Past Glory Chapters 30

Chapter 30

"NO!"

The demon's ears pricked up at the sound of a woman's shout. Seconds later he stood straight up as he heard another shout, deeper this time, obviously male. The howl of pain that followed made him wince.

He stood nervously, torn over what to do. He'd recognized both voices, but he wasn't sure he wanted to get involved in whatever trouble they were in. He wasn't a brave creature. But Spike had saved his life, and he wasn't one to let a favor go unreturned.

Looking regretfully at the nest of kittens he'd just located – Siamese, someone's house pet had obviously gone astray and given birth here in this abandoned warehouse – he squared his shoulders and headed in the direction from which the shouts had come.

***

Warren shouldered his weapon and glared at the boy standing in the doorway. "Thanks for the help," he snapped sarcastically.

Andrew flinched at his friend's tone. "It jammed," he squeaked, holding out his own rifle. "I couldn't get it to fire."

"Well help me get Harris into the building. We'll put him with Jonathan. Then help me load the other two into the van."

Andrew hastily put his gun on the ground and grabbed Xander's feet while Warren slipped his hands under Xander's arms and heaved. Stumbling occasionally from the dead weight, they managed to make it across the warehouse floor. Unceremoniously dropping the limp body to the floor, they stood a few minutes catching their breath.

"You know what to do, Andrew."

Andrew nodded and followed his leader's orders precisely.

***

Clem stood hidden in the dark watching as two young human males loaded the Slayer and Spike into the back of a black van, got in and drove away. He'd seen the couple lying on the ground when he'd entered the alley, but he'd been too far away to get to them before the men had exited the warehouse. Any thoughts he may have had about rushing the two humans had been quickly dispensed with when he saw they were armed with rifles. He dithered a bit about what to do. His car was several blocks away so trying to follow the van was impossible. At last, deciding there was only one thing to do, he turned and left the alley.

***

Dawn was dumping the evening's dirty snack dishes into the sink when a knock came at the back door. Surprised, she opened the door without thinking and let out a shriek of terror when she saw what was standing there.

Upon hearing Dawn scream, Willow and Tara came running from the living room. Tara had snatched up a candlestick on her way past the dining room table and Willow had summoned a glowing ball of fire that she held suspended above her hand ready to throw. The creature at the door held up its hands in a supplicating manner.

"No! Please don't hurt me. I'm a friend of Spike's," it implored to the terrified and terrifying women. It was Dawn who finally understood what the demon was saying in the midst of all the shouting and screaming and reached out to stop Willow before she could hurl the fireball.

"Wait, Willow. He says he's a friend of Spike's."

"Yeah?" Willow said suspiciously. "How do we know you're his friend and this isn't just a ruse?"

Clem looked baffled. "I don't know. Uh, I met the Slayer about a week ago. Spike kept her from killing me," he said helpfully.

Dawn tilted her head. "Are you Clem?"

The demon broke into a huge smile and nodded his head with a rather disconcerting amount of flapping skin. "Yes, that's me."

"Okay, Buffy did tell me about you. Sorry for all the drama. Spike's not here though. He and Buffy are out on patrol."

"No they're not. They're in trouble. That's why I'm here."

"Trouble? W-what kind of trouble?"

Clem looked at the fair-haired woman. "I heard them yelling and when I got to them I saw a couple of men loading them into the back of a van. They didn't look, uh, conscious."

"A black van?"

Clem flinched slightly from the surge of power he felt emanate from the red-haired woman. Scared to silence by her eyes he could only nod again.

"Warren," Willow seethed.

Dawn felt terror course through her body. "Warren has them?" she asked with a trembling voice.

"W-what about Xander?" Tara asked Clem.

"Xander?"

"Another friend of ours. He was with Buffy and Spike tonight."

Clem shook his head and shrugged. "I only saw Buffy and Spike."

Dawn made a small noise of distress.

"Do you know where he took them?" Willow asked.

"No. I couldn't follow, they were too far away."

"Take me to where you last saw them."

"Sure. Come on, I have my car out front."

"I'm going with you," Dawn said forcefully.

"No you're not, Dawnie," Willow told the girl. "You're staying here with Tara.

"Willow, this is my sister and my best friend. I'm going too."

"No, you're not."

Dawn took an involuntary step back when she saw the look on Willow's face. She remembered now how Willow had gotten when Glory had brain-sucked Tara, and for the first time she understood the power that Willow had at her command.

"Willow, calm down." Tara's gentle voice reached out to her lover, attempting to call her back from her fury. Willow relaxed slightly and when she turned to Tara, her eyes were green once more.

"I'm okay, sweetie. Will you stay here with Dawnie?"

"Of course."

"Call Anya and tell her what's happened. And tell her not to worry. I'll find them. All of them." Turning to the big demon she said, "Come on, let's go."

***

"That's Xander's car," Willow said, spotting the car where Xander had left it parked.

Clem glanced to where Willow pointed and said, "Maybe they already put him in the van before I got there."

Willow just nodded, concentrating on what she was going to do once they got to their destination. She hoped she'd be able to cast a tracking spell, but if Jonathan had already cast a counter spell, it might not work. She wondered if Clem could track scents like Spike could. At last, Clem stopped the car and Willow got out with a relieved sigh. She couldn't imagine what had possessed a demon the size of Clem to buy a VW Beetle. Talk about close quarters.

"This is where the van was parked," Clem told her. "They came out of that door there."

Willow walked up to the door and tried the handle. It was locked. Glancing at Clem, she asked, "Do you think you can get this opened for me?"

Clem wrapped his huge paw around the handle and gave a twist. The lock broke with a snap and a grating screech. Clem smiled shyly at Willow, gave the door a slight push and stepped back to allow her to enter. Willow gave him a small smile of thanks and stepped into the dark, vast open space.

"Can you see in the dark?" Willow asked. "Do you see a light switch anywhere?"

"No, but hold on. I have a flashlight in my car." He was back seconds later and turned on a flashlight that illuminated a wide swath in front of them. Willow took the light from him and started forward, examining everything in her path. She jumped slightly when Clem's hand came down lightly on her shoulder.

"I heard a noise over there," he said pointing ahead and slightly to their right. Willow directed the flashlight beam in the direction he'd indicated and saw a body lying motionless on the floor. Her breath caught in her throat and she heard herself whimper. And then the body moved slightly. Wild with hope, she ran across the room to drop to her knees beside her trussed up but very much alive friend.

"Xander, oh god, Xander. Are you okay?"

Xander looked at her and then lowered his eyes to indicate his taped up mouth.

"Oh! Wait, let me get that off." Reaching for the end of the duct tape that was stretched across his mouth, she loosened a corner, grabbed hold and ripped.

"Owwwwwww! Jesus, Willow, did you have to tear my lips off with the tape?"

Willow was crying as she hugged her friend. "I was so afraid when I saw you lying here. I thought you were dead."

"Not quite," Xander said, turning his head and spitting out the clump of Willow's hair that had fallen into his mouth. "Kinda wished I was dead when I first came to though. Man, did I hurt."

As Willow continued hugging him, he added, "Uh, Will? Do you think you could get me loose? My arms hurt and I really got to take a whiz."

"Oh! Yes, of course." Giving Xander an apologetic smile, she sat back on her heels and bit her lip looking at the mass of duct tape wrapped around Xander's wrists and ankles. "I wonder if there's a knife around here someplace."

Another tap on her shoulder reminded her that she hadn't come alone. Xander yipped in surprise when he noticed the odd-looking demon standing politely behind Willow.

"Oh, Clem! I'm sorry. Xander, this is Clem. He's a friend of Spike's and he's the one that brought me here."

"Uh, great. Hi," Xander said giving Clem a wide-eyed stare. "Thanks."

Clem grinned and wiggled his fingers at Xander. "No problem. Glad you're alive." Looking again to Willow, he said, "I may be able to help cut that tape."

Willow sat back pushing her hair out of her face. "That'd be great, Clem. Do you have a knife on you?"

"Not exactly," he grinned shyly. Leaning forward, he extended one clawed finger and with a quick downward movement, slashed the tough bindings neatly in two.

"Wow," Xander exclaimed. As Clem deftly took care of the tape around his ankles, Xander removed the sticky tape from his wrists and shook out his arms in an attempt to restore circulation. Willow helped him stand up and once he was able to walk on his own, she stepped back and asked, "Okay, what happened here, Xander."

Xander's face took on a angry expression as he spat out, "Warren, that's what happened. Son-of-a-bitch shot me with one of those taser guns like The Initiative had. Knocked me right out. Spike spotted Warren's van in an alley and..." Suddenly realizing something, he spun around looking for his missing companions. "Buffy! Where is she?"

"Warren has her and Spike. Clem saw Warren and Tucker's brother loading them into their van. So you don't know where they were taking them?"

Xander looked stricken. "No," he said, shaking his head in emphasis. "Warren had a gun pointed at us, I went for it, he shot me, and I was out."

"God that was stupid, Xander," Willow exclaimed. "Did you know it was a taser when you went for it?"

Xander looked equal parts embarrassed and insulted. "No. But I had to do something. I couldn't let that little geek get away with pointing a gun at us like that." He shrugged. "Guess my pseudo-military training kicked in."

Willow sighed. "So I guess I'm going to have to try and see if I can cast a tracking spell to find them. I hope that creep Jonathan hasn't done anything to block it."

Turning to Clem she asked, "Clem, would you go back to your car and bring in the little bag of supplies I brought while I prepare a place to cast the spell?"

"Sure, Willow. But..."

"But?"

"Are we going to do anything about that guy over there?"

Looking in the direction of Clem's pointing finger, Willow's eyes widened as she took in another trussed up young man.

"Jonathan?"

Chapter 31

Jonathan's eyes blinked rapidly from the glare of the flashlight beam that Willow was shining in his eyes.

"Well, well, well, Jonathan Levinson. Looks like somebody had a falling out with his partners in crime," she said in a theatrical voice. "And I suppose you think we should untie you, don't you?"

Jonathan nodded his head eagerly and made little mmmmphing noises through his gag.

"And why would we want to do that, since you've gone all evil and stuff?"

"Mmmmph, mmmmmmmmph," Jonathan said.

"Uh, Will, if we're going to question him, we should probably remove his gag," Xander said. "Maybe he knows where Warren took Buffy and Spike."

"Mmmmmph!" Jonathan said excitedly, nodding his head in emphasis.

Willow frowned and then narrowing her eyes said, "Okay, but if you don't say anything helpful, I'm regagging you and leaving you here for the rats to eat."

"Mmmmmmph!"

Willow knelt down, picked at a corner of the duct tape fastened over Jonathan's mouth and the pulled. Hard.

"Ow,"

"Okay, if you have something to say, spill it, mister, or this," she shook the limp and slightly damp strip of duct tape, "goes back on your mouth."

"We have to get to Warren right away before he has a chance to put his evil plan action," Jonathan said rapidly.

"What evil plan?" Willow asked.

"He's planning on making Buffy his slave."

"What, again?! What is it with that guy and making Buffy his slave?" Xander said in exasperation "Didn't the beating he got the first time teach him anything?"

"Yeah," Jonathan said, "it taught him to hate you, Xander."

"Well, that really concerns me," Xander said dryly.

"It should," Jonathan said. "I think part of his plan is that once Buffy's his slave, he's going to have her kill all of you. Or maybe he's going to have Spike do it. I'm not sure about that part. But either way, he plans on you all being dead."

"Why?" Willow asked. "Other than he's crazy."

"Willow, you need to untie me so we can get to Warren, okay? I can answer all your questions on the way." Jonathan's voice had a hint of panic in it.

"He's right, Willow. We need to get to Warren right away."

"Okay, but if this is a trick, you're going to be very sorry, Jonathan."

Jonathan looked into Willow's eyes and believed her. "This isn't a trick, Willow."

Willow looked over at Clem who had been standing quietly in the background while the others talked. "Okay, Clem, cut him loose."

Clem reached out a clawed finger and made rapid work of cutting through the tape. When Jonathan was free and standing, Willow asked, "Now, where did Warren take Buffy and Spike."

"Warren discovered the plans to an abandoned military base that's located under UC Sunnydale."

"The Initiative?" Xander yelped.

"Yeah. Do you know about it?"

"Yeah, we destroyed it. I thought Riley said the government filled the base in with concrete," Xander said to Willow.

Willow shook her head in disgust. "I always thought that sounded fishy. Do you realize how much concrete it would have taken to fill that place in? They probably just locked the doors and left."

"Pretty much," Jonathan said. They were walking rapidly across the warehouse floor headed towards the door. "Warren had me do a spell to locate a way in. We were supposed to investigate tonight, but I think Warren already knew what he'd find there. And I think he and Andrew went there this afternoon without me. I think that's where they got the taser guns."

"Told you they were like the guns The Initiative had," Xander muttered. Since Willow hadn't argued the point with him, she didn't respond.

"So what does the base have to do with Warren making Buffy his slave."

"According to what I read in his journal, Warren plans to use some of the technology he thinks they left behind to program a computer chip to make Buffy do anything he says. Then he's going to implant it into her brain."

"A chip like Spike's?"

"I guess. I don't know exactly how he plans to do it, just that's what he has planned."

By this time, they were out of the warehouse and in the alley. Clem retrieved Willow's bag of magic supplies and said apologetically, "I'm leaving now. I'm not going anywhere near that Initiative facility."

"That's okay, Clem. Thanks for your help." Willow gave their new friend a big hug. Clem blushed, waved goodbye, got into his car and drove away.

Turning back to Jonathan, Willow asked, "So you know where the entrance is that Warren used?"

Jonathan nodded. They hurried rapidly down the alley to Xander's car. Enough time had been wasted. Willow only hoped they would be in time to stop Warren.

***

Pain. At first that was the only thing that Buffy was aware of. Pain from nerve endings that felt on fire and twitching muscles that ached and burned. As she fought to bring the pain under control, she became aware that she was strapped to a hard cot or table. Opening her eyes slightly, she blinked at the bright lights. When her eyes adjusted she realized that she was in a white, sterile-looking room, like an operating room or lab. Hearing voices, she turned her head in the direction the sound was coming from and saw Spike similarly strapped down. She was relieved to note that he appeared to be all right. Warren was talking to him. Neither man realized that Buffy was awake.

"I'm going to do you a favor, Spike," Warren was saying. "I'm going to take your chip out."

"Yeah? And what do you expect me to do in return?"

"I expect you to die."

"No!"

Warren turned to see Buffy struggling at her restraints. "Ah, Buffy, you're awake. Good. You're just in time to see your boyfriend one last time before I remove his chip and stake him."

"Warren, don't! I swear if you hurt him, I'll kill you myself."

"I don't think so. You see when I'm through with him, I'll take care of you. If you thought my cerebral dampener was fun, wait until you see what I have planned now." Turning away from the thrashing girl, he called out, "Andrew, summon the Pockla now."

Buffy stretched her head to see Andrew put a pan flute to his lips and begin to play. A shimmering distortion appeared to his left and seconds later a red-robed demon glided through a portal. The portal closed as soon as the demon entered the room. It stood stiffly staring straight ahead as if without a will of its own.

Andrew stopped playing the pipes, and began muttering in a language Buffy didn't understand.

"You have it under your control?"

Andrew nodded and his face contorted slightly from the effort to control the demon.

"Good. You know what I want it to do."

Buffy began thrashing again, trying her best to break free of her restraints. Spike was doing the same. But these straps had been designed to hold the strongest demon and their efforts were useless. Andrew continued muttering in the incomprehensible language. The demon approached Spike, lifted one grotesquely talon-shaped hand, and slid it inside Spike's head.

Spike arched his body and screamed.

"Spike!"

Buffy doubled her efforts to break free watching in horror as the demon fished around inside Spike's brain. Spike continued his agonized screaming until at last the demon retracted its hand. A tiny computer chip was clutched between two long clawed fingers. Spike collapsed back onto the table and went completely still.

"Spike, oh god, Spike!"

Warren ignored both Slayer and vampire, went up to the demon and retrieved the chip. The gloating smile he turned on Buffy made her blood run cold.

"Let me explain to you what I'm going to do," Warren said as he walked over to a workstation containing a computer terminal. "Not long after we had to relocate to that warehouse thanks to you, I found a box containing documents relating to a group called The Initiative. The information I gleaned from the documents was interesting enough that I began to search for more information. You know I'm a genius, right?" he asked Buffy with a self-satisfied smirk. "Anyway, it really wasn't all that hard to locate and hack into the files I needed. And I found out all about their experiments, Spike's chip and where the facility was located. Of course, the government had sealed off access to the facility, but Jonathan was able to find us a way in."

As he talked, Warren was busy reading code that was streaming rapidly on the monitor screen. At certain points he would make changes, erasing a line here, adding a line there.

"Anyway, I discovered the program that was used for Spike's chip and as I read it, it occurred to me that it could be altered so that the person or creature implanted with it could be robbed of their free will, programmed to obey. And the best part?" Warren pressed a few more keys and then sat back and watched as the program downloaded into Spike's chip. "The person will know exactly what they're doing. They just won't be able to stop themselves." He turned around in his chair and looked into Buffy's hate-filled face. "Even when they're murdering their best friends and little sister. Or dusting their vampire boyfriend."

"No," Buffy whispered.

"Oh, yes." Standing up he walked over to her and backhanded her face. "I'm going to have so much fun watching you destroy everything you love. You should have just given me the blow job, Buffy."

Walking back over to the workstation, he ran a diagnostic to make sure the new programming had been properly downloaded to the chip. "Now my only problem was I didn't have access to a chip that could hold the programming and interface with a brain. That is until I thought of just using the one already in Spike's brain. Andrew solved my problem of how to get the chip out of Spike and into you. I'm a genius, but I'm not a surgeon."

Removing the reprogrammed chip, he turned to Buffy once more. "All ready for your new programming, Buffy?"

Buffy just stared at him. She wasn't going plead with him not to do this. She knew it would only give him satisfaction to hear her beg. She could only hope that the programming was flawed so that she could rip his head off as soon as he released her.

"Andrew, I'm ready for the Pockla to implant the chip." Smiling with cold anticipation, he added, "Oh, and Buffy, just in case you didn't get it from Spike's reaction, this is going to hurt. A lot."

Chpater 32

"Are you sure this is the way?" Willow asked as she tripped over another patch of uneven ground.

"I'm sure this is where the map indicated."

"Well I hope you have a better idea than just a general direction," Xander complained as he too stumbled over the uneven ground. "'Cause all I'm seein' are trees and rocks and the hillside."

"It's here somewhere," Jonathan insisted. "We just have to find it." He hesitated for a second and then added, "It was probably easier to find in the daytime."

Willow's ankle twisted slightly as she stepped on yet another of the small rocks that littered the ground. "Okay, that's it! We've been stumbling around here for fifteen minutes now. We don't have time to waste." Handing the flashlight to Xander, she stood rigidly raising her arms towards the heavens and started muttering in what Xander took to be Latin. At the end of the incantation, she twirled around spreading out her arms. "Ostendo!"

A wave of power was released from her hands like a strong wind ripping through the forest. Seconds later a faint greenish glow emanated from a section of the hillside.

"Wow, Will. Way to turn on the lights," Xander said impressed.

"Come on," she said taking back the flashlight and leading the way. Jonathan followed behind the other two. He had felt the power Willow had pulled from the very air around them. It had been so casual that Jonathan doubted she even realized that she'd done it. He began to wonder whom he should fear more - Willow and her power or Warren and his mad genius. At this point, it was too close to call.

The glow came from the entrance to a cave. Entering cautiously, Willow shined the light around the cave finally locating a tunnel off to the left. Moving forward, she entered and was surprised when within a few minutes she entered a chamber containing a large console filled with computer equipment.

"Why would The Initiative have a set-up like this in a cave?" she asked in puzzled voice.

"Beats me," Xander answered. "But then I don't know why they did most of what they did." Searching around he noticed a doorway in one of the walls. "Look, Willow, I think that must lead into the base." Going up to it he grinned and said, "When is a door not a door?" Before anyone could answer he gave the door a slight push. "When it's ajar."

Willow rolled her eyes and moved though the now open doorway. Shining the flashlight beam around she saw that she was indeed in a hallway. The light caught evidence of footprints on the dusty floor. Speaking quietly she said, "Okay, it looks like they came this way all right. Everyone keep quiet now. We don't want to warn Warren we're coming." She finished her statement with a hard stare at Jonathan. He swallowed and nodded. Okay, he was pretty sure that he was more afraid of Willow right now.

Following the trail of footprints, they soon came upon another doorway. It too was slightly open and light shined around the edges. The faint sound of Warren's voice could be heard. Willow clicked off the flashlight and pulled the door the rest of the way open.

***

"Andrew, I'm ready for the Pockla to implant the chip. Oh, and Buffy, just in case you didn't get it from Spike's reaction, this is going to hurt. A lot."

Andrew's face skewed into another expression of extreme concentration as he forced his will on the Pockla. The demon glided forwarded, its talon-like hand reached out to take the small chip Warren held out to it. Taking it between two long claws, it turned to Buffy and began to extend its hand towards her head.

"STOP!"

Andrew jerked and glanced up to the balcony that ran across the far wall of the laboratory. A moment of panic filled him when he saw Willow, eyes dark and hair flying eerily around her head standing there like an avenging wraith. Behind her stood Xander holding a crossbow and Jonathan looking scared to death. His break in concentration allowed the demon to regain its will and it lowered its arm from Buffy's head. A shimmering began behind it and it turned to glide into the opening portal.

"Andrew, forget about them! We're losing the Pockla," Warren yelled. He turned and ran back towards the console he had been working at earlier. Picking up his taser rifle, he aimed at the intruders on the balcony. Xander saw what he was doing and tackled Willow shoving her out of the way of the weapon's discharge. Jonathan dived in the opposite direction. The sound of Warren's voice brought Andrew back to his senses and he swallowed and began concentrating once again. The Pockla, unable to fight the summoner's control, began to glide back towards Buffy. Willow, pinned down by the taser blasts watched in horror as the demon approached her
friend.

"Jonathan, can you do something about that demon?" she called out desperately. Jonathan peeked over the railing and saw his friend hiding behind the table where Spike lay. Not knowing what else to do he called out, "Andrew, please stop it."

Warren aimed the blaster at Jonathan nearly hitting him. As Jonathan dived back it gave Willow the opportunity to lob a fireball at Warren. He dived out of the way and the fireball hit the computer console sending flames shooting up towards the ceiling. Before he could take aim again, Willow lobbed another fireball at the demon as it reached Buffy, engulfing it in flames. It moved back, but the flames did it no harm and quickly died out. Another taser blast made Willow jerk back once again.

"Damnit, guys. I need help here."

Jonathan racked his brain trying to come up a way to help. He wasn't as strong magically as Willow and usually needed charms or his magic bone to successfully cast a spell. But desperate times...

Sliding along the balcony's floor trying to keep out of Warren's sight, he got close enough to the railing to peer over. Andrew was still crouched down; his control now so fractured that it was all he could do just to hold onto the demon. It stood unmoving several feet from Buffy. Wrinkling his forehead in concentration, Jonathan began to quietly chant a spell.

As Xander considered his options he realized that Warren had moved into a position that actually gave Xander a shot with the crossbow he held in his hands. Carefully sighting his target, he pulled the trigger.

Reaching the end of his incantation, Jonathan pointed and muttered, "Quiesco."

Simultaneously two things happened. The crossbow bolt hit the taser rifle Warren held knocking it from his hand and Andrew slumped unconsciously to the ground as the sleep spell took effect.

As soon as Willow saw that Warren was disarmed, she stood and summoned another fireball. Before she could throw it at him however, Warren grabbed up the shattered crossbow bolt and rolled across the floor until he came up against the table to which Buffy was strapped. Rising up, he grabbed Buffy by the hair, pulled her head back and placed the sharp point of the bolt to her throat.

"Don't be stupid, Warren," Xander cried out urgently. "No one needs to die here."

Warren's laugh bordered on insane. "You don't think so? All of you have done nothing but mess up my plans. You think you can just do that to me without paying?"

Drawing back his hand slightly, he prepared to stab the bolt into Buffy's jugular. Before he could begin the downward movement however, his wrist was grasped in an iron grip. The Pockla, now completely free of Andrew's control, had silently glided up behind Warren. As it tightened its hold, Warren began to scream in agony. He struggled helplessly against his captor, his cries echoing throughout the room. The demon's hand slowly tightened and it appeared to the three watching from the balcony that its hand fused right through Warren's wrist. When the bolt clattered harmlessly to the floor, Xander turned away gagging. Warren's now severed hand still firmly clutched the bolt's shaft.

The Pockla stared silently into Willow's eyes for several minutes and then, still holding a now weakly pleading Warren, backed into the reopened portal. The portal closed after them and silence descended upon the scene.

Xander wiped his mouth with a trembling hand. "Why did it take Warren?" he asked with a shaky voice. Willow looked at her friend and said coolly, "Poetic justice."

"Huh?"

"Hey, guys?" Buffy coughed as the smoke from the burning console reached her. "You wanna do something about that fire?"

Willow and Xander hurried to the end of the balcony and ran down the stairs. Reaching Buffy, Willow began to undo the restraints. Xander grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and put out the fire. When he was sure it was completely out, he joined Willow at Buffy's side. "Shouldn't we try to get Warren back?"

"Why?"

"Because he's human?"

The last of Buffy's restraints was released and she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the table. Rushing over to Spike she snapped, "Who cares, Xander? The lunatic is gone. I don't really care where the Pockla took him or what it does to him. Now help me get Spike untied."

Spike was still unconscious and Buffy gently slapped him face. "Spike? Spike, honey, can you hear me? Come on, Spike, wake up now."

Spike's eyelids fluttered and he opened dazed-looking eyes. Willow and Xander had gotten his restraints unbuckled and Buffy helped him sit up on the edge of the table.

"You okay?"

He looked at her blankly.

"Spike?" Buffy voice shook just a little, frightened by the empty look in his eyes.

He swayed a little and Buffy caught him up in her arms. "We have to get him home."

"What's wrong with him, Buffy?" Willow asked in concern.

"He... he was hurt in the fight," she prevaricated. "Xander, get on the other side and help support him."

Willow looked at Jonathan who had revived the sleeping Andrew. "What are we going to do about those two?" she asked Buffy.

Buffy turned to glare at the two remaining boys.

"Please, Buffy," Jonathan said nervously standing protectively in front of Andrew. "If you just let us go, we'll leave town and I promise you'll never see us again."

"And I should believe you because?"

"Jonathan did help us find you, Buffy. And he says the other kid was totally under Warren's control," Xander told her.

"You promise to leave town and never come back?"

"I promise. In fact we'll leave the country altogether. Mexico or Canada."

"Okay, Jonathan, take your friend and leave. And believe me, you don't want me to see you again."

Jonathan nodded nervously and led a still groggy Andrew in a hasty retreat from the lab. As they crossed the floor, Buffy heard a faint crunching sound. Leaving Xander to support Spike, she said, "Hold on to him a minute. I want to check something." Searching the area where the sound had come from, she found the crushed remains of a small computer chip.

"What is it, Buffy?" Xander asked.

"The chip Warren was going to implant in my brain. It's been destroyed."

"Good."

"Yeah, good."

Standing up, she returned to Xander and took Spike's arm across her shoulder. "Come on, let's go."

As they made their way out of the lab, Xander asked, "Willow, what did you mean by 'poetic justice'"?

"Warren's going to be an experimental lab rat."

"Huh?"

"The Pockla are like interspecies doctors. And sometimes they deal with humans, but they don't know that much about us. So it took Warren with it to study."

"Like a physical exam?"

"More like vivisection and amputation."

"It's going to kill him?" Xander asked in a slightly sick voice.

"Nah. Whatever they do to him they can fix. And then they can do it all over again." Willow's voice held a note of cold satisfaction.

"Jesus, Will," Xander whispered. He hated Warren, but it was a hellish fate.

Buffy looked at Willow curiously. "How do you know this, Willow?"

"The Pockla communicated with me telepathically before it left," she said with a shrug.

Buffy made no further comment. She was too worried about Spike to care about Willow mind-melding with demons or about what was going to happen to the bastard who'd caused Spike's injury.

When they reached Xander's car, Buffy got into the back seat with a still unresponsive Spike. As Xander drove to her house, Buffy held Spike's limp hand. What if the Pockla had caused irreversible brain damage? Could a vampire get irreversible brain damage? Surely he would recover.

And when he did? The chip was no more. It lay smashed to silicon dust on the floor of The Initiative lab and only she knew it.

What she didn't know was what she was going to do about it.

Chapter 33

Once again Buffy tucked an injured Spike into her bed. By the time she had his clothes removed and the covers pulled over him, he had returned to his coma-like state. It worried Buffy enough that she considered calling Angel. If Spike showed no signs of improvement soon, she would. Telling Angel that Spike had been injured by a demon removing his chip may not be the best idea however. She needed to give serious consideration as to what she would tell him. But not tonight. She was just too darned tired to even think about it tonight.

After getting ready for bed, she slid in beside Spike and soon fell into an exhausted slumber. Sometime later Buffy came to groggy awareness when she thought she heard Spike moan. Opening eyelids heavy with sleep, she turned over, raised herself on one elbow and looked at him. He was still lying in the same position. There was no sign that he had awakened and no sound came from him. She reached out and gently brushed one errant curl from his forehead and then curled tightly up against him with her head on his shoulder. Breathing in his musk, she drifted back into sleep.

***

Spike awoke to excruciating pain in his head and a burning hunger in his belly. Sitting up in bed, he looked around the room trying to recall where he was and how he got there. It was obviously a bedroom in a house, but whose house? Did he and Dru take over someone's home? No, wait. Dru had left him for a Chaos Demon, hadn't she? Why couldn't he remember? He became aware of a body lying next to his and turning his head, he was surprised to see blond hair instead of dark. Who was in his bed? Whoever she was, she was lying on her side, her back towards him and her face turned away. A little more clearing of his head and he picked up the heat and scent of a human woman. Who? Another subtle sniff and he had his answer.

The Slayer!

Why the hell was he in bed with the Slayer? Had he doped her up? Rendered her helpless while he used her for his pleasure before he killed her? He couldn't remember and thinking about it only added to the pain in his head, but he was sure of one thing. He was starving and here was a ripe, succulent plum just waiting for him to sink his fangs into.

Releasing his demon, he pulled her hair away from her neck, carefully positioned her head, lowered his mouth and bit deeply.

***

Dawn glanced at Buffy's closed bedroom door on her way out of the bathroom. She thought about knocking on it just to check up on Spike, but she figured she'd only end up pissing Buffy off for waking her up. Spike would be okay. He always got better. Always. Taking one more glance at the closed door, she returned to her own bedroom to get dressed for the day.

***

He sat in his chair, smoking a cigarette and waiting for the sun to go down so that he could hunt. His head ached horribly and his belly was growling with hunger, burning with it. He looked over in surprise when the crypt door opened and a young, dark-haired girl entered. She sauntered over to the stone sarcophagus, threw her schoolbooks onto it and hopped up. Sitting with legs crossed, she looked at him with a scowl on her face.

"I hate school," she said with a pout. "All the kids treat me like I'm weird or something and I'm really tired of it."

Who was this girl and why would she walk so casually into a vampire's lair? Not that he was complaining. He'd just been thinking about how hungry he was and here dinner delivered itself. Standing up, he drifted over to her.

"So you came here to rid yourself of all your troubles?"

The girl snorted. "Yeah, like you could do anything to help me. I just came here to hang out for a little bit. Buffy's in Spring cleaning mode and I don't feel like going home and getting stuck washing down walls."

"Buffy?" he asked, halting momentarily in his progress to the girl. "The Slayer?"

"Well, duh. You know another Buffy?" the girl asked sarcastically.

He didn't know what the Slayer had to do with this girl and he really didn't care. When he finally stood in front of the girl, he was amazed that she showed no signs of fear or unease. This was going to be almost too easy. She was a pretty little thing. If he weren't so soddin' hungry, he'd take the time to play with her awhile, spice up his meal a bit, make her cry. It was always much more fun when they cried. But he was starving, almost weak with hunger, so he'd use this little bit of a thing as an appetizer. Wasn't enough of her to make a proper meal.

"Well, Snackable, I can make it so you never have to go home again," he said to her in a deep growly voice.

She looked at him in confusion and before she could do more than say, "What?" he grabbed her head, pulled it to the side and sank his
fangs deeply into her neck.

***

"It's past noon," Willow said to Tara in concern. "Do you think we should go wake up Buffy?"

Tara looked up from the sandwich she was making. "No, sweetie, just let her sleep. She's had a rough couple days." Crinkling her forehead in a worried frown, she added, "I hope Spike's okay soon. It's strange that the taser blast hurt him so badly."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, that is strange. I mean I know he was still recovering from that sword wound, but you wouldn't think a taser blast would put a vampire into a coma."

"Maybe he hit his head really hard on the ground when he fell?"

"Yeah, maybe."

Willow finished pouring juice into their glasses and the two girls sat at the kitchen island enjoying their lunch and each other's company.

***

Spike slunk back into alley as he watched the two young women amble down the dark street. Once eyebrow rose as he read the intimate body language. So, Red was playing with girls now. That was a bit of a surprise. Not that he cared. His head throbbed with pain and he was
ravenous, but a double dose of rich, warm feminine blood should fix him right up. They passed by the alley completely oblivious to his presence. Reaching out as they passed, he grabbed them and slammed them full force against the wall of a building knocking the wind out of both girls.

Before she had a chance to recover, he backhanded Willow across the face knocking her out. He wanted to take his time over her, so he saved her for last. Easily subduing the blonde, he quickly drained her and discarded the body without a second glance. Picking up Willow, he gently slapped her face until she regained consciousness. Her girlfriend had taken the edge off his appetite, and so he played a bit with the young witch. The scent of her terror made him hard, but his burning hunger soon returned. Giving into his need, he bit deeply into her neck and supped until her heart faltered and stopped.

***

"Ahn, where did you want these again?"

"Third case from the left; top shelf."

Xander dragged the ladder across the floor to the correct display case and carried the heavy statuette up the rungs with him. After he made sure it was securely placed, he climbed back down the ladder. "I hope that was the last one," he said with a grunt. "'Cause I gotta tell you, those things are heavy."

"Fertility goddess," Anya said in a distracted voice. "They always have great heft."

Xander looked at the statue nervously. He hoped the fertility didn't rub off on him. He wasn't ready to start a family yet. Maybe in ten years or so. Maybe twenty.

Turning his mind to other things he asked, "You talk to Buffy or Willow today?"

"No. Why?"

"Just wondered how Buffy was doing. And if Spike's out of his coma yet."

"You're concerned about Spike?"

Xander frowned. "It's not so much concern, Ahn, as confusion. You know a lot about vampires. Is it normal for a vampire to go into a coma?"

Anya thought about the questions for several seconds before she shook her head. "No, not really. But then if he sustained brain damage in some way, it would be logical that he go into a coma while he healed."

"Doesn't he need blood to heal?"

"He would certainly heal faster if he were eating, but he'll still heal, just at a much slower rate."

Leaning up against the counter, Xander asked, "But how could he have sustained brain damage? Buffy said she was knocked out after I was so she didn't know what happened to Spike, but I've seen Spike take blows to the head that would have crushed a normal man's skull. You wouldn't think that he'd get brain damage from hitting his head on the ground after getting shot by Warren's taser."

Anya shrugged. "He probably tried to bite Warren again when he hurt Buffy and the chip fried his brain."

Xander nodded slowly. "Yeah, maybe that was it." Still slightly frowning, he left the counter to put away the ladder.

***

He looked through the shop window watching her as she counted out the money from the till. The agonizing pain in his head was making him nauseous, which only added to the discomfort he was already feeling from the gnawing hunger churning his gut. She was a tempting morsel and she was alone in the shop. Easy pickings. Grasping the doorknob, he wrenched the door open and was across the shop and behind the counter before the woman had much chance to react.

He felt better as the last rich mouthful slid down his throat. He just finished licking up the last drop when a car pulled up to the curb outside the shop. Slipping out of sight he watched Xander Harris exit the car and head for the shop door. Spike smiled at the look of alarm on Xander's face when he noticed the broken door. He rushed into the shop calling the woman's name. When he found her, he fell to his knees and gathered her to him, sobbing and rocking as he held her limp body tightly in his arms. Well, well, so the Slayer's boy knew the bint. Bonus.

Xander didn't even notice Spike until the vampire grabbed him by the hair and hauled him to his feet. The fight was short and violent and the conclusion inevitable. Xander's broken body was thrown down to lie next to the woman's. Spike mopped a small trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and then licked the thumb clean. Taking the money from the cash register, he swaggered from the shop and into the night.