Thanks for the reviews. I hope that you are enjoying the story and the fast updating. It's getting interesting, yes?
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Chapter 6 If Wishes Were Horses
The servant girl was silent as she led them to an upstairs room. The castle was chilly and felt damp. Or maybe that was because she was wet.
The room was magnificent. There was a huge fireplace surrounded by beautiful paintings and tapestries. The bed was a four poster bed with intricate bedding in gold and red. The bed, as in only one. Of course there would only be one. She had told the prince they were married. Buffy was distracted from her thoughts by sudden movement.
Another servant girl was in the room and had laid out dry clothing on the bed. "I hope that these will be to your liking. I guessed on the fit. Please let me know if they are not acceptable." The girl seemed very nervous. She had only seen the two young women, but they both seemed very uncomfortable with having guests. Maybe it wasn't common to get visitors here.
"I am sure they will be fine. We are very grateful…………..
"Wait a minute!"……Spike interrupted. He had walked to the bed and picked up the trousers and shirt. "I am not bloody well wearing this pansy outfit." The girls scurried out of the room and closed the door as soon as Spike started yelling.
"Really….William. You shouldn't be so picky. They are dry and besides I think they suit you."
Buffy was getting a kick out of making Spike squirm. She was smiling behind her hand. Making fun of him was..well..fun.
Spike was angry now and he crossed the room and grabbed Buffy's arm. "This isn't a game slayer. What are you bloody well do'in? This was not part of the plan we talked about. You know, the one we discussed and the one where we ask questions and get out of here. That plan."
Buffy could see he wasn't happy and she didn't want him to blow this for her. "Look, Spike, I had to come up with something quickly. When the door opened and we weren't being attacked it was a surprise. No demons. No guards. The prince seems…..nice. I am not sure why I know but I think he is being genuine. We need time to figure things out."
Ok. So she had spun a good story. Now came the hard questions. "But you made us husband and wife. And you called me William." He still had a firm grip on her arm. He hoped somewhere deep down in wasn't just part of the plan to have them on their honeymoon, but Spike knew better. He knew the slayer and how she felt about him. He had hoped that helping her and her friends would cut him some slack, but it was looking as if Buffy was determined to be as cold as ever. He wished she could put aside her bloody duty for once and see that he was changing. Has changed.
"Look Spike, if you think I like this anymore than you then you are nuts." She jerked her arm from his grasp. "I said that because young girls don't travel with men without a chaperone in places like this. You of all people should know that. It would have seemed odd. Men also don't have names like Spike for god's sake. William seemed like the logical choice. It is your given name after all. Why are you so upset?"
He wasn't sure himself. He should have been happy that Buffy had made them man and wife. If he wasn't so sure that it disgusted her he would have been happy. Her explanation made sense, and that was what angered him the most. She was pretending to be married to avoid suspicion. The upside was that the pontsy prince wouldn't make a move on her knowing that she was taken.
"Right, you have us married to avoid suspicion. So you don't think the clothes on our backs were a clue? I don't imagine that the blokes around here see this cool wardrobe everyday." Spike was gesturing to himself as he was speaking. Maybe that will get her attention.
Buffy looked him up and down. What a site they must have been. Him in a long leather coat, all dressed in black. Her in a long black leather skirt, with a white blouse covered by a jean jacket. Both soaked like drown rats. The prince hadn't mentioned their clothing. Maybe he thought foreigners dressed this way.
She kept staring at him. I wonder why he insists on sticking with this Billy Idol look? It wasn't bad on him, but really, it was so….. 80's. Someone needs to tell him this look went out with feathered bangs. It seemed strange, but it really did suit him well. On anyone else it would have looked ridiculous, but on Spike it seemed normal. The bleached hair brought out the sharpness in his cheeks. Had she noticed that before? She really wished she would stop thinking things like that. Why was he looking at her that way?
Spike had noticed her staring. What the bloody hell was she do'in now. Look'in at me like I am some sort of project or some'thin. I don't care what she says. I am not wear'in those pants.
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Willow reached the Magic Box and the bell above the door rang as she entered. It startled Giles.
"Willow, thank God you are here. I need to speak with you right away." Giles looked terrible. His clothes were rumpled and the bags under his eyes were prominent. He looked like he hadn't slept at all.
"What's wrong Giles? Are you ill?" Willow was very concerned. Giles was usually all proper and together and he looked very upset.
Giles crossed the room and pushed Willow towards the research table. "Please, sit down. I only wish that it was as simple as an illness."
He was nervous and unsure how to explain this predicament. Willow would be cross with him for sure. She didn't like being out of the loop. He didn't like lying to her but he had. He had done it because he thought it was best for Buffy. Now what was best for Buffy was coming clean about Mr. Hargis.
"Willow, I have something to tell you and it will be quite unpleasant. I am apologizing in advance for lying to you. The problem is that Buffy is missing and I am afraid I am partly to blame."
Just as Willow was opening her mouth to talk Anya emerged from the storage room. "Giles, it seems that we are all out of tagus root. It really seems to be a good seller this week. We must get more. If we get more than that means more money for me…..I mean the shop."
Willow was distracted from what she was going to say by Anya's entrance. Anya noticed Willow and continued talking. "I am here to help you know. I like money and I need more of it so we must order more things. People like things. That's why they come here. Hello Willow. I work at the Magic Box now. I am gainfully employed."
Willow was shocked to see Anya working. The last time she had talked with Giles he wasn't sure about hiring her. I guess he changed his mind.
"Um, yeh, congratulations, I guess." She wasn't sure what to say to Anya. It was always so awkward with her.
"Giles, you were saying something about Buffy missing?" Willow looked at Giles with a worried look.
"Buffy is missing? Anya interrupted again. "Xander will be very unhappy about that. She's all he ever talks about. Buffy this and Buffy that. Of course, it doesn't bother me. I mean, really, she is the slayer. I tell him all the time she can take care of herself." Anya walked back to the cash register and added tagus root to her list of things to purchase.
"Anya, please, be quiet. This is very important and you rattling on isn't helping things." Giles was stumbling with the right words to say. "Willow, a man came to see me yesterday. He said he was a member of the council and he certainly had all the proper paperwork. Or so it seemed anyway. He asked me to have Buffy investigate some recent disappearances. He gave me strict instructions that no one else was to be involved but her. It seemed like a straightforward enough mission, so I agreed."
Willow was confused. Giles didn't mention any mission yesterday when they spoke. He had lied. He had lied and now Buffy was missing. No wonder he looked so ill.
"So, this Mr. Hargis. He's a member of the council right? The Council of Watchers that we don't like. If that's the case then just call them and find out what's happened to Buffy."
"I wish it were that easy Willow. You see, I have tried that and it appears that Mr. Hargis doesn't work for the council. He lied to me and had false identification. Very good false identification as it turns out. I was fooled and now Buffy is missing. She went to the library to investigate some girls that have gone missing. She hasn't returned."
Willow was getting angry now. "Why didn't you tell me this yesterday Giles? Why did you keep this from me? I would have gone to the library with her." Willow was always left out of the loop and she didn't like it. She was part of the gang after all.
"Yes, I know it was a bad decision now. At the time, Mr. Hargis insisted that Buffy needed to go alone. He was very adamant that no one else know of the mission or be involved."
Willow was shaking her head now. "Didn't that seem like a red flag to you Giles? I mean someone going off on their own to investigate a missing girl is right out of a cheesy horror movie. You of all people shouldn't have fallen for that!"
She was right of course. Except that she didn't have that extra piece of information that he had. "Willow, please, I know it was a bad decision and that is why I am coming to you now. I made that decision because Mr. Hargis told me something that I was not to divulge to anyone. Especially not to Buffy."
This was unlike Giles to keep secrets. He needed to spill everything if they were going to find Buffy soon. "Giles, please. This is no time to be keeping more secrets."
Of course she was right. "Very well. Mr. Hargis stated that the council needed this mission solved and solved quickly. He hinted that it was a life and death situation, as in apocalypse type life and death. He wouldn't elaborate, but he said that if Buffy managed to pull this off that she would be relieved from her slayer duties and she could be a normal girl." Giles was pacing wildly now and wringing his hands as he finished this sentence.
Willow was silent. The look on her face said it all. "How could she possibly be relieved of her slayer duties Giles? She is the slayer. Until she dies. The chosen one until she dies and another slayer is called. We all know that is how the story goes."
Giles was looking more ill by the minute. Of course he knew the story. He wasn't daft. "He had a paper, Willow. A very old piece of paper that looked like a prophecy. It stated that the slayer who saved the word from the Keeper of the Dead would live as a normal girl." He wanted the best for Buffy. He saw how hard she worked and how much she wanted to just be a normal girl most of the time. It was unlikely that this prophecy was true, but he needed to take that chance. The worst that would happen would be another apocalypse averted.
"Giles. Keeper of the Dead? You never mentioned anything like that. I want you to start from the beginning and explain everything. I want to know it all. And this time I don't want you to leave out any details."