"Did you know they turned your mum into a comic book character?"
The question came out of nowhere and Robin felt his fists clench in rage. They had been on uneasy terms ever since the incident in the shed. Operating on a mutual, unspoken agreement to avoid all contact.
Now the bleach blonde bloodsucker had the gall to come in here talking about his mother. The single most unacceptable topic of conversation there was.
The furious man was all but ready to forget his promise to Buffy and attempt to stake the vamp when the words actually registered in his mind.
He froze in confusion.
"What?"
Spike leaned casually against the wall, idly lighting a smoke and blowing it towards the other man.
"Yeah it came out in 1973, that's right after she became active right?" He didn't wait for an answer, he knew he was right "I figure someone mustuv seen her in action and decided to make a story outa it. They made a film about her too. Well they made a film about the comic. I saw it the other day. It's pretty good."
The other man stared at him incredulously for a moment. This was ridiculous.
"Spike what the hell are you talking about? If they had made a film about my mother I think I would know about it."
Spike blew another puff of smoke his way and locked eyes with the son of his second Slayer "They did I swear. They changed her up of course, not an exact match but definitely her. I recognised her soon as I saw it, black vampire hunter in a long black trenchcoat taking down vampires that turn into ash when staked, who else could it be? They changed her into a bloke and moved her from New York to LA but I'm sure it's based on her"
Robin continued to stare in horrified shock as the implications set in. "Are you talking about Blade!? You think Blade is based on my mother?"
"Yeah that's it!"
"That's..that's..."
He wanted to argue and tell the vampire he was an idiot, that the idea was completely ridiculous and utterly wrong but now that the thought had been planted in his head Robin had to admit, it was plausible.
He had loved that film when it came out. Watched it five times.
He had always felt a sense of kinship with the conflicted hero; the sense of anger they both shared at losing their mothers to the vampire world, the eternal fight against the undead guiding their lives. He too had noticed the accuracy of the vampires turning to ash, not entirely true to life but close enough to suggest someone involved in the making had witnessed something.
Never had he considered that it was his own mother they had seen. How had he never thought of that before? How had Spike noticed it but not him?
In a way the idea gave him a feeling of comfort.
It was a fitting tribute.
Although it was unfortunate they decided to make the character male.
Apparently he had been silent for too long because Spike seemed to lose interest in the conversation, throwing his cigarette to the ground and crushing it under his heel before straightening up.
"Well anyway. See yah later then."
As he walked away Robin continued to stand in silence staring at the wall where the vampire had just been. After a while his feet took over automatically, leading the stunned man home.
He had a film to watch.
It occurred to me half way through this that if someone had seen Robin with Nikki whilst she was fighting vamps then Blade may have been based on him rather than his mum with someone who only saw a glimpse imagining a back story and subsequent future for the slayers son. Either way I think it fits :)