CHAPTER 5

Giles looked up from behind the counter as bell rang, announcing a customer at the Magic Box. A young, tall, dark haired man entered and walked to the counter.

"Mr. Giles?" the stranger asked.

"Yes," the watcher replied. "Can I help you?"

"Emmet Gage," the man introduced himself. "I understand you're something of an expert on the history and lore of this area."

"Yes, I am." Giles' guard went up, realizing this man was Willow's professor. He gestured to the research table. "Let's go over here and sit."

As they moved to the table, Giles cast a glance at the training room door, which was only mostly closed. As soon as they had returned from Willow's class, the witch and the two blondes had gone into the room to hide. He had an absurd picture of them in his head, pressed up against the door, straining to hear what the professor was saying. In his mind, he pulled open the door and all three fell face-first into a heap in the open doorway.

"What, er, exactly are you interested in?" Giles asked, returning his attention to his visitor.

"I study myths and cultural beliefs," Gage started to explain. "I was wondering if you'd ever heard anything about a story of a group of vampires calling themselves 'The Scourge of Europe.'"

"I believe I have," Giles said, feigning searching his memory. "But all the stories I've heard about the Scourge were in Europe, and around the turn of the century. Er, that is, the last one. I don't understand what that has to do with local legend."

"I don't think they were just a story," Gage confessed. "I think they were real."

"Oh, my." Giles blinked, trying to decide which way to go in answering the man's question.

Taking Giles' hesitation for disbelief, Gage pressed on. "I found this book in a rare bookstore. It was written like a journal. It outlined the adventures of the Scourge from the point of view of the youngest vampire, William the Bloody. At first, I thought it was just an imitation of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula,' until I realized that 'Dracula' was published after this was dated. Of course, if it was truly fiction, this book could have been written at any time and still the storyline could pre-date 'Dracula.' However, I don't believe it is fictional. I think it's the real journal of a real vampire. There are too many other stories about the Scourge."

"This could have been written after hearing those stories," Giles suggested, deciding to play the skeptic for now.

"But," Gage argued, "I checked in the newspapers and other primary sources of that time period. Many of the towns mentioned in the journal report incidents of unexplained, violent deaths around the same time."

"It sounds like you've done some research about this," Giles commented.

"I have," the other man confirmed. "In fact, I just received a grant to support my study of the Scourge and my quest, if you will, to prove they existed."

"And how are you going to do that?" the watcher asked, removing his glasses and cleaning them on his handkerchief.

"It is my belief that not only were they real, but at least one of them is still alive," Gage announced and then paused. "Or whatever vampires are."

Giles raised an eyebrow. "Really? Which one? And why does that bring you here?"

"I've heard rumors that Angelus was here a couple of years ago. Did you hear about anything that might fit his MO?"

Giles closed his eyes and took a deep breath, fighting off sadness at the memory of finding Jenny Calendar dead in his bed, courtesy of Angelus. He swallowed before he spoke.

"No, I don't recall any such events," he said quietly.

"Really?" Gage had noticed his reaction and was not convinced. "Are you sure? He liked psychological games. Stalking, killing household pets, leaving the corpses of friends or family of his targets arranged for them to find."

"That's it!" Willow burst out of the training room. It was one thing to ask Giles to find out what the professor wanted. It was another, entirely to stand by and watch, or hear, all the bad memories of Angelus be dragged up. Spike and Buffy looked at one another and shrugged before following the redhead into the shop proper.

"Willow!" Gage exclaimed. "And your two friends." He looked between the four in the room. "What's going on?"

Anya chose that moment to emerge from the shop's basement after putting away new merchandise. Her eyes fell Spike and she zeroed in on the vampire.

"I'm out of Burba weed. Again!" She jabbed her finger in his direction. "I'd really prefer you pay for it, but if you're going to steal it, at least tell me when you clean me out, Spike! It's inefficient and causes me to lose business when I don't re-order in time. Don't make me vampire- proof the storeroom, mister!"

Deciding Spike was appropriately chastised, the ex-demoness spun on her heel and returned to the basement.

"Spike?" Gage's attention was focused on the vampire, and his one word question caused the group to realize the information Anya had revealed.

"It's, uh, just a nickname, really. Got it from, uh-" the vampire searched for an appropriate explanation.

"Driving railroad spikes through people's skulls?" Gage asked.

Knowing the jig was up, Spike sighed. "Yeah." Then he decided to go on the defensive. Giving Gage his best Big Bad leer, he asked, "What's it to you, mate?"

The academic stiffened just a bit and Spike smiled internally. *That's right, baby! Still got it!* he congratulated himself.

"As I was telling Mr. Giles," Gage began.

"Yeah, we heard," Spike cut him off. "You're all interested in the Scourge, looking for the grand poof himself. Why?"

"I want to learn more about them, about you. Find out what's happened to you since the journal."

"Sort of a where are they now, gig?" Spike asked, cocking his head to the side and pulling out a cigarette.

"Not in the store, Spike," Giles said from the table.

The vampire rolled his eyes and left the cigarette dangling from his lips, unlit.

"Er, right." Gage watched the way the group interacted. They didn't seem to fear Spike, yet everything Gage had ever found on the Scourge said that every member was ruthless and cruel. A sudden thought occurred to him.

"You're not all vampires, are you?" he asked, backing up a step or two.

"No," Willow assured him with a smile. She walked across the room and stood in the patch of sunlight pouring in the front window. "Fully human, see?"

"Right. Um, about Angelus," he began.

"He's gone," Buffy said, cutting his question off.

"But he was here?" the man asked excitedly.

Spike rolled his eyes at the man's excitement. Nothing written about the patriarch of the Scourge, including Spike's own journaling, had ever portrayed the master vampire in anything resembling a warm and fuzzy light. No one in their sane mind would seek him out purposely. Obviously, if the git was looking for Angelus, he was daft, mentally unbalanced, or both. Spike pulled out his silver lighter and lit his cigarette, ignoring the pointed look Giles gave him.

"Yeah," Willow said, returning to the group. "Remember when Buffy said she had a boyfriend that went all stalkery like Angelus?"

Gage just looked at her, his eyes growing wide.

"Yeah," Willow repeated, confirming Gage's suspicions. "It wasn't pretty. There was death, and, and pain. None of us really like to talk about it. But Angelus is gone."

Before anyone in the group could decide whether to inform the professor about Angelus' souled counterpart, the front store window shattered and Willow found herself being pushed to the floor by one of Buffy's arms. The other snagged Spike and dragged him down as well. Something whistled through the air where the trio had been standing. Willow and Spike landed on their backs, Buffy on her stomach. She rolled over and the three on the floor, as well as the two men on the other side of the table looked at the arrow sticking out of the wall behind where the three had been standing.

The slayer rose to her feet and looked outside. Seeing no one, and knowing whoever shot the arrow was likely to be long gone, she pulled it from the wall. The front half of the arrow was discolored. It had obviously been coated in some foreign substance. Buffy's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

Spike began to rise to his feet and was surprised when Buffy's foot shot out, kicking him back down, forcefully, but not brutally.

"Stay down. You too, Will," she ordered both vampire and wicca. Turning to her watcher, she handed him the arrow and said, "Giles?"

He sniffed it and looked between her and the vampire. "Maybe." Turning to the red-headed witch still on the floor, he said, "Willow, could you test this?"

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Spike demanded, rising despite Buffy's glare. She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the line of sight of the window.

Gage was torn between watching the exchange and watching Willow. The redhead crawled on the floor until she was protected from the window by a bookshelf and then moved to sit next to Giles. She took the arrow and, muttering something Gage couldn't understand, waved her hand over the arrow. It began to glow with a soft purple light.

Ignoring Giles' disapproving look at her use of magic rather than the science he had expected, she nodded and said softly, "It is."

"Did Faith get out of prison while I was dead?" Buffy demanded. "Because she is so the one who is getting drained this time!"

"Faith?" Spike asked. "The crazy slayer?"

"No, not unless it was recent," Willow responded to Buffy's question. "Cordelia would have told me if Faith was out. And even then, Cordy seems to think she's changed."

"You talk to Cordelia?" Buffy asked. "How much did I miss?"

"After Harmony showed up and spent the night at Cordy's without telling her she was a vamp, we agreed to keep in touch more frequently," Willow explained. "We talk about once a week."

"Harm went to LA?" Spike asked.

"Yeah," Willow responded dryly, looking straight at Spike. "Apparently some big, bad vampire broke her heart. Wonder what that was about."

"Right, then," Giles said, trying to turn the subject back to the recent attack. "It seems clear that someone's after Spike."

"Or me," Buffy said. "If they know what happened with Angel, they could be attempting to kill me, assuming I'll react the same way again."

"Would one of you please tell me what in the bloody hell is going on?" Spike demanded.

Buffy sighed before explaining to him, "Faith shot Angel once with a poisoned arrow. It was some special vampire poison – killer of the dead, I think?"

Willow nodded, confirming the name as Spike let out a low whistle.

"Nasty stuff, that," he said. "Almost always fatal the way I hear tell, and I've never heard of an antidote."

"Oh, there is one," Giles muttered darkly.

Buffy silenced her watcher with a look before turning back to the vampire to explain.

"Draining a slayer is the only cure." As she spoke, Buffy's hand went to the scar on her neck of its own accord.

"You let Angel drain you?" Spike demanded, outraged.

"I tried to catch Faith," Buffy said. "But that didn't work out. And in the end, it's probably for the best. I think I might have killed her." The blonde paused, pulling herself out of the dark memories surrounding her high school graduation. "But I didn't. Catch her, that is. So, yeah. He was dying and I was there."

"I'm surprised the king of hair gel could lower himself to bite the love of his unlife," Spike muttered bitterly, knowing Buffy would never risk herself for him as she had for Angel. Sure, they were almost friends now, and spent a significant amount of time together; but still, Angel was the love of her life.

"I forced him to," Buffy admitted softly. "He didn't want to, but I hit him so the demon would come out and held him to my neck until he feed. Massive blood transfusions? Just another day in the life of our favorite slayer."

She paused and straightened her shoulders. "Guess it's bad memories all the way around today, huh William?"

Spike winced at the emphasis Buffy placed on his human name, fearing the poet jokes were about to start, but the blonde woman mercifully let the subject drop.

"So we think someone may be trying to get to Buffy by poisoning Spike? In the hopes that he'll kill her to get his cure?" Willow asked.

"That," Buffy said, "or someone's just after Spike. Either way," She broke the arrow shaft between her hands. "We'll simply have to keep Spike from getting shot, because I am so not going through that again!"

Spike's heart sank, when he heard Buffy's words. Not that he had expected anything different or that he wanted her to risk her life for his, but somewhere deep inside he refused to give up hope that Buffy could someday think of him as she'd once thought of Angel.

On the other side of the table, the watcher narrowed his eyes at the same time. *Dear Lord,* he thought, *surely she's wouldn'tâ€Ĥ* But even as the thought surfaced, Giles was forced to admit to himself that there was every possibility Buffy would risk her life to save Spike's if he was shot. The vampire had become almost a part of the group over the past summer and that's just who Buffy was.

Emmet Gage had pretty much been forgotten during the commotion of the attack and his voice startled the other four, reminding them of his presence.

"You're a Slayer?"

tbc

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A/N: Oh, cat's out of the bag! Or at least headed that way. Whatever will happen to our fair heroes and what about those darn spiders? I, of course, know the answers, or at least have a pretty good idea. But where's the fun in telling before it's time?

Seriously, thanks for the continued reviews. – I'm glad the humor of Ch 4 was well received. Beyond that, I'm at a loss. Ironic that words fail me when I'm trying to describe how much I appreciate your feedback and encouragement, isn't it? Nothing I think of seems to do justice to what I want to say. So, simply – Thank you. ht