"If you want to have a chance at saving the world, you've gotta be on your very best behavior from now on," Buffy said. "Because if you're gonna have any hope of getting in on this plan, you'll need our trust- " She squinted at him. "-and a haircut and some bleach. You really don't look much like the vampire who used to be such a threat in his own mind. You're sorta..."
"You're just loving this, aren't you?"
Buffy smirked. "So you want to help me track down some more spell ingredients, or not?"
"Bloody right I'm in," Spike said.
She quirked a brow at him.
"You're not the one who's been on a short chain to a sodding wall for a couple of days while you lot debated," Spike growled. "Wasting one of the only people who dares go out in the hell that is Sunnydale up there. I almost up and left."
"Sorry," she said, all chirpy and cheerful. "At least it gave you time to heal up, because you weren't looking so good. I was worried."
She was loving that, too, and drawing it out for all it was worth. She'd helped him, and by any measure that was points on her side. "Can we get on with it?" Spike said, and that was an admission.
She relented, bringing out a slip of paper and handing it over. "Here, I've got a list."
Finally, something concrete. He scanned the list, and this new spell was ten times the spell that the other one had been, in terms of ingredients. A quick trip to the White Market wasn't going to put a dent in it.
"So where do you want to start?" Buffy asked.
Spike looked it over again,. "I know where to get a few of these things on the low down," he said. "But where I'm going, you'd be pretty hard to explain."
"If you're asking if we trust you, the answer is no," Buffy said. "But-" She hesitated.
"Can't let your morals get in the way of saving the world, and hope's stronger than fear. Gotta take a risk to save the world. Am I right?"
"You've got a weird habit of being right," Buffy said. "It's annoying."
Spike smiled at her.
"Usual rules apply," Buffy said. "Blindfold and scented nose-plug and ear plugs until we're out of here, and then you're on your own. I've got some places to visit that aren't gonna welcome vampires, so we're even. We'll meet at the White Market."
"Got it," Spike said, rattling his chains.
"Now, which of these do you think you can get?" Buffy asked. Apparently, she wanted to spend the whole day coordinating, but Spike was eager to get going.
"Tell you what, Slayer," Spike said. "How about you check out the sources you know about, and I'll run down the ones I do, and we'll see who ends up with more."
Buffy just looked at him.
"What, scared of a little competition?" Spike taunted. Not that it really counted as a competition if no one ended up dead at the end. "Make it interesting. I'll bet you that stake of yours, the one that you keep all safe and special-like, versus my duster that I get more than you."
The stake had belonged to Kendra. There wasn't a chance in hell Buffy'd take the deal - but Buffy surprised him. She smiled and said, "You have not yet seen the shopping-fu of the Summers clan in action. Wait and prepare to be amazed. And to give me your duster."
"Never gonna happen," Spike snarled, suddenly even more eager to get out and raise some Cain for a good cause. Competition in any form: he'd missed it. "Now let's get going. Time's wasting, love." Buffy gave him the stink eye. "Slayer."
-.-.-.-.-
He started off at Joe's, but Joe's wasn't there. Then he tried Len's, and same thing. Lake of fire, no bloody bar, and that was too bad because he needed a drink. He was starting to regret the bloody bet.
There was no help for it, he'd have to go to Petruccio's Poteen Palace. It didn't live up to its name; it was just another underground bar, a little sleezier than some. The same underground bar where he'd met the Watcher, actually, when a some drunken words had gotten him an in with the white hat squad. Funny how things worked out, and here he was back again, but this time with a goal. No mindless drinking, no sitting back watching the fights.
He was taking over.
So he breezed in with a snarl on his vampire face, and headed directly to the bar and ordered whiskey and blood. Then he turned to assess the competition. The place was crawling with demons. The demon hunter contingent that Giles had been out on the town with that night was not showing today - probably been driven out, no surprise there. Because the place was filled with some of the nastiest demons and vampires around.
The main vampire contingent was headed by a skinny teenager who usually called San Diego her kingdom. Three hundred years worth of scrabbling her way up to the top, first on the East Coast, then out in California - but Spike could take her. She had her minions cowed, waiting on her pleasure. Good for her. The rest of the vampires were the loners, singles and pairs spread out and jockeying for a place. Spike recognized a bunch of them too, and most of them didn't belong in Sunnydale.
The ones that did... Spike spotted a couple of Angelus's minions. Good. Let them watch and bring the news back to Angelus. Spike was back, and he wasn't deferring to anyone.
The demons were a bit more complicated. No one was gonna mess with the Kuauracku demons, but they weren't gonna pay any attention to anyone who wasn't a Kuauracku either. The Ssssisssoo had a angry eye on the Tlep, the Tlep was slavering over the family of Shenjosa, they'd better watch out there, but the Shenjosa were either celebrating or mourning, and either way they were the loudest and the most oblivious of the major demons.
The minor demons fit themselves into the gaps, keeping the peace and sucking up. He knew a few of them, but most of them weren't from around- His gaze sharpened on a pair of demons he recognized. They might have seen him here a couple of times, all maudlin and cursing Drusilla and hell and anything that came to mind. They might have bought him a few drinks and made bets on how long it'd take him to get to the singing phase. And he might have let them.
One of them nudged the other and they both turned to smirk at him. Thought they knew what he was here for, and that wouldn't do. Spike tossed back his blood whiskey and sauntered over.
"Spike! Buddy!" the first demon said. The light gleamed off the sleek purple feathers along the dome of his skull, and his crackled blue skin stretched unpleasantly into a crooked smile. Spike pushed between him and his friend, and the demon twitched nervously.
"It's been weeks," the second demon said. His skull feathers were orange, his skin yellow. "Buy you a drink?"
Spike grinned, savoring the moment.
"Buy you two drinks?" The demons both started to edge away. "Three-"
Spike punched the first one and then turned on the second one as he was turning to flee and punched him too. They both went flying - light as a pair of birds - across the room and landed in the middle of the group of Shenjosa. Damn, he'd been aiming for the Ssssisssoo.
No time for regrets. The Shenjosa converged on the feathered demons, the Tlep grabbed one of them while they were distracted, and Spike grabbed the Tlep. Target of opportunity. He knocked the Tlep on the head and left it dazed, and as the Shenjosa ran back to its family Spike turned on the Ssssisssoo.
Too late. It had moved out of range.
Spike brushed a few minor demons out of his way, threw a Shenjosa that tried to tackle him, got bit by something down around floor level - bloody hell that hurt - and then the Ssssisssoo landed a kick that doubled him over just before one of the freelance vampires took advantage of the opportunity and attacked the Ssssisssoo from behind.
After that, it was a free-for-all. More kicks and punches flying per square foot of floorspace than any bar fight Spike had seen in a long time, and he got his fair share in. More than his fair share, until he almost forgot what he was here for, lost in the dance.
He found himself washed by the currents of the fight into a backwater, the gap between the fight and the massive Kuauracku. Nobody bother the Kuauracku, even the Ssssisssoo and the Tlep, fighting to the death nearby, kept a safe distance. Old grudge, Spike decided, and grabbed an abandoned drink from the bar near the Kuauracku.
He almost choked on it when the Tlep knocked into him, and in that split second he saw an opening that led to exactly what he wanted and he bloody well took it. Sidestep and push, and the Tlep went stumbling past him into the Kuauracku.
The Kuauracku roared. Everything stopped.
As a room full of demons and vampires fighting turned into a room full of demons and vampires backing away, the Kuauracku turned and crushed the Tlep. One massive fist pounding a demon into the floor. Then the Kuauracku turned back to its drink.
The fight was over. After that, no one really wanted to get back to ordinary brawling.
"That could have turned out badly," Spike muttered to himself. Kuauracku on a rampage, bad news. He hadn't even noticed the risk, just the opportunity, and now that it'd paid off, he turned to the Ssssisssoo.
The Ssssisssoo had seen what had happened, good. "Killed your enemy for you," Spike said.
"I owe you a debt," the Ssssisssoo said, and Spike grinned. More than one way to skin a Ssssisssoo, and he'd missed out on the defeating it in combat way, but killing its enemy was almost as good. And the Ssssisssoo were notorious hoarders, both of information and of items of value. This was going to be good.
"I'll tell you what you can do for me," Spike said.
Arrangements with the Ssssisssoo settled to both their satisfaction, Spike found that he'd acquired a following. The two feathered demons had survived the fight by jumping up into exposed pipes in the ceiling, and they had friends who also wanted to congratulate Spike on his definite not-loss of the big fight.
Spike sent the weak ones off for drinks and told the rest to follow him while he made a circuit of the room. Amazing how many demons and vampires were willing to do you a little favor when you'd just beat most of them up consecutively or concurrently and had a bunch of demons following you around. Even the San Diego vampire queen detached a few of her minions to run an errands for him. Sign of respect, and he bloody well deserved it, but he made sure to show her a little respect too. She bloody well deserved it too. He'd seen what she'd done to one of the Shenjosa.
It took a while to arrange everything, information and errands and items crossed off the list, but at last he settled in back at the bar with another whiskey and blood and the contented feeling of a job well done.
"Do you want to know what I've been thinking ever since I saw you come in with that shit-eating grin on that wicked face of yours?" One of the vampires who'd been drinking alone slid in next to Spike. Her hair was pulled back into a sleek knot at the nape of her neck, and she was wearing a sundress, which was an ironic choice for a vampire.
"Where's Drusilla? That's what I've been thinking, and if you tell me you finally got fed up and killed her I won't wonder one bit, sweetie."
Spike didn't recognize her. "It's Millie," the vampire said. "Now I know I've been out of touch with the wider world for a while, that's life in the boondocks, honey, but..." She tilted her head to the side provocatively and waited.
"I heard you'd taken over a town in Canada," Spike said, remembering who she was just in time. Think fast, prove you'd been around for long enough to remember, long enough to keep score. The other vampire game.
"You do remember me! It's Montana, but close enough."
And he was already a few points behind, but Spike didn't actually play this game. Never had, and he bloody well never would. "Enjoy the fight?" he asked instead. He'd seen her get a few blows in, now that he thought about it. "You owe me a drink," he added. A blatant lie.
She raised a hand and placed an order without quibbling. She was drinking brandy and AB positive, a complex drink that she sipped and smiled.
"After your performance, I thought for sure we'd see Drusilla waltzing in to take her share of the laurels," Millie said. "And her share of the decision making. You're recruiting, right?"
He could see how she'd got that impression. "No." Off her look of disbelief, he added, "I'm working alone."
"You mean to tell me that Dru's not around here somewhere? And that you're not Angelus's bully boy? I hear it's King Angelus now." She paused, measured out her words carefully. "I guess that explains the hair, sweetie, I was wondering why Dru put up with it."
Spike couldn't help it; he put a hand to the tangle of hair that hadn't seen bleach or product in too long. And her eyes sparkled with amusement. He slammed his fist into the table. "King of the Ninnies," he snapped. "Because only a ninny would think Angelus had any business being king of anything. I left him and Dru to it months ago. I'm working alone, and if you're in favor of living in this bloody stupid hell like King Angelus, then-
She kicked him in the shin. Barely hard enough to hurt, but he was so startled he stop for just long enough to give her an opening. "I'm no fan of hell. That town in Montana? Home sweet home for a hundred years? It's under thirty feet of lava, and I'm not real happy about that. But honey-"
He slammed a punch into her shoulder, and she took it without flinching or stopping the flow of words.
"-don't try to play me for a rube. I've seen you in action, Calcutta, 1887. I know your modus operandi, and it involves a woman. You need to lay your bright deeds at her feet."
"Not anymore," Spike said. "I'm working alone now. I'm doing something worthwhile, not fiddling around while hell burns everything worth living for to cinders."
She gave him a knowing look. "So who's the replacement? The new woman?"
For one instant, an image of a pert blond slayer popped into his head. He slapped that thought down before he could really think it, his face sliding into a show of ugly vampiric anger. "If you think you're gonna apply for the job, I can knock that idea right out of your sodding head," he snarled.
She met him, her eyes glowing golden and her fangs showing as she said, "The job I came here to apply for, the thing that's got this whole town full, that job's with Angelus, not you."
"Angelus is recruiting?" Spike asked, flat out flabbergasted to hear it. That prancing ponce with his crown and his decadent court...
"Maybe you don't realize it, but things are bad, Spike. Very bad. And Sunnydale - King Angelus - that's the only place on this whole continent where us demons have any hope. Angelus is gathering an army to fight and that's why I'm here."
"Angelus? Fighting against hell? He's the one who bloody stuck us all here in the first place."
"Maybe so, but everyone's getting desperate. You know that - you took advantage of it quickly enough to start a fight. Sunnydale is a powder keg just waiting to blow, filled with vamps and demons who haven't established a pecking order. We don't know each other, but sweetie, we've all heard about Angelus."
"Stupid bloke can't be anything but number one," Spike grumbled. "Number one moron, if you ask me."
"Number one hope when there isn't anything else. He controls the earth and the sky and even the hell-lords pay attention to him. Honey, the way things have been going, that means something. When's the last time you saw a healthy meal?"
"Been busy," Spike said defensively, thinking about the two bars that had closed in the last couple of weeks. Shut down by the hell demons, most likely. They didn't like fun. And if Sunnydale was doing better than most places, that didn't say anything good. "Besides, Sunnydale's always been a powder keg. Place was on the hellmouth before it was in hell."
"Tell me the truth, Spike, what's got you so tied up that you're completely oblivious to what's going on in your own little town? What else could possibly be going on that more important?"
He drew himself up. "I'd like to tell you, but it's a secret," he said.
She leaned in. "You can tell me. I'll never tell."
"Really? Because I seem to remember-"
Now she was playing up to him, not against him. "I'm the very soul of discretion, without the soul, of course."
He laughed, enjoying the attention. "I can tell you this much. I'm working with a very powerful witch, and if what we're doing pays off, anything Angelus is doing will look like a grain of sand next to Mount Rushmore. Only they'll have to call it Mount Spike."
"You boys do like your grandiose plans," she said. "A witch? And let me guess, it's something that our hellish overlords wouldn't approve of."
"Approve? They'd piss in their pants if they knew what was in store for them," Spike said.
She leaned in even closer, and Spike was happy to play her little game. They fenced back and forth, her teasing, him holding back, until Spike's temporary minions started returning.
"You get back to your mysteries," she said. "But if you really mean it about setting the hell demons back-"
"I've never wanted anything half as much as I want to send the bloody hell demons back to the bloody hell they came from, and get hell off this earth."
"-then if you ever do get to recruiting for this mysterious project of yours, look me up first, you hear?"
Spike looked at her, all perfectly groomed, but he didn't make the mistake of underestimating her. "I'll do that."
-.-.-.-.-
Spike was the first back to the meeting place, and he was strutting when he knocked the knock that let him into the White Market. He didn't have everything on the list, not by a long shot, but this was a long term list, and there was no way the Slayer was gonna beat him on the day's-
He stopped before he fell through the floor.
And stared.
"Spike. You're blocking the-"
"Hello, blondie," Spike said, moving aside so she could stare too.
"What's that?" she asked, sounding stunned.
"Well, it's either the forces of hell sending a message, or someone's gonna be mightily pissed at whoever let their pet fireball loose in the market," Spike said. "I'm betting on the first."
They started some more. The fire crackled and part of the ceiling collapsed and disappeared into the fire. It burned to ash in a few seconds, and the fireball seemed a tiny bit bigger afterwards.
"We'd better go before we become part of the message," Buffy said.
"Right," Spike said. "Nothing for us here."
It was bloody Angelus's fault, Spike thought as he followed Buffy through the market. Starting a bloody war. That message is for him, and for any Earth-type demon around. We know where you buy your supplies. We know where the little pockets of Earth remain, the ones you thought were safely hidden away, and we can take them out any time we want.
The whole market was subdued. Only the slave market had a crowd. Angelus sure knew how to make things sodding worse.
"We don't have a lot of time," Buffy said, from the stew of her own thoughts. She was frowning.
"You noticed that, did you?"
"Everything's getting worse. Fast. If we don't hurry, we won't have any chance at all." She glared at him like it was his fault. "So I hope you got your share of the ingredients for the magics, cause you've gotta do your share if this is gonna work."
Spike sauntered, bearing her glare with insouciance. "That and we had a bet on, pet. Remember? Or do you want to forget because you couldn't find much?"
"I found plenty," Buffy said.
"Oh yeah?"
And then they were hurrying away, faster and fast, but not to get away from what they'd just seen - oh no - but to get in among the acres of empty houses where they could break down a door and compare their hauls, both completely certain they'd won the bet. And completely serious about winning, too.
"What?" Buffy said when they'd tallied everything up. "The only reason you won is because you're evil," Buffy claimed.
"Never denied it," Spike said smugly. "And I'm not the only one."
"But you can't trust evil," Buffy said.
"Speak for yourself."
"And speaking for myself, I just remembered one more thing." Buffy reached into her pocket and carefully drew out a gold necklace with a enamel pendant. Cheap stuff.
"What's that?" Spike asked, offended. "It's crap."
"I saved a man's life and he gave it to me. It used to be his daughter's."
"That's never on the list," Spike accused. "What are you trying to pull?"
"The whole point of this is to save the world. I saved someone, so on a scale of one to saved, you're a zero and I'm a-"
"Cheater. Just trying to keep your bloody stake." Spike swept his ingredients back into their bag and stood up. "Shouldn't have bet it if you didn't want to lose it."
"Am not," Buffy said. And she wasn't play a game, she sounded completely sincere. "You can have the stake, it's not what's important."
He looked at her suspiciously.
"But I still won."
"Cheater."
They argued all the way back to the point where Spike had to shut up and put on the blindfold. And the nose plugs. And all that crap. And let the bloody Slayer lead him inside like a sheep to the slaughter. He never quit half expecting a stake to the heart at some point in this whole rigamarole, but it didn't come this time either.
And when they were inside, while he was still blindfolded, Buffy handed off something else she had that wasn't on the list. She slipped it into his pocket, and she probably thought he wouldn't notice but he did.
When he was alone, he dug it out.
A bleach kit. Just what he'd need if he was going to go back in time and pretend to be pre-hell Spike.
Bloody Slayer. He didn't know what to make of her.