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With this Ring.... by Lilachigh
 
Chp 7 Just Nonsense
 
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With This Ring... by Lilachigh


Chp 12 Just Nonsense

Cordelia Chase stood looking at Spike and Buffy, a puzzled expression on her face. She was wearing jodhpurs and a bright yellow shirt, her dark hair tied back at the nape of her neck with a yellow scarf. In both worlds, Cordelia never looked anything but smart.

Buffy smiled at the pretty, dark haired girl. “Oh, hi, Cordy, we couldn’t find you up at the house, so thought you might be here in the barn.”

“I’ve been exercising one of the horses out on a trail. How are you two? It’s lovely to see you. You haven’t been around for ages and ages. Willow said you’d been away?”

“Er, yes, we have,” Buffy said, wondering if an alternative universe counted as ‘away’. “But we’re back now - for a little while, at least.”

Spike moved to her side and put his hand on her shoulder.

CordyT laughed. “You two love-birds! You’ve always been the same. Unable to keep your hands off each other for two minutes at a time. You don’t have to tell me why you were out here in the barn. It’s written all over your faces what you’ve been doing. Honestly, Spike, if you don’t want to give the game away, you might be more careful and button your fly with the right buttons in the right holes!”

Spike glanced down and cursed. He’d been in too much of a fret over Buffy’s behaviour to get himself done up right. Thank god he’d fastened some of the buttons at least!

Buffy felt her face going red. Thank god CordyT hadn’t appeared a few minutes earlier while she and Spike had been - well, just thank heavens she hadn’t. “Umm, well, hey, Cordy, we’re looking for Xander? He’s missing and people are beginning to worry. As far as we can tell, you were the last person to see him at the Bronze a few nights ago. Have you got any idea where he’s gone?’

CordyT frowned. “Xander? I think I remember serving him a beer. I’ve been working extra shifts at the Bronze. I so need the money.”

Buffy stared at her. Warm eyes, smiling face, approachable manner - it was hard to realise this was Cordelia Chase, but in this alternative Sunnydale, she was completely different from the uptight little snob Buffy had known so well in school.

“So, do you know where Xander went? Did he mention anything?”

CordyT frowned. “Well, he’d had a lot to drink - as usual! ”

“So the boy was drunk?” Spike put in dryly. “What a surprise.”

CordyT pulled a face. “You know what Xan’s like. He can’t hold his drink. He wanted another beer after the one I sold him, but I told him no, you’ve had enough.”

“So he just went home?”

CordyT pulled off the yellow scarf and shook out her dark hair. “Oh come on, Buffy. You know as well as I do that when Xan decides to go on one of his drunken sprees, he’ll find a bar where someone will sell him booze.”

Buffy and Spike exchanged glances. That was what she’d been worried about. If XanT had wandered into a bar somewhere on the rougher side of town, anything could have happened to him. And it didn’t have to be demon inspired either.

“I could scent him down in the tunnels under this barn,” Spike said shortly. “Did you know he’s been using them?”

CordyT laughed. “You must be mistaken, Spike. Xander hasn’t been out here to the stables for months - no probably at least a year.”

Buffy was about to speak when she felt Spike’s hand on her shoulder again, pressing a warning. This was weird. She might query Spike about lots of things in their odd life that spanned two worlds, but if he said he could scent XanT in the tunnels, then XanT had been there. So why was CordyT pretending he hadn’t? She could have made up all sorts of excuses as to why he’d been there.

‘Right, well, thanks for your help. We’d better get back to town,’ Buffy said brightly. “You ready, Spike?”

“Whenever you are, sweetheart.”

“Oh, have you got to go so soon? We haven’t had a chance to catch up. Harmony’s coming over this evening for a drink. You remember her from school, don’t you. Harmony Kendall. Nice girl. Incredibly brainy. She‘s on vacation from Harvard. She’s studying law. She’ll be sad to miss you.”

Buffy felt a shudder run through Spike’s body and knew he was trying to stop laughing at the thought of Harmony being brainy. She had to admit the desire to lie on the floor and kick hysterically was overwhelming her, too! “Maybe next time,” she said.

CordyT sighed. “OK. But you’ll miss meeting my boyfriend, too. I wanted us all to hang out together.”

Buffy had stopped listening. She was urging Spike towards the door before he exploded. “Must dash. See you soon, Cordy. Thanks for the info. We’ll hunt through all the bars in town for Xander. Expect he’s lying behind one.”

Together, she and Spike hurtled out of the bar and dived into the car which was still standing in the shadow of the barn. Spike flung himself behind the wheel and reached for a flask under the dashboard. “Oh god, Harmony is studying law at Harvard. I think I’m going to have to get very very drunk to deal with that one.”

“Must you start now?” Buffy snapped, wondering why she was so on edge with him.

“This is blood, sweetheart, not whisky,” Spike drawled, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. “Hey, Vampire, remember? Need to eat occasionally. So do you, by the way. How about stopping off on the way back into town to get you a burger?”

“Spike - wake up and smell the coffee! XanT wandered away from the Bronze to find another drink. He must have ended up facing off some nasty or other. He could be dead. Why do you think I’d be interested in eating?’

Spike flung the flask onto the back seat. “Back off, Slayer. What the heck’s wrong with you today? We’ll find XanT - I promise. You passing out from hunger isn’t going to improve the situation any. Besides, I don’t think he’s in any bar in town. I told you - checked the demon grapevine. No one’s seen him.”

“Perhaps they were lying?”

Spike reached out and ran a finger slowly down her cheek, across her throat and down to where the soft flesh of her breast showed at the edge of her V necked T shirt. ‘“I can be awfully persuasive, sweetheart. Remember?”

Buffy caught her breath and fought the desire to wrap her arms round his neck and pull his head down onto her breast, let his tongue weave its magic across her aching nipples. She clenched her fists, turned her head away and gazed out of the window at the horses standing head to tail under the trees in the paddock. She wouldn’t let Spike see, but there were tears in her eyes.

In her heart she knew what was happening. It was obvious. Whatever spell Willow had cast ten months ago was beginning to erode at last. The happy Buffy and Spike, married to each other and living contentedly with friends and family were fading away, becoming a nonsense.

All that remained was the chipped, evil Spike and herself, Buffy Summers, the Slayer who was going out with a nice guy called Riley Finn. She had a mother, an irritating little sister, friends, a life of her own. All she had to do was tell Spike the spell had worn off, that even if he was still under its thrall, she wasn’t. Then they could stop all this lust and passion and bone-achingly good sex. Because it was wrong. She was wrong. And she had to tell him. It wasn’t fair to go on like this, acting out this charade.

“Spike - listen - ” she got out.

“Hey, yes, how weird was that about CordyT saying XanT hadn’t been down in those tunnels, sweetheart. Because the scent was there. And I’ve been thinking about that. I said it was old, but I could have been wrong. The more I think about it, the more it seems it was sort of muffled, covered up.”

Buffy frowned and postponed what she was going to say. There would be plenty of time to sort out her relationship with Spike once they’d found XanT and returned him to TaraT. And time to let him touch you again, a tiny voice muttered at the back of her brain.

“You mean someone had deliberately tried to hide his scent?”

Spike shook his blond head and gazed out of the darkened car window to where they could see CordyT walking back towards the house.

“No, not exactly. More, bloody hell, I don’t know. You’re the brains of the outfit. More as if - well, daft as it sounds, it was as if he‘d been wrapped up in something heavy that cloaked the scent.”

“So CordyT is lying?”

Spike shrugged. “You get better odds on Miss Chase telling porkies than you do a few measly demons holding out against yours truly, pet.”

“But why?”

Spike grinned and ran his hand up her bare arm. “Told you before, I reckon she’s got a secret sex den hidden down in the tunnels. Perhaps she’s keeping XanT as her latest sex toy.”

“Ewww, Spike. Gross.” Buffy moved away slightly from his touch, hoping that he wouldn’t notice. The last thing she needed at the moment was a show down with Spike. Hopefully, they could find XanT and then get back to their own Sunnydale. Surely, once she was safely home, back in a world that made sense, all this loving Spike nonsense would become just that - nonsense.

Spike started the car and they drove away down the track back towards town. They’d gone about a mile when Buffy said firmly, “Spike, stop the car. Turn round. We’re going back.”

The vampire swung the wheel violently and the car spun in its own length, throwing up clouds of dust from the track. “Sounds as if you’ve got a plan, Slayer.”

“All I know is that if CordyT is lying, then she should get a prize. Something very big and shiny with bells on and stars! I believed her completely. So, if there’s something that needs to be lied about that well, I want to know what it is. We need to get back inside those tunnels, Spike. Somewhere down there is the answer.”

Buffy followed Spike back inside the barn. She’d stopped to collect another flashlight from the car, knowing that the remains of the one they’d smashed earlier were still in the tunnel. Spike lifted the trapdoor and she followed him silently down into the darkness, pulling the cover back over their heads as she went. She didn’t want CordyT to see that they’d come back to explore.

As she neared the bottom of the ladder, she felt his hands reach up to her waist to lift her down the final few feet. It wasn’t necessary; she knew he was only doing it because that was what they did in this Sunnydale - use every available second to touch each other.

Buffy felt the scalding tears burn at the back of her throat and couldn’t stop herself from tensing. She knew that Willow’s spell had almost vanished, as far as she was concerned. She didn’t really understand why Spike was still pretending that he loved her. Silently she pulled away from him and could sense bewilderment and hurt. But she couldn’t help it. They weren’t really in love. It was a spell. Magic. She had to keep telling herself that.

“Right, pet, here we are again, and I can still smell a faint trace of XanT,’ Spike said quietly. Then he frowned. “There’s another scent, too, but....no, bloody hell, I’m going barmy, that can’t be right,” he muttered under his breath.

Buffy wasn’t listening. All she wanted to do now was find XanT, get him home to TaraT and then get herself and Spike back to their own world, where their relationship was clearly defined, Slayer and Vampire, with no love, no feelings and definitely no sex.

She flashed the light around, noticing for the first time that of the three tunnels leading out of the cave area, one headed back towards the house. “We don’t want to go that way. It must come up somewhere indoors. CordyT could hear us. Which way is the XanT scent the strongest?”

Spike half shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he nodded towards the right hand passage. “That one. Definitely. But as I said before, sweetheart, it’s bloody odd. The scent is in the air - almost as if he wasn’t touching the ground at all.”

Buffy frowned, then bit her lip. “You mean, he might have been carried?”

Spike looked grave. He nodded silently and headed off down the passage. That second scent had started a strange suspicion growing second by second inside his head, but there was no way he could tell Buffy. What if he was wrong?

The air grew colder as they walked further. Buffy began to shiver. How could it be so cold when it was so hot above ground?

“I’d loan you the duster to warm you up, but it might be a bit big on you,” Spike commented with a grin. “Teach you to run around wearing bits of cotton with little strings holding it up.” He ran a finger lovingly over the bronze rounded top of her arm.. “You’ve got goose bumps, luv.”

“Chilly down here,” Buffy replied, not wanting to admit that the goose bumps were mainly caused by his touch on her skin, not the dip in temperature.

“I could warm you up in a second, sweetheart,” he drawled in her ear and she shuddered as she laughed and moved swiftly ahead of him.

‘I shuddered because he’s a vampire,’ she told herself firmly. ‘Not because I want him. Vampire. Evil. No soul. Just remember last time you gave your heart to a vampire and saw it smashed to pieces. You don’t love him. It was just a spell. And now it’s wearing off. Oh god, Willow, I could kill you. If only you hadn’t been so unhappy about Oz, none of this would ever have happened.’

“You want to go back, don’t you?” Spike said suddenly. He knew he should keep his mouth shut but then tact had never been his strong point in either Sunnydale. “You would rather live in the other world, the one where we’re not married!”

Buffy hugged her arms round her cold body. “Spike, I don’t want to get into this now. We’ve got too much to do here.”

Spike stopped and leant against the rocky wall of the passage. The beam from the flashlight swung up and caught the high cheekbones, the slanting scar on his eyebrow, the gleam of bright blue eyes.

“I think we have to get into it, pet. Bloody hell, Buffy, you’re my wife! I love you. OK, not in the other place, but it’s hard to remember that when I'm here. And anyway - ” he paused, then went on, “I love you there, too.”

She shook her head. “It’s a spell, Spike. Magic. You know it is. You don’t really love me here. Or there. And I don’t love you. Of course I don’t. You’re a vampire. I’ve got a boyfriend, Riley, you know I have.”

“Not in this world you don’t.”

“But that’s just the point! Don’t you see, I’m not two different people. I’m me, Buffy Summers. If I’m your wife here, then I’m cheating on you with Riley, and cheating on Riley with you! And I just...I just can’t cope with that any more.”

“I’m not two different people, either. And I know exactly how I feel about you in both worlds. That won’t change. And I know damn well you love me in this world.”

“No, it’s Willow’s old spell that - ”

“For God’s sake, Buffy. Why are you always looking for an escape clause in life? You just think, oh magic, must be the spell that’s making me feel something for Spike. You’re not honest, Slayer. Not to me and not even to yourself.”

Buffy felt her fists clench, anger coursing through her. “Well, many thanks for the character assassination. If I wanted lessons on my morals, I think I’d have better people to ask than William the Bloody.”

“Oh right. Who, for example. Red? The whelp? Your Watcher? What the hell do they know about love, Buffy? They’re too weird, too young and too old!”

“Old? Excuse me, Mr over a hundred years and counting. Weird? Look in a mirror sometimes, why don’t you - oh no point is there, you haven’t got a reflection to look at. As for young - ”

“Hush!”

“What?”

Spike’s hand was across her mouth and for a second she struggled, then realised he was being serious. She nodded slightly to accept what he was doing and he gently took his hand away and pointed down the passageway. “Voices,” he murmured, his lips brushing her ear.

“How many?”

“Two or three.”

“XanT?”

Spike shook his head, absentmindedly. “Maybe. But ....” The scent he’d found in the air earlier was stronger now. He couldn’t believe it, but his nose wasn’t lying to him. He hesitated. Should he tell Buffy now? He opened his mouth to whisper, but she was already moving away. She’d covered the face of the flashlight with her fingers so only a faint pink glow showed her the way.

Spike followed, the duster swishing behind him. This could get really messy. The passage swung sharply and Spike realised it was getting lighter ahead. A jumble of big boulders littered their path and Buffy crawled cautiously across them.

The voices were louder now. They were chanting, deep and monotonous. Buffy hooked her fingers over a rocky ridge and pulled herself up as far as she could. She stared down into a big cave. The entrance to the outside was covered with green undergrowth and enough light came in for her to see quite clearly. She froze, only vaguely aware of Spike’s body pressed next to hers. There in the centre of the cave, XanT was staked out on the floor, a gag in his mouth, his shirt torn open to expose his chest.

Three people were kneeling around him. CordyT, her eyes gleaming as she swayed from side to side, HarmonyT, her bright blonde hair a mass of curls, happily chanting as she stared down at XanT.

And between them, broad-shouldered, dark hair tousled, chanting in a low voice and holding a shiny silver knife over XanT’s chest, was her ex lover, the man she would cheerfully have died for. Spike’s grandsire.

It was Angel.

to be continued
Thank you all for the lovely reviews. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much .

















 
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