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Summary: During the Halloween spell during Season 2, Spike and Buffy discover that Buffy Summers is the reincarnation of Lizzie Addams, the younger stepsister of Cecily Underwood, the woman who rejected William and sent him into the arms of Drusilla.

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Chapter 8

Ford cautiously entered the club where he had last seen the vampiress Drusilla. When he saw the creature that had once been William Jamison escort Buffy home, he knew he would be unable to lure the girl out of her house. He had briefly considered trying to tell her about how he had died in his past life, but he knew from his dream that Carl Pendergrass had attacked Lizzie Addams. Ford knew that capturing Buffy would take a bit more ingenuity and hard work.

“You failed.” Drusilla stepped out of the shadows. “Spike is on to you now as is the Slayer. You’ll never get her now.”

“Just give me some time to think,” Ford said. “I’ll figure out how to get to Buffy. Maybe if you turned me now, that would help. I need to be stronger than she is.”

“No, that will never do.” Drusilla shook her head. “My Lily flower has a better chance of getting to the Slayer than you.” She stepped closer to Ford, and she grasped his chin. “Be in me.”

Ford tried to back up. However his progress was stopped by a small but strong body behind him. He couldn’t help himself as he looked into the depths of Drusilla’s eyes, and Ford felt his will slipping away.

“Dinner is served,” Lily murmured. “I’m so hungry.”

“Eat, my sweet darling,” Drusilla cooed. “We have much work to do.” She cackled when Lily sank her teeth into Ford’s arm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phillip followed the vampire into the school building. He was confused as to why the creature had helped him, but he wasn’t stupid enough to look a gift horse in the mouth. Phillip knew that his old friend Rupert had joined up with the Watcher’s Council and was now the current Slayer’s Watcher. He just hoped he wasn’t walking into a trap.

“Hey, Watcher,” Spike called out as he went through the library doors. “There’s someone here to see you.”

Giles came out of his office. His eyes opened in surprise when he saw who was behind Spike. It had been many years since he had seen Phillip Henry. “Phillip, what are you doing here?”

Under his old friend’s scrutiny, Phillip fidgeted with nervous tension. Situations like the current one made it hard for him to control his hyperactivity. “Have you been having the dreams, Ripper? I have. They’re getting worse, and Deidre’s dead.”

“Wasn’t that the zombie bint who attacked us outside?” Spike asked. “She won’t be a problem anymore.”

Giles blanched at Phillip’s words. He had hoped that the nightmares plaguing his sleep the past few days were just some kind of post traumatic stress. “He’s back, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he is. He’s in search of all of those who wear his mark.” Phillip’s hand convulsively gripped his forearm.

Spike gave the two men a suspicious glare. “Is this something that’s gonna endanger the Slayer?” His eyes flashed yellow as he gave a menacing growl. “Anything that hurts Buffy is just gonna brass me off, you know?”

Phillip stepped away from the fuming vampire. He had always been sensitive to the moods of others, and he could feel the irritation pouring off Spike. “Uh, who’s Buffy?”

“Buffy’s the Slayer, you nit.” Spike sauntered into the library. He seated himself at the table. “I expect a full story, Rupes. Don’t even think of giving me some brush off version like you’d do to the others.”

Giles let out a sigh. He knew he didn’t dare hold anything back from the vampire. If he did, it could come back to bite him in the butt, and having seen Spike’s fangs he knew it would hurt. He gestured for Phillip to take a seat.

Phillip sat on the far side of the table from the vampire. He squirmed in his chair, not ready for the tale that Giles was about to spill.

“When I was twenty one, I was in Oxford studying history,” Giles started. “At night it was the occult of course. There was the tedious grind of the studies and the overwhelming pressure of my destiny. Despite what Buffy may think, I do understand the strain of duty. After a time, Ethan Rayne and I dropped out and went to London.”

“That’s where Thomas, Deidre, and I met up with them,” Phillip replied. “It was fun at first, but then we got in deeper and deeper.”

“Quite right.” Giles folded his hands on the table. “We were practicing magick by then. You know, just small stuff for pleasure and gain. Then, Ethan found something bigger.”

“Eyghon,” Phillip whispered. He trembled in his seat.

Giles jumped to his feet. He went to the counter where he pulled out a bottle of whiskey. “Yes. One of us would go into a deep sleep and the others would summon him.” He poured himself a drink. “God, we were such fools.”

“Didn’t figure out the consequences before you started to play, didya?” Spike grunted.

“One of us, John Randall, he lost control.” Giles took a hurried drink. “Eyghon took him whole. We tried to exorcise the demon from Randall, but it killed him.”

“No, we killed him,” Phillip whispered. “It was us, Ripper. We have to take responsibility for our actions.”

Giles sighed. He licked his bottom lip. “We thought we were free from the demon, but now he’s back.”

“Killing us one by one.” Phillip looked at Spike. “If you hadn’t been there, Deidre would have killed me.” He turned to look at Giles. “Sutcliff is dead too. I thought it was just a normal death until Deidre called saying she thought she’d seen him when I knew he’d been dead for two weeks.”

“So, it occupies unconscious or dead bodies?” Spike asked. “That’s gonna be like lookin’ for a needle in haystack here in Sunnyhell. There’re dead bodies everywhere. Blood hell, even that janitor we passed was dead.”

“What do you mean?” Phillip stared at Spike.

“The janitor was a vampire,” Spike said slowly as if speaking to someone who didn’t understand the language.

“We didn’t destroy him did we?” Phillip said softly. He looked around the room with a nervous look on his face.

“Doubtful,” Giles said. “Not when there’s still three of us wearing his mark.” His own hand went to his arm much like Phillip’s had earlier.

“Hmm.” Spike got up to pace back and forth. “So, what we need is some bait.” He turned to look at the two men. “Which we apparently have,” he said with a snort. “Then we need a dead body with a bigger, meaner demon than him.”

Giles stared at Spike for a few moments. “Which we apparently have,” he repeated Spike’s earlier words with a bit more sarcasm. “Anything to protect Buffy, right?”

“I only showed up to talk to you about the vamps that are gonna steal the hospital’s blood supply, and you’ve embroiled me in a mess,” Spike snarked.

“Such is the life of a Scooby,” Giles snarked in return.

Spike rolled his eyes. “I’ve gotta get back to Buffy’s. Her mum should be home soon, and we’re slated to tell her about Buffy.”

“Phillip and I need to go look for Ethan. I have a feeling he didn’t leave town.” Giles went to get his coat. “Come on, Oggy. We’ll check out the store he had the costumes at first.”

“Oggy?” Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.

“My middle name is Ogden.” Phillip got to his feet. He wasn’t ready to go look for Ethan, but he wasn’t sure how to stall Giles.

“Be careful, Rupes.” Spike gave a wave as he strolled out of the library. “I’d hate for Buffy to break in a new Watcher.”

“You certainly keep the oddest company, Ripper,” Phillip said. “Do we really have to go find Ethan?”

“Sorry, Oggy, you know we do. I have no plans on being the bait for Spike’s plan.” Giles gave his old friend a wary grin.

“Quite right, me either.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joyce parked in the driveway. When she got out of her car, she wondered who could possibly be the owner of the dusty classic parked in front of the house. Joyce locked her Jeep, walked up the sidewalk, and opened the front door. Once she stepped inside, she could hear her daughter laughing joyously in the living room. It had been a long time since Joyce had heard that particular sound.

“What happened next?” Buffy’s voice asked around the giggles.

A very amused masculine chuckle reached Joyce’s ears. “Then, dear old gramps committed mopery.”

“You got arrested because Angel exposed himself to a blind man?” Willow’s incredulous voice said.

Joyce put down her purse. She didn’t like the sound of what she was hearing. If this mystery man — and she wondered if he was the silent tutor from the year before — hung out with someone doing such a deviant act, she wasn’t sure he should be around her sixteen year old daughter. Joyce stepped into the doorway of the living room.

Buffy and Willow were sitting on the couch, their homework spread out in front of them. Across the room in one of the straight back armchairs, sat a pale, bleached blond man that looked vaguely familiar to the eldest Summers woman.

“Mom, you’re finally home.” Buffy got to her feet. “We were waiting for you.”

“Hello, Willow,” Joyce greeted the young red-haired teenager. Then she turned her attention to the man. “Who’s this, Buffy? Another tutor?”

“No, Mom.” Buffy came around the table, and she stood between Joyce and Spike. “This is Spike. We have something to tell you.”

“Oh my God, you’re pregnant,” Joyce said with a gasp.

Willow let out a bark of laughter. She quickly covered her mouth when the others looked at her, and she tried her best to muffle the giggles that threatened to pour from her lips.

“No, Mom, I’m not pregnant.” Buffy rushed to reassure her mother. She turned to glance at Spike for a second. “You know before in Los Angeles when I tried to tell you that vampires are real, and that I’m supposed to slay them?”

“Buffy, I thought we were past this.”

“I can prove it this time.” Buffy reached her hand back for Spike who rose from his seat with a liquid grace that Joyce had never seen before. “Spike’s a vampire, Mom. He’s been one since 1880.”

“Why are you playing along with her delusions?” Joyce addressed the man called Spike. She let out a scream when his face shifted into that of a monster, and his eyes turned from a beautiful blue color to an intense yellow. Joyce glanced at Willow, but the teenager looked unconcerned. “I-I don’t know what to say.”

“I’m sorry to spring it on you like this, Mom.” Buffy looked up at Spike with a worried look. She just hoped when they were done talking that her mother didn’t kick her out. “There’s just so much to tell you. I don’t know where to begin.”

“The beginning is always a good place, luv.” Spike squeezed the hand he was holding. He led her back to her spot on the couch before he returned to his own chair.

“Please sit down, Mom.” Buffy gestured to another chair.

Joyce gratefully dropped into the indicated chair. She had no idea why the vampire wasn’t attacking, and why he was so courteous with her daughter. Joyce kept an eye on the male as her daughter started to speak.

“It started about two months before I burned down Hemery High’s gym…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel pushed the button to let the top down on his convertible. It was a nice night, and he wanted to see the stars. His Buffy was still avoiding him while hanging out with that little upstart Spike. Angel knew he needed to come up with an idea or plan that would get him back in the Slayer’s good graces.

“The wind will mess up my hair,” Cordelia grumbled. She smoothed down her brown tresses. “Can’t you put that back up?”

Angel ignored the complaining young woman. He still had no idea why Cordelia came with him on his trip to Los Angeles to check up on Ford. He peered off into the darkness, his mind furiously thinking about Buffy and Spike.