Global Disclaimer: All BtVS characters belong to FOX and the marvelous Mr. Joss Whedon. This story is for entertainment purposes only. The author intends neither profit nor defamation herein. This is just for fun and frolic, folks.

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A/N: Miss Edith wanted me to tell you one thing; you may want to read the first story in this series, Bloody Marvelous, before reading this one. Otherwise, some references will probably be lost.

Summary: The story continues as the struggle between Angelus and William/Spike slowly heats to an inferno. Darla and Drusilla get dragged along for the ride.
 
 

Chapter 15 - The Mines of Yorkshire

The mines stood, not abandoned as they originally thought but merely unused for the day, which luckily happened to be Sunday. Daylight, filtered to the point it could no longer be harmful, and a few well placed lanterns lit up the area of the mine in which four vampires took refuge. However, all was not quiet. Angelus had William by the throat, choking him. "Perhaps it is my advancing years that make me so forgetful, William. Remind me. Why do we not kill you?"

Feeling the rocks poking against his spine, William choked out an almost word. "...ike."

"What is that?" Angelus released him in disgust.

William rubbed at the handprints on his throat. "It's Spike now." His voice came out different, sounding like his old friend, Gilbert. Angelus, Darla and Drusilla all looked at him. He smirked. "You'd do well to remember it, mate."

Angelus, pacing back and forth in front of the childe, practically growled. "I am not your mate. And when did you start talking like that?"

Darla purposefully interjected, hoping to speed the coming conflict, "Look, we barely got out of London alive because of you. Everywhere we go, it is the same story and now..."

Angelus finished for her. "You have got me and my women hiding in the luxury of a mine shaft, all because William the Bloody likes the attention. This is not a reputation we need."

'Spike' took a deep swig from a wine bottle left behind by the miners. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I sully our good name? We're vampires."

"All the more reason to use a certain amount of finesse."

Spike yelled, "Bollocks! That stuff's for the frilly cuffs-and-collars crowd. I'll take a good brawl any day."

Angelus approached Spike menacingly. "And every time you do, we become the hunted."

The two women shared a look of glee. Darla, sing-song, said to Drusilla, "I think our boys are going to fight."

Drusilla clapped her hands giddily. "The King of Cups expects a picnic! But this is not his birthday."

Darla looked at Drusilla with a frown. "Good point."

Spike said, "Yeah, you know what I prefer to being hunted? Getting caught."

Angelus answered, "That is a brilliant strategy really, pure cunning."

"Sod off!" Spike laughed. "Come on. When was the last time you unleashed it? All out fight in a mob, back against the wall, nothing but fists and fangs?" He mocked a fisticuff.  "Don't you ever get tired of fights you know you're going to win?"

Angelus answered quietly. "No. A real kill. A good kill. It takes pure artistry. Without that, we are just animals."

Spike yelled, "Poofter!" The fight was on. Angelus snapped a metal rod in half, lifted Spike up and slammed him down on his back, raising the makeshift stake. Spike stopped it inches from his heart, knowing it would only hurt him but not kill him, and smiled up at
Angelus. "Now you're getting it!" He laughed.

Angelus dropped the rod and backed away from Spike. "You cannot keep this up forever. If I cannot teach you, maybe someday an angry crowd will. That or the Slayer."

Spike sat up, suddenly interested. "What's a Slayer?"

Angelus sneered at him. "Your final death waiting to happen. They say in every generation a Slayer is born. The one girl who has the power to fight the vampires and the demons, all the forces of darkness."

Spike laughed. "One girl? You expect me to fear a girl?"

Angelus grinned wickedly. "You should fear this girl. Go up against her before you are ready and the only way to come out of it will be as dust on the wind."

Drusilla laughed aloud, a childish giggle. "Ashes, ashes, we all fall down." Darla shushed her forcibly.

Drusilla's outburst had been ignored, anyway. Angelus kept talking. "You could not even take on another vampire, boy. You expect you would live past a meeting with the one who slays our kind?"

Spike advanced toward Angelus, grinning. "You really thing I couldn't take you on? I learn fast. Thing is, I might even have been holding back a mite lately." That time, both women laughed.

Angelus slipped into his demon countenance with a growl, launching himself at Spike, who let his demon come forth as well. Blow after blow, each getting their turn to pound on the other, the fight moved across the mine, nearly knocking the girls over at one point when Spike threw Angelus away from him and across the area.

Darla pulled Drusilla with her back against a wall so they would be out of the fray. Both women watched the fight intently, Darla with a worried look. "I actually do hope neither of them kills the other. It could be such a bother." Drusilla apparently took that as a request to stop the fight because she started to step back toward them. Darla pulled her back. "Not really that big of a worry, Dru. Let them finish."

Angelus pinned Spike against the mine cart, edge pushing painfully into his back. "Getting tired, William?"

William got on foot up underneath Angelus and shoved, sending Angelus flying back to land on a crate, busting it open. "Not even close, mate. And I told you, it's Spike." He landed on top of Angelus, both of them grabbing a shard of wood at the same moment, each shard of wood pointed at an un-beating heart. They had come to a stalemate.

Darla began clapping loudly. "Oh, Bravo. That was very entertaining but are you two finished?" She came to them and pulled the makeshift stakes out of each of their hands before they could fulfill their intended purpose. "I call this match a draw. How about you, Drusilla?" Drusilla just nodded happily. "There now, you two call a truce now that we know you both have big wrinklies. We should get some rest so we can get out of here at sunset."