Chapter 15: The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow
There was just enough shade in one corner of the room to ensure that he wasn’t going to be immolated any time soon. Spike just hoped that the angle of the building was such that he wouldn’t end up on fire later.
Spike had always been able to withstand more sunlight than Angel, mostly because he wasn’t going to let anything keep him from doing what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it. Even for him, however, the room was painfully bright. His skin crawled as his demon screamed in protest at being so near the light.
The door opening was more annoying than anything else, since there was no way he would be able to escape-not across the sunny expanse of carpet.
“I see you’ve finally woken up,” the man said cheerfully. “Good thing the drugs wore off before the sun came up.”
Spike stayed stubbornly silent. “Well, I won’t keep you long. If you tell us where Drusilla is, this can all be over.”
The relief washed over him like a wave. They didn’t know where Dru was, which meant she was safe. “Don’t think so, mate,” Spike bit out. “Even if I knew, I wouldn’t be tellin’ you.”
“Is that right?” Lindsay came a little farther into the room, although he kept a healthy distance. He knew Spike’s chip was supposed to prevent him from harming humans, but he didn’t particularly want to test it out. “Without Drusilla, we don’t have any need for you. If you want to stay in one piece, you’ll tell us where she is.”
Spike laughed out loud. “I told you, I don’t know where she is,” he replied. “She left with Angel and his gang, an’ we haven’t kept in touch.”
Lindsay knew there was only a slim chance that Spike knew Drusilla’s location. From what they had gotten on the wiretaps at Cordelia’s apartment, Wesley hadn’t told anyone of the location. The man was cautious to a fault. “Too bad for you then,” Lindsay said lightly. “We’ll just have to work on finding her without you.”
The lawyer turned and walked out of the room, leaving Spike still huddled in the shade, wondering exactly what their plans for him entailed.
He had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be pleasant.
~~~~~
Wesley watched Drusilla as she stared out the window. While the opportunity to spend time together was nice, they were both feeling trapped. Add to that the fact that they had no toiletries and no clothing except what was on their backs, and they were both feeling uncomfortable.
Drusilla had been anxious ever since her vision of Spike. Wesley had to wonder if she wasn’t still in love with the vampire, and if she was what that meant for them. She and Spike had been together for over a century. It only made sense that she was still in love with him. “Are you alright?”
She glanced back at him where he sat on the edge of the bed. “Yes.”
Wesley winced at her short answer and lay back on the rough fabric of the comforter. “Do you still love him?”
“I will always love him,” Drusilla replied quietly. “But his heart isn’t mine any longer. It hasn’t been for a very long time.”
Wesley’s arm had gone up over his eyes, blocking his view of her. “We wouldn’t have to stay here,” he said quietly. “We could go back to Cordelia’s. If we’re careful-“
“Not yet,” Drusilla said softly. “It’s not time yet.” She came over to sit next to him on the bed, her hand tracing his jaw line. His clothing was wrinkled and he had a couple days’ growth of stubble on his face. “You needn’t worry, you know.”
“Worry about what?”
“What I feel.” She felt his skin, soft under the stubble. “Do you think I haven’t seen Spike’s path? He is caught up on a road that is not mine.”
Wesley’s arm moved so that she could see his eyes, vulnerable without his glasses. “You still love him, though.”
“Isn’t there anyone that you love, Wesley?” Drusilla asked softly.
He stared at her. How to tell her that he’d never been in love? Not really. Not when he’d been so busy trying to be the best Watcher in Council history. Not when he’d failed so miserably. His feelings for Cordelia had been infatuation, nothing more.
This-what he felt for Drusilla-was different.
“Not like you mean,” Wesley replied hoarsely. “I know you’ll always feel something for Spike, I just-wonder if you’re ready to move on.”
Drusilla laughed, although the sound had a bitter quality to it. She could usually force the memories to the back of her mind; forget that this body she wore had perpetrated horrible things. The fact that she’d been insane helped, since those memories didn’t seem to be hers. She saw them through the hazy veil of time. She seemed to have found herself on the other side of her madness, intact, the same girl she had been before Angelus had seen her that fateful night.
No, not the same girl. She was stronger now.
Times like this, however, she could not help but remember the expression on Spike’s face when he’d caught her with the Chaos demon. He had felt betrayed, and although Drusilla had known what was to come, she hadn’t let Spike in on it. Of course, her conception of time had been just a little skewed so that she often mistook the future for the present. She had sometimes forgotten that what was to come had not yet happened.
She had ripped Spike’s heart out. Drusilla could see that now.
The question, of course, was would she do the same to Wesley without meaning to. How could she explain her vision of the future? Her understanding of the past?
How could she hope to reconcile who she was with what she had been?
“I don’t always understand time so well,” Drusilla admitted. “I know what is coming, and I forget it’s not here yet.”
Wesley frowned. “Do you see-us?”
“I see what we could be. What you could be,” she corrected herself. “You don’t yet know your own strength.”
He reached up to push her hair back from her face. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Drusilla replied, meeting his lips with hers.
~~~~~
Buffy was impressed by the dramatic improvement in attitude Angel was demonstrating. She had to wonder if Cordelia wasn’t involved somehow. She’d watched the two of them interact, and had to admit that her old high school nemesis was skilled at getting the vampire out of brood-mode.
Instead of being reactive and whiny, Angel was suddenly focused. “So you know how we’re going to get Spike out of there.”
Angel frowned. “Not exactly, but I do know how we’re going to convince Wolfram and Hart to leave us alone.”
Cordelia raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? How’s that?” She was in a much better mood after having her back scrubbed by Phantom Dennis. There was no way she’d even consider living in an apartment without a ghostly roommate after this.
Angel shrugged. “I’m going to do what I should have done from the beginning. I’m going to see to it that it’s in their best interests to leave her alone. Once they realize that I have no problem killing every single one of them to protect Dru, they’ll back off. And if they don’t need Dru, they won’t need Spike.”
It was impeccable logic, except for the fact that Angel was threatening to kill people. On the other hand, they had interrupted Buffy’s plans for Spike, which was never a good thing. No one got between the Slayer and her guy. It was the unwritten law of the universe.
“That’s all well and good,” Giles commented, “but first you have to get inside. I thought you said that there were alarms that warned them of the presence of vampires.”
Willow raised her hand. “I think Tara and I can help with that. There’s a charm we can make that will fool the alarms into thinking Angel is human.”
Angel looked surprised. “You can really do that?”
Tara shrugged. “I-it’s n-not too hard. It’s j-just a little more c-complex than a shielding spell.” She blushed as everyone’s eyes turned to her. “Willow’s really g-good w-with that k-kind of thing.”
“Tara’s the one who figured out the spell,” Willow said loyally.
Angel gave both witches a respectful look. “How long before it’s ready?”
They met each other’s eyes, seeming to communicate silently. “An hour?” Willow hedged. “Two at the outside.”
Buffy didn’t like the thought of any more time going by than had already elapsed, but she knew there weren’t any other options. “Won’t we have to wait till after dark?”
Angel shook his head. “There’s a sewer access they don’t know they have. We’ll go in that way. Once we find Spike, you’ll get him out while I go knock some heads together. Hopefully at that point we’ll be able to let Wesley know he and Dru can come out of hiding.”
“And if that doesn’t work?” Giles asked.
Angel frowned. “If that doesn’t work, I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “Wolfram and Hart is pretty powerful. It’s hard to tell what they’ll do.”
~~~~~
“How long before you can work the spell?” Lindsay asked the witch, who had often done things of that nature for Wolfram and Hart. The lawyer had realized that there was no way Spike was going to give Drusilla up, nor was it possible to strike a deal with him and hope he would carry it out. Most likely, once they let the vampire go, they would never see him again.
On the other hand, by putting the geas on him, Lindsay could be assured that Spike would lead them directly to Drusilla, without even knowing he was complicit in the plan. Plus, he would be helpless to counteract it. It was the perfect solution.
The witch, an old woman who had never told him her name, pursed her lips. “It’s going to take a few hours at least,” she replied. “Putting a geas on a vampire is not done in a matter of minutes.”
Lindsay frowned. He hated to take the time, but now that he was in charge of retrieving Drusilla, he wanted it done correctly. If he was in too much of a hurry, he could very easily end up losing what little chance he had. “Fine. But I want it done as soon as possible.”
He stalked down the hall back to his office. Lindsay would be a lot happier when this whole thing was over. Maybe once they got Drusilla back in custody, they could find a way to use her without Spike. In fact, other than helping them find her, Lindsay wasn’t sure why they had to have him, especially when it didn’t look like he was going to play nice.
In fact, when this was all over, Lindsay was thinking that it might be better just to dust the vampire and be done with it.
It was never smart to leave a potential enemy alive, and when he found out that he’d been used, that’s exactly what Spike would be.
~~~~~
Spike was really bored. There was nothing and no one around to distract him-nothing to take his mind off the fact that he was hungry and hot and very cranky. Anybody who said that vampires didn’t feel temperature hadn’t left one on the edge of a sunbeam all day.
He might have tried to sleep, since that was what he was supposed to be doing in the middle of the day, but the one time he’d dozed off, the sun had moved.
His hand hurt abominably.
Spike hated feeling this helpless. It reminded him too much of those months spent in a wheelchair, knowing that Angelus could pretty much do whatever he wanted with him. That had probably been the worst time in his unlife.
Except perhaps for the time he’d spent in Harris’ basement, before he’d known he could hurt demons. That had been worse.
To distract himself, Spike kept going over and over in his head what he and Buffy had talked about the last few days, everything she’d said to him, every small step they’d taken towards each other. The feel of her lips on his-her hands on his bare skin.
Spike stopped right there. Distracting as it was, it wasn’t helping him cool off any. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The patch of shade in the room had grown larger over the last hour until he was finally able to stretch out. Spike felt a sense of relief as he realized that the sun would soon be going down. The relief didn’t last all that long as he realized that the passing hours only brought him closer to whatever that lawyer was planning for him.
Spike wasn’t in the mood to lie to himself. They would try and find a way to use him to get to Dru, he was sure of it. His job was to make sure he was dust before he let anything like that happen.
A noise at the door had him struggling to his feet. He clenched his jaw, thinking of the pain that would inevitably come from fighting them, but Spike wasn’t going to have them think he was helpless.
He wondered how many throats he would be able to rip out before the chip fried his brain for good.
Spike’s jaw dropped as he saw who was at the door. “Buffy?”
She flashed him a quick grin. “Were you expecting someone else?”
His eyes wide, Spike watched as she dragged a burly guard through the door. She was dressed smartly in a business suit, which surprised him. He hadn’t thought she owned one of those. Plus, she was wearing glasses. It wasn’t a great disguise, but Spike doubted anyone would readily recognize her. “You-how did you get here?”
“Angel,” was her succinct answer, the evidence of which appeared just behind her.
The older vampire swept the room with his gaze. He was also in a suit and tie. “You okay here, Buffy?”
“Yep,” she replied. “I’m just going to free Spike, and then we’ll head for the sewers. Are you sure you don’t want us to stick around?”
“So Spike can cause more trouble?” Angel asked sarcastically. “I don’t think so. I’ve walked in there and scared the crap out of them before. I think I can handle it.”
Spike was just as astonished to see his grandsire as he was to see the Slayer. “How did you lot get in here?”
“There was a sewer tunnel involved,” Buffy replied. “I’m sure you’ll feel right at home.” When she couldn’t snap the bonds on his wrists, she sighed. “We’re going to have to do this elsewhere. I didn’t bring a knife.” She glanced back at Angel. “I’ll get him out. You do what you have to do.”
Angel nodded shortly and then left. “How did you get him to agree to ride to the rescue?” Spike asked incredulously.
Buffy shrugged. “It was sort of a ‘you messed with something that’s mine’ kinda deal.” She grinned again. “You know Angel has issues.”
She was teasing him. And, if he didn’t miss his guess, the Slayer was also flirting slightly. “What-“
“Leave now, talk later,” Buffy instructed, slipping off her jacket and hanging it over his bound wrists. She gave her disguise a critical look. “Not the best way to go, but it’ll do,” she decided, slipping a hand through his arm and leading him to the door.
“How did you know where I was?” Spike asked in a low tone as she led him down the hall to one of the elevators.
She lifted an eyebrow. “Angel found out. He was pumping one of the lawyers for information, and I guess she wanted to hurt the guy who grabbed you. She told Angel where you were, and voila. Here we are.”
The elevator doors slid open, and Buffy led him inside. Luckily, it was empty, and Spike found himself relaxing slightly. “So Peaches is going to do what?”
“Hopefully scare them into leaving Dru alone,” Buffy replied. “I’m not sure how, and I don’t think I want to watch. He’s really pissed off about the whole thing.”
“Yeah, so am I,” Spike muttered. He breathed a sigh of relief when the elevator hit the basement without stopping.
Buffy tugged him along the hallway, stopping when she saw a woman approaching. “Crap.”
“I see you got him out,” Lilah commented. “You’re just in time.”
The Slayer frowned. “Just in time for what?”
“Lindsay was going to lay a geas on your vampire. He would have led them right to Drusilla without knowing what he was doing.” Lilah smiled smugly, stepping aside to let them pass. “Nice work. Hope you two crazy kids have a great life.”
Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Buffy rushed past Lilah, Spike firmly in her grip, pausing only to murmur a brief thanks. They managed to make it to the sewer tunnel without any more interruptions, Spike dropping through the hole awkwardly with Buffy close behind.
No sooner did he have his feet on solid ground again, than the Slayer’s lips were pressed to his, her hands shoving him back up against the tunnel wall. “Don’t ever get vamp-napped again,” she ordered, finally breaking off the kiss. “I mean it.”
“You got it,” he replied hoarsely. “No more gettin’ snatched by evil lawyers.”
Buffy smiled. “Good. Now let’s get out of here.” Then she stepped back, frowning. “You know, you really look like crap.”