Night Falls
Notes: Thanks for the reviews and, as always, keep them coming.
Previously:
"I found a prophecy in one of the Watcher's Diaries," Giles stated. "It spoke of three Slayers who would fight against something called the Origin unto the destruction of the world, essentially. The Origin, I believe, is the First Evil."
Chapter Fifteen:
"You can break out of those chains, mate. All you have to do is try," the First Evil said as it lit up a cigarette. "I'd offer you one, but well, they're not actually real."
"Go away," Spike muttered, lowering his head and his gaze from the vision of himself that stood on the stairs leading to the basement. Spike was chained against the wall, sitting on a cot that Buffy had procured for him. "You're not real. None of this is real. You're just a figment of my bloody imagination. So sod off."
"Don't be like that," the First admonished, smiling Spike's cocky smile, and swaggering over to where the vampire sat.
"You don't have any control over me," Spike stated, looking up into his own face. "I have a soul now. I don't hurt people anymore."
"No?" The First asked, laughing. "Well feature that. Spikey doesn't hurt anyone anymore. There are a couple of dead little birds in a basement not too far from here that would beg to differ, mate."
"I didn't kill anyone," Spike reaffirmed. He shuddered as a cold sweat broke out on his brow. The First eyed him carefully.
"What do you want most of all?" It asked, squatting on the floor so that it's eyes met with Spike's.
"Leave me alone," Spike said weakly.
"What do you want most of all?" The First asked again, pronouncing each word carefully and fully.
"You know what I want," Spike said lowly.
"I want to hear you say it out loud," the First replied.
Spike hung his head, sighing heavily, before he looked up and answered, "Buffy."
"That's right," the First said, rising to its feet again. "You want Buffy. You went halfway across the world, fought with every ounce of your being, and won back your soul for her. And how does she repay you? She's sleeping with one of her most reviled enemies now."
"What are you talking about?" Spike asked sharply.
"Don't you know?" The First asked, laughing. "Buffy is sleeping with Faith. She's been doing it every since the rogue Slayer got here, even when she was still pretending to love you."
"You're lying," Spike replied. "I would know."
"Would you?" The First asked. "It seems to me that you're chained in a basement while Buffy is free to do whatever she wants, or should I say, whoever she wants, whenever she wants. That doesn't quite seem fair to me."
"I hurt her," Spike mumbled. "She should move on. She deserves better than a bastard like me."
"Why? Because you think that you're beneath everyone?" The First asked. "Wake up, Spike. Things have changed since all then. You're better than them all now."
"Go away!" Spike yelled until his throat was hoarse. "I don't want to look at you anymore," he whispered.
"No," the First said, smiling as it shifted forms until it appeared before him as Buffy Summers. "You want to look at me."
"Buffy?" Spike asked, looking up at the First. "No, it's not you."
"You always were smarter than everyone else," the First said sarcastically through Buffy's voice as it walked dangerously close to Spike.
"Please," Spike begged. "I don't know what you want from me. Just leave me bloody well alone."
The First paused in front of Spike, letting it eyes roam over the exhausted vampire. Slowly, it began to sing, "Early one morning, just as the sun was shining, I heard a maid sing in the valley below. Oh, don't deceive me. Oh, never leave me. How could you use a poor maiden so?"
Spike closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, straining to hear a voice from his past. "Don't stop singing," he said softly. "Never stop."
"William," the First said. Spike opened his eyes and a strange light shined from within them. "I think it's about time you broke free from those chains." Spike looked down at the chains attached to his hands, holding him to the wall. With a swift, fluid motion, he lunged forward, and snapped the chains. Rising to his feet, he stared at the vision of Buffy and waited for its command. "I want you to go somewhere for me."
"Anywhere," Spike replied.
"Go to the high school. In the basement, there's a symbol. I want you to wait there for me. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Spike answered.
"You'll have to be discreet about it. They're watching you," the First said as Spike cautiously started up the stairs. He cracked open the basement door and listened. He could hear several potentials giggling and talking in the dining room. Buffy was in the kitchen, he could smell her. Moving forward, he quietly closed the door behind him.
"What are you doing?" A male voice asked. Spike turned and saw a boy tied to a chair in the center of the living room.
"Who the bloody hell are you?" Spike asked, eyeing the boy carefully.
"Andrew. You're Spike, aren't you? That's so cool. You're like a legend, man. Do you bleach your hair?" Andrew asked. Spike growled, ignoring the boy as he stalked across the living room towards the front door. "Uh, I don't think you're supposed to go," Andrew called after him. Spike flung open the front door, smiling as he felt the cold air on his face, and ran into the night.
"Buffy!" Andrew called, trying in vain to scoot his chair closer to the living room door. "Buffy! Red alert!"
"What are you going on about?" Buffy asked, walking out of the kitchen, with Hailey in tow. "Who left the door open?"
"Spike," Andrew answered.
"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked, closing the door. "Spike is chained up in the basement. I'm kinda thinking maybe you'd like to join him."
"But he's not chained in the basement anymore. He just went running out of the house," Andrew replied. Buffy's eyes widened as she spun around, threw the door open, and stepped outside. Gazing out into the darkness of the night, she saw nothing.
"Damn it," she whispered to herself. "Where was he going? Did he say?" Buffy asked, moving back into the house.
"No," Andrew answered.
"What's going on?" Faith asked, coming down the stairs.
"Spike escaped," Buffy answered. "He's going to kill again."
"Not if we can help it," Faith replied. "Let's bring him back."
"Are you sure you want to go out there?" Buffy asked as Faith stepped out of the house.
"Prophecy never said when I was gonna die, B. I'd rather not spend the rest of my life, however short that may be, locked up in the house like a prisoner," Faith answered angrily. "Let's motor."
Buffy and Hailey watched her walk out of the house, fading into the darkness of the front lawn. "Feel like going on patrol?" Buffy asked, glancing over at Hailey.
"Seriously?" Hailey asked, surprised.
"I want you to look after Faith for me," Buffy said as she and the potential left the house. "Giles discovered a prophecy in one of the diaries. It claims that three Slayers will do battle against the First, not just two."
"So Faith has to die for the third Slayer to be activated," Hailey said.
"Yeah," Buffy replied. "I've never been a big fan of prophecies and this one talks all big about the doom and gloom. I'm thinking I'd rather be fighting with two than three. Keep her alive for me. Promise me," Buffy said, her voice bordering on pleading as she walked ahead to join Faith. Hailey lingered behind for a moment, watching the two Slayers move into the night.
"I promise."
……………………………..
Spike threw open the doors of the basement of Sunnydale High. Several Bringers, dressed in brown robes and carrying torches, were waiting for him. One of them motioned for him to follow as they began walking through the labyrinth of tunnels underneath the school. Spike complied, his feet following the Bringers as if they were operating of their own will instead of his. He felt that something was wrong with what he was doing. Ever since he had left Buffy's house, he had the strangest longing to go back. He knew that the First was evil beyond measure, but he had no control over his waking mind. Only a small part of his conscious cried out to him, imploring that he return to Buffy's, that he reject the First's commands. But that part was too small and the power of the First easily squashed it.
"Spike, you made it," the First said through Buffy's voice as he walked into a large room, in which a section of the floor had been removed. Glancing down into a hole, he saw a metal seal carved into the ground.
"What is that?" Spike asked, looking up into the face of his former lover.
"The Seal of Danthazar," Buffy answered, motioning to someone behind him with the flick of her wrist. Suddenly, three Bringers were on top of him. He struggled against them, but they grabbed his arms, restraining them behind his body. He dropped to the ground as something heavy struck the back of his head. The Bringers dragged him over to a large wheel, holding him up as others brought ropes. Tying him to it, they cut open his shirt. Spike's eyes shot open as the first Bringer plunged his knife into the vampire's chest, carving an intricate design.
"What is going on?" Spike yelled painfully as the Bringer yanked his knife out of his chest. "I thought…I don't understand," he said.
"You're vital to all of my plans, Spike. But I need you to relax. It isn't going to hurt for much longer. I promise," the First said, circling Spike as he hung from the large, wooden wheel, several feet above the ground. The Bringers began cranking a strange device that Spike could not identify and the wheel lifted off the ground, creaking and moaning. When it finally came to rest, Spike was dangling over the seal. Blood poured out of the wounds on his chest and fell onto the ground. A light began to glow from beneath it as the edges of the seal lifted. Spike watched with fear in his eyes as an ancient, clawed hand shot out from under the seal. The First smiled.
"Welcome to the world, little one."
………………………
"Faith! Slow down," Buffy called after the other Slayer.
"What for? Spike's out there. He's dangerous, remember? We have to find him," Faith answered.
"It isn't doing us any good walking around in circles," Hailey reasoned. "We need to come up with a plan."
Faith paused and sighed, running a hand through her long, dark hair. Buffy watched her, resisting the urge to walk over, touch her face, kiss her lips, and tell her that everything would be okay. She did not think that Faith would listen. "Fine, so then where should we be looking? We know that he's hunted on Main Street before."
"He won't go there," Hailey stated. "He'll know we'd look for him there."
"The cemeteries?" Buffy suggested.
"But which one?" Hailey asked.
"I would say split up, but I think we'd be better off together," Faith rationalized.
"You know him better than any of the rest of us," Hailey said, looking over at Buffy. "Where do you think he would go?"
Buffy sighed and looked down at the ground. She could feel Faith's eyes burning holes in her head. She knew that Faith had a problem with her past relationship with Spike, though the Slayer had never said anything directly to her. But she could tell in the way that Faith's eyes hardened at the mention of his name that she was jealous of him. Buffy knew that she would not hurt him, however. Faith realized that they needed the vampire, even though the First was controlling him. "The school," Buffy said finally. "When he first came back, after getting his soul back, he locked himself up in the basement. I think he feels safe there."
"Back to school then," Faith said less than enthusiastically.
Hailey walked ahead of the two Slayers, keeping her eyes and ears open for anything that walked the night. Faith wanted to walk ahead and talk to Hailey, she felt like she needed the older girl's advice, but she knew that Buffy needed to say something to her. She could tell by the nervous way in which Buffy kept shifting her eyes from her face to the ground.
"What's on your mind, B?" Faith asked.
"I feel really bad about the way I reacted when Giles told us about the prophecy," Buffy said. "I didn't mean to come off so cold. I'm just so used to thinking about business first and my personal feelings second that I launched into commander Buffy mode."
"It's cool, B. We have to think about the girls first," Faith replied, mostly because she thought they were the words that Buffy wanted to hear.
"It's not okay," Buffy responded heatedly. "After Willow brought me back, I don't know, I was just different. Cold. Empty, somehow. I only slept with Spike because I wanted to feel something."
"You could have felt something with anyone," Faith burst, immediately regretting her words. She had not wanted to argue with the blonde Slayer.
"I know," Buffy said quietly. "But when I was with Spike, I felt dirty. I felt ashamed. But most of all, I felt something. I was disgusted with myself, but I couldn't stop. He was like a drug."
"I don't want to hear this," Faith muttered.
"A drug that I needed to stop using," Buffy added. "To me, death isn't such a big deal because at the end of the day, I want to die. I want to be free of this world and all of the horrible things in it."
"Nice to hear you're as much into this as I am," Faith said angrily. "You really don't give a shit about me do you? I'm just another drug for you."
"Would you stop interrupting me and let me finish me goddamn speech please?" Buffy yelled. She saw Hailey look back at them curiously and sighed. "You cut me off before I could finish. What I was going to say, was that every night I wanted to die…until you came back. You make me feel so many things, Faith, and none of them disgust me or shame me. You make me happy and I haven't been happy in a long time. You make me want to live again."
Faith stopped walking and sighed, looking Buffy in the eyes. "I don't want to die," she said. "Not just when I've gotten everything I've been living for."
"I won't let anything happen to you," Buffy replied, stepping closer. "I swear to God, I'll do everything I can to keep you safe."
"Promise?" Faith asked shakily.
"Always," Buffy answered, reaching out and gently caressing the side of Faith's face with her fingertips. Faith closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.
"B," she said, but Buffy silenced her.
"Don't say anything," she said, leaning forward and capturing Faith's lips with her own.
Hailey smiled as she watched the Slayers passionately kiss. Faith deserved happiness more than anyone she knew. Hailey wanted to rage against the Powers for threatening to take that happiness away from her, just when she had found it. But Hailey knew that everything happened for a reason. If three Slayers were meant to fight the First, than Faith would not stay dead for very long. Hailey turned, about to continue walking, when a sudden pain flashed through her skull. She hit the ground, groaning. Touching the back of her head gingerly with her hands, she felt warm blood oozing from underneath her hair.
"What the hell," she murmured, struggling to turn over. She flipped onto her back slowly, stars exploding in front of her eyes. Looking up into the night sky, she watched with dread as the face of a vampire appeared before her. It was not a normal vampire, however. It was dressed in leather from head to foot. Its skin was crumbled and wrinkled like old paper, gray, dusty, and diseased. The vampire smiled and two yellow, fangs grinned at her. Leaning down, the vampire picked her up by the neck and plunged its teeth into her skin. White-hot pain flashed through her. She tried to call out, but no sound emerged.
Suddenly, the vampire was knocked away and Hailey thudded back down onto the ground. "Come on, sheriff," Faith said, lifting her. Hailey stumbled onto her feet and glanced over at Buffy, who was fighting with the vampire, though it appeared as though the Slayer was losing.
"What is that thing?" Hailey asked as Faith grabbed one of Hailey's hands and pressed it firmly against the bleeding wound on her neck.
"Big, nasty vampire," Faith replied.
"None like I've seen before," Hailey muttered.
Buffy lashed out at the vampire, but it dodged her punch. Grabbing the blonde Slayer by the throat, the vampire lifted her into the air and threw her several yards away She landed at the feet of Faith and Hailey. Buffy picked herself up, dusted herself off, and looked over at the other two girls.
"Everyone for running say I," she said shakily.
"I," Hailey and Faith said in unison.