Chapter 19
The doors of the cage like elevator, closed on the party of five. It was gloomy in the interior; Buffy took advantage of the dark, to slip her hand in Spike's. There was a slight jolt as the elevator started its downward journey.
"Is this the only way down?" asked Giles.
"At the moment, we are working building a much larger elevator than this, so we can send more of our findings to the surface quicker," said John.
"Find anything interesting yet?" asked Xander.
"Well we have a team of archaeologists working down there, top of their field, but it's a little different to what they are used to, this is like digging up a disaster site," said John.
"So you haven't found it yet?" asked Buffy.
John frowned.
"You know about the amulet, don't you?" he asked.
"It's our job to know everything, you should know that by now," said Giles, fixing him with a stern look, one he'd often used on Buffy, but to no avail.
It seemed to have the desired effect on the young man though. Buffy shivered, the further they went down, the colder it got, everyone's breath was visible. They had been descending for about five minutes, when the elevator finally came to a stop. John Richards pulled back the doors and stepped out into the brightly lit cavern, the occupants of the elevator squinted in the harshness of a hundred spotlights.
"Welcome to Sunnydale, by reading old maps of the area and accounts from several ex residents, we think this is somewhere where the new Sunnydale high school used to stand," said John, cheerily.
Buffy, Spike and the others looked around the vastness of the crater; a respectful silence fell over the four, as they surveyed what could only be described as a war zone. John looked at the faces of the W&H V.I.P's, he recognised their expressions, or at least he thought he did, not knowing that this had once been their former home.
"You want some time alone, to get used to it?" suggested John.
"Yes, thank you," said Giles removing his glasses and extracting a hanky to wipe away at a suspicious wetness in his eyes.
"I'll be back in a few, just need to talk to one of the diggers," said John.
Buffy put her arm through Spike's drawing comfort from his presence, it was then than she felt the severe tremors going through his body, tremors that were too acute to be caused by the coldness of the crater.
"Spike! What is it?" asked Buffy, getting more alarmed by the second.
Spike didn't speak, he opened his mouth, but no sound came out, his eyes rolled up in the back of his head, he would have fallen to the ground, if Buffy hadn't caught him. She held him in her arms, crying as she laid him on the cold cavern floor.
"Giles! Xander! Help me," said Buffy urgently.
Xander and Giles knelt beside Spike, not really sure what they could do, with Spike not being the average run of the mill human, they looked up at Buffy.
"Buffy, I don't know what to do," said Xander.
Seeing their faces, she took matters into her own hand and slapped Spike across the face, hard, as much as she hated doing it, her actions had the desired effect and Spike opened his eyes. She smiled at him in relief.
"Kinda lost you there for a moment," she said.
"Kinda lost myself," said Spike, still feeling slightly disorientated.
"What happened?" asked Giles.
"I dunno, I started to feel strange on the ride down, just put it down to nerves, you know, about visiting the scene of my death and all, but then my chest started to burn, like it was on fire, it felt like that time, you know, when I died," said Spike.
"Undo your shirt Spike," said Buffy
"Now's not really the time to be getting all get a roominess," said Xander
Spike looked around, John was still fully occupied with one of the employees, and he quickly undid several buttons on his shirt, exposing his chest, revealing the scar left there by the amulet.
"Oh, Spike," said Buffy touching his chest,
She traced the scar, which wasn't so much of a scar anymore, more like a raw wound, similar to a burn.
"That looks nasty, wanna put a band-aid on it, might get infected," joked Xander.
"Xander, you're not helping," said Buffy.
A strange expression passed over Spike's face, Buffy looked at him afraid he was going to collapse again.
"The amulet, it's near, I sense it," said Spike
Spike started to walk forward as if drawn by an invisible force.
"Where are you going?" asked Giles.
"Sshhh!" Said Buffy, hushing the others up.
Spike put out a hand as if testing the air.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Faith had taken the wheel of the school bus, even though she had turned over a new leaf and was a semi do gooder, Andrew had sorely tried her patience, Robin had read the look on her face and had pulled over to the side of the road, thinking in his mind that it was better her hands were occupied with driving the school bus than flexing themselves behind Andrew's neck.
"What are you thinking about Faith?" asked Robin.
"How much I would like to squeeze the life out of that little nerd, the gals at my prison woulda had him for breakfast, maybe we could pay em a visit," said Faith.
"Okay, shutting up now," said Andrew hastily.
"Good, cos if I had to hear the green bottle song again," said Faith warningly.
Dawn patted him on the shoulder, feeling the teensiest bit sorry for him. Andrew turned and looked at her, his eyes narrowing slightly, studying her expression and misinterpreting it.
"Sorry, I just don't think of you that way," he said.
Dawn's expression changed.
"Ewww, ego much, as if," said Dawn.
She got up from the seat she was sitting in and made her way to the back of the bus. Andrew flushed uncomfortably, looking at Faith and Wood to see if they had heard the interchange, both had their backs to him as they stared out at the road. Faith's shoulders were shaking slightly at the effort to keep in her laughter.
"Honey we're home," said Faith, as she pulled off the road.
The RV looked lonely and deserted as they pulled in next to it. Willow came out of the van, she had had enough of being alone, the others had been gone for several hours and she was more than a little anxious. Faith was the first out of the school bus; Robin and the others soon joined them.
"Buffy not back yet?" asked Dawn
"Not yet, we knew it might take some time as they didn't know what to expect, I tried them on Giles's cell phone, but the signals not very strong around here," said Willow.
"Well the fact, that they are in a big hole in the ground won't help that," said Robin.
"So what you been doing all day?" asked Faith.
"On the Internet mostly, been IM-ing with Celine, she's head of the coven I stayed with, during my rehabilitation in England, needed to pick their brains," said Willow.
Faith looked At Willow.
"Evil Willow, I would have liked to see that," said Faith, finding it hard to imagine.
"No you wouldn't!" Said Andrew and Dawn in unison.
"You really wouldn't," said Willow.
"You're scaring me," said Faith sarcastically.
"So were your coven friends any help?" asked Robin.
"Yes I think they may have been, at least I have an idea how to beat this thing, as long as we get our hands on the amulet, then it looks pretty good," said Willow.
"That's great! Can't wait to tell Buffy and the others when they get back," said Dawn excitedly.
"Now hang on there Dawnie, we don't want to raise false hopes, so keep a lid on it just for the moment, until I have more time to look into it, it's a bit radical, I want every one together when I tell," said Willow.
Willow got back into the RV and returned to her laptop.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Buffy looked around to see if anyone was watching them, the last thing they needed was to draw more attention to them selves. It was hard for Giles and Xander to keep up with Spike; Buffy easily covered the distance. Xander looked behind them, more than a little worried they wouldn't find their way out again, there had been many twists and turns, the path ahead was shrouded in darkness.
"Do you think we should have left a trail of breadcrumbs?" asked Xander
Xander's irony was lost on Giles.
"Guess they haven't started digging here yet," said Giles.
"Spike slow down," said Buffy.
"Can't have to keep moving, it's here Buffy, I can feel it, not much further," said Spike desperately.
They came up against a solid dirt wall; Xander and Giles joined them moments later, both out of breath.
"We could do with shedding some light on the situation, any one bring a flashlight?" asked Giles.
"Sorry," said Xander apologetically.
"Hang on," said Buffy putting her hand in the back pocket of her jeans.
She passed the object to Spike. He flipped open the top and his lighter sparked into life, illuminating the tunnel.
"My bloody lighter! I knew it was you who nicked it," said Spike softly.
"Actually it was your number one fan, Andrew, I took it with me to the airport on your first night back, I meant to give it to you, but I sort of got attached to it," Buffy confessed.
Spike smiled at her, raised the lighter, looking at the solid earthen wall ahead of them.
"There's no way we're getting through this without digging tools," said Xander.
"Guess you're the expert, we'll have to come back later, with the cavalry," sighed Buffy.
Spike looked disappointed.
"Why have you got such a Jones for your instrument of death?" asked Xander, seeing Spike's expression.
"I don't, I just want this over, but in a good way mate," said Spike slightly annoyed.
They turned to leave, as nothing more could be done, bumping into the young lawyer, John who had shown them around the place.
"About to send out a search party for you, thought you might be lost, one of the workers got lost down here, when we first started digging, didn't find him for two weeks," said John.
"Better late than never," said Xander.
"Maybe, but he didn't see it that way, he was dead, anyway you'll want to be getting back," said John.
They took the elevator ride back to the surface in silence. The daylight was harsh and bright after the gloom of the elevator shaft. They rode back in the jeep, to where they had started out. Spike looked across the site, he noticed a small brick building, tucked away from the other ones, a thick plume of black smoke emitted from it.
"What's that for mate?" asked Spike.
John looked truly uncomfortable for the first time, since he had met them.
"That's the crematorium," said John.
"For?" asked Giles.
"Um er, the bodies, not everyone got out of Sunnydale, you must understand they have been down there for three months, have you ever seen a body that has been dead for that long?" said John.
Xander paled.
"Anya," he said quietly.
Xander grabbed John by his shirt collar.
"You bastard, why didn't you try and contact the relatives? Some of them must have had I.D. on them," said Xander angrily. His fist rose to strike the man.
Spike stayed his hand, violence would have been second nature him not so long ago, but he was growing heartsick of it, in any form. He removed Xander's hand from John's shirt.
"Come on mate, let's get you out of here," Spike said, leading Xander away.
Giles watched open mouthed as Spike walked with Xander, a supportive arm on his shoulder. Buffy pulled Giles along with her.
"C'mon, you'll catch flies," said Buffy, putting a hand on Giles's chin, to close his mouth.
They caught up to Xander and Spike, waiting for the large gates to open and then they were once more on the outside.
"We have to get that amulet, and tonight, I don't know how much that John guy heard of our conversation in the tunnels earlier," said Buffy.
"I agree, let's get back and rally the troops, and wait for the cover of darkness," said Giles.
"Just tell me where you want me," said Xander, with steely determination in his voice.
TBC
The doors of the cage like elevator, closed on the party of five. It was gloomy in the interior; Buffy took advantage of the dark, to slip her hand in Spike's. There was a slight jolt as the elevator started its downward journey.
"Is this the only way down?" asked Giles.
"At the moment, we are working building a much larger elevator than this, so we can send more of our findings to the surface quicker," said John.
"Find anything interesting yet?" asked Xander.
"Well we have a team of archaeologists working down there, top of their field, but it's a little different to what they are used to, this is like digging up a disaster site," said John.
"So you haven't found it yet?" asked Buffy.
John frowned.
"You know about the amulet, don't you?" he asked.
"It's our job to know everything, you should know that by now," said Giles, fixing him with a stern look, one he'd often used on Buffy, but to no avail.
It seemed to have the desired effect on the young man though. Buffy shivered, the further they went down, the colder it got, everyone's breath was visible. They had been descending for about five minutes, when the elevator finally came to a stop. John Richards pulled back the doors and stepped out into the brightly lit cavern, the occupants of the elevator squinted in the harshness of a hundred spotlights.
"Welcome to Sunnydale, by reading old maps of the area and accounts from several ex residents, we think this is somewhere where the new Sunnydale high school used to stand," said John, cheerily.
Buffy, Spike and the others looked around the vastness of the crater; a respectful silence fell over the four, as they surveyed what could only be described as a war zone. John looked at the faces of the W&H V.I.P's, he recognised their expressions, or at least he thought he did, not knowing that this had once been their former home.
"You want some time alone, to get used to it?" suggested John.
"Yes, thank you," said Giles removing his glasses and extracting a hanky to wipe away at a suspicious wetness in his eyes.
"I'll be back in a few, just need to talk to one of the diggers," said John.
Buffy put her arm through Spike's drawing comfort from his presence, it was then than she felt the severe tremors going through his body, tremors that were too acute to be caused by the coldness of the crater.
"Spike! What is it?" asked Buffy, getting more alarmed by the second.
Spike didn't speak, he opened his mouth, but no sound came out, his eyes rolled up in the back of his head, he would have fallen to the ground, if Buffy hadn't caught him. She held him in her arms, crying as she laid him on the cold cavern floor.
"Giles! Xander! Help me," said Buffy urgently.
Xander and Giles knelt beside Spike, not really sure what they could do, with Spike not being the average run of the mill human, they looked up at Buffy.
"Buffy, I don't know what to do," said Xander.
Seeing their faces, she took matters into her own hand and slapped Spike across the face, hard, as much as she hated doing it, her actions had the desired effect and Spike opened his eyes. She smiled at him in relief.
"Kinda lost you there for a moment," she said.
"Kinda lost myself," said Spike, still feeling slightly disorientated.
"What happened?" asked Giles.
"I dunno, I started to feel strange on the ride down, just put it down to nerves, you know, about visiting the scene of my death and all, but then my chest started to burn, like it was on fire, it felt like that time, you know, when I died," said Spike.
"Undo your shirt Spike," said Buffy
"Now's not really the time to be getting all get a roominess," said Xander
Spike looked around, John was still fully occupied with one of the employees, and he quickly undid several buttons on his shirt, exposing his chest, revealing the scar left there by the amulet.
"Oh, Spike," said Buffy touching his chest,
She traced the scar, which wasn't so much of a scar anymore, more like a raw wound, similar to a burn.
"That looks nasty, wanna put a band-aid on it, might get infected," joked Xander.
"Xander, you're not helping," said Buffy.
A strange expression passed over Spike's face, Buffy looked at him afraid he was going to collapse again.
"The amulet, it's near, I sense it," said Spike
Spike started to walk forward as if drawn by an invisible force.
"Where are you going?" asked Giles.
"Sshhh!" Said Buffy, hushing the others up.
Spike put out a hand as if testing the air.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Faith had taken the wheel of the school bus, even though she had turned over a new leaf and was a semi do gooder, Andrew had sorely tried her patience, Robin had read the look on her face and had pulled over to the side of the road, thinking in his mind that it was better her hands were occupied with driving the school bus than flexing themselves behind Andrew's neck.
"What are you thinking about Faith?" asked Robin.
"How much I would like to squeeze the life out of that little nerd, the gals at my prison woulda had him for breakfast, maybe we could pay em a visit," said Faith.
"Okay, shutting up now," said Andrew hastily.
"Good, cos if I had to hear the green bottle song again," said Faith warningly.
Dawn patted him on the shoulder, feeling the teensiest bit sorry for him. Andrew turned and looked at her, his eyes narrowing slightly, studying her expression and misinterpreting it.
"Sorry, I just don't think of you that way," he said.
Dawn's expression changed.
"Ewww, ego much, as if," said Dawn.
She got up from the seat she was sitting in and made her way to the back of the bus. Andrew flushed uncomfortably, looking at Faith and Wood to see if they had heard the interchange, both had their backs to him as they stared out at the road. Faith's shoulders were shaking slightly at the effort to keep in her laughter.
"Honey we're home," said Faith, as she pulled off the road.
The RV looked lonely and deserted as they pulled in next to it. Willow came out of the van, she had had enough of being alone, the others had been gone for several hours and she was more than a little anxious. Faith was the first out of the school bus; Robin and the others soon joined them.
"Buffy not back yet?" asked Dawn
"Not yet, we knew it might take some time as they didn't know what to expect, I tried them on Giles's cell phone, but the signals not very strong around here," said Willow.
"Well the fact, that they are in a big hole in the ground won't help that," said Robin.
"So what you been doing all day?" asked Faith.
"On the Internet mostly, been IM-ing with Celine, she's head of the coven I stayed with, during my rehabilitation in England, needed to pick their brains," said Willow.
Faith looked At Willow.
"Evil Willow, I would have liked to see that," said Faith, finding it hard to imagine.
"No you wouldn't!" Said Andrew and Dawn in unison.
"You really wouldn't," said Willow.
"You're scaring me," said Faith sarcastically.
"So were your coven friends any help?" asked Robin.
"Yes I think they may have been, at least I have an idea how to beat this thing, as long as we get our hands on the amulet, then it looks pretty good," said Willow.
"That's great! Can't wait to tell Buffy and the others when they get back," said Dawn excitedly.
"Now hang on there Dawnie, we don't want to raise false hopes, so keep a lid on it just for the moment, until I have more time to look into it, it's a bit radical, I want every one together when I tell," said Willow.
Willow got back into the RV and returned to her laptop.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Buffy looked around to see if anyone was watching them, the last thing they needed was to draw more attention to them selves. It was hard for Giles and Xander to keep up with Spike; Buffy easily covered the distance. Xander looked behind them, more than a little worried they wouldn't find their way out again, there had been many twists and turns, the path ahead was shrouded in darkness.
"Do you think we should have left a trail of breadcrumbs?" asked Xander
Xander's irony was lost on Giles.
"Guess they haven't started digging here yet," said Giles.
"Spike slow down," said Buffy.
"Can't have to keep moving, it's here Buffy, I can feel it, not much further," said Spike desperately.
They came up against a solid dirt wall; Xander and Giles joined them moments later, both out of breath.
"We could do with shedding some light on the situation, any one bring a flashlight?" asked Giles.
"Sorry," said Xander apologetically.
"Hang on," said Buffy putting her hand in the back pocket of her jeans.
She passed the object to Spike. He flipped open the top and his lighter sparked into life, illuminating the tunnel.
"My bloody lighter! I knew it was you who nicked it," said Spike softly.
"Actually it was your number one fan, Andrew, I took it with me to the airport on your first night back, I meant to give it to you, but I sort of got attached to it," Buffy confessed.
Spike smiled at her, raised the lighter, looking at the solid earthen wall ahead of them.
"There's no way we're getting through this without digging tools," said Xander.
"Guess you're the expert, we'll have to come back later, with the cavalry," sighed Buffy.
Spike looked disappointed.
"Why have you got such a Jones for your instrument of death?" asked Xander, seeing Spike's expression.
"I don't, I just want this over, but in a good way mate," said Spike slightly annoyed.
They turned to leave, as nothing more could be done, bumping into the young lawyer, John who had shown them around the place.
"About to send out a search party for you, thought you might be lost, one of the workers got lost down here, when we first started digging, didn't find him for two weeks," said John.
"Better late than never," said Xander.
"Maybe, but he didn't see it that way, he was dead, anyway you'll want to be getting back," said John.
They took the elevator ride back to the surface in silence. The daylight was harsh and bright after the gloom of the elevator shaft. They rode back in the jeep, to where they had started out. Spike looked across the site, he noticed a small brick building, tucked away from the other ones, a thick plume of black smoke emitted from it.
"What's that for mate?" asked Spike.
John looked truly uncomfortable for the first time, since he had met them.
"That's the crematorium," said John.
"For?" asked Giles.
"Um er, the bodies, not everyone got out of Sunnydale, you must understand they have been down there for three months, have you ever seen a body that has been dead for that long?" said John.
Xander paled.
"Anya," he said quietly.
Xander grabbed John by his shirt collar.
"You bastard, why didn't you try and contact the relatives? Some of them must have had I.D. on them," said Xander angrily. His fist rose to strike the man.
Spike stayed his hand, violence would have been second nature him not so long ago, but he was growing heartsick of it, in any form. He removed Xander's hand from John's shirt.
"Come on mate, let's get you out of here," Spike said, leading Xander away.
Giles watched open mouthed as Spike walked with Xander, a supportive arm on his shoulder. Buffy pulled Giles along with her.
"C'mon, you'll catch flies," said Buffy, putting a hand on Giles's chin, to close his mouth.
They caught up to Xander and Spike, waiting for the large gates to open and then they were once more on the outside.
"We have to get that amulet, and tonight, I don't know how much that John guy heard of our conversation in the tunnels earlier," said Buffy.
"I agree, let's get back and rally the troops, and wait for the cover of darkness," said Giles.
"Just tell me where you want me," said Xander, with steely determination in his voice.
TBC