Chapter 4 – Keeping Secrets This Big..
He had to plan this right. He had finally taken a tour of the area he was in and found it to be his apartment, it seemed. There was books, he was a college student, he had a schedule and everything he found posted on his wall. The Alla guy gave him a last name too, probably because he didn't really know Spike's real last name. "William Jerome, heh, not too bad."
He looked at the calendar. It was Sunday, which meant he was only sleeping for the night. All of these things he had to learn about himself—it was all so overbearing. He needed fresh air. Thing was, he realized that wearing what he was wearing wasn't going to cut it. He didn't want Buffy to know who he used to be—and his duster, all his clothes—they were a bit of a hint of who he used to be. He couldn't have that.
Of course, it seemed Alla had thought of that too, because when Spike found his closet, it was filled with all normal clothing of the day. He shuddered at the memory of the last time he wore human clothes. These weren't too bad though, no particularly loud shirts. He pulled out the tan colored pants that he had first noticed and then grabbed a plain green shirt. "Have to look as normal as possible." He picked up his old duster, frowning. "Lots of memories in this old thing—sorry old girl, your gonna have to be hung up." He tossed it into the darkest corner of his closet, then shut it.
He had noticed the shoes all ready, brown boots almost, but not exactly. After he changed into his new gear, which felt insanely weird on him, he put the footwear on. Now that he was dressed like a human, and he was a human, he was going to go out and do something human. He grabbed the keys that were on a desk by his door, figuring it to be his apartment keys. He opened the door, walked out—
And was promptly slammed into. He teetered, but didn't fall. However, the person that had smashed into him fell backwards, landing on the ground. Spike turned his head and stared at the person for a second. The witch, Willow. She sat up, looking a bit dazed.
"I'm terribly sorry." He apologized, collecting the stray papers that had fallen with her. "I didn't see you and—"
"No no, it was my fault." They stood up at the same time, and he smiled, trying not to look like his heart was beating like crazy. He couldn't mess this up. He wanted to get on the good side of them all, so then he'd replace himself on their little team—He looked at the papers. He suddenly realized the readings were all about vampires.
"Vampires, huh?" he mused. Willow looked a bit embarrassed.
"Yeah, it's um—one of my hobbies, reading about—well, them and all those other—"
"I know all about them." He explained, handing them over.
"You do?" her voice sounded suddenly upbeat. "You're the exchange student, right? The one that just moved in next store."
"Y-yeah, that's me." He tilted his head. She smiled.
"My name is Willow." She tried to offer her hand, but realized she couldn't because of the stuff in her hands. "Erm—well, call the handshake an I.O.U., all right?"
"Need some help carrying that stack?" he offered.
"Oh no I—" he caught the top half as it fell. "If you would, please—"
"Not a problem." He nodded. He almost moved right to her room, but reminded himself he wasn't suppose to know where the rooms were. "Where's your place?"
"Right here." She led him to the door. "I really appreciate this—" she managed to open the door with a little effort, and kicked it open lightly with her foot. Spike followed her in, loving the fact that he didn't have to be invited in.
"Where should I put this down?" he asked.
"Doesn't matter." She replied, placing it down on a non-cluttered space. Spike glanced around, raising a brow.
"You have a lot of papers." He commented. She nodded.
"Y-yeah, seems so, huh?" she paused. "Um—I didn't catch your name—"
"William." He responded. "William Jerome. Just call me—" He felt the name 'Spike' almost roll out of his mouth and stopped before it came out.
"Call you what?" she asked.
"Will. Sorry, was just thinking for a second. I'm still a bit—"
"Overwhelmed? Yeah, I could imagine." She paused. "Well, I mean, I never came from an entirely different country but—"
"I got it." He chuckled lightly.
"So you like vampires, do you?" he picked up a paper. "Well, this is all rubbish. Look, these are entirely on that bloody Dracula guy, and let me tell you, he's one of the most uninteresting ones to read about—"
"You sound like you know a lot about them." Willow commented idly.
"I told you, I study things like these. Um—myths and all that." He scratched his head. "Legend. You know, the stuff that's entirely out there."
"Don't think they're real?" she asked.
"Nope. Not at all." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Anyway, I have to get going. Nice to—"
"Willow?" Spike turned his head to see Tara standing there, looking at them.
"Oh, Tara. Did I wake you?" she frowned. Tara shook her head.
"Nope. I was all awake and stuff." She smiled. "Who's this?"
"Oh." She seemed like she had forgotten him. "This is Will. He's that new kid we heard about. Will, this is my girlfriend Tara."
"It's nice to meet you." He responded, offering a hand. She nodded and shook his.
"Will knows a lot about vampires. He's studying them and all those other really fake creatures that we know nothing about." Willow nodded.
"Really? Where did you say you're from?" she asked, curious.
"England." He paused. "Listen, I have to be going. It was nice meeting you two."
"Thanks for the help." Willow smiled. He nodded, walking away from them, to the door. After walking out into the hallway, he closed the door behind him.
"Well that went well." He whispered to himself. He hadn't seen Buffy, though. He just had to keep appeasing to them, showing them he was a welcomed part of the group—if that annoying Cordy girl could do it, he could too! He left the building, looking up at the sun like he had never seen it in his life. He couldn't remember the last time he saw a blue sky with light falling on him. Well, actually, he did. Two hundred years ago. Little more, give or take. He realized how odd he looked, and he quickly began walking again.
He kept feeling like he should be flinching because of the sun, out of habit, but he kept containing himself from doing so. What did human people do in the day, anyway? He wandered around, and found a building people were entering. Shrugging, he decided to follow. "Figures it'd be a bloody library. I'm still a bookworm after all these years."
He found an empty table and sat down. The library looked different then he saw once before at night. He bit his lip, pondering. What was he doing here? He suddenly noticed someone had left behind his or her notebook and pen. He looked around, then slowly slid the notebook to him. He opened it, ripping out a piece of paper, before putting it back in it's spot and grabbing the pen.
He hadn't done this since it happened.
The memories flooded back again.
He put the pen to the paper and slowly began to write. All the memories, all the people in his life—Dru, Harm, Celcily—and most importantly, Buffy. His hand was writing without him, like it was possessed. The addiction he had with writing, the real reason why he did it when he was human naturally, it was all coming back to him. He wasn't William the Bloody anymore, he was plain William, a poet who wrote poetry that he himself loved, the William who didn't care what people thought.
The William that wasn't shot down by one of his first loves. The one that hadn't been consumed by so much grief that he decided to run off for eternity with Dru. He didn't regret it for a second though, his choices in life, because it brought Buffy to him. He was willing to give up immortality for her, and that's exactly what he did. An hour later, Spike was staring down at a 3-page poem, one of his longest.
He hadn't got stuck once. He started to sign his name.
"AHH!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Spike's head shot up when the scream echoed the halls. His eyes, like everyone elses, lifted up to see something floating in the air, grinning evilly, holding a girl who was kicking and crying. Seconds later, people were running, out of the building, away from there. Spike stood up, glaring up.
"Hey! Bugger! Let her go!" he called up. The thing stared down at him, then dropped her. Spike let out a gasp before running and basically jumping to catch the poor whimpering girl. He quickly let her go. "Get out of her—argh!"
He was smashed into the table behind him when the thing dive-bombed him. That hurt a lot more then it used too. Still he stood up, then ducked. The thing flew over his head. He looked around, grabbing a shard of the now broken table. He got a good look now.
"A vampire! But—how?!" he didn't have any more time to wonder, because now it was standing in front of him.
"You think you can beat me?" it scoffed.
"No. I know I can." He smirked, lunging at the thing. It quickly dodged by flying up. Spike had no time to dodge, and it smashed into him, causing him to fly back. He landed harshly on the desk near him and flew over into the area the librarians once stood to let people check off books.
Spike wearily sat up, feeling dazed. The vampire was smirking, standing over him on the desk. It went to jump on him, but he pushed his legs out and flipped the thing onto it's back. He took the homemade stake and smashed it into the right spot. It laughed evilly.
"What the—?" he blinked. The vampire had gotten out of his daze and kicked Spike off him. Spike quickly got out of the closed in area, landing on his feet by one of the tables.
The vampire caught him by surprised, and suddenly he found himself being pinned to a wall. He choked out. Damn that fact he needed air now. He managed to trip the monster before trying again.
"Damnit! Why won't you die?!" he watched as the odd vampire stood up again.
"Watch out!" Spike jumped back out of instinct and he suddenly noticed the vampire had a knife. It tried to slash him again, but he dodged again. He had no time to look who had warned him.
The person made sure he knew seconds later. Suddenly the knife was kicked out of the vampire's hands, and he turned to see someone he probably didn't like to see.
Spike was thrilled to see her.
"Buffy—" he whispered; the awe short lived. The vampire was getting away.
