"There are no end of spells for getting rid of ghosts and ghoulies," said Mera that evening. "Some of 'em actually work, too. But as far as we know, there's only one reliable spell for the ridding of a vampire's demon."
"Yeah? Let's do it, then." Spike was feeling reckless.
"Stamp on the brakes, mister," Mera said sharply. "It'd be the same as if I'd staked you. What we have to do is kill your demon and make sure you don't go splat in the process. Tricky." She smiled. "We have to keep that cute body of yours intact. But I think we have that covered."
"You think?" Spike looked wary.
"We can't be sure of anything, dear," said Mera. "This has never been done before. You're a lab rat."
"Oh, great."
"Remember what I said, Spike," said Rupert.
Mera came alert. "What was that?"
"Oh, the Watcher thinks he's clairvoyant," said Spike. "Keeps telling me it's going to work."
"Really?" Mera shot a curious look at Rupert. "Well, there's no harm in positive thinking."
"So how are you going to keep him intact?" asked Rupert.
"Hopefully with something Path remembered this morning. There's an ancient mixture of herbs and minerals that's quite normal on its own, but when you say the right spells it becomes something completely different. It's called the Balm, it preserves the body and you won't have heard of it. The sequence we propose is this - I use the Balm on you, then I do the spell for getting rid of your demon, then I turn you. Simple. Nothing to it."
Spike looked at her hopefully. "Yeah?"
"No love, I'm being facetious. There's nothing simple about this. Listen, the story behind the Balm is quite bloody but all you need to know right now is that it might - I repeat might keep your body from going poof so that I can turn you. And once you're turned the 'spirit' that's keeping me going should do the same for you."
"I heard several 'shoulds' and 'mights' just then," said Rupert.
"Well, the Balm has only ever been used on humans so I don't know if it'll work for Spike. The only good thing is it's easy to make - most of the herbs haven't changed over the years and you'll find them in just about any bloody kitchen in the world. There was only one item I needed a modern equivalent for, and that was easy - the damn thing's growing in the garden. Agh." She screwed up her face. "It's so easy to put together it makes me shudder to think how any moron could stumble onto it. I have a batch brewing right now, very hubbly bubbly. Can you smell it?"
"Something smells sweet, yes," said Rupert. "Ah, preserve the body?
That sounds very Ancient
Egyptian."
"You're not far wrong - "
"What?" yelped Spike. "I'm not being a sodding mummy!"
"Let me finish," said Mera. "The true nature of the Balm has been forgotten for millennia and it took Path some time to remember about it - she's looking through her writings right now to find the spells. But don't worry, the Egyptian mummification practices were shadows of the real thing. This mixture will either save you or fail completely, but it won't turn you into a mummy."
"Jesus." Spike laughed weakly. "Had a picture just then of me walking around like Karloff. Nasty. So when can we use this Balm?"
"It should be ready in a few hours, after it's cooled down." Mera smiled. "Don't want to raise blisters on that alabaster skin of yours do we, gorgeous?"
Spike gave her a sick smile.
"Spike - go away and think about it," said Mera. "Think hard. There's a high chance you won't survive. Come back tomorrow if you like, or next week. No rush - I can stick the Balm in the freezer."
She looked at Rupert. "Would you stay behind for a moment?"
With his mind buzzing, Spike said goodbye and left.
Mera turned to Rupert. "Why are you so sure it's going to work when you didn't know until now what we were going to do? When even I didn't know until this morning what we were going to do?"
"Ah," said Rupert. "Well, I-I had a daydream when I came back from the U.S. About a-a garden. A sunny garden. It was very realistic."
"You mean you had a vision."
"Well - "
"How realistic was it?"
He hesitated. "I-I saw the same garden a few weeks later."
"Let me guess - the one you now own?" She looked at him thoughfully. "And you're judging everything on the strength of this - vision-garden?"
"What else can I use as a measure?" Rupert felt embarrassed. "It's all I have to go on."
"Quite." Mera pursed her lips. "Now, being very good at putting two and two together, I assume Spike was in your vision, yes? So tell me, Rupert - was Olivia there too?"
"Leave it there, Mera," said Rupert.
"All right. Just don't go into overdrive my friend. Visions can't be entirely trusted."
"I know."
*
At two o'clock the following morning Rupert was staring bleary-eyed at his computer screen and thinking about going to bed when Spike put his head around the door of the study.
"Can I use your 'phone, Giles? I want to call Buffy, if that's okay."
Rupert looked up from his ever-lengthening report. "Oh, yes certainly. But I have e-mail, you know."
"Yeah, but I want to talk to her."
"All right."
Spike felt inexplicably nervous as he dialed Buffy's number. In Sunnydale the phone rang for a long time and he felt a stab of disappointment. Then he heard a click.
"Hello?"
He felt his shoulders tense up. "Hi, Buffy."
"Spike?"
"Yeah. Um - how are you?"
"I'm fine, thanks. Wow, I didn't expect you to call - Dawn! It's Spike! - so what's going on?"
"Did Giles tell you about my question?"
"Yeah, he did. Is she gonna do it?"
"She thinks there's a way, yeah."
"Really? Again, wow. Well, good luck on that. I mean it"
"Thanks."
"Uh, will it be dangerous?"
"Nah. Piece of cake."
"Good. Look, here's Dawn. Let us know what happens, okay? And - and don't rush into it."
"Yeah. 'Bye, Buffy."
He heard a muffled conversation at the other end, then: "Hi Spike!"
"Hi mega-bite."
"How's you?"
"I'm fine, love. Anything happening?" He dropped his voice to a growl. "How's your boyfriend?"
"I've got another one now. His name's Mark."
Spike blinked. "Not wasting any time, are you?"
She laughed. "I have to get them in before you come back, don't I? Mr. Prison-guard."
"I wasn't that bad, was I?" Spike felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Rupert standing there.
"No, you weren't that bad. Not really."
"Good to hear it - listen, Giles wants a word so I'll hand you over. Take care."
"'Kay. Bye Spike."
Spike gave Rupert the receiver and went into the kitchen. He stood for a moment in the dark and listened to Rupert talking, then quietly opened the back door and went out into the night.
*
"I had a feeling you were on your way." Mera led Spike into her lounge and sat him down. She stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. "Speak."
Spike hesitated. "This plan you've got for me," he said at last. "Map it out again."
Mera spoke slowly. "One: I do the Balm on you to stop you from turning to dust when your demon dies. Two: I do the spell for getting rid of said demon. Three: I turn you."
Spike drew a deep breath. "When you turn me I - no evil demon, yeah? I want to hear you say it."
"If it works, you will be able to walk in the sun."
"Yeah, but what I'm interested in is - you have no evil demon?"
"Ah, I see. That's right. No evil, no demon. Note this gold cross on my chest."
"You don't drink blood."
"There's a fridge in the kitchen. Have a look inside and see all the calorie-full yummy goodies. You know all this."
"I haven't heard it from you. Sunlight?"
"Appreciate at my golden tan."
"Show me your fangs."
"Pardon?"
"Your face. I want to see it."
Mera let her face change and Spike stood up and spent some moments studying her.
"It's different to ours," he said.
"Yes, it's very slightly softer. Rupert didn't pick that up. Well done."
"Your eyes aren't so yellow."
"You're right."
"They're more of a - bronze. Gold bronze."
"Yup. That they are. They're the only things I like about it."
He ran his hands over her face and touched her fangs. "They're not so sharp."
"No, our bite is blunt. Good thing we don't need to use it. I don't have to bite you, you know. I plan to use a knife."
Spike sat back down and watched her human face return. "But you don't know if it'll work."
"No. No vamp has ever wanted it before. The reasons are obvious."
Spike was silent for a while. Then he looked away and said something he'd never before admitted. "Before I was turned I was a wimp."
Mera waved a hand impatiently. "Wimp is a word used by the ungentle young to describe the gentle young."
"Er - "
"All right. Not quite like that, but you know what I mean. Intellect, gentleness, a quiet demeanour - all serious crimes when growing up. In the adult world these traits are valued by those who are thoughtful. Don't use that word to describe yourself." She sat beside him. "I know what you were, it's still there inside you although it's been tempered through the years. I will say this, though - in rebelling against the people who hurt you, you nearly turned yourself into one of them, do you know that? Arrogant, snarky, cocksure, acid. I say nearly. You kept your capacity for love and warmth, even under the demon. That's more than any of them would have achieved. Be proud of yourself - of who you were before, and who you are now." Suddenly she smiled and prodded his shoulder. "Aha! I understand! No, no - don't be afraid that without your demon you'll turn into a big twit. You've been out from under its influence for some time now. Are you a twit?"
"Not bloody likely."
"Well, there you go then. Now tell me, what brought you here so quickly?"
"I spoke to Buffy."
"Ah. So you would risk death for her?"
"Already have."
"Yes, but there's no escape from this one, sonny. No small chance of rescue to hope for. It goes wrong, you're dead."
Spike stood up again. "Yeah, well. It's my demon. I want it gone."
Mera didn't hesitate. "Come this way, then."
Spike followed her down a dark passage and entered a small undecorated room. High on the wall one tiny window showed a faint patch of stars. There were two large brown jars and a sheet of plastic on the concrete floor.
Spike turned to her. "You knew I'd go for it, didn't you? You've got it ready."
"I had a hunch." Mera drew a rough chalk circle on the floor. "Now listen.
This first part with the Balm is going to take hours and I'm going to keep
on asking this question until I start the final spell."
She looked into his eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Mera nodded and pointed to the plastic sheet. "Then strip and stand on that."
Spike's mouth fell open and Mera sighed. "Oh, please," she said in exasperation. "I'm five thousand years old. You've no idea how many naked male bodies I've seen." She smiled. "Mind you, I've never got tired of seeing 'em."
His mouth still open, Spike slowly took off his coat.
"Besides," continued Mera. "I need you raw so that I can take this - " she took the lid off one of the jars, scooped out a handful of warm Balm and turned to him with a very wide grin. "And rub it all over you."
Spike clenched his teeth together, fighting a sudden strong urge to bite her.
Mera drew herself up and pointed an imperious finger at him. "Now make my century and get your kit off."
*
6.30.
Cursing himself for going having had so little sleep, Rupert ate his breakfast and wondered about Spike. The vampire had disappeared so abruptly after his conversation with Buffy that Rupert had felt compelled to listen at Spike's bedroom door before he went to bed, but he'd heard nothing. Now, drinking his coffee, he considered going up and asking his guest if he was going to have breakfast this morning.
Rupert put his cup down with a jolt. "Good grief," he said aloud. "I'm going soft."
He cleared the kitchen and went upstairs to get dressed. There was still
no sound from Spike's
room.
Right, leave it then. Time to get to work anyway.
*
Spike stood naked on the plastic sheet and shivered in disgust. Covered now from hair to toes in sweet-smelling blue gunge, he looked thoughtfully at the ceiling and spoke in a far-away voice. "That had to be the longest, most humiliating thing I've ever allowed anyone to do to me."
Grinning, Mera wiped her hands on a cloth. "Oh, don't be such a nancy. I had to make sure, didn't I? This is what'll keep your body intact." Her grin grew wider. "Be disastrous if we missed a spot, wouldn't it?"
Spike glared at her. "Lady, you are a pervert."
"No. I just like getting my hands on fine art - and you, my lad, are some of the finest I've ever seen. Michaelangelo would have burst into tears of joy." She laughed and pointed. "Especially over that bit."
"Oh, what? Sod off!"
"Now, now." Mera laughed again and threw the cloth out of the room.
Suddenly, like a mask dropping, her face grew coldly serious and Spike swallowed, unnerved at the abrupt change.
"The Balm's done, for good or ill," said Mera. "Now we kill your demon." She pointed to the chalk circle. "Sit there."
Spike felt cold. He stepped slowly into the circle and sat down, eyeing her warily. "Is this going to be bad?"
"I imagine so. Well, love. We've arrived at your last chance. Once this starts there's no stopping it."
Spike looked into her eyes. "I'm not living like this any more. Do it."
Mera picked up his clothes and the two empty jars and put them in the passage. "Don't want you smashing things and cutting yourself." She looked up at the little window and saw pale sky. "Sun's coming up."
Spike raised his eyes to the window and fixed them there as Mera began to walk slowly around the edge of the circle, moving her lips soundlessly. Quickly the room grew stuffy and dark as if a cloth had been put over the window, and she took a torch from a pocket and switched it on. As she walked she kept the beam of light trained on Spike, who had begun to tremble violently, his hands clenching.
Mera's silent pacing continued until abruptly she spoke aloud, giving voice to a harsh, unrecognisable language. Spike jerked his head back, his eyes opening wide. Like a puppet on strings, his body flung itself forward as if something inside wanted to get out of the circle, but without breaking stride Mera shot out an arm and pushed him back hard. As he landed on his back his face changed and he glared at her with yellow eyes, his mouth yawning wide, displaying his fangs as he gave out with a rising growl. Mera's relentless voice filled the tiny room, and again the demon hurled it's host at the circular barrier, seeking a weakness, yowling like a dog in pain. Mera's words became a song and her voice grew louder. Spike's face changed again and blue human eyes stared at Mera in panic, streaming tears.
"Oh my god!" he yelled as his body convulsed.
Mera ended the song on a shout, and Spike screamed.
*
"Spike's not at my house," said Rupert to Mera that afternoon. "He must have left last night. Is he here?"
"Yes. He came over about two this morning and told me he wanted to do it. His mind was made up."
Rupert was startled. "He never said anything to me!"
"He probably knew you'd tell him to think a bit longer. So he pre-empted you."
"Are you going to do it?"
"Already have. We did the Balm - which took forever and was a lot of fun - and now, well, he's going through hell."
"What!" Rupert was suddenly angry. "You're doing it? You should have told me!"
"Why? It's his decision, not yours."
"We should have discussed it further!"
"Oh?" Mera's eyes were sly. "And there was me thinking you were certain it was going to work."
Rupert opened his mouth and stopped. "Well yes," he said eventually. "But as you said, visions aren't - "
"You're not having it both ways," she said firmly. "I won't let you."
Rupert gave up. "All right. Where is he?"
Mera took him down the passage and showed him the door of the room. Rupert reached for the latch but she knocked his hand aside.
"Wait." She put her ear to the door for a moment and carefully opened it.
A murky darkness seemed to crawl out of the opening. Mera looked cautiously into the room and stepped inside, motioning Rupert to follow. She pointed.
Seeming to glimmer in the strange darkness, Spike lay in a corner of the tiny room as if something had flung him there. With his face to the wall and an arm caught awkwardly under his body, he resembled a discarded doll. The chalk circle was smudged and the plastic sheet was in shreds.
Rupert stepped closer and gasped. "He's blue!"
"No." Mera's voice was hushed. "That's the Balm. I imagine under all that he's actually grey. Come back to the door."
"Shouldn't he be in the circle?"
"Doesn't matter. Spell's done. Come back to the door."
Spike's head twitched and Mera jumped forward and grabbed Rupert's arm. "Out," she ordered.
She had barely closed the door behind them when they heard a faint thump and the latch rattled.
"He can't get out, there's a caging spell holding him." She jerked her thumb at the door. "Listen."
Rupert put his ear against the wood and his face went slack. "God!" He stepped back quickly. "What on earth's that?"
"That," said Mera. "Is his demon expressing its displeasure at my attempt to murder it. The room's spell-soundproofed so it won't disturb the neighbours. The door's the only place the noise can come through."
Rupert stared at the door. "You mean his demon's in control? How long is he going to be like that?"
"No idea."
"You don't know?"
"You know I've never done this before!" snapped Mera suddenly, her voice becoming a growl on the last word.
Rupert glanced at her and saw a different set of features fading from her face. A shock of fright went through him and he backed up against the door. Instantly, there was a dull thud from the other side and he jerked away from it, his skin crawling. "Bloody hell!"
"Sorry." Mera ran trembling fingers over her forehead. "I'm sorry, Rupert. I didn't mean for that to happen. It's just that we have here the only vamp who's ever wanted to be free of his demon - do you have any idea what a prize that is? And we could lose him - I've known that from the start, but I couldn't refuse him. I just couldn't, and now it's done. It's making me a little tense."
"A little?" Rupert laughed weakly.
"All right, I admit - it takes a lot to make the fangs come through.
I'm really nervous." Mera walked back down the passage. "I need a drink.
You coming?"
