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Real Me by CG again
 
Chapter 22
 
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A loud bang jolted me awake. I groaned. “What was that?” I could hear footsteps upstairs, a familiar scent faint through the trapdoor. Slayer scent.

Sure enough, Dawn was calling out moments later. “Spike! Where the hell are you?”

He frowned. “What does she want?” he mumbled tiredly.

I poked him. “I’m gonna go see.”

He caught my arm before I could get up. “No.”

I scowled. “Why not? It’s not like she’d stake me…” I gaped at the look on his face. “You don’t think she’d stake me!”

“She’s a Slayer, pet,” Spike said grimly. “I’m sure she’s had to stake people she’s cared about before.”

“But it’s Dawnie!”

He pulled on his pants. “You don’t want to be drinking pigs’ blood…or worse, be cursed with a soul, do you?”

I shuddered at the idea of fighting the nature I’d taken to so well. “No, but-”

“So why put her in the position of having to stake you to save humans?” He brushed his lips against mine. “I’ve been living with humans for a while now. I’m starting to get how they think.”

He started to climb the ladder under the trapdoor. “Now, hush, so the nasty Slayer won’t hear you!” He winked and I gave him a wan smile back.

“What can I do for you, Slayer?” There was my Spike, full of bravado and trying so hard not to let anyone hear the worry in his voice.

I heard Dawn’s sharp intake of breath and tensed, wondering if she’d somehow figured it out. But then Spike laughed lowly. “See something you like?”

“Wh-What? No!” But her voice was breathier than usual and I could hear her pounding heartbeat from downstairs. I growled low in my throat. No one, not even my little sister, was allowed to ogle my man shirtless. Angelus might have believed that human-relations didn’t count as cheating, but Spike was mine, and no one was going to touch him.

I stomped over to Spike’s drawer, looking for a new shirt for him to wear. His last one was a shredded mess on the floor, evidence to my getting a little too worked up after hunting the night before.

From upstairs, I heard my Sire’s name and perked up, forgetting my mission.

“-Angelus dusted,” Dawn was saying. “After what he’s done to…” Her voice cracked. “I’m ready to kill him,” she finally said in a small voice.

“Well, yeah, I’ll help,” Spike agreed. “But I want to work out some things first.”

“What?” I could practically see my sister crossing her arms in my mind’s eye. “Don’t you want vengeance for Buffy, too?”

“Of course!” Spike sounded offended that she would think otherwise. “Just I don’t much fancy you staking Angelus, then turning around and staking me.”

“Well, I’m not letting you stay here and eat people,” Dawn snapped. “Slayer, remember?”

“I want a safe passage out of town,” Spike informed her. “For me an’ my bird. We won’t bother you, you won’t bother us. How about it?”

“Your bird?” Dawn asked incredulously. “Please tell me you’re actually referring to an animal and not a girlfriend!”

“That’s not your business and has nothing to do with Angelus,” Spike retorted.

I smirked. Oh, really?

“Buffy just died!” Dawn continued, outraged. “I thought you cared! But no, you’re just like the rest of them, soulless and heartless and-“ She stopped suddenly. “She’s here, isn’t she? Your skanky ho? I thought I sensed more than one vampire!” Heavy, angry footfalls were heading to the trapdoor entrance.

I sighed and pulled on some clothes hastily. This was not going to end well.

Dawn jumped down the ladder in two steps and spun around to face me.

I gave her a weak smile. “Hey, Dawnie.”

Then the Slayer scent hit me full blast and I vamped and headed desperately for the source of the sweet smell.

Spike climbed down after Dawn and struck me with just enough force to send me back to the bed. He came behind me and held me still until my game face receded.

“We’re still working on the whole not-eating-people-she-knows thing,” Spike said apologetically. “And you’re like a vampire magnet.”

Dawn just stared at us, tears welling in her eyes. “Buffy’s been…”

“Turned, yeah,” I confirmed, back in control of myself. “Angelus did this to me. I was only able to leave two days ago, and Spike’s been helping me.” Dawn was crying in actuality now. “Dawnie, it’s okay! I’m fine!”

I stood up to comfort her, Spike still keeping a steady hand on my wrist. She recoiled. “Stay back!” she warned, raising a stake.

Spike growled audibly, vamping out upon seeing the threat to my unlife. “Put that thing away or I’ll kill you where you stand,” he warned her in a low, furious tone.

Dawn’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, so you two can kill me? I know the drill. You’re not my sister. You have no soul!”

“Dawnie, it’s me,” I pleaded. “I’m still your sister. Remember your twelfth birthday party, when I brought my boyfriend and no one paid attention to you? You were so furious… Or when we started at Sunnydale and you slept in my room for the first three days- which, probably understandable, since you’d have been freaking out about being the Slayer and all on the mouth of Hell- but you kept having crazy dreams and screaming and I barely slept at all then? Or that time we went patrolling and Spike almost vamped me? Kinda ironic now, I guess,” I added as an afterthought.

But Dawn was shaking her head. “You’re a demon with my sister’s memories. You’re not her.”

Spike laughed. “Is that what they teach the bitty Slayers these days? Makes them better fighters, I’ll bet. It’s a lot easier to kill your friends if you don’t think that they’re still your friends.”

“You don’t understand,” Dawn said derisively.

“Oh?” Spike stalked forward, raising a hand and snatching the stake from Dawn’s grasp. “So let me get this straight. She looks like Buffy. She talks like Buffy. She has Buffy’s memories and personality. But just because she likes eating people instead of animals now, she’s not Buffy?”

“She doesn’t have a soul,” Dawn mumbled. “My sister wouldn’t kill people.”

“Fine. Whatever.” I threw up my hands in exasperation. “I’m not your sister. But that’s so not the matter at hand.”

“Right.” Spike moved back to stand beside me, wrapping an arm around my waist. “We beat Angelus. We get out of town. Everyone’s happy.”

Dawn stared at us, looking suddenly vulnerable. “You’re leaving?”

“What do you care?” I shrugged, feeling a little pissy. “I’m not your sister. Just some random demon, remember?”

“Well, it’s not like I can help it!” Dawn burst out. “I can’t just turn off loving you!”

“Oh, Dawnie…” I stretched out my arms and she ran to hug me. I vamped out at the Slayer, so close to me, and Spike squeezed my side warningly.

“You might not want to do that, Slayer,” he murmured, and she looked up at me, startled.

“It’s hard,” I said apologetically. “But I really don’t want to kill you,” I assured her.

She nodded dazedly.

I retreated back into Spike’s embrace. “There’s one other thing.”

--

It was just after nightfall. Spike and I sat together on the back porch on Revello Drive, listening to the commotion inside.

Mom wasn’t taking this well at all. I heard her crying, denying, refusing to accept anything that Dawn was saying.

“This is absurd, Dawnie. I can’t believe that you’ve been keeping this bottled up inside for so long.” Mom was pacing back and forth in the kitchen.

“Sounds promising,” Spike murmured from his perch next to me.

“But clearly, the institution wasn’t as effective as we thought, or losing… you know… brought back these delusions.” She sighed. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

“Or not,” I retorted, shaking my head.

Dawn exhaled noisily. “Mom.”

“It’s because you didn’t have a strong father figure,” Mom said suddenly.

“MOM!” Dawn had lost patience. “Look outside.”

The door opened behind us. “I don’t know what tricks you and Janice have set up, but-“ She stopped short. “Buffy?”

I reached out my hand to press against the barrier blocking my house from me. “Mom, it’s me. Don’t come closer!” The fear of losing control was much stronger now than before. For the others, I’d been tempted to sire them. But I knew I didn’t want to sire Mom, which made her just food and much more likely to be victim to my baser desires. “I’m sorry.”

Mom’s face crumpled and she ran toward me, disregarding the warning completely. “Buffy!”

Spike moved between us, stopping me from doing anything rash. “Mrs. Summers, please stay inside.”

Her face lit up. “William! You brought my little girl back!” And she was hugging him first.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek in an attempt to keep my game face down. Really, I needed to get used to humans I wasn’t planning on draining. Not that there’d be many more once we left Sunnydale…

“Mom, I’m dead. Well, undead,” I said quickly. “I’m a vampire.”

Mom laughed. “Look, I don’t know what kind of trick Dawnie and you were trying to pull, but-“

I switched into game face. Mom screamed.

--

It took almost an hour for the entire story to get out, and for Mom to be satisfied. Finally, at the end, I said my goodbyes to my tearful mother and headed back to Spike’s crypt with Dawn and Spike.

Spike frowned, cocking an ear toward the cemetery entrance. “Slayer, I think your friend’s coming.”

Dawn bit her lip, looking at me. “There’s no time for this.” I nodded and ducked into the crypt.

“Dawn.” Janice ran up, windswept and breathless. “Willow, Tara and I have been working together to recreate the spell, and we think we’ve got it. We should be done by tomorrow, maybe even before then.”

“Really.” Dawn didn’t sound very enthused. I wondered why Janice hadn’t told her beforehand. What had happened between the two friends?

“We’re going to curse Angelus again. But Dawn?” She was dead serious now. “We’re only doing it because he’ll be easier to kill now. We want him dust. And if you won’t do it, then we will. He’d never expect it from us.”

“Janice, he killed my sister!” Dawn said, stung. “Of course I want him dead!”

“Really.” Janice’s voice was icy. “Maybe you could’ve taken care of that before Jenny and Buffy- hell, even Kennedy- died.”

“Now, that’s not fair,” Spike objected.

From the sliver of open door, I could see Janice’s eyes harden. “I didn’t ask for your opinion, vampire,” she spat.

I hissed at her tone. I didn’t particularly care about Janice, and if she tried anything with Spike, she’d be dead in a moment.

Spike’s eyes flickered toward where I was hidden, sensing my anger. “We’ve got a vampire to kill. Anything useful you want to add?”

Janice glowered at both of them. “Just that if the spell works, don’t go soft on us.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dawn retorted. “Angelus will be dead before you even start the curse. You do your thing, we’ll do ours.”

“Great. Dawn’s new pet vampire,” Janice muttered as she walked away. Spike clenched his hands into fists, but refrained from doing anything too violent.

“Sorry about her,” Dawn said quietly. “She’s not taking Miss Calendar’s death very well, and she needs someone to blame. I haven’t had a civil conversation with her since…that day.”

“Want me to eat her?” I asked hopefully.

Dawn blinked, trying to figure out if I was serious. I wasn’t sure, myself.

“Anyway, we need to figure out how we’re doing this,” Dawn said, businesslike.

“It has to be me,” I said suddenly.

They turned to glare at me, both their mouths opening to argue.

“No, hear me out.” I held up a hand. “Angelus trusts me. He thinks that I’m his and that I’d never hurt him.” Spike grimaced, and I gave him a winning smile. “Clearly, he’s underestimated how much I love Spike.”

“And how will you explain where you’ve been?” Dawn asked challengingly. “Because if I were him, I wouldn’t trust a missing Childe who suddenly turns up again.”

“You don’t understand just how strong the Sire-Childe bond is,” Spike said softly, his eyes on mine. “He won’t expect it from her.” He’d never really shielded me from facing my own demons before, and he wasn’t going to now. “She can do this.”

I felt a wave of love and gratitude for him. “Okay. Here’s the plan.”

 
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