TITLE: The Chaos Logic 2/?
AUTHOR: Etrangere
RATING: PG-13
SPOILERS: Up to Normal Again
SUMMARY: Strange dreams plague Buffy, depriving her of her strength and energy. Spike gets to help.
DISCLAMER: Don't own the world, don't own the characters, ME and Joss
Whedon and UPN does. We are but their sorry slaves. Don't sue me, ô
Masters!
Chapter two : In Thrall
And there we slumber'd on the moss,
And there I dream'd, ah woe betide,
The latest dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill side.
I saw pale kings, and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
Who cry'd--"La belle Dame sans merci
Hath thee in thrall!"
Keats
She was sitting there, on the stair's fifth step, and staring at them while they were blabbering. They paid no attention to her, as ever.
"But do you know what's causing this?" Xander was asking for what had to be the hundredth time.
"We're not sure", answered Tara gently, "We know it's due to Drusilla because of what Buffy told us, but we don't know how she's doing this, and we're afraid that anything we might do could rupture the link remaining between Buffy's body and her soul.
"But she can't stay that way !", Xander's voice was close to panic. Dawn mused that he should have gotten used to Buffy being in danger by now, and not being able to do anything about it. Well, of course she was the same. But she only felt ice and emptiness were she should panic. There was almost no fear in her heart, because all of fear's place was taken up by cold anger : How dare she ? How dare her sister find once more a way to leave her ? Why couldn't they stay with her, why did they have to abandon her all the time ? Now she didn't even have the stuff she stole to keep them, only a small part of them, close to her.
"Why… why don't you go, in her head, like Willow did the last time ?". Wow !, thought Dawn, Xander's brilliant idea of the month. He came up with them on a regular but rare basis. It had to be a minima thing. Maybe if he wasn't so busy thinking how lame he was he could find more of those.
Willow and Tara exchanged a look, then Tara explained,"It's different. Last time, it was Buffy only, she was imprisoning herself in her own mind. Now, it's a magic thing. Besides, I'm not able to do that, go into her mind."
There was an uneasy silence then where no one dared to speak. That was probably because Anya was still absent. Dawn never thought she could come to miss Anya. Or because Spike wasn't there either. Spike would have dared to speak what everyone was thinking.
"Why is Spike not here ?", she numbly asked.
She wasn't surprised when nobody answered her.
"It's closer to what we did, when… when, you remember, Faith and Buffy had switched bodies ?", said Willow finally, when nobody spoke about her doing magic again, "I came to the nether realm and Tara was anchoring me, to find where Buffy's essence was and conjure a katra to link her back to her body."
Xander made a "huh" face.
"Well except that Buffy doesn't have an anchor, so we don't know how to find her. She could be… anywhere in the astral planes.", Willow said.
Xander made a "huh-er" face.
"Why don't you send someone else ?", asked Dawn slowly, raising her head slowly from her knees where it was buried. "To find that katra thing ? That's not too difficult for you, right, Tara ?"
Willow and Tara exchanged a look. Again. Jeez, get back together already, she thought with annoyance. Well, any other time she would have been happy to see them sharing long glances. But right now, she was too angry.
"We can't do that because there's no way to anchor another person either, so that person will get lost where Buffy is too, even if they find Buffy, their soul might not be able to come back to their body.", explained Willow, with a sad, tired voice.
Dawn noticed the red head had almost tore up her pull's sleeve by nervously playing with it.
She's considering doing it, she thought, she's actually considering…
Tara put a hand on Willow's shoulder. "There's a chance Buffy can find the way back by herself.", the blond witch soothed, "Or we might find more information. We're still waiting for Giles' call."
That was going to be the end of the meeting for today, understood Dawn. So she asked, "What if the person you send doesn't have a soul, what happens then ?"
For once, every one paid attention to her.
***
She hadn't expected to find herself in a familiar place. But there she was, and even if the large room was silent and dark like she seldom had seen it, (except very late when they were helping Oz and his band tidy their equipment), she was painfully aware of her intimacy with the place. She had fought her first vampire in Sunnydale here. She had trashed or tried to prevent trashing this place more times she could remember. She had kissed Spike against those stairs not a few months ago. And what she had done on the upper balcony… well that was over.
Buffy slowly walked to the middle of the deserted Bronze. It felt surreal. She knew it was still a dream. Even the sound of her feet was off. And she could see very well though there were no lights that she could see.
"Hello ? Is anybody here ?"
She didn't really expect an answer, but she had to ask, didn't she ?
Suddenly, a light went on at the bar, and she could see someone standing there. She came closer and saw Xander in a barman's clothes, cleaning some glasses while whistling.
"Tired of the carpenter thing ?", She asked, amused.
He saw her and smiled. "I'm building drunkenness these days, that's
all. Or destroying soberness." Then : "Want some ?"
"I'm not sure…", she began, but saw that what he was giving her was a big mug with "Kiss the librarian" written on it. There was still old dried blood at the bottom.
"Ewww !", she took a step back.
"Careful !", Xander warned, "You don't want to break that ! Trust me, I did."
"Yeah, sure". She took the cup nonetheless and stared at it puzzled. "And now what am I supposed to do with this ? Can't really drink from it." But when she raised her eyes, Xander had disappeared.
"I hate when they do that", she muttered.
Something moved behind her and she turned at lightening speed to face Spike, who was holding a pool cue.
"Lesson the first", he delivered in theater like tone, "a Slayer must always reach for her weapon."
He broke the cue on his knee and threw her a half of it. She caught the makeshift stake by reflex.
"What is this Spike ? What does it mean ?"
He smiled a Cheshire cat smile and disappeared in the shadows.
"Great.", She told herself, "Who's the next strange gift giver ? And does he have a receipt with his gift ? I think I'll want to change it."
"You might want to reconsider that, Buffy", said Giles, who was slowly descending the stairs. He was definitely holding something in his hand.
Buffy folded her arms, gazing at him. "What have you brought me ?"
He watched her sadly and showed her what it was.
Edge still bloody, Faith's knife was resting in his palm like a silent snake.
"I don't want that," she said.
"You know you do, Buffy. You have to remove it. I wouldn't have left if you could remove it."
The blood was so fresh still that it was sliding and glistening on the blade, drawing pretty shiny patterns.
"I can't, I…", she tried to say.
"Yes you can. Love, give, forgive."
She stared at him. Small drops of blood ended up on the floor, making new patterns. Like blood roses, she thought.
She raised her hand and took it.
"I won't use it."
He smiled faintly. "Only the possibility matters."
While he was climbing back up the stairs she wondered why his hands were dirty.
"Crystal clear."
She turned, and Willow was standing right there, gazing into a crystal.
"I mean, I know there's a flaw somewhere inside there, but I can't find it, it seems too clear."
"Don't do that, Will, it's a hypnotic crystal.", Buffy warned.
The witch sighed. "I know. It's yours anyway. But I'm worried about it. That I can't find the flaw. You can see it, right ?"
Buffy gazed down at the crystal and nodded. It was faint but noticeable, just a spark of golden light that seemed to dance with the shades of the crystal. Like a candle flame. Swirling dizzyingly.
"Oh shit.", Buffy had time to think, "I'm enthralled."
***
"Let me get this right", asked the vampire. "Buffy is in a dream induced coma that is in some way created by Drusilla?"
Dawn nodded.
"And your little group is unable to wake her up, or cut the link to Dru ?"
Dawn nodded once more.
"And you want to send me in her dream world or something, to get her back?"
"Yes", She began, "That's because-"
"May I ask you bright people a question ?"
Silence.
"Sure. Go ahead", Willow said, in a let-this-be-over-with-as-fast-as-possible voice.
There were three in the vampire's crypt, Willow, Tara and Dawn, standing ill-at-ease to ask his help.
"Why haven't you tried to find Dru and make her stop this ?"
"It's- it's because we have no clue where she is", Tara was the one to
answer. "She might be anywhere, it doesn't really matter for what she's doing to Buffy."
Spike shifted his stance.
"How urgent is it - for Buffy ? how long can she stay that way without… ?"
"We can make her drink stuff, so it would be a week or two before it starts getting really dangerous and we'd need to send her to a hospital. That is, if nothing in the dreams themselves cut her soul loose.", Tara explained.
"What I don't really get is - why do you want to send me into that…
mind plane or whatever. Don't exactly fancy magic."
"It is… it is because of your soul.", said Tara.
Spike looked at her like she was mad.
"I don't have a sodding soul."
"Not a human soul," explained Willow, suddenly very calm and composed, "but you've got a demon spirit. They are different… less faint, more physical like. That means it would be more present in the nether realms. You wouldn't need magic to sustain you - because that's what the blood is already doing - and you wouldn't need an anchor because, well, it's like, the demon spirit would be at home. It can be strong here like no human soul would be. We know that because…"
Willow paused only then, to gather breath and assurance. She was relieved to see that Spike hadn't interrupted her but was listening with a very close attention to her words. Tara smiled at her to encourage her. It felt weird, speaking of the metaphysical without actually doing anything related to it. Bittersweet. She didn't know if it actually pained her more than it thrilled her.
"Because I once saw Angel's demon spirit warring with a possessing spirit in his own mind and let me tell you, he made a pretty fast treat of the demon though it was pretty powerful. So you see", she concluded, "you might be our only chance to find Buffy and free her from whatever's holding her back."
She stared at his unreadable expression. Okay, what's wrong ? He should be jumping happily at the idea to be the one able to save Buffy, right ?
"Have you even wondered if my… demon spirit could be dangerous to Buffy without me to restrain it ?", asked the vampire finally.
"Oh." said Willow.
"Well, that shouldn't be a problem", said Tara, ready to the rescue, "the demon spirit IS you. It is what is bearing your mind, your emotions, your personality. There's nothing else in you that can feel whatever you feel for Buffy, Spike. That won't change over there. Even if things can be… scary and wild over there."
He smirked. "That doesn't seem so different from right here." Beat. "But no chip, right ?"
He was watching them almost hungrily.
"Duh, Spike !", Dawn intervened impatiently, "as if you'd do anything to hurt Buffy. Can we get on with it now ?"
Willow and Tara seemed suddenly less certain and they didn't add anything when the vampire speechlessly gave his agreement.
***
He remembered the sound of Tara's chanting in a language even he didn't recognize. And it was a sound that was like the clear singing of spring and the drum of the sea's waves at the same time.
He remembered the face of Buffy sleeping, beautiful and sad like some unlikely Sleeping Beauty and the mad impulse that almost made him kiss her, before he could restrain himself.
He remembered Dawn's fevered eyes, so full of fear and rage that she seemed ready to break like a summer storm. A tempest of angry thunder and wild lightning, quickly turning into an endless rain of cries before the sun can reappear or the night set in.
He remembered the discomfort of the position they made him take, and the persistent tickle of spices and herbs weaving their timeless enchantment in the air.
All seemed to join the drum of Tara's chanting, an old, old intoning that resembled the noise hearts made just before they stopped, when he was still drinking people's blood.
Then, there was nothing but whispers and darkness.
Spike couldn't grasp exactly what the voices were whispering. It felt like spiders crawling through his ears. Soon it was unbearable and he had to move, to raise, to find the source of this annoying stirring in the darkness. He began to walk.
***
"Hush, hush... do not battle so, Slayer."
Buffy opened her eyes only to meet the wild gaze of Drusilla.
"There you are... I prepared you some tea. Do you like tea ? Miss Edith loves it, but she never seems able to finish her cup." The vampiress leaned toward her to whisper in a conspiratorial voice : "I think that's because she has no mouth."
"Where am I ?", said Buffy, trying to look around her. The place seemed like a dark cave-like temple and the walls were encrusted in brilliant amber stones that provided some light.
Am I still dreaming or am I in a dream within a dream? she wondered, mind still hazy.
"It's a place of hiding", answered Drusilla. "We've got to stay here 'till the hunt is over. They would reap our mind and taste our hearts and replace our eyes with pretty jewels."
Buffy rolled her eyes. Great. Nothing better than listening to a
psycho-psychic vampire. Sometimes she wondered how Spike and Angel could
have borne spending so many time with her.
"Tell me why I'm here" ? Did you bring me here ? How?", she inquired harshly.
Drusilla immediately stepped back into the shadows with annoying little groaning sounds. "Please ! Hush ! Please ! Don't ! Not so loud ! I'll be good, I promise ! Don't bring them here ! Please !"
Not exactly the behavior Buffy would have expected from her. Whatever is happening to them both, it included a threat big enough to scare even the crazy vampire.
Her voice a few tones lower, she asked again. "I just want to know why am I here, why am I having these dreams ? What have you done to bring me here ?"
"You are here for the harvest. It's going to be a great, great party.
We're going to dance until the lights of the stars start melting and
then some more." Beat. "Are you ripe ?"
There seemed no way to make sense of this nonsense.
"Ok, but who are they, those you are hiding from ? Are they the ones who
brought me here ?"
"They like flowers, enough, but never the fruits, so they kill the flowers just before they fade, the pretty blood roses. For them you're nothing but meat. Snakes and dragons. It doesn't matter. There's the flaw in the crystal, it's the only way. It's the only shelter."
"I give up", sighed Buffy. "I probably should stake you now." She realized as she said this she was holding the makeshift stake Spike had given her.
Drusilla was still blabbering as if Buffy had said nothing, "Only shelter when the night is too white and too bright and the dreams are too close and the hooves are too near and Anne is sleeping, I can't wake up, I can't wake her." She closed her eyes and hummed some kind of lullaby tune.
Buffy loosened her grip on the stake and felt it fade away. "Is there a way to get out of here ?"
Suddenly, the vampire stood. "My Spike ! My William ! He is here ! He will kill them all for me !", she smiled in delight and started running into the darkness.
"Hey !" shouted Buffy, as she was going after her, but the vampiress seemed to go way faster than she could and she lost sight of her in a few minutes.
***
It was violins and trumpets, he found out, and a great richly decorated room illuminated by candlelight. He couldn't see the orchestra that made the music, but Angelus and Darla, in those elegant costumes, deep red dress swirling around, were waltzing to it.
Precious, it was bloody precious.
They stopped in front of him, glaring.
Was he supposed to applaud ?
"This is all wrong", said Darla, "I'm not his grand-mother anymore."
She smiled, "I'm his sister."
The poof shrugged. "You're a mother."
"Oh, don't worry. I don't mean to intrude long. I'm just looking for Buffy. Have you seen her ?", said Spike with impatience but trying to stay focused on the mission at hand.
But the couple didn't seem to be listening to him.
"So are you supposed to be the father, then ?"
"No, I think I will be the Mentor figure, how did you call it, boy, Yoga ?'
"What ?"
"Yoda, that's it."
Spike was getting bored. "Whatever. Way. To. Bloody. Slayer. Now ?"
"He's not very polite.", commented Darla.
"Well, no, you remember how I had to teach him those lessons about respecting your sires."
Darla giggled.
"I remember", she whispered, leaning close against the vampire, a hand tracing Angelus' face teasingly. "I remember you used to make him scream so beautifully."
"Yes. I always thought that boy had a career as a siren the way you could make him sing with knifes.", reminded Angelus with a fond smile.
That did it.
Let's find out if the witch was right about vampire spirits being stronger here.
***
"Dawn ? You should be sleeping."
As if not enough people in the house were sleeping.
"Yes, Will. In a minute."
She was watching over the two slumbering bodies. In the soft light of the moon and stars, they were looking more peaceful than usual. Then a flash of electric light from afar would paint their faces in aggressive red and they looked to be in pain.
She couldn't leave them alone like that, could she ?
"Dawnie, you really should be sleeping now."
She glanced at the red head witch.
"What if they wake up and there's nobody ? What if they need us ?"
"Shh. They're going to be all right. They wouldn't want you to miss school because you didn't sleep enough, would they ? Go to bed, now."
She tried to, she really did. But she couldn't sleep like that, when they were fighting their own dreams, their own selves and every layer of themselves was attacked from within, could she ?
She went back to them and kept vigil until dawn.
-TBC-
AUTHOR: Etrangere
RATING: PG-13
SPOILERS: Up to Normal Again
SUMMARY: Strange dreams plague Buffy, depriving her of her strength and energy. Spike gets to help.
DISCLAMER: Don't own the world, don't own the characters, ME and Joss
Whedon and UPN does. We are but their sorry slaves. Don't sue me, ô
Masters!
Chapter two : In Thrall
And there we slumber'd on the moss,
And there I dream'd, ah woe betide,
The latest dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill side.
I saw pale kings, and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
Who cry'd--"La belle Dame sans merci
Hath thee in thrall!"
Keats
She was sitting there, on the stair's fifth step, and staring at them while they were blabbering. They paid no attention to her, as ever.
"But do you know what's causing this?" Xander was asking for what had to be the hundredth time.
"We're not sure", answered Tara gently, "We know it's due to Drusilla because of what Buffy told us, but we don't know how she's doing this, and we're afraid that anything we might do could rupture the link remaining between Buffy's body and her soul.
"But she can't stay that way !", Xander's voice was close to panic. Dawn mused that he should have gotten used to Buffy being in danger by now, and not being able to do anything about it. Well, of course she was the same. But she only felt ice and emptiness were she should panic. There was almost no fear in her heart, because all of fear's place was taken up by cold anger : How dare she ? How dare her sister find once more a way to leave her ? Why couldn't they stay with her, why did they have to abandon her all the time ? Now she didn't even have the stuff she stole to keep them, only a small part of them, close to her.
"Why… why don't you go, in her head, like Willow did the last time ?". Wow !, thought Dawn, Xander's brilliant idea of the month. He came up with them on a regular but rare basis. It had to be a minima thing. Maybe if he wasn't so busy thinking how lame he was he could find more of those.
Willow and Tara exchanged a look, then Tara explained,"It's different. Last time, it was Buffy only, she was imprisoning herself in her own mind. Now, it's a magic thing. Besides, I'm not able to do that, go into her mind."
There was an uneasy silence then where no one dared to speak. That was probably because Anya was still absent. Dawn never thought she could come to miss Anya. Or because Spike wasn't there either. Spike would have dared to speak what everyone was thinking.
"Why is Spike not here ?", she numbly asked.
She wasn't surprised when nobody answered her.
"It's closer to what we did, when… when, you remember, Faith and Buffy had switched bodies ?", said Willow finally, when nobody spoke about her doing magic again, "I came to the nether realm and Tara was anchoring me, to find where Buffy's essence was and conjure a katra to link her back to her body."
Xander made a "huh" face.
"Well except that Buffy doesn't have an anchor, so we don't know how to find her. She could be… anywhere in the astral planes.", Willow said.
Xander made a "huh-er" face.
"Why don't you send someone else ?", asked Dawn slowly, raising her head slowly from her knees where it was buried. "To find that katra thing ? That's not too difficult for you, right, Tara ?"
Willow and Tara exchanged a look. Again. Jeez, get back together already, she thought with annoyance. Well, any other time she would have been happy to see them sharing long glances. But right now, she was too angry.
"We can't do that because there's no way to anchor another person either, so that person will get lost where Buffy is too, even if they find Buffy, their soul might not be able to come back to their body.", explained Willow, with a sad, tired voice.
Dawn noticed the red head had almost tore up her pull's sleeve by nervously playing with it.
She's considering doing it, she thought, she's actually considering…
Tara put a hand on Willow's shoulder. "There's a chance Buffy can find the way back by herself.", the blond witch soothed, "Or we might find more information. We're still waiting for Giles' call."
That was going to be the end of the meeting for today, understood Dawn. So she asked, "What if the person you send doesn't have a soul, what happens then ?"
For once, every one paid attention to her.
***
She hadn't expected to find herself in a familiar place. But there she was, and even if the large room was silent and dark like she seldom had seen it, (except very late when they were helping Oz and his band tidy their equipment), she was painfully aware of her intimacy with the place. She had fought her first vampire in Sunnydale here. She had trashed or tried to prevent trashing this place more times she could remember. She had kissed Spike against those stairs not a few months ago. And what she had done on the upper balcony… well that was over.
Buffy slowly walked to the middle of the deserted Bronze. It felt surreal. She knew it was still a dream. Even the sound of her feet was off. And she could see very well though there were no lights that she could see.
"Hello ? Is anybody here ?"
She didn't really expect an answer, but she had to ask, didn't she ?
Suddenly, a light went on at the bar, and she could see someone standing there. She came closer and saw Xander in a barman's clothes, cleaning some glasses while whistling.
"Tired of the carpenter thing ?", She asked, amused.
He saw her and smiled. "I'm building drunkenness these days, that's
all. Or destroying soberness." Then : "Want some ?"
"I'm not sure…", she began, but saw that what he was giving her was a big mug with "Kiss the librarian" written on it. There was still old dried blood at the bottom.
"Ewww !", she took a step back.
"Careful !", Xander warned, "You don't want to break that ! Trust me, I did."
"Yeah, sure". She took the cup nonetheless and stared at it puzzled. "And now what am I supposed to do with this ? Can't really drink from it." But when she raised her eyes, Xander had disappeared.
"I hate when they do that", she muttered.
Something moved behind her and she turned at lightening speed to face Spike, who was holding a pool cue.
"Lesson the first", he delivered in theater like tone, "a Slayer must always reach for her weapon."
He broke the cue on his knee and threw her a half of it. She caught the makeshift stake by reflex.
"What is this Spike ? What does it mean ?"
He smiled a Cheshire cat smile and disappeared in the shadows.
"Great.", She told herself, "Who's the next strange gift giver ? And does he have a receipt with his gift ? I think I'll want to change it."
"You might want to reconsider that, Buffy", said Giles, who was slowly descending the stairs. He was definitely holding something in his hand.
Buffy folded her arms, gazing at him. "What have you brought me ?"
He watched her sadly and showed her what it was.
Edge still bloody, Faith's knife was resting in his palm like a silent snake.
"I don't want that," she said.
"You know you do, Buffy. You have to remove it. I wouldn't have left if you could remove it."
The blood was so fresh still that it was sliding and glistening on the blade, drawing pretty shiny patterns.
"I can't, I…", she tried to say.
"Yes you can. Love, give, forgive."
She stared at him. Small drops of blood ended up on the floor, making new patterns. Like blood roses, she thought.
She raised her hand and took it.
"I won't use it."
He smiled faintly. "Only the possibility matters."
While he was climbing back up the stairs she wondered why his hands were dirty.
"Crystal clear."
She turned, and Willow was standing right there, gazing into a crystal.
"I mean, I know there's a flaw somewhere inside there, but I can't find it, it seems too clear."
"Don't do that, Will, it's a hypnotic crystal.", Buffy warned.
The witch sighed. "I know. It's yours anyway. But I'm worried about it. That I can't find the flaw. You can see it, right ?"
Buffy gazed down at the crystal and nodded. It was faint but noticeable, just a spark of golden light that seemed to dance with the shades of the crystal. Like a candle flame. Swirling dizzyingly.
"Oh shit.", Buffy had time to think, "I'm enthralled."
***
"Let me get this right", asked the vampire. "Buffy is in a dream induced coma that is in some way created by Drusilla?"
Dawn nodded.
"And your little group is unable to wake her up, or cut the link to Dru ?"
Dawn nodded once more.
"And you want to send me in her dream world or something, to get her back?"
"Yes", She began, "That's because-"
"May I ask you bright people a question ?"
Silence.
"Sure. Go ahead", Willow said, in a let-this-be-over-with-as-fast-as-possible voice.
There were three in the vampire's crypt, Willow, Tara and Dawn, standing ill-at-ease to ask his help.
"Why haven't you tried to find Dru and make her stop this ?"
"It's- it's because we have no clue where she is", Tara was the one to
answer. "She might be anywhere, it doesn't really matter for what she's doing to Buffy."
Spike shifted his stance.
"How urgent is it - for Buffy ? how long can she stay that way without… ?"
"We can make her drink stuff, so it would be a week or two before it starts getting really dangerous and we'd need to send her to a hospital. That is, if nothing in the dreams themselves cut her soul loose.", Tara explained.
"What I don't really get is - why do you want to send me into that…
mind plane or whatever. Don't exactly fancy magic."
"It is… it is because of your soul.", said Tara.
Spike looked at her like she was mad.
"I don't have a sodding soul."
"Not a human soul," explained Willow, suddenly very calm and composed, "but you've got a demon spirit. They are different… less faint, more physical like. That means it would be more present in the nether realms. You wouldn't need magic to sustain you - because that's what the blood is already doing - and you wouldn't need an anchor because, well, it's like, the demon spirit would be at home. It can be strong here like no human soul would be. We know that because…"
Willow paused only then, to gather breath and assurance. She was relieved to see that Spike hadn't interrupted her but was listening with a very close attention to her words. Tara smiled at her to encourage her. It felt weird, speaking of the metaphysical without actually doing anything related to it. Bittersweet. She didn't know if it actually pained her more than it thrilled her.
"Because I once saw Angel's demon spirit warring with a possessing spirit in his own mind and let me tell you, he made a pretty fast treat of the demon though it was pretty powerful. So you see", she concluded, "you might be our only chance to find Buffy and free her from whatever's holding her back."
She stared at his unreadable expression. Okay, what's wrong ? He should be jumping happily at the idea to be the one able to save Buffy, right ?
"Have you even wondered if my… demon spirit could be dangerous to Buffy without me to restrain it ?", asked the vampire finally.
"Oh." said Willow.
"Well, that shouldn't be a problem", said Tara, ready to the rescue, "the demon spirit IS you. It is what is bearing your mind, your emotions, your personality. There's nothing else in you that can feel whatever you feel for Buffy, Spike. That won't change over there. Even if things can be… scary and wild over there."
He smirked. "That doesn't seem so different from right here." Beat. "But no chip, right ?"
He was watching them almost hungrily.
"Duh, Spike !", Dawn intervened impatiently, "as if you'd do anything to hurt Buffy. Can we get on with it now ?"
Willow and Tara seemed suddenly less certain and they didn't add anything when the vampire speechlessly gave his agreement.
***
He remembered the sound of Tara's chanting in a language even he didn't recognize. And it was a sound that was like the clear singing of spring and the drum of the sea's waves at the same time.
He remembered the face of Buffy sleeping, beautiful and sad like some unlikely Sleeping Beauty and the mad impulse that almost made him kiss her, before he could restrain himself.
He remembered Dawn's fevered eyes, so full of fear and rage that she seemed ready to break like a summer storm. A tempest of angry thunder and wild lightning, quickly turning into an endless rain of cries before the sun can reappear or the night set in.
He remembered the discomfort of the position they made him take, and the persistent tickle of spices and herbs weaving their timeless enchantment in the air.
All seemed to join the drum of Tara's chanting, an old, old intoning that resembled the noise hearts made just before they stopped, when he was still drinking people's blood.
Then, there was nothing but whispers and darkness.
Spike couldn't grasp exactly what the voices were whispering. It felt like spiders crawling through his ears. Soon it was unbearable and he had to move, to raise, to find the source of this annoying stirring in the darkness. He began to walk.
***
"Hush, hush... do not battle so, Slayer."
Buffy opened her eyes only to meet the wild gaze of Drusilla.
"There you are... I prepared you some tea. Do you like tea ? Miss Edith loves it, but she never seems able to finish her cup." The vampiress leaned toward her to whisper in a conspiratorial voice : "I think that's because she has no mouth."
"Where am I ?", said Buffy, trying to look around her. The place seemed like a dark cave-like temple and the walls were encrusted in brilliant amber stones that provided some light.
Am I still dreaming or am I in a dream within a dream? she wondered, mind still hazy.
"It's a place of hiding", answered Drusilla. "We've got to stay here 'till the hunt is over. They would reap our mind and taste our hearts and replace our eyes with pretty jewels."
Buffy rolled her eyes. Great. Nothing better than listening to a
psycho-psychic vampire. Sometimes she wondered how Spike and Angel could
have borne spending so many time with her.
"Tell me why I'm here" ? Did you bring me here ? How?", she inquired harshly.
Drusilla immediately stepped back into the shadows with annoying little groaning sounds. "Please ! Hush ! Please ! Don't ! Not so loud ! I'll be good, I promise ! Don't bring them here ! Please !"
Not exactly the behavior Buffy would have expected from her. Whatever is happening to them both, it included a threat big enough to scare even the crazy vampire.
Her voice a few tones lower, she asked again. "I just want to know why am I here, why am I having these dreams ? What have you done to bring me here ?"
"You are here for the harvest. It's going to be a great, great party.
We're going to dance until the lights of the stars start melting and
then some more." Beat. "Are you ripe ?"
There seemed no way to make sense of this nonsense.
"Ok, but who are they, those you are hiding from ? Are they the ones who
brought me here ?"
"They like flowers, enough, but never the fruits, so they kill the flowers just before they fade, the pretty blood roses. For them you're nothing but meat. Snakes and dragons. It doesn't matter. There's the flaw in the crystal, it's the only way. It's the only shelter."
"I give up", sighed Buffy. "I probably should stake you now." She realized as she said this she was holding the makeshift stake Spike had given her.
Drusilla was still blabbering as if Buffy had said nothing, "Only shelter when the night is too white and too bright and the dreams are too close and the hooves are too near and Anne is sleeping, I can't wake up, I can't wake her." She closed her eyes and hummed some kind of lullaby tune.
Buffy loosened her grip on the stake and felt it fade away. "Is there a way to get out of here ?"
Suddenly, the vampire stood. "My Spike ! My William ! He is here ! He will kill them all for me !", she smiled in delight and started running into the darkness.
"Hey !" shouted Buffy, as she was going after her, but the vampiress seemed to go way faster than she could and she lost sight of her in a few minutes.
***
It was violins and trumpets, he found out, and a great richly decorated room illuminated by candlelight. He couldn't see the orchestra that made the music, but Angelus and Darla, in those elegant costumes, deep red dress swirling around, were waltzing to it.
Precious, it was bloody precious.
They stopped in front of him, glaring.
Was he supposed to applaud ?
"This is all wrong", said Darla, "I'm not his grand-mother anymore."
She smiled, "I'm his sister."
The poof shrugged. "You're a mother."
"Oh, don't worry. I don't mean to intrude long. I'm just looking for Buffy. Have you seen her ?", said Spike with impatience but trying to stay focused on the mission at hand.
But the couple didn't seem to be listening to him.
"So are you supposed to be the father, then ?"
"No, I think I will be the Mentor figure, how did you call it, boy, Yoga ?'
"What ?"
"Yoda, that's it."
Spike was getting bored. "Whatever. Way. To. Bloody. Slayer. Now ?"
"He's not very polite.", commented Darla.
"Well, no, you remember how I had to teach him those lessons about respecting your sires."
Darla giggled.
"I remember", she whispered, leaning close against the vampire, a hand tracing Angelus' face teasingly. "I remember you used to make him scream so beautifully."
"Yes. I always thought that boy had a career as a siren the way you could make him sing with knifes.", reminded Angelus with a fond smile.
That did it.
Let's find out if the witch was right about vampire spirits being stronger here.
***
"Dawn ? You should be sleeping."
As if not enough people in the house were sleeping.
"Yes, Will. In a minute."
She was watching over the two slumbering bodies. In the soft light of the moon and stars, they were looking more peaceful than usual. Then a flash of electric light from afar would paint their faces in aggressive red and they looked to be in pain.
She couldn't leave them alone like that, could she ?
"Dawnie, you really should be sleeping now."
She glanced at the red head witch.
"What if they wake up and there's nobody ? What if they need us ?"
"Shh. They're going to be all right. They wouldn't want you to miss school because you didn't sleep enough, would they ? Go to bed, now."
She tried to, she really did. But she couldn't sleep like that, when they were fighting their own dreams, their own selves and every layer of themselves was attacked from within, could she ?
She went back to them and kept vigil until dawn.
-TBC-