BLAST FROM THE PAST

For disclaimer and warning look in Chapter One

Chapter 2 - The Real Truth About Spike

"Spike!!!???"

"As in the big bad vampire who killed hundreds of innocent people and has two dead slayers on his record!! You got to be kidding me!" Buffy yelled.

"Hey, Spike is nice!" yelled Dawn.

" No, Buffy. I am not kidding you. He is not all that bad, you know."

"You have to understand that Spike helping the slayer kill the bad guys is not something we can easily imagine is part of his past." The always formal Willow cut it.

"You can't, dear. Pray tell, what exactly has Will been doing for some time now? Is it not helping a slayer? Something that you can't imagine him doing?" Arial finished the end of the sentence with open amusement at Willow's embarrassed face.

Silence ruled for the next 10 to 15 minutes with uncomfortable shuffling of feet. Then came the voice of Arial.

"I think that all of you have a lot to learn about the real Will, so you have to go the one place where you can get that information. Willow dear, I want to make a circle with candles and get the book to learn a transportation spell for multiple people. Get a move on, dears. Jess.... I am sorry, Dawn, why don't you help out Willow."

"Where are we going?" asked an excited Dawn

"We are not going anywhere. You are staying here, Dawn." came the usual overprotective voice of Buffy.

" I want to go, too! I am not staying here, while you have an adventure!" by now Dawn was whining.

"No, you are....."

"Actually, it is very important that she goes, right now. She has to go, she is one of the main reasons you are taking this trip." Arial interrupted the bickering off the two sisters. Dawn stuck out her tongue at Buffy, who was looking very pissed for not having things go her way.

Twenty-five minutes later, Giles, Dawn, Willow and Buffy stood inside the circle of candles. "Now when you get there ask for Brother Peter to give you a history tour." With an incantation from Willow the group was gone. Arial with a small smile went to the door and opened it. Looking at the spot where the others just were, she said " You will learn a lot my dears. Hopefully it will be enough to defeat the First." With that she left.

The gang arrived in a middle of what looked like a desert with a huge door in front of them. The door was about 35ft tall with a wall that went just as far as the eye can see.

"Where the hell are we!?" Buffy was the first that asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Well since Arial said Brother Peter, I am guessing this is some sort of monastery." deducted Giles

"Why don't we just ring this bell?"

The "No, Dawn!" was drowned out by the loud DAWNG, DAWNG.

"Not another peep or move out of you or you're going home." Buffy threatened Dawn.

"But.." Dawn was interrupted because at that moment the giant doors were opened by a short, bald and slightly round man in a robe.

"Hello, travelers. Welcome to the monastery of Saint William. How can I help you?"

"We are looking for Brother Peter." Buffy sounded slightly hesitant.

"Oh, all right, follow me and I will take you to Brother Peter."

" We have been walking forever through what looks like a maze. Where are we going and how do we know it isn't a trap to get me killed. Maybe a trap by the First."

"Here we are, if you please go through those doors you will be taken to Brother Peter's office," as soon as the monk said that, he turned around and lest.

The gang walked in the room, all in fighting positions ready to defend themselves. Inside was a normal and a simple office. A desk, several chairs, and a phone on the desk. At the desk sat a man of mid- forties wearing the same long robes. He looked up.

"Hello."

"Hi, we are looking for Brother Peter." Buffy started the conversation.

" I am Brother Peter. Well, nobody comes to me just for a blessing." he started rubbing his hands together while closely examining Buffy. As Buffy saw the so called Brother Peter studying her, she straightened her back and dared him to continue with the look in her eyes. He on the other hand took no notice of the stance or ignored it. "So, you are not a demon or a vampire because it is still day outside. By the wooden stick, I am guessing you are in some way a Slayer and your watcher has sent you to train here. Am I correct?"

The whole group was so shocked with this man's knowledge, that they were silent. Trying to sum up how dangerous he is. Finally, Buffy spoke,

"Well, yeah. I am the Slayer and this is Rupert Giles, my watcher. Actually I didn't come to train here. I came for a "history tour". While we are on the subject, how do you know about demon, vampires, and slayers? And if there is a chance I am a demon, why are you so calm? I can kill you so easily." Buffy, who never relaxed from her defensive position, took out an ancient looking knife.

"The reason I know about vampires and demons is that this is the place where they can come and train their body and souls peacefully, away from a world where they are referred as evil because here they are not. The creatures that come here are the ones that don't want to kill or the ones that just want to be left alone to live their life without the opinion of the outside world effecting them, so relax, there is no need for slaying. Actually many slayers and potentials come here because this is the place where they can get experience of fighting with demons in a nondangerous environment. Well, I guess why don't we start with a history lesson on the saint that we worship here. Follow me, please. This will be a long story and I hate being cooped up, it is better outside."

Brother Peter left through the side door and the rest of the slayer's shocked and confused gang followed.

" As you know most saints lived at the time of Jesus Christ. This one lived only about 200 years ago. Saint William was the first ever demonic saint. He is a vampire. Not a lot of people know about who he is as a Saint but a lot of people know him by who he became at a later date. As William the Bloody. But for you to understand what happened you have to understand the story of his life."

Arial slowly made her way through the cemetery to the Crypt where Spike lived. She slowly and quietly opened the door. Spike's back was to her.

"Hello, dear. Long time no see."

Spike spun around, his eyes widened, his jaw fell open and he fell back on the couch.

"How have you been, Will."

"A...Ar..Arial?" Spike uttered in a whisper.

"Yes, dear."
"No, no, no, no, no, No! You're not real! You are just an illusion of the First! You're not real! You're just in my head! Get the bloody hell out of my head!"

" I have met the current slayer, she has a lot of potential. And Jessie is looking great. I have missed her."

"Wait, you have met them. What did you tell them?'

"Nothing, absolutely nothing. I just recommended they go for a little of spiritual enlightment."

" I can't believe you did that. Bloody Hell! What the hell were you thinking? I went through a lot of trouble to keep the reputation of the bad vampire as much as I can in this situation. Now it's all down the bloody drain. Those brainless idiots will blow it out of proportions. I will look like some fucking god. I AM NOT A SAINT!! Don't you get it, I killed thousands of people!"

" I know that you are not a saint anymore. I saw every single rape and death that you committed" Spike's eyes got wide and his mouth formed an O shape but nothing came out. " You killed innocent people, you will never be completely good but you do have a soul now and that is as close to good as you will come. You know what we have to do to defeat the First. They have to learn the truth for the plan to work. They have to know your past before Drusilla."

"Yeah, I know."