AN: Thank you for all your follows, favorites and reviews. As I've said, I really really appreciate them and love reading them. And to LovingAnything and Cloongarvin, thank you for your reviews, I have read them, but for some reason, they aren't posting up on FF, but hopefully that'll be fixed soon. Thank you for reading, and I hope I continue to entertain.
53
"Oh, look at what you made me do!" Mandy whined morosely, in her high-pitched tone, flapping her arms about. Jade could barely see it, collapsing down to her knees and clutching the stream of blood coming from her stomach. The stake had fallen out, clattering to the stone floor, drenched in maroon fluid. Blood, her blood. A lot of it. "Tsch!" Mandy continued to wail. "I said I didn't want to waste a single one. A single one. Hurry up, you idiot, and fix this." She unraveled the belt from her arm and wagged it at her so-called idiot boyfriend. She had ignored their banter as best she could. Though they fought and sounded like morons, their strength was undeniable, Mandy, Slayer inherent, and the magic Derek wielded. They were a force to fear, even if they were bumbling, teenager morons, like they were borrowed from some over-indulgent soap. Yet, with all Jade's contempt for them, she was the one with a hole in her gut. Jade didn't respond, didn't move. God, was this how it ended? Her friends and comrades, some dead, the rest unconscious. Angel, a few meters from her, Connor, subdued. And then there were the vampires reaching for Spike, just a few meters behind Mandy. He liked pain, knew how to tolerate it quite well, but she could see the blood on him, the limbs at awkward angles. There was no more he could do. There was no more any of them could do. They'd tried. Thought for a minute, they might had a chance. But they'd failed, the belt was about to work, and Jade might very well be its first participant, if she lived that long.
But all she was worried about was Spike. Mandy had said she didn't want to kill him, fawning over him like a teenager would. At any other time, Jade would understand, heck, she was that way herself. Hard to miss the alluring qualities of Spike's physical attraction, but there was so much more to it, more to him. And she had been drawn to it all. Even now, she wanted to crawl to him, as he ineffectually tried to bat away the vampires who gathered by him with his single arm. His good arm was quick enough, smashing into the leg of one of the sycophants, but with a curse and a howl, they restrained, so even his struggling didn't reward him another desperate blow.
"Look, I told you. There's only a couple minutes left. Just kill her now, and it'll be working by the time she rises." Derek threw his hands up, muttering something else under his breath that Mandy caught with a glower. Jade felt her heart beat in her chest, glancing up to the belt. As Derek said, the magic was fading, nearly gone. It was gripped in Mandy's hand now instead of wrapped around her arm, hanging in front of Jade like a hypnotizing amulet. That thing, that thing was the reason for all of this. The thought of a Slayer-Vampire army. It'd be used to reduce them all to mindless automatons. And at the service of Mandy, the simpering, self-absorbed narcissist. Maybe that was part of her Slayer heritage too, made worse by the demon that cleaned house and settled in. And they wanted that to happen to her. Someone take over her life, her memories. So she could be 'strong' to them. She was a Slayer. She already was strong. And yet, all she could do was sit here and hold her stomach together. She felt blood dribble down her bottom lip as she tried not to move, tried not to breathe.
"Oh, yeah? Like you said it would just be a couple hours til you de-badded the thing when we first got it? Uh-huh, well we saw how that went." Mandy ignored the Slayer at her feet, for Jade was bleeding and half-conscious and barely a threat. Her shoulder still throbbed, probably shattered, bones sticking out and splintered off, piercing into her skin, her flesh. She had just mustered the strength to try to stake Mandy. The belt had been twisted away from her, so staking was the only option. And Spike had even tried to hold her still, not even betraying her by the slightest movement of his eyes. They had been a team, again, but it hadn't been enough.
"Well, I had to make the cage, bigger, now didn't I?" Derek huffed, exasperation leaking into his tone as if he was talking to a sulky child. They were both children, bickering, with the world in their palms. "That took more power, ergo, less to throw at the belt."
"Stop using ergo with me. It doesn't make you smart. It makes you a moron." She sighed, snapping her tongue as she turned back towards the vampires, a couple of which were timidly raising their hand as if a child asking permission for a question in a classroom. "What?" She snapped irritably, flouncing her long blonde curls.
"Sorry, Man—er, Goddess. What would you like us to do with these?" They gestured to Jade's fallen companions, and Spike, who still vainly struggled. He looked across to her, his blue eyes locking with hers, and in a single look, they seemed to transfer a whole conversation. That he didn't want her to die, become a Slayer-Vampire. That she didn't want him to be dust. That he was sorry he brought her into this, that she was sorry she didn't fight hard enough. That it was over.
There were things she wished she could communicate. One real, last kiss, not a quick peck on the lips. That she wasn't sorry that this was how it was ending. She wished she could communicate the tiniest bit of hope that still lingered, though it was so small, and so unlikely, and hoping wouldn't be enough to make it come to fruition. And then their eye-contact was broken, as Mandy came to her commands.
"Put them in the cage with the others, if they're still alive. I'll deal with them later, but now, now they can see the show. All the turning. It'll be marvelous." She clapped her hands together happily, flicking her wrist as if it was spasming to direct her minions.
Spike called out a furious, "Back off, you wankers," as they pulled his unwilling body away. She moved her lips to form his own name, but it was barely a wheeze, her body resisting speech. Spike was being dragged into the pit, followed by Connor and Angel. Jade saw that Illyria, with some relief, still alive, but bleeding, as she was pulled in too, along with another Wainakay demon that was missing one of his horns. That was it, that was all that was left. The field obviously allowed objects to move in but not out. Jade's eyes followed Spike, couldn't leave him. And then there was Buffy, who had been at the very edge of the captive bubble, catching him as he was tossed in, lowering him to the ground and nestling him in her arms. Angel was brought near her as well, the Slayers directing the two vampires so that Buffy could reach out and hold the unconscious Angel's hand as she propped up Spike onto her shoulder. There was intimacy there, and affection that wasn't squashed, not now. Not by their normal routine to fall into arguments, they were just people, who were holding onto their loved ones as they prepared for death. And she couldn't be there, couldn't be next to Spike, because she was the first one to go. And through her blurred vision, Spike seemed to be accepting Buffy's embrace, tilting his face up to hers, murmuring something through his lips.
Jade's heart ached, violently, for a heartbeat, even stronger than the ache in her pulsing gut. It was Buffy, then. She shouldn't be surprised, she wasn't. It had never been a contest. It was always Spike loving Buffy, with all of his heart and soul. But sometimes, sometimes, she had almost forgotten, concocting her own fantasy where their banter and smiles and looks meant something more. And it would be nice to go to her grave thinking she had someone who loved her. She had Bennett, she knew that. He had been the love of her young life, and though trying to move on from his death meant that she had tried to forget, forget how she had felt with them, what they had meant together, tried to forget and just live so it didn't hurt as badly, he had loved her, and she loved him. He'd be waiting her in the afterlife, if she even got to go there. Maybe that was for dust. But if she was just a walking body, with her soul vacated, what then? They wanted to turn her into a Slayer-vampire. Where she would just watch as her body did whatever the hell the demon that inhabited her would do. That was what Mandy and her ilk wanted, and Jade only had the slightest of hopes that that wasn't going to happen to her. Ha, as if. As she said to Spike, only hours ago, when they were playing cards in the airplane, she had rotten luck. In a whole lot of things. And that was she was depending on, luck. Luck that her amulet could do what she wanted it to. And that maybe they would live through this, in some shape or form. So if she could have ever found out if what she wanted with Spike was just that a fantasy, or some reachable point.
And in the meantime, she was just sitting there, in a growing pool of her own blood, leaving it all up to chance. Listening to the bickering of Derek and Mandy with their superficial, superfluous banter while she bled out, and Spike watched it happen. Come on, she was better than this. She wouldn't make it easy. She was a Slayer. That meant something. Meant she didn't wait for Mandy to stop her talking. Wouldn't wait for any of them. Unable to let go of her stomach, Jade rearranged her lame arm on it instead, using her now free, bloody arm to push herself up.
As hard as she could, she swung her bloody fist at Mandy. And grazed her cheek. The Slayer-Vampire, who had been completely ignoring her, turned her face back with a look of surprise and displeasure. Jade's torso ached, a deep pain that she sought to ignore. Had to ignore it, or she'd be immobilized. She was a Slayer. She swung up her knee to kick Mandy in the stomach, but this one, the girl caught easily, and with a push that had barely any of her enormous strength behind it, Mandy shoved, and off balance, Jade fell back down, the breath knocked out of her.
"Are you, uhm, trying to die faster? We were having a conversation, here. That's important in a relationship. Communication. I mean, not that I'm super proud of being in a relationship with him or anything, still. I was trying, here, hello. But I guess, if you're that eager—" God, she felt like a ragdoll. Was this how a human felt compared to a Slayer? Mandy's strength was enormous, without any effort. "Also, you smudged my blush." With her trembling arm and rubbery feeling legs, it took all of Jade's focus to stand again. It wasn't just the fact that Spike was looking on. But she had to try, at least. Fight for the right to live. And she had only one target, the belt resting haphazardly in Mandy's hand. So, get up. She stood.
"I'm not going to just let you kill yourself before I turn you. That is not happening, so stop that." Jade didn't answer. She staggered forward, swinging her good arm at Mandy, trying to mask her desire for the belt. The Slayer-Vampire side-stepped it easily, pushing Jade on the back. Jade let out a hoarse cough, feeling an iron liquid coat her throat. She staggered, just managing to keep herself upright. She didn't know if she could pull herself back up if she fell again. But still, Mandy was pulling her punches, definitely. It was like a swat, from a mother cat to a kitten. Just to warn her off, not hurt. "Are you deaf. Or stupid? Did someone hit your brain too hard?"
"Just turn her already, Mandy," Derek insisted from where he had sat himself on the bench, craning up his neck to glare at his girlfriend. "You're going to kill her by accident and feel like an idiot."
"Excuse me? You're the idiot. The belt is still all whammied up." Jade turned back towards Mandy, trying to throw out another kick, but she shook too badly, having to keep her foot firmly on the ground, lest she topple over. The blonde had looked away from her again, towards her boyfriend, falling back into their incessant chatter and arguing. Jade should have been happy for the distraction, but she was barely forming any cognizant thought as it was, her head swimming with pain. Just one focus. Get the belt. Save them all. Save Spike, don't depend on chance.
"I told you, it'll be fine by the time she rises. It'll take hours. At least. So hurry up. She's tasty and she's spilling her precious blood everywhere." Derek sighed, rubbing his long fingers through his thick black hair.
"Fine. But if she rises before that belt is working, I'm not going to let you feed on any of the other Slayers. I'll give them to Horace and Jeremiah over there." She gestured to two of the Vampires, who dressed as old as their names identified them as.
"I'm Harry." The one called Horace protested.
"And I'm, well, I'm just David." Jeremiah added.
"I'm Horace," Called another vampire, hopeful. "Does that mean I get Slayer blood?"
"Whatever! Ugh. I don't care. Shut up. Just, whatever." Shaking her head, Mandy put a halt to their clamour, shaking her head and muttering something under her breath. She ran her fingers through her curls, then shook her head, her rolled eyes slowly steadying, staring straight at Jade. "Fine. Time for munchies." She licked her lips, and then in a flash, she was behind Jade. With one arm wrapped around her, Jade couldn't move, Mandy's embrace stronger than iron, keeping her still, her other hand reaching to push Jade's head to one side, revealing her neck. Every Slayer sense of Jade's was crying out, warning her. Dangerous predator behind her. Dangerous. But she couldn't move. Struggling just exacerbated the pain in her shoulder. She heard a light growl. She had to try to move her arm, reach for that belt. Had to try, but she was struggling in vain. Mandy didn't even seem so much as annoyed by Jade's struggles, like she hadn't even noticed them. Jade could hear Mandy's growl as the Slayer-Vampire appeared to bite her neck, when then there was a protest.
"Wait!" Derek called out, and Mandy snapped her head back up towards her boyfriend in irritation. Jade couldn't see it, but she could feel the woman's body moving from how close Mandy held her.
"What? What now? You tell me to do it, so I'm doing it, and now you don't want me to?" Mandy snapped, irritation in her voice.
"She was the only Slayer they brought with her," Derek spoke quickly, knowing that his girlfriend might just be ready to snap his neck for the heck of it. "She might have taken something, to weaken whoever drank from her."
"Oh. OH. Hey, you do have some brains. Good call." Mandy patted Jade's cheek. "Hey, you don't have any bad tranq stuff in your blood, do you? Or poison. Oh, isn't there that killer of the dead or something. You didn't take that, did you?"
"Why don't you try it and find out," Jade answered with as much defiance as she could muster.
Mandy let out a resigned sigh. "Fine, fine. You. Davey, whatever. Come here." She snapped her fingers, and an eager Vampire came forward. "Make sure there's no bad stuff in her blood, alright?" Mandy's arm released her, hand clamping down on her injured shoulder instead. Jade wasn't able to stifle her cry of pain as Mandy's hand disturbed her agonized flesh, immobilized by the pain. She wasn't able to move, except for her free hand, which she had clutched back onto her stomach to stem the bleeding. Not that it mattered much at the moment. With glee, David vamped, licking his lips. He reached for Jade, and she brought her knee up, missing his groin but kicking him roughly in the stomach, with the piteous remaining amount of strength she had. But still, he stumbled back, and Mandy hissed in her ear. "Stop that. Honestly, Davey, she's half-drained already. Quit messing around." Another arm wrapped around Jade, slapping her stomach wound. Jade let out a cough, more blood dripping from her lips, the last of the fight drained out of her.
Then the fangs sunk into her throat, tearing through her flesh. She had never been bitten before. Had come close, very close. With Bennett, she had nearly let him, let him bite her instead of having to kill him. She struggled vainly against the pain, but then, there was a euphoria, a bliss that her body nearly cried out with need for. Anything to numb the pain, being fed upon distracted her. There was pain, yes, but not nearly as much. She could just slip away, numb. She was barely aware of the fangs being torn from her throat by a heavy shove from Mandy, her voice, though in Jade's ear, seemed miles away. "Okay, that's enough. She's like, a child compared to me, probably barely has any blood left since it's been leaking out through her stomach. So? You alright? Going to turn into a, I don't know, a decrepit puppy or something? Feel a weakness? A little tingly-tingly?"
"No," Davey said, wonder and awe in his tone. "I just feel…strength." Jade felt she almost missed the feel of it, the ecstasy had dried up, nothing but agony behind, and a growing weakness. She'd been losing blood since she had been stabbed with the stake, now, now she didn't have much left. Not much of anything. She couldn't even move her fingers, her whole body felt numb. Couldn't grab the belt that was so close to her.
"Good, good. Now back in line with the others, and don't get any funny ideas. You need a lot more than just Slayer blood to beat me." Mandy ordered. Davey hesitated, bloody still dripping down his lips, his face still vamped, yellow eyes gazing longingly at Jade's neck. She was limp now, held up by Mandy, an easy, perfect meal. But even that vampire wasn't idiotic enough to challenge Mandy's power. Like Jade and Spike and their companions had. And how well that worked out for them. She was slipping away. Trying to find Spike. And there he was, through her haze. He was near the edge of the Slayer's cell, and he was looking at her. Jade almost wished he wouldn't. Didn't want him to see her like this. Weak. Didn't want him to see what could come after. What was about to.
"Welcome to my army," Mandy whispered in Jade's ear, and sunk her fangs in.
