Chapter 5- Alive


(The Ramada Inn- Los Angeles, California)

It's evening; the hotel is quiet and virtually empty. Behind the front desk is a short, sun tanned man in his early 30's- Larry- trying to get reception on the tiny little TV/Radio that is sitting just below customer view. He hits it once again on the side when he hears a sound coming from around the corner.

Larry rolls his eyes before giving up on the TV and hitting the off switch. He gets up and walks around the desk to see where the noise is coming from. "Maria, is that you?" he asks, but there is no one there. Further down the hall Maria, the evening cleaning lady, is laying on the floor of the employee lounge face down- two small marks on her neck- but Larry hasn't seen her yet.

Larry walks down the hall to where the lounge door is slightly ajar. His hand is on the knob but he doesn't turn it. Something is telling him that there is much wrong with the current situation- this door is never left open! He gets ready to pull the knob out when he is grabbed from behind and tossed across the hall.

Larry is lying on his back, his head reeling from being banged against the wall. He looks up at the pointy-toothed demon that is standing above him grinning madly. The vampire moves in to feed…

Suddenly he is pulled off of Larry. Buffy grabs him and tosses him aside as if he weighed nothing more than a leaf. She looks at him a moment nodding her head in disgust before throwing some well-aimed punches at his face.

He stumbles a moment, confused at the strength that is being emitted from this small young human girl. He quickly finds his balance and gets back to his feet, ready to pounce on the girl once more. He moves forward but is knocked to the ground as Buffy makes him tumble with a low sweep.

"What's up lumpy…long time no slay" Buffy retorts, reaching into her sleeve and pulling out a stake.

"What?" The vampire asks, obviously unclear of what's about to happen.

"Me…with the slayage…it's been a while…." She runs the stake through the demons heart before he even knows what hit him. As his body turns to dust around her she finishes, "it feels kind of… good."

"You okay?" She calls over to Larry, who is still whimpering in the corner. "I am now…I…I'm alive." The door to the lounge is now wide open and he can see Maria lying on the floor… "Oh God…Maria." As he runs in to look at his now dead friend Buffy wipes the left over dust off of her and walks to the staircase leading to her room.

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(Buffy's hotel room)

Buffy walked into her room and slid the jacket she was wearing off of her shoulders tossing over the arm of one of the two chairs in the room. As she walked toward the closet pulling her blouse over her head she noticed the red light of her phone blinking in indication of a message being left.

She quickly changed into her pajamas before picking up the phone and dialing in to hear her message.

"Hi Buffy, it's me…Dawn…just wanted to say goodnight. I hope everything is going okay out there, I'll talk to you tomorrow." In the background Buffy could hear Xander screaming "Goodnight Buffy!"

Buffy smiled a little before placing the phone back on the cradle. She tried to settle in to bed but was having a hard time falling asleep, must have been that nap she'd taken before. What was it that Faith had said about slaying making you hungry and horney?

For the first time in a long while Buffy realized that she was really lonely. Sure she had Xander and Giles around, and of course Dawn- but she was lacking big time in the romance and companionship area.

Spike, although there wasn't really any physical romance toward the end, had been her companion for a long time. She just figured he would always be around in someway. Now Buffy was beginning to really let it sink in that he wasn't coming back.

Buffy tried to push those thoughts to the side. She was trying to focus on the current "mission." Tomorrow morning she would try to find out as much as she could. For right now, she was finally growing sleepy.

Buffy sighed heavily before her eyes finally closed and allowed sleep to prevail.

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(Same evening- Wolfram & Heart, Angel's office)

"You can't be serious Angel? What makes you think that it's even possible?"

"Look Wesley…I just know. I want this done my way, no one else finds out until I'm sure. Can I trust you in this?"

"Of course. It will be done then. We'll send a car out tomorrow. One question though?"

"Yeah?" Angel asked, looking up at Wesley.

"What makes you think he will come?"

"I don't know Wesley…but I know that he will. We'll take care of the details in the morning. For now let's call it a night"

**********

Spike lay on his makeshift bed unable to settle down. He got up and went over to dig a hole in the ground right beside the bed. He pulled out the medallion that he wore the day he had awakened, and shook the excess dirt off of it.

He didn't know what it meant, but he was protective of it and found that it brought him comfort. It was the only thing he had that was truly his and he knew that the truth about his existence lie in its' mystery.

He put the gaudy thing around his neck and lie back in his bed, holding the strange stone in his hand as he did so. He closed his eyes and his breathing began to slow into long relaxed breaths. He smiled to himself, holding on tight to the medallion as he felt his pulse slow to an unhurried relaxed pace.

Finally at peace, Spike fell asleep.

TBC

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I've got lots of little surprises planned if you stick with the story, please continue to review and comment- it means the world to me!

-Erica