Â
Â
Title: Faces (3/3)
Author: Bert
Rating: R - Some bad language...
Summary: Sequel to Voices... read it first.
Tap. Tap.
Spike jumped up when he heard the faint tapping coming from the other side of the door. Fearfully he started to back away from the door when he berated himself for being so foolish. Angrily he reached over and thumped on the door once.
The tapping immediately stopped, after a short while there was a single tap.
Spike grinned and rapped the door twice.
Tap. Tap.
Realising what he was doing Spike shook his head in disgust, "Xander? Can you hear me?" he asked facing the door.
Tap.
"Good, you can."
Tap. Tap.
Spike frowned, "was that yes you can or was it no you can't?"
Tap?
"Well answer me dammit." Spike growled.
Silence.
"Xander?" he called again.
Silence.
"Fine be that way," giving up on the situation Spike paid out the ingredients for the spell. Looking up from the items he stared thoughtfully up at the door for a moment before leaving.
Softly through the door Xander started calling out to him, "Little pig, little pig, please let me come in."
...
Two pairs of eyes watched the building from the shadows across the street. They watched as people entered and left from the front entrance. They watched as a vehicle pulled up outside the building and a young dark haired man exit the vehicle. They looked on as he studied it for a moment before entering, they smiled to each other knowing it would be soon. They saw the man leave and drive rapidly away and mentally counted down, 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... and 4... too soon. They watched in delight as the entire building exploded into flame and laughed contemptuously at the little people running around at its base.
...
The blood bags carefully stowed away Spike decided to stop off at Xander's apartment and pick up some fresh clothes for him. All the while mentally slapping himself for feeling so maternal over his childe. Turning into the street he stopped when he saw the building on fire, without stopping he continued on past and headed straight for his crypt. With his heart sinking in his chest he knew who was responsible and what the repercussions would be for Xander.
Spike burst into the room, he stopped and blinked when he saw Xander sitting there just staring up at him, "How the hell did you get here so fast?" he asked.
"I flew."
Spike glared at him, "that's not funny."Â He stopped and stared for a few seconds, "you are kidding me, right?" he asked, "you cannot literally..." he paused and made little flapping motions with his hands.
Xander smiled enigmatically as he repeated the movement, "is that a new dance craze?" he asked, "I never left."
"Then you didn't kill her?"
Â
"Kill who? What are you talking about?"
Spike took in a deep breath not knowing how he would take the news, "I think Anya's dead"
Xander looked blankly at him, "How?" he asked mildly.
"A fire, your place burnt down, hell the entire block went up."
"Oh."
"Well?" asked Spike after a moment.
"Well what?"
"Aren't you going to say anything?"
"Was she well done?"
"Don't you feel anything?" asked Spike, "joy, happiness, sadness, anger, hate? Someone you used to be close to just got burnt to a crisp, I mean didn't you want to kill her yourself."Â
"Not really," Xander shrugged.
Spike silently repeated the words as they slowly sank in, "just what sort of vampire are you?"
"The intelligent kind."
"Now look here..."
"No you look here" Xander shouted back cutting him off, his eyes flashed angrily, "you may be my sire but I'll be damned if I'm going to worship the ground you walk on. When my friends die, I will chose the how and where, not you or anyone else. You're not the master around here anymore."
Spike took in his challenging look, "I thought as much," he said. "Here" he pulled out a bag of blood and threw it at Xander.
"TV dinner, yay!" He bit into the bag and drained it, "when do I get the good stuff?" he asked, "just because you can't shouldn't mean others have to do without."
Spike merely studied him carefully as if waiting for something to happen.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" he asked, then realisation dawned on Xander's face, he stood up and staggered drunkenly towards Spike, "That blood..." he gasped out, "that blood... you drugged it!" he sounded impressed before collapsing onto the ground.
Spike picked him up and tied him to the chair, "sorry mate," he whispered, "but Buffy needs you sane."
Xander stirred fitfully, blinking his eyes several times he looked up to see Spike sitting cross legged in front of him.  A circle of burning candles surrounded them as Spike prepared to cast the spell. Xander smiled, "Kinky."
"You're awake."
"No, I'm a glove puppet," Xander replied sarcastically, "you'd do this to your own?" he asked nodding at the orb.
Spike threw the final herbs into the fire and watched as the flames turned blue, "as you said earlier, you're not mine."Â He started to chant.
Xander started to struggle against his bonds, "can't we talk about this?" he asked worriedly. A glow appeared in the orb slowly growing brighter, hypnotically it slowly rose until it was level between the two vampires, "a jokes a joke Spike, be a pal, let me go huh?" he begged.
Spike finished chanting, "say hi to Xander," and looked expectantly at the orb waiting for it to happen. After a moment he frowned and looked back down at the spell, the frown deepened, "oops" he looked sheepish.
"Ooops?" Xander practically screamed at him, "what do you mean oops?" He turned his attention back to the orb, "that is my soul in there right? I'm not going to end up with someone elses..."
Spike nodded, "oh you're alright there, that's Xander alright."
"So what's the holdup? I've got people to see, brooding to do, a heck of a lot of brooding to do if deadboy's anything to go by."
"Ah, I'm not sure, you should be cursed by now," he looked down a flicked through several pages umming and ahing as he went, "oh."
"Oh? Why do I not like the sound of that 'Oh'?"
Spike looked embarrassed, "Well you see Dru was the one who normally did the magical hocus-pocus stuff, I was never that good at it."
"Oh joy, and?"
"and that's it."
"That's it? What's going to happen?"Â Xander flicked his gaze to the glowing orb, he could have sworn it looked brighter.
Spike thought for a moment, "I have no idea, well see you later," he stood up and started to walk away.
"What about me?" asked Xander, "you can't leave me tied up like some bondage doll, cut me loose." He rocked the chair trying to move forwards to the vampire, in the process knocking out one of the candles. As if on queue a loud humming started from the orb. Xander looked down at the fallen candle and back up at the orb, "why do I get the feeling I did not want to do that?"
The orb started to pulse as the sound rapidly increased in intensity to such an extent that Spike was forced to cover his ears against the noise. Unfortunately Xander had no such option and remained exposed to the full acoustic barrage.  Unable to stand the pain any longer Xander started screaming in concert with the noise.
A loud crack echoed around the room and then silence as orb imploded into nothing, leaving behind the glowing essence it once contained. "Wow" a beatific look manifested on Xander's face as he looked up at it, "it's beautiful" he whispered in awe.
Spike came forward as studied the glowing mist, "very nice," he agreed. "Go on then," he told it making little shooing motions towards Xander, "do your stuff."
Nothing happened for a moment then a small tendril of light snaked its way towards Xander. It hovered momentarily over him before striking his hand and discharging with an audible thwapp.
"Ow!" Xander tried to pull his hand away, "that hurt. Is it meant to do that?"
"Dunno, never done this before," Spike backed away again, unsure as to what he had wrought.
Another tendril formed, and another, simultaneously they headed for the restrained vampire, "Spike?" Xander called, "this isn't fun anymore. Argh." He screamed as they struck. "It's not right, it's not meant to hurt," he frantically struggled against his bonds to get free. His eyes widened in fear as he saw more tendrils forming, "Spike!" he screamed to the closing door, "SPIKE!!".
Hearing the terror in his childe's voice Spike paused outside the room and reflected on what he had just done. Part of him wanted to return and to rescue Xander, but another more practical side of him heard the unmistakable sounds of multiple strikes and Xanders screams. He ran.
Pausing only to light a cigarette Spike shakily breathed in needful gulps of nicotine-laden smoke. He never saw the club swinging towards his head, he only knew when it struck knocking him out cold.
Spike groaned as he regained consciousness, "Why does everyone insist on hitting me in the head?" he complained. He tried to clutch his head but found his limbs restrained by several chains, unfazed he tested each in turn seeking a week spot.
"Don't bother, they held up against Angelus."
Spike looked up at the speaker, "you!"
"You're such a disappointment Spike, you know that. I had such high hopes for you, rather like Xander before he refused to play."
"You did this to him? But why, he's..."
"Because he refused to play," she interrupted, "do you want to play?" she asked.
Spike nodded frantically, "I'll play," he readily agreed.
"No, I don't think so, you'll just change the rules. If I wanted Xander a vampire then I would have made him one," she smiled when she saw his expression, "oh yes I heard all about that. I wanted him dead not turned, you should have been grateful for the meal."
"I didn't know," complained Spike.
"No excuse," she said in a sing song voice, "Xander had to die when I found out he refused to play. You will die because you didn't play by the rules."
"I didn't do anything," Spike protested.
"You turned Xander, isn't that enough," she smiled, "I was going to kill you anyway but you cheated so will die sooner."Â Her voice became hard, "Cheaters must be punished so they won't cheat anymore."
"I won't," Spike looked frantically about him at the rapidly brightening predawn gloom, "I promise I won't cheat anymore."
She stepped forwards and gently stroked his cheeks, "you admit you cheated?" she asked smiling sweetly at him.
Spike nodded in agreement.
"Then you admit to having sinned against me and must be cleansed," she stepped back to watch, "I wish I had some marshmallows", she said in afterthought making herself comfortable on the damp grass.
Spikes eyes widened in shock at what she just implied, "you bitch, I'll see you in hell," he spat morphing into his demon face, "they'll know I've gone and they'll discover what you've done."
She merely laughed off his threats as the first rays of the sun broke through the early morning mist and striking Spike. At first his flesh merely hissed and smoked in the light, but soon blackened as the sun rose higher in the sky. All the while Spike merely stared directly at his tormentor refusing to give her the pleasure of hearing him scream, only the twitch of a cheek betraying some of the pain. Finally and mercifully the sunlight hit him on full force causing him to burst into flame, the last sight she had of him was of his yellow eyes staring out through the flames promising revenge before his body exploded into dust.
She watched some of the ashes blowing away in the wind before heading home through the park, stopping now and then to pick wild flowers from the ground and adding them to her collection.
Â
Title: Faces (3/3)
Author: Bert
Rating: R - Some bad language...
Summary: Sequel to Voices... read it first.
Tap. Tap.
Spike jumped up when he heard the faint tapping coming from the other side of the door. Fearfully he started to back away from the door when he berated himself for being so foolish. Angrily he reached over and thumped on the door once.
The tapping immediately stopped, after a short while there was a single tap.
Spike grinned and rapped the door twice.
Tap. Tap.
Realising what he was doing Spike shook his head in disgust, "Xander? Can you hear me?" he asked facing the door.
Tap.
"Good, you can."
Tap. Tap.
Spike frowned, "was that yes you can or was it no you can't?"
Tap?
"Well answer me dammit." Spike growled.
Silence.
"Xander?" he called again.
Silence.
"Fine be that way," giving up on the situation Spike paid out the ingredients for the spell. Looking up from the items he stared thoughtfully up at the door for a moment before leaving.
Softly through the door Xander started calling out to him, "Little pig, little pig, please let me come in."
...
Two pairs of eyes watched the building from the shadows across the street. They watched as people entered and left from the front entrance. They watched as a vehicle pulled up outside the building and a young dark haired man exit the vehicle. They looked on as he studied it for a moment before entering, they smiled to each other knowing it would be soon. They saw the man leave and drive rapidly away and mentally counted down, 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... and 4... too soon. They watched in delight as the entire building exploded into flame and laughed contemptuously at the little people running around at its base.
...
The blood bags carefully stowed away Spike decided to stop off at Xander's apartment and pick up some fresh clothes for him. All the while mentally slapping himself for feeling so maternal over his childe. Turning into the street he stopped when he saw the building on fire, without stopping he continued on past and headed straight for his crypt. With his heart sinking in his chest he knew who was responsible and what the repercussions would be for Xander.
Spike burst into the room, he stopped and blinked when he saw Xander sitting there just staring up at him, "How the hell did you get here so fast?" he asked.
"I flew."
Spike glared at him, "that's not funny."Â He stopped and stared for a few seconds, "you are kidding me, right?" he asked, "you cannot literally..." he paused and made little flapping motions with his hands.
Xander smiled enigmatically as he repeated the movement, "is that a new dance craze?" he asked, "I never left."
"Then you didn't kill her?"
Â
"Kill who? What are you talking about?"
Spike took in a deep breath not knowing how he would take the news, "I think Anya's dead"
Xander looked blankly at him, "How?" he asked mildly.
"A fire, your place burnt down, hell the entire block went up."
"Oh."
"Well?" asked Spike after a moment.
"Well what?"
"Aren't you going to say anything?"
"Was she well done?"
"Don't you feel anything?" asked Spike, "joy, happiness, sadness, anger, hate? Someone you used to be close to just got burnt to a crisp, I mean didn't you want to kill her yourself."Â
"Not really," Xander shrugged.
Spike silently repeated the words as they slowly sank in, "just what sort of vampire are you?"
"The intelligent kind."
"Now look here..."
"No you look here" Xander shouted back cutting him off, his eyes flashed angrily, "you may be my sire but I'll be damned if I'm going to worship the ground you walk on. When my friends die, I will chose the how and where, not you or anyone else. You're not the master around here anymore."
Spike took in his challenging look, "I thought as much," he said. "Here" he pulled out a bag of blood and threw it at Xander.
"TV dinner, yay!" He bit into the bag and drained it, "when do I get the good stuff?" he asked, "just because you can't shouldn't mean others have to do without."
Spike merely studied him carefully as if waiting for something to happen.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" he asked, then realisation dawned on Xander's face, he stood up and staggered drunkenly towards Spike, "That blood..." he gasped out, "that blood... you drugged it!" he sounded impressed before collapsing onto the ground.
Spike picked him up and tied him to the chair, "sorry mate," he whispered, "but Buffy needs you sane."
Xander stirred fitfully, blinking his eyes several times he looked up to see Spike sitting cross legged in front of him.  A circle of burning candles surrounded them as Spike prepared to cast the spell. Xander smiled, "Kinky."
"You're awake."
"No, I'm a glove puppet," Xander replied sarcastically, "you'd do this to your own?" he asked nodding at the orb.
Spike threw the final herbs into the fire and watched as the flames turned blue, "as you said earlier, you're not mine."Â He started to chant.
Xander started to struggle against his bonds, "can't we talk about this?" he asked worriedly. A glow appeared in the orb slowly growing brighter, hypnotically it slowly rose until it was level between the two vampires, "a jokes a joke Spike, be a pal, let me go huh?" he begged.
Spike finished chanting, "say hi to Xander," and looked expectantly at the orb waiting for it to happen. After a moment he frowned and looked back down at the spell, the frown deepened, "oops" he looked sheepish.
"Ooops?" Xander practically screamed at him, "what do you mean oops?" He turned his attention back to the orb, "that is my soul in there right? I'm not going to end up with someone elses..."
Spike nodded, "oh you're alright there, that's Xander alright."
"So what's the holdup? I've got people to see, brooding to do, a heck of a lot of brooding to do if deadboy's anything to go by."
"Ah, I'm not sure, you should be cursed by now," he looked down a flicked through several pages umming and ahing as he went, "oh."
"Oh? Why do I not like the sound of that 'Oh'?"
Spike looked embarrassed, "Well you see Dru was the one who normally did the magical hocus-pocus stuff, I was never that good at it."
"Oh joy, and?"
"and that's it."
"That's it? What's going to happen?"Â Xander flicked his gaze to the glowing orb, he could have sworn it looked brighter.
Spike thought for a moment, "I have no idea, well see you later," he stood up and started to walk away.
"What about me?" asked Xander, "you can't leave me tied up like some bondage doll, cut me loose." He rocked the chair trying to move forwards to the vampire, in the process knocking out one of the candles. As if on queue a loud humming started from the orb. Xander looked down at the fallen candle and back up at the orb, "why do I get the feeling I did not want to do that?"
The orb started to pulse as the sound rapidly increased in intensity to such an extent that Spike was forced to cover his ears against the noise. Unfortunately Xander had no such option and remained exposed to the full acoustic barrage.  Unable to stand the pain any longer Xander started screaming in concert with the noise.
A loud crack echoed around the room and then silence as orb imploded into nothing, leaving behind the glowing essence it once contained. "Wow" a beatific look manifested on Xander's face as he looked up at it, "it's beautiful" he whispered in awe.
Spike came forward as studied the glowing mist, "very nice," he agreed. "Go on then," he told it making little shooing motions towards Xander, "do your stuff."
Nothing happened for a moment then a small tendril of light snaked its way towards Xander. It hovered momentarily over him before striking his hand and discharging with an audible thwapp.
"Ow!" Xander tried to pull his hand away, "that hurt. Is it meant to do that?"
"Dunno, never done this before," Spike backed away again, unsure as to what he had wrought.
Another tendril formed, and another, simultaneously they headed for the restrained vampire, "Spike?" Xander called, "this isn't fun anymore. Argh." He screamed as they struck. "It's not right, it's not meant to hurt," he frantically struggled against his bonds to get free. His eyes widened in fear as he saw more tendrils forming, "Spike!" he screamed to the closing door, "SPIKE!!".
Hearing the terror in his childe's voice Spike paused outside the room and reflected on what he had just done. Part of him wanted to return and to rescue Xander, but another more practical side of him heard the unmistakable sounds of multiple strikes and Xanders screams. He ran.
Pausing only to light a cigarette Spike shakily breathed in needful gulps of nicotine-laden smoke. He never saw the club swinging towards his head, he only knew when it struck knocking him out cold.
Spike groaned as he regained consciousness, "Why does everyone insist on hitting me in the head?" he complained. He tried to clutch his head but found his limbs restrained by several chains, unfazed he tested each in turn seeking a week spot.
"Don't bother, they held up against Angelus."
Spike looked up at the speaker, "you!"
"You're such a disappointment Spike, you know that. I had such high hopes for you, rather like Xander before he refused to play."
"You did this to him? But why, he's..."
"Because he refused to play," she interrupted, "do you want to play?" she asked.
Spike nodded frantically, "I'll play," he readily agreed.
"No, I don't think so, you'll just change the rules. If I wanted Xander a vampire then I would have made him one," she smiled when she saw his expression, "oh yes I heard all about that. I wanted him dead not turned, you should have been grateful for the meal."
"I didn't know," complained Spike.
"No excuse," she said in a sing song voice, "Xander had to die when I found out he refused to play. You will die because you didn't play by the rules."
"I didn't do anything," Spike protested.
"You turned Xander, isn't that enough," she smiled, "I was going to kill you anyway but you cheated so will die sooner."Â Her voice became hard, "Cheaters must be punished so they won't cheat anymore."
"I won't," Spike looked frantically about him at the rapidly brightening predawn gloom, "I promise I won't cheat anymore."
She stepped forwards and gently stroked his cheeks, "you admit you cheated?" she asked smiling sweetly at him.
Spike nodded in agreement.
"Then you admit to having sinned against me and must be cleansed," she stepped back to watch, "I wish I had some marshmallows", she said in afterthought making herself comfortable on the damp grass.
Spikes eyes widened in shock at what she just implied, "you bitch, I'll see you in hell," he spat morphing into his demon face, "they'll know I've gone and they'll discover what you've done."
She merely laughed off his threats as the first rays of the sun broke through the early morning mist and striking Spike. At first his flesh merely hissed and smoked in the light, but soon blackened as the sun rose higher in the sky. All the while Spike merely stared directly at his tormentor refusing to give her the pleasure of hearing him scream, only the twitch of a cheek betraying some of the pain. Finally and mercifully the sunlight hit him on full force causing him to burst into flame, the last sight she had of him was of his yellow eyes staring out through the flames promising revenge before his body exploded into dust.
She watched some of the ashes blowing away in the wind before heading home through the park, stopping now and then to pick wild flowers from the ground and adding them to her collection.