Spike stormed out of the motel room and headed down the street, blind with rage. A Slayer. She was a thrice-damned Slayer!
How was this possible? Why wouldn't a Slayer, like any other human, become a typical vampire?
Suddenly, he stopped walking and smacked himself on the forehead, angry at himself for being so obtuse. Of course! Why hadn't he made the connection? Too scrambled by lust every time he saw her to wonder about the differences. True, *she* hadn't been a vampire for very long and he had quickly relegated her to the back of his mind, but still...she had been "different", not a typical vampire, and Lily's own differences should have brought the memory back and the possibility to the fore.
As he returned to walking down the nearly deserted streets of Sunnydale, his mind flew back over a century to Italy. To Evangelina...
*****
Despite his youth, Spike had always been considered a powerful vampire, primarily because he used his brain. He had killed four Slayers in his two hundred year long life. This was unusual because Slayers tended to be killed by vampires of much greater age, thus, much greater strength and endurance.
The first Slayer he disposed of--a French peasant girl in 1851--hadn't been much of a challenge. Young, still inexperienced, she stumbled across his path as he fed on a whore on the banks of the Seine. She attacked him with a stake and he wondered if she was the Slayer--he had only heard of them, never met one. Energized with blood, he quickly subdued her and snapped her neck before feeding on her. The vitality of her blood surprised him, but it was only later, when talking with other vampires in Paris, that he learned for certain that she had been a Slayer.
Thirty five years later, in a small village in the Italian Alps, it had been different.
*****
Spike had been hanging around the region for nearly two weeks, feeding on goat herders and peasant children. He knew he only had a few more days before the villagers got past their fearful superstition and began to hunt him, but for now, he was content to say in his lair--a secluded cave, high on the side of a mountain.
He had two weeks before he needed to catch a ship back to England to meet Drusilla and Angel. They had wanted to go play in Russia; he hated how dreary Russia could be and desired a more festive atmosphere. So, as they had done several times during the past decade, they had split up for a few months. Spike knew he would always return to Drusilla-- their time apart always made their love for each other stronger. If he had to tolerate his sire to be with her, he would do so.
Spike first saw Evangelina on a clear, moon lit night, as she carefully made her way up the side of the mountain. He immediately knew that she was a stranger--her clothes were too rich--but, surely the villagers would have warned her not to wander around at night.
Well, too bad for her. Spike struck quickly, planning on draining her and tossing her body into a nearby ravine, but she fought back. A cross sent him stumbling backwards and he was barely able to deflect the stake she thrust at his heart. A Slayer?
As they struggled, rolling on the ground, Spike grinned to himself. At least this one was a challenge. She fought in silence, trying again and again to stake him, but Spike was a clever fighter and used her strength against her.
Finally, the battle was over. Spike had her pinned to the ground. She cursed him in Italian, calling him a demon, telling him that if he killed her, another would be called. Tired of her venom, he struck her several times until she lay quiet, panting in pain and fear.
Then, he asked her name. A little surprised, she told him her name was Evangelina.
As Spike watched her, he knew what he wanted. He had made only a few vampires over the years--he was very discerning. During his travels he had seen too many stupid, young vampires and had decided early on that he wasn't going to be responsible for any of those. But, this girl...She had intelligence, strength, will--lousy qualities in a human sheep, but impressive qualities for a vampire.
As he lowered his mouth to her neck he ignored her prayers to God to protect her soul. When he was done with her, she wouldn't have a soul to worry about.
Spike bit her and drained her nearly to the point of death. When he slit his wrist and held it to her mouth, Evangelina did not have the strength to prevent his blood dripping into her. Gently he caressed her throat, forcing her to swallow. In a matter of minutes she was dead and Spike picked her up and carried her to the cave.
Spike awakened at dusk the next night, eager for his new companion to awaken and join him. Intelligent vampires could be extremely wicked and he loved that quality in females--it was one reason he loved Drusilla. Under his tutelage Evangelina would become a marvelously evil demon.
Suddenly, Evangelina's eyes popped open and she sat up. Disoriented, she shook her head and tried to stand, only to end up on her knees, shaking from weakness. "What happened to me?" she asked in Italian, looking up at him.
"What do you think, sweet?"
"I'm...hungry," she replied in a confused tone of voice.
Spike reached down and helped her to her feet. "Well, let's go hunting then."
Spike was startled when Evangelina pulled away from him. "I remember you," she said, frightened. "You're a vampire."
"And now, so are you," he said patiently.
She shook her head in denial, hugging herself. "Why? Why did you do this? To punish me?"
"No. I thought you would make a good vampire. I'm beginning to wonder about that." Spike was losing his patience. The few other vampires he had made had awakened as hungry demons, eager to experience their first hunt, their first taste of blood. Evangelina still looked human--a very scared human.
Spike took her arms and pulled her close to him. When he stared into her eyes, all he saw was fear. "What in Hell's name is wrong with you? You should be reveling in your change!"
"Reveling? You have made me into a monster," she cried.
"You should love being a monster," Spike demanded. He shoved her away from him and she fell.
"No...sweet mother of God, no. Please let me die, please," Evangelina begged. "I don't want to live like this." She looked up at Spike and there were tears streaming down her cheeks. He was growing more and more uncomfortable with all this. There was something very wrong with her.
"You truly don't feel like pillaging, looting, burning, killing?" he asked, puzzled. Evangelina shook her head emphatically. "Do you think you will feel like doing any of those things any time soon?" Another strong shake of her head. Spike sighed and dragged her to her feet again. "Then, I guess you're of no use to me."
Violently, Spike flung her against the cave wall, then stooped and picked up a large splinter of kindling. As he strode over to where she cowered against the wall, Evangelina crossed herself and looked at him with hope and fear in her eyes. He rammed the stake into her heart and with a prayer on her lips she crumpled to the ground.
Puzzled, Spike bent down and shook her, rolling her onto her side. The stake protruded from her heart and there was no sign of life or unlife. Why hadn't she turned to dust?
With a shrug of his shoulders, Spike dusted off his trousers and strode from the cave. It definitely was time to leave this part of Italy.
*****
Spike had promptly put her out of his mind. Regret wasn't something vampires tended to feel.
But, now....Evangelina had been like Lily--still a goody two shoes, still a Slayer. Did Lily actively hunt vampires and, if so, how many had she killed since being turned? Ten, twenty, one hundred a year? She obviously needed blood to survive and she had fangs--he had felt them--but her face didn't change--he hadn't imagined that when he'd caught a glimpse earlier. She could hold a cross without being burned. Was she some kind of half-vampire? So damn many questions!
And, still he wanted her....
*****
Lily parked her car in front of the quaint bungalow style house and got out. After locking her suitcase in the trunk, she slung over her shoulder a tote bag containing a change of clothes and the essentials and walked silently up the front walk. One light shone in a room above the porch.
Lily easily hoisted herself onto the roof of the porch and crept silently towards the window. It was open and a voice rang out clearly to Lily's sensitive ears.
"Are you going to stop pacing and tell me what's wrong?" Buffy asked.
A male voice mumbled.
"I can't hear you," Buffy sang.
"I said, I think I screwed up big time," replied her gorgeous boyfriend who was visible every few seconds as he paced around the room.
"You could say that again," Lily said sarcastically from the porch roof.
Startled, Angel stopped pacing and stuck his head out the window. "You're okay."
"No thanks to you."
Suddenly Buffy replaced Angel at the window. "What are you doing on my porch roof at nearly one in the morning?"
"Looking for a place to stay since your boyfriend compromised me"
As irrational anger swept over Buffy's face, she turned to Angel and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "What is she talking about?" she demanded in an icy voice.
Lily laughed. "He didn't compromise my virtue, child; he compromised my safety."
Mollified and a little embarrassed Buffy released Angel and gently straightened the front of his shirt. "Oh. Don't call me child," she said automatically, her eyes focused on Angel's face.
"I can't believe you would think that of me," Angel murmured.
"I'm sorry." The couple began to make goo-goo eyes at each other.
"Ahem...Look, before you get swept away by a grand passion, will you invite me in? I'm not safe out here."
Buffy jerked her eyes away from Angel and turned back to the window. "Oh, right, come in."
Lily slipped into the room and dumped her bag on the floor. The next thing she did was grab Angel in the same manner Buffy had and shove him up against the wall. "Why did you come to my room?" she demanded in a quiet yet angry voice. She knew Buffy must have a parent around here somewhere.
"Um, I wanted to discuss Spike with you. I guess I was a little late..."
Lily gave a snort of disgust and let him go. She plopped down on the bed and ran her hands tiredly over her face.
"Someone want to fill me in?"
Lily looked up at Buffy, then nodded. Buffy sat down on Angel's lap in the chair he had taken a seat in. "After I left the Library I found Spike in the park. One thing led to another...Angel walked in on us. By that time, Spike was already questioning me. He'd found my purse full of stakes."
"Did he hurt you after I left?" Angel asked, concerned.
"No. I thought he was going to kill me. I told him the truth of what I am. I think it shocked him. He just left." Lily's voice trailed away as she remembered the anger, pain and shock in his voice.
"Does he know about the prophecy?" Buffy asked.
"No. He does remember that he saw the two of us together, and obviously I know Angel...It's quite probable that, after he gets over his shock, he will come after me to kill me." As she said the words Lily felt an almost physical pain in her chest. She had lost him...and she hadn't realized what she had found until it was too late.
"I saw that the lock was broken and worried that something had happened to you."
"I was in too much of a hurry to find my key," Lily answered Angel, the bitterness she was beginning to feel leaking into her voice.
"I didn't want to leave you. I was concerned that Spike would kill you, so I hung around outside in the shadows until he left and I saw your shadow moving through the curtains. I'm sorry," Angel explained.
Lily thought about it for a minute, and had to admit that it hadn't been all Angel's fault. "Your presence exacerbated the situation, but it was already in a bad state. Well, it looks like he'll be taking me prisoner and sticking me in a cage some time soon," Lily joked bitterly. No one laughed.
"Why did you come here?" Buffy asked.
"The only place safe for me right now is a human's home. I thought about going to Mr. Giles or Jenny, but I didn't want to put them in further danger."
"Gee, thanks."
Lily grinned at Buffy's chagrin. "You can take of yourself. Lucky for me you, like apparently every teenager in America, have your own phone number listed, so I knew which address you lived at."
"Well, sure. Phones are vitally important." Buffy shrugged at Angel's baffled look. "Okay, you can stay. There's an old sofa bed in the basement and only one dinky window. If you hear my mom coming down, you can hide in the closet under the stairs; it's full of my stuff and my mom never opens the door. She goes to work when she takes me to school and usually comes home around five o'clock. Come on, I'll take you down."
Lily bid Angel good night and picked up her tote bag to follow Buffy silently down the stairs to the basement where they said good night as well.
The basement wasn't too bad. The couch bed was against the wall farthest from the window which faced the street. Lily quickly figured the sun's trajectory in her head--a mathematical equation you quickly learned to use if you wanted to survive for very long as a vampire living above ground--and decided that the sun's rays wouldn't come within fifteen feet of her. Luckily the house faced North.
A glance around showed that there were crates of books and old magazines. They would keep her occupied until she heard Buffy and her mother leave, then she would feel safe enough to sleep.
*****
Still angry and frustrated, Spike strode into the warehouse and looked around at the few vampires lounging on the bits and pieces of furniture. There was no sign of Drusilla--for which he heaved a metaphorical sigh of relief--but the geeky lackey with the glasses named Dalton was sitting at the banquet table reading a dusty old book.
Spike took a seat next to him and the lackey looked at him nervously. "I want you to find out what happens to Slayers who become vampires."
"Um, okay."
"NOW."
Dalton scuttled off to his makeshift library and Spike decided to go hunting again. He wasn't hungry, but he was too restless to do nothing. And, he didn't want to be here when Drusilla returned.
*****
An hour later Spike strolled leisurely through the park. He had killed two older men--snapped the neck of one and gutted the other--and their deaths had made him feel a little better, but, his mind was still whirling. He was in heavy denial over the persistent fact that he was falling for a Slayer. Or, former Slayer, or whatever the Hell she was.
Glancing up Spike saw a man walking quickly through the intersection of two paths about one hundred feet from him. Angel. Perfect.
Moving swiftly, Spike placed himself in front of Angel, who stumbled backwards in surprise.
"Well, well, well, mate. Twice in one night," Spike said in a jovial manner.
Angel gave him a wary look. "I'm not looking for a fight, Spike."
"Neither am I," Spike replied, surprised that at that moment he didn't feel like gutting Angel. "I'm looking for answers."
Angel thought briefly about making a run for it, then sighed and dug his hands into the pockets of his coat. His fingers closed over a small stake and he grasped it reassuringly.
"Lily, you know her obviously. She's a Slayer." Spike waited for Angel to comment.
"I found that out the hard way," Angel replied. "You said you had questions...?"
"Does she kill our people?"
"She slays vampires. It's her duty. It's what she is."
Spike snorted in disgust. "What's she doing in Sunnyhell?"
"I don't know," Angel lied skillfully. "I haven't seen her in over two hundred years; we ran into each other at the Bronze the other night."
"And you have such a close relationship that you walked into her motel room without knocking?" Spike quipped in a snide voice. "What would your darling girlfriend say about that?"
"Friendship is the only thing between Lily and me. I went to visit her tonight and saw that the lock was broken. Now, is that all the questions?"
"What happens to a Slayer who becomes a vampire?" Spike snapped.
"Well, they're not evil. Take my advice, Spike, stay away from Lily. She's more Slayer than vampire."
"Worried about me, daddy?" Spike mocked. "How touching. She isn't going to kill me," he said in a very certain voice. "She had the perfect opportunity tonight and didn't take it."
Angel shrugged. "It's your funeral. Actually, I'd be more concerned about what Dru is going to do to you when she finds out your screwing around behind her back."
"I can handle Dru," Spike snarled.
Angel gave him a patronizing smile. "If you say so,"
"I think this conversation is at an end, mate," Spike snapped in anger and turned to leave.
"Hey, you started it!" Angel yelled to Spike's back as his old prodigy strode off down one of the paths.
*****
Lily lounged on the couch reading an article on Irish funereal art in an old magazine, when she suddenly felt as if a hand was squeezing her heart. The pain quickly faded and Lily began to sense that something was wrong--but not with her.
Jumping to her feet, she dashed up the two flights of stairs to Buffy's room. Quietly she opened the door and slipped inside. The moon shone in on the girl's bed and Lily could clearly see that Buffy was in the grips of a nightmare. The florescent glow of her alarm clock read 3:09.
With a whimper and a start, Buffy awoke, jerking upright in bed. "Oh God," she murmured. As her hands fumbled for the recorder, she realized she wasn't alone. "Who's there?" Her voice quivered.
"It's just me," Lily said softly. "I felt something was wrong." Buffy turned on her bedside lamp and blinked in the sudden light. "Tell me what happened, quickly, before you forget." Buffy turned on the recorder and Lily sat down on the end of the bed.
"Drusilla, she's so angry, some at Spike, but mostly at you," Buffy recited. "She's doing something she's been planning for a long time--a spell. She's going to sacrifice you and Angel's involved somehow, that's part of it, but there was something else. I don't remember," Buffy said in frustration. "I think I saw who was in the cage with you and that's when I woke up. It must have been horrible."
"You can't remember?"
Buffy shook her head.
"What else," Lily prodded.
"You and Dru were fighting again and there was so much blood. It looked like you were rolling in puddles of it." She made a face. "I saw Spike begging Dru to take him instead of you, but she said the spell would only work with you. Then she hit him. He was weak." Buffy thought for a minute. "For a moment, I looked through your eyes and saw the crescent moon--a perfect crescent."
"The crescent moon will occur in seven days," Lily replied thoughtfully. "That doesn't give us much time, if it is this month."
Buffy nodded vigorously. "It is. It's going to go down soon, I can feel it."
"So can I."
"Damn it. I wish I could remember who I saw."
"Is it possible, it was you?" Lily asked.
Buffy thought for a moment, then shook her head. "That doesn't feel right." She sighed in frustration. "I don't know. I feel so helpless."
"Don't. Each night you dream more. We have six more 3:09 a.m.s." Lily rose from the bed. "You need to get back to sleep."
"I'll come tell you if Giles has found anything new when I get home from school."
"'Till then." Lily left the room and silently made her way back down to the basement.
*****
Lily was hungry, starving, but it was a different kind of hunger than when Spike had taken too much of her blood. This time she was full enough, but the blood inside her was growing stale, no longer able to sustain her. How long had it been since she had fed? She opened her eyes and found herself sitting on the floor of a cage suspended four feet off the ground.
The young woman beside her slept fitfully, also starving, but full of fresh blood...
"Take my blood before you go mad with hunger."
Lily looked up at Spike who extended his arm towards her through the bars. Blood dripped from the self-inflicted wounds at his wrist.
"The ritual," she replied.
"Take my blood if you can't take her's."
A ghost of a smile crossed Lily's face and she was filled with an almost insane mirth. "Not exactly virgin."
*****
Lily woke with a start. She didn't need to look at her watch to know that it was 3:09 p.m. Shaking from the aftereffects of the dream, she ran a hand through her hair, then rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling. "This sucks."
*****
Across town, another dark haired beauty collapsed in the throws of a disturbing vision. Images flashed through Drusilla's mind. That female Spike had been with in the park. Another female, human, younger, innocent. Blood, the necessary ingredient, but different, combined, changed. The sacrifice needed for the spell--it was finally coming to her--a Slayer, yet not a Slayer. Evil and good, two sides of the same coin. The crescent moon.
Drusilla opened her eyes and found herself lying on the floor of the main room of the warehouse. It was 3:09 p.m., the time when time would change. As she picked herself up, she smiled. Soon, very soon, the world would be her's.
A look of chagrin crossed her face as she remembered the reason for being up at this hour. Spike hadn't come home. She knew he was still alive--she would have felt him die--but he hadn't come home! She had stayed up all day--which in the end had been a good thing since the vision wouldn't have come to her in her sleep--and she was cranky. He had better have a good excuse....
*****
Lily was awakened by the sound of the door at the top of the stairs opening. Before she could jump off the bed, Buffy's voice sounded out. "It's just me." She came clattering down the stairs.
Lily yawned, stretched and glanced at her watch. 4:26-- way too early for a creature of the night. Unhappily awake, she pushed herself up into a sitting position as Buffy flopped down onto the bed beside her.
"Nothing new on the Giles front," Buffy said. "We're meeting at the Library at nightfall, then, if nothing pans out, Bronzing it. Ms. Calendar said something about some books you were planning to bring...?"
"Um, yes. They're in a storage unit I rented on the edge of town. I'll go collect them before the meeting."
"We all agreed that I should hang with you, you know, protect your back and front and whatever from Spike. Two Slayers are better than one."
Lily nodded slowly as the memories of the dream returned to her. "I'm not sure that I'm in danger from Spike," she said slowly. "I had another dream." Lily quickly related the events of the dream to Buffy. "I think I'm meant to feed off the woman--damn, I wish I could have seen her face--but I obviously haven't since I'm starving."
"Was the bit about virgin blood a crack or for real?"
"I don't know. It could have been either. Are there any virgin teenagers in this country?" Lily quipped.
"Ha ha. I'm sure there are some around here somewhere," Buffy replied sourly.
"Damn, I can't just go around asking every young woman I see if she's a virgin and has a feeling she's going to become a sacrifice anytime soon," Lily said more seriously.
"Well, I know a few, but I'd say probably a third to a half of the female population at Sunnydale High are still virgins. That isn't going to be much help."
"She's white."
"So's most of the population of Sunnydale."
"Thin."
"We're talking health-conscious California here."
"Hell," Lily muttered under her breath.
"Well, you apparently don't feed on her. That's a good thing."
"Maybe, but what if the visions are symbolic not literal? I hate prophecies. I hated them when I was alive. I hate them now!"
"Tell me about it," Buffy muttered.
*****
Night fell and Spike returned to the warehouse from a safe house across town. As he looked around for geeky lackey, Drusilla accosted him.
"Where were you?" she demanded in a loud voice.
Spike pushed her away from him. "You're not my mother," he snapped. He saw the vampire he was looking for entering the main room from the makeshift bedrooms and strode over to him.
"Spike!" Drusilla wailed. He ignored her and grabbed the scholar, pulling him into the room designated as the library. Spike slammed the door in Drusilla's face and threw the bolt.
"What did you find?"
"Um, shouldn't you let her in?" Dalton asked as Drusilla began pounding on the door.
"Ignore her."
"Um, okay, sir. Um, well, to start, there's not much information available on Slayers turned into vampires. Possibly the Watcher Organization has some but...Anyway, I did find an obscure account by a vampire survivor of the Great Fire of London. It told of a Slayer who decimated the vampire population of London for several years. The master at the time decided to punish her by turning her. He had discovered that Slayers don't lose their souls to demons, so it was the perfect punishment--she would need to feed on humans to survive, but would still have her soul. He just didn't take into account that she would go insane and burn down London."
"So, she still has a soul," Spike murmured.
"There may be other differences as well, but the account was brief," the lackey said apologetically.
"It didn't happen to name the Slayer, did it?"
"Um, yes," he racked his brain. "Lily, no last name known."
"Lily..." Spike shook his head in amusement. Alive for over three hundred years...
"Is that enough, sir?"
"What? Oh, yes." Spike glanced around the room, then headed for the one heavily curtained window. "Tell Dru I'll be back later." Silently he slipped through the window leaving the little scholar dreading having to open the door and face his furious queen.
*****
After collecting three books from her storage unit, Lily drove to the school, listening with one ear to Buffy alternatively complain about the classic rock coming out of the radio and chatter about Angel. Lily was going to need to feed sometime during the night, but she didn't think Buffy would let her stop off along the way. Fresh human blood didn't quite qualify as fast food--well, it could be if the human in question took off running.
Jenny and Giles were sitting in the Library waiting for them.
"I thought we were meeting the gang here," Buffy said.
"I sent them on to the Bronze. We weren't making any progress. It didn't seem sensible to wear everyone out with research," Giles replied.
Buffy stared at him as if he had grown another head. "Excuse me, and you are...?"
Giles cleared his throat and glowered her into a seat.
Lily handed Jenny the three old books. "These are my most powerful books on magic. There should be counterspells in them as well. If Drusilla does manage to reverse time, we're going to need to change it back."
"Three books, three researchers," Buffy hinted desperately. She wanted to be with her friends.
Giles sighed. "Actually, there's very little any of us can do right now except research, which, you must admit Buffy, has never been your forte. Jenny and I can go through these books. Why don't the two of you go hunting."
"Why don't I go to the Bronze? Vampires often show up there," Buffy wheedled.
Lily grinned at Buffy's attempts to manipulate her Watcher. "I'll stay here and help."
"No, we decided that you shouldn't be alone. From both your dreams it appears that Spike and Drusilla need to take you captive. If Buffy's with you, there's less chance of that happening," Giles explained.
"Fine, although I have been taking care of myself for nearly three hundred and forty years," Lily said with a sigh. "I probably should fill you in on the dream I had this afternoon."
"You dreamt again?" Giles interrupted in excitement.
"Yes, and it's getting clearer, but I still don't know the identity of the young woman in the cage with me. In this one I saw us in the cage. I was starving, but I wouldn't feed off the girl. Spike offered me his wrist and I made some mention about it not being virgin blood."
"That's a new twist," Jenny offered.
"I also made mention of a ritual. If we take what I said as truth, it may mean a virgin sacrifice."
"Not many of those around." Jenny grinned at Giles who was turning pink around the ears.
"Too many for us to go around and ask," Buffy added.
"If Buffy is right about the crescent moon, we have seven days. I felt as if I had been a captive for some time," Lily tried to explain, remembering the feeling of hunger. "To stay vital a vampire needs to take in fresh blood every couple of days. After that, the blood inside us, having no oxygen, quickly begins to stale. Stale blood weakens us and eventually drives us mad. It's a different kind of hunger than the one I felt after Spike drank too much from me. It's not as painful at first, but gradually gets worse."
"So, you think they're going to starve you?" Giles asked.
"I think they need me to drink from this girl. I don't know why. It must have something to do with the spell."
"That will give us a place to start--blood rituals." Excited, Jenny opened one of the books and passed another one to Giles.
Buffy stood up and took Lily's arm. "We'll leave you to it."
Already engrossed in a book, Giles waved vaguely at them as they left the Library.
End Chapter 7