Cretian Escape

A/N: I can't believe. I finally got through. I am having such adultfanfiction withdrawls. How about you? Anyway, I know – finally an update to this story, right? Sorry it has taken so long, but I am working without a beta right now. Isis is just too busy right now having too much fun this summer. : ) So excuse any mistakes. I am trying to catch them the best I can.

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Chapter 9 - Grey

The next night was hunt night, and the starting place was the large ruins of Phaestos. While searching, Spike struck up the conversation that had been on his mind since Angel had landed. “So how does this redemption business go?”

As for himself, Angel was still adjusting to Spike being on the side of good. Accordingly it was just flat creepy hearing him talking about redemption. “To tell the truth, don’t know. Never been issued a manual, so you tell me.”

The blonde vampire took a long drag off of his cigarette. “Way I figure it, gramps,…”

Angel’s eye roll reminded Spike of Dawn. “Don’t make me smack you.”

“Sorry. Way I figure it, Grampa, I did enough goody goods to get resurrected, but the verdict’s still out on the redemption part. Now take your white ass. You’re crystal to the PTB. Human or bust. Shooting for heaven. Me, they can’t suss me out since all this Big Bad’s actions in the last few years, including winning my soul and dieing again to save the world, were my choices. No duty or sacred mission here. Just choice. All positives, but on the negative side, I haven’t been on the winning team long. Consequently, I suspect they still consider me a free agent to keep an eye on.”

Stopping, Angel stood and thought for a moment. Spike looked for smoke to come out of his ears. “Spike, the fact that you were resurrected should tell you that they have at least some confidence in you. Why else drop you down here again to wreck havoc? The way you have been going must be fine with them. Just keep going.”

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The one with a yellow shirt spoke up first. “What we have here is an appetizer for this evening.”

Cordy could hear various noises of agreement between the other five vampires. “Why don’t we keep your fangs to ourselves, guys. Looks like you can use a little dieting anyway.”

Nope, no advice taken. Ok Cordy, how are you getting out of this? Wasn’t like you bought a cross at the market. ‘Yes, I would like a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread and a wooden stake, please.’

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From the shadows, Spike took in the scene as he waited for Angel to get into position. So Angel’s sweet meat found herself a pack of wanna be big bads, did she? Well, let’s let them meet a couple of true big bads.

Spike came up in their front while Angel slipped around to their back undetected. Fools. Stepping up, Spike blew a steady stream of smoke into the face of the closest one, who was the one wearing a bright yellow shirt. He put himself between Cordy and the vampires.

After coughing, Yellow tried not to laugh. “Well if it isn’t the fake Spike of Crete. No easy prey like dogs and cats out here for the likes of you, maggot.”

“Beg to differ, mate. I’ve found exactly what I was looking for.” He blew his next stream into the face of a brunette standing a little farther back. “Now let me get this straight. If I’m the fake Spike,” he nodded his head, indicating behind the minions, “then that must make that bloke the fake Angelus. Big brow, broods, hair sticks up…”

The one closest to Angel made the mistake of speaking first. “You have got to be kid…” Angel snapped his neck before he could say anything else idiotic.

Spike waved his hand and pointed to one of the vampires in the front. “Here now, Grandpa, you made this pansy piss himself.”

Growling for show, Angel stepped up to the next boy, eyeing him closely. “I need more practice if only one wet his pants.”

Cordy was disgusted. “Major league eeewww!”

“My bad, mate, here’s another.” Spike ped ted to Yellow’s pants before reaching up lightening fast and snapping his neck. He shrugged at Angel. “It was my turn.”

Figuring that it must be Angel’s turn now, the other vamps shuffled back away from the tall brunette. Bad planning. Spike killed another with a well aimed stake.

Angel was offended. “Hey, you skipped my turn.”

The one wearing black pointed a finger at Spike. “You must be the traitor hunting vampires.”

Blondie standing next to him disagreed. “No, he is supposed to work alone.”

“No, man, that’s him. See, he just killed Mikhael and Jaques and Julio.”

Angel looked at Spike in question. “What is this? The United Nations?”

Spike shrugged. “Any ol’recruit will do, I guess. I’ve been picking off the dippy buggers, not asking their bleedin’ home stomping ground.”

“Fun?”

“Blast.” Spike’s smile was truly wicked.

Both Spike and Angel moved in closer so that the remaining three were touching in a tight group.

“Ok, which one of you blokes wants to stay undead? Feel free to raise your hand.”

The one with the goatee was the first to speak. “What do I have to do?”

Angel glared. “Spill. I want to know everything, every detail of what your mistress is planning concerning her new prisoner.”

“Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no…”

When the fledgling pulled something from his pocket, Angel grabbed the “oh no” man by the neck, and that something floated out of his hand. Since Angel was still holding the minion, Spike picked up the piece of paper and found himself looking at a picture of…Angel.

“Oh, no” changed the number of words he could use. He looked at his remaining comrades. “Man, he really is Angelus. He looks just like the picture the elders gave us.”

“So if that is the real Angelus, and he called me Spike…that should make me…fill in the blank, kiddies.”

The third that had not spoken until this point in the impromptu meeting of the morons offered an answer. “You’re the…uh…real William the Bloody? But you’re dead.”

“Ding, ding, ding. Give the man a cigar. Course I’m dead, you daft wanker. I’m a vampire. Geez.”

“You’re the one that has been killing your own kind. You have a bounty on your head.”

“Give the man another cigar. And you know what else that means. I don’t let any victims go. So now it’s just a matter of how much we torture you before you get dusted.”

While he had been speaking, Angel had picked up the goatee vamp, held him upside down and shook him. Several more pictures floated to the ground. Giles, Xander, Willow, Dawn, Faith and a few other experienced slayers. After dropping his guest on his head, Angel picked up a few and flashed them to the remaining two vampires before handing them to Spike, who after inspecting them handed them to Cordy for safe keeping. “Care to share with the class? Your master, the new prisoner, and her plans?” Angel was done playing around.

Knowing for sure who they were dealing with now, the three song birds started singing all they knew. A quick death was all they could hope for. Their mistress had the Slayer of Sunnydale and that she was going to put her up for auction in three nights to gain money for her future grand plans. That took Angel and Spike by surprise. Never would they have thought of an auction. Maybe an outside chance some crooked ransom scheme Buffy would not be meant to survive, but they had been guessing that she was just being held until she was killed. But an auction? Spike and Angel had some planning to do. First off, they had to find someone with an invitation to the event and relieve him or her of it. Who would be the lucky demon be that night?

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Vassilious had just come from Argonia’s bed chamber. His mistress had actually invited him to her chamber, actually invited him to make love to her. Ha. What a farce. She stopped long enough from whipping a disobedient member of the clan and had laid on the bed’s edge. He positioned himself between her legs and entered her. She writhed and groaned. He was making her feel good from the looks of it, but it must not have been enough for her. Argonia had called a fledgling over and had the girl straddle her face. Vass couldn’t even see his beloved’s face as she came. He was allowed to come later when she let him remove the cock ring she had insisted upon, but that was little satisfaction for him. Making love to her? The love was from his side only. He had left when Argonia had begun slowly torturing and feeding from a mother and her young son.

After leaving, his only stop was to take a shower, and then he headed to the slayer’s cell to administer her next injection of sedative. The shower wasn’t cleaning up before seeing the slayer, but showering off the scene he had just participated in. Even though he didn’t want to acknowledge it, the gap between his tastes and Argonia was growing wider. He loved her…but…but?

As for the prison cell, at first he had intended to only give an injection or two and satisfy his curiosity about this slayer, but he had gone back and back. His curiosity hadn’t been satisfied. Now that wasn’t quite true. He had satisfied his curiosity regarding Angelus. Now he wanted to hear about William the Bloody, an incredible anomaly to be sure.

For the last couple of injections, Buffy had had guarded conversations with Vassilious since she couldn’t understand his fascinations with her career and with her relationship with Angel. She couldn’t decide if it was sick fascination or what. If she weren’t talking to a vampire, she would have thought that he was just curious. She may be the queen of stupidity sometimes, but she was giving him the benefit of the doubt and continued talking to him.

“So, keeper, I have had my food and my shot. What did you want to talk about this time?”

Before he said anything, with one flick of his wrist, large pillows littered the floor. A vampire that does magic, what a combination, she thought as she settled down on one of the cushions. She was surprised to say the least at his ability and that he had used his ability to add some comfort to her bare cell.

He answered her question without acknowledging his generous gesture, sffy ffy followed his lead. “A topic?” Buffy watched as he stopped pacing and thought a moment more.

“I can understand Angelus changing sides since he was cursed with a soul. But Spike, I don’t pretend to understand. He wasn’t cursed with a soul at first but changed sides regardless.”

A ghost of a smile touched her lips at the thought of Spike. “Did you ever meet him?”

“No, I have just heard odd tales here and there. That’s why I am here tonight. I would like to know first hand about him.”

Buffy looked into the dark brown, almost black eyes of the vampire and surprisingly found no disgust as there had been when they had first started talking about Angel. Instead, she saw interest, plain and simple. “Spike…Spike is…” The slip of verb tense was painful. Spike was gone. She had to take a moment before starting again. “…Spike was Spike. He didn’t fit any niche.” Vassilious could see the pain in her eyes and tears threatening to fall before her gaze glazed over. “What was he like? He was always in motion, brimming with energy, enjoyed violence and didn’t hide the fact, even after he stopped killing humans, but he could also be soft and gentle when he chose. Some people thought he was out in left field, but he watched everything carefully, was an expert at reading people and situations, and would tell you the truth whether you wanted to hear it or not. Overall, he was a pest. A loveable pest but a pest. My pest.”

‘A loveable pest?’ Vassilious thought. ‘More like a gutless pest.’ He studied the slayer’s face. Her expression spoke for her sincerity. “I’ve been told that he fell in love with you before getting his soul. Vampires don’t do that with humans, especially not with slayers.”

“That’s the rule, huh?” Buffy gave a little chuckle and surprised Vassilious with a smile. “Like I said, Spike didn’t follow rules, any rules, not even guidelines. I doubt he even knew there were rules for vampire behavior, and if he did, he didn’t care. His ex-girlfriend…”

“Drusilla.”

“That’s her. Wack-o chick-o. She once told me that vampires could love. I laughed in hers and his face. No way. You guys are demons. Black hearts, dead inside…” Buffy held up her hand when he opened his mouth to interrupt. “…and you especially can’t love because you have no soul. But Spike wouldn’t give up trying to make me believe that he loved me. I would treat him bad, and he would help me when I asked. I would treat him worse, and he would still be there for me. I was too dense to see what was so obvious, but he kept showing me that I was wrong, always hoping that I would finally open my eyes to his feelings.” Buffy felt haunted by Spike’s ghost now. What a fool she had been not to see his love which had been so obvious in deep his gaze. “Then he went so far as win his soul back for me. But the funny part is that now I look back, I know that the soul had nothing to do with him loving me or him trying to improve himself. He, Spike the vampire, loved me, and he was the one making himself a better man. The soul just helped a transformation that had already begun.” She could see his face, the face so many times with blue eyes shining with love for her. What she would give to see that look again and do what she should have done those years ago and appreciate what she saw. Feeling Vassilious’ eyes on her, she tried to shake off the painful memories. “I know you, keeper, can love because every time you speak of Argonia, I can hear your love for that bitch in your voice.” Buffy expected a blow for calling Argonia a bitch, but none came. Instead, he just looked pensive. What’s up with this vamp? Talk about Drusilla being wack-o; this one was close behind.

No, Vassilious didn’t think to hit the slayer. Her words regarding her relationship with Spike was too familiar. His own love had never been accepted by Argonia, but he kept on trying. Too close to home. Surely his feelings for Argonia were not that similar with ones between a slayer and a vampire, were they? “So, little slayer, you must have slept with him before you believed in his love.”

Buffy’s mind traveled back in time to the abandoned house where she had first been intimate with Spike. She would never forget the worshipful look on his face when she had taken his member in her hand and lowered herself down onto him, melding their bodies. “The first time, I slept with him for all the wrong reasons. No, I didn’t believe he loved me. I didn’t love him. I used him, and he let me. Then much later, when I did return his feelings, I didn’t make love with him, not even so much as a kiss, but should have. I lost the chance, and I will always regret never being able to have that chance again.” Her last comment was more to herself than to the vampire sitting with her. Talking about Spike was both pleasure and pain. She had made so many mistakes when it had come to that blonde vampire. The two foremost mistakes were not believing in his love and not letting herself love him.

Slightly confused, he shook his head. “You don’t sound like a slayer as you talk about a demon, soul or no soul.” Vassilious watched a single tear course down her face.

Buffy gave a short laugh. “No, I don’t. See, I’m as original just as much as Spike was. We had that in common, and over time he taught me…” Buffy paused, and Vassilious waited for her to begin again. “He taught me about demons, that they were not all the same. Some good and some evil. Spike taught me that an evil demon can rise above his killer’s nature and that not everything is black and white. Grey is out there, everywhere. Even you are in the grey, keeper. Here you are talking to potential food, not sucking my blood, not torturing. Just having a civil conversation. See. Grey.”

Uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was now heading, Vassilious shifted in his seat. Himself in the grey? He tucked the thought away for later contemplation, and changed the focus back to Spike. “I know that we have already mentioned this, but he fought for a soul for you?”

“Yes, but he was already on the right path through the grey by his own choosing, irregardless of his soul. He stumbled at times but stayed to the path. The soul just helped.” Tilting her head, Buffy studied him. In this vampire, she could see a hint of a man, a man that listens and considers the other side of an argument. “You could learn much from his example.”

“And then we are back to the path of redemption, taking the evil out of the demon.”

“Yes and no. It’s redemption by overcoming the base instincts of the demon inside of you, choosing your own path.” Buffy deliberately made her sentence personal instead of a general statement to see what he would do.

Vassilious paused, thinking before hesitantly shaking his head. “Can’t happen to m…Doesn’t happen.”

His words had a hint of hollowness in his conviction. Yes, this vampire was open minded even to an evil slayer. Buffy smiled. “Try it and see.”

Vass recognized the dare for what it was. “Why?”

“See if I am lying. Go a week without feeding on a human. You can buy blood at a butcher’s. See if you can be more than a killing machine.”

Vassilious ignored her suggestion. “When we talked a previous time, you told me that there was a great difference between soulless Angelus and souled Angel.”

She hid her smile when he abruptly changed the subject. “Night and Day.”

“But Spike?”

“After getting his soul, he was different, but when he adjusted to his soul and received a swift kick in the ass from me, he was the same old Spike. I told you that he didn’t live by rules. Before gaining his soul, he lived beyond his demon, chose what he would become. After you were turned, did you choose what you wanted to be or did you let it be chosen for you? Did one bite on your neck take your choices away?” Buffy watched as Vassilious abruptly stood and turned to leave the room. “Vassilious.” She let out her breath when he actually stopped, but she did note that he didn’t turn back to face her. “Vass, try it just once. Just once help someone with your powers instead of hurting them. See how it feels.” She knew she had been pushing, but for some reason, she felt like he needed the push in a new direction. But she knew better than to push him too far. A new jailer could be way worse than Vassilious had been so far, and she didn’t want to find out how bad another would be.

Vassilious never answered. He told himself that he left because he could tell that she was getting sleepy. He told himself that she wasn’t worthy of any more of his time. What whispered in his inner ear the question, if anything she said could be true? Was he on the path he chose or had he ever made some kind of choice of his own? Spike had made a choice. Good, bad, black, white, grey, he could make a choice, too.

He also didn’t miss the fact that Spike’s one sided love for Buffy was similar to his unrequited love for Argonia. Where Spike eventually won Buffy’s love, Vassilious was beginning to doubt that he would ever win Argonia’s, especially since he had been trying for over a decade with no luck. Blinders off, he wasn’t even sure she could love anyone like he desired.

He thought of the slayer’s challenge last of all. And thought. He wouldn’t tell her, but he had already helped instead of hurt a young girl. She had been brunette, pale blue eyes, and lips that perpetually in a pout. In short, she had reminded him of his sister back when he had been human. Three months ago while he had been in Athens, he had come upon the girl cowering behind an iron gate, with her back to the wall, trying desperately to get away from a werewolf. Vassilious changed, fought and took the werewolf out. When he turned to the girl, she saw him fangs and yellow eyes and finally fainted in fear. Without thinking about what he was doing, he picked her up and headed to a more populated area. Once when he looked down, her head had lolled back and to the side, and he could see the beautiful, pale skin of her neck by the light of the full moon above. He knew he should want to bite her, but he just didn’t. He left her on the steps of a large hotel, assuming a doorman or somebody would find her. On his way back to his hotel, he had pushed aside the feeling of satisfaction about what he had done. He pushed those thoughts back to a cubby hole deep in his mind and locked them away. But now the memory had snuck out and added its voice to the slayer’s.


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TBC