A/N : Thanx to; Moonjava, Demonica Mills, EMBER91, Xtremely-Canadian, Brunettepet, bella-lover, sheilamarie, Moluvsnumber17, Mony19, kori hime, GreyIceWater, and The loner for the reviews. This chapter is more re-write of 'Hellbound', but hopefully it's different enough to keep you all interested.
(For disclaimer, etc. - see Chapter 1)
Chapter 5
It was one week since a magical amulet had arrived at Wolfram & Hart's LA branch. Seven days since it had released the essence of a souled vampire and a Slayer that died nineteen days before. Tied to the amulet they used to save the world, Buffy and Spike were forced to roam the halls of the evil law firm until Fred, Wes, and their respective teams could find some kind of spell or ritual that would release them.
As if it were not bad enough being trapped as ghost-like figures, unable to effect change or interact properly with anyone but each other, things were getting steadily worse. Spike was disappearing on a semi-regular basis, fading out to nothing, only to reappear moments later just a few feet from his original spot. Mostly his unwanted trick went unnoticed. He liked to be alone, unless he was with Buffy and he did his upmost when he felt the pull to get away from her or distract her attention so she wouldn't notice he'd momentarily gone. The few times she had noticed she'd panicked and made him report back to Fred and Wes about it.
Spike could deal with it at first, in all honesty he hadn't known why he was disappearing or where he was going. Since then it had become apparent as people only he could see talked in riddles until he understood. It took a lot to scare a vampire but some of these other ghosts were starting to get to William the Bloody. Still, he knew he couldn't tell Buffy. She'd make a big deal, everyone would find out he was afraid and he couldn't handle that, especially the git Angel.
What Spike needed was someone he could trust, and who wouldn't freak out about him being in some kind of danger. The likely candidate seemed to be Fred. She was a sweet girl, trying to help everybody as best she could, and smart too. She almost reminded Spike of Willow, especially when she was sitting at a computer or reading from a book about some complex theorem or other.
He needed her help right now, and only hoped she'd be able to give it. If he was right, and if the haunting he was getting was anything to go by, hell was trying to claim him, and it was getting bloody impatient.
"Hey sweetpea" Lorne grinned as Buffy went past his office door, "You all on your lonesome?"
"Yeah" she sighed as she entered the office, not noticing that half of her missed the doorway and passed through the wall, "I have no idea where Spike is, he keeps disappearing on me" she complained, concentrating so she could sit down in the chair opposite the desk.
"Disappearing like wandering off, or disappearing like shazam he's gone?" the green demon was interested to know.
"Both" Buffy admitted, "I can deal with the wanderage but the shazam is giving me the wiggins" she explained, "Like it's not bad enough we're a pair of ghosties, now the one person I can actually...Lorne, what if he just fades out one of these times and doesn't come back?" she asked sadly. She felt she could talk to Lorne, like he might understand. It was weird since he was the least human looking amongst the gang, but he wasn't so involved in the business of the evil empire of Wolfram and Hart, at least that's how it seemed to Buffy. He was entertainment guy, and sweet listeny guy. It was Angel and Gunn who seemed to be all lawyered up.
"Oh come on now, my little peach-pie" he sighed, walking round the desk and sitting on the edge in front of her, "You know Blondie Bear will fight tooth and nail to stay with you anyway he can" he assured her, "So turn that frown upside down and go find your good old fashioned lover-boy"
Buffy cracked a small smile at that.
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" she asked suspiciously as she got up from her seat.
"Never in this world!" Lorne exclaimed, hand on his chest like he was in total shock she would suggest such a thing, "Although" he admitted when she gave him a look, "I do kinda have a lot of calls to make"
"It's okay, Lorne" Buffy smiled, "Call your important celebrity types. I'll go see if I can find Spike"
"See you later, honeybun" Lorne called behind her, before picking up the phone and going back to his long list of calls to be made.
"This truly is a fantastic item" Wesley commented as he stared down the microscope. The formation of the amulet he studied was baffling in the extreme, and this was the seventh day he'd spent in the lab trying to find something in it that might help his and Fred's quest to releasing the essences that were captured by it.
"Is it fantastic enough that it talks and tells you how to free Spike and Buffy?" Fred smiled sadly, tossing her pen across the desk and putting her head in her hands, "God, this is hopeless"
"I think it's about time we went to bed" Wesley said behind her as he got to his feet. Fred spun around so fast she sent a bunch of files crashing to the ground.
"What?" she asked, his closeness not helping how stunned and over-whelmed she felt.
"Er, I meant we need some sleep" Wes pointed out, thoroughly embarrassed, "We need to retire to our own separate beds" he said carefully, taking a couple of definite steps back.
Fred nodded dumbly as he headed for the door, not looking entirely where he was going and knocking into a desk. He didn't realised the amulet had dropped onto the floor as he went past, cursing himself for being such an idiot. Fred sighed as she reached down to pick up the fallen bauble, holding it by the chain and letting the light pass through each sparkling facet.
"Pretty little pain in the ass, ain't it?" Spike commented as he walked into the lab via the wall. Fred jumped violently, putting her hand to her chest.
"Y'know if I had no other reason to want to make you corporeal, solving the creeping up thing would be inspiration enough" she joked, still breathing heavily.
"And here was me thinking you just wanted the chance to get your hands on my body" the ex-vampire told her with a look and a tilt of his head. Fred just smiled and shook her head.
"I don't think Buffy would appreciate that" she commented, "Even if it was a joke"
"Jokes about all I got right now, luv" Spike shook his head sadly as he circled the desk he might just as easily have passed through, "I know me and Buffy being here together is great and all but...what if it doesn't last?"
"No relationship is guaranteed forever" Fred shrugged, but Spike shook his head once again.
"No, pet, you're missing the point" he explained, looking around to make sure they were alone before continuing, "Buffy won't need to leave me if I leave her" he said softly, "And I'm not gonna do that if I can stop it, but I'm gonna need your help for that...Seems Satan wants me for a play-mate" he said at last.
"You mean...?" Fred began, unable to say the rest.
"Every time I 'disappear'" he confirmed, "I'm slipping...sliding down into a world of fire, and torment, and I'm losing my grip"
"Spike, why didn't you tell us before?" Fred asked him with a frown, reaching out a hand to his before remembering she couldn't touch him at all.
"Not exactly somethin' to be proud of, is it luv?" he said sadly, looking down at his boots, "Save the world, get the woman I love loving me too, but it can't make up for what I did before...I know I'm destined for that place" he said honestly, looking up and into her eyes now, "but not yet, not now" he practically begged her, "Please luv, you gotta use that clever little noggin of yours, find a way to keep me here, here with Buffy"
"Of course, I'll try" Fred assured him, "but we should tell Wesley, and Angel..."
"No" Spike interrupted loudly, "No, not a chance, no way in hel..." he stopped when he realised what he was saying, "Fred, the last person who'd want to save me from the fire and brimstone is Angelus" he reminded her, "Probably be glad to give me the final shove into oblivion if he could"
"If Angel wanted you dead he'd have done it by now" she said crossly, but Spike knew better than to believe that.
"Known the bloke a little longer than you, luv" he smiled a little, "He couldn't get rid of me so far, what with the amulet tying both me and the Slayer here. Like you said the other day, destroying the bauble frees the pair of us but frees us right off this plane of existence and he couldn't do that, not to her"
"How do you know that Buffy doesn't...go where you go?" she asked carefully.
"Why would she?" he shrugged, "She's not evil, not a bit of it. Last time she...heaven had her before, it'll claim her back when her time comes" he explained, "Meanwhile yours truly is takin' a tumble into damnation" he told her with a distinct look of panic albeit mild, "It's getting worse, Fred, I'm losing my grip, slipping further and...I don't want to go" he said, looking so much like almost little boy. It made Fred feel just terrible for him.
"I'll help you, Spike" she promised, "Anyway I can...I think me and Wes are getting close"
"Saw that right before I came in" he smirked, "Something about going to bed now wasn't it?"
"He didn't mean it the way it came out" Fred told him, looking red-faced as she turned back to her note pad and checked over the daily readings she'd been taking from Buffy and Spike as well as all Wes' notes on the amulet.
"Oh, I think he meant precisely what he said" the ex-vampire smirked more, as he leant on the edge of the desk, falling straight through. Fred yelled after him but her voice soon faded out as he passed through each ceiling and floor all the way to the basement. He hit ground level with a familiar feeling of nauseous fear.
"Had to be the bloody basement again" he mumbled as he pulled himself to his feet, yelling to whomever could hear him.
"Still down here hacking at your feelers, mate?" he called to the man he'd seen down here before, though it wasn't clear yet if he would be there when Spike turned the corner, "Or is it one of your ladies?" he checked, "The charming one with the distinct lack of upper limbs perhaps, or...?"
"It's coming" said a low voice in the dark. Spike immediately stopped walking when something moved on the table beside him - the dismembered fingers of the man he'd seen before.
"What the bloody hell...?" he asked, before he felt a rush like a breeze blowing through a window, the world spiralling out of focus. He closed his eyes against it and when he opened them again he was standing in a corridor, several floors up in the building, "What...?" he began again just as Buffy came around the corner and found him.
"Geez Spike, disappear much?" she complained, hands on her hips, "I've been looking for you for a couple of hours"
"Sorry, pet, I was..." he looked around with a confused expression, still wondering what was going on. Of course his girl had no idea how accurate she was with her phrasing, disappear was most definitely the right word.
Buffy moved towards him cautiously.
"Something wrong?" the Slayer checked, "You look all...frowny" she settled on as his eyes finally landed on her again. He shook his head to clear the confusion and to wave away her suggestion.
"I'm fine" he assured her, "Just, must've got turned around I guess. Whole bloody building looks pretty much the same top to bottom" he complained, rolling his eyes.
"We'll be out of here soon" Buffy said positively, going into his arms and hugging him. Spike hugged her back, gripping her tight as he dare. She might be the only thing keeping him here right now and he couldn't let go.
"Ah! That totally makes sense" Fred exclaimed to the empty lab as she frantically scribbled away on her notepad, "The fluctuations in the readings, lack of particle cohesion" she mumbled to herself, "If Spike's essence is straddling a dimensional void, and assuming that the amulet is some sort of trans-reality amplifier capable of focusing massive quantities of mystical energy...if I can defy most of the laws of nature, there's a good chance I could anchor him and Buffy to this plane...and make them corporeal again!"
To Be Continued...