Chapter 6

“So, this girl is chosen to slay vampires and other demons that she happens to come across?”

Spike nodded. “That’s about it.”

Buffy was still shocked. “Wow, I can’t imagine one girl doing all of that. It would be way too much responsibility.”

“I told Angelus about a Slayer being in town, he was pretty freaked by it. That’s one thing he’s always been afraid of, never was able to defeat one before.”

Buffy couldn’t believe that he was afraid of anything. “Have you?”

Spike was hoping she wouldn’t ask that, but he was going to be honest. “Two, one during the Boxer Rebellion and one in New York. After I found out about the existence of Slayers, I became obsessed with them. I think I mainly just wanted to prove myself worthy to Drusilla, and I knew killing a Slayer would do that. It did, for a little while at least.”

“You really loved her, didn’t you?”

Spike could see the hurt in her eyes. “Yes, but I don’t anymore. Not the way I used to. She’s just my sire now. I’ll probably never even see her again, and I realized that I’m okay with that. I thought she was all that I could ever want, but I was wrong.”

Buffy wondered if that had something to do with her, but she wasn’t about to ask.

Spike perked up when he heard a noise. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He got out of bed, putting his pants and shirt back on. Once he left the room, he was met by a crossbow bolt in his chest, luckily missing the heart.

Buffy ran out of the room when she heard the commotion, shocked to see who their intruder was. “Riley? What did you do?” she wondered, moving over to Spike’s side.

The soldier was relieved to see her. “Buffy, are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

She became angry at that statement. “No, he didn’t hurt me. He’s been protecting me.”

Spike chuckled humorlessly. “I guess I didn’t think about protecting this place from other humans.”

Buffy grew concerned and pulled the arrow out of his chest, wincing at his cry of pain. She ripped a piece of her shirt off to try and stop the bleeding.

“What’s going on here? He’s a vampire, Buffy. You can’t trust him.”

She rolled her eyes. “Right now I would trust him more than you. I was kidnapped and raped, Riley. Spike is the one that got me away and has been helping me. He protected this place because he knew going home right now would put the people I cared about at risk.”

Riley raised his eyebrows, finally getting a better look at the vampire. “I remember you now. You're William the Bloody; I've been tracking you and Angelus for a while. We tried to capture you weeks ago. He killed some of my men, Buffy. He may have helped you, but he's still a bloodthirsty monster.”

Buffy looked back and forth between both of them. “What are you talking about, and what's with the GI Joe outfit?” she said, as if just noticing what he was wearing.

Spike spoke up first, pressing the shirt to his wound. “He's a part of some military institution that captures demons and vampires, they do experiments on them. Some are even harmless, but these gits could care less.”

Buffy gasped. “What? How could you not tell me about something like this?”

Riley looked guilty, but only for a moment. “You're a civilian, Buffy. We're not supposed to reveal our identity to anyone, not even our girlfriends. You wouldn't have understood, but we do a lot of good for the people of Sunnydale. There is no such thing as a harmless demon.”

Buffy shook her head. “I think you should go. I'm obviously not hurt, so there's no point in you being here. I can take care of myself.”

Riley was about to protest, but the thunderous expression on her face had him changing his mind. “You'll be sorry when he turns on you,” with that said, he walked out of the mansion.

Buffy focused her attention back on Spike, helping him up off the floor. “God, I can't believe I actually dated that guy.”

Spike gave her a small smile, letting her lead him back into the bedroom.


* * * * *


“You need blood to heal, Spike. Stop being such a baby and bite me already.”

He growled. “I’ve already taken too much. I’ll be fine, just need to get to a butcher shop.”

Buffy raised her eyebrows. “So, you won’t be feeding from anyone else?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “I haven’t really been feeding much since I’ve been here, I don’t see that happening now. I don’t know what it is; I just haven’t had the urge to feed. I’ve been getting my blood from the local butcher shop. They know me pretty well over there by now.” For some reason, the look of awe on her face bothered him. “I’m still not a good bloke, Buffy. I have killed, usually when they had it coming, but that’s not the point. I’m still dangerous.”

Buffy cuddled up at his side. “Yep, very dangerous.”

He smiled fondly at her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and watching as she drifted off to sleep. “What have you done to me?”


* * * * *


“Do we have to go over this again?” Angelus grabbed the minion by his scrawny neck, lifting him off of the ground. “I want you to find Spike and tell me where he’s been hiding, or I’ll rip your head off. Do we understand each other now?”

He nodded, relieved when the elder vampire finally let him go.

Angelus glared at him. “Now would be good.”

The lackey nodded again and ran out of the warehouse.

Angelus let out a long sigh. “It is so hard to find good help these days. Don’t you agree?” He turned to the girl sitting in the corner, pure fear written on her features. “You’re not the one I want, but you’ll do nicely until she’s returned to me.” He snatched her up and carried her into his bedroom, as she pounded on his back and begged him to release her. That only made him bark in laughter. Angelus threw her down on the bed, grinning wickedly as he gazed at her. The girl was blonde, not as small as Buffy, but she looked just like her. Harmony Kendall wasn’t as feisty, but she would make a good replacement for the time being. “You can feel free to beg all you like, it’ll get you nowhere. Now, let’s have some fun.”


* * * * *


Buffy was worried. She was worried when Spike left to the butcher’s to get some blood, but since that was now almost two hours ago, she was way beyond worried. Buffy just prayed that Angelus didn’t get a hold of him. A few more minutes went by and she was slowly going out of her mind. Not able to wait anymore, she grabbed a jacket and left the mansion in hopes that she would be able to find him. She figured that he would be mad at her for leaving, but really couldn’t seem to care. Buffy wasn’t able to get very far, as soon as she took a few steps out of the mansion, she was attacked by what looked to be a vampire. She screamed and tried to fight him off, but wasn’t having much luck. The vampire pinned her down, getting on top of her and lowering his fangs to her neck. Buffy closed her eyes in anticipation of the bite, but it never came. She coughed as a cloud of dust formed around her, looking up at what she thought would be Spike, but was shocked at the sight of her savior.

“Willow?”