Love In Vein: Book Three - Chapter 3

Buffy followed Giles obediently as he led her through the building, taking her down flights of steps and along corridors that were seemingly getting darker and dimmer the further they went into the recesses of the headquarters.

She tried to keep the frown off her face as she thought heavily about what this monster was that Giles wanted to show her. Willow had mentioned attacks in London over the past few weeks, and she wondered if that was the beast that they had captured.

The beast that she was now being led into what looked like a basement to see.

Her eyes scanned over the cold stone walls, following the trickles of water as they ran down them. They were emitting what felt like a chill breeze, and she could feel it even through the thickness of her deep red jumper. Folding her arms across her chest, she held herself tightly as she followed Giles.

They passed through a heavy iron door with a grated hole in it that she supposed was a window and then entered an area so dark that her eyes struggled to adapt. The small oval lights running intermittently along the wet ceiling above her were dim in the blue darkness, not lighting the corridor but giving it an eerier yellow tinted look. She huddled up tighter, ignoring the way the chill air seemed to find a way into her clothes no matter what she tried, and wondering why Giles was bringing her to such a place.

She couldn’t stop her mind from racing as they started to pass what seemed like a series of cells. On either side of the narrow stone hallway were doors similar to the one she had passed through and she found herself trying to see in through the little windows and wondering if they had any occupants.

From how wet the floor was and how earthy the air smelt, she surmised that they must have been under the river she had seen when they had pulled up outside the building. She wondered how old this section of the building was, and for how great a distance it stretched around her. She’d seen corridors heading off in different directions when they’d first entered the darkened area, and a sudden sickening image flashed into her head.

Row upon row of white, glass-fronted cells in the Initiative.

She shuddered at the comparison between what she had seen that night and what she was witnessing now.

As they passed through another heavy iron door, she looked up, only to see another rapidly passing her and then another. Only this one was shut.

Waiting in silence while Giles spoke in a hushed voice to someone on the other side of the metal grate window, she looked at the two doors she was standing between. There was barely four feet distance between each of the set of three and she couldn’t help wondering just what was kept down here that needed such heavy security measures.

It was clear that the three doors were designed to stall any demon that escaped, designed to give the occupants of the building above enough time to either escape or arm themselves.

Peering around the back of the door nearest her, she saw there was no lock on that side and came to the conclusion that these doors were definitely designed to keep any escapees in the corridor beyond for as long as possible.

She ran her fingers down the cold, black metal of one and frowned at its thickness.

It must have been at least two inches of solid iron.

Nothing could break through that…could it?

And even if it broke through one, there were still another two to defeat.

She started slightly as the shut door creaked open, revealing another long, dark corridor to her view. Silently following Giles, she noticed that the cells on this side of the doors were spaced apart more than the ones on the other. The doors looked to be the thicker variety that she had just passed through and a lot of them were beginning to rust due to the constant dampness that hung in the air.

Buffy lost count of the number of doors she had passed by the time they came to a halt, and she realised that the cell they had stopped in front of was at the very end of the corridor.

And it was alone.

No cell opposite it. The nearest one to it must have been a good thirty-foot away. She peered slightly through the grated hole in the door and raised her brows as she saw how thick the walls were in this particular cell.

They must have been at least two foot thick.

What kind of monster were they holding in this cell?

What needed all this protection?

She felt her heart leap into her throat as a shuffling noise broke the eerie silence, and she caught the clink of chains and a quiet snorting noise.

It sounded like a bad tempered bull scratching at the floor of its pen.

As a loud roar filled her ears, causing her to flinch, she decided that it definitely wasn’t a bull. Possibly, it was a bull crossed with a lion.

She caught the edgy look in Giles’ eyes as he looked over his shoulder at her, clearly studying her face as though she was expected to look something other than kind of confused.

She felt unnerved when the shuffling sound grew louder, more impatient if possible, and she kept her eyes fixed on the small window in the door, as though any second now she’d catch a glimpse of the beast held within its iron and stone belly.

Her breathing became shallower as her Slayer side pushed to the foreground, her senses extending outwards in the hopes of sizing up her potential opponent.

Nothing.

This time she did frown at Giles.

He gave her a look that clearly expressed that he knew she wouldn’t be able to sense anything inside the cell, and the feeling in the pit of her stomach got a million times worse.

Standing just outside the door, she tried to breathe steadily as her heart threatened to run away with her. She could hear what sounded like something scraping against stone and a low rumbling noise that made her insides tremble.

She jumped when the man beside Giles moved forwards, towards the door.

Her heart skipped a beat and she gave Giles a questioning look as the heavy door was unlocked, the padlocks, bolts and deadbolts being removed one by one with a painful slowness.

What was she supposed to do?

What was she meant to be expecting?

Willow had said the people in London had been torn to shreds, ripped limb from limb, and if this was the same beast she’d spoken of, what was she going to do to stop it?

Giles had told her she wasn’t here to kill it. Was she supposed to be able to do something else?

What kind of creature made a noise like that anyway? It was somewhere in between a cry and a roar. It sounded so sad and so hurt, but so angry and venomous at the same time.

Hesitating in front of the open door, she looked to Giles for guidance and then inclined her head to one side as he nodded to a young girl who Buffy hadn’t noticed in the shadows.

The slim, dark haired, girl came forward, stopping just short of Buffy, and looked straight at the open door. She muttered a few words and then slunk back into the darkness as though she was afraid, scared to be by the door.

Buffy frowned when nothing happened.

Then the world felt as though it was spinning, and she was falling. A cold breeze pushed against her and it was as though she could feel tendrils of ice wrapping around her, brushing against her skin and holding her like an icy hand.

She clutched at her stomach as it fell away, her heart beating rapidly, and her breathing coming faster and faster as she struggled to cope with all the hurt, all the pain and the fear she was feeling.

An odd sensation hit her.

Those feelings weren’t hers.

She gasped at air as the emotions subsided and she was left feeling calm again.

And it dawned on her as she stared into the black room in front of her.

Who would need such a cell to contain them?

Who would be able to break free of this place?

She stepped forward into the darkness and felt her knees grow weak, trembling beneath her and hindering her movements as a light was turned on, revealing to her the monster Lydia had spoken of.

There, huddled in the corner and restrained in irons, was someone she’d lost hope of seeing ever again.

Tears flooded her face before she realised they were escaping her, her emotions filling her so quickly that she almost stumbled, her feet unsteady and her body shaking as she edged towards him.

His hair was tousled and wild, longer than she remembered and showing his dark roots. His body seemed thinner, his torso bare, and the only scrap of clothing he wore were his black jeans.

She couldn’t miss the hurt in his body language. The chains that held him weren’t long enough for him to cover himself as she approached but he shuffled back into the corner as far as his restraints would allow him to go.

Buffy purred softly as she reached her hand out slowly to him. Her heart sickened to see the deep scars that littered his chest and stomach, and it looked as though they were claw marks.

She blinked slowly, trying to force back the tears and not wanting to look weak in front of him in case it upset him further.

“Buffy…that’s far enough.”

She ignored Giles’ warning, not even bothering to look at him. Her eyes remained fixed on her mate.

His head rose up and she froze as she saw the blue eyes she’d been missing all these months watching her. She’d half expected him to be in vampire guise, like he had been last time she’d found him chained up, and the sight of his human features caught her off guard.

Dropping to her knees just a few feet from him, she held his gaze, letting him search her eyes and not hiding anything from him.

“Buffy…” Giles tried again, his heart pounding hard with worry against his ribs.

A loud roar filled the small room and for a moment, he expected Buffy to back away, but she didn’t, she continued to reach her hand out to her mate and cooed softly at him.

Buffy purred as best she could, hoping it would show him that she wasn’t trying to hurt him.

She shuffled closer to him on the damp, cold stone floor, her hand shaking where she was almost touching him, and she held her breath as her fingers finally made contact.

His skin was cold and clammy under her fingertips, and she gave herself a few seconds to adjust to the feeling of it before gently stroking his cheek. She smiled as he leaned into her touch ever so slightly and then closed her eyes as he nudged the palm of her hand with his nose.

The next thing she felt was a sharp sensation and her eyes flew wide with horror as she saw that he’d changed into vampire guise and bitten into her wrist.

She hesitated for a moment before pulling it away from him, holding it against her chest with her other hand as she stared at him hard.

“Buffy!” Giles called out to her in a panicked voice.

“I’m fine.” She said grimly and kept her eyes locked with the amber of the vampire’s in front of her.

She slapped him hard across the cheek and he roared at her defiantly, but she sneered right back at him.

“Buffy…maybe you should…”

“No, Giles…I’m not leaving…I won’t!” She looked over her shoulder at him and frowned before turning her attention back to her mate. She whispered. “I won’t leave you.”

Spike seemed to cock his head to one side as she said that and then glanced down at her wrist.

Seeing a spark of recognition in his eyes, she looked down at her wrist and then at him. Swallowing down her nerves, she tentatively held it out to him, bringing it to his lips.

She pulled a face of disgust as he craned his neck to reach, his tongue desperately darting out to lick the blood from the wound he’d inflicted. As his lips closed around it again, she watched him closely, hoping for another sign of recognition.

Looking for a sign of love.

Buffy smiled slightly as he gently licked the wound shut and then brought her hand back to her, thanking him with a little nod as he looked at her.

The shock of seeing him again subsiding, she watched as he scratched at the dirty floor beneath him and she noticed that his wrists were rubbed raw by the manacles and his fingertips were bloodied, his nails cracked and broken from clawing at his confines.

She looked down at his bare feet, noting how they were chained too and that they were covered in filth.

Anger boiled up inside her.

She turned on Giles, hurrying to her feet and stopping just a few short feet from him.

“What the fuck is going on here!?”

Giles flinched as each word hit him hard and then gave her a sorry look. “We thought it would pass, that he would get better. In fact, he’s getting worse.”

The bottom dropped out of Buffy’s stomach again. “Worse?”

She seemed to be calm for a moment, until she looked back at Spike where he was chained and muttering something to himself.

“How the hell didn’t I know…and what the hell do you think you’re doing…keeping him chained down here, shut in the dark after everything he’s been through…”

“He’s dangerous, Buffy.” Giles said flatly, knowing the words wouldn’t reach her and that even if they did she wouldn’t believe them, even after Spike had bitten her. “We kept the cell magically dampened so you wouldn’t know until…well, until he was ready, until he was normal again.”

“He isn’t feral, Giles, I can feel him remember? I’ve felt him go feral and I go with him, or have you forgotten the basement in Los Angeles?” She watched a flicker of doubt surface in Giles’ eyes and pushed on. “I want an explanation for this…I want to know why you’re treating him like this, like a…what was it Lydia called him…a beast?”

Giles didn’t know exactly what to say to her. At the time Spike had arrived on their doorstep, locking him away had seemed like the best solution to his troubles.

“He needed protection…” He started but Buffy cut him off as she stormed up to him.

“Protection?! He comes to you for protection and you chain him up? You lock him away in the dirtiest, rat infested dungeon on the planet and count this as protection? I thought…you knew, you know how I feel about him…what he means to me…and you do this?” She snorted disdainfully and turned her back on him, folding her arms across her chest as she closed her eyes.

She could feel Spike watching her with interest, but somehow it felt as though he was seeing straight through her.

“He’s restrained for his own safety.” Giles stifled his frustration as Buffy snorted again, clearly not believing him. “The marks on his chest…he did them…he’s hurt himself in ways that would kill a human, and the best way of stopping him from…killing himself…was to chain him in such a manner that he can’t reach himself.”

He was surprised when she didn’t retort, his words seemingly quietening her.

“He’s still hurting himself.” She said absently as she stared at his fingers where they were toying with the dirt.

Giles followed her gaze and noticed the state of Spike’s hands. “We’ll get that seen to, Buffy, one of the…”

“No!” She turned sharply and fixed him with a dark look. “I’m here now…I’ll look after him. You don’t go anywhere near him!”

Giles just nodded, not daring to question her when she looked ready to stake anyone who stood in her way.

Tentatively coming to stand next to her, he watched Spike as he muttered something at the wall.

“You should get some rest, Buffy, and we’ll talk about what’s been happening.” Giles turned towards the door.

Buffy didn’t move when he did, she just kept her eyes fixed on Spike as he snarled and struggled against his restraints, his eyes closed all the while.

“Giles…just tell me one thing.” Her tone was distant as she watched her mate.

“Anything, Buffy.” He stopped near the door and gave her a comforting smile as she turned to face him.

“What Willow told me…about the killings…it wasn’t him, was it?”

She looked so scared, so worried that Spike had been responsible for the brutal deaths, that he found himself taking a step towards her and wrapping his arms about her in a tight hug.

Spike growled and Giles quickly released Buffy, not wanting to anger the vampire further as he found his yellow eyes fixed on him in a murderous glare.

Buffy smiled slightly, warmth spreading through her as she realised that Spike recognised her as his mate, and then felt relieved as Giles shook his head in answer to her question.

“No, that’s the other reason we brought you here.” He said as he stood to one side, holding his arm out and waiting for her to exit the cell.

Buffy looked over her shoulder at Spike, watching him as he clawed at the floor and growled at nothing.

“I’ll…I won’t be gone long.” She wished he would look at her, but it was as though she wasn’t even in the room with him, as though no one was there but him.

She held her hand up and then turned and headed out the door, torn between wanting to know what else Giles was going to tell her and staying with Spike.

She found herself playing with the ring on her finger as she watched the door close and then tiptoed to take one last, long glimpse of him before she was ushered out of the basement and back into the brightly lit offices.

She looked at her injured wrist and smiled.

Hell of a hello.

Typically Spike.

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