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Chapter 8: Petulant Grandchilde

Buffy strode into the mansion, giving the minions a glare before walking to the room she shared with Spike. Most of the minions cowered before her, she was childer, the mate of Master Spike. She wasn’t their mistress, but they knew that she held power. Third in command if you liked. The one vamp in the room of minions that didn’t back down to her glare was a tall hulky brunette who kinda reminded her of Angel. He was Dru’s current fuck buddy. Damien, as he was calling himself (Buffy knew for a fact that he was actually called Edgar when he was alive) liked to think that he was up and coming in the hierarchy. Buffy knew better. Damien was as dumb as a post but from what Buffy’s ears told her early in the morning, he was a good fuck, for Dru at least.

Damien stepped in front of her, blocking her way up the stairs to her bedroom.

So don’t want to have to deal with him right now! Buffy thought to herself. As if a rant from Cordelia about how all her problems are my fault, now I’m gonna get an earful from the gigolo.

“What the hell is your problem?” she asked her hands on her hips.

“Drusilla is in a meeting with Spike, she said that they weren’t to be disturbed,” said the hulk of a vampire, his arms crossed and a gleeful smile passing over his face.

“Oh well, if Grandmummy said that they shouldn’t be disturbed...” said Buffy in her best flirty voice before gasping, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to her. “Oh wait, I’m a petulant grandchilde....Don’t care!” Buffy punched the idiot in the nose, and strode up the stairs, her backpack hanging loosely from one shoulder. She had a make up chemistry test to study for and her text book was upstairs.

She didn’t even look down to see the furious stare Damien was giving to the back of her head.
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Her bag made a clunk noise as it hit the bed. Her thermos of blood, now empty, had clunked against her stakes. Spike wasn’t in their room. This fact wasn’t surprising actually. She had told him that she was going out with Xander and Willow after school, that she wouldn’t be there when he woke up.

A meeting with Drusilla huh? she asked herself as she searched the room for her lost chemistry text. I wonder what they would be talking about?

Finding no chemistry text anywhere in the room, and knowing full well that she hadn’t left it anywhere else, she stalked out into the hallway, intent on finding Spike. Unfortunately, she bumped right into Damien.

“Look I don’t have time for minions who get in my way, Edgar,” she spat, using his real name in order to piss him off.

“You don’t want to get me angry little girl,” he taunted back.

“Oh no?” she asked all innocent like.

“Drusilla wouldn’t like it if I was in a bad mood.”

Buffy had to laugh at that. This minion, Drusilla’s fuck buddy, was telling her that he was more important to Drusilla than what? She could certainly name a few things/people that fit into that category, and not one was Damien.

“More so than if Miss Edith was in a bad mood?” she asked, her innocent look continuing.

“I think you should go back down stairs and feed with the rest of the minions, Baby,” he said, calling her by the name that Drusilla had been using for her.

So she punched him in the face again.

“You don’t get to call me Baby!” she spat at him, as he lay on the floor, clutching his probably broken jaw. “I’m Elizabeth to you, vermin.”

Buffy stepped over his body and continued on her way, knocking at Drusilla’s door. She waited for a response that didn’t come. Rolling her eyes, Buffy turned the handle and let herself in only to stumble upon the most shocking thing she had seen in quite a long time.

“Bloody Hell Goldilocks!” came Spike’s voice from his embarrassing position.

Buffy’s hand flew to her mouth, as she tried to stifle the eruption of giggles that were coming out of her mouth.

“This was the meeting? The meeting that I broke Damien’s jaw to crash?” she asked looking down at her Sire and her Grandsire.

Spike threw down his napkin and stood up from the miniature table and the elaborate tea that was being served to Drusilla, himself, and a plethora of dolls by a minion dressed as a French maid.

She’d interrupted a tea party.

“I’m sorry for barging in on you two,” she apologized with a smile as she fled the room.

She pushed Damien down on her way to her room, her mirth so great that she had to share the glee.

Spike caught her arm as she entered the room, his grip punishing. He was not happy about being caught in a very unmanly tea party with Drusilla.

“We’re going out,” he ordered, pulling her along, out the door of their bedroom and down the stairs.
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They walked in silence for a few minutes before Buffy ventured to ask what had been on her mind since she had returned to the mansion.

“You haven’t seen my Chemistry text book have you?”

Spike turned to look clearly annoyed.

“What? It’s a valid question. I have a test tomorrow. I need to study.”

Spike did not respond, rather he chose to completely ignore the comment. It was no secret that he didn’t want her going to school: she was a vampire, didn’t need it, but also the chances of her being staked or pushed into the sunlight was much greater when she was there.

It was someplace that he couldn’t go.

No one would believe he was a high school student.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

The dark streets of Sunnydale had been her home for years now, she knew every back alley, every warehouse that vamps liked to frequent. Nothing was new to her here.

“Feeling a might peckish, after all the tea and cakes Dru tried to tempt me with....thought I’d pick up something young.”

Buffy stopped walking.

“No.”

Spike turned around and glared at her.

“No?”

Buffy hugged herself against his glare and against the cold wind that blew through the street. She didn’t like this. He hadn’t taken her to feed since that first night in the Bronze. She wouldn’t do it again. She promised Willow.

“Willow...I promised Willow I wouldn’t...I won’t eat anyone Spike,” her words left her mouth and evaporated into the air. He didn’t respond at that moment, and she was afraid that she hadn’t actually said it. That she’d have to say it again.

Buffy watched his eyes closely, waiting for some sort of sign if he was going to start shouting at her. It looked as if he was having an internal battle within himself.

“Spike? Please say something. I know you are disappointed...”

“Disappointed?” he barked at her. “Disappointed? Bloody hell Buffy, I couldn’t be more traumatised by the fact that my Childe! won’t bloody kill! First because she didn’t feel like it, and now you’ve soddin’ promised Red! You know what? I’m sick of this.”

“I’m a bad vampire...” she muttered. “A bad Slayer, for falling in love with a vampire, and now I’m a bad vampire because I don’t want to kill my friends. I came back wrong. Drusilla was right,” she said mournfully. “I still have my soul don’t I?”

He could smell her tears, even though they had yet to fall. “Oh love, I didn’t mean it, I love you bloody soul or not.” Spike reached out to her, gathering his mate in his arms. “In the grand scheme, it doesn’t matter if you are a good vampire or not, just that I have you with me.”

He felt bad, probably the same feeling he’d been feeling since he turned her. His silent wish when he had been watching over her body after he turned her, that she would be the same girl he had fallen in love with, it had come true, and here he was complaining about it.

Buffy perked up for a moment. “Did you just apologise?” she asked.

“No, clarification is all,” he said but his eyes told a different story.

“Uh huh, ok then Mr. Clarification, what do we do now?”

“Don’t rightly know love,” he admitted with a sigh. He truly didn’t know what to do.

“Can I dust Damien?” she asked with a giggle. “I know that would make me feet better.”

“It’d give me a smile too love,” he said into her hair. “How about we do some B and E at the blood bank?”

“Ok, but then I so have to study for my test.”
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Chemistry by candlelight, was not romantic like she would have expected it to be. Spike was dealing with some minion business down stairs and letting her actually study. The room was in shambles. Their frantic fucking earlier in the evening had knocked over every piece of furniture in the room. The sun was going to rise soon, she had to get some sleep before her daily trek to school via the sewers. The school where she was getting the reputation for being goth girl, because she wore so much black nowadays. The school where her teachers had to be careful of her new allergy. The school where she avoided the library like the plague.

Buffy put her textbook into her bag and headed out of her bedroom door. She was feeling just a bit peckish and she knew that there was blood in the fridge. Bouncing down the stairs, because she had all of 2 hours of sleep tonight and was feeling just a little bit energetic, she stumbled upon an impromptu meeting in the foyer.

“Troy and Cora are dust,” said Damien, his eyes wide with fear, addressing Spike.

Buffy came to stand behind her lover wondering what the fuss was about. Minions dusting? Who cared?

“It was the Slayer,” continued Damien.

Ahh, she thought, big news in the land of the Aurelius clan.

“She’s everywhere, taking us out before we can feed, before we can recruit others, before we can claim our fledges,” continued Damien.

“That’s the Slayer’s job, you ponce,” said Spike forcefully.

Buffy smiled up at her mate. It was good to know that they still had the same opinion about Damien.

“What are you going to do about her?” asked Damien pointedly,

Spike and Buffy stared back at the minion, who didn’t know his place.

“Excuse me?” asked Spike, his ire rising.

“You’re the Slayer of Slayers! You’re suppose to take them out! You’ve killed three of them. Shouldn’t you be out there, killing this one? Protecting your family?”

Spike grabbed the idiot’s shirt and lifted him up off the ground. “You listen to me you buggering git, and you listen well. My family consists of myself, my mate and my Sire,” Spike spat. “You are not part of the family. You are a minion.” Spike tossed the vampire down on the ground and turned to Buffy who had the biggest smile on her face.

Spike wrapped his arms around her in a hug, only to take from her the stake which she was concealing in her waistband. Before Damien knew what was happening, he was dust, and Spike and Buffy were making out on the foyer floor.

The minions watching scattered, as Master Spike drew his mate closer to his body, spreading the dust of Damien further on the floor. None of them wanted the Master’s wrath.

Buffy didn’t care. Sure she had to get some sleep, she had a test that morning, but somehow, getting shagged into the cold marble floor of the foyer seemed like a really good idea just about now.

Their cool lips pressed against each other, her hands woven into his gelled back curls and his pulling open the button fly of her pants. Following suit, she unzipped him, and brought him out, precum dripping from the slit of his hard cock.

Spike gripped her pants and tore them violently from her body, smiling when he discovered her lack of panties on this occasion.

In one swift motion he impaled her on his thick cock, causing a loud gasp from the former Slayer. All around the room, minions tried desperately to avert their eyes, try to do something, anything else than look at the Master and his Mate coupling in the middle of the foyer.

Spike’s rhythm of thrusts, slow at first, had picked up in intensity, the sight of her pussy milking his shaft was pure sin and he loved it. Spike let his hand slide between them and began to stroke her clit feverishly, adding to the sounds that were issuing from her throat.

“Oh, fuck, Spike!” she gasped, her voice echoing off the walls. “Just like that, fuck, you’re so big, Spike, don’t ever stop fucking me!” she screamed as an orgasm took her.

Spike smiled big. His girl was always the ego booster and in front of the minions too. Buffy raised herself up on her arms, and looked into her lover’s eyes. I love you she mouthed, just before tilting her neck to reveal his marks.

Spike gripped her hips firmly and drove into her hot core once more, her legs splayed on either side of him. Quickly, he pulled her to him, their lower regions still intimately connected, and brought his fangs out to play.

Buffy smiled as she felt his teeth in her neck, in the same set of marks.

“Mine,” he barked roughly, loud enough for the whole room to hear. Buffy felt his cool spendings start to trickle down her leg.

“Yours,” she agreed, not as loud, but loud enough.

“Forever,” they both whispered.

With Buffy still impaled on his semi hard cock, Spike took off his duster and threw it around her shoulders, covering up her nakedness to some extent and carried her to their room.

Buffy had a feeling she wasn’t going to school today at all.
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tbc...
 

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Chapter 9: Holidays

Drusilla wasn’t happy to find out that her fuck buddy had been dusted; the wailing could be heard for days. Days in which Buffy loathed to go back to the mansion after school.

What Damien had said though, was true. Faith was killing the minions faster than they could rise. For Buffy, this wasn’t a problem; she hated the minions, but it posed a increasing problem to Spike, who, though in name they belonged to Drusilla, was running the whole show.

As the days wore on, Buffy was increasingly aware of the anger the remaining minions held towards her. The men vying for Damien’s spot in Drusilla’s bed, warily eyed her, expecting her to be their enemy as well. She had been a Slayer, she had killed their kind. And to make matters worse, she refused to feed from humans.

The rumours that floated about the mansion told stories of how she had her soul, how she was an abomination.

Spike sent her understanding glances and did his utmost to defend her reputation and honour, but it was an uphill battle. The minions took their lead from Drusilla, who constantly was spouting maniacal phrases about ‘Baby’ being wrong.

Buffy still didn’t feel that she had come back wrong at all. It was an overwhelming feeling she couldn’t ignore. And she wanted answers.
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Buffy found herself watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade with Willow and Xander, avoiding her mother who was cooking massive amounts of turkey in the kitchen.

“So how are the minions?” joked Xander, his mouth full of popcorn.

Buffy groaned. She had been keeping her friends apprised of the whole situation. They didn’t really understand, they were used to killing vampires in general and that was the end of the story. Buffy had this feeling that they still weren’t totally ok with her being one of them.

“You mean they aren’t decking the halls and sharing in the Christmas cheer?” asked Xander.

“Oh there’s decking, and the occasional cheer,” Buffy replied sadly. “Sometimes though...They don’t like me, I don’t like them, I can’t honestly understand why anyone would want to live like that.”

“You live like that Buffy,” said Willow, filling her mouth with popcorn.

Buffy ignored the comment. “I just wish I could find out if I really did have my soul or not...”

“Oooh!” Willow perked up. “I can do it, let me do it. I’m a witch now you know.”

“Ya I got the memo Wills,” said Buffy with a smile.

“Why do you think you don’t have a soul Buffster? You’re like the female version of the brooding wonder, except without the brooding, or the overly gelled hair,” added Xander.

“Because if you guys hadn’t been there for me, I think I’d be snacking on the rest of the population. It’s like you guys are my conscience,” said Buffy very seriously.

“Aww!” cooed Willow, moving in to give her friend a hug.

Buffy hugged back. “So you’ll do the spell?” she asked.

“Oh ya, absolutely.”
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Buffy stared at the pentagram that Willow was drawing on the ground of the school basement. Even as she watched her friend’s movements she worried about the result of the spell.

“Ok,” said Willow, ready to begin. She placed a crystal in the middle of the pentagram and stepped out of the way. “If the crystal turns black, you have no soul, if it stays the same, you have your soul.”

Buffy nodded nervously.

“Of course, it could also mean that I’ve done the whole thing wrong,” the red head babbled, wringing her hands together.

Buffy’s gaze fixated on the crystal in the middle of the pentagram, not exactly listening to the words that Willow was saying in a language she did not understand. Slowly, Willow entered the pentagram, her chanting finished, and picked up the crystal.

“You ready?” asked Willow, holding the object in her hand, its colour unchanged.

With a gulp, Buffy nodded and reached out her hand. Gingerly, Willow placed the crystal in her friend’s hand.

Exhaling an unneeded breath, Buffy peered down at the object in her hand.

It was black.
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There was a bounce in her step as Buffy walked back to the mansion, the early morning calm interrupted only by commuters on their way to work. Spike had insisted that she accompany him for vampire type things that night, which naturally ended up being something stupid like initiating minions, or kitten poker. She’d left him at Willy’s with a straight flush and a bag of tabbies. She turned down a familiar alley taking a shortcut.

Since Willow’s spell and the revelation that she was soulless, she’d been happy Buffy. The urge to tell Spike that she didn’t have that thing that made her so disgusting to the other vamps was tempting. Deep down though, she felt that if how she was acting was causing problems and she didn’t have a soul, then there might be something else wrong with her.

It would not be a happy scenario if the minions found out.

Buffy tried to shake the idea out of her head. The sun would be up soon and she seriously needed some sleep before she had to get to school.

Of course this led to a whole other series of thoughts. Why? Why was she living in two worlds? Still? It was as if she was hovering between two lives, vampire and human. Ya she didn’t slay anymore, and regardless of what her mother thought about her vampire status, this couldn’t be a happy time for her mom.

Buffy turned a corner in her trek home, only to run, literally, into a girl. There was a flash of recognition on both of their faces.

“You’re Anya, right?” asked Buffy. “Cordelia’s friend?”

The girl shrugged. “I guess you could say that. I wasn’t supposed to be stuck here like I am. You’re Buffy, that girl that everyone thinks is a vampire.”

“Everyone thinks that I’m a vampire?” asked Buffy worried.

“Oh yeah, the whole sun allergy, always wearing clothes that cover as much of you as possible? It’s kinda noticeable. Don’t worry though, I won’t tell them that you actually are a vampire.”

“Huh?” Buffy stared in shock at this girl.

“Oh, I thought you knew. You are a vampire Buffy. I can tell. I used to be a demon, vengeance demon actually. Desperately trying to get back to being one.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Didn’t seem my place really. Now if you happened to know how to get back my pendant that would be great. Of course you are just a vampire,” she commented snootily.

“Hey!”

“I’m surprised that your Sire lets you go school at all. I can tell you are childer too. Most fledglings don’t get the protection of a sire, you know, end up being dominated by some master vamp or other. So that would make you....hmmm, you are the Childer of William the Bloody then?”

Buffy nodded.

“Oooh, lucky!” gushed Anya. “My best friend knew him when he was human. He is very handsome.”

If Buffy could have blushed she would have.

“Wait....You, you’re Elizabeth aren’t you?” she questioned, squinting at the vampire.

“Excuse me?”

“Your vampire name?” Anya repeated. “Elizabeth right?”

“Vampire name?” Buffy couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something big here.

“Well ya, you don’t think that vampire’s go by their real names do you? I mean, ya Dracula, William the Bloody, but honestly most just change their names. Angelus? Drusilla, The Prince of Lies? All made up names.”

“Angel’s real name was Liam,” said Buffy fondly.

“And if I recall, Drusilla’s was Mary. Hell, even my real name isn’t Anyanka or even Anya for that matter.”

“Really?”

“Oh, I’m not going to tell you what it was. If you know a demon’s real name you have power over them. Didn’t ever read Rumplestiltskin? Cautionary tale if I ever heard one.”

Buffy was intrigued. “How so?”

Anya smiled. “I think you should find that out for yourself.”

“I have to go anyway,” Buffy said, feeling confused beyond belief. “I’ll see you at school?”

“Sadly. Why did I have to get trapped as a seventeen year old girl?” Anya lamented.
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Drusilla’s real name and how she was going to use it to her advantage was the main thing on her mind as she coasted through her classes, the Christmas holiday fast approaching. The students around her looked forward to presents and time off of school.

Buffy looked forward to being able to sleep.

And getting rid of Drusilla.

Her mom had even extended an invitation to Spike to spend Christmas day with them. Her mom wanted to spend Christmas as a family. Even her father was supposed to show up.

Not a good combination.
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By the time that Christmas rolled around Buffy was no closer to finding a way to use Drusilla’s real name against her. She felt like she was stuck in some horrible puzzle.

It didn’t make matters any better that it seemed that Drusilla’s favourite holiday was Christmas. She had a tree decorated in the foyer. The decorations were bones, which Buffy shrugged off. It was the wreath of intestines that turned her stomach and sent her over the edge. It was the final straw.

“I can’t live here!” Buffy shouted at her mate, safely ensconced in her bedroom. “I tried and I tried!” Buffy packed up random clothes and textbooks, piling them into a duffle bag. “I’m not coming back as long as she’s here!”

“Buffy...” started Spike, his voice soothing.

He didn’t want her to go.

“I thought...”

“Well you thought wrong Spike,” she said as she hoisted her duffle bag over her shoulder and heading out the door. “Look me up when you ditch the psycho vamp princess Spike.”
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Buffy returned home to her mother’s house, on the verge of tears. He hadn’t even tried to stop her really. She flew directly into her mother’s waiting arms.

“Buffy?” asked her mother, the dishtowel in her hands indicating that she had been doing the dishes. “If I had known you were coming tonight, I would have kept dinner for you.”

“It’s ok mom, I’ll just get some blood later. If Spike calls I’m not home ok?” muttered the vampire as she trudged up the stairs to her room.

Joyce looked up the stairs at her retreating daughter with concern. The large duffle bag that was slung across her shoulders was a telling sign. Something had happened at the mansion. Something that drove Buffy from Spike. In a way, Joyce was grateful. Buffy spending time at home and with her friends was something that the seventeen year old should do. Reigning over a bunch of vampire minions was not something she had thought her daughter’s career choice would be.

Each time Joyce approached her daughter’s door, Buffy answered with a curt “Not now mom.”

She could tell that her little girl was hurting and she wanted to help. An idea came to her in an instant; she picked up the phone.

“Willow?”
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Spike watched Buffy leave the mansion as if he was viewing the event on television; it was surreal. It was as if it wasn’t happening. As the front door closed, he reached out through their connection, only to be blocked by a wave of anger.

He grabbed the nearest minion and ripped her head clean off, trying to vent his anger at what Buffy had done.

Shaking off the dust from his hands Spike stepped into the doorway, sniffing the air to catch her scent. She’s gone to her mother’s he concluded, her scent floating on the air in that direction. Spike stepped forward, into the night only to have a voice call him from the foyer.

“Spike?” asked Dru with a breathy voice. “Tell the pixies to stop their dancing, Miss Edith has a headache and will tell no more stories if they don’t.”

Spike turned around to see his sire clutching her head, as if she were in pain. With a glance out the door and one back at Drusilla, Spike closed the front door of the mansion and headed back inside to care for his mad sire.
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tbc...
 

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Chapter 10: Gifts

“You were right, Willow,” sniffled the former slayer.

Willow looked on from the end of Buffy’s bed, sympathetic to her friend’s plight.

“How did I stay there for such a long time? Turning a blind eye to all the bad vampire stuff that was going on! Way to go Buffy! I mean that was why we broke up in the summer! I just got sucked into the badness once more!”

Willow nodded. “When you broke up in the summer though you still had your soul...” started Willow.

“Ya I guess, maybe.”

“I know you don’t eat people Buffy, but I can’t help but think that if Xander and I hadn’t been all supportive you would have been making with the people munching...”

Buffy stole a glance at her friend’s face for a moment before responding.

“You are right Willow,” Buffy finally admitted.

Willow inhaled sharply.

“You are right, that night, I was going to drain Jonathan. Faith stopped me, and then Spike made me mad. You sorta became my conscience Wills. And I’m grateful.”

Buffy smiled warmly at her friend. Willow opened her arms.

“Huggage!” ordered the red head.

“What are you going to do now?” Willow asked.

Pulling back from the hug, Buffy shrugged.

“I guess, just live my unlife as much as possible. I was a fool to think that he would ever kick Dru to the curb for me.”

“He loves you, Buffy I am certain of that,” offered Willow.

“But he doesn’t love me enough.”
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With Buffy gone from the mansion things returned to the vampire norm. There were no fights about one of their clan not feeding; there were no power struggles between the minions and Buffy. It was a relief. It was a disappointment.

Short of sending out minions to bring her back, or going after her himself, he spent every waking moment thinking about how to get her back. She wasn’t answering to his call, that signal that Sires could send to their Childer through their connection. She was asserting her independence and she wasn’t even a year old yet.

Drusilla had taken a turn for the worse. Her headaches were coming more frequently and stronger and more painful than they ever had before.

The wreath of intestines rotted, sending a stench into the mansion that even the minions couldn’t tolerate, but still Spike refused to take it down. It was a reminder of his loyalties, the stench an ode to his betrayal of his mate.

He went out to feed as usual leaving Dru in the care of minions, promising to be straight back once he’d fed. More often than not he found himself standing outside 1630 Revello Drive hoping to catch a glimpse of his Goldilocks, before feeling Dru’s call to him, sending him back to the mansion to soothe her painful head and chasing the pixies away.

Curiously, Dru made no mention of ‘Baby’ being away. It perplexed the leather clad vampire. Dru had been so adamant about her family and the inclusion and training of ‘Baby.’ With Buffy’s absence from the house, the crazed vampiress had made no mention of her at all. Buffy had become a taboo subject within the mansion’s walls.

Lying alone in their bed, Spike missed her. He felt as if a gaping hole had been punched out of his gut, not to mention his heart, and yet he felt powerless to do anything about it. Dru’s screams from the next room, calling for him to soothe her, brought him back to reality and briefly he considered putting his Dark Princess out of her misery.
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Christmas Day arrived with presents and eggnog at the Summers’ house. Buffy hadn’t see or talked to Spike in a week. Her mother had been trying to cheer up the vampiress with holiday fun, inviting Xander and Willow over for Christmas movie madness.

“Do vampires celebrate the festive yuletide season?” asked Xander out of the blue.

“Aurelians do,” noted Buffy as she took a sip of turkey blood. “It’s not a celebration of baby Jesus and Santa Claus and commercialism, it’s a ‘red goes really nicely with all these other colours’ thing. And there’s so many ornaments that you can make with body parts.”

Xander and Willow made disgusting face.

“Hey you asked,” noted Buffy. “Or maybe it was Drusilla’s madness,” she added with a frown.

“Have I said just how much I love that you are no longer in the den of blood drinking fiends?” noted Xander.

“Still a blood drinking fiend, Xan,” smiled Buffy raising her glass at her friend.

“Yes! But not in the den of...Now you are in the den of Scoobies. The Scooby den.”

With a smile, Buffy leaned over and gave Xander a hug.

Five more minutes into the holiday fabulousness of White Christmas and the song stylings of Bing Crosby that had brought Joyce out of the kitchen, and the whole group was startled by a knock at the door.

Reaching out her vampire senses she could feel that Spike was nearby. If her still heart beat, it would have been doing flip flops. She snapped a hurried ‘I’ll get it’ to her friends and mom before heading to the door.

Buffy opened the door, letting in cool night air and saw nothing. Frowning, she glanced down, and her eyes saw the object placed on the doormat.

A package.

A package that was badly wrapped with red shiny wrapping paper and had a gift tag on it that said simply ‘Goldilocks’.

She tuned out the noise of the movie, of the people in her house, of the cars on the street, lost in the contemplation of what Spike could have possibly gotten for her for Christmas.

With an eagerness that she had not exhibited since she fled from the Crawford Street mansion, Buffy tore open the package, revealing a shoebox. Carefully she opened the box, gasping at the contents.

“Buffy what is it?” asked Willow over her shoulder.

“Vampire dust,” said Buffy looking sadly down at the contents of the box.
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From his position on her neighbour’s lawn, hidden behind a tree, he could smell her tears. He knew that if he walked over there she would not reject him, but he didn’t want to be the one to capitulate, he’d already done enough of that this night.

She would have to come to him. Like she should. This was just a peace offering really, he tried to convince himself. A peace offering that cost him so much.

But she was worth it.
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Buffy walked through the wet grass of a local park. She didn’t even know why she was out there really. Confirmation perhaps. That box at Christmas had really thrown her for a loop. It had taken all of her will power to not dart up out of the house and fling herself into Spike’s arms.

It must have been so hard for him, so terribly painful, she thought. But shouldn’t I feel his pain too? she asked herself. She didn’t know why the mating bond or even the Childe/Sire bond between her and Spike wasn’t as strong as she supposed it to be. It even worried her a bit.

She wanted confirmation. Confirmation that Drusilla was dust from the minions. She thought she had been following one into the park, but a heartbeat to the left distracted her.

“Is it a vampire?” came her mother’s voice from her left.

Buffy turned her head to look at the source of her mother’s voice. Yep, Mom is in the park in the dark carrying a thermos of blood. You would think that she would learn what attracts vampires after all this time.

“Mom? What are you doing here?” Buffy asked incredulous, grabbing her mother and pressing her into the shadows.

“I brought you a snack. I thought you might get hungry and I didn’t want you to go snacking on the locals.”

Buffy exhaled a disappointed sigh.

“Mom, I don’t need to be monitored all the time. I haven’t killed anyone since I’ve been turned. I mean there were a couple of Spike’s minions, but that doesn’t count.”

“I’m sorry Buffy,” said Joyce. “I just...I want to believe you. It’s just, you are a vampire Buffy...vampires, they drink people’s blood. You said you were going for a walk...” she trailed off as Buffy stared at her in disbelief.

“And that means I’m off to scour the neighbourhood for the freshest blood, just because? Thanks for the confidence booster there, mom.”

The pair continued in silence traversing the playground past swings and a sandbox. Absently Joyce stooped down and picked up a discarded toy truck that had been left in a puddle. Glancing around the park, Joyce’s eyes lighted on something across the park.

“Oh god...” whispered Joyce, her eyes wide.

Buffy turned her head in the direction her mother was looking. There, on the merry go round lay the bodies of two children, a boy and a girl, arms outstretched with a symbol drawn on their hands.

“Buffy... What happened?” asked Joyce as the two of them approached the bodies. “Was it vampires?”

Buffy knelt down to look at the children. Touching their cold palms, Buffy wrinkled her nose and backed away from the two children.

“Demon, mom. These two children, they aren’t children. They smell like demons.”

“These little kids are demons?” asked Joyce. “Who would kill demon children?”

Buffy shrugged. “A Slayer?”
__________________________________________
Secluded in their house, safe from the demons and the vampires, Buffy patted her mother on the back as she sniffled, the deaths of the two demon children weighing heavily on the brain.

“They were little kids. Did you see them? I don’t care if they were demons or not. They were so tiny.”

“I saw,” said Buffy tenderly, knowing that her mom was taking this particularly hard.

Joyce shook her head sadly. “Who could do something like this? Was it Faith? She was such a nice girl. What would make a girl kill children?”

“I’m so sorry that you had to see this. But I promise that everything is gonna be okay.”

“How?”

“I don’t know mom. I really don’t know.” Buffy leaned over her mother and gave her a hug.

Joyce’s quiet sobs filled the kitchen.
__________________________________________
At school the next morning, the January light causing Buffy to hide from the windows, Buffy confronted Willow about what her mom had seen.

“I have to know what did that Wills,” said Buffy, taking books out of her locker. “My mom is taking this really bad.”

Willow nodded sympathetically. “There wasn’t anything unusual about their deaths? Marks?”

Buffy shook her head. “No, but it’s not like they were human to begin with. They were demon children. I could smell that much.”

Willow nodded again, getting out a piece of paper and writing the information down on it.

“Wait“ she started, her brows drawn together in thought. “I...I remember something. There was a mark. Not a bite mark, a symbol.” Buffy grabbed the pen out of Willow’s hand and drew the symbol she had seen on Willow’s paper. “It was on their hands.”

Willow looked at the symbol with shock.

“Oh Buffy!”

“What?” asked the former Slayer. “Do you know what it is?”

Willow looked up at her friend and gulped.
__________________________________________
The thought that Willow had seen the symbol before in a magic book had made Buffy think Witches had done this. But most of her experiences with witches were the good kind though, right? Buffy had gone to class and Willow had said she would check out the library for leads on the symbol.

When lunch rolled around, Buffy took her thermos of pig’s blood and headed into the cafeteria joining her friends along with Oz and Amy at their table.

“Hi, Buffy,” greeted Willow, with a smile, cutting off Xander for some reason.

“Buffy!” Xander stood up nervously. “What’s up?”

“I’m not going to eat you Xander,” responded Buffy. “You can calm down.” Buffy took Xander’s chair making the young man find another from a neighbouring table.

“So did Willow tell you?” continued Buffy.

“Tell us what?” asked Xander.

“A murder. Somebody killed two little kids,” said Buffy opening up her thermos.

“Oh no,” said Amy, shocked.

“They were, like seven or eight years old. My mom found the bodies last night.”

“Oh my god,” gasped Amy.

“Kids?” questioned Oz.

“Why was your mom there?” asked Xander.

“More bad. She picked last night of all nights for a surprise bonding visit,” Buffy lied. She couldn’t admit that her mom had gone out to make sure she hadn’t killed anyone.

“God, your mom would actually take the time to do that with you?” asked Willow in awe.

Over her mug of blood, Buffy shot her friend a look.

“That really wasn’t the point of the story, was it?” asked Willow sheepishly.

“No, the point is, she’s completely wigging.”

Buffy felt a presence behind her and turned, the scent in the air telling her who it was before she even looked. There stood her mother, looking distraught, but not crying.

“Who’s wigging?” asked Joyce.

“Umm...Everyone? Cause of what happened?” covered Buffy quickly.

“Oh, it’s so awful. I had bad dreams about it all night,” answered Joyce.

“Hi, Mrs. Summers!” greeted Willow cheerfully.

“Oh, hi, everybody,” noted Joyce absently.

“Hi,” answered Xander, digging into his lunch.

“Hi, Mrs. Summers,” greeted Amy.

“Buffy have you talked to Mr. Giles yet about who could have done this?” asked Joyce.

“Mom!” gasped Buffy knowing full well that her mother knew that Giles was not the man to talk to while she was all vamp-like.

“I took at look at the symbol, Mrs. Summers,” interrupted Willow. “I saw the symbol in a spell book once.”

“A spell book. So witches did this?” asked Joyce.

Amy and Willow looked at each other concerned.

“Oh I...I know you kids think that stuff’s cool. Buffy told me you dabble,” explained Joyce.

“Right,” agreed Willow nervously. “Absolutely. That’s me. I’m a dabbler.”

“But anybody who could do this isn’t cool. Anybody who could do this has to be a monster. It’s...”

“You know what?” asked Buffy cutting off her mother’s rant. “Uh, would you guys excuse us for a little bit?”

Buffy grabbed her mother’s arm and led her out of the room.

“Uh, nice to see you all,” Joyce called back to the table of Buffy’s friends.

Out in the hallway, Buffy and Joyce came to a stop.

“Are your friends gonna help with the investigation too?” asked Joyce right away.

“Mom, I really think...Maybe this isn’t the best place to talk about this,” Buffy said as she gave a wilted smile to those passing them.

“Are you embarrassed to be hanging out with your mother? I didn’t hug you...”

“No. It’s just...This hall is about school and you’re about home. Mix them and what little I have of a normal world dissolves.”

“It’s just, I keep thinking about who could have done such a thing. I have to help.”

Buffy gritted her teeth in frustration and willed herself to calm down, before she got vampy. “Well, I’d suggest going into the library to help Giles with research, but he’s not too happy with me being vampy. He might have some choice words for the mother that harbours her vampire daughter.”

Joyce nodded. “I called everybody I know in town. I told them about the dead children. They’re all just as upset as I am.”

“You called everybody that you know?” asked Buffy shocked.

“And they called all their friends. And guess what? We're setting up a vigil, for tonight, for City Hall. The Mayor is even gonna be there. Now we are gonna get some action.” Joyce smiled, pleased with herself.

Buffy looked at her mother with awe. “Mom you do realise what I said last night was the truth right? These kids that were killed, they were demons. You can’t have the whole town up in arms about demon children killed.”

“Why not?” asked Joyce. “Buffy since you’ve been turned, the world has been opened up to me. I know that the population of our town is a lot more than humans. The good demons need to take action too. You could talk to Spike, get the vampires involved too.”

Buffy shook her head. “Oh I don’t think that’s a good idea at all, mom. The minions will probably just start eating people.”

“But you’re a good vampire Buffy. Surely there are other good vampire’s out there.”

Buffy’s memory briefly flashed back to Angel, whom she had sent to hell. He had been good until she had fucked the soul out of him.
__________________________________________
tbc...
 

Chapter 11: Making Up

As the sun set Buffy followed her mom to city hall where it was as if the whole town had gathered for the rally. There were signs and there was yelling. Buffy’s vampire senses were being overloaded with all sorts of stimuli. The blood pumping through the bodies of the crowd of people with whom she had little to no connection with was tempting.

Until she bumped into Willow. With a smile and a hug they greeted each other.

“It’s like the whole town is here,” Buffy observed, looking at the large crowd.

Willow nodded. “Even my mother is here, which is a little odd. She finally noticed my new hair cut, that I got in August.”

“Does she still think my name is Bunny?” asked Buffy.

“Yeppers.”

“I saw Giles too.”

Willow leaned over and whispered into her ear. “I have it on good authority that he has stakes up his sleeves. I haven’t seen Faith yet though.”

There was feedback from the microphone at the podium, drawing the girls’ attention to the Mayor, standing, waiting to begin.

“Hello, everybody,” began the Mayor. “Um... I want to thank you all for coming in the aftermath of such a tragic crime. Seeing you all here proves what a caring community Sunnydale is. Now, sure, we've had our share of misfortunes, but we're a good town with good people, and I know that none of us will rest easy until this horrible murder is solved. With that in mind...” he picked up one of the rally signs that read, ‘never again‘ “I make these words my pledge to you. 'Never again!' Now I ask you to give your attention to the woman who brought us all here tonight, Joyce Summers.”

Buffy watched as her mother strode to the podium with a determined look on her face. This couldn’t be good...

“Thank you,” began Joyce. “Mr. Mayor, you're dead wrong. This is not a good town. How many of us have, have lost someone who, who just disappeared? Or, or got skinned? Or suffered neck rupture? And how many of us have been too afraid to speak out? I-I was supposed to lead us in a moment of silence, but... silence is this town's disease. For too long we-we've been plagued by unnatural evils. This isn't our town anymore. It belongs to the monsters and, and the witches and the Slayers.”

Buffy let out a groan as her mother ranted. It was all true of course, but it exposed so much of the world that the average person was not ready to deal with.

“I say it's time for the grownups to take Sunnydale back. I say we start by finding the people who did this and making them pay.”

“Oh my god,” muttered Buffy, burying her head in her hands.

The crowd around her and Willow was starting to chant, to mutter and generally was making her wig. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Giles and Faith chatting.

The marks on Faith’s neck called out to her. She was feeling protective of Faith, that was what she intended from the mark, but Faith’s eyes, turning towards her were cold and full of hate.

With vampire speed, Buffy fled.
__________________________________________
When her mother found her at home watching TV she was all a flutter about the success of the meeting. Buffy didn’t make with the interest, to the extent with which her mother had expected and after a few moments of her daughter going ‘huh’ to everything she was saying, Joyce finally gave up.

“I’m sure you will hear all about it at school tomorrow,” said Joyce, turning away.
__________________________________________
Buffy’s appearance at school was becoming more and more familiar. Students knew to get out her way when she was running inside on a sunny day, teachers knew to close the blinds in their classrooms when Buffy was taking their class.

And they all knew that you did not piss off Buffy Summers.

It was nearly a daily occurrence when she stepped up to face a school bully only to have them run away when she gave them a menacing glare, sometimes even flashing some fang if she was feeling really pissed off.

It seemed lately that anyone who was even suspected of being different was a target. Buffy’s vampire senses had clued her into the fact that a large population of the school had some demon or magic in them and were afraid of the knowledge getting out.

And you would think that after all her help they would accept her with open arms. Not so much. Buffy was a social pariah, the regular kids didn’t like her and the demon kids knew she was a vamp.

Her only friends were Xander and Willow. And Oz on occasion.

Buffy headed into the student lounge looking for her friends. To her delight, Xander was sitting on a couch. Keeping out of the patches of sunlight, Buffy walked in his general direction.

“Buffy, hi,” greeted Xander, sitting up.

“Hey. Is Willow around?”

“How can I convince you people that it's over? You assume because I'm here, she's here, that I somehow mysteriously know where she is,” said an exasperated Xander.

With a cocked eyebrow Buffy pointed out the books sitting beside her friend. “Those her books?”

“Yeah. She's in the bathroom,” explained Xander in a huff. “But the fact that I know that doesn't change that I have a genuine complaint here. Look, I'm getting sick of the judgment, the innuendoes. Is a man not innocent until proven guilty?”

“You are guilty. You got illicit smoochies, gonna have to pay the price.”

“But I'm talking about the future guilt. Look, everyone expects me to mess up again. Like Oz. I see how he is around me. You know, that steely gaze... that pointed silence.”

“Yeah 'cause he's usually such a chatterbox.”

“No, but it's different now. It's more a verbal nonverbal. He speaks volumes with his eyes.”

Buffy stifled a laugh and turned as she sensed Willow approaching.

“Wills, any more news on that monster?“ asked Buffy.

“Ooh, yes!“ Willow got out her notebook, flipped to a page and showed Buffy a symbol. “This is it right? The symbol that was on the kids’ hands? It’s a protection symbol.“

“Doesn’t look like it did its job,“ observed Xander.

“So either they were wearing the symbol for protection that they really needed or whoever did this is trying to frame witches?“ pondered Buffy.

Suddenly the hallway was filled with the sound of lockers slamming.

Buffy, Willow and Xander turned their heads sharply.

“Please step back. Stay away from the lockers. This is police business,” boomed a loud voice.

Buffy ran over to the hallway to see what was going on. The police were going through students’ lockers. Buffy’s thoughts turned to her own locker and the contents, her incriminating lunch more particularly.

With a worried awe, Buffy watched the police officers confiscate various items, books, strings of garlic cloves, and herbs.

“Aw, man, it's a police state, and I've got Playboys in my locker!” whined Xander over her shoulder.

“They just took three kids away,” came Oz’s voice from behind her. He was speaking to Willow, but Buffy could hear him clearly.

“What are they looking for?” Buffy asked.

“Witch stuff,” answered Amy, who had also joined the group.

“What?” cried a worried Willow.

“They got my spells. I'm supposed to report to Snyder's office,” explained Amy.

“Oh, my God.”

The group watched in awe as an officer approached them.

“Okay, Amy. You'll have to come with me,” the officer ordered. Taking Amy by the elbow they walked away.

“I have stuff in my locker. Henbane, hellebore, mandrake root,” babbled a worried Willow.

“Excuse me. Playboys. Can we turn the sympathy this way?” interrupted Xander.

“Oh, God, my locker's next. Buffy, I didn't do anything wrong!” Willow panicked, clutching onto her friend‘s arm.

An officer pulled some plastic bags from Willow's locker, nodding over to Snyder, who snatched them from the officer.

The smug troll man, principal Snyder walked over to the group with the bags in hand.

“Ms. Rosenberg. My office,” he instructed, his voice almost gleeful.

Buffy watched Willow gulp and follow after the Principal, Oz right behind her being all supportive.
__________________________________________
The rest of the day was a blur for Buffy. Willow was suspended, along with Amy and a bunch of other students. She didn’t know how she got out of the same fate. She had heard rumours that Giles’ books had been confiscated, and she felt the tiniest twinge of bad for him.

The fact remained that she was still keen on her own survival and wasn’t about to jeopardise it for teatime with Giles.

It was as if there was this sense about her that she very soon was going to be in an unlife or dust situation. She just couldn’t shrug it off, and yet she couldn’t do anything about it. Well that isn’t true, she thought. Buffy felt Spike call out to her through their bond again. She knew that he was asleep and he was probably doing it in his sleep without being aware of it.

Buffy returned home, via the sewers, to find her mother in the midst of command central for this group that she had formed. MOO was all over the house.

“MOO?” asked Buffy sceptically, a little ticked off that her mom hadn’t picked her up from school. If she had to go to school during the flamey death others referred to as daylight, the least her mom could do was drive her to and from school.

“Mothers opposed to the Occult,” answered her mother simply. “I don't want you seeing that Willow anymore. I've spoken with her mother. I had no idea her forays into the occult had gone so far.”

“You're the one who ordered the raid on the school today,” Buffy exclaimed as the thought came to her.

“I did, and I’m not explaining myself. The occult did this to those children.“

“Demon children!“ Buffy yelled exasperated. “You keep forgetting that those children were demons!“

“I do not forget that Buffy,“ Joyce stated firmly. “I don’t believe that they deserve to be killed even if they are demons. You are a demon and perfectly good one.“

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Vampires the world over aren’t exactly known for being all good. That’s why there is the Slayer... Remember, I used to be one? And nice acronym, Mom,” said the former Slayer as she left the room.

Buffy stormed upstairs to her room. Her world was coming down around her ears again. With a glance to the shoebox that sat on her dresser, Buffy decided that it was time.
__________________________________________
Buffy sat down on the merry go round in the park, the same one that her mom had found those dead demon children on and set down the shoebox beside her. The sun had set. The merry go round was littered with candles and flowers, cards and teddy bears, a sort of memorial to the two children. It didn’t bother her to sit there though. She relaxed against the handlebars and let her mind drift, letting down all the guards she had built up in her mind.

Spike, my love? she communicated softly.

She could feel the shock he felt. She had shut him out for so long, she didn’t want him to over whelm her, but at the same time she just wanted to be in his arms, make all the hurt go away.

I’m sorry.

In reality, it probably wasn’t the best place to fall asleep, vampire or not. Buffy did feel that it was perfectly justified. Vampires weren’t suppose to be up all day and her mother didn’t seem to understand that.

Buffy woke a few moments later to find Spike stroking her cheek tenderly, gazing into her eyes like he hadn’t seen her in centuries.

It felt like centuries, she heard him think.

She smiled sweetly and reached up to claim his lips with hers. She wanted this. She wanted the closeness, a closeness that she was lacking with pretty much everyone else.

The merry go round shifted under their weight breaking them from their kiss. Nonchalantly, Spike sat on the other side of the handrails, pushing aside some flowers and got out a cigarette.

“Hey,” he said between puffs of smoke.

“Hi,” she responded feeling slightly chilled.

“You wanted to see me?“ he asked.

Buffy looked over at her mate and Sire with a roll of her eyes.

“If it makes you feel better to keep up this big bad, ‘I don’t care’ aloofness then whatever, but you know I wanted to see you and you know what about,” started off Buffy. “I miss you.”

“The life you’ve been trying to relive is being a bitch and you don’t like it.”

Buffy waned a little and smiled at him sheepishly. “Maybe a little. And then there’s the Christmas present you sent me,” she said bringing the box to sit in her lap. “Why?” she asked trying to catch his eyes.

“Cause I thought it was what you wanted. Bloody hell Buffy! I can’t take this back and forth thing. It isn’t right, it isn’t normal. There’s a lot I can tolerate, but never knowing if you are going to blow up at me for being myself. You knew what you were getting into that night. I only wish I had known,” he answered, an underlying bitterness to his tone.

“What I wanted?” asked Buffy, incensed. “I didn’t want this! I didn’t want you to dust her just for me. Send her away sure! Not dust her!”

Spike finally returned Buffy’s gaze, perplexed. “Just whom do you think is in that box, Goldilocks?”

“Drusilla...“ she answered, feeling doubt behind it though. “Isn’t Drusilla in this box?”

Spike snorted out his laughter. “That’s not Drusilla Buffy.”

“Eww, then who is it?”

“The minions. The whole lot of ‘em.”

Buffy looked at the contents of the box for a moment before dropping the contents to the ground.

“You dusted all the minions?” she questioned. It made sense now, there was a lot more dust in that box than one vampire made.

Spike blew another puff of smoke out of his dead lungs and nodded.

“Then where is Drusilla?” she asked.

“Brazil,” he admitted.

“Really?”

Spike nodded again. “Told me last week that she needed to be away for a while, something about the fairies and her friend Carl, whoever he is. She was right ticked off when I dusted the lot of scampering minions. Don’t think she really forgave me for that.”

“She’s gone,” Buffy said, more for her own sake than for Spike to reaffirm it.

The silence over took her, the creak of the playground equipment the only sound to accompany her thoughts.

“School was a mistake,” she stated simply. “My mom really didn’t know what she was forcing me into. Everyone is afraid of me. Except Willow and Xander. Well that’s not true. I think Xander’s a little afraid of me too. And now it’s all oppressive dictatorship at school and Willow’s been suspended for witchcraft. Why did things get so out of hand? Over a couple of demon children.”

“Not children Goldilocks,” Spike responded with a glance over at her.

“Huh?”

“Those bodies you found, not children, just one full grown demon split in two. It’s been around for a while. It’s time we got the hell out of Sunnyhell pet, before this blows up in our faces.”

“Just what do you mean by that?” asked Buffy.

“I mean, love,” he started, locking his gaze with hers. “That if we don’t get out of here, we are going to end up set on fire or some such thing by a mob of people. It’s happened before, it’ll happen again. It’s what drove Dru and I from Prague to come here.”

“All they want are witches...”

“And soon it will be all demons. This demon, love, it makes whole cities and towns do crazy things.”

Buffy stood up and began pacing. “Then we have to take Willow and Amy with us.”

“Uh, come again pet?”

“I can’t leave them here if they are gonna be all burnt at the stake. Oh god! They are gonna be burnt at the stake aren’t they?” she cried.

“Sometimes it happens. Just so long as it isn’t you being burnt, I’m ok with it.”

“Spike! Willow’s my friend!”
__________________________________________
tbc...
 

Chapter 12: Damsel in Distress

“Buffy!” shouted Spike after his childe and mate as she strode with purpose towards the school.

He caught up with her as she walked into the library, leaving the doors swinging by her entrance.

“Look,” she started, as Giles, Xander and Oz stared up at her and Spike who was right behind her. “I know you don’t like the fact that I’m a vamp. Deal with it. I’m here because if we don’t stop MOO Willow’s gonna die, along with all the rest of the people this town thinks are witches. These kids, they aren’t kids, they’re a demon, as in singular. It gets towns to start with the condemning and the witch hunting, leading to the burning and the drowning à la salem witch trials. Do you catch my drift? Bad news, so either you start working on a way to track down this demon and kill it or Willow gets lynched. And when did Giles start using technology?”

Giles stood up from the computer he was sitting at, staring down the two vampires.

“Why are you here, vampire?” asked Giles.

“Duh! Just said why, listen Giles! Hop to! Make with the researchy!” she ordered, hands on hips.

“Uh, Giles, he be without the books,” offered Xander.

“Oh, right. Well use that computery thing in front of you.”

Oz sat down at the computer in Giles’ place. “I can look 'round, but Willow would really
know the sites we need.”

“That's great. She can't even come to the phone. The wrath of MOO,” Buffy explained.

“Well, we don't need a phone,” said Oz.

Buffy nodded in comprehension, at the same time acutely aware of Giles’ movements in the room. The watcher had already picked up a stake and was making his way to his desk for something else. Buffy suspected holy water.

“Ok, well go you with the research, I’m going to see about rescuing the damsel in distress, and Giles?”

The watcher looked back from his pursuit of more vampire dangerous things.

“Take care of Faith will you? She’ll be a target too.”

With that closing statement, Buffy turned and left the library, Spike following close behind.

“You’re gonna turn me into a raging do gooder, aren’t you?” he muttered as they walked down the hall.

“No, of course not!” she protested, spinning in spot, walking backwards for a moment and kissing his cheek. “I love my big bad.”

“We get Red and we get the hell out ya?”

Buffy nodded, turning back in the direction that she was walking in. Soon before them lay Willow’s house.

Buffy crawled the short distance to her friend’s bedroom window and let out a gasp.

The room before her was uncharacteristically messy for Willow’s room. There had been a struggle here.

“She’s gone Spike! They’ve taken her!” shouted a slightly panicked Buffy.

She jumped down from the ledge.

“What am I going to do Spike?” she wailed. “I have to get her back! I need her!”

Spike cocked an eyebrow at that statement. “What do you mean you need her?”

“She’s Willow!” she yelled, as if that explained everything.

“Did the witch put a spell on you?” asked a perplexed vampire.

“Gah! No! She’s my best friend Spike! She’s my best friend!” she whimpered, looking particularly defeated.

“Alright, where do you think they would have taken her?” asked Spike putting a soothing hand on her back.

“I...I don’t know! Wherever MOO takes her.” A light went off in Buffy’s head, just before she took off again. “Come on Spike!”

With a shake of his head, Spike followed his Goldilocks certain of the impending doom she was leading him into.

Which turned out to be her house.

Buffy threw open the door and walked in, not bothering to look behind her to make sure that Spike could follow. He had an invitation to her house. Buffy was so intent on confronting her mother she didn’t register Spike’s futile attempts to get through the doorway. Someone had revoked his invite recently. Spike watched from the doorway as Buffy walked in on a MOO meeting.

“Buffy! Spike! Did something happen?’ asked Joyce, concerned that her daughter was clearly on speaking terms with her vampire boyfriend again.

“Mom, I need to talk to you. Now,” said Buffy in her best ‘slayer voice.’

Joyce put her notebook down, dismissing the others before stepping forward towards her daughter.

“No, we need to talk, alone,” reiterated Buffy. Buffy led her mother by the elbow into the dining room, hoping that they would be left alone for the most part.

“Mom, where did they take Willow?” asked Buffy.

Without warning Joyce covered Buffy’s mouth with a cloth. Buffy could hear a snarl from Spike at the doorway, as he tried to get through the barrier.

Deftly Buffy batted her mother away.

“Mom! Vampire! I don’t need to breathe!”

With that the men that were in her living room started to advance on Buffy’s position, holding crosses.

Buffy hissed and backed up away from the offending objects.

“You’re one of those horrible demons Buffy,” said Joyce with a serious voice.

“You’re just getting this now?” asked Buffy coming up against the wall of her dining room, her head turning to avoid the cross that was getting closer and closer to her skin.

Risking the pain of being burned, Buffy knocked the cross out of the random man’s hand and moved to push the rest away. Out of nowhere someone brought out a tazer, stunning her into unconsciousness.

From the doorway Spike let out a feral growl as he threw himself against he barrier at the door.

Joyce turned to look at Spike with a smile on her face.

“I sure am glad I had the witch do a disinvite spell on this house the last time you and Buffy had a fight.”

“You can’t keep her in there forever. If you want to get to your barbeque, you’re going to have to come out of that house, Joyce,” he growled.

Joyce walked right up to the doorway confident in the fact that he couldn’t get to her.

“You were the worst thing to ever happen to Buffy! I bet you didn’t even try to save her from whatever vampire bit her! It wouldn’t surprise me it you were the one who did it!”

Spike opened his mouth to respond only to be zapped by a tazer from behind.
__________________________________________
He knew he was laying quite ungracefully on his Goldilocks’ front porch and in quite a bit of pain. Concentrating on making his limbs move, opening his eyes and all that he almost failed to register the ‘Ug’ from an unknown girl passing by.

“Geez! Buffy could at least bury her meals! I’m scarred for life!”

Spike opened his eyes to lock eyes with a brunette girl that he felt he should know.

“Oh my god, you aren’t dead?” the brunette asked.

“That’s a matter of opinion,” mumbled the vampire.

“Whatever, she’s not even home! First the thing at school, and then my mom confiscates all of my black clothes and scented candles. I came over here to tell Buffy to stop this craziness and found you all unconscious... Who are you anyway?”

“So you are one of Buffy’s friends?” asked Spike curious.

“As if! Not since she went to the dark side. I mean sure I lowered myself to date one of her loser friends, but that is all behind me.”

The information registered. “Cordelia Chase.”

“Ooh smart boy, heard of me?” she asked, her eye lashes fluttering.

Slowly Spike rose to his feet. “Ya, and you’ve heard of me. I’m the one responsible for Buffy’s dark side,” he said stepping into her personal space earning an ‘eep’ from the cheerleader.

“S...Spike,” she acknowledged.

“Right, so tell me just where is Buffy?”

“I don’t know! You think I’d be knocking on her door if I did?”

Spike pushed her out of the way and headed down the steps of the porch. Standing in the middle of the street her took a whiff of the air around him and headed down town.

“Hey! Wait up!” yelled Cordelia.
__________________________________________
Through a dreamy haze, Buffy heard Willow.

“Buffy!” yelled her friend, panicked.

Buffy opened her eyes to find that her friend’s panicked tone was very appropriate to the situation. Buffy looked around her wishing that this was just a dream. She was tied to a stake, Giles’ books at her feet for kindling. Also tied to stakes were Willow, beside her, Amy next to Willow and an unconscious Faith, at the end. Buffy tried to free herself from her bonds but found that whatever they had used weren’t budging. She looked behind her for a moment to see just what it was.

Huh, rope and duct tape together at last, mused the captive vampire.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” came her mother’s voice from the crowd.

“Mom, you don't want this,” begged Buffy.

“Since when does it matter what I want? I wanted a normal, happy daughter. Instead I got a Slayer. A slayer with a vampire boyfriend!” shouted Joyce.

Willow’s mom came to stand beside Joyce, bearing a torch.

“Torch?” offered Mrs. Rosenberg.

“Thanks. This has been so trying. You've been such a champ,” chattered Joyce, taking the torch.

“Oh, you, too, Joyce.”

Buffy was about to roll her eyes at her unfortunate luck and the chattiness of her mother as she was about to murder her only child until the fire was actually set and Giles’ books started to burn.

“Oh, you can't be serious!” shouted Amy.

“Mom, don't!” Buffy begged.

Buffy pulled at the rope and tape that bound her wrists frantically. It wasn’t her fault that she was highly flammable.

Then through the crowd, Buffy caught a glimpse of platinum blond hair.

“Alright. You wanna fry a witch? I'll give you a witch! Goddess Hecate, work thy will!” shouted Amy, at the crowd.

“Amy! Shut up! We’re about to be saved,” shouted Buffy.

A growl erupted from the crowd as Spike fought his way through the bystanders.

Buffy concentrated on her mate, having a good old time, fighting off the random humans. The fire crept closer to her feet. Suddenly, water was sprayed at the four captives, mercifully putting out the flames.

Buffy breathed a sigh of relief.

“Holy crap!” shouted Faith, from the other end of the line of stakes, who apparently was just waking up. “What the hell is going on here?”

“I think we were just saved by Cordelia...” muttered Willow. “And Giles is chanting? Is that Giles with the spellyness?” asked Willow.

Two blond children advanced on Giles’ position as he chanted. Even as the crowd finally decided to give Spike a wide berth, it still impeded his approach.

Buffy attention drifted to Giles once more as he smashed a bottle of something in front of the children causing the two children to merge and form a very ugly but tall demon.

“Okay, I think I liked the two little ones more than the one big one,” noted Cordelia.

“Oh my god! What have we done?“ cried Joyce finally realising just what they had been intent on doing.

“Protect us! Kill the bad girls!” shouted the demon at the retreating crowd, clearly more afraid of the demon now that they knew its true form.

“You know what? Not as convincing in that outfit,” quipped Buffy.

With a roar the demon advanced on her only getting a couple of steps closer before Spike put his hands on it and ripped its head off.

Spike threw the head down in front of Buffy’s startled mom and shrugged his shoulders, before going to untie Buffy. Without warning the ceiling above them collapsed and Xander and Oz came crashing down on the burnt remnants of Giles’ books.

Buffy felt a tug and rip on her bonds, as Spike cut his way through them with his fangs. The instant she was free she threw herself into his arms, her lips seeking his out. The world around them disappeared for a moment as they embraced.

They were, however, brought back to reality by Willow clearing her throat. Buffy turned to see Faith and Giles standing before them with stakes in hand.
__________________________________________
tbc...
 

Chapter 13: The Cricket

Buffy pulled back from Spike’s kiss and glared at her former watcher and the Slayer that she had marked.

“It’s time to say goodbye, Buffy,” declared Faith, clutching a stake in her hand.

“Uh, can we not do this right now?” asked Buffy.

“Or ever,” added in Joyce, tears still trailing down her face at her betrayal.

“I have been negligent in my duties for too long as it is,” answered Giles.

“You can’t be serious Giles! She saved me! She’s a good vampire!” protested Willow.

“There is no such thing Willow. I thought that Angel would have cured you of that misconception,” continued Giles.

“She’s not like Angel!” Willow continued. “She doesn’t have a soul to lose!”

“All the more reason to put her in a ash tray,” muttered Faith, stepping towards the two vampires.

“I think you should back off!” exclaimed Amy. “She may be a vampire, but she’s done nothing to anyone at school, she’s even helped a few of us out from time to time.”

“You know she’s a vampire?” asked Xander.

“Sure, I mean come on, the sun allergy? The dark clothes? It’s pretty obvious,” Amy remarked.

“You know about vampires?” asked Cordelia.

“I’m a witch, not an idiot,” Amy snapped back at her.

“Hey, you better watch it, Sabrina,” countered the cheerleader.

“Ooh what are you gonna do to me? Cheer at me? Give me bad makeup tips?”

“Ladies, can we get back to the matter at hand?” asked Giles, shaking his head in annoyance.

“Yes, let’s get back to why I need to condone the further death of my daughter...” interrupted Joyce.

Buffy squeezed Spike’s hand and quietly, while the whole group was arguing, they slunk away, heading to the mansion for some peace and quiet for the inevitable discussion about their future.

The mansion was deathly quiet. Buffy hadn’t been there since there were oodles of minions running about the place.

And there had been Dru.

“Is she really gone? To Brazil or wherever?” asked Buffy, slightly insecure for some reason.

“She’s gone luv,” he stated, sitting down on what was once their bed.

“She left on her own though, you didn’t tell her to go, did you?” she asked sadly.

“No, I didn’t luv.”

Buffy nodded sadly. “And how long is going to be before she comes to interfere in our lives?” she asked with a sigh.

“I don’t know love,” he admitted.

Buffy turned to her sire with a frown. “It’s not going to change is it?”

“Of course it will Goldilocks,” he began.

“I was stupid to think that it would. When I got that box, I honestly thought it was Dru. That you would stake her to make things right between us... But you didn’t.”

“Would you be able to kill your mum for me Buffy?” he asked quietly.

Buffy looked up with a start. “Spike...”

“It’s exactly the same thing, Goldilocks,” he explained. “She made me, was my bloody salvation, without her I wouldn’t have you.”

Buffy nodded, as a tear escaped her eye.

Spike rose from the bed and made easy distance between him and his mate. Wrapping her up in his arms he brushed the tear away.

“Anyway I look at it Spike I’ll be giving up something else. Haven’t I given enough up for this relationship to work?” she asked tearfully. “I died!” Buffy paced for a few steps. “You know what I’m sick of this. I’m sick of the back and forth, I’m sick of wondering what Dru will think. I’m sick of dealing with this all. With school, with what my mom thinks, with when Giles and Faith decide to dust me again. Can we just go? Please, back to LA or wherever, just away from here. We can take Willow and...”

“Why are we taking Red, Goldilocks?” Spike promptly asked, his eyes watching her.

Buffy faced Spike with a look of a secret being found out.

“Why do we need to take the witch?” he asked again.

Buffy tore her eyes away from him for a moment, before glancing up at his hard blue eyes.

“I need her,” she whispered.

“Why the bloody hell do you need her?”

“I just do, okay?”

“Not good enough.”

“Well I’m not leaving without her!” shouted Buffy into the quiet recesses of the house.

“What about the boy? Can we take him too? And maybe the Slayer? Oh hell, let’s take all the damned Scoobies. Maybe we can put together a travelling band...”

“Don’t be ridiculous Spike, Faith would stake us while we slept.”

“Why do we have to take Red, love?” he asked tenderly.

“Cause she’s my jimmeny cricket,” Buffy quietly confessed.

That earned her a raised eyebrow.

“From Pinocchio! The movie? You have seen Pinocchio haven’t you?”

“I know who the bloody cricket is! What do you need a conscience for? You’re a bleedin’ vampire!”

“So? What’s wrong with not killing everyone I see? What’s wrong with drinking out of blood bags?”

“It’s not right, Buffy. There’s a place in the food chain for us, and we drink from humans. Not pigs, not Turkeys, from the too stupid and the gullible.”

“So you are saying we weed out the stupid, so the human race can progress? How dumb is that?”

“It’s the truth Buffy!” he seethed.

“Well maybe I don’t want to be culling the herd. And why are you all offended now? You had to realise that I wasn’t killing people.”

“I guess I only saw what I wanted to see, pet.”

“Something you and my mom have in common,” she muttered with a scowl.
__________________________________________
Buffy stared blankly out the Desoto window, well as much as she could stare out a blackened window. Her head rested on her fist as she tried to tone out Spike’s music blasting from the tape deck. Behind her and the speeding car remained Sunnydale, and most importantly, her mom.

Her mom that probably thought she was running away again.

This time she left a note trying to explain. Even Buffy realised that it was a futile attempt to actually persuade her mom that it was time for her to leave. Her mom was all with the vampire love after all.

She didn’t know just where they were going, or if they would ever return to Sunnydale, but she did know that she wasn’t going back while Giles wanted to dust her.

She was a vampire for Sire’s sake.

“Are we going to LA?” she finally asked in between songs, an hour out of Sunnydale.

Spike nodded briefly before beginning to tap out the beginning notes of the next song with his thumbs on the steering wheel. “Have a few things to pick up before we get on our way.”

Buffy nodded absently, bringing her left leg up onto the seat with her, and hugging it tight. She should be happy. She knew she should. But the fact remained that she wasn’t sure about this. Leaving Sunnydale seemed like such a big step.

Which was silly when she started to think about it.

She’d been away before. She’d lived on her own. It was time now to embrace what she had become. Spike had been rather persuasive in that area.

“Where are we going after that?” she asked.

“Anywhere you want. You have until we get to LA to figure that out.”

He was laying the whole world at her fingertips. It was surreal really, that they could go anywhere, do anything.

There was a whimper from the back seat, and Buffy unbuckled her seat belt to see what the commotion was. Peering over the seat, Buffy’s eyes connected with the green eyes of her best friend.

“Good afternoon Red,” greeted Spike, his eyes catching the witch’s reflection in the rear view mirror.

Willow’s response was muffled by the gag in her mouth. With a giggle, Buffy removed the gag from her friend’s mouth.

“Buffy? What’s going on? Where am I? Where are we? Did you...kidnap me?” babbled Willow semi coherently, her eyes wide.

“Ya, I did,” started Buffy. “It was kinda fun.”

Willow leaned back against the seat and gave her friend a look.

“Hey!” protested Buffy. “There will be no shocked and appalled Willow! It’s no fun when you are all disapprovy.”

“Where are we going?” asked Willow who had really just realised that she was in a moving vehicle.

“LA, and then, who knows!”

“Can I make a suggestion?” asked a timid Willow, pulling at the duct tape around her wrists.

“Sure Wills, you probably want to go somewhere where there are museums and stuff, right?” babbled Buffy not bothering to look at her friend anymore.

“I vote you take me back! I don’t want to go to LA. I like Sunnydale. Sure it has the vampires and the violence, and the occasional apocalypse, but it’s home, you know. And...and plus, Oz.”

Buffy turned to face Willow again with a concerned look. “I forgot about Oz!” Buffy put her hand gently on Spike’s arm, causing him to tear his eyes from the road. “We have to turn around and get Oz for Willow!”

Spike snorted. “We will be doing no such thing, Goldilocks. Bad enough we got the witch. Soon we’ll have the whole bloody council on our tails.”

“That is true you know,” Buffy admitted to her friend in the back seat.

“I don’t care if it’s true! Buffy, you Willow-napped me!”

“But it will be fun! We’ll go where you want to go, alright?”

“No, Buffy! That doesn’t make up for it! Please, take me home!” Willow pleaded.

“I can’t, Wills,” admitted Buffy sadly. “I need you with me.”

“But why?”

“You’re the bleedin’ cricket,” muttered Spike, as he turned up the music already blaring from the stereo system.
__________________________________________
Two vampires and a witch rushed into the old abandoned warehouse that Buffy was oh so familiar with. It was the same one that Spike’s minions had lived in that summer. It wasn’t clean, it wasn’t hygienic at all. But this was where they were going to spend the night.

“Set the witch up in one of the offices, pet,” ordered Spike as he walked towards what had been at one time their room. Whatever it was that they had come back for must be in there.

With a slight push in that direction, Buffy herded Willow to the furthest office.

“Do you have to go to the bathroom?” asked Buffy of her friend.

“I don’t suppose you’ll let me go alone?” asked Willow, glaring.

“You’ll run away.”

“Ya, I will. You know I’m really not cool with the kidnapping.”

“Ya, I get that,” admitted Buffy. “I can’t be a vampire without you Wills.”

“Huh?”

“Well I can be, but if Spike has his way, I’ll be attached to every neck that walks by. I don’t want to be that kind of vampire. I don’t want to be the kind of vampire you fear.”

“Well you are a bit scary right now, with the kidnapping and all. You don’t need me to not kill people Buffy. Somewhere inside of you is Buffy that was alive’s wish not to kill people. I think that’s stronger than anything I’ve got going. I’m just some girl that can float pencils and do the occasional soul restoration. You don’t need me Buffy. And I don’t want to be your safety net. I want to be your friend. And if you don’t let me go, I don’t see the friendiness staying very long.”

“I’m sorry I kidnapped you Wills,” whispered Buffy, her face hard against what Willow had said. “But I can’t let you go. Not now, not ever.”

Buffy swung the door to the office closed and locked it before making her way to find her mate.
__________________________________________
tbc...