Title: Tainted Blood
Author: Corri
Email: Corrielle@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Up to "Normal Again"
Summary: Set directly following the events of "Normal Again." Spike is sick, and when the gang finally figures out that only Buffy can save him, she has to decide how valuable Spike is to her.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and UPN.
Feedback: Please!
Author's note: This is my first actually FINISHED Buffy Fanfic. It's more of a Buffy/Spike
friendship piece than an actual romance
Chapter 2
Spike opened tired eyes and stared blearily at the clock on the table. It couldn't be three in the afternoon already. He tried to sit up, and the room twisted and turned before his eyes. He fell back onto the bed and willed his stomach to stop churning.
What the bloody hell is wrong with me? He swung his legs over the side of the mattress and groped at the refrigerator door. Maybe he was just hungry. There was one last bag of blood left, and Spike was suddenly glad he'd gotten extra the last time he saw his supplier. Eating made him feel a little better, but the cold blood also made him feel as if a block of ice were sitting in his stomach. All of a sudden, he was freezing. He grabbed a couple of blankets off of his bed and hunkered down in front of the television in an armchair he'd rescued from the city dump.
Two minutes later, he felt like he was burning up. He flung the blankets on the floor and opened the trap door to let some cool air from the crypt into his bedroom. If I didn't know better, I'd think I had the flu, he thought. But that was ridiculous. Vampires did not get sick. Weakened after a fight, yes, but never physically ill. He looked at the clock again. Five after three. Buffy wasn't supposed to be coming by until eight, and he wasn't sure he was going to be able to move or even speak by then. He needed help now.
Slowly, an idea began to form in his fevered mind. Spike walked over to his dresser and began to paw through the piles of junk that covered it. Finally, he found a take out menu with a name and number scrawled on it. He grabbed a blanket to protect him from any stray rays of sunlight that penetrated the trees that dotted the cemetery, hoping that he could make it to the nearest pay phone without collapsing. With his luck, the blanket wouldn't cover him right when he fell and he's get charred in all the wrong places.
He made it to the pay phone without incident and put his change into the slot. He dialed the number and waited. Come on, Witch, pick up!
.............................
Tara nearly jumped out of her skin when her cell phone rang in the middle of the quiet UC Sunnydale library. She had forgotten to turn it off when she had come in to study for her art history class. Several other students gave her evil glares, and she reached quickly to answer it.
"Hello?" she said, a little uncertainty creeping into her voice. She hadn't given the number to very many people, and she knew for a fact that all of them were otherwise occupied at the moment.
"Tara, you've got to come over here," a raspy voice said. A raspy voice with a British accent.
"Spike?" she asked. "How did you get this number?"
"I saw it on the kitchen table in Buffy's house one day and copied it down. Just in case I ever needed to find you in a hurry. Like now."
"What's going on?" Tara asked.
"I don't know," the vampire answered. He sounded like he was about to drop dead. "Something... is happening to me. Don't know what it is. Thought you might be able to help."
Tara frowned. This sounded an awful lot like one of Spike's crazy stunts, or maybe a ploy to get Buffy's attention. She had watched him become more and more unstable since Buffy had told him that things were over between them.
"I'll come over and see," she said cautiously. "Are you at your crypt?"
"Close enough."
"I can't come now. I have class, but I get out at 4:30. I'll come then, ok?" she asked.
"I guess I can hold out that long," he mumbled.
"You sound like you should lie down and get some rest," Tara recommended. "That always makes me feel better when I'm sick."
"I'll remember that. Thanks," Spike said, and hung up the phone.
.......................................
Spike turned fitfully in his sleep when he heard footsteps in the crypt above, and sat bolt upright in bed when the trap door opened.
"It's only me, Spike," Tara said soothingly, seeing his worried expression. He nodded and sank back down onto the bed. After a second look at the vampire, Tara had reason to be worried herself. She'd never seen him look so... sickly. She put a gentle hand on his forehead and drew back in surprise.
"You're burning up!" she murmured.
"I've been hot, then cold, hot, then cold all day," he told her.
"Typical fever symptoms..." Tara said to herself. "Let's take a look at something else, ok? Just relax." Spike did his best to relax his sore muscles. Tara smiled encouragingly and put her hand on his face again, extending her magical senses. With a bitten back curse, she withdrew her hand.
"What? What did you do?" Spike asked.
"Your aura... it's... polluted. I saw all of these red and black angry lines twisting and curling around you." She shivered.
"And what does that mean?" he asked.
"Whatever happened to you, it's not natural," Tara told him.
"I think we knew that, Luv," Spike said gently.
"It's magic," she whispered, her face pale. "Dark, powerful, magic. I've never seen anything like this before. I should go over to the Magic Shop and see if they have any helpful texts..."
"No!" Spike croaked, desperate not to be left alone. "Buffy'll be here in a little while. Just stay here until she comes?" Tara blinked in surprise again. When did Spike become co-dependant?
"All right, I'll just sit over here and study, unless you want me to get you something. Could I get you some blood? Or maybe I could read to you?" Tara suggested, trying to think of ways to cheer up a sick vampire.
"No, you study..." Spike murmured sleepily. "Just... don't want to be alone."
With one last concerned look at her sleeping patient, Tara settled into Spike's armchair with her art history book.
