Love In Vein: Book Three - Chapter 4

Buffy sat curled up on the large mahogany leather armchair by the fire in the lounge. She stared at the flames as they licked at the grate, spiralling ever upwards and reminding her of her visions as she clutched her teacup to her chest.

The weather had turned suddenly during their time in the basement with Spike and it was now chilly, rain pouring down outside the window and obscuring her view.

Giles sat in silence watching her.

He didn’t know how he had been expecting her to react, but it certainly hadn’t been the silent treatment. Pouring himself another cup of tea, he listened to her sigh and wondered what she was thinking. She was being asked to compute a large amount of information, a lot of which he was sure she didn’t like, and he knew there would inevitably be questions.

Buffy offered him a weak smile as she placed her cup down on the table that was sitting between them and tried to pull her thoughts out of the basement.

But she couldn’t.

“Is there nowhere…nicer…we can put him?” She asked, knowing that there probably wouldn’t be and that judging by the dark looks she’d received while walking through the building, a lot of people would prefer him to remain in the cell.

“He was kept in one of the rooms…chained of course…but there was an, um, unfortunate incident.”

Buffy didn’t like the sound of that. “Incident?”

Giles’ skin blanched slightly and then he raised his head up, meeting her eyes as she frowned at him questioningly.

“Jeffrey Vance…one of the guards…he…Spike…”

Buffy’s face blanched too as it dawned on her what Giles couldn’t bring himself to say. “He killed him.”

“He bit another too, and injured a third before we managed to get him restrained.”

“He killed someone and that’s why everyone wants him shut down in that hole.” She saw him nod and then shook her head in disbelief. “He’s a vampire, Giles…what did you expect him to do? He’s…I don’t even know…I can’t even begin to comprehend what’s wrong with him…what happened, but you know what he’s been through, and he was bound to try and escape.”

It wasn’t quite the reaction Giles had been expecting. He’d thought she was going to be upset that Spike had killed, maimed and hurt people, but instead she was just angry with him for being stupid enough to think anything short of a cell would restrain Spike.

Buffy fell silent again, losing herself in her thoughts for a moment as she tried to connect with Spike.

Nothing.

“You’ve dampened the room again, haven’t you?” She gave Giles an accusatory glare.

“We thought it best. He can get violent at times, mostly during the day. At night he’s quieter, almost like his old self.”

Buffy glanced out the window at the concrete coloured sky. She couldn’t tell whether it was getting dark, or whether it was just the storm clouds giving the illusion of dusk.

“What happened to him, Giles?” She didn’t take her eyes away from the window as she asked him, too scared to let Giles see the fear in her eyes.

He was so different. He was so hurt and scared, so mixed up. In the time she’d spent with him in the cell, she hadn’t been able to get a grip on his feelings, hadn’t been able to reach him telepathically or emotionally. It was as though he wasn’t there, as though he was a different person from the one who left her a few months back.

It had scared the hell out of her.

The tiny glimmer of recognition he’d given her by trying to protect her from Giles’ touch had given her a sliver of hope that deep inside he was still the same vampire that she had known, that she loved.

“We don’t know.” Giles answered honestly.

“You don’t know?”

“He hasn’t been…conscious…enough to speak to us, to tell us what happened to him to make him insane.”

Buffy shot up off her chair and knit her brows tightly. “He’s not insane!”

“I’m afraid we may have to consider…”

“He’s not!” She interjected venomously.

Giles carried on regardless of her opposition. “To consider that whatever happened to him has affected him deeply enough that he has been rendered insane, Buffy.”

“He’s not insane…I’d know!” She felt as though she was fighting a losing battle to keep hold of the tattered shreds of her temper as it began to fray, causing her to become increasingly agitated.

“You would, would you?” He questioned and regretted it immediately.

Her eyes flew wide, her mouth opening in shock.

“Don’t you dare! I know him, Giles…more than anyone does…I’m connected to him in a way you can’t understand…you dare question me again, I’ll see to it there’s a new Head of Council.” Buffy wished she’d bit her tongue before throwing the threat at him. She could see in his expression that it had cut to the core just like she’d intended it to and she slumped into her chair resignedly, her tone becoming gentle again. “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean it. So much has been happening and I’m so tired, Giles.”

Giles gave himself a moment to regain his composure and managed a small smile. “It’s fine, Buffy. You’re under a lot of pressure. It’s understandable.”

Buffy didn’t think it was that understandable. How would Giles know what it felt like to live for over four months feeling like you’d lost half yourself and you were drifting along with no purpose? Then the man you saw as a father reveals that he’s kept the one person you need most in the world hidden from you and then tells you that they’re insane.

“You said he wanted protection.” She said as she remembered Giles mentioning it as the reason for why he’d locked Spike up so securely.

“He came to us a few weeks ago, in the middle of the night. I was called down immediately. He was already in a bad way and was muttering something. He mentioned something about protection, and then went on to speak about Cerberus.”

Buffy started at that name, a frown wrinkling her brows as she struggled to figure out what it was so familiar. “Who’s Cerberus?”

“He’s the three headed dog that…”

Buffy cut him off, suddenly panicked. “Guards the gates of hell. Giles, I’ve seen him…in my visions.”

“Oh dear.” It was all Giles could say.

“Christ, Giles, if Spike has seen Cerberus then…what about my visions? They’re coming true aren’t they?” She felt her chest tighten as she recalled the horrible scenes she’d witnessed each night, images of burning people and a heat like an inferno coming back to her.

“Not necessarily, Buffy…” He tried to reassure her, hoping at the same time he could reassure himself.

Spike had been adamant that Cerberus had escaped his bounds and was roaming London for some reason. The entire Council had told him that it was impossible, that Cerberus was only a myth, but Spike had continued to tell them that they were wrong, and they’d see it soon enough. He’d said that he didn’t have time to convince them.

Didn’t have time.

The next day there had been three deaths in Highgate Cemetery, and Spike had seemingly gone insane.

“How many has it killed?” Buffy roused him from his thoughts.

“Twenty-seven so far. We’ve had teams out each night in an attempt to catch it, but it’s proving to be somewhat elusive.”

She considered this for a moment.

“We need to stop it. Maybe if we stop it then Spike will get better.”

Giles couldn’t miss the note of hope in her voice and he didn’t have the heart to say that it probably wasn’t likely that the death of Cerberus would cure Spike. Whatever was troubling the vampire wasn’t roaming London; it was trapped inside his head.

“Buffy, I’m sorry about how he’s being kept. Most of the Watchers are too frightened to go near him. Lydia attempts to communicate with him, as do I and a few others, but he turns violent against us. Tonight is the first time since he arrived that he showed a conscious recognition of someone.” Giles’ tone was almost despondent as he spoke, clearly showing Buffy that he had tried as best he could to control the vampire and make him better again.

“You said he gets better when it gets dark?” She peered out of the window again.

“A little.” Giles said, not wanting to raise her hopes.

“Can I go see him then? As soon as it’s dark? I want to clean him up a little, and I’m strong enough to handle him.”

Giles looked a little uneasy at the idea of Buffy being alone with Spike and then nodded, knowing that she needed time to come to terms with what was happening and that she needed to spend some time with her mate.

“I’ll arrange everything for you so it’s ready for when I take you down there after dinner.”

Buffy smiled gratefully and then stood up at the same time Giles did.

“I’ll show you to your room.” He said and then stopped when she looked as though she was going to speak. “Something you wanted to ask?”

She hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “Would you lift the magic…please…I’ll feel better when I can sense him.”

Giles sighed at the desperate pleading look in her eyes and then smiled.

“Of course.”

Following Giles out of the room, Buffy considered just what she had been told and tried to piece together what was going to happen now.

She knew that a demon had been released, the kind of demon that myths are made of, and she dreaded to think about how hard it was going to be to defeat. She’d learnt in school about Cerberus, and the demon she’d seen in her dream wasn’t the size of your average dog—it was the size of an elephant.

Walking along the hall behind Giles, she ignored the twitters and looks she heard and received, keeping her focus on Spike. She hoped that he would be more responsive tonight and that she could get him to talk. She wasn’t going to count her chickens, but Giles had said that she was the only one he’d shown the slightest recognition towards, or care about.

She just hoped that the bond they shared would help him see who she was, and what she meant to him.

She hoped.

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