Disclaimer: Joss owns them, all I want is my very own naked Spike, preferably chocolate covered, but Joss won’t let me even if I asked nicely.
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Chapter 20: Warren

Buffy bolted out of the house after the completion of the locator spell. The spell said that he was hiding out at the Sunnydale arms hotel. Don't all evil bad guys stay there? Why didn’t the police check there first? probably cause they were the Sunnydale PD.

Buffy kicked in Warren’s door with grim determination on her face.

“I was wondering when you were going to find me...” came Warren’s voice from the bed in the centre of the room. “Slayer?” he sounded shocked.

“You were expecting the Easter Bunny?”

“Police actually. Doesn’t matter though.” Warren reached under a pillow and pulled out a gun.

“Wow, I didn’t see that coming at all,” Buffy noted raising her hands.

“Why not?” asked Warren surprised. “I mean come on everyone has a gun.”

“I don’t,” said Buffy. “Swords, axes, a Troll hammer, a very nice assortment of crossbows, but no guns.”

“Good for me then,” said Warren.

“Of course I don’t need a gun,” said Buffy with a lilt in her voice.

“And why is that?” asked Warren, getting up off the end of the bed and walking towards her.

“Cause I don’t need a gun.” Buffy allowed Warren to get even closer before she reached out and took the gun right out of his hand, but not before Warren pulled the trigger.
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Across town Spike sat up and clutched his chest. He had dozed off while watching passions again, off in his own little dream world, where Buffy wore only skimpy lingerie. Whatever had startled him from his sleep had caused him to start panting. Spike looked about the living room trying to find out what had woken him up. Willow was still puttering around in the kitchen. He had left Buffy and Tara doing mojo up in the Wicca’s room. Spike reached out with his senses to locate his mate.

She wasn’t in the house.

She was in pain.

Spike jumped off the couch and flew upstairs. Barging into the Wicca’s room, Tara was cleaning up the remains of the spell.

“Where is she?” he asked.

“Sunnydale Arms...it...it’s where the spell said Warren was,” said Tara.

Spike didn’t wait around for more explanation. Grabbing his coat, and holding it over his head, Spike took off outside, jumping down into the protection of the sewers as soon as he could.
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Spike arrived underneath the Sunnydale Arms hotel in record time. Pulling his coat over his head once more Spike emerged from the sewers and followed her scent which led him to an open door. Room 35 was open to just anyone who wanted to come in. The sheets on the bed were ripped, there was a large crack in the plaster of the wall just to the right of the door and a bullet hole in the door itself.

But the item of note was the splatters of Buffy’s blood on the carpet in front of the door.

Buffy is hurt, bleeding.

Spike turned and headed out the door. He had to find her. He had a feeling that Warren had already done something that Spike would have pleasure making him regret.
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Dawn walked into Sunnydale minimum security detention centre with purpose. She was determined to meet Andrew Wells, regardless if he was in prison or not.

Dawn had breezed by the security, saying that she was his cousin. The guards seemed to be a complete joke. Some were playing cards, others were sleeping on the job. It was a wonder that anyone stayed locked up here very long at all.

Dawn sat down at the booth and waited for Andrew to show up. After what seemed like an eternity, Andrew was escorted in by a very displeased guard.

Andrew slid into the cheap plastic chair forlornly and looked through the glass to his visitor. His shock was apparent.

“What...what are you doing here?” he asked.

Dawn stared back at him for a moment.

“I...I wanted to meet one of the people that made my sister’s life miserable.”

“Well you came you gawked. Leave me alone.”

“No, I came here to meet you, not to gawk.”

Andrew shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

“Buffy seems to think that you can be rehabilitated. That you would make a good watcher.”

Andrew’s face lit up in a smile. “She really thinks so?”

“I don’t know why...You seem like an annoying little man to me. But it doesn’t matter what I think. Buffy is the Slayer.”

“What do I have to do?”

“Well stop trying to take over Sunnydale, why would you want this town? It majorly sucks.”

Andrew nodded.

“Oh and you could tell the police everything you know about Warren and where he could be. That would be very helpful.”

“I can’t betray Warren, he’s my friend.”

“Would a real friend let his friend get caught by the police? And then escape without them? Huh?”

“I see your point...”
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“You know it’s a lot easier to drag your sorry ass if you would just keep still!” yelled Buffy at the tied up form of Warren before her. He was covered in mud, no doubt due to the fact that Buffy had been dragging him towards the police station via the back roads and alleys.

Buffy had stopped, to take a break. She reached up to her shoulder and touched the bullet wound. It looked a lot worse than it really was. She had only been caught off guard a bit really. She had managed to deflect the bullet away magically in time to keep from getting too badly hurt.

Spike is really gonna let you have it when you get yourself home Buffy Anne Summers.

It was only a flesh wound, but she was going to get yelled at none the less.

Buffy exhaled and moved to pick up the criminal by the shoulders again. Only this time she lost her footing and landed sprawled on her butt.

“Bloody Hell,” she muttered as she righted herself.

Seventy Five years of living in England did things to your vocabulary.

Buffy clapped her hands together to get the grime off and looked at her captive, who had managed to get himself up off the ground too.

She shook her head. “You never learn do you?”

Suddenly Warren lunged towards her and pushed her down back onto the grimy alley ground. Buffy looked up to see him shuffle away from her. It was pathetic really. His feet could only move an inch or so. He looked like a mummy, all wrapped up in bed sheet strips.

Buffy made to hoist herself up off the ground for the second time when she heard a growling noise. A smile spread over her face.

Her gaze traveled to a nearby manhole cover. A manhole cover that was nearer to Warren’s position than hers.

Spike popped out of the sewers and into the shaded alley like a bat out of hell. Within seconds Warren was on the ground and Spike was on him.

“Where is she you bloody git?”

Warren mumbled through his gag.

“Spike?” said Buffy calmly, standing up.

Spike turned to look at who called his name. His vamp face melted away to his human features as he saw the smile of his mate.

“Spike, I’m ok,” she said walking closer to him.

Spike sniffed the air.

“You’re bleeding!”

“Oh, ya, that. It’s only a flesh wound.”

Spike gathered her up in his arms and set about inspecting every inch of her body to determine the extent of her injuries.

He lightly touched her shoulder wound and cringed.

“Flesh wound my lily white arse,” he muttered under his breath. Spike dipped his head and licked the wound clean.

He nuzzled the wound for a few moments before Buffy had to return them to the situation at hand.

“Spike, he’s getting away, very slowly.”

Spike turned his head and looked at Warren shuffling away.

“He shot you.”

“He did.”

“Coulda killed you.”

“I guess,” said Buffy, petting Spike’s bleached locks. “He didn’t though.”

Buffy looked deeply into Spike’s piercing blue eyes. She had this horrible feeling that Warren wasn’t going to live through the night. Spike would see to that.

“I don’t want you to kill him Spike,” she whispered. “Please.”

“In your future, who kills him?”

“Willow, for killing Tara.”

“This pathetic git kills Glinda too? Oh no pet, you can’t honestly ask me not to drain the bugger dry now.”

Buffy placed a kiss on his lips and then smiled. “He isn’t worth your extraordinary talents Spike.”

Taking his hand, Buffy and Spike started walking closer to the shuffling man. The Vampire reached out and grabbed Warren by the scruff of his neck.

“Best get him back to the Sunnydale ponce brigade then.”
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With Warren safely back in police custody, Buffy borrowed back her new toy from Giles’ custody.

Spike was spouting incessant warnings about going to the hospital to get her shoulder checked out. It was endearing to a point, but the point had been crossed. Now in the Magic Box, he petitioned Giles and Anya to make her see reason and get herself to a doctor.

Her trip to the cemetery was only delayed long enough for Spike to attend to her wounds himself. Newly gauzed and disinfected, Buffy, her shiny, pointy new toy and Spike headed to one of Sunnydale’s many cemeteries, in search of answers.
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Buffy slipped into the pyramid anticipating a very cryptic and confusing conversation with pyramid lady.

The interior of the pyramid was exactly how she remembered it. The torches, the cob webs, it was uncanny. All that was missing was the woman hating preacher man and Angel. Spike was even hanging out in the entrance.

The pyramid lady came out behind a curtain looking exactly how Buffy remembered her.

“I’d forgotten. I’d forgotten how young you would be. Comes from the waiting. The mind plays tricks.” the long haired woman motioned towards the scythe that Buffy carried in her hand. “I see you’ve found our weapon.”

“Ya, it made me all mole girl.“

“You pulled it out of the rock. I was one of those who put it in there.”

“Ya, so you said last time. Look I need to run something by you. Last time, in another future time, I got this scythe, and my friend Willow did a spell that released the essence of the spell so that every girl who was going to be a slayer was a slayer....Can the spell be done in reverse? Can we make it so that there is only one Slayer again?”

“I am only a guardian. One of the women who want to help and protect you. We forged this centuries ago, halfway around the world, to carry out that mission.”

“Fair enough,“ lost the plot much? “So do you have any idea if it can be done. You were the ones that made the nice shiny...“

“Forged, yes, it was put to use right here… to kill the last pure demon that walked upon the earth. The rest were already driven under. And then there were men here, and then there were monks. And then there was a town… and now there is you. And the scythe remained hidden. Until you.”

“Yay me with the digging. But you still haven’t answered my question.”

“We are not witches.”

“How did I know you were going to say that? Thanks anyway.”

Buffy turned to walk out of the pyramid.

“A word of caution though... Your plan, it faces it’s own perils.”

“Really? Cause that hadn’t occurred to me at all...” Buffy said sarcastically.
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Buffy and Spike walked home hand in hand.

“Get the answers you were looking for pet?”

“Course not, that would be too easy wouldn’t it? At least this time there is no julienne preacher man, stupid cookie analogy and Angel, afterwards.”

Spike gave her a funny look.

“Just smile and nod Spike, you don’t really want to know. Of course what you should know is that I came home and we had basement cuddling.”

“Just cuddling?”

“At the time, yes.” Buffy stopped walking and stepped out in front of him. “Are you telling me that you want more than just basement cuddling?”
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tbc..