CHAPTER EIGHT: HERO
Spike paced the floor, hating that he was worried about the Slayer, but…ever since he had found her vamped the night before, he hadn't been able to get her out of his mind. He had always liked the feisty Slayer, had liked her spirit and her passion, but he had still wanted to kill her.
Now she was like him, cursed with a demon.
Spike looked up as he heard the library doors swing open, letting Angel enter the room. Angel took one look at the blonde vampire and almost stopped in his tracks. He let out a low, threatening growl.
"You've got about three seconds to explain yourself before I tear you to shreds," Angel warned.
Spike glared at the other vampire and stopped his pacing. "The bloody Council took the Slayer. We're trying to think of a way to get her back."
Angel immediately calmed his rage towards the blonde vampire and started directing it towards the Watcher's Council.
"Where are they taking her?"
"Back to England," Giles replied. "Or, we think that's where they'll take her."
Angel began pacing the room. In any other circumstance, Xander would have cracked a joke about pacing vamps, but he held his tongue.
"What's the fastest way they could get there?" Angel asked.
"Plane," Xander supplied. "There's an airstrip about ten minutes from here. No one really uses it that much. Come to think of it, I saw a plane land there this afternoon. I didn't think much of it."
"That's them," Spike said.
Giles nodded and grabbed his jacket from the table.
"We need to leave. Now. They've got a good ten minutes on us."
Angel and Spike walked quickly behind the Watcher, leaving the rest of the group staring at the retreating figures.
"Have they even got a plan?" Xander asked.
Willow shook her head, still a little confused by what was happening.
"Should we follow them?" Joyce asked, her voice shaking.
Xander paused for a moment before shaking his head. "We're better off leaving them to it. We'd get in the way and…if they have to leave for England, they'll want to travel as lightly as possible."
Joyce could only nod and sigh softly, her head in her hands. She felt Willow's comforting hand on her shoulders. "They'll bring her back. I know they will."
Joyce could only try and smile, failing miserably. This day couldn't possibly get any worse.
~*~
"Take a left up here," Spike directed, leaning forward in his seat.
Giles nodded silently and sis as he was instructed, turning the car into a driveway.
"There she blows," Spike whispered, spotting the sparkling white plane.
Giles drew in a sharp breath and hurriedly got out of the car. He grabbed a black bag from the back seat and hefted it over his shoulder.
Neither of the vampires said a word as they followed him onto the runway towards the stationary aircraft.
"What's the plan?" Spike finally whispered as they came within striking distance.
"We stop it from taking off."
Angel looked at Giles sceptically, but Spike nodded, quickly taking off towards the small jet craft, staying low to the ground so he couldn't be seen. Giles watched as Spike moved under the plane, jumped up to a panel and ripped several of the wires from their sockets.
Giles watched in satisfaction as he heard the engine try to begin, but failing completely.
What looked to be a technician pushed open the door and quickly went down the stairs towards the engine, obviously not expecting to be met by a vampire that was completely pissed off.
"What now?" Angel asked.
Giles tried to think, but found that he didn't need to. Quentin Travers stepped off the plane and scanned the area, both Angel and Giles ducking behind a luggage truck that was conveniently parked near enough to the plane.
"As much as I would love to kill him, I can't," Giles whispered.
Angel nodded, wondering whether or not he would feel guilty about taking Travers life. The decision was quickly made for him as Angel watched Spike jump on top of the head of the Council, holding him around the throat.
"Oy, you Council wankers!" Spike yelled.
"What is he doing?" Angel hissed.
Giles could only grin, holding back a chuckle.
Wesley stepped into the doorway and gasped as he saw Spike holding Quentin in a strangle hold.
"You the ponce of a new Watcher they sent for the Slayer?" Spike asked, his fangs becoming alarming close to Travers neck.
Wesley nodded and stepped forward holding a cross as protection. Spike just grinned and rolled his eyes in disgust.
"Tell you what, I'll make you a trade, wanking Watcher boy. You're head honcho for my Slayer," Spike said.
Wesley looked at the vampire, wondering why exactly he wanted the Slayer. He didn't want to hand Buffy over from one death to another.
"What do you want with the Slayer?" Wesley asked, his voice sounding considerably more courageous than he felt.
"Don't you get it, you stupid git! I'm gonna kill you're boss if you don't give me the Slayer!" Spike cried. He bit into Quentin without beginning to drink, though it took a great deal of self control to not just drain him dry.
"Wesley!" Quentin yelled.
Wesley just nodded and looked back up the stairs. "Bring her out here," he called.
Giles breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Buffy brought to the top of the stairs, her hands still bound, her body held up by two men from the Special Ops division.
"Now, nice and slow, we're gonna trade. Then, you're gonna turn around, get on your fancy jet and fly the hell outta here. And if I see you here, then I sure as hell won't be restraining myself," Spike warned.
Buffy was brought down the stairs, the two men holding her never loosening their grip. She looked at Spike, still afraid that this plan of his was going to backfire. He looked to be very much alone and she wasn't anywhere near strong enough to fight.
"Here's how this is gonna work," Spike said, his voice still low and extremely threatening. "You're gonna let the Slayer go, she's gonna walk behind me, and Wanky Wesley is gonna walk up the stairs with the two gorillas, leaving me and Quentin down here. Then, I'm gonna let him go, he's gonna rub his sore little neck, and then he's gonna walk towards that jet. Then, I'm gonna get me and my Slayer the hell away from the airstrip, and you guys are gonna fly back to England. You got that?"
Wesley hesitated, but nodded his agreement, keeping his eyes on Quentin the entire time.
"Right…let's start."
The two men let go of Buffy, almost pushing her to the ground. She shot them a glare, but the unchained her wrists and she ran behind Spike.
"Go behind the luggage truck pet," he told her quickly, turning his attention back to the two men who had started getting back on the plane.
"Now you Wes," Spike growled.
Wesley paused, hating that he was following orders from a vampire, but the fear in Quentin's eyes told him not to think about it. He quickly retreated up the stairs and back into the jet, peering out one of the small windows.
"As for you Quentin, I'm tellin' you this once and once only. You stay the hell away from Sunnydale, and you stay the hell away from the Slayer, you got that?"
Quentin could only nod once as he felt Spike's fangs digging into his neck once more. Spike took a quick sip and then pushed Quentin to the ground, giving Spike a chance to run towards the truck before Quentin had a chance to recover and grab hold of him.
Giles looked at him, giving him a thankful glance before Spike grabbed Buffy's hand and began pulling them towards their parked car. The four figures got in quickly and raced away from the airstrip, hoping desperately that the men from the Watcher's Council had taken Spike seriously.
Giles grinned as he saw a small jet fly away from Sunnydale. He could only hope that everyone of the men who had threatened his Slayer had been on it, though he doubted that any of them would have been willing to risk being killed by Spike.
Buffy settled comfortably against Spike in the back seat of the car, wishing that this day would just come to an end.
Spike stroked Buffy's hair gently and gave her a soft kiss on the top of her head. "You're home pet."
Buffy smiled as she saw the car had pulled up outside of the library. She glanced towards Giles who had opened up her door for her.
She hopped out and followed her Watcher and the two other vampires inside, smiling as she saw the Scooby Gang grin as she walked through the door.
Willow ran to her, engulfing her in a hug, Xander quickly following suit.
"Thank god you're back," Xander whispered.
Buffy smiled and hugged him tightly in return.
"Actually, you should be thanking Spike," Giles said.
Xander pulled back and saw Buffy's quiet grin.
Joyce stepped towards Spike and gave the vampire a quick peck on the cheek. Had it been possible, Spike would have been blushing furiously.
"I knew you'd bring her home," she whispered.
Spike just smiled, wondering how he could feel this proud about doing something to help people. He shook away his thoughts and tried to think about taking out the entire room. His thoughts wouldn't even allow such a notion. He smiled ruefully at Buffy who had walked over to him.
"Spike saves the bloody day. Dunno how that happened," he commented.
Buffy just smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Doesn't matter how it happened. As long as it did."
Spike's kinda fluffy, hey? Still not sure how that one works…but it's kinda cute. ;)
Toodles.
K.