9. Demon's Anger

Dawn arrived home after school, tumbling in through the back door and clamoring to be allowed another visit to Spike. Her whining woke Xander who'd been attempting to gain some rest on the sofa in the living room. Buffy and Willow added to the noise shortly after, coming in through the front door with high pitched giggles and he gave up with a groan. He glared after them as they trooped into the kitchen for refreshments.

Giles glanced up at the girls with a scowl as they chattered together. He'd spent the day soothing Joyce over the inadvertent setback she'd caused Spike and had run several errands including one to the butcher for more blood for the vampire. Knowing Joyce couldn't afford to continue feeding the entire group, he'd made a trip to the grocery store while he was out.

"All right! I'm up already!" The brunet complained.

Joyce heard him and frowned at the girls. "You woke Xander up?"

Buffy turned to gaze back toward the living room in surprise. "He's still here?"

Giles snorted. "Buffy, you must work on your observation skills. You really need to be more aware of your surroundings.

The slayer pouted. "But I'm at home. Can't I relax anywhere?"

Her Watcher frowned. "No. You have to be especially vigilant in familiar surroundings."

Buffy shrugged and got a bottle of water from the refrigerator. "How's the basement dweller?" She gestured toward the monitor with her water bottle before uncapping it and taking a long swallow. The demon seemed to be silent.

"Still asleep." Giles answered. "He had a rather traumatic morning and he's been sleeping since."

"What happened?" Willow wanted to know, blue eyes huge with worry. She quickly scanned everyone to make sure the vampire hadn't harmed any of them.

"I scared him." Xander said as he scrubbed the sleep from his face with his hands. He wandered toward the refrigerator and removed a soda. He popped the top on the cold can and tipped it up for a long swallow. He grimaced as the chilled beverage coursed down his throat.

"How?" Dawn demanded.

"It doesn't matter." Joyce told her. "It's over." She steered her youngest child to the refrigerator and murmured to her that they needed to start dinner. Together they began inventorying the supplies that Giles had provided.

Downstairs....

The demon stretched on his narrow cot and sat up slowly. He couldn't believe that he'd slept so long and so deeply. It frightened him a little to know how comfortable he was beginning to feel in this place even with the dangerous female who lived there. It was the other one who made him feel so safe. He realized how very dangerous it was to let himself forget that they were human and therefore could not be trusted. All he could remember of humans was that they caused pain.

He snarled and got up to crouch against the wall. He tugged the chains sharply, suddenly resentful that he was confined and still at the mercy of humans. Sudden hunger bit into his midsection and he growled his frustration at being unable to fend for himself. He needed to hunt and to feed. He craved the feeling of hot fluid running down his throat. Fury had him upright and prowling along the wall, chains rattling as he futilely sought his freedom.

Upstairs.....

Xander drained his can and crushed it between strong fingers. He dropped it into the recycle bin just as the demon beneath their feet began his restless movements. "Well, sounds like the resident vampire is awake and prowling." He commented, directing everyone's attention to the small white monitor on the counter. The clanking of the chains as well as the demon's frustrated snarling and growling could be clearly heard through the tiny speaker.

Joyce began pulling bags of blood from the refrigerator she already had open. She held them out for one of the teenagers to take. Willow rushed forward when it seemed that Buffy was going to ignore the blatant hint. The redhead carried the small pile of bags over to the microwave and began heating the nourishment for the vampire. Soon she had the warmed blood bags on a tray ready to carry downstairs.

Willow gazed at the others in the room. Xander was intently studying the floor, in no hurry to face the demon he'd frightened so badly earlier in the day. Buffy was leaning against a counter with a rebellious look on her face.

"He tried to attack me." She pouted. "I don't want to go down there."

Dawn snorted. "What a baby." She chided. "I'll do it."

"No!" Joyce and Giles voiced their objections simultaneously.

The youngest teen crossed her arms over her skinny chest. "Why not?" She demanded, her lower lip poked out mutinously.

"Because he sounds kinda pissed off. Why don't you wait to see if he's in a better mood after he eats?" Xander told her gently.

"Oh, I'll do it." Willow headed for the basement door. "I haven't been doing my share of vamp-sitting anyway." She went downstairs.

In the basement, the demon paused as he heard the door open and footsteps begin descending down the stairs. He crouched against the wall and waited. His emaciated body tense with anticipation. Of what, he didn't know.

"Hey, Spike." Willow greeted him as soothingly as she knew how. "I brought your dinner. Or would that be breakfast considering you sleep all day and your first meal would be when you get up and for us that would be our breakfast. So do you call it your breakfast or your dinner?"

The demon tilted his head at her nervous babble. The only other human to say so many things to him at once had been the young one. The one who shone with the shiny green light. He wanted her to come back. This one made him nervous. He stopped to consider that for a moment. It wasn't the same nervousness as the dangerous one. It was different. He inhaled, trying to catch her scent. There was a word for the tingle her scent generated in his spine. He just couldn't figure out what the word was. He prowled to the edge of the cot as she approached. There was another smell mingled with the spicy scent that was her own. He growled. He knew that scent. His fangs flashed in the bright light of the basement as rage lashed through his body.

Willow began to tremble in the face of the vampire's wrath. She shakily deposited the tray of blood on the chair next to the bed. She straightened, nervously watching him. He jumped lightly onto the floor right in front of her and leaned in for a sniff. She gave a muffled squeak as his golden eyes flashed with anger. Quicker than lightening, he lunged for her throat. She scrambled backwards away from him as he collapsed onto the floor in agony, clutching his head in his hands.

As soon as Willow's squeak sounded over the speaker, Buffy headed for the basement. The others followed as soon as they recovered from their shock. The slayer fairly flew down the stairs. The demon rose from his crouch as soon as the distinctive smell of one of those people assaulted his nose. He shook from the aftershocks of his attempt to bite the girl. He charged at the dangerous one, growling as she and the others backed out of range of his chains.

Giles shoved Joyce and Dawn into a remote corner of the basement. "Stay here until we get him under control." He instructed tersely. He turned to watch the scene unfolding in the spacious basement. Spike was straining the length of his chains, trying to reach Buffy and Willow as they stood in front of him. The slayer had pushed the redhead behind her and was facing off with the snarling demon.

Xander had grabbed the tranquilizer gun from the kitchen counter and was standing off to the side with the weapon trained on the raging vampire. "Spike!" Xander ordered. "Stop!"

The demon turned toward the man's voice. He roared his anger at the scent of one of those people being so close to him. He just wanted to rip and maim the source of the offensive odor.

Xander took a deep breath to calm his shaking hands. He tried to steady his aim. "Back off, Spike. I don't want to shoot you. You need to trust us. We only want to help."

The demon snarled at the man's reasonable tone of voice. He was frustrated. He needed to get to the source of that smell. He turned back to the dangerous human female. She reeked of that smell. The scent of one of those people wafted toward him from both females and it enraged him. He strained against the length of the chains in a renewed attempt to reach them and rip them limb from limb. Terror fueled his anger. Fear that they were working with those people to send him back to that place sent him into a frenzy and he fought his bonds to stop them.

Xander closed his eyes briefly and took another deep breath. He focused on the raging demon and squeezed the trigger of the tranquilizer gun. The dart lodged into Spike's shoulder. He howled in rage and turned his attention toward Xander. The male Scooby took a startled step back as Spike lunged in his direction. Nerves sharpened by fear made him refocus and send another dart flying into the vampire. Spike dropped like a stone, his arms dragged upwards and back by the outstretched chains.

In the cemetery....

Drusilla smiled as the soldier stood there, terrified. She sniffed his neck and ran her nose up to his ear. She backed away from the young man and tapped his nose with a long slender finger. "Stay right there, my pretty one. Mummy will be right back." She left him standing speechless in the shadows of the tree and made her way swiftly and silently to his partner several feet away. Seconds later a lifeless body slid to the ground.

She drifted back to the entranced Mike. Her blue gaze scanned the slender form of the motionless man. There was something different about this soldier. She tilted her head and studied him. Large terrified grey-blue eyes were shaded by dark eyebrows and lashes. Sandy hair flopped over a broad, smooth forehead. He was taller than she but only by a couple of inches. Dru raised a graceful hand up and traced Mike's full lower lip with a sharp fingernail, being careful not to cut him. She followed the line of his high cheekbones with the same finger. A tender smile curved her red lips. "You smell so sweet, my Pet." She trailed her hand down his leanly muscled arm and twined her cool fingers with his clammy hand. "Come with Mummy, Precious."

Drusilla led her new pet in the direction of the Slayer's house. Twice she left him in the shadows while she drained four more of his fellow Initiative soldiers. His blank blue-grey gaze followed her every move without seeming to register that people he knew were dying within feet of him.

Summers' basement...

Dawn squeaked as Spike hit the floor face down. His arms were tugged up painfully behind him as he fell. Joyce gasped and hugged her youngest daughter tightly. Giles left the two of them in the corner he'd tucked them into and rushed across the floor to assist Xander as the shaggy haired teen tried to ease the lax body into a more comfortable position.

"Ok, get his legs. I've got his arms." Giles knelt at Spike's head and slid careful hands under the bony shoulders. Xander nodded and moved around to grab the motionless legs. With some maneuvering to avoid the chains, they lifted the demon onto the cot and covered him up. As he straightened, Giles removed his glasses and fixed the two girls with a glare. "Upstairs. We need to figure out what it is that is setting him off." In shocked silence they trooped up the stairs. Xander pulled the darts from the vampire's unconscious form and followed the others up to the kitchen.

Upstairs...

Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily. "Willow, tell me exactly what happened before we came down there."

The redhead twisted her fingers together on the top of the table. Her pretty face was pale as she concentrated on getting every detail right. "Well, I went down there with the blood and he was prowling on the bed. I was just talking to him and he kind of inhaled, like he smelled something. Then he just got mad. He tried to bite me and went down with his head in his hands. I didn't do anything." She protested her innocence.

"Buffy seemed to make him even angrier." The Watcher mused.

"He doesn't react that way with the rest of us." Joyce observed. "Buffy, are you and Willow sharing perfume or anything like that?"

Giles shook his head before either girl could answer the question. "No, his reaction is more violent with Buffy so it is something they have both been in contact with but Buffy more so than Willow."

There was a knock on the front door before anyone could speculate further. Dawn moved toward the living room but Buffy stopped her.

"No, Dawnie. We don't know who's out there." The Slayer cautioned.

"I imagine that it's Drusilla." Giles commented as he walked into the living room. Buffy followed him and grabbed his arm.

"Drusilla? Why would Drusilla be here and when were you going to tell me she was coming?" Buffy demanded.

"She's here to help Spike. She knows what happened to him and how to help him recover from the trauma. She is not as she was the last time she was here. The ritual Spike preformed to restore her vampiric health also restored much of her sanity." The Watcher explained patiently. He shrugged his arm out of Buffy's grasp. "I'd planned for you to not be here when she arrived but the additional problem with Spike put that into the background. She's here now and she is going to help. She has promised not to harm any one who has been helping Spike."

Another knock caused the door to shudder in its frame. Giles broke away from his Slayer and grasped the knob. The Scoobies watched in horrified fascination as the door swung open.

While they had been expecting the vampire, the presence of the soldier was a shock. The glazed expression on the young man's face brought a frown to Rupert's own face. "Drusilla." He began mildly. "I see you have a new friend. Would you care to introduce us?"

A complacent smile graced her lovely features. "I've found a new pet. Isn't he precious?" She purred. She turned to the oddly quiescent young man. "Tell them your name, Pretty."

"Private Michael Caden." He announced in a soft southern accent.

Buffy approached the door with a stake in her hand. "What have you done to him?" She demanded.

Drusilla frowned. "I've done nothing to him." She declared imperiously. "I could have consigned him to the same fate as his mates." She smiled viciously.

"What fate would that be?" Buffy asked curiously, dread trickling down her spine.

The vampire continued to smile. "I killed them. Abhorrent creatures. They tortured my sweet William. They suppressed the lovely part of him that made him different. They are dying."

"Holy crap." Dawn breathed. She'd inched closer to the door, insatiably curious about the vampire Spike had told so many stories about.

"What is it, Honey?" Joyce asked gently, moving up to stand behind her youngest.

"Look at him." Dawn pointed at the soldier. "He looks just like Spike."

Drusilla looked at the girl. She could see the greenish glow around the child. She tried to take a step closer to her but the barrier stopped her. Her icy gaze centered back on the Slayer. "Invite me in." She commanded.

Joyce had noticed the attention the vampire had paid to Dawn. She pushed her daughter gently behind her and moved closer to the door. "Do you promise that you will not harm anyone in this house?"

Drusilla regarded Joyce solemnly. She slid her hand down Mike's arm and grasped his slack hand in hers. "I swear an oath on my Sire's blood that no harm will come to any one who has helped or wanted to help my Spike." She raised Mike's fingers to her ruby lips, kissing them gently. "My Pretty One wanted to help. He was not one of the creatures who tormented my Childe. He is safe."

Joyce held Drusilla's gaze for several interminable minutes. Finally she nodded. "Come in, Drusilla." She said formally.

The vampire smiled gently. "Thank you." She stepped over the threshold and pulled Mike in behind her. She led him over to the sofa. "Sit down, Pet." Satisfied that he was comfortable, she turned to observe the other humans in the room. She smiled at Xander who was trying to stay invisible behind Willow. She drifted closer to the young witch and her best friend. As soon as she got close enough, she inhaled sharply. Her beautiful face shifted into her demonic features. With a hiss, she leaned in closer to Willow. Buffy charged forward but was caught up short by Giles.

"Buffy, wait." He cautioned.

Drusilla whipped around to face the Slayer and her Watcher. "This one smells like one of them." She spat through her fangs. She stalked towards Buffy. "Explain that to me." She commanded.

"I don't know how. We don't know any one who's a soldier except your friend over there." Buffy raised the stake threateningly.

Dru stopped within a foot of the Slayer and inhaled. A growl erupted from her slender throat. "You smell worse than she does." She indicated Willow with a toss of her head.

The Slayer faced the furious vampire. "I don't know what you're talking about." She turned to her watcher. "Giles, I thought you said she was sane."

Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I said 'saner'. That's not the point. Is there anyone that is not in this house that both you and Willow have had contact with today?"

Willow thought about that for a few precious minutes. Drusilla waited, game-faced and growling. "Oh!" Willow exclaimed. "Riley!"

"What?" Buffy shook her head. "No, Wills. It can't be Riley. He's just a TA. No way is he part of those soldiers."

A flat voice tinged with a southern accent sounded from the sofa, stunning everyone in the room. "Special Agent Riley Finn, supervisor and coordinator of the search for the escaped hostile. He works undercover at the University as a Teacher's Aid."

Dru's face melted back into her human features. She clapped her hands and floated across the floor to sit next to Mike. "That's my lovely Pet. You're such a good boy." She crooned.

Giles replaced his glasses with a sigh of relief. He didn't know how much he could trust Drusilla's oath but it seemed that she took her promises almost as seriously as Spike did. He'd read and observed enough to know that when Spike gave his word, he did everything in his power to keep it.

In the basement....

The demon woke with a start. His golden eyes popped wide open and he warily scanned the basement for the humans. He sat up slowly, woozy with hunger and the last of the tranquilizers. The tray of blood bags was still sitting on the chair, forgotten by the humans in the wake of the excitement. He stretched out a shaking hand to take one of the bags. The ritual of sniffing and sampling accomplished, he drained it. He made short work of the remaining bags. He dropped the last bag on the floor as a shiver ran through his thin body. His head rose and he looked up at the ceiling. Someone was here. Someone different. He rubbed his head as pain began sparking from trying to think. A word tugged at his confused mind. An important word. He fought against the training he's undergone to bring it forward. He pulled his legs up and he wrapped his thin arms around them. He shook with the need to say the word. He cast a fearful glance around the basement. He inhaled deeply and the word whispered out on the exhale. He cringed as it seemed to echo in the empty basement.

"Sire."

Upstairs, Drusilla stiffened in her seat. Her head rose attentively and her icy blue eyes swung toward the kitchen where the door to the basement was. Ignoring everyone else in the room she stood up. A single word passed her parted lips.

"Childe."