Chapter 4
Merry Ol' England
September, 1889
Spike looked at Drusilla as they made their way out of the pub. They had been there for hours, in the back room, feeding off numerous victims. They turned some, and let others bleed to death. Only after they had been satisfied did they vacate the premises. "Good people, weren't they Dru?"
"Lovely. Like rose petals bathed in wine," she said waving her hands through the air and swinging her hips to music that only she could hear. "Are we meeting father and grandmother?" she asked.
"No, not tonight. Tonight we're going somewhere special."
"Where?"
"Paris. All the humans you could eat. And the population there is small."
"Population? Then why would we want to go there?"
"Vampires are few and far between love," Spike explained. He grabbed Drusilla tightly around the waist and pulled her close, locking their lips together fiercely. A bit of blood seeped out of the corner of Drusilla's lip, but was quickly sucked back up. When they broke apart, Dru giggled.
"Can we have a baby there?"
"No Dru. No one else can join our little group."
Drusilla wined a bit, but not for long. She continued down the street with Spike.
November, 2004
"Sir? Sir we're landing and the captain has turned on the 'Fasten seat belts' sign."
"Right. Wouldn't want to die in a crash or anything," Spike said, looking up at the stewardess. He reached down and buckled the seat belt to satisfy the woman. She smiled at Spike and walked down the aisle, checking to make sure other passengers had their seat belts buckled as well.
The plane ride had been a peaceful one, and Spike had looked out the window at the passing clouds for most of the way. The flight was fairly long, but Spike did not notice. So much time had passed without him noticing. He was heading to England, upon Buffy's request, to help fight the evil that was nearly at the exploding point there.
Spike had spent the last few months in New York, living in a small apartment on the West Side. He had fought evil where it sprang up, but ultimately found the city to be boring without any of his old friends there. It was his fault he was alone, and he knew it. Buffy and her gang would have accepted him back as would have Angel and the precious few troops he had left. But Spike needed to get away from it all, to think about where the rest of his life was headed.
After all, Angel had told him back in Los Angeles that he had signed away his right to the Shanshu Prophecy, thereby giving Spike the only chance at it. The question was, how would he get there? Angel had spent many more years as a vampire with a soul than Spike had and therefore should have been way ahead in the points category. Then again, making the Hellmouth cave in on itself was not a small task at all.
Spike had contacted a few seers, and some of the old friends that he had made when he had first traveled to the States so many years ago, to see if they knew anything at all about when Spike would turn human. The answer, from all of them, was a resounding 'No'. None of them had even known that Angel had signed away his rights to the Shanshu prophecy, and to top it all off, none of the seers had believe in it in the first place.
But, nevertheless, Spike pursued answers only to find that there were none to be found, anywhere. So, with nothing better to do now, he was traveling back to the mother country to help a friend in need.
Hours Later
Spike rapped lightly on the door of the apartment that was at the address Buffy had sent to him. "Just a minute," came from the other side of the door, and a few seconds later the door swung open.
"Giles."
"Spike. I wasn't expecting you so soon....or even at all."
"Buffy said she needed my help. So I'm here. I told her I would be. But don't expect me to get with the chummys again, right?"
"Yes, of course. Come in." Giles stepped aside as Spike eyed him for a moment before picking his bag off the floor and strolling into the apartment.
"Where is everyone?"
"Out. Patrolling. There are not as many graveyards here as there were in Sunnydale, but the increased number of vampire make up for it."
"And Captain Forehead?"
"Who?" Giles asked, clearly confused. "Oh. Right. He's....well, we aren't quite sure where he is at the moment."
Spike dropped his back to the floor with a thump, and quickly turned to face Giles, his long black trench coat knocking a few knickknacks off a table. "Oh, I see how it is. You can't find Peaches so you call me up instead. What am I, a second rate hero or something? Seen The Incrediables? Do I look to fat to fit in my tights to you?"
"What? No, it's nothing like that. We couldn't find Angel, we only found you. We were trying to track him down so that the both of you would be on our side, more fighting power. We would have a better chance of winning that way. Understand?"
"Right. But don't think that I'm gonna dismiss the fact that you could just be feeding me a line here."
"Oh, I wouldn't dare think it," Giles mocked, picking a book off of the bookshelf he was now standing in front of.
"So what is it we're up against, and where do I room?"
"You room on the couch. And what we're up against is worse than the First. Well, in certain aspects at least. This demon can die, but it will want to take us all down with it."
"So its lookin' like I might have to sacrifice myself again then?"
"Possibly. We may all perish in this battle."
"Well, that's bloody all right with me. Just so long as I don't come back as a sodden ghost, unless I can terrorize Mr. Broodypants. Then it would be worth it."
"Not sure he would like that to much," Buffy said, coming in through the door. "Hi Spike. Thank you for coming."
"And the other scoobs?"
"Local strip joint. Those Pus demons can really move." Buffy walked over and put her stake down on the inn table and took her jacket off, hanging it on the coat rack. She turned back around and caught Spike's glance.
"I've known Pus demons to be a bitch to clean up if ya kill 'em," Spike said.
"Oh well. We'll make Andrew do it. Willow said didn't want to really deal with it anyway."
"So where are they really?" Spike asked.
"Believe it or not, they're at a strip club hunting a Pus demon," Giles said.
"Can I choose the 'or not' part?"
"Sure, but if Andrew comes back covered in pus and gooey things, don't say I didn't warn you." Buffy turned to Giles. "Given him the low down yet?"
"Nope, no low down. Knowledge boy was startin' when you came in," Spike said, leaning on the arm of the couch.
"Here's the deal. Got this demon that's pretty powerful. I'm thinking that he picked up a surge of power when the Circle of the Black Thorn was destroyed, and when Senior Partners link to this realm was severed. Will says that she felt some pretty powerful stuff come from that little battle you guys had going over there."
"But we haven't proven anything yet," Giles reminded Buffy.
"I know. This is all mere speculation. But, with the newfound power we think that he plans to unsever the tie, as in putting some duck tape around it and calling it fixed. If that happens there's no telling what the Senior Partners could unleash on us."
"That's right. From what we've collected so far, we have deciphered that the army we faced in Los Angeles a few months ago was only the reserves, what the Senior Partners kept in this realm in case Angel ever tried anything. Apparently they did not expect that Angel would have back up. If the tie is formed again, and the Senior Partners are connected to this realm, they could pour armies into our world, armies that we would have no chance no beating."
Spike took in all that he was hearing. "Seems to me that we've got to stop this demon. Do you know what he looks like, or where he is?"
"See there's your can of worms. The things a shape-shifter. Could be a cat one moment, and a puff of smoke the next. You never know. The only battles we have had with the thing is when it attacks us, and even then it's hard to fight because it keeps appearing and disappearing. Willow is close to a spell that will keep it in the same place, but we have no idea how to stop it from changing."
"Well then, sounds like we have an apocalypse on our hands."
A/N: Thanks to all those who are reviewing. Coming up, Spike gains some insight from a friend about the Shanshu Prophecy, and figures out if he really wants to stay and help Buffy and the crew out.
Not sure when I'll post the next chapter, because I'm leaving tonight and going to Florida for a number of days. I may post something while I'm down there, but I'm not making any guarantees. I definitely will have something to post when I get back, because I know I'll be writing nonstop.
Wesfan: Should've known that you don't sleep. It was either that or you turn back time to get more done, or use magic to extend the day. LOL.