The Circle of Slayers Series 8/?
Incomplete
Chapter 8: Challenge of the Bold
By Denna at dennaseer@hotmail.com
Rated PG-13 for violence
Keywords: Buffy and Spike…what else could there be?
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters. They belong to Joss Whedon. Yadda
yadda yadda.
Summary for Chapter 8: Some horrible things have happened to Buffy’s former
love…for the worse.
Chapter 8: Challenge of the Bold
November 24th, 2001, 11:32 PM
“Omigod…Riley…” Buffy said as she quickly walked over to the couches,
“What’s…going on? What are you doing here? I mean, I thought you were in
Belize.” Spike came up behind her, staring down at Riley with distrust.
Riley sat casually on the couches and the vampire stared at the weapon he
held in his hands. It was a large ebony staff that snaked up towards a high
point where its black claws wrapped around a dark moonstone. Riley leaned
the staff against the chair and crossed his legs. He rested his elbows on
the arms of the chair and steepled his fingers in front of his face. He was
wearing dressy casual garb, just like the rest of the people here. He wore
navy dress pants, a white button up shirt and black slip-ons.
“Hello, Buffy. I missed you. You look beautiful in that dress. Black is a
good colour on you. It really brings out the green in your eyes.”
“Thank you,” Buffy answered, still flustered, “But…I don’t understand…What
have you been doing all this time?”
“You mean, why did I come back?”
“No. I don’t mean it like that. Just, I wasn’t expecting you. It’s been a
long time since you left. I didn’t know if you were coming back.” The rest
of the Scoobies came up behind Buffy, surprise on their faces. For some odd
reason, Xander held Anya’s hand for comfort. There was something wrong here.
“Congratulations, Xander.” Riley said, ignoring Buffy’s response, “I didn’t
know you had it in you.”
Xander nodded and smiled nervously. Buffy came forward and stared into
Riley’s eyes. Something was wrong. The familiar love and tenderness in his
eyes was not there. His eyes were hard and rough and primal. She turned her
eyes toward the staff leaning nearby.
“What is that?” she asked.
Riley looked over at the staff. “Oh that? Something I picked up in South
America. Seems the demons there were sorcerers. The leader actually owned
this staff before me. I tell you, he was one SOB.” Riley chuckled as if he
was telling a funny story, but it failed on the others, “Well, when I killed
the bastard, after this big battle. That was a great fight. Lots of blood
and gore. Apocalypse Now kinda stuff. A lot of people died though…Sorry, I
lost track of thought. Where was I? Oh yeah, so after I killed the bastard,
I kept this staff as kind of a reward. It does a lot of neat tricks. Real
fun to have around. Pretty cool, huh?”
“Uh huh…” Buffy nodded, leaning down in front of him, “Look, Riley, is
anything wrong? You look kind of sick. I can take you back to my house and
we can talk. Catch up on old times. There’s a lot we need to talk about.”
“What’s wrong, Buffy? Don’t you want me to stay here and party with your
friends?”
“Yes, of course I do,” Buffy stammered, Spike stepping closer behind her,
“It’s just…you seem different. And you must have come a long way
from…wherever you came from. It looks like you’ve been through a lot. I
don’t want anything terrible happening to you.”
“You make me feel like some Harbinger of Doom, Buffy,” the soldier pouted.
“Maybe because you are one?” Spike muttered, beneath his breath.
Riley barely glanced at the vampire, instead focusing on Buffy. Smiling,
the Ex-Initiative soldier leaned forward and stroked her cheek, “Do you know
you’re beautiful when you’re flustered?” he asked in a husky whisper. His
eyes traveled downward to take in her figure.
Startled, Buffy straightened up, crossing her arms over her chest
defensively, “Riley! What’s wrong with you?” She stepped unconsciously back
towards Spike. He put his hands on her shoulders, protectively and gold
flashed on his left wrist, “Don’t touch her.” Spike growled.
“Oh yeah, Spike.” Riley said, “Or what? You’ll shake your finger at me to
death? Like she would even want help from the likes of yo-“ He glanced at
Buffy, who was standing close to him and matching gold flashed on her wrist.
From the way, Buffy intimately leaned against him and the way Spike touched
her without apprehension, it did not take long for him to put 2 and 2
together.
“You two are-“ Riley’s eyes snapped open and looked at Buffy’s hands. With
the speed of a striking snake, he reached out and caught her left arm,
pulling her away from Spike. Both Spike, Xander and Giles started forward.
“Anya, get these people out of here,” Xander said to her, gesturing to the
curious guests to overheard the conversation.
Anya nodded and took Tara’s hand, telling her with her eyes that this was
not their territory. They gathered the crowd around and started talking to
them, explaining to them that unfortunately something had come up and the
rest of the night was cancelled.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually sleeping with him?” Riley spat out.
Buffy’s surprise had worn off and she glared at him and jerked her hand out
of his hold, “Riley! Something is wrong with you. We need to bring you back
to my house and fix you. You must be possessed or something-“
“This is Spike we’re talking about!” Riley shouted, his outward calm
evaporating. Exasperated, he leaned forward to catch her hands once again
and draw her to him. He fixed her eyes with his blue gaze and before anyone
could react, said quickly, “You deserve more than a pretty lapdog, Buffy,
because that’s all he is. He is a rabid dog on a leash. You’re a hawk,
Buffy. He’ll clip your wings and hold you to the ground when you should be
flying free. You don’t deserve a demon parasite that only wants to get his
jollies out; you deserve someone who can be with you. Can feel you. Can love
you.”
Buffy recoiled from his grasp and stood up, “So, which one are you?
Because, I sure as hell don’t see a parasite when I look at him.” Spike
stepped forward and stood beside her, anger and hatred in his eyes.
“Leave her alone,” the blonde vampire growled dangerously. His eyes were
hard as he looked down deep into Riley’s, “Don’t walk in here, all high and
mighty, after all this time, mate. Because as far as I can remember, you
were the one running away from her with your tail between your legs.”
The soldier glared up at him and then stared back at Buffy, “Just what do
you see in him, Buffy? He can’t feel you. He doesn’t have a soul. What are
you going to do when you figure that out? What are you going to do when he’s
the one that abandons you? They always do, don’t they?”
“And you didn’t?” Buffy stepped forward, “You didn’t abandon me for some
vamp whores? You didn’t run off to Belize when you couldn’t handle it?”
“I believe you were the one who couldn’t handle it, Buffy,” Riley answered,
“You were the one that ran away, remember?”
“And you just think you can come back here and just expect everything to be
normal again? That I’ll just run back into your arms because you sauntered
back into town?”
“That’s the idea, yes,” Riley replied, “After all, I’m witty, intelligent
and a good conversationalist. And I can breathe. And I don’t drink blood.
And I’m not cold to the touch. Let’s face it, Buffy. I know that vampires
make you hot, but that’s it. There’s nothing between you two. But there’s
something between us.”
“How about I bloody crush your-“ Spike started, menacingly walking forward.
Buffy stopped him with an arm and shook her head.
“Come on, Buff, he may be a bunny in the sack but in the end you know he’s
nothing but your Angel wannabe.”
The vampire’s twisted into his demonic face and he reached out and grabbed
the soldier by his collar, dragging him up out of the chair. The
Ex-Initiative spluttered and clutched at the immortal’s arms as he dangled
several inches off the ground. “You’re really starting to annoy me.” Spike
said in a low dangerous voice.
“Spike! Don’t! I don’t want another pissing contest right now, okay? Let
him go, Spike.” Buffy commanded as she latched herself on to the vampire’s
arm.
Her calm words penetrated the rage he felt, and his demonic visage melted
beneath his skin. Spike glanced at her and then back to Riley. The stone
cold in his eyes slowly melted and he laughed. “I see through you,
Cardboard. Try to make the monster come out? Try to make your innocent ex
see the truth? Well, she already saw the truth, mate. And she doesn’t seem
to mind at all, does she?” He pushed Riley back into the chair and gently
took Buffy’s hand, “Buffy chose me, not you. Get over it. Go back to
wherever you came from. You’re not welcome here, anymore.” Spike turned
around and started walking away, and after a moment’s hesitation, Buffy
followed.
Behind him, Riley’s cold eyes narrowed, “Don’t turn your back on me,
Spike.” He said in a low, sinister voice, “Or this time you’ll really end up
dust.”
Against his will, Spike paused and turned to look at Riley, “What the
bloody hell are you talking about?”
“If you had just let those vampires stake you, I wouldn’t be going through
such a mess right now.”
Spike growled and had to strongly resist the urge to go back into demonic
form. Beside him, Buffy moaned and shook her head over and over.
“Please…god…no…no…” There was a long moment’s pause before Giles spoke, “You
sent the assassins after Buffy.”
Riley’s smile twisted and he leaned back into the chair, “I admit, seven
was quite an insult for her, but it was all I could find. Too bad I took you
for granted, Spike. Now, I’ll have to go to the trouble of killing you
myself, even though I think it will be all the more satisfying to know I was
the one who did it.”
“God, Riley,” Buffy said, trying to sound sure of herself, “Something has
happened to you. Please, just come with us and we’ll take care of you…”
“I don’t need to be taken care of,” Riley said, standing up, “I haven’t
felt this good about myself in a long time. But I think I know who I can
take care of.” He threateningly walked up to Spike and raised his fist to
his face, but Buffy blocked it before the vampire could react and pushed him
back into the chair. Riley got back up smiling, and wiped the blood of his
lip. Buffy, tears in her eyes and threatening to pour down her cheeks,
pulled back her arm to punch him again but Willow grabbed her arm before she
could follow through.
“Buffy! Please, not here!” Tara and Anya had returned and looked nervously
toward the scene. The Slayer glanced around at the room around her. The
waiters and managers were ushering people out of the Bronze, while trying
not to cause a panic. They probably thought some psycho was on the loose.
Buffy wasn’t sure they were far from right. The coldness in his eyes, the
way his jaw clenched together and the way is walk was confident and deadly.
It reminded her of a nightmare long ago, when she was still innocent. It
reminded her of Angelus.
Riley took everything in before locking his eyes with Spike’s. “They could
have killed her,” the vampire growled in a low voice. Riley could
practically see the vampire’s anger coming off in waves, but he dismissed it
with a sinister smile.
“Oh, they had their orders not to kill her. Believe me, they knew the
consequences if they disobeyed my orders. I wanted you out of the way. It
seems that whenever there seemed to be a fight between Buffy and me, you
were always there. Right in the middle. I hope there’s no hard feelings, but
I want a sound relationship and I don’t see that happening with you around.
Buffy and I could be together again. Everything would be the way it was
supposed to be, but you just refused to die. Again. And now I’m going to
have to do this the hard way.”
“Riley…” Buffy commanded, her eyes as cold as steel even though the tears
remained, “Get out. Don’t ever come near me or mine again. You know what
will happen if you don’t.”
“Really?” Riley smirked as he got up and picked up his staff. Buffy
immediately got into ready stance; the others ready to back her up.
“I think I have the perfect idea of what might happen.” Riley waved his
staff at the group, a shockwave sending all but Buffy back. A wave of black
fog encased the Slayer and she screamed. Her screams mingled with the
screams of the shocked guests desperately trying to get out of the club.
“Buffy!” Spike shouted, lunging toward her. Riley waved his staff once
again and a strong wind blew, knocking the vampire back. He struggled to get
up, crouching against the wind. When he was finally able to stand, he slowly
made his way to her. The black mist had manipulated itself into a dark
glassy ball; he could barely see the fair warrior inside, frozen in
mid-scream. He beat on the surface with his fists. When it didn’t yield, he
whirled around to face Riley.
“Neat trick, huh?” Riley commented, leaning on his staff, his face a
mixture of dark humour and contempt. “Want to see another one?” He thrust
the staff at the vampire, sending another blast of wind at the approaching
Scoobies.
Xander screamed as the blast sent him spinning backwards into Willow. They
collided into each other and they were sent over the bar and into the drink
cabinet. They fell to the ground with a painful groan and the shelves fell
down. Xander quickly covered Willow’s head as the cabinet fell upon them.
Spike dropped to the floor and strained against the powerful wind Riley had
summoned. He had no idea where this power was coming from, and it shocked
him to no end the dark side that the soldier had inside. He had no time to
decide what made him this way, all he knew was that he had to save Buffy.
Around him, the remaining Scoobies, waiters and guests that had not fled the
scene were being pushed back. A sudden gust of wind sent Spike careening
into the pool table and he fell behind him with a roar of desperation and
anger. Spike knew he had to fight him with something; he could not do it
with just fists as long as he had that cursed staff with him. When the wind
had lessened around him, he lunged for a billiard pole and scrambled to his
feet. He no longer even bothered to hold back the demon, and his face
changed into that of a horrifying monster. He turned to face Riley once
again. The soldier was standing casually next to the ball Buffy was encased
in. Panting with rage, the blonde vampire approached him.
“All right, Captain,” he growled, “Fight me. None of this bloody voodoo
crap. Fight me with a real weapon in your hand and we’ll see who wins.” He
shrugged off his duster and flung it away.
Riley raised his eyebrows in mock surprise, “My, my…” he said in a musing
tone, “Is Spike playing the hero? Are you going to save the damsel in
distress! I never saw you as the chivalrous type, Spike.” But he nodded and
stepped away from the bubble. He took his staff in both hands and adopted a
ready stance quickly followed by Spike.
Giles pushed aside a chair that had landed on top of him in time to see the
two circling each other. He swore loudly and scrambled away from the chair,
wincing at his bruised shin. While Anya nursed a dazed Tara, who had a blow
to the head, he staggered forward and shouted, “No! Spike! Stop!”
“Stay out of this, Bookworm,” Spike commanded without taking his eyes from
his familiar opponent.
“Don’t be bloody stupid! You can’t beat Riley if he has that staff!”
“Then we’ll just have to get rid of it, shall we then?” Spike and Riley
circled each other, sizing each other up, “Help Buffy.”
Shaking his head in frustration, Giles checked Tara who was regaining her
composure. As he looked over to the bar, he saw Willow climb out from under
the cabinet with Xander, both with wounds as far off as bruises and
scratches to open wounds in their legs and arms from the broken glass.
Willow managed to limp toward Tara, while Xander dragged himself to his
feet. Together, the two witches managed to get to the glass bubble.
“Tara, we should try to break the flow of dark energy,” Willow whispered to
her lover. She turned towards Xander and Giles. “Get Dawn out of the way! We
can’t stop Spike now, but if Riley tries anything funny, be ready!”
Riley seemed to be having the time of his life baiting Spike. He circled
lazily to his right, holding his staff at the ready. Every two or three
steps he’d feint and pull back quickly. Spike would react and find nothing
there. When he grew wise to this, Riley turned the feints to attacks: Feint,
draw back, attack.
Spike, however, was too experienced a warrior for that to work. He could
sense the anticipation of the attacks and Riley’s aborted follow through.
When Riley expected him to be in one place for a feint, he was in another
altogether. The surprise was enough to break through Riley’s calm and Spike
finally had his opening.
He wasted no time in pressing the advantage. With incredible speed, his pole
flashed up and down. Riley nearly stumbled trying to get into position to
block the strike, but he made it. Wood rang on wood with enough forces to
send painful shockwaves down both of their arms.
“It’s no good, Willow,” Tara whimpered, “The dark energies are too strong.
Once you direct it somewhere else it knits together again. I don’t know how
to change it.”
“Dammit!” Willow raised her hands over the dark glass, “We can’t get her out
now. We need to get Riley, if we can get that staff away from him, we may be
able to reverse the spell.” Tara nodded in return.
“All right, then. Help me, Tara,” Willow said, as she faced herself towards
Riley and started mumbling the words to an incantation. Tara soon recognized
it and began reciting the spell in time with her.
Riley heard them and glanced quickly in their direction. This cost him as
Spike pressed him, beating down on him with the billiard pole. He punched
him in the face, bloodying the soldier’s face even more and hit him over the
shoulder with the pole. Blood spurted from his nose and mouth as the soldier
groaned and slumped onto his knees. The blood was a thick scarlet, but it
was tinged a sickly dark colour. A groan escaped from his tightly clenched
lips and he glared up at the vampire.
“I’m getting tired of this game, Spike.” He groaned out. Taking his staff in
his good hand, he swung it at Spike’s legs. Spike dodged the blow, but the
soldier turned the staff against him with super-human speed and brought the
large stone up into the vampire’s stomach. Winded, Spike staggered backwards
out of Riley’s reach; he nearly dropped the pole but managed to get a better
grip. Breathing hard against the pain, he kept his eyes glued on Riley while
he pressed his left hand against his abdomen.
The Ex-Initiative soldier managed to get to his feet just as Willow and Tara
said the last words to their spell and gave it form: “Nuru Dolk!” they
shouted together. The brilliant white light leapt from their hands and
hurtled towards Riley.
Holding up his staff, he deflected the spell without effort. Both of the
Wiccans moaned as they realized their spell didn’t work, but it seemed
enough of a distraction to give Spike an opening. But as Spike lunged
towards Riley’s legs, he leapt over his outstretched body and landed on his
feet behind him.
“Spike!” Dawn screamed from across the room as Riley raised his staff. Even
with his quick reflexes, Spike couldn’t match the speed of the possessed
man. The bystanders watched in horror and Riley lifted his staff and brought
the stone around to connect with the vampire’s side, just above the kidneys.
Even one-handed, the blow had immense power behind it, and Spike went down
with a scream of pain.
The rest of the Scoobies roused themselves and hurried forward. “You’re not
taking her!” Giles shouted, grabbing up the pole that Spike had dropped. He
faced his former ally, protectively against the others.
Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya came forward, all picking up weapons or
readying power in order to defeat Riley.
He just smirked at them, blood dripping onto his white shirt, “As much as
I’d like to get reacquainted, I have better things to do with my time. All
see ya guys later.” Riley looked down at a wounded Spike and winked. “Sorry
if I hurt you, didn’t want to ruin that new shirt of yours. I must admit
Spike, the whole Neutered Undead Boy-Next-Door look is good on you.”
Pushing the pain to the side, Spike launched himself up at Riley, hands
outstretched as if to tear him apart. Riley dodged it with little effort and
aimed another blow at the blonde vampire’s head. Dawn screamed as the
moonstone connected with his temple and they heard a sickening crack. Spike
dropped to the floor and did not move.
“Maybe that will finally knock some sense into him,” Riley said as he left
the building the glass ball floating behind him.
Helplessly, Giles turned to go out the doors but the ball and Riley was
gone. He swore loudly and punched his hand into the wall.
Buffy was gone.