Taming the Muse Prompt 16, BoaS Part 1, To kill this girl..., BtVS, PG

[thismaz]

I am so full of cold that I really didn't think I would manage to post this week. My brain is certainly not working properly. Originally this was going to be longer, but I couldn't get my head around it, so here it is, truncated.

Title: To kill this girl...
Part 1 of 44 - Blood on a Sundial series.
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: #16 - Trail of Breadcrumbs
The whole saga, in reverse order, is here or in my memories.
At: tamingthemuse
Rating: Pg
Summary: The Big Bad has come to town
Word count: 1,055

October 2009 - ETA -

by katekat1010



1. To kill this girl...

Watching the Slayer from the shadows, as she beat down that supercilious, puffed-up minion, Spike had to admire her style. Not as technically perfect as the one in China, and not as angry as Nikki, but she had passion, enthusiasm... Well, she had something, anyway. And she seemed to have friends. That was... different. So he gave her the ironic applause and offered her his threats, but as he walked away he was thinking. With any opponent, the key was to identify her weakness and utilise it to his own advantage. This would take care, planning, time... On the other hand... there was always the tried and tested, full frontal surprise attack.

*****

After the debacle in the school he decided to go back to his first thought. This slayer not only had friends - she also had family. It was annoying. But he had learned two things: Angel was in town and working with the Slayer, and the boy with Angel was one of her friends. He'd been there in the alley. He'd fetched the Slayer's stake. That suggested he was a trusted intimate. And Spike had his scent. Well actually, he'd learnt three things - the other was that the Anointed One was a pain in the arse. Thankfully he was a pain easily dealt with.

Spike prowled his warehouse, glaring at the minions as he plotted. There was definitely something different about this one. And what sort of a name was 'Buffy' anyway? A slayer should work alone. She shouldn't have a cheering squad all ready to throw in a spare stake. She certainly shouldn't have a mother who knew how to wield an axe. She was supposed to live in the shadows, mopey and lonely and bitter at the destiny that demanded she die young on the fangs of her enemy. It was in the rules, for God's sake! But this one did have the friends. And she was altogether too cheerful. It made Spike's skin itch.

He continued to pace, ignoring Dru's attempts to poke life back into that damned bird of hers. Friends could be a strength or a weakness. Humans were funny about things like that. They got attached. It was time to find out whether this slayer, this Buffy, was really as different as she appeared. Minions were two a penny so it was hardly a sacrifice, and it could yield some valuable information.

In the end it cost him six, but three days later he had seen enough to know that she would protect her friends at all costs. They were her weakness. All he had to do was pick them off, one by one, and lay them out, like a trail of breadcrumbs for her to follow, and she would go wherever he wanted. After all, if it wasn't fun, it wasn't worth doing.

*****

The Slayer, the boy and the third one, the little red head, were sitting on a large tombstone kicking their heels and chatting. The Slayer was actually playing with a yo-yo. Kids today! No culture! Didn't they know that teenagers hanging around in graveyards were supposed to have alcohol and tobacco? With a curt nod Spike sent Frank in.

Spotting his undisciplined rush, the Slayer jumped down and grabbed a stake out of her back pocket. "Stay there!" she yelled at her followers as she moved away from them, apparently determined to engage in the clear area between the graves.

Frank's initial rush succeeded in doing nothing but send him somersaulting over her head as she rolled and used his own momentum against him. He wasn't much of a fighter and it was clear that he was well out-matched. She wasn't exactly playing with him, but she wasn't treating him seriously either. The other five minions edged closer, but followed orders and didn't attack.

The red head stayed where she was told, behind the tombstone, knuckles clenched as she gripped the top, swinging her upper body left and right in silent support of the Slayer's moves. The boy, however, possibly out of some misguided instinct of chivalry, was edging hesitantly off to the side, around the periphery of the fight, clutching a stake of his own. This was perfect.

"Xander, stay back!" Buffy yelled, when she spotted his movement from the corner of her eye. So the boy had a name.

Frank went staggering back from a kick to the neck, arms windmilling, and she followed through with the stake in her right hand, leaving nothing but a gently settling cloud of dust. Charlotte came forward to replace him and Spike edged away and around the back of the DuLac mausoleum until he was directly behind the boy. It was easy, with all their attention focused on the fight in front of them, to slip a hand round the boy's shoulders and clamp it down over his mouth. By the time the Slayer had dispatched Charlotte and had taken in the fact that the other minions were not about to charge, he had the boy secure. This was the moment of truth, did she understand the mission, or was she still infected by the belief that she could have an ordinary life?

She swung around, following the minions' gazes, and froze. Her dawning expression of horror was a joy to witness. Her eyes flickered around the scene as she assessed her chances of getting to him, before his fangs sank into her friend's neck. With a flick, Spike opened his knife, pressing it to the other side of Xander's neck. Pinned between fangs and steel, he stopped struggling.

Spike began to edge backwards, dragging the boy with him. Buffy matched him step for step, but didn't dare approach too close for fear of putting her friend's life in danger. The red-head had come from behind her protective wall and was also creeping forwards, a look of exquisite anguish twisting her pretty face.

Lifting his head and looking past them, Spike saw the minions dithering. "Well don't just stand there, people, come on!" he shouted. They charged.

All four of them leapt forwards and suddenly the Slayer had another friend to worry about and another fight on her hands. Spike faded back into the shadows taking Xander with him.

Next Part

Comments

[catw00man.livejournal.com]

Oh I really enjoyed this! Please tell me this is an idea you plan on continuing. I'd love to see a *real* trail of breadcrumbs. But reguardless, thanks for the read. I've really missed the Big Bad.

~Cat

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

*smiling* Thank you. I did have an idea for continuing, but I didn't get it all down. I guess I'll see what the next prompt is...

[grneyedwoman.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Is this the start of something new? Has an unfinished feel. Would like to know what happened.
Cindy

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Thanks.
Would like to know what happened. *frowns, perplexed* - actually, now you mention it, so would I. *g*

[smwright.livejournal.com]

It's always a pleasure to read you, but this is well-pieced (head-cold and all). Like other respondents, I hope you get around to writing more. I'm always a sucker for Bad Spike. :)

I especially liked "...ironic applause," and "A slayer should work alone." Spike's outrage at her flaunting the rules is priceless. Nice job.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. I am glad you liked Spike's indignation - he is so conventional in some ways - witness his outrage at vampires who go out on Halloween.

[jans-intentions.livejournal.com]

Well, Maz, I'm not sure how that can be anything but a TBC!

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

The moral pressure is building.... I'll see what I can do.

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

Oh, I really enjoyed Spike's thought processes. There is a cunning mind behind that brash exterior. Playing Willow's peril against Xander's was brilliant.

I do hope you intend to continue this when you feel better. In the mean time, rest up and get over your cold.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

*grin* Thank you. I have always thought the vampires didn't put their whole selves into trying to take the scoobys down. But if they had, we would have had a very short run series, so maybe it's for the best, eh?

And thanks for your good wishes, I am feeling a lot better today

[sparrow2000.livejournal.com]

"Kids today! No culture! Didn't they know that teenagers hanging around in graveyards were supposed to have alcohol and tobacco?" So perfectly Spike!

You know this bunny really does have to be fed, don't you! I mean I'll worry about the poor boy and what the nasty vamp is doing to him and then I won't sleep and then I'll be cranky and then I'll say something inappropriate at work and then I'll get fired and it will be all your fault - can you live with that responsibility...

Nice stuff, and I hope you're not too snuffly now.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

*laughing* I just replied to Sexymermaid that the moral pressure was building for a continuation, but that was before I read this *grin*. Heaven forbid I be the cause of you loosing your job. I'll see what I can do when we get the next prompt. Honest!

Feeling a lot better today, thanks.

[sunnyd-lite.livejournal.com]

ah a true big bad! Cunning and humourous!

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

*grin* Thank you.

[artemis-rain.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! What's in store for poor Xander? Is it imminent death? Kinky sex? Tea parties with Druscilla?

I must have more!

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

*grin* Thank you. I hope you are in luck. This week's prompt is 'Father's Day', so I am going to see if I can do something with that.

[sablerose2.livejournal.com]

Oh Please say you are going to write more of this Maz Please!!!Must have more!!!

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Thanks SR. More from this week's prompt. I am so glad you enjoyed this bit.

[lit-gal.livejournal.com]

Whoa. Great start, and I love how you really nail canon characterization. Xander *would* want to get closer to the fight, and this was an entirely Spikey plan to try and pull off.

*runs to next part*

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Hey, thank you. I'm so glad you think I have caught the cannon characterisation. I like the idea of playing with cannon, but I thought that a series would be way beyond me, until I began to get in to this (of course it may still be, but I have three parts, that's almost a series *g*).

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

Was Willow coloring her hair that early in the show? I can't remember, it's been so long.

Interesting beginning. I like "early" Spike, with his lack of repentence and his vitality.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Hi, thanks for commenting.
We've had longish conversations before, so I'm sure you won't mind if I say, 'huh'? to your first comment. *g*
By which I mean, I don't understand - could just be me, up too early and still asleep, of course.
I like early Spike, too. It has been interesting trying to write him.

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

You had Spike thinking something about "the redhead" joining Buffy and Xander. Willow's hair is naturally very dark; she used to wear it long and straight. I don't remember if she was dying it this early in the show. It's no big deal, but I see many fanfic authors make that mistake when they only know the characters from late in the seasons or from other fanfics. I was just wondering because hey-control freak here. *waves*

Early Spike was funny, fierce, and vivid. Very dangerous. Over the course of the show they gradually turned him into Buffy's whipping boy.


Pesti

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Oh, right. Okay, got you. You just sent me downstairs to check the DVDs. I take your point, her hair is dark in the first season (I thought I might as well go all the way back) but by 'When She Was Bad' at the start of season 2, I would certainly call her a ginger nut. It isn't the brilliant red gold of later seasons, but it is red.
And that is a bit of a relief *g* because I might have felt compelled to go back and change the references otherwise. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll bear it in mind if I ever write a season 1 story.

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

They do like to fool with the hair on both of the shows,don't they? At least Buffy, Willow, and Anya ended up looking good. What they did to Cordelia was downright criminal!

Xander is cute with short hair; he's kind of adorable with the longer, unruly mane.


Guess Spike wouldn't call Willow "the little ginger- nuthead"...*snickers* Somehow, it just doesn't have the same ring to it.



Pesti

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

What they did to Cordelia was downright criminal! Oh goodness, yes! That pitch black mop she had at one point - it looked more like a scarf, than hair - like it was a solid mass of something.
I did consider having Spike call her a Gingernut, but that is more of an affectionate term. I might still use it at some point.

[i-luv-trees.livejournal.com]

"After all, if it wasn't fun, it wasn't worth doing."
So a Spike thought! And Spike has *no* idea just what he's taken on in kidnapping Xander ;)

(This story sounds familar, I'm pretty sure I've read it before, so please excuse any double feedbacks. I'm at work tonight, and the wireless won't connect inside the office, so I've got to go outside and sit on concrete steps and open each piece of story in a separate tab, then open a comment box on each one so I can write my comments as I read. But I don't think I've left fb on this story, and I'm pretty sure I've read at least the first few chapters and liked them, so I wanted to leave the love. When I've read all of it I'll go back outside and post each comment, so don't feel like you have to answer each one separately if you don't have time. I just wanted to be able to comment if I wanted instead of being stuck having to run back outside every few minutes!)

Thanks for the lovely words, C

Didn't finish them yesterday, so I'm posting them all at once tonight. Enjoy the love!

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I have done this, sometimes - read a story and commented as I went along. To be on the receiving end, is lovely. I couldn't believe how many emails there were in my inbox this morning.
I won't have time to answer them all before I have to go to work. Heck, I won't have time to read them all, but thank you.

[ares132006.livejournal.com]

There was definitely something different about this one. And what sort of a name was 'Buffy' anyway? A slayer should work alone. She shouldn't have a cheering squad all ready to throw in a spare stake. She certainly shouldn't have a mother who knew how to wield an axe. She was supposed to live in the shadows, mopey and lonely and bitter at the destiny that demanded she die young on the fangs of her enemy. It was in the rules, for God's sake!

This is perfect Spike. I love this.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much.