Ring on her Finger

By Nickeltaffy

Disclaimer: I would like to thank Joss for the use of his characters. They are still his and will never be mine. (heavy sigh).

Synopsis: Anyone ever notice that Buffy never returned Spike's ring from when they were engaged? What if Willow's reversal of the Will Be Done spell from the Something Blue episode was not exactly 100% effective? What if Buffy was still under a spell and still considered herself engaged to a horrified Spike?

…

Chapter 6

As Giles went over to the sofa where Buffy lay, Xander and Willow were hovering over the still prone form. Meanwhile, Spike had walked away over to the far corner in the living room. Giles saw that the young slayer was not visibly wounded, but just seemed to be unconscious. Relying on the accelerated Slayer healing abilities, Giles knew that Buff would be coming around soon. Willow stood up and went into the kitchen. As Giles stepped back to allow her to pass, he turned to regard Spike on the other side of the room.

"What do you know about this?" asked Giles as he looked at the blond vampire who had retreated to the farthest corner away from the group.

"He… that thing in the park is called the Diye Cagiriyor, or He who beckons." Spike said. Then he turned away and declared, "He's a tough old cuss that you lot should leave well enough alone!"

"You don't seem to have mixed emotions on this subject. What is this creature? What are we dealing with? You said it was called Diye Cagiror… interesting name." mussed Giles. "I don't think I've ever seen mention of him in the Council's records."

"The correct name is Diye Cagiriyor and I am not surprised he is not your insipid Council's records. He doesn't like to lower himself to associate with the human world, Watcher." Spike responded quickly.

"Really? What is he?"

"Rumor in the vampire circles is that he was once a high priest from a now dead culture in another dimension. You know, same old story of messing with things that you shouldn't and Bob's your uncle: you become an inter-dimensional monster."

"Why is he here?" Giles asked as his gaze became more piercing at the vampire.

"Every few decades, he rips a portal in our dimension to feed his hunger for magic." Spike said, "It seems we're easy pickins on this plane. He's quite the legend in the vampire world. He prefers beings with magic as his main source of sustenance. He is very distinct in his tastes and tends to favor vampires."

"I don't see where this is going bad…." chuckled Xander with his shoulders bouncing up and down, as he looked around the room to see how he joke went over. No one was laughing, so he sniffed and straightened his shirt.

"Quiet, Xander." Giles said, intimating Buffy's state on the sofa with a tilt of his head

Xander looked down at Buffy and was immediately contrite. He puffed out his cheeks, puffed out a little air and turned slightly away from the sofa.

Spike continued: "The buggar favors dark magic but any magic will do, witches, slayers…. Oh, He'll pursue humans, but only when there is nothing else more tasty available. You're lucky your little witch didn't try anything. That would have certainly piqued his interest and brought his attention to our little group back at the park."

"See! My restraint paid off…" Willow called, bending her head through the kitchen pass-through. She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself or in that fact anyone, that her immobilized state at the park had been her conscious choice. She was not quite successful.

"For once, I am happy to be the last name on the dance card." piped up Xander

"Congratulations, Whelp." muttered Spike. "You're the human equivalent to parsley."

"You seemed to have a lot of knowledge about this Diye person. Have you run into him before?" Willow asked coming out of the kitchen. She knelt down and began to lightly stroke a damp rag across Buffy's forehead.

"Yeah, Dru and I ran into him on the outskirts of Krakow in the winter of 1906. One of the first really eerie experiences I've had since becoming a vampire. I don't know how, but we managed to escape. We really shouldn't have…." Spike said, remembering Druscilla's terror and how she had been clutching at him, as they ran away from that alleyway in Krakow.

Buffy began to move her head back and forth as she was making her way back to consciousness.

"I don't know how she made it out of there, her bein a Slayer and all. He should have snapped her up like Sunday lunch." Spike said, slamming his eyes over to Buffy.

It was at that moment that Buffy slowly opened her eyes. She slowly blinked and opened her eyes deliberately wide as she tried to focus them. She sat up a little and looked around the room. She put her hand to her head and laid back against the arm of the sofa.

"Ouch…ooh. What happened?" She asked with her eyes closed in pain.

Willow put a comforting hand on Buffy's shoulder and handed her the wet cloth. Buffy put the cloth to the back of her head, and made a small noise of pain.

"Buffy, how are you feeling?" the Watcher asked as he leaned over Willow to address her.

"Like I've been hit with a 20 pound…No, make that a 50 pound sledgehammer. Tell me again – what happened?"

"It looks like there really WAS something going on at the park by the refinery." Xander said with a soft chuckle.

"Thanks for the clue, Sherlock. Tell me something I don't know" Buffy said with a wince.

"Yes, Spike was just telling us about the entity that you encountered there." As Giles inclined his head toward the vampire.

"What was Spike doing in the park?" She turned her head angrily toward the vampire.

"Makes no nevermind, Slayer. You're just lucky, I showed up when I did. Your crack team wasn't exactly leaping into action when I arrived." Spike said with an amount of disgust.

"Hey, I resemble that remark." Xander said sarcastically.

"It was a good thing that I didn't do any magic….Spike said." mumbled Willow lifting her hand and pointing at Spike at the end of her sentence.

….

About 10 minutes later, after she had gotten caught up on the "Diye whatever" guy, Buffy sat up and addressed her gang.

"So what are we going to do?" she asked the gang.

"If you're smart, nothing." Spike replied with some force.

"Wasn't speaking to you, Spike. Aren't there some chains around here with your name on em?" Buffy said rolling her eyes.

Giles pulled off his glasses and spoke up to break the tension.

"I believe that we need to reconvene tomorrow. We're all tired and there's not much more we can do tonight. Xander, please walk Willow home. And, Xander, be sure to bring Anya tomorrow, she may have information from the demon realm, as well. We'll reconvene at two tomorrow to pull whatever research we can on this character."

Willow and Xander said goodnight and Buffy watched them walk out the door. She propped her head on her hand on the back of the couch and closed her eyes to rest for a minute. Spike went back to studying the far corner of the room away from the sofa. Giles went into the kitchen when suddenly a thought struck him. He had a box of books back in the utility room that he had not unpacked yet. He thought there was a book regarding inter-dimensional figures among them. He turned and rushed down the hallway.

Buffy looked back over her shoulder, hearing the sudden movement going back down the hallway. She turned back and looked over at Spike. The stone on her hand again flashed brilliantly for a moment.

"Spike…..Spike" she said softly as if she was in great pain. Still holding her head in her hand, she raised the other hand, curling her fingers weakly for him to come nearer. She made a small noise as if she was clearing her throat to say something important to him.

Hearing his name said so weakly. Spike turned around and looked suspiciously at the Slayer. "Slayer….?" He said warily. He scrutinized her appearance from head to foot, not really trusting the sight of her wanting to share vital information with him, in particular. He saw the fingers of her summoning him over to her. She sounded like the pain was keeping her from talking. He slowly moved over to the sofa, so he could hear her better.

In a flash, Buffy reached up and grabbed his hand, pulling him down and spinning him around so he landed on the sofa next to her. She leaned over and pinned him with her upper body, a smile of heady exhilaration as her eyes traveled over his face. With her face tilted up just inches away from his, he heard her say these chilling words:

"I thought they'd never leave!"