Love Brings You, Chapter 3/14

Title: Love Brings You
Author: maryperk73703
Season: 5
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Buffy’s talk with Glory’s dying monk has surprising revelations.

Chapter 3

“Well, that can’t be good,” Buffy muttered under her breath. If Dawn wasn’t her sister, who the hell was she? Why did everyone think she was Buffy’s sister?”

Malachi grunted in pain. “Protect the Key, Slayer. The vessel is as important as the contents.” He let out a shuddering sigh before he fell silent for the final time. Malachi accomplished his objective set about by his Abbott. He died in peace. His journey was done.

Buffy let out a sigh. “This is so not the way I expected the day to go,” she muttered. “I just wanted to know if something was killing my mom.”

In the distance, a door slammed open. The noise echoed through the empty warehouse.

“Oh, holy man, I’m back.” A female voice reverberated off the walls.

“Oh shit.” Buffy stood and turned around to face the hole in the wall. A blonde woman wearing a bright red dress appeared on the other side of the opening.

“You’re not my holy man,” the woman growled. She looked towards Malachi’s body laying behind Buffy. “You killed my holy man before he could tell me where my Key is.”

“No, I’m fairly certain you killed him.” Buffy fell into a fighting stance.

“Who are you?” the woman sneered. “Some stupid little cheerleader, I suppose? Looking for the rave?”

Buffy shook her head. “Nope, I’m Buffy. Buffy the vampire Slayer.”

“Guess that means you have super powers.” The woman rushed at Buffy. “Let’s see if you can fly.” She backhanded Buffy across the room. Buffy hit the wall hard enough to make cracks appear in the cement.

Buffy groaned in pain. Whoever this chick was, she was stronger than she looked. Buffy rolled other feet, ignoring the popping sounds from her back. “No, no flying, but I have a wicked right punch.”

“That’s so sweet of you to think so.” The woman leaned into the punch that Buffy threw at her. She didn’t even flinch when Buffy’s fist hit her face.

“Wow, that kind of tickled.” The woman picked Buffy up, and she threw the Slayer out a nearby window. She stomped towards the window. Each step sent out shockwaves that cracked the concrete. After a few steps, one of the woman’s shoes broke.

The woman threw the shoe across the room in a fit of anger. She stomped her foot, and due to too much stress on the old, derelict building several support beams shattered. The ceiling crashed down onto the woman.

Glass shattered around Buffy, and she fell to the ground. She laid there gasping for breath while she waited for the woman to follow her out the window. After a few moments, Buffy heard shattering wood and a huge crashing sound inside the warehouse. She used the noise and destruction to cover her jumping to her feet to run away as fast as she could.

Buffy made her way to the Magic Box while keeping an eye over her shoulder. She had to make sure she wasn’t being followed. Buffy slipped into the back of the store. She stood in the middle of the workout room in a daze until Giles came through the door from the shop.

“Buffy?” Giles said. He gently closed the door behind him. “Is everything all right? What did you find out?”

“Dawn’s not my sister. I don’t know who she is.” Buffy shook her head. “And Spike … he isn’t even a vampire.”

Giles took Buffy’s arm, and he led her to the couch. “Start at the beginning. Did the spell work to find out if anything supernatural was injuring your mother?”

“Uh, no, there’s nothing supernatural going on with Mom, but during the spell I saw something weird going on with Dawn,” Buffy said. “In the pictures she was flickering in and out, but when I looked at her, it was like I could see fourteen year old Dawn and an older Dawn. The same thing happened when I saw Spike. Only it was the Spike we know and a very nerd-like Spike.”

“What’s this about him not being a vampire?” Giles was confused. It sounded like a riddle. When is a vampire not a vampire?

Buffy closed her eyes. “I went to the warehouse like I said I would. I found this tied up monk guy. He told me that they needed to send this Key thing to me. So, instead of a sister which was their first idea, they found my soul mate to put it in when he was a baby.”

Giles was glad Buffy had her eyes closed. He wasn’t sure he could keep the look of astonishment off his face. “That soul mate is Spike? Really?”

“I guess so, except he’s not really a vampire. But he is.” Buffy shrugged. “It’s kind of confusing. He disappeared originally. So, he could have been vamped. The monks did some kind of spell that made him vampire-like, and then they made Drusilla think she’d vamped him.”

“I’m still stuck on the whole ‘Spike is my soul mate’ point of the this story,” Giles replied. “Vampires don’t have a soul.”

“Except he does. They did magic to suppress the soul, according the monk I found. They also left him some humanity.” Buffy bit her lip as she remembered something. “You remember the Judge guy back when Angelus was around? The creature that Spike made for Drusilla that couldn’t be hurt by weapons forged by man?”

Giles nodded.

“Well, Spike rambles on about everything and nothing sometimes on patrol. One night, he was telling me about how much the Judge hated him and Drusilla for having too much humanity.”

“Can I talk to this monk?”

Buffy shook her head. “No, that bitch hurt him really bad. He died right before she showed up.”

“What … erm …. bitch?” Giles cleared his throat.

“The super strong one that showed up and beat me up at the warehouse,” Buffy answered. “She wasn’t very nice. The monk kept saying that the Abomination was a she. I wonder if she is who he meant.”

“Let me recap this: Dawn’s not your sister, but you don’t know who or what she is. Spike is a Key to something and not really a vampire. There’s a super strong blonde woman wandering around Sunnydale who wants the Key that is inside in Spike.” Giles removed his glasses to polish them with his handkerchief.

“Yeah, but, I remember Dawn as my sister. I remember her coming home from the hospital as a baby. I remember her crying for a week when Dad bailed on us. I remember that she was grounded for sneaking over to Janice’s that first Halloween when Ethan did the costume spell. It’s why she and Janice didn’t get turned into their costumes.” Buffy leapt to her feet, and she paced around the room. “The monks decided that making me a sister was too much magic to alter everyone’s memories.”

“Yet, she is here.” Giles put his glasses back on, and he stuffed his handkerchief into a pocket.

“Yeah. I just don’t get it.” Buffy shook her head. “She doesn’t appear to be hurting anyone. I can’t figure out what she’s doing here. Then there’s Spike. What on earth am I supposed to think about that whole thing? I’m pretty sure he just thinks he’s a run of the mill evil vampire.”

“I think we need to find out who this woman is, and what she needs Spike for, before we make any decisions.” Giles just wished he had more books to look through. He might have to contact the Council for some help with his research. “A key makes me think that there is a lock out there someplace that this woman wants to open.”

“I agree.” Buffy sat down beside Giles again. “You know, I always kind of thought that Angel was my soul mate, you know.”

Giles nodded in agreement. “I think we all feel that way about our first loves. I certainly did. The lovely Serina. She’s part of a coven in England now. She’s a researcher, and sometimes she has visions. She inherited that talent from a great aunt many times removed.”

“Do you ever talk to her?” Buffy asked.

Giles shook his head. “She completely committed to the coven now.”

“Do you think the Council will freak out if I have another vampire lover?” Buffy asked. She wasn’t sure that she would ever actually be involved with Spike since she was still dating Riley. She just wanted to be sure.

“There’s always that possibility I suppose.” Giles patted Buffy’s hand. “However, I’ve done a bit of research since your relationship with Angel. You are certainly not the first Slayer to be enamored with her prey.”

“Oh, tell me all about it.” Buffy grinned at Giles. She was just glad she wasn’t the only Slayer to fall for the entirely wrong guy.

“There was a Roman Slayer named Diane. Her vampire lover went by the name Claudius Aurelius.” Giles nodded at the look on Buffy’s face. “Yes, he is of Spike’s lineage. Another was a Russian Slayer, Sabina. She was called in 1399. Her lover was Marcus of Aurelius. They met shortly after her calling, and they died together in the Hungarian Hellmouth. In the 1940’s there was Avril and her lover Joshua.”

“Those Aurelians sure get around,” Buffy chuckled.

“They are a prolific bunch, I admit.”

Buffy wilted against the back of the couch. “We’re going to have to call the Council, aren’t we? I still haven’t forgiven them for my eighteenth birthday present.”

“Neither have I. Let me ask my contacts in the Watcher’s research department to look into things before we talk to Travers.” Giles mulled over which of his contacts he needed to talk to. A couple of them would run right to Travers. He would need to tread lightly. “Reggie Bey is probably our best bet. He’s an excellent researcher.”

“Why don’t you call your friend Serina?” Buffy gave Giles a sly wink. “Maybe it’s time to get reacquainted with old friends.”

“Are you trying to play matchmaker now?”

 

Originally posted at http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/531635.html