Taking The Hard Way Out
PART: 10/?
AUTHOR: Barb ~ Once Bitten Spike ~
FEEDBACK: watchone@ecarthage.com
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Xander’s brown eyes widened as he saw how eagerly Giles leaped
to examine the fireplace mantle.
"Oh... Great." Xander sighed.
Cordelia glared at him.
"What’s your deal this time?"
Xander just stared at her. How could she have hung with the
Scoobies for this long, and not know?
"Research, Cordy." He nodded in the direction of the happy
Watcher. "This means big time research."
"Oh." She sat up a little straighter. "I knew that."
"Yeah. Like you knew not to wear a red shirt today... that means
that you’re gonna get eaten or zapped by the monster of the
week."
Cordy glanced down at her red top, and back up at Xander. She
narrowed her eyes. "Xander. If you think I’m spending my entire
time here, lost in Star Trek world..."
At his grin, she tossed him a long suffering look. "Besides.
Captain Kirk wasn’t what visited us in our room last night."
"Bet you wish it had been," Xander quipped.
Buffy sulked in her corner of the room. Giles was in his element
here, and she wasn’t needed until monster killing was involved,
and that wouldn’t come without mega reflection on the Watcher’s
part. No amount of research was going to help her with her own
problems.
She was careful to look at everything except Spike. It was hard
enough to try and pretend that she hadn’t slept with him.
**SLEPT with him? Oh my God. ARMS of Spike!**
Still, it wasn’t like they’d done anything but sleep. Well, at
least SHE hadn’t. From what she’d felt when she awakened, there
was no telling what that leather-shrouded pervert had been
thinking.
She glanced at Angel, and he gave her a tentative smile. It was
the usual look, which carried the promise of a huge amount of
thought process occuring before he would actually SAY anything
to her.
She threw him a weak smile, and turned away, rolling her eyes.
She risked a look Spike’s way.
She caught him completely off guard. The blonde vampire’s blue
eyes were trained on Angel, with a barely concealed emotion on
his face.
Envy? Her eyes went to the subject of his perusal, who was
oblivious to the drama.
Buffy frowned. She turned her gaze back to Spike, since he was
occupied with shooting daggers at Angel, thus giving her the
opportunity to ogle without being caught. She allowed herself to
get lost in him for a moment.
**Arms of Spike**
They were very nice arms.
And that hardness lower down hadn't been so bad, either.
Xander hadn’t missed the look on Spike‘s face. He knew that
there was no love lost between the two Vampires, but there
seemed to be more to this than simple dislike between enemies.
That was when his gaze fell on Buffy, and her own steady stare
at the blonde vampire.
Either his eyes were playing tricks on him, or she was drooling.
Unready for where his brain was taking him with that one, he
tried looking at Cordy’s chest but the brunette turned her back
on him. **The no boob worshiping rule’s still in effect, I
see**.
Then something else caught his attention, as, out of the corner
of his eye he saw Drusilla enter the room. As usual, she seemed
to float, dance, and glide, all at the same time.
"Hey, if it isn’t time for the Saturday morning cartoons.
‘Looney Tunes’, that is."
Cordelia slapped his arm and hissed. "Shhh! She can hear you!"
"Does that wacko really ever hear anything?"
Dru, in fact, did not hear the jibe. Her attention was focused
on Spike, and she suddenly seemed to transform into a sane
person. She slid to a halt in the middle of the room and studied
the blonde vampire for a few more seconds, and then all
semblance of normality fled in the face of her emotions.
Her eyes widened, and she seemed all at once to actually
breathe, as she began to suck the air in and release it in
great, heaving gasps.
Everyone in the room turned to look at her.
Everyone except Giles, who was still absorbed in the mantle and
barely glanced up, and Buffy, who was still absorbed in Spike.
"TWO!" Drusilla screamed, and then collapsed on the floor like
so much limp broccoli.
Spike raced to her side and gathered her into his arms, trying
to ignore the fact that she was pushing him away with all of her
might.
"Dru, baby, what is it Luv? Tell daddy what’s hurt you. What do
you see?"
Dru looked wildly into his eyes, as if for confirmation, just as
Buffy came and knelt beside them.
The vampiress turned her attention to Buffy, and visibly sniffed
her.
"TRUE!" she screeched, causing Spike to wince because she’d
yelled into his ear.
Xander had arrived by then, and leaned in towards Buffy. "Did
she say TWO or TRUE?"
Drusilla reached out to claw at Xander’s face, and he got out of
the way just in time. But Buffy, who was strangely unwilling to
move, was alarmed to feel her arm in the grasp of the panting
vampiress.
"YOU!" Dru panted, her eyes focused on the Slayer’s.
"I give up." Xander went and sat down across the room. **Let the
rest of them sort this one out. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.**
Buffy tried to jerk free, and was dumfounded at the strength in
the seemingly fragile hand. She stopped struggling for a moment,
and looked into Dru’s eyes.
Spike, his arms still around his lover of so many years, was
alarmed to find himself thinking of the blonde Slayer, and had
to stop himself from reaching out to her. What the bloody hell
was wrong with him?
Buffy began to tremble, as the vampiress continued to look into
her eyes, as if waiting for something.
Waiting for what? A confession? An admission that a Slayer has
the hots for the vampire who only recently tried to kill her?
That maybe the Slayer is envious of what the two vampires have
together?
Buffy twisted her arm violently, and broke Drusilla’s grasp on
it. She stood and, refusing to look at Spike, she went across
the room and sank into a chair, talking to no one on the way
there.
Willow, who’d never gotten a satisfactory answer to what
happened in the bedroom that Buffy had shared with Spike, bit
her lip and frowned. Putting on her best resolve face, she
started to rise from her seat, but was stopped by Oz’s hand on
her arm.
Looking down at him, she met his eye. He said nothing, as usual,
but slowly shook his head, ‘no’.
Willow plopped back down and sighed.
Something was definitely wonky around here.
She noticed that Giles had gone right back to examining the
entire fireplace area, seemingly unworried about anything else.
**That much is normal**
Willow laid her head on Oz’s shoulder and settled back to wait
for further developments.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PART: 11/?
AUTHOR: Bree
FEEDBACK: brianna_devlin@yahoo.com
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Drusilla simply became more agitated when Buffy walked away from
her. She lunged after the Slayer, only to be pulled back by
Spike. Dru's head whipped around, her eyes black as night as she
raised her hand, pointing at him.
"Tsk, tsk. You think you can hide, but they see you," she
smirked, her eyes widening. "They're watching you: ALL of you."
Drusilla looked around the room at each spellbound member of the
Scooby Gang. "They are watching . . . waiting . . . wanting . .
. BOO!"
As Drusilla's exclamation filled the room, Willow jumped into
Oz's lap, and Xander grabbed Cordelia's arm. Giles looked away
from the mantle, then, satisfied that no one was in danger,
returned to his investigation.
"She's good." Xander tried to cover his fright.
"Heck, yeah," Cordy answered, then pried Xander's hand off her
arm.
"I think you need to go back to your room and rest, ducks.
That's enough entertaining the kiddies for today," Spike said,
attempting to pacify Drusilla, who began rambling about Miss
Edith. Spike tuned her out and cast a quick glance at Buffy.
The Slayer ignored him, trying to figure out what the hell had
just happened. She stiffened slightly as Angel approached her,
scooting back further into the chair.
Angel knelt beside Buffy, taking her hand in his own, his eyes
filled with concern. **What else is new?** Buffy felt a twinge
of guilt and stopped herself from pulling her hand away as Angel
grasped it. It wasn't his fault she was having these feelings.
It was Spike's, she justified. **Yeah, all Spike's fault. Again,
what else is new?**
"Are you all right? She didn't hurt you, did she?" Angel turned
Buffy's arm over, checking for any sign of injury.
"I'm fine. Can't say much for your roommate, though."
"About that . . . is Spike behaving himself? He hasn't done
anything, has he?"
"DONE anything?" Buffy asked, cautiously.
"Tried to hurt you?"
"No. Nothing," Buffy lied. **Nothing that I haven't wanted him
to do, or LET him do, that is.** "He's been a perfect vampire.
He's surprisingly house-trained and everything. You did well
raising him." Buffy smiled and patted Angel's knee.
Angel smirked at her sarcasm. "You don't have to lie."
"Honestly, no lying here. I think this place has some sort of
control over Spike and Drusilla." Buffy looked over at the two
vampires. Spike was still trying to get a handle on Drusilla,
who seemed to want nothing to do with him. "As far as I know,
they haven't tried to bite anyone. Yet. How about you? Adjusting
well to your living arrangements?"
"As well as expected, I guess," Angel said soberly, his brooding
face returning. "Buffy, if something's wrong, you can tell me.
You know that, right?"
"Wrong? Why -- why do you think something's wrong?" Buffy
stammered. **He couldn't know, could he, what I've been
thinking, feeling about Spike?**
Before Angel could respond, Drusilla screamed and rushed at the
vampire, who caught her in his arms expertly. "Not worthy, dirty
man," she spat at Spike as he approached them. Drusilla cowered
behind Angel, shooting a wicked glance at Buffy. "Dirty, little
humans, all of you!"
"It seems she fancies you today, Peaches. I think she's taken
this roomy bit too far. She thinks DADDY'S back. Now, why might
that be, mate?" Spike growled.
Angel held a shuddering Drusilla to him tightly. To Buffy, it
looked like Angel was protecting Drusilla from Spike. Even more
upsetting, however, was that apparently, Spike was jealous of
Angel.
**Spike jealous of Angel over Drusilla? How dare he?**
Buffy stood and walked to the trio. "Spike's right," Buffy said,
receiving a questioning look from Angel. "About Drusilla," Buffy
affirmed. "She's obviously too out of it right now to be of any
help, and since she seems determined to cling to you, Angel, why
don't you take her back to your room? Have a tea party, or
whatever, just calm her down."
Angel started to protest, but seeing Buffy's determined look,
thought better of it. Besides, it was worth it all, just seeing
how much it upset Spike that Dru was turning to him once more.
Since the powers in charge of the hotel were obviously
determined for him not to be alone with Buffy, he certainly
wasn't going to let Spike have all the fun by thinking he had
both Buffy and Drusilla for himself. Angel was confident that
Buffy accepted his responsibility to Drusilla, and that any time
he spent with his childe was not necessarily his choice.
"Let's go, Dru." Angel grabbed Drusilla's hand and started to
leave, but turned to Buffy first. "Remember what I said."
"I will. Everything's fine, Angel," Buffy attempted to convince
him. "I promise. Now, go. We've got work to do."
As Angel walked out of the room with Drusilla, the room itself
seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
Cordelia sat down in the chair that Buffy had occupied and
crossed her legs. "Well, I for one am glad THAT horror show is
over. Was she trying to run for melodrama queen of the year, or
what?"
Willow pulled herself out of Oz's lap, suddenly uncomfortable
with their closeness. "I'm, uh, gonna go see if Giles needs any
help."
Flustered, Oz stood and watched his girlfriend walk across the
room to the librarian. "Yeah, okay." He felt a hand on his
shoulder, and, looking up, saw Xander standing next to him.
Xander patted Oz's shoulder, then put his hand in his pants
pocket. "It's okay, man. I've got one myself."
Across the room, Spike was a happy vampire. Glad that he finally
had a moment alone with the Slayer since they woke up that
morning, Spike closed the space between the two. "What's the
matter, pet? You're not jealous of Peaches and Dru, are you?"
Buffy psshawed. "What? Jealous of that loon? Right."
Spike, apparently forgetting everyone else in the room around
them, moved even closer to Buffy. Suddenly it seemed as if they
were the only two people in the room as Buffy felt his body
brush against hers. "What about Angel, pet?" Spike asked as he
pushed a few stray hairs from her face. "Are you jealous of
him?" he whispered in her ear.
As her pulse began racing, Buffy's felt herself began to pant a
little. Having Spike next to her, so close, so alone, so . . .
frustrating! Buffy suddenly pushed the vampire away from her and
swung at him, but missed as Spike ducked. "Stop it, Spike! Just
leave me alone, will you? There is nothing going on between us.
Nothing. There will never BE anything between us!"
Buffy stomped to the door, ready to find clues in another room,
preferably one far away from Spike. She stopped as she turned
the doorknob, turning back around to face him; something was
wrong, different. "Spike? Where'd everybody go?"
Looking around, Spike finally realized that they were alone in
the room. In fact, they were alone in a different room
altogether. "Bloody hell."
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PART: 12/?
AUTHOR: Vic
FEEDBACK: vvks326@aol.com
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Spike had been reaching for the doorknob. The sight of an unfamiliar room
behind him had caused him to freeze for a moment, and when he turned back the door was no longer there. In fact, as his vampiric vision adjusted to
the sudden darkness, he was able to find no door at all. Anywhere. And what he DID see was enough to make him rub his eyes in disbelief.
The sound of a muffled cry snapped his attention back to his companion.
Unable to adjust to the darkness as well as he, Buffy had stumbled over one of the many chains that lay in piles on the cold stone floor. He was at her side in a moment and helping her to her feet.
"Where...? What...?" He was surprised by the tremble in her voice.
"S'alright, pet. Just another parlor trick, I expect."
"But where are we? What IS this place?" She stared around her at the
chains--some in the aforementioned piles, others hanging from the ceiling and
walls, many of them ending in open shackles.
"It seems we've been dropped into the dungeon, luv. Though precisely what
we've done to deserve it, I've no clue."
He saw a flash of temper in her eyes.
"Well, I know what YOU'VE done to deserve it, Bleach Boy, but I sure don't know why I'M here." She stomped around the room, avoiding several large shapes that were half-draped in sheets and muttering under her breath. "As if having to share a room with you isn't enough of a punishment. Where's the DAMN DOOR!?!???"
Spike watched her, feeling both amusement and a tender sort of
possessiveness. "Careful, pet. Let's not rile the proprietors. I'm familiar
with some of this equipment, an' I doubt you'd fancy a demonstration."
She froze as the meaning of his words sunk in. Tentatively, she reached out
and pulled at one dusty sheet, revealing a mammoth wooden chair with large
rusted iron cuffs at the arms and legs, where one might place wrists and
ankles. In addition, there were equally rusted spikes protruding from the
seat and back of the chair. Buffy stared in horror and flinched backward,
stumbling again. Spike stepped up and caught her, setting her back on her
feet.
At that instant there was a burst of light and suddenly they were no longer
alone, for seated in the chair, her appendages locked into the cuffs, was
none other than Drusilla. Standing next to her, an evil leer creasing his
face, was the former Scourge of Europe himself.
Spike's quick intake of breath confirmed to Buffy that she wasn't alone in
what she was seeing. Somehow, she found this comforting.
Drusilla's dress was in tatters. Her face was smudged with filth and blood,
and more blood ran down her legs to pool on the floor at her feet. Her head
lolled backward against chair and her eyes were swollen slits as she stared
up at her sire.
Angelus moved toward her, a riding crop in his hand. He raised it above his
head with the obvious intention of bringing it down upon her face. Only the
sound of an angry cry prevented it.
And there stood Spike. Not Spike of Sunnydale, but mythic Spike--William the
Bloody in all his debauched Victorian glory.
"What have you done to her, you bleedin' pillock?" William stepped forward
and grabbed at Angelus's arm to prevent him from striking.
"Ah, William, you've finally joined us. Look, Drusilla, the prodigal son
returns. You told me he would, but I didn't believe you, did I?"
Spike's body stiffened with anger. He recalled this little scene all too
well--it was a re-enactment of something he'd hated living through once, and
he didn't appreciate being forced to witness his own and Drusilla's
degradation at the hands of Angelus a second time.
He watched as his self-of-old knelt next to Drusilla and attempted to pry
open the iron cuffs that held her wrists.
"I don't recall giving you permission to release her, William." Angelus's
voice was silky smooth, but there was no mistaking the threat it held.
"She's hurt--you've hurt her, you dim-witted git! She needs to feed--" William
was silenced by a crashing blow to the head that caught him off-guard.
Buffy began to feel ill and shut her eyes to block out the view. She
understood full well that what she was seeing before her wasn't real--that it
was only a memory, a shadow of the past. But it shocked her to know that
Angel could ever have been so cruel, so bloodthirsty--and to his own family?
What must he have been like to his prey?
She opened her eyes when she felt Spike begin to tremble. His hands were
still at her shoulders and she could sense the tension in him as his fingers
pressed into her flesh.
Angelus had dragged William up by his hair and thrown him against one of the
stone walls of the dungeon. He was shouting at him.
"You insolent cur! How many times have I told you to stay close to home, eh?
How many times have a told you to never hunt outside the city limits without
my explicit permission? Four days, you've been gone! FOUR DAYS!"
William didn't answer. He just stood, facing the wall, resignation written in
every line of his body.
"Since lecturing YOU doesn't drive the point home, I thought I'd try
punishing HER. And lo and behold--" Angelus reached out and ripped William's
shirt from his back. "--it's worked. For here you are and here you'll stay until
I'm sure you've learned the lesson at hand."
With that, Angelus reached behind him on the floor and picked up something
coiled and dark. Something that looked to Buffy like a large snake. But the
bite of this particular snake was more painful than that of any cobra, if
less deadly. Spike recalled it perfectly.
The first stroke left a bleeding diagonal stripe on William's back from his
left shoulder to the waistband of his trousers.
"Fifty lashes, I think, William." The second stroke opened a matching stripe
in the opposite direction. "Then another fifty tomorrow, when these have
healed. And not a single sound from you the entire time, boy. Perhaps then
Drusilla may be allowed to feed."
After that, the silence was punctuated only by the sound of the whip striking
flesh and Drusilla's occasional whimpers of sorrow.
Buffy stood transfixed, as if her limbs had turned to stone. Then all at
once, she turned away, gagging. Falling to her knees, she dry-heaved onto the
stone floor, dimly grateful for having skipped breakfast. Spike knelt next to
her and steadied her, bringing her to her feet when she had finished.
The scene before them had disappeared.
Buffy buried her face in Spike's chest and began to sob.
"Shhhhh... pet, it's all right. Happened a long time ago, yeah? The ponce was
a different bloke altogether back then. Not the one you know. Shhhh..."
Her weeping lessened slowly, and she pulled away to look up at him.
"No wonder you hate him."
"Nah, that's not the reason, luv. It's a good deal more complicated than
that. An' nothin' for you t'be working yourself up over." Spike pushed the
damp hair from her eyes and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Time we
started lookin' for a way outta here, pet. Lord knows what's been happenin'
in our absence, an' I'd like to get back to Drusilla--make sure she's all
right, an' all."
Buffy flinched. Of course, it made sense that after what they'd
witnessed--what he'd relived--that his thoughts would be for Drusilla. But
still-- **Get a grip, Buffy. This place is playing games with your mind. This is Spike, remember? Whatever happened to him, and whoever did it, it doesn't
matter, 'cause he's just another vampire that should have been dusted months
ago.**
She almost bought it. Almost.
It took them twenty minutes to find the trapdoor in the ceiling and another
ten to argue over who was going to stand on whose shoulders in order to get
out. By the time they were back on the first floor--grimy and grumpy and
disoriented--Buffy no longer needed reminding of just why she hated Spike.
Parts 13-15: Paula, Deli & Shelby