Chapter Twelve

Buffy ran from school directly to the mansion, quietly using the key that Spike had given her to open the big door and tiptoe silently into the house. A glance at the room he had used before showed no sign of the vampire, and she grumbled to herself as she set out to find him.

She walked through the kitchen, pausing to check the refrigerator and then smiling when she saw that it was already stocked with containers of blood. She also saw that someone had picked up some snacks for her and happily grabbed an apple to munch on while she explored the big house.

For the first time, she entered the large wing into which Angelus and Drusilla had kept disappearing during the time they had held her prisoner. After the fire, and with Spike confined to his bed or the wheelchair, there had been no reason for her to venture to areas that could hold nothing but painful memories. Now, however, knowing that Spike was the rightful owner of the house and that he wouldn’t mind, she felt comfortable exploring the parts she had yet to see.

(Besides, if he didn’t want me wandering around, he should have been waiting for me at the door), she grumbled silently, somewhat miffed that he didn’t seem to be as eager to see her as she was to see him. She peered into the first couple of bedrooms that she passed, noting the absence of furniture and the still-lingering smell of fresh paint. In one room, she found the unburnt furniture that had obviously been piled into one place while the renovators had been working, but still no sign of her vampire.

The last room that she peered into was clearly the master suite – it had large windows along one side that opened onto the garden and courtyard, as well as a small sitting area surrounded with bookcases. The room was in an “L” shape, allowing the undead occupant of the large bed to comfortably sleep through the day without fear of the sun’s rays.

Buffy tiptoed towards the bed, frowning at Spike’s apparent inability to sense her presence. He lay on his back, the covers pulled up only as far as his lower abdomen, and one leg bent slightly. One arm was flung across his eyes while the other was stretched out to the side as though reaching for something. or someoneshe realized, slipping out of her shoes and cautiously sliding onto the bed beside him. She rested her head on his chest, smiling when his arm automatically encircled and pulled her closer.

“Don’t you know better than to startle a sleeping vampire, Slayer?” His sleepy voice held a hint of laughter that turned into a snort when she huffed and tried to sit up.

“You don’t look very startled to me, you big…big faker,” she sniffed. “You were pretending, weren’t you?’

He shook his head and rolled on his side to face her.

“Wasn’t pretending, pet. It’s just that havin’ you next to me seems so natural that I woke up knowing everything was alright.”

Her “humph!” didn’t impress either one of them with its sincerity and she finally relented and snuggled against him. “Really? You knew it was me?”

“I’ll always know you, love,” he said, suddenly serious. “I could be blind and deaf and I would be able to feel you.”

“Oh,” was all she could come up with in response to the intensity in his eyes. “So,” she finally said brightly, trying to lighten the tone. “What did you do last night? And how come you’re still asleep?”

“Didn’t get to bed till well after sunrise,” he admitted. “An’ after driving all the night before, I was a bit knackered.”

“What were you doing?” She tried to keep the suspicious edge from her voice, but his suddenly closed face told her that it hadn’t worked.

“Was doin’ what I needed to do to get a meet and greet with the boss man,” he growled. “You know. What we decided I would try to do so as to help you out?”

“I’m sorry.” Her meek apology startled them both and his face softened when he read the sincerity there.

“Me too, pet. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” He ran his knuckles down the side of her face, stroking the smooth skin there. “I’m just a bit grouchy from havin’ to spend so much time away from you last night.”

“And I’m feeling a little insecure about letting you go out without me to back you up,” she admitted. “I’m still worried that somebody will make the connection between us.”

“About that…” He fell onto his back and tugged her down to rest against his chest again. He stroked her head, reveling in the feel of her hair sliding over his fingers and shivering when her own hand wandered down to tickle the soft skin just above the sheet. “I need to know that you’re going to trust me, Buffy. Whatever I have to do to convince the mayor and his minions that I’m the real deal – I need to know that you’re alright with it.”

He felt her stiffen beside him. “Do you mean you’re going to be feeding?”

“No, pet, I don’t think I’ll need to do that. But I’m gonna need to be hangin’ out places you wouldn’t want me, and maybe pretendin’…” He paused and tilted her chin up until he was looking right at her. “…pretendin’ to be something I’m not. I need to know that you believe me when I tell you that nothing you or anyone else might see is anything but a performance.”

Buffy frowned in confusion. “I believe you, Spike. What could you possibly be doing that you don’t think I’ll understand?”

“Last night,” he began with a sigh. “I ran into that other Slayer while I was on my way to meet Trick. I’m not…she might tell you that…” He stopped, not sure how much he wanted to tell Buffy or what Faith might have said about their encounter.

“You saw Faith?” Buffy prodded. “And…?”

“I take it you haven’t talked to her yet?”

Buffy frowned, shaking her head and looking at him quizzically. “No. I don’t usually see her until after dark. Faith’s not real big on the whole ‘going to school’ thing. Why? What do you think she’s going to tell me?”

“Well, in the first place, when I ran into her, I wasn’t alone; so I had to fight her and I had to draw a little blood to make it look good.” He watched cautiously to see how she was taking that part of his story.

“Did you hurt her?” Her expression gave nothing away.

“Not much. Knocked her out for a sec and poked a little hole so I could get some blood on my lips. Nothin’ that probably isn’t already healed. Told her I was workin’ and sent her runnin’ off.”

“Okaaaay…I’m not upset with that. It’s not like I haven’t wanted to knock her out myself sometimes. So, what’s she going to tell me that you think I’m not going to take well?” she asked shrewdly.

“She’s going to tell you that I was with a woman – a vamp.”

The room became suddenly cooler. “Oh?”

“Picked her up at Willy’s and used her for my ticket into Trick’s house. She told him about my kickin’ Slayer arse and pretty much gave him a reason to trust me.”

“I see. So, you’re saying that you’ll be seeing her again, then? Just to build some more cred?”

“Wha-? No! That’s not what I was sayin’. I was just explaining why she was with me – in case Slayer junior hands you some story about how I’m runnin’ around on you.”

“So, you aren’t going to see her again?” Buffy was trying very hard to keep her voice even and contain the jealousy seething through her veins.

Instead of answering her, Spike leaned down and ran his tongue over his marks on her neck, then pulled the skin into his mouth and sucked until the tiny scabs came off and he could taste her on his tongue. He sucked briefly until she was melting against him, then licked the holes closed and nuzzled her cheek.

“She’s dust, love,” he whispered. “I don’t think you really understand what these marks we’re wearin’ mean to a vampire. I could no more cheat on you, than I could get a suntan. I’m just tellin’ you about her so that you’ll know what’s going on if I have to do something like that again. I’m not touchin’ anybody except you – and nobody’s touchin’ me. But if I’m gonna be the Big Bad, I’ve got to play the part.”

“Any vamp ho that touches you dies slowly and painfully,” she muttered, giving a yank on the curly brown hairs just visible above the hem of the sheet that still covered his lower body.

“Ow! What was that for? It’s not like I don’t know you’ve got me by the short and curlies, Slayer.”

“That was just in case you were enjoying playing the Big Bad last night,” she responded smugly; then her expression changed and she purred, “But I could kiss it better for you…” Suiting actions to words, she began dropping light kisses down the centerline of his torso until she was nuzzling the very hairs that she had just pulled so hard. She giggled when the sheet began to rise up in front of her face, following her nose through the curls until her entire head was under the sheet and her kisses were evoking heartfelt groans and cursing from the vampire.

Carefully avoiding the muscular shaft now bobbing in front of her, she continued to kiss her way around it, eventually licking and nipping the insides of his thighs and nudging his balls with her nose. When the groans had turned to growls, she relented and ran her tongue up the side of his cock, pausing at the head to give his foreskin a little nip before putting her mouth around it and beginning to suck vigorously. His growls immediately changed to murmured endearments and encouragement as he reached an unusually quick release that left her rapidly swallowing around her giggles.

His cock barely softened after he emptied himself into her mouth, returning almost immediately to an achingly hard condition. Buffy gave a small “eep” of surprise as she was dragged up from her resting place on his stomach and spun around until she was facing him. Without preamble, he fastened his mouth on hers, his tongue removing any last trace of his spendings from her lips and teeth. When the kiss had tapered off to a slow, sensual mingling of tongues and lips, Spike began to run his hands under her shirt to her lacy little bra and unhooking it.

“You’re wearing entirely too many clothes, missy,” he rumbled against her mouth, tugging on the shirt until she lifted her arms so that he could pull it and the unfastened bra over her head. When her hands were in the air, he moved his mouth to a nipple, sucking it to a rosy peak and then moving on to the other one. While Spike’s hands and mouth were occupied teasing her breasts into aching mounds, Buffy was unfastening her jeans and pushing them down her legs as quickly as she could. She rid herself of them with a flurry of little kicks that left both jeans and sheet on the floor several feet from the bed.

Spike’s hands immediately left her breasts to cup her now-bare ass and use it to pull her up his body until she was poised over his face, her hands braced against the headboard. Her strangled cry as his strong tongue went directly into her entrance and began to tease her inner walls, was immediately followed by moans of sheer pleasure. The sensations he was creating were so new that she had to lower her head to watch. The new stimulation was explained when she saw that he was in game face, his already preternaturally strong and agile tongue now lengthened by several inches.

When she found that his tongue was able to reach the same spot as only his talented fingers or cock had brushed against before, she could do nothing but cling to the headboard uttering whimpers and cries that an observer might have been hard put to recognize as sounds of pleasure. Trusting her to stay on her knees, he moved one hand to her clit and began to rub small circles on it, matching his rhythm to his still-active tongue until her cries reached a crescendo. She shuddered hard against his hand, tremors shaking her body for a full minute before she collapsed bonelessly into his waiting arms.

When she finally opened her eyes, his demon face was gone and his normal blue eyes twinkled at her with barely-contained glee.

“Shut up,” she muttered, swatting ineffectually at his laughing face. “That was sooo cheating.”

“So, I shouldn’t let the demon out anymore while I’m…um…” He licked his lips suggestively and cocked an eyebrow at her.

“I didn’t say that,” she said, waving a hand in the air in emphasis. “Just give a girl some warning, huh?”

“That’d take all the fun out of it, Slayer.” He pretended to pout while she rolled her eyes at him.

“Somehow, I don’t think it really would,” she said, snuggling closer. “In fact, I’m pretty sure not much of anything could take the fun out of that.” She smiled indulgently at his self-satisfied grin, before rolling on top of him. “It seems to me that there’s a little problem here that I need to take care of…”

“Little?” His outraged shout was almost drowned out by her giggles. When she settled herself onto his throbbing cock, he couldn’t hang on to his indignation; instead placing his hands on her hips and holding her down tightly while he pushed his own hips up hard. “I’ll show you ‘little’,” he growled in mock anger, burying himself until his balls were pressing against her ass. “Does that feel little to you?”

“Guh!” was the only response Buffy could utter as she clenched around him tightly and reveled in the way he was filling her. She began to move on him, rocking her hips back and forth in a way that had them both gasping in no time. She watched Spike struggle not to change as he neared his release and she lifted one hand to stroke his face.

“It’s okay, Spike,” she gasped, still rocking against him. “I love the demon too. Let him out.”

With a relieved shudder, he allowed his face to change, taking care not to scratch her with his claws as he clung to her churning hips. Fearlessly, she leaned down and kissed his mouth, deliberately allowing his fangs to cut her tongue and whimpering when she felt him swallowing the tiny amount of blood that filled his mouth. When her gasps and whimpers told him that she was getting close, he flipped them over and sank his fangs into the soft skin on her throat, taking just enough blood to send them both screaming over the edge.

Buffy’s own bite over the marks she’d left the night before lasted until their bodies had stopped shuddering and she could release her hold on his neck. Following his example, she licked the bite until it stopped bleeding, then collapsed under him. With a groan, he slowly rolled off, carefully maintaining the contact that they both craved. With a couple of hours of sunlight still left in the day, he saw no reason not to allow her to drift off in his arms, and he soon followed her into a restorative nap. Neither of them noticed Doyle’s arrival and subsequent perusal of the contents of the refrigerator.