CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: WATCHER'S PET
The sun had set and Spike could feel his stomach beginning to protest about the lack of food. He sighed and stood up, stalking towards the mini fridge he kept in the downstairs section of his crypt. He sighed even louder when all he saw was two bottles of beer and half a packet of O negative.
He picked up the small packet and quickly drained it, throwing the empty plastic against the wall in frustration.
He grabbed his coat and walked into the night, walking along the familiar path to Willy's.
The rodent two-timing informant cowered as the door swung open. Spike thought this man to be a complete paradox. For someone who dealt daily with demons, he was certainly twitchy.
"S-Spike," Willy greeted, moving backwards a little as Spike approached.
Spike just nodded and sat himself down on one of the stools.
"Just the usual thanks mate," Spike said. "And don't try and skimp me like last week. Only ends in trouble, remember?"
Willy just nodded and moved to the back storeroom. He returned carrying a plastic bag filled with plastic containers. Spike counted them quickly and threw his money on the counter. He stood up, too hungry to even contemplate staying for a drink.
"Hey Spike," Willy called.
Spike turned.
"What?" came the growled reply.
Willy just held out a small business card with an address written on the back.
"What's this?" Spike asked tiredly.
"Thought you might wanna get your girlfriend to have a squiz at this place, y'know. Heard some vamps in here earlier, talking bout a domesticated girl," Willy said.
Spike's eyes narrowed. "Domesticated? We talking bout a bloody vamp's pet?"
"Ex vamp's pet."
"The Watcher?" Spike asked.
Willy nodded.
Spike looked at the address again. It had been an entire day since Rik had dusted her vamped Watcher. The chances of this girl even being alive were slim to none.
"She's probably dead by now."
"Vamps don't like killing the domesticated humans," Willy said, a sad smile on his face. "Free blood and a free fuck."
Spike felt his stomach lurch with disgust at the thought. Even in the worst of his days he had drawn the line about human pets. Feeding was fine, but nothing else. Rape was ugly, distasteful. Angelus had been big on that scene, but Spike had never been able to do it. Not after seeing how Drusilla had turned out after Angelus' games. Spike had in fact killed several of Angelus' pets just to let them escape from the torturous demon.
Spike was out the door before Willy had a chance at a last comment.
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He burst through the Summer's door, not even bothering to knock. The house was surprisingly quiet, though it was a comfortable silence, rather than the strained silence that the house had sat in several days ago.
"Slayer!" Spike yelled, directing his voice up the stairs.
"Spike."
Spike nearly jumped when he heard the soft voice behind him. He put a hand to his heart melodramatically.
"Geez Slayer, give a guy a heart attack why don'tcha?"
She just rolled her eyes at that. "Yeah, yeah, I scared ya to death. What's up?"
He handed her the card, which she just looked at before handing it back to him.
"And?"
"Ever heard of a pet, luv?" he asked.
"What, you mean like kittens and puppies and stuff?" she asked.
He rolled his eyes and wondered why the Powers that Be had chosen this girl as their warrior.
"I mean a vamp's pet."
Her eyes narrowed. She had heard of them, mostly when she had been reading through ancient tomes of Angelus' past deeds. She had been disgusted and dismayed, but somehow, she had looked past all that and saw only her sweet suffering Angel who had a soul and was suffering enormous guilt for Angelus' crimes.
"I take it you've heard about them, then," he commented.
"Yeah. What's the deal?"
"Word down at Willy's is that the Watcher had one. Makes sense seeing as he wanted his first kill to be his Slayer. But he still wanted human blood, craved it. So he probably took a pet to feed the bloodlust. And…well, the other lust."
He hated seeing the pained look on the Slayer's face.
"Let's go," she said resolutely, grabbing her coat that hung next to the door as well as the crossbow that lived permanently next to the coat rack. They were walking briskly down the street before he even really could take in what had jut happened.
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With stakes raised, the vampire and the Slayer crept into the old warehouse. Spike could smell the blood immediately and even Buffy could smell it. The building smelt of death and decay, a combination that neither of them particularly liked.
Spike stopped momentarily and looked upwards, inhaling the air deeply.
"You getting anything?" Buffy asked quietly.
He pointed at the ceiling above them.
"Directly above us."
"Any vamps?"
He listened carefully.
"Two, maybe three. And the girl."
"You can tell it's a girl?" she asked.
He looked at her and gave a small shrug.
"They're usually always girls."
Her gaze darkened even further and Spike raced to keep up with her as she took the stairs two at a time.
Without even waiting to make sure Spike was behind her, she kicked open the wooden door and entered the room. She nearly reeled backwards when the stench of the room hit her all at once. Blood and sex and dust and filth slammed her senses and she forced herself to stay standing.
She scanned the room and saw two of the three vampires look up in alarm. The two that had looked up had been feeding, one from the girls wrist, the other from her neck. The third vampire was first to become dust, too busy slamming into the girl to even look up.
The other two vamps stood up and moved towards the Slayer, fangs at the ready.
They hadn't counted on the intruder to be the Slayer. And they definitely hadn't counted on Spike either.
The two vamps were dust within seconds and Spike just watched as Buffy raced to where the girl was laying, nearly unconscious. She knelt down and felt for the girls pulse, finding it hard to find a pressure point that hadn't been bitten.
"We need to get her to a hospital," Buffy implored, never letting her eyes leave the girls battered face.
"Sunnydale Memorial's just down the road," Spike replied.
He was at her side, removing his coat. He handed it to her and stepped back, not even allowing himself a single glance at the blood. He still hadn't had time to feed and his demon was just begging to be let out to play. But he could control himself. Unless he got a look at that blood.
"Spike, help me," Buffy said quietly.
"Can't luv," he whispered, struggling to not shift into game face.
She looked at him and saw his struggle and set about the task herself. She got the girl into a sitting position and put the coat around her shoulders, quickly doing up the buttons to cover her bruised and naked form.
Buffy gently lifted the girl and Spike opened the door for her, wondering whether he'd ever get the girls smell out of his coat as she quietly bled to death in his jacket.
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They made it to the hospital in nearly record time, rushing into the emergency room, calling out for someone to help them. Nurses came rushing towards them, seeing how pale the girl was. Buffy idly wondered how on earth they could explain why the girl was so badly bruised, why there were bites marks all over her body.
The nurse took in the bites and glanced towards the receptionist.
"Page Dr Mitchell."
The receptionist nodded and quickly followed orders.
"Let's get this girl into the OR."
A handful of nurses took the girl away on a gurney, leaving Spike and Buffy standing in the hallway to answer questions.
"Is she a friend of yours?" the nurse asked.
Both Buffy and Spike shook their heads.
"No…no, we've never met her before," Buffy replied.
The nurse nodded. In Sunnydale there were many cases where people were brought in by complete strangers. Many of them told tales of men and women with deformed faces and sharp teeth. Others told of their rescuer, a small blonde girl who fought with the fury of a storm. Others were brought in and taken to the morgue, only to be found missing after their autopsy.
"You don't know anything about her? Not even a name? There was no ID on her?" the nurse continued.
"No. The uh…the coat's Sp-William's," Buffy said, pointing to Spike. "We uh…we found her in an old warehouse."
The nurse narrowed her eyes. "What were you doing in a warehouse?"
Buffy looked at Spike, a little panicked. He casually threw his arm around her and held her tightly to him.
"Tried scaring my lady," Spike replied, oozing with charm. "Worked a little too well."
Buffy looked at him incredulously but knew that if she wanted the nurse to believe the story she'd have to play along.
"Jerk," she replied, shoving him playfully.
The nurse just nodded, wondering why men tried to get the girls to feel scared only to turn around and protect them.
"Will uh…will you let us know when she gets out of surgery?" Spike asked.
Buffy did a double take at that. Spike was concerned for someone outside of their circle? Then again, he had been awfully protective of Erika the second she had joined the Scooby Gang. Perhaps it wasn't just the Scoobies that Spike was protecting. Maybe under his rough exterior, he really was just a softie.
"Of course."
The nurse left them alone and Spike took a seat in the hallway, leaving Buffy to either stand and stare at him or sit beside him.
She sat.
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"You think she'll be okay?"
It had been over an hour and the odd pair had sat in silence, listening to the surrounding sounds of the hospital. Soft footsteps passing them, consistent calls over the PA system, alarms, sirens, orders.
Spike looked at the Slayer tiredly.
"I don't know luv. Physically…maybe. But up here," he said, tapping his forehead. "She'll never be the same again."
Buffy sighed, tears in her eyes. She'd never even met this girl, never spoken to her, never even heard her voice, but she feared for the life that this girl would now have. The hospital couldn't even get in touch with her parents to let them know she'd been found. The hospital still had no idea of who this girl was.
"I wonder what she was like…before."
Spike took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, marvelling at the fact that he was allowed to do that.
"No use wondering luv. You'll never know. And I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but…you don't come out of something like that the same. No matter how strong you are."
Buffy went silent again for a good twenty minutes before she looked up at him with an inquisitive eye. He answered her before she even asked.
"Never."
Her eyes narrowed, wondering how he knew what she was going to ask.
"How-"
"I know you Slayer," he replied. "And I never had a pet."
She nodded, knowing that he was telling her the truth. He had no reason to lie.
"Angelus did," Buffy whispered.
Spike just nodded, uncertain of where the Slayer was going.
"I'd never even thought about it before, but…seeing her in there. Seeing that vampire…raping her. Knowing that Angelus had no problem with taking pets…it's disgusting," she whispered.
"That it is, luv. S'why I never did it. Not after…Angelus did that to Dru. Played with her, made her insane. And I loved Dru with everything that I was. And I pitied her as much as I loved her. She went through hell and came out crazy. I didn't want to see any other girls turn out like that," Spike explained.
Buffy went to say something but the ER doctor approached them. Buffy and Spike stood simultaneously, twin looks of concern etched on their faces.
"Is she okay?" Buffy asked.
The doctor nodded. "We've given her a lot of blood, and we've given her shots in case of rabies. Now, I'm used to specialising in cases such as these, where there are mysterious bites, and I'm going to assure you that she's going to be fine. Her body will recover."
Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god."
"However, she's had a very traumatic experience. Some of the cuts and bruises on her body look as though they've had over a month to heal. I'd say that whoever was doing this to her had been at it for quite some time," the doctor explained.
Spike turned away, disgusted.
"Did you find out who she is?" Spike asked.
"She's sleeping at the moment. She was so disorientated, very confused. We've sedated her for now; she'll be asleep for the next six hours or so. I got the receptionist to go through the missing persons report, but there no one on it that matches her description. She's probably not a local," the doctor explained.
"Can…can we see her?" Buffy asked.
The doctor hesitated at that but finally nodded. The girl had no family, and if she woke up earlier, at least then she would find someone her own age, rather than finding a middle-aged doctor.
"Try not to disturb her. The second she wakes up, I want you to press the call-button beside her bed."
Buffy nodded and listened carefully to the doctors instructions on how to get to the girls room. She and Spike walked in silently and sat down beside the bed to wait, neither one sure why they cared so much, but somehow knowing that they had to.