The Fever, Part 1 Author: Elsa Frohman Rating: PG-13 Spoilers: Post Chosen. This is my AU AtS S5. Summary: Spike is back, and he's human -- sort of. He's
working for Wolfram & Hart as an outside contractor.
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.
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."