The Birthday Present

Chapter Nineteen


Oz was roused from an uneasy sleep when Willow gently shook his shoulder and the smell of hot coffee hit his nostrils. He glanced at Spike who was still curled up like he was last night; it wasn’t surprising seeing him in the same position, his paralysed legs would make movement difficult. He gestured for Willow to stay silent and got up out of the chair, grimacing at the aches and pains as he did so.


“Is there somewhere that we can talk?” he whispered. “I don’t want to wake him.”


Willow nodded and carried the two coffee mugs back in to the kitchen with Oz following.


“What is it?” asked Willow, once they were sitting on stools around the table.


“Spike, he…er…came round for a while last night and he seemed…well, he was different to when he turned up at my place,” replied Oz.


“In what way?” Willow looked at her friend with concern. She’d pretty well seen it all by now, but Oz had never seen what a rescued vampire went through.


“He…he didn’t seem to know who I was and was scared of me. When I said I was a friend he…he…”


Willow put a hand over Oz’s and squeezed. “He made sexual advances to you, didn’t he?” Oz nodded, and dropped his eyes to his coffee mug. “It’s all that they have known, Oz. They think that it is the answer to everything, and that it’s all that humans expect of them.”


“But he wasn’t like that before we brought him here.”


“I know, Oz,” replied Willow. But he had the terrible shocks for trying to bite and then I had to use magics – there was always a risk that it would affect him.”


“Spike could barely speak, Willow. He used to stutter a lot when he was with Lindsey, but he couldn’t tell me what was wrong. God, Willow, this is just so awful.”


“I know, Oz. It’s terrible. It is even worse than slavery and yet no one cares – simply because it’s vampires. That’s why Buffy and I decided to do something. But the ones that we help are a tiny number in relation to the ones out there that are still remotely controlled by abusive owners.”


“Why was he so afraid of Buffy? He called her Slayer – what’s that mean?”


“It means that little werewolves should really run and hide,” said Buffy, grinning as she walked in to the kitchen.


Oz jumped and spilled a little of his untouched coffee. “What?” he said in alarm.


“Relax, Oz, she’s teasing,” reassured Willow. “She’s known about you for ages. You’re making sure that you don’t hurt anyone when you’re…um…changed, and so wouldn’t dream of slaying you. Would you, Buffy?”


Buffy sat down opposite them. “Sorry, Oz. No, I won’t be doing any slayage of you. I’m the Chosen One. I was the only thing protecting the world from vampires and other demons until The Initiative came along and, hey presto, there’s none left for me to have to protect anyone from. They are either killed by The Initiative’s extermination squads, captured for use in their programs and research, or else they are so deep in hiding that they are no threat to humanity at all.”


“But if you should really be slaying them, why are you helping the vampires?” asked Oz.


“Good question,” replied Buffy. “It was Willow who started to make me aware of just how morally wrong it is. It’s one thing to kill one in a fair fight but the things that these have endured…” She shuddered. “It’s just not acceptable. It’s made demons of the owners; they really seem to have no limits to the depths of the treatment they inflict. We make it so that the chip will still fire if they attack a human, so they are no threat to anyone at all once free.”


All three glanced at the basement door as Buffy spoke.


“I’d best get back to Spike,” said Oz. “I don’t want him to be alone when he wakes up.”


He began to rise but Willow stopped him. “No, Oz, you stay here. He’s less likely to be afraid of me. Women tend not to own vampires, and we know that Spike was abused by men.”


Oz flopped back down in his seat. “By one of my best friends,” he whispered. He put his head in his hands. It was a lot to take in.


“We’ll do the very best we can, Oz. If anyone can get Spike back from how he is now, it’s Willow,” said Buffy. “If you want to crash here for a bit, there’s a spare room upstairs. Second on the left. Bathroom’s next door if you want to freshen up.”


Oz looked at Buffy gratefully. He was exhausted; he hadn’t slept much through the night. “Thanks, I will. If…if he needs anything or if he gets worse, you’ll let me know?”


“I will, I promise.”


Oz slid the stool back, got up and walked to the stairs. The girls watched as he wearily climbed them and disappeared from sight.


“Poor guy, looks wrung out,” said Buffy.


“He is. Well, I’ll go and check on Spike,” said Willow. She told Buffy of Spike’s reaction to Oz when he’d briefly woken up.


“Be careful, Will. The fact that he can’t use his legs might make him more prone to panic and attacking than if he was mobile. He’ll feel cornered.”


“Don’t worry, I will be. We can’t afford to have the chip fire again. I’m certain that he wouldn’t survive it. Hopefully, giving him his first untainted blood will help him to trust me. It will also be the first that he’s been able to taste since whenever he was captured.”


Willow stood up and walked over to the refrigerator; it was half full of bags of blood. She took one out, cut the corner of the bag and tipped it into a cup before popping it in to the microwave to heat. At the ‘ping’ she took it out, put the cover on the cup and went down in to the basement. They always started the vamps off with blood taken from a child’s training cup. It could take a little time to remember how to drink it without spilling it.


She saw that Spike had somehow managed to pull his legs up so that he was curled on his side. Oz had left the cage door open and so she walked in and sat on the chair that Oz had used.


“Spike? Are you awake?” she said softly.


The vampire stiffened but otherwise didn’t acknowledge her at all.


“I’ve got you something to eat but you need to sit up. Do you want me to help you?”


It was important never to touch them without warning them first. She could see Spike shaking his head.


“N…no t…t…tou…ching.” It was barely audible.

“Okay, Spike. I won’t touch you but you do need to eat. It will help you to heal. It is proper blood. Human blood,” said Willow.


She was thankful that another friend, Xander, had discovered that the hospital regularly dumped expired blood from its banks. Human blood was their natural food and this made it the best that they could have. She waved the cup of blood backwards and forwards, so that the smell of it might encourage him to sit up. After a moment, Spike raised his head. Willow smiled. They never could resist the scent of human blood when it was warmed to normal human blood temperature.


Spike moaned quietly as he tried to sit up. His abdomen felt like it was on fire. He twisted his torso and shoved at his legs until he was sitting up, resting his back against the metal headboard of the bed. At no point did he attempt to make eye contact. In a way, the vampires always reminded Willow of a badly beaten dog. The body language was very similar. She saw him touch the scar where she’d removed the reservoirs. She knew that he would be in pain, but was pleased to see that it had begun to heal.


“Would you like this now?” she asked, holding the cup closer to him.


Spike glanced at her briefly, before averting his eyes again and tentatively reaching out for the cup. He touched his navel and then looked at the cup in his hand. The tube that he’d been fed from was gone. He remembered that it used to be in his neck, but a touch there told him that that wasn’t there either. He stared up at Willow and then back to his body. He began to shake. I don’t know what to do. Why won’t she tell me what to do?


Willow guessed his thoughts. “Spike, you can drink it. Swallow it.”


Spike looked at her. Swallow? Like cum? Willow mimed putting a cup to her lips. Okay, like cum. Spike slowly brought the cup to his lips. He tipped it back a little and sucked the blood out through the non spill nozzle on the lid. He almost dropped it when he, unknowingly, vamped out as the blood hit his taste buds. He whimpered and changed back quickly, glancing worriedly at Willow.


“It’s okay. You can use that face if you want to.” Willow knew that remote controlled vampires weren’t allowed to show their demon unless explicitly ordered.


Spike managed to drink half of the cup before he turned to the side and violently vomited all that he had taken. He continued to retch even after all had been voided. Tears ran down his face.


“Oh, Spike,” exclaimed Willow. This was the last thing that they needed. No doubt he wouldn’t trust the food next time. She kicked herself for not anticipating that his stomach needed to settle down for a bit longer. “I’m so sorry. Your stomach must still be sore.”


She meant to reassure him but Spike stared at her in horror, his hands covering the suture line protectively. “Wh…what…di…did…you…d…do?”


“I had to take out the reservoirs that they had put in you. One had ruptured. Can you remember them being there? There were some valves in your navel.”


Spike dropped his eyes. Why did she trick me? Why did she make it so I can’t get fed? He wanted to ask her but was too afraid. And he wasn’t sure that he could tell her what he meant. It was hard to work out what to say. He tried to turn away but growled in frustration at his legs.


“I need to change the covers, Spike. They need to be washed,” said Willow. “Can I take the sheets and bring some clean ones?”


When Spike didn’t reply, she tugged gently on the sheet and when she met no resistance she pulled it all the way off, balling it up so that none of the blood got on the bottom sheet. She made sure that she didn’t touch Spike, and walked quickly to push the sheets in the washing machine and took some fresh ones from the shelf and went back to Spike. He was playing with his cock when she got back to him. The shutdown only stopped the legs from moving. They still had feeling.


“No fun screwing something that can’t be hurt,” thought Willow grimly.


Spike’s fingers rubbed over the tip, where she had removed the ring and had put in a small suture. Willow ignored what he was doing. They always took some time to stop thinking that sex was demanded all the time. She threw the sheets over him and when they settled, Spike took his hands away from his penis and touched the first nipple ring that had been put in. His head hurt and he felt very confused.


“L…lin…Lindsey?” he said.


Willow was surprised that he said the name of one of his tormentors. “He’s not here,” she said simply. “Do you want to see him?”


Spike met her eyes and Willow was struck by how beautiful his eyes were, even clouded with pain and confusion as they were now. “Y…yes…l…love…” He then began to shake his head. “No!” More tears fell; he covered his face with his hands and rocked his body forwards and backwards. “D…d…don’t…kn…know.” He sobbed.


Willow wished that she could hug the poor creature but she knew that if she touched him now that he would mostly likely attempt to bite her and would be shocked.


“Shh. You’re safe. You’re safe. You won’t be hurt again. You’re free, Spike. Free,” crooned Willow.


Free? For a reason that he couldn’t understand, the word scared Spike more than anything. He slithered down on the bed and turned his body away from Willow, sobbing more than ever.


Willow felt tears pricking at her own eyes. She stood up and walked quietly out of the cage. She left the door of it open and went upstairs. The first few days were always the worst, and it never failed to remind her just why she was so determined to rescue the vampires that The Initiative had had their hands on. She remembered what vampires used to be like. Somehow, even though they were lethal, she preferred those days. The majority of the population were unaware of their existence and were never affected by the vampires in their midst.


It had been the capture of Buffy’s vampiric ex-boyfriend, Angel, that had prompted the Slayer to get on board with the rehab that Willow wanted to do. The burden of a soul had meant that Angel wasn’t in the training facility for long. He had accepted his fate as just punishment for what he had done before the gypsies had cursed him. Buffy had tracked him down when he was in transit to his purchasers. She had managed to ‘acquire’ him from the delivery van and bring him home.


His rehabilitation hadn’t taken too long. Fortunately, his compliance had meant the mental scars were less than the others that they had subsequently helped. Willow had managed to deprogram him and reactivate his voice. He had moved away to help manage another rehab centre. Angel had been coated and so could easily pass as a human, having the ability to walk in the sunlight. He was the one who discovered that vamps were often sold at yard sales.


Willow found Buffy in the lounge room, watching TV. Seeing her friend doing such a normal thing was too much for Willow and she burst in to tears. Buffy was at her side in an instant.


“Hey, what’s wrong?” asked Buffy as she put her arms around Willow.


“Oh, it just gets to me sometimes, you know,” replied Willow, trying to stem her tears and sniffing a few times. “He’s such a mess.”


“We’ll get him well, Willow,” said Buffy. “You’re the best there is at this. He’s in the right place. What happened that has gotten you so upset?”


Willow told Buffy about Spike being unable to keep the blood down and how she had left him weeping.


“I want to undo the block on his legs, but I’m too afraid to access the chip before he communicates properly. He’s got to learn to trust us,” said Willow, drying her eyes on a tissue that she found in the pocket of her purple cardigan.


“We’ll know more in a few days, Will. Just leave the chip until then,” said Buffy.

Tbc