough to satisfy Althea. She really didn’t want to tell her that the slayer was actually in New York and here on business at that.
Althea raised a perfectly arched eyebrow in surprise. “Your slayer friend? What did she want?”
“She said something big is going to happen and soon. She wants my help in figuring out exactly what.” Goddess forgive me for lying, Willow murmured silently. If Althea found out exactly who was meant to be responsible for whatever was going to happen she’d never let Willow within a mile of Meredith. Willow tried to comfort herself with the fact that she wasn’t exactly lying as such just leading her friend in a slightly different direction.
“And you’re actually going to help her? Sounds like a bad idea to me Willow. I thought you of all people would know its best to keep out of the way of slayers. They only ever bring trouble with them.”
“Please Althea. It sounded really important and if Meredith decides that it’s too dangerous to help Buffy then I’ll leave it alone.”
“You know Meredith’s not guaranteed to know anything anyway.”
“Oh come on Althea,” Willow nearly laughed. “There isn’t a single thing in this entire city that Meredith doesn’t know about. She’s too powerful to not know.”
Althea looked up and over Willow’s shoulder to where Errath was returning with Willow’s drink. “I’ll see what I can do, it won’t be until tomorrow at least though. Meredith’s been out of town on business and I kinda doubt that she’ll want disturbing with this just yet. Be careful Willow, she still hasn’t got around to forgetting that incident with the work imp that you called up.”
“I know,” Willow stood up and leaned over the table to give Althea a peck on the cheek. “I’ll not stir anything up. I promise.”
Althea grinned at her. “Just make sure you don’t because it’ll be my head on the chopping block if you do. Keep safe.”
“You too,” Willow told her standing up and walking away from the table, passing a very pissed off Errath holding a bottle of beer in his hand on her way.
She was nearly halfway across battling her way through the crowds of dancers to the door when she felt strong arms envelope her with a hug. “Sneaking off again? I don’t think so!”
“Hello Eric,” she said instantly regretting that she hadn’t been more careful in her escape attempt. The tall shapeshifting demon turned her around with a broad grin on his face.
“I thought you weren’t coming out tonight babes?”
“I wasn’t but I had some business to take care of.”
“What type of business?” he asked obviously still unconvinced. His fingers played down her back. Willow couldn’t help but wonder at his ego. Why oh why did he have to latch onto me? She thought. There are plenty of other witches around but no, for some reason it always has to be me.
“Althea business,” was all she said hoping it would be enough to make him stop asking questions.
A grimace passed over his face at the mention of his ex-lover’s name. “What the hell did she want?”
“Nothing, I had to talk to her.” Goddess she needed to get away from him. Playing cat and mouse with Eric wasn’t always fun when she was in a good mood and she was definitely not in a good mood tonight.
Eric ran a finger down her cheek appreciatively. Willow was really starting to regret that she had ever gone out for a date with him. “Are you sure that you just couldn’t stay away? You haven’t been out much lately Willow, it must be boring locked up in that apartment of yours with nothing but books for company.”
“Oh its not that bad,” she said trying to sound light hearted. “In fact I was kinda hopping that I could get back to it so I’d kinda like it if you would let go of me.”
“I’m hurt! I’m really hurt! And here I was thinking that you loved me.”
“Now you know I never said that,” she told him wondering where this was going. Eric never did anything without a reason.
“But honey,” he purred. “You might as well have. Come on, stay a while.”
“Nope, I’ve got to get going,” she said with a little laugh. Goddess he acted like a big kid sometimes. “So let me go.” Willow jabbed her finger into his chest with each word for emphasise.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” he asked and wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.
“Yes Eric I’m sure. I’ll set Althea on you if you don’t let go.”
At the mention of the witch’s name he dropped his arms and released her. “You don’t play fair,” he complained.
Willow grinned. “Nope. Have a good night Eric, I am going to go and have a nice relaxing night at home.”
~Part: 14~
Cara knelt by the other slayer switching from one leg to the other watching the flickering sign that read Sinners and Saints. They were perched on top of a building opposite the club that the red headed witch had entered earlier and were still waiting for her to come out. So far conversation hadn’t been exactly flowing.
“You can feel the power…” Cara murmured as she watched yet another vampire couple walk up to the front door of the club, flash their game faces and get instantly admitted.
“What?” Buffy snapped.
“Can’t you feel it? The power I mean. My skin won’t stop crawling.”
The expression on Buffy’s face softened for a moment. “I know what you mean. One thing is for sure; I’m not walking in there any time soon. There’s too many for even both of us to take on.”
“Jesus there’s another one,” Cara said as she watched another demon walk up to the door. “That place has to be full by now. It can’t possibly hold any more.”
“The question is what is Willow doing in there.”
Cara resisted saying the obvious. She had wondered just how trustworthy the witch was ever since they had walked into the young woman’s apartment earlier that evening and she had caught sight of some serious occult reading material on the bookshelf. Being of sound mind and body though Cara realised that saying something to the other slayer about this might not be the wisest thing to do. The blonde slayer had already demonstrated how fiercely protective she was over her friends when they had been at the hotel earlier in the day. Cara really didn’t feel like fighting someone she was meant to be working with. Someone that might actually beat her.
“Perhaps its where she has to go to find these other witches?” Cara suggested hoping herself that it was the case.
“Maybe,” Buffy answered. The older slayer tensed. “Nah, couldn’t be…” she murmured.
“What?”
“I just thought I saw someone that I used to know. It probably wasn’t him.”
“There she is,” Cara said pointing down at the red head that appeared out of the door. After talking with the doorman for a moment she set off walking down the street.
Buffy stood up and Cara heard the other’s spin crunch as she straightened her back out.
“Do we follow?” she asked.
“I think she can make it back on her own. She certainly got here all right. Besides, I’m really tired.”
“You’re not the only one,” Cara told her. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad.
~Part: 15~
Giles prodded uncertainly at the breakfast that was placed before him by the waiter before reluctantly giving in the hunger and tucking in. He was pleasantly surprised to find that it did indeed have some taste. One look out of the corner of his eye saw Xander already halfway through his second helping of the morning.
“There they are,” Jonathan said raising from his chair briefly and indicating to the two slayers where they were sitting. Giles was relieved to see that the two young women hadn’t killed each other despite having spent the night in the same room as one another.
“Hey Giles,” Buffy said sitting down beside him. “Boy am I hungry – or not,” she added looking at the food that adorned the ex-watcher’s plate.
“It isn’t actually that bad,” Giles conceded. “I think there is something else up on the buffet table. Perhaps that would be more to your liking.”
The slayer nodded and wandered over to the table at the other side of the room with Cara following her.
“Is it my imagination or are things rather more relaxed?” Jonathan observed quietly.
“I think you may be correct,” Giles told him, watching as the two slayers held a brief conversation at the buffet table before coming back over to the table.
“So, what did you find out last night while following Miss Rosenberg?” Jonathan asked.
“That we may have problems,” Buffy answered before the other slayer had chance. “First off the place that Willow was meant to be meeting those other witches that she talked about was actually some type of club, called Saints and Sinners, for basically every type of demon that I’ve ever seen and a few more besides.”
“Not to mention the vampires,” Cara added.
“Yep, my slayer sense was on overload,” Buffy agreed. “Then if things weren’t bad enough I think that I spotted Spike heading into the same club.”
“Spike!” Xander exclaimed nearly choking on a mouthful of food. “Please tell me you were dreaming.”
“Is that the guy you thought you recognised?” Cara asked curiously.
“The one and the same,” the blonde said.
“So what’s the problem with that?”
“Spike was, is a childe of Angelus,” Jonathan told her. He was glad to see that she recognised the name of the evil counter part to the other slayer’s old lover. At the amazed glances of the other three people at the table he simply said. “After his activities in Sunnydale it was felt that watcher should keep a closer eye on him.”
“Bloody good decision,” Giles murmured just below his breath so no one else could hear.
“Spike is a major league bad guy,” Xander said. “He redefined the concept of torture.”
“He’s strong as well,” Buffy added. “I once had to drop an organ on him to beat him and even that didn’t hold him back for long. We’ve got big problems if Spike is trying to set up a lair here. He doesn’t like me one bit and if something is after Willow then he’ll probably do everything in his power to help it.”
“Oh,” Cara said as she realised the implications of what the other slayer had said.
“Even if Spike is here we don’t know that he knows Willow is here or even that we are,” Giles said.
“Come on G-man,” Xander interrupted. “Knowing Spike he probably figured out where we were and then decided to come do some end of the world mojo just for the hell of it.”
“I s-suppose that has to be taken into account as well,” Giles admitted reluctantly. “He could very well be one of the ones that the prophecy talks about.” Giles could have stabbed himself in the foot a moment later when he saw the expression that dawned on Buffy’s face.
“Well then I guess I’ll just have to find Spike and pay him a visit,” she said.
“Shouldn’t we wait and see what Miss Rosenberg has to say first?” Jonathan asked. “After all, there could be a completely innocent explanation for her going to this club that you saw her at last night and perhaps she might even be able to shed some light on what Spike is doing in New York.”
“Wills wouldn’t be friendly with Spikey boy,” Xander said darkly. He didn’t like the way the watcher seemed to be turning this conversation.
“I wasn’t saying that she would be,” the watcher said quickly. “Just that she might know more about this then she told us last night. Perhaps we should all go over to her apartment…”
“Willow said she would call us,” Buffy said.
“Buffy does have a point Jonathan. We were obviously crowding her last night.”
“But Rupert…” the other watcher began.
“No, no, we’ll wait until Willow decides to call us.”
~Part: 16~
Willow walked down the dark corridors of the mansion like house that she knew like the back of her hand. Five years ago when she had first arrived in New York City she had been completely unprepared for the extent of the control that witches had on the other creatures of the night within the city limits. She had also never guessed at the hierarchy of the women and men who went to make up the night time community of the city. The woman that Willow now went to see, one Meredith Darken, was almost right at the top of that food chain.
To say she was nervous was an understatement. Meredith didn’t like her at the best of times and this certainly wasn’t one of those times.
“You’re shaking,” Althea said accusingly from her side.
“I noticed already,” the red head replied. “I also think I have reason to.”
They rounded a corner and entered a large hall like room. At one end sat a tall middle-aged woman with long greying hair down to the middle of her back.
“Willow Rosenberg,” the woman said. “Now why wasn’t I surprised to hear from you when I heard your precious slayer was in town?”
“Lady Meredith,” Willow said with a polite tilt of her head. Her knees had already gone weak at the mention of Buffy although she shouldn’t really have been surprised that the older woman had already heard that there was a slayer in town. “I have a request to ask of you.”
“That’s surprises me even less,” the woman said dryly. “What makes you think that I should help you? Personally I’m having great problems thinking of a reason.”
Willow approached the table slowly. She had no doubt that the older witch could sense the apprehension that was building up in Willow as she came nearer. For a moment however Willow’s blood boiled when she saw how Meredith was letting a sly smile cross her lips.
“It would be better if we spoke about this alone Lady,” Willow said nervously.
“I don’t think that Althea and my advisor will be in the way.”
Willow glanced at the tall man beside the old witch. This really wasn’t going well. She hadn’t wanted to tell anyone else of what was meant to be going but she should have realised that Meredith was never going to make it easy for her.
“Well get on with it girl!”
“I need to know anything you know about a prophecy that might involve me, well maybe not might because we’re pretty much sure that it does involves me but I’m not willing to completely believe just yet.” Seeing the annoyed look on Meredith’s face she instantly stopped and made sure she was calm before starting to speak again. “The reason Buffy has turned up is to tell me that the watchers council has found a prophecy that apparently involves me.”
“As far as I knew this Buffy didn’t have anything to do with the council anymore,” Meredith questioned raising a suspicious eyebrow.
“She doesn’t – at least she didn’t until a few days ago. You see two representatives from the council turned up in Sunnydale wanting to talk to her and when she heard what they had to say she agreed to come to New York and track me down.”
“What is this prophecy?” Meredith asked. She had always known that the young red headed which who stood in front of her would be trouble and now it appeared that her feelings were finally going to have some evidence to support them. The council of watchers never got involved unless it was to cause problems for the witches.
The young red head took a deep breath. “’Born of the House of Blood yet unbeknownst, Daughter of the Midnight Hour, Slayer’s friend and confidant, a soul of the pure light, called together in one form to call upon the One.’"
Willow saw the older witch’s face darken. Oh no, definitely not good at all.
Meredith leaned forwards. “Is that all this watcher said?” she hissed. Willow sensed that even Althea was taken a back by the old woman’s tone.
“Yes Lady Meredith, as far as I know that is.”
The woman seemed to come to some decision. “Go home Willow. We will contact you if we find anything about this prophecy in our archives. I don’t want to see you back here until then is that understood?”
“Y-yes Lady Meredith,” Willow stuttered grateful to be leaving so soon.
~Part: 17~
“Don’t let her back in this house,” Meredith said coolly to Xavier. It had been difficult to regain her composure after the strange young witch had left. “I don’t want her anywhere near this place again. We’ll give her what she needs and then I don’t want anyone speaking to her. Is that understood Althea?”
The blonde girl looked up in shock at her mentor’s outburst. “O-of course Mistress,” she said. “May I ask why?”
“She’s trouble Althea. I told you that when she first arrived in our city and even though you didn’t listen to me then you had very well do so now.”
“But why?” the witch asked. “I don’t understand why.”
Meredith waved a hand at Xavier who quickly hurried off into the shadows towards the vault only to appear moments later with a book in his hands.
“This is the reason why,” the Elder witch told her young apprentice she said flicking through the pages of the huge leather bound book until she found the right section. Althea found the book being placed in front of her on the long table.
The pages of the book were yellowed with age and while she fingered the one that Meredith had opened to Althea was nervous that it might actually fall apart under her light touch. One side of the book displayed a large pen and ink drawing and the other had tiny scrawled lettering all over in a language that Althea didn’t recognised.
“That writing wasn’t there three days ago,” Meredith told her shocking Althea out of her study of the pages that had been growing more and more intense by the second.
“Pardon?”
“Exactly what I said. That writing either didn’t exist or it simply wasn’t visible. Then it appeared out of nowhere. The witch who discovered it must have looked at the same page a hundred times before. One minute the page was blank and then it was there. She brought it to me straight away and I took it to the other Elders. They decided that it should be kept secret and I decided to concur with them. Can you guess what it says Althea?”
Althea’s eyes remained steady on the witch before her but didn’t say anything. Inside her she already knew the answer but part of her didn’t want to voice it.
“Shall I give you a little hint my darling pupil? Born of the House of Blood yet unbeknownst, Daughter of the Midnight Hour, Slayer’s friend and confidant, a soul of the pure light, called together in one form to call upon the One.”
“Goddess,” Althea muttered. “Are you saying there might actually be something to what Willow says?” Meredith merely nodded. “We have to help her!” The young blonde exclaimed.
“Haven’t you been listening? No we don’t have to help.”
“But she’s one of us!”
Meredith’s cold eyes showed annoyance. “No she isn’t Althea. She plays to the slayer’s whim and the last witch who did that nearly destroyed us all. Can you honestly say that you would sacrifice us all to someone who hasn’t even be properly trained, someone who doesn’t even seem to respect the rules by which we have lived for thousands of years? She isn’t one of us. She never will be.”
“Please Mistress…”
“No! Once and for all no. Read on Althea.”
“I-I can’t,” the younger witch stuttered. “I don’t understand the language.”
“Then let me translate for you. ‘And behold, the One shall rise at the hands of she who was foretold. Let it be known that darkness shall be one with the light and there will be a Choice. Thus upon that Choice the balance of our world shall depend.’” The Elder paused letting her student absorb what she had been told. “Do you understand what I have said?”
“Yes,” she said realising that indeed she did understand.
“You may take a copy of the page to Willow but after that I expect you to no longer have any contact with her.”
“Of course Mistress.”
Meredith smiled. “I’m glad you understand.”
~Part: 18~
“So where’s Buffy?” Willow asked as she sat down at the kitchen table with Giles, Jonathan and Xander. She placed down the tray of sandwiches and settled into having a sip of lemonade. “And Cara?”
“I believe that they decided to do some shopping while they had a spare moment,” Giles told her. “We honestly hadn’t expected you to call back quite so quickly.”
“I nearly got caught as token bag carrier guy!” Xander said. “But Giles and Jonathan got me out of it.”
“Yes, well,” Giles said looking out of the corner of his eye at Xander who had already helped himself to a sandwich. “What did your friends have to say?”
Despite herself Willow felt her body tense. She didn’t really want to talk about it. The meeting with Meredith had left her feeling cold and alone. The emptiness that she had felt wash over her had returned with vengeance the moment that she had even thought about calling the gang at the hotel and it had taken a whole ten minutes of sitting there with the receiver pressed tightly to her ear before she had been able to dial the number.
“They weren’t very helpful. I mean they were as helpful as they could be and they’re searching the archives. I’m just waiting for word from them of what to do. Look, I’m not that sure they’re going to be such a great source of information.”
“Oh?” Jonathan asked.
“Lady Meredith doesn’t like me very much.”
“Lady Meredith?”
“She’s an Elder so she yields a lot of power. Basically it means she’s responsible for making sure things run smoothly. She thinks that I upset that because I’m friends with a slayer.”
“I had heard that some sects had problems with the slayer,” Jonathan said.
“Yep, it’s a miracle that they let me within a mile of them. Oh and you should probably tell Buffy and Cara to be careful. I don’t think anyone would do anything but they know you’re in town and sometimes one of the younger ones can take it upon themselves to deal with ‘problems’ before asking the Elder’s permission.”
“So what did this Meredith woman have to say?” Xander asked. He was curious. His oldest friend had this whole other world going on that he had nothing to do with and it was interesting.
“Nothing much really. She knew you guys were in town, which I wasn’t really surprised at. Meredith Darken has eyes everywhere. There was this look in her eye when I told her the prophecy though – I could have sworn she had heard it before.”
“You told her the prophecy!” Jonathan exclaimed angrily.
“What else was I meant to do? You’ve never met Lady Meredith, she looks right into your soul. When she said she wanted to know why I was there then I had no choice but to tell her it all. Hopefully she’ll help, if she won’t then it’s been a dead end and if she does help it will be because there’s something in it for her.” Willow looked over the shocked expressions of her friends. “It’s the way that things work around here and if I don’t obey them then I’ll find myself run out of town so quick I’ll never know what hit me. It’s the same for all witches but especially so for me because of who and want I am.”
Guilt flashed appeared over the faces of the three men. Anger bubbled in her at the sight. They had a right to be guilty. She had seen the look on Meredith’s face when the Elder witch had told her to go home. It had been more than a simple instruction; it had been akin to banishment. For the shortest moment Willow felt tears begin to rise in her eyes and she turned away, leaving the table and walking to the counter where she busied herself with pouring out another drink.
“You have no idea how difficult it was to get myself accepted into the community this much and now that may all be gone because of some damn prophecy.”
“Willow…” Giles began only to be interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.
Willow left the room hoping that she would be able to gain a semblance of composure before she would have to face whoever was at the door. Walking down the short hall she felt the familiar humming sensation wash over her body that told her another witch was near. Silently cursing the fact that she had two watchers sat in her kitchen Willow opened to door with a healthy smile to see Althea standing before her.
“Hey there, want to come in? Be warned I have watcher’s in the kitchen.”
Althea’s eyes widened slightly in surprise before she hastily stepped over threshold and into the apartment. They walked down the hall back to the room where her friends were waiting.
“Guy’s this is Althea, Althea this is Rupert Giles - Buffy’s unofficial watcher, Jonathan Skinner – Cara’s watcher and Xander Harris long time friend and Sunnydale Slayerette.”
“A pleasure to meet you Althea,” Giles said standing up and extended a hand to the young witch. She stared at it wearily for a moment before shaking it lightly. Jonathan did the same while Xander simply sat there and smiled. Great, thought Willow, please don’t let hormone guy make an appearance.
“I came to give you this,” Althea said getting over her shock and reaching handing Willow a large envelope. “Meredith gave me permission to copy it out of volume it was found in.” She glanced at the three men. “Exactly how much do they know?” she asked Willow.
“Virtually everything,” Willow confessed. Her heart sank as she saw the disappointed look grow in Althea’s eyes.
“Oh Willow,” her friend said. “Meredith will be mad enough when she finds out that there is a second slayer in the city and you didn’t tell her but when she finds out that you’ve been speaking to outsiders about us… Goddess I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes. You’ve already been banned from the circle.”
“What?!”
“Almost immediately after you left Meredith sent out a memo that you weren’t to be allowed back into the house and she notified the other Elders that you couldn’t be trusted anymore. I was hoping she was wrong but the others will never believe it now. We’re not even aloud to speak to you anymore. I was meant to deliver this to you and then go straight back to the house.”
“Oh Goddess,” Willow said. “I can’t believe it. She’s finally managed it hasn’t she? Thank you for telling me Althea. I don’t think I would have been able to bare it if everyone suddenly stopped talking to me for no apparent reason.”
“Excuse me but am I understanding this correctly?” Jonathan asked. “They’re effectively excommunicating you?”
“More than that,” the red head replied. “Anyone who speaks to me from now on will be brought before the Elders to atone for their actions. Althea, can you tell the other’s that I’ll miss them and I understand?”
“Of course,” the blonde said leaning forwards and hugging her. “I’ll miss you Willow.”
Willow hugged the taller girl back her mind overflowing with emotions. She felt a tear slip down her cheek as the other witch suddenly turned and almost ran out of the apartment. Feeling dejected and painfully alone Willow sank down into her chair still clutching the envelope that her friend had given her only moments before.
Silence reined in the room. “Wills are you okay?” Xander asked placing a hand loosely on her arm.
Realising what a fool she must look Willow quickly wiped away the tear. “Sure, just needed a moment.”
“They can’t be serious can they?” Giles asked feeling his heart fill with sorrow for the girl.
“I was virtually an outcast before Giles this changes hardly anything. Don’t worry about it. Now lets get looking through what Althea found.”
~Part: 19~
“Okay, so how do you look for a vampire hang out in a city this size?” Buffy asked. The question was half to herself and half to the younger slayer who was walking by her side.
“They could be anywhere,” Cara said.
“That isn’t helping much. Don’t you live in London? That’s like a city isn’t it?”
“Yeah but I grew up there. I know it like the back of my hand and I was taught how to slay there so it isn’t that difficult. This is different. The way I see it our best option is to head over to the club that Willow went into last night and wait until we catch a vampire either going in or out. If this Spike is as big a deal as you say then they’re bound to know that he’s here.”
Buffy glanced at the other girl amazed that she had actually come up with want seem like a sensible idea. “Just what I was about to suggest,” she said quickly, slightly annoyed that she hadn’t.
“Great minds think a like,” the younger girl said as she changed direction. Buffy followed with a quick double step not knowing quite what to make of the slayer.
They were nearly to the club when Buffy felt Cara tap her on the shoulder. She turned slightly to see where the other slayer was pointing to and nodded when she saw a lone vampire walking slowly down the street. Instinctively they both moved apart, slowly circling around the trap the unaware vampire between them. His senses suddenly alive with the ancient warning of the presence of a slayer he darted into an ally only to find a dead-end. Letting fear build in the vampire who was already displaying his game face the two slayer’s followed him slowly into the ally.
“Hello vamp-boy,” Buffy said. “Guess what? Tonight just isn’t your lucky night.”
“I think he’s lost his tongue,” Cara added as the vampire remained quiet, eyeing them both suspiciously. “What do you say we help you find it again eh?” The dark haired girl pulled a vicious looking knife out of the top of her boot.
“I’ll be missed. They’ll come after you,” the vampire said quickly as he backed away.
“Strangely enough that doesn’t bother me,” Buffy said. She slowly took out Mr. Pointy. “I want information and you’re going to give it to me.”
“Well I’ve got nothing to tell you,” he replied with a slight sneer playing upon his lips.
Cara moved quickly, grabbing the back of the vampire’s neck and slamming him against the wall. With one foot she knocked his legs out from under him and there was a sickening crunch as he fell down on his knees onto the hard concrete floor beneath his feet.
“That wasn’t the answer that we were looking for,” Cara said close to his ear. She ran her knife down his cheek leaving a long trail of blood. “Now, why don’t you move onto what we do want to know?”
“You might as well just let me go because I don’t know anything.”
Buffy grabbed the back of the vampire’s head and slammed it against the wall in front of him. “Wrong again. I have a very short temper vamp-boy so I would suggest that you stop trying to get out of this and simply accept the fact that you are going to help. You kinda don’t have a choice in the matter. Understand?”
He nodded his head slowly, wincing at the pain that shot through his neck and shoulders.
“Great!” the older slayer enthused cheerfully. “I’m so pleased you’ve decided to be helpful. Anyway onto my dilemma, my fellow slayer and me were out the other night and I thought I saw a face that I recognised. I haven’t seen this person in a very long time so I wasn’t too sure so I thought I’d ask around and see if anyone else has heard if he’s in town. Naturally I thought of you, well maybe not you exactly but you’ll do.”
She stepped around Cara to stare at the vampire’s face as it was pressed against the wall. “This person is very hard to miss so I’ll know if you’re lying. He’s got blenched blonde hair, really bright blue eyes, a scar across one eyebrow and almost always wears a black leather duster along with a red shirt. Like I said you can’t really miss him and just in case you are having problems then he’s also got a very distinctive accent, a fetish for railroad spikes and happens to be over a hundred years old. Can you guess who it is yet?”
“S-Spike,” the vampire whimpered as Cara pressed him further into the wall.
“Not as thick as you look are you?” Cara asked. “Although I’m guessing that the whole torturing with railroad spikes gave it away.”
“W-what do you want to know?”
“Simple,” Buffy said. “What he’s been doing with himself, where he’s living - all the usual stuff. I really want to see him again.”
“I don’t know!”
“And I think you’re lying,” Cara hissed slicing her knife into his upper arm. The vampire resisted the urge to howl in pain as his demon growled a useless warning.
“Okay, he turned up a couple of months ago and challenged one of the old masters for their territory. I heard some of his guys saying he’s going after the whole city.”
“I believe you vamp-boy. That sounds typically Spike-ish. Now, which gutter is he choosing to call his home?”
“Please… He’ll kill me.”
“And that should make me upset why?” Buffy asked coolly. “Or have you forgotten who I am already? Do you need a reminder?” She stepped forwards flicking Mr Pointy from one hand to the other.
“No!”
“Then I suggest tell us where he is. Actually why don’t you show us, what with us not really knowing this city and everything?” The vampire nodded reluctantly and Cara let him up off the floor. Absently he raised a hand to his cheek, the smell of his own blood making it impossible for him to repress his game face. They waited in silence for a moment as he estimated his chances of actually getting away from this situation alive. They weren’t good. He then moved on to wondering whether he could outrun these two but then rejected the idea. His best option was to get them to wherever Spike was hiding out and then let whatever minions the master vampire had there take care of them. Perhaps Spike would even reward him for bringing the two slayers to his attention.
It took over an hour to reach the place that he knew to be Spike’s latest lair and by that time the slayers were getting more than a little impatient with him. Buffy was sure that he was stringing them along for a ride and Cara wasn’t far behind with the same decision. Unfortunately Buffy’s opinion didn’t change very much when they reached the large town house that Spike had taken over a few weeks before.
“Are you sure this is the right place because I’m gonna be way pissed if it isn’t vamp-boy?” Buffy asked their reluctant guide.
“I’m sure.”
“Well it seems Spike’s moving up in the world then. He only ever used warehouses for his lairs when he was in Sunnydale. Oh yeah, and the occasional sewer.”
“Can I go now?” the vampire asked nervously. This was the part he’d been dreading.
“Sure,” the older slayer said with a sunny smile surprising him. The vampire returned a nervous smile and turned to leave only to become aware of a stake suddenly appearing in the middle of his chest. He looked down at it in despair before turning into dust. “Aren’t you glad you wore old clothes?” Buffy asked the other girl as she began to brush dead vampire off her clothes while retrieving Mr Pointy.
“Yep,” the other girl replied doing the same thing. She turned to study the large house that the vampire had brought them to. “Are you getting the same feeling I am?”
“You mean not the one that’s telling you there seems to be about nine million vamps in there but the one that’s telling you something is sooo not right here?”
“Got it in one.” Cara looked over the building. “There’s at least four guards on the roof. I can sense two more just down the block. They had to know that we’re here already. Why haven’t they made a move?”
“Probably waiting for Spikey boy to tell them that they can,” Buffy replied. She’s pressed herself as far back into the shadows as she could as the same feeling the other slayer felt washed over her. “You know I really don’t like this. This isn’t Spike’s type of set up.”
“Um, people change?” Cara offered. Buffy gave her a brief grin that the other slayer found herself imitating it right back.
“Spike’s a vampire. He doesn’t change. Come on lets get closer. Maybe we can stake a few perimeter guards or something.”
Cara followed closely as the older slayer hurried across the street and vaulted over a fence into the garden that apparently belonged to the house. The garden was a large rectangle filled with potted plants and trees. Scents from them filled the air momentarily disorientating the two slayers. In the back ground water could be heard to be trickling. As Buffy stalked closer to the house she spotted the source, an ornamental fishpond surrounded by a rock garden. Passing an outdoor garden seating set she walked closer to the open French doors from which a low glow emanated.
Moving silently Cara dropped and rolled to the other side of the doors so she could peer in more easily.
“Where the fuck is he!” a female voice roared from inside. “He said eight o’clock so I’m here by eight. Impetuous little upstart.”
“Shh Lilia,” a more calm voice answered. Buffy focused in on the man who had spoken. He looked to be in his early thirties and was devilishly handsome with long pale hair tied behind his back in a pony tale. The woman who had spoken glared at him.
“I will not shush! He has no right to do this Andrei, no right what so ever. For years we’ve been ruling this city without even the smallest upset. The moment he comes along everything goes to hell. His minions are attacking everyone in sight regardless of who they may be, he’s tricked his way into a position of power and now all the witches are getting worked up about something which no doubt has to do with him too.”
“Andrei’s right Lilia,” the third person at the table said. “You should be quiet and shut up before he gets here. We’ll never find out what he wants if you keep raving like you belong in the nuthouse.”
“Listen here you overgrown sewer rat,” the woman, Lilia snarled. “I have a hundred years or more on you and I could snap your spine like the deadwood it is. Do not dare to tell me what it do if you value your useless undead ass!”
The third man let out a throaty laugh. “I would like to see you try, it might even be funny.”
“Can you to please be quiet!” Andrei ordered. “I have a very bad feeling about this young one. He made quite a reputation for himself in the old days and if how he dealt with Nicholas is anything to go by we might be in for a rough ride. Together we are stronger than him however.”
Sensible guy, Buffy thought. She wondered where the infamous William the Bloody was. He was probably just trying to put everyone on edge by turning up late. Buffy knew how he liked to feel like he was in control. Not that she could really blame him considering the fact that he had Angelus as a sire.
Bad thoughts. Naughty thoughts, she told her self as her mind began to drift from Angelus to Angel and happier times. She couldn’t be distracted by memories at the moment. There were more important things to be concentrating on. Like where the hell Spike was...
Suddenly her attention was drawn back to the room as the doors at the opposite end burst open and the vampire in question strode into the room. Buffy gawped at him. It was years since she had seen him and he looked exactly the same. Not that she should have expected him to change – he was immortal after all but somehow her mind had conjured up a slightly older version of the vampire that she had once fought against and strangely enough with.
“Finally,” she heard Lilia mutter quietly.
Spike came to a halt by the table where he paused before sitting down and pouring himself a glass of blood wine. Buffy watched as he put his feet up on the table without saying a word.
“Have you called us here for a reason or are you just going to sit there all night?” Lilia snapped as the silence drew out. Spike held up a hand to silence her. The vampiress sat back in her chair with a huffing noise.
“Are you going to hide out there all night Slayer or are you going to come in?” he asked suddenly turning to face the French doors where they crouched. The other vampires looked at him in shock for a moment before turning to stare in the same direction as the bleached blonde was now facing.
“What the hell are you on about?” Lilia asked in irritation.
“Are you feeling quite all right old boy?” the unnamed third vampire asked.
Buffy stood up startling the other slayer and moved it the doorway so that the vampires inside could see her. She didn’t however step inside. Even with Cara there she knew that there was no way that they would be able to take down the four in the room.
“Oh I don’t know Spike. I quite like it out here. When did you get some taste by the way?”
“Do I detect some jealously there Slayer? Actually the house is a package deal with the position.” He grinned at her and Buffy felt her stomach muscles clench in disgust.
“I heard about your good fortune. How many did you have to kill then to get it?”
“Not that many surprisingly. Is the other one going to stay hidden all night or is she going to make an appearance too?”
Damn, Buffy had been hoping that he wouldn’t be able to detect Cara. The other slayer stood from her hiding place and came to stand beside Buffy.
“Hello there pet, what’s your name then?” Spike asked.
“Cara,” the other girl replied.
“A Brit!” he exclaimed. “Fantastic. I was getting fed up with killing American slayers. They all seem to be rather stupid.”
“Do you care to explain what is going on Spike?” Andrei asked. He was more than slightly baffled by the appearance of the two girls and was even more baffled as to why they were still alive.
“Bloody hell,” Spike said with a laugh. “Are you trying to tell me that you don’t recognise a slayer when you see one? Or two it would seem. You’re lucky you’re still too big to fit into a dust buster!”
“Slayers!” Lilia hissed. She leapt from her chair but was stopped from moving forward by Andrei placing a hand loosely on her arm.
Buffy tightened her grip on Mr Pointy.
“Go ahead Slayer,” Spike said. “You’d save me a problem.”
“That’s okay Spikey boy,” she replied curving her lips ever so slightly in a smile. “I’m here after bigger fish than her.”
He nodded. “I know. I also know it has something to do with your little witch.”
The smile fell. “Stay away from Willow,” she warned.
“Don’t worry Slayer. I’m not going to hurt Red. I have a feeling you’re doing enough of that yourself.”
“What the hell is that meant to mean?” Buffy snapped. Okay don’t get angry. He wants you angry. You make mistakes when you’re angry. The slayer swallowed her temper. She felt Cara touch her sleeve and absently noted with annoyance that several of the vampires who had been guarding the house seemed to have all decided to move towards where they were.
“I think I’ll let you find out for yourself,” Spike said.
Buffy began to back away from the door. “And I think we’ll be going. See you later Spike.”
“Always a pleasure Slayer. Always!”
~Part: 20~
It hurt. Goddess she had never imagined that it would hurt quite so much. Her heart felt like someone had just ripped it out of her chest and stamped on it.
Willow lay in bed and whimpered as she allowed the tears to flow that she had previously denied her tired body while Giles, Jonathan and Xander had been at the apartment. Curling herself up into an even tighter ball she remember the embarrassment of the answer phone picking up not one or two but three calls from supposed friends cancelling their plans with her while the three men listened on. She didn’t resent that they had called to tell her they could no longer ‘make it’; in fact she was happy that they had broken the rules for that short time and actually thought enough of her to call. At least three people who she had been meaning to see hadn’t called and she really doubted that it was because they hadn’t received notice of what had happened.
Stop being such a wimp she scolded herself. You’re strong. You’ve lived out here five years on your own, there’s no reason for you to feel like this now.
It’s all Buffy’s fault she thought. She always felt helpless whenever the slayer was around. As much as she loved her best friend it was really annoying. Just when she thought she was getting her life back on track along would come Buffy and everything would become roller coaster city again.
A deep sigh escaped her lips. She half wished that she had accepted Giles’ offer of dinner out at a restaurant of her choice. At the time it had seemed like the worst idea in the world ever. The last thing she had wanted was to go out in public where there was the possibility of her friends seeing her with the watchers.
Goddess it must have hurt Giles and Xander when she had refused point blank. No amount of persuading on their part had been able to get her to change her mind. The young witch cringed at the thought. She felt just awful about it now.
Willow suddenly sat up and dropped her feet over the edge of her bed. There was no way that she was going to get any sleep tonight if all she was going to do was hit herself over the top of the head with her guilt.
“Ahh!” she exclaimed to the silent room before grabbing her dressing gown off the floor where she had left it. Stalking into the kitchen she went over to one of the cabinets and flung it open only to find herself disappointed. A little note was stuck on an empty tequila bottle saying ‘Remember to get a fresh bottle’. Willow dropped the empty bottle in the bin and stared accusingly at it.
From the kitchen she headed back into her bedroom and over to the wardrobe where she grabbed a pair of jeans and a pale blue t-shirt and proceeded to slip them on over the underwear that she had worn to bed. Grabbing her keys, wallet and jacket Willow headed out the door and into the sticky night. Her first intention had been to head down to the all night connivance store three blocks away but as she approached the bright lights that signalled it was open and ready for business Willow found herself walking right past the door.
Making a decision that she knew she would undoubtedly regret in the morning Willow walked until she found herself standing in front of an old style pool hall combined with a drinks bar that she only never normally went into on her own. There was a very simple reason for that – the fact that the bar and pool hall was a demon hang out and not all the demons were nice non-violent demons like Eric. However there was a distinctly good side to the thought of going into the bar tonight. She was almost completely certain there wouldn’t be a single witch in the place and she was pretty sure that the bar tender – a friend of Eric’s – wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her. At least she hoped. Really, really hoped.
Willow stepped into the darkness of the club aware that several of the customers had already turned around to study her. She put on her very best ‘I’m a scary demon really’ face and walked up to the bar where she perched on a stool.
“Hey Willow,” the bar tender, a blue and gold misery demon said coming to stand in front of her. His eyes very nearly started glowing at the waves of sadness that flowed off her as she glanced up. “Are you sure you should be here tonight?”
“Hi Duncan. I can think of no better place to be unless I’m not welcome here. I didn’t feel like going to Saints and Sinners tonight what with…” she let the sentence trail off and lowered her eyes.
“Sure, whatever you say. I heard by the way.”
“I would have been surprised if you hadn’t.”
“Is it true there’s a slayer in town?” he asked nervously.
“Yeah. But don’t worry I won’t be bringing her in to scare you cliental. Feel like getting me a drink? I need to drown my sorrows.”
“Of course, what do you want?”
“Erm, Vodka.”
“Okay,” he said placing a shot glass in front of her. “If anyone give you any hassle just tell me and I’ll get rid of them for you.”
“Thanks. You might as well leave the bottle,” she replied gratefully and began to drink herself into welcome alcohol induced oblivion.
The next thing that Willow became aware of beside the relentless music and her shot glass being empty was a hand pressing down on her arm stopping her from raising the bottle any further to refill her glass. She looked at the hand in annoyance and then up at the face of the person who had placed it there. Abruptly it was as if her heart had plummeted about ten stories right through the bottom of her feet. Breath coming raggedly the young witch tried to remember through the alcohol haze whether she had actually had sense enough to bring a stake or a cross or some holy water with her. Anything would have been useful right at this time. Even a glowing figurine of Jesus would have been helpful.
“Don’t you think you’ve had enough pet?” the blonde asked taking the bottle out of her hand and placing it firmly down on the bar but not removing his hand from her arm.
“Nope,” she replied and carefully levitated the bottle until it poured into her glass. She picked up the glass with her other hand and downed it as he chuckled.
“Seems you’ve been practicing your little witch tricks while I’ve been away.”
“You can’t hurt me in here,” she answered slurring but trying to sound confident all the same. Goddess why was he here? What did he want? Oh well just another perfect thing to top of her perfect day!
“Do you actually think some pansy-arsed misery demon could stop me?” he asked looking deeply into her eyes.
Willow felt tears building up in her eyes. “This is just perfect! Come on,” she said standing up. “Lets go outside so you can kill me and get it over with. I don’t want to get blood on Duncan’s floor.”
Spike stared at her in amazement. “Not that the idea of sucking you dry doesn’t send me wild with anticipation but don’t you think you’re acting a little insane luv?” He really hadn’t expected her to give up like this.
“I figure that this is just a really bad day so I might as well just give up now.” The little red head fell forwards to rest her arms on the bar top in front of her with her head on those arms. Glancing sideways she looked him straight in the eye. “Ever had one of those days that just wasn’t worth living?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh yeah right, I forgot for a moment – you’re undead.”
Feeling distinctly uncomfortable he placed a hand on her back and began to rub it through the leather jacket she was wearing as the tears began to flow. What the hell was he doing? This was the slayer’s pet witch and he was sitting here!
“I, um, know what you mean pet,” he told her.
“You do?” she asked almost hopefully.
“Well sure. Look at how many times I’ve had my arse kicked over the years.”
“Oh.”
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” he asked. Her eyes widened even further. Spike almost groaned when he realised the situation he had got himself into. The only reason he’d come into this bloody bar was to that he’d been out hunting and having seen Red sat in here wondered why she was alone in a demon infested bar.
“You mean you haven’t heard?” Her tone was one of astonishment, one that only made Spike regret his decision even more. Slowly he shook his head.
“No pet. I haven’t.”
“Nobody will talk to me anymore!” she wailed. Spike noticed the bar tender glance over in their direction and silently cursed the little witch for being so loud.
“Okay that doesn’t actually tell me very much luv.”
“They all hate me and now the Elders have said that I’m not to be talked to anymore.”
“You’re what the witches have got themselves so worked up over!” he exclaimed amazed.
“Uh-huh. They really don’t like me anymore and its all Buffy’s fault. Well they didn’t like me much in the first place either but now its worse! Why did she have to come here Spike? I was doing fine by myself and-and-and now no one will talk to me ever again!”
Spike tried to process what she had said. He’d been kidding earlier when he had said that Slayer would end up hurting Red. Never in a million years would he have dreamt that it would get this bad. What to hell had the little blonde bimbo done to the witch?
“Spike?” He focused again on the witch who had paused in her crying fit and was once again staring at him with wide eyes. “I don’t feel so well.”
What the hell did that mean? Oh shit no… “Come on pet,” he said taking hold of her hand and helping her into a standing position. “How many of those did you drink?” he asked indicating to the bottle.
“Just one I think.”
He threw down a bill on the bar top and then added another to it to be sure. Making certain that the overprotective bar tender was occupied with another customer he carefully he wrapped his arm around the witch’s waist to support her and walked her out into the comparatively fresh air.
Once outside she sagged against his hip before darting away. Letting her go but following her with his eyes he watched as she leaned over a trashcan and promptly threw up. Spike stared at the picture of her standing there making some of the most disgusting noises that he had ever heard and tried to remember what it was like to throw up when he was mortal. Unable to bring the sensation to mind he moved up to her side and took hold of her elbow.
“Done pet?” he asked.
“Yep,” she replied and went limp in his arms.
Oh… fuck. What the hell was he meant to do now? This was all he bloody needed. The other masters in the city had been all over his back about his minions attacking anyone and everyone regardless and now he had a very drunk little witch passed out in his arms looking like he’d just had a snack on her. Knowing his luck they’d stake him out at first light and then check for bite marks on the redhead. Still it would undoubtedly be better than what Slayer would do if she found out.
“Red?” He shuck her shoulders gently disappointed when there was no reaction from her. “Red bloody wake up!” Still nothing.
Growling he tossed the witch over his shoulder and set off walking down the street in what he hoped was the general direction of his house. He was fairly confident that the redhead wasn’t going to wake up before dawn, if not mid-afternoon and as much as the idea of leaving her to fed for herself down some alley he was well aware that any accident that might befall the witch would no doubt get blamed on him – especially after his little performance for the slayer earlier in the evening.
He was really starting to regret calling in the other master vampires of the city for a meeting. Spike was fully aware that they were less than enthusiastic about accepting him as the new master of Nicholas’ territory and had presumed that they would be more affable if he were to show them that he wasn’t going after their own territories. The problem was that he wasn’t entirely sure that it had worked. The other three, that bitch Lilia, Andrei and Stephen had been more than a little pissed at him for various reasons that weren’t even entirely his fault.
It made him want too ripe someone’s head off - hence his decision to head out into the city to hunt and his subsequent discovery of Red in a bar where she shouldn’t have been if she had any sense at all.
Painfully aware of the amused stares and smirks of his minions that he had posted around the house on slayer watch Spike hoisted the little witch further onto his shoulder and entered the building. Climbing the grand stairs and throwing her down on his bed the vampire went to the window and drew closed the heavy velvet curtains. From the bathroom he collected a waste paper basket and placed it down by the side of the bed where Red lay before sitting down in the one armchair in the room. After a moment or two of watching as the red head continues to sleep on he stood again and removed her boots, jacket and finally her jeans casting an appreciative eye over the length of her legs as he went before finally tucking her under the covers. Spike grabbed the spare pillow and returned to his armchair.
He tossed and turned in the chair for a few minutes before eyeing up the free side of the bed. No way in hell he was going over there to rest. If the little witch woke up and found him lying next to her then Satan only knew how she would react. Witches were funny about vampires and there were very strict rules about the two interacting. He was already in enough trouble for bringing her here when by rights he should have taken her over to one of the Elder’s houses. Strangely enough though he had the impression that she wouldn’t have been very welcome there so he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rules were on one side and an easily pissed off slayer was on the other.
At least this way the witch would be able to explain what had happened.
Even she had to admit that what he had done was for her own protection.
At least she couldn’t bring the bloody Elder’s down on his head. A grin
stuck on Spike’s face at the thought and he settled down deeper into the
chair. Getting some sleep before the witch woke up would probably be a
good idea; she wouldn’t be in a good mood when she found out where she
was after all and Spike wasn’t sure he could deal with screams and accusations
without being fully rested.