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. And violence.

Chapter 15: Expositionary demons

--

Buffy wandered through the castle. It was slightly surreal to see it so empty. Usually there were Slayers, and Giles, and enough bustle and noise to fill it completely.

She especially missed the Giles part.

"Secret mission, huh?" she muttered suspiciously. She privately thought that he just didn't want to have to deal with Spike. He'd never liked Spike, she recalled. Less so than the rest of them.

And even a human Spike could still scare everybody.

Willow was descending the stairs, frowning. "You know, there's not a lot of things I'm scared of. This… this aura that the balance demon left behind, it's scary. We need some powerful magic to fight this kind of thing."

"Like what?" asked Buffy. "Last I knew you were our secret weapon."

"Yeah, but I don't normally fight stuff like this. This is different. Scary. It's the sort of thing that we're usually very glad is on our side."

Buffy rolled her eyes, just a little. "Will, you're saying this thing scares you?"

"These balance demons aren't the things we normally fight, Buffy! They're just about immune to most magic, they're nigh unto invulnerable… we're talking about guys you can choppity-chop all day and they're still okay and ready to go."

"Choppity-chop?"

"Sorry. Slay?"

"Slayage. So they're tough?"

"They're supposed to be agents of good from everything I've read. I mean, I don't know if we're trusting Spike right now or not, but his message was very not helpful. The opposite of help."

"I think we're trusting Spike right now."

"Why?"

"It was an elaborate ruse to fool the bad guy. And, yes, he could have let us in on it."

--

Spike scowled down at the hapless clerk, pulling himself to his full height. "What do you mean, no?" he demanded.

The clerk squeaked. "I mean we don't have any. I mean… uh..."

"What else do you have that might perhaps be a bit like it, eh?"

"Um, we have some bagels…"

"Bagels are nothing like ice cream."

Illyria sighed. "Perhaps his command of English isn't the best. We can try the next store we come to."

Spike glanced sheepishly to Dana. "No ice cream, pet."

"They have sodas," said Dana rooting through the meager assortment of goods offered. "And bagels. And... well, popsicles."

"Grab 'em," said Spike.

As they returned to the truck, loot tucked in bags, Dana looked around for Clem. He'd pleaded the need to stretch his legs, but now he wasn't back.

He's run off to the little demon's room.

It was a little weird to have Illyria always aware of her. She'd have to start trying to block Illyria and see if it was actually possible.

Spike hopped into the back of the truck and sat down, leaning against the glass. "It's been a long day."

Illyria sat next to him automatically. "And Boris? Was he fun to fight?"

Spike groaned. "I was weak, without your powers. I didn't like that."

"Inevitable," said Illyria.

Dana settled down on the other side of Spike and grabbed one of the popsicles out of the bag. "Arnf oof oinff oof eef onf fighfinf?"

"Of course," said Spike. "Giving up the fight just because I have no powers? Bah."

"Hm," said Illyria, reaching past Spike to snag a popsicle from Dana. "You could continue in a non-combat mode as a Watcher."

"Screw that, love. I'll just have to find some way to get some powers. See any irradiated spiders over there?"

"Where would we even find a vat of toxic waste?" asked Dana, giggling.

Spike frowned at her. "I didn't like that movie. The sulky brooder should have been killed."

"But he was the badass," noted Illyria. "I would have thought you would empathize with him."

"But he reminded me of Angel. So I didn't."

Illyria sighed. "One day you two will finally resolve your differences, and the space-time continuum will crash down around us. And then your shows will be cancelled."

Spike glanced at his watch. "Do you think Andy's been taping the show?"

"I am sure of it. He cannot live without it."

--

Boris was about two seconds away from an insane rampage. No, less than that.

"How did this happen?" he asked one of the vampires.

"As near as we can figure, they must have been using advanced weaponry. And they didn't seem to feel pain; they just kept coming and coming, no matter what we did."

"I don't mean the vampire army! I mean Spike. I mean William the Bloody. How did he manage to turn it around like that? We had him kidnapped and in chains, we had stripped away his allies, we had him right where I wanted him!"

"We stopped to monologue," noted one vampire. Boris whirled and punched him, sending him flying through the air.

"What else could go wrong?" he demanded.

A tall, slim man entered the dark room quietly. The vampires, who had been watching Boris nervously, all shifted to look at him, their eyes widening.

"We can recover this," said Boris. "This ultimate warrior he's empowered; we'll find her, we'll kill her, and everything will be okay."

The tall figure leaned against the wall, watching Boris. "Isn't she the ultimate warrior?" he asked softly.

"She's not invulnerable," sneered Boris. "I'm sure…" He frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"Reconsidering. I remember when you came to me for help you assured me that your little plan was foolproof. Oddly, that fool seems to have destroyed the army I helped you acquire, the warrior that you spent so much time and money making look like Spike, and the fancy mansion I gave you. Not to mention those Slayer dreams."

"I killed a few Slayers," mumbled Boris.

"One or two. Wow."

"What do you expect from me?"

"Well, right now I expect you to cut your losses as far as Spike is concerned. I mean, going after a new ultimate warrior when you couldn't even take out the ordinary ones? Give me a break."

"So, what? I give up, retreat into the night?"

The demon pushed himself away from the wall. "I happen to know that the head Watcher will be traveling back to England soon. I know what flight she'll be on. She will have one Slayer and one rogue demon hunter with her, and another Watcher. And me. Kill her, and you will send them reeling in chaos, and perhaps the forces of darkness will have one last chance. Can you do that?"

Boris licked his lips. "That little girl? An easy target. But my forces are depleted…"

"Then do it yourself, Boris. You're far stronger than any of your vampires anyway, aren't you?" asked the demon.

"Yes, yes, I am."

The tall, scaly demon grinned, revealing rows of fangs. "They deride and mock us for seeking a balance, but the truth is that they are always very glad of our help when the balance swings against them. Balance is important. Balance is what keeps this world from spinning out of control."

--

Clem was driving now, which meant that Dana could sit on the outside, by the window. She felt less confined that way. She hated feeling trapped; it made her heart race and her breath quicken.

Of course, sitting next to Spike could do that too.

He had an arm casually around her shoulders, and they were squished together. It didn't feel awkward to her, not now. It felt a little strange, and it made her stomach tingle.

His hand was flopped down by her arm, and he was casually running his finger up and down her bicep. She wondered if it was possible for the human heart to explode, especially over something so simple. So silly.

It isn't, actually. Although it is possible for the human heart to explode later. I'm told that many heart attacks occur during coitus. Of course, that's generally older people. So you don't have anything to worry about. Maybe Spike does.

At some point she really was going to figure out how to filter her thoughts and keep Illyria out. That or she was going to go back to being crazy and cut Illyria's head off; she hadn't really decided one way or the other.

Foolish. Cutting my head off would not kill me—unless your intent was simply to cause pain.

She knew that.

"I'm worried," said Spike. "We haven't been attacked by Boris yet. That means he picked a new target."

"Maybe without his means of transportation he is slower," said Illyria.

"No. Not this one, pet. He's impulsive."

"Rather like you."

"I guess so."

Dana cleared her throat. "You beat him last time; maybe he's learned. Maybe he chose someone easier to beat."

"It doesn't seem like his MO, but he might be smarter than he looked."

"Perhaps Connor can help."

"Connor… is out of this game."

"What? When did that happen?"

"He got a phone call. From daddy." There was a sneer in Spike's voice. "He went running."

"Oh."

Connor's loyalty to us is remarkably strong, but he must balance that with the promises he has made. Do not dare think ill of him for having to run to the aid of his father.

Dana hadn't thought ill of anybody. She really hadn't. She wasn't that sort of person.

Good.

Spike let out a deep sigh, and Dana hesitantly rested her head on his shoulder.

Clem cleared his throat. "You know, if you want to know what's going on, you could just call your friends with the Slayers and ask them if they know."

Spike paused for a second. "I never would have thought of that."

"No," agreed Illyria. "Instead you were thinking of backwards and sneaky ways to extort information from other people."

"Anybody have a phone?" Now Spike sounded grumpy.

"I do," said Clem. "Hang on, got it right here… oops. Here you are." He handed it to Illyria.

Illyria opened the phone and dialed. "What number are you using?" asked Spike.

"I know the number," she replied.

"How?"

"Goddess, remember? I memorized all the numbers in your little address book. Hello, Dawn? Yes, he's right here. Yes, we're all fine right now. No, I don't think so. You are? Congratulations. Are we invited? That's nice."

"What? What are we invited to? Why are you congratulating? What?" asked Spike, his brow furrowing.

"No, we think Boris may be going to attack somewhere else. Yes. Exactly. Well, I don't know. And I know a lot. Goddess, you know. Really? Well, that's interesting. No? I see. Are you sure? Well, of course. That makes sense. No, Boris was a balance demon. Really? How many?"

"Argh!" Spike seemed to spasm. Dana remembered how much he hated being out of the loop, and remembered that previously, when Illyria had been holding inscrutable phone conversations, he had actually been in on them.

"Yes, goodbye." Illyria closed the phone gently. "Spike… did you know that N'Tallkr'ii demons are a form of balance demon?"

Spike thought about it. "Bastard!"

"And Dawn is going to marry Andrew. They're thinking about a wedding in late fall, since they already missed spring."

"Well, just call me Spike, Master Match-maker."

"They were already in a relationship before you confronted them."

"But I doubt either of them had the balls to bring it out into the open before our little confrontation."

"Ah."

"Yeah. So, did Dawn say where the git was hiding?"

"Yes, he was getting set to board a plane with her in an hour."

"An hour? How are we going to get there in an hour!"

"Well, she suggested that we could use the new toy we gave the US government in reverse. Except I don't know how to do that, even being a goddess. That did, however, spark a thought in my mind, one that I think you'll find… interesting."

--

"How we doing, Kri?" asked Barclay, parking the car.

The scaly demon eyed Lucy. "How do you mean?"

Barclay stabbed his cigarette into the ashtray and left it smoldering, opening the door and hopping out. "I mean," he said, pointing at the airport, "how do you plan to get past security?"

"Oh. A simple charm that will make me appear as a human to those who don't know any better. Many demons wear it so they can interact with society."

"I kind of wondered why normals weren't running and screaming most of the time," mused Barclay.

Lucy shook her head. "Only the really ugly ones wear the glamour," she said.

Kri held back a chuckle, trying to look serious. "Well, Homeland Security has made it kind of difficult to get through customs."

He had indeed been 'evil' when he'd last met Spike. It had been the Council of Watchers fault. They had been using their commando teams in a more direct manner than usual, and the balance had shifted slightly.

Kri had told Spike where he could find a Slayer. Where he could do a deed that would elevate him into the history books and would shift the balance of power back towards evil a little bit—enough to maintain the balance.

Since then he'd been working with Barclay. Barclay had risen fast with Kri's help, keeping the balance as Wolfram and Hart's power increased. They had almost tipped the balance, causing Angel to be called as a Champion.

Then there had been two Slayers, and because of it the First Evil had been given the power to correct that inequity and bring its minions to earth.

That had turned into an imbalance of gargantuan proportions, one that had caused balance demons all over the earth to go absolutely evil. And it still hadn't been enough.

And, worse, when the Circle of Black Thorn had been getting ready to start kicking up its biggest campaign yet to even things out, Angel and company had come into play.

Kri had personally advised Wolfram and Hart to retaliate in kind and destroy Angel and Spike. That, he reasoned, would at least begin to balance things out.

Wrong.

At that point Spike had received his Shanshu and been set loose, no longer a Champion, merely a human. That should have been the end of it.

Instead he'd finished Angel's work and destroyed Wolfram and Hart, sending the balance further towards good. He'd turned Illyria from evil to good, made himself a warrior of incredible powers that nobody understood, and destroyed the organization of Vengeance demons.

Thanks to him the balance was hopelessly changed.

Even Boris' attempts to build an army weren't working.

And Spike was recruiting vampires to fight for good. Vampires! Soulless monsters fighting the good fight. That threw the balance right out the window.

Boris should have killed Spike when he had the chance, thought Kri a little glumly. It seemed that Spike wanted to single-handedly destroy evil on earth. And, worse, he was succeeding in his crazy mission.

But taking out the top echelons of Slayer Central ought to even things up just a little bit.

--

"It's a trap, right?" Andrew asked Dawn for the thousandth time.

"Yes."

"And we're going into it why?"

They stood together on the tarmac by the plane, waiting.

"Because it's daylight. That means no vampires. That means this is our best shot at the balance demons. And we have a Slayer, remember?"

"One Slayer. Can't we get a few more?"

Dawn glanced up at the planes landing. "I contacted the Buffster. She and Willow will be here freakily fast, but I think in this case it's really up to us to get this done."

"And we're facing how many super-powerful demons? With one Slayer?"

"One that we know of, but if he's got a brain he'll be bringing backup."

"Right. So where's our Dark Avenger?"

"I suggested a quick transport, but they apparently gave that away before learning how to use it. There's really no backup coming."

Dawn glanced up at the overhead sun. "Well, pretty much not. But you don't have to be right all the time."

"What?"

"I mean, if we're horribly mangled or killed, I don't want to hear any I-told-you-so's."

He nudged her with an elbow. "Heh. Are you sure? Because I've got some killer impressions of Spike doing them."

"Well, okay. But only if they're good impressions."

"We'll have to test that when we're horribly mangled or killed. Which we will be."

"Can't you be positive?"

"And miss my last chance in this world to be right?"

"Hm. Good point."

"Here they are."

Barclay, Lucy and the demon were approaching across the tarmac, the two humans keeping their eyes on the plane behind Dawn and Andrew. The demon was watching Dawn.

"Yeah, it's on," said Dawn.