Having others add to this aparently inspires me.
Spike groaned as he woke up. The last thing he remembered was leading an attack on the school the Slayer was going to on the night of St. Vigius. Now judging by the fact that he was now chained in a cave either he and Dru had some great sex while he was wasted on Slayer blood, or someone monumentally stupid kidnapped him.
ôHey Spike!ö shouted a dark haired teen that Spike had never seen before as he walked into the cave and gave the two hundred year old vampire a cheerful wave.
Right then, option two it was then. Worse yet he seemed to be a bloody fanboy.
ôI know you mate?ö asked Spike as he tested his bonds and had to admit that fanboy knew just what to use to keep a master vampire from breaking loose and ripping open his throat.
ôNameÆs Xander, we would have met tonight if I decided to stay on script tonight, but I was able to finish the runes in time. After that it was a simple matter of hitting you in the back with a stunner and here we are,ö said Xander.
ôRight,ö said Spike as he looked to his sides and noticed the slightly glowing runes on either side of him, and one large one right in front of him. ôSo whatÆs it going to be then? Do you want me to turn you or are you just looking for an autograph?ö
ôI want to find out why your Bastard Level stays the same when you get a soul,ö said Xander. ôI mean Angelus gets a soul and his Bastard Level drops so low that he does nothing but feed off of rats and live in a gutter for a century, but you only go insane for a few months before acting exactly like you always have.ö
ôHate to break it to you kid, but IÆve never had a soul,ö stated Spike.
ôGive it about five years and it would change,ö said Xander as he placed his hands on the rune in front of Spike. ôNow shut up or youÆll dust before I learn anything.ö
Spike was about to respond when Xander was surrounded by an aura that seemed to be built from the shadows from at least a dozen different animals. The aura then seemed to pour into the rune Xander was touching causing the runes on either side of Spike to light up like Christmas lights.
ôNow I would say IÆm sorry that this is going to hurt, but after all the times I found dried blood in my favorite mug, IÆm going to enjoy this,ö said Xander as Spike began to scream.
Slowly but surly the runes on opposite sides began to turn Spike to ash, and collect it in two separate piles. The pile on the left would mark how much of Spike was the blood demon that made typical vampires, and the pile on the left would indicate how much was a human soul.
It was a lot of effort to go through just to have his theory confirmed, but it was also the only way for him to get accurate results. He had tried at least a dozen spoken spells that should have told him the same thing, but for some reason they always went wrong, just like most of the spoken magic he had tried. However after all these years Xander had become an expert in rune magic. It always took longer to paint or carve the symbols needed to get the result he wanted, but it was okay because the spells always worked for him.
As the last of Spike, formally known as William the Bloody, turned into ash and floated to its designated spot Xander walked to the right rune and found what he was looking for. It wasnÆt much; just enough to cover a quarter, but it was there. Apparently Spike did possess just a sliver of a soul, just enough to truly love, and experience a bit of the positives instead of all the negatives like all the other vampires.
Oh well, another loop another mystery solved. Now if he could just figure out how get a train from an exit to an entrance portal without derailing heÆd be able to cross another cartoon gimmick off of his list.