Standing the Test of Time

Author: Erin-Starlight

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters nor am I making money off this. This is just for fun.

Summary: When captured in the aftermath of a battle Spike finds himself at the mercy of his old rival--Count Dracula. Will he be saved before it’s too late or will he be lulled into something even more dangerous than the Counts’ wrath?

Warning: This is slash. It will have some Spike/Dracula and Spike/Angel in it. This is a challenge I took up to do a Dracula slash fic with the guys. I'm not usually a slash writer but I did it for this challenge, where I had to set in up some in my last fic.

Authors Note: This story takes place after my one shot “William Restored.”

Spoilers: For the Peter David IDW comics Spike vs. Dracula 1-5.

"Sounds like Illyria is at it again." Angel grumbled.

Connor knew his dad wasn’t truly upset with her though neither was he. It was nice to know that one of them could keep focused. Almost blending in the darkness the two female forms were locked in a fierce battle. There was no telling who was who from what he could see.

He didn’t believe for a second that this slayer was the only one too follow them. Roger would never be careless enough to allow for such a thing or sloppy enough to draw unwanted attention with a large force. He may not know Roger but he had know Wesley enough to know that these watchers were prepared to do just about anything for their causes.

If he was as much like Holtz as he believed than nothing short of death would stop him in completely his goal. Somehow though Connor didn’t see this man as the type to be willing to die for his mission. Why would he when he had slayers to do so for him?

A faint click sounded not long after the shot near Illyria, this one however came from a different location. A muted bang of a rifle rang out to their right and the three of them rolled away at once in a blur of motion. Still caught in her roll Connor caught Faith slipping her hand to her ankle from the corner of his eye. A second later he understood why as she flung her dagger past him. It found it’s mark in the right shoulder of the shooter. The woman cried out reaching out to take the knife from her wound. The vest she wore had protected her for the most part except for the point where the tip of the blade had pressed into her flesh. It was a small weakness that Faith had exploited giving her the edge that she pressed for all that it was worth.

She advanced on the woman, Angel and him went to follow when they were knocked flat on their backs with a resounding crack. Dazed Connor saw the slayer garbed in a similar clothes land in a in a graceful arc onto her feet. Angel was up first aiming hits on her upper body that she effortlessly blocked. She went on the offensive going lower to unbalance him. The vampire saw her moves and held his own. Connor hesitated glancing at each of them paired off with a slayer.

His father was neither winning nor losing, Faith had the upper had at the moment and Illyria was either losing or toying with her foe. Shrugging he joined his father.
-- --

Dodging Faith came back kicking, jabbing and punching like a wild animal. She always had a wild style that Wesley had said was, "like an alley cat, unpredictable, utterly undisciplined, vicious and twice as sloppy." She had answered with her own cutting remark about him never knowing how to handle anything he couldn’t control. And something about how he should use that stick up his ass.

The slayers they were facing had a district yet similar style to each other. They were passionless which could either be a weakness or a strong point. She was quickly learning the strong point as the woman she was facing wasn’t prone to give into fancy movements. The discipline had given her patience to wait for openings using quick simpler techniques to get the job done. Faith felt a pang of regret when she noticed the skill was the same one that Wesley tried to teach her back in Sunndale. She could hear her words back then coming back to mock her. "Like I’m ever going to need to know this shit. I’ll just wing it man. It works for me so why mess with success?"

And what success she was having. Her earlier advantage had worn off and she was now just struggling to hold her own. Anger from her choice, Angel’s treatment and the general unfairness was fueling Faith making her more reckless.

Trying to go hit the womans' stomach to send her off balance backfired as her fist was grabbed tightly and twisted back. Faith had no choice than to follow the direction her limb was being pull towards. The other option have having her arm broken was not going to happen if she had anything to say about it. She had no doubt it would have been if she didn't comply.

Her action lead to a follow through kick to her knees and a ear ringing punch to the face. Not letting the blow keep her from defending herself Faith used her kneeling position to pull the other slayer down and using her legs make the momentum take the woman airborne. Her enemy was sent near a steel lamp poll but instead of crashing into it she caught it and reversed herself to be flung back at Faith.

"Well Shit." Faith muttered just a second before the booted shoes of the elite slayer found it's mark.

Illyria was bored. She had amused herself by letting the slayer display her abilities, holding herself back to watch the furious attacks of her foe. That had been of little interest after the first few minutes. The identical clothes the slayers wore were thought on next, wondering the purpose of this conformity when these creatures claimed to be individuals. Another illusion humans gave into then. A group of birds chirpped nearby and as she suspected they were the breed she had assumed by their call alone. They bathed themselves in pools of water in the indentation of the pavement. Mating and singing the songs of their kind. If made Illyria miss the songs of the green.

Recalling her lost talent for conversing with the green she stared longingly at the blades of grass moving with the flow of the wind. Surely they would find a topic to bring her out of her boredom. The green was very observant.

"This is the best you can do? Yeah, you're my "ruler" freak!" The gnat-like slayer taunted.

No longer caring about what skills the child may have had in combat Illyria blocked the oncoming blows vaguely aware of them. She watched the others battle noting that the fallen-king and his heir were faring well. The slayer Faith was not. Noting her own sparing partner was grunting in frustration Illyria knew that she could not fane interest any more.

"I grow weary of this pathetic melee." She regally informed Angel.

"Yeah, well do something about it then." The vampire called back.

Frowning the god-king pondered the meaning of these words and grabbed her opponent tossing the outraged slayer at the nearly defeated one by Angel.

The instant they hit the woman Faith was fighting shot something from her wrists that came out with a small almost unnoticeable sound. A tiny dart whirled out barely missing the vampire as the boy pushed him to the side. The dart hit the youth in the shoulder. Faith had stunned her foe by this time and rushed to join the others. Illyria did likewise pleased that the battle had concluded yet strangely bothered by Connors' stillness.

"He is..." Faith's question lingered in the air unwilling to complete it.

"He's just knocked out." Angel said with obvious relief. "His pulse is still strong and I know the smell of poison. We have to get out of here, now."

Lifting his child Angel lead the way out through the sewers. He reminded Illyria with some hesitation that she should return to the shells' appearance to make sure that she would not draw attention later.

It had taken Carey twenty minutes to find her fellow slayers positions. From what she had gathered the vampire had damaged Alisons’ tracking device which had gone out at least twenty-five minutes ago. From their reports Sarah had taken on the fake slayer who appeared to be a demon of some type. Michelle had taken on their rogue slayer while Alison had faced the vampire and the young man. Her watcher was not pleased with their lack of progress. Carey felt sorry for the girls but refused to dwell on it.

"You could not handle one vampire and a human boy?" Roger asked Alison incredulously.

"The boy was not normal sir. He was stronger than any human I ever spared with." She reported.

Roger filed that bit of information away for later, it could be useful. Angelus seemed be favoring demon company these days. Perhaps with the losses of his human employees the creature thought that fellow demons would serve his purpose better. "At least one of you was able to handle yourself." He muttered. Michelles’ expression didn’t change but her shoulders slightly relaxed.

"As for you Sarah, I am deeply displeased with your performance in the field." Flipping the back of his van open Roger waited her impatiently. "Your line was open despite my orders to retain radio silence during your encounter. This allowed me to hear your second mistake. You engaged your opponent in pointless taunts that distracted you. I’ve told you that emotions and idle chattering not only are worthless in a battle they distract you more than the enemy. I’m sure Ms. Summers finds her oh-so funny America pop culture quips and the sound of her own voice to be exceedingly amusing. I however do not."

Sarah paled slowly approaching him. Michelle and Alison tensed but did nothing to aid her. Jane turned to Carey for answers only to find the other girl sitting back in her own van staring in a different direction.

"I think it is time to rectify this problem since it is troubling you so much."

Casting one last glance at them Sarah went inside with her head bowed. Roger followed shortly after her snapping on a pair of gloves and slamming the doors shut behind him. If they heard a muted scream no one reacted. Uncapping the yellow highlighted bottle Carey took out another pill. They couldn't afford to make any more mistakes.

"This isn’t bothering you?" Faith had to ask. Beating up people to take their train tickets wasn’t the type of thing she could see Angel doing guilt free. Yet all he did was shrug it off and help Connor onboard. Faith and Illyria followed, the latter babbling about how trains worked. No matter how much they hung together Faith didn't think she would ever get used to the way Illyria would flip personlaities like that. Judging by Angels' tense body language she hazarded a guess that it was no pinic for him either.

Locking the door to their compartment and covering the windows up she waited to hear what the great plan was. Angel didn’t disappoint. "We just need to stay on this train until it arrives in Italy. From there we’ll go pay a visit to an old friend of mine who owes me a favor."

"And...?"

"And he'll handle things from there." The vampire answered simply. The train started covering their silence with sounds of the engine and the tracks underneath them. Connor shifted in his sleep almost cuddling up to the champion causing Faith to snicker. Angel far from off put smiled faintly ruffling the youths' hair. She'd have to ask about their closeness sometime because something was not adding up there.

"I wish to speak to..." The god-king frowned as if trying to recall the correct term. "..."pass the time." "

"What do you want to ask?" The vampire responded in a bored voice.

"I have been watching the Animal planet network as Spike suggested. I demand to know the difference between insect intercourse and human sexual activities." She looked expectantly at the flabbergasted souled demon.

"Now that's what I call passing the time." Faith comment with a smirk. "Anything specific you'd like to know, blue? Like positions..."

"Faith!"

"What? The girl has a right to know, got to expand her education and all that."

"Does your species eat the males after the act of mating?" Illyria inquired.

"Well..."

"FAITH!"