Mustard Seed Commentary, Chapter 8
Chapter 8: Spiritual Hosts of Wickedness
"Are you going to be all right while I go out and talk to Riley?" Spike asked.
"I think so. He wouldn't come back so soon after..." Dru answered.
"I bloody hope not. We'll leave the door open. If you need anything, anything at all, you just say so."
"Can Hans stay?"
"Of course, pet." After seeing her comfortably settled, Spike walked out into the living room to see what Riley had found out.
"You want the good news first, or the bad news?" said Dr. Finn.
"Oh, what the hell. We've had a lot of bad news today. What's a bit more?" Spike lit yet another cigarette and sat down.
"Well, the bad news is that we can't control the microbot remotely. We can't tell it to do anything from here. You have to be within voice range of it."
I'm still not sure how well the microbot worked. It was the only way I could really think of to allow Angelus to take over Mandy's body without her kicking him out immediately. Kind of a deux ex machina in reverse. It's very hard not to use those in fics like this...as we will see. In fact, Spike might have been able to use the microbot to control Angelus during the torture scene, if he'd thought of it. Or if I had. But I kind of forgot about it. Oops.
"Isn't that special," Lorne said. "What's the good news?"
"Once you're within voice range of it, you can tell it to remove itself from the subject and it will."
"Lovely. So all we have to do is find Angelus."
"Or let him find you."
Someone pounded loudly on the door to Lorne's apartment. They exchanged glances around the room, and Lorne got up to see who it was. "Phil? What's the matter?"
The bartender was distraught. "I just heard something I think you should know." He led them downstairs and showed them to a tentacled demon sitting at the bar with a huge drink in front of him. Spike sat down beside him with his back to the counter. "What's bothering you, chum?" he asked.
The demon wouldn't look at him. "I know who you are. You're the one who banished all the vampires. Well--" He took a big swig. "--I guess the joke's on you now."
Of course, all the other demons would be a little bitter about him doing that. Not that he knew exactly what the result would be when he drank from the Grail in "Reward," but he's been a traitor to them for a long time.
Spike felt a chill crawl up his spine and lift the hair on the back of his neck. "What's that mean?"
The answer was a drunken giggle. "The betrayer of his own kind, betrayed in turn. It's wonderfully ironic, when you think about it." The demon turned and faced Spike. "I saw the Slayer tonight. She was with a...whatyacallum...one of those primitive vampire things. And they seemed pretty happy together."
"Primitive vampire?" The chill Spike had felt traveled out to his fingertips. "A Turok-Han? Are you sure?"
The demon giggled again. "As sure as I can be without a field guide." He took another gulp of his drink. "I've heard stories about what they can do. And if it's hooked up with your mate..." His tentacles shook derisively. "I don't think you have a magic amulet this time."
I still haven't explained fully how, in this universe, Spike survived while everyone else died. Sorry about that. But I haven't thought it out completely myself. Maybe I'll explore that in another fic, sometime.
***
Back up in Lorne's apartment, Spike was in panic mode. "We've got to get Dru out of here and someplace where she can be protected. She's not safe here, and Angelus will target her again, sure as God made little green apples. I won't have that bloody beast getting ahold of her. I'll die first."
"Whoa, slow down, soldier," Lorne said. "What's got you in such a dither? How bad can it be?"
Spike looked at him unbelievingly. "You worked with Angel for how long? And you're asking that question? I suppose if you haven't been tortured by one of those damn Uber-vamps, you have no idea what they can do. Bloody hell. And of course, my apartment will be the first place he looks for her, and hers will be the second. What about you, Finn?" Spike rounded on Riley. "Are you in the phone book?"
Spike went through the same process I did when trying to figure out the best way to keep Dru safe.
Riley III backed up a couple of steps. "Um, no, as a matter of fact, I'm unlisted. Why?"
"Never mind, that won't work either. Angelus can track her the same way I could. Damn damn damn. She's not safe anywhere."
"Spike?" came Dru's voice from the other room.
"Yeah, pet?"
"You need to capture Daddy, right? Why not use me as bait?"
Sweet Dru. She's not necessarily the easiest person in the world to write when she's sane, but I tried to extrapolate from what we knew about her before Angelus and Darla got ahold of her, while keeping some of the things from after--like calling Angelus "Daddy."
"No," he said immediately. "Abso-bloody-lutely not. You've been hurt enough. I'm not taking a chance of it happening again."
And sweet Spike. Still trying to protect her. Not realizing that he's the true target now.
"You said it yourself," she pointed out reasonably. "I'm not safe anywhere. Wouldn't it be best for you to be able to control where he comes after me?"
"Angelus is going to kill Spike, and then he'll kill you," Pongurml said in her ear. "Remember what he did to the nuns? That's nothing compared to what he'll do to Spike. And then he'll punish you for being with him. Maybe you should just join Angelus' side now and be done with it."
"And, Spike, dear, do figure out how to get rid of this pixie. He's very vexing."
She's gotten tired of Pongurml by now. She's realized what he's trying to do, and she's not having any of it. Doesn't mean he's going to stop trying, though. Because he's, you know, evil.
"Try to ignore him, luv."
"You know, she has a point," Lorne said. "If Angelus is going to go after her anyway, we might as well narrow the circumstances. What about the basement of your apartment house? You still have the cage down there, right?"
"Well, yeah." Spike wavered. His options were limited, and he knew it. Leading Angelus into a trap seemed like the best plan, but how to do that and put Dru in the least amount of danger? Crap. "Right, then. Here's what we'll do..."
Spike with a plan. Skeery thought.
***
The next night, the five of them gathered in the basement to go over their battle plans one last time. Hans and Lorne were stationed by the back door, tasked to getting Dru the hell out of Dodge once Angelus came in. Riley was given a crossbow with reinforced bolts and the job of killing the Turok-Han from a distance, if he could. If he saw the situation starting to go south, he was to follow Dru and Lorne out. The cage door was opened in preparation for Spike locking Angelus up.
I frequently had to remind myself that Spike had a dog, and I tried to include Hans deliberately in what they were doing.
Rumors had been filtering into Caritas all day, of the Slayer and her pet Uber-vamp. Angelus had never been one for keeping a low profile, when he was let loose after Angel had been cursed with the soul, and he had apparently decided to continue that pattern.
Plenty of places where a Turok-Han and a vampire could wreak havoc in the daytime. And it's been a long time since Angelus was allowed to cut loose. He wouldn't let a pesky little thing like sunlight stop him.
Spike's cell phone rang at dusk, and he wasn't surprised to see Mandy's number on the caller ID. "Hello, you old bastard," he answered it. "Get the hell out of my wife's body."
"Sorry, Willie, no can do," Angelus answered cheerfully. "But why don't you make it easier on all of us and just tell me where you and Dru are...and then surrender."
Heh, "Willie"--thanx very much to David Fury, who wrote Angel 5:08 "Destiny," for giving me that.
"Why would I want to do that? Besides, you know where we are. How about you come and get us?"
"Is that an invitation?"
"An invitation to get your ass kicked, yeah."
"Don't mind if I do." The door slammed open, and Angelus and the Turok-Han rushed into the basement.
After that, it was a confusing blur of action. Spike saw Lorne and Hans hustle Dru out the back, so that worry was out of the way for the moment. Riley III took aim at the Turok-Han and shot it with the crossbow, but missed the heart and hit the shoulder. It hissed in angry pain, tore the bolt out, and headed in Riley's direction as he hastily reloaded.
Riley III isn't too good in the weapons department, but kudos to him for trying. Poor Spike is surrounded by people who can't fight.
Angelus, meantime, leaped at Spike and threw a hard punch at his face. Spike blocked it and swung himself, but Angelus ducked under it and tackled him to the floor. Sitting on Spike's chest with Mandy's knees on Spike's elbows, he hit him hard three times before Spike was able to swing his leg forward, hook it around Mandy's neck, and throw Angelus off.
I actually tested this to see if it would work. You should have seen the expression on my husband's face. Not that I could throw him off, but Spike is stronger than I am.
With catlike grace, he followed up and sat on Mandy's stomach. "Don't want to hurt you." He slammed his fist into her jaw. "Doesn't mean I won't."
Remember when he said that to Dru in "Becoming, Part 2"? Continuity--it's a beautiful thing.
The Uber-vamp, seeing Angelus in trouble, turned its attention from Riley to Spike. Riley fired at it again and missed. He shouted a warning--too late. The Turok-Han landed on Spike's back, knocking him sideways, where his head hit the wall, stunning him momentarily. Riley started towards the three of them, only to hear Spike shout, "Get out, Finn! Go and protect Dru!" He hesitated, but Spike yelled at him again, and he turned toward the back door. He hated himself for leaving Spike there at the mercy of Angelus and the Turok-Han, but he knew that he was the last line of defense for Dru. He looked over his shoulder one last time, and saw Spike go flying halfway across the room when Angelus hit him in the head with a leftover piece of pipe from the cage construction.
Riley shut the door and ran.
I realize that all the pros say "Pick a POV for a scene and stick to it." However, if I had done that, I'm not sure it would have had the same impact as going from one to another to another. This scene was chaotic...but it was supposed to be.
***
Spike moaned and moved his head a little, sending waves of pain through it. He tried to bring his hands to his face, then realized that his arms were stretched out to either side at head height, shackled to a concrete wall with three-link chains. He was in a sitting position, and his legs were spread slightly in front of him, with identical shackles around his ankles fastening him to a cement floor.
Bloody hell. Two concussions in a week were two too many. And...he opened his eyes and realized that his clothes were missing. That sodding bastard.
Spike is completely physically vulnerable in this scene. He's not "yummy nekkid" here...he's "exposed naked"--which is a totally different thing.
He looked up, and there Angelus was, sitting on a backwards-facing folding chair, smoking a cigarette, and sneering at him with Mandy's lips. He was wearing Mandy's favorite red leather mini-skirt and a midriff-baring tank top that left little to the imagination. The Turok-Han was pacing behind Angelus, glaring at Spike in an unfriendly manner.
The chamber was large and had the dank feel of being underground, with no windows. A metal cabinet stood against one wall next to a small matching table and a shop sink. Several wrist shackles were attached to various places on a stained oaken post in the middle of the room; a six-and-a-half foot long wooden table, with wrist, ankle, and waist restraints, was positioned a few feet away. The room was illuminated by harsh flourescent lights hanging from the ceiling.
I spent a lot of time in my head setting this scene, picturing exactly how the room was arranged. That paragraph went through about seven rewrites.
"Glad you could join us, Willie-boy," Angelus said, flicking the cigarette over his shoulder and standing.
Oops. He should have flicked the cigarette over Mandy's shoulder. Ah well. Can't catch everything. I fixed it for the version that's on this LJ.
Spike leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "Bugger off. I always knew you were a poncy git. Like wearing a woman's body, do you?"
Get him, Spike! Shackled naked to the floor, and still throwing barbs. I like that about him. Personally, I'd be peeing myself.
"Aw, I'm hurt. Didn't you miss me?" Footsteps sounded closer and closer, and then Spike felt a weight on his legs as Angelus straddled him. Mandy's breath whispered against his ear. "I missed you, lover."
Angelus is just the kind of demon to use words like that, to try to confuse the issue for Spike and make him forget just who he's dealing with.
It's not her, Spike reminded himself as Angelus ran Mandy's fingernails lightly down his chest. "Just kill me and be done with it. I'm not playing your bloody stupid games."
And Spike will not let himself forget that he's dealing with Angelus, and not Mandy...no matter what body is sitting on him.
"Oh, killing you is the farthest thing from my mind right now. I don't want you dead. I want you to join me. Don't you remember the fun we had, back in the day?" Angelus leaned back. "Look at me."
Here it comes...
Spike unwillingly opened his eyes and found a face with a ridged forehead, yellow eyes, and fangs staring back at him. "Oh, God," he choked out, shutting them again and trying desperately to erase that image from his mind.
This is the first time Spike knows that Mandy is now a vampire, and not just being controlled by Angelus.
"Now, Spike, you know that God has nothing to do with any of this. He doesn't care anymore, if He ever did in the first place. I mean, come on. If God cared, then why would He have let this happen to Mandy? Why would He have let her get taken away from you in such a cruel manner?"
Here's the direct attack on his faith. This is a question we all ask ourselves at some point or other, no matter how often we go to church (or don't).
"You do realize," Angelus said, relishing the situation, "that she's lost to you forever now. Mandy has left the building." He leaned into Spike's ear again. "It must really hurt to know that yet another woman in your life chose me over you."
Ouch. Dru...Buffy...Mandy. Of course, Mandy didn't "choose"--that ability was stolen from her by the microbot, but Angelus is perfectly capable of distorting the truth to make a point.
Spike flinched at that, and Angelus drove the point home. "You've never been good enough for any of them." He caressed Spike's neck with Mandy's lips and whispered, "Come with me. You could have her back again. Her body, anyway."
Spike jerked his head away, as much as he was able. "You're a perverted son of a bitch, you know that?"
He wouldn't have any desire to have Angelus in Mandy's body. And for Angelus to suggest that he would want Mandy under these circumstances is, quite frankly, creepy. At least, that' s what I was going for.
"That never bothered you before," Angelus said. He nipped Spike's throat at the jawline under his ear, breaking the skin slightly. Some blood welled to the surface, and Angelus licked it off, grinning as it caused Mandy's mouth to smoke a little. "Think about it. We'll get Dru, and it'll be just like the old days."
A little reminder here, of why Angelus needs Spike to renounce his faith. Christian blood, in my universe, is lethal to vampires. Spike has to recant before Angelus can turn him. Angelus could, of course, have the Turok-Han do it (like it did Mandy), but he wants the family relationship back, with the control that comes with it.
"Leave Dru alone. This is between you and me. Always has been." Weary to the bone, Spike wondered how long he'd be able to resist.
"Dru brought you into our little family. You can return the favor." The weight disappeared from Spike's legs as Angelus stood up. "Tell you what. I'll go find Dru, and you can think about it while I'm gone." A door closed across the room, and Spike was alone.
He leaned his head back against the wall and let the tears come through his still-closed eyes.
*sigh* Poor Spike. And of course, it's not over yet. He won't cry in front of Angelus for what he's lost, but give him some alone-time...yeah. Our Spike hides his heart under a lot of snark, but he has a huge one--as evidenced by the fact that he stayed with Crazy!Dru for 120 years.
***
They were making their last stand in Spike's apartment. As they armed themselves from the extensive weapons chest, all thoughts of a capture rather than a kill had flown right out the window. They all had affection for their Slayer, but now that Angelus had taken over her body and Spike was out of the picture, they didn't see any choice in the matter. Teamed with the Turok-Han, Angelus had gone through them like a weasel through a henhouse.
Reminding the audience that they don't know that Mandy's been vamped. I played with quite a few analogies for that part. I'd already used a chainsaw once in the fic. And hey...animals are my thing, right?
It didn't help that Spike was the only warrior in the bunch. Lorne, as he liked to say, was a lover, not a fighter. Dr. Finn was in the business of saving lives, not taking them. Dru was still weak from the loss of her baby; and now that she wasn't a vampire anymore, she didn't have the strength or skill required for hand to hand combat. Hans had his teeth and his loyalty, but that was all. A pretty sorry group gathered in the living room to discuss strategy.
They didn't get much time to talk about it. The door to the apartment crashed open, and the Turok-Han leaped in, roaring. Angelus tried to follow--but didn't have an invitation, so he was repelled and could do nothing but cheer on his pet. It confronted Riley III first, who swung a sword at it awkwardly, missed, and was thrown across the room, while Dru retreated to the bedroom with Hans.
Lorne fired a crossbow bolt, hitting the chest but missing the heart. The Turok-Han growled and jumped over the couch to get to him, and he hastily dropped the bow and switched a battleaxe to his other hand. Before he could bring it into play, the Turok-Han had clouted him on the head, knocked him unconscious, and headed into the bedroom after Dru.
Definitely a sorry group. Poor Lorne...always getting knocked unconscious.
Hans met it there, growling and showing his teeth. Dru threw a chakram at it, but the Uber-vamp ducked and the disc flew over its head and imbedded itself in the living room wall behind the creature. Hans leaped for its face, but, faster than thought, it swung its taloned hand at him, slicing through his throat and chest and sending him flying into the wall. He hit the floor and gasped out his life there, still trying valiantly to crawl forward and reenter the fight, but failing.
Poor Hans. He went out a hero. Did you catch the weapon Dru used? I wanted a throwing weapon, and found the chakram on a Xena site. Very cool.
Dru was stunned at what happened to Hans, but still had enough presence of mind to hurl a table lamp at the Turok-Han's head. She hit it, but didn't slow it down, and it grabbed her, slung her over its shoulder in a fireman's carry, and headed out the door while she beat ineffectually on its back.
Riley, in a last-ditch effort to stop it, came at the Uber-vamp with his sword again. It swatted him casually out of the way, leaving him dazed, and met Angelus in the hallway. "Hello, Dru," he said to her, lifting her head by her hair and showing her Mandy's vamp face. She aimed a wild fist at him, which he dodged, laughing. "Come join our party. I'm sure Spike will be very happy to see you again." He bound her wrists behind her and her ankles together, and they took her down to Mandy's waiting car and put her in the trunk.
***
Spike prayed. He prayed for strength and wisdom. This adversary wasn't one he was going to be able to defeat with physical weapons. The battle he was engaged in was a spiritual and mental one, and he hoped that he'd be up to the task of winning it.
Notice he's not praying for his own safety. Again, I didn't want to have a deux ex machina come in to save the day.
When Angelus and the Turok-Han entered the room with Dru, who was still tied up, Spike wanted to die right there. They dumped her on the floor several feet away from him, and she looked with huge, frightened eyes at his bruised and shackled body. "Oh, Jesus," he whispered. "Please protect her. She's gone through enough, hasn't she?"
As he finished his supplication, he thought he saw...something, shimmering in front of Dru. He couldn't quite tell what it was, or even if there was anything at all, but Dru's expression told him that she, at least, saw something too.
Okay. Not much of a deux ex machina, anyway.
Dru couldn't believe her eyes. Standing in front of her, with a flaming sword, was a being of light so indescribably beautiful that she had no words. Seven feet tall, with enormous white wings, wearing an ivory tunic belted at the waist and golden sandals, it was undoubtedly female, and it looked like...Buffy?
Well, first I call her "undescribably beautiful" and then I go on to describe her. Hey, just because Dru doesn't have the words, doesn't mean I don't. And I think Dru can see her because she still has a bit of the "sight" that attracted Angelus and Darla to her in the first place, and of course Angelus can see her because he's basically a spiritual being as well, even though he's inhabiting a human body for now.
"Hello, Drusilla," the Buffy-being said kindly. Her gaze flicked to Pongurml, who was rigid with terror. "You. Begone. You have tormented this woman enough, and you have failed in your mission." Still frozen, he just sat there, and her sword twitched, seemingly of its own volition. The two halves of the imp disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.
Yay!
"Thank you," Dru said softly. "Can you help Spike?"
"I'm sorry. This is his fight, and he has to win or lose it himself. I've been sent to keep you safe, though, so he's not distracted." She planted herself in front of Dru, sword at the ready.
"Oh, fantastic," Angelus grumbled. "I'll deal with you later," he promised the Buffy-being. She curled her exquisite lip a little and didn't answer.
She's there to protect Dru, not trade verbal barbs with Angelus. That's Spike's job.
Spike fired the first volley. "Looks like God might care a little after all. I can't see what just happened over there, but it took some of the starch out of your knickers, anyway."
Angelus bared Mandy's teeth in an evil grin. "My knickers, huh?" He walked over and sat on Spike's legs again. "Who says I'm wearing any?"
I decided I really didn't want to pursue that. I had to beat the Muse off with a baseball bat, though, because she really wanted to do something perverse here.
"Come on, Spike," he said seductively. "You can have Mandy back again. All you have to do is renounce this silly Christianity of yours and let me bite you."
"You're not Mandy," Spike countered. "You have the memories, but you're not her. You're a demon in her body."
Keep telling yourself that, Spike.
"Remember what that was like? No inhibitions. No remorse. Want. Take. Have. You wouldn't have to feel guilty about anything ever again." Angelus leaned into Spike's neck. "Join me, Spike."
Mandy's lips brushed his throat, and Spike clenched his jaw and turned his face away. He had to keep reminding himself that it wasn't her. "No," he said between his teeth.
Angelus sat back again. "I have other methods of persuasion, you know." He ran Mandy's sharpened fingernails down Spike's chest, leaving long trails of blood. "I could make you scream for it."
"Wouldn't be any different from the way you've always bloody treated me, would it?" Spike looked Angelus full in the face. "Do your worst. I'm used to it."
Oh, golly, Spike...are you sure you wanted to say that?
"Really. Sure about that, are you?" Angelus hitched himself backwards a little and dug Mandy's fingernails deep into Spike's upper thighs, causing him to grunt in pain. "You've never seen my worst, Willie-boy. But I'm perfectly willing to give you a little taste." He stood up and walked over to the metal cabinet that Spike had noticed earlier. He took out various things, holding them up to the light lovingly and placing them on the table. Two sets of spiked brass knuckles, a cattle prod, and a chain scourge joined a pair of wicked-looking daggers.
You find some interesting things on torture sites, but I decided that the basics would really work better here. Most of the medieval torture devices were lethal or inflicted a lot more damage than I wanted to.
Spike swallowed hard as he saw what Angelus had planned for him, but he also had a stubborn expression on his face that spoke volumes about how difficult it was going to be for his former mentor to break him. Maybe he had been questioning his faith, a little, but he wasn't going to let this sodding bastard get the best of him. Angelus began by bringing his cattle prod and folding chair over, sitting down on Spike's right, and pushing the switch a few times to hear it crackle.
I did quite a bit of research on cattle prods, tasers, shock sticks, and stun guns for this. And from what I found out, the cattle prods actually use less voltage than those other things do...and in fact the cattle prod won't knock out the subject, but the others can.
Without warning, he thrust the metal prongs into the wounds Mandy's nails had made in Spike's left thigh and pressed the button. Agony shot through Spike's frame, and he ground his teeth to keep from crying out. Angelus let go of the switch after a few seconds, and Spike gasped for air as the pain slowly subsided. Dru screamed at Angelus to stop, and he looked over at her dispassionately and said, "You know, Dru, your screeching like that only makes it worse on him. Have you forgotten how much I like to hear you whimper?" She closed her mouth with a snap, and he smiled in satisfaction, pushing the button again and sending eleven thousand volts into Spike's leg.
And that's the only voltage I found mentioned on any site that had specs for cattle prods. Amazingly, the tazers and other things sold for use on humans can have up to 500,000 volts. Eeep!
After experimenting with different areas of Spike's body, he got tired of playing with the cattle prod and retrieved one of the knives. Spike was hissing in anguish when Angelus seated himself once again on his legs and said, "This is a little more up close and personal." He reached into Mandy's memories and pulled out a particularly hurtful one for Spike. "Shallow cuts..."
I was going under the assumption that Dawn would have told Spike about that sometime over the summer before Buffy's resurrection, and that Spike would have told Mandy.
He made a wavy pattern down Spike's sternum and stopped to inspect his handiwork. "Hm. I just don't know." Pressing the point of the blade under Spike's chin, he forced his head up. "What do you think?" Spike's eyes were closed. He was mumbling something. "I can't hear you, Spike."
Louder, Spike said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake..."
And of course, this is what Lucifer was so angry with Spike for.
Angelus silenced him by punching him viciously in the mouth. "Stop that." He brought the knife up under Spike's eye. "Shall I carve up your pretty face? Think any Slayers would be attracted to you if you weren't quite so handsome anymore?"
Spike spat blood and smirked. "Girls like scars."
I originally had Spike saying "Chicks dig scars"--but I can't remember him using the words "chick" or "dig" before, so it didn't seem quite right.
"Is that so?" Angelus dug the knife into Spike's face from the spot under his eye to just above his lip. "We'll see how much they like that one, then. And these too." Angelus went to work in earnest with the knife, slicing patterns into Spike's chest, shoulders, and biceps. Although the cuts weren't deep, Spike was losing blood at an alarming rate, and he could feel himself getting weaker. Angelus still wasn't satisfied, and he stood up and got the other dagger.
Sitting cross-legged on Spike's left on the floor, Angelus used the new blade on his abdomen and legs. He came perilously close to parts that Spike really didn't want to lose, but he reassured him. "Oh, no. You get to keep those. I want to be able to play with them when you switch sides."
I was still contemplating how far I wanted to go with the torture. And while playing with Spike's "package" might be something Angelus would do...Sorry. I didn't want to go there. I was already skating into R-rated territory, and I didn't want to push it any farther than that. More beating off of the Muse. My Louisville Slugger was getting a real workout.
Spike's teeth were clenched shut, but they were bared in a rictus of pain and his breathing was shallow and fast. Bigger and bigger black spots were exploding behind his vision as he lost more and more blood, and he finally fainted, sending up one more mental prayer for strength before his consciousness slipped away.
Exploding black spots. You get those when you faint. You're going to think this is pretty funny, considering this scene, but I frequently pass out at the sight of blood--so I know whereof I speak.
Angelus huffed impatiently. It was just no fun when they passed out too soon. Well. Mandy's memories told him that Spike healed as fast as she did, so he wouldn't be bored for very long. He looked around the room, and his gaze stopped on the Turok-Han.
Hm. That was a complication he really didn't need anymore. The creature had served its purpose, and, while turning it loose in Los Angeles might be enjoyable, he didn't want to have to deal with it if it ever got too big for its britches. How to get rid of it, though?
I didn't want to deal with it anymore either, and decided to kill it sooner rather than later.
The Buffy-being still stood in front of Dru. It might be entertaining to set the Uber-vamp against the...angel? Whatever she was. He got up, wiped his hands off, and walked over to where it prowled. "See that girl?" he said to it, pointing at Dru. "You can have her."
The Turok-Han curled its lips away from its teeth in a horrible grin. The smell of Spike's blood had primed it for violence, and it leaped toward the prostrate woman without waiting for further permission.
And the Buffy-being's fiery sword met it in the air, transfixed its heart, and dusted it before it even knew it was dead.
What? You expected the fight to last longer than that? Why?
Grouchy, disappointed that the fight hadn't lasted longer, Angelus decided to move Spike over to the wooden pillar in the middle of the room. He undid the restraints around his wrists and ankles, carried him over to the post, and shackled him to it, with his left arm fastened over his head, and his right twisted behind and attached at waist level.
This position left one of Spike's sides very open, and the other side of his face very open. With the added bonus of being pretty uncomfortable.
Spike moved his head and moaned a little, starting to come around. He got his legs under him so he wasn't hanging from one arm anymore, but he still felt weak and shaky, although his remarkable metabolism was coming to his aid. He watched Angelus narrowly as he fitted the spiked brass knuckles over Mandy's hands, flexing the fingers and getting them just so. The spikes were a half inch long, and they were as wide at the base as they were high--squat and ugly.
I found a pair like this on the internet. I found others that had considerably bigger spikes on them, but the goal here was (for the most part) blunt trauma, not lethal force.
"Well?" Angelus stalked up to Spike. "Thought about what I said? It'll be a lot easier on you if you just give up."
"Never been one for giving up, mate. You don't scare me."
"No? Then you're remarkably stupid." Mandy's fist flicked out and the brass knuckles clocked Spike next to his left eye.
He shut his eyes and recited, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Opening them again, he said, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?" Angelus snarled and punched him again. Spike grunted as he felt his ribs crack under that blow, but he wasn't going to stop now. "Fear Him, who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell." He bared his teeth at his adversary. "And you can't do that. No matter what you bloody do to me, you don't have the power to send me to hell."
Even with all he's been through in this scene, Spike still realizes who he's really fighting. This is a battle for his soul, not just his body.
"No." Angelus smashed him in the jaw. "I can't do that." He hammered him in the abdomen, reopening the cuts that had been healing. "But I can make your life on earth a living hell." He slammed his face again.
Spike coughed, his knees buckling a little. "Sod off."
That's it, Spike. Forget the Bible verses and just tell him to get lost.
Angelus then delivered one of the most fearful beatings Spike had ever been on the receiving end of. Glory's torture, Buffy's battering behind the Sunnydale police station, and the abuse inflicted by the First Evil, had been nothing compared to this. Angelus was careful to leave him conscious for as long as possible this time, and he rained his blows down with scientific accuracy born of years of experience. Spike hung from his left arm, gasping, nearly senseless, but conscious enough to feel Angelus lift his head by the hair and hear him say, "Well?"
Spike hacked up some blood and rasped, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow..." That was as far as he got before Angelus, in a rage, clobbered him in the jaw, breaking it and knocking him out.
If you've read my "Salvation" fic, then you'll know that Pastor Tom was reciting the 23rd Psalm while the demons were carving him up, and that Spike found this tremendously admirable. More continuity.
Dru's voice was quiet, but it struck him like an iron mallet. "You're not going to beat him, you know. He'll die first. And then he will have really won." Her tear-streaked face notwithstanding, he could tell from her direct gaze that she was proud of her dark warrior.
And she is, of course, absolutely correct. If Spike dies here, then Lucifer loses him forever...and he probably wouldn't be too happy with Angelus.
Angelus jerked the brass knuckles off and threw them across the room. "I'm not done with him yet. First I break his body, then his mind...then his spirit." He snatched the scourge up from the metal table and stomped back over to Spike, then swung his arm viciously and flailed the chains once across the unconscious ribs and abdomen. It gave him some satisfaction when Dru cried out in protest.
I found the chain scourge on several different torture sites and decided it would be just about perfect for what I wanted to accomplish in the final part of this chapter. They are nasty, nasty weapons, with a solid handle and several chains hanging off the end. Sometimes they had sharp pieces of metal imbedded in the chains as well.
Dropping the whip, he undid the shackle behind Spike's back, flipped him around so that his chest was against the post, and fastened Spike's wrist above his head. "And now, we wait," he said, sitting on the folding chair and lighting a cigarette.
An hour and six cigarettes later, he was starting to get concerned...and impatient. He hadn't beaten Spike that badly, had he? He should be up by now. Angelus stood and walked over to him, seeing some movement that hadn't been noticeable when he'd been halfway across the room. "Finally." He went to the sink, filled a bucket underneath with freezing water, and dumped it over Spike's head.
More torture, although of a different kind. And a beating feels worse on wet skin.
The cold shock brought him to full, agonizing consciousness. Gasping and sputtering, he straightened his legs underneath him and took his weight off his wrists. He barely had time to do so before the chain scourge crashed down on his shoulders and nearly knocked him off his feet. No warning for these; Angelus was behind him and he couldn't see it coming.
He could see Dru, however. She was sobbing and trying not to watch, but she couldn't look away. He tried to smile, to reassure her that it was going to be okay, but then the whip hit his back again and the smile turned to a grimace and a sharp intake of breath through his teeth. Blood ran freely down his legs, and, already weak from the previous abuse, he knew he wouldn't last very long this time. He could feel his mind starting to go away into Denial-Land, and he gripped the chains of the shackles to try to keep some contact with what was real.
But when all that was real was pain, it was hard to keep a grasp on any other reality. That shimmer in front of Dru had solidified in his vision, and he could almost swear that it looked like Buffy. That couldn't be real; Buffy had died decades ago. So, now he was seeing things. And that was a bit of all right, so long as he was hallucinating a Buffy that wasn't yelling at him. But she looked so tragic, standing there. He guessed that, since she was just a figment, she was sorry that she couldn't save him from the monster.
I've heard stories about people seeing angels when they were close to death. Not much of a stretch here.
His eyes were doing the black-spot thing again. And his body felt like it was on fire. Angelus wouldn't stop until he killed him this time. And that was all right too. Maybe he'd get to see Mandy again. He just needed...to rest...
The rest of the scene is from Angelus' viewpoint, because I needed to sell Spike's capitulation not only to him, but to the audience as well. If I'd done it from Spike's viewpoint, it would have spoiled the surprise.
Angelus wasn't really surprised when Spike collapsed. His entire back was shredded, from his elbows to his shoulders, all the way down to his knees. It would have already killed an ordinary human. Time for phase two.
He took Spike down from the pillar and placed him on his back on the wooden table, closing the iron restraints around his wrists, ankles, and waist. Then he got some Liquid Bandage and another kind of salve out of the metal cabinet and went to work with some water and a soft cloth. Under his ministrations, Spike started to move his head and mumble a little. Angelus put on Mandy's best concerned voice. "Spike? Spike? Speak to me, sweetie."
"Mandy? I've had the most awful dream..." He seemed half-delirious.
"Shh, honey." Angelus wiped his forehead gently. "It's okay now. He's gone. You beat him."
Spike coughed, spraying blood. "Hurts..."
"I know." Angelus rubbed some of the salve into a large bruise on his chest and kissed him softly on the cheek. "You're going to be all right."
"Thought I'd--" cough "--lost you forever."
Angelus trailed more kisses down Spike's jawline with Mandy's lips. "I'm right here, baby. Not going anywhere."
Another place where I had to beat the Muse off. She wanted Angelus to be doing *cough* other things with Mandy's hands while he was kissing Spike. Bad Muse! Not out of character...but not something I wanted to write, either.
"Was terribly afraid...God took you from me."
"He did, Spike. But I got free and came back to you. God isn't who you think He is."
Again with the attack on Spike's faith.
"Know that...now. Seen things. Dreadful things. Dusty died." More coughing, more blood. "Dru's baby..." Tears now. "God doesn't care."
And now Spike seems to agree.
"We're on our own in the big, bad world, Spike. But that's okay, as long as we have each other." Soothing hands stroked his battered chest and midriff and more kisses caressed his throat. "I want you to be mine forever."
"Forever..." His breath was coming in raspy, shallow gasps. "Don't think I have that long, luv. Angelus did me...right and proper...God let him do that, too..."
More with the giving up...
"There's a solution," Angelus whispered in his ear. "We can be with each other until the end of time. All it would take would be for you to say 'yes.' Just think, no more sickness, no more pain." He let Mandy's voice turn frantic. "I don't want to lose you."
Spike made an effort and turned his head so his throat was a little more vulnerable. "Know what you want to do. Make it quick, luv." He coughed blood again, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head for a moment. He gained control of himself after a visible struggle.
"Are you sure, Spike? Are you sure you don't believe any more?"
"Believe in...the Big Puppeteer? What's He--" cough "--ever done for me? Left me alone...out in the cold. I'm so cold, pet..."
More continuity here, only within the fic this time. I think it was back a couple of chapters ago that Spike ranted about Someone up there pulling marionette strings.
"Let me warm you up," Angelus said, vamping. He pulled back so Spike could see Mandy's face, with the ridges and the fangs and the yellow eyes. "Are you sure this is what you want?"
Spike closed his eyes and tilted his chin. "Can't fight anymore. So tired...so cold..."
Angelus leaned down and whispered in his ear. "I'll fix that for you." Spike hardly flinched when he slid his fangs into his throat and drank.
This was a really mean place to leave off. When I printed it out for my (Christian) mother-in-law to read, I accidentally left off the last chapter, and she thought that this was it--forgetting that I'd promised a happy ending. Her reaction, predictably, was, "Bleagh! What's the point of believing in God then? He didn't protect him at all!"
She missed the point a little (of course, since she hadn't read the whole thing yet). Spike actually gets everything he prays for in this chapter. He prays for strength and wisdom for himself, which he gets. He prays for protection for Dru, which he also gets. I couldn't have him pray for protection for himself...because that wasn't what I was trying to do--and then I would have either had to give him a deux ex machina of his own, or I would have needed to explain why God didn't answer that particular prayer. And I didn't feel up to that task within the scope of a fanfic.
At least my mother-in-law got to read the last chapter the next day. My poor readers on FFN had to wait a week.
"Are you going to be all right while I go out and talk to Riley?" Spike asked.
"I think so. He wouldn't come back so soon after..." Dru answered.
"I bloody hope not. We'll leave the door open. If you need anything, anything at all, you just say so."
"Can Hans stay?"
"Of course, pet." After seeing her comfortably settled, Spike walked out into the living room to see what Riley had found out.
"You want the good news first, or the bad news?" said Dr. Finn.
"Oh, what the hell. We've had a lot of bad news today. What's a bit more?" Spike lit yet another cigarette and sat down.
"Well, the bad news is that we can't control the microbot remotely. We can't tell it to do anything from here. You have to be within voice range of it."
I'm still not sure how well the microbot worked. It was the only way I could really think of to allow Angelus to take over Mandy's body without her kicking him out immediately. Kind of a deux ex machina in reverse. It's very hard not to use those in fics like this...as we will see. In fact, Spike might have been able to use the microbot to control Angelus during the torture scene, if he'd thought of it. Or if I had. But I kind of forgot about it. Oops.
"Isn't that special," Lorne said. "What's the good news?"
"Once you're within voice range of it, you can tell it to remove itself from the subject and it will."
"Lovely. So all we have to do is find Angelus."
"Or let him find you."
Someone pounded loudly on the door to Lorne's apartment. They exchanged glances around the room, and Lorne got up to see who it was. "Phil? What's the matter?"
The bartender was distraught. "I just heard something I think you should know." He led them downstairs and showed them to a tentacled demon sitting at the bar with a huge drink in front of him. Spike sat down beside him with his back to the counter. "What's bothering you, chum?" he asked.
The demon wouldn't look at him. "I know who you are. You're the one who banished all the vampires. Well--" He took a big swig. "--I guess the joke's on you now."
Of course, all the other demons would be a little bitter about him doing that. Not that he knew exactly what the result would be when he drank from the Grail in "Reward," but he's been a traitor to them for a long time.
Spike felt a chill crawl up his spine and lift the hair on the back of his neck. "What's that mean?"
The answer was a drunken giggle. "The betrayer of his own kind, betrayed in turn. It's wonderfully ironic, when you think about it." The demon turned and faced Spike. "I saw the Slayer tonight. She was with a...whatyacallum...one of those primitive vampire things. And they seemed pretty happy together."
"Primitive vampire?" The chill Spike had felt traveled out to his fingertips. "A Turok-Han? Are you sure?"
The demon giggled again. "As sure as I can be without a field guide." He took another gulp of his drink. "I've heard stories about what they can do. And if it's hooked up with your mate..." His tentacles shook derisively. "I don't think you have a magic amulet this time."
I still haven't explained fully how, in this universe, Spike survived while everyone else died. Sorry about that. But I haven't thought it out completely myself. Maybe I'll explore that in another fic, sometime.
***
Back up in Lorne's apartment, Spike was in panic mode. "We've got to get Dru out of here and someplace where she can be protected. She's not safe here, and Angelus will target her again, sure as God made little green apples. I won't have that bloody beast getting ahold of her. I'll die first."
"Whoa, slow down, soldier," Lorne said. "What's got you in such a dither? How bad can it be?"
Spike looked at him unbelievingly. "You worked with Angel for how long? And you're asking that question? I suppose if you haven't been tortured by one of those damn Uber-vamps, you have no idea what they can do. Bloody hell. And of course, my apartment will be the first place he looks for her, and hers will be the second. What about you, Finn?" Spike rounded on Riley. "Are you in the phone book?"
Spike went through the same process I did when trying to figure out the best way to keep Dru safe.
Riley III backed up a couple of steps. "Um, no, as a matter of fact, I'm unlisted. Why?"
"Never mind, that won't work either. Angelus can track her the same way I could. Damn damn damn. She's not safe anywhere."
"Spike?" came Dru's voice from the other room.
"Yeah, pet?"
"You need to capture Daddy, right? Why not use me as bait?"
Sweet Dru. She's not necessarily the easiest person in the world to write when she's sane, but I tried to extrapolate from what we knew about her before Angelus and Darla got ahold of her, while keeping some of the things from after--like calling Angelus "Daddy."
"No," he said immediately. "Abso-bloody-lutely not. You've been hurt enough. I'm not taking a chance of it happening again."
And sweet Spike. Still trying to protect her. Not realizing that he's the true target now.
"You said it yourself," she pointed out reasonably. "I'm not safe anywhere. Wouldn't it be best for you to be able to control where he comes after me?"
"Angelus is going to kill Spike, and then he'll kill you," Pongurml said in her ear. "Remember what he did to the nuns? That's nothing compared to what he'll do to Spike. And then he'll punish you for being with him. Maybe you should just join Angelus' side now and be done with it."
"And, Spike, dear, do figure out how to get rid of this pixie. He's very vexing."
She's gotten tired of Pongurml by now. She's realized what he's trying to do, and she's not having any of it. Doesn't mean he's going to stop trying, though. Because he's, you know, evil.
"Try to ignore him, luv."
"You know, she has a point," Lorne said. "If Angelus is going to go after her anyway, we might as well narrow the circumstances. What about the basement of your apartment house? You still have the cage down there, right?"
"Well, yeah." Spike wavered. His options were limited, and he knew it. Leading Angelus into a trap seemed like the best plan, but how to do that and put Dru in the least amount of danger? Crap. "Right, then. Here's what we'll do..."
Spike with a plan. Skeery thought.
***
The next night, the five of them gathered in the basement to go over their battle plans one last time. Hans and Lorne were stationed by the back door, tasked to getting Dru the hell out of Dodge once Angelus came in. Riley was given a crossbow with reinforced bolts and the job of killing the Turok-Han from a distance, if he could. If he saw the situation starting to go south, he was to follow Dru and Lorne out. The cage door was opened in preparation for Spike locking Angelus up.
I frequently had to remind myself that Spike had a dog, and I tried to include Hans deliberately in what they were doing.
Rumors had been filtering into Caritas all day, of the Slayer and her pet Uber-vamp. Angelus had never been one for keeping a low profile, when he was let loose after Angel had been cursed with the soul, and he had apparently decided to continue that pattern.
Plenty of places where a Turok-Han and a vampire could wreak havoc in the daytime. And it's been a long time since Angelus was allowed to cut loose. He wouldn't let a pesky little thing like sunlight stop him.
Spike's cell phone rang at dusk, and he wasn't surprised to see Mandy's number on the caller ID. "Hello, you old bastard," he answered it. "Get the hell out of my wife's body."
"Sorry, Willie, no can do," Angelus answered cheerfully. "But why don't you make it easier on all of us and just tell me where you and Dru are...and then surrender."
Heh, "Willie"--thanx very much to David Fury, who wrote Angel 5:08 "Destiny," for giving me that.
"Why would I want to do that? Besides, you know where we are. How about you come and get us?"
"Is that an invitation?"
"An invitation to get your ass kicked, yeah."
"Don't mind if I do." The door slammed open, and Angelus and the Turok-Han rushed into the basement.
After that, it was a confusing blur of action. Spike saw Lorne and Hans hustle Dru out the back, so that worry was out of the way for the moment. Riley III took aim at the Turok-Han and shot it with the crossbow, but missed the heart and hit the shoulder. It hissed in angry pain, tore the bolt out, and headed in Riley's direction as he hastily reloaded.
Riley III isn't too good in the weapons department, but kudos to him for trying. Poor Spike is surrounded by people who can't fight.
Angelus, meantime, leaped at Spike and threw a hard punch at his face. Spike blocked it and swung himself, but Angelus ducked under it and tackled him to the floor. Sitting on Spike's chest with Mandy's knees on Spike's elbows, he hit him hard three times before Spike was able to swing his leg forward, hook it around Mandy's neck, and throw Angelus off.
I actually tested this to see if it would work. You should have seen the expression on my husband's face. Not that I could throw him off, but Spike is stronger than I am.
With catlike grace, he followed up and sat on Mandy's stomach. "Don't want to hurt you." He slammed his fist into her jaw. "Doesn't mean I won't."
Remember when he said that to Dru in "Becoming, Part 2"? Continuity--it's a beautiful thing.
The Uber-vamp, seeing Angelus in trouble, turned its attention from Riley to Spike. Riley fired at it again and missed. He shouted a warning--too late. The Turok-Han landed on Spike's back, knocking him sideways, where his head hit the wall, stunning him momentarily. Riley started towards the three of them, only to hear Spike shout, "Get out, Finn! Go and protect Dru!" He hesitated, but Spike yelled at him again, and he turned toward the back door. He hated himself for leaving Spike there at the mercy of Angelus and the Turok-Han, but he knew that he was the last line of defense for Dru. He looked over his shoulder one last time, and saw Spike go flying halfway across the room when Angelus hit him in the head with a leftover piece of pipe from the cage construction.
Riley shut the door and ran.
I realize that all the pros say "Pick a POV for a scene and stick to it." However, if I had done that, I'm not sure it would have had the same impact as going from one to another to another. This scene was chaotic...but it was supposed to be.
***
Spike moaned and moved his head a little, sending waves of pain through it. He tried to bring his hands to his face, then realized that his arms were stretched out to either side at head height, shackled to a concrete wall with three-link chains. He was in a sitting position, and his legs were spread slightly in front of him, with identical shackles around his ankles fastening him to a cement floor.
Bloody hell. Two concussions in a week were two too many. And...he opened his eyes and realized that his clothes were missing. That sodding bastard.
Spike is completely physically vulnerable in this scene. He's not "yummy nekkid" here...he's "exposed naked"--which is a totally different thing.
He looked up, and there Angelus was, sitting on a backwards-facing folding chair, smoking a cigarette, and sneering at him with Mandy's lips. He was wearing Mandy's favorite red leather mini-skirt and a midriff-baring tank top that left little to the imagination. The Turok-Han was pacing behind Angelus, glaring at Spike in an unfriendly manner.
The chamber was large and had the dank feel of being underground, with no windows. A metal cabinet stood against one wall next to a small matching table and a shop sink. Several wrist shackles were attached to various places on a stained oaken post in the middle of the room; a six-and-a-half foot long wooden table, with wrist, ankle, and waist restraints, was positioned a few feet away. The room was illuminated by harsh flourescent lights hanging from the ceiling.
I spent a lot of time in my head setting this scene, picturing exactly how the room was arranged. That paragraph went through about seven rewrites.
"Glad you could join us, Willie-boy," Angelus said, flicking the cigarette over his shoulder and standing.
Oops. He should have flicked the cigarette over Mandy's shoulder. Ah well. Can't catch everything. I fixed it for the version that's on this LJ.
Spike leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "Bugger off. I always knew you were a poncy git. Like wearing a woman's body, do you?"
Get him, Spike! Shackled naked to the floor, and still throwing barbs. I like that about him. Personally, I'd be peeing myself.
"Aw, I'm hurt. Didn't you miss me?" Footsteps sounded closer and closer, and then Spike felt a weight on his legs as Angelus straddled him. Mandy's breath whispered against his ear. "I missed you, lover."
Angelus is just the kind of demon to use words like that, to try to confuse the issue for Spike and make him forget just who he's dealing with.
It's not her, Spike reminded himself as Angelus ran Mandy's fingernails lightly down his chest. "Just kill me and be done with it. I'm not playing your bloody stupid games."
And Spike will not let himself forget that he's dealing with Angelus, and not Mandy...no matter what body is sitting on him.
"Oh, killing you is the farthest thing from my mind right now. I don't want you dead. I want you to join me. Don't you remember the fun we had, back in the day?" Angelus leaned back. "Look at me."
Here it comes...
Spike unwillingly opened his eyes and found a face with a ridged forehead, yellow eyes, and fangs staring back at him. "Oh, God," he choked out, shutting them again and trying desperately to erase that image from his mind.
This is the first time Spike knows that Mandy is now a vampire, and not just being controlled by Angelus.
"Now, Spike, you know that God has nothing to do with any of this. He doesn't care anymore, if He ever did in the first place. I mean, come on. If God cared, then why would He have let this happen to Mandy? Why would He have let her get taken away from you in such a cruel manner?"
Here's the direct attack on his faith. This is a question we all ask ourselves at some point or other, no matter how often we go to church (or don't).
"You do realize," Angelus said, relishing the situation, "that she's lost to you forever now. Mandy has left the building." He leaned into Spike's ear again. "It must really hurt to know that yet another woman in your life chose me over you."
Ouch. Dru...Buffy...Mandy. Of course, Mandy didn't "choose"--that ability was stolen from her by the microbot, but Angelus is perfectly capable of distorting the truth to make a point.
Spike flinched at that, and Angelus drove the point home. "You've never been good enough for any of them." He caressed Spike's neck with Mandy's lips and whispered, "Come with me. You could have her back again. Her body, anyway."
Spike jerked his head away, as much as he was able. "You're a perverted son of a bitch, you know that?"
He wouldn't have any desire to have Angelus in Mandy's body. And for Angelus to suggest that he would want Mandy under these circumstances is, quite frankly, creepy. At least, that' s what I was going for.
"That never bothered you before," Angelus said. He nipped Spike's throat at the jawline under his ear, breaking the skin slightly. Some blood welled to the surface, and Angelus licked it off, grinning as it caused Mandy's mouth to smoke a little. "Think about it. We'll get Dru, and it'll be just like the old days."
A little reminder here, of why Angelus needs Spike to renounce his faith. Christian blood, in my universe, is lethal to vampires. Spike has to recant before Angelus can turn him. Angelus could, of course, have the Turok-Han do it (like it did Mandy), but he wants the family relationship back, with the control that comes with it.
"Leave Dru alone. This is between you and me. Always has been." Weary to the bone, Spike wondered how long he'd be able to resist.
"Dru brought you into our little family. You can return the favor." The weight disappeared from Spike's legs as Angelus stood up. "Tell you what. I'll go find Dru, and you can think about it while I'm gone." A door closed across the room, and Spike was alone.
He leaned his head back against the wall and let the tears come through his still-closed eyes.
*sigh* Poor Spike. And of course, it's not over yet. He won't cry in front of Angelus for what he's lost, but give him some alone-time...yeah. Our Spike hides his heart under a lot of snark, but he has a huge one--as evidenced by the fact that he stayed with Crazy!Dru for 120 years.
***
They were making their last stand in Spike's apartment. As they armed themselves from the extensive weapons chest, all thoughts of a capture rather than a kill had flown right out the window. They all had affection for their Slayer, but now that Angelus had taken over her body and Spike was out of the picture, they didn't see any choice in the matter. Teamed with the Turok-Han, Angelus had gone through them like a weasel through a henhouse.
Reminding the audience that they don't know that Mandy's been vamped. I played with quite a few analogies for that part. I'd already used a chainsaw once in the fic. And hey...animals are my thing, right?
It didn't help that Spike was the only warrior in the bunch. Lorne, as he liked to say, was a lover, not a fighter. Dr. Finn was in the business of saving lives, not taking them. Dru was still weak from the loss of her baby; and now that she wasn't a vampire anymore, she didn't have the strength or skill required for hand to hand combat. Hans had his teeth and his loyalty, but that was all. A pretty sorry group gathered in the living room to discuss strategy.
They didn't get much time to talk about it. The door to the apartment crashed open, and the Turok-Han leaped in, roaring. Angelus tried to follow--but didn't have an invitation, so he was repelled and could do nothing but cheer on his pet. It confronted Riley III first, who swung a sword at it awkwardly, missed, and was thrown across the room, while Dru retreated to the bedroom with Hans.
Lorne fired a crossbow bolt, hitting the chest but missing the heart. The Turok-Han growled and jumped over the couch to get to him, and he hastily dropped the bow and switched a battleaxe to his other hand. Before he could bring it into play, the Turok-Han had clouted him on the head, knocked him unconscious, and headed into the bedroom after Dru.
Definitely a sorry group. Poor Lorne...always getting knocked unconscious.
Hans met it there, growling and showing his teeth. Dru threw a chakram at it, but the Uber-vamp ducked and the disc flew over its head and imbedded itself in the living room wall behind the creature. Hans leaped for its face, but, faster than thought, it swung its taloned hand at him, slicing through his throat and chest and sending him flying into the wall. He hit the floor and gasped out his life there, still trying valiantly to crawl forward and reenter the fight, but failing.
Poor Hans. He went out a hero. Did you catch the weapon Dru used? I wanted a throwing weapon, and found the chakram on a Xena site. Very cool.
Dru was stunned at what happened to Hans, but still had enough presence of mind to hurl a table lamp at the Turok-Han's head. She hit it, but didn't slow it down, and it grabbed her, slung her over its shoulder in a fireman's carry, and headed out the door while she beat ineffectually on its back.
Riley, in a last-ditch effort to stop it, came at the Uber-vamp with his sword again. It swatted him casually out of the way, leaving him dazed, and met Angelus in the hallway. "Hello, Dru," he said to her, lifting her head by her hair and showing her Mandy's vamp face. She aimed a wild fist at him, which he dodged, laughing. "Come join our party. I'm sure Spike will be very happy to see you again." He bound her wrists behind her and her ankles together, and they took her down to Mandy's waiting car and put her in the trunk.
***
Spike prayed. He prayed for strength and wisdom. This adversary wasn't one he was going to be able to defeat with physical weapons. The battle he was engaged in was a spiritual and mental one, and he hoped that he'd be up to the task of winning it.
Notice he's not praying for his own safety. Again, I didn't want to have a deux ex machina come in to save the day.
When Angelus and the Turok-Han entered the room with Dru, who was still tied up, Spike wanted to die right there. They dumped her on the floor several feet away from him, and she looked with huge, frightened eyes at his bruised and shackled body. "Oh, Jesus," he whispered. "Please protect her. She's gone through enough, hasn't she?"
As he finished his supplication, he thought he saw...something, shimmering in front of Dru. He couldn't quite tell what it was, or even if there was anything at all, but Dru's expression told him that she, at least, saw something too.
Okay. Not much of a deux ex machina, anyway.
Dru couldn't believe her eyes. Standing in front of her, with a flaming sword, was a being of light so indescribably beautiful that she had no words. Seven feet tall, with enormous white wings, wearing an ivory tunic belted at the waist and golden sandals, it was undoubtedly female, and it looked like...Buffy?
Well, first I call her "undescribably beautiful" and then I go on to describe her. Hey, just because Dru doesn't have the words, doesn't mean I don't. And I think Dru can see her because she still has a bit of the "sight" that attracted Angelus and Darla to her in the first place, and of course Angelus can see her because he's basically a spiritual being as well, even though he's inhabiting a human body for now.
"Hello, Drusilla," the Buffy-being said kindly. Her gaze flicked to Pongurml, who was rigid with terror. "You. Begone. You have tormented this woman enough, and you have failed in your mission." Still frozen, he just sat there, and her sword twitched, seemingly of its own volition. The two halves of the imp disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.
Yay!
"Thank you," Dru said softly. "Can you help Spike?"
"I'm sorry. This is his fight, and he has to win or lose it himself. I've been sent to keep you safe, though, so he's not distracted." She planted herself in front of Dru, sword at the ready.
"Oh, fantastic," Angelus grumbled. "I'll deal with you later," he promised the Buffy-being. She curled her exquisite lip a little and didn't answer.
She's there to protect Dru, not trade verbal barbs with Angelus. That's Spike's job.
Spike fired the first volley. "Looks like God might care a little after all. I can't see what just happened over there, but it took some of the starch out of your knickers, anyway."
Angelus bared Mandy's teeth in an evil grin. "My knickers, huh?" He walked over and sat on Spike's legs again. "Who says I'm wearing any?"
I decided I really didn't want to pursue that. I had to beat the Muse off with a baseball bat, though, because she really wanted to do something perverse here.
"Come on, Spike," he said seductively. "You can have Mandy back again. All you have to do is renounce this silly Christianity of yours and let me bite you."
"You're not Mandy," Spike countered. "You have the memories, but you're not her. You're a demon in her body."
Keep telling yourself that, Spike.
"Remember what that was like? No inhibitions. No remorse. Want. Take. Have. You wouldn't have to feel guilty about anything ever again." Angelus leaned into Spike's neck. "Join me, Spike."
Mandy's lips brushed his throat, and Spike clenched his jaw and turned his face away. He had to keep reminding himself that it wasn't her. "No," he said between his teeth.
Angelus sat back again. "I have other methods of persuasion, you know." He ran Mandy's sharpened fingernails down Spike's chest, leaving long trails of blood. "I could make you scream for it."
"Wouldn't be any different from the way you've always bloody treated me, would it?" Spike looked Angelus full in the face. "Do your worst. I'm used to it."
Oh, golly, Spike...are you sure you wanted to say that?
"Really. Sure about that, are you?" Angelus hitched himself backwards a little and dug Mandy's fingernails deep into Spike's upper thighs, causing him to grunt in pain. "You've never seen my worst, Willie-boy. But I'm perfectly willing to give you a little taste." He stood up and walked over to the metal cabinet that Spike had noticed earlier. He took out various things, holding them up to the light lovingly and placing them on the table. Two sets of spiked brass knuckles, a cattle prod, and a chain scourge joined a pair of wicked-looking daggers.
You find some interesting things on torture sites, but I decided that the basics would really work better here. Most of the medieval torture devices were lethal or inflicted a lot more damage than I wanted to.
Spike swallowed hard as he saw what Angelus had planned for him, but he also had a stubborn expression on his face that spoke volumes about how difficult it was going to be for his former mentor to break him. Maybe he had been questioning his faith, a little, but he wasn't going to let this sodding bastard get the best of him. Angelus began by bringing his cattle prod and folding chair over, sitting down on Spike's right, and pushing the switch a few times to hear it crackle.
I did quite a bit of research on cattle prods, tasers, shock sticks, and stun guns for this. And from what I found out, the cattle prods actually use less voltage than those other things do...and in fact the cattle prod won't knock out the subject, but the others can.
Without warning, he thrust the metal prongs into the wounds Mandy's nails had made in Spike's left thigh and pressed the button. Agony shot through Spike's frame, and he ground his teeth to keep from crying out. Angelus let go of the switch after a few seconds, and Spike gasped for air as the pain slowly subsided. Dru screamed at Angelus to stop, and he looked over at her dispassionately and said, "You know, Dru, your screeching like that only makes it worse on him. Have you forgotten how much I like to hear you whimper?" She closed her mouth with a snap, and he smiled in satisfaction, pushing the button again and sending eleven thousand volts into Spike's leg.
And that's the only voltage I found mentioned on any site that had specs for cattle prods. Amazingly, the tazers and other things sold for use on humans can have up to 500,000 volts. Eeep!
After experimenting with different areas of Spike's body, he got tired of playing with the cattle prod and retrieved one of the knives. Spike was hissing in anguish when Angelus seated himself once again on his legs and said, "This is a little more up close and personal." He reached into Mandy's memories and pulled out a particularly hurtful one for Spike. "Shallow cuts..."
I was going under the assumption that Dawn would have told Spike about that sometime over the summer before Buffy's resurrection, and that Spike would have told Mandy.
He made a wavy pattern down Spike's sternum and stopped to inspect his handiwork. "Hm. I just don't know." Pressing the point of the blade under Spike's chin, he forced his head up. "What do you think?" Spike's eyes were closed. He was mumbling something. "I can't hear you, Spike."
Louder, Spike said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake..."
And of course, this is what Lucifer was so angry with Spike for.
Angelus silenced him by punching him viciously in the mouth. "Stop that." He brought the knife up under Spike's eye. "Shall I carve up your pretty face? Think any Slayers would be attracted to you if you weren't quite so handsome anymore?"
Spike spat blood and smirked. "Girls like scars."
I originally had Spike saying "Chicks dig scars"--but I can't remember him using the words "chick" or "dig" before, so it didn't seem quite right.
"Is that so?" Angelus dug the knife into Spike's face from the spot under his eye to just above his lip. "We'll see how much they like that one, then. And these too." Angelus went to work in earnest with the knife, slicing patterns into Spike's chest, shoulders, and biceps. Although the cuts weren't deep, Spike was losing blood at an alarming rate, and he could feel himself getting weaker. Angelus still wasn't satisfied, and he stood up and got the other dagger.
Sitting cross-legged on Spike's left on the floor, Angelus used the new blade on his abdomen and legs. He came perilously close to parts that Spike really didn't want to lose, but he reassured him. "Oh, no. You get to keep those. I want to be able to play with them when you switch sides."
I was still contemplating how far I wanted to go with the torture. And while playing with Spike's "package" might be something Angelus would do...Sorry. I didn't want to go there. I was already skating into R-rated territory, and I didn't want to push it any farther than that. More beating off of the Muse. My Louisville Slugger was getting a real workout.
Spike's teeth were clenched shut, but they were bared in a rictus of pain and his breathing was shallow and fast. Bigger and bigger black spots were exploding behind his vision as he lost more and more blood, and he finally fainted, sending up one more mental prayer for strength before his consciousness slipped away.
Exploding black spots. You get those when you faint. You're going to think this is pretty funny, considering this scene, but I frequently pass out at the sight of blood--so I know whereof I speak.
Angelus huffed impatiently. It was just no fun when they passed out too soon. Well. Mandy's memories told him that Spike healed as fast as she did, so he wouldn't be bored for very long. He looked around the room, and his gaze stopped on the Turok-Han.
Hm. That was a complication he really didn't need anymore. The creature had served its purpose, and, while turning it loose in Los Angeles might be enjoyable, he didn't want to have to deal with it if it ever got too big for its britches. How to get rid of it, though?
I didn't want to deal with it anymore either, and decided to kill it sooner rather than later.
The Buffy-being still stood in front of Dru. It might be entertaining to set the Uber-vamp against the...angel? Whatever she was. He got up, wiped his hands off, and walked over to where it prowled. "See that girl?" he said to it, pointing at Dru. "You can have her."
The Turok-Han curled its lips away from its teeth in a horrible grin. The smell of Spike's blood had primed it for violence, and it leaped toward the prostrate woman without waiting for further permission.
And the Buffy-being's fiery sword met it in the air, transfixed its heart, and dusted it before it even knew it was dead.
What? You expected the fight to last longer than that? Why?
Grouchy, disappointed that the fight hadn't lasted longer, Angelus decided to move Spike over to the wooden pillar in the middle of the room. He undid the restraints around his wrists and ankles, carried him over to the post, and shackled him to it, with his left arm fastened over his head, and his right twisted behind and attached at waist level.
This position left one of Spike's sides very open, and the other side of his face very open. With the added bonus of being pretty uncomfortable.
Spike moved his head and moaned a little, starting to come around. He got his legs under him so he wasn't hanging from one arm anymore, but he still felt weak and shaky, although his remarkable metabolism was coming to his aid. He watched Angelus narrowly as he fitted the spiked brass knuckles over Mandy's hands, flexing the fingers and getting them just so. The spikes were a half inch long, and they were as wide at the base as they were high--squat and ugly.
I found a pair like this on the internet. I found others that had considerably bigger spikes on them, but the goal here was (for the most part) blunt trauma, not lethal force.
"Well?" Angelus stalked up to Spike. "Thought about what I said? It'll be a lot easier on you if you just give up."
"Never been one for giving up, mate. You don't scare me."
"No? Then you're remarkably stupid." Mandy's fist flicked out and the brass knuckles clocked Spike next to his left eye.
He shut his eyes and recited, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Opening them again, he said, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?" Angelus snarled and punched him again. Spike grunted as he felt his ribs crack under that blow, but he wasn't going to stop now. "Fear Him, who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell." He bared his teeth at his adversary. "And you can't do that. No matter what you bloody do to me, you don't have the power to send me to hell."
Even with all he's been through in this scene, Spike still realizes who he's really fighting. This is a battle for his soul, not just his body.
"No." Angelus smashed him in the jaw. "I can't do that." He hammered him in the abdomen, reopening the cuts that had been healing. "But I can make your life on earth a living hell." He slammed his face again.
Spike coughed, his knees buckling a little. "Sod off."
That's it, Spike. Forget the Bible verses and just tell him to get lost.
Angelus then delivered one of the most fearful beatings Spike had ever been on the receiving end of. Glory's torture, Buffy's battering behind the Sunnydale police station, and the abuse inflicted by the First Evil, had been nothing compared to this. Angelus was careful to leave him conscious for as long as possible this time, and he rained his blows down with scientific accuracy born of years of experience. Spike hung from his left arm, gasping, nearly senseless, but conscious enough to feel Angelus lift his head by the hair and hear him say, "Well?"
Spike hacked up some blood and rasped, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow..." That was as far as he got before Angelus, in a rage, clobbered him in the jaw, breaking it and knocking him out.
If you've read my "Salvation" fic, then you'll know that Pastor Tom was reciting the 23rd Psalm while the demons were carving him up, and that Spike found this tremendously admirable. More continuity.
Dru's voice was quiet, but it struck him like an iron mallet. "You're not going to beat him, you know. He'll die first. And then he will have really won." Her tear-streaked face notwithstanding, he could tell from her direct gaze that she was proud of her dark warrior.
And she is, of course, absolutely correct. If Spike dies here, then Lucifer loses him forever...and he probably wouldn't be too happy with Angelus.
Angelus jerked the brass knuckles off and threw them across the room. "I'm not done with him yet. First I break his body, then his mind...then his spirit." He snatched the scourge up from the metal table and stomped back over to Spike, then swung his arm viciously and flailed the chains once across the unconscious ribs and abdomen. It gave him some satisfaction when Dru cried out in protest.
I found the chain scourge on several different torture sites and decided it would be just about perfect for what I wanted to accomplish in the final part of this chapter. They are nasty, nasty weapons, with a solid handle and several chains hanging off the end. Sometimes they had sharp pieces of metal imbedded in the chains as well.
Dropping the whip, he undid the shackle behind Spike's back, flipped him around so that his chest was against the post, and fastened Spike's wrist above his head. "And now, we wait," he said, sitting on the folding chair and lighting a cigarette.
An hour and six cigarettes later, he was starting to get concerned...and impatient. He hadn't beaten Spike that badly, had he? He should be up by now. Angelus stood and walked over to him, seeing some movement that hadn't been noticeable when he'd been halfway across the room. "Finally." He went to the sink, filled a bucket underneath with freezing water, and dumped it over Spike's head.
More torture, although of a different kind. And a beating feels worse on wet skin.
The cold shock brought him to full, agonizing consciousness. Gasping and sputtering, he straightened his legs underneath him and took his weight off his wrists. He barely had time to do so before the chain scourge crashed down on his shoulders and nearly knocked him off his feet. No warning for these; Angelus was behind him and he couldn't see it coming.
He could see Dru, however. She was sobbing and trying not to watch, but she couldn't look away. He tried to smile, to reassure her that it was going to be okay, but then the whip hit his back again and the smile turned to a grimace and a sharp intake of breath through his teeth. Blood ran freely down his legs, and, already weak from the previous abuse, he knew he wouldn't last very long this time. He could feel his mind starting to go away into Denial-Land, and he gripped the chains of the shackles to try to keep some contact with what was real.
But when all that was real was pain, it was hard to keep a grasp on any other reality. That shimmer in front of Dru had solidified in his vision, and he could almost swear that it looked like Buffy. That couldn't be real; Buffy had died decades ago. So, now he was seeing things. And that was a bit of all right, so long as he was hallucinating a Buffy that wasn't yelling at him. But she looked so tragic, standing there. He guessed that, since she was just a figment, she was sorry that she couldn't save him from the monster.
I've heard stories about people seeing angels when they were close to death. Not much of a stretch here.
His eyes were doing the black-spot thing again. And his body felt like it was on fire. Angelus wouldn't stop until he killed him this time. And that was all right too. Maybe he'd get to see Mandy again. He just needed...to rest...
The rest of the scene is from Angelus' viewpoint, because I needed to sell Spike's capitulation not only to him, but to the audience as well. If I'd done it from Spike's viewpoint, it would have spoiled the surprise.
Angelus wasn't really surprised when Spike collapsed. His entire back was shredded, from his elbows to his shoulders, all the way down to his knees. It would have already killed an ordinary human. Time for phase two.
He took Spike down from the pillar and placed him on his back on the wooden table, closing the iron restraints around his wrists, ankles, and waist. Then he got some Liquid Bandage and another kind of salve out of the metal cabinet and went to work with some water and a soft cloth. Under his ministrations, Spike started to move his head and mumble a little. Angelus put on Mandy's best concerned voice. "Spike? Spike? Speak to me, sweetie."
"Mandy? I've had the most awful dream..." He seemed half-delirious.
"Shh, honey." Angelus wiped his forehead gently. "It's okay now. He's gone. You beat him."
Spike coughed, spraying blood. "Hurts..."
"I know." Angelus rubbed some of the salve into a large bruise on his chest and kissed him softly on the cheek. "You're going to be all right."
"Thought I'd--" cough "--lost you forever."
Angelus trailed more kisses down Spike's jawline with Mandy's lips. "I'm right here, baby. Not going anywhere."
Another place where I had to beat the Muse off. She wanted Angelus to be doing *cough* other things with Mandy's hands while he was kissing Spike. Bad Muse! Not out of character...but not something I wanted to write, either.
"Was terribly afraid...God took you from me."
"He did, Spike. But I got free and came back to you. God isn't who you think He is."
Again with the attack on Spike's faith.
"Know that...now. Seen things. Dreadful things. Dusty died." More coughing, more blood. "Dru's baby..." Tears now. "God doesn't care."
And now Spike seems to agree.
"We're on our own in the big, bad world, Spike. But that's okay, as long as we have each other." Soothing hands stroked his battered chest and midriff and more kisses caressed his throat. "I want you to be mine forever."
"Forever..." His breath was coming in raspy, shallow gasps. "Don't think I have that long, luv. Angelus did me...right and proper...God let him do that, too..."
More with the giving up...
"There's a solution," Angelus whispered in his ear. "We can be with each other until the end of time. All it would take would be for you to say 'yes.' Just think, no more sickness, no more pain." He let Mandy's voice turn frantic. "I don't want to lose you."
Spike made an effort and turned his head so his throat was a little more vulnerable. "Know what you want to do. Make it quick, luv." He coughed blood again, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head for a moment. He gained control of himself after a visible struggle.
"Are you sure, Spike? Are you sure you don't believe any more?"
"Believe in...the Big Puppeteer? What's He--" cough "--ever done for me? Left me alone...out in the cold. I'm so cold, pet..."
More continuity here, only within the fic this time. I think it was back a couple of chapters ago that Spike ranted about Someone up there pulling marionette strings.
"Let me warm you up," Angelus said, vamping. He pulled back so Spike could see Mandy's face, with the ridges and the fangs and the yellow eyes. "Are you sure this is what you want?"
Spike closed his eyes and tilted his chin. "Can't fight anymore. So tired...so cold..."
Angelus leaned down and whispered in his ear. "I'll fix that for you." Spike hardly flinched when he slid his fangs into his throat and drank.
This was a really mean place to leave off. When I printed it out for my (Christian) mother-in-law to read, I accidentally left off the last chapter, and she thought that this was it--forgetting that I'd promised a happy ending. Her reaction, predictably, was, "Bleagh! What's the point of believing in God then? He didn't protect him at all!"
She missed the point a little (of course, since she hadn't read the whole thing yet). Spike actually gets everything he prays for in this chapter. He prays for strength and wisdom for himself, which he gets. He prays for protection for Dru, which he also gets. I couldn't have him pray for protection for himself...because that wasn't what I was trying to do--and then I would have either had to give him a deux ex machina of his own, or I would have needed to explain why God didn't answer that particular prayer. And I didn't feel up to that task within the scope of a fanfic.
At least my mother-in-law got to read the last chapter the next day. My poor readers on FFN had to wait a week.