AN: I don’t often post to LJ anymore and I’m struggling with the things that work differently from DW. Which, it seems, include the tags….
Chapter Seven
“So, Slayer,” Spike said into her hair as she nestled against him, “what did you say to the big poof when you found out he’d been lying to you about me?” He stroked one hand down her back, and waited. “Did you hurt him?”
“You lied too,” she muttered, poking him in his side hard enough to make him grunt. “At least by omission. You let me think you were dead. You’re not much better than he is.”
“To be honest, love, I didn’t tell him to lie to you. I just thought if I wasn’t there, you wouldn’t have to—”
She stiffened and raised her head. “If you’re about to say something that means you believe I would have done anything but throw my arms around you and start crying, I think you should bite your tongue right now. Hard!” She glared at him until she could read the shame and regret she needed to see.
“You’re both responsible for letting me grieve. You, by not calling me to tell me you didn’t go down with Sunnydale, and then hiding from me and not coming to me after you and Angel tried to take on an entire army of demons. So, twice! Twice you let me grieve when I shouldn’t have had to.
“And Angel, for taking advantage of your insecurity and not telling me you survived—either time. His arrogance, and your lack of faith in me, meant I had two years of being unhappy for no good reason.”
She continued to glare at him, until she could see a glint of tears in his eyes. She softened her expression and her tone, if not her words.
“I’ve got every reason to be furious at both of you. It just so happens that I know Angel well enough, and I love you so dammed much, that I’m forgiving you. The jury’s still out on how I feel about forgiving him.”
He pulled her closer, holding her with a grip that would have injured an ordinary woman, and whispered to her, his voice trembling, “I don’t deserve you. Never have and never will. But if you’re willing to have me in your life again, I promise I will never hurt you like that again. Never.”
They clung together, Buffy giving him time to compose himself before she wriggled as best she could.
“Spike? Air. I need it?”
“Sorry, love,” he said quickly, releasing his grip but keeping her within the circle of his arms. “Said I wouldn’t hurt you, didn’t say I might not accidentally smother you.”
She giggled and dropped a kiss on his chest before snuggling back into him. They both flinched with her phone rang.
“That’ll be Slayer Two,” he growled. “Guess it’s time for us to go to work.”
Buffy had already rolled off the bed to grab her phone from the other room. She carried it back with her and put it on speaker as she began looking for her clothes.
“So what’s up? What time do you want to meet us? And where?”
“In a couple of hours… and bring your shiny toy.”
“Any particular reason for that? I thought we were just going to meet Thomas and find out what he saw?”
“He told me about it again, and it sounds like it’s the real deal. So, he wants to meet us near the hellmouth where he saw it. He said Spike would know where it is because they get blood there or something.”
Buffy sighed. “Okay. We’ll meet you there around eight. See ya.” She ended the call and continued to add layers of warmth. “I wonder if I should leave off some of this stuff in case I need to move around faster than usual?”
“Might not be a bad idea if you’re going to be fighting. Although, if you’re too cold to fight well, that won’t help either.”
“Well, I won’t be alone, I’ve got my scythe, Faith will be there, and two old vampires to back us up. I’m gonna go for staying warm.”
“Sounds like a plan, love. You should probably eat something before we go off to save the world again… or save Cleveland, anyway.”
XXX
Properly fed and dressed, they took the service door into the garage and got into Spike’s car. Buffy put the bag with her scythe on the backseat, assuming that if they were stopped, it would be best not to have what was an obvious weapon sitting beside her. When they arrived at the nondescript-looking store where Spike said he and Thomas purchased their blood, he pulled into the parking lot nearby.
While Spike got out and looked around for Faith or Thomas, Buffy reached into the back and took her scythe out of its bag. She stroked it briefly, then effortlessly pulled it over the seat back and into her lap. She waited for Spike’s tap on her window as he opened her door to get out of the car.
They walked toward an alley entrance where Faith, Katie, and Thomas were waiting for them, just outside and to the left of the dark area. The old vampire’s eyes widened as he saw what Buffy was carrying so easily in one hand.
“That’s quite an impressive piece of equipment,” he said, his expression somewhere between admiring and fearful.
“Yes, it is,” Buffy said. “But if what you saw was really a Turok-Han, we’ll be glad I have it.”
“Is that what it takes to kill one?” Thomas showed no desire to step any closer to Buffy and her weapon, causing Spike to snicker at him.
Buffy shrugged. “It’s not the only thing, but it sure makes it a lot easier.” She glared at Thomas as if it was his fault there might be a Turok-Han waiting for them. “Tell me what you saw,” she demanded.
“A bit bossy, isn’t she?” Thomas sniffed to Spike, who was still grinning.
“You have no idea,” he said, shaking his head. “No idea at all.”
Faith joined Spike in his laughter, while remaining safely away from Buffy as she did so.
“Like the man said,” Faith agreed. “Why don’t we go inside and discuss this, rather than standing out here and freezing?” She pointed at a coffee shop just across the street. “We can see the alley from there.”
“Why do we need to see it?” Buffy asked, peering into the darkness.
“It’s the way in to the hellmouth,” Faith explained. “If something is coming out of there, we’ll be able see it before it can get very far.”
XXX
Since Faith had already filled Thomas in on what she knew about Turok-Hans and what it took to fight them successfully, he turned to Spike for more information.
“So, they’re stronger than we are?” he asked, tacitly admitting more about his own age and status.
“A good bit,” Spike admitted reluctantly. “I never really had a fair shot at the one that tortured me. Was tied up or chained most of the time, and weak from starving and losing so much blood. I always wanted a chance at one when I was healthy again, but it turned out I was just a conduit for sunlight, so I never had the chance.”
He shook his head and beamed at Buffy.
“The Slayer did for the one that had me,” he said proudly. “And she did it before she found this fancy axe. Sliced his head off with a piece of wire. Isn’t that right, love?”
Buffy shrugged and nodded. “They’re slayable, but a lot stronger than ordinary vamps, and it’s harder. Stakes don’t really work for some reason. I think maybe they need to be a special kind of wood or something. But taking off their heads works. And it doesn’t need to be anything this strong. A good sword will do the trick. The question is, is the one you saw the only one? And why is it here?”
“And there we have the situation,” Thomas said. “According to my sources, the one I saw is an advanced guard, or scout—or bodyguard for all I know—for something else with plans to set up easy access to the hellmouth so that more demons can be brought through, and he or it can set up a small demon kingdom in this part of the city. He intends to rule Cleveland’s vampire and demon population from here.”
“As opposed to you being in charge?” Faith said with a snort.
“It would no doubt have quite an impact on my businesses,” Thomas said stiffly. “However, I’m only thinking about the possible danger to the human population and to you and your evil-fighting companions. Surely you can see the wisdom of shutting this operation down before it can become established in our city.”
“Yeah, yeah. Better the devil you know and all that, I guess.” Faith rolled her eyes at him, and Katie giggled.
Thomas seemed offended at being referred to as a devil, but when he looked at Spike, he got no support.
“Devil—demon,” Spike said with a shrug. “’S what we are, isn’t it? Without our demons, and the blood they live on, we’d both be moldering in long lost graves. No sense being dainty about it.”
Buffy took back control of the conversation. “So, what you’re saying is that who or whatever is using a Turok-Han for a guard, it’s more evil than you are, and more of a danger to the human population of the city. And if we can kill it, and you don’t lose your hold on the demon population, it’s just a bonus.” She fixed Thomas with a cold, hard Slayer stare. “Does that about cover it?”
Thomas didn’t try to muffle his growl, but held up his hand for peace when Spike seemed to be taking umbrage on Buffy’s behalf.
“I’m not growling at your girlfriend,” he said. “I’m growling at myself for not realizing how formidable she is, and for not treating her accordingly. My apologies,” he said to Buffy.
“I wasn’t trying to put anything over on you, or on Faith,” he added with a quick glance at her. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t very opposed to the idea of another demon setting himself up as some sort of competition for my position as Master of the City. I’ve worked hard to create my own little realm, and I don’t want to lose it. I quite enjoy being the one in charge.
“Having said that, I need to point out that my rather benign approach to being the resident acknowledged master vampire….” He paused to nod at Spike. “My less than purely evil conduct has meant a much easier time of it for Faith and her slayers than would be the case if I were to lose my place to something less easy to get along with. You could find yourselves in a constant war with the forces of evil.”
“Been there, done that, thought I might be retired,” Buffy muttered.
“Point taken, Tommy-boy,” Faith said. “Whatever’s trying to come out of there would make us have to work a lot harder than you do.”
Buffy glanced at the blood supply shop and up and down the street, just now beginning to have some pedestrians. More than one of them, after seeing the three women sitting in the coffee shop, decided to cross to the other side of the street and take their business elsewhere.
“Is this Cleveland’s Demontown?” Buffy asked, suddenly realizing where she was.
“In as much as we have such a place,” Thomas said. “Many vampires and demons enjoy being close to a hellmouth. Even one that has frequent visits from slayers.”
Buffy raised an eyebrow at Faith, who shrugged. “Haven’t had a reason to show it to you yet. We check it out fairly regular, but usually in the daytime unless we’re looking for a fight. Right, Katie?” She snickered when Katie looked momentarily embarrassed, then grinned.
“Sometimes a girl just needs a little excitement in her life,” she said, tossing her head.
“Spoken like a true slayer,” Spike agreed with a smile. “I take it you found some?”
“She did,” Faith said. “Good thing for her you were hanging around doing nothing that night.”
“Ah, the two slayers who were taking on a small army of vamps and demons all by themselves,” he said, still smiling at Katie. “Seems like I remember that little dust-up.”
Katie looked embarrassed again, then smiled back at him. “I’ll bet you do,” she said. “And I’ll bet you’re glad now that you stepped in and we told on you,” she added, pointing at Buffy.
“Worked out nicely for both of us then, didn’t it?”
Katie nodded. “Thank you, and you’re welcome.”
Thomas was looking back and forth between them. “Something to share with the rest of us?”
Spike shrugged. “Not mine to share,” he said. “Let’s just say that it contributed to Buffy finding out where I was.”
“He was awesome,” Katie said. “And that’s all I’m saying about it.”
“Yeah, yeah, he’s all that and a bag of chips,” Faith snorted. “So, what do we plan to do about this fugly old vampire that wants to come up in our town?” She glanced at Thomas and waited for his reply.
He looked from Buffy to Spike, both of whom were waiting patiently for the people who had to live in the city after they were gone to decided what to do. His smile indicated to all of them his approval of their willingness to allow him and Faith to make decisions.
“I suggest, since we are all here, and Buffy has her amazing axe in hand, that we venture into the hellmouth entrance and see what we encounter there. Spike and I will be able to see without much trouble, and Faith has flashlights for herself and Buffy. We can play it by ear from there.”
“Okay. Let’s go then, before the street gets too crowded and we have to fight our way back to the cars.”
XXX
They approached the alley entrance as casually as possible, hoping to avoid attention from anyone who might be curious about who they were and why they were going in. Spike led the way, going into game face and using his enhanced vision to see that it appeared to be nothing but brick walls and a dirty concrete floor as far as they could see.
“Whoa! This is one long alley,” Katie said.
“Too long,” Thomas growled, getting a snarl of agreement from Spike. “Something’s off about it.”
No sooner had he spoken, then a small demon popped up almost in front of Spike. Suddenly they could see a sloping ramp in front of them, and realized that the rest of the seemingly endless alley was an optical illusion. The little demon squeaked and dove back down the ramp, squealing until it was out of sight.
“Should we go in?” Buffy was peering down the ramp, using her flashlight to illuminate what she could see of it.
“Let’s give it some time, love,” Spike said, stepped to her left. “I want to see who or what that little bugger was screeching to about us.”
Faith nodded her agreement, as she and Thomas took up posts on the other side of the dark passageway.
There was an ominous silence, and then a sudden rush of demons of all sorts came pouring up the ramp and into the alley. Cursing the lack of light, Buffy put her flashlight on the ground where it could at least light up a small area. She used her scythe to hack at the legs of anything that didn’t appear to be human or vampire. Growls and snarls, as well as Faith’s colorful swearing, indicated that she and Thomas were also involved.
Suddenly, it was possible to see better, as Katie, who was only armed with a stake, decided she could be more useful by providing enough light for Buffy and Faith to see by. She picked up Buffy’s flashlight, and using it and Faith’s, was able to hold them both in a way that provided more than enough light to see by.
Now that they could see well, Buffy and Faith were decapitating demons as they emerged, leaving any that got past them to Thomas, who was wielding a sword with efficient expertise. Spike was cheerfully tossing defeated or dead demons down the ramp, where they disappeared into the darkness. When he ran out of bodies, he paused and looked around.
“Was that it?” he asked, sounding almost disappointed. “That wasn’t much of a workout. The slayers hogged them all.” He glanced at Thomas who had an impressive pile of headless demons in front of him. “Well, almost all,” he acknowledged with a smirk. “Didn’t get any blood on your fancy suit, did you, Boss?”
“I hope not,” Thomas growled. “This suit cost more than you made in a month.” He flicked imaginary blood off one sleeve.
“Spike….” Buffy’s sharp voice brought his attention back to where she was standing, facing the ramp. He whirled to find a Turok-Han just reaching for him.
“Fuck!” he managed to say before he and the ancient vampire were rolling around on the blood-soaked ramp, snapping and snarling. Buffy hovered nearby, afraid to use her scythe until they separated. A movement to her right, brought her head around just in time to drive the stake end into another Turok-Han. Looking past his dust, she saw that Faith was doing her best to behead another one, while Thomas was having his own issues trying to fend off one on his own without becoming as involved as Spike was.
She turned her attention back to Spike, in time to see him holding his opponent by its arms, chest exposed.
“Anytime now, Slayer,” he gasped. She could read the strain on his face and quickly ran the stake end into the furious Turok-Han’s chest. Spike collapsed, panting, as the dust settled around him. “Ta, love.”
Not taking time to respond, Buffy leaped across the ramp to swing her scythe at the Turok-Han Thomas had just kicked far enough away for her to remove its head. She spun around, searching for any more of the vicious creatures, but it seemed they had destroyed all four of them.
“I suggest we make a strategic retreat to discuss this situation,” Thomas said, staring mournfully at his ruined suit.
“I’m good with that,” Faith agreed, taking her flashlight from Katie and pointing it down the ramp. “Let’s get out of here while we can.”
With Buffy and her scythe bringing up the rear, they all backed out until they could tell they were almost to the street.
Chapter Eight
“I vote we all repair to the Crypt to lick our wounds, so to speak, and discuss what we learned tonight.” Thomas gestured to his car and offered, “I’m happy to provide transportation, ladies.”
Faith looked at Katie, then at Buffy and shrugged. “Sure. We’re not too proud to accept a free ride in a fancy car from a temporary good guy. Meet you there, B.”
As Buffy and Spike walked to his car, she asked, “Do you think they’ll be okay?”
“They’ll be fine. Even if he was stupid enough to try to take out two slayers—and he isn’t, trust me—I doubt if he could do it. The younger one by herself, maybe, but both of them? Not a chance. Faith will never be what you are, but she’s grown into a bloody good slayer. Don’t care how old he is, he’d have his hands full there.”
“He might be tougher than you think,” Buffy said as they pulled onto the road and followed Thomas’s car toward his club on the fringe of what Spike assured Buffy was a much less organized demon neighborhood than the one in Sunnydale. “He was doing pretty good with that sword, and he was able to hold his own with the Turok-Han until I could whack it.”
“He does seem to be a dab hand with a blade, I’ll give him that. You could be right, just because I’ve never seen him fight, doesn’t mean he can’t. Just doesn’t want to.” Spike snorted.
Buffy snickered as he made no attempt to hide his disbelief that a vampire might not want to fight.
“Not everyone is as enthusiastic about getting beat up as you are,” Buffy said, leaning over to kiss his bruised cheek.
“Not everyone has had the good reasons I’ve had,” he snarked back. Buffy snorted her agreement and settled in her seat for the rest of the drive.
Which wasn’t all that long. They were soon pulling into the parking lot of the Crypt, going all the way to the back where employees parked. When they were all standing near the clearly-marked ‘Employee Entrance’, Thomas said to Spike, “Take them in this way, will you? I’ll need to do some smiling and greeting first, but I don’t want any customers to see three slayers walking in with me. I’ll meet you in my office.”
“Waddaya think, girls? Should we be offended he doesn’t want to be seen with us?” Faith grinned at Katie and Buffy.
“Nay. I always think it’s kind of cool when a demon bar empties out when I walk in. Just goes to show he knows what could happen.” Buffy smirked at Thomas, who shook his head.
“You’re a brave man,” he muttered to Spike as he began walking away to enter through the front door.
“Worth every lump and bump,” Spike said softly, knowing Thomas could still hear him. He went to the door and held it open for them.
“Shall we, ladies?”
“We shall,” Buffy responded, leading the way into the dark interior, where they waited for Spike to show them which way to go.
XXX
In spite of the melee with the demons, and the following face off against four Turok-Hans, everyone seemed to be reasonably unharmed. Spike’s down coat had taken a beating; fluffy feathers were coming from various rips and tears. But, except for the bruises on his face, and one small gash in his arm, he insisted he was all right, that his parka had got the worst of it.
“Damn! I liked this jacket,” he growled, taking it off and inspecting all the damage. He dropped it into a nearby wastebasket, tiny feathers fluttering around him.
“You can buy a new one,” Buffy said. “But you might want to go back to leather for a while, at least until we know what we’re facing here.”
Both Faith and Katie, while a bit bruised, seemed to be fine. “Nothing Slayer healing won’t take care of by tomorrow,” Faith said with a smile. “We got off with way less damage than we could have.”
“That’s true,” Buffy said, shrugging off her own minor bruises. “We did all right for ourselves. But if there are more of those creepy old vamps down there, we might be wishing Spike still had his amulet.”
“I do have it, actually,” Spike mumbled as if admitting something shameful. “Just for old time’s sake, you know? I’m sure it doesn’t work any more. I think killing all those ugly old buggers and then bringing me back has used up whatever magic it used to have.”
“You kept it?”
Spike looked uncomfortable. “Well, yeah. I mean, it was just sittin’ around there in the poof’s fancy office at Wolfram and Hart, and when we knew we had to get out of there, I just grabbed it and took it with me. I’m sure it doesn’t do anything now,” he repeated.
“Even if it did, I don’t think I’d let you wear again,” Buffy said. “Watching you burn up once in my life was more than enough.”
“Tell you later,” Faith said to a puzzled Katie as Thomas walked into the room. He’d obviously taken the time to change his clothes from his mostly destroyed suit to a new, and undoubtedly just as expensive, one.
“Does anyone want or need anything?” he asked as he looked around the room at his much less cleaned up guests. He focused on Spike who seemed the most damaged. “Do you need some blood? Help yourself to what you want,” he said, gesturing at the well-stocked bar behind the desk.
“Could use some,” Spike admitted. “Didn’t have time to make a stop at the shop on the way out.”
Thomas nodded. “I think we need to look into other sources for right now. I, personally, don’t want to go back there unless your well-armed girlfriend is with me.”
Buffy laughed in appreciation and patted her scythe. “It beats the hell out of trying to stay alive long enough to get a piece of wire wrapped around a scrawny throat.”
Spike was examining the bottles behind the bar, turning to raise an eyebrow at Thomas when he spotted one labeled ‘O neg’. Thomas shook his head and Spike nodded his tacit agreement that he would not share with the slayers that not all the blood was from animals. He filled a beer stein with blood from several different bottles, including one containing bourbon, and then settled into a soft chair to drink it.
“So, ladies, any ideas? Do we think that was it, or what?” Thomas addressed himself to Faith, but included Buffy and Katie in his question.
Faith glared at him. “You’re the one that brought us in to this. Don’t you know anything more about what’s going on?”
Thomas shrugged. “Only that there is someone or something behind those things guarding the hellmouth. I’m going to send out some feelers, try to find out if there might be more of them, or if we made a big enough dent in the guards to be able to walk in and see who or what was responsible.”
“Buffy’s not goin’ in there blind,” Spike growled.
“Buffy will make her own decisions,” she snapped at him, but then added, “But he’s right. We need to have some idea what to expect next time.”
“I agree completely,” Thomas said quickly. “I’ve sent for two of my better sources of information, one of which I’m not convinced isn’t working both sides of the street. I’m hoping to be able to persuade him to tell me who else he’s working for.”
“Why would he do that?” Katie asked. “If he’s really working for somebody else, he wouldn’t tell you, would he?” She glanced at Spike when he snorted, but quickly back at Thomas.
In a flash, Thomas had become much less elegant and urbane-looking. Before their eyes, he turned into an obviously quite old vampire, fangs and all. He waited until he was sure the slayers and Spike had received his message, then relaxed into his normal mien.
“Sometimes it’s necessary to remind people that I appear to be easy-going and kind only by my own choice. Not because I am weak, and not because I am not what I am and have been for a very long time.” He gave a graceful shrug. “I’m quite certain I can persuade him that he is on the wrong side of this… situation. But I should probably do it without an audience of slayers. No offense,” he added with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“I think that’s our hint to go home,” Faith said, rising to her feet. “C’mon, Katie. We have healing to do in case we have go to war tomorrow night.” She turned down an offer of ride from Buffy, saying it wasn’t that far, and that they could call the slayer house if they wanted a ride.
Spike finished his blood and put the dirty glass in the sink under the bar. He hesitated, looking from Buffy to Thomas and back.
Thomas smiled, showing more teeth than usual, and said, “I wouldn’t mind participation from a fellow demon, but I know your priorities lie elsewhere.”
Spike took a quick peek at Buffy, but she was keeping her face as expressionless as possible while she waited for him to decide.
“Need to get Buffy home again,” he said with a shake of his head. “But if you need me to, I can come back after I drop her off.”
“You don’t work here anymore,” Buffy said, glaring at Thomas for even suggesting it.
“Not acting as an employee, pet. Just as someone temporarily on the same side.”
“I’d re-hire you in a heartbeat if I thought I could, but I doubt I can compete with what you already have.” Thomas waved his hand at Buffy and gave a genuine smile. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Contrary to what my employees may want to believe, I haven’t completely forgotten how to keep minions in line.”
Buffy was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the chatty vampire talk that reminded her they were allying with someone very old and non-soul-having. “Let’s go,” she said, poking Spike. “You need to have more blood and some rest in case you have to wrestle any more Turok-hans. I’m sure Thomas is perfectly capable of torturing his minions without any help from you.”
Spike gave a smirking Thomas an embarrassed shrug and followed Buffy out of the office. “I’ll keep my phone on,” he said, low enough that only Thomas could hear him. A soft “Thank you” that Buffy also couldn’t hear was the response as he opened the door to the parking area.
“You told him you’d come back, didn’t you?” Buffy demanded when they were in the car and pulling away.
“I told him I’d keep my phone on,” Spike replied. “He doesn’t need my help to keep a minion in line, but a minion that’s working for a rival might come prepared for trouble.”
Buffy sighed. “I just can’t decide how I feel about picking sides in a fight between two demons. Seems like I should just let them duke it out, and then clean up the mess left over.”
“Which would be a good strategy, love, except for a couple of things….”
“Yeah, yeah. Except that one of them seems to be able to bring Turok-Hans up from hell and use them to fight for him. I can’t overlook that little example of over-achieving evilness.”
“That, and you’d be leaving Slayer Two and her girls to deal with whatever happens. And she seems to trust my old boss for some reason.”
“I think she does. I wonder what that’s all about? Do you know? Did you ever see her at the Crypt?”
He shook his head. “No. But I’d have made myself scarce if I’d thought she was expected, so I still wouldn’t know about it. The slayers had been here for almost a year before I showed up, so whatever he did or didn’t do to get her to trust him, it happened before I got here, and he never talked about them except to say they wouldn’t bother us at the club.”
“Huh. Well, I guess I can ask Faith before we leave.”
XXX
After a quick stop at another demon-friendly butcher shop closer to the club, they were soon back, parked, and at the apartment. While Spike was unlocking his front door, Buffy glanced from it to the unlocked door from the garage.
“Do you ever get surprise visitors?” she asked.
“Not often. Sometimes somebody will see me going in or out, and I can tell they’re curious about it, but most people are too busy to take the time to open a door that tells them to stay out. Those that do, find nothing but a locked door and a dark staircase leading up. They probably figure I work here.” He snorted a laugh, and she raised a questioning eyebrow as she ducked under his arm to enter the apartment.
“What?”
“Just remembering when a couple of wanna-be tough guys followed me through it.”
“Did you hurt them?” Buffy was more curious than disapproving, but Spike surprised her.
“Didn’t have to. One look at my true face, and a proper snarl, sent them flying up the stairs and out onto the street. Couldn’t have any fun at all.”
Buffy giggled in spite of herself, and Spike smiled at her.
“You’d have had more fun,” he said. “You could have kicked their arses and thrown them back out into the garage.”
Buffy shook her head. “Fighting humans isn’t my idea of fun. Sometimes I wish I could just growl at somebody and they’d run away screaming. That could be kind of fun.”
“Most vamps and demons run away when you smile at them. Probably a good thing you don’t growl.” Spike snickered as he put his blood away in the fridge, leaving one small package out for later. “Are you hungry, love? Should have asked you that while we were still out and I could buy you dinner, shouldn’t I?”
He looked so unhappy with himself, that Buffy stopped taking off her coat to go to him and stroke his face.
“I’m a big girl. If I wanted to go out to dinner, I would have said so. There’s plenty of food here. I’ll just stick something in the microwave.”
Still muttering to himself about being inconsiderate, he helped Buffy off with her coat, then moved toward the bedroom.
“I’m going to get out of my ruined clothes and shower the blood and demon gore off.” He grinned at her. “Not sayin’ you have to join me, mind you, but you do have demon guts in your hair.”
“What? I have what… ugh. Why didn’t you say so before? You let me walk around with sticky hair?”
“It’s not that noticeable, love. We all looked a bit the worse for wear. But it is a good excuse for you to join me in the shower.”
XXX
Having showered themselves clean, and enjoyed a short, but satisfying interlude under the warm water, they were dried off and dressed. But, while Buffy was in comfy warm sweats, Spike was wearing his usual jeans and heavy sweater. His phone beeped at him and he glanced at the short message.
“Bloody hell,” he growled, pulling on a sturdier jacket than his destroyed parka. “Sounds like old Tom could use a little help after all. You don’t mind, do you, love?” He paused, obviously realizing that Buffy might have some objections to it.
She sighed, then shook her head. “If you get yourself killed…again… there will be no forgiving it. So keep that in mind. If we would somehow end up spending eternity in the same place, I’m going to make your afterlife really, really miserable.”
“If I promise not to get killed, will you let me go?”
“Spike….” She blew out a gust of breath. “I don’t own you, and I’m not your boss, at least not unless we’re playing—Never mind that. This has been your life for over a year now. You have friends and obligations. I understand that. If you think you need to go, then go. Just be careful, ‘k?”
“I love you, Buffy,” he said, pulling her in for a short, but sincere kiss. “Careful is my middle name.”
“I’m pretty sure it isn’t,” she grumbled, but she was smiling. “Go. Be a vampire. Ride to the rescue or whatever. Just come back to me in one piece.”
She blew him a kiss as he went out the door, on his way to help out someone he obviously considered as much a friend as a former employer. Once the door was shut behind him, she wandered into the small kitchen area to fix herself something to eat.
Chapter Nine
Spike arrived in the parking lot just in time to run his car into two unfamiliar demons trying to pull open the door to the club. He backed up and hit them again, just in case they didn’t get the message properly. By the time he was out of the car, they were limping away as quickly as they could, so he ignored them and ran inside.
He pulled another odd-looking demon off a female vampire he recognized as Suzie, one of the club’s hostesses. He broke its neck before continuing toward the sounds of fighting, her “Thanks, Will,” echoing in his ears as she picked up a baseball bat and began swinging it at the demon’s head.
He followed the snarls and shouts to find Thomas in full game face, flinging more of the unusual demons, as well as vampires Spike didn’t recognize, away from himself. The opponents he threw toward a small group of kitchen workers were quickly dispatched with carving knives and cast-iron frying pans. Although his new suit looked to have suffered some damage, he’d clearly been able to protect himself, but had not been able to kill many of his opponents as he concentrated on keeping them out of staking distance.
With a gleeful shout, Spike waded into the crowd still pressing toward his former boss and began his own demonstration of how effective an old vampire who enjoyed a good fight could be. He broke necks and otherwise incapacitated attackers indiscriminately until the numbers were low enough that he and Thomas could single out individuals and kill them.
With two powerful old vampires to face, the attacking demons and vampires that were still able to move began retreating, only to be met by a baseball-bat-wielding Suzie, furious that her new dress had been ruined by the attack. It took very little time to kill the remaining attackers, and Thomas, Spike, and the victorious employees—not all vampires, Spike noticed with interest—were soon standing in the big hallway full of dust and demon ichor.
“Well, that was a bit of all right,” Spike grinned, brushing dust off his sleeve. “I take it your informant brought friends with him?”
Thomas snarled and nodded, and then dropped back into his human mien. He turned to the group of kitchen workers behind him and smiled. “Good job, everyone. Take the rest of the night off while I get a clean-up crew in here. There will be bonuses for everybody.”
He turned back to Spike. “Yes. It seems like our little visit earlier rattled some cages, and he was told to be sure the doors were unlocked once he was inside.” He looked around the area, muttering, “If I was sure which pile of dust was him, I’d set fire to it.”
“Boss?” A timid voice from an open bathroom door brought their attention to where a small, stocky, almost human-looking demon was holding the unconscious informant by his hair. He pulled his captive with him as he emerged into the bigger space. “Here’s another one. He tried to hide in the bathroom, but I was already in there, so I clocked him with the towel dispenser.”
Thomas was on the hapless vampire almost too quickly for the eye to follow. He yanked him away from the cringing demon, and flung him to Spike.
“Hang on to this bastard for me,” he snarled, then smoothed out his face and turned back to his employee. “I’m sorry, K’vk. I’m not angry at you. This is excellent work. You’ve captured the low-life responsible for all this. I’m very grateful. You’ll have a bonus tomorrow, and you can take the rest of tonight off.”
“But…” K’vk gestured around the disaster of a scene, and Spike noticed that he was wearing a janitor’s overalls.
“Can you round up a crew to clean this mess up?” Thomas asked.
“Ye-yes Sir. I have a lot of cousins who need work.”
“All right then. You just got promoted to head of maintenance. Get yourself a crew in here and put them to work.”
K’vk pulled a phone from his overalls and hustled off, dialing rapidly.
Thomas turned a baleful eye on the now-awake vampire that Spike was holding by a hand around his throat.
“Do you know who’s holding you, Jerry?” Thomas asked in a calm, almost conversational tone, belied by the yellow flashing in his eyes.
The now-terrified minion spy tried to nod his head, but couldn’t with Spike’s hand on his neck.
“You know him as Will, our bouncer. His full name is William the Bloody, sired by Drusilla and once a part of the Scourge of Europe, led by Angelus and Darla. Are you familiar with what Angelus was famous for?”
Jerry’s widening eyes and renewed struggles indicated he might know something about Angelus and his reputation for torture. Spike shook him gently to remind him that struggling was only going to make it more likely that Spike’s grip would break his neck, then dropped him to the floor in front of Thomas. Playing his part to the hilt, Spike had gone into game face and snarled at cringing minion.
“What do you think, Will – er Spike? Did you learn anything about torture while you were running with your grandsire? Anything you think I may not already know how to do?”
“Probably have a few tricks you haven’t thought of,” Spike agreed. “Ol’ Angelus was always happiest when he was teaching someone the meaning of pain.” His snarl had Thomas looking thoughtful for a moment, before he nodded.
“Let’s get out of this mess and take Jerry somewhere we can practice what we know until he’s willing to give us the information we need. My office might be best. It’s soundproofed,” he added somewhat ominously.
Thomas grabbed his former minion by his hair and dragged him down the hall and through the doorway to his office, leaving a trail through the dust and ichor on the floor. The office seemed to be mostly untouched by the melee that had taken place outside, only a few piles of dust and the head of a demon marring the tasteful interior. While Spike closed and locked the door, Thomas went to the bar and poured himself a large glass of blood from the O Neg jar. For the first time, Spike could see that he’d been injured in the fight. One sleeve was torn almost off, and the arm under it had a large gash in it, from which blood was still oozing.
Spike placed himself between the minion and the door, gesturing for Thomas to sit down and drink. While Thomas nodded, went back to his true face, and settled himself in the big chair behind the desk, Spike nudged the demon head with his foot.
“What are these?” he asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this.”
Thomas shook his head, and then took a long gulp of his blood. “Neither have I, but I think I’ve seen pictures of them. They come from someplace in South America, and were thought to be extinct.”
“Well, this one is,” Spike snorted. “Kinda like Turok-hans, yeah? So, whatever we’re facing knows a lot about old vampires and demons and how to find them. Almost sounds more like a sorcerer than a power-hungry vamp. Could even be human, just with an ability to control things he shouldn’t even know about.”
The both turned amber-eyed glares on the former minion, now cringing against a chair and doing his best to disappear into the furniture. Before either Spike or Thomas could make a move, he was babbling at Thomas’s feet that he couldn’t be more sorry, that he never intended to actually betray Thomas, that he was just playing a part—
He stopped his hysterical apologizing when Spike picked him up and shook him. “You let that small army gain entry to the building, and then hid in the loo like the coward you are. You’re going to die for it, no question. The question is, will it be quick, or will it be long and painful? I’m good either way. Don’t like backstabbers.”
He dropped Jerry back on the floor and stepped away. “Not that it isn’t your decision how he dies, Boss,” Spike said, wondering if he’d been a little too forceful. However, it seemed that Thomas had fully accepted that the man he’d thought of as one of his better employees, was, in fact an old vampire and just as deserving of respect as himself.
“You pretty much took the words right out of my mouth,” Thomas said, sending a snarl in Jerry’s direction. “Your choice, Jerry, you can tell us the truth about what’s going on, and if it turns out you were telling us the whole truth, you can dust painlessly. Or, you can keep lying to me, and Spike and I will take turns at you until we’re sure we know everything you know.”
“I’ll tell you everything! Everything, I swear! You don’t need to hurt me, or kill me… I would have told you about it anyway if you’d asked….” Jerry seemed about to go into babbling mode again, until Thomas picked him up and shook him.
“The truth. Who was behind this assault? And how did he know to tell you to open the doors?”
Jerry cringed away, staring at Thomas’s real face in horror, and obviously understanding he was looking death in the eyes. Spike studied Thomas also, recognizing the subtle differences that meant he was looking at someone a good bit older than himself. Nothing like the Master in Sunnydale, but easily as old as Angelus and Darla were when he met them.
Jerry seemed to have had sudden clarity of thought. “He’s a vamp. Old—” he took another look at Thomas, still wearing the face of a very old master vampire—“but not as old as you.” He glanced at Spike. “He might be older than Will… but he’s not as….” He seemed at a loss for a word to acknowledge how terrifying he now knew Spike to be.
“Not quite as able to back up his threats with acts?” Thomas said while Spike tried to hide a smile and remain dangerous-looking.
“Did you really fight with one of those monsters?” Jerry seemed to have temporarily forgotten his fear of Spike in favor of hero-worship. “And you killed it?”
“If you mean the Turok-han, he did. We both had to fight them earlier tonight. As you can see, we survived very nicely.”
Thomas gave Jerry another glare, which he ignored in favor of asking Spike, “How did you kill it? He told us they can’t be dusted.”
“We had a secret weapon,” Spike growled, making it Thomas’s turn to hide a smirk at referring to Buffy as a secret weapon. “Had three of ‘em, actually, and that’s all you need to know. Now answer the Boss’s questions.”
“How did he know you would be able to leave the doors open? And don’t lie!” Thomas stood over the still cowering minion, glaring down at him.
“He… I… I mean I didn’t—” Matching snarls from Thomas and Spike had him stumbling for an answer that didn’t incriminate himself too much. “He knew I worked here last year, and he asked me to be his eyes and ears. Somehow, he knew I was spying for you, and he said if I was smart, I’d play on the winning side.”
“And you thought that was going to be him?”
Jerry’s eyes darted around the room as if searching for the right answer. “Well, you know, he has all these demons he found somewhere, and he can control—sort of—those monsters he keeps calling ‘real vampires’.” Jerry shrugged, seeming to resign himself to his fate. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Spike smothered a laugh. He wasn’t sure he hadn’t seen Thomas roll his eyes, although it was difficult to tell with him still wearing his angry master vampire mien.
“How many of these demons and Turok-hans are left down there? Is that where this would-be master of Cleveland lives? If not, where do I find him?”
Jerry shook his head. “I don’t know how many are left. He was trying to figure that out when I left to come here. I know he was sending most of the demons to follow me, but I didn’t see any of those really strong vamps… except for the one he keeps near him as a bodyguard. He’s always there. The other ones don’t hang out near anybody else. We’re all afraid of them.”
“How many of them?” Spike snapped out.
Jerry looked confused. “I don’t know – he sent out four earlier, but I guess….” He looked from Spike to Thomas in awe. “You guys dusted them? All of them?”
Thomas and Spike exchanged quick looks to agree to keep Buffy and her scythe a secret.
“We had a little help,” Thomas said casually, as he dropped back to his human face. “Might have even more help when we teach this upstart the meaning of ‘winning side’,” he added, snickering.
Spike nodded, also going back to his human mask. “Turns out I know a couple of the slayers here. They were happy to join us.”
Jerry stared at Spike. “You know a slayer? Why haven’t you killed her? ”
“Don’t want to,” Spike replied. “And it’s not that easy. You’ve obviously never met one.”
“How do you know? I might have killed two or three of them,” Jerry said indignantly. He frowned when Spike and Thomas both roared with laughter. “I don’t think they’re so dangerous. You can’t know what I might have done.”
“I know you’ve never faced a slayer,” Spike said, shaking his head and interrupting before Jerry could repeat his comment. “I know, because if you had, we wouldn’t be talking to you. You’d be dust,” he added, to ensure that Jerry got his meaning. “It’s what they are, what they do. Does ‘vampire slayer’ not ring any bells with you?”
“I could go back and tell Master Henrico about the slayers helping you,” Jerry offered hopefully. “Maybe he’ll decide not to fight you.”
“Yeah, because telling him we have help, and who the help would be, is just what we want him to know. It’s right up there with telling you when and how we plan to take the fight to him, and then turning you loose to take that information to him.” Spike sneered at Jerry, who was still obviously trying to find a way to remain able to leave the room in one piece.
Thomas looked momentarily thoughtful, then shook his head. “I’d send him off to carry some misinformation back to his other boss, but—”
“Yes!” Jerry said with excitement. “That’s exactly what you should do! I’ll go back and tell him whatever you want me to tell him.”
“But,” Thomas continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “you’re a lying, cowardly, disgrace to demon hood, and I wouldn’t trust you to sweep my floors.”
Before that dismaying comment had even sunk into to Jerry’s brain, Thomas had torn his head off and dropped it into the rest of the dust.
“Not to criticize, but he might have been able to tell us a little more about this wanna-be master Henrico.”
“No need. I know exactly who he is. We have history. I’m not sure how he became smart enough or strong enough to be able to control demons and Turok-hans, but it’s a starting point. I’ll know more about him by tomorrow night.”
“Alright then. Reckon I’ll just take myself home and tell Buffy tomorrow night might be busy.”
“I’ll be in touch,” Thomas said, seeming every bit the in-control master vampire Spike now knew him to be. “And thank you for coming back tonight. It was a little touch and go there for a while.”
“My pleasure,” Spike said, offering a feral grin. “Nothing I like more than a good brawl.”
“Nothing?”
“Well, nothing except spending time with my lady. Which I’m off to do now.”
Originally posted at: https://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/764032.html
