Summary: Spike stops a warlock's spell, inadvertantly getting himself into deep trouble. Will Buffy be able to accept the changes in him? And what are they going to do about Glory?
Rating: PG-13
Buffy looked at the clock for the umpteenth time, glancing impatiently at Giles, who was still going over the materials they'd found at Doc's. Spike had asked for an hour, and only half that time had passed, but still Buffy was worried. She should have insisted he come back with her to get backup. She should have sent him back instead. They should have gone in together. A hundred different things might have gone wrong, and she didn't like thinking about any one of them.
"Ah hah!" Giles exclaimed, shaking his finger at the text in front of him excitedly. "I think I've found the ritual this individual plans to perform. I believe the reason they took Dawn was because they need her blood for it to work, to bring Glory back full strength."
"Why Dawnie's blood?" Willow asked. "They don't know she's the Key, do they?"
Giles shook his head. "It seems he might have done a locator spell for the correct sacrifice," he said slowly. "There are instructions here that would indicate another spell that would allow a person to pinpoint the necessary ingredients. He needed someone with potent blood, and that might have been either Buffy or Dawn; Buffy because she is the Slayer, and Dawn because she is the Key. My guess is that he went for the easiest target."
Buffy stood. "Fine. He needs Dawn's blood? He's not getting it. Let's go. We need to get there before he can raise Glory."
"Didn't Spike say to give him an hour?" Xander asked. "Maybe we should wait, just in case he's already on his way back."
"I'm not waiting," Buffy replied. "I didn't like leaving him there on his own in the first place." She looked around. "We need weapons."
"We can take whatever's in the shop of course," Giles offered.
Anya immediately perked up. "Oh, take the troll hammer! If Glory does show up, you can use it to pound her into a sticky paste."
Buffy smiled grimly and grabbed the hammer. "Good thinking, Anya. One sticky paste coming right up."
They all left the shop armed. Willow and Tara had their magic, Giles carried a sword and crossbow, Anya had a sharpened baseball bat, and Xander carried an ax. The Slayer wasn't at all sure what they were getting themselves into. Her only thought was of grabbing Dawn and getting out. If this Doc guy actually managed to raise Glory, and Buffy couldn't put her back in the ground, they would need to run.
"What will you do if Glory returns?" Giles asked in a low tone as they made their way to the construction site.
"Get Dawn, and get out of here," Buffy replied evenly. "But first I'm going to try putting her back where she belongs. I'm just really, really tired of this Hellgod thing."
"Buffy," Giles said urgently. "If she does come back, it is imperative that you kill her as soon as possible. The more time she has, the stronger she will become."
"If they're even doing it tonight," Buffy muttered. "I thought that scabby little weasel said we had another day."
"Perhaps he was mistaken," Giles replied. "Or perhaps they had to move the day up for whatever reason. It doesn't matter now."
"No, it doesn't," Buffy agreed. "Because right now, I'm in the mood to kick some demon ass."
They drove to the site, taking both Giles' and Xander's cars. Once there, Buffy led the way to the loose fencing where she and Spike had entered not even an hour before. Buffy was slightly unsure of what to do next. Surprise was still possible, and if they all went through the window, they might still manage it. But she had no idea where her sister or Spike were, or where exactly the ritual was supposed to take place.
"Stay here," she warned Giles. "I'm going to see if I can find Spike or Dawn." Buffy followed the same path as Spike, sneaking down the hallway and opening doors until she found him. He was sprawled on the floor, blood seeping out from under him, and Buffy ran to where he lay and rolled him over.
"Slayer," he said quietly. "You're early."
"You were late," she replied. "Where's Dawn?"
"Wanker took her outside," he muttered. "I couldn't stop him. He was too quick for me."
Buffy looked grim. "They need Dawn's blood to perform the ritual."
"Then you need to get to her," he replied, his eyes barely open. "Go, Buffy. Don't worry about me."
She gave him a look, and then slipped off her jacket, rolling it up and placing it over the wound in his side. Buffy grabbed his hand and put it over the cloth, forcing him to apply pressure. "I'll be back," she promised, and then left at a run.
Buffy met the others outside. "Spike was hurt trying to get Dawn out of there. He said they took Dawn outside somewhere."
They snuck around the building, and it wasn't hard to see where the ritual was taking place. A bier with Ben's body lay in the center of a circle of Glory's minions. Dawn and a rather unimposing elderly man could just be made out in the center. Buffy could see that Dawn had already been cut; her sister's hand was around one wrist, and blood could be seen seeping out through her fingers.
"Giles, they've already started the ritual," Buffy said, alarmed.
The Watcher took quick stock of the situation. "We need to get in there. We might still be able to interrupt the process."
"All right," Buffy agreed. "But if we can't stop it, I want you to grab Dawn and head out of here. I'll see what I can do about Glory."
"Are you certain?" Giles asked quietly. "It won't be Glory, it will be Ben that you'll be facing."
Buffy's face hardened. "If it means saving Dawn, then I think I can deal. Besides, he's already dead. I'm just going to do him a favor and makes sure he stays that way."
The others had been listening to their whispered conversation, and now Buffy paused to give directions to the troops. "Giles, take Willow and Tara around to the other side. You concentrate on stopping the ritual. Xander, Anya and I will try to get through from this side."
"Are you sure about this?" Xander asked as the others crept off. He watched the demons' activities anxiously.
Buffy gave him a little smile. "No, but I am sure that I'm not letting that Hellbitch come back if I can help it. She was starting to really annoy me." Buffy watched to be sure she could see Giles and the witches on the other side of the circle, and she nodded to the other two. "Let's go."
They all charged in, with only Willow and Tara holding back, their hands clasped. The Wiccans were waiting for an opportune moment to disrupt the magics surrounding the ritual itself. Such a disruption was not an easy prospect, and it would be very easy to botch the job.
Buffy went for Glory's minions with her hammer, feeling a great sense of satisfaction as they went flying in every direction. Even the crunching sounds were giving her all kinds of stress relief. It was really too bad they didn't put up more of a fight, because the battle was all too short for her taste. The lack of a challenge made it harder to concentrate on the fight instead of on her sister's whimpers and tear-stained face. She was soon left facing the Doc, however, who was holding a golden cup full of Dawn's blood.
"You're too late, Slayer." The man greeted her with equanimity. "The ritual will be completed, and the great Glorificus will return."
"You know, I'm getting really tired of hearing that," Buffy replied, taking a step forward with her hammer. "What if we don't want her back?"
Doc smiled kindly. "Don't worry. It'll be over soon." Before Buffy or anyone else could move, he darted to the body, pouring the blood in its already open mouth.
There was a moment of hushed stillness as they all waited for the worst to happen. The corpse, however, didn't even twitch, and Doc stood there waiting for, well, something.
Buffy's eyebrows went up. "Anybody else find this rather anticlimactic?"
Xander, Willow, Tara, and Anya raised their hands. Doc was looking a trifle pissed off, but before he could take his anger out on the nearest person, Willow grabbed Tara's hand and they both called out something in Latin. Dawn was pushed toward the witches as though by a giant hand, and they caught her and started to rush her off, Giles following close behind.
Buffy, on the other hand, was looking at the still-dead corpse with a smug little smile. "Finally," she said. "Something goes wrong for somebody who isn't me." She didn't hesitate when Doc rushed toward her, remembering what Spike had said about the demon being too quick for him.
If she'd spent any time at all in the batting cages, she might have said it was like trying to hit a fast ball. But Slayer reflexes and a quick eye were up to the challenge. The hammer hit Doc's head with a nice, meaty splat, and the demon collapsed in front of her. Buffy made a face. "Okay, that was gross."
She looked back at Xander and Anya who were both watching with similarly disgusted looks on their faces. "Not to raise the ick factor here," Xander said. "But shouldn't we do something about the body? You know, make sure it can't be used again?"
Giles came up to stand behind them. Danger over, there was no need to run. "We probably should burn the body," he agreed. "That, and scattering the ashes in running water should take care of the danger."
Buffy turned to look at Dawn, who was standing behind her with a mixture of pain and relief on her face. "Are you okay?"
Dawn nodded. "I don't think the cut was very deep."
Tara nodded her agreement. "It's probably not hospital worthy. A few butterfly bandages and some gauze, and she should be fine."
"Guys?" Dawn asked quietly. "Where's Spike?"
~~~~~
It took a while to get everyone settled. Spike was unconscious by the time they got back to him. Doc had all but eviscerated him. Buffy decided to bring him back to her house where she could keep an eye on both the vampire and her sister at the same time.
Doc being a resurrection expert, Giles wanted to take extra special care with his body, and Ben's body needed to be burned. He and Xander handled of both of those very dirty jobs, and then they all met back at Buffy's house to try and figure out what exactly had gone wrong. Or, well, from their point of view, what had gone right.
"Did you see the look on his face when nothing happened?" Dawn asked, now able to laugh a little bit over the whole incident. A fresh shower, bandage, and hot chocolate had repaired much of the damage and restored her sense of humor. "I mean, I thought somebody had hit him over the head."
Buffy smiled, more with relief than anything else. Glory was definitely gone for good, which meant she could rest easy on that front. Her sister was safe, and Spike was going to unlive. Not a bad ending to the day. She still had one question remaining though.
"Giles, why didn't the ritual work? Not to complain or anything, but wasn't it just a little odd?"
"As you said, it was rather anticlimactic," Giles said. He was still trying to get his bearings after that rather stunning ending. "The only thing I can think of was that he had the wrong ingredients."
"You mean, he screwed up the spell?" Xander asked. "How often does that happen for us?"
Willow perked up. "You know, resurrection spells are tricky. Maybe one of the ingredients had lost their potency or something."
Giles blinked. "Of course." He looked over at Dawn. "Forgive me, Dawn, but do you remember what knife he used?"
"With me, you mean?" Dawn asked. "It was the one he dropped. I thought you picked it up."
"We did," Giles replied. "But was it the same one he used on Spike?"
Dawn thought for a minute and then shrugged. "I think so. At least, I only ever saw him with one knife."
Giles nodded, satisfied. "That's it then. As Willow said, resurrection spells are tricky. Most likely, he forgot to clean the blade and your blood and Spike's was mixed."
"Which would have reduced both the potency and the purity!" Willow exclaimed. "Looks like Spike saved the day without even realizing it."
Xander made a sour face. "Darn. I suppose I'm going to have to be nice to him now."
~~~~~
Spike's eyes blinked open to see the Slayer looking back at him. "You know, we really have to stop meeting like this," she said cheerfully.
"How's Dawn?" he asked, struggling to sit up.
Buffy smiled. "She's good. Pretty much back to normal even. How do you feel?"
"Like I came this close to havin' my guts on the ground," he muttered. He managed to sit up and lean back against the wall, swinging his legs over the side of the cot with some difficulty. It looked as though he was back in the Slayer's basement. "Want to tell me what happened after I got put out of commission?"
Buffy gave him the details and watched as he winced when she told him Dawn had been bled. "Bloody hell," he muttered.
"It wasn't your fault," she said softly.
"Like hell," he replied. "Little bastard was too quick for me. Wasn't expectin' that."
She offered him a hand. "Do you think you can make it up the stairs? I've got blood for you."
Spike took the hand she offered and stood with a groan, muttering curses the whole way. "Lead the way, luv," he said, following more slowly. He wasn't nearly as badly hurt as he had been just a few short weeks ago. A few days and he'd be fully functional again.
He let her heat the mug up in the microwave and hand it to him. Spike drank the blood down as quickly as possible, and then readily took her offer of another bag. He'd lost a lot of blood.
"So how are you feeling, Slayer?" he asked once he was feeling a bit more like himself.
"Me?" Buffy looked surprised that he'd even asked. "I'm fine."
"Now that Glory's gone?"
Spike couldn't quite read the expression that flashed across her face, but he suspected that Buffy hadn't truly been able to grieve her mother yet. There had been too much going on. Her next words confirmed it for him. "I don't know," she confessed. "I've been too busy to really think about it." She gave him a half-hearted little smile. "I didn't want to think about it."
Spike's gaze softened. "And if you could have one wish, what would it be, luv?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
He cocked his head to the side, his blue eyes searching her face. "Pretend I could give you anything, Buffy. What would it be?"
Buffy stared at him, not sure where this was going, and not wanting to wish for something she could never have. At the same time, the way Spike was looking at her made her want to believe that he could give her anything she asked for. "I wish my mom would come back, and that I could go back to my nice college life and not have to worry about anything more than the next vampire. I wish I'd never heard of a Hellgod and that Dawn had always been my sister and was never anyone's Key. I wish people didn't keep leaving me."
The vampire gave her a wistful look. "An' I wish I could give you all that an' more, Buffy. Feel like givin' me something I can tackle?"
She smiled. "Then I wish I could have just one evening where I could be normal-girl."
"Done," Spike replied. Feeling greatly daring he stood and placed a fleeting, chaste kiss on her lips.
He was gone moments later, the sun having set. Buffy was left standing in her kitchen, her lips still tingling from the contact. "I don't know what it says about me," she muttered out loud, "but that was the best kiss I've had in forever."
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