Three Handed Game: Part 5
by Theodore J Miller
Later that afternoon, Angel led Giles through the sewer tunnels under Sunnydale, and after Angel scouted around, the two arrived at a grating separating two tunnels. The vampires Simon and Reginald were on the other side.
"You are the Watcher Rupert Giles?" Reginald asked. "This is my lord Simon."
"Speak to me, human," Simon said imperiously.
"You're called Simon the Preacher, aren't you?" Giles said. "I've read about you, but I don't usually get to see the vampires I've read about when they're not trying to ... well, never mind that. Anyway, what I came to say is, that what's happening now isn't what any of us want. I know about you, and about vampire traditions; converting large numbers of people into vampires isn't what you'd normally do. You're doing it just to keep up with Spike, I know. But if we can work together, temporarily, to get rid of Spike..."
"It does not have to be just a temporary alliance," Simon interrupted him.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Giles asked confusedly.
"Join us," Simon replied. "Become one of us, willingly. You are intelligent, educated, a superior individual. You SHOULD be one of us, one of the TRULY superior beings."
"No, look, that's not what I'm here to discuss," Giles said.
"Why not?" Simon asked. "Why do you persist in rejecting us?"
"Killing people, serving demons, losing my soul, but never mind that. We don't need to..."
"Killing people? We are superior to humans, and feed off them, just as they are superior to and feed off mere animals. Those you call demons, the Great Ones? They RULED this world, before humanity even existed. They'll return to claim what is RIGHTFULLY theirs, and we should do all we can to help them. And your human soul? What is that, but a source of misery, of guilt and remorse and regret? You should be glad to give it up, as I and mine have."
"I've read all those arguments; you tried the same ones on my grandmother, sixty years ago," Giles said.
"Ah," Simon replied. "And if she'd heeded me, she'd be around now, still as young as she was then."
"Or she'd have been dead for sixty years, with a demon using her body."
"It is not death, but a greater life," Simon said. "If you join us, all that you are, all your memories and desires, will still go on. And the TRUE soul you'll receive will merely push you to act on your desires, to take all you truly want. It will FREE you. You do not know what a glorious feeling it is, to be free of petty mortal constraints."
"But I know what it is," Angel said. "I HAVE been through what you describe. The demon takes all the evil in your heart and brings it forth. And all the good? It twists that, into something sick. Before I was changed, there were people I cared about, people who truly cared about me. And after? I tortured and killed them, I REJOICED in torturing them, in seeing the heightened pain they felt because someone they once loved was doing it to them."
"Angelus," Simon said to him, "you only feel this way because of the curse that foisted mortal weakness on you once more, in order to punish you. Come with me, and I will seek a way to restore you, to make you truly one of us again."
"I..." Angel began, than paused. "A part of me still wants that, to live without these regrets. But although it was done to punish me, the curse brought me the truth. I KNOW what I was, and I can not, I WILL not go back to that. And Giles, if you've ever listened to me at all, listen to this: do NOT let them turn you into one of them. If they get you, your every memory, every accomplishment, every hope and dream and desire, will be perverted to evil, turned against itself in a mockery of all you believe in. THAT'S the way you'd continue to go on; in a DENIAL of all that you are that's infinitely worse than mere death would be."
"I do know what vampires are," Giles said to Angel. "Not with your particular experience, but I HAVE spent my whole life learning about them, preparing to oppose them and to reject everything about them. I WOULD die before I became one of them, and I'll fight in any way I can to keep other people safe from that fate. But to do that in THIS case..." He turned to Simon. "Listen, I have no intention of becoming a vampire, but we can still make an arrangement, work out a deal to..."
"NO," Simon interrupted him. "I'd hoped you'd listen, but Abraham was right. You ARE too inflexibly opposed to us, too steeped in your own limited mortal ways. To work with either of you, or with your Slayer, as you are now, would be worse than anything else I must do to win. And I WILL win. I will create an army of vampires greater than any ever seen, if necessary, I will destroy Spike AND you, and I will be the one who frees the Great Ones and serves at their right hand, forever. So leave now, but know this. We will come, and we will destroy you, and if you know one regret in your puny mortal souls, it will be that you threw away this chance. Now GO!"
"But..." Giles began, but Angel grabbed his arm and pulled him away. "Wait, Angel, I might still..."
"No, Giles, you won't," Angel interrupted, while still walking them away. "I knew Simon before. When he gets on a cause, NOTHING will dissuade him. We'd just be risking ourselves to no point by staying."
"Very well," Giles replied. "I'll take your word for it. Damn. I just hope Buffy and the others have had better luck with Spike. Though relying on the negotiation skills of those three..."
"Don't underestimate them," Angel said. "Maybe because you see them every day, you think of them in their everyday roles, as typical teenagers. I only see them when there's a crisis; I think of them as the way I've seen they CAN be. I can tell you this: I've been around a LONG time, and I've never met anyone like Buffy. Xander? Don't you EVER tell him this, but I was impressed with the way he came for me when Buffy went down to the Master. And Willow? Under that shy exterior, there's someone truly formidable waiting to come out."
"I know," Giles said. "If they'd just APPLY themselves, they could... Well, I guess nothing can change the nature of teenagers, except time. Come on; let's go back and see how they did."
At the same time, Buffy, Willow, and Xander had gone to meet with Spike. After taking appropriate precautions, the three stood in the afternoon sunlight, as Spike and Sheila emerged into nearby shadows.
"Ah," said Spike, "the little Slayer girl." He turned to Xander. "And you were supposed to be my 'gift' from Angelus. Have you been keeping your blood warm for me?" He looked at Willow, who was nervously hanging back behind the others. "And a scared rabbit. Boo!" He laughed. "Sheila, my girl, don't your old classmates look good enough to eat?"
"We're not here for your amusement, or your dinner," Buffy said firmly.
"Then talk to me, little girl. Let's hear this deal you propose," Spike said.
"Look, I REALLY don't like you, and you don't like me," Buffy began. "However..."
"Wait a tick. Why don't you like me, when we're so much alike?" Spike asked.
"Alike?!" Buffy sputtered. "You've killed how many people, just for your own amusement?"
"And you've killed how many vampires?" Spike retorted.
"They were VAMPIRES, not innocent victims," Buffy protested. "And I didn't ENJOY killing them."
"What, never?" Spike asked, in an amused tone. "That's not what I'VE heard about you. And don't tell me you wouldn't enjoy staking me right now, girl. I can see it in your eyes."
"Um, guys, can we get back to the point?" Willow interjected.
"Hark, the rabbit speaks," Spike commented.
"Right, okay, back to the point," Buffy said. "Look, Spike, what we DO have in common is that neither of us likes this Simon vampire. I stopped one of his attacks, but he's still going around changing whole batches of people into vampires. I don't want that, and you don't want that either."
"And I bet you don't want to have to change batches of people into vampires for your side," Xander added.
"Oh, I don't, do I?" Spike asked amusedly.
"No, you don't," Xander said firmly. "You want to be able to do whatever you want, to have fun, right? THAT I can understand, although your concept of fun could use a LOT of work. And too many vampires would just get in the way of your fun. Too much competition, too many bloodsuckers chasing too few victims."
"And there's the government," Willow added. "If there are too many vampires, that would be, well, noticed. If things get too crazy here, even the government will have to believe in vampires. They might even send in the army."
"The REAL army," Xander clarified. "Not some little army of vampires."
"Send in the army to do what? Shoot us?" Sheila asked sarcastically.
"Oh, I don't think even vampires are immune to high- explosive shells," Buffy said. "Not to mention flame-throwers."
"And what happens when THEIR troops become MY troops?" Spike asked.
"Then THAT war just gets bigger and bigger," Xander answered. "Do you really want that, want to have to deal with all of that?"
"So what's your proposal?" Spike asked.
"Look, instead of all this stuff that's going on," Xander said, "you work with us to get rid of Simon."
"I've already hurt him," Buffy added, "stopped some of his recruiting, killed some of his vampires. And you've hurt him too, I guess. So if we work together, coordinate our efforts, we can stop him. Take out ALL of his new vampires as they rise, pick off his forces, even storm his headquarters and eliminate him."
"So why do I need YOU for that?" Spike asked. "I can do it with MY forces."
"Can you?" Xander asked. "You haven't beaten Simon yet. Wouldn't a trained vampire slayer like Buffy here be useful to you?"
"And the rest of you?" Spike asked "A bunch of mere mortal humans?"
"Hey, we've done okay against vampires," Xander answered.
"And we can use weapons that you can't," Willow added.
"Yeah, I don't notice either of YOU wearing a cross," Buffy said.
"So, what do you think?" Xander asked. "Do we work together, to get rid of a common enemy?"
"Very well, it's a deal," Spike answered. "Of course, if you want to show your good faith, you could come over here and seal it with a drink."
"I don't THINK so," Buffy answered. "There will be NO drinking in this deal, particularly no drinking of US. We just work together to get rid of Simon, and that's it. Period."
"Um, shouldn't Spike agree not to kill anybody else, or turn them into vampires?" Willow asked hesitantly.
"Very well," Spike said, "no killing." Then he added, "For the duration of this deal."
"Ohhh, ... ," Buffy sputtered, then spat out "Okay, fine! We're agreed then?"
"Agreed," Spike answered.
"So, um, I'll do the e-mail bit again, contact Josh, and we'll, um, coordinate things?" Willow said half-stated, half-asked.
"Right," Spike said. "So, if that's it, be seeing you." And he and Sheila disappeared into the darkness.
"Maybe I missed something, but did we agree that after the deal is over, Spike CAN kill people?" Xander asked.
"After the deal is over," Buffy said, "Spike will go back to killing people no matter WHAT we agree on. And I'LL go back to killing HIM."
"Buffy," Willow asked, "do we, do we really trust Spike on this? I mean, it is in his interest to work with us, because Simon's his enemy, too, but he is, well,..."
"He's SPIKE, that what he is, and I trust him about as far as I, no, as far as YOU can throw him," Buffy answered. "I'm going to be watching him VERY closely, and if there's ANY funny business, I'll be ready. But until then, we'll use him to help us wipe out the OTHER vampires."
And in the sewer, Sheila asked Spike, "Spike, not to be disrespectful or anything, really, not at all, just, what was all that? I mean, some of the things you said to them, and what was that 'no killing just during the deal' thing? Couldn't you just go back to killing when you don't need them anymore, no matter what you'd said?"
"Girl," Spike answered, "you don't appreciate the subtle dance of negotiation. For one thing, I want to know WHO I'm working with; I wanted to see how those teenagers would stand up and face me. And when they have to CONVINCE me of something, when I grudgingly accept it, then they'll think it really means something, that they've got me doing what they want. So they'll be off-guard when I finally do turn on them. And until then, I'll use them to wipe out Simon and all his old fossils."
The three teens rendezvous'ed with Giles back at the school (he'd arranged late access, supposedly for cross-indexing). "Well," Buffy asked, "what's the sitch with your bunch of vamps?"
"Bad news, I'm afraid," Giles answered. "We weren't able to get Simon to agree to work with us. Did you...?
"Bad news for me, too," Buffy said. "We ARE going to be working with Spike."
"Then we'll have to... Wait a minute. You DID get a deal with Spike?" Giles asked, and Buffy nodded. "Then that's good news; it's what we wanted."
"Not what I wanted," Buffy said. "I'd rather get really intimate with, um, with Principal SNYDER than have to work with Spike."
"Ooh, yuck," Willow commented, while Xander said "Yes! I'M not the fate worse than death."
"Buffy," Giles said, "you did what you had to do, even though you didn't like it. That's maturity."
"But I didn't have to be THAT persuasive with Spike," Buffy said. "I could have honestly tried to make a deal with him but failed, couldn't I? And I probably wasted one of my best persuasive moments on this. You only get a few really good persuasions in your life, and now I used this one up, instead of saving it for something GOOD, like getting my parents to buy me a car."
"Look on the bright side," Willow said. "Maybe you didn't use it up, because you didn't really persuade Spike. Maybe he's just PRETENDING to work with us in order to betray us..." she trailed off.
"Oh, thanks, Will. I feel MUCH better now," Buffy answered her.
"If we can get away from teenage superstitions about how many 'really good persuasions' you get in your life...," Giles began.
"Hey," Xander said, "no mocking the persuasion thing. We don't mock your whole vampires-and-Chosen-One routine, do we?"
"Fine," Giles said. "Buffy, thank you very much for using up one of your few 'really good persuasions' on this."
"Doesn't buy me a car, though," Buffy muttered.
"Now that we have an deal with Spike," Giles continued, "we have to set up what we do next."
"Get knife-proof armor for our backs?" Buffy suggested.
"Besides that," Giles said in an annoyed tone. "Now, there are the people that we think Simon's group killed last night and left to rise as vampires. Willow, if you can do the um, computer- thing and check where they are, morgue, funeral homes, etc., we can decide how to watch over them, in case they rise tonight. If we coordinate with Spike, we should have enough forces to cover all of them."
"Um, Spike wouldn't be able to take them as HIS vampires, would he?" Willow asked as she started working on the computer.
"No," Giles said, "according to the books, a newly-risen vampire is drawn to its sire. Vampires created by Simon's forces will automatically be on his side. So Spike does have the same interest in destroying them as we do."
"Look," Xander said, "why do have to wait for these vampires to rise? Can't we just, you know, stake them while they're still dead, or dead-ish, or whatever they are, and not putting up a fight?"
"No, it doesn't WORK that way," Buffy said. "It's a, there's a, Giles, what was it again?"
"Before the moment when a new vampire rises, it's just a dead body," Giles said. "Staking the body won't prevent the vampire from rising; all you'd be doing is mutilating a corpse. It's not until the transitional moment, when the remains undergo a complete mystical re-organization and transformation into vampiric form, that it becomes vulnerable to the specific..."
"Okay, already," Xander said, "I get it. Save some vocabulary for later."
"Um, Giles, I've got something here," Willow said from the computer. "We've got several people who were killed who are at the morgue, Councilman Sanchez and his wife are at a funeral parlor, plus there's one person who was buried already."
"Buried already?" Xander asked. "Wait a minute; these are the people who were just killed last night, right? Who'd they rush to bury?"
"It's a doctor from the hospital, Dr. Rachel Levine," Willow said. "It's a Jewish thing; the funeral is supposed to happen as soon as possible."
"Whatever," Buffy said. "The thing is, we've got three places we have to cover for that, and with enough people in case more vampires show up to protect the new ones. I don't know if we need someone at Cordy's place, since all their fancy guests won't be there tonight, but that Reggie-vampire could still get in 'cause he was invited once. And there could be whatever new places they're planning to attack tonight."
"Well," Giles said, "in combination with Spike, we could spread our forces enough to have a presence at each point, sufficient to deal with a single vampire at any rate. From a pure strategy viewpoint, the most effective forces would be one human and one vampire at each spot; that would be the most versatile unit, combining the strengths and weaponry of each."
"But from the 'it's a sucky idea' viewpoint," Buffy said to Giles, "that means you, or Willow, or Xander, sitting around for hours, with Spike or one of his vampires, waiting for an attack that might not even come. Can you say 'bored vampire'? Can you say 'midnight snack'?"
"Spike's agreement, and control over his vampires..." Giles began.
"Could both be REALLY shaky," Buffy interrupted. "And besides, being ready to deal with just one vampire is no good. Some places could have more than one new vampire, plus Simon could send old vampires to protect them, and he might send more than one vampire to attack more people somewhere. We have one human and one vampire at each place, and what happens? Some do nothing, and the rest either get wiped out by multiple vampires, or have to run away without accomplishing anything."
"Point taken, Giles said. "Angel is out trying to get information, hoping for a lead on Simon's activities for tonight. If he can find out whether Simon's vampires will be out protecting the new vampires as they rise, if they do rise tonight, or whether they'll be rounding up more people to change into vampires, and if so, what his targets are, we'll have something. Between our forces and Spike's, we can outnumber Simon's vampires, IF we know where to go."
"And if we DON'T know where to go?" Buffy asked.
"Then we do whatever we can," Giles answered. "Cover as many places as possible, with enough force to take care of the vampires there, and hope it's enough to weaken Simon's group."
"So," Xander asked, "what do we do now?"
"Wait for Angel and get ready for tonight," Buffy answered him. "Call parents, tell them we'll be home late, or are staying over at each others' houses, whatever story works. It's Friday evening; at least we won't get the whole 'it's a school night' speech."
"I never like telling my parents lies," Willow complained. "AND I'm really bad at it."
"Just think Clark Kent," Xander suggested. "You know, gotta go change to Superman, make up some lame excuse for Lois Lane, that whole routine. And this is SUPERMAN, the big 'truth, justice, American way' guy. Making up excuses so you can go fight evil isn't really lying; it's just part of being Vampire Slayer's faithful sidekick Computer Girl."
"There ARE certain, well, accommodations we have to make," Giles agreed. "Although one point; I would prefer it if you don't saddle ME with some comic-book style appellation."
"Whatever you say, Middle-Aged Librarian Man," Xander said with a chuckle, and Giles shook his head.
Eventually, Angel arrived. "Well," Buffy asked, "what'd you find out? What's Simon doing tonight?"
"The same thing he does every night," Xander interrupted. "Tries to take over the world."
"EXTREMELY not now," Buffy snapped at him. "Well?" to Angel.
"I've got SOME information," Angel said, "but not all the specifics."
"What DO you have?"
"First, they're not planning to attack Cordelia's house again. They were, um, disappointed with how that went last night."
"Well, good, that eliminates ONE target," Buffy said. "What else?"
"They are expecting one or more victims from last night to rise as vampires tonight. THEY know which ones, but I couldn't find out who. And they're sending vampires to protect them."
"Then we have to cover all three locations," Giles said, "and with enough force to deal with multiple vampires."
"And there's one more thing," Angel said. "They have some plan to attack more people to make into vampires, but the only detail I got is that it involves some prisoner they have."
"Prisoner?" Buffy asked. "What prisoner? Who?"
"I don't know," Angel said. "Someone they took prisoner last night."
"Last night?" Buffy said. "Okay, that narrows it down a little. Giles, everyone, planning time. We've got three places to cover for new vampires, the cemetery, morgue, and funeral home, plus a plan to track down. So, how's this sound? I'll take one dead-people place, Angel and Xander can take another."
"Why do I have to go to a dead-people place WITH a dead people, uh, person?" Xander asked. "Why can't I go with you?"
"Because you can do human stuff, use crosses and all, that Angel can't," Buffy said. "You'd be more useful with him than with me."
"What about the third place?" Angel asked.
"I'm COMING to that," Buffy said. "Willow, you do the e- mail bit, contact Spike, and tell him he is to cover the third place, plus he can send ONE vampire to each of the other two."
"Hmm," Giles said to Buffy. "That gives us you and one of Spike's vampires at one place, Angel, Xander, and a vampire at another, and several vampires at the third."
"That's the idea," Buffy said. "We've got strong forces at each place, two of them have your strategic human-and-vampire combo, and no one vulnerable is left alone with a potentially snacky vampire."
"What about me and Giles?" Willow asked.
"You try to figure out where else Simon is attacking. Find out who they took prisoner, where they can use him, any word about him, stuff like that. If you find out something, call and warn someone, if that'll do any good, and let me and Angel know what you found out. We'll, well, decide what to do about it. Stay where we are, leave and go there, one of each, whatever. Good enough?"
"Me, Angel, and another vampire, waiting for a dead body to get up and a vampire to show up to protect it," Xander said. "That's certainly MY idea of a fun Friday evening."
"It isn't YOU that I want to spend an evening with, either," Angel said.
"People, it's crisis time here," Buffy said. "NOBODY gets to do what they want."
"I, um, I like staying here working with the computer," Willow offered.
"Don't worry," Xander said, "I'm sure Buffy will send you somewhere nasty soon enough."
"Fine," Buffy said. "Xander, next time, YOU get to be the one girl in the world chosen to fight the forces of darkness, if you can figure out how to manage it. In the meantime, let's decide which group goes where, and let our dear ally Spike know his part in the plan."
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