(O.O)
Buffy was going to kill Dawn.
This was the third time that her wayward sister ran away from home. She was just glad that Spike gave her something that made it easier to track her stupid sister because if not, she would've called the Scoobies again for another search party.
She arrived at the familiar gates of Restfield and was confused by where her tracker was leading her.
Dawn's with Spike? She thought as she neared the vampire's crypt, where her tracker was telling her to go.
She entered the crypt and found her sister and her vampire sitting on the floor.
"Dawn, what the hell? I can't believe you ran away again!" She yelled at her sister. "What the heck are you doing here?"
"Spike was just telling a story, a-and he was just at this really cool part…" her sister replied.
She turned to the vampire, who was watching her nervously. "What is she doing here? Was she bothering you?"
"I wasn't bothering him!" Dawn said, sounding indignant. "We were just hanging out."
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Here?"
"So? It's not like you don't do the same thing every night!" Her sister accused.
This surprised the Slayer. How the heck did she-?
She turned to the vampire and sent him an accusatory look.
Spike looked away. He hadn't meant for that little fact to slip earlier, but the Bit was quite a talented interrogator and he accidentally told the girl that her sister hung out at his place after every patrol.
Dawn huffed. Her sister can be so dramatic, she thought.
"Look, you can get angry at Spike later. But can you please let him finish the story?"
Buffy scowled at this before turning to Spike again.
"Yeah, okay. Let's hear the story that Spike is telling my little sister," she said, folding her arms.
If he tells her something unsuitable for children, I will punch his nose and will so tell mom on him.
"Right, yeah," Spike answered, coughing a bit to remove the lump in his throat.
I'm a dead vamp if I'm not careful, he thought.
"So, uh, I knew the girl was in the coal bin. So I rip it open, very violent, haul her out of there-" he paused and stared at the Slayer. "And then I give her to a good family in a nice home, where they're never ever mean to her, and didn't lock her in the coal bin."
Buffy rolled her eyes at his stupid revised version of the obviously bloody story.
"What? That's so lame!" Dawn whined.
"Dawn, get your things," she ordered her sister.
Spike approached her and gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry, I was going to text you but I got carried away trying to entertain her," he explained.
Buffy shook her head. "It's not your fault. Dawn shouldn't have been here in the first place. Thank you for looking after her though," she said to him.
"Anytime, Luv," he replied with a soft smile.
Dawn arrived at that moment with her things. Buffy told Spike about the murder at the train station that she saw on the news and invited the vampire to investigate the scene with her. After agreeing on a time and date, the sisters bid the vampire goodbye.
As the two young ladies walked away from the cemetery, Buffy began to lecture her sister on what a horrible decision it was to go to the cemetery at night.
"Dawn, I know you think it's cool and fun to wander on your own, but you need to understand that nighttime and cemeteries here in Sunnydale equal death," she said to her sister.
The younger Summers rolled her eyes. "Pu-lease, I was completely safe. I knew Spike was there and he wouldn't have let anything happen to me," she said.
Okay, she had to give her sister that.
"Fine. You're right, Spike wouldn't have let anything happen to you," she concurred. "However, you can't be one hundred percent sure that he'd be there all the time. Spike's a very busy vamp. He could be out and you would've been alone then. What would you do then if some nasty came in and snatched you?"
Dawn snorted. "God! Buffy, you're overreacting. Nothing happened to me and Spike was there when I came. Why the heck are you still angry?"
"I'm angry because you ran away again and you could've been hurt. Or worse, captured by Glory and her minions."
She rolled her eyes again. "Well, I'm not captured and I was safe with Spike around," she told her sister with a silly smile on her face.
This caught the Slayer's attention. Dawn only had that expression on her face when she -
"Oh, my god! You have a crush on him!" Buffy exclaimed with a smile.
"No, I don't!" Dawn denied, before giggling as she described the platinum-blonde vampire. "It's just-he's got cool hair, and he wears cool leather coats and stuff."
"Ooooooh, you got it bad, sister mine," Buffy teased.
Dawn rolled her eyes again before she continued. "And he doesn't treat me like an alien. He treats me like I'm Dawn and not some weird mystic Key-thing. And I like it."
Buffy stared at her sister in sympathy. She could understand why she would like someone like that.
"Oh, sweety, I know all this is hard for you. I'm really sorry, we don't mean to make you feel that way," the Slayer said, putting a comforting arm around her sister.
"I know," Dawn responded. "But I still feel that way, and that's why I like hanging out with him."
"Alright, I understand. Just next time, tell me when you're going there, so I can either drop you or join you guys," she said.
Dawn shook her head at this suggestion. "I don't want you there! If you come with us, it won't be as fun."
"Oh, come on! I promise I won't force Spike to change his normally R-rated stories just to accommodate me," she told her sister with a laugh.
"That's not why I don't want you there. If you're there, he wouldn't notice I'm around."
Buffy turned to her sister and asked, "what's that supposed to mean?"
For the hundredth time that night, Dawn rolled her eyes at her sister. She can be so clueless and stupid sometimes.
"If you're there, Spike only looks at you. That vampire is totally into you, Buffy. Everyone disappears when you're there," she said to her sister.
Buffy was speechless.
"Oh, come on. You didn't notice? Buffy, Spike is completely in love with you," she informed her sister.
Buffy merely stared at Dawn like she had grown another head. "Huh?" was all she could say in response.
(O.O)
Spike was worried. Something was wrong with his Slayer and he had no idea what it was.
Ever since they met up that night to investigate the murders at the train station, his normally talkative Slayer was silent and had been distracted. He tried more than once to get the girl to respond to a joke or two but-nothing.
Her mind seemed to be elsewhere and he had no idea what it was that had her preoccupied.
They were nearing the train station when he finally broke and decided to ask the lady what was going on with her.
"Huh?" she asked, looking at him and clearly not listening.
He decided to repeat his question, "I asked what's wrong. You've been distracted and it's bloody annoying. I've been trying to talk to you since we left your house earlier but you haven't said a single word or insult to me and it's starting to piss me off."
Buffy stared at the vampire and Spike felt uncomfortable at the calculating gaze she sent his way.
He was about to yell at her to stop staring but was cut off when she suddenly asked, "Do you have a crush on me?"
As soon as the question registered in his head, Spike froze.
Buffy crossed her arms and waited for him to respond.
When he finally recovered, he stuttered his answer.
"Wa-what made you think that?"
"Dawn pointed it out to me that you seem to only see me when I'm around and everything disappears for you. She also said that you were totally into me and that you might love me."
Spike shook his head. Leave it to the Bit to put him into this situation.
"Buffy-" he started to give some lame excuse to what her sister said but she cut him off.
"I want the truth, Spike. Do you love me?"
Spike froze again. Should I really answer her? He asked himself before finally making a decision. Screw it! I might as well tell her everything.
The vampire steeled himself as he faced the love of his life. "And if I say I did? What would you do, pet?" He replied.
This time it was Buffy's turn to freeze. She hadn't expected him to confirm her suspicions. What would she do indeed?
"Oh," was her only response.
"I know this isn't what you expected to hear," he said.
You can say that again, she thought.
"But I can't help how I feel about you," he said softly as he slowly approached her. "I'm not asking you to feel the same way, but I would appreciate it if you did give me a chance. I want you more than anything I've ever wanted in my entire existence. You're always in my thoughts and in my dreams. I can barely sleep because you're always there. I love you, Buffy."
Buffy stared at him and remained still at his sudden confession. She felt him reach out to her face, tilting her upward. She saw him lean in to kiss her.
"NO!" She yelled as she pushed him away.
Spike was surprised. He hadn't expected her to push him away. He watched her as she took a step away from him.
"This is wrong," she said.
"Wha-Why?" He asked, unable to understand why she would say that.
"You-you're a vampire! I can't be with another vampire!"
He felt anger rise in him. "Why the hell not?!" He yelled in frustration. "If it's because of what happened between you and sodding Angel, you don't have to worry about that. I don't have a soul to lose, so I won't suddenly go on a murder spree on you and yours, Luv."
"Exactly!" She suddenly agreed. "You don't have a soul. You can't tell right from wrong."
"Bullshit! You and I know that I can indeed tell right from wrong. It may be a bit skewed when I do it, but I've been able to do the right thing more times than you know in the past and I've even made friends with Captain Fucking America because of it! Try another one, Slayer."
"There's nothing to try, Spike! I can't be with you. You're a killer and the only thing holding you back is the chip. I can't have it on my conscience to be with someone who'll be with me one moment and the next he'll be killing everyone I know."
"Buffy, you know I wouldn't do that. You should know by now that I wouldn't hurt anyone if the chip ever stopped working."
"That's the thing, Spike, I don't know what you'll do if the chip ever stopped working," she said before turning away from him. "All I know is that I can't risk people's lives the same way as I did in the past."
And with that, she left him.
(O.O)
Buffy felt horrible.
It's been three days since she last talked to Spike. Three days since she forced the vampire to confess his feelings for her. Three days since she denied said feelings. And three days since she last spent time with him.
Overall, she felt terrible these last three days without him.
What did it say about her that she missed the guy she turned down?
She had no problem with Spike, really. He was funny and she loved hanging out with him. She just had a problem with him having feelings for her.
Feelings meant something deeper and she wasn't ready for that. Heck, after Angel and Riley, she didn't think she'd ever be ready for that.
There was something inherently wrong with her because she seemed to be attracted to men who were bad for her.
Attracted? Was she attracted to Spike?
She groaned and slammed her head into her pillow.
She had no idea how she felt about the vampire. All she knew was that she liked spending time with him and that it was a bad idea to be with him romantically, because the chip could stop at any moment and wham! Another Angelus could happen and it'd be because of her again.
She hated her life.
Why can't things be simple? Why can't she fall for men who weren't going to turn evil on her?
She paused at that thought.
Fall for men? Was she in love with Spike?
"God! What's wrong with me?!" Buffy cried into her pillow.
It was bad enough that she was having Spike-withdrawals, which was totally a thing now, but she was having crazy thoughts that she actually loved the stupid vampire back too? Was she an idiot or something?
She needed to talk to someone about this.
But who?
She can't talk to Willow or Xander, they just started to like the vampire and she didn't want to change their views on him. He earned their trust and she wasn't about to ruin that for him, no matter how irritated she was about him for falling in love with her.
Yeah, like that was something he could've controlled, her stupid brain provided.
She shook her head.
She couldn't go to her mother or Giles either. One, because both were overprotective of her and they might end up threatening him, or worse, they might actually kill the vampire who wanted to lay his hands on their daughter, or in Giles' case, daughter figure. And two, Spike was sort of friends with her mom and had been having weird British camaraderie-thingy with Giles. And like with Xander and Willow, she didn't want to ruin that for the vampire.
She couldn't talk to Anya or Tara either, because she wasn't that close to the two of them and she wasn't one hundred percent sure that they wouldn't tattle on their respective others about her situation.
So, she was stuck with dealing with her problems alone because she didn't have other friends that she could ask about how to help her with her internal dilemma over her feelings for a certain handsome, leather coat-wearing, platinum blonde vampire.
Handsome? Yup. She was indeed crazy. Maybe she should check into a mental asylum again? She thought before turning to her ringing phone.
She checked the caller ID and saw that it was Steve.
Captain America! Maybe he can help me with my problem, she thought as she answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Buffy? This is Steve."
"Yeah, I know. I kind of saw your ID. So, what's up?"
"Oh, right. I mean, I'm calling to ask if you have heard from Spike?" Steve asked. Buffy froze at the question. She hadn't expected that.
"Why are you calling me about him?" She asked and hoped that Spike hadn't spilled the beans to his friend that she turned him down three days ago.
"I haven't heard from him in three days and that's kind of weird," the Captain said.
Buffy was panicking. She had no idea how to proceed. Should she just tell him?
"Buffy? Are you still there?"
"Oh! Yes! I mean, yeah, still here. Where were we?"
"Um, I was asking if you heard from Spike?"
"Oh! I mean, no. I haven't heard from him in a few days."
"Really?" He sounded worried now so Buffy hurriedly reassures him.
"I mean, maybe he's just been busy. You know Spike, he does what he wants and maybe he just forgot to call you or something."
Steve didn't agree with this assessment. His friend did often have things that he did on his own time and more often than not, he did tend to forget to call him. But Spike never missed any of his calls.
It wasn't like the vampire at all.
Spike always answered Steve's calls just in case he needed to talk to him about his nightmares or when he felt that he was being overwhelmed by the reality of being displaced 70 years in the future.
Spike was just like that. He was a good friend and the fact that he wasn't doing something that he normally did, made Steve worry.
He told Buffy all this and asked her if she knew if something had happened to the vampire.
Buffy was silent again on her end. She was still not certain how to proceed. It was obvious Steve was worried and he had a right to be. His friend wasn't answering his calls, most likely because he was still nursing his heart that she broke.
That last thought got to her. It was her fault that Spike wasn't answering his friend's calls. She should at the very least take responsibility and come clean to the super soldier.
And so, she did.
She told Steve what happened. From Dawn's offhand remark about Spike having a crush on her, to making him admit those said feelings for her, to her turning down the vampire by telling him she couldn't be with him because she didn't trust him not to turn on her once the chip was gone.
She also told the Captain about missing Spike and hating herself for having thoughts of reciprocating his feelings. By the end of her tale, she was a bundle of an emotional wreck. She didn't even notice when she started crying.
Why the hell was she even crying?
Steve listened to Buffy's story and had a difficult time sorting out his emotions.
First, he was happy that Spike finally admitted his feelings for the girl. Next, he was sad for his friend when he heard that she turned him down and was also disappointed in Buffy for doing so. Then he was confused at her quick explanation of missing the vampire and having thoughts of returning his feelings. Afterward, he felt sorry for the young woman because it was so obvious that she was conflicted by what she was feeling for his friend.
It was obvious to Steve that she liked the vampire as well, but he could also understand her hesitation about actually reciprocating his friend's feelings. From what he had heard, she already fell in love with another vampire in the past and that vampire betrayed her and killed a lot of people.
He really couldn't fault her for fearing that history would repeat itself.
However, he knew Spike and knew that the vampire wasn't anything like the evil bastard that Buffy fell in love with in the past. His friend was quite capable of controlling his evil urges, if he even had one to begin with, and he knew that Spike didn't need the chip to stop himself from killing people.
Hell, he hasn't had the chip for three months, and he knew for a fact that the vampire hadn't killed anyone in Sunnydale because he promised Steve that he wouldn't.
If only Buffy knew that the chip was gone and Spike hadn't been killing anyone despite it, maybe she'd believe that the vampire was different from the one in her past and would finally give his friend a chance that he knew Spike deserved.
Steve paused. Why the hell was he hesitating telling Buffy about the chip? Spike only made him promise not to tell anyone in Sunnydale because he was afraid that Buffy and her friends would attack him or think the worst of him.
But the vampire had been hanging out with all of them these past few months and he hasn't attacked a single one of them. Nor had they seen him eat people. Spike was behaving himself even without the chip and this should be proof enough that he had changed and wasn't like that other vampire they had been comparing him to.
And thus, Steve decided to tell her the truth about the chip.
However, instead of relief, Buffy went rigid after hearing what Steve told her about the chip.
"Buffy? Are you still there?" Steve asked when she hadn't responded.
"I'm here. Look, Steve, just to clarify. Spike has had the chip removed for over three months and you're choosing just now to tell me about this?" She asked.
"Yes? Buffy, please understand that Spike was worried about you guys taking the removal of the chip the wrong way. I can assure you he hasn't killed anyone."
"And you know this, how?" She asked angrily. She couldn't just take this naive man's words at face value. He didn't know Spike the way she did and he didn't know anything about vampires and what they were truly capable of. They were selfish and evil and-
She had to go.
"I'm sorry, Steve, but I have to go," she said.
Steve was now panicking. He didn't like the sound of her voice. It was the sound of someone who was about to make the biggest mistake of their lives.
"Buffy, you need to listen to me, Spike-"
She hung up and threw her phone on her bed before getting up to get dressed. She needed to see Spike.
She didn't know what his play was but she knew he needed to stop him.
(O.O)
Dawn felt so stupid.
She should've known her sister was going to mess things up after she told her Spike had a crush on her.
Buffy had something amazing and she ruined it by breaking Spike's heart, and all because she couldn't stop herself from comparing every single man in her life to freaking Angel!
Why can't she see that Spike is so not Angel?
So he didn't have a soul and he wasn't as broody and guilt-ridden as a certain vampire with stupid hair was? That's totally fine! It was an upgrade even! Plus, he had the chip and that should be enough to prove that he's on their side now. Right?
But no! Her sister and her stupid obsession with souls had to be a top priority and everything else didn't matter. It didn't matter that Spike was friends with Captain America and had helped save people back in the war, without a soul, she might add. It didn't matter that he's been helping her out and saving her friends from dangers lately, without a soul. And it so didn't matter that he was changing for the better, because for her sister, a soulless vampire will never change without a freaking SOUL!
Argh! She was so pissed at her sister.
She was so angry that after she overheard Buffy tellin Captain America what she did to Spike three nights ago, Dawn decided to leave the house without permission and had gone to visit the vampire, who was the true victim in all of this.
But that was the biggest mistake she had ever made that night.
When she arrived at Spike's crypt that evening, she had been surprised that there weren't any lights in the normally well-lit room in the vampire's home. She called out to the vampire but no one answered and so she thought no one was home.
She was about to leave when someone grabbed her from behind.
It was Harmony!
The blonde bimbo started yelling at someone from the back of Spike's crypt and telling them about Dawn. Meanwhile, Dawn tried to struggle from the vampire's hold on her, but it was no use. She was stronger than her and she started dragging Dawn towards the back corner of Spike's crypt. It wasn't long before the bitch had dropped her down the hole to the lower level of the crypt and she landed with a loud thud.
It hurt and she was certain that she twisted something during the fall.
She heard Harmony land beside her before being grabbed by the arm and was forced to stand up.
"Look what I found upstairs!" The blonde said with a smile.
Dawn turned to see who she was talking to and paled when she recognized the other person.
Drusilla!
"My, my, my! It seems the stars have gifted us with the loveliest of flowers. Green and green, swirling, twirling. Locks will be useless with this one," she said as she caressed Dawn's trembling cheek.
She knows about me being the Key! She thought.
"What?" Harmony exclaimed. "Never mind, I won't understand your explanation anyway, you weirdo. I just want to know if we can eat this one or not? She's Buffy's sister and if we kill her, we can get our revenge on her for taking our Spike."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's not the time," Drusilla said. "The beast will want this one when the stars are aligned and in the right place. For now, we must wake our Spike and let him see what we have. Maybe he'll be more willing to play with us with her as an incentive."
She grabbed Dawn by the neck and dragged the teen further into the darkest corner of the room.
Dawn nearly screamed at the sight before her.
It was Spike.
He was unconscious and chained to the wall, and his shirt had been removed.
But what horrified her most was the state he was in.
He was covered in blood and was full of cuts and bruises. Whatever they did to him, it definitely hurt and it wasn't pretty.
"Wakey, wakey, my dear Spikey," Drusilla said, dragging her sharp nails down Spike's chest and adding another cut to his injuries.
Dawn could see Spike stirring until he raised his head to face them. The teen saw the vampire's blue eyes widen in horror at the sight of her.
"Dawn," she heard him whisper.
"As you can see, the green bird has decided to come for a visit. Shall we play with her, my Spike?"
Spike saw them and then the vampire lash out and yell at his crazy ex telling her to Dawn her go. This only earned a giggle from the loony vamp.
"But, she is so lovely, my Spike. Those monks made her so pure and fresh, that I want to have a taste of her," Drusilla said as she tightened her hold on the teen's neck.
Dawn gasped. This was it! This is where she was going to die!
"Stop!" Spike screamed. "I'll do whatever it is you want, dammit! Just don't hurt the girl!"
This seemed to convince Dru because she eased her hold on Dawn.
"Is that a promise, my love?" The crazy vampire asked.
"Yes," Spike said through his clenched teeth.
All of a sudden, the Dru released her and shoved her to the side.
Dawn landed on her back but she immediately sat up to see what Drusilla was going to do to Spike.
"Well, I want you to kill the Slayer for me, my Spike," she heard Dru tell him.
Spike's eyes widened and backtracked on his promise. "Dru, I will do anything for you, but I won't hurt Buffy or any of hers. Please ask anything else, pet."
Dawn saw the female vampire pout at his refusal before grabbing hold of his face to make him face her. She noticed Spike closing his eyes.
"Ah-ah, don't close those eyes, my sweet."
"Drusilla, stop!" Spike yelled and Dawn heard his voice crack.
"If you don't open them, I will rip the little one's throat and pour her blood down your throat. Would you like that, my Spike?"
Dawn's body shook in fear. She didn't know why Spike didn't want to look at Dru, but she was afraid of what the crazy bitch was planning to do with her. She just hoped he wouldn't ignore the threat.
Despite knowing it was a terrible idea, Spike slowly opened his eyes and came face to face with Dru's alluring hazel gaze.
"Be in me, my love!" She said, and he immediately knew what she was planning.
He willed himself to avert his gaze, as he had been doing these past few days, but it was too late. She already caught him.
"Be in me and see my will," she said in an almost hypnotic tone.
Slowly, the vampire lost control of his own thoughts.
"Be in me…" were the last words he heard before all went dark.
(O.O)
One of these days, she was going to put a collar on her sister and chain her up in her room.
She couldn't believe that Dawn had left their house again without her permission, and she even did it while she was talking to Steve on the phone. She didn't have time for this, because she was supposed to go to Spike and ask him about the chip.
God! Her sister could be so annoying!
She followed the earring tracker's instruction and she was once again being led to the familiar cemetery of Restfield.
Buffy's eyes widened as she realized where her sister had gone.
She sprinted to the familiar crypt of a certain vampire and prayed to God that Spike didn't do anything to her sister. Upon arriving she kicked the door open.
"Dawn!" she called out.
Like an animal, she frantically searched the crypt for any signs of her sister or the vampire. In her search, she noticed a trap door just behind the sarcophagus. Without any consideration for her safety, the Slayer jumped down the hole.
Once she landed, she called for her sister and the vampire again. There was still no answer. Then she turned round to a corner and found something that practically made her heart drop.
In front of her empty chains were hanging from the wall. However, it was the pool of blood just under the chains that caught her attention.
He didn't! She thought as the horrifying images of her sister being tortured by the vampire swept through her mind.
She was angry.
How dare he-
She stopped as her eyes caught sight of the glint from a pair of earrings on the floor beside the pool of blood. She approached the earrings and immediately recognized them as the earrings Spike gave her to track her sister. Under the earrings, there was a note. She picked up the earrings as well as the note.
Slayer, meet me at the Crawford Manson if you wish to see your sister again.
The elegant handwriting on the note was written in blood.
With a roar, she rushed out of the crypt to get to the location stated on the note, where the vampire who had hurt her sister was.
(O.O)
Dawn was scared.
After whatever mojo Drusilla did to Spike, the vampire suddenly stopped acting like the vampire she knew and loved. The crazy vamp released Spike from his chains before ordering him to get dressed.
When he was wearing his usual ensemble, she told him to take her. She was then roughly dragged by the platinum blonde vampire to follow his crazy Sire and Harmony out of his crypt and through the dark roads of Sunnydale.
It was a long walk but eventually, Dawn realized where they were taking her.
Crawford Mansion.
It was Angelus' home. She had no idea why they would bring her there, but she was already dreading the entire thing.
She tried talking to Spike and getting him to help her escape but her vampire wasn't responding to her pleas. His expression remained impassive, his eyes were glossy as if he was seeing something else or wasn't seeing anything at all.
"It's no use, little lamb," Drusilla told her. "He cannot hear you."
"What did you do to him?"
"Nothing you should worry your pretty little head about, dearie. My Spike wasn't right, so I kept little William locked away, at least until teatime when the Sunshine comes to play," the loony bitch told her.
Dawn didn't understand what she just said but it didn't take much for her to put together that she did something to Spike that was making him act this way. If she was being creative, she'd say that the crazy vampire put a whammy on him and Spike was under some major mind control to do her bidding. She only hoped that whatever the crazy bitch was planning it wouldn't end with anyone dead.
Once they arrived at the manor, Drusilla immediately ordered Spike to chain her up to a pillar in the main area of the house.
"Okay, we're here. What are we waiting for? Let's use Spike to kill the Slayer, while we chow down on her sister," Harmony told the crazy vampire. "Isn't that the plan? You use your thrall-thingy to control Spike and send him after the Slayer and her friends, then once they're all dead, all three of us will rule Sunnydale together."
Dawn's eyes widened at this information and she stared at the loony vamp to confirm what she just heard and saw that she was irritated by Harmony just said.
I guess I wasn't supposed to know about their plan. But what did she expect when she told Harmony her plans? Obviously, the dumb blonde wouldn't keep her secret! Dawn thought but she paused as what she heard finally sunk in.
"Wait! You're going to use Spike to kill everyone? Don't you know that he can't hurt people?" She asked out loud. "He's got a chip that prevents him from hurting humans."
The two vampires merely giggled at her questions.
"Don't you know that he got his chip removed months ago?" Harmony said with a haughty grin.
This newest information shocked her. Spike didn't have his chip for that long? And he didn't kill any of us? Why?
"The frozen captain made him promise not to be naughty and your mummy talked him into changing," Drusilla told her, looking angry as she said this.
Captain America and mom knew he didn't have the chip?
"Blondie bear refused to kill anyone when we came for a visit a few days ago, so we had to hurt him. But he was being all stubborn and it was getting annoying," Harmony said. "So Loony Lu here thought it would be a great idea to thrall Spikey into doing our bidding. Of course, he refused to give in to her until you came here."
She smirked and Dawn realized again how much she messed up. She then listened to Drusilla explain to her blonde accomplice using her weird way of talking that her sister was on her way there to see them.
"The Slayer is coming here?!" Harmony asked with a panicked voice. "Shouldn't we hide or something?"
"Too late for that," Drusilla said. "She's already here."
Just as she said this, the front door to the mansion was slammed open and her sister came in, looking furious and almost murderous.
Buffy looked around the room and was surprised that there were more people inside than she expected.
"Drusilla," she growled. She should've known that she'd also be involved in this. She was here when Angel turned bad too. Bitch wants a front-row seat to her kicking her lover's ass? Fine, after I dust Spike, I'll take her on next.
The Slayer's eyes then landed on her sister, who was chained to a pillar behind the three vampires.
Her eyes then zeroed on the vampire, who hurt her sister.
"Spike, I'm giving you this one chance to release my sister and maybe I won't hurt you much for you did to her at your crypt," she told the vampire.
She stared at the platinum blonde vampire and waited for him to respond but she didn't get an answer at all, which surprised her. Before she had the time to wonder what was going on, she heard Drusilla order Spike to attack her, which he did without question.
Spike rushed at her, and immediately sent a series of combo attacks her way.
Left hook, right hook, left jab, front kick.
Buffy was able to block some of his attacks but the kick hit its mark and she was forced to step back in pain.
She was surprised. Spike never attacked her with such ferocity in the past. Maybe breaking his undead heart is giving him incentive to finally take her seriously.
She didn't have time to recover before Spike was at her again. This time he grabbed hold of her hair and used it to slam her into a wall. Buffy dropped to the floor in a heap.
"Buffy!" Dawn screamed. Her sister was losing.
She's never seen Buffy be beaten up this badly, well, unless she was facing a hell god. But this was Spike! He liked her sister. Heck, she was certain he loved her. He shouldn't be the one to hurt her this way, mind-controlled or not.
"Spike, please stop! That's Buffy , you don't want to hurt her!" She pleaded with the vampire, who was now straddling her sister and choking the life out of her.
"It's no use, poppet. Your William is locked up and that's my Spike in the reigns," Drusilla said.
Dawn glared at the crazy vampire before turning back to face the fighting pair in front of her. Buffy was able to get Spike off of her and now her sister had gotten up and was ready for another barrage of attacks from him. She didn't have to wait long because Spike was attacked again.
The youngest Summers knew that she couldn't get to Spike. As Drusilla said, he was probably too far under her thrall or whatever she did to him. However, she did read somewhere that one can get out of being mind-controlled by giving the victim a good thump in the head, and if that didn't work, she was pretty sure the vampire would at least be rendered unconscious long enough for her sister to take care of Crazilla and Harmony.
"Buffy! You need to hit him hard in the head! Drusilla got him under a thrall and that's why he's attacking!" She yelled at her sister.
"Hey! Don't give her clues!" Harmony screech indignantly.
Buffy took her sister's suggestion to heart and focused her next moves on landing a hit to Spike's head.
First, she delivered a punch to the vampire's nose, making his head snap back. It left her room to deliver her next attack, which was to kick him in his jewels. When he slouched forward in pain, she immediately delivered a powerful dropkick on his head.
Spike was down with that. She stared at the vampire with a sad expression. While she now knew he didn't attack her voluntarily, she still wasn't sure if he was on her side or not. Or why Drusilla and Harmony were there with Dawn. All she knew was that the blood on the note could belong to her sister and she wasn't going to let anyone who hurt Dawn go.
She heard a shriek and turned just in time to avoid an attack from Drusilla.
"You naughty, naughty Sunshine! Always stealing what is not hers! First Daddy and now my dear Spike," she wailed as she tried to slash her face with her sharp nails.
Unlike Spike, Drusilla wasn't as fast or powerful, so Buffy was able to avoid her attacks with ease. After dodging one of the crazed vamp's attacks, she backhanded her, flinging the vampire to a wall. Buffy heard Dru's head hitting the wall before dropping to the floor.
Buffy then turned to the last vampire in the room, a shaking Harmony, who was standing next to her sister.
"Don't come any closer!" The dumb blonde said as she wrapped her hand around her sister's neck.
"Harmony, if you hurt my sister, I will do more than just kill you. I will break every bone in your body and then use what bone I didn't break as a club and hit you with it until you dust," the Slayer threatened the already scared vampire.
Harmony immediately released her sister's neck and started singing like a canary. "Please, it was all Drusilla's idea! She found me in LA and told me that she could help me get Spike back and that we could rule Sunnydale together without worrying about the Slayer," the blonde vampire said. "I didn't even do anything! I didn't even help torture Blondie Bear nor did I have anything to do with your sister being here! I swear it was all Drusilla's fault!"
Torture?! Buffy froze at this.
"So, the blood in his crypt and on the note is his?"
"It was Spike's and his crazy ex-girlfriend did everything!" Harmony exclaimed.
Buffy was silent for a moment after this. The blood she saw wasn't Dawn's, which was good. "Go," she told the vampire. "If you come back to Sunnydale again, you're dust, you got me?"
"Crystal!" the vampire said, before running straight for the exit.
Buffy turned to her sister and checked her for any injuries but she didn't see anything physically.
"Are you okay?" She still asked her sister to be sure.
Dawn nodded. "A little roughed up but they didn't hurt me. Spike made sure of it before Drusilla did that thing to him," her sister answered.
Buffy turned back to look at the still unconscious vampire.
"He doesn't have the chip, Buffy," Dawn told her. "He got it out months ago."
She stilled at hearing this. She already knew that, but she wasn't sure how to proceed about it anymore. Before learning that the vampire saved her sister, she had mentally talked herself into accepting that she would need to drive him out of town because she knew she couldn't kill him.
"He hasn't killed anyone either," her sister added.
"You don't know that," she snapped back at her.
But her sister gave her a determined look. "Drusilla said so. She said he hadn't been killing people because he made a promise to Steve and mom."
Mom knew about the chip?!
"It's why she tortured him, because he refused to kill anyone. He's hurt because he refused to kill you and any of your friends."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I know you. I know that you'd probably dust him or force him to leave town because you think it's dangerous. But it's not! Spike cares about you and mom and maybe me too! I don't want you to hurt him any more than you already have."
"What do you mean?"
"I heard what you told Steve over the phone," Dawn admitted.
"Wha-"
"You broke his heart and you refused to acknowledge that Spike wouldn't hurt you if the chip wasn't there! You're comparing him to freaking Angel and that's not fair. That's why I went to see him tonight."
"And look where that got you," she snapped. She didn't appreciate that her sister was telling her these things.
Who does she think she is?
"Yeah, I got captured and it sucked. But I'm fine now, Spike isn't. He's hurt because he didn't want to kill people and he got tortured for it. He was hurt before that because you turned down his confession because you can't accept that he wouldn't kill anyone without the chip," the youngest Summers said. "But the chip has been gone for months and he hasn't killed people. That should be proof enough for you!"
"Dawn-"
"Please, Buffy, I don't want you to hurt him further by asking him to leave town or worse by killing him. You just can't see for yourself that Angel was an asshole without a soul and Spike is nothing like him!" Her sister screamed.
Buffy had nothing to reply to her sister's words. What can she say to that?
She had indeed planned to send Spike away. But with all the new information she got about their mother knowing about the chip, Spike's refusal to kill anyone, and subsequent torture because of this, then her sister's pleas not to hurt the vampire, she was no longer sure how to handle things regarding Spike.
There was one thing she did know though, and that was that she wanted to leave the mansion and never go back there again.
She looked at the chain keeping her sister captive. She was glad that they weren't the reinforced chains that Angel normally had in his home. This one was thin and she could easily break them.
And she did.
She broke her sister free and told her that they were leaving before she turned and walked towards Spike's still form. She kneeled beside the vampire and touched his chest. His shirt was damp and when she pulled back her hand, there was blood on her fingers. She then pulled up his shirt and flinched at the sight of an injury on his stomach. It was a long gash right above his navel and was most likely caused by a knife or something really sharp. This was just his stomach. She could only imagine how bad other parts of his body were.
Buffy couldn't help the guilt from seeping into her heart.
Her friend was being tortured by his ex-girlfriends while she spent debating with herself if she wanted to see Spike or not.
Why the hell did she let his confession ruin the blooming friendship they have been building for the past few weeks?
So, he loved her but she wasn't certain she felt the same way he did. That didn't mean she should've avoided him for three days to get tortured by his exes. So, she had issues with being in a relationship with a vampire again. That didn't mean she had to break her friendship with him. She could've just talked things over with him.
That would've been kinder.
Her sister was right. She was an idiot and Spike paid for it.
"Help me get him up," she told her sister. Like Dawn said, Spike shouldn't get hurt any more than he already was. She decided she was going to bring him home with them.
"What are we going to do with Drusilla, Buffy?" Her sister asked.
The Slayer stilled before turning to the female vampire's still form.
She should kill her. She deserved it after what she did to Spike. But did she have a right to do it?
Dru was Spike's Sire and lover for over a hundred years. She knew that if she ended the dark-haired vampire, her friend would definitely be heartbroken, regardless of the fact they were no longer together. That amount of history was just not going to be easy to erase.
I don't want to hurt him anymore. Buffy thought, before making a decision on what she was going to do with the crazy vampire.
(O.O)