CHAPTER SEVEN – THE INVISIBLE ALLEY

OK, Zoey. Just relax. It's just… Spike. I mean… Oh my God, it's Spike!

Zoey watched him sit down in the middle of the pavement, taking a bottle of booze out of his pocket and drinking a big mouthful of it.

Slowly, Zoey came a little closer. When she was only a few inches away, Spike quickly stood up and showed her his game face. At first, she startled, but then she just looked at it in fascination. Sometimes, it had looked so unrealistic on TV. But now, it was here, right in front of her. She wanted to touch it. Know what it felt like. She slowly raised her arm.

"What are you looking at?" Spike suddenly said. Zoey quickly dropped her arm and then looked him in the eye. For a long time.

Spike eyed her confusedly. His game face disappeared. "Oh," she said, "I wanted to see it!"

"What? Who…?"

"The face," Zoey explained, "Oh, and in case you were trying the whole scaring people into giving you money thing – it's not gonna work on me, Spike."

He was speechless for a moment. "Have we met?"

"Oh, no." Zoey waved her hand dismissively. "At least not really. Look, what are you doing here? I heard you're missing. No one knows where you are! Angel doesn't and…"

"Oh, alright." Spike laughed, nodded and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. "So you're one of Angel's people, huh? Must've told you a bloody lot about me. How'd you get in here anyway?"

"Huh?" she asked, "In here? It's a free street. Anyway, it's a long story. Now, why are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding," he said to Zoey as if she was a little girl, "And I'm not talking to you."

"Really?" Zoey said, "You don't wanna know how I know all this stuff?"

"You're one of Angel's bloody people, I got it!" He turned around to walk away.

"No," she corrected him, "Angel's people weren't around when Buffy told you she loved you, were they, Spike?"

He stopped.

"And they also weren't around when you were alone with her and you gave her that amazing speech, like 'You're one hell of a woman, Buffy'? You know, back in Sunnydale, few years ago."

He slowly turned around and looked at her.

"Come on," she said, "I'm sure Dawn would be happy to see you. She's right around the corner." Zoey pointed in the direction of the main street. "She's grown, you know. You should see her."

Spike didn't say anything. Then he walked over to Zoey, very quickly, and stopped right before her face. "Who are you?"

"Just someone who knows stuff," she replied, "I can tell you the whole story if you come with me now. And trust me, it's good."

Spike smirked and shook his head. "Look. You are–"

He was interrupted by a voice. "Zoey? Zoey, where'd you go?"

It was Dawn. "Crap," murmured Zoey, "OK, Spike, I mean it. You have to come with me."

Spike shook his head again. "No."

"Zoey!"

She strived. Then she got an idea. "OK, look. I'll tell you the whole story and… anything you wanna know. I will be right here tomorrow night at eleven. It'd be nice if you'd choose to show up."

Spike didn't give her an answer.

"I'll be there," Zoey said, then she walked back to the corner where she found Dawn.

"There you are," she said, "Where were you? I was kind of worried."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just…" She couldn't think of anything to say and shrugged. "Never mind. Hey, show me what you bought!"

xxxxx

The next night, Zoey told everyone she was going to go out to shop a little. After all, she didn't have time to pack before she entered the Buffyverse, so she just claimed to get some clothes and toiletries. Buffy had asked her: "Do you have to do that at night?" Zoey had had a hard time talking herself out of that one. But she had. And now she stood in the alley where she had seen Spike the night before.

She had brought a cross and holy water she had taken from Buffy. Just in case.

Now she stood at the exact same spot she had seen Spike the night before. Every thirty seconds, she looked at her watch. It was ten past eleven already. Was Spike punctual? She didn't remember anything regarding that from the show.

Suddenly, someone showed up in front of her. She startled, but she was glad when she realized it was Spike.

She smiled. "You came."

"Well, didn't have anything else to do. Fellow's gotta keep himself busy." He shrugged.

Liar, Zoey thought.

"Um, OK," she said, "So, straight to the point: Why are you hiding?"

"How do you know all about me?"

"Why are you hiding?"

"How do you know?" He came awfully close to her face.

"Will you knock it off?" Zoey said with a certain annoyance in her voice. "You're not scaring me. Can we just talk about this?"

"Fine." He sat down on the floor and lit himself a cigarette. "So," he said, "Tell me…, Zoey."

"Fine," she said as well, and sat down with him. "I just recently entered this universe. I'm from another dimension where you were a TV show character."

"What now?" Spike said.

"See, I told you it's a long story. I'll tell you the rest of it if you tell me why you're hiding."

Spike looked at her for a moment. Then he sighed. "I'm bloody stupid to be telling you this," he said, "It was three years ago. Normal day, you know. The usual. Angel pissin' me off. So I went out…" He coughed. "And some fellows come out of nowhere and throw stakes at me. Can you believe that?" He shook his head in disgust. "So I have these stakes everywhere in my body – major pain –, so I run and I yell at them and they tell me they won't stop until I'm dead." He drew on his cigarette. "So I fight them – of course. But then I see loads of them. Hundreds, I'm telling you. So I get away, hide somewhere, spend the day in some hut in this alley right here. And the next night, I get up, go to town to get blood and they're there again. They're following me." He threw the cigarette on the floor. "They still are! They just don't get tired of it." He stood up and kicked a dumpster. "Can you believe this? I'm hiding. Me. Normally, I'm the one who goes out there and fights until these bloody demons are dead. Now look at me." He let himself fall back on the ground. "This is worse than when I had that chip in my head."

"Can't you tell anyone?" Zoey asked.

"I mostly don't get any further than where I am," he said. "They're everywhere. And they're not human. They look like they are, but…" He shook his head. "They're too strong. This alley is the only place I can be."

"Why?" asked Zoey. "Don't they come here?"

"No," he said, "One time, I ran away from them, I ran into this alley, and they just… stopped." He shrugged. "They looked around. It was like they didn't see the alley… or me."

"That's weird." Zoey furrowed her brow. "But doesn't anyone come here?" she asked. "Ever?"

"No. Like I said, no one sees this alley. Everyone just walks right past it. And to get myself some blood, I gotta go with the crowd so they don't see me or fight me. Sometimes they do though. Every single time I get out of this one street, I'm risking my bloody life."

"But… I can come here," Zoey said, "I can see this street."

He shrugged. "But no one else can. It's invisible for everyone but me. And as for you… What kind of demon are you?"

"Well, that's rude," Zoey said, "I am not a demon. I'm human, trust me."

Spike looked at me. "You sure?"

She laughed. "Of course I'm sure! But… Do you think it has something to do with the fact that… I'm from another dimension?"

He nodded. "Possible."

"Alright, I gotta go," she said and stood up, "I need to find a way to get you out and to find out who these people are. I have to tell Buffy and Giles and –"

"No," Spike grabbed her leg, keeping her from walking away. "They can't know about me. Something's coming and it's bad. I'm sure Buffy's got enough on her mind. I'm in no real danger here. Don't distract them. At least until all of this is over."

Zoey sighed. "Spike…"

"I mean it." He looked at her determinedly. "Just tell me… How's Buffy?"

She smiled. "She's good."

He nodded. "Good."

"I, um…," Zoey said. "I'm gonna come by tomorrow and bring you some blood."

to be continued! Who are those demons and what do they want with Spike? Will Buffy find out? Stay tuned!