Till the End of Time: Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Vicki turned to find the source of the voice, nearly pushing Henry away from her. He seemed to have a sudden fetish for being as close as humanly (inhumanly?) possible to her. She gave him a look and he shot her one back, that look that said, “If you think I’m backing off so you can get hurt, you’ve got another thing coming.”
Gritting her teeth, Vicki stepped away from Henry and studied the platinum blond that had just joined their group.
“Surprise, surprise it’s Spike!” Buffy said facetiously at the same time Henry said “Vampire” declaratively.
The man named Spike narrowed his eyes at Henry and Vicki sidled up close to Henry. Now it was she that was feeling protective? Oh, how the tables can turn so quickly. “Yeah, I am. So are you,” Spike said, eyeing Henry. “You don’ feel like a normal vampire.”
“Funny, I was just thinking the same about you.”
“Henry, play nice,” Vicki murmured, touching his arm.
Henry looked down at her and then to Buffy. “You know him?”
“Oh, she knows me all right. Don’t ya, Slayer?” Spike smirked.
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know him. He’s fine. Well, that’s really relative, but he’s not going to hurt you.”
“I can hurt him, though,” Spike said, nodding to Henry. “I can hurt him just fine…”
“There will be no hurting, Spike,” Buffy said warningly.
“Oh, come on now. No reason to spoil all my fun in watching him try,” Henry said arrogantly, smirking at Spike.
“Listen, you little ponce--”
It was time to diffuse the situation, Vicki decided, and since this Spike character was not exactly listening to Buffy, and since she herself wanted some answers as to how this vampire and the Slayer were…well, kind of friendly, Vicki stepped up to the plate and planted herself right in front of the blond vampire, earning a warning growl from Henry. “Hi, Spike, I’m Vicki.”
Spike at first just blinked and then raised a brow. “Yeah, and?”
“I came to ask Buffy’s help on a case I’m working on. I’m a Private Investigator.”
“How’d you find her?”
“Henry.”
“The little twerp behind you?”
“Yes, the little--” Vicki stopped abruptly and Henry poked her. Rolling her eyes, she finished, “- the guy behind me.”
“I reckon you would know all about the Slayer, eh vampire?”
“As any good vampire would,” Henry replied.
Spike smirked at him, “Well, I wouldn’t jump the gun on ‘good’ yet Henry.”
“Thanks, Spike,” Henry nearly spat.
“Is this turning into a game of whose fangs are longer? And if so, why?” Vicki asked, looking over her shoulder at Henry and then back to Spike.
“Because with Spike, it’s always about whose fangs are longer,” Buffy jumped in, coming round and standing next to Spike. “Honestly, can you just be nice for once?”
“Slayer, I told you the other night. You gotta watch your back better. I come out and see you pickin’ up strays. One of em’ being some light in the loafers vampire--” he nodded to Henry. “How old are you anyway?”
“Four-hundred and fifty. How old are you? Let me guess…just over a century?”
Spike glared at him while Vicki and Buffy exchanged looks and then started to laugh.
“I suddenly feel like an infant, how about you Buffy?” Vicki asked through her laughter.
Buffy grinned, “Same.”
Standing next to Henry instead of in front of him, Vicki nudged him with her hip. “Thanks, bub. And here I thought when I turned twenty-five that a quarter of a century was old.”
“It’s all about perspective,” Buffy chimed in.
“You birds quite done?” Spike snapped.
“Don’t snap at her,” Henry growled.
“Don’t tell me what to do, vampire, or it’ll be the last thing you do,” Spike growled back.
“Hey - knock it off!” Vicki exclaimed. “Separate corners the both of you. Honestly Henry,” she said looking up at him, “I thought it was just Mike that brought out the worst in you. Apparently you just have anger management issues.”
Henry finally looked down at her and glared, “He’s disrespectful.”
“Get used to it,” Buffy said dryly.
“Hey!” Spike exclaimed.
“I’d like to get some work done since we’ve come all this way. Do you two mind?” Vicki demanded.
Clenching his jaw and balling his hands into fists at his sides, Henry said a stiff, “Fine.”
“If you want to help, Spike, then play nice. Otherwise, go home,” Buffy told her own disgruntled vamp.
Sighing heavily and then clenching his jaw, Spike conceded with a “Fine” of his own.
“Well, it’s nice to know men don’t change even when they’re dead,” Vicki muttered and started off in the direction of the hotel.
“Nope, and their ‘know it all’ attitude just gets worse. All because they’ve ‘been around longer’,” Buffy added, falling in step beside her.
“Hasn’t taught them how to grow up and act like men instead of little boys, does it?”
“Welcome to my world, Vicki.”
********
“I don’t like him,” Henry told Vicki later after the foursome had met up at the Sunrise Inn, going over Vicki’s minimal notes and file. It was at least something. It had seemed to give Buffy enough to go on, as well as Spike. They mentioned something about “Scoobies” and Buffy gave them her address to meet at her home the following night, much to Spike’s chagrin.
“Really?” Vicki drawled, settling back in the chair at the table they’d been sitting at in the lounge. “I thought you guys were getting along great. About as great as you and Mike do.”
“He’s hotheaded and arrogant.”
Miming holding a phone to her ear, Vicki said, “Hi, kettle? Henry says you’re black.”
Henry narrowed his eyes at her, “Enjoying this?”
“Not as much as you think I am. Henry, we’ve come to do a job, not to piss off the natives and go back home empty-handed. Did it ever occur to you that maybe you could learn a thing or two from Spike?”
Henry looked at her incredulously, “Learn something from that? He’s rude and uncultivated. He has no class.”
“And you’re a snob.”
He stared at her, stunned.
“You know Henry, it’s a little narrow-minded of you to not only think that there can only be one ‘true’ breed of vampire, but it’s also narrow-minded of you to think you can’t learn something from them too.” She stood then, looking down at him, “For all your worldliness, you still don’t know a hell of a lot.”
“What about him? He wasn’t exactly a prince, Vicki. He did threaten me, remember?”
“I expected more from you. The Duke of Richmond should have a little more class instead, I found you just as base as he was. Rise above and all that crap, Henry. It’s what I’ve been telling you to do with Mike all this time.”
“Do you tell him the same of me?”
“Yes. You’re both children. I am not saying that Spike was an innocent here, but neither were you. I don’t know him well enough to put any kind of judgment on him, but I know you. And I’ve seen you at your most charming. You can’t tell me that you hadn’t already formed an opinion of ‘his kind’ before you even saw them. That’s what makes you a snob, Henry.”
“Vicki--”
“Good night,” she said, cutting him off and heading to her suite. Bloody vampires are giving me a headache! Great. I’m already starting to sound like Spike.