Sands of Burning Time - (3)

by MaryPerk

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

CAIRO, EGYPT, OCTOBER 31, 1941

The curly-haired sandy blond vampire stared out the window into the diminishing sunlight. Something had woken him up about an hour before, and he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was exactly. He had come to Egypt to kill his second Slayer, but the girl and her Watcher were elusive, like ghosts in the wind.

“Spike!” the dark haired vampire whined from the bed behind Spike.

“What is it, Princess?” Spike sighed. Drusilla had been so impatient with him the past several days. The next words out of his Sire's mouth increased the male vampire's unease.

“Mummy wants to go to Paris, the fashion colors are all in bloom and the little girls all taste so delightful in their pretty frocks.” Drusilla rose from the bed, letting the sheet slip from her body. She was not pleased when Spike's eyes flickered over her with disinterest. It was the first time that had ever happened.

“Paris will have to wait a bit, pet. I’ve got business to attend to here, and then we can leave.” Something told Spike that he needed to stay in Egypt. Something critical was going to happen very soon, and he needed to be ready to deal with it.

She stomped her foot sullenly, “But I want to go now!”

“What’s all this about, luv? You were just fine the other day.” Spike sighed when he felt the sun fall below the horizon. He needed to get out and hunt. The only thing that could help him now was to work off some of this excess tension brewing in his body.

“I feel it burning, my Spike. It burns and crackles, and it draws you away from me with its ripping and tearing. Don’t let her do it. She makes mummy bleed and cry. Don’t let her in!” Dru wailed, falling to the floor in a graceful heap. That would bring him rushing to her side, she thought to herself.

“I don’t have time for melodramatics, Dru.” Spike turned to leave. The dispassion he was feeling for his Sire felt at odds with his memories, but he couldn't figure out why he was so adamant about staying here in Cairo. "If you want to go to Paris, go. I'll catch up with you after I get the Slayer."

“She’s turning you away already. She will be the end of us! The pixies wail and cry out, and all she does is laugh. She will be the end do you hear me? The end!” Drusilla screamed, slapping her hands on the floor. Her fake tears ended just as soon as the door slammed shut behind her Childe. Drusilla pushed herself to her feet. Her Dark Prince was lost to her, and there was nothing to sway him from his path now. She grabbed Miss Edith from the bed. Maybe it was time to find herself a new Childe. Perhaps she could find one who would not be as strong-willed as her William was. Yes, that was the answer to all her problems, and an evil smirk crossed the vampiress' face.

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EGYPT, LOST PALACE OF NEFERTIRI, OCTOBER 31, 1941

“Atlantis,” Ardeth stoically offered. “The beast searches for Atlantis.”

"So we need to get the Kill Darren thingie from the museum?" Buffy asked. "But just so you know, last time I went to a museum an Inca mummy tried to suck Xander's soul out."

"Who is this Xander you speak of?" Ardeth asked. This Slayer's speech was stranger than anything he'd ever heard before.

"He's one of my friends back in our time," Buffy answered. "He has a tendency to attract demons."

"Maybe we should go have a drink and work on the introductions and explanations," Rick suggested. He knew he needed a drink! He herded the group out into the night towards one of the campfires. When the group got settled, Rick pulled out a bottle of whiskey to start passing around.

"I'll go first," Logan growled. He immediately shot one of his adamantium claws out to skewer a beetle crawling in the nearby sand. "I'm known as Wolverine, and I'm a mutant. I heal immensely fast." The claw shot back under his flesh after he shook off the beetle carcass, and then he showed the others how the skin closed up immediately behind it.

"Wow, that's even better than me," Buffy murmured. She glanced at Spike. "Sure glad you never ran across someone like him before our first fight."

Spike noticed the look of admiration in Buffy's eyes for the other male. Jealousy and insecurity flooded the vampire's system. This interloper had everything Buffy needed in a man, which was a little monster, bigger claws and a faster healing rate. Spike sullenly slouched back against the rock behind him. Just when he thought he was getting ahead with the Slayer something always popped up to trample his dreams.

"I gotta go walk my lizard." Spike got up and sauntered off, missing the look of exasperation on Buffy's face.

"He's got a lizard?" Ardeth asked, eyeing the departing vampire.

"No, he doesn't have a lizard." Buffy huffed. "He's a frigging vampire. He doesn't usually do those kind of things anymore unless he’s drinking, and we haven’t even started yet. I'll be right back. Stupid, jealous vampire." She rolled her eyes before she hopped to her feet.

The group watched while the Slayer approached the blond vampire. Each of them wished their hearing was better. They watched the flailing arms, the pointing and shaking finger, the swat to the stomach, and finally the quivering lower lip stuck out in a pout.

"He pouts rather loudly, doesn't he?" Evy asked rhetorically.

Buffy marched back to the group with Spike in tow. She plopped him back down in his spot, and she dropped to the ground beside him. "Spike's over his current spell of stupidity. Please continue, Logan. Why would your girlfriend be stolen by the mummies?"

"She's not my girlfriend," Logan growled in protest. "She's just my friend." He noticed when the Slayer and the vampire looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "She's a mutant, too. Just by touch, she can remove the powers of another human being and use them as her own for a short time. If she keeps touching that person, she can kill them."

"Me, next," Evy piped in. She pouted when Rick removed the bottle from her hand and held it out of her reach. "My name's Evelyn O'Connell. This is my husband, Rick. The other two men are my brother, Jonathan Carnahan and our friend, Ardeth Bey. He's a Med-jai. Our son is Alex, and he was most probably stolen for his knowledge of languages. That and the fact that he was Imothep's guide before."

"He better not go slappin' another bracelet of death and doom on, Evy."

"Alex has learned his lesson," Evy protested.

"I didn't mean Alex, dear."

"Guess it's our turn," Buffy said. "I'm Buffy Summers, and I'm the Slayer. This is Rupert Giles, my Watcher and this is Spike. As you already know, he's vampire."

"I'd like that long story now about the two Slayers," Ardeth said politely. He looked from Buffy to Spike, and then on to Giles.

"When I was sixteen... or when I will be sixteen." Buffy grimaced. "Anyway, there's a prophecy. I drowned for a few minutes, long enough for a new Slayer to be called, and then that friend of mine, Xander, he revived me."

"How did he do that?" Evy asked. "Did he use The Book of the Dead like Alex and Jonathon used on me?"

"No, he used something called CPR." Giles pulled off his glasses, and he rubbed them with his shirt. He was unsure if he should say anything about a procedure from the future. "It’s called cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Using compressions to the chest and breaths into the lungs, a person who has been dead for just a few minutes can be brought back to life as long as the damage to their body is not too extensive. What do you mean Book of the Dead? You've seen it?"

"It's gone now," Evy said sadly. "At the bottom of Ahm Shere."

"Things like that never stay gone," Giles muttered sagely. "Evil always has a way of resurfacing."

"So why would the beast be interested in the younger sister of a Slayer?" Ardeth asked. He watched as the Slayer, the vampire and the Watcher looked at each other before they faced the rest of the group.

"General Scooby consensus says ..." Buffy did a small drum roll. "It's because Dawn is the Key."

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