FicWad

Spike collapsed to the floor of the crypt. The words the lady had said. It wasn't his fault. He wasn't the one that had hurt the girl. That it was someone else. But that just couldn't be. He had seen. He had heard. And he had smelled the blood.
He looked up at the girl. The one that he had done all of this for. She stood by him now. She believed in him so much. But how could she do that. After all, he was a killer. Or at least there was still the demon inside that was a killer. Didn't care if you was good or bad. Only cared that it got what it wanted.
And he could feel the war raging inside of him. His soul was fighting a brave battle. Keeping him from doing the things that the demon wanted him to do. But it also was hurting him. There was pain from the constant battles.
Sometimes he felt like taking a knife and carving up his chest. Carving so that he could rip out his soul. The pain. The memories. The things that he had done. It was all too much at times. Hell, all of the time.
And than, there was the girl. He managed to look into those eyes of hers. He could still see it. Even though he had put her through so much when the demon was in control. Even after he had the chip, he was not a good man. He only fell in with the slayer because he could harm no humans.
And than, a funny thing happened. It had become more than just doing cause he couldn't hurt anyone, well, besides demons. That thing was so simply amazing. Love. It was the first time in his existence that he could say he actually felt love. There had been Cesely in life. And Drusilla in death. But nothing had felt like this. This was love.
So he did what he thought he should. He should become the man that she deserved. And look at him. He was now a raving maniac. That was so unfair. It wasn't right. The girl deserved someone that could be there for her. Someone that could love her whole like. And that wasn't him. He wasn't a whole man. And he never would be one.
"William?" Buffy had been about to leave. She so wanted to track down Faith more than ever. She needed to get that girl under lock and key. Even if she weren't the one doing the killings, it would be safer for all if she were not roaming the streets. "Are you all right?"
A smile was quickly on the vampire's face. All right? That was a silly question. He hadn't been all right since he had fallen in love with the girl. And now that he had his soul back, it was that much more confusing and painful.
"Hardly, pet." He had a smile on his face. It lasted only a minute. Cause that's when the flash hit him. A flash of memory of the night before and the blond. It knocked him on his back. "Pain!" He held his head with his hands. "The pain!"
"William!" Buffy got down on her knees. She placed one hand on his chest and another on his cheek. "What's wrong? You said that there is pain. Where?"
"In me head." Blood started to drip from his nose. It was becoming far too much for him. "I remember. It wasn't me. It was..." He trailed off into unconsciousness.

Faith walked right into the Summers' house. The door had been locked, but who cared, right? Slayer strength came in handy in so many ways. And this was important what she had to do. It would make her boss proud.
Or would it. The rogue slayer looked around the house that she had been invited to without even question. She flashed back to the first time that she had been there. She had had dinner with Buffy and her mom.
Mrs. Summers. Now there was a lady that anybody would love. She was understanding and yet tough as nails. You knew she cared just by the tone in her voice and the look in her eye. And she had cared for Faith right away.
That made Faith angry. Why did she have to have thoughts like that? It wouldn't make things easier. Or would it? Her head hurt so bad. Partly from thinking what she had to. And partly because she still hadn't eaten.
So, she made her way to the kitchen. As usual, the fridge was well stocked with food. And leftover pizza. She took out the pizza and began scarfing it down, not bothering to heat it up. It wasn't long and she had that gone. She noticed a cookie jar on the counter and snagged a few.
She was eating the cookies as she made her way upstairs. As she made it to Buffy's room, she had another flash of memory. It was after she had teamed up with the mayor. They had tried to turn Angel into Angelus. But he had none of it. So they had used that magick guy. And she had stood here with 'Angelus' tricking Buffy into coming with them. When the whole time, it was Buffy and Angel that had been playing her.
The room still looked the same. Although, you could tell that B hadn't been here in a while. Must be the college thing keeping her away from her mother.
And that was a good thing for the slayer. It worked so well on so many levels. This was the perfect plan. All she had to do was set it up. And the girl was good at getting what she wanted. Always had, always would be.
The slayer shoved the last of the cookies into her mouth and made her way to Joyce's room. She smiled as she thought of Joyce and how she had insisted that she call her that. She had to be the coolest woman alive. It was truly a shame, now wasn't it.
She hadn't really been in the room before. But that didn't mean anything. The full sized bed looked comfy. So comfy. The slayer hadn't realized just how tired she was at that moment. But she could not allow herself to sleep. Not until her plan was put into action. Than she could maybe, just maybe, let her defenses down for a moment.
That's when she heard the front door open. As quickly and as quietly as she could, she made her way to the closet. It was the perfect place to put her plan into action.
"Buffy?" Joyce's voice rang out. "Did you forget your keys again? I wish you wouldn't do that to the lock. Now I'm gonna have to buy a new one."
That voice! Faith closed her eyes for a moment. Again, thousands of memories flooded her. The one person that had truly cared about her no matter what was this woman. The sweetest most caring woman on the face of the earth. One that wasn't judgmental or anything. And she was about to do what to the lady.
She heard the slow steps as Joyce came up the stairs. There was a pause at Buffy's door before she continued on to her own room. This was it. She just had to have the guts to do what she had to do.
Joyce made her way over to the bed and picked up the phone. Before she had a chance to dial, Faith was out of the closet. She knocked the phone to the bed. There was fear instantly in the woman's eyes that she held in such high esteem. Justifiable fear. After all, she was a slayer and capable of so much.
"Hello Joyce." Faith pulled out a knife from her back pocket. "It's nice to see you again."
Joyce collapsed to the bed. "It's nice to see you too, Faith. I really missed you. Well, until you went all psycho and tried to kill my daughter."
Faith was in front of her in an instant, holding the knife blade at her throat. "I'm not the one that gutted and left the other to die. I think you forget that she's the one that tried to kill me. And you know what?" An evil smile formed on her face.
"I think I know." Joyce held her head high."
"Payback's a bitch." The steel blade glided across Joyce's throat. "And I owe a lot."

"You sure that we should stop before we get back to Giles'" Tara asked. "I mean, we don't really need this stuff. And I think we really need to round up the gang. They all need to know that Oz just might be the problem."
"It can wait." Willow took Tara's hand in her own. "And before you say I'm going all avoidy here, I'm not. Buffy's off finding Faith. And we don't have anyway of contacting her. She so needs to get a cell phone. And Xander and Anya, who knows what they are up to. They probably already made up and are well, you know. Not that Giles probably isn't there and waiting for any information that he can get. We have plenty of time."
Tara smiled. She really knew that Willow was stalling. And she couldn't blame her. Who would want to admit that their first love was going around killing people just because he couldn't have her. Even if it was while he was in wolf form.
The two walked slowly and in silence. They were just enjoying each other's company at the moment. Not that they didn't spend a lot of alone time together. It was just nice to be with one another. Even with evil brewin and all.
"Hey guys." Both women stopped in their tracks as a familiar person made his way in front of them. "Hope you don't mind me bein in town after what happened."
Willow smiled big. "Oz! You know that you and I are friends. And that we will always be friends. So that's of the good right there. What have you been up to?"
"I've been staying at Devon's." The werewolf looked at Tara and smiled. A rarity indeed. "He's agreed to let me back into Dingoes. And that means I'll be staying for awhile. Might even get back into the college thing. If that's all right with you two." He now looked at Willow.
"Hey, no problems here." Willow let go of Tara's hand and gave him a big hug. "I have missed you. And as long as you can keep the werewolf inside, I'm happy to have you around. If things hadn't worked out the way they had with me discovering I was gay and all, I would so be with you still. And there is a part of me that will always love you."
Again, a smile formed on his face. Another rarity. But it was nice that they could still be friends. At least, it would work to his advantage that the two could think that they could still be friends.
"The same goes for me." Tara blushed a little. "Well, you know what I mean with the being happy that you are staying and all. From what I've heard, you're a great guy and I'd like to consider you my friend as well."
Willow now stepped back from Oz. Oz held out his hand and Tara took it in her own. "I'd like that. Good friends are hard to come by."
They were all startled by the scream. It was a girly type scream. And there was growling. It was coming from around the corner. Probably not far from The Magic Box.
"Sounds like someone's in trouble." Willow said as she took off running. Oz and Tara were right behind her. They practically ran into her as she stopped suddenly. "God! Xander!"
Xander and Anya were backed against the door of The Magic Box. There was some type of beast trying to get at them. The claws were coming dangerously close. And the teeth. They didn't have much time to act or the two would definitely not survive.
Willow began running again. She took Tara's hand in her own out of instinct. Both began saying a spell. They were still several feet away when they finished. And when they did, the beasty thing went flying.
When the three got to where Anya and Xander were still pressed against the door, Willow joked, "I thought I recognized that scream."
"Very funny Will." Xander stared at the still form of the hairy beast as it lay unmoving on the ground. "We've got to get that thing somewhere and fast. It just killed a blond woman."
"And than attacked us." Anya clutched tightly to Xander. "It's not very nice. I don't like it. It made Xander scream like a girl."
Xander shook his head. "And the humiliations just keep on a coming." He sighed heavily.
Oz took a step back. "I can't believe it." He was suddenly very pale looking.
Willow turned to her ex. "What's the matter?" He didn't say anything but continued to stare at the demon or whatever it was on the ground. She looked back at it. Her face also paled. "I.."
"What's up you two?" Xander looked from Oz and than to Willow. "You recognize the beast?"
"Yeah." Willow swallowed hard. "And you should too, Xander. After all, you helped take care of Oz when he was wolfed out." Xander's eyes widened in realization. This was the werewolf Oz lying on the ground. But how could that be? The Oz that it was supposed to be a part of was standing before them.