How to Treat Your Lover (A(us)/S, Buffy) NC-17 39-B/?
Title: How to Treat Your Lover (Book 3)
By Tami (tabrandt @ hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: The characters from ATS / BTVS are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox studios. This story is not meant to infringe upon anyone's rights, only to entertain.
BETA: Myself, lexa4227
Rating: NC-17
Pairing - M/M, Angelus/Spike, Angel/Spike
Timeline - ATS Season 3/BTVS Season 6-AU
Summary - While Angel is dealing with Wolfram & Hart constantly attacking members of his team, Spike, still hasn't completely forgiven Angel for the events in Book 2 and is feeling bitter that Angel abandoned him. Meanwhile, Buffy is back from the dead and depressed after being torn from heaven by her friends. Together they start a relationship of sorts. None of them could have anticipated the widespread consequences of this destructive affair.
Feedback - It would be appreciated. My plot bunny has been lagging lately.
Author's Note - This story came to me after watching how Buffy treated Spike in SMASHED - AS YOU WERE (BTVS, Season 6). I wondered how Angel would truly feel, if he really knew how Buffy mistreated Spike. Yes, Spike is the Big Bad, and he and Angel normally don't see eye-to-eye, but they are family nonetheless
Word Count: 15,335 overall
How to Treat Your Lover Soundtrack (Feel free to suggest a song/scene)
( Book 1 )
( Book 2 )
( Previous Chapters for Book 3 )
**************************
Chapter 39-B: Step 3 - Estrangement (Part 6)
Sunnydale, Crawford Street Mansion
Buffy burst into the house without knocking, as per usual. She stormed into the living room where a black-and-white horror movie was playing on the television and demanded, “Get your gear together. We need to . . .”
She stopped when she realized Spike was nowhere to be seen. Buffy looked around, searching for the blonde menace. “Spike?”
“You know . . .” Spike said behind her, causing her to jump. She turned to find him directly behind her looking unimpressed. “In civilized countries, that’s called trespassing.”
“Good thing you’re uncivilized,” Buffy said.
“Giles find you?” Spike asked.
“Where’s Angel?” Buffy asked at the same time.
“Giles?” Buffy frowned.
“Why the hell does everyone assume I know where Angel is? I’m not his bloody keeper,” Spike said angrily.
“Why was Giles looking for me?” Buffy cut him off again.
“It’s Dawn,” Spike replied.
“Dawn?” Buffy’s frown deepened. “Why, what happened?”
“Nothing. It’s okay. Giles was by here earlier looking for you. Dawn and her little friend pulled a Houdini. Up to a bit of candy-corn mischief, I suspect.”
“Wait, she’s out there running around by herself?” Buffy asked with a horrified expression.
“Yeah, kids these days, eh?” Spike said sarcastically.
Buffy walked past him towards a chest he used to store weapons.
“I did a sweep of the tunnels and Giles is poking about the cemetery,” Spike said as he watched her.
“We have to find her,” Buffy stated as she tossed the lid opened and grabbed a few weapons.
“I don’t think she’s in there,” Spike commented dryly. He frowned as he caught a crossbow that she had tossed at him.
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
Cordelia took a tazer from the weapons cabinet and put it into her shoulder bag. She picked up a crossbow and stowed it as well.
Fred came down the stairs and watched her. “What are you doing?”
Cordelia turned at the sound of her voice with a guilty expression. “I’m going to go run an errand . . . uh, a normal everyday errand.” She headed for the back door when Fred’s voice stopped her.
“Cordelia, I don’t think you should do this.”
“How can I not?” Cordelia asked sadly. She opened the door and walked out.
Fred was left staring after her. She turned and jumped in surprise as Wesley walked in the main entrance doors.
“Fred! You’re here. Good,” Wesley said excitedly, for him anyway. “I was hoping you would assist me.” He lifted a bag with paper in it. “I managed to lift a sample of Billy’s blood. Maybe we can identify his demon lineage and somehow figure out how his power works.” She followed him into the office as he went in and sat down. “Would you hand me the--” he started to say. He looked up and saw that Fred held out glass slides. “Glass slides.” He gave her a silly smile. “Thank you.”
**************************
Sunnydale, Cemetery
It was a dark and foggy night, perfect weather for Halloween. Buffy and Spike had searched every other place for Dawn that they thought a teenage girl might go. They were zeroing in on one or two cemeteries. It was just like the girl to end up in a cemetery even with a Slayer for a sister.
“Xander asked Anya to marry him,” Buffy said to break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them.
“I’ll bet that’ll be an interesting ordeal. Imagine Xander’s family sharing a room with her former demon friends and family,” Spike scoffed. “I’d love to see that.”
With no other segue, Buffy asked, “So who’s your new girlfriend?”
Spike looked at her as if he didn’t recognize her. “Huh?”
“Xander said he saw you with a girl and that she hit him,” Buffy said.
“She’s not my girlfriend. She was just a friend who came to me for help,” Spike replied in an evasive tone.
“Xander also said Angel got protective around her,” Buffy said.
“Buffy, stop fishing for information. Angel leads a completely different life than when you were with him,” Spike said irritated at the turn in conversation.
“I know that. I also know that you are with him,” Buffy said brusquely.
Spike stopped and glared at her. “Is there something you want to say, Slayer?”
“Just that I know you two are in a relationship of sorts together,” Buffy said indignantly.
“About as much as anyone can be with a brooding bastard of a Sire,” Spike growled.
“And somehow this new girl brings out his protective side,” Buffy finished.
“Look, Buffy, Fred . . . is Fred. She’s sweet and funny. Cute when she blushes. Angel rescued her from Pylea a few months back,” Spike replied.
“What kind of name is ‘Fred’?” Buffy asked which made Spike look at her strangely.
“You really think you have exclusive rights to him?” Spike asked, raising a scarred brow. “You moved on to Riley. Said you trusted him more. So, Angel can move on as well. As far as Fred is concerned, she is none of your business, Buffy.”
Buffy shrank back from the hostility in his voice. “Geez, Spike, I’m just making conversation.”
“No. You’re looking to get worked up into lather over Angel for no reason. You two are split up. Get over it already and move on,” Spike said angrily and walked off ahead of her.
Buffy hung back to follow him and sort out her own thoughts. So, Angel and Spike were protective of this Fred. Why then was Spike here? ’Cause, she was not feeling the protectiveness jive in her direction when she was the one Angel sent Spike to protect.
**************************
Justin had caught Dawn in a clearing of the cemetery where he’d chased her after trying to bite her while they were making out. Currently, she was wishing she hadn’t followed her friend, Janice’s lead tonight. She was trying to find a way around the vampire jock.
“I just want to be close to you,” Justin pleaded as he cupped her face in his hands. Dawn gasped and jerked away. “Shh. It’s okay. It’ll only hurt for a second.” Dawn squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the fatal bite when she heard a familiar voice.
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” Giles said, coming out of the bushes surrounding the clearing.
“Giles?” Dawn sounded surprised as she turned to see the Watcher behind her. Justin used the distraction to grab her by the throat.
Giles stepped forward in what he hoped was a menacing performance. “Now, you have a choice, son. We can do this the easy way or we can do this the ha--”
Giles stopped at the glare of bright headlights suddenly illuminating the clearing, blinding him. He put a hand up to shield his eyes and looked around at the sound of car doors opening. Soon, he was surrounded by a throng of vampires and all were advancing towards him. He glanced at Justin who still held Dawn captive.
Justin smirked as the odds quickly turned in his favor. “What were my choices again?”
Giles jumped when a hand clamped onto his shoulder. He looked over to see Spike standing beside him.
“So, is this a private game, uh, or can anyone join in?” Spike asked.
Buffy ran into the clearing on the other side and was brought up short by the scene of Justin holding Dawn captive.
“Dawn, are you . . .?” Buffy started to ask. Her concern turned to outrage as Justin released Dawn. “Were you parking . . . with a vamp?”
“I-I didn’t know he was dead,” Dawn said defensively.
“Living dead,” Justin corrected.
“Shut up!” Dawn yelled at him.
“How could you not know?” Buffy asked angrily.
“I just met him!” Dawn yelled at her sister.
“Oh! Oh, so you were parking in the woods with a boy you just met!” Buffy challenged.
“We’ve seen each other at parties,” Justin explained.
“Shut up!” Buffy said then turned back to Dawn. “I don’t believe you!”
Spike looked around at the circle of vampires. What was it about the Summers women that made them foolishly walk into danger?
“Like you’ve never fallen for a vampire?” Dawn shot back.
“That was different,” Buffy emphasized.
“It always is when it’s you,” Dawn said.
Spike watched them argue before adding his two cents into the conversation. “Yeah sure, and at sixteen, you were so aware of men! Didn’t even know he was a vampire yourself, Slayer.”
“Your sister’s the Slayer? I totally get it now. I knew there was something about you,” Justin said, addressing Dawn.
“Shut the hell up, ponce. One more word out of you, and I’ll be wiping the dust from my coat!” Spike said dismissively.
Spike, Buffy and Dawn gave him angry looks before returning to their argument.
“That’s not the point right now, Spike!” Buffy said.
Spike gave her an embellished wave of his hand. “By all means, what is the bleeding point, bint? As I see it, you expect her to know the difference when you didn’t. You’re the elder sister, right? Does the phrase ‘lead by example’ mean anything to you?”
“Stay out of this Spike!” Buffy yelled at him.
“Stay out of --?” Spike scoffed indignantly. “I’m not the one that barged into your house and demanded I help find her sister!” He gestured towards Dawn and Justin. “Well, there she is and she’s shagging a vamp! What are the odds of that given what you’ve done! At least he doesn’t --” He looked at Justin. “You don’t have a soul do you?” Justin shook his head. Spike turned back to Buffy. “At least he doesn’t have to soul to lose between her legs!”
“Hey!” Buffy and Dawn yelled resentfully.
“I’m not shagging him!” Dawn clarified.
Buffy turned on Dawn then. “Where did you hear that word? We do not use ‘shagging’.” She glanced at Justin. “Well, in his case maybe that’s what it would be.”
“I don’t even know what ‘shagging’ means,” Justin exclaimed.
“Shut up!” Spike, Buffy and Dawn chorused.
“Uh, excuse me!” a vampire broke in. “Can we fight now?”
Buffy looked at the assembly of fangs. “Hey, didn’t anyone come here to just make out?”
A human couple in back raised their hands.
“Aw, that’s sweet. You run,” Buffy warned them. They took off in the opposite direction. Buffy turned to the vampire that wanted to fight. “You scream.”
With that, Buffy, Spike and Giles took off in different directions. Spike pursued the vampire who complained. The vampire kicked him and Spike punched him back a few times.
Giles stood by one the parked cars and hit a vampire. His buddy kicked Giles in the chest and pinned him against the car.
“Die, Slayer!” a vampire yelled.
Buffy stepped in front of Dawn. “You are so not getting a good day.”
“Maybe a good night!” the vampire shot back as he rushed towards her.
Buffy pulled out a stake. “Not that either.” She staked him as he ran straight for her and dusted in her face. “Mm-hmm,” which turned into a coughing fit.
Dawn punched Justin in the gut and ran off into the woods.
Buffy saw her and growled at her luck. Damn Dawn! She turned around in a huff just in time to see Giles having difficulty with the two vampires he’s fighting. “Giles!” Once she got his attention, she tossed a stake to him. He caught it and staked one vampire. Ducking a punch from the second, he staked that one too.
Giles brushed the dust off and looked around. Suddenly, another vampire appeared and tackled him. They both landed on the hood of the car and slid off the other side.
Somewhere in nearby brush, Spike continued to trade blows with the complaining vampire. He got a lucky hit on Spike and sent him to the ground.
“What is your malfunction, man?!” the vampire protested.
Spike angrily got to his feet and shoved the vampire back into the dirt. “It’s Halloween, you nit! We take the night off! Those are the rules!”
The vampire got to his feet. “Me and mine don’t follow no stinking rules! We’re rebels!”
He took a swing at Spike who blocked it and head-butted him. Then, Spike kicked him in the chest. He slammed back against a tree trunk and slid down to the ground.
“No. I’m a rebel. You’re an idiot,” Spike said as he pulled out his crossbow and shot the vampire, dusting him. He started to reload the crossbow, grumbling, “Give the lot of us a bad name.” He finished reloading and looked up just as another vampire tackled him. His crossbow fired its bolt accidentally. The arrow flew off into the woods as Spike and the vampire hit the ground.
Meanwhile, Buffy was fighting another vampire. They traded blows before he picked her up and slammed her onto the hood of a car. She rolled aside as he punched at her. Instead, his fist went through the metal. While he struggled to pull it out, Buffy kicked him and flipped up to stand on the car. The vampire grabbed for her, but she jumped out of the way. Finally, freeing his arm, he grabbed both of her legs and she fell on her ass on the car. She struggled to free one leg and kicked him away.
“Spike! A little help here!” Buffy yelled.
There was a lot of grunting from the tree line as Spike fought with his opponent for a few more minutes before he dusted him and staggered out from behind a tree.
Just then, the vampire that grabbed Buffy before punched her and pinned her against the car. He pulled the antenna loose from the car and tried to garrote her with it. She was struggling to push him off when Spike moved closer.
“That’s all I am to you, Slayer! Want to know about Angel? Visit Spike. Need help in a fight? Call Spike. I hate it here!” Spike growled as he dusted the vampire she was struggling with from behind.
Buffy dusted herself off. “Yeah, ’cause your life in L.A. was so much better with . . . let’s see, Queen Bitch and loser Wesley.”
Spike’s brows furrowed in resentment. “Yes it was. Cordelia has grown and Wesley is a great fighter and researcher. You never gave either of them a chance. Neither you or your pathetic Scoobie gang!”
Buffy gave him a skeptical look. “And you did? You tried to kill us all over a love spell for that loopy Drusilla! Talk about a few crackers short of a full box. You’re the reason Cordy was gutted by a rebar.”
“Leave Dru out of this!” Spike growled. “Besides, I wasn’t there when it happened. As I understand it, that happened because she caught Harris kissing Red! Now, are we finished here, ’cause there’s a rule about vampires not venturing too far from their lairs on Halloween and I got a bottle of JD waiting at home.”
Buffy harrumphed and walked off ahead of him.
“Typical female! Help her out in a fight and she walks away,” He called out, “You know, I could go back to a place where people cared about me,” then muttering to himself, he added, “Were it not for that bastard of a Sire!”
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
Wesley was examining Billy’s blood through a microscope.
“This was taken from the print made of Billy’s blood,” he told Fred as he made room for her to look. “Tell me what you think.”
Fred looked through the lens. “Looks to me as if some of the red blood cells are kind of supercharged.”
“Those would probably be from Billy’s demon lineage,” Wesley confirmed.
“So, however Billy is putting the mojo on people, the power seems to be in his blood,” she said thoughtfully. “Which means it can be in his sweat or his saliva or even his touch.”
“Speaking of saliva, where is Cordelia?” Wesley asked ominously.
Fred gave him a confused look. “What do you mean ‘speaking of saliva’? How does saliva make you . . .?”
“It’s a simple question,” Wesley cut in. “Where is Cordelia?”
“I-I think she went out,” Fred stammered.
“Out?” Fred nodded. “Did she happen to mention where?”
“She just, ah, she said an errand,” Fred replied.
“So, when you say you think she went out, what you mean is you know she went out because you spoke to her,” Wesley pointed out.
“Well, I suppose I . . .”
Wesley looked up at her with a raised brow. “Suppose?”
“I-I did. Yes, I did,” she stammered again.
“That’s better,” he said as he leaned in to look through the microscope again. “Lie to me again and we’re going to have a problem.”
Fred inched around Wesley’s desk and slowly backed away towards the door while Wesley was occupied with the blood sample.
“Where are you going, Fred?” he asked without looking up.
Fred stood still, her heart racing. “I was just going to call Cordelia for you and find out where she is.”
“That’s not necessary,” he said.
“It’s not?”
“No. Sit down, Fred.”
“I’ll just . . .” she gestured towards the lobby.
“Sit!” he yelled and then softened his voice. “Down.”
Fred jumped a little and hesitantly walked back into the office. She sat in a chair in front of Wesley’s desk.
“There’s something we need to discuss,” he announced.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you Cordelia left. I really am,” she hurried to apologize.
Wesley held up a hand to stop her. “We’re past that. I’ve put it behind me.” He stood up and walked around his desk, perching himself on the edge. “However, we are going to have to make some changes around here.”
“Change can be good, I guess,” she said nervously.
“Like no more of these provocative little outfits you wear,” Wesley said, pulling the strap of Fred’s dress off her shoulder. Fred immediately pulled it back in place.
“Provocative?” Fred sounded perplexed.
“Maybe Mommy and Daddy never explained to you that men - grown men - are wired a certain way,” Wesley said, leaning closer to a wide-eyed Fred. “You can’t be coming in here day after day waving it in my face like this.”
“What?”
“You’re practically daring me to take it. Is that what you want?” Wesley asked in a near whisper.
Fred jumped up out of her chair. “Stop it!”
“Oh,” Wesley held up his hands in surrender. “Are we standing now? Is that what we’re doing?”
Fred backed away, her eyes trained on him. “This conversation is making me very uncomfortable.”
“Oh, you’re uncomfortable?” Wesley sneered. “That’s rich! How do you think I feel? What do you think it’s like for me with you smelling the way you do?”
“Wesley, please,” Fred beseeched.
Wesley stalked closer to her. “You think you can taunt a man and get away with it? You brush up close, bat your eyes and then when our backs are turned, you laugh at us.”
“No, I would never . . .”
“Humiliate us,” Wesley cut in. “You think you can do anything you please because you’re connected to life, because you bleed, is that it?”
“No!” Fred cried.
Suddenly, Wesley slapped her across the face with an open hand and she felt to the floor. Fred held a hand against the stinging pain in her cheek and stared at him in shock.
It wasn’t that she was a weak woman. She’d survived five years in a demon dimension where they treated humans at slave-cows. Sometimes life here in Los Angeles overwhelmed her, but she was by no means a weak person. She could defend herself when she needed to. Hitting that boy in Sunnydale who argued with Spike was an example of that.
However, Wesley was different. She couldn’t understand how he’d gone from being so nice and courteous to belligerent, hateful, vulgar. The slap he gave her surprised and stunned her more than anything. She wasn’t expecting that to happen.
“I’ll show you blood,” Wesley threatened.
Fred willed herself to focus on the words. Wesley had mentioned blood quite a few times already. She glanced at the desk where the microscope sat untouched - with Billy’s blood on the slide.
Fred’s eyes widened.
Billy’s tainted blood.
And Wesley had touched it.
Fred’s wide gaze shifted back to Wesley who was coming straight for her. She scrambled to her feet and ran to the side doors. Before she could get them open, Wesley grabbed her by the hair from behind and tossed her down on the stairs.
“What do you tell a woman who has two black eyes?” Wesley asked as he loomed over her and reached down to grab her. “Nothing you haven’t already told her twice.”
Wesley was stronger than her, but Fred had enough adrenaline pumping through her veins that she kicked out at Wesley, propelling him backwards and lost her shoes in the process. When he fell back against a pillar in the staircase, she picked herself up and ran upstairs barefoot.
“No sense of humor,” Wesley commented as he watched her run away.
He pulled his tie off and walked down to the lobby. He stretched his shoulders and massaged his neck. As he turned to drop the tie on the reception desk, his sight came to rest on the battle ax in the corner of the weapons cabinet.
Fred ran down the hall and up the back stairs to the third floor she shared with Angel. She ran past Angel’s room and ducked into her own. She turned the room upside down looking for the cell phone Angel had given her in case of emergencies. She snatched it in a tight fist and snuck out of her room. She had just closed her door when she glanced up to see Wesley rounding the corner the with a battle ax in hand. Praying he didn’t notice her yet, she ran around the corner of the hall and up to the fourth floor.
“Fred?” he called out as he followed her perfume’s scent. “Oh, Fred? I know what you’re doing. What you’re up to. Luring me.” He turned down the hall leading to the fourth floor stairs. He looked up the empty staircase with a leer. “Forcing me to find you.” He slowly walked up the stairs to the fourth floor landing. “It’s such a dog and pony show. You beguile me with your girlish ways.” He pushed a door open with his ax as he walked past it. “I pursue you.” He pushed another door open. “But you never give over, do you? Always hanging around Angel and Spike, begging them for attention like a lost puppy wanting to feel loved.” He pushed another door open. “Wanting love from cold, dead flesh. Spike doesn’t even have a soul. How can you love with no soul, Fred?” He pushed another door open. “Well, guess what, my love? I’m not some downy-faced schoolboy.” He pushed another door open only to have it blocked by the safety chain. “I’m a warm, flesh and blood man.”
Wesley kicked the door open and walked into the room. There were paint supplies lying around as if someone had been working on renovating it. That aside, it appeared dark and deserted.
“You can’t come out into the open, can you?” Wesley asked. “No, you hide. You deceive. It’s nothing new. It goes all the way back to Eve. You and the serpent plotting behind our backs. ‘Here honey, eat this. It’s just an apple.’ That’s the problem with your sex, Fred. You’re all weak. You’re all dirty. You won’t be satisfied until you’ve brought each and every one of us out of the garden and down into the muck with you.”
Wesley smashed a stool aside with his ax, breaking it and scattering its contents across the floor. He heard a smothered gasp and snapped around to see the stripped bed in the corner. He stalked over to it. Fred gasped as Wesley picked up the mattress, tossed it aside and stared down at her.
“Why do you make me do this?” Wesley asked.
Fred whimpered as she struggled to her feet and tripped over the bed frame in her effort to get away. Wesley grabbed her by the neck and pushed her up against the wall. He leaned in to kiss her only to draw back in pain as Fred dug her nails into his shoulder and kneed him in the groin. As Wesley hunched over in pain, Fred made her escape.
Fred quietly hurried down a dark hallway. A short distance behind her she heard Wesley taunt, “I’m still here.” Fred stopped and slowly turned to look behind her. Wesley stood at the other end of the hall.
“I don’t run away like a girl,” Wesley sneered. “I see things through.”
Fred took off running with Wesley behind her. He saw Fred running up the stairs and hurried down the hall in the opposite direction with the idea to cut her off at the other end.
As she ran down another hallway, she stumbled and fell to her hands and knees. Fred rolled over to look behind her as she backed away on all fours. She got to her feet and turned to run . . . right smack into Gunn who put a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming.
Assuring that she’d stay quiet, Gunn removed his hand, put an arm around her and pulled her around the corner. They rushed down one of the many dimly lit hallways. Gunn tried one door only to discover it was locked. Trying the next door, it opened. He pushed Fred through it and followed, locking the door. Then, he hurried to barricade it with a dresser.
Turning to Fred, he said, “Now, what the hell happened to Wesley?” He picked up a nightstand and set it on top of the dresser.
Fred shook her head. Everything was confusing. “Somehow he got infected. All I can figure is that it happened while he was working with Billy’s blood from the handprint.
Gunn turned and stared at her. “You mean . . . that fingerprint-y-looking handprint downstairs is Billy’s blood?” Fred nodded with a sense of trepidation. “So, you’re saying that Wes turned into a psycho killer because of that bloody handprint that . . . I picked up and looked at?”
Fred cringed. “When you put it that way, it kind of worries me.”
Gunn immediately removed the nightstand and started to pull the dresser back. “I better get out of here. Lock the door behind me.” He jumped back when Wesley’s axe started hacking deeper into the wooden panel on the other side of the door. The noise caused a small scream to erupt from Fred. Gunn quickly pushed the dresser against the door and started looking around for an alternative.
“Well, uh, maybe we go to plan ‘B’,” Gunn said.
Fred took a step back and let out a scream when one of her feet broke through the floorboards. Gunn’ hand snaked out to catch her before she fell and pulled her away to sturdier flooring.
“Oh God,” Fred said relieved as she clung to Gunn. She jumped as Wesley’s ax got louder in her ears. She looked up at the vampire hunter. “You know when you said we go to plan ‘B’? What’s plan ‘B’?”
“Ah, plan B,” Gunn muttered repeatedly as he released Fred to find plan B.
“Charles?”
Gunn spun around to face her with inexplicable anger. “Plan B is the one where if you don’t stop whining I bash in your . . .” He stopped and stared wide-eyed at her. “Oh, God.”
**************************
Angel stood between Billy and Cordelia on the Blim’s private airstrip. He watched Billy as he inched back towards Cordelia.
“Cordy, get out of here,” Angel told her.
“No,” she said.
“Cordelia,” Angel hedged. The last thing he needed in this situation was for Cordelia’s inner bitch to surface and not cooperate with him.
“I can’t,” she stressed.
Angel turned to look at her and growled, “Get out!”
She jumped at his tone, but didn’t move otherwise. “Angel, you can fight this!”
Playing his favorite role as devil’s advocate, Billy stepped closer. “Don’t fight it . . . feel it! You can, can’t you? All that rage, all that hatred bubbling to the surface? I’ve actually never done this to a vampire. It should be pretty entertaining.”
“Please go,” Angel pleaded with Cordelia.
“I can’t,” Cordelia said tearfully. “I have this problem. This is happening to you because of me. Because of me. So, I can’t leave you, Angel. I won’t.”
Angel rounded on her, furious at her stubborn refusal to do as he said. “You think that’s your problem?” He advanced on her like the predator he was. “That’s not your problem. You know what your real problem is?” Cordelia backed up a little. Angel felt a sliver of satisfaction that he was finally getting through to her. “Guys like him!”
Suddenly, Angel whirled around and hit Billy with all his strength, sending him flying back a few feet to land on the pavement. “Cause you got no power over me.”
Cordelia breathed a sigh of relief as Billy and Angel started to fight.
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
Fred startled as Gunn picked up a chair and smashed it against the wall, breaking it into pieces.
“Charles, you’re scaring me!” She jumped back with a small scream as Gunn came at her with a chair leg in his hand.
He held it out to her. “Take this and knock me out. Knock me out!”
“You want me to hit you?” Fred asked bemused.
Gunn thrust the wooden leg into her hand. “Yes!”
“I can’t!” Fred shook her head.
“You might want to!” Gunn insisted. Wesley’s ax busted through another layer of wood in the door. Gunn looked between that and Fred’s tentative hold on the chair leg. “Hit me!”
“Charles, please . . .”
“Charles, please,” he mocked. “Fine. Then, give it back so I can smash your stupid head with it. Give me the damn chair leg!”
Fred hauled back and hit him over the head with the chair leg. Gunn dropped to his knees but wasn’t unconscious.
He glared up at her. “You’re going to pay for that!”
Fred hit Gunn again and he collapsed face down on the floor, cataleptic. She threw the chair leg aside and jumped as Wesley’s ax cracked through the door behind her. She ran to a dark corner and made herself as small as possible. Gunn was unmoving on the floor in front her. The sounds of Wesley’s ax chopping the door to bits made her jerk in trepidation.
Fred pulled out the cell phone Angel had given her and hurried to scan the pre-programmed address book. Finding Spike’s number, she sent the call and shuddered while she waited for him to pick up.
“Angel, I thought I told you that I didn’t want to--”
“Spike?”
There was silence on the other end. “Fred?”
“Something’s happened,” Fred shuddered and ducked her head, trying to ignore Wesley’s incessant hacking with the ax.
“What’s going on Fred? Why do I hear a banging sound in the background?”
“That’s because Wesley’s chopping the door down. Spike, something happened to him and Charles. Billy’s blood did something to them,” Fred said.
“Billy? Who’s Billy?”
“He’s the guy Angel saved from a hell dimension in order to save Cordelia from Wolfram & Hart’s killer visions. Remember?” Fred said.
“Yeah, pet. I remember. So, what happened to Percy?”
“There’s some kind of demon thing with Billy’s blood. Wesley and Gunn touched it and now Wesley’s chopping the door down to get to me,” Fred whispered into the phone.
“Where is Gunn?”
“Knocked out on the floor! Ahh!” she cried as Wesley managed to break through another layer of wood.
“Fred, stay calm okay? Where’s Angel and Cordelia?”
“They went out to look for Billy.”
“Bloody bastard left you defenseless,” Spike cursed. “Okay, Fred. I want you to find somewhere safe to hide and use anything you can as a weapon. I’ll get a hold of Angel and tear a layer of flesh off his body for his own stupidity. Nothing is too over the top when you’re trying to stay alive, Fred. Do you what you have to. Don’t worry about hurting anyone as long as you’re alive in the end.”
“O-okay, hopefully you can talk Angel into hurrying. I’m not really good at staving ax-wielding temporary psychotics, Spike.”
“I’ll hurry pet.” Spike hung up.
**************************
At the Blim private airfield, Angel and Billy were still fighting. The vampire tossed Billy through the air. Billy hit the ground rolling and came up on all fours. He smashed both hands against the ground, cracking the pavement as a shockwave radiated from his hands.
When Angel went after him, Billy tossed him like a toy, now that he was stronger. Cordelia spotted her crossbow lying on the ground. She went to pick it up and aim it at the two adversaries. Angel and Billy changed positions so often she couldn’t get a clear shot. When Angel managed to toss Billy away from him, Cordelia’s finger tightened on the trigger. Gunshots rang out and Billy jerked as bullets hit him and he dropped to the ground.
Cordelia lowered her crossbow. She and Angel both looked around to see Lilah lowering her pistol. Angel glanced back to Billy and released a breath. Lilah looked at Angel and then turned to walk away.
Angel’s cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and flipped it open. “Hello?”
“You are such a dick, you know that?”
“Hello to you too, Spike,” Angel said.
“You sent me here to protect the slayer because of your guilt and my girls are down there in danger, without me!”
“Cordy’s right here. She’s safe,” Angel said angrily.
“Fred’s stuck in the hotel with Wesley who’s juiced up on Billy’s blood, you idiot,” Spike retorted.
“Oh, God, Fred!” Angel groaned.
“You better get your priorities straightened out right now, Angel. Because if this happens again, I’m coming back! I don’t care about the Slayer or your need to keep her alive. You said the hotel was as much my home as yours. If anything happens to my girls, then I’ll come back! I’ll break every speed limit between Sunnydale and L.A. to hurt anyone who harms them. If I don’t get a good report from Fred in the next half hour, Wesley’s a dead duck.”
Angel looked at the phone when he heard a click on the other end as Spike hung up on him.
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
Wesley pushed against the door, forcing the dresser back inch by inch. He entered the room and saw Gunn lying unconscious on the floor. However, Fred was nowhere to be seen in the dark room.
“Would you like to hear my theory, Fred?” Wesley called out. “It’s about how stupid you are. I believe that after five years of living in a cave, you’ll instinctively retreat to small, dark places rather than run outside where you’d be safe.”
The floor creaked beneath his feet and he glanced down at the tarp covering the floor in front of him. He cautiously walked around the tarp to a closet.
“Let’s finish this,” Wesley said as he pulled the closet door open. The only thing he saw was a mirror on the inside of the door and Fred standing behind him reflected in the mirror by the moonlight shining through the windows.
“I’m sorry, Wesley,” she apologized.
He turned to glare at her. “You’re sorry?”
“You were right about me liking dark places to hide in,” she said. She shrank back when he raised his ax and slowly stalked closer to her. “But you forgot that I also like to build things.”
With that, Fred pulled on a rope. Out of the darkness, a fire extinguisher swung free and hit Wesley, knocking him back onto the tarp. The tarp gave away and he fell through the hole in the floor. Fred tentatively moved closer to the hole and looked down to see Wesley sprawled unconscious in the room below.
She startled again as Angel and Cordelia burst through the open door and skidded to a halt on the other side of the gap in the floor. Angel’s arm shot out to keep Cordelia from falling in.
Oh my God, Wesley,” Cordelia breathed and covered her mouth.
“Fred, what happened?” Angel asked as he glanced at Gunn’s inert body lying off to the side.
“I had to, Angel. I’m sorry. I had to. Survival is more important than anything,” Fred said.
“Come on Fred, carefully walk towards me,” Angel said, holding out his hand.
Fred sidestepped the gap in the floor and ran out of the room, leaving Angel and Cordelia to deal with an unconscious Gunn and Wesley.
**************************
Angel tapped lightly on Fred’s door. “Fred, it’s me.”
“Come in,” Fred’s sad voice replied.
He opened the door and walked in to find Fred sitting on the bed with her arms around her drawn-up knees. He shut the door and sat beside her on the bed.
“How are you?” Angel asked softly.
“I’m okay. He didn’t hurt me too bad,” Fred replied.
“I saw the goose egg you gave Gunn,” Angel said with a ghost of a smile.
“I didn’t want to. He made me hit him,” Fred said apologetically.
“It’s a good thing you did. You do what you have to, to survive. That’s something I taught Spike.” Angel smiled wistfully at the memory of a young William. “When you said that comment about survival earlier, it surprised me. You called Spike.”
Fred shook her head. “I didn’t know what else to do. You and Cordelia were busy searching for Billy. I called him and he told me not to worry about anything but staying alive.”
Tears welled up in her eyes as she threw herself at Angel. Stunned, all he could do was catch her in a hug. Then she burst into tears, relieved to have survived the nightmare. “I didn’t mean to hurt them so bad. I just needed to get out of there. It was all I could think of.”
Angel rubbed a hand over her back trying his best to comfort her. It was strange. He was never good at this kind of stuff. “It is okay, Fred. You did what you had to. That’s all that matters. Gunn and Wesley will heal. I’m just sorry I wasn’t here to help you. I’m sorry if the hotel no longer feels like a safe place. I promised you it would be.”
Fred pulled away to sit beside Angel, laying her head on his shoulder, wiping away her tears. “I would feel safer if Spike was here.”
“So would I,” Angel agreed.
He had to figure out a way to fix things with Spike, even if it was just to get his boy back into the hotel. Then, they could work on their problems and hopefully get past them. The thing was he didn’t know how to do that. Spike wasn’t the type to accept an apology so lightly. He’d have to find some way to pay penance before Spike relented enough to come back.
**************************
Los Angeles, Wesley’s Apartment
Wesley sat in his dark apartment staring out at the night. The moon shone through one of the windows. There was a knock at the door, but he didn’t move to answer it.
“Percy, it’s me. Open the bloody door,” Spike yelled through the panel as he beat on it.
Wesley looked at the door, deciding whether to answer it or not. As far as he knew, Spike was in Sunnydale. So, why would he be here? How did he get here? After a moment, he stood up and trudged slowly to the door. He opened it to see Spike on the other side glaring at him.
“Hello, Percy,” Spike greeted brusquely.
“Spike? Why are you . . .?”
“I think we both know why I’m here. A lovely little bird told me about what happened. That you were somehow infected by demon blood and went a little homicidal,” Spike said.
Wesley looked at Spike’s feet. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt her or frighten her.”
“It happens to the best of us. The demon takes over and that rush of power is intoxicating,” Spike sounded understanding.
“Yes, quite,” Wesley agreed not realizing how close he stood to Spike.
The blonde vampire stepped closer to the threshold. He’d never been invited into Wesley’s apartment, so he edged as close to the door as possible. Wesley leaned against the doorjamb, looking anywhere but at Spike.
“No one knows I’m in town. Well, Angel can feel my presence maybe. But, you’re not going to tell them I was even here, Wesley,” Spike stated.
The former watcher looked up at him confused by the veiled threat. He gasped when Spike reached out and fisted his shirt, yanking him out into the hallway.
“I may understand what the demon can do. But, you went after Fred and that I will never forgive you for. You will go back into work and you will see her every day. I hope whatever happened between you haunts you for the rest of your life, mate. Every time you see her, remember what you did to her. Because the next time it happens, I won’t think twice about draining you dry.”
As Spike released Wesley, he fell back against the partly open door. Wesley grabbed the edge of the doorway for balance and watched Spike saunter down the hallway. He hung his head and retreated back into the apartment, closing the door.
By Tami (tabrandt @ hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: The characters from ATS / BTVS are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox studios. This story is not meant to infringe upon anyone's rights, only to entertain.
BETA: Myself, lexa4227
Rating: NC-17
Pairing - M/M, Angelus/Spike, Angel/Spike
Timeline - ATS Season 3/BTVS Season 6-AU
Summary - While Angel is dealing with Wolfram & Hart constantly attacking members of his team, Spike, still hasn't completely forgiven Angel for the events in Book 2 and is feeling bitter that Angel abandoned him. Meanwhile, Buffy is back from the dead and depressed after being torn from heaven by her friends. Together they start a relationship of sorts. None of them could have anticipated the widespread consequences of this destructive affair.
Feedback - It would be appreciated. My plot bunny has been lagging lately.
Author's Note - This story came to me after watching how Buffy treated Spike in SMASHED - AS YOU WERE (BTVS, Season 6). I wondered how Angel would truly feel, if he really knew how Buffy mistreated Spike. Yes, Spike is the Big Bad, and he and Angel normally don't see eye-to-eye, but they are family nonetheless
Word Count: 15,335 overall
How to Treat Your Lover Soundtrack (Feel free to suggest a song/scene)
( Book 1 )
( Book 2 )
( Previous Chapters for Book 3 )
**************************
Chapter 39-B: Step 3 - Estrangement (Part 6)
Sunnydale, Crawford Street Mansion
Buffy burst into the house without knocking, as per usual. She stormed into the living room where a black-and-white horror movie was playing on the television and demanded, “Get your gear together. We need to . . .”
She stopped when she realized Spike was nowhere to be seen. Buffy looked around, searching for the blonde menace. “Spike?”
“You know . . .” Spike said behind her, causing her to jump. She turned to find him directly behind her looking unimpressed. “In civilized countries, that’s called trespassing.”
“Good thing you’re uncivilized,” Buffy said.
“Giles find you?” Spike asked.
“Where’s Angel?” Buffy asked at the same time.
“Giles?” Buffy frowned.
“Why the hell does everyone assume I know where Angel is? I’m not his bloody keeper,” Spike said angrily.
“Why was Giles looking for me?” Buffy cut him off again.
“It’s Dawn,” Spike replied.
“Dawn?” Buffy’s frown deepened. “Why, what happened?”
“Nothing. It’s okay. Giles was by here earlier looking for you. Dawn and her little friend pulled a Houdini. Up to a bit of candy-corn mischief, I suspect.”
“Wait, she’s out there running around by herself?” Buffy asked with a horrified expression.
“Yeah, kids these days, eh?” Spike said sarcastically.
Buffy walked past him towards a chest he used to store weapons.
“I did a sweep of the tunnels and Giles is poking about the cemetery,” Spike said as he watched her.
“We have to find her,” Buffy stated as she tossed the lid opened and grabbed a few weapons.
“I don’t think she’s in there,” Spike commented dryly. He frowned as he caught a crossbow that she had tossed at him.
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
Cordelia took a tazer from the weapons cabinet and put it into her shoulder bag. She picked up a crossbow and stowed it as well.
Fred came down the stairs and watched her. “What are you doing?”
Cordelia turned at the sound of her voice with a guilty expression. “I’m going to go run an errand . . . uh, a normal everyday errand.” She headed for the back door when Fred’s voice stopped her.
“Cordelia, I don’t think you should do this.”
“How can I not?” Cordelia asked sadly. She opened the door and walked out.
Fred was left staring after her. She turned and jumped in surprise as Wesley walked in the main entrance doors.
“Fred! You’re here. Good,” Wesley said excitedly, for him anyway. “I was hoping you would assist me.” He lifted a bag with paper in it. “I managed to lift a sample of Billy’s blood. Maybe we can identify his demon lineage and somehow figure out how his power works.” She followed him into the office as he went in and sat down. “Would you hand me the--” he started to say. He looked up and saw that Fred held out glass slides. “Glass slides.” He gave her a silly smile. “Thank you.”
**************************
Sunnydale, Cemetery
It was a dark and foggy night, perfect weather for Halloween. Buffy and Spike had searched every other place for Dawn that they thought a teenage girl might go. They were zeroing in on one or two cemeteries. It was just like the girl to end up in a cemetery even with a Slayer for a sister.
“Xander asked Anya to marry him,” Buffy said to break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them.
“I’ll bet that’ll be an interesting ordeal. Imagine Xander’s family sharing a room with her former demon friends and family,” Spike scoffed. “I’d love to see that.”
With no other segue, Buffy asked, “So who’s your new girlfriend?”
Spike looked at her as if he didn’t recognize her. “Huh?”
“Xander said he saw you with a girl and that she hit him,” Buffy said.
“She’s not my girlfriend. She was just a friend who came to me for help,” Spike replied in an evasive tone.
“Xander also said Angel got protective around her,” Buffy said.
“Buffy, stop fishing for information. Angel leads a completely different life than when you were with him,” Spike said irritated at the turn in conversation.
“I know that. I also know that you are with him,” Buffy said brusquely.
Spike stopped and glared at her. “Is there something you want to say, Slayer?”
“Just that I know you two are in a relationship of sorts together,” Buffy said indignantly.
“About as much as anyone can be with a brooding bastard of a Sire,” Spike growled.
“And somehow this new girl brings out his protective side,” Buffy finished.
“Look, Buffy, Fred . . . is Fred. She’s sweet and funny. Cute when she blushes. Angel rescued her from Pylea a few months back,” Spike replied.
“What kind of name is ‘Fred’?” Buffy asked which made Spike look at her strangely.
“You really think you have exclusive rights to him?” Spike asked, raising a scarred brow. “You moved on to Riley. Said you trusted him more. So, Angel can move on as well. As far as Fred is concerned, she is none of your business, Buffy.”
Buffy shrank back from the hostility in his voice. “Geez, Spike, I’m just making conversation.”
“No. You’re looking to get worked up into lather over Angel for no reason. You two are split up. Get over it already and move on,” Spike said angrily and walked off ahead of her.
Buffy hung back to follow him and sort out her own thoughts. So, Angel and Spike were protective of this Fred. Why then was Spike here? ’Cause, she was not feeling the protectiveness jive in her direction when she was the one Angel sent Spike to protect.
**************************
Justin had caught Dawn in a clearing of the cemetery where he’d chased her after trying to bite her while they were making out. Currently, she was wishing she hadn’t followed her friend, Janice’s lead tonight. She was trying to find a way around the vampire jock.
“I just want to be close to you,” Justin pleaded as he cupped her face in his hands. Dawn gasped and jerked away. “Shh. It’s okay. It’ll only hurt for a second.” Dawn squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the fatal bite when she heard a familiar voice.
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” Giles said, coming out of the bushes surrounding the clearing.
“Giles?” Dawn sounded surprised as she turned to see the Watcher behind her. Justin used the distraction to grab her by the throat.
Giles stepped forward in what he hoped was a menacing performance. “Now, you have a choice, son. We can do this the easy way or we can do this the ha--”
Giles stopped at the glare of bright headlights suddenly illuminating the clearing, blinding him. He put a hand up to shield his eyes and looked around at the sound of car doors opening. Soon, he was surrounded by a throng of vampires and all were advancing towards him. He glanced at Justin who still held Dawn captive.
Justin smirked as the odds quickly turned in his favor. “What were my choices again?”
Giles jumped when a hand clamped onto his shoulder. He looked over to see Spike standing beside him.
“So, is this a private game, uh, or can anyone join in?” Spike asked.
Buffy ran into the clearing on the other side and was brought up short by the scene of Justin holding Dawn captive.
“Dawn, are you . . .?” Buffy started to ask. Her concern turned to outrage as Justin released Dawn. “Were you parking . . . with a vamp?”
“I-I didn’t know he was dead,” Dawn said defensively.
“Living dead,” Justin corrected.
“Shut up!” Dawn yelled at him.
“How could you not know?” Buffy asked angrily.
“I just met him!” Dawn yelled at her sister.
“Oh! Oh, so you were parking in the woods with a boy you just met!” Buffy challenged.
“We’ve seen each other at parties,” Justin explained.
“Shut up!” Buffy said then turned back to Dawn. “I don’t believe you!”
Spike looked around at the circle of vampires. What was it about the Summers women that made them foolishly walk into danger?
“Like you’ve never fallen for a vampire?” Dawn shot back.
“That was different,” Buffy emphasized.
“It always is when it’s you,” Dawn said.
Spike watched them argue before adding his two cents into the conversation. “Yeah sure, and at sixteen, you were so aware of men! Didn’t even know he was a vampire yourself, Slayer.”
“Your sister’s the Slayer? I totally get it now. I knew there was something about you,” Justin said, addressing Dawn.
“Shut the hell up, ponce. One more word out of you, and I’ll be wiping the dust from my coat!” Spike said dismissively.
Spike, Buffy and Dawn gave him angry looks before returning to their argument.
“That’s not the point right now, Spike!” Buffy said.
Spike gave her an embellished wave of his hand. “By all means, what is the bleeding point, bint? As I see it, you expect her to know the difference when you didn’t. You’re the elder sister, right? Does the phrase ‘lead by example’ mean anything to you?”
“Stay out of this Spike!” Buffy yelled at him.
“Stay out of --?” Spike scoffed indignantly. “I’m not the one that barged into your house and demanded I help find her sister!” He gestured towards Dawn and Justin. “Well, there she is and she’s shagging a vamp! What are the odds of that given what you’ve done! At least he doesn’t --” He looked at Justin. “You don’t have a soul do you?” Justin shook his head. Spike turned back to Buffy. “At least he doesn’t have to soul to lose between her legs!”
“Hey!” Buffy and Dawn yelled resentfully.
“I’m not shagging him!” Dawn clarified.
Buffy turned on Dawn then. “Where did you hear that word? We do not use ‘shagging’.” She glanced at Justin. “Well, in his case maybe that’s what it would be.”
“I don’t even know what ‘shagging’ means,” Justin exclaimed.
“Shut up!” Spike, Buffy and Dawn chorused.
“Uh, excuse me!” a vampire broke in. “Can we fight now?”
Buffy looked at the assembly of fangs. “Hey, didn’t anyone come here to just make out?”
A human couple in back raised their hands.
“Aw, that’s sweet. You run,” Buffy warned them. They took off in the opposite direction. Buffy turned to the vampire that wanted to fight. “You scream.”
With that, Buffy, Spike and Giles took off in different directions. Spike pursued the vampire who complained. The vampire kicked him and Spike punched him back a few times.
Giles stood by one the parked cars and hit a vampire. His buddy kicked Giles in the chest and pinned him against the car.
“Die, Slayer!” a vampire yelled.
Buffy stepped in front of Dawn. “You are so not getting a good day.”
“Maybe a good night!” the vampire shot back as he rushed towards her.
Buffy pulled out a stake. “Not that either.” She staked him as he ran straight for her and dusted in her face. “Mm-hmm,” which turned into a coughing fit.
Dawn punched Justin in the gut and ran off into the woods.
Buffy saw her and growled at her luck. Damn Dawn! She turned around in a huff just in time to see Giles having difficulty with the two vampires he’s fighting. “Giles!” Once she got his attention, she tossed a stake to him. He caught it and staked one vampire. Ducking a punch from the second, he staked that one too.
Giles brushed the dust off and looked around. Suddenly, another vampire appeared and tackled him. They both landed on the hood of the car and slid off the other side.
Somewhere in nearby brush, Spike continued to trade blows with the complaining vampire. He got a lucky hit on Spike and sent him to the ground.
“What is your malfunction, man?!” the vampire protested.
Spike angrily got to his feet and shoved the vampire back into the dirt. “It’s Halloween, you nit! We take the night off! Those are the rules!”
The vampire got to his feet. “Me and mine don’t follow no stinking rules! We’re rebels!”
He took a swing at Spike who blocked it and head-butted him. Then, Spike kicked him in the chest. He slammed back against a tree trunk and slid down to the ground.
“No. I’m a rebel. You’re an idiot,” Spike said as he pulled out his crossbow and shot the vampire, dusting him. He started to reload the crossbow, grumbling, “Give the lot of us a bad name.” He finished reloading and looked up just as another vampire tackled him. His crossbow fired its bolt accidentally. The arrow flew off into the woods as Spike and the vampire hit the ground.
Meanwhile, Buffy was fighting another vampire. They traded blows before he picked her up and slammed her onto the hood of a car. She rolled aside as he punched at her. Instead, his fist went through the metal. While he struggled to pull it out, Buffy kicked him and flipped up to stand on the car. The vampire grabbed for her, but she jumped out of the way. Finally, freeing his arm, he grabbed both of her legs and she fell on her ass on the car. She struggled to free one leg and kicked him away.
“Spike! A little help here!” Buffy yelled.
There was a lot of grunting from the tree line as Spike fought with his opponent for a few more minutes before he dusted him and staggered out from behind a tree.
Just then, the vampire that grabbed Buffy before punched her and pinned her against the car. He pulled the antenna loose from the car and tried to garrote her with it. She was struggling to push him off when Spike moved closer.
“That’s all I am to you, Slayer! Want to know about Angel? Visit Spike. Need help in a fight? Call Spike. I hate it here!” Spike growled as he dusted the vampire she was struggling with from behind.
Buffy dusted herself off. “Yeah, ’cause your life in L.A. was so much better with . . . let’s see, Queen Bitch and loser Wesley.”
Spike’s brows furrowed in resentment. “Yes it was. Cordelia has grown and Wesley is a great fighter and researcher. You never gave either of them a chance. Neither you or your pathetic Scoobie gang!”
Buffy gave him a skeptical look. “And you did? You tried to kill us all over a love spell for that loopy Drusilla! Talk about a few crackers short of a full box. You’re the reason Cordy was gutted by a rebar.”
“Leave Dru out of this!” Spike growled. “Besides, I wasn’t there when it happened. As I understand it, that happened because she caught Harris kissing Red! Now, are we finished here, ’cause there’s a rule about vampires not venturing too far from their lairs on Halloween and I got a bottle of JD waiting at home.”
Buffy harrumphed and walked off ahead of him.
“Typical female! Help her out in a fight and she walks away,” He called out, “You know, I could go back to a place where people cared about me,” then muttering to himself, he added, “Were it not for that bastard of a Sire!”
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
Wesley was examining Billy’s blood through a microscope.
“This was taken from the print made of Billy’s blood,” he told Fred as he made room for her to look. “Tell me what you think.”
Fred looked through the lens. “Looks to me as if some of the red blood cells are kind of supercharged.”
“Those would probably be from Billy’s demon lineage,” Wesley confirmed.
“So, however Billy is putting the mojo on people, the power seems to be in his blood,” she said thoughtfully. “Which means it can be in his sweat or his saliva or even his touch.”
“Speaking of saliva, where is Cordelia?” Wesley asked ominously.
Fred gave him a confused look. “What do you mean ‘speaking of saliva’? How does saliva make you . . .?”
“It’s a simple question,” Wesley cut in. “Where is Cordelia?”
“I-I think she went out,” Fred stammered.
“Out?” Fred nodded. “Did she happen to mention where?”
“She just, ah, she said an errand,” Fred replied.
“So, when you say you think she went out, what you mean is you know she went out because you spoke to her,” Wesley pointed out.
“Well, I suppose I . . .”
Wesley looked up at her with a raised brow. “Suppose?”
“I-I did. Yes, I did,” she stammered again.
“That’s better,” he said as he leaned in to look through the microscope again. “Lie to me again and we’re going to have a problem.”
Fred inched around Wesley’s desk and slowly backed away towards the door while Wesley was occupied with the blood sample.
“Where are you going, Fred?” he asked without looking up.
Fred stood still, her heart racing. “I was just going to call Cordelia for you and find out where she is.”
“That’s not necessary,” he said.
“It’s not?”
“No. Sit down, Fred.”
“I’ll just . . .” she gestured towards the lobby.
“Sit!” he yelled and then softened his voice. “Down.”
Fred jumped a little and hesitantly walked back into the office. She sat in a chair in front of Wesley’s desk.
“There’s something we need to discuss,” he announced.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you Cordelia left. I really am,” she hurried to apologize.
Wesley held up a hand to stop her. “We’re past that. I’ve put it behind me.” He stood up and walked around his desk, perching himself on the edge. “However, we are going to have to make some changes around here.”
“Change can be good, I guess,” she said nervously.
“Like no more of these provocative little outfits you wear,” Wesley said, pulling the strap of Fred’s dress off her shoulder. Fred immediately pulled it back in place.
“Provocative?” Fred sounded perplexed.
“Maybe Mommy and Daddy never explained to you that men - grown men - are wired a certain way,” Wesley said, leaning closer to a wide-eyed Fred. “You can’t be coming in here day after day waving it in my face like this.”
“What?”
“You’re practically daring me to take it. Is that what you want?” Wesley asked in a near whisper.
Fred jumped up out of her chair. “Stop it!”
“Oh,” Wesley held up his hands in surrender. “Are we standing now? Is that what we’re doing?”
Fred backed away, her eyes trained on him. “This conversation is making me very uncomfortable.”
“Oh, you’re uncomfortable?” Wesley sneered. “That’s rich! How do you think I feel? What do you think it’s like for me with you smelling the way you do?”
“Wesley, please,” Fred beseeched.
Wesley stalked closer to her. “You think you can taunt a man and get away with it? You brush up close, bat your eyes and then when our backs are turned, you laugh at us.”
“No, I would never . . .”
“Humiliate us,” Wesley cut in. “You think you can do anything you please because you’re connected to life, because you bleed, is that it?”
“No!” Fred cried.
Suddenly, Wesley slapped her across the face with an open hand and she felt to the floor. Fred held a hand against the stinging pain in her cheek and stared at him in shock.
It wasn’t that she was a weak woman. She’d survived five years in a demon dimension where they treated humans at slave-cows. Sometimes life here in Los Angeles overwhelmed her, but she was by no means a weak person. She could defend herself when she needed to. Hitting that boy in Sunnydale who argued with Spike was an example of that.
However, Wesley was different. She couldn’t understand how he’d gone from being so nice and courteous to belligerent, hateful, vulgar. The slap he gave her surprised and stunned her more than anything. She wasn’t expecting that to happen.
“I’ll show you blood,” Wesley threatened.
Fred willed herself to focus on the words. Wesley had mentioned blood quite a few times already. She glanced at the desk where the microscope sat untouched - with Billy’s blood on the slide.
Fred’s eyes widened.
Billy’s tainted blood.
And Wesley had touched it.
Fred’s wide gaze shifted back to Wesley who was coming straight for her. She scrambled to her feet and ran to the side doors. Before she could get them open, Wesley grabbed her by the hair from behind and tossed her down on the stairs.
“What do you tell a woman who has two black eyes?” Wesley asked as he loomed over her and reached down to grab her. “Nothing you haven’t already told her twice.”
Wesley was stronger than her, but Fred had enough adrenaline pumping through her veins that she kicked out at Wesley, propelling him backwards and lost her shoes in the process. When he fell back against a pillar in the staircase, she picked herself up and ran upstairs barefoot.
“No sense of humor,” Wesley commented as he watched her run away.
He pulled his tie off and walked down to the lobby. He stretched his shoulders and massaged his neck. As he turned to drop the tie on the reception desk, his sight came to rest on the battle ax in the corner of the weapons cabinet.
Fred ran down the hall and up the back stairs to the third floor she shared with Angel. She ran past Angel’s room and ducked into her own. She turned the room upside down looking for the cell phone Angel had given her in case of emergencies. She snatched it in a tight fist and snuck out of her room. She had just closed her door when she glanced up to see Wesley rounding the corner the with a battle ax in hand. Praying he didn’t notice her yet, she ran around the corner of the hall and up to the fourth floor.
“Fred?” he called out as he followed her perfume’s scent. “Oh, Fred? I know what you’re doing. What you’re up to. Luring me.” He turned down the hall leading to the fourth floor stairs. He looked up the empty staircase with a leer. “Forcing me to find you.” He slowly walked up the stairs to the fourth floor landing. “It’s such a dog and pony show. You beguile me with your girlish ways.” He pushed a door open with his ax as he walked past it. “I pursue you.” He pushed another door open. “But you never give over, do you? Always hanging around Angel and Spike, begging them for attention like a lost puppy wanting to feel loved.” He pushed another door open. “Wanting love from cold, dead flesh. Spike doesn’t even have a soul. How can you love with no soul, Fred?” He pushed another door open. “Well, guess what, my love? I’m not some downy-faced schoolboy.” He pushed another door open only to have it blocked by the safety chain. “I’m a warm, flesh and blood man.”
Wesley kicked the door open and walked into the room. There were paint supplies lying around as if someone had been working on renovating it. That aside, it appeared dark and deserted.
“You can’t come out into the open, can you?” Wesley asked. “No, you hide. You deceive. It’s nothing new. It goes all the way back to Eve. You and the serpent plotting behind our backs. ‘Here honey, eat this. It’s just an apple.’ That’s the problem with your sex, Fred. You’re all weak. You’re all dirty. You won’t be satisfied until you’ve brought each and every one of us out of the garden and down into the muck with you.”
Wesley smashed a stool aside with his ax, breaking it and scattering its contents across the floor. He heard a smothered gasp and snapped around to see the stripped bed in the corner. He stalked over to it. Fred gasped as Wesley picked up the mattress, tossed it aside and stared down at her.
“Why do you make me do this?” Wesley asked.
Fred whimpered as she struggled to her feet and tripped over the bed frame in her effort to get away. Wesley grabbed her by the neck and pushed her up against the wall. He leaned in to kiss her only to draw back in pain as Fred dug her nails into his shoulder and kneed him in the groin. As Wesley hunched over in pain, Fred made her escape.
Fred quietly hurried down a dark hallway. A short distance behind her she heard Wesley taunt, “I’m still here.” Fred stopped and slowly turned to look behind her. Wesley stood at the other end of the hall.
“I don’t run away like a girl,” Wesley sneered. “I see things through.”
Fred took off running with Wesley behind her. He saw Fred running up the stairs and hurried down the hall in the opposite direction with the idea to cut her off at the other end.
As she ran down another hallway, she stumbled and fell to her hands and knees. Fred rolled over to look behind her as she backed away on all fours. She got to her feet and turned to run . . . right smack into Gunn who put a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming.
Assuring that she’d stay quiet, Gunn removed his hand, put an arm around her and pulled her around the corner. They rushed down one of the many dimly lit hallways. Gunn tried one door only to discover it was locked. Trying the next door, it opened. He pushed Fred through it and followed, locking the door. Then, he hurried to barricade it with a dresser.
Turning to Fred, he said, “Now, what the hell happened to Wesley?” He picked up a nightstand and set it on top of the dresser.
Fred shook her head. Everything was confusing. “Somehow he got infected. All I can figure is that it happened while he was working with Billy’s blood from the handprint.
Gunn turned and stared at her. “You mean . . . that fingerprint-y-looking handprint downstairs is Billy’s blood?” Fred nodded with a sense of trepidation. “So, you’re saying that Wes turned into a psycho killer because of that bloody handprint that . . . I picked up and looked at?”
Fred cringed. “When you put it that way, it kind of worries me.”
Gunn immediately removed the nightstand and started to pull the dresser back. “I better get out of here. Lock the door behind me.” He jumped back when Wesley’s axe started hacking deeper into the wooden panel on the other side of the door. The noise caused a small scream to erupt from Fred. Gunn quickly pushed the dresser against the door and started looking around for an alternative.
“Well, uh, maybe we go to plan ‘B’,” Gunn said.
Fred took a step back and let out a scream when one of her feet broke through the floorboards. Gunn’ hand snaked out to catch her before she fell and pulled her away to sturdier flooring.
“Oh God,” Fred said relieved as she clung to Gunn. She jumped as Wesley’s ax got louder in her ears. She looked up at the vampire hunter. “You know when you said we go to plan ‘B’? What’s plan ‘B’?”
“Ah, plan B,” Gunn muttered repeatedly as he released Fred to find plan B.
“Charles?”
Gunn spun around to face her with inexplicable anger. “Plan B is the one where if you don’t stop whining I bash in your . . .” He stopped and stared wide-eyed at her. “Oh, God.”
**************************
Angel stood between Billy and Cordelia on the Blim’s private airstrip. He watched Billy as he inched back towards Cordelia.
“Cordy, get out of here,” Angel told her.
“No,” she said.
“Cordelia,” Angel hedged. The last thing he needed in this situation was for Cordelia’s inner bitch to surface and not cooperate with him.
“I can’t,” she stressed.
Angel turned to look at her and growled, “Get out!”
She jumped at his tone, but didn’t move otherwise. “Angel, you can fight this!”
Playing his favorite role as devil’s advocate, Billy stepped closer. “Don’t fight it . . . feel it! You can, can’t you? All that rage, all that hatred bubbling to the surface? I’ve actually never done this to a vampire. It should be pretty entertaining.”
“Please go,” Angel pleaded with Cordelia.
“I can’t,” Cordelia said tearfully. “I have this problem. This is happening to you because of me. Because of me. So, I can’t leave you, Angel. I won’t.”
Angel rounded on her, furious at her stubborn refusal to do as he said. “You think that’s your problem?” He advanced on her like the predator he was. “That’s not your problem. You know what your real problem is?” Cordelia backed up a little. Angel felt a sliver of satisfaction that he was finally getting through to her. “Guys like him!”
Suddenly, Angel whirled around and hit Billy with all his strength, sending him flying back a few feet to land on the pavement. “Cause you got no power over me.”
Cordelia breathed a sigh of relief as Billy and Angel started to fight.
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
Fred startled as Gunn picked up a chair and smashed it against the wall, breaking it into pieces.
“Charles, you’re scaring me!” She jumped back with a small scream as Gunn came at her with a chair leg in his hand.
He held it out to her. “Take this and knock me out. Knock me out!”
“You want me to hit you?” Fred asked bemused.
Gunn thrust the wooden leg into her hand. “Yes!”
“I can’t!” Fred shook her head.
“You might want to!” Gunn insisted. Wesley’s ax busted through another layer of wood in the door. Gunn looked between that and Fred’s tentative hold on the chair leg. “Hit me!”
“Charles, please . . .”
“Charles, please,” he mocked. “Fine. Then, give it back so I can smash your stupid head with it. Give me the damn chair leg!”
Fred hauled back and hit him over the head with the chair leg. Gunn dropped to his knees but wasn’t unconscious.
He glared up at her. “You’re going to pay for that!”
Fred hit Gunn again and he collapsed face down on the floor, cataleptic. She threw the chair leg aside and jumped as Wesley’s ax cracked through the door behind her. She ran to a dark corner and made herself as small as possible. Gunn was unmoving on the floor in front her. The sounds of Wesley’s ax chopping the door to bits made her jerk in trepidation.
Fred pulled out the cell phone Angel had given her and hurried to scan the pre-programmed address book. Finding Spike’s number, she sent the call and shuddered while she waited for him to pick up.
“Angel, I thought I told you that I didn’t want to--”
“Spike?”
There was silence on the other end. “Fred?”
“Something’s happened,” Fred shuddered and ducked her head, trying to ignore Wesley’s incessant hacking with the ax.
“What’s going on Fred? Why do I hear a banging sound in the background?”
“That’s because Wesley’s chopping the door down. Spike, something happened to him and Charles. Billy’s blood did something to them,” Fred said.
“Billy? Who’s Billy?”
“He’s the guy Angel saved from a hell dimension in order to save Cordelia from Wolfram & Hart’s killer visions. Remember?” Fred said.
“Yeah, pet. I remember. So, what happened to Percy?”
“There’s some kind of demon thing with Billy’s blood. Wesley and Gunn touched it and now Wesley’s chopping the door down to get to me,” Fred whispered into the phone.
“Where is Gunn?”
“Knocked out on the floor! Ahh!” she cried as Wesley managed to break through another layer of wood.
“Fred, stay calm okay? Where’s Angel and Cordelia?”
“They went out to look for Billy.”
“Bloody bastard left you defenseless,” Spike cursed. “Okay, Fred. I want you to find somewhere safe to hide and use anything you can as a weapon. I’ll get a hold of Angel and tear a layer of flesh off his body for his own stupidity. Nothing is too over the top when you’re trying to stay alive, Fred. Do you what you have to. Don’t worry about hurting anyone as long as you’re alive in the end.”
“O-okay, hopefully you can talk Angel into hurrying. I’m not really good at staving ax-wielding temporary psychotics, Spike.”
“I’ll hurry pet.” Spike hung up.
**************************
At the Blim private airfield, Angel and Billy were still fighting. The vampire tossed Billy through the air. Billy hit the ground rolling and came up on all fours. He smashed both hands against the ground, cracking the pavement as a shockwave radiated from his hands.
When Angel went after him, Billy tossed him like a toy, now that he was stronger. Cordelia spotted her crossbow lying on the ground. She went to pick it up and aim it at the two adversaries. Angel and Billy changed positions so often she couldn’t get a clear shot. When Angel managed to toss Billy away from him, Cordelia’s finger tightened on the trigger. Gunshots rang out and Billy jerked as bullets hit him and he dropped to the ground.
Cordelia lowered her crossbow. She and Angel both looked around to see Lilah lowering her pistol. Angel glanced back to Billy and released a breath. Lilah looked at Angel and then turned to walk away.
Angel’s cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and flipped it open. “Hello?”
“You are such a dick, you know that?”
“Hello to you too, Spike,” Angel said.
“You sent me here to protect the slayer because of your guilt and my girls are down there in danger, without me!”
“Cordy’s right here. She’s safe,” Angel said angrily.
“Fred’s stuck in the hotel with Wesley who’s juiced up on Billy’s blood, you idiot,” Spike retorted.
“Oh, God, Fred!” Angel groaned.
“You better get your priorities straightened out right now, Angel. Because if this happens again, I’m coming back! I don’t care about the Slayer or your need to keep her alive. You said the hotel was as much my home as yours. If anything happens to my girls, then I’ll come back! I’ll break every speed limit between Sunnydale and L.A. to hurt anyone who harms them. If I don’t get a good report from Fred in the next half hour, Wesley’s a dead duck.”
Angel looked at the phone when he heard a click on the other end as Spike hung up on him.
**************************
Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel
Wesley pushed against the door, forcing the dresser back inch by inch. He entered the room and saw Gunn lying unconscious on the floor. However, Fred was nowhere to be seen in the dark room.
“Would you like to hear my theory, Fred?” Wesley called out. “It’s about how stupid you are. I believe that after five years of living in a cave, you’ll instinctively retreat to small, dark places rather than run outside where you’d be safe.”
The floor creaked beneath his feet and he glanced down at the tarp covering the floor in front of him. He cautiously walked around the tarp to a closet.
“Let’s finish this,” Wesley said as he pulled the closet door open. The only thing he saw was a mirror on the inside of the door and Fred standing behind him reflected in the mirror by the moonlight shining through the windows.
“I’m sorry, Wesley,” she apologized.
He turned to glare at her. “You’re sorry?”
“You were right about me liking dark places to hide in,” she said. She shrank back when he raised his ax and slowly stalked closer to her. “But you forgot that I also like to build things.”
With that, Fred pulled on a rope. Out of the darkness, a fire extinguisher swung free and hit Wesley, knocking him back onto the tarp. The tarp gave away and he fell through the hole in the floor. Fred tentatively moved closer to the hole and looked down to see Wesley sprawled unconscious in the room below.
She startled again as Angel and Cordelia burst through the open door and skidded to a halt on the other side of the gap in the floor. Angel’s arm shot out to keep Cordelia from falling in.
Oh my God, Wesley,” Cordelia breathed and covered her mouth.
“Fred, what happened?” Angel asked as he glanced at Gunn’s inert body lying off to the side.
“I had to, Angel. I’m sorry. I had to. Survival is more important than anything,” Fred said.
“Come on Fred, carefully walk towards me,” Angel said, holding out his hand.
Fred sidestepped the gap in the floor and ran out of the room, leaving Angel and Cordelia to deal with an unconscious Gunn and Wesley.
**************************
Angel tapped lightly on Fred’s door. “Fred, it’s me.”
“Come in,” Fred’s sad voice replied.
He opened the door and walked in to find Fred sitting on the bed with her arms around her drawn-up knees. He shut the door and sat beside her on the bed.
“How are you?” Angel asked softly.
“I’m okay. He didn’t hurt me too bad,” Fred replied.
“I saw the goose egg you gave Gunn,” Angel said with a ghost of a smile.
“I didn’t want to. He made me hit him,” Fred said apologetically.
“It’s a good thing you did. You do what you have to, to survive. That’s something I taught Spike.” Angel smiled wistfully at the memory of a young William. “When you said that comment about survival earlier, it surprised me. You called Spike.”
Fred shook her head. “I didn’t know what else to do. You and Cordelia were busy searching for Billy. I called him and he told me not to worry about anything but staying alive.”
Tears welled up in her eyes as she threw herself at Angel. Stunned, all he could do was catch her in a hug. Then she burst into tears, relieved to have survived the nightmare. “I didn’t mean to hurt them so bad. I just needed to get out of there. It was all I could think of.”
Angel rubbed a hand over her back trying his best to comfort her. It was strange. He was never good at this kind of stuff. “It is okay, Fred. You did what you had to. That’s all that matters. Gunn and Wesley will heal. I’m just sorry I wasn’t here to help you. I’m sorry if the hotel no longer feels like a safe place. I promised you it would be.”
Fred pulled away to sit beside Angel, laying her head on his shoulder, wiping away her tears. “I would feel safer if Spike was here.”
“So would I,” Angel agreed.
He had to figure out a way to fix things with Spike, even if it was just to get his boy back into the hotel. Then, they could work on their problems and hopefully get past them. The thing was he didn’t know how to do that. Spike wasn’t the type to accept an apology so lightly. He’d have to find some way to pay penance before Spike relented enough to come back.
**************************
Los Angeles, Wesley’s Apartment
Wesley sat in his dark apartment staring out at the night. The moon shone through one of the windows. There was a knock at the door, but he didn’t move to answer it.
“Percy, it’s me. Open the bloody door,” Spike yelled through the panel as he beat on it.
Wesley looked at the door, deciding whether to answer it or not. As far as he knew, Spike was in Sunnydale. So, why would he be here? How did he get here? After a moment, he stood up and trudged slowly to the door. He opened it to see Spike on the other side glaring at him.
“Hello, Percy,” Spike greeted brusquely.
“Spike? Why are you . . .?”
“I think we both know why I’m here. A lovely little bird told me about what happened. That you were somehow infected by demon blood and went a little homicidal,” Spike said.
Wesley looked at Spike’s feet. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt her or frighten her.”
“It happens to the best of us. The demon takes over and that rush of power is intoxicating,” Spike sounded understanding.
“Yes, quite,” Wesley agreed not realizing how close he stood to Spike.
The blonde vampire stepped closer to the threshold. He’d never been invited into Wesley’s apartment, so he edged as close to the door as possible. Wesley leaned against the doorjamb, looking anywhere but at Spike.
“No one knows I’m in town. Well, Angel can feel my presence maybe. But, you’re not going to tell them I was even here, Wesley,” Spike stated.
The former watcher looked up at him confused by the veiled threat. He gasped when Spike reached out and fisted his shirt, yanking him out into the hallway.
“I may understand what the demon can do. But, you went after Fred and that I will never forgive you for. You will go back into work and you will see her every day. I hope whatever happened between you haunts you for the rest of your life, mate. Every time you see her, remember what you did to her. Because the next time it happens, I won’t think twice about draining you dry.”
As Spike released Wesley, he fell back against the partly open door. Wesley grabbed the edge of the doorway for balance and watched Spike saunter down the hallway. He hung his head and retreated back into the apartment, closing the door.