Chapter 11

“How are you ladies doing?”

Buffy glared at him, but remained silent.

“She won’t talk to me,” Drusilla claimed with a pout. “I wanted my Buffy to be proud of what I’ve become. I’m just like her now, we can be together forever.”

She barked out a laugh, but it was far from humorous. “You may be a vampire, but we are nothing alike. We never have been. I’m disgusted to even look at you. How many lives have you taken since being involved with him? No, we’re nothing alike. You want to know the truth, Mother? Leaving you was a fucking blessing, you made my life miserable. If I ever once thought about returning to you, it was only to take Dawn away, just so you wouldn’t end up brainwashing her with your bullshit.” The next part was said for Liam’s benefit. “If you thought turning my mother and bringing her here was going to make me get all weepy, so I would do whatever you required, you were sadly mistaken. I hate her fucking guts.”

Drusilla whimpered, tears clouding her vision at her daughter’s harsh words.

Buffy tried to stay strong, even though she felt slightly guilty for what she said. She couldn’t give in now. Liam would try to do anything he could to break her, but Buffy wasn’t about to let that happen.

Liam placed a calming arm around Drusilla’s waist. “Kids, dead or alive, they really have no respect for their elders anymore. I’m sorry, Dru, would you like to see your youngest now? My minions have been feasting on her in the back, but I’m sure they’ll let you have a taste.”

She shook her head. “No, I mustn’t be around her. My baby is a Slayer; I shall want to rip her throat out. It’s best to keep her away until I’m ready. I will just have to continue bonding with my sunshine, whether she wants me or not.”

Liam nodded, scowling at Buffy. “You will show her some fucking respect, you got that?”

Buffy would have laughed at just the idea of that, but the look on his face had her deciding against it. She just had to stay strong for a little while longer. Spike and Charles would come for them. It was only a matter of time.


* * * * *


“Are you sure this is enough? We don’t know how many fledglings Liam has on his side, and you know he’ll be expecting us. The wanker is family, as much as it pains me to admit. He’ll know we’ll be able to feel out his location.”

Spike agreed. “We’ve made a lot of acquaintances over the years; older and stronger than any vampire he might have working for him. Liam tends to get bored very easily, we’ll have him outnumbered.”

A man clapped his hands together. “Let’s do this; it’s been a long time since I’ve had a decent spot of violence.”

Spike grinned at his back up army, the best vampires he’d ever known. They were in it for the thrill of a fight, but killing had no appeal. Of course, no one would mind shoving a stake through Liam’s heart. He hadn’t made very many friends in his long existence, just a whole lot of enemies. “Calm down, Finn, you’ll get your chance. The girls are to be rescued unharmed, anyone else is fair game.”

Charles sniffed out the area around the warehouse they were currently about to barge into. “Oh, yeah, this place reeks of Liam and his underlings.”

Beside Spike and Charles was Riley Finn, a former war veteran, who was turned in the line of duty. Following him was Marcus, Dave, Samuel, Kevin, Caleb, Richard, and Alexander Harris, all were turned nearly a hundred or more years ago. They would have quite a few years combined with Liam’s entourage. There was no one Spike trusted more to get his girls to safety than these great men behind him. He knew the second that he found out Liam had the girls in his clutches; it would take a lot more than just the two of them charging in by themselves. “This is it, boys. Time to put on your game faces. Once Buffy and Dawn are out safely, we burn the bloody place to the ground.”


* * * * *


“I always knew you were a crazy bitch!” Buffy yelled as her psychotic mother continued to trail a sharp knife down her body, leaving long cuts in the process.

“Shush, it’s not nice to speak to Mummy in such a manner. I shall have to punish you for that. Perhaps you should have listened to me, Sunshine. I knew that demon would bring you down to his level. He took you from me, but he can’t hurt you anymore.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “God, do you even listen to yourself? Nothing you say makes any damn sense. Yes, he brought me down to his level. He turned me the minute I asked him to, fucked me like an animal for hours, and I enjoyed every second of it.” She didn’t even flinch when Drusilla struck her across the cheek, instead keeping her gaze locked on the insane woman. “It must kill you to know that as a human, I never once did anything you asked of me, but you had to keep me tied up in order to beat me. There’s a word for people like you, Mom. Loser,” she spat.

Drusilla screeched, thrusting the blade in Buffy’s chest, and not feeling any remorse when her daughter let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Liam pulled her away. “Relax; she was only trying to piss you off.” He yanked the knife out of Buffy, seeing the pain written all over her features, and finding it to be very satisfying. After all, he did warn her to show some respect. “You’re just lucky that wasn’t wood.”

Buffy spat blood in his face, giving him a murderous look. “When this is over, I’m going to get great pleasure in cutting your dick off, and then shoving it down your throat.”

He laughed. “I do love your twisted imagination, but I find it fucking hilarious that you actually think this will ever be over. Vampires can handle all kinds of torture, for years even, but your sister doesn’t have much time left. It’s best that you start cooperating, or I’ll just end her life now. The choice is yours.”

Before she could retaliate, the front door burst open, and all hell broke loose. Buffy found herself slipping in and out of consciousness, not even able to tell what was going on around her. The warehouse was full of bloodshed, body parts were flung everywhere. She caught a glimpse of Spike and Charles in the distance, with a bunch of other guys that she’d never seen before. Buffy heard a shriek that could only belong to her mother and before she knew it, Drusilla’s head was torn from her body, her dust floating to the ground. She shut her eyes from the chaos, a pair of arms surrounded her moments later as she was lowered to the floor, resting against a familiar chest.

“Stay with me, love, you’re safe now.”

Buffy had never been so happy to hear his voice. A wrist was suddenly thrust in her face, and she didn’t hesitate before taking his offered blood into her mouth, feeling some of the weakness drain out of her.

“Almost good as new,” Spike told her.

She laid her head against a wall, feeling her wounds start to heal.

“It’s a good thing we got here when we did. I saw your mum; it was too late to save her before Finn had a go.”

Buffy shook her head. “Doesn’t matter, she was already dead to me.”

He helped her to stand, seeing the aftermath of what their ambush caused. All of Liam’s men were dust, and his thankfully seemed to remain in one piece. “We saved the best for last.”

Buffy didn’t know what he meant by that, until she saw Liam hanging from the same chains he previously had the girl in. He was nothing but a gory mess, and that wasn’t enough for her.

“Would you like to do the honors, pet? I think you’ve earned it.”

She glanced at Spike, and then to everyone around him, taking the stake he handed to her. “Unlike you, I’m not much for torture. I’ll make this quick, even though it’s the last thing you deserve.”

Liam grinned through what was left of his teeth. “You could have been something special, but I guess you’ll always just be Spike’s bitch.”

“You’re right about that,” Buffy claimed, slamming the stake into Liam’s shoulder, delighted in his scream. “Oops, I missed.” She pulled the weapon out, and this time made sure it was shoved all the way through his heart. The ashes rained down on them, and Liam Angelus was no more.

Spike pulled her to his side, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “It’s over now.”

“William!” Charles yelled from the back, which had everyone rushing to see what was going on.

Buffy stopped at the strong stench of blood, bringing her hand to her mouth at the sight of her sister lying on a cot, blood leaking out from several wounds on her body. They really had been feeding on her.

“Dawn, love, can you hear me?” Charles asked, feeling for a pulse. “She’s still alive, but she’s lost a lot of blood. We have to get her to a hospital.” He picked the young girl up gently, carrying her out of there.

Spike could see the state of shock Buffy was in, quickly turning her to look at him. “Charles will take care of the bit, right now we need to get you home. You can’t go to the hospital like this.” He cupped her cheek, kissing her lips tenderly. “You’ve been through a lot, but you have to let me help you. You’re still weak.”

Buffy broke out of her reverie at his soothing voice, shaking her head. “He tried to get me to feed from her. He…He wanted me to kill her and join up with him. She’s going to hate me. The last thing Dawn saw was me about to give in; she thinks I would have gone through with it. I didn’t protect her like I promised. I let them do God knows what to her in here, and I didn’t stop them. I could have tried to get away. I didn’t try hard enough, this is my fault. She could die, and it would be all my fault.”

He wrapped his arms around her, rubbing his face against the top of her head. “No, baby, it wasn’t your fault. You were both victims of his sick little games; there was nothing you could have done. Dawn knows that, and I promise you she will make it through this. That girl is a fighter, just like her sister. Let’s get you out of here; I’m sure we’ve seen enough of this place.”

Buffy nodded, following him outside where a detonator was located.

Spike stood in front of her, flipping a switch and watching in satisfaction as the warehouse went up in flames.