Chapter 6


As darkness gathered in the cemetery and the walls of Spike's crypt loomed above her, Willow's resolve faltered. This setting had become as familiar as a playground to her, but this time it was different. No Buffy to protect her - but that was not what was worrying Willow, that was not what was making her knees shake and the palms of her hands sweat. If she knocked on that door, if she crossed that threshold, there would be no way back.

Don't be absurd, Willow, she chided herself, wiping her hands on her jeans once more. It's just a little disagreement, that's all. You shouldn't have gone so transcendental on them, you should have tried to explain. But you can always do that, I mean, they're your friends, it's not as if they're going to ban you or anything. The problem is that they haven't been there; well, Buffy has, but she hasn't seen what Spike and I have seen. All I have to do is prove it to her, to all of them, and then we can all be together again and get rid of those people. And Spike will help me because he wants the same thing - well, except for the "all together" bit, perhaps.

Yeah, sure. And he'll turn into a bullfrog if I kiss him, too. Willow raised her hand and knocked.

"Spike? Are you in there?"

"No! Go away!"

"It's me, Willow. Please let me in, I need to talk to you."

"Bad for you! I don't need you or any of you friends, so piss off!"

Please don't shut me out, if you won't take me in, who will now?, Willow thought incoherently. She reacted before panic took over.

"Yes you do need me! I'm the one who hacked my way into the Initiative, remember? If you want to do anything against them, be damn sure that you're going to need me!" Or had panic already taken over? What else could make her talk like this to Spike?

The door to the crypt opened a crack, and a pair of piercing blue eyes shot her a fierce look. "Ah, the little negotiator, are we? You think you have an ace up your sleve, eh? And what makes you suppose I would buy this 'generous offer' act? What did Buffy send you here for?"

"Buffy didn't send me."

She was doing it again. Looking straight into his eyes, searching. Little witch.

Spike opened the door for her to come in.

-----------------------

"But you can't blow the place up, Spike, that's ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous, eh? So, what would you rather do? Ask nicely if they could please stop doing barbarous experiments on all kinds of creatures, including humans, maybe put off the creation of the perfect killer-race for another century or so? Well, I'll be around next century too, and I want this people off my planet, Redhead!"

Willow had never seen him so angry. Not with his human face, anyway. But there was something more; he wasn't just angry, Spike was nervous. Very, very nervous. Willow observed him, sticking his hands in and out of his jeanspockets furiously, pacing the dusty floor of the crypt. He was still paler than usual, and his eyes were restless. There was still that haunted look in them.

"And how would you manage it, anyway? The blowing up thing? You can't hurt humans, remember?"

"No, but YOU can."

He was standing very close to her now, she would have felt his breath on her face, if he had been breathing. Willow shook her head slowly, her eyes never leaving his. Strange, to think of how nervous she'd been before she had walked through that door, and now she was not even flinching, standing mere inches away from this undead demon.

Spike held her eyes for a moment longer, and then another, and yet another. This girl had let him drink her blood, and now she was facing up to him like few persons had done, dead or alive - and she was willing to help him. She had a bloody plan! Maybe Buffy and Company had messed up at one point or another, and the world WAS coming to an end. Why else would he be listening to her?

Not that her plan didn't make sense. Theoretically.

"So." Spike tried to speak calmly. Since he'd woken up he felt as if he would be crawling out of his own skin all the time, and he couldn't stop himself from hearing that blasted hum. Not in his ears, but somewhere deep in his mind... no need to show the girl, though, was there? "You sneak in there using your Mac's superpowers, search their files for enough material to convince even our forever loved friend Blondie and her macho-man that these suckers ARE suckers, and then you infiltrate a virus into their system that will cause the erasing of all their harddrives, override of their security system, opening of cells, escaping of prisoners and general chaos. The idea being to convince them that experimenting with demons is bad, or at least to do it somewhere else. Correct?"

"More or less." Willow smiled.

"Never mind that this 'plan' of yours is the stupidest thing I have heard in centuries, and that you could never do that on your own anyway, the question that interests me is: why?"

"What makes you think I couldn't do it an my own? I'm a hacker, and a witch into the bargain, I think I have at least as good a chance as anyone else, thank you very much."

Oooh. So she did have a pride to be wounded.

"You didn't answer my question, Redhead."

"You didn't answer mine."

"I asked first."

Finally, Willow averted her face. "That's my own business."

Spike shook his head in exasperation. The demon mask slipping over his face, he leaned into her and snarled: "Tell me!"

She looked up at him and said: "I will. But not now."

Spike growled again, but the demon was already receding. "Bloody hell-"

Suddenly, he stopped cursing and turned to face the girl again.

"You don't know what it means, don't you?"

"What what means?"

"What you did. You gave me your blood of your own free will."

"Yes."

"Well, it wasn't just a snack."

Shivering inwardly, Willow asked: "What- what DOES it mean, Spike?"

He pondered. "You are marked. Other vampires will know that you let one of them drink from you, and that he let you live."

"Is that good or bad?"

Was he actually winking at her? Must have been a trick of the light. "That depends." Then he was serious again. "And it creates a bond."

"A- bond?"

"It depends on how much of your blood I actually took. I will be able to know where you are, especially if you are very frightened or very excited. And- " Did he really want to tell her this? Well, she had done what she had done, and now things were as they were.

"And?" There was no fear in her voice.

"And I will be drawn to you. When I am very frightened. Or very excited."

"Good, I'll protect you."

"This is no joke, Willow..."

"I know it isn't." It was nice when he said her name.

She hopped down from the stone slate on wich she had been sitting, her feet dangling. "Well, I'll see you."

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?"

"I told you: infiltrate the Initiative, get their files, infect their computers with virus."

Spike snatched his duster. "Ok, let's go."

"Oh, Spike, you can't come with me! What if something goes wrong? I would be arrested, but if they get you again..." Willow's eyes widened in horror.

"Believe me, if these people catch you sabotaging them, you will not have the right to a lawyer and a phonecall, pet. If something goes wrong, you need to fight for your life. And I'm going to be there to make sure the fight goes the right way."

"Why?"

"We are bonded now."

As if that explained anything. Or did it?

"And i might still need you later on. For a snack or something. Besides, I can act as a prisoner if someone spots you."

"Huh?"

"Didn't you see Star Wars, Red? That's how Chewie and Han Solo rescue princess Leia."

"They don't rescue her. The plan's a mess, they have to blow everything to pieces and end up in the waste-disposal chamber. R2 saves them all, actually."

"Bloody right. This is going to be fun!"

...

"Ah, Spike.... who's supposed to be Chewie here?"