Title: Poison Berries

Author: Tai Blanchet

Disclaimer: I only own the character Holly; all of the other characters belong to Joss Wheadon.

Summary: set after season 6.  Spike is in Africa, recovering from doing his tasks.  He meets an archaeologist and they become great friends, but it doesn't end as sweet as candy… more like Poison Berries. Possible character death. Please R&R.

Any useful info: ***** means that there is a flashback.  Also italics are the characters thoughts.  That should be it for now…

~Poison Berries~

~Chapter 1~

Spike feel to the floor howling with pain.  His head smashed on the stone surface and his whole body lolled unconsciously.

The sun started to seep through the cave entrance revealing the ancient drawings.  Spike's eyes started to open from deeper inside the cave.

          "AAAAAAAAAARGH! What the bloody hell is going on!"  He held his chest with the throbbing pain becoming more and more painful.  He noticed that he was charred and sore all over. "I…I don't understand…" His accent thick.  He swallowed. "Where am I?"

          "Hello??? Can I hear some one?"  I young brunette shone a torch in his direction.  "Oh my God! Are you alright?" 

          "Yeah, should be… What are you doing in here it's dangerous!"

          "I think I should be the one asking you that!  This is a very unstable cave; you need to get out of here.  We only want the scrolls hidden down the back, but leys get you out of here first."

          "Who are you?"

          "Lets worry about that when we get outside."  She helped Spike up and let him outwards.  The Sun looked warm and inviting but Spike couldn't work out why it seemed so dangerous.  Spike placed his foot in a beam of light and instantly there was a massive wave of pain weeping through his body.

          "SHIT! OOOOW! Bloody hell!"

          "Why what's wrong? Are you sure you're ok?"

          "I really don't know… who are you, can we please just go a bit further inside, the light hurts…"

          "Fine, Fine…" The brunette said now getting impatient. She couldn't understand what his problem was, if I was him, I'd want to get out as quickly as possible. She thought.  "Right what is it?"

          "I already asked you, who are you?"

          "I'm Holly.  Holly Dixon.  Can you remember who you are 'cause you took a nasty fall there."

          "I… I… I'm William…"

          "Right, William, why are you in here? This is a very dangerous cave, I'm on an expedition and by letting you stay in here I can have all my rights as an archaeologist taken away from me.  Are you going to let that happen?"

          "I can't remember anything… who am I? Who was I? And what the bloody hell am I doing in here?"

          "Listen, I need to get you outside you're obviously not well…"

          "NO! I can't go into the light!"

          "Why not? C'mon you're acting like a baby."

          "I don't know but something tells me that I can't go into the light." Spike was become hysterical and Holly even more impatient.

          "I'm sorry but I can't let you stay in here.  I'll get you a blanket or something to go out with."

          "Thank you…" 

What is up with this guy? I really don't understand… he seems distressed… oh I don't know!

Holly wasn't long.  Spike had the blanket draped over him and was prepared to run for the nearest bit of shade.

          "Are you ready now William?"

          "Well, yeah… can we just go?"   Spike sprinted out into he morning light expecting there to be a searing pain all over his body, but stood to find nothing happening. Am I human? I couldn't be…

          "Now you're out of there would you care to… bloody hell? What happened to you?!"

          "I had a fight, apparently with a guy with a flaming torch then had blood sucking bugs poured all over me and then I had a bloody… thing do something to my heart!"

          "You really did take a big fall… let's get you to a doctor…"  Spike reluctantly took the help of the archaeologists and went to the nearest medical tent.  The African doctor eyed Spike with curiosity.  He murmured something to Holly.

          "He says the burns aren't to bad, you'll need to use some ointment and keep your skin cool."

          "Yuh huh…" the memories of his past were slowly coming back to him.  The women, the men and the children he killed all remembered.  The painful looks on their faces all staring blankly up at him.  He remembered Druscilla and the way they had killed many people and erotically rearranged their bodies. 

***** (Beginning of flashback)

          "I can smell the fear Spike, I can hear them whimpering, just like puppies!" Dru crooned.  She twirled on the spot her raven hair in a cloud behind her.

          "I know pet, so can I…" Spike whispered.  "Try to be quiet love or they'll hear us."

          "Don't you want them to know that we're going to their party? It's rude not to."

          "Please don't start Dru, just wait, they'll be out here soon enough."  Druscilla was still twirling on the spot her arms trailing behind her spinning body. She really is beautiful Spike thought to himself.  They had killed many people in their time together.  Spike had once been a lowly poet and was snatched off the streets by Angelus to find himself being sired by the dark vampire herself.  She had wanted a new toy and Angelus liked to celebrate her 'birthday' with style, so this year he bought her a man, a toy, and hopefully a new mate.

The people in the house were stirring.  Spike had been throwing stones at the windows for the past half an hour trying to get the people to come out.  A little boy appeared at the window.  He stared out into the dark.  His eyes shifted over the shadows and a squinted to get a better view.  He saw nothing.  After ten or so minutes, the boy disappeared from the window and spike continued to bombard it with stones.  At last an older man appeared came to the back yard door.

          "Hello? Is there someone there?"

          "You could say that…" Spike growled.  He lunged for the man and he screamed.  This scream made the other inhabitants of the house appear and one by one, the duet of vampires killed them off.  Once all the humans were dead and no one was occupying the house, they took the bodies back inside.  The mother was slumped over the cooker, the young boy and the baby with the nanny and the father in his study.  Dru cackled with delight.

          "Oooooh Spike, I love these games!"

***** (End of flashback)

Holly was shaking him as he came to.

          "William! William? Are you all right?"

          "I think so…" he looked down at his hands.  These were the same hands that had killed that family a century ago.  He had enjoyed the killing, his memory told him so.  The Spike that was in his head was telling him that he hadn't killed because he hadn't needed to, it was telling him that he had killed for the pure pleasure and he believed it.

          "I need to get home."  He said.

          "Where id home? In England or somewhere over here?"

          "I don't know where my home is… I'll just follow my memory…" And with that Spike grabbed his coat of the hanger and walked out into the midday sun, as a human.

Chapter 2 will be up soon!!!