Buffy rolled over and looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was already
a few minutes past midnight, and the sandman was obviously not going to be
making an appearance anytime soon.
She was restless. Usually she was out slaying right now, not tucked up in bed waiting for sleep. Jumping out of bed, Buffy threw on her robe and padded softly down the hall to Liam's bedroom.
Slowly, she opened his door and let the light glow from the hallway inside. Liam was twisting around under his bedclothes, drops of sweat bathing his face.
"Liam? Are you ok?"
He started moaning and writhing, jerking at the sheets that he had managed to wrap around himself.
"Nooooo. Get away from me!"
Buffy frowned. "Liam?"
She crossed the room and knelt down beside the bed, shaking him gently, she said, "Liam, wake up! You're having a nightmare."
He continued to moan and flail his arms. "Noooooo! Don't poke me with that!"
Buffy shook him harder. "Liam! Wake up!"
He stopped moving for a moment and lay blinking up at her. "Buffy?"
"Yes, it's me. You were having a bad dream." Buffy smiled and got up so she could sit on the bed. "Wanna talk about it?"
Liam hugged his knees, and looked down. "It wasn't anything special, I dream the same things every night. It was from w-when they had me."
Buffy hugged Liam to her, playing with his golden curls for a few minutes before he asked her. "Buffy, why am I so different? I-I mean, why can't I be like the other children my age?"
Buffy looked down, it troubled her that this little boy was in so much pain. He felt outcast from his peers, just like she did.
"Liam, you are just smarter than they are. And that isn't a bad thing all the time. But I know that it can be hard to deal with too. You should be able to enjoy your childhood, and play with toys. You shouldn't have to worry about what will happen if a bunch of icky people find you again."
"But I do. They will...."
Buffy put her finger over his lips. "Shhh... I'm not going to let them have you again. If they ever do find us, I will fight to the death if necessary, but they won't get you. I promise I will do everything I can to keep you safe and happy, Liam."
"You promise?"
Buffy nodded and smiled. "You can count on it."
She smoothed the hair back from his sweaty face. "Now, you need to go back to sleep. Minus the icky dreams....hmmnn..." Buffy smiled. "Hey, how 'bout I sing you a song that my mom used to sing to me when I couldn't sleep. Would you like that?"
Liam nodded and Buffy started singing a lullaby, rocking him and running her fingers through his hair as she looked up at the ceiling. After the third time she had sung the same song, she glanced down and noticed that he had fallen asleep. Slipping out from behind him, she gently guided his head to the pillow and covered him with the blanket.
"Hey, it worked. Can't tell whether I bored him to death or if he liked the singing though." Buffy shrugged. "Oh well, at least he is asleep."
Closing the door softly behind her, Buffy made her way downstairs to the kitchen. Rounding the corner past the breakfast nook, she saw that she wasn't the only one who had ideas about getting a midnight snack.
"Oh... hi Spike."
Spike turned around, blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. "Slayer."
Buffy looked down, shifting nervously, as did Spike; neither really knowing what to say. Buffy looked up first. "Spike, I..."
"Yeah?"
"I..." Buffy trailed off, she went to the sink and grabbed a washcloth.
"Hold still."
"What?"
She wiped the trickle of blood from his mouth and chin. "You had some blood on your face."
"Oh. Is it gone now?"
Buffy grabbed his chin and turned his head from side to side. "Yep, all gone."
She released his face and went to turn away, but Spike grabbed her hand so she turned around. "Buffy, about what happened earlier..."
"I don't want to talk about it, Spike. I just want to get a snack and try to get some sleep."
"Don't give me that bullshit, Slayer. We kissed and you told me that you lo- -"
"I know what I told you, Spike. I don't want to think about it right now. I just want to go to bed. Good night."
Buffy turned once again, this time to go back to her room and try to sleep.
"No you don't. I'm not letting you get away that easily!"
He grabbed her arm and spun her around, before Buffy knew what was happening, Spike had her in his embrace and was kissing her deeply. She tried to get away, but he only tightened his hold on her, and eventually she stopped struggling and kissed him back. She was getting light-headed, so she pushed him away.
"Spike stop, I'm getting dizzy."
The offending party grinned rakishly. "Well, I knew I had an affect on the ladies, but I didn't think I could make them swoon and all."
"It wasn't from your kiss, Spike."
His face fell. "But it was still nice. I just--just.... I don't feel ri---"
Buffy started to fall to the floor, but Spike's strong arms caught her before she hit the linoleum.
"Buffy! Slayer! Wake up!" Spike patted her on the cheek a few times, then he rose up quickly, still holding Buffy closely to him. He smelled something in the air, it was....not natural.
He glanced up towards the front door just in time to see it splinter open and several men in black fatigues run through the remains into the living room.
"That must be the creature! He is immune to the affects of the gas. Take him down, but don't kill him, she wants him alive."
Spike growled at them, features shifting down into game face, he lifted Buffy up and tossed her over one shoulder as he ran and jumped out the window. Spike didn't get more than twenty feet towards the beach before he felt a sharp pain between his shoulder blades. Reaching back, he pulled the dart out with one hand and kept going. But already he was growing weary from the tranquilliser he felt sure had tipped the dart's point.
Stumbling to his knees, Spike tried desperately to keep conscious long enough to scribble a message in the sand before he passed out and darkness claimed him.
*****
"Search the house, get the boy! He is here somewhere." The dark haired woman in crimson business suit shouted out to the recon team. Two of her men dragged Spike and Buffy into the room, both unconscious.
"What should we do with these two, Madame Leeves?"
Leeves smiled coldly. "Excellent! Put them in the van and restrain them with heavy shackling. We need them alive so don't use damaging force if they awaken."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Leeves walked to the kitchen and surveyed the damage Spike had caused. Muttering a spell beneath her breath, she raised her hands up and all the shattered glass jumped back into place.
"That should buy us some time."
Walking back into the living room, she did the same thing to the front door.
"Madame Leeves, we found the child. What should we do with the others?"
"The others? Leave them."
"B-but Ma'am! Do you really think that is wise?"
"I don't like leaving loose ends anymore than you do, but I was given orders only for the Slayer, the boy, and the vampire. All the others were to be left alone. Now take the boy to the van and I'll be out shortly."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Leeves flipped open her cell phone and dialled a number, waiting for the other party to pick up, she could barely contain her excitement; what a prize catch! William the Bloody, the boy, and the Slayer!
"Operation Liam was successful, more than successful. All goals were accomplished."
She listened for instructions from the other end.
"Yes, Sir. All goals. Yes, Sir. Yes, I've already done that. The same place as planned? We will be there before sunrise."
Leeves flipped the phone closed, ending the call. Turning off the lights, she walked out the front door, carefully locking it behind her.
*****
Buffy wearily swam towards consciousness, instantly feeling a headache and wishing that she were still asleep. Something didn't feel right though. Groggily, she opened one eye and found darkness surrounding her. As Buffy's eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light, she saw Spike propped up before her; bound by steel shackles and tied to the support beam of a... building? Yes, they were in a basement or something.
Buffy looked down and found that she too was shackled and tied to a pillar.
"Spike! Wake up!"
There was no reaction from him, he looked dead. "Well, of course he looks dead, he is dead. Geez, I must have gotten hit on the head or something."
She saw a pebble lying next to her bare foot. Picking it up with her toes, she aimed it at Spike's chest and missed; hitting him in the face instead.
"Oops. Spike! Wake up!"
Spike groaned. "Bloody hell, Slayer. Let me be. My head hurts."
"I'm gonna make your head hurt if you don't wake up!"
Spike slowly raised his head to regard her through bloodshot eyes. "What?"
"Do you know where we are? Who has us?"
"As to your first question; no. And who has us? I have an idea..."
Buffy was getting frustrated. "Well, who is it then?"
Spike looked at her for a second, debating on whether or not to tell her. But seeing as Giles was not here to explain and she would more than likely find out anyway...
"Giles said that the fellows we were runnin' from happened to be his chummy fellows with the Watcher's Council."
"The Watchers? Are you sure?"
Spike nodded as Buffy narrowed her eyes. "Why would Giles let you in on the big secret and not me?"
Spike shrugged. "Probably 'cos I figured it out before the rest of you did and I told him what I thought. He asked me not to say anything 'bout it, but I figure that you'll find out now anyway, so no use hidin' it anymore."
"But I don't understand, why didn't he tell me about it?"
"He said it would hurt you."
"But why? It isn't as if I was deluded enough to think that the Watcher's are all peaches and cream or something."
"If I knew the whole soddin' story, I'd tell you. What with the cat being out of the bag and all. But that is all he told me."
Buffy drew her eyebrows together in anger. "They are the ones who wanted Liam. They...." Buffy looked at Spike. "The Watchers are the ones who hurt him, the people that he kept talking about."
Buffy struggled with her bonds for a moment before giving up. She saw that it was useless.
"We have to get out of here and rescue him."
"Whoa, now Slayer. Who the bleedin' hell is going to rescue us?"
"But I promised him! I promised him that I would protect him from them. And now they have him, and I wasn't there to stop them."
"Look, love... it wasn't your fault. They leaked some sort of gas into the house and everyone who wasn't asleep went out like a light. Including you. They got me with a damn dart."
"How are we going to get out of here? They are obviously well prepared and they are probably waiting for us to make a move."
"I know. I like 'im too. I've got quite fond of the little 'un, but we can't do anything accept take the first opportunity that we get and go. Maybe then we can build some resources up and come back. But till then, there aren't many options for us, love."
Buffy didn't like this. She felt...helpless and trapped. Stuck in this dark room, chained to a post, not knowing whether her friends were dead or alive...
"God, I just hope that everyone is all right..."
*****
Willow yawned and opened up the medicine cabinet, looking for the Tylenol. It felt like her brain was trying to escape from her skull.
"I shouldn't have cast that spell last night. It really got me."
Swallowing down two pills with a glass of water, Willow made her way down to the kitchen for a cup of coffee, she was feeling sluggish this morning.
Yawning again, she waved good morning to Giles, Dawn, and Anya with the floppy sleeve that had covered her hand.
"Mornin' everybody. Is there coffee made yet?"
Giles pointed over to the pot and Willow helped herself to a mug, which was more cream than coffee, but it was hot so she didn't care.
"I'm going to get Liam and take him to the beach. I don't want to go by myself, but no one else wants to go with me."
"You had better ask your sister first, Dawn. You know how she feels about you wandering about unsupervised." Giles took a sip of his tea.
"Yeah but if she doesn't want to go, and she won't let me then I have to be stuck in this gloomy house all day!"
Willow smiled at her. "It isn't so bad, and I'm sure she'll let you go if you don't wander too far off."
"Yeah right, Buffy never lets me go anywhere....."
Dawn stomped up the stairs to her sister's room. Giles took another sip from his tea and opened up the newspaper for his morning read. Willow sat down with her coffee next to Anya, who was buttering a piece of toast at the bar.
Dawn came running back down the stairs.
"Hey guys, did Buffy leave a note or something? She isn't in her room."
Giles looked up from behind his paper and looked around. "None that I've seen. Did anyone else see a note?"
Willow and Anya shook their heads.
"Maybe she just went shopping or something."
"At nine o' clock in the morning, Will?"
Willow shrugged. "You never know."
"Maybe Buffy and Spike had sex and she slept in the basement with him."
"Anya! Ewww...she's my sister!"
But everyone's eyes slowly made their way to the door leading down into the basement. Willow got up and knocked on the door.
"Buffy? Are you down there?"
There was no answer so she knocked a little louder.
"Buffy?"
Willow looked at everyone else. "I'm just going to stick my head in and shout down the stairs."
She opened the door enough to shove her head through. "Buffy? Spike? Are you down there?"
Once again, no answer. Willow opened the door further and crept down the stairs. "Spike? Have you seen... Spike?"
Willow shot back up the stairs. "Spike isn't here either...where did they go?"
*****
Buffy was bored. Having already counted every crack in the floor twice, she went over the plans for escape again in her head. It really wasn't much of a plan, she just intended to kick some major ass whenever these jerks presented themselves. Then she would have to find Liam and get them all out of there. Spike wouldn't be of much help here; the people who had them were humans. Just regular human beings. Hmmph, Buffy snorted softly to herself, these guys were worse monsters than any she had fought in Sunnydale.
"Spike. Have you thought of anything yet?"
Spike raised his head up, regarding Buffy for a moment. "Not a thing. I don't think we are going to get out of this one, pet. These pillocks are pretty smart, and well prepared. The only thing we can do is make a break for it first chance we see..." He stopped and turned his head to the side, listening. "Which might be sooner than we thought, I hear voices outside the door."
"Pretend you're still asleep."
Spike nodded and closed his eyes, letting his chin fall onto his chest.
The heavy, oak door creaked open and light poured inside of the makeshift prison cell. Buffy's eyes were closed almost entirely, but through the tiny slit she allowed herself, she could see several pairs of booted feet.
"They're still out. It's been twelve hours already, they should have woken up by now."
"Maybe they's just a' playin' 'ead."
The voice of the second man made Spike twinge unconsciously; he sounded like a reject from My Fair Lady. 'Damn Cockneys...'
"You know," A third man spoke up. "For once the git may be right. Maybe they are just pretending so they can jump us an' what all."
"Wot? I ain't no git."
The first man silenced them. "Quiet, both of you. We'll act as if they are conscious, if they aren't, no harm done. And if they are, well they won't be awake for very long."
Spike didn't like this. And beside that, he had a feeling that a lot of pain was forthcoming....again. Shit! If these people were going to be this bloody cautious there was no way in hell that he and Buffy were ever going to....
Spike's thoughts were interrupted as a jolting pain in the back of his neck made him raise up off of the floor and cry out. He could feel his long dead heart actually jump in his chest two times before he passed out cold.
She was restless. Usually she was out slaying right now, not tucked up in bed waiting for sleep. Jumping out of bed, Buffy threw on her robe and padded softly down the hall to Liam's bedroom.
Slowly, she opened his door and let the light glow from the hallway inside. Liam was twisting around under his bedclothes, drops of sweat bathing his face.
"Liam? Are you ok?"
He started moaning and writhing, jerking at the sheets that he had managed to wrap around himself.
"Nooooo. Get away from me!"
Buffy frowned. "Liam?"
She crossed the room and knelt down beside the bed, shaking him gently, she said, "Liam, wake up! You're having a nightmare."
He continued to moan and flail his arms. "Noooooo! Don't poke me with that!"
Buffy shook him harder. "Liam! Wake up!"
He stopped moving for a moment and lay blinking up at her. "Buffy?"
"Yes, it's me. You were having a bad dream." Buffy smiled and got up so she could sit on the bed. "Wanna talk about it?"
Liam hugged his knees, and looked down. "It wasn't anything special, I dream the same things every night. It was from w-when they had me."
Buffy hugged Liam to her, playing with his golden curls for a few minutes before he asked her. "Buffy, why am I so different? I-I mean, why can't I be like the other children my age?"
Buffy looked down, it troubled her that this little boy was in so much pain. He felt outcast from his peers, just like she did.
"Liam, you are just smarter than they are. And that isn't a bad thing all the time. But I know that it can be hard to deal with too. You should be able to enjoy your childhood, and play with toys. You shouldn't have to worry about what will happen if a bunch of icky people find you again."
"But I do. They will...."
Buffy put her finger over his lips. "Shhh... I'm not going to let them have you again. If they ever do find us, I will fight to the death if necessary, but they won't get you. I promise I will do everything I can to keep you safe and happy, Liam."
"You promise?"
Buffy nodded and smiled. "You can count on it."
She smoothed the hair back from his sweaty face. "Now, you need to go back to sleep. Minus the icky dreams....hmmnn..." Buffy smiled. "Hey, how 'bout I sing you a song that my mom used to sing to me when I couldn't sleep. Would you like that?"
Liam nodded and Buffy started singing a lullaby, rocking him and running her fingers through his hair as she looked up at the ceiling. After the third time she had sung the same song, she glanced down and noticed that he had fallen asleep. Slipping out from behind him, she gently guided his head to the pillow and covered him with the blanket.
"Hey, it worked. Can't tell whether I bored him to death or if he liked the singing though." Buffy shrugged. "Oh well, at least he is asleep."
Closing the door softly behind her, Buffy made her way downstairs to the kitchen. Rounding the corner past the breakfast nook, she saw that she wasn't the only one who had ideas about getting a midnight snack.
"Oh... hi Spike."
Spike turned around, blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. "Slayer."
Buffy looked down, shifting nervously, as did Spike; neither really knowing what to say. Buffy looked up first. "Spike, I..."
"Yeah?"
"I..." Buffy trailed off, she went to the sink and grabbed a washcloth.
"Hold still."
"What?"
She wiped the trickle of blood from his mouth and chin. "You had some blood on your face."
"Oh. Is it gone now?"
Buffy grabbed his chin and turned his head from side to side. "Yep, all gone."
She released his face and went to turn away, but Spike grabbed her hand so she turned around. "Buffy, about what happened earlier..."
"I don't want to talk about it, Spike. I just want to get a snack and try to get some sleep."
"Don't give me that bullshit, Slayer. We kissed and you told me that you lo- -"
"I know what I told you, Spike. I don't want to think about it right now. I just want to go to bed. Good night."
Buffy turned once again, this time to go back to her room and try to sleep.
"No you don't. I'm not letting you get away that easily!"
He grabbed her arm and spun her around, before Buffy knew what was happening, Spike had her in his embrace and was kissing her deeply. She tried to get away, but he only tightened his hold on her, and eventually she stopped struggling and kissed him back. She was getting light-headed, so she pushed him away.
"Spike stop, I'm getting dizzy."
The offending party grinned rakishly. "Well, I knew I had an affect on the ladies, but I didn't think I could make them swoon and all."
"It wasn't from your kiss, Spike."
His face fell. "But it was still nice. I just--just.... I don't feel ri---"
Buffy started to fall to the floor, but Spike's strong arms caught her before she hit the linoleum.
"Buffy! Slayer! Wake up!" Spike patted her on the cheek a few times, then he rose up quickly, still holding Buffy closely to him. He smelled something in the air, it was....not natural.
He glanced up towards the front door just in time to see it splinter open and several men in black fatigues run through the remains into the living room.
"That must be the creature! He is immune to the affects of the gas. Take him down, but don't kill him, she wants him alive."
Spike growled at them, features shifting down into game face, he lifted Buffy up and tossed her over one shoulder as he ran and jumped out the window. Spike didn't get more than twenty feet towards the beach before he felt a sharp pain between his shoulder blades. Reaching back, he pulled the dart out with one hand and kept going. But already he was growing weary from the tranquilliser he felt sure had tipped the dart's point.
Stumbling to his knees, Spike tried desperately to keep conscious long enough to scribble a message in the sand before he passed out and darkness claimed him.
*****
"Search the house, get the boy! He is here somewhere." The dark haired woman in crimson business suit shouted out to the recon team. Two of her men dragged Spike and Buffy into the room, both unconscious.
"What should we do with these two, Madame Leeves?"
Leeves smiled coldly. "Excellent! Put them in the van and restrain them with heavy shackling. We need them alive so don't use damaging force if they awaken."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Leeves walked to the kitchen and surveyed the damage Spike had caused. Muttering a spell beneath her breath, she raised her hands up and all the shattered glass jumped back into place.
"That should buy us some time."
Walking back into the living room, she did the same thing to the front door.
"Madame Leeves, we found the child. What should we do with the others?"
"The others? Leave them."
"B-but Ma'am! Do you really think that is wise?"
"I don't like leaving loose ends anymore than you do, but I was given orders only for the Slayer, the boy, and the vampire. All the others were to be left alone. Now take the boy to the van and I'll be out shortly."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Leeves flipped open her cell phone and dialled a number, waiting for the other party to pick up, she could barely contain her excitement; what a prize catch! William the Bloody, the boy, and the Slayer!
"Operation Liam was successful, more than successful. All goals were accomplished."
She listened for instructions from the other end.
"Yes, Sir. All goals. Yes, Sir. Yes, I've already done that. The same place as planned? We will be there before sunrise."
Leeves flipped the phone closed, ending the call. Turning off the lights, she walked out the front door, carefully locking it behind her.
*****
Buffy wearily swam towards consciousness, instantly feeling a headache and wishing that she were still asleep. Something didn't feel right though. Groggily, she opened one eye and found darkness surrounding her. As Buffy's eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light, she saw Spike propped up before her; bound by steel shackles and tied to the support beam of a... building? Yes, they were in a basement or something.
Buffy looked down and found that she too was shackled and tied to a pillar.
"Spike! Wake up!"
There was no reaction from him, he looked dead. "Well, of course he looks dead, he is dead. Geez, I must have gotten hit on the head or something."
She saw a pebble lying next to her bare foot. Picking it up with her toes, she aimed it at Spike's chest and missed; hitting him in the face instead.
"Oops. Spike! Wake up!"
Spike groaned. "Bloody hell, Slayer. Let me be. My head hurts."
"I'm gonna make your head hurt if you don't wake up!"
Spike slowly raised his head to regard her through bloodshot eyes. "What?"
"Do you know where we are? Who has us?"
"As to your first question; no. And who has us? I have an idea..."
Buffy was getting frustrated. "Well, who is it then?"
Spike looked at her for a second, debating on whether or not to tell her. But seeing as Giles was not here to explain and she would more than likely find out anyway...
"Giles said that the fellows we were runnin' from happened to be his chummy fellows with the Watcher's Council."
"The Watchers? Are you sure?"
Spike nodded as Buffy narrowed her eyes. "Why would Giles let you in on the big secret and not me?"
Spike shrugged. "Probably 'cos I figured it out before the rest of you did and I told him what I thought. He asked me not to say anything 'bout it, but I figure that you'll find out now anyway, so no use hidin' it anymore."
"But I don't understand, why didn't he tell me about it?"
"He said it would hurt you."
"But why? It isn't as if I was deluded enough to think that the Watcher's are all peaches and cream or something."
"If I knew the whole soddin' story, I'd tell you. What with the cat being out of the bag and all. But that is all he told me."
Buffy drew her eyebrows together in anger. "They are the ones who wanted Liam. They...." Buffy looked at Spike. "The Watchers are the ones who hurt him, the people that he kept talking about."
Buffy struggled with her bonds for a moment before giving up. She saw that it was useless.
"We have to get out of here and rescue him."
"Whoa, now Slayer. Who the bleedin' hell is going to rescue us?"
"But I promised him! I promised him that I would protect him from them. And now they have him, and I wasn't there to stop them."
"Look, love... it wasn't your fault. They leaked some sort of gas into the house and everyone who wasn't asleep went out like a light. Including you. They got me with a damn dart."
"How are we going to get out of here? They are obviously well prepared and they are probably waiting for us to make a move."
"I know. I like 'im too. I've got quite fond of the little 'un, but we can't do anything accept take the first opportunity that we get and go. Maybe then we can build some resources up and come back. But till then, there aren't many options for us, love."
Buffy didn't like this. She felt...helpless and trapped. Stuck in this dark room, chained to a post, not knowing whether her friends were dead or alive...
"God, I just hope that everyone is all right..."
*****
Willow yawned and opened up the medicine cabinet, looking for the Tylenol. It felt like her brain was trying to escape from her skull.
"I shouldn't have cast that spell last night. It really got me."
Swallowing down two pills with a glass of water, Willow made her way down to the kitchen for a cup of coffee, she was feeling sluggish this morning.
Yawning again, she waved good morning to Giles, Dawn, and Anya with the floppy sleeve that had covered her hand.
"Mornin' everybody. Is there coffee made yet?"
Giles pointed over to the pot and Willow helped herself to a mug, which was more cream than coffee, but it was hot so she didn't care.
"I'm going to get Liam and take him to the beach. I don't want to go by myself, but no one else wants to go with me."
"You had better ask your sister first, Dawn. You know how she feels about you wandering about unsupervised." Giles took a sip of his tea.
"Yeah but if she doesn't want to go, and she won't let me then I have to be stuck in this gloomy house all day!"
Willow smiled at her. "It isn't so bad, and I'm sure she'll let you go if you don't wander too far off."
"Yeah right, Buffy never lets me go anywhere....."
Dawn stomped up the stairs to her sister's room. Giles took another sip from his tea and opened up the newspaper for his morning read. Willow sat down with her coffee next to Anya, who was buttering a piece of toast at the bar.
Dawn came running back down the stairs.
"Hey guys, did Buffy leave a note or something? She isn't in her room."
Giles looked up from behind his paper and looked around. "None that I've seen. Did anyone else see a note?"
Willow and Anya shook their heads.
"Maybe she just went shopping or something."
"At nine o' clock in the morning, Will?"
Willow shrugged. "You never know."
"Maybe Buffy and Spike had sex and she slept in the basement with him."
"Anya! Ewww...she's my sister!"
But everyone's eyes slowly made their way to the door leading down into the basement. Willow got up and knocked on the door.
"Buffy? Are you down there?"
There was no answer so she knocked a little louder.
"Buffy?"
Willow looked at everyone else. "I'm just going to stick my head in and shout down the stairs."
She opened the door enough to shove her head through. "Buffy? Spike? Are you down there?"
Once again, no answer. Willow opened the door further and crept down the stairs. "Spike? Have you seen... Spike?"
Willow shot back up the stairs. "Spike isn't here either...where did they go?"
*****
Buffy was bored. Having already counted every crack in the floor twice, she went over the plans for escape again in her head. It really wasn't much of a plan, she just intended to kick some major ass whenever these jerks presented themselves. Then she would have to find Liam and get them all out of there. Spike wouldn't be of much help here; the people who had them were humans. Just regular human beings. Hmmph, Buffy snorted softly to herself, these guys were worse monsters than any she had fought in Sunnydale.
"Spike. Have you thought of anything yet?"
Spike raised his head up, regarding Buffy for a moment. "Not a thing. I don't think we are going to get out of this one, pet. These pillocks are pretty smart, and well prepared. The only thing we can do is make a break for it first chance we see..." He stopped and turned his head to the side, listening. "Which might be sooner than we thought, I hear voices outside the door."
"Pretend you're still asleep."
Spike nodded and closed his eyes, letting his chin fall onto his chest.
The heavy, oak door creaked open and light poured inside of the makeshift prison cell. Buffy's eyes were closed almost entirely, but through the tiny slit she allowed herself, she could see several pairs of booted feet.
"They're still out. It's been twelve hours already, they should have woken up by now."
"Maybe they's just a' playin' 'ead."
The voice of the second man made Spike twinge unconsciously; he sounded like a reject from My Fair Lady. 'Damn Cockneys...'
"You know," A third man spoke up. "For once the git may be right. Maybe they are just pretending so they can jump us an' what all."
"Wot? I ain't no git."
The first man silenced them. "Quiet, both of you. We'll act as if they are conscious, if they aren't, no harm done. And if they are, well they won't be awake for very long."
Spike didn't like this. And beside that, he had a feeling that a lot of pain was forthcoming....again. Shit! If these people were going to be this bloody cautious there was no way in hell that he and Buffy were ever going to....
Spike's thoughts were interrupted as a jolting pain in the back of his neck made him raise up off of the floor and cry out. He could feel his long dead heart actually jump in his chest two times before he passed out cold.
