All About Spike - Believe by Rocky

Believe
By Rocky

Part 15

“Dunno why I did that, you know?” Spike was leaning against the tree, waiting for me like he always used to, “The rat… drank it up like that. Worst kind of blood there is… tastes like poison.”

We headed for the cemetery, “Maybe you wanted to…”

“What’s that?”

“The rat’s blood… the poison… maybe you wanted to drink it.”

He shrugged, “Didn’t taste as I remember it.”

“Like poison?” I gulped, trying to keep my stomach from bubbling.

“Little sweeter… not so rancid, you know?”

“Really don’t.”

“Right.”

We were among the gravestones now, “So, why do you think it would taste… non-ratty?”

“Not sure,” Spike lit his cigarette, “Could be me. Could be that any living thing in the Summers’ home is sweet.”

Bad, bad words. Not the greatest conversation, Spike.

Smoke whistled from his lips, “Seemed strange, is all.”

We fell silent then, both of us picking up on the nearby vamp.

“Six vamps… busy night, eh Slayer?”

I pocketed the stake, ready to go home and snuggle into my blankets and pillows. Nightmare or not, I could tell tonight I’d be too tired to see them.

Spike nudged me, “Did you see?”

“What?”

“My dance?” his eyes were low, and his bottom lip sucked between his teeth.

I tucked my arms over my chest, trying to hide the bit of excitement that was obvious in my heartbeat.

“Are we near him yet, Slayer?”

The words touched my skin like ice. I felt frozen… numb, and speechless. We walked by a tomb and I imagined him slamming me up against it. Fighting for my life against him. Then the thought of him pressing against me… I shuddered. His wicked smile showed up then. God, he’s just pulling out all the stops… I felt myself squirm as he came closer… too close.

My phone rang, making the both of us jump. I flipped it open as Spike slid away. “Hello?”

“Buffy!” Willow’s voice rang in my ears, “You have to get back here now!”

“Will?” I pushed through the door, “Willow!”

“Buffy!” Dawn sprinted from the kitchen and jumped in front of me, “Oh my God, Buffy, you are not going to believe this!”

She pulled me back into the kitchen, leading me to the top of the stairs where Willow and Xander stood. Their eyes were wide at the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh my God…” fell out of my mouth as I gazed at the moving floor. The squeaking was horrible as hundreds… maybe thousands of rats crawled over each other, covering every inch of floor in the basement.

“Bloody hell.” Spike brought his head down, glancing down across where his cot was home to several rats.

“Will, what happened?”

She glanced over, “I’m… I’m not sure where they came from.”

“Spike probably left some crumbs on the floor, didn’t ya?” Xander piped up.

“They’re…” Dawn screeched as one scurried up a few steps, “They’re starting to climb up here, Buffy.”

“Well… what do we do?”

“I’m thinking exterminator-time.” Xander offered.

“I could… I could do a spell to…” Willow trailed off, “Wait a minute…”

She left, heading for the living room. We all followed, Dawn slamming the basement door tight before she came.

Willow pulled a book from the shelf, “I know this, I…” We waited, each of us settling in separate spots around the room. Willow flipped another couple pages before, “Ah ha!”

“’Ah ha’ what, Will?” Xander asked.

“It’s a curse. An old… Egyptian curse. It’s… believed to be the cause of the Black Death,” she glanced at Spike, who was nodding. “You know, in like the 1300’s, all of Europe became infested with these rats, and… didn’t you two pay any attention in high school?”

“Hey,” I tried to defend, looking to Xander, “I remember it!”

“Yeah, me too!” Xander tried to sound annoyed. “Big English Black Death… of course I remember it…”

Dawn shrugged, “How about a lesson for those of us not done yet? So, this ‘Black Death,’ what’d it do to people?”

“Uh, swollen lymph glands…” Spike spoke up, “And these big, red, diseased spots form all over the skin.”

“Oh my God!” Dawn pulled up her sleeve, “I totally have a spot on me! I saw it today at school!”

Xander was already lifting his shirt, “Does that… does that look like a disease-spot to anyone else?”

“The point is,” Willow laid the book open on the table, “Somebody cursed us.”

“With rats?” Dawn was poking at Xander’s not-spot now, “Who would curse us with—”

“Amy.” I answered.

Willow nodded. “I can do a reversal, but I’ll need you to get some supplies.”

“Sure you want me taggin‘ along, Slayer?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you already have plans? In the basement… with the rats?”

He chuckled, “It’s like an all-you-can-eat buffet down there. Reckon I could take care of them given the…” he bit his tongue when he saw my disgust-face, “Certainly explains why they tasted funny… magic rats, you know?”

“Guess so.” I stepped down one of the alleys, “You sure this place will have everything?”

“Cat’s eyes and such? Sure.”

I scrunched my face up, “Why does it have to be cat’s eyes? Why can’t it just be like… a little bitty kitten? A not-sacrificed little kitten?”

He chuckled, “Kittens are worth a lot more than cat’s eyes, love.”

I rolled my eyes. Demons are so weird. “Still, I’d rather see a spell that didn’t involve dead-animal parts. Makes me think of—”

A hard shove cut me off, and I slammed against the alley wall, landing hard onto a garbage can. Ow, and ew.

Spike’s hand found mine, and he pulled me to my feet. I brushed myself off, ready to fight the attacking vamp. I glanced behind Spike, who pulled a cigarette from his pocket.

“Somethin‘ on your mind, Slayer?”

“Where did…” I stepped past him, “Where did he go?” God, Spike, if you let him get away…

Spike slid the cigarette between his lips, and then stepped over to the other side of the alley. He bent over, scooping up dust in his hands and presenting it before clapping it back to the ground.

“You… he’s dust?”

Spike eyebrows jumped, and he pulled out his lighter, flicking fire over his cigarette.

“Oh…” I tried to unwind from slay-mode, “Let’s get moving, then.” I walked past him.

“‘Let’s get moving?’ That’s it?” he caught up to me, “Surprise you, Slayer?”

“No, I just… I just…”

“You are surprised,” smoke swirled as he spoke, “You don’t know how serious I am, Buffy…” he tapped away at the ash, “When I say… that I’m yours… when I say I’d do anything…”

Would you just stop talking, Spike? That wasn’t what came out… “I know.”

“Gimme some time… I’ll do right by you someday, Slayer…”

This time I couldn’t even say ‘I know.’ It was like my tongue stopped working… but my heart was just pounding with words.

“We’re close now,” he sucked the night-air deep into his useless lungs, tossing his cigarette to the ground, “Just up ahead.”

“Oh, thank God!” Xander met us at the door, pulling up the back of his shirt, “Do you… can you see anything there?”

“Oh my God!” I stared at his skin. Spike glanced towards Xander’s back and smiled.

“What?” Xander freaked, “You can see one, can’t you? I knew it. I’m always the guy who ends up diseased!” he turned to face us, scratching at his back.

“Xander, there’s nothing there.” I said with a smile.

“Are you… are you sure?”

“You’re one-hundred percent sickness-free!”

“Really?” he followed us into the kitchen, where Willow was preparing for the spell. Spike set the jar on the counter, then placed the bag of eagles’ feathers and tiger claws next to them.

“Okay. I’m not… I’m not really sure what this is going to do, but it should get rid of them.” Willow began sorting through her ingredients. “It has to be totally silent, or else it won’t work.”

“I’ll take scratch ’n sniff here to the other room,” Spike yanked Xander out of the kitchen with him.

Willow knelt, and then looked up at me, “You should probably get behind me.”

I did so, watching her spread the feathers over the tile. She placed the claws in a foursquare, then placed two eyes in the middle. Then she sprinkled some kind of shiny powder over everything and began to chant.

I couldn’t make out what she was chanting… and all I could think about was whether or not this spell was going to burn a hole through the floor. Please, no.

The air around us began to glow, and Willow’s chant changed languages as she got louder. Her hands lifted through the glow.

Glowing is not a good sign… glowing means fire… fire means big black hole in the middle of the kitchen…

A deafening roar interrupted my thoughts, and Willow stood up. I closed my eyes, feeling the air swirl all around me. When I opened my eyes again, I couldn’t breathe. Standing in front of Willow was a shimmering white tiger… with pure white wings tucked to its sides.

I stared at the blurry image. Willow only stared too as it turned, spreading its wings, and then swooped down the basement stairs. Rats screeched as Willow closed the door, breathless.

I caught her, and she leaned against the counter. “That was… did you… that was…”

“It was amazing, Will,” I steadied her, listening to the wind rush beneath us, “What happens after it…”

“It’s supposed to disappear after they’re gone.” Willow was starting to catch her breath.

I squatted, rubbing the dark spot in the middle of the kitchen floor. I looked up at Willow with a sigh.

“Oops…” she made her pout-face and cringed, “Sorry.”

Continued in Part 16