Part 18
Stepping
into Darkness
Part 18
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Fliq pulled herself to her feet,
watching as Buffy did the same. The group had been rounded to the
center of the room, dozens of vampires circling them like
vultures. Nodding to each other and to Spike, they prepared to
fight.
"Ahh!" They turned sharply
to watch as Angelus pulled Cordelia into him, "Let me go,"
She pleaded softly, "Please?"
"Oh, precious," Vampire
Willow said, stroking a hand down her face, "don't worry, we'll
make everything better," she smiled, "you'll be able to
play with your Angel, just like you always wanted."
"No pesky soul to worry about
this time, gorgeous," Angelus whispered in her ear as he
stroked a hand down her body, his other still gripping her arm.
"Let her go."
"Ooh the watcher can speak,"
Vampire Willow and Tara walked towards him like predators, each
swaying their hips and smiling seductively, "What do you
think witch? Should we play with those vocal chords?" Tara
grinned as they each stood at one side.
"Leave them both alone,"
Fliq snarled, her eyes flashing amber, "or believe me, I won't
care how good a friend Angel is, I'll stake you all."
"I'm not a vampire," Tara
said silkily, walking back towards the group.
"You think I care?" Fliq
threatened in a deadly voice, "I'm dead remember, I won't be
brought before any court."
"You couldn't do it, Fliq,"
Angelus laughed, "and you know it."
"Try me."
Suddenly Fliq and Spike were thrown
out of the room by an invisible force as the room erupted in a
ball of light. Spike cried out in agony as Tara ripped all the
energy she could, shrouding Angelus and Vampire Willow in a
protective shield. Fliq pulled Spike into her arms, sharing his
pain as they both fell into the comfort of darkness.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Fliq yawned as she pulled herself
from tranquillity, "What happened?" she whispered in a
hoarse voice, "where are we?"
"It's okay, we're at Buffy's."
She opened her eyes, flinching
against the light as Cordelia's face came into focus, "What
happened?" she asked again.
"Willow threw you and Spike out
of the room, let it rip with her little ball of sunshine."
"Tara drew more energy from
Spike." Fliq whispered, "didn't she?"
"Yeah," Cordelia placed
the damp cloth back on Fliq's head, "she surrounded Vamp
Willow and AngelAngelus, in some kind of shield. I managed
to get away in the confusion, but" she wiped a tear
from her eye.
"They still have Wesley?"
"Yeah." Cordelia sniffed
and wiped her eyes.
"Don't worry, we'll get them
back, both of them."
"I hope you're right. They're
my familyI can't do without them."
"You won't have to." Fliq
smiled.
"Gunn called, he said hi. He's
doing better but they won't release him, or rather Anne wont let
him be released."
"Good." Fliq stared at
Cordelia again and smiled, "You thought I had the hots for
Angel didn't you?"
"What?" Cordelia looked at
her, surprise by her change in the subject.
"That's why you moved back into
the Hyperion, isn't it?"
"II don't know what you're
talking about."
"Yes you do." Willow said
entering the room from behind, smiling at her, "Come on
Cordelia, Angel is gorgeous, we all know you used to like him."
"What is this? Gang up on
Cordelia day?" She saw them flinch at her choice of words
and she smiled a little, "No matter what we face, something
worse is always around the corner."
Fliq sat up, "Then we'll face
that, too." She reached a hand out to Cordelia, "We'll
get him back Cordeliaand then I'll tease you both
relentlessly for the next few months."
Cordelia narrowed her eyes, "You
wouldn't dare."
"Try me," Fliq wagged her
eyebrows at the brunette, "Who knows, maybe I'll knock your
heads together and you'll finally admit something."
"And the fact that he's been
calling her lover doesn't admit something?" Willow asked,
her eyebrows arched.
"Will you two lay off!"
The two smiled at each other before
Fliq turned back to Cordelia and frowned, "I'm sorry I was
such a bitch when we first met."
"Me too." Cordelia replied,
"I mean that I was, not that you"
Fliq laughed, "I know."
There was a pause as Willow joined them on the bed.
"If it helps, I'm sorry we
never got on, too." Willow said, shifting her position.
"No you're not, I was a bitch
in high school, to have been my friend you'd need to be one too."
Cordelia smiled at Fliq, "So is this what you were like
beforeI mean before the whole'grrr' thing?"
Cordelia asked, "You know, less scowly and bitchy, more
chatty?"
"Oh, I was very different,"
Fliq said, a little uncomfortable talking about her past, "I
mean I knew I was destined to be a Slayer and I worked hard for
it, I was ready at all times to be called. My dad saw to that."
She smiled sadly, "I was still quite shy when I was around
people, then I found the Sanctuary. My first thought was that I
could get some action. You know stake vamps and stuff, get myself
ready for my powers arriving. But I ended up being drawn into the
place, the magick in me won over."
"So why is your tattoo
different?" Willow asked, still curious about what the
picture was. Fliq pulled her sleeve down and showed them the
black tattoo on her arm. It was just like Willows, a pentacle,
only Fliq's had two sharp points protruding the bottom of the
circle and a stake cutting through a diagonal underneath it.
"The stake was there first. I
felt a sharp pain and when I saw it, I knew I'd been activatedit
wasn't long before the fangs arrived." There was an
uncomfortable silence as Fliq drew her sleeve up.
"So the Sanctuary's where you
met Spike." Willow stated, hoping that Fliq would continue.
"Yes."
"Tell us?" Willow asked,
watching Fliq clam up, "please, it might help pass the time
until nightfall, and"
"And you really want to know."
Fliq finished for her.
"Yeah." Cordelia and
Willow replied in unison.
"Okay"
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Wesley groaned. The blood began to
trickle down his wrists as he struggled to free himself from his
shackles. He flinched as the pain coursed through his back with
an audible snap. Angelus' laugh haunted him as it echoed through
the room, spurring Vampire Willow to continue.
Wesley had never been one for
prayers, but now he prayed. He prayed to anything that would
listen. He prayed for the dark comfort of unconsciousness or
death for rescue seemed so far away. So far away that he could
hardly taste the bittersweet victory that he prayed would come.
And, again, the pain snapped through
him
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Spike leaned against the door,
smiling as Fliq told the story of their past. He wiped a tear
from his cheek and sighedthen he shook himself in disgust.
*I'm a demon and I'm crying like a
pansy* he thought angrily, *that witch is going to pay* Slowly he
opened the door as he listened to Willow sigh before watching
that wonderful look of confusion scrunch up her face.
"Wait a minute, you lived in
sin with Spike?"
"Lived in sin, Will?" Fliq
asked raising her eyebrows.
"Well in those days, it would
be."
Fliq smiled and pulled a chain from
around her neck, she removed it and handed it to Willow, "No
Will, I didn't live in sin."
Willow took the offered chain and
gasped at the two rings dangling on it, "Beautiful,"
she whispered as she turned them around in her hand. She noticed
an inscription on the inside of the gold band, "What does it
say?" she asked, trying to read the Latin inscription.
"It says"
"As I step into darkness, love
will shine through." Fliq turned to the door and saw Spike
standing, staring at her.
"You knew you were going to
become a vampire?" Willow asked quietly.
"I didn't know, I suspected. I
heard Felicity talking in her sleep. About me, vampires and
spells"
"Felicity?" Cordelia asked.
Fliq smiled, "What? You didn't
actually think my parents called me Fliq did you?"
"Well, no but"
Willow shook her head, "So, you turned Fliq, like Angelus
said?"
"Yeah," Spike said softly,
"That was one thing she couldn't forgive me for." There
was silence as Spike and Fliq stared at each other. Cordelia
exchanged a glance with Willow who was still fiddling with Fliq's
chain.
"Spike?" Willow asked,
"Where's your"
"In my pocket, Red," Spike
said, pulling a chain with a single gold band on it from his
pocket, "Always with me," he said, finally turning to
look at the red head. He threw it to Willow who caught it and
turned straight to the inscription.
"It's the same," she said,
scrunching up her nose.
"Think about it, Will,"
Fliq said sadly, "I knew what he was going to become, and I
knew what I was going to become." Willow stared at the rings
once more before returning them to their owners. The room was
silent once more, before Spike cleared his throat.
"It's dusk, we should go."
Fliq turned to Cordelia, "You
ready to face this?"
Cordelia offered her a weak smile,
"As ready as I'll ever be." Willow offered Cordelia a
hug before they exited the room. Spike wandered over to Fliq.
"I might as well say this while
I don't have any evil in me," she grinned as he continued,
"I'm sorry. For everything I ever did to you. I loved you
Felicity, don't ever forget that."
Fliq smiled, "I won't. I loved
you too, William." Spike lowered his head for a lingering
kiss. He pulled Fliq into his arms and softly began to whisper in
her ears. Tears began to fall as he softly sang words only ever
recalled in her dreams, "You remembered." she whispered.
"Always." Hearing movement
downstairs, they pulled apart, their blue eyes gazing at each
other.
"You know, I think that's the
first time we've ever used the past tense, short stuff,"
Spike said, smirking, "That mean you've had enough of this
hot, tight, little body."
"That an offer, blondie?"
Fliq winked as his grin widened.
"What can I say, I'm a wanted
man,"
"Don't think I'd like to share
you with, Red." Fliq smiled at his shocked expression,
"You be good to her Spike, or I'll stake you myself."
Fliq said, seriously, "Come on," she shrugged to the
door, "Time to follow the shadows."
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"How could I have been in a
vampires body and not know about it?"
"Because you're a daft bint?"
Spike smirked at Buffy's expression as he walked down the stairs
with Fliq.
"Guess that spell hasn't made
you as whipped as we thought," Cordelia added.
"I might be loosing my evil but I've still got my sense of
humor."
"Well that's a matter of opinion," Fliq smiled before
walking over to Buffy, "What's up?"
"I'm just curious, why didn't I know I was in a demon's body?"
She frowned, "Not exacly something I'm used to."
Spike snickered, "I think the
poof would beg to differouch." He glared at Cordelia
as he rubbed his arm.
"Most of the demon's traits
were still with me. You might have been the one sharing the body
with it, but I was the one sharing the mind with it. It's hunger
was a part of me, not you. It was reflectedor not as the
case may bein me. If I had allowed myself to walk into the
sunlight, or get staked through the heart, you would have died
along with the demon, and I'd have been stuck in your bodyit
was a part of me, not you."
"Why didn't you just walk into
the sunlight and steal my body then?" Buffy asked, frowning,
"Not that I'm not glad you didn't, butwhy not end it
all?"
Fliq smiled, "Believe me I was
temptedbut I couldn't do that to youit wasn't my life
to take."
Buffy smiled and glanced out the
window, "Lets go." They collected their weapons and
headed to the door.
"Wait a minute," Buffy
stopped, her eyes wide, "You still had it's hunger? then
that taste in my mouthOh my God." Fliq grimmaced as
Buffy ran to the bathroom.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
END OF PART 18
Yeah, so it got a
little soppy in the middle there, sorry! (GAG!) Okay, this was
originally a part about the background between Fliq and Spike but
not only was it FAR too long, but apparently it didn't make sense!
(I didn't explain things in enough detail). For this reason, I'm
writing a prequel and I'll let you all know when it's finished! (Of
course it's nearly all done since I had lots of it in this part!)