Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or its characters, the same for Panzer
Dragoon Saga, the inspiration for this story
Do They Really Breathe Fire?
Chapter 2
Xander stared down at his coffee mug, and knew that he would always remember the incident with the dragon that had happened earlier, whenever he drank coffee.
It was a while since Buffy had left on patrol; the gang had been researching, but turned up nothing new yet.
Willow had been trying to find reports of the dragon from further away, but it was useless, and the dragon wasn't likely to have come from the location of the first sighting, as it was a grouping of 2 or 3 farms, it's as if it had just appeared out of thin air.
It had been suggested that a scooby be sent out of Sunnydale to look for evidence at the other sites the dragon had been spotted, but none of the gang volunteered; they all had the same reason, well except one. Anya didn't want to leave the shop alone, but everyone else didn't want to go because of being out of the way of the action, and not knowing what's going on. None of the team ever wanted to leave, in case they were needed.
But if anyone was sent, it was likely to be Xander, as he was now the only Scooby with a car, Giles had his car shipped over to England with him, and couldn't afford to have it shipped back again.
Xander would be sorry to miss the action, but he would mostly miss being there for Willow, and without him there, who was to stop her from becoming depressed again. The action might distract her though, he had thought.
Xander decided he'd have to work things out when the time came; he was never one for forward planning, and living in Sunnydale, life was always that little bit too unpredictable to really be certain about the immediate future, today's surprise had been a little reminder of that, you couldn't make a cup of coffee and be sure you'll be alive to drink it.
************************************************************************
Buffy and Spike neared the house, Spike had been unusually quiet, he was lacking his usual enthusiasm at the chance to fight, but as they were getting close he finally spoke again.
"So is this something to do with the lack of nasty things in town the last couple weeks?" Spike asked breaking the silence
"You noticed that as well" Buffy stated, "But no, something else.I think" she continued
"Well something's going on, pet, there's less action in this town lately than a tea party, its like the hellmouths all dried up'" Spike stated his observations.
"Well that can't be bad" Buffy replied
"But you'll be out of a job there, love" Spike joked, but his face fell and he slowed as they approached the driveway, as if realising something he had forgotten, he hesitated.
"Best check it out after we've finished with this thing though" Buffy chuckled
Buffy hadn't noticed Spike had stopped, but when she did, she looked round, and saw a change in his features.
"Are you sure you want me here, I don't think I'm very popular with the scoobies at the moment, maybe I should just go, and you can tell, me what you need me to do" Spike said already turning away.
Buffy wasn't sure how to respond, Spike wasn't himself, that much was clear. He seemed different somehow. But Buffy couldn't let him go, it was better if he was present, she liked to tell herself that was the reason she wanted him there.
"Spike we need you here, whether we like it or not" Spike stopped, he hung his head for a few seconds but finally turn round and caught up with Buffy, and she opened the front door, he let her in first.
"Hey Buff" Xander called from the living room. He sounded fairly cheerful. It was like Xander to not let such a scare from earlier get him down.
But his face dropped however, when he saw Spike following Buffy in.
"What is he doing here?" Xander asked through partially gritted teeth.
"He is here for the same reason the rest of us are" Buffy answered, implying that argument was pointless
"Well as long as it's not a social call" Xander remarked as he sat down.
Anya sat at the table and tried to hide her face in a book, looking awkward.
Giles who, was sipping a coffee, and was obviously taking notes from the news reports about the dragon, which had become quite a local sensation, he didn't seem too bothered about Spikes presence, but was concentrating on the TV too much to really register what was going on.
Xander was sat on the sofa next to Willow idly flicking through a book; willow was examining printouts, and occasionally glancing at her laptop, that was balanced on the arm of the sofa.
Dawn was rummaging around in a large mountain of books in one corner of the room, though if you looked at it in another way it kind of looked like Dawn was building a fort out of the books.
At that point the news report on the dragon finished, and by the look on Giles's face, he had decided there was nothing new worth mentioning. The news however was not over, and a new story started. And the Female presenter began reading.
"In other news around the town of Sunnydale, the mysterious rise in seismic activity around Sunnydale has risen by 200% since yesterday, experts say if activity continues to rise at the speed it is now, the people of Sunnydale could be looking at minor earthquakes by the end of the week. Experts are still as baffled by the cause of the sudden jump in activity, but are asking residents of Sunnydale and the surrounding area not to panic, if seismic activity does threaten to rise to dangerous levels emergency services will begin evacuation of the town."
All of the gang's attention, including Spikes had been caught by the TV news report. As if it hadn't been bad enough, they now had to worry about this.
************************************************************************
The Gang had filled Spike in on the recent events, after they had finished, Spike had seemed to be lost in thought for a second, and then simply shrugged his shoulders.
The others weren't surprised, but they were also confused, a lot of things just didn't add up.
Spike then told them what he had noticed since he had got back, the lack of demons, and general feel of something big on the horizon.
"It seems to me that things just aren't adding up, either we have 2 or 3 problems, or maybe it's all tried together in a larger plan. The dragon, the seismic activity, the lack of demons..." Giles observed.
"We need more coffee" Xander decided, and seeing that no one was moving went to get up, only to see Spike heading into the kitchen. 'Maybe Buffy asked him to do it, oh well fine by me' Xander went back to his idle page browsing, while in actual fact, Buffy was as confused as him.
A while after, the people that hadn't noticed Spike go out to make the coffee, which was everyone except Buffy and Xander, were surprised to see Spike walk back in with a tray load of coffee mugs. They all thanked Spike when he handed them each their coffee, despite their confusion, except Xander who just took it without looking at him.
Giles was the first one to notice.
"Spike, this is excellent coffee" Giles sounded surprised "mmm".
The others who had not yet tried their coffee also found it surprisingly good, Xander was a little envious, but surprised none the less, it wasn't the instant coffee he had made.
Spike looked a little embarrassed, he looked around and said. "The old ways are always the best"
************************************************************************
Xander was in the driver's seat of his car, Giles had decided to collect some books from his place. Xander was now sitting and waiting for Giles to collect a few more books, Xander had helped him with most of them, but Giles said there was only a few he had forgotten, and didn't need any help getting them. So Xander stayed in his car.
Xander looked into the sky, it was clear, and he could see the stars, it was now late evening, it had been hours since they had found anything
It was at the moment Giles got in the Driver door and told Xander he had an idea.
Well not so much told.
"Drive to the bookstore, I need to buy some books" Giles half ordered
"I don't think the Sunnydale bookstore will have the kind of books we need" Xander replied, wondering if the stress had finally driven Giles over the edge, climbing the stairs to Giles's apartment wasn't easy but it wasn't something that Xander would have though capable of turning Giles, the everlasting voice of reason, into a madman, 'Maybe they are cursed stairs' Xander pondered, it wouldn't be impossible. He'd have to have Willow look into it.
"No I have an idea" Giles said simply
"Whatever you say G-man, as long as I'm not paying" Xander said while starting the engine and driving off toward the town centre. 'Trust Sunnydale to have a bookshop that is open till 12'. Xander thought
************************************************************************
Xander pulled his car up in front of the bookstore, Giles got out and Xander followed after locking the car doors. Giles had been to the bookshop before, Xander hadn't, and most of the reading material he owned was mail order and mostly consisted of pictures. Except for one he had purchased recently.
After entering the shop, Xander followed Giles, who seemed to know where he was going, and walked past the desk, to the back of the store, up the stairs to the upper level, and then went from the stairs to near the back of the upper section.
Xander glanced at the sign above the isle, it said 'Legends and Mythology', Xander began to realise why Giles had come here, and what he intended to buy, and sure enough, Giles searched the shelves for all he could find on dragons.
Giles finished up with 7 books; Xander carried them for Giles to the desk, where Giles paid for them.
While he wrote out a check, Xander decided to check out the second hand books bin, a bin full of people's books they no longer wanted and left them here, and anyone who wanted one could by it for 20 cents out of the bin. It was piled high with books of all kinds, but almost all were scruffy, and falling apart. There were children's books, many different works of fiction, a selection of gardening books, an encyclopaedia, with about half the pages missing, and a few factual books on different topics, Xander was sure that if he looked long and hard enough in the huge bin of books, he would find something he would buy, but he lacked to time, and the patience to even bother trying.
But as he turned away, his eyes caught something, a glint of gold, he turned back round, and saw it again, and he tracked down the source. A tiny book, about the size of a passport and about as thick as three. It had a decorative golden front, the bright reflection of light made it so he couldn't make out the picture, and had its cover made out of the same leathery stuff some of their oldest books that they used for research had. Xander opened it and saw the brown pages and letters that Xander didn't recognise, but he didn't have time to look closely, Giles was finished with his transaction, and was now picking up the books.
On impulse Xander dug in his pocket and found about 25 cents in change as Giles was struggling with the door Xander gave the girl on the till 20 cents for the book and then stuck it in his pocket, it fit quite easily. He figured if nothing else it would be something Willow would be interested in
Xander then went to help Giles with the door. Once out the store, Xander jogged up to the car and unlocked the doors while Giles made his way steadily toward the car with the books in his arms.
************************************************************************
Back at the Summers residence, the rest of the gang continued research, Willow was still working on her computer, Buffy was studying a map Willow had printed out of the seismic activity, Dawn was watching the TV, which wasn't really research but nobody seemed to care, Spike was reading through some books, and Anya was cooking a little midnight snack for them all.
None of them knew what it was but it smelled good, but Spike was getting hungry, and no matter how good Anya's cooking was wouldn't satisfy his hunger, simply because, he was a vampire.
A vampire hiding a soul, so that the people he had wronged wouldn't take pity on him, he didn't deserve it, but he was beginning to doubt he could keep it up, Buffy had already begun to see through him. But still a vampire and he needed blood, and since he didn't have any, he would have to get some from the butchers.
"If you don't mind, I'll be headin' down to the vampires take away, I'm a tad peckish" Spike said as he slipped on his leather duster he had removed a while before, and left on the back of the chair he was sitting on. If he had of mentioned it directly, they would have been repulsed, he didn't want to put them off their own food.
They were expecting Giles and Xander to be back at any second, they had been gone a while. Spike headed for the front door, and opened it, closing it behind him, as he walked out the door, down the driveway, and towards the nearest butchers. He knew the route well from his late nights standing out the front Buffy's house.
He had been walking away from the house for a few short seconds, when the pavement around him lit up, steadily getting brighter, and the telltale noise of a car engine, Spike recognised the engine sound, it was that of Xander's car, the engine had acquired a personalised noise as it had begun to show its age.
Spike had decided to leave Xander alone; he had the most hatred toward him, and with good reason, apologising would serve only to annoy the boy more. So he continued walking, as he heard the car stop, the engine die, and the doors opening.
The night was warm, for most people wearing leather would have been too hot, but for Spike, it was fine, his body being colder than a normal human.
************************************************************************
Xander and Giles had spent several minutes unpacking the books from the car, the heavy books requiring more than one trip. Xander had noticed the figure walking away from the house as they approached, he couldn't say he was sad to see Spike leaving, although he didn't doubt he would be coming back.
Xander began to think, he had always hated the vampires that had ever been on their side, at first it had just been because he felt uncomfortable with them near his friends, when he and Willow had first met Buffy; their best friend had been sired by a vamp. It had a big affect on Xander, to have his best male friend become a monster, and turn against him and Willow. He was told that it was because being a vampire made the person evil, and this is why he first disliked Angel, it went against that theory, he had feared he would turn on them. Then after Angel went evil and hurt Buffy, he had a whole new reason to hate them he had been starting to trust Angel, and he had betrayed them. Then if all this wasn't enough, Spike had then kidnapped Willow and himself, which had hit him again in tender area, and had not technically caused the pain and hurt caused when Oz and Cordelia had found them kissing, but Xander found it easier to blame Spike for it. And then the two latest incidents that had taken place had just added icing to the cake, Spike had tried to rape Buffy, and also had sex with his ex- girlfriend in her depression.
Xander was not happy about leaving Spike with his friends while he had gone to take Giles to collect the books, but he knew that Buffy would make sure Willow and the others were ok, had it just been Willow, he would have never left her alone with him.
Xander had an odd feeling for a second, as if he was realising something about what he was thinking, but his thoughts were shattered by Giles closing the trunk of the car, he had been standing there with an armful of books he had been meaning to carry inside for several minutes.
For a second Giles looked slightly surprised, he hadn't noticed him standing there, but he shook it off as being nothing. "You didn't have to wait for me" Giles laughed as he made his way to the door, and Xander quickly followed. Inside the house, Xander's senses immediately picked up the scent of Anya's cooking
************************************************************************
Spike listened, holding his plastic bag filled with pig's blood still, so it wouldn't rustle. He had been sure he had heard a noise, not just any noise either, the sound of a punch, the sound of knuckles being forced into soft flesh, shortly followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground. But no cry for help...
Spike had been lost in thought, but now he was alert, waiting for another sound so he could pinpoint where the first had come from, it came a second or two later, another hard thump, and a sharp exhaling of air, it sounded like a kick to the victim's ribs. Again, no cry for help.
Spike knew where it was coming from now, a dark alley across the street, the old him wouldn't have cared, but the soul he had been given made him drop his bag, and run to help whoever was being beaten. However his soul had not made him stupid, as he came round the corner, he used cat like stealth, peering round the edge of the building on one side of the alley, to survey the situation.
Lying on the ground was a young woman, she didn't look conscious. Above her stood a man, looked to be in his early thirties, a bottle in his hand, any idiot could see he was drunk, and Spike could smell the drunkenness from merely approaching the alley.
If the man were a vamp, it would be no problem for spike to take him out, even though Spike wasn't at his best. But he was human, a poor excuse for one, but a human nonetheless, Spike sighed, he was going to get a headache...
Spike stepped confidently into the dimly lit alleyway, he felt no fear for himself, but worried for the girl lying helpless on the floor by the irrational and inebriated man. The man kicked the girl again; he didn't notice Spike till he was standing right by him, when he did he looked surprised for a second, then swore, and took a lazy swing at Spike with his free hand.
Spike had dodged punches thrown by many slayers, in comparison, the slow drunken punch was nothing for him to avoid, the swift vampire simply moved his head backwards, causing the drunk to overbalance and fall forward.
The drunken fool landed badly, not having the senses to even realise he was falling until it was too late to make an attempt to soften the fall. Spike felt no pain for the act, he had never touched the man, so the chip, however it worked, knew he was not responsible.
The man stayed down on the floor for a while, but was still angry, and while slow, still managed to get up. Once up, the man swayed on his feet for a second, then began using the mostly empty bottle as a weapon, swinging it at Spike like a bat.
It wasn't hard for Spike to avoid the swings, by moving back each time. Not a single of the pitifully inaccurate swings touched him. Spike was wondering how he was going to take the man out, and decided in knocking him out in one blow would have to be the way, even though it would hurt him to, a lot.
The next time the man swung, Spike grabbed his arm he was using to swing the bottle with, and in one quick movement, pulled the bottle from the mans hand and forced him against the wall, then brought the bottle down on the mans head, the blow positioned with seasoned accuracy so that the man would be knocked out for a while, yet have no lasting damage.
The bottle smashed
The man fell limp
Spike closed his eyes and grabbed at his head
...but there was no pain
As the ring of the bottle smashing slowly faded into nothing, leaving an eerie silence, Spike opened his eyes, slowly lowering his hands
He looked around, the alley was empty, the drunk, and the woman were gone. Even the shattered pieces of the bottle were nowhere to be seen.
The area around Spike was completely deserted, but he still had the feeling something was watching him.
************************************************************************
Ok, that was the end of chapter 2, what did you all think? Review! =)
Do They Really Breathe Fire?
Chapter 2
Xander stared down at his coffee mug, and knew that he would always remember the incident with the dragon that had happened earlier, whenever he drank coffee.
It was a while since Buffy had left on patrol; the gang had been researching, but turned up nothing new yet.
Willow had been trying to find reports of the dragon from further away, but it was useless, and the dragon wasn't likely to have come from the location of the first sighting, as it was a grouping of 2 or 3 farms, it's as if it had just appeared out of thin air.
It had been suggested that a scooby be sent out of Sunnydale to look for evidence at the other sites the dragon had been spotted, but none of the gang volunteered; they all had the same reason, well except one. Anya didn't want to leave the shop alone, but everyone else didn't want to go because of being out of the way of the action, and not knowing what's going on. None of the team ever wanted to leave, in case they were needed.
But if anyone was sent, it was likely to be Xander, as he was now the only Scooby with a car, Giles had his car shipped over to England with him, and couldn't afford to have it shipped back again.
Xander would be sorry to miss the action, but he would mostly miss being there for Willow, and without him there, who was to stop her from becoming depressed again. The action might distract her though, he had thought.
Xander decided he'd have to work things out when the time came; he was never one for forward planning, and living in Sunnydale, life was always that little bit too unpredictable to really be certain about the immediate future, today's surprise had been a little reminder of that, you couldn't make a cup of coffee and be sure you'll be alive to drink it.
************************************************************************
Buffy and Spike neared the house, Spike had been unusually quiet, he was lacking his usual enthusiasm at the chance to fight, but as they were getting close he finally spoke again.
"So is this something to do with the lack of nasty things in town the last couple weeks?" Spike asked breaking the silence
"You noticed that as well" Buffy stated, "But no, something else.I think" she continued
"Well something's going on, pet, there's less action in this town lately than a tea party, its like the hellmouths all dried up'" Spike stated his observations.
"Well that can't be bad" Buffy replied
"But you'll be out of a job there, love" Spike joked, but his face fell and he slowed as they approached the driveway, as if realising something he had forgotten, he hesitated.
"Best check it out after we've finished with this thing though" Buffy chuckled
Buffy hadn't noticed Spike had stopped, but when she did, she looked round, and saw a change in his features.
"Are you sure you want me here, I don't think I'm very popular with the scoobies at the moment, maybe I should just go, and you can tell, me what you need me to do" Spike said already turning away.
Buffy wasn't sure how to respond, Spike wasn't himself, that much was clear. He seemed different somehow. But Buffy couldn't let him go, it was better if he was present, she liked to tell herself that was the reason she wanted him there.
"Spike we need you here, whether we like it or not" Spike stopped, he hung his head for a few seconds but finally turn round and caught up with Buffy, and she opened the front door, he let her in first.
"Hey Buff" Xander called from the living room. He sounded fairly cheerful. It was like Xander to not let such a scare from earlier get him down.
But his face dropped however, when he saw Spike following Buffy in.
"What is he doing here?" Xander asked through partially gritted teeth.
"He is here for the same reason the rest of us are" Buffy answered, implying that argument was pointless
"Well as long as it's not a social call" Xander remarked as he sat down.
Anya sat at the table and tried to hide her face in a book, looking awkward.
Giles who, was sipping a coffee, and was obviously taking notes from the news reports about the dragon, which had become quite a local sensation, he didn't seem too bothered about Spikes presence, but was concentrating on the TV too much to really register what was going on.
Xander was sat on the sofa next to Willow idly flicking through a book; willow was examining printouts, and occasionally glancing at her laptop, that was balanced on the arm of the sofa.
Dawn was rummaging around in a large mountain of books in one corner of the room, though if you looked at it in another way it kind of looked like Dawn was building a fort out of the books.
At that point the news report on the dragon finished, and by the look on Giles's face, he had decided there was nothing new worth mentioning. The news however was not over, and a new story started. And the Female presenter began reading.
"In other news around the town of Sunnydale, the mysterious rise in seismic activity around Sunnydale has risen by 200% since yesterday, experts say if activity continues to rise at the speed it is now, the people of Sunnydale could be looking at minor earthquakes by the end of the week. Experts are still as baffled by the cause of the sudden jump in activity, but are asking residents of Sunnydale and the surrounding area not to panic, if seismic activity does threaten to rise to dangerous levels emergency services will begin evacuation of the town."
All of the gang's attention, including Spikes had been caught by the TV news report. As if it hadn't been bad enough, they now had to worry about this.
************************************************************************
The Gang had filled Spike in on the recent events, after they had finished, Spike had seemed to be lost in thought for a second, and then simply shrugged his shoulders.
The others weren't surprised, but they were also confused, a lot of things just didn't add up.
Spike then told them what he had noticed since he had got back, the lack of demons, and general feel of something big on the horizon.
"It seems to me that things just aren't adding up, either we have 2 or 3 problems, or maybe it's all tried together in a larger plan. The dragon, the seismic activity, the lack of demons..." Giles observed.
"We need more coffee" Xander decided, and seeing that no one was moving went to get up, only to see Spike heading into the kitchen. 'Maybe Buffy asked him to do it, oh well fine by me' Xander went back to his idle page browsing, while in actual fact, Buffy was as confused as him.
A while after, the people that hadn't noticed Spike go out to make the coffee, which was everyone except Buffy and Xander, were surprised to see Spike walk back in with a tray load of coffee mugs. They all thanked Spike when he handed them each their coffee, despite their confusion, except Xander who just took it without looking at him.
Giles was the first one to notice.
"Spike, this is excellent coffee" Giles sounded surprised "mmm".
The others who had not yet tried their coffee also found it surprisingly good, Xander was a little envious, but surprised none the less, it wasn't the instant coffee he had made.
Spike looked a little embarrassed, he looked around and said. "The old ways are always the best"
************************************************************************
Xander was in the driver's seat of his car, Giles had decided to collect some books from his place. Xander was now sitting and waiting for Giles to collect a few more books, Xander had helped him with most of them, but Giles said there was only a few he had forgotten, and didn't need any help getting them. So Xander stayed in his car.
Xander looked into the sky, it was clear, and he could see the stars, it was now late evening, it had been hours since they had found anything
It was at the moment Giles got in the Driver door and told Xander he had an idea.
Well not so much told.
"Drive to the bookstore, I need to buy some books" Giles half ordered
"I don't think the Sunnydale bookstore will have the kind of books we need" Xander replied, wondering if the stress had finally driven Giles over the edge, climbing the stairs to Giles's apartment wasn't easy but it wasn't something that Xander would have though capable of turning Giles, the everlasting voice of reason, into a madman, 'Maybe they are cursed stairs' Xander pondered, it wouldn't be impossible. He'd have to have Willow look into it.
"No I have an idea" Giles said simply
"Whatever you say G-man, as long as I'm not paying" Xander said while starting the engine and driving off toward the town centre. 'Trust Sunnydale to have a bookshop that is open till 12'. Xander thought
************************************************************************
Xander pulled his car up in front of the bookstore, Giles got out and Xander followed after locking the car doors. Giles had been to the bookshop before, Xander hadn't, and most of the reading material he owned was mail order and mostly consisted of pictures. Except for one he had purchased recently.
After entering the shop, Xander followed Giles, who seemed to know where he was going, and walked past the desk, to the back of the store, up the stairs to the upper level, and then went from the stairs to near the back of the upper section.
Xander glanced at the sign above the isle, it said 'Legends and Mythology', Xander began to realise why Giles had come here, and what he intended to buy, and sure enough, Giles searched the shelves for all he could find on dragons.
Giles finished up with 7 books; Xander carried them for Giles to the desk, where Giles paid for them.
While he wrote out a check, Xander decided to check out the second hand books bin, a bin full of people's books they no longer wanted and left them here, and anyone who wanted one could by it for 20 cents out of the bin. It was piled high with books of all kinds, but almost all were scruffy, and falling apart. There were children's books, many different works of fiction, a selection of gardening books, an encyclopaedia, with about half the pages missing, and a few factual books on different topics, Xander was sure that if he looked long and hard enough in the huge bin of books, he would find something he would buy, but he lacked to time, and the patience to even bother trying.
But as he turned away, his eyes caught something, a glint of gold, he turned back round, and saw it again, and he tracked down the source. A tiny book, about the size of a passport and about as thick as three. It had a decorative golden front, the bright reflection of light made it so he couldn't make out the picture, and had its cover made out of the same leathery stuff some of their oldest books that they used for research had. Xander opened it and saw the brown pages and letters that Xander didn't recognise, but he didn't have time to look closely, Giles was finished with his transaction, and was now picking up the books.
On impulse Xander dug in his pocket and found about 25 cents in change as Giles was struggling with the door Xander gave the girl on the till 20 cents for the book and then stuck it in his pocket, it fit quite easily. He figured if nothing else it would be something Willow would be interested in
Xander then went to help Giles with the door. Once out the store, Xander jogged up to the car and unlocked the doors while Giles made his way steadily toward the car with the books in his arms.
************************************************************************
Back at the Summers residence, the rest of the gang continued research, Willow was still working on her computer, Buffy was studying a map Willow had printed out of the seismic activity, Dawn was watching the TV, which wasn't really research but nobody seemed to care, Spike was reading through some books, and Anya was cooking a little midnight snack for them all.
None of them knew what it was but it smelled good, but Spike was getting hungry, and no matter how good Anya's cooking was wouldn't satisfy his hunger, simply because, he was a vampire.
A vampire hiding a soul, so that the people he had wronged wouldn't take pity on him, he didn't deserve it, but he was beginning to doubt he could keep it up, Buffy had already begun to see through him. But still a vampire and he needed blood, and since he didn't have any, he would have to get some from the butchers.
"If you don't mind, I'll be headin' down to the vampires take away, I'm a tad peckish" Spike said as he slipped on his leather duster he had removed a while before, and left on the back of the chair he was sitting on. If he had of mentioned it directly, they would have been repulsed, he didn't want to put them off their own food.
They were expecting Giles and Xander to be back at any second, they had been gone a while. Spike headed for the front door, and opened it, closing it behind him, as he walked out the door, down the driveway, and towards the nearest butchers. He knew the route well from his late nights standing out the front Buffy's house.
He had been walking away from the house for a few short seconds, when the pavement around him lit up, steadily getting brighter, and the telltale noise of a car engine, Spike recognised the engine sound, it was that of Xander's car, the engine had acquired a personalised noise as it had begun to show its age.
Spike had decided to leave Xander alone; he had the most hatred toward him, and with good reason, apologising would serve only to annoy the boy more. So he continued walking, as he heard the car stop, the engine die, and the doors opening.
The night was warm, for most people wearing leather would have been too hot, but for Spike, it was fine, his body being colder than a normal human.
************************************************************************
Xander and Giles had spent several minutes unpacking the books from the car, the heavy books requiring more than one trip. Xander had noticed the figure walking away from the house as they approached, he couldn't say he was sad to see Spike leaving, although he didn't doubt he would be coming back.
Xander began to think, he had always hated the vampires that had ever been on their side, at first it had just been because he felt uncomfortable with them near his friends, when he and Willow had first met Buffy; their best friend had been sired by a vamp. It had a big affect on Xander, to have his best male friend become a monster, and turn against him and Willow. He was told that it was because being a vampire made the person evil, and this is why he first disliked Angel, it went against that theory, he had feared he would turn on them. Then after Angel went evil and hurt Buffy, he had a whole new reason to hate them he had been starting to trust Angel, and he had betrayed them. Then if all this wasn't enough, Spike had then kidnapped Willow and himself, which had hit him again in tender area, and had not technically caused the pain and hurt caused when Oz and Cordelia had found them kissing, but Xander found it easier to blame Spike for it. And then the two latest incidents that had taken place had just added icing to the cake, Spike had tried to rape Buffy, and also had sex with his ex- girlfriend in her depression.
Xander was not happy about leaving Spike with his friends while he had gone to take Giles to collect the books, but he knew that Buffy would make sure Willow and the others were ok, had it just been Willow, he would have never left her alone with him.
Xander had an odd feeling for a second, as if he was realising something about what he was thinking, but his thoughts were shattered by Giles closing the trunk of the car, he had been standing there with an armful of books he had been meaning to carry inside for several minutes.
For a second Giles looked slightly surprised, he hadn't noticed him standing there, but he shook it off as being nothing. "You didn't have to wait for me" Giles laughed as he made his way to the door, and Xander quickly followed. Inside the house, Xander's senses immediately picked up the scent of Anya's cooking
************************************************************************
Spike listened, holding his plastic bag filled with pig's blood still, so it wouldn't rustle. He had been sure he had heard a noise, not just any noise either, the sound of a punch, the sound of knuckles being forced into soft flesh, shortly followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground. But no cry for help...
Spike had been lost in thought, but now he was alert, waiting for another sound so he could pinpoint where the first had come from, it came a second or two later, another hard thump, and a sharp exhaling of air, it sounded like a kick to the victim's ribs. Again, no cry for help.
Spike knew where it was coming from now, a dark alley across the street, the old him wouldn't have cared, but the soul he had been given made him drop his bag, and run to help whoever was being beaten. However his soul had not made him stupid, as he came round the corner, he used cat like stealth, peering round the edge of the building on one side of the alley, to survey the situation.
Lying on the ground was a young woman, she didn't look conscious. Above her stood a man, looked to be in his early thirties, a bottle in his hand, any idiot could see he was drunk, and Spike could smell the drunkenness from merely approaching the alley.
If the man were a vamp, it would be no problem for spike to take him out, even though Spike wasn't at his best. But he was human, a poor excuse for one, but a human nonetheless, Spike sighed, he was going to get a headache...
Spike stepped confidently into the dimly lit alleyway, he felt no fear for himself, but worried for the girl lying helpless on the floor by the irrational and inebriated man. The man kicked the girl again; he didn't notice Spike till he was standing right by him, when he did he looked surprised for a second, then swore, and took a lazy swing at Spike with his free hand.
Spike had dodged punches thrown by many slayers, in comparison, the slow drunken punch was nothing for him to avoid, the swift vampire simply moved his head backwards, causing the drunk to overbalance and fall forward.
The drunken fool landed badly, not having the senses to even realise he was falling until it was too late to make an attempt to soften the fall. Spike felt no pain for the act, he had never touched the man, so the chip, however it worked, knew he was not responsible.
The man stayed down on the floor for a while, but was still angry, and while slow, still managed to get up. Once up, the man swayed on his feet for a second, then began using the mostly empty bottle as a weapon, swinging it at Spike like a bat.
It wasn't hard for Spike to avoid the swings, by moving back each time. Not a single of the pitifully inaccurate swings touched him. Spike was wondering how he was going to take the man out, and decided in knocking him out in one blow would have to be the way, even though it would hurt him to, a lot.
The next time the man swung, Spike grabbed his arm he was using to swing the bottle with, and in one quick movement, pulled the bottle from the mans hand and forced him against the wall, then brought the bottle down on the mans head, the blow positioned with seasoned accuracy so that the man would be knocked out for a while, yet have no lasting damage.
The bottle smashed
The man fell limp
Spike closed his eyes and grabbed at his head
...but there was no pain
As the ring of the bottle smashing slowly faded into nothing, leaving an eerie silence, Spike opened his eyes, slowly lowering his hands
He looked around, the alley was empty, the drunk, and the woman were gone. Even the shattered pieces of the bottle were nowhere to be seen.
The area around Spike was completely deserted, but he still had the feeling something was watching him.
************************************************************************
Ok, that was the end of chapter 2, what did you all think? Review! =)