Chapter 8

“If you’re going to be staying here, there has to be some rules. For one, you won’t be allowed to kill. I’ll go to the butcher’s and get some pig’s blood for you, but that’s it.”

Harmony scoffed. “God, what kind of vampire are you?” At the serious expression on his face, she rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I can kill, anyway. I told you about the experiments in that place, they put some sort of thingy in my head. A chip, I think they called it. If I hurt anyone, or even think about it, my head gets zapped. It’s not fun,” she finished with a pout.

Spike didn’t understand why the soldiers couldn’t just kill demons, doing experiments was much crueler than killing. And these were supposed to be the good guys? What made him feel even more dread was that one soldier boy’s interest in Buffy. From what she told him, the bloke hadn’t confronted her again since their last so-called date, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t.

“So, what do you do for fun around here? I like this crypt, it seems really comfortable. Much better than the hole I was living in,” she said with a little moue of distaste.

Spike rubbed his temples. “Um, well, there’s a telly if you get bored. There’s not much else to do. My room is downstairs.”

She raised her eyebrows in a suggestive manner, and he decided to clarify.

“Which is off limits, you’ll be staying up here.”

Harmony pouted again, but accepted his answer. Besides, she was bound to get him to change his mind. No man could resist her for too long.


* * * * *


Buffy entered Spike’s crypt, surprised to hear another voice inside, a female voice.

“Oh my God, Buffy Summers? What the hell are you doing here?”

She stopped at the screeching voice, her eyes widening. “Harmony?”

Spike rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, I guess you two know each other.”

Harmony rolled her eyes. “Hardly, I only went to school with the freak. Don’t tell me you two are friends? You’re so much cooler than she is.”

Spike glared at her, turning back to Buffy. “The Initiative was after her, that secret organization of yours. I saved her life and brought her back here, she didn’t really have anywhere else to go.”

Buffy grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the crypt, so they could have some privacy. “Are you kidding me? This is Harmony, she can’t stay here. She’s pure evil, and now to find out she’s a vampire? I don’t want her anywhere near you. There are plenty of other crypts for her to stay in.”

Spike smiled softly. “Love, I can’t just kick her out. I feel sorry for the bint, she hasn’t been a vampire for too long and her sire ditched her. She doesn’t really have anyone else to teach her. You don’t have to worry about her killing; the soldiers put a chip in her head. It prevents her from hurting anyone. You can’t imagine what it’s like to still be newly turned and not able to kill, the bloodlust alone could drive you crazy. I feel for her.”

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. “There’s a reason why her sire left, because she is the most annoying person ever, even more so in death. I don’t like this.”

Spike wondered if Buffy’s attitude had anything to do with jealousy, but he wouldn’t read too much into it. “It’s only temporary, until she gets back on her feet. You’ll hardly even notice her.”

A crash sounded from inside the crypt, followed by an “oops, my bad.”

Buffy raised her eyebrows. “Fine, but when your place gets completely trashed, don’t come crying to me.”

Spike watched her walk away, shutting his eyes and heading back inside the crypt, wondering if he would end up regretting this.


* * * * *


Buffy was beyond pissed when Harmony tagged along with them on patrol. It was their time; she hardly ever got any time to spend with him anymore since she was around. The last thing she wanted was some unwanted third party, and she hated all the little touches that Harmony would give Spike. Even more, she hated that it bothered her. Spike was just a friend, or so she kept telling herself. He hadn’t mentioned anything else about loving her, not since the first time he said it and Buffy was starting to wonder if maybe he didn’t feel that way anymore. She kicked a pebble on the ground, suddenly finding it to be fascinating.

Spike nudged her shoulder. “You okay?” he wondered with concern.

She laughed humorlessly. “I’m surprised you even noticed that I was here.”

Spike was confused, but anything else he would have said was cut off at the arrival of two Fyarl Demons.

Buffy grinned. “Finally, I get to kill something.” She charged at the one on the left, watching as Spike took on the other.

Harmony watched them both with interest, noticing just how evenly matched their moves were.

Buffy was thrown into a nearby tombstone; while Spike growled and snapped the neck of the one he was fighting, not noticing that the other one left Buffy alone to go after Harmony.

She screamed and backed up into a mausoleum, the demon slashing her across the arm.

Spike yanked it away from her, snapping its neck just like he did with the other one. He inspected the bloody gash on her arm, giving her a smile. “You’ll be fine, it’s just a scratch. Luckily it’s not poisonous; you only would have needed to worry if it sneezed on you.”

Harmony scrunched up her nose, giving him a hug for saving her again.

Buffy stood up and watched them, noticing that Spike went over to Harmony first, not even caring to see if she was all right. Sure, the demon only stunned her, but some consideration would have been appreciated. She suddenly had to get out of there, taking off in the opposite direction.

Spike noticed her leave, confused again about what just happened. “Wait here,” he told Harmony, then followed after Buffy. He caught her right as she was leaving the cemetery. “Hey, where are you going?”

“I have to get home; I didn’t feel like breaking up the tender moment between you two. You probably shouldn’t leave her alone.”

Spike grabbed her arm, pulling her around to face him. “What’s that about?”

She threw her hands up in the air. “I don’t even know, okay? I know we’re just friends, so I have no right to be upset, but I just can’t stand seeing you with her. It makes me physically ill and I don’t understand it. I just hate the idea of you with someone else. It bothers me a lot more than I thought it would.”

“Right, so it’s okay for me to have feelings for you, but for no one else? Yet you can go out with whomever you please, and I’m just supposed to accept it? That doesn’t seem bloody fair.”

Buffy took a deep breath, trying not to cry. That could wait for when she was alone. “I know it doesn’t. I guess I was just hoping that when I was finally ready, you would still be there. I didn’t think about the possibility of you falling for someone else.”

“How could you even think that, Buffy? Do you have any idea of what I’ve done for you?” He shut his eyes, cursing himself for nearly revealing too much.

“What are you talking about?”

Spike shook his head. “It’s not important right now. You know how I feel about Abrams being in your life. That I hate the idea of him anywhere near you or Dawn, but he is her father, so I’ve tried to deal with him being around you, even though it’s killing me. I like to think that I have a lot of patience, Buffy, but I don’t know how much more I can take. Think about that when you’re trying to reprimand me for being with someone else.”

She watched him walk away, not able to keep the tears back any longer.