Chapter 17 Big Plans

Early Morning December 23

I pulled the Desoto up to the gates and gave a shout to the pair of vampires lurking in the bushes. One of them deigned to listen to me and casually strode up to the gate.

Yeah? What'd'ya want?

Hiya...Look, I need to get inside. Have a little palaver with the Slayer's sister.

The big vamp gave a low growl, echoed by a growl in from my passenger seat. Big and ugly took another hard look inside, then pulled back.

he hissed, low and unfriendly. He didn't make any moves to open the gate though. A suspicious bunch, and probably rightly so.

Listen, this is important. I wouldn't be here this late just to shoot the breeze. Is she in there or not?

Another vamp stepped up out of the shadows, but this one I recognized. It was Norman, the driver from the Stake.

Let im go on in. It's that gumshoe, Harris. Slayer says he's a right guy.

There were growls from the peanut gallery, but Norman slapped them around a bit.
The gates creaked open just wide enough to squeeze the Desoto through onto the graveled driveway. I parked under the porte-cochere and hopped out. Spike stayed in the car. You not coming in? I asked, Dawn'll want to see you.

This is a bad idea, Harris, he whispered.

What're ya gonna do, I laughed, Bite her? Even as I said it, a horrible thought occurred to me. I didn't have a clue where he'd been or what he'd been doing.

He rubbed the back of his neck, but didn't connect with my eyes. Think I'll go for a walk in the garden. Have a smoke, maybe.

I figured he was uncomfortable around Dawn. Maybe he didn't have any memory of her, or maybe he just wasn't that interested in Buffy's kid sister anymore. Pretty odd, considering.

I pulled my coat closer to me, my breath making steamy trails in the night air. Spike should have been cold, but maybe the dead don't feel things the way we do. I was happy to see the little maid at the front door and overjoyed to get in out of the dismal weather.

My domestic nemesis wasn't all that thrilled to see me this time. I guess she knew I wasn't the candy man by now. I pinched her cheek and chuckled, Don't worry, sweetheart, your ship's gonna come in some day. She slapped me a good one and flounced off, leaving me standing in the library door with egg on my face. My little chuckle turned into a big gulp. Dawn was standing there with with her hands on her hips and a look that promised me deep trouble.

Heh, sorry. Sorry. I'm kinda stupid, sometimes.

she smiled sarcastically, I'm tired and I'm cranky, Xander.

Sorry, again, Dawn. It's...how much do you know about your sister's business. Her personal business.
What do you mean?



Who...Angel, you mean? Her old boyfriend from Los Angeles?

He's back

He's dead. She said he...that he died.

Funny thing about vampires. I saw him tonight, at the Stake. Alive, undead, whatever you want to call it. He's gunning for the Slayer. Why d'you think she's got this place locked up like Fort Knox?

I wondered..I mean, I thought, what with the murders and all...

A weak voice squeaked over a tall pile of crumbling manuscripts and volumes of ancient books, Dawn? Is there anything wrong?

No, Andrew. Everything's fine. You just finish up that last reference, okay? I heard his whispery assent and saw a pair of frightened eyes peering at me from the stacks.

Dawn looked at me and drew me over to a pair of dark leather club chairs. She sank down into one and tucked her legs casually under the hem of her charcoal brown flannel shirt. Her wide eyes reminded me of her sister, expectant and a bit frightened. I told her as much as I dared. She knew about the massacre at Frankenburger's and she knew Spike was in trouble, but the Slayer had kept her out of the loop. She couldn't give me anything to work on about Los Angeles.

I wasn't exactly compos mentis round about then, if you know what I mean. I vaguely remember being in L.A. for a while. It must have been the summer. I remember the heat. Her eyes grew soft and faraway and I remembered how she looked the first time I'd seen her. Poor kid. I used to live in the guesthouse across the garden. He didn't like me being in the main house. Guess I was too noisy or inconvenient or something. She meant her step-uncle Giles. I had a nurse and everything. Spike came to visit me every night. He told me stories and sang to me when I couldn't sleep. He was like my guardian angel, y'know? She smiled at the memory, her eyes soft.

I used to imagine Spike was my real father, she continued blithely, Him I haven't seen in donkey's years. I think he married his secretary and moved to Spain or someplace.

Uh, Dawn, about Spike...

Dawn! I think you should have a look at this! Andrew called.

She unfolded herself and strode over to the table, the pumpkin cashmere of her sweater as bright as the smoldering fire. I went over and gave the flames a poke. The coals spat and cracked quietly in the near silence of the room. Finally she called me over to join them. It was kinda amazing to me. She was friendly with this witless sorcerer who'd cost her her sanity and nearly her life. She could have blasted him into a Hell dimension now, but instead she smiled at him. Maybe there's hope for humanity after all. Sometimes that keeps me up at night.

She was pointing to a highlighted paragraph in Warren Meers' heavily scribbled notebooks. it didn't make any sense to me, all cabalistic symbols and mathematical equations. Might as well have been in F'Yarl as far as I was concerned.

What am I looking at?

Doctor Meers didn't really have a clue what he was doing with the cup. He just figured he make some fast dough raising zombies for Harmony and her father, then suck down a couple of doses of Live Fast, Be Beautiful Forever serum, sell the formula and live high on the hog. The thing was, the cup had those little side effects. Oh yeah, I remember those. Staring into the thing for four or five hours like an hop-head. That's a big side effect. Magic always has consequences.

Andrew chimed in, Several varieties of psychopathic behaviors are indicated, including monomania, paranoia and the very popular amnesia. All those mania things. He gulped and went on, I'm thinking we could reverse some of that if we could get hold of Spike and work with him.

Is there a potion or something? I peered at the battered notebooks like I could decipher them.

Well, no, Dawn admitted, We were thinking more along the lines of a combination of magic, she pointed to Andrew, and science. That sort of made sense, since that was what started this whole mess to begin with.

How soon can we get started?

I'm thinking we need to get on it today, before he gets past the point of no return.

It might be too late for that. Buffy said...

We have to try, Xander. He never gave up on me and I'm not giving up on him either. She looked more like her sister than ever, her arms crossed on her chest and her chin up defiantly.
She didn't care what the Slayer thought about this, she was going to get him back the way he had been, no matter what the cost. Guess I'm a sucker for a dame every time. I grinned at her, but the grin slid off my face when I felt the icy wind whistle in from the wide-open door to the garden.


Well, gee, Dawnie, I don't think I want that to happen, sweetie, rumbled a carmel soft voice.
I turned my head to find my worst nightmare facing me. In the doorway stood Angelus, flanked by a pair of enormous demons. Even worse, at his left hand was Spike, game face in place and no spark of recognition in his eyes.

tbc
Music: Disturbing Behavior, Mark Snow, main title sequence