Backfire - Spander Files

“It’s still thick with her scent,” Spike said softly. “Hard to believe she’s only been
gone one day.”
Xander backed away from him quickly. “We can go someplace else. If you…we
don’t have to be here.”
Spike turned around and walked to another part of the room. Xander lost track of
him in the darkness. Then there was the flick of metal, the brief scent of acid, and a
soft glow illuminated one side of the room as Spike lit a candle.
The vampire stood in front of a chest of drawers. The top of the dresser was littered
with dolls, and Xander was creeped out that his thought earlier of the use of this
factory might actually be true.
But walking up next to Spike and seeing the look on his face, Xander realized that
the dolls had belonged to Drusilla. They were all dressed in long frilly dresses and
some had black strips of fabric over their eyes or mouths. They seemed just the
playthings for a crazy homicidal vampiress.
Xander placed a hand on Spike’s shoulder. “Really, we can someplace else.” He
sounded sincere, he was sure, but his scar was screaming at him for release and his
arms were starting to itch just a tad. He rarely had to wait when he was pulled
toward Spike. They were usually in the same room when it happened, or he was
able to get home within ten minutes of the initial itch.
Spike turned and sat on the end of the bed. Big, four-poster monstrosity of a bed.
Xander took the lighter out of Spike’s hand and lit a couple more candles around
the room, exposing more dust and cobwebs. The room was draped in pieces of red
and black cloth. The manacles wrapped in black velvet that were attached to the
wall at the head of the bed completed the gothy-vampire look. It was creepy and
clichéd. It fit what he had heard about Drusilla perfectly. Xander sat down next to
Spike and held his hand.
With glazed eyes the vampire spoke to the room, “I wonder how much she knew.
Did she know she was going to die? Did she know that we would never see each
other again?” Spike laid back, then scooted up the bed, so his head was on a pillow.
Xander followed suit.