Vices of My Blood
Chapter 29
Author's Note: Warnings: Torture, Extreme Language, Sexual Situations, Violence. Spike/Buffy; Angelus/Drusilla
Beta: Tam
Chapter 29
Smith was hyperventilating while Angelus glared at him through demon-yellow eyes. The dark vampire grabbed him by the neck with one huge hand and lifted the small man off the ground. Smith struggled, his legs flailing in the air.
“You dare to take a member of the Aurelian clan? A childe of mine? A mate to an Aurelian member? You’re just a henchman for the Watcher’s council, so I’m sure you have no idea of what the extent of clan wrath can be. After tonight, you never will,” Angelus growled, a feral smile showing his pearly fangs.
As if on cue, Spike struck at Weatherby hard and fast, viciously shredding skin and causing the man to scream in agony as he drank from him. He drained the man and looked around at the clan. Angelus was cruelly feeding on Smith. Buffy and Drusilla had Collins trapped between them.
The vampiress was working her hypnotic mojo on the man before she lashed out with her talon-like nails, slicing his throat. For a touch more morbidity, she held a silver goblet under the stream of blood to catch the thick liquid. Drusilla turned her large dark blue eyes to Spike and smiled seductively before she drank from the goblet. She turned back to Buffy and held out the cup to her childe in an offer to share.
Spike dropped Weatherby’s lifeless body to the ground and walked over to Buffy and Drusilla. He gathered his mate in his arms and kissed her temple, and then turned his head to whisper in her ear.
“You don’t have to take the cup, pet. If you want I can drink it and you can drink from me if you want to be safe. It’s up to you,” Spike said reassuringly.
Buffy’s demon raged at the scent of blood in the air from her clan’s kills. The Slayer wanted to taste the blood of her enemy. However, the human side of her was repelled by the thought of tasting blood that she wasn’t familiar with. She looked up at Spike’s handsome face, now faded into human features, and then back at Drusilla.
Buffy shook her head negatively and Spike took the goblet. He swallowed the contents and turned to his mate, bearing his neck to her. Buffy’s fangs dropped at the invitation and pressed against her mate. Wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug that flushed her body against his, she sank her fangs into her claim marks and sipped at his sweet blood gingerly. This was not a sexual thing; it was feeding from one mate to another.
Spike held her close as she drank from him in small sips. He smiled in gratitude when Drusilla stepped up behind Buffy and combed her fingers gently through the girl’s hair.
“There, there, my sweet childe. Drink from the source and let your radiance shine through to grace your family,” Drusilla cooed softly.
Angelus had stopped feeding on Smith a while ago, but the sight of his childer bonding had floored him. They rarely bonded like this when Darla was around. It still surprised him that Drusilla had accepted the Slayer so easily into their midst. Then again, Drusilla had become more content with Buffy’s company since her convalescence after being shot with Giles’ crossbow. He shook his head to clear it and moved closer to his childer.
Wrapping an arm around Drusilla’s waist, Angelus broke the spell around them. “We’d best hurry. These men were the Council’s lackeys; there will be more where they came from.”
Spike nodded and preceded his Sire out of the building and into the inky black night. “So where is home, Angelus?” he called over his shoulder.
They couldn’t go back to the mansion. The Council would be expecting them to return there. That, and the fact that they’d have to replace a few doors and windows from the Council bounding their way into the place, made this impossible.
“Not thinking of that right now, Will. I’m thinking we come up with a plan to hit them below the belt, and I say we start with Quentin Travers,” Angelus said flatly. He turned to Buffy, “I know it would be asking for a lot, but we need Giles on our side. Once we know the Council is no longer after you, we’ll move on to another city, a bigger city where we’ll go unnoticed.”
Buffy nodded in agreement and followed her grandsire to Spike’s Desoto.
As they drove back through Sunnydale to the Watcher’s house, Drusilla had cradled Buffy’s head against her chest and cooed to her as she would a baby. The Slayer found it oddly comforting. The action didn’t seem out of the ordinary for a vampire to soothe the nerves of a Slayer anymore.
Months ago, Buffy would have staked any vampire but the souled Angel if they even came near her. That day seemed so long ago now. The months seemed like years, they went by so fast. And because of the transformation her body had undergone and the time spent in Drusilla’s company, Buffy didn’t resist when the dark vampiress pulled her closer.
Spike was watching the back seat through the rear view mirror with a half an ear to Angelus’ plans for Quentin Travers. Even as he watched the road, he always blinked back up at the mirror. A blond head rested where Drusilla's chest should have been reflected. Knowing she coddled Buffy like she would Miss Edith seemed surreal.
My two goddesses, Spike thought. He had worshipped them both at one time or another. Drusilla was his Black Goddess, his savior from a dreary Victorian life fraught with scorn from his peers and the woman he thought he loved. When she had killed him that fateful night, it made him feel more alive being reborn as a vampire than anything that had ever occurred in his human existence before then.
Buffy was his Golden Goddess, his savior from the lonely life that a vampire leads from century to century even when surrounded by his clan. If he really thought about it, Drusilla was never his. He only borrowed her from Angelus on occasion. For Drusilla, the hundred years after Angelus was souled were years of waiting for her daddy to return to her. For Spike it was years spent thinking he was in love with her and trying to turn her heart to him.
When Buffy came into his life all those months ago, he knew his life would never be the same again. She was bright and full of life. She was the sunshine in his dark world. She offered something to him last night that Drusilla refused to even give voice to in all the years they were together. Buffy offered to share with him her heart, her love, and her life.
Now, Cecily seemed more of a teenage crush than the girl with whom he had fallen in love only to have her scorn in return. If he had to choose between Buffy and Cecily today, he wouldn’t hesitate in his choice. In the past months Buffy had won his heart and his loyalty. He loved her with every fiber of his being. He blinked back to the rear view mirror and smiled as he saw Buffy dozing.
Angelus sat in the passenger seat next to Spike knowing his boy wasn’t really paying attention to his speech. That was typical of Drusilla’s childe. The boy had tuned him out on a regular basis over their history together. He noticed Spike glancing up at the rear view mirror on occasion and he smiled, knowing he was watching the girls in the back seat.
Angelus couldn’t fault Spike for it, though. He knew the boy was besotted with both women. After all, he had taken care of Drusilla for a hundred years while Angel had struggled with the soul. And Buffy? As much as Angelus would like to repossess her, after the years with Darla bitching about how his preoccupation with Drusilla had cut into her time with him, he was willing to give up Buffy to Spike in order to reclaim his childe.
At the library, Spike and Buffy had entered through the stacks, keeping out of sight in case the Council was still around. They heard voices in common area of the library. When they heard the voices leave and Giles return to his office, they two blonds snuck around the stacks to Giles’ office.
Giles looked up from his research when he heard his door open.
“Buffy! Spike! You shouldn’t be here, the Council are looking everywhere for you!” Giles said apprehensively.
“Giles, we don’t have time. We need to know if you’ll help us. Angelus is planning a way out of this mess, but we need you as an ally,” Buffy said abruptly, cutting Giles off.
“Yes, Buffy, you know I’ll do anything I can, but you have to get out of here. It isn’t safe. They could return at any minute,” Giles said anxiously. “We’ll meet up later.”
Buffy nodded and disappeared with Spike into the stacks. She and Spike walked through the town, keeping to the shadows and biding their time until they felt it was time to have that meeting with Rupert Giles.
Angelus and Drusilla had parted ways with Spike and Buffy and settled into one of the cleaner apartments on the basement level of an abandoned tenement building. While Angelus made the room somewhat habitable, his childe was lost in her own little world. He had found some blankets in the trunk of Spike’s Desoto. Who knew the blond was such a boy scout, always being prepared? He arranged the blankets on a tattered mattress he found in another room, and moved closer to Drusilla.
“How are you, princess? You seem quiet tonight,” Angelus inquired as he wrapped his arms loosely around his progeny.
Drusilla rested her head on her Sire’s shoulder. Her little-girl voice was light and airy when she spoke, “Just tired, Daddy. Princess is so tired, the naughty men tasted of bitter tea and stale crumpets, makes princess' tummy all rumbly.”
“Ah, I’m sorry, love,” Angelus empathized with her. “Come, I’ve made up the bed for you, precious.”
Angelus led her over to the bed and sat down with his back against the wall and tugged her hand to pull her down between his leather-clad legs. He cradled her back against his chest and kissed her temple.
After a few silent moments, Angelus spoke up. “You know, Dru, I was thinking about our situation in the car.” The dark vampire wasn’t much for mushy words. He never had been. He couldn’t wax poetic like Spike over Drusilla’s beauty, or compare her essence to the sweetest wines in the world. All he knew were fisticuffs, torture, and -- when introduced to the vampire world -- to take what he wanted without qualm. How could he tell Drusilla that he wanted her to himself for an eternity? Before he could voice his thoughts, his childe did it for him.
“Miss Edith told me long ago that you would confess your true intent of taking princess from the light,” the vampiress said.
Angelus chuckled against her hair, which was now in disarray from its normally elaborately groomed state. “Did she?”
“Yes. You want to keep princess for your own now and not keep her locked up in an ivory tower anymore. I can dance with the fairies now, and hunt with the other wolves,” Drusilla said with a touch of excitement in her voice.
Angelus hugged her tighter to him. “Yes, princess, you will always be with me. You’ll get to hunt with Spike and Buffy. When this is all over, I’ll show you how much I’ve wanted to reclaim you since leaving you a hundred years ago. When the bad men are gone, we’ll be a family again; you, Buffy, Spike and I. It’ll be like it used to be,” Angelus assured his demented childe.
Drusilla smiled seductively. “Your head is finally full of me,” she said snuggling against her Sire and drifting off.
Angelus kissed her hair and cradled her body against his, waiting for Spike and Buffy to return with news from the Watcher. He really did hope they make it back safe, even for Drusilla’s sake.
Spike and Buffy found a quiet spot in the woods with a perfect view of the moon. It beamed down on Spike’s white-blond hair, casting off his sharp cheekbones and shadowing his indented cheeks. His eyes were a pale blue when they glinted under the light. The spectacle that was her mate made Buffy think of a Roman statue, for Spike’s body was cool, with muscle as hard as marble.
Spike lit a cigarette and pocketed his Zippo before looking over at his mate. “You’re awfully quiet, pet,” he observed.
“I never thought I would ever say this since Angelus kidnapped me, but I hope they are all right and found adequate shelter,” Buffy answered in a worried voice. “The Council is after you and Drusilla and Angelus because of me.”
“That’s not true, pet. The Council is just a bunch of wankers in pressed suits who don’t know what goes on out here in the real world. They get reports and memos; they don’t really give a bloody hell about the Slayer. If you died off -- which you did -- another Slayer is called. They should have had you off their radar once Kendra was called,” Spike told her.
Buffy moved closer to hug Spike. He was her rock, steadfast through all this upheaval that had become her life. She knew he would take care of her in the years to come, help her when she needed it. She needed him as much as she knew he needed her.
Just then Spike’s head turned in the direction of a tiny noise as he heard the muffled sound of someone trying to tip toe over the hardened earth. He pulled Buffy behind a tree and waited for the intruder.
Giles hoped he wasn’t being followed as he approached a grove of trees with caution in every step. He felt like the Council had been spying on him ever since they came to town, which is why he had walked briskly and turned around to look behind him at the slightest sound all the way to his destination. He knew Spike and Buffy wouldn’t have gone far from the school after they had shown up earlier seeking his alliance. This was why he was out here now in the woods, walking carefully so as not to alert anyone to his presence.
“Hello?" Giles called out softly; knowing the vampires would hear him. Suddenly the two blonds melted out of the shadows.
"Giles, is everyone okay? The Council hasn't hurt anyone, have they?" Buffy asked her watcher when she got close enough to him. Her voice was thick with concern. Just knowing what the council was capable of threw her into a state of panic at the thought that they would hurt her friends to get to her.
Giles pulled his glasses off his face, cleaned them, and put them back on. “The only ones they seem intent to do harm to are you and the Order. Although, I am quite confident that if any of us should stand in their way, we would be removed effectively,” he told Buffy.
“We got that, Watcher boy. What we need to know is if you’re on our side should Angelus decide to take them out?” Spike asked, slightly irritated.
“Well, of course, I’m on Buffy’s side. She’s my Slayer,” Giles answered incredulously.
“Where are the Council staying, Giles?” Buffy asked, only too anxious to get her head off the chopping block that the Council seemed intent on using.
“They are staying at the Holiday Inn. Quentin, of course, is in the suite on the top floor. The rest are, as best as I can tell, paired in the rooms on the floor below. They will be warded and there are guards stationed on each floor,” Giles reported.
Spike lit a cigarette. “Well then,” he said taking a drag. “We’ll just have to smoke them out, won’t we?”
Giles gave him a startled look when Spike’s reference finally registered in his brain. Oh, dear Lord. The Aurelian Clan was going to slaughter the entire Watcher’s Council over targeting whom they considered one of their own. “Do you think that’s wise, Spike?”
“They are going to kill Buffy and us, Rupert. I don’t see how us getting them first isn’t wise,” Spike said cryptically.
Spike laced his fingers with Buffy’s and nodded toward Giles before setting off in the direction of his Sire’s scent, leaving the Watcher standing in the grove, absolutely dumbfounded with his thoughts.
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Sunnydale Holiday Inn, Temporary Housing for the Council
“Mr. Travers, sir?” Geoffrey inquired.
“Yes, Geoffrey?” Quentin Travers acknowledged before looking up from the newspaper he was reading to the young man standing before him.
“The perimeter has been secured and wards in place. The building is secure, sir. There is no way for anyone, vampire or otherwise, to enter without our knowledge,” Geoffrey reported to his superior.
“Very good, Geoffrey. Now that we have them on the run, we just need to corner and exterminate them. Once the Order is taken care of, we can concentrate on the Slayer line and making sure that the coming generations of Slayers aren’t as easily influenced,” Quentin said in his dry monotone.