Chapter 19 – Monday, Standard Reality
A very relieved Spike had had no problems when he arrived at the warehouse. He was informed that Dominic would see him as soon as he was free and escorted to the upper floor. Waiting in a comfortably furnished room, he was watched by a number of others. Two were obviously bodyguards, but the others were not. Spike was unsure of their role, but suspected they were advisors of some sort. It seemed they were all waiting for the master to see them. None seemed inclined to chat, so Spike spent the time quietly looking around, trying to think of a way of finding out what had happened to Xander.
Xander was very unhappy. He had come round in this pen, and had found there was no way out. He supposed he must be lucky in some way. Given that he had passed out right in the doorway, he assumed no one knew he was on his way out, rather than in, when he was captured. On the other hand, he was now one of hundreds being kept in the now smelly basement of a warehouse. Half an hour ago, he had been held down and given an injection – he assumed from what Spike had said that this was the sedative. He didn't know what was next, so he asked one of the others in his pen.
"Shhhhh," he replied. "Keep your voice down. If we get too noisy, they either give us an extra dose of sedative, or break a bone or two. It depends who hears us."
Xander repeated his question in a whisper. "What's next? What're they going to do?"
The other man shrugged, hopelessness already having robbed him of feeling. "They'll come for a 'donation' soon. They do it nice and clean, too. All sterile. They don't want us getting sick. After that, you'll be out of it for a while. Short of blood. Not enough to kill you, but you won't feel right for a while."
With that, Xander's companion went back to staring at the ceiling, apparently bereft of thought.
To the irritation of the others waiting to see the master, Spike was admitted first. It was 1am.
"How are things with the Slayer?" Dominic asked, as a minion offered him a beer.
"Oh, fine," Spike replied, trying to look more relaxed than he felt. "She was rather put out with me for staying away so long, but I put her right. She knows who's boss. Had to remind her, though. Chit sometimes forgets."
He smirked, hoping he was giving the impression he intended to and at the same time cringing inwardly at the thought that Buffy would ever hear what he had said.
Dominic nodded in approval. "I'm glad to hear it. Now, when can you deliver her? I'd like to have her here by tomorrow if possible. That would mean taking her tonight. I've still got a while to the new moon, but I've been thinking about what you said. It's a long time since I had a human, and since she's come so highly recommended, I thought I might use her for a while first."
Spike almost choked on his drink. "Over my dusty body," he thought. Aloud he said, "Tonight, let me think, tonight could be difficult. She has to go somewhere, something her Watcher set up before he left. Apparently there are some trainee Watchers in Sunnydale at the moment, come specially to meet the Slayer."
Spike hoped Dominic would accept that. It was the best he could come up with at short notice. They couldn't move until he had the lamp, and he didn't know when that would happen. Basically, he was just buying time.
Dominic looked irritated. "Really, can't you do something about that? It would really be more convenient."
"I could," Spike replied, "but not without putting her on guard. I've never interfered with this sort of thing before. If I do it now, she might suspect. She loves me, but she doesn't exactly trust me. Wouldn't be much fun without that little bit of fear, now would it?
Dominic smiled. A human who enjoyed fear, now that would be a rare treat. And one worth waiting for. There were so many things for her to fear. "Very well, Tuesday night. How will you deliver her?"
"Well," Spike seemed to consider. "The simplest thing would be for you to have a group ready to take her when she patrols. I'll be with her, and I'll make sure she goes to the right place. How does alley at the back of the Bronze sound? It's as good a place for an ambush as I know around here. Say, ten o'clock? She'll expect me to help her, but I'll just help myself this time. How's that?"
"Sounds good," Dominic replied. Talking about the Slayer made him forget about the business at hand. She was a means to an end, not the prize.
Hoping it wouldn't look suspicious, Spike asked if he could visit the human pens again. He claimed to have some further questions. Fortunately, Dominic seemed preoccupied and agreed.
He headed down to the basement. The first thing that hit him was the smell. It was noticeably worse that during his previous visit. He wondered idly if there were plans to address that. The stock was obviously short of toilet and washing facilities. He walked from pen to pen, trying to look unconcerned, but in fact looking for Xander. At first he saw no sign. Buffy had told him about the vents, and he noted which these were, each with a bit of gum wrapper lodged in it. The ventilation shafts were too narrow for Xander, so he didn't hope to rescue him, yet.
At last he spotted him in a pen on the other side from the stairway. He looked pale and dishevelled. Unsure of his welcome, he approached. Xander saw him from the other side of the room, and watched his approach. He had never liked Spike and had trusted him less. Now, he seemed like his best chance of rescue. He still thought he might be trying to sell Buffy out, but the other possibility still existed. He decided to take a chance on his loyalty.
Spike was consciously trying to look disinterested. He was paying less attention to Xander's pen than to the others. As he got close, he turned his back on the pen, apparently watching the women in the pen opposite. Xander took the hint and sidled towards his possible ally. He said nothing, but as carefully as he could, put a piece of paper in the back pocket of Spike's jeans. As he did so, he mentally complained about vampires who had to be poured into their jeans. It hadn't been easy to put the paper there without anyone seeing, but he thought he had done it.
Spike didn't know what Xander had given him, but he knew it must be important. Raising a hand to the pocket to check nothing was visible, he walked away, continuing his tour of the facility. As he was about to leave, the white coated vampires who were always present down there congregated in one area. Sensing something significant was happening, Spike wandered in their direction. A group of ten women and girls was being herded from their pen to the area previously identified to Spike as the breeding pens. Among them he noticed a very young girl he had spotted previously. She looked at him, begging for help with her eyes. How she had got the idea he would help, he didn't know.
He was still approaching, when a scuffle broke out. The women were obviously not as sedated as they had appeared to be, and they were trying to get away. Spike watched in amazement, his respect for the humans increased. They stood no chance at all, yet they were willing to try. He was even more surprised when he saw the girl he had been watching, slip away from the group and manage to hide in the shadows beside an air conditioning conduit. It seemed to Spike that the others were bound to see her, that she had no chance, yet when the women were rounded up and returned to their own pen, she remained at large. Three 'doctors' followed the women into the pens and another dose of sedative was meted out. They hadn't noticed one was missing. Looking at the child, she certainly wasn't more, he saw she was standing close to one of the vents Buffy had marked.
Spike approached Wilson, trying to engage him in conversation and hoping to take him away to another area.
"Bit of trouble?" he asked.
Wilson blustered. "Well, nothing we can't handle. Can't get it right straight away. They'll be ready in half an hour or so. The first batch. Y..you don't need to tell anyone?"
He was suddenly wary. He knew this strange black-clad creature had the ear of the master. Spike put an arm round the man's shoulders.
"No, not at all. I understand," he told him. "Tell me, what are you going to do about the smell? I mean, they can't smell it. The human nose simply isn't sensitive enough. But, how can you stand it?"
He'd obviously hit a nerve with Wilson. "Thank you, Spike, isn't it? I've been telling them that for days now. We need better ventilation, but will anyone listen? As long as the blood finds its way upstairs, no one cares. You couldn't, you know, have a word?"
Having assured Wilson that he would do what he could, Spike saw the man back into the office he had at the far end of the area. He could just make out the trembling figure on the other side. All the other white coats seemed to have cleared away, probably not wanting to be associated with the failure of their recent attempt. Spike approached quietly, glad that most of the occupants were too sleepy and hopeless to notice him. When he got close enough, he chose the grill closest to, and partially hidden by, the air conditioning conduit. Pulling it out, it came as easily as Buffy had suggested. He motioned to the girl, helping her into it. "Straight through. You'll get out. Hide just now, until the sun comes out, then you'll be safe. Can't follow you in sunlight."
Spike returned the grill to its previous position and checked around again to see if anyone had noticed. The only person who was looking his way was Xander.
Returning to Buffy just before sunrise, Spike told her about Xander and the girl. Buffy immediately dressed and headed for the warehouse. She arrived as the sun was rising, and looked for the girl. She noticed one grill moving and ran to help. She pulled her out and took her home with her.
Back in Revello Drive, Sarah wasted no time calling her parents. While Buffy had been gone, Spike had checked out the paper Xander had given him. It was a chocolate bar wrapper and had writing on one side.
Daylight matching tube, Model no. 7676B
Try Weston Electrics.
Buffy busied herself with getting Dawn off to school. She was curious and wanted to know what was going on, but the lure of a whole week away from home, spent with her friends, was too much. After getting Buffy to promise to tell her the whole story when she got back, she headed to school, driven by Tara.
While Sara was calling her parents, Spike showed Buffy what was on the sheet. It was obvious that Xander thought this was the lighting Dominic used in the sunroom, and he even seemed to be suggesting a supplier.
Sarah's father arrived within ten minutes of her call. The reunion was tearful, and for several minutes no attempt was made on either side to either ask or explain what had happened.
When the questions started, Sarah tried to tell him everything. She kept looking at Spike who had been sitting in the corner well away from the window. When she had reached the end of her information, she introduced her father to Buffy and Spike, explaining that between them, they had rescued her. Mr. Meddows shook both of them by the hand, but obviously wasn't convinced by his daughter's story. He started to ask the others for their understanding, and was becoming more amazed by the minute. When they had finished, he still seemed unable to believe.
"Are you trying to tell me that you were abducted by vampires? That they took blood from you and were going to keep you there? I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous. I know people have been disappearing, but there are enough people around capable of doing wrong, without looking to bogey men to blame. I think, we should call the police and let them handle this."
Spike had more or less kept out of the conversation so far, answering only when a question was directed at him. He stood now, and approached the man. "You call the police, and all you get are more captives, and probably a lot of dead. The police can go in there armed to the teeth, and it'll make no difference. These things can't be stopped by bullets. They can be hurt by them, but not killed. The only way we're going to rescue the rest of the captives is our way."
"I'm sorry, Mr. … Spike. Vampires? I mean,…"
He didn't continue. Spike had allowed his face to change as he stood inches from the now terrified man.
"Believe me," he said, before changing back.
It took several minutes to restore comparative calm in the room after that. When it was quiet, Mr. Meddows was more or less convinced, and agreed to do what he could.
"First step," Spike told him, "is to see if we can get hold of a portable version of these lamps. If we're right, they'll have a devastating effect on vampires, but none on humans. That way, we can get in and release the captives. Then we can blow the place up. That will get a lot of them. If we do it in daylight, it'll do for the rest."
Looking at the paper Xander had supplied, Mr. Meddows looked confused. "We use daylight matching tubes at the newspaper. When we're looking at photos and so on. We need to get the colour right. We've got some small units we can move around. They need mains power, but we might be able to come up with something. I've got an electrician works for me who's worked miracles before. Let's see if he can do it again."
"Before you spend time on that, we need to check they work," Spike pointed out.
"How do you propose.." Buffy started. "Oh," she said, realising. "Guinea Pig Spike."
Suddenly realising Anya didn't know about Xander, she rushed to the phone. When she returned, she had good news. "Xander's put aside some explosives for us. Anya knows where."
Having dropped Sarah at home with her mother, Mr. Meddows continued to the newspaper office with Spike under a blanket in the back. He was still a bit shaky with the whole idea of vampires and even more so with having one in the back of the car, but if he had saved his daughter, this creature deserved a bit of trust. He had seen the way Sarah looked at him, with an expression almost akin to adoration. There was a covered loading bay at the back of the building, and they parked there, allowing Spike to get under cover quickly. They went to the proofing lab where Mr. Meddows wasted no time setting up one of the lamps. It was quite small and attached to a mobile unit. Taking a deep breath, Spike put his hand in the path of the light. Immediately his skin started to redden, smoking slightly. Wincing, he pulled his hand back.
"Right," he told the newspaper manager, "Let's see what your electrician can do."
Buffy had gone to Anya's, and with Tara, the three women had gone to reclaim the explosives. It took some fast talking on Anya's part to get the site foreman to give them access to the store where Xander had left them, but Anya was on top form. Afterwards Buffy realised she had understood very little of what the ex-demon had said. It seemed to be the sheer number and rapidity of the words that did the trick. Carefully loading the boxes into the boots of Tara's and Anya's cars, they drove cautiously to Revello Drive. Buffy just hoped Xander would know what to do with the explosive, because she didn't have a clue.
At the newspaper offices, Spike had been detailing the plan for taking the warehouse. "How many people will you need?" Meddows asked.
Spike was initially surprised. "It's just, I'm not the only one who had someone taken. Because of the article in the paper, I've got details of lots of the other families. I could get some of them together, I know I could. Their children are in that place, too."
Spike understood. "We could do with a few more," Spike considered. "We've only got Buffy, Willow and Tara and Anya. I won't be a lot of use - being allergic to sunlight and all."
"So, if I contact a few families, ask them to come here," Meddows continued, "could you, convince them? Like you did me?"
Spike agreed. "Make sure they're not panicking types. We don't want to increase the stock at the warehouse."
"Don't worry, I'll choose carefully."
Meddows had set up a meeting of a number of relatives for later in the afternoon. Buffy and the rest of the gang were going to be there. Spike found a quiet darkroom and got some sleep. He was going to have to go back to the warehouse and confirm the details for Buffy's capture that night, and he needed to be fresh.
When they had all assembled, Spike gave two demonstrations. He showed his demon face, and he showed the effect of the special lamps on his skin. When Sarah's evidence was added to what the others had said, the relatives seemed convinced. Buffy finished with a request.
"Go home and sleep if you can. We'll meet here at dawn tomorrow. If you have access to holy water, bring that too, it might be useful. I'll bring stakes, but I hope it doesn't come to that. Vampires are physically strong. It would be better if none of you got close."
Nine that night saw Buffy and Spike at the door of her house. He was about to leave, and they were holding each other tight. "Last time, love," he reminded her. She sighed. "Just come back safe. I want to wake up with you beside me." They kissed again and he was gone.