Counting on you
Spike hesitantly sat upon the edge of the bed on which Buffy now lay sleeping. She looked so peaceful, her breathing coming in deep and even breaths. The doctors had told him that he’d gotten to her just in time, she was badly injured and had lost a lot of blood. Spike had watched as the doctors had cleaned her wounds, a growl slipping from his lips when he saw it.
Spike felt his blood boil at the sight before him. There were two distinctive puncture marks on her neck; it was clear that Angelus had feed off her.
He was going to kill him!
Spike had called Joyce as soon as he had arrived at the hospital. She’d been quick to arrive and he could hear her voice frantically talking to Buffy’s doctor.
Giles had, at first, thought it was some sort of trick to get him alone and out of the house when he received the phone call about Buffy. But when Joyce snatched the phone out of Spike’s hand and screamed down it that Buffy was indeed hurt and at the hospital he had left his house immediately.
Joyce had known for a while now that Buffy was the slayer. Angelus had showed up one night while Buffy was out with her friends and told Joyce everything. He’d told her about Buffy being the slayer, what a slayer was and how they had slept together. Joyce was shocked, to say the least, and was petrified when Angelus had attacked her.
Thankfully, Buffy had shown up just in time to pull Angelus off of her mother and toss him out the back door, slamming it in his growling face. Why she hadn’t done a de-invite spell after that was beyond Spike.
After that incident, Joyce had a lot of question that needed answers. Buffy and Giles had sat down with Joyce and explained everything as best they could; she had struggled with the knowledge at first, but she soon learned to accept it.
Spike reached out to place his hand on top of Buffy’s. Joyce had gone to get coffee a few minutes ago. Buffy looked so fragile, so small, he hated that Angelus had this power over her. He hated that Angelus had turned her from the strong and powerful woman she was into a scared child.
Spike felt his demon rage within him.
A silent tear slid down his cheek at the thought. He was going to make Angelus pay for this…. repeatedly!
He was knocked out of his thoughts when someone grabbed him from behind, pushing him up against the closest wall. Spike’s demon surged forward and snarled in his attackers face, but he quickly calmed when he saw it was only Xander.
“What the hell did you do to her?” Xander yelled. Spike said nothing. “Tell me!” Xander roared, he could see Giles and Willow staring at him.
Joyce walked into the room, demanding to know what was going on when the sound of Buffy’s soft voice made everyone stop what they were doing.
“Guys, please let go of him,” she choked out, her throat was sore from Angelus’s vice grip hands being around her neck during his attack on her.
“But Buffy…” Xander started, looking over his shoulder at her in confusion. The truth was Xander was no match for Spike. If Spike had wanted to, he would have had no problems removing the boy’s hands from his body, but he understood Xander’s anger, even if it was directed at the wrong vampire.
“He didn’t do anything wrong. H-he saved my life….let him go.”
Xander reluctantly released his grip on Spike’s duster, turning to face Buffy.
“Buffy, this is ridiculous! He’s a vampire.” Xander ranted, Buffy was not in the mood for one of Xander’s moral high ground lectures and was quick to cut him off.
“I am well aware of what he is, Xander. I’m also well aware of that fact he could have very easily finished the job Angelus started but instead he got me to the hospital. He saved my life, so lay off!” she spat angrily, Xander quickly backed down.
“Buffy, I must ask, what is going on here? How did Spike get an invitation into your house in the first place?” Giles asked, stepping forward.
Buffy had been dreading that question, knowing she shouldn’t have kept this from Giles. She was just trying to keep him safe; she just hoped he understood that.
“Spike and I have been meeting in secret for about a month now. He’s been feeding me information on Angelus and Drusilla’s activities,” There was a stunned silence in the room as Buffy continued to speak. “We’ve been trying to come up with a game plan. I know I should have told you guys but I was worried that if Angelus found out Spike was giving me information that he might go after one of you guys. He would have hurt you to find out what Spike had told us.” Buffy explained.
“Buffy, what happened tonight?” Willow asked. Buffy felt tears well in her eyes as flashbacks of what had happened assaulted her mind.
“I can’t…” she choked out. Spike could see that she was struggling and that her friends clearly wanted answers and thought it best to give her a breather from the topic.
“I actually have some real solid information, a demon named Acathla, ever heard of him?”
“Ah yes, why?” Giles asked.
“Well it seems that his tomb was un-earthed, Dru has been ranting all day about it. He has the power to suck the whole world into hell. They intended to steal his tomb from the museum tomorrow night. I suggest you get there first. You need to either get him far away from Sunnydale and Angelus or find some magical way to destroy him and his tomb. Or this is going to be bad for everyone.”
Giles was very worried, he had heard of the powers Acathla possessed and if Spike was right and his tomb was indeed in Sunnydale he would definitely need help, lots of it.
“I need to go make a phone call,” he said, quickly walking out the door as Willow took a few steps closer to Buffy.
“I have good news, Buffy. I-I found this next to Miss Calendars desk today,” she passed Buffy the computer disc.
“What is it?” she asked, looking confused.
“The curse. It looks like Miss Calendar translated it before Angelus…. You know,” she trailed off.
“This is good right? I mean we can curse him again,” Cordelia said, speaking for the first time.
“And then what? We can all be best buds again? He killed Miss Calendar. He tried to kill Buffy,” Xander raged.
“Xander, Angelus is going to pay for what he’s done,” Buffy said, her voice laced with anger. “But we’re no match for him right now. I’m barley mobile and he’s just had a massive dose of Slayer blood so Spike is no match for him either. This spell may be our only hope of stopping him.”
“He fed from you?” Xander asked, clearly shocked. Buffy nodded and lowered her head.
“I’ll kill him!” he hissed.
“Get in line,” Spike growled, not being able to stop the words from slipping out. Xander looked at him, shock all over his face. Spike was meant to be a soulless vampire, yet he had saved Buffy’s life tonight and possibly saved the world with the information that he’d just given Giles. Looking at him now. it was clear that he was enraged about what Angelus had done to Buffy.
Maybe, just maybe, Xander thought, he was wrong about Spike.
“I know Giles doesn’t like me messing with magic b-but I think I can work this. I’ve been studying the text for most of the afternoon and I’ve got everything I need to make the spell work,” Willow met Buffy’s eyes. “It’s up to you Buffy. What do you want to do?” Willow asked.
“Do it,” Buffy said without hesitating. “Spike, Xander, go with her.”
“Buffy…” Spike started but she quickly cut him off.
“You say Dru see’s things coming. T-there is a possibility she could see this coming.” Buffy met Spikes eyes. “I need you to protect them. Xander, back him up.” Xander didn’t fight or protest, he simply nodded.
“They are so important to me. I’m counting on you to protect them,” Buffy whispered to Spike, he nodded, turning to follow the group.
“Spike,” he turned to face her.
“If he shows up and it looks like Willow can’t finish the spell in time…. y-you need to kill him!”
“Consider it done, pet.”
Buffy watched as Xander, Cordy, Willow and Oz all left with Spike following closely behind them. Her mother walked to her bed and took a seat beside her.
“Buffy, honey,” she whispered, “Do you think you can try telling me what happened tonight?” Buffy looked up at her mother with tears in her eyes.
“Mom I…” taking a shaky breath she nodded. Buffy knew she needed to tell someone, the events of what Angelus had done to her were eating her up inside.
“I didn’t even hear him come into the house. I was running a bath when he attacked me from behind,” she met her mother’s eyes. “He was so strong…I-I tried to fight him off but he hit… slammed my head on the bathtub. I-I don’t… I just couldn’t see right. I couldn’t fight back…. Mommy, he raped me,” she choked out as her body shook with the force of the tears. Joyce wrapped her arms around her body tightly, trying her best to sooth her.
Giles had been listening from the doorway and allowed the tears to slip down his cheeks. Buffy was never meant to be in this kind of situation. She was the slayer, she wasn’t meant to be in hospital, broken and bruised after being raped. Giles heart broke hearing her sobs, he wanted more than anything to take her pain away but knew that only time was going to heal her wounds.
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