Chapter Ten:





" All right, this makes no bleeding sense what-so-ever."

Spike was holding the list up to the light from the street light, letting it illuminate the nonsense words on the page. Buffy stood next to him, not too close, peering over his shoulder at it, thinking it over in her mind for the hundredth time.

" You noticed that too?" Buffy shot at Spike.

Spike shifted his weight, looking at the piece of paper with a whole new expression, as if these changes would help him understand what the words meant. " Now it says, ' those who walk in night.' Does it mean those who always walk in night or those who just happening to be in the night at this moment?"

Buffy shot him another annoyed look. " If I knew any of this, do you really think I would still be associating with you?"

Spike spared her an agitated glance before turning back to the riddle and reading it once more:

" An object hides among the fold,

It isn't young, it isn't old.

The object has no life or creed,

The problem is it can't be seen.

Only those who walk in night,

Can find the object in the light.

That makes no sense at all," he concluded.

Buffy threw her hands up in the air, walking a few paces away from him. " Thank you! I am so glad we spent the sum of twenty minutes just to conclude that this ridiculous riddle means nothing! I could have done that on my own in two seconds!"

Spike dropped his arms to his side, letting the paper make quite a bit of noise in the air, as he let more of his agitation show. " Oh, don't give me that, its not like I'm not trying. For you, I might add. You know, I don't have to do this. I'm only doing it to save your life."

Buffy's eyes widened. " And because it's your fault in the first place! You gave me a cursed gift!"

" It's not like I forced the sodding thing around your neck!"

" It's not the first thing you'd have tried to force."

Spike's expression suddenly looked so guilt-ridden and hurt that Buffy almost regretted what she'd said, then he looked at her with anger again. " Oh, no, Slayer. I did not-put that thing on you. I gave it to you, you refused it, you took it home, you put it on yourself." He grinned in that cocky manner that always frustrated her. " Did you secretly hope there would be an ankle bracelet to go along with it?"

Buffy placed her hands on her hips to show that she was just about done with this conversation. " Look, I thought the necklace was nice. Putting it on had nothing to do with you, it was totally and completely all the necklace."

" Is that what you want to believe or what you want me to believe?" Spike purred at her.

Buffy glared at him for a long moment before she leaned forward and snatched the paper from his hand. " Oh, I can't deal with this. I can't deal with you. Why don't you just leave, I'll figure this all out on my own, get this necklace off, and then never speak to you again. Life will be grand; like it was when you were gone."

Spike's cockiness disappeared to be replaced by more guilt and hurt. " Buffy, I." He looked away from her as he tried to think of what to say. " I didn't want it to go like this. I guess I thought I'd come back, say my apologies, and you'd fall into my arms." He grinned at her. " Then I remember you're not the fall-into-the-gentleman's-arms type."

Buffy, still less than sure she wanted him to help her, only replied, " That, of course, entails that there are a gentleman's arms in the vicinity to fall in too."

Spike looked away from her at that, his voice lowering as he spoke again, " I'm just trying to save your life, wouldn't you do the same for me?"

Spike suddenly realized what he'd said, making it possible to get some sort of honest answer out of her, when in all honesty, he was just trying to show that he cared for her. Now, there was a chance that it could show the opposite.

But only silence met his question as the moments passed. Then suddenly, he heard her say, " If it was my fault that your-unlife was in danger, then." Spike looked up at her hopefully. To his regret, all she said was, " Maybe."

Spike was less than satisfied with this answer but he hid it well by asking, " So the riddle, you do still want my help with it don't you? Or are my services no longer required?"

Buffy gave him that stony gaze once more before looking at the paper. " I can do it on my own. You're not much help anyway."

Spike hesitated before he took a few steps away, then turned back. " Buffy, you know, I am here to help. Not many other pressing matters to attend to as of yet."

Buffy sighed and looked back up at him, standing just outside the light of the street lamp. " Spike, it's okay. Even though this is all your fault, I can do this by my self."

Spike cocked his head to one side, still hesitant to leave her in danger. " Are you sure, luv?"

" What you don't think I can handle it on my own?" She yelled at him, only a little shaken by the use of the word "luv."

Spike grinned at her. " Well, you are working solo here, without the assistance of your precious scoobies. You sure that the job isn't too big?"

" I've handled bigger." Spike smirked at her and Buffy rolled her eyes, turning her back to him. To herself she said, " This night is going to take forever."





THWACK! The hammer smacked against the bedroom door again, this time harder than it had been before. The furniture guarding the once inch thick wooden door rattled and there was a cracking sound. But so far, nothing had fallen, and there was no indication that they were in immediate danger.

Nothing besides Anya's whining, which was steadily driving Xander insane. " Oh God, it's going to break through the door and kill us. It's going to bash upside the head and our brains will spill out, all pink and worm- like."

Xander frowned at the image of this and waved his hands irritatingly. " Anya, I don't get it, why can't you just teleport us out of here with your brand-spanking new demonic powers?"

Anya looked up at him from her spot on the floor, where she sat with her knees pulled against her and her arms hugging herself tight. " Well, for one thing, I can only teleport myself, I couldn't take you with me, I'm not powerful enough yet." Xander sighed and nodded as Anya added, " Plus, I already tried it and it's not working."

Xander resisted the urge to yell at her and ask why he hadn't told her this, but he didn't. He just took slow deep breaths then asked, " Why isn't it working? What's wrong?"

" Oh, nothing's wrong," Anya quickly assured him. A swirl of blue clouds wrapped itself around her form, and soon he couldn't see her through the mist. The light faded and she disappeared, then the swirling sound came from behind him, and Xander spun around to see Anya sitting on the other side of the room, in the exact position she had been. " See, it works just fine. For some reason, I just can't get outside."

A moment of silence lingered over them as they both thought about why this might be when Anya smiled excitedly and stood up. " Oh!" She waved her hands in breathless animation as she tried to form her thought into words. " The spell!"

Xander looked at her in confusion, and Anya's excitement suddenly waned. She rolled her eyes and looked at him with exasperation. " The spell on the hammer. Obviously another little thing that the spell entails, which the curator neglected to mention, is that magic can't be used against it. That's why I can't use my powers to escape from it."

Xander, finally understanding, looked back towards the door, too angry to say anything. He opened and closed his mouth several times, looking like he was going to say something, when he suddenly pointed his finger at Anya and looked at her serious. " You know, that's just not fair."





" You know, I could help you a lot better if you stopped prancing around."

Spike stood leaning against the light post as Buffy paced nervously back and forth in front of him. She was reading the list over and over, not learning anything new, but too frustrated to stop.

" Spike! You're not helping at all, okay? This stupid rhyme makes no sense, my life is at risk here, and you are just standing there smirking at me! How is that going to help in the least?"

Spike didn't move, but just continued to grin cockily at her. " I said I'd help you, Buffy, and I will, but I am not going to do a thing until you say so." He looked away from her. "I won't do anything until you say so."

Buffy stopped her pacing and stared at him. She had the riddle memorized by this time, but she still couldn't figure it out. He seemed to know something that she didn't, but he wasn't offering anything without her agreement, and she was almost afraid to accept it. She knew once she said that she needed him, he'd never let her forget it. Even the prospect of her life hanging in the balance wasn't enough to let her answer him right away.

" All right.." Spike looked up at her hopefully, but then Buffy lost her courage, and regained her stubborn stupidity. " The third line says." she began reading to herself.





Xander bobbed his head to the steady pounding of the hammer on his bedroom door. Anya sat leaning against his bed, her expression slightly catatonic. They had been locked in the tiny room for nearly an hour, and it was hot and confining. Xander suddenly realized how the big cats at the zoo felt caged up.

Anya raised her head up straight and suddenly glared at him. " Now I remember why I hated living here so much, Mr. Cheap-ness never turned on the air conditioner."

Xander only stared at her, continuing to bob his head to the beat of the hammer's undeniably musical beat. Anya groaned and rolled her eyes, pushing herself to her feet. "Well maybe some air will help."

She made her way to the window, and reached down to the handle that needed to be pulled to open the glass panels. She struggled with it for several minutes before it burst forward, letting fresh night air come in.

She leaned far out, breathing deeply. She closed her eyes, leaning forward. She suddenly lost her footing and fell forward slightly. She let out a bellow as she felt herself pitching forward. " Anya!" She heard her name yelled from behind her, then strong hands grasped her waist, and her pitching head-first stopped.

Anya sighed and opened her eyes, which had been clinched shut in panic. " Oh, Xander, thank-" Anya stopped mid sentence as she realized what she was looking at beneath her. " Pull me back up."

Xander pulled her up to stand in front of him, fully expecting a smile and a maybe a hug for his bravery. But instead, he was met with a frown and Anya's upset stance-hands on hips, foot tapping the floor.

" Xander, has it occurred to you that with all this hammering going on, none of your neighbors have come over, upset about the noise?"

Xander thought about this for a moment, then waved his hand at her dismissively. " Oh, that's just because there has been a construction team here working on the building."

Anya nodded at him angrily, and his eyes suddenly widened. " Oh."

Anya pushed him to the window, and he looked down. He was met with the sight of scaffolding sitting on the ground, reaching right up to his bedroom window. They had been working on his end of the building earlier that day and had not cleaned up the equipment. It would be simple to climb out onto it and then down to the ground.

" I wonder how we could get out," Anya said mockingly from behind him. " We're really high up and there isn't anything convenient to climb down on. You know, like maybe a scaffolding!"

Xander cringed at her tone. " All right, all right. I forgot, okay? There were a few things sort of clouding my mind."

" Like sheer stupidity?" Anya suggested.

" Now you're being a bit harsh. Come on." He motioned to the window and reached out to take her arm. She begrudgingly took his hand and lifted her leg through the window. She sat down on the sill, and then let him slowly lower her to the scaffold. He then climbed out slowly himself, and Anya backed out of his way as he fell and landed on his back.

He groaned and Anya looked down at him. " Thanks for the help," Xander grunted as he pulled himself to his feet and looked down towards the ground. "Still about twelve more feet," he told her. " We can like, shimming down the poles I guess, or try and lower this down slowly--"

" Or we could use the ladder," Anya added, patting the top rung of a silver ladder with her hand.

Xander stared at it for a moment. " That might work too."

Anya swung her leg over the side of the ladder and began to climb down. Just as Xander was about to follow her, he suddenly noticed something. There was an extreme lack of nothing. The steady pound that he had been hearing for the last hour had stopped, and he hadn't noticed.

Xander stopped his dissension and looked around, perking his ears up for any sound at all. " Anya?" he called down to his ex-fiancé.

" What?" Anya yelled as she hopped down to the ground, dusting herself off.

Just then, the pounding sound came again, too close. The scaffolding shook and Xander clung the ladder. The hammer wavered in the air just feet from him, smacking at the side of the scaffolding, forcing it to teeter dangerously on its wheels.

Then it came closer, smacking at the ladder right where Xander's hands were. He yelled with each swing of the hammer, hearing Anya yelling below him. Then the hammer swung suddenly to the other side, at his other hand. It caught him off guard, and smacked him on the finger.

He screamed with the pain, pulling his arm to his chest. He began to walk down the rungs again when the hammer swung one last time at him. It swung at his other hand, and he released his hold on the ladder. Then he lost his footing, falling backwards.

" Xander!" Anya screamed as he pitched toward the ground, then hit, lying there motionless, as the hammer turned and came at her.





Buffy threw the paper to the ground and hopped up and down on it several times, digging her heels into it.

From his spot sitting on the ground, inhaling his cigarette's deadly gases, Spike smirked at this display. " Oh, that's right, show the mean paper who's boss."

Buffy stopped her furious hopping and swiped her disheveled hair out of her face. " Oh, shut up, Spike. I'm frustrated, okay?" She leaned down and picked the paper off the ground, dusting the dirt off of it and fixing the tears. " You're not helping, I am dying and Xander and Anya haven't returned yet. If they were going back to the museum they should pass right by us. And it has been over and hour, and nothing!"

Buffy turned to start her pacing again when her legs stuck and they didn't move. She plopped down backwards onto butt. She squealed with pain, and lifted up slightly to rub her sore hind quarters.

That's when she looked up to see Spike kneeling in front of her. He reached out slowly, and to her surprise, she didn't jerk away. He let one finger lightly brush her hair from her eyes and then he just kneeled there and looked at her.

Finally, he spoke, saying things she really didn't want to hear. " Buffy, I know you hate me. I don't blame you, luv. But I can't and won't let you die, just let me help you. I promise, if its what you want, when we're done with this, I'll leave you alone for awhile. You, your scoobies, Niblet. All of you. Just let me save your life, and then I'll get out of it." He cocked his head to the side, his eyes pleading. " All right?"

Buffy looked away from him, down at the paper still clenched in her hand. She didn't want Spike to help her, to save her life. If he did, then she would owe him, even if it was his fault in the first place. She didn't want to owe him anything, she wanted her space from him. But she also didn't want to die, and if it meant letting him help her, then she would give in, just long enough to save her life.

" All right. You help me, we do it quickly, and then you leave me alone, deal?"

Spike smiled at her as he pulled her to her feet. " That's how it was last time, we've got a deal."

Buffy glared at him as he took the paper, read over it, then handed it back to her. " Well, that simple, really," he said. " While you were pacing like a jungle cat I was thinking. " 'It isn't young, it isn't old, the object had no life or creed.' It's obviously inanimate."

Buffy looked at him, her face showing her less than impressed mood. " Gee, you figure that out all on your own, Mr. Brilliance?"

Spike rolled her eyes at her and pointed to the paper. " Look, that's just the beginning. Don't get your panties all knotted into bunches." Spike looked at the paper again. " Okay, next is ' It can't be seen. Only those who walk in night can see it in the light.' I remembered something. Well, someone who walks in the night..like a vampire?"

Buffy's eyes widened and she smiled excitedly. " The object is a vampire!"

Spike just stared at her until she realized that this wasn't right. " Oh," she said quietly.

Spike sighed and then looked like he was telling her the mystery again. " Well, the object can't be seen, except by a vampire. It's inanimate, so it could be anything. But there is only one thing I know of that can only be seen by vampires. It's called the Vampire's Stone."

Buffy raised her brows at him. " The Vampire's Stone? Like the Sorcerer's Stone?" Buffy suddenly smiled and looked away. " Ha, that'll show Dawn to tell me to crack books." Spike looked at her quizzically. " Don't ask."

Spike nodded and went back to his explanation. " The Vampire's Stone. There is only one. The thing about it is that it's not really worth anything. It's just an enchanted diamond, supposed to taste like pure blood, attract human victims. But it doesn't work. It was made by some ponce back in the 1700's. Really wasn't a wiz when it came to the Black Arts. Or any kind of Arts for that matter."

Buffy, not caring about any of this, waved her hand to shut him up. " Yeah, that's great. Where do we find this.stone?"

Spike looked around them, smiling. " 'Will find the object in the light.'" He started to walk away, then bent over and reached out. His hand closed around thin air and he walked back to her, holding his arm out, and opening his palm.

It was empty. But when Buffy reached forward and felt around, she felt a hard, round object in his hand. Her eyes widened. " That's it. the Vampire's Stone."

There was the sound of raging wind behind them, then the curator appeared, smiling and looking very pleased. He walked right up to him and reached out to take the invisible stone from Spike and inspect it with a spyglass.

" Ah, very nice. This thing works after all." He patted the small viewing utensil and tucked it and the stone into his pocket. " Very well done. Now, only tow things left. Have fun!"

And with that, clouds of red and gray surrounded him, and when they faded he was gone.

Buffy looked from where he used to stand to Spike. " Okay, now what?"

" Well, like he said, two more to go." He held his arm out to her like a gentleman from old times. " Shall we go, milady?"

Buffy spared him one disgusted glance before walking away, off to find the next item, feeling disturbingly like one of the gang from Scooby Doo.