Countdown: Job 14:14
By ElsaF
Spoilers: Another foray into the 24-verse. (For our readers
joining late, an alternate S6 that began with the story "The
Twenty-Fourth." Nothing to do with the TV show, "24." The
24-verse splits off after Dead Things.)
Summary: In the 24-verse, Buffy allowed Spike to explain the
demon eggs in As You Were, and apologized for the beating in
Dead Things. Spike and Buffy stayed together a little longer
than they did on screen, but they still broke up because Spike
demanded that she stop keeping their relationship a secret.
Xander figured out that Buffy was seeing Spike during an all-
night talk-a-thon while he and Spike were trapped in a bank
vault.
Acknowledgement: Thanks to Cindy for suggesting the Bible
verse that forms the title of this segment.
If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed
time will I wait, till my change come.
-- Job 14:14
Clem and Gah were sharing a tub of hot wings and watching
Knight Rider on Spike's television when he got back to his
crypt.
"Hey, Spike," Clem said, holding out the bucket of wings.
"Hope you don't mind. I don't have cable, and there's a
marathon."
Spike waved off the wings.
"S'OK," he said, barely loud enough to be heard. He would
have slumped into his armchair, but Clem was sitting there.
Gah was lying on his side on the floor, his head propped up on
one hand, watching the television. The Fyarl demon was too
big to fit in the chair comfortably, so he was content to take his
ease without the benefit of furniture. Spike walked past his
uninvited houseguests and went to lie down on the
sarcophagus.
Clem gave his friend a worried look.
"Something wrong?"
"Nothing." Spike crossed his arms over his chest and sighed.
"Trouble with the Slayer?"
Another deep sigh.
"Thump!" Gah said sympathetically.
A little smile crossed Spike's face.
"Isn't anything that thumping's gonna solve, mate" he said with
resignation.
"Hey," Clem said, "Buffy's sweet, but I think she's kinda hard
on her guys. Girl's got issues."
"Yeah, I know."
"I think the whole resurrection thing sort of screwed her head,"
Clem offered. "You just gotta say, 'Hey, that's just her,' and go
on."
"That's the trouble," Spike replied. "It isn't just her."
--------------
"All right, I've got the phone traced," Willow said
triumphantly. "These guys are toast!"
Willow was seated at the dinning room table in Buffy's house,
Tara standing behind her looking over her shoulder at the
laptop screen.
"They're no match for my girl," Tara said proudly.
"That's right!" Willow looked over her shoulder to beam at
Tara.
Xander was seated beside Willow, where he didn't have a good
view of the screen -- not that it mattered -- he hadn't a clue to
what the display was showing. Buffy was seated across from
Xander, with a view of the back of the computer. She had just
arrived home from work when Willow got the signal that
Xander's stolen cell phone was in use. She was still wearing
her orange Doublemeat Palace uniform.
Buffy sighed. "I guess we have to go do something about it
then," she said listlessly.
"Buffy, if you're not feeling well, we can take care of this,"
Willow said. "These are just the nerds. We'll go and call the
police and Xander can identify them as the ones who robbed
the bank. They've got the phone and that'll be pretty good
evidence. No demons or vampires involved. We don't really
need a Slayer here."
Buffy shook her head. "No. We have no idea what they'll have
up their sleeve. They froze the guard at the museum. They
turned me invisible. They messed up time somehow when they
got me all confused over that girl's body. They've called up
several demons. And I'm pretty sure they killed that girl. No
way I'm letting you guys go after them alone.
"In fact, maybe you guys better stay here. I'll handle it."
"No, Buffy. Not this time," Xander said firmly. "This isn't just
your fight. They locked me in a bank vault with Spike. This
time it's personal!"
Buffy gave in with uncharacteristic ease. "All right. Let me
change clothes." She got up and started for the stairs, but
stopped.
"Look, before we get started on this and get all distracted, I've
got something I want to say. Best to say it when we're all here
together."
"Yes?" Willow said, looking up from the laptop.
"I know this seems like a strange time to just come out and say
this, but I've got to do it before I lose my nerve..."
"We're all ears," Xander replied.
"I've been seeing Spike."
Silence.
"Did you hear me? I've been ... with Spike."
No reaction.
"Has everybody been struck deaf and dumb?"
"No," Xander said carefully. "Just waiting for the shocking
revelation."
"That was it. I've been seeing Spike."
"And?" Xander said.
"What do you mean, 'and?' That was it."
"Oh, I see. Fine. It's just that usually, the big shocking
revelation is something everybody doesn't already know."
"You knew? Spike told you? That son of a ..."
"No. Spike didn't tell me," Xander said, shaking his head. "In
fact, when I asked him about it, he lied like a rug. Wouldn't
admit it. But it's not like it wasn't obvious, Buff."
"Obvious?" Buffy said in a pitiful voice.
"Yeah. When you were invisible, and I went to Spike's crypt to
ask if he'd seen you -- it's not like I couldn't tell you were there.
I mean, I was just being polite, pretending I didn't know. If you
didn't want to talk about it..."
"Oh." Buffy looked at the floor. "Willow, I suppose Tara told
you..."
"No!" Tara said vehemently.
"No, she didn't," Willow added. "I figured it out for myself.
Best friend who lives with you, hello... You've been
disappearing for hours. You come back from patrol so much
later than you used to. And when you come back you always
smell a little bit of cigarette smoke. Who do we know who
smokes? And some of the bruises -- well, I know a hickey
when I see one."
"Oh..."
Buffy took a deep breath. "I guess I still need to tell Dawn..."
"Um... no," Willow said uncomfortably.
"You told Dawn?"
"Not on purpose! Last night, Tara and I were sort of talking
about it -- not that she told me, I already knew -- and Dawn
walked in on us."
"Oh no! How did she react? Was she angry?"
"Her exact words were, let me see if I can get this right: 'Oh,
God, that is so neat! Oh, wow!' "
"You mean I've been keeping this deep, dark secret, and
sneaking around and letting it eat a hole in my gut, and
everybody knew and nobody cared?"
"I wouldn't say nobody cared," Xander said. "I care. But I don't
exactly get veto power over your dating choices, do I? Correct
me if I'm wrong, because if I actually do, I'm going to tell you
to dump Spike, and try for someone better, like maybe Vin
Diesel -- but I don't know, he might be hard to get a hold of
these days. But he was sure cool on the snowboard."
"Everybody knows?"
"Well, probably not everybody -- if everybody includes, you
know, everybody," Willow said with a little smile. "You could
probably still tell Anya and surprise her, if that's any help. And
nobody's talked to Giles lately, since he's in England and all."
"OK, I can see the major traumas of my life continue to
provide light amusement for the masses. I'm going to change
clothes, then we can go kick some nerd butt."
"All for the application of boot to nerd posterior," Xander said
enthusiastically.
Tara followed Buffy to the stairs.
"See? I told you everything would get easier," she said gently.
"Yeah, you did. Thanks." She gave Tara a hug, then turned to
go upstairs.
--------------
Spike sat up abruptly, and slid off the top of the sarcophagus to
start pacing like a caged animal.
"It's not just her issues. Would I have put up with her not
wanting to be seen with me if I didn't believe I wasn't good
enough? Would I?"
"Well, you know, it's a little bit odd, a vampire dating the
Slayer," Clem said carefully. "Some people wouldn't think it
was you who wasn't good enough. I wouldn't blame you for not
wanting to be seen around town ..."
"Bollocks!"
Clem shrugged.
"What have I got to offer her? I'm nothing."
Gah frowned. "Wrong! Not nothing! Gah friend!" he said,
pounding his fist on the floor.
Clem and Spike both looked at Gah in surprise. Five words in a
row was a virtual soliloquy coming from a Fyarl.
"Thanks, mate, but you don't see it like I do. I remember --
there was a time -- I thought I was a good man. I thought I was
going to go on living and make the world better. Write great
poems. Marry a beautiful woman and bring up strong, healthy
children. I thought I'd come to the end of my life and people
would say I'd made a difference.
"And then everything changed. And I thought I was a monster
-- not just any monster -- the monster's monster. The slayer of
Slayers. I was bad -- really bad. A killer. A destroyer. Chaos
incarnate.
"Then they put this chip in my head, and I'm not that either.
And I don't have any place in the world."
Gah looked confused. "Your place," he said, patting the floor.
Spike shook his head. "Why do I bother living in a crypt? I'm
not one of the things that go bump in the night anymore. I have
a hard time scaring little old ladies and little children. What the
hell am I?"
"You're Spike," Clem answered. "You help out the Slayer."
"No. I make it harder for her. I'm something she has to keep
hidden in the dark. She can't be seen with the likes of me. I
don't blame her."
"You gotta have known the thing with the Slayer was a long
shot," Clem said. "Maybe it's time to move on. Plenty of fish in
the sea. Find yourself a nice fledgling girl. Bring her up right."
Spike shook his head. "No. Can't do it. Just can't seem to let
go," he said, his voice tight as he struggled to overcome the
lump in his throat.
"Come on. Sit down and watch some Knight Rider. You'll feel
better. You can have the chair..."
Spike shook his head. "I can't go on this way. Neither fish nor
fowl. I can't ask her to love me, when I've nothing to offer her.
Something has to change."
"Take it easy, Spike. Get some rest. Everything will look better
when you've had some hot wings..."
"No. There's nothing for it. She can't love a soulless vampire.
Of course she can't. It's absurd. She's the Slayer! It's not her
fault."
Spike stopped in the middle of the crypt and looked up at the
ceiling. "I have to change. I can change. I will change..."
---------------
Buffy watched as Jonathan and Andrew were loaded into a
police car, their hands cuffed behind their backs. Warren had
escaped -- with a jetpack of all things. Andrew might have
done the same, but he'd buckled the straps wrong, and when he
activated the escape device, it had escaped -- without him,
singing his hair as it rose over his head.
I was pretty clear they'd planned to leave Jonathan behind.
Buffy almost felt sorry for him -- but not quite. There'd been
too much irritation served up her way for her to be completely
sympathetic.
Tara came up beside her. "Willow and I are going to look
around and see if there's anything here that gives us a clue to
where Warren went."
Buffy nodded.
"The paramedics say Xander's arm will be OK. The cut isn't
that bad. Good thing you knocked him down when you did.
That buzz saw would have taken his head off."
Buffy nodded again.
"And the Bolshoi Ballet is asking for snacks. We're thinking of
sending out for borscht and blini..."
"Hmmm... what?"
"Oh, then you were listening."
"Sorry. Something else on my mind."
"Places to go, vampires to see?"
"Yeah..."
-------------
Clem and Gah were back to watching Knight Rider when
Buffy came in. Clem started and knocked over his plate of
nachos. He bent over and started putting them back on the
plate.
"Spike around?" she asked, before she noticed the Fyarl lying
on the floor, head propped up on one hand, a bucket of hot
wings in front of him.
Buffy stepped back and assumed a fighting stance. "Clem, that
a Fyarl..."
"Oh, yeah. You've never met Gah, have you? Gah, this is
Buffy."
"You're friends with a Fyarl?"
Clem just looked back at her as if the question made no sense,
which to his mind, it didn't.
"Sorry... I'm looking for Spike."
"Oh. He's gone."
"Gone? Where?"
"He didn't say where he was going. He did say he wasn't going
to be back for a while. Gah and me are going to watch the crypt
for him. A prime spot like this would get taken over in no time
-- besides, he's got cable."
"Gone?"
"Yeah. You want some nachos?"
Buffy shook her head. "If ... when he comes back, would you
tell him I'm looking for him?"
Clem nodded. "No problem. Sure you don't want to stay and
watch Knight Rider? They're up to the one with David
Hasselhoff in a dual role -- he gets to be the bad guy too."
"No, just tell Spike when you see him, OK?"
She went back outside and closed the door, leaning back
against the cool surface. Oh God. He was gone. She'd waited
too long.
It just wasn't fair.
---------------
Gah looked up at Clem after Buffy left. He shook his head in
puzzlement.
"Puny," he said with disgust.
"Yeah, and her skin's so tight. Don't really see what Spike sees
in her."
The Fyarl just shook his head.
---------------
Spike stopped the motorcycle at the top of the hill that
overlooked Sunnydale. The lights of the town spread out like
jewels scattered over black velvet. It was time to get going. He
had seven hours or so before daylight. He needed to cover
some distance before then. He took one more look back over
the place he'd called home for longer than he'd stayed in one
place at any other time in the nearly 120 years he'd been a
vampire.
"Farewell to what was," he said softly. He cast his mind back --
farther than he usually cared to remember. Back to his youth.
Studying with Father Burton in the rectory on Saturday
afternoons. The words floated back to him.
**Man born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also
as a shadow, and continueth not.
And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest
me into judgment with thee?
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?**
He threw down his cigarette and crushed out the ember with
the toe of his boot.
**If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my
appointed time will I wait, till my change come.**
By ElsaF
Spoilers: Another foray into the 24-verse. (For our readers
joining late, an alternate S6 that began with the story "The
Twenty-Fourth." Nothing to do with the TV show, "24." The
24-verse splits off after Dead Things.)
Summary: In the 24-verse, Buffy allowed Spike to explain the
demon eggs in As You Were, and apologized for the beating in
Dead Things. Spike and Buffy stayed together a little longer
than they did on screen, but they still broke up because Spike
demanded that she stop keeping their relationship a secret.
Xander figured out that Buffy was seeing Spike during an all-
night talk-a-thon while he and Spike were trapped in a bank
vault.
Acknowledgement: Thanks to Cindy for suggesting the Bible
verse that forms the title of this segment.
If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed
time will I wait, till my change come.
-- Job 14:14
Clem and Gah were sharing a tub of hot wings and watching
Knight Rider on Spike's television when he got back to his
crypt.
"Hey, Spike," Clem said, holding out the bucket of wings.
"Hope you don't mind. I don't have cable, and there's a
marathon."
Spike waved off the wings.
"S'OK," he said, barely loud enough to be heard. He would
have slumped into his armchair, but Clem was sitting there.
Gah was lying on his side on the floor, his head propped up on
one hand, watching the television. The Fyarl demon was too
big to fit in the chair comfortably, so he was content to take his
ease without the benefit of furniture. Spike walked past his
uninvited houseguests and went to lie down on the
sarcophagus.
Clem gave his friend a worried look.
"Something wrong?"
"Nothing." Spike crossed his arms over his chest and sighed.
"Trouble with the Slayer?"
Another deep sigh.
"Thump!" Gah said sympathetically.
A little smile crossed Spike's face.
"Isn't anything that thumping's gonna solve, mate" he said with
resignation.
"Hey," Clem said, "Buffy's sweet, but I think she's kinda hard
on her guys. Girl's got issues."
"Yeah, I know."
"I think the whole resurrection thing sort of screwed her head,"
Clem offered. "You just gotta say, 'Hey, that's just her,' and go
on."
"That's the trouble," Spike replied. "It isn't just her."
--------------
"All right, I've got the phone traced," Willow said
triumphantly. "These guys are toast!"
Willow was seated at the dinning room table in Buffy's house,
Tara standing behind her looking over her shoulder at the
laptop screen.
"They're no match for my girl," Tara said proudly.
"That's right!" Willow looked over her shoulder to beam at
Tara.
Xander was seated beside Willow, where he didn't have a good
view of the screen -- not that it mattered -- he hadn't a clue to
what the display was showing. Buffy was seated across from
Xander, with a view of the back of the computer. She had just
arrived home from work when Willow got the signal that
Xander's stolen cell phone was in use. She was still wearing
her orange Doublemeat Palace uniform.
Buffy sighed. "I guess we have to go do something about it
then," she said listlessly.
"Buffy, if you're not feeling well, we can take care of this,"
Willow said. "These are just the nerds. We'll go and call the
police and Xander can identify them as the ones who robbed
the bank. They've got the phone and that'll be pretty good
evidence. No demons or vampires involved. We don't really
need a Slayer here."
Buffy shook her head. "No. We have no idea what they'll have
up their sleeve. They froze the guard at the museum. They
turned me invisible. They messed up time somehow when they
got me all confused over that girl's body. They've called up
several demons. And I'm pretty sure they killed that girl. No
way I'm letting you guys go after them alone.
"In fact, maybe you guys better stay here. I'll handle it."
"No, Buffy. Not this time," Xander said firmly. "This isn't just
your fight. They locked me in a bank vault with Spike. This
time it's personal!"
Buffy gave in with uncharacteristic ease. "All right. Let me
change clothes." She got up and started for the stairs, but
stopped.
"Look, before we get started on this and get all distracted, I've
got something I want to say. Best to say it when we're all here
together."
"Yes?" Willow said, looking up from the laptop.
"I know this seems like a strange time to just come out and say
this, but I've got to do it before I lose my nerve..."
"We're all ears," Xander replied.
"I've been seeing Spike."
Silence.
"Did you hear me? I've been ... with Spike."
No reaction.
"Has everybody been struck deaf and dumb?"
"No," Xander said carefully. "Just waiting for the shocking
revelation."
"That was it. I've been seeing Spike."
"And?" Xander said.
"What do you mean, 'and?' That was it."
"Oh, I see. Fine. It's just that usually, the big shocking
revelation is something everybody doesn't already know."
"You knew? Spike told you? That son of a ..."
"No. Spike didn't tell me," Xander said, shaking his head. "In
fact, when I asked him about it, he lied like a rug. Wouldn't
admit it. But it's not like it wasn't obvious, Buff."
"Obvious?" Buffy said in a pitiful voice.
"Yeah. When you were invisible, and I went to Spike's crypt to
ask if he'd seen you -- it's not like I couldn't tell you were there.
I mean, I was just being polite, pretending I didn't know. If you
didn't want to talk about it..."
"Oh." Buffy looked at the floor. "Willow, I suppose Tara told
you..."
"No!" Tara said vehemently.
"No, she didn't," Willow added. "I figured it out for myself.
Best friend who lives with you, hello... You've been
disappearing for hours. You come back from patrol so much
later than you used to. And when you come back you always
smell a little bit of cigarette smoke. Who do we know who
smokes? And some of the bruises -- well, I know a hickey
when I see one."
"Oh..."
Buffy took a deep breath. "I guess I still need to tell Dawn..."
"Um... no," Willow said uncomfortably.
"You told Dawn?"
"Not on purpose! Last night, Tara and I were sort of talking
about it -- not that she told me, I already knew -- and Dawn
walked in on us."
"Oh no! How did she react? Was she angry?"
"Her exact words were, let me see if I can get this right: 'Oh,
God, that is so neat! Oh, wow!' "
"You mean I've been keeping this deep, dark secret, and
sneaking around and letting it eat a hole in my gut, and
everybody knew and nobody cared?"
"I wouldn't say nobody cared," Xander said. "I care. But I don't
exactly get veto power over your dating choices, do I? Correct
me if I'm wrong, because if I actually do, I'm going to tell you
to dump Spike, and try for someone better, like maybe Vin
Diesel -- but I don't know, he might be hard to get a hold of
these days. But he was sure cool on the snowboard."
"Everybody knows?"
"Well, probably not everybody -- if everybody includes, you
know, everybody," Willow said with a little smile. "You could
probably still tell Anya and surprise her, if that's any help. And
nobody's talked to Giles lately, since he's in England and all."
"OK, I can see the major traumas of my life continue to
provide light amusement for the masses. I'm going to change
clothes, then we can go kick some nerd butt."
"All for the application of boot to nerd posterior," Xander said
enthusiastically.
Tara followed Buffy to the stairs.
"See? I told you everything would get easier," she said gently.
"Yeah, you did. Thanks." She gave Tara a hug, then turned to
go upstairs.
--------------
Spike sat up abruptly, and slid off the top of the sarcophagus to
start pacing like a caged animal.
"It's not just her issues. Would I have put up with her not
wanting to be seen with me if I didn't believe I wasn't good
enough? Would I?"
"Well, you know, it's a little bit odd, a vampire dating the
Slayer," Clem said carefully. "Some people wouldn't think it
was you who wasn't good enough. I wouldn't blame you for not
wanting to be seen around town ..."
"Bollocks!"
Clem shrugged.
"What have I got to offer her? I'm nothing."
Gah frowned. "Wrong! Not nothing! Gah friend!" he said,
pounding his fist on the floor.
Clem and Spike both looked at Gah in surprise. Five words in a
row was a virtual soliloquy coming from a Fyarl.
"Thanks, mate, but you don't see it like I do. I remember --
there was a time -- I thought I was a good man. I thought I was
going to go on living and make the world better. Write great
poems. Marry a beautiful woman and bring up strong, healthy
children. I thought I'd come to the end of my life and people
would say I'd made a difference.
"And then everything changed. And I thought I was a monster
-- not just any monster -- the monster's monster. The slayer of
Slayers. I was bad -- really bad. A killer. A destroyer. Chaos
incarnate.
"Then they put this chip in my head, and I'm not that either.
And I don't have any place in the world."
Gah looked confused. "Your place," he said, patting the floor.
Spike shook his head. "Why do I bother living in a crypt? I'm
not one of the things that go bump in the night anymore. I have
a hard time scaring little old ladies and little children. What the
hell am I?"
"You're Spike," Clem answered. "You help out the Slayer."
"No. I make it harder for her. I'm something she has to keep
hidden in the dark. She can't be seen with the likes of me. I
don't blame her."
"You gotta have known the thing with the Slayer was a long
shot," Clem said. "Maybe it's time to move on. Plenty of fish in
the sea. Find yourself a nice fledgling girl. Bring her up right."
Spike shook his head. "No. Can't do it. Just can't seem to let
go," he said, his voice tight as he struggled to overcome the
lump in his throat.
"Come on. Sit down and watch some Knight Rider. You'll feel
better. You can have the chair..."
Spike shook his head. "I can't go on this way. Neither fish nor
fowl. I can't ask her to love me, when I've nothing to offer her.
Something has to change."
"Take it easy, Spike. Get some rest. Everything will look better
when you've had some hot wings..."
"No. There's nothing for it. She can't love a soulless vampire.
Of course she can't. It's absurd. She's the Slayer! It's not her
fault."
Spike stopped in the middle of the crypt and looked up at the
ceiling. "I have to change. I can change. I will change..."
---------------
Buffy watched as Jonathan and Andrew were loaded into a
police car, their hands cuffed behind their backs. Warren had
escaped -- with a jetpack of all things. Andrew might have
done the same, but he'd buckled the straps wrong, and when he
activated the escape device, it had escaped -- without him,
singing his hair as it rose over his head.
I was pretty clear they'd planned to leave Jonathan behind.
Buffy almost felt sorry for him -- but not quite. There'd been
too much irritation served up her way for her to be completely
sympathetic.
Tara came up beside her. "Willow and I are going to look
around and see if there's anything here that gives us a clue to
where Warren went."
Buffy nodded.
"The paramedics say Xander's arm will be OK. The cut isn't
that bad. Good thing you knocked him down when you did.
That buzz saw would have taken his head off."
Buffy nodded again.
"And the Bolshoi Ballet is asking for snacks. We're thinking of
sending out for borscht and blini..."
"Hmmm... what?"
"Oh, then you were listening."
"Sorry. Something else on my mind."
"Places to go, vampires to see?"
"Yeah..."
-------------
Clem and Gah were back to watching Knight Rider when
Buffy came in. Clem started and knocked over his plate of
nachos. He bent over and started putting them back on the
plate.
"Spike around?" she asked, before she noticed the Fyarl lying
on the floor, head propped up on one hand, a bucket of hot
wings in front of him.
Buffy stepped back and assumed a fighting stance. "Clem, that
a Fyarl..."
"Oh, yeah. You've never met Gah, have you? Gah, this is
Buffy."
"You're friends with a Fyarl?"
Clem just looked back at her as if the question made no sense,
which to his mind, it didn't.
"Sorry... I'm looking for Spike."
"Oh. He's gone."
"Gone? Where?"
"He didn't say where he was going. He did say he wasn't going
to be back for a while. Gah and me are going to watch the crypt
for him. A prime spot like this would get taken over in no time
-- besides, he's got cable."
"Gone?"
"Yeah. You want some nachos?"
Buffy shook her head. "If ... when he comes back, would you
tell him I'm looking for him?"
Clem nodded. "No problem. Sure you don't want to stay and
watch Knight Rider? They're up to the one with David
Hasselhoff in a dual role -- he gets to be the bad guy too."
"No, just tell Spike when you see him, OK?"
She went back outside and closed the door, leaning back
against the cool surface. Oh God. He was gone. She'd waited
too long.
It just wasn't fair.
---------------
Gah looked up at Clem after Buffy left. He shook his head in
puzzlement.
"Puny," he said with disgust.
"Yeah, and her skin's so tight. Don't really see what Spike sees
in her."
The Fyarl just shook his head.
---------------
Spike stopped the motorcycle at the top of the hill that
overlooked Sunnydale. The lights of the town spread out like
jewels scattered over black velvet. It was time to get going. He
had seven hours or so before daylight. He needed to cover
some distance before then. He took one more look back over
the place he'd called home for longer than he'd stayed in one
place at any other time in the nearly 120 years he'd been a
vampire.
"Farewell to what was," he said softly. He cast his mind back --
farther than he usually cared to remember. Back to his youth.
Studying with Father Burton in the rectory on Saturday
afternoons. The words floated back to him.
**Man born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also
as a shadow, and continueth not.
And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest
me into judgment with thee?
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?**
He threw down his cigarette and crushed out the ember with
the toe of his boot.
**If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my
appointed time will I wait, till my change come.**