full 3/4 1/2   skin light dark       
 
Real Me by CG again
 
Chapter 10
 
<<     >>
 


I woke up to silence. Unusual on a normal day of school, but not unheard of. It was my first sign that something was wrong.

My second came when I tried to say good morning to Willow, and nothing came out.

We stared at each other in confusion, rubbing our throats to see if there was something wrong. Willow shrugged, frowning. I shook my head and grabbed my phone to check for news on the Slayer front.

Someone picked up, but all I could hear was breathing. Right. Stupid Buffy! Phone won’t do any good!

I ran to my desk, found a sheet of paper, and scribbled “DAWN” on it hastily. Willow nodded and we quickly got dressed.

There were few cars out; instead, the streets were packed with lost-looking people. Men in suits wandered aimlessly around and children cried voicelessly. A homeless man banged on pots rhythmically, the clanging sounds echoing through the silent streets. Across the street, a pickpocket grabbed a woman’s wallet and ran, the woman unable to call for help. I started after him, but a lone car blocked my way, and he was gone when it passed.

Willow tapped my shoulder and motioned to a man standing with dry-erase boards. Ten dollars apiece? I marveled in disgust. This strange silence was definitely not showcasing the best in humanity…

But we each bought one anyway, glaring at the sleazy seller as we did.

The school was locked and empty, a sign on the door indicating that it was closed due to the “Mass Laryngitis Outbreak.” Because that was so believable.

“GILES?” I suggested.

Willow nodded in agreement, and we headed there.

I hadn’t been to Giles’s since the afternoon when I’d found out about Spike, and I wasn’t looking forward to returning. Thinking about Spike gave me a headache. He had been so good to me and Willow while he had been staying with us, so tame. Could the chip really have made such a strong impact on him so quickly? What was he really? My conceptions about Spike were all so muddled. On one hand, I loved the snarky vampire who was gentle and protective over me. On the other hand, he’d spent over a hundred years before I’d met him as a violent, bloodthirsty vampire. How could I possibly call him a friend now?

And the more disturbing question that rose up when I wasn’t lost in denial…why didn’t it matter to me as much as it should?

I shook my head clear of thoughts of Spike. I wasn’t going to Giles’s to see him. I was going to help them or get help from them.

Giles let us in quickly, his eyes dark and concerned. Inside, Miss Calendar and Janice were already sitting, poring over books of magic and demons. Willow sat down with them, happily switching into research mode. I frowned, wondering what I was supposed to do.

“WHAT’S GOING ON?” I wrote to Giles.

He shrugged helplessly.

“WHERE’S DAWN?”

He took my board and scribbled, “SHOULD BE HERE SOON.”

I sighed and wandered over to the bookshelf, picking up an old book. I flipped through it, bored, but didn’t see anything interesting. When I shut it, I glanced at the title and realized why. Fairy Tales.

Fine. There was only one more thing to do.

I edged over to the bathroom where Spike had been last time, glancing up at Giles questioningly.

Giles shook his head vehemently and headed for me.

I glared at him, annoyed. He couldn’t possibly still be trying to keep me from Spike! But Giles just took the book out of my hands and gave me a sad smile. Oh.

I stepped into the bathroom, my eyes widening at the sight of Spike. He was thinner than I’d remembered, and paler than usual with blood loss. Clearly, Dawn hadn’t been feeding him as often as we had. In stark contrast to his skin were his wrists, reddened from straining at the chains that still held him in place in the bathtub.

Abandoning all my previous uncertainty, I ran to him, stroking his wrists under the chains tenderly. He gave me a sad smile with a hint of insecurity, still uncertain about how I felt about him now. I looked around wildly and caught sight of the key to the chains lying on the edge of the sink.

When I let him out, he just stared at me with a look of utter awe on his face. He rose and I tensed, wondering how I’d be able to explain myself to Giles if he ran. But instead, he wrapped an arm around me and escorted me out of the bathroom.

I curled up next to him on the couch. Willow gave us a wave, Giles watched us dispassionately, Janice rolled her eyes, and Miss Calendar gazed at us with a look of building concern. But I was too caught up in Spike’s warm embrace to care too much.

He stroked my hair and mouthed down at me, You alright? I nodded and laid my head on his shoulder. Now I was.

It didn’t matter, I realized with a sudden burst of clarity. Spike wasn’t a good person. I knew that now. But if I spent all my time dwelling on that, I’d never get anywhere. Spike’s nature was to hunt and kill humans, true. But if I were going to judge him, I’d judge him by who he was now as opposed to who he’d been. It was the only way I could possibly reconcile my feelings for him, and life- well, my life, anyway- was too short to waste time dwelling on the past.

Giles banged on the table next to the couch, catching everyone’s attention. He held up the book I’d been poring through and handed it to Miss Calendar. She glanced at the open page and looked up at him, startled.

Spike hopped up to crane his head over Miss Calendar’s shoulder to see the page. He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

I followed suit and caught sight of one of the most hideous creatures I’d ever seen. It was tall, pale, and skeletal, and oddly enough, was wearing a suit. But the part of it that truly frightened me was a wide Joker-esque smile that looked almost painted on. The caption read, “The Gentlemen.”

Giles went to his desk to take out a notebook, where he had scribbled,

Can’t even shout, can’t even cry
The Gentlemen are coming by.
Looking in windows, knocking on doors,
They need to take seven and they might take yours.
Can’t call to mom, can’t say a word
You’re gonna die screaming but you won’t be heard.

We looked at him questioningly. He clarified with Willow’s board, “SLAYER DREAM,” which apparently made sense to everyone there except for me.

Speak of the devil… Dawn barreled into the house a moment later with a dry-erase board of her own. She wrote something hastily and raised it triumphantly.

“TED SPOKE.”

My eyes widened. “HOW?”

Dawn bent over the board again. “I THINK ROBOT.”

I laughed, but turned and saw that no one else was following suit. Huh. Guess anything’s possible on a Hellmouth…

Janice took Willow’s board and held it up. “I’M COMING.”

Giles shook his head, taking the board back. “THE GENTLEMEN!”

Dawn frowned at him in confusion, but Janice just tossed her hair and mouthed later!, pulling Dawn out the door with her. Giles sighed, settling down in Janice’s vacated seat and perusing the fairy tale more thoroughly.

--

I fell asleep a little while later. When I awakened, night had fallen, and Dawn and Janice were still missing. Spike was stretched out next to me, fast asleep, and Willow had left to find Tara and warn her about the Gentlemen. I knew that Dawn would keep an eye on Mom, and I thought guiltily of Xander, who was likely oblivious in his parents’ basement.

I went over to Giles, who was frowning over his desk, and peered down at his notes.

Gentlemen- come to town, steal voices so no one can scream.
Take seven hearts.
Defeated when the princess screamed once.

I pointed at the word princess and looked to Giles expectantly. He immediately shook his head.

I fumbled for my board. “WHO ELSE?”

He nodded, resigned.

There was a knock at the door, and I ran to open it, expecting the missing Slayer.

It was Angel. I smirked, wondering if he had an invite. Giles probably couldn’t invite him in without a voice….

He took my smirk as a smile and gave me a genuine grin back, stepping into the house.

Damn!

Giles rose from his seat with a smile of relief, handing the vampire his notebook.

Miss Calendar frowned and wrote on my board, “ANGEL AND BUFFY PATROL?”

I scowled and crossed out “ANGEL,” replacing it with “SPIKE.”

They all shook their heads vigorously.

Angel put his hand on my shoulder, giving me a pitying look. Evil, he mouthed.

“DON’T CARE,” I retorted.

Hands clapping together distracted us, and we turned to see Spike grinning up at me. He blew me a kiss. I blushed, just a little.

His smile instantly disappeared as he turned to Angel, and his eyes darkened with a sudden rage. A voiceless growl escaped his mouth, and I tried futilely to stop him as he leaped at Angel. Angel punched him hard, throwing him against the wall before he could touch the souled vampire. I ran to Spike, glaring at Angel.

What is it? I mouthed.

He stared at me helplessly, his jaw still clenched in fury. What was going on? Angel seemed unsurprised by the attack, though Giles and Miss Calendar were just as confused as I was. We all knew that Spike hated Angel and vice versa, but this really wasn’t the time for male posturing. I shook my head at Spike, a little annoyed, but mostly just puzzled. Later, I reproved him, and he nodded, his eyes still narrowed with hatred.

Angel came over to me, reaching out a hand to help me up. I ignored it and rose on my own. “LET’S GO.”

I squeezed Spike’s shoulder and nodded to the adults. It was time to prove my mettle.

--

We were halfway across town when we caught sight of flapping, straitjacketed creatures weaving up and down as they crawled forward through the streets. Behind them were the Gentlemen, tall and ethereal and supremely creepy. I shuddered.

Angel put a reassuring hand on my arm. I shrugged it off. Seriously, what was his deal? He was supposedly dating my sister, not me! And maybe I was overanalyzing it, but I was definitely getting vibes off of him. According to Spike, the man before the vampire was a drunken womanizer. It made a lot of sense.

But then again, according to Spike, “William the Bloody” was a shy poet. So maybe the vampire wasn’t the man at all.

Right. Back to the Gentlemen. They had looked scary on paper, but in person, they were even worse, their smiles wider, their hands clapping together as though they were politely applauding, their bodies floating above the ground.

One turned in our direction, and Angel jumped forward to block it from seeing me.

But it was too late. The Gentlemen turned and glided toward us, preceded by their minions.

Angel shoved me backwards and lunged at one, vamping in mid-leap. I shrank back, batting ineffectually at one minion as it backed me up against the side of the building.

But I wasn’t a damsel in distress, I reminded myself. I was learning how to fight now, for times like this.

I ducked my head as the creature swung at me, moved to the right, and kicked up, smashing what was probably its face upward. Hah! I noted with satisfaction a stream of yellowish fluid seeping through the bandage covering its nose.

It shook its head at me, lumbering closer, when an electrical blast came out of nowhere, hitting the minion, and it fell to the ground, twitching.

I spun around, wondering what new evil was lurking.

It was…

RILEY?

There he was, my normal, corn-fed Iowan boyfriend, whose most interesting stories usually had something to do with sports or the Midwest or both, wearing military fatigues and aiming a rifle at the Gentlemen. No friggin’ way!

We froze in shock, staring at each other.

Then a minion was thrown down right in front of me, and I turned to see Angel giving me an impatient glance, motioning toward the clock tower where the Gentlemen were fleeing.

Right. There were more important things going on than my commando boyfriend. I followed Angel, Riley right behind me.

We raced up the winding stairs behind the Gentlemen, the remaining four minions attacking us again. I was thrown down the stairs, and Riley caught me and set me down again. I shot him a grateful look, and he gave me a sheepish smile. I wondered if the whole big dumb guy thing was a front. Nah. Superman couldn’t fake that look.

Angel charged at the Gentlemen, but they turned away from him, uninterested in his unbeating heart. Instead, they went for me.

Riley shot at them, and one fell to the ground. I noted dazedly that it still floated above the ground while prone.

Angel thrust the next at Riley, and he shot it, too. The other Gentlemen backed away, letting the minions shield them from Riley.

Riley frowned, looking from me to Angel. What now? he mouthed.

I shrugged, looking at a nearby table. Seven glass jars sat upon it.

“They need to take seven and they might take yours…”

I moved to the table and raised one of the jars, throwing it down to smash it. Angel joined me while Riley pointed his gun threateningly at the Gentlemen.

Angel lifted a box from the table, inspecting it, and I watched with rising panic as the Gentlemen literally flew forward toward him. What’s gotten them so worried? I nudged Angel, and he frowned at the approaching demons with sudden comprehension. He set the box back down, raised his fist, and sent it crashing down onto the box, shattering it instantly.

I took a deep breath, and shrieked as loudly as I could. The Gentlemen’s heads popped off, spraying us all with slimy goo.

“Buffy. BUFFY!” Angel shouted over me.

I stared at him, my mouth still wide open.

“You can stop screaming. It’s over! We did it.” He smiled at me. “You did it.”

I glared at him. “Don’t patronize me!”

Riley eyed us dubiously. “So, who’s this guy, Buffy?”

I blinked. Was he jealous? Of Angel? Wow. If ever there were a guy I wasn’t interested in, it was the hulking pedophile beside me. “He’s my sister’s boyfriend.”

“Oh.” Riley looked simultaneously relieved and concerned. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but you need to step away from him.”

Ooh. Forceful Riley. Definitely an improvement on Normal Riley. But still no Spike. “Why? I know he’s all creepy broody guy, but…”

“Buffy, you have to believe me.” Riley took a deep breath. “Your sister’s boyfriend is a vampire.”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “Cool.”
 
<<     >>