The Birthday Present

A/N So sorry for the long wait - I thought that I had posted here and hadn't! So chapter 24 will be added tomorrow followed by 25 :) Thanks for your patience.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Spike scrabbled frantically at the vampire’s hands that had his throat in a vice-like grip; he was stunned by the blow to his head but fought the darkness away. He knew that he wouldn’t die through lack of air but the vampire did seem determined to rip his head from his shoulders.


Roger pulled Spike’s head sharply forwards rapping his forehead once more on the bars. Spike’s hands fell limply to his sides as he struggled to remain conscious. Luckily, Buffy walked into the basement, and she rushed up to the cage when she took in the scene before her.


“Let him go!” she yelled.


She fumbled to unlock the door to the cage and once it was open, she grabbed Roger from behind. Roger let go of Spike, who fell like a rag doll to the floor, gasping and choking. Roger aimed a punch at Buffy, howled in pain and fell to his knees as the chip fired. Buffy stepped swiftly out of the cage and slammed the door shut. It wasn’t unusual for new rescues to be aggressive – hence the cage – but she was kicking herself for not checking how close Spike could get. The chip only fired for attacks on humans.


“Spike, are you okay?” she asked as she bent over him.


He startled her by scooting across the floor to his bed, where he sat legs drawn up and facing the wall. He was panting and rocking to and fro. Buffy walked slowly towards him and reached out and touched his shoulder. Spike let out a yelp and cringed away from her hand, hunching his shoulders.


“Hey, Spike. It’s okay. Let me look at your neck. Did he hurt you?”


It was so ingrained in Spike to do as he was told that despite continuing to tremble, he shuffled around on the bed until he was facing her. He kept his eyes downcast. He shuddered even more when he saw the chain on his ankle. They’d promised that he was safe but now he’d been chained up and then hurt.


No different from others. Hurt Spike. Don’t care.


Spike resumed his rocking, trying not to whimper as he thought of his treatment when he was last chained up. His mind was unable to comprehend the difference.


“Oh, crap,” muttered Buffy when she saw the livid marks on Spike’s neck and how his behaviour had deteriorated again. She glanced at the cage where Roger was struggling to his feet and fervently wished that they had chained him and not Spike. “Shh, sweetie, you’re safe. Just keep away from Roger, okay? Keep away from the cage.” She stroked Spike’s hair and he seemed comforted slightly.

Buffy walked over to the cage and regarded Roger unsympathetically.


“What’s going on? Where am I?” asked Roger, his voice sounding hoarse through lack of use. He stared around the room. “How can I talk again? Move again?”


He pulled himself to his feet by the bars of the cage and stood swaying slightly.


“You’re on your way to being free. We’ve deactivated the control chip and the block on your voice and hands,” replied Buffy. “Could have done without you attacking the first person that you saw with them, though.”


Roger stared at his hands as if he suddenly realised that he could use them again. “Wow,” he whispered. Then he looked up at Buffy. “How come the chip fired when I went to hit you and not when I grabbed him?” Roger nodded in the direction of Spike.


“That’s because the chip only fires when you attack a human. Spike’s a vampire; like you, he’s been through the program. Look, I’ll go and get you some blood and –”


“Real blood?” said Roger quietly.


“Yes, real blood, and you’ll have to learn to swallow it again as we took out the feeding tube.”


Roger put his hand to his neck and felt the bandage there. “I’m sorry for attacking you, I was just…I…didn’t…”


Buffy smiled at Roger. “It’s okay, we’ve seen it all before, believe me. I’ll be back with your blood and we’ll tell you what happens next.” Roger nodded to her and then she went quickly up the stairs, closing the door behind her.


“Hey, man,” called Roger.


Spike just kept his head down and stayed huddled up.


“Hey, Spike, is it?”


Spike raised his head, stopped rocking and looked towards Roger.


“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t realise that you were a vamp. Can’t believe that I’m out of that freaking garage. Can’t believe that that voice in my head isn’t going to keep telling me what to do or the chip firing because I didn’t do something.” Roger couldn’t stop babbling. He’d been unable to speak for so long. “Can live with the not biting humans, I guess. So how long have you been out?”


Spike stared at Roger long enough to make the other vampire feel uncomfortable before he replied. “Um...couple of days I think.”


“You think? What, don’t you know?” asked Roger.


The sneering tone of Roger’s voice reminded Spike of McDonald and he curled up a little tighter, pressed a little harder against the wall behind him. “It…it…it’s all mi…mixed up…in here,” whispered Spike, putting his hands to his temples.


Roger rolled his eyes.


Great! I get rescued but stuck down here with a freaking retard! What’s to get mixed up about? That goddamned chip isn’t controlling me. I’m back to being me again!


Roger vamped out – simply because he was free to do so. He grinned and then growled at Spike. Spike’s demon responded to the perceived challenge and he vamped out and bared his fangs at Roger.


“Holy crap! What’s happened to your fangs, man?” exclaimed Roger when he saw Spike’s mouth.


Spike hissed as his features faded back and blinked back tears of shame. A vampire without fangs was a nonentity – even his addled brain knew that. If he was on the streets and another vamp met him he’d be culled as a matter of principle. A vamp should protect its fangs.


“Th…they…”


Spike gave up trying to find the words; he lay down on the bed and faced the wall. Desperately hoping that the vampire wouldn’t be able to tell that he was weeping. Again! he thought in disgust.


Buffy returned carrying two steaming training mugs of expired human blood, followed by Willow who was going to give Roger ‘the talk’. As he had been a Grade Four, he would be ready to go to one of the halfway houses in just a few days. Grade Four’s weren’t used for sexual activities and so were less messed up than the other grades. They didn’t have to undergo the surgery for removal of the lubrication system, so once they were sure that he grasped the fact that he had to live a non-bitey life, he’d be on his way.


When Buffy saw the figure of Spike curled up on his bed, she handed one of the cups to Willow and walked over to him, sitting on the edge of the bed. Willow watched her for a moment, worrying that she hadn’t talked to Buffy yet about the development of her feelings for Spike. She shook her head gently and carried on to the cage.


“Hey, Roger,” she said brightly. “I’m Willow. How are you feeling?”


Roger leered at her. “Horny as hell, now that you mention it.” He grinned at her.


Willow suppressed a shudder. She didn’t know which was worse – trying to help the higher grades come to terms that they had been at the mercy of their owners’ sexual urges, or fending off the lecherous advances of the ones who’d been denied sex since being programmed.


She smiled tightly. “Yes, well, I suppose that’s understandable. You’ve been controlled for eight years.”


“Eight years!” exclaimed Roger. “I lost track of how long it had been.” He lost some of his cockiness, as he looked down at his groin. Eight year’s without being able to get a hard on. He glanced up at Willow. She’s pretty, why aren’t I hard now? He swallowed hard. What if I can’t…?


Willow guessed his thoughts. “You’ll be fine. Can take a day or two for your body to…um…remember what’s involved.”


Roger nodded slightly. “Thank God,” he whispered.


“Just be glad that you weren’t captured a couple of years later. Grade Fours are routinely castrated now,” said Willow.


Roger put his hands to his genitals. Fucking hell!


When recent Grade Fours were rescued, Buffy now dusted them as soon as it was established that the surgery had been done. They had learned through experience that the vamps just couldn’t come to terms with it.


“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll tell you what happens from now on,” said Willow, pulling up a chair and sitting facing him.


“Uh, okay,” said Roger quietly, still reflecting on how fortunate he’d been. He inclined his head towards Spike. “What’s wrong with him?”


Willow turned and followed Roger’s gaze, seeing Buffy stroking Spike’s hair as he lay facing the wall. “He was a Grade One. The Initiative wreaks havoc on those. Just don’t go attacking him again, okay?”


Roger nodded but couldn’t help wondering how pathetic a vampire he must have been to be so weak as to be snivelling on his bed like a girl. Where was his demon’s spirit? Roger simply couldn’t comprehend that a vampire could be broken so badly. He’d suffered no real abuse at the hands of his owners aside from the occasional punch when they were showing him off to friends in the early days, and them forgetting to feed him as often as they should. He’d been used as a house keeper – making sure that the house was clean and tidy and sitting in the garage out of the way, once his chores had been completed.


Willow passed him the blood. When she saw him sneer at the training mug she said, “You’ll find it hard to swallow for a couple of days, that’s why it’s in that.”


“Thanks,” said Roger, deciding that he’d better be polite because his wellbeing was in her hands. He couldn’t wait to get to be allowed to walk outside in the night air, going wherever he wanted.


Willow told him what to expect as he slowly sipped the blood.


Over on the other side of the room, Buffy was gently trying to coax Spike into sitting up and taking the blood. He’d stopped shaking but so far had refused to take the blood. She had felt him tense when Roger had asked Willow about him, and so she had kept talking to him and stroking his hair. Eventually, he turned his head and looked up at her face.


“Can you tell me what scared you so badly?” asked Buffy, “Was it Roger grabbing you?”


Spike could see the concern in her eyes and decided to try to tell her. “Being ch…chained made me think of…what…in the other basement.” He couldn’t bring himself to say it. “Then was g…grabbed and I thought…I thought…”


“You thought it was going to happen again,” supplied Buffy.


Spike tear-filled eyes stared up as he as he nodded almost imperceptibly. Buffy tried not to sigh as she realised that Spike’s trust of them was such a tenuous thing – so easily scared away.


“It won’t,” she said firmly. “Now take this blood, it will help you to get your strength back.”


Spike twisted around until he was sitting up and took the mug from her. He sipped at it, refusing to let his demon face show. He was ashamed of his fangs or rather the lack of them, and had no intention of showing them again any time soon.


Buffy sat with him until Willow had finished telling Roger their plans for him. “Oh, Spike it won’t happen again. Ever. Okay. You’re only chained here because you’re still confused and we’re worried that if you got a fright, that you’d run away,” said Buffy softly before leaving the two vampires alone again, and returning upstairs with Willow.



Spike had given her the empty cup and nodded. He tried not to look at the other vampire when the two girls had gone.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Roger sat on his bed and stared at the slumped figure of Spike. He tried not to say anything to him, he really did. But he’d been unable to voice his own thoughts for so long he just couldn’t help himself.


“Hey, Spike,” he called out.


Spike glanced in his direction. “W…what?” He can’t hurt me. He can’t get out.


“So what are you planning on doing when you get out of here? I need to find me a nice bit of vamp ass and have me some fun.”


Spike didn’t say anything. He just hoped that it wasn’t his vamp ass that Roger was talking about.


“What about you – don’t tell me that you got sex when you were with your owners?”


Spike smiled slightly.


“Oh, man, you did! You lucky devil! Come on, tell me about it.” Roger urged.


Spike straightened up. “My owner is…was…Lindsey –”


“Lindsey, eh? Hang on, I’m guessing tall and fair haired – am I right?”


“Um…I guess,” said Spike taken aback by Roger’s enthusiastic interruption. “We did it several times a day.”


Roger rubbed at the crotch of his pants. “Wish this thing would hurry up and wake up! I feel horny just hearing you talk of it. Tell me more!”


Spike could feel that he’d got half hard just thinking about Lindsey. He was glad that talking to someone about it had gotten them all excited. It made him feel more ‘normal’.


Spike leaned forwards a little. “It was the first thing that we did every morning and then I’d wait in the library on campus until lunchtime and we’d do it again in the restroom. Had to be quiet though; there’d be trouble if someone heard.”


Roger sniggered. This sounded much more fun that doing the laundry.


Spike smiled broadly. “Then when we got home, we’d do it again. Most of the time he’d even let me come and loved it when I sucked him off in the shower.”


“What?” yelled Roger, causing Spike to flinch. “He? Him? You poor devil, being made to do it with a man.”


“I…I…wanted to. I wasn’t made to. He l…loved me,” said Spike in a small voice.


Roger grimaced at him, full of homophobic disgust. “Mind you, I suppose you do look a bit like a pretty boy fag.”


“I’m not,” said Spike, not too sure what the word meant, his voice wavering. “It’s just…it was nice.”


“Wouldn’t you rather have a girl suck you off than you suck another guy’s dick?”


Spike didn’t say anything. He couldn’t remember ever having that done to him by a girl, and Lindsey had only done it a few times.


“Don’t the two girls here get you hot?”


Spike just looked at his hands and blinked. He was beginning to realise that he didn’t like Roger very much at all.


“Oh, man; the sooner I’m out of here the better. Don’t want you looking at me and wishing you were giving me a suck job.”


Spike glanced up at that. As if I would. You’re not as handsome as Lindsey.


“Stop looking at me. I’m going to be ramming my dick into a woman and not your ass.”


“Good,” muttered Spike, nearly falling off the cot as suddenly Roger vamped out and growled at him, banging his hands on the bars of the cage.


“You think that I couldn’t do it if I wanted to?” said Roger, irrationally angry at Spike’s apparent rejection. “You’re so weak and haven’t even kept your fangs, man. I could bend you over and split your skinny ass in two any time that I like.”


Flashbacks of being bound in McDonald’s basement and used over and over again ran like a videotape in Spike’s mind. He moaned softly and slid from the bed and he crawled so that he was sitting on the floor near the top of it. The bed masking him from Roger’s view. He put his arms over his head to block out Roger’s voice in the hope that the memories would go away.


~*~*~*~*~*~

Upstairs, Buffy finally got to make the telephone call to Angel. As always, her heart lifted when she heard his voice. She’d always regret that their relationship had been taken away by the damage inflicted by The Initiative.


“Angel, hi,” she said as he picked up the phone.


“Buffy, how are you doing, it’s been…it’s been a while,” replied Angel with a smile in his voice.


“I’m good thanks, keeping busy as ever. I’m calling about one of our newbies.”


“Yeah? What’s the problem?”


“We’ve got a Grade One that’s been really messed with, beyond the usual Initiative stuff,” said Buffy. “Someone did some illegal upgrades on him. His fangs have been pulled…” She heard Angel’s sharp intake of breath at the news. It was something every vampire dreaded happening. “And he’s had drugs running in him permanently that made him feel love for his owner. To top it off, he’s had his memory wiped. He has no sense of identity at all.”


“Damn,” said Angel. “What can I do to help?”


“I’m not sure if you can do anything. It’s just that his name sounded familiar and the only place I can think that I might have heard it is from you,” replied Buffy. “Have you ever known a Spike?”


“Spike?” said Angel in horror. “They got him too? Christ, I didn’t even know that he was in Sunnydale. He dropped off the radar almost four years ago now. I thought that he must have gone back to England.”


“So you know him then.”


“I’m his grandsire, Buffy. We hunted together for years, then I got my soul and we…well, we never really got on that good before that but afterwards, I just couldn’t be around him. He had this fixation about killing Sl…”


“Slayers?” finished Buffy as Angel’s words petered out.


“Um…yeah…sorry,” replied Angel quietly.


“So we know why he was in Sunnydale then,” said Buffy dryly.


“How did you come to get him?”


“Well that’s the thing – he escaped from his owners.”


“How is that possible? That damn chip fires if you so much as think about doing something like that,” said Angel, bitterly.


“Like I said, he’s been worked on – seems his owner was passing him off as a human boyfriend and had Spike’s mind wiped so that he only remembered living with him. He was then used as entertainment by his owner’s father and managed to escape. A mutual friend, Oz, called Willow and we went and got him. But we’re at a total loss of how to deal with him. As soon as we make progress, something happens and he’s terrified again.”


Angel closed his eyes and leant on the wall as he thought of his progeny being abused in this way.


“So he’s been with his owners for what? Three years or so?” asked Angel.


“No, he was only sold at about the same time that you were.”


“But, that means…”


“Yeah, they had a tough time breaking him,” said Buffy.


“I’m not surprised,” replied Angel. “Even as Angelus, I could barely get him to do as he was told – it’s just not in his nature.” Angel let himself slide down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. Poor Spike. He never thought that he’d feel sorry for his most annoying of family, but he knew some of what he’d gone through and could totally relate to him now.


“Well, he’s more than broken now, Angel. We’re seriously considering staking as the most humane thing to do for him.”


“No!” snapped Angel. “Let me see him. Just keep him safe – I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He got to his feet, mind full of things to do before he could get away. Luckily, his second in command, Giles, Buffy’s former Watcher was home and so could oversee things.


“Thanks, Angel” replied Buffy.


She sighed loudly as she hung up the phone. She hoped that Angel would be able to help Spike.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Oz took a deep breath and knocked at the door to Lindsey’s apartment. He wished he was anywhere but here. Lindsey opened the door so quickly that Oz thought that he must have been standing behind it waiting.


“Oz, man, it’s good to see you,” said Lindsey. “Come in.”


Oz followed Lindsey inside. He couldn’t believe how bad Lindsey looked. It was obvious that he’d been crying. Oz stamped down a surge of sympathy. He should be crying. God knows Spike’s cried plenty.


“So what’s going on?” he asked as he sat on the couch and took the offered bottle of beer from Lindsey.


“Like I said – Spike’s left me,” said Lindsey, his voice breaking. “I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t come back. I love him, Oz. I really love him.”


Oz couldn’t believe his ears. How could he love someone and do what he had to them. “I don’t know how you could let him stay behind with your dad,” snapped Oz before he could stop himself. Crap!


“What do you mean?” asked Lindsey in alarm. God, does he know?


“Um…I know that Spike was afraid of your father.”


“How do you know that?” whispered Lindsey.


Ah, not denying it then you fucker. “Spike told me a while ago that he’d made a pass at him when you were at college. I thought that’s why you started bringing him to campus.” Good answer.


“Spike told you?” Spike must have been really afraid if he told Oz. Lindsey bit back a sob. What did I do?


“Yeah, and if he told me, I’m guessing you knew yet you left him behind for the weekend. Do you think Spike might have left because of something that your dad did?”


Lindsey glanced at his friend. He suddenly couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. “I think it has and I don’t think that Spike will ever come home.” He buried his face in his hands.


Oz fidgeted awkwardly, picking at the label on the bottle in his hands. “Um…maybe it’s for the best, yeah? If your dad was a threat – it’s better for Spike not to be here.”


“But I need him, Oz,” wailed Lindsey.


Oz gritted his teeth, got up and sat on the arm of the easy chair that Lindsey sat on. He hesitated for a moment before putting a hand on Lindsey’s back. “Hey, man, it’ll be all right.” He didn’t know what else to say.


Lindsey twisted in the chair, buried his face in his hands and leaned against Oz’s legs.


How the hell did I come to be here for him? I’d rather be with Spike, making sure that he’s okay. Oz thought of Spike lying emotionally broken in Buffy’s basement and had to resist the urge to throw Lindsey off him and kick him across the room for his part in it.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Buffy went down to the basement to check on Spike. She stopped short when she saw that his bed was empty. She saw a foot poking out from behind the bed.


She glared at Roger. “What did you do?” she snarled.


Roger was the picture of innocence. “Me? I said nothing. He just started muttering and then hid on the floor.”


Buffy didn’t believe Roger for a second but now wasn’t the time to do anything about it. “Spike, honey, it’s okay.”


She knelt in front of him. He’d made himself about as small as he could possibly be. Buffy put her hands on his knees. He lifted his eyes to meet hers but she couldn’t hold his gaze. His were just so tortured that it was painful to see. She made a decision. She had to get him out of the basement. It was provoking too many bad memories. Buffy pulled a key from the back pocket of her jeans and unlocked the cuff on Spike’s ankle. She took his left hand in her right.


“Come on.”


“Wh…where?” he said, the fear evident in his voice.


Roger snorted in disgust.


“You can shut up!” snapped Buffy, glaring at the vampire.


Roger opened his mouth to protest then thought better of it.


Buffy tugged on Spike’s hand. “We’re going upstairs. You’ll be more comfortable.”


Spike struggled to his feet, his legs having cramped from being huddled up. He held her hand so tightly that it made her wince but she didn’t say anything, just led him up the wooden steps and into the kitchen. She hoped Angel had meant it when he’d said that he was on his way. She’d have to keep a permanent watch on Spike until he arrived because she was the only one strong enough to restrain him if he decided to attack or flee.


Tbc