Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel belong to their copyright holders, I own nothing.

Chapter 18: Gifts

Spike chuckled. What a bloody fantastic situation this was, huh? He trapped in an empty darkened room. Angel most likely with the same fate. Buffy the evil vampire bitch.

He was torn on the inside. If Buffy really was a vampire and really had her soul, then she had to die. There was nothing else they could do. And though Spike was always supposed to be so big and bad, he didn't think he could bear the thought of killing Buffy, ridding of her existence forever. He had loved Buffy, truly. Killing her was such a horrid thought.

Spike wasn't one to dwell on the past much. Sure, when he first got his soul things were rough, but things had gotten better. He was the exact opposite of Angel in the sense that he didn't often think about all his mistakes and whatnot.

But now, trapped here, alone, what else could he do? In his opinion, he hadn't made any major mistakes. Well, other than telling Giles off about him being done with Buffy. Could it really be that Giles lied to them, though? He believed it, but it was just odd to think about Giles denying helping Fred just because Spike and Angel were bad influences, or something. The only question was: Who was more to blame for Buffy's death?

From what Buffy said, she and Giles fighting was what caused her to go out on patrol and to get turned. But, she was fighting with him because Spike had told Giles he didn't want to talk to Buffy anymore after Giles blamed things on her. That must've meant it was Giles's fault in the end.

Either way, Spike would always partially blame himself. After all, he was the one who'd told Giles he never wanted to speak with Buffy again without even talking to her. How could he have been so idiotic?

So. Buffy needed to die, Spike knew. This vampire, this thing, wasn't her. Even if it was the most difficult thing in the world, Spike needed to stop her.

Yeah, that wouldn't be happening any time soon.

He was stuck. Trapped. He'd be lucky if he got out of this undead. There was absolutely no way to know what exactly Buffy had planned for him or what she wanted. For all he knew, she could do anything between killing him and keeping him in here forever.

There was a light. The suddenness of it caused him to close his eyes in pain and for his skin to tingle with a slight burning sensation. The worst part about it was the fact that it wasn't even a sharp light. It was a light that was only a tiny bit lighter than the darkness of the room he was trapped in.

When he opened his eyes, he was only slightly surprised to see Buffy walk in. She flipped a switch, turning on a single light bulb which—of course—stung Spike like hell.

She was alone. And she was smiling ominously. Spike couldn't help but feel worried. Something was going on here. He was about 80% sure that she wasn't just here for a friendly visit.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the queen of the dead," Spike stated sarcastically.

Buffy's grin grew even wider—if that was even possible. "Spike. I've missed you. Well, I've missed the you without a soul, but I guess you'll have to do just fine."

"Hey, I'm not goin' anywhere."

"Yeah, I know. I should've come sooner. I was just busy talking with Angel for a little while."

Don't let it get to you, he told himself, remaining emotionless. Clearly she was bringing up Angel just to make him jealous. He hated that it actually worked a little. She'd visited Angel first. Even as an evil vampire, she seemed to have a preference. And that pissed him off.

But he couldn't let that show. He couldn't give her that satisfaction.

"Oh yeah?" Spike questioned coolly. "How is good ole Angel? Havin' the time of his life?"

Buffy shrugged. "More like feeling guilty. You know how he is. Especially when something bad happens to someone he knows."

With an eyebrow raised, he asked, "Something bad?"

"That's not really any of your business. Trust me; you'll know what your business is."

"And how so?"

"Because I have a gift for you. Just like I had one for Angel."

"Does it have a pretty bow on it?" Spike asked, faking excitement.

She only laughed. "Always the humorous one, you were. You know, I miss that. Our banter, I mean. As a human, I couldn't care less about it. But the way I am now I realize your personality was pretty great."

"So where's this gift?" Spike ignored what she was saying. Again, he couldn't let her get to him.

"You have to be patient, Spike. It's not ready yet."

Spike nodded. "Then why are you here, love?"

"Well, you're hungry, aren't you?"

"Why? Got any food?"

"Nope. But just wait until you get the gift." She winked. "See you soon, love." With that last bit of mockery, she turned around and walked out of the room, turning off the light and closing the door behind her.

Well, Spike thought to himself, that was interesting.

Madness ensued quite quickly. It didn't take long for news of Buffy's death and vampirism to spread. In fact, according to Willow, it seemed to happen too quickly.

Suddenly there were Slayer's showing up at their hotel door demanding answers, demanding that they search for Buffy. This was quite astounding, given the fact that they were in a hotel, and how did the Slayers find them so fast? They had resources, she supposed. And how had they gotten the news of Buffy's death?

Willow had wanted to keep that news a secret for now. She knew that the moment they knew that they'd be ready to attack. It didn't matter to them that Buffy was the one who had started this all, who was their leader. If she was a threat, then she needed to die. They couldn't handle the thought of a vampire Vampire Slayer.

She and Xander (mostly—Oz didn't think he'd be much help and Dawn was still being silent) tried to calm the Slayers that had shown up at their door down. They were too freaked. They wanted Buffy dead—for good.

In normal situations, Willow would stand strong with her choices. But with that way the Slayers were acting, she couldn't help but wonder if there really was no hope. Because it wasn't just the Slayers acting this way. Giles had wanted Buffy dead too, and he'd been so insistent. If no one else saw Willow's, Xander's, Oz's, and Dawn's way, then they were potentially doomed. Especially because they still had no idea what they were going to do about Buffy. Saving her wasn't really…possible, at least not any way Willow could think of. There wasn't a way to reverse vampirism, and Buffy already had a soul… Gosh, what were they going to do? How could they possibly stop the Slayers from hunting Buffy and even maybe eventually killing her?

Later, once they got the Slayers to leave, Willow expressed her concerns with Oz while Xander tried to talk to Dawn some more.

"I-I just don't know what we can do," Willow cried. "I mean, I'm trying to do the right thing. I even tried to warn Angel. But he never called back, you know? Not that we know of, anyway. Like, like he doesn't care, or something. And now the Slayers are going crazy, just like Giles was. They all want to kill her. It's like the odds are against us."

Oz nodded. "We're the only ones trying to save her."

"Exactly. And…what if we can't?"

"But we can."

"How can you say that?"

He shrugged. "It's Buffy. It's the whole gang. It's…you."

Willow smiled lightly. Though, there was one thing wrong with what he said. It wasn't the whole gang. Giles wasn't with them. Things didn't feel…right without him.

Unfortunately, he was so dead-set on killing Buffy. If the Slayers were to ask him about what they should do, he would tell them to kill her.

Still…maybe they'd left too soon. There had to be some kind of agreement they could come to. There had to be. After so many years of working side by side, they couldn't split up if they could try and reach some common ground. Willow really saw that now.

"I need to go out," Willow said.

Slayers had swarmed Giles's house too. Rather than talk to just the one gargantuan group of Slayers, though, he asked Wesley if he would help bring the Slayers back to their main training center. Giles planned on going later and making a statement about Buffy and how they should handle the situation, as if it were a press conference.

A while after Wesley and the Slayers were gone, Giles got ready to leave. He checked on Faith and Kennedy. Faith was going to come with him, but Kennedy insisted that she wanted to stay behind, practice more with her new magical knowledge. Since the little "upgrade" she had been using magic all the time, learning and developing at a much faster rate than other witches did. Giles was impressed. Previously, he hadn't really known Kennedy, and he'd underestimated her.

There was a knock on the door.

Groaning, he went to the door ready to tell some Slayer off that she shouldn't be here right now.

He was absolutely shocked to find a certain redheaded witch in front of him.

"Willow," he let out slowly. What now? Was she here to argue about what he thought was right again?

"Giles. I-I wanted to talk to you. How we left things the other night… I'm just, I'm thinking maybe all of us were too quick to judge. I mean, really, we're not that different. We both want to save Buffy; we just have different views on how to do it."

Giles was a bit surprised. But…a warm feeling entered his chest. Willow was reaching out to him.

In his mind he saw everything they'd been through over the years. So many good memories, as well as bad ones. Yet they'd stuck together through it all. They couldn't split up now. There had to be a compromise they could reach. Or they had to be able to see that Buffy needed to die.

"Can we talk more?" Willow asked.

Just then, from the other room, Faith shouted: "Giles are you ready? We need to get goin'."

Willow frowned. "Was that…"

She edged her way into the apartment, past Giles.

"L-look, Willow, I-"

Before he could continue, Faith walked into the room they were in. "Oh. Willow."

"Faith," Willow chuckled. "What are you doing here?"

Faith folded her arms in front of her chest. "Well, you know the news. Buffy's undead. I came to help."

"You got here pretty fast."

"She came before the other Slayers found out," Giles interrupted their little conversation.

Willow sighed. "So you asked her to come. To kill Buffy."

"Well, uh, you guys weren't exactly…cooperating." Giles stammered.

Then Kennedy walked into the room. "Giles, I think my magic is getting…" She trailed off when she saw Willow in the room. "Willow, you're here."

Willow wasn't sure which was more shocking. Seeing Kennedy right here, right now with the awkwardness of seeing her ex girlfriend for the first time, or the fact that she had said "my magic."

"Magic," Willow echoed. She turned to Giles. "You're teaching her magic? You must really be desperate to kill her."

"It's the right thing to do," Kennedy spoke up.

"I was wrong coming here," Willow shook her head. If Giles was desperate enough to teach Kennedy magic, then he wasn't going to compromise. He wanted her dead, nothing else. There was no point in her even being here anymore. "I'm sorry."

"Willow, wait!" Giles attempted to call after her, but before he could stop her she was leaving.

Gunn and Lorne spent the day searching for Angel and Spike again. Then, of course, when Harmony didn't show up, they became a little concerned. They went to check on her home.

There was no sign of her. None at all.

All their vampire friends had gone missing, Gunn realized. What was that about? Harmony was the only one who had seen the guy who spoke with Angel before he and Spike went missing, and now they didn't even have her. Their situation couldn't seem to get any worse.

Luckily for Buffy, she didn't have to go far. Her destination was still in the United States, so when night came, she got into the plane with her minion-pilot.

It was a short plane ride to Washington. Buffy had no idea why they were there, but she had had a few minions search and hunt them down. Well, it had worked. Hopefully in no time she'd grab what she needed and head back to L.A. and give Spike his gift.

She didn't really know how he'd react to it. Probably not too horrid. Angel was probably still stuck on the whole Harmony thing. Spike, though, his gift had to be different. While Angel was internally affected by people he knew, Spike didn't give a damn unless he cared.

He cared about Buffy.

That was the point. As long as he cared for the human Buffy, all she had to do was show him that she was gone. Once she showed him the monster she truly was, that was when she'd get feelings and emotion out of him.

She decided she could make him emotional and get a little fun out of the whole ordeal. Which was why she was flying to Washington, to get to them.

Riley Finn and his goody wife. They had both hurt Buffy the last time they came to Sunnydale. While she was over everything that had happened, she still had to admit that a part of her wanted to extract some kind of pain over them. In doing that, she'd get a reaction out of Spike, because the old Buffy would never do anything to intentionally hurt her previous love.

So she'd tracked Riley and his wife down. And now, she was about to go visit them.

She smiled; anxious to see what the look on his face would be when he saw what she had become.