Chapter Fifty-Two

The plan to get Faith to meet up with me in Restfield seemed pretty easy to come up with. After discussing my idea with Willow and Tara, we came up with an idea to tell Faith that there was a nest of vampires I'd been tracking and am planning on attacking just before sunset tonight. Using the number Faith gave me and getting her voice mail, I left her very vague details on what was going on and where to meet me. I just hope she gets the message and doesn't leave me hanging around the entrance of Restfield waiting for her for hours.

Beyond coming up with the plan to get her to show up for "slayer-related business", I have no idea what I'm going to do or say when she actually shows up. If she shows up.

I'm a little early and already starting to feel a little bit nervous. How am I going to pull this off? What if she figures out right off the bat that I told a little white lie to get her to come here and takes off? I didn't know of any other way to get her to see me. I even dressed in some of my nicer "slaying" clothes too, just because I wanted to look better than just decent for her tonight.

I see her heading towards me a few minutes later. I have to fight to keep the smile off my face as she strolls over with her hands in her pocket. She pops a bubble as she slows to a stop, keeping a bit of distance between us. She doesn't look like she even wants to be here right now and I can't blame her, not after how our earlier run-in went.

"A nest of vamps, B?"

"Uh huh."

"Really?" Faith asks as she cocks her head to the side. "Think they can wait?"

"Wait? Why?"

"Got something you oughta see for yourself," she says and she motions for me to follow her.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see. Gotta see it with your own eyes or you won't believe me," she replies quickly.

This is so not how I planned for this to go, but I'll go along with it for now and go see whatever it is she wants me to see. We reach the center of town just as the sun sets and she is a few steps ahead of me as we stroll through the crowded streets. This is the busiest I've seen Sunnydale in a few weeks and I almost say something, but decide to keep my mouth shut and follow her lead.

Faith slows down at the side of a store that's just closed for the night and leans up against the wall, casually lighting a cigarette as I stand near her. With the slightest nod, she motions for me to look out into the crowd. I try to follow her gaze and my eyebrows shoot up in surprise when I see Spike making his way through the crowd.

"How much do ya know about what he does every night, hmm?" Faith whispers as she moves to stand closer to me, so close I can feel her hot breath brushing over my ear as she speaks. "I been tailing him for the past few nights."

"Why?"

"Why don't ya follow him and figure it out for yourself?"

"Faith," I say sternly but she doesn't look at me, already moving away and into the crowd in the direction that Spike walked off in. "Faith, wait!"

"Keep it down, B. Don't you know the first rule in tailing someone is to make sure they don't know you're there? Jesus," she says in a hushed whisper, shaking her head at me as she stops long enough for me to catch up to her. "Just keep your eyes on him. Don't lose him, yeah?"

I do keep my eyes on Spike, nearly losing him in the crowd. I stop when the crowd thins out a little and watch him as he walks over to a pretty girl with dark brown hair. She's with a group of what I'm assuming are her friends and as soon as she sees Spike, her attention is on him. I'm only mildly surprised when she takes Spike's hand and leads him towards the closest alleyway.

I feel Faith nudge me and I take that as her way of telling me to get closer. I get as close as I can without him being able to see me. I roll my eyes as I turn to Faith with my arms crossed over my chest.

"So, Spike found himself a girlfriend and they're making out in an alley. What's the big deal?"

"You really don't see what's right in front of your eyes, do ya, B?" Faith scoffs and turns me around until I am facing Spike and his little girlfriend again. "He's baiting her, B. Just about to take his first taste. This will be the sixth this week. Just watch."

And I do watch and I feel my insides churn as Spike moves behind the girl, smiling as he slips into his game face. The girl is completely oblivious to what is happening and I'm about to go and stop him from doing this when Faith grabs on to my shoulders and keeps me where I am. Spike licks the girl's neck slowly, his fangs just scraping over her skin. My heart is pounding and I resist against Faith's hold, knowing I have to stop this before he goes too far.

She lets go of me and I charge into the alley, yanking the girl out of Spike's grasp. "Run. Go, get out of here!" I yell at her and she looks over at Spike, fear washing over her before she turns and runs out of the alley. "What the hell are you doing?" I ask him, going to make a grab for him and instead my hands go right through him.

"Took you long enough," he grins as he licks over his lips.

"You are not Spike."

"No, I'm not," the First replies, still in Spike's form. "But see, Spike has been a very bad vampire with a soul lately and if you don't stop him, who will? This is the only way you could see what has been happening before your very eyes. Stupid, stupid girl."

I turn and walk out of the alley quickly and look around the crowd for Faith. She's nowhere to be seen. Typical. Angrily I head off in the direction we came, hoping to find her, but she seems to have disappeared all together. I stop when I'm about a block from the Magic Box and I see Spike strolling down the middle of the crowded road hand in hand with a pretty blonde woman at his side. They're laughing and talking and she keeps touching his arm.

My plan has completely backfired! I'm definitely not impressed right now, but after seeing what the First as Spike has shown me, I have this feeling deep down I need to keep on his trail right now, see what he ends up doing with this woman.

I follow Spike for hours, to the Bronze, to Willy's and then the long walk across town to this woman's apartment. I stay on the street, partially hidden by one of the big trees outside of her apartment and I feel almost helpless as I watch him turn what should've been a simple good night kiss into him feeding on her and letting her lifeless body drop to the ground as he licks the blood from his lips. I think for a moment he's about to leave her there, but he picks her up and carries her off into the night, now moving almost too quickly for me too keep up.

I pull out my cell from my pocket and I quickly text Willow telling her the plan I had for Faith failed and that I'm tailing Spike, pretty sure he's lost his soul and his chip stopped working. I keep a low profile, ducking behind cars, bushes, trees whenever Spike looks back my way.

Spike heads towards an abandoned house, disappearing inside and slamming the door hard behind him. I see a light flicker on through one of the basement windows and I make my way over, crouching on the ground and peer inside.

Spike is placing the woman he just fed on inside a hole already dug in the dirt floor. I feel almost paralyzed as I watch him bury the woman, whistling a tune to himself that I can just faintly hear through the glass. He looks at ease, smiling to himself as he leans the shovel against the wall and casually lights a cigarette, admiring the work he's just done. My cell buzzes in my pocket, but I ignore it, the anger bubbling up inside of me and increasingly becoming impossible to keep buried under the surface.

I break through the basement window and barely land on my feet. Spike looks at me with mild surprise in his eyes.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Slayer," he grins, tossing his cigarette to the floor. "What in the bloody hell are you doing here?"

"I'm about to ask you the same question, Spike. What the hell are you doing?"

All I get is a wild grin as he lunges towards me. I duck and roll quickly out of his way and leap to my feet, charging towards him with my fists flying. He clips me as he takes a swing at me and I quickly shake it off. I move towards him again and feel something grabbing at my feet.

I pull the hand that's risen from the dirt and fling the newbie vamp across the basement, turning my attention back to Spike. I punch him hard in the head, hard enough to send him staggering backwards and the newbie vamp grabs a hold of me from behind, growling as I struggle to get the upper hand. Two more newbie vamps rise from the ground and with Spike out for the count for now, a few minutes at least, I try to make quick work in fighting them and staking them.

"B!" Faith yells from outside the broken window. "Need a hand?"

"Would be nice!"

I turn my attention back to the vamps as they circle around me. Moving quickly, I slide across the floor just out of the hands of the male vamp and grab the shovel Spike had used to bury that poor woman he drained. I snap it and use it to stake the three vamps as they advance towards me. Two more rise from the ground just as I stake the third.

"Spike, you've been a bad boy, haven't you?" Faith laughs as she grabs one of the vamps and flings it towards me. "Let's dust these guys, B!"

I'm having a bit of a hard time getting close to the vamp that Faith tossed my way. As soon as I see she has dusted the one she was just fighting, I kick mine towards her and she stakes it with ease, spinning her stake in her hand with a satisfied smirk curling over her lips, her dimples deep and sexy and...god, I'm a lost cause when it comes to her and those dimples of hers, especially right after she's slayed and the way she grins like that.

I wipe the dirt I can feel on my forehead away and watch her as she saunters over to where Spike is laying on the floor, still a little dazed. She grabs the front of his jacket and pulls him to his feet, her stake at the ready as she growls at him.

"Faith, don't!" I yell as I realize what she's about to do and I pull her away from Spike hard and grab the stake out of her hand. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Putting a bad dog down like it deserves, what else do you think I'm fucking doing, B?"

"He's-"

"All those vamps you and I just fought? Who the hell do you think sired them? Spike did. Now, I don't know about you, but what I see right now when I look at him is just another vampire that needs to be dust."

"Slayer," Spike coughs as he staggers towards me. "What just happened?"

"Spike, are you all right?"

"Where are we?" He looks around the basement, completely confused. "Buffy?"

"Let's get you home," I say as I pull his arm around me, supporting most of his weight as he struggles to stay on his feet. "Faith?"

"What, B?"

"Why didn't you come and tell me he was doing this?"

She shrugs and grabs her stake from my hand, swiftly tucking it in the back pocket of her tight black jeans. "Like I said, you wouldn't have believed me if ya didn't see if with your own two eyes and if ya hadn't called me with a pathetic excuse about a nest of vamps tonight, I would've taken care of this problem myself."

"You wouldn't have."

"Fuck you, Buffy," she snaps. "Spike is a goddamn vampire. I don't care if he has a soul or a frigging chip in his head. He's still a vampire."

"And you were what, just going to stake him?"

"Sure. It's what I do. I'm a vampire slayer!" She yells at me, her eyes all hard as she glares at me. "I thought you were too. Guess I was wrong."

"Buffy..." Spike groans and I let him fall to the ground as I march right up to Faith, getting right in her face.

"You aren't wrong. I am a Slayer. Spike is-"

"A vampire," she drawls slowly, a cocky grin sliding into place over her lips. "Souled or not, B. Do you not just see what happened here? Did you not see what he's done? He's gone too far. If you aren't gonna do it, then let me. Vampire," she says as she points to him and then to herself. "Slayer."

I swing at her and she easily ducks my punch, laughing as she circles around me. I turn my attention for a split second towards Spike as he grabs his head, growling and moaning in agony. It gives Faith the opportunity to take a swing at me and her fist connects to my jaw. Hard.

"You wanna do this, B?"

"No."

"But this is what we're so good at when it's not fucking each other senseless, wouldn't you say?"

"Faith, stop it."

"Come on, B. Don't kid yourself. I'm not. Not anymore."

"Stop," I say under my breath as she moves quickly, throwing a series of kicks and punches I predict and easily block. "Stop it, Faith! Why are you being like this!"

"Being like what, B? A bitch?"

Ugh. I take a swing at her she promptly stops and she pulls me into her, crushing her lips hard against mine, her grip on my hand bordering painful. I kiss her back just as hard, my free hand tangling in her hair as she quickly backs me up against the nearest wall.

Faith groans as she lets go of my hand, both her hands gripping tightly on to my hips as she presses her body hard against mine. I hook a leg around hers, keeping her right where she is as I try to soften the bruising kiss. But Faith isn't having none of that and she bites down hard on my lower lip as she roughly cups my pussy over my tight jeans.

"Faith!" I cry out and her lips crush against mine again, hungrily kissing me for all she's worth.

I keep a hold of her head, kissing her hard and deep, trying to savour this moment even as fucked up as it is right now with Spike wailing in pain just a few feet away. I'm just trying to keep her right here, right now, here with me in this moment, even though she's probably kissing me right now for all the wrong reasons. If they are wrong, then why does it feel so right?

"Fuck," she moans against my lips as she rubs me hard through my jeans. "Fuck you, Buffy."

And just like that she pushes herself away from me. Angry, hot tears burn my eyes as I watch her run towards the window. She pulls herself up and out, disappearing into the night. I lean my head against the wall, trying to push down everything she's just made me feel.

Kissing her, being so close to her again has brought back a flood of feelings I haven't felt in close to two months. I'm breathing heavily and I can taste the tang of blood from my split lip that happened when she bit it. I lick over it slowly, letting just a few tears fall before I push myself away from the wall and walk over to where Spike is sitting on the floor, still clutching his head and nearly pulling his hair out as he mumbles to himself.

I help him to his feet and we leave the house slowly. Spike is almost in tears by the time we reach the street and he pulls away from me, collapsing to the ground in a huddled mess, rocking back and forth as he grips on to his head tightly. We're all the way on the other side of town and I know there's no way I'm getting him back to the house when he's being like this.

"Spike, what's wrong?"

"It hurts. It bloody well hurts!"

"What does?"

"What else? The bloody chip they stuck in my head!"

I don't know what to do right now, but I know of someone I can try to call. I think for a minute, trying to remember the number that Riley had given to me in case of an emergency and I dial it quickly. On the other end is a florist shop and I quickly explain in very few words that Spike is in trouble and that his chip is malfunctioning or something. The guy on the other end tells me I have the wrong number and promptly hangs up on me.

"Well that's just great!" I say as I kneel down next to Spike. "Come on, we need to get home."

"No," he gasps as he shakes his head. "No. Take me there."

"Where?"

"You know where, Buffy," he says tiredly. "They might've filled that place with cement, but it's not all gone."

What he's saying sparks an idea in my mind. Maybe whatever is left of the Initiative has some kind of information of the chip they put in his head and if I get that information, we can put a stop to this? I pull Spike to his feet, ignoring that voice in the back of my mind that tells me not to do this, to let him suffer after what he did to those six poor, innocent people he'd turned.

There's so much more to all of this and I'm going to figure out just what it is. But I know first we have to get Spike sorted out before we can even begin to scratch the surface of what the hell is going on here.


Almost a day later, I walk back home by myself. After we found an entrance to the Initiative and got inside of what was left of the vast facility underground Sunnydale University, we were ambushed by several dozen former members of the Initiative. They gave me-not Spike but me-the choice of whether to remove or repair the chip in his head. I don't know if I made a mistake in telling them to remove it or not, but after that fight with Faith and seeing the pain Spike was going through, I made the decision on the spot with not an entirely clear mind.

I left Spike in his old crypt to recover, promising him I'd be back before tomorrow night to check on him. I wandered around town for a few hours too, looking for Faith, but had no luck in finding her. Even Anya told me repeatedly when I confronted her at the Magic Box that Faith hadn't been there since I scared her off the other day. I gave up almost half an hour ago and headed back home, my heart feeling heavy and my mind in chaos.

"Buffy!" Willow says as soon as I walk through the front door. "Where have you been? We've been so worried about you and you haven't been answering your phone!"

I pull out my cell, somehow crushed and destroyed during the fight between Faith and I in the basement of that abandoned house.

"Sorry, Will."

"What happened? Were you with Faith since..." Willow asks, trailing off as I shake my head no and head upstairs.

"It's a long story. I kind of need some sleep right now," I say and Willow shakes her head, pulling me into my strangely empty bedroom and shuts the door behind me.

"What happened, Buffy?"

"Do you want the long or short version?"

"What happened?" Willow asks again and she sits us down on my bed. "Did things go as planned with Faith?"

"Far from it actually."

"Oh?"

I take a deep breath, and as tired as I am, I tell Willow everything that had happened since I left the house last night. She's unusually quiet the whole time, right up until the point where I tell her I had Spike's chip removed by the former members of the Initiative.

"Are you crazy?"

"Probably."

"Buffy!" Willow says, sighing incredulously as she begins pacing the bedroom floor. "Do you know how dangerous this is? Spike's chip was stopping him from-"

"No," I cut her off. "Did you not just hear what I told you, Willow? Spike's chip was working, malfunctioning, but working when he killed those people and sired them. What I want to know is why he did this and how he was able to. It almost seemed like he was under some kind of a spell when I watched him bury that woman. After we fought, he seemed to snap out of it, whatever it was. He didn't even remember doing any of the things he did. He didn't even remember that woman I watched him drain and drag back to that house!"

"You don't think he lied to you, do you?"

"I don't even know anymore, Will!"

"Okay," she says calmly. "Let's try and figure this out. How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know. Faith just said to me when she took me into town to follow Spike that the woman he was about to feed on there was the sixth. But it wasn't Spike we were following, it was the First."

Willow nods, muttering to herself as she continues to pace my bedroom floor. She stops every couple of minutes, looking over at me like she's about to say something, but then she's right back to pacing, thinking and muttering to herself. I know her all to well and I know this is one way she's trying to make sense of everything that I have just told her, trying to find whatever piece that is missing to this puzzle that I obviously cannot see myself.

"So," Willow says after what feels like forever. "The whole plan you had completely backfired and ended up with you meeting up with the Initiative to have Spike's chip removed?"

"Will..."

"I'm sorry! I'm trying to wrap my head around that part."

"It all kind of just happened so fast," I mutter. "I didn't know what else to do!"

"Staking him would've been an option!"

"No! We need him. Whether you agree or not, I know that we need Spike. Whatever the First has planned, we need him. He's strong, much stronger than all the girls here. I can't do this alone and I can't do this with Faith not here with me, fighting at my side like she's supposed to be. Spike is willing and he's here and he's not going anywhere. We need him, Willow. You've got to know that much."

"And what are we going to do about Faith?"

"I don't even know. I thought this plan would've worked last night. I totally didn't expect her to drag me off and to be caught up in Spike's problems."

"And that number she gave you?" Willow asks and I hand her the paper. She grabs the cordless phone off my bedside table and dials the number hanging up a few seconds later. "Disconnected."

"Figures."

"So, you know what that means?" Willow says as she sits on the bed in front of me. "We need to come up with a new plan. Operation 'Bring Faith Home' plan B."

And Willow dives into her idea of a plan to get Faith back home, back on our side where she belongs. I just have to hold out some kind of hope that whatever plan Willow does come up with that it doesn't completely backfire this time...