Disclaimer: Unfortunately, these amazing characters do not belong to me.
A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! You have no idea how happy it made me to know people are still interested in my writing, please keep it up: ) As a thanks, I've made this chapter longer than usual. Enjoy!
Readers are needed. Reviewers are wanted.
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Big Bad's Back
Chapter 8 – Questions
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Spike had quickly drained his mug of blood before heading for the shower that was attached to Buffy's room and getting rid of all his aches from the night before.
After getting back into his customary black gear – should get some new stuff, he thought with a grimace – he had headed back downstairs to refill his mug, assuming that he had left enough time for Buffy to drop the fact he was back and why.
Apparently not, he thought with a small frown as Buffy rose from her seat and walked quickly over to the stairs.
"Just, give me some time," she asked him quietly.
"Thought I had, luv" he replied, barely moving his lips as he looked over her shoulder and into the glaring eyes of the man now standing beside Faith.
Buffy glanced a quick look back at Wood – whose jaw could not clench any further – before turning back and whispering: "Spike, please."
The 'please' grabbed his attention and he brought his gaze back to the woman in front of him, realising why she was pleading with him: she didn't want a fight. Or, more specifically, him in a fight.
Spike had to agree. He had a very bold memories of an angry Splinter and wasn't about to give him another chance to finish the beating that the vampire had interrupted.
He wasn't a coward – but he wasn't stupid, either.
Still, he paused – not wanting to look happy about the idea – before sighing heavily. "Alright, pet, I'll be waiting," he said, cocking his head momentarily towards the kitchen.
Buffy nodded and turned around just in time to miss the small half-smirk that he sent at the two astounded and angry guests in the living room before heading to refill his mug.
As Buffy faced the incredulous face of Faith, she took a steadying breath. "As I was saying..."
Faith, still not good at controlling her emotions, skipped shock and disbelief and went straight to anger. "Cut the crap, B! How the hell is he here and not a big pile of dust? Cause that's how he was last time I knew – since when did that change?"
"If you'd just let me explain-"
"No explaining. Clip notes, now." Buffy settled her gaze on Wood – who was glaring at the door to the kitchen – and realised it would be pointless to argue.
She sighed as she began to explain.
Short version it is, then.
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Even with the short version, it had taken about half an hour to explain what she knew and answered Faiths brass questions and Woods darkly muttered ones.
"So, he's still all...soul-ed up?" asked Faith.
Buffy sighed exasperatedly, "For the last time, yes! Are you done asking that question now?"
Faith shrugged nonchalantly – as if it hadn't mattered anyway – and turned to her lover as Buffy went to get Spike. She frowned a little when she saw that he was glaring daggers at the floor.
"Babe, are you ok?" No reply.
"Robin," she said, and he finally turned his head to look at her, his gaze softening. "Are you ok?"
He gave a half-smile then, before glaring again at the door behind Faith. "No," he replied as the two blondes walked into the room. "Not really."
Faith took a breath before turning to face her sister Slayer and the vampire she had thought a pile of dust. She composed her emotions as best she could and gave a small smirk. "Just can't stay dead, can you?"
He smirked in reply. "Things change."
"Things don't."
Spike turned his head and focused on the man that had spat those two words so angrily. Without changing his expression, he cocked his head to one side: "And what would they be, mate?"
Wood stalked quickly towards the object of his anger. I have every right to be angry! he thought to himself as he stared deep into the vampire's eyes, the demon killed my mother! ...But then why was he so unsettled by the clarity in his gaze? Why did he have to silently convince himself that this was a duty that his mother had never finished?
Why can I see the soul in his eyes?
This whole thought process lasted milliseconds before Wood decided he needed to think things through. But he wouldn't back down either, not completely.
"I'm not your mate," he calmly replied, before turning away and walking out of the house – slamming the door behind him.
"Spike..." reprimanded Buffy as Faith shot him a dark look before going after her lover – but he wasn't paying attention.
Instead, he was looking towards the closed door with puzzled curiosity. Had he just walked away from a challenge? Granted, Spike hadn't known the guy very long, but he was unreasonably good at reading people's attitudes – and he was pretty damn sure that Wood wasn't one to take a step back.
What the bloody hell just happened?
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Three days later. Wood was still confused, as was Faith by his behaviour but both were busy, as were Willow, Xander, Dawn and Giles, with the new arrivals – and Buffy was overwhelmed.
She had forgotten how much noise teenage girls made.
Over the course of those three days, around 50 Slayers from around the world had made their way to where the Elder Slayers – as they had been called – required them. All were new faces – bar one.
Amanda, the skinny, gawky girl from Sunnydale High that had been a survivor of the previous apocalypse, had – Buffy heard – jumped at the chance of fighting with them again.
Over those same days, the basement – considerably larger than that of their old house – had been turned into a training area that could comfortably hold 15 training girls. That, combined with their back garden and the fact that the girls would hardly ever all be training at the same time, meant that they had more than enough room for exercise.
However, sleeping arrangements had proved more difficult.
In the Summers' house, Buffy and Spike had already taken the main bedroom, whilst Dawn was sharing hers with three other Slayers. The living room downstairs fit 7 others – which still left 40 girls.
In the end, 4 had gone to Giles' house to make use of his spare room; 8 went with Xander – four in the room, four downstairs, plus the fact that he had a second bathroom – and 8 had gone with Willow, leaving the remaining 20 girls to go with Wood and Faith to meet Angel at a nearby hotel where Willow used a small confusing spell to ensure that they didn't have to pay a small fortune in bills.
All in all, it had been a very complicated three days.
And it was about to get confusing too. They had decided that this night was the time to tell the Slayers what they were facing. They had also decided, the day before, that it wasn't Buffy who was going to tell them – oh no.
It was going to be Spike.
It wasn't because of the fact that Buffy wouldn't know what to say, it was because it was Spike's message to tell since he was the one whom the Powers had sent.
Besides, the vampire was practically famous throughout Slayers and demons around the world – his story and the story of the First had spread quickly by word of mouth, according to Giles – so they were more likely to listen to him.
Of course, after he had heard this, Spike had retreated to the basement and had not shown himself for the whole day. No Slayers had seen him before that, and Buffy had banned them from the basement.
It was only at nightfall, as the others were sending the Slayers to congregate in the garden, that Buffy went down to retrieve Spike.
As she started down the stairs, she was expecting him to be sitting against the wall, musing on how to break the girls' opponent to them – but he wasn't.
She stopped on the stairs, watching curiously as he made short, swift jabbing motions with the sword he was holding. He turned on the spot, sword held high and made a smooth arc shape towards the ground as he twisted back and created sparks from where the metal scraped along the floor...
She watched in fascination as he put other moves into practice. He's so graceful, she thought, how does he manage to be graceful, deadly and gorgeous all at the same time? SO not fair.
...He shortened its returning arc and turned again, lunging as he thrust the sword forward with a well practised movement –
– And came up short as he saw Buffy watching from the stairs.
Spike straightened up, keeping his gaze on her for a moment before turning away, with something like shyness, to return the sword to its hold on the wall.
"That was...amazing," whispered Buffy, before smiling a little. "Where'd you learn that?"
Spike smirked at her, all trace of shyness gone as he began to walk up the stairs. "From an old friend. I'm guessing it's time for me to go tell the little 'un's what they've gotta face?"
At Buffy's nod, he walked past her and out into the hall.
It was only when Buffy began to follow that she realised he hadn't actually answered the question.
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The Slayers were sitting out in the back garden beneath the inky sky, chattering with excitement and nerves – tonight was the night they found out what was going on.
"I heard," whispered a curly haired girl to her friend, "that it's something big – maybe the First!"
Her friend gasped, "No! Where'd you hear that?"
"Well, apparently, Mona – you know, the tall dark one? – heard Buffy talking to Faith about 'the plans'..."
The two girls carried on their hushed gossip – much to the amusement of Giles, who was standing with the rest of the Scoobies and Angel behind the crowd of Slayers, awaiting the appearance of Buffy and Spike.
Oh, he'll love this, thought Angel with a grim smile as an apprehensive hush fell over the crowd and Buffy stepped out in front of them. William did always love an entrance.
"I know you're all wondering why you're here, why we need your help," started Buffy, her voice ringing over the sudden quiet. "And you're gonna find out right now – but not from me. Instead you're gonna hear it from the man who was sent to warn us..." she paused, turning her head towards the shadows behind her, directing the Slayers' looks to that spot.
"...you'll hear it from Spike."
As soon as she said his name, quiet mutterings of confusion broke out amongst the girls. But, just as suddenly, they stopped as Buffy walked over to stand beside Xander and Spike walked out of the shadows.
Bloody hell, he thought as his appearance was met with several gasps and stares. They actually know who I am! Makes a change...
He scanned the gathering. Inside, his emotions were a torrent of anxiety and nervousness as he realised just how many girls he would be sending to fight with the First. He showed none of this on the outside, however, and his face was a mask of calm marred only by his customary smirk.
"Most of you seem to know me," he began, smirk widening, "but in case you don't, the name's Spike..." and with that he began telling them the reason why they were there.
As the gang had suspected, the girls paid rapt attention to him and there were no interruptions – just horrified, surprised faces as they were told about the First.
When he had finished relating his story to the girls, there was a long silence from both the Slayers and the group behind them.
Finally, someone spoke: "So, we basically have to fight the First - the thing that created evil – or the world ends?"
Spike turned to face the red headed Slayer with a smirk. "Basically."
She smirked back: "Cool!"
This positive response seemed to brighten the others up, and – much to the surprise of the gang – they began to chat excitedly again.
"So, what's the plan?" asked Hannah – the curly haired girl that Giles had spotted earlier.
He paused for a moment, before turning with a hopeful look to Buffy who immediately stepped forward and recited what they had decided before sending for Faith and Wood.
"That's it?" another girl replied. "That's what we're gonna do? Train and be sitting ducks, waiting for death?"
"It's all we've got," said Buffy, her voice even. "We're working on it. Willow – over there – is pretty powerful; she's working on something that will let us see what the First is up to. 'Til then, we've just gotta go with what we've got."
There was a pause, then Hannah spoke up again: "I wanna patrol, tonight." This statement was followed by numerous shouted agreements from around the group.
Buffy sighed, God, I'm always so tired these days. Getting bags under my eyes too – maybe I should get that new collagen filler thing...
Seeing Buffy's weariness, Faith stepped forward. "I'll go with 'em, B. You can stay, get some rest before tomorrow."
The blonde smiled at her and it was decided that 6 Slayers would go with her on a quick sweep of the graveyards.
As everyone headed back into the house – either to head to their beds or to others houses – Hannah looked quickly back at Spike and Buffy who were chatting together quietly.
"There is so something going on there," she whispered to her friend.
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A graveyard. The final sweep before they headed back to their beds.
Faith let the others wander ahead of her as she ambled along; looking absent-mindedly at each of the gravestones she passed.
It had been an uneventful patrol, only a couple of fledglings – not enough to satisfy the 7 super-strong Slayers.
Faith frowned as she mused on her lover's behaviour. She was sure it was something to do with Spike – she had tried asking him about it, but every time...
A sharp pain twisted inside her, causing her to cry out in surprise. What the hell? She thought, before yelling again as she dropped to the floor and the pain increased. It seemed as if something was trying to rip its way out of her gut. She was vaguely aware of voices calling to her before everything went black...
Later...
Faith came to with a groan, ignoring the pain in her gut and pushing herself up to see that she was still in the graveyard, seemingly alone.
Wondering where the others had got to, she took a step forward – one hand clutching her stomach – only to pause when she saw something behind a gravestone.
She frowned, why would they just wait for her to wake?
She walked towards the grave. "You know, you guys should've gone and gotten Buffy. If she..."
Words failed her as she stared at the scene in front of her. Two of the girls lying just behind the gravestone, their open eyes wide and staring – dead.
Breathing heavily, she looked wildly around her for some other signs – immediately wishing she hadn't. The others lay in a clearing a few feet away from her, dark marks staining the grass from their various wounds.
They had been massacred. Whilst she was unconscious, these girls had been attacked and mutilated when they proved unable to defend themselves.
Backing away shakily, she dropped her eyes from the scene and her gaze was immediately drawn to something to her right.
Don't go over there, Faith, don't! Despite her thoughts, her traitorous feet led her towards the item lying in the grass.
Upon seeing it, she froze in horror – somehow this one sight was more terrifying to her that the others.
It was the weapon, covered in wet, crimson blood and lying only a foot away from one of the dead Slayers. There was no doubt that it had been used to take these girls' lives.
It was her stake.
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