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 Query Quite Contrary


"Move away from her!" Buffy shouted, raising Mr. Pointy to a good pummeling position at shoulder height.

"Buffy?" Willow whimpered inquisitively. "Giles?"

Dropping her knife, Willow hurried around the kitchen table and eagerly embraced her friend. Buffy wanted to return her best friend's embrace with all her strength but knew that doing so would probably kill her. Pulling away, Willow eagerly hugged Giles, who unabashedly returned it with a passionate embrace.

Spike rolled his eyes at the sight, sighing a deep sigh. "Just when it was getting fun," he complained.

Reluctantly, Giles pulled away and regarded the young woman. "How did you get here? I mean, we thought you'd... Did Spike..." Exasperated by his lack of words, Giles finally asked, "We missed you terribly."

Willow smiled and embraced him again, while Buffy glared at Spike, who stood with arms folded across his chest.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Buffy asked him with venom in her words.

"I don't normally go for sappy shows, but I'm touched," Spike sniffed as he dabbed at invisible tears. "No, really I am," he said dryly.

"Did you abduct her? Was it you who brought her through a spatial vortex? Why? What demented torture have you inflicted on her?" Giles asked, a burning desire to dust the vampire being kept in check by his desire for answers.

"Ancient Gypsy trick," Spike smiled proudly.

"If you hurt her," Buffy began threatening the vampire, but then turned to Willow. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

As Willow shook her head in a negative reply, her long red hair fell away from her shoulders. Buffy noted the puncture wounds and bruising on Willow's slender neck. Gripping Mr. Pointy with a new found fervor, she glared at Spike.

"You know what? I'm not interested in hearing your answers," Buffy spat. "Only thing I want to hear is the sound of Mr. Pointy staking your undead heart."

Buffy moved quickly, skirting the edge of the table in a counter-clockwise direction, Mr. Pointy poised and ready for action. Spike defensively stepped backward, a slow grin spreading across his lips, as Willow skirted the other side of the table.

"Buffy! No!" Willow shouted as she sandwiched herself between the vampire and the Slayer.

Shhhhug-mpth!

Buffy searched frantically in her friend's eyes for an answer. Why? Why would she want to protect this vampire? Why did she throw herself between them? Why would she be willing to die for him?

"Oy," Spike shouted angrily, catching Willow's limp form in his arms. "What'd you go and do that for?" he asked, sinking to the kitchen floor with Willow cradled in his arms.

Willow blinked up imploringly at Buffy, a gaping hole savagely torn in her chest. Blood pooled around the wound, altering the navy blue of the dress to a deep purple.

"Do you know how long it took me to get her this way?" Spike shouted. "Not many mortals like being fed off no matter how hard you try to condition them. It's a rarity to find one, you know. And the work! Goll, not being able to feed all the time. It was just as tough on me as it was on red. It's just like the Slayer to come along and ruin a good thing. We were so happy."

Confused, Buffy stared with profound and utter horror at the sight before her, at what she had done. "We need to get her to the hospital," she muttered, unaware that Giles had knelt beside the injured Willow, who began to cough blood.

Gingerly touching Willow's limp wrist, he turned to Buffy. "She's dying, and the hospital's too far away."

Giles and Buffy watched with confusion as the vampire stroked Willow's hair and talked softly to her. "Did you hear that, you're dying, thanks to the Slayer. Now, I can turn you if you'd like. Would you like that?"

Weakly, painfully, Willow gazed into Spike's eyes and nodded her head.

"No! I won't let you," Buffy shouted, desperately trying to hold back her tears.

"As far as you're concerned," Spike spat. "She's been dead for the past six months. What difference does it make if I turned her a month ago or now?"

"She... she can't want to be turned," Giles remarked disbelievingly, watching Willow lift a hand to touch Spike on the cheek. "She's not... she's not herself."

"Hasn't been for some time," Spike smirked. "Even if you could physically save her, the Willow you knew is gone. The moment your backs are turned, she'd be out looking for a vampire to satisfy her yen for being fed from. So why don't you turn your whipped puppy-dog selves around and I'll make her all better."

"I won't let you," Buffy shouted blindly, raising Mr. Pointy again.

Giles quickly stood and blocked Buffy's view of her dying best friend. "I think we should leave now, Buffy."

"What?!" Buffy spat through clenched teeth. In her disbelief she searched for answers, but found only an incredible sense of guilt and defeat in her mentor's eyes.

"I think we should consider the possibility of restoring her soul," he whispered. Soft sucking sounds went undetected by his ears.

Buffy frowned at his unusual plan, but something about it gave her a spark of hope. Willow would be dead, but not. With a restored soul she would be a harmless vampire, but not entirely without benefit, especially if she was still helping her best friend defeat the evils of the night. If they restored her soul quickly, Willow would have few regrets if none at all, if they didn't give her time to feed upon a helpless victim.

"I don't know," Buffy replied quietly, so lost in her thoughts that she failed to hear Willow moan. "It just doesn't seem right."

"Spike has a point, she's been dead to us for half a year now," Giles continued. "You saw it, she wanted to be turned. Maybe... maybe she agreed to it with the soul restoration ritual in mind. Of course, once she's turned the demon she becomes won't want to perform it. We'll have to."

"It still doesn't feel right, but if we're going to let this happen, then we should get out of here now," Buffy said. "Two against one were good odds, but two against two might get hairy... whoever he is."

Turning back toward Spike, Giles and Buffy watched with mourning at the still and lifeless form of Willow cradled in Spike's arms.

"She'll be awake soon," Spike smiled. "And she might be a little cranky."

With undue haste, Giles and Buffy retreated from the kitchen, retracing their steps back to the closet, through the basement, and back to the car hidden in the forest.

Silence passed between them as the car dipped over the peak of a large hill and sped along the narrow road past Breaker's Hill. Both sat dazed by the surprise of finding their long lost companion and her sudden death. Buffy brushed away her tears with haste.

"What do we tell Oz?" she asked. "What do we tell Xander?" she added, dread consuming her at how he might take her death. She couldn't bear to lose her other best friend.

"We tell them the truth," Giles replied tersely.

"That I killed my best friend?" Buffy asked, a rising panic catching in her throat. She began to sob uncontrollably.

Pulling the car to the side of the narrow road, Giles reached over and pulled Buffy close to him. "It was an accident, and we haven't quite lost her yet. If... if we hadn't discovered her, Spike would have eventually turned her. At least this way, we know about her. No surprises."

"No surprises," Buffy repeated as she pulled herself away from him. "Just a lot of unanswered questions." Collecting herself, she wiped her face dry as she stared at the road ahead of them. The panic slowly slipped away.

"So we tell the guys the truth," Buffy said bravely.

"Now, the question is," Giles began, "which truth do we tell them?"