Chapter Thirteen: A Stake and a Spike
New Years Eve was an exciting time for Sunnydale High. There was a dance. It was only a semi-formal but involved as much glamour as a ball would. Even though Joy and Blake were now official, his family was vacationing in Hawaii for the last week before Blake returned to school and so Joy was left with no one to go with. Luckily, this dance wasn't the type of dance where a date was required, and in order to spend yet another night away from her house, Joy decided to go by herself.
The gym had been decorated entirely in the most obnoxious shades of gold and black with the only calming contrast being the white banner hanging above the doorway announcing the holiday. Why the colors were black and gold, Joy could not decide. All of the girls seemed to agree with the color theme because each and every one of them was decked out in flirty little gold or black dresses (most of which had a gaudy covering of sparkles). Joy (never one for following the crowd) showed up in a fairly modest, white dress; the silky material faintly shimmered in the gleam of the multiple spotlights hanging overhead of the gym-turned-dance floor.
It probably wasn't the best idea for an already-lonely student to attend a dance by herself, but Joy was desperate, and she did not want to be at home any more than absolutely necessary. However, just before eleven o'clock, when she had been at the dance for over two hours, Joy realized that she was just being wistful and she decided that she couldn't endure the humiliation of being partner-less for yet, another dance. And so she left.
Wandering from the energetic atmosphere of the gym, Joy meandered through the unusually empty hallways. School was a whole different place at night, when no one was there. Joy found it to be almost comforting and peaceful, but at the same time a little freaky and mysterious, and soon she had escaped the ghostly still halls to the quiet outdoors. After strolling around the emptied yard of the school grounds for a few minutes, Joy decided that she liked being outside even less than being inside. The night was too quiet for her. She was used to being out late in downtown LA where things were always riotous and exciting. She came to the conclusion that Sunnydale was a very dull place.
Those thoughts dissolved in an instant when the night's stillness was suddenly pierced by a frenzied scream. Spinning around Joy ran instinctively to the football field at the back of the gym. There a tall, chain-link fence blocked her. She pressed her face against the fence; her eyes were squinted to see into the darkness. In the distance, she noticed a young girl running fast across the long field with her glimmering gold dress flowing in the breeze. Behind her ran a young guy dressed in the dance-style tuxedo, so Joy decided he had to be her date. Behind them both was an unmistakable Vampire, flashing his sharp teeth threateningly. Not another one of those bastards! She rolled her eyes in irritation and began searching for some way around the fence. What are those idiots doing outside of the dance? And why the hell am I actually going to help them? I don't know them! And I doubt that they've even bothered to say 'hi' to me in the halls...grr...damn my stupid conscience. With a sigh, Joy linked her fingers through the chain-links and shook the fence furiously with the hope that it wasn't very strong metal, but of course it was. Suddenly, another young girl joined the three in the field. She was running towards the Vampire with some sort of thick stick raised high above her head. Dawn? Joy frowned when she realized that the valiant, young girl was her friend. What the hell is she thinking? She's going to get herself killed! Joy watched in confused horror as Dawn neared the group and leapt on the vicious Vampire, waving her stick wildly as she attempted to tackle him to the ground.
For a very short minute, Joy actually thought that the crazy girl might have a good chance at winning, but then another Vampire appeared, as if out of nowhere, and knocked her to the ground, pinning Dawn's arms above her head. Dammit! Without another angry thought, Joy kicked off her slip-on heels, hooked her fingers on the chain links and scaled the fence with incredible speed and skill! As she dropped to the other side Joy frowned, realizing how easy she had been able to climb the tall fence. Another scream reminded her why she had attempted the great feat in the first place and she took off running towards the bravely struggling girl.
When Joy joined the battle, the petrified couple had all but disappeared through the open back door of the gym. "Wimps!" Joy shouted towards them, not really caring whether or not they actually heard her. A second later, she had been noticed by one of the Vampire's and was thrown off her feet. She tumbled to the ground with a startled shriek.
Dawn craned her neck to see who had joined her and gasped. "What are you doing her?"
"I thought you could use some help?" Joy kicked hard at the Vampire that was coming towards her, sending him flying backwards.
"I'm fine. I can handle this by myself!" Dawn wiggled her hands free from the Vampire's strong grip and crawled away from him. She didn't get far before the creature had pounced on top of her. Her hands hit the ground hard to lessen the impact with her face.
"Sure, whatever," Joy rolled her eyes at her stubborn friend and quickly came to her aid. With a swift kick the Vampire on top of Dawn rolled away and lay stunned for a moment on the grass.
"Look, Joy, you really don't know what you're getting into!" Dawn tried to explain but Joy's first attacker chose to retaliate at that moment and kicked Joy hard in the back. She bent forward from the sudden pain but caught herself before she fell to her knees.
"I'm sorry, but I think I know a little bit more about this than you do!" Joy exclaimed spinning around and punching the beast hard in the face. His head swung back and Joy took that moment to knee him in the gut. He fell back onto the ground. The other Vampire, who had been curiously watching Joy's excellent fighting skills, now lunged at her and knocked her onto the ground. They wrestled seriously while Dawn tried to fight with the injured one, but even with his slight beatings he was much stronger than Dawn could every try to be and within seconds he had her knocked down with a hard blow. Dawn whimpered from the pain in her jaw and when she felt her lips with her fingers she found blood. Joy had managed to plant a hard blow to the Vampire she was fighting, just at the bridge of his nose and it was taking him a minute to recover, so she turned to assist Dawn. Before she had a chance, a strangely handsome man with bleached-blonde hair joined them. He dove perfectly on top of the Vampire, with his long, leather duster flying behind him, and maneuvered the danger away from Dawn. Joy was momentarily too surprised to think correctly, but her opponent had recovered now and so she was forced to resume the fight.
The next few moments blurred and her awareness seemed to disappear as she mechanically fought the violent fiend who was attacking her mercilessly. Just as she was ducking from a furious jump-kick, she heard the heroic stranger shouting orders out at Dawn.
"Get out of here Dawn!" His voice revealed a British-type accent. It was attractive, but, Joy was too preoccupied to be concerned with the details of a stranger's voice.
"What about her?" Dawn jumped to her feet but only backed up slightly. The bleached-blonde glanced towards Joy just in time to see her kick at the Vampire's legs, causing the rather bulky, un-dead creature to buckle and collapse on the ground.
"She seems to be doing bloody well for herself." Joy fixed her foot on the Vampire's neck, just under his chin and she turned to Dawn.
"Are you going to use that or is it your substitute hand purse?" She nodded towards the stake, still secure in Dawn's hand. Dawn seemed startled at the question but obligingly tossed the stick to Joy who caught it expertly in her left hand. "Thank you," Joy bent down and stabbed the wood deep into the Vampire's chest and he disintegrated expectedly. Straightening up, very satisfied with herself, Joy turned just in time to see the other Vampire being dusted by the stranger.
"So..." Dawn turned to Joy with a forced little giggle. "That was bizarre, huh?"
Joy shrugged, "Yea, sure," and she brushed the Vampire's ashes off of her dress. "See ya." She turned to leave, not really wanting to have to explain how she knew so much about the creepy species of evil, but then she realized that Dawn and her strange, attractive friend had to know something as well, since they didn't act startled at all when they were faced with the frightening creatures, so she paused. "Umm...Dawn..." Joy turned back to the two who were staring at her very peculiarly.
"Uh-huh," Dawn's blue eyes were wide and uncertain. "Umm...Joy...I know this is strange..."
"Actually..." Joy sighed and hesitated.
"That was an impressive fight, Joy." Dawn complimented.
"Impressive?" The handsome man at Dawn's side let out a slight laugh. "She was bloody incredible."
Joy shrugged, "Thanks. You were pretty good too." She smiled.
Now that the fight was over, Joy was able to inspect the stranger. He was definitely good looking, that she had already decided with just one glance. Upon closer, and rather enjoyable, inspection, she noticed his charming, brown eyes, model-like, sunken cheeks, very-kissable, pouty lips...wow, okay, I should stop letting my mind roam. I don't even know his name. And he looks old, much older than me...but oh god, he's hot! Joy blinked quickly trying to drag her attention away from the attractive man in front of her and back to Dawn. "So, Dawn..."
"Yea," Dawn seemed just as unsure as Joy as to where to begin in the conversation they would inevitably have to have about the creatures they were just battling.
"You seemed to know what you were doing there, luv. Staked many Vamps have you?" The attractive man with the deep and handsome voice smirked.
"Staked?" Joy bit her lip in slight puzzlement. "Oh, you mean the stake and the chest and the dust thing? Yea, a few, I guess." She didn't elaborate on any of her previous fights and they didn't pry. "What about you? You seemed to be pretty sure of yourself in the fight."
"Well, I've had my share of the big bads." He motioned towards her shoulder. "You're bleeding."
Joy glanced down and rolled her eyes. "Yea, it's just a scratch. I don't think it's fair for them to use their teeth as weapons. It's like they've got these permanent knives, just waiting to strike..." She was rambling and they were staring and she felt suddenly stupid and naïve. "So, this whole Vampire crashing the dance thing...that's not a reoccurring event is it?" She didn't know what else to say, but something was necessary to break the awkward tension. They only laughed in a sarcastic response. "Okay, great!" Joy replied, equally sarcastic.
The handsome guy turned to Dawn. Concern showed clearly in his eyes and Joy wondered what their relationship was. "Dawn, you're hurt." He took her hand away from her mouth, revealing a swollen lip, and a nose leaking blood.
"I'm fine, Spike, stop treating me like I can't take care of myself!" Dawn pulled away in annoyance. Spike? That's a funny name! Joy thought to herself, unconsciously grinning.
"Hey, don't start up with me!" He took hold of her arm and at his touch, Dawn winced. "Dawn, you're hurt, alright, stop being all bloody grown-up!" He held up her arm for inspection and in the gleam of the football-field lights he could see some slight bruising forming on her arm. "Oh bloody hell, the slayer's going to kill me."
"She won't either," Dawn assured him. "At the very most there will be some slight beating and some possible threatening and in the end probably some very heavy bruise-age, but I highly doubt there will be any real killing! She needs you too much. You're like her bodyguard. You're her slaying-bodyguard-buddy!" Dawn had a goofy little giggle, even after going through a serious, well semi-serious, life-threatening event.
"And on that encouraging note..." The handsome man with the strange name shook his head with a sigh.
After that long ramble from Dawn and Spike's contemplative frown, Joy felt out of place and confused, so she decided it would be best for her to leave. "Well, it's been swell, and now I'm going to go! I'll talk to you later, Dawn." Joy waved curtly and headed back towards the fence, where her shoes were still waiting on the other side. She glanced back to Dawn and Spike who were staring at her. Spike's eyes were a dark, clear brown and they were fixated on her. Joy couldn't take her eyes off of him but as she started to pick up her pace, she tripped on absolutely nothing and fell forward onto her knees. She blushed, instantly embarrassed and quickly stood up, refusing to look back at the two who were undoubtedly laughing at her klutziness.
Dawn nudged Spike with meaningful eyes as they watched the girl leave. "Well? We can't just let her go!" She exclaimed in a loud whisper.
"What? Why not?" Spike replied, much louder than a whisper.
"Spike, she just slayed a Vampire without even blinking. Don't you think that's kind of strange, you know, like our type of strange?" Dawn was emphatic and her voice rose in urgency as Joy neared the fence.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Spike watched the young blonde as she repeated the climb over the fence, this time leaving the field.
"I've never seen anyone fight like that, except for Buffy and Faith, well and you, but you don't count because well, you know, you're bad." Dawn's eyes almost crossed in bewilderment. "Well, I guess Faith was bad too, so I'm not sure that counts, but, well, she fights almost as good as Buffy! And I know for a fact that Joy has recently lost both of her parents!" Joy had reached the other side and was retrieving her shoes. Dawn nudged Spike again. "Come on, Spike! You can't let her get away!"
"Why's it got to be me? Why am I always the one to deal with the out-of-the-ordinary?" He may have been whining, quite unmanly, but in truth he was quite interested in figuring out more about the strange, strong, and very beautiful girl.
"Fine, I'll go stop her." Dawn put on her most grown up face and started strutting after Joy. Somehow, though, at some point in her battle with the Vampire, pre-Spike, her ankle had been hurt and now she as she walked with a slight limp.
"Hold on there princess, I'll go get her, and then we're getting you home, and then you're sister can wring my neck!" And with that Spike headed towards the fence, trying to reach Joy before she left.
Joy brushed the last remains of dust off her dress and reached up curiously to figure out the condition of her hair, which she had spent so long pinning up in fancy twists before the dance. The pins had loosened and a few were missing so that some pieces of her hair were now hanging sloppily about her face and down her back. She spun around as she heard Spike calling her name.
He had reached the fence. "It is Joy, right?"
"Yes," Joy nodded. "And you're, Spike?" She considered questioning as to his peculiar name but then thought better of it. Instead she just waited for him to explain why he had run halfway across the expansive football field to ask her if he had his name right. He didn't explain. "Did you want something, Spike?"
"Yea, uh, well," Spike hesitated because he wasn't really clear on Dawn's sudden brainwave to stop the girl. Now that he had succeeded on that mission, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with her. "Hold for a minute, would you?" He turned back to Dawn and shouted to her, "What did you want her for, Dawn?"
Dawn shook her head and ran towards them, calling out when she was still a few feet away. "Joy, would you like to come home with us?"
"Us?" Joy glanced back and forth between Dawn and Spike. "You two...live together?"
"What – oh God – oh bloody hell no!" Spike sputtered out with a nervous head shake.
Dawn giggled again, "No, Spike doesn't live with me, he's just a good friend, of my sister."
"Wait," Joy jumped back to Dawn's earlier question before she become troubled with the thought of a high school student living with such a handsome man who was obviously so much older than high school. "Why are you inviting me back to your house?"
"You're hurt, and you're pretty good with the pointy stick-in-the-heart maneuver." Dawn explained.
"Yea, so," Joy frowned and pulled her cell phone out of her purse to see the digital clock. "It's almost midnight."
Spike jumped into the conversation. "You know something about Vampire's, luv, and that's got us interested! I think it'd be good for you to meet Dawn's big sis."
"Why?" Joy thought back to when Dawn had invited Joy to come home and meet her sister before, when Joy had told Dawn about all the dark secrets of her past.
"I think she'd like to talk to you," Dawn offered. "You know, what with the Vampire's and the slayage..."
"I'm confused," Joy shifted her weight onto one foot. "What is 'slayage' exactly?"
Dawn frowned and then shook her head, "That's so not the point. Anyway, please come home with us. I am very certain that my sister would love to meet you. And she's so cool! You'd love her!" She plastered an un-forced silly grin on her face and then switched it to a pout. "Please, just come and meet her."
"I really don't understand why you want to introduce me to your sister," Joy was thoroughly confused. First of all, Dawn had told Joy before to talk with her sister, for help. And now she was practically insisting on Joy's coming over to her house, late at night, to meet her family...strange girl. Joy decided with a relenting shrug. "Whatever." She was too confused to argue with them so she agreed.
"Okay, then, umm, Spike how'd you get here?" Dawn turned to him suddenly.
"I walked." He stated simply.
"Oh right, of course." Dawn smiled, "Then let's get going. I want to hurry and be home." She started limping towards the gate at the end of the long gate nearest to the gym. Spike hurried after her.
"Dawn, you can't walk all the way home with a limp."
Joy waited for them to join her on the other side of the gate. "Umm, you know, we could drive."
"Sure, if I had some sort of wheels other than my bike, which I don't even have right now." Spike sighed.
"Actually, I was talking about my car." Joy said.
"You've got a car?" Spike sounded surprised. "Well Dawn, I think you're new friend's cooler than you."
"Shut up!" Dawn pretended to pout while hobbling along behind Joy who was now leading the way to the parking lot. "It's not my fault that Buffy doesn't trust me to drive!"
"Oh, and I suppose it's not your fault that you all but demolished Buffy's car?" Spike pointed out and Dawn glared. He noticed Dawn was still limping and so he came to her side and offered his assistance by looping his arm behind her waist and letting her lean on him.
"I have one minor run-in with the garage door and suddenly I'm not allowed to drive anymore!" Dawn muttered under her breath, gratefully leaning on Spike for balance.
"I'm still slightly confused...no scratch that, I'm completely confused about this all." Joy continued to ramble while unlocking the car and motioning for them to get in. "Why exactly am I meeting your sister? And what does she have to do with Vampires?" Before she shifted the car into reverse, Joy turned around to look at Spike who was in the back seat. "And what were you doing walking around by our school, at night?"
Dawn turned too, "That's actually a very good question. Why were you walking out by my school, Spike?" Spike cleared his throat nervously as though he had been caught doing something he shouldn't.
"Umm...well...that's a good question..."
"Spike," Dawn's voice was accusing.
"Ah, come on niblet!" Spike half-smiled, "You know that big sis's worried about you, especially with her history of dances and all!"
Dawn rolled her eyes and turned back to face the front. "Whatever," She folded her arms across her chest. "I'm so sick of everyone treating me like a child." She mumbled under her breath as Joy speedily backed out of her parking space and sped out of the lot. "Buffy's just got to mind her own business sometimes." She spoke louder for Spike's benefit.
"Yea, well, you be sure and tell her so when we get you home, alright? But, for now–" Spike cut off suddenly and then raised his voice in an outrage that almost made Joy jerk the wheel. "Oh bloody hell! The damn wet field got mud on my coat!"
Glancing in the rearview mirror, Joy noticed the angry British blonde removing his long duster and inspecting it for dirt-damage. She had to snicker. Strange guy...strange people actually. I don't know what the deal is with Dawn and her sister, but I guess anything's better than going back to that dance...or home. Besides, I want answers.