Relentless Revenge ((COMPLETE))

**Special Note: I have to give some big, huge thanks to Isis for volunteering to be my beta. She has been excellent, and her thoughts and suggestions helped this chapter greatly!!!!!

Chapter 12: Determined

After Spike and Dawn left for the movie, Buffy fell asleep curled up watching TV in what was fast becoming her favorite chair. Buffy woke up to an out of breath, sobbing Dawn rushing into Spike’s apartment.

“Dawnie, where’s Spike?” She couldn’t make out a single word spilling out of her younger sister. “I’m sure he can explain in a language I can understand.” Expecting Spike to come bounding through any second, Buffy glanced over at the stairwell. However, now Dawn was repeating Spike’s name over and over while shaking her head no.

Haven shaken off her sleepy haze, Buffy started to get a serious case of the wiggins. Instead of Slayer business, something more personal was wrong. It was not a ‘slayer’ kind of foreboding, but a ‘something-is-really-wrong’ kind of sick feeling.

“Dawnie. Where. Is. Spike? Did something happen to Spike?” The only thing stopping Buffy from panicking was the fact that one of them had to stay calm. “Dawnie…Dawnie, if you don’t calm down, I’m gonna…” Well, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. Slaps always worked in the movies but she couldn’t imagine her sister appreciating such an action later. However, Buffy didn’t get a chance to find out if a slap worked in real life. Instead, the severe shaking she was giving her sister unknowingly must have done the trick.

“Ok…OK. Stop shaking me already!” Dawn took a deep, steadying breath, “These guys came into the theatre and took Spike…” All speech deteriorated again at the mention of the vampire’s name as she started crying again. After a moment, Dawn haltingly continued. Nonetheless, Buffy could only make out a few words, but those few words began telling quite a story. “Spike saved me… made sure I got away … but took him …and…”

Buffy finished Dawn’s thought for her, “…and sacrificed himself for you.” That was their Spike, never giving the least thought to his own welfare in tight jams involving Dawn or herself. Buffy was immediately up, heading for the phone.

*****

Spike, however, didn’t wake up in a nice warm comfy chair as Buffy had. His first coherent thought was that his sorry ass was having some nasty flashback to his short time of captivity with the Initiative. As with the soldier boys, his current cell was sparse and annoyingly white. The room just yelled for a nice can of black or red paint. However, his new home must be a new and improved version, because this time he was chained to the wall instead of free to pace the cell. Spike tested the chains but just ended up reluctantly impressed by its strength. “Thorough lot, these wankers. Bloody Hell! Just one bleedin’, boring day.” Spike slumped against the wall. ‘Sit in front of the telly, drink my blood, and occasionally shag the slayer.’ Spike smirked at that thought. ‘Shagging Buffy was never boring. Maybe a tad painful at times, but never boring.”

*****

By the time Xander and Willow received the call and met up with Buffy and Dawn at Revello Drive, Dawn was calm and ready to tell her story. With grim determination written clearly on the Slayer’s face, Buffy incessantly paced in silence while Dawn told Willow and Xander everything she could remember about the ordeal at the movies. The facts were still somewhat jumbled, but Willow and Xander made out a fair picture of the situation. As soon as Dawn had made it out the theater’s door and saw the people in the lobby behaving normally, she had deduced that it had all been a trap. arenarently, some guy named Jacob made everyone believe that there was a fire in the lobby of the theater and that everyone in Spike and Dawn’s movie needed to leave out the back exit. Then another meanie, Father, came in the exit door. When Father mentioned something about Spike and the deaths of his two sons, Spike made Dawn leave. She left but then went back when she realized that nothing was really on fire and went back to look through the crack in the door. She missed some of the conversation but made it back in time to see Spike lunge at Father and go down as Jacob stuck the vampire with a syringe. After that, all Dawn could remember was that the meanies were catching a plane immediately because Father wanted to get Spike to his lab for study. When they took Spike out the back of the theatre, Dawn had raced out the front, headed to Buffy as swiftly as her legs could move. It wasn’t until Dawn was half way back to Buffy when the shock of it all started to wear off and worry for Spike started to set in. As she ran, the silent tears coursing down her face gave way to hear wrenching sobs when Dawn finally made it back to her sister.

Buffy stopped pacing and gathered her baby sister in her arms when Dawn was completely tapped out all the information she could remember, “I’ll rescue Spike for you, Dawnie. No matter what it takes, I’ll get him back. Back to both of us. I promise, Dawnie.”

Xander felt compelled to state what he thought should be obvious but needed to be said regardless, “But Buffster, this could be a trap. It’s not like you hide your relationship with the bleached, dead boy anymore. It sounds like these guys have done some research and could possibly be expecting us.”

“Us?” Buffy loosened her grip on Dawn to look over at her two best friends, loyal almost to a fault. “No, neither one of you have to go. All I need you to do is find out where I need to go and then watch Dawnie while I go get Spike.”

Xander looked hurt, “No, Buffy. I’m not exactly the president of the Spike fan club or even a member for that matter, but I said us, and I meant us.”

Willow had her determined face on also, “We’re Scoobies. It’s an all of us or none kinda thingy.”

Deeply touched, Buffy smiled her thanks. “It’s all then. Alright, wanna be Musketeers, time to research. A destination for this road show is needed.” As everyone started to settle down to work, Buffy was struck by the irony of Willow’s words. They had echoed Spike’s “all or nothing.” Well, that was her life in a crazy, mixed up nutshell. That’s fine, Buffy thought. She had chosen the all option to life, and she was ready to fight for the future no matter how bizarre it seemed at times.

*****

The time passed in a haze for Spike. Over the course of the last several hours, he had been poked, prodded, and tested. His personal favorite was when they took blood samples. “Take your fill, you silly gets. Not like it was mine to start with anyway.”

Hell, these doctor types must not want him to wither away. When Spike had initially refused to drink the blood provided, Father had come to have a little personal tête-à-tête. “My, my, William. They tell me you are refusing your meals. As a fellow Brit, I would have thought you would have been much more practical.”

“Well, color me rude then but drugged blood just isn’t my cup of tea, Dad.”
Bugger it, how was he to know that the stuffy bloke had no sense of humor? Now Spike was strapped to a gurney with an IV jammed in his arm hooked to a pump to make sure he got his blood regularly. They had even strapped his head down, restraining his movements since he had vamped out and tried to bite one of the guards. Now he couldn’t turn his head at all, only able to stare up at the ceiling and think. Thought about how in the hell he was going to escape, thought about ripping the head off the next bloke that came in the room and thought about sinking his teeth into the next git that stuck a needle in his arm. But then Spike would think about his glorious slayer and thought about how much he hoped Buffy would do her usual white hat act and come to his rescue. But then he would vacillate to the other far extreme, berating himself for being a silly fool and hope that Buffy would stay home, not risking her neck for a mere vampire. Regardless, his thoughts would eventually lead him back to the same place. Sod all else, Spike wanted Buffy and Dawn to be safe.

*****

Back at Revello Drive, only three hours later into the emergency research session, Willow looked up from her laptop, “Gotta ‘cha. He’s in England. You gotta love the information highway.”

That brought Buffy running in from the kitchen with Dawn close at her heels. Xander who had been sitting at the dining room table with Willow got the first word uttered for everyone el “Hu “Huh?”

“Yeah me! I figured out that Spike is in England. You see, I started looking up…”

All business, Buffy interrupted impatiently, “Wills, are you sure he’s in England?”

Willow nodded enthusiastically, “As sure as I can be without actually being there to look at the undead guy.”

“Good. Your word is good enough for now. Fill me in on the rest when we are on the way.” That was all Buffy needed to set everyone into motion, preparing to leave as soon as possible. Using the last of Buffy’s back pay from the council, Willow booked the flights. Buffy called Giles to bring him up to speed on the emergency du jour and coordinate their arrival in England. Xander and Dawn were left to pack and tie up any other details before they left.

Within twenty-four hours of Spike’s kidnapping, the Scoobies were on a plane headed for England. Willow had her laptop out on her pull down tray and her research notes and various print outs scattered over Buffy who was sitting next to her, chewing her bottom lip and staring into space. Dawn was on theer ser side of Buffy next to the aisle watching the in-flight movie, and Xander was across the aisle sound asleep. His mouth hanging open was a dead give away.

Even though Buffy’s feelings and emotions didn’t show on the outside, Buffy was frantic on the inside. So much could have happened to Spike since Dawn had seen him last. On top of her worries, so many questions ran through her mind. ‘How dare someone take Spike? How dare he let himself get caught? Was he ok?’ She needed something to work with here. Now safely in route to rescue Spike, Buffy was ready to try to relax a bit and find out more details. “So Wills, what do we know so far?”

Hearing Buffy talk for the first time since they had boarded the flight, Dawn pulled off her head phones and instantly perked up. She had been expecting a meeting since the plane had taken off. Even though she was sure they were going to save Spike, Dawn was way more interested in finding out how they were going to find Spike than the lame movie showing on the screen in the front of their cabin.
“Ok, here’s the Cliff Notes. Spike was kidnapped by the Father who looks to be out for revenge due to the death of his two sons. And...”

Buffy tried not to frown, “I knew all that. What I want to know is something you know but that I don’t know. Uh, you know what I mean.”

“Sorry. I know…ugh…You’re right. Well, this guy had two sons which would make them brothers, right? I know, duh! But that led me to wonder what two brothers Spike have encountered lately, which in turn led me to think about Alpha and Beta.

“Ok, I’m on the same road with you so far, but how does that get us pointed to England?”

“We found Beta at the *Zeus* Fertility Clinic, right?” Willow looked at Buffy and Dawn expectantly.

Dawn started to catch on. “Oh, I get it. Father as in Zeus, the father of so many of the Greek Gods.” Dawn stuck her tongue out in a mock pout. “Ha, we studied mythology last year in English, and I even paid attention. I pay attention anytime a God is mentioned just to make sure they are not after me.”

“Right, Dawnie. He is their Father and that’s why they refer to him as that. You see, the Zeus Clinic is one f several for women, human women, to help them get pregnant. However, I think the clinics are just money-making fronts for Father’s true business. So I traced the Zeus Clinics to the main research facility located in England near Oxford University, which also does genetics research. The focus of this lab is genetics and fertility, but much more secretive, less public. Ergo - the weird demons we saw with Alpha.”

“Huh? You lost me around that last sharp bend in your logic highway.”

“Ya know, Oxford does genetics research… Ok, you don’t know.” Willow shrugged off Buffy and Dawn’s blank stares and plunged on with her explanation. “Take my word of it. Anyway, what if this father is doing genetics research and experiments with demons? Remember after you fought Alpha and I asked Clem about Alpha’s demon buddies not being pure breeds but a mix of demons and humans? What if Father is mixing and matching his own mini-me’s? To do that, he would need some genetic material and where better to find eggs full of demon DNA than at the Hellmouth. After Buffy killed Alpha, I think Father changed from collecting demon eggs to collecting slayer eggs, incorporating revenge to his plans. He must fertilize the eggs with his own sperm to make Alphas and Betas.”

“So this father idiot wanted eggs from demons in Sunnydale and my eggs specifically to make his own demons?”

“Voila! Homegrown demons and what’s better than a super strong slayer for a mommy?”

“And him as the daddy? Big eew.” Buffy looked a little pale and a lot disgusted. “I’m so grossed out.”
Dawn got up and headed for the bathroom. “Double Eew. Excuse me while I go heave.”

*****

Boring with a soddin’ capital “B.” Be careful what you wish for, mate, and Spike had asked for one boring day. All his worrying was for naught, though. In fact, Spike thought it might have been better if the blood his captors gave him had been drugged. At least the Initiave supplied some happy juice for its captives to pass the time. After the initial injections of sedatives for his transportation to the lab wore off, time moved incredibly slow especially for a hyperactive vampire. But here in this lab, he didn’t even have cracks or ceiling tiles to count. All he had was one light fixture and a smoothly plastered ceiling to stare up at.
Instead Spike had to content himself with verbally antagonizing the blokes that came in to take his samples or
administer tests. The most amusing of these gits had been the psychologist that was sent in to try to crack his nut, so to speak. Lots of luck there, mate! Spike did a splendid imitation of Hannibal Lector, describing in vivetaietail how he had once eaten a psychologist with nothing as sophisticated as Chianti but with bare fangs. Spike would have gone into further detail with his description but his pesky soul got in the way again, making him feel guilty and what not.

Couldn’t William and his morality just sod off for a while? After that, he made up bits and pieces so the head shrink left sickened but not make Spike feel guilty about his past. It was only make believe after all. However, the blighter had a weak stomach and fled Spike’s cell just as the fictitious tales of terror was getting juicy. Light weight!
Next they made the mistake of sending in a female doctor to run one of their tests. With his voice pitched low and dripping honeyed tones, Spike had her unlocking the first cuff when a guard interrupted. Much to Spike’s disgust, the guard ushered the bint out of the room and came back to give the vamp a shot of punitive discipline. The lummox’s tazer jolt had been worth a chance at escape, but Spike was now thoroughly disgusted with the gag he had to wear as a result of his attempt. Things could truly get worse after all. Back to the bored, Bored, BORED. Now he was a hyperactive vampire that couldn’t even complain about his bloody situation out loud.

*****

“Willow, what’s this?”

Willow glanced up from her notes to see what Buffy was showing her. She instantly recognized the piece of paper Dawn had lifted from Spike on his first trip back from London, but Willow thought she would leave the whole Dawn stealing part of the story out of her explanation. Dawn would owe her one. “Oh, that. A pseudo-prophecy that Giles had once thought referred to Angel, but now he thinks it’s about Spike. I have been looking into what it could mean.”

Buffy read over it aloud:


A warrior begins a dark journey and quest
/ But a defining choice must be made in what way to go next
/ Through struggles and trials to a loftier station
/ With guidance will rise above demon predestination
/ But he alone must make the final decision
/ Watch over, protect those of light or sink back into perdition.


When she had finished reading, Buffy sat staring off into space. “Oh.”

Willow didn’t know what she had expected Buffy to say, but “Oh” was a little anticlimactic. Over the airplane’s rumble, she imagined that she could hear the wheels turning in Buffy’s head. “I thought it may have something to do with the present situation. I would think being kidnapped would classify as a struggle. Might help. Who knows?”

Spike had told Buffy some about his trip to Africa, which had certainly sounded like struggles. She had assumed from the intentionally vague explanations that Spike had undertaken some demon‘s trials, and presto, no more chip-head Spike anymore. As for the guidance, she had always thought of Spike as the master of his own ship. But now when Buffy thought back to his emails with Dawn and Willow, she was reminded of all the references to Giles. The Watcher had been a good guide for a slayer trying to find her way. So why not for a vampire trying to change his ways? Buffy focused back on Willow and voiced the rest of her thoughts out loud. “No, I don’t think so. Spike’s already made his own choice. He chose to help instead of kill, and chose to watch over the helpless instead of feeding off of them. I think he was slowly working towards this for a while, and we just didn’t want to see or accept it.”

After a few thoughtful moments, Buffy quietly spoke again. “Angel didn’t really make a choice to turn away from evil. Instead, it was forced on him with a curse. Spike, however, chose his new path on his own. And I don’t think we made his way any easier for him.”

Willow digested Buffy opinion for a moment. “So he went through all this to end up a lab rat. Well, we finally saved Amy, the rat girl, didn’t we? We can save Spike, too.”

“Willow, let’s not even go there on the whole Amy issue.”

*****

With a click of the door lock, someone came into the cell. Spike couldn’t see this person, but he could smell the new scent and suspected it was a man. However, the vampire was slightly thrown off by the intense clinging odor of incense. After a few still moments, Spike could tell that the man finally stepped closer but was still intentionally staying out of his range of sight. Now Spike could smell the sweat of this man’s nervous tension. The first the frustrated vamp saw of this mystery man was his hands slowly skimming around just above his head. Eventually, those hands came together above Spike’s face causing him to instantly vamp out. The vampire remained gagged, but he could still flash his fangs, extending them around the cloth. As a result, Spike received the small satisfaction of seeing the hands jerk back in obvious alarm but then the hands steadied and moved back, changing direction down over his chest. At least now Spike could make out the bloke’s face. The man was tall, thin with thick glasses that magnified his eyes. Those dark brown, nearly black eyes briefly focused on the vamp’s yellow glare before glazing over again, looking towards Spike’s body but unfocused. Spike shifted back to his human face when he realized the man was no longer seeing him but lost in his own stratosphere.

In hushed tones, the slim man began to speak, “Interesting. I’ve never read an aura like yours.”

Spike groaned the best he could from behind a gag. “That just makes my friggin’ day. They’ve sent in a bloody psychic!”

“Your aura is like a beautiful, iridescent silk. Made of two different colors, the threads are weaved perpendicular to each other. Depending on which way you look, you see a different hew. One thread of the cloth clear and bright yellow while the other thread is a murky red.” The man pulled his hands back, and with a tilt of his head, focused his eyes on Spike’s face. “You’re not the typical vampire, are you? Father will be pleased with this remarkable information.”

Spike didn’t like where this was headed one bit. Shifting back into game face, he struggled in vain, trying to put some distance between himself and the psychic wanker.


TBC!