Title: The First Seconded

Author: Falcon-Rider falcon_rider@hotmail.com

Rating: PG-13 for Agnst and ect. (Spike will have guilt and feels remorse, more on that will be touched on in later chaps)

Disclaimer: I own nothing 'cept the plot and Nich.

Authors note: I got asked a question.. if you want to know what that question was take a look at the reviews… it's a chap 4 review…. The answer is hidden in the count down and a BtVS quote. Something Spike said to Buffy pre-OMWF ^_^

Hey I'm back from Creation Fest… Mosh pits rock…  and I should have had this out Monday but I'm lazy… plus I didn't want to post it before I had gotten past my writers block on a later part which be happy! I have, my muse is back! ^_^

Also Note: if the quotation marks become question marks sorry… the last fic I uploaded today "Real"… they did that on it, if it bugs you go to my website and this part should be up soon… plus I got a neato title pic! For it! ^_^   AND again I've never been to England.

On to the Story!

**

Part Four

Bite me.

87 days

The dust fell to the ground as the Vampire exploded into thin air. Spike slipped the stake he held in his hand into his jacket pocket. The jacket was a dark blue one Tara had suggested he get for patrolling when it rained. It also was easy to hide stakes in having pockets on the inside as well as the outside. Although he had been partially to a black sweatshirt he had to agree with them it was a nice coat.

The girls had forced him to go shopping the day before because all their clothes were dirty and had worn out in the hot desert. Apparently the Powers had taken the need for money into consideration and had provided the trio with a bank account that had enough money t pay for apartment and still have about five thousand left over. So the girls had dragged him to the closest clothes shops and had him hold their bags as they bought things, all day.

Spike ran his hand through his newly cut hair. He had decided not to bleach it because it might drag unwanted attention in his direction. He still wore black, in fact he was wearing a black T-shirt right then but he also had on blue jeans and a pair of Brown hiking boots.

He ducked as another Vampire lunged at him and brought his fist up into its chest knocking it back and into a tomb stone. The Vampire rolled on the ground as Spike went to stake it. It kicked out knocking Spike onto his stomach. Spike rolled over about to jump into a crouch as the vampire punched him square in the face knocking him dazed back down to the ground. As it was about to claim its meal a wooden stick collided with its head with a sickening thwack. The Vampire fell unconscious to the ground as Nich held out her hand to help Spike up.

"You really need to work on not getting punched you know?" Nich told him as she helped him up.

"Well if you would have told me there would be more than- what the bloody hell are you wearing?!" Spike asked as he staked the Vampire.

"A skirt." She rolled her eyes and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She was wearing a light blue shirt and a tan mini skirt that barely reached mid thigh. She had on a white duster that went just past her knees. "And if I'd known there'd be a whole gang I would have told you, I only know what the visions tell me."

"Bloody hell! That's not a skirt! It's a peep show for Vamps, you can't fight wearing that!"

Nich rolled her eyes, "Well then you shouldn't have bought it for me dad."

"You know that's not the kind of thing you should be wearing it'll make blokes thin-"

Spike was cut off as Nich rolled her eyes and turned on her heal.

"That what I'm a whore?" She laughed. "Yah right. I wear what I wanna wear William, so…. Bite me! I'm not changing my style cause you tell me to!"

"If you don't watch out some nasty'll take you up your offer, pet." Spike replied walking after her as they headed back to the coffee (tea, whatever they call 'em in England) shop they had left Tara at.

"Let 'em try!"

"Maybe I should," Spike grumbled. "It might knock some sense into 'er."

*

"So how did the slaying go?" Tara asked in a whisper as the Slayer and Seer sat down.

"Just peachy." Spike said shortly.

"Great until Mr. Overprotective decided to judge my fashion sense." Nich made a face as she sipped her now cold drink. "How are things going on the translation front?"

"Not good, I may have to contact Giles for some help… none of it makes sense, its kind of-"

"Cryptic?" Spike finished. He grabbed the notebook Tara had been using to make notes and scowled. The way things were put reminded him of some of Drusilla's ramblings. "I don't get why people insist on writing this way, can't they just be straight to the point?"

Tara shook her head amused; "I guess not, prophecies aren't usually something needing change in the writers eyes. They don't usually say exactly what's going to happen and how to change it, usual they don't know exactly what's going to happen… they just have an idea of it."

"Oh, my heads starting to hurt and I don't think its from a vision," Nich scowled, Spike sighed and ignored her. She glanced around at the few people in the shop at this time of night. "You guys finished yet? I'm thinking I'd like to get some sleep tonight."

"I think we're ready to go," Tara nodded at the teen then turned back to Spike. "William do you think you can get a hold of any old sources from… before maybe find out something about the chosen's origins or something… it may help us to understand some more of what exactly the trials were about."

Spike nodded, "I'll work on it tomorrow night after I patrol alone." He scowled at Nich.

The teen glared at him and shrugged, "Fine it's your neck on the line, if you want to be a chew toy no skin off my back." She said as they stood and left the shop.

A young man set his paper down and frowned at the trio as they exited the shop. He reached over and turned off the tape recorder he had brought with him for the interview, which hadn't occurred due to the person being interviewed not showing up.   He rewound the tape and pressed play the groups conversation playing along with other voices in the background:


"So how'd the slaying go?"

"Just peachy."

"Great until Mr. Overprotective decided to judge my fashion sense…how are things going on the translation front?"

"Not good, I may have to contact Giles for some help… none-

He frowned pushing stop again. This was something to look into, if these three were a group of rouge demon hunters they could get hurt… he rewound it once more as he remembered hearing a familiar name.


-the translation front?"

"Not good, I may have to contact Giles for some help… none-


Giles. Where they talking about Rupert Giles? A watcher? He thought to himself as he pocketed the recorder. He would have to bring this tape to the council for sure. He left his drink on the table and left the shop walking out into the wet streets of London.

*

Michael Terrance stared down at the photo on his desk as he sipped some herbal tea. Setting down the cup he picked up a magnifying glass and held it over the picture trying to make out features of the young man that had killed the monster at the airport. He sighed and set it down and picked up a drawing pencil and fixed the cheekbone line on the sketch he was making.

He had written the words 'William' and 'Slayer' in the top right hand corner of the pad before he had started the sketch so he wouldn't forget those two aspects of this "situation" if one could call it that.

As soon as the drawing was finished he planned to run it through various countries files to figure out who exactly he was… he had already started research for 'slayer' on the internet and libraries but was coming up at a loss for information. Hopefully something would come his way and he could figure out what had been going on, perhaps even make some money and sell the story of a real man with supper human strength… then he could afford that entertainment system he had always wanted.

*

Nich plopped down on the couch, which had been set out as a bed for her. Turning on the TV she settled on an episode of Red Dwarf. British humor was the best. She glanced up as Spike walked by and knelt in between her and the TV to get into the weapons chest.

"Hey! I'm trying to watch TV here." The teenager pouted. Spike tilted his head toward he and smirked.

"You just turned the telly on, you can't be that interested yet." He removed a short knife, which was sheaved in leather with a hook to place it on a belt and stood moving just out of her way.

"This is the episode where they're going backwards in time, I love this one." She replied shortly before ignoring him.

Spike shook his head and turned to look at Tara who was standing in the kitchen boiling some water on the stove. She glanced up at him and motioned towards the table as she picked up the kettle with an oven mitt. Spike headed toward the table and pulled a chair back for the witch before sitting down himself. He set the knife on the table next to him as Tara poured the water into the two glasses.

As she sat down Tara pointed toward the book, "We have to get Giles in on this." She shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid that with my limited access to any research books and such I may have translated what I do have done wrong."

"Alright," Spike nodded as he stirred the teabag in his glass. The water began to darken slightly with the addition. "Do you fancy him finding out about you, and our present predicament?"

She shrugged, "I d-don't really see what choice we have, plus he may also be able to answer some questions for you about slayers."

Spike nodded and glanced toward the clock on the wall, "I'll go see 'im in the morning. Hopefully he won't turn me away."

"I'm sure he'll listen to you." Tara smiled nervously as Spike began to pull into himself again. "He might even-"

"What? If he knows… knows what I did to 'er, I wouldn't blame him if he met me just so he could put a stake through my heart," He stood up leaving his drink. "Wouldn't blame 'im one bit."

Tara watched as he stalked into his room, and shut the door. She glanced over at Nich who had obviously been watching what had happened. The teen turned the TV off and walked over to sit in the chair that Spike had just vacated. Nich removed the teabag and added a bit of sugar before sipping the drink.

"He's having a hard time still," Nich broke the silence. "He acts like nothings bothering him but that's a cover."

"It's the soul." Tara said softly. "He's trying to ignore the pain, th- the remorse."

Nich smiled awkwardly, "He's trying, and it's killing him," she glanced up at Tara. "He can't keep doing this, he's going to have to face it."

Tara nodded as the two fell silent again. The sipped their drinks quietly for a few moments before a crash came from spikes room. Nich stood to go check on him when Tara grabbed her arm.

"Don't." Tara pulled her back into her seat. "I think he might have just began to deal."

Nich glance once more at her friend's door then turned back to the tea. She ran her fingers over the leather sheath of the knife suddenly glad they kept the all weapons besides her staff and a few stakes in the chest.

To be continued in: 'Aren't you hungry?'




PLEASE REVIEW! It makes me want to post more…. Hehe, plus with my muse hanging over my shoulder again I can write a lot more! ^_^

"Delight, respect, compassion, but for your actions to be pure, they must proceed from direction, determination, patience and strength. I'm afraid I'm still working on patience. They taught me how to live, how to breathe, how to fight… and how to die. And they taught me terror. How to use it and how to face it."  - Marcus (Babylon 5)