TITLE: The Eight Day
AUTHOR: Rainie
EMAIL: [email protected]
DISCLAIMER: Joss, not I.
DISTRIBUTION: Please ask first
CATEGORY: B/S/other
RATING: PG
PART: 7/8
7. Day
Scene 7.1
Early morning.
Spike wakes up because of a soft morn. Kind of annoyed he wants to turn away, when his eyes meet at the pool of blood, which has built next to the girl.
Spike:
Damn it!
(he quickly examines his provisional tourniquet - her arm has gone blue by now - he restlessly paces up and down the cell)
Spike:
Feed! (he angrily lifts her own arm to her mouth)
(she powerless turns away from him - he jumps back to his feet)
Spike:
Bloody hell, isn't anybody around here? (he kicks the bars - her blood makes his human mask disappear)
Spike:
You must eat, damn it! (he has an idea) Would you like me to change... should I...??? (he breaks off)
Girl:
No! (their eyes meet)
(once more Spike feels transferred into an other time)
Spike:
But you would live (he bends to touch her cheek - to himself) in a way (he abruptly turns away from her)
Girls (determined):
I will live! (she curls up, trembling)
Spike (furious):
You're cold (he checks on his own clothing, but as he doesn't wear much but shirt and jeans there isn't much he could offer - from the very bottom of his non-existent soul) I hate you!
(he pulls her into his arms, although knowing it's hopeless, trying to warm her)
Scene 7.2
In the evening.
The old factory. Buffy and Angel enter the building through a broken window. Soundlessly, they examine the rooms on possible aggressors. As everything remains quiet, they proceed towards the basement stairs. Wandering through all kind of tunnel and gaits, they finally approach a place where several vampire have gathered around a black dressed figure.
Black figure:
For more than six days...
Vampire 1:
One thing's for sure, on the long run no vampire will resists such temptation!
Black figure (with caustic mockery):
On the long run? (suddenly hot-tempered) I wants these girls dead - now!
Vampire 2:
And so it should be, Spike isn't known for his composure.
Buffy:
Spike??? (she quickly bites her lower lip, but it is too late, they have been noticed)
(Buffy and Angel switch into attack mode - quickly they are entangled in a wild fight - from the corners of her eyes Buffy realizes the black figure along with some of its henchmen taking off)
Buffy:
Well let's stop pummeling! (she tries to stake her both aggressors)
(endless minutes have gone by without her succeeding in bringing some distance between her and the vamps she's beating up - Buffy decides it's time to change strategy. Instead of trying to kill them she now beats them towards the black clothed figure has vanished)
Angel:
You go, I'll take care about them.
(his anger has made his features shift - with an angry growl he gets rid of one of his aggressors)
Buffy:
Okay, see ya in a minute. (she beats the vampire into the tunnel)
(two vampires pull back from Angel heading towards Buffy - fighting, shouting and growling at one another the quartet stumbles along the barely lit tunnel. Slowly but surely Buffy gets rid of her opponents - the black clothed figure has disappeared by now - so Buffy wanders around the tunnel system hoping to find some kind of trace)
Scene 7.3
About the same time.
Spike and the girl sit at where they sat before - backs against the iron bars. By now the pool of blood streaming from her wrist has taken a frightening extent. For the very first time in his vampire life the red fluid doesn't wake bloodlust in Spike.
Spike:
Let me turn... (their heads rest against the bars)
Girl:
No! (she coughs - blood trickles from her mouth)
(Spike tries to make eye contact)
Spike:
It is not that bad, you may think it to be. (they either know, he is lying, he lowers his eyes)
Girl:
No, just worse!
(he sighs and shoots her an angry look, before he carefully brushes the blood of her lips)
Girl:
Spike? (her breath is rattling and her voice hardly but a whisper)
Spike (cynically):
I am there.
(the demon in him greedy follows the blood pouring onto the floor)
Girl:
...tell you a secret? (she coughs)
Spike (mockingly):
Go ahead, luv. (he licks the blood of her arm)
Girl (trying to smile):
It was never me... (she coughs)
Spike:
I know. (arrogantly, since he assumes her to rave - however, he finally double-checks) What?
Girl:
...the missing link... (her voice dies off)
Spike (lost in thought):
Sure you weren't, sweetie. (without himself realizing, he twirls a strand of brown hair around his finger)
Girl:
...it's you, it's always been you... (her eyes veil)
Spike (alarmed):
No! (again the picture of an other brown-haired girl wearing an old-fashioned dress pops up in his mind - her head is resting against his shoulder - her eyes laughing at him)
(he bends over to check her breathing, wants to bury his fangs into her - when all of a sudden the heavy iron door is kicked open - Buffy)
Buffy:
Get off the girl, Spike! (she approaches Spike a threatening look on her face)
Spike:
No!!! (furiously he jumps to his feet, dragging the girl along with him - her shirt tears open revealing a brand winding along her shoulder and arms)
Angel:
Ah!
Spike:
Ah!
(both of them pulling back)
Buffy:
What is it?
(while Angel steps back even further, Spike tears of the rest of her sleeve - unbelievingly he stares at the brand)
Angel (to himself):
The sign the Messenger.
Buffy:
Angel?
Angel (stunned):
The missing link (he shakes his head in order to clear his mind, shooting an wrathful glance at Spike) you bloody fool, do you actually have an idea...???
(he abruptly fells silent by the sight of Spike's hand touching the brand - the signs and symbols mercilessly burn into his skin)
Buffy:
Angel? Spike? (she looks from one to the other) What the heck...?
Angel:
A new mediator! (he shakes the head - doubting the things happening right in front of his eyes)
(all of a sudden the black dressed figure steps out of the shadow)
Black figure:
Angelus, you have returned.
(with an evil laughter it's physical figure disappears - and a glittering light emerges from just where their opponent had stood seconds before)
Voice:
THE MEDIATOR, ANGELUS, IS DEAD. YOU YOURSELF HAVE KILLED HIM. (the room seems
to shrink) FOR CENTURIES MY SPIRIT HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR AN ADEQUATE SUCCESSORS
- THE GIRL IS DEAD, AND SO IS THE MESSENGER (an
evil laughter is refelcted from the walls) NOW, ANGELUS, THERE IS ONLY ME!
Angel:
Run! (he drags the slayer along with him - a powerful flash hits him in the back, makes him stumble to floor - like puppets they are shaken by the demonic power)
(none of them realizes Spike, who slowly rises to his feet - his torn shirt exposes the same signs symbols which had been on the girls arms and chest before)
Spike:
It is enough! (he stands between the winding bodies and the demonic power)
Voice:
YOU!!!
Spike:
That is the end.
(the air is starting to stir - a fight on lives and death - both of their realities threaten to breakdown - pictures of the shadow world infiltrate - stunned Buffy and Angel stare at Spike, who is wildly shaken by flashes and cramps)
Buffy:
What can we do?
Angel:
Nothing. Pray.
Buffy:
But why Spike...?
Angel:
A mortal would survive this.
Buffy:
But it doesn't explain... Angel, we must help him! Didn't this thing mention you almost killing it???
Angel:
His mortal covering.
Buffy (emphatically):
Angel, who or what is this Messenger?
(all of a sudden the demonic howling disappears - Buffy and Angel gaze motionless)
Buffy:
Spike?
Voice:
MY SURVIVAL INSTINCT'S UNBROKEN.
Spike:
So let's finish this now.
Voice:
IN ORDER TO DENY ME SELF? TO SUBORDINATE TO YOU? NO! (the voice is reflected by the stony walls) FOR TODAY WE MAY SHARE THIS VICTORY - FOR TODAY!
Spike:
Embrace your downfall.
(the spirits disappear - Spike drops to the floor)