Chapter 5 - ..Is Easier Said Then Done

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                Spike knew he was really pushing his cover, but this vampire was pissing him off. He ran at it, tackling it, but the thing just kicked him off. He smashed into a chair. Through his daze, he saw Buffy try, but the second she got near him he actually turned into a bat. Spike blinked, that was odd. The bat flew out one of the open windows.

                "Shit." She whispered. She suddenly turned to him. He gave a weak smile, managing to stand up. He felt his lip bleeding, so he quickly wiped it with his hand.

                "Well now, wasn't that interesting." He scratched the back of his head.

                "Who are you?" she asked.

                "Just a new student." He responded. "I-I have to go."

                "Wait—!" Spike did stop, his back to her. "You look familiar."

                "Sorry, luv, never met you." He responded. He had turned to face her now. A sparkle of recognition lit up in her face.

                "No, that's not possible." She shook her head and stepped toward him. "Who are you?"

                "Um—my name is Will." He responded.

                "Will." She repeated and he nodded. "Did you—I mean—do you understand what you just saw?"

                "I saw a psycho that just turned into a bat." He responded. He suddenly realized he still had the stake in his hand. He paused. "Yep."

                "You tried to kill it." Her eyes widened.

                "Well, see, it had this girl and I figured it sort of looked like those movies with Dracula in it—yeah. So I tried to fight it. Listen, I really have to get going. Thanks for helping me out." He turned and began walking away. So much for not making a big scene. He wasn't very good at being a human.

                She tried to call him back, but he ignored her calls and basically slipped away. He hid in an alley and saw her walk out of the library, looking for him. He sunk deeper into the shadows, watching her both tensely and with the enthralled sense of loving he always had. Inside, he realized, even when he was tough old Spike, the guy who could care less about anyone, didn't give a rot if someone died, he was always that shy, incredibly insecure William that he was born as. He winced at the memories that were coming back to him.

All the tauntings, all the mocking—and his broken heart. He had been thinking about it earlier, when he was writing his poem—but it didn't hit him until then. He noticed Buffy had taken off in the other direction, and he let himself slide himself to the ground, propped against the wall that was to his back. He realized suddenly that everything he was feeling was because of the fact he had a soul. Even though he had feelings back when he was a vampire, they were never like what he was feeling now.

                They were so intense now. It was a bit mind-boggling. Seeing her again, now that he was human—it was really different, but a good different. He sat there, probably looking like an idiot, for a few minutes. He didn't actually know what he was thinking, but when he stood up, he had calmed down. Now he had a chance to think about what he had just seen.

                What a weird vampire. He knew it was a vampire, he knew that face. But they were in pure sunlight. He flew out into pure sunlight. He staked the thing more then once! This was not good. He walked out of the alley, again walking a bit aimlessly in a straight line. He couldn't get lost when he was walking that way. He glanced at the shops around him as he walked, the different houses. There was a small barbershop.

                He looked at his curls through the window's glass. He really did need a haircut. He almost missed his old bleach-blonde hair. He looked like a big dork now. He pondered for a second, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet. He opened it and blinked.

                "I don't remember having this much money when I was human before." He mumbled, shrugged, and took a nice amount out. "Time to take off these locks."

                He walked inside, and an old man looked at him and nodded. "Hello there, how are you today?"

                "Good." He nodded. "I need a haircut. Wouldn't happen to do that, would you?"

                "Well, that or lower ears." The man replied.

                "How do you lower ears?" he asked, raising a brow. The barber coughed.

                "Nevermind. Bad joke." He shook his head. "What would you like done today?"

                "Um—I'm not exactly—sure." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "I haven't done this in awhile."

                "I'll say." The barber blurted out. "Sorry—I mean—"

                "Oh, sod off!" Spike huffed. "Just give me the bleedin' haircut."

                "Right. Have a seat." He motioned to the seat, and he walked to it and sat down. "Just do something that'll look good?"

                "Just don't mess it up." He replied.

                He sat back, closing his eyes, not bothering to watch. So, vampires were getting a bit more advanced now. He couldn't understand for the life of him how it happened though. He thought about it as his hair was cut off. It didn't make sense. He kept trying not to think that perhaps it was his fault. Had his wish had some sort of bad side to it? No, it couldn't be. He refused to think that.

                "All done, sir." He opened his eyes to see his reflection. He looked at his hair. It wasn't too bad, pretty up to date. Mushroom cut. His hair was straight.

                "How much do I owe you?" he asked, still feeling bothered for some reason about the vampire.

                The man told him and Spike dutifully handed it over before leaving promptly. Yes, he was fitting in nicely. All he had to do was keep it up. And not pull a stunt like he did earlier. Not too hard, right?

~~

                Buffy sighed loudly. "Give it up, Summers, he's gone." She scolded herself. She had been searching for the mysterious man who seemed a little too calm around the vampire that had jumped him. Hell, she even saw him easily get up and leave, even after he was obviously thrown around a lot. She had tried to find him after, but he just disappeared from sight.

                That had been 2 hours ago. Wherever he happened to be, he was hiding well. He wasn't even her number one problem, anyway. No, there were many more pressing matters. Like how Spike had disappeared from sight. Like how even when she went to his crypt in the morning he was nowhere to be found. She found herself on the ground outside the house, and he was gone from sight.

                And he hadn't been seen since. "So he was just gone?" Willow was sitting across from her. The reason she was even around the campus on a Sunday was because she had to talk to Willow. That little vampire thing wasn't planned, that's for sure. "Poof? Gone?"

                "Gone." She confirmed.

                "Well maybe he's um—doing those things vampires do." Willow suggested.

                "In broad daylight?" Buffy asked, raising a brow.

                "Well, Spike always was an odd one." Willow replied, shrugging lightly. "He couldn't have gone far. He's like a puppy dog to you. Granted, a puppy dog with big sharp fangs, but still—" she paused. "My point is he would never be gone too long as long as you're around."

                "Unless he's dead." She pointed out.

                "Wasn't he always?" Willow asked, confused. "Oh! You mean like—dust dead. Yeah, or that." Buffy gave her a look. "I'm not very good at cheering up, am I?"

                Buffy sighed loudly, then glanced at Tara. "I think I found your guy. Alla." She walked over to them and placed the book she was holding on the bed. Buffy took it, peering at the picture.

                "That's the guy." She nodded. Tara frowned.

                "I was hoping you weren't going to say that." She explained cautiously. "See, if that's the case, you met one of the most dangerous beings on Earth. I don't possibly know how you survived."

                "He's one of the most dangerous things on Earth?" she asked, surprised.

                "Yes." Tara took the book from her and look at it. "Alla was one of the 4 magic djinns that used to reside over magic. But then something went wrong, and he and the other three were trapped in four different locations. They managed to kill the other three, but somehow the files that said where they sent Alla went missing and no one to this day could find him. But in this book it says he was found and killed. Are you sure this is him?"

                "Positive. I should know who kicked my ass." Buffy confirmed.

                "Does it say anything else about him?" Willow asked, curious.

                Tara sat down herself. "Well, basically it says that he went insane like the rest of them. He was known everywhere to be a deceiving evil monster that could read minds. He was known to use people who were really desperate and gave them a wish. The wishes were almost always huge, and the magic used always was able to open some kind of portal. The portals were said to spawn a few real powerful baddies that Alla could control."

                "Sounds like a not so friendly guy." Willow frowned, summing the whole thing up simply with that sentence.

                "That reminds me." Buffy suddenly said. "There was a really weird vampire—"

                "Last night?"

                "No. An hour ago." Both girls looked at her, surprised. "It was really weird." She continued cautiously. "It was in broad daylight and wasn't even getting burned. And this really weird guy attacked it, and they were fighting and the guy was doing pretty well too. It was really strange."

                "Guy?" Willow asked.

                "Yeah. He tried to stake the vampire, and it looked like he hit it in the right place, but it didn't die."

                "Who was this guy?" Tara asked.

                "He said his name was Will. He got all flustered and ran off after he saw me." She paused. "You know, that was pretty strange, seeing some normal guy able to stand toe to toe with a vampire."

                "Something fishy's going on around here." Willow nodded. "I bet you're talking about the guy that just moved in next door with the British accent."

                They all looked at each other.

                "Willow, what did you say Spike's name was before he turned into a vampire?" Tara asked, her face turning serious.

                "William." She said, not understanding at first why she was asking. Suddenly she understood, and her mouth took on a 'no way' look. "Do you think Spike wished something?"

                "I'm going to kill him." Buffy stood up.

                "Buffy, you don't even know if—" Tara started.

                "Come on, it's obvious. The guy knew how to fight vampires, had a British accent—" she trailed off.

                "And he knew about vampires too, remember Tara?" Willow asked.

                "He was in here?"

                "Yeah. He was a real gentleman. That's why I'm not too sure about him being Spike." Tara explained. Even though the moment they were in was particularly serious, all three girls burst out laughing. "But in all seriousness—we should check this guy out, whoever he is. Spike or not."

                "And if it is Spike, he's going to wish he was dead again." Buffy clenched her fist. "We're breaking into his room."

                "This is going to turn out to be one of those long days, isn't it?" Tara whispered to Willow after they stood up. Willow nodded mutely.