Family Ties

By Subtleshadeofgrey

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfic

Disclaimer: When I was little I wrote a story about a vampire but unlike him these characters are owned by other people including the legend that is Whedon…so please don’t sue.

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As everyone stared with varying degrees of amusement and exasperation at the tall, dark haired, and thoroughly annoyed vampire he, too, began to take notice of those around him.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” he asked a strangely familiar man who he could swear he had never met before yet…he sniffed the man’s scent, trying to place him only to be met with several ‘eewws’ from the younger contingent. He couldn’t understand what was so wrong in using his senses. His annoyance of a grandchilde did it all the time.

“Yeah but he doesn’t sound like an industrial drain cleaner” Doyle’s comment made Angel realise that he had spoken out loud but they still hadn’t answered his questions, and that was beginning to be a habit that he wasn’t going to tolerate.

“Will somebody answer my questions? Who are these people and why are humans here in the first place?”

David stepped forward, sending a reassuring smile William’s way as he automatically made to step in between his cousin and his grandsire. Spike stilled but his body remained ready to spring; he noticed with satisfaction that both Buffy and Giles were also on alert. He grinned as Angel spotted the potential danger and relaxed his stance a little. His voice was as haughty and commanding as ever though. Not that it impressed David. As a university lecturer and former naval officer he was used to dealing with all sorts of types and jumped up little know-it-all vampires were no different.

“I am the person inviting you to enter my house Angel, and I am the person who can quite easily have you thrown out again if you cause any trouble.”

Giles smirked at the matter of fact tone that somehow despite it’s politeness managed to make the elder vampire cringe like a scolded schoolboy. However as much as he enjoyed seeing Angel brought down a peg or two they would get him out of their hair all the sooner if they got the business of the day out of the way. He for one wanted to hear more about William’s extraordinary relationship with his family. To have kept the secret from his vampiric relations for over a hundred years was quite the achievement; especially for a vampire who normally had the attention span of a goldfish. That was family loyalty of the highest order. And the family’s own loyalty to a creature that most would not believe in and if they did would abhor was no less extraordinary.

“If I may make the introductions?”

“Thank you Rupert, that would be most kind.” Katherine’s warm thanks made the Watcher blush as he turned back to an impatient vampire.

“Angel, may I present your hosts David and Katherine Tennyson. David, Katherine this is William’s grandsire, Angel, formerly Angelus, formerly Liam O’Shaughnessy.”

Neither human was stupid enough to approach the glowering vampire too closely but they each gave him an acknowledging nod of the head. Spike stepped forward to stand at his cousin’s side, his face uncharacteristically serious as he waited for the penny to drop.

Wesley and the others watched as Angel’s face went through a slew of expressions, from puzzlement to realization, to what they suspected was anger but rather resembled constipation and finally back to puzzlement again.

Wesley had hoped that Angel would be pleased that Spike had managed to keep his family safe from the Scourge and felt a disappointed tug at his soul when he saw the anger. He glanced again at David, who looked so much like William must have when human and it finally hit home to him that if Spike had been the vampire that he had always believed him to be and that Angel had confirmed him to be then neither David or the two adorable children that he had seen the framed photos of dotted proudly around the house would exist today. Of all the terrible things that Spike had done in his vampire state he had also done at least one incredibly brave and noble thing. Wesley had always looked up to his boss as an example of the soul’s triumph over base human nature but his actions of late when set against his grandchilde’s sacrifices were giving him grave cause for doubt over where his loyalties should lie. One thing was for sure, preserving the lives of your family was no reason to scowl as Angel was doing right now.

Just as Spike was about to explode with tension and as Angel stepped forward looking like he could happily rip his offspring’s head off Tara stumbled and put her hand to her brow. Immediately she was surrounded by a concerned crowd. Katherine took charge and like sheep the others meekly followed her to the comfortable lounge where Tara sank thankfully onto a plushly cushioned sofa. She smiled gratefully at the older woman who, not being fooled for a moment, gave her a conspiratorial wink and a squeeze of the hand. They both knew that if someone hadn’t broken the tension things might have gotten nasty; there was far too much testosterone around for anything less. Katherine was pleased that Tara had taken the initiative but she had also noticed that the shy and fey girl was genuinely exhausted. She hadn’t gotten the full details of the incident that had nearly taken her life or their William’s part in saving her but she undoubtedly needed some TLC. By the look of them they all did. They were heroes who had suffered much hardship and tragedy and they certainly deserved more than that idiot of a vampire was offering. Calls himself Angel, she thought with derision, A devil would be more accurate. Pushing aside her feelings she decided that the British answer to all ills was called for - a nice cup of tea.

While Katherine excused herself to the kitchen the others took their places around the living room. Angel scowled as Buffy hurriedly squeezed herself between Dawn and Giles on one of the couches leaving him to drag up a hard backed chair which he duly placed as close to ‘his’ Buffy as possible. He endured the general smalltalk while refreshments were prepared but the daggers he kept glaring at Spike and the worried, overly saccharine looks directed at Buffy told them both that there would be some serious conversations later. Buffy and Spike exchanged a glance and the twin smirks and eye rolls just made Angel’s brow furrow all the more.

“Xander?”

“What now Andrew!?” Immediately Xander regretted his sharp tone and sent the younger boy an apologetic smile. As annoying as the little brat was Xander couldn’t help but be reminded of himself just a few years before. He knew how it had felt to be the geeky, nerdy normal one. Hell, he still knew how it felt! But at least he’d learned pretty quick that all vampires were evil and not to hero worship them like the little idiot was doing with Spike …Spike of all people, well not people - not anymore. Before his brain twisted itself into a knot…nothing new there he thought, he turned his full attention on his new charge. And it was at that point the realised that both Spike and Buffy had actually given him his own responsibility. He smiled at the compliment forgetting that it was from his enemy and his smile at the kid widened. He may be a little idiot but he was HIS real life responsibility.

Andrew perked up at Xander’s smile. He knew that he’d been pushed onto them and that he wasn’t really much use unless computers were needed but all his life he had been a nuisance to somebody and for someone really cool like Xander to take the time to talk to him was more than he had ever had before. He asked his question quickly, in a hushed tone, before his emotions got the better of him once again.

“Xander, is it so unusual for families of a Vampyre turned to survive? Why did Master Spike not tell his friends?”

Xander managed to keep a straight face at the kid’s over dramatic language but had to admit that it was something he had been wondering about himself. Not so much whether a vampire was traditionally expected to kill their human families, he knew that they were but more why Spike hadn’t. It was hardly the act of a creature labelled as part of the Scourge of Europe. Luckily before he had to admit his ignorance to Andrew Katherine arrived with the tea, which she had made about as traditional as she could with little cucumber sandwiches ( crusts cut off of course), scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, tea and coffee in their respective silver pots alongside the best Spode china cups and saucers and a cake stand filled with small delicacies which Buffy could swear made her gain several pounds just by looking.

As everybody politely helped themselves to the refreshments she presented the two vampires with china mugs of warmed blood which Angel accepted gratefully since he had never developed a liking for human foodstuffs. Spike took the proffered mug with a look of awe and a glistening of his eyes. It was one thing to acknowledge that you had a vamp in the family….but to actively offer blood, which he knew was never a comfortable thing to do for a human was almost overwhelming - rather like the past week as a whole really. He drank the liquid down quickly to avoid upsetting anyone and then reached for a strawberry filled scone….Now he knew he was back in blighty!

Xander couldn’t help a little chuckle at the look of ecstasy on Spike’s face as he bit into the scone. He really was the oddest vampyr…dammit! Vampire, he reminded himself. Realising that he hadn’t answered Andrew’s question he turned back to the younger boy…who had cream all over his upper lip which made him check his own, which in turn made everyone self consciously do the same. Even Angel, the twit, checked and he was on a strictly red diet!

“I have to admit, Andrew, that I don’t really know. I mean I know that it’s traditional but….”

“What’s traditional?” asked Willow who had been keeping a wary eye on Tara, not willing to totally believe that her sudden attack of the vapours was a ruse - despite the evidence offered by the recovered girl’s demolition of her third cucumber sandwich. She couldn’t resist the chance to answer a question that someone didn’t know though…you obviously can’t take the nerd out of the witch, she admitted to herself.

Neither Xander nor Andrew wanted to upset Spike, and that realization alone was enough to upset Xander - but acute vampire hearing had picked up on the boy’s original question and Angel was quick to put it to his grandchilde. Not only would it embarrass the brat but he would rather like to know the answer himself. His fledgling offspring had assured him that his mother was his only family and Dru and Darla had both confirmed her death, which he had presumed was by exsanguination.

“I…I don’t really think that that’s a good topic for present company” he replied with a look of guilt and what the others instantly recognized as concern for David and Katherine but which Angel read as fear, a fear which he aimed to capitalize on.

“What’s wrong William? Don’t want your family to remember what a monster you really are?”

Buffy and Giles glared at the older vampire while everyone else shuffled uncomfortably in their seats. Andrew was mortified at the atmosphere his innocent question had caused.

“I…I’m s…sorry, I shouldn’t….” he began but David, with a gentle smile at his cousin and a glare at Angel interrupted the boy.

“It’s quite alright Andrew. It was a valid question and Spike” he waited until the vampire made eye contact before giving the reassurance he felt was needed. “We are proud of what you did. “

Spike jumped up in agitation only to sit right back down again as his knees went wobbly all of a sudden. Once again the two Wiccas were instantly on either side of him and the silver glow surrounded them all. David and Katherine looked on in awe.

“What the hell is that?!”

They all remembered that Angel had been separated from them when they were on the plane and Wesley filled him in while David handed his cousin a large tumbler of brandy.

“Tell them William.”

Spike raised his eyes up at the man who looked so like his brother. He saw no trace of the condemnation he felt he deserved.

“But I killed her!” Perhaps he had never understood the history. How else could he explain the compassion in those kind eyes.

“Killed who sweetie?” Tara’s natural healer instincts told her that her ‘brother’ needed to unburden himself and receive some sort of absolution. She could ‘feel’ his pain as if it were her own and it felt horribly familiar. It reminded her of the grief she had felt when her mother died and her father had blamed her and her unnatural ways. Unfortunately before she could coax the story gently from a nervous Spike Angel decided to stir things up again.

“He killed his mother. Killed her and turned her.” Angel just about resisted the instinct to smirk at the gasps of shock that went round the room. He looked to Buffy to see her disgust at his grandchilde’s unforgivable sin and this time couldn’t hold back the smile as she stalked across the plush carpet to stop him as he lurched to his feet in a new attempt to flee. The smile was soon, however, swept off his face

Spike couldn’t stay…he just couldn’t face these people in the light of their knowledge of his greatest crime. He gently removed Tara’s comforting hand from his arm and stood, determined to leave…he should never have come in the first place. The dead should stay that way….

His devastated thoughts were interrupted by the pure sweet smell of vanilla and citrus…Buffy. Without even looking up he made to move around her but the slight pressure of a small but powerful hand stayed his action.

“Tell us William.”

His head shot up at the use of his given name. It was the one she used when she was thinking of him as a man and not a monster. But how could she….he was a monster.

“Please?” Buffy was incensed at Angel’s interference. It had taken her a long time and a lot of denial to work out that neither vampire was exactly how her teenage imagination had painted them, but one thing she had always held to be true was that, because of his soul, Angel was good. That his intentions were always pure even if his actions sometimes didn’t reflect it. But she also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Spike had loved his human family even beyond death. They wouldn’t be here now if he hadn’t. He had risked the wrath of Angelus to protect them and if he loved those he had never met so much then how much more must he have loved his mom. Hell, she had seen it every time he smiled at her own mom, and how upset he had been when she had died. How dare Angel purposely belittle that love!

That realisation, that Spike could love, had hit her the moment he had met Katherine and David at the airport and it had rocked her foundation of denial. But she put aside the connection of his love for his family and his professed love for her for now. This was hardly the time to make it all about Buffy, she acknowledged with a new maturity…perhaps there were some benefits in dying she mused as she gently pushed Spike back into his seat and the protection of his ‘sisters.’

Looking around him Spike could see that he had a rapt audience. Most were wearing supportive or neutral expressions, even Xander had kept his mouth shut which was a minor wonder; but Angel’s dark smirk told him that his grandsire expected his imminent dusty end. He took a great gulp of unneeded air and told his little tale while he felt his demon comforting William who had never been at ease with this memory.

“Angel’s telling the truth in a way; I did kill my mum, but that wasn’t my plan.” He spotted Xander opening his mouth to speak but a swift elbow from Andrew quickly dissuaded him. Looked like the whelplet had some sense after all! “Thing that you have to remember was that we’re talking about the nineteenth century here. Most everything you folks take for granted today didn’t exist back then” Spike didn’t notice how his accent had slipped back into what the scoobies would call Giles mode and that that alone, even if they hadn’t been fascinated with his tale, would have had them riveted. Katherine noted that he sounded like her David did when he was lecturing his history students.

Spike took a nervous sip of his brandy before continuing, his discomfiture increasing as Angel’s smirk widened.

“And some of the things that are rare today were common then. Things like certain diseases. Disease may have been more prevalent among the lower classes but death played no favourites and whether rich or poor sometimes whole families ended up being buried ten deep in the same grave.”

The rapt audience winced at the mental picture. They had all learned similar statistics in school but to realise that William had lived through such things was somehow so much worse than dry facts and figures. They knew by his tone that something bad was coming and Angel frowned at the respectful silence. They should be making massive jumps to dusty conclusions by now. When Buffy….HIS Buffy!….reached out and gently squeezed Spike’s arm in sympathy it was all he could do not to vamp out.

“My Dad and one of my sisters had been taken the previous winter by an influenza epidemic” he nodded his acceptance of condolences with a sense of surprise and warmth. “When my mum started coughing we feared it was going to take her too but then we learned that it was much worse. An even greater likelihood of death and a slower more painful process….”

“Consumption!” Giles apologised for his interruption but he could see that Spike was too caught up in the memory to be offended.

“What’s consumption?” Xander was puzzled by just about everything at this point including his own feelings but at least that was a question that someone could answer.

Spike shook himself free of the moment he and his brother had been told of the diagnosis and answered the whelp’s query.

“It’s what you call Tuberculosis…TB. Curable now in most cases but back then it took the weakest and the strongest, the richest and the poorest in equal measure. And my mum had never had a strong constitution…..And then I met Drusilla and it seemed like all my prayers were answered.”“You turned her to save her!?” Willow felt tears flow and knew that she wasn’t the only one.

He smiled sadly. “That was the plan. I was only a few days turned myself and I should have wanted to drain my whole family and the servants but although I felt the desire to feed for some reason I never did get that violent murderous bloodlust…I had to have that beaten into me.”Angel ducked his head at the disgusted looks that came his way. This was not going as he had thought. They should get on with the business at hand. His opportunity to interrupt and get them off the subject he had forced them onto didn’t come, however, as Spike continued.

“One thing I did feel when I awoke from my turning was strong. In fact I had never felt better. Not surprising since I had developed the first signs of the disease myself, though I hadn’t wanted to burden mother with the added worry. I stupidly thought that if I had kept some of my humanity and added immortality to it then I could do the same for her….”

“You hadn’t met enough vampires to see how different you were had you?” Giles kept his tone as gentle as possible but they could still detect his watcherly fascination peeking through.

“No, and it cost me dearly. When mother awoke she was a true demon, like Angelus and Darla. I couldn’t bear the things it said; the suggestions it made so I did the only thing I could and staked it before it could take an innocent life. Dru thought I was playing a cruel game and it was then that I learned what was expected of me so I sought to protect the rest of my family. That’s it really.”

Spike didn’t dare look into the faces of the people he had come to consider his extended family, he just knew that they would have the same expression as the whelp normally did. The only opinion he couldn’t help but know was Tara’s because it was positively thrumming down their connection. But then when had his good witch ever hated anyone. It wasn’t in her.

“Thank you.”

That did make him look up. David was standing in front of him with an elderly woman who he, even with his enhanced hearing, hadn’t heard arrive. His eyes grew as big as saucers and the breath caught in his throat. He knew that it wasn’t his mum because he’d seen her dust but the resemblance was uncanny! It could only be one person.

“Lady Amelia!”

His shock at meeting his oldest living relative, his sister’s granddaughter, was doubled when from either side of her piped up a new voice.

“Hello uncle Spike!”

“Hello uncle William!”

Each child glared at the other with the utter conviction that their own mode of address was the correct one and then smiled up at their ‘famous’ uncle with all the innocence at their command….and a distinctly ‘Dawnish’ glint of mischief in their eyes.

Suddenly everybody was crowding round the newcomers and Spike with more introductions and hugging… all to the total disgust of the senior vampire who still couldn’t believe that his idiot offspring had kept such a huge secret for so long or that he had the support of those who should know better…dammit! Even Xander was looking impressed. Didn’t anybody remember that they were here to avert an apocalypse! He dragged a rather wistful looking Wesley from the chattering crowd and led him roughly to the hall.

“Tell them to meet me tomorrow at my hotel, at three pm. Try reminding them that we’re here on business and keep that damn brat’s eyes and hands off MY Buffy.”

Wesley stood open mouthed as, not giving him an opportunity to reply, his furious boss stormed from the house. Could he really be upset that Spike had his family’s forgiveness? Or was he perhaps jealous that he hadn’t had the strength to leave anyone in his entire village alive when he was turned. Before he could dwell on his new theory his phone rang. He raised a surprised eyebrow upon hearing the identity of his caller and was soon drawing Giles and Buffy to one side. At his gesture Katherine quickly hustled a loudly protesting pair of children off to the kitchen while the others waited for whatever information Wes had to impart…nobody seemed to register Angel’s absence.

“I just received a call from a gentleman who claims to have some pertinent information regarding our pending disaster. He is willing to meet us on neutral ground as long as The Slayer promises not to stake him…again. Says it’s quite disconcerting!”

Buffy and Giles wore puzzled expressions; vampire dusting tended to be a one-off event as far as the vampire was concerned. In fact Buffy could only remember one vampire that she had….

“Oh please….no way!” The others noted that there was no anger or fear mixed with her disgust but who on earth….?

“I’m afraid so Buffy.” Wes tried to keep the smile from his face as Buffy adopted her ‘over my dead body’ stance.

“For goodness sake Buffy who are we talking about?” Giles dragged his lens cleaning cloth from his pocket in preparation as he asked the inevitable question but Spike and Anya had already got there and were laughing. Only one vampire, present company excepted, could get that reaction.

Her voice full of disgust and just the faintest touch of amusement Buffy replied

“Dracula.”

Dawn squealed with excitement, as did Andrew.

Spike and Anya laughed even harder as Giles rubbed frantically at his spectacles while muttering ‘Good Lord’ over and over.

Xander ‘Renfield’ Harris…. Fainted.

TBC

A/N I know I got sidetracked, but you can’t feature William’s family without delving into his past and so it will be the next chapter that sees the team out and about and Spike & Buffy getting closer. Hope you enjoyed.