Fade Into You
Disclaimer: BtVS and Angel belong to people with a lot more money than me.
The Contingency Plan
They'd walked a while in silence from the crypt before Spike understood where they were going.
"Your place to start looking is the Mansion then, is it pet?" He gave her a sardonic look. "The blood poof left you a present then?"
Buffy laughed drily. If he only knew…
"Not Angel." She said as Crawford Street came into sight. "Angelus."
"They share the same mind, luv." Spike pointed out gently. "What one knew so did the other." And there's no bleedin' way Peaches would let his demon leave little "gifts" for the Slayer. He would've taken care of those right-off when he came back from his holiday in a hell dimension.
Casting him a witchy look from under lowered lids, Buffy took out a key from its hiding spot next to her favorite stake before turning it in the lock and opening the doors.
"Not necessarily." She said as they moved inside and she flipped on the master switch that turned on all the lights in the main rooms of the house. The sudden illumination wasn't kind to either of their pairs of eyes and it took them a moment to adjust.
Once his eyes stopped screamin' Spike took a careful look around. Someone – no need to guess who – has been maintaining the Mansion. A small part of him understood it but the rest of him was boggled. For all that Peaches stayed here for a time, the Mansion was one hundred percent Angelus's territory. One of dozens of grand homes scattered all over the world for the Master vampire to call his own. Why would the Slayer spend her own time and energy on keeping it up?
Leading him to the stairs she explained.
"Angelus, as I'm sure you well know, beneath all the rage, hate, and plain crazy, is an extremely intelligent and meticulous creature." She began leading him to the Master suite – a suite that had chains criss-crossing the door and held with another lock that she swiftly undid. "He knew that there was a chance – however insignificant it was from his perspective – that he could lose. Either by being re-souled or by being given the true death. So he made a contingency plan."
Buffy took a deep breath as they entered Angelus's lair. She hasn't been in here except to clean once a month or so for years. The impossibly wide and deep bed still had the red silk sheets he selected. Weapons and fine art of all kinds were scattered about the walls and showcased in display cases. Tapestries and "lost" masterpieces hung side-by-side Angelus's own artwork.
She knew the moment Spike saw the focal point of the room, one you can only see facing away from the bed as it was positioned to be seen from the bed.
A life-sized oil painting – one of Angelus's originals.
"Bugger me." Spike breathed his eyes wide. "That's the best work of 'is I've ever seen, pet."
Kneeling before a section of paneling under the bed, Buffy only nodded her head, well familiar with the content of the painting. Brushing her hand carefully down the intricate carving she found the catch she was looking for and pressed it, making a section of the paneling release with a faint click. Opening the hidden cubby, she removed the chest Angelus had placed there for her and carried it over to his desk, looking up at the painting at last.
She never posed for it.
Angelus had done it strictly from memory and fantasy. Or given recent events, perhaps from a vision. Over six feet tall, it was a nude study of Buffy, arms secured with silk wrapping around her wrists and held above her head. Her head was thrown back with a look of ecstasy upon her face, eyes barely shown from under lowered lids. Angelus was behind her, his sulky mouth buried in the crook of his neck while his burning eyes stared out from the painting. He was nude but largely concealed behind her own form, large hands wrapped around her tiny waist. Another set of hands – elegant and pale but still very masculine – trailed up her outer thighs. You couldn't see who the hands belonged to outside of the wrists and a turn of a shoulder. But you were sure that there was another present, if concealed by the shadows.
It was an intricate – and erotic – work of art.
And on all three of the left ring fingers was a ring in the same motif – if very different styles.
They all wore claddagh rings.
Finally turning from the painting, Spike noticed the chest that Buffy was unlocking and opening.
"What's this then, pet?"
"Angelus's contingency plan." She answered, staring down into the contents and then lifting out a letter and holding it out to Spike.
Scanning it quickly, Spike let out a soundless whistle. Bloody hell. The great ponce was a wily one. Found a way to conceal certain memories from the soul. Didn't want Peaches interfering with something that could potentially save the Slayer's life – if Angelus wasn't around anyway. Lifting his eyes from the fine vellum, he commented.
"He always was possessive of you, luv." He said with an arched brow. "Wanted your everything for himself, he did. Whether it was your life, your blood, or your death, it all belonged to him. Doesn't surprise me that much that he would find a way to protect you, pet, if he couldn't kill you himself."
"That's pretty much my thought." She agreed with a bitter laugh.
"What are these gifts he left you then?" He asked setting the letter in the open lid of the chest.
Silently she lifted out a thick file and set it aside before taking out a delicate ancient text – and the translation in a journal written in Angelus's own hand – followed by a dagger and wrapped velvet bundle.
"The file is a compilation of all the Slayer's who lived passed eighteen. Of the six in our known history besides myself that have done that, it turns out that all of them were known to have had at least one affair – one-nighters or otherwise – with a demon or vampire. He didn't want me to let them guilt me."
She finished on a whisper, thinking about Angelus's note that he'd left on top of the file. A note that she tucked away with Angel's claddagh and cross as well as the drawings and flowers the demon gave her.
"Bloody hell, pet." Spike flipped through the file, taking it in with the rapid intelligence he hides so carefully behind his flamboyant nature and outrageous attitude. "That's one helluva secret the Council's been keepin'." And after all the shit she's taken from her Watcher and friends over Angel of all vampires. At least the poncey bastard had a soul. The other Slayers couldn't make the same claim about their lovers.
"That's not even the least of it." She said with a sigh gesturing to the old texts. "Turns out that there are actual Slayer weapons, lore, texts, and artifacts that should've been passed down to me. Instead they've all been either lost or are being hoarded by the council. That dagger is one of them."
Setting down the file, Spike lifted it. Feeling a wave of unease tingle down his back he set it down abruptly. That pretty piece wasn't for the likes of him.
"How'd the Sire come by it?"
"Stole it from a museum in England." She laughed genuinely. "Apparently he got wind of it when he was looking for Acathla in Europe and took a side trip."
"Sounds like the wanker." Spike said without rancor. There were times he missed the bastard. Angelus for all his evil was quite a bit of fun at times. Not like Peaches with all his brooding and gloom.
"You don't even know the half of it." They shared a chuckle. "But that wasn't he gift. Not really. What he wanted me to find if he wasn't around was something else."
Flipping open the text she found the page she was looking for and showed Spike the drawing. Spike gave a long whistle as he took in the faded image.
"That's a thing of beauty, it is." He gave her a teasing look. "Just like you, luv."
Nudging him with her shoulder she told him what she'd figured out. Well…what she figured out before Angel returned from hell anyway. Angelus's minion lawyer had tracked her down in L.A. and given her the chest and the letter. But once Angel returned…
There just didn't seem much point. Especially once he left her. So she just let herself forget. Only the First Slayer's prompting sent her diving back into Angelus's plots. That and her fury with Angel.
"It's a scythe." She said stroking the page with her hand. "The first and ultimate Slayer weapon. Forged in our blood and 'dark' fire. It's been lost for over a thousand years." She gave him a vicious grin. "And we're going to find it."
"All right, luv." Spike nodded after taking in her nearly-glowing face. Most life he's seen in her in ages. "Where do we start lookin'?"
"There's a symbol." She turned the page and pointed. "It seems familiar. Really familiar. If I could just…" She trailed off feeling what she needs to know being just beyond her grasp.
Taking a look, Spike felt his eyebrows hit his hairline. He knows exactly where he's seen that little beastie before.
"It's on a tomb." He said, interrupting her reverie. "In the same cemetery as me crypt. You've probably walked and ran by it hundreds of times, pet."
She cursed as the image of a pyramid tomb with that symbol on its entrance became clear. He was right. Stupid vampire.
Packing everything away, except for the dagger that she tucked into her belt, her hand lingered for a long moment on the velvet wrapped bundle.
"What's that then, pet?"
Shaking her head, she put it along with everything else away and handed the chest to Spike who returned it to its cubby. Some secrets were too private for her to share. Not yet, anyway. And she didn't want anyone to stumble upon Angelus's gifts. Not with all the issues they're already having and Dawn's currently wandering fingers taking whatever she wanted.
"Nothing I want to talk about." She said firmly before locking up and leading him out of the Mansion. Maybe soon she could confide in him about that. But not right now.
oOoOoOo
The next night after dealing with all of the fallout from Sweet's spell – including Tara moving out and Dawn's grounding – Buffy met Spike outside the tomb.
She hates walking into these things blind. After everything she's lived through – and not lived through – she absolutely hates being in the dark about what's going on.
She had another dream last night. This one of Angelus plotting, and finding, and putting together the chest he left for her. After all a dream was how she knew where to hide it to keep it safe and secret. God knows Angelus never would've told her about that secret cubby in his bed.
Spike brushed one hand down her back and gave her a sideways hug, ending with a kiss on the top of her head.
"It'll be alright, luv." He whispered against her hair. "I've gotcha and I'm not goin' anywhere, pet."
Not unless she sends him away. One things he's got figured, leavin' this girl is the surest way to hurt her. How that poofter Peaches never learned that in his years with her, Spike'll never know. Wanted to do the "noble" thing and wound up losin' the best thing that ever happened to the broody bastard. Bloody idiot.
Taking a deep breath she sent him a shy, grateful glance from under her lashes.
"Thanks, Spike." She whispered almost too low for even a vampire to hear. "You don't know what that means to me. Not just to hear it but to know you mean it."
"Yes I do, luv." The sideways hug moved into a full-on embrace as he rested his cool cheek against her hair. "I study Slayers, remember pet? Even when I wasn't here I kept tabs on ya, always knew I would come back for ya. Just never thought…"
"That you really would turn into Love's Bitch?" She teased him looking up into his cornflower-blue eyes. She remembered how Angelus and Angel both used to taunt him over his attachment to Drusilla. Even more so after he came back to force Willow into doing a love spell for him.
"Yeah," he groaned. "That's me alright, pet. Never could get rid of William the Bloody Awful Poet no matter how hard the Sire tried to beat 'im outta me."
She gave a giggle, one of the first pure sounds of enjoyment she's made since her return from the dead.
"The Bloody Awful Poet?" She laughed, leaning her forehead against his rock-hard chest. "That's how you got that name?"
"Yeah." If a vampire could blush he would be right about now. Stupid Slayer with her puppy dog eyes, always makin' 'im say things he shouldn't. "I was a gentleman 'fore Angelus turned me for Dru. Wrote the most godawful poems. Never let me live it down, he did."
Recovering her composure, Buffy moved away, squaring her shoulders and turning to face the entrance to the tomb.
"Well," she took a deep breath. "Here we go."
With Spike at her back she pushed open the door to the tomb, taking in at a glance the lit torches and the alter behind gauzy white hangings. Pure white pillars like those in a Greek temple, complete with gold leaf at the tops, lined the center of the single room. As they moved farther into the room, a figure moved from the shadows behind the alter.
What in Spike's lifetime would've been called a "handsome woman" of indeterminate age, the priestess was dressed in the Greek fashion, all flowing fabrics and braids. There was a frown on her ageless face.
"Slayer?" She spoke in a mellow timbre. "What are you doing here? The time has not come yet."
Buffy just rolled her eyes with a snort.
"I think that's for me to decide." She said in a commanding tone that had Spike watching her carefully.
Death has changed her more than she knows if she can carry that off so easily. In the past anytime someone connected to the Slayers had something to impart, Buffy would at least give them a small amount of deference. A respect that is completely absent in her voice and carriage now.
"You're just a child." The Guardian dismissed her easily. "There is nothing to decide. The time is not right."
Buffy chuckled harshly. "Who are you to call the Slayer a child."
"A Slayer." The Guardian corrected. "And I am the Guardian. It is my sacred duty to protect the secrets of the Slayer line. A duty I have carried out for time beyond measure."
"And was it your duty to let holy men," Buffy nearly spat the word. "Pervert and bind a demonic essence to create the Slayers?"
Spike's head swung around as her accusation. The Slayers are the result of black magic? A demonic binding? That bloody hell explains a lot.
"What was done was what was needed." The Guardian waved one elegant hand. "No more."
Buffy lunged forward and grabbing the Guardian bent her backwards over the alter, one hand tunneled into her dress while the other held her dagger – the gift from Angelus – to her heart.
"I am The Slayer." Buffy gritted out from between her teeth, thoroughly enraged by the Guardian's cavalier attitude. "I have died twice and twice I've returned, each time stronger than the last. I possess the essence of the First Slayer and she is my guide. I wield one of the sacred weapons."
Lifting her captive up, she dug the dagger into the Guardian's skin just enough to draw blood.
"I am tired of being pushed around and treated at best as a child and at worst an expendable tool. I am more than a Slayer and I am done playing by someone else's rules. I make my own rules now."
Shaking her a little she finished her rant.
"And. I. Want. What's. Mine."
Spike could barely control his arousal at the sight of watching the Slayer go all fierce and dark. Worse now than any of the fights they've had. Before she was all shiny and bright, a rich foil for his evilness. Even when they "danced" together as they fought a mutual enemy she was never this commanding. All that power and passion wrapped in a beautiful blonde package. Oh, yeah, Spikey. He thought to himself. You've got it bad.
"A v-vineyard." The Guardian stuttered out. "A few miles north of town. In the caves beneath the complex you should find what you seek."
Tossing her away, Buffy gave her a smirk copied from Angelus himself.
"There," Buffy tossed her dagger and caught it one-handed. "That wasn't so hard, now was it? What of the other artifacts?"
Straightening, the Guardian brushed herself off before answering. What has this world come to that this dark creature was the ultimate champion of light?
"Most have scattered to the four winds." She said with a sigh. "The one you seek was by far the most powerful and so I was commanded to keep watch over it. Many have been collected by those fools in the Watcher's Council. The sword remains hidden, although I do not know of its location. Somewhere in Europe I believe. You already have the dagger…"
"That's all then." Buffy turned to walk out, casting Spike a fathomless look, not missing his blatant arousal. "Have fun in your tomb."
"Wait!" The Guardian cried before they could leave. "There is a great evil coming! You must be prepared."
"Lady," she said with a sigh, casting her a look over one shoulder. "There's always a great evil coming. Each as different and unique as the next. There is no preparing until it tips its hand. Something I would think you would know if you're as old as you claim."
oOoOoOo
"Demon looks good on you, sweetheart." Spike purred as they made their way to his disreputable DeSoto. "Think we'll be able to get back to dancin' like we used to now, pet?"
Climbing into his passenger seat she gave a little chuckle as he cranked the engine and started off in the direction given by the Guardian.
"Probably." She said, thinking about her Slayer-demon-upgrade. "I have to admit…"
"It'll be nice to have a proper match again?" Spike sent her a devilish grin. "Couldn't agree more, luv. Hasn't been much real action for either of us since you came back. No way to tell how powerful you are now, pet, what with the Slayer-essence an' all. You goin' to explain that bit?"
Briefly Buffy explained the original spell that gave her the First Slayer as a spirit guide before she died and then her vision-that-wasn't-a-vision with the cave and the demon-dust.
"Bloody hell, pet." Spike shot her a look as he pulled off on a side road about a quarter-mile from the vineyard. "No wonder you're so brassed off about it. That's all kinds of fecked up, 'specially for a bunch of white hats."
Leading the way towards the outbuilding that Spike pointed out as likely being a storage facility for the wines to age – and the most probably site of underground access – Buffy felt a tingle trace up her spine.
"No argument from me." Buffy said, ignoring Spike's mumbled "for once". "With the whole "Sometimes-They-Come-Back" adventure and then the Slayer-dust-possession I'm treading more on the grey side of things these days anyway. Kinda like a chipped vamp I know." She shot him a teasing glance.
He's been there for her. Professions of love and steamy-sexy-kisses aside, Spike has been there for her more than anyone else. He got it. What they did…bringing her back, it had consequences. Only instead of Willow and Xander paying the price, she is. Or at least that's what her little visit from the messenger would imply. Surprise, surprise. Willow and Xander get into trouble, poke a hornets nest, and Buffy's the one that gets stung saving their butts.
Again.
For probably the hundredth time.
Spike was continually fascinated by the new sides of Buffy she's taken to showing him – if no one else – since she came back from the dead.
"Time used to be, luv, that you wouldn't even admit to there bein' a grey area." He cast an eye up and down her leather-clad body. "All that time floatin' with the angels has changed you, pet. Here I thought you'd go haring off to round up your Scoobies and investigate this new evil and instead you put that bint in 'er place and stuck to your own plan."
"And?" Buffy whispered as they crept into the storage facility, searching for the basement access. "I thought you liked the new, darker me?"
"I do, luv. Don't get me wrong now, sweetheart." He shrugged, catching sight of what could be a seam in the floor. "I'm just kinda…proud, is all. Of the woman you've become. You're not little Goldilocks anymore, pet. You're a wolf, a predator." Just like me.
Finding the latch he opened the trap door, revealing a set of stairs leading straight down. Giving her a wicked look, biting his bottom lip, he leapt down into the darkness.
Blowing out her breath, Buffy forced herself to ignore the heat wave that followed his little bit of a flirt, as he would call it. Damned vampire making her wet before they have to go into a dark underground cavern. Damned tease.
Following him down into the darkness, her enhanced night vision caught sight of him standing a little ways away in front of her, fiddling with something on the wall. Taking advantage of his preoccupation, Buffy crept up behind him and plastered her front against his back, pressing her lush curves against his solidly-muscled and cut body. Coming up on her tip-toes, she gently caught his earlobe between her teeth, ignoring the little gasp he let out at the aggressive act. Biting him lightly, she whispered in his ear.
"It isn't nice to tease the Slayer." Reaching one arm around him she stroked his chest with her hand from collarbone to his beltline. "I just might bite you know."
"Keep that up, pet." Spike nearly moaned at her touch. After all this time she was finally making an advance, giving him some sign that he's not once again chasing after something he can never have. "And I will bite."
Retrieving his lighter from his pocket, Spike lit the torch that he'd found in a holder on the rough stone wall, shedding some much-needed light into the dark cavern.
"Well, sweetheart." Spike said once he refound his voice. "I'm guessing the pretty bauble buried in the stone all King-Arthur-like would be yours, then?"
oOoOoOo
Back in the DeSoto with the Scythe resting across Buffy's lap, the Slayer stroking one hand up and down the blade and handle as if it was some kind of touchstone – and for a Slayer it very well could've been, Spike asked her where she wanted to go next.
"Nowhere." She said with a sigh, letting her head rest against the seat back. "Everywhere. Anywhere but here."
"Well I can probably go for two of the three, luv." Spike cradled her cheek in one cool hand, stroking her cheekbone with his thumb. "But that's not likely to fix what got ya all tangled up."
"Then the Mansion, I guess." She said, nuzzling against his hand for a split second before reclaiming her upright posture. "If a 'great evil' is coming I'd just as soon keep it to myself until I have a better handle on it. No need to get everyone all worried and sacred when they're all trying to recover from the singing and dancing fiasco. Worry and recovery are very unmixy things."
"Angelus left you more than an old book or two and a treasure map, didn't he pet?" Spike asked shrewdly, watching her out of the corner of his eye.
"Partly." She nodded, still stroking the Scythe. "And partly…an idea I had after I found out about the Watcher's Journals and then died and came back. I've kept an account on every Big Bad or even Semi-Bad that I've come up against. And researched any that I thought might come back somehow. Seemed like a silly idea so I never mentioned it, but…"
"If you can die and return twice, what's to stop the other side from borrowing from your playbook." Spike hit the nail on the head with his analogy. "Who all have you kept tabs on then, luv?"
Buffy began ticking off fingers as she thought over the major threats she's gone head-to-head with. Of course the first name on the list was also the most obvious.
"Angelus, Master Nest, The Judge, Order of Taraka," she shot him a glare over the assassins he sent after her back when they were still enemies. "Drusilla, The First…you…"
"What?" Spike arched a brow at her. "I made your list of 'might-return-and-kill-me' baddies?"
"Well, you came closer to ending me than anyone else besides Angelus. And on his part it was more because he couldn't make up his mind about me that I'm still around than anything else. And you did keep coming back."
"Point taken, Slayer." He shot her a wink, proud and absurdly pleased he made her list of Bid Bads. He is the Big Bad after all, just like she's the Slayer. "Point taken."
"Until I have some more dreams or we get some sign of what's going on, refreshing my memory on old enemies and 'dancing' with you and patrolling is really all I can do about this great evil to come. And there's no time like the present to get started."
Shooting him a wicked look of her own, she darts into the sparring room of the Mansion, setting down the Scythe on the floor near a wall.
"Too right, luv." Spike gave her a smirk as he shifting into a crouch. She's not the same Slayer that she was before her second death and definitely wasn't the same Buffy. But he liked this new version. They connect on a visceral level.
And whatever "great evil" thinks that it's going to take his Slayer, his Buffy away from him has a nasty surprise coming its way.
The Big Bad is back and he'll protect his fierce little future-mate with everything he has.
oOoOoOo
Less Than Two Weeks Later
"I. Want. My. Slayer." Angelus growled.
