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

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 -

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