FAMILY

AUTHOR: Little Mouse (elf_night@hotmail.com)

DISCLAIMER: Once again, Joss', not mine. Still a lucky man.

WARNINGS: For explicit m/m stuff, and violence, and remembered abuse, and language, and lots of other stuff.

ARCHIVE: Please ask first.

SUMMARY: AU! Spike isn't in 'love' with Buffy, but has told Giles' the story of Drusilla turning him. He has the chip, but no soul. Angel's in LA. Anya doesn't exist. I moved forward the 'meltdown' of Spike's chip a bit.

STORY: Spike's little story of his turning isn't the exact truth... Angel loses his soul - or does he? and starts gathering his scattered family. Spike insists that isn't going to include him. He's so very, very wrong...

CHAPTER TWO

"Sorry, Giles. We had to find the blond menace; he wasn't where he said he would be."

"Oh, nice," Spike said in a falsely polite voice, "so kind of you to blame me, I dunno how I'll ever live up to your lovely words. Makes me feel warm all over, it d..." His words were cut off by Buffy backhanding him, and he retreated, glowering, to sit on the stairs.

As usual, no one called the Slayer on the bit of needless violence. Why should they, when he was just the dead thing that they used as a walking, talking weapon? They were always telling him he wasn't a real person, didn't deserve to be treated like one. Spike spent a minute sulking over that, then realized the Watcher had been talking to him and he hadn't been paying attention. "Huh?"

Giles resisted rolling his eyes. "I said, have you ever heard of a vampire clan called the Natria?"

Spike frowned. That name did sound vaguely familiar. "Heard of 'em, couple of times. Like all that mystical shite, and keep to themselves. Keep human pets and don't feed off the general pop like ever'body else. What about 'em?"

"It seems that they sent some 'emissaries' to visit Angel, with an invitation to add the remains of the Aurelius clan as a sub-clan to theirs. Angel is apparently the de facto leader after the deaths of the Master and Darla; even if the few remaining Master vampires from your clan are scattered all over the world. It makes good political sense - if vampires were political, of course - for a smaller clan like the Natria to add the strength of the remaining Aurelius vampires to their own. A similar merging of clans is reported to have happened in Greece in 17..."

Spike felt his eyes starting to glaze over. Just like Giles, to start telling him something important and then go off on some boring tangent. He wondered if it was worth the shock from the chip to kick him and get him back on track. Probably not, the chip was starting to shock him harder and harder, sometimes even when he wasn't hurting - or thinking about hurting - a human. Not that anyone believed him when he told the Scoobies, but it was happening.

Before he had to resort to kicking the man's shin and earning himself a three-day headache, a door opened and two vaguely familiar people came in.

"Oh, good, you've got him!" The man said. Must be that ex-Watcher Angel had hanging around him; sounded as British and uptight as Giles. "Does he know who they were? Can he tell us where Angel is?"

"I - er, haven't gotten that far," Giles said, not admitting that he'd gotten off the subject. He turned back to Spike. "After Angel told the Natria emissaries 'no' and sent them away, two Masters showed up to visit him, a male and a female. He seemed very surprised to see them."

"Yeah, for a minute he was almost happy, then he looked all guilty and horrified," Cordelia put in.

"Yes, well, he seemed to know them very well," Wesley interrupted. "They had some sort of book with them that they were urging him to read; he sent us home and took them down into his apartment. When we came back yesterday evening..."

"He was all Angelus-y," Cordelia finished.

The room was silent.

"Angelus-y?" Buffy asked in a tiny voice. "Oh, no. Oh, no! How did you get away? Did he say he was coming here?"

"He wasn't very interested in us," Cordelia actually sounded miffed, "he was going over maps and stuff with those other two and talking about somebody named Debbie, or something like that."

Spike sat up sharply, but no one was paying attention to him right now.

"He seemed, actually, to be a much milder form of Angelus. He was talking about gathering his 'Childer', and he seemed content to just let us leave," Wesley said, continuing the story. "We waited outside for a bit, and saw him leave with those two and a couple of minions. We spent today trying to track them down, but we've had no luck. So we came here, to see if you know who they were or who 'Debbie' is." He turned to look at Spike.

The blond vampire was studying the many silver rings on his hands, not looking up. "Debbie's Deborah. Deborah the Enchantress, fourth Childe of Angelus. Rupert, you got any blood for me? Slayer was supposed ta bring me some..."

"In the kitchen, and don't change the subject. Deborah is recorded in the Watcher's Journals, but her Sire is unknown. How do you know she belongs to Angelus?"

Spike set his jaw and scowled. "Hungry, not saying anything else." He had to buy some time to think, and he was hungry.

"I'll make you say something else!" Buffy shouted, jumping up and stalking toward him.

"What on earth are you so upset about?" Wesley's astonished question stopped her in her tracks. "Just give him a cup of blood."

"I'll get it," Xander volunteered, and vanished into the kitchen.

"There, now you're gonna get fed, so spill!" Buffy demanded.

Spike snarled at her. "Not 'til I got food in my hands. Been lied to by you lot before."

Wesley and Cordelia blinked at each other. Angel had been upset when he found out about Spike's chip; they knew he was worried but would never admit it. When he'd been told the Scoobies were giving him blood in exchange for help and information, he'd been relieved, certain they would 'take good care of him.' They wondered what he would think if he was here now, and saw Spike so thin, with a freshly split lip, being threatened by the Slayer and refusing to talk until he had been given something to eat, because they had apparently not kept up their end of deals before.

They had a feeling he wouldn't be all that happy - so they decided to keep the information to themselves.

Buffy stalked back and forth, glaring at Spike, until Xander returned with a large mug and held it out to the vampire.

"Ta, mate," Spike said, giving the boy a half-smile, and promptly drained it. He kept the mug, looking down into it like he was contemplating licking it clean. "Now, what did ya wanna know?"

"How do you know that Deborah is Angelus' Childe?"

"Come to visit 'em in eighteen... eighty-somethin'. Maybe a bit earlier than that. Called 'em Sire. They was all happy to see each other. Even Darla was happy ta see 'er. Wasn't much made that bint happy. Angelus tol' me an' Dru she was his fourth Childe. Hadn't neither of us ever seen 'er before."

Wesley nodded, accepting the story. "Do you know where she might be now?"

Spike shrugged. He didn't see any harm in telling them about Deborah or any of Angelus' Childer. Not everything, of course, but the basics. Not like these humans could hurt them, and there was no love lost between he and them, anyway. "Used ta hang about in Paris. Heard, though, that she shifted to San Fran in the fifties. Dunno if she's still there."

"Why do they call her 'the Enchantress'? Is she really pretty?" Xander wanted to know.

"Pretty enough," Spike said, remembering the tiny girl with dark red hair and big green eyes. "Looks a bit like Red, there," he pointed to Willow, "but s'not why they called 'er that. Remember that bloke came here a while back, callin' hisself Dracula? That bit 'e did with the eyes, and all?"

"Thrall," Giles said.

"Yeah, that. That's Deb's cuppa; she's right good at it. Can make the Pope chase nuns around if she wants ta. Made a man dance like a chicken for Dru when she was visitin'."

"Who? You?" Buffy asked nastily.

Spike glared again. "Said a man, didn't I? You lot always goin' on 'bout me not bein' a man. Was some high-class uppity-up that called Dru inferior for bein' off 'er nut like she is. Deb liked Dru, called 'er 'baby sister.'"

"What did she think about you?" Xander asked, completely wrapped up in the story.

"Not much," Spike admitted lightly, like it didn't still hurt to remember. "Couldn't thrall me, so didn't have much use for me."

"You're resistant to thrall?" Wesley looked as fascinated as the whelp.

Spike decided not to answer. They didn't need to know this much about him in order to find out where Angel had gotten his huge self off to. "Don't matter, mate. Thought you was worried about the Broody One."

"Oh, yes, of course. So he may be in San Francisco? Cordelia, would you call Gunn and ask him if he has contacts there?"

"Sure thing, Wes." She got up and went to the phone.

Wesley turned his attention back to Spike. "So - about the other two. Do you have any idea who they might be?"

"'Course I do. Bert Smith and his wife Sal. How'm I supposed to know?! Don' even know what they looked like, ya dumb..."

"Spike!" Buffy said sharply, kicking his leg with an audible thump. "I need to take some stress out, and I'll be more than happy to take it out on you!"

Before Spike could respond, Wesley was. "I thought he couldn't fight humans?" he asked, eyes wide.

"He can't, don't worry," Buffy assured him, still glaring at the vampire, who was scowling right back.

"Then... I don't understand, how can you work out stress with him?"

"I said 'on', not 'with'," Buffy replied, tossing her head. "He makes a great punching bag."

She didn't notice how horrified Wesley looked, or the odd expression on Cordelia's face. Even Giles, Willow and Xander looked uncomfortable, like they were just realizing something bad they'd never noticed before.

Spike growled again, pulling attention back to him. "Can we just get on with it? Don't plan on spendin' all night with you lot; got telly to watch."

"Er, right. Let's see - the man was tall, with dark hair and I'm fairly certain his eyes were grey. Weren't they, Cordelia? He was quite well-dressed."

"And gorgeous," the former cheerleader put in with a snicker, "I think Angel called him 'Gabriel.' The woman wasn't much, she was only wearing jeans."

"She was tall," Wesley said, giving her a reproving look, "almost as tall as the man. She looked very self-confident, I remember that. She had blue eyes and very long blond hair..."

"...done up in a braid," Spike said softly, and the mug clinked as it rolled down the stairs, dropped from numb fingers.

"You know her? The man called her Lucy."

"Lucinda. Gabriel and Lucinda." Spike's eyes were distant, his expression hard and empty. "Penn the Engraver, First Childe of Angelus, and Lucinda the Searcher. Second Childe. I'm surprised you two are alive after being in the same room as them."

*

"Report."

"He is at the Watcher's apartment. Two of the humans from LA are there. They appear to be questioning him."

"We thought as much. All of them are there?"

"There is the Watcher, the witch, the Slayer and the young man. I haven't seen the other witch or the Slayer's sister."

"Very well. Let us know when they leave, and who goes where. Anything else to report?"

"The Slayer strikes him."

There was cold silence on the line for a moment, then a hissed, "What?!"

"She struck him. His mouth was bleeding. She kicked him. I can see them all through the window. She threatened to strike him again, but the Watcher from LA stopped her."

"That man will be allowed to live. Keep watching."

The line went dead again.