A Loss of Pride by Mabel Marsters

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Chapter 28: Gone!

Brad ran back to the others. Buffy was out of her chair the instant she saw his face, panic rising in her even before he spoke.

“Gone!” blurted Brad, “Spike’s gone!”

“What do you mean – gone?” cried Buffy.

“His chair is overturned but there is no sign of him at all.”

“Oh my God,” gasped Buffy. She started towards the bathroom but Angel was too quick for her.

He put a hand on her arm, “Keep them back. Let me go check it out first.” He flashed his eyes amber for a second so she would know that he was going to draw on his vampiric senses.

“You’ve got a minute and then I’m coming after you,” said Buffy reluctantly but seeing the sense in Angel’s plan.

Angel raced to the bathroom. He vamped up and concentrated hard. He inhaled deeply, eyes closed. Spike’s scent was there, clear and strong, but he couldn’t isolate another one. There were just too many unfamiliar smells. He followed Spike’s scent along the hallway and out into the alley at the back of the restaurant. He ran to the end of it and then snarled in frustration as the scent trail stopped abruptly. This was where he must have been put into a vehicle.

He turned as he heard footsteps behind him, quickly shaking his features back to human when he saw Brad was with Buffy. Had he changed them quick enough? Brad was looking at him a bit oddly but didn’t say anything.

“He was taken away in some sort of vehicle,” said Angel striding past Brad to avoid him asking how he knew what had happened. “There’s nothing of any use out here.”

Moira had her arms around Laura when they all got back inside.

“What’s happened?” asked Moira as soon as she saw them.

“He’s been kidnapped. He was taken away in a vehicle that was waiting at the end of the alley,” said Angel. He put his arm around Buffy and whispered in her ear. “There was no blood, Buffy, not a trace, but I couldn’t isolate the scent of who took him.”

“Oh God, Angel, if he d…”

“He won’t!” said Angel firmly, “We’ll find him, I promise you.”

He glanced around at the others, “There’s nothing that we can do here. Let’s get back to the Hyperion. I’ll get the check.”

“It’s already done,” said Moira, “But shouldn’t we call the police?”

“No!” shouted Buffy.

“Why ever not?” asked Moira.

“Look, Moira, I’ll explain more when we get back to the hotel,” said Angel. “Yeah, when I’ve thought of something that I can tell you that doesn’t include ‘Spike’s probably been taken by a demon’.”

Moira stared at him for a moment before nodding her agreement. Brad disappeared towards the bathroom and when he came back he was pushing the chair in front of him. Buffy had to bite her lip to keep from crying. She had to be strong.

“I thought there might be fingerprints on it or something,” explained Brad.

They left the restaurant after Angel quietly left a huge tip with the manager to ensure nothing was mentioned about the fact that the wheelchair was now empty. It was a much brisker and more sombre walk back to the hotel than it had been to the restaurant just few hours earlier. No one spoke. Once inside Angel took them into Spike and Buffy’s apartment, as it was the nearest room that had enough seats to accommodate them all.

As soon as they were all inside Moira turned to Angel, “So why are you not going to call the police, Angel? They have to be informed.”

“Not yet, Moira. We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet,” said Angel, “The work that Spike and I were involved with was …er…very sensitive and undercover. If it’s related to that then we just can’t afford to involve the police because it would be beyond their understanding. You’ll just have to trust me on that, okay?”

“Okay,” said Moira doubtfully.

“Buffy, can I talk with you alone please?” asked Angel.

She nodded and the two of them left the apartment. Three rather bemused people watched them go.

“What’s going on, Moira? This all seems pretty weird to me. No matter what he says, the cops should be told.” said Brad as soon as they'd left.

“I think that we should just do as Angel suggests for now,” replied Moira.

“But in the alley, he looked…” Brad faltered.

“What?” asked Laura, putting a hand on his arm.

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Brad in frustration, “When he turned around…for a second…he looked…different.”

“In what way?” said Laura softly.

“I know it sounds stupid but his eyes looked…paler…and his face…somehow…but then it was gone.” He sighed deeply, realising that it sounded ridiculous. “It was pretty dark, I guess.” He paced restlessly up and down. “There must be something that we can do.”

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Angel took Buffy into his office and closed the door.

“What are we going to do, Angel? We’ve got to find him. He’s helpless. He won’t be able to defend himself,” said Buffy, her calm voice belying the devastation etched on her face. She was the Slayer and she was rapidly getting into battle mode.

“I’m not sure what we can do, Buff,” said Angel honestly, “We don’t know what’s taken him or why. I didn’t get a trace of any species of demon that I’m familiar with, but I can’t think why a human would take him.”

“What about Wolfram & Hart? They had humans on the payroll, didn’t they?”

“Yes, but they wouldn’t send a human to do a job like this. It’d be too difficult for them. They’d want someone more than human - someone stronger.”

“Angel, you’ve seen him. He can barely stand without holding onto his walker. It wouldn’t take much to overpower him.”

“They’d still have to carry him down the alley to the getaway vehicle at the end of it. The alley was too narrow for cars to drive in and that’s where his scent disappeared. There must be a demon involved. It’s just not one that I’ve come across before,” replied Angel. He slammed his fist into the desk, causing a crack to snake its way across its surface. “We don’t know anything, Buffy, and I don’t know how the hell we’re going to find him.”

Buffy felt like she was about to crumble but she gritted her teeth and refused once more to let the tears come.

“Okay, so this is the plan. I’m going out there to find every demon bar in the city and I’ll beat and kill, if necessary, anything I come across until I get some useful information.”

She glared at Angel, daring him to try to stop her. Instead he just gave a small sad smile.

“That’s what I was going to suggest we do.”

“That’s figured out. Now we need to get rid of the others. There’s no reason for them to be involved,” said Buffy.

“I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get them to just walk away. They like Spike and technically he’s still under their care.”

“Christ,” snarled Buffy, “So what are we going to do?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe they will go if we tell them to go home. If not, then we’ll have to think of something.”

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Three heads swivelled around to stare at them as Buffy and Angel walked back into the apartment.

“I’m not sure that you’ll be safe here. I think that you should go home,” said Angel.

Moira stood up. “God, you sound like one of those self-sacrificing heroes in a bad action movie. I have the weekend off and since this is a hotel I’m presuming that you’ll have a room I can use?”

“That goes for me too,” said Brad.

“And me,” added Laura.

“No, Laura, I need you to go home,” said Brad.

“What, so I’ll be safe?” she retorted. She glanced at Moira, “It must be a man thing!”

Despite the tension, or maybe because of it, they all laughed a little.

“So what can we do to help?” asked Moira.

“For now, I need you all to sit tight here. Stay near the phone in case we get a call,” said Buffy, needing a plausible reason for keeping them safely inside, not thinking for a moment that the telephone would ring,

“Where are you going?” asked Brad.

“Angel and I are going to check out some…er…contacts. Find out what the word on the street is.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No, Brad, it can only be us. These…people know Spike and Angel and they’ll be jittery enough with me being with him, without having you there as well.”

Brad could see that Buffy and Angel wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise and conceded to stay put.

“Don’t let anyone in before we get back – no matter what they say. This is my cell number. iI anyone comes here let me know right away.”

All three of them nodded silently and watched Angel and Buffy leave.

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Buffy and Angel went to the weapons room. Buffy selected a stake and a small but lethally sharp dagger so that both weapons could be easily concealed. Angel took a stake and a short handled axe which he hung from a specially designed loop inside his jacket.

“You’ve done this before,” she said wryly, watching him put the axe in its place.

“We’ll get him, Buffy. He’ll be all right.”

Buffy’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she pushed the thoughts of what might be happening to Spike firmly out of her mind. Not helpful. She let the anger at whoever had taken him build up inside of her. She hadn’t patrolled or even trained since she’d been reunited with Spike and drawing on the rage would sharpen her up.

Together they strode out of the Old Hyperion heading towards the nearest demon bar.

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