*Spire Building, WRH offices, London, UK*



Mark waited impatiently for everyone to leave for lunch. He checked his watch every couple of minutes until it was finally time. Making sure the coast was clear and sending the last remaining staffers on various errands, he rushed to the elevator to get the vampire to Giles’ office. Reaching the underground parking lot, he walked briskly to the black car with tinted windows his charge was waiting in. As soon as he got closer, the back door opened and out came the vampire.



He wasn’t as tall as he’d imagined him to be. Slender built, bleached blond hair, black jeans, black leather coat with a red shirt underneath and black combat boots. Overall, just what he was expecting, and yet, somewhat less imposing. His face, though, was a different matter altogether. The sardonic smile, the penetrating blue eyes that seemed to extract your innermost secrets and the scar that attested to his fighting history, all those elements combined to make up one of the most famous vampires in history.



“So, you’re Giles’ new pet, John.”



“My name is Mark Pendelberry, Mr. Spike. I am to show you to Mr. Giles’ office, so if you will follow me?”



“Mark, Spencer, I don’t bloody care what your mum called you, as long as you do the butler gig, you’re John. Now be a good little pup and show ol’ Spike the way to Rupes, will you?”



Mark really didn’t like this guy. Signaling his men, he led Spike to the elevator. As soon as they reached the appropriate floor and neared the door to Giles’ office, though, the vampire apparently got bored and, without pausing to knock or expect to be presented, barged right in.



“’Lo, Rupes, miss me?” Spike asked, spreading his arms wide to each side.



“I’m sorry sir, he just-”




“Thank you, Mark, now leave us alone.” Once the dismissed man left the room, Giles took his time observing the vampire he hadn’t seen for himself for the past three years. Just as he was about to speak, though, something caught his eye. “Good God, what are you?”



Smirking, Spike took a seat in the chair across the desk from Giles and put his feet up on the expensive looking furniture. Lighting up a cigarette like he had no worries in the world, he blew the smoke out first and then answered. “I’ve been to a parallel universe courtesy of this place’s past masters, on a sort of imposed vacation. Some things changed there.”



“And this allowed you to get a tan?” Shaking his head, Giles pinned the strangest vampire he had ever seen with a cold, calculating look. “Why are you back?”



“I missed your charming company?” Chuckling, Spike finished off his cigarette and crumpled it in the crystal ashtray on Giles’ desk. “We were there because we had no choice, Watcher. Now that the battle was finally over, we could come back home.”



“And for this you needed the broom from Sighisoara? Where is it?”



“No bloody clue. From what we know, it was supposed to reset and get back here when we used it. Casper knew all the details.”



“Casper?” Giles asked furrowing his eyebrows.



“Wesley. After he died in LA, he helped us while he was a bloody ghost. When we left, we got him a spankin’ new vamp body to play with.”



Giles took off his glasses and started cleaning them, the hint of Spike’s adventures making him itch for some research. There was no time for that, though. “What are you doing here?”



“Listen, Rupes, I know we never were on good terms, with you being a stuffy ol’ git and all, but Buffy-” Spike stopped then, not really sure himself about Buffy. It had been three years since the last time he saw her, not counting the copy he apparently saw in Rome, and his heart still clenched when he thought of her.



“Buffy thought you died three years ago, the only one that told her different was Willow when she came back from Sighisoara.” It sounded like an accusation coming from the old Watcher.



“You knew. Why didn’t you tell her if it was so bloody important? When the Poofter called you for help, you knew. That git, Andrew, knew and he lied to me about everythin’ back then. Then I spent two years in Hell for some bolloxed up plan the Poofter thought up and now I’m back. Don’t you dare say it’s my bloody fault.”



“I had no reason to trust Angel. He was working with the Senior Partners-”



“We were the ones that killed the buggers. You’re in this office because of what we did, you ungrateful prat.” Spike had taken his feet off the desk and was yelling at this point, his voice having gotten increasingly louder the more upset he became with the former Watcher. Even now, the condescending and distrustful gaze of the elderly Brit made his blood boil. “I burned for all of you back in Sunnyhell and when I needed you to help Fred you were nowhere to be found. Now you sit in the chair I made sure was empty for you and you still sound like I’m the bloody Antichrist.” Shaking his head in defeat, he let out a dark chuckle. “Some things never change, right?”



“You are a demon.” It sounded final. It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t even a statement, simply sounding like a self-evident truth to his ears. Spike saw red, but decided the wanker wasn’t worth it.



“Well, thanks for the chat, `s been fun. Do be a stranger, will you?” Spike got up from the chair and made his way to the office door.



“What are your plans?”



“None of your bloody business. I thought after everything that happened we could bury the hatchet, but you change even less than us demons.” Flipping the two-fingered salute behind his back at the man that had failed to show even the common courtesy of shaking his hand, let alone getting up, Spike strode through the glass doors and out of the office.



As soon as he came out the door, the three men from the airport halted his advance again, but Spike had gone through enough already. With precise movements and a smirk on his face, he punched out the first two and sent the third sprawling with a well-placed kick. Mark raised his arms in surrender and watched as the vampire stalked past him. Once Spike was in the elevator that would take him out of the building, Giles came out of his office and assessed the situation in one glance.



“Mark, I want a team following his every move.” Looking at the sprawled bodies in the corridor, he added, “A different team. The ones that were watching the docks, perhaps?”



“It will be done.” As Giles turned to head back into his office, Mark decided to stir things up a bit. “Isn’t he going to Scotland to the Slayer Castle? I thought the people there were under your command.” He barely contained a smirk as his boss’ shoulders tensed.



“That is none of your business. You have your orders.” Giles disappeared behind the glass doors that only allowed those inside to look outward.



Piece of cake. Mark then proceeded to send out the orders to ensure Spike was being monitored.



~~~***~~~



Spike was feeling peckish, but decided lunch could wait and instead he hurried on his way to visit places he hadn’t seen for decades. Giles was a prat, but a resourceful one at that and another team would be tailing him soon. Until that happened, Spike had to run as many errands as possible and get going towards Scotland and Buffy. He wondered exactly how much the news of his existence had shaken her. For the Wanker to be in such a snit, probably a lot. The thought filled him with warmth, but he decided not to dwell on it. He still had business to attend to.



~~~***~~~



Buffy quickly held the phone away from her ear in a vain attempt to keep her eardrums from bursting due to Dawn’s squeals. After about five minutes of very loud and very piercing high-pitched sounds, Dawn finally managed to calm down enough to tell her sister everything in detail. Okay, so she skipped over the groiny parts, thank God. After ending the conversation, the eldest Slayer in history turned to an excited Willow and Alia with a beaming smile.



“Xander just proposed to Dawn.” Whatever else she might have said was cut off by the hug Willow enveloped her in. Alia clapped a few times in excitement and then both herself and her lover grilled Buffy so she would tell them everything she knew about the whole thing. After being briefed, Willow put on a mock-upset face.



“So you knew and didn’t spill, missy? Doesn’t anybody tell me anything these days?”



“Xander only told me so that I could help him get the perfect ring. And you helped him, you gave him the perfect location.” Willow’s fake frown dissolved at this and she nodded enthusiastically. “Xander was so scared he didn’t want anybody to know. It really bothered me not telling you, Wills, but I promised.”



“I know how you could make it up to me.” Getting a mischievous glint in her eye, Willow signaled Alia and they both linked a hand through each of the older Slayer’s arms, leading her toward the garden. “You could tell us everything about, oh, I dunno, Spike?” She grinned at the deer in headlights look on her friend’s face.



“What? Now? We don’t have time to reminisce, we have work to do,” Buffy said as she half-heartedly tried to disentangle herself from the two lovers.



“No, you don’t! You always use that line and then we find out you’re dating a vampire or the principal or,” Willow paused, watching her friend intently for any reaction to her words, “in love with Spike.” Buffy’s face betrayed her for a brief second before she managed to close off her emotions. “Aha! I knew it. Now spill.”



Sighing deeply, Buffy accepted the fact that she had to share at least part of her inner turmoil with them as she settled on her usual spot on the bench, this time flanked by her best witchy friend and her Slayer lover. “Well, you know what happened that last year in Sunnydale.”



“Nuh-uh, you don’t get off that easy. Alia knows next to nothing and you’ve been keeping me in the dark so much I need a torch to manoeuvre. Start from the beginning.” With her pointer finger, she made a circular motion around her face. “Resolve face, now start over.”



Buffy thought about lying, about cutting the story short and altering some of the events, but something within her yearned to surface. The part of her that snuggled into Spike’s embrace years ago decided she needed to vent, so the words started tumbling out almost without any conscious thought. “He was always hot.” All three women giggled a bit at this. “The first time he sauntered out of that alley and spoke there was a split second I thought I’d drool.” She smiled wrily at the memory. ”Then he opened that big mouth of his all with the ‘I kill you on Saturday’ and the dance began.” Buffy was now gazing into the spray of the fountain with a far-away look and a sad smile.



“We fought and we hated each other, but he always had some annoyingly insightful thing to say that would hit just a bit too close.” Briefly looking at the mesmerized Willow, she spoke over her shoulder. “Like when he got the ring of Amara. He could have killed me then, but he didn’t. Instead he taunted me until he really hit a chord and I was so enraged that I kicked his ass, invincible or not.” Looking back at the fountain, she got the same distant look. “I honestly think he wanted to kill me, consciously, but deep down I think we both liked fighting each other more than we liked to win.”



Not even acknowledging her faux pas, Buffy steamed right ahead as her two companions looked at each other over her head for an instant. “And Drusilla. God, I hated that ho-bag. He loved her so much, more than I felt Angel cared for me. I stopped Spike and his minions from killing a whole club filled with vamp groupies in exchange for Dru’s unlife. Angel would have done the right thing before saving me.” She snorted at this and shook her head a bit. “He even stopped the end of the world for her, that first time. Or at least that’s what he claimed. I’ve always liked to think he did it partially for me, too.” She grinned like a stubborn child that just ate all the candy.



“Then he had the balls to come back and tell Angel and me that we’ll never be friends, that we’ll hate and fight each other, but never be just friends. Makes sense when you think about it. They always say hate and love are two sides of a coin and really, they’re both such passionate emotions you can’t just stop half way.” With a soft, sad smile, she continued, “What neither of us wanted to admit was that it wasn’t true just for me and Angel, it was the same for me and him as well.” Buffy appeared lost in thought for a while, as if trying to mold her own thoughts into shape. Willow and Alia exchanged another meaningful look, trying to figure out if they should interrupt her or no. Willow shook her head slightly, knowing that her friend could very easily clam back up if they did.



“Then he was just there, chipped and all. Always alluding, always calling us out on anything we did and always impossible to ignore. You didn’t help with the engagement spell,” Buffy said while glancing at the now blushing Willow. “And what I hated most about that time was how much I enjoyed it. Even after the whole spell thing ended, I still felt his eyes over my body like in those movies where the superhero has X-ray vision.” She snorted again. “Spike as a superhero. I could never have seen that happening back then, but now...” Buffy blushed a bit thinking about spandex pants and tight-fitting shirts. So, maybe she wouldn’t be sharing every memory with her friends. Shaking out of her naughty thoughts, she looked back at the spray of water.



“Riley was supposed to erase every memory of him, as well as any memory of Angel. He was a normal, run-of-the-mill male human. Okay, so that didn’t quite work as I’d hoped. The whole Initiative thing, then the Faith body switcharoo and that last bit with the vamp-sluts? Not normal guy behavior, let me tell you.” All traces of her smile were gone, her face almost furious and scowling. “And he was always jealous.” A smirk touched her lips. “He was jealous of Spike, of all people. He kept asking me what’s between me and him, always pressing and brooding. All I wanted from Riley was to help me forget Spike and instead he kept thrusting the blond menace in my face. I guess guys aren’t that smart, huh?” The raised eyebrows of the two lesbians beside her caused all three to laugh a bit, easing some of the tension.



When they all regained their composure, Alia decided to prompt Buffy into sharing more. “So what happened with that?”



“Spike stopped really fighting me after the whole thing with the doc that was there for Riley. Once he realized the chip was there to stay, he started really helping. Or so I thought. He told me later that’s when he realized he loved me.” The far-away look was back on her face now. “He led me to Riley’s vamp whores. I hated him for that. I guess I hated him because I couldn’t hate him, really. It wasn’t his fault that Riley betrayed what we had.” Buffy picked up a pebble off the ground and began playing with it. “He told me, you know, before Riley left. He was telling me how he killed Slayers and at the end he almost kissed me, kept telling me how we had always danced and all that.” She flicked her fingers and the pebble landed in the fountain.



“I almost kissed him back, but I stopped myself in the nick of time, said something hurtful and left. He just wouldn’t take no for an answer, though. He told me he loved me and offered Dru as proof. When he almost staked her for me, I was really scared. I had seen firsthand how much he loved her and him telling me he would…” she trailed off, her brows furrowing together. “I asked for the disinvite because I couldn’t deal with him while Glory was there, always looming over me. And what did he do? After I basically told him he had a snowball’s chance in Hell with me, he comforted me when I found out how sick Mom was. After I disinvited him, he got kicked six ways to Sunday by the Hellbitch to protect Dawn. Before the last fight with Glory I invited him back in and he told me I treated him like more than he deserved.” A single tear slid off her cheek. “I almost kissed him again, then.” Shrugging, she turned back to Willow. “I’d already kissed him after the torture, as thanks for keeping Dawn safe.”



All three women knew what was next and they all sat in silence for a few minutes. “He said he’d take care of Dawn ‘til the end of the world and when you brought me back, there he was, keeping his promise.” Willow had learned to accept the things that had happened back then, but Alia still grabbed her hand in a show of support. As the two shared another meaningful look, Buffy started with her tale again. “Then he was the only one I could talk to without hurting. Partly because he wasn’t the one that brought me back and also because he loved me and I knew it, even though I still denied it and he was soulless and evil. So I could hurt him all I wanted.” Tears started flowing down her face, but Buffy seemed to ignore them as Willow watched her in silence.



“Then he realized he could hit me and we brought the house down – literally. That was the first time we…” A crying, blushing Slayer was an unsettling image but neither woman dared touch her for fear of dispelling the magic moment that allowed her to express her loss. “I kept using him and he kept hurting me, but he never abused me. We kinda brought each other down during that time, even though he still loved me. I couldn’t even stop bashing his face in.” Without turning her head to her friend again, she directed her words at her. “Remember when he came to my birthday all beat up? I did that, trying to beat myself through him. And he never even blamed me for it.” She swiped the tears away with the back of her hand while Willow cringed.



“When Riley came back for those eggs I decided I wanted to feel something. I wanted to see how it would be if I let him make love to me, instead of just…” Taking a deep breath, she went on, the tears subsiding for a while. “It was so beautiful, Wills, and my heart almost broke the next day when I broke up with him.”



Unable to keep silent anymore, Alia asked again. “So why did you end it?”



Another sad smile curved Buffy’s lips. “Because it was wrong.” Her voice was filled with self-deprecation. Taking on a softer tone, she continued. “He was soulless and bound to screw up sometimes. I knew that and so did he, but I couldn’t take it then. That wasn’t the real reason, though. The real reason was that I was falling for him and I couldn’t let myself do that. Especially not when we were hurting each other like we were. It felt just like when I sent Angel to Hell, only on a daily basis. So I had to let him go to find myself again.” Willow looked on stunned. She had never listened to their history from Buffy’s point of view, not like this. The knowledge was sobering.



In a weaker voice, Buffy continued her remembrance. “Then there was what happened in my bathroom. As he was trying to force himself on me, I realized he just didn’t know any better. We’d used and abused each other so many times and I had said no so many times meaning yes that a soulless creature couldn’t help it. He saw it too, so he went away for the very first time since he fell for me and got his soul.” Sobs wracked the Slayer’s body and both Willow and Alia enveloped her in their arms. Hiccuping and heaving, Buffy managed to continue. “Then he came back and I couldn’t face him. I wanted to hate him, but I didn’t. What’s worse, I think I loved him even then. That’s why I couldn’t deal with his soul and I left him at the mercy of the First. It was too much for me, again. I failed him again because I couldn’t make time for him.”



Both women witnessing Buffy’s breakdown were now crying themselves, the emotional charge in the air too much to bear. “Then I got him back and got him sane. I tried to fool myself I could do without him and at the same time, I wanted the old Spike back. So I went out with Wood.” Buffy managed a half-giggle through her sobs. “That was a complete crock. Then you all turned against me and he was the only one there… And then he died for all of us.” Nothing more was said for long minutes afterwards, all three of them crying in earnest in bitter remembrance of all that was lost. Alia hadn’t been part of that ordeal, yet the Battle of Sunnydale had become Slayer folklore and each girl felt the consequences on a visceral level.



Getting up, Buffy turned to the still sobbing girls in a whirl. “All you saw was an annoyance and a buffoon, a demon and a reluctant fighter. For me he was a companion and a lover, an equal and a mirror to see my own flaws in, even when I didn’t want to. He was everything to me and I gave him up for the world again and again.” Taking huge gulps of air, Buffy straightened her body and all but shouted at the setting sun. “And now the bastard’s back and I can’t touch him, can’t yell at him for telling me I don’t love him there, at the end when he had all the right to doubt me, but I still needed him to accept it. Cause I love him, damnit, and I think I always will.”



Nothing more to say, Buffy fled to the safety of her room to pour out her heart by crying another night away. Humbled and shaken, Willow and Alia were left behind to huddle to each other for the warmth that would chase away the ice coursing through their veins.



~~~***~~~



In the cargo hold of a transatlantic plane, Dracula lay awake praying. He finished his prayer with the traditional: “In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,” making the sign of the cross and relishing in the pain it brought him. That pain was his cross to bear – literally. More than five hundred years had passed since the boyars and the Turks had ended his rule by using vampire assassins to kill him. What the bastards hadn’t expected was that the vampires would turn him instead.



For more than a century afterwards, he had reveled in the bloodshed, taking revenge on those that had wronged him and on their families. Finally, the witches of the three principalities, on their first meeting in 1600, when Michael finally managed to conquer all the Wallach lands, joined into a single Coven and banished him from his homeland. Without the support of his vampire army, the principalities were conquered by infidels and sacked for more than two and a half centuries. He never forgot what his turning from the face of God cost his people. He finally embraced religion again and saw in every cross the angry curse of God for failing Him.



The plan had been set into motion even then. First, he needed to know everything. He played the vain count with a soft spot for easy women and frilly clothes, used that God-awful accent from his early days to lull everyone into a false sense of security and bid his time. Stoker was a good choice for a pet. Thralling him was easier than he’d initially thought and getting him to write that laughable story was childsplay. At the end, he didn’t even have to turn the idiot.



Everyone had bought the whole Hollywood Dracula, as he referred to his character, and dismissed him as a real threat. So much so, that even when he came for his ultimate weapon, the Slayer, nobody took him seriously. They all thought he was doing it for a fad, instead of his real reason. Four hundred years had passed since his banishment and he was ready to go home and start his Crusade.



He failed because she wasn’t really the one, it wasn’t the right time and William had been there. He had gone back to lurking in the shadows and playing the aristocrat, while building his army back up in the Balkans. The Slayers, after becoming an army themselves, were so easily mislead they even took him into their stronghold. From there, he had directed their attacks with deadly accuracy against the heads of all the major Vampire Clans and many Demon Clans as well, preparing the stage for his Ascension as their rightful King and Master. Now that the last hurdle, Wolfram and Hart, had been eliminated, the onslaught could begin.



Kennedy would be his right hand, the sword of Stefan would be his weapon and Drusilla would wreak her havoc. He smirked thinking of her monastical background. She was perfect, equal to him in so much, including thrall, that he couldn’t contain his glee at her joining him. William, the dolt, had bought the whole harem bit while all the while, he had been whispering his plans to the damned woman. The seeds he had planted so long ago had come to fruition and she had been waiting in Rio for the right time to join him.



Now, with the threat of the witches neutralized by intercepting their precious broom, the focal point of all their power, he was free to sweep away the old rules and make his own. He would start with the vampires, beating and subduing them, making them part of his army. The demons would fall before their might and the humans would finally suffer for their dereliction of the faith. God would be offered the blood he craved. The cross would burn the vampires every day, reminding them of their sacred duty to uphold the Testaments, while the people would bleed for their sins, cleansed for their failings by their suffering. God would smile and return to him. The Kingdom of Heaven would bring salvation to the masses he would oppress and Vlad the Third “Tepes” would finally know peace.