And the giant fell.

Spike stared at the human towering over his grandsire, holding the crowbar. Angelus was already getting up, but Spike knew better than to let him. Kicking him in the head, forcing his grandsire down until he grabbed hold of It was then that he realized the cops had taken the stakes from his inner pockets.

Angelus was getting up, still laughing, Wes hit him again, but Angelus was about to get the crowbar. Spike ducked out of the way, grabbing a chair and breaking it against the wall, desperate to create a weapon. Angelus was on him, throwing him against the wall.

Wes was getting up again, but the girl attacked him. She hit the man towards them, right on top of Spike and Angel, forcing them both against the ground. The cop was getting up, attacking her with the gun. Why didn't he just shoot?

Knives

Spike grabbed one of the knives from the table, trying to pierce his elder's pristine skin. Wes got up with a makeshift stake in his hands, his wounds were bleeding and Spike could smell the blood dripping down his clothes.

Angelus was fucking smiling. Laughing with them. Damn that son of a bitch.

"Well now, boys, now that hurt." Spike wanted to hurt him even more.

He could hear sobbing coming from his old room. "Dawn." He whispered the name.

"Such a little screamer you got there Spike my boy. All weepy and so easy to break. Buffy positively had tears in her eyes by the time I was finished with the kid."

Spike lost all sign of reason and blindly attacked his grandsire, finally getting him down to the ground, beating his face over and over again. In the end he stared at his grandsires bleeding face, holding a stake up over his chest ready to stake him.

"Spike, no."

He turned around and saw Buffy standing there, holding herself up on the wall and the cop. Wes stood right behind her, Dawn's limp body in his arms. The other vampire had disappeared, ran off most likely.

"If you kill him, he wins."

Spike stared at his grandsire in hatred. Yet for Buffy he managed to stay his hand. He left his grandsire lying there, kicking him down one last time before getting up and moving to his family. He didn't dare touch her, she was barely covered by the cop's windjacket. Her naked legs sticking out from under it. Dawn was covered in a sheet.

Buffy fell in his arms. He knew it was just for support, but he gave her all he had anyway. It was only then that the Slayer allowed herself to cry.

*******

Buffy was holding Dawn, cradling the girl's head in her lap. The cop, he really had to learn that guy's name, had been helping to free the humans tied to the wall. The big black guy, the little gnat that kept glaring at him, and some kind of green demon that, according to Wes, could be trusted.

Angelus was chained to the wall. Spike kept glaring at him, Wes had put a rag in his mouth, to keep him from talking, but that didn't stop him from making kissy faces at Dawn. When was that tosser Harris gonna get here to pick them up damn it. No need to keep Buffy and Dawn here any longer than they had to be.

Wes sat huddled on the ground, staring at a heap of ashes on the floor. "Your girl-friend?" The man stared at him as he lighted a match on the wall. God, he needed a smoke.

"She could have been." Nothing to say to that. "Give me one of those." Spike gave him a fag. The Brit took one swallow and started coughing. "How do you deal with those... demon-sticks?"

"Demon here, remember. No need to breathe."

The man stared at him. "Yes. Of course. So you're a vampire... with a soul."

Soul, schmole. Not like it did more than make him feel like dirt. He leaned up against the wall.

"He's won hasn't he?"

"He's got his vengeance alright. Buffy's devastated, Fred's dead. Gunn won't even look at me. Cordy's ... gone. And you don't look all that well either."

"So why aren't we killing him?"

"Because it's what he wants. It's a double-edged razor. If we kill him, we loose Angel, and he no longer has to suffer from the curse. If we let him live, re-curse him, he gets his vengeance on Angel."

"Yeah right!" Spike scowled, but inside he agreed. Angel would always remember what he did to Buffy. Not just raping her, but taking her sister in front of her, making her watch as he did so... Even if she could ever forgive him for that, the soul inside of his grandsire never would. Dammit, whichever way they took it, the bastard always managed to win.

Spike stared at his grandsire. And the bastard just grinned.


tbc