"Blood."

"Blood."
Part fourteen of the "What Am I?" series.
Rating: R. for the entire series.
Spoilers: I don't have the time or the energy to go through and state exactly what spoilers are contained in my fics just assume that anything that has aired in the US is fair game.
Disclaimers: Joss owns everything fun. I only borrow it for a while.
Feedback: Let me know what you think. (ladyduvessa19@icqmail.com)

He was furious. Aurora, one of his own. How could she be doing this? Locking them in cages and insisting on telling Buffy everything she didn't want to hear. That she was demon. He paced in his cage, jaw clenched. He had to get them out. He had always thought that there was something more to the slayer. No human was like her. The news didn't shock him. But she was in denial. She wanted a normal life with normal friends (exactly how the Scooby gang fit into the normal category he had yet to figure out). That's what it was always about. She couldn't love him because he was different. He wasn't a man, but she wasn't exactly a woman either now was she.

It almost looked like she was about to cry. She was empty. Just like the night when she had come back. But it didn't last long. Her face changed. Her eyes became cold. Full of hate. It was a look that he had seen many times in the past. It was a look that she had before she killed. A look that she always used to give to him. However, when she looked at him like that she only half stood behind it, even before the chip.

"It's boiling. She wants to get out. The cage is too tight. They're coming." Drusilla brushed the hair of her doll as she spoke.

"You think we should let her out?" Aurora clearly objected. But Drusilla didn't pay her any mind. She dropped her doll to the floor and then proceeded to unlock the cage. The second the cage opened Buffy attacked Aurora. They were a good match for each other. Each throwing punches while the other one blocked. Neither girl had so much as a scratch. Then Aurora showed what she really was. She was stronger when she let the demon out. They all were. Spike began to think that Buffy didn't have a chance. She was thrown against the wall and once she had gotten to her feet Aurora twisted her arm and Spike swore he heard her wrist snap. He screamed at Aurora to stop, but it didn't even seem like she heard him. She just kept beating Buffy. No matter how badly hurt Buffy was it didn't stop her. When she had been knocked down for the fourth time she managed to kick Aurora's feet out from under her and while Aurora was still struggling to get to her feet, Buffy smashed a wooden chair and plunged a piece of it into Auroras chest. It hit Aurora's heart, but nothing. She barley even flinched.

"OK where is it?" Buffy asked looking at Aurora's hands.

"Where's what?" Aurora stepped back from Buffy and removed the wooden piece from her chest.

"The gem. It's in a ring I think. The gem of ambrosia. No that's not right." Buffy continued to ramble names of the gem.

"She doesn't have the bloody gem." Spike yelled.

"Well what does she have then? It must be something." Buffy held her fists up in front of her in case Aurora started an attack.

"Oh. She has something. The blood. Like candy." Drusilla said.

"What the hell does she keep babbling about? You speak Drusilla. Why don't you translate." Buffy said to Spike.

"I don't have a clue. Could be anything." He really didn't have a clue. She kept talking about blood, but she talked about blood a lot.

"My blood. Your blood. Slayer blood." Aurora held her hands up to call a truce. Buffy backed down slowly, but Spike could tell that she was still cautious.

"What is it with you people. It's always about the blood." Buffy said rather annoyed.

"It's what keeps us alive, luv." At these words Buffy looked at Spike as if to say 'thanks for pointing that out'.

"Yes, but slayer blood is different. Ask any vamp." Aurora stated. Spike had told that to Buffy on several occasions in the past.

"Not exactly news to me." Buffy said.

"Do you remember when you were 14?" Aurora asked.

"Yeah. Freshmen in high school. Not exactly a high point in my life." Buffy said as if she didn't quite understand what Aurora was getting at.

"But the summer before high school when you were in the hospital." Aurora clarified herself.

"How do you know about that?" Buffy asked.

"Because it happened to all the slayers." Aurora said.

"You all ate at Fred's Diner and got food poising? Didn't know that place was so popular." Buffy said rather sarcastically.

"No the diseases were all different. All made up."

"Oh I see. They kept me in the hospital for a week because I had a made up disease." Buffy was clearly becoming annoyed with Aurora. Spike couldn't blame her. Aurora talked like she knew everything about every one.

"Sounds silly don't it. About as silly as receiving a blood transfusion for food poising."

"They had to. It contaminated my blood." Buffy said, but Spike could tell by the sound of her voice that she did think that it was silly.

"Really Buffy. Think about it. Did anyone else who ate there spend a week in the hospital?" Aurora asked.

"No."

"It was the council. Or the people the council works for, rather. They drained your blood and replaced it with derTöter demon's blood." Aurora said.

"Great story Aurora, but one major flaw. DerTöter demons have been extinct for years. Some even think they're just a myth." Spike said as he tried once again to break out of his cage.

"They have several in captivity. The people the council works for. They made you a demon Buffy. We have to stop them. Before someone else ends up like us. What they're doing is wrong." It sounded to Spike that Aurora might be sincere about the whole thing. Maybe she did want to end the slayer to keep others from having to do what they do. To be what they were. But even if Aurora was sincere about it Drusilla wasn't. There was no pure thing about her. And if Aurora was only doing this for the reasons she said Dru would turn on her.

"You're wrong. I don't have demon blood. They would have noticed it. Doctors. My bloods been tested. And Dawn. They made her out of me. If what you're saying is true she would be a slayer too and she's not." Buffy had a point.

"It wasn't pure demon blood. The blood they put into you was half demon half human. If you had been given all demon blood you would have turned into the demon." Aurora explained.

"But that still doesn't explain about Dawn. She would have the same half demon half human blood as me. She would be slayer too."

"No. Once the demon blood enters the body it is absorbed into your tissues. That's why you heal so quickly and why you're so strong. After the demon blood is absorbed by the tissues it's just human blood. As human as anyone else's blood. But vampires can taste what it was." Aurora said.

"And how do you know all this? Never heard any of it before. Surely Buffy's stuffy watcher would have mentioned the little part about her being demon." Spike was becoming more aggravated.

"The watchers don't know. No one knows. I had 50 years to wonder about why I was different. I had 50 years to watch the other slayers. I didn't know what I was until after I died. Until after it was too late. Now, Buffy, you have to help me stop them. They can't do this to anyone else. It's not fair." Aurora was pleading.

"No. I don't believe you. Giles would have known. He would have told me. And if I have to kill you to stop you I will." Buffy raised her fists again ready to attack.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Spike didn't like the tone in Aurora's voice. He ran towards the bars of his cage and they gave as he hit.

Buffy looked at him then at Aurora "I think we'll find a way." At that Spike went after Aurora. He didn't last long. Aurora threw him across the room. Buffy was right behind him and she managed to hit Aurora across the face, but soon Buffy joined him when Aurora threw her across the room as well.

"Still think you have what it takes to kill me?" Aurora said as she stood in front of the two fallen heroes. Buffy started to rise to her feet as Aurora grabbed Spike by the throat. She pushed Spike against the wall holding him there. "To kill me you're going to have to kill your demon lover. Do you have that in you? Can you end his life? End your happiness. Just to stop me?" Drusilla was laughing at Aurora's words. Spike knew that Buffy had sacrificed Angel to save the world, but he wasn't worried about Buffy sacrificing him. He was more than Angel. He was her reason.

Part 13 || Part 15