There were bees. Spike could feel the stings along his arms, and hear the buzzing. The buzzing sounded louder than it should. Maybe he was close to the hive. Then a spasm gripped his body, holding him immobile for a few seconds before he was blessedly released. His eyes snapped open. All he could see was rock in front of him, almost, it seemed, a few inches in front of his face. He felt a few moments of panic at the thought that his nightmare had become reality and he had become somehow entombed in the earth, and would have to dig himself out of rock to the surface.
Memory abruptly reinserted itself just as another spasm locked his body. When he was free to move again, he turned his head to study his surroundings. He was lying on his back with his wrist bound off to the side of his body. The restraints seemed to be barbed wire twisted up uncomfortably tight against his skin, their sharp barbs making the little bee sting pricks to his wrist. He could see no source for the hum, and in any case, it seemed to be coming from a far distance away. He tried to move his legs a little and was, again, locked rigid, his teeth grinding, and a stiff involuntary smile on his face.
"Bloody hell." he gasped out when the spasm had passed.
"So, you are finally awake." said the voice behind him.
He craned his head to look up over his shoulder at the woman behind him. She appeared to be studying an array of knives on a wooden table. The knives were laid out with the same precision that would have been used in the operating room of any hospital in the country.
"What are you planning on doing with those?" asked Spike with a certain air of clinical detachment.
"I have plans for you, William the Bloody. Yes, I know who you are. I've heard so much about you from, oh what's her name, that stupid bitch. Sarah. Yeah, Sarah." Camilla held up the knife and seemed to get lost in the reflection for a moment.
"How do you know Sarah?" Spike continued. "And I thought that Willamina's mother was dead."
"No!" Camilla shouted. "She's...I mean, I'm not dead. I will never be dead. She told me the secret. She told me that... I ...that is, we, I could get revenge. She said that nothing should ever hurt her, my daughter, but I told her you would be back. She, I... Camilla stammered to a halt. She looked about the room with a puzzled frown, then as if it had never happened the small malicious smile returned to her face. "You are trying to trick me. You don't want me to have the gift."
"What gift?" Another agonizing spurt of paralysis coursed through Spike. He tried to control his muscles, but was unable to move while the jolt passed through him. He had figured out that the paralysis was caused by electricity run through the wires, but had not been able to figure out how to remove the barb wire from his wrist. With the wires tight against his skin, the barbs poked through his skin and prevented his wrist from sliding within the confines of the wire.
"...going to turn me." His attention was abruptly brought back to what Camilla was saying.
"What are you babbling about?" His years of contact with Drusilla had innured him to rambling threats of violence, but this was a much different conversation.
" I said that I was going to cut you up a bit, just to get a little blood to the surface, then I was going to slit your throat, then my throat, and you are going to turn me. You know, with your blood."
Spike's reaction was not what Camilla was expecting. He laughed.
"Why are you laughing? Stop that. Why are you laughing?" Camilla slapped Spike in the face. The sharp sound of the slap cut the laughter off abruptly, but Spike continue to smirk at his tormentor. For a moment, just a moment, Spike let his vampire visage emerge. Then, as if a dark cloud hid behind the sun, his human features returned.
"For me to turn you, luv" he smirked, "you need my cooperation. And so far..." Spike froze as another jolt of electricity coursed through his body. "...you haven't impressed me. I was doing stuff like that", he indicated the outer room with a quick nod of his head, "long before you were ever born. There are people much worse than you, and more deserving of being turned than you." He watched the play of emotions play over Camilla's face. God, what was it with him that he attracted the nuts of the world? Couldn't a guy get just one sane girl in a hundred plus years?
A small sound echoed into the chamber from an adjoining room. Camilla and Spike both froze listening for the sound to be repeated. The silence continued undisturbed for a while until another sting of the current passed through Spike, causing his teeth to crash together and grind until it had passed.
"Ya' stupid bint, could you turn off the bleeding current for a while. Ya know, that might go a long way for having me trust you."
A look of hope crossed Camilla's face, only to disappear under the mad glimmer of insanity in her eyes. "That's not true. I don't need your cooperation."
Spike had again heard the sound from the outer chamber, but this time it had been missed by Camilla. He tried to see into the next cavern but his view was blocked by his jailer. "So, how do you think this works? Not that I really care what you think, I just want to see what a bleeding idiot you are going to be as my minion."
Camilla put down the knife she had been holding and picked, instead, a short little scalpel. "I have no intention of being your minion." she said. She gently pulled the silk shirt away from Spikes chest and lowered the scalpel to the first button. "When I am done with you, I intend to stake you. It's only what you deserve." She carefully cut the button from the shirt and moved on to the next. "I have spent hours planning what I would do with you when you showed up." The second button followed the first to the floor. Her hand slid down the shirt to then next button and maneuvered the material away from the threads so the scalpel would have smooth access for the cut. With a quick flick of the wrist the third button hit the floor with a little clicking noise before running off into the corner. "I just didn't know that I would find you so attractive." With a deft twist, Camilla pulled the shirt tails free of the black jeans and cut the last button off the shirt.
With gentle hands she smoothed the shirt away reveling Spike's chest. With delicate touches she traced her hands down the cool flesh to the waist band of his jeans. Unconsciously, she began to make small noises in her throat. The scalpel trailed a small red line of blood down the side of Spikes chest.
Much to Spikes discomfort he found himself responding to these strange ministrations. It was really too much like some of the games he and Dru used to play.
Camilla's hand smoothed down the front of the jeans. "Oh poor baby." she pouted. "These will just have to come off." With a delicate touch she put the scalpel on the waist band and began to pull the sharp blade through the material. The cut was abruptly halted as another jolt of electricity flowed through the wire. Camilla, still touching Spikes chest, was frozen for the few seconds it took the current to pass.
"Shit!" She roared, jumping back from Spikes body. "Shit, shit, shit."
"See ya' stupid cow, if you had turned it off, we could have played a while." smirked Spike. Amusing as it was to watch Camilla stomp around the cave, he knew he had to get free of this deadly trap.
Camilla, incensed beyond words, stumbled back to the table and snatched up one of the long knives and stabbed it into Spikes body. The blade went in only a short distance and stayed stuck there, a quivering bolt of stainless steel.
"Ya' bloody bitch! That fuckin' hurts!" yelled Spike as he writhed trying to get to the handle of the knife to pull it out. The pain was excruciating. The knife must have lodged between two ribs and now was stuck. "Pull it out! Pull it out!"
There was a sound of laughter from just on the other side of the door. Camilla whirled around toward the sound while Spike continued to fight his restraints. "Shut up," Camilla hissed.
Kindra stepped through the doorway and into the small room. She carried her sword unsheathed but also wore a gun in a shoulder holster. "Step away from him." she said, advancing another step into the room.
Camilla retreated a couple steps toward the back of the room. The knives were on the table next to her and she reached out and snatched up one of the longer knifes. "You get away from him," she hissed at Kindra. "I know you just want him for yourself."
Kindra advanced another step into the room forcing Camilla to retreat again. "Wil, Jeff, get in here and get Spike loose."
Jeff and Willamina came into the room. Both looked pale and Willamina gave a small sound of dismay when she saw the knife sticking in Spikes' chest. They both began to work on untangling the barbed-wire.
"Back off," said Spike. Both the youngsters backed away while another jolt of electricity went through the wires. When it had passed, Spike glanced over toward the table with the knives. "There, get the wire cutters. Just get me out of these wires, and can someone get this bleeding knife out of my chest?"
Wil came up to his side and began to tug at the knife. "Harder," demanded Spike. Will began to giggle helplessly. "What is so bloody funny about this?" Spike asked, running out of patience with his situation.
"It would make it much easier if you didn't sound like something out of a bad porn book." Will said, laughing and wiping the tears from her eyes.
Jeff was reaching for the wire cutters, and glanced back over his shoulder when he heard Will laughing. Kindra, who had been holding the sword up to keep Camilla at bay, was also distracted by the byplay between Will and Spike.
As she glanced over, Camilla, who had been looking for just such an opening, reached out and stabbed Jeff's arm. She darted around the rock that Spike was laying on and pushed Will into Kindra, sending both to the floor. She ran out of the room before anyone moved to stop her.
Kindra extricated herself from the tangle on the floor and raced out the door after Camilla.
Spike shot a look at Jeff. "Would you hurry up, you sodding wanker? She'll kill her."
Jeff grabbed the wire cutters from the table and cut the bonds that held Spike to the rock. Spike pulled the knife out of his chest and raced out of the room after the two women.
As he reached the outside, he looked up to see them hanging from the rope. Camilla's foot lashed out and connected with Kindras' face. She lost her grip on the rope and began to plummet toward the rock ledge. Spike, moving quickly, raced to get beneath her. He caught her but both crashed to the ground.
Kindra recovered first and moved to climb the rope after the fleeing Camilla. Spike pulled himself to his feet, "No, luv. Now it's my turn." He snatched the rope from the protesting Kindra and swarmed up the side of the wall.
Camilla had reached the top and disappeared. Spike began to climb cautiously as he neared the top of the canyon wall. He raise his head over the side of the wall and was rewarded with a foot to his face. His grip on the rope relaxed a little and he began to slide back down. Regaining his composure, he gripped the rope tightly with one hand and heaved himself toward the top, his feet firmly planted in one of the myriad cracks in the surface of the wall. With his other hand he grabbed out and caught the foot before it could connect with his face again. "You're going down, bitch." And with a yank, he pulled Camilla off balance.
For a long moment the startled woman teetered on the edge of the cliff face, then gravity pulled her resisting body down and over the edge.
Spike grabbed the rope with both hands and only had seconds to yell out to Kindra below before he heard a sickening thud as the body hit the edge of the ledge and then tumbled down the rest of the canyon wall to land lifeless at the bottom. Small rocks and pebbles continued to bounce for a few seconds before stillness descended on the now darkened landscape. He climbed gingerly down the rope, now protecting his side which now began to throb with the renewed movement.
When he reached the ledge, Will and Jeff had joined Kindra outside. They all stood for a moment looking over the side at the twisted body on the bottom of the canyon.
"What now?" asked Jeff, looking at Kindra.
Spike answered. "You need to leave." He nodded to Kindra. "Get these kids out of here, and when you get back to the shop, call the police and tell them what you found here. You can just say you were checking why the ropes were hanging over the cliffs. Since you have a business that deals with rock climbing, it would make sense that you would checked on this. Let them know you found the body."
"What are you going to do?" She said, sheathing the sword in the scabbard on her back.
"I have some business to take care of in there." he answered, indicating the cavern. "I want to make sure that we haven't left anything."
"Be careful. And don't take too long. The police out here are going to be swarming all over here after I make the call." Jeff and Willamina had disappeared over the side for the climb down, and now Kindra turned to follow. Stopping at the edge, she reached into her shorts pocket and pulled out a wooden stake. "Here, I think you are going to need this."
Spike caught the stake as it was tossed to him. He gave a brief nod and disappeared back into the cave as Kindra lowered herself over the side.
Spike walked to the back of the large cavern, to the Ripper display. He walked up and knelt by the mutilated body lying on the makeshift bed. He tentatively reached out and touched the hair lying on the pillow. The small body flinched away from even this brief touch.
"I'm sorry, pet." He sat on his heels a few seconds more. "I have a stake here. I can end this right now, if you want. Or, I can free you and help you get somewhere so you can recover. It looks like it will take a long time for that..." He trailed off as he studied the bizarre array of organs arranged on the bed. He raised the stake and sent it through the heart lying exposed under the ribs. The body on the bed convulsed once, the jaw worked and a small "thank you..." escaped before it exploded into dust.
Spike rose and walked to the back of the cavern into the small room. Knives lay scattered across the floor, knocked there in Camilla's haste to escape. He gathered up the buttons that had been cut from his shirt and picked up the wire cutters from the floor. Looking around, he made sure that he had missed nothing to connect his rescuers to this mess, then left the cavern without a backward glance.
Three police cars went racing pass as he made his turn off of Charleston onto Fort Apache. He wondered for a moment what they would make of the gristly scenes in the cave and then gave all his attention back to driving.
Authors note:
All chapters are written, they just need to be review for errors, which I probably won't catch, and then they will be posted. Yeah!
