Finger in the Eye of Fate – Spike

~ crossovercreativechaos

Spike tapped his fingers on the arm of his wheelchair, casting a jaundiced eye at the still-smoldering master vampire leading what was left of their sorry lot. Drusilla was curled up in a ball whimpering, half their former minions were dust, and he was damn lucky he’d made a habit of always setting up a backup day-shelter near any current lair. “See if I’m hearing this right. After all this time playing mind games with the Slayer and leaving gag gifts in her friends’ beds, you decide to take it up a notch. But instead of a nice, simple brawl that would leave them in hospital or dead, you go off and cast a spell to toy with their minds some more… and it turns them into demon slayers?”

“Hey, it was supposed to just hit the Watcher!” Angelus defended himself. “And that damn gypsy. Her tribe kept me under their little curse thumb for almost a century. They have to suffer.” The dark-haired vampire smirked. “And will she ever. You saw the legend.”

I did, Spike thought darkly, rolling over to the small pile of occult texts they’d rescued from the Factory. Believe I’d like to read it again.

“Every time she looks at him now, the bitch will see her twin brother. The murderer who became a demon himself. Her lover.” Angelus snickered. “Buffy’s finished. This? Is going to rip her cozy little hunting group to pieces.”

“Bit more concerned about them shredding us first,” Spike muttered, pulling out the right scroll. He could still see the casual flash of fire as the robed Slayer let off a full volley of rounds at his minions, every last one finding its mark.

23 thoughts on “Finger in the Eye of Fate – Spike”

  1. Spike has his priorities correct!

    …it’s not just Angel who’s a bit of an idiot. Angelus is a //bit// thick, yeah? (Then again, the Goddess Of Love and Compassion was probably banking on that idiocy for hir plans to work.)

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  2. Yeah…say what you will about Spike, and I’ve never been a fan but he had his priorities and survival instinct correctly tuned. Angelus though…what an idiot. Vicious but just off the deep end.

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  3. Nice job fixing it, villain.

    Either Angelus’ intelligence, cunning, and common sense was overrated, and he only became so infamous because of Spike… or all that time sharing space with Angel drove him insane.

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    1. Well there was also Darla iirc, you know that vampire slain in the pilot? Well her and the Master. Angelus was more remembered for how vicious he could be more than cunning…though he did reach a hundred years of age as a fairly famous vampire (then spent a hundred years cursed) so there has to be some survival instincts somewhere…

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      1. Yeah, and in the Angel spin off, he ends up bumping uglies with Darla due to Wolf, Ram, and Hart shenanigans. The fact that Darla was around was due to shenanigans, the decision to sleep with her was all his.

        I admit, I’m not Angel’s biggest fan. I appreciate Spike as a villian and as an anti-hero. And the snark.

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      1. The Master’s vampire lineage, per the extra canon, has different mythosy ancestor than the other vampires. The Master’s lineage’s mythosy ancestor is explicitly said to partially possess all descendent vampires. All of the resouled vampires we see are of this lineage.

        It seems defensible head canon that Lothos vampires, Master’s lineage vampires, and regular vampires are distinct, made by a similar process from different mythosy stock, and that the Watchers simply hadn’t been playing close enough attention to know the differences. It is also defensible that the Master’s lineage vampires are more robust metaphysically in ways that both permit souls to be attached, and sustain fairly extreme levels of insanity. The Master, Angelus and Drusilla are insane, I’m not sure about Darla, and Spike might be considered insane according to vampire norms.

        In conclusion: 1) There are some interesting options for explaining what the heh is going on in Buffy. 2) Given differences between Hollywood Gypsies and real life Roma, there are some interesting world building options for the Kalderash in fanfic. 3) I’m noticed a set of design choices for vampires in an original setting. And an interesting scenario for a madman to use to exploit those design choices. 4) These vampires are immortal, intelligent, do not really have children, and habitually kill people. Why wouldn’t they end up nihilistic? What purpose would they see in their existence?

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  4. This is a result of doing not enough research. Or maybe not having access to good enough resources to do the research. I am wondering how Angel managed to get his hands on Hakkai and Kanan’s story, without getting the ending with Sanzo. Unless it’s a legend that ends with Hakkai’s transformation…

    And I just realized that the combination of youkai/dragon/kami probably will sidestep the issue of whether or not ‘thousand slayer’ would apply to the things Buffy fights. Inclined to say no because different dimension.

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    1. I’m guessing that we can thank Kanzeon/Janus for the incomplete version of Kanan and Hakkai’s story. That seems… very convenient. (There Are No Coincidences when you have two chaos gods trying to help each other out. On second thought, the fact that any part of Sunnydale is standing might be a miracle)

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  5. “Every time she looks at him now, the bitch will see her twin brother. The murderer who became a demon himself. Her lover.”

    Perhaps.

    She also might see the killer who became a demon just to try and save her life in their past life.

    The only person, if my info is correct, who even tried to save from the Centipede Clan.

    Of course, her past life killed herself due to all the trauma.

    But Vathara doesn’t usually toss the characters into something completely hopeless, so she’s probably got at least a chance.

    Also Angelus, youkai and demons are not exactly the same thing. But you seem like the type who will need that lesson pounded in the hard way.

    “Buffy’s finished. This? Is going to rip her cozy little hunting group to pieces.”

    I won’t bet on that.

    Aside from Calender’s past life, the rest of them were a very effiecient set of youkai / monster hunters. Granted, most of the time they were killing them because said monsters / youkai were trying to kill and eat them (not necessarily in that order).

    They might be youkai now but you have also effectively given most of her hunting party super-human abilities.

    Granted, he might not know (yet) that said transformation is sticking. He probably just thinks its the memories.

    And in the interest of fairness, this mess could have had that effect on the group. I just don’t think it’s going to. (After the bugs are worked out)

    Watch for Spike, Buffy, he’s much sharper than Angelus.

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      1. *nods* But not hopeless. Not impossible.

        Just long and difficult.

        For all of them since none of Sanzo’s little band of idiots is without some level of trauma. Including Sanzo’s himself. PLUS all the trauma that the Scoobies themselves are harboring (losing Jesse, Buffy dying, etc, etc).

        The road ahead is long, winding, treacherous, and painful. But ultimately, rewarding with equal number of good things too. Through there will be days when it seems there is nothing but bad things. Or days when you are just so tired of everything good, bad, or indifferent. Days where they will want to break something or someone.

        It’s going to be hard. But I don’t think it’s going to be hopeless and futile.

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      2. “…none of Sanzo’s little band of idiots is without some level of trauma. Including Sanzo’s himself. PLUS all the trauma that the Scoobies themselves are harboring…”

        Sanzo (and Kanzeon) both heal. They may not be nice about it, but I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have in my corner when things go sideways. In a very roundabout way, this may be the *best* thing possible to hit Sunnydale and the Scoobies. We got a hint earlier.

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    2. I’m going to have to go back over the snippets, because I thought Kanzeon managed to blunt the trauma/immediateness of Kanan’s memories, which will change things a little.

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      1. Eeeh, remember this is from the bad guys’ perspective. Hopefully, whatever they don’t know will hurt them lots 🙂

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      4. Spike is already having serious doubts on whether staying in the vicinity is a good idea…

        Which proves he just might be the only vampire in that group with a shred of survival instincts.

        Maybe the self-awareness to know when he might be out-classed and it’s time for a strategic retreat.

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  6. On the one hand, Angelus specializes in getting into his opponents heads and applying the mindscrew.

    On the other hand, psychological warfare is often about being less efficient than more conventional tactics. More time on set up and presentation, less time on speed and killzones.

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