Prompt 101 - Bad Moon Rising - BtVS

[thismaz]

 Title: Bad Moon Rising
 Fandom: BtVS
 Prompt: 101 - Entice
 At: tamingthemuse
 Rating: Older Teen/Adult
 Summary: Part 40 of the ice cream 'verse. Set during the summer before season 1, Xander's life is changed radically when vampires invade it. In the meantime Angel and Spike have their own, separate agendas.
 Some dialogue borrowed courtesy of http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/
 Word Count: 4,070
 Comments: Are greatly appreciated, loved and cherished.
 Previous parts: In reverse order, in tags here In my memories.
 Or, starting here with links to the next, at the end of each chapter.
 Disclaimer: here.
Now beta'd by the wonderful laazikaat

Warning (highlight the white area to see the warning text):

Vamp Xander story

dark_amia made a wall paper and she turned it into a banner for me. Lookee here -

Isn't it pretty?

40. Bad Moon Rising

Saturday 10th August

Ignoring the minion under the table and the open door to the living room, Spike pulled the four ready meals out of the pantry, one at a time. Turning them to make sure the gaffer tape across their mouths and wrapped around their chests, arms and legs was still secure, he was pleased to note that none of them had made any attempt to get free. Any successful attempt anyway, he thought, adding fresh tape to an area of chafe at the small Asian woman's wrists. Once satisfied that they were all secure, he placed them carefully back, rotating them in the space so the ones from the front, with the better access to air, were now at the back, allowing the others a day of more effortless breathing. They all seemed to be relatively fit still, even after three days with no food and little water. The pantry was beginning to stink, but after tonight they wouldn't be so squashed against each other, which would probably be a temporary relief to the ones that were left.

Four days, Spike thought, four days to go before he could shake the dust of this town from his boots. Even with Angelus drinking from the bag and Dru drinking from Angelus, that still only amounted to one meal a day between the remaining three of them. Jesse could have half rations, but Spike didn't want to starve either himself or Xander.

His initial idea of spreading the stock across seven days and staying home had lasted less than twenty four hours, before the tension between Angelus and Dru had driven him out of the house. If he didn't need the big lunk, he'd have thrown Angelus out, but instead he dragged Xander and Jesse down to the docks area where they glutted themselves, saving both the stores in the pantry and Spike's sanity.

Cocking his head Spike listened to the sounds of stirring from the living room - a groan, followed by a muttered curse. Ethan was waking up. Closing the pantry door, Spike went to set him free so he could see to his human hygiene needs.

When he entered the room the mage raised his head from his pillow and offered a weak smile. Sticking his right leg out from under the blanket, he lifted it in the air and shook it, making the chain jangle. Angelus swore the chain wasn't necessary, but Spike was taking no chances. If Ethan ran away precious time would be lost and, since it had taken three days for him to present himself back in Sunnydale after Angelus' call, Spike's stress levels were already fit to send him off into violence. They'd made no progress with the text since Dru had volunteered it and he really couldn't afford to kill the only chance they had for a translation. Once again he cursed Dru for not handing over the pages earlier.

Ethan rolled off the sofa and waited patiently as Spike unlocked the padlock from the eyebolt he'd fixed into the floorboards. Then he gathered the loose length of chain into his arms and shuffled off to the bathroom attached to the side of the house.

At least he'd managed to identify the author of the text; evidence that gave Spike some confidence in his skills. It made sense - the cross had come from the Du Lac mausoleum, the manuscript had been written by Du Lac. Unfortunately, that was where Ethan appeared to have stalled in his initial attempt. He'd spent five hours poring over the pages after he arrived last night and had made absolutely no progress in the translation. Eventually Angelus had persuaded Spike to allow him some sleep and had promised to stand over him tonight, to make sure he was not trying to cheat them. It was good to see the sincerity in Angelus' face. He was obviously as eager as Spike to find a cure for Dru; but in spite of that, Spike didn't intend to allow the chaos mage out of his sight. He was grimly gratified that he'd decided to save the stored meals after all. Until he had that translation, there was no way he was leaving the house!

Returning to the kitchen, he kicked Jesse awake. "Coffee," he ordered when the minion scrambled out from his nest. "Enough for all of us. Bacon, eggs and toast for the wizard, then heat up a couple of bags of blood and take them through to Angelus." Catching Jesse's wistful glance at the closed pantry door, he added, "You eat after Xander and me. And that's after Angelus feeds Dru. So get moving, if you're hungry."

Jesse jumped into action and Spike watched for a moment to be sure he knew what he was doing, then he went to check on Dru and wake Xander. At the door into the passage he paused. "And when the magic man comes back," he added, tossing the padlock to Jesse, "lock him to the cross bar on the table leg. He can work in here."

Dru lay unmoving on her back in the middle of the big bed, like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty waiting for her prince to wake her with a kiss. Spike longed for such a simple solution. Being dependent upon the chaos mage, even if he had honoured his debt to Angelus, was almost unendurable. Carefully he sat down on the edge of the mattress and stroked the back of a finger up her cheek bone, easing her hair back from her brow. She stirred and he pulled back. He'd let her sleep until Angelus was ready to feed her. She was so weak now that he and Xander had moved out of the bed onto the floor. Looking across the room, he watched his childe snuffle and turn over, his arm reaching out to the space Spike had occupied. It encountered nothing but disturbed sheets and that apparently was enough to bring Xander to consciousness because he lifted his head and peered around blearily. Finally his gaze settled on Spike and he let out a small breathy sigh of relief. Spike remembered that feeling as a young fledge - the sense of reassurance that sire was there, so all was right with the world. He forced a smile, even as he wished with all his heart that it was indeed so.

"Bathroom free?" Xander croaked.

"Should be, in a minute. The wizard was in there a moment ago, but Jesse's sorting him some breakfast, so he'll be out soon." He raised an eyebrow. "Feeling grubby, pet?"

Xander grinned. "Bit sticky, maybe?" he offered. Nodding towards the bed he added, "Is she okay? We didn't disturb her, did we?"

"No, she slept right through." He sighed. "I almost wish she hadn't. She's getting worse with every day. If it weren't for Angelus feeding her..." He trailed off. They both knew that without the added power in the blood, because it came through her sire, Dru would have faded away completely before now.

Xander crawled out from under the blankets and across the room, curling up at Spike's feet and resting his head against Spike's knee. Unable to touch Dru for fear of waking her, Spike settled for stroking Xander's hair as he felt his childe relax against him.

They stayed like that for about ten minutes, until Spike caught the sound of footsteps in the hallway heading to the kitchen. He gave Xander a nudge. "Go get clean, pet. Then get some clothes on. I'll go make sure Jesse locks up properly."

Two hours later, Spike was pacing. "Well?" he asked, for the fifth time. "Come on, now. Enlighten me."

Ethan looked up warily and Angelus took a step forward, as if to intervene. "It's not Latin," Ethan said. "If it were, I'd have this done in a jiffy. But it's not, I, I think..."

Spike interrupted, "If it was Latin, we'd not have a problem and we wouldn't have brought you in."

Rolling his shoulders in a painful shrug, Ethan stuttered, "No, no! Listen! I... I'm not even sure it's a language."

With a growl of pure frustration, Spike yelled, "Then make it a language!"

Ethan raised his hands above his head in a surrender position and tried again. "Hang on! You-you can beat the crap out of me. Go ahead, I can't stop you! Or-or you can listen to what I have to say."

Spike felt Angelus' hands on his shoulders and allowed himself to be restrained. "I want the cure! And I want it now!" Turning around he shrugged Angelus off, growling at him, "Some people find pain very inspirational."

Angelus grabbed his arm, but he pulled away and took a step towards Ethan who lowered his arms and cowered back in his chair. "Wait. It-it-- calm down! I can't do this if you kill me!"

Narrowing his eyes, Spike considered the mage carefully. He gave a reluctant nod and Ethan took a deep breath, the tension in his shoulders relaxing slightly. "I think it's in code," he explained. "It has to have a key. Was there anything else, apart from the pages? Anything at all?"

Spike looked up at Angelus and saw the same arrested expression on his face that he imagined was on his own. "I'll get it," Angelus said as he hurried from the room.

A moment later Angelus was back with the bag containing the cloth wrapped cross. He placed it on the kitchen table with a gesture to indicate Ethan should open it. Ethan cautiously reached inside and withdrew the bundle. Carefully he lifted away the wrappings. As the gold of the cross came to view, he let out a breath of awed appreciation.

"It's a knife," Spike explained.

Picking it up, Ethan studied the detail of the cross. With a shake of his head he gripped it at top and bottom, tugging the sections apart. Slowly the blade slid free of its costly sheath. With a sigh of relief, Ethan put the T-section that had held the blade down and lifted the knife to the light, twisting it. He smiled. "There," he said. Angelus and Spike crowded forward and Ethan laid the blade down. "See?" he asked. "There, on the blade. Runes." Tearing a sheet from his yellow legal pad he placed it over the length of the steel and began to run the edge of his pencil lead back and forth. Slowly the markings on the blade came clear on the paper. "Ah," he sighed. "Yes! This I know. This I can read." Looking up he grinned. "As an ornament, it may be rather crass, but Gentlemen, I think we have the key to the text. Give me a couple of hours and all will be revealed."

*****

Giles looked at his watch as he placed the telephone handset back in its cradle. They'd been researching all day, but it was still a couple of hours until sunset and it seemed their search was finally at an end. "Du Lac," he breathed. "Of course. Oh dear, oh dear."

Returning to the table, he sat down heavily. Willow looked up at him over the top of her computer screen. "Have you found something?"

Giles nodded. "I rather fear I have. Uh, I've, I believe I've discovered the reason the vampires are in town. The exact reason they're in town. It would appear that the ritual they're planning to perform was created, or discovered, by a dark mage called Josephus du Lac."

"The guy from the cemetery?"

"Er, yes, quite. The guy, um, the guy from the cemetery." He took a deep breath to help him gather his thoughts and began to explain. "As a young man he belonged to a religious sect that was excommunicated by the Vatican at the turn of the century. He ended his days here, in in Sunnydale. Du Lac was both a... a theologian and a mathematician. The artefact we went looking for yesterday was an invention of his, which he called 'The Du Lac Cross'." He opened the copy of the National Geographic that had sent him to the telephone in the first place and handed it to her. The photograph of the cross occupied a full page. "It was more than a mere symbol. It was used to understand certain mystical texts, to, uh, decipher hidden meanings and so forth." Taking off his glasses, Giles pinched the bridge of his nose, allowing Willow to quickly scan the text that accompanied the picture.

Willow looked up sharply. "This photo's in colour and according to this, Du Lac destroyed every cross except the one buried with him.."

"Yes. Well, if you look at the credits at the end of the article, you'll see that he died in 1952."

Willow nodded and put the magazine down. Slipping his glasses back on Giles picked it up and took one last look before closing it and laying it aside. "He also had a number of books of the dark arts printed. Most were destroyed at his death, like the crosses. I thought the only remaining copies were in the safekeeping of the Council."

Catching the note of concern in his voice, Willow grimaced. "From your expression, I'm guessing there are more?"

"No, the, uh, book I was thinking of was in the Council library. It was said to contain rituals and spells that reap unspeakable evil. I've just been on the phone to the Council and it would appear that it has gone missing. Mr Fellows, the Council's librarian, believes that it was taken from the possession of one of our researchers."

"Believes?"

"Er, yes. The researcher in question was found dead a few months ago. He had a very distinctive wound on his neck."

Willow gasped. "And you think it was this Spike guy who took it?"

"Quite possibly. One small consolation is that it was written in archaic Latin so that nobody but the sect members could understand it."

"So we're safe?"

"I don't know. I daren't assume so. Spike went to great lengths to free Angelus, and although that could be because Angelus is his grandsire, from what Liam overheard I believe we must fear the worst. If they have the cross..." He paused and he could see that he didn't need to spell it out for Willow. "The ritual would appear... I believe its purpose is to restore a weak and sick vampire back to full health."

"A vampire like Drusilla?"

"Exactly."

"I've been reading about her. She is so not good." Willow stared down at her fingers resting on the keyboard, for a moment, her forehead scrunched in thought. Then, taking a deep breath she looked up straight into his eyes. "So how do we stop them?" she asked.

The question jolted Giles out of his own train of thought. "We don't," he said. "The slayer does. I, I need to telephone the Council Executive immediately and demand that they send the slayer here, at once. If Drusilla is enfeebled and needs to be cured using such arts, the danger she would represent at full power is too serious to contemplate. And the three of them together are too much for anyone other than the slayer to handle."

Willow looked sad. "And if they don't send her?"

It had been Giles' own thought, tossed back at him. "I... I don't really know." He smiled weakly. "Get out of town?"

"We can't do that!"

Rubbing his hand across his mouth, as if to wipe away his flippancy, Giles sighed. "I know. But... I don't know what to do. I... I'm a Watcher, I haven't the skill to fight vampires... A, a Slayer slays, a Watcher..."

Willow raised her eyebrow, looking at him sceptically. "Watches?" she suggested.

"Yes. No! He, he trains her, he, he prepares her... He doesn't go into battle."

Cocking her head, Willow gave him a wistful smile. "It looked to me like you were doing the whole battling thing, when you rescued me."

Giles dismissed that with a flick of his hand. "I waved a cross around. Entering a pitched battle is another thing entirely." Slumping back in his chair, he contemplated the ceiling wearily. "Besides, we don't know where they are."

He wasn't sure if she was simply trying to buck him up, or whether she really thought they could do something useful when she replied, "But we know where they will be." Turning the screen of her computer slightly towards him, she gestured him over. "I've been doing some research too."

Giles stood up and walked around the corner of the table to stand behind her. With one hand on the back of her chair, he leant forward to see what she had. And found himself looking at the web page for the Sunnydale Historical Society. It took him an agonising minute to register exactly what she wanted him to see. He could scan a printed page and glean the salient information in moments, but web pages confused him, with their bright colours and random layouts. Then he saw it. He straightened up. "There are forty-three churches in Sunnydale?" he asked. "That seems a little excessive."

Willow twisted in her chair and grinned up at him. "It's the extra evil vibe from the Hellmouth. Makes people pray harder."

It was a good thought. Giles hated leaving things to the last minute, but in case the slayer couldn't come before Tuesday, preparation would be most helpful. "Are any of them closed or abandoned?" he asked.

"Two," Willow replied, her cheerfulness undiminished.

They exchanged a long look. "I'll just go and make another phone call," Giles said, picking up the National Geographic on his way to the office.

*****
They reconvened in the living room. Spike left the chain attached to Ethan's ankle, but he didn't bother fixing it to the eyebolt. They were all there. Dru had walked through to her chair under her own steam, so she could witness the explanation and tell him if the mage was being truthful. Even Jesse had crept in and taken up station by the door, apparently as interested as the rest of them in hearing the details of the cure.

Ethan sat on the sofa, hunching forward in his seat, and tore the sheets of his notes free from the legal pad, spreading them out in a row on the coffee table. Shaking his head his voice was full of smug satisfaction as he explained, "It's written in Trionic." Looking up, he obviously noted the incomprehension around him. "See this passage here?" he asked, pointing at the top of the first page of his notes. "It continues with this passage here, then concludes with this one," he finished, pointing in turn to different paragraphs of his spinderly handwriting on different pages. Then, placing the original pages, with their continuous block type, down in a row below his notes he continued, "Now that the code's broken, the rhythm of the original sentence structure, here," he indicated what could have been a random word in the original text, for all Spike could tell, "tells us that from there, we go back to this page," he pointed back to another paragraph on the first page of his notes, "then to this section, and finally to this bit." On each occasion he pointed at a different part of his notes. "Put the whole thing together in the right order, and you have the ritual, all laid out in nice clear English, ready to use." Sitting back he grinned at them. "I'll have that drink now," he said.

Spike considered him thoughtfully, then he smiled. "Okay, mate. I reckon you deserve a drink." He waved a hand at Jesse who jumped to obey. "And how long will it take to finish doing that?"

An expression of apprehension crossed Ethan's face. "I could do it in a few hours, or it could take me until Tuesday evening. It really depends on what you have planned for me after that."

Before Spike could reply, Angelus jumped in. "He'll let you go. And I'll release you from your debt to me. You have my word."

Ethan nodded, but Spike wasn't prepared to let it go quite that easily. He jerked his head towards Angelus. "Yeah, like he says. I'll let you go. After the ritual."

Reaching up for the glass Jesse offered, Ethan tried to look offended. "So untrusting," he mocked. "and there was I thinking the childe obeyed the grandsire in well regulated families."

"Yeah, well, this family is as well regulated as a barrel load of cats, so you can let that thought go for starters. You're staying here until I have proof that the ritual works. If it does, if Dru's well again when we finish, I'll let you go. How's that? Seem fair to you?"

Taking a sip, Ethan nodded again. "Alright," he acknowledged. "In your place, I'd probably do the same. It's a deal."

Spike looked across at Dru and she nodded her head slightly. "I'll be well again," she murmured. "I'll be well. I hear the drums of the dark god calling me. He's going to make me whole."

Ethan's eyebrow quirked. Suddenly his attention was wholly on Dru. "The dark god?" he queried. "How very intriguing. Do tell."

"The dark god in the primal lands. My Angel won't share. But he wants it too."

Draining his glass, Ethan leant forward and held it out for a refill. Looking over at Spike he asked, "Mind if I just get drunk tonight? I promise to finish tomorrow. It really won't take long."

Spike thought about it. "Alright," he agreed. "We could all do with a drink. And if I'm going to be stuck here for the next two nights, I'm going to need to get drunk to stop myself going mad." Bending down, he reconnected Ethan's chain to the eyebolt and sat at the other end of the sofa. Xander settled at his feet and Angelus disappeared, only to reappear carrying the easy chair from his bedroom. Jesse got busy pouring.

Sitting back with his newly refilled glass, Ethan smiled. "I bet we could pass the time entertainingly with some stories. Like The Canterbury Tales, or The Decameron. I'm sure you all have some wonderful tales you could tell."

Spike was thinking more about helping Dru to bed, but she smiled at him and he could see that the idea of bedtime stories appealed to her. She looked better for having fed well and maybe she just wanted the illusion of a happy family. How could he refuse her, when Angelus would leave as soon as the new moon was past? He looked across at Angelus, suddenly realising that he felt good. A weight had been lifted from his shoulders, leaving him slightly euphoric and very relaxed. After all his planning and scheming, Dru's cure was finally only two and a half nights away. "Yeah, why not," he agreed. "Why don't you tell us what you've been doing since you ran out on us in China, mate?"

Angelus took a large gulp from his glass. "Okay." He smirked. "If you'll tell me exactly how it was you ended up wearing the local trollop's clothes that time in Moscow."

Spike laughed. "Sure." If Angelus had hoped to embarrass him, that was the wrong story to demand. The way he'd used the courtesan's favourite dress and mannerisms to entice her protector to his end was one he didn't mind telling at all. "But you go first, eh?"

It turned into one of the most relaxed evenings Spike could remember in years. The stories ran free, with much barracking from the listeners, Dru had more energy than he had seen for days, and if Angelus spent a bit too much time watching her, Spike couldn't raise the energy to care. He was too busy laughing at Angelus trying to explain Detroit, at Ethan's tales of his misdeeds with the oh so respectable watcher and Dru's reminiscences of how she had tricked Darla out of her favourite pearl necklace. Xander was snug against his leg, gently stroking up and down the back of his calf, Jesse kept the glasses full and for once all was well with his world. He didn't notice any change in tone when Ethan suggested, "Let me tell you a story about a demon I met once in Africa."

Continued here.

Comments

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

that first paragraph made me want to go and clean out my fridge!
*laughs* Because the meals you have might be needing to breath or something?
Jesse seems to have learnt his place. It seems like the lesson in the woods taught both Xander and him something, after all.
she can stand up and use her brain and not be as shy as she was in canon S1
Yeah, I thought carefully about this, because I didn't want to take her out of character, and I realised that even is season 1, she is only shy with strangers and people who intimidated her. With her friends she was articulate, certain and jokey. Given her intelligence and her parents' (particularly her mother's) method of child rearing, I figured she would also be more relaxed with adults than with kids her own age so I decided that the intellectual, research based relationship would develop quickly into a situation where she felt comfortable expressing herself.
Poor Giles, his world view is tilting.
Yes, he is facing reality, instead of theory. I often wondered what happened in the rest of the world, when the slayer of the day was elsewhere. I mean, were there fewer vampires in China after the Boxer Rebellion? Was New York demon free in the 80's? *g*
then I realised that's what they've been doing all along
Nice thought! I hadn't considered that, but I like it. Thank you.
Ethan - demons - Africa - oh my
I was concerned that was too big a clue, but DJ assured me it was not, so that's good. *g* Explanation may not come next week, but probably the week after.
Thank you, hon, for the lovely comment. Speak to you later, eh?