Duty Or Destiny - (12) The Consequence Of Being A Hero

by Tasha

Chapter Summary: Giles, Buffy and an unconscious Spike head to Giles' home. Giles wants to talk about what happened, but Buffy isn't ready to think about it until Spike is safe. They come to the realization that Angel has invites into Giles' and Buffy's homes. Spike wakes up during that conversation, and we learn a bit more about Spike's past. Is Spike paralyzed when he wakes up? Do Angelus and Drusilla figure that Buffy and Spike are dead and go on a killing rampage? Does Joyce realize that Buffy isn't home yet?

Author's Note: A couple people pointed out to me that they felt the fireman letting them go wasn't as believable as it should be. Well, I am of the frame of mind that not everyone in Sunnydale is oblivious to what is going on around them. I mean, seriously, how could EMT's, firemen, cops, etc all be that ignorant? Maybe they are, but I'd like to think that they aren't that stupid. I tired to point out in the chapter that the fire chief knew about the weird happenings of Sunnydale. I was also kind of foreshadowing that the fireman could come back into play as an ally later. (Just like we have Marie at the hospital that helps with blood.) I hope this helps to clear up any confusion.

Disclaimer and Distribution notes are listed on the Index page of this story.

Buffy sat silently. She hadn't said a word since they left the church yard. Worry lines were creasing the skin on her face. Her body was turned to keep watch over the vampire in the backseat. Spike's head was propped up against the side of the car behind Giles' seat.

Giles chanced a glance over at Buffy. With a sigh his gaze switched to his rear view mirror. The empty area in the mirror reminded him what the creature his Slayer was besotted with was. "What happened, Buffy?" He couldn't stay silent any longer. He needed to know if another monster was on the loose.

Buffy looked at Giles with moisture at the edges of her eyes. "Could we wait until we're safe please?" Although she was no longer in love with Angel, the change in him after the ritual saddened her. She thought he was overbearing and presumptuous originally, but he had helped them out of some sticky situations. She didn't want to have to dust him if he'd gone as evil as it appeared.

"All right, but it is hard to wait for answers after what I just witnessed." Giles frowned heavily. If Angelus was on the loose again they needed to prepare for an attack, not mollycoddle an injured vampire in their midst who could have done the ritual with the intent to release Angel's soul.

"I need to find out what's wrong with Spike, Giles." Buffy sniffled. "Angel tried to … and Spike shielded … Then I woke up with him covering … I just need us to be safe."

"My flat should be perfectly," Giles' voice trailed off into nothingness. "Maybe not."

"What's wrong?" Buffy questioned.

"Angel has an invitation into my home." Giles quickly stole a look at Buffy. "If what I suspect is true, that makes us not safe there."

"Isn't there any way to revoke it?" Buffy asked with a panicked voice when another thought came to her. "My mom! He has an invite into my Mom's house too. We have to do something. She won't know until its too …"

Buffy's frantic babbling was interrupted by a choked and rough male voice, "Disinvite spell."

Both voices in the front seat silenced at once. They both listened hard for anything else to be said. When silence answered them, they both wondered if the vampire had really spoken.

"Spike," Buffy's voice wavered. "Did you say something?" She leaned into the back seat. She squeezed their joined hands in support.

"Disinvite spell," Spike croaked out again. His eyes were closed. His vampiric face was still to the forefront, but the accent and voice were music to Buffy's ears.

"Those really work?" Giles asked.

"How can you be a Watcher and not know about disinvite spells?" Spike's eyes opened to tiny slits.

"Watchers and Slayers don't make a habit of inviting demons into their home," Giles barked out his response automatically. "Those who had invited one in didn't live long enough to worry about a disinvite. They were usually dead in short order."

Spike huffed, "Bloody Know-It-All Wankers," He muttered low. In the confined area, Giles and Buffy still heard him.

"Guys this so isn't helping," Buffy interjected. She really didn't need Spike and Giles to get into a verbal insult match before they could meet on an even level. "We need to find that spell ASAP."

"Tome of …" Spike inhaled deeply. He may not need to breathe, but the action calmed his nerves down more. It made the pain easier to bear. "Cantrell's Demonic Rites and Protections." He opened his eyes more fully.

Buffy mentally went over the list of books she'd read from Giles' collection at the school. "I don't remember that book in your collection, and I've searched for everything concerning vampiric rites and rituals since Halloween." She glanced up at Giles to see his face blanched white. "Something wrong?"

"I doubt he left that one out in the open, pet." Spike's voice strengthened in volume. "Some nasty stuff in that one. Isn't that right, Ripper?"

"Ripper?" Buffy's head quickly snapped to look back and forth between the front and back seats. "That's what Ethan Rayne and Eyghon called you, Giles."

"Yes, it is, and it's not a name I wish to hear again." Giles' grip on the steering wheel tightened. "That is not who I am now."

"Wanker," Spike mumbled.

"Spike, you never said that you met Giles before," Buffy said more like a question than a comment. "And why were we all trying to figure out who Spike was if you'd already met him Giles?"

"I hadn't met him before." Spike tried to sit up, but his legs wouldn't move. He thought that maybe he was pinned into the compact backseat too tightly to move. So, he didn't try again. "News about blokes who wield mojo as strong as the Watcher did, tends to travel through the grapevine. I didn't put two and two together until I saw that Rayne bloke in town too."

"You know Ethan Rayne?" Any connection Spike had to Ethan Rayne was a bad omen in Giles' mind.

"Dru and I ran into him once back in merry old England." Spike chuckled. "He was fascinated with Dru's gift of sight. Said that he wished he had someone like her around a decade or 2 before when he hung around with the Ripper."

Spike continued before Buffy or Giles could interrupt him, "Rayne went on and on about how Ripper refused his true calling to chaos and went back to the Council of Wankers to be a Watcher." He shrugged his shoulders. "So, I would figure that to be you, Watcher."

"I … I don't have anything left from those days. It's … It's all gone," Giles stammered.

"Lying is a sin, Rupert. You're such a bad boy," Spike chastised in a taunting voice and clucking of his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "No matter how goody good you went, some things you just don't get rid of. You probably rationalized keeping them because you might need a way to battle the demons later. I know how you lot think."

Giles sighed. He'd arrived at the driveway near his place. He scooted the car into park, and he closed his eyes. Not only was he being caught in a lie, but it was an evil vampire that was calling him on his transgression. "Yes, I have some of them left, but I honestly don't know exactly which book names I kept. I know that I recognized part of the title you mentioned though."

"I'm positive you have this one, Watcher." Spike craned his neck to look out the window to see where they were. "Your little buddy Eyghon had his ritual in there. Maybe the book was renamed, but back in the early 1900's it was authored by Cantrell."

"Any other secrets you're keeping from us, Giles?" Buffy interrupted the current conversation. There were so many more sides of Giles than she originally realized. She was a little scared. Even the good guys weren't all good.

"You're hardly one to be calling the kettle black, Buffy." Giles nodded his head towards the back seat. "You have your own secrets too."

"I'm sorry, Giles." Buffy sighed. "I shouldn't have jumped on you. The whole black and white thing has been so bleary for a while. I'm just confused."

"Not that this isn't a touching moment, but could we get out of the bloody car?" Spike growled. "I'm so cramped in here that I can't even get my legs to move. I want to get out of here and stretch. Besides, it isn't all that safe for us to be having this chat in a publicly accessible place with Angelus on the loose."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Grumpy vampire," She mumbled. She got out of the car and opened her door.

"As loathe as I am to admit it, Spike is right." Giles turned the car off and opened his door. "We have a book to find and a spell to perform."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Joyce Summers paced her bedroom floor with the lights out. Since she figured out about Buffy's calling, she listened for her daughter's return home through her bedroom window most nights. She never slept well before Buffy got home. It was after 3 am, and she knew Buffy hadn't made it home yet. Usually Buffy was back by now. It was a school night, after all.

Joyce hoped that Buffy was just having a busy night and not that Joyce's worst fears were being realized. She sat down on the end of her bed. She buried her face in her hands and wept, hoping that her little girl wasn't dead.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy held the door open for Spike who had yet to get out of the car. "All right Mr. Pain-In-The-Ass, get out of the car. You were the one whining about it."

Spike tried to move his legs again, but nothing happened. He growled in frustration. "I don't know how you got me in this car, but I can't get out."

Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Pillock." He shook his head back and forth.

"Oy, watch it wanker." Spike bent at the waist and extended his arms out the door. "Just come over here give me a good yank, Slayer, like a sardine out of a tin can."

"Fine." Buffy stomped over to Giles' side of the car. She gripped both of Spike's hands tightly and pulled Spike out of the back seat.

The vampire fell hard on his butt on the pavement. "I'll get you back for that, Slayer." Although Spike growled, it was more that his pride was hurt instead of being mad. He pressed the palms of his hands to the ground and tried to push himself up. His body partially lifted off the ground, but still his legs didn't move.

"Come on, Spike," Buffy tapped her fingertips on her hips where her hands were placed. "You know the most about what spell to look for. Get up. Let's go."

"I wish that I could oblige you, Slayer, but there seems to be a problem." Spike's voice quivered slightly in fear. "My mind is willing, but my legs don't seem to be listening."

"What did you say?" Giles questioned.

"I said that I can't bloody move my legs, Watcher," Spike snarled. "I can't even feel them."

"Oh my God, Spike!" Buffy exclaimed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Across Sunnydale the residents were given a reprieve from the fury that was an Angelus on the loose. Angelus had more pressing things on his mind than devouring all of the denizens of the city in one night.

After a couple quick kills, he and Drusilla ran through the night back to the factory. They rutted together in Drusilla's bed like beasts of the field, long into the dawn of the new day.

So, for now, Sunnydale was safe.

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