A Pain In The Head

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“Giles, we have a problem!” she exclaimed, making her way into his house the next morning, “I need you to find out everything you can about vampire claims.”

“Vampire claims? I didn’t realise such things were actually true. They are regarded as myth.”

“They’re true, trust me.”

“Buffy, what’s going on?”

She bit her lip and perched on the arm of the sofa, avoiding her Watcher’s gaze.

“Well, during Willow’s spell, something happened with Spike and-“

“Oh God, he bit you!”

“No, worse,” she cut in, daring to meet Giles’ shocked gaze, “I claimed him.”

“You claimed him?”

“Yeah. There was…well, there was claiming,” she explained, not wanting to go into detail of how it had come about, “And now I…I’m in his head. I know what he’s thinking.”

“Are you quite sure?”

“Yes. Right now he’s sleepy…and worried. And I…I’ve seen some things from his past.”

“For instance?”

“I saw him kill a Slayer. Well, actually, I killed her because I was him…anyway, it was weird. I want out as soon as possible.”

“I quite understand. I…this really is quite extraordinary.”

“I know.”

“It deserves to be investigated and documented-“

“Giles, please. I just want out of Spike’s head pronto. The blood lust really is quite disturbing.”

“Oh yes. Quite. I’ll get on to it right away.”


Unfortunately, she hadn’t counted on Giles bringing in the rest of the Scooby gang.

“You did what?!” Xander exclaimed as soon as she entered the room and she grimaced.

“I was under a spell. Wasn’t exactly in control.”

She saw Willow frown but shot her friend a reassuring smile.

“What about the dreams?” Willow asked her softly and she frowned.

“Not enjoying full-colour playbacks of Spike’s killing sprees,” she moaned, “I woke up about eight times last night.”

“Fascinating,” Giles remarked, his gaze fixed on her now, “And do you have the ability to control which memories you access?”

“Not really. It’s either the dreams…or sometimes like daydreams. Depends on if Spike’s thinking about it as well. God, this is so weird.”

She sighed and sank back on the sofa, covering her face with her hands.

“I’m sure we’ll find something, Buff,” Willow soothed and she looked at her friend, smiling weakly.

“The sooner the better.”

Bloody Watcher better have an answer.

She froze and sat up, looking towards the door.

“Spike’s outside,” she spoke up and all eyes fixed on her and then went to the door. A few seconds later, there was a knock at the door and with a bewildered look at her, Giles went to the door and let in the vampire.


Spike came in and frowned at the assembled group, his eyes finally settling on her.

“Thought you were only telling the Watcher?”

“More brainpower,” she answered with a tiny shrug.

Brainpower, right. Watcher boy’s the only one here with any brain at all.

“Hey!” she protested, even before she could realise what she was doing and Spike’s head whipped towards her. Instead of saying something though, he just smirked and she rolled her eyes.

“So, Rupert, any idea of how to get the Slayer out of my noggin? Not sure I like her havin’ access to all my thoughts and such.”

“We’re working on it.”

“I don’t see why we should help him!” Xander remarked.

Whelp.

“Because we’re helping me,” Buffy replied, shooting a glare at Spike in warning.
Xander sighed and gave in, glaring at the vampire before turning to Giles expectantly.

“Yes, well…I’ve found a few books on the subject. We’ll have to study them further.”

Hours of bloody fun.

She couldn’t stop herself from giggling at Spike’s sarcasm and he quirked an eyebrow as she took the book Giles handed to her. She smiled and pressed her finger to her lips, indicating to him to be quiet as she turned to the book in her hand.


They sat in silence and she frowned as she came across a whole sentence she couldn’t understand. She shifted and leant over the end of the sofa towards Giles.

“Giles, what does this mean?” she asked, pointing to the impossible sentence.

“It’s in English,” Giles answered in bemusement.

“It’s not in an English I know.”

Giles smiled and took the book from her. She sighed and propped her elbows on the sofa, leaning over to follow her Watcher’s finger across the page.

What a nice arse.

“You are sick, Spike!” she blurted out, “If I find you looking anywhere near me, I will rip your eyes out.”

She heard him chuckle and then looked round at the circle of bewildered Scoobies.

“I really want to be out of his head,” she got out, smiling weakly as they turned back to their books. She sank onto the sofa and glared at the smirking vampire, wishing all manner of painful deaths on him.

“Maybe staking you would just be easier,” she commented lightly.

“Oh, you can’t do that, Slayer,” he drawled, smiling at her.

“You wanna bet?”

He laughed, stretching out his long legs in front of him.

“You couldn’t do it, Slayer. Claim wouldn’t let you.”

“What?! You’re kidding me.”

“Nope. You couldn’t touch a hair on my head ‘coz it’d hurt you too. Not physically ‘course, but it’d hurt.”

“This is so wrong,” she moaned.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


They had made no progress in finding a way to cancel the claim and she needed a break. Needed to be away from Spike. Giles agreed and promised to continue the research while she went home. Well, not exactly home- halfway home, she changed her mind and instead made her way to one of the fraternity houses. She was directed to Riley’s room by a group of laughing guys and she ignored their jibes as she climbed the stairs. Frat boys, she thought with a roll of her eyes. She knocked on Riley’s door and then he was there, smiling down at her.

“Buffy!”

“Hey,” she answered with a soft smile, “Thought I’d stop by.”

He smiled and held the door open, beckoning her in. She looked around the clean room and smiled, settling on the bed.

“How’s it going?”

“Yeah, good.” Except for the fact I claimed a vampire. “You?”

“Good,” he replied, settling on the bed beside her with a smile, his hand resting next to hers, “I had a really good time the other night.”

“Me too,” she whispered, looking up at him under her lashes.

“So maybe we could do it again some time?”

“I’d like that.”

He smiled softly and his eyes just flicked to her lips. She felt her heart skip a beat and she tilted her head up as he bent down towards her. His lips met hers and he kissed her softly, his hand running down her arm. She let her hand come to rest on his shoulder and moved closer, enjoying the feel of his soft mouth against hers.


Suddenly a jolt of pain went through her and she parted from Riley with a start.

“Buffy?”

She felt that pain again and realised then that it was coming from Spike. Stupid vampire! Ignoring the pain, she smiled and leant into Riley again and kissed him gently, her hand on the back of his neck as his arms wrapped around her. As much as she tried to ignore it though, the pain was increasing and with a groan, she tore herself away from Riley.

“I’m really sorry. I have to go.”

She saw his face fall but then his beeper went off and she smiled.

“Guess you’ve got something to do too.”

“Yeah,” he answered and she rose to her feet quickly.

“I’ll see you soon.”

“Definitely.”

He was conducting her quickly to the door and it was only her own rush that stopped her from noticing his. He leant down and kissed her one last time and then she was rushing out of the room and racing down the stairs. All the way, in the back of her head, she could feel the pain coming from Spike and it spurred her on. She’d be very glad when she had her brain to herself.