Chapter 9
"Dawnie, have you seen my jacket?" Buffy called out to her sister. They had a door connecting their rooms-- Buffy wanted to keep her sister close.
"No," Dawn answered and walked in. "You tried under the bed?"
Buffy shook her head and glanced at her.
"Why would it be under the bed?" she asked disbelieving.
Dawn shrugged and leaned down to look. And there it was. Triumphantly she held it up before giving it to her older sister.
"You'd be surprised how many things end up there," she said. Without asking she took out a sweater from Buffys wardrobe. She put it on and waltzed out of the room.
"Hey," Buffy yelled after her. "Ever heard of asking? A 'Buffy, is it okay if I borrow your sweater that you've bought only two days ago with well earned money'?"
Dawn snorted and rolled her eyes.
"What, you were going to say no or something?" she asked.
Her older sister sighed and gave her an annoyed look.
"No, but it's more polite," she said, doing her best not sounding like a bossy mother.
Dawn smiled her sweetest and most innocent smile and walked out and closed the door to her room. Only seconds later the door leading out to the corridor opened and Spike walked in.
"Hi Slayer, what's happening? All the scoobies are running around getting ready for something and they won't tell me what's up." He looked genuinely hurt by the fact that he was being left out, and Buffy couldn't help but feeling sorry for him. No matter what happened he would never be entirely accepted by the others, to them he would always be the freak vampire that was hanging around just because he was in love with her, the soul hadn't changed anything really.
"Big group of vamps are gonna attack the hospital tonight. We think they're harvesting blood. Alexandra thinks that something's big is coming," she said, trying to sound as business like as possible.
Spike shrugged and sat down.
"Really? I could have told you that. I could feel that something was up the second we got here. But I thought that you already knew that." He stopped for a moment and hesitated, like he didn't want the answer for his next question. "Why didn't any of you tell me about tonight, then? I could help."
Buffy wasn't sure what to say, she hadn't had even a thought about not bringing him with them, but obviously the others had other ideas. But since they hadn't told her about them, they couldn't really blame her if she didn't do as them.
"Don't be silly," she said, with her most convincing voice. "Of course your coming with us, we need all the help we can get. The others were probably just in a hurry."
She could see that he wasn't entirely convinced, but he nodded and got up.
"Anything more I need to know before we leave?" he asked. "This Alex coming with us? I hear she's a witch."
Buffy nodded.
"Yeah, Willow said she seems okay."
She was surprised when Spike chuckled lightly.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said, smiling. "It's just, I don't think Willow's the best judge when it comes to this Alex girl, you haven't felt the vibe between them?"
Buffy frowned.
"What you mean? Yeah, sure, Willow like's her and all, but I do think she can se if she's on the good side or not. Besides, I got the feeling they'd argued about something. She was all bad-moody earlier when she came up."
Spike chuckled again before turning to the door.
"When we leaving?" he asked with his back turned to her.
"In an hour," she answered as he walked out. She found herself actually feeling sad about him going.
~*~
Xander couldn't help but grunt as he saw the vampire walking out shortly after Buffy. Willow gave him a look.
"You actually thought he wouldn't come with us? The whole point with him coming to Sweden was to help with the fighting."
He shrugged and threw in the bag filled with weapons into the rented car.
"Whatever," he mumbled, sulking.
Willow ignored him and walked up to Dawn.
"And how's the lovebirds?" she asked, cheerfully. "Hear he's a real charmer."
Dawn blushed looked down shyly.
"Yeah. He's all right," she said, but her tone saying more.
"Just all right, huh?" Willow laughed as she helped the brunette into the car.
Dawn ignored her and gave Spike a greeting smile.
"What's up?" she asked merrily.
He shrugged and sat down next to her.
"Nothing much? You? I hear you got yourself a willing slave," he said teasingly.
She hit in the air with her fist infuriated. She was now truly fed up with everyone's teasing remarks. Even though she knew they didn't mean anything with it, it still annoyed her.
"Yeah, yeah. He's nice. You happy now?" she said with a hint of steel in her voice.
Spike smirked and made himself more comfortable in his chair.
"Sure," he said, unaffected by her attitude. "No need to go all with he fury, bit."
Dawn was just about to say something back when Buffy opened the door.
"Time to go," the blond Slayer said as she motioned for Spike to move closer to Dawn so she could get some space. When the three of them and Anya where all seated in the backseat, Giles and Xander climbed in into the front and Giles started the car.
"What about Willow?" Dawn asked, worried that the witch had been forgotten.
"Alex getting her soon," Anya told her. "They needed some magic supplies, and they didn't think there was any need to bring us all with."
Dawn nodded and leaned back. The backseat was a little to crowded, but Giles'd told them that it wasn't far.
~*~
Anna lied down on the floor panting. The vision had been unusually detailed, and it had lasted for several minutes. The pain had almost been unbearable. Bu that wasn't the worst- the worst had been the images she'd seen.
Blood. And people covered in blood. She couldn't see if they where alive or not, but she had a feeling that they where still breathing, or maybe that was just her hope speaking. But the worst thing was the laughter--high evil laughter-- the kind you hear in your nightmares or maybe in a horror movie. Oh, how she wished she could just tell the Slayer and her friends how to defeat their enemies, but then the balance would be no more. It was bad enough she'd let it slip to Alexandra about the vampires in her visions earlier that day. A feeling of impending doom gripped her, and she had to stop herself a number of times not to grab the phone and call her niece to tell her to stay away from those people. But wouldn't. Her duties always came first, always.
~*~
"Do ya think it's close?" Dawn asked for the umpteenth time. "'Cause this place is seriously starting to freak me out."
The teenager looked around at the large trees surrounding them. The only light they had was the moon reflecting in the snow and the small flashlight they'd stolen from he hotel --borrowed, if anyone asked Buffy.
"A little further," Alexandra said while turning around so she could see if anyone, or anything, was following them. She and Willow had caught up with them only minutes earlier and they where now going through the forest to get to the backside of the hospital. When they cold see the first lights from the building, the Swedish girl quickly turned of the flashlight so they wouldn't be discovered.
It was Spike who felt them first. They where just behind a group of trees, waiting for the right moment to break in. Without making any sounds the gang circled around them so they wouldn't be able to escape. Dawn was close to Buffy all the time, and both Anya and Xander were heavily armed with crossbows and stakes. They all assumed Alexandra would be able to handle herself.
The moment Xander accidentally walked on a tree branch and made all the vampires turn in his direction like they where all one, they attacked. Buffy jumped up and kicked the closest one in the head, making him fall to the ground heavily. Before he had time o get up she had dusted him with a stake through the heart. Without stopping even for a second she turned around and punched another one in the face, shoving him into another one as Dawn pushed a stake through both of them, killing them both.
Buffy gave her sister an approving grin before returning to the slaying. And all around her the others did the same. Three minutes earlier there had been twenty-two vampires, now there was only eleven left. To their defense they where all fighting really good, one actually pinning Spike to the ground for a second, but he also found himself dust shortly thereafter.
When the fight seemed to be won by the scoobies, and there was only a hand full of vampires left, dozens of people ran in with stakes and awes lifted. Surprised both the scoobies and the vampires looked up.
"What the hell.?" Spike muttered as one of them attacked him. Realizing they must think he was one of the bad guys, he let go of his game face and shoved the man aside, making his chip go off. While lying on the ground holding his head in his hands, he had no protection whatsoever from the unknown attackers.
"Stop!", was all of a sudden heard, and everyone froze. In the midst of it all Alexandra stood with her arms lifted and her eyes glowing. Beside her Willow stood in a similar pose, motioning for Buffy and the others to come and join her. Hesitantly they walked up to her, but they could see the vampires and the other humans not being able to do so. They seemed to be unable to move at all.
"What's going on?" Buffy asked confusedly. "Who are these people."
"It's those army guys," Anya piped in.
Everyone but Xander looked at her in surprise.
"How'd you know that?" Alexandra asked.
Anya rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Okay, first-- not very hard to figure out. And second-Xander and I visited their headquarters only days ago, remember? I recognize some of them."
Xander nodded and pointed at a blond man.
"Yeah, that's Nils. He's some kind of Big shot here. His brother's the boss."
Alexandra nodded too and made a strange pattern with her hand in the air. Soon Nils was able to talk.
"Let us go, witch," he said furiously.
Buffy stepped out and stood between him and Alexandra.
"Not until you tell us what you're doing here," she said sternly, making sure he understood that she wouldn't take any insults to any of her friends.
He ignored her and stared at Anya.
"What are YOU doing here?" he asked, not really surprised, more curious. "I didn't see you as the fight kind."
The look on her face was that of a woman that had just been really affronted.
"Oh yeah? And what kind do I look as then?" she asked insulted.
Nils seemed to realize that this was not the time to get people mad at him, and he finally gave Buffy his attention.
"Our business here has nothing to do with you, Slayer," he said in a cold voice. "And if I may be frank, I can't really understand what YOU are doing here, all of you. We where doing fine without you."
Spike snorted and walked up to the blond man that still couldn't move a muscle, except for speaking.
"You where doin' fine, huh? If we wouldn't have been here, these vamps would have already gotten what they came here for and left, if you where lucky. Face it, you guys where late, and even if you'd been here, they would have made you dinner in no time." The spiteful tone in his voice could not be miss-read.
Nils stared at him in anger and everyone could see how he tried to get free from his invisible bonds. But to no success.
"We've done fine for months without the help off a group of spoiled obnoxious children from America clamping in her like they own the place and taking over our town. There had barely been any killings at all for the last few weeks, and when there has been, the monster that did it has been turned to dust within hours. I say we're doing a good job without you." The last word where almost spit out of his mouth, and if the situation hadn't been so serious, it might have been kind of funny.
Both Spike and Buffy where doing their best not to hit the man, well, Buffy at least, since Spike was kind of leashed because of the chip. But before any of them could do anything, Dawn stepped forward.
"You're doing fine, doing good? Well that's nice and all, but wouldn't it be better if you did great? And if those few but existing number of murdered people could be saved in the future, by us? Wouldn't that be even better? I say, there can never be to much help when it comes to fighting a Hellmouth. I know I wasn't involved in the closing of the one in Sunnydale, but I've gotten the impression that it was kinda hard. And I don't want the world to be sucked into hell just because you can't share, do you?" The last question was said in a soft, almost whispering voice that only the ones close to her could hear. Nils looked confused for a moment, not knowing what to do, before he looked down in shame.
"Your right," he whispered back. "I apologize."
Dawn smiled victoriously and walked back to where she'd been standing before, between Spike and Buffy.
"Nice work, luv," Spike whispered to her, very impressed.
Her smile grew wider and she got the whole glowing look that you get when your really proud of yourself.
"Oh, I know," she responded.
The vampire chuckled before giving Alex a nod. She quickly waved her hand, and all of the soldiers was let loose. But the vampires still stood there, frozen to the ground.
"What should we do with them?" Dawn asked.
"I'm thinking chess," Xander said. Everyone turned to stare at him, perplexed. Xander gave them one of his smiles. "What they have the whole game figure thing going, and-Ah, never mind;" he said, giving up. Once again no one understood his humor.
Ending their baffled stares at Xander, they returned to the problem at hand. After a short moment of thought, Buffy brought up her stake and placed herself in front of the closest vampire.
"Take one each," she said to the others. "When we're all ready, you can break the spell, Alex."
The witch nodded, and when all the vampires had a person ready and waiting to dust them she waved her hand once more and said something in a language no one else but her and Willow understood. Soon the air was filled with dust.
"So," Buffy said, while clapping her hands together to get it of off her. "Now I say we should talk this trough, until we've reached an agreement that will prevent this sort of thing to happen again." She gave the Swedish men a deadly stare. "You with me?"
No one dared to do anything but nod. "Good," she said before walking away. "We'll find you lot tomorrow then."
The whole Scooby gang, including Alex, left the area.
TBC
A/N: I just wanna thank everyone who had reviewed my story, thank you *so much*! And one more thing, what do you all think about Alex? I'm planning to give her a bigger part of the story, so comments about her would be really appreciated. /mell
"Dawnie, have you seen my jacket?" Buffy called out to her sister. They had a door connecting their rooms-- Buffy wanted to keep her sister close.
"No," Dawn answered and walked in. "You tried under the bed?"
Buffy shook her head and glanced at her.
"Why would it be under the bed?" she asked disbelieving.
Dawn shrugged and leaned down to look. And there it was. Triumphantly she held it up before giving it to her older sister.
"You'd be surprised how many things end up there," she said. Without asking she took out a sweater from Buffys wardrobe. She put it on and waltzed out of the room.
"Hey," Buffy yelled after her. "Ever heard of asking? A 'Buffy, is it okay if I borrow your sweater that you've bought only two days ago with well earned money'?"
Dawn snorted and rolled her eyes.
"What, you were going to say no or something?" she asked.
Her older sister sighed and gave her an annoyed look.
"No, but it's more polite," she said, doing her best not sounding like a bossy mother.
Dawn smiled her sweetest and most innocent smile and walked out and closed the door to her room. Only seconds later the door leading out to the corridor opened and Spike walked in.
"Hi Slayer, what's happening? All the scoobies are running around getting ready for something and they won't tell me what's up." He looked genuinely hurt by the fact that he was being left out, and Buffy couldn't help but feeling sorry for him. No matter what happened he would never be entirely accepted by the others, to them he would always be the freak vampire that was hanging around just because he was in love with her, the soul hadn't changed anything really.
"Big group of vamps are gonna attack the hospital tonight. We think they're harvesting blood. Alexandra thinks that something's big is coming," she said, trying to sound as business like as possible.
Spike shrugged and sat down.
"Really? I could have told you that. I could feel that something was up the second we got here. But I thought that you already knew that." He stopped for a moment and hesitated, like he didn't want the answer for his next question. "Why didn't any of you tell me about tonight, then? I could help."
Buffy wasn't sure what to say, she hadn't had even a thought about not bringing him with them, but obviously the others had other ideas. But since they hadn't told her about them, they couldn't really blame her if she didn't do as them.
"Don't be silly," she said, with her most convincing voice. "Of course your coming with us, we need all the help we can get. The others were probably just in a hurry."
She could see that he wasn't entirely convinced, but he nodded and got up.
"Anything more I need to know before we leave?" he asked. "This Alex coming with us? I hear she's a witch."
Buffy nodded.
"Yeah, Willow said she seems okay."
She was surprised when Spike chuckled lightly.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said, smiling. "It's just, I don't think Willow's the best judge when it comes to this Alex girl, you haven't felt the vibe between them?"
Buffy frowned.
"What you mean? Yeah, sure, Willow like's her and all, but I do think she can se if she's on the good side or not. Besides, I got the feeling they'd argued about something. She was all bad-moody earlier when she came up."
Spike chuckled again before turning to the door.
"When we leaving?" he asked with his back turned to her.
"In an hour," she answered as he walked out. She found herself actually feeling sad about him going.
~*~
Xander couldn't help but grunt as he saw the vampire walking out shortly after Buffy. Willow gave him a look.
"You actually thought he wouldn't come with us? The whole point with him coming to Sweden was to help with the fighting."
He shrugged and threw in the bag filled with weapons into the rented car.
"Whatever," he mumbled, sulking.
Willow ignored him and walked up to Dawn.
"And how's the lovebirds?" she asked, cheerfully. "Hear he's a real charmer."
Dawn blushed looked down shyly.
"Yeah. He's all right," she said, but her tone saying more.
"Just all right, huh?" Willow laughed as she helped the brunette into the car.
Dawn ignored her and gave Spike a greeting smile.
"What's up?" she asked merrily.
He shrugged and sat down next to her.
"Nothing much? You? I hear you got yourself a willing slave," he said teasingly.
She hit in the air with her fist infuriated. She was now truly fed up with everyone's teasing remarks. Even though she knew they didn't mean anything with it, it still annoyed her.
"Yeah, yeah. He's nice. You happy now?" she said with a hint of steel in her voice.
Spike smirked and made himself more comfortable in his chair.
"Sure," he said, unaffected by her attitude. "No need to go all with he fury, bit."
Dawn was just about to say something back when Buffy opened the door.
"Time to go," the blond Slayer said as she motioned for Spike to move closer to Dawn so she could get some space. When the three of them and Anya where all seated in the backseat, Giles and Xander climbed in into the front and Giles started the car.
"What about Willow?" Dawn asked, worried that the witch had been forgotten.
"Alex getting her soon," Anya told her. "They needed some magic supplies, and they didn't think there was any need to bring us all with."
Dawn nodded and leaned back. The backseat was a little to crowded, but Giles'd told them that it wasn't far.
~*~
Anna lied down on the floor panting. The vision had been unusually detailed, and it had lasted for several minutes. The pain had almost been unbearable. Bu that wasn't the worst- the worst had been the images she'd seen.
Blood. And people covered in blood. She couldn't see if they where alive or not, but she had a feeling that they where still breathing, or maybe that was just her hope speaking. But the worst thing was the laughter--high evil laughter-- the kind you hear in your nightmares or maybe in a horror movie. Oh, how she wished she could just tell the Slayer and her friends how to defeat their enemies, but then the balance would be no more. It was bad enough she'd let it slip to Alexandra about the vampires in her visions earlier that day. A feeling of impending doom gripped her, and she had to stop herself a number of times not to grab the phone and call her niece to tell her to stay away from those people. But wouldn't. Her duties always came first, always.
~*~
"Do ya think it's close?" Dawn asked for the umpteenth time. "'Cause this place is seriously starting to freak me out."
The teenager looked around at the large trees surrounding them. The only light they had was the moon reflecting in the snow and the small flashlight they'd stolen from he hotel --borrowed, if anyone asked Buffy.
"A little further," Alexandra said while turning around so she could see if anyone, or anything, was following them. She and Willow had caught up with them only minutes earlier and they where now going through the forest to get to the backside of the hospital. When they cold see the first lights from the building, the Swedish girl quickly turned of the flashlight so they wouldn't be discovered.
It was Spike who felt them first. They where just behind a group of trees, waiting for the right moment to break in. Without making any sounds the gang circled around them so they wouldn't be able to escape. Dawn was close to Buffy all the time, and both Anya and Xander were heavily armed with crossbows and stakes. They all assumed Alexandra would be able to handle herself.
The moment Xander accidentally walked on a tree branch and made all the vampires turn in his direction like they where all one, they attacked. Buffy jumped up and kicked the closest one in the head, making him fall to the ground heavily. Before he had time o get up she had dusted him with a stake through the heart. Without stopping even for a second she turned around and punched another one in the face, shoving him into another one as Dawn pushed a stake through both of them, killing them both.
Buffy gave her sister an approving grin before returning to the slaying. And all around her the others did the same. Three minutes earlier there had been twenty-two vampires, now there was only eleven left. To their defense they where all fighting really good, one actually pinning Spike to the ground for a second, but he also found himself dust shortly thereafter.
When the fight seemed to be won by the scoobies, and there was only a hand full of vampires left, dozens of people ran in with stakes and awes lifted. Surprised both the scoobies and the vampires looked up.
"What the hell.?" Spike muttered as one of them attacked him. Realizing they must think he was one of the bad guys, he let go of his game face and shoved the man aside, making his chip go off. While lying on the ground holding his head in his hands, he had no protection whatsoever from the unknown attackers.
"Stop!", was all of a sudden heard, and everyone froze. In the midst of it all Alexandra stood with her arms lifted and her eyes glowing. Beside her Willow stood in a similar pose, motioning for Buffy and the others to come and join her. Hesitantly they walked up to her, but they could see the vampires and the other humans not being able to do so. They seemed to be unable to move at all.
"What's going on?" Buffy asked confusedly. "Who are these people."
"It's those army guys," Anya piped in.
Everyone but Xander looked at her in surprise.
"How'd you know that?" Alexandra asked.
Anya rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Okay, first-- not very hard to figure out. And second-Xander and I visited their headquarters only days ago, remember? I recognize some of them."
Xander nodded and pointed at a blond man.
"Yeah, that's Nils. He's some kind of Big shot here. His brother's the boss."
Alexandra nodded too and made a strange pattern with her hand in the air. Soon Nils was able to talk.
"Let us go, witch," he said furiously.
Buffy stepped out and stood between him and Alexandra.
"Not until you tell us what you're doing here," she said sternly, making sure he understood that she wouldn't take any insults to any of her friends.
He ignored her and stared at Anya.
"What are YOU doing here?" he asked, not really surprised, more curious. "I didn't see you as the fight kind."
The look on her face was that of a woman that had just been really affronted.
"Oh yeah? And what kind do I look as then?" she asked insulted.
Nils seemed to realize that this was not the time to get people mad at him, and he finally gave Buffy his attention.
"Our business here has nothing to do with you, Slayer," he said in a cold voice. "And if I may be frank, I can't really understand what YOU are doing here, all of you. We where doing fine without you."
Spike snorted and walked up to the blond man that still couldn't move a muscle, except for speaking.
"You where doin' fine, huh? If we wouldn't have been here, these vamps would have already gotten what they came here for and left, if you where lucky. Face it, you guys where late, and even if you'd been here, they would have made you dinner in no time." The spiteful tone in his voice could not be miss-read.
Nils stared at him in anger and everyone could see how he tried to get free from his invisible bonds. But to no success.
"We've done fine for months without the help off a group of spoiled obnoxious children from America clamping in her like they own the place and taking over our town. There had barely been any killings at all for the last few weeks, and when there has been, the monster that did it has been turned to dust within hours. I say we're doing a good job without you." The last word where almost spit out of his mouth, and if the situation hadn't been so serious, it might have been kind of funny.
Both Spike and Buffy where doing their best not to hit the man, well, Buffy at least, since Spike was kind of leashed because of the chip. But before any of them could do anything, Dawn stepped forward.
"You're doing fine, doing good? Well that's nice and all, but wouldn't it be better if you did great? And if those few but existing number of murdered people could be saved in the future, by us? Wouldn't that be even better? I say, there can never be to much help when it comes to fighting a Hellmouth. I know I wasn't involved in the closing of the one in Sunnydale, but I've gotten the impression that it was kinda hard. And I don't want the world to be sucked into hell just because you can't share, do you?" The last question was said in a soft, almost whispering voice that only the ones close to her could hear. Nils looked confused for a moment, not knowing what to do, before he looked down in shame.
"Your right," he whispered back. "I apologize."
Dawn smiled victoriously and walked back to where she'd been standing before, between Spike and Buffy.
"Nice work, luv," Spike whispered to her, very impressed.
Her smile grew wider and she got the whole glowing look that you get when your really proud of yourself.
"Oh, I know," she responded.
The vampire chuckled before giving Alex a nod. She quickly waved her hand, and all of the soldiers was let loose. But the vampires still stood there, frozen to the ground.
"What should we do with them?" Dawn asked.
"I'm thinking chess," Xander said. Everyone turned to stare at him, perplexed. Xander gave them one of his smiles. "What they have the whole game figure thing going, and-Ah, never mind;" he said, giving up. Once again no one understood his humor.
Ending their baffled stares at Xander, they returned to the problem at hand. After a short moment of thought, Buffy brought up her stake and placed herself in front of the closest vampire.
"Take one each," she said to the others. "When we're all ready, you can break the spell, Alex."
The witch nodded, and when all the vampires had a person ready and waiting to dust them she waved her hand once more and said something in a language no one else but her and Willow understood. Soon the air was filled with dust.
"So," Buffy said, while clapping her hands together to get it of off her. "Now I say we should talk this trough, until we've reached an agreement that will prevent this sort of thing to happen again." She gave the Swedish men a deadly stare. "You with me?"
No one dared to do anything but nod. "Good," she said before walking away. "We'll find you lot tomorrow then."
The whole Scooby gang, including Alex, left the area.
TBC
A/N: I just wanna thank everyone who had reviewed my story, thank you *so much*! And one more thing, what do you all think about Alex? I'm planning to give her a bigger part of the story, so comments about her would be really appreciated. /mell