Duty Or Destiny - (9) Prophecies and Rituals - Part 1

by Tasha

Chapter Summary: We pick up right where the last chapter left off. Angelus entered the factory, and Spike greeted him. We follow through the meeting in the factory, Dalton finding the key, some more time spent between Spike and Buffy, and some more explanations.

Author's Note: Some dialogue was taken from the episode "What's My Line - Part 1". Also some of the dialogue in scenes from the episodes has been rewritten to fit the purpose of this story.

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

Spike kicked his feet up on the table in the main gathering area of the factory. He stiffened for a moment, before he tried to relax into a state of indifference. He never turned around to look at the new vampire who entered the room. "I wondered how long it would be before you paid us a visit, Peaches."

"You know how important family is to me, Spike," Angel sneered. "I had to come to see my favorite Childer."

"What a load of rot, Angelus." Spike kicked his feet off the table. "You haven't given a rat's ass about our well being since the turn of the bloody century."

Angel's eyes narrowed in anger. "Would you rather I staked you both instead of leaving?"

"Save your pathetic lies for the Slayer and her chums." Spike stood up to face Angel. "I was there for the great exodus. All you thought about was yourself and your own misery. Dru would have done anything you asked of her, even stopped hunting, if it had made you stay. You knew it too."

"You don't know how it feels ..." Angel tried to ignore any conversation that led to talk about his dark queen.

"No, I don't, and I hope I never do if having a soul means you abandon your family and those who love you." Spike spat the venomous words in Angel's face.

Angel's advance on Spike was stopped by an armful of Drusilla flying at him. "Daddy!"

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

Buffy casually walked through the various cemeteries on her nightly patrol rounds. Things had been pretty quiet since the Eyghon incident. Jenny and Giles still weren't speaking to each other, but Buffy thought there was something a bit off about Jenny still. Something nagged at the back of her mind about the computer teacher. Buffy shrugged it off and continued on her patrol.

Buffy stopped a few yards from a semi-lit mausoleum. The sound of metal clanging and tinging against something solid caught her attention. It seemed to be coming from the building. She crept closer to the door to have a look see.

Buffy slowly opened the door. She found a strange looking vampire chipping away at what used to be a sealed area around a coffin in the wall. She tilted her head to the side. 'What is a vampire doing being so careful about it?' She'd seen vampires loot graves before, but this vampire's actions didn't seem like looting. He was meticulous in his care of how he opened the grave.

Dalton finally made it through the outer layer of stone. He carefully searched through the items within. He beamed with delight at the cross resting up against the front of the coffin. He quickly wrapped it in a red velvet cloth to keep from burning himself on the crucifix. A couple other scrolls were scattered along the side wall, and he carefully tucked those into his inner jacket pockets.

Buffy closed the door and waited outside for whoever emerged. She crossed her arms, and she put on a very stern face. "Does "rest in peace" have no sanctity to you people?" Even though the vampire was being careful, he was still desecrating someone's resting place. That never sat well with her. "Oh, I forgot. You're not a people," she snarked.

One of Spike's more unloyal minions snuck up behind the Slayer. Dalton knew that she was the Slayer, and he wasn't foolish enough to cross his Master's orders. The other idiot though was stupid enough, and he jumped at Buffy from behind. A second minion jumped into the fray from the other side.

Buffy kicked one minion in the chest, and she elbowed the second in the head. She quickly staked the one she'd elbowed, and she was ready for the first minion before he even picked himself up off the ground. She thrust her stake into his chest. "That was too easy." She shrugged. "Two down and one to ..." She turned back around to find that the bookish vampire was nowhere in sight. "Hey, that's not fair."

Buffy inhaled deeply, and she closed her eyes. She concentrated on the sounds and scents around her. It was something Spike was helping her work on during their blood exchanges. She wasn't sure how many more lessons she'd have, since she was afraid she was going to have to stake him. Her eyes snapped open, and they flashed silver with her natural green layered as a ring around the silver. She took off in the direction Dalton left in.

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

"Miss Edith said you would return to me at the mouth of Hell." Drusilla placed multiple small kisses all over Angel's neck. She ignored that Spike was even in the room. All she thought about was that her daddy had finally come back for her.

Angelus' demon raged within while Angel removed Dru from his arms. He stepped away from her, and he shook his head back and forth. "I can't, Dru."

"You still reek of it. You were supposed to be free by now." Dru snarled. Her eyes narrowed on Angel. "My daddy would never leave his princess." She swatted a clawed hand at Angel's face. It left 3 long cuts across his cheek.

When Angel vamped and advanced on Dru, Spike stepped in-between the two vampires. "No, none of that. We came to Sunnyhell to cure Dru, not kill her."

Angel's demon was furious at Spike's challenge to his right to punish Dru for her disrespectful act. "You should know your place by now, boy. Perhaps you need a reminder."

Dru slapped her hands in delight behind Spike's back. "Daddy's still in there somewhere." She giggled.

"Maybe the fact that you've been away from us for so many decades has given me the room to grow into my own man. I don't need your guidance for anything," Spike retorted.

"You weren't a real man before you were turned, and you never will be one either." Angel laughed in Spike's face. "The years apart have made you as delusional as she is." He pointed at Drusilla.

"Why you ..." Spike was interrupted by Dalton's arrival back at the factory.

Dalton ran into the room as if the hounds of Hell chased behind him. "I found it, Master."

Spike turned around to face his faithful minion. He noted the other two minions he sent with Dalton hadn't returned with him. "Run into some trouble, Dalton?" He'd sent those minions specifically because he didn't care if he lost the two of them or not. So long as Dalton was safe, he was happy.

"Yes, Master." Dalton's eyes darted back and forth from Angelus to Spike. He knew Spike did not like Angelus, and he wondered what brought the master vampire to their lair. He was scared of the dark-haired male vampire. He fought every urge he had to run out of the room and not look back. "The Slayer was waiting for us outside the tomb."

Spike tensed momentarily. To everyone else in the room it was assumed that Spike was upset and trying to reign in his anger. The small spitfire blond who snuck her way through an upper window knew better.

Buffy tucked herself behind a stack of crated on a mid-level stairwell. She was surprised that none of the other vampires realized she was there. She was even more surprised to see Angel at the factory. When she'd followed the mousey vampire away from the crypt, she never expected to find Angel with Spike.

Spike's gaze swept the factory floor like the natural instinct of someone who was always on their guard. None of the others in the main area thought anything about it. His eyes stopped briefly on Buffy's hiding place. With a barely perceptible nod he let Buffy know that he was aware of her presence. Then, he turned his full attention back to Dalton.

Dalton held out the cross shaped item to Spike. The scrolls remained in his pocket for safe keeping while Angelus was there. He pulled back two edges of the red velvet and revealed the cross itself.

"Is this it, Dru?" Spike pulled Dru around in front of him by her waist. He felt the anger that came from Buffy, and he quickly removed his hand before she revealed herself from hiding.

Dru hovered her hands over the cross, and she closed her eyes. She swayed back and forth and hummed low. "Such power. It holds the key, my Spike."

"Good." Spike folded the cloth to completely cover the cross again. "Why don't you take that and our tome into your room? I want that cure deciphered, and I know you concentrate better in quiet," He directed at Dalton.

"You spoil him, my Spike," Dru chided.

Dalton snuck away as quickly as he could. He didn't want to get caught in the middle of any arguments between any of Aurelian vampires.

"You were the one who stole the Watcher's book?" Angel questioned.

"Yeah, though my little minion never would have made it without that Ford wanker's help." Spike's eyes flashed yellow in anger. "With friends like that, the Slayer doesn't need enemies."

"Of course you took full advantage of the boy's insane idea, didn't you?" Angel retorted.

"Did I?" Spike raised his scarred brow. "Do you really think the Slayer would have walked away from that if I wanted her dead?"

"Your lacking in the planning department." Angel laughed. "You never had the patience to follow through." He refused to entertain the possibility that Spike wanted more than just death from the Slayer. Even the passing thought caused Angel's anger to burn.

Spike's heart swelled from the waves of anger he felt directed at Angel from Buffy. "I'm smart enough to get the job done when it counts. You'd be surprised what I have accomplished in Sunnydale."

Dru giggled. "Daddy always underestimated my Spike." She said what she knew would goad Angelus' demon.

Angel's demon writhed under the surface. The insolence and attitude displayed by his Childer was disrespectful, and he wanted to punish them properly for their boldness. He forced himself to change the subject to keep from letting his demon free on the two vampires. "Let me know if there is anything I can do to make Drusilla well. I want you both out of my town."

"Oh, how sweet of you to offer, Papa," Spike's voice was laced with sarcasm. He had no intention of leaving Sunnydale, but he needed Drusilla well before he was freed from his obligation to her. "It's the least you can do. You made her this way."

"I wasn't the one who nearly got her killed by a mob in Prague." Angel seethed. Despite what Spike thought, he had kept track of Drusilla's location. He received little bits of information on their whereabouts through various demon grapevines. When he'd heard about her illness, he had to force himself to stay in Sunnydale instead of chase after her.

"No, you were the one who drove her so crazy and murderous that it caused the mob to come after her," Spike accused. "She's your responsibility, and I'm going to see to it that you accept your duty." He poked Angel in the chest.

Angel grabbed Spike by the lapels of his duster. "You are in no position to tell me what to do, Childe."

Spike knew if he didn't do something soon, Buffy was going to come out and defend him. So, Spike kneed Angel in the groin and dropped him to the ground. "I'm in the best position of all, Angelus. You are just too daft to realize it."

Angel cringed and cupped his jewels. His left eye twitched from the pain coursing through his body from his balls.

"Get out of my home, Angel." Spike pushed Dru towards her bedroom with a hand at her lower back. "We'll be in touch if we need you for the cure." He looked up over at the crates and motioned his head upwards. He hoped Buffy understood that he'd meet her outside on the outer ledges.

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

"You followed, Dalton?" Spike snuck up behind Buffy. She'd turned to face him before he reached her though. Her senses were getting much better. He was proud of her accomplishment in that area.

"Of course I followed, Dalton." Buffy stepped closer to Spike. 'Mousey man is named Dalton. It seems to fit him.' She put a finger to Spike's lips. She leaned over the ledge and watched Angel hobble out of the factory and back towards his home. "Did you have to cripple him like that?" She softly spoke once Angel was far enough away, and she tried to hold back the chuckle that wanted to escape.

Spike nipped the finger pressed against his lips. He suckled the tip into his mouth to soothe it afterwards. "I owe him a lot more than one kick in the nuts, Slayer. Trust me, he's tortured me a lot worse than that. If vampires didn't heal quickly, I'd still be hobbling like that."

Buffy shivered. "Okay, I don't want to hear about that." She frowned. She thought back to an hour ago in the cemetery. "I dusted a couple of your minions. Dalton was pretty quick with his getaway though. I had to focus my senses like you taught me."

"Dalton knew he was to get back here no matter what." Spike shrugged. "I didn't trust the others I sent with him. It's one reason why I sent them. I figured they'd give Dalton more of a chance to escape if they encountered you out on patrol."

"I'm hoping that what he found will help you get her cure more quickly?" Buffy looked at Spike with hope and a bit of jealousy. She wanted him away from the dark-haired vampiress as soon as possible. She refused to let her name pass her lips. That vampire gave her the creeps, and she didn't like hearing the vampiress keep treating Spike as hers. Spike was Buffy's, and Buffy wanted to make sure that everyone knew that.

"That's what I'm hoping, pet." Spike watched the Slayer carefully as he attempted to gauge her current frame of mind. The moods he felt from her lately tended to run the entire spectrum from elation to despair. "We've been chasing our fangs for a while until Dru got a bit of a vision. Seems the blasted text was written in code. Even when we translated the language, it made no sense before."

Buffy moved two steps closer to Spike. She locked her gaze even with his. "I don't know how much longer I can stand you living with her. The thought of you sharing the same bed makes me angrier than I've ever been." She lowered her gaze in sadness. "Especially when I spend every night alone, without you."

"I only sleep with her in the literal sense, kitten." Spike lifted Buffy's chin with two fingers. "I haven't had sex with her since before Halloween. Heck, the last time was probably before we came to Sunnydale."

"Really?" Buffy's eyes lit up with the new joy and relief she felt.

"Why would I roll in a nest of crab grass with her when I can lie in the sweetest fields of roses with you?" Spike asked honestly. Drusilla's prattling, and intermittent infidelity, had worn Spike's nerves past the point of snapping a long time ago. He felt an obligation to Dru to find a cure for her. Then, she could take care of herself, and he'd be through doing it.

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

(In Prague A Year Earlier)

Drusilla threw the hand mirror she was holding across the room. It smashed against the wall into a thousand tiny shards of glass. "I won't let you leave me."

Spike ducked each object that sailed from Dru's hands at him. "I am not leaving you, Dru. She was the one looking." He barely dodged a wooden table leg that would have made a very good stake if it hit him. "I didn't sodding touch her."

"She wanted what was mine," Dru growled the words at Spike.

"You were the one carrying on with that warlord friend of hers," Spike snarled. "She probably did it to make him jealous."

Dru stalked towards Spike's side of the room.

"There was no reason to tear her apart like you did," Spike scolded. Angelus always accused Spike of being crazy for inciting town riots. He'd chosen his battles more wisely in recent days because he had to care for Dru. Now Angelus' insane Childe was going to be the death of both of Angelus' Childer. "Didn't you learn not to mess with mystical ones after Angelus deserted us when he killed those gypsies. They drove him away from us. Did you want that happening to you too?"

Drusilla collapsed to the floor. She huddled herself in the corner of the room, crying out her distress. "The pixies taunt me. They tell me that you will leave me for the sun. I can't bear it, my Spike.

"I don't plan on doing any day walking any time soon, pet." Spike slowly walked over to Dru. He crouched down next to her, lifted her up into his arms and laid her down on their bed. "I like my unlife just as it is."

"Make love to me, my Spike." Dru raised tear filled eyes to gaze at Spike. She turned on all of her charms to make Spike forget his anger at her. She would not give him up without a fight.

The pair joined in various forms of rough and gentle sex all that day. It was while Spike was gone that night to find a tasty morsel for Dru to eat that the coven of witches attacked and captured Dru. He'd barely managed to rescue Dru from burning at the stake once he'd found her tortured, beaten, and mentally violated.

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

Buffy sighed sadly. "You always seem to know just what to say, Spike." She frowned.

"I don't think I'm doing too good of a job when that frown is still on your face." Spike tilted his head sideways in concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Spike raised a scarred brow, and he gave her a "tell me another one" look.

"You want the cliff notes version?" Buffy huffed.

"Long or short, it doesn't matter to me, pet." Spike hugged Buffy loosely. He wanted to be able to look into her eyes while she talked. Her eyes were so expressive, and he was able to read into the depths of her soul through them.

"To start with, it's career week at school, and I'm feeling left out." Buffy nibbled on her lower lip. "I think Willow is more excited about it than Principal Snyder, and Snyder is riding my butt about it. I know my mom is hoping I'll come out of career week with good news too. Several people are recruiting for after graduation positions."

"Snyder is that short, bald guy with the big ears, right?" Spike rattled off Snyder's description to Buffy. "He always seems to wear a bit of a scowl on his face like he's sitting on a broom handle?"

Buffy laughed. "Yep, that would be him."

"Thought so." Spike smiled. He loved seeing Buffy smile. Its radiance lit up the night around her with a vibrant glow. "Your mother would be proud of your career, if you just let her know what you do."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"She'd always be afraid when I left," Buffy tried to explain. "She'd always worry that something was going to kill me before I killed it."

"Her thinking that you are just a rebellious daughter with no concern for her feelings or responsibility is better?" Spike asked. "She can't be completely blind to what is happening around her in this town."

"She's never mentioned it." Buffy shrugged. "Even after Parent-Teacher night she was convinced that all the vampires belonged to some gang on PCP. How stupid is that?"

"Maybe that is what she wants you to believe because she is worried about telling you that she thinks there are vampires in Sunnydale?" Spike reasoned. "Did you ever think of that?"

"No, I never thought about it that way." Buffy snuggled closer to Spike. "She'll still think that I'm a horrible student though because Snyder is always calling her about something."

"He seems evil. I can always kill him for you?" Spike offered in jest.

"And that brings up another problem." Buffy stepped out of Spike's arms. She leaned against the outer wall with her hands behind her back. "I don't know if my, whatever you are to me, needs to meet the pointy end of my stake for snacking on Sunnydale." She sighed. "You just told me that I should be proud of my career, but that job says that you should be dead."

"Been dead for a long time, pet." Spike tried to lighten the mood.

"You know what I meant," Buffy yelled out in frustration.

Spike cringed. "Yes, pet. I know what you meant." He pulled a cigarette out of the pack in his pocket, and he flicked open his lighter to light the cigarette. He hoped that the normal din of noise in the factory at night covered the Slayer's outburst. "You need to trust me, Slayer."

"I want to trust you, Spike, but I know what you are." Buffy closed her eyes against the pain she felt. "I know what you are driven to do and what you need to survive."

"There is a lot about vampires that you don't know, pet." Spike sighed. "The Council of Wankers refuses to acknowledge anything about demons that doesn't fit into their little mold labeled evil. So, I'm positive they don't pass those tidbits on to you either."

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked in curiosity. She knew that she'd picked up a book on vampires and other demons the other day at the local occult shop in Sunnydale. She hadn't had the time to read it yet, but she'd picked it up hoping to find the answers to questions that weren't covered in Giles' books. Maybe there was some truth in what Spike was saying.

"First off, vampires don't have to kill when they feed." Spike wasn't happy about having to explain any of this to Buffy, but he wasn't willing to risk losing her. He'd tell her only enough that it would ease her conscience without telling her exactly how he was feeding. "The age, training and control that a vampire has goes a long ways towards what options you have for feeding."

Buffy listened to Spike with rapt attention. She'd been anguishing over his last words to her by Ethan's shop for days. She'd hardly slept, and her body was beginning to feel the wear and strain on it.

"The Aurelius clan isn't known for their mercy, especially with Angelus as a Sire." Spike hated his memories of the beatings and torture sessions he endured from Angelus as a fledgling. "Then again I've been without my Sire's "guiding hand" for a lot of decades. That's given me a bit more freedom to be who I want to be."

"What are you trying to say, Spike?" Buffy asked with a pleading note in her tone.

"You've affected me in a way that no one else ever has, pet." Spike moved back towards Buffy. He needed to be near her. The changes he'd already made for her didn't make him less of a vampire, but they made him more than just a vampire. He slipped Buffy's hands out from behind her back and held them in his. "I have not killed anyone since Halloween, pet."

Buffy gasped in astonishment. Could what Spike was saying really be true? Had he stopped feeding from humans?

As if Spike read Buffy's thoughts he added, "I have fed, pet, but I haven't killed any innocents. I find the violence my demon craves using other means."

"But if you're still … " Buffy was interrupted by a finger to her lips.

"Those who get bit, more than deserve the scare they get." Spike prayed to whoever would listen that Buffy would accept his explanation. "I promise the Slayer that she will never have to perform her duty on me." He slit his wrist with his fangs and offered it to Buffy.

Buffy looked from Spike's bleeding wrist, up to his eyes, and back down to his wrist again. She licked her lips. Even the Slayer inside of her wanted a taste of him. In fact, the Slayer seemed to crave his taste the most. She slowly wrapped her lips around the cut and supped the blood into her mouth. The moment the savory blood hit her tongue, she knew that Spike meant what he promised. The truth of his words was in his blood, the pact sealed the moment she accepted his offering. Without hesitation she lifted her now free hand to Spike's lips.

Spike growled deep within his throat. His fangs pierced Buffy's wrist, and he drank of her precious essence deeply. Not only was their bonding reaffirmed, but also the pact they'd sealed drew their Slayer and vampiric sides tighter together. The wash of feelings that spread between the two of them bled into their human sides as well, and they both collapsed against the wall to support their weight.

The two of them licked at the wounds on the other's wrist followed by a kiss over the sealed wound. Buffy and Spike shared the rest of the night locked in each other's embrace. Sometime during the night, they drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

As the sun drew nearer to the horizon, Spike awoke Buffy and told her that she needed to get home. Parting was harder each time they separated, and that morning seemed even more difficult to let the other one go. Buffy and Spike hugged on last time. After a passionate kiss was shared, Buffy slid down the side of the building and walked back home to get ready for school.

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