Chapter 22



“NO!”

Realisation hit, and time seemed to slow around them. Buffy saw Riley’s face morph—telltale vampire ridges erupted across the smooth line of his forehead and eyes, once cornflower blue, bled through to amber. She reached for Giles as she screamed her warning too late. The scotch glass in his hands slipped and smashed to floor, the heavy thump of his body following moments after. Less than a second after the damning words had left the ex-Watcher’s mouth, his throat had been brutally ripped from his body.

Buffy stood rooted to the spot, her unneeded breath coming in heavy gasping pants. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sight of Giles’s lifeless body on the ground before her, his head held on by nothing more than the spine of his neck—something that was clearly visible through the gaping hole that had once been his throat. Buffy swallowed thickly. He was dead. Giles was dead. Riley had ripped his throat out right in front of her eyes.

Buffy’s eyes flicked up to meet Riley’s amber gaze as she realised he was watching her. His face was smattered in Giles’s blood, a sadistic smirk planted firmly across his features as he raised the offending hand to his mouth, his tongue darting out to lick a path through the blood that coated it.

“Oh God,” Buffy groaned as her own hand flew to her mouth as she felt her stomach rebel at the sight.

Riley laughed.

“Are you all right, Buffy?” He asked, his voice dripping with false concern. Lifting his leg he made a show of stepping over the ex-Watcher’s body as he crossed the threshold of the house. “Really, you’re not looking too good.”

Buffy watched as he drew nearer, unable to piece together the mental order her legs needed to move. It was if watching Giles die had turned her legs to stone. ‘Run, you idiot!’ she mentally screamed to herself. She jerked as if to move, but her body remained stationary.

“Some friends of yours came to visit me earlier tonight,” Riley began suddenly. “Mentioned something about being able to track your scent to my flat in the rehab centre? Anyway, it turns out they were more than willing to help me out with my little addiction. I was so grateful, as you can well imagine, especially after the state in which you left me.”

Buffy let out a warning growl. Riley paused briefly at the sound but chose to ignore it as he continued to advance on her, his face twisted by the demon that possessed his body. Her stomach rolled. She had done that to him; she was responsible for turning him into the monster that was slowly closing in on her. She was the reason Giles was now dead, the reason he was nothing more than a body that was slowly turning cold on the floor. Guilt ran screaming through her body. If only she hadn’t gone to Riley for help.

“The fun and games got a little carried away though. The next thing I know? I’m a vampire. I can’t say I mind though. I don’t think I have ever felt this good in my life. Wouldn’t you agree, Buffy?”

Buffy thought about it. No, she didn’t agree. She had felt dead when she had first been turned. Everything was too still—too quiet. She had missed the beat of her heart beneath the wall of her chest and the steady rise and fall of her breathing. Nothing had felt good about being a vampire when she had first awoken. Now, though? Now she had Spike, and she had become somewhat accustomed to the stillness of her body.

Buffy didn’t answer, but Riley didn’t seem to care one way or another.

“Never mind,” he waved the question off. “So, I wake up a vampire, which is great and all, but I’m told there is a catch. They weren’t going to let me keep this new me, unless I helped them kidnap you. Which, really? I had no problem agreeing to,” Riley continued, chuckling to himself. “I mean, if faced with the choice of either your life or betraying some girl you barely know, which do you think you are going to pick?”

“Kidnap? You’re going to try and kidnap me?” Buffy asked, finally finding her voice.

Riley smirked at her, “Oh, no. I’m going to succeed,” he said as he let out a snarl and lunged at her.

Buffy gasped and jumped back out of his reach, barely missing the swing of his hands as they tried to grab at her. As it was, a bloody smear was left down her arm as his fingers managed to graze her skin. Buffy tried to ignore it, focusing her attention on the vampire before her. She may have been a childe, but he was a minion, which meant that everything she had had to learn—was still learning—about fighting, he knew innately. She knew if it really came down to it, the only chance she’d have was if her demon took free reign as it had the night she had escaped from Silas.

“Try to run,” he goaded trying to get a rise out of her.

“Don’t worry, I will,” she answered honestly. Everything seemed to ache in protest as she dodged his hands again, her body still fighting to revive itself from the shock it had gone into. She stumbled slightly as the back of her knees hit the coffee table and she had to throw her hands back to steady herself. As she did, she felt the cool glass of Giles’ scotch bottle under her finger tips and in a split second decision her hand closed around it discreetly.

She watched him as he straightened himself out and smirked at her. “Uh-oh, looks like someone’s cornered,” he said mockingly.

“Looks like I am,” she agreed, lifting the bottle from the table gently as she straightened up again. She watched as he began making his way towards her, waiting until he was within arms reach before she swung. The moment he was close enough she hauled her arm up and around, sending the bottle careening into the vampire’s head with as much force as she could muster.

The glass shattered on impact sending him stumbling to his knees. Buffy dropped what remained of the bottle and bolted for the stairs.

Riley’s hand shot out, grabbing her ankle in a desperate attempt to keep her from getting away, sending her tumbling to the floor. Her head connected forcefully with the corner of the coffee table on the way down. Pain burst through her head and she felt the warm trickle of blood begin to leak down her face.

It was as she lay there—face down on the floor amongst a pile of Giles’s scattered paper work, with blood trickling into her eyes—that she sensed him. Groaning softly she tried to push herself to her feet, even as dizziness threatened to overwhelm her. There were few vampires that she had been around who had a signature strong enough for her underdeveloped senses to pick up. Fewer still, who were not a member of her clan. Only one which left her feeling sick to her stomach.

Silas.

She cried out as Riley’s knee slammed forcefully into her back, pressing her body mercilessly into the floor. She struggled against his hold, only to have her face pushed harder into the ground beneath her.

Riley laughed as he leant over her, lowering his mouth to her ear. “Game over.”


*****


The car trip was made in silence. Christian in the front passenger seat and Dawn wedged in between Spike and Darla in the back. The teen had been severely put out when she had learned who Christian was, or more importantly, that he used to be the enemy. She had been throwing him venomous looks ever since and even then Christian could feel the weight of her eyes burning into his back.

The younger Summers girl was a spitfire, much like he knew her sister to be. Dawn was beautiful like her sister too, although her appeal was radically different. She was darker, her eyes bigger and more doe like. Innocence practically radiated from her, although at the same time she exuded an air of sensuality. He had always known teenagers to be sexual beings, especially when they were at the time of their life where sex became such an important aspect to almost everything they did, but Dawn seemed different though. She presented a heady mix of a teenager who was on the verge of becoming a woman.

Christian smiled. She would make a stunning childe.

The notion was an appealing one. He could imagine having someone like her at his side for eternity—someone who had a personality, someone who had a sense of life in them. The more he pondered the idea, the more appealing it seemed to become.

She was of age to be turned—although admittedly only just—but he knew that it would be a hard task to convincer her. She had to want to be his childe. He wouldn’t have it any other way. Her dislike of him was more than obvious, however. She hated him on principle for hurting her sister, yet even knowing that, Christian couldn’t find it in himself to be deterred. Her abhorrence of him only made her that much more appealing. He didn’t want a childe that would fall at his feet in obedience. He wanted someone with fight in them, someone who would stand up for themselves and not let him walk all over them.

Christian wanted a challenge, something to focus his energies on once they had dealt with Silas. If he was right in his judgement, Dawn was exactly what he was looking for.

A long sigh came from the backseat. “Where does this guy live, anyway?

“We’re not far, Dawn,” Angelus replied as he effortlessly steered the car around a corner.

Dawn rolled her eyes, “Good to know. Only, that’s not what—”

The squeal of tires on the road cut her off mid speech as Angelus slammed on the brakes. Dawn screamed as she was thrown forward in her seat, her seatbelt cutting into the skin of her neck as the car came to a skidding halt in the centre of the road. She let a small ‘oof’ as she was flung back into her seat with the momentum of the car. The smell of burnt rubber filled the air.

Silas’s signature slammed into all four vampires simultaneously.

“Is that…?” Angelus trailed off.

Christian nodded. “Silas,” he finished for him.

Dawn was looking from vampire to vampire in confusion. “Silas? The vamp that’s after Buffy? He’s here?” She asked. They ignored her.

“You son of a bitch,” Spike snarled, lunging forward in his seat to try and get at Christian. “You knew!”

Christian snarled back at him. “I knew nothing!”

“You bastard!” Spike growled as he slipped into his game face. He was pulled harshly back into his seat by a strong hand before he could reach the other vampire.

“Spike, he’s telling the truth—he’s got to be. If he knew, we wouldn’t have been able to complete the oath,” Darla cut across them firmly.

Spike glared at Christian, but didn’t refute his grandsire’s remark.

“What’s going on?” Dawn asked. Spike shook his head in answer.

“Is he still here? Or is this merely the lingering trace of his signature?” Darla questioned Christian who was still watching Spike warily.

“I’m not sure. It’s strong. He may be still here,” Christian replied.

“I don’t care what you did or didn’t know. If he’s taken her, or done something to her, I will ram a stake through your fucking heart,” Spike threatened Christian with angry and fearful amber eyes.

“If he’s there, how close can we get before he will have sensed us?” Angelus asked the vampire beside him.

“It’s too late for that. He would have been able to feel us coming from miles away. If he’s there then he knows we’re here,” Christian stated grimly.

“Then we can assume that he also knows you’ve defected. Fuck!” Angelus yelled as he hit the steering wheel in anger. “When will something in this God damned disaster start going right! We have nothing going for us, and the longer we wait the more danger we’re putting Buffy in.”

Shoving the car into gear, Angelus put his foot down on the accelerator.

“You’re just planning to go in there and meet him head on?” Christian asked in disbelief as the car lurched and sped of down the street towards Giles’s house.

“You got a better plan, Chris?” Spike asked snidely from the backseat.

Christian swivelled around to look at Spike like he was mental. “Are you mad? You are going to get yourselves killed!” He yelled, “Silas is an Ancient!”

Spike smirked at him. “Yeah? Well, guess what? That branding on your hand says you’re coming in with us. So, suck it pretty boy.”

“What about me?” Dawn asked quietly. The fear she felt for herself and for her sister was easily sensed in the small confines of the car.

“You’ll stay with me,” Darla said as she wrapped a comforting arm around the teen’s shoulders. “You don’t need to be seeing what might happen inside. We girls will let the boys do all the work.”

Spike looked down at the young girl beside him. Buffy’s sister. “I won’t let him take her without a fight, Nibblet. I promise.”

Her small hand found his and she gripped it tightly, her knuckles turning white with the strength of it. Spike looked down at her hand and squeezed back gently in reassurance, gaining as much from the small act as she had.

“I promise,” he repeated as the car rolled to a stop out side Giles’ apartment.


AN: Thank you Andrea for the beta, and thank you to everyone for all your comments :D I hope you enjoyed the chapter…feedback?