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“Why don’t you die, already?” Buffy screamed piercing the demon’s
heart, or at least what she hoped was the heart.
She couldn’t say how long they had been fighting. Spike was still
next to her, he hadn’t gone far.
They had fought against countless vampires and demons, the
tunnels were scarcely lighted by that sickening purple light.
What was worst was that she could feel Giles. She felt he was near
and he was weak. She was sure Spike could feel a connection with
Willow as well. It was those bastards’ way to distract them.
Once, she had almost crumpled upon those feelings. The wave of
sorrow, regret and grief that had hit her had been so strong that
her eyes had filled with tears and took her breath away.
Spike, who had been busy dispatching two vampires, without even
looking at her had said, “Fight, Slayer! Focus your senses on the
battle…block anything else out…”
She hadn’t looked at him, but through his voice, she had realized
he had been doing the same thing. He had blocked out anything else
and had focused on the battle.
Her respect for the vampire was growing by the minute. She heard
him chuckle at her last words aimed at the demon and wasn’t
surprised when he deadpanned, “Try to say please…it could bloody
work, for all we know…”
Buffy couldn’t help shaking her head at his words. She extracted
the sword from the demon and with one quick movement cut its head
off, panting, “Would you die now, * please *?”
The demon’s body fell on the ground and Buffy sighed. She turned
when she heard the demon’s body Spike had been fighting fall on
the ground with a loud thud.
He grinned at her while the purple light was fading and said, “Not
so bad, ducks…although your puns are still lame…”
“Look, who’s talking….” She said but couldn’t help grinning as
well.
“I’d say we should resume walking…” he said. Buffy could see he
was hurt, and she knew she had been wounded too; she shook her
head and said, “We need to rest…”
“Ducks…” he started.
“Do you want to save them and prevent the end of the world? Let’s
sit down for a while…we aren’t going to be of any help if we’re
dead on our feet, no pun intended…”
He chuckled at her words but said, “It figures…” He leant against
a wall and continued, “When I said that, I was just a pain in the
ass…when you say that…”
“Oh, shut up Spike!” she said leaning against the same wall, next
to him.
They slowly sat on the pavement, their heads and backs against the
wall, Buffy closed her eyes, she heard Spike rummaging through one
of the backpacks’ contents, she opened her eyes and was surprised
when Spike handed her a sandwich and a bottle, “Eat…” he mumbled.
“Yes, mom…” she said.
Spike snorted at her words and took a bottle for himself. She took
a bite from the sandwich and watched him drinking his blood, she
frowned and asked, “Do you like blood?”
Spike looked at her raising an eyebrow and said, “Of course I like
it! Luv, I may be one of the Eletti but I’m still a vampire”
She nodded and shrugging said, “Well…you know…you’ve surprised the
heck out of me, so many times since yesterday that…”
Spike shook his head at her words, and kept drinking from his
bottle. He didn’t know whether he had done the right thing when he
had told her about his identity. Yet he felt more relaxed than he
ever remembered being since he had been activated.
For the first time he didn’t have to pretend, he didn’t have to
feign. He knew he couldn’t let slip the control he had over
himself and his feelings, lives, so many lives, included Willow
and Giles’ depended on it.
~ What do you want, Willow?
You
~
He shook his head, when he clearly heard Willow and his voice.
< Oh, my God…> he thought closing his eyes.
~ Please ~ Willow’s voice begged.
< What is she doing? >
He could feel Willow’s arousal, could feel the pain, the sorrow in
it. He could feel her love. He shook his head, he felt Buffy’s
hand on his arm
“Don’t think about it…” she ordered. “Remember? Block it out…it’s
not real…”
“You don’t understand…” he said in a low voice, “It’s real…her
feelings are real…she’s trying to fight this…”
“They both are…” she whispered. He looked at her, he could see
tears were dampening her cheeks, “There’s so much pain…”
That was enough to shake Spike from his thoughts. They couldn’t
afford to be weak; they couldn’t afford to let their feelings to
get in the way.
“Enough!” he said. “No one said they were going to have
fun…they’re fighting it…that’s all that matters…”
“Spike…” she said.
“I said, enough!” he growled, “They want us weak…both physically
and mentally…”
She stopped him, taking his hand in hers for a second before
saying, “Well, they’re in for a surprise….” She paused before
asking, “Why did they take them, Spike?”
Spike turned toward her, and Buffy noticed she had totally gotten
used to the darkness of the gallery. She had no problems in seeing
him in the dark.
Spike had been right about her senses; Buffy thought he’d
probably been a really good Watcher when he was alive.
She hugged her knees to her chest and weakly asked, “Why?”
“Because we love them….” he said in a low voice. “And because it’s
unheard of one of The Eletti and a Slayer working together…”
“We don’t usually work together” she pinpointed without looking at
him. She turned toward him frowning, then asked, “Why didn’t you
tell us about who you really were? I mean…wouldn’t it have been
easier than the big bad routine?”
“No. I thought about it and I nearly did a few times, but the
orders were very clear and besides what if one of you were turned?
We can’t risk blowing our covers…there are too many lives at stake
and I’m not just talking about ours…we’re already dead…”
“So you didn’t talk… you kept up your cover…” she whispered.
Spike shrugged and said, “Can’t say it hasn’t been fun…” he said,
“especially the Ascension…”
“You were there?” Buffy asked surprised.
“I helped you…I lurked, patrolled, assisted you and your chums
when I could…”
“You pulled and Angel?” she teased.
“Very amusing, slayer….” he all but growled.
“Well, it’s true…” she said shrugging.
Spike shook his head then mimicking her voice he said, “Does the
world ‘Sacred Duty’ rings any bell to you?”
“Hey! How was I supposed to know that you are a spy?” she frowned
then asked, “although there’s something I still don’t get…”
“That would be?” he asked, although he already suspected what
Buffy was going to ask.
“How…can they be so sure that…” she started
“We still follow their orders after we’ve been turned?” he
finished for her.
“Uhm…yes…” she said in a low voice.
Spike looked at her. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t tell
her he had a soul, so he shrugged and said, “Magic...”
“Which kind of magic?” she asked. She had caught his hesitancy.
“Powerful magic, Slayer…” he said, “very powerful magic…”
Buffy just nodded at him. She looked around, she could still feel
Giles, she could feel how contented he felt with her in his arms,
and how afraid he was for her. She wiped away some tears from her
cheeks and took a deep breath.
She knew Giles loved her, she could see it in his eyes whenever he
looked at her; she clearly heard it when he spoke to her. She
loved him, as well. What was happening was just like the
realization of her worst nightmare.
Giles had been taken not because he was her watcher, but because
she loved him…because, they loved each other.
They both knew how dangerous their lives where, they both were
aware of the depth bond they shared, yet, they didn’t talk about
it. Talking made everything real, and they had both already lost
too much.
“I can feel him” she whispered, she swallowed before asking, “do
you know what they’re doing to them?”
“Do you really want to know?” Spike asked back in a low voice.
“Yes…I need to know…what’s happening to them? Why can we feel
them?”
“It’s this place, Slayer…I told you things were different here…”
“But they…Giles seems happy….and…OH GOD!” she suddenly arched her
head, while tears filled her eyes when a wave of sorrow,
stronger than the previous hit her, taking her breath away, making
her heart strongly pump in her chest.
She opened her mouth gasping for air, she started when she felt
Spike hand on her shoulder, she turned toward him, noticing how
pale he looked, his eyes sparkled with unshed tears, she realized
he was probably feeling Willow’s sorrow.
She swallowed and asked in a nasal voice, “What are they doing to
them? It’s like his heart is breaking with sorrow…”
Spike swallowed too before saying in a low voice, “I don’t know…I
just know they’re torturing them…I don’t know what’s happening,
exactly…”
“But Giles was happy…I could feel it”
“And so was Willow…” he added, his voice was but a whisper and
Buffy was surprised, it was the first time she’d ever heard Spike
saying Willow’s name, she was surprised by the love she heard in
his voice.
Was it possible, that Spike had really fallen for her friend?
She sighed, the wave of sorrow was still high within herself, she
could feel so clearly Giles' feelings, and a brief look at Spike
assured her he was feeling the same, she swallowed before saying,
“Spike? You asked me whether I was ready to kill human beings
before we came here…”
“I did….” He said in a low voice and Buffy saw how he was fighting
to keep control of his feelings, she could hear tears in his
voice.
“I am…I'll do whatever I must to free them” she said, resolve in
her voice.
Both Spike and Buffy closed their eyes when they heard their loved
ones, agonizing cries, without even realizing what she was doing
she stretched a hand and blindly looked for Spike’s, they
intertwined fingers, holding on each other’s hand, in the darkness
of that gallery.
Both of them hating their calling, their sacred duty more than
anything in that moment. |