Unmoved
By iyaorisha

Timing: AU S7

Pairings: Buffy/Spike (also Xander/Anya)

Summary: Spike has healed, but doesn't want to leave the Summers' house. Buffy struggles with flashbacks from the attempted rape. Meanwhile, Rack's twin sister seeks revenge for his death. Can Willow defend herself without resorting to magick?

("Unmoved" is the sequel to "Look What Love Gave Us" and the second in a series of four linked AU S7 fanfics I wrote in the summer of 2002.)

Rating/Warnings: R. Violence (including suggested domestic violence), language, F/M, M/M flashback, rape flashback, and torture.

Spoilers: None if you've seen up through S6. References to my fanfics "Relating to a Psychopath" and "Look What Love Gave Us".

Feedback: Brutal honesty is best (I enjoy floggings, I really do), but warm fuzzies are accepted as well. You can post a review here or email me at fanfic_by_iyaorisha@yahoo.com

***
Chapter 7

"C'mon, luv. Time to wake up."

Buffy rolled over onto her back and looked up into Spike's gorgeous blue eyes. "Hmm." She stretched. "I must have dozed off."

He laughed. "Tad more accurate to say you were knocked out."

She smiled. "You're right. In fact, I'm still exhausted." She looked up at him through her lashes. "That was quite a workout." Buffy reached up and pulled Spike's head down. They kissed until she had to come up for breath.

The vampire caressed her cheek. "Hate to break it to you, but you have to get up."

"No." she snuggled back down into the covers. "I just want ten more minutes. Ten more minutes of sleep and then I'll be ready."

Spike shook his head. "No can do. You need to get up now, Buffy."
"Why do you have to be such a beast? We have hours before daybreak. Let me sleep for ten more minutes. I promise I'll be worth the wait." She closed her eyes.

He grew more insistent. Shaking her. And calling her name. That's what comes from sleeping with an indefatigable and perpetually horny vampire. As soon as she drifted off, he was ready for another go at it.

"Buffy, I'm serious. You have to get up. The firetrucks are coming."

Firetrucks?

Now Buffy really woke up.

As in her dreams, Spike's eyes were her first sight. But they were amber and angry. He helped her to limp away from the burning crypt. There was a little copse of weeping willows nearby. Once they were out of sight, she collapsed to a seated position against a tombstone.

Spike resumed his human mask as he knelt down beside her and probed her forehead. "Ouch!"

"Quite an egg. Took you two minutes to wake-up"

Buffy blushed. "I'll survive. What happened?"

"My crypt blew up. That's what happened." He said morosely.

She rolled her eyes. "I can see that. I meant 'Why did it happen?'"

"Oh, I don't know." He drawled sarcastically. "Maybe because a certain pain-in-the-arse Slayer left plastic explosives in it for a month until it was convenient for her to take them out."

Buffy's face grew even hotter. "Spike, I'm..."

"Sorry?" he snarled. "Sorry doesn't cut it, missy."

They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Spike suddenly stood up. "My God!" He walked to the edge of the screen of trees, staring in horror at the flames. "It can't be." He tore at his hair. "No. No! Noooooo!"

Now he wigs out, Buffy thought.

Spike wheeled around, muttering to himself, "Maybe it's not that bad. The last time there was an explosion it survived."

Buffy stood up and limped to Spike's side. She peered past him. A few firemen idly swung their hoses at dying flames. The rest stood around, shaking their heads at the remains of the crypt "Uh, Spike, I don't think so."

"Aaaaaargh!"

She leaned against the trunk of the nearest willow and searched for something she could say. "Of course, you can continue staying at the house until we find you another..." She fell silent at the sight of his face. The demon was back.

"Do you really think I'm pissed off about being homeless?"

"Er?"

"Do you know, Slayer, what was in that crypt?" He didn't wait for her answer. "Of course you bloody well don't! If you did... If you had a soddin' clue, you wouldn't be sitting there, blathering about where I'm going to lay my head once the sun comes up."

He paused in his tirade to fish out a cigarette. The he began angrily patting pockets in his duster and jeans.

"Was it your lighter?" Buffy asked hopefully.

He stared at her. "Are you off your trolley? You think I'm this brassed off about a lighter?"

"Well," said a rapidly despairing Buffy. "You did say that it meant a lot to you when you lost it at my house. You know, right before I turned into Invisi-Buffy."

Spike shook his white blond head in disgust. A final search turned up the antique Zippo and he resumed his rant after lighting up. "In that crypt, Buffy, was an object precious to me and irreplaceable. Not that you would recognize the value of it."

Buffy bit her lip. She hoped that it wasn't some sort of gross vampire trophy like the ear of his first victim or a vial of Dru's blood.






***

She was asleep when she heard the ruckus. Eyes half-shut, she stumbled to the downstairs. "Buffy? Willow?" She paused, hopeful. "Spike?"

Unseen hands seized her and flung her onto the couch. In shock, she looked up at the two young women before her. "Willow? Ravesa? What's going on?""

The darkhaired witch laughed. But Willow just stood there.

"Where's Buffy?" Dawn demanded.

"In about ten thousand pieces," Ravesa replied dryly.

Dawn looked at Willow. The redhead seemed oddly stiff and yet at the same time, she appeared to be struggling.

"Willow, are you...are you using witchcraft?" the teen asked.

"Wrong!" roared Ravesa. "Willow here thinks she's too good for magick!" She made a dismissive gesture and Willow slumped to the floor.

With great effort, Willow lifted her head and turned tortured eyes toward Ravesa. "Please stop this." She pleaded.

Dawn slipped to Willow's side. "What's going on, Willow? I'm scared."

"It's okay, Dawnie. There's nothing to be afraid of." Willow wished that she felt as confident of that as she sounded.

"Wrong again."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Dawn cried.

"Because Willow here just doesn't get it. She thinks something good came out of her little rampage last spring. That the world is a better place because in her hunger for revenge, she sucked the power and life out of a man."

"Rack" Willow said in a hoarse voice.

"Isn't it?" Dawn asked, incredulously. "Isn't it a better place. He was a pusher. He fed her addiction. He would have used her until her power was all used up."

"Not just me," Willow said softly. "He did it to Amy or anyone else who came. Like a parasite."

"Silence!" Ravesa snarled. The desire to just destroy Willow right now was so strong that she had to turn away from them. It wasn't time yet. She waited until she felt in control again. "You came to him willingly enough. Took what he had to offer."

Willow shook her head. "I was addicted. I didn't have a choice, Ravesa. You said that you knew how the magick takes a hold of you. You said you couldn't stay long in Sunnydale because it would pull you under."

"It has." Her eyes flickered black for a second and Willow suddenly felt very cold and lightheaded.

Dawn stared. For the first time since Ravesa appeared at the back door, the teen felt like she was seeing her clearly. The dark-haired stranger suddenly looked older and not nearly as attractive given the prominent tracery of veins across her face. "You..." she whispered.

Ravesa turned to her. "Yes?"

"You're Rack's sister."

The witch laughed.

Willow spoke up "Not just his sister. His twin!" She paused. "When I drained Rack, when I took his life, she felt everything. She always felt everything he did with magick, no matter how far away she was."

Dawn looked at Ravesa in horror. To have felt your twin die. Suddenly empathy was more than an SAT word. It was the driving force behind the enraged witch in from of her.

Willow persisted. "It wasn't really the Hellmouth you were running from all these years, was it, Ravesa? Or should I say Raven?"

"Be quiet."

"It was Rack, your own twin. You couldn't stand being near him. Even a continent wasn't enough distance between the two of you. You ran half a world away and you could still sense all that stolen power."

I said, be quiet!" the dark-haired witch barked.

Willow ignored her. "And well, you should, Raven. Since you were the one who taught him how."

Raven froze.

"See, when I drained Rack," Willow continued, "it wasn't just his power I absorbed. It was all his memories. And emotions." The redhead shook her head. "After all those years, even after you abandoned him, he still felt grateful to you."

Willow turned toward Dawn. "They were born into a family of powerful witches from Albania. Well, once powerful. The blood had been diluted by breeding with too many non-witches. Their mother was the last of the line and her magick was weak. That's why Rack and Raven were conceived right here on the Hellmouth. It was hoped she'd give birth to a potent witch. When their mother sensed she was having twins, there was such rejoicing."

"She thought we were double miracle." Raven said softly.

"But in reality, you were only half a miracle, weren't you." Willow continued. "When you were born, you had all the power. No, not all." She corrected herself. "He had some. But the real power, it was yours."

Raven nodded.

"And as you grew older, it became apparent. By age five, you could do things that he couldn't. At age 12, it was clear that you had power he could never dream of.And Rack was ashamed. Ashamed and frightened."

His twin twisted her hands in her hair. "He could feel it when I did magick. It confused him. Sometimes...sometimes, it caused him pain. And he would strike out at me. It was self-defense, but he was bigger and physically stronger. As he hit me, I would have to use magick to fight back." She took a ragged breath. "My mother was going to send him away to protect us both."

The redhead nodded. "You found out her plans and that night. You taught him how to borrow the power from another witch."

Raven closed her eyes. "I thought it would save us."

"Rack tasted that power and he was instantly addicted," said Willow.

"How long was it?" Dawn asked hoarsely.

"What?" Raven asked.

Willow laughed without mirth. "She wants to know how long it was before he drained you." She shook her head. "No, Dawnie. It wasn't like that. See Rack was too weak to handle more than a sample of his twin's power. But every other witch he encounter was fair game. He took and took from them with the illusion that they were getting something more in return. But soon, a taste wasn't enough."

"Shut up!" The whites of Raven's eyes began to darken again.

Willow did not cringe. "Did you realize as soon as you found her body?"

Raven seemed to shake off her lethargy. "I said, shut up!" She screamed. But her brother's murderer raised defiant eyes. "So you ran, before your rage and grief made you kill him."

The pain that lanced through Willow was excruciating, but she managed to yell out. "Dawnie, go! Now!"

The teen hesitated before moving toward the door. It was all the time that Raven needed. She grabbed Dawn, twisting the girl's slender arm behind her back. "You're not going anywhere. Neither of you." She gave a twisted smile. "Not yet anyway."


***
The vampire was pacing now. "I stood in line for it. I actually stood in line like a bleeding mortal. Two hours!" He kicked a grave marker and it fell over. "That's how badly I wanted it."

"Whatever it is, um, was, I am sorry Spike." Buffy said softly.

Spike didn't hear her. Having exhausted denial, bargaining, and anger in quick succession, he had reached the next stage of loss for whatever was destroyed in the explosion. "All those years, all those countries. Even after Dru left me. Even when the Initiative put the soddin' chip in my head. It was there. The only constant."
Completely aghast, Buffy gawked at the vampire. Was Spike weeping?

"Look, at least we're alive..." Buffy's voice trailed off as he gave her an evil golden-eyed look. "You know what I mean." She finished weakly.

The truth was, now that the shock was wearing off, their narrow escape from the explosion was beginning to hit her, too. "If Willow's call had come a few minutes earlier, we would have been inside." She shivered.

Spike lifted his head from his hands and stared at her out of human eyes. "What are you talking about?"

She repeated it.

He shook his head. "Red didn't call you."

She laughed. "Of course she did. That's why we left for the crypt. I didn't mind leaving Dawnie because Willow was coming straight home."

The vampire approached her and took her face gently in his hands. Cool fingers probed the bump on her brow.

"Ouch. Stop that!" She batted his hands away. And looked up to into deeply worried blue eyes. "What!"

"We've got to get you to a doctor." He scooped her up in his arms. "You must have a concussion. Out of your head, talking nonsense like that."

"Like what?"

"I should've known from all the blathering about sleeping and ...the snogging"

"Snogging!" Buffy's face burned. So not everything had been a dream. "Put me down, Spike."

"No!" He barked. "You might have a subdural... whatever you call it. One of those blood clots that squeezes your brains to mush."

She twisted in his arms, trying to get him to let go. "I don't! Look, maybe something is wrong with you."

"No, Slayer." he said grimly. "I'm not the one imagining phone calls."

Buffy gritted her teeth. "I didn't imagine it!"

Spike raised a dark eyebrow "Now let's go, before that pretty head of yours explodes."

"No. Now, let go."

Something in her voice made him comply. He set her gently on her feet. Buffy made an effort not to totter as she walked to a nearby headstone and sat down.

Spike watched her warily as he lit another cigarette.

Real consistent concern for her health, Buffy thought as she waved away the drifting smoke. "Spike, something is very wrong. I know that Willow called me. We spoke on the phone right before you and I left the house."

Spike shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "You were sitting, watching some chick flick. Then you jumped up and said we were leaving."

"Maybe you didn't hear the phone."

He blew a smoke ring. "Vampire, remember. Preternatural hearing."

"No, Spike. You're wrong! See, look at the caller ID." She pulled out her cell phone and switched it on.

Spike took the device and peered at it. "It says 'no incoming calls.'" He held it out to show her the screen.

She stared at the phone in disbelief. "No. I remember talking to Willow." She insisted.

The vampire shrugged. "Maybe you did. Just not on the phone."

"How then?" She wrinkled her brow. "Oh! Magick."

Spike shook his white blond head. "Bad news if Red fell off the wagon."

Buffy nodded, then she stopped. "But why would she use magick when she could just call."
They stared at each other. Then Buffy slowly stood up. "Spike, It wasn't Willow. It was Ravesa."

The vampire sucked in a chestful of smoke. "She wanted us out of the house."

Buffy took off running before he could throw the butt to the ground.