Lie To Me, Part 2

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Even at the best of times and under the best conditions, dealing with cancer sucked. Finding out you had terminal brain cancer and were going to die in less than a year - that was most definitely not a best-case scenario. People with terminal cancer of any variety had been known to pull some shit-crazy stunts. But when your brain is what had the cancer, which meant that said cancer was eating what you thought with, shit-crazy stunts took on a whole new meaning. William 'Billy' Ford, terminal brain cancer sufferer, was in a position to re-define 'shit-crazy stunts' entirely.

Billy Ford had been an attendee of Hemery High. The high school whose gym Buffy had torched in her effort to kill vamps when she first became the Slayer. Worse, he'd been a friend of hers, which meant he'd been far less likely to forget her, and the incident, 'Sunnydale style' in an attempt to rationalize what had happened or forget that it had happened at all. He'd also already been suffering from brain cancer, though he hadn't found *that* out until after Buffy had left Hemery.

The bad news was that Billy knew about the existence of vampires. Really-real vampires, not the stupid literary and cinematic versions thereof. He also did not like the idea of the lingering and painful death he was facing - and that was if the gods were on his side. If they weren't, it wouldn't be painful - he'd just spend a month or so as an amnesiac and finally a vegetable before his body gave out under the burden of the cancer. Not dying like that? Would be a really good thing. Not dying at all? That would be even better.

Somewhere in the month or so after Billy was diagnosed, it occurred to Billy that there might just be a way to not die. At least, not permanently. Become a vampire. Unfortunately for Billy's intentions, vampires were rare and hard to find unless you happened to be on a Hellmouth or lived in a high population density area where murders would garner less individual or collective notice. Hemery wasn't, under normal circumstances, anywhere big enough to play host to even one vampire without its depredations being noticed. So Billy started doing some research.

In his search for a population of vampires, Billy ran into one of the unfortunate facts of life. The truth that people are willing to romanticize and fanboy over even the most horrendous, vile things, people, and acts. Much as serial killers had groupies and people willing to date and/or marry them given a chance, vampires had their fans. Fans who either had no clue as to the realities of being a vampire, or completely misconstrued and redefined those realities into something far less horrific than they really were. Among such people, it was inevitable that one or more would know that vampires truly existed, and where to find them.

More interestingly, Billy stumbled across rumors of the Slayer. It didn't take Billy long to figure out that Buffy was one. Further careful research provided him with more reliable and possibly truthful information about Slayers than was generally available in the vampire-sympathetic online communities.

At that point, a vague plan began to form. Billy started trying to track down where Buffy had gone. It wasn't until Xander's near-death incident that he found anything, and even then, he didn't find Buffy herself. Just a link to a place that ... well, was a little odd.

There was very little information online about Sunnydale or its residents. What little Billy could find mostly painted the town as an idyllic, perfect place to live. But something was off. The folks in the few pictures tended to have either Stepford-esque smiles or a distinctly hunted look in their eyes. The amenities available in what was really a small town rang alarm bells. Sunnydale had a stunning array of entertainment options and shopping opportunities for a relatively small town. Then there was the numerous churches. For a population that small, there were a ridiculous number. And a more careful review of the pictures revealed an oddly high number of cemeteries.

So Billy dug deeper - and found the crime reports and statistics. Gangsters and druggies on PCP and barbecue fork accidents? Really? People *bought* those explanations? Billy had snorted, and decided he'd found what he was looking for, if in an unexpected place. Sunnydale was clearly crawling with vampires, if you knew what you were looking for. And then he managed to finally track down where Buffy had got to after leaving Hemery. The fact she was in Sunnydale just sealed the deal for Billy.

From there, it was easy to spread the word. Within days, he had nearly fifty people wanting to go to Sunnydale to be turned. Getting his parents to agree to visit Sunnydale had been even easier, as they were both of a mind to give Billy anything he wanted that was within their power to give. Going to Sunnydale so he could say goodbye to an old friend hardly seemed an egregious request.

He arranged for he and his parents to get to Sunnydale a few days ahead of the groupies. He needed to check things out. Find a vampire willing to turn him if he could. If he couldn't ... well, at least he'd die fast. It was better than what he was facing otherwise.

There was just one small problem, when Billy got to Sunnydale. Its name was Spike, and the purge of vampires he'd perpetrated just before, during and after his claiming of the Aurelius court. Vampires were, as a result, rather thin on the ground in Sunnydale these days. That made it rather difficult to actually find one, even roaming around at night like he didn't have any idea that he was courting death by doing so.

He avoided Buffy, while telling his parents that he was hanging out with her, but not yet telling her about the cancer, and that he was dying. The longer he could draw out his stay in Sunnydale, the better. Unfortunately, actually seeking Buffy out would curtail most of his available time to search for vampire daytime hidey-holes. He's seek her out once he'd gotten a vampire's attention.

Then one day, by sheer chance, Billy wandered a bit too close to Spike's headquarters. The Headquarters that were now guarded assiduously by vigilant eyes both vampire and not. Spike did not tolerate the lackadaisical approach to security that the kid-vamp had permitted, and the surviving vampires in his Court knew it. Since none of them were criminally stupid, or in a hurry to get dusted, they made sure to keep a sharp eye out. The non-vampire security was well and promptly paid for their services with whatever currency appealed to them the most, whether that was human victims or actual money. Between that and being treated well, none of them were inclined to let something slip through the way ill-treated or poorly paid security forces might be tempted to. Spike was a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them.

The end result was that Billy got smacked upside the head hard enough to make him see double but not pass out, thus making him a lot easier to cart around without having to fight him, and dragged into Spike's HQ. This, because the demon community had noticed the kid wandering around at night like he was looking for something. The demon that spotted the kid near Spike's HQ was bright enough to wonder what the kid was up to, and figure that Spike might also want to know, and be able to get it out of the kid. So the kid was brought in instead of being killed outright.

The security demon left Billy in a corner with two of its fellows as guards while he headed towards Spike's throne. Said throne was actually a big, cushy leather recliner, because Spike was a bit of a hedonist as well as a rebel. He was not inclined to use an actual throne the way a lot of Court Masters might, because the things were invariably uncomfortable as all hell.

By the time the security demon and Spike had finished their low-voiced consultation, Billy had recovered from the headsmack enough to not be seeing double anymore, though he still had a whopper of a headache. So he took the opportunity to look around a bit, and was rather surprised.

Spike's new HQ was a mansion in the 'rich' part of Sunnydale, literally just down the street from Cordelia's house. The place was pretty ideal for a Court because this end of town was somewhat less populated, making it easier to see trouble coming. The homes were also set on far larger plots of land, with big, sturdy fences actually meant to stop intruders from gaining access, rather than just demarcating the property line or containing a pet. The size of the place also allowed for quite a number of vampires and sundry demons to live there full time without getting on each others' nerves. That they got to live in relative comfort, compared to what was available in tunnels or warehouses also helped immensely.

The room they were in was what would have been a 'party room'. A large room meant to hold a good number of people who were mingling and, in a past era, dancing. Spike had converted it into his 'throne room'.

The security demons watching over Billy, the one talking to Spike, and Spike aside, there were a good dozen demons in the room, and two other vampires. Or at least, Billy assumed them to be vampires. There were chairs - none of them nearly as nice as Spike's 'throne', and a few small tables scattered around the edges of the room.

Then the demon talking to Spike came back over and Billy was dragged in front of Spike.

"So. I'm told you've been sniffing around town. Wanna tell me why?" Spike asked, his tone amiable and friendly. Though, if you knew what you were listening for, there was steel behind the words. Just a faint hint of menace and threat.

Billy grinned at Spike. "Well, I'm looking to join you lot."

Spike made a thoroughly disgusted face. "You one of those groupie wankers? Think vamps are misunderstood? That we're really kind and gentle and just need hugs?"

There was more than a little mocking laughter from pretty much every vampire and demon in the room.

"No." Billy said. "What I am, is dying. Which I'd really prefer not to do. At least not the way it'll actually happen. And it's not like I'm coming here empty handed. There's going to be a bunch of those groupie idiots coming - I figure you can munch on them or whatever. Not like I actually give a fuck what happens to them. And ... I can give you the Slayer."

That had Spike leaning forward. "The Slayer? What do you know about that?"

"Not all that much." Billy admitted. "But she's an old friend of mine. I went to school with her, before she came here. I was there when she first became the Slayer and took down her first vampires. Though I didn't realize that was what was going on at the time. I figured it all out later, after she'd gone."

"She know you're in town?" Spike wanted to know.

"No. I figured having to hang out with her would cut into my time finding you guys." Billy said.

Spike eyed him, then nodded, and turned to one of the vampires, one that had been sticking close to Spike's throne, whether standing or sitting. "Go ask Dominga to come down, would you?"

The other vampire nodded and left the room. A few minutes later, he returned, followed by a pretty, dark-skinned, dark haired girl about Billy's age. At the same time she walked in the room, the security demons on either side of Billy got a tighter hold on him.

"Dominga." Spike greeted the girl, sounding oddly fond. "Got a question for you. Would you get anything out of this wanker?" Spike waved a hand negligently in Billy's general direction.

Dominga eyed Billy, then walked over, getting right up close. After a moment, she backed off. "Not much. Most of his life-force is drained away already."

"Right. You in a mood for a snack then, or shall we just dispose of him somehow else?" Spike wanted to know.

"It really wouldn't be worth the bother." Dominga admitted.

Spike nodded. "All right then." He pointed to one of the other demons in the room. "Take him back as close to where he's staying as you can safely get. Make it look like his heart gave out. And make sure nobody tries to eat the body. Last thing we need is the Slayer and her buddies on our asses for killing a friend of hers."

Billy, having realized he was going to be denied being turned, tried to object, but got thumped on the head again, this time hard enough to knock him out and silence his objections.

He never woke up.