Title: SAMARITAN

Author: Ivytree

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, UPN, Mutant Enemy, etc. Except Mrs. C, Eddie, Zevra, Grak, Garg, and the rest of the demon gang...

Feedback: Please!

Summary: Sequel to Grandpa; A soul takes Spike places no one expected him to go.

Setting: Hey, it's the Samaritan-verse!

To date: Spike has gathered a group of good demons to stop the nefarious machinations of that Josephine of Crime, the Doctor (the real Doctor, of course), with the help of Clem's mom, Mrs. Caprescu. Just as Spike and Buffy are becoming reconciled, Riley shows up looking for Sam, who's been enthralled by the mysterious Doctor, since she's half-demon. Spike calls the AI gang in for help, because the Doctor can enthrall everyone but humans and vampires. Angel, Gunn, Spike, and Buffy go looking for Sam in the Sunnydale underground. Spike and Buffy find Sam, but Angel and Gunn find Amy, who's turning back into a rat. Mrs. C doses both of them with an anti-thrall potion, but before our heroes get to question Sam, Riley takes her and runs off. Spike and Angel follow, and trail him straight to the Doctor's lair—the old high school gym, now part of subterranean Sunnydale. They pretend to sell Buffy to the Doctor—which is just what Riley tries to do. Meanwhile, Buffy mounts a rescue operation, and fights her way into the Doctor's hideout, accompanied by Xander, Clem, and Gunn. Oh, and the good guys have squirt guns filled with anti-thrall potion, which works against the Doctor's army of Fyarls and other demons. Unfortunately, it turns out the Doctor has a gang of vampire mercenaries working for her, too, and they capture Buffy.

Now, everyone comes face to face in the gym/lair.

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SAMARITAN  Part 21  Through the Liquid Night

Buffy looked up at him, her jaw set. "You're a pig, Spike!" she spat.

She looked so beautiful. Her face was flushed with anger, and her lustrous hair, loose and disordered, tumbled over her shoulders. She met his sneer with a proud lift to her head and an expression of disdain on her face. Mastering the ache in his breast, Spike resolutely met her gaze.

And as he did, she lowered her right eyelid in an almost imperceptible wink.

For a moment, Spike stood paralyzed. Scorching heat fizzed through his body; he felt as if he'd swallowed the sun. Repressing a shudder, he tried to keep his face a blank.

"Sorry, Slayer," he jeered, with barely a quiver in his voice, "You lose." He kept the sword-point to her cheek, and addressed the Doctor, deliberately turning his back on the restless mob of rag-tag vampires crowding around them. "See, missus? No welshing. We keep our bargains. Satisfaction bloody guaranteed. Now, how do you want to take delivery? Dead or alive?"

"You could never beat me in a fair fight, so you do this?" Buffy snapped, cheeks flushed and bosom heaving, playing up to him like the heroine of a melodrama. He had no idea she was such a cracking actress. "I never thought you were a coward, Spike!"

"Shut up!" He seized her in a rough grip—and then kept his fingers wrapped around her slim, toned, warm upper arm.

"Don't damage her!" The chimera's tail made a repulsive scratching sound as she suddenly slid closer across the platform. "I need her whole, and in good working order."

Tiger, the pudgy, self-appointed leader of the vampire horde, edged forward, carefully avoiding both Spike and Angel. "What should we do with the rest of 'em, boss lady?" he said, with a jerk of his head toward Xander, Clem, and Gunn. "We've got some bucks coming, too."

The creature shrugged. "Kill them. But take them away somewhere; I don't want a mess. Then you may return for your pay."

"Wait a minute—what about OUR pay?" Angel said, adding, with a kick aimed at Riley, "And I'll dispose of this one for free."

"Why, thank you—his sniveling has become annoying." Her tone was gracious.

"Hey," Angel said, hoisting Riley up by the collar, his face twisted into a feral smile, "it's my pleasure, ma'am."

The chimera's enigmatic dark eyes rested on Angel, who gazed back impassively. Neither one was giving much away. "I might have some work for you in the future…" She swung around to glare at Tiger. "What are you waiting for? Go!" she snapped.

"I dunno," Tiger replied, signalling to his minions with a nod. The captives were hauled roughly to their feet; "I think we'd rather have our dough upfront, if it's all the same to you." The vampires muttered their agreement, and surged closer to Buffy. Spike's eyes narrowed. Dissention in the ranks; this could prove awkward. Or useful. But dangerous, either way.

The Doctor's torso wavered. Behind her, the old Initiative machine's lighted dials flickered inscrutably. "What?"

"Nothing personal, ma'am," Tiger continued, an insolent curl to his lip, "but we operate on a cash-only basis, know what I mean?"

"Now, that's just rude," Spike remarked. He balanced the sword point on the floor and leaned his forearm on the hilt, surreptitiously loosening his hold on Buffy's arm. Could be they'd have to do without reinforcements, after all, if this lot decided to defy their boss. Tiger was showing unexpected depths of crookedness. "See, that's what comes of dealing with amateurs—no standards. No professional ethics."

The Doctor stared down at the undead golf enthusiast, tail twitching. "You will obey me instantly, or face the Fyarls!"

Tiger scratched his cheek. "Well, see, there's the thing," he drawled. "The Fyarls aren't exactly in the picture anymore, 'cause the young lady here took 'em out."

"Hey, we helped," Gunn protested.

"I got at least six!" Clem said. "They were dropping like flies! Only heavier."

"Yeah, check out the notches on our squirt guns," Xander added.

"Silence!" the Doctor snarled. "What are you talking about?"

"See for yourself. Call 'em—they won't come. So if you ain't paying top dollar for the Slayer and her pals—in cash—well, maybe we can find somebody who is. Get it?" Tiger turned to his followers. "Who do you guys know who'll fork over good money for the Slayer?"

With a desperate heave, Riley squirmed from Angel's grasp. "I will!" he gasped. "I know people, people who've got more money than you ever dreamed of. They would…"

With a low growl, Angel attacked, flattening Riley with three lightning blows and, as he hit the floor, a savage kick to the kidney. Spike watched with interest as Angel drew his leg back for another kick, but Buffy gasped and cried, "Angel, NO!"

There was a moment of silence as Angel stood over Riley's limp form, his face blank. He flicked a glance upward and caught Spike's eye for a moment, then glowered at the ragged horde facing him. That's right, granddad, stall. What they needed now was time. Well, there was always palaver; that could be drawn out indefinitely.

"You know, kiddies, we don't like people—even a half-arsed, half-witted gaggle of wankers like you lot—horning in on our territory," he said in a conversational tone. "Bad for business. Bad for our rep. Bad all 'round. Sometimes…" he swung Buffy's gleaming sword up in a flashing arc, and the scruffy vampires instinctively ducked backward, "…sometimes we lose our tempers." He swept the sword back and forth in the air with a swooshing sound. "Then messy things tend to happen. The lady's floor might get all covered with nasty dust…"

"Yeah, yeah, sez you. Ooh, I'm scared. Okay, move it, bub," Tiger said, glaring with yellow eyes at Spike, and giving Xander a shove. "You're headed for the last round-up."

"Snappy, Dorfman, very snappy," Xander retorted, bloody—at least, there was a small cut on his forehead—but unbowed. "But it's so not cool to mix up pop culture references. With that incredibly dorky outfit, it'd be a lot wittier if you said 'bang a skull,' or something, at least…"

"Fools!" The doctor shouted, rising on her powerful tail, hands outstretched. "I said, SILENCE!"

There was a pause. The crowd of vamps glanced at each other, and shifted uneasily. Again, Spike met Angel's eyes for the tiniest of moments, and both of them took an unobtrusive step backward. Looked like the lady—or whatever—was getting tense. Better stay out of her way.

"Do you dare to defy ME, you dead, unclean things?" The doctor glared at Tiger, her dark eyes blazing behind the mask. "If you don't know your place, you must be shown!"

"Hey, there's no need for name-calling," Tiger said, aggrieved.

"Be still!" The creature raised her arm, muttering, "Mano del fuego!" Every vampire in the room jumped—including Spike and Angel—as a fireball sprang from nowhere, and shreiked across the room to crash at Tiger's feet.

"Whoa!" the stocky vamp exclaimed, stumbling backward. "Let's not lose our tempers!"

"You will obey me until I release you," the Doctor commanded. "Is that clear? Fools! You dare to oppose ME? For years, I have waited, gathering strength, perfecting my plan. When fate set the tools within my grasp, I was ready to seize them. You cannot conceive of my powers. Do you know who I am?"

"Well, uh, sure, ma'am," Tiger began, in what he probably thought was an ingratiating voice. Spike felt that was a bad move. Archvillains usually preferred not to be interrupted mid-rant. Archvillainesses even more so, probably. The Doctor rounded on her minion.

Unexpectedly, Buffy chimed in at this point, taking the heat off Tiger.

"He may not know who you are, but I do," she declared, stepping forward, hands on her hips and a martial gleam in her eye. "At least the, uh, middle part of you."

That's right, Slayer, annoy the increasingly looney Big Bad. Spike thought he saw the Doctor's eyes narrow.

"We've known each other for years, haven't we?" Buffy continued affably. "Though frankly I preferred your old look. Cashmere twinsets and Lilly Pulitzer slacks suited you so much better than that cheap bronzy stuff. Of course, it's not even real bronze, is it?"

"Be silent," the chimera hissed, the tip of her tail twitching furiously.

"Oh, don't you want your devoted followers to know?" Buffy asked sweetly.

"Know what?" Spike asked involuntarily.

"She's just a witch. An ordinary, garden-variety, suburban housewife-type witch—Samantha-gone-bad—with a few spare parts stitched on. She's so high and mighty now she doesn't want it spread around that she spent three years locked up in a trophy case in Sunnydale High—because she was so dumb, she cast a spell on herself BY ACCIDENT. Remember that, Katherine?" Spike heard a gasp from Xander. "We all used to pass by every morning on the way to homeroom, and she was stuck there, waving her little metal pom-poms. Pretty scary, huh? NOT!"

Well. That was unexpected. The Doctor knew the slayer all along, eh? But who exactly was she? And where did pom-poms come in? Spike was about to ask when at last he heard the faint sound he'd been waiting for.

Swiftly, while all eyes were fixed on the confrontation between the slayer and her enemy, he swung the sword and decapitated Tiger, who wore an expression of shock as he disintegrated. Arrogant bugger. Before the others could react, Angel seized Riley, heaved him overhead, and hurled his limp but weighty body at the two vampires holding Xander, bowling them over. Well done! The old man always had a good eye.

"See you later, love." Spike thrust the sword into Buffy's hands. "After the brannigan."

"Have fun!" In one smooth motion, Buffy raised the weapon, spun to her left and took out two vamps with one blow, and dropped a kiss on his cheek. "Be careful!" Then she was off, dealing dusty death with sparkling precision and perfect form.

Spike grinned, and swung into action, pulling two stakes from his pockets. Through over-confidence or sheer stupidity, the doctor's brain-damaged minions had never searched him or Angel. Growling vamps evaporated into dust on either side of him. He fought his way through the milling pack toward Clem and Gunn, knocking the confiscated weapons from their captors' hands and freeing them with a cross-armed double stake maneuver.

"Hey, Spike!" Clem beamed, regaining possession of his enormous axe, and swinging it with enthusiasm, decapitating a lummox of a vamp coming up from behind. "We came to rescue you!"

"Thanks ever so," Spike said, staking another. "Rescue yourselves, why don't you?"

"We're on it, bro." Gunn knelt beside Riley's immobile form. "What about this dude? We can't just leave him to the vamps. Unfortunately."

Spike felt his face start to change, and struggled to control his fury. "Tie him up. We'll deal with him later."

"You know what the Angel Investigations motto is? 'Be prepared.'" Gunn pulled handcuffs from his back pocket, turned a groaning Riley over, and slapped them on his wrists. "Just like the Boy Scouts of America."

There was a crash of breaking glass, and a momentary lull in the action as everyone looked up toward the former gymnasium's oversize windows.

Eddie's broad green visage appeared. At last! He dropped to the floor, tucked and rolling to his feet like a commando, followed by Abner, Abel, and Mezzi, all of them heavily armed. To Spike's surprise, Vinnie Teeth and Wally the merman followed. At almost the same time, the double doors flew open, and five or six angry looking Fyarls, emitting rumbling growls, shouldered through the entrance.

"Damn and blast!" Spike felt for his squirt gun. "The potion must have worn off!"

"But no," Xander said, firing bolt after bolt from his crossbow, "Didn't we tell you? Mrs. C cooked up another little surprise…"

Spike staked another vamp. "Guess you forgot to mention it."

"The Fyarls are cured, courtesy of Potion Number 2. And they look pretty pissed off, I might add." He paused, feeling in his pocket for more bolts. "Hey, what's SHE doing?"

"Trying to control them, I reckon." Spike watched as the Doctor rose higher on her demon-serpent tail, clutching her head with both hands. But her mind-rays or whatever they were had no effect on the Fyarls, who waded into the crowd of vampires and began ripping off heads with enthusiasm. For a moment, the chimera swung back and forth, confounded by rage and confusion. Then she gave a cry and darted toward the back of the platform, where an elaborate control panel stood. The polished mask of her face was expressionless, but her posture was desperate.

"She's done for," Spike said. "All we've got to do is…"

"Look out! Don't let her!" Riley struggled to his knees, his blue eyes wide with terror. "You don't know what she'll do! She's gone insane!"

Spike seized him by the throat with a snarl. "Let her what, you bastard? Is this another one of your tricks?"

"No, no!" Riley cowered. "The lever! Don't let her touch the lever! She'll blow us all to kingdom come!"

TBC

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I am her slave; I wake and watch and run

From dark till dawn beside her. All the while

She hums there softly, purring with delight

Because men bring the riches of the earth

To feed her hungry fires. I do her will

And dare not disobey, for her right hand

Is power, her left is terror, and her anger

Is havoc. Look-if I but lay a wire

Across the terminals of yonder switch

She'll burst her windings, rip her casings off,

And shriek till envious Hell shoots up its flames,

Shattering her very throne. And all her people,

The laboring, trampling, dreaming crowds out there-

Fools and the wise who look to her for light-

Will walk in darkness through the liquid night

Submerged."

Harriet Monroe