Title: The Query Series
Author: NyxMne Chaosis
Email: magmyr@umailme.com
Distribution: SFA
Rating: PG-13 (NC-17 in parts for character death)
Setting: Post-Lover's Walk (Season 3)/Pre-Harsh Light of Day (Season 4)
Summary: After his drunken fiasco in "Lover's Walk", Spike returns to Brazil to woo back Dru.
Disclaimer: Joss owns all.
Query Incomplete
After an hour of debate, Giles gave in partially to Buffy's desire to confront Spike alone. Though he admitted showing up with the Xander and Oz might seem a little ambitious, he was only concerned for Buffy's well-being and they had no way of knowing if Spike was on his own or was with a group of vampires.
"There's protection i-in numbers," Giles insisted angrily.
"I agree," Buffy said. "But if it's just him and he's surrounded he'll be less likely to talk, you know, answer some questions."
Giles conceded to her reasoning, but still insisted that someone accompany her, and Buffy agreed to his compromise if, and only if, it was he who accompanied her. He warmly accepted the final offer, and after a long drive over Breaker's Hill and concealing the car in a copse of trees, they now both stood before a tiny bungalow house with its doors and windows tightly boarded shut.
"Looks like a certain vampire's been busy redecorating," Buffy said.
"There must be a way in and out," Giles reasoned. "Spike still needs to feed."
Carefully they skirted the house, keeping to the shadows of the nearby woods. Even though the windows were boarded up and no one could see out, there was always the possibility that the vampire had devised a peephole.
"There!" Giles pointed. "Storm doors."
"Betcha their locked from the inside too," Buffy added. "Not for long."
"Buffy, wait!" Giles called after the determined Slayer, but she had deftly kicked one of the storm doors and it flew inward off its hinges. Surprisingly, the cracking of wood was dampened by the surrounding forest.
Quickly Giles crawled into the basement after Buffy. Together they noted the numerous unpacked crates and the strange items scattered around the room. Nervously, Giles picked up a multi-armed jade figurine of a woman that was painted with gold leaf.
"I think this... this is a genuine Kali idol," Giles gasped. Replacing the tiny statue, he examined other contents of the room until his eye lighted on a surrealistic painting. "This... this is a genuine Dali painting."
"Kali. Dali. I'm starting to see a pattern to all this and yet... I'm not," Buffy squinted with confusion. "I say we go to the source and kick his ass. What do you think?"
Giles nodded in agreement to her intentions but shook his head at her choice of words. "Ah, yes, let's go upstairs. You lead."
Carefully they climbed the wooden stairs. Though they gave under slightly under their weight, the wood merely groaned and their ascent was quiet. Pushing open the door, they found themselves in a small dark closet. Pushing open the closet door revealed a short corridor.
Across the hall, Giles noticed the gleam of chrome from a sink faucet and recognized a well kept bathroom. As they stood quietly, accessing their surroundings, he heard an exchange of voices. As Buffy led the way down the short corridor, stake poised, Giles stopped at the sound of a familiar accent...
"So he's all holier than thou," Spike sang loudly, "thinking he's better than everyone...
Buffy and Giles inched into a lavishly decorated living room, Giles awed by the antiquities that adorned the room and Buffy wrinkling her nose at the clash in style and color of the room's decor. Turning down another corridor, following Spike's voice, they also discerned above the banging of pots and tinkling of cutlery a second indistinguishable voice.
"...'cause he can read minds. So I think that's why Dru stayed with him," Spike continued. "No here... like this... don't lift the point of the knife... that's it..."
As they neared the kitchen, their eyes adjusting to the light, Giles trembled at the sight before him while Buffy dazedly lowered her stake.
The blond vampire, clad as usual in black denims and a black t-shirt stood beside a young woman. Her alabaster skin was shockingly pale against the short-sleeved navy blue dress that she wore. Head bent forward, long red hair scooped forward and dangling above a cutting board, a large knife clasped firmly in her tiny hands and cutting a large carrot, neither of them needed to look at her face to know who she was.
Giles and Buffy gaped at the strange scene before her, and simultaneously muttered, "What the...?!"