Disclaimer- lol, if I owned any of the Buffyverse, I would not be writing fanfiction, I would be writing new episodes.
You're Mine
Tara Maclay walked down the Cleveland street, usually crowded, but it was the middle of the night, and storm clouds were rolling in, so the street was empty. Tara was humming a cute little song to herself, today was a very special day, the day she lived.
Exactly 3 years ago, the maniacal Warren Mears had come after Buffy with a gun. He had opened fire, and a stray bullet had passed through the window. Buffy and Spike had fought only a few hours earlier, and he had been planning a trip to go get a soul, but at that moment he had been hidden in the house. At the sounds of the first shot, he had moved. Tara didn't know it was possible to move that fast, by the time she registered the first gunshot, he had crossed the top floor of the house, flattened the door, thrown her and Willow to the ground and placed himself in front of the window. He grunted as he took a bullet that Tara somehow knew had been meant for her. Much more of an issue than a tiny piece of metal was the near direct sunlight coming through the window, but no matter how much it hurt him, Spike stayed in place until he was sure the shooting had stopped. That night he had gone to talk to Warren, Tara chose to take that at face value, as in all fairness they never found a body.
The next night, Tara had asked Spike if there was anything she could do for him. Spike, despite his act of hating them all, had a very obvious soft spot for Tara, he didn't need anything for something as irrelevant to him as taking a bullet, he was pretty sure the Powers had given him the speed anyways, but she had insisted that there had to be something. Spike remembered he had once taken her and Willow to a bar, and Tara had scoffed at the blooming onion Spike was so fond of, calling it an insult to the name, so that night, he asked if she could beat that. Tara had been all too happy, and the resulting treat made colors a bit brighter, music a bit more vibrant, it changed the way Spike saw the world. She would have been happy to make them more often, but Spike felt that it needed to be a special treat, so every year, on the anniversary of the day she did NOT die a miserable death, Tara made Spike his onion, tomorrow was the day, and she was coming home with her special onion batter.
As Tara turned a corner, she noticed a man standing by the alley, he stepped in front of her, into the light of a streetlamp, and she gasped, it was her brother Donny. He smiled his cruel smile, and greeted her with a false warmth 'Hey, Tara! I thought I would never find you! After your town got flattened and you left, you and those little brats were hard to find, I thought we might never get to play my favorite game again!' he still smiled, and his voice was friendly, but his eyes were malice and rage, and the mention of his 'favorite game' made Tara's blood run cold, she remembered the 'game', really more of an attempt to purge what her family called her 'sinful, perverted urges', and make her want men…and the most significant reason she had left home, why she stuttered. She opened her mouth, to beg, to throw herself at his mercy and pray that he wouldn't do it for fear of witnesses. As soon as the hope came to her it was crushed, they were in a dark alley in yet another town where the people knew to stay in at night, there was no hope, and all that came from her throat was a choked sob.
Donnie pushed her into a corner, hard, she felt his hot breath on her face, his cruel, hard hands on her body, pulling at her clothing, squeezing her breasts, trying to force her pants down, she tried to scream, but he gagged her with a dirty rag, and laughed when she struggled. She managed to get some leverage and hit him behind her, a trick she had learned from Faith. She has seen the Slayer knock a mugger out cold with the trick, with the strength of a shy and nerdy pacifist behind it, the move was somewhat less impressive, though she did draw blood. Donnie stopped smiling as he spit blood, he spun her around and raised his fist to retaliate, Tara braced herself for a beating worse than the one she had received the day before she ran away, she closed her eyes…there was a thumping sound, but no pain. Tara peeked, and saw a very familiar man with shocking blonde hair. Spike had apparently grabbed Donnie's fist on the way to her and spun him around. From the looks of it, the thump had been his nose meeting the open palm of Spike's free hand.
'Are you alright?' asked Spike softly. He knocked Donnie out cold with one punch, dropped him and came to Tara. Donnie had torn her clothes pretty badly, leaving her half naked, and it was starting to rain. Spike pulled his leather duster off and wrapped it around the trembling young woman, hugging her protectively. Tara knew she was completely safe now, that Spike loved her like a proper sibling and while he was here, nothing on earth could harm her, but the trauma of the last few minutes, and the flood of remembered horrors that had been brought up left the tears flowing freely. Spike got them under an overhang. He reached into the pocket of his coat, typed out a quick message, and then he just hugged her. He whispered fiercely 'It's okay, it's all going to be okay, you're safe, you're safe and I SWEAR that he will never touch you again.' A few minutes later, Kennedy came running down the alley, she had gotten the address from the text Spike sent, for Kennedy and ONLY Kennedy to come. She took in the scene as she walked up, looked at Tara, looked at Donnie. Kennedy was good friends with Willow, and she loved Tara like a sister, same as most of the gang. As comprehension dawned, the fearful concern in her eyes was gone, replaced by a blind rage. She threw herself at the unconscious Donnie, intent on ripping his head off. Tara called weakly for her to stop, and Spike physically restrained her, whispering 'Tara and I talked before you got here, she asked me not to kill him, or do you seriously think the wanker would still be breathing? Apparently them sharing parents still makes the slightest difference to her. No idea why, but she wants him to live, he lives.' In a lower voice 'Although… he might not want to. You get Tara safely back to Slayer Central, I WILL punish him, you have my word.' Kennedy's clenched fists were shaking. 'Fine, fine, he lives, because Tara is a better person than any of us, she doesn't need that nightmare added to the list. I'll take her home, get her tucked in bed…but I am coming back in the morning, if he is still here, he dies. Period. And if Willow finds out, I'm not protecting him' The powerful, strong-willed Slayer stepped away from Spike and helped Tara to the car waiting around the corner, leaving Spike and the young man. The vampire cracked his knuckles, time to play.
A loud crack woke Donnie, and as he came to, he felt like his arm was on fire, he realized that the sound had been his arm breaking. 'Hello Donnie, so nice of you to join us at last' snarling with pain and holding his arm close, he located the owner of the voice, it was that filthy demon from the magic store! The bleached vampire smirked. 'So you recognize me? Good, so no need for introductions. That wasn't the first time you did that, but it is the first time there was someone stronger than you doing something about it. Now, you vile, cretinous little maggot, you have made a mistake. Your sister does not belong to you anymore. Now, YOU belong to ME!'
Mr. Maclay woke up with a splitting headache. Being a vicious drunk, this was not unusual. The muffled screams coming from outside wouldn't have been unusual either at one time, but he jolted upright when he remembered that Tara was gone. He went to the backyard and could only stand dumbfounded at the spectacle before him. There, in nothing but boxers, beaten and bloodied, with multiple obviously broken major bones…and most shockingly CRUCIFIED, was his son, gagged with his own bloody shirt. There was a note nailed to his feet, and a box on the ground. Mr. Maclay quickly got his son down, calling an ambulance on his cell phone. Donnie blacked out almost immediately, so the elder Maclay settled for reading the note for answers.
Dear Maclay family,
My name is Spike, you may remember me from your visit to Sunnydale, I ensured that I am burned, quite literally into the mind of young Donnie, who I now have a harder time calling your son (see enclosed 'package'). Anyways, my friends and I are in Cleveland, including your daughter, who has taken the surname Rosenberg. I tell you this as a fair warning, Donnie found us and Tara was nice enough to get me to let him live, it will not happen again. I tell you where we are to be very clear. The next Maclay to come to Cleveland will die before they realize where they are, and there I swear to you, come high noon or holy water, every member of your inbred, scum sucking clan will die. This also applies to any attempt to contact Tara. You and your son may have felt strong abusing her, but let me be clear, she is gentle, I am not, and it took every bit of my restraint to only do what I did.
Cheers, Spike
Back at Slayer Central, Spike hummed happily to himself as he sat down, surrounded by friends whom he would gladly kill or die for, to enjoy a very special onion.