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 4
"Shut the door, you're bloody letting the cold air in," Spike commanded from the bed as Willow, Tara, and Dawn came down the ladder into the crypt. Willow took in Spike's unfocused expression, the confusion in his eyes, and the clammy, sweaty appearance of his face, then nodded slowly.
"Yep, this looks familiar," she said, and didn't sound happy about it.
"What, Red? You look like somebody's dying or something," Spike drawled.
"From what Tara told me, you are," Willow shot back. If Spike felt well enough to tease her, she certainly wasn't going to start feeling sorry for him. "Put those books down over there on the table, Dawn, and we'll start looking." With a thump, Dawn dropped her armload. Tara chose a thick, ancient looking text with the words Maladies of the Demon World embossed in gold lettering on the spine, and Willow started leafing through Giles' notes.
Dawn flopped down in Spike's armchair and stared intently at her two older friends, hoping they'd invite her to come and help them. They didn't. After about five minutes of concentrated silence, she stood up and walked over to them.
"Can I help?" Dawn asked. She idly flipped through one of the other books while she waited for an answer.
"I really don't think you'd understand..." Willow started to say, but stopped when she saw the hurt look on Dawn's face. "Oh, Dawnie... I didn't mean that you couldn't, I just didn't want you to get frustrated or..." she looked helplessly at Tara.
"I've got an idea," Tara said, and pointed at Spike, who had fallen asleep and was tossing and turning in his bed. "I left a washcloth and some cool water in that bowl over there earlier. I think he'd probably be more comfortable if his face were cool instead of burning up. You can do that." Dawn nodded happily and knelt beside Spike's bed. She wrung out the washcloth and proceeded to wipe the sweat off of his fevered face. He murmured something incomprehensible, but seemed to be resting easier.
"It's ok, Spike," Dawn said quietly. "We're all here, and we're going to take care of you." The vampire didn't wake up, but he smiled in his sleep.
...............................
Buffy picked her way through the tombstones, just as she had done a thousand times since learning that she was the Slayer. Every sense was open, attuned to the sounds of the night. Nothing was going to sneak up on her without her knowing, and yet, she felt vulnerable. Unprotected. In the days since her bout with the demon-induced hallucinations, she had gotten used to having someone with her, watching her back. Even before, Spike had shown up when she was on patrol more often than not. The sure knowledge that he wasn't going to step out from behind a tree or crypt was somehow discomfiting. His presence, while it had mostly been annoying, had also been one of the few things she could count on.
"Now that's pathetic. Spike as the most stable thing in my life. I don't need him," Buffy mumbled to herself. "I patrolled without his help, if that's what you want to call it, for years. I've just got to get back in the solitary game."
As if sent to test her new-found resolution, a vampire in baggy pants and a torn t-shirt stumbled up to her, leering at what he obviously thought was an easy meal. Buffy was in no mood for a drawn out fight.
"Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to know where the Andrews family is buried?" she asked, all innocence and sweetness. The vampire, not expecting that his meal was going to address him, looked confused.
"Huh?" he said, in a startling show of blazing intelligence. Buffy took advantage of his distraction to stake him.
"It's so hard to find good help these days," she said to herself as he dissolved into a pile of dust. Buffy brushed the dust off of her clothes and took stock of her surroundings. She had almost completed her circuit of the town, and was nearly back where she had started. Spike's crypt.
