Come nightfall of the following day, Spike still hadn't left the bed. His eyes remained open, yet when Buffy spoke to him, he showed no type of response.

She knew he was hurting. Even with as much as she'd hated Angelus for what he'd done to her human self, a part of her still ached with the loss of her sire. If she could hurt even this much, then the pain for Spike must've been unbearable.

She wondered if a vampire could dust from force of will alone. If nothing else, he showed no interest in feeding. How long could a vampire last without blood? It was a question she didn't know the answer to, and she may never know if Spike wasted away and left her alone.

The thought of losing Spike now terrified her. As odd as it seemed to the part of her who was still just Buffy Summers, the demon part of her recognized him as family—and the only family she had left. If he were gone, too, then who could possibly ever fill that void?

Buffy dressed herself and left the mansion, noticing with a strange pang in her heart that Spike didn't even seem to care she'd gone. She didn't like him like this. Spike was supposed to be, well, Spike. Without the snark and the swagger, he just wasn't right.

She made her way to the Bronze, sure she could find something there to whet Spike's appetite. Perhaps with a nice, firm-breasted meal, he'd start to feel like his old self again.

A grin spread across her face as she saw her quarry for the night. As annoying as that little bitch had been, Buffy would enjoy watching Spike make her scream.

"Hey, Harmony," Buffy said cheerily, relishing the look of contempt she got in response. It would be one of the last ones Harmony Kendall gave, after all.

"Uh, like who died and gave you the right to speak to me?" Harmony replied, rolling her eyes.

Buffy shrugged. "Yeah, I know we're not friends or anything, it's just, well, I heard about this really awesome party going on tonight with lots of college boys and free beer, and I thought maybe if I showed up with someone as hot as you, they might actually let someone like me in," Buffy replied, fighting the urge to laugh.

Harmony paused, her eyes lighting up at the prospect even as she continued to look at Buffy as if she were dirt. "There's an awesome party tonight?"

"Yep. On Crawford Street. I heard some guys from the USC football team are even in town for it. Big stuff."

Harmony flipped her hair. "Oh, that. I knew about that, of course. I just didn't think anyone as lame as you could know about that party." She rolled her eyes dramatically, then sighed. "But I guess I could do like, my good deed for the day and let you go with me."

"Oh, thank you, Harmony," Buffy replied, glad Harmony was too stupid to recognize fake sincerity. "I'll owe you so much."

"Uh huh. Of course you will. Now show me where this party is." Harmony stopped for a moment. "Not that I don't know where it is, I just want to make sure you really do."

Buffy fought back a smirk. "All right then. Let's go."

*** *** ***

"Are you sure there's a party going on here?" Harmony asked as Buffy brought her into the mansion. "It's all dark, and it smells funny."

"Oh, there's a party here," Buffy said, smiling as she stood behind Harmony. "Right through this door."

Buffy led her into the bedroom, but Harmony stopped when she saw Spike on the bed. "What the hell? Are you trying to like kidnap me to force me into some freaky threesome? Because I only do that if it's boy, boy, girl. With me being the girl of course."

"Oh no, Harmony, I didn't lead you in here for a threesome. I led you in here so he could kill you."

Harmony sighed in relief. "Oh, that's good… Wait, what?"

Buffy chose that moment to shift into her demon face, and Harmony screamed at the top of her lungs. She tried to run, but Buffy moved too quickly, and soon had a hold of her. She brought the screaming, struggling teen over to the bed and dumped her next to Spike, straddling Harmony's waist to hold her down.

"Here. It's fresh…I didn't even take a bite, even though I had to listen to her yammer on and on all the way down here. Come on, baby, eat something."

Spike stared ahead, not looking at either of the blondes in his bed, and Buffy sighed. "Look, I know you're hurting because of what happened with Dru, and I am sorry for that. Really, I am. But you have to eat. It'll make you feel better. At least a bite?"

He still wasn't responding, and Buffy sighed heavily. She needed to get his attention, needed to snap him out of this. She knew he could hear her, but he was just being stubborn…

Knowing Harmony would try to run the moment she got up but wanting the girl still alive for Spike, Buffy pulled back and snapped both of Harmony's legs, relishing both the other girl's screams and the sounds the bones made when they broke. Beautiful music to her evil ears.

Harmony whimpered and sobbed, flopping like a fish, as Buffy climbed over to Spike and straddled him. She leaned in and nipped at his neck, then licked it with a slow, languid lap.

"It'll be okay, baby," she purred in his ear as she began to grind herself against his cock. "You and me—we're gonna fit so good together. You'll see. We could bring this town to its knees, Spike, just the two of us. But you're going to have to snap out of this first."

Spike snarled, and Buffy delighted in his first response all day.

"That's it, baby. Show me what you are. You're a demon, Spike. Ruthless. There's a screaming, crying girl in your bed. Kill her. I wanna watch you rip her throat out."

Spike snarled again, this time pushing up and knocking Buffy back down to the mattress. She squealed in delight as he then turned to Harmony and hauled the girl's broken body to him.

"Please don't kill me," Harmony whimpered, flinching away from Spike's demon face. "I'll…I'll do anything."

Buffy leaned forward on her haunches, evil glee twinkling in her eyes. "Kill her, Spike. It makes me so hot to watch you feed."

Spike trembled at Buffy's words, the tone in which she said them alone enough to drive him wild. His demon took over, pushing away the pain of the man, his world focusing in on two things only—the blood pumping in his prey's veins and the sweet scent of arousal coming off the female vampire nearby.

He opened his mouth, ready to rip open Harmony's neck, when Buffy reached out and stopped him. He turned, looking at her quizzically.

"No, I don't want you to drink her there. Drink her here." Buffy's hand molded over Harmony's soft breast, then squeezed hard enough to make the girl whimper in pain. She needed him to give into the demon fully, remember what he was.

Spike met Buffy's eyes, a slow grin going over his face. God, she was a fucking twisted little thing… He loved it.

"Share her with me, pet," Spike said, his voice rough as he got caught up in the moment, in sensation. "You take her here." His hand ghosted over Harmony's inner thigh.

Buffy's grin widened, excitement humming in her. A shared look, and Spike and Buffy both ripped at Harmony's clothes, her pleas only making them savor it more.

In unison, they sunk their fangs into supple flesh. Buffy looked up from her spot between the girl's thighs, watching with lust as Spike pulled blood from Harmony's full breasts. It was the most erotic thing she'd ever seen, and she knew she wouldn't be able to keep her hands off of him once their prey was dead.

Still, they drank slowly, savoring both the taste of Harmony's blood and the sound of her tears. She eventually became too weak to scream, yet her pitiful cries were still enough to please the vampires.

When the body beneath them finally stopped its trembling and grew limp, Buffy and Spike pulled up, their yellow, feral eyes locking. Spike grabbed her and threw her facedown over Harmony's waist before he pushed up Buffy's skirt and thrust into her from behind.

Buffy was coming in moments, the gruesome version of foreplay they'd engaged in doing more than enough to get her ready. Spike continued to pound into her, snarling fiercely, the action drawing out her orgasm until Buffy was wailing.

He leaned down and bit her when he came, his fangs imbedded in her shoulder. It only served to set her off again, and Buffy's eyes rolled up as she jerked and trembled, then finally collapsed, sandwiched between Spike and Harmony's corpse.

After a moment, Spike let her up, and Buffy turned to face him. His lips were still covered in blood, and she grabbed his head, pulling him in for a kiss. They licked at each other's mouths, sharing the last bit of their meal, and moaning in pleasure.

When they broke apart, Spike met Buffy's eyes, then stroked his hand across her cheek. "Thank you."

She looked down, her sudden shyness belying what she really was and what they'd done. "I couldn't lose you. I need you here with me, Spike."

Spike cocked his head to the side, regarding her before he asked her the one, all-important question. "Do you need me, or do you just not want to be alone?"

Buffy paused, searching a moment for the answer, then feeling a little surprised when she found it. "I…I need you."

She knew it could possibly be only because she didn't know any other vampires, but somehow, she didn't think that was the case. Since her first moments in this dark new world, Spike had beckoned to her. Perhaps it was something left over from her final moments alive, when Spike had been willing to reach out to her, to give her that last moment of peace.

Whatever it was, she didn't want to analyze it. Agonizing over her every little emotion had been something she'd done when she was human. She was free of that now, free of everything.

No more sacred duties, no more always having to be strong for everyone else. Though she doubted it had been his intention, Angelus had done her a favor—he'd released her. And now, in death, she wanted to experience the joy she hadn't been allowed to in life.

And she wanted to experience it with Spike.

"The night's still young, you know," Buffy said with a slow smile. "I'm sure we could find more mayhem to cause." She looked around. "Besides—I'm getting really sick of this place."

Spike nodded slowly, things whirring around inside of his mind that he couldn't quite put words to. "Yeah, me, too."

Buffy got off the bed, straightening her skirt before she stretched, working out sore muscles. Spike regarded her, his head cocked to the side. She was so different from Drusilla. Even in death, she was like a ball of fire, and her golden skin had yet to pale from lack of sun. Her blonde hair fell in waves around her face, so different from Dru's dark tresses, and yet no less alluring to Spike.

In fact, they were perhaps more so, an observation that surprised him.

The loss of his sire still cut, but perhaps if he lost himself in Buffy for a while, he could find a way to go on. She was still a fledging, and therefore, she was still new to the rush of a good kill. If he let her, she was bound to take him on one hell of a ride—and Spike wanted to let her.

"I'm going to get dressed," Spike told her as he stood. "Wait for me, pet."

"I will," Buffy told him with a nod, letting Spike leave the room.

Once alone, she turned back to Harmony, poking at the corpse with one dainty fingernail. Less than an hour ago, she'd be alive, vibrant. She'd been dancing with her friends, enjoying a night out, but Buffy had changed it all. In one swift move, she'd brought the girl to her death.

The power that came with that gave her even more of a rush than slaying ever had.

It was one thing to kill something that was already dead, but to end an actual life… It was a heady feeling. Like playing God, and she loved it.

Buffy looked down into Harmony's lifeless, glassy eyes, a look of horror frozen on her face forever, and giggled.

"Something funny, luv?"

Buffy turned towards Spike as he came back into the room, a shiver going through her as she saw him back in his leather duster. She'd always liked that coat…

"Yeah, that look on her face," Buffy replied. "Come here and check it out."

Spike walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist before peering over her at Harmony. He chuckled. "Yeah, that is a good one."

Buffy craned her neck up to look at him. "So are you all ready to go? Have everything you need?"

"Yeah. Right here," Spike told her, squeezing her waist.

Buffy smiled at the response, relieved that Spike didn't seem to be holding her responsible for Drusilla's death anymore. Personally, she thought they'd be better off with out the psycho running around, and hopefully, Spike would come to see that in time, too.

They walked out of the room, Spike stopping short when he saw the pile of Drusilla's ashes. Buffy took his hand, gave it a squeeze, and Spike looked at her. He glanced back at the ashes one more time before nodding to Buffy.

They left the mansion, still hand in hand.

*** *** ***

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