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Chapter 5
PTB’s Rare and Exotic Books
It had been two weeks since Spike had moved into the first floor room inside the bookstore. In those two weeks, he had helped Willow and Lindsey dispatch of over two dozen vampires and three demons, two of which came courtesy of Lindsey’s visions. All in all, Spike was happy about the arrangement that he had with the two others. Sleep during the day and kick ass at night; fairly simple. He was even starting to like Lindsey; the Boy Scout had a sarcastic wit about him that Spike always appreciated. Spike definitely liked the way things were going.
Spike thought about this as he walked through the door of the bookstore after an early patrol, “Well kiddies, we can stop researching why the vampires have been quiet the past few days.”
Both Willow and Lindsey looked up from the large counter that was between the stairs and Spike’s room to look over at Spike.
“Why? What have you heard?” asked the redhead.
“Seems as though we have ourselves a Master who is gathering minions,” replied the vampire.
“Do we know what this Master’s agenda is? Opening the Hellmouth? Bringing forth some other high powered demon?” asked the always logical Lindsey.
“That’s the kicker, seems as though this Master is only in town to perform some type of hit.”
Willow looked up at this from where she was once again reading, “Like the mafia? Do vampires have a mafia? Do we know who this Master wants to whack?”
Spike looked over at the witch with a bit of amusement in his smirk, “Whack?”
Willow looked sheepishly between Spike and Lindsey, “I used to watch the ‘Sopranos’.”
“Anyways,” Spike continued, “I couldn’t get much else before I had to stake my informant.”
Spike could see the wheels turning in both his counterparts’ heads. Willow was the first to speak, “Well either we run into this Master and his horde or Lindsey gets a vision. Either way, we have almost no way of knowing who these targets are, and is it just me or does this seem a little too simplistic for a Master vampire?”
“The one thing you need to know about Master vampires, pet, is that we always have a reason for what we do. We always see the bigger picture. If I were this Master, I’d be wanting to take out any threats I have that could challenge my dominance. Which narrows down the options.”
Lindsey looked over at Spike, “But for a Master vampire, you were never rational.”
“True, but that was because of Dru. Whatever she wanted, she got. It was always about making her happy. If I was unattached, there is no telling the hell I would have caused.”
“Well,” Willow said, “I guess we better hope that this a rational type Master vampire, rather than a rules-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type.”
No sooner had Willow said this than Lindsey clutched his forehead in obvious discomfort.
“Blue Neon…..Joe…..Man with a sword….vampires, lots….Woman with a sword….oh shit.” Lindsey collapsed to one knee as he finished.
“Lindsey!” Willow yelled to get him out of his daze, “Are you alright?”
Lindsey groaned and nodded at her as he went over to the bathroom medicine cabinet for some aspirin.
“What did you mean by ‘Oh shit’?” asked Spike from the counter where he sat as Willow got a cold cloth from upstairs to put on Lindsey’s head.
“Here, put this on your head,” Willow handed the damp cloth over to Lindsey who sat down and leaned back in his chair.
“The woman with the sword beheaded the man with the sword after the vampire drained him,” said Lindsey.
“Okaayyy,” drew out Willow, “We’ve dealt with worse. But what about the location? Blue neon and some guy named Joe, doesn’t make sense.”
“Joe’s,” Spike said, “Nice little blues bar not that far from here. Has a nice blue neon sign that says ‘Joe’s’ on it. This could be right up your alley Boy Scout.”
“What do you mean?” asked Willow.
“Boy Scout here is a master swordsman. Seen him fight myself, weren’t for vampire strength, Lindsey would have skewered the poof.”
“Technically, I did skewer him. I just didn’t behead him. But Spike is right, I’ve been sword fighting since I was five when I took up fencing. There are few around that could match me,” retorted Lindsey.
Willow looked over at the two who were looking back at her. They were waiting for direction. Her direction. She was no longer the sidekick, it was her turn to dawn the proverbial tights. “Lets weapon up and head out. Lindsey and I will take the front, Spike will take the back.”
Both the vampire and seer moved quickly, each grabbing a sword from the weapons chest. Willow grabbed a miniature crossbow along with some arrows and her potions belt. The three then proceed to go out the back to Lindsey’s jeep. They had to hurry if they were going to save this man. It was already getting late and Willow worried that they might not make it in time. She also was a little discouraged about going into this blind. They had no idea what two people would be doing in the middle of an alley with swords. Well, unless they were Spike and Lindsey.
“Gentlemen,” Willow announced as they all took their seats in the jeep, “Watch your heads.”
Seacouver 2004
Joe’s
Duncan MacLeod was sitting at his usual spot down at the end of the bar finishing off his first beer. He wasn’t even planning on stopping in, but as he drove by he figured it couldn’t hurt. It was then that the buzz of another immortal hit him. He waited for a moment for someone to walk in, but they never did. It was then he knew for sure that this probably wasn’t a friendly immortal.
He put down a five dollar bill on the bar and headed out the door. His tan coat billowing from him, Duncan MacLeod walked with purpose. He turned into the side alley next to the bar knowing that if an immortal was waiting for him, this would be the place for them to wait.
He could make out a shadowy figure at the end of the alley and the brief flash that caught his eye assured Duncan that this person had already drawn their sword. Following suit, Duncan drew his sword as well.
It was then that something grabbed Duncan from behind with a strength and quickness that could only be attributed to a vampire. It was then that he felt the fangs enter his neck and begin to draw out his essence.
“Don’t drain him completely, lover. I want to see his eyes as I take his head,” came from the immortal at the end of the alley, who Duncan could now safely guess as Abigail Rogers.
Duncan was growing weaker with each second, soon his sword slipped from his grasp, and he knew it was over, this was how the Highlander was going to die. Abigail began to approach, her sword slightly raised in a striking position. Duncan wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing his eyes, so he closed them as the vampire withdrew his fangs and just held him still so that Abigail could deliver the killing blow. He could hear the sword cock back as she prepared to end his 400 year existence. But the blow never came.
“Now, now love. No jumping into the ring until you’ve been tagged.”
Hearing the new voice, Duncan opened his eyes to the sight of a man with bleached blonde hair wearing all black.
“You will pay for your interference!” screamed the female immortal.
“Big words for such a little girl,” said the man as he pulled out his own sword to defend himself.
With that the two clashed swords with each other as Duncan watched in awe. This man was surprisingly holding his own against the immortal. From what Duncan could tell this man was not immortal because Duncan never felt a buzz. Duncan could also feel the vampire that still held him from behind tense up.
“Boys, kill the disrupter,” said the vampire.
But as the vampire turned around, he noticed that his minions were no longer there. In there place stood a little redheaded girl reloading a crossbow and man holding a sword. ‘Probably immortals,’ he thought to himself.
He pushed the half dead immortal from his arms and charged at the two. But, the master vampire only made it two steps before he saw the girl raise her hand at him and mutter a few words. It was then that he realized that his coat had caught fire, then his shirt, and then his pants. The vampire gave a scream that seemed penetrate through the night.
The battle going on between Spike and Abigail continued until Abigail heard the scream. With that she thrust her sword into Spike’s gut, turning her attention to her husband whom she saw going up in flames.
“NO!!!!!!!”
She rushed over seeing the ashes that were once her husband unceremoniously laying on the ground. She looked over at the redhead who was standing on guard.
“You will pay for this witch. You’re already dead, you’re just still breathing. But I will take care of that soon.” Abigail then took off the other way bounding over Spike who was holding his stomach from where he was stabbed. Willow watched as the woman disappeared into the night before checking on Spike.
“You okay, Spike?” she asked the fallen vampire.
“Nothing a nip of drink won’t fix,” he groaned as he stood with Willow’s support.
Lindsey, on the other hand was tending to the male victim that they had saved. He was already applying pressure to the bite wounds while checking him over for anything else serious.
“We need to get him to a hospital.” Lindsey spoke to the other two.
The man on the ground seemed to gain a bit of clarity at this comment, and decided to voice his opinion, “No. No hospitals. Get the bartender, Joe. Get him out here.”
Lindsey looked over at Spike and Willow. Willow just shrugged her shoulders and ran to the front of the alley and turned left towards the entrance. Upon entering, Willow headed straight for the bar.
“Are you Joe?” she asked the bartender.
“No, he’s in the back. I can go get him though,” replied the bartender.
“Please.”
The bartender returned from the back with an older man with salt and pepper type hair with a similar colored beard. His walk was noticeably awkward as he approached Willow at the bar.
“What I can do for you young lady?” he asked her in a friendly voice.
“Um..Well…You see, there is this friend of yours outside. He’s kind of out of it. When I suggested a hospital, he gave me your name,” she nervously told the man.
The man’s face lost all tones of friendliness as he heard her words, “Where is he?”
“Outside in the alley.”
“Take me to him. Johnny, I’m stepping out for the night,” he spoke to first her and then to the bartender.
Willow led the man out the front door over to the alley. Once they rounded the corner she heard the sound of a gun being cocked into place. Turning back she saw that it was Joe who had pulled a gun from somewhere and was now holding it at the ready.
“No offense,” he told her, “but it can be dangerous out here.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” she muttered under her breath.
When they both approached, Lindsey was still checking on the man who was now sitting up, while Spike was leaning up against the wall smoking a cigarette. Thankfully, both Spike and Lindsey had sheathed their swords out of sight as well as the cross bow she was using.
Joe approached the other man, “Mac, are you alright?”
“I’ll live,” came the short response. He then looked over at Willow, “You know she was serious. She will come for you and she won’t stop until she avenges her husband’s death.”
“Thanks for the concern mate, but will be able to handle it,” came Spike’s reply from over where he was leaning.
“Look, I appreciate you three helping me, but you are all way over your heads,” said the man as he tried to stand only to wobble a bit before being supported by Joe.
“What do you mean?” asked Willow.
“Well you all obviously know of some of the things that roam the street at night and you can also obviously take care of yourselves. But you will need my help. At least here me out, come over to my dojo tomorrow evening. We’ll talk, and you can do whatever you’d like with what I tell you.”
Willow agreed that they had nothing to lose by hearing this man out, “Okay. But this better not be any type of trap. Because if it is, well…well, my friend over there is going to get real cranky, and he tends to get violent when he gets cranky.”
“Great, the place is called DiSalvo’s Gym and Dojo. It’s on C street.”
With that, the man and Joe walked off towards the parking lot leaving the others to themselves.
“Will, do think it is such a good idea to meet with this guy?” asked Lindsey.
“What could it hurt?” was the simple response from Willow.
“Could be a trap,” added Spike.
“Could be,” replied Willow.
“Well I guess we should get back. We have to open the store in eight hours,” said Lindsey as they headed towards the parking lot and the jeep.
Seacouver 2004
Tara’s apartment
It was the day after Duncan was rescued at the bar and it was ten in the morning and Tara had just gotten dressed after coming out of the shower when she felt the buzz of an immortal. Then she heard an accompanying knock on the door. Clad in a white t-shirt that didn’t quite make it down all the way to the top the blue jeans that she wore, she went to answer the door.
“You ready Kid?” asked Methos who was donned in a dark brown patterned sweater with tan slacks and a tan overcoat.
“Yeah, just let me grab my coat,” replied the blonde.
After grabbing her coat from the chair, she began walking down the street along with Methos.
“Where is this place again?” asked Tara.
“Just a block over. It opened up about a week ago. A friend of mine says that it carries some things that he thought were once lost.”
They walked another five minutes before they found themselves in front of ‘PTB’s Rare and Exotic books’.
“I wonder what PTB stands for?” spoke Tara.
“Probably just the initials of the owner,” replied Methos.
They both walked into the store and gasped. It was wall-to-wall books. The clerk that was standing behind the counter reading looked up and greeted them as they walked in.
“Hi there, is there anything in particular that you are looking for?” asked the man from behind the counter.
“Journals and diaries,” stated Methos.
“To your right, all the way at the end. If you need anything my name is Lindsey.”
“Tare, come take a look at this,” Methos said quietly as he waved her over.
“Wow Adam, it’s like you’ve died and gone to heaven,” playfully replied the witch as she saw all of the Watcher’s Diaries that he had found.
Tara made her leave from Adam and began to inspect the store on her own. She couldn’t help but think of how Willow would absolutely love this place. It was during these thoughts of melancholy that she spotted some books on witchcraft. ‘Wow this place does have everything,’ Tara thought to herself.
Lindsey noticed that the girl was seemingly familiar, but he just couldn’t place her. He also noticed her looking at the occult section. He went around the table that he was standing behind and approached her.
“If you are a true practitioner, we have some other books that you might care to take a look at.”
Tara looked over at Lindsey and smiled, “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.” She only hoped that this man wasn’t selling dangerous books to people that could use them wrongly.
“No trouble at all, just let me get my business partner. She’s the one that you want to talk to if you are looking for something in particular in the occult section,” he said as he once again made his way behind the table and approached the stairs which were near.
“Will! Customer!” he exclaimed up the stairs.
Tara’s eyes shot up when she heard the name. ‘Will could be short for a lot of things, like Wilma. Yeah, the girl’s name is probable Wilma.’
“Coming!” came the voice from upstairs.
Tara’s heart jumped to her throat as it was beating a million times a minute. She knew that voice anywhere. It was a voice that she had only heard in her dreams for the past two years.
Someone could be heard coming down the stairs as Tara was frozen to where she was standing. Tara was transfixed as she saw first one white Ked sneaker and then another attached to a blue jean wearing leg, followed by another leg. Then the makings of a light green shirt with two paled and freckled arms. Finally the face became apparent, unblemished and as beautiful as ever, framed by flowing red hair that seemed to go past her shoulders, and then those eyes. Emerald green. Tara realized that this was better than any dream she had ever had.
The euphoria was broken as Willow made eye contact with prospective customer across the room. Her breath caught as stepped onto the floor from the stairs. She tried breathing, but nothing was happening.
Lindsey noticed Willow’s posture and look. He then witnessed as Willow sort of swayed and collapsed. All after seeing this customer. That was Lindsey needed as slammed his fist on the table as a miniature crossbow popped out of a secret compartment and then kicked a button underneath the table as another crossbow came out. He then took aim at the girl and then the man who turned around to look upon hearing Willow faint.
“Don’t move an inch.” He sneered at them, “Spike, get in here! We got trouble!”
The office door opened to the left of Lindsey as Spike came out barefoot and only in a pair of black jeans wielding a sword, “What the bloodly hell is going on in here?!?”
Tara was still gazing over at her fallen love and took no notice to when Spike came in. Methos on the other hand couldn’t understand why the hell there was a crossbow pointed at him. He grew even more nervous at the appearance of the man with the sword.
“Check on Willow. She comes down the stairs takes a look at the girl and passes out.” Lindsey explained to the vampire.
When Spike looked over at the girl he paused for a moment it smelled like her, she had a heartbeat, granted it was erratic, “Bird?”
That seemed to bring Tara out of her trance, “Spike?”
“Well I’ll be,” said the vampire as he then turned to check on Willow, “Red, wake up. There is someone here that wants to see you.” “You can drop the crossbows for now, that’s Tara, Red’s old bird,” finished Spike.
Lindsey dropped the crossbows while eyeing her suspiciously, “I thought you were dead?”
Tara looked over from Willow to Lindsey and back again, not quite hearing his question. She realized that tears were starting to form in her eyes. It was beginning to sink in for Tara. Willow was here, in Seacouver. She could tell Willow the truth. But how could she tell Willow the truth without endangering her? Tara was growing more and more confused by the second. She had to think about this, had to figure out what the right thing to do was.
“I’m sorry,” said Tara through her tears that were beginning to fall freely, “I have to go.” With that she ran through the front door towards the direction of MacLeod’s dojo. ‘He will have the answers,’ she thought.
Methos looked over at the two men who had also watched Tara run out the door, “I’m sorry. I should go after her. It was an interesting experience.” Then Methos too was out the front door heading towards MacLeod’s, knowing that is where he would find Tara.
Willow began to stir a couple of minutes after the last immortal had made his exit. She sat up abruptly, pushing Spike away and frantically searching the store with her eyes. Not seeing what she was looking for she began to sob, “Was she really here?”
Spike looking down at this girl that he loved like family and spoke with a soft, sincere voice, “Yeah, it was her.”
Willow began to sob harder now as she clung to Spike for support, “Why did she leave me again?”
“I don’t know love. I don’t know”
TBC
BWR 
now.
more
inky