"Still Bound" chapter 14
This is a short chapter, because the end scene was just a perfect cliffhanger ending so I had to stop.
*********
"Yep. Yeah-huh.... All right, I get it, Buffy, geez! Straight home. Bye," Dawn hung up the phone with a sigh and picked up her rag to resume dusting.
"Don't go around the candle display this time," Anya reprimanded. "I want you to move every one, dust the table and then wipe down each candle before you put it back. A clean display is a quick-moving display."
"So I've heard," Dawn said, pulling a face at Anya's back as she complied.
"Don't get smart, missy," Anya said without turning. "It's your own fault you have to do this, you know, so I don't want any whining or complaining."
"What? I didn't complain. Just cleaning away, here."
"How you ever thought Buffy wouldn't notice there was still a security tag on her birthday present is beyond me. If you're going to be a thief, then at least be a smart thief."
Dawn didn't answer. The humiliation of having her possessions ransacked and examined as Buffy discovered item after item of stolen clothing and a box full of trinkets from the Magic Box still stung. She wished everyone would just let her do her time without bringing it up every few minutes. But then she supposed that was part of her punishment.
Spike was the only person who hadn't stabbed her with one of those disappointed looks. He simply chided her for allowing herself to get caught. Buffy had curtailed Dawn's training with Spike along with every other extracurricular activity. Dawn had been allowed just a few minutes alone with him to explain herself when he showed up for a session before Buffy sent him away. And Dawn had overheard Buffy use terms like, "bad influence" and "I should have known better" which didn't sound promising for any TV nights or combat training in the future.
The front bell rang and Dawn looked up from shining a little brass urn.
"Hey, J.D., how's the gulag?" Xander asked as he strolled into the shop.
"Huh? The goulash?"
"Never mind." He looked over Dawn's shoulder at Anya, who was intently studying an order catalog. "Um, Dawnie. I need to talk to Anya, could you clean something in the training room for a minute?"
"Sure," Dawn was glad to be out from under Anya's eagle eye and knew she'd have a better chance of eavesdropping from the back room. She looked to Anya for permission and when the ex-demon reluctantly nodded, Dawn exited.
**********
"You need something? Charm? Spell? Potion?" Anya asked him with chilly politeness. "We have a new collection of ward stones just in today."
Xander remained silent for a moment, weighing his options on an opening volley. It was almost irresistible to fall back into the pattern of parry and thrust which he and Anya had developed for so long. But instead he bit his tongue and tried something new.
"As a matter of fact, I am looking for something special," he answered, walking to the display case under the front counter. "Something silver and sparkly."
"None of that jewelry has any real magic properties you know," Anya said, "So if Buffy's sent you to find a protection amulet or...."
"No. Nothing like that," Xander shook his head. "Just something pretty that a woman would like. But then, it's only a first date so maybe jewelry is pushing it. What would you recommend?"
Anya's mouth opened and closed. "First DATE!" she finally managed. "You came here to buy a present for some bimbo and you want ME to help you choose it?"
"Well yeah. I mean, I trust your taste. I'm sure you'll help me pick out something..." Xander clicked his tongue and made a circle with thumb and index finger, "...just right."
Anya's complexion flushed an alarming shade of red.
"Of course, I haven't asked the girl yet," Xander said consideringly as he picked up a package of incense and sniffed it. "Maybe she won't want to go out with me."
He set the incense down and began examining a small grinning totem next to the cash register. "But if she did, which do you think she would prefer, flowers, candy or maybe some scented bubble bath. Or is that last one too personal?"
His eyes rose to meet hers and finally Anya got the message. She choked back the sharpened barbs that were waiting on her tongue. "Oh," she said instead, then cleared her throat. "Well ... I guess ... before you start buying presents, you'd need to ask the girl, wouldn't you?"
"Guess so," he said, still basting her with liquid chocolate from his deep brown eyes. "But sometimes ... it's really hard to make that phone call, you know? I mean, sometimes a guy wants to but then his hand starts to dial and he gets all shaky and his throat freezes up and he knows he's just going to say something stupid when she picks up. So maybe he gives up and puts the phone back down before he can make an even bigger fool of himself."
"Yeah, that sounds like men, all right," Anya agreed. A tiny smile played over her lips.
"It doesn't mean the guy doesn't want to talk to the girl and make up or ... er ... ask her out."
Anya nodded.
"So, Anyanka, would you? If I asked?"
Anya's smiled blossomed at Xander's first ever use of her real name. "Perhaps," she answered. "If you asked veeeerrry nicely."
Xander's anxious face relaxed and he returned the smile.
"And," she added smartly, "There's a lovely Aubousson carpet I've had my eye on, if you really want to know the way to a girl's heart."
*********
"The Doctor?" Buffy asked. "What kind of nickname is that?"
"Don't know. It's just what they call him." Willie shrugged. "Hey, I only pass along what I hear and right now he's the guy to see for buying demon parts." He laughed. "Guess that explains the name - he has to carve up the goods. Though, maybe The Surgeon or The Butcher would be more appropr...."
"All right! I get it. New player in town supplying demon bits for spells and rituals. What I want to know is where to find this guy."
"That I can't help you with," Willie said, averting his eyes and distractedly wiping the counter.
Buffy could see the shifty little man knew more than he was telling. She gave an exaggerated sigh. "Do we have to go through this little dance every time, Willie? Just give it to me all at once. Don't make me have to hit you."
"Where'd be the fun in that?" Willie said, sarcastically.
Buffy just stared for a beat.
"All right. All right. I don't know where to find this guy but I did hear somebody talking the other night about some Suvolte eggs."
"What eggs?"
"Suvolte demon are nasty bastards. No more brain than a frog. But they're real useful if you want to rain down a little destruction on an enemy. They could rip their way through Sunnydale and leave not a man standing if someone was of a mind to take over the town."
"And the eggs?"
"Just waiting to hatch trouble ... or be scrambled into one helluva giant omelet. I heard the Doctor's got 'em hidden somewhere, waiting for an out of town buyer. But damn, Slayer, I gotta tell you this makes even me nervous. If those things hatched early...."
"I'm on it," Buffy said. "I'll find this 'Doctor' and put him out of business."
************
"Spike?" Buffy's voice rang through the empty crypt. The shadowy interior revealed no sign of the vampire. "Great! Always in your way when you don't want him, but when you have a simple question to ask...." she muttered.
Buffy swept her flashlight around the room. "God, get a cleaning service, why don't you." There were smashed bits of pottery near the sarcophagus in the center of the room, dead flowers trailing across the floor. Toppled candles were scattered here and there. Spike's stereo lay mangled in a corner as if it had been thrown against the wall. As a matter of fact, anything that could be torn, broken, shredded or flattened, was.
Buffy smelled the stomach turning odor of sour milk and moved her beam around until she located the source: a carton of ice cream lying in a sticky pool of curdled pinkish scum. "Ice cream? What the...?" Her heart began to beat faster as she moved through the room, shoes crunching over pottery shards.
She hadn't seen Spike since the night of her birthday party. In fact she had actively avoided him, her brain still running in breathless circles trying to wrap itself around the idea that it was Spike providing her with anonymous monetary gifts over these past few months. It was horrible and it was horribly sweet. It indebted her to him, which was totally frightening. And over and over she tried to convince herself he hadn't robbed or intimidated humans to acquire the money. Bad enough that part of it was dusted vampire loot, which of course originated with some poor human victim.
Now here she was just to ask Spike what he knew about the Doctor and Suvolte demons in general, and it looked like he'd been kidnapped and dragged away. Humans could have done it. He would be completely at their mercy.
Buffy quickly descended the ladder to the lower level and found the destruction continued. Bedding was spread halfway across the room, tangled sheets ribboned into rags. Great gashes were chopped into the bed posts and feathers from the pillows had settled on every surface. Funny crunchy brown flakes like cereal were also strewn around. Buffy picked one up and crushed it in her fingers. The scent of rose wafted up from her hand. Rose petals?
In a flash Buffy understood. The date. Or what Spike imagined as a date. That night she'd stood him up then later beat him up. This is what he had had planned for the evening. Her heart clenched. She could picture him moving around his home fixing it up as best he could - all for her. How very disappointed he must have been. A vision of Spike rampaging through these rooms tearing apart all he had created replaced the first image in her mind. Not kidnapped then. Just Spike throwing a hissy fit.
Tears prickled and she closed her eyes, willing them away. She breathed deeply for a moment then blinked away her sympathy. She rolled her shoulders and took another look around the crypt basement. How the hell had she let it get this far? Why had she allowed herself to sleep with him when she was invisible? As if that didn't count, as if it wouldn't encourage him or lead to even deeper feelings. How could she have allowed him to insinuate himself into their lives, both Dawn's and hers? Nothing but heartache could come of it. She had been foolish and irresponsible and now look where it had lead.
As the last scolding words lashed through her mind, Buffy's flashlight came to rest on an area just before the tunnel leading to the sewer system. A half dozen oblong spherical shapes covered in a mucousy substance rested there.
Buffy took a step toward them. Then another. She looked away and back again, but they were still there. "Oh my god," she murmured. "Spike. What have you done?"
Just then, one of the eggs began to crack.
To be continued....
This is a short chapter, because the end scene was just a perfect cliffhanger ending so I had to stop.
*********
"Yep. Yeah-huh.... All right, I get it, Buffy, geez! Straight home. Bye," Dawn hung up the phone with a sigh and picked up her rag to resume dusting.
"Don't go around the candle display this time," Anya reprimanded. "I want you to move every one, dust the table and then wipe down each candle before you put it back. A clean display is a quick-moving display."
"So I've heard," Dawn said, pulling a face at Anya's back as she complied.
"Don't get smart, missy," Anya said without turning. "It's your own fault you have to do this, you know, so I don't want any whining or complaining."
"What? I didn't complain. Just cleaning away, here."
"How you ever thought Buffy wouldn't notice there was still a security tag on her birthday present is beyond me. If you're going to be a thief, then at least be a smart thief."
Dawn didn't answer. The humiliation of having her possessions ransacked and examined as Buffy discovered item after item of stolen clothing and a box full of trinkets from the Magic Box still stung. She wished everyone would just let her do her time without bringing it up every few minutes. But then she supposed that was part of her punishment.
Spike was the only person who hadn't stabbed her with one of those disappointed looks. He simply chided her for allowing herself to get caught. Buffy had curtailed Dawn's training with Spike along with every other extracurricular activity. Dawn had been allowed just a few minutes alone with him to explain herself when he showed up for a session before Buffy sent him away. And Dawn had overheard Buffy use terms like, "bad influence" and "I should have known better" which didn't sound promising for any TV nights or combat training in the future.
The front bell rang and Dawn looked up from shining a little brass urn.
"Hey, J.D., how's the gulag?" Xander asked as he strolled into the shop.
"Huh? The goulash?"
"Never mind." He looked over Dawn's shoulder at Anya, who was intently studying an order catalog. "Um, Dawnie. I need to talk to Anya, could you clean something in the training room for a minute?"
"Sure," Dawn was glad to be out from under Anya's eagle eye and knew she'd have a better chance of eavesdropping from the back room. She looked to Anya for permission and when the ex-demon reluctantly nodded, Dawn exited.
**********
"You need something? Charm? Spell? Potion?" Anya asked him with chilly politeness. "We have a new collection of ward stones just in today."
Xander remained silent for a moment, weighing his options on an opening volley. It was almost irresistible to fall back into the pattern of parry and thrust which he and Anya had developed for so long. But instead he bit his tongue and tried something new.
"As a matter of fact, I am looking for something special," he answered, walking to the display case under the front counter. "Something silver and sparkly."
"None of that jewelry has any real magic properties you know," Anya said, "So if Buffy's sent you to find a protection amulet or...."
"No. Nothing like that," Xander shook his head. "Just something pretty that a woman would like. But then, it's only a first date so maybe jewelry is pushing it. What would you recommend?"
Anya's mouth opened and closed. "First DATE!" she finally managed. "You came here to buy a present for some bimbo and you want ME to help you choose it?"
"Well yeah. I mean, I trust your taste. I'm sure you'll help me pick out something..." Xander clicked his tongue and made a circle with thumb and index finger, "...just right."
Anya's complexion flushed an alarming shade of red.
"Of course, I haven't asked the girl yet," Xander said consideringly as he picked up a package of incense and sniffed it. "Maybe she won't want to go out with me."
He set the incense down and began examining a small grinning totem next to the cash register. "But if she did, which do you think she would prefer, flowers, candy or maybe some scented bubble bath. Or is that last one too personal?"
His eyes rose to meet hers and finally Anya got the message. She choked back the sharpened barbs that were waiting on her tongue. "Oh," she said instead, then cleared her throat. "Well ... I guess ... before you start buying presents, you'd need to ask the girl, wouldn't you?"
"Guess so," he said, still basting her with liquid chocolate from his deep brown eyes. "But sometimes ... it's really hard to make that phone call, you know? I mean, sometimes a guy wants to but then his hand starts to dial and he gets all shaky and his throat freezes up and he knows he's just going to say something stupid when she picks up. So maybe he gives up and puts the phone back down before he can make an even bigger fool of himself."
"Yeah, that sounds like men, all right," Anya agreed. A tiny smile played over her lips.
"It doesn't mean the guy doesn't want to talk to the girl and make up or ... er ... ask her out."
Anya nodded.
"So, Anyanka, would you? If I asked?"
Anya's smiled blossomed at Xander's first ever use of her real name. "Perhaps," she answered. "If you asked veeeerrry nicely."
Xander's anxious face relaxed and he returned the smile.
"And," she added smartly, "There's a lovely Aubousson carpet I've had my eye on, if you really want to know the way to a girl's heart."
*********
"The Doctor?" Buffy asked. "What kind of nickname is that?"
"Don't know. It's just what they call him." Willie shrugged. "Hey, I only pass along what I hear and right now he's the guy to see for buying demon parts." He laughed. "Guess that explains the name - he has to carve up the goods. Though, maybe The Surgeon or The Butcher would be more appropr...."
"All right! I get it. New player in town supplying demon bits for spells and rituals. What I want to know is where to find this guy."
"That I can't help you with," Willie said, averting his eyes and distractedly wiping the counter.
Buffy could see the shifty little man knew more than he was telling. She gave an exaggerated sigh. "Do we have to go through this little dance every time, Willie? Just give it to me all at once. Don't make me have to hit you."
"Where'd be the fun in that?" Willie said, sarcastically.
Buffy just stared for a beat.
"All right. All right. I don't know where to find this guy but I did hear somebody talking the other night about some Suvolte eggs."
"What eggs?"
"Suvolte demon are nasty bastards. No more brain than a frog. But they're real useful if you want to rain down a little destruction on an enemy. They could rip their way through Sunnydale and leave not a man standing if someone was of a mind to take over the town."
"And the eggs?"
"Just waiting to hatch trouble ... or be scrambled into one helluva giant omelet. I heard the Doctor's got 'em hidden somewhere, waiting for an out of town buyer. But damn, Slayer, I gotta tell you this makes even me nervous. If those things hatched early...."
"I'm on it," Buffy said. "I'll find this 'Doctor' and put him out of business."
************
"Spike?" Buffy's voice rang through the empty crypt. The shadowy interior revealed no sign of the vampire. "Great! Always in your way when you don't want him, but when you have a simple question to ask...." she muttered.
Buffy swept her flashlight around the room. "God, get a cleaning service, why don't you." There were smashed bits of pottery near the sarcophagus in the center of the room, dead flowers trailing across the floor. Toppled candles were scattered here and there. Spike's stereo lay mangled in a corner as if it had been thrown against the wall. As a matter of fact, anything that could be torn, broken, shredded or flattened, was.
Buffy smelled the stomach turning odor of sour milk and moved her beam around until she located the source: a carton of ice cream lying in a sticky pool of curdled pinkish scum. "Ice cream? What the...?" Her heart began to beat faster as she moved through the room, shoes crunching over pottery shards.
She hadn't seen Spike since the night of her birthday party. In fact she had actively avoided him, her brain still running in breathless circles trying to wrap itself around the idea that it was Spike providing her with anonymous monetary gifts over these past few months. It was horrible and it was horribly sweet. It indebted her to him, which was totally frightening. And over and over she tried to convince herself he hadn't robbed or intimidated humans to acquire the money. Bad enough that part of it was dusted vampire loot, which of course originated with some poor human victim.
Now here she was just to ask Spike what he knew about the Doctor and Suvolte demons in general, and it looked like he'd been kidnapped and dragged away. Humans could have done it. He would be completely at their mercy.
Buffy quickly descended the ladder to the lower level and found the destruction continued. Bedding was spread halfway across the room, tangled sheets ribboned into rags. Great gashes were chopped into the bed posts and feathers from the pillows had settled on every surface. Funny crunchy brown flakes like cereal were also strewn around. Buffy picked one up and crushed it in her fingers. The scent of rose wafted up from her hand. Rose petals?
In a flash Buffy understood. The date. Or what Spike imagined as a date. That night she'd stood him up then later beat him up. This is what he had had planned for the evening. Her heart clenched. She could picture him moving around his home fixing it up as best he could - all for her. How very disappointed he must have been. A vision of Spike rampaging through these rooms tearing apart all he had created replaced the first image in her mind. Not kidnapped then. Just Spike throwing a hissy fit.
Tears prickled and she closed her eyes, willing them away. She breathed deeply for a moment then blinked away her sympathy. She rolled her shoulders and took another look around the crypt basement. How the hell had she let it get this far? Why had she allowed herself to sleep with him when she was invisible? As if that didn't count, as if it wouldn't encourage him or lead to even deeper feelings. How could she have allowed him to insinuate himself into their lives, both Dawn's and hers? Nothing but heartache could come of it. She had been foolish and irresponsible and now look where it had lead.
As the last scolding words lashed through her mind, Buffy's flashlight came to rest on an area just before the tunnel leading to the sewer system. A half dozen oblong spherical shapes covered in a mucousy substance rested there.
Buffy took a step toward them. Then another. She looked away and back again, but they were still there. "Oh my god," she murmured. "Spike. What have you done?"
Just then, one of the eggs began to crack.
To be continued....