Changing
Tomorrow 10
by
Danielle
** emphasis
// thoughts
Xander walked the bustling hall with Willow and Buffy as they complained about
having to chaperone kids on Halloween. He was still shaken by the fact that he
had slipped out of the janitor’s closet just moments after they’d passed. Before
last class, Snyder had made them sign up to take kids trick or treating, and the
girls were still griping about it.
“Where were you? We missed you in
class!” Willow fussed when Xander walked up. His lips were still kiss-swollen
and the boy looked more rumpled than usual.
“I fell asleep in the
library again. You know, after spending the entire week cataloging the newest
demon book shipment, I’m thinking of never setting foot in there again! Come on,
guys! We can hold Scooby meetings in the park or at Hooters!”
The joke
settled his girls. They knew how much he hated librarian duty with Giles. In
moments, they were back to moaning about Halloween.
Willow groaned.
“Where are we going to get costumes this late? Party Town is pretty picked
over…”
“Ooh, I got a flyer the other day about a shop called ‘Ethan’s’.
We could try there…” the blonde girl said as she opened her locker.
`*^~--.;'.--~^*`*^~--.;'.--~^*`
The standoff was a tense one.
The Slayer had bought her eighteenth century noblewoman costume at a place
called Ethan’s. The storeowner had put a spell on all of his wares so that at a
certain time, people would become what they were dressed as. Xander was a real
soldier, Willow a ghost, and all the children in scary outfits turned into real
beasties.
Spike had stalked around trying to convince himself that he
was still the Big Bad. He had done everything he would have done if a girl named
Priya had never walked into his life. Then he hit a snag.
The frightened
Slayer was weeping and fleeing, and it summoned his memory of seeing her claw
her way out of her own grave. She hadn’t seen him yet, and he didn’t realize
that his face had changed from demon to human until she approached
him.
“Please, kind sir, h-help me?”
The vampire couldn’t bear to
scare her further, and he cursed himself for it. He saw Xander, Angel, and
Cordelia round the corner.
“This way,” he muttered as he pointed her
into the opposite direction. He let Buffy get a few ahead and made sure that she
wouldn’t see him. Then he changed to game-face to bare his teeth at her
friends.
//If they think I’m going to hurt her, they’ll follow me.// So
he was being gentle with the Slayer, that didn’t mean that Spike couldn’t get
everyone to where they were supposed to be when the spell was broken, did
it?
As they ran, Buffy began, “You have my eternal
gratitude--”
“Save the thanks, pet,” Spike interrupted. His minions and
an assortment of demons stuck with them, followed by the Slayer’s friends.
In the end they had all taken their places in the warehouse and
everything was exactly like it was in the vision: demons holding the Slayer’s
friends while Spike closed in on her.
“What-what’s going on? I thought
you were saving me!” Buffy looked like she didn’t know whether to be outraged or
afraid.
“Believe me, luv, I am. Just stay right there and don’t move.
Trust me.” Spike walked slowly to her and she let him.
His back was to
the group, so they assumed that he was threatening her, and that’s what he
wanted them to think. Spike was within striking distance of the Slayer, and at
this point he would have backhanded her by now. This girl was going to spend
countless nights pouring her heart out to him--even before really trusting the
vampire. The blonde was trying to find a happy medium between evil fiend and
nice guy, and it wasn’t working.
Still sharp, Buffy caught on that he
was idling. “What are we waiting for?”
The words fell out of his mouth
before he could stop them, “Just killing time before the spell breaks--then
everything will be clear, luv.”
//Bloody hell! Now she’ll know
something’s going on for sure when she gets her memories back!//
Another
five minutes and he backed off, walking away as the spell was broken and Buffy’s
memories returned.
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