Title:                 A Demon's Deal - 4

Summary:         Spike comes back wrong, told from Buffy's POV.  In the last chapter, Buffy interrupts Spike as he is tormenting a pair of Chaos Demons.  She discovers that her Spike still exists, but the evil soul he received from the demon is in charge.     

Disclaimer:        The characters are the property of Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon

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The Reckoning

We prepared throughout the next morning, sharpening stakes and honing the edges on axes and swords.  We were going to war and we knew it.  It was unfortunate that the person we were going to battle against knew how we operated, our strengths and weaknesses. And we were weak.  No Giles, no Willow.  And no Spike to help us.  Clem, Anya, Xander and I headed towards Spike's crypt that afternoon.  Under the autumn sun, among the tombstones and graves, I shivered.    We crept closer, huddled together, my little group of warriors.

For months, that crypt with its sarcophagus, comfy chair and television, had felt a little like home.  It was welcoming and safe and, briefly, I had been happy there.  I had been loved there.  Now the crypt stood quiet and cold, as we approached the door. 

Taking a deep breath, I kicked the door open and we moved inside.  The crypt appeared to be abandoned.  It was only as we turned to leave that we saw the message Spike had left for us.  It was the larger Chaos demon that I had seen at Willy's bar.  Damn.  I 'd been hoping that he had gotten away when we did.  He was lying on the floor behind the door.  The message etched into his flesh read.  "Try Again".

So we tried again and again.  We checked out the wreckage of the burned warehouse.  We looked in the caves.  The Crawford Street Mansion was abandoned too.  We even checked Xander's basement and Giles' old apartment.  Nothing. We did find something at the Hellmouth, though. 

Several demons were there, trying to summon powers to make themselves invincible.  It didn't take much effort to figure out why.  I paused, thinking that it might not be a bad thing to have some more demons on our side.  But, since they weren't phrasing their request as wanting invincibility until they killed Spike, I figured I better go ahead and kill them while the killing was good. 

After the battle I saw Anya kicking a dead demon, where, if he had been alive, it might've done some good.  Xander and Clem were both watching her, flinching in a typical guy reaction.  Since I was the only one not instinctively covering myself, I walked over and tried to talk to her.

"Anya, it's dead."

"Not dead enough.  Look at this," she cried pointing to a rip in her blouse.  "He tore my blouse and it was my favorite. 

She stomped down again, hard and I was reminded of Kendra's anger at the Taraka assassin for slicing her shirt.   I froze.  Kendra had died because Angel had distracted me, leading me away from my friends.  Now cold fear gripped me as I realized something.  Maybe Spike was distracting me too?

Dawn! 

We raced back towards Revello Drive.  It hadn't been dark long and I prayed that we weren't too late.  But as we reached my house we saw the front window smashed, and glass littered the floor of the living room.  I knew Spike couldn't enter without an invitation, so he must have sent his demon friends.  Inside I found the body of a Tesseturatori Demon.  They're pretty easy to identify because of their extremely large, sensitive ears that hang down from their heads to their hips.  The ears on this one were bleeding, and a wave of pride came over me.  You've got to hand it to Dawn.  Not many girls could kill a demon, even a Tesseturatori demon, simply by screaming.  You need to hit those really shrill tones.

I continued to search the ground floor while Anya and Xander checked out the upstairs.  Clem took the basement.  No Dawn.    We went back outside to see if we could find any clues as to where they might have taken her.

"Buffy, you don't have a really big dog that sheds a lot, do you?"

Anya pointed to a large clump of fur about ten feet from the front door. 

"Or it could be a bear, I guess."

I shook my head. 

"No big dogs or bears around here." 

We all headed in the same direction as Anya. Anya let out a little squeal. 

"Look another one!  I 'm really good at this whole tracking business."

Sure enough, lying another fifteen feet from the first clump was a second large clump of hair.  Dawn was leaving a trail.  My sister, the hair puller strikes again.

The trail led all the way over to my next-door neighbor's house.  I've lost neighbors before to villains who were trying to get close to me, the most memorable being the worm guy.  If this trend kept up, though, real estate agents were going to have to start disclosing it to potential buyers.  The roof leaks.  The house lies on a flood plain.   Oh yes, the Slayer lives next door.

Quietly, Anya, Xander, Clem, and I walked up on the porch. 

"You know, if we're wrong about this, then I'm going to be banned from block parties for life," I whispered to my companions. 

With a powerful kick I sent the door flying inward and entered, sword ready.      

My neighbors were into the chrome, glass and leather type of furniture, which really didn't go with the style of the house. On the other hand, you could probably clean blood off of it pretty easily. If any of my neighbors had survived, that was going to come in handy. 

Two demons were in the living room trying to tie Dawn up.  I say trying, because Dawn was struggling for all she was worth.  They already had a gag in her mouth and her hands were tied, but her feet were still causing them problems.  One of the demons was making a real effort, but the furry one who sported several bald patches, seemed more concerned about staying out of the range of Dawn's sneakers.  This put him a lot closer to the front door than his companion, so he was the first to die.  The second demon didn't last much longer. 

Xander and Anya were helping Dawn to her feet and untying her hands when I heard a noise behind us.  I spun around and saw Spike and his last demon friend standing in the doorway. The remaining demon was huge.  Spike looked at the broken door then back at me. 

"What is it with you and doors, Summers?  Your sis is The Key.  Maybe you should consider being the Turner of Knobs.

"I just like to make sure there aren't any monsters hiding behind them."

"Should know me better.  Don't hide behind anything."

"What about your friend here, Mr. Hulking Brute?

"Him?  Don't worry, luv.  He's not going hurt you.  Now, the others, they may not be so lucky. 

I launched myself forward.  Not at Spike, as he obviously expected, but at the demon.  I landed on the beast, knocking him into the sofa, tipping it over from the force of our weight hitting it. 

"Xander, get Dawn out of here!" I yelled. 

Anya and Xander, with Clem following close behind, pushed Dawn towards the exit.  They were running out of the house when I was dragged off the demon, and tossed to the far side of the room, losing my sword.  As I got to my feet, I saw the demon racing after them and moved to stop it, but Spike was blocking my path.  He came closer. 

"Seems it's just you and me, now."

I pulled a stake out of the back of my waistband. 

"Fine with me.  I prefer you, anyway."

As he neared me, I kicked him once in the gut and then in the face.  I was going for a third time in the chest, when he caught my foot and twisted, spinning me to the floor.  I quickly flipped back to my feet. 

"Why were you after Dawn?  It's me you want."

"Do want you.  But on my terms.  Sis was just going to be a bit of a bargaining chip.     

He threw a punch at me, which I ducked.  I managed to hit him in the jaw, but he didn't slow down.  He grabbed my arm and threw me against the wall.  Pictures of my happy, smiling neighbors hung nearby.  As I thrust my elbow behind me, into Spike's face, I watched the photos tremble and fall to the ground.

He stumbled a few feet back.  I turned and kicked him, knocking him to the floor.  Leaping on top of him, I straddled him. My stake was over his heart.  All it would take now would be one quick downward thrust, then, he would be gone forever.  I hesitated. 

"You can't kill me, can you Summers?" he taunted.  "You've never been able to kill me.  You can't even admit to yourself the real reason you never wanted to tell your friends about us."

"You mean besides the fact that you're a homicidal maniac?"

With a quick twist, he knocked me to the side and rolled on top of me, pinning my arms. 

"You were afraid they'd make you stop.  Make you stop seeing me, stop sleeping with me.   That was something you didn't want to do."

"Ego, much?"

Leaning closer he hissed in my ear. 

"You love me."

"No, it was never love."

I pushed him off, sending him crashing into a glass table, and got to my feet.  As he stood, shards tinkled and sprayed around him. Once again he came at me. 

"I'm sure you could have found someone other than a disgusting, evil fiend to have sex with you, if that's all it was.  Could have done it with that stupid git, Richard the night you met him, and your friends would've been happy as clams." 

I yelled as I punched Spike hard in the face.

"That would have been using him.  It would have hurt him."

He returned my punch.  We backed off and eyed each other, looking for weaknesses. 

"If you were just into the using, you could've gone by the Bronze and picked up a dozen different men every night.  They would've been more than happy to be used by you." 

"I don't do things like that."

"No, you don't, do you?  Face it Summers, it was love. 

He couldn't be right could he?  I had never even considered sleeping with anyone else.  Spike was the one who made me feel alive.  The only one. 

"Too bad lover boy isn't really around anymore, isn't it?" he continued.   "And I've got you to thank for it.  You made him weak."

"It wasn't me.  It was the chip."

We circled each other.  He would take a step forward; I would take a step back.  I would step to the side and he would match it, looking for an opening.

"Been thinking about this little chip problem of mine. Running low on demons in this town and have to be more creative in my fun.  Think the chip would go off if I happened to drop a lit cigarette in the trash at the movies?  Or maybe caused a gas leak somewhere?" 

I was horrified.

"It was never the chip that stopped me, Summers.  Never."

            Spike slammed into me, pushing me up against the wall, holding me there against his body. 

"I've always been able to get inside your head and figure you out.  Made me so damn frustrated that you wouldn't admit to loving me, a soulless thing.  Got a soul now, just for you.  Don't you like it?"

"It's sick.  Twisted."

I kicked him hard.  He flew back several yards landing on his side.  He smirked as he looked up at me.

 "Yeah, it is, isn't.  Too bad you can't make me lose it like you did Angel's."

Stunned, I stared at him, then, I heard Dawn cry out.  Oh, God, the demon!  I couldn't believe that I'd forgotten about it.  I ran, leaving Spike still on the floor.   In the yard, Xander and Clem's weapons gleamed, blood running down over the metal while the dead demon lay at their feet.  They were staring at an upset Dawn, panting, trying to catch their breath.

"Dawn, what's wrong?"

"Stupid demon.  Bled on my new Sketchers." 

By the time I went back into the house, Spike had disappeared. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

That evening after Xander did his best to cover up the broken window, we sat in the living room and analyzed the results of the night.  Spike had killed the Chaos Demon and my neighbors.  We had killed all four of Spike's demon friends, plus the demons at the Hellmouth.  The only casualties we personally sustained were a ruined blouse and sneakers.  The final casualty I didn't mention to the others.  I'd lost my firm conviction that I wasn't in love with the Spike.  Spike, who was now trapped inside a body with an evil soul.

I needed advice so I called the one person I could always count on for clear thinking.  The phone rang and rang, until it was finally picked up.  I heard fumbling on the other end, and then, a familiar but groggy voice came on the line. 

"Hello?"  Giles mumbled.

"Giles, It's me, Buffy." 

"Buffy?"

"I hope you're not mad that I called you."

"Certainly not.  I am always more than happy to talk to you at…four thirty in the morning.  What seems to be the problem?"

"It's Spike.  He's back."

I heard a sigh.  I'd told Giles about my relationship with Spike.  Well, an extremely edited and censored version of the relationship, but Giles knew Spike and probably had no difficulty filling in the great big, gaping holes I had left in the story when I'd talked to him. 

"Buffy, it was to be expected.  Sunnydale is, for better or worse, Spike's place of residence.  He was bound to return."

"You don't understand." 

Taking a deep breath, I continued.

"Spike came back wrong."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -

After getting off the phone with Giles, I stood there thinking.  I missed Giles.  Really, really missed him.  But I missed someone else more.  Spike.  I wanted to trade insults with him.  When one of his more pointed remarks hit a sore spot, I wanted to see his eyes flicker with a twinge of remorse.  I wanted to throw myself in his arms and be rocked and comforted.    I missed the sex, but I missed him holding me afterwards more.  I missed him telling me that he loved me. 

Even through the walls of my house I could feel him outside, prowling.  I closed my eyes tightly and let my Slayer senses seek out the demon in him.  He was in the backyard now, close by, watching, and when he felt me he stopped pacing.  For minutes I reveled in the feel of him, before the sound of the doorbell broke me out of my reverie.  I hurried to answer it, pretending to myself that those last few moments hadn't happened.

And when I opened the door, I couldn't believe this was happening either.  Outside, standing on my front porch was someone I never thought I'd ever see again.

"Be a dearie and invite me in," Drusilla crooned. 

Only one chapter left.