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Make My Day. by slaymesoftly
 
Chapters 7 - 15
 
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Chapter Seven

Buffy and Dawn were up and at the hospital by 8:00 AM the following morning.  Early enough to see their mother and give her kisses and hugs before she went off for her surgery.  They then went to the waiting room and stared blankly at the television as they waited for the doctor to come and tell them how it went.

By 9:30, all the Scoobies were there, as well as Giles and a very subdued and repentant Riley.  Buffy easily avoided his attempt to kiss her mouth, but did allow him to hug her and whisper an apology in her ear.  She shrugged and managed to appear mollified without actually saying that she forgave him.

By 11:00, Buffy and Dawn were beginning to cast anxious eyes toward the doors to the operating area and Buffy was pacing from one side of the waiting room to the other.  When the young doctor they’d met the other night appeared and gestured to Buffy, she ran to him, her eyes pleading for good news even as she held herself rigid and tried to appear calm for Dawn’s sake.

“She’s going to be fine,” he told her with a smile.  “We got it all and there is no sign of cancer.  It was a benign tumor and now that it’s removed, she should be up and about within a few weeks.”

Buffy let out the breath she hadn’t even been aware of holding, and clasped his hand tightly.

“Thank you,  Thank you so much.  I can’t tell you how much this means to me...us.  We’re-“  Realizing she was one more incoherent sentence from complete babbling, Buffy took a deep breath and gave him a dazzling smile as she repeated.  “We both thank you.  When can we see her?”

“You’ll have to wait a while for that.  She’s in the recovery room and she’ll be sedated for the rest of the day, just to keep the brain activity down.  You can see her again tonight, but she probably won’t be able to talk to you until tomorrow sometime.”

After making sure he had any and all possible phone numbers to use if he needed to reach her, Buffy went back over to her anxious sister and curious friends to announce with a watery smile, “She’s going to be fine.  Mom is going to be fine.”

She hugged Dawn, and then felt them being surrounded as Xander and Willow and more slowly, Tara and Anya, put their arms around the two grateful sisters.  Giles cleared his throat several times, wiped his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose before finally saying, “Oh, what the hell...” and putting his arms around the whole group.

No one noticed as Ben’s face took on a panicked expression and he mumbled, “No, no, not now!” as he ran back through the door to the locker area.

When the thankful group hug had finally ended, they began to split up, agreeing to meet there again in the evening just in case Joyce was awake by then.  As Riley went to shake the watcher’s hand “goodbye” his sleeve slipped up and he saw Giles’ eyes go to the newest marks on his arm.  The watcher’s eyes narrowed as Buffy saw the marks also and said,  “Oh my god, Riley!  Did a vamp get you last night?  Why didn’t you come and tell me?  I would have—“

“It’s no problem, Buffy,” he said uncomfortably.  “I, uh, I took care of it myself.  No big deal.  It’s not like she took a lot of blo-“

“She?” Giles asked in a mild tone of voice.  “It was a female vamp, then was it?”

Completely missing the by-play, Buffy continued to fuss over the ex-commando, asking how many there were and if he was injured anywhere else.  When she ignored his efforts to resist and pulled up his other sleeve, she gasped at the marks inside that elbow also.

“Boy,” she said with an attempt at humor, “I thought I was the only open-all-night vamp bar in this town.”

“Comes with the territory,” her boy friend said shortly as he pulled his sleeves down and fastened them.  “No big deal.”

He dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head and hastily left the room, promising to check back with her later to see how her mother was doing.

Giles stared after him thoughtfully, but chose not to say anything to Buffy about his suspicions just then.  He did mention as casually as he could to the other Scoobies that they probably should keep their doors locked and be careful who they invited in for awhile.  He hoped he managed to make his point without actually coming out and saying that he wanted them to be careful of Riley.




Once Dawn was safely at school, Buffy decided to head for the Magic Box and do some training.  They hadn’t seen Glory for awhile and she was worried that she wouldn’t be ready if and when she appeared again.

She was surprised to find Giles deeply involved in a conversation with Spike.  The conversation stopped abruptly when she walked in and the vampire walked over to her to ask, “How’s your mum, love?  The Watcher says they got the nasty thing all out?”

She smiled at him warmly and nodded.  “Yeah, Ben—uh—Dr. Lewis, says she’ll be fine after a couple of weeks’ rest.  Guess you’ll be taking care of her now,” she teased.

“No problem, pet,” he said seriously.  “Whatever she needs. I’ll run by the gallery tonight and take care of the stuff that came in.  Tell her not to worry.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the bell over the door, and Buffy watched as Spike melted back into the shadows in the back of the store.  She turned to see Riley come in and looked at him in surprise.

“What are you doing here?  I thought you had to work today and wouldn’t be around until tonight.”

“I, uh, took the day off.  Thought maybe I’d come help you get back in shape.  For fighting vampires and things,” he added unnecessarily.

The way her Watcher was looking at him was making him uncomfortable, and he pulled Buffy into the training room and away from the man’s speculative gaze.

While Buffy and Riley indulged in some half-hearted sparring, Giles went to the back of the store where the vampire was hiding.

“Are you absolutely sure, Spike?” Giles demanded, continuing their previously interrupted conversation.

“Know what I saw, Watcher.  Weren’t the first time either, I’ll wager.”

“How could the man be so stupid!” the watcher blew out an exasperated breath.  “As though Buffy didn’t have enough on her plate as it is.”

“My thinkin’ exactly,” the vampire said smugly.

Giles shot him a hard look and said, “You know, if I hadn’t seen the marks myself, I’d be sure you were making this up just to cause trouble between them.”

“Trust me, Watcher, I wish I had nothin’ better to do than to make up stuff about that wanker.  Not sayin’ I don’t want him gone. Jus’ sayin’ he’s makin’ it awful easy for me.”

“Well, as long as he’s here, we—I’d -- better take the bull by the horns.” Giles turned and headed for the training room, shaking his head at the stupidity of the younger man.

When he opened the door, Buffy had just thrown Riley into the mats and ran to him to apologize.

“I’m sorry, Riley,” she said as he winced and rubbed his chest.  “I just forgot you weren’t...”

“You forgot I wasn’t as strong as you anymore,” he said with more than a little bitterness.  “Yeah, I got that last night.  I suppose you’d rather be sparring with Spike,” he sneered at her.

Buffy blinked at him, a hurt expression on her face.  The only thing keeping her anger at bay was the knowledge that he was right.  She WOULD have preferred to be sparring with Spike.

Making one more attempt to soothe his feelings, she said,  “Riley, you never were as strong as me.  I just didn’t used to have to worry so much about hurting you....” her voice trailed off as his face darkened and she realized she’d just made it much worse.

“That’s right.  I keep forgetting.  You don’t really need me, do you?  For anything.  Why do you keep me around?”

“Good question, Slayer,” came a drawl from the doorway.  “Why do you?”

Buffy and the soldier whirled simultaneously to glare at the lean, muscular blond lounging against the door jamb.

“Spike...” Buffy began, as she started toward him, only to be interrupted by  Riley as he snarled, “she doesn’t need advice from a vampire,” his voice dripped with contempt and venom.  “There’s nothing a blood sucker could offer...”

“That right, soldier-boy?”  Spike said, meeting Riley’s eyes with a cold stare.  “You sure blood-suckers have nothin’ to offer?”

The bigger man froze in place, trying to process Spike’s words as well as the innuendo behind them.  He turned away and shook his head saying, “I’ve got nothing to say to you, Spike. Get out of here.”

Buffy was so busy staring back and forth between the two men, trying desperately to understand the obvious undercurrent in the room, that she hadn’t noticed her watcher’s approach until he was right up next to them.  Forcing Riley to look him in the eye, he ordered, in his best Ripper voice, “I want you to take your shirt off, Riley.”

When the other man just stood there, staring at him, he added in a deadly tone, “Now.”

“Do as he says, wanker,” the vampire added as he glided into the room, moving like the deadly predator that he was.  “Let’s see what you got under there.”

Once again Buffy was the bewildered onlooker to a three-way conversation between her watcher, the vampire and the man she was supposed to be dating.

“What are they talking about this time, Riley?” she asked with an edge to her voice that clearly indicated she wasn’t going to be put off.

“Nothing, they’re talking about nothing,” he mumbled as he edged toward the door.  Giles moved quickly to block the exit, bringing a well-used fighting staff out from behind his back when the soldier looked as though he was going to try to go by him.

While inwardly Spike was fuming at the knowledge that he couldn’t actually hurt the larger man, he allowed none of that to show as he went into game face and backed the watcher up.

Deciding she’d had enough of the cryptic, and more than enough of the stand-off now taking place, Buffy walked up to Riley and ripped the shirt off his back.  She gasped when she saw that his arms, chest and shoulders were covered with vampire bites in various stages of healing.

“Riley?  Wha-?”  She looked from her watcher to her boyfriend in dismay and bewilderment.

“Yes, Riley,” Giles asked calmly and coldly, “What exactly have you been doing to have accumulating all these bites?”

“Riley?” Buffy raised a tentative hand toward a scar just over his left nipple. “What happened?  Did you stumble into a nest?  How did you get so many bites?   And why aren’t you dead?”  She looked back and forth between the three men again, correctly reading from the tension between them that Giles and Spike knew the answers to her questions.

Riley stared back at her, anguish warring with anger as he tried to think of an explanation that wouldn’t mean the end to their relationship.  He stepped toward her, ignoring the growl from the vampire, and said hesitantly,  “Buffy, can’t we talk about this...privately?  Somewhere quiet where I can explain—“

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” her watcher said in a voice that brooked no argument.  “You tell her or we will.”

The watcher’s inclusion of Spike was all it took to tip the balance from anguish to anger, and Riley’s face changed as he snapped at Buffy, “I got them from something that needed me, Buffy.  I got what I needed and she got what she needed.  An equal exchange.  Not something you’d know anything about!”

Buffy’s eyes filled with tears at his words, but she held them back as she tried to understand what he was saying.

“I...I don’t understand.  Did you let a vampire bite you?  Why would you do that?”

“Your vampire does things for you, mine does things for me.  What’s the big deal?”  He sneered at her shocked face.

“The big deal, you ignorant bastard, is that ‘Buffy’s vampire’ isn’t drinking from her and she’s in no danger of being killed or turned.  I’m not putting her or her family at risk.” Spike’s eyes were amber daggers aimed at the other man.

“I don’t understand,” she said, trying to control the tremble in her voice. “Where did you find a vampire that wouldn’t try to drain you?”  She looked at her watcher in confusion

“In a vamp whorehouse.” Spike’s cold, even tone belied the jumble of emotions he was suppressing.  He was shaking with the need to hurt the blustering young man the way he was obviously hurting Buffy, but Giles’ hand on his arm and the knowledge that he wouldn’t get more than one punch in before the chip incapacitated him, kept him from following his instincts.  The horrified look on Buffy’s face pleased his demon, at the same time that his heart ached for her.

“A what?” She looked back at her boy friend and cringed when she saw the truth on his face.  “Riley, how could you?  I don’t understand...I thought you loved me...”

Riley looked back at her defiantly,  “I did...do... love you, Buffy.  But you don’t need me.  I’m just another human to you. Something for you to protect.” His face collapsed and he shuddered as he said,  “I’m sorry, Buffy.  I never meant to...”  He turned, pushed past Giles and ran from the room.  They heard the bell jangle as the door to the shop opened and shut behind the ex-commando.

Buffy sank to the floor with her head in her hands, letting the tears she hadn’t wanted to shed in front of her former lover fall. 

“I did this?  Is that what he’s saying?  I made him feel so inadequate that he....”  She raised tear-filled eyes and looked back and forth between her watcher and the vampire.  “This is my fault.”

Spike’s “Bloody hell!” was muffled by the roar from her watcher as he pulled her to her feet.

“This is NOT your fault!  None of it.  The bloody wanker made his own choices and for him to use his relationship with you as an excuse is unforgivable.”  He shook her gently and forced her to look at him.

“Do you hear me, Buffy?  This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with Riley’s inability to deal with the loss of the enhancements that were killing him.  I will not have you adding that man’s inadequacies to your burdens.”

She looked back at her surrogate father with dull eyes, then dropped her gaze and nodded slowly.

“All right, Giles.  I’ll try not to think about it.  Just another crash in the ongoing train wreck that is Buffy’s love life.”

She was looking down as she spoke, and missed the pain that shot across Spike’s face at her statement.  When he was sure she was not going to begin crying again, her watcher let go of her shoulders and turned away saying, “We need to let everyone know that Riley has become someone to avoid.  Just in case he...”  He didn’t bother to finish his thought.  They all knew the dangerous path Riley was choosing.

Buffy drew a deep breath and mentally shook herself.  “Okay, now then. Would someone please explain to me what a vamp whorehouse is, and why anyone would go to one?” 

She looked back and forth between Spike and her watcher to see which one was going to fill in the gap in her knowledge of vampires.  Giles looked studiously at the floor and cleared his throat several times.  When he took off his glasses for the third time, Spike burst out, “Oh for...I’ll do it, Watcher.  You go make your phone calls.”

Giles gratefully left the room, leaving Buffy staring at Spike expectantly.

“What do you want to know, love?” he asked with a sigh.

“Uh – why? How?”

“The why is easy – some vamps just don’t have the ability or desire to stalk and kill their food.  They’re lazy, or dumb or jus’ not very inclined to kill. But they have to have blood to live, so they have to find a way to make humans want to let ‘em drink. 

“A lot of humans like takin’ chances.  They enjoy walkin’ on the wild side and they seek out vamps for sex...and other things.”  Buffy raiser her eyebrows, but he shook his head and said,  “you don’t want to know, pet. Trust me.”

“So, they find these vamps who won’t hunt and pay them for sex and to drink from them?”  She shuddered and added, “Why would you pay someone to hurt you like that?”

Spike smiled briefly and muttered almost under his breath, “some things can hurt really good, Slayer.  Remind me to show you sometime.”

She glared at him and he smirked back at her.  In spite of the disgusted look she was giving him, he heard her heart rate go up slightly and got a quick glimpse of curiosity before her face closed again.

“You’re saying it feels GOOD to get bitten?  Hey, been there, done that, not fun.”

“Well, I don’t know about the bite, love. But the blood pullin’? Can have some interestin’ side effects.  Interestin’ enough for some humans to become addicted to it.”

“Side effects?”

“It enhances the sensation – if you get my drift.”

Buffy frowned for a second, then her eyebrows shot up.  “Oh!  Oh my.”

“Yeah,” he said with a genuine smile.  “Oh my.  For both parties.”

There was silence while Buffy digested the new things she was learning about vampires.

“Why didn’t Giles teach me this stuff?” she demanded.  “I should know about ...things. It’s my job.”

Spike laughed, “I suspect old Rupert would choke on his tea before he’d tell his Slayer that gettin’ bit by a vamp could get her off.  Don’t know why you didn’t know about the whorehouse, though.  Would have thought you’d run across it at some point.”

She gave him another piercing look.  “How did you know about it?”

“Demon, love, remember?  Everybody knows where it is and who works there.”

“So, these vampires don’t kill anyone?  They just ...”

“They take what’s willingly given.  No more, no less.  Most of the time, anyway.”

“MOST of the time?”

He shrugged, “accidents happen.  Somebody gets carried away and takes too much.  Usually they’ll just turn the victim.  Out of guilt or somethin’, I guess.”

“So, Riley could get turned if he keeps going there?” 

“Could happen.  ‘S why the watcher and I decided to confront him.  He was putting you and yours in danger.”  His eyes flashed yellow as he thought about how reckless the soldier had been.

She looked at Spike speculatively.  “So, when you got chipped – do you think you could have gotten blood that way?  Would the chip fire if you weren’t trying to hurt the person?”

He stared at her with his mouth open. “Are you askin’ me if I’d sell myself for blood?  If I’d...” he stopped his indignant tirade when he saw her raise her eyebrows.  “Well, hell yes, if I could’ve found a willing donor, I would have.  Would have tried it, anyway. Don’t know what the soddin’ chip would do.”  He looked at her from beneath his eyelashes and shuffled his feet. 

“Wouldn’t have sold myself, though.  Would’ve had to be somebody I actually wanted to...  Anyway, I’m a master vampire.  I couldn’t be seen in a whorehouse with all the misfits and weaklings.  I’da starved first.”

“You almost did, if I remember right,” she snarked at him.

“Yeah,” he said softly.  “But I came to the right place for help, didn’t I?”

“I guess you did,” she answered slowly.  She raised her eyes to his.  “I’m glad you came to us, Spike.”

He glided closer to her and reached out to push a piece of hair off her face. “So am I, love.  So am I.”



Chapter Eight

Spike offered to drive Buffy and Dawn to the hospital that evening, so they finished eating and waited patiently for the sun to go down.  As soon as it was getting to be dusk, the vampire appeared at the door and took the keys to the SUV from Buffy.

The Slayer stuck out her lower lip and groused at him,  “Contrary to what you and my mother think, I am perfectly capable of driving her car.”  Over her head Dawn and Spike exchanged eyerolls as they walked to the vehicle.

“Uh, Buffy?  Mom was pretty clear about not wanting to have to fix any more dents in car.”

“That last one was NOT my fault!”

She stuck her lower lip out even further, tempting Spike to shock Dawn by taking it in his teeth and sucking on it.  Instead, he leaned over to whisper in her ear that if she didn’t stop pouting, he was going to bite her lip off.

“I am not pouting!” she insisted.  “I’m just saying, I got my license and everything and everybody still acts like I can’t drive a car.  It’s not fair.”

“You still can’t drive a car,” her sister said primly as she climbed into the back seat.

Spike laughed at Buffy’s half-hearted swat at her sister and ran around to hold the door for her on the passenger side.   Tossing her head and ignoring the weirdness of having Spike hold a car door for her, she got into the front seat and turned around to stick her tongue out at Dawn.  Spike slid into the driver’s seat and immediately began punching buttons on the radio until he came to something he liked.

The short ride to the hospital was a welcome respite from the drama and worry of the past week.  Buffy and Spike squabbled over which radio stations to play, Dawn disagreed with both of them and they arrived at the hospital laughing and flushed.

When Spike walked into the waiting area with Dawn and Buffy, not one of the Scoobies batted an eye. Even Xander didn’t bother to say anything derogatory.  It was apparent that Giles had filled them in on Riley’s evening activities and they all looked at Buffy uncomfortably, not sure what to say.  Finally, Willow stepped up and put her hand sympathetically on Buffy’s arm.

“Riley’s a poop head, Buffy.  Are you okay?”

“I will be,” her friend answered wryly.  “Kinda getting used to the whole ‘poop head’ boyfriend thing.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Spike clench his jaw, and she shot him an apologetic look.  As soon as she got a chance she sidled over to him and whispered,  “You can be my boy friend, and take a chance on turning into a poop head, or not .  You decide.”

She moved away quickly, blushing at her own impulsive words, so missed the look of absolute wonder on his face as he stared after her.  The vampire was frozen in place and wordless for so long that Xander finally asked him, “Hey, bloodsucker.  Are you still with us?”

“Was jus’ thinkin’, Whelp.  Not somethin’ you’re overly familiar with, I know.”

“Well I sure don’t expect to see it from you.  Nothing good can come of it, I’m sure.”

Mutual insults taken care of, the two settled down away from the chattering women who, in a show of support for Buffy, were busy trashing everything male.

When they were finally allowed in to see Joyce, only immediate family was allowed into the room, so the others had to settle for peering in the door and waving.  It was obvious that Joyce was not aware of much going on around her and the Scoobies soon left, telling Buffy they would come back the next day when her mom was awake.

Once the large group was gone, Spike slipped unnoticed into the room and stood quietly behind Buffy’s chair as she held her mother’s unresponsive hand and talked to her softly.  When he heard a small quaver in her voice as she talked about not worrying about the gallery, he touched her gently on the shoulder.  Forgetting Dawn was in the room, Buffy reached up and gave his hand a grateful squeeze, then looked up to see her sister staring at them with eyes like saucers.

While Buffy went brain dead with dismay, Spike winked at Dawn and leaned down to kiss Buffy on the cheek.  Instead of the shock and horror Buffy expected to see on her sister’s face, there was just delight and just a slight flash of jealousy before Dawn squealed and said, “You two?  How totally cool!”

“Think it probably isn’t something to be spreading around right now, Nibblet,  Let’s jus’ keep it in the family for a while, okay?”

Dawn looked disappointed that she couldn’t run out and tell her friends that her sister was dating a vampire, but managed to get a grip on her enthusiasm and agreed to keep it quiet.

“So, does this mean you two are going to be having sex in Buffy’s room while Mom’s in the hospital?  Cause the walls are kinda thin and hearing that could scar me for life...”

“Dawn!” Buffy was scarlet from head to toe and went from glaring at her sister to frantic glances at her mother.  She sincerely hoped Joyce was unable to hear anything going on around her.

“What?  It’s not like I don’t know what it is, you know.  And Spike is, like, really hot and he loves you, so—“

Dawn! Stop. Now!”  Buffy’s glare had gone from embarrassed to just really angry Slayer and her sister finally stopped her excited questions for the time being.

Spike was laughing so hard he could hardly stand up and Buffy included him in her glare as she got to her feet and prepared to leave.  She threw a half-hearted punch at his head, but her lips were quirking as she resisted the urge to smile and him and her equally amused sister.

“We’ll just see how funny this is to you two when it turns out Mom was awake and heard everything you said,” she grumbled as they headed for the door.  “And I WILL be reminding her it wasn’t me who brought up the subject of sex.”

As they left the room, none of them noticed the small smile that touched the mouth of the sedated woman on the bed, but she drifted back to sleep comfortable that her daughters were being well cared for.


CHAPTER NINE

Spike dropped Buffy and Dawn off at their house, then continued over to the gallery to check on the shipments and try to get them out of the floor.  Joyce’s employees were used to seeing the blond vampire come and go in the evenings and didn’t question his right to be there when he came in and began opening crates.

Before they left for the evening, he got them to promise to display everything that he got unpacked and inventoried during the night.  He promised he would place the heavier objects on the floor, leaving them to present the smaller ones. 

When he had finished his work and checked the books, he slipped quietly out the back, locking the door behind him.  Satisfied that he had done as much as he could for one night, he headed back toward Revello drive, not sure what he would find there, but knowing it was where he needed to be.

He arrived just in time to see an irate Riley Finn banging on the front door while a terrified Dawn stood on the other side, refusing to let him in.  In a second, Spike was on the porch and standing between the much larger man and the door.

“Havin’ trouble understandin’ the word, ‘no’ again, are you, wanker?” he growled threateningly.

The ex-commando drew himself up to his full height as he glared down at the lean blond. 

“Get out of my way, Spike,” he blustered.  “I need to see Buffy and I’m going in there.”

“She’s not here!” Dawn shrieked.  “I told you that already. She went on patrol.”

“I’ll just come in and wait for her,” he said firmly.  “Let me in, Dawn.”

“Don’t do it, Nibblet,” Spike said quickly as he suddenly realized what was off about the tall man.  “The wanker doesn’t have a heartbeat anymore.”

Riley dropped all pretense of being human and slipped into a vampire’s ridged face.

“That’s right. I don’t.  I’m also just as strong as you are now – and you’re still chipped.”  He leaped at Spike as he finished speaking, only to find himself flying through the air off the porch and on to the sidewalk. 

As he rose to his feet, Spike was swaggering toward him, landing a hard right on the fledgling vamp’s jaw as he ground out, “Number one -You have been a vampire for less than a day. I,” he punctuated with another fist to the face,  “have been around well over 100 years.  You aren’t even close to being as strong as I am yet.”  For emphasis, he threw Riley into a large tree, then pulled him up and punched him again as he continued, “Number 2 – the chip doesn’t work on demons, you moron.  So I can hurt you all I want.”

With a roundhouse kick to the chest he sent the larger vampire back to the ground as he growled, “And trust me,  I really, really want.”  As he advanced on the now cringing fledgling, he sensed Buffy and looked away for a second to see where she was,  As soon as he wasn’t glaring at the other vampire, Riley leaped to his feet and ran off into the darkness.

With a snarl, Spike went to run after him, but a small hand on his arm stopped him.

“No, Spike, let him go.  This is my problem and I should deal with it.  He’ll be back and I’ll stake him then.” 

He looked at her carefully but could see no sign of anything except acceptance and resignation on her face.

(I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let her do that to herself again.  She liked the big git, even if she wasn’t in love with him like she thought.  I’m gonna see to it that he’s a pile of farm dust before she ever has to.)

“Alright, love.  But if I see him first, or if he’s threatening the Nibblet again....”

‘It’s my mess, Spike,” she said firmly.  “I’ll clean it up.”

“Bloody fuckin’ hell, Buffy!  Didn’t you listen to anything Rupert said to you?  That soddin’ prat’s inadequacies are NOT your fault! “ 

He stopped yelling and stared at her, breathing hard and unnecessarily.  He softened his look and his tone.

“Let me do this for you, love.  You don’t need to hurt yourself like that.  If you don’t want me to do it, ask your watcher.”

“It’s my JOB, Spike,” she growled at him.

Suddenly he remembered how angry it made her when Riley tried to impinge upon her slayer duties and he raised his hands in surrender.

“Alright, love.  Wasn’t tryin’ to get in your business.  Jus’ tryin’ to spare you some unnecessary emotional pain.”

Buffy’s shoulders slumped and she leaned against him in apology. “I didn’t mean to yell at you, Spike.  I know you wanted to spare me.  But, hey, comes with the territory, you know?  I learned very early in my Slayer career that I had to be prepared to slay somebody I cared about it if they became dangerous....” Her voice trailed off and he knew she was thinking of Angelus and how he’d killed her watcher’s girl friend when she couldn’t bring herself to kill him the first time they fought.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

“It’s okay, love.  I know you can do it.  I just hate to see you unhappy.  Makes me say and do stupid things.”

Even as he petted her and assured her that he would not interfere, he was vowing to himself that Riley was going to disappear long before the Slayer was able to find and kill him.

(I‘ll talk to the watcher tomorrow.  Maybe between the two of us we can make this go away.)



Chapter 10

Buffy pulled back reluctantly and started toward the house.  She looked back over her shoulder at the blond vampire and asked,  “Are you coming in?”

Looking at Dawn’s still-frightened face, he nodded his head and jumped up onto the porch.

“Yeah, I’ll come in for awhile.  Make sure you two are all tucked in and the house is all locked up before I—“

“I meant, are you staying tonight?” 

She looked him right in the eye and waited for his reaction. He just stared at her for several seconds, stunned that she would ask that in front of Dawn and wondering desperately if he had misunderstood her.  When he saw the big grin on Dawn’s face, he relaxed and moved toward Buffy, tilting his head to one side as he studied her face.

“If that’s what you want, Buffy.  You know I will.  I’ll stay as long as you need me to.”

“Could be a long time,” she said, stepping closer to him, her eyes still challenging him.

“I got time.” He met her look for look.  “I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

When she flinched at that, he thought back to what the men she’d had in her short life had done to her, and he followed her through the door to tip her chin up to look at him again.

“I’m not going anywhere, Buffy.  I promise you.  I will be here as long as you want or need me.  You or the Nibblet.  Or your mum, for that matter.  Won’t leave you.  Thought you might have figured that out by now,” he finished softly as he pulled her into his arms.

With a small sigh, the Slayer allowed herself to be held and cherished while her younger, but wise beyond her years, sister tiptoed up stairs and locked herself in her bedroom for the night.

For once Buffy was able to enjoy the way their bodies seemed to fit together without feeling pangs of disloyalty toward Angel or Riley.  She tilted her face up toward him only to find his lips already on the way toward hers.  At first the gentle, tender pressure was just what she wanted, but as they stood there, bodies touching and mouths silently promising a new relationship between them, Buffy could feel the warmth the vampire always generated in her spreading throughout her body.

As her heart rate increased and her breathing became more noticeable, Spike’s own body reacted to her as it always did with his borrowed blood rushing to the rapidly hardening object pressed against Buffy’s stomach.  He remembered his promise to her not to push for a repeat of their mutual pleasuring until she had nothing else to worry about and he tried to rein in the desire that flooded his body.

When Buffy shifted her body slightly he caught a whiff of arousal from her and knew he could no longer pretend he was in control of himself.  With a groan, he lightly touched her lips with his tongue, running it around the outside of her mouth until her teeth parted and her own warm one came out to play.  Once again the vampire’s skillful kisses had Buffy melting against his body as her legs lost all ability to hold her up.

With her arms around his neck, and her fingers running through the soft hairs at the back of his neck, Buffy gave in to the sensations his hands were creating as he moved them around her body.  Using one arm to hold her to him tightly, Spike allowed his other hand to roam up and down her back, sliding under her shirt to feel her heated skin and causing her to shiver. He reached down and cupped the cheeks of her ass, grinding their pelvises together in an attempt to find relief for the throbbing in his cock.

Buffy was no longer willing or able to deny how badly she wanted to feel his naked body pressed to hers.  When his free hand slid around to gently cup a lace-covered breast, she moaned and arched into his hand as she wrapped one leg around his, pressing her warm, damp crotch into his thigh.  As she began rubbing her heated sex against his leg, Spike broke the kiss to growl into her neck, “Bloody hell, love, I know I promised, but you’re killlin’ me here.  Got to touch you, Buffy.  Got to taste you again. Please, love.  Just let me—“

Her response was to push him into the living room and onto the couch. He blinked up at her in surprise, not sure if she was rejecting him or not.  One look at her lust filled green eyes and the pink tongue licking her lips and he relaxed back onto the cushions.

(Baby wants to play, then.  I can do that.)

Buffy looked at the lean, black-clad body sprawled in front of her and spoke her thoughts out loud. 

“Too many clothes!” she blurted.

“Wha-?”

She blushed furiously, but didn’t back down now that she’d said it.

“You have too many clothes on.  Take them off. Now.” 

She knew she sounded more like Sergeant Buffy than a woman in the throes of passion, but Spike didn’t seem to care.  He just smirked up at her and began to slowly pull his tee shirt off over his head.  As he did, his biceps flexed and his stomach was pulled in, allowing a brief glimpse of a line of soft, dark blond curls disappearing into the waistband of his jeans.

Buffy’s eyes were going back and forth from his muscular arms, to his flat stomach and up to his now-exposed chest.  As soon as he had dropped his shirt on the floor, Spike’s hands went to the button on his jeans and Buffy’s eyes were immediately riveted on their slow progress in unbuttoning his pants and lowering the zipper.  She gave an unconscious whimper when he stopped unzipping and leaned forward to take off his boots.

With her view now blocked, Buffy came somewhat to her senses and she reached for the curtains, pulling them closed against any eyes that might be spying on the Slayer’s house.  She also turned off the lamp in the living room so that the only light was coming from the hallway and the kitchen.

A sound from the couch brought her attention back to the vampire just in time to watch him slowly pushing his pants down over his hips and thighs.  She gasped unintentionally when his erect cock was freed to bob against his stomach. 

(Woo, hoo!  I almost forgot how big that thing is!)

She gulped audibly and swallowed hard, lifting her eyes quickly to his face only to see him looking at her with great amusement.  She blushed again when he stood up to let his jeans drop to the floor and said, “See anything you like, love?”

He ran his hands down his body from his chest to his groin, then raised his arms over his head in a stretch that flexed every muscle he had.  Buffy knew he was teasing her, laughing at the combination of embarrassment and lust he could read on her face.

(All right, Fang face, two can play at this game. Let’s see what it takes to make you start begging again).

With a sultry smile that she hoped disguised her nervous thoughts, she softly ordered him, “Lie back down on the couch, Spike.”   The sight of his pale, lean body stretched out on the sofa almost made her forget her plan when her hands stretched, seemingly of their own accord, toward that exposed smooth skin.

With a little mental shake, Buffy reminded herself of what she wanted to do to him.  She was helped by the cocky expression on his face as he watched her snatch her hands back from their attempt to touch him.

Instead of joining him on the sofa as he clearly expected, she stepped back and gave her own lengthy stretch, accompanied by small sounds of pleasure as she worked her muscles.  She tried not to grin as she noticed Spike’s cocky look being replaced by puzzled lustfulness.

She slowly pulled her tank top off over her head, pausing with it just in front of her face, knowing that position was pushed her breasts together and making them appear larger than they actually were.  She tried to avoid looking at Spike’s face as she finished taking off the shirt and tossed it over his head. 

From the corner of her eye she saw him snatch it off his face so that he could watch as she unhooked her bra and dropped it to the floor, sighing with relief as she took it off.  She stretched up again, then pulled her arms behind her back to stretch her pectoral muscles.  She ran her hands up her rib cage and cupped her breasts briefly, rubbing a thumb across the nipples as she pretended to study them for a second.

She ignored the strangled sound that came from the now very focused vampire as she undid the snap on her stylish, but Slaying-friendly, stretch jeans and turned her back on him as she shimmied them off her hips and to the floor. She heard him growl when she bent over to pull them off her feet, exposing her smooth, rounded butt cheeks to his view.  She peeked back over her shoulder and smirked at him, wiggling her ass at him as she did so.

“Get that luscious arse back over here, Slayer,” he growled at her, his eyes devouring her from head to toe.  He licked his lips in anticipation of touching the smooth golden skin now exposed to him.  His eyes were such a dark blue they appeared black as he raked them over curves.

“Are you giving me orders, vampire?” she asked sweetly, dropping her thong just out of his reach.  “Cause, you know I don’t follow them very well, don’t you?”

With another loud groan, he fell back against the cushions and lifted his hands in surrender.

“You win, love.  Whatever you want.  I give up.  Just get back over here where I can touch you...please, Buffy?  Please, love?  Before I spontaneously combust!”

With a triumphant smile, the small blond approached the begging vampire and leaned down to whisper softly,  “I like it when you beg.  It makes me feel all...” her voice trailed off as she gave in to her own desires and ran her hands over his smooth, muscular chest and down his hard abdomen until she her fingers were entwined in the crisp curls at the base of his shaft.

She gave it a quick lick with her tongue, but before she could do anything else, she was yanked up and on top of the vampire.  The feel of his cool bare skin against her heated softness was enough to make both Slayer and vampire gasp in pleasure.  Buffy pressed herself against him as hard as she could, trying to ensure that every piece of bare flesh was in contact with his.

Spike was clutching her to him as tightly as he could, grateful that her Slayer body could take the pressure he was putting on it. When she wriggled against him in an attempt to touch more skin, he gasped and arched up into her, pushing his hips against hers and allowing his cock to slip between her thighs.

“Let me in, love,” he begged softly, no longer caring how much of a ponce  he appeared to be as long as he could bury himself in her warmth.  “Let me feel you around me.  Let me love you, Buffy.  Want you so bad...need to feel you...love you...”

The touch of Spike’s eager cock pushing on her clit brought home to Buffy just what she was doing.  For a wrenching second, she started to recoil, fear of what would happen if she let the vampire love her almost taking over.  Then she remembered his impassioned speech about having no soul to lose and his vow that he was not like Angel/Angelus in any way and she gave in to the urgings of her body and opened her legs to allow him entrance.

The look on his face when he felt himself nudging into her warmth was enough to justify Buffy’s decision.  She’d never seen that same expression of absolute awe and adoration on the face of any of her previous lovers.  She barely had time to be grateful that Spike didn’t have any happiness clauses to worry about, before the pure physical pleasure of being slowly filled by his cool, thick length drove all coherent thoughts out of her head.

They gave matching sighs of contentment when he was fully buried in her warmth and they could both feel how perfect the fit was.  Buffy felt completed for the first time in her short life.  It felt like his body was designed just to fit with hers in a way to give her the most pleasure.

Spike was close to losing consciousness at the overwhelming sensation of being buried inside Buffy’s tight, slick warmth.  Her scent, the pounding of the blood in her veins, the sound of her heartbeat and her warm breath on his neck all conspired to render him immobile.

(Could dust now,happily.  I’ll never be this close to heaven ever again.  This is my heaven. My world.  Never want to leave here.)

When Buffy began to slowly squeeze her Slayer enhanced muscles around him, he quickly snapped out of his happy daze and remembered that it could get better and, in fact, was already doing so.

Keeping up a steady murmur in her ear about how wonderful she was and how good she felt, he began to slowly move his hips, being sure to thrust just a little harder at the end of each stroke so that his pubic bone generated pressure on her clit.  He was rewarded by her steady whimpers and gasps as their pace picked up until he was thrusting harder and harder into her as she wrapped her ankles around his back and pulling him in even harder.

When Buffy’s whimpers and gasps changed to panting chanting of his name, he couldn’t prevent his demon from emerging to lick the side of her neck.  With a final shriek of “Spike!” Buffy clenched around him and threw her head back, baring her throat to his fangs.  With a muffled roar, he exploded inside her, at the same time allowing his sharp canines to penetrate the soft skin on her neck.

Buffy screamed again, as another, more powerful orgasm shook her body and she reveled in the feel of her blood flowing into his needy mouth.  She came down from the heady high to find him licking softly at the bite wounds which were already healing even as they collapsed against each other in completion.

The Slayer in her wanted to yell at him for daring to touch her with his teeth, but the best she could manage was a very un-slayerly, “You bit me, Spike. Why did you bite me?”

He rolled off of her with a sigh, eliciting another whimper from both of them as his temporarily flaccid cock slid out of her. 

“I’m really sorry, love.  I had no idea that was gonna happen.  Thought I had more control than that.  Not around you, I guess,” he added ruefully, kissing her forehead apologetically.





She raised up slightly, leaning on her elbow and tracing circles on his chest with her finger.

“Why didn’t your chip fire?”

He looked up at her and asked with a worried frown,  “Did I hurt you?”

“What? No, it didn’t hurt...it felt....” she stopped and blushed as she remembered her body’s reaction to the bite.

He laughed softly at her obvious embarrassment and said, “Don’t you remember our conversation about why humans would seek out vamps to bite them?”

Her eyes widened in sudden understanding.  “Oh my god!  No wonder Riley—“ She blushed again and put her face down against his neck.  “I can’t compete with something like that!”

She shocked to feel Spike begin to tremble and looked up to see his demon fully emerged and snarling.

“There is no excuse for that soddin’ prat to have needed anything more than you could give him!  I didn’t mean to bite you, and if I never had, it still would have been the best shag of my life.  He was an ass and he got what was comin’ to him for doin’ that to you.”

The vampire was taking rapid, unnecessary breaths as he tried to calm down and force the demon back.  When he finally relaxed into his human face and Buffy could once again see his beautiful blue eyes staring at her, she leaned forward and nuzzled him gently.

“Okay.  Calm down.  I was just surprised by it, that’s all.  I had forgotten what you told me about the biting during sex.”

“Didn’t mean to do that to you, pet,” he mumbled.  “I’m sorry.  Won’t happen again.”

He stoked her silky hair, not seeing the look of dismay on her face.

“So, you didn’t want me to feel that?  You wouldn’t do it again if I asked you?”  She looked up at him with a small frown and the beginning of a pout.

He pulled back to look at her in astonishment.

“Has your Watcher taught you nothing about vampire mating rituals, Slayer? D’you have any idea what you’d be askin’ for?”

Buffy frowned more intently and said somewhat sharply, “I wouldn’t be asking you to turn me, you moron.  Just to...But if you don’t want to, that’s fine. I can deal,” she huffed.

Instead of responding to her aggrieved comments immediately, he took her face in both hands and captured her lips with his, kissing her until she was moaning against his mouth and reaching for his ready cock.   When they broke for air and he could once again speak, he put his forehead against hers and shut his eyes as he said grimly, “Don’t ever think that I don’t want to bite you, Buffy. I’ve wanted to bite you from the first time I saw you – and not just because I wanted you dead.”

He sucked in an unnecessary breath of air as her warm hand wrapped around him and squeezed tightly.  

“Then why wouldn’t you do it again?” she demanded, pulling on his cock at the same time.

“Ungh!” he gasped as he pushed into her hand.  His eyes rolled back in his head as he lay back against the pillows and reveled in the feel of her hands on his cock.  “Buffy, Slayer, like that, love.  Oh yeah! oh fuck, Buffy.  Stop, love, stop...don’t stop, don’t ever stop, Slayer, Buffy.  Buffy!”

He grabbed her hands and with a supreme effort of will, he stopped her vigorous attentions to his cock before he exploded in her hands. He held on to her hands, breathing hard and trying to calm himself before he let go.

“Jesus, pet.  What are you tryin’ to do to me?” he groaned.  “You could have had a real mess on your hands in another couple of seconds.”

“I’m trying to get an answer from you,” she pouted.  “You ignored my question.”

“There was a question?” he asked in all sincerity. His brain was still trying to deal with what she’d been doing with her hands. “What was it?”

“The question,” she growled, “is why wouldn’t you bite me again if it makes the....you know...so much better.  Don’t you want it to be good for me?  Didn’t biting me make it good for you?”  Her voice became tinged with just a little uncertainty.  “Didn’t you like biting me?  Don’t I taste good to you?”

His eyes flew open and he stared at her, completely bewildered.  When he realized she was seriously questioning his reaction to making love to her, he sat them both up and took her hands in his.  He swung his legs over so that his feet were on the floor and she was sitting astride his lap.  Without thinking, she lowered herself onto his rigid cock and wrapped her legs around him.

He grinned at her wryly for a moment and said, “Wanted to have a serious conversation about this, love, but you’re not makin’ it easy on me.”

“Go ahead,” she demanded.  “Converse.  I’m listening.”

As she spoke, she clenched her muscles around him and smiled when he groaned.  Then her eyes went wide and she yelped in surprise when he twitched inside her, nudging a sensitive spot she hadn’t known was there.

“Stop that!” she said indignantly.

“I will if you will, you evil woman,” he growled at her.  “We need to talk about this now and if I have to put clothes back on both of us to make it happen, I will,” he threatened.

Buffy blinked at him and realized he was deadly serious. 

“Okay,” she said softly, “I’m sorry. Tell me what I need to know.” She stayed where she was on his lap, but held still and waited expectantly for him to explain.

“Right then,” he said with a sigh.  “Has Rupert told you anything about vampires and sex?”

“Um, other than, don’t do it with them?”

“Very funny,” he rolled his eyes at her.  “You already know about the...enhancing... effects of a bite during sex, and that a bite like that isn’t usually fatal and can be repeated.” Before she could say anything, he put a finger over her open lips and shook his head.  “That’s what happens when vamps are doing it for the free blood.  They have sex, bite, drink, and everybody goes home happy.” 

He took a deep, unnecessary breath and continued, “It’s a little more complicated than that when there are...feelings... involved.” He peered at her from under his dark lashes and she shifted uncomfortably as his love for her shone in his darkened eyes. 

“If I were to say...I...the wrong thing...while I was drinkin’ from you, I’d be claiming you.  And if you should say...the wrong thing...at the same time, you’d be accepting the claim.”

Buffy frowned, both at his obvious avoidance of whatever was so dangerous to say and at herself for not paying more attention when Giles tried to teach her about vampire lore.  She struggled to remember what exactly a claiming ritual was intended to do.

“So, if you said this ‘wrong thing’ at the wrong time, you’d be what? My boyfriend?  What’s so awful about that?  I thought you wanted to be my boyfriend?”

The vampire gritted his teeth in annoyance.  “I’m a vampire, love, remember?  Immortal?” When she raised her eyebrow, he smiled sheepishly. “Well, ’less you dust me in a fit of temper one of these days.  Point is, a claim is much more than a boyfriend/girlfriend kinda thing. It’s more like a marriage. Sacred.  And, it’s forever. It ends when one of you is dead or dusty. “

“Oh,” she said in a small voice.  “I guess I shoulda paid more attention in Slayer-school, huh?”  She looked at him from behind a curtain of golden hair.

He pushed her hair out of her face and smiled at her.  “I’m sure you had no reason to think you’d have to worry about it someday, love.  And you won’t,” he said firmly.  “Not if I’m careful.  And I will be.  I promise you, sweetheart,” he finished.  “Would never do that to you.”

(As much as I might want to.  Know you don’t belong with the likes of me. Won’t try to hold you longer than you want to be here with me.)

She studied him carefully for a full minute, then leaned in and kissed him softly.  “I trust you, Spike.  I’m not worried about it.”

“Good,” he said with an affectionate leer, “Cause I’ve got plans for you, Slayer.” 

As he spoke, he twitched his cock again, hitting the bundle of nerves he was looking for and watching her eyes go wide again. 

“Oooh,” she moaned and squeezed him hard. 

They were soon engaged in a competition to see which one would surrender first to the sensations they were creating using just the muscles that connected them so intimately.  An outside observer might have thought they were asleep as they sat facing each other, foreheads pressed together, eyes shut, each trying to be the last to give in to the rapidly building tension.  After minutes of complete immobility, they suddenly uttered matching moans and shuddered all over as their orgasms shook them out of the trance-like state they’d fallen in to.

They collapsed against each other, laughing and breathing hard as they rolled onto their sides on the couch.  Spike pulled the afghan up over Buffy’s relaxed body and they drifted off to sleep, still wrapped in each other’s arms.


Outside the small bungalow,  a glowering set of amber eyes stared at the curtained window and a large vampire snarled.  He had seen Buffy shove the other vampire onto the couch and hoped briefly that she was angry enough to stake him.  When she pulled the curtains instead, he let his demon use his new senses to listen to their voices and Buffy’s heartbeat as the two lovers began to consummate their new relationship.

He listened long enough to be sure of what he was hearing, then ran off into the darkness snarling and planning his revenge on the blond vampire that had taken what was his.

Chapter Eleven

Spike felt Buffy moving beside him and tightened his grip on her waist. “Where d’you think you’re goin’, Slayer?”

She sighed and gave up any attempt to be stealthy.

“I’m going up to my room before Dawn wakes up and sees something she’ll be blackmailing me about forever,” she hissed at him.

He looked down at their entwined naked bodies and grinned. “Right, you are, pet.  There are some things the Nibblet just doesn’t need to learn about first hand.  Not from yours truely, anyway.”

He sat up and nuzzled her neck, licking the scabs over his bite wounds.  Buffy felt a jolt that went all the way from the bite marks to her womb, and she was instantly aroused and wet.

“What the hell...?”

“Side effect, love,” he growled into her neck.  “Has the same effect on me. Hell of an aphrodisiac, your blood.”

As he lowered his mouth to her breasts and sucked one rosy nipple in to tease with his tongue, she gasped out,  “No, Spike, we can’t.  It’s almost morning. Dawn will be...”

“Dawn sleeps like the living dead,” he mumbled around her nipple.  “We’ve got time.”

Deciding to rely on his inherent ability to know how close the sun was to rising, Buffy gave in to the warmth spreading throughout her body and arched up into his mouth, whimpering with need.

He rolled onto his back and lifted her hips up onto his, never breaking the suction on her nipple. One hand was holding the other breast and stroking that nipple so it wouldn’t feel neglected.  Buffy slid down his body until she could feel his rigid cock rubbing against her clit.  With a moan, she rubbed up and down on it until she was panting and moving so much he had to let her nipple go with a soft popping sound.

She gave a small whimper as he pulled her hips up and away from the wonderful friction she’d been creating, then gave a small shriek as he held her over his face and gently touched her with his tongue.  When he sucked her clit into his mouth and began pulling on it, she grabbed the arm of the couch to keep from screaming.  She felt the wood under the upholstery give as she clenched her fists around it and let the vampire bring her to orgasm after orgasm.  She was using her arms and her trembling thighs to hold herself suspended in place while he used his clever lips and tongue on her most sensitive parts..

When she was reduced to a limp, moaning body lying on top of him, Spike took pity on her and pushed her back down so that her face was near his.  He kissed her slack mouth and she could taste herself on him as his tongue probed hers until she responded to him.

When she was kissing him back with enthusiasm, he slid his cock into her dripping quim and began to rock his hips slowly, allowing the pleasant tension to build as he thrust in and out of her heated, tight walls. Thanking the PTB for slayer stamina and recovery time, Buffy began squeezing gently every time he pulled back to thrust again.  At his encouraging, “That’s it, love.  Don’t hold back. Give me everything you’ve got,”  she began to increase the power she put into her squeezing and she soon had the vampire moaning and gasping as she used her muscles to milk him to his climax.

When he roared his completion this time, he fastened his lips around the marks on her neck and sucked hard, smothering the noise of his roar in her throat.  The pressure of his lips on her wound brought Buffy to another, totally unexpected orgasm and she sank her blunt teeth into his shoulder to muffle the scream.

“Love you so much, Buffy.” He mumbled into her neck as he licked the lightly bleeding holes in her neck.  His vigorous sucking had pulled the scabs off and he could feel the small amount of slayer blood invigorating his body.

When she hissed in fear and pulled back, he tried to ignore the pain that shot through him as he hastened to explain that he wasn’t trying to claim her.

“Didn’t say it while I was pulling on you, love.  Didn’t say or do anything possessive.  Know you’re not mine.  Not really.  Won’t say it to you.  Not without your permission.”

Buffy relaxed back against his chest and asked timidly, “What about if I say something...possessive...or...  Not that I would!” she hastened to add at the look of pure joy that flashed across his face, followed by a quickly hidden disappointment.  “But what if I did?”

“Don’t really know, pet.” He tried to keep his voice even and unemotional. “Never heard of a human initiating a claim; let alone a Slayer.”  He looked at her thoughtfully. “Not like it’s somethin’ you need to think about doin’, Buffy.  I’m yours body and...well...if I had a soul, it would be yours.  You have me.  My body and my heart for as long as you want them. And probably for a lot longer than that, pet.  I’ll never leave you until you tell me to.”

“Why would I tell you to?” she asked in genuine confusion.  “I don’t want you to go away.”

“Someday you will, my love.  You’ll want to get married and have your own little nibblets.” He stroked her hair softly and moved a stray lock out of her eyes.  “When you retire from Slayin’, you won’t have any place in your life for a vampire.”

“Slayers don’t retire, Spike,” she said wryly.  “You told me yourself, we come with expiration dates.”

“Not you,” he said fiercely. “Not while I’m around.  There will be no expiring on my watch, Missy!”

Buffy decided the conversation was getting much too intense for a newly begun relationship.  Hoping to lighten the mood, she said teasingly, “You’re just afraid I’ll get all old and wrinkly and you don’t want to be around for that.”

He laughed at her and agreed softly, “Caught me out, pet.  Don’t want to be helpin’ you across streets when you’re doddering.”

She tossed her head and began to gather up her clothes.  She threw his pants to him and told him she’d see him that evening.

Giles, Buffy, Willow, Tara and Anya met in the Magic Box later in the morning.  Buffy filled them in on what had happened to Riley and the importance of being careful if they saw him anywhere.

Willow looked at Buffy with sympathy and asked, “Are you okay about this? ‘Cause, you know, we could try to stake him ourselves if you...”

Her friend looked at her gratefully and smiled. “It’s all right, Willow.  I can’t say I’m happy about it, but on the scale of unpleasant tasks in Buffy’s life, it doesn’t even come close to having to send Angel to hell.”

She shot a guilty look at her Watcher’s closed face and whispered, “And I know I have to do it soon.  I won’t shirk my duty this time.”

Giles put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.  “I never thought you were shirking, Buffy.  You were very young to have to make that kind of hard choice...and ultimately, you made the right one.”

“Just not quick enough to save Ms. Calendar,” she mumbled.

Her watcher gave her shoulder another squeeze and said, “I do not blame you for that, Buffy.  I blame Angelus.”

The Slayer gave herself a little shake and said briskly, “Yeah, well, anyway, this is a completely different sitch.  All I have to do is find Riley before he can cause too much damage and...” she trailed off, a look of horror on her face.

“Oh my god.  All his friends from the Initiative!  They won’t know!  I’ve got to tell them!”

She ran toward the door, waving as she went.  “I’ll catch you guys later.  Be sure somebody tells Xander about Riley.”


Chapter Twelve

Buffy took the steps up to the fraternity house door three at a time and burst in to the living room, looking around frantically.  In her hurry to be sure the other soldiers were all okay, she didn’t notice that the room was heavily draped and darkened even though it was a bright day outside.

When she didn’t see anyone near the door, she went in further, searching frantically for signs of life as she advanced.   A sound from around the corner in the game room made her look to her left and she was surprised to see Xander standing near the pool table.  Standing unusually close behind him was Riley’s former roommate Graham.

Buffy saw Xander’s eyes looking over her head and when they widened in fear, she whirled and ducked just in time to avoid the fire ax a vamped out Forrest was aiming at her head.  A quick kick to his jaw, followed by a leg sweep that took him to the ground, and she had the axe in her hand and was swinging it toward his neck.  At the last second she shifted it away from the snarling vampire on the floor as Graham said, “Do it, Slayer, and your buddy here is lunch.”

She looked up to see Graham also now in vamp face, holding Xander by his neck and licking his lips.

Growling herself in frustration, Buffy moved slightly to where she could keep Forrest within her peripheral vision. 

“Let him go, Graham,” she said coldly. 

“Oh, I don’t think so.  What are you gonna do?  Kill me?”

He laughed and showed her his torn throat.  His laugh choked off when Forrest tried to sneak up on her from the side and, without taking her eyes off of Graham and Xander, she smashed the axe into his head, sending him to the floor unconscious.  Looking the newly turned vampire in the eye, she swung the axe and sliced the downed vampire’s head off, watching the dust drift away out of the corner of her eye.

“Well, yeah,” she said, rolling her eyes at the surprised fledgling. “What part of ‘vampire slayer’ didn’t get explained to you?”

With a frightened snarl, he shoved Xander toward her and ran out of the room using his newly acquired vampire speed.  Without knowing how many other men in the house had been turned, Buffy was afraid to leave Xander alone while she chased him, so she pushed him toward the door and out into the safety of the sun.
As they walked back toward the Magic Box, Buffy scolded Xander to hide how upset she was at his close call.

“Didn’t you get the memo to stay away from Riley?  What were you doing there?”

“Same thing you were, probably.  I thought I’d warn the other guys before he got to them.”  He looked at her sheepishly.  “Should have listened to Giles’ warning about getting close to any of them unless I was standing in the sun.”

When Buffy raised her eyebrows and grinned at him, he quickly added, “Which I will deny with my dying breath – ok, bad choice of words—if you try to tell him I said it!”

They were both laughing when they entered the shop and Giles looked up in relief.  “You got to them in time, then, I take it?”

“Oh no,” Buffy answered, still giggling at Xander, “he’s been there. Had to kill Forrest. Graham got away.”

“And this is amusing?”

Her Watcher’s cold tone brought Buffy back to the seriousness of the situation and she subsided.

“No, of course not,” she said apologetically.  “I was laughing at Xander.”

“Xander, why is there blood on your shirt?  And why is it torn?” Anya’s questions took the attention away from Buffy and put it on Xander.

“Well, now that’s a funny story....” he began.  The Watcher just shook his head and retreated to the back of the shop muttering that he would never understand American children.



After spending the afternoon with her mother in the hospital, and making it very clear to the staff that she was to have no visitors after dark except for herself or her sister, she went home to prepare for the night’s work.  She knew Riley would be using his commando training to raise an army of vamps, and she wanted to eliminate the nest as quickly as possible.

She found Spike sitting on the couch watching Passions and sat down beside him to fill him in on what she’d found at the fraternity house.

“So, soldier boy’s tryin’ to make himself a vamp army of minions,huh? Wonder how that’s gonna work out for him?”

She looked at him and frowned.  “It seems to be working out just fine, if Graham and Forrest are any example.  What do you mean, you ‘wonder’?”

“Jus’ that Wonderboy got himself into that pickle and prob’ly isn’t at all perturbed by it.  But he’s turnin’ men who don’t wanna be vampires. Even though their demons will see that they are properly bloodthirsty, they still might resent the hell out of him.  They might not remember why they hate him; but they’ll hate him.”

He seemed so sure, Buffy didn’t actually doubt him, but had to ask, “How do you know that?”

“Ever wonder why you never hear of any turned Slayers, love?”

“Uh, no, actually.  I never thought about it – except when I have nightmares that it happens to me...”

“That’s why.  You’d hate it.  And even though you’d make one hell of a vampire,” he grinned at her outraged look and ducked the punch she threw at his head,  “your first official, vampiric act would undoubtedly be to dust the one who turned you – and your demon would want to do it slowly and painfully. It’s pretty widely accepted that only a bleedin’ idiot would think about turnin’ a Slayer.”

“You mean no one ever has?”

“I guess some stupid git must have at one time or there wouldn’t be so many stories about what happens after.  But, it hasn’t happened in my lifetime...er, unlifetime.”

Buffy was quiet for a few minutes, thinking about what he said.  “So, did you resent Drusilla?  For turning you, I mean.”

He looked at her with wide open eyes.  “Resent her?  She was my salvation.  William was a bloody wuss that nobody cared about. Dru gave me an unlife that was worth livin’”

A pang of jealousy made Buffy flinch away from him as she heard the affection and gratitude in his voice.

“Oh,” she said, her tone cold and distant. 

She refused to turn and meet his eyes as he said quietly,  “You asked me, love.  Doesn’t mean I don’t love you.  That I’m not happy with my life now.”

When she didn’t answer, he put a tentative hand on her arm and rubbed gently.

“Buffy?  Look at me, love.  Don’t turn away like that.”

She shook herself and reluctantly turned to meet his anxious eyes.  “It’s okay.  I just...sometimes I forget...what you are.  I really didn’t need that much of a reminder just now.”

He sighed and pulled her into his lap.  “I am what I am, Buffy.  Just as you are what you are.  I can change how I behave for you; the things I do, the way I dress...but I can’t change what I am.  All I can do is promise you that I will never intentionally let that bring you any harm.”


Chapter Thirteen

Instead of walking back to the Magic Box that evening for the Scoobie meeting to discuss how to find Riley and his minions, Spike told Buffy he wanted to swing by his crypt and pick up a few more weapons.  With a quick kiss, she went off toward town and he walked to his cemetery.

Before entering his crypt, he sniffed and listened carefully, not wanting to find out the hard way that Riley had rigged another trap for him.  When he didn’t sense anything, he walked in his door and headed for the weapon’s chest.  Too late, he sensed movement above him and spun around only to find himself entangled in a net that had dropped from the ceiling.

He immediately attacked the steel cables hindering his movements, but they were designed to hold the most dangerous of demons and his teeth and claws were not up to the task of shredding the net.  The last thing he saw before the tazer knocked him unconscious was Riley’s grinning face instructing his minions to bring the vampire with them.


When Spike didn’t show up at the Magic Box after an hour, Buffy began to pace the floor alternately worrying and fuming. 

“Where is that bleached pest?  He knows we need to move tonight before Riley has a chance to turn any more of his buddies.  I’ll kill him when I get my hands on him.

“Something must have happened.  Spike wouldn’t worry me like this.  He’d be here if he could...”

“Relax, Buffy,” Xander interrupted her verbal tantrum, “It’s Spike. He probably stopped for a drink at Willies’s or got into a card game or something.  It’s not like you can actually rely on—“

A fierce glare from Buffy stopped the young brunette in mid-Spike bash and he subsided as he realized how worried she really was.

“Uh, Buffy?  Is there something you want to tell us?  Something I’m pretty sure I really, really don’t want to know?”

When her only response was to look up anxiously, an expression of hope on her face at the opening of the door, he sighed and muttered to himself, “Here we go again.  Another damn vampire.”

Buffy’s hope was short lived, as the sharp-featured, dark woman who came in looked around nervously before speaking.

“Are...are you the Slayer?”

The gang exchanged looks as Buffy approached the trembling woman.  “I am.  Why do you want to know?”

The thin brunette retreated toward the door as Buffy stalked toward her.  “I...I’m...supposed to give you a message.”  She eyed the door as she continued to retreat from the small blond now almost on top of her.

“From?”

“He said you would know who it’s from.  He said to tell you if you want your pet vampire, you have to come and get him.” 

She visibly trembled as Buffy’s eyes narrowed and she practically snarled,  “Come and get him where?  Where is he?”

“A...a...at the Initiative’s house on campus.  In the game room,” she said.

“The game room?”

“Yes, he said...,” she visibly gulped, “he said he wanted to...to play.”

Gasps from the Scoobies in the room took Buffy’s attention off the other woman for a second, and she took that opportunity to bolt for the door.  She was almost out when a supernaturally strong hand grabbed her arm and yanked her back into the room.

“Where do you think you’re going?  And how did it happen that Riley choose you to deliver his message?”

The woman was shaking and trembling in front of her, and tears were beginning to fall from her eyes.  Buffy’s was about to reassure her that she would never harm another human when she realized that the arm she had grabbed was not warm.  She allowed her Slayer senses full rein and focused her full wrath on the frightened vampire in front of her.

“How did he happen to choose you?” she asked in a soft, but deadly cold voice.

“I...he...we...I...” the now game-faced vampire could only stutter in fear.

“You’re the one who turned him.” Buffy stated flatly.

The trembling demon in front of her nodded dumbly.

“I didn’t mean to!” she finally found her voice again as she begged for her life.  “I didn’t know he was yours.  He made me do it.  Said he’d kill me if I didn’t do it.”

Buffy’s face crumpled in horror as she realized exactly how twisted Riley had become when he lost his enhancements.  She recognized with a sense of shame how much her friendship with Spike and the jealousy that it inspired had fueled Riley’s dementia.

(This really is my fault.  It’s my fault Riley is what he is, and it’s my fault he’s taking it out on Spike.  I guess this is why Slayers never marry.  We’re fatal to the men who love us.)

A shaking on her arm brought Buffy out of her self-flagellating trance and she realized she was still holding the terrified vampire who had turned her ex boyfriend into a soulless fiend.  Without changing her expression, she pulled a stake from her waistband and plunged in into the other woman’s chest.  As the dust floated through the shop, she muttered, “I’m sorry,” and turned back to her dumbfounded friends.

“What?” she demanded of their shocked faces.  “She was a vampire. I’m a Slayer.  It’s what I do.”

Without speaking to anyone again, she marched into the training room and began filling a bag with weapons.  Giles watched in concern as she shouldered the bag and headed for the door.

“Buffy? Is this wise?  It is obviously a trap.  Perhaps it would be better to wait until daylight when we can use the sun to our advantage.”

“WE aren’t going, Giles.  This is my mess and I’m going to clean it up. Now.  Before anyone else gets hurt.”

“Buff, it’s just Spike.  He can take care of himself.” Xander tried to add his support to her watcher’s suggestion, but a glare from his girl friend shut him up.

Willow spoke up next, “Buffy, you know Spike wouldn’t want you to risk...”

The Slayer’s face was expressionless as she looked around at her friends.

“Spike can’t always have what he wants,” she said firmly.  “I’ll be back.”

There was silence in the room after the Slayer left the shop.  All eyes swiveled to Giles as they waited for him to tell them what to do.  The older man sighed.  He sighed for his Slayer who was once again going to be asked to do things no nineteen year old girl should, and for the otherwise normal young people sitting in front him waiting to be told when and how to put their lives on the line.

“We’ll give her a good head start, then we’ll bring the back-up.  Just in case.”

While her friends nodded their heads, relieved to have a plan of some sort, he kept to himself the thought that he doubted she would need them.  Something about the look on her face when she left told him the Slayer was in full control of this mission. 


Chapter Fourteen

Inside the large room designated for innocent pastimes like table hockey, foosball, and pool, the area had been cleared and only one pool table remained in the middle of the floor.  Suspended from the overhead chandelier, was a bloody blond vampire.  Riley’s minions had hung the chains over the fixture at their boss’s orders and then had taken turns flinging pieces of wood at the unconscious vampire’s body.

He woke up from the tazer blast to find that he was riddled with gouges and cuts wherever the wooden missiles had found their marks.  Conspicuously untouched, was the area over his heart.   They were instructed, on pain of instant painful retaliation, to leave the vampire undusted until Riley gave the word.

To amuse himself while his minions flung bits of sharp wood at the now-conscious vampire, Riley proceeded to tell Spike in great detail what he was planning for Buffy when she got there.

“Now that I’m a vampire, she should be a lot happier to see me, don’t you think?” he jeered.  “Doesn’t really matter if she is or isn’t though, I’m going to fuck her brains out before I drain her. “

He gestured to the lone pool table left in the center of the room, right under Spike’s dangling body.

“Right here. So you can get a good look at her face when I’m pounding in to her.    I want you to watch.  I want you to see every flinch, hear every scream.  Then you can watch me rip her throat out and swallow every drop of that bitch’s blood.”

Fear briefly gripped Spike’s entrails, but he tried to keep his voice cocky and smooth as he smirked at the larger vampire preening below him.

“This is the Slayer, you stupid git.  You really think she’s gonna be stupid enough to just waltz in here and let you have your way with her?”

(Please God, don’t let her be that stupid.  Stay away Buffy)

“Oh, I think she’ll come, Spike.” He spit the vampire’s name out like it was dirty word.

“She won’t leave you here at my mercy.  You know Buffy, always off to save her little friends.”

“Not one of her friends.” He replied shortly.  “Vampire, here, or have you forgotten?”

The other vampire snarled at him, “No, I haven’t forgotten.  I know just what you are.  It’s what she wants.  Vampires.  Angel, you.  Now she’s going to get all the vampire she can handle.   I’ll teach her what a real vampire is.”

His snarling speech was spoiled somewhat by the sounds of choking laughter coming from the chained vampire above him.  Spike couldn’t even speak, he was so thunderstruck at the idea of this fledgling vamp thinking he was going to take the Slayer that had defeated both Angelus and William the Bloody.

Riley’s face darkened and he gestured to his minions to resume their game of making Spike bleed. 

“Just don’t dust him yet.  I want her to see him hanging there and I want him to watch when I fuck her in that pool of blood on the table.” He gestured to the sticky red puddle forming underneath the chained vamp.

“You want him to watch you what me where?” 

Buffy’s incredulous voice carried from the entrance to the room, causing all heads to swivel toward her. 

Spike took advantage of the distraction to shift his chains so that he was basically holding himself up rather than hanging from them.  One quick flip over the arm of the chandelier and he would be free to drop onto the table below.

“Get her,” Riley ordered.  “First one to bring her down gets seconds.”

Spike watched in admiration as Buffy took on four commando-trained vamps at the same time and dusted or incapacitated all of them.  As always, the sight of her in motion made his pants tight.

(That’s the woman GI Joe thinks he’s going to get the best of? That beautiful piece of human weaponry?))

The sight of their comrades’ dust floating above the floor, as well as the look of sheer glee on the Slayer’s face made the other minions hesitate.  While they reviewed their options, Buffy attacked, taking out three more and sending the others back behind Riley.

Growling in frustration, he stepped forward, holding a tazer in the hand down at his side. 

“Hello, sweetheart.  Glad to see you could make it.  I told your pet here that you would come to get him.”

“Came to clean out the vermin, Riley.  Or have you forgotten what I do?”

“I haven’t forgotten what you do.  When you’re not slaying vampires, you’re fucking them.  Just thought I’d get in on the action.”

“The only action you’re going to get is the business end of a stake, Riley.” She stared at him coldly as he advanced on her.

“Now, Buffy, that’s no way to talk to your boyfriend.” As he spoke, he suddenly reached toward her shoulder with the tazer.  To his surprise, with a flick of her wrist she both blocked his attack and knocked the device out of his hand. They both watched it skitter across the floor to come to rest against the wall.

The Slayer raised her eyebrows at the surprised ex-commando and asked him sweetly, “What’s the matter, Riley?  Lose your equalizer?” 

The enraged vampire threw himself at her, screaming over his shoulder to what men he had left, “Get that tazer and hit her, now!”

Although Riley’s size and weight carried both him and the Slayer to the floor, she had already brought her knees up and used her coiled legs to shove him off before he could reach her with his teeth.  Behind him his minions looked back and forth between the large angry vampire and the deadly little blond girl and turned their backs, running for the door.

Only Graham retained enough loyalty to stay.  He crept toward the tazer, picking it up and slinking toward the preoccupied slayer as she faced off against her former lover.

Before he could reach her, Spike slipped his chains off the hanging lamp and dropped gracefully to the table.  He tossed one of the chains around the neck of the attacking minion and yanked on it hard.  He smiled in satisfaction as the other vampire’s neck snapped and his head popped off leaving a small pile of dust on the floor.

He turned to watch Buffy as she swept Riley’s feet out from under him and jumped on him, stake out, as he fell.  Suddenly the vampire’s ridged face was gone and Buffy was looking down on the soft, open countenance of her former boyfriend.

“You can’t kill me, Buffy.  You care too much about me.  You may not love me, but I don’t think you can kill me.” 

He smiled at her and reached a tentative hand toward her face. 

“You’re just not that kind of girl,” he said softly.  “You couldn’t kill someone you cared about.”

Buffy shook her head at him sadly.

“Oh, Riley.  I’ve had that tee shirt since I was seventeen.”  With a shrug, she drove the point of the stake into his chest and watched dispassionately as his surprised face exploded into dust.

She stayed where she was for a minute, kneeling in the dust that was all that was left of her second serious boyfriend.  A soft sound behind her made her turn around and she saw Spike looking at her sympathetically.

“Are you all right, pet?” he asked gently.  He didn’t try to touch her, but offered his manacled hand to help her up.

Without answering his question, she silently took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.  A glance around the room showed her the key to the chains and she quietly unlocked them for him.

“Are you okay?” she asked, looking over his bleeding body critically.

“Yeah, pet.  They’re all superficial cuts.  Lots of blood, not much damage.  Wanker wanted to be sure I’d be around to watch him have his way with you.”

“As if!” She rolled her eyes and headed for the door.  “Come on, vampire,” she threw over her shoulder.  “Let’s go home and get you cleaned up.”

They left the building only to find Giles and the rest of the Scoobies resting on the porch.  Her watcher stood up as Buffy came out the door.

“Is he...?”

“Yep.  Buffy sent another boy friend to hell.” 

Her tightly closed face told them not to pursue it and they looked instead at the bloody man trailing behind her. 

“Whoa, Capt’n Peroxide.  Interesting body art you got there,” Xander snarked.  “Can I contribute? There seems to be a bare spot right over your heart.  I could fix that....”

“Shut it, Xander.”

Her friend frowned, his feelings hurt at her cold tone. 

“I was only kidding, Buff.  Deadboy, Jr. knows that, don’t you?’ he turned to look at Spike quizzically.

The vampire just shook his head and frowned toward Buffy, indicating he didn’t want her bothered.

There was an uncomfortable silence for several minutes until Buffy asked, “So, did you guys see any fleeing minions?”

“Yes, we managed to stake all of them as they ran past.”  Her Watcher looked from her to Spike. “What, exactly were they running from?”

When Buffy didn’t answer, Spike offered, “They decided backing up their wanker of a sire wasn’t worth a Slayer ass-kickin’.  Left him to fend for himself.”

The Watcher nodded in satisfaction.  “Well, then, it appears we got them all.  A good night’s work, Buffy, Spike.”

The vampire shrugged, “All I was tonight was bait for the Buffy trap.  Speaking of which, Slayer, “ he whirled on her.  “What the bloody hell were you thinkin’?  I’m just telling the stupid prat that you’re too smart to walk into a trap, and in you traipse. By yourself!” He glared momentarily at her Watcher and friends.

She looked at him steadily, then said,  “I’m the Slayer.  THE Slayer. By myself is how I’m meant to go through life.”

She broke eye contact with the astonished vampire and started walking toward her home.  Her Watcher exchanged looks with the frozen vampire and the Slayer’s horrified friends.  Xander started to run after Buffy, but Spike put a hand on his arm and said softly, “No.  Let her go.  She didn’t mean that the way it sounded.  She just needs to come to terms with what she had to do.  Probably has some grievin’ to do.”  He tried to smother the pain he felt at being included in the people she was cutting herself off from.

“Spike is, and I cannot believe I am saying this,” Giles said with an eyeroll, “correct.  We must give her some time and space.  Buffy’s calling is not an easy one.  She has had to make many painful decisions for one so young. She deserves some time to herself.”

With that, they all headed off to their various homes to see how much sleep could be salvaged from the rest of the night. Giles surprised the vampire by offering the use of his bathroom to clean up his wounds.  He also managed to find an old tee shirt of Spike’s to replace the ruined shreds left of the one he’d been wearing.

When Spike was cleaned up and vampire healing had already started to close his cuts, he sat down in a chair and gratefully took the glass of scotch the other Brit offered him.

They drank in companionable silence for several minutes until the watcher finally put his glass down and leaned toward the other man.

“I’m not sure how many more times she can be expected to do things like this before she gives up.”

Spike had been resting with his head on the back of the chair, his eyes closed when Giles began to speak, but at that he snapped his head forward, eyes wide open.

“She’ll never give up.  It’s not in her,” he insisted, even as he knew the truth of what the watcher was saying.

“You’ve killed two Slayers, Spike.  Are you really that good?  Or did they just not want to win anymore?”  He fixed the vampire with a steady eye and waited for the reply.

“Bit o’ both, I suspect,” he answered honestly with a shrug.  “But they were ordinary slayers – all about the mission. No time for friends or family.”  He frowned for a second.  “Not completely sure about the New York one.  Heard she had a kid....but—“

“She did,” the watcher said flatly.  “He was three or four.”

He watched Spike carefully and was gratified to see the vampire wince slightly. 

“Didn’t know that.  Not that it would have mattered back then,” he looked the other man in the eye and waited for a response.

“No,” Giles sighed, “I suppose it wouldn’t have.  The Council never has figured out why a girl that old, with a child already, would have been called in place of someone younger.”

“Cause she was damned good,” the vampire responded immediately.  “Took me two fights to best her.”

He paused and took another sip from his drink.

“I think she was tired of it.  Not that she wasn’t trying to kill me. She was.  But when I had her down, she just looked like she was ready for it to be over.”

“Is there,”  Giles cleared his throat and started again, “Do you see any sign that Buffy feels that way?  She’s been a Slayer much longer than most girls. And she’s lost a lot of people she cared about.”

Spike felt his stomach clench at the thought of Buffy being ready to die for her calling.  He thought back over the ways she had changed since he first fought her three years ago.

“She’s not quite the bubbly cheerleader she was before she had to send the great poof to hell; but I don’t see any signs that she’s ready to give it up to some Big Bad just to get a rest.  I think she’s made of sterner stuff than you give her credit for, Watcher.”

(At least I hope to hell she is)  he thought to himself, vowing to watch her closely for any signs that she was harboring a death wish.

“I hope you’re right, Spike.  I just don’t know how many more losses she can handle before.....” He stopped and gave Spike one of his best Ripper glares.

“I really do not want her having to take any more actions like she did with Angel and Riley.  If I thought for one minute that you might—“

Spike held up a conciliatory hand.  “I’ve already promised her, Watcher, that I will never give her a reason to stake me.  I’ll dust myself first before I do that to her.  You have my word.”

The other man stared at into the vampire’s steady blue eyes, then nodded his head.

“Alright then,” he said and settled back with his drink.


Chapter Fifteen

When he’d finished his drink and said “good-night” so that Giles could get some sleep, Spike was left walking through the town, wondering where he should go.  Every instinct he had told him to head for Revello Drive and offer what comfort he could to the woman he loved.  But something about the bleak look on her face when she left told him he might not be as welcomed as he hoped.

Even while he tried to decide what to do, his feet carried him to the small bungalow with the SUV in the driveway and he stood under a tree staring at the house.  He could hear Dawn’s heartbeat and the music in her room and knew she had got safely home from visiting her mother at the hospital.  He frowned when he couldn’t pick up any trace of Buffy in the house.  Then a small breeze brought him her unmistakable scent from the back yard and he walked around to find her sitting alone on the porch steps.

He walked up and sat down beside her as close as he could without invading her personal space.  As much as he longed to hold her and let her sob onto his chest, he had too much respect for the Slayer to treat her like the little girl she appeared to be.

Buffy hadn’t acknowledged his presence, but she was silently grateful that he had come to her rather than back to his crypt.  She wanted nothing more than to lean on his willing shoulder and let him lend her his strength, but her Slayer pride kept her upright.

Unable to control his inner William any longer, Spike reached for her hand and gently stroked the back of it as he asked, “You okay, love?”

She gave a deep sigh, then surrendered to temptation and rested her head on his shoulder.

“I will be,” she said quietly.  She tilted her head and looked up at him. “I’d think you might be worried about your own okayness right about now. Dating me seems to be a bit of a health hazard.  You never know when I might decide I have to kill you.”  She tried to smile, but her lip was quivering too much and she quickly dropped her head so he wouldn’t see.

“Ah, pet.  You only kill the ones you love.  Know that’s not me, don’t we?” He tried to keep his voice light, and hoped the bitterness he felt didn’t show through.

She ignored his tone and answered his question obliquely.  “Didn’t love Riley. He’s dead anyway.”

She stood up to go inside, but was stopped when he didn’t release her hand.  He turned it over and pressed a kiss into her palm, looking up at her as he did so.

“You’re not gonna scare me off, Slayer.  Told you before and I’ll tell you again, as often as I have to – I will never knowingly do anything to make you have to stake me.”

“You mean you’re gonna stop being annoying?” she attempted a smile and was rewarded with a grin from the vampire.

“Didn’t promise not to do anything might make you WANT to stake me. Just said you wouldn’t HAVE to.”

He got easily to his feet and stood facing her.  Still holding one hand, he used the other to push her silky hair back from her face.

“Don’t think I properly thanked you for savin’ me, love,” he breathed, leaning in to touch his lips gently to hers.  He felt her warm breath sigh out as she melted in to him and he slid his hands around her waist and pulled her against his body.

Buffy leaned back in his embrace and looked up at him archly. 

“So, are you willing to risk your life by staying in the Slayer’s house again?”

“Pretty much willin’ to risk whatever body parts I have to if it means being close to you.”

Buffy’s response was to put her head back on his chest and let the warmth and security of his love flow over her.  For long, comfortable minutes they were just a man comforting and protecting the woman he held in his arms.  Eventually Buffy gave a little shiver as the cool night air worked its way under Spike’s duster to chill her bare arms.

Giving her a little squeeze, he held her away from his body and kissed her forehead.

“Time to go in, Slayer.  Don’t want you catching cold on me.”

With a nod, she turned and opened the kitchen door so they could go in.  She walked through the house, turning off lights and checking doors, pausing at the foot of the stairs to look at him with a glint in her eye.

“You know we’ve only got a couple of days before Mom comes home and you can’t stay here anymore.”

“Well then, let’s not waste ‘em,” he said as he picked her up and leapt up the stairs, two at a time.

Smothering her giggles against his shoulder, she allowed him to carry her into her room where he threw her on the bed and jumped on top of her.

“Now I gotcha, Slayer,” he growled into her neck, making his marks there tingle.

“No you don’t,” she answered as she shoved him to the floor.  “I have to pee first.  And brush my teeth, and--” She giggled as he growled at her from the floor.

“Well, hurry up about it, pet.  Don’t want to waste one minute of the time we’ve got left.”

While Buffy was in the bathroom, he quickly stripped and slipped into the bed, laughing as the sheet tented over his very erect penis.  When she came back into the room, the first thing Buffy saw was the sheet standing up over Spike’s hips and she stopped, cocking her head to look at it.

“What’s that under there?” she asked innocently.

“Get your pretty little arse over here and I’ll show you,” he demanded.

“Oh, I think I’ll just look for myself.”

Instead of going up to the head of the bed to get in, Buffy picked up the side of the sheet and crawled under it near Spike’s knees.  She rubbed her cheek on his thigh and began moving her mouth up his leg, planting light kisses as she went.  She could hear Spike growling softly, but he had enough sense to keep his hands away and let her play.

When she reached his cock she ran her tongue up one side of it, pausing at the top to flick her tongue into the little slit there.  She smiled as he hissed and his hips pushed up involuntarily.

“Mmmmm,” she purred as she continued to lick her way around him. “Just like a lollipop.  A really big lollipop,” she added as she put her warm lips around him and began sucking.

“Uhgh!  Oh, Buffy, love, my sweetest girl.”  He could no longer see the tent he’d made in the sheet, as Buffy’s ass was now pushing it up, waving in the air as she worked her mouth on him.

As she held the base of his cock in one hand and moved her mouth up and down on him, the vampire kept up a litany of praise for her efforts.   “Like that, love.  Oh yes, pet. Your mouth is so warm, you feel like....aaaah, I’m coming,  love, I’m coming!  Love you, Buffy!” he shouted as he thrust his hips up into her mouth and felt her swallowing him down.

When he’d got his unneeded breath back, he picked up the end of the sheet and peered down the length of his body to see a very self-satisfied Slayer smirking back at him.  Her chin rested on his thigh as she licked her lips and asked, “Did I remember how to do it right?”

Instead of answering her, he just reached down and yanked her up to meet his mouth.  While he kissed her thoroughly, she could feel him harden again against her stomach.  His hands were moving lightly around her body, leaving goosebumps everywhere his cool fingers touched. 

Buffy lost herself in the kisses he was prolonging to the point that she had to stop and gasp for breath against his mouth.  He would allow her one quick breath, and then his lips would be on hers again and his tongue would be running around her teeth, tangling with her own tongue as he put everything he was feeling into the kiss.

She slipped down onto his ready cock and sat up to position herself more fully.  The vampire stared in awe as she stretched her arms over her head, giving him a look at her hard nipples and taut, tight tummy.  Faint traces of lighter skin over her breasts and pubic bone told him she’d acquired her golden color basking where he could never be with her.

He mentally flinched at the reminder of how unnatural it was for him to be between her thighs.  For the Slayer to be riding him as she was now doing and moaning his name as she ground her hips down onto his.

With a growl, he flipped them over so that he was kneeling between her legs, holding her hips up with his hands.  Her flexibility allowed her to lie back on the pillow, perfectly relaxed and comfortable with her shoulders on the bed and her hips held in the air.  The position allowed him to touch that spot deep inside that sent shock waves of sensation through her body.

She went from relaxed to writhing under him as he plunged in and out of her, twisting his hips to rub against her clit at the same time as his cock was stimulating the bundle of nerves inside.  When she had already come twice and was panting his name again, he finally dropped her hips and fell down on top of her, still thrusting in a steady motion.

When he was within reach, Buffy put her arms around him and pulled him to her chest, even as she brought her legs up to wrap around his hips and hold him in to her.  She was clenching him with every muscle in her body and chanting, “Don’t leave me, don’t leave me.  I want you, Spike. Want you forever.”

It was too much for his demon, which emerged and slid his teeth into the marks on her neck as he came.  His “Mine!” was muffled by the blood flowing into his mouth from her throat as she shuddered under him, moaning his name when the bite triggered another orgasm.

Spike took another long pull of blood, then let go and began licking the wounds closed as his face went back to its normal human features.  He was cringing in fear of her reaction when he felt her blunt little teeth clamp down on his neck as she growled, “Mine!”

Electricity shot through his body as the answered claim set up the link between the two lovers.  He could feel Buffy stiffen and knew she was feeling the same thing as the connection between the two of them was completed.

They fell apart, lying side by side, but not touching.  The bed began to vibrate and Spike realized that Buffy was trembling beside him.  She tried her best to remain calm, but he could hear the tears in her voice as she said,  “What did we do, Spike?  What did I do?”

The terror and dismay in her voice broke his heart and he brushed his hand across his eyes to remove the tears before he turned and took her gently in his arms.

“I’m sorry, love.  Please believe me.  I never meant to do that.  Please don’t cry.  Don’t cry Buffy.  We’ll find a way to fix.  I promise.  Maybe Red can find a spell....we’ll fix it, love....know you don’t want to be...tied to somethin’ like me. Not what you deserve.”

She took a ragged breath and turned her wet eyes up to his anguished face.

“You...you don’t want me?”  She blinked at him and started to pull away.

“Wha-?  Don’t want you?  Are you daft?”

“You said you were sorry.  That we could fix it.  You didn’t mean it.”

“I said I didn’t mean to DO it, Buffy.  Not that I don’t want it.  I want it more than anything in the world.  Don’t ever think I don’t.  But you, you deserve something more than being chained to a vampire for the rest of your life.”

She reached a hand up to cup his cheek and said softly, “The rest of my life isn’t likely to be all that long.  We both know that.  Why wouldn’t I want to spend it with the man who loves me?”

He gazed down on her with adoration and awe on his face.  “But, I thought you...”

She looked away briefly and nodded her head.  “I was kinda wigged at first, yeah.  But I know it was my fault it happened, not yours.  And I...I think I meant to do it.  I don’t want to take it back.  I want...I want you to love me forever.”

His unbeating heart was singing and his inner William was already composing new poems to his love as he pulled her back into his arms and whispered in her ear,  “Forever it is, love. I can do that.”

“Good,” she mumbled as she drifted off to sleep. “Start now.”

Silence settled over the small house as its three occupants slept securely.  Across the hall from the two permanently linked lovers, a sleeping teenager emitted a faint green glow as she rolled over onto her back and began to snore.  Fortunately, there was no one to notice the energy aura floating around her body and no one to report it to an anxious hellgod.

the end
 
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