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Tiana
Reviews: Yes and please and thank you.
Disclaimer: I don’t own the rights to Spike, Buffy or any other BTVS characters. But if anyone’s offering, I’ll take Spike.
Distribution: Just ask at tianabelle@hotmail.com
Summary: Set in the middle of Season 6. Spike's struggle to get a soul and Buffy's struggle to love him...with or without it...
Spike shakes his head, trying to clear the cobwebs from his brain. He looks around and realizes he does not recognize anything. Ka’jiin is gone, the white room is gone, and he is sprawled out on a cold stone floor. As he lies there trying to regain his mobility, he realizes something else is gone. His chip. It is as if a voice has whispered this truth to him. He is sure of it. And he is very very hungry. He sits up suddenly as he hears a small noise.
He is not alone.
Spike stands up, wobbling a bit and looks around. He can smell her before he can see her. Somewhere in the dark corners of this cell, there is a human. And her blood is singing to him. Thrumming in his brain. He puts his hand to his stomach and one to his face. The ridges are there, his fangs are extended. The demon inside is telling him how nice it would be to have that warm blood coursing down his throat, listening to the fast beating of her heart growing slower and slower. Just like old times. Spike shakes his head, willing the ridges to go away. The trials have clearly begun.
He paces, muttering to himself. "If I don’t seek her out, I can’t be tempted. I know she is on that side of the room, I’ll just go over here and stay here." He stomps to the corner and throws himself down, back to the wall. He can hear her breathing, her whimpering. God, her fear is intoxicating. His demon is clawing at his insides. He puts his head in his hands. "I can’t kill her. I can’t. What would Buffy say? How is she going to love a killer like me? ‘Course, I’m already a killer...one more victim can’t hurt, right?" Spike throws his head back against the wall and bellows, "Bloody hell! No!" He stays in the corner, twitching. Somehow, Ka has made him feel like he hasn’t eaten in days. Of course, maybe he hasn’t. No way to know how long he’s been out.
Minutes pass. Spike has shoved the demon down and sits quietly. His entire body cries for blood. For strength. For anything but this sitting still in the dark with that girl’s heart beating in his brain. It’s like a bird’s heart, beating twice as fast as a human. "Maybe just a taste? I wouldn’t have to kill her..." Spike’s demon licks its lips but is quickly squelched. "No, no, no. I can’t use her for food. I may not have a soul yet, but I know I can’t do that. Tasting innocents is definitely wrong. They’re not going to give me a soul if I rip her throat out." The mental image causes his demon to writhe. Spike squeezes his eyes shut, willing himself to stop hearing her breathing, feeling her heartbeat. "Sod it all, if Buffy was here, she would keep me away from that girl." Spike leans back again, keeping his eyes shut, thinking of Buffy, picturing her smile, her silken hair in his hands... and growls in frustration as his stomach growls first. "How do they expect a starving vampire to ignore an obvious easy meal?" He stands up and stomps halfway across the room, hearing the girl’s heartbeat increase. His game face pushes to the front as he nears the girl, he can almost feel her soft flesh under his hands. He stops. In his mind, that flesh is now Buffy’s. Buffy is the girl in the corner, cowering in fear of an animal. He roars and drops to his knees.
He spits out, to whoever, whatever, is listening, "I. am. not. an. animal."
Spike stays on his knees, struggling for dominance over his base instincts. His earlier thoughts run through his mind...if Buffy was here. He mutters to himself, "What if Buffy was here? What would she be doing if she found this human girl trapped with a vampire? First, she’d bloody well stake the vamp." Spike smiles, despite himself. "Not an option. But then what? She would help the girl. Help her escape, tell her to run." He shakes his head. It can’t be that simple. He stands up very slowly. His human face is back in place and he takes a step closer to the girl. The demon screams for her blood, but he remains calm. Right, simple. Dim light from somewhere above catches her face. She crouches down in the corner. She is young and her brown eyes are wide in terror. Spike’s face wavers. Her blood would be so pure, so delicious. No. He smiles at her. She reminds him a little of Dawn, of his little Bit. "Come on now. Stand up." He puts out his hand. She doesn’t move. "I’m not going to hurt you."
Her voice rings out, wavering in the darkness. "You...you’re a monster. They told me you were a monster. And not to trust you. They said you would kill me." She tries to make herself smaller, her eyes darting around, looking for possible escape.
"Now, I’m sure that’s what you were told. But it’s not true. I’m not going to kill you."
"But you ARE a monster." She states it flatly.
Spike’s jaw clinches. Bloody bint is not making it easy to rescue her. From himself. "I am a vampire. But I will not hurt you, I swear. I...I am going to help you. We should find a way out of here. I may not be the only thing here wanting to kill you."
She stands up slowly, hands clutching the wall. "See, you do want to kill me." Spike is still several steps away from her and she has yet to see his face.
"Listen. I swear on...on...hell, I don‘t know what. Just believe me. I could have killed you when I first woke up and I didn‘t, now did I? I won’t hurt you. " His demon is feeling the frustration in Spike and is feeding on it. His face starts to change and his teeth begin to sharpen.
"O-okay. I guess." His face relaxes back into human guise and he moves closer to her. She is going to trust him? His blue eyes are gentle on hers. She smiles a little, eyes still wet with fear. "You don’t look like a monster."
"Don’t let that fool you. Not all monsters look like the ones in storybooks. Remember that. Now, let’s find a way out of this hole." He takes her hand as he notices a change in the air to his left. "Over here, I think." Her warmth is thrilling. Her scent is coating him. Her blood would taste like...no no no. Spike grits his teeth and drops her hand. "I think there is an opening up there." His night vision serves him well, as he detects a darker area about six feet off the ground.
"How are we going to get up there?" Her voice is shaky, looking around the room. It is so dark in the far corners. Maybe they are not alone.
"I’ll jump up and if it’s a way out, I’ll pull you up...you have a name?" Spike cocks his head at the frail girl standing there, with her arms wrapped around herself. Trying to stop shaking. He thinks perhaps she is in some kind of shock.
"Ye..Yes. It’s Sarah."
"Alright, Sarah. Just stay right here while I check it out." Spike turns away and feels a warm hand on his arm. He shivers. It would be better if she didn’t touch him.
"Um...what is your name?"
"Spike. Or you can call me William." He is unsure why he said that last bit. Trying not to scare her?
"William is a nice name. Um, William?"
"Yes?" Spike looks at the opening and back at the girl.
"Don’t leave me, okay? I...I‘m scared." Her eyes are welling up. She looks around her and shakes some more.
"I won’t. Just wait here." Spike grimaces at his sympathetic feelings toward this waif. He turns back to the wall and jumps up, grabbing the edge of the opening and pulling himself up into it. He crawls ahead a bit; it does appear to be a tunnel. About ten feet in, he feels something scratchy in front of him. A wooden door? He pushes, but it does not budge. He turns around and lies on his back. Kicks the door several times until he hears a crack. Now he can just see out. A hallway. Perfect. He pries the boards away until the opening is big enough for him to get through. He puts his arm through when he has a strange feeling in the back of his head. A twinge. What is that? Sarah. He promised Sarah. But he’ll move faster without her. He hears her voice in his head and he growls low and angry. Damn it. He turns and heads back down the tunnel. His blond head pops out of the opening and he hears Sarah gasp.
"Oh, God. I thought you left me here."
"Promised I’d come back, didn’t I?" Spike is gruff with her. Doesn’t like the role of "hero". Leave that to Angel, Angel and his soddin’ soul. Spike sighs. "Reach towards me, Sarah, and I’ll pull you up, ‘kay?"
She stretches her fingers as close to him as possible. He leans out of the opening a bit and grabs on. Again, the warmth. He can feel the pulse in her wrists as he pulls her up and into the tunnel. He swallows. Awkwardly, they untangle and make their way back through the tunnel. He looks out.
"Looks clear. Let’s go." Spike hops out and helps Sarah crawl through the broken boards. They head to the left, sliding slowly along the wall. This place seems like an old dungeon of sorts. They reach a large door made of wooden planks, reinforced with iron. It is standing ajar. Spike pushes it slowly open and they slip inside. The room appears to have been an armory, at one time. He grabs an axe from the rack on the wall and swings it, testing its balance. Sarah shrinks back. "Now, now. Not going to use it on you. Don’t know what other beasties are lurkin’ about, do we?" Spike spies a short sword. "Here, take this. Ever held a sword?" Sarah takes it carefully and shakes her head. "Now, you’ve got to hold onto it. Like this." Spike adjusts her grip, again feeling her tender flesh under his and swears under his breath.
"What’s the matter, William?"
"Just a bit thirsty. Not to worry." He stands very still. "We’ve got bigger things to worry about now."
A small squeak escapes Sarah. Spike mumbles, "Bollocks. Where the hell did they come from?" His eyes shift right to left, and then he looks over his shoulder, taking a count. Ten vamps in full game face surround them. "Ka’s having fun with me, I see. Makes the beasties appear out of nowhere." He yells to the ceiling, "Not playing quite fair, luv!" He pushes Sarah behind him and whispers, "Stay behind me."
She manages to breathe out, "Are...are they vampires?"
"Yes, that they are." Spike’s mouth twists into a smirk. "Don’worry. I know just how to handle these types." A few vamps move closer, low growls emanating as they smell the fear on Sarah. "Been itching for a fight, boys. All I’ve been doing for hours and hours is talking. " Spike mimics them with a growl of his own and stalks closer.
"Tired of talking."
He launches himself into the air and knocks one vamp down with a spin kick. As Spike lands, he swings the axe and decapitates the next one. Sarah gasps as it explodes into a cloud of dust. Spike has just enough time to realize that she has obviously never seen a vampire dusted before. More move in and Spike punches, kicks and slashes his way through three more. Suddenly, he realizes the warmth of Sarah has moved away. He whips around to see her being dragged away from him by a young, dark-haired vampire, his hand muffling her shrieks.
"Oh no, you don’t." Spike drops his axe, leaps at the vamp and tackles him, knocking Sarah down in the process. The vampire releases his grip on her and she scrambles a few feet away. Spike and the vamp roll in the dust until Spike finds a broken axe handle on the floor. A smirk plays on his face as he grabs it and surprises the young vamp with a stake to the heart. He finds himself suddenly on the floor when his foe turns to dust. He looks up in time to see another vamp lunging towards Sarah on the floor. She scrambles backwards, but is no match for the vamp’s speed. He is on her in one motion and going for her neck. Just as his fangs pierce her skin, her panicked eyes find themselves looking into Spike’s. She looks down to find herself covered in the dust that once was her attacker.
"Th...thank you, William."
"Think nothing of it. Just stay here. Use this if you need to."
Spike gives her his makeshift stake and turns to face his remaining foes, flinging his arms wide open. "Come on now, don’t be shy. I don’t know ‘bout you tossers, but I’m having a grand old time." The smell of Sarah’s blood from where the vamp lightly pierced her skin awakens Spike’s demon. He goes into game face and licks his lips. "Not one of you is having a taste of the girl, so get used to the idea." The four remaining vamps look at each other, and decide for a full frontal attack.
Sarah screams, "Watch out!" as Spike disappears under a pile of undead enemies. The pile is quickly scattered as Spike roars into full strength and stands back up. One vamp is knocked across the room into a wall and slumps to the ground not far from Sarah. Spike snaps up his axe from the floor and quickly separates the nearest vamp’s head from its body. He punches a vampire with stringy blond hair while kicking another backwards. Spike snaps the handle on his axe and throws the sharp end right through the heart of the stumbling one.
Finally, he shoves the blond vampire against the far wall. "I said you wouldn‘t get one drop from her and I meant it." Spike stops and his eyebrow shoots up. ‘Hmm, you smell something?" He wrinkles his nose and backs up just as the vamp flares up and burns to a crisp. Spike drops his lighter back in his pocket and turns to check on Sarah across the room. She is staring at him, her mouth hanging open. The vamp he knocked out is lying only a few feet from her, and he is starting to move again. Spike shouts, "Sarah, move!" She snaps out of her stunned state and looks around. Seeing the vamp waking up near her, she looks at the stake she still clutches. Her lips set in grim determination, she raises it above her head with two hands and plunges it into the chest of the vamp, who goes to dust immediately. The stake clatters to the floor as she covers her mouth with both hands.
Spike is by her side within seconds as she starts to cry. He puts his hands on her arms and speaks quietly, "Well done, Sarah. Knew you could take him. Hey now, look at me. S’alright now." She continues to sob and Spike looks a bit lost. Finally, he sighs and pulls her into his arms, holding her like a child waking up from a bad dream. Which is pretty close to the truth. He rocks her gently, whispering "Shhh, shhh" into her hair. After a few minutes, Sarah is just sniffling, so he sets her back away from him. "Think we can get out of here now, little one? Don’t know ’bout you, but all this dust is making my eyes itch." He smiles at her and is rewarded with a small one in return.
He pulls her to her feet and Sarah kicks at the nearest pile of dust. "Serves you right! Trying to bite me!"
Spike laughs, a deep chuckle. "Didn’t you know you were so spunky, bit." An image of Dawn flashes in his head at this endearment and he realizes it’s not only Buffy he misses. Misses the kid, the one he thinks of as his own little sis. This girl is just a bit younger, but has that same spark. Sarah wipes her eyes and looks around on the floor. "What are you looking for?"
"My sword. I want it. There!" She grabs it up and Spike can’t help but smile. He leans over and picks up his axe, hefting it easily in one hand. He turns to his charge.
"That’s a girl. Let’s go."
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