A Very Ordinary Evil

Part 20 Dancing in the Ruins


Two days later


Once again, everyone was gathered at Giles’ shop to discuss new developments. It seemed to Giles that the only times they gathered together now were for ‘business’. With Spike and Willow involved; plus the typical behaviour of Anya and Xander, it left very little time for socialising.

He looked at the positive side, he had spent some evenings with Cordelia, still trying to track down the reasons for the unprecedented low in Hellmouth activity. He had been most pleasantly surprised. Although she couldn’t hack like Willow, she knew her way around a computer and was adept at getting very obscure information from legal on-line sour She She was also very efficient at the more mundane pen and paper research that was still the majority of the work that they did. Although not as gifted as Willow, Cordelia was, from Giles point of view, a better assistant. She was more focused and tended not to drift off into theoretical tangents or get involved with magical practices. He had not, as yet, personally experienced one of her visions, but he believed that, overall the visions would be beneficial to the group.

Giles cleared his throat and tried to get everyone’s attention. “Now, I’vt sot some news for all of you, and it effects all of you directly, in one way or another. Firstly, Ethan has discovered the name of the new contact for the Order here in Sunnydale, but he hasn’t located her as yet.” Giles immediately stopped as the hubbub rose around him. “Please, can we just finish this, and then I’ll give you what answers I have.”

The agitation eased as Giles drew breath to continue. “Next,” he said, looking at his notes. “Willow and Spike, Doctor Michael McKeon, Buffy’s psychiatrist, would much rather speak to you in person. He did, however, say that any location and time that you chose would be acceptable. So I’m still unsure of his connection, if any, to the Initiative, and his personal agenda, if he has one, is still murky. Lastly, Cordelia. Angel called and said, very bluntly, that if youn’t n’t return to work, you wouldn’t have a job anymore.”

Into the stunned silence that followed Giles’ last announcement came Cordelia’s voice, flat and ruthless. “Well, screw him and the horse he rode in on. He can take his damn job and ram it right up his undead ass!” So saying, she walked to the phone, took the handset and rang.

“Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless.” Angel’s voice came through the receiver.

“No, you don’t,” Cordelia snapped. “You help those you consider ‘worthy’. Angel, you can take your job and stick it where the moon doesn’t glow.” She hung up immediately.

Five sets of eyes looked at her. None of them had ever heard her speak so coldly, even during her tenure as Queen Bitch of Sunnydale High. Then Spike started to laugh. “Where the moon doesn’t glow? That’s a bloody gem!” Spike wheezed out between gasps of air. Cordelia smiled, even preened under the compliment.

“Can I suggest we all get something to drink before we go any further.” Willow suggested. She wanted a little time to absorb at that had happened.

“A very good idea, Willow,” Giles said as he encouraged everyone to follow Willow’s suggestion and relax. He went to make a pot of tea, and Willow decided to make coffee and also prepare blood for Spike. Anya fished out sodas for both Xander and her while Spike stepped outside to smoke.

Willow finished heating blood for Spike before he finished his cigarette. She had a mildly naughty thought and took the blood out to him. Aware that none of the others could see her, she walked toward Spike, hips swinging exaggeratedly. “Your drink, Sir,” Willow murmured, looking up at Spike, a wicked twinkle in her eyes.

Spike grinned and decided to play along. “Thank you, little one,” he murmured and as he did so, also pulled her into a deep and very dominating kiss. His tongue drove deep into her mouth, forcing its way past her lips and teeth. As he broke the kiss, Willow looked up, stunned. He grinned wickedly and said. “There’s more than one way to claim someone, pet.” Willow laughed as she reached up to hug her lover, the one person who was rapidly becoming the centre of her universe. They walked back inside, hand in hand.

“Right, now that we’re all together,” Giles tried to pick up from where he had left off earlier, “what we need to do is to discuss two issues, first and more importantly is meeting this Dr McKeon.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, Ripper. If he is in the Initiative, then there’s no safe way to meet, even a cell phone can be traced. If he isn’t, well, it doesn’t matter where we meet. So, what I’m thinking is … Willie’s place. On a Friday night, it’ll be packed and if the Initiative does break in, they’ll have their work cut out for them. Make it for eleven that night, and don’t call him with the details before seven.”

Xander looked over pikepike. “But isn’t Willie’s full of vampires and demons?”

Anya slapped Xander. “That’s the whole point Xander. If the initiative do raid Willie’s to get to Spike, they’ll have to go through the majority of Sunnydale’s remaining demons and vamps to get to him.” She looked at him and shook her head.

Willow also spoke up. “I would suggest that not all of us go, perhaps just Spike, Giles and myself. What I would like two things. First, Cordelia, you’re the fastest driver, can you be waiting in Giles’ car as a getaway driver in case we need it? Also, I’d like to bug the conversation. Does anyone have any ideas?”

“Well, I can drive, but I don’t want to be in that car alone outside Willie’s.” Cordelia stated sensibly.

“The car’s too light.” Spike put in. “We need a van, something solid that can take a few hits if it needs to.”

“Does anyone have a van?” Giles asked. He shook his head at the chorus of negative responses. “Bugit. it. What do we do then?” He asked, exasperated.

“Leave that for a moment.” Spike said. “Let’s look at the other part of Red’s idea. Bugging. If he’s in the Initiative, then he’ll be carrying all sorts of high tech equipment to jam bugs and things, so, lets go low tech instead and one of us can carry a pocket cassette recorder. I know that there’s a chance that the detectors will pick it up, but it’s a better bet than anything else.”

Willow looked at Spike, surprised. She had known, at least intellectually, that he was clever, cunning and mentally deft, but this surprised her. His approach was innovative and creative. She liked that. She did wish that they had actually got around to starting her fighting training, but the other parts of life were just so much fun.

“Watcher,” Spike began to speak again, “do you have a shooter?”

Giles looked at Spike, surprised. “What kind?”

“A handgun, something simple like a revolver.”

“Well,” Giles began dubiously, “there is my father’s old Webley, but it hasn’t been cleaned, let alone used, in years.”

Spike rolled his eyes, but also knew there was no chance of anything better, with California’s gun laws. “All right, ammo?”

“I think there’s a mostly full box of fifty around somewhere. I’ll find the gun and bullets later.”

Spike shook his head. Giles’ disorder and clutter would get them all killed one day. “As long as it’s quick, mate. We’ve only got three days.”

“If wn mon move on?” Giles asked, almost plaintively. “We still have to talk about Ethan.” Giles waited a moment as they returned their attention to him. “How kind of you,” Giles voice dripped sarcasm as he continued, “now, Ethan has discovered that the current contact for the order is a woman, although he doesn’t yet know her name. Neither does he know if she’s human or demon. It’s slow but it’s a start. I’m afraid we will have to expect more attacks before we can get the necessary information.”

As if he had prophesied it, one of the shop windows shattered and a hand grenade bounced in. Spike sprinted towards it, using every last ounce of the preternatural speed he possessed. He bent down and, half diving, flicked it back towards the window. It exploded in mid air, just before passing the shattered pane of glass. Spike took the full force of the concussion, and was thrown back, like a rag doll, riddled with shrapnel. The last thought that went through his mind before passing out was (Thank god it didn’t slice my head off.)

* * * *

The rest of the group milled in confusion. Spike had got the grenade far enough away to prevent any of them being hurt, and the open nature of the shop had prevented temporary deafness, although they all had a dreadful ringing in their ears and were stunned by the amount of damage created. Adding to the confusion was Giles’ fire and burglar alarms, both operating at full volume, and the sprinkler system had started operating to damp down the smouldering potential fires created by the detonation.

Into this confusion ran two men, both appeared human. One carried a four-foot long wooden spear, while the other was armed with a sub-machine gun. “Where is he, where’s Spike?” The spear-carrier demanded loudly.

Willow had been the most sheltered of the gang. She looked around, shook her head and yelled “What?” As she did so, she rummaged in one of her pockets and also shook her head, trying to clear the ringing in her ears.

The two men moved forward menacingly, remaining close together. “I said, WHERE’S SPIKE?”

Willow nodded in understanding. “The Fort Knox Bullion Vault,” Willow called as she lobbed a crystal at them. In a flash of light, both had disappeared.

The others all looked over at her. “What happened?” Cordelia was fastest off the mark, but Willow was already moving to Spike’s motionless form. She crouched over him, horrified by the wounds she could see. He was apparently comatose, and bleeding from a large number of shrapnel wounds. Willow began to shake, as she realised what was needed.

She immediately took her athame and slashed across her palm, letting the blood flow into the mouth of the unconscious vampire. As she did so, she screamed “Blood! Now!” Not caring who went to get it or where it came from, she started to pull the shrapnel from his broken and torn body, sobbing and muttering under her breath.

Giles came to her, three blood bags and a funnel in his hands. As he arrived, Cordelia pulled Willow away, murmuring to her “It’s all right, let Giles help.” The Watcher forced the funnel into Spike’s throat and opened the first bag. He began pouring as he called Anya and Xander over to help remove shrapnel. The three worked feverishly, wanting to make sure Spike survived. They were aware of the potential for him to die of blood loss, and none wanted to see that happen, if only for Willow’s sake.

Cordelia led Willow toward the kitchen, but part way there, the little redhead’s control vanished and she was suddenly wracked with grief, pain, and fear, she dissolved into hysterical crying. Cordelia tried to get her into the kitchen, but Willow’s loss of control made that impossible. Cordelia sighed, pulled her hand back and delivered a ringing slap across the cheek.

The flash of pain brought Willow to her es aes almost immediately. The first thought that went through her head was thank the Goddess for the alarms, no-one heard it. That realisation made her start to giggle. Cordelia looked at her strangely and Willow said, “I’ll tell you in the kitchen.” Cordelia simply nodded as she led the little redhead into the kitchen to dress the wound on her palm.

“Well?rdelrdelia asked as she started to wash Willow’s cut.

“Ummm …” Willow paused, working out how to phrase it. “I sort of thought … thank goodness no-one heard the slap. Fire alarms have lots of uses.”

Cordelia looked at her. “Wills, I love you. You have the most wonderful mind and, just occasionally, you come out with something incredibly dumb.” Cordelia hugged her tight for a moment to make it clear she really did care for the little redhead.

As they looked at the cut Willow made, Cordelia began to chatter and make small talk. Willow was aware that she was doing so as much to distract them both from the ugly gash in her palm as anything else, and the petite witch answered almost automatically. She suddenly looked up, aware that the brunette cleaning and dressing her wound had asked a serious question. “Sorry Cordy. What was that?”

“I said, you really cut deep. You’re going to need stitches.”

“Oh. After I know that Spike’s all right.”

Cordelia looked at Willow and smiled. “Oh girl, you have got it bad! Anyway, what did you do to those two? I heard them ask where Spike was, and then you said something and they disappeared. They went poof!”

“Who’s a bloody poof?” Spike’s unmistakable voice was weak but clear as it cut through Willow’s and Cordelia’s thoughts.

Willow laughed as she explained to the vampire behind her. “Cordy meant the two men, assassins I guess. I threw a spell crystal at them.”

“So, Wills, where did they go?” the curiosity and impatience in Cordelia’s voice palpable.

“The Fort Knox Bullion Vault.”

Giles started laughing, “Oh, Willow, that is … beautiful,” he gasped out between bouts of laughter.

Willow turned, to see Giles and Xander supporting a very battered and obviously weak, Spike. She started to tremble as she looked at her lover, he was cut all over his body, and a major bloodstain coated righright thigh. “God, Spike, I thought I’d lost you.” She started crying again, this time tears of relief and gratitude.

Giles cleared his throat, “It was touch and go there for a while, until Xander could get the shrapnel out of his thighit had cut the femoral artery somewhat.”

Willow’s eyes spoke volumes as she shakily walked over to Xander and embraced him. “Thank you.”

Spike looked up. “You’re bleeding pet.”

“She made herself bleed into your mouth before we could get the blood bags,” Cordelia said. “She’s going to need stitches.”

Spike took her hand and looked at it, raising it to his lips, he began licking gently over the wound. He looked up at Willow. “Pet, this tastes intoxicating. It’s … ambrosiac.” Willow blushed as Spike spoke. He then bit his lip, hard and let a couple of drops of his own blood drip onto the wound. “This will help it to heal faster, but you’re still going to need stitches.”

It was then that the first fire engines and police cars arrived.