The Grey Area

Part 5: The Melding Room

Spike had one hell of a headache when he felt himself shiver back to consciousness. His skin felt colder than usual, and had that telltale feeling of freshness that indicated he'd recently been cleaned.

Tosser had decided to go ahead and get him washed while he was asleep. Lovely.

Keeping his eyes closed, Spike silently and sightlessly examined himself. There was a slightly weighty chill -- easily recognized as the chain to his collar -- that ran down his back where it was probably locked somewhere nearby. He was naked -- no surprise there. The two things that drew his attention, though, were the fact that the covering on the ground felt like sand, and the rest of his body was unbound.

Spike opened his eyes and found himself staring at thousands of shiny silver grains. Confused, he pressed his palms onto the ground and lifted himself so he was sitting up. He'd seen the inside of a few of the castle's many rooms before, but this wasn't one of them. The grains extended to the walls, casting a multitude of little reflections of light from the electric lamps hanging from the ceiling. More statues made of similar material to the ones he'd seen around the place stood about the large room, mostly of assorted demons. One of a rearing stallion stood closest to him, about halfway across the room, the mouth of it gaped in representation of a whinny. It was a perfect likeness of a horse, right down to the fine hairs that peppered the upper lip.

The large double doors to the room suddenly opened, and Ambrus strode in, closing them behind him. Spike immediately got to his feet, glancing behind himself briefly to see that the chain to the collar ran about five feet to the wall. The only part of his body that hadn't quite healed from his time with the hunters were the soles of his feet. The rest had been mended, which meant he'd slept for at least a day. The blood Ambrus had given him afterwards must have been drugged.

Ambrus had his black hair loosely tied back in a ponytail, and wore white trousers and a black shirt that was open at the chest. His tall boots crunched the grains of the floor together as he came closer.

Spike grit his teeth in anger at the thrill of fear he felt stab in his gut, and moved so his back was against the corner of the room. If the wanker was stupid enough to try and cop a feel while Spike was mostly free, well, Spike had no problems with obliging him the loss of one of his arms. If he just kept on coming closer...

The man stopped well before coming near Spike, taking a cell phone from his pocket and tilting his head as he stared at Spike. "Good. Appears you're lucid." He pushed a few numbers on the key pad, shrugging as he explained. "My brother can have a habit of being overindulging when it comes to mixing and serving his potions." Ambrus lifted the phone to his ear and spoke into the mouthpiece. "Send him in."

Spike felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. So that was it? Let him rest a while before it started all over again? Why the bloody hell was it so important that Ambrus made sure he was bothered at least twice a day?

The memories of the last time flashed in Spike's mind, and he closed his eyes briefly. It was getting worse. He knew it was getting worse. Ambrus was probably breaking him in before he went on to the really heavy stuff.

Spike's mood darkened as he remembered the lewd comments made by the faceless hunters after they'd all had their fill of him. Ambrus had left him on the floor after the they had left, just staring at him with the silver globe while he curled up and ached with emotion at his helplessness.

That silver globe that Ambrus held the entire time most likely held some magical properties, he knew. But the entire place stunk so heavily of magic -- much of it the black kind. His senses couldn't tell where the danger was now because danger was all around. It'd probably take even Willow a good day or three just to figure out how many spells had been used in any single section of the castle.

The double doors opened again and a tall, burly M'Fashnik demon stepped into the room. Spike straightened, glancing at Ambrus, clearing his throat. "What's this, then?"

"Something new." Ambrus said simply.

The M'Fashnik took one look at Spike and started chuckling, making a show of its flexing muscles and larger body, giving no sign that it planned to do anything but simply walk up to and beat Spike senseless.

Spike stood with his back against the wall, his hands clenched at his sides. He was tired of unwanted touches and abuse and was going to be damned if he let this M'Fashnik have an easy time. His fingers were itching with the desire to rend and kill, and he felt a snarl building in his chest. Just because he had a soul, didn't mean the name William the Bloody didn't still apply to him.

He let the demon get close, let it draw back for a swing, before vamping with a roar and lunging. He caught a glimpse of eyes widened in surprise before Spike grabbed the fist aimed at him with one hand and crushed the M'Fashnik's nose with the other. The demon grunted and reeled against the wall, dazed from the attack from what it likely thought was a helpless little vampire.

I'll show you helpless, Spike thought angrily as he moved until he was standing over the stunned demon, letting his frustration and rage from the whole fucking hellish situation channel through his actions until he found himself pounding repeatedly and savagely on what was quickly becoming a bloody pulp. Even after the body went limp, Spike continued beating on it, ignoring the horns cutting his knuckles, his fangs bared and his eyes clouded in a red haze that was a result of more than just the blood splattered below him.

Finally, when the face felt like it didn't have any bones left worth breaking, Spike turned, hands dripping blood, and snarled at Ambrus.

The man's eyebrows were raised in surprise. "Impressive."

Spike curled his lip to expose more fang. "Come closer and I'll give you the first hand experience."

Ambrus was infuriatingly unfazed as he smiled. "Why, Spike, I've taken the liberty of giving you a compliment, but you've not even said one thing about what you think of my own work." Ambrus took a few steps forward, folding his arms as he indicated the statues with a nod. "Beautiful, aren't they? Unfortunately, they're not up to spec with my usual masterpieces. They'll have to be melted down. But they're nice to look at while they're here."

Spike, who had been focused on the man's movements, quickly lunged at Ambrus. The chain on his collar snapped tight six feet from Ambrus's position, but he reached out and attempted to claw him anyway. When his reach fell short, Spike felt his frustration pour out of him in a snarl.

Ambrus took another step forward, obviously ensuring he was still out of the vampire's reach. "Do you, in the time you've gotten to know me, actually believe I would not have known the boundaries of danger?"

Spike only growled softly with every exhale, like a subdued lion. When he got his hands on this man he was going to literally rend him limb from limb.

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Spike." Ambrus continued. "You have no idea as to the extent of my power over you. I'm not some foolish man who thought it would be fun to have a vampire for a pet."

"’M no man's pet," Spike spat, giving one more mighty jerk on the chain.

It snapped.


----------


Suddenly free, only pausing momentarily in surprised confusion, Spike came at Ambrus with obvious intent to kill.

What the vampire likely did not expect was to be pulled down to his knees in the next instant by metallic tendrils writhing up from the grains on the floor. Snarling, Spike clawed at the tendrils as they wrapped around his legs for a second more before they solidified.

Ambrus laughed a little at the look of shock on Spike's face as he grunted and pulled against the metal holding him to the floor, swearing when he couldn't budge.

"What did you do to me?" he demanded, his voice tight with strain and growing fear.

Ambrus willed more metal up to wrap around Spike's wrists, sliding up and around his arms and chest, squeezing around him until he couldn't move an inch. Spike's nostrils flared as he breathed shallowly through his nose, his yellow eyes frantically looking from Ambrus to the metal.

Ambrus came forward and kneeled down before the restrained vampire. "As you can see, Spike, I have a very special talent. I can move metals along surfaces, change their shape, their malleability. I purposefully weakened a link on that chain you broke -- that is why you were able to come free. Because I willed it so. Pure, unmagicked metals are easier to control, but I can make all bend eventually. And these statues?" Ambrus smirked. "Well, let's just say I didn't make them from scratch."

So saying, Ambrus closed his eyes and concentrated hard, feeling as the metal around one of the posing statues began to fall away. He opened his eyes, turning to watch as the metal covering the horse statue began to fall away revealing the limp head and glassy eyes of a dead stallion. As the rest of the metal slid off the front hooves, they fell limp and its body leaned forward, crashing to the sand after being fully released. Ambrus looked back at Spike, who was not even attempting to hide his fear now as he realized the implication of what he saw.

Ambrus intended to spell it out for him, just the same. "Poor dear was alive when I started. I can't have the metal lift them into a good position -- it's much easier to let them rear up themselves before I cover them. More natural that way."

Where Spike's skin was exposed through the cording material trapping him, Ambrus could see the muscles bunch and quiver as the vampire tried desperately to break free.

"Now now, settle down. You're not going anywhere until we get a few things straight." He said, and a few tendrils slid up to grab Spike’s forehead, forcing the vampire to face him. “I really don’t intend to incorporate this sort of thing into our...'activities,' because frankly, the concentration needed is tiring and saps the pleasure I might get from our time together. But I wanted to let you know that I can and will use it for other purposes. And I’m capable of more than this, Spike.” Ambrus trailed his hand up over skin and metal, stroking his fingers lightly over Spike's collarbone and up to the vampire's trembling, clenched jaw. “I can make you an undead statue.” He made the metal around Spike tighten to punctuate his point, and the vampire's eyes creased at the edges in pain as he gasped through gritted teeth. “I could cover every part of your body, have the metal mold into your skin so completely that it sank into even your pores...and leave you like that. Not able to move, to breathe, to die. Well, perhaps move, eventually. If you thinned out enough from starvation.” Ambrus sent more tendrils up to stroke along Spike’s lower back, before they began dipping down and searching for the one place Ambrus had not yet touched. “And I could hurt you...”

The tendrils twined together into a thin cord and nudged against Spike’s opening. The vampire cried out as his fear finally overtook him. “No!” He might have jerked, had he not been so firmly held. “Stop--”

“Ssshhh...” And Spike could say no more as his mouth was invaded by metal, his tongue pressed down ruthlessly as it coiled and hardened. “There there, sweet one.”

The lower tendrils pushed past the vampire’s meager resistance, entering his most personal parts, undulating inside his body. Spike gave a gagging gasp as he was penetrated, shutting his eyes tightly. Ambrus allowed him to feel the metal simply sit inside him for a few more moments, watching Spike as he still strained, working his mouth around the metallic intrusion, trying in vain to pull free.

Ambrus reached out to gently wipe away the sweat from Spike's forehead, waiting for the vampire to open his eyes again before he made one edge of the metal inside Spike's inner walls sharpen and solidify. Very slowly, he began to press the blade-like edge against them.

Spike began to scream.

Ambrus kept his eyes locked on Spike as he continued to press the metal into flesh, millimeter by millimeter, unfazed by the vampire's distress. He waited until the cry choked off before allowing the metal to go soft, letting it slip from the vampire's body completely. The cords constraining Spike began to go limp and sand-like once more, crumbling down and releasing their prisoner. Spike fell forward onto his hands, panting loudly, his eyes closed again.

Ambrus slowly got to his feet, staring at the downed creature. He himself had no intention to directly hurt Spike -- now or ever. But he wanted to make the vampire understand that he was capable of doing so, to prepare his pet for what was to come. And judging by the way Spike’s shoulders would not stop shaking, he’d managed to make his point.

“Every weekend I invite some of the most prestigious of the demon community to dinner. You will be present for the next one and each one after. Consider this also as your first day of practice. I've been waiting for the chance to have someone such as yourself with whom I can be more open with my designs." Ambrus tilted his head, clasping his hands before him. "I invited Angel to the next dinner, but he declined due to previous engagements concerning business at Wolfram and Hart." Ambrus allowed a beat to pass. "Or maybe it's just that he doesn't really want to see you so soon after having finally gotten rid of you."

Spike glanced up at him, his eyes watery, his brow creased, his expression a mixture of terror and raging hatred. The angry expletives that he tended to spout after every mention of Angel's instigation of his captivity were absent, but Ambrus could see that he still couldn't bring himself to believe that the older vampire had been behind all this.

Ambrus was confident that as soon as Angel had a free opening in his schedule, he would remove all doubt from Spike's mind.

“You’ll be staying in here, tonight. I’m going to go get you some more blood -- and pillows. I‘ll also have some ointment and a cloth to treat your wound. I don‘t think I cut too deeply, but it‘ll help dim the pain a little.” He paused. “I’ll leave you free, but I don’t want to hear any protests.”

Spike didn’t reply, just bowed his head again and continued to go through calming breaths, still in shock from what he’d just experienced.

Ambrus turned to gaze at the corpse of the horse for a moment. “I’ll have someone come up and get rid of that, as well. Go ahead and get yourself settled in until then.”

So saying, Ambrus began to walk towards the open doors, stepping through them and shutting them behind him, and willing tendrils of metal to crawl up and over their surface to make it clear to Spike that even though he was free of bonds, there would be no escape.