Demons were schemers, and vampires were among the most ambitious of all demons, so it shouldn’t have surprised Spike. He and Dru had been scheming themselves, not so long ago… Well, that had mostly been for Dru’s benefit. Spike had wanted to make her happy, and if resurrecting the Judge to drain all the humanity out of people was what she wanted, then he’d been happy to arrange it. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. This, though…

Spike had thought he’d be happy to have Angelus back, and up to a point, he had been, it was just the way that the older vampire had been coming on to Drusilla, the way she’d been responding, that had rubbed him the wrong way. That and the frustration of being stuck in that sodding wheelchair, unable to fight for Dru, forced to watch as his sire all but stole her from him.

And then Angelus had acquired the sarcophagus containing the demon Acathla, that bloody great rock he’d been so obsessed with. He’d thrown himself into researching the ritual that would allow him to awaken the demon, who in turn would open a portal and suck the entire world into Hell, and… Spike didn’t want that. All he wanted was for things to go back to the way they had been, when Drusilla had been entirely his. Ambition in a vampire was all well and good, but Angelus was taking it way too far.

Suck the world into Hell? What could possibly go wrong with an idea like that? Spike supposed Angelus had expected more enthusiasm from him, but how could he be enthusiastic for something that would change everything? Angelus might think that sucking the world and all it contained into the Hell dimensions would be great, but all Spike could think of was everything that would be lost.

Truth was, he liked the world he was un-living in. It was full of so many good things, the kinds of things he enjoyed. Dog racing, football, cigarettes, those onion flower things, and of course, it had people. If the world was sucked into Hell, who would be left for vampires to feed on? Vampires with no human prey for sustenance would have to find a new source of blood, and odds were it would prove inferior. Nothing tasted better to a vampire than the blood of terrified humans. Well, the blood of a Slayer, maybe, but with only one of those at any given time, it wasn’t like there was enough to share. Finders keepers, and all that.

So, Angelus was determined to have everyone and everything on the planet sucked into literal Hell, once he had the awakening ritual down, and Spike wanted to keep it from happening, by any means necessary. He also wanted Dru back, she was HIS, but stopping Angel wouldn’t be easy. Spike would need some help, and there was only one person who might be able to do the job.

So it was time for Spike to do some scheming of his own, enlist some unwilling assistance in the form of the Slayer. Alone, neither one of them had any hope of stopping Angel, but if they combined forces, the two of them working towards the same goal, maybe he and Buffy could save the world.

It would take some fast talking on his part, getting her to agree to help him wouldn’t be easy, but it would be in her own best interests, because he could give her the information she needed, and he could cut the odds against Buffy by making sure she only had to fight Angel. If that wasn’t enough to convince her, Spike didn’t know what would be, but whatever the outcome, he had to make the offer. If he could convince her, maybe they’d both get what they wanted. He’d get Dru, and she’d get to put Angelus down for good. It was worth a try. The worst Buffy could do was stake him.

With any luck, by the time the night was over, Angelus would be nothing but dust, Spike would be heading out of town with Dru, and he and the other vampires could go back to their usual scheming, talking big about how they were going to destroy the world, while never really intending to do any such thing.

A vampire working with a Slayer to save the world, how supremely ironic, but Spike was willing to do whatever it took. He could only hope Buffy would be as well.


The End