Chapter Six

Willow was sitting patiently by the telephone; glancing at her watch every few minutes just to make sure that it wasn't getting too late. She was clearly anxious about something and had been for days but nobody seemed to know what was wrong; she couldn't even tell Kennedy. There was just something troubling her and there was only one person who could possibly help her and now, she was sitting in the living room waiting for that long distance call to connect. Spike had been slightly nervous about Willow telling Giles that he was back but he had decided that it was about time they really found out what was going on. He had been living with them for a fortnight now and they still had no idea what was going on, there had been no spiritual or demonic after-effect of him returning in himself or the world and every day, he was learning more and more about being human again. Willow jumped slightly when the phone rang loudly next to her; whether it was excitement or nerves she couldn't say but all she knew was she had never been so glad that Giles was so regular.

"Hey Giles," she grinned as she picked up the phone, waiting for the slight delay to kick in. "No everything's fine but I need to tell you something… It may be a bit hard to comprehend but Spike's back… No, he's human…" Silence filled the room as Willow waited for Giles to say something, anything at all about their situation. "No, she's still in LA… Well, that's what I was going to ask you or Eleria. Maybe something's going on that we don't know about yet… But how would that be connected to Spike?" Willow's smile suddenly became a frown; she drew her knees up to her chest and sighed softly as Giles relayed the message. Kennedy knew that Willow would want the room to herself so quickly ushered everybody through to the kitchen; they could wait until Giles had finished talking with Willow and wait until she was ready to share the information with them.

"Well, you're sure causing a stir," grinned Faith, jumping up on the kitchen sideboard and looking directly at Spike. He looked decidedly uncomfortable with the idea of Giles knowing something about his return; it meant that something was going to happen. He would've preferred that nobody know anything; that way it really would have been a clean break but now, he knew from the look on Willow's face that Giles did not have good news about Spike as well as something else that was going on. Willow's own words; "How would that be connected to Spike?" Something was coming and the thought that he was somehow involved made him feel sick to his stomach.

"More trouble than its worth," growled Robin and stormed out of the back door, Faith watched him crossing the lawn with a concerned frown etched on her face but she knew running after him would only compound his hatred of Spike and she desperately wanted him to be accepted. Xander glanced at Faith quickly before sitting down at the kitchen table, waiting for Willow to rejoin them and let them all in on the new evil a-brewing. Kennedy was anxiously waiting for the door to swing open but they could still hear Willow talking quietly in the living room.

"Look guys," said Faith loudly, sensing that everyone in the room needed something to be said right now. "We've dealt with a lot of shit in the past few years; I'm sure whatever Giles is telling Will now is nothing new, right?" There were murmurs of agreement. "Seriously, we kick ass on a regular basis so what the hell are we worrying about? You too, Blondie, don't get all mopey 'cause you think the world's all about you," Spike looked up at her shocked, he hadn't even said a word but she had managed to read him all the same.

"I think Willow's coming," said Kennedy, observing the silence from the living room. As if on cue, Willow pushed open the door to the kitchen and entered the room; her normally cheerful disposition was downcast and she seemed paler than usual. Nobody wanted to push her too much but everybody was desperate to know what Giles had said to her. It was Xander who was the first to speak up.

"C'mon Will, we've been waiting for ages. What's going on?" he asked, Willow laughed at his straight-forward, no-nonsense questioning and sat down beside him. Kennedy walked over and placed a comforting hand on her lover's shoulder, Willow reached up and took her hand without looking at her. Sensing something big was coming, even Faith and Spike sat down at the table and waited for Willow; she took a deep breath and began talking.

"Giles didn't know that Spike was back but he seems to think it would make sense. Apparently, Eleria has been seeing some dark times ahead recently, she didn't think anything of it because it seemed so distant but it's almost here," sighed Willow. "Apparently, there is a new vamp coming into town and he's going to try and open the Hellmouth here, nobody knows why but I guess evil doesn't need a reason to be evil, does it?"

"So, we dust the vamp and game over, right?" said Faith, cracking her knuckled and starting to stand.

"No," said Willow. "There's something else going on, he's not just a vampire. Something's happened to him, he's got powers, more than the others have got. Giles thinks that she may have been a sorceress before he was turned,"

"What has that got to do with Spike then?" asked Kennedy, her confusion echoed in everyone else around the table. Willow sighed deeply and looked across at Spike; she looked as if she was in pain. As if she didn't want to let him know, Spike knew something was coming and he had to prepare himself for it.

"This vamp's taken the name Seraph but she used to be known as Morganna King," said Willow, Spike's face drained of colour as Willow spoke. "Spike sired her but she was never accepted into the group by Dru so they abandoned her in Prague, is that right?"

"Yeah," said Spike, his voice coming out as no more than a whisper. "Dru felt threatened by Morganna's powers,"

"Anyway, Eleria is going on a vision-quest now and Giles is calling back when we know what she's seen. That's about it really; Giles said that Seraph is probably one of the most twisted vampires he's ever heard of. She has a penchant for the most brutal attacks ever recorded and she has a very large group of lackeys, she bewitches them into following her,"

"What has this got to do with Spike? I mean, apart from him siring her is there anything else linking them?" asked Kennedy, Willow shook her head.

"So, Morganna doesn't know that I'm alive?" asked Spike.

"How would she know you died in the first place?" asked Faith, a questioning frown causing her face to wrinkle.

"Because all family groups are linked; the children always know when the sires die and the sires always know when they children have been taken," explained Spike, Faith nodded as she took the information on board and looked across at Willow.

"Well, I guess we're waiting on the phone call," she said. "Does this Seraph bitch know Spike's back?" Willow shook her head and sighed again, she looked absolutely drained. Kennedy was trying to be there for her but it was impossible when Willow had set her mind to something.

"I'm going to meditate," she announced, standing up. "Maybe I can lend my power to Eleria or something,"

"Be careful," said Kennedy, the sadness evident in her voice. Willow smiled and nodded before leaving the room. Her silent departure mirrored the silence of everyone else, sitting around looking at each other without a word to say. Faith knew that she had to let Robin know something evil was going down but she couldn't find the energy to leave her seat, something about this one was telling her that it was bad and for the first time in a long time, she was wishing that Buffy was with her, just to assure her that she could handle it.

"So, what now?" asked Spike, his voice highlighting how depressed the news had made him. He hadn't come back for this, he hadn't come back to cause turmoil in the lives of the people he now considered friends. He looked at each of them, Kennedy clearly worrying over Willow, Xander staring out of the window with a faraway look in his eye, Faith picking at her fingernails anxiously. He had caused this, he felt responsible and it made him feel guilty; an emotion he had not dealt well with when his soul was returned to him. An emotion that was no easier to deal with now that he was human.

"I don't know, man," sighed Faith. "I gotta tell Robin what's going down and I guess we should all start preparing and stuff. God knows what Giles and the wonder-witches are gonna drag up on this vamp. I mean, how powerful is she? You knew her,"

"I don't really know, all I remember is that Dru was scared of her," said Spike. "And it took a lot to get that bloody lunatic running scared. She had a lot of juice running through her,"

"Great," said Xander. "A witch and a vamp all rolled into one, could this be any worse?" He stood up from the table and slammed the chair into its usual place. "I'm going back to work; I need to get out of here,"

"I think we all need a little air," said Kennedy. "This has really got Willow upset; it must be pretty bad, right?" Faith nodded as Kennedy followed Xander out leaving her alone with Spike. He was staring out of the kitchen window, his eyes seemingly blank and she wondered what he was thinking about. She realised she hadn't actually asked him what death had been like but figured that being a vamp for a hundred years or so, it was probably nothing new. Spike made her nervous and not in a Slayer way, there was just something about the way he looked at her sometimes, as if he was burning his way right down to her soul. It wasn't something she was used to and it made her feel a little jumpy sometimes.

"You okay?" she asked, jumping back up onto the sideboard. She hated sitting at the table, made her feel like she was back at school or something. Spike just nodded and carried on looking, staring into nothingness. "Look dude, I know this is some heavy shit to lay on you right now but you gotta get over it. There's nothing we can do by sitting around getting all restless, we gotta think up some way of getting this bitch before she gets us, right? And right now, you are the best plan we've got. You know her and you know what she can do, we gotta be able to use that against her," Spike looked across at Faith and smiled, the dark Slayer had adopted Buffy's role as leader with ease. Faith felt flushed; there was something in Spike's smile, in his eyes that made her feel something she hadn't felt for Robin in a long time. There was definitely heat between them but she couldn't get into it, it would be so easy to slip into the trap of shacking up with Spike because he was the newbie but she had to stay focused. He was a means to an end, he would be invaluable in the fight against Seraph and she had to keep business and the real world separated… For now.