Halloween Fanfic Meme
Saw this on rahirah's journal and had to do it. :)
All of you fanficcers out there, I want you to post a link to your most Halloween-ish story. Note, the story doesn't need to be about Halloween, or even take place at Halloween. Just the story that you think best fits the Halloween spirit.
Some ground rules:
1. It must be complete. No WiPs allowed.
2. Do NOT post just a link. Post all header information, such as title, fandom, pairing, trigger warnings, etc. (See below for an example.)
3. All fandoms welcome.
4. All pairings welcome.
5. All genres welcome. For example: If you think the story you've written that best fits the Halloween spirit scares the pants off people, fantastic! If you think the story you've written that best fits the Halloween spirit is a straight-up laugh-fest, fantastic!
I has Halloween themed fic. AtS crossover with Bones. Takes place at the end of a Halloween episode of Bones with the squints all in costumes. :)
Title: Where Booth and Angel Meet
Author: dawnofme
Rating: PG
Summary: This sequel to Where Blood and Bones Meet takes place during the Bones episode, Mummy in the Maze. Spike talks Angel in to going with him to return the ring that they borrowed from the Jeffersonian in Washington D.C. Angel and Booth come face to face, and Spike has the time of his life.
Betas: megan_peta & mabel_marsters. I did fiddle with the story after it was beta'd so any and all mistakes are mine.
banner by dawnofme
Where Booth and Angel Meet
Spike tried to ignore Angel, who was crouched down beside him, taking up most of the space in the overstuffed janitor’s closet at the Jeffersonian Museum. But just as Spike cracked the door open so he could peek outside, Angel spoke up.
“I don’t know how I let you talk me into this. This is not how I imagined spending Halloween night. Stuck in a moldy closet with mops…and…you. Returning one ancient ring does not take the two of us.”
Growling in frustration, Spike let the door click shut and turned as best he could to face the other vampire. “I told you, it’s a surprise. Now shut your gob, before someone hears us.”
Angel gave Spike a little shove and he fell heavily against the door. Even as Spike vamped out to match the face of his grandsire and lunged forward, he knew it was pathetically stupid to fight with Angel in such a small space.
Outside the janitor’s closet, the doors of the Jeffersonian Museum science lab opened. Dr. Temperance Brennan, looking a bit dirty in her Wonder Woman costume, and Seeley Booth, in his squint costume, walked in and then paused.
“Where is everybody?” Brennan asked, taking in the dim and empty space.
Booth shrugged. “At the party, I guess.”
“We could still go.”
“Ah, we look like hell.”
Brennan grinned. “It's a Halloween party. We could be Wonder Woman and, what's Superman's secret identity?”
Booth dug in his pocket and put the nerdy glasses back on. “Clark Kent.”
“Yes. We could be Wonder Woman and Clark Kent after a really, really bad date.”
“Shush,” Booth suddenly said, glancing around warily. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Booth pointed ahead of them. “Sounds like people whispering in the main room of the museum.”
“That’s two rooms away. How could you possibly-”
They both jumped when a door behind them crashed open and two men in black leather tumbled out. They stood, matching yellow eyes glaring at each other as they adjusted their leather coats.
“What the-” Booth said, squinting through his nerd glasses. He stopped short of asking how they got into the lab when he got a look at their faces. “Now those are great costumes. Where did you get those contacts?”
Suddenly, Dr. Brennan was behind him, clutching his arms in a death grip. “Spike!”
Booth blinked twice and then a third time, not believing what he was seeing, as suddenly the blond man’s face went smooth and blue eyes replaced golden yellow ones.
“Doc!” the blond said pleasantly. “I bet you didn’t think you’d see the likes of me ever again.”
“What the-’’
“Yeah, Doc,” Spike said, rolling his eyes. “He’s an intelligent one. Can’t even get a sentence out.”
“Spike?” Angel practically growled, still vamped out. “What’s going on here?”
Dr. Brennan stepped to the side. “What are you doing here, Spike?”
With a sniff, Spike dug in his coat pocket and tossed the large, ancient ring in her direction. Booth caught it, but Spike addressed Brennan. “Promised I’d return that, didn’t I?”
“Howdya do that thing with your face?” Booth gazed at Spike in wonder.
“He’s a vampire,” Dr. Brennan said quietly as she inspected the ring.
Booth turned to her in shock. “You don’t believe in that stuff.”
“She does now,” Spike said with a smirk. “And I have to say, the new duds are no improvement on the cheap suit you were wearing the last time I saw you.”
“Huh?” Booth stared at Spike with his mouth hanging open.
“But, you, Doc?” Spike took a few steps closer to the couple, his head tilted, his tongue curled to the roof of his mouth as he ogled the doctor. “Now that is a marked improvement! Wonder Woman, indeed.”
“You should leave, right-” Dr. Brennan cut her words off with a gasp and pointed behind Spike. “He looks just like…”
“Me!” Booth finished for her.
Spike turned and grinned at Angel, who’d gone back to looking human. This was the moment he’d been anticipating since he’d convinced Angel to come along on this little trip.
“I don’t look like that,” Angel said with furrowed brows as he pointed at Booth.
The giggle in Spike started up slowly, coming from the depths of his abdomen and bubbling up to escape through his mouth. The giggles turned into a chuckle that soon became a hearty laugh. Spike doubled over, unable to control his mirth.
Annoyance was written all over Angel’s face as he glared at Spike. Dr. Brennan couldn’t help but smile, that is, until she glanced at Seeley who looked shell shocked. He gently pulled the glasses off and smoothed his hair back.
Spike’s laughter died down, but the light of excitement was still in his eyes as he pointed at Booth. “Look again, Angel.”
~ * ~ * ~
Angel and Seeley Booth were standing a foot apart, on the lab platform, just staring at each other in wonder when Dr. Brennan called Booth back to her office.
“Don’t you two go anywhere,” she said, voice laced with authority. “You promised.”
Spike could not stop grinning. He nodded in agreement and watched the couple disappear around the corner.
Angel pointed after the pair. “This is why I flew across the country? To see some guy who has my face?”
Spike snorted. “Just one of them.”
“We’re leaving. Now.”
Angel pushed off the table he was leaning on and headed for the steps. Spike rushed to catch up.
“Come on! We’re just starting to have fun. Let them take their samples and then we’ll be on a plane back to Cali in no time.” Spike grabbed Angel’s arm and stuck his lower lip out. “I promised we’d stick around for a while.”
“Well, then you do that. I’m going home.”
A commotion just out of sight got their attention. A group of people came around the corner and headed for the lab platform. The hot lady in the Show Girl outfit spoke first, glaring at Angel.
“Okay, Booth. You dragged us away from the party and we’re here.”
The vampires backed further onto the platform as the group came up the stairs.
“Yeah,” the man in the Titanic Sea Captain costume said, “what’s so important? I thought the mummy thing was solved.”
Spike stood back, amused, as Angel muttered and stuttered.
“And what happened to the squint costume you were wearing?” the guy in the rear end of a cow costume asked. “Though, that coat is a lot nicer than your every day suit.”
The Show Girl’s eyes lit up with interest when she noticed Spike. “And who is this? I’m Angela, by the way.”
“I’m your biggest fantasy and your worst nightmare all rolled into one, pet.” Spike took a step closer to the woman.
“Hey!” the Sea Captain said, his large blue eyes disappearing in his squinty glare.
“Leave them alone, Spike,” Dr. Brennan said as she and Booth came up behind the group.
And Spike got to sit back and grin some more as the double takes happened all over again. Everyone was talking at once. It was beautiful. Even more so to see Angel’s exasperated face. Words like twin and double and doppelganger were thrown around the room.
A shrill and piercing whistle brought silence to the lab and everyone looked to Booth. “Thank you. Now, it’s obvious that we have the same face, but you squints don’t know the half of it.” He turned to the doctor. “Bones, get them to do that thing with their faces again.”
“That thing?” Spike asked, sauntering over to a metal table and hitching his backside onto it. His legs dangled off the edge, but now that he had their attention, he was quite happy. “That thing we do happens to involve morphing our faces into our true forms.”
“True forms?” Sea Captain scoffed. “A face is a face.”
“Hodgins, please turn on the overhead lights,” Dr. Brennan said to the man. “And…uh…Angel, please have a seat next to Spike.”
Angel huffed, but did as she asked. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
Spike chuckled and nudged him. “It’s for the benefit of science. Be a little more enthusiastic, mate.”
After slowly glancing at each expectant face, Spike said, “Now.” The vampires did their thing and even though Angel would not admit it, both of them got the same thrill from seeing the humans stumble back and gasp.
“How…” Zach the cow bottom asked. “How did…did you do that?”
“We’re vampires,” Spike said with the lisp he hated.
Angela gripped Hodgins’ hand. “Their eyes!” She tilted her head. “Actually, it’s kind of beautiful.”
Hodgins shook his head. “I don’t know how you guys are doing that, but it’s a great trick.”
And then the humans were pressing forward to touch the bumps and ridges, with Dr. Brennan warning about how sharp the fangs were. If wasn’t long before the vampires were talked into taking a table each and lying down for further inspection.
“No heart beat,” Zach said, gingerly removing his hand from Spike’s chest as the vampire growled at him. “Do y-you really drink blood?”
“Yes. I like it hot and straight from the tap.” Spike lifted his head off the cool metal table and leered at the young man, showing off his fangs. “You’ve got a nice jugular vein.”
“I’ll just…be over here,” Zach said as he backed away and busied himself at a computer.
Hodgins moved around the tables, quickly taking samples from under their sharp fingernails. He smiled up at his colleagues. “It’s kind of weird to do these tests on things that are not dead.”
Spike raised a finger. “Ah, technically we are dead. Undead, if you will.”
“Yes, but,” Dr. Brennan looked up from the computer, “we usually have bones on these tables.”
The vampires were grateful for Angela and Booth’s interruption when they came back to the platform. Angela had removed her headdress and Booth had run a comb through his hair and changed into a soft white t-shirt. Spike stared at the FBI agent, still a little bit shocked at the resemblance. When he’d seen Seeley Booth the first time he’d been in Washington D.C. a few days ago to retrieve the ring, he hadn’t been able to believe his eyes.
“If everyone will come this way,” Angela said, holding a clipboard close to her chest. “There are some things in my office that I think you should see.”
They all filed off the platform and to the darkened office. She grabbed an electronic pad off her desk and switched on the large display. The bodies and faces of both Angel and Booth appeared in glowing green 3D.
“Booth is thirty-two pounds heavier than Angel, but as you can see, their bone structure is remarkably similar,” Angela said. “They even have the same shoe size.”
Spike ignored the rest of Angela’s little speech and watched the group of people. His eyes landed on Dr. Brennan on the other side of the room. The Doc was intently listening to the statistics, but when she realized she was being watched, she met his gaze head on. He raised a scarred eyebrow and then blew her a kiss. She quickly looked down, but she couldn’t hide the pleased grin from him.
Twenty minutes later, Spike was bored out of his mind. They’d gone through the usual questions about fire, sunlight, mirrors and garlic and now Booth and Angel were comparing family histories. It turned out that Angel was some relative of John Wilkes Booth through an aunt and John Wilkes Booth was Seeley Booth’s great-grand-something.
Yeah, yeah. Small world and all that.
Spike was ready to leave, but Angel was just getting revved up, talking about the “old” days like a grandpa. Only he wasn’t boring his family. These people were taking notes and hanging on to the Great Poof’s every word. It was enough to make a vampire sick. Spike stood and stretched, hoping to ease himself out of the office without being seen.
Dr. Brennan followed him into the hall. “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere,” he said with a shrug. “Just bored.” He turned slightly and pointed towards the exhibits door. “Thought maybe I’d go take a look at some of the displays.”
“Well, here,” she said, holding her hand out. She had a set of keys and the ring that he’d stolen last week. “You took it out; you can put it back. And you owe the museum for the damaged glass.”
“Put it on Angel’s tab. He can afford it and it was by his orders that I was here.” He took the ring and the keys and put them in his coat pocket.
“What did you need the ring for, by the way?”
The corners of his mouth turned up. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“I have proof that tells me two vampires are in my museum. I think I’d believe you.”
“We needed it to stop an apocalypse.”
“Apoc-that’s just silly.”
“Told you.” Spike turned toward the doors.
“Really? The world was going to end?” Dr. Brennan asked, the disbelief evident in her tone.
“Yes. We’ve been close to the end of the world more times than you’ve had hot dinners.”
“How could an old Egyptian ring help to save the world?”
“It couldn’t. The demon that wanted to end the world needed to put it on to complete a spell that would start the apocalypse.”
She nervously glanced around the room, as if the creature would appear to take the ring while they stood there.
“We needed the ring to draw the demon to L.A. where we could kill it before it could do its thing.”
“How did you even know he would be after the ring?” She asked the question, getting more fascinated by a world she’d had no idea even existed two weeks ago.
“There was a prophesy set down in a book. It’s all very complicated. I bet Angel would be glad to tell you all about it.” He turned towards the doors. “I’ll just put this back and have a look-see at all the old stuff. Tell Angel to come and get me when he’s ready to leave.”
Spike took his time getting to the Egyptian section of the museum. He checked out the Mesopotamian exhibit and a few others before getting bored and heading with purpose to his destination.
He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw three humans he never thought he’d see again, circling the glass displays. By the time he gathered his wits enough to bolt from the room, Xander Harris had already spotted him. With his one eye.
“And now,” Xander said, dryly, “I’m seeing the ghosts of vampires.”
Buffy and Willow’s heads shot up and they spotted him at the same time.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m no spook.”
Spike wanted run, the panicked and shocked faces made him really uncomfortable. But then concern for Buffy won out and he rushed over to the hyperventilating slayer.
“You’re alive!” Buffy managed to say before she sat on the shiny tile floor. “How?”
He joined her there. And with her friends looking on, he spent the next few minutes trying to explain what had happened. Strangely, they all seemed glad to see him and then it was his turn to ask what they were doing there.
It turned out that the watchers in Europe had come upon that same prophecy and they’d had the same idea to use the ring as bait to draw the Sedulaauq demon out to kill him. Spike had the satisfying pleasure of telling the Scoobs that he’d already taken care of the demon and that they didn’t need the ring.
Spike stood and the others got up, dusting off their clothes.
“I’ve been charged with putting this thing back where it belongs, and if I don’t I’ll have to endure the wrath of the Doc.” Spike quickly unlocked the case and set the ugly ring back.
Willow stared at Spike in awe. “I can’t believe Angel lied to us. We just talked to him three weeks ago. He never mentioned you at all.”
“Yeah, well, he wouldn’t want his slayer going off with the wayward childe, now would he?” Spike scratched behind his ear and shifted from one foot to the other. Just as quick, his mood changed from morose to excited. “There’s some people I’d like you to meet. Follow me.”
Buffy took off after him first and after a quick glance at each other, Xander and Willow followed. They entered the big hall just in time to see Buffy grab Spike and plant a huge kiss on his lips.
“Spike?” the man in the white t-shirt said as he entered the hall. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Buffy let go of Spike and marched towards the man. “I can’t believe you! How could you keep him from me, Angel?”
Spike shouted behind her, but she just kept running towards the man. Booth stood with his mouth gaping open. Buffy reached him, reared back her arm and punched him square in the jaw.
Willow squealed and Xander shouted support for Buffy.
Spike’s mouth hurt from the bruising kiss she’d given him and the big grin on his face. “Uh, love?”
“Yeah, Spike,” Buffy said as she stood over the man now out cold on the floor by her boot-clad feet.
“That’s not Angel.”
“Huh? Wha-?”
“Buffy?” Angel’s soft voice filled the hall as he came from the same direction that Booth had come from. “What are you doing here?”
After a brief pause, she reared her fist back and hit him square on the jaw. Angel joined Booth on the floor, though he didn’t pass out. Booth was just coming to and there were twin groans of pain coming from the pair of them.
Buffy’s confused expression was so adorable. “Spike? Why is there two of them?”
“This is just priceless!” And the giggles started again. From deep within his abdomen, bubbling up until he was laughing harder than he had laughed in his life.
-The End-
All of you fanficcers out there, I want you to post a link to your most Halloween-ish story. Note, the story doesn't need to be about Halloween, or even take place at Halloween. Just the story that you think best fits the Halloween spirit.
Some ground rules:
1. It must be complete. No WiPs allowed.
2. Do NOT post just a link. Post all header information, such as title, fandom, pairing, trigger warnings, etc. (See below for an example.)
3. All fandoms welcome.
4. All pairings welcome.
5. All genres welcome. For example: If you think the story you've written that best fits the Halloween spirit scares the pants off people, fantastic! If you think the story you've written that best fits the Halloween spirit is a straight-up laugh-fest, fantastic!
I has Halloween themed fic. AtS crossover with Bones. Takes place at the end of a Halloween episode of Bones with the squints all in costumes. :)
Title: Where Booth and Angel Meet
Author: dawnofme
Rating: PG
Summary: This sequel to Where Blood and Bones Meet takes place during the Bones episode, Mummy in the Maze. Spike talks Angel in to going with him to return the ring that they borrowed from the Jeffersonian in Washington D.C. Angel and Booth come face to face, and Spike has the time of his life.
Betas: megan_peta & mabel_marsters. I did fiddle with the story after it was beta'd so any and all mistakes are mine.
banner by dawnofme
Where Booth and Angel Meet
Spike tried to ignore Angel, who was crouched down beside him, taking up most of the space in the overstuffed janitor’s closet at the Jeffersonian Museum. But just as Spike cracked the door open so he could peek outside, Angel spoke up.
“I don’t know how I let you talk me into this. This is not how I imagined spending Halloween night. Stuck in a moldy closet with mops…and…you. Returning one ancient ring does not take the two of us.”
Growling in frustration, Spike let the door click shut and turned as best he could to face the other vampire. “I told you, it’s a surprise. Now shut your gob, before someone hears us.”
Angel gave Spike a little shove and he fell heavily against the door. Even as Spike vamped out to match the face of his grandsire and lunged forward, he knew it was pathetically stupid to fight with Angel in such a small space.
Outside the janitor’s closet, the doors of the Jeffersonian Museum science lab opened. Dr. Temperance Brennan, looking a bit dirty in her Wonder Woman costume, and Seeley Booth, in his squint costume, walked in and then paused.
“Where is everybody?” Brennan asked, taking in the dim and empty space.
Booth shrugged. “At the party, I guess.”
“We could still go.”
“Ah, we look like hell.”
Brennan grinned. “It's a Halloween party. We could be Wonder Woman and, what's Superman's secret identity?”
Booth dug in his pocket and put the nerdy glasses back on. “Clark Kent.”
“Yes. We could be Wonder Woman and Clark Kent after a really, really bad date.”
“Shush,” Booth suddenly said, glancing around warily. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Booth pointed ahead of them. “Sounds like people whispering in the main room of the museum.”
“That’s two rooms away. How could you possibly-”
They both jumped when a door behind them crashed open and two men in black leather tumbled out. They stood, matching yellow eyes glaring at each other as they adjusted their leather coats.
“What the-” Booth said, squinting through his nerd glasses. He stopped short of asking how they got into the lab when he got a look at their faces. “Now those are great costumes. Where did you get those contacts?”
Suddenly, Dr. Brennan was behind him, clutching his arms in a death grip. “Spike!”
Booth blinked twice and then a third time, not believing what he was seeing, as suddenly the blond man’s face went smooth and blue eyes replaced golden yellow ones.
“Doc!” the blond said pleasantly. “I bet you didn’t think you’d see the likes of me ever again.”
“What the-’’
“Yeah, Doc,” Spike said, rolling his eyes. “He’s an intelligent one. Can’t even get a sentence out.”
“Spike?” Angel practically growled, still vamped out. “What’s going on here?”
Dr. Brennan stepped to the side. “What are you doing here, Spike?”
With a sniff, Spike dug in his coat pocket and tossed the large, ancient ring in her direction. Booth caught it, but Spike addressed Brennan. “Promised I’d return that, didn’t I?”
“Howdya do that thing with your face?” Booth gazed at Spike in wonder.
“He’s a vampire,” Dr. Brennan said quietly as she inspected the ring.
Booth turned to her in shock. “You don’t believe in that stuff.”
“She does now,” Spike said with a smirk. “And I have to say, the new duds are no improvement on the cheap suit you were wearing the last time I saw you.”
“Huh?” Booth stared at Spike with his mouth hanging open.
“But, you, Doc?” Spike took a few steps closer to the couple, his head tilted, his tongue curled to the roof of his mouth as he ogled the doctor. “Now that is a marked improvement! Wonder Woman, indeed.”
“You should leave, right-” Dr. Brennan cut her words off with a gasp and pointed behind Spike. “He looks just like…”
“Me!” Booth finished for her.
Spike turned and grinned at Angel, who’d gone back to looking human. This was the moment he’d been anticipating since he’d convinced Angel to come along on this little trip.
“I don’t look like that,” Angel said with furrowed brows as he pointed at Booth.
The giggle in Spike started up slowly, coming from the depths of his abdomen and bubbling up to escape through his mouth. The giggles turned into a chuckle that soon became a hearty laugh. Spike doubled over, unable to control his mirth.
Annoyance was written all over Angel’s face as he glared at Spike. Dr. Brennan couldn’t help but smile, that is, until she glanced at Seeley who looked shell shocked. He gently pulled the glasses off and smoothed his hair back.
Spike’s laughter died down, but the light of excitement was still in his eyes as he pointed at Booth. “Look again, Angel.”
~ * ~ * ~
Angel and Seeley Booth were standing a foot apart, on the lab platform, just staring at each other in wonder when Dr. Brennan called Booth back to her office.
“Don’t you two go anywhere,” she said, voice laced with authority. “You promised.”
Spike could not stop grinning. He nodded in agreement and watched the couple disappear around the corner.
Angel pointed after the pair. “This is why I flew across the country? To see some guy who has my face?”
Spike snorted. “Just one of them.”
“We’re leaving. Now.”
Angel pushed off the table he was leaning on and headed for the steps. Spike rushed to catch up.
“Come on! We’re just starting to have fun. Let them take their samples and then we’ll be on a plane back to Cali in no time.” Spike grabbed Angel’s arm and stuck his lower lip out. “I promised we’d stick around for a while.”
“Well, then you do that. I’m going home.”
A commotion just out of sight got their attention. A group of people came around the corner and headed for the lab platform. The hot lady in the Show Girl outfit spoke first, glaring at Angel.
“Okay, Booth. You dragged us away from the party and we’re here.”
The vampires backed further onto the platform as the group came up the stairs.
“Yeah,” the man in the Titanic Sea Captain costume said, “what’s so important? I thought the mummy thing was solved.”
Spike stood back, amused, as Angel muttered and stuttered.
“And what happened to the squint costume you were wearing?” the guy in the rear end of a cow costume asked. “Though, that coat is a lot nicer than your every day suit.”
The Show Girl’s eyes lit up with interest when she noticed Spike. “And who is this? I’m Angela, by the way.”
“I’m your biggest fantasy and your worst nightmare all rolled into one, pet.” Spike took a step closer to the woman.
“Hey!” the Sea Captain said, his large blue eyes disappearing in his squinty glare.
“Leave them alone, Spike,” Dr. Brennan said as she and Booth came up behind the group.
And Spike got to sit back and grin some more as the double takes happened all over again. Everyone was talking at once. It was beautiful. Even more so to see Angel’s exasperated face. Words like twin and double and doppelganger were thrown around the room.
A shrill and piercing whistle brought silence to the lab and everyone looked to Booth. “Thank you. Now, it’s obvious that we have the same face, but you squints don’t know the half of it.” He turned to the doctor. “Bones, get them to do that thing with their faces again.”
“That thing?” Spike asked, sauntering over to a metal table and hitching his backside onto it. His legs dangled off the edge, but now that he had their attention, he was quite happy. “That thing we do happens to involve morphing our faces into our true forms.”
“True forms?” Sea Captain scoffed. “A face is a face.”
“Hodgins, please turn on the overhead lights,” Dr. Brennan said to the man. “And…uh…Angel, please have a seat next to Spike.”
Angel huffed, but did as she asked. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
Spike chuckled and nudged him. “It’s for the benefit of science. Be a little more enthusiastic, mate.”
After slowly glancing at each expectant face, Spike said, “Now.” The vampires did their thing and even though Angel would not admit it, both of them got the same thrill from seeing the humans stumble back and gasp.
“How…” Zach the cow bottom asked. “How did…did you do that?”
“We’re vampires,” Spike said with the lisp he hated.
Angela gripped Hodgins’ hand. “Their eyes!” She tilted her head. “Actually, it’s kind of beautiful.”
Hodgins shook his head. “I don’t know how you guys are doing that, but it’s a great trick.”
And then the humans were pressing forward to touch the bumps and ridges, with Dr. Brennan warning about how sharp the fangs were. If wasn’t long before the vampires were talked into taking a table each and lying down for further inspection.
“No heart beat,” Zach said, gingerly removing his hand from Spike’s chest as the vampire growled at him. “Do y-you really drink blood?”
“Yes. I like it hot and straight from the tap.” Spike lifted his head off the cool metal table and leered at the young man, showing off his fangs. “You’ve got a nice jugular vein.”
“I’ll just…be over here,” Zach said as he backed away and busied himself at a computer.
Hodgins moved around the tables, quickly taking samples from under their sharp fingernails. He smiled up at his colleagues. “It’s kind of weird to do these tests on things that are not dead.”
Spike raised a finger. “Ah, technically we are dead. Undead, if you will.”
“Yes, but,” Dr. Brennan looked up from the computer, “we usually have bones on these tables.”
The vampires were grateful for Angela and Booth’s interruption when they came back to the platform. Angela had removed her headdress and Booth had run a comb through his hair and changed into a soft white t-shirt. Spike stared at the FBI agent, still a little bit shocked at the resemblance. When he’d seen Seeley Booth the first time he’d been in Washington D.C. a few days ago to retrieve the ring, he hadn’t been able to believe his eyes.
“If everyone will come this way,” Angela said, holding a clipboard close to her chest. “There are some things in my office that I think you should see.”
They all filed off the platform and to the darkened office. She grabbed an electronic pad off her desk and switched on the large display. The bodies and faces of both Angel and Booth appeared in glowing green 3D.
“Booth is thirty-two pounds heavier than Angel, but as you can see, their bone structure is remarkably similar,” Angela said. “They even have the same shoe size.”
Spike ignored the rest of Angela’s little speech and watched the group of people. His eyes landed on Dr. Brennan on the other side of the room. The Doc was intently listening to the statistics, but when she realized she was being watched, she met his gaze head on. He raised a scarred eyebrow and then blew her a kiss. She quickly looked down, but she couldn’t hide the pleased grin from him.
Twenty minutes later, Spike was bored out of his mind. They’d gone through the usual questions about fire, sunlight, mirrors and garlic and now Booth and Angel were comparing family histories. It turned out that Angel was some relative of John Wilkes Booth through an aunt and John Wilkes Booth was Seeley Booth’s great-grand-something.
Yeah, yeah. Small world and all that.
Spike was ready to leave, but Angel was just getting revved up, talking about the “old” days like a grandpa. Only he wasn’t boring his family. These people were taking notes and hanging on to the Great Poof’s every word. It was enough to make a vampire sick. Spike stood and stretched, hoping to ease himself out of the office without being seen.
Dr. Brennan followed him into the hall. “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere,” he said with a shrug. “Just bored.” He turned slightly and pointed towards the exhibits door. “Thought maybe I’d go take a look at some of the displays.”
“Well, here,” she said, holding her hand out. She had a set of keys and the ring that he’d stolen last week. “You took it out; you can put it back. And you owe the museum for the damaged glass.”
“Put it on Angel’s tab. He can afford it and it was by his orders that I was here.” He took the ring and the keys and put them in his coat pocket.
“What did you need the ring for, by the way?”
The corners of his mouth turned up. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“I have proof that tells me two vampires are in my museum. I think I’d believe you.”
“We needed it to stop an apocalypse.”
“Apoc-that’s just silly.”
“Told you.” Spike turned toward the doors.
“Really? The world was going to end?” Dr. Brennan asked, the disbelief evident in her tone.
“Yes. We’ve been close to the end of the world more times than you’ve had hot dinners.”
“How could an old Egyptian ring help to save the world?”
“It couldn’t. The demon that wanted to end the world needed to put it on to complete a spell that would start the apocalypse.”
She nervously glanced around the room, as if the creature would appear to take the ring while they stood there.
“We needed the ring to draw the demon to L.A. where we could kill it before it could do its thing.”
“How did you even know he would be after the ring?” She asked the question, getting more fascinated by a world she’d had no idea even existed two weeks ago.
“There was a prophesy set down in a book. It’s all very complicated. I bet Angel would be glad to tell you all about it.” He turned towards the doors. “I’ll just put this back and have a look-see at all the old stuff. Tell Angel to come and get me when he’s ready to leave.”
Spike took his time getting to the Egyptian section of the museum. He checked out the Mesopotamian exhibit and a few others before getting bored and heading with purpose to his destination.
He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw three humans he never thought he’d see again, circling the glass displays. By the time he gathered his wits enough to bolt from the room, Xander Harris had already spotted him. With his one eye.
“And now,” Xander said, dryly, “I’m seeing the ghosts of vampires.”
Buffy and Willow’s heads shot up and they spotted him at the same time.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m no spook.”
Spike wanted run, the panicked and shocked faces made him really uncomfortable. But then concern for Buffy won out and he rushed over to the hyperventilating slayer.
“You’re alive!” Buffy managed to say before she sat on the shiny tile floor. “How?”
He joined her there. And with her friends looking on, he spent the next few minutes trying to explain what had happened. Strangely, they all seemed glad to see him and then it was his turn to ask what they were doing there.
It turned out that the watchers in Europe had come upon that same prophecy and they’d had the same idea to use the ring as bait to draw the Sedulaauq demon out to kill him. Spike had the satisfying pleasure of telling the Scoobs that he’d already taken care of the demon and that they didn’t need the ring.
Spike stood and the others got up, dusting off their clothes.
“I’ve been charged with putting this thing back where it belongs, and if I don’t I’ll have to endure the wrath of the Doc.” Spike quickly unlocked the case and set the ugly ring back.
Willow stared at Spike in awe. “I can’t believe Angel lied to us. We just talked to him three weeks ago. He never mentioned you at all.”
“Yeah, well, he wouldn’t want his slayer going off with the wayward childe, now would he?” Spike scratched behind his ear and shifted from one foot to the other. Just as quick, his mood changed from morose to excited. “There’s some people I’d like you to meet. Follow me.”
Buffy took off after him first and after a quick glance at each other, Xander and Willow followed. They entered the big hall just in time to see Buffy grab Spike and plant a huge kiss on his lips.
“Spike?” the man in the white t-shirt said as he entered the hall. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Buffy let go of Spike and marched towards the man. “I can’t believe you! How could you keep him from me, Angel?”
Spike shouted behind her, but she just kept running towards the man. Booth stood with his mouth gaping open. Buffy reached him, reared back her arm and punched him square in the jaw.
Willow squealed and Xander shouted support for Buffy.
Spike’s mouth hurt from the bruising kiss she’d given him and the big grin on his face. “Uh, love?”
“Yeah, Spike,” Buffy said as she stood over the man now out cold on the floor by her boot-clad feet.
“That’s not Angel.”
“Huh? Wha-?”
“Buffy?” Angel’s soft voice filled the hall as he came from the same direction that Booth had come from. “What are you doing here?”
After a brief pause, she reared her fist back and hit him square on the jaw. Angel joined Booth on the floor, though he didn’t pass out. Booth was just coming to and there were twin groans of pain coming from the pair of them.
Buffy’s confused expression was so adorable. “Spike? Why is there two of them?”
“This is just priceless!” And the giggles started again. From deep within his abdomen, bubbling up until he was laughing harder than he had laughed in his life.
-The End-