"Prophecy."

"Prophecy."
Part twenty-eight 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)

"Thought you didn't want to roll in the dirt anymore?" Spike said referring to their sex in the middle of the day on the floor.

He kissed her forehead and she replied. "These floors are clean. Or they should be." She wiped her finger along the floor and inspected it for dust and other things. "Dawn was supposed to wash them yesterday."

"Oh so it's ok for us to have sex on your floor because it might have been cleaned yesterday, but you make a big deal about my old place being too dirty." Spike said making a trail of kisses down her neck.

"Your old place did have a floor of dirt. That is completely different." She said and he stopped his kisses.

"Yes, but I told you there was a bed. There's one here too. It's not my fault you're too impatient to make it there."

"Oh so it's my fault we have crazed animal sex on the floor." She said looking in his eyes.

"No I think I might have something to do with the crazed animal part." He said with a grin.

"Whatever." She said. "Why is having sex on a bed suddenly so important to you?"

"It's not. Just that you said you got me that apartment and I realized I haven't lived in an apartment in a long time. There's a big difference in living in a graveyard and living among people. And besides I thought the whole point of me getting the place was so that you didn't have to hang out in a dump." He said.

"I don't want to hang out in a dump." She said moving her head closer to his. "But what can I say. I'm too impatient."

"That you are." He said meeting her mouth with his.

They kissed for a long while and then Spike broke the contact their mouths had and said "Well I guess after I move in I'll have to have Dawn come and clean the floor."

He went to kiss her again, but she pulled herself away and stood up. "Oh god Dawn!" she said.

"What is it luv?" he asked.

"It's almost 3:00. She's going to be home." She got her clothes and started putting them on. He just stared. "God Spike get dressed!"

"How many times are you going to tell me that today?" he asked.

"Come on. She's going to be home." Buffy whined.

"My clothes are still in the washer. Kind of forgot about 'em. Had other things going on." He said with a smile.

"Well then put on my dad's stuff again." She said.

"I am not going to wear those ever again. You're dad is twice my size."

"That's what the belt is for." She said.

"Right. So I can wear pants that are way to big for me and look like a bloody rapper. I don't think so slayer. Skins a little pale. You think people give that Eminem fellow a hard time about being white and rapping what do you think that they're going to say about me?" he protested.

"No one's even going to see you!" she pointed out. "Just put them on and then go put your clothes in the dryer."

"Dawn'll see me and I won't be giving her reasons to make fun of me. She already thinks that she's got me all figured out." He said.

"What do you mean she's got you all figured out?" Buffy asked.

Spike hadn't told her about the advice Dawn had given him and for good reason. Dawn had called her stubborn and unreasonable and she was. But she certainly didn't need to know that. "Forgot the fabric softner." He said.

"What?" she asked.

"Your mom's note said that when it buzzes you're supposed to add fabric softener."

"I think your clothes will be fine without it. I'm surprised you even take them off long enough to wash." She said.

"I'll have you know my clothes are always clean." He said defending himself.

"Whatever. Just put something on. If Dawn comes in here and finds you naked you're never going to be allowed back in this house again." She threatened.

"Is that so." He said. "And how do you plan to keep me away."

"I can have Willow take away your invitation at any time." She said.

That hurt. He had thought that she hadn't looked at him as a demon anymore, but clearly she did. "That's right. Cause 'ol Spike here doesn't deserve to be treated any better than what he is."

"That's not what I meant. I didn't mean it like that." She said.

"Whatever slayer. I'll just go put my clothes in the dryer and wait for them to dry." He walked down the stairs to the basement.

"Spike." Buffy yelled, but he didn't answer.

"What's up Buffy?" Dawn asked and Buffy jumped.

"Don't do that." Buffy said.

"Don't do what?"

"Walk up behind people. It's not nice."

"Oh ok." Dawn said and then looked around. "Where's Spike?"

"He's in the basement." Buffy answered and Dawn headed for the stairs.

Buffy blocked her path. "You can't go down there."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because Spike is doing laundry." Buffy said.

"I'll help him." Dawn said and tried to get past her sister.

"No you won't." Buffy said.

"Why not?"

"Because Spike doesn't need any help." Buffy said.

"Spike you down there?" Dawn yelled when she was unable to get past her sister.

"Yeah bit. Just cleaning some clothes." He yelled.

"Want some help." She yelled.

"I think it's best if you stay up there." He yelled back.

"Why?" she yelled, but instead of Spike answering her Buffy did.

"Because he's only got the one set of clothes."

"Oh." Dawn said realizing that he was naked.

"So how was school?" Buffy asked.

"It was good." Dawn said.

"Did you get your permission slip in on time?" She asked.

"Yeah. Gave it to the teacher this morning." Dawn said and then realized that Buffy hadn't signed it. "Or wait. There's another day, but I left the slip at school. You can just write a note I'm sure."

"It's OK Dawn I know that Spike signed it." Buffy said.

"Well then why the third degree about it?" Dawn asked.

"Because you can't do stuff like that. We have to live by the book or social services will try and take you away."

"No one's gonna know." Dawn said.

"Maybe not this time." She said.

"Fine." Dawn said. "I've got homework. I'll be in my room."

"We're having a meeting at the magic box. You'll have to gather your homework and bring it with." Buffy said.

"Fine." Dawn said and gathered her stuff.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They waited for Spike's clothes to dry and then headed for the magic box. He didn't know why they needed to have a big meeting. He took care of it. Set the chits on fire. Drusilla was dead, he knew that. But he couldn't exactly tell Buffy that without letting her know that he had set the fire. And since they hadn't heard a thing about Aurora since the fire he figured that she must have left town. Yet still they sat at the table covered in books while Dawn pretended to be doing her homework on a small desk in the corner.

"So do we know anything about her?" Buffy asked.

"Not so much." Willow said. "I mean aside from the fact that Anya knew her, she's a super vampire who can't be killed unless Spike dies, and she wants to kill the slayers in waiting."

"Just your basic bad ass demon who wants you dead." Xander said.

"Thanks for pointing that out Xand." Buffy said.

"Well what about the prophecy?" Spike asked.

"Prophecy?? There's a prophecy now??" Buffy asked. "Was I the only one who didn't get the monthly news letter?"

"You mean he didn't tell you?" Spike said shocked. "I would have thought Angel would have jumped at the chance to tell you about it. Considering he always gets mixed up with those kind of things."

Buffy looked at Angel and said "Well?"

Just as Angel was about to say something Spike jumped in. "I think it went a little something like this: A slayer will die and come back. Then she'll end the chosen one. That about right Angel."

"That's the short version." Angel said.

"And how are you so sure that this is about Aurora and not about me? I mean I died and came back." Buffy said.

"Because they prophecy says that one slayer will die and come back and live in silence until another slayer joins her. That's when she will try to put a stop to the chosen one." Angel said.

"So why wait. She's been dead for like 50 years. Why did she wait until now to try and end the chosen one?" Buffy asked.

"Because she knew she couldn't do it alone." Anya said and everyone glared at her. "What? She was one of my best friends when I was a demon, but do you people even think to ask me about her? No. You'd rather sit there and read books that don't even have English in them and then argue about some stupid prophecy. "

"So why didn't you bring this up a little sooner?" Xander asked.

"I tried. I mean, granted I didn't say anything at first because I was a little shocked to see her. I don't exactly have ties to my old friends that much anymore. And then you guys sit here and talk while I have to work. I can't exactly leave the customers unattended. They could steal things and then I wouldn't get their money. And just now I tried to say something three times, but none of you even paid attention. You just kept talking and I never even got to finish a word." Anya was clearly a little upset.

"So we're all listening now. Go on with your little 'I used to be a demon story'." By the sound in her voice Spike would have thought Cordelia a little jealous of Xander's new girlfriend.

"Well lets see. She always talked about the slayer. How it was so wrong. I don't know. I figured that she just wanted to whine. I mean here she is a demon and she used to be killing demons. Not exactly the easiest transition to make. For a while I didn't even believe she was a vampire. I thought that she was going to try and kill me. When we met I was busy working on a case. A guy cheated on his girlfriend with her sister. I was there to give him…"

"An, we don't need a trip down demon memory lane. We just need the basic facts." Xander interrupted.

"Fine." Anya said annoyed and then continued. "Anyways I thought Aurora was going to try and kill me because she was the slayer and stuff. Then she vamped out and killed some guy. That's when we really became friends."

"There's a nice thought. While every other person would have run for their life when they saw a vampire kill, my fiancé took that opportunity to make friends." Xander said and Anya glared at him.

"So she was killing people. She doesn't have a soul." Buffy said.

"You kind of loose that when you become a vampire." Spike said.

"I know, but she talked to me. It didn't seem like she meant any harm. Well not to people. She just wanted to stop the council from doing what they are doing to us." Buffy said.

"Buffy think about it. If she stops the council and kills all of the slayers in waiting demons will have free reign." Angel said.

"I get what you're saying. And I know that Drusilla probably wanted the slayers gone but, I really don't think that is what it was about for Aurora. She feels cheated just like I do. They took us and gave us demon blood and they didn't even ask. I'm part demon and I didn't even know it." Buffy said. Spike was worried about her. She wasn't thinking clearly about the whole thing. Some part of her must feel connected to Aurora because they are slayers. But just because she used to be one didn't mean that she shouldn't be stopped.

"You're right it isn't fair. Someone should have asked you. But it's too late. It's already been done. But we can't just let her kill the slayers in waiting, Buffy. I know it's been hard for you since you came back. You didn't want to be here. And that's fine. I screwed up. I shouldn't have brought you back but, you can't identify with her. She's a vampire." Willow said.

"I don't blame you Wil. Look I don't even know why we need to be here. It's not like she's been seen around lately. Maybe she gave up. Maybe her and Drusilla left town and won't ever come back." Buffy said.

"They will come back." A familiar voice stated.

Everyone's eyes gazed in the direction of the door. They had all been so wrapped up in everything they were talking about that they didn't even hear the door open.

"How did you get in? The stores closed. The door was locked." Anya said.

"Just because I live halfway around the world doesn't mean I don't still own this place. My key does still fit in the lock." Giles said dropping the bag that he carried in his right hand.

"Oh." Anya said.

"Giles you're here. In America." Buffy said.

"That I am. Back in the land where you can't get a good cup of tea." Giles said.

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"Well what a warm welcome everyone has given me." He said.

"Sorry." Buffy said and walked up to him and hugged him. "We've just been kind of busy. The reserchy stuff tends to take a lot longer and leads to more fights since you left."

"I hate to tell you this Buffy but, I come with bad news." Giles said.

"I kinda figured you didn't fly all this way just to say hi. So shoot." Buffy said and then took a step back from Giles.

"I've gotten some information regarding a slayer who was turned. It seems that she has come to Sunnydale." Giles said.

"Yeah we know." Buffy said.

"Then I trust that you know why she's here." Giles said.

"She didn't really try to hide it. She told me she wanted me to help her kill the slayers in waiting." Buffy said.

"In a sense yes. There's a prophecy somewhere." Giles said lifting his bag and bringing it to the table where he could look for the papers he needed.

"Angel already told us about the prophecy. One slayer dies and is brought back. She lives in silence until another joins her. Then she ends the chosen one." Buffy said.

"She doesn't just end the chosen one Buffy. She becomes pure vampire and opens a portal to the past where all pure demons are free to roam the earth. Just as it was before." Giles said finally finding the papers that he was looking for.

Buffy glared at Angel. "What I didn't know." Angel defended himself. "Are you sure about this Giles? The transcripts I found say nothing about the portal."

"I'm sure. I suppose you read the Balatheric texts." Giles said and Angel nodded. "Those are interpretations of prophecies. The actual texts were being held by the council. They've been keeping close watch on this Aurora girl since she was turned."

"So they know that she's some sort of super vampire then." Willow said.

"Yes that they do. And she has to be stopped. Have you seen her. Do you know where she is?" Giles questioned.

"We've seen her. Spike had her and Drusilla tied up in his crypt, but then it caught fire and they haven't been around." Buffy said.

"Drusilla's working with her?" Giles asked.

"Yep. A crazy lunatic and an evil ex-slayer." Xander said.

"Interesting. The prophecy states that a vampire beyond reason would be helping her out. It also said that she would die." Giles said.

"So about this prophecy. How exactly is she going to become pure vampire and open the portal?" Spike asked.

"As far as I know she will stop all of the slayers in waiting which will in tern throw the balance of the universe of kilter. Once that happens she will have to drain the other slayer who has come back from the dead. Once that slayer dies the portal to the past will be opened and she will be transformed into pure vampire." Giles explained.

"So how do we stop her?" Buffy asked.

"First we have to do some research. We have to find out who turned her." Giles said.

"We kind of already know." Buffy said.

"Really. That's splendid. It will make everything so much easier." Giles said.

"It's me." Spike said.

"Oh." Giles said. "Well now that we know that there's two ways to stop her."

"And they are." Buffy said.

"The first is to kill the vampire who made her." Giles said.

"And the other." Buffy said.

"You're not going to like it." Giles said.

"I'm going to have to." Buffy said.

Part 27 || Part 29