Spiked Ch. 06-10

"UC Sunnydale." She admitted.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Hey! I'll have you know that I-"

"No, seriously, what's wrong with you? Staying in Sunnydale. . .AKA demon central. Dating a blood-sucking fiend! Going to UC Sunnydale when you could have gone anywhere!"

"I stayed there to fight evil."

"No, you stayed here to date evil."

"Spike played no part in my decision making process! And who are you to judge my life?"

"I'm you!" Willow 2 huffed. "Wouldn't you rather have my life than your own?"

"No, I wouldn't want your life. You haven't had the experiences I've had. I've helped save more people than I can count. Increased my witchy powers tenfold. A-And. . . know how many apocalypse I've helped stop? Seven! Count 'em, SEVEN! So, put that in your crumpet!"

"What's all the racket about?" Spike asked as he came in the door. He walked to Willow and kissed her upturned mouth. "You alright, pet?"

"Fine." She murmured. "We just had a difference of opinion."

"And here I thought you girls would be the best of friends."

The two witches exchanged sheepish smile and said. "Sorry, Willow." In unison and then they laughed. Spike smiled at both of the two beautiful red heads.

Spike 2 walked in the door, he looked nervous. And he was wearing a pair of dress pants and a red silk shirt. He tugged at the collar. Spike glared at him. "Sorry, I'm new to this." He approached Willow 2 carefully. He spread his hands, put a smile on his devastatingly handsome face and asked. "Would you go on a date with me?"

Willow 2 cocked her head to the side, studying him carefully. "No." ******

Three cups of tea and two hours later, Willow didn't feel better. She felt worse. Much worse. In fact, she was rapidly escalating into panic mode. Giles, as he liked to be called, listened to the details of her experience with Spike. She had asked him some questions, such as. . .why did Spike call him a 'Watcher'? He had spent some of their time filling her in on what a Watcher and a Slayer were. She had also asked him to go over the finer points of vampirism. Willow found out all the ways to kill them, the different orders or clans, and how one was made, as well as other useful facts. But, by far, the most terrifying information she received was about Spike himself.

According to Giles, he was a fierce, master vampire. When he had moved into town, he killed off his rivals and made their minions swear allegiance to him. Since his residence in Sunnydale, the vampire population had gone down a bit because he was concentrating his power. No one but himself was allowed to make a new vampire. He was very powerful, even though he was considered to be young by vampire standards. Spike had even killed two of the apparently superhuman Slayers. Easily. Giles said he was known to be relentless in the pursuit of something he wanted. And right now, he wanted Willow.

Willow stood from her chair, too fidgety to sit anymore. "I have to leave, Giles. I'm going back to England tomorrow morning. I never should have come back here, I knew this place is cursed. And I was doing just fine at Oxford, too. Getting good grades, making friends, going about my life. Goddess, I've even grown to like the cuisine. And especially tea time, I love the clotted cream and scones with-"

"Willow, you're babbling, my dear. " He said gravely. "You can not leave Sunnydale." She shook her head in denial. "No, you can't. " Giles said firmly. "I understand that you're afraid and your natural instinct tells you to run. But that instinct might get you killed. He'll only follow you there. Spike won't stop until he's got you where he wants you. Or he's dead."

"W-what does he want me for? He said he wasn't going to hurt me."

"He will hurt you, Willow, he's a vampire -- its his nature. He's a vicious, soulless demon that only thinks of his own pleasures." He took off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "As for what he wants you for. . . its probably to turn you. From what you've described to me, I think he wants you for his mate."

"Mate?" She groaned. "I was afraid you were going to say something like that."

Giles clasped her hand in his own. "Let me help you, Willow. I know about vampires, staying with me is your best chance at staying alive."

"Thank you, I 'd appreciate your help." She knew that this man was sincere. Willow didn't know enough about demons to fight him all on her own. "I'll stay."

"Good. Now, why don't I make up the couch for you for tonight? I don't think you should be outside right now. I can take you to your place in the morning."

"Alright." Though, Willow doubted she'd be getting much sleep tonight. *******

A knock on the apartment door woke Willow up. She stared blearily at the clock on the wall. It was 10 in the morning. She and Giles had stayed up until 3 talking and she hadn't gotten to sleep until 5. She padded over in her bare feet to the door, she'd slept in one of Giles' old shirts, it came down past her knees. Willow opened the door to see a man in a delivery uniform standing there. "Miss Rosenberg?"

"Uh, yes, that's me." No one but Giles and Spike knew she was here. Willow had a bad feeling.

"Sign here, please." He handed her a clipboard. She did so dutifully and then he thrust a long white box into her hands.

"Thanks, hope you have a nice day."

"Thanks." For bringing me a gift from my demon night stalker! She brought the box over to the couch and sat it down with a thud. She tapped her foot, debating. Should she open it? Yes, if she didn't she'd go crazy wondering what was in it. Willow reluctantly reached for the green ribbon which surrounded the box and tugged at it. "Here goes nothing." She mumbled to herself. She slid off the ribbon and then picked up the edge of the lid gingerly. "So help me, if there is something nasty in here. . .like bugs. Or. . .or. . .or a body part, or something else gross -- I'll curse him. With boils or warts or something." She flipped the lid off to find 12 tiger lilies. And they were beautiful and fresh looking. She reached for the card. It read. . .'These are for you, my Willow, They remind me of you, natural and modest, but unexpected and stunning. Like you. Yours Forever, Spike."

Ack! He was good at wooing. Leave it to her, to fall prey to an undead Lothario. It would be easier to get angry if it were something disgusting. Under normal circumstances, this would be squeal-worthy. She would have called her friends and they would have analyzed everything word that he had written and what his choice of flower really meant.

A sleepy looking Giles crept downstairs. He was swathed in a thick bathrobe. "Who was that?"

"Flower delivery service for me."

"Bloody hell." He murmured, moving to examine the box and the note. When he had looked it over, he called the flower shop. The owner said that they had found a note and money stashed in an envelope under the door when they opened in the morning. There were no records of the buyer's address or any other useful information. When he hung up, Giles looked at Willow with a frown on his face, clearly disturbed.

"I'm right there with you, Giles."

"We'll get you out of this predicament, Willow."

"I hope so." She ran a hand through her hair. "Could you run me to my parents' house soon? Everything will look better once I've had a shower and some clean clothes."

"Oh, uh, yes of course. Are your parents home, Willow?"

"No, they had to leave. I saw them for just a couple of days before they left for a conference in Geneva. They're pretty busy."

"I see. Uh, would you consider staying with me? It might not be safe for you to stay there by yourself. We could protect you more easily here, I have weapons and research materials here."

"I was hoping you'd offer." She smiled sheepishly. Not wanting to sit around herself, scared silly. *******

As the sun set, Willow watched Giles fill a satchel with an impressive array of weaponry. She was curious, though. "Giles, if the Slayer is supposed to kill the demons. . .why are you patrolling at night?"

"Normally, they would. But my Slayers. . .Faith and Buffy. . .they're dead. The new Slayer lives in Cleveland, it has a lot of demonic activity." He sighed. "I was put in charge of the Hellmouth. The Slayer comes here often enough though, to quell particularly difficult situations." There was a wistfulness in his voice. He obviously missed his Slayers. Poor guy.

He changed gears rapidly. "I'm going out for a quick patrol. I want you to stay here, don't go outside and don't invite anyone in." She nodded. "Willow?" He asked hesitantly. "How do you feel about research?"

"I like it." She said. "I love to find things out."

"Then why don't you go over the Watcher's diaries while I'm gone?" He pulled some books from the shelf. "See if there are any weaknesses that Spike might have, or something that might be helpful."

"I'm on it." She said, grateful to have something to do.

A half an hour later, her eyes were starting to blur. Goddess, Watchers were a long winded. And pretentious.

"Willow!" A voice said from outside of Giles door as a knock sounded.

Willow flew to the small window by the Watcher's door. "Who's there?"

"Wills, its me. . Xander!"

In the darkness, Willow couldn't see, but the voice was familiar. She flicked on the light and opened the door a crack. Xander stood on the other side, goofy grin on his face -- just like she remembered. "Xander Harris!" She shouted, a grin spreading across her face. "How've you been?"

"Just fine, Wills, and you? How's uh. . .Oxford, right?"

"Great. College is going well. How's Sunnydale?"

"You know. Chock full of crazy, lots of vamps."

"I believe that! Hey, do you remember the Ascension when we were all fighting them?"

"Not like I could forget. Wasn't that the weirdest? Staked quite a few vampires that night." He laughed "Most people just hang out with their family on graduation day, take a few pics. Not in Sunnydale though. What's a big life event without a demons showing up?"

She laughed, she missed Xander's humor. "It's so good to see you again."

Just then, a figure came out of the darkness. A cold arm snaked around Xander's waist and a vampiric face appeared by his shoulder. Another hand settled over Xander's startled mouth. "Spike!"

"Hello, pet. Did you get the flowers?" He asked, as if they were talking over coffee in stead of the struggling body of her best friend.

"Yes." She said through clenched teeth. "Don't hurt him."

"Alright. I'll let him go, if you come outside."

"What? No! Don't do this." She cried.

"I play to win, pet. Now, come out here or you're little friend might need a transfusion."

Willow felt tears begin to flow as she put herself through the invisible barrier. Spike shoved Xander out of the way and grabbed her up into his eager arms "Run Xander!" She screamed. " Tell Mr. Giles, he'll help us."

Her dark haired friend smiled as he stood up from the ground. He dusted off his pants. "'Fraid not, Wills." His face morphed into its true state. He was a vampire.

"No!" She whispered.

"Yes!" He countered. "I've been a dead for about two years now. I was made right after the demon mayor appeared." She'd lost track of Xander during the Ascension, he must've been vamped that night. It's not like they'd been close before that though. The two had a falling out after he started dating Cordelia Chase. Willow had been blindly in love with her best friend and he didn't even notice her. It hurt too much to watch him with Cordelia. They had spoken very little since. She'd written him a couple of times out of nostalgia, but he never responded. And now he was a vampire.

"How could you do this to me?" Willow asked, hurt by his part in her capture.

His features smoothed out in the familiar lines of Xander's face. He gave her a small smile. "Don't worry, Wills. He loves you, he won't hurt you." Willow could almost believe he was her best friend and not the demon who spoke.

"Help me get her in the car." Spike ordered, put off by the youth's obvious closeness to his Red. Willow began to fight wildly, shoving at his chest, raking his neck with her nails and kicking with her legs. He ignored her struggles. Xander took her feet and Spike took her head as they shoved her in the backseat of his Desoto. Soon, the car was roaring down the street. Back to Spike's home. ***********

Willow sat in the back seat of the car with her arms folded across her chest and her eyes focused on the scenery that was whizzing by at a frenetic pace. She couldn't believe this was happening to her, she had to get out of this somehow. Willow directed a scowl at the back of demon Xander's head. Logically, she knew that this wasn't her best friend, his soul was long gone. But the betrayal hurt the same. Though she was the one silly enough to believe that he had come looking for her of his own accord. Maybe she had just been hoping he would and just easier to dupe. She had been waiting for him to say that he regretted choosing Cordelia over her and had come to apologize.

The younger vampire had closed his eyes as soon as they started moving, he was clearly tired. But Spike was vigilant, watching the road intently and glancing back at her often. The likelihood of escape seemed slim.

Well, at least she had some answers now, she knew where Spike was getting his information from. But why would Spike grill Xander about her? She had never met the vampire before. Who did he think she was? Something still didn't make sense. In fact, she was willing to bet that something hellmouthy was going on. Besides the being 'kidnapped by two evil vampires' thing.

Even if Spike were to slack off in his observation of her, there was no way out of the car. Both of the locks had been tampered with, they opened from the outside but not the inside. She had surreptitiously tried them. Not that she would be able to get out even if they weren't. Spike was taking them to their destination at a breakneck speed. She'd kill herself if she attempted to jump out. Though, death was no doubt part of Spike's plan for her. Death later was better than death now.

"You alright, pet?" Spike asked, looking at her in the rearview mirror.

"Fabulous. " She said dryly. Spike was about to say something when she gave him her patented'death glare', he wisely shut his mouth.

Willow directed her black gaze down to the floorboard. It was littered with opened cigarette packs, a half-eaten box of Wheetabix, and jagged empty bottle of whiskey , and a couple of comic books. There also appeared to be blood stain on the backseat. She gulped. Then, Willow spied her purse and her books. She snatched them up and held them to her chest like they were a life line. "You took these too?" She'd been too eager to flee the scene of his attack last night to remember to ask Giles to get her things.

"I didn't take them, I kept them for you." Spike adjusted the mirror so he could have a better view of her beautiful face. "I thought you'd want something familiar at your new home."

"My new home?" This was really happening, it wasn't some bizarre dream. There was no escape. He was probably hauling her off to some goddess- awful crypt he slept in, complete with dead bodies.

"You'll love it, Red. I promise." He smiled convincingly, trying to reassure her. Spike hated scaring her but he needed her. Period. Spike needed her, wanted her, loved her. He wasn't going to lose her again. Ever. She would learn to love him eventually. After all, the other Willow adjusted to her demon.

Willow took in deep, steadying breath. Once he got her 'home' it would be all over, she knew the sly vamp would probably keep her under lock and key. He probably had minions there to guard her. She had to get out of this before they got home. She needed to find his weaknesses. Stakes. Don't have any. Holy water. Zilch. Crosses. Struck out. Wait a minute. . .Spike wanted her pretty badly, that was obvious. She was a weakness of his. But how could she take advantage of it? An idea came to her. Well, it was better than nothing. She gulped, this would take some courage on her part though.

Willow scooted up in her seat and placed her hand on the back of his. Spike's smile widened. "S-Spike?" She said, playing it to the hilt. "Last night, you s-said that you w-weren't going to hurt me, but Giles told me that you w-would."

"Why would you believe that silly old tosspot? Pet, if I were only after a meal, I wouldn't have bothered to go to this much effort to get you. You're very special to me."

Willow felt tears come to her eyes. No man had ever said that to her. And he said it with such quiet conviction. "I guess that does make sense." She bit the inside of her lip as she thought. In many ways, this was a romantic gesture on the vampire's part. Too bad, she'd end up dead at the end of the evening when he changed her. Yep, time to get back to the plan. She smiled shyly, her hand 'accidently' brushed the hair at the back of his neck. " You really think I'm special?"

Spike grinned. All women loved compliments. He had a feeling that Willow needed them more than others. He bet a lot of people had been too stupid to notice how unique she was. "Absolutely. Knew from the first moment that I saw you that you weren't like any other girl I've met." She smiled once more and ducked her head in a charming way, still shy. Spike relaxed a little, it wouldn't be that hard to get her to come around. She was already starting to warm up to him.

"Spike, do you know me? Have we met before?" Or are you a loon as well as a bloodsucker? She cuddled up closer to he back of the seat and rested her head, just inches from his shoulder. Spike was having trouble concentrating on the road and her words at the same time when she was so close to him. The idea that this innocent creature would practically snuggle up to him was testing his self control. It was a heady thing for a demon to be given so much trust. He tried to calm down, not wanting to show his demonic visage now. It would only frighten her.

"I do know you, pet. You just don't know me." He was afraid to explain too much to her too soon. Especially in a moving car, where he couldn't break the news gently to her. She had accepted the idea that he was a vampire but alternate dimensions might be too shocking this point. Finding out you had a twin was disconcerting under the best of circumstances.

"You've been stalking me?" Had he been skulking around her dorm and watching her while she was in England? Giles said he had just been on a recent trip. Oh no! Maybe he had done a spell or something to convince her to come back home. Willow had been plagued with a desire to come here for weeks. She hadn't felt that way in two years, hardly missed the place when she left. She pulled back from him.

Spike was bereft at the physical distance she had imposed on them. "No, I promise that I haven't been stalking you. I just can't explain what's going on right now, but I will soon."

Willow took a deep breath, forcing down her fears. She would get the information out of him eventually. She had a plan, she needed to stick to it or she'd never be able to get out of here. "Alright. I want to know, but it won't do any good to argue with you right now. " She moved her hand to back of his seat again and brushed his shoulder lightly.

Knew she was a smart chit. Spike sighed, letting himself bask in her nearness. He took one hand off the wheel to pat himself down for a cigarette. Blast. "Pet? I know you're not thrilled with me at the moment, but could you get me a cigarette from one of those packs back there?"

"Sure." Her demon night stalker had her playing errand girl. Yipee. As she reached for a cigarette, Willow noticed the jagged edges of the whiskey bottle. A weapon. She quickly snatched the cigarette and handed it to him.