Demon Mysteries
Disclaimer: I want Spike for my birthday, damn it! Oops, sorry didn't mean to let that slip out. Unless that little miracle happens, I still don't own anything.
Summary: There are so many mysteries and no answers to be had.
Reviews: Yes please. Loving all the attention this fic has gotten, thank you. Readers Rock but Reviewers RULE!
A/N: Had every intention of writing the next chapter of 'Resurrected' when I sat down at the trusty little laptop. But this is what came out. Demon Spike seems to have taken over the muse's attention. Hope you like it.
Girl Version of Chandler: This is NOT a fluffy Puppy/Spike fic. There will be some seriously dark and disturbing revelations later on. If you're looking for cute puppyish behavior, you won't find it here.
WayWard Childe: You just rock.
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Later Saturday morning, Initiative Lab….
Riley Finn stood at attention in front of his boss. Maggie Walsh was a very, very unhappy scientist. Her pet project had escaped and no one knew where he'd gone. The two soldiers assigned to watch him had been drained by a vampire and they couldn't be certain it hadn't been the Hostile that had done it.
"Do we have a fix on the tracking device?" She asked as she consulted a readout on a clipboard.
"Yes, but it seems to be at the bottom of the wastewater treatment plant. It's been removed from the Hostile, Ma'am." Riley answered.
"How did this happen?" The scientist demanded, slamming the clipboard down onto a desk.
Riley studied the floor. "I don't know but I will find out."
"You're right. You will find out and return the Hostile to the lab. This phase of the experiment is over and I have to report it a dismal failure. Damn! I hate this." Maggie fumed. A thought occurred to her. "Those people who seemed to know the Hostile the other night, did we ever find out who they were?"
Riley shook his head. "Unfortunately, it was Stallings and Wilson who saw them and now they're dead. But I'll see what I can find out." He promised.
"I want to know by tonight." She ordered.
Riley blinked. There was no way he was going to be able to accomplish it that quickly but he knew better than to argue. "I'll do my best."
"You'll do better than that." Her face was set and furious. "Dismissed." Riley wisely left as quickly as he could.
Summers house…
Buffy thumped the monitor down on the table with a scowl on her face. Joyce glanced from it to her eldest daughter. "How did you sleep?" She asked.
Buffy grimaced. "Not good." She complained. "He grunted, growled and whimpered all night long. I had to put a pillow over my head to get any peace."
Joyce indicated the monitor. "He seems to be quiet now."
The slayer looked guilty and reached over to turn the volume back on. Immediately rumbling growls spilled from the tiny speaker. The older woman moved to the refrigerator and took out several packets of blood. She handed them to Buffy. "Heat these up and take them down to him. I'm sure he's hungry."
Buffy pouted. "Do I have to?"
"Yes, it's part of the agreement for you to keep him here." A tap at the back door distracted the women and Buffy took the opportunity to avoid her assigned task to answer the summons. Xander wandered in and picked up a slice of toast from the basket on the table.
"How are you lovely ladies today?" Xander asked cheerfully before taking a huge bite of his stolen snack. He spotted the monitor, listening to the sounds emanating from it for long moments. "How did he sleep?" The question was asked in a quieter tone than the previous one, memories of Spike huddled in the corner quivering in terror sobering the young man.
Buffy busied herself microwaving the bags of blood her mother handed her. "Not at all, therefore I didn't, good thing it's Saturday. No class to try to stay awake for. Are you my relief shift?"
The shaggy dark head of the male Scooby nodded with trepidation. "Yup, I'm the next one up for vamp-sitting. Ummm, why?"
Dawn bounced into the room before she could answer. "Are those for Spike?" She pointed at the small stack of blood. "Can I feed him, please?" She pleaded.
"No, Dawnie, he's not a puppy. You can go down and see him when he's feeling better and you can't go by yourself." Joyce wagged her finger when her youngest pouted. "And don't look like that. Spike himself told you how dangerous he is. He would have your head if he knew you deliberately put yourself in danger."
Xander finished his toast with a gulp. "Actually, he can't hurt us. They did something to him." Buffy glared at her friend for revealing that bit of information.
"What? You saw what happened when he tried to snack on Giles." He defended himself.
"See, Mom. He can't hurt me. Please, please, please can I go down and see him?" Dawn begged.
Joyce gazed at Buffy and Xander. "Who are the 'they' and what happened when he tried to 'snack on Giles'?" Her hazel eyes were as icy as her tone.
Buffy glanced at Dawn and, in a rare moment of discretion, decided it wasn't something a thirteen-year-old needed to hear. Joyce followed the look and nodded. "We will discuss this later." She warned.
Dawn bounded over to the back door when another knock sounded. She ushered Giles in with her normal youthful enthusiasm. "I want to visit Spike." She announced to him as soon as the door had swung shut.
"I don't think that's a good idea." The Watcher said gently. She pouted as she rummaged through the cupboard for a bowl and box of cereal. He noticed the cooling pile of blood bags. "Is there a reason those are up here instead of downstairs being fed to Spike?" His tone chilled considerably as he asked the question.
Buffy sent a guilty look toward the basement door. "No, not really."
Joyce picked up the tray and headed for the basement. "Oh, for Pete's sake, I'll feed him. Honestly, I don't understand you two." Buffy and Xander gaped at her.
"But, Mom, he did try to kill us." Buffy sputtered.
"More than once." Xander felt compelled to add.
"Well, he didn't." Joyce declared as she paused by the open door. "Given his reputation, don't you think that if he really wanted to kill you he would have?"
Giles blinked as she disappeared down the stairs. He swiped the monitor off the table, switched it off and stuck it in his pocket before following her.
Downstairs, Spike was prowling along the top of the cot. Roaming back and forth against the wall restlessly, tugging on the chains. He kept up a steady stream of growls and snarls as he reached the end of the bed and turned around to go back the other way. He stopped when the adults reached the bottom step. He whirled around to face them, baring his fangs and roaring his displeasure.
Joyce pushed the tray into Giles' hands and walked slowly across the floor toward the young vampire she considered a friend. He stopped his movements as she grew closer, crouching down on the mattress and raising his head to sniff her scent.
The demon watched the female walk over to him. He inhaled and her scent washed over him. Safety. Concern. Friendship. Those were the emotions associated with this new human who watched him so intently. He tilted his head curiously when the smell of salt hit his sensitive nose. The female had wetness on her face. The sight sent a wave of inexplicable sadness through his too thin frame.
Joyce let her tears fall as she drew closer to the vampire. He didn't appear to know who she was and the thought made her heart ache. She couldn't understand why anyone would do such a cruel thing to anyone regardless of whether they were demon or human. There was no excuse for the kind of mistreatment that William had obviously suffered. She stopped a short distance from the cot. She picked up the empty tray from the chair, sat down and gazed sadly at the empty blood bags scattered on the floor.
Giles set his burden down on the floor next to Joyce and began gathering the discarded empties. "I guess he got hungry during the night." He murmured.
"My God, Rupert. How could anyone do such a terrible thing?" She wiped her face and sniffled a little.
"Not everyone knows Spike the same way you do." The Watcher finished cleaning up and deposited the bags in a trash bin on the other side of the room. "They only see that he's a vampire and not worth consideration. He's a demon and must be treated as an animal. I don't happen to agree. I may not like him but he did earn a bit of respect when he betrayed Angelus and assisted Buffy. He's loud, rude, hyper-active and a general pain in the ass but you are quite correct. If he truly wanted to kill us, he would have a long time ago."
Joyce smiled at the accurate assessment. "Yes, he is all that and more. He treats Dawn as a precious younger sister and he's always been a perfect gentleman with me. He gave us his protection. I don't know what that means in the demon community but I feel better for it, strange as that sounds."
"You should. It means a great deal in the demon world. He's a Master Vampire, a force to be feared. There are few demons who would be brave enough to cross William the Bloody by harming someone he'd given his protection to. You are very fortunate to have such a formidable champion." The Watcher crouched next to the cot, picked up a bag and extended it toward Spike.
They were surprised when he ignored the offering and scooted to the edge of the bed, his golden eyes trained on Joyce. He sat absolutely still as he studied her. His intense stare began at the top of her ash blonde hair, trailed down to gaze into her hazel eyes. He dropped his eyes to take in the rest of her appearance before returning to look into her eyes again.
Afraid to look away, Joyce spoke to Giles. "What is he doing?"
"I'm not sure. I've never seen this sort of behavior in a feral creature before." Rupert told her.
"You think he's feral?" Joyce's voice quavered.
"Yes, for now. I also think he can be brought back." Giles stated softly as he observed the absolute stillness of the demon. Both humans were startled when he moved suddenly, jumping up from his seat on the edge of the cot and scrambling into his corner. He squeezed himself into the tiny space the same way he had the night before and folded his arms over his head. A high keening noise burst from him as he rocked back and forth as much as the confined area would allow.
The demon couldn't stand the feelings the female had generated in his chest. An overwhelming sense of loss flooded his being as he sought refuge in his corner. He felt as if he'd lost something vital, something…no…someone he couldn't live without. Trying to reason away the feeling made his head hurt and his chest ache. The female smelled like…home and he needed to know why. But thinking was bad. Thinking and speaking earned him punishment. They were painful lessons he wouldn't soon forget so trying to vocalize his fears was out of the question. Humans meant pain and he was not going to make the mistake of trusting them no matter what his instincts were telling him. And they were trying to tell him he could trust them. The scent of this new female was familiar and nice and… home. Every time he looked at her he felt it… home. He'd looked into her eyes and had seen caring. It had been so long. His rocking slowed and he panted needlessly. He rested his head on his knees and wondered why the rough material covering his legs was getting wet. He didn't know he was crying. Demons. Don't. Cry.
Shocked into silence, Joyce rose from the chair. She and Rupert backed away from the shaking vampire. By unspoken agreement, they went back upstairs, leaving him in peace. Her face was once more wet with silent tears that streamed down and dripped off her jaw. Giles pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and offered it to her. She accepted it gratefully.
Upstairs, Xander was the only one left in the kitchen. Dawn had gone to watch Saturday morning cartoons and Buffy had gone back to bed, grumbling about restless demons who snarled and growled all night.
"Well? How is he?" Xander asked. He'd gotten himself a cup of coffee and was seated at the table sipping it contemplatively. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before as the disturbing sight of Spike huddled into a corner shaking had plagued his dreams. He'd hated the bleached menace since the kidnapping the year before but the sight of Spike reduced to terror was sobering.
Giles pulled the monitor from his pocket and turned it back on. He placed it on the table and accepted Joyce's offer of a cup of coffee. He preferred tea but needed something to jump-start his system after the restless night he'd had trying to forget the condition Spike had been in.
Joyce wiped the tears from her face and put the handkerchief into her pocket to launder. She took a deep breath, picked up her cup from earlier, taking it over to the coffee maker and filling it up. Waiting until she'd taken a seat at the table to answer the young man's question, she finally felt composed enough to say something.
"There's nothing of Spike left in there. He doesn't know me. We're friends and he doesn't know who I am." She closed her eyes, fighting the return of her tears. "I hate whoever did this." She declared fiercely. "I want them dead." That statement provoked shocked stares from her companions.
"Joyce, they are human. We can't kill them." Giles told her gently. Her hazel eyes flared with hatred.
"They may be human but there is no humanity in them. I don't care what they think they're doing, that isn't right. It's cruel in the extreme. If Spike were a pet they would be up for charges of animal abuse." She ranted.
"B—but Mrs. Summers…" Xander started but she cut him off.
"No. No buts. It's not right." Joyce sipped her coffee in an attempt to control her raging temper.
"Joyce, I understand you're attachment to Spike but he is the type of creature your own daughter has been chosen to vanquish." Giles began his argument.
"No, you don't understand. Maybe if it were Xander down there you'd get it. Xander who'd been turned and captured. Experimented on until all traces of what made him who he is erased. How would you feel? Or what if it were Willow or even Buffy?" Tears welled again at the memory of Spike crouched in the corner.
Giles paled at the thought of any one of his acquired family suffering the same fate that had befallen Spike. "I probably would feel the same way you do." He finally admitted after long minutes of contemplating the horrifying images. It reminded him of his own theory that the children were far from out of danger. The girls especially could be considered prime targets what with Buffy being the slayer and Willow emerging as a powerful Wicca.
Xander shook himself from the horrifying vision of a demon version of himself chained up in the basement below them. Unusually serious, he picked up a paper napkin and began to shred it. "G-man, I think I want to point out that while the Buffster might indulge in a bit of banter while she's kicking the crap out of a demon or a vamp, she doesn't torture them. I have to agree with Mrs. S here. Torture is wrong no matter who does it."
Giles had the private thought that his slayer's brand of banter could be classified as a form of torture but refrained from actually saying it. Instead he requested they help him try to figure out how to return the blond vampire back into the snarky pain in the ass they all knew. The discussion lasted most of the afternoon broken by periodic trips downstairs to replenish the feral demon's blood supply. They had been relieved to find that Spike had succumbed to his normal vampiric sleeping schedule and had crawled into his bed, falling into an exhausted sleep. They were also interrupted by the occasional raid on the refrigerator by Dawn, who took every trip into the kitchen as an opportunity to goggle at Xander and attempt to wheedle a visit to her vampiric friend from her mother.
Buffy wandered through late in the afternoon for a snack and to inform them that she was returning to her dorm room to see if there were any messages for her from that cute teacher's assistant, Riley Finn.
The next day…
Sunday morning once again found Riley Finn standing at attention while a ranting Maggie Walsh paced in front of him. He'd reluctantly been forced to confess that he'd made no progress in locating the humans who had seemed to know the escaped Hostile. The report that they didn't have a clue about the current whereabouts of the missing Hostile had sent the scientist into a raging fury. Finally, she wound down and instructed him to continue the investigation as soon as the sun set. He departed with a huge sigh of relief and headed straight for his room where he proceeded to call that pretty girl he wanted to ask out for a date, ignoring the derision of his friends about how 'odd' Buffy Summers was.
TBC