“She’s crazy, isn’t she?” said Xander.
“Been mentioned, on occasion,” agreed Spike. He kept his eyes on the rainforest in front of him. The drive was no less hairy than the one to the Sanctuary had been. Sometimes he’d hit a dirt track or small road, created by loggers, but most of the time it was tough going. Xander got out at intervals to machete away the underbrush.
At least Papa Caius had equipped them reasonably. As well as the jungle knife, they had clean clothing. They were both in jeans, shirts and good walking boots. Spike had even found a leather duster that approximated his charred one.
“I mean, one minute she’s all ‘lets get the whole world sucked into hell’ - ‘cos like that’s never been thought of before - and the next it’s all hydrophobia.”
“Long word, China. You swallowed the dictionary?”
Xander ignored him, “So did she tell you anything…of the useful variety?”
“No. Yes. Maybe.”
“That’s what I like to hear, clarity in my vampires!”
The car lurched precariously to the right and Xander slid against the door. He wasn’t completely sure Spike hadn’t done it on purpose. “After all, still evil.” He thought, rubbing his shoulder. Considering his usual over protectiveness, the vampire hadn’t even suggested the seat belt.
“She said I was chasing rainbows.” Spike continued, “Wasn’t to go over them. Was to go under them. That’s where I’d find it.”
“And for the top prize winning answer – what is ‘it’?”
“Fucked if I know! She also said Darla had a baby! Sometimes you just got to say, ‘Yes dear.’ Leave it at that.” He swung sharply to the left, just missing a huge tree. It’s aerial roots banging against the roof of the car.
They could have taken the Pan American and swung down, through Kavanayen, before setting out across country, but it had seemed like an awful long detour – at the time.
Now Xander wasn’t so sure. The car’s engine ground sickeningly, as Spike forced it up a bank, “Chasing rainbows?” Xander asked, “As in Judy Garland?”
“To chase or build on rainbows, same as looking for a Philosopher’s Stone. Meaning you’re after a sodding impossibility.”
“So the choice is Dorothy or Harry Potter?!”
“You said it, a few cookies short of the packet! She said I wouldn’t find gold, only fire and dust. I’d find all the answers under Daddy’s salt. Like I said, ‘Yes dear’! Oh fuck!”
The ‘Oh fuck!’ accompanied a sudden lurch and the ground was jumping up to meet them. Spike threw the car into reverse, and backed it out of the ditch. “Now if you’d stop whittering, maybe I could bleeding well drive!”
Xander made the sign of the zipped mouth and stared again at the guidebook. He flicked through the pages, absentmindedly, and that’s when he saw it.
“Look! Oops my bad.” Spike swerved the car at the sound of his voice, and came to an abrupt halt in a stream.
He glared at Xander, “Well?”
“No, I think it’s a stream. Yup, pretty sure – stream. Oh. This!” He stuffed the guide under Spike’s nose.
Spike stared at the picture. It was a glorious shot. Water cascaded down from dizzying heights. The vegetation around was lush and green and underneath it read, ‘Salto Angel’ The Angel Falls.
“Daddy’s salt!” He exclaimed, “She’s gifted. Bloody raving, but gifted.”
Now they knew where they were headed, they seemed to make better time but although the higher ground of the Guayana plain was more open, they were in a race against sunrise. They followed the curve of the Churun River for a little way but it soon became evident that they would have to abandon the vehicle.
“Quicker if we go up river, anyhow,” said Spike, pointing to a number of dug out canoes moored by the bank. He slipped one loose.
“Do the words criminal activity mean nothing to you, fangboy?”
“We’ll return it.”
“How? Just how are we going to return it?” But despite Xander’s protests, he got in and Spike pushed off with hardly a sound.
Navigating a river in the dark was even more difficult than a jungle. Their oars caught on rocks and the boat bumped over swirls and hidden eddies. Xander’s back was sore and his shoulders ached.
For hours, they rowed in silence, only the constant jungle noise to keep them company. However steadily one sound began to dominate, the sound of water freefalling for over a kilometre, crashing into the river below. Thunder Water the locals called it and it was.
The sky began to lighten and now they could see it, Auyan Tepuy, the Mountain of Hell, rising in a solid wall of rock above the rainforest and the river. The boat swayed precariously. “We’d better stop if we don’t want to be damp kibble,” said Xander. “Besides – with the sun an’all,”
“Be another good hour’s walk through the forest. Better off ‘ere.” But the first rays of the sun were already bathing the flanks of the Tepuy, colouring it gold and Spike’s back began to steam in the dawn. The light caught tiny water droplets, thrown up by the falls, creating rainbows in the spray.
What had Dru said? ‘No gold at the end, only fire and dust’? “Gotta go under the Falls!” He exclaimed, suddenly, “Under the rainbows!”
“I am SO not going under there! Suicide is not painless!”
Spike however ignored his lover’s protests because he was burning. Standing up in the boat, Spike dove into the water. The currents dragged him unerringly towards the centre of the pool, water hammering on all sides. Spike was battered and bounced from jagged rock to jagged rock. The raging pool turned red and the Devil’s Caldron churned until it looked black.
Xander scanned the foaming water but Spike was nowhere to be seen. Without thinking he jumped in, “SPIKE! SPIKE? Where are you?” His frantic calls just fell against the sides of the Tepuy and reverberated in the canyon. Surface diving under the water, Xander’s panic turned to terror when he saw the blood streaming back on the currents.
He bobbed up, flailing wildly and gasping for breath. The boat had shattered into so much matchwood.
He kicked out as something touched his ankle. “If there’re piranhas in this river you are SO dead Spike! Like even more dead!” He thought, kicking at whatever it was again. But the ‘somethings’ had hold and with a sharp pull, he was back under the surface.
He was being pulled, no dragged, against the current, the water going up his nose until he coughed and spluttered. He could just make out tiny hands tugging on his clothes. The little people, no taller than his forearm, were skinny with long limbs that ended in webbed hands and feet. Their green hair flowed and tangled like waterweeds.
His lungs burned and he thought his chest would explode. “Look at me ma,” he thought, “I’m drowning!”
The water sprites rose and sank in some bizarre dance. Almost as if they’d heard him they began to come up close, and he could see their huge, almond shaped eyes. They kissed him, one after the other, giving him air and disappearing to the surface for more.
SPIKE! He could see the limp form of the vampire, being buffeted in front of him. Blood streamed from a nasty gash in his forehead. Propelled by the water sprites, Xander swam towards his stricken lover. He grasped him safely around the torso and began to swim for the surface but the sprites held him back.
“Letting me up now?” He asked mentally, but the water sprites had other ideas. Instead of up, they pulled him further down, until the pool was dark but calmer. He swam under his own steam, towing Spike and still being supplied with air by the excitable little sprites, that flitted and darted around them.
A great yawning cave appeared in front of him and the sprites nudged him inside. Then and only then, did they allow him to rise to the surface. He came spluttering up, gasping and dragged his limp lover onto a wide ledge. They were deep in the heart of the Tepuy but the air smelt fresh. Shafts of sunlight told of a hole high above their heads.
“Thanks!” He thought, waving at the sprites, who splashed and flitted on the surface before disappearing.
Xander attended to his vampire, making sure he wasn’t lying in direct sunlight. There was a lot of bruising and cuts but all of those would heal. However, Spike seemed heavier than normal. “Water!” Thought Xander. Spike was filled with water. He turned the blond over and began to pump his back, pushing the water from dead lungs. In the strange half-light of the cave, Xander could see the water splashing onto the floor with every push.
All of a sudden, there were voices and he could see the beam of a flashlight, in a tunnel a little way off. “Damn! Just come on down! Go ahead make my day!” He thought. He could see the shadow of a gun. There was no time to move Spike. There was only just enough to find a place for him to hide, before three men entered the cave.
“And another one! See Boss, I told you the falls were no deterrent.” Said one man nudging Spike’s prone form with the toe of his boot.
“We should just seal up this shaft and be done with it” said another.
“NO!”
“But Mr. Rydell, you don’t have the Tears any more. Without them this tunnel is useless.”
“Yep no stones, no water sprites, no water,” agreed the first chap.
“NO WATER! It’s been pissing on us since we began this operation. It’s higher now than ever. Kuma is playing with us but I will win. No one, not even a Goddess messes with Dew Rydell!”
So, that was Mr Rydell. “Well I’m ready when you are,” thought Xander but all three men carried guns so he stayed put.
It was a mistake. Two of them raised Spike between them and made their way back up the tunnel. Rydell took a quick glance around the cavern before following, his lumbering form, rolling up the passage.
As their voices receded, Xander came out of hiding. He was too stunned to get his brain in gear. They had HIS vampire. And what did they mean by another one? How many Spikes were there? He’d seen duplicate Buffys and duplicate Xanders, so it wasn’t a dumb idea to think there might be duplicate Spikes, running around the Venezuelan Rainforest. No, back up there! It was an uber dumb idea!
Spike meanwhile, was just coming round. He felt like he’d been for a swim at the base of the tallest waterfall in the world. Hang on! He had. Now at least it was dark and safe, if you didn’t count the chains.
He tested them for strength but these had been designed with vampires in mind.
“I wouldn’t do that, man,” said a voice to his left and he looked to see another vampire, attached to the chain. Beside him was another and another. However there was no power in these sorry specimens. “Bloody stupid fledges,” sneered Spike mentally.
“What the fuck is going on?” He asked out loud, with all the authority of a master.
“Diamonds,” replied the vamp. “They put this micro chip in our heads, see? So we can’t kill and then we mine diamonds.” He sounded defeated, resigned to his fate.
“And just who the hell are ‘they’?”
“You know, Rydell and his goons.”
“Ahh!” Spike screamed, thumping the walls. This was a whole new nightmare. He had this surreal vision of colouring all the number twos in blue. Xander was right. That’s how simple this job should have been.
He looked at the despondent vamps with derision. They behaved just like the ones at the party had done. But so they were chipped, there was more than one way to skin a cat. Convenient accidents, with dangerous machinery and sharp tools happened all the time. However there was a notable lack of tools.
“Right. You mind telling me, what we mine those diamonds with?” He asked.
The vampire held up his hands. They were bloody and raw to the bone, “These,” he said.
Chapter 11
Xander stared above him. He couldn’t see the hole but he knew it was there. Crepuscular rays streamed through the opening. The passage, down which his lover had been dragged, was pitch black by comparison, now that the flashlights had gone. He crept to the mouth of the cavern but could hear nothing except the scrabble of the occasional bat or lizard.
Scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch, more fauna skittered behind him, bringing down shale from the inner walls of the Tepuy. One stone landed in the water with a plop. He jumped round only to stare down the muzzle of a tazer rifle.
“We got one, Sir,” called the soldier to someone Xander couldn’t quite see. “What do you want us to do with it?”
Riley Finn emerged from the gloom, coiling a wire he’d unclipped from the harness he wore, “It’s okay. You can stand down Soldier. I’ll take it from here. Start preparing.” And he ushered Xander to the side of the cave while three other men began spreading out equipment.
“Hey lofty, you been dogging me all picture,” said Xander trying to raise a smile but the former initiative man just stared at him impassively.
He tried again, “How’s Sam?”
“Good. Anya?”
“Demon.”
“Oh, marriage not work out? Sorry. None of my business.”
“No, no it’s okay. Lets just say it could have been better, as in it could have been. Long story, I’ll tell you when you’ve got a year.”
There was an awkward silence; Xander kept glancing behind him at the tunnel entrance.
“Well gotta go,” he said eventually, “nice chatting and all that. Must do it again sometime.”
“Not so fast. Why are you here and where are you going?”
“Without getting all schoolyard about it, you first.”
“Can’t. Covert operation.”
“I’ll tell you mine if you’ll tell me yours.”
Riley sighed, “Military would have my ass, but I know you’re good for it so here goes. An ex initiative scientist has been selling military secrets on the open market. Recently, we heard that the master vamps in the area were being picked off. Not a problem, but it came to our attention that the minions were being caught, chipped, drugged and set to work in mines, all courtesy of our mercenary.”
Xander felt the sudden need to sit down. There was a large boulder to his left, so he did.
“It gets better,” Riley continued. “According to sources in the know, two diamonds, known as the Tears of Kuma, were stolen to order from her temple, and were to be delivered to an address in Mexico. We don’t know who was to make the delivery, but they never arrived. Or if they did, they didn’t have the stones anymore, because Dew Rydell, the man whose party we were at, had the stones there. We were to retrieve them, but someone got to them and took them first.”
Xander was exceptionally proud of the way he managed not to blurt out Spike and his involvement in all this. He should have been given a medal.
Riley carried on, “Rydell is bored with his vamps. They’re not quick enough to satisfy his greed. He wants the mines stripped so he can corner the market and is intending on using the power of the Stones to control the Falls. He will scour the rock with water and strip it bare.”
“Kuma and her little water buddies won’t have a happy about that!” said Xander.
“Which is why her stones MUST be returned. As it is, her acolytes are demanding human sacrifice. With the Stones and the vamps, Rydell will have total control of the mining in the area. We are here to terminate his operation – now.”
Xander let the information settle, watching what the other three were doing with curiosity.
“How are you going to rescue chipped vamps with silly putty?” He asked. “Hang on, I know this – it’s plastique! You can’t blow the mine! Spike’s in there!”
He sprung to his feet and tried to make a break for it, down the passage. Riley stopped him.
“Spike! Okay now it’s your turn, Xander. What the hell are you two up to?”
“Same as you, without the Big Bang scenario. We’re returning the stones. He’s got them. At least I think he’s got them. Haven’t seen them for a while, but if you bring the Tepuy down on him, we’ll never know.”
“Orders are orders, Xander,” said Riley, crossing his arms over his chest. “Look, I know what you’re thinking, but this isn’t personal. It isn’t about Buffy and Spike.”
“Buffy and Spike? You know about Buffy and Spike? When did you find out about Buffy and Spike? Why didn’t I get the memo?”
“Kinda got the visual. It’s not important. This is.”
“You betcha GI ass it is! Go back to the script, and for Buffy and Spike, read Xander and Spike! And then tell me you’re going to drop half a ton of rock on my lover’s head!”
The last words were so loud they echoed around the cavern and the other soldiers looked up in surprise.
“Shh! Covert operations need to be covert,” snapped Riley. He regarded Xander carefully. His outburst was so sincere that the soldier didn’t doubt it for a minute. Supernatural beings raised this kind of passion in a man. He thought about Buffy and his hunger for her. How it could never be satisfied, until he was driven to vampire whores. And the bite. For someone to want you like that, to need you, to devour you. It was almost a blessing.
He looked at the pain and anger on Xander’s face, “You really love him don’t you? And does he feel the same?”
“Oh yeah. We were cursed. I love him so much it gives me ouchies. It’s a scary, messy, no emotions but need, kinda love. But it’s real, that’s the main thing.” And the moment he said it he knew it was. “Look let me find him. Then you boys can play with all the fireworks in the box.”
Riley relented. “I know what you feel, Xander. Believe me when I say I understand. All of it. Go and get your boy. You have fifteen minutes. Get him and get the hell out. If you make it, thank me later.”
Xander didn’t need to be told twice. Riley just had time to stuff a weapon and a flashlight into his hands before he was off and running, up the passage as hard as he could.
Spike kept his head down as he trudged towards the work face of the mine with the rest of the chain gang; his vampire brain working overtime for a means of escape. These might be chipped, drugged minions but not him. He was a master and he had something to fight for. He was also mightily pissed off. He hadn’t had a decent meal in days and was in desperate need of a fag. Those two things were motivation in themselves.
But opportunities did not line up to present themselves. They were halted at the face and addressed by Rydell himself, “God damned Goddess sees fit not to cooperate but you filthy leeches will. I will have enough diamonds to quash all opposition, not even that mean tempered, tight fist Austin will rival me. He has no mines of any sort. No, I am King here. Now DIG!”
Hidden in the centre of the chain, Spike began to pick out half a dozen or so small, surface stones, before he needed to tear at the rock. Vampire hands were strong enough to rip the heads from demons, crush bone and bench press Greyhound coaches but diamond mining hurt to buggery! Every now and then, small wagons would pass by to collect the gems.
Rock dust fell in his boots and crunched under foot. A song came into his head and with it the beginnings of an idea. For every stone he dug, he dropped two, grinding them under his boot until they were embedded in the sole. The loss wasn’t noticed, the other vampires dug so much more slowly than he did.
He nudged the bloke next to him, and used a favourite icebreaker, “So, who do you kill for fun ‘round here?”
The vamp stared at him as if he’d just dropped in from another planet.
“Hey no talking!” A guard came and hit Spike square in the small of his back. The hit wasn’t hard enough, but he crumpled and dropped to his knees. Quickly he put the chain between his wrists, under his diamond-encrusted boot and began to file, pulling with all his strength.
He continued until he was dragged to his feet by his hair, “Get on with it!” yelled the guard, throwing him at the rock face.
That was just one of many ironies, Spike thought. “He’s only that cocky ‘cos he thinks I’m chipped and bugger me if it ain’t the truth, but he’ll get his and his wanker of a boss. There’s a lot of skin on that fat cat.”
As he stood, he slipped the slack of the chain between him and the next vamp under his boot. He continued to dig and file, eventually swapping the chain for the one on the other side.
Xander was lost in a labyrinth of mine tunnels and shafts. He thought he could hear noises ahead of him, hoping against hope that somehow Spike had ended up on that detail. “Maybe I should have asked for an extension on that there fifteen minutes,” he scolded himself.
He rounded a bend and found himself at the top of a shear drop. Below him was quite an operation. Huge arc lamps were fitted into the walls and vampires stood all around, gouging at the rock with their bare hands. Others pulled the wagons like pit donkeys. He scanned the bizarre scene but he couldn’t see his lover. Not that was until he hung right over the lip of the tunnel. Spike’s bleached hair was clearly visible directly below him.
He wanted to be subtle. He really did, but there was no time. He dropped some gravel onto Spike and about half the chain looked up. He raised the weapon and shouted, “Get the hell out! Go on pretty vampires, shoo, shoo!” And with that, he shot out the lamps, in a shower of sparks.
The moment the lights went out, Spike wrenched on his wrist chains, already weakened from the filing. They snapped easily. He broke the ones that joined him to the other vamps and, keeping hold, dragged the two ends of the chain towards him, launching the entire row of captives out into the room. From the cries of pain, he knew they’d connected with the guards. He was sure that a lot of the fledges would bite in panic. That might be unintentional enough to stave off a brain fry. He sure to fuck hoped so.
“China!” He yelled,
“Here,” Xander replied and Spike leapt vertically towards the sound of his lover’s voice.
Xander caught him in his arms, falling backwards, Spike landing on top of him. “I missed you too, vampire mine, but not really the time,” he said as they staggered to their feet. Shots could be heard as they set off down the passage.
“And?” asked Spike, some minutes later. This was not the rescue, he’d hoped for. They entered yet another cave. This one had a tall stope and three possible exits.
“Okay, what do you want me to say? I’m lost. There, does that give you a big happy? The glorified bricklayer couldn’t find his way out of a wet paper bag!”
“Actually that was the second thing I didn’t bloody want you to say! First being that Buffy’s ex toy soldier is about to blow this place sky high!”
“Shh! That’s supposed to be a secret.”
“Well not any more.”
A rumble began deep in the bowels of the Tepuy. It grew steadily louder, travelling in front of a great shock wave that bounced off the walls and thundered in every tunnel.
“Duck an’ cover!” Bellowed Spike above the deafening noise, but Xander couldn’t hear. His ears were popping with the sudden increase in pressure. Spike shoved him to the ground; blanketing the young man with his own body, only moments before the shock wave reached them.
Spike raised his head carefully, shaking the rock dust from his coat. Xander lay very still, too still. He kissed his lover on the pulse point of his neck, expecting the worst. Xander was still alive. “You all right, Sweetmeat?” He asked. No one could have been more relieved than the vampire when the brunet started to stir.
Xander shook himself free of the clinging dust and they both stood up, carefully. He choked several times trying to clear the stuff from his throat.
“Hold still,” said Spike, and proceeded to wipe the dirt form Xander’s eyes and face. The remains of the chains still clanked about his wrists. He took a piece of the rubble and beat the manacles until they were off.
Part of the stope had collapsed in the blast and blocked all three tunnels. They both stared at the sealed exit in front of them. “It’s an ex exit,” said Xander, shaking rock dust from his hair. He swallowed several times, to get his ears to pop.
“Certainly is.” Spike agreed. He began to tap the walls, listening for the hollow sound, which would tell him of an opening behind the rubble. Even though he’d had quite enough digging to last him several unlifetimes, he couldn’t resist pocketing the occasional diamond. “For a rainy day,” he thought.
Eventually, he found what he was looking for, and uncovered one of the tunnels, leading out of the chamber. He moved the stones one by one, and Xander helped. They worked together until there was enough space to squeeze through.
But it was not a way out of the Tepuy. Instead, they travelled further and further into the cavern complex. The rough hewn walls of the mine gave way to smooth stone, and now the tunnels were lit at intervals by flickering torches, making their shadows jump and dance.
Xander looked up at the high vaulted ceiling. Carvings of water sprites hung like gargoyles. “Spooky much!” He shuddered. And it was so quiet, only their footfalls broke the silence.
Each consecutive chamber got brighter and brighter, polished, cut diamonds now glittered in the walls. It was clear the passages were leading them to a specific point. They rounded a corner and were confronted by two enormous, diamond-encrusted doors.
“So are all bets in?” Asked Xander, “What do you think, The Wizard of Oz or Lord Voldemort?”
“Shall we find out?” said Spike, with one hand on the doorknob.
He swung open the doors and they both stared, awestruck. The room was so dazzling it hurt. The floor was polished obsidian; so black it looked for all the world like a huge, deep pool. The lantern light rippled in its surface, but it was the statue, that dominated the room.
Starting at her feet, Spike and Xander slowly raised their heads to take in the twenty-foot image of the Goddess Kuma. Her hair was a carved waterfall, cascading down her back and her skirts foamed about her feet. The dress on the statue was coated entirely in Mirrorwing butterflies, so that it appeared to change hue as they moved closer. The brilliant blues gave way to lilacs and sea greens.
She held a lightening bolt in one hand and the moon in the other. They couldn’t see her whole face until they were almost directly under her. She was angled coyly to one side, facing the moon, and it was clear she was weeping. There was a small teardrop shaped hole on her cheek and another on her naked breast.
At the party, the tiny imitation had made the stones look gigantic, but here they would appear as what they were, The Tears of Kuma.
“Do the honours, shall I?” Said Spike and without further ado, he started to climb.
When he was perched high on her shoulder, he undid the belt of his trousers and slid them to his knees.
“Hey, that has to be heresy, or blasphemy or something ‘ey’. No mooning the Moon Goddess!” Xander yelled from far below.
Spike just grinned and proceeded to extract the stones from their somewhat distasteful hiding place.
“No wonder it was my turn!” Thought Xander, “and can I have an eww with that please?”
He was so busy watching Spike fitting the stones, that he didn’t notice small doors opening in the walls until it was too late. Hands seized him on all sides and he couldn’t break free. He kicked and struggled against the acolytes but it was no use, “Not stealing, honest, putting back. Spike! Tell them, Spike!”
Spike, hanging upside down to fit the second stone, heard the commotion below him. He rammed the last stone home and dropped head first, only righting himself at the last minute, his coat flying out behind him. It looked impressive, game face an’ all, but he was too late. He pelted for the little doors sliding the last few feet, the stones in his boots carving great ruts in the floor. But his hands hit diamonds as they slammed in his face. He roared so loud the room shook. Dragging a door right off its hinges, he ran after them, still snarling.
The acolytes dragged Xander round the next bend, but when Spike got there, seconds later, they’d vanished. Several more doors faced him instead. One was slightly ajar. He opened it and began to climb a narrow stone staircase. Surely, they couldn’t have taken Xander up here; there wasn’t enough space to swing a cat.
He was just about to turn around when he thought he heard another door at the top of the staircase close. He sprinted up the last few steps, flung it open and launched himself through it.
“LOOK before you leap, SPIKE!” He berated himself, teetering on the edge of a narrow ledge. He was on the outside of the Tepuy. The wind howled around him. Far below, he could see another, wider platform, bathed in sunlight. On it stood two flaming torches in iron stands, a font and a dressed altar. A faint smell of stale blood wafted up on the breeze.
He tried to go back through the door but it wouldn’t open. He shoulder barged it until he was in danger of falling off the ledge.
“FUCKING HELL!” He screamed. The mid morning sun sat just below the crest of the mountain. The moment it was over the top, he was dust on the wind. If he jumped, it would be straight out into daylight.
Trapped! And this wasn’t a desert, a fire, a jungle, a waterfall or even an explosion. This was the Sun and true death. The death that would finally send William’s soul to hell.
He didn’t feel sorry for William, however. He was sorry for only three things. Sorry he hadn’t killed Rydell personally, sorry he wouldn’t get to kill Austin and extremely sorry Xander and he hadn’t had more time. Yes, he was very sorry about that. He knew what had happened in the Sanctuary, he knew and hadn’t said a word. Did Xander still believe it was only a curse, which bound them? He would never find out.
He pressed his back against the door, closed his eyes and prepared to die.
Xander had been dragged hither and thither through the temple. None of the acolytes spoke a word of English or apparently Spanish, and he’d tried begging in both. They were deceptively strong as well, and soon had him tied fast. A white robe was thrown over his head and he was manhandled, through a doorway, and out onto a platform. He could see two flaming torches, in iron stands, a font and a dressed altar. The whole area was bathed in the mid morning sun, but a faint smell of stale blood took the romance out of the scene.
The lead acolyte began to chant, anointing the altar with water from the font. Xander looked frantically about and out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement high above him. He looked up to see Spike, his coat flapping in the breeze.
“Spike!” He bellowed, “Help!”
Spike opened his eyes at the sound of his lover’s voice but could do nothing. He watched in horror as the acolytes bundled Xander onto the altar and prepared a knife. Xander was still screaming for help, “William! Do something! Anything! Now!”
“I CAN’T! The Sun, Xander! For fuck’s sake look at the sun!”
Xander couldn’t believe it. They’d fought through everything in the last week, together. Just as they’d hunted demons side by side, back in Sunnydale. From the time Xander lost his job, they’d managed to defeat motorcycle bandits, and fight their way through fire, jungle, water and even rock. They’d bickered like an old married couple, but Spike would kill for him. How could it all end now? Like this?
And he hadn’t even told Spike he loved him, truly, madly, deeply loved him. He knew the curse had broken. It didn’t matter. They’d never been cursed; they’d been blessed.
He closed his eyes when the knife touched his chest, “WILLIAM!”
Spike closed his eyes and launched himself from the ledge. He landed against the leader, with his hair and clothes already alight, knocking the knife from his hands. He bowled over the acolyte and grabbing hold of his lover, rolled off the altar, pulling the cloth with him. He carried on rolling, over the edge of the platform and down the side of the Tepuy.
Over and over they went, the underbrush dousing the flames. They came to rest deep beneath the canopy of the forest, where no sunlight penetrated, the thick bushes breaking their fall.
“Ugh,” sighed the vampire.
“I’ll see your ugh and raise you a oww!” Xander said.
Spike had lost some hair and had a nasty burn down the right side of his face. Luckily, the altar cloth had put out the worst of the flames or he’d have been sporting another ruined duster.
Xander had faired better but had a two-inch long cut where the knife blade had dragged. Spike licked it better and undid the ropes.
“Look,” said Xander, after a minute or so of nursing their respective wounds, “You know the curse broke, right? I mean I died. Pulled a Buffy. Papa Caius made with the resurrection hocus-pocus and it jumped started you too for a moment. The curse was weaker than the spell. Probably down to Halfrek cheating an’ all that. Just thought you should know.”
“I know.”
“And you’re okay with this? With us?”
“If you are. Look Anya…”
But Xander silenced him, “Anya made me feel like a grown up, like a man but…no hear me out…you make me feel more than that. You make me feel powerful. I learn more from you in an hour, than in half a decade of High School. And, I know that’s maybe not so hard.
“So and what I’m trying to say is this…I love you…and that’s about it really. Wow, like about seventy words to say three…”
“So stop!” Spike pulled him in for a kiss, “Love you too, Wanker. There, four.”
It was all that needed to be said.
The wind stirred the trees but still there was no sunlight. An ominous, dark cloud had risen to blot out the sun. There was a rumble in the heavens. Below them was a road way and below that another river. They watched as vampires and men spilled from the smoking mine entrance, the vamps vanishing into the jungle while the men clambered into jeeps. The huge figure of Dew Rydell squeezed his lumbering form into one along side two sacks, spoils from untold months of intense vampire labour. Spike growled, low in his throat.
A great flash of lightening and a tremendous clap of thunder answered his growl. And then came the water.
It poured in torrents down the mountainside, sweeping everything in its path. Kuma was wreaking her vengeance on her enemies. From every springhead it came, welling up. Little rivulets got larger and larger as the Goddess cleansed her mountain.
Spike couldn’t help the whoop of joy when muddy water cascaded onto Rydell’s jeep. The diamond miner floundered like the stuck pig he was, tried desperately to hold on, but was knocked clean out by a massive log. The bags of diamonds spilt in the mud and the stones sank back into the Tepuy. At the same time, it began to rain.
Rydell was swept into the river below. The last Spike and Xander saw of him, were his fat legs bobbing in the foam.
Vengeance however, is a weapon of mass destruction. They clung to the trees as the deluge continued. Spike used the ropes from Xander’s captivity to tie them both on before the force of the pouring water made it impossible to even raise their heads. They rode out the storm together.
A cry for help echoed through the forest and a uniformed body tumbled past them. Xander recognised one of Riley’s men. He nudged Spike, who looked to see Riley trying vainly to grab a hold of anything. Spike didn’t even think, he untied himself and reached out with vampire speed as the soldier swept past. He held him by his utility belt until the worst of the storm was over, and then reeled him in.
The three sat and stared for a while, Spike breaking the ice with, “Can’t believe I just did that. Becoming a sodding white hat. Just stake me now!”
“Hey Spike,” said Riley, “still drinking your nose blood?”
“Watcha Little Boy Blue, still donating to the cause?”
Xander untied himself from the tree and the three of them helped each other down to the road, careful to keep to the shadows.
Once they were at the bottom Riley took Xander out into the sunlight and said, “I don’t know what you two got, but for some reason it seems to work. Look no hard feelings. I’m happy, you’re both happy…. I think you’re a brave man Xander Harris. I was in love with a super human and it’s still the scariest thing I’ve ever done. He saved my bacon back there. If there’s anything, I can do for you?”
Xander didn’t answer…Spike did.
“Hey, just remember supernatural hearing! You could always deactivate this sodding chip and if there’s a lift back to Mexico we wouldn’t say no.”
Riley looked at Xander who nodded, “We’ve still got a score to settle and a girl to rescue. And isn’t life just a big, crazy tossed salad. If we don’t get back to the Baja in two days, she dies. All the bad guys are human, but if you can’t…or won’t…”
Riley could and did. He knew what it was like to be an Initiative lab rat. He had been used for months. Besides, the mopping up operation required Austin to be taken out as well. He was into more than just diamonds. By nightfall, they were back outside Austin’s ranch house.
There was extra back up there to meet them. Riley said, “Okay, you go in first. See if you can find the girl. We’ll give you ten minutes, then the party’s gonna start.”
Spike and Xander started to move off. Riley caught Xander by the arm, “Y’know, Xander, really good to see you…and him. Kinda reminds me of old times. Good times. If I don’t see you when this is all over….” He gave Xander’s arm a friendly squeeze.
They crept towards the house, “What was that all about?” Whispered Spike, “Do I need to get jealous?”
“A bad case of nostalgia is all. Thank the Gods and keep quiet. It’s what got you chipless.”
“Only turned it off. Didn’t bloody well take it out!”
“So be a good boy, and only drain the bad guys.”
Inclining his head quizzically at his lover for a moment, Spike pondered that last sentence. It sounded amazingly like Xander had given him permission to kill. Maybe he was reading too much into it.
Spike jimmied the lock of a downstairs window with the skill of a professional and they slipped inside without a sound. They made their way through the house. Spike quickly found the room he thought the girl was in. Though, “Remember,” he said, “I’m a vampire, not a preternatural tracker dog.”
On the count of three, they rushed the door. The guards were caught napping. Jaquinta screamed as Spike broke the neck of one and threw the other through the window. That tore it. The house went into uproar.
The terrified girl didn’t move, however. Xander took her by the hand and tugged her towards the hole in the windowpane. She stumbled, “Sorry,” she said in a coarse whisper.
He looked at her carefully, her body was a mass of bruises and there was blood matted in her hair. Someone had had fun while they were gone.
Angrily he swept her up into his arms, “Coming?” He said to Spike.
“Got to go see a bad guy about some blood,” said the vampire slipping into game face, “That is…if it’s all right with you?” Spike looked at Xander hovering in the window, holding the shaking girl. He waited for the storm that never came.
Xander looked down at Jaquinta’s face, lined with fear. He remembered her father’s face as it swung slowly back and forth. These faces had haunted his nightmares. What should he say to her? Sorry for your loss? It didn’t quite cut it, did it? Buffy had dusted vamps for way less. But maybe they should let the army…. He heard the shooting begin and said, “Knock y’self out, Lover.” Then he was gone.
Ignoring the shouts and gunfire, Spike sprinted back through the house. He thought he saw Austin heading towards his gem collection. Yes, that figured. The mean bugger wasn’t going to leave that for the IRS.
Spike pushed is way through fighting soldiers and bodyguards and got to the doors of the dining room just in time to see them close. He opened them carefully. Austin had opened every case. He wasn’t stuffing stones the way Rydell had. He knew exactly which ones to select.
“Me mum ‘ad an old saying, ‘no pockets in shrouds!’”
“Now I’m sure we can be reasonable,” said Austin, looking the vampire right in the eye. Let us say, $50,000 dollars.” He held out a bundle of bills, “Your original fee I believe.”
Spike was right up to him before he finished the sentence. “I believe the original fee was $100,000, or maybe my arithmetic ain’t what it was.” Nevertheless, he took the money and slid it into his inside pocket.
The businessman was trying for cool. He would have succeeded, unless he were wired to a polygraph or standing in front of one of the undead. As it was the latter, he failed miserably. Spike heard his pulse race and smelt his fear. It was to be his first good meal in years, and no less sweet because it was legitimate.
He threw an arm over Austin’s shoulder, “Let’s not fall out over something as sordid as cash,” he said, pleasantly, pulling the businessman close, “Let’s fall out over something as bloody callous as murder.” That wasn’t quite so pleasant. In fact, it was so frightening that Austin had a little accident.
Spike tightened his grip so that Austin was in a painful headlock. He wrinkled his nose, “On the other hand, just gonna bite you for that alone!”
He sunk his fangs in good and drank deep. Before Austin lost consciousness, he heard the vampire whisper in his ear, “Next time you offer some bugger blood, have the courtesy to make it your own!” He knew no more.
Spike dropped the body and strode through the melee, as if it wasn’t happening. He felt good, he felt alive.
Xander had managed to get the bike onto a pick-up, and they began the long drive back to the Ramirez’ farm, “I’m a bad influence on you, Pet,” grinned the vampire, “taking and driving away is a felony.”
But Xander didn’t answer him. Maybe he regretted allowing Spike to kill Austin. If he did, he never said and Spike didn’t ask, but he promised himself that it would be his first and last vengeance kill. Vengeance was a weapon of mass destruction and he would do nothing more that might jeopardise this relationship. This was for keeps and if that meant pig’s blood in bags, “Then so be it.” He thought.
It was the next evening before they finally said goodbye to Jaquinta. She was still covered in bruises and there were dark circles under her eyes, but at least she hadn’t been raped, although someone had tried.
The bike was packed, and filled with petrol. Xander sat astride in the driver’s position, his helmet hanging on the handlebars, “You sure you’ll be okay?” He asked her.
She nodded slowly.
“So, what you gonna do?”
“I do not know,” she said. “Maybe I move away. Start again.”
“Not going to get the mine going?” Spike asked, lighting his first puff of the night.
“No money.” She replied.
He dug deep in the pockets of his duster, “These help?” he said, pouring a handful of precious stones into her palm. Some of them were cut stones from Austin’s collection, some of them raw diamonds, “Or these?” and he gouged a couple out from his boot sole.
“If he starts to drop his pants, run for the hills!” Said Xander. That raised a smile.
Spike snorted, “Sell ‘em, hock ‘em, make yourself something pretty, couldn’t give a rat’s arse. Now bugger off.” But he said it kindly.
“Are you coming?” Xander asked, when she’d gone inside the house.
Spike heaved himself onto the back of the bike, “So Sweetmeat, no financial worries, no employment commitments, you wanted to see the world, where shall we go?”
Xander kick started the bike and put it into gear, pointing it north, “Home.” He said.
Author’s note: Diamond mining can be done the way it is described here but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re not a vampire! There is one fallacy and that is that there are any in Auyan Tepuy. They are found in extinct volcanoes where they form pockets or pools of stones. Although they don’t look as spectacular as cut stones they do have a lustre and shine if the light hits one that’s not embedded. They are all the same shape, a tetrahedron. The tunnels are made by lava flow underground and are called Kimberlite Pipes; again, I don’t believe there are any in the Tepuy.
Stones are often washed out of these pipes by rainwater and can be picked up on the surface. Miners in South Africa could be asked to search beaches etc, stooping for hours and digging with their bare hands into crevices where stones might have stuck. At one time, the bodies of dead miners were not allowed to be removed from the mines in case diamonds were smuggled inside them.
Two more things: Diamond is the hardest substance on Earth, so what Spike does is possible, I think and a stope is like a man-made underground cliff. You certainly find them in coal, tin and arsenic mines, cos I’ve climbed one. I don’t know about diamond mines, just work with me here, ok.