Chapter 34
Faith sat on Buffy's bed near Spike, watching him closely. He was struggling and it was really showing. "Can I do something?"
"I think you should probably go." Spike said.
"Here." Faith got up to get him some water. When she turned back around he was vamped out and pulling against his restraints. She looked down with tears in her eyes and walked out. Willow stood just outside her room and turned to look at Faith.
"How's he.." Willow started.
"He's been feasting on humans for weeks. He's having some pretty bad withdrawals. I think we need to get him some blood."
"Do you want me to kill Anya?"
"No, we should probably try to wean him off humans. He'll have to make do with animal blood."
"I'll go get some."
"You don't mind?"
"No, I have to get out of the house. It's a little cramped and obnoxious down there."
"Thank you."
"How.. How're you doing in there?"
Faith stared at the witch for a moment, amazed that she cared about Faith's well being. "He's in pretty bad shape, past the point where he can tell me anything."
"I wasn't asking about him."
"I know. I'll be ok. Has anyone found Connor?"
"Yeah. He's in LA. Xander called."
Faith nodded and walked back into the bedroom.
Angel descended the stairs with Buffy at his side, axe in hand, as the others geared up for their trip to Wolfram & Hart. Buffy didn't have a weapon. She was pissed off enough to be one.
"I mean, I know you run your own shop, but an inside guy at Wolfram & Hart? Pretty amazing." Fred said to Wes.
"Yes, well.. Part of the job." Wes said.
Lorne handed Fred a dagger. "Thank you."
"He's gonna be fine, you know. Connor's a champion, like you two. He's special." Cordy said to Buffy.
"Right." Buffy looked around. "Somebody should stay here and mind the store."
"Oh, me, me, me! Sergeant Stay-at-Home, volunteering for duty, ma'am." Lorne said.
"Gunn let's go." Buffy said.
"Buffy, assuming we can even get inside the evil empire, the same big beastie's in there who spanked our asses six ways to Sunday. What's gonna be different this time?" Gunn asked.
"What's different is we're not going for the monster. We're going for Connor."
"So you phoned ahead so the big bad understands that?"
"Look! I don't know the answers. Don't even know most of the questions. But what I do know is that I have to go into Wolfram & Hart and find my son. Now as far as us versus the big bad is concerned.. There's only one smart way to play it. We see it, we run like hell."
"Works for me." Angel stopped Cordy. He took the sword from her and set it back down. "Excuse me!"
"Stay here with Lorne. You and Xander both." Angel said.
She reached for the sword. "No. Connor's in danger and I.."
Angel slammed his hand on the sword, pinning it down. "Cordelia. I don't want you two there. It's too dangerous. Way too dangerous. I can't risk it."
"Fred, get a move on." Buffy said as she headed out the door.
"Happy hunting! We'll stay here and keep the home fires burning. Bake some nice healing muffins." Xander called, happy to stay there and not go after the thing that had kicked his ass as well as the Slayer's.
"Look who I found." Willow said, dragging Andrew into the Summers' living room.
"Oh, this can't be good." Dawn said.
"Guess who was buying mass amounts of blood at the butcher's shop."
"Hey, your hair's not even black anymore!" Andrew said to Willow.
"What're you doing back in town?" Faith asked, coming down the stairs.
"You'll get nothing out of me, Slayer."
"We'll see about that."
Faith pushed Andrew into a chair and tied his wrists to it, in a similar fashion to Spike's restraints. Anya stood in front of Andrew, going through his leather trench coat.
"Careful with my coat. It's expensive." Andrew whined.
"Is it new?" Anya asked. She threw it on the floor and stepped on it with her shoes.
"Hey! Ow!"
"Now, we can do this the hard way, if you want." Faith said. She tied up other arm. "But believe me if I tell you, this will go much easier if you just tell us what you know." She tightened the restraints again.
"Ow. You're barking up the wrong asparagus, man. I don't know anything."
"Here's the thing. I don't believe you. Believe me, you want me to believe you."
"I haven't done anything wrong."
"Well, then, you won't mind if we ask you a few questions." Dawn said.
"Yeah. Ok."
"Why were you buying blood at the butcher shop?" Willow asked. Faith took the bag from Willow and headed back upstairs.
Buffy, Angel, Wesley, Gunn, and Fred stood in a storm sewer. Wesley led the group to the exit vent he and Lilah used earlier.
"This is it. I believe there's a door about 30 meters up." Wes said.
"You believe or you know? Cause every time you show up believin' something, seems somebody gets their head drilled or falls into a portal." Gunn said.
"Charles.." Fred said.
"I'm just saying."
"Yes, well I'm doing." Wes said.
"HEY! Will you guys shut the hell up! I don't give a flying rat's ass about whatever's going on between you. Put it away! We're here for Connor." Buffy said.
"I still don't see how you two plan on getting us up there." Gunn said.
Angel dropped his bag, unzipped it, and grabbed a coil of rope. He handed it to Buffy and then cupped his hands. Buffy put one foot in and jumped. At the same time, Angel shoved up with his hands. Buffy went soaring up into the air duct. She landed and called down to Angel. He leapt straight up and scaled the sides of the air duct, quickly disappearing into the darkness above.
"Show offs." Gunn said.
After a moment, the rope dropped down in front of them. They climbed up one by one. Buffy, Angel, Gunn, Wesley, and Fred emerged from the stairwell to find the hallway strewn with the dead.
"Oh, my god.. I know they all worked for an evil company but this is.." Fred said. Gunn whipped his flashlight around suddenly. "What?"
"Heard something." Gunn said.
"Power's down. We'll have to take the stairs." Angel said.
They stepped over the bodies and head for the stairwell at the opposite end of the corridor.
"Just so I'm clear on the plan.." Gunn said.
"Third floor." Buffy said.
"Get Connor." Angel said.
"Get out."
Fred started and spun around but there was nothing there. "Sorry, feeling a little goosey."
"For good reason." Wes said.
Buffy and Angel mounted the stairs, taking them two at a time. "Be quick, be quiet. As far as we know, that thing's still around." Buffy said as the group emerged from the stairwell onto the third floor.
"I don't get it. Wolfram & Hart is evil, the big bad is evil.. Why go all Terminator on your own team?" Gunn asked.
"Maybe all it wants is to eliminate the competition." Angel said.
"Doesn't give us much to look forward to, does it?" Buffy asked.
"Over here." Angel and Buffy walked into the destroyed conference room.
The five of them dug through the shattered remains of the concrete support column. Buffy was a little panicked, but Angel put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
"He's not in here." Buffy said.
"Let's be certain." Wes said.
"No, she's right. He's not. That's good. Means he's still alive." Angel assured Buffy.
"Or that Sherlock got his facts wrong again." Gunn said.
"No, I can smell him. Connor was here. You three take one stairwell. Sweep each floor, we'll meet up top."
Buffy and Angel left and went to the stairs. They came out from the stairwell on a different floor and moved cautiously along the corridor, searching. A shadow ducked across the corridor behind them and they spun, Angel's sword at the ready. But whatever it was, it was gone. Angel held for a moment, then continued onward with Buffy. Suddenly his sword was knocked out of his hand as someone leaped out of the shadows and attacked. Angel grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, then realized it was Connor.
Buffy shoved Angel away and wrapped her arms tightly, almost frantically around her son's neck. "Connor! Jesus! OH!" She was starting to cry as Connor hugged her back.
"Thank god you're alive." Angel said as he hugged both Buffy and Connor. They stayed like that for a minute before pulling away.
"How'd you guys know where to find me?" Connor asked.
"It's a long story. We've gotta get you out of here first." Buffy said.
"Oh God! Mom, are you ok?" Connor started to touch Buffy's eye and split lip gently, but she brushed his hand away.
"I'm ok. Let's go."
"Wait. First I have to kill that thing. This is my fault."
"We can't kill it and no, it's not. We've thrown everything we can at it. It's not enough. We need to go." Angel said.
"That thing did this to me. He can probably do worse to you." Buffy warned.
They turned to leave only to find Gavin reaching out for them, obviously still dead but walking nevertheless. Angel decked him, then threw him headfirst into the wall. Gavin lied still for a moment then started getting slowly back to his feet again.
"What the..?" Buffy asked.
"He looks dead." Connor said.
"He is dead. Technically undead. A zombie."
"What's a zombie?"
Angel picked Gavin up and threw him down the hall again. "It's an undead thing." He said.
"Like you?"
"No! Zombies are slow-moving dim-witted things that crave human flesh."
"Like you." Buffy said with smirk.
"Hey!"
"Couldn't resist."
Angel grabbed his sword back from Buffy and headed off down the corridor, pausing long enough to kick Gavin in the head as he once again tried to rise from the floor. "Come on!"
Gavin started to rise again with a deathly moan and this time the dozens of other corpses in the hall started to rise with him.
"Why are the doing this? Why are they zombies?" Connor asked.
"I don't know but we need to find the others." Buffy said.
Faith walked back into the room after she had rinsed the cup out that she had fed blood to Spike with. "Better?" Spike nodded. "Good." She sat on the edge of the bed again.
"I don't remember anything." Spike said.
"Well, you were having pretty bad withdrawal."
"No, not that. I don't remember.. What I did."
"Nothing?"
"It's all flashes here and there. It's like I'm watching someone else.. do it, kill people. I've been losing time for a while now, waking up in strange places."
"When did your chip stop working?"
"I wasn't aware that it had, you know. Not 'til now."
"And the losing time? How long has that been going on?"
"Oh, things have been wonky since I got back, ever since.."
"You got your soul."
"Figured that's what it was like, it'd been so long since I had one."
"How did you do it? How'd you get your soul back?"
"Saw a man about a girl. I went to seek a legend out. Traveled to the other side of the world, made a deal with a demon."
"Just like that?"
"No, not just like that. There was a price. There were trials, torture, pain and suffering.. Of sorts."
"Of sorts?"
"Well, it's all relative, isn't it?"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning I have come to redefine the words pain and suffering since I fell in love with you."
"How can you say that?"
"Apparently, I just slaughtered half of Sunnydale, pet. I'm not really worried about being polite anymore."
"So, that's what this is about? You feeling sorry for yourself, Spike?"
"I'm feeling honest with myself. You said some pretty nasty things that night."
"Yeah, I did. So did you."
"And I admitted that. Soul's not all about moonbeams and pennywhistles, luv. It's about self-loathing. I get it. Had to travel round the world, but I understand you now. I understand the violence inside."
"Violence? William the Bloody now has insight into violence?"
"Not the same. As bad as I was, as evil and as wretched as I was, I never truly hated myself back then. Not like I do now."
A loud noise came from Dawn's room. Faith looked at Spike. "Excuse me." She walked into Dawn's room.
"Somebody help. Ow!" Andrew wailed.
"Everything ok?"
Faith looked around. Andrew was sitting on the floor. Anya was holding his shirt collar, with her arm raised to a fist aimed at his head. Xander sat on the desk holding his sore cheek. The room had been trashed and smashed. Faith rolled her eyes and added this to the "Reasons Why Buffy and Angel Are Going To Kill Me" list.
"Fine." Anya said.
"Ok." Faith said, leaving the room. She walked back to Buffy's room, but paused. Spike was talking.
"What do I do, job half-done? Never send a boy to do a man's job." He started to sing. "Oh, don't deceive me, Oh, never leave me."
She opened the door. "Who were you talking to?"
"What's that?" Spike asked.
"I heard you through the door. Who were you talking to?"
"Nobody. I was just, uh, keeping myself company."
"Are you ok?"
"Fine. How are you?"
"Spike?"
"I'm fine, Faith. Really. I'm just.. feeling a bit peckish, I suppose." He looked at the bags of pigs blood on night table by the bed. "Do you mind?"
Faith went towards the blood, keeping her eye on Spike the whole time. When she turned to look at the table when picking up the bag, Spike vamped out. He roared, broke the chair arms, and stood. Faith tried to fight him, but he pushed her down and went purposefully in the opposite direction. *Oh crap!* Faith thought, knowing what he was going to do.
Spike shoved his arm through the wall and grabbed Andrew by his chest. Another arm broke through and grabbed his head. Andrew screamed. Spike pulled Andrew through the wall, into the Buffy's room. He bent Andrew's head over, exposing his neck, and bit him.
Faith sat on Buffy's bed near Spike, watching him closely. He was struggling and it was really showing. "Can I do something?"
"I think you should probably go." Spike said.
"Here." Faith got up to get him some water. When she turned back around he was vamped out and pulling against his restraints. She looked down with tears in her eyes and walked out. Willow stood just outside her room and turned to look at Faith.
"How's he.." Willow started.
"He's been feasting on humans for weeks. He's having some pretty bad withdrawals. I think we need to get him some blood."
"Do you want me to kill Anya?"
"No, we should probably try to wean him off humans. He'll have to make do with animal blood."
"I'll go get some."
"You don't mind?"
"No, I have to get out of the house. It's a little cramped and obnoxious down there."
"Thank you."
"How.. How're you doing in there?"
Faith stared at the witch for a moment, amazed that she cared about Faith's well being. "He's in pretty bad shape, past the point where he can tell me anything."
"I wasn't asking about him."
"I know. I'll be ok. Has anyone found Connor?"
"Yeah. He's in LA. Xander called."
Faith nodded and walked back into the bedroom.
Angel descended the stairs with Buffy at his side, axe in hand, as the others geared up for their trip to Wolfram & Hart. Buffy didn't have a weapon. She was pissed off enough to be one.
"I mean, I know you run your own shop, but an inside guy at Wolfram & Hart? Pretty amazing." Fred said to Wes.
"Yes, well.. Part of the job." Wes said.
Lorne handed Fred a dagger. "Thank you."
"He's gonna be fine, you know. Connor's a champion, like you two. He's special." Cordy said to Buffy.
"Right." Buffy looked around. "Somebody should stay here and mind the store."
"Oh, me, me, me! Sergeant Stay-at-Home, volunteering for duty, ma'am." Lorne said.
"Gunn let's go." Buffy said.
"Buffy, assuming we can even get inside the evil empire, the same big beastie's in there who spanked our asses six ways to Sunday. What's gonna be different this time?" Gunn asked.
"What's different is we're not going for the monster. We're going for Connor."
"So you phoned ahead so the big bad understands that?"
"Look! I don't know the answers. Don't even know most of the questions. But what I do know is that I have to go into Wolfram & Hart and find my son. Now as far as us versus the big bad is concerned.. There's only one smart way to play it. We see it, we run like hell."
"Works for me." Angel stopped Cordy. He took the sword from her and set it back down. "Excuse me!"
"Stay here with Lorne. You and Xander both." Angel said.
She reached for the sword. "No. Connor's in danger and I.."
Angel slammed his hand on the sword, pinning it down. "Cordelia. I don't want you two there. It's too dangerous. Way too dangerous. I can't risk it."
"Fred, get a move on." Buffy said as she headed out the door.
"Happy hunting! We'll stay here and keep the home fires burning. Bake some nice healing muffins." Xander called, happy to stay there and not go after the thing that had kicked his ass as well as the Slayer's.
"Look who I found." Willow said, dragging Andrew into the Summers' living room.
"Oh, this can't be good." Dawn said.
"Guess who was buying mass amounts of blood at the butcher's shop."
"Hey, your hair's not even black anymore!" Andrew said to Willow.
"What're you doing back in town?" Faith asked, coming down the stairs.
"You'll get nothing out of me, Slayer."
"We'll see about that."
Faith pushed Andrew into a chair and tied his wrists to it, in a similar fashion to Spike's restraints. Anya stood in front of Andrew, going through his leather trench coat.
"Careful with my coat. It's expensive." Andrew whined.
"Is it new?" Anya asked. She threw it on the floor and stepped on it with her shoes.
"Hey! Ow!"
"Now, we can do this the hard way, if you want." Faith said. She tied up other arm. "But believe me if I tell you, this will go much easier if you just tell us what you know." She tightened the restraints again.
"Ow. You're barking up the wrong asparagus, man. I don't know anything."
"Here's the thing. I don't believe you. Believe me, you want me to believe you."
"I haven't done anything wrong."
"Well, then, you won't mind if we ask you a few questions." Dawn said.
"Yeah. Ok."
"Why were you buying blood at the butcher shop?" Willow asked. Faith took the bag from Willow and headed back upstairs.
Buffy, Angel, Wesley, Gunn, and Fred stood in a storm sewer. Wesley led the group to the exit vent he and Lilah used earlier.
"This is it. I believe there's a door about 30 meters up." Wes said.
"You believe or you know? Cause every time you show up believin' something, seems somebody gets their head drilled or falls into a portal." Gunn said.
"Charles.." Fred said.
"I'm just saying."
"Yes, well I'm doing." Wes said.
"HEY! Will you guys shut the hell up! I don't give a flying rat's ass about whatever's going on between you. Put it away! We're here for Connor." Buffy said.
"I still don't see how you two plan on getting us up there." Gunn said.
Angel dropped his bag, unzipped it, and grabbed a coil of rope. He handed it to Buffy and then cupped his hands. Buffy put one foot in and jumped. At the same time, Angel shoved up with his hands. Buffy went soaring up into the air duct. She landed and called down to Angel. He leapt straight up and scaled the sides of the air duct, quickly disappearing into the darkness above.
"Show offs." Gunn said.
After a moment, the rope dropped down in front of them. They climbed up one by one. Buffy, Angel, Gunn, Wesley, and Fred emerged from the stairwell to find the hallway strewn with the dead.
"Oh, my god.. I know they all worked for an evil company but this is.." Fred said. Gunn whipped his flashlight around suddenly. "What?"
"Heard something." Gunn said.
"Power's down. We'll have to take the stairs." Angel said.
They stepped over the bodies and head for the stairwell at the opposite end of the corridor.
"Just so I'm clear on the plan.." Gunn said.
"Third floor." Buffy said.
"Get Connor." Angel said.
"Get out."
Fred started and spun around but there was nothing there. "Sorry, feeling a little goosey."
"For good reason." Wes said.
Buffy and Angel mounted the stairs, taking them two at a time. "Be quick, be quiet. As far as we know, that thing's still around." Buffy said as the group emerged from the stairwell onto the third floor.
"I don't get it. Wolfram & Hart is evil, the big bad is evil.. Why go all Terminator on your own team?" Gunn asked.
"Maybe all it wants is to eliminate the competition." Angel said.
"Doesn't give us much to look forward to, does it?" Buffy asked.
"Over here." Angel and Buffy walked into the destroyed conference room.
The five of them dug through the shattered remains of the concrete support column. Buffy was a little panicked, but Angel put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
"He's not in here." Buffy said.
"Let's be certain." Wes said.
"No, she's right. He's not. That's good. Means he's still alive." Angel assured Buffy.
"Or that Sherlock got his facts wrong again." Gunn said.
"No, I can smell him. Connor was here. You three take one stairwell. Sweep each floor, we'll meet up top."
Buffy and Angel left and went to the stairs. They came out from the stairwell on a different floor and moved cautiously along the corridor, searching. A shadow ducked across the corridor behind them and they spun, Angel's sword at the ready. But whatever it was, it was gone. Angel held for a moment, then continued onward with Buffy. Suddenly his sword was knocked out of his hand as someone leaped out of the shadows and attacked. Angel grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, then realized it was Connor.
Buffy shoved Angel away and wrapped her arms tightly, almost frantically around her son's neck. "Connor! Jesus! OH!" She was starting to cry as Connor hugged her back.
"Thank god you're alive." Angel said as he hugged both Buffy and Connor. They stayed like that for a minute before pulling away.
"How'd you guys know where to find me?" Connor asked.
"It's a long story. We've gotta get you out of here first." Buffy said.
"Oh God! Mom, are you ok?" Connor started to touch Buffy's eye and split lip gently, but she brushed his hand away.
"I'm ok. Let's go."
"Wait. First I have to kill that thing. This is my fault."
"We can't kill it and no, it's not. We've thrown everything we can at it. It's not enough. We need to go." Angel said.
"That thing did this to me. He can probably do worse to you." Buffy warned.
They turned to leave only to find Gavin reaching out for them, obviously still dead but walking nevertheless. Angel decked him, then threw him headfirst into the wall. Gavin lied still for a moment then started getting slowly back to his feet again.
"What the..?" Buffy asked.
"He looks dead." Connor said.
"He is dead. Technically undead. A zombie."
"What's a zombie?"
Angel picked Gavin up and threw him down the hall again. "It's an undead thing." He said.
"Like you?"
"No! Zombies are slow-moving dim-witted things that crave human flesh."
"Like you." Buffy said with smirk.
"Hey!"
"Couldn't resist."
Angel grabbed his sword back from Buffy and headed off down the corridor, pausing long enough to kick Gavin in the head as he once again tried to rise from the floor. "Come on!"
Gavin started to rise again with a deathly moan and this time the dozens of other corpses in the hall started to rise with him.
"Why are the doing this? Why are they zombies?" Connor asked.
"I don't know but we need to find the others." Buffy said.
Faith walked back into the room after she had rinsed the cup out that she had fed blood to Spike with. "Better?" Spike nodded. "Good." She sat on the edge of the bed again.
"I don't remember anything." Spike said.
"Well, you were having pretty bad withdrawal."
"No, not that. I don't remember.. What I did."
"Nothing?"
"It's all flashes here and there. It's like I'm watching someone else.. do it, kill people. I've been losing time for a while now, waking up in strange places."
"When did your chip stop working?"
"I wasn't aware that it had, you know. Not 'til now."
"And the losing time? How long has that been going on?"
"Oh, things have been wonky since I got back, ever since.."
"You got your soul."
"Figured that's what it was like, it'd been so long since I had one."
"How did you do it? How'd you get your soul back?"
"Saw a man about a girl. I went to seek a legend out. Traveled to the other side of the world, made a deal with a demon."
"Just like that?"
"No, not just like that. There was a price. There were trials, torture, pain and suffering.. Of sorts."
"Of sorts?"
"Well, it's all relative, isn't it?"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning I have come to redefine the words pain and suffering since I fell in love with you."
"How can you say that?"
"Apparently, I just slaughtered half of Sunnydale, pet. I'm not really worried about being polite anymore."
"So, that's what this is about? You feeling sorry for yourself, Spike?"
"I'm feeling honest with myself. You said some pretty nasty things that night."
"Yeah, I did. So did you."
"And I admitted that. Soul's not all about moonbeams and pennywhistles, luv. It's about self-loathing. I get it. Had to travel round the world, but I understand you now. I understand the violence inside."
"Violence? William the Bloody now has insight into violence?"
"Not the same. As bad as I was, as evil and as wretched as I was, I never truly hated myself back then. Not like I do now."
A loud noise came from Dawn's room. Faith looked at Spike. "Excuse me." She walked into Dawn's room.
"Somebody help. Ow!" Andrew wailed.
"Everything ok?"
Faith looked around. Andrew was sitting on the floor. Anya was holding his shirt collar, with her arm raised to a fist aimed at his head. Xander sat on the desk holding his sore cheek. The room had been trashed and smashed. Faith rolled her eyes and added this to the "Reasons Why Buffy and Angel Are Going To Kill Me" list.
"Fine." Anya said.
"Ok." Faith said, leaving the room. She walked back to Buffy's room, but paused. Spike was talking.
"What do I do, job half-done? Never send a boy to do a man's job." He started to sing. "Oh, don't deceive me, Oh, never leave me."
She opened the door. "Who were you talking to?"
"What's that?" Spike asked.
"I heard you through the door. Who were you talking to?"
"Nobody. I was just, uh, keeping myself company."
"Are you ok?"
"Fine. How are you?"
"Spike?"
"I'm fine, Faith. Really. I'm just.. feeling a bit peckish, I suppose." He looked at the bags of pigs blood on night table by the bed. "Do you mind?"
Faith went towards the blood, keeping her eye on Spike the whole time. When she turned to look at the table when picking up the bag, Spike vamped out. He roared, broke the chair arms, and stood. Faith tried to fight him, but he pushed her down and went purposefully in the opposite direction. *Oh crap!* Faith thought, knowing what he was going to do.
Spike shoved his arm through the wall and grabbed Andrew by his chest. Another arm broke through and grabbed his head. Andrew screamed. Spike pulled Andrew through the wall, into the Buffy's room. He bent Andrew's head over, exposing his neck, and bit him.
