"So you want me to face the camera, show it my unbitten neck, and say 'Hi Giles, I'm fine.'"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Prisoners don't get to know the plan."
"I won't do it unless you tell me."
"How 'bout I bite you if you don't do it?"
"Then I can't show him an unbitten neck." He kicked at the crypt wall. She watched him from her spot on the bed, where she was curled up with The Scarlet Letter. She had never been much of a reader before, but she was devouring his collection with nothing else to do. TV had lost its appeal early on when she discovered that practically half of his channels were blue, and Spike didn't own any board games.
"Well, then, I'll bite your arm or something."
"Hey, wasn't this written before your time?"
"A little bit. My father was a merchant sailor, though, and he brought it back from America. It was causing quite the stir at the time."
"I can see why. An unwed mother being the main character during a time when women were thought to be all weak and evil."
"Exactly. Now will you do the ransom tape?"
"What are you holding me ransom for?"
"I really don't think the prisoner should get to ask questions like that."
"Well, I am. Tell me."
"I haven't decided yet. I was hoping to kill him at the meeting before I needed to work that out."
"No!" He groaned.
"You're difficult. You'll never get a man that way."
"I have a man." He raised his eyebrows.
"Do tell."
"He's a freshman at UC Sunnydale. We've been dating for almost six months." Spike looked genuinely interested.
"Huh. Well, how 'bout that. What's he like?" She shrugged and smiled, giddy to talk about her boyfriend.
"He's sweet. He holds my hand and opens doors for me. He calls me just to tell me he's thinking of me." Spike pretended to vomit on the floor as he sat down on the bed at her feet.
"What a wanker."
"I like it. He's perfect. We're in love, and we'll be together forever." She might have overdone it a bit with that last part, but Spike was looking at her so incredulously that she couldn't help but try and further justify herself and Riley.
"Perfection is overrated. As is 'together forever'." She understood that he was speaking about Drusilla, and turned the conversation away before he had the chance to get weepy or violent.
"I have a fabulous idea. How about you let me go so I can test those theories of yours out on Riley."
"How about I keep you locked up forever, and see if Prince 'Riley' comes to rescue you?"
"Riley doesn't know where I am."
"Well, he's not a very good prince then, is he?"
"He's better than some." She tossed her head and went back to her reading. Her English teacher would be proud of her.
"Was that a jab, sweet Buffy?" he asked with a smirk. "Because if I recall, I untied you and took you back to my castle."
"You're holding me against my will," she pointed out.
"Well, you're livin' mighty large in captivity. Books, food, free to roam, cable…"
"I'm still not allowed to leave."
"Yea, well maybe I'm not letting you go out there for your own safety. Ever think of that?"
"You're full of it, Spike."
"You can say shit, luv. I won't get mad. Or are you all prudish?" She shook her head.
"I am not a prude!"
"Straight-laced."
"Stop!"
"Stick up the ass."
"Spike!"
"Blushing virgin."
"Ha! There you go, I'm not a virgin." The humor was gone from his eyes as he sized her up.
"You're just a baby," he finally said, getting off the bed. She huffed as he walked away from her.
"Then why did you kiss me yesterday?" It was the first time either of them had said anything about it. He shrugged, turning back to face her.
"Wanted to." She frowned. "Look, Buffy, I'm still not sure what to do with you. It hasn't been so horrible having you around, but I can't just keep you here until you finish readin' all my books. What then?"
"So you thought you could use me as a plaything? Is that right?" she asked, catching his meaning.
"Maybe."
"But I thought I was just a baby."
"I've done worse, pet." She shrunk back against the headboard. Since he'd brought her to the crypt, looks of fear came fewer and farther between. But now, the look she was giving him made up for lost time.
Unable to bear her hazel stare, he decided to go out. It wouldn't be dark for a few hours, but he could use the sewers. Go to Willy's. Have a gay old time.
"I'll be back." He had long ago perfected the art of climbing the ladder using only two rungs, and did so with her eyes still upon him.
He ran to the sewer entrance covered in a blanket, still going over what had just happened. The look she gave him…disappointed. Like she'd thought he had a soft spot for his victim, but then discovered the kindness he had showed her just came out of indecision.
"I will not let the bitch make me feel guilty," he told himself. "No. Not lettin' her." He'd come back later, threaten her into doing the tape thing for Giles, and be on his way. He'd murder the Protector in cold blood, and then he'd be free to spend all his time debating what to do with Buffy. By the time a new Protector had arrived, she'd be dead. Or turned. Or his personal plaything, like she had said. One of the three.
'Or she'd be taking her math test' the back of his mind felt inclined to point out. He snorted. Like hell HE, Spike, William the Bloody, the Big Bad, Master Vampire of Sunndale, was going to let Buffy go. No way. She'd be dead first.
He scowled at the thought of killing her. She'd give him that look again when he cornered her, and he didn't like the effects the look had on him. He'd kill her when she wasn't looking. No, that wouldn't be fun. With a sigh, he ruled out that option. Looked like he'd be turning her. But no, with Giles gone, he wouldn't have anyone to torture with a Vamped Buffy. And she didn't look like she'd be much good in a fight- skinny and small was what she was. He thought back to what he'd told her about Darla, another tiny blonde bint, but Darla had been corrupted from the start. Before she died, she'd been a disgrace to humanity. She belonged in the darkness. Buffy wasn't cut out for unlife.
Well then, she'd be his pet. Maybe even wear a collar. His and his alone. But how long could that really last, before she lost her looks and her spirit? A few years, maybe a decade at most. Plus, there'd be that whole eyes thing again.
And he bloody wasn't just going to let her go.
'Spike, buddy, you're out of options.' It was true- he'd ruled out all four possible choices. Maybe he'd be able to reevaluate after a few beers. And not the watered-down American kind, the good stuff.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Giles paced anxiously back and forth. Spike and Co. were supposed to have been there ten minutes ago. He fiddled with the stake stashed in his sleeve. Maybe they weren't planning on showing up at all. Maybe they were dowsing the school with gasoline as he paced, and were planning to blow it and him hundreds of feet into the air. That wouldn't be at all unlike him.
Except Spike would know better than to mess with the Hellmouth's door like that. It was probably the only thing that had kept him from sending the school up in flames years ago.
Noises in the hallway brought Giles out of his musings, and he gritted his teeth as four younger Vampires walked in. Spike was behind them, dragging a handcuffed…Buffy!
"I was going to make you a tape, but she wouldn't cooperate."
"Buffy, are you alright?" Giles asked, ignoring Spike's comment. His eyes were fixed on the blonde Vampire, but he didn't respond.
"I'm fine. But it's a trap, Giles! Run!" Spike poked her hard in the ribs, eliciting a squeal.
"Buffy, your mother and friends are worried sick about you." He wasn't going to run. Saving innocent girls like Buffy from monsters like Spike, that was his calling.
"Am I in trouble for leaving Snyder's office? Because I didn't want to, but DORIAN took me." She glared at the Vampire a few feet in front of her, as he smiled a sick smile to himself. Giles momentarily raised his eyebrow. The Vampires had Buffy on a first name basis with themselves?
"You were, but then it was discovered you had been abducted. How do you know that Vampire's name?"
"Oh, Spike told me when he took me out of the factory." She said it so breezily that a feeling of dread began to wind around Giles' neck. Tighter and tighter…
"Spike, prove to me she's still human." Please. Please prove it. Spike smirked as he gave Buffy a little push forward, sending her sprawling to the floor, her bound hands not doing much to break her fall.
"Get some Holy Water." Buffy was not happy about being made to lay face-down as her librarian poured cold water on the back of her neck, but when he was satisfied, the Vamps made a circle around her.
"Stay down, Buffy," Spike ordered. She rolled her eyes as she complied. Strangely, she wasn't very afraid. It didn't seem likely that Spike would let any of their four companions hurt her, Dorian included, so he was the only one she was worried about. And she just couldn't see him killing her quickly, then and there. With all the thinking he had been doing about her lately, she was betting on a more extravagant murder, if that was the path he chose for her. So she just watched from the floor, afraid only for Giles.
"You said we would talk terms," Giles began calmly. He was slightly more relaxed now that he knew Buffy was unharmed.
"Yes. I want that poison brewin' book you have."
"And you'll give me Buffy?"
"Sure. We'll give you Buffy. But before the transaction can take place, we need to make sure you're unarmed." He nodded, and two of the Vampires came forward. Giles put his hands on the wooden table in front of him, and spread his legs slightly. He'd gotten into a spot of trouble when he was a teenager, trying to summon demons with his friends. It hadn't worked, but they'd been accused of breaking and entering a magic shop anyway. So he remembered the pat-down drill.
He sensed it almost before it happened. Spike's generosity was not to be trusted, and one of the Vampires standing next to him lunged for his neck. He swiveled and stabbed its chest with his hidden stake, watching it turn to dust in front of his eyes.
"Up, Buffy!" Spike yelled, throwing her over his shoulder again as soon as she was on her feet. Giles dusted the second Vamp, and the other two looked to Spike for guidance.
"We're getting the prisoner out," he commanded, and all three ran. Buffy could see Giles, as she was facing backwards, so she was the first to notice him standing in the library doors- with a crossbow. It hit the Vampire that wasn't Dorian, and now only he and Spike were running. Spike swore as he signaled to Dorian to split up, and Giles raced after the two of them as Dorian took a shortcut through her history classroom.
"Damn," he said in a very annoyed tone as he stumbled. Buffy screamed as she fell to the floor with him, and looked at the wooden arrow protruding from the back of his knee. "Ouch." Buffy looked up as Giles barreled down upon them, and made her decision without thinking. She yanked the arrow out, causing Spike to howl.
"Run." His eyes met hers, as he saw her sitting there with a bloody arrow in her still bound hands. Giles was almost to them, screaming at HER to run. "Run. He'll kill you," she said in a 'duh' tone. He heaved himself to his feet and took off, running faster without her, even as he limped. Giles reached her as she realized her tailbone was throbbing where she'd fell.
"Ow!" Her shriek of pain caused him to join her on the floor, anxiously checking her for injuries, instead of following Spike. She breathed a sigh of relief as he threw himself through a door that led to the outside. And then realized how wrong it was to have helped her captor escape. She really was a crappy captive.
"Are you alright?" he asked again. She nodded, wincing as he pulled her to her feet. "Let's get those things off you." He led her back to the library, not noticing in his relief that she had been holding his arrow when he reached her. And if he did, he blocked it out. There was no way Buffy would have helped Spike, so he didn't even go there.
He made her tea, and had her sit in his view on one of the tables, wrapped in a blanket he'd procured from the nurse's office. He called the police to say that Buffy had wandered back to the place she'd been kidnapped from, and that she appeared to be alright. He gave her a pre-invented story about two men, descriptions included, who had thought she was a rich girl to be ransomed, but soon found out from the news that Joyce Summers was a single mother, without much money. She had a certain respect for Giles as she listened to him explain the story to her, throwing out all sorts of minor details to tell the law. She'd never realized how hard his job was- every unexplained supernatural occurrence, he had to find a humanly believable story to explain it. She'd always trusted in the police, thinking the black and white thoughts that they were good guys, and good guys caught bad guys and made them pay for what they'd done. Now, however, after spending not even three days in the company of Vampires, she knew that wasn't true. There was nothing they could do about the demons and Vampires who roamed the earth, because they were themselves above human laws. Giles, as a human, had to follow earthly laws AND higher authority's laws. He had really gotten the short straw here.
"Buffy!" her mother rushed in, followed by Riley and some cops. Joyce embraced her daughter, planting kisses all over her face and forehead. "I was so worried…I'm so sorry, honey…"
"Miss, we have several questions we'd like to ask you," one of the cops began, but Giles stepped in.
"I believe Miss Summers has had quite the difficult night. May I suggest you do this tomorrow?" Joyce and Riley seconded that, so the officers reluctantly backed off.
"Thank you Mr. Giles, thank you so much!"
"It really wasn't anything, Ms. Summers. Just take Buffy home, and let her sleep." Buffy stood up, her mother's arms around her as she walked towards the door. Then she remembered something.
"Uh Giles? Could I check out a book?" Everyone in the room stared at her, particularly the three who knew she wasn't much of a reader.
"Which book?" he finally asked.
"The Scarlet Letter." She'd never finished it. Everyone was silent as Giles
retrieved it from a shelf, stamped a card, and requested that Buffy signed the inside cover of the book. She took it with a smile, and let her mother lead her to the car, Riley following.
