Author: Dsmith141
Title: The Poet and the Pendulum
Summary: Ok this is a challenge that I received from my friend Hello_Spikey of LJ. She challenged me to write a story about a newly chipped Spike going to Tara for help.
Rating: M/15 for bad language but there shouldn't be a lot more than that
Disclaimer: We should be past this but for various legal and copyright reasons I must stress how very much I DO NOT OWN THIS UNIVERSE. I'm just gonna play with it. I promise I'll put it back when I'm done.
Timeline: OK set in season 4 of Buffy at the end of the episode "The Initiative" but from there on out its all mine so anything that happens in the show may not necessarily be included. Oh and Spike obviously knows that it's a micro-chip 'cause he's the clever deductive sort and Tara is Bi not a lesbian. Also any involvement we have from the Angel team will be from season 3 or 4 so it's a little AU because of timeline jiggling.
The Poet and the Pendulum
Riley and his unit raced up the stairs scattering students as they ran through the halls. They flew down the hall and reached Willow's room. The door was immediately smashed from its hinges and Willow raced out knocking them out of the way. One of the commandoes immediately pointed their tranquilizer gun at Willow.
Riley reacted quickly immediately ordering the soldier "No, hold your fire!"
Spike rushed out and slammed Graham into a wall with Willow cowering in a corner. He dove over to bite Graham causing his head to explode with pain from the chip.
"It's on me!" Spike dipped his head back down to the commando's neck to receive yet another blast of pain to echo throughout his skull.
"Aah!"
"Move!"
Spike struggled against the clutches of the commandos but was eventually contained.
"Bag it, tag it. We're gone. Sir... Civilian. Could've turned." He nodded his head towards Willow who was still cowering in a corner.
Riley glanced over to the frightened redhead and shook his head "Leave her."
"We can't neglect quarantine, sir! "
During the argument Spike seized his chance and broke free from the clutches of his oppressors. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and smashed a commando with it receiving another short burst through his skull. Another soldier went to shoot him, but he held up the extinguisher and the bullet perforated the shell making the hall fill with CO2 gas. Willow immediately bolted to run.
"Stop her!"
A commando grabbed her and held her up in front of his face, "She's contained."
Buffy ran around the corner to see her friend in the clutches of a soldier "Contain this!"
The commando who was holding Willow turned around and is blinded as his night vision goggles were overloaded by the intense flash of a flare gun shot from the hands of the slayer. The flare bounced around the corridor blinding the soldiers, stunning them enough for Willow to run back into her room, prompted by Buffy.
The commandoes tore off their goggles, throwing them to the floor "Aah! Ow! I'm blind! What the hell was that?"
Buffy began to fight the commandos and was redirected into a wall by Riley and the lingering Spike took his chance and fled, tearing through the corridors.
The vampire jumped over the banisters of the stair set and raced down the corridor, colliding violently with a blonde student, clutching towels and a wash bag. He rose from the floor in full game face due to the pain in his skull to see the blonde standing there, her belongings left on the floor. She looked puzzled at him and gasped, stuttering "Y-you're a vampire."
Spike inhaled deeply. He could feel the power radiating from the blonde. "You don't seem so surprised"
"I've lived h-here for years and you're kind aren't inconspicuous"
"What's your name witch?"
"H-how did you know I was a witch?"
"The amount of power you're givin' off could power Vegas"
Tara looked at him and thought. "Why haven't you killed me yet?"
Spike sighed and anger bubbled inside him "bloody can't can I. Soddin' government stuck a bloody chip in my soddin' head and now I can't cause pain or even think about it without my head bein fried"
The girl giggled lightly at the frustrated English cursing which caused Spike to calm down slightly.
"Bloody glad someone finds it so funny"
"Sorry but flustered Englishmen are f-funny"
Spike looked at the shy, blushing blonde and smiled. He heard the thundering of boots stampeding down the stairs. "Shit, soldiers are back. Bye pet."
The witch bit her lip and thought. "Wait they'll see you. Get in here" She ushered the vampire into her dorm room and managed to close the door just as the first soldier reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Pet. Why are you doing this?"
"I-I don't like the idea o-of living things being e-experimented on."
"You do remember the whole me being a vampire part?"
"Y-yes but d-demons are no more different than p-predatory animals"
Spike stood and thought for a moment, "never thought of it that way pet."
The blonde smiled and walked further into her room and filled the kettle, switching it on, "Do you w-want some tea?"
"Yes please pet."
"Milk?"
"Yep"
"Sugar?"
"No thanks luv I'm sweet enough" The vampire smirked at the witch. "So what's your name?"
"Tara. T-Tara Maclay. What's yours?"
"Spike"
"Spike?"
"Yep. Human name was William but he was a different person. Nothing like me"
"H-how so?" Tara sat on the floor, legs crossed in front of her, intrigued by the vampire.
"When I was human I was a poet. Bloody awful one but a poet all the same. When Dru turned me things changed. I went from being this sensitive bloke to being a raging monster in a period of weeks and I've never looked back. Now I've got this bloody chip in my head I feel pathetic. Not even a whole vamp. Like a bloody caged animal."
"H-how do you know it's a chip?"
"Saw the little remote control in soldier boy's belt, turns it on and off. Writin' on the top said Behaviour Modification Micro-technology. Put two and two together"
"S-so they put a microchip in your head and it's c-changing your natural behaviour?"
"Looks like"
"Damnit"
"What?"
"N-nothing, it's just I voted for the current president" She looked at Spike and smiled slightly.
"Bloody hell. Makin' jokes at my expense already. I don't scare you at all do I"
He smiled at her and she grinned back, "N-not in the least."
He looked at the witch as he brought his mug to his lips. He searched her eyes for any sense of fear but all he saw was laughter, with a deep-set pain that had been long forgotten lingering in the background.
"Come on then pet, is my turn. What's left that hurt in you that you're coverin' up?"
She took a mouthful of her tea and hung her head and whispered, her smile forgotten "Family troubles."
"Had my share of them pet."
She brought her gaze back up to his eye-line and spoke glumly, "Oh really? I think I c-could trump whatever you care to throw at me."
"Pet I loved my mom more than anything in the world but she was dying. Do you know what the first thing I did when I was turned was? I turned my mom to save her life but as soon as she rose that love, that happiness, the brightness that had been my mother was gone so I killed her with my own hands."
"I-I'm sorry"
"Don't be, all in the past now isn't it."
"I s-suppose. My m-mom was a witch but my father t-told me she was a demon. She was ill for a long time too and she d-died when I was 17 and I was raised thinking that I was part demon just l-like her, just because she had magical abilities. When my m-mom died I walked out. I rebelled and left." Tara choked on her suppressed tears as she raised her mug to her mouth again, her hair covering her face.
"There's no demon in you, pet. I'd sense it."
"Oh I know. One of the f-first spells I did was to c-check. It was just something my f-father used to control me and my m-mom."
"Sounds like a right git."
"Y-yea"
The two sat in silence for a short while, drinking their tea and thinking about their families. Tara is the first to speak up, her sadness once again buried behind the walls she's constructed within herself. "O-ok my turn again n-now. Tell me s-something about your days as a vampire"
"Hmm. Got plenty of stories. Best one is from world war two. Me, Dru and Angelus were in Poland around the time of the holocaust. We were evil but even we hated the Nazi's. Genocide is wrong in any language, any species. We bumped into a commandant in a bar one night, boasting about how many people he'd added to the mass grave that day and Angelus lost it. Some of his ancestors were Jewish so he was pissed. Hit a little close to home. He grabbed this commandant and told me and Dru to round up his friends. We tied them up, broke their kneecaps and put them in the back of their van. Angelus refused to drink from them. Said he wanted them to suffer before they died. We drove them to Auschwitz and put them in the furnace, turned it on low and locked them in there for a bit. Let them burn and scream, took them back out and threw them in the gas chamber. We were gonna release the prisoners but Dru said we weren't allowed. Told us the timeline had been set and we weren't allowed to do any more to stop it. She made us let one of the soldiers go. Angelus tortured her for days to vent his frustration."
Tara sat before the vampire, a smile playing on her lips. When Spike finished his story he looked puzzled. "What's the joke pet?"
"Just the i-irony. Nazi brags about how many J-Jews he gassed in the chamber so you b-burn him and throw him in there. P-poetic justice don't you think"
"You're bloody right there luv. Plenty more stories where that one came from."
"T-tell me"
"Hope you're not too squeamish pet."
Spike smirked at the witch as she settles herself to listen to more of his stories, their mugs discarded, forgotten. The two were engrossed in their conversation for hours. Spike looked up at the clock and saw the digital numbers.
"Shit. Sorry pet but I've gotta go."
"Oh my god we were up all night?"
"Seems so pet."
"W-we should do this again sometime."
"Sure pet. How about tonight?"
"Yea sure. M-meet me at the Espresso Pump."
"Sounds good pet. I'll see you then."
"When?"
"Soon as the sun goes down." Spike stood and in a flurry of black leather he was gone, the back of his coat flipping around the door.
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Donut duty. It was the night of their weekly sweep of the books for prophecies. The books were out and Xander wasn't at Giles' yet so she'd been sent to the Espresso Pump for "research supplies" or in the common tongue, coffee and donuts. She turned from her place at the counted to see the blonde girl from her Wicca group sitting opposite the corner seat, laughing and leaning back into her chair. Willow's curiosity was piqued. Tara had always seemed so shy but here she looked anything but, she seemed to have come out of her shell. She walked away from the coffee shop intent on identifying the source of Tara's happiness to see him sitting in the corner, snarling lightly. Willow froze before turning and running for all she was worth. One run-in with Spike could have been put down to coincidence, or him drinking heavily, but two never came up good. The witch fled, her red mane whipping out behind her. She ran until she reached the librarian's house where she crashed through the door, almost taking it off of its hinges.
"Guys we have a problem. Spike's using magic."
The gang stared back at her, mouths gaping. Giles removed his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose, mainly feeling the pain from his abused front door.
"Willow would you care to explain how you, er, reached this conclusion?"
"He was sitting in the Espresso Pump with a girl I know from school and-and she was laughing and relaxed and he was in game face and snarling something."
"You reached this conclusion because Spike made a girl laugh?"
"No Giles. Tara's too shy to be like that. If you knew her and if you'd seen her you'd know something was wrong. He's either using a spell or he's hunting again and was just using her for fun."
Buffy stood up and looked at her friend's clear distress. "Giles I think we should check it out, find out what he's up too. This is twice in two days we've bumped into him. This can't be good."
"I'm with Buff, G-man let's mount up"
Giles thought for a moment as he cleaned his glasses and placed them back onto the bridge of his nose. "Well I suppose there's no harm in doing a little surveillance but we don't attack in public unless someone's life is in danger. We mustn't cause panic"
Buffy smiled at Willow, happy with the situation, and turned to the weapons chest, doling out discreet weapons to her companions before leading them out into the Sunnydale night.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The vampire and the witch sat at the Espresso Pump laughing together, relaying stories about their pasts. When Spike had impersonated the way he snarled at a wall-street banker before the crash Tara had almost wept with laughter. She hadn't even noticed the redhead fleeing behind her. She didn't register the creature before her as a vampire any more. He was now a friend and his species no longer mattered to her. They talked late into the night, once again their drinks discarded. During an eventual gap in the conversation Spike took a mouthful of his tea and grimaced.
"Eurgh. Pet why do we bother with the tea."
Tara picked up her mug and dipped a finger in the brown liquid inside, only to withdraw it rapidly due to the extremely low temperature.
"Oops. W-we kinda talked too much"
"We tend to do that pet" The vampire's eyes glinted again with his smug yet flirty glint as he ran his tongue over his blunt teeth.
"I should p-probably get back to my dorm. I've gotta be up sometime before 3 o clock tomorrow" The blonde witch gave her own version of the vampire's trademark look causing Spike to cock his head slightly as he returned her gaze.
"Hate to be an inconvenience pet"
Tara blushed "N-not inconvenient. Just slightly difficult as far as sleeping hours are concerned" She looked up at the end of her sentence to give a shy smile to find the vampire with a smug grim plastered across his face.
"Slight allergy to sunlight pet. You go get some sleep, I've got some house hunting to do."
"Y-you're looking for a house?"
"Less a house more a nice crypt."
"Ooooh not cliché at all"
Spike was once again taken aback by the sarcastic humour of the blonde causing another grin to spread across his features. "When should I meet you pet?"
"Well I've gotta w-work tomorrow night but I can meet you afterwards"
"I'll look forward to it. Where do you work?"
"Just meet me here."
The vampire watched the witch leave before swirling away off in the direction of the closest cemetery to begin his search. He barely made it around the corner before he was grabbed and smashed into a wall by the Slayer and her hunting party. He looked down to find the small blonde holding him up against the wall with her hand and the tip of a silver shortsword up against his throat.
"Spike, what are you up to?"
"What"
Willow stepped forward and stood beside Buffy, "What were you doing with Tara?"
"Talking. We're friends. Last time I checked that wasn't a crime"
Buffy scoffed, "Spike, you're a vampire. You don't have friends"
"Sod off slayer, take you and your army of pillocks with toothpicks elsewhere. I'm not doin' anything wrong."
"Oh yea well maybe I should just kill you to be sure"
"Yea right" Spike kicked Buffy in the gut, causing her to drop him and pain to course through his skull as he staggered off in the direction of the cemetery, leaving the scoobies to deal with the downed slayer. By the time they had recovered from the sudden shock the blonde vampire had disappeared into the distance.
"I should probably talk to Tara about this. See if she remembers anything, the spell would probably make her memories black out."
"Good idea. We need to find out what's going on."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tara awoke the next morning with the same feeling of happiness which she had taken with her to bed. Her relationship with Spike had bloomed and in two days she already felt like he knew more about her than anyone else. She felt that she could be herself around him, she stuttered less. She wasn't nervous when he was there. On the whole she felt at peace around her new friend and she contemplated her new found relationship as she readied herself for class and walked across campus. Her art history class seemed to fly by without any of the Professor's words permeating the thick haze of glee which surrounded her. She walked idly through the halls after class, her smile never leaving her face.
"Tara, Tara wait up."
The blonde turned to see the redheaded girl from her Wicca group run up to her. "Hey W-willow"
"Hi, how're you doin'?"
"I'm great."
"You're looking a bit dazed there"
Tara snapped out of her daze for a moment as her vacancy hit her, "I'm just r-really happy. I had a r-really great night last night."
Willow gulped inwardly but managed to keep her cool for the most part, "What, er, what did you get up to last night?"
"I was just h-hanging out with this guy I met. I really like him. We just s-sat and t-talked and laughed for hours"
"What does he look like?"
"Blonde, l-leather trench coat. Quite m-muscular. Cheekbones s-so chiselled you know that there m-must be a god." Tara blushed and giggled shyly.
Willow blanched. Tara remembered everything. But her daze, surely it must be a spell. She had to tell Buffy. "Well I've gotta go now. Got a paper due tomorrow so I've gotta finish tying it off"
Tara was back in her glee filled daze and barely noticed that the redhead had left. She knew that there was something special about the vampire but she didn't know what. All she knew was that she had to see him again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Willow ran back to the dorm room to find it empty. She immediately grabbed the phone and called Buffy on her cell.
"Hello"
"Hi. It's Willow"
"Any News on Tara?"
"She remembers everything but today she looked all dazed and vacant. There's gotta be a spell"
"Ok meet at Giles' at 7. We'll meet there and then we'll follow her. See what happens. If she meets him then we'll stake him before he can hurt her"
"Ok I'll see you there" Willow heard the line go dead and she replaced the phone into the cradle. She paced back and forth across the room scanning her mind for any spell or potion that could be afflicting her colleague.
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The gang gathered at the ex-watcher's house at 7 o clock. Willow was the last to arrive and she'd barely made it through the door before she'd been handed a stake and was being herded out of the door. The group spotted the vampire leaving the cemetery at the end of Sunnydale's main street. They hung back and followed as he walked up to the Espresso Pump to see the blonde witch waiting for him. Buffy's gaze hung on the two and saw the happy daze that hung around the girl.
"How do we tell if it's a spell?"
"Willow, focus. See if you can pick up a magical aura coming from their direction"
The redhead concentrated on the pair of blondes up the street and was immediately hit by a huge warming wave of magic. "It's a spell. And a powerful one too."
Buffy turned to the gang. "Ok you guys head on back. I don't want you to get hurt."
"You sure Buffy?"
Giles looked at the slayer and nodded, "Buffy's right. Spike is a master vampire and is a threat to us in any case. If he's using magic that just makes him worse."
The gang agreed with the ex-librarian and turned, heading off towards his house. Buffy faced the vampire and followed the two blondes as they moved in the other direction. She ran after them and dove for Spike, her stake extended to pierce his back. His vampire hearing picked up her thundering footfalls and turned mid-step to swat her away with the palm of his hand, while ducking out of the way with Tara shielded under his other arm. Spike left Tara standing at the side of the road as he squared up against the rising slayer.
Buffy launched attacks at Spike who parried them with ease he swung back and launched his own fist at the slayer only to be thrown back by the pain in his head. The agony blinded him and he rolled on the floor with pain. He opened his eyes to see only an infinite number of white dots clouding his vision. Buffy moved closer to stake him. Her hand fell with the stake clasped in her fist. Tara panicked and magic flared within her. Spike turned his head to see Buffy's hand approaching his chest and waited for the inevitable feeling of pain, only to have it denied as Buffy was thrown backwards as though struck by an invisible hammer.
Spike looked at Tara as she crumpled to the floor and heard a slam and a screech of tires and then a smash. He ran to the witch and looked back for the slayer, to see her lying slumped through a wall. Her flight had been intercepted by a bus, which had only added to her momentum, throwing her through half a foot of cement. He turned and quickly picked up the passed out witch, feeling for her pulse, as he ran with her to the student halls, leaving the slayer behind.