Chapter Three
"Xander," Dawn said slowly and carefully. "Spike did not kidnap Buffy. Some people in black came and took both of them."
"Are you sure?" Xander pressed, again. In the three days since Buffy and Spike had been kidnapped, Xander had repeatedly questioned the teenager's account of what had happened. Dawn had finally had it with him, and snapped angrily;
"Are you calling me a liar? Huh?" Her eyes flashed absolute murder, and Xander took a step back, his hands up in the universal 'surrender' gesture.
"No, no, Dawnie. I just wanted to be sure. I mean, after all, the last time they saw each other he tried to ra-"
"Don't you even finish that sentence," the angry teenager hissed. "First of all, it was not your place to tell me about what you think happened. And second, Spike was going to apologise."
"Apologies don't make everything all better, Dawn," Xander said, a little unnerved at her anger. She merely raised an eyebrow at him.
"It's about time you realised that." Dawn turned to go into the kitchen, but not before calling back towards him, "Jeez, close your mouth. You look like a fish. And do something useful, would you? I'm gonna help Willow look online for information," and with that, she flounced out.
* * *
Spike suppressed an involuntary shudder at the name 'Walsh'. Craning his neck so he could see the doorway, he waited to see who the man was referring to.
To his surprise, the person who walked through that door was not the woman that he remembered as being in charge of the Initiative, but a man. The same short-cropped strawberry blond hair and similar facial features, but with a taller build.
"Hello... Spike," Doctor Walsh said.
"Who," Spike's voice was dry and whispery, "who are you?"
"My name is Doctor James Walsh. And I'm here to make your life the living hell that you deserve."
"I never did anything to you," Spike rasped. "I don't even know you!"
"You remember Professor Margaret Walsh, don't you?" Walsh queried, picking up a bag filled with a white powder. Spike nodded. "Mags was my sister. Do you know how she died?" Spike was about to answer, "Adam", when the doctor continued, "she died because of demons like you. She was brilliant, my little sister. Had a vision. And it was all ruined because disgusting, unnatural things like yourself got out of control. After her death, I started up this little project in memory of her."
He unscrewed the lid of a vial that was filled with blood and poured some of the powder into it. Replacing the lid, he shook the vial, dissolving the powder into the blood. "Open your mouth." He ordered the vampire.
Spike refused, clenching his jaw shut tightly and using what little strength he had to prevent going into demon face. The scent of blood- even just a small amount, and mixed with what was most likely some sort of drug- was overwhelming his senses in his starved state, but he held fast. Walsh moved closer, and Spike could no longer resist. He felt his human mask slip away as the demon came forth, and he opened his mouth. He could taste the drug in the blood as it was poured down his throat, but he no longer cared.
His muscles relaxed as the drug made its way through his starved system, causing the vampire to lay limply on the table.
"Excellent." Walsh said. He then brought out several items, including crosses, holy water, and a dagger that sent a cold chill of recognition up Spike's spine.
* * *
"This won't take long." Spike was confident he could overtake Doc.
"No, I don't imagine it will." The other demon was unconcerned over the possibility that Spike would pose any threat to him.
Spike lunged forward towards Doc, who neatly sidestepped and shoved the ritual blade into Spike's back. The pain was nearly unbearable, but the vampire didn't give in.
"You don't come near the girl, Doc," he said fiercely.
"I don't smell a soul anywhere on you. Why do you even care?"
"I made a promise to a lady."
"Oh? Then I'll send the lady your regrets." They grappled, and suddenly the demon whose outer appearance was that of a feeble old man had the best of the vampire.
"No," he whispered as he realised what Doc planned to do. Dawn's terrified, tear-streaked face was the last thing he saw before he began the long plummet towards the ground.
* * *
"I can see you recognise this," Walsh said, taking in the vampire's faraway expression. "It came to us rather by chance, actually. One of my Sunnydale contacts was approached by someone who claimed he had no use for it anymore. He told us it was a holy weapon, blessed by a god herself. I'd like to test that theory."
The fact that Spike was tied down, coupled with being heavily drugged, meant that he had no way of resisting as the doctor lifted the shirt of his hospital scrubs and stabbed him in the side. Spike refused to give the doctor the satisfaction of hearing him cry out with pain, but that didn't seem to deter him at all.
* * *
In the small meeting room sat Doctor Walsh, with the nasal-voiced man to his left, and another to his right. There were several others at the table, including a young woman whose expression was sullen and unenthusiastic. Walsh spoke first.
"My experiments with the vampire are proceeding nicely. He's shown a stronger resolve than the other filth we have here, but I do believe I'm getting somewhere. Isn't that right, Mr. Connolly?" He turned to the man on his right.
"The sedative we're administering with the limited amount of blood he receives each day is weakening him as you expected. He should be... responding... any day now. And then we can begin phase two."
"Excellent. Doctor Grayson, have you finished the blood work on young Ms. Summers yet?"
"Yes, sir. She is human, as far as we can tell, although she does seem to possess an unusually high white blood cell count. Which may or may not account for the fact that the injuries she sustained during her capture have literally disappeared without a trace. The human body is a remarkable thing, but even the healthiest person would still have bruises remaining."
Doctor Walsh frowned, and the meeting room went silent for a few moments as he pondered the implications of his subordinate's report. He'd heard the phrase 'accelerated healing powers' before, but he couldn't quite recall where, and it bothered him. "And how is our unexpected guest, Mr. Thomas?"
"Growing increasingly restless. She's complaining of having nothing to do, sir," nasally-voice, whose name was Kevin Thomas, told Doctor Walsh.
"Oh she is, is she?" The doctor smiled cruelly. "Well, then perhaps we should provide her with some entertainment."
"Sir?" Thomas raised an eyebrow in question.
"The tapes we have been making of the sessions. Show them to her. I'm sure she's been anxious to know what's been happening to her vampire friend. Now, she will."
Walsh smiled, and the others all followed suit, save for the young woman whose expression had not changed at all throughout the short meeting.
* * *
On the fourth day, Thomas arrived as usual for Buffy's interrogation session. Only this time, there were no questions.
"You wanted something to do." He smiled cruelly. "Well, here's a little entertainment." He pressed a button, and the TV screen in Buffy's cell flickered to life. On it, she could make out a man dressed in blue scrubs, strapped to a table. A man, or rather vampire, with familiar peroxide blond hair and pale skin. Two men in white lab coats stood on either side of him.
"Spike?" she gasped, her earlier worries about him once again coming to the forefront. These people had some connection to the Initiative, she was sure of it now. Her suspicions were confirmed even further when she heard one of the men address the other as "Walsh".
"Doctor Walsh?" she whispered. She couldn't have heard right. She tore her eyes away from the television screen to ask Nasally-voice if what she'd heard was true, but he was already gone.
A shout of pain emanated from the speakers on the TV set. Buffy's attention was once more riveted to the screen. She watched in horror as Walsh and his colleague performed several "tests" on the vampire. Several times she was tempted to turn away, but she couldn't bear not knowing what was happening to Spike.
The screams continued into the night, long after Buffy fell into a restless sleep.