Chapter Four

The following weeks went by agonizingly slow. Buffy began having nightmares the night after Spike had saved her from those evil vampires. The nightmares happened every night. If they were not about the three vampires almost raping her, they were about a different, older, uglier vampire trying to kill her. Accompanied by those dreams were stakes, dusty books, and blood. A big ole ton of blood. Buffy didn't know what the dreams meant but felt like they were somehow important. She barely got any sleep. And a cranky Buffy was not a Buffy anyone wanted to be around.

It wasn't until the third night when she fell asleep in Spike's red shirt–since her clothes were in the laundry and it was the only thing she had left–that she didn't have a nightmare, just like the night when he had walked her home after the incident in the alleyway. To evaluate her theory of the shirt's mystical dream chaser powers, she didn't wear it the fourth night, and the nightmares continued. The fifth night she wore it again and to her surprise: no nightmares. Every night after that, she had worn the shirt to keep the dreams away and eventually got back to her regular sleeping schedule.

She didn't see Spike again after he had saved her from those vampires. Sometimes she thought she'd felt his presence nearby but quickly shook it off as just her hopeful imagination. Not like she wanted to be around a potentially evil vampire, but she wanted more answers from him as to why he'd show up out of nowhere and save her life. Was he stalking her? Was he a creep? Although, judging from the way he didn't seem to like her talking to him or… her presence in general, she didn't think he was a creep. But he had to be stalking her. The question was, why?

What was so important about her that a vampire needed to stalk her? If he wanted to kill her, she would've been dead. It didn't make any sense. She wished he'd show up again so she could ask him. After two weeks, with still no sign of him, Buffy got impatient. She had to know who he was and what he wanted, which is why, as soon as Monday came around, she headed towards the only place that should have an answer for her: the library.

The library was incredibly dreary. Dank and shadowed, it made Buffy think of a shipwreck, of diving on the sunken remains of some old galleon or something. With the wan light and the dust, the brown and faded books… It was like peering through a lot of murky water to make out books, tables, chairs. No sunken treasure, though.

She tried to ignore the shocked faces from the school's infamous weirdo squad as she entered. She didn't know why they were so surprised to see her there, like she was the one interrupting whatever it was they were doing. It was a public library.

"Can I help you?" an older man asked, possibly the Librarian. He took a few steps towards her and away from the table. From the way he was standing in front of it, she assumed he was trying to hide something. Not like she cared about their weird extracurricular activities. She often wondered how somebody so… British could move to America just to become a high school librarian. How did that happen? There he was in England, filing things–studying–whatever–in the British Museum, then...what? He gets a call from HQ and grabs a jet to California?

"Yes, hi! You're the Librarian, right?" Buffy asked.

The Librarian nodded his head in affirmation. "Yes, I'm Mr. Giles. Is there a book I can help you find?"

"No. I came here looking for a different kind of help," she said. It still felt odd to her to talk about vampires aloud. It's something that people didn't do. She had hoped they understood the hidden meaning so she didn't feel like a complete idiot. Instead, they gave her confused stares. Okay, so much for being subtle, Buffy thought.

"I need the help of the vampire variety," Buffy said bluntly.

The confused stares melted into looks of understanding, and they nodded their heads.

"Oh," Giles replied. "Right, o-of course. Here, please have a seat." He grabbed a chair and motioned for her to sit.

Buffy sat down and looked around at the faces staring back at her: Xander was twirling a stake between his fingers, Nancy and Larry were watching her with mere interest, Oz had a nonchalant look on his face, and Giles was polishing his glasses.

"How can we help you?" Giles asked, putting his glasses back on.

Buffy didn't know how to start, what to mention, or if she could trust these people with this information. But she knew she had no other choice. So, she figured she needed to start from the beginning.

"Last year, I was on a date with this guy, and he got a little too handsy; anyways, the next thing I know, a vampire is ripping him out from the car and threatening him. A vampire saved me." Everyone seemed to look interested in her story. She let out a relieved breath and continued more confidently. "He had these weird ripples over his face, really sharp teeth, and yellow eyes. I didn't know what he was at the time until I moved to Sunnydale, and I learned that vampires existed. And then, two weeks ago, I was walking home from school one night when three vampires attacked me, and he showed up again and saved me. Again."

"So, you're saying you have a secret vampire protector?" Larry asked.

"Maybe? I don't know. He didn't seem like he wanted to save me. If anything, he was annoyed he had too," Buffy replied.

"Did you catch his name by chance?" Nancy asked.

"Yes," Buffy nodded. "He said his name was Spike. I don't know if that rings any bells?"

To her disappointment, they all looked at each other and shook their heads no.

"I could look into the vampire records and see if there's any history on him. If he is old, there should be," Giles said.

"But if he's a newbie, then we're back to square one of not knowing who this guy is," Xander added. "Which might be better for us because he'd be easier to dust if he's young."

Easier to dust? Did that mean to kill? She distinctly remembered Spike killing those vampires the night he'd saved her and how they turned into dust afterward. Buffy's heart lurched in her chest at the thought of Spike dying. Okay, the whole stalking her thing was creepy, but he had saved her life twice. She would be dead if it weren't for him. She surely couldn't return the favor by having him killed.

"Do we have to kill him?" she asked, and judging by the looks they shot her way, she immediately knew that it was a stupid question. "It's just… he's saved my life, and it wouldn't be right to kill him for it."

"Buffy, he probably only did it because he has some weird creeper obsession with you," Xander replied. "Vampires don't do anything out of the kindness of their hearts. They're evil and soulless."

"What do you mean by soulless?" Buffy asked, confused. Honestly, the only thing she knew about vampires was that they had weird faces and drank blood. She didn't know the specifics of their kind or where they came from. And she doubted Spike was obsessed with her. Annoyed by her mere existence... but not obsessed.

"When a person dies, the soul leaves, and the demon takes over their body. They feed off human blood to survive, but they're evil to the core," Giles explained. "They torture, rape, and murder without remorse. Vampires have no feelings other than rage and hate."

"Oh," Buffy replied. Not liking his answer at all, but knew the truth behind it. She had yet to see a vampire show any feelings other than hatred and anger. "Why are there so many here? What's so special about a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale?"

"What do you know about this town?" Giles asked

"It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?"

"Dig a bit into the history of this place," Giles replied, walking over and grabbing books from a shelf. "You'll find a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences. This whole area is a center of mystical energy. Things gravitate towards it, that which you would not find elsewhere."

"Like vampires?"

He walked back and put books into Buffy's arms one by one as he listed off various monsters and demons. "Like zombies, werewolves, incubi, succubi, everything you have ever dreaded was under your bed, but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day. They're all real!"

"Trust us, we've seen more than a few of them, and it's not pretty," Nancy added.

Buffy frowned. "So, does that mean the movie 'The Exorcist actually happened?"

"Yes," they all replied in unison.

Even with her mystical dream chaser shirt, she still wouldn't get sleep tonight knowing all of that existed.

She put the books back on the table.

"Okay, I'm officially freaked out. The next thing you're going to tell me is werewolves are real," Buffy said.

They all looked at Oz. It took Buffy a minute to connect the dots.

"You're a werewolf?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"Technically, only once a month," Oz replied.

Buffy stood up; her brain could only take so much craziness.

"I uh, I have to get to class. But if you find anything out about this Spike guy, you'll let me know?"

Giles nodded. "Of course."

Buffy gave a grateful smile, glad she had people that could help with the utter weirdness that was her life now. Grabbing her book bag, she turned and left the library.

Two class periods later, Buffy sat at the lunch table with Willow, playing with the mushy peas on her plastic plate.

"Are you okay?" Willow asked.

Buffy looked up and gave her friend an apologetic smile. "Yeah, sorry. My mind has just been kind of all over the place lately."

"Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"No. I'm okay, really," she smiled and then raised her hands. "And look, I gave myself a manicure last night." Then she made a guilty face at her best friend. "Of course, the manicure was accompanied by the whole study thing. Since I would never want you to feel that all the time you've spent tutoring me is wasted."

"My time is freely given," Willow replied. "But are you sure you're okay? You've been Miss. Avoid-y the last couple of days."

Buffy felt horrible for not telling her best friend everything that had happened to her. She didn't want Willow to go all freak-o girl on her if she knew, but it was also eating at her to keep all of it bottled up inside. So, she began telling her friend everything, from the incident in Los Angeles last year, Spike saving her two weeks ago, her recurring nightmares that only went away when she was wearing his shirt, and finally, asking for help from the school's infamous Scooby Gang.

"Wow," Willow said, shocked. "That's just… wow."

"Tell me about it," Buffy replied.

"Well, it's obvious he's been following you around since you lived in Los Angeles," Willow commented.

"Definitely," Buffy agreed.

"Why do you think he has?"

"I don't know, Will. I think maybe– "

"I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility," Cordelia interrupted, coming up to their lunch table, Harmony behind her. "But I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow night, Kyle is having a party at his house. And normally, I wouldn't invite the loser squad to come, but he wants it to be the biggest party of the year, so I guess you two are included in that invitation."

"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Buffy asked. "Having a party. At night. In Sunnydale."

"Normally yes, but he's setting up garlic and crosses around his yard to scare them off. Also, those creepy, ugly things can't come into the house unless invited. This means a big fun party," Cordelia responded, a fake smile plastered on her face.

"We'll try to be there," Buffy said sarcastically, having no intention of going.

"Oh, and Willow, if I were you, I wouldn't wear such bright colors. You know that attracts them," Harmony added.

Willow looked down at her fluffy yellow sweatshirt and frowned.

Cordelia and Harmony walked away, satisfied.

"Don't worry, Will. I think half-wits attract vampires more than your sweatshirt would," Buffy said, trying to make her friend feel better.

Buffy and Willow laughed. The bell rang, and Buffy stood up. "I guess we'll have to talk about the catastrophe that is my life later; I'll see you in sixth period."

Willow agreed, and they went their separate ways, each heading to their next class.

Later that night, Buffy put on Spike's shirt and laid in bed, pondering about the day she had. Not only were vampires real, but werewolves, demons, even witches were too. And something even odder, she had a demon protecting her, whatever the reason for it was. She'd hoped that he was doing it out of the kindness of his… well, lifeless heart. But then she remembered what he'd said to her before: "I didn't have a choice," he growled. "I had to do it. So, don't think you're anything special and get your knickers in a twist thinking I give a bloody damn about your life."

What did he mean by 'he didn't have a choice? She'd surely go crazy trying to figure it out. The only way to know is if she saw him again or Giles could find him in one of those dusty books. It was all too much to take in and process. Sighing, she rubbed her hands over her face, exhaustion quickly took over her, and she fell into a deep sleep.