The Fever

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Summary: Spike is back, and he's human -- sort of. He's working for Wolfram & Hart as an outside contractor.

AUTHOR: Elsa Frohman
EMAIL: elsa@frohman.net
SEQUEL TO: Return to Sender
RATING: PG-13
PAIRING: Buffy/Spike
SPOILERS: Post Chosen. This is my AU AtS S5.
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Part 1

The nest was in a warehouse near the docks. Midnight moonlight painted pale, geometric shapes across the pockmarked concrete outside. The air was still and humid, and the only sounds were faint echoes of traffic from the freeway.

Gunn waited by the main entrance, ready to pick off any vamps who tried to make a run for it. He'd been waiting for more than a half-hour, and he was beginning to worry.

He pulled his mobile phone from his pocket and hit the speed dial number. The phone buzzed softly four times as the device at the other end went unanswered.

"Damn!" Gunn said softly. Spike must have run into more than he could handle. The ex-vampire had insisted on going in alone, leaving Gunn behind to cut off the escape route. Spike was supposed to signal if he ran into anything he couldn't handle -- but what if he hadn't had the chance?

The phone buzzed two more times. "Answer, damn it!" Gunn breathed. He was going to have to go in and find out what happened. He shut off the phone and shoved it back in his pocket. As he reached for the stake tucked in the back of his waistband, he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, and he stiffened. Gunn whirled around bringing up the stake to strike at his attacker...

"Whoa! Put that down! Might not dust me, but I'm sure it would hurt like a bitch. Not to mention the splinters."

Gunn relaxed. It was Spike.

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"Like the way it feels when it vibrates in m'pocket," the platinum blond said with a chuckle. "'Sides, I was almost here."

"You are the most irritating person to go vamp hunting with. We're supposed to be doing this together!"

"Told ya, I don't need a sitter. I said I could handle this one alone, and I did. Six vampires no longer a problem. You be sure to get the number right. Six."

"Not your sitter, bro," Gunn said with a frown. "Told ya, I just wanted some action. Gettin' tired of hanging around the office."

Spike looked skeptical. "Whatever you say. Tell you what. I'll give you a shot at the next one."

"Thanks ever-so..."

"Scout's honor..."

"So, whatcha gonna do? Hold him down so I can get him?"

"Nah, no fun that way. I'll just stand back and watch him kick your ass."

"You'd better not put any money on whose ass gonna get kicked, homey. I been hunting vamps since before you were... um... before you... Well, for a long time."

"Homey?" Spike said with a raised eyebrow.

"You're right. Don't fit. Damn! You way too pale to be a homeboy. But come on, you gotta let me get my licks in. Don't want to stand outside while you have all the fun!"

"Hey! You're on salary; I'm getting paid per demon dispatched. Give me a break. Got my eye on a TIVO down at Crazy Mo's. Gotta make my quota."

Gunn laughed. "You are a piece of work, for sure. Don't think you're going to have any trouble making your quota this week. With vampire attacks up 23 percent for the last two weeks, there are going to be plenty of bloodsuckers to dust. Something's up, I tell you."

"Not with those guys," Spike replied, nodding to the warehouse. "Grabbed one of 'em and 'questioned' him before I took the bunch of them out. That's why it took so long. They've been here a couple of months. Mostly feeding off the cargo container stowaways from the ships coming in from Taiwan and Singapore. Nobody'd even know the victims were missing. They're not contributing to your stats."

"Then we ain't found the right nest, yet..."

Spike held up a hand for Gunn to be quiet. He scanned the area, listening intently and sniffing the air every so often.

"Vamp?" Gunn mouthed.

Spike responded with a quick nod. He cocked his head toward a large trash bin near the corner of the warehouse, then held up three fingers, mouthing, "Wait three minutes." Spike took off in the opposite direction, clearly intending to round the warehouse and get behind their objective.

Gunn checked his watch, and then leaned back against the steel siding of the building to try to look casual as he waited for Spike to get into position.

Another check of his watch told Gunn it was time to move, so he walked over to the trash bin, as casually as possible, and looked around the far side.

Nothing... but he heard a faint, shifting sound from inside.

Gunn took a quick breath and threw up the lid of the dumpster. It crashed against the metal siding of the warehouse. Inside, he could see yellow eyes and fangs. The vamp was in game face,
but not attacking. He was cowering back in the corner of the receptacle, buried in trash to his knees, trying to hide himself under old newspapers, rotting fruit peels and various indescribable objects.

The vamp snarled as Gunn reached in to grab his arm to drag him out. It was a dangerous move, he knew, because the creature might jump at him at any moment. But somehow, this one didn't seem as aggressive as most.

As Gunn pulled him over the lip of the trash bin, he noted that the vamp was skinny -- to the point of being emaciated. The creature had shoulder-length, greasy blond hair and a pockmarked face dominated by a hawk nose. He was dressed in filthy rags that may have once been jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Instead of fighting, it seemed to be struggling to get away. In the course of the creature's flailing, he managed to scratch Gunn's arm, but beyond that, he wasn't doing any damage at all. Gunn slammed the vamp back against the wall
of the warehouse and cocked back his stake.

"Wait!"

Spike grabbed Gunn's wrist and stopped him from sending the stake home into the vamp's heart.

"You said I could get the next one," Gunn said with a frown.

"This one's not for killing. That's Ralph!" Spike said, as if the name would explain everything.

"Spike... that you?" the terrified vampire whined, his voice thin and nasal.

"Yeah, it's me. It's OK. Nobody's going to hurt you. Let him go. He's harmless."

Gunn gave Spike a questioning look.

"He doesn't eat people... do you, Ralph?"

Ralph the vampire shook his head enthusiastically, edging away from Gunn.

"Is he chipped?" Gunn asked.

"No, Ralph's not like I was. Tell Gunn why you don't feed on people, Ralph."

The skinny vampire wiped his nose on his filthy sleeve. "Never can get close enough. Too scared."

"Scared?" Gunn asked.

Spike nodded.

"Ralph's one of Dru's. I guess that sort of makes him my brother -- though I wouldn't make too much of that," he added hastily. "Before he was a vampire, he was agoraphobic -- afraid to go out of his house. Dru and me went to visit him there one night -- guess he didn't know enough not to invite us in. She thought it would be funny to give vampire powers to someone who was terrified of everything. She got the strangest ideas sometimes.

"After he was sired, as you can see, he got enough courage to go out of his house, but he's still afraid of everything he sees. Not much of a vampire.

"So, what are you doing down here, Ralph?" Spike asked.

"Just feeding," Ralph said. "Nothing else. Not making no trouble. You know I don't make no trouble, Spike."

"Feeding?" Gunn asked. "I thought you said he didn't..."

"Rats," Spike replied. "Isn't that right, Ralph?"

Ralph nodded. "Lots of rats down here."

"Ralph actually performs a valuable service," Spike said with an ironic smile. "Much like our fearless leader did in the past, Ralph keeps the area rodent population in check."

"You're not afraid of rats?" Gunn asked.

Ralph shook his head, inching away from the black man again.

"Used to be. But I gotta eat something."

Gunn shook his head in wonder.

"So, Ralph," Gunn said, giving the trembling vampire a forced smile. "Can you tell us anything about all these extra attacks? You heard anything?"

Ralph shook his head and put up a hand to protect himself, as if he thought Gunn was about to hit him.

"Don't know nothing. I don't hang out with vamps."

"Let me guess," Gunn said, looking at Spike. "He's afraid of vampires."

"You got it," Spike replied. "He's going to be no use to us. But he doesn't hurt anyone either -- so let him go."

Ralph inched a few steps away, but stopped and turned back to face them.

"You're looking good, Spike," he said in a faltering voice. "I thought I heard you ..."

"Yeah, but I got better."

"You're not a vamp anymore, are you?" the skinny vampire said, cocking his head curiously.

Spike shook his head.

"Wow. Well, hope that's working out for you. I guess I'd better go. Got someone to go home to now. She's waiting for me."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "You've got a girlfriend now?"

Ralph nodded and smiled proudly. "She doesn't eat people either," he said, shooting a worried glance at Gunn.

"She a vamp?" Spike asked, suddenly intrigued.

Ralph nodded. "She'd be out here with me, but she's been feeling poorly."

"Sorry to hear it," Spike said amiably. "You'll have to introduce me after she's feeling better."

"You might know her," Ralph said, warming up to the subject. "Maria -- she's from New York."

Spike frowned slightly. "Puerto Rican?"

Ralph nodded and smiled proudly. "Yeah, that's her."

Spike suddenly looked deeply skeptical. He thought for a moment. "I haven't seen Maria since -- oh, it must have been 1973 or '74."

He looked at Ralph intently for a moment.

"Why don't we go home with you now?" Spike said with an unreadable smile. "It'd be interesting to catch up with what Maria's been up to -- especially if she's sworn off humans."

Gunn gave Spike a questioning look.

"Well, I would, I mean... it'd be great... but, you know... Maria... she ain't really feeling up to having company..."

"Oh, we won't tire her out," Spike said. "Actually, I did a bunch of research on vampire medicine when Dru was ill. I might be able to help."

Gunn was about to speak. This was getting too bizarre. Spike gestured to keep him silent.

"Oh, yeah. How's Dru doing?" Ralph said, shuddering and sounding like he really didn't want to know.

"Don't worry. We split years ago. I know how much she scares you. Your mum won't be coming around."

"Oh, yeah, OK, since maybe you can help Maria," Ralph said nervously.

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Ralph had an old motor scooter parked several warehouses over. Gunn got his truck, and he and Spike followed the nervous vampire to an abandoned house in a run-down neighborhood a good 20 minutes' drive from the warehouse district.

The windows of the house were boarded up with graffiti covered plywood. The exterior stucco was falling off in chunks, and the front yard was full of trash and high weeds.

Gunn shook his head as he looked at Ralph's lair. "If I had a dime for every place like this I've shacked up in."

Spike nodded. "Yeah..."

Ralph led them around to the back of the house, where they crawled in through the broken bottom half of a boarded up door.

The interior wasn't any more inviting than the exterior. They came into a room that was once the kitchen, though all the fixtures had been stripped out long ago. The cracked linoleum flooring was caked with dirt, and the walls and ceiling were festooned with cobwebs.

Ralph led them through to a bedroom, where in a corner there was a futon that seemed to be covered with a pile of rags. The rags stirred.

"Ralph? That you? Who's that with you?" said a weak, female voice with a faint Puerto Rican accent.

"It's Spike," Ralph said. "You remember Spike? He might be able to help you."

Gunn hung back as Spike took a step toward the futon.

What happened next happened so swiftly that neither Spike nor Gunn had a chance to react. Maria flew up off the futon and attacked Spike with a high-pitched shriek. She was a blur of fangs and clawing fingernails. Spike was driven back against the wall, as much in surprise as from the strength of the onslaught. Maria's fangs were in his throat before he could fully register that she was on him.

He recovered in the next heartbeat and got his hands on her body to push her away. It was hardly necessary. As quickly as she bit into his neck, she screamed again and flung herself down.

Gunn blinked, and Maria was lying on the floor at Spike's feet wailing in pain, as the blond, former vampire looked down at her in mute shock, his hand on his neck with his blood oozing out between his fingers."It burns!" Maria wailed. "Get it off me!"

Spike stepped away from the prostrate female vampire, a look of deep horror on his face.

Ralph went to his girlfriend and was trying to wipe Spike's blood off her mouth.

"It'll be OK, Maria. I'm sorry. I should have told you he wasn't a vamp anymore. It's all my fault, sweetheart. I'm so sorry. It'll be OK."

Spike reached down and hauled Ralph up by the back of his shirt. He slammed the skinny vampire up against the wall and grabbed his arm. He pushed Ralph's sleeve up above his elbow.

The vampire's forearm was covered with half-healed bite marks.

Gunn looked down at Maria. Anywhere Spike's blood had touched her mouth, her flesh was blistered.

Spike tossed Ralph aside and turned to Maria.

"How long?" he demanded.

The dark-haired vamp tried to scrabble away from him across the floor.

"Answer me! How long?"

Maria got back to her futon and cowered into the corner.

"I found her about two weeks ago," Ralph said weakly. "She couldn't feed. She needed my help."

Spike shook his head. "You realize you're infected," he said to the trembling vampire. "Two weeks. You're going to go into the second stage tomorrow or the next day. What are you going to do then, Ralph? I can't really see you attacking other vamps."

"I don't understand," Ralph whined.

"Me neither," Gunn added.

Spike looked at Gunn.

"This is bad. Very bad. I've seen it before."

Spike pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and hit a speed-dial number.

"Fred? Yeah, it's me. Yeah, we're OK -- for now. Yes, Gunn's still with me. We've got a problem, though. We're going to need those science-girl skills of yours -- and then some. No, we can't come back to the office. Gunn and me, we've been exposed to something. Don't dare. Can't afford to spread it around back there. Look, can you transfer me to our fearless leader? I don't care where he is or what he's doing. Yeah, I'll hold."

Spike waited a moment.

"Yeah, it's me. I got two words for you...

"Liverpool, 1888."

Part 2

Liverpool, 1888

The private compartment was stiflingly hot. If any of the four passengers had needed to breathe, they would have been very uncomfortable indeed. The curtains were tightly drawn to
exclude sunlight, and a notice had been hung on the door outside warning porters and conductors not to disturb this travelling party.

The car swayed and bumped along the track in syncopation to the steady chug of the steam engine many cars forward of their position.

On one side of the car, an elegantly beautiful blonde woman in a light-blue, wool traveling ensemble slept with her carefully coifed head pillowed on the shoulder of a large, expensively-
dressed man with shoulder-length brown hair and mutton-chops. For his part, he sat stiffly, glaring at the couple on the opposite set of seats.

The pair on the other side was a stark contrast to their travelling companions. The dark-haired woman in black silk had curled up on her side on the seat with her head in the lap of a younger man in workman's trousers and braces. Like his counterpart, he was awake, idly stroking his lover's hair as she slept. His honey-brown locks were pulled back in a small ponytail and spilled over his forehead in unruly curls in the front. He was slender and wiry, and his face wore an expression of insolence as he gazed back at the other man.

"You've been playing the gargoyle for hours, mate," the younger vampire said at last. "Give it a rest. Your face is going to be stuck that way."

"You're going to be the death of us all," Angelus growled.

"Yah, yah... Heard it all before, Peaches. We got away -- it wasn't even close. You're gettin' timid in yer old age."

"We had a good place. Now we've got to start over."

"We'll find another. Liverpool's wide open. Find someplace better. Bet it'll even have a view to please Miss Snobbynose."

"You keep that up, boy-o, and one of these days she's going to tear your head off -- if I don't first."

Spike made a rude nose. "Talk, talk..."

Drusilla stirred. She raised her head and looked at Spike with bleary eyes.

"We there yet?" she asked.

"Not yet, princess," Spike said gently. "Not long now."

"Don't like the train," Drusilla said with a frown. "Clackety, clackety, clack. Drowns out the orchestra."

"What orchestra, love?"

"My orchestra. They follow me wherever I go, playing the songs I dance to." She sat up straight and began to sway to music only she could hear, her eyes closed and her face a mask of concentration. Then she stopped. "It's too hard to hear with all that infernal clackety-clack!" she whined.

"We'll be there soon, and you'll hear your orchestra as clear as real, sweetheart."

Darla's eyes opened, and she straightened up, raising her hands to pat at her hair to make sure it was still in place.

"Do they take requests?" she asked with a smirk.

"Oh, yes, Grandmother. They will play anything I ask them to."

"Let me see, how about some Wagner, then? A little bit of Gotterdammerung?" the blonde woman said derisively.

"Don't like that," Dru said with a pout. "My musicians are playing hornpipes for me now. Songs of the sea and the men who sail upon her. They dance so nicely with their bare feet on rough planks. They dance until their feet are bleeding, and I lick the ruby nectar from their toes."

"Rather rip their throats out m'self," Spike said with a chuckle. "Gotta wait too long for their feet to bleed."

"Plenty to have anyway we want," Dru said, her eyes brightening.

The train whistle blew to signal they were approaching the station. Angelus stood and took his carpetbag down from the shelf above.

"All right. It will be dark soon, and we can start looking for a new place to live. In the meantime, you two are to behave -- do you hear me? Don't draw any attention to us."

"I know the routine," Spike replied. "Hang around the station until it's dark enough to go out. Act like we're waiting for another train."

"We don't feed until we're well away from here," Angelus said firmly.

Spike nodded sullenly.

"But I'm hungry," Dru whined.

"I don't care," Angelus snapped. "Do nothing until we can move about freely."

"Yes, Daddy," Dru said, smiling sweetly.

The train shuddered to a halt with a hiss of released steam and the squeal of steel brakes.

Darla parted the curtains slightly and looked out. They were in the station, under a long, iron shed that protected the platforms from the elements.

They stepped down off the train onto a platform that was all but deserted. They seemed to be the only passengers disembarking at this station.

"Seems odd," Darla said quietly as they made their way down the walkway beside the idle train.

Angelus shrugged. "Fewer people to take notice of us."

"Empty station, an empty palace," Dru said in a sing-song voice, as they moved into the station waiting room, which was deserted except for a lone ticket-seller behind a window at one end.

The dark-haired vampire began to sway, then pirouetted and danced across the empty waiting room. Spike went to her and caught her around the waist. They danced together to Dru's silent orchestra, swinging around the rows of seats and spinning down the aisles.

Darla raised an eyebrow. "So much for not calling attention..."

Angelus shrugged. "At least there's nobody here to see it."

"Something's wrong here," Darla said with a slight frown. "This station should be full of people."

Angelus went over to the ticket window and tapped to get the clerk's attention.

"Not doing much business today?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

"Haven't you read the papers?" the clerk said irritably.

"No, I have to admit I haven't. We've been traveling, and I haven't been keeping up."

"Your loss, mate. Nobody in their right mind would come to Liverpool right now. And the ones with their wits about them have left already."

Angelus frowned. "Plague?"

"Perhaps, don't know really. Whatever's causing it, it's the devil's work. Attacks every night. You'd best find your lodging before the sun goes down.

"This town has gone crazy."

Drusilla's mad laughter echoed through the empty station.

"Can't you feel it?" she cried out. "It's here! It is enormous, and it is angry. It burns! It's drenched in blood! It's glorious!"

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Gunn frowned.

"You'd better start explaining right away," he snapped. "What do you mean we've both been exposed?"

Spike closed his mobile phone and put it back in his pocket. He took Gunn's forearm and pointed to the scratch Ralph left during Gunn's brief struggle with the vampire.

"Blood fever," Spike said.

"You mean I'm going to get sick?"

"No, probably not. This thing doesn't actually take hold in humans. But you're a carrier now. It's in your blood. Any vampire you come in contact with is going to be at risk."

"Any vampire... like Angel..." Gunn said slowly. "But he's not going to drink my blood."

"Doesn't matter. It's searching for vampires. When an infected human comes within a few feet of an uninfected vampire, it jumps. And if you went to the office and didn't even get near Angel, it would jump, human-to-human, until it got to him."

"What about you?"

Spike shrugged, but he looked worried. "I have no idea. It might go for me -- then again, it might not. I still have some vampire characteristics. I don't know enough to know whether I can get it or not. But even if I can't, I'm a carrier now. And that means I can't go back to the office, and neither can you."

"Shit!" Gunn said softly. "I thought vampires never got sick!"

"Not often. But there are things that can infect vampires; this is one of them. I think it's a parasite -- a demon that feeds on other demons."

"What's with this first stage and second stage stuff -- and is there a third stage? And if there is, do I want to know about it?"

Spike shook his head. "The third stage is dust. The parasite has consumed so much of the vamp that he can't exist anymore. The third stage isn't our problem."

"OK, what about the first and second stages?"

"Maria is second stage. She can't feed on living blood anymore. The parasite wants demon blood. She can only feed on other vampires. When this spreads -- and believe me it will -- you won't want to see what happens. The vampires of Los Angeles will be tearing each other apart. There will be battles on every street corner, every night."

"Vamps fighting vamps -- not sure what the downside is there, bro," Gunn said with a frown.

"The downside is the first stage," Spike said quietly. "You're already seeing it -- a 23 percent increase in vampire attacks. By next week it will double or triple -- if it doesn't go higher than that. Hundreds, if not thousands of humans will die."

"Shit," Gunn said quietly.

"You mean Maria's going to die?" Ralph whimpered. He was still on the floor holding the female vampire as she trembled.

Spike sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't know of any cure."

"Por favor," Maria said weakly, "kill me now. I can't stand it any longer. I'm so hungry."

Spike crouched down next to her.

"I know you're in pain, love" he said gently. "But you've got to hold on a little longer. We've got to stop this before it spreads any further. I've called for some people to come here, and they're going to need blood samples so they can investigate the parasite. It's important. If you help us, there's a chance -- I can't promise anything, mind you, but it's a chance -- that they can help you."

"Maria will help you," Ralph said. "Won't you, sweetheart? She'll help you, and I'll help you, and you'll cure her!"

"I don't know about that, Ralph," Spike said sincerely. "This isn't Star Trek. But we've got to try to find a way to stop this from spreading. I can promise that we'll do our best."

"I don't care about finding a cure," Maria said with a sneer. "I just want the pain to stop."

"I'll ask them to make you more comfortable," Spike replied. "But you've got to help us."

Part 3

"I thought they'd send Fred," Spike said when Knox and his crew arrived.

Knox smiled and shrugged. "Whoever's on this detail might not be able to go back to headquarters -- ever. We decided it might be better for Miss Burkle to head up the support operations back at the office."

Knox set about supervising the set up of a bewildering array of lab equipment. Some four hours after Spike telephoned Wolfram & Hart, the abandoned house had been converted to a field hospital, with six beds set up in the living room, the trash swept away, rubber mats covering the rotting flooring and the odor of disinfectant filling the air.

The six beds were puzzling Spike. There were two "patients," Ralph and Maria, and possibly a third -- himself -- if it turned out he was vulnerable. The other three weren't for technicians, though. The Wolfram & Hart people had taken over the kitchen, laying out sleeping bags and air mattresses.

Maria was already settled in the first hospital bed. Her low moans made it clear she was in increasing distress. Ralph was hovering around her, wringing his hands and worrying. He kept looking over at Spike, as if he thought Spike could make Maria better, but was just refusing to do it.

"When they get all their widgets and thingamabob's working..." Spike told the nervous vampire, feeling less sure than he sounded.

Gunn had been pacing like a caged animal until several of the technical crew complained he was getting in their way. He had retreated to a chair against the front wall, where he sat glaring at the proceedings.

Actually, the size and swiftness of the W&H response caught Spike off guard. When he thought about it, though, it made sense that the corporation would react to a threat to its CEO. Spike might be in the questionable column where this infection was concerned, but Angel was solidly in the "at risk" category.

Still, Spike had the uneasy feeling that something was amiss. He couldn't put his finger on it. Knox was being respectful and efficient as he set up shop. He'd started out by questioning Spike closely about his recollections of his previous encounter with the fever. The young man was friendly and even sympathetic to Spike's worries about the possibility of contracting the disease.

"The female subject's reaction upon contact with your blood really does indicate the pathogen probably isn't going to thrive on your tissue or plasma," the young man explained.

But even as Knox was giving his reassurances that Spike was probably immune, Spike had the oddest feeling that Knox would equally enjoy doing an autopsy on him as curing him.

He wasn't sure why he felt that way. Maybe it was Knox's habit of calling the vampires "subjects" rather than patients. There wasn't anything specific in the young man's manner -- just a palpable enthusiasm for exploration of the pathogen that seemed to go beyond wanting to protect his boss.

Spike was also aware that this was the young man that Fred tended to chatter on about -- when she wasn't wondering why she couldn't get back together with Gunn. Their last few conversations had been peppered with "Oh, Knox says..." and "I can't believe how good he is at..." and a few "Do you think it would be OK if I invited him over? I mean, he does work for me. It wouldn't be harassment, would it?"

Spike hadn't had an answer to that one. Workplace ethics was not a subject for which he could claim any relevant experience.

The W&H crew had finished filling the bedroom where Spike and Gunn had first encountered Maria with electronic equipment, and Knox came over to Spike carrying a basket of supplies for drawing blood.

"We'll start with some samples. You, Mr. Gunn, and the two acute subjects," he said.

"I think you should start by sedating Maria," Spike said with a frown. "You've been here nearly four hours, and all you've done for her is put her in bed. She's starving, and she's in pain."

"Can't give the female subject any drugs for now," Knox said evenly as he fished a disposable needle out of his basket. "We need uncontaminated tissue and blood samples."

Spike glowered as he rolled up his sleeve.

"We've got an idea that may help her, though," Knox added as he put the rubber tourniquet on Spike's upper arm to prepare to take his blood sample. "We've been developing a synthetic blood product in the medical section. It's completely inorganic, but the large molecules mimic the structure of the proteins in hemoglobin. If I'm right, it won't trigger the anaphylactic reaction that human blood does in the second-stage subjects. Our on-hand supplies should be here within the next half-hour."

Knox took his first sample and labeled the tube of blood.

"Your turn now, " he said to Gunn.

Gunn bared his arm.

"You sure I'm not going to get sick?" Gunn asked.

"Well, you might catch a cold -- nobody's found a way to stop that. But if Spike's information is correct, you're probably not going to get Blood Fever," Knox said cheerfully. "What he told me matches what little I could dig out of the Wolfram & Hart database before I came. So, I'm reasonably confident you're safe."

Gunn looked unconvinced.

"What about him?" Gunn asked, nodding toward Spike. "Been hearing a lot of 'probablys' and 'we thinks.' When you gonna tell Spike he's OK?"

"I should have an answer to that before too long," Knox replied. "After I've collected these samples, I can compare his with the first-stage subject, and with you, our fully human subject; that should tell us what we need to know about his prognosis.

"I'm pretty sure where you and Spike are concerned, our primary objective is to find a way to either kill the pathogen in your system or filter it out."

Knox took his sample and left Gunn to brood.

"Give the boy a break," Spike said in a low voice as he came over to join Gunn. "It's not like he hasn't taken any risk to help us. Since he's come here, he's just as infected as you and me. If he can't find an answer, he's out of a job."

Gunn just frowned.

Knox was now approaching Ralph for a sample. The skinny vampire was backing away with a look of horror on his face.

"Keep away!" Ralph whined, retreating back into a corner and holding up his arms to protect himself.

"I just need a small sample," Knox said evenly. "You'll hardly feel it."

"No... I can't..." Ralph whimpered.

"I can call a couple of technicians in here to hold you down," Knox said with a little more force.

Spike stepped in.

"You need to do this to help Maria," he said gently, taking Ralph's arm and leading him back out of the corner. "They need to see what it looks like at each stage. And it really doesn't hurt." He showed Ralph the little bandage on the inside of his elbow.

Ralph struggled with himself. His mouth twitched as he tried to take control of his fear.

"It's OK for you," he whined. "You're not scared of anything. You're Captain America, man. Me, I get queasy just looking at a needle like that."

"Captain America? Please..." Spike said with a snort. "Not bloody likely."

"I'll faint if I look at it."

"Then don't look at it," Spike said with a sigh. "Here. Sit down. Now, look over there. Look at Gunn." He put his hands on Ralph's shoulders to steady him, then gave Knox a look that said "do it quick."

Ralph gulped and squeezed his eyes shut when the tourniquet went on, but he didn't even notice when Knox plunged the needle into his vein. When the tourniquet came off he shook his head.

"Is that all there is to it?" he asked.

"That's all," Knox said as he labeled the tube of blood. He moved on to Maria, who glared at Ralph as she offered her arm without protest.

His four samples neatly labeled and racked, Knox gestured for Spike to follow him out of the room. He led Spike out of the repaired back door into the yard. The sky was turning pink in the east. The night was nearly spent, along with Spike's patience. He wanted to lie down somewhere and get some sleep.

"I brought you out here because of the non-human subjects' enhanced hearing. I wanted to talk to you privately."

Spike nodded wearily.

"The female subject can't do any harm in her condition, so I haven't restrained her. However, I'm concerned about the male. You say he's harmless, but in this stage of the infection, he's going to be feeling a very strong need to feed. Even as timid as he seems, I'm thinking we should restrain him -- for the safety of the technicians who have to work around him."

Spike clenched his jaw. His hand came up, and he took Knox by the throat, pushing him back against the house. Only his best effort at self-control kept him from tightening his grip on the young man's throat.

"If you're wondering who you have to worry about, I'm a lot more dangerous to you than Ralph," he said between clenched teeth. "I could tear your head off without even trying; you'd be just one more added to thousands I've killed.

"Ralph, on the other hand, has never harmed a soul -- never. And it's not because some government mad scientist shoved a chip in his head. It's because he doesn't. That's just who he is."

Spike let go of Knox's throat and stepped back.

"OK, OK," Knox said, holding up his hands in surrender. "I get it." His hand touched his throat, almost as if to check that it was still there. "It's just so weird. Who ever heard of a vampire who doesn't hurt people?"

"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your bloody corporation," Spike snapped, turning and heading back into the house.

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He's back at the Initiative in a glass cage. The air is dry and odorless, and the floor is hard and slick. There's no comfort to be had anywhere. The white-coated technicians come and stare at him through the glass wall. He's naked, and he wants to cover himself, but...

He can't move. He's pinned to an operating table with steel bands he can't break even with his vampire strength. The light shines down in his eyes as they cut through his scalp and drill through his skull. He's awake. He feels every probe, each surgical cut and each vibration of the drill. He screams, but no sound comes out.

Giles and Buffy are looking down at him, their heads blocking out the painful white light for a moment. They examine him like a virus under a microscope.

"Are you sure this chip will do the trick?" Buffy asks.

"Our best brains are on the job," Giles replies. "He will be made a suitable consort for you."

"Con-what?" Buffy asks, wrinkling her nose. "I just want a rock-hard cock that goes all night."

"Yes, quite," Giles says.

He wants to beg her not to do this to him. He wants to promise her he'll be good; he'll do anything she asks if she'll just set him free. He'll stay with her forever and never leave her. He'll be her willing slave. But he can't speak. His mouth is stuffed with cotton packing.

"But you did leave her," Knox says through a surgical mask, looking down at him from between Giles and Buffy. "You abandoned her. Moved and left no forwarding address."

"About bloody time," Giles adds with satisfaction.

"We'll try the sunshine test first," Knox says. "If he doesn't burn up, he'll be ready for you to take home."

"Do you have a dark chocolate mint Spike?" Buffy asks. "Because I'm not sure I like this white chocolate version."

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Spike sat up with a jerk, his torso drenched in sweat. He was panting.

Gunn turned over in his sleeping bag.

"You OK, man?" he mumbled.

"Yeah," Spike said, letting out a deep breath. "Bad dream. It's nothing."

Gunn turned over to face away from Spike again. Within moments, his breathing had become deep and even once more.

Spike sighed. He didn't think he was going to get back to sleep now.

He shuddered as the dream replayed in his mind. The part about implanting the chip without anesthesia wasn't true, of course. He hadn't even known what they'd done to him until after he escaped. But the feel of the place in the dream was absolutely accurate -- the glass-walled cages; the dry, odorless air; the men in white lab coats staring at him; and the feeling of trapped helplessness. It took him back to a place he really didn't want to go -- not ever -- but especially not right now.

It was full daylight outside, though the sun didn't penetrate this space. The W&H crew had left the plywood over the windows and the room was a bit stuffy. He and Gunn had been given the second bedroom so the 24-hour crews working in the rest of the house wouldn't disturb them.

Spike lay back down and stared up at the ceiling. He reminded himself for the hundredth time that the W&H medics were nothing like the doctors at the Initiative. They were here to help. They worked for Angel, and stopping this disease was their only objective -- he hoped.

His misgivings were undoubtedly a result of his experience with the Initiative. White-coat types gave him the wiggins.

Knox was here to help. There was no question about it.

He just wished he believed it.

These authors spend lots of time to write these stories. If you took the time to read this PLEASE take the time to give them some feedback. Happy writers write more ;-)

Elsa Frohman - elsa@frohman.net