Title: If I should die before we wake
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or situations, or concepts, or anything, really.
Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell, Spike, Andrew and Dana are menaced by a shadowy threat to Spike's life. You should read DH first.
Rating: T, because Spike is violent, rude, crude, and the bad guys are worse. Well, that's a lie. The bad guys are never worse than Spike. Oh, and some of the characters are downright naughty in this chapter.
Chapter 12: Betrayal
--
Spike sat beside the Slayer's bed. This bugged Dana a little bit; they didn't even know her name, and he was acting obsessive.
She wasn't sure why it bugged her, but it did.
The Slayer stirred, blinked, opened her eyes, and screamed again. Dana frowned.
"If you want me to hit Spike, I can, but it won't help," she said.
The Slayer stopped screaming, but she wasn't taking her eyes off Spike. "You've been sedated," he told her. "That's why you feel sleepy. We captured one of the vampires that attacked you, and I wanted you to be present for its questioning."
"You attacked us!" she accused.
"I told you last night, it wasn't me," said Spike.
"It was!"
"Wasn't."
"Was!"
Dana cleared her throat. "I don't want to interrupt, but we have a vampire to interrogate."
A nurse came in, pushing a wheelchair. Spike gave it a look of revulsion. "Do we have to put her in that…thing?"
"Yes," said the nurse firmly. She moved forward, helping the Slayer up and into the chair. "You've lost a lot of blood, so you'll probably be dizzy."
"Don't try to attack Spike," said Dana. "They gave the guards tranquilizer guns to take you out if you did."
Spike frowned. "That's not why they gave the guards those guns."
"What?"
Spike cleared his throat. "What's your name, Slayer?"
"I'm Ann." Her voice was surly, and Dana decided that she didn't really believe Spike.
Spike leaned closer to Dana, and spoke in a whisper. "Would you stay here?"
"No," said Dana.
He scowled. "You won't be happy."
She shrugged. "Seldom am."
"I mean… never mind."
Spike led the way. It was the same conference room that they'd been working in before, but with a chained vampire in one corner. He was whimpering, while Harmony was talking to him.
"And the chip means that you can't hurt humans. At all. No exceptions. If you do, it'll zap you really bad. If you kill a human, actually kill them, it's designed to deliver a lethal zap—insta-dust."
"That's another vampire," said Ann, straightening up stiffly.
"That it is," said Riley, stepping into the room from the other side. "Special Agent Harmony Kendall, this is Ann Withers. She's a Slayer."
Harmony sighed. "Too many of those, these days," she muttered, putting on a very big, very fake smile. "Hi, Ann!" she chirped. "Right now I'm explaining that this vampire has entered eternal servitude to Spike!"
"I can't be a minion to… to… that!" cried the vampire.
"Yes, you can!" insisted Harmony. "He-who-rose is the greatest vampire that ever lived… and the sexiest. He broke all the rules. Aren't we supposed to be rebels, not moribund traditionalists?"
"You tell him, Harm," said Spike, smiling. "Especially that bit about sexy."
She threw him a dirty look. "Shut up, Spike. I still haven't forgiven you for kissing the Slayer… any of them!"
Spike shrugged. "Got anything out of him yet?"
"He works for some guy named Boris Hare Krishna or something," said Harmony. "It's all a little vague."
"Location?" asked Spike.
"I don't know!" screamed the vampire, actually cowering in fear.
Spike sighed. "Yeah, well…"
Illyria marched into the room angrily. "You have deceived us!" she hissed, hitting Spike. He flew across the room and smashed into the wall, falling limply to the ground. "You used the power I gave you to split yourself in half! All this time the other one has actually been you, while you pretended!"
Connor entered behind Illyria. "We found you out, Spike," he said coldly. "And we're pulling the plug. Without Illyria's power you won't be able to kill any more Slayers. Going for the record, were you?"
"I already have the record," he said, laughing and trying to get to his feet. Blood dribbled from his mouth.
Dana turned and attacked Illyria, smashing into her with a lightning attack that drove the demon off her feet. She felt a sudden stinging sensation in her bottom, as if she'd been bitten. She looked down to see a tranquilizer dart embedded in her, and realized what Spike had been talking about when he'd said the darts weren't for Ann.
"You're a dead man, Spike!" growled Connor. "But, first…" He drew a long, wickedly curved knife from his belt in a quick move. "We take your powers."
"Just in case the doppelganger might survive your death," said Illyria coldly. "He will certainly not survive this."
Spike jumped up to attack. Illyria moved behind him, grabbing him in a headlock, and Connor slashed him across the chest with the knife, then cut his own hand. As he pressed his bloody hand to Spike's chest there was a flash of light.
Dana stumbled and fell to the ground, no longer even having the strength to stand. Then there were vampires all around, fighting Illyria and Connor, and she couldn't keep her eyes open. Connor went flying, and Illyria went down, and she saw Harmony carrying Spike out the door, before she slid into a troubled sleep.
--
"Can we feed on him?" asked the young vampire, staring at Spike.
"Stop it," said Harmony absently, carefully shifting the car into a higher gear. "Where do we get off? Exit 12?"
"No, ten," replied the vampire. "I'm hungry."
"There's all kinds of animal blood in the cooler in the trunk. There's some in my thermos, from this morning. Cold, of course. I call it a frosty-blood. Like iced coffee? It's good."
The vampire made a face.
Spike leaned forward over the back seat. "Harm, have you thought this out?"
"Yes," she replied. "Enemy of my enemy is my friend. This Boris guy is our best bet to stay alive now. Isn't that what it's all about? Staying alive?"
He sighed, collapsing back into the seat. "I wish they hadn't shot Dana," he muttered. "That makes me mad. Now I'll have to bloody kill them all. They shot her!"
"In the butt," said Harmony gleefully. "I bet she didn't see that coming!"
"Of course not. It was behind her," said the vampire. "I'm Gleason, by the way."
"Hey, Gleason. I'm Harmony, and that's Spike."
"He knows our names, love."
"I'm just being polite, blondie bear."
"Don't."
They drove on in silence, and Spike rubbed his jaw where Connor had hit him. "Junior's never hit me before, did you know that? One of the few that hasn't. Everybody else whales away. He never did, before this. That's lost trust."
"The Slayer trusted you," pointed out Harmony.
"She shouldn't have!" Spike said darkly. "Look where it's got us."
Harmony sighed. "On the run and in trouble? Yeah."
But Spike wasn't listening to her. He was still rubbing his jaw, but he was staring at the ceiling as if he could see through it, or beyond it.
Gleason sighed angrily. "How'd you hit those two back there? I thought you were still chipped."
"They aren't human," said Harmony. "We're allowed to hit demons and the sons of demons. They're fair targets."
"Not that it's a comforting thought," muttered Spike.
"Isn't it?" asked Harmony. "They scare me, personally."
"I meant my thought, pet."
"What was it?" asked Gleason nervously.
"I was just thinking that probably Dana's safer now that I'm further away from her. That's just not right. And I always swore I wouldn't be like Angel, would let the girl decide on the risks for herself. But I won't, will I? Just like him, I'll give my 'it's for your own good' speech and run away."
"I hope she forgives you," said Harmony.
"She's going to be dead!" said Gleason, unable to hold it in any longer. "Boris is destroying every single Slayer!"
"We could make an exception for an evil Slayer, couldn't we?" said Harmony doubtfully.
"Boris can't hope to win," said Spike. "They're on to him."
"Oh, he's got big plans," said Gleason. "He got you stripped of your powers, didn't he?"
Spike sighed. "He planted evidence of a spell to split me into two people? Twisted, but effective."
"That's what he said," said Gleason. "I'm sure he'll be able to get this chip from my head. Sure of it."
Spike snorted. "Good luck with that one. The soldier-boys are the only ones who've been able to do that, as far as I know—and they're so very, very reluctant to do it."
Harmony pouted. "Come on, Gleason. It's not that bad. It can be…liberating. It opens you up to a whole new way of life."
Spike grumbled under his breath about vampires and chips, and ran his hands through his hair. "I hope Boris at least has some cigarettes."
"I thought you quit?" asked Harmony.
"After getting hit by Connor and Illyria both, I'm starting back up, love."
--
"Tracking devices are zoned out," reported Riley. "I'm calling up a new satellite to get a wider read."
"Spike travels fast," noted Connor, pressing an icepack to his face. "I really wish you'd told me your vampires could hit me before now. Are the ones we captured saying anything?"
"They said we attacked He-who-rose," grumbled Riley. He glanced back at Dana, who was strapped to a gurney. "Is she going to be all right?"
"She'll be fine," said Ann absently, looking up from the notebook she was scribbling in. "Is Mister Wells back yet?"
"He's still in the meeting room with the other Watchers," reported Sam from the doorway. "This all went to hell in a hurry."
Riley sighed. "I've issued tranks-only warnings to everybody. Spike may not have intentionally done this… the splitting spell could have been done without his permission. If the doppelganger really does have all of his most evil parts, then the one we were whaling on was probably all the good parts, and had no idea."
Illyria marched into the room. "I wish to converse with the Slayers. Everybody else may leave now."
Riley rolled his eyes and glanced to Connor, who tilted his head, then nodded. "It's okay, guys. She just needs to talk to them."
They left with varying degrees of hostility to the demon. Several of them had expressed the opinion that she should have seen Spike's betrayal coming, even Connor. There had been yelling.
When everybody else was gone she began untying Dana, releasing the leather straps.
"Whoa!" said Ann, rising out of the wheelchair spryly. "What're you doing?"
"You are a Slayer and I am a god. What do we have to fear from her?" asked Illyria. "Besides, she is not dangerous."
"You hit Spike," noted Dana groggily, sitting up. "I might just be."
"Listen to me carefully," said Illyria. "I love Spike just as much as you do, and perhaps more so. He saved me. Can you say that he saved you? You cannot. Do you want to save him? From himself, if you must?"
Dana nodded.
Illyria's mouth curved into a smile. "I'm sorry, Ann, for this betrayal." Ann turned, realizing a moment too late that Illyria had armed herself with one of the tranquilizer pistols the guards were armed with.
As Ann slipped to the floor Illyria offered Dana her arm. "Come."
They strolled out arm in arm, as if they owned the entire military complex.
--
Gleason finished chaining Spike to the wall with glee. "Chip in my head, huh? Chip in my head?"
Harmony frowned. "So, you're not going to turn him? I thought you would have turned him, because he's such a powerful bad guy."
"Of course I'm not going to have him turned," said Boris. "He's a snake, a double crosser, and he has all your minions, to boot. I don't want that kind of competition. Especially not now that the Slayers will be out of our way once and for all."
Harmony sighed. "I really feel like he would make a good vampire… but, then, I loved him."
"Really?" said Boris, surprised. "Why?"
"Who can tell?" she replied gloomily. "The human or vampire heart is a fickle thing, and doesn't seek its own good."
"Too right!" agreed Spike, slouching in his chains.
"Could I… I mean, if you're going to kill him…could I have some of his blood?" asked Harmony. "I mean, I can't cut him or anything. If one of you could just cut him a little…"
Boris smiled. "He broke your heart, didn't he? Very well. We'll let you have a moment." He gestured to one of his vampire thugs, who approached Spike and vamped out, leaning in to bite him in the shoulder, away from his jugular.
As the vampire left Harmony moved closer, cooing, and leaned in to lap up the blood. Spike sighed, grimacing and straining against the chains. "Is that what you really want, Harm?"
"No," she said. "But it'll do."
She pressed her body against his, encircling his body with her arms and running her hands up and down his sides, licking the area around the wound. He shivered.
"Okay, that's kind of hot," said one of the minions.
Boris nodded. "I like her style," he said appreciatively. "Which of you idiots is my second in command?"
Gleason frowned. "Wasn't it Tucker? The one who got dusted in the scuffle at the safe house? Or maybe the Spike-vamp?"
"Either way, I think we have a replacement," said Boris. "Frankly, she brings a little class to the place."
The other Spike, sitting on the stairs that led out of the basement, chuckled. "Boss, you're not thinking straight. She's a dame."
Boris sighed. "Idiot," he muttered again.
--
Dawn finished buttoning up her blouse, then glanced at Andrew, who was sprawled over the bed. "You getting up?"
"Hm, thinking about it," he groaned. "Ummm… nope. Just gonna bask."
"What if I didn't mean it?" she asked, searching for her shoes.
"I don't think a woman can use the l-word and not mean it." He thought about that for a second. "You know, thanks to cable tv that phrase may not be usable any more."
"No, it still works. As long as I know what you mean."
"I mean, you could be stressed out and in need of an emotional connection, but all the same… see point A again."
"This could destroy our flimsy little coalition—which is already under attack," pointed out Dawn. "I had some serious trouble with some of the old school Watchers. This would just finish it all."
He sighed. "Dawn…"
"Magic bullet, right?" she muttered.
"Want to marry me?"
"That's absurd."
"Seriously. As fun as an illicit relationship has been, as fun as it's been hiding it from your friends… that's been done."
"To death," she said darkly. "And what were we doing while Rome burned?"
"What's Giles doing?" Andrew shot back.
She frowned. "Actually, if we hadn't been so busy I would have sent a strike team after him already."
"What?"
"He's been gone without contact for too long. It smacks of being part of this mess, except… except he told me in our last phone conversation that he was going undercover following a lead. I'm not sure what that was all about."
Andrew sighed, sitting up. "I still trust Spike and Illyria, you know."
"Yes. So much so that now they've gone missing, Connor and Riley consider them a threat, and they've somehow managed to cut out the tracers."
"They can't, not without magic."
"I know, I know. Embedded in the brain. In Harmony's case, in the chip. Why are all the other vampires still on the scanners but not her? Why would Spike choose her? Besides the ick value, I mean. Did I ever tell you she kidnapped me?"
"Hm." Andrew rolled over the bed so that he was sitting beside her. "Do you think Connor is just playing possum while working for them?"
"I mentioned it to Riley. He's got Connor under surveillance. You know, Willow's in the country still, over in Florida, shoring up our safe house there. Maybe she can shed some light on this."
"How they got the chips out?"
"What if they didn't? By all reports we can't find this Boris guy Connor thinks is behind all this. And the way they've managed to hit safe houses so far apart so quickly… maybe they're not based in this world."
Andrew grimaced. "That would explain why we can't track Spike. Okay, bring Willow in."
Dawn sighed, resting her head on Andrew's shoulder. "Do you remember what Spike asked us?"
"Whether you were more important to me than the mission? Yeah, I remember that."
"No, it was the other way around. He asked me… he knew you'd say yes. I know that. You're a damn-fool idealist, Andy. We all know that. But he asked me if I thought you were more important than the cause. Then he got all misty-eyed because he didn't know the answer."
"Yeah," said Andrew, gently leaning his head against the top of hers. "I'm idealistic that way."
"Yes."
"Yes, I'm idealistic, or yes, you'll marry me?"
"Yes, I'll marry you. Can't you at least let a girl be all mysterious? Did you learn that from Spike?"
Andrew chuckled. "Actually, I learned it from trying to figure out Spike's secrets."
Dawn laughed out loud.
