Daydreams and Demons
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer story by Merrie
Disclaimer: If they were mine, you think I would have seen my name in the credits, wouldn't you? Alas, I looked and they weren't there. Sigh..
Summary: Spike is poisoned by a demon out for revenge. Can he convince Buffy to help him before it's too late?
Characters: Spike, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn and Maximillian Dominus a little OFC I have created. Also starring Raoul, a random vampire leader.
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to post. I had to move back to college. This is my first written action scene, so bear with me if Buffy's more like 'the pointy end goes where?' Rather than super slayer.
Rating: This story is rated PG-13 for violence and language.
Chapter Nine
Dawn and Willow ducked to avoid the brick that came sailing through the living room window. Spike didn't seem to notice, and remained fixed at his position on the couch. Dawn sighed and turned to Willow. "Spike's gone away again. I don't think he's going to be any use in a fight. How about we get him upstairs? I'm sure Buffy will be fine without us."
"It's not Buffy that I'm worried about right now, it's Xander and Max." Willow said, casting a worried glance towards them.
"I'm sure they can handle themselves. Buffy wouldn't have given them weapons if she didn't think they knew how to use them." Dawn reassured her.
"Well, I know that Xander can usually take care of himself, but what about Max?"
"From the way he handled that stake earlier and the confidence he seems to be giving off now, I think he'll be fine." Dawn said with a smile.
"When did you get to be so good at the giving of comfort thing? I'm older than you, I'm supposed to be the reassured one." Willow said with a good-natured smile.
"It's a key thing. Technically, I'm a lot older than anyone in here, remember? Even Spike, and he's like totally old."
"Totally." Willow agreed with a small smile. "You're right though, we should get him upstairs. You take one arm and I'll take the other."
"Ok. And maybe while we're up there we can do something about his hair. The two-toned curled mess is definitely not working for him." Dawn gestured, her nose wrinkling up in distaste.
Willow had no response to that, so she just walked over and helped lift Spike to his feet. He didn't make a sound, merely allowed himself to be moved. Willow could tell he was in pain, however. And if she could pick up the feel of his pain strongly without trying, he was truly in agony. Every step he made toward the stairs must have been near killing him. He didn't say a word though. He didn't even look at either of them as they walked over to the stairs. Willow winced at the blank look on his face and prayed that he would be ok.
***
Buffy quickly handed a large double-bladed ax to Xander and then looked over to Max, noting the lone stake he had in hand. He looked like he knew how to use it, but after some thought she decided that she didn't want him to have to be that close to a vampire to kill it. She grabbed a long sword and handed it to Max, hilt first. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she merely shrugged. He took it, and Buffy felt relieved. 'Well, at least he seems to know how to use it.' She thought to herself after seeing Max take a couple of practice swings. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Dawn and Willow leading Spike upstairs. 'Good, at least I won't have to worry about them. At least, not unless the vamps at the door decide to burn the house down. One problem at a time, Buffy.' She admonished herself.
"Slayer!" A voice growled from outside the broken window. "Send out Spike! We know he's in there! Our master is in pain and he called to us!"
"Your master?" Buffy shouted back incredulously. "He's been helping me hunt your kind for years now! What do you care about him?"
"His demon has called to us and we must obey. He is our master." The last was almost mumbled. Had it been any quieter Buffy wouldn't have been able to hear it. The vampire sounded as if he didn't like the situation any more than Buffy did, and also like her, he didn't have any choice in the matter. Buffy couldn't claim to understand vampire relationships, but she had always known that the fact that Spike was a master vampire was more than a title. These vampires knew that he killed their kind, perhaps they even knew he now had a soul, but they didn't care. Spike's demon had called for help and they had come running.
A loud roar interrupted her thoughts and a seven foot tall, horned, fanged and drooling green demon stormed through the front door. "You, Slayer. You have vampire. Give vampire or me kill Slayer."
'Well, let it never be said that demons aren't eloquent.' Buffy thought with a smirk. The demon looked confused at the smirk on her face, but that didn't stop him from charging her.
"Oh crap, it looks like the vamps brought back-up." Xander yelled as he saw yet another demon make its way into the house behind the one Buffy was currently fighting. He looked over at Max with an 'are you ready for this?' look, and the two of them rushed the second demon.
For all of it bulk and height, the demon Buffy fought was inexplicably quick. One minute Buffy would be about to start chopping off limbs in a truly Monty Python style, the next she was swinging at nothing but air. "Stand still!" Buffy gritted out through teeth clenched in frustration. The demon didn't answer her, and didn't adhere to her request either. After a few more unsuccessful swings, she finally grew angry enough to jam her three inch spiked boot heel into one of the demon's feet. The demon gave a roar and stopped to attend to its injured foot. That hesitation was all Buffy needed, and she decapitated the demon in one fluid movement. "Is that all you vampire's got?" Buffy asked, making a disgusted face as she yanked her bloody boot heel out of the dead demon's foot. 'Blech. Well, at least it didn't break off. I like these boots' "Come on, my sister could have taken that demon and she's only 17." She turned to see Max decapitate the other demon as well as Xander distracted it.
"Huh, I thought that was going to be more difficult." Max said, wiping his bloodied sword on the demon's shirt.
"Yeah, that was nothing man. You should've seen Glory, or the Mayor. Now those were some fun." Realizing he was starting to sound like Spike with his characteristic love of fighting, Xander backtracked. "I mean, difficult battles. But you and I make a good team. Ever think about demon hunting with us? The pay's lousy and the benefits pretty much suck, but it's a living."
"Does it come with dental?" Max joked, smiling at Xander.
"Only after you've lost all of your teeth. And as for life insurance, well if you can't come back from the dead at least once, you don't really deserve it." He turned toward Buffy. "Right, Buff?"
"Oh absolutely." Buffy agreed with a smile. She was about to make her own comment when she was interrupted by a throat clearing out front. She turned towards the noise.
"I'm glad you are amusing yourself, but we are still out here you know." The head vampire spoke from outside.
"So? What are you going to do about it? You can't enter the house, and we've just killed your two demons. Why are you even here anyway? It's not like we're hurting Spike. He's on our team now, remember? Why don't you guys just leave and no one will have to get dusted. Take a minute to think about it. Talk amongst yourselves. Is someone who's been killing you and yours for the last couple of years really worth sacrificing your lives over? I don't think so, but hey, I'm not you." Buffy ended her speech with a shrug and attempted to look nonchalant as the vampires discussed their situation.
After a few inexorably long moments, the lead vampire turned and addressed Buffy. "We accept your terms, Slayer. To tell you the truth, I didn't even want to be here in the first place. I've never liked Spike. He's much too brash for my liking."
"Then why'd you come? And call me Buffy by the way. As long as you and yours are leaving, I don't have to be the Slayer. Sorry about your demons." She gestured to the bleeding corpses on the living room floor.
"Alright, Buffy then. My name's Raoul. I'd shake your hand and greet you properly as your status deserves, but I'm still a vampire. I've got a reputation to uphold."
"Gotcha. Associating with the Slayer in society is a big vampire faux pas."
Raoul smirked at the comment. "Something like that, yes."
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Raoul. I'm glad I don't have to kill you. Of course, do anything I don't like, and it won't matter how polite you are. I will dust you."
"I understand." Raoul said, bowing his head slightly. "Goodnight, Buffy. I hope we never see each other again." With that final comment, he turned and left, his fellow vampires trailing behind him.
'Hmm, for a vampire, that guy wasn't half bad. Cute too. Kinda like Johnny Depp with fangs.' Buffy cut off that line of thought as that very image presented itself to her overactive imagination. Shaking her head at herself, Buffy shut the door and turned toward a gaping Max and Xander.
After a moment, Xander spoke. "Ok, you see, that was weird. I'm glad we don't have to fight and all, but that was messed up. Vampire's can be polite, who knew?"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Spike's polite." At Xander's raised eyebrow she continued. "Sometimes. Ok, hardly ever. But, oh! Angel was polite. All dark knighty and chivalry-like. And.oh, nevermind. No fighting is good. Buffy like no fighting. Now help me take care of these dead demons. We can just drop them down the sewer entrance. I'm sure something down there will take care of them."
"Eww, is that what you do with all the demons you kill? That's kinda gross. Who knows what kind of things are down there?" Xander asked with a disgusted look on his face. Buffy just shrugged and grabbed a demon.
***
After much complaining and a few blood covered shirts, Buffy, Max and Xander finally removed all trace of the two dead demons from the house. Xander might have been a bit disgusted at the prospect of leaving the dead demons in the sewer tunnels to rot, but after having to carry said demon's still dripping head outstretched in front of him, he no longer cared. 'As long as I don't have to do anything more with them, I don't care what goes on down there.' Xander thought with a grimace. 'Speaking of dead things, I should probably go with Buffy to check on Dead Boy Jr. He wasn't looking too hot before the fight.' He turned towards Max who sat on the living room sofa quietly. "I'm gonna go up with Buffy to check on Dead.er Spike. Will you be alright down here by yourself? Once we come back down, maybe we can start on dinner. By starting, I mean calling the local pizza place and giving them our order. I'm sure Buffy would've liked you to have more of a home cooked meal, but as you can see were kinda in the middle of a crisis here. I'm sorry all the same."
"Oh, it's alright. I understand crises better than you'd think. I'll be fine down here, don't worry. Go check on your friend." Max said slowly.
"He's not---" Xander paused a moment. "Ok, maybe he's kind of like a friend.anyway, we'll be right back." Max nodded and Xander walked up the stairs.
***
Getting Spike up the stairs while Buffy, Xander and Max had fought had been easier than Willow or Dawn had expected. Getting him to go into the bathroom to get him cleaned up was an entirely different story. As soon as they came near the bathroom, Spike's eyes widened and he began to moan. At first, Dawn had no clue what was wrong with him and tried to force him into the bathroom anyway. After Willow had to near knock him out as he snarled and snapped at the two of them, Dawn realized why he was unwilling to go into the Summer's bathroom. 'This is where it happened.' Dawn thought sadly. 'This is where Spike almost raped Buffy. No wonder he doesn't want to be reminded of it.' Willow, on the other hand was still completely in the dark about the incident and grew suspicious as Dawn allowed Spike to remain in the hallway.
"Dawny? Do you know what's wrong with him? Do you know why he won't go into the bathroom?" Willow asked her, never taking her eyes from Spike.
"Well yeah, think about it. This is where it happened." Dawn told her matter-of-factly.
"Where what happened, Dawn? What are you talking about?"
"What do you mean what am I----" Dawn's breath caught as she realized what was happened. 'How could we have forgotten to tell her? Xander told everyone else, for Pete's sake. "Um, I don't think I should be the one to tell you. I think it should be Buffy's story to tell. I think Xander was wrong in telling me in the first place."
"Telling you what? What in the goddess' name is going on here, Dawny? If something happened here, I want to know. I think I have a right to know." Willow, said getting a little angry.
Dawn sighed at her sister's best friend. "It's not that you don't have a right to know, and I'm sorry no one has told you sooner, but I still think---"
"Please, Dawn? Tell me what's wrong. I want to know." Willow pleaded with the teen.
"Alright. I'll tell you. But you have to promise to get the full story from Buffy, alright?" At Willow's hasten nod, she continued. "Here's the really short version. Spike came to see Buffy to try and convince her to love him. Buffy said no. Spike nearly raped Buffy in the bathroom. Spike left town and apparently got a soul while he was away. That's it." At Willow's shocked and disgusted glance towards Spike, Dawn hastened to add, "But remember, you promised to get the whole story from Buffy. I just told you the short and ugly version. There's a whole lot more too it than that. The 'bathroom incident' was just where everything that had been going on between Spike and Buffy came to a climax."
Willow looked away in shame for judging Spike. Who was she to judge anyway? She had killed a man and tried to destroy the world all in a couple of days. She wouldn't be casting any stones any time soon. "I did promise, and I will talk to Buffy about it. Thank you for telling me." She looked again at Spike, looked deeper within him. It was something Tara had taught her to do, looking at people's aura's. The thought of Tara made her insides ache, but she had to focus on Spike right now, not her. Somehow, she knew Tara understood that. The first thing Willow noticed was Spike's new soul. A thick cord of bright cerulean blue wound its way around Spike's chest, crackling every so often like lightning and intermingling with the burgundy color that made up most of Spike's aura. There was also something new about him. Patches of sickly pale green looked as if they were eating away at the edges of Spike's aura, and a line of obsidian connected each of them. What was really curious was the fact that the while the sickly green seemed to be coming from more than one place, the obsidian came from only one. Who that person was or what place it was, Willow didn't know. What she did know was that it seemed to be slowly killing Spike. Whatever was wrong with him had to be understood and cured soon or it would be too late.
TBC
A/N: Eh, I thought that was as good a place as any to end this chappy. Sorry for the cliffhanger like ending, but there will be more chapters soon, have no worries. In the mean time, help encourage me to write said chapters faster by sending me a review! Thanks a bunch!
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer story by Merrie
Disclaimer: If they were mine, you think I would have seen my name in the credits, wouldn't you? Alas, I looked and they weren't there. Sigh..
Summary: Spike is poisoned by a demon out for revenge. Can he convince Buffy to help him before it's too late?
Characters: Spike, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn and Maximillian Dominus a little OFC I have created. Also starring Raoul, a random vampire leader.
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to post. I had to move back to college. This is my first written action scene, so bear with me if Buffy's more like 'the pointy end goes where?' Rather than super slayer.
Rating: This story is rated PG-13 for violence and language.
Chapter Nine
Dawn and Willow ducked to avoid the brick that came sailing through the living room window. Spike didn't seem to notice, and remained fixed at his position on the couch. Dawn sighed and turned to Willow. "Spike's gone away again. I don't think he's going to be any use in a fight. How about we get him upstairs? I'm sure Buffy will be fine without us."
"It's not Buffy that I'm worried about right now, it's Xander and Max." Willow said, casting a worried glance towards them.
"I'm sure they can handle themselves. Buffy wouldn't have given them weapons if she didn't think they knew how to use them." Dawn reassured her.
"Well, I know that Xander can usually take care of himself, but what about Max?"
"From the way he handled that stake earlier and the confidence he seems to be giving off now, I think he'll be fine." Dawn said with a smile.
"When did you get to be so good at the giving of comfort thing? I'm older than you, I'm supposed to be the reassured one." Willow said with a good-natured smile.
"It's a key thing. Technically, I'm a lot older than anyone in here, remember? Even Spike, and he's like totally old."
"Totally." Willow agreed with a small smile. "You're right though, we should get him upstairs. You take one arm and I'll take the other."
"Ok. And maybe while we're up there we can do something about his hair. The two-toned curled mess is definitely not working for him." Dawn gestured, her nose wrinkling up in distaste.
Willow had no response to that, so she just walked over and helped lift Spike to his feet. He didn't make a sound, merely allowed himself to be moved. Willow could tell he was in pain, however. And if she could pick up the feel of his pain strongly without trying, he was truly in agony. Every step he made toward the stairs must have been near killing him. He didn't say a word though. He didn't even look at either of them as they walked over to the stairs. Willow winced at the blank look on his face and prayed that he would be ok.
***
Buffy quickly handed a large double-bladed ax to Xander and then looked over to Max, noting the lone stake he had in hand. He looked like he knew how to use it, but after some thought she decided that she didn't want him to have to be that close to a vampire to kill it. She grabbed a long sword and handed it to Max, hilt first. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she merely shrugged. He took it, and Buffy felt relieved. 'Well, at least he seems to know how to use it.' She thought to herself after seeing Max take a couple of practice swings. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Dawn and Willow leading Spike upstairs. 'Good, at least I won't have to worry about them. At least, not unless the vamps at the door decide to burn the house down. One problem at a time, Buffy.' She admonished herself.
"Slayer!" A voice growled from outside the broken window. "Send out Spike! We know he's in there! Our master is in pain and he called to us!"
"Your master?" Buffy shouted back incredulously. "He's been helping me hunt your kind for years now! What do you care about him?"
"His demon has called to us and we must obey. He is our master." The last was almost mumbled. Had it been any quieter Buffy wouldn't have been able to hear it. The vampire sounded as if he didn't like the situation any more than Buffy did, and also like her, he didn't have any choice in the matter. Buffy couldn't claim to understand vampire relationships, but she had always known that the fact that Spike was a master vampire was more than a title. These vampires knew that he killed their kind, perhaps they even knew he now had a soul, but they didn't care. Spike's demon had called for help and they had come running.
A loud roar interrupted her thoughts and a seven foot tall, horned, fanged and drooling green demon stormed through the front door. "You, Slayer. You have vampire. Give vampire or me kill Slayer."
'Well, let it never be said that demons aren't eloquent.' Buffy thought with a smirk. The demon looked confused at the smirk on her face, but that didn't stop him from charging her.
"Oh crap, it looks like the vamps brought back-up." Xander yelled as he saw yet another demon make its way into the house behind the one Buffy was currently fighting. He looked over at Max with an 'are you ready for this?' look, and the two of them rushed the second demon.
For all of it bulk and height, the demon Buffy fought was inexplicably quick. One minute Buffy would be about to start chopping off limbs in a truly Monty Python style, the next she was swinging at nothing but air. "Stand still!" Buffy gritted out through teeth clenched in frustration. The demon didn't answer her, and didn't adhere to her request either. After a few more unsuccessful swings, she finally grew angry enough to jam her three inch spiked boot heel into one of the demon's feet. The demon gave a roar and stopped to attend to its injured foot. That hesitation was all Buffy needed, and she decapitated the demon in one fluid movement. "Is that all you vampire's got?" Buffy asked, making a disgusted face as she yanked her bloody boot heel out of the dead demon's foot. 'Blech. Well, at least it didn't break off. I like these boots' "Come on, my sister could have taken that demon and she's only 17." She turned to see Max decapitate the other demon as well as Xander distracted it.
"Huh, I thought that was going to be more difficult." Max said, wiping his bloodied sword on the demon's shirt.
"Yeah, that was nothing man. You should've seen Glory, or the Mayor. Now those were some fun." Realizing he was starting to sound like Spike with his characteristic love of fighting, Xander backtracked. "I mean, difficult battles. But you and I make a good team. Ever think about demon hunting with us? The pay's lousy and the benefits pretty much suck, but it's a living."
"Does it come with dental?" Max joked, smiling at Xander.
"Only after you've lost all of your teeth. And as for life insurance, well if you can't come back from the dead at least once, you don't really deserve it." He turned toward Buffy. "Right, Buff?"
"Oh absolutely." Buffy agreed with a smile. She was about to make her own comment when she was interrupted by a throat clearing out front. She turned towards the noise.
"I'm glad you are amusing yourself, but we are still out here you know." The head vampire spoke from outside.
"So? What are you going to do about it? You can't enter the house, and we've just killed your two demons. Why are you even here anyway? It's not like we're hurting Spike. He's on our team now, remember? Why don't you guys just leave and no one will have to get dusted. Take a minute to think about it. Talk amongst yourselves. Is someone who's been killing you and yours for the last couple of years really worth sacrificing your lives over? I don't think so, but hey, I'm not you." Buffy ended her speech with a shrug and attempted to look nonchalant as the vampires discussed their situation.
After a few inexorably long moments, the lead vampire turned and addressed Buffy. "We accept your terms, Slayer. To tell you the truth, I didn't even want to be here in the first place. I've never liked Spike. He's much too brash for my liking."
"Then why'd you come? And call me Buffy by the way. As long as you and yours are leaving, I don't have to be the Slayer. Sorry about your demons." She gestured to the bleeding corpses on the living room floor.
"Alright, Buffy then. My name's Raoul. I'd shake your hand and greet you properly as your status deserves, but I'm still a vampire. I've got a reputation to uphold."
"Gotcha. Associating with the Slayer in society is a big vampire faux pas."
Raoul smirked at the comment. "Something like that, yes."
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Raoul. I'm glad I don't have to kill you. Of course, do anything I don't like, and it won't matter how polite you are. I will dust you."
"I understand." Raoul said, bowing his head slightly. "Goodnight, Buffy. I hope we never see each other again." With that final comment, he turned and left, his fellow vampires trailing behind him.
'Hmm, for a vampire, that guy wasn't half bad. Cute too. Kinda like Johnny Depp with fangs.' Buffy cut off that line of thought as that very image presented itself to her overactive imagination. Shaking her head at herself, Buffy shut the door and turned toward a gaping Max and Xander.
After a moment, Xander spoke. "Ok, you see, that was weird. I'm glad we don't have to fight and all, but that was messed up. Vampire's can be polite, who knew?"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Spike's polite." At Xander's raised eyebrow she continued. "Sometimes. Ok, hardly ever. But, oh! Angel was polite. All dark knighty and chivalry-like. And.oh, nevermind. No fighting is good. Buffy like no fighting. Now help me take care of these dead demons. We can just drop them down the sewer entrance. I'm sure something down there will take care of them."
"Eww, is that what you do with all the demons you kill? That's kinda gross. Who knows what kind of things are down there?" Xander asked with a disgusted look on his face. Buffy just shrugged and grabbed a demon.
***
After much complaining and a few blood covered shirts, Buffy, Max and Xander finally removed all trace of the two dead demons from the house. Xander might have been a bit disgusted at the prospect of leaving the dead demons in the sewer tunnels to rot, but after having to carry said demon's still dripping head outstretched in front of him, he no longer cared. 'As long as I don't have to do anything more with them, I don't care what goes on down there.' Xander thought with a grimace. 'Speaking of dead things, I should probably go with Buffy to check on Dead Boy Jr. He wasn't looking too hot before the fight.' He turned towards Max who sat on the living room sofa quietly. "I'm gonna go up with Buffy to check on Dead.er Spike. Will you be alright down here by yourself? Once we come back down, maybe we can start on dinner. By starting, I mean calling the local pizza place and giving them our order. I'm sure Buffy would've liked you to have more of a home cooked meal, but as you can see were kinda in the middle of a crisis here. I'm sorry all the same."
"Oh, it's alright. I understand crises better than you'd think. I'll be fine down here, don't worry. Go check on your friend." Max said slowly.
"He's not---" Xander paused a moment. "Ok, maybe he's kind of like a friend.anyway, we'll be right back." Max nodded and Xander walked up the stairs.
***
Getting Spike up the stairs while Buffy, Xander and Max had fought had been easier than Willow or Dawn had expected. Getting him to go into the bathroom to get him cleaned up was an entirely different story. As soon as they came near the bathroom, Spike's eyes widened and he began to moan. At first, Dawn had no clue what was wrong with him and tried to force him into the bathroom anyway. After Willow had to near knock him out as he snarled and snapped at the two of them, Dawn realized why he was unwilling to go into the Summer's bathroom. 'This is where it happened.' Dawn thought sadly. 'This is where Spike almost raped Buffy. No wonder he doesn't want to be reminded of it.' Willow, on the other hand was still completely in the dark about the incident and grew suspicious as Dawn allowed Spike to remain in the hallway.
"Dawny? Do you know what's wrong with him? Do you know why he won't go into the bathroom?" Willow asked her, never taking her eyes from Spike.
"Well yeah, think about it. This is where it happened." Dawn told her matter-of-factly.
"Where what happened, Dawn? What are you talking about?"
"What do you mean what am I----" Dawn's breath caught as she realized what was happened. 'How could we have forgotten to tell her? Xander told everyone else, for Pete's sake. "Um, I don't think I should be the one to tell you. I think it should be Buffy's story to tell. I think Xander was wrong in telling me in the first place."
"Telling you what? What in the goddess' name is going on here, Dawny? If something happened here, I want to know. I think I have a right to know." Willow, said getting a little angry.
Dawn sighed at her sister's best friend. "It's not that you don't have a right to know, and I'm sorry no one has told you sooner, but I still think---"
"Please, Dawn? Tell me what's wrong. I want to know." Willow pleaded with the teen.
"Alright. I'll tell you. But you have to promise to get the full story from Buffy, alright?" At Willow's hasten nod, she continued. "Here's the really short version. Spike came to see Buffy to try and convince her to love him. Buffy said no. Spike nearly raped Buffy in the bathroom. Spike left town and apparently got a soul while he was away. That's it." At Willow's shocked and disgusted glance towards Spike, Dawn hastened to add, "But remember, you promised to get the whole story from Buffy. I just told you the short and ugly version. There's a whole lot more too it than that. The 'bathroom incident' was just where everything that had been going on between Spike and Buffy came to a climax."
Willow looked away in shame for judging Spike. Who was she to judge anyway? She had killed a man and tried to destroy the world all in a couple of days. She wouldn't be casting any stones any time soon. "I did promise, and I will talk to Buffy about it. Thank you for telling me." She looked again at Spike, looked deeper within him. It was something Tara had taught her to do, looking at people's aura's. The thought of Tara made her insides ache, but she had to focus on Spike right now, not her. Somehow, she knew Tara understood that. The first thing Willow noticed was Spike's new soul. A thick cord of bright cerulean blue wound its way around Spike's chest, crackling every so often like lightning and intermingling with the burgundy color that made up most of Spike's aura. There was also something new about him. Patches of sickly pale green looked as if they were eating away at the edges of Spike's aura, and a line of obsidian connected each of them. What was really curious was the fact that the while the sickly green seemed to be coming from more than one place, the obsidian came from only one. Who that person was or what place it was, Willow didn't know. What she did know was that it seemed to be slowly killing Spike. Whatever was wrong with him had to be understood and cured soon or it would be too late.
TBC
A/N: Eh, I thought that was as good a place as any to end this chappy. Sorry for the cliffhanger like ending, but there will be more chapters soon, have no worries. In the mean time, help encourage me to write said chapters faster by sending me a review! Thanks a bunch!