Chapter 20: Ladies
Spike stared at the redhead in leather across the room, and before Xander and Buffy could reach her, he knew. She was a vamp. Willow had been turned.
Except.
It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be Willow. As he had been walking with the two humans to the Bronze, he had been amused by the Slayer’s ramblings about her best friend and how they had had a small argument earlier that day. If Willow had been human at midday, there was no way she could have become a vampire now. Simple math. There hadn’t been enough time. At the same time however, it was she, there was no doubt about it when she walked by, striding toward the exit, and he caught a whiff of her scent. Different, but underneath it was still Willow.
The Slayer and Xander came toward him, both of them stunned and crushed.
“That wasn’t Willow,” he said bluntly. “Well, yes, it was, but not the Willow we know. There wasn’t enough time for her to be turned and then rise.”
A hint of relief appeared in Buffy’s eyes, and Spike wanted to smile. Not smile to mock her – although she should have known better than believe that enough time had passed for her friend to be turned – but simply smile because his words – his – had comforted her.
“So. you’re saying our Willow is somewhere out there and fine?” she asked, hesitant but hopeful.
He nodded. “Can’t be sure, but probably. Find her. Take her to the library. Get Giles too. I’ll go and try to get the newly fanged one there too; then we can sort it out.”
Spike felt an instant of wonder when she agreed with his plan, and Xander didn’t object. Couldn’t they had paid attention to what he was saying earlier? Before he committed himself with the Mayor? It would certainly have made things a bit simpler.
Shaking his surprise and regret, he rushed out, following the vampiress’ vanishing scent, catching up to her as she was fighting a couple of vamps. The first one was dust in a second, the second she played with a little longer, until he admitted to working for the Mayor. A quiet curse escaped Spike’s lips at that, which drew Willow’s attention to him. She staked the vamp she had been playing with, then stood and looked at Spike.
“You work for the Mayor too?”
He snorted. “I work for no one but myself.”
“Then why are you following me?”
The words were deceptively calm, but the threat behind them was made clear by the way she played with the stake in her hands.
“Just curious,” he replied with a shrug. “I know a human named Willow, looks an awful lot like you. She was fine and breathing just a few hours ago, from what I’ve heard. Then, here you are, leather and fangs.”
“Another me?” she murmured, her brow furrowing in confusion. Soon enough, understanding crept on her features. “Another me, like there is another Xander.”
“Care to satisfy a bloke’s curiosity and tell me where you’re from?”
A petulant pout settled on her too red lips. “A place much more fun than this. This is a dumb world. In my world there are people in chains, and we can ride them like ponies.”
Spike couldn’t help laughing at that. More fun than the Hellmouth? Was it even possible? Where else could a vampire appear out of nowhere and cast a new light on their human self?
“I think I know someone who might help,” he said, stifling his chuckle. “Little witch, friend of mine. I’m sure she’d be delighted to get to know you.”
The redhead looked wary, and Spike couldn’t fault her. Wherever she was from, it had to be a shock to pop into a different world, knowing nothing or no one, and then have a perfect stranger offer to help. He lit a fag as she took her time to consider him and his offer, but never took his eyes off her. He had no doubt she was dangerous.
“Who are you?” she finally asked, and from the way she held herself, relaxing ever so slightly, Spike was practically certain that she would accept his help.
“The name’s Spike.”
A flicker of recognition lit her gaze, and the blond wondered if he had made a mistake giving her his name.
“The Master mentioned you, a couple of times. Said you were a pain. Also said you were family.”
Spike tilted his head, thinking hard and trying to read between the lines. The only Masters who might consider him family were either Angelus or old batty himself. Better not try to guess which one; it might antagonize Willow if he got it wrong.
“Family,” he agreed with a tight smile. “So, you coming to see that witch of mine?”
The library’s doors swung open, and Buffy’s gaze flickered between the Willow in fuzzy clothes leaning against the counter, and the one clad in leather now frozen in surprise two steps inside the room. There was a short scuffle between the new Willow and Spike, who had walked in with her, as well as a few heated words including colorful curses and accusations of betrayal.
When the shock had worn off and Buffy could do more than stare, it was too late for her to intervene, as Spike had the vampire Willow in a tight hold, both hands secured behind her, and was marching her toward the book cage.
“Rupert?” he called out as he struggled to push the other vampire in. “Keys might be helpful right about now.”
A few seconds later, they were all standing by the cage observing the strange creature inside, but none of them was more captivated than Willow. Both Willows actually. They weighed each other with mixed feelings of incredulity, their identical faces showing awe and revulsion, until the undead Willow haughtily looked away. Buffy noticed the hard glance she threw Spike, but the blond barely paid it any mind.
“I think. I think I might know what happened,” Willow stuttered, blushing brightly. “I helped a girl with a spell. It has to be what caused…”
She gestured toward the cage, and in response the vampire inside hissed a few well-chosen words. The human Willow was startled, and Buffy wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her back to the table. Giles and Xander came along; only Spike remained standing by the cage.
“What kind of spell was it?” Giles asked, a twinge of disapproval in his voice. Buffy had the strong feeling that her Watcher would be in a lecturing mood about the dangers of magic once they had cleared up the whole mess.
Willow explained what the spell had been, what she had seen while it happened, visions of her vamped self and a bleak world; but soon, Buffy’s attention drifted off to Spike and the other Willow. They were talking in hushed voices, but she could still hear them and was too curious to resist.
“I can’t believe I trusted you,” the vampiress spat.
“Why not?” Spike replied, and he sounded amused. “I said I’d take you to a witch and help you. It’s exactly what I did.”
“You took me to the Slayer! What kind of vampire plays nice with the Slayer?”
A pause, the female vampire came closer to the cage, standing just behind the door as she considered Spike.
“Unless you’re like my puppy,” she said thoughtfully. “Do you have a soul?”
Spike chuckled. “Puppy? Is that what you call Angel? I’ll have to try and call him that. And no, I am not like him. Not at all.”
“Buffy? What do you think?”
Startled, the Slayer returned her attention to the conversation going on at the research table. The others were looking at her, apparently expecting her reply, but she had no clue what the question had been.
“Think about what?” she asked, apologetic.
Giles gave her a slight shake of head. “What shall we do with this vampire? Stake her and be done with it, or try to send her back where she belongs? As much as it pains me to even think of it, she’s not the Willow we know, and…”
“But it’s not her fault,” Willow interrupted in a meek voice. “She didn’t ask to be a vampire, and she’s just doing what she must. Maybe we could. I don’t know. give her a soul, maybe, and.”
“No,” Spike cut in.
They all turned their eyes toward him as he approached the table.
“If you think giving her a soul is being kind to her, you’re wrong,” he said blankly. “You might as well stake her, it’d be less painful.”
There was a short silence, and then Xander cleared his throat before saying in a wavering voice: “It’d be majorly wigging to stake her. I mean, it’s not our Willow, but it’s still Willow, and. well, I’m not volunteering for it.”
Judging by the uncomfortable faces all around, no one was up for the task, and neither was Buffy. The last thing she needed was the memory of staking her best friend, even if it was only a demon wearing her face.
“So, no staking,” she said decisively. “We’ll send her back wherever she came from, and let the people there deal with her.”
She couldn’t help grimacing at that last part. She wasn’t happy at all with the idea of turning a vampire loose; but after all, she had enough vampires to take care of in this world without taking on those from other dimensions also. As they made plans to look for this Anya who had started everything and to gather the needed spell ingredients, Buffy noticed that, once more, Spike had drifted back to the cage and was talking to the vampire there.
An odd thought struck her, and she wondered if Spike was feeling lonely, if he missed the company of other vampires. She dismissed the idea immediately. If that had been the case, he would have been more friendly with Angel and sought out his company instead of patrolling so often with her.
Angel was at the Bronze, hoping that Buffy would come by, yet dreading that she would show up with Spike trailing behind her like an enamored puppy. He hadn’t told her about Spike’s feelings for her, instinctively knowing she wouldn’t believe him and would attribute his words to jealousy. In truth, he was jealous. Terribly so. How could he not be, when his grand-childe was spending so much time with Buffy while Angel couldn’t dare to?
She eventually arrived, and Angel was glad to see she was with Willow, Xander, and surprisingly Giles, but Spike was nowhere in sight. He joined the four of them and listened as she briefly explained who they were looking for and why. By coincidence, the girl was there, and they soon escorted her out after a few murmured, but convincing, threats.
Angel’s good mood disappeared when, in the back alley, they joined Spike and a vampire wearing Willow’s features. He could hear them talking, as the group approached, could hear the redhead suggest that he forget their plan of sending her home and work instead on making this town more vampire friendly. The invitation was clear, and it covered much more than killing together. Spike simply shook his head, his answer freezing Angel.
“Very tempting,” the blond said, “but I’ve got to decline. A special lady of mine would be too disappointed if I did.”
There was no doubt in Angel’s mind who that ‘special lady’ was. And it was suddenly blindingly clear that Angel had been wrong. Spike wasn’t going to be content with admiring Buffy in silence and helping her however he could. He was going to fight for her, try to win her over, loophole or not, boyfriend or not. It was time for Angel to put an end to it.
Have to admit, I knew he was behind me when I said that. So yeah, I took a cheap shot at Angel. Sue me. The look on his face when I turned to them was absolutely priceless. He was wide-eyed for an instant, then he blinked, and his eyes narrowed as they slowly turned amber. If his eyes had been stakes.
There was nothing behind my words. Or at least, I didn’t believe that there was anything. I was pretty sure that if she had gotten any hint that I was “evil” again, the Slayer would have staked me without more than a second’s hesitation. But then I looked at her, standing right there, oblivious that my words had irritated her brooding lover, and I saw. something. Curiosity, certainly, but that wasn’t all. A bit of hurt, too. Almost as if she was feeling betrayed. By me? By what I had said? I had no clue at the time, and it’d be too easy to give the Buffy of my memories feelings and thoughts according to the Buffy I know now. Maybe I’ll ask her, some day.
Whatever it was, it resurfaced a couple of weeks later. Our Slayer picked up an extra power on the way, and thought she’d try.
What?
I don’t care that we’re not there yet, it makes more sense to tell them about this bit now rather than later on, what are you.
No, it’s not your story; it’s mine. Get a fucking clue, would you? And don’t you.
Oh fine, no need to get your knickers in a twist. You don’t want me to say Buffy tried to read my mind to find out what lady I had been talking about, so I won’t talk about it. Happy?
Right. So, Buffy’s wasn’t the only one who reacted to my little half-lie. So did the big brooder. I think he might have realized at that point that maybe I wasn’t going to keep looking at his girl without making a move on her. Took him long enough. I’m still surprised he didn’t stake me. So many occasions, so many reasons, and he never tried. I wish I knew why. Doesn’t mean I’ll ever ask him though.
His way of reacting was to start patrolling with her every night, hoping I’d stop coming along like I had before. You know me. The best way to make me do something is to expect the opposite. For a few nights, the three of us patrolled together. It could almost have been hilarious, if I hadn’t been all too aware that Buffy was wishing she were alone with Angel. She never told me to get lost though, or anything more pleasant. I think she was upset with Angel’s not so subtle comments about my presence there. And she got much more upset later when Angel played at being soulless and got a bit too close to Faith. It was fun to see, for the most part, but I also ached for her.
Anyway. To come back to that night.the girls had to do the spell in the place where our fangy friend had appeared. On our way there, Anya kept claiming that she had been a powerful vengeance demon, and she’d curse us all when she got her powers back, and so forth. It didn’t strike me immediately, but later on I remembered talking to her, and that’s how I eventually made the link between her and Dru. But I think I already told you about that. The spell was done, our new friend was sent back home, and that was the end of it.
Almost.
I went by the town hall later that night, just to know what that thing had been about the vamps working for the Mayor trying to off Willow. He wasn’t happy that his plan had failed, and even less so when I declined to do the job, pointing out that if I had wanted her dead, I wouldn’t have waited to do it, and reminding him that I wanted them all to suffer before they died. He got over it, eventually, and came up with a new plan. Rather than striking at the Slayer’s best friend, he decided to play with her boyfriend. I could have told him from the start that it wouldn’t work, but he never bothered to ask.