Title: C7 Stolen
Disclaimer: If I did own Buffy Joss wouldn't and it wouldn't have ever existed!! Glad I don't own it now.
Notes: This was a pick out of lots of choices what happens next. I think (hope) that all the ideas will get into the chapters but we'll see how energetic I'm feeling. Due to what Rini is studying at the moment she got to choose one of the ideas. Title taken from a Kelley Armstrong book as I was lacking ideas. Sorry for the delay but I had the mumps and so not up to much right now.
-
The trees streamed passed Spike as he ran, branches whipping at him but never catching. He flowed over the ground, moving too quickly to make sense of the scenery flashing by. Attention fixed on the scent that was leading him to his prey, Spike was closing the gap. The distance would never have been this big if Destch hadn't disturbed them in the first place but Spike wasn't angry with him. He was enjoying the chase. It felt so much like before. Before the chip, before Sunnydale, before demons started calling him the Slayer's pet. Anger lent him more speed and soon he could see his prey's fleeing back.
A howl ripped through the forest, followed by dozens more as the pack closed in on their targets. Spike dodged round a tree and used a fallen log to help his speed as he launched himself at the deer. It had been months since his first hunt with the pack and Spike had perfected the trip manoeuvre. The deer went down with a bleat of terror before Spike swung himself onto its body and sank his teeth into its neck. The doe bucked and struggled to rise to her feet, to shake her attacker off but it was too late. Half of the pack surged in and sank their teeth into the soft underbelly and the deer died as she lost too much blood to keep her terrified heart beating. Spike raised his head, blood dripping down his chin as the deer hitched her last breath, distracted by something momentarily. The rest of the pack were still feasting as they ate the flesh rather than just drink the blood. It may not be human blood but it was a sight bit better than pigs blood. The deer had been pushed to her limits and it made the blood taste sweeter and Spike savoured the taste as he wondered how Asara was doing.
The pack always split as there was not enough meat on one deer carcass to sate them all. The two Alphas led their respective groups and made the killing blow before the others could feed. Asara had taken Spike out alone and taught him the skills to be a lead animal in a hunt. It hadn't been hard for him to grasp what he had to do and even the trip manoeuvre didn't push at his skills.
Sitting back from the feeding Spike cleaned his chin and thought about Asara. The others didn't know but Spike and Asara could sense each other when they were parted. Closing his eyes Spike traced the invisible line between them and found nothing. His eyes snapped open. The only time that happened was when she was asleep and Spike seriously doubted that Asara would have dozed off in the middle of the hunt. Asleep equalled unconscious and either the hunt had gone very wrong or there was something else the matter.
"Juidon," Spike called as he stood and the woman came to him without question, even if it meant her losing her place out the buffet.
"Spike?" she asked quietly when he said nothing.
"Have the others made their kill? Can you tell?" Spike was looking into the distance.
Juidon frowned but closed her eyes and sniffed the incoming breeze.
"It's hard to tell so close to our kill but I don't think so," she shook her head, beginning to worry.
"They should have by now," Spike muttered.
Juidon noticed how tense Spike looked and she frowned again. Somehow her Alphas always knew what the other was doing but now Spike was clearly lost. Shifting back to her human form she drew him away from the others and made him look at her,
"What is going on?"
Spike sighed,
"Asara and I have a connection. We know what the other is doing, our feelings. I can't get through at the moment which means she out for the count, asleep or…"
Juidon stepped back, tipped back her head and howled for Asara, a direct message. Silence answered her. She bit her lip before trying again. This time Yimila answered her and her howl was full of worry,
"Why isn't Asara answering?"
"I don't know. Where is she?"
"We lost track of her in the hunt. We can't find her."
"Stay there. We'll round up the rest of the pack and look for her. Spike thinks she might be unconscious."
"You know how hard that is."
"Yes," Juidon broke off and switched her gaze to Spike. "We look. We don't stop until we've found her."
Spike nodded, turned back the pack who had stopped feeding at the howls and spoke,
"Asara is missing. We will find her but we need to search the area."
The pack silently spread out, searching through smell and they kept in contact through barks that told everyone that they were alright but that they'd found nothing.
-
Asara ran silently and quickly but she was comfortable. The pace was exactly what she wanted, fast but weaving as the deer tried to trick her in the dark. Unfortunately for the deer Asara had excellent night vision and never lost sight of her chosen target. It was also her exceptional sight that allowed her to catch sight of a glint of silver as she ran. Silver on a long shining tube meant only one thing and Asara switched her direction, away from her pack, away from the hunter. She could take a lone man in the woods with a gun but in Sunnydale they rarely came alone and so she was going to see how many there were. The woods had become safer since Buffy had threatened the werewolf hunter after Oz's pelt but they were becoming more common again.
If they were pelt collectors they'd shoot to kill and Asara would be damned if she'd let that happen to her pack. Slipping away through the trees she got far enough away to double back behind the man and her pack, who would continue to hunt because it would not alert the hunter. Closing quietly up on the last place she's seen him Asara could tell someone had joined him and they were crouched together.
Suddenly Yimila howled and the pack answered her, caught up n the chase and the men flinched slightly. They began whispering and Asara crept forward to hear what they were saying.
"The pack is still hunting."
"Yeah but not for long. They'd spilt up too. Did you see? It'll make it much harder."
"All we want is the Alpha female. She's worth so much more than the others."
"Rare breed too."
Asara lifted her head, eyeing the men. She could take them out before they could cry out but something in the way they had spoken indicated that there were others out there. Asara was torn between killing them and getting the pack or just getting everyone out of the wood before something happened.
The whine of something heavy slicing through the air was the only warning Asara got and so the blow didn't miss her. Three prongs cut her back as she leapt away and she winced in pain as she spun to find her attacker. Her bound away from the missile had put her dangerously close to the first two men and Asara itched to move away from them but she didn't know where to go. She moved in one direction only to have a man step forward, gun raised so she switched her weight back and spun around. Another man strode into the clearing with his gun pointing at her and Asara snarled as more men surrounded her.
She waited for them to shoot her but nothing happened. Staying silent Asara watched the men shift slightly as one more appeared and he held a different weapon that Asara didn't recognise. He smiled at her and raised his weapon to brace it against his shoulder.
"I'm not going to let you just shoot me like that," Asara growled.
The man said nothing but continued to aim at her. Asara reacted with the speed she was blessed with and tore at the man to her right. He didn't have time to shoot her but dropped straight down so he wasn't a target for the others. The leader shot Asara in the back and she snarled in pain as it hit her spine and dug in deep. Moving to attack the leader Asara's legs faltered and dropped her to the floor.
"I think you'll find the machine in your back has buried into your spinal cord, preventing use of your legs," the man stepped forward before crouching down in front of her.
Asara flashed fangs before using her arms to propel her at him. He swore loudly as he teeth snapped shut inches from his throat prior to clubbing her round the head with the butt of his gun which knocked Asara to the floor, head bleeding.
"She's still awake."
"I'm not touching her!"
Another butt whacked her head and Asara hissed in pain but didn't pass out. Soon the whole team were hitting her head and eventually she grew faint, slumping down. Spike she thought before she lost consciousness.
-
Spike slammed his fist into the tree next to him, frustrated, tired and worried for Asara and the tree shook under the impact, raining down pine needles and cones. Where was she? Spike hadn't been separated from her for more than six hours at a time in the six months they had been together. Glancing up at the lightening sky he knew that he would have to find shelter soon and that it had been more than five hours since anyone had seen Asara. Spike was just about to attack the tree again when Casve yelped loudly. It said only one thing, 'I've found something'. Spike ran to her to find her whining, nose to the floor and as he crash into the small clearing and slid to her side she looked up. He had never seen her look so scared. The smell hit him next and it was a one he knew well, that of blood and even more so Asara's blood. There was small smattering of the red stain on the leaves at his feet and Spike's hands clenched into fists as he spotted a footprint next to it. The foot was too big to be Asara's and she had been in natural form anyway. Then he spotted the rest of the disturbance in the clearing, the tracks, scuffle marks, even three gouge marks in the floor where Asara's claws had dug in. Anger made him see red but he had no one to direct his rage at so he stormed around the clearing searching for clues that would lead him in the right direction. The rest of the pack arrived in stages because some had been far away, ranging the massive forest. Yimila appeared, carrying something in her hands as she had transformed back to her human self to pick it up.
"What's that?" Esster'd asked.
"I don't know," Yimila replied, holding it out to the pack. "It has Asara's blood on it."
The rest were gathered round her in an instant and they watched as Juidon took it off Yimila to examine it. She turned it over in her hands and sniffed it carefully before frowning,
"I don't recognise it but it has the look of something technical, maybe medical, about it and it has one man's smell on it."
Spike received it off her and sniffed the object. His head jerked up and he spun round to the blood on the floor, dropping to his knees. He traced the print next to the stain as Casve sat down next to him, breathing in the smell of the item. She bent down and sniffed the print before hissing at it and sitting back up.
"It's the same!" Casve growled, upset.
"Casve you have the best nose here. Can you follow the scent?" Juidon requested.
"I'll try," Casve responded, nose going back down to the print.
The pack watched as she scanned the forest floor, searching for the one scent they knew could lead them to Asara. Casve led them through the trees, eyes fixed on the ground and occasional scuff marks and tracks showed that she was on the right path. Eventually they came across a dirt track and Casve whined as she lost the scent.
"It's ok honey," Juidon comforted her. "Look tyre tracks. They must be linked."
Having no other choice the pack followed the ruts in the track until it reached at main road and tarmac. The dirt trail lasted a little longer but soon ran out, leaving them stranded and without a lead they couldn't continue.
"Now what?" Esster'd looked around the group, searching for ideas.
"We get some help," Spike answered. "I bloody hope the Watcher knows what this is."
Everyone looked at the metal object in his hand and nodded. They knew that they were going to have to try all their connections, call in all their favours to get Asara back.
-
"We need more customers Giles. The lack of money is very worrying," Anya announced from the till.
Giles just sighed as he catalogued books before jumping and dropping one as the Magic Box door smashed open. The pack streamed in, Spike in front.
"Don't you sleep?" he asked of the pair in the shop.
"Spike what do you want?" Giles questioned, tired.
"We went round your place but no you decided not to bloody be there! Nearly got my backside singed off out there!" Spike ranted angrily.
Juidon glanced at Yimila before they grabbed Spike and made him sit down but he didn't stop muttering. Juidon smiled at Giles and started by apologising for Spike,
"I'm sorry we've had a bad night. Something happened in the woods and Asara is missing. We think… know a big shot took her but we don't know whether it's bounty hunters or someone else. The only thing we have is something we can't identify. Could you look at it?"
Giles picked up his book and set it on the shelf as he answered Juidon,
"Of course."
"Spike," Juidon held out her hand.
Spike pulled it out of his pocket where he'd kept it, hand wrapped round it, feeding his anger, and passed it to Juidon who gave it to Giles. Frowning Giles turned it over, careful not to touch the dried blood.
"The blood is Asara's," Juidon said quietly.
"Anya will you call the others please? This may need some research," Giles asked absently.
Anya frowned but picked up the phone anyway.
"This is interesting. It seems to be a variation on an old weapon," Giles remarked to Juidon who was standing next to him.
The rest of the pack was watching from where they had curled up on the floor round the table and Spike, making the floor very crowded. Some of them were back in human form but clothed because they'd been home to pick up clothes but the rest were still in their natural form, too nervous and stressed to maintain a human shape. Casve was lying on the table and Spike was mindlessly stroking her head, trying to calm her. The other youngster and relatively new pack member, Destch, was curled round his feet, needing the touch of his Alpha. All were waiting for Giles to come to a conclusion and whilst he worked the rest of the gang arrived in dribs and drabs. All of them did a double take at the bodies on the floor as they'd never the seen the whole pack together before and certainly not in natural form but they eventually they settled down.
Willow went to Giles' side to see what he wanted her to research on the web whilst Tara looked round for somewhere to put the laptop down and set it up. There was no room except on the table next to Casve so Tara carefully picked her way through the pack to set the laptop down. Spike glanced up at her and Tara had never seen him look so alone, sad and lost. She nodded at him, a slight movement of her head and Spike nodded back, a jerky movement of his head before shuffling down the bench to leave room for her to sit down. Tara booted the computer up and called Willow over.
Buffy was still on edge as she could sense the anger blended with sadness floating off the pack. She was surprised at being called to Spike's aid. Giles probably hated Spike more than she did but here he was, busy, researching, even looking at Willow's computer.
"So G-Man what's the what?" Xander asked, pushed to it by boredom.
"Xander how many times must I ask you not to call me that?" Giles asked, pushing his glasses up his nose.
"Lots I'll reckon," Xander grinned.
Giles glared at him,
"Thanks to Juidon and Willow we have discovered this a modern version of a thoke, which was used in wars to break the enemies backbone when fired correctly."
"It's really neat!" Willow chirped. "I mean now it's got moveable parts and I think due to the way that the internal legs don't meet that it's been redesigned to stop signals flowing up the spinal cord rather than sever it."
"So whoever fired this missed the first time then," Yimila broke in.
"The first time? What makes you think there was another shot?" Willow frowned.
"Asara would need to be at a disadvantage, a severe disadvantage to be taken like that," Yimila answered.
Silence reigned after the comment as everyone looked at Spike who glared at them before jumping up and pacing to a quiet corner, knocking Casve and Destch away.
"So…" Xander broke the quiet. "What's the plan of action?"
"Action? There isn't going to be any action," Buffy was even more surprised by Xander. He had always been the President of the 'hate all vampires' club but now he wanted to help Spike of all people.
"Why not?" Xander flicked his gaze to her.
"Because it's Spike!" Buffy exclaimed, throwing up her hands.
"What about us?" Esster'd asked quietly.
"I…"
"What about Asara?" she continued.
Buffy was silent but the pack didn't need her to say anything to know what she was thinking.
"We know you hate Spike but he is our Alpha, our protector and so is Asara. Do you truly not trust us that much that your hatred of Spike would not let you help us? It cost Spike a lot to come here and ask for your help even though he'd deny it," Juidon kept her voice low, not wanting to lose her temper.
"Buffy before you start yelling can I just say that I'm gonna help. I may not be much help but I'm willing," Xander jumped in.
"What?" Buffy exploded. "You hate Spike!"
"I use to. He's not so bad once you look past the whole undead, evil, soulless thing," Xander admitted.
"I'd never thought I'd hear that from you Xander," Giles looked at the young man.
"Neither did I," Spike seconded him.
"This doesn't mean we're best buddies Bleached Wonder," Xander sniped.
"What the hell changed?" Spike asked, curious.
"Asara. She's a good, sorta evil woman and maybe I have this thing for demon women but Asara has done something to you…" Xander shrugged.
Spike maintained eye contact for a minute before nodding his thanks and agreement. He switched his gaze to the Slayer and wondered how he could have ever loved such a selfish, self-centred girl.
"Are you going to help Slayer?"
"I don't see what it has to do with me," Buffy replied coldly.
"What if it was wolf boy with the same hunters after him again?" Spike cocked his head. "Red there wouldn't hesitate, and neither would any of you, to save his pelt. Why is Asara any different? Oh wait cause she bloody fell in love with the wrong person! That's not her fault! I'd give you the whole 'love isn't brains children' speech again but you already know I'm right."
Buffy glanced around at her friends and one by one they nodded. Anya even spoke up,
"I like Asara. It is nice to have another woman around who remembers the past. No offence Spike but you remember male things not the important stuff."
"What about us?" Juidon asked.
"You're not as old as she is so you don't remember the things that we do," Anya answered.
Yimila, Esster'd and Juidon shrugged, knowing that was true, before silence fell again as eyes moved to Buffy, the only one who hadn't consented to help. Willow moved the pressure off Buffy as the atmosphere started to get tense by saying that she would look online for sales of the modern thokes and then if that didn't work she and Tara could try a location spell on the Asara or the hunter using the thoke as a guider. Spike simply couldn't stay still long enough to wait for her results so took off through the sewers to beat up some demon contacts that might know of the new threat in town.
He was back three hours later having found no one who knew anything and he had killed a few to frighten the rest but still no one was talking. Willow had found nothing on her search through the internet so she and Tara had moved onto the spells but something was blocking them out.
"It's like a magical force field," Tara explained. "When we draw close to origin of the source that we're looking for someone else pushes us away. We can give you a general location but looking at a map it's a highly populated area and would…would…"
"It would like looking for a needle in a haystack," Giles finished for her.
"I'm sorry Spike," Tara told him.
"We're not going to stop looking, not ever," Spike swore.
-
Asara gradually came round. Her head was pounding and felt like it should be twice the size but it was imprisoned inside her skull. It made her head feel heavy and pain shot up and down her neck as Asara lifted her arms. Blinking she focused on her paws and wiggled her claws, checking everything worked, before changing one back into a hand to prod her head. A several cuts were healing over her face and Asara sighed as she ran her hand down to her neck to massage the stiff muscles. Asara froze. Her fingers encountered a thick metal band running round her neck and, if that wasn't bad enough, a bar ran into her skin at the nape. She got a bad feeling that if she attempted rip the collar off she'd pull her spine and brain to pieces.
"Well I'm pleased to see you have the sense not to pull at the collar," a voice spoke up.
Asara turned her head to see a man in a white coat standing nearby. He was smiling at her and making notes in a book.
"Most patients tug at the collar. Instinct I guess but it doesn't do them a lot of good. Quite the opposite," he continued as he walked towards Asara. "Now how are you feeling?"
"Shitty," Asara answered. "My head is pounding, my neck is stiff and I feel all hot. What the hell is this?"
"Hmmm… What? Oh that's a control collar. We put one all slaves though you did get a special gold one which means you're highly expensive," the man said offhandedly as he made more notes.
Asara froze as her mind went into overload. Slave? She was a slave? She… but… How did they expect a simple metal band to hold her prisoner? Make her serve others? What sort of serving…? Asara had heard of people, women in particular, who had been forced into the sex trade but it got worse. She truly hoped that she never got in deep enough to see the snuff side of the business because people were realising that demons could pull off a realistic human death but still be 'available' to do another scene and another and another.
"How do they work? The control collars?" Asara asked.
"Ahh well they're very technical but the simplest explanation I can give is that the control pad, that your owner will have, gives the control collar signals that tell you what to do, hurt you or whatever is decided," the doctor explained before picking up an instrument. "Now hold still I haven't finished my tests."
Asara let him do most of the tests but when he got too personal she fought back and received the most painful shock of her life. She cradled her head and let the doctor continue.
"Oh sweet Jesus honey. I get what the chip feels like now," she whispered to herself.
The doctor clearly wasn't happy with some of her results and spent a long time looking through books and asking her questions before seeking someone else's advice.
-
"I got it! Hello?"
"Hello Juidon."
"Golhan. It's been a long time. How are you?" Juidon grinned, enjoying talking to another professional.
"I am good. I have a new job and I've actually hit a problem with one of my patients and I was wondering whether you could help," Golhan answered.
"I'll try but you've got a wider range of expertise," Juidon frowned as she sat down in the study.
"Well it's actually your field. I have an Alpha female D'ewain and she is running a high temperature and as far as I was aware this type of shifter doesn't catch diseases," Golhan summarised.
"They don't," Juidon frowned again as her brain put together the pieces. "Hold on. Let me check my books."
Juidon pulled a book from it's shelf and flicked through the pages until she found what she was looking for.
"I take it your female is sexually active as she is an Alpha," Juidon began, knowing the answer.
"Yes so I am told," Golhan wasn't giving anymore away.
"Well the answer to your problem is that she's pregnant. She'll have a fever for a few days but she'll get over it by herself. Now for future reference D'ewain's produce litters of more than one pup so you'll have at least two pups on your hands in three months, three weeks and three days from conception," Juidon told him.
"But that's impossible!" Golhan exclaimed.
"Why?" Juidon asked, her mind having already reached that conclusion.
"Her mate is rumoured to be a vampire therefore undead and therefore unable produce viable sperm," Golhan explained.
"Hmmm… well however it's happened it's happened," Juidon answered, deliberately not helping.
"Would you continue to look into it for me? The research would be extremely valuable," Golhan pointed out.
"Yes ok. Give me your number and I'll ring you if I have any ideas," Juidon wanted a point of contact for Asara.
"Well thank you for your help," Golhan told her the number before putting down the phone.
Juidon turned off the buzzing handset and went to find Spike to break the news to him that she thought she knew where Asara was via the area code, that it'd be almost impossible to get her out and that he was going to be a father.
-
Asara had only heard Golhan side of the conversation but she'd been overjoyed and worried when she knew he was talking to Juidon. Overjoyed because she knew Juidon would make the connection to her and worried because Golhan had a direct line into their home. She hid her emotions but was unable to stop the frown that creased her forehead when Golhan mentioned viable sperm. She watched the doctor note something down on his pad before he walked over to her. He told her to roll over onto her back as he began to set up a scanner and Asara watched, detached but confused, as he began to use the instrument on her lower belly.
"This is impossible," he muttered at the screen.
"You said that before," Asara pointed out.
Golhan glared at her,
"Your mate is rumoured to be a vampire. That's not true is it?"
"Yes it is. Why the hell would I make that up?" Asara asked.
Golhan sighed.
"What is going on?" Asara couldn't sit up I her natural form so she couldn't see the screen.
Golan didn't answer but Asara wasn't to be put off,
"Ok look I heard you talk about viable sperm and now you've asked me about my mate and the fact that he's a vampire, and you're using a scanner that's used to see inside people. I'm not stupid. Talk to me."
Golhan slumped slightly before pushing the screen so she could see it. Asara frowned at the blurry black and white image before picking out four small, roundish balls. She frowned as her mind put everything together before she rolled over and sat back on her haunches, hand and paw going to her belly.
"You're not going to say this is impossible?" Golhan asked, astonished.
"Well ok I'm struggling with the biological possibility but I'm pregnant! Carrying Sp… my mate's babies! I'm more ecstatic than anything else at the moment," Asara admitted.
Golhan stared at her before turning to his phone and calling his boss to inform him of the new development.
Spike's babies! This is just so perfect! The timing sucks and I need to get out of here a lot quicker because my children are not being into slavery. Asara was now more determined than ever not to let herself become derogated by the system.