The Highlander Factor

It was dark in the underground parking lot; it stank of petrol fumes and hot metal, and he could hear the faint ping ping of engines cooling. The piece of two by four was a comfortable weight in his hand, and there was the sweet taste of impending violence in his mouth. A tall figure entered through the internal door, and he swung out with the bludgeon, catching them a glancing blow on the back of the head. As the body fell it slowed as if the air was supporting it and he saw as it changed, me sme smaller, slighter, and more human. By the time it hit the ground it was no longer Angelus but Cordelia who was lying at his feet, her skull stove in and smashed, blood pooling darkly on the concrete. With an anguished cry he dropped to his knees and reached for her, careless of the damp stickiness that covered his hands as he tried to piece her head back together.

"I wouldn't bother." Cordelia's voice came from behind him and he looked around in confusion searching for the source. There was a faint glow in the corner of the lot, and as he watched it got brighter and brighter until, with a flash, it disappeared leaving behind the figure of a human woman, Cordelia. But not the one he knew, not the dark haired girl that was dead on the ground, this Cordelia was the voluptuous woman she had always promised to be, her hair blonder and short, cut in a bob which framed her beautiful face.

"It looks like I'm dead already and can I just say - eww. That is horrible. Get your hand out of my brains." Spike glanced back at his hands, then stood and wiped them on his jeans leaving smears of grey matter and bloody tissue on the black denim. The woman stood beside him now, looking down at her body.

"What possessed me to do that with my hair, it looks awful."

"I thought it was great, though I like what you've done with it since." As the spirit seemed quite happy to talk to him, Spike didn't see why he shouldn't talk back. After all it was his dream.

"And you should offer an opinion on hair care, bleach boy? I don't think so." They stood together staring at the corpse until it shimmered and disappeared, and Cordy somewhat philosophically said, "It would have happened just like that anyway."

"Huh?"

"The whole, head exploding, brains all over the place. The visions would have done that if they hadn't have made me part demon."

Visions? Cordelia a half-demon? This was a strange dream and he said so.

"This isn't a dream. Well actually it is, but I'm not. I'm real, just like I was on the beach, but this way I get to stay a little longer."

It took a couple of moments for that to sink in and when it did Spike couldn't resist commenting. "About that. You could have said something. Would have saved us the effort of pulling him up, plus a goodly amount of pain in my case."

"Oh and I felt nothing I suppose. What is it with you soul-ed vampires? Why is it always about you and your suffering, never a thought for what anyone else is going through to help?" Cordy's tongue may be as sharp as it always was, but Spike could see the pain on her face as she spoke about Angel and it was horribly familiar, he'd seen it in Buffy's eyes too often to be mistaken.

"You love him." When she didn't answer he continued with disgust, "What is it about Aus tus that makes all the girls fall for him? Even back in the day it was the same story. A couple of words in that stupid accent and they'd be swooning at his feet."

"He's come a long way since this," Cordelia indicated the darkened lot, "He's changed, grown and, whatever his faults, he didn't deserve what happened."

"And I did?"

"I don't know, let's see shall we." The scene shifted to a London alley he was very familiar with, and Angelus' voice berating Dru filled his ears.

"For God's sake girl, he's a blithering idiot, you can't mean to turn him."

There was a petulant tone in Dru's voice when she answered. "But Daddy, you said I could choose and he's my knight."

Darla spoke from further away and Spike could just make her out through the darkness of the dream. "Whatever you are going to do Angelus, hurry up. It will be dawn in an hour."

The vampires stood over his body - no, William's body - and Spike realised this would be when he found out the truth, once and for all. Which one of them had actually turned him? He'd never been certain, they tended to shift responsibility depending on who was most annoyed with him at any one time.

"So it began." Cordy's voice cut in and the scene faded.

"Bloody hell no, go back! I want to know which one oem dem did it!"

There was a smug look on Cordelia's face at his protest and it became superior as she answered. "Some things are better left unknown, and I think we should let it rest at that."

Spike's curse at her arrogance was swallowed as the darkness faded to reveal the location of his first massacre, then his second; the images picked out in vivid Technicolor, and illustrated with surround sound, and full sensory feedback, each human face imprinting its screa sel self onto his mind. It was like the dreams he'd had before only ten times, a hundred times worse, over in minutes yet lasting for hours, it left him sickened beyond rationality and terrified. There was no coming back from what he had done, what he had been and still was, no hope, and no redemption. No god or power would lower itself to offer comfort to such a creature.

At last, fighting for control, he managed to gasp out, "Enough. You've made your point. I deserved it, all of it, and more."

The world stopped turning and settled until he could make out a bedroom that he vaguely recognised.

"But then everything changed, didn't it." Cordelia was still beside him, her face unreadable.

Willow was sat in the bed a horrified look on her face and Spike finally placed what he was seeing. "Hey, this is after I got away from the soldiers. The first time the chip worked. Why are we here?"

"What would you have done if the chip hadn't worked?"

"Killed her. Turned her probably, she was a sweet one then. Still is I guess, but chock full of magic and more than a bit scary."

"What about now?" This conversation was obviously going somewhere and Spike wished he could work out where. It was something like having a discussion with Darla, when you knew everything you said just got you inore ore trouble but couldn't work out how to stop it.

"Now? I wouldn't kill her, for sure. Don't need any more deaths on my conscience; you might have noticed that."

"Can you be certain? How hungry would you have to be? Or, if not kill her, how desperate for a woman before you raped her?"

"Oh, Jesus, no." The scene shifted again to Buffy's bathroom and he saw the image that had burned itself into his brain, the reason behind his quest for the soul; Buffy screaming on the floor with him on top of her, tearing at her clothes, forcing himself on her. With a choked sob, Spike dropped to his knees. "Stop, please stop. I don't want to see this, please."

The image froze and Cordelia walked into it, squatting down next to the figures in their grotesque embrace. "I see no demon, Spike. Do you think Buffy noticed, that not once during the whole time you were with her, doing those things to her, corrupting her, not once did your demon show his face.

"Does she know? Does she realise that it wasn't the demon? You could have bitten her, couldn't you? Killed yourself another Slayer, but you didn't. And why? Because it wasn't the demon, was it Spike?" She ignored the sobs coming from the creature on the ground and continued. "It was you, wasn't it, William. The man, not the demon, who wanted her, who dragged her down to his level."

"Not. My. Fault!" Spike yelled at her, trying to hide his face from the semblance of his attempted rape. "You have no idea what they did to me, what they turned me into! I had no choice, no choice at all. It was that or die." His voice had subsided to a whispered sob.

But Cordelia did not relent. "Then you should have died. I don't care what they did, how they abused you or changed you. There is no excuse for what you did here, never an excuse for the victim to become the abuser. And those worthless bits of light they've put into you, how long will that stop you? How long before you do it again to some other poor girl? There's only one thing that ever controlled you and you know it."

He was reduced to shaking on the ground, trying to deny what she said despite the evidence before him.

"T-the chip. But it doesn't work. The soul..."

"I know." Cordelia voice was quiet now and Spike could feel her close to him. "That's why you must give it up. Give it back to Angel where it belongs."

*~*~*~*

W

Wesley passed a slightly shaking hand over the sleeping vampire's face. He'd been woken by the distressed cries from thvingving room, and had gone through only to find Spike trapped in some terrible nightmare, mumbling incoherently as he thrashed about on the couch. Trying to stir him hadn't helped, the vampire refused to rouse, so Wesley sat near him offering what comfort he could and waiting for him to wake up.

With a final shout, Spike's eyes flipped open andlaunlaunched himself off his makeshift bed landing in a huddle near the front door. "Fuck, no!"

Wesley approached him cautiously, calling his name until he saw the light of recognition in Spike's eyes. "You okay?"

The vampire was shaking his head and Wesley could make out some of the words. "No, she can't ask me to...she did. How can she? For him, of all people. I owe him nothing, nothing! Shit, Wes, what am I going to do?"

Looking at the state of the figure is fis feet, Wesley offered the only helpful suggestion he could think of, "Go and get washed up while I make a coffee,n wen we'll talk about it."

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

"Let me get this straight." They were both back on the couch with coffee and a cleaner, slighter calmer Spike. "She wants you to give up your soul, so Angel can get his back. Why?"

"Apparently the Powers that like to totally bollocks everyone's life up, only want one vampire with a soul. There's only one in the prophecies and they don't like inconsistencieo who when I got mine back, Angel lost his, hence our nasty visitation from Angelus."

"So why didn't the Powers just take your soul away?"

"'Cos they don't care who their champion is, so long as there is one. Angel or me will do just as well." Spike was seriously wondering whether smoking in here was permissible. Surely he couldn't really be held responsible for second hand smoking deaths, could he?

"And Cordelia doesn't like this idea."

"She thinks Angel deserves another chance. It wasn't his fault this time and she reckons she knows a way of swapping the soul back over."

"Which would leave you a soulless creaturain.ain." Wesley found he was sad at the thought. Granted it would get rid of Angelus, but Angel hadn't proved to be that reliable even with his soul.

"But I've still got the chip. Wouldn't be able to kill or hurt anyone. Not exactly the same thing, but better than Angelus."

"I don't know, Spike. It's not a decision anyone can make but you. I'll listen, be your sounding board, but in the end this is your decision to make."

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

"Leave - her - alone." Dawn spoke through gritted teeth to the vampire who was unchaining Willow from the wall. Every time they took her away she came back a little worse, paler with more bites covering her arms and neck, her eyes wilder when she came round, unable to do anything but whimper around the gag in her mouth. It didn't make sense that she wasn't dead, if vampires fed off you, didn't you automatically die, except if you were Buffy or Riley, or she realised, anyone that they didn't want to kill. But why would they want to keep Willow alive? What could they hope to get from her? And why did they keep taking her away? And where was Angel?

Her head buzzed with unanswered questions as she pieced together what had happened. The weekend had been as good as Angel had promised, with shopping trips and movies; he'd even put them up in a good hotel, because building work at The Hyperion meant there were no rooms for them to use. It was only the calls from his friends that took him away from them, like the one that had come just as he dropped them at the bus station.

It was there that the vampires had struck, when they thought they were safely on their way home, and she remembered nothing more until she woke in the dank darkness of her prison. Desperately she yanked on the chain which held her to the wall, trying to draw her captors' attention away from Willow but the vampires ignored her, unchaining her friend, and dragging her out of the door too quickly for Dawn to see what was on the other side.

Left alone in the impenetrable darkness of the cell, she searched for some scrap of light, some comfort to hold on to before the noises began, as they had last time and the time before that. There was nothing. She closed her eyes, then opened them again, it made no difference just like before. With the first scream Dawn grabbed the chain that bound her to the wall and started counting the links, there were still thirty from the manacle on her left ankle to the wall just like the last time. But she continued to count and then recount, in twos, in fours, her fingers tracing the connections, counting the raised welds they found there, counting the scabs on her arms, the beating of her heart as it raced in her throat. Anything to block out the sounds that the thick walls did nothing to conceal.

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

The new, catering sized coffee maker burbled happily on the reception desk, as chairs were rescued from various parts of the hotel and dragged into the lobby ready for what promised to be an all night meeting. It had taken thirty-six hours to get Faith released from jail, something of a record even for Wolfram and Hart, and they were expecting her at any moment. The whole gang wanted to be sure that nothing antagonised their newest member, an annoyed potentially psychotic Slayer didn't appeal to anyone.

As it turned out psychotic was not an issue; rather it was Faith's declaration that she would no longer slay that became the problem.

"Are any of you listening here? I said, I won't do it. I won't kill another innocent, and being as how dusting Angelus means Angel dies, it's not going to happen." The Slayer's face was as adamant as her declaration and the group erupted around her in loud protests.

From his seat away from the rest of the group Spike watched silently. This possibility hadn't occurred to him, it should have been a quick in and out; the whole gang loads up with weapons, invades the black hats' lair, takes out Angelus and rescues the damsels in distress, then home in time for tea, figuratively speaking. Now this, a fucking Slayer that won't fucking slay and whose head was all this going to fall on, he knew exactly.

"So don't kill him." His words dropped into the maelstrom like a drop of oil, and moments later you could have heard a pin drop in the lobby as they were absorbed and digested. Wesley met his eyes and an unspoken acknowledgement of his decision passed between them.

Gunn was up and in Spike's face poking him in the chest as he spoke. "What the hell do you mean, man? That vamp is getting dusted and if the damn Slayer won't do it, I will."

Spike grabbed the human round the throat, not hard enough to crush his windpipe but sufficient to make his point, and shifted into game fac"You"You'll have to come through me first."

"That can be arranged." Gunn's voice was hoarse as he forced the words out past the grip on his throat, but he released a stake from his jacket and held it, pressed firmly against Spike's chest.

A stern English voice and hands on the combatants' arms were the only things that stopped the situation deteriorating still further. "Let us at least listen to what he has to say, Charles. Of all of us, he is the one who is most within his rights to kill Angelus this time."

Despite the intercession, the two held each other's gaze, neither willing to be the first to back down from the Mexican stand-off, the fangs and crushing grip neatly matched by the stake.

"Hey, fellas, back off unless you both want your asses kicked." Fa's h's hands closed round their respective wrists squeezing uncompromisingly until the pair had no choice but to capitulate. Gunn dropped the stake with a controlled flinch, and Spike released his hold on the man's throat immediately after, rubbing his wrist when Faith let go.

"Finished? Both happy you've got the biggest wrinkles?" When both vampire and human refused to meet her eyes and continued to glare at each other, the Slayer pushed them apart and stood between them.

"Goddamn. There is so much testosterone in here I think I'm gonna puke. You, wannabe," She grabbed the front of Gunn's jacket and dragged him easily towards her. "Go and sit down before I throw you down."

Impressed by her casual display of strength, Gunn shot backwards towards Fred and sat in his seat, watching as Faith turned her attentions on the vampire. Words were unnecessary as the Slayer stared at Spike until he too sat down. Only then did she deign to speak.
"You"You, talk and make it quick. I need to know what our options are."

"Fine. You want it fast? Don't kill him. Give him his soul back. That's it."

The group erupted again until Faith bellowed over the noise, finally losing her temper, and allowing the girl Wesley was far more familiar with to emerge. "Will you lot shut the fuck up? And you!"

Faith threw herself at the vampire and straddled his lap. From where he was across the room, Wesley could see as her hand snaked between her legs, and Spike suddenly went very still as she lent forward to whisper in his ear. With a nervous swallow he nodded and the Slayer released him, standing slowly and deliberately, patting him on the cheek before she walked away.

The assembly sat in intimidated silence and watched her until she sat down, then turned their collective attention back to the vampire, who cleared his throat and shot a quick look at Wesley before speaking again.

"I had a dream and Cordelia told me some stuff. If we catch Angelus and bring him here, she thinks she can give him his soul back."

Fred jumped in before anyone else could speak. "She does? Oh, that would be just wonderful. And then Faith wouldn't have to kill him, and Angel would be home, and Connor would have his father back, and everyone would be happy."

By sheer coincidence, Wesley happened to be staring at Connor and Justine when Spike and Fred spoke, and so witnessed their shocked expressions and the concerned look they exchanged. It raised questions he wasn't sure he wanted to explore immediately, but he filed the information away, ready to confront the pair when the opportunity presented itself. Firstly, however, he wanted everyone to be clear on just what Spike was suggesting.

"That wasn't everything, was it?"

The glare he got from the vampire spoke volumes, but he wasn't about to let this slide past without a total disclosure about the full cost to one of their group. "Tell them, Spike, exactly what you told me."

When the tale was done there was more discussion, most of which centred on the logistics of capturing Angelus, only Faith and Wesley seemed at all concerned at the possible impact their plan would have on the donator of the soul. Leaving the others to talk tactics, the three withdrew to the office under the pretence of contacting Buffy to keep her up to speed with proceedings. While Wesley phoned, Faith leaned against the desk and spoke quietly to the vampire that sat, his elbows on the desk, with his head in his hands.

"You okay with this?" She was shocked when he looked up. It had been a long time since she'd seen an expression like the one on Spike's face. In fact it was about two and a half years ago, when she had seen herself in the mirror before giving herself up to the police.

"Don't have much choice, do I? You won't kill Angelus 'cos it means killing Angel, everyone else wants Angel back and, bottom line is there's still the chip to stop me hurting anyone. So I give up the soul and everything's peachy."

"Except you." Faith wasn't fooled by the dry laugh that followed her comment or the vampire's careless words.

"Nah, soul's so new I've still got the chafe marks. And if redemption goes out of the window, I never was cut out to be a white hat anyway."

Wesley slammed the phone down after hearing his remark, luckily he had already finished his conversation. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean? Don't put yourself down Spike. They," he indicated the others still talking in the lobby, "just want Angel back and hang the consequences to anyone else."

He was beyond angry. Granted Spike was new to their group and hadn't exactly been a restful addition but still, the callous way in which the vampire's upcoming sacrifice was greeted when compared to the joy at the possible return of Angel filled him with horror. He wondered what their reaction would have been if Cordelia had offered to chip Angelus instead, he would lay money they wouldn't consider that a fair exchange.

"Come on, mate. No bad feelings. It's gotta be done so let's work out how to do it." Spike turned to more important things than his own pain and talked his way through the difficulties of containing Angelus while Cordelia did the exchange.

"The main problem's going to be catching him and getting Red and Nibblet out from under his nose. Any ideas?" He looked askance at Faith, who shook her head. Strategy was never her strong suit; she preferred the doing to the thinking.

"I have some ideas if we could get close enough to him. Some spells which may incapacitate a vampire if spoken within their hearing." Wesley started looking at the shelves before remembering that all his texts were at home, banished from Angel's presence just like himself.

Spike shook his head. "No good. Put me out of action just as quickly as Angelus. Anything else?"

"How close can you get?"

The vampire looked shifty and Wesley was reminded of the conversation that had never taken place on Monday evening.

" I can get close, very close, but it would be risky and you're going to have to give me a good reason to do it."

"Touching distance?" The seeds of an idea were starting to form in Wesley's mind, but bookbook he needed was back at the apartment.

"Yeah."

He grabbed a notepad and jotted down several book titles then fished for his keys and handed them over. "Take my car and get these from the apartment." As the vampire disappeared out of the door Wesley turned to Faith. "We need to talk, urgently. I think we may have a serious problem with Connor and Justine."