Hospital Visits:

Ch 4 – Deviousness

Buffy listened to the lecturer inattentively as most of her concentration remained on her mother and the brain scan that she would have sometime today. She felt awful; guilty for not worrying more about Riley, guiltier for not being with her mother. Of course, Joyce wouldn't hear of Buffy skipping classes over what, they hoped, would be minor. That didn't stop her from feeling like she shouldn't be wasting the day here, however.

Her 'Poetry and Contemporary Writing' professor was enthusiastically detailing the brilliance of Haiku and though Buffy liked what they'd read so far, she just couldn't really care about it right now. It was almost a relief when the lecture was interrupted by the sounds of someone clearing his throat from the doorway.

"Yes?" Professor Lillian asked of the man. He was large, built like a freight train and wearing some sort of army fatigues.

"Buffy Summers? I need to speak with Ms. Summers, immediately. It's urgent. I'm, uh, sorry to interrupt your class, sir."

As Buffy, embarrassed, gathered her things, she glanced apologetically at Mr. Lillian. She liked him most of all her professors and she felt bad that she was causing the interruption. Of course, she knew immediately that the large, black guy was here from the military and that meant Riley. Someone must have been on the other end of Riley's line, after all.

Once she managed to stumble out into the hallway and several feet from the classroom door, she turned on the soldier. "Is this about Riley?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm Private Washington. Riley's friend, Graham, sent me to get you. We need to find Riley Finn and get him to the seventh floor of Sunnydale Memorial."

"Is it serious? No, never mind. I saw Riley when he was having an 'episode', of course it's serious."

"Yes, ma'am. We tried to get him to come in with us, but he took off after pounding on Major Miller. I wasn't part of the Initiative, but from what I know, Lt. Colonel Finn's looking at a heart attack if we can't find him."

"Great. Okay," Buffy took a few deep breaths to center her thoughts, "you guys check the old 314 site. I'll have my friends check a few other places while I tackle the warren of tunnels underneath town."

As soon as the soldier was racing away, Buffy flipped open her cell phone. With a call to the Magic Box she promoted finding Riley from an 'if you hear from him' deal to a bon-a-fide 'Scooby Alert'. While Anya watched over the store, Giles told her that he would drive around town.

She next called Tara's dorm room, leaving a message for her and Willow to check the old high school as soon as they received the message. "This is serious guys. Riley's really in trouble and we need to get him to the hospital."

She considered for a moment calling their cells, but didn't want to interrupt their classes. She knew that was silly considering the circumstances, but she didn't believe Riley would go back to the high school's hulking ruins, anyway.

Her final call was to Xander. It took a few tries for her to remember that his home building work had finished. After finally calling the Magic Box back and asking Anya where he'd be, she got in touch with him over at the Harris' old house. For some reason, he still hadn't gotten around to having the phone service and other utilities cancelled there. She was suddenly glad he tended to procrastinate so badly. His assignment was to check the northern side of town, especially the abandoned Crawford mansion and the empty bed and breakfast. Once done with the phone calls and as she walked off campus, she wore a grimace. Not only was she going to miss her Biology exam now, but she was also going to need more help than just the Scoobies. That meant talking to the one thing she didn't want to speak to, ever.

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Spike was sitting in the mausoleum area of his living quarters, stroking the blond wig of his plasti-Buffy. He was relieved that things with Harris were patched up and now his focus was on getting into the good graces of the Slayer, again. With Riley out of the picture as far as Buffy was concerned, he had the chance he'd been looking for to woo her. If he could find a way to keep his mouth from blurting out the very thing she'd push him away over, that was.

From below, Harmony's voice called out to him to come to bed. He grimaced. He didn't know why she was still here, or why he kept paying her any attention. Okay, there was the sex which started all of this, but sooner or later he was going to have to cut her loose. Buffy would never be with him if he was laying other bimbos. Humans could be very possessive, like that.

Returning below and sprawling out on the queen sized mattress, Spike didn't bother removing his clothing. As soon as Harmony had tried to snuggle, he gave her one of his 'irritated' looks and feigned exhaustion. With her rolled over on her other side facing away from him, he concentrated on trying to sleep; he hoped Buffy was waiting for him in his dreams. Not that he'd be likely to remember if she was.

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Spike found himself in a park. It looked a little like the tiny plot of land behind St. Vincent's and he worried briefly. Technically, that was hallowed church ground which made clothing absolutely essential when coming in contact with it. However, he was dressed in cut off jeans, no shirt, and was barefoot and yet all he felt from beneath his skin was the grass. The full moon cast its magical silver glow on all of the plant life around him. The flowers were open and their fragrance filled the air. Next to Spike was a small blanket upon which sat a basket. He knew instinctively that within would be sandwiches and a bottle of red wine. His stomach growled and he was surprised because he was actually craving the sandwiches, rather than his usual diet. He was just wondering if his companion would be mad at him if he snuck just one when Xander appeared, walking through the little gateway that separated this place from the world without. Spike smiled, "It's about time Harris. A bloke could waste away waiting for you to show."

Xander plopped himself down on the lawn, grinning. "Do you know how cute you are when you're hungry?" He reached out to the basket and began to unload ham and cheese from it. His eyes never left William's own as he set to opening the bottle of wine that waited.

"You know what I'd like to do, Harris? I'd like to sit under the moon like this one night and just write poetry about the way the light reflects from your eyes."

Xander smiled and William found his heart warmed, until the look on Xander's face became hungry and predatory. William was afraid suddenly, though he didn't understand the basis of his fear. The wind picked up, icy fingers that drew goose bumps along his flesh. Overhead, the moon was blotted out by dark storm clouds. William looked up just as a flash of lightning blinded him.

As his sight cleared, he turned to Xander to warn him that they should go inside. In front of him, Xander had sprouted fangs. His face was covered in wiry hair, his nose was canine. But it was the eyes that were most horrible: heavily ridged and yellow and filled with terrible blood lust.

"Xander?" William yelled in horror.

"Why Spike? We were friends. Why'd you do this to me?"

William was confused. He didn't know what was happening or how Xander could think this was his fault. He grasped for questions to ask, but found his tongue glued to the roof of his mouth.

Xander reached into the picnic basket and pulled out a hand mirror. William didn't want to face the thing in it, but he found himself paralyzed. Unable to turn his head away or to even shut his eyes, he waited for the inevitable.

"No, no. This isn't real," William said, tears now streaking his cheeks. He wasn't even sure to what he was referring.

"Oh, it's real alright. You did this, Spike. You turned on us all. Why?" He held the mirror up to William's face.

And he saw what he already knew would be there. His own demonic visage was staring from the glass back at him. His chin was covered in thick red blood and it dripped in stringy ropes of saliva from his open jaw.

He knocked the glass away from his sight. Turning to Xander, he tried to explain that image was the past, not the present. But Xander was lying upon the ground. From his neck spurted blood in torrents to soak and stain the ground beneath him. His artery clearly showed the two punctured holes of a vampire's bite. His eyes were lifeless and wide open staring up at the sky. They didn't reflect the moon that had once again come out, though the wind had not let up and lightning still raged from the clear sky. But the bright flashes didn't reflect from his eyes anymore; the light was swallowed by them, lost in the depths of his death.

Spike screamed. He screamed out his horror and pain at what he'd done, but he couldn't undo it now. Movement from his shoulder caught his attention and when he turned he found Buffy standing over him, looking with tears at Xander's corpse. She didn't speak a word, simply pulled a stake calmly from her leather jacket sleeve. As she placed the stake to Spike's chest, he could only thank her for ending this nightmare.

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Spike came awake with a growl, his fangs extended and his brow ridged. Next to him, Harmony was in a similar state. Her aggression immediately became fear, however, when they both heard Buffy's voice echo in the chamber above them. With a dive, Harmony was out of the bed and onto the floor lying naked in the dirt, trying to flatten herself into as small a space as possible.

"What's she doing here," she hissed. "If she finds me here, I'm ash! Spikey, get rid of her!"

Spike considered for just a moment inviting Buffy down into the lower chamber just to see Harmony panic. Buffy's demanding tone of voice was annoying though, so he decided she didn't deserve his generosity.

Leaving the 'bedroom' he climbed the rock staircase up into the mausoleum. Buffy stood glancing around at the inside of the crypt, distaste on her features.

"Buffy? To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'll cut to the chase Spike. I need to find Riley and get him to the hospital. He's sick. You're going to help me."

"Oh, really. And I'd do that because me and the action figure are such close buds?"

"No, you'll do it because you don't want me to beat the crap out of you or introduce you to a sliver of wood."

"Try again, Slayer. That threat only works so often and you've already reached your quota for this week." Spike reached into his back jeans pocket for his cigarettes only to pull out an empty pack. As he crumpled and dropped the empty package, he looked up to find a sardonic grin on Buffy's face.

"Look, then, Spike," she said reaching into her own pocket. "I got twenty bucks here that's just sitting and doing nothing. How bad do you need a nicotine fix?"

Spike grimaced, but had to admit she had him. "Fine. Hand it over."

Buffy instead ripped the twenty in half. Handing him one half of the torn bill, the other disappeared back into her pocket. "Here's the deal," she said, "you get Riley to the hospital in time to save his life, I give you the money. You screw around, you get nothing. And if I find out you found him and didn't help him, I swear Spike, no amount of pleading by Xander is going to keep me from dusting you."

As she turned on her heel to storm out, Spike stopped her. "Hey," he spoke up, "What's the matter with him? Why doesn't he just go himself?"

"I told you, he's sick." Buffy sighed, "It's more Initiative B.S., okay? You're not the only one they chipped, but his aren't working right anymore. Just help me find him and get him to the seventh floor of the hospital, Spike. I might even be grateful to you for it."

Spike smirked in her direction, "Oh, yeah, now? And just how grateful would that be, then?"

The look on Buffy's face was utter disgust. Without a word, she stomped out of the crypt and slammed his tomb door.

"I didn't say anything about sex. Interesting that's where her mind went," he commented to himself. Maybe I really do have some hope.

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End Ch 4