Buffy walked silently, flipping a stake from hand to hand. She wasn't on patrol. To the contrary, she was on her way to a nice night of Bronzing with the gang. Regardless, she found a kind of comfort in the motion. Reassurance that there was nothing she couldn't handle. God only knew she needed that, what with Spike acting so oddly recently. At least she knew he was still over at Gile's house. No sirree, no scary bleached vamps were going to cramp her style tonight.
Xander, Willow, Anya, and Tara were all seated at table, sipping at beverages and laughing at something Xander had said. Buffy joined them, smiling.
"Hey guys... what's up? Anything I should know about?"
"Nothing beyond the revelation that Xander's been baiting vamps again...." Willow snickered. Buffy looked puzzled.
"What's so special about that?"
Xander grinned, blushing. "Apparently, THIS time, it was a big group of male vamps. And I don't think they wanted to suck his blood, if ya know what I mean."
"Um, eww? Way too much information..." The petite blond shuddered. "So! Let's talk about something else... anything else."
When they finally left the Bronze at closing time, the group wasn't acting out of character. They were laughing, talking, and didn't suspect a thing. Buffy's heart stopped still in her chest when she turned the corner, and saw. Moonlight glinted off of a platinum head, bent low over the neck of its victim. The figure wore a battered leather duster. And was busily killing a terrified young man.
"SPIKE!" Xander yelled out, caught between anger and fear. Dropping the corpse, the blond scaled the fence and disappeared into the night in a swirl of black leather. Buffy was too stunned to chase. "But, but...oh gods." She knelt at the man's side. "The chip."
*******
The Slayer and Scoobies burst through the door to the Watcher's home, brandishing weapons. "Giles! GILES!!" Buffy looked around frantically, frightened at the prospect of finding his corpse- or worse yet, a demon walking in his corpse. Responding to her call, the British man poked his head out of the kitchen, cup of tea in hand.
"Yes? Goodness, what's the matter?" The Slayer approached him firmly, and after testing him with a cross, she flung her arms around him.
"You're alive!"
"Well, yes, I usually am..."
Buffy released him, her eyes cold. "Where's Spike."
"What's that, luv?" the vampire in question drawled, as he entered the room from the hallway. The Slayer turned, blonde hair whirling, and tackled him to the floor. Within seconds, her stake was poised over his heart,while she straddled his body. His eyes wide, hands flat and empty in a gesture of surrender, he expressed his confusion. "Look, I swear it, whatever you think I did, it had nothing to do with me..."
Ignoring his words, Buffy addressed her Watcher. "Giles, his chip isn't working anymore."
"What!" Spike protested.
"Oh my- how did this come to your attention?" Ever the voice of reason, Giles began to polish his lenses.
"We saw him. Outside the Bronze, not a half-hour ago, and he was feeding." Spike smirked.
"Fresh out of luck there, Slayer. I've been with Ripper here all evening. There's Manchester United on the telly." Buffy looked up for confirmation.
"Well, yes, he's been staring at the damn idiot box for the last three hours. He hasn't left once."
Uncertain for once, the girl stood up, without putting the stake away. "But I SAW him..." Spike curled his lip at her in a silent snarl.
"You saw someone LIKE me... oy, you wouldn't believe the fanclub I've got. Besides, black leather and blond hair isn't that big of a stretch, when you get down to it."
"He's actually right, Buffy... it could be anyone. You must've been mistaken. However, I think you should take him with you on patrol tomorrow, just to prevent further misunderstandings."
Xander interjected at this point. "And that would be of the good because...?" Willow elbowed him.
"He helps! Sometimes... besides, it's good to have backup." Seeing that he was currently out of danger of being dusted, the blond vampire sneered at the gang.
"Don't mind me, feeling a bit peckish." He rolled up to his feet, and went into the kitchenette. Giles was distracted for long enough to call after him.
"Not my good mugs!"
*******
The following evening, Buffy again was flippin Mr. Pointy from hand to hand. This time, however, it was in deadly earnest. Every ten seconds or so, she would glance back over her shoulder to make certain that Spike was still right next to her. If he was feeding again, she would dust him. If it was a Spike-wannabe... well, she pitied them for their utter patheticness...Patheticness? Is that even a word? she thought.... Hm..I'll have to ask Giles how to conjugate that... Her reverie was interrupted by a fledgling errupting from the ground in front of her. Two punches and a swift kick later, dust settled on the cemetary ground. As she knelt in position, black boots entered her line of vision. Black denim-clad ankles, a swirl of leather, and someone had her by the hair. A cold hand wrenched the stake from her hand, and she was pulled up against the chest of a vamp with its arm around her throat. Buffy tensed, waiting for the fangs to descend. She couldn't see the face, and her arms were effectively pinned.
"Ok, Spike... you win..." A chuckle was her only reply, and she frowned. The Brit seemed shorter tonight. And he wasn't surrounded by the stench of cigarettes and Jack Daniels. Her confusion was compounded when she saw Spike burst out of the bushes in front of her, with Willow and Xander at his side.
"Oy! Buffy!" He made as if to move to her rescue, when the arm around the girl's throat tightened threateningly. A smooth female voice spoke.
"Ah, ah.. I think that will be quite close enough... It's been a long time, William."
When Spike saw that Buffy had been trapped, he thought he felt something inside rupture. When he saw who it was that held her, he froze. "Rosalind," he ground out. His face was wavering between human and vamped.
"Hn.... haven't gone by that in quite some time..." She inhaled deeply, nuzzling at Buffy's throat. "So this is the Slayer..." Her eyes met Spike's. "I'd heard you had become her lapdog, but I didn't give the rumor credence. I guess I should've known... you always were a sucker for the helpless ones.." Her grip in Buffy's hair tightened, and she pulled her head to the side. Vamping, she growled. "Looks like I'm about to gain the lead, though. Spike, the slayer of two Slayers. Blade, slayer of three."
Just before she sank her fangs into the girl's neck, Spike broke out of his paralysis. Fully gamefaced, he tackled the two women to the ground and threw Buffy out of the way.
"MY Slayer, MY friends, MY town, MY turf! You won't touch her, or them, or ANYTHING!" Within seconds, a life-and-death brawl broke out between the two vampires. Animal growls, threats and kicks were exchanged, while Xander and Willow ran to Buffy's side. Any attempt they might have made to question her was precluded by the fight before them. Identical stances and lunges, matching swirls of leather, and the same bleached hair. The two vampires looked like deadly reflections. They fought seamlessly, attack and counterattack perfectly executed. Long minutes passed, without either showing signs of tiring. After Spike threw a roundhouse kick to her head, however, she looked up at him, face returning to it human shape.
"Brother. By blood. Hold."
Spike snarled. "You expect me to respect that? The call? The bond? Fuck you, Ros!" He backhanded her, and she didn't resist.
"C'mon Spike.. I was just playing. Knock it off. Hold."
"You were cast from the line."
"And our line is a mockery! So what! Hold!" The last word was shouted, and seemed to penetrate the Brit's rage. Melting out of gameface, he stared at Blade.
"I should dust you right now." The pain and anger in his voice didn't seem to fit the scene.
She shook her head. "I'll see you around, William." Turning, she walked towards the street. Xander raised his crossbow, intending to shoot her in the back, when Spike glared at him. Lowering the weapon slowly, he glanced around.
"Well, I guess that answers that question."
Still keeping one eye out for the other vampire, Spike knelt at Buffy's side. "Y'alright there, luv?"
Hazel eyes blazed at him, and a hand shot out to give him a sharp cuff. "Who the hell is that?"
"Oy!" The peroxide blond clutched his head and rose. "See if I ever defend you again..."
"Spike, cut the bull. Who is she?" The diminuitive Slayer picked herself up off the ground and stared at the chipped wonder.
"Rosalind. Outcaste. Ask the Watcher," he managed to ground out before storming away in a flurry of black leather.
"Again with the great exit. Does it come with the grr, or is it a leather thing?"
The two girls turned to stare as Xander made yet another incredibly random comment.
"What?"
"C'mon. We've got to go talk to Giles."
*******
"Rosalind Outcaste." Giles pusehd his glasses farther up his nose and narrowed his gaze at the dusty tome. "There isn't much to go on here. Her only mention is inder the line of Aurelius. It says, 'Rosalind, childe of Angelus, outcaste by sire's right'." "Well, gee, that was helpul," Buffy scowled.
"If only Spike had stuck around a little longer-" Willow's comment was interrupted by Xander's sarcastic interjection.
He was busy being cryptic guy, remember? Someone should let Angel know that there's a contender for his title."
BUffy shook her head, hopping to her feet. "Since that was pointless, I'm going back out." She nodded towards the door of the magic shop.
"Considering her strength, as well as her assumed history of taking out Slayers, do you really consider it wise?" The Watcher began polishing his lenses in nervous reaction.
"Relax, Giles. I'm just going to do some recon. Ask Willie a few questions. Strictly non-confrontational.
The scrawny bartender's body hit the wall in a crash of shattering glassware.
"Tell me!" the slayer demanded, towards the hapless snitch.
"I swear, I don't know nothin' about a Rosalind! There's only one new rumor in town and -" Freezing, Willie started to curse. The cuncussion must've knocked his tongue loose.
"Oh? Buffy replied, in deceptively sweet tones. "Do tell. "
With his hand clapped to his throbbing skull, the bartennder winced. THere was no escape left.
"Some big mercenary's in town from Europe. Fancy, French name, Lamierina du Soir, or something pretentious like that. I swear, that's all I know, though. It's been real quiet lately, good for business, like."
Buffy eyed the sniveling man, trying to decide if he was lying or not.
"Let me take my love and bury it in a hole six foot deep... I can lay my body down But I can't find my sweet release... so let me rest in peace..." She continues humming the melody to herself.
