Buffy the Vampire Hunter Stories: Old Love, New Love: Blast From the Past

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Buffy peeps, though Gabrielle and Josephine all mine. No copyright infringement is intended to the people who actually own this stuff. Don't hurt me!

Notes: Gabrielle isn't my real name. I wasn't just putting myself in the story. I'm nothing like the chick in the story, save for shared music tastes and a love for the Lettuce King. Just so ya know ;) I just love the name.

Spike sat bolt upright in bed. What the hell? There's somebody here... Tiny hairs along his arms stood at attention. He could sense the intruder getting slowly closer. Another vamp. Shit. Sliding out from under Gabrielle's arm, he pulled on a pair of tight black jeans from the floor. The girl didn't notice his absence, mumbling something in her sleep. Quietly, he crept out of the room and peered through the blackness, attempting to seethe vampire who had broken in. I can't see a bloody thing!

Suddenly, he saw a flash of white in black moving towards him. It took a few moments to realize that it was a vamp with black clothes on. "What're you doing here?" he demanded.

Soft laughter was the only response at first. Then, "I'm hurt that you need a reason to see me, Will." The soft, feminine voice seemed tinged with sadness, though its tone was flippant.

Will? Nobody's called me that for centuries! "Who are you?" The voice was so familiar...

The vampire stepped into the light spilling from one of the hall windows. "Don't you recognize me, my love?"

Spike tried to speak, but the words froze before they could form. Josephine! His eyes devoured her long, curling red hair; her snapping green eyes; her exquisite porcelain skin. "Jo?" he finally managed to choke out over the lump in his throat.

A sad smile touched her full red lips. "I'm glad you remember me. I thought after all these years you might have forgotten."

"A million years couldn't make me forget!" She was in his arms then, her lips kissing his with bruising force, his hands roaming across her body. Spike finally broke off the kiss as old wounds were ripped open, bleeding once again. "I thought you were dead!"

"I was . . . almost." In his mind's eye, Spike saw himself sinking his teeth into her throat and draining the blood from her body. He heard the dull, sickening thump of her body as it hit the ground. I thought I had killed the only woman I'd ever loved. "Angelus . . . he fed me. I was almost dead, but I was alive enough to respond. I became what you are: a monster." No accusation or emotion colored the statement.

"How could ya not tell me? I've spent the last two hundred years feelin' bad about killing you and you weren't even dead! Why the hell..." He heard a board creak behind him.

Gabrielle stood framed in the doorway to the bedroom wearing a white lace nightgown. "Spike, what's going on?"

Gabrielle returned her attention to Spike. "When are you coming back to bed?" Her large midnight blue eyes added volumes to the request.

Spike watched until she disappeared into the bedroom. Josephine spoke before he could. "You two are lovers."

"I . . . I don't know. I just love her for herself. I can't compare it to how I felt about you." //How I feel about you still.//

"I admit I still feel something for you." //I could grab her and throw her on the floor and ravage her...// "But what we had is a long time ago and a place far away."

"I see." For the space of heartbeat, she paused. "I shouldn't have come back... should I?"

"I... God, I dunno. Jo, I spent so long mourning for you... and now I have Gabby... and I can't hurt her. She loves me so much. She almost gave up the life she built here to be with me."

"I understand. It was selfish of me to think that after all the pain I let you go through, you would have waited... I'm sorry." Jo turned and ran down the stairs.

"Spike, please." Though she was on her side, facing away from him, Spike could tell how hurt she was by the small catch in her soft voice.

He forced back memories of holding Josephine tight, of promising her that they would be together, of draining away her life . . . "From before I became a vamp, Luv."

"She was my fiancé." Spike gave Gab a moment to digest the revelation. "We were lovers up until the night after I got turned. That night, I went out to hunt for the first time. I'd never felt anything like that hunger. It felt like there was a wild animal in my stomach clawing me to death. I saw Jo waiting by a tree. We'd always met at that tree, since her parents didn't approve of her dating a future accountant who was destined to never amount to anything.

"At first, I was just happy to see her. I held her for a few minutes . . . then I couldn't hold back. I bit her. God help me, I thought I had killed her. But apparently she lived. Angelus . . . He brought her across. And she's been alive all these years. And she never once tried to find me until now."

Gab took a deep breath. "If you want to go to her, I won't stop you. The two of you were in love, were engaged. If you want her, I'll understand."

"No!" He grabbed her bare shoulder gently and tugged until she rolled over onto her back, looking up at him with unshed tears in her eyes. "Gabby, Luv, she and I were engaged. You catch that were? It's important. I haven't even bloody seen her in more than a hundred years! I love you, not Jo." But even as he spoke the words, Spike couldn't quite be sure he wasn't lying.

Buffy pounded on the door to the mansion, more than a little perturbed about the disturbance in her sleep the night before. "Spike! Gabby! Somebody answer the damn door!"

Gab opened the door, blinking at the sudden rush of light. "Buffy, what are you doing here? It's early. And it's Saturday."

"I got woken up in the middle of the night with a horrible nightmare. I went to the window, since in my dream some freaky chick with red hair was killing all my friends before showing up outside my window and guess who's there?"

"The freaky chick with red hair from my dream. Not feeling especially pleased, I went outside in my pjs with a stake in my hand to give her a proper welcome. She said, 'Slayer, I'm looking for Spike.' I said, 'Like I care.' She said, 'Tell me where he is.' I said, 'He's at the mansion at the edge of town.' She vanished into the night. Total vamp. Anyway, I still am not knowing who she is. Even more annoying, I don't know why I told her where Spike was. Hints here?"

Gabrielle had listened to Buffy's tale with a look of righteous indignation on her face. "Josephine!"

Gabrielle looked upset. "Come in." Buffy complied. "First, tell me about your dream."

After they had settled in, Buffy began to unravel the tapestry of the previous night's dream. "Well, it all started out normal. I woke up, got dressed, yadda yadda, then I headed off to school. I got the library and knew something was wrong. At first, I couldn't quite get a grip on it, then I realized that nobody was there. Not Giles, not Will... nobody. It creeped me out, so I went into Giles's office to see if I could find some human contact." She took a deep breath. "He was there alright... all over. God, if it weren't for the clothes and the glasses, I wouldn't have been able to tell. It was... I've never seen anything like it. He was ripped to shreds."

Buffy's voice caught in her throat momentarily, but she pushed onward. "I kinda stumbled out of the library, over to my locker, and . . ." a stray tear streamed down her cheek, "and Willow... her head . . . I guess the whole body wouldn't fit. I started screaming, but there was nobody in the hall. Not a soul.

"I went to the parking lot to try to find somebody, and I saw Cordy's car. When I got close, I could see blood covering the windows. I opened the door. Cordy fell out. She was perfectly okay except for the fact that she didn't have any insides anymore. They were on the other seat..." Gabrielle shuddered, the scene burning itself into the gray matter of her brain. "I decided that I was losing my mind, that none of it was real. It couldn't be real, right?" Buffy almost laughed, letting out a half-crazed sort of giggle.

"After all the times I wished Cordellia would just die... God, it was awful. On the way home, something made me wanna stop at the Bronze. Slayer's instinct kinda deal. So I went. That's where Xander and Oz were. Not that there was much difference between them aside from hair color. The skin was gone . . . No skin at all. Just muscles and guts and bones. They were right in the middle of the dance floor. Nobody dancing."

//She sounds like a looney,// Gabrielle thought absently. //But something tells me she isn't.// Something about the dream was making Gab's heart pound and her blood freeze. "What then?" she asked, almost afraid to hear the response.

"I headed home. Home to mom. She was lying on the kitchen table with her throat slit. There was blood all over her, all over the kitchen. I didn't know what to do... so I came here. I thought maybe you or, hell, even Spike could help me. The first thing that suggested a problem was the fact that, in the middle of the day, the door was hanging wide open. You were drained. Traditional vamp deal. On any normal day, I'd've gone for Spike as the unusual suspect, but... I knew it wasn't him. This, plus the fact that there was a nice, neat little pile of ashes with a stake in the middle of it right beside you."

Now it was Gabby's turn to do a little tear-shedding. "Then?" She could barely hear herself.

"It was almost dark. I went home. Full dark by then. The chick with the red hair-"

"Right. Was standing by my front door with this huge smile on her face. She mumbled something about, 'They have no one. And neither do you, Slayer.' I ran up the steps and she grabbed me by the throat. I couldn't do anything! She was choking me. Me! The Slayer! And she was smiling. Her eyes were so . . . cold. Like they could freeze your soul if you looked into them for too long. She said, 'I killed them. For William. For myself. I had to destroy the girl. He isn't hers. He is mine. Forever.' She threw me down and pulled out a stake. I thought it was all over. The psycho was gonna stake me! But she didn't. She staked herself. Then I woke up and got to meet my worst nightmare." Buffy wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. "So, what do you know about Josephine. I need to know. I have to take care of her before she destroys everything."

Gabrielle nodded. "I don't know much. Spike wasn't in big share-mode last night. They were engaged before Angelus brought him across. The night after he became a vamp, he killed her accidentally --or thought he did. Apparently Angelus thought it would be fun to make her a vamp too. So now she's back." She closed her eyes. "And for the first time, I don't know if Spike is telling me the truth."

Deep blue eyes snapped open. "He says he doesn't love her... I know he's trying to believe it, but I don't think he does. I think he loves Josephine as much as he did a hundred years ago. I honestly don't know who he would side with if it came right down to it."

Buffy pulled her friend into a hug. "Don't worry. She won't be an option for anybody for much longer. We're gonna take the bitch out."

Willow and Oz walked into the library together. Oz spoke first. "Okay, so I'm gonna get skinned?"

He frowned and grew more serious. "Sorry, Buff, just trying to dispell this death-shroud type silence thing we have happening."

Xander sat quietly at the table by Buffy. Since Cordellia had moved to L.A. to finish school and Angel had left . . . for heaven only knew why, the two had grown fairly close. Willow had often observed that with a little time they'd probably be making with the smoochies. Gabrielle and Giles leafed quickly through some musty old books, trying to find some info about Josephine or a vamp fitting her description. "Ugh!" Gab growled in frustration. "This is going nowhere!" Her shoulders were tight with stress. Looking outside, she realized it was nearly sunset. "Spike'll be coming soon." Usually the prospect of seeing her lover lifted all tension, but at the moment it only compacted her frustration. The thought that he might be withholding information from her hurt. A lot.

Buffy replied, "Nifty," in her most sarcastic tone. "We can have a whole big non-information-sharing party."

"There's a chance that he honestly doesn't know anything," Gabrielle reminded him.

He blushed slightly. "Yeah, I know. Sorry for raggin' on 'im, Gab. Just natural instinct to hate Spike. I'm working on it. Really!"

Giles perked up. "Here! This . . . this says that there was a vampire by the name of Josephina in Spain in the early part of this century. She apparently ravaged several small villages, killing most of the residents but leaving just certain individuals untouched. No one ever truly knew why. It was assumed that she was simply insane." He held a drawing up for inspection by Buffy and Gabrielle. "Is this her?"

The librarian removed his glasses and tapped them reflectively against his lips. "Well, I suppose we try to discover her hiding place. This would be unwise, of course, until tomorrow."

Buffy agreed. "Not big into going after psychos in the middle of the night when they're prowling. Especially not this one." She shuddered.

Spike sauntered into the library. "Hello, Luv," he said, giving Gab a quick kiss. "What's goin' on?"

She dropped her gaze to the floor then returned it to his handsome face. "Well, we're, uh, we're . . ."

"You're what?!" Spike exploded. "Damn it, I want an explanation, and I want it now!"

Gabrielle sighed, then quietly asked Buffy to explain her dream briefly. The slayer complied as Spike sat glaring at her. "It's a bloody lie," he murmured. They could all tell he didn't mean it.

"Spike," said Gabrielle softly, "I know how this must hurt. Well, I don't know, but I can imagine. Still, you see why? And after what Giles found-"

"He found a reference to some person named Josephina who bears a resemblance to Jo, and you're all ready to stake her just because of the slayer's stupid dream! Ever thought that she might just need therapy?"

Gabrielle's jaw clenched. "Stop it! I know you're upset, I know you're angry, and I do understand, but I will not stand by while you attack one of my best friends. It is not Buffy's fault that Jo isn't the woman you used to know. People change. You know that. Unless you want me to reconsider my decision not to follow mom when she moved to Illinois for her job, I suggest you calm down, take a deep breath, or get the hell out of here."

After several tense moments, Spike's face relaxed into what was almost a smile. "Fine, Luv, I'll calm down. Sorry, Slayer. Guess I'm a tad edgy at the moment." His sultry eyes begged for Gabrielle's forgiveness and his arms encircled her waist. "Will ya let this one slide? Promise I'll be a good boy from now on. Well, most of the time, anyway."

She grinned. "Oh, I suppose so." Gabrielle grew a bit more serious then. She could feel her heart beating in anxiety. //Here goes nothing.// "We need your help to take out Jo. You know her better than any of us, regardless of how she's changed. Please."

"Honestly, I dunno, Luv. See, if she's really plannin' on doing these things, I have no clue where she might be or why. The Jo I knew," he took a couple of steps backwards and turned away from the group, "was the sweetest, kindest, most beautiful girl . . ." he returned his gaze to Gab, "that I had ever known until you. She was innocence itself."

Buffy rose from her chair. "Well, Miss Sweetness and Light is planning on slaughtering all my friends, including Gab and you. We're not going to let her. Are you in or not? I don't care either way, but I bet Gabrielle does, and I can't guarantee you won't get caught in the crossfire if you try to defend Josephine."

"I'm with ya, Slayer, but don't expect me to hurt her. I could never look into those eyes and put a stake through her heart. I won't."

"Fine," Buffy agreed. Chunking a book at the vamp, she grinned. "Let's get back to the research, then. Tomorrow everybody but Spike goes to look for Josephine's latest address."

Buffy knew exactly where she would learn Josephine's whereabouts. "Hello, Willie!" she grinned.

"Oh, hi, SLAYER!" A few patrons of the bar faded into the background. Willie looked around. "Leave the kid at home?"

"Oh! Xander. Yeah, he's a place that's not here. Didn't figure you'd appreciate having an amateur torture you if you weren't willing to dole out the info."

Buffy grabbed his collar and drug him across the counter until they were face-to-face. "You're already in it. Where is she?"

"I don't think you understand, Slayer. She's not your average vamp! Jo's a little... heavier, ya know?"

The slayer loosened her grip until his feet were touching the floor again. "You mean like the Master?"

"Nothin' like him. He was a fluffy bunny rabbit compared to her. Jo's . . . she's nuttier than Drusilla ever was, but she's strong. She's real strong. I've never seen anything like it. When she wants ya dead, you die."

Shaking off the feeling of dread that lay like a block of ice in the pit of her stomach, Buffy prompted Willie again, "Where is she? I have to know."

"Fine." He shrugged. "It's your funeral. She's staying on the edge of town in a seedy motel called The Yellow Rose Inn."

Buffy arrived in front of the Yellow Rose a comfortable three hours before sunset. //I have some time to check things out . . . get a feel for the place.// She went into the lobby. "Hey!" the slayer's voice echoed dully off the cheap wood. It looked as though the motel were in a constant state of being not-quite-finished. New planks of wood sat on one end of the counter, a few nails scattered on the other. Dust coated almost everything. "Can I get some help?"

A heavy-set woman with permed, peroxided hair came out wearing stretch pants and a flower-print shirt. "What d'ya want?"

//Gotta love the service with a smile...// "I'm looking for my friend Josephine. She told me she's staying here?"

"I'll check." The woman scowled and grabbed a food-stained guestbook. "Yeah. Josephine Ryan. Room 15. Want me to show you."

//Not a question. She's not gonna show me. K.// "No, that's alright. I can probably find it on my own."

"Good." The woman gave Buffy a final disapproving glare and shuffled back into the back of the office.

//What a sweetheart.// Without hesitation, the Slayer stalked out and headed for room 15. //10 . . . 5 . . . 11 . . . Good that they learned to count so well . . . 15!// Buffy knocked heavily on the door. "Darn. No answer." She raised her leg and kicked the door open. "Oops. Did I do that? Josephine?"

Luckily, it had not fallen off its hinges and Buffy complied. "We're all into the darkness again. What the hell do you think you're going to do here?"

The elegant young woman laughed, her free-flowing red hair bouncing prettily. "Going to do? My dear Slayer, I've already started. One down . . ."

Buffy's eyes went wide and she turned, fleeing from the room and Josephine's ghostly laughter. //One down . . .//

By the time Buffy arrived at Sunnydale High School, there was already a small crowd gathered in the parking lot. By Cordellia's car. A few cops stood idly by. The Slayer saw a body bag being loaded into an ambulance. "Oh, God . . ." She ran over and spotted Xander nearby, tears flowing freely down his face. "Xander, is it-?"

"Don't look in the car. I did. Blood . . . Buff, there was so much blood." He pulled her close suddenly, crushing the breath from her lungs. But she didn't pull away. She needed to feel him holding her. It made things more real. "She's gone. I thought maybe the dream was just . . . but she's really gone. Cordy's gone."

"There wasn't anything you could do." He released her a little, let her step back. His huge brown eyes, still tear-filled, searched her face. "Did you find Josephine?"

The slayer nodded. "That's how I knew to come. She said she had already begun. I didn't know... She'll be gone tonight. I mean, it would be stupid to stay there."

Even as Gabrielle set out for the library, she knew it was a bad idea. The sun had been gone for almost half an hour. //Why didn't I just go with Spike when he left?// She had wanted to look again over the few volumes she had on demonic history, hoping to find a reference to Josephine, something she might have overlooked before. //And now I'm walking to the bloody school in the middle of the bloody night. Smart. Why didn't I call Oz to pick me up?// Shivering, Gab drew her jacket tighter and tried to think of something more pleasant.

Instead, her thoughts drifted time and again to Cordellia. //I never even really knew her.// But that didn't make the thought that her boyfriend's psychotic, powerful ex-fiancé had killed her any easier to swallow. //And she'll do the same thing to me. To him. To anyone who gets in her way.//

A twig snapped a few feet to her right and Gabrielle almost jumped out of her skin. Her heart pounded mercilessly in her chest. //Oh, gods, it's over! Josephine...// A small orange kitten stepped lightly out of the bushes and meowed pitifully. The young woman laughed and leaned over to pet the kitten.

Two strong hands wrapped firmly around her throat. "Hello there, my dear," a cultured female voice hissed in her ear. "I've been expecting you." Try as she might, Gabrielle could neither loosen the woman's grip nor kick her way free. She landed several blows on the woman's legs, but they had little or no affect. As oxygen became scarcer, purple and black spots swam before her vision. "That's it, little one, sleep. Sleep forever." And then there was nothing.

Buffy paced the length of the library for what she thought must be the thousandth time since her arrival. "Where is she? She should had been here half an hour ago, walking or not."

"Dammit, Slayer, I'm aware of that!" Spike glared at her a moment before turning away. "I'm aware of that. And I'm gonna go find 'er. You coming?"

Willow, Oz, Xander and Giles all moved to stand beside Buffy. The slayer nodded the affirmative. "We're in."

"You're awake. Pity. Would have been much more dramatic if you had waited until William and all your little friends came to save you." Gabrielle could just make out Josephine's face in the pitch-dark room. The woman's pale skin fairly glowed against the blackness. "Then again, you don't strike me as a girl who knows much about style."

"Yeah, timing is what's important now. Glad we have our priorities straight." Though it felt like knives were slicing her throat whenever she spoke, Gabrielle knew that if she couldn't keep herself occupied, she was likely to pass out again. //I feel like the living dead. Which, actually, is kind of appropriate.// "What are you going to do?"

"Well, this is against my original plan... I had hoped to save you for last. For after I had plunged a stake through William's heart as you looked on. But the Slayer obviously isn't going to allow me the time to execute my plan in a more poetic manner."

"Why do you want to hurt Buffy?" Gabrielle could readily see why a spurned lover would want revenge, but killing the Scooby Gang, though it would hurt Spike by hurting her, hardly seemed to fit that profile. "I don't get it."

Long, sharp fingernails dug into Gabrielle's shoulders, drawing blood. "Of course not. You're too young to know the kind of hell my life has been. You don't know what it's like to spend your life in darkness!" Josephine's voice cracked painfully, a brief echo of tears clouding the flood of anger. "I hate what I am, but it is all I have! All any vampire has. Slayers always pretend to act for the good of humanity." A bitter laugh ripped from her throat. "As if humanity is worth saving! It isn't, of course. Not anymore.

"And Slayers want to take the last thing we have left. We cannot have love, not like humans do. We can't have the sun's warmth to burn away the shadows lurking within. All we have is our life! Existence! For once, I want a Slayer to touch the darkness that we live. I want Buffy to glimpse a vague shadow of how the soul decays over time. I want her to hurt as I have hurt."

Gabrielle swallowed. Throughout the speech, Josephine's grip tightened further on her shoulders. She could feel warm blood trickling down her chest, her back, her arms. It took a good deal of self-control not to scream. //I'm not letting this psychotic whore see my pain! Not now, not ever.// "Great. So what? You kill me, assuming Buffy doesn't stake your sorry ass first. Then you fight her off, restrain her, kill Willow, Oz, Giles and Spike. Then what?"

"I let her live." Josephine released Gabrielle's shoulders and crouched in front of the chair where the girl was bound. "Maybe I even let her feel what it is like to have your soul rent from your body, to feel the demon taking over your every action. Or maybe I let her live a mortal, die when it is her time. She would probably become quite insane, spend the remainder of her years in some sanitarium somewhere. Yes, that might be fitting."

"Okay. So what do we do until they get here? Play cards?" The fresh pain of her shoulder wounds allowed Gabrielle to keep her focus on the present moment. //Goddess, let me live if only long enough to watch her die!//

"Well, I'm buzzing. You sure know how to get a girl in the mood to party." The blessedly-loud sound of shattering wood filled Gabrielle with a relief so intense it was almost painful. "In here!"

"Yes, in here," Josephine echoed in a mocking tone. "Do come save your little friend. Or at least try."

Buffy's angry visage appeared out of the darkness. "Do or do not. There is no try. That comes direct from Yoda, so you know it's good. And I have every intention to do."

The others stepped up behind her, Spike venturing closest, standing directly beside the slayer. "We aren't gonna let you do this, Jo."

Her hand flew to her mouth in feigned shock. "You aren't! Well, then, I'll just stop right now!" A twisted, bitter mask replaced the first expression. "Did you really think I didn't expect you to come, William? I planned it this way."

"Not exactly," Buffy countered. "I saw your plan. I've already ruined it. Now I'm going to kill you and let my friend go home with //her// boyfriend. Any questions? I'll be happy to write that down for you if there were too many big words."

"That won't be necessary. I am afraid, however, that her death will be." Josephine whirled around pressed her fangs to Gabrielle's throat.

//Not again!// The woman's fangs pierced the soft skin covering her jugular vein, and Gabrielle once more struggled vainly to break free. She felt her consciousness ebbing even as Josephine was jerked back and away from her neck.

Spike pulled Josephine away with a snarl, wishing fervently that he had thought to bring a nice sharp stake. He knew with certainty that nothing of the woman he once loved existed in the heart of the vampire before him. The blood trickling from the corner of her mouth heightened the impression that she was some monster out of a children's storybook. With a smile of triumph, he watched as Buffy shoved Mr. Pointy straight through Josephine's heart via her back. To his shock, however, nothing happened. //What the bloody hell?//

"You think you can defeat me so easily, Slayer? Can't you feel my power?" Josephine stepped closer to Buffy while the others hung back, reluctant to oppose so menacing a foe. She gestured to the Scooby Gang. "They apparently do. They are afraid. As you should be."

Giles stood further back than the rest of the group, mind apparently hard at work on a solution to their predicament. "There must be something. If Buffy can't... Buffy can't. That's it!" The librarian caught Spike's eye somehow and motioned him closer.

Despite a marked desire not only to stay and fight Josephine but to determine Gabrielle's condition, Spike complied, edging away from Josephine and the Slayer, who seemed to be holding some bizarre staring contest. "What is it?" he whispered harshly.

"No!" Giles corrected. "You see, I believe that Josephine must be destroyed more emotionally than physically. Buffy can wound her, but she cannot crush her spirit. Josephine's power comes more from her anger than any supernatural source. If we can destroy her will to live, we destroy her. //You// are the only one who can do that."

"She wouldn't have kidnapped Gabrielle if she didn't care for you. She wants to hurt you. You must hurt her."

Giles complied and Spike again stalked toward Josephine and Buffy, who were sparring. //Not much of a fight. I don't think I've ever seen the Slayer in such poor shape.// "Jo! Leave the girl alone. You don't really wanna fight her anyway. It's me you want." He resolutely refused to look at Gabrielle. Spike needed anger to fuel his actions, not grief. Grief could only hold him back.

The being that had once been his only love snarled. "And why should I want you?"

"Because ya always have. We should never have been together, but that never mattered. You wanted me anyway, even though I was never good enough for you or your family. We could have made it."

"Once. Now..." she stepped closer, so close he could smell the odd mix of blood and floral perfume.

Spike almost smiled. "Now it's way too damn late for us." Without hesitation, he raised the stake and plunged it through Josephine's heart.

"I just shoved a stake through your damn heart, you bitch! And I'd do it another thousand times if I had to."

With a small cry --of pain or anguish he couldn't tell-- Josephine fell back to the floor, eyes closed. A few heartbeats later, she dissolved in a cloud of dust.

Spike stepped over the pile of ashes without thinking. He could feel the eyes of the Scooby Gang staring. "Stop gawking and help me!" He pressed his fingers to Gabrielle's mangled throat, feeling for a pulse. To his anguish, barely a flutter passed beneath his cold fingers. "Damn it!" //If you're out there, I'm not losing her! You can't have her!// "Gabby, girl, you've got to listen to me. I dunno if you can hear me or not, but you've got to hold on! Fight. For me." A strange lump had formed in Spike's throat, making speaking difficult. He could already feel blood tears staining his cheeks.

Giles pushed Spike's hand aside and checked her pulse as well. His expression grew grave. "She won't make it to a hospital. It could be any second."

"NO!" Spike roughly pulled Gabrielle free of the ropes still binding her to the chair and sat on the floor, dragging her along and holding her in his lap. "No." //God help me, I won't lose her!// Praying for the first time he could remember, Spike savagely drove his fangs into his own wrist and held it to Gabrielle's lips. "Come on, luv," he whispered. "I need you. Don't leave me." He felt weak suction on his wrist and almost laughed in his relief. Bending, he kissed Gabrielle's head. "God, I was scared." After a few minutes, he withdrew his wrist and gently took Gabrielle's head in his hands, looking into her eyes. "Are you alright, luv?"

Spike smiled back. In the back of his mind, a little voice whispered that something was wrong, something was just a little bit... off. "Are you sure?"

Gabrielle relaxed in his embrace, laying her head on his shoulder. "I'm fine. And now we'll be together. Forever."

FIN

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Blast from the Past