Watcher, Vampire, Slayer, Witch part 7
Disclaimer: See part 1
Chapter 7: May I See Your Papers, Please
"You're only a vampire," the demon said. "Let go of the cord."
"No."
"She lied," the demon said, levitating in front of Spike. He assumed the guise of a human, taller and more muscular than Spike
and even blonder. He was shirtless, and also wore black leather jeans, low on his hips, settling the question of whether
demons had navels. He had an air of barely leashed violence. "I can hurt you, even if you hold on."
Spike hated him. The demon did Spike's own look better than he did. "I believe her," he said. Behind the demon, Spike could
see Giles tying a pad, made from a handkerchief, over the wound in Ann's thigh. He wasn't sure if the demon could hurt
anyone else, bound as he was, but he backed down the slope away from Buffy and the rest.
"Why are you backing up?"
"There's better footing down here." Spike pulled the cord and the demon followed, bobbing like a balloon, or a kite in a
gentle breeze.
"You're frightened."
"Well, yeah, that, too. I'm no fool."
"I can give you the woman you want."
"That never works!" Spike said.
"Let me go, and I will kill her other lover."
"I let you go, you'll kill us all."
"Not you. Not her."
"Spike," Gang Long said, levitating in the air in his dragon form. "I have him." A five taloned hand closed over the cord. The
demon looked over at the dragon and deflated, standing silent at last.
"Don't eat him. Ann wants him alive."
"So she said. I'll petrify him, he'll keep perfectly well that way. If she changes her mind, he'll be handy. Don't look at me for a minute, Spike."
"OK," Spike said, looking away.
"You can look now."
The demon was stone. Spike relaxed a little. He noticed his hand had cramped. As he flexed it, Gang Long said: "Good thing
you didn't let go."
"Yeah, I figured." Spike waved one hand around, indicating the bodies of friends and foes. "Let's see how everyone is."
"Get the picnic basket out of the Jaguar."
"Are you hungry?"
"The nectar is good for hurt humans."
"The wine? The changeable stuff Ann makes?"
"Yes. It's good for wounds," Gang Long said, and he and the stone demon disappeared.
"All right," Spike said, heading up slope to the Jag. He opened the trunk and then the picnic basket. This model had four large
bottles of champagne and he took all of them. Walking over to Ann, he popped the cork of the first bottle.
Giles looked up, annoyed. "This is hardly the time for champagne, Spike."
"Not for me, mate, for Ann's bite. The dragon says it will help." Spike dropped to one knee and poured half the bottle on
Ann's thigh.
She had a smile for him as she held her hand out for the bottle. "It also helps from the inside. And don't forget to pour some
over Finn."
"Oh, all right."
"What did the demon promise you, Spike?"
He looked at her, but was silent.
"I saw him talking to you. What did he promise?" Ann asked.
"The usual, but, hey, you can't trust demons. Even I know that." Spike popped another cork and moved on to liberally douse
Buffy's head and torso.
She sat up, spluttering.
"Have a swig," he said. "Like Guinness, it's good for you. Hey, Wesley, give Finn some of this." He handed Wesley the third
bottle. That left one for him and he opened it and drank. "You know, Summers, I don't think you should wear that vest if you
want to win any wet T-shirt contests."
>>>|||<<<
"You seemed much more formidable when we faced the opening demons," Wesley said. "Are you completely well?"
"Since Tara isn't involved, I'm operating under the severest limitations of my sentence. In any case, I'm fine."
"Then let's look at the material from the van and their pockets," Giles said. "We'll question them directly afterwards. They
will certainly keep." He looked around the foyer, now cluttered with six paralyzed Watchers and a stone demon. The three of
them entered the library, where Riley had spread the documents he had taken from the prisoners on the low table the Witches
had used.
"This is good work," Riley said.
"Very," Ann agreed.
"The Council delivers top grade papers," Wesley said.
"They're all fake?" Spike asked.
"Oh, yes," Ann said.
"There's a lot of it going around," Spike said.
"What sort of ID did you make for Spike?" Buffy asked.
"Driver's license, draft card, an old Los Angeles library card. A lot of miscellaneous data that made him seem like a normal
California boy, albeit too pretty and too rich."
"But not too young," Spike put in. "You gave me a birthday which makes me over twenty-one."
"That was one of the default settings, just because of the picnic basket," Ann said. "I didn't want the car's owner busted
because of the wine and vodka."
"I meant how did you create it?" Buffy asked.
"Oh, I used magic. This stuff is human made, and very nice, as I said."
Riley gave Ann a quick glance. "Can you do money?"
"A waste of time. How many passports are there?"
"Seven," Buffy answered.
"Interesting." Ann leafed through the pile of international drivers licenses. "These are really good, too."
"Ann, why do you think about ID?" Buffy asked. "Spike never did before. No vampire I know of ever did at all."
"I worked in occupied France," Ann said. "ID was important. Haven't you ever watched Casablanca? Or for that matter, The
Road to Rio? What? You don't go to archive film festivals? You should. Films are a painless way for the young to access
accumulated human lore. Humans attach a great deal of importance to ceremonial pieces of paper--passports, treaties, money,
birth certificates--whatever. The right piece of paper makes your path easier, if you have it."
"Well, that's true," Spike said.
"What were you doing in occupied France?" Giles asked.
"The same thing I'm doing now," Ann said. "Examining the opposition's fake ID. Some things never change."
"Is Ann Grove your real name"? Buffy suddenly wondered.
"No, and it's not the use name I picked out, either. I was going to be Martha AnGove, 'AnGove' being Cornish for 'Smith'.
However, between the time I wrote down M. AnGove, and the time I was reunited with my papers, the bureaucrats had
created a Miss Ann Grove, which I became."
"Martha?" Tara said, looking Ann over. "You're not a Martha."
"I was feeling shirty," Ann said.
"Pure bloody mindedness," Spike muttered.
"That, too."
"Ann Grove is fine for you," Buffy said. "So what name did you give Spike?"
"I didn't give him a name. The spell I set on the wallet that goes with the car compelled him to state a use name the first time he looked at it. I set some basic limits on his name choice, based on his somatype, the society he was in, and the language he
used. Whatever he said--but it may have taken him more than one try, because of those limits--became the name on all the
car's paperwork, too. What name did you say, Spike?"
"William Parker."
"A very good choice. It doesn't draw attention to itself, and it's easily forgettable."
"Thanks. I was in a roadside park when I opened the glove compartment," Spike admitted. "I couldn't think of anything else."
"Omens come to everyone, and only a fool ignores them," Ann said.
"Did you make the Viper especially for Spike?" Riley asked. "I thought Giles said something about him stealing it."
"He did steal it," Ann said. "But since he invoked the claiming spell, by opening the wallet, it was his car, and of no further
use to me."
"So it's my car?" Spike asked quickly.
"Yes, but you don't get the keys back until this is over."
"I can wait."
"How good is Spike's ID?" Riley asked.
"As good as these," Ann said, indicating the passports. "Now, I was careless. I left the wallet in the car, so when he stole
one, he stole the other. That's how Spike got his ID. How did the demon, the one now in the front hall, get his?"
"I would say that the Council gave it to him," Giles said.
"Did the Council give it directly to him or did he mug the real Kenneth Ryder for it?" Ann asked.
"Ah. Should that be the first question we ask him?" Giles asked.
"And do we start with the demon?" Wesley asked
"Let's start with one of the humans," Buffy said. "We know the humans are really Watchers, and I hope they can tell us if an
order to kill Rupert came from the Council or if killing him was just their idea."
"And Wesley," Giles said.
"Wesley?"
"Payton-Jones says they are after me, too."
"Let's start with him," Buffy said. "Are you ready?" she asked Tara and Willow.
"Oh, yes. I don't know about the demon, but we're ready for humans," Willow said.
"Gang Long will help us with the demon," Ann said.
Parts 8-9 coming soon!
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