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Darkening of the Light by Addie Logan
 
Chapter Seven
 
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Buffy stopped suddenly, her continued grip on Spike's hand making him stumble. To his surprise, she then began to bounce, her face lighting up. "Spike! I know this house! Xander pointed it out to me once when we were doing a patrol in this neighborhood!"

"And what's so great about it, pet?" Spike asked, unable to keep himself from smiling at the sight of her so excited, despite everything else.

"It's Principal Snyder's house! He's so mean to me all the time, the little rat-faced bastard. He's the one who made me do that stupid parent-teacher night thing that you crashed." Buffy turned to Spike, her eyes wide and pleading. "Can we kill him? Please?"

"Of course, pet. I've got no problem with it. Let's go."

Buffy threw her arms around him. "Thanks! You're the best, you know that? I love killing with you the most." Her smile grew. "We should go on some sort of…of spree! We could be like…an undead Bonnie and Clyde!"

Even with the events of the day before still weighing on him, Spike couldn't help but find Buffy's joy in her new evil status anything but infectious. Ever since he'd arrived in Sunnydale, it seemed as if all the fun had been sucked from his unlife. He longed for the days when he could just cut loose and revel in bloodshed and destruction like a demon should.

Perhaps with Buffy he could find that again.

He chuckled. "I think I'd like that, too."

"But first, Snyder has to die." Buffy ran up the stairs to the porch, laughing all the way. Spike bounded up behind her.

She pounded on the door, her excitement palpable as she waited. Finally, Snyder answered, a scowl on his face as he tightened the tie on his robe.

"Well, if it isn't my least favorite delinquent—Buffy Summers." Snyder looked up at Spike and sneered. "Doesn't surprise me to see you with the likes of him. What are you doing at my house at this time of night? Did you want me to call the cops, because I'm going to."

Buffy shook her head. "Nope. See, Spike and I were about to go vandalize the school, but we were fresh out of spray paint and wanted to know if you had any," she said, her eyes wide with uneasy innocence.

Snyder pulled himself up. "The nerve of you children. I can't… Get in this house right now and wait while I call the cops. You're going to jail where you belong, missy."

"Do you want us both to come in and wait for the cops?" Buffy asked with a pout.

"Yes! Get in here right this instant. You little hooligans are going to learn a thing or two."

Snyder stormed into the house, the two blonds behind him slipping into game face before they followed.

"That was freakishly easy," Spike said as he shut the door.

"Yeah, I know. He's stupid, And he seems to think he's got the power to strike fear in people's hearts."

Spike tossed his head back and laughed. "Oh, I love those the most."

Snyder turned. "What are you two…" He stopped, his face growing pale as he realized what he was faced with. "You…you're…I know the mayor!"

"I hope you know God, too, 'cause you're about to meet 'im," Buffy said. She looked over at Spike. "You know, there's something I really want to try."

"Go for it, pet."

Buffy punched Snyder through the chest, managing to break through his skin and ribcage with her full strength. There, she grabbed out his heart, ripping it from his chest as she watched his eyes, a look of surprise there before they went lifeless.

Snyder slumped to the ground and Buffy chuckled, his heart still pulsing for a second in her hand before it stopped. "Okay, that was just really awesome."

Spike nodded towards her with his head tilted. "Bite it, sweets."

Buffy did, moaning at the rush of blood that filled her mouth. "It's like candy!" she said excitedly.

"Yep. Nothing better than a fresh heart."

"Here, you have some, too," Buffy said, handing the heart to Spike. "I wanna do something."

She dropped down to her knees in front of Snyder's body, then stuck her thumbnail into his eye and popped it out. When she did the same thing to the other one, Spike asked, "What are you doing?"

"He always said he could see what was going on behind him," Buffy replied as she took his eyeballs and replaced them in the sockets—only this time facing backwards. "Now he can!" She laughed with delight at her handiwork.

"Brilliant, pet," Spike complimented.

"Let's go through his stuff," Buffy said, hopping back to her feet. "I want to see what sort of sick stuff he was up to, 'cause I know this man has to have skeletons in his closet."

She bounded up the stairs, still laughing as she did. Spike let the heart slide from his hands to the floor and licked the blood off of his fingers as he followed her up.

*** *** ***


"Okay, I'm a vampire, and I'm disturbed by the amount of porn he has in here."

Spike's head peeked around the corner of Snyder's closet door. "Bloody hell. Was he setting up his own video store?"

"Xander would be jealous." Buffy shrugged. "Or at least he would be if I hadn't killed him."

"So you offed your mates, then?" Spike asked.

"Only him. I tried to get Willow, but she figured out what was up and chased me off with a cross."

"Are you going to go after again later?"

"Maybe." Buffy's nose wrinkled. "Most of this is slutty cheerleader stuff. No wonder that man was a high school principal. Ew."

"So no burning need to go after the people you knew in life?" Spike asked, obviously more into this topic than Buffy. While, upon his turning, he'd felt compelled to wreak vengeance on those who had wronged him, he hadn't wanted to hurt the people he'd cared about. From what he'd heard, that was highly irregular for vampires, and he wondered if Buffy was the same way. If she was, then maybe he wasn't as strange as he'd thought, and something about sharing a trait like that with his new paramour was comforting.

"Not particularly. I probably wouldn't have bothered with Xander, but Angelus was pushing for me to kill my mom, and I wanted to distract him." She wrinkled her nose as she flipped to a new page in the magazine she was perusing. "Okay, that is a seriously disturbing thing to do with a pom-pom."

"You don't want to kill your mum?" Spike asked, surprised.

"No." Buffy shrugged. "The thought just doesn't really thrill me that much. I don't really want to kill Giles either." At the next page, she rolled her eyes. "Oh please. I am so bendier than her."

Spike knelt beside her and stroked her hair. "Does part of you still love them?"

Buffy stiffened. "Vampires don't love, Spike."

"Pet, I've been a vampire a little longer than you, so I think I can speak for our kind better than you can. Some of us can love. It may be a different sort of love than what humans are used to, but we still can. I loved Drusilla. And…" He paused for a moment and swallowed. "I loved my mum, after I was turned."

Finally, Buffy's attention was away from the magazine and on Spike. "You…you did?"

"Sure. Angelus was just one type of vampire. He was a bastard when he was alive, and he was a bastard when he was dead. But vampires like us, we're different, yeah? We can be evil and still care, at least a little bit."

Buffy smiled at him, her expression softer now than the evil one she'd worn so frequently over the past couple of days. "So…does that mean you care about me?"

Her eyes were so wide, so welcoming…how could he not? "Yeah, baby. I do."

In a move that surprised him, Buffy threw her arms around him. "I care about you, too. I thought it was kind of weird, 'cause we're vampires, and when I wasn't, you were my enemy and stuff, but I like being with you and you make me happy, so if you say vampires can care a little, then maybe it's okay."

Spike returned her embrace. "Yeah, it's okay." He pulled back and cupped her chin. "But be careful who you show it to, pet. Some might see it as weakness."

"I'm not weak," Buffy replied, her back suddenly growing stiff again.

"No, you're not. But vampires, we're predators—always looking for an in, yeah? But I know what you're feeling, and I know it doesn't mean you can be anything but a Big Bad." He winked.

"I'm gonna be," Buffy said. "I've never felt this free in my life, and I'm going to relish it—do everything my evil little heart desires."

Spike smiled. "That's my girl."

As Buffy smiled back, Spike couldn't help but feel disloyal to Drusilla. Never in all their years together had they had a moment quite like this one—yet Dru had never felt love the way he did. Granted, she'd retained some of her capacity to love, but never the way Spike himself had, even if he'd tried so hard to convince himself she could truly reciprocate his feelings.

But Buffy… Could she be different? Could the loss of his sire somehow be a blessing in disguise—his chance to finally know the sort of love he'd craved for well over a century?

His unbeating heart clenched with hope. This tiny blonde could be the answer to his, well, not exactly prayers, but what he was looking for nonetheless.

Earlier, she'd said they could be like an "undead Bonnie and Clyde," and Spike found himself wanting that more than anything. The thoughts alone of what they could do together were enough to make him tremble.

"Sun's going to be up soon, kitten," he said, kissing her forehead. "We should be finding ourselves a place to bunk for the day."

"Can we put Snyder in an embarrassing position before we leave?" Buffy asked.

Spike chuckled. "Of course, pigeon."

*** *** ***


She ran through the graveyard, laughing, and Spike couldn't help but give chase. It had been a long time since he'd felt this carefree, not since before that mob in Prague.

Being with Buffy was like finding a part of himself again.

As much as he hated to even think it, losing Drusilla had been, in some ways, a relief. Recently, things hadn't been with her like they'd once been, and in all honesty, he didn't think they could ever go back, not after the way she'd treated him. He knew there was no question about whether or not he would've forgiven her, but even if Angelus had wandered out of the picture again, things never would've been the same.

But now, it was like getting a fresh start. Buffy was beginning her existence as a vampire, and tonight had been like getting to see it all through her eyes. It was all fresh to her, all new, and she had reveled in every sensation. Seeing the look on her face when she sank her fangs into Snyder's heart was something Spike wouldn't trade for the world.

Still, Spike had never really played the roll of sire before. His only attempt at turning someone other than a minion had met with disastrous results, and since then, he'd made no childer.

He stopped short, something catching his eye. "Pet! How about over here?"

Buffy halted, turned, and came to Spike's side. "Cozy little crypt for two?" she said, wrapping herself around him.

"That's what I'm thinking." Spike replied with a smile. "Wanna go in and check it out?"

Buffy nodded enthusiastically, and Spike led her in, his hand linked with hers.

"A couple rugs, some throw pillows, it could be homey," Buffy said, looking around the dusty crypt in approval.

"We can fix it up later. Right now…"

Before Spike could finish his sentence, Buffy had tackled him to the ground. Without another word, he grabbed her face and kissed her hard.

*** *** ***


I don't know why people assumed the last chapter was the end. If it was the end, I'd say so—I didn't; it wasn't. Remember all those warnings of angst at the beginning? Trust me, those were for more than the little bit of angst I've had in here so far. This story was not all about Buffy getting rid of Angelus. Honestly, he wasn't even ever meant to be the focus of it. I have something else entirely planned. So sit tight, and I'll let you know when I've reached the end.

Please review and Happy Halloween!
 
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