Way hay! I have posted! I'm sorry for the considerable delay, and for the one which will follow this chapter but I honestly have no time to write. This chapter came quite unexpectedly, but I was encouraged and because you've all been so loyal and reviewing me (hint), I decided to post. Please stay with me as I have absolutely no inclination to leave this fiction, which will be wrapped up in another two or so chapters. Again, I own nothing recognizable so don't sue, and I don't have a Beta, nor do I want one, so all mistakes are mine.
Quick warning; I'm still pretty graphic on description here, but that seems to have been well received in previous chapters so no worries. Angsty beginning and some h/c but it'll pick up. I hope you enjoy this after such a long delay. And remember; this fiction is au so don't flame me concerning things that haven't happened. I need to re-write history a bit to make this fiction interesting...
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Original Sin
The first thing that Buffy encountered when she entered the crypt was the stench of death, almost tangible as it hung in a noxious cloud in the room, rolling over her as the outside air drew it forward. The intense assault to her senses, sharpened by her Slayer status, made her gag involuntarily and step backwards, as if hit physically.
It was disconcerting to her; the smell in this familiar environment. She was used to death, or as used to it as one could become, both causing and seeing it. But this was a different kind of smell. It wasn't the sick, almost rancid smell that a demon left with its corpse, nor the more delicate scent of a vampire's ashes immediately after being staked. It wasn't even the drier smell of an old corpse, a smell that lingered faintly even in this crypt, where the skin had long ago shriveled and flaked away from the body, the bones dropping as the flesh gave way.
This was fresh and raw.
The room was only illuminated by the handful of candles beside the door, but her eyes searched the shadows despite the faint lighting. A shock of white to the left and ahead of her caused her to surge forward, but she froze when her eyes adjusted and she could see them both clearly, even in the dim.
Spike sat unmoving against the wall, his legs curled beside him and arms wrapped around the second, smaller figure draped across his lap. His eyes were still and staring blankly at an unknown point on the stone floor to the left and several feet from him, not moving to acknowledge her when she took another cautious step closer.
His arms were wrapped loosely about the small girl in his lap, holding her head to the curve of his throat, tucked beneath his chin. Chestnut hair sprawled across her shoulders, curling slightly down her back. Her face was angular and cheekbones pronounced, even in her youth of about eight years. Half lidded glassy eyes of a dulling blue stared unseeingly into her guardian's neck, and drying lips were slightly parted.
Spike's fore-arms, held behind the girl's back, were colored a deep red that clashed brightly with his pale skin, the open wound between the girl's shoulder blades causing her pretty white dress to be stained as the precious fluid trickled away.
Sitting directly in his line of sight, unsure of what to do, Buffy asked him in a soft voice what had happened, who the little girl was. He didn't respond, his body still as only a corpse could be. Deciding that the body would only hinder, Buffy leant forward to move her from him. When she reached for her though, his arms tightened instantly and low rumble emanated from deep in his chest, his eyes still staring through her.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."
The cultured voice through the darkness startled her, her head snapping round quickly to see who had entered the crypt without her knowing. She was only mildly surprised to see Chem standing in the flickering light of the candles beside the open door, which he closed slowly as she watched.
Walking with a fluidity only a hunter could posses, he came to her side and crouched in the dust and grime that coated the floor, staring at the pair with an expression that was tinged with sadness.
"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this."
Chem looked to Buffy almost expectantly before motioning to Spike and the girl. Eyes narrowed fractionally as he regarded her silently before he continued in smooth, quiet tones.
"The young girl in Spike's embrace is called Catherine, and died at age nine some hundred odd years ago. As you can see this kind of preservation is near impossible at present, and was completely unattainable at the time she met her end, poor girl. Deparis has obviously used some kind of portal to retrieve her-"
Chem paused, a hand reaching out to the wound in Catherine's back, ignoring the rumbling from Spike, and retracting his fingers glistening with blood.
"Apparently immediately after she was killed."
"Why?" Buffy asked in a hushed voice, eyes frozen on the pair still.
The demon sighed beside her. "Catherine was Spike's younger sister. Spike caught Drusilla's attention some time before he was turned, and Angelus being the abomination he was wanted to make him as insane as his own Childe before that wonderful day. He only attacked one person though before Drusilla told him to leave William to her own devices, and that happened to be the one person young William loved the most.
"The pair where inseparable, you see? Young William was most upset when he found her. You won't see wounds like this today I imagine. These gashes come from meat hooks which-"
"Just stop it," Buffy said in exasperation, interrupting the trend that Chem was so comfortably beginning to sink into.
"Deparis probably wants this demon growing inside of our dear Vampire's body to be strong when it emerges to reek havoc on, dare I say it, the world. Mental abuse, especially this level, is likely to have that thing feeding quite nicely. From what I can tell it won't remain an infant for much longer."
"What can we do?"
"I've told you already that the only way to defeat this particular demon is to encase it in a suffocating cocoon of love and security. Actually, I would quite imagine that that would kill almost any creature from hell quite effectively. Comfort, would be advisable now, and removing that body from his grasp should be on your to-do list."
*****
Separating Catherine from Spike was fairly straightforward once they pried away his arms, Chem carrying her to the far end of the crypt as Buffy stood over the again motionless Spike contemplating what to do. Biting her lip in consternation, she shifted uncomfortably at his stillness. Spike was never still, always fidgeting, glowering, pouting, complaining, smoking or beating the crap out of something. This motionless creature before her wasn't Spike, and according to Chem she was the one who had to drag Spike back into this empty shell of the man he was.
Her mind made up, she stepped forward and lowered herself down over him. Kneeling awkwardly over his legs, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and squeezed him slightly.
Her actions having absolutely no affect on the Vampire and wanting to invoke some kind of response, she began moving her hand in slow, soothing circles on his back, like her mother used to do to her when she was restless as a child. After a minute or so of this he flinched slightly but then returned to his catatonic state, stubbornly refusing to be roused again.
"You're going to need to some help with him," Chem mused from behind her, sitting against the wall several feet above the floor. "Perhaps your younger sister could be of use."
Buffy was silent for a moment as she removed herself from Spike before realization hit and she frowned, turning to face him, her voice laced with accusation. "How do you know about Dawn?"
Chem merely smiled. "You should retrieve her whilst I stay here, and ensure that nothing further should transpire that would cause Spike to recede even further into that mind of his."
Nodding slightly, Buffy stood and brushed off her trousers absently before making her way towards the door. Pausing by the door as if to say something before she left, she closed her mouth again and stepped outside, banging the door shut behind her.
Stepping down from the wall, Chem strode over to Spike and crouched down so that he was directly in his line of sight, large pupils fixed unseeingly on his own. Reaching slender hands up to the cool temples, he sent a message into the silence of the Vampire's mind.
//You had better get out of there within the next hour or I'm going to have to pull you out.//
****
Dawn, although subdued after Buffy had relayed Spike's condition and history to her, seemed eager to help in any way that she could. They had moved quickly from their home to the crypt, the Slayer having to consciously slow her pace to allow her sister to keep up. Dawn thought it curious that Buffy seemed so intent on getting to Spike as soon as possible when she spent much of her free time bitching about him, not that she was complaining. From what she had gathered from her hurried descriptions, she wanted to get there quickly too.
They had remained at the house for only a few minutes, a quick phone call to Willow concerning recent events deemed necessary by Buffy before they left, the witch assuring her that she would gather the group and get to Spike's crypt as quickly as possible.
Chem had excused himself immediately after they returned, stating that he may be able to find someone to help dispose of the demon if their interference with it didn't work. When Buffy protested to his leaving, he countered that he also had some important prior engagements that needed to be kept and promptly left, leaving them staring at the closed door in silence for some time.
Buffy assured Dawn as much as herself that they would be fine, projecting confidence that they could help Spike, whatever that entailed, Dawn agreeing entirely. However, the younger Summers faltered when she saw the Vampire's blank stare, nervous that Spike hadn't responded to her presence. At her sister's instruction and encouragement though, she knelt uncertainly into his lap and encircled her arms around his neck, finding that giving consoling a corpse was remarkably difficult.
After several tense minutes with no result, Dawn slowly began to move away but at Buffy's encouragement she remained. Glancing about her as if to check that no one was observing her behaviour over a creature that she feigned to hate, Buffy joined her sister on the floor and they both sat beside him, rubbing his back and holding him tightly.
A minute or so after Buffy joined them, Spike's arms rose from their previous position on the floor at his sides, encircling them, holding them closer to him. Both women froze; neither daring to move lest they break the tenuous connection they had suddenly established. A tremble ran through his body that soon became continuous; almost violent in the intensity of his shudders, his arms tightening now to an almost bruising grip abut them. Buffy, years of slaying having taught her to withstand abuse such as this, remained still but Dawn yelped slightly as her body was pressed against the Vampire's lithe form, a twitch in corded muscles his only reaction to the sound.
Prying an arm from between his chest and hers, Dawn rubbed his clenched hand with her own smaller one. Shifting her head up despite her discomfort, she whispered in a soft, reassuring voice into his ear. "It's alright. We're here for you. We love you."
The response was immediate. His whole body jerked violently and a loud scream echoed about the crypt, the howl it dissolved into seeming animalistic enough to summon the Hounds of Hell. A force that flung Buffy and Dawn away from him landed them several feet away from him, leaving them sprawled in shock, staring at the location they were previously at.
Spike, now encased in a lattice of twitching, writhing crimson light, had slid sideways down the wall and was now led on the floor, tendons cording in his throat at his spine arched and twisted against whatever was happening to him. The light funneled rapidly down into a point on his abdomen before exploding up again into a fountain, before the energies gathered once more into a ball.
As Spike finally fell still, lapsing into unconsciousness as his eyelids sank closed, the sphere of bloodied light hovered and expanded, its shape mutating before the anxious women's eyes. Finally, claws touched the ground, the demon standing on highly arched feet that led onto long muscular legs. Arms of rippling flesh ended in long hooked talons, barbs running along each of the four lengths. The head, if it could be identified at one, had no mouth that could be seen, just two huge eyes that seemed to absorb the dim light, the black depths were so intense. A mottled grey, its very skin seemed to heave as millions of barbs that comprised its hide flared up and down repeatedly.
It took a deep rattling breath, into what they couldn't tell, but the room became impossibly colder as it did so. It fixed the dark orbs on the pair and took a step towards them, an arm outstretching and the talons elongating, the sound made identical to a sword being unsheathed.
Dawn instinctively shrank back but Buffy rose quickly and stood between it and her sister, head lowered slightly as she stared at it from beneath a determined brow. It rose the talons, now tipped with an additional six inches of clean, silver-colored bone, and made a slow move for her chest which she kicked away, the arm snapping back rapidly.
She was ready to attack it properly, caution in her stance as her mind replayed the words concerning this creature's talents Giles and Chem had relayed to them all earlier. Instead, she found herself leaping backwards and to the side as it lunged forward unexpectedly, propelled by a force other than its own.
Dawn let loose a small scream as it slammed into the wall beside her, scuttling away from it rapidly. Buffy latched onto her arm and dragged her away from it, the Fresha demon's muscles already rippling as it prepared to pull its head out of the stone.
"We'd better get him outta here, Buff. No telling how long it's gonna take that thing to get all slash happy," Xander advised from the door, standing beside Willow and Tara. The witches' hands were clasped tightly, pupils dilated to an unnatural size as they concentrated on the bubble of white light hovering infront of them, prepared to fire a section from it again should the demon move.
Nodding quickly, Buffy released her grip on Dawn and moved to Spike, hefting him up over her shoulder before moving to the door, weaving around the witches who didn't move until the others were safely outside. A charm was set to encompass the crypt before they left, the loud thumping as the demon threw itself at the enforced door following them as they moved away to a safer distance, contemplating what to do next.
"I don't get it," Dawn panted as she lent against the gravestone, staring warily at the tomb they had just escaped. "Chem said that the demon would be killed if we comforted Spike."
"Wait a minute. Chem told you to-" Xander shouted, turning to Buffy rapidly, prepared to rant at her in outrage but was cut off before he had the chance to even begin.
"Damnit! That little- He knew what would happen! Great, we gave it a friggin' growth spurt!" She shouted angrily, arms moving to emphasize her fury as she paced the damp grass.
"N-now what do we do? Giles said that it could make us catch fire and w-we don't know how to-" Tara began softly, moving to stand next to Spike who had been laid beside a large headstone, utterly unaware of what was happening. His eyes were open again now, staring unblinking up at the night sky, the stars reflected in his eyes, now dull and lifeless.
"I don't know. The best thing we can do now is keep it contained, right? I don't think it's strong enough to start flaming people right now; it didn't really try anything back there. Let's just hope that charm holds out," Buffy said, trying to reassure and plan at the same time. Scrubbing a hand through her hair, she moved down to kneel beside Spike, waving a hand over his eyes, clenching it when he remained still. She had thought that once the demon was out...
"Uh, Buffy? I don't think that charm was very containing," Anya alerted, interrupting her thoughts as she pointed over her head back at the crypt.
Turning to look, they all watched as the barrier about the crypt flickered and promptly vanished, the door flying away from the stone as the demon surged out, eyes glowing a fierce red which cast mottled blood colouring over its bristling skin.
"My precious is hungry."
The voice that sang from behind them caused them to spin around once more, away from the demon which remained by the open doorway, now to their sides visible in the corner of their eyes. Deparis, the wide-brimmed hat casting his skeletal face into utter blackness in the dim light, stood several meters away from them, hands clasped behind his back as he regarded them with wide white eyes, the light from them pouring gleefully over the harsh relief of his face.
Buffy wanted to say something, was desperate to attack the man but found herself, and apparently the others, unable to do so, her voice and body frozen in place. Cocking his head to the side, Deparis took a confident, liquid step towards them before stopping again. This time his voice was dismayed, a sadness that seemed alien in those tones, infringing on his words.
"Precious has no true purpose now. Precious is sad. Precious has no direction in the universe.
"Precious will rip your throats out."
And then, still unable to move, the group watched in horror as the eyes of the Fresha demon flared and it charged forwards, bone sliding out of the talons as it held its arms out behind it, preparing to bring them down through them. Its claws tearing out mounds of wet earth as it charged them, it raised an arm back and brought it down in a wide, lethal arc.
TBC
You hate me. I know. The next chapter may be a while but I have intention of abandoning this so keep on reviewing me and I'll get back to it as soon as I can. I'm interested as to how I have led you so please tell me your thoughts; what you think will happen next, the true nature of Chem and so forth. I honestly want to know how I'm taking you through this, as this is my first Buffy fiction. Thank you again for your patience and kind reviews.