By PassionFish
As always – thanks to all the great reviewers out there! Sorry it took so long - again; more soon…as long as get those yummy reviews!!!
Part Thirteen:
A/N: Thanks to Lady Brandywyne for beta'ing this chapter
The dungeons' dark, dank walls were happy, it seemed, that someone had chosen to grace them with their presence as it had been so long since their crazy mistress had been around.
Her memory still remained; withering plants cluttered the surfaces, a lone birdcage hung from the ceiling - a tiny skeletal figure resting on it's floor. Rank, decayed - and still decaying - corpses hung from the walls and beside them all...Angelus.
The aged vampire raised his bruised and battered face, attempting to still appear 'Masterful' and in charge...and failing miserably. His body ached, only standing because of the chains that held him upright.
Spike laughed at the attempt, "Hate to tell you, mate, but the blood and guts kinda ruin the whole effect." He indicated Angel's exposed stomach; his spleen trailing to the floor like a fleshy bull-dog's lead.
Angelus growled, which only made Spike laugh harder.
"Right, enough o' that!" Spike jumped off the table that he'd been perched on, grabbing the magically treated dagger from his grand-sire's right thigh where it had resided for the past twenty minutes.
Angelus roared in pain, the chains that held him to the wall, shook with the exertion of holding the heavy vampire up. But they too were magically treated and would never break.
"Anyway!" Spike continued his little story. "So, I was thinkin' to myself all the things I could do to hurt you; torture you, skin you alive, let the minions 'ave at you, blah, blah, bloody-blah..." He dismissed them all with a casual flick of his hand.
"Then it came to me!" The younger Vampire's eyes lit up as he trailed the treated knife down Angelus' left side, watching as blister's bubbled up and burst against the skin.
Angelus cried out in pain, but it didn't stop the other Vampire's speech. "MY Slayer." He stated in a possessive tone. "Now, I reckon that your little soldier friends bodged the job." He buried the dagger in Angelus' left thigh, and spoke over the sound of sizzling Vampire-flesh, his accent thickening with each word he uttered.
"I reckon, you wanted them to 'ave me, not 'er. It's always 'bout Buffy, isn't it?" Spike jumped back up on the table top, grinning insanely.
"Speaking of the Slayer, where is your Mate again? Oh, yeah you lost this one as well." Angelus snarled as best he could, in an attempt to taunt the younger Vampire.
"Oh, no, mate; see that's where you're wrong." The blonde rebutted. "I gotta pair of witches on my side, and they're doing a little location spell...I'm just playin' with you to while away the time." Spike sighed dramatically, then picked up the bottle of holy water from the table.
"Where were we?"
---
The two witches sat face-to-face, cross-legged and eyes closed. Candles and cloves of herbs adorned every available surface, their soft glow lighting the eerie room. Between the Vampiress lovers, a small vile of blood hovered, as if by magic, over a map of a small town called Sunnydale.
Their eyes glowed a deep blood red as their mouths chanted unknown verses in ever-quickening succession.
A sudden wind caught the room, sending all but the map and blood into a furious spiral, yet still the Witches continued their chant.
From beyond the city limits, a lone wolf howled and the wind stopped.
Then all was silent.
The witches dropped back to the un-broken circle, and watched as the vile of the combined blood of their Sire's mate and their own, uprooted itself to allow a single drop to fall on to the map.
---
*Spike....we found her.*
The blonde Vampire paused on his way back from the table of torture as Red's voice echoed in his head, then smiled. *Be right there.*
"Right, then, mate. Looks like you got an out." Spike reached into the bag that had sat, untouched, by the side of the table all day and removed a single packet. "Time for the big finale."
He held up the bag, and gave it a cajoling shake. "Do you know what this is?" He asked condescendingly.
Angelus tried to look innocent, but Spike only scoffed, "Come on, Peaches! Did you really think no-one would notice your sudden drug habit? Walls 'ave ears, you know." His head tilted to the side, and he looked the half-dead vampire up and down. "Funny, never figured you to be one to give into peer pressure."
"Seems like ol' Spikey, here's gonna have to save you." He said with a mocking smile.
A pitcher of water appeared on the table, a gift from the Witches, and with a careless flick of his wrist, Spike emptied the stash into the jug.
Angelus growled, but couldn't say anything as his jaw was broken. So he was stuck fast, watching helplessly as his soul-lessness dissolved away.
"Mental pain...ahh, is there anything quite like it?" Spike grinned as his grandsire whimpered piteously.
He leaned in close to murmur maliciously. "She never loved you. And it'll kill your pansy-ass souled counter-part when he makes an appearance."
He backed away a bit, looking the older vampire up and down. "If he's not already present, that is. I know William loves this as much as I do!" He finished with a grin.
Behind him, his perceptive vampiric hearing detected the sound of the final pill being dissolved and he turned, carelessly pouring the drug-water into one of the near-by plant-pots, watching as the liquid slowly drained into the soil. "Wish I could stay to see it kill you."
"But I got places to be, Slayers to fuck...."
Angelus growled, whimpering slightly as his stash was destroyed. He tried to strain against the bonds that held him, but they were too strong and he was too weak. If he could just get out, find a dealer....
"Bye Bye, Angelus."
---
Buffy growled, bucking and twisting beneath the restraints that held her to the icy table. She whimpered slightly as her movements open the gash in her leg that had finally begun to heal.
She'd awoken about three hours earlier; Satan only knew how long she'd been there - but judging by her healing rate it couldn't have been longer then half a day.
Her body ached, not only from the physical pain, but from the pain caused by being so far from her Sire and Mate for so long. She whimpered again, trying to yank the bands that secured her arms and legs free, but only resulted in nearly dislocating her shoulders.
"I'm afraid it's no use."
Maggie. The bitch was back. "I'm going to enjoy ripping your throat out." Buffy gargled through a mouthful of her own blood. Fuck, she must be really badly hurt.
"You see, I've given you a little....muscle depressant. Perfect for Slayers I hear." Walsh continued, apparently oblivious to Buffy's little threat.
The ex-Slayer frowned. The only muscle depressant that would be strong enough to down a Slayer belonged to the council. And these guys did not look like stuffy, British dudes. And anyway, she had like twice as much strength now....Vampire and all that...
Walsh smiled at the evident confusion on the Vampiress' face, and came to her rescue, "We had a little outside...uh, information. Naturally we had to modify it slightly to allow for your, shall we say, special circumstances?" The professor absently indicated the lone figure behind her.
Behind the bright lights, Buffy could barely see, but her other senses were still working fine. She scented the air, and frowned at the familiar scent...tea...and Giles!
*So he's finally come after me? Bloody brilliant!* She muttered internally, waiting for her watcher to speak, unconscious of the Spike-ism within her thought pattern.
From behind the cold woman, stepped out into view another...a Watcher, as the Vampiress had sensed, but not the one she'd expected....or even knew:
Lilith Bradshaw.
TBC
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