REALITY BITES

CHAPTER 3

 

Willow , Xander and Giles stood and stared, the angst palpable between the two vampires.  It was very compelling.  Like a reality TV show that you just couldn’t stop watching no matter how dreadful the subject matter.  Suddenly, Willow gasped, remembering what they’d all forgotten since the horrific happenings of the night before – Angel didn’t know about Buffy.

 

But he wasn’t usually too far away from her side…

 

+ + + + + +

 

“Buffy…” Spike growled her name, and she found herself unaccountably fearful, feeling guilty for imagined sins.  What could she say?  Angel was…Angel.  She didn’t really know what he meant to her, so how could she explain her relationship with him to Spike?  Did she even have a relationship?  She could hardly describe her swoony crush, their ambiguous friendship and an ill-fated kiss followed by mutual death threats as a relationship, but she did feel something for the brooding vampire.  Or maybe that should be, she had felt something…as in before.

 

Spike was still waiting for an answer, and she supposed she owed him one.  “Well, there’s this thing…with Angel.” 

 

“Thing?”

 

Spike’s voice was dripping menace and so low that it was almost inaudible.  Buffy licked her dry lips and continued.  “He’s been helping me… like a friend.  A helpful friend …kinda with benefits.  Maybe.  But not so much.”

 

Willow sniggered, earning her a glare from two pairs of vampiric eyes that had her blushing and mouthing ‘sorry’.  Xander was mumbling under his breath.  “Benefits?  What benefits?”

 

“NO BENEFITS!  Nope – not a one!  I didn’t mean…it was a slip of the tongue,” Buffy squeaked, her enhanced hearing picking up Xander’s words easily.  Spike raised a dark eyebrow and blinked slowly.  Buffy hurried on, garbling her words.  “I mean, it could’ve been …but no, nothing really -- I mean, he’s a vampire…”

 

Willow , Xander and Giles were zipping their heads back and forth between the two vampires arguing in the middle of the cemetery; throw in some popcorn and this was better than movie night.  Buffy dipped her lashes, peeping at Spike coquettishly and attempting a pout around her fangs.  He huffed and crossed his arms.  “Spiiiike…you’re making me all muddled…vampires are hot…well…cold, but you know, sexy…not that Angel is… oh bloody hell!”

 

Buffy stamped her foot, her fists waving about in frustration.  Spike’s loud guffaw of laughter rent the air.  “Oh, pet.  Did I tell you how adorable you are, trying to copy my lingo?  C’mere.”

 

Once again, Buffy’s friends and Watcher found the ground incredibly fascinating as the movie night quickly degenerated into XXX-rated fare.  Xander scuffed the ground with the toe of his boot, eyes screwed tight shut, and whistling to drown out the smacking of lips; Willow peeped through her fingers, fascinated despite herself and beginning to feel more than a little warm and flustered as she watched Spike thrust his hand down the front of Buffy’s jeans; Giles removed his glasses, hampered by the stake and crucifix he was juggling in one hand, wiping them furiously then replacing them and pushing them up on the bridge of his nose.

 

So, the crashing arrival of a leather-clad vampire, fangs bared and eyes flashing golden murder took them all by surprise.  Spike and Buffy were ripped apart, both of them landing hard and jumping straight up, snarling and feral, seeking out their attacker.  Willow recognised him first, although there was nothing gentle and brooding about the creature crouched and growling not three feet from her.  It was his jacket she recognised, and his sticky-up hair.  Angel.

 

Oh boy -- Buffy was in trouble now…

 

Angel spoke in guttural tones, commanding attention and brooking no disobedience.  “Insolent get.  Touch her again and I’ll …”

 

“Excuse me?  You’ll do what, Peaches?   Think I’m scared of you, ya big poofter?  You want a piece of me, you come take it.”  Spike bounced on the balls of his feet, beckoning Angel towards him and grinning widely, winking at Buffy and blowing her a kiss.  Angel lunged towards him, but was stopped by Buffy stepping between them and hitting Angel hard in the chest with her outstretched hands.

 

“No!  Angel, wait!”

 

It took the dark haired vampire a second or two to rein in his bloodlust and focus on the petite figure in front of him.  As he noted the ridges, her golden eyes, he took a step backwards, faltering.  No…this couldn’t be right…

 

“Buffy…?  No, please…please…” He was shaken to his core.  It hadn’t registered that she was a vampire when he first scented her presence, blinded with rage as he was when he recognised Spike’s scent too.  Angel felt cold tears streaking his face as his emotions took control of him.  Buffy was dead.  The girl he’d sworn to protect and help on her Slayer’s path was gone, and left behind was this shell of evil.  His grandchilde would not survive the night for daring to desecrate the purity of her innocent flesh with his foul fangs. 

 

Buffy patted at him, trying to lock eyes with him and make him understand.  He must be shocked, obviously, but he’d be happy for her once he knew that everything was going to be okay, wouldn’t he?  Once he realised that Spike was going to look after her?  After all, they seemed to know each other quite well.  And maybe being a vampire was kinda like being in a fraternity or the Shriners or something.

 

“Angel?  I know you’re upset, but I’m fine, really.  Spike’s…”

 

“Spike’s a vicious killer, Buffy.  Get out of the way and let me deal with him.”

 

“NO!  He’s not a …well, yeah he is a killer, obviously, but so are you and…and so am I, now.  Would you just listen to me?   Please.”

 

Angel couldn’t resist Buffy’s plea.  “Okay, but I swear, Buffy, he’s going to pay for what he’s done to you.  I’ve let him live too long as it is, should have put him down years ago.”

 

Buffy stepped back a little, looking between the two vampires glaring pure hatred at each other.  “But Spike didn’t do this to me, it was just my nightmare made real.  He was there to help me out of the grave, that’s all.  I was scared and confused and he took good care of me last night.  I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t come along.”

 

Spike moved closer to Buffy, grabbing her hand and smirking as Angel glowered.  “That’s right, took care of my girl.”

 

Angel took a step towards the two, anger twisting his face. “She’s not your girl, Spike.  She’s mine, so take your hands off her.”

 

“Yeah, right.  Can see she’s your girl by the way she’s all over you.  Take a sniff you pillock – she’s mine.”  Spike pulled Buffy back against him possessively, the smirk disappearing into puzzlement as she wriggled herself out of his grasp and pushed him away.

 

“Enough!  I’m not some chew toy to be fought over.  I can make my own mind up – and anyway, I’m my own girl!”

 

Spike crossed his arms and the smirk was back in place, eclipsing Angel’s gloating smile narrowly.  Each of them obviously thought he’d be the one Buffy threw herself at.  Buffy looked from one to the other and fought hard to stifle a grin.  It was every teen girl’s dream – two hotties willing to duke it out for her.  Thing was – who did she want to win?

 

Angel had stalked into her life and wormed his way into her affections, then delivered the killing blow that he was a vampire just as she was falling for him.  And now, she was a vampire and they could be together and… wasn’t that what she’d dreamed about?  She should be ecstatically happy, jumping on him the second he arrived.  In fact, no, she should have gone straight to him last night for help.  Shouldn’t she?  So why didn’t she?  Why did she choose to rely on a complete stranger to care for her?  And why did she feel closer to Spike than she ever had to Angel after only one night?  What should she do?  Whose girl was she, really?

 

Too many questions, all hitting her brain at superhuman speed.  But it only took her a second to decide, and less than a second to walk up to the victor and kiss him full on the lips, indelibly marking him as hers.  She felt sorry for the loser but she had to go with her heart, and it seemed that only one man had that.

 

Spike.

 

Angel turned to the group watching the proceedings on the edge, imploring Buffy’s friends to help him.  “Giles?  Willow – you can’t let this happen!  Talk to her.  She’s not in her right mind, he’s done something to her.”  He was heartened by Xander’s vigorous nodding of the head.

 

Giles rolled his eyes, despairing at the ridiculous situation he found himself in yet again with these children.  Would they ever grow up and be able to fend for themselves?  And Angel – had he learned nothing in all the years he’d existed?  “I think you’ll find, Angel, that the one thing Buffy has always been sure of is her own mind.  She’s very definite about that.”

 

“Well, I think that just proves that she’s clearly crazy,” Angel said gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb at Buffy and Spike, who were still entwined, noisily.

 

“I’ll second that…and ewwww, is that even legal in public?” Xander squeaked as once again Buffy and Spike forgot about, or didn’t care about, their audience and became rather adventurous in the making out department.  It was freaking him out.

 

It became apparent when a number of minutes had passed that Buffy had realised that being a vampire had its advantages. When indulging in a marathon making out session, the not needing to breathe was turning out to be a particular winner.  They could go on all night…

 

Angel had had enough.  He didn’t care what Buffy thought she was doing, it was his responsibility to take care of her, even more so now that she was a vampire and would need lessons in the art of vampire survival.  Spike was an idiot, Angel had always thought so, probably picked it up from feeding off Dru when he was turned.  He couldn’t look after himself, never mind a newly turned fledgling.  And anyway, he had no right to even try.  Buffy belonged to him, not to the idiot upstart who’d meddled too often in his elder’s affairs. 

 

Angel grabbed Buffy’s arm and wrenched her out of Spike’s grasp.  “Buffy, come on – that’s enough of that.  I’m taking you home.”  He was completely unprepared for the twin synchronised punches that connected with his chin and sent him hurtling backwards as far as the Alpert mausoleum.  He came round when a less than gentle kick to the head bounced his skull against the stone wall; automatically his hand went to his hair to check that it hadn’t been messed up, earning him a throaty chuckle from the bestower of his headache.  “Told you he was a wuss”, Spike drawled.

 

As Angel lay on the ground, first one, then two, and then finally five heads loomed over him, silhouetted against the moonlit sky.  Buffy knelt down by his side, ignoring Spike’s warning growl to reach across and take Angel’s hand.  She’d made her choice, but that didn’t mean she wanted to leave Angel lying in the dirt.  Tugging him to his feet, she brushed herself off and concentrated to regain her human visage.  She spoke softly, ignoring the fact that Spike was all but standing in her shoes he was that close.

 

“Sorry about that, but I can’t go home, Angel.  We both know that.  How can I, like this?  My mom knows nothing about vampires – what am I supposed to do?  Flash the fangs and demand some blood pudding?  I have to leave.  I want to…”

 

“Doesn’t have to be with him.  I’ll take you places, Buffy; show you how to survive without killing.  I’ll teach you everything you need to know.  I thought…I thought maybe we had something.”

 

Spike snarled, the three humans at his side huddling closer together and moving away from the suddenly very, very scary vampire.

 

Softly, Buffy spoke, laying her hand on his arm.  “I’m so sorry, Angel.  I don’t just want to survive.  I want to live.  And I’ve never felt more alive than I do when I’m with Spike.  Nuts, I know – I’ve only just met him and hey!  Slightly less than alive, here, but it’s true.  I’m sorry, I really am.  But you have to let me go.”

 

Spike’s voice rumbled at Buffy’s back.  “Yeah, Pops.  You lost, I won – get used to it.  Thought you would be by now with all the arse kicking I’ve given you.  Now go bother a rat or whatever it is you eat these days.  We’ve gotta go say bye to the mother-in-law and hit the docks before daylight.”

 

Angel swallowed the half-formed retort as he realised the futility; Buffy was leaning back against Spike, one hand resting on the front of his thigh, her lips beginning to curve into a smile as Spike leaned down and whispered in her ear.  The flash of vitality in her eyes couldn’t be mistaken; Angel had never seen her like that before.  She was right; he had to let her go. 

 

“Go.”  Angel’s gruff voice signalled his emotional distress.  He raised his head and met Spike’s eyes, holding them with a fierce glare as he delivered his warning.  “But if I find out that she’s unhappy or you’ve drawn her down into the darkness…I will hunt you down and stake you.”

 

“Yeah, yeah.  Heard it all before, mate.  I can look after my girl, proved it, haven’t I, with Dru?  Gonna take real good care of her and if you think for one second that anything you can do to me will have me quaking in my Docs, you don’t know me at all.  Now piss off. Oww!”  Buffy dug Spike in the ribs, again.

 

As the vampire trio continued to glare and try to silently out-snark each other, Giles finally managed to claw his way out of the vice-like grip of Xander and Willow and thundered to Buffy’s side.

 

“You can’t possibly believe that I’d let you go, Buffy.  You know that’s impossible… I…I have a duty to…to…”

 

Buffy turned to her former Watcher, seeing the tears that he was barely keeping in check.  She hated that she was doing this to him but really, she hadn’t had a choice in the whole being vamped thing.  One thing she did know – she wasn’t about to bare her chest for him to shove a stake in her.  She’d only just found freedom, and she was going to grab tight hold and never let it go.  She was finally free of duty.

 

“Giles, you really can’t stop me.  And be honest – you don’t really want to.   Look, Spike’ll promise he won’t kill and I can’t.  Oh, the bloodlust is scary powerful but when I tried to feed I got a seriously soul-having guilt trip.  Not sure if I do have my soul, but I’ve got something slayer-like left in me it seems, because I’m not your average rip-now-ask-questions-later vamp.  So – no badness, excepting maybe to blood banks, because let me tell you, pig’s blood tastes nothing like pork chops.”

 

Willow was making retching noises and Xander was providing his own ‘ewwww’ soundtrack.  Buffy leaned around Giles to raise her eyebrows at them.  “Guys?  Not helping.”

 

“Sorry, Buffy.  We’ll be good, won’t we, Xander?”  Xander nodded.  This whole night was turning into a nightmare scenario in his head, may as well be a farce as well.  Bring on the clowns…scary and funny.

 

Buffy locked eyes again with Giles.  “I’m going to see my mom, then we’re skipping town.  Just let me go, please.”  It wasn’t a request, really; Buffy would leave on her own terms anyway, but she’d prefer it if she didn’t have to knock Giles down to do it.  Her watcher, her mentor, her friend; what he thought meant a lot to her.  

 

But not as much as Spike.

 

Buffy moved to quickly hug Giles, and released him before he had a chance to react with the pointy stick he still had gripped in his left hand.  As he started to stutter and gather his thoughts, she was already embracing Xander and Willow in a three-way hug, tears running down her face as she realised, finally, that this would probably be the very last time she saw her best friends…and that they’d be dead and gone while she still wandered the earth for centuries, vampire slayers and other predators permitting.

 

A soft tap on her shoulder signalled Spike’s arrival at her side.  She leaned into his comfort as they walked away, her gaze lingering on her friends and Giles, on Angel, until they were just blurs in the darkness.  Outside the cemetery gates, Buffy’s legs gave out and she let the tears flow.  Spike scooped her up and cradled her to his chest, softly whispering to her that it would be all right, as he strode towards Revello Drive , following Buffy’s mumbled directions.

 

tbc