Chapter Three

'Aucune Bagarre'

"Well, you don't scare me." Dawn said, hands on her little hips. Spike narrowed his eyes and took a drag on his cigarette. She leaned back a little more on the porch railing and looked out onto the lawn.

"I mean, you used to. Before you got that chip in your head." she said matter-of-factly.

"S'at right?" he asked softly, his head turned away from her. The back porch was suddenly getting very small to him. He never thought he'd see the day when Dawn Summer's made him feel weaker than a kitten. He always imagined it would be Buffy.

"Well, yea. You were a real scary then. I mean now you're just a—"

Spike shot up from the porch step, throwing his cigarette out into the damp, dark lawn. Dawn stopped talking and watched as he slammed the back door behind him.

"—a friend."

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Usually he didn't drink for the taste, but tonight he wanted to burn the sensation right out of his mouth. He woke up with the taste of ashes coating his tongue and he couldn't seem to make it go away, no matter what he tried. Some part of him figured it would always be like that; always wake up tasting the last minutes of, what you thought of as, your life.

He took another swig, swirling the bitter liquid around in his mouth. The ashy taste slowly ebbed away and he was left with the after burn of a few Jack Daniels and a Miller chaser. He gave an inward sigh of relief when all he could taste was liquor.

"Thought I told you not to come back here, Spike." a deep voice thundered behind him. Spike just sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't try to make a break for the door, or turn around and make excuses. After all, he did come back to the bar on his own accord. No one told him to or made him. He just did.

"Don't tell me you're looking for a fight, vampire." the voice prodded. Spike felt the back of his neck tingle with anticipation. Why wasn't he moving? Why the hell wasn't he getting up and tossing the overgrown pit bull out the door?

"Can't say as I am, mate." he said, running his finger over the rim of his glass idly.

The brute gave a deep snort and reached out to grab Spike by the back of his coat. Spike ducked low, knocking the beer off the counter and coming up under the demon to deliver a blow to his chest.

"Don't mind one, though." he said with a smirk. Yeah, that's all he needed; a good fight to bring him out of his funk. Get his rocks off, knock some teeth in.

His head was slammed back onto the bar counter. Or get ma own knocked in… he thought as the demon reared back and delivered a blow to his collarbone. He ducked the second, clumsy punch, but only to be intercepted by the brute's band of lackeys. Just as he was about to take a knee into his already broken nose, there was a blinding flash of light. It smacked him full-force in the face and sent him stumbling back onto his ass. The room went white and fuzzy for a few minutes and then cleared into a hazy grey.

"Permettez à vos yeux d'être pour toujours fermés. Seulement pour s'ouvrir quand vous marchez dans la lumière."

Someone was mumbling something close to his ear. He tried to blink away the fuzzy darkness before him, but the more he blinked the more the blackness sharpened.

"Permettez à vos yeux d'être pour toujours fermés. Seulement pour s'ouvrir quand vous marchez dans la lumière." the voice repeated, closer to his ear. He tried again, desperately, to find out who was speaking to him, but his efforts were in vain.

Quickly, he tried to stumble to his feet, but found it hard to recognize where the ground was. He tried again, but fell over onto his back. He could feel the floor beneath his fingers and the hot breath of the demons on his face, but he couldn't see any of it.

"Aucune vue." the voice whispered again. Spike flinched at the sound and tried to scrabble away. He found that that was hard to do with a pair of massive hands pinning you to the ground.

"Enjoy your time in the dark, vampire." the brute hissed into his ear. Spike tried to move again, but the pressure increased.

Suddenly, the words came to him. Aucune vue. No light.

He was blind.

Continued...