Her Saving Grace, 22/25, Spike/Fred, R

[authoressnebula.livejournal.com]

Holy CRAP I'm cutting this close.

Title: Her Saving Grace
Rating: R
Pairing: Spike/Fred, Buffy/Xander, mentions of previous Fred/Wesley
Spoilers: Angel S5
Chapter: Twenty-Two of Twenty-Five
Prompt: #47 - Conclave for tamingthemuse
Warnings: Character death (not the permanent variety)
Summary: An accident one night changes Fred's entire world. Shunned by the people who should care the most, she turns to the one person who does care, and finds something beyond friendship.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously. Not even my mind these days.

Previous Parts Here

Word count: 2870

WARNING: NO beta on this whatsoever! If you see a mistake, holler.

Chapter 22: Five Little Nerve Endings Jumping On the Bed

“Aren't you at all hungry?”

She ignored him, tried to ignore the hunger inside of her. Her demon, to its credit, was trying to hide the hunger from her, and considering that it was the demon's hunger that was aching throughout her body right now, she was touched. It was worried about her, concerned, trying to protect her.

Because she knew that whatever blood Cyvus Vail would give her probably wouldn't be pig's blood. It was probably going to be human. And fresh as it could be, and she refused to touch it. Refused to have a part in the death of an innocent.

Cyvus sighed, circling around her. She was still seated on the floor, curled up with her knees as her chin's support. She'd been there for hours, and she hadn't moved a muscle. She could tell it was starting to unnerve the demon pacing around her by the way she could hear him breathing, the way his footsteps were cautious and soft and well placed, as if he knew he might need to run.

“Maybe just a little blood?” She heard clothes rustle, and then she inhaled the scent of something pure and delicious and so close she could reach out and grab it. A container of human blood.

Fred raised her eyes instantly, unable to help herself. It was right there, in his waiting palm, and she wanted so badly to grab it and take it and drain it to make the hunger fade away. Anything to make the pain of the gnawing hunger within her stop. It smelled so pure, so divine right now, that she thought she just might.

There was something better, though. Something that was even more pure, something that sang through her veins and made her feel at peace, calm, happy, loved. Spike's blood.

Spike.

She closed her eyes tightly and turned away.

Cyvus gave a huff of annoyance and headed for the door. “You'll waste away to dust, but it's your own fault,” he called out behind him, his voice raspy and grating on her last nerve. She didn't have a lot of nerves left, considering her past twenty four hours or so. In fact, she'd be willing to say she had about six left, and after that last comment from him, she was down to five. Five nerves left.

She'd been without blood for longer then that. She needed something to eat. Not someone, something. And it had to be soon.

The door locked, and her eyes shifted sharply over to view it. She could hear him traipsing down the hallway now, and when she couldn't hear him at all, she rose slowly to her feet.

Cyvus had pretty much left her alone for the past day, coming in every three hours or so to taunt and tempt her to eat something. This was the first time he'd used blood, though, and she knew that her resolve was going to break. She was going to drink the blood eventually; she'd have to.

She needed to get out of here before that happened.

She hadn't been sitting for the past day staring at the wall blankly. She'd been lost in thought, her mind working as fast as it could to find a way out. She'd figured out the length, width, and height of the room already, from her brief calculations. She knew that no one else came down the hall except Cyvus; she hadn't heard anything else. Even the guards had left hours ago.

It was time to get out of here and figure out what had happened to Spike, and if she needed to, then she'd kick some demon ass to get him back.

She crept to the door on tip-toe, holding her posture as if she were coming on stage in her pointe shoes. She pressed her hands to the door, leaning in just enough to place her ear to the wood. No one. Nothing.

She crouched down, her fingers silently resting and gripping the floor as she glanced underneath in the tiny space between door and floor. She couldn't see anything in the dimly lit hallway.

She pushed herself back to her feet and reached for the doorknob, hesitating when her demon began to scream within her. She stopped and frowned at the sensation. What's the matter? she asked it.

It didn't answer her right away, and she placed her fingers even closer. The demon cried out again, and she finally felt the heat emanating from the doorknob. It didn't feel like a fire type of heat, though. No, this felt more like a holy heat.

Holy water. Dammit.

She could easily snap the knob, though. She knew that. It was just the holy water between her and her way out. She tried to reach out again, and found herself stunned when she realized she couldn't bring herself to do it. The mental blocks were in place, and she felt as trapped as she had in Pylea.

She stumbled back from the door, trying to reason with her demon, with herself, that it would burn for maybe a second or two before she had the door open. They had to get out of there, now. Get out before Cyvus brought in blood and it was too much to refuse.

Get out and find Spike before something happened to him.

She froze, chest clenching at the thought of anything happening to her beautiful vampire. Her hero, her knight in shining armor, her literature geek, her gorgeous man who knew how to love her the way she'd dreamed of and wanted for years. Spike could be dust, for all she knew.

She stepped forward at that, and her demon all but shoved her hand onto the doorknob. She grimaced as the burning began immediately, and she watched for a stunned moment as smoke began to rise from her flesh.

Then she yanked the doorknob hard enough to crack the wood, and pulled it back, revealing the open hallway.

She closed her eyes and fought down the urge to whimper at the pain flooding through her. It was intense, too intense, but she had to get out of there. She could let Spike worry about it when she found him, let him coddle her while he ranted and raved about how he'd find the bastards who did this and rip them to shreds for daring to mess with her.

Her brave, beautiful man. She just had to find him.

She stepped forward into the hallway, cradling her hand to her stomach. Time to move out fast. She didn't know which way Cyvus went; she had fantastic hearing, not miraculous hearing. The last thing she really wanted to do now was run into Cyvus.

Then she was on the ground, gasping for air she didn't need. She flipped around to see a wooden pole coming at her, before it stopped inches from her heart. If she'd been breathing, she still wouldn't have been at that particular moment. She hadn't even heard the demon coming up on her; the guards weren't human. The guards were creatures she couldn't hear or sense.

Of course, now that she was calming down some, she could feel them and a very soft, irregular heartbeat that had to be theirs. Maybe she had some blonde underneath all her brunette.

The pole had been stopped by the second guard, who was glaring at the first one in disdain. “The boss says we are not to dust her,” he growled, jerking his head towards Fred. “Do you understand that?”

The first guard snarled but pulled the pole away angrily. “We dust 'er now, nobody's gonna care. Ain't no one comin' fer 'er.”

Fred stayed frozen on the ground, incapable of moving. Spike would come for her. Why wouldn't he? He was her hero, her everything, and the only reason he wouldn't be coming for her was if he was...

No.

It wasn't even a possibility. He had to be alive. He had to be.

The second guard shook his head with a nasty sort of grin Fred didn't feel warmed at seeing. “Whether anyone is or not, the boss wants her alive. We'll take her down there and you'll see.”

The first guard paused, then began to grin as well, chuckling softly. “Like that plan a whole lot.”

Two large hands reached down and grabbed her arms, hauling her to her feet. “Thought you were slick, gettin' past us, didn't you?” the first guard sneered at her, and she scrunched up her face at his smell. Didn't demons brush their teeth more frequently then once every century? “Too smart for yer tastes, I guess.”

She fought back all the way down the maze of a hallway, pulling and twisting to no avail. Whatever demons these guys were, they were nasty and mean and she'd have an easier time moving a brick wall. She probably could carry on a more intelligent conversation with a brick wall as well, but she didn't say it. They were gripping her arms hard enough as it was. They could probably wrench her head right off of her shoulders, no sword required.

Maybe they'd done the same thing to Spike.

Two dark, wooden doors appeared in her vision the same instant her stomach rolled at the thought of Spike turning to dust, and when the doors opened, she realized she was down to her last three nerves; she'd used one up on the door with holy water, and one up with the guards.

Glancing around the dark room, she guessed she was about to lose another nerve.

This room had probably been the inspiration for all the Hollywood dungeons. It was dark and dank and smelled like mold and stale water. Everything was lined with cool, dark, and rectangular stones, from the ceiling to the floor. There were several stone altars around the room, and around one of them were situated several stone thrones.

Seated in the middle one facing the doors was Cyvus, who was munching on what looked like a human hand. Her stomach rolled again. Um, ew. Looked like that particular altar was being used as a dining room table.

“Your décor could use a little help,” she found herself saying. Now she knew why Spike and Buffy said the most random things in the worst of situations. They were focusing on everything but the life threatening situation that was building up in front of them, trying to focus on something else, trying to find their inner focus and stay calm enough to work themselves out of the life threatening situation.

Plus, it really annoyed the person who had caused the life threatening situation. She could see Cyvus's sigh before she heard it, and she knew Spike would've been proud.

She just had to find him to tell him. Because he wasn't dust.

“Don't make me regret keeping you from not becoming dust,” Cyvus said, turning back to the hand. He cracked one of the fingers at the knuckle as if it were crab meat, and Fred turned away so she wouldn't at least have to look at it.

“Yeah, about that: why keep me alive? Why not just dust me? I'm not helping you out any by being here. I mean, if Spike's dust, then you don't need me as bait,” she said, trying to gauge his reaction subtly. She had to know if Spike was okay. Please, let him be okay. I need him to be okay.

Cyvus ignored her, and it made Fred want to punch him. Hard. “Have you noticed the stone coffin to your right?” he asked instead.

Frowning, Fred found herself glancing over at the coffin she'd mistaken as an altar when she'd entered. It was indeed a coffin, with odd markings and jewels adorning it. “You're going to lock me in it?” she guessed, not really sure what he was trying to get at.

“No, more like releasing what's inside it, and she'll lock you inside yourself,” Cyvus explained, finally glancing up at her with an oily grin. “Have you ever heard of the old god Illyria?”

Little snippets from books raced through her mind, but nothing solid came up. “One of the ancient gods who came before the human race,” she answered hesitantly. “Right?”

Cyvus pulled his hands away from his dinner to applaud her. “You really are as smart as they say. Yes, she's an ancient god. Very very ancient. Powerful, too. A little too powerful. She's been locked in that coffin since before the human era. She has no corporeal form left; she'd have to find a shell to inhabit. Probably the person who releases her would be the one she'd take. She'd hollow them out, then take their body as her own.”

Fred suddenly wanted to be as far from the cold room as she could possibly get. “I-I don't understand,” she stammered, even though she knew damn well what he was getting out.

Cyvus tilted his head, regarding her. “I think you do,” he said, taking a deep, rattling breath. “Not all of it, though. The Black Thorn discovered, some time ago, that you would stumble across the coffin one day and release her, unknowingly of course. Illyria would take you as her shell, and then she'd destroy us. She would work for Angel and his team, and obliterate us. We've known that future for some time now.

“We decided to put our hands into the mix and stop that from happening. Our seer is usually right, but often, we can change the future set before it. It's not set in stone, you know,” he said casually, and Fred could feel the cold from the room and his tone seeping through her skin to rest in her bones. “So we had you sired, set up the Watcher to take the fall, driving you from Angel's side.”

Suddenly everything got warm very fast. Fury flew through her veins, and she clenched her fists, wishing she could take him out. Take them all out for what they'd done to her and those around her.

“We figured, since you were getting a little too smart for your own good, that we'd dust you,” Cyvus continued, before leaning forward, his dinner forgotten. “But the more we thought about it, the more we decided that we may be able to use Illyria to our advantage. Use you to our advantage.”

“Can you cut through the crap and tell me what your big plan is already?” she snapped, wishing she could snap more than her tone. She'd start with his neck.

Cyvus smirked, the arrogant pig, as if pleased by her anger. “Think with me for a moment; you're the brilliant one here. If one of Angel's team releases Illyria, she finds favor on them and fights on their side. However, if the Black Thorn were to release Illyria...”

“Wouldn't happen,” Fred said immediately. “The whole reason she'd have fought on Angel's side was because his was the winning side. An ancient god such as herself would figure that out like that,” and she punctuated it with a snap of her fingers. The guards tightened their grip, but she was beyond caring. Who did this Black Thorn think they were? Gods? One of them needed a drip bag, for crying out loud, to survive. They weren't immortal.

Cyvus pinched his lips. “She'll be grateful to us for having released her after her many years of confinement and imprisonment. She'll destroy Angel's team, and she'll start with your precious vampire, Spike. And I want you to think on the thought that it'll be your fist shattering through his chest, your fingers wrapping around his undead heart and ripping it from his chest, your face twisted in happiness as you watch him dust.”

“And it'll be your face she mangles into a pulp first,” Fred swore, lurching forward even as the guards tugged her back. Hard. “And if she doesn't do it, I will. I swear to you, I'll do it.”

“Promises, promises,” Cyvus said, standing with the help of the metal pole beside him. “And you're out of time; we meet tonight to ensure that we're all agreed, and then we'll go into action. Until then, I'm sure you can find something to do in your room. Like think about how hungry you are, perhaps.”

The guards tugged her away, and Fred didn't bother fighting. She knew she didn't have to, now.

Let them have their conclave. Let them agree all they wanted. Let them try to taunt her with human blood. She didn't care anymore.

She knew now that Spike was okay; Cyvus had let it slip. And if Spike was okay, then he was going to come get her. There was no doubt in her mind.

She felt herself smiling despite the pain in her arms as they gripped her too hard, the pain in her hand from the brief bout of holy water, and the pain in her gut from the hunger. She had two nerve endings left, by her last count, and both of them were holding strong with her new knowledge.

Spike's okay. And Spike's going to come for me.

~Nebula

Comments

[lilithbint.livejournal.com]

yay!
loved the nerve count it was so Fred.

[umbralillium.livejournal.com]

*GLEE!* MORE HSG! *does the MC Hammer dance*

*cough* Yeaaaah. ANYWAY. I like the edge of hysteria the nerve count added 'cause we all know Fred's only a step or two away from hysterical. *pets her* Spike'll come for you soon, pet, just hang in there.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Poor Fred! I am so afraid for her right now. Spike better rescue her!


Gabrielle

[jesterlady]

It's back, it's back, it's baack!

Yay, so interesting. Love the nerve stuff and Fred's demon and the whole, oh Illyria thing!

Um here: And fresh as it could be, and she refused to touch it
I think you don't need the second and.

My only suggestion for a perfect chapter. Want Spike now!