By the time the Winnebago pulled into the drive of the Wensel House, everyone had congregated to the parlor and were scattered accordingly in clusters of no more than three. Xander, Anya, and Wesley were in one corner; Giles and Toby in another. Willow and Sam had taken the small settee and were trading estranged glances while Buffy and Spike stood conspicuously close in the opposing corner.

“They couldn’t be more obvious if they tried,” Harris muttered.

Which, of course, turned out to be the embodiment of a bad idea as vampire hearing made it very difficult for anything of any nature to slip by so coercively. “Oh, ‘m sure we could, Stay Puft,” Spike retorted, fighting the temptation to slip an arm around Buffy’s shoulders. “But somethin’ tells me the lady wouldn’t like that.”

“Shut up,” the Slayer grumbled, avoiding the prying eyes of every judgmental body in the room.

“Buffy—”

“Xander, he’s just trying to bait you. Drop it.”

The vampire nodded, though he did nothing to wipe the smirk from his face. The fact that everyone was pretty much aware of what was happening between them and that—outside the expected leers, stares, and almost-commentary—no one had said much struck him as utterly refreshing. Giles’s tacit objection was quickly becoming reluctant acceptance; Xander’s disapproval very palpable but resigned.

It was as though everyone had seen it coming. Everyone but the Slayer and himself.

“So…” Sam licked his lips, breaking the silence before it could settle again. “What happens now?”

“We waste more time squabbling with each other,” Toby replied. “When there is real productivity out there to be had.”

“’S not my fault your mate ran away like a sodding ninny.”

Buffy arched a brow at him. Willow coughed loudly.

Spike pouted. “Well, maybe it is. Jus’ a li’l.”

Sam blinked dumbly, casting confused glances to his housemates. “What? What’s going on?”

“You know that stuff that we thought you weren’t ready to know yet?” Willow asked softly. He nodded. “Well, I think you’re about to get the full shebang.”

“Great.”

Buffy arched a brow. “He knows?”

“A little.”

“A little what?”

The redhead offered a quirky smile. “Well, remember that thing you wanted me to do to help us find Faith before you went all…you know…with the crazy driveage to Louisiana? Well, Sam wanted a sandwich, and—”

“For God’s sakes, can we please stop speaking in euphemisms?” Giles sighed heavily and removed his glasses. “Does anyone here not know that Willow is a witch?”

There was a stunned pause.

“Well,” Toby said slowly. “I have had my suspicions.”

“Watch it, mate,” Spike advised. “Red’ll turn you into a newt before you can say antidisestablishmentarianism.”

The other man blinked. “I can honestly say that I am surprised that you can say antidisestablishmentarianism.”

Sam glanced timidly to Giles. “About the book…have you…do you know if I did any damage?”

Buffy frowned. “The book? What happened?”

“The book you gave me,” the elder Watcher replied dryly. “It seems we might have already had a mishap.”

“We have?” the Deputy Communications Director whimpered.

“We didn’t,” Willow reassured him, patting his knee. “You were just playing with the words. It’s okay. It’s not like you wield any supernatural power to give the words the umph they need…” When she was not automatically met with a foray of confirmation from the two Watchers, her confidence began to waver and her voice reached a shrill note. “Right, guys?”

“What happened?” the Slayer demanded again.

“Sam spoke one of the passages aloud,” the Witch explained. “No big.”

Xander blinked at her dumbly. “No big? Will…ummm…hello?”

“There might actually not be anything to worry about,” Anya said. “I’ve seen these cases before. In order for a spell to work, one must not necessarily have any supernatural powers; only a belief in what they are trying to accomplish. That’s how I became a vengeance demon in the very general sense.”

Toby just looked at her. “A vengeance what?”

“So you don’t know if it did anything?” Sam asked.

“We are not educated enough in the book—who wrote it and for what purpose, et cetera—to determine what any of the passages mean. You could have spurned an apocalypse or made a man in Belize dress as a ballerina, for all we know.” Giles sighed deeply and shook his head. “We make a point not to attempt spells unless we have an understanding of their outcome…which is why I asked Willow not to try any until we knew exactly what we are dealing with.”

The redhead frowned defensively. “Hey! It was him!”

Sam’s eyes widened. “Willow!”

“Sorry.”

Toby was staring at everyone as though they had spontaneously broken into song. “Is everyone here on drugs?”

Wesley released a long whistle. “If only life were so simple.”

There wasn’t much room for rebuttal; Josh had all but crashed the front door down within the next second, eyes fixating immediately on Spike as he paraded inward, missing intent. And loudly, without any room for explanation or preamble, he pointed an accusing finger and shouted: “You’re a vampire!”

Sam was at his feet the next minute, a shrill attacking his voice. “He is?!”

Spike shrugged reasonably and cast Buffy an unworried glance. “Well, that would explain the drastically serious sun allergy, wouldn’t it?”

She glared at him, though her eyes were dancing.

“Josh!” Donna yelled, scrambling in behind her boss. “It’s not going to help anyone to rave about like a madman.”

“And yet he’s so good at it,” Toby observed.

His deputy was not so quick to dismiss the accusation. He had seen too much to admit that as an option. “Spike’s a vampire?!”

“Bloodsucker!”

Xander rose to his feet, oddly diplomatic. “Okay…crazy people have entered the room.”

Donna flashed the platinum Cockney an apologetic glance. “Sorry about this!”

It didn’t matter. By the time Josh was within two feet of Spike, Buffy had very intently stepped forward in a manner that was so overly protective that it caused the vampire to freeze with such a random blow of affection and therein fleetingly eliminated the seriousness of the current situation.

“All right,” she said, adorning her patented dry smile that spoke levels for power and commanded authority. “You need to calm down.”

Sam was hiding behind the couch, ignoring Willow’s attempts to console him. “Spike’s a vampire?”

“I’ll ask again: is everyone here on drugs?”

“Oh good Lord,” Giles gasped, caressing his brow to wane off an oncoming headache.

Josh glared unblinkingly at Buffy, pointing at the man over her shoulder and speaking slowly as though she was a child. “He’s. A. Vampire.”

“Tell me something I don’t know!”

Donna blinked. “You know he’s a vampire?”

“As if it isn’t obvious,” Anya grumbled.

“All right…” Wesley heaved a sigh and stepped forward. “We all need to settle down so Rupert and I can explain—”

“Why are you defending a vampire?!”

Harris shrugged. “I’d actually like to hear this one.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut up, Xander. Your girlfriend’s a vengeance demon, so I really don’t think you have room to criticize, thank you.”

Sam whirled around, staring wide-eyed at Anya. “She’s what?!”

“Former vengeance demon,” the man hurried to correct. “As in, past tense.”

“As in, don’t care.”

Spike was grinning like an idiot. “Don’ you jus’ love her?”

Buffy flushed but shook her head and continued, redirecting her eyes at Josh. “And I’m defending the vampire because it’s my job, not yours.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Sam was still staring at Anya uneasily. “A vengeance demon?”

The accused shrugged. “I said it earlier.”

“And hey! No judging!” Harris pointed at the redhead. “She’s a witch!”

“Xander!”

Donna’s eyes widened. “Willow!”

The redhead stuttered desperately before her eyes landed on Spike again. Tactic easily noted; she shrugged at him apologetically, but did not hesitate to remind the room that, “He’s a vampire!”

Buffy glared. “Will.”

“Sorry,” she eeped.

“I still wanna know why you care,” Josh whined. “He’s a vampire.”

“Got that memo, thanks.” The petite blonde stepped forward intently. “Next time you decide to go investigating vamps, try looking under Slayer, the. As in, yours truly. I am a vampire slayer. I slay vamps. Of the Chosen, and all that. So please, back off.”

That certainly sent Josh for a loop. He could do nothing but stare at her for several long seconds. “You’re a vampire slayer?”

“Correct.”

He licked his lips and digested the notion. “And Spike’s a vampire?”

“Correct again.”

“So why is he all unslayed?”

Xander cleared his throat. “That’s a perfectly valid question.”

Donna frowned. “Isn’t Spike your friend?”

To that, the other man had no reaction but a long, humorless laugh.

Buffy sent him a look that could freeze Hell, thaw it, and freeze it again. “You know why,” she snapped. To Josh, she situated her hands on her hips in classic Slayer stance. The same that the very approving vampire behind her had memorized from Day One. She meant business. And lots of it. “Spike is here and unstaked because I say so. Anything you do to, oh say, undo that will not be appreciated by me. The vampire slayer.”

“I think you’ve misinterpreted the definition of slay, lady.”

“Josh,” Donna hissed.

“Spike has something…he can’t hurt humans. At all.” That excuse sounded weak, even to her. When had it stopped being about that and about something else? She didn’t know; now was not the time. “He can’t hurt humans, and I don’t make a habit of hurting those who are pretty much designated pacifists.”

The Cockney grumbled a bit at that. “Sure know how to turn on the charm there, luv,” he observed. “Make me feel all important.”

She turned to look at him. “I’m fighting to protect you. That’s important enough.”

“Don’ need help.”

“Spike—”

“Whoa, wait.” Josh pinched the bridge of his nose. “He can’t hurt humans? Why not?”

Giles cleared his throat with a thin smile. “We don’t know yet.”

“There are commando guys involved,” Anya added helpfully.

Willow shrugged. “He tried to bite me and had trouble performing.” She waved off Sam’s look of concern and smiled slightly at his sudden pose of unmitigated accusation. “But it’s okay. Buffy trusts him now and—”

“Buffy?”

“What’s going on?”

There was a significant pause at that. Josh’s shoulders slumped and he turned slowly to face his colleague, eyes wide. “Well…apparently, Leo’s been keeping some things from us.”

Sam gawked at him. “Leo knows about this?”

“There’s an entire faction of the government that knows about this.” He glanced to Buffy. “It’s called the Initiative. Specializes in supernatural research.” There was a long sigh; he shook his head. “And this is totally insane because I’m in a bed and breakfast in Natchez talking about vampires with vampires as though it’s all supposed to make sense.”

“There’s just one vampire here,” Anya said. “I’m a former vengeance demon.”

“She keeps saying that,” Sam whimpered.

“Whoa, wait.” Buffy jumped forward and grabbed Josh’s arm. “The government has been researching demons? Since when?”

“I don’t know! I wasn’t exactly interested in dates, lady. I called Leo to tell him what was going on and suddenly I’m up to my ass in government conspiracy.” He turned to Spike with a huff. “And you’re not supposed to exist!”

The vampire’s eyes widened mockingly. “’ve been here a lot longer than you, mate.”

“And demons have been here much longer than humans,” Anya intervened defensively, shooting the Cockney a look of full-fledged support.

“This is crazy,” Josh muttered. “You are all crazy.”

Wesley glanced to Giles and shrugged as though offering diplomacy. “Do you wish to handle this?” he asked. “Or shall I?”

Almost immediately, the Senior Staffers turned to the elder Watcher imploringly for guidance. It was more than obvious who had their respect. And while the other man sulked a bit at this irrefutable knowledge, he nodded all the same and moved aside so that Giles might take the floor.

“We never meant for any of this to happen,” he began softly. “In fact, I am more than appalled by the complete lack of protocol that we have exhibited since arriving.” He did not come out and name names, though the condescending look in the peroxide vampire’s direction left little to the imagination. It also caused Buffy’s hand to immediately find Spike’s and squeeze in mindless reassurance. “As far as this…Initiative is concerned, that might well be the explanation to a lot of what has been going on in Sunnydale the past few months…Spike’s…problem, amongst other things.”

The vampire arched a brow, doing a secret dance of joy that the Slayer had touched him of her own freewill in front of her friends and was showing no signs of regret. Or withdrawal, for that matter. “You think I got hijacked by a group of government cronies?”

“Leo did mention that experiments to neutralize what he called ‘hostiles’ were being conducted in secret locations throughout the country,” Josh murmured. His demeanor betrayed that of a scorned child, which made his explanation almost funny. “Sometimes involving neurological implants.”

“What?!” the two blondes yelped at the same time.

“You put somethin’ in my head?!” Spike snarled. “You righteous git—”

Josh’s eyes went wide as his hands came up. “It wasn’t me!”

“Right. Typical. ‘Please look the other way while I muck up your life.’” He shook his head, tugging Buffy back against him as though the man’s next course of action would be to submit the Slayer for tests. “I can’t bloody believe this…”

Buffy squeezed his hand again to calm him. “Spike…”

“Sodding bollocks.”

“And what about you!” The Deputy Chief of Staff went right back to accusing as though it was a religion he had to fall back on. “You made it impossible for us to leave!”

Spike blinked. “Excuse me? ‘m the one bloke here who could fix a bloody car.”

“Yeah, well, we can’t get out of Natchez.”

“That’s not my problem!”

“There’s a barrier or something,” Donna added helpfully, her apologetic look all but plastered on her face. “We couldn’t get out.”

“What?” Xander demanded. “We’re stuck here, too? What the hell?”

“This might be easier if only two or three of them spoke at a time,” Wesley commented to Giles, who looked as though he was about to put his fist through the wall. In any regard, that seemed to inspire the room to silence, even if the dagger-pointed glares did not cease.

Sam cleared his throat, redirecting everyone’s attention to the elder Watcher. “Continue,” he said. Then added with a beseeching note in his voice, “Please.”

Giles nodded tacitly and drew his eyes away from his Slayer and her nauseatingly close relationship with her alleged prey. “Wesley and I are former instructors of the Watchers Council in England,” he said. “We are a group that has been around since the dawn of time. Each Watcher is assigned a Slayer to train and protect, best to his ability. Buffy is my Slayer…or rather was, until I was fired.”

Donna’s eyes went wide. “Fired? For what?”

“For caring too much.”

“Awww. That is so—”

“Donna,” Josh interjected sharply. “Not exactly the right time.”

Giles licked his lips and expelled another sigh. “I know this is difficult to grasp, but bear with me. It requires knowing and accepting that the reality you have depended on for the entirety of your life is not what it seems.” He nodded at his surrogate daughter. “Buffy is the Slayer. She is the Chosen One. Unto every generation, a girl is selected to face the vampires, demons, and forces of darkness. Buffy is she…only Faith is, too, and that’s where it gets confusing.”

“It wasn’t confusing before?”

“I died,” Buffy said. “For like, two seconds, and the entire ‘line of the Slayer’ thing was thrown out of whack. The next Slayer, Kendra, was called because I was dead, and—”

Donna was staring at her blankly. “You were dead?”

“For a minute, yeah.”

“But…”

“She drowned,” Xander offered. “She drowned while this evil Master Vamp was trying to rise from his lair. I did CPR and—voila! Buffy not dead.”

Wesley nodded, stepping forward. “Yes, but she did technically die, as it passed the test for calling the next Slayer. Thus, Kendra was called.”

“So in order for there to be a new Slayer, the old one has to die?” Donna asked. “Why? Why just one? If there are so many vampires, then—”

“We didn’t make up the rules, Ms. Moss,” Giles replied wanly. “This has been the way of things for centuries. It will continue to be the way of things long after you have died. A Slayer’s lifespan is…well…”

Spike’s hand tightened around Buffy’s at the mention of her preset expiration date. Killing Slayers and hunting Slayers had been his modus operandi so long that it struck him almost out of the blue that he might regret it. But he didn’t; he couldn’t. Not the other girls. They led him to the one at his side now, and he wouldn’t change that for anything. But no one was going to touch Buffy while he was around. His girl would lead a long, fulfilling, and shag-filled life, if he had anything to say about it.

“Kendra was killed by a vamp named Drusilla,” Xander continued before sending the peroxide Cockney another chilling look. “Spike’s ex-girlfriend, I might add. And quite a nut job, if I don’t say so myself.”

Josh took another step away from the vampire.

“Your girlfriend killed a Slayer?” Donna asked, wide-eyed. “Is that why you broke up with her?”

Spike smiled thinly. “I—”

“Are you kidding me? Spike is probably jealous that she got to do it instead of him. After all, that’s how he got into the history books, right?” Harris spat. “He’s killed two. He came to Sunnydale to kill Buffy. He—”

“Xander,” the Slayer warned, tone level. “That’s enough.”

Josh’s eyes widened. “This guy’s tried to kill you and you’re defending him?”

There was a pause. Buffy’s gaze dropped and she shook her head. “It’s not like that anymore.”

“Spike can’t hurt people,” Willow offered meekly. “He…works with us.”

“Thanks to the lot of you wankers,” the vampire grumbled. “An’ as far as the other, I’d never hurt Buffy. Ever. She’s right. Things have changed.” His eyes met hers and he smiled a little. “’ve changed. An’ I’m here ‘cause I was asked to be here.” The moment was small and noted; a tender gaze of recognition. Captured intimacy at its best. It didn’t last long, though, and he had turned back to the others within an instant. “But let’s clarify a few things, shall we? Yes, I am evil. No, I do not have a soul. Yes, I have killed in the past, an’ no, I don’ regret it. ‘S what I am. Vamps are killers, you ignorant gits. ‘S what we do. People are jus’ sodding snacks walkin’ around to be picked off. That’s what we know. ‘S all we know. An’ we’ve been around a lot longer than any of you bloody pulsers can vouch for. So piss off.”

There was a long pause.

“Right,” Josh said, glancing to Buffy. “You got yourself a real winner, there.”

“This isn’t about me,” she retorted. “Or Spike. We’re here for Faith. She’s a Slayer, just like me. Only she’s on the very end of unbalanced and about ready to dive off into homicidal-tendencies land. She tried to help the Mayor Ascend last year…or become a demon, and I put her in a coma. She woke up from the coma, switched bodies with me, and was about to do all sorts of damage before Spike helped us apprehend her.”

Sam exchanged a long glance with the Deputy Chief of Staff. “If she was apprehended,” the former said. “Then why…”

“Spike held her…or me…long enough so that we could switch bodies back,” Buffy explained. “Whatever your guys put into his head caused for it to fire, and he couldn’t hold on long enough for us to actually apprehend her. She ran, we followed, and we’re here.”

“And this girl’s…” Josh gestured broadly. “One of you. She’s…”

“She’s a Slayer,” Willow said. “Of the Chosen? Really strong and, well, strong. When you’re that strong and demented…well, that’s just a bad combination.”

“That’s why she was able to punch through the car?” Sam whimpered, sinking into his seat at the redhead’s corresponding nod. “She kicked in the glass, too. Of the car window. Kicked right through.”

Josh glanced to Buffy skeptically. “And you’re saying you’re one of these Slayer people?”

Spike snickered. “What is it with you gits? Got some learnin’ disability? Or would you prefer to see our girl handle herself in the up close an’ personal sense?”

“Since when did you become one of us?” Xander demanded.

“Give it a rest, Stay Puft.”

The Slayer shrugged. “He’s here, isn’t it?”

“And since when did you start defending Evil Dead?”

“Buffy’s not defendin’ me, you ignorant prat,” the Cockney growled. “’S a statement of fact. I’m here. See me, here?” He extended his arms in a manner of showmanship. “’m here ‘cause Faith used me. Right? Din’t particularly like that, an’ I think some blokes in the room—” He nodded at Sam, who looked at the ground almost immediately, “—can see why I’d be brassed. An’ yeh, I’m helpin’ out. Where exactly do you get the shit end of the deal?” A moment’s pause; nothing but dumb stupor. “Yeh, that’s what I thought. Bugger off an’ leave a vamp in peace.”

Silence filled the room at the upset of Spike’s outburst. No one knew exactly where to go from there. If there was anywhere to go.

Then Willow raised her hand. Slowly. “You called her Buffy,” she said to the vampire.

“What?”

The room was staring at her. She gulped slightly but continued. “You called her Buffy. I think that’s why Xander…and Giles and Wes are a little on the side of…you called her Buffy.” She didn’t follow that thought through to conclusion, but it seemed to satisfy itself. And the point was not a lost cause.

The subsequent look that the vampire and Slayer shared similarly did nothing to satisfy any concerns. But in any regard, that was far from their intent.

And then there was nothing. The parlor was stupefied into another lengthy silence. A series of darted, suspicious glances with no counter to back it up. Just a dry recognition that such was the way of things. Approaching the border between knowledge and acceptance. Approaching dangerous territory.

Finally, Giles cleared his throat and nodded, removing his glasses with a short, incredulous laugh. “Just when it seems that we have reached the last low,” he murmured, more to himself before turning his attention to the room again. “All right. Faith is a rogue Slayer. Wesley and I are Watchers here partially on part of the Watcher’s Council, but unofficially as we find it imperative that we get to her first. Willow is a practicing witch, Anya a former demon, Spike a vampire, and Buffy a Slayer.” He stopped, eyes landing on the young blonde with a small smile. “The Slayer. More over, demons and vampires exist, your government is evidently aware and a part of the fight for humanity, and we stand a chance that Sam has sparked the ignition for the end of the world. I believe that brings everyone up to speed. Are there any questions?”

A stunned beat chilled the room once more. Words were at a loss. There was simply nothing to say.

Then Toby, who had remained quiet throughout the entire display, caved and burst out laughing.

And once he started, he couldn’t stop.

At all.

“Toby,” Sam reprimanded ineffectively, glancing around with shades of apology. Not that it did any good. The man was simply in stitches, and nothing would bring him down.

“Well,” Spike said after a long minute. “There’s one way to look at it.”

“And we can’t get out?” Sam asked Josh quietly. “You’re sure?”

“Oh yeah. Fenced in.” The words were barked, snappish in nature, but nothing else had been shared since they arrived. “An invisible eighty foot tall electric fence built like a brick wall.”

“We’ll investigate, of course,” Giles said with a quick nod. “There has to be an explanation.”

“If your idea of an explanation is anything like the madness you were spewing a minute ago, I’m not gonna hold out for hope.”

That was all that passed. Nothing else but Toby’s hysterical chuckles. And when he finally gathered himself together, the seriousness back in his eyes, he did nothing to excuse or explain himself. Had nothing to say about the matter. Which was fine—judging by the dreariness of his disposition, no one needed to be called stupid or insane again.

All settled to silence. And no one spoke. There was much to say, of course; just no will, no understanding to say it. Too much clouded the terrain, and any proposed method of approach was lost.

There was nothing. Just nothing.


TBC

Feedback

chapter 21

<-