Chapter 13

 “Hi guys. Miss me?”

 Buffy – ‘When She Was Bad’

****

 Anya and Xander made their way towards the house wearily. They had been walking for hours and it was getting dark. They were tired and growing cold, so they pressed ahead, hoping that the owners would provide them with shelter for the night. “What if they're demons?” Anya asked Xander in hushed tones her eye fixed ahead on the small stone cottage.

“Right now? I don't really care. All I want is somewhere to sleep that isn't cold and isn't outside. So I'm going to ask. If they kill us... Well then we don't have to worry about sleeping out here with the rabbits.” Anya shuddered and quickened her pace.

They stopped at the door and glanced at each other before the former demon pushed her fiancée forward. “Knock.”

“Me?” Xander exclaimed moving back to face Anya. “Why can't you knock?”

“You're the man. You're supposed to do it.”

“Since when have I been in charge?” Xander asked exasperated.

"Since we got here,” Anya told him and once again pushed him towards the door. “Knock.”

Xander took a deep breath and knocked quietly on the door. “Knock louder,” Anya ordered and Xander knocked again.

“Ok, ok,” a voice greeted them as the door swung open. “God relax will y.. Xander?”

“Cordy?”

“Cordelia,” Anya said with a smile, remembering she had been close to the girl once upon a time. Her smile faded when she remembered why they had been close. “You can't have Xander back.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Like I'd want him. Come in.”

Xander and Anya stepped into the cottage their gazes sweeping over the small room, coming finally to rest on Giles who sat at the table, still dressed in his pyjamas.

“Giles?”

“Xander! Anya! Thank God you're alright. What happened?”

The couple gratefully sat at the table and Cordy went to sit by Giles as they filled their friends in on what had happened.

****

Spike and Angel hit the ground heavily. They lay still for a moment checking for broken bones and injuries of any kind. When it was clear that neither of them had been hurt the blonde vampire turned to his Grandsire. “This is all your fault!”

“My fault? How can it be my fault? Darla and Dru are the ones who sent us here, and don't try and tell me I upset Drusilla because...”

“We both know she thinks the sun shines out of you. Well peaches I hate to be the one to break it to you but everything bad that happens I can trace back to being your fault. I've had years of experience at it. Lets see. How about, if you hadn't lost your soul and taken Dru away, we would still be together now? Maybe in Brazil. Not perfectly happy but getting along, just as we were before. I wouldn't have this bloody chip in my head, and we wouldn't be stuck here. Or maybe you'd prefer the one where, if you hadn't been such a drunken, whorin’ layabout, while you were alive Darla wouldn't have turned you, you wouldn't have turned Dru and she wouldn't have turned me. I'd have died of old age about eighty years ago.”

“And that's what you want is it William? To be dead and gone? ‘Cause just say the word and I will happily make that wish come true.”

“You still don't get it do you?” Spike said angrily. “You think because every woman you've ever met worships the ground you walk on, that I automatically will too.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Really?” Spike drawled. “Darla, Drusilla, Cordelia...”

“Spike...!”

“Buffy!”

“That's enough”

“Well I don't worship you. Maybe I did once upon a time, but that ended long ago.”

“When I got my soul back, I know...” Angel told him, growing angry himself and not wanting to talk with Spike about how much they hated each other now.

 “No.”

“What?”

“It wasn't when you got you soul back,” the blonde vampire confessed quietly. “It was when you lost it again.”

“I don't understand.”

“Well I'll talk slowly and then maybe you'll manage to get the gist. When Dru turned me she was in no fit state to be my Sire in every sense of the word. You taught me everything; you helped me with everything. You made me what I was and I worshipped you for that. But when Angelus came back, a hundred years later, I wasn't the same. Inside me there were things that went against everything I was but as much as I hated them, all I could do was blame you for making me that monster in the first place.”

“Spike, I...”

“You took Dru Angel. You didn't want her, didn't care about her the way you did Darla or love her the way I did. But you had the power. And you wanted to show me that she was still yours. Sometimes, in those hundred years you weren't around, she'd call for you and I never knew what to do. She'd scream your name and not mine and every time it happened I hated you. But I had her. And that was all that mattered. She needed me. But she never chose me. She never could and she never will. If there was a choice between you and me she'd pick you. And now I'm right back at the start again. But this time it's hell of a lot worse. I can't win can I? Because you're always there. Good or evil, you've always done something better. Better vampire to the vampires and a better man to the humans. And none of them get it. The only thing that changes you Angel is your soul. Without it, you're a monster, just like the rest of us. I don't have a soul. Which of us is the better vampire? Or the better man?

“And your chip is all that changes you,” Angel countered. “If it stops working or comes out, then...”

“Then what?! I'm going to kill all these people I've spent the last year protecting? If I'd wanted them dead that much I wouldn't have bothered. All those months she was gone that I spent waking up just before sunrise and having to remind myself that I couldn't just walk outside and greet it. You think you had it bad Angel? At least you had her for a while. You got to hold her and look after her and you never once had to look into her eyes and see her disgust and hatred of you. You gave that up, so if you were in pain I really don't give a damn. I had a week. One week where she treated me as something other than dirt. One week where I felt alive again. Where I felt like I had found my place in the world.”

“What happened to you?” Angel asked after a moment’s silence.

“I don't know,” Spike told him with a slight smirk. “Whatever it was though, I glad for it.”

“You are?”

“Do you remember what you told me about what we are as vampires being based on what we were? Do you remember what I was Angel? A poet. A romantic. A poor fool who wanted nothing more than to love and be loved. I was a good man. So what does that make me now? A good vampire?”

“I don't know what it makes you. I don't think it makes you anything. You make yourself what you are.”

“And have you got any words of wisdom about what that might be?”

“No. But I think I know someone who could.” Angel couldn’t really believe he was encouraging his Grandchilde to be with Buffy, but something about the way the Slayer had looked at Spike, made Angel feel like it was all meant to be.

“You seriously expect me to tell her all of that?” the younger vampire asked incredulously. He’d said a lot of things to Buffy in the past year and a half. They’d shared soul-baring moments together. Well they would have been soul-baring if he’d had a soul to bare. But usually the blonde Slayer had laughed loudly in his face. Or punched him. Or pushed him. Or ripped out his heart and stamped her pretty feet on it.

“I expect nothing from you William. I never did. That's how you managed to make me so proud.”

“What?!”

“You make me proud. I mean, a lot of the time I want to tie you up and drive hot pokers through your chest just to show you what it feels like, but if you're half the man Buffy described, then I'm very proud of you.”

Spike looked away and shifted uncomfortably. “Do you mean that?”

“Yes.” A silence descended between the two vampires, but it was a comfortable silence as they both came to terms with each other’s feelings.

“We better go,” Angel said eventually.

“Yeah,” Spike agreed, finally looking back at his Sire. “Together or apart?”

“If we stick together we won’t be part of the girls’ twisted plan. We have to find the others, then Dawn.”

****

Dawn woke up on a bed. A soft, incredibly comfortable bed. She opened her eyes sleepily, barely taking in her surroundings before her head lolled to the side and she snuggled a little further into the warmth.

 A dream. Thank God. She was in bed. Everything was fine.

But no. Everything wasn’t fine. She wasn’t in the bed, she was on it. And she was holding something. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up with a jerk. She was lying on a four-poster bed in the centre of a round room. The sort of room fairy-tale princesses were locked in, before Prince Charming came to save them.

The young girl looked down and saw she was wearing a long midnight blue velvet dress of medieval style and was holding a small posy of white roses in her hands. Dawn rolled her eyes. “Geez, cliché much? Is there a dragon downstairs too?” She climbed off the bed and went to the door, tugging forcefully at the handle, but with no success. She sighed angrily and stamped her foot, before realising that no one could hear her and probably wouldn’t do anything even if they could. As Buffy had once told her, there was absolutely no point in having a tantrum when there was no one around to hear.

Dawn heard a sound on the other side of the door and ran quickly back to the bed, rearranging herself on it as she had been when she awoke. It amazed her she wasn’t more scared, but as she lay there, feigning sleep, she thought that after spending so much time with Glory, Darla and Drusilla seemed like amateurs and whatever the two female vampires had planned for her and her friends, it was nothing they couldn’t handle.

“Wakey, wakey. Rise and shine,” the British voice greeted her and Dawn gave up any pretence of sleep. She pushed herself into a sitting position, resting herself on one arm as she looked across the room at her visitor. Her smile was mocking and she raised one eyebrow in the way Spike had spent all summer teaching her. Buffy had been highly amused the first time she had seen it.

“Hello Dawn.”

“Ethan,” Dawn greeted with a fake smile. “I thought you were in some military stronghold.”

“Yes but I was let out for good behaviour. Aren’t you pleased to see me?” He set the tray he had been carrying down on a small table and sat opposite the teenager on one of the old-fashioned armchairs.

“Let’s see,” Dawn mused, pursing her lips. “The last time you were in Sunnydale you turned Giles into a demon, the time before that you made mom go all weird and act like a teenager and sleep with Giles. Ick. And the first time you came you turned me into a vampire at Halloween. So I’m thinking, no I’m not pleased to see you. You’re behind this?”

“Nope. Once again I am simply fulfilling the brief given to me.”

“By two evil demons. How could you?”

“Well they said, do it or die, and I quite like living so…”

“Buffy is going to be so mad when she finds out you’re the one who did this. She will kick your ass so hard…”

“Yes I imagine she will,” Ethan said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Still, can’t be helped. And if it’s any consolation Dawn, I really do hope they all find a way to win.”

****

“Stay together he says,” Spike muttered as he hurtled through the trees. He could no longer sense the demon behind him, but he didn’t want to take any chances. It had attacked the two vampires as they had stood arguing about which direction to head, and it’s sheer size and strength had had them running in the opposite direction at the first possible opportunity. Somewhere along the way however they had been separated and Spike really hadn’t been inclined to go back and look for his Grandsire.

The blonde vampire emerged from the wood into a clearing. The glistening waterfall and the silvery pool of water would otherwise have given him pause, but his attention was divided between the threat behind him and the relief at what was before him. Buffy. She was sitting with Willow and Tara – Thank God – and a dark haired man with glasses he judged to be Wesley from the others’ description of the former Watcher.

“Buffy.”

The small group looked up at the sound of his voice and Buffy visibly relaxed. Not sparing the others a glance, he moved quickly to the Slayer and pulled her into his arms. She held onto him tightly and they stood for a moment unmoving in each other’s embrace.

Finally Buffy stepped back and the vampire looked down into her face. “What’s wrong?”

The Slayer gave a weak smile and shook her head slightly avoiding Spike’s eyes. He grasped her chin lightly and forced her face up to look at him. “Tell me.”

Sensing that they were involved in something that was none of their business, the two witches and the former Watcher moved away from the vampire and Slayer, giving them some privacy.

“It’s nothing Spike,” Buffy began adamantly, but she could tell he didn’t believe her. If there was one person in the world who knew her better than she knew herself, it was him. She sighed. “I’ve lost my power.”

“What?”

“My Slayer powers. My strength and speed, they’re gone. I can’t run as fast or as far, without getting breathless. I can’t even lift Willow.” Her voice her started to break and her lower lip trembled a little as she pouted. For a moment all of Spike’s attention was fixed on her mouth. It looked so kissable. A memory surfaced. ‘Oh pouty. Look at that lip. Gonna get it…’ Thankfully though his brain finally registered what she had said and his eyes snapped back to hers.

“It has to be part of the game,” he told her, deciding against the, everything’s-going-to-be-ok route again.

“What game?” she asked, as Spike’s statement drew the attention of Wesley, Willow and Tara. The Slayer glanced around her before a half confused; half fearful look crossed her face. “And where’s Dawn?”

 

Chapter 14

 “Love makes you do the wacky.”

 Willow – ‘Some Assembly Required’

****

Angel realised too late that Spike had run in a different direction to him. He could feel the creature behind him still and couldn’t afford to change course now. He had emerged from the forest a while ago and was now running across open fields, his vampiric sight searching ceaselessly for some sort of shelter.

****

Cordelia paced the small room endlessly as her three companions sat together, discussing what had happened to them. She felt as though she should be doing something. Xander was about to comment when she passed the window for the fifth time, but something caught her attention and she moved back to peer through the glass. Without a word she threw the door open and ran outside as fast as humanly possible, the others following cautiously behind.

“Angel!” she shouted with relief as she flew towards the vampire.

“Cordy,” Angel shouted back, his arms waving at her anxiously. “Get back inside!”

Cordelia stopped in confusion and frowned, seconds before the vampire swept her up in his arms and continued on his path towards the cottage.

“Invite me in,” he said hurriedly, dropping her to her feet just inside the threshold. The words took a few seconds to register before Cordy did as her friend asked.

“Come in.”

“With that the vampire stepped inside, slamming the door shut behind him. “Keller demon,” Angel announced, moving towards the window to check on the creature’s progress. “I think.”

“Angel,” Xander greeted with false cheer. “How’ve you been?”

Angel turned his attention to the other people in the room, nodding briefly at Giles and ignoring Xander. He moved to Cordy. “Are you ok? I was so… when you didn’t come back I thought… And then Gunn said…” he trailed off, unable to find the right words and Cordelia smiled.

“I know.”

The moment passed and Giles cleared his throat. “Angel, do you know what’s going on? Why we’re here?”

“We’re participating in a little game Darla and Drusilla cooked up,” Angel answered, scanning the room for something to fight the Keller demon with. Cordelia gave an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. “Angel, I’m only going to say this once more. Kill them. Kill them, kill them, kill them, kill them, kill them.”

“Actually you said that six times,” the vampire told her, moving towards the fire and lighting one of the logs that lay stacked at the side.

“I meant I’d only say the sentence once.”

“Um, I hate to bring this up,” Xander interrupted, “but Darla’s dead.”

Anya turned to look at him. “Are you sure?”

Xander smiled at his fiancée. “I was in the room when it happened. Not something I’m likely to forget.”

“Yeah,” Cordelia agreed with a smirk. “She died and now she’s back. Understand?”

Xander opened his mouth to ask how Darla could possibly have been brought back, but Anya, sensing what he was about to say, elbowed him none too gently, in the ribs. “Buffy,” she hissed and her fiancée nodded.

Angel passed a burning log to Giles and one to Xander, while Cordelia made a pair for herself and Anya. When each of them was finally armed, they made their way back outside, where the demon had finally stopped.

“Do you have a plan?” Cordelia asked her friend.

“Don’t die,” Angel offered before charging the demon, the others close behind.

****

Buffy approached Spike hesitantly, sensing his mood. She didn’t blame him for what Darla and Drusilla had done, knowing that they could have done the exact same thing at any other time and they’d all have been powerless, but she also knew Spike blamed himself.

“Hey,” she said as she sat down next to him at the side of the small pool. Wesley, Willow and Tara were theorising about what Spike had told them earlier on the other side, well out of earshot. “You ok?”

The vampire turned his head slightly in her direction but didn’t look at her. “I’m sorry.”

Buffy sighed. “We’ve done this. We went through all of this once when I got back from…” Buffy struggled slightly. It sounded odd to her, saying that she had come back from the dead. She knew she didn’t have to worry about it though. Spike always knew what she meant.

“Well if I didn’t let you down so much,” Spike was arguing, “maybe you wouldn’t have to say it.”

“If you let me down I wouldn’t say it,” Buffy told him. “It wasn’t your fault I died. It really, really wasn’t. And it’s not your fault Dawn is God knows where right now. It’s your evil-ex’s fault.  And my ex’s evil-ex.” Spike smiled. “I knew I could get you to smile,” Buffy told him, chuckling softy.

“I’m still sorry.”

“Yeah I know. But I also know that you’d have died trying to save her.”

He did meet her eyes then and she smiled softly, taking hold of one of his hands. They sat together like that for several minutes, neither saying a word.

Finally Spike spoke. “I’ll get her back for you.”

“We’ll get her back. For us.”

****

Tara watched the vampire and Slayer surreptitiously as Willow and Wesley made plans. Despite what she had said in the past, Tara was all for Buffy and Spike starting a relationship. She had grown fond of the vampire over the summer after Buffy’s death and since the Slayer’s return she had become convinced that the pair were perfect for each other. This situation wasn’t going to be the best for beginning a romance, but she thought it might help in some ways.

For one thing they were going to have to spend all day every day together, time enough Tara thought, for them to get a fully rounded picture of the other’s personality. And the Buffybot wouldn’t interrupt them, just when Buffy’s thoughts had taken a gooey Spike turn.

Therefore the blonde witch had just appointed herself the couple’s official matchmaker. While appearing to be listening intently to what her girlfriend and the former Watcher were talking about, she was devising ways to make sure Buffy and Spike spent some time alone together.

****

“So we’re looking for a castle or a tower of some sort?” Buffy asked Spike as she leant sleepily against him, her hand still entwined with his.

“I suppose so. That’s where evil tyrants usually stash the pretty princesses.” Spike was trying to act as casually as possible, despite Buffy’s warm body pressed against his side.

She yawned and unconsciously snuggled further into him. “And you’re sure Dawn’ll be alright ‘til we get there?”

“They might be nasty bints love; they might even be crazy, but they are not stupid. They won’t hurt Dawn until…”

“Until we get there?”

“Try to hurt her I meant. I swear Buffy, this time…”

“Don’t,” Buffy said turning her head up so she could look into his eyes. “I trust you. You don’t have to make me any more promises.”

Spike leant down and reverently kissed the top of her head. He waited until her breathing had evened out signalling sleep before his whispered. “I love you.”

 

Chapter 15

“If every vampire who said he was at the crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock"

Spike - School Hard

****

Dawn stared out of the single window of the small room where she was being held captive and sighed. Realising what she had done she wrinkled her nose and shook her head. Spike would be disgusted if he knew she was behaving just like some simpering princess from a fairy tale. He might be overprotective sometimes and she knew he wanted to keep her safe from harm, but she knew that he also expected her to act properly when she was in dangerous situations. With some self-respect and dignity.

The teenager set her chin determinedly and thought about what her sister would do if she were locked in a tower like this. Dawn rolled her eyes. Buffy would have punched Ethan unconscious the minute she laid her eyes on him and then proceeded to walk out the front gates, killing any demon that happened to get in her way. Her sister, Dawn noted, was quite predictable when it came to things like that.

But what was Dawn? She’d never had the luxury of time to enable her to think her way out of problems like this. Whenever Glory had gotten hold of her, there had either been too much to do or too little time. Buffy, Spike and the other Scoobies had always arrived in the nick of time to rescue her. Even during the last battle with the hell god, Buffy had been there to save Dawn, even though it had cost her her own life. And while Dawn knew that once again her sister and her friends were on their way to rescue her, the knowledge brought little comfort.

Dawn remembered exactly what Darla had said before the blonde vampiress had sent her into this game. “You rescue the princess and you win the game. You win the game and you stay alive... You play the game, you rescue the princess, the first of you to reach her wins.” That meant that whoever reached her first got to stay alive. Maybe. But whoever was on the other team…

The young brunette jumped down from the chair she was standing on as her stomach rolled at the thought of causing anyone else to die. She really had to get out of there.

****

“Ow!” Angel exclaimed as Cordelia tended to one of the wounds the Keller demon had inflicted upon him. Luckily the others had escaped without serious injury. Xander particularly had fought determinedly and well, feeling a strength he didn't know he possessed as he battled the demon. He kept the surge of energy and power he had felt quiet however, not knowing where it had come from or whether or not it was permanent.

“If you held still it would hurt less,” Cordy told him matter-of-factly, her attention fixed on the long cut on Angel’s back.

“Ok,” Xander began; ignoring Angel as best he could and trying to pull the conversation back to ‘The Game’. Angel had given his companions a condensed version of what had occurred after they had been taken and the others had been making suggestions about what they should do next while Cordelia helped the vampire. “It seems to me that it would be best for everyone if we found Buffy and the others. Spike has to be captaining their team right? It makes sense.”

“I agree,” Giles said, nodding thoughtfully to the young man. “If we’re all together…”

“We may not have time for that,” Angel spoke up as Cordy helped him back into his shirt. “Dawn’s in trouble. I know Buffy would want us to make her our first priority.”

“Are you sure you’re not just trying to save your own hide?” Xander exclaimed angrily, standing to face the vampire.

“Xander don’t,” Anya begged, pulling gently on his arm until he looked at her. There were tears in her eyes. He immediately backed down, forgetting even that Angel was in the room as he stared at the confused face of the woman he loved.

“An? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say. My best friends, my only real friends are lost out there somewhere and I want to go and find them I do. But then I think of Dawn and how she must be feeling. She’s all alone somewhere, facing God knows what and we may be the only people who can help her.” She stopped and drew a shaky breath. Xander knew she hadn’t finished so he stayed silent.

“If Dawn dies, it won’t matter to Buffy whether she’s alive or dead. Regardless of our own feelings, I think we have to help the person who’s most vulnerable here. Buffy, Spike, Willow, Tara… they can take care of themselves. Dawn can’t.”

Cordelia gave her former boyfriend and the ex-vengeance demon what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “They’re probably going to try and rescue Dawn anyway. I’m sure we’ll catch up with them eventually.”

****

Spike carried Buffy to the cave that Wesley had found to shelter Spike against the rising sun, careful not to wake the Slayer. He laid her gently down on the opposite side of the cave from the two witches and lay down next to her. Unconsciously, Buffy snuggled closer to him, her head innocently nestling in his lap and she made herself more comfortable. The vampire fought against the natural reactions of his body at having his love pressed so intimately against him and closed his eyes to try and get some sleep himself.

He had almost achieved his aim when Wesley shook his arm slightly, startling him back to full consciousness. He turned and faced the former Watcher, fixing him with an angry stare. “What?”

“I think we should talk about what we’re going to do this evening,” Wesley told him, far too familiar with Angel’s moods to be put off by an angry Spike. “Willow and I have discussed the situation, but as you’re in charge…”

“Look mate,” Spike said around a yawn that was intended for effect and was not the cause of any physical compulsion by the vampire, “You and Will have probably had far more practice at the planning thing and possibly had more success than I ever did whenever I bothered to sit down and work things out before hand instead of just charging in guns blazing. So here’s the deal. We’re going to rescue Dawn. That’s the plan. I don’t give a damn what you three add to that. To Buffy and me it’s simple. We find Dawn, we go home, we kill the bitches. Work from there.”

With that Spike gently shifted the Slayer and lay down next to her, pulling her firmly back against him so that her head was resting on his chest.

Wesley stared at the vampire and Slayer for a moment, wondering if a former Watcher should feel such a strange sense of peace looking at them. He wondered what it was about them that could possibly make him feel so relaxed about the situation they were in. Then they moved, and he didn’t need to wonder anymore.

It wasn’t anything much. Buffy’s hand moved down Spike’s chest slightly and wrapped around his waist, pulling him into a closer embrace. When the vampire moved his arms unconsciously around her, holding her possessively against him, the Slayer sighed dreamily and returned her hand to the top of his chest near his shoulder. Spike nuzzled his face against her hair and started to purr, and Buffy’s face took on a look of pure bliss.

The young man smiled down at them, silently giving his blessing in the face of such obvious love and trust, and moved away from both sleeping couples to try and rest himself.

 

Chapter 16

“It involves a feather boa and the theme from A Summer Place”

Oz - Inca Mummy Girl

****

“Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your hair!” Ethan quoted as he entered the room to find Dawn once again staring out of the window. The sight gave him a brief moment of malicious pleasure, before he remembered that he hadn’t been too happy participating in this whole thing from the start and if Buffy or Rupert did manage to catch him this time, he probably wouldn’t have to worry about the two sinister vampiresses anymore.

Dawn didn’t even turn to look at him when he entered. She was becoming annoyed. She had searched every inch of the room and had found nothing that could possibly aid her escape. The teenager turned to him with a frown at his words however. “Let down your hair…” she murmured, her mind suddenly whirling as she searched for something that would help her.

“Yes, you know,” Ethan continued, not noticing that Dawn seemed to be suddenly preoccupied. “Rapunzel throwing her hair out of the window so that the prince could climb up and rescue her. I wouldn’t even bother thinking about it if I were you. Your hair isn’t that long.”

“So is everything here based on fairy tales?” Dawn asked conversationally, sitting down on the end of the bed.

“Almost everything yes,” Ethan volunteered, happy that someone was taking an interest in his work for once. “They may not be specific fairy tales. Demons are pretty much demons, there may be the odd dragon or damsel in distress that isn’t particularly attached to anything, but other than that…”

“What are they going to have to do?” Dawn asked momentarily forgetting the need for escaping the tower and finding her sister and her friends. She needed to know what Buffy and the others were facing.

“Well,” Ethan began, opening the door and holding it wide for her. “Why don’t I show you?”

****

Buffy blinked herself awake and found that she was oddly comfortable for someone who, it appeared, had spent the night asleep in a cave. Then she realised that she was lying half on top of a strong but soft male body and understood. Realising she had spent the night asleep on Spike the Slayer panicked. She quickly pushed herself away from the sleeping vampire, ignoring the sharp pang she felt at the loss of contact.

She looked around for the others and smiled a little when she saw Willow and Tara curled up against one another at the other side of the cave. Wesley was sleeping a little further off and Buffy decided not to disturb them. They’d most likely be keeping vampire hours from now on, so it would be better for them if they continued to rest.

The Slayer stood, careful not to disturb the sleeping vampire and made her way to the cave’s entrance. She yawned and stretched as she tilted her head up to the sun. Smiling she walked across to pool of water which beckoned her as it sparkled in the sunlight. As she dipped her hands into the cool water, she realised that they had no idea how long they were going to be here and there would probably be little opportunity to bathe or wash once they set out to find Dawn that evening. Glancing back towards the entrance to the cave Buffy determined to take advantage of the privacy for as long as she could. If Willow or Tara interrupted her it didn’t matter too much. They were her friends and she had no reason to be embarrassed. Wesley catching her would probably be a little more uncomfortable but she was certain she could deal. He’d probably be more embarrassed than her anyway. And Spike…

Buffy slipped out of her clothes, trying her best not to imagine the blonde vampire watching her as she slowly slid into the tranquil blue water. She swam the length of the pool a couple of times before diving down underneath the churning waterfall, reappearing in the space behind the pouring water and pushed herself awkwardly up onto the ledge in the hollowed out rock.

The reminder that this game had robbed her of her powers made her pout angrily, before she remembered that she had lost something far more important than strength and speed. She shook her head to remove the painful thought of Dawn. She knew that Spike was right about that at least. Darla and Dru wanted to cause Spike and Angel, and most probably herself as well, as much pain as possible. And to do that they would wait until their three targets were able to watch the proceedings before they hurt or killed Dawn.

She let the water cascade over her as she washed herself, her fingers gliding over her body as she let the pure spring water remove some of her stress along with any dirt. Dwelling on the subject was not going to change anything. The best thing she could do for Dawn was stay conscious and alert and get to her as quickly as possible. Unlike last time. Her last minute breakdown and coma hadn’t helped her sister in the slightest.

Once she felt more like herself she dived back underneath the waterfall, reappearing after a few seconds on the far side if the pool. She surfaced to find that she had indeed been spotted, but not by any of her friends.

For lined up at the side of the pool, staring at her with varying degrees of anger, worship, embarrassment, confusion and fear, were seven dwarves.

 

Chapter 17

“This isn’t some fairy tale. When I kiss you, you don’t wake up from a deep sleep and live happily ever after.”

Angel – ‘Reptile Boy’

****

Xander and Anya were searching for something. They had no idea what it was exactly, but Angel had told them to find some sort of landmark that they could work from in order to find Dawn. He couldn’t remember the map that Darla and Drusilla had shown him exactly. He hadn’t had long enough to memorise it. And of course, he hadn’t been expecting to be thrown into this ‘game’ in the first place.

He could however remember the tower, which was where he expected to find the Slayer’s sister, so it was up to the others to see if they could find it or any other distinguishing landmarks while Angel was stuck inside away from the sun.

Xander smirked as he recalled Angel telling them that the sun shouldn’t harm him here, just before he started to smoke and had to run quickly back inside. Xander hadn’t even tried to control his amusement, while Giles managed to hide his smile sufficiently so as not to further embarrass the vampire. Cordelia meanwhile had merely rolled her eyes at Anya and the two women had bonded over the knowledge that all men were fools.

The young man’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted when he ran straight into the back of his fiancée, who had stopped dead in her tracks.

“An? Are you ok?” Anya ignored him, turning her head slightly to the side as if listening for something. “Ok. Not liking the ignoring and the weird silent thing,” Xander said, trying to ease the suddenly tense atmosphere and mask his own nervousness.

Anya shushed him. “Do you hear that?”

Xander listened carefully but could hear nothing above the soft whisper of wind through the trees. “Hear what?”

The ex-demon frowned. “Nothing,” she said, shaking her head as if to clear it. “I must have imagined it.”

“O-k,” her fiancée drawled, looking around them once to be on the safe side, before leading Anya on their way again.

They had walked about ten steps when Anya stopped again. “Alright, I know I heard something that time,” she said determinedly, searching frantically around her.

“An, there’s nothing here,” Xander told her, more worried than he wanted to admit about what was happening to his future wife.

“No, I heard it Xander. There’s something here. I can feel it.”

“Feel it?” Xander asked sceptically.

Anya nodded. “You know… The way Buffy says she always knows when there’s some big bad thing arou…” She stopped and frowned. “I can see things better too. Like Buffy. My hearing… It’s like Buffy’s. My senses are all heightened…”

“Like Buffy’s,” Xander breathed, finally catching on.

“Xander,” Anya said wonderingly, “I’ve got Slayer senses.”

****

Cordelia’s eyes started to drift close as the constant motion of Angel’s pacing slowly sent her to sleep.

“Do you think they’re ok?” Angel asked abruptly, shocking Cordy back to full consciousness.

“What?”

“Do you think they’re ok?”

Cordelia grimaced in annoyance. “They’re fine. They’ll be back soon, stop worry…”

“No,” Angel interrupted shaking his head, “Not them. Buffy and Dawn and everyone.”

Cordy’s face softened when she heard the genuine concern in her friend’s voice. “I’m sure they’re ok too. I mean Buffy; well she’s Supergirl or Wonder Woman or something. And Spike’s strong and good in a fight, as we know from never being able to kill him. Are you sure he’s on our side now?”

Angel’s face twisted slightly, but he nodded in answer to her question. “Yes I’m sure. And if you don’t believe me, maybe you’ll believe the Host.”

Cordelia’s eyes widened in amazement. “Lorne says Spike’s good?”

“Yeah. They seemed real firm friends.” 

Cordy shrugged and rested her head against her arms, which were folded on the table. “Then I guess it’s ok.”

“No! No it’s not ok. Spike’s working for the good guys. He’s an evil, soulless vampire, but he’s on our side now. I don’t…” He stopped and resumed pacing as Cordelia looked up at him with interest.

“This isn’t about Spike is it,” she announced intuitively. “This is about you and your evil twin.”

Angel sighed and sat down dejectedly next to his friend. “Angelus could never, would never do what Spike’s doing. Not even if he had one of those government chips inserted into his brain. And especially not for love.”

“Does it upset you more that you never could or that Spike so easily can?” Cordy asked shrewdly.

“Angelus Cor, not me.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “He’s in you. There’s no point in talking about him as if he’s a different person. He’s not. He’s you without a soul. And no I don’t believe he ever could do what Spike is. And for some reason, it’s not that strange that Spike has a good side. Your problem is that your Grandchilde doesn’t need a soul to let his good side out. And come to think of it, he never did.”

“What?”

“He helped Buffy save the world long before the government decided to turn him into a lab-rat for their scary conditioning experiments. And I have to say, I always admired the way he fought Buffy head on unlike…” She trailed off as Angel looked at her with a wounded expression, before deciding it was best to just get it all out in the open. “Unlike Angelus, who thought it was fun to terrorise her family and friends first. Spike never went in for that mess with the victims mind crap. He was direct. That’s good.”

“Cor,” Angel started nervously, not really wanting to ask the question he knew he had to. “Are you ever afraid of me? Of what I might do?”

Cordelia looked away, unable to answer with him staring at her. “I’m more afraid that one day you’ll do something and I’ll be forced to kill you,” she told him quietly.

“I don’t want to hurt you Cordy. Ever.” The words were spoken so fiercely that Cordelia jumped slightly in her seat as she turned her head to look at him.

“I know.”

****

“You see there are three levels to advance through,” Ethan told Dawn as he circled the table, which held a scaled down model of the ‘game board’. “The first level is relatively easy. That’s where Buffy and the rest of your comic hero friends are right now. The second level is that area surrounding the castle. It gets a bit trickier there. And the final level is the castle itself. And of course, it’s much harder to get through the final level.”

Dawn refused to show any fear in front of Ethan Rayne. Both Buffy and Spike would be disgusted if they thought that she had been intimidated by anyone as petty, arrogant and sick as him. Instead she stood her ground. “That’s twisted.”

“Yes, it is isn’t it?” Ethan replied with a cruel smile.

The teenager moved around the table, addressing her question to the man, but fixing her eyes on the model in front of her. “Who’s in each team?”

“Hmm,” Ethan mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Your sister is with your vampire friend Spike, the two witches and the Watcher that isn’t Giles. What’s his name?”

“Wesley.”

“Right. The other team consists of Angel, Cordelia, Xander, Anya and my old friend Ripper.”

“Isn’t that a little unfair?” Dawn asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean one team has a vampire, a Slayer, two witches and a Watcher. The other team has a vampire, a Watcher and three people with no special skills. Unless of course Cordelia’s visions are going to be useful to them in some way.”

Ethan smiled again, feeling rather proud of himself and of what he had managed to accomplish. “Actually Dawnie that’s not strictly true.”

“What d’you mean?” Dawn asked, starting to feel even more uncomfortable and scared for her sister and her friends.

“Each team consists of a Knight, a Princess, a Sage, a Warrior and a Sensory. Any skills they have in reality will be stripped away and they will receive the skills of the character they are playing.”

“So Spike and Angel will be immune to sunlight and garlic… If they’re the Knights then…”

“No Dawn. Not even I can stop what is a physical fact. I can take away or give strength, or disable a skill for a period of time, but not even I can change the fact that vampires dust in sunlight. That is something they’ll just have to deal with.”

“So Spike and Angel are the Knights?” Ethan nodded in reply. “Wesley and Giles the Sages.” Again Ethan inclined his head. “And the Princesses? Let me guess. Buffy and Cordelia.”

“Very good Dawn,” Ethan affirmed patronisingly.

“And what special skills do the Princesses have?”

“Not a single one. Princesses as I’m sure you know, are there to be rescued.”

 

Chapter 18

“That’s nice Willow. And you went mental when?”

Cordelia – ‘Halloween’

****

Willow woke up slowly, letting her eyes stay shut as she gradually became aware of things around her. She remembered she was in a cave, trapped in some sort of game with Tara, Wesley, Buffy and Spike.  She felt Tara next to her and pulled the blonde witch’s arm more firmly around her waist. She inhaled the scent of her girlfriend’s hair and smiled sleepily.

Wesley she knew was lying not far from them. The steady beat of his heart and rhythm of his breathing told her he was still asleep. That thought forced her eyes open in a second and she sat up quickly glancing once at Wesley before looking wildly around the cave.

Tara, dragged from sleep by the anxious movements of the confused redhead, sat up next to her girlfriend, rubbing her eyes. “Honey? What’s wrong?”

Willow’s eyes were focused on Spike who lay on his side on the opposite side of the cave. His face had taken on a joyful expression and the thought that he was dreaming of Buffy crossed the young witch’s mind for a moment. Then Willow remembered why she’d been staring.

“Where’s Buffy?” 

****

Buffy closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, before opening them again. No. They were still there. Seven dwarves.

She smiled hesitantly at them, glancing at her clothes, which lay near her companions, and trying to judge the distance she would have to travel to reach them. As if sensing her discomfort six of the dwarves gallantly turned their backs to her while the seventh brought her clothes to the edge of the pool and then rejoined the others.

The Slayer quickly jumped from the water and pulled her clothes on, grimacing when she realised how wet and uncomfortable they’d be now. She squeezed the water from her hair, glad that the day was warm and the sun would dry her hair and clothes quickly.

“Um, hi,” Buffy greeted when she was more presentable, drawing the group’s attention back to her. “I’m Buffy.”

“We know Princess,” the dwarf who had fetched her clothes told her with a smile. “I’m Valdo.”

“Oh,” Buffy said with a surprised smile. She’d at least been expecting Happy or Doc. “Well it’s nice to meet you Valdo. But I’m not a Princess; I’m travelling with my friends. I’m trying to reach my sister.”

“The Princess Dawn, but of course milady.” 

 “You know about Dawn?”

“Everyone in the kingdom knows what has happened Princess. If there is any way in which we can help you need only ask.”

“Well,” Buffy told them, feeling happier with the knowledge that there were people here to help them, “If you can show us how to get to the place where Dawn is being kept, we’d all be very grateful.”

****

Tara ran to the entrance of the cave to check for Buffy while Willow moved to wake Spike. She hoped her friend was somewhere nearby, because she dreaded to think what Spike might do if Buffy was lost or injured. As it was, the prospect of waking him and informing him that Buffy was missing was daunting.

“Spike,” Willow called softly, shaking the vampire as best she could while she remained at arms length, “Spike wake up.”

The vampire’s eyes were open instantly. “What?”

“Buffy’s gone,” Willow told him and then winced at the expression that crossed his face. He looked as he had on numerous occasions when she had woken him from a nightmare in those long months following Buffy’s death. She’d had to break the news to him over and over as the dreams, just for a second, gave Spike hope that his Slayer had been saved. If there was one thing Willow hated, it was that look in the vampire’s eyes. They looked dead.

“I mean,” the redhead tried to explain, “she’s not here. In the cave.”

Spike shook himself free of the fear that had suddenly overcome him and sat up. “Is she outside?”

Willow shrugged. “I don’t know. Tara’s gone to check. I just thought you should know in case…”

“Yes?” Spike growled angrily, jumping up and starting to pace. “What use will I be if she is missing? It’s daylight in case you hadn’t noticed.” He continued in this vein for a while, cursing the fact that he was a vampire and therefore unable to help his love and her friends whenever he was needed.

His ranting woke Wesley who groggily stood and moved to join them. “What’s going on?”

Spike ignored him and walked as close to the mouth of the cave as he could, while Willow explained to Wesley what had happened.  

****

Low voices drifting through the trees led Tara to Buffy. The blonde witch raised her eyebrows slightly at the sight of the Slayer sitting crossed legged in front of a semi-circle of seven dwarves. She wondered for a moment when it was that such things had stopped surprising and affecting her, before moving closer to the small group.

The dwarves immediately silenced and Buffy turned to face her friend with a smile. “Hey Tara. Guys this is Tara. Tara these are the seven dwarves.”

“Oh,” Tara said nodding her head as she sat down next to Buffy. “Snow White’s seven dwarves?”

Buffy nodded. “But not Disney’s. Obviously infringement of copyright is too hideous a crime even for two evil vampires like Darla and Drusilla.”

“Of course,” Tara agreed with a slight smirk.

Buffy turned back to address the dwarves. “Do you know who Tara is?”

“Why of course Princess,” Valdo answered Buffy’s question. “She is The White Warrior.”

“The White Warrior?” Tara asked, growing more and more curious by the second.

Valdo stood and made his way to the centre of the half circle, facing the two girls. “Two small groups battle in this land to save its inhabitants from evil.”

“Of course they do,” Buffy muttered under her breath, but smiled at Valdo as he continued.

“The White Knight, my Lord William leads, you Princess and you Lady Tara, alongside the White Sage, my Lord Wesley, and the White Sensory, the Lady Willow.”

Buffy and Tara stared open mouthed at the man before them. Before they had a chance to comment, he went on.

“The other group, at the far side of the Kingdom is led by the Red Knight, Lord Angel. The Princess Cordelia, the Red Warrior, my Lord Alexander, the Red Sage, my Lord Rupert and the Red Sensory, the Lady Anya join him. Both my Lord William and Lord Angel are trying to reach the Princess Dawn who is imprisoned at Tolemac.”

Buffy snapped fully back to reality at the mention of Dawn and grew deadly serious. “Where is Tolemac?” 

****

Spike was still pacing frantically as Buffy and Tara flew back into the cave, followed by the dwarves. Willow and Wesley stopped talking as they entered and breathed a mutual sigh of relief.

Buffy didn’t give anyone time to speak before she began. “Will, Wes, these guys are going to help us find Dawn. This is Valdo their leader; he’ll explain everything you need to know. Tara go with them, help explain as much as you can.”

Tara led the dwarves to the back of the cave, gesturing to Willow and Wesley that they should join them.

The Slayer then turned to Spike. “We’re probably going to need some sort of plan of attack. Whatever’s guarding Dawn isn’t going to be friendl…”

She was cut off by Spike’s mouth, which came crashing down on her own, moving fiercely and possessively over her lips as he drew her body to his in one sharp movement, holding her in a tight embrace. When he pulled away he glared down at her with a mixture of anger, fear and love burning in his eyes. Buffy merely stared back into the beautiful blue orbs, feeling weak from the devastating kiss.

“Never, ever do that again,” he growled before dipping his head and kissing her again.

It occurred to the Slayer that she should protest such behaviour, but any thought of putting an end to it fled as she became lost in the feeling of kissing the man who was supposed to be her mortal enemy.