A/N : Spike is not in wheelchair for the purposes of this story. He was hurt in the fight at the church but not crippled.
Funny how you think your life will turn out one way and it goes the complete opposite direction. Spike always thought that life was simple. Blood, mayhem, booze, and his dark goddess what more could a bloke want? Nothing that's what, nothing until the great bloody poof sauntered back into their lives. He always spoiled a good thing, delusions of grandeur that one had. He couldn't just snap the slayers neck all nice and quick like, oh no, he had to break her. He had to put on some grand bloody show that would end them all. He just had to drag her friends and family into the mix, had to drag her in.
Spike took another swig out of his flask and looked down and the current source of his torment. A buggering child had reduced him to a twisted mess of his former vampire self. He had killed, maimed, and tortured girls her age and younger countless times over the last century. So why in the bleeding hell was it different now? He should just kill her and be done with it. Rip her head clean off her neck and gorge himself on the river of blood to follow. He stalked toward the bed she lay on intent on doing just that but as he neared she opened her eyes. Those intense wise beyond her tender year's eyes, the eyes that had gotten him into his current predicament. Damn her. Damn Angelus. Damn every moment that had led him to this one. Everything was about to change and he had no bloody clue why. What made this one different? He thought he might have a clue, it was when Angelus first dragged the lil girl into their home covered in blood that he knew, something in him shifted, and he just knew.
"Sp-spike?" That voice, so small and unsure yet with a hidden strength behind it. He met her eyes, saw her draw into herself and pull the covers up around her a little tighter as if to shield herself from the reality of her situation. He thought back on the night that she had come into his life. The first time he had seen those mesmerizing eyes and heard that soft sweet voice.
The door slammed open and Angelus came lumbering in dragging a girl by the hair. Well not so much a girl as a small quivering mess soaked in blood. He dumped her in the middle of the room, kicking her as he passed by. "Drusilla I've brought you a gift." He knew she would love this one. Always had a thing for little girls his Dru did.
Drusilla came floating into the room from the gardens and lit up at the sight of the tiny girl lying at Angelus' feet. "Oh, my Angel has brought me a new dolly this one won't be naughty like Ms. Edith." She came closer and reached out to stroke the girl's hair, who still hadn't moved since being kicked. When Drusilla's hand came in contact with the girl she let out a terrible shriek. She moved back hissing and holding her hand to her chest as if burned. "No daddy we can't play with this one. She is a shadow in this world. Not here, not real, she swims in our minds making shadows where once in was clear. Too much power, the light it glows green but burns red."
Hearing the commotion Spike sauntered into the room and quickly took stock of his girl whimpering and swaying in the corner while a confused Angelus looked on with a tiny mess of human lying in front of him. "What's got my princess so upset?" Spike made his way toward her but she lashed out at him slicing at his neck with her razor sharp nails.
"No Willy! Naughty boy you want to play with the light. You want it to burn you away." Drusilla made like she would lunge at him again but stopped and instead burst into a fit of giggles. "You will be covered in her; she will dance in your head and show you all kinds of pretty horrors."
Spike was used to her riddles, hell half the time he knew exactly what she was talking about even when no one else did but now he had no idea what she was going on about. "What light? Who the bloody hell is 'she'?" He turned to Angelus and noticed the amused smirk on his face. He really hated the wanker. Then he heard a small sound. Almost like a sigh come from the crumpled mess on the floor. Angelus heard it too and turned toward the girl.
"Ah my little Dawnie is finally joining the party." He bent down toward her and lifted her chin forcing her to look in his eyes. "You are the guest of honor after all." He started the chuckle. Not an amused light chuckle it was filled with dark promises of pain.
For the first time since Angel had tricked her into inviting him in her house she realized exactly what was going to happen to her. As the shock wore off and the conversation around her stopped sounding like distant muffled voices she knew. She was going to die. Not a quick barely even know you died kind of death; a horrible, long, slow, painful death. Things like this had never even crossed her young mind but instinct kicked in and she just knew. Why hadn't Buffy told her about the monsters? That Angel was one of them? What were they? She had heard stories as a kid had even heard Buffy talking with her friends about them but just thought it was part of the freaky that was her older sister. The word for the monster, what was it? Vampire, that's what they were called. Angel was a vampire and from the sounds of it there were two others in the room with him.
He had beaten her, beaten her to a point where she felt as if everything inside of her was broken. It had started in the house. Once he had come in he had taken her by the throat and thrown her across the room into a table and lamp. She fell in the shattered glass its sharp edges cutting into her hands and face. She heard heavy footsteps approach and he pulled her up by her hair. Everything after that was a blur. She remembered his fist slamming into her face a couple of times, remembered a sharp stinging pain in her neck. Then she was soaring across the room again only this time when she landed he didn't lift her up but started kicking her as she lay helpless on the ground. After that everything went black until the pain in her scalp drug her out of darkness and she realized she was being dragged by her hair down a dark street. That's when the shock had set in.
Dawn looked into Angel's eyes and what she saw shocked her. Nothing. A great big void of nothing. No emotion, not even hatred, just this swirling mass of emptiness. It was the most frightening thing she had ever seen in her life.
Drusilla broke the moment by starting to cry. "She will take them away from me. All will be lost and I will be all alone. We must send her away daddy."
Angelus walked over to his childe and took her in his arms if only just to get her to shut up. "Now, now Dru have I ever steered us wrong?"
Spike scoffed did the bastard want a list cause he had quite a long one. "Not exactly inspiring trust with that one wanker."
"Shut up Spike. No one is talking to you." Angelus growled showing a bit of fang.
Dawn listened to all of this not knowing what was going on but knowing that if she was going to die she wouldn't so lying down. If Summers women were anything it was strong. She slowly started to lift herself off the ground into a sitting position. Her movement caught Spikes eye and he turned from the disgusting scene of Dru gushing over the overgrown poof and focused on the girl.
Most no scratch that, all humans he had ever seen in her shoes were whimpering masses of pathetic begging. They always tried to bargain. Offer up anything and everything in exchange for their sad small lives. This one hadn't let out a sound any louder than a sigh the entire time. Most tiny bits like her would be crying incessantly but not this one. There was something different about this girl. He was suddenly fascinated by her. He watched as she struggled to stand, falling more than once and never uttering a cry even though she had to be in tremendous pain. Maybe she was still in shock but as she tried again to stand she caught his eye. It was like she was peering into his very soul, only problem was he didn't have one. But in that moment he felt a warmth spread through him that he hadn't felt since his days as William. She kept her fathomless blue eyes locked on his and almost as if that connection alone gave her the strength she needed she attempted to stand again and was successful.
She stood not five feet from him, swaying on unsteady legs her entire body seeping blood and she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Instead of the blood inciting his need to kill it inspired in him a need to protect. To wash this girl clean of the horror that clung to her and hide her away from the world.
Dawn looked at the blonde man, no vampire, in front of her and expected him to look on her with the same nothingness that Angel had but he didn't. What she saw in his eyes confused her. She saw awe, respect, sadness, and finally she saw a flash of tenderness. She held his gaze and seemed to gain the strength from it that she needed to stand. If she was going to die it was going to be on her terms and as confused as she was by the way the blonde vampire was looking at her she was not foolish enough to believe he would save her. He was a monster just like Angel. Angel had been able to pretend to be nice as well. That hadn't ended up so well for her.
She took one stumbling step toward the mysterious vampire, then another, if she was going to die she decided she wanted it to be by this man's hand. If Angel were the one to kill her it would last for days and be indescribably painful. Maybe the flash of concern or whatever it was she had seen in his eyes would be enough to insure a death of mercy. She took one more small step and stumbled, would have fallen if it hadn't been for a pair of gentle hands taking hold of her and pulling her against his body. She glanced up to see the blonde man looking down at her almost as if his own actions confused him.
Angel heard the sound of shuffling feet and turned from Drusilla's embrace to see Dawn not only standing but in the embrace of his moronic grandchilde. He let out deep possessive growl warning Spike to back away from his kill.
Spike glanced down the girl; Dawnie was what Angelus had called her. Hearing the growl coming from across the room he looked down and tried to convey with eyes that he truly was sorry. It confused him as to why he was sorry. It was the first time in what seemed like forever that a human life meant more to him than dinner and show. He yanked her to him violently and felt the bones in his face shift as his fangs descended. He may not be able to save the girl from her fate but he could sure as hell save her a lot of pain.
Dawn felt his face change and almost breathed a sigh of relief. This was what she had wanted. A quick death just a few brief moments of pain then it would be over. She had seen the look in his eyes just before he had smashed her against his chest; it was almost one of incredible regret. Like he didn't want to do this but felt it was the only way. Funny that all of the sudden she was getting this great insight into deep emotions and concepts that three days ago would have alluded her. Maybe that's what impending death did to you. She braced herself for the pain she had felt before knowing now that the searing pain she had felt in her neck before was Angel's fangs piercing her skin. The pain never came. He seemed to be hesitating and then he was ripped away from her and she found herself on her knees before a snarling Angel.
Spike shook his head to clear the fog. He had been about the end the girls misery when he felt himself hurtling through the air and colliding with the wall across the room. Standing in one fluid motion he launched himself at Angelus before he could punish the girl for his actions. He grabbed Angelus by the collar and slammed him down on the ground.
Angelus was going to kill Spike. Family ties be damned he was tired of his insolence. Just as he was about to spring to his feet and rip Spikes head from his shoulders Drusilla let out a loud wailing cry.
"We can't kill her my Angel! She will rip our worlds apart bringing such pretty chaos but the time isn't yet. She has to live first she does not live now. We cannot kill that which is not here. Shadows can play and dance around us but we cannot touch them. Such pretty shadows must not be left to play alone. The future sings to me and we can change all of it with the pretty green light. Shadow turns to light and lays the world to waste my Angel." Drusilla glided up to Angelus and laid her hand on his cheek. "We can break her. Make her ours and change everything. She will dance in blood with us and the slayer will be no more."
Angelus had no idea what Dru was talking about but he knew she had the sight. It was what had attracted him to her in the first place. Only trouble was he had also driven her insane so most of the things she "saw" were illusions created by her own twisted mind. Still it was worth looking into. If this girl had the power to create chaos on earth and end the miserable slayers life then he was going to make sure that happened. Sure that changed his plans a bit but he could always go out and find another girl to torture to hold him over. He took Dru's hand in his own, "Shhh we won't kill her tonight. Let's go out and find another young thing to play with. We will figure out what all this means later princess."
Spike and Dawn watched the entire exchange having no idea what any of it meant. Their eyes met once again and for the first time Spike saw fear reflected back at him. Why when an extension to her life had been granted did she show fear but not when her death was imminent?
Angelus turned to Spike, "Make sure she doesn't escape. Dru and I are going out to have a little fun." As soon as the issue was ordered they were gone.
Spike turned to look at the tiny girl and sighed. What the hell was he going to do now?
TBC…..I plan on taking this story through the entire series skewing off canon in many ways yet sticking to it and the same time. Is anyone interested in that?