Pain.
Pain was his world. Pain was his universe. Pain was all that was left of his mind and soul.
He remembered all too well the tortures Glory had visited upon him and her attentions were no different this time, only now he made a terrible realization. He had killed the Sobek demon before it had a chance to lead Buffy to the clearing near the apartment complex where Glory lived. Without that point of reference to start form, even if the Scoobies did come after him- which he doubted they would- they would have no idea where to even begin their search. The knowledge added an edge of dark despair to his suffering. He was truly on his own. No rescue party would arrive at the last minute to save him from this Hell Bitch's cruelties. If he was to survive, he would have to save himself.
And he had to survive. Somehow, in spite of all his efforts, Glory still found out that the Key was in human form. It was another example of the futility of his actions. No matter what he did or how hard he tried, the events from the previous timeline still seemed to occur in the same sequence that they had taken before. Now Dawn was in serious danger again and so was Tara. He had to get out of there and find a way to kill Ben. It all came down to that one solution: killing Ben. He had wanted to kill Ben from the outset, but had allowed Giles' adamant refusal to sway him from his task. He now recommitted himself to taking out the intern and nothing, not Buffy, not the Watcher, not even the Chip or his own death, was going to stop him.
Now all he had to do was escape from the Hell Bitch's clutches, and get somewhere safe long enough to heal and figure out how to kill a human when the chip wouldn't let him even *think* about hurting anyone. Gathering what was left of his strength, he prepared to taunt Glory into kicking him out of the chains so he could try to stagger his way out of the building.
'Worked so well the last time…'
A sharp slap to the face brought him out of his thoughts and he became aware, once again, of his body hanging from the chains in the ceiling, broken and bloodied as he tried to alleviate the pressure by standing on his toes.
"I have a riddle for you, Precious. How is a vampire that won't talk like an apple?" she taunted sweetly.
She brought a knife down to his chest, and peeled away the skin, leaving a patch of exposed red flesh. He went rigid with pain and gasped.
"Think I can do you in one long strip?" she asked, flashing the knife.
Spike swallowed slowly and licked his lips. "Enough," he whispered hoarsely. "No more. I'll tell you who the sodden Key is."
Glory gave him a vicious smile and pulled the knife away. "Good."
As he had before, he tried to stall for as long as he could but it only earned him more pain and beating. Finally, he thought he had the timing about right and asked for a glass of water. Glory graciously provided him with one and held it to his lips so he could drink. She had done this for him before, and he knew that she would soon smash the glass into his face.
"Is that better? Do you think you can try to talk again now?" the hell god asked.
Taking a deep breath, he managed a nod.
"Good. Because I'm tired of these *games!*"
The glass smashed against his cheek, slicing into his flesh as it shattered.
"I need time, I need a drink… You're a very needy little bloodsucker and it's not very attractive! So start talking!" Glory demanded, throwing herself down on the couch and facing him with her legs crossed.
"Yeah, okay. The Key. Well, here's the thing…" he began, surreptitiously working to loosen the chains that held his wrists and trying to twist his hands through.
"It's that guy. On TV. What's his name?"
"On the television?" Glory repeated, incredulous.
"On that show, the Price show, where they guess what stuff costs…" he continued, casting a glance behind him to the closed front door.
"The Price is Right?" one of the minions in robes offered.
"Bob Barker!" another finished excitedly.
"We will get Bob Barker! We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker!" the first minion said.
Glory stood up and spun on her minions with narrowed eyes. They cringed.
"It is not Bob Barker, you scabby morons!" she yelled, then approached Spike. "The Key is new to this world and Bob Barker is as old as grit." She came close, her face mere centimeters from his own bloody cheeks. "The vampire is lying to me."
He laughed thinly, with not a small hint of hysteria and bitterness in his voice as he continued to work on freeing his hands.
"Yeah," he admitted. "But it was fun. And guess what, bitch? I'm not tellin' you jack. You're never gonna get your soddin' Key. Because you might be strong, but in our world, you're an idiot."
"I am a God," Glory said seriously.
"The God of What? Bad home perms?" he taunted, seeing her get angry and feel at her hair.
"Shut up! I command you shut up!" she demanded.
"Yeah, okay. I mean, sorry, but I just had no idea Gods were such prancing lightweights," he continued, looking back at the door and trying to line his body up with it.
Glory have him an angry snort, coming close as he punctuated his next words with as much contempt as he could muster.
"Mark my words, the Slayer is going to kick your skanky lop-sided ass back to whatever place would take a cheap, whorish, fashion victim ex-God like you."
On cue, just as he finished saying the words, Glory rounded and kicked him so hard that the chains that held him snapped and he went flying backwards, directly through the closed front door in a torrent of splinters. He was exceedingly lucky that one of them did not pierce his heart. He landed in the hallway and struggled to his feet in spite of the pain he was in.
"Good plan, Spike," he choked to himself as he stood on shaky but mercifully unbroken legs.
Unsteady and in agony, he made his way as quickly as his battered body would allow to the elevator. It closed in front of him as he got there and he had to pry the doors apart. Glory's minions were hot on his heels as he forced the doors open and threw himself down the shaft to land on the roof of the descending car. Pushing the escape hatch in, he let himself fall through the opening and land heavily on the elevator floor. He knew the minions would be waiting for him when it stopped at the lobby and he would have to fight his way through them, then get down to the basement where he could hopefully either find a way into the sewers or hole up in a safe place to hide until nightfall.
He stood, ready to fight the moment the doors opened, knowing there would be no help for him this time. The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. He tensed and prepared to do battle for his unlife.
"You do not insult Glory by escaping," one of the minions said as they came towards him.
Setting his jaw, he was ready for them, fists clenched. Then a miracle happened and for a moment he could not believe what he was seeing as the building doors flew open with a powerful kick and Buffy was there, crossbow in hand. The robot, the whelp, the watcher, witch and demon girl were all with her, all battle ready and supremely pissed off.
His legs gave out as the shock washed through him, followed by relief and some studded awe as he watched the Slayer and the Scoobies begin to fight. He noticed that she was wielding the Gruth'lak battle axe like a true warrior and he smiled through bloodied lips.
'She finally got a chance to use it,' he thought.
It was the last thing that entered his mind before he passed out.
He woke with a scream on his lips, but was quickly shushed by a soft voice and gentle hand.
"You're safe. It's okay. You're safe now," a voice whispered and he recognized it as Tara.
"Glinda?" he choked.
"Yes. It's me. Buffy and the others rescued you from Glory. You're in Buffy's basement. You already had clothes and a cot here so it seemed the logical place to bring you," Tara explained.
"Danger," he managed.
"No. No, it's okay. Willow and I have the protection spells up. If Glory tries to get anywhere near here, they'll sound an alarm."
"How'd you find me?"
"Location spell. Giles helped and you had left some of your clothes here so we had something to use as a focus."
He was so humbled and grateful that he almost started to cry.
"Thank you," he said sincerely.
"We couldn't leave you there. You're family," she answered, recalling memories of that night not so long ago when he and the others fought for her against her family.
"I want you to know, too, that we didn't tell. About your soul, that is. Giles and I. We kept it secret still. But we couldn't let Glory hurt you… well, more than she already did," she added.
"S'ok. I understand. Grateful. Where's Dawn?" he asked, his concern coming through in spite of his hoarse voice.
"She's safe. She's upstairs. Worried about you. We're all worried about you. You've taken a number of beatings in a very short time."
"Buffy?"
"She's upstairs too. Do you want me to get her?"
He managed a small nod.
"Okay. I'll go get her, but don't talk too long. You're really weak and you need to heal. Willow and I put more pain-block spells on you, but you still need rest."
As she moved to leave, he reached out for her hand, feeling blindly for it because his eyes were nearly swollen shut. When her hand came in contact with his own, he held it loosely.
"Glinda…"
"Yes?"
"Glory knows the Key is human. I don't know how she knows. Don't go anywhere alone, okay? Even if you and Red are havin' a bit of a tiff, don't go stormin' off by yourself, okay? Trust me on this one, please," he warned faintly.
Her hand gripped his tightly then released. "I won't. Thank you."
He nodded, rolling his heads back and letting his hand fall from hers. She smoothed back his hair then he heard her leave. It was quite a few minutes before he heard the tell-tale footsteps on the basement stairs.
"Slayer," he whispered in greeting before she had a chance to speak.
"Tara said you wanted to see me," Buffy's voice said, calmly but with an edge of apprehension.
"Wanted you to know. I didn't tell."
There was silence, then Buffy said softly. "I know."
"Don't make a difference, though. Glory knows the Key's human."
"How?"
He shook his head. "Dunno. 'S why they got me. Thought I was the Key." He tried to laugh but coughed instead. "Wankers."
"This is bad, Spike."
"I know. She's gonna start comin' for the Scoobies, one by one. 'S just a matter of time."
He heard her settle next to him on the floor beside his cot. "We have to find a way to beat her before she finds out about Dawn. Giles has been going through the stuff the Council gave us, but so far nothing's been helpful. She has to have a weakness or else those monks would never have sent her to me in the first place."
"I'm workin' on it, but you have to give us a minute. Cuts and bones need mending."
"I should let you rest. Glory really beat you up. You've been beaten up a lot lately."
He sighed and smiled to himself. "Takes more than all that ta keep me down. I'm a tough old bastard, I am. Take a lickin' and keep on kickin'."
Buffy laughed softly at his joke. "Yeah, I figured that. You've suffered a lot lately. And you've helped a lot. Granted I'm not pleased with finding out you had a robot of me made by that twisted geek Warren, but…"
"It wasn't supposed…" he tried.
"I know, but still eewwwww. I'm just glad it isn't a good copy of me. I mean, how could anyone think that thing was me? It isn't even real."
He wisely kept silent, knowing full well that Warren's creation had fooled the demons of Sunnydale for almost 4 months during the summer of Buffy's death. Then he felt her hand take his gently.
"What you did for me… and for Dawn. That was real. I won't forget it."
He heard her lean close then felt her plant a chaste kiss against his temple.
"Thank you," she whispered very softly.
"Buffy…" he murmured, but she was already pulling away.
"I should let you rest. I have a sick feeling that things are gonna heat up pretty quick around here and we'll need your help."
He nodded as she stood and walked away. He tracked her with his hearing until she paused at the basement steps.
"I'll have Dawn bring down some blood for you. She's anxious to see you and it'll give her an excuse to come down," she said.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome." There was another pause, then she said softly, "Get some rest, Spike. And thanks."
"You're welcome," he whispered back, but she didn't hear him. She had already climbed her way up the stairs, leaving him alone in the basement.