The Fever, Part 1 Author: Elsa Frohman Rating: PG-13 Archiving: http://www.the-sandlot.com/ and http://www.spikedreams.com/ Spoilers: Post Chosen. This is my AU AtS S5. Summary: Spike is back, and he's human -- sort of. He's working for Wolfram & Hart as an outside contractor. The nest was in a warehouse near the docks. Midnight moonlight painted pale, geometric shapes across the pockmarked concrete outside. The air was still and humid, and the only sounds were faint echoes of traffic from the freeway. Gunn waited by the main entrance, ready to pick off any vamps who tried to make a run for it. He'd been waiting for more than a half- hour, and he was beginning to worry. He pulled his mobile phone from his pocket and hit the speed dial number. The phone buzzed softly four times as the device at the other end went unanswered. "Damn!" Gunn said softly. Spike must have run into more than he could handle. The ex-vampire had insisted on going in alone, leaving Gunn behind to cut off the escape route. Spike was supposed to signal if he ran into anything he couldn't handle -- but what if he hadn't had the chance? The phone buzzed two more times. "Answer, damn it!" Gunn breathed. He was going to have to go in and find out what happened. He shut off the phone and shoved it back in his pocket. As he reached for the stake tucked in the back of his waistband, he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, and he stiffened. Gunn whirled around bringing up the stake to strike at his attacker... "Whoa! Put that down! Might not dust me, but I'm sure it would hurt like a bitch. Not to mention the splinters." Gunn relaxed. It was Spike. "Why didn't you answer your phone?" "Like the way it feels when it vibrates in m'pocket," the platinum blond said with a chuckle. "'Sides, I was almost here." "You are the most irritating person to go vamp hunting with. We're supposed to be doing this together!" "Told ya, I don't need a sitter. I said I could handle this one alone, and I did. Six vampires no longer a problem. You be sure to get the number right. Six." "Not your sitter, bro," Gunn said with a frown. "Told ya, I just wanted some action. Gettin' tired of hanging around the office." Spike looked skeptical. "Whatever you say. Tell you what. I'll give you a shot at the next one." "Thanks ever-so..." "Scout's honor..." "So, whatcha gonna do? Hold him down so I can get him?" "Nah, no fun that way. I'll just stand back and watch him kick your ass." "You'd better not put any money on whose ass gonna get kicked, homey. I been hunting vamps since before you were... um... before you... Well, for a long time." "Homey?" Spike said with a raised eyebrow. "You're right. Don't fit. Damn! You way too pale to be a homeboy. But come on, you gotta let me get my licks in. Don't want to stand outside while you have all the fun!" "Hey! You're on salary; I'm getting paid per demon dispatched. Give me a break. Got my eye on a TIVO down at Crazy Mo's. Gotta make my quota." Gunn laughed. "You are a piece of work, for sure. Don't think you're going to have any trouble making your quota this week. With vampire attacks up 23 percent for the last two weeks, there are going to be plenty of bloodsuckers to dust. Something's up, I tell you." "Not with those guys," Spike replied, nodding to the warehouse. "Grabbed one of 'em and 'questioned' him before I took the bunch of them out. That's why it took so long. They've been here a couple of months. Mostly feeding off the cargo container stowaways from the ships coming in from Taiwan and Singapore. Nobody'd even know the victims were missing. They're not contributing to your stats." "Then we ain't found the right nest, yet..." Spike held up a hand for Gunn to be quiet. He scanned the area, listening intently and sniffing the air every so often. "Vamp?" Gunn mouthed. Spike responded with a quick nod. He cocked his head toward a large trash bin near the corner of the warehouse, then held up three fingers, mouthing, "Wait three minutes." Spike took off in the opposite direction, clearly intending to round the warehouse and get behind their objective. Gunn checked his watch, and then leaned back against the steel siding of the building to try to look casual as he waited for Spike to get into position. Another check of his watch told Gunn it was time to move, so he walked over to the trash bin, as casually as possible, and looked around the far side. Nothing... but he heard a faint, shifting sound from inside. Gunn took a quick breath and threw up the lid of the dumpster. It crashed against the metal siding of the warehouse. Inside, he could see yellow eyes and fangs. The vamp was in game face, but not attacking. He was cowering back in the corner of the receptacle, buried in trash to his knees, trying to hide himself under old newspapers, rotting fruit peels and various indescribable objects. The vamp snarled as Gunn reached in to grab his arm to drag him out. It was a dangerous move, he knew, because the creature might jump at him at any moment. But somehow, this one didn't seem as aggressive as most. As Gunn pulled him over the lip of the trash bin, he noted that the vamp was skinny -- to the point of being emaciated. The creature had shoulder-length, greasy blond hair and a pockmarked face dominated by a hawk nose. He was dressed in filthy rags that may have once been jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Instead of fighting, it seemed to be struggling to get away. In the course of the creature's flailing, he managed to scratch Gunn's arm, but beyond that, he wasn't doing any damage at all. Gunn slammed the vamp back against the wall of the warehouse and cocked back his stake. "Wait!" Spike grabbed Gunn's wrist and stopped him from sending the stake home into the vamp's heart. "You said I could get the next one," Gunn said with a frown. "This one's not for killing. That's Ralph!" Spike said, as if the name would explain everything. "Spike... that you?" the terrified vampire whined, his voice thin and nasal. "Yeah, it's me. It's OK. Nobody's going to hurt you. Let him go. He's harmless." Gunn gave Spike a questioning look. "He doesn't eat people... do you, Ralph?" Ralph the vampire shook his head enthusiastically, edging away from Gunn. "Is he chipped?" Gunn asked. "No, Ralph's not like I was. Tell Gunn why you don't feed on people, Ralph." The skinny vampire wiped his nose on his filthy sleeve. "Never can get close enough. Too scared." "Scared?" Gunn asked. Spike nodded. "Ralph's one of Dru's. I guess that sort of makes him my brother -- though I wouldn't make too much of that," he added hastily. "Before he was a vampire, he was agoraphobic -- afraid to go out of his house. Dru and me went to visit him there one night -- guess he didn't know enough not to invite us in. She thought it would be funny to give vampire powers to someone who was terrified of everything. She got the strangest ideas sometimes. "After he was sired, as you can see, he got enough courage to go out of his house, but he's still afraid of everything he sees. Not much of a vampire. "So, what are you doing down here, Ralph?" Spike asked. "Just feeding," Ralph said. "Nothing else. Not making no trouble. You know I don't make no trouble, Spike." "Feeding?" Gunn asked. "I thought you said he didn't..." "Rats," Spike replied. "Isn't that right, Ralph?" Ralph nodded. "Lots of rats down here." "Ralph actually performs a valuable service," Spike said with an ironic smile. "Much like our fearless leader did in the past, Ralph keeps the area rodent population in check." "You're not afraid of rats?" Gunn asked. Ralph shook his head, inching away from the black man again. "Used to be. But I gotta eat something." Gunn shook his head in wonder. "So, Ralph," Gunn said, giving the trembling vampire a forced smile. "Can you tell us anything about all these extra attacks? You heard anything?" Ralph shook his head and put up a hand to protect himself, as if he thought Gunn was about to hit him. "Don't know nothing. I don't hang out with vamps." "Let me guess," Gunn said, looking at Spike. "He's afraid of vampires." "You got it," Spike replied. "He's going to be no use to us. But he doesn't hurt anyone either -- so let him go." Ralph inched a few steps away, but stopped and turned back to face them. "You're looking good, Spike," he said in a faltering voice. "I thought I heard you ..." "Yeah, but I got better." "You're not a vamp anymore, are you?" the skinny vampire said, cocking his head curiously. Spike shook his head. "Wow. Well, hope that's working out for you. I guess I'd better go. Got someone to go home to now. She's waiting for me." Spike raised an eyebrow. "You've got a girlfriend now?" Ralph nodded and smiled proudly. "She doesn't eat people either," he said, shooting a worried glance at Gunn. "She a vamp?" Spike asked, suddenly intrigued. Ralph nodded. "She'd be out here with me, but she's been feeling poorly." "Sorry to hear it," Spike said amiably. "You'll have to introduce me after she's feeling better." "You might know her," Ralph said, warming up to the subject. "Maria -- she's from New York." Spike frowned slightly. "Puerto Rican?" Ralph nodded and smiled proudly. "Yeah, that's her." Spike suddenly looked deeply skeptical. He thought for a moment. "I haven't seen Maria since -- oh, it must have been 1973 or '74." He looked at Ralph intently for a moment. "Why don't we go home with you now?" Spike said with an unreadable smile. "It'd be interesting to catch up with what Maria's been up to -- especially if she's sworn off humans." Gunn gave Spike a questioning look. "Well, I would, I mean... it'd be great... but, you know... Maria... she ain't really feeling up to having company..." "Oh, we won't tire her out," Spike said. "Actually, I did a bunch of research on vampire medicine when Dru was ill. I might be able to help." Gunn was about to speak. This was getting too bizarre. Spike gestured to keep him silent. "Oh, yeah. How's Dru doing?" Ralph said, shuddering and sounding like he really didn't want to know. "Don't worry. We split years ago. I know how much she scares you. Your mum won't be coming around." "Oh, yeah, OK, since maybe you can help Maria," Ralph said nervously. ---------------- Ralph had an old motor scooter parked several warehouses over. Gunn got his truck, and he and Spike followed the nervous vampire to an abandoned house in a run-down neighborhood a good 20 minutes' drive from the warehouse district. The windows of the house were boarded up with graffiti covered plywood. The exterior stucco was falling off in chunks, and the front yard was full of trash and high weeds. Gunn shook his head as he looked at Ralph's lair. "If I had a dime for every place like this I've shacked up in." Spike nodded. "Yeah..." Ralph led them around to the back of the house, where they crawled in through the broken bottom half of a boarded up door. The interior wasn't any more inviting than the exterior. They came into a room that was once the kitchen, though all the fixtures had been stripped out long ago. The cracked linoleum flooring was caked with dirt, and the walls and ceiling were festooned with cobwebs. Ralph led them through to a bedroom, where in a corner there was a futon that seemed to be covered with a pile of rags. The rags stirred. "Ralph? That you? Who's that with you?" said a weak, female voice with a faint Puerto Rican accent. "It's Spike," Ralph said. "You remember Spike? He might be able to help you." Gunn hung back as Spike took a step toward the futon. What happened next happened so swiftly that neither Spike nor Gunn had a chance to react. Maria flew up off the futon and attacked Spike with a high-pitched shriek. She was a blur of fangs and clawing fingernails. Spike was driven back against the wall, as much in surprise as from the strength of the onslaught. Maria's fangs were in his throat before he could fully register that she was on him. He recovered in the next heartbeat and got his hands on her body to push her away. It was hardly necessary. As quickly as she bit into his neck, she screamed again and flung herself down. Gunn blinked, and Maria was lying on the floor at Spike's feet wailing in pain, as the blond, former vampire looked down at her in mute shock, his hand on his neck with his blood oozing out between his fingers. "It burns!" Maria wailed. "Get it off me!" Spike stepped away from the prostrate female vampire, a look of deep horror on his face. Ralph went to his girlfriend and was trying to wipe Spike's blood off her mouth. "It'll be OK, Maria. I'm sorry. I should have told you he wasn't a vamp anymore. It's all my fault, sweetheart. I'm so sorry. It'll be OK." Spike reached down and hauled Ralph up by the back of his shirt. He slammed the skinny vampire up against the wall and grabbed his arm. He pushed Ralph's sleeve up above his elbow. The vampire's forearm was covered with half-healed bite marks. Gunn looked down at Maria. Anywhere Spike's blood had touched her mouth, her flesh was blistered. Spike tossed Ralph aside and turned to Maria. "How long?" he demanded. The dark-haired vamp tried to scrabble away from him across the floor. "Answer me! How long?" Maria got back to her futon and cowered into the corner. "I found her about two weeks ago," Ralph said weakly. "She couldn't feed. She needed my help." Spike shook his head. "You realize you're infected," he said to the trembling vampire. "Two weeks. You're going to go into the second stage tomorrow or the next day. What are you going to do then, Ralph? I can't really see you attacking other vamps." "I don't understand," Ralph whined. "Me neither," Gunn added. Spike looked at Gunn. "This is bad. Very bad. I've seen it before." Spike pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and hit a speed- dial number. "Fred? Yeah, it's me. Yeah, we're OK -- for now. Yes, Gunn's still with me. We've got a problem, though. We're going to need those science-girl skills of yours -- and then some. No, we can't come back to the office. Gunn and me, we've been exposed to something. Don't dare. Can't afford to spread it around back there. Look, can you transfer me to our fearless leader? I don't care where he is or what he's doing. Yeah, I'll hold." Spike waited a moment. "Yeah, it's me. I got two words for you... "Liverpool, 1888." Elsa Frohman http://www.frohman.net/