Of Mice and Men (part 22 of Island of Galleno)
by Isabelle
Rating: R (for cursing, mild nudity, adult situations and violence)
Disclaimers: BTVS belong to Joss Whedon, ME, and UPN they are being used for entertainment, I don't own them. The Count of Monte Cristo belongs to Alexandre Dumas--Spike's journey was taken from the idea of the book and is used in the skeleton of the Series. The ending of the chapter was inspired by The Princess Bride and it was not an attempt to rape the idea simply to glorify it.
Summary: The moment that Spike finally has Buffy he is vamp-napped by Riley and a new officer, Jack Marshall and sent to the Island of Galleno off the Moroccan coast where all the leftovers of the Initiative are being placed. Buffy frantically looks for Spike but gets news that he was 'accidentally killed' by Jack, who decides to make Sunnydale his residence. The whole thing is Spike trying to get back to Sunnydale and Buffy thinking he's dead. It's filled with exotic places, tons of Original Characters, mysticism, enchantment, magic and love. It takes him years to find out who he is before he can find the one he loves.
Spoilers: Set after Normal Again, Season 6
Feedback: bih80reviews@yahoo.com
Archiving: Carnal Sins, DeathMarkedLove, and Only Time--all others please ask.
A/N: This part might be a bit dark but there's always a storm after a nice day.
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"I see PRIDE, I see POWER, I see a bad-ass mother who won't take no CRAP off of NOBODY!" Cool Runnings (1993)
They say that if you know that you're a madman then you're really quite sane.
He didn't know he was a madman.
Driving down the L.A. streets like the devil was after him, calculating in his head 101 strategic plans to get away, to escape and still win the ballot.
He had not bothered to stop and listen to the radio and how every cop in L.A. was after him.
His sweaty palms slipped from the wheel, didn't see red lights and ran right past them, until the point when he had caused 3 major accidents and almost hit 4 pedestrians.
He had three cops on his tail but he didn't hear them, he didn't see the flashing lights and he didn't see he was almost going 107.
It was not cops after him, it was not sirens, it was pure sin and guilt, sin and guilt that drove him to a place he knew no one knew.
He grinned as he turned sharply, his jeep getting lost amongst a jeep fair that was happening on 107th street.
He confused the cops and grinned as his sin disappeared, he was home free... free to escape.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willow snapped her eyes opened and looked around widely as someone shook her lightly.
"Red, wake up, wake up, Red."
"Spike?" she murmured then remembered what had happened. "William? How is he?"
"He's fine, listen I need your help--you and Glinda's." he stated quickly, probing Tara awake.
"What's going on?" she asked, sleepily.
"I need you to do a location spell for me, can you do that?"
Willow nodded sleepily and looked at Tara who nodded at her. "Who is it for?"
"Jack--I need to find 'im before the cops do," he said, quickly, taking off his coat and leaving him in a still stained black sweater and black slacks.
Both witches looked at him unsure. He groaned. "I'm not going to kill 'im--I promised Buffy I wasn't, just wanna have some words with him."
"Ok...if Buffy knows about it I supposed it's fine," Tara agreed.
"We'll need something that belongs to him... do you have anything?" Willow asked him.
Spike sighed and shook his head.
"I do."
They all turned, a bit startled to look at Dawn who had a gun in her hands, wrapped in a cloth.
Spike gulped back the urge to use it on it's owner.
"Where did you get that?" Spike asked her.
"He dropped it... in my apartment," she looked down and unconsciously touched her bruised cheek.
"Did he--" Spike roared, seeing her bruise.
"He did--But Ricardo came just in time, I'm okay, really," she insisted.
Spike took a deep breath and closed his eyes to calm himself down.
"Put it in the middle here, Dawny," Tara told her gently, smiling enquiringly at her.
Dawn did as she was told.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Buffy?"
The blonde took her eyes off her sleeping son and turned to look at Giles, she smiled.
"He was asking for you," she told him.
Giles smiled--quite relieved that William seemed fine despite how pale he looked on the bed. "How is he?"
Buffy took a deep breath and nodded. "Better--much better.... we think--Spike and me that is, we think he has accelerated healing powers."
Giles gapped at her. "Are you sure?"
"That bullet would've killed him, Giles--it went right through him at close range." Buffy went back to caressing William's face and kissing his small hand. "And now, a few hours later, he's waking up and asking for Gummy Bears."
Giles chuckled and walked next to William, smiling down at the small child who was looking in his sleep for his security blanket and his stuffed toys.
"Where's Spike?" he asked her.
Buffy sighed and looked down. "He's going after him."
Giles' eyes widened. "Jack?"
Buffy nodded. "He promised me he wouldn't kill him," she looked back up at her watcher. "I think something's wrong with me--I would normally want him dead for doing what he did...if I hadn't seen his face when he realized what he'd done to William...."
Giles reached for her hand and squeezed it. "I am sure Spike will give him what he deserves."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike jumped in the jeep as Lugo made a hasty stop in front of the doors of the emergency waiting area.
"1524 South Bennett Street," he told him quickly.
"Wait!"
Both Spike and Lugo turned to see a running Dawn coming out from the hospital.
"What is it, Nibblet?" Spike asked her, obviously in a hurry.
She grabbed on to the door and looked at both of them. "Be careful."
Spike smiled at her. "We will."
"Don't do anything Buffy might want to stake you for, please?"
Spike chuckled. "I know."
"Good." She smiled. "Kick his ass for me."
"As you wish," Lugo said and nodded then hit the gas.
Inside, Spike pulled out a duffle bag from underneath the seat and opened it. Inside were all types of guns and ammunitions, knifes and torture devices.
"Are we looking for a clean sweep?" Lugo asked him, eyeing him wearily.
"Nope," Spike told him, curtly.
Lugo nodded and kept his eyes on the road. "Then what are all these goodies for?"
Spike smirked and held up a wicked looking knife, winking at Lugo. "There are worse things than death."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Riley hung up the phone on Giles. He took a deep breath and drank a quick gulp of his sherry.
"Can we talk?"
He groaned internally.
Ok, so he had done some mistakes in the past--but everything was different now. He had a family, he had a little girl, he wasn't young and a bit jealous now. He hadn't even thought about Buffy in the past 4 years!
"About what, Sam?" he asked his wife who stood behind him in her bathrobe with her loose chocolate brown hair that cascaded down her back.
"Don't make yourself out to be the innocent, Finn," she hissed at him. "I saw the news--Jack Marshall is on every channel for attempted murder of his five-year old son." She stood to face him off. "He tried to kill his son and you let him in here with your wife and daughter?!"
Riley set down his glass with a loud 'thud'. "I didn't know what he had done! Do you really think I would've let him in here if I had known he'd totally lost it, Sam?"
Sam shook her head. "Why did he come here, Ri'? We hardly knew him, what exactly happened with Buffy that you're not telling me?"
Riley clenched his jaw. "Nothing, Sam... even if it did I was a different man then..."
"So something did happen," she stated, crossing her arms across her chest.
Riley looked around, jaw still clenching. "It's classified, soldier."
A right hook got him on the left side of his jaw. "Don't give me that bullshit!"
Riley grabbed his throbbing jaw and looked at his wife in disbelief. "What the--"
"I'm leaving, Riley. I'll take my daughter and leave if you so much as place her in the line of fire. I don't want a pissed off Slayer after me and my child."
"I never meant to, I mean I didn't know..."
Her eyes threw draggers at him. "I'm leaving, this is your mess."
She turned quickly and climbed the stairs, Riley followed her. She entered their room and took out a suit case, and began placing things in.
"Were are you going?" Riley asked her, hushed--not wanting to wake their daughter.
"I'm going to my sister's." she didn't look up at him as she slipped on sweats and grabbed sneakers.
"Sam for god's sake!"
"What, Riley?" she confronted him. "What are you going to say to make it better? Obviously you and Jack did something under the table and if after 6 years of marriage you don't trust me enough to tell me these vital things...then I don't know you, I don't know you at all."
Riley grabbed her upper arms. "It's in the past."
She wriggled out of his grip. "And it's obviously coming for our future."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy exited the room and waited for Giles to be out before carefully closing the door behind them. She shivered at the coldness of the hospital and rubbed her upper arms.
"What is it, Giles?"
The older man looked terrible, his hair was disheveled and a frown creased his brow.
"Humm... the thing is, Buffy..."
"Giles," the blonde told him, impatiently, it made him smile thinking about how her patience had not changed since the first time he had met her.
"I just figured something out," he told her slowly, taking his glasses off and cleaning them against his shirt.
"And from what it looks like it's a something that's a big something," she pursued.
"Right so," he nodded. "I... Buffy," he looked down at her expecting eyes and sighed. "I think you might still be the Slayer."
Her eyes got wide and she gaped at him. "Huh?"
"You see, I just found this text on the origins of Slayers and it stated that once a Slayer, always a Slayer... the only ones who have the right to take that away are the powers that be and they only take by killing you....by ending your life."
"What are you saying, Giles?" she whispered.
"I'm saying... that you're still the Slayer." Giles looked at her doubtfully.
"But... but--but my powers, Giles, I'm a normal woman. I don't have the strength, the healing, nothing!" she explained.
"Remember when the council tested your abilities?" he asked her, looking down.
Her eyes widened more. "Who would..."
"The council has been known to work with outside forces before... by all means necessary." he whispered. "Including government agencies."
"Are you saying..." she gulped, all being too much for her to take. "Are you saying my marriage is a fake?"
"What I'm saying Buffy is that not everything is what it seems."
She was shaking--it was all too much. She had been played. And played rightfully well. She felt like her life was crumbling before her. Spike, William, Jack, Slayerhood...
"I have to go--stay with him, please and maybe Tara or Dawn could come in too," she told him, gripping his upper arms.
"Where are you going--"
"I need your keys," he reached into his pockets and pulled out his keys. "Stay with him," that's all she said before running down the hall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lugo pulled up to the large mansion and Spike jumped out of the car, bag in hand. When the young man made a move to follow him Spike held up his hand to stop him.
"It's my fight, Lugo--stay here and make sure no one disrupts us."
Lugo nodded reluctantly and watched Spike go up the steps, open the door and disappear inside.
Inside the mansion was large and decorated in the latest decor with ivory walls and ivory furniture. Many mirrors and paintings of abstract art that Spike would guess that were originals.
He stood still listening to his surroundings, just like Archie had taught him.
"Nature tells you what she's feeling, what is coming, when it's coming and from where it's coming..." he said slowly, hypnotic. "The wind moves with the object and the tiniest noise can be heard from an astute vampire."
And there it was. The tiniest movement, the lowest sound, the clue of the prey.
Spike grinned and placed down his bag. He silently took out his sword, and walked towards what looked like to be the main living room of the mansion.
Carefully, his back straight, attuned to any noise he pulled up his sword when he saw Jack before him. Standing on the other side of the room, sword in hand, grinning at him also.
"I though you might come for me," he told the vampire.
"I though you might be waiting," Spike answered him back.
The brunette slashed his sword in the air in perfect position. "I won first place in the National championship for swordsmanship when I went to West Point."
Spike chuckled. "Is that so? Of all the things that I expected to find here I never thought it might be a pissing contest."
"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," Jack grinned.
Spike took the sword in his right hand and placed himself in position.
"En guard," Jack hissed then jumped at Spike.
Spike ducked him and dueled to the right, then to the left both times Jack protected him self. They jumped over a sofa, Spike blocking a left hit, ducking and rolling to the floor, landing standing up and reaching for Jack.
Jack charged at him but Spike threw a pillowcase at him and rolled out of the way.
Jack nodded. "Not bad, old man."
"Not so bad yourself, young man." Spike smirked then attacked him, making Jack hit his back against the wall and crack the painting that was on it, it fell to the floor with a loud thud.
"That was a fifty thousand dollar painting!" Jack hissed at him.
"Not yours I presume."
Jack glared at him and attacked him once more, Spike and Jack continued dueling, both rolling out of the way, jumping on furniture, crashing mirrors and vases.
Spike shoved Jack out of the way making the man roll on the floor, Jack taking the opportunity to grab a piece of shattered mirror from the floor.
As Spike prepared to hit him, Jack pulled out the glass and threw it like a butter knife in the air, hitting and embedding the knife in the vampire's shoulder.
Spike screamed and clutched his shoulder.
Jack chuckled and stood up. "So who's winning now?" he grinned and took another piece from the floor, throwing at Spike, hitting him in his abdomen.
The vampire fell forward, trying to prevent the blood from gushing out of his stomach.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Buffy jumped out of Giles' car and ran to her front door.
"Senora what is happening?" her maid asked her as soon as she walked in. Buffy continued running to Jack's office.
"I need to be alone," she told her and shut the large oak door behind her.
She took a deep breath and walked over to his desk. She took out the large drawers and started emptying them, sorting through their contents.
Nothing, no pills, no potions, nothing. She sighed and wiped her forehead, looking around the room at any other possible places.
Jack had a collection of many books, none of which she had ever seen him read.
She stepped forwards and started picking up books, throwing them on the floor when she saw they were normal.
The first bookshelf continued uneventful but on the third book of the second when she pulled out 'The Prince' she jumped at the noise it made. She let it go and turned her head at the sound of the noise.
The wall that used to contain his family black and white photos opened up into a trap door. She narrowed her eyes and walked into it.
She gasped at the inside of the tiny room.
It was coated from wall to wall with small white pills bottles, pictures... pictures of her sleeping, bathing William when he was younger, laughing in the park with him when she had though she had been by herself. Pictures of her bathing!
She grabbed the photos and ripped them. "You son of a bitch!"
She grabbed one of the pill bottles. The label read: Tranquilizer.
Many of them were empty and had old expiration dates, the ones she presumed she had already eaten and excreted.
She threw them on the floor with rage. On the side of the room was a computer, she promptly turned it on, sorting through pictures of William in different stages of his life while it turned on.
Until she got to one picture... it was Spike.
Spike walking in the cemetery, her and Spike kissing, her and Spike having sex in the grass, her and Spike kissing on her back porch. Spike being hit with a club, Spike in an operation room. Spike having his chip removed.
She gulped.
Spike being tied and thrown out of a 'copter.
Spike living in the island, walking in the day light, training with a red headed man, fighting in what seemed to be a cage. Spike all bloody and killing a demon.
She put them down, unable to believe what had happened all these years.
The computer prompted her for his password.
She sighed.
"I would try our address but too easy," she still typed it and laughed when it accepted it. "Not very smart are you Jack?"
She started sorting through his files until she came upon one that interested her. 'MarriageAgreement.doc'
She opened it and gasped.
There was no marriage.
It was a fake.
She read the passage three times to make sure it was right.
"Oh god...."
Turning on the printer on the side of the monitor she hit 'print'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike slowly became aware that he was indeed being stabbed more times than it was healthy for a vampire to be. So when that knife came down again he grabbed the wrist of the attacker and twisted it.
Satisfied when he heard a loud snap and a scream he shoved him back.
Jack stared stunned at Spike then back at his broken wrist.
Spike stood up and picked up his sword once more.
"It ends here," he told him.
Jack smiled, despite the pain in his right hand. "Ends? What would the lovely Slayer think if you killed her husband of six years, huh?"
Spike stopped. "There are worst things than death."
Jack nodded, satisfied and picked up his sword with his left hand.
"Something I didn't tell you," Spike told him as they clashed swords.
"What's that?" the man asked, blocking a hit.
Spike smiled. "I'm not right handed." he threw his sword in the air and took it with his left hand, swashing it in the air.
Jack blocked as Spike took the attacker's position and the man tried all he could with his left hand to block the quick and precise hits by the vampire.
They moved into the study and they dodged each other, took down book cases, broke more tables until Jack was finally up against the wall, Spike his left wrist with his sword. The man screamed and dropped his sword, cradling both his hands against his chest as he breathed hard.
Spike held the sword against his throat and in a quick switch scraped Jack's left cheek. Jack hissed and backed up further.
"Offer me money," the vampire said, his eyes narrowing.
"Yes, please all that I have--my parents they also have some." he begged, sword still at his throat.
"Offer me everything I want!" Spike growled at him, his demon merging.
"Even Buffy--we were never even married!" the man whimpered. "Anything you want, please!"
Spike leaned in close to Jack's face, lowering his sword to point it at Jack's belly.
"I want these past six years back, you son of a bitch!"
And with that he rammed his sword right through the man, shiskebobbing him on the book shelf.
Jack screamed, his eyes never leaving Spike's then they slowly closed, his head hanging and he stopped breathing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
TBC.... (sorry for the wait, RL really got hectic but here it is *g*)
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