Moonlight streamed in through the cabin's tiny window and roamed over her breasts as she bobbed up and down on top of him. It lit her golden hair like a halo, framing her face which was thrown back in ecstasy. Her eyes were closed, and that was okay, he didn't want the sight of him to interfere with her enjoyment. He hoped that in her mind she saw him healthy and whole.

Her hot hungry pussy seemed to devour his dick. Her tight muscles clung to him, greedily sucked him in. Her rhythm increased, and he was desperate to thrust into her as hard as she was riding him. But if he moved too much he knew he wouldn't be able to hide the pain from her, and then she would stop and he would have no way of getting her off.

That was what drove him the most crazy. It was almost a week ago that he had woken up with his dick in her hot little mouth being sucked for all he was worth. It had been heaven. But after she was done, he couldn't return the favor. He couldn't do anything for her. As much as he loved her soft skin, the feel of her thighs against his burnt cheeks was too painful, and she was constantly fearful of doing anything that caused him pain.

That first blow job, and all the rest that followed it, hadn't been about sex, it had been about guilt. Buffy blamed herself for everything that had happened. For not taking good enough care of him. For leaving him alone. Now she refused to leave. He had to yell at her to go to the galley to get food to eat. It had been almost endearing the first few days, but now it was ridiculous. They were in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, if anyone among the crew had been going to hurt him, they would have done it by now.

"Oh, God Spike," she called. Her eyes were open now, and if the sight of him bothered her, she didn't show it. But then maybe she was used to it. She'd had nothing to look at but him for weeks now. Still, every time one of his blistered hands passed into his field of vision Spike shuddered. If his face looked anything like that. . .

Her climax hit and her inner muscles squeezed him tightly. He exploding into her, proud of himself for still being able to bring her off, even if she had done most of the work. It was worth all the pain as the back of his neck and arms dragged painfully on the sheets.

"Oh god, I DID hurt you," Buffy suddenly said. "I should never. . ."

Damn, he'd upset her. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. He hated being an invalid. It was his nature to take care of others, and he so wanted to take care of her.

"It's okay pet, it was worth it really," there was no point in trying to hide the pain. Two weeks spent together in that small cabin had made them incredibly sensitive to each other.

She rested her cheek on his stomach. Luckily the flames hadn't had a chance to spread before he'd rolled out of the sunlight and smothered them. So most of his chest, and everything lower down had been spared.

One of her hand strayed lower down and began to stroke his balls.

"Buffy," he sighed. In the last week her hands and her mouth had become amazingly skillful. Not that they'd been clumsy before. But every time he had had the barest hint of an erection, her hands, her mouth, or both and affixed themselves to his dick. His orgasm had become their mutual drug, their painkiller. For Buffy it eased her guilt. For him it dulled his physical pain. Allowed him to think about something other than his condition. For a little while.

Much to his surprise, her hand stopped, and she looked up at him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure pet."

"Tell me about mating."

It was pretty much the last thing that he'd expected to hear. "That's not really a question."

"Okay. What does mating do? I know it's kind of like marriage, but, it does stuff to you right?"

He sighed. He could tell he wasn't getting out of this, "Yeah, it's kind of like being married, but it's forever, only death of the permanent variety can end it. It forms a bond. The couple, they can always tell where each other are, sense each others feelings, emotions. I've even heard that in some cases they share dreams. But I don't really know. It's pretty rare. I've only ever seen a few mated vampires."

"But, it's a monogamous thing right?"

"Oh, yeah. I don't think it's possible to for a mated vampire to cheat. You scared that I'm going to hook up with someone else?"

"Actually I wasn't so much thinking about the sex, but you know other stuff. I mean if, hypothetically speaking of course, we were mated, I would never allow another vampire to bite me right?"

There was no way he could hide his excitement at the idea. If it wasn't apparent in his face, his dick, which had slowly been coming to life, now sprang to full attention. Still whatever that part of him thought, his head and his heart were not so sure.

"I don't know pet. Maybe. It happens, vampires mating with humans, but it's always a prelude to turning them. But yeah, mating, it leaves a mark, one that vampires can feel. They would be reluctant to bite you. I suppose they'd just try to kill you in other ways. But I don't know. I've never heard of anything like what you're suggesting."

"Look Spike. About what you said back in L.A., I think you're wrong. Yeah, I want you to bite me. But I'd never ever let another vamp bite me. And yeah I get off on it. I admit it okay. Biting, one of Buffy's turn-ons. Which means if we were mated, I'd definitely never let any one else bite me. I mean, it would be like having them go down on me. You know?" she had decided to reinforce her argument by the unfair means of curling her fingers around his dick.

He closed his eyes and thought about it. He had to admit, that she might be right. But he was so scared that this own greedy desire for her was interfering with his judgment. He couldn't help but remember the taste of her blood, how strong and hard it made him feel. He imagined what the sex would be like, the way she'd cum when his fangs sank into her neck, how he'd finally be able to keep up with her. What it would be like to have her lying underneath him, completely exhausted, fully sated. He'd always suspected that she could have always gone a little farther, that despite his best efforts he'd never left her completely satisfied. Not that he thought anyone else had ever done any better.

Still, was this really what was best for Buffy. It seemed too easy a solution to their problems. And what if she came to resent him? Could she really commit to him for the rest of her life? Not to mention the one thing they had not talked about since leaving L.A.

"What about Angel?" his voice was quiet.

"He's dead. And even if he wasn't. . . I think maybe you were right, maybe I didn't know him at all. I keep waiting. Waiting to cry. I do miss him. I think about never seeing him again and I'm sad. But I don't cry. I didn't even cry when he came through Sunnydale that last time. He always used to make me cry. Every time we saw each other after we broke up, I would secretly cry for days. I think I just finally ran out of tears for Angel.

"Besides. I love you Spike. I know I haven't been big with the saying of it. But I do. When I thought I'd lost you again. When I thought that dust was you. I've never hurt that much. Not even when I sent Angel to hell.

"This isn't just about sex. It's not about how you can do things to my body that no one else can, though hey, you get a big check in the plus column for that. It's about all the other things you can do that no one else can. You can tell when I'm lying, even when I don't know. You don't let me get away with anything. You make me feel like it's okay to be me. You never make me feel bad about being strong, and you never get angry with me for being weak. You've been there for me when no one else was. I love you Spike, and yeah, I'm willing to spend the rest of my life with you. So the question is really, do you want me?"

"Don't be daft, we both know that's not in question. I love you with everything I am. But, Buffy," he said, trying to maintain some semblance of reason when every part of his being just wanted to say yes, and damn the consequences, "We can't be mated. At least not now. If we were, you'd feel what I'm feeling, you'd share in my pain."

"Silly vampire," she said, kissing him just below the navel. "Do you think I don't share in your pain now? Besides, my blood would heal you much faster. You'd probably be all patched up in a couple days."

It shamed him to admit it. But that was a huge selling point. Not that he didn't want the mating for everything else it entailed. But to have Buffy's blood, to be whole again after so long. And all he would have to do was share his agony with her for a couple days.

"I don't want to hurt you, even for a short time."

"If we wait, you probably won't be healed when we get to Hong Kong next week. And then I'll be stuck on this ship with you, complaining about all the shopping opportunities I'm missing." She smiled, "I can take the pain. I want to share your pain. I'm not taking this lightly Spike. I've been thinking about it for a while now. I want to share everything with you, good and bad. You know, the whole in sickness and in health deal?"

"I don't know if we can pet. I have to actually be biting you while we have sex, which isn't that easy for me right now."

"Hey, I told you I'd been thinking about it." She got up off the bed and went over to her suitcase. She pulled out a hair tie and carefully twisted all of her hair into a bun on one side of her head. They had learned early on that her soft hair felt like barbed wire when it passed over his exposed nerves. "Sit on your heels," she told him.

He did as she said. Then she got back on the bed and straddled him, careful not to come into contact with any of his injured skin. She held him by the waist and lowered herself on to him. He gasped in pleasure as he was once gain plunged into her warm depths. The desire to grab her hips was overwhelming but he knew that would only cause him pain. Instead he focused on her exposed neck.

To his surprise shifting to his vampiric visage didn't hurt. Or maybe he was just too distracted.

She hadn't moved on him, she was waiting for the bite, so that she wouldn't accidentally bump him. However, it was obviously difficult, he could feel her trembling pussy twitch about him.

His fangs sank deep into her neck. The first hint of her hot blood teased his tongue. Buffy screamed, half in pleasure, half in pain. Her own fingers dug deep into his flanks, her nails drew blood.

She began moving against him slowly. It surprised him, her lust for his bite had been so great that he expected her to ride him hard. Instead she slid slowly up and down his length as if her pussy was trying to press every inch of him into some fleshy memory.

Her first orgasm came when he pulled his fangs out of her throat and let the blood flow freely. She screamed again, and her body constricted around him. Now the full force of her blood was in him. It blocked out everything that was not Buffy including the pain in his arms. His injuries forgotten he grabbed her hips so that he could better thrust into her as he rode out her orgasm.

A moment after the crest of her orgasm had passed he began to suck gently at the wound, careful to only take a tiny amount with each suck. With every pull of his mouth Buffy cried out and her inner muscles contracted. She began to match the rhythm of their love making to rhythm of his sucking.

Soon the saccade of her breathing told him that her second orgasm was approaching. He sliced his tongue on his fangs. As she came again he licked her wound, mixing their blood.

This time her orgasm carried him with her. His mouth fell away from her neck and they cried out in unison, "MINE!" as she milked every inch of his cock.

As the world came back into focus for both of them, they each found themselves drawn to each others eyes. Buffy released the hold she had on his ass, and brought her fingers up to his face. His blood coated her nails. Without breaking eye contact he sucked each finger in turn.

Finally, exhausted she slid off of him, and they lay down together her head resting lightly on his chest. Soon she was asleep.

****************************

He slept for several hours. He awoke to find Buffy now lay with her back to him but every inch of that gorgeous back was pressed against him. He reached out to brush away her hair, then stopped as his hand came into view.

The blisters were all gone. The skin on his arm was still tender and it was pinker than was normal for a vampire, but those were minor inconveniences after the past few weeks. He wiggled his fingers and found that most of the pain there was gone as well, they were still stiff, and he guessed that nothing but time would restore his full dexterity, but time he had.

The more he thought about it, the less surprised he was. He was only just beginning to appreciate how strong Buffy's blood really was. He never should have survived that fight with Angel. Realistically he probably shouldn't have even been able to defeat Angel when they had fought in Death Valley over a that stupid cup of Mountain Dew. But he'd always been tougher than a vampire his age had any right to be.

No, that wasn't true. He hadn't always been that tough. No, it had started that night in China over a hundred years ago. The night he'd drained that poor young Slayer. Her blood had changed him. He'd always known it to some degree. The strength that came with Slayer blood was impossible to miss, but that wore off. After that night he'd never lost a fight until he'd come up against Buffy Summers. And he and Dru had pissed off some powerful vampires in their time. He thought about those battles now. Every time he'd been outclassed he'd won by outlasting his opponent. By being able to take every blow they could dish out and shrug them off.

He should never have survived that battle with Angel, they should have burnt up together when they crashed through the balcony door into the harsh sunlight. But the flames had spread over his body slower. Still strong with Buffy's blood he had stumbled, rolled, and then crawled out of the sunlight and into the cool darkness of the bathroom.

And it had all started that night in China when he'd first tasted Slayer's blood, when he'd first started to change, but into what?

Buffy stirred in her sleep, and he knew that his thoughts were somehow troubling her dreams. He smiled and curled his body around hers, breathing in the scent of her. Whatever doubts he'd had about her feelings, they were all gone now. The new bond between them didn't allow them. Her love filled him and warmed him from the inside as he hoped his love warmed her.

He brushed back her hair, and admired the wound he had left on her neck. It was a vicious looking wound surrounded by a brilliant purple bruise that covered that whole side of her neck. Then he noticed to his absolute delight, that the other scars had vanished from her neck. All the marks others had left on her were gone. She was completely his.

The End