Standard disclaimer applies here under all circumstances.
A/N: Hello peeps! I hope you enjoy this chapter of Reason to Be!!! Sorry about the delay, lost the book it was in and then when I found it, ff.n was down!!! And then shit happens and everything is shot to hell!
I'm holding a little contest. If anyone notices a line that sounds like it's from a recent movie, I'll dedicate the next chapter to you if you tell me what movie it is from and who said it. Keep in mind that it's a villain whom says this.
I just remembered something. The Magic Box was totally totalled in the season finale right? Well, lets just say that there where a few chairs and a table left, for the sake of the fic? I can't thing of any other place to put the whole gang.
Anyway, on to thankyous!
sable: heh, you'll see!
PineTranio: Thankyou, and here it is! ;)
Holula: You're all to kind, thanx so much!
samson: too nice, much thanx!
Cutie: Everyone is saying that! You guys are all to nice!
soulsearcher: hehe, IRELAND THERE WE WHERE!!! LoL!!! Thanx, kindly, here's ch. 3! FINALLY!
anonymous: thanx for that, glad to know you liked, hope you like this one too!
Reason to Be – Black Grows the Night
"Dawn!" Buffy cried, sitting up in the bed. Her movements startled the vampire beside her and he sat up in the bed as he awoke.
"Hey Lil' Bit," he said as he saw her. Dawn watched as Spike's hand gently touched the Slayer's shoulder.
"Buffy, I think we need to go to the Magic Box. There's something happening and it's not… not good. I… I felt something strange last night. A… and… AH!" Spike cried out, clutching his head, fingers digging into his scalp.
"Spike!" Buffy cried, reaching out to pull him into her arms. The vampire complied to her and soon found himself being rocked by the Slayer. Dawn stood stock still for a moment before coming to wrap her arms around her friend.
A small girl suddenly appeared, her raven black hair a stark contrast to her pale while skin.
"It has begun," she said softly and disappeared as quickly as she appeared.
***
After dark, Buffy decided that Spike should come with her to the Magic Box. Or what was left of it.
Xander, Anya, Willow and Giles all looked up to see Spike and Buffy wrapped up in his leather duster and Dawn cuddled up in her pale blue trench coat. As soon as they stepped in, Willow stood, an amazed and fearful expression on her face.
"Kay-Lei," she whispered. Looking at Xander, Anya and Giles, she sighed grimly.
"Kay-Lei Shale, the first witch turned vampire Her human soul is said to appear to her demon's next victims." With that news, Spike stumbled slightly. Buffy though, held onto him, guiding him to a chair. He slowly sat and looked up at Willow.
"I remember… Glory said something about her… I… don't remember it though…" Buffy looked up sharply. Taking his hand in her own, she held it tightly. At the mere mention of Glory's name, Dawn came over to Spike and had wrapped him in a huge hug. They both remembered what he had done for them, valiantly risking himself for the two young women he loved with all of his heart.
***
"So, the witch has remembered me," a feminine voice sneered. The dark figure pulled away at a stray piece of hair, revealing a pair of darkened eyes.
"My mistress, I wish not to disrupt, but how are we going to prevent this prophecy? It is beginning. I can sense that the first part is soon to pass… it's soon, I know it." The darkened woman turned to the kneeling master vampire at her feet.
"Kiandral, is there nothing you have learned over the past 145 years of being in my service? I always complete my mission. It doesn't matter when or how, if I choose the Slayer to die, she dies. If I choose the Loyal to die, he dies. Hell, I'll even kill the Bloody if need be. Doesn't matter. If I choose for them to die, then they die."
"But my mistress…" Kay-Lei held up her hand.
"Kiandral, do you not see? I mustn't torture him though mind nor body. Do you not remember? The way to destroy mankind is not to attack body or mind. No, you shall never fail if you attack his heart first."
***
Spike looked hardly at Willow, one arm holding onto Dawn, the other fingering Buffy's palm.
"So what is she? A vampire Wicca? Glory's childe? One of Glory's minions? Wait, how can Glory even HAVE a childe?"
"Well, there was a time when Glory went all vampy and figured it's be fun to turn a witch. Keep in mind that was a really long time ago. All the rules where different." Spike sighed at Anya's explanation.
"So, we have to constantly watch our backs? Joy." Spike muttered. Then something occurred to him.
"You mean to tell me I'm her next victim?" he asked. All eyes in the room turned to him. Giles looked at the blonde in a way that encouraged the vampire to continue. Spike took a deep breath, gave Dawn another hug and held onto Buffy's hand before standing up before looking over the little group of demon hunters.
"A little girl appeared in the room when my head was hurting like hell," he explained, more to Buffy and Dawn then anyone else. Willow furrowed her brow.
"Did she have dark hair, light skin and pale blue eyes?" Spike looked at her pointedly and Willow caught the unanswered message.
"Crap." It was then that Spike decided to take a look at the tiny group.
In a moment of clarification, Spike realized that if anything ever happened to this little group of misfits, the vampire would grieve as much as anyone else. And surprisingly, this included Xander. Without realizing it, he had sat back down in his chair and Buffy was behind him, massaging his shoulders. Only then did he realized how much he ached. The Slayer looked at him smiling and then looked over at Xander whom seemed to have trouble processing this.
"So then, what do we do? The man asked. Sure he had a hatred for the creature of the night but something told him that there was something more to him then on the outside. Looking into his eyes, there was something that told him there was something going on that he didn't know. Something really familiar.
"We protect him." Everyone turned to the father figure in the room. Giles looked at them all and smiled slightly, his eyes twinkling under the low light in the destroyed building.
"It's only right, isn't it? Even after what happened last year," the flash of guilt behind Spike's eyes was impossible to miss if anyone was paying attention to him, "he's still one of us. No matter how much you disagree Xander." The brunette closed his mouth in his attempt to disagree with the ex-Watcher.
"Then we're here to protect. The Scoobies united!" Dawn called, thrusting her hand forward and earning a giggle from the women in the room and a smile from the men. Hands where piled upon hers and within a few seconds, the attention of the room was once again focussed on Spike whom had yet to place his hand on the pile.
"Forever," a voice whispered in his ear as his hand reached out and hit the top of the pile. As it did, a ribbon of gentle light shot heavenwards and circled once around the circle of protectors. Haze and smoke started to gather above their hands and formed to show the figure of a translucent girl.
With another flash of light, she was gone.
***
Somewhere in the darkness of Kay-Lei's dungeon, a light flicked and a young girl gasped her first breath of air in over four years.